#things this website seems to enjoy and circulate and there are so many other and BETTER ways to discover media

[sir-dyke-genderpunk]

CW FOR DRUGS, OVERDOSE AND ALSO VOMIT BUT THIS NEEDS TO GET AROUND

HEY. FUCKING LISTEN. THIS IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT FOR THE SAFETY OF SO MANY PEOPLE. If you see the Vance Delta 8 brand being advertised, do not buy it. For the love of fucking god please do not buy it, at least not online. Most YouTuber sponsors are scams (not the YouTubers faults they need money somehow), but it made me fucking disgusted to see this brand sponsoring YouTubers and trying to get more people into their shit. This brand is DANGEROUS.

I'm a chronic stoner. I'm friends with a bunch of chronic stoners. I've also done drugs a lot harder than pot. After taking a 2/3rds of a Vance brand edible, I threw up more than I've ever thrown up in my ENTIRE life. It was fucking grotesque, not to get graphic but there was a pile of vomit the size of my entire body on the pavement when I was done and I had to get carried back to my dorm. This isn't a normal reaction to have to what should be akin to a marijuana high as someone that smokes every day and eats edibles frequently.

I wasn't the only one one who had a bad experience though, out of the group of people I was taking the gummies with, every single person has a similarly bad experience. At least one other person threw up just as much as I did when taking them a separate time. Another person who took them didn't know where they were. One of my friends is convinced he almost died, but that could've been the drugs making him paranoid. They would also make us sweat PROFUSELY when we took them, a pretty clear sign of lacing or otherwise taking a drug you did Not mean to take.

We definitely shouldn't have kept taking them after the first experience, but considering how well branded Vance is as a company, we first thought we might not be dosing it correctly ourselves. But every single time, without fail, one of the things I mentioned above occured until we finally decided to stop taking them. And that was fine, until the person who originally bought them sold them to another person (who I also know is a stoner) who ended up having a paranoid episode and needed help getting back to their dorm.

That's why I don't feel right not doing everything in my power to get the word out. I felt so fucking guilty knowing that those edibles got sold to another person I was aquatinted with on campus. I cant sit here and watch YouTubers I genuinely enjoy advertise this brand in good faith.

In hindsight, we assumed we had actually bought something like spice or k2. Could be laced too I guess, but it made sense to us at least considering our reactions along with the fact that LOTS of information on their website is nondisclosed, and also that Delta 8 is synthetic ""fake weed"" and so is k2. I'm not an expert though, this was just the theory we had to help us come to terms with what we went through.

Hell, the first red flag should've been how easy it was to get delivered to our college campus while none of us were old enough to legally buy at the time.

So imagine my shock when I saw YouTubers happily advertising this brand a few months later as being an eco-friendly, healthy alternative to just buying a cart or some edibles at your local dispensary. This is legitimately so fucking scummy.

I'm not saying every batch of Vance gummies is laced with spice or some other shit. CLEARLY not everything they sell is a dud because they wouldn't even be able to have these sponsors if there wasn't some amount of testing done legally. The sponsors usually use them at least a little, so it seems none of the sponsors have yet had bad experiences. But drugs are serious fucking business. And not only do they have these potentially dangerous drugs in circulation, once again they were also exceedingly easy for us to order even though none of us were 21. Who's watching YouTubers the most? Kids. Teenagers.

None of the videos I've seen Vance sponsor for have even been age restricted. Even if a YouTubers primary demographic isn't kids or teenagers, it is impossible to not know that a large portion of the audience is inevitably going to be kids in the early to late teens especially. Brands like this know who they're advertising to when they do things like this.

Who's to say for every 50 batches of Vance gummy packages there's not 1 dud package? Or that the company isn't giving out real shit to exclusively YouTubers? It's always better to be safe than to be sorry, especially when it comes to getting kids potentially hooked on drugs. I'm pro-drug use, pro-harm reduction, and pro-complete legalization, and I still think it is completely morally reprehensible for companies to be advertising drugs--but ESPECIALLY drugs that could be laced or dangerous--to children through the use of their favorite YouTubers.

Not to mention these sponsors like to subtly imply that buying from Vance and online stores in general is a safer alternative to shopping at dispensaries, something that is objectively so untrue it gives me tunnel vision when I think about it for too long. Dispensaries need to be CERTIFIED to be able to sell anything. All of their products must be lab tested or they can't sell them. They aren't allowed to withhold information from you. Not to mention MANY dispensaries (at least in the US) are Native-owned small businesses. Every single bad experience with a drug I've had was from drugs that I bought online. Chances are if you don't have to go to the dark web to find it, it's probably either a scam or dangerous.

Please please please spread the word about this. I feel like I've waiting for something bad to happen to either one of the people sponsoring these gummies or someone who bought some after seeing a YouTube advertisement. I don't want anyone to have to feel that guilt, and I don't want to see anyone hurt or worse over a shady YouTube sponsorship.

Don't buy Vance Delta 8 products for your own safety.

#important #news #youtube #harm reduction #drugs mention #420 #420gay #420life #politics #spread #not my blogs main theme but i ahve the most followers on this one and it feels so super important

[maddiviner]

Today, I’ll be interviewing Taylor Ellwood! A well-known magical iconoclast, Ellwood (known here as @teriel) authored several books on pop culture magic. He’s also written many more on other postmodern magical topics. You can visit his website here. I recommend his recent revised book, Pop Culture Magic 2.0 to any magical practitioner who might want to integrate their love of stories and popular culture into their magical practice.

E: In the past few years, I’ve seen many magical practitioners criticizing the role of consumerism in the occult and culture at large. Given that popular culture sometimes has to take cues from what’s profitable, what do you think about the role consumerism plays, for better or worse?

T: I think consumerism is an inevitable reality of culture. It’s something that has been part of human history from at least the beginning of recorded history. It has evolved and is continuing to evolve (cryptocurrency seems to be the next evolution) but it isn’t going away. Pop culture will always be influenced by consumerism because what people buy, watch, etc., is what keeps a given pop culture in circulation. My perspective is to accept the reality of consumerism but also focus on what I genuinely like and enjoy, both in terms of magical work and in terms of creating art, writing etc. If you want to work with a given pop culture embrace the reality that consumerism does play a role in that pop culture…what makes something popular is dictated by what people are willing to spend and invest money on, to some degree.

E: In Pop Culture Magic 2.0, you talk about the practice of “experience taking” in work with pop culture characters. You describe how this can work as a kind of mediumship. You, of course, give safety advice in your books about not allowing the character’s spirit (so to speak) to pervade your entire life. That is usually the major criticism or fear people have about this kind of experiment. Is this a risky practice compared to other forms of spiritwork?

T: It’s no riskier than any other type of spirit work technique or practice. It’s using the same methodology and practices. When you invoke a traditional spirit you are also experience taking. Experience taking provides another frame of reference for working with spirits that may make it easier to connect with spirits because it provides a modern context for the connection, and in particular with pop culture characters it provides a frame of reference around the experiences that are relevant to the pop culture. The reason I included experience taking in Pop culture Magic 2.0 is because it provided a great example of how we unknowingly end up invoking pop culture spirits in us when we are into the pop culture that we’re enjoying. We do this with other people as well. We take on the traits and activities because we mirror what we’re observing. What magic allows us to do is do it on a conscious level and that may provide more control of the experience taking as a result.

E: I’ve heard some pop culture mages suggest that fictional characters might be real in their own right, albeit not in our universe. Usually, this relates to the “many worlds'' hypothesis. That perspective contrasts with the idea that we’re creating our characters as thoughtforms, using our own will and creativity. As someone with a lot of pop culture magic experience, what’s your perspective on this - created, discovered, a secret third thing…?

T: I’ve taken the perspective that fictional characters can be real in their own right and that what authors and other creators have done is channeled that pop culture. I don’t see it as being any less viable than other spirits being real. What makes a spirit real isn’t a question of tradition or age, but rather a question of whether we have encountered something we can’t conventionally explain or understand that may have an objective existence. Pop culture spirits could fit that and so I’ve always taken that stance.

E: In recent years, the term “reality shifting” gets thrown around a lot on TikTok and other sites. People claiming to practice this say that they’re able to “shift” into alternate (often fictional) universes. For example, they might “shift” to Middle Earth or the Marvel Universe, only to return bodily to ours. Initially I thought this was just the younger generation’s phrase for astral projection, but it seems to involve more intense, complicated claims. What’s your take on this? Is it all daydreams? Is it something else?

T: My take on this is that it’s a combination of day dreaming and wish fulfillment. This isn’t to say they aren’t connecting with an alternate universe or having meaningful experiences. In fact, we could see this as an extension of experience taking, where they are taking on the experiences of an alternate universe. In the end the real question does it serve their spiritual work and life in a meaningful way.

E: In Pop Culture Magic 2.0, you talk about setting boundaries when channeling pop culture entities. Do you have any thoughts on those who, for whatever reason, identify wholly with a character? Sometimes the term fictionkin gets used. They say that they don’t choose such identities, but rather “awaken” to them, and often believe they were a version of the character in a past life.

T: My thought on this is that it's an escape fantasy of sorts, like a method actor overly identifying with the character. You can take on too much of something, but does that mean you’re really that identity or are you trying to escape the identity you occupy in your regular life? People may not want to answer that question, but its worth asking and answering, especially in terms of developing a grounded practice that supports your life as opposed to helping you escape from your life. Pop culture magic and spirits ought to empower us, not become an escape fantasy.

E: Pop culture magical systems remain somewhat controversial , even within the magical community. You (alongside Felix Warren’s addition) address many common criticisms of the concept in your book. Do you think the occult community will become more accepting of this form of magical practice? Why or why not? What do you think the future holds for pop culture magic?

T: When I wrote Pop Culture Magick there was a lot less acceptance. Two decades later there is a lot more acceptance. I think as time goes on the occult community will become more accepting or quieter in the disagreement that is expressed. I also think as more people practice pop culture magic and develop systems of their own this will help with the overall acceptance and it’ll become a more mainstreamed version of magic that some people practice.

E: This is perhaps a bit tangential, but I think it’d be interesting to talk about. With things like those infamous algorithms and advanced artificial intelligences becoming more commonplace, do you think high technology will change magic?

T: I already think technology has changed magic. We see more technomancy occurring already. There’s some interesting work already available about AI and magic, so as with anything else the evolution of technology will also change how some people practice and think about and explore magic. It won’t replace what’s already there, but it will add its own cultural stream to the current of magic and provide different and novel ways to explore magic. It’s not an area of magic I’m all that interested in, but there are plenty of people already working on combining technology and magic.

E: You’ve worked with many pop culture paradigms over the years. I’ve worked quite a fair share of them myself. Some were easy for me, some were hard. Do you believe that certain narratives are more conducive to magic, or is it merely a matter of personal resonance?

T: I do think certain narratives are more conducive than other narratives. For example, if you have a system of magic in place within a narrative or something to the equivalent effect, this does make it easier to develop a pop culture system or a one off working. If that’s not present, I think its harder to develop a real fit that can be worked with. That’s just my opinion based on what I’ve tried and what I’ve observed.

E: I’m asking everyone this. How did the pandemic change your personal perspective and practice?

T: The pandemic turned everything upside down in my life. I’ve gone through a lot of life changes including a divorce and moving to a new city. Those life changes have spilled over to my magical life. My magical practice is currently focused around exploring sacred masculinity, both in terms of mythology and sacred sexuality, as well as focused around embodied and somatic practices for internal work and inner alchemy. I’m also continuing to develop an approach to magic that is an alternate to the will based approach espoused in the overall occult community. The pandemic really made me question the paradigms of power and focused me on continuing to develop more collaborative and cooperative relationships.

This is all pretty interesting stuff! I’d like to thank Mr. Ellwood for this interview and food for thought!

#witchcraft #magic #witch #witchblr #occult #eliza.txt #eliza reads #pop culture magic #pop culture #taylor ellwood #chaos magic #chaote #spiritwork

[cries-for-no-one]

Bad Biographies: Linda McCartney (Eastman)

I was listening to a podcast discussing the Beatles and once again an "expert" repeated the myth that Linda Eastman attended Sarah Lawrence College. In the past I have gotten annoyed when I heard biographers and journalists repeating this because they haven't done their research. If they can get this wrong, how can I believe the other things they say.

Personally, I have a memory of Linda saying that this isn't true, although admittedly I cannot remember the source. So, to hear others say it wrong gave me the impression they haven't done much research.

But now I have heard it so often, and read it in otherwise good biographies, that I realize that bad sourcing is endemic among biographers.

