Little Birdy · 11d
Hello wonderful authornim! <3 absolutely love your work, but the question i have is more about author etiquette!
See, i'm aiming to start writing and posting fanfic myself! But i'm kinda scared of getting hate and accusations and all considering the way the fandom and fandom spaces in general have gotten recently. So I'm trying to think of ways i can protect and defend myself against them.
Specifically i was wondering what author etiquette would be towards someone who demands (rudely) updates, or accuses ai use, or insults plot or writing style. Would it be acceptable for an author to respond with, for instance, refusing to update at all until the person apologizes? Or even being rude or belittling back to a person accusing ai use? (Within reason)
I swear i'm not a bad person, but in general i find it okay to clap back at people who are disrespectful. I'm just wondering if that's still acceptable on ao3 specifically (in your opinion and opinions of other authors you've encountered) and if it is, what the general consensus is on X too? Or if it's expected to simply ignore and delete the comments?
(This is very autistic me trying to feel out the social norms of this new environment i want to enter)
/gen
Hello!
All the best with writing and posting your fics, I hope you send me a link once you do 🤍
I might not be the best person to ask abt this because I have a wee autism diagnosis myself and I’m not the best at figuring out social norms. But I’ll give it my best shot!
First off, I think it’s important to have an understanding that whenever someone sends you hate/disrespect it says everything about them and nothing about you. Being someone who criticises and harasses people on the internet unprovoked is pretty awful, while being someone who shares your own creative works (even if they don’t update regularly or have some mistakes) is pretty awesome!
That being said, I do understand wanting to defend yourself/set boundaries. Personally I generally don’t tend to clap back when someone is rude to me, just because I’ve done it a lot in the past and I’ve found that blocking and moving on is more healthy for my own mind. Internet trolls also tend to feed on attention and drama, so sometimes hitting back is just giving them what they want. And I’m kind if petty so I don’t want to give them what they want 😉 But if you want to clap back, I generally find that it’s not frowned upon for an author to give the same energy back if someone is rude to them.
Holding back on posting until the person apologises might result in you waiting a really long time, haha. Internet trolls aren’t really big on accountability.
In the end you have to decide what is true to your own character. What they do reflects on them, but what you do reflects on you, so you have to decide what is in line with your own identity and your own values.
