#fandoms vs illiteracy

[whoishotteranimepolls]

I've looked through your blog history and apparently you do realize that Izutsumi 17 and you just don't care. To make it even worse you're sexualizing not only a minor but a character from a manga that explicitly takes steps to not sexualize its female characters.

Anime and manga have a horrible history of overly sexualizing their female characters, so the one manga that refuses to overly sexualize them. You still do it with your blog? Why? Because apparently Izutsumi is not the only one from dungeon meshi you have no problem sexualizing the author would be ashamed.

Senshi is specifically designed to be the character that is sexualized. That's why he's the one with the panty shots that are normally reserved for female characters. So why must you include the female characters from Dungeon Meshi in these polls? Many of them are underage and they were never supposed to be sexualized in the first place.

Apparently you guys also enjoy sexualizing Chimera Falin when you know she was stripped of all her bodily autonomy and turned into a monster by the mad mage. Am I the only one that sees how disturbing that is? It's almost like you guys enjoy the glorification of the torture and abuse of women.

Outside of the Falin story arc Dungeon Meshi has a wholesome purity to it that I have not seen in very many manga so I would appreciate you protecting it and not ruining it with your blog and these polls. This is not a horny manga outside of Senshi. So please quit sexualizing the characters

Fandoms vs Illiteracy #2

Feel free to critique the essay but not the person nor the person's intelligence. Do not call names, degrade the person, or personally attack them in any way. The purpose of this series is to critique/analyze the arguments contained in the essays.

Unless you're living under a rock I'm pretty sure if you're on Tumblr you know a Dungeon Meshi is but I'll upload pictures at least of the characters they mention by name.

So now that everyone is a little bit more familiar with everything mentioned in the essay and knows the rules, feel free to do your own research and respond.

#fandoms vs illiteracy #fandoms and media literacy #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #not a poll #whoishotteranimepolls

[dtkqer]

wait why ranboo (idk much abt him)

ESSAY WARNING AHEAD do not fucking repost this shit anywhere holy fuck i will kill you!!!!!!! respect my boundaries :((

ok my thought process was somewhere along the lines of

rboo (kid wanting to blow up as a mcyter during summer 2020) getting attention through making fan content of dream smp (also trying to write themself into the lore) -> dream (kid who blew up as an mcyter before the pandemic hit, getting even more insane numbers) sees himself in rboo, adds him to the dream smp

-> path 1: parasocial stan delusion - ran is both viewer and cc, relatable to viewers in a down to earth way while gaining an insane amount of success very very fast -> heightened scrutiny to not fuck things up because his audience is full of normal people who care about social justice on paper (part of dreams influence in having a gender and race diverse (somewhat) audience) -> growing importance of boundaries (tm) -> fandom becomes insanely blue haired liberal and jumps on every mistake, demanding quick and GOOD apologies for both inane and serious shit -> fandom becomes volatile and creates disproportionate responses to everything -> they (rboo) become spineless -> this attitude and spinelessness leaks over to the whole of mcyt since most of dsmp shared an audience at that point -> feedback loop we see today (sidebar: growing media illiteracy combined with volatile reactions extend to lore shit on all ends and was absolutely compounded by their joining -> "sanctity" of the lore -> michael -> dsmp audiences split over the parasocial belief that character = content creator's thoughts beliefs and actions in real life instead of. acting)

-> path 2: control and queerness - branch off from blue haired liberal -> viewers have good intentions in wanting more rep in the cc space (queer and women, not so much race) -> marginalized communities cant afford to make mistakes as much as white men in the space -> disproportionate amount of criticism for both white men and marginalized ccs -> viewers attempting to take control of ccs due to ran blurring the line between viewer and cc during lockdown/most viewers' formative social years being taken from them -> not much education about queerness in the first place -> queerbaiting discourse and queer being a symbol of goodness -> people seemed to want dream to be straight and evil and ran to be gay/queer and good -> double standards when dream and ran come out because of dream's perceived power, status, and past growing up in conservative florida he had already been addressing, but ran gets a warm welcome because of bending to the audience more than dream has and past not holding as many mistakes meaning they could claim queer as an identity -> selective biphobia because if dream is queer hes a bad queer so everything he does is evil

-> return to main thread - brighton bastards formed, beeduo date and break up, everyone becomes bitter boots after lockdown ends and dream abandons his adopted bastard child he came to love that george originally gave birth to -> october and drexodus -> quackity resentment somewhere in there behind the scenes, dtkq breakup -> former audience split over lore comes back into -> qsmp shit -> dream and by extension dteam/munchy is evil except badboyhalo who supports dream but is still on qsmp because hes a lore andy -> schisms from the past continue to grow, new schism of q's side vs dream's side appears (secret third challenger of brighton floptopia) -> people air out their dirty laundry and snide comments -> november and december -> relative peace -> march-> karl gets hit by a car -> present day -> dnf sextape

i may be wrong for quite a bit of this but this is how i saw it . again this is a tumblr exclusive if you repost this anywhere even iwth my url cropped i will fucking kill you.

[suffarustuffaru]

Reading your tags about how people miss the very obvious "there's some fucked up shit boiling underneath" regarding Otto, just gave me a sudden realization. Otto is the only character I know in fiction where they act all innocent and drive up the "clumsy", "just in the side-lines" and "straight-man (heh)" persona. When. Like no one's in the EMT camp is buying it. They know he's way more capable than he let's on. Meanwhile, the tomfoolery is completely brought on by the Western audience.

Like Otto is failing miserably to make other characters believe that he's not up to mischief, Roswaal even thinks it can bring his downfall. But the audience, who even sometimes *sees* his fucked up thought process, is buying it.

