[ SECRET POST #4505 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4505 ⌋

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

01.



__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.













Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 28 secrets from Secret Submission Post #645.
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

[fscom]

07. https://i.imgur.com/6AkbCaa.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I've been in fandom for almost 20 years, and for the first time I'm getting demanding comments (usually unrelated to the fic, just asking me to write something else entirely). I tend to assume they're young/new to fandom like you suggested, but it's weird that I've just noticed it within the past few months. I think something's shifted, fandom-culture-wise.

[(Anonymous)]

I've been in fandom about as long as you and I think it depends on the fandom. Mega-fandoms tend to get this, smaller fandoms don't so much.

I mean, Jeremy Crawford alone has been doing this for decades.

https://fanlore.org/wiki/Jeremy_Crawford

[(Anonymous)]

SA - That's fair. I might not have noticed before because I usually write for tiny fandoms + wouldn't have been interacting with as many people

[(Anonymous)]

Pffttt. Ten years ago people were happily being little entitled shits in fic comments--ah, sorry, "reviews". I assume they were doing that well before then too.

[(Anonymous)]

They absolutely were.

But it always came across as young readers..? Those who just didn't understand that "Write more!" sounds demanding and unpleasant instead of appreciative.

[(Anonymous)]

Reviewers have been entitled for a long time

[(Anonymous)]

yeah no...this has been going on for a very long time. my first fic posted online was in 1999 and I definitely got weird comments. people were mostly positive but still aggressively enthusiastic about trying to influence the direction of the fic or any future fic.

it's possible a lot of people just didn't see this behavior in the wild for that brief chunk of time between when FF.net banned adult content and AO3 came up, when fics were either on independent shrines, forums, or LJ. and if they didn't see it happen, they also didn't see people react to it by calling out that behavior.

[(Anonymous)]

Like how so? Are we talking about 'plz update' type of stuff, or what?

[(Anonymous)]

Here's a fun one I got years ago that I will never forget: some dude once left a long, super-involved pitch on one of my fics for a story in which the male protagonist acquires a harem of female characters. I still remember that this reviewer ended on a cheerful, "Feel free to make it your own!"

Just for reference, I wrote primarily m/m fics in that fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

What? That's ridiculous even by my standards;;... Like did he even read your story, or was he just going door to door like a salesman. I don't know if i want to laugh or cry...

[(Anonymous)]

No idea! I got some really weird reviews from other (often male) fic writers in that fandom, and this is why I don't entirely buy into the "they must be young" justification because I knew these people were at least college-aged or older.

One other reviewer, this time on a femslash story, complained that there was not enough sex (fic was labeled as a PG-13 comedy) and suggested that I checked out "better writers" to see how it was done. Miffed, I went to this person's profile and saw that they also wrote fics in the same fandom. Must be a pro, right? I swear to god, the very first story I clicked on featured the phrase "cerulean orbs" in the first paragraph.

Anime fandoms in the late 2000s! What a trip.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh yeah, 'cerulean orbs' is the epitome of good writing right there... Like I'd want to say it was a different time back then, but apparently not;;

[(Anonymous)]

In my experience, reviewers in the early 2000s sometimes left death threats in an attempt to make you update faster.

[(Anonymous)]

not a comment/review, but I did get a PM from someone today who was like "please write my avenger's idea" and proceeded to list this VERY LONG AND ABSURD Avengers AU about Tony's long lost son and his harem, which included just about every female character in the MCU to have a name and even some comics characters that I had to look up, including a list of what was ok and what wasn't ok to include sexually (when the harem had sex all at once, of course) and how long each chapter had to be (between 3-5k, meanwhile I can't seem to stay under 10k normally anymore??)

Oh also it was okay if I found other female characters to add to the harem. Had to be female. And assuming I could find anyone else after that list.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, no reviewers feel entitled all around. This isn't a fandom problem solely. Ironically, Pro-writers are talking about this today too. Thanks BookRiot. Social media is maybe making it worse for pro-writers b/c reviewers can tag them. But before there was nothing keeping reviewers from mailing authors directly with their reviews.

[(Anonymous)]

8 think entitled readers have always been around, but with rise of fandom and proliferation of fanfiction, people maybe see fanfic as something to consume like it's popcorn, but they don't necessarily value the creators.

[dahli]

Entitled reviewers have been a thing for a long, looooooooooong time. I'm surprised they prevail to this day.

[(Anonymous)]

Leave a dickish and entitled comment on one of their works and see how they like it.

[ayumidah]

It's not always younger readers, either. For YEARS, I had a reviewer to a series I'd write constantly telling me "You should do a chapter on this, you should do a chapter on that". I got curious and found their twitter, and they were around my age (20s to 30s). Eventually I-got tired of it and blocked them on FFN, just for them to come back as a guest and continue the same nonsense. Eventually I deleted enough of their reviews that they seem to have given up.