"So, what would fandom etiquette for journalists actually look like?
At the very least, it means asking permission before embedding fan art or linking directly to fan fiction in coverage. It means thinking twice before asking actors or artists to react to ships or explicit fan creations. It means considering whether a fan reasonably expected their work to stay within the community it was made for. Most importantly, it means treating fandom spaces like real places inhabited by real people, many of whom seek out these spaces precisely because they offer a sense of belonging they may not find elsewhere.
Fandom does not need to remain in the margins to deserve respect. But if journalists are going to cover this subject, and we should, we have to be willing to approach these spaces with the same care, ethics, and nuance we would bring to any other community. Because behind every fic or piece of fan art is someone saying, 'This mattered to me.' Did it matter to you too?"
Crystal Bell - "The Pitt" fans aren't happy with journalists. We need real etiquette when reporting on fandom" Teen Vogue, April 9, 2026
I created this artwork for the 'Tap the post' meme on Twitter. It was supposed to be four separate panels that merge into one tall vertical image when you tap the post but then I discovered that feature is only for paid accounts. 😆 Here’s the full version instead. Enjoy!"
AO3 has recently seen a rise in guest spambot comments making false accusations about work creators or other users. For example, they may claim that a particular user is discriminating against minorities, trying to hide the fact that they use AI, or are at risk of having their works stolen or deleted.
These comments often copy existing AO3 usernames in order to make their accusations seem more legitimate. They may also try to lure people onto other platforms (similar to the art commission scam), or use fake links that actually lead to pornographic images.
As always, we recommend that you do not click on any suspicious links or give your contact information to scammers. Instead, simply mark the comments as spam or report them so that the Policy & Abuse committee can remove comments left by these spambots.
Learn how to recognize them and what to do below the cut!
How to recognize this kind of spam:
The comments come from guests, not logged-in users.
The comments may start with praise for you and your writing, trying to lull you into a false sense of security. Or they may claim that you are a bad writer, trying to make you too upset to realize that the comments are fake.
The comments may accuse you or another user of promoting discriminatory beliefs, deceiving fans, or similar behaviors that might cause other people to shun or harass the accused individual. They may claim that they checked social media to find that the accused user is "brazenly sharing hateful content" or "bragging about using AI".
The comments are often pleading or angry, asking you to "stop lying to your readers", "don't remove the AI prompts from your work", or suggesting that you "consider adding more diverse characters" to "repair the trust you've lost with your audience".
So far, these comments have all been from guests. Our advice is to flag them as spam to better filter them out.
To help train our automated spam-checker to block similar guest comments in the future:
If the comment is on your own work:
Go directly to the comment on your work, either by clicking on the link in your email or in your AO3 inbox.
Click on the "Spam" button to mark the guest comment as spam and remove it from your work.
Note: The "Spam" button only appears when viewing a guest comment directly on your work. This is because the AO3 comment inbox is merely a copy of the work's comments – deleting a comment from your AO3 inbox does not delete the comment from the work itself.
If you see comments like these on someone else's work:
Feel free to let the creator know the comment is from a bot, and that they should mark it as spam.
You can also report the comments as botspam via the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form linked at the bottom of every page on AO3.
If you are reporting multiple guest comments, please submit only one report, and include all comment links in your report description. (You can get the direct link to any comment by clicking the "Thread" button on the comment, and then copying the URL of that page.)
As of December 2025, bots have also left guest comments harassing users by:
threatening to report you/your fic to the authorities or your employers
alleging security concerns like your email being compromised or spyware on your computer
claiming that they know your address and are going to visit you at your house
saying that you will die alone and unemployed over the holidays
What these bots claim is not true. These accusations do not mean your work will be deleted or that your accounts are insecure. We recommend that you mark these comments as spam following the instructions in our previous post.
These examples also do not represent the full range of harassment comments that you may receive. We will continue to try and keep you updated about trends; however, please note that the exact wording the bots use will continue to evolve.
If you're not sure if something is a spambot comment, you're welcome to contact Policy & Abuse for assistance. Refer to the original post for more information!
As of January 2026, bots impersonating legitimate users have increasingly left guest comments harassing other users by:
claiming that they know where you live
alleging to have seen you in person
threatening to meet you face-to-face
saying that they posted your personal information (name, address, etc) online
What these bots claim is not true. These comments are likely intended to alarm you into replying.We recommend that you mark these comments as spam following the instructions in our previous post.