*head in hands*

no u bring up so many good points bc ive been really thinking about this for a while T^T its such an interesting phenomenon in the difference in perception otto has between the japanese speaking half of the fandom vs the english speaking half which can be explained by—yeah. media illiteracy mainly. im also putting my head in my hands anon T^T

because—okay sorry wkdndn im gonna get into meta again but hear me out bc this pattern of the fandom underestimating otto is interesting bc i kind of sort of i cracked the code maybe??? o.o i think the nature of otto is a character is that youre SUPPOSED to underestimate him at first, just like what happens sometimes in universe. i mean wayyy back then i definitely wasnt expecting him to get more depth added to him in arc 4–which was a pleasant surprise—which is also the reaction the vast majority of people have to reading/watching arc 4, along with the other vast majority reaction which is being a bit endeared to ottosubas friendship and respecting otto for being a good friend. and then its easy to underestimate otto bc of 1. all the chaos going on in rezero at any given moment and 2. hes almost always overshadowed by other characters doing worse shit or being more insane than he is and 3. otto of course damn well knows hes easy to underestimate and counts on that. thats what he did against roswaal in arc 4. plus—i mean even aesthetics-wise hes 100% DESIGNED to be easy to underestimate. his outfit and physical features make him look either friendly or frazzled or soft. so i think that the point is that we were supposed to be kind of fooled—at first.

because yeah, we’re endeared to otto. we respect him for helping subaru the way he did. we think that hes a nice person and we now support his actions especially after feeling sympathetic towards him after learning his backstory. (or at least the average audience member will think this wjdndn.) but like—you dont even NEED to look at any side content at all for it to dawn on you that theres something Wrong. with him. like all you need is main route arcs 3-8 aka ottos entire screentime thus far, because at arc 4 its so easy to overlook otto unless youre thinking a bit deeper (for example—he gets violent with subaru. like yeah its entertaining, its played for laughs a bit, yeah subaru needed to be snapped out of his own head, but was it 100% necessary??? why did otto have this response??? bc if you just look at the main timeline otto really decided to beat up subaru first. and bc this tendency is now Less Funny in arc 8).

but even if youre just looking at rezero face value, when you get to arc 5 its starting to get even more clear that ottos weird in the head. like we already saw him being very good at scheming and planning in arc 4–in arc 5, we find out about otto hiding the tome for a year. we find out WHY hes been hiding the tome for a year. the tome then leads the witch cult into priestella, so like—in the sense, otto is RESPONSIBLE for arc 5. but theres STILL a tendency sometimes for the audience to continue underestimating him even though by this point we’re getting more clues and many characters around otto, like you said anon, KNOW hes very capable. i keep wondering why this is, but arc 5 is, again, FULL of chaos and different storylines happening at once, so its so easy to almost kind of forget otto there in the background until he occasionally pops up again. plus otto serves an additional role as comedic relief sometimes—he spends all of arc 5 being bitchy and whiny (i say this affectionately HAH) about his camp being full of disasters, for example, so i think the natural response from the audience tends to be “aw otto!! what a silly guy!!” sometimes. you know? so its like. i think at this point some people tend to be like “yeah fair that otto was wary of roswaal and thats why he saved the tome…. anyway ooooh whats going on with these other plot points” wobsbss. its so fascinating bc—ok this might be my own personal experience but anyone reading this pls tell me if you agree or not—i dont think ive seen a lot of people actually even MENTION otto bringing the tome into priestella attracting witch cultists. and the english speaking fandom LOVES to go into certain characters’ wrongdoings so why gloss over otto????

the only explanation i have for this is that from arcs 3-4 underestimating otto is. kind of the point of his character UNTIL you get to arc 5 and the clues in the main story start seeping in even more. and also the western audience DOES have media illiteracy a lot. theres that too. just look at rezero content on youtube or reddit or fanfic sites or other things of that sort T^T but no yeah i think ottos nature as a character exacerbates it. youre supposed to start asking questions about him. youre supposed to start connecting the dots and then SUDDENLY its now EXTREMELY obvious in arc 7-8 and even while theres so much chaos going on its basically shoved in your face. arc 7-8 is just delivering on all the leadup that was arcs 3-5.

and i think that youve gotta be media illiterate for sure to NOT get that otto is not squeaky clean and innocent BY ARC 8. i think that ottos the deconstruction of the loyal best friend trope, and also a mirror into what subaru couldve been like if he decided to be more ruthless instead of jumping right to forgiveness and saving everyone, except sometimes that flies right over the audience’s head wkdndnd. it confuses me bc ive seen some people completely miss the point or completely agree with otto and overlook the Bad Parts of it or, you know, STILL think ottos perfectly sane—like T^T please.

and yeah so back to what you said about otto Not being underestimated In Universe—its such an interesting detail bc hes ALWAYS been simultaneously pathetic and Very Competent wjdndnd. but yeah no all of his friends have seen various hints and clues and evidence of what hes capable of. like even though he hid the tome from them successfully and even though hes hiding info now its INEVITABLE that its gonna blow up in his face one day. like you got characters like garfiel who literally saw otto punch the wall and break his hand in an unhinged fit of rage, julius who got snapped at by otto and while julius is a Bit naive definitely knows somethings off there, anastasia whos smart as hell and definitely knows not to underestimate otto, and roswaal who, like you said anon, literally went out of his way to stop otto from breaking his hand in another unhinged fit of rage and warned otto that he will literally be destroying himself if he keeps going on like this. its this fascinating dichotomy bc otto is NOT fooling anyone around him but at the same time his current schemes are mostly unnoticed—for now—which yeah i havent seen that in a lot of media!!! its an interesting balancing act bc people around him realistically know hes competent after seeing the Proof of that for the past couple arcs, but otto is still finding ways to try and Win…

which—again, the anger and violence is an extension of arc 4 otto!! this is the same guy!! hes always been like this!! ottos kind of stayed the same, deep down, this whole time and as an audience its ONLY shoved in our face with a big gigantic spotlight on it FOUR ARCS LATER, but it was hinted to all this time. and like you said anon—we LITERALLY see ottos fucked up thought processes. literally what sane person thinks any of that shit. its spelled right out for the reader HAH T^T which—yeah. media illiteracy…. and also this whole ask was a longer way of just saying that otto is VERY easy to see at surface level if youre media illiterate. but at the same time it should be very easy to figure out otto is A Bit Fucked Up bc tappei underlines it in bright red print!!! i think people sometimes just hang onto soft awkward silly otto and forget about the rest T^T either that or they dont think he cares about subaru at all. which. that phenomenon of thinking characters that do care about subaru Dont Care is also interesting to me bc why????? we’re at arc 8 and you STILL dont get it??? o.ooooo

but yeah apart from that….. i said this earlier but yeah sometimes some people agree with ottos realism in arc 8 which is. understandable, but the whole point is that he is EXTREME. with it. hes Not in the right here, but the same crowd that wants wanton revenge in rezero is gonna agree with that kind of stuff T^T ottos been lurking in the background so much so that tappei made it meta by doing the whole “walking in darkness” part of his character, so i guess people just. dont see ottos ACTUAL worst traits and instead think he would ditch subaru at the first opportunity or something. but at the point we are now, arc 8 ottos problem isnt that hed ditch subaru. his problem is that he would sacrifice the world for subaru. his problem is that he gets extremely angry at subaru for trying to do good. his problem is that hes trying to micromanage everything around him and is willing to sacrifice anything necessary to get what he wants. but sometimes people dont get that bc otto doesnt look sound or seem like a character thatd do that. the Underestimation part of his character is doing too well on. certain audiences. please T^T the soft and awkward and silly parts ARE part of his character just like all the Darker parts are!!!

