ive said this before but we need to make rpf cringe and weird again. I need people to be more ashamed of posting rpf in front of god and country
ok so my entry into fandom as a wee baby was rpf, actually. and from THAT AGE it was drilled into me by my peers and all the fandom elders that you kept that shit away from the people in question. we had a bit of a rumor flying around once that someone from our community had referenced the rpf in front of the people it was about and that person got a TON of backlash. we sort of kept each other in check about this sort of thing too, like it was SERIOUS.
and i internalized those lessons to the point that when i got into f1 and specifically f1 rpf, i literally made another ao3 account just for that. that account is private as HELL. all my fics on it are archive locked and only logged in users can comment. and around that time, i made my tumblr private too. and that's because the worst fucking thing for me, as a fanfic writer, would be to have my fic discovered by the people it's about.
like there is a reason fic writers put "if you or anyone else you know is in this fic, click the back button" in the beginning of fics. there's a reason we don't use our real names on ao3 or tumblr, or that we turn our privacy settings as high as they can possibly go. because rpf was never meant to be mainstream. and it really fucking annoys me that now it is because of some people who can't keep it private, or people that deliberately go seeking it out just to be gross about it while simultaneously using it for engagement on social media (like f1 team accounts using ship names).
we need to make it private again like you said. we need to check each other about this stuff. i don't mean in a weird invasive way, i mean like. it shouldn't be socially acceptable to post your fic publicly where anyone can see it. there's a reason many people's first reaction to it is bewilderment and often repulsion. i don't care how many arguments you make about how even the crown is fanfic or whatever. yeah sure maybe it is but it's not like it's got yaoi or whatever in it the way rpf does. the fact of the matter is that to the vast majority of people, rpf - and specifically shippy rpf - is WEIRD. and there is a REASON most people do not want to be faced with it all the time! imagine scrolling on twt and finding out someone's bragging abt writing your coworkers fucking??
i mean this completely seriously, i've been rethinking posting fic lately. i love writing and i love sharing it with my friends here but there's always the risk of people acting in bad faith finding it and sharing it in ways i don't want it shared. didn't we literally just have a problem with some youtuber making fun of fic on his patreon? if they've made ao3 accounts with the express purpose of seeking out rpf just to make fun of it, who's to say that even the privacy settings i use are enough anymore? anyone could also make a tumblr account and seek out rpf. it just doesn't feel as safe anymore, yknow? and a lot of that is due to the people who have no fucking concept of boundaries, posting ao3 links on their public twt, tiktok, whatever the fuck. using the driver's full names or other easily searchable terms, not doing anything whatsoever to make sure the bubble doesn't pop. well unfortunately it has popped and idk if we can put it back again. and i know i'm not the only one that feels this way. it makes me sad to think of all the creativity that's going to be lost because of this, all the writers who no longer feel safe to post, all because a few idiots on social media think internet validation and likes are more important than any concept of boundaries.
