We have lost the meaning of queerbait

Just because what you wanted didn't happen, doesn't mean it's queerbaiting. It is now being used an excuse when the ship you want didn't get together. Queerbaiting has to do with marketing.

Queerbait: A cookbook that you learned about from ads with pictures of people eating tasty looking soups and the author's social media posts about how soup lovers are going to love it, proves to have no soup recipes.

Not queerbait: A cookbook has no soup recipes. You assumed there would be some based on vibes and wishful thinking. No soups were ever advertised or promised.

Also not queerbait: A cookbook that was advertised as containing soup recipes has soup recipes but not for the types of soups you like.

The AO3 Demographics Survey 2024 was an unofficial demographics survey of 16,131 AO3 users conducted in January 2024. We have just finished posting our initial results, so here is just a taste of the graphs and data you can check out now over on AO3!

We will be continuing to work on this project in the New Year, so please make sure you follow this blog or subscribe to the project on AO3 to keep up to date.

A full list of the survey questions with links to the relevant data is below the cut!

I enjoy the Two Cakes Philosophy and I believe it deserves its place enshrined in fandom culture.

Forgive me for the extended metaphor but I also want to simultaneously celebrate what I’m calling Bakery Display Case Philosophy. You know when you walk into a bakery and the display case is full of beautiful treats? And there’s a variety of different colors, textures, and flavors to discover? And that’s so deeply exciting?

You might say to yourself, “No one is going to want to read this pairing. No one is going to want to want a character study of that character. No one wants genfic in this fandom, only shipfic.”

And you might use that to discourage yourself from writing a certain fic.

Fandoms, like bakeries, need cakes and cookies and éclairs and cream puffs and shortbread and brownies and pies and tarts and petit fours and turnovers and cinnamon rolls and madeleines and meringues—and so many other things—to survive.

Write your dark chocolate pistachio croissant fic. Your fandom needs it actually.

This is a slow fandom zone

None of that "Oh no they bomb-dropped all the episodes in a week 1 month ago, I'm late!" "The tag hasn't been active all week is the fandom dead?" "I only got a hundred shares the first hour no one cares about my art"

Slow down

Take a deep breath and slow down

Fandom is YOU. And me and everyone. If we doodle stick figures for a show that ended 30 years ago we aren't "late" or "doing too little", we're playing dolls in our own time and having fun with works of art that mean a lot to us

You can literally watch and engage with something that aired in 2004 as if it aired yesterday

If the tag hasn't been active for 14 months guess what? If YOU post there, it isn't dead. Literally you can talk about anything you want whenever you want there is no weird law against watching things that people aren't actively talk about

Let's be deranged about stories together

"For mature audiences" not as in "legally allowed to see a boob" but "can see a fictional character do a bad thing and not immediately go on a crusade against the author"

#fandom#op you can't just murder that many people with one sentence

yeah if i personally committed murder it would be bad, as opposed to if i were to write a fictional character committing murder, which is morally neutral

not to be controversial bc I know this is like…not in line with shifting opinions on fanfic comment culture but if there’s a glaring typo in my work I will NOT be offended by pointing it out. if ao3 fucks up the formatting…I will also not be offended by having this pointed out…

‘looking forward to the next update’ and ‘I hope you update soon!’ are different vibes than a demand, and should be read in good faith because a reader is finding their way to tell you how much they love it. I will not be mad at this.

‘I don’t usually like this ship but this fic made me feel something’ is also incredibly high praise. I’m not going to get mad at this.

even ‘I love this fic but I’m curious about why you made [x] choice’ is just another way a reader is engaging in and putting thought into your work.

I just feel like a lot of authors take any comment that’s not perfectly articulated glowing praise in the exact manner they’re hoping to receive it in bad faith.

fic engagement has been dropping across the board over the last several years, and yes it’s frustrating but it isn’t as though I can’t see how it happens. comment anxiety can be a real thing. the last thing anyone wants to do is offend an author they love, and that means sometimes people default to silence.

idk where I’m going with this I guess aside from saying unless a comment is outright attacking me I’m never going to get mad at it, and I think a lot of authors should feel the same way. ESPECIALLY TYPOS PLZ GOD POINT OUT MY TYPOS.