additionally im also wondering if western audience perception of otto is also clouded by the fact that otto looks and sounds more feminine / androgynous and he doesnt have the appeal of Overt Power either……. he cant Really be waifu-ified… and he cant be used as a weird self insert like subaru…. and you Have to look at him closer to understand him…. and for some reason people dont tend to hate on him so aggressively, if anything people cant even see his actual canonical flaws half the time wkdndn so if youre not paying attention otto CANT be aggressively hated on bc theres nothing there if ur not looking at it….. and if youre not paying attention otto seems more “boring” compared to the others…… (not that people arent allowed to not have otto as a favorite character bc thats totally fair but im talking about the tendency to think hes Saner than he actually is.) but yeah these are just my guesses. i have no clue the western fandom is a little T^T some people unfortunately cannot read.

anyway. big thank you to the japanese fanbase for understanding ottos character more and making so much wonderful fancontent for him T^T also i think that we as a collective fanbase should stop underestimating otto in general bc its exactly what he wouldnt want and i think itd be really hilarious. <3333 make him explode with rage please

#rezero #ask #yeah sorry this response was so long wkdndnd but yeah ive been thinking on this for a while… #like ottos a very key side character thats given a lot of focus and yet hes?? largely ignored in english fanbase #but also rezero is a special case i feel bc for some reason a LOT of people misread it so easily. all the time. even fans thatve made it to #arc 8. why???? T^T rezero is so divisive i feel and for what??????? why?????? why do people miss this the story makes it obvious what its #about??? not to mention the LITERAL anime episode called THATS WHAT THIS WHOLE STORY IS ABOUT WNDNDN #tappei basically slamming u in the face with otto being fucked up fr too HAH…. #its like ottos falling into almost the same kind of stuff that rems perception by some people does. which is u know ignoring her problemati #traits of Being Obsessed With Subaru. shes a loyal ‘waifu’ and ottos a loyal friend but he cant be waifuified so easily and hes not front #and center in the sense that rem was also the second main love interest skdndnd #which i think might be the common fandom problem also of overly focusing on romance bc people notice rems loyalty more than they do otto at #this rate. bc rems the waifu. ottos only the friend. hes ‘less important’. #its interesting to me. bc why??? with other characters ppl either erase all the good or the bad out of them but with otto hes just in stasi #hes just kind of. there. #rip otto the bad luck made him cursed to always be in the background #it just confuses me so much T^T the difference between jp fandoms perception of otto vs english fandom is STAGGERING #otto suwen #the other day i accidentally got dragged into an argument on reddit bc someone tried to correct me on otto and i was like ?????? WHAT SANE #PERSON DOES ANY OF THE STUFF ARC 7-8 OTTOS DOING…??? #they were like ‘otto wouldnt do anything for subaru’ and i was like ‘lmao whys he trying to have louis killed then 😭😭😭😭’ #‘whyd he try to let 50 million ppl die then?? 😭😭’ #‘WHY DID HE DIE FOR SUBARU THEN’ #like ottos not gonna indulge subaru with everything thats not what i mean by he would do anything for subaru. he would do anything as in he #would sacrifice so much for subaru. but some people just see subaru doing it then ignore otto trying to do the same thing but in a differen #font???

[itsclydebitches]

I mentioned in the tags of a recently reblogged post that I had Opinions™ about the “OFMD fandom is racist because they’re interpreting Ed as illiterate” take that’s been gaining traction lately, so I finally decided to slam those opinions into a post. Specifically, I want to list the textual details that made me, personally, come to the conclusion that Ed is (likely) illiterate as a means of pushing back against this growing idea that anyone who crafts meta under that assumption, includes it as a characterization in fics, uses it as a means of theorizing about season two, etc. is automatically coming from a place of racism... rather than, in actuality, a pretty solid canonical interpretation. So some things this post is not includes:

A claim that OFMD/fandom in general isn’t racist in other respects. I’m speaking solely about this one example.

A claim that Ed is definitely, 100%, no room for discussion illiterate. I believe it’s a likely possibility based on what we’ve seen, but the show hasn’t provided confirmation one way or the other.

An attack against any headcanoning. Fans are free to imagine up and/or hope for whatever they like, regardless of how persuasive a reading others find it to be.

Okay, I’m doubting my ability to string this all together with halfway decent transitions right now (the heat is making my brain buzz like TV static), so let’s just stick to a list form.

1. Lucius Establishes That Illiteracy is the Norm in Pirate Culture

First off, OFMD introduces class differences in the pilot episode by having Stede gush about the “full library” he has on board... to his personal scribe... who is writing down his thoughts and adventures purely for vanity’s sake (the fact that they’re later used to save Stede’s life is a separate matter from his intentions here), only to suddenly get hit with the knowledge that no one else on the ship can read.

“That’s not... is that true?” he asks, dumbfounded, and then Stede answers his own question with a rather distasteful scoff. Lucius responds with a look that I can only affectionately caption as, ‘This bitch.’ 

(I am also once again apologizing for the horrendous ‘screenshots’ taken with my phone.) 

All of this is deliberate. We’re setting up the dichotomy of pirate vs. gentry culture, as well as one of Stede’s major flaws. Namely, using the privilege of his upbringing as a crutch/personal safety net (with a side of that arrogant superiority: “Don’t debase yourself for a man who doesn’t even have a tureen on board!”). This is why Oluwande and Jim need to explain that for them, piracy isn’t a fun, midlife crisis and Stede comes to the realization, “I’m not a pirate, I’m an idiot.” Wealth is why he’s able to run from Ed the moment his anxiety gets the better of him, hurting him and Mary in one fell swoop when he shows back up all, ‘I’ve decided to be your husband again the same way I decided to be a pirate. Everyone bow to my whims and the privilege that allows me to enforce them!’ The ability to pay wages and read bedtime stories is what keeps Stede’s mutiny on hold for so long (a sharp contrast to Izzy who has no such luxuries to offer as a way of offsetting his own, difficult personality), Stede’s gentlemanly demeanor (born of a lifetime of social education) is what first draws Ed to him, then it’s his material wealth, and finally Stede giving up his fortune to return with only a dinghy and the clothes on his back is the sign of emotional growth.

