The Onus Of Responsibility Is On You, The Reader, To Ensure You're Prepared To Encounter - Or Avoid -

The onus of responsibility is on you, the reader, to ensure you're prepared to encounter - or avoid - content in whatever capacity. And here's a fun little fact for you:

You can filter by kudos and other criteria in order to find works that likely fit your "quality demands."

You can look at rec lists. Collections. Bookmarks. You can ask for recommendations from other users who share similar standards and interests to yours. And, yes. That means every. Single. Time. Because again; if you have specifics you want, its not up to the author to jump through hoops to bestow their works at your heels like a peasant to a 14th century King. Its up to you to go looking for it.

If you're so bothered by other writers and their "mediocre" content, here's a suggestion.

Write it yourself and stop complaining.

"Then just…. don't skim the unfiltered character tag? Filtering out a NOTP, a rating, and a few major squick tags takes literal seconds and is how the site is meant to be used."

Do you fucking hear yourself? Do you have any idea how many ships there are, especially in a big fandom? Am I supposed to astral-project to imagine every single combination of characters I'd find disturbing to read about? Every possible setting? And if I miss something, it's on me? Are you for real?

And hell, that's not even a solution. It's not that I would never read an incest fic, I would. It's not that I would never read that particular incest ship or that particular rating, I would. So why the hell would I filter for it? But shit like that is something you need to ease into, and that means not dumping it in the summary or tags that you read specifically to decide if the actual fic is worth it.

What's squicky can be so heavily context and situation-dependent that it is ridiculous to the max to act like authors are free to be as gauche as they like in tags and summaries, and it's readers' fault if they get majorly squicked by something they wasn't quick enough to "argh my eyes my eyes stop reading" on.

Let me say this even more bluntly:

I love reading rapefic, it's a major kink for me. When it's written well, and in a specific way. Ergo, I'd still absolutely hate it if it were commonplace for people with rapefics to make the summaries and tags explicitly vivid. Please, in all your apparently infinite wisdom, go ahead and tell me which combination of filters I should use to not get upset by shitty summaries while skimming fic summaries for something I'd actually like!

Poor or gauche writing in and of itself can make something squicky or potentially upsetting.

So screw everyone who replied to this post with some variation of "Just get better at Not Reading Things while reading". You can't always predict what you'll find squicky and you can't filter for "this thing I only find squicky when it's not done in a way I subjectively find tasteful". Maybe don't be so intent on making the archive miserable to use, mkay?

--

Actually yes I do think you should need a standard qualification to own an animal, and that there needs to be heavier regulations on person-to-person animal sales and backyard breeding.

Owning an animal immediately becomes a lifelong commitment, just like having a child. The only difference is the animal can't use words to tell you how its feeling, what it needs and what's wrong with it. Getting an animal means you need to learn an entirely new language and need to learn to adjust your behavior and life, constantly, in order to communicate with your pet properly.

Yes, even dogs and cats. The two most available, unregulated type of pet after fish. Its not cute when you let your baby/toddler trample all over your pet and pull at them and chew on their ears. Its not cute when you try to snuggle your pet and it growls at you. Its not cute to have a pet that tries to attack you whenever you're in the same room. Its not cute to let your fish languish in a tiny bowl without the proper filtration, space, habitat stimuli and food.

The fact that at any one time I can just make a Facebook post saying I want a kitten and within 24 hours I can just get one, no home or background check necessary, no medical history or evaluation of the kitten, no proper knowledge of if its old enough to leave its mother or what it needs to eat, is actually fucking terrifying.

You need to learn the body language and sounds of your pet and what they're indicating to you. Animals have hundreds of ways of communicating. Some animals will specifically adapt to your means of communication or will invent entirely new forms of communication to try to engage with you.

You need to learn the proper methods of training your pet and which methods work best for you, your pet, and are over-all the clearest forms of communication and most beneficial. Including what methods are safe, which are outdated or harmful, ect.

You need to learn the proper nutrition your pet requires and ways you can enrich and vary their diet. You need to be capable of doing species/breed appropriate research and activity research to discern exactly what your pet needs out of its diet.