The biography of Linda

The mistake doesn't come from Linda McCartney - Wikipedia:

Eastman graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1959. She then attended Vermont College in Montpelier, Vermont, where she received an Associate of Arts in 1961... After graduating from Vermont College, she attended the University of Arizona and majored in fine arts while taking up nature photography as a hobby. While she was studying there, her mother was killed in the 1962 crash of American Airlines Flight 1 in Jamaica Bay, New York. She then left the University of Arizona without graduating, and married Joseph Melville See Jr. (in June 1962) Their daughter Heather was born in December 1962. They divorced in 1965, and Linda resumed using her maiden name.

Nor is the bad bio coming from Biography - LindaMcCartney.com website. Which offers a shorter version of the Wikipedia.

Nor is it coming from Sarah Lawrence College, Noted Alumni | Sarah Lawrence College. The college follows events in the careers of previous alumni such as Yoko Ono. Linda, unlike Yoko, is not mentioned at all and is not listed as an alumna.

Linda McCartney at Vermont College » Mining for Old (archive.org)

In fact, I couldn't find a source on the internet that gave the wrong details. Unless it is an obscure source that I have not thought of I assume the bad source is a book or article (or several).

Without asking them directly or scouring through many biographies that I do not own or articles I cannot access, then giving an analysis. I am just going to call it a day on finding the source. But it is strange that it is easy to fact check.

In fact, I would say from 1997 there really is no excuse for getting this wrong.

Many Years From Now

In 1997 Many Years From Now was published. The authorized biography quotes Paul (and Linda) so extensively it is often counted as an autobiography or memoir. Paul had a say over the final edit, so any factual errors are official.

Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. | Miles (barrymiles.co.uk)

Paul and the author Barry Miles use the book to correct multiple myths they perceive as being spread. From how the book is written it seems to be a major motivation behind the book and reviewers criticized the defensive tone.

Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now book review | Miles (barrymiles.co.uk)

Here is the passage related to how Linda reacted to her mother's death...

"Linda moved to Tuscon, where she studied art and history. There is a myth that both Linda and Yoko Ono attended Sarah Lawrence, which was true of Yoko but not of Linda, whose brief academic career was at the University of Arizona. She was not exceptional academically and did not particularly enjoy it. It was an uncertain time in her life, she was mourning her mother and trying to find her place in the world." - Barry Miles, Paul McCartney Many Years From Now, Published (My version): Vintage 1998, Chapter: The White Album, Page: 507

Other myths about Linda that persist are mentioned in the book. Such as Linda being related to Eastman-Kodak, this circulates online, and it seems to only be due to her being a photographer with the surname Eastman. But I haven't come across it like I have this rumor, I assume the McCartneys have done enough to combat it, although it may just be due to how obvious it is that her father is actually a lawyer.

There are further rumors, that she slept with various celebrities or wasn't any good as a photographer, the McCartneys seem to just ignore these and just tell the story on their own terms. When gossip is a source, it probably depends on the biographer to how much weight it is given. Being a celebrity probably amplifies this kind of behavior towards you. Perhaps this celebrity drama creation is a factor for the myth.

Although Paul was criticized for being so defensive and feeling the need to set the record straight, somehow it hasn't stopped people getting this wrong. The book is an important source for information on Paul, his background and the band. It talks extensively from Paul's (and Barry and other insider's) point of view. Most biographers and Beatle experts would have this book, it is a heavily used source.

Why is the myth still repeated so often?

Given that it isn't very difficult to fact check, why do people keep getting this wrong?

I have decided not to name and shame the biographers and Beatle authorities I have heard saying this. I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't think it was a bigger problem. It seems to be a fact that is commonly believed but not examined enough for a basic fact check. Please take my word for it that this is a problem.

What is most curious to me is that it doesn't even matter. If you do not have a source for where she went to college, then don't mention it. It has nothing to do with the Beatles as a band and reflects little on her relationship with Paul.

Motive

When I have heard it used in discussions about her on Beatle Podcasts it was in relations to:

How her and Yoko attended the same school

Perhaps implying a connection between John and Paul's lives or the women they liked. Maybe a spiritual symmetry that is romantic to authors, but ultimately pointless and unnecessary. They had children the same age, loved art and lived in New York, isn't that enough.

However, perhaps the origin for this myth was mistaking Yoko's biography for Linda's.

Yoko at Sarah Lawrence

Speaking about how Paul liked posh girls

Drawing a parallel to his fiancée Jane Asher, whom he had split with a few months before Linda moved in with him.

I'm not sure how much evidence there is of this as some of his girlfriends and wives were posh, but others weren't.

But again it isn't necessary, just say she came from a nice area with a well-off family.

I have the feeling that there is some sort of shorthand by saying she went to that school. Like it meant Linda was super elite and privileged instead of attending the state schools and ordinary colleges.

Hopefully it isn't related to her background, coming from a Jewish family, sometimes people will project stereotypes in a weird antisemitic way. I have seen people comment (anonymously in comments sections) on her Jewish background as if that is significant.

A more generous analysis would be that as fans, commentators want the Beatles to have married high class ladies because it fits their ideals. The Beatles are special and so they shouldn't marry ordinary girls. This is a bit silly but subconscious biases may have an effect on what they believe to be true.

Other than that, I just don't know. They should know better but they don't. I don't want to pile on or irritatingly correct people. It just puzzles me that this myth persists. It concerns me because, although minor, if this isn't getting fact checked what else isn't.

The Future

One day in the hopefully not distant future this post (2022) will be irrelevant because they will stop, either because fact checking gets better (the dream), or more likely, because online people will correct them and embarrass them into changing.

#linda mccartney #linda eastman #the beatles #paul mccartney #yoko ono #Sarah Lawrence #Vermont college #university of arizona #biography #biographer #many years from now #Barry Miles #fact check #rumors #rumor mill

[tibli]

There's something I want to talk about that's been on my mind lately, but first I'd like to preface this by saying that I appreciate any interaction with the things I make. But recently I've noticed a MASSIVE rift in the reblog-to-like ratio that seems kind of concerning to me.

Years ago, when I saw a popular post, there were usually 2 or 3 times as many likes as reblogs. that was standard, imo. Not necessarily great but it was still very sustainable.

Now, the gap is WAY more apparent, and this is definitely something I've seen other artists talk about (though it's usually written in an extremely entitled/guilt-trippy way that pisses me off so I dont interact with the post lmao). Anyway, one of my most popular art posts has approximately 10k notes. Which is awesome!! I've never had anywhere NEAR that many notes on my art so I'm incredibly grateful for that alone!!

But of those 10k notes, only about a thousand are reblogs- and dont get me wrong- I COMPLETELY understand that people have their reasons for why they may like something but not reblog it. I myself have had reasons like that before- mainly bc of like. deep-seated feelings of embarrassment and shame that I've struggles with my entire life. So trust me when I say I get it. I've been there.

But tumblr isn't like a lot of other websites. While it does have a "based on your likes" function, most posts are discovered via reblogs and it's a pretty important facet of the site's culture as a whole (and yes, I am willing to say that tumblr has its own culture. I will say it with my whole chest). It's one of the reasons tumblr users are so fond of this place, despite its shortcomings; it's like an oasis in the desert of hypercorporatization when it comes to social media sites. And that is in part due to the way posts are able to circulate on here for years and years.

Anyway, I'm starting to lose the point a bit, but want I want to say is this: if you enjoy a post, consider reblogging it! That's the easiest way to share it with others, and it helps keep the culture of the site alive, while also, of course, giving some exposure to the person you reblogged the post from.

This isn't a demand, and as I said before, I understand why people might refrain from reblogging. This is just me giving a little PSA to those who may have migrated from elsewhere, and just don't really know how the site works, yet.

#tibtalks #as an artist im happy even if my art only gets a few likes #but i thought this was a topic worth bringing up regardless

[fortressofserenity]

Analysing what one consumes

I still remember the part about how geeks are (sometimes) bad at media analysis, since whenever they consume or enjoy what they like they lack critical thinking. Like they gloat over knowing every little character, but don’t bother understanding the author’s motivations perhaps fearing that it would make the author look bad or something. Not that the author is a bad person, it’s more of a matter of them having human failings every now and then. Something like anger, sorrow, guilt, shame and overall stupidity that colours their works, perhaps in ways they never intended nor realised.

Or in the case with X-Men regarding characters like Storm, more racist than they intended especially as time passes. I always said that Storm comes off as a white person’s idea of an exotic black person, which means for a time being she has been othered. This would also explain why despite being ostensibly Kenyan, she doesn’t do some of the things Kenyans would do as a culture/community. She doesn’t speak Swahili (or Gikuyu), celebrate Boxing Day every 26 of December and that she doesn’t seem to cook Kenyan meals like ugali for instance. This would explain why she’s written the way she is.

A character that’s shrouded in ignorance of actual Kenyan people and culture, even with the Internet I don’t think people ever tried harder in grounding her in actual Kenyan culture although it is the best time to do so. There are actually Africans who do fan art of things like Hunter x Hunter and Looney Tunes, though these are Cameroonians who I’m talking about and Kenyans have done comics like Shujaaz for instance. One famous and popular newspaper strip that circulated in Kenyan papers is Bogi Benda, even though it’s done by a Ugandan. So logically, there are Kenyans who might be aware of X-Men.

That’s not impossible since there are others who’re aware of what Kill La Kill is, to the point of even cosplaying as one of the characters in question. But it seems Kenya is absent in their minds, even though it’s a real country unlike Wakanda. They could just Google it and peruse its media if they wanted or rather needed to, regarding Storm’s nationality though who knows if she’ll even get the Karma treatment. Even if Kenya does have something of a comics industry as evidenced by the comics I mentioned before, Storm remains rooted in ignorance of a real country despite being Kenya’s best known daughter in Marvel.

I even think she remains rooted in ignorance of any real African country, despite the fact at this point in time you could even peruse African websites and PDF files in any way. I’ve done this before and it’s really not that hard, you could go to nation.africa and read any one of its articles. I have done this with Ugandan websites like newvision.co.ug and monitor.co.ug, it’s really not that hard to do the same with their Kenyan counterparts. The only other person who bothered commentating on the problems with the way Storm is written at length is Cheryl Lynn Eaton, I could go on saying that she’s divorced from Kenyan culture.

She might even be divorced from any real African country, even though this time you could peruse African websites like Bellanaija and Nairaland (even if they’re both Nigerian). But this involves knowing real African countries and peoples as they are, perhaps pointing out to an overall ignorance of them in many geek circles outside of Africa itself. It’s one thing to know every X-Man in existence, it’s another to know every African country. The latter’s even useful for travelling if anybody bothers going to any African country, also many Africans speak western languages due to colonialism.

It’s not that hard these days, though it’s up to them to bother looking up on those.

#x-men #marvel #marvel comics #africa #kenya #ororo munroe #geek #geekdom #geekery #geek culture #racism

[notifynews9]

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[transxfiles]

sometimes ppl are like “yeah i get all my media recommendations from tumblr :)” and i sit here like ok you really Should Not.

#idk i appreciate getting media recs from like online friends and seeing the gifs of the movies my mutuals are watching that's all fun!! #but ppl who ONLY get media recs from this godforsaken site. #why. #especially considering the content of the popular media rec posts on here... im not saying it's necessarily 'bad' im just saying that #there's a reason so many of you are only reading sadwhiteboy queerbait books with unsatisfying endings. its because those are the sort of #things this website seems to enjoy and circulate and there are so many other and BETTER ways to discover media #especially fi you currently find yourself unsatisfied with the media recs you're getting on tumblr #cricket.chatterbox #tumblr

[booksarelife-stuff]

Godric’s Hollow’s 286th Annual Lawn Competition

My entry for the August Jily Challenge! @jilychallenge

Prompt:  my mother hired you to mow the lawn but can you put your shirt back on its distracting me, and omg stOP grinning at me like that I’m swooning (I did not follow this at all)

Between adjusting to her new town and the hot rude neighbor, Lily is determined to prove herself in Godric’s Hollow by winning their annual lawn competition. Featuring both shirtless Lily and James. 

My partner was the amazing @joyseuphoria, whose creativity and ideas really helped me write this fic! She came up with so many fun ideas and was a great partner!

Word Count: 5,075

Read on Ao3      Masterlist

When Lily opened the door to her small cottage to the outside, she took in the fresh air. 

Godric’s Hollow was so different from her and Marlene’s old apartment back in London. She could open her door and find a bright blue sky and fresh air instead of the stale smell that the hallway had reeked of. It was a nice and welcomed change.

She pulled the door behind her, taking a second to lock the door. Just as she turned to walk down her small concrete path to the sidewalk, she heard a sudden exclamation. 

She whipped her head around just as the words “Dibs!” left the tall man standing on his own walkway right by some overgrown bushes.  

He was looking right at her. There was no mistaking what or who was talking about. His eyes widened dramatically as Lily met his eyes. The man’s friend in front of him doubled over with laughter. 

