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Ripley's Believe it or Die

@caterwhauling / caterwhauling.tumblr.com

Occasionally an art blog. He/They/25
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mushtoons
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carduelis-carduelis

Fandom PSAs

Dont’ Like, Don’t Read

or DL; DR

  • You are responsible for curating your own online experience.
  • If something upsets you, makes you angry or queasy or triggers you, stop reading/looking at it. Avoid things that might make you feel that way.
  • Learn to use the Sort and Filter function on AO3, especially the Exclude tools.
  • On social media, block and mute accounts / tags / words when necessary.
  • If you hated something, you don’t need to tell that to the creator or start pointing fingers at them publicly.
  • The Back button is free. Use it.

Addendum:

Yes, for this to work, creators need to tag their works accordingly, so that people know what sort of content they are about to engage with and can nope out if necessary.

I will probably make another PSA about the importance of proper tagging later.

Ship And Let Ship

or SALS

  • You are allowed to ship whatever you want.
  • Everyone else is also allowed to ship whatever they want.
  • You are entitled to dislike or even hate a ship. If you want to do this online, in public, don’t use the ship tags for hate posts.
  • If you see someone posting about a ship they like and you don’t, there is no need for you to start arguing with them in their replies / comments / QRTs / reblogs. Don’t throw your hate in their face.
  • Do not harass fan creators or fans for shipping something you disapprove.
  • All of this also applies to liking / disliking an individual character.

Addendum:

”I agree with this, except when…”

No, then you are NOT agreeing with this.

Let me make this VERY clear. There are NO exceptions. None.

You don’t EVER harass real people over pixels.

If you disagree with this, kindly block and move on.

Your Kink Is Not My Kink

or YKINMK / YKINMKATO

  • The longer version is ”Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That’s Okay”.
  • People have different tastes. Not everything is for everybody.
  • Even if you don’t like a specific kink, other people are still allowed to use it in their creations.
  • You are entitled to dislike kinky content and think that it’s ”weird”.
  • Don’t kink shame or judge people based on their kinks.
  • This goes both ways: your kink is not someone else’s kink, so don’t push it onto those who are not into it.

Be Kind

or Don’t Be An Asshole

  • Focus on the things you like instead of the things you hate.
  • Create and unite instead of destroying and dividing.
  • Don’t harass real people over fictional things.
  • Stop stirring up petty drama just to get some attention on social media.
  • Stop trying to ”win”. Fandom is not a competition.
  • Remember that your own experiences aren’t universally shared. Your perception of things can differ from someone else’s, but that doesn’t mean either of you is necessarily wrong.
#important
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punkitt-is-here
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storybookprincess

if i can impart any one piece of wisdom to y’all, it’s to, whenever possible, assume good intentions

assume people are trying their best, want to be good and treat others well, and that when their behavior doesn’t align with those goals, it’s because of outside factors that are pushing them to their limit

it’s hard to do, it doesn’t always come naturally, but it’s worth it

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storybookprincess

before anyone jumps in with an “op has clearly never worked in the service industry,” i work in a public facing library job

i have a patron who is mean as a snake. won’t respond when you greet her, barks orders at you, and is generally nasty

i couldn’t stand her & dreaded the moment she walked in the door, until i stopped one day & went “wow, to walk around feeling unhappy enough to treat people so horribly every day. what a difficult way to live.”

and so my tactics changed. i made a point to be extra kind & friendly to her. she changed her hair color one day & when i complimented her on it, she was very caught off guard & said “oh, thank you. my whole life i’ve thought i was ugly.”

now we’re at the point where she shows me pictures of watercolor paintings she made & says hi when she walks in the door. she’s not my favorite patron, but she’s perfectly okay. most unpleasant people aren’t inherently rotten, they’re just unhappy & coping with it poorly

assume people are always doing their best, even if their best happens to fall a bit short. assume good intentions

#this is how i get through my job tbh#i work with a lot of drug addicts and people who have either been treated poorly#or who are at the lowest#most painful or most vulnerable part of their life#many cope badly#but if you are kind and understanding then most of them will trust you#in a way they dont let other people working in my building earn their trust#it can be incredibly rewarding sometimes#for context#im a physical therapist at a nursing home
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