Social Media Rant

[argieb]

So I joined a new fandom a few months ago and initially it felt nice. I started writing & drawing again and the hyperfixation was a good distraction. But fucking hell social media is just a fucking hellscape so instead of talking about headcanons or fanfiction it's been 6 nonstop months of smear campaigns, seemingly just rotating through the cast and crew. Like it's not just my perception, official publications are writing about how poorly these people are behaving.

However, the vitriol against the original author of the series is so widespread and baffling stupid that you can't even say "I think the author knows their characters pretty well" without someone someone telling you your wrong. Today was my last straw- I had made one post defending the author, then the algorithm was like "oh you like this author? Cool here's every negative post about her." I just deleted all the stuff from my blog and pulled down all my fanfic. Originally I had a twitter acc for it but then it got so insanely racist and homophobic I went to tumblr thinking it would be better. No it's the same bullshit, just longer shittier text posts harassing a women with Parkinson's.

I still love the show and the books but I wish there was like a normal community of mature adults to discuss about it with :/ tumblr was my last hope at finding a 'normal' online community and it barely lasted 3 months. Maybe by the time s2 comes along things will have died down but idk. It seems like any media these days comes with a default "hate the person who made it"
I thinks it's frustrating cause the one thing that could make not wanna die is selling my animated pilot- but holy fuck if this is how y'all treat creators I don't want that at all.

 

[buriedinmyhead]

Word of advice for Tumblr: block liberally

 

[DonLockwood]

My expierences with fandoms haven't been all that great either. Granted, I'm not really one that is active in those spaces, but I'm usually hovering around to look at the cool artwork n stuff. But it just feels like theres a brawl 24/7 about something so minute that it just becomes tiresome. Hence why I normally just call myself a fan of something, rather than being 'apart of the fandom'

I think you'll be better off trying to find likeminded people who like the product, but wouldn't label themselves 'apart of the fandom', if you know what I mean.

 

[argieb]

Word of advice for Tumblr: block liberally

I was tryjng but i felt like I was blocking every other acc I think I need to cool down then really really refine my muted words/tags but I don't want to mute the authors name

 

[troubled_puppet]

You're right, blocking doesn't work that well on big platforms there's a greater problem with fandom culture on the internet today. good luck with the mute lists, i hope it went well!

Im so sorry for the rant. seeing your post inspired me to share too.

i've been so sick of the vague posting, the virtue signalling, the echo chambers, the dog piling. it was bad in 2020, and it's only gotten worse. and bots bots bots. so many bots that post fake rage bait content to get people reacting and reposting.

so many people turned "criticizing the flaws in the story" or "criticizing the characters in the story" into their entire personality, and they act like the world will end and entertainment will collapse if the show or book or movie or whatever else doesn't change.

fans of whatever the media is are reduced to "glazers." people who have no strong feelings to a creator are called "apologists." it's so exhausting how passive aggressive and public cyber bullying has become so normalized. it pushed me out of participating, i feel so isolated. i relate to you a lot.

for what it's worth. i think fandoms were still full of petty arguments pre-2019.

i think the biggest impact on internet culture lately is algorithmic content, which i mentioned elsewhere in a different thread. you highlighted it yourself; clicking one post makes like 5 or 10 tangentially related posts show up. and what posts show up the most??? the one with lots of hate and arguments, because that's what gets the most clicks

I tried dreamwidth and toyhouse. also learning neocities and blogger. i have no idea if it will turn out well or not. not sure if toyhouse is exclusively just arts, i feel like i saw a forum there. dreamwidth is from an older era of fandom culture that was before my time.

there's just nobody on mastodon, pillowfort or lemmy. found a place called bliish but it seems sus (cough cough vibe coded cough), im waiting it out on it. i've been intimidated by bluesky, and i gave up on tumblr post lockdown days.

I dunno. i relate to these troubles a lot when it comes to fandom discourse. i dunno if the greater internet landscape has just become irreparable from bad actors hijacking unhealthy systems.

 

[DonLockwood]

i think the biggest impact on internet culture lately is algorithmic content, which i mentioned elsewhere in a different thread. you highlighted it yourself; clicking one post makes like 5 or 10 tangentially related posts show up. and what posts show up the most??? the one with lots of hate and arguments, because that's what gets the most clicks

I'll add on to that with the rise of short form video ruining internet discorse. 'Fandoms' especially. Ever since the rise of TikTok, IG Reels and YT Shorts, you can just make extremely cheap and disposable content. Basically, get a twitch stream going, (dont even need to have a lot of people watching it), say some controversial take on anything, post it on one of those sites and profit.

 

[iguazo falls]

bluesky is kinda chill and people more likely wanna mind their business thats my only real suggestion, but yeah that stinks. the state of online culture in regard to fandom, and my reluctance to participate or even download apps anymore i feel has contributed to a wider lack of passion in my daily life. i miss when you could converse with people and not really worry about 289483 things or have to five-eyes security clearance every single person and theme involved with whatever you like. ive seen multiple times with increasing frequency lately people being so terrible to smaller creators and their original creations or fanart. one example being katie and fundamental paper education, the harassment was so bad she had to just delete everything and leave the internet and afaik theres no crazy expose, people were just being shit nd feeling entitled to someone elses life and creations. we take sm for granted in what artists provide for us and demand so much, especially in these days where you can be provided premium animations/art for free born out of someones effort, time and passion. i'm aware this kind of harassment isnt new, ive witnessed the animation meme community in real time, but i feel its so increasingly hostile in a way that you can't just "avoid bad actors/drama" without being completely alone because there is an emphasis on a type of correctness/purity you must project in everything you post and present that is antithetical to the natural learning and understanding process of life, antithetical to genuine art, and antithetical to normal positive relationships. even the rare time where nice communities are formed, theres always someone intent on ruining things based on difference of opinion, even though someone is not hurting someone else, and it drives everyone away. the lifespan of these communities diminish the same rate our attention spans are going.