“Did you just call ‘dibs’ on me?” she asked, anger coloring her voice. 

“No…” The man said, his tone culpable. His friend shook his head, still holding back laughs. “Well okay, yes, but not in the way you’re thinking!”

Lily didn’t want to hear whatever half-assed explanation the man was going to stammer out to her. She just rolled her eyes and continued on her way to the sidewalk, not paying attention to whatever the man was saying to her. 

As Lily stomped her way to her first day at her new job, she hoped she would lose the bad attitude and that man was not her neighbor. 

But of course, Lily’s hope meant nothing. 

That very night, there was a knock on her door shortly after she just got back from work. Lily groaned slightly, pulling herself off her couch and navigated through the maze of boxes she still hadn’t unpacked. 

She stubbed her toe on her entryway table and was holding back curses as she opened the door to see four men standing on her stoop. One of which was the man from the morning. 

“Hello,” the shortest man said, smiling. He was pale blonde and seemed to have not lost the baby fat on his face even though he had to be at least Lily’s age. “We’re your neighbors and we wanted to introduce ourselves after the little mishap this morning.”

Lily’s eyebrows shot up. 

“And we want to know what to call you besides Dibs,” the man with shoulder-length wavy black hair said. He had a smirk on his lips that Lily knew just meant trouble. The dibs man, who was trying to hide in the back besides being one the tallest, smacked him lightly on the head. 

“What Sirius meant to say is that we want to welcome you to the neighborhood. I’m Remus,” the tallest of the group with a light white scar across his face. “This is Sirius. Peter’s over to the right. And the one who called dibs is James.”

James groaned. “You guys said you weren’t going to do this to me!”

“And you trusted us?” the blonde, Peter said, innocently. 

“The last time that I do,” James said, glaring at Peter. Sirius rolled his eyes and Remus’s smile didn’t waver. 

“Are you guys just going to bicker on my doorstep?” Lily asked, leaning in the door jam, her arms crossed. Three pairs of eyes flickered back to her, James looking at the ground. 

“No, sorry. We really are here to make introductions,” Peter said, smiling. 

Lily assessed the men for a second. Her eyes stopped for a moment on James. She took in the large square frames and his curly hair. She moved on when she realized that she had spent a moment too long on him. 

She took a deep breath and made her millionth introduction for the day. 

“I’m Lily,” she said. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you. If you ever need anything, just call ‘Dibs’ really loudly and James will come running,” Sirius said, his smile seemingly sincere. 

“Man, fuck you guys. I’m getting new flatmates!” James said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. 

The ribbing on their mate brought a smile to her face, but the man was far from forgiven.

~~~

Lily wondered if her own small town had oddities like Godric’s Hollow. From the people to some of the town events, there seemed to be something that broke her brain a little bit. 

Like Bathilda, the sweet old woman who came into the library where Lily worked every day. 

Bathilda would come in, walking faster than Lily did, but with a walker, to where the new movies were placed. Ever since Bathilda found out Lily wasn’t from Godric’s Hollow, Bathilda would tell Lily all the town history she knew. From claiming there was magic or a coven of witches here to what the last mayor did to get impeached, Bathilda told Lily all of it. 

Like a true customer service worker, Lily just smiled and nodded. She enjoyed Bathilda’s stories but she didn’t really believe them. 

“Ah, it’s summer!” Bathilda said, giving Lily a bright smile, a stack of movies balancing on her walker as she approached the circulation desk. “The lawn competition should be starting soon.”

“Lawn competition?” Lily asked, reaching forward and grabbing the movies when they were in reach. 

“Aye,” Bathilda said, her white hair that was in a bun moving as she nodded her head. “It started right after they burned all the witches here. To bring back nature to the area.”

Lily just nodded, not knowing what else to say to Bathilda. 

“You best be planning for it. Some folks here take it really seriously,” Bathilda warned. 

Based on everything Lily knew about the population here, a lawn competition is exactly something the people would take seriously. 

Lily didn’t think much of the lawn competition until she got home and saw a colorful flyer on her doorstep with her newspaper. 

Godric’s Hollow’s 286th Annual Lawn Competition- Bringing native plants and beauty back to the Hollow.

Lily frowned as she inspected the poster. She needed to pay closer attention to Bathilda’s stories. 

She heard the jingle of keys coming from the boy’s house and she looked to see if it was Remus. 

Unfortunately, it was James leaving. He had his running clothes on, shorts, and a fitted t-shirt. He had a sweatband holding back his bangs. 

She had come to like her neighbors in the month of her being in Godric’s Hollow. She was particularly fond of Remus, but being fond of him meant that a fondness had grown for the others as well, even with their stupid nicknames for each other. 

Lily was even fond of James too. Just a little bit. The dibs incident wasn’t forgotten and though he apologized, he never fully explained what it was really about. 

He was better with his friends, in Lily’s eyes. With his friends, he was goofy and outgoing. He could make the whole group laugh to tears. But whenever he and Lily interacted alone, it was painfully awkward and he almost always managed to insult Lily in some way. 

She sighed and called out anyway just as James was putting his headphones on. 

“Hey, James!” she yelled. James jumped and turned, pulling a bud out. 

“Hello, Lily,” he said, politely. “Need something?”

She waved the flyer and James' eyes followed it, trying to see what it was. Even with his glasses, he was still blind as a bat. 

“What’s this all about?”

“The lawn competition?” he asked, walking across his small yard to the waist-high fence that separated their land. 

“So it’s a real thing?” she asked, frowning. James nodded as he leaned against the fence. 

“The old tale here is that it started after the last witches were burned,” James said. Lily blinked at him in disbelief, but James looked as neutral as ever, so she decided to just move on. 

“What do you do for it? Water your grass or something?” Lily asked. James let out a breath of air like a silent laugh. 

“No. It’s all about bringing plants native to the area back. And in the last decade or so, it’s kinda turned into a competition of who can do the most ridiculous things.”

“You’re fucking with me,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “Ridiculous things like what?”

James looked amused, his hazel eyes sparkling. “I think the winner last year made some constellations out of corncockles.”

This town was crazy. Grade A, certified crazy. 

“It’s optional though. You don’t have to participate,” James continued. “People here spend years planting to just win one year. You’ll have some stiff competition.”

Lily felt the flare of anger at his words. “So you don’t think I can win?” she asked, crossing her arms and crushing the flyer. Lily knew she was being a bit competitive, but everything to do with James set her on edge. 

James seemed to have picked up on Lily’s temper flaring. He stopped leaning the fence and straightened up. 

“I didn’t say that. I just said some people spend years planning to win,” James reiterated.

Lily narrowed her eyes. 

“Well, I’m going to win,” Lily said. James huffed. 

“Good luck with that,” James said, turning away and popping a headphone into his ear. 

Lily let out a noise. “I’d like to see you win with those overgrown hedges!” 

James turned around and smiled brightly. “Those are for the competition!”

Lily stared at his back as he started off in a jog down the street. Once he was out of view, she took a survey of her yard. 

There wasn’t much. Just grass and a small tree. She looked back to the boy’s yard and it did look like it had a lot more potential than Lily’s. Greener grass, some shrubbery, and window boxes that have yet to be filled. 

Lily headed up to her front door, determined to spend the night researching plants and grass. And why witches getting accused and burned would start a lawn competition. 

~~~

There was a plant nursery in Godric’s Hollow. There was no website, no place for her to browse the catalog before making any purchases. Just a Facebook page that got updated once a month with grainy pictures. 

It was better than Lily expected when she finally dragged herself there after work. There were a few people browsing, one man had a large cart filled with pallets of various plants. Like a lot. Lily wondered if he was the corncockle constellations guy. 

Google only took Lily so far with her research, so she looked in the gardening section at the library and had found out that someone had written a book about native plants, specific to the region; The Southern England Guide to Native Plants and Shrubs by Euphemia Potter. She had that open in her hand as she walked around the nursery. 

She did a quick walk around, trying to identify what plants were in the book. Most of them she could find, but based on the care instructions, her yard wouldn’t be good for them. 

She paused in front of a plant labeled “Pitcher Plant”. It looked weird, but she supposed it would do. She was flipping through the book, trying to find out what the care instructions were when she felt someone beside her. 

“Don’t use that plant,” James said, making Lily jump. She glared at him as she rightened herself. 

“And why is that?” she asked. 

“It’ll discount you from the competition,” he said, touching one of the stems. “It’s an invasive species.”

Lily tore her eyes away from James, back to the plant. 

“This plant also eats insects,” he pointed out. “Bad for the bees.”

“Oh,” Lily breathed. “Yeah, I don’t want that.”

She closed the book and sighed, and looked back at James to see him staring at the book in her hands. 

“Nice book,” he said with a small smile. She looked back down to it and made the connection. 

“You wouldn’t happen to know Euphemia, would you?” she asked, her eyes trailing the Potter after Euphemia on the book cover. 

“I knew her very well,” James said, his eyes turning soft for a quick second. “I think there’s a section in there, around page 203. Most of those plants work with our yard type.”

Despite the sincerity in his voice, her eyes narrowed. She took in his lanky form and his hair that was getting frizzier by the second thanks to the humidity. 

“Why are you helping me?” she asked, crossing her arms. James laughed and ran a hand through his hair, making some curls stick straight up. 

“I just don’t want you to start an invasive plant plague here,” he said, smirking. “It would ruin my lawn too.”

“I wasn’t going to use it if it wasn't in the book!” she pointed out. James gave her a look and Lily rolled her eyes. “I’m not some saboteur!” 

“Yeah, I didn’t peg for the type,” he said, frowning. “I was just trying to be nice.”

“Your nice is rather pointed and mean if you haven’t noticed.”

James just let out a laugh. “Only to you, Evans.”

~~~

The sun was hot and beating down on Lily’s shoulders as she was on her knees, squinting at a piece of paper that was just getting dirty as she tried to dig the appropriate depth for the honeysuckle bushes she bought. 

She still had no idea what she was doing with her lawn, but she figured she could just add in some plants to spaces anyway to liven up her yard. 

It was kind of relaxing, she had come to realize. All the research aside; she was able to just dig and place a pretty thing down in her yard. Tomorrow she could look out the window and admire her work. 

And it was something to preoccupy her time. Normally, her weekends had been full of just sitting on the couch, reading, or watching something on the television. Boredom would creep in usually, or the overwhelming feeling of missing her friends. 

But so far, gardening had kept her preoccupied. She didn’t feel that same loneliness creep in as she neared the two-hour mark of her being out there. 

She also talked to Remus a bit, telling him about the newest book she read. She shared a wave with Sirius as he hopped onto his obnoxiously loud motorbike. 

It wasn’t until her fourth honeysuckle was in the ground, that she looked up at the sound of humming and instantly regretted that decision. 

There was James, headphones in his ears and humming away. He had an assortment of his gardening tools with him and tons of flowers all spread out in plastic containers along their walkway.  

But what made Lily regret her life was the fact that he was shirtless. 

It wasn’t a secret that James was the most attractive out of the bunch at his house, though Sirius did give him a run for his money. With his curly hair, infectious smile, and his ability to make everyone laugh. You could look over his lanky limbs and knobby knees. Marlene, after she had come to visit one weekend, had even made Lily admit that if it wasn’t for the whole “dibs” business, she would have probably fancied him. 

It was true, but it was rude of Marlene to point out. 

He wasn’t buff or had any defined abs by any stretch, but Lily thought he was still well sculpted. His arms looked nice too, as she watched him unspool the garden hose. 

She tore her eyes away and tried to focus on her honeysuckle.

Lily stole a few more glances but overall was dedicated to her honeysuckle plant. 

Just as she patted the last of her dirt down around the roots, she suddenly felt the blast of cold water rush down her head. 

She let out a yelp and quickly raised to her feet as the blast continued to drown her newly planted honeysuckles. In the field of her vision, she saw James scrambling with the other end, trying to pull it towards him and out of where Lily was in the line of fire. 

It sprayed her one more time before James finally got it to stop. He ran over, an apologetic look in his eyes. 

“Lily, I’m so sorry. I forgot the handle is stuck on the nozzle and I didn’t know you were over there,” he said.

Lily sighed deeply as she pulled her t-shirt that was sticking to her skin away from her body, the fabric heavy. 

“It’s fine,” Lily said in a defeated tone. “Why was your hose over here anyway?” 

“I was making sure there were no tangles before I watered the hedges,” James said. 

Lily barely registered his words and she pulled her shirt off, not wanting to deal with the heaviness on her while she tried to garden. She threw her wet shirt on the ground next to her, leaving her only in her black sports bra. She looked up, running both hands through her shoulder-length hair to stop it from sticking to her face. 

James was rooted to his spot on the other side of the fence. His gaze locked onto her face. It was only then that Lily realized she had just casually thrown her shirt off in front of him.

“It was an accident,” she said. “You didn’t point the hose at me with intention, unlike the dibs. At least you watered my honeysuckles for me.”

James let out a laugh that could be mistaken for a sigh of relief. 

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m still sorry. For this and the dibs incident.”

She laughed. “I think you’re going to have to apologize for that as long as we’re neighbors.”

He smiled, amused, and nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m never living that down. Doesn’t matter that it wasn’t actually what I was doing.”

Lily tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “What were you actually doing?”

“The truth is only slightly less good,” he admitted, his smile falling a bit. “I—Well, no we—No, I. I noticed you when you were moving in and I did make a comment—” Lily’s eyebrows raised. “—A respectful comment!”

“What’s a respectful comment?” she interrupted. 

“I said ‘I think our new neighbor is beautiful’,” James said, a hand coming to the back of his neck. “That’s respectful, right?”

Lily’s heart decided to skip a beat and she felt a blush start to rise on her cheeks. She played it off with an eye roll. 

“Anyway, we happened to be leaving at the same time and Sirius turned to me and told me to make a move ‘before someone else did’, were his exact words…” James said, making a face. “And then I said ‘What do you want me to do? Point at her and call ‘Dibs’?’”

Lily started laughing. “So all I heard was ‘dibs’.”

“Yeah… I probably shouldn’t have yelled it for emphasis,” he said. 

She shook her head. Her opinion of him changed slightly, but not enough to be okay with the way her heart was racing as she looked at his shirtless form again.

