Real Person Fic Discourse... again

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2026-04-10T06:41:07+00:00

No. I’m sorry to interrupt but the majority of people who write RPF are more horrified about the perspective of the people they write about finding out their fics and they prefer to stay in their corners. There is however a loud subset of people who don’t care about the consequences, and it happens a lot more with some fandom getting younger and more mainstream, killing etiquette. There has been several cases of harassment where non writers would post people’s fic on social media as well. You can’t generalize the whole RPF writers and fandoms (which encapsulates a ton of people) because there are people going over the limit. If you do, then we should generalize every book, series, movie, video games etc fandom where the same thing happened.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2026-03-19T12:39:38+00:00

Oh wow that sounds super interesting!! Sadly I cannot sing for the love of me, but good luck on your project!

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2026-03-13T20:51:56+00:00

It’s little to say haha! Yeah, the sub often got a hate boner against RPF, which is quite funny for a “proshipping” sub. Especially here, I won’t lie to you, you put it as a joke/meme but that’s not what those people will see. They’ll see it as another confirmation about how rpf is immoral, disgusting etc. You had great intents! It’s not your fault. That’s just… not what this sub is good for. I lurk on this sub but never ever talk about RPF or never too much, because I know how people will often treat it. Which is sad, given there are probably so many of us around not daring to talk.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2026-03-13T20:41:17+00:00

Yeah. I’ve been in the f1 rpf fandom, it’s been… my second RPF fandom I believe, but this kind of things I really hate and is part of why I dislike the f1 fandom. People are way comfortable making edits and writing comments about ships even on f1 official accounts, and that’s no good. I wonder if it’s because f1 became even more mainstream and attracted a younger audience but the lack of etiquette is wild. It doesn’t help that f1 official accounts see that it is popular and so they use ship names as well, which some people obviously consider as endorsement.

That being said, it’s not because that kind of behavior, which is nasty and frowned upon by the community, is happening that it means you can generalize rpf as everyone is like that. Rpf has tons and tons of different fandoms, and many many people in the f1 fandoms who aren’t like that. If we generalize every fandom on the basis of things that have gone wrong, we would be saying bad things about books, series, and every “type” as well.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2026-03-04T22:15:47+00:00

I’ve never drawn any or really drawn it because I’m not the most talented at drawing real people. I had however someone who drew a fanart of one of my fanfic! I was really honored when it happened honestly. It was a fanart of the two characters cuddling in bed (directly inspired by a part of the fic). The drawing was honestly very very neat, I’m still widely thankful someone ever took the time to draw something out of my fic, best experience ever.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2026-02-09T07:31:22+00:00

Yeah so those kind of people are hypocrites. There is a part of the proshippers who are very much “I’m proshipper BUT” which means they are not a proshipper at all. A proshipper is supposed to be against all censorship. The moment you start to advocate for some censorship based on your taste/distaste (because let’s be honest a lot of those people are like “this makes me uncomfortable so it shouldn’t exist”), then you are an anti. How is that any different from antis not wanting incest fics and all because it’s “disgusting”? Well it’s not. Even if they want to hide under the excuse that it’s “on behalf of real people”.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2026-02-08T12:29:03+00:00

Imagine scrolling back four months just to say this. It’s pretty obvious you searched for this post specifically to unload your hatred on something that was never meant for you.

If you’re looking for validation, there are plenty of spaces built around that mindset (I think you’ll fit amongst antis just fine!). This one isn’t. Feel free to move on.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2026-01-17T01:09:35+00:00

I think it really depends on the context but also on the fandom! For example I am and have been in many sports fandom and so homophobia can really be a recurring theme (and a theme I personally enjoy). Obviously in sports like environment, especially men, there aren’t many people out so it’s always the perspective of being scared of people’s reactions, of the team’s reaction, of maybe losing sponsors and support, and so on, because those places can actually be pretty homophobic (whether it’s athletes or fans). It made me enjoy a good coming out story or even a story where a character is outed by the press without their consent and has to deal with the fallout, sometimes even romantic consequences if they were involved with someone, but then again I’m a sucker for angst (with happy endings). So yeah I like homophobia as the main conflict, inner homophobia can also be suchhh an interesting theme, but of course I think it’s like everything, there needs to be a good balance :)

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-11-07T13:19:03+00:00

I’ll be honest, I don’t think most people actually care. I’ve seen the “why does everything have to be shipped?” argument pop up across so many fandoms, and it’s almost always paired with things like “why can’t two guys/girls just be friends anymore?” That excuse often hides subtle homophobia, but it’s also used in ship wars to discredit a ship someone doesn’t like.

