Im sure I sound like a broken record but
COMMUNITY
I remember it was what sucked me in about tumblr in the first place, it seemed so interactive!! Like everyone in the same room flipping out about a fandom instead of one by one finding a fic or piece of art, expressing delight in it and it really ending there. Almost from the start, I jumped two feet into interacting with what I read and saw; commenting directly, ranting in tags, sensing asks. Because it was fun! Like, “look at all of us here who like not only Peter Parker but how this particular writer wrote him and we can all kya kya and keyboard smash to each other AND the writer about it and they’ll kya kya and keyboard smash right back. I didnt realize I was getting on tumblr at the tail end of this era 🙃
Comments are mostly in tags now, which is cool but its hardly ever enough apace and useful for how I wanna emote about a thing. Sleepovers used to be An Event every time but now I see so many people making “hey if i do a sleepover would anyone participate?” posts first and ☹️ my dash used to be filled with people answering asks, sharing tag games, having reblog chains of convo. I can name maybe… THREE people I follow that get lots of asks all the time. Just about every one else its far rarer. And I know it aint about talent or follower count, its just a collective decline of engagement. Fandom is getting more transactional by the day and I’ve seen so many writers leave and cant blame a single one of em.
I see (and make myself!) posts about how writers are starving for feedback. That we want interaction, not necessarily praise and compliments, but just for you to recognize its a person on the other side of the screen that just put energy and a piece of their heart into creating something and still nothing’s changed. And that’s not even to mention when we beg and what we DO get is demotivating comments, selfish comments, hateful comments. Fandom isn’t what it used to mean. Not a kingdom of fanatics like I felt I used to be a part of. I feel like im in line for a movie 🫤 we’re all there for the same thing, because we’re interested in the same thing, yet we’re only talking to the friend we came with. Then when the movie’s done, we just all leave and go to our separate homes and never talk about it again. It sucks. It’s sad.
Sorry I did the most 😭 but you’re right, I am protective of my fellow writers. I’m protective of the space I’ve created. I dont need 17383385 followers, just 10 or so that actually talk to me. That give me feedback on my work or commiserate about the shitty weather they had that day. That ask what made me write that dnd au and maybe they wanna start getting into dnd forreal and introduce them to a whole new fandom to sink into.
And I don’t think it’s too much to ask because 4 years ago, that’s all there was 😕 that was the norm. This right now is the strangeness.