~~~

The summer seemed to breeze past. Lily spent almost every moment of her free time working outside after she had formed her plan for her entry to the lawn competition. 

There were a lot of times where James was outside too and they would talk sometimes. Most ribbing each other like petty housewives about the state of their various lawns. It brought a smile to her face more than she would like to admit. 

They had some nice normal discussion too. Lily had walked to the fence, holding the library’s copy of The Southern England Guide to Native Plants and Shrubs by Euphemia Potter. She wanted to ask James a question about one of the ivy species that was mentioned. 

He had gotten that same soft smile on his face when he saw the book and Lily had to ask again. 

“Did you know the author?” she asked, looking into his hazel eyes. 

He nodded. “My mum. She was a botanist. She came to Godric’s Hollow to observe how the competition was helping with local pollinating numbers. Met my dad, that year’s winner, and ended up staying.”

“That is so sweet!” Lily said, smiling a little before it fell. “Are your parents still around?”

He shook his head. “Dad passed away during my first year of uni. Mum passed away last November.”

“My dad passed away in sixth year,” she said. “It gets better, but it still hurts.”

They continued on, both talking a little more but still refusing to disclose what they were doing for the competition, even though Lily’s was a little more obvious with every passing day. James seemed to just be doing normal landscaping, besides his overgrown hedges. 

Lily began to notice a lot of things about James. Besides his tendency to speak without thinking, his heart is always in the right place. It caught Lily off-guard most times. 

Something shifted in her over the weeks as they worked on the lawns. 

It was two days before the competition when Lily got home to see James outside, hedge clippers by his feet as he examined his four very tall and overgrown bushes. 

“I hope you’re not planning to win with those,” Lily called. 

James smirked over to Lily. “Just wait until I give them a trim.”

“Nicely trimmed hedges aren’t going to beat my lawn.”

James looked at the monstrosity of Lily’s yard. There were lines of primrose flowers snaking through her front lawn and turning to the back. 

Lily had spent back-breaking hours and an embarrassing amount of money to make a maze of her yard. It wasn’t like a true maze, you could see every aisle because the primroses didn’t get very tall, but it was the end that really made it worth it. 

Lily had converted her small back patio to a fairy garden. She used hanging planters, climbing ivy, and lights to really make it special.

James hadn’t seen it yet. She was going to show him once she had won the competition. 

It wasn’t until the morning of the judging that Lily saw that she actually had competition. 

Standing proud at the edge of his lawn were four perfectly cut hedges in the shape of a deer, a dog, a wolf, and a large rat. 

Lily stood in awe by her window as James was taking small scissors and cutting more details and cleaning up lines. 

She opened up her front door and walked to her fence. James turned and met her with a smirk. 

“How did you do that?” she asked. 

“Good morning to you, too,” he said. “I watched a million Youtube videos.”

Lily brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she inspected the hedges behind me. “What’s the inspiration?”

“Have you heard Sirius call me Prongs?” James asked. 

Lily had heard their stupid nicknames in passing. She thought Peter was the worst but all of them were stupid. 

“Your stupid nicknames, yeah.”

“So I’m Prongs, Sirius is Padfoot, Remus is Moony, and Peter is Wormtail,” he said. Then made a sweeping gesture back to the hedges. 

She blinked in confusion as she looked back at the hedges. 

“I’m a little lost,” she admitted. 

James sighed. “So, I’m Prongs because Peter once told me the way my hair stands up looks like antlers. Sirius is Padfoot because he is the king of sneaking around. Remus is Moony because he exclusively wore those weird shirts that have wolves howling at the moon when we were 12.”

Lily let out a loud laugh, picturing a small Remus in those kinds of shirts.

“Peter?” she asked in-between laughs.  

“We were sworn to secrecy for that story,” he said. “He would actually murder me if I said it.”

Lily laughed and James joined in. 

The judging wasn’t until the afternoon, so Lily did some last-minute weeding and watering. She made sure the lights in the secret fairy garden still worked and made sure there were no dead leaves insight. 

James was standing on his lawn, talking to two of the most oddly dressed people Lily had ever seen. 

The woman was dressed in what Lily could only think of as a robe. It was a bright blue, with belled sleeves. The man was in similar clothes, but a blinding yellow with a long white beard. They both had hats that looked like top hats, only decorated with flowers. They also had clipboards in hand. 

Yet another town oddity that Lily would just have to brush off. 

James caught sight of Lily and waved her over. 

“This is another competitor. She just moved here about three months ago,” James told them as she neared. 

“Hello, I’m Lily,” she said upon arrival. 

“I’m Albus Dumbledore,” the man with a smile and twinkle in his eye. 

“I’m Minerva,” the woman said. 

Lily shook both of their hands. 

“We’ve been judging this competition for, what? Forty years, now Minerva?” Albus said as Lily raised her eyebrows, impressed. 

The woman pinched her lips and nodded. “Twice as long as these two have been alive.”

Lily, James, and Albus laughed. “Pleasantries aside, let’s get to judging.”

James and Lily stayed behind as they went and started looking at James’s hedges, inspecting it with great detail. 

“Still using those silly nicknames?” Minerva called, as she began writing down on her clipboard. 

“Of course,” James answered. “I would have put a mouse for you, Minnie, but we ran out of room.”

Lily nudged him as Minnie shot him a glare. “Unwise to insult the judges, James Fleamont.”

James frowned and Lily laughed. “Fleamont?” Lily asked. 

“That was my father’s name,” James replied. “And I got stuck with it as a middle name.” 

“I take it you know Minerva pretty well if she’s using your middle name?” Lily questioned. 

“Yeah, she was one of my mum’s best friends,” James sighed. “And before you think that means I have some kind of advantage, don’t. She’s going to judge mine ten times harder.”

It took about ten minutes before Minerva started snapping pictures and Albus stopped writing on his clipboard. 

“I think we’re ready to move on,” Albus said smiling. 

They came around the gate and Lily looked at them to the entrance of her lawn maze. James hopped the fence to join them and Lily laughed as she heard Minerva call him a showoff under her breath. 

“This is a maze made entirely out of primroses,” Lily said before stepping away from the entrance. “See if you can get to the end.”

“Normally, it’s customary not to be able to see all the different paths,” Minerva pointed out, looking across the tops of all the lines of flowers she had made. 

“Ah, but most can still get lost with directions in front of them,” Albus said, wisely. “Let’s see if we can win, Minerva.” 

They started off, Albus in the lead, who turned left towards the dead end. Minerva tapped him and made him go in the right direction, following her lead. 

Lily stayed by the entrance with James. He turned his back after a few seconds. 

“I want to do it by myself later,” he said. 

It took them about ten minutes before Lily saw them take the path that led them back to the secret fairy garden. She smirked at James when she heard Minerva’s surprised gasp and Albus’s appreciative chuckle. 

It took another ten minutes to take notes and pictures of it before they were saying their goodbyes. 

They were down the lane before James turned to Lily. 

“I’m doing the maze now,” he said, his eyes shining with amusement.  

Lily wandered behind him, laughing as he took the wrong turn that led him to exit that made him start all over. 

But eventually, he got it. And suddenly it was just her and James on her back patio, surrounded by ivy and twinkling lights. She even found a used metal patio furniture set that she placed.  It smelled good too, from the extra honeysuckle she placed back there. 

“Pretty nice, Evans,” James said, looking around. “And really good for your first year.”

Lily’s stomach swooped with praise. “Thank you,” she replied. “Your hedges are pretty nice too.”

It was shady in her garden area, so she invited James to sit until they announced the winner.

James told her the story about how he ruined his family’s competition entry by squishing a whole patch of Lily of the Valley’s because he thought they would be comfortable. Lily told him that her sister’s name was Petunia and that her mother was Violet. 

The hours flew by as they sat there and talked. Around six is when a moment of bravery came to Lily. 

“Want to go get dinner?” she asked him. 

A bright smile appeared on James’s face. “Like, just the two of us?”

“Yeah, just the two of us.”

“I’d love that,” James said, a hand coming up and raking through his hair. 

They stood up and were about to leave when James’s phone pinged. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked down before gasping. 

“It’s Minnie!” he exclaimed. 

“With the results?” Lily asked, taking a step forward and invading James’s space. 

He didn’t seem to mind. “Yep… it looks like… Oh! I'm the runner up!”

“Who won?” she asked, frowning. 

James unlocked his phone and pocketed it. He looked at Lily with a soft smile. “Lily’s Maze and Enchanted Garden.”

“Really?” she asked, stepping closer. James nodded and their eyes locked. 

In the heat of the moment, Lily stood on tip-toes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. 

Lily could have sworn that the world had slowed its rotation for a minute as pulled away and their eyes met again. It definitely stopped when James cupped her jaw and pulled her in for a real kiss. 

They both were smiling when James pulled away. She didn’t know how long they stared at each, smiling like loons until she found her voice again. 

“So, uh… Dinner?” she asked. James let out a breathy laugh. 

“Yeah, dinner.”

They just entered the maze again when Lily stopped and turned around. She got close to him again and he smiled, thinking she was going to kiss him again. 

Instead, she put a finger to his chest. 

“Dibs.”

#jily #James Potter #Lily Evans #Lily Evans Potter #James Potter/Lily Evans #jily challenge #august jily challenge #hp #marauders #lawn competitions #jily fic #jily fanfic #Harry Potter fanfic #Marauders era #James x Lily #jilychallenge

[tlbodine]

The Great Content Warning Debate

Horror Twitter has been aflame for a few days now with heated discourse about trigger/content warnings, and I keep seeing the same arguments and questions and points come up repeatedly so I wanted to collect all of it into one place because I feel like discourse can only get so far if people keep reinventing the wheel -- so perhaps having the full discussion laid out in one place could be helpful.

Of course, the folks arguing probably won’t see this post, but perhaps there can be some benefit from talking about it anyway. This is intended to be more of an overview of arguments and counter-arguments, collected and displayed as impartially as possible, but of course my own opinions are going to leak in and color some of this. 

NOTE: This is written specifically from the perspective of the horror book community, a genre that traditionally is associated with troubling, transgressive, risk-taking and shocking works. There are discussions to be had for content labels on other types of fiction, but as I’m unfamiliar with the norms and expectations of, say, romance, I’m not going to wade too deeply into that here. 

So without further ado, the arguments and counter-arguments and discussion points that I keep seeing hashed and rehashed and circled around when the issue of trigger warnings comes up! 

If you’re sensitive, you shouldn’t be reading horror 

“Horror is supposed to be horrifying! It’s not fluffy bunnies and kittens! You’re supposed to be made uncomfortable!” 

There are a few problems with this: 

“Uncomfortable” is not the same as “Sent into a panic attack/flashback/relapse” (ie, triggered) 

People with PTSD and other issues can and do engage with horror all the time and often love the genre for entertainment or therapeutic purposes

Many people are fine with some types of content but not others; blood and guts won’t affect them the same as rape, or they’re fine with adults dying but can’t handle child death, and so on and so forth 

Knowing what you’re getting into can help you prepare/brace yourself so you’re not taken unaware; people with the right warnings can mentally prepare themselves and enjoy a book that they would not have been able to read if they were confronted with it unexpectedly

Trigger warnings are censorship 

Some folks have an implicit/kneejerk reaction that “trigger = bad thing” and respond to the request to put warnings on a book as a moral value judgment on the book’s contents. I can see why they might fear that, especially because at a glance it’s easy to conflate the groups asking for warnings with the groups who say things like “if your characters have underage sex then you the writer are literally a pedophile.” But by and large the folks asking for warnings do not seem to be asking for folks to stop writing certain difficult themes, only to provide a heads up for readers about the type of experience those readers can expect from the book. 