If and where necessary, you need to modify your home and your own behaviors within the home to make it safer for your pet. You may need to give up your essential oil candles or stop leaving the doors open where your pet can escape. You may need to remodel your backyard so its safe and appropriate for your pet to have freedom within.

You need to learn ways you can safely enrich your pet's day-to-day life and ways you can provide them with stimulation and entertainment. Especially for the hours you won't be there.

You need to have proper medical coverage for your pet and set aside money weekly or monthly to build an emergency savings fund for them, the exact way you would for other expenses.

You need to properly assert ownership of your pet. Paperwork, microchipping, an evidence file of ownership in case your pet gets lost or stolen, proper registration, ect.

You need to have contingency plans for emergencies and events where you need to navigate the stability and safety of your pet. If you went into hospital tomorrow, who can look after your pet? If there's a natural disaster, do you have the means to get your pet to safety?

And, yes. I realize this will inherently disadvantage poor people and people who don't have hours in a day free to pay attention to their pet, but unfortunately, that's the reality of choosing to be responsible for another living creature. Its the reality of just how much actual work goes into owning, raising and training an animal.

Pets are not inherent rights. They're essentially luxuries in a world where we no longer need to rely on animals the way we did hundreds of years ago. Pets are not just little accessories and fun little distractions and add-ons to your home. They are independent, sentient creatures that you are fully and solely responsible for in every single aspect of their lives.

Pets. Are. Not. Toys.

Harry Potter Alternatives

Often the hardest parts about giving up the things you love most revolves around a lack of alternatives to fill the void. It can be daunting to think that what we've spent hours up to years of our life enjoying, filling our time with and finding community around is just suddenly gone. Particularly if its still there, you're just trying to avoid it.

Understandably, the same can be said for Harry Potter, its recent game release, and people who may be finding it hard to let go of the universe. So below are book, movie and gaming recommendations for people to explore that offer an alternative to lining the pockets of a bigot. The point of this list is to help support and ease the transition for those who want to but are struggling to phase supporting Harry Potter out of their lives.

Please also feel free to reply or reblog with your own recommendations, and share your own opinions if you've played or looked into any of the things suggested.

Game Alternatives

Divinity: Original Sin 2

Magicka 2

Genshin Impact

Wizard of Legend

Outward

Fable

In Verbis Virtus

The Witcher

Skyrim

Pillars of Eternity

Dragon Age

Noita

Avencast: Rise of the Mage

Book Alternatives

The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flemel

Mistborn: The Trilogy

The Skulduggery Pleasant Series (10/10 personal favorite)

The Invisible Library

The Shadowmagic Trilogy

The Maze Runner

Mageborn

Good Omens

The Witcher

The Sandman

The Name of the Wind

The Magicians

Discworld

TV & Movie Alternatives

The Lord of the Rings

The Magicians

Shadowhunters

The Dark Crystal

The Maze Runner

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Percy Jackson Trilogy

Guardian - The Great & Lonely God

Legend

Alchemy of Souls

Nowhere Boys

Willow

The Wheel of Time

Merlin

The King: Eternal Monarch

Hellbound

Ghost Doctor (not relevant to the genre, but hilarious and sweet)

I think we need to remind ourselves again that viewer interpretation and headcanons are not always actual fact and that's okay. That's part of fandom and part of adopting canon as a source.

Likewise, nobody is "wrong" for their personal headcanons, because they're not fact. They're not supposed to be direct reflections of or representative of canon as it exists then. That is, in fact, the fun of it. Altering canon to embrace your own creativity and ideas. Having your own perspective on canon based on your own values, experiences, thoughts and assessments.

It is not an invitation to begin a dictatorship about how people can interpret or headcanon aspects of canon.

The worst thing about HCav's girlfriend is she's the kind of person who stops a movie halfway through to go to bed.

Literally disgusting. We finish the movie in one sitting or we don't watch it.

Sorry to ask this. Did you block an account called glitchedcodex recently? They aren't a bot

Its more than likely, unfortunately right now this account has been fed into a script for bots, so I'm being followed by 50+ a day. I've been blocking any accounts fitting shared criteria.

My apologies; I'll unblock now, please feel free to refollow/tell them to refollow if they're still wanting to, I'll keep note!