The Pen Pot

There's talk (again) at Tumblr that the site is being sun-downed due to a severe layoff of staff, and honestly, it's heartbreaking. The Internet I grew up with is no longer a thing.

There are ghosts of it, here and there, but what we're left with it Meta (ew), Musk (double ew) Tik Tok (No thanks. I'm not one for videos) and Bluesky, which is very quiet.

Discord's a thing. I even use it, but it's not quite the same.

Then there's this place, which feels like a phantom in itself: a memorial to what once was.

I suppose I just woke up this morning feeling uncertain of things. The political situation in America means I'm not sure if AO3 will survive (How long before anything gay is porn and porn is "illegal", for example?)

It's hard to look on the bright side when everything is so damn dark.

I can honestly say, a dental abscess over a bank holiday weekend does not spark joy. I have antibiotics now, and a root canal booked for the 15th of September, but this is just a bit more faff I could have truly done without 🤣

Since I've become a fandom-old ™ I get to see a lot about how the fashions surrounding fanfiction has changed. Some of it, I love. For example, I adore that it's now frowned upon to give unsolicited criticism on fics. People still do it, but as an author you can rightfully shut them down, because people have figured out that fanfiction is a gift, not a submission to a writing workshop, and critique should only be offered if its invited in the first place.

However, with the way everything's changing, I'm witnessing a rapid switch and change in writers' attitudes to comment. Some people are simultaneoulsy bemoaning the lack of engagement (true) and complaining about the quality of the comments they're receiving. I've seen writers saying that emojii's or just a "great job" are apparently meaningless to them, and frankly, my mind's a little bit blown.

As it is, while I can sympathise, the posts pressuring people to comment with fic have been getting seriously over the top lately, shooting straight past begging to almost threatening and making some kind of moral judgement on readers who don't comment. For me, that's not what fandom should be about.

If people comment on my fic, I am always grateful, because it's a way to start building a community and meeting people who share my interests, but I'm not about to start demanding that. Are there consequences to no comments? Yeah. Lack of engagement = limited desire to create content.

I think in this very instant gratification consumer culture, that's important for people to understand, but in the same way that fic writers aren't just there to dispense something for people to read, readers aren't just a means to gratify a wrwiter. They're real people, with real issues, stresses and all that.

I just honestly don't think guilt tripping people into commenting on fic is healthy, and nor is judging the so-called quality of the comments you receive. When most creators are gasping for any interactions, policing feedback is ridiculously counter-productive.

I'm delighted, personally, with an emoji or a "great job" because that's 3 seconds out of someone's really busy life that they put forward to me to say thanks.