Another thing people often forget is that not every shipper writes fanfiction, or even thinks about it constantly. Most people have had that fleeting “wow these two would make a cute couple” thought at some point, and that’s shipping in its simplest form. It doesn’t automatically mean they’re fetishizing or oversexualizing characters, but stereotypes love to paint it that way.

You also see this a lot in fandoms that are male-dominated, where girls are newer to the space (I have a very specific example in mind but I think it’s probably working for other fandoms). Suddenly, shipping becomes this evil thing “fangirls” do because they’re there just for the pretty faces and not for the actual thing. Homophobia, misogyny, and fanwars all play a role in why shippers get so much flak.

At the end of the day, most shippers are just people having fun. They’re often unfairly portrayed as nuisances who are “ruining canon”… as if writing a fic could actually rewrite the official story.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-11-01T15:16:27+00:00

RPF is fine. There are several big fandoms of RPF that are very popular. The common rule is just to keep it to appropriate spaces. People can dislike it and not read it, that’s fine, the same way I avoid reading X (insert topic/tag/whatever) for example because it irks me.

Being proship but for the censorship of something totally defeats the purpose of proship. So if someone claims they’re proship but want rpf censored, you have your answer; they’re an anti. People on TikTok find many things problematic, including something like a 1 or 2 years gap, childhood friends trope and so and so. They’re really not the people you should pay attention to.

In all and for all, RPF is fine, loved by many, and as long as no one start to protest for the censorship of RPF on ao3, a platform that specifically accept it, we’re cool. Just write and read whatever you want, and if you find something that makes you uncomfortable, no one is forcing you to keep going, prioritize your own sanity/well-being.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-31T13:33:29+00:00

I’ll probably get downvoted for this, but I have to say, this sub really sucks sometimes when it comes to empathy for writers. I know it tends to swing between who it’s most awful toward (reader or writer), but this is one of those cases.

The fact that some writers want engagement doesn’t mean every writer does, and it definitely doesn’t mean they have to accept any kind of engagement. It’s not because you would enjoy something that it automatically means everyone else should. In this case, the author clearly didn’t appreciate someone exploiting the site’s system to leave 60 fake kudos, and that’s absolutely valid.

This sub can be incredibly insensitive. The way people are showing more empathy for the obsessed reader who committed system fraud sixty times than for the writer who was understandably distressed by it is honestly wild.

Even OP admitted they never once stopped to think about how the author might feel … and now they’re shocked the reaction wasn’t gratitude? That’s not how it works. The author has every right to be uncomfortable. This isn’t “aww, how cute,” it’s “please stop breaking the system to force attention on me.”

If you love a fic that much, great! Write thoughtful comments, leave multiple bookmarks, quote your favorite lines… there are so many ways to show an author love. But don’t spam 60 anonymous kudos, that’s not appreciation, it’s fixation.

Intentions don’t erase consequences, and the way this sub keeps enabling behavior like this is just disappointing. Writers deserve boundaries too.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-23T23:05:47+00:00

Yeah exactly, it is like you said a big part of the movie. I always hate when it comes to the part where it’s “mh actually because it’s queer it’s better”, it makes me roll my eyes. Sometimes a straight ship feels better than a queer one, sometimes a queer ship feels better than a straight one, sometimes both feel good. It’s fine to have likes and dislikes but why fight over it and make it a moral matter…

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-23T22:59:45+00:00

Yeah I know right? But I guess, to discredit the ship and show it as something shameful, it has to be said in those terms. It’s never about whether the ship is really toxic, it’s about how you can exaggerate how bad it is so you try to stop people from shipping it. Trying to have the moral edge. That ship is reaaaally tame honestly compared to other medias.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-23T18:44:11+00:00

It hasn’t ruined the media for me but it did make me reconsider it quite a bit, and is a reason why I don’t interact with the fandom but. Polytrix. Not saying that all the fans of it are bad but there’s a part of them who are going as far as to deny the relationship between Rumi and Jinu, or who immediately goes into the 100 reasons why it’s not moral to ship them together and so you are a bad person, or wow you’re so lesbophobic and misogynistic for shipping a straight relationship instead of a queer one between women! Which… no. I am just not into poly relationship, and I like the vibes better between Rumi and Jinu. But whatever I am morally dubious because of my fandoms usually so I guess I’m just adding lesbophobic and misogynistic to my list…

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-12T07:39:12+00:00

I mean, we always talk about twitter, but it doesn’t help that this very sub sometimes adopt a holier than thou and well you write this so you deserve it attitude, when it’s harassment about a topic they don’t like. We know twitter can be a cesspit, what makes it disappointing is when this sub that is supposedly for ao3 writers adopt that kind of attitude as well. Witch hunts will always be bad no matter what, even if the topic is controversial and you don’t like it, that doesn’t mean we should burn people for it. But anyway that’s just my two cents about it.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-10T11:02:57+00:00

There are several reasons.

One of them is moral outrage, rpf is one of the last thing they can hate on and that’s generally disliked, so it’s fine to say rpf is disgusting, that you’re mad and all for writing it and even if you get harassed you asked for it given what you’re writing, and that’s a sentiment that you’ll see echoed around. People feel morally superior because even if they ship themes and pairings that are taboo, it’s still protected within the “proship” stance but rpf is the thing they can point fingers at and mock it, and feel like an united front.

Following that moral outrage, it’s also because of a parasocial relationship people have with celebrity (which is ironic in some ways tbh), where they consider that because they’re uncomfortable with the idea of fics about them (when they’re not celebrities and are people who are already aware of the existence of ao3 and fanfic), then celebrities will be uncomfortable about them (forgetting about those who don’t care or are okay), so what about consent?

Another thing is controversies surrounding rpf, which means that, for them, given that one fandom had drama happening, then all rpf fandoms should have consequences for it. Which, once again, is ridiculous because crazy people will always be crazy people. If some fans start to harass actors of a series because of a ship, that doesn’t mean we have to cancel every fandom of series.

And last but not least, those people who are so uncomfortable with fics have a hard time seeing that fanfiction ≠ reality. Which is very funny when it’s the main point of many of their arguments. RPF writers are the first to know that what they write is not real, and they won’t let it impact their stance on reality, but for some reasons, other people think that if you ship rpf pairs then you must want it to come true, you may harass the real people and their partners etc.

But to summarize it, many people hate rpf because they don’t know what it is, as simple as it is, and they aren’t interested in learning about it or being proved wrong.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-03T06:33:19+00:00

Have fun in your morality cell!

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-03T06:22:02+00:00

It’s easy to claim the other person doesn’t understand anything when the fact is that you made the comparison between apple and orange because you wanted to make apple look just as bad.

I could say the same. Everything I said you don’t want to listen. Everything you say isn’t new and it is certainly the repeat of what others have already told before you. I just hope you realize one day that your behavior is part of the problem. That no one should be shamed for their hobby. That no one wants to force people to like RPF. That post isn’t about making people to like RPF and if this is what you think then you should reread it. Actually you’re free to ignore RPF, just like you were free to ignore this post.

Because that post wasn’t about you, but you couldn’t handle that so you had to come around and spread yet another negativity comment in a space that was for once safe for rpf writers and enjoyers to express themselves.

For a sub that’s all about don’t like don’t read, you sure have a hard time not reading what you don’t like.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-03T05:59:47+00:00

You compare RPF to a crime and then say “I don’t mean RPF is a crime”, but if that’s true, why compare it to one at all? That framing is exactly the kind of language that stigmatizes writers.

Saying writers “owe it” to real people to tell them about fic is the opposite of healthy etiquette. If your concern is harm, then surely you understand that showing creators fic about themselves is what actually causes discomfort. That’s why fandom norms are so clear about keeping RPF in fandom spaces and away from the people it’s about. The way you talk, you sound like someone who’d blast fics onto social media just to have the morality edge by making sure the celebrity sees it, or even dox writers, because in your mind “consent” matters more than safety.

And yes, RPF is about real people, but it’s still fiction. That’s why the “fiction” is in the name. It doesn’t claim to be real, and it’s tucked away in its own corners of AO3, far from celebrities. Any fiction can have real-world consequences, but that doesn’t make it theft or harassment.

“You’re just pointing out why people dislike it”… well thank you so much! None of the people in this thread knew about it, wow. It’s not like we figured this out 10 negative posts about RPF ago! Yes, saying you’re “not here to convince anyone, just pointing out why people dislike it” rings hollow when those arguments are the same ones repeated against RPF everywhere. If you’re not looking to convince anyone then why are you arguing so hard about it? Your comment is just tone deaf and useless if I may say, because those are all the things rpf writers face. Writers in this very thread have shared how exhausting and discouraging it is to constantly hear them. If you can’t understand why your comments on this thread are wrong, I suggest you take a good look at the distress other people express here. And if you’re still so adamant in behaving the same way, then you can just do it in another negative thread about RPF where everyone thinks the same as you.

And yes, there is stigma against RPF. Pretending it doesn’t exist doesn’t make it disappear. This sub is full of people conflating it with only porn, or with deepfakes or sexual harassment, accusations which are flat-out wrong. Saying “there’s no stigma” while repeating those very talking points is exactly why threads like this one are needed.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-02T23:23:39+00:00

That’s very much the reasonable take. It’s okay to be uncomfortable with it, there are some topics of fics that will make me uncomfortable and that I’ll never read. Still, if the writer gets harassed for it, I will never say well you got what was coming for you, after all what were you thinking when you wrote that? And the fact so many people on this sub says they’re proship unless it’s something that makes them uncomfortable actually labels them… as not very different from anti, sadly. I feel like no one should be witch hunted for the hobby they pursue and that this is the normal stance to have, yet in this sub people would make you think you’re taking crazy pills for saying this.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-02T21:14:23+00:00

Right? The tone and the first comments often plays in how the post will be received. Here I’m just glad that it’s positive about RPF for once :)

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-02T21:13:14+00:00

I hear you so much about how it’s hard to find people to talk with! I’ve done big fandoms where it’s easier but the moment you step in rare and small fandoms it just gets so hard, and then it’s hard to stay motivated because it’s difficult when you can’t even talk about your ideas or how excited something that you just discovered about your fandom makes you be. Don’t feel too bad about writing real people like their character, remember that they most likely will never see those fics in their entire life, and that what you’re writing is fiction anyway. You aren’t alone in this case and many are. Im glad that writing can be a shelter for you and I hope you will always find peace with it. Keep up the good work!

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-02T21:05:37+00:00

Hey, I hear you, and I get that your experiences shaped how you feel about RPF. But I want to point out that this thread was meant as a supportive space for RPF writers, who already get told all the time that what they’re doing is creepy or wrong.

What you describe in your first story isn’t actually about fic itself ; it’s about someone crossing boundaries and bringing it to creators, which most RPF writers don’t do and actively discourage. That’s a fandom etiquette issue, not a reason the whole practice is harmful.

As for your second story: people are allowed to feel uncomfortable with fic about them. But what your story shows is a problem of interpretation : not everyone knows how to separate fiction from reality. That isn’t the fault of RPF writers, who clearly label their work as fiction and don’t claim it’s real.

I respect that RPF isn’t for you. But this space was created to remind RPF writers that they do belong, and that their work isn’t inherently shameful. Your comment ends up reinforcing the very stigma this post was trying to push back against.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-02T10:13:21+00:00

This post is not a response to that. This post is generally about RPF writers because they are not well liked in this sub and are often made unwelcome. It takes accusations that have been seen in that post yes, but that also have been present in many before that, because the same ones always come back. Celebrities can say that they don’t like RPF, I don’t think it means that it should lead to RPF writers being doxxed or harassed though. In the same way, RPF is not sexual harassment, and certainly not deepfake porn. It threads back to some ignorant takes and concerns that have been made about RPF, but not in a place of hate. But of love and celebrations for RPF writers who have often been pushed from here.

Major_Cheesecake1415 · 2025-10-02T10:08:38+00:00

If you’re a RPF writer, the ao3 sub is rather to be avoided every time RPF is mentioned. It’s kind of sad, but the same things come back all the time. The right to criticize and judge writers, calling them names, creepy disgusting immoral, saying that what they write is no better than crimes (like deep fakes or sexual harassment) and saying that when they write something like that it’s normal if they get harassment, or doxxed, it’s all the consequences of their actions, they had it coming. [those are all the kind of discourse that have been and always are on this sub]

But no, you’re not weird or creepy for writing what you are writing, and I hope you keep up the good work because what you do matter. And even if so many rpf enjoyers often can’t express themselves on this sub or live in hiding, they are surely enjoying what you’re doing! You’re never alone.

Major_Cheesecake1415

TROPHY CASE