There is an argument to be made that warnings could affect the sales of a book, in much the same way that an NC-17 film doesn’t get the same distribution opportunities as an R-rated or PG-13 film, and that authors/publishers will make marketing decisions to include or exclude certain types of content in order to avoid this. 

Trigger warnings will spoil the book 

While some readers will benefit from content warnings, others might have their reading experience ruined by knowing about major twists. This seems especially relevant with a warning like “child death.” It’s very important that people who have, for example, recently lost a child not be unexpectedly re-traumatized by reading about a child dying without warning. But it’s also important that people who want to enjoy the full, shocking impact of such a scene have the opportunity to do so without having it dulled by forewarning. 

Any kind of warning system needs to be opt-in for a reader. Some suggestions include: 

Placing warnings at the end of a book, where readers can flip to that page to look (not helpful if you’re ordering online) 

Placing warnings on the author’s website, where readers can search (not helpful if you’re buying in person)

Given the limitations, a combination of those strategies seems to make sense. It may also be unfortunately true that someone looking for one type of warning (ie, rape) will have their experience ruined if they spoiler themselves for another warning (child death). This may be unavoidable collateral damage. 

Authors/Publishers should be responsible for putting warnings in their books

There seems to be some debate over whether the onus of responsibility for providing warnings rests on the author or the publisher. It should be acknowledged that authors may not always have the power to make this choice -- and if the presence or absence of warnings becomes a factor for judging the quality/moral fiber of authors, those authors could be punished by the reader community for a choice that was largely out of their hands (although, there’s still nothing keeping the author from hosting those warnings externally - how successfully that is implemented is another matter). 

Additionally, the demand for warnings will be placed more consistently on small presses simply because those presses are more likely to heed the request. This could create a double standard where readers might be more forgiving of large pub works that forego warnings because there’s no expectation that they would have implemented them anyway. On the other hand, this could be a way for indie publishers to differentiate themselves on the market and appeal more to certain subsets of readers. 

External groups or communities should be responsible for warnings

There’s a line of reasoning that an author or publisher may not be sensitive to the potentially triggering/damaging things in their work, and some kind of external governing body should manage this work instead. This does sound a lot more like the censorship argument that people are worried about. 

Wiki-style sites and places where people can freely tag books (such as Storygraph) also fit this bill to an extent. They would presumably have less power over the market than a ratings board like the MPAA, but could still exert influence over how a book is received. 

Demanding warnings will negatively impact marginalized authors 

We’re already seeing some evidence that BIPOC and LGBTQ authors are affected more by user-generated trigger warnings on sites like Storygraph, and that these warnings can be weaponized against marginalized authors. Much like review-bombing a book before it comes out can affect its launch, labeling a book with inaccurate trigger warnings could damage its sales. 

Similarly, lists of “safe” and “unsafe” authors have already begun to circulate among some groups, and there seems to be a disproportionate number of marginalized creators on that “unsafe” list -- at least according to the anecdotal reports I’ve seen. 

Historically, it is true that any attempts at censorship or content moderation will be more harshly applied to marginalized groups (see: film ratings for gay sex vs straight sex). 

It’s impossible to warn for everything

One hesitancy that some authors have with tagging their work is they’re not sure what to tag for. Triggers are highly personal, and there’s no way you can possibly guess what might upset a reader. 

Here’s a list of commonly agreed-upon things that might make sense to tag for in a given work: 

Violence/gore 

Suicide/self-harm

Rape/sexual assault

Domestic violence

Child death/endangerment

Animal death/abuse

Drug use/substance abuse 

Racism/slurs 

That said, it’s still difficult to account for context. At what stage do you warn for something? If a character is drinking a beer, do you need to tag for that? Do you distinguish between the tone things are written in, such as being played for laughs vs seriously? If the rape scene is written artistically/metaphorically, does the same warning apply as if it were described act-by-act in a clinical sense? What if your blanket list of warnings gives readers a false sense of what the book will be like -- is it actually helpful at all, or is it just posturing/virtue signaling to include warnings that won’t actually be effective?  

Some would argue that this is dramatically overthinking it, but this does seem to cause a great deal of distress to authors who want to do the right thing but worry about getting it wrong. An argument could be made that trying and failing might be worse than doing nothing, especially if your attempts get you labeled as a “trustworthy” or “safe” author only for that trust to be “betrayed” by a warning you used incorrectly. 

On the other hand, many would argue that we all “pretty much know” what needs to be warned for, and that warnings are intuitive. These granular questions could be viewed as a distraction from more common sense issues. 

Readers are responsible for managing their own safety

Ultimately, because it’s impossible for every potential trigger to be identified and warned for, readers will need to remain vigilant. Of course, there are already ways to identify the content of a book without any kind of established warning system -- such as, for example, reading posted book reviews, asking a question on a book’s Goodreads page, reaching out to the author directly, asking about the book in a reading group online or having a friend/parent/spouse/trusted person read the book first and report back with their findings. 

This is the system we’ve pretty much used as readers for years, before “trigger warning” became part of the common vernacular, and it does have some distinct advantages just because you can get a lot more specific information this way. 

It is possible that if warnings become more commonplace for books that readers may become less vigilant about their own safety, which could paradoxically put them at greater risk of finding troubling content unexpectedly. 

There’s also the issue of “safe” and “unsafe” author lists. At the moment, while the discourse is hot, it’s perhaps more natural to pick sides and disregard some authors for reasons that may be unfair -- for example, marking an author as unsafe or boycotting her work because she doesn’t want to include warnings, but she wants to avoid warnings because she strongly believes they will be detrimental to a reader’s safety. A reader may or may not agree with that perspective, but it’s certainly not the same motive as an author who would do something actively malicious to a reader (like, idk, emailing a screamer to a reviewer or something. that’s a made up example.) 

In the end, trigger warnings are a good idea, but the issue is complex to implement and some people do still have reservations about their overall efficacy. 

We simply won’t know one way or another until we try to implement it. But in the meantime, I do think it’s valuable to continue talking about this, as long as everyone involved remains civil and engages in good faith. Once people’s perspectives start getting thrown out the window in the heat of the moment, or strawmen arguments are erected that don’t reflect what anyone involved actually believes, the discussion ceases to be helpful. 

#trigger warnings #discourse #twitter nonsense #authors behaving badly #writing advice #writeblr #writing #publishing

[katherinewilliams221b]

Girl you know I'm jumping at the occasion :D

Pre-relationship: 1 and 2

General: 1 and 7 bc I can't ever get enough of the dynamics between those two 🖤

Love: 7 and 13

Domestic life: I'd ask for 1 and 2 but I know you plan that hand-fasting fic in the future (still, won't say no to some spoilers... :D)

PRE-RELATIONSHIP

1. How did they first meet?

Charlie already knew who Kate was from the stories Bill told about her. It was Charlie himself who approached her in the first Care of Magical Creatures class they had together. He had no romantic interest in her at the time, but Bill had spoken so highly of her that Charlie felt they could be good friends. 

His first words were something along the lines of "I know who you are..." He didn't mean to cause her the disappointment he saw on her face.

Kate forced a smile without looking up, wanting to be polite, but nipping in the bud the conversation she was about to have with yet another stranger pretending to know her. 

This all went by very quickly, and as soon as Charlie mentioned that "Bill has spoken very highly of you..." Kate finally met his eyes.

"You're Charlie!" she exclaimed, a little too loudly "Bill has told me about you, too."

They worked very well together that day, like a well-oiled machine foreshadowing the kind of relationship they would have later on. When class was over, Kate ran off to meet Rowan, but not before shouting to Charlie that it had been a pleasure to meet him.

He shouldered his satchel, watching the messy-haired girl hurry off, and thought that not only was she not as the horrible rumours circulating about her described her, but that this had been the beginning of a great friendship.

2. What was their first impression of each other?

He had never been swayed by rumours. But so many people spoke ill of her and her brother that he was tempted to believe them.

The first time he formed an opinion about her was in his first year; he entered the Great Dining Hall with a determined stride and fury written all over his face. Charlie did not know that she had just escaped from a devil's snare, nor that the feud with Merula had begun. Trying not to be too swayed by what he had heard, he merely watched as she sat down at the Hufflepuff table and began speaking at full speed to a girl he would later come to know as Rowan. He had no interest in finding out about her. He just let her be.

Bill remarked that he had a brother at Hogwarts in the same year as her. In the courtyard, Bill pointed to Charlie, who was reading by the fountain. Kate thought he wasn't like Bill at all, that adventures weren't his thing and that he seemed like a quiet boy. A rule-follower. Oh, boy, was she wrong. They didn't meet that day, or for another three years.

GENERAL

1. Who initiated the relationship, and how did it go?

The fifth year was very critical for Charlie, and Kate was his rock in that regard. It was when they started spending more and more time together and to the rest of Hogwarts, they were dating without a doubt. At this point Kate already had feelings for him, but she kept them to herself in the face of his disinterest in dating. In his sixth year, and in better mental health, Charlie began to...feel...things. Dazed by these new sensations, he sought refuge in the forbidden forest until André confronted him. At the same time Rowan, commented that they spent all. the. day. together. Both friends took it upon themselves to set them up on a date.

It was so orthopaedic, so strange and awkward that they both questioned their feelings for each other.At the end of the year, having pretended that the day had never happened, Kate decided to admit that she still liked him. He did the same, with great difficulty.

They both came to an agreement and decided that their friends should not interfere, that whatever they did would have to flow naturally. That agreement day was the start of their official relationship.

7. Who takes the lead in social situations?

Contrary to what it might seem, Charlie. Although he is known as the dragon boy, who is always alone, reading or in the forest, he is held in high esteem by everyone. He makes friends wherever he goes.

Kate is a bit more reserved. She has no difficulty talking to people, but tends to be more cautious around strangers. Paradoxically, she is a magnet for anyone who gets to know her, and although Charlie takes the lead in social situations, there will always be people gravitating around Kate. She says she makes a lot of friends by chance, but it's because she prefers listening than talking about herself.

That said, although they both enjoy being around their friends, they always need to get away somewhere quiet for a while.

LOVE

7. What are their favorite things to do together?

In the Hogwarts years they used to spend the whole day together studying, reading or going to the Forbidden Forest. It was then when Charlie taught Kate how to track both animals and people.

Their activities didn't change much when Kate moved to Romania, as soon after, the war started and there was no more time for leisure.

After the war, they set about making up for lost time, and began to explore Romania and other nearby countries, making short trips wherever they could. One trip a year is mandatory.

They like to go on picnics in the mountains every weekend; they take a blanket, food, maybe books, and spend the day talking and laughing, sometimes even...

They were both surprised at how much they liked watching movies; when they got their first TV, they started having marathons every night over dinner.

Cooking? Or rather, chatting while Charlie cooked. It's a time just for them, especially during the war, where they can clear their heads. Many times they both prepare food in silence, just enjoying each other's company.

Dancing! Some time ago I mentioned that they attended several dance classes as a couple, something they didn't like very much, they prefer to dance without an audience.Later, when they have their daughter, they discovered how much they like to play board games together.

Although they deny it, they like to attend events as a couple; birthdays, or parties at their respective jobs, where they can show each other off.

13. Who remembers the little things?

They both do, I think. Kate remembers how he likes tea, that he takes a bubble bath when he is stressed and she often anticipates it, the brand of pencils he likes, many of the names of the dragons on the reserve, his favourite balaclava and so on.

Charlie knows what her favourite mug is; when she runs out of seeds, how she braids her hair; that she likes to wear jewellery and also knows what style; that there are some yellow flowers that give her allergies, and he has an antihistamine potion in his backpack just in case....

It's not the only thing, but I think they're both good at paying attention to detail. It's one of their love-languages.

DOMESTIC LIFE

1. If they get married, who proposes? 2. What’s the wedding like? Who attends?

Ok, I'll try to answer with as few spoilers as possible. It's no secret that they do a handfasting ceremony. I once said it was Kate who officiated at it, but no. I'm going to change that because I think I have a better idea.I'm still studying how marriage works in the magical world, but what I do know is that neither Muggles nor the Ministry see a handfasting as a legal union (although it used to be, I'm still studying). This will be important.

If I can get it right, the two of them will be proposing to each other in very subtle and unknowing ways. I haven't decided who will be the one to take a more definitive step, I like both options: on the one hand Kate, because I like the idea of seeing the woman propose, and on the other hand Charlie, because it's something he would never have seen himself doing.

