[ SECRET POST #5966 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5966 ⌋

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


01.



__________________________________________________



02.



__________________________________________________



03.



__________________________________________________



04.



__________________________________________________



05.



__________________________________________________



06.



__________________________________________________



07.
























Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #853.
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

[(Anonymous)]

Having a hard time buying the first part of this secret ("loathe thinking about things like algorithms and visibility") when the second part is the same "comments are payment, think of the poor exploited authors!!" fandom-as-a-service narrative that's filling every last social-media-obsessed corner of fandom these days.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

If you want to share stuff, then just do it. I follow a couple of JP fanartists who have follower counts in the low double-digits but who post stuff regularly. Obviously they don't care about how many people are following them or looking at their stuff, they're enjoying just making it and then putting it out there for the other people who like it. To which I say, more power to them! They're living their best lives and a lot of Western creators should take inspiration from that.

[(Anonymous)]

+2

[(Anonymous)]

+3. Create stuff for yourself, share it as a bonus.

[(Anonymous)]

I mean, I sometimes create stuff for me, but I also create stuff as part of a conversation with other fans. I don't care about likes/kudos but I care very much about comments, and about leaving comments on other people's work! I love fandom as a gift economy and every comment is a gift. You're not obligated to leave one but it's lovely when you do.

[(Anonymous)]

No. Fuck you. I am so tired of cReAtE fOr yOuRSelF people. If it works for you, I am glad. But not everyone is like that.

I stopped creating at all, because I don't need to create for myself. I can leave it at fantasizing in my brain level, or make couple of rough sketches and go on with my day. I create to share small pieces of myself and how I see the world with people. I don't need a lot of engagement, but I need it because I leave parts of my soul in the vastness of the internet. Yes, stupid picture of two characters fucking is also part of my soul. Comments/kudos/whatever is not a cool bonus, it's why I create. Especially if I do fan things, I do them to share. And having zero engagement is incredibly lonely. Well, apparently no one cares, but still it's -1 fandom creator.

[(Anonymous)]

NAYRT but I honestly think this is why most of us are so tired of "fandom creating" or get into slumps.
When a technically perfect AI-generated content gets a lot of engagement, acknowledgement (both moral/finantial) and such unlike our hard work, we as humans tend to feel kinda "well... what if the next one just stays in my head? It's fun all the same, maybe less disappointing?" unless we have a deeper purpose for creating/sharing (which we often don't, busy adult lifes and all).
On my side I can affirm that I haven't drawn in ages, and have 6 ship manifestos that are just. a bunch of random quotes thrown around and I never got around to organizing them. It feels like it doesn't make much of a difference anyway

[(Anonymous)]

Yup. I can make a sketch. Or research some historical clothing. Or make references folder. Etc. Fun stuff. But killing my body for a hobby that apparently ai does better? Nope. Fuck this.
I used to make avatar sets. Because I like doing them, but also because I like watching people using them. I used to make playlists. Because I liked to make them but also I liked sharing them and reading people having emotional response. I used to draw, because I like seeing my hands creating things my brain can imagine. But also I liked seeing people connecting with my work. Without human connection it isn't fun anymore

[(Anonymous)]

DA

Fuck them yourself, you coward. If the actual creation isn't the fun part, you are in the WRONG hobby.

[(Anonymous)]

Lol. Well, I am not in this hobby anymore, aren't I?

[(Anonymous)]

Bye.

[(Anonymous)]

DA
Wow, someone feels ENTITLED to art!

[(Anonymous)]

LOL where did they ever imply that? They're just stating the facts.

If you're creating solely for the purpose of getting attention and social standing, you're doing it for the wrong reason. You should be creating because you enjoy it and you find it fun, and the attention and the social standing should be the icing on the cake, not your main drive.

[(Anonymous)]

No one SHOULD create anything because you said so.

Social standing is as valid reason as any for creating things. Yes, often enough this reason can became toxic for the creator, but not necessarily. Also people can do things for several reasons - because it's fun and because it's nice to be appreciated. And one part can sour the other.

[(Anonymous)]

DA

But no, it's really not. Social standing is in its place as an added benefit. When it's the reason people are doing the thing at all, you predictably get begging and whining and attempts to hold what they COULD be making hostage.

Fandom doesn't need any of that. There's a reason we had words like "flounce" for people who were convinced that they were in a position to punish everyone by depriving us of their presence, when in fact life goes on.

[(Anonymous)]

Someone sound traumatized of “flounces” to the point of thinking that they are entitled to art BUT artists aren’t entitled to recognition.

[(Anonymous)]

What if it’s the filling instead of the icing? I like the cake and the filling. Sponge cake? Good, but boring. Filling only? Good, but sickeningly sweet.

[(Anonymous)]

Artists (and writers and every creatives) should only want and enjoy ~the holy process~. And then they should kiss the boots of every rando who teaches them the lesson that creatives are too entitled to ask for couple of comments. Or god forbid they ask money if they choose to work in creative field
/s

[(Anonymous)]

DA

They're entirely free to ask for money. Over there, with all the other people hawking commercial products.

You can drip all the sarcasm you want, but for a lot of us, writing and drawing is inherently enjoyable.

If you think a situation where writing is be paid with commenting would be so ideal, like-minded authors and readers could set up a site just for this, and code it so that people can only click a story title if they've already left a comment on the last one they read. Perhaps the author will even need to agree that it's an acceptable comment, as opposed to a keysmash, to activate further permission. It's the internet. No one's stopping any of you.

But those of us who don't hang our creative pursuits on reader engagement like the arrangement we have.

[(Anonymous)]

What can I say? Good for you.
Genuinely. Absolutely no sarcasm right now. Just please stop speaking for all of us, that's all.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, that's about how it seemed to me, too.

[(Anonymous)]

There are a few sides to this, though.
There are people who want engagement for the fame that can be monetized. And then there are people who want engagement as in, a comment that says "in this overwhelmingly fast world I took the time to check your creation and, wow, appreciate it!" .

In fandom 15ish+ years ago the first option wasn't really a thing. I think OP is talking about the second.

The first option also goes a little deeper than that (the old discussion "is it okay to monetize fanworks?", "how will the disabled make a living and afford the works they create content for?" etc.) but I get when you say it's contradictory if they mean the first, because the first also treats social media as a means for "consummerism" not "sharing" .

[(Anonymous)]

DA

That second thing doesn't work when people push for it, though. Or complain about feeling unappreciated or exploited without it. We're all trying to sort out the maelstrom where fandom got huge and full of people who were clueless about what the social rules in this space even were. And the most divisive of them treat everything they experience in fandom like a product to be consumed. Like, just because they're here in their free time, everyone else is supposed to be catering to them. This goes for the people who complain about reading fanfics they found upsetting, just as much as the fan-creators who expect readers to give them just the feedback they want. These might be almost-reasonable expectations for offline relationships with a small number of people that you know well enough to take their personal preferences into account. But when you try to map them onto the internet? It's complete bedlam. It's fanartists expressing dismay and rage because their art means something shippy to you and not to them. Of course fewer people are addressing strangers, when the possibility of giving offense and the social cost of it are both perceived to be high.

[(Anonymous)]

THIS

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT - Erm. But isn't this exactly why OP turned this feeling into a SECRET instead of yelling "HEY YOU COMMENT ON MY WORKS"?

Aside from that your reply confuses me but now I can tell you're one of the anti-antis people who go on this crusade against young people in fandom, which doesn't concern me on either side. I am tired of both sides of this war. So I wasn't talking about this at all.