I got this comment on a story from my Other AO3 Account this morning.

(Info redacted because I prefer keeping these accounts separate but no one follows me on the side blog I have for that account.)

The story was posted almost a year ago and is relatively “popular” by my average statistics even though it has tropes and themes that are big turnoffs for a lot of people (hence separate accounts). This popularity is undoubtedly because it’s a Marvel Loki story and that fandom is massive.

So there is obviously an algorithm or a bot scrubbing ao3 statistics and leaving this comment on fics that meet a certain metric with the main character of the fic inserted into the comment.

I had a little time to kill this morning so I decided to investigate further. And y’all this is so predatory. Come on this journey with me. It made me mad. It may make you mad.

First, if you go to Webnovel’s website, you HAVE to choose between male lead or female lead stories before you can go any further. WTF?

And that’s weird, but this gets so much worse. This is basically a pay-to-read site that has different subscription models. Which… okay BUT! The authors don’t get paid! Look at that comment again. They’re promising a supportive and nurturing community, but zero monetary compensation. It’s basically, “post your stuff here so we can get paid and you can get… nice vibes?” I mean look at this Orwellian writing:

Using the phrase “pay-to-read model” in the same sentence as “qualitative changes in lifestyles for authors” deliberately makes you think that you can get paid and maybe even make a living on this website. But that’s not actually what it says and authors will not receive one red cent.

Oh but wait, the worst is still to come. In case this breaks containment (which I kind of hope it does) this is where I mention that I’m a lawyer in the US.

I don’t do intellectual property or copyright law but I do read and write contracts for a living. So I went to look at their terms of service. It was fun!

Highlights the first, in which Webnovel gets a license to do basically whatever they want with content you post on their site. This is how they get to be paid for people reading authors’ writing without paying them anything.

Highlights the second, in which Webnovel takes no responsibility for illegally profiting off of fan fic. This all says that the writer is 100% responsible for everything the writer posts (even though only Webnovel is making money from it).

Highlights the third which say that by posting, the author is representing that they have the legal right to use and to let Webnovel use the content according to these terms. So if a writer posts fan fiction and Webnovel makes money from people reading the fan fiction, and the House of the Mouse catches wise, these sections say that that’s ALL on the writer.

So that’s a little skeevy to start off with but the thing that is seriously shitty and made me make this post was that these assholes are coming to ao3. They are actively recruiting people in comments on their fan fiction. And they are saying they are big fans of the character you’re writing about and that they share your interests.

They are recruiting fan fiction writers and giving every impression that you can make money from posting fan fiction on their site and hiding the fact that you absolutely cannot but they can make money off of you while you try, deep in their terms of service which no one but a lawyer who writes fan fic and has some time to kill will read.

I see posts on here regularly from people who don’t understand how this stuff works, don’t understand that they (and others) can not legally make a financial profit from fan fiction. And there are tons of people who will not take the time to dig into the details.

Don’t deal with these bastards. Fuck Webnovel.

idk who needs to hear this but trans men do not oppress you on the basis of gender in any way

my friends if a trans man is being transphobic to you, let me introduce you to a magical phrase called "lateral violence" that lets you talk about that exact thing without insisting he has systematic privilege

glad to see everyone's being real normal on this post

(btw could literally not tell if these were terfs or trans people. they are trans people 👍)

anyways remember when i said a huge part of anti-transmasculine transphobia within the queer community involves treating trans men like we have all the experiences and privilege of cis men, and specifically warping everything we say or do to be an Attack On Women and a sign of our Intrinsic Male Aggression, ignoring our experiences with misogyny and erasing our transness, and justifying it because "I'm just affirming your gender uwu you can't be mad at me ;)"

The thing that baffles me is the idea that we are magically immune to misogyny the moment we declare that we're not cis, as if how the average jerk face treats women has nothing to do with... who he thinks are women when he looks around him

The thing is, I don't even think that's what these responses are talking about.

Its not "trans men transition to escape misogyny," although there are trans people who promote that narrative. But that's more cis-radfem thinking. Whereas trans-inclusive radfems view not sex but gender as inherent; trans women are women, so they are always socialized/treated as women. And, in turn, trans men are always socialized/treated as men.

The argument isn't that trans men no longer face misogyny. It's that trans men never faced misogyny, or at least were never actually affected by it because they "were never" women. Its the same kind of reductionist thinking that cis radfems use, where only females/women can experience misogyny, its just "trans-inclusive."

Saw this posts seconds after discussing experiences w misogyny in university, and the whole time being cognizant of the fact that to this day my opportunities are negatively impacted by the horrific misogyny of my university. Despite the fact that I now pass enough to be stealth when needed as a trans man, this misogyny has carried on impacting me, costing references and job opportunities, and my grades haven’t magically changed. (For example, I was once given lower marks bc a cis man claimed my work as his by mistake, and the prof- my own advisor at the time who’d known me for three years- refused to believe me. About a year later, I was given lower marks for presenting something they felt contradicted my “identifying as a man”).

Also, literally any time I’m on the phone I’m read as a woman. Like it really isn’t black and white. Trans men have experienced and some still do experience misogyny, we aren’t exempt. Most of the world will insist on seeing us as women and treating us different for it. It’s just a different way of experiencing it.

Girl you need to get out of bed faster than this

I'm giving it all she's got boss

a pretty good rule imo is to avoid assuming that people are ignorant when they may just be tired or currently disinterested in engaging with your shit

from observation this is one of the common nerd social fallacies

jot that down

doing that big shake that dogs and wolves do would fix me

mentally i'm here

i'm like a werewolf but instead of turning into a wolf on the night of the full moon i dont do that and i just stay human

Wanna be radicalized?

We sent our kid off to Germany for a year as an exchange student.

As a foreign national, you have to buy into their national health care plan, because you don’t pay taxes there to support it.

Wanna know what it costs to buy into Germany’s health care for a year for a healthy 18yr old?

a solid YEAR of “everything is covered, no deductible, no copay, we don’t send bills?”

$500.

for. a. whole. year.

if a vampire sucked my blood i would be soooo embarrassed at not being a refreshing drink. like sorry about the microplatics queen

A teenage Goth and punk girl awaiting a Slipknot gig to start at london Arena, UK 2002. (Getty Image)

we have to go back

being on Tumblr is like playing a violin in a concert hall for thousands of people and a few of them clap, then honking a kazoo to amuse your 2 friends AND SUDDENLY YOU HAVE 20K NOTES

don't even think about it

another heavy handed symbolism moment: my mom has a potted sunflower in the kitchen. because it is a sunflower, it keeps turning towards the light from the window. my mother keeps rotating it so it faces inward because she wants "to see its beautiful petals and have it really brighten up the space!" . the sunflower is visibly wilting .

(guy experiencing the consequences of his actions) yeah i don’t know why these things keep happening to me i must be cursed or something

(guy who is cursed) yeah I'm sure all of these things that are happening to me are just the consequences of my actions

kindle: give us $1.99 for this public domain ebook!

me: *moseys on over to my best friend gutenberg.org*

Your Library Lets You Stream Audiobooks and eBooks FOR FREEEEEEE!

And if it’s public domain that you want, you can get audiobooks read by volunteers from Librivox! (I’m a particular fan of Karen Savage’s voice for Jane Austen books.)

idk who needs to hear this rn but suffering is not noble. take the tylenol