These examples do not represent the full range of harassment comments that you may receive. We will continue to try and keep you updated about trends; however, please note that the exact wording the bots use will continue to evolve.
If you're not sure if something is a spambot comment, you're welcome to contact Policy & Abuse for assistance. Refer to the original post for more information!
Bucky is a huge massive fucking nerd and Steve is the punk rock radical, not the other way around.
Steve’s identity revolves entirely around fighting. Fighting for the oppressed, fighting against oppressors, fighting just because. He actively wants to die fighting, that’s why he does what he does. He’s polite, sure, but never confuse that for being nice or civil. There’s a big difference. Steve was probably applying for the draft BEFORE Pearl Harbor, he’s very politically engaged, even before he became Captain America. He might wear old clothes, but rest assured he would be an actual punk if he was born today.
Bucky, on the other hand, somehow got a hold of a copy of The Hobbit when it first came out in ENGLAND. That’s an insane feat. You couldn’t even really special order it that fast. He would have had to be aware of JRR Tolkien (likely finding him through CS Lewis and short stories in nerdy fandom spaces) to have heard about it in the first place, then got a copy sent to him by mail from someone he knew in England. That’s levels of dorkery that we don’t even have the technology for anymore. Closest thing would be traveling to a different country to collect a specific unknown book. Then, he chose to go to the World’s Fair on his last night in Brooklyn. Sure, post Winter Soldier, he likes to wear black, but he listens to like. Swing music from the 40s. He’s not cool. He just doesn’t talk enough for everyone (but Steve and Sam) to discover what a huge dork he is. If he was born today, he’d be into comics and d&d
Are you registered? Have you registered? Do you want to, but your state government is being a dick about it? Do you need ID?
Don't worry--get help
Register to vote in your state -Vote.gov
How to register to vote - USAgov
Now, both of those are US government websites, so if you like, go to them for information but then go to your individual state's voting registration website. You know, if you distrust this federal government for some reason....
Check your voter registration status
Find out how to register in your state: some offer online, some require by mail or in person.
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia --this is not the state website. the state website was down every time I tried it
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina --heads up! Even if you are already register to vote in NC, check again. They are "cleaning up" the voter rolls.
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington --if you have an enhanced ID, you are probably already registered to vote. But check your status anyway.
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Military and absentee voting
Washington, D.C.
...I don't have all the rules for voting in the various territories. You can register to vote there, but usually you cannot vote in certain elections. Which is bullshit if you pay taxes. Ditto for D.C. Still bullshit too.
If you are registered to vote, I still urge you to check your status every few months. Some states are purging voter rolls or trying to end overseas military voting or something, so keep an eye on things.
Also, some states are purging voters who have not voted recently. So you might be registered now, but if you didn't vote last year, they could bounce you.
Vote this election in November. Register now if you haven't, because the cut off date to register to vote this year varies state to state, but it's soon.
Also check out:
Voteriders - an org to help people get their IDs
Fair Elections Center
League of Women Voters
Native American Rights Fund
NAACP - resources
The ACLU has a page devoted to voting rights, how to register, what to do at the polls etc. Know your rights.
If you don't care about national politics (....) you should still vote in your local elections.
Voting in America is a citizen's right. You don't have too, it's not a requirement, but you should. Let's send these Nazi Maga Fuckwits back to their holes...
So this year’s prize for the Jinnobi Challenge’s random drawing is similar to a prize that I’ve done in the past, but instead of making my own, I found official Lucasfilm Postcards!
This is a set of three, with Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and of course them together <3. I’ll probably throw in some quiobi stickers as well to whoever is the lucky winner!
Please remember that no matter how many work(s) you enter into the challenge, you are only entered once into the random drawing. Once the Challenge ends on August 31, I’ll notify the winner to work out shipping details and send the prize out right away! The winner will also be mentioned and/or tagged in the 2025 Master List when I post it in early-mid September.
So don’t forget to keep the Jinnobi Challenge in mind when working on quiobi works this year and submit your work(s) in August, 2025 for a chance to win these postcards!
"The Material World of Ancient Egypt examines the objects and artifacts, the representations in art, and the examples of documentation that together reveal the day-to-day physical substance of life in ancient Egypt. This book investigates how people dressed, what they ate, the houses they built, the games they played, and the tools they used, among many other aspects of daily life, paying great attention to the change and development of each area within the conservative Egyptian society.