There are 4 people in attendance (6 counting them), one of them is her grandpa, Bernard, and the other three are people they meet in Ireland. One of those three people officiates the wedding.

As I said, the wedding is a handfasting, a Celtic ceremony used to symbolise the intention to marry and the commitement to someone. I don't want to say anything! I think this is my favourite part and I want it to be very emotional. I have looked up what the officiant says to do the ceremony and it is really beautiful. I have personalised it a bit with the fragments that I liked the most.

This is what struck me most (from a website about the ceremony) and what I intend to reflect:

"The absolute honesty inherent in the answers to the questions in this ritual usually takes guests by surprise. This leads the guests to concentrate on what is happening and gets them more emotionally invested in this part of the ceremony".

From this ask

#ask #kat tag #kate williams #charlie weasley #i should send you some more numbers lmao i honestly want every answer

[watchcryptomarket]

“ Binance coin for beginners “

this article is simply explains everything about Binance coin for new Investors and beginners.

In this article we will answer these questions :

Is BNB Binance coin good for beginners?

Is BNB Binance coin good for beginner investors?

Is BNB Binance coin good for trading?

Why BNB Binance coin is so high? (beginner answer)

Who sets the BNB Binance coin's price? (beginner answer)

How do you describe Binance coin for beginners?

Binance Coin (BNB) is a cryptocurrency that can be used to trade and pay fees on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. The Binance Exchange is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world as of January 2018, facilitating more than 1.4 million transactions per second.

Binance Coin was created in July 2017 and initially worked on the Ethereum blockchain with the token ERC-20 before it became the native currency of Binance’s own blockchain, the Binance Chain.

what is uses for Binance coin for beginners and traders?

Just like other evolving cryptocurrencies, the Binance Coin offers several uses that go beyond the Binance exchange, such as:

Trading

Transaction fees on the Binance Exchange

Credit card payments

Payment processing

Booking travel arrangements

Entertainment

Investment

Loans and transfers

Binance coin is used for trading:

Binance Coin can be traded for other cryptocurrencies on various exchanges, depending on the restrictions set by the exchange. beginners and other crypto traders simply can use BNB Binance coin for trading.

Binance coin is used for transaction fees on the Binance Exchange:

BNB can be used to pay for transactions on the Binance Exchange, beginner users also receive a discount for doing so.

Binance coin is used for credit card payments:

BNB can be the form of payment for crypto credit card bills on Crypto.com. Beginners can use Binance coin for their payments.

Binance coin is used for payment processing:

Merchants can offer BNB as a means of payment for customers, offering more flexibility in payment methods. it also simply used for buying online for beginners.

Binance coin is used for booking travel arrangements:

BNB can be used to book hotels and flights on select websites. as a beginner, you should ask your provider for accepting Binance coin.

Binance coin is used for entertainment:

From paying for virtual gifts to buying lottery tickets, BNB serves several purposes in the entertainment space.

As a beginner with Binance coin, you can enjoy from spending it.

Binance coin is used for investment:

Several platforms allow investors to invest in stocks, ETFs, and other assets using Binance Coin.

As a beginner, you can also HODL you Binance coins in your wallets and in long term, it can goes up.

Binance coin is used for Loans and transfers:

BNB can be used as collateral for loans on certain platforms. Also, there are apps that allow users to split bills and pay friends and family through Binance Coin.

A simple explanation to burning Binance coin for beginners

As mentioned in the Binance whitepaper, every quarter, Binance uses 20% of its profits to buy back and burn Binance Coins, destroying them completely. Binance has consistently performed quarterly burns, the latest being the 13th quarterly burn on October 17, 2020.

Binance will continue to perform quarterly burns until it buys back and destroys 100 million Binance coins – 50% of the total supply. The practice ensures that the supply of Binance Coin remains finite, making it scarce and more valuable.

so as a beginner definition, how burning coins effect on value of Binance coins?

what is the simple explanation for burning Binance coin for beginners?

"Burning" refers to the process of permanently removing a crypto token from circulation. When Binance launched BNB in 2017, it committed to burning a total of 100 million BNB, which is half of its supply.

you can also see the volume of Binance coin burning for beginner:

Is Binance coin is a good investment for beginners?

Well let's take a look as a beginner who knows almost Nothing about Binance coin ...

as we check the BNB Price and Charts , BNBBinance coin primarily started going up in February 2021 and this was almost entirely because of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

Because the BSC was so much cheaper to work on than the Ethereum network, it became a viable alternative and many beginner projects started moving over.

In short, the more beginner projects on the BSC, the more BNB Binance coin is in use, increasing demand and increasing its price.

Today, the BSC is the second-largest DeFi platform, according to DeFi.prime with 36 DeFi projects, which is 10 more than third place, Bitcoin. However, it still has a while to get to Ethereum’s 214.

And the DeFi market is expected to grow tremendously for the rest of 2021. As Christine Kim of CoinDesk points out, in the first quarter of 2021 DeFi applications have grown from $20 billion to $50 billion, an increase of 150%.

The Binance Exchange is very busy

As mentioned earlier, the Binance Exchange is the most popular and largest crypto exchange in the world. It has the most diverse selection of coins to buy/sell and the most crypto to fiat pairs for beginners and professional traders.

In 2021 crypto trading volume increased overall because of the current boom and Binance managed to make money - lots of money - from this action.

And BNB Binance coin benefited hugely from this too. As it is still used on the Binance Exchange for a discount on fees, demand likely increased for the coin to be used when Bitcoin began to surge to $60k.

Some crypto experts and many of beginners think that Binance Coin may continue to go up in value, possibly outpacing Bitcoin price.

And it’s not so far-fetched when you compare BNB Binance coin's market capitalization growth to that of bigger rivals Ethereum and Bitcoin.

Binance Coin growth in comparison to Ethereum and Bitcoin. Source: bloomberg.com

While Binance Coin is not going to replace Bitcoin as the leader of global digital currency, it is likely to be one of the big winners in 2021. Especially if the crypto market continues to rise.

All in all, BNB Binance Coin has an advantage over most coins for beginners , because we can already see its use cases. First as a utility token, then as fuel for the BSC. Meanwhile, investing in other coins is purely speculative as they are yet to deliver results.

Binance coin for beginners: The Top Utility Token of 2021?

Though many believe that Binance Coin is a good investment for beginners and investors and one of the safest cryptocurrencies out there (mainly because of its relative stability), no one can say this for certain especially if you are beginner. Thus, it’s up to you to decide if investing in BNB Binance coin in 2021 is worth it.

For the average trader and beginners, perhaps the most appealing aspect of investing in BNB Binance coin is the fact that you can get a discount of 25% on the Binance Exchange. In 2017, this discount was even greater, 50%.

Interestingly, there are a variety of different types of exchange fees that can be paid with BNB Binance coin. They include transaction fees, voting fees for new tokens, commissions, and also fees for launching new instruments.

We have to agree that this approach is a very clever way to keep traders coming back to the platform and in a sense, Binance Coin is like a discount coupon.

It is worth wondering, however, how long this discount will continue to be offered. In the future, it may continue to decrease or even stop.

In fact, according to their white paper, in 2019 Binance was supposed to half this discount yet again to 12.5%, but so far, this has not happened.

It is believed that Binance has not reduced the 25% discount because they want to remain popular and in good faith with their traders. For now, though, it is something to look out for in the future.

It is also worth mentioning that their white paper also points out that in the 4th year, which would be 2021, the discount will be reduced further to 6.75%.

If this happens, then interest in Binance Coin could partially decline - unless the developers behind Binance offer another reason to trade or hold BNB Binance coin for beginners and professional investors.

Things you should be aware of before you invest in Binance Coin as a beginner

Despite the fact that BNB Binance coin seems to be a very attractive investment for beginners, there are several facts you should consider before you invest in Binance Coin. The following points are not meant to discourage you from investing, but rather encourage you as a beginner, to consider all the aspects of it.

First and foremost, dependency on Binance may be an issue for some beginner investors. Contrary to Bitcoin, BNB has been launched by a known entity – Binance. Therefore, its functionality and profitability are closely related to the popularity of the Binance platform. It stands to reason then, that if anything should happen to Binance, BNB Binance coin would suffer.

Secondly, Binance is a centralized exchange. A centralized exchange offers advantages of its own, which often include advanced features and tools, ease of use (better user experience), and perhaps most importantly, liquidity. But it has its drawbacks too. It is the exchange, not you, that holds your funds. Centralized exchanges also require a KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) processes, which can be tedious and faulty at times. It is also under a bigger threat of hacks and theft, compared to its decentralized competitors. In 2016 Reuters reported that since its inception in 2009, 33% of all bitcoin exchanges have been hacked. Moreover, the decentralized exchanges are putting their centralized counterparts under further pressure.

Thirdly, one could question its utility. Without smart contracts functionality, dApps are unattainable on Binance. Although DApps seem to be the rage for quite some time, lack of this functionality does not necessarily disqualify a token. In the case of BNB Binance coin, the lack of smart contracts is offset by other use cases, for example as Binance Chain’s native token.

An issue that many tokens face relates to their classification; whether a token is defined as a security is some project’s make or break moment. If your token is classified as a security you as a beginner have a lot of new regulatory challenges to deal with. Most often, you won’t be able to sell your token in some attractive markets, such as Canada or the US. In the case of Binance, this threat could be especially relevant, as the company has faced similar issues before. And it has prompted it to move to Malta, a more regulatory friendly country.

As said earlier, the above-mentioned aspects are not meant to discourage you from investing in BNB. Given that some of the drawbacks (e.g. lack of smart contracts) are offset by other features (utility on Binance Chain), while other “disadvantages” have upsides of their own, like a centralized exchange, the points mentioned above do not disqualify Binance Coin as an investment. Nevertheless, it is important to know the counterarguments.

We discussed about main points about Binance coin for beginners and the simple definition of Binance coin for beginners.

We also mentioned coin burning concept and effects for Binance coin for beginner traders and beginners investors.

the main uses of Binance coin for beginners and also we mentioned the things that a beginner should consider for holding and trading Binance coins.

At the end we've warned you for getting attention as a beginner traders in Binance coin and the aspects of that.

Conclusion

It is estimated by some experts that Binance coin would increase its value and have a market capitalization that is higher than Ethereum and Bitcoin in the coming next years. Compared to other centralized coins, the Binance coin has a much better image. And some experts say that decentralize exchanges like Binance could no longer remains the future of the exchanges in cryptocurrency market.

#bnb #Binance coin #beginner guid #cryptocurrency #coins #digital assets #watchcrypto.org #watchcrypto #cryptomarket #bnb coin #greendotai #technical analysis #market news #simple huid

[peachdoxie]

I get where you’re coming from on the likes/reblogs post but also you aren’t really a content creator (correct me if I’m wrong) so this issue doesn’t effect you as much? I don’t think it’s wrong to ask people to think about how we as a community interact with and support artists on tumblr and to consider if there’s anything else we could be doing. It’s really hard to make it as an independent artist and I don’t think it’s wrong for artists to advocate for themselves

It's not an issue of content creators advocating for themselves and asking people to reblog their posts. I take issue when they basically guilt trip people into reblogging posts by saying things like "We're doing this for free. The least you can do is reblog our content." or "Tumblr has moved from a culture of sharing to a culture of consumption." or "People aren't reblogging original content anymore which is why tumblr is dying."

The first statement is technically true in that engaging with content encourages creators to produce more, but so often the posts I see act entitled about it, that if I see something I like I should automatically reblog it. No. There are any number of reasons I or anyone doesn't want to reblog something, and they're all completely valid.

The latter two statements are complete bullshit. Consumption culture has always been part of the internet. Having the ability to share something doesn't change that. We consume so much content every day on the internet and it is literally impossible to share everything we like. Tumblr has a post limit. Twitter has a post limit. I'm not certain if Facebook does, and to my knowledge Instagram doesn't, but there are other restrictions in place for posting activity on various sites. It's far easier and economical to like posts than it is to share them.

As for "tumblr is dying," I've seen this repeated for at least half a decade, and it's still debatable whether or not that's true, or even what "dying" means. And even if tumblr is "dying," I doubt much of that has to do with people not reblogging content so much as people leaving due to shitty policies implemented by the staff or people spending more time on other, newer websites that offer different styles of interaction. Like, maybe people not reblogging things is a small part of it. But the posts I'm arguing against often act like users not reblogging things is entirely due to the users being only about consumption and not about sharing, which is a take that entirely lacks a nuanced perspective on what impacts people's reblogging choices.

And also, the popularity of different websites waxes and wanes. There's a limit to how popular a website can get before something changes and users navigate to somewhere else. Yeah, those of us who like tumblr want it to stay popular and functional, but how many other social media sites popular for content creation with fair lack of corporate oversight have "died" in the last thirty years? A lot of them. That's just how the internet works, whether we like it or not.

