Grumpy Beastie's Other Lair

In your own space, make a list of things that you wish existed in fandom or elsewhere, and/or that you'd like someone to create or do for you.

It feels a little weird coming up with a wishlist when I'm still engaging with and participating in holiday exchanges (though, if you really want to do something for me, there is always a wishlist linked on my sticky/Important Links post.) I do have two wishes for fandom in general.

The first is completely impossible, I know, but it would be really nice if there was some sort of reccing function like on streaming websites that sort of came up and recced fics to you based on fics you liked reading because sometimes you want a fic that has the same feel or vibe, not just the same pairing or trope. Yes, this would be a logistical nightmare. Yes, the algorithms on the streaming sites can be way off. And yes, there are places to ask people for recs. It would still be nice.

The other is in a completely different vein. I wish people would wait a beat before posting comments, especially critical comments. Depending on the space you play in and what fandom you are creating for, comments tend to be down in general compared to ten years ago and there are lots of projects and movements trying to get people to comment and engage more. That is great. Critical comments are also fine, as long as they aren't straight up rude, and I really do appreciate when someone reads an old fic of mine from back before we tagged things as thoroughly as we do now and suggests I add a tag. But what I have noticed happening more and more are the bold, confidently incorrect comments where someone just comes in hot and causes drama that could be avoided. For example, over the last year, I have gotten multiple complaints from different people complaining that a fic they read of mine was not fluff and also admitted in the same comment that they read the tags that said it was “angst,” “hurt no comfort,” etc, but still thought it would be fluff anyway, despite how it was tagged. This month, I got a comment that was about 300 words long (which I think might be longer than the fic itself) arguing about what I said in the author's note on the fic because my comment didn't comply with the Netflix adaptation of the series that came out in 2020 on a fic that was posted to AO3 in 2012... and based on the manga, which is apparently very different. I've gotten complaints about a fic because it wasn't compliant with FMA Brotherhood when it was a FMA 2003 anime fic. I got a complaint on a fic because it wasn't compliant with the FMA 2003 anime when it was based on the manga. I can keep going and while it's a tiny percentage of my comments, in the last four or five years its getting steadily more common.

My point being, leave happy comments, leave angry comments, leave whatever kind of comments you feel the need to leave, but maybe just wait a minute first (and possibly double check the header of the fic).

Thank you for letting me ramble.