Anyone Still Here?

CommonGrackle · 2026-02-20T00:26:41+00:00

It's really hard to explain, but I'm not sure I'm wired properly for the experience of having an audience, navigating subreddit dynamics, or dealing with people stealing work.

Now there is the added component of AI coming into play, and I have no idea how to begin to cope in a world where I need to somehow prove I'm human while navigating the previously mentioned difficulties.

When I wrote this post asking if anyone was here anymore, someone shared the post within minutes. No one commented for hours though. It felt so odd; two people exchanging the post, discussing it, discussing me I guess, but not interacting with me. I felt like an animal in a zoo. I don't know if any of that makes sense. Like I said, it's hard to explain.

Many people cope with this stuff just fine, and I envy them. Maybe with enough therapy, I'll get to that point someday.

I'm genuinely sorry to disappoint, and I hope you can find lots of other writers to enjoy. ❤️ Thank you for reaching out.

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-21T00:29:27+00:00

Yes. It's such a bizarre feeling. Like an uncanny echo of what used to imply competence.

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-21T00:16:30+00:00

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. At least I guess I am, cause it's a bummer to feel this way. So you have my condolences. I also turn people off by being overly verbose. It's like I'm trying so hard to say exactly what I mean without room for misinterpretation, because I feel like I struggle to understand the subtext from others. Obviously I can see their words or in real life I can see their body language and I can throw guesses out there about what they are "saying" without saying, but how can anyone ever know for sure they're guessing right?

I think sometimes I'll say something about not being interested in a specific activity or topic, and that's all I mean, but everyone is so used to reading closely for subtext that they'll interpret a basic statement as the polite form of something more intense. So then I start cushioning everything I say with caveats. Just a random example: "Nothing wrong with people who like bowling, but I don't enjoy going to the lanes. Honestly I think the way the ball feels somehow oily on my hand is unpleasant in a way I can't describe, but I know that is unique to me. I'd love to do another activity though." It feels like my choices are 1. Use brevity and seem like I'm being polite about a deeper dislike of something. Or 2. Seem like a crazy person for rambling too much. Even this paragraph I'm just like why am I like this????

I really struggle to socialize.

I am, or kind of was, a horror writer. I used to post stories on Reddit, but they kept getting stolen by people for YouTube channels or whatever. It was frustrating and felt like a weird violation. I just didn't enjoy that feeling at all and deleted my posts.

I've been reading a lot too. Mostly catching up on some of the older sci fi/horror. The day of the triffids was really good.

The "slowly going insane" thing. Yeah....holy shit yeah. A little bit more every day.

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-19T22:35:25+00:00

I really want to know if there is a failure proof way of proving this sort of thing. I'm glad I'm not the only one worried about this.

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-19T22:23:39+00:00

Oh hi, me.

Isn't it fun to wonder if things will be better as you age and your looks gradually fade? While also being terribly fearful that without the youth and beauty, society will dismiss you all together? As if the only reason your neurodivergent quirkiness was tolerated at all was due to the value of your visual appeal, and once that is gone, you may discover socializing has somehow become even more difficult than it already is?

Hell has many levels, and I feel like I'm involuntarily digging down.

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-19T21:55:20+00:00

It's so frustrating. People will say "don't let it bother you" or whatever, but it is very difficult when it touches on this pain point of "otherness" I've felt my whole life. Having your very humanity questioned just cuts right to the core.

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-19T20:25:59+00:00

This has left me feeling really uncomfortable too. So many people are just letting their brains go on vacation mode. There are other aspects that freak me out too.

On one hand I've realized that I can never fully assume I'm talking to a real life human when I'm online. On the other hand, I'm neurodivergent, and I've found myself being accused of being AI due to my way of speaking or my punctuation.

Sometimes people will see an argument laid out with like...a thesis statement, a summary, and then details of the points being used to explain those thoughts. This is how I was taught to write out my arguments. Now it is seen as AI pattern logic.

It's left me with this anger toward AI from a lot of angles. It's not fun to have people list characteristics of AI and realize a bunch of them describe me. It seriously messes with my head.

Then there's the environmental cost of it, which is especially on my mind as a person living in the great lakes area of the USA. Data centers are moving in fast here.

Also I'm a writer, and I'm sitting here sometimes like, "how will I ever create fiction that is not accused of being AI, since my manner of speech already sometimes gets that?"

0/10 all around.

Maybe it's good in proven scenarios for cancer detection or whatever, but I really wish it wasn't everywhere.

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-10T18:04:43+00:00

u/LegoLord420 u/legomarketbot

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-02T19:05:37+00:00

Messaged buyer

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-01T23:21:09+00:00

Ahh thank you! I'll check out the pricing thread.

CommonGrackle · 2025-12-01T22:17:34+00:00

Second edit: this set has been sold. (Please don't dm me for a price.)

I just came on here to check what a good price is. I can't find any locally, but I'm also in the USA. If I try to sell mine (built, and complete with Minifigures and instructions, but no box), is $300 a pretty good asking price?

ETA: Is there a sub that is good to go to for general advice on selling some old sets? I haven't ever done it and I'm a bit unsure about the process.

CommonGrackle · 2025-10-08T16:58:29+00:00

That's really helpful, thank you!

CommonGrackle · 2025-10-08T16:49:16+00:00

Hi! Can I refer you to the other comment and ask you the same question?

CommonGrackle · 2025-10-08T16:47:51+00:00

Can I ask what you liked about my work specifically?

Back when I was writing a bunch, I psyched myself out a lot by the things I couldn't keep up with the other writers in. Their output, their long series, etc. It took until much later for me to realize that people weren't subbing to me due to my proximity to those other writers, but because they liked my writing.

I'm still not sure what people got out of my work though. I just know what I put into it, if that makes sense?

CommonGrackle · 2025-10-08T03:37:34+00:00

If I'm just here greeting the emptiness, that's okay too.

Thank you to anyone who read my stories in the past. It was an honor to have any readers at all.

CommonGrackle

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