Literacy isn’t the only marker of Stede’s privilege—far from it—but it is a major one and it’s important for setting up this contrast that drives much of the character work. Yes, Lucius is technically wrong about being the only other member of the crew who can read, though it’s clear why he came to that conclusion when Jim was pretending to be mute and couldn’t just say, ‘Hey, I can read and write too.’ Beyond that one mistake though, we have no reason to doubt Lucius’ claim. Not when the group is worried about who will continue their bedtime stories if Captain is dead and Lucius sucks at the voices. Don’t we think someone else would have spoken up to solve the dilemma if they could? More importantly, revealing that actually more of/most of the crew can read would severely undermine that thematic work of Stede’s upbringing—and that goes double for the man who represents the pinnacle of pirate culture: Blackbeard himself. We see through our flashback that Ed does not come from a place of privilege, which includes both education and material wealth based on how the show has defined privilege via Stede. Though it’s hardly impossible for Ed to have picked up reading later in life while still grappling with the trauma of growing up poor, for me there’s nothing to indicate that. Far from it: the show goes out of its way to emphasize all the ways in which Ed and Stede contrast one another, with Stede’s privilege—reading included—presented as markers of a life and emotional expression that Ed simultaneously longs for, yet feels that he’s undeserving of.

2. Ed is Shocked By the Amount Stede Has Read

When Ed is presented with Stede’s library he acts like a man who has never had access to so many books before. “Incredible,” he whispers, staring at the shelves in awe.

Except then Ed goes on to specify what exactly he’s in awe of and it’s not the books themselves. “You’ve read all of these?” he asks Stede, the ‘all’ emphasizing his shock that any one man (even in his forties) could have gotten through this many volumes. Ed doesn’t act like someone impressed with the beauty of the library itself—like we might see if he too was a reader and was simply impressed by the pretty bindings—but rather at Stede’s ability to read any library, but particularly one of this size. When Stede says that these are just his favorites, Ed gives a little huff of stunned disbelief. These are not the reactions of a man who frequently keeps books in his own cabin to peruse. Rather, they’re the reactions of someone who hasn’t read much himself, if anything at all.

In addition, Ed doesn’t engage with the text when Stede hands him the book. I’ve seen a couple people say that Ed can clearly read because he knew that was a picture of himself, but really, it’s not a hard thing to deduce. Even if Stede hadn’t led with this being something he thinks Ed will enjoy—AKA, it’s likely something about you—for all the fantasy details of nine guns and snake-like hair, Blackbeard is pretty distinctive in his look. That’s that point. He has long hair, a massive black beard, dresses all in leather, and is depicted with pirate-y things like ships and treasure. You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who that’s supposed to be an illustration of. The point though is that there’s a page of text to the left and, more importantly, a big title claiming he’s “The Mad Devil Pyrate Blackbeard,” yet Ed doesn’t take issue with the “mad” or the “devil” part. He jumps straight to looking at the image itself, despite the writing being just as valid a detail to get angry over as the nine guns.

3. Ed Treats The Books He Comes Across as Disposable

Going off of his reaction to Stede’s library, I think it would still be possible to argue that Ed is primarily impressed with the number of books he possesses (another kind of material privilege) if we didn’t see Ed get access to a huge number of books and immediately discard them. In “The Best Revenge is Dressing Well,” they raid the vessel where Stede finds several shelves of books, enough that he also refers to it as a “library.” This tells us then that most ships probably have at least a couple books on board and many, like this one, might have a big selection. So if Ed had wanted a library like Stede’s, he could have easily gotten one. He’s Blackbeard and he’s been looting ships for several decades at this point. The only reason why someone that impressed with Stede’s books would pass off so many opportunities to get his own would be if he doesn’t have a use for them, especially when books don’t carry the same toxic masculinity implications as a cashmere scarf does. Blackbeard, the legend, should be able to read with a safety that he couldn’t, say, dress in a flowery robe and recite poetry. Books are a fairly safe form of expression for a pirate (and entertainment too, something Ed lacks!) yet he doesn’t make use of them.

Instead, the way Ed acts here heavily implies to me that a) he can’t read (or can’t read well) and b) he’s feeling insecure about it. He snaps that this isn’t “how raiding works” when Stede says he’s replacing the books he’s taken with ones he’s already read, despite the fact that Ed has been pretty chill for the rest of the attack and, notably, usually likes Stede’s eccentricities. The most likely reason why he’d suddenly frown at Stede not raiding 'properly’—in a relationship where Stede’s new way of doing things is usually exciting and fascinating to Ed—is if Stede’s book focus is dredging up feelings of inadequacy. Ed opens the book, but flips through it in a way that shows a distinct lack of interest... or an inability to read it. He tosses it aside. Then he slaps the rest of the books out of Lucius’ hands. On its own this interaction might imply that Ed is disdainful of reading in general, but following how enamored he is with Stede’s personal library and his ability to work through it, the scene instead implies illiteracy. Here, Stede is enthusiastic about something Ed can’t share, on an outing where Ed is supposed to be teaching him, so he goes hard on how “raiding works” and makes it clear that books—these useless objects to him—aren’t worth picking up. Drop them and go shove a knife near a guy’s eyeball instead.

4. Ed Signs the Treaty With an ‘X’

I don’t actually have that much to say about this scene (in regards to literacy, anyway), simply because the ‘X’ alone is the big takeaway. I’m sure by now we’ve all seen the tweet claiming that an ‘X’ was used by indigenous people as a form of protest against colonizers and the historical accuracy of that aside (it’s not a discipline I’m at all educated in, but others have pushed back against both OP’s interpretation of the book’s thesis as well as whether this intersects with Māori culture), that’s simply not the most obvious implication here. We know based on interviews that the writers have unintentionally included racial coding in other parts of the show—making the men of color work during Izzy’s brief stint as captain being one of the most well known. That wasn’t meant to be an indicator of racism, just a combination of Nairn having a bad back and dumb luck regarding who was staged to do the work—so this wouldn’t be the first time that fans have come to a very different conclusion than the writers intended. Ultimately, I think it’s FAR more likely that an American writer used a well-known means of conveying illiteracy, as seen throughout American popular culture, in a show that is not at all concerned with historical accuracy... than it is that he included a very subtle, historical allusion to indigenous protest and attached that to a character whose ability to know about that and culturally benefit from it are questionable at best. Though, as said at the start, headcanoning is fantastic and adds a wonderful depth to Ed’s character, from a canonical standpoint this feels like an Occam’s Razor situation to me: the simplest explanation is the most likely.