My exasperation with those posts are that other people are trying to dictate how I and others cultivate our tumblr experience, which is very antithetical to my personal stance on internet activity as well as antithetical to a lot of other ethos that circulate on tumblr. I'm not so ignorant as to pretend that tumblr is one cohesive whole in terms of how people approach posting on this site, but there's a common trend of posts that talk about how to shape your tumblr experience. "If you don't like something, it's best to unfollow people that post it or block tags." "If you aren't seeing a lot of something you think is important, you should probably search for blogs and tags that do talk about those things." "Be careful sharing and engaging with depressive posts because constantly surrounding yourself with things that dwell on your depression is a dangerous coping method." This goes all the way back to my early tumblr experience in the early 2010s with the fandom vs hipster divide and the push against it that encouraged people not to feel shame in reblogging posts from the "wrong" side of the divide. It's likely existed before I joined in 2012, and has probably existed since like, the beginning of time, actually.

Like I started this post with: it's not an issue of people advocating for others to share their content. It's entirely true that more engagement with content encourages people to create more. That's part of how content creation works. But I take issue with five specific things that I see constantly arising in the posts I'm criticizing:

That if people enjoy something, they should reblog it no matter what

That users no longer care about sharing content, only about consuming it

That tumblr is "dying" because of bullet point 2

The guilt-tripping that blames users for bullet point 3 because they don't always reblog certain things

The utter entitlement that these posts have that users are somehow obligated to share things in order to support content creators posting things for free on tumblr

I don't like people demanding I reblog specific things. I don't like people acting entitled to attention because they're doing something for free. I don't like people making claims about tumblr's userbase that lack nuance. And I certainly do not like guilt tripping. It's a shitty, shitty thing to do.

Sharing content is good! Engaging with posts is great! It helps encourage content creators to make more content, which benefits both the creator and their audiences! But don't you dare demand that someone must reblog your posts just because they like them. Don't you dare solely blame other people for why you aren't getting the attention you want. And don't you dare guilt trip people into reblogging your content.

For what it's worth, I am a content creator. I don't draw or paint, but I do produce a fair amount of content. I make gifs. I make memes. I make videos. And I write, a lot. the difference is that I don't use tumblr as a way to market myself, and I don't get upset when something doesn't get the number of reblogs I want it to. I love it when something I make gets a lot of notes, yeah, but I also understand that there is an inevitable amount of randomness that dictates whether or not a post becomes popular, no matter how "good" it is or not. That's just how content creation works, and it's not unique to tumblr.

I'm not saying any of this to go "oh look at me, I'm so much better than all those other people" because I'm not a pretentious douchebag. I'm trying to model an approach to tumblr that I believe is considerably more realistic than the one found in the posts I'm describing. People seem to think, since tumblr is good for sharing content and helping users establish themselves as content creators, that that's how tumblr users are supposed to use it, even though there's inherent obligation on how people should be using it. One of the best things about tumblr is that it's very easy to shape your own experience and what kind of content you see, and I think it's wrong to demand people act otherwise.

#anecdotes by peachdoxie

[hrmphfft]

controversial opinion time I guess but

hey gang? hey, gang. gang, hey. blaming your fans for them not reblogging your content enough (and saying that they’re Directly Responsible For Tumblr Dying) is an extremely passive aggressive, mean thing to do, and also completely ignores so many other reasons as to why engagement has changed on this site and posts don't circulate like they used to.

for one thing, whenever I see these posts, I rarely see the ops acknowledge the HUGE HIT to tumblr's userbase following the 2018 policy change/implementation of tumblr's terrible content filtering algorithm. tumblr lost roughly 1/3 of its engagement (https://mashable.com/article/tumblr-lost-a-third-of-its-users-after-porn-ban/) and countless content creators with it. some of them migrated to twitter and other sites, some of them seem to have straight-up vanished into thin air, and countless others lost their biggest or main userbase with barely any time to shift gears to something else. that's a huge, website-shaking change! but so often in these 'reblogs vs. likes' posts I don't see anyone acknowledging that and it makes me really upset!

you can't talk about the ways tumblr has undoubtedly changed these last few years and NOT address the nsfw ban! it's completely unfair to your fanbases to shift the blame of the biggest displacement of users the site has ever experienced on...the users who had no say in the policy change and reacted accordingly when the site started softbanning everyone, and filtering all sorts of tags from the search function (including important sfw ones, lest we forget The Entire Furry Fandom on tumblr discovering that basic-ass tags like #furry and #anthro were being blocked when the ban rolled around), and making uploading anything vaguely beige-colored a dice roll. tumblr still hasn't recovered from that, and unfortunately probably never will, not without some hail mary of policy changes and overhauls.

I've seen some pretty ageist shit regarding content engagement as well that tries to paint younger users as just Not Getting how tumblr functions vs. other social media sites like instagram and twitter, and on top of that just showcasing a really uncomfortable disconnect/animosity towards new users whose only crime is being younger than op and also more experienced with other social media platforms, it also is just. it's really unkind? it's super rude? how can you call your followers too clueless to know how reblogging works and then expect them to support your content via reblogging and not feel like you're insulting them until they give you the result you want?

moreover, lots of young/new tumblr users get the gist of tumblr's controls and get it very quickly! technology literacy is becoming more and more a part of everyday life for everyone, and if you really think that a teenager can't understand that reblogging puts a thing on their follower's dashboards, one of the main functionalities of the site (and also very similar to twitter, one of tumblr's main competitors), I really don't know what to say. sometimes people just straight-up don't want to reblog stuff to their blogs, and that's okay.

there's also a tendency to ignore the ways that blogging on tumblr has changed as its userbase has became more well-versed in its functions and, frankly, a portion of the userbase has grown up on this site. when I first started blogging on here, I was 17, I didn't use tags, I commented unrelated (and frankly sometimes really regrettably rude) replies directly onto artist's posts, and I basically just reblogged whatever I vaguely liked, and a lot of things I didn't totally get but thought Looked Cool/Funny so I reblogged anyways.

and that's fine, that's pretty par for the course of being young on the internet and doing whatever you want and having a good time (barring the rudeness, being respectful to people is the ideal), but as time went on my interests changed, my time spent online changed (I went from highschool to college to a full-time job that limits my time on social media), and I began engaging with tumblr's content differently. I made sideblogs for interests and content themes I didn't want on my main blog, I started liking stuff and then going back through my likes to reblog posts later, and generally speaking my number of posts a day dropped and I stopped being able to catch up on my dashboard every single day. and I'm sure my experience isn't unique for some other people on here.

a lot of the tumblr users I've known for a while just don't have the same level of intensity in fandoms like we did years back, not because of any malice or selfish, content-hogging intent, but because our priorities have changed. I definitely miss a lot of things about years past on tumblr when fandoms were booming and new Big Name Creators were cropping up all the time, and to be fair that's still happening on parts of the site if you know where to look! it's just different now. time has passed. people have changed!

that isn't to be defeatist and say that we can't show up for content we enjoy and reblog it, but instead that people can feel differently about stuff they used to adore, and be more particular about one thing or another they reblog, and straight-up miss stuff that they would have really liked but just didn't catch up on for a myriad of reasons. and that's also okay. engagement on tumblr is really, really tied up in personal preferences, and sometimes it feels like it does that more than most other social media sites. this is kind of the wild west of internet presences and everyone operates differently on here as a result.

and probably the most touchy point of all: no one is obligated to give you validation on the internet. no one. not even if they've read all of your fanfics you've worked really fucking hard on for forever and a day, or your comics that you've spent months, years, a lifetime researching and creating, or your beautifully, painstakingly timed and masked fan videos. they can absolutely consume any of these, and more, and they're still not obligated to reblog your work or promote you. it's not fair, yes, and it's completely understandable and super relatable to want recognition for the work you've done and the ways you've brightened other people's lives, but online most of your fans are still total strangers to you, and trying to control the behavior of total strangers because you’re owed their acknowledgement isn’t a healthy mindset to have.

and you can say that any fan of yours stops being a fan after they drop you for you lashing out at them for not unquestioningly giving you space on their blogs like you're owed, but being upset at being accused of bad behavior for what amounts to not wanting to reblog something this time around and changing your opinions based off of that is also a very understandable thing to do.

and that isn't because of any sort of innate cruelty, or pointed attack towards you. it's just because there is always a disconnect between the creator and the creation, and some people will never bridge that gap and engage with you more, or build a parasocial relationship with you, or seek out ways to support you. and plenty of others will do the exact opposite! it's a total dice roll because you're dealing with a lot more people than you realize scrolling past your content, and every person is different, and some of them don't fully understand how reblogs help a creator, and some of them do but just don't want that content on their feed, and none of them are inherently bad people for that.

I'm not saying creators have to be perfectly kind and civil and praise their fans all the time, but when you engage with your followers like it's a battle where you have to keep devising new ways to get them to share your content, it just comes across as super disingenuous, and people cop to that very fast. 

it also, frankly, can make longtime fans who reblog your work regularly feel like their interest doesn't matter, and wasn't good enough, and that then it really is their fault that other people (other STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET) don't engage with your content the way you wanted them to. you don't owe them perfection, but that doesn't mean it isn't still an unkind thing to do.

so like. what can we do about this?

asking users to reblog your work is totally fine and can help! calls to action work more than nothing at all. it's possible to be respectful when asking people to reblog your work without also guilt-tripping them with "likes < reblogs" banners and passive aggressive tags/comments. generally speaking guilt is a really shitty motivational tool, and tends to breed more resentment than actual outcomes people want. like this post for example! I wouldn't have sat down and typed this all out if I didn't resent the hell out of being told I'm, personally, the reason tumblr is demonstrably not an ideal website for building a fanbase anymore. if I had that much power over this website I would have given the whole thing to the xkit team years ago and reveled in a functional website instead.

changing the way you post content might help! every site has its ideal posting days, times, and reasons for why some are ideal for one site and not another. doing a little research (https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/) will yield some potentially helpful tips and tricks that might result in a post reaching more people. utilizing tumblr's search function is also important, and understanding the limits of the tag function (ie. only the first 5 tags of a post are used for tag searches) can help change one's habits to something a little more effective. this is why I tend to leave my tag babbling until after the main fandom/category tags on my posts, so that tumblr's jankass search has a better shot, haha

broadening your online presence can definitely help! this is by far the most terrifying option since it involves branching out onto other social media platforms, some of which really don't lend themselves to whatever fandom/content one produces, so like the other two above it's only a suggestion.

I keep coming back to twitter and instagram, but that's mainly because they're the two other powerhouses of social media right now, though admittedly they only really cater towards visual media (and mainly imagery, not longer video pieces), and they have their own weird quirks to learn and jank to deal with. but given how precarious tumblr's status has become in some ways, trying to build a presence on multiple sites means that you reach more people across the internet, and also means that if tumblr does yet another website-shattering policy change, your eggs aren't all in one basket.

of course these options aren't foolproof, and won't work for everyone in some cases or not at all for others, but my main point in all this is this: tumblr has irrevocably changed, its userbase has changed, and we are limited in the ways we can directly influence it, but there are still options. I'm by far not a social media expert, but then again none of the posts I've seen so far were made by social media experts either, so I honestly don't feel too bad for throwing my hat into the ring while we're all thrashing about in confusion

y'all aren't wrong that things have changed, but I'm begging you to have some compassion and to try not to turn the relationship between creators and consumers of content into a battleground, especially when a lot of the influences on these changes are things entirely outside of any of our's direct control.

also because it makes y'all sound exactly like this:

#long post #site engagement #a big long pissy rant because I am so goddamned tired y'all #especially because I can't escape these Hot Takes because none of them are tagged consistently #and new ones keep cropping up all the time #it's like whack-a-mole #every post I block sprouts another a few months later #tone doesn't carry through the internet very well but rest assured when I see shit like this #paired with people's screenshots of their like/reblog ratios #and it turning into a 'u think those notes are small check this out' party I get #really goddamned fed up with it #this is of course not comprehensive and mainly just me whingeing @ the whingeing but sometimes u just gotta

[imaginaryelle]

Okay, @tonyglowheart , here is that promised response:

@three--rings  already brought up some points I was going to mention so I’ll skip over going into detail on those and just say that I agree with the use of caution and thoughtfulness in approaching works produced by other cultures (of whatever language), and I, too, love a mash-up of MDZS and CQL for ideal storytelling. Accepting genre tropes in general is really important as well. I once showed my grandfather a piece of my writing based on pulp adventure stories like Indiana Jones and his main reaction was “All these secret chambers and codes and gadgets, isn’t that all very convenient?” and I just had to shrug and say, that’s the genre, it’s part of what makes it fun to read. Also, based on reading about various medicinal histories I’ve been exploring, I can say that the coughing up blood thing is a trope based in Ancient China’s traditional medicine. Lots of pre-understanding-of-blood-circulation societies thought expelling old or stale blood was important for the body (possibly based on how menses works and reflected in Western medicine’s several-century-long obsession with bloodletting), and I recently read that having it caught in your chest and needing to cough it up was part of China’s take on things. I’m still not sure about all the other face bleeding, but if it’s not actually based in something historical it seems like a reasonable extension for the genre.

