Snowflake Challenge 2026 #12

[bedes]

Challenge #12

Make an appreciation post to those who enhance your fandom life. Appreciate them in bullet points, prose, poetry, a moodboard, a song... whatever moves you!

Is it silly to say that reading today's challenge actually kind of filled me with a genuine sense of dread? Imagine my internal sense of self running around my mind palace in circles, screaming, "NOOOO, BEING BAD AT THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I HAVEN'T STARTED RESPONDING TO COMMENTS ON MY WRITING AND ART UNTIL RECENTLY AAAAHHHHHHH"

But! I think it's important to make fancreators feel appreciated. There's been an issue worsening with the online climate, where people just want to consume, consume, consume, and then just... leave. Comments on fanfics are down significantly compared to the early days and, although I don't have any proof of this, in my experience, it certainly feels like fanart is being shared less. On Tumblr, this issue is especially bad, where likes don't even really do anything to help with reach. I don't like it. I don't like that the fandom community is feeling less like a community.

That's exactly why my New Year's resolution this year is to comment on fanworks (and general art) more. Specifically, I want to comment on at least one piece of art or writing, every two days. I've kept this up so far, and, you know, it's easier than I thought it would be! I spend most of my time on Tumblr where there's a very quick and easy reply feature, so I've just been replying to the art that I've come across that I think is especially impactful in some way. And that's the sort of thing that I like to do! Instead of writing thank-yous (and making myself throw up in the process, probably), I like to show that I'm thankful for somebody's contributions to fandom by supporting them in other ways (that don't make me want to throw up).

Does this response even really meet the letter of this challenge...? I dunno, but it's true to myself and how I interact with artists online, at least, hahaha!

Comments

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Thank you for the reasons you provided! It gave me something to think on! I think that a lot of these are definitely contributing to it.<<

I'm happy I could help.

>> Especially the enshittification of many places where fandom once thrived. Dreamwidth is the main platform that I can think of that has been around for a long time and hasn't fallen to this exact issue, which I suspect is partly thanks to its user-funded nature.<<

Yes, and that's why I encourage people to make their own websites if they can. I can't code, but I backed the FujoGuide in hopes that others would.

>>I also suspect that certain quirks in popular gathering points for fandom made/is making the issue worse. Such as Tumblr's anti-comment culture and TikTok's encouraging of a sort of "turn your mind off and scroll without thinking" trance.<<

I agree. However, over the past year or two, I've noticed more people coming to Dreamwidth saying that they are tired of modern social media and it makes them unhappy, so they're looking for older better ways of interacting online. That's a hopeful sign.