5. The Show Doesn’t Shy Away From Establishing Who Can and Can’t Read

This is a minor point, but it helps solidify all of the above. We’re told that Stede can read. We’re told that Lucius can read. Again, those are important skills used to separate them from the rest of pirate culture. We learn in a surprise twist that Jim can also read, write, and they’re not actually mute. The show then heavily implies that Izzy can read by a) giving him a voice-over similar to Jim’s (even though we never see what he might be writing in) and b) having him spend time in Stede’s library before the fuckery and then again, this time actually looking through the books (compared to Ed’s disorganized flipping/discarding) and finding an image of Blackbeard all by himself (compared to Stede doing that for Ed). Sure, we could theorize that Izzy just happened to stumble across a book about Blackbeard, maybe because Stede has so many in his collection, and he’s only looking at pictures/pretending to read in the shots where he has a book in hand.. but again, the simplest explanation feels the most persuasive to me. The point being that the show usually makes it very clear who can read and who cannot, with those in the gray area nevertheless leaning hard in one direction. Izzy leans hard into ‘literary.’ Ed does not.

Finally, I want to quickly address a couple of arguments I’ve seen pop up over the last couple of months:

1. The Real Blackbeard was Able to Read (+ You Have to Read to Sail a Ship)

Any and all takes along these lines are immediately suspect in my mind because they’re rooted in historical accuracy... and ignore the fact that OFMD is not historically accurate. At all. The real life Blackbeard did not fall in love with Stede Bonnet. The ship runs on gay sex and story time, not legitimate sailing techniques. Any argument that begins with “But the real Blackbeard...” or “But in real life you have to...” falls flat because this is very much not the real Blackbeard and the plot is in no way bound by realism. I mean, I’m not trying to be a buzzkill. I think it’s fun to play thought games like “What if Ed and Izzy run their ship aground like they did in real life and that becomes a callback to the second episode?” but there’s a difference between fun theorizing about what random events the show might include for the laughs and trying to use historical accuracy as a form of evidence in metas. I mean, Buttons is out here communicating with seagulls and casting hexes so that Calico Jack (presumably) dies via cannonball. When your story is that untethered from reality, any claims based in realism hold little value imo. Ed being able to read because the real Edward Teach could read is no more likely than Ed dying a horrific death at... [checks Wikipedia] hmm. A year after the events of the show start. Should be happening any episode now! 

2. Ed is Able to Read Music

Honestly, as someone with a 2,000 book library and no ability to read music, I’m not sure how one relates to the other, but a couple times now I’ve seen people claim that because Ed plays the harpsichord at the party, he must know how to read. Putting aside the strange conflation though, Ed isn’t reading any music here. He plays solely from memory and, given what else we see of his talents, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ed had simply memorized a few shanties over the years. He’s already learned the shape of the clouds. He dutifully repeats Stede’s words after he’s corrected on the scarf’s fabric—“An exquisite cashmere.” Though he hasn’t got it all down yet, Ed is also well on his way to learning all the insane spoons and forks involved in fine dining. The guy’s got a good head for recalling information, which to me is an entirely separate skill from the specific ability to interpret words on a page.

3. Ed Read the Placards During Dinner

Does he though? The scene begins when Ed is already seated at the table and though he does look towards the placard that says he’s Godfrey’s guest, I interpret that more for the audience’s benefit than anything else. After all, Ed is already sitting down. He knows where he’s supposed to be. Why would he need to re-read his own placard? Despite the glance in that direction, it looks like an establishing shot to set the scene. So then how did Ed know where to sit? Idk, any way someone knows where to sit without looking at their placard. Maybe one of the servants showed him. Maybe another party-goer shooed him into his designated seat. Ed acts lost and confused the whole time, looking in random directions and muttering about snail forks. He doesn’t act like someone who chose this spot confidently, nor does he act like someone who can use reading as a skill to assist him in his anxiety. That is, he doesn’t look for and find Stede’s placard to ensure they’re seated together and he doesn’t realize he’s next to the touchy woman until it’s too late.

4. Finally: How Could Ed Have Drawn an ‘X’ If He Doesn’t Know How to Read?

Because an ‘X’ is just two crossed lines that might not have any meaning to him beyond, ‘This is what illiterate people do to sign their name.’ There’s a huge gap between understanding the ‘X’ as a symbol for this particular situation and knowing how to apply it—along with 25 other letters—to read a language. I can draw the Superman ‘S’ (not an ‘S’!), but that doesn’t mean I can read Kryptonian. I can also recite the Spanish alphabet from middle school, but that doesn’t mean I remember how to apply it after years without practice. Humans are really good at tying signified concepts to signs and an ‘X’ isn’t exactly the most difficult sign to memorize. Of course, it’s also possible that Ed knows his letters, but not how to read Stede’s books. Illiteracy isn’t a black and white state of being: Ed may understand the ‘X’ only as a symbol of agreement, or as a letter, or as a part of a couple words. I feel like the fandom is approaching this as an either/or situation—you can read or you can’t—rather than a very complicated skill that takes years to master, with everyone continuing to learn as time goes on. You think I remember every grammatical rule in the English language? Or that I know the meaning of every word I come across? Or even how to pronounce them? You think I can switch to a culture I’m not a part of—an online space, an academic discipline, a friends’ text exchange—and read through it without stumbling on words, acronyms, and concepts I’ve never encountered? Just as there’s a huge range within my literacy, there’s the possibility for an equally huge range within Ed’s illiteracy too. Maybe he can’t read at all. Maybe he can recognize Godfrey’s name after seeing it on the invitation card. Maybe he can only write his name, but chose not to. Maybe he can do all that, but can’t manage the dense text of Stede’s books. Maybe he can read a bit, but can’t manage the fancy script of the gentry. Maybe the vocabulary is an obstacle. Maybe he learned a long time ago and, like my Spanish, has since lost it. There are a lot of options here that would fall under the large umbrella of 'Ed is illiterate.’

All of which is just to say: those of us working with an illiterate Ed in metas, fanfics, and the like didn’t pull that idea out of thin air and we definitely didn’t hit on it because Ed isn’t white. It’s a reading that the show is very much pointing towards and even if it’s proven wrong in season two, that doesn’t erase the strong implications we got at the start.Yes, there’s a lot wrong with fandom—I’d never deny it—but that’s not going to improve if people put their energy towards pushing inaccurate, but very satisfying claims. It’s a lot easier (and makes people feel good about themselves) to make blanket claims about how Ed Not Being White + Illiterate Interpretations = Racism... but that ease and feelings of superiority don’t make it true. Like the discourse over using any shortened version of Oluwande’s name, or the desire to saddle the antagonist (Izzy) and any fans who like him with accusations of racism, the fandom is looking for easy, black and white rules to avoid being #Problematic. But OFMD is too complicated for that—fandom is too complicated for that—and even if it wasn’t, making up nefarious motivations for character interpretations doesn’t achieve a damn thing.