Okay, so the thing I want to respond to most is the translation bit, because I… okay. I understand that people are going to find works in translation less accessible than works written in a language they can read, and especially works written in their native language and of their own culture. Because obviously there are a ton of underlying ideas that inform word choice and symbolism and character arcs that most people just don’t really think about until they make a serious study of writing or literature (or they travel and learn more about other languages and literature traditions). On a linguistic studies level, language literally shapes the way humans in different cultures think, and what they pick out as important (an academic article that compares English and Chinese specifically can be found here). Even the distinctions between British English and American English, on a word choice and theme or syntax level, can have an impact. I have seen it turn kids off a book, because there are just too many elements they don’t get (this is, for example, why there are two English versions of Harry Potter). Same thing with different decades even. I’m talking about kidlit and YA here because that’s a lot of what I work with, but in that realm, the way we approach stories today is just incredibly different from how they were approached even 50 years ago, even in the same language and the same country. Think Judy Blume or The Dark is Rising vs Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Percy Jackson. And I’m fascinated by those changes, and by the effects of culture and bias on translations (I am extremely hyped to read Emily Wilson’s Odyssey translation, for example), so I tend to approach them as puzzles, where I’m reading the work, but also looking for clues that will tell me more about both the translator and the author to hang in balance. I enjoy that part, and I enjoy figuring out aspects of the two languages that can contribute to how a translation evolves.

I’m a language and literature nerd, and I know not everyone is going to take the approach I do.  I’m not going to fault anyone for saying they don’t enjoy or can’t get into a translation. That’s a perfectly valid opinion. Reducing a work to its translation and judging it only on that impression of it, however, seems pretty shortsighted to me. Here are some things that I think are important to keep in mind when reading a Chinese work in translation, just based on my own extremely limited knowledge:

1. In Chinese storytelling it’s an established practice to reference idioms, poetry, folklore and historic events as a sort of shorthand for evoking the proper tone. Chinese writing tends to be extremely allusive, and much more understated than what we’re used to in English-language storytelling. We can see hints of this in some of the MDZS translator notes, and it’s likely that this difference feeds into a lot of dissatisfaction with the translation. Either the allusions are not translated in a way that adds meaning for an English-speaking reader, or the standards for detail are different. Indirectness and subtly are huge parts of Chinese literature, and so different words or scenes will have very different connotations for Chinese vs. English speaking audiences. And this isn’t even touching on the use of rhyme and rhythm in Chinese writing, which are all but impossible to translate a lot of the time, or the often extremely different approaches to “style” and “genre” between the languages (an interesting article on comparative literature is here at the University of Connecticut website). Given this knowledge, it’s entirely possible that, for example, the smut scenes are more effective in Chinese than in the English translation. In fact, I find it difficult to believe it would be popular enough to get multiple adaptations and a professional publishing run if they weren’t. In translation, smut is a lot like humor: every culture approaches it a little differently. Unless a translator is familiar with both writing traditions and the relevant genres (or they have editors or sensitivity readers who can offer advice), something is going to get lost in the process. And sometimes that something is what at least one of the involved cultures would consider to be the most important part. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.

2. Chinese grammar is slightly different from English grammar (and I’m focusing on Mandarin as the common written language here. For anyone interested, a very basic rundown of major differences is available here). Verb tenses and concepts of time work differently. Emphasis is marked differently – in English we tend to put the most importance on the start of a sentence, while in Chinese it’s often at the end. Sentences are also often shorter in Chinese than in English, and English tends to get more specific in our longer sentences. From what I understand, it’s also a little more acceptable to just drop subjects out of a sentence, and that is more likely to happen if someone is attempting to be succinct. I’ve been told that it’s especially common in contentious situations, as part of an effort to distill objections or arguments down to an essential meaning (if I’m wrong about this or there’s more nuance to it, I’m happy to learn more). As one example of how this affects translation, let’s take that and look at Lan Wangji’s dialogue. I’m willing to bet that most of his words are direct translations, or as direct as the translator could manage. But his words don’t work the same way in English that they do in Chinese. If you continuously drop subjects and articles (Chinese doesn’t have articles) out of a character’s speech in English, they start to sound like they have issues articulating themselves, and I see that idea reflected in fic a lot. The idea that Lan Wangji just isn’t comfortable talking or can’t say the words he means is all over the place, but I don’t think the audience was intended to take away the idea that Lan Wangji speaks quite as stiltedly as he comes off in the English translation. He’s terse, yes. But I at least got the impression that it’s more about choosing when and how to speak for the best effectiveness than anything else, because so many of his actual observations are quite insightful and pointed, or fit just fine syntactically within the conversation he’s part of.

3. Chinese is both more metaphorical and more concrete than English in some ways. In English we use a lot of abstract words to represent complex ideas, and you just have to learn what they mean. In Chinese, the overlap of language and philosophy in the culture results in four-character phrases of what English would generally call idioms. Some examples I found: “perfect harmony” (水乳交融) can be literally translated as “mixing well like milk and water” and “eagerly” (如饥似渴) is read as “like hunger and thirst.” If these set phrases are translated to single word concepts in English, we can lose the entire tone of a sentence and it’ll feel much more flat and... basic, or uninspired. The English reader will be left wondering where the detailed descriptive phrase is that adds emotion and connotation to a sentence, when in the actual Chinese those things were already implied. 

As translations go, MDZS in particular is an incredibly frustrating mixed bag for me, partially because of the non-professional fan translation, and partially because my knowledge of Chinese literature and especially Cultivation novels is so minimal as to be nearly non-existent. But I have enough exposure to translations in general and Chinese language and literature in particular that I could tell there were things I was missing. The framework of the plot and scenes was too complete for me to ever be able to say that any particular frustration I had was due to the author, not the translator. There’s a big grey area in there that’s difficult to navigate without knowing both languages and the norms of the genre extremely well. At one point I was actually able to find multiple translation for a few of the chapters and I loved that. It was really cool to see what changed, and what remained essentially the same, and I was actually really surprised to find that rant you mention, because to me, more translations is always better. I think it was probably about wanting to corral an audience, and possibly also about reducing arguments from the audience about whether a translation was “wrong” or “right.” And that is an issue that’s going to crop up more in online spaces than it has traditionally. Professional translators don’t have to potentially argue with every single reader about their word choice. But then, professional translators also tend to have a better grasp of both the cultures they’re working with as well, and be writers of some variety in their own right, and while I can’t know how fluent (linguistically or culturally) the ExR translator was at the time, the translator’s notes lead me to believe that at minimum their understanding of figurative language use was incomplete. So I can’t fault people for not enjoying the translated novel as much as CQL, for example, because it can be quite choppy and much of the English wording feels like a sketch of a scene rather than something fleshed out fully, but I don’t think it’s fair to apply that impression to MXTX herself or the novel as a whole in Chinese.

More about ExR: I also got the sense that they have a strong bl and yaoi bias as you mentioned, mostly from the translator’s notes. And in general, okay, that’s fine, they’re working with a particular market of fans and I’m just not as much a part of that market. I knew going in that I wasn’t the target audience. I’m okay with that. What I was less okay with was getting to the end and reading the actual author’s notes in translation and finding that the author herself expressed a much more nuanced, considerate, and balanced approach to the story and her writing process than I had been led to believe by the translation and the translator’s notes. And so when people want to criticize the author for things that happen in the translation…. I just think it’s very important to remember that the translator is also a factor, as is the influence of the cultivation genre, and the nature of web novels, and the original intended audience. As you said, white western LGBT people were never the intended recipients of this work. It comes from a totally different context. But I think it’s also important to remember that, again as you noted, it wasn’t first written as a professional work. It was literally a daily-updated webnovel, which works a lot more like a fanfic than a book in terms of approach. And on top of that, it was the author’s second novel (if I’m reading things correctly) and one that they experimented with a lot of new elements in. Those elements earn a lot of forgiveness and benefit of a doubt from me.

About MXTX herself: Most of the posts or references to posts that I’ve seen that judge or dismiss her have to do with the stated sexuality of characters who are not Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. And it just kinda baffles me, because this is fandom. Most of us spend our time writing about characters who are stated to be straight all the time. Why is anyone getting up in arms about this? How can anyone in fandom just summarily dismiss an author for producing original work that centers around a gay relationship when that’s… literally what most of us write, to some extent or another? Again, I’m not saying there’s aren’t aspects that can be criticized in her stories, but the hypocrisy is kind of amazing. I think that fandom, as a culture overall, has issues with treating gay men and their relationships as toys rather than people, and individuals can address their own behavior on that as they learn and grow. That doesn’t mean that every work about gay men having sex is fetishistic, and honestly I’d say that the translator demonstrates more of that attitude than the actual story ever does. The smut is such an incredibly tiny part of the world, plots and character arcs in MDZS that it could be taken out without significantly changing the main narrative very easily. That’s… not fetishistic. That’s smut as part of an overarching romance plot.

Which leads me to the tropes discussion. Yes, obviously there are tropes in MDZS. There are tropes in every story. It’s not a failing, it’s part of writing. Are some of those tropes BL or Yaoi tropes? Sure. Wei Wuxian denying his own sexuality for much of the novel and his tendency toward submission and rape fantasy are some of the very first tropes mentioned in relation to the genre. That Wei Wuxian just sort of seamlessly moves from “pff, I’m NOT a cutsleeve, I’m just acting like one” to shouting “Lan Zhan, I really want you to fuck me” in front of friends, enemies and family without much of a process for dealing with the culture of homophobia around him also seems to be characteristic of the genre. But I think that’s about where it ends. You and @three--rings both made some good points about the nature of the actual relationship, which I agree with: There’s not much of a power play element, or an assigned gender roles element. They’re both virgins who only partially know what they’re doing from looking at illustrations of porn, and they do enthusiastically want to have sex with each other. They’re just bad at negotiating their kinks clearly and could use a decent sex ed manual. The trope I actually have the most issue with is the use of alcohol. I personally despise the trope of “I’ll get someone drunk on purpose for reasons that benefit me personally,” due to my own real life experiences. But it’s an exceedingly common trope in Western media (Idk about Chinese media, but my guess would be it exists there too), and it’s not exclusive to mlm smut scenarios. It’s pretty much everywhere. And, thankfully, Wei Wuxian does seem to eventually realize that he’s fucking things up by using it. That said, despite knowing what happens to him when he drinks, La Wangji keeps doing it. So they’re both contributing to that mess, no matter how much I dislike that it exists, and the narrative doesn’t actually condone it. No one says “Oh, Wei Wuxian, that’s such a good idea, that’s definitely something you should keep doing.” He is consistently warring with himself over it but unable to resist. It’s still dubcon and manipulation, and I certainly understand people not wanting to read it. I just also think that reducing the entire relationship down to “bad, terrible, fetishistic BL tropes” requires the reader to ignore large parts of the story and pretty evident intent on the parts of both the characters and the author.

On purity culture: Yeah, that’s obviously been cropping up all over the place the past several years (I have indeed been in marvel for ages :P). It does seem like there are places in fandom (to some degree any fandom), where “I don’t like how this idea was executed in this context” gets conflated with “This entire work is terrible,” which is a disservice to everyone involved. I agree that there are many things that can be legitimately criticized in MDZS, but I also just… really don’t understand where this attitude comes from that because something is not perfect, it’s trash. Wasn’t fandom essentially invented out of the desire to respond to canon? To make it more your own? Isn’t picking out the parts you like and ignoring the bits you don’t (or writing around the bits you hate until you can fit them in a shape you like better) pretty much what all fic is about? Aren’t those holes people are sticking their fingers into and complaining about opportunities for more fan content?  But even more than “purity culture” I would term it “entitlement culture,” because a lot of it seems to be about the idea that media should fit into and support a certain set of beliefs at all times. A lot of fandoms are no longer an atmosphere of “I don’t like the way this is presented so I’m going to create my on version that works for me.” Instead there’s a growing element of “I don’t like the way this is presented so that means it’s wrong and bad and the original creator should admit that it’s wrong and bad and fix it to satisfy me.” And honestly? That’s just sad to me. More and more, we’re not having a conversation with canon, or even with each other. We’re not building what we want to see we’re just… tearing other people down. I really don’t understand what anyone finds fun in that, and I’m going to do my best to keep creating the things I actually do want to see instead.

#blah blah alex #this is about mdzs #and translation #and fandom #alcohol mention #dubcon mention