"If you vote, reblog."

"Comments are the price you pay for fanfiction."

"Likes do nothing."

"If you can't share this, unfollow me."

MY BELOVED! THIS IS FANDOM. Fandom is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and lighthearted! It is a hobby, not a job!

Reblogs are lovely! Comments are lovely! Sharing content is lovely! And some amount of it is necessary to keep the space active/functioning, I know, but...

You aren't obligated to comment on every fic you read, or even every fic you like. It's lovely when you do! It makes the author's day! But fanfiction is free; you don't have to pay for it.

You aren't obligated to reblog every poll you vote in. It's nice when you do! More votes are always lovely! But it's not an obligation.

And so on and so forth. Yes, these things are the lifeblood of fandom... When it's genuine. When you like a poll or a post so much that you want to share it with friends. When you like a fic so much that you want to tell the author. But when it becomes transactional... You're missing the point.

Fandom is a hobby. So let it be a hobby. No more guilt-tripping people. And if you're feeling guilty because of those posts, I'm gently cupping your cheek and reminding you that fandom is supposed to be fun. Lurkers are welcome. And yes, I'd love feedback from you. We all would. But if you're not ready, or not up for it, or even if you just don't want to...

You're still welcome here.

underappreciated aspect of goncharov is its utility as a descriptor for any still-parseable fandom content whose source material you're completely unfamiliar with. you know what I'm talking about. meme about characters you've never heard of from a show you've never seen, but you're still nodding like you're so right op they would totally say that. art that goes hard but might as well be a portrait of someone's dentist for all you know. your blorbos twice removed. it's all goncharov, to me.

being in a toxic fandom like

I think as a culture we have all forgotten that fandom is supposed to be fun.

It’s not that serious.

It was never supposed to be that serious.

Especially since most of the drama and hurt revolves around shipping.

All of the ships are fictional. Being canon doesn’t actually negate the fact that the ship isn’t real. 

No ship, or any aspect of a fictional universe, is important enough to treat another real life human being badly. 

It’s not that serious.

*stranger mentions fandom in public*

• You are 187 chapters into this fic. You have been reading continually since you began. You must find out what happens next.
  
• An unfinished fic ends on a cliffhanger. It hasn’t been updated since April 1832.
• A new show has taken over Tumblr. You see the gif sets everywhere. Intrigued, you go looking. You cannot find the show. Five days later the posts disappear as if they never existed.
• Your favorite author posts a new fanfic. It is a different fandom than the one you followed them for, but still one of yours. This keeps happening. You suspect the author may be stalking you.
• The gifs of the new trailer come out before the new trailer does. People shush you when you question this. You cannot ask questions about the space-time continuum.
• You find a new person to RP with. You send them a message and they respond two years later as if there was no time gap. It is possible that for them, there was no time gap.
• This fanart looks nothing like the character. And yet. It looks exactly like the character.
• A shipping war begins. You watch the body count climb higher and higher as it becomes more violent. Blood streams from your face and you clutch your weapon to your chest. Afterwords, the survivors sometimes stare with blank eyes and mutter “Harmony…. Harmony…”
• That character is clearly a Slytherin. The rest of the fandom seems to think they are a Huffelpuff. There is something wrong.
• There is a new coffee shop au for your ship. It is exactly like every other coffee shop au for your ship. It is exactly like every other coffee shop au for every ship. You begin to suspect there has always only ever been one coffee shop au.
• You dare not say the true name of Binkydonk Cucumbershoots. Demon names have too much power.
• The Supernatural fans have a gif for everything. They cannot be stopped by mortal means.
• You begin reading a fic at four in the afternoon. When you next look up it is nearly dawn, and you don’t know what day it is.

by this point my entire stance on being in fanbases is that it feels like i’m trying to live peacefully in a secluded cottage and do my own thing while also witnessing the fall of the roman empire right next door

The Star Wars fandom currently

When shows come off their hiatus