#OFMD #Our Flag Means Death #Edward Teach #mymetas

[esther-dot]

OMG I forgot about sending that ask LOL The first thing I saw yesterday after waking up was your reblog of another mockery of that Barbrey D post, and I just couldn't help myself. Sorry for receiving a weird rant. And it seems I'm not done yet.

That post was one of the dumbest thing I've seen in a while. Though I applaud the originality of it. That was definitely a new approach to this fandom's immemorial crusade of downplaying Sansa's importance. I actually think BD will play a role too, but in Sansa's court. I haven't extensively studied or theorized but I have always had the impression that she'll be one of the first who'll back Sansa's claim bc Manderly gets the other Stark. She needs her own Stark so to speak, and the only free one around will be Sansa. But to think that she'll play the MAIN role in defeating Boltons, leading the North after their fall??? Will she rebuild the Winterfell too? Because it means so much to her I'm sure, the seat of the Starks...

Then again how am I supposed to take someone who thinks Dany will have nothing to do with burning of KL seriously? That Chekov's gun will not go off, really? The character who has dragons (and got those dragons by burning her slave alive for revenge) will never use them for their main purpose? They seem to like quoting GRRM but conveniently ignore how he called the dragons nuclear weapons. He was just joking, I guess.

I didn't know the op so I looked around their blog to get a sense of where that post is coming from, just to be sure. And oh boy... You know the GRRM interview where the reporter asks what Ice and Fire means and he refers to both the Others and Dany as threats to Westeros, right? Like it's literally right there, it's from his mouth, he says things going on north of the Wall and Dany with her dragons on another continent are much greater and more dangerous threats Westeros ignores. And what did they get from that interview? "OMG I knew it! It's going to be Ice vs Fire, Others vs Dany! She is going to destroy them and save the world!!" *doublefacepalm.gif* It's really sad seeing education system failing people in action, look at them, they can’t even comprehend simple answers given in interviews. Yet they have such confidence that despite their egregious media illiteracy they are absolutely sure if themselves that they are the ones who understand ASOIAF and think other people who don’t follow their interpretations are actually the ones who can’t read.

No take backs. I’m a Fat Walda as QitN fan now. 😂

I really like your take on it. I think in general we focus so much on the POV characters it’s easy to overlook the secondary ones who help advance the plot in their way. That’s my issue with people who act like Robb’s Will means Jon will inherent Winterfell and Sansa is disinherited (and some think she’s delegitimized?) because, uh, what will the Northerners think about this? They’re going to have opinions, they’ll get dialogue. Anyway, your view incorporates the impact of these characters, so I love that.

Full disclosure: I’ve had that blog blocked for a while, so I only saw that post because it was reblogged onto my dash and when I realized who it was, I just scrolled on by. They’re part of the group that simultaneously says the Dark Dany theory is all about shipping and also make jokes about how Dany should do war crimes as a treat. It annoys me that so many seemingly neutral ASOIAF blogs fill the tags with posts about how awful Sansa fans are because some of us are cool with Dark Dany...even though they also kinda know it’s happening? If you accept Dany burning KL, how are we haters for talking about it? How is it sexist for us to say if you burn a city, murder women and children, you’re going out a villain? How is objecting to burning people alive about shipping? 🤷🏻‍♀️

And this:

“The character who has dragons (and got those dragons by burning her slave alive for revenge) will never use them for their main purpose?”

Is a really good point. I don’t mind if Martin has Jon believe he needs Dany (I just realized if we’re looking for who got what from the books I can make an argument for Jon getting Aemon’s belief in Daenerys “Daenerys is the only hope”— and hell, let’s just toss in boatbang as being stolen from Sam and Gilly while we’re at it), but, there’s just no way the dragons are actually the answer. Even if Dany goes North (I honestly don’t see how there’s time for that), but even if she did, it would be about her losing her armies/dragons and being driven to take drastic action in the South because she’s suffered catastrophic losses, making her desperate.

As for Martin calling the dragons nukes, I saw this take in the tags and had to take a screenshot:

I think there’s no reasoning with people this determined to misunderstand what the author clearly stated. Just like you said OP took the Martin quote out of its context. They don’t want to believe it, so they refuse to hear it.

#ask dot

[namegoesup]

I absolutely get what you mean about what Taylor meant by that post & agree %100, but people just aren't understanding the nuance of it all because they are literally illiterate & lack critical thinking skills. I don't blame anyone getting tired of all the bullshit "Bu- Bu- But she said she's an ally!" in the fandom, I kind of want to back off on supporting Taylor as a closeted person & instead appreciate her 'allyship' because of how exhausting this fandom is because of it's illiteracy tbh.

it's funny u bring this up bc everyone likes to praise taylor on her impeccable writing skills .,,,like all of the intricate layers to her words and what they really mean and all of the different references that go into her hidden/deeper meanings..,,and noticing that for the sake of song analysis' and digging into interviews and easter eggs for album clues and insight to her love life ect is fine and cheered for,,,.but suddenly no one wants to point out the wording she is using ???? by saying "our"??? by saying "to be an ally" ??? if this were any other instance people would be dissecting this much further rather than taking it at face value ((even when the face value ...is pretty damn clear))?? when we know she is meticulous and intentional w every single word she says???? she has confirmed that??? to me it just further goes to show that people will jump at the idea of dismissing all of this era as allyship bc that's easier than facing the idea that she might be lgbt??? and then if we really wanted to dig into the ally post and her wording then we'd have to start a whole discussion on how the term ally is perceived now vs what it was originally intended for. bc the latter is a v easy technicality for her to pull later on if she does come out??? the deeper reference and hidden meaning is classic taylor???

sorry that was long winded but i am just as frustrated as u are and i agree it's better to just go w the flow rn, at the end of the day we know where things are headed

#taylor swift #gaylor swift #yntcd #answered #anonymous #pride month

[whoishotteranimepolls]

I've been waiting to respond since you made that post mocking us for wanting problematic characters banned from your polls because apparently you are not taking legitimate criticism of anime seriously. Because it is full of poor representation of minorities and lgbtq+ and you and all of your followers are laughing about it like it's nothing.