A phenomenon I’ve seen in fandom with a large central ship is that people will have their shipping goggles activated at such an intensity, they doggedly erase character traits that don’t contribute to pushing forward romance. The two individuals in the relationship are rendered utterly one-dimensional through the loss of any individual aspects of their story or personality that could be interpreted as an obstacle to shipping.

This makes fanon interpretations of the characters boring and uninteresting to read about because they have no character traits other than being in love with their romantic interest. I like shipping as much as the next guy, but I hate fandom-at-large’s tendency to only engage with a story through shipping, and especially to the extent that the characters are barely individuals, and do not exist outside of the central romantic relationship

controversial opinion, but characters are so much more interesting when you are able to forget about shipping them for a moment and actually appreciate their unrelated personal plot/arc. if the most interesting thing you can think of about a character is the ship you like them with, then I don't think you actually like that character very much

"AO3 doesn't need a "dislike" button"

Um, actually, it already has one. Depending on your specs, it might look a little different but over all it looks kinda like this:

You can find it at the corner of your screen, which corner is dependent on your layout.

Anyway, if you dislike a fic, you can hit this Dislike Button until the fic goes away. It really is pretty amazing actually.

I'm just putting this out there because I'm thinking about it and because I want people to know it's not just them.

I don't really read fic anymore. It's not because I stopped liking it, though. It's because I made a rule for myself that I'm not able to follow.

I told myself that if I read a fic, I should comment on it. And not just "I loved it!" but a detailed comment. A live reaction or at least quoting favourite lines. Maybe talk about symbolism or about references I caught or about characterization etc.

I did that because I loved the authors I was reading and because I'd received so many lovely comments like that and I wanted to be able to pass that joy onto others. But then I found it hard to actually comment like that.

I could manage it sometimes? Oneshots weren't too hard, for example, but multichaps? My rule was that I had to comment every chapter. And the kinds of comments I wanted to write, well that meant reading on my laptop because I hate typing on my phone.

Eventually, I felt so guilty when I read fic without commenting on it that I stopped reading fic altogether. Better to just not read if I wasn't able to hold up my end of the bargain.

I shifted out of my fandom not long after that, and I haven't found a new one that's sparked the same interest (ie obsession), so I don't know if I might be able to fix this habit if I ever get into a new fandom in the future. All I know is, don't be like me.

Comment as you can and when you can, but don't set up strict rules like I did. I can't speak for all authors of course, but I know that personally, I'd rather you enjoy my work without commenting at all rather than make yourself feel so guilty you stop reading it altogether.

ugh this is sadly relatable :(

ofc i still read stony fic, but there are times when i want to read something (usually late at night) but i'm too aware of the fact that if i read the thing i won't have enough brainpower to leave a decent comment, and if i read it and put off commenting until later i'll likely forget what i wanted to react to and the comment will feel flat, so i just do something else instead, and the thing might go unread for some time!

first and foremost, fanfic should be a joyous experience; never a chore. and if the prospect of leaving a comment your conscience will deem 'sufficient' is too daunting, then just read the fic and enjoy it! leave kudos* if you haven't yet! skipping the fic altogether doesn't serve anyone.

*also: leaving kudos but no comment IS NOT A CRIME! please leave a kudos if you read and enjoyed something. i've had people mention liking my story but haven't gotten around to commenting yet, which is totally chill, but so often they didn't leave a kudos, either (ostensibly bc they haven't left a comment yet and don't want to seem like the kudos is their only response?), which can be discouraging when you're wondering why your fic hasn't gotten the kind of engagement you were hoping for. KUDOS BY THEMSELVES ARE VERY APPRECIATED ❤️❤️❤️

