If you wish to take part in any fandom, you need to accept and respect these three laws.
If you aren’t able to do that, then you need to realise that your actions are making fandom unsafe for creators. That you are stifling creativity.
Like vaccination, fandom only works if everyone respects these rules. Creators need to be free to make their fanart, fanfics and all other content without fear of being harassed or concern-trolled for their creative choices, no matter whether you happen to like that content or not.
The First Law of Fandom
Don’t Like; Don’t Read (DL;DR)
It is up to you what you see online. It is not anyone else’s place to tell you what you should or should not consume in terms of content; it is not up to anyone else to police the internet so that you do not see things you do not like. At the same time, it is not up to YOU to police fandom to protect yourself or anyone else, real or hypothetical.
There are tools out there to help protect you if you have triggers or squicks. Learn to use them, and to take care of your own mental health. If you are consuming fan-made content and you find that you are disliking it - STOP.
The Second Law of Fandom
Your Kink Is Not My Kink (YKINMK)
Simply put, this means that everyone likes different things. It’s not up to you to determine what creators are allowed to create. It’s not up to you to police fandom.
If you don’t like something, you can post meta about it or create contrarian content yourself, seek to convert other fans to your way of thinking.
But you have no right to say to any creator “I do not like this, therefore you should not create it. Nobody should like this. It should not exist.”
It’s not up to you to decide what other people are allowed to like or not like, to create or not to create. That’s censorship. Don’t do it.
The Third Law of Fandom
Ship And Let Ship (SALS)
Much (though not all) fandom is about shipping. There are as many possible ships as there are fans, maybe more. You may have an OTP (One True Pairing), you may have a NOTP, that pairing that makes you want to barf at the very thought of its existence.
It’s not up to you to police ships or to determine what other people are allowed to ship. Just because you find that one particular ship problematic or disgusting, does not mean that other people are not allowed to explore its possibilities in their fanworks.
You are free to create contrarian content, to write meta about why a particular ship is repulsive, to discuss it endlessly on your private blog with like-minded persons.
It is not appropriate to harass creators about their ships, it is not appropriate to demand they do not create any more fanworks about those ships, or that they create fanwork only in a manner that you deem appropriate.
These three laws add up to the following:
You are not paying for fanworks content, and you have no rights to it other than to choose to consume it, or not consume it. If you do choose to consume it, do not then attack the creator if it wasn’t to your taste. That’s the height of bad manners.
Be courteous in fandom. It makes the whole experience better for all of us.
Yup.
Slaps onto blog.
remediosrose reblogged this from kpc-usagisan
remediosrose liked this
ellysketchit liked this evelynthursday reblogged this from ao3commentoftheday
whalehouse1 reblogged this from tigerliliesandcherryblossoms
whalehouse1 liked this
holly--molly liked this
simpforkmcg reblogged this from lorelei-lilyprincess
simpforkmcg liked this
token-middle-child reblogged this from ozhawkauthor
kelotari liked this timidglitch reblogged this from gentrychild
desencante reblogged this from ozhawkauthor
her-soliloquies liked this
millennial-falcon liked this
thevoidisscreamingbackatyou reblogged this from tigerliliesandcherryblossoms
strawberry-mochi-nikki reblogged this from shrio-nii
strawberry-mochi-nikki liked this
minimerrymarvelous liked this
glaringmuffingossip liked this
randomwatcher72 reblogged this from thefringeperson and added: Amen
thoughtfullysarcastic29 liked this
dachshun said: How about “kin and let kin”?
africansheabuttertime liked this
clarencelovesbees liked this
clarencelovesbees reblogged this from fenixfoxtrot510 fenixfoxtrot510 reblogged this from skoinonm8
destielcat reblogged this from russian-fairy poppyseedmuffiin reblogged this from poppyseedmuffiin
ilovefanfics reblogged this from ozhawkauthor
ilovefanfics liked this
home-of-the-reblogs reblogged this from tigerliliesandcherryblossoms ladyofthelands reblogged this from tigerliliesandcherryblossoms
ladyofthelands liked this
thewinchestersruinedmylife0924 reblogged this from impala-dreamer butchjoestar liked this
lianifuzz reblogged this from accelerated-decrepitude
thepinkpanther83 reblogged this from bakameganekko - Show more notes