hm, to be honest i really wish people would stop grading/rating stories in bookmarks. don’t they know authors can see that ? i am not very happy with being publically measured/compared to other people’s work
one of my favourite things about fanfiction is I can almost always find some way to contact the author, the actual human being who sat down and wrote this collection of words that I love so much and scream at them
and usually they scream back and it’s a wonderful exchange of happy
you just can’t do that with published authors. You can scream, but you’re screaming into a Lovecraftian void and they almost never have the chance to scream back
I love fanfic authors so much. thanks for letting me scream at you about things we mutually love
I like being screamed at. And I’ll always scream right back.
will there ever be a better example of internal conflict than merlin’s fierce loyalty and love towards arthur vs. his innate desire to be true to himself and practice magic freely?? i think Not
every time I see more of the ‘ao3 is evil’ crap circulating I think, ‘well, tumblr is evil too and I don’t see you stop using it’
You know, the more I think about this, the more I think the real complaint isn’t that AO3 hosts “evil” content, it’s that it doesn’t allow harassment/dogpiling of “evil” creators as easily as Tumblr. Abuse won’t remove or even re-tag a work except in a handful of very specific cases, but they will suspend or ban users for harassment, including filing repeated unfounded Abuse reports. Authors also have at least some ability to screen/block comments on works, and there’s no direct messaging system outside of commenting on works through which to pursue harassment. You can follow a creator but you can’t block them (much less encourage others to do the same).
Tumblr, by contrast, generally ignores any abuse report that doesn’t involve the DMCA, and aggressive anons can and have driven bloggers off the site entirely. The fact that the same tactics are used by social justice bloggers and neo-Nazis (for instance) doesn’t matter – they’re the affordances of the site, by accident or design, and an entire fannish generation have gotten very used to performing their fannish (and moral) identity in this fashion.
(I thinks it’s relevant that AO3 was designed by fandom’s LJ generation and in some respect mirrors the affordances of LJ circa 2010. Tumblr is a very different site and that, moreso than age differences, seems to be at the root of this – though of course age intersect with site experience in a non-trivial way.)
ding ding ding ding.
Ao3 requires you to police your own consumption of content. Ao3 won’t let you destroy someone’s online presence simply because you don’t like it. Ao3 won’t let you impose your own morality on other without cause.
If you have issues with this, and the fact that Ao3 requires you to have responsibility and agency, then you seriously need to sit down and have a damned good long hard look at yourself.
I remember, years and years ago, when I first tried to get into Tumblr. I left because of the dogpiling, and only came back because there was almost no one left in my old fandom environments on LJ.
There is a LOT of content policing on Tumblr, and most of it seems to becoming from the kind of people who have no idea what Strikethrough is, or who have no idea that FFN used to host “M+” content – and why it doesn’t, anymore.
I’ve said before, Tumblr is the platform of BNF’s, and is very anti-community. It’s strength lies in things like sharing and discoverability, but the fact of the matter is that compared to previous fandom forums – listservs/mailing lists, message boards, forums, journal comms, etc. – Tumblr’s design put the kibosh on fandom communities. It became a website centered around individual people, and BNFs thrive here for a reason.
There’s a reason why the term “BNF” became in insult in Ye Olden Days of fandom – it was associated with bullying and prostelyzing.
Tumblr is a website that not only allows bullies, but enables them. AO3 makes bullying extremely difficult, if not impossible to sustain, and that’s why so many people on Tumblr hate it.
Most fic writers are like…
No offense but why do people portray him only as a clumsy awkward piece of a manservent that needs Arthur’s protection. Isn’t he like, I don’t know, MOST POWERFUL SORCERER EVER?
i think what makes Merlin so likeable to most people (at least he does to me) is that he is both, actually. yes, he is a klutz and he can be awkward, but still he is pretty awesome and kicks ass when he needs to. yes, he sometimes plays the fool purposely to appear unassuming (and it works so well too…), but i think he just has that sort of light-hearted personality in general. it doesn’t mean he’s an idiot 😉
also, remember in the last episode, when Arthur asked him if the whole foolish manservant thing was all just an act, and he grinned and said “no it’s just another part of my charm”
YES! To all of this ^ He is BOTH! ❤ ❤ ❤
Exactly! Characters are complex, and I think it’s doing writers a disservice to say that they all only portray Merlin one way (or the wrong way, lol). The good thing about fandom is that there’s room enough for multiple interpretations of the same character, and I honestly think everyone’s take on him is a little different, or emphasises different things depending on their POV (or what the fic/trope/plot inspires).
However, that said, I have a couple of easy solutions to OP’s problem:
1. Write your own fic. There’s always room for more BAMF!Merlin.
2. Prompt someone else to write it for you. The Kink Meme is opening soon!
3. Ask for fic recs. Because I’m pretty sure most of us could give you at least three different BAMF!Merlin links off the tops of our heads.
I know it can be frustrating when there’s not enough stuff you like (*quietly waves Smart!Arthur banner in the background*), but, you know. That doesn’t mean everyone else’s interpretations are wrong. Live and let live, yeah?
merlin 