Portland is wet

[olivermoss]

* It's very wet out. It's not just the rain, it's the flooding and the ground being saturated. Because the sidewalks and sides of the street were flooded and I didn't want to walk in the middle of the road, I went to walk on some grass that was somewhat elevated, it sloped down so the top should have been fine. My shoes sank right in. My feet get very cold and wet. I have some of my groceries on the counter to dry off before I put them away.

* So I ran right into a chunk of fandom having no nuance and treating everything questionable as a 'me, too' thing again today and this ... this one is super insane. I don't want to get into details because I am still stuck on 'this can't be right... I need to double check this...'

And as a side-vague I think some smaller creators need to be careful about getting on purity bandwagons, especially when they know someone on their team said something innocent that could be taken out of context and it's been well clipped... Trying to appease the puri-teens will get them an audience of puri-teens. That might not end well.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

Ground saturation makes such a huge difference. Which isn't a surprise, but at the same time FEELS surprising every time it's that extreme. Bleh, I'm sorry you wound up with soggy socks.

I don't know which fandom drama you're vagueing, but the whole "there's zero nuance" attitude sure as hell seems like it happens often enough that it's an evergreen frustration.

And oooh, yes. Strong agree re: creators that court and appease that purity-obsessed segment of fandom. Having that be the only audience you have might get you some glowing attention for being "unproblematic" or whatever for a while, but that never lasts forever.

[olivermoss]

I get how these dramas can create problems for smaller creators and it seems easier to just go along and agree with every complaint, but it's a short term solution that can bite them in the ass.

[mistressofmuses]

Right? It might feel like it's easiest just to agree and offer concessions or the like... but the goalposts are always moving.

There was a fandom event I was a part of a few years ago, and it wound up utterly falling apart because one of the mods was being hounded by purity police/anti types. They started by asking the event to make a rule against explicit adult/underage fic, which the mods agreed to because no one was writing that anyway... and then the goalposts just KEPT shifting. Then it was that specific ships should be disallowed, even if the fics were nonexplicit. Then it was that any "age gap" ships be disallowed, even if they weren't explicit or if it wasn't an adult/minor situation. Then it was no "aging up" characters. Then it was no ships involving the teenage cast at all, even if the works were completely safe for work. Then it was no explicit works should be allowed at all, because there are underage characters in the cast, and even if you're only writing about adults, it's somehow still inappropriate.

It was very much a "give an inch" situation, because no one involved in the event objected to the first request, but the instant that they changed the rules, they were flooded with non-stop harassment and threats, demanding more and more.

A handful of people running a fic exchange isn't the same as an original creator, but the progression of demands isn't all that different. When that's the ONLY audience you court, then you're absolutely running the risk of having to give in to every single demand they ever make, or having that entire audience you built turn on you.

[olivermoss]

That sounds like a mess. The discourse can get super nutty and once you've started to give into very online takes it can be hard to see that you can set a hard line. The loudest people are the worst.

When I set up the Steddie com I almost made a general Stranger Things comm instead, thinking that would have more legs. Then I thought about it for a second and went 'no, hell no, not touching modding this if it takes off'

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah. Unfortunately it seems like any fandom with sufficient popularity winds up utterly discourse-poisoned at some point. Really strong boundaries are important, and tend to be the only way to head that sort of thing off. Initially ceding ground or courting a purity-focused fanbase often means it will be an unending battle, and you never know when something minor will be declared "unforgiveable" and have your fanbase turning on you.

I'm glad you stuck with a more specific ship-focused com! Because yeah, eesh can I imagine some absolute hell having to mod something for the fandom as a whole. (I've avoided most Big Discourses, but I know they're right there. Lurking.) Fandoms with that kind of popularity attract bad-faith takes from all sides it feels like.

[olivermoss]

I've spent too much of my life defending stuff I'm not even into, and also dealing with people who think putting certain types of content behind cut-tags is literal oppression. In a lot of ways a general comm might have been a better idea with more momentum... but I cannot be bothered

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah, lots of same. I have and still do wind up defending things I don't personally like (or may even hate!) Meanwhile... yeah, the people who think any rules or requests for courtesy is some unforgivable slight against them personally/literally the worst oppression in the world. Bad behavior all around.

I don't blame you for not wanting to invite any of that that you don't need.