I will start with Yamato because everyone acts like one piece even though it's so full of misogyny. Having a trans character is amazing when I don't even think Yamato is actually trans. I'm pretty sure it's a translation error and everyone has latched on to it. So again that is not good representation if it's not confirmed representation and even if it was confirmed, it's not good representation. Yamato because of the one piece art style by default Yamato is full-blown a fetishization of trans people because all one piece characters if they are drawn, female presenting are drawn like sex dolls. So unless they go through an actual gender transition and not just a pronoun change. There cannot be good representation with Yamato because Yamato is a fetish, not a fully fleshed out character. I mean to boil it all down. I don't think the author is capable of having any good lgbtq+ representation one piece is just not a sophisticated enough story and the characters are just too shallow for that to be possible

Bleach did a similar thing with Yoruichi acting like it was so amazing to have a character of color and she is supposedly bisexual but she's just waifu bait and it reeks of misogyny and fetishization of BIPOC. She's a furry to top it all off. It doesn't help that the bunny chick from my hero is basically the new gen version of the same character, but at least she is disabled too. So at least they tried to do something with her character other than waifu bait

So I would like to know why every character I've seen promoted as great representation in anime for either the BIPOC or LGBTQ+ communities seem to only be horribly fetishized, useless, waifu bait. Not actually a good character.

And even when Japan is dealing with its own ethnic minorities and indigenous populations it still does a horrible job by playing into the Noble Savage stereotype Hollywood likes to play into. Have you not seen the anime Golden Kamuy? It's about Japan's own first Nations tribe and it's So disrespectful to that. I swear they could not have had a single person from Hokkaido, much less a member of the actual Ainu people involved in the creation of that anime or manga. And yet I've seen so many people brag about that anime and manga and how it's so good for diversity. When again, every single Ainu character acts like a bad native American stereotype from like a 1950s American Hollywood western. It's that bad and don't get me started on the fan service in that show. It's at a level that could be considered exploitative but it's okay. Some of the characters might be gay so it's representation. To top it all off it reinforces white colonial beauty standards because the main Ainu character is specially because she's half white and has blue eyes like her white dad and she talks about how she's going to be a new kind of better Ainu for the future because she's white passing. That show is a reductive racist dumpster fire and I can't believe anyone says otherwise.

But you said you won't ban characters unless the fandom becomes too toxic. But you really should consider looking out for the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities by not promoting toxic problematic characters and actually banning these toxic problematic characters and shows

Fandoms vs Illiteracy #1

Feel free to critique the essay but not the person nor the person's intelligence. Do not call names, degrade the person, or personally attack them in any way. The purpose of this series is to critique/analyze the arguments contained in the essays.

For those unfamiliar with the characters mentioned, here are pictures. The names are in the alt text.

And here's one of the promotional images for season 2 of Golden Kamuy

So now that everyone is a little bit more familiar with everything mentioned in the essay and knows the rules, feel free to do your own research and respond.

#fandoms vs illiteracy #fandoms and media literacy #yamato #one piece #yoruichi shihouin #bleach #rabbit hero: mirko #rumi usagiyama #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #golden kamuy #whoishotteranimepolls

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Apparently I'm the only one that sees this, but since everyone else needs to be educated, I will message you again since you're going to post these publicly. So please post this but I really think that Victor Nikiforov from Yuri on Ice was not a good representation of the LGBT community, he reinforces so many negative stereotypes and apparently I'm the only one that sees it

First of all the gay figure skater is a stereotype in and of itself. So it feels very reductive to have the big groundbreaking queer love story be about gay figure skaters.

Second of all, Victor is a white savior. Yuri did not need his help to succeed. But yet Victor still felt the need in all his whiteness to go intrude upon Yuri's life. The audacity that took only comes from his white male privilege. I also thought it was very creepy and almost predatory how their relationship started. He was the coach. There was a power dynamic issue. That is another stereotype about gay men that they're predators. So, I do think you shouldn't put him in your polls for that reason but I digress

Yuri deserved someone better than Victor who respects boundaries and power dynamics. Someone who wouldn't intrude upon his life and the way that Victor did. Because didn't Yuri first ask him out or to be his coach while black out drunk after he lost. Victor should have known better than to travel to Japan. It was a joke. He was drunk again, it's predatory and so very creepy

So why are we worshiping? Victor for being a great representation of the lgbt community. It's a good thing that the movie was canceled because there is no way they could have saved this train wreck of a character. Tumblr was way too attached to him and we need to let him die so better characters can live.

Fandoms vs Illiteracy #3

Feel free to critique the essay but not the person nor the person's intelligence. Do not call names, degrade the person, or personally attack them in any way. The purpose of this series is to critique/analyze the arguments contained in the essays.

The above picture is a photo of Victor Nikiforov. Below is a promotional image from Yuri on Ice

So now that everyone is a little bit more familiar with everything mentioned in the essay and knows the rules, feel free to do your own research and respond.

#fandoms vs illiteracy #fandoms and media literacy #victor nikiforov #yuri on ice #whoishotteranimepolls

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Fandoms and Media Literacy

The new tag that's going to encompass everything from the Fandoms vs Illiteracy series to all the Ask I get related to those and similar topics.

When it comes to the Fandoms vs Illiteracy series, I will be posting probably one of those a week if I have one and if I have multiple I will run a poll to see which one gets posted first. Now please don't be too mean. Plus backing up your claims with sources would probably be recommended when dealing with these people.

#fandoms and media literacy #fandoms vs illiteracy #announcement post #not a poll

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Fandoms vs. Illiteracy Pol

I didn't think we would have to do this this week, but I just received a late entry. So, which essay/rant would you like for next week's Fandom vs Illiteracy

A 320-word rant about why Victor Nikiforov from Yuri on Ice should be banned.

Or.

A 250-word rant asking how anyone could find Ace from One Piece attractive and their reasons why he's not appealing. However, it is not asking for him to be banned, though. Sabo and Luffy are mentioned briefly

#fandoms vs illiteracy poll #portgas d ace #one piece #victor nikiforov #yuri on ice #whoishotteranimepolls

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Fandoms vs Illiteracy poll

We have two essays about characters or fandoms that should be banned to choose from this week. The winner will be posted Monday for the second edition of the Fandoms vs Illiteracy.

First one is about Victor Nikiforov from Yuri on Ice

Second one is all about Dungeon Meshi

#fandoms vs illiteracy poll #victor nikiforov #yuri on ice #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Fandoms vs Illiteracy poll

Okay, I've received two essays about problematic characters that I could use for the first Fandoms vs Illiteracy.

The first one mentions Yamato from One Piece, Yoruichi from bleach and the entire Anime/Manga series Golden Kamuy. It's a little less than 600 words

The second one is all about Victor Nikiforov from Yuri on Ice. Its a little over 300 words

*Edit the first essay also mentions the Rumi from My Hero Academia I missed it in the first read through

#fandom vs illiteracy poll #yamato #one piece #yoruichi shihouin #bleach #golden kamuy #victor nikiforov #yuri on ice

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Sorry, I'm a bit confused about the fandom vs illiteracy series, are we allowed to argue against banning characters?