More than any other ancient civilization, the ancient Egyptians have left us with a wealth of evidence about their daily lives in the form of perishable objects, from leather sandals to feather fans, detailed depictions of trades and crafts on the walls of tombs, and a wide range of documentary evidence from temple inventories to personal laundry lists.
Drawing on these diverse sources and richly illustrating his account with nearly one hundred images, William H. Peck illuminates the culture of the ancient Egyptians from the standpoint of the basic materials they employed to make life possible and perhaps even enjoyable."
— The Material World of Ancient Egypt, by William H. Peck
Im gonna be so real can yall actually talk about ways we can support trans women in the UK instead of giving all the attention to fucking JKR. I already know that Harry Poter sucks, I wanna know how to actually HELP people. Something something you have to love the oppressed more than you hate the oppressor
Oooh I did not know that was its name. I just rescued 3 of them from a shop, took them home yesterday and nurtured them with a long soak in the sink. What plant good food do they need - they are in the teeniest pots you have ever seen and I’d love them to thrive.
@gwalchmedi aw yay, it's always exciting to get new plants :D I'd love to see photos of them if you're willing to share!
There are many species of Haworthia, but the little guy I sketched is one of my newer ones, and was labeled Haworthia 'broteriana. It's dark out right now, so I'm not sure if I can get a decent photo...
Well, it's not great, but you can see that it's flowering, so it seems happy despite some damage to its leaves from when it was shipped. The substrate I mixed up for it is a little bit of 'succulent' potting soil, but mostly pumice and very small gravel/scoria/zeolite with some small bits of orchid bark thrown in.
Potting soils marketed for succulents will almost universally kill all succulents—so much so that I often joke about how Big Potting Soil must be in league with Big Succulent to kill people's plants, making them buy more succulents and more potting soil. Most succulents in the wild grow in dry, rocky, nutrient-poor soils that drain quickly, so sticking them in soft organic soil that holds water and is loaded with fertilizer is, uh. Probably not going to go well 😅 So when people say they can't grow succulents, it's probably not them but the soil (also, succulents need WAY more light than most people think, but that's a whole other thing).
This is honestly the most useful and thorough write-up I've seen on succulent substrates:
The nitty gritty behind the best types of soil for succulents, where to buy them, and how to make your own.
So yeah, substrate is way more important than fertilizer for succulents. In fact, too much fertilizer can easily kill them, so you don't want to give them as much as you would other plants.
Another thing I wanted to add, because this is something most people don't know and something I only learned a few years ago, is that before you repot a succulent, you want to leave it out in the air to dry for at least a couple of days, depending on the humidity where you live. And when I say 'leave it out,' I mean take it out of whatever pot it was in, thoroughly rinse the roots, and lay it on a paper towel or something where the whole plant can dry out.
The reason for this is because even small cuts and other damage to the roots can lead to rot very easily if you pull them out of their old soil and stick them into wet soil.
When you do repot them, make sure the pot has drainage holes, and don't water the plant for at least another few days. Again, you want any damage to the roots to dry up and form calluses to prevent rot. This same principle applies to propagating succulents from cuttings, too.
As for the small pots you mentioned, I haven't seen your plants, but I will caution that Haworthia tend to have pretty deep roots once they get going. One of mine consistently tries to grow roots out of its drainage holes even though I always put it in deep pots, but that one is an absolute maniac and flowers 365 days of the year 😂 Such a freak. That said, Haworthia tend to be pretty hardy, so you can probably get away with growing them in those small pots for a while, and then maybe transplanting them into deeper pots down the road. :)
Sorry that was so long, haha. I used to grow succulents like you would any other plant, and was shocked when I found out how different their needs are. And strangely this info isn't common knowledge, so I wanted to share just in case you're not aware of it <3
no but because australia is close to the bottom of the map and the flat map is distorted to fit a square map shape, australia on the flat map is significantly smaller compared to places closer to the equator.
Australia is not significantly smaller than the mainland US, no. These are the real sizes, not a Mercator projection. I think you're misunderstanding what yanzinator said. The US does have significantly larger island territories than Australia, though.
The continuous US (so, not counting the islands and Alaska) and Australia are roughly the same size:
US: 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2)
Australia: 2,969,907 sq mi (7,692,024 km2)
And the person above has the impact of the Mercator projection completely backwards: North America and Europe appear much larger than they actually are due to their latitudes. Most notably Greenland looks like it is bigger than Africa! (It isn’t.)
In the picture below, the pale blue is Mercator and the dark blue is actual size:
