[ SECRET POST #2731 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2731 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 033 secrets from Secret Submission Post #390.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ketita]

Yeah, agreed. Why not just not say anything about the art/fic, in that case? It's especially annoying when it's something that is legitimately decent, and you're like what, are you really that desperate for asspats? Will nobody admire your work if you don't go on and on about how trash it is?

[(Anonymous)]

But in the creator's eyes, it's NOT legitimately decent. As someone who used to post notes like that with her creations, my self esteem used to be in the toilet. Everything I wrote was crap. But people who could see it objectively kept encouraging me to post anyway.

It's like the complete opposite of rose-colored goggles. (manure-colored goggles?) Now that I've got help and am on medication, I still think that way.. but I can restrain myself from putting how crappy *I* think it is on a public work and let the audience decide for themselves. Most people aren't at that stage yet.

[(Anonymous)]

And some of them just want the butt pats.

I'm not saying that I disbelieve your story. I do believe you, and I'm glad that you got help. I'm happy for you that you're feeling better. But not everyone is going to be like you.

[ketita]

See, what bothers me about that is, as the audience, if a writer posts something and they legitimately think it's bad... if I the reader like it, what does that make me? Does it mean the author is misjudging, or am I an idiot reader? And if the author doesn't actually think it sucks, then why say anything at all? Nobody forces you to leave an author's note.

This is part of the reason I never go back and delete fics, even if I later look back and am like "eh, this was kind of crappy". It feels disrespectful to all the people who enjoyed it, as if I'm telling them "lol no your taste sucks".

Also btw, how can you tell if the reason people are posting those notes is because they're truly having self-esteem issues, or because there's a culture created where you're supposed to apologize about everything and say it sucks lol? It's like those kids who study hard but studying is for nerds so they're like 'yeah I just glanced at it the night before the test'.

I am glad though, anon, that your situation is improving now and that you're feeling a bit better.

[(Anonymous)]

See, what bothers me about that is, as the audience, if a writer posts something and they legitimately think it's bad... if I the reader like it, what does that make me?

It makes you someone whose judgment isn't impaired by a mental illness.

For fuck's sake, why is this so hard for you people to grasp?

[ketita]

Am I supposed to assume mental illness until proven otherwise? Why the hell should I be getting all up in someone's mental health issues?

[(Anonymous)]

You shouldn't be getting all up in them, but it shouldn't be that someone who's presenting signs is treated like they're making things harder for everyone else, as if things aren't hard enough for them already.

[ketita]

Look, I would not go up to an author who posts a fic all "uwu this is 1am trash lol sorry" and be like HDU. I would probably just ignore the fic and move on.
This is a thread for people to share their deep inner feelings on the topic so yeah, I'm sharing them. How do I know if they're presenting signs or not? Chances are I don't know the author and never talked to them. I have absolutely no idea what's going on in their life. I am not going to go around assuming that people have mental illness because they say their fic is loltrash, because some people do, some people don't, and why is it my business?
But there IS a certain culture that's built around trash talking, and I personally don't think that excessive trash talking of yourself is a positive thing, if you can avoid it.

Nobody's treating anybody like anything. I'm just saying that in general, the chances of me liking/clicking on/reblogging/commenting on a piece of art or fic is higher if the author doesn't preface it with how pathetic they are and how little they worked on it.

[(Anonymous)]

Okay I can see what you are saying. I think my thing is that a lot of times people who are mentally ill are approached as being manipulative or doing things just to get attention, and it's really harmful, and I see some of it to do with this topic. I am also of the mind that if a reader and author feel differently about something, it doesn't mean that either one is wrong, and I think it struck something particularly that you said the author disliking his/her work would say something bad about you. It wouldn't, it would just say that you processed it differently.

[ketita]

There are certain behaviors that, to somebody who doesn't know you or in a different cultural context, can always be misconstrued.
Self-deprecation can be misconstrued as humblebragging, or just plain incompetence.

The internet =/= irl. On the internet, nobody knows who you are or what your issues are, ESPECIALLY when you're posting a story. I just want to read about Steve and Bucky banging okay. Nobody knows if you're doing it for attention or not. All people have is that little bit of text where you say this thing you just posted is shit. That's not much to go on.

True story example: A Chinese guy in Israel was approached about doing a translation job. In response to whether he can, he said something self-deprecating about how he thinks his skills are adequate. The Israeli who contacted him immediately went to find somebody else, because it's not part of the culture here to downplay your abilities like that. The man assumed the Chinese person was simply announcing incompetence.

Btw, as for author intent - how many times have people on this comm discovered that an actor hated a part that the fans loved, and were disappointed by it? Have you ever loved a book to find out the author hated it, or said 'anybody who likes it is an idiot'? Especially in fandom, where the authors and the community are so close - how can you assume such detachment? As a writer, I personally think it's disrespectful; that's my perspective. I'm not going around lecturing to people who post those disclaimers on their fics, and I wouldn't attack anybody personally for it either, but because I feel this way, it's not something I would do. I understand that your perspective is different, and that's okay.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't understand this mentality at all. What makes you think I'm talking about you? If I post up a bit of fic and say "yeah I wrote this in an hour on my lunch break" or "I don't like how this turned out", I'm not telling YOU what to think about it, I'm telling you what *I* think about it. If I comment that something is crap while I'm writing it, it's because I'm aware of my own abilities and I know that whatever I'm putting out now is not top-tier quality for whatever reason. I know this, and I'm acknowledging it, acknowledging that I could do better (and will try to do better next time). It isn't, nor has it ever been, a sign to the readers saying "LOL IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU ARE STUPID". I don't know anybody who would do that and honestly it's a bit self-centered of you to take it that way.