fuck-me-barnes:

If you don’t like a work by a fanfic author, that’s okay.

If you find the subject matter in a fanfic is not to your taste, that’s okay.

If I personally read something and find I don’t like it for any reason, I simply close the tab and move on with my life.

And, full disclosure: I do this often! There’s a lot of stuff out there that is Just Not For Me. There are some fics out there that are wildly popular that I just personally don’t get their mass appeal, and there are some fics out there that I feel are absolute hidden gems and I will recommend them often. 

That being said, the one thing I never, ever, ever do is publicly disparage another author’s writing or narrative choices or their work as a whole. Even if I think their writing style is not to my liking, or I feel they they make spelling and grammar errors that are distracting, even if I think the sex is badly written, or the plot is boring, or if I think they have written the characters in a way I disagree with. If they don’t ask for concrit, I don’t give it. I don’t give any criticism unsolicited.

It really, really is disappointing and upsetting when I see folks, especially people who are writers themselves, publicly trashing other authors’ works on tumblr and/or leaving shitty comments on their AO3 chapters. I have had this happen to me before and it really does not feel good. Even if it’s just a “I didn’t care for this fic”, the fact that someone took the time out of their day to tell me so was unnecessary and upsetting. What is the purpose, I wonder, of telling someone something like that?

Fanfic authors write things for you for no money, for your entertainment. They write for fun and enjoyment and to share their enthusiasm about a fandom with others. Writing is hard work, y’all! It is truly a labour of love and I will never shit on any author that puts pieces out there and tries their best even if I don’t care for it. Not everyone is going to produce works that are specifically to everyone’s aesthetic tastes, avoiding everyone’s specific squicks or triggers. Nor should they.

Yeah, fandom is not your safe space, sure, but – we don’t have to treat one another poorly, either. Be kind to one another, friends.