I love the detailed, thoughtful comments, of course! Who wouldn't? But, I also truly appreciate a heart emoji! It doesn't have to be some treatise on the symbolism, I swear. It isn't a tit-for-tat arrangement, just a desire for some kind of engagement so I don't feel like I'm yelling into a void. It isn't an obligation, though, and ultimately, I write because doing so gives me pleasure and sharing it makes me happy. But, fandom, like any community, needs to be nurtured to grow. If it is only consumed, there isn't going to be much left of it after awhile. That doesn't mean everyone must leave comments, and certainly not super detailed comments, but it does mean that if you want content to engage with, you have to engage back in some way. Kudos, comments, reblogs (God, you guys, just a reblog is like pulling teeth these days!), asks, art, your tags (I read those!), chatting on Discord, a mention on twitter, a rec, like...anything. It's all appreciated.

Okay to reblog to help sample size!f

Holy shit, half a cake! 🍽️

That is actually a great and helpful comment, thanks Stina! ♥

Since Ao3 has temporarily disabled guest comments due to very mean and pornographic bots, now is a very good time for 1) readers with Ao3 accounts to comment on the fics they love and cherish to make up for those who cannot leave guest comments and 2) readers without Ao3 accounts to join the waitlist and make an account!

I'm so tired of discussions about fandom's broader behavioral patterns devolving to focus on individuals' personal excuses for not liking a specific female character /character of color (&tc), instead of us having the necessary discussion about how we (in aggregate) have fostered a community space (fandom) where people who DO like/celebrate/create fanwork for those characters are erased, marginalized, or driven away.

"he would not fucking say that" but its about a character being a leftist. he would not fucking believe that

media literacy is knowing when a character would say "i dont vote. why are you bringing politics into this?" no matter how mad it makes you to hear somebody irl say the same thing

⭐ It is common, courteous and good practice in fandom circles to use content warnings for things that you know are major, common potential triggers.

⭐ Not all fiction warns for potential triggering content. Most published fiction does not warn for specific content. Most mainstream film only uses vague content warnings and guidelines. 

⭐ On AO3 authors can use the warning "author chose not to warn" which means the fic may or may not contain any of the major types of triggering content that AO3 has warnings for. 

⭐ When you choose to engage with a piece of fiction that has no content warnings on it, you are consenting to be surprised. 

⭐ When you choose to engage with a piece of fiction that has no content warnings on it, you are accepting the risk that there may be content in it which will upset or trigger you.

⭐ Just because a piece of fiction warns for one type of content does not mean that fiction is necessarily free from other potentially triggering content.

⭐ Fiction cannot warn for all possible triggers. Fiction cannot warn for your specific triggers. People are triggered and upset by all kinds of things, and no author can predict what parts of their material may or may not upset or trigger a member of their audience.

⭐ Your mental illness and the state of your mental health is not your fault, but it is your responsibility.

⭐ When you choose to engage with a piece of fiction, you are consenting to engage with that piece of media. 

⭐ If a piece of media turns out to contain elements that are upsetting or triggering to you it is your responsibility to stop engaging with that media for the sake of your mental health.

⭐ Your mental health is not the responsibility of any fiction creator.

⭐ Authors of fiction are not responsible for your mental health.

⭐ Authors of fiction have the right to put any type of material in the fiction that they create.

⭐ Authors of fiction do not have the duty to avoid creating material that is upsetting or triggering to you personally.

⭐ Authors who create fiction which does not come with a list of content warnings are not harming your mental health.

⭐ If you cannot consume fiction without knowing for certain that it does not contain elements that may upset or trigger you, it is your responsibility to make sure of that it doesn't before you engage with it.

⭐ While it is good to use warnings for common triggers, authors do not owe you accessibility to their fiction by providing a list of triggers for you.

⭐ If you want to consume a piece of fiction but are unsure if it has elements that may trigger and upset you, it is your responsibility to either find out if it does by asking someone who knows, or to avoid that media altogether.

⭐ It is not an author's responsibility if you feel like you might be "missing out" on fiction that you might enjoy, because you do not know if it has material that may or may not trigger you in it.

⭐ Authors do not owe you accessibility to their fiction, and your mental health is not their responsibility.

This is my response to various complaints received about this post: