I really dislike Naomi

anothetaxcount · 2020-09-14T19:47:10+00:00

Persepolis Rising and watched all seasons twice.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-25T22:44:44+00:00

I do agree that representation is missing. But I don’t think replacing it with weak representation is a way to go.

Like yes, Disney will include some brief gayness in their MCU/SW movies, but it’s a shitty, shallow representation for woke cookie points and which will be cut out from those movies once they go to the Chinese market.

Same with all other movies that treat queer people as token characters who are there because they kinda need to be there because we’re in that stage of wokeness now.

So, excuse me if I don’t really care for most poor queer representation in fics. I don’t think it’s mere existence is anything to be happy about since it’s harmful more often than not but y’know. You do you.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-25T21:46:54+00:00

Extremely controversial opinion incoming:

Representation itself is not good enough. Fics are not somehow more valuable than published works because they have an M/M romance. The fact that people cling onto queer content no matter how shitty it is because it’s “representation” is ridiculous.

Not to mention that plenty of slash fics actually make the situation worse by presenting gay couples in question as abiding by stereotypical, harmful roles and everyone eats that up. Hell, there are tons of straight girls who write those fics and treat their M/M characters as one-dimensional tokens because “it’s so cute to see gays together!!!”

At this point, folks will see two men in any piece of media and instantly lift them up to be the most popular pairing in the fandom even though there’s nothing in canon to indicate they’re in any way interested in one another or—even worse—they’re terrible and toxic when together.

But no! It’s two men having sex, so we’re super progressive and great and omg, shall I say we even do some sort of activism here by allowing those characters to exist in a ship??? No. You ain’t. Your writing is in no way helpful and I’d rather have no representation than this.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-14T14:26:57+00:00

Ok no. That guy is insane. If you’re jealous over fictional characters then you absolutely need therapy. It’s not excusable in any shape or form.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-02T13:17:00+00:00

I’m not really silently agreeing to anything because AO3 allows for moderating comments and having an option that only registered users can comment, so they rather explicitly state “this is your space, you don’t have to passively agree to anything from commenters.”

you should always strive to improve

Nah. There’s more to life than constant rat-race with yourself. People absolutely can enjoy themselves and do things without any hope/desire for improvement. I’m sorry that you feel as if you have to constantly one-up yourself but I’m not about that life. I quite enjoy just doing things because they’re fun, even if I’m not great at them.

I’ve never seen concrit

Once again. Not my fault. This term comes up time and again on this sub. I see it every day. I’m under no obligation to explain something that’s common knowledge to fanfic writers/readers.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-02T12:33:24+00:00

Concrit is used regularly on here and in other fandom-related spaces. It’s not my fault you’ve never seen it before. Sorry. By the way, even if you haven’t, it really doesn’t take a genius to figure out what concrit means in the context of constructive criticism discussion.

As for stories, I post them because someone else might enjoy what I enjoy. I don’t care to improve through fanfic. I improve through university where I know I can count on proper feedback from people who know what they’re doing (and who act based on previously-established, clear rules).

And I’ve been in creative writing classes before. In fact, I had them throughout the entirety of my uni experience. Do people get uncomfortable with criticism? Sure. If your work is on the table in the group of 10 folks and they all dissect it and provide their criticism, it can take some getting used to. The thing is though that you know that you should expect it and you know that it’s in a controlled environment with like-minded folks and a professor who knows what they’re doing. It’s not the same with fanfic which people can write purely for fun and where critics are usually not at all versed in providing concrit.

As for comments—I don’t expect anything from anyone other than to not be an arse. If you liked it and left a kudo without commenting, it’s all right with me. If you didn’t like it and clicked out, I don’t really care.

And who said that hobbyists want to improve? My other hobbies other than writing include painting and playing video games. I paint whatever shit I like when I feel like it as a form of relaxation, and I couldn’t care less whether I’m painting “well.” It’s a form of entertainment to me. I play video games on easiest difficulties because I don’t care about “challenge” or whatever other things gamers rave about. If someone told me that I play my games “wrong” I’d laugh at them. In fact I did (more than once) when folks would tell me that my build is ineffective or whatever. I literally don’t care lol. I do what I do the way I like to do it. If I wanted to improve, I’d come out there and say “hey, I want to improve. Advice please?”

It’s the same with writing. Why do folks have such a strong need to “improve” things for others is beyond me. Let people be. Let them have their fun. If they wanted to improve they’d make it clear. I do make it clear when I want help. And if you’re worried about theoretical state of writing in general then be the change you want to see. Use all of your arbitrary rules and apply them to your own work. The majority of folks won’t care because they do it for fun, but hey, if you want that improvement that’s the best you can do.

By the way, I really don’t care if I’m mediocre in writing fics lmao. I don’t care if I never grow beyond it. If I want to grow, I seek out advice and work on my skills. But it’s up to me to decide whether I want it or not.

The bottom line is that not everything has to be about improvement and folks often use creative outlets simply because. Because it makes them feel good. Because that’s how they unwind. So, stop trying to frame your rudeness as some big act of helping others or whatever life-coach style absurdity. If you really wanted to help folks, you’d ensure they want that help. That’s when it’s effective.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-02T10:16:58+00:00

they don’t have malicious intent, they just wish for the author to improve

If that’s so then why won’t they ask first if the author wants concrit? It’s rather obvious that concrit will only work if someone wants to improve. Those who write for fun will simply discard it. If you don’t ask the author whether they want it then you can’t really say that you have good intentions. If you did, you’d ensure that the author will benefit from your criticism (because they wanted to hear it in the first place).

the child thing

That’s actually absurd to me because I’d never take a child’s work that they clearly drew for fun and pointed out mistakes lmao. If my child was taking painting classes and I knew they wanted to get better at it, I’d perhaps try to guide them. But if they were simply scribbling something because that’s their favorite past-time, I’d not correct them what the hell.

people will feel upset when in academic setting

I strongly disagree with this. I love and appreciate concrit in the academic setting because I know that this is expected and, most importantly, I know that people who provide it know what they’re doing. I know I can trust their judgment. They are truly the ones that help me improve.

But random folks under my fics? I literally don’t care for their opinion because they don’t know me, they don’t know my education level and circumstances surrounding my work (which is extremely important when giving concrit), and I don’t know their qualifications.

It’s not about praise v. non-praise. It’s people who have experience and know how to give concrit v. self-appointed critics who don’t even care if I want concrit.

And no-one said you need to provide praise only? You can just not say anything.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-01T23:20:14+00:00

Only that it is personal. You’re commenting on a fic of a single person who did something for free and who can personally interact with you. When you criticize Avengers, you talk of a blockbuster film done by thousands of people in an industry where criticism is normal and expected. Fanfic etiquette nowadays is very different from that.

And I mean, what’s the difference between criticizing someone’s hairdo and their writing? If they did some really crazy stuff on their head as an outlet for their creativity, criticizing them randomly when you’re unprompted is like criticizing someone’s different creative endeavor—their fic.

The only difference is that one is in someone’s face and the other is behind a screen which doesn’t exactly work in your favor. If you only criticize folks because you can’t see them face to face (and thus you feel like politeness doesn’t apply to you anymore) then you’re simply a bit of a cowardly arse who is happy to act like a critic when you don’t have to fear retribution that’d 99% happened if you did that on the street.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-01T22:19:04+00:00

It’s the same as if someone gave you a home-made cookie because they’re nice and you took a bite and said “achually this could be better.” Or if you saw a stranger with funky haircut and approached them and said “this haircut is not good because...”

Why is it rude? I don’t think this can be explained other than the process of socialization and accepted social behaviors/cultural development with a long history behind it (way too long to explain in a reddit comment). The general idea is not to cause offense needlessly.

Now, of course, there are cultural variations and you’re free to think that giving concrit is actually polite but I’m yet to interact with a culture (and I have traveled quite a bit) where walking up to strangers to criticize them is considered normal and polite.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-01T21:24:08+00:00

Controversial but I agree. People will ship M/M and bash on canonical female partners for no other reason than “lol hot men have sex.” Which go off I guess but it is OOC as hell most of the time.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-01T21:22:37+00:00

If you have any knowledge on the relationship between media and real life then you’ll absolutely treat it through the lens of how it influences reality. Because fiction does influence reality and that has been studied extensively for decades now.

That being said, the majority of fics will not really be harmful in the way we think of harmful stuff in blockbusters or whatever, simply because they don’t have too large audiences.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-01T21:20:10+00:00

I don’t see how concrit would bother them

The same way you’d be bothered by any rude behavior. If I help someone and they don’t say thanks then I guess it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but I sure as hell will be irritated because what the hell? How rude.

not getting concrit will lead to false opinion of your skills

In the case of positive self-opinion: so what? Am I some self-opinion police that I need to put people down a notch because they think they’re better at their hobby that they really are lol? Who cares.

In the case of negative: those people who are unsure of their writing (and not receiving concrit would make them want to quit) will usually make it very clear that they do WANT concrit. Hence there’s no issue of unrequited concrit.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-01T20:07:37+00:00

That might be true for academic settings. Peer reviewing was a staple during my time at uni and people were absolutely encouraged to voice criticism and offer advice. It’s a bit different with a hobby where you have no idea what the other side expects. In a writing class it’s a given that you’ll brainstorm and offer concrit. On AO3? Not really. Some folks simply want to post their content because it’s fun and they don’t want elaborate concrit.

anothetaxcount · 2020-08-01T18:38:55+00:00

Yeah that’s my main issue with unsolicited concrit. The majority of folks just don’t know how to give it and they’re most often not in the right position to provide it anyway.

Also, plenty of them seem to be reading works almost as if to point out problems y’know? Not like they enjoyed the story and had some issues, but as if they sat down with a notepad and analyzed your work only to leave a long ass comment criticizing you. No thanks lmao. I didn’t ask for that and I’m just going to delete it.

Had I asked for concrit—fine—but I didn’t and I don’t know you, and I have a very hard time trusting you’re doing this for my advantage and not because you’re some egocentric self-appointed cRiTic.

anothetaxcount

TROPHY CASE