For Viktor most the arguments to me just come off as that one section of fans who embrace purity culture and think interracial relationships are racist and immoral 🤷‍♀️ It just comes across as purity culture and racism masquerading as queer advocacy

He's a great, nuanced character who is lonely and doesn't know how to express his emotions well, but genuinely cares for and loves Yuuri, without being completely co-dependant. Yuuri isn't some completely helpless baby, he's a grown ass adult and the infantification of him is racist itself as it happens all the time to Asian men, especially those that dont fit in heteronormative gender roles.

(Hopefully this didn't come across as too hateful for this blog or broke the rules, I'm just passionate about this show and it's representation)

Oh yeah, Fandoms vs Illiteracy is a debate. Go for it. That essay in particular had fight me energy. Responses that break the guidelines just don't get reblogged but I've also been super busy so I haven't been reblogging responses anyway.

I made that series because I was getting about two to three essays a week for about 2 months And I was tired of basically protecting a group of people that I could tell had no media literacy, an over-inflated ego, and some kind of savior or superiority complex. Since I started actually publishing the essays, I've only received two. So we scared them off because once they actually started facing pushback to their arguments from everyone I guess it's no longer worth the effort to write these multi-paragraph essays

Now I have gotten a few essays that aren't advocating for me to ban characters, so they have been turned into a different series Defend Your Blurbo which is something completely different now

#ask #not a poll #fandoms vs illiteracy questions

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Has anyone tried to cancel and ban Dungeon Meshi for the explicit racism present in the show? Not saying it should be, it was just a bit of a conflict I've seen from people thinking the characters being racist meant the series as a whole is, and I'm a bit surprised if it hasn't reached this blog lol

(Senshi especially he has a lot of bias he's yet to overcome LMAO)

Not specifically for racism. However, dungeon meshi characters have been targeted for a variety of other reasons including because they're blonde and someone sent me a very extensive list of blonde characters they think should be banned because that reinforces what European ethnic colonial beauty standards. I will be posting the full list sometime soon.

Basically all the female characters because it goes against the spirit of the manga to sexualize them in any way including in these polls.

Laios specifically for being a bad representation of autism. He's also blonde

Marcille and Falin for being bad representations of lesbians. Also blondes

Chimera Falin because when she becomes a chimera, she loses all bodily autonomy and can no longer consent to us, the viewer, sexualizing her. I wish I was making this up. That essay is a treat. It will be the subject of Fandoms vs Illiteracy very soon

Chilchuck for being a bad father.

Izutsumi for being 17 and a cat so she also can't consent to being sexualized. For some reason this is the character people throw tantrums about and will be the one that gets the fandom put in time out

No one has complained about Senshi other than the Senshi sweep meme is getting annoying. I guess right now he has pretty privilege

#ask #not a poll #fandoms and media literacy #dungeon meshi

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Attention Dungeon Meshi Fandom!

You are now on notice. One more temper tantrum and the entire fandom is in time out, meaning no polls for your characters for an entire month. This is because not only did a couple people throw a tantrum in comments and reblogs again, but I received multiple ask all about the same issue and the same character which apparently everyone always loses your mind over because this happens every single time, they're in a poll, including one ask I think qualifies as an essay. Don't worry, it will show up in Fandoms vs Illiteracy pretty soon. But I am tired of policing your polls you are acting like children. Because it's always the same character, the same issue and it's one I've addressed so many times with. But continually I have to deal with tantrums and my inbox gets flooded. No more either grow up or time out. Remember that I refer to the Naruto fandom as my problem child. Well congratulations you're their twin. So now you two are my problem twins. So get your crap together and take a chill pill because Naruto isn't on notice because they've behaved since I've called them out.

And before everyone asks what the issue is, it's always over Izutsumi. Yes, she is 17. Yes I am aware. Apparently she's the only character anyone cares about being under the age of 18 because no other character causes this much drama. Please read the rules. I allow characters that are high school and above so that means 15. Now polls with characters under the age of 18 tagged with #minor poll so if you don't want to participate because it makes you uncomfortable you can block the tag. So quit causing issues in the comments and reblogs. Quit flooding my inbox, block the tag and grow up. I am sick and tired of this

#not a poll #announcement post #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #fandom drama

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Fandom Jail Explained and a Way to Avoid it

Okay, since two fandoms are now in jail, because I do not want to deal with their drama. I think I should explain how it works, how you end up getting put in jail, and how you can avoid it

Fandom Jail is when a fandom causes me trouble to the point I don't want to deal with them anymore. I put them in jail, and as punishment, there will be no polls for them for a month. You can see what fandoms are currently in jail under the fandom jail section in the pinned post, along with the date their polls will return

When fandoms start causing me trouble, I do give a warning. I've had to do it with Naruto, Sailor, Moon, dungeon, Meshi, and JoJo's notice only two of them are now in jail. Two of them clean up their act. Naruto went from my problem child to one of my favorite fandoms now. But if you ignore the warning, go straight to jail because I need a break from dealing with your drama.

What classifies as giving me trouble? It's frequent rude comments and tags that I have to go in and delete or hide. This includes comments about characters' age if they are disrespectful. People argue with me about the morality of my polls in the comments due to the rules to the point where I have to block people. Anonymous asks, complaining about blog rules with varying degrees of politeness and rudeness. It's always right now the character's age issues.

Remember, I tag all the polls accordingly so you can block the tag and curate your experience if it makes you uncomfortable to vote in polls with characters aged 15 to 17. So it is on you to curate your experience instead of harassing me

Dungeon Meshi harassed me on and off over about three weeks. JoJo did everything the Dungeon Meshi fandom did in about 6 hours, but worse because I had to block two people, so things can escalate fast. That is also why they went from warning to jail in less than 30 minutes because it took less than 30 minutes for me to receive another ask and two more comments. That warning meant nothing.

Now a tip to avoid this

Take a page out of the One Piece Fandom and police your own. Because on One Piece polls, if someone makes a comment about a character being underage or something before I get a chance to deal with the issue. Someone in the One Piece fandom has already commented something along the lines of. Did you read the rules? Why didn't you block the tag like everyone else? If you don't like it, don't participate.

I don't think you guys realize how much this helps, and I'm so grateful for the people who do this because when you guys do this, the person is less likely to want to argue with me about the morality of my rule accepting minor characters in my polls because they know they are outnumbered. So that means I only have to delete three comments instead of 10 to 15? They may still end up in my ask box, but that is much easier to deal with, and I might have another entry for Fandoms vs. Illiteracy

So this is a case of helping me help you by policing your own, so I don't get so fed up with the idiots in your fandom that I don't want to deal with your fandom entirely

#fandom jail #not a poll #announcement