So I Have Read Several People Complaining That They Can't Be Expected To Know The "unwritten Rules" Of

So I have read several people complaining that they can't be expected to know the "unwritten rules" of fandom. So here's what I wish people knew:

Fanfiction is fiction.

Fictional people are not real.

Fictional people do not have rights.

Fictional people cannot be abused.

Reading or writing about something does not mean the desire to do or support it in the real world.

If I find art upsetting/triggering/disgusting/outraging/unpleasant/squicky/distressing/offensive, it is on me not to read it, not the creators and hosts to remove it.

Curate your own experience. The back buttons exist for a reason.

If you don't trust yourself to do that, get someone you trust to do it for you.

Fandom is an adult space. Adults create and own and host fandom spaces. If minors want to participate, then the onus is on them and their parents/guardians/trusted adults to ensure they participate appropriately, not on strange adults to stop being adults.

You often don't know the assault status or mental health status or neurotype or race or nationality or religion or gender or sexuality or age of a creator or consumer, and they do not have to disclose to you to justify their fantasy.

AO3 is not a safe space. It is not intended to be a safe space. Proceed accordingly.

Just because you don't like something or find it offensive doesn't mean it is a "problem" that "has to be dealt with".

Most characters in anime are not white.

There is no onus on you to reblog or share anything.

Everyone makes mistakes in fandom and is less than their best self sometimes.

Persistent pseudonyms encourage long term relationships.

Ship wars are stupid.

Someone else enjoying things does not impact on your own enjoyment of other things.

Tagging and warning is a courtesy, not a requirement. Assume any fic might contain untagged content.

Rating is an imprecise art, not a science.

Don't hassle IP creators.

Most people who are in fandom are hoping to make connections based on a shared passion.

Trying to profit from transformative fanworks puts us all at risk.

No one is obligated to share your head canon or fanon.

Being kind rarely fails to pay off.

It is okay to block and remove people who make your experience unpleasant. You don't have to placate them. (Learn from my mistakes).

Britpicking is a good thing.

You don't have to justify why you like a canon/pairing/trope/kink. Sometimes navel gazing is fun, but you don't have an obligation to explain yourself, especially to strangers. I share the overwhelming desire to refute an unfair accusation, but the people accusing you are rarely doing so in good faith, so you're batting a losing wicket.

I'm not your Mum. (Well, okay, a very few of you can call me Mum or Mom, but if you are one of them you already know who you are ❤️)

If you aren't mature enough to take responsibility for your online experiences, you aren't mature enough to be in fandom spaces.

More Posts from Kelpforestfire and Others

kelpforestfire

3 months ago

!!❤️!!

FIRST REVEALS START TOMORROW!

we have over 100 female/genderqueer centric harry potter fics, arts and edits coming your way for the fest!

Each day this week we will be revealing works, with posting ending on March 7th.

Works will be revealed at 4PM GMT each day!

Keep an eye on this page as we will be reblogging works, posting stats, and sharing everything here.

Thank you to everyone who has participated so far! It has been so so so incredible watching this all come together and we're loving looking through everything that has been created 💞

And a special thank you to the moderators for making this possible: @starprongs @badhairred @kelpforestfire @heartsoncover @lemonlans @itsradla @middleagedenragedmama

- @messrsrarchives

96 notes View Post

kelpforestfire

3 months ago

🪩 Posting Day Two 🪩

Another 25 fics and 5 arts have been released!

Fics and art can both be found in the AO3 collection here

Edits will be shared in a masterlist here once they are all posted over on TikTok! For now, they're being saved into the public folder here

Art can also be found with #HPFemFest art where we are reblogging everything on this page <3

Make sure to check out the collection and share some love to all of the creators who took part in this fest, we have so much more to come throughout the week 💞💞

37 notes View Post

kelpforestfire

4 months ago

from the bottom of my heart: just because something makes you uncomfortable doesn't mean it shouldn't be allowed to exist

35K notes View Post

kelpforestfire

9 years ago

That Precision.[video]

2K notes View Post

kelpforestfire

5 months ago

downloading a fic when ao3 dies (when you have the link)

looks like ao3 is down again and i was in the middle of a multi chapter fic when it died on me.

and if that happens to you, this is what you can do to download the fic:

copy paste https://download.archiveofourown.org/downloads/00000000/fic.html in your browser url

replace the pink bit with the number right after /works (that's the work id)

for instance, in https://archiveofourown.org/works/44970790/chapters/113154673 the highlighted bit (44970790) would be the number you swap for the 0s

the download link will look like https://download.archiveofourown.org/downloads/44970790/fic.html

if you want the fic to be downloaded as an epub instead, use .epub at the end of that link

it should start downloading on your device

i'm sure a bunch of people know this and use it but in case you don't, hope this helps

6K notes View Post

kelpforestfire

5 months ago

It just kills me when writers create franchises where like 95% of the speaking roles are male, then get morally offended that all of the popular ships are gay. It’s like, what did they expect?

292K notes View Post

kelpforestfire

5 months ago

To a certain extent watching all the fandom folks flock back to Tumblr as a result of the TikTok ban is lovely

like nature is healing, the birds are returning

45 notes View Post

kelpforestfire

3 months ago

this!

why are all these people I like so much so far away?!?

the tragedy of tumblr is you will inevitably meet people who you should be having a sleepover with. you should be rolling around on their floor and rummaging through their fridge and watching shitty movies with. you should be shopping with should be going out to a cafe with should be wandering through the aquarium with. people who you should be experiencing quotidian joys with... and you cannot! because they live one million miles away

71K notes View Post

kelpforestfire

9 years ago

In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. Each moment, taken alone, is bearable. Each moment is not without it’s beauty.

Julia Cameron (via twloha)

2K notes View Post

kelpforestfire

9 years ago

aaaaahh!