Don't call me a content creator, thanks.
Jan. 2nd, 2022 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoI posted this on my tumblr earlier today*:
There's something I'd like to make clear.
My fics are not Content. I am not a Content Creator. I do not Produce Content. I do not Promote Content.
I'm a person with a not-for-profit hobby who is here to make friends and write about my favourite characters kissing. I like reading fic and looking at fanart by other fans. Maybe if we like some of the same things, we can be friends! If I find something cool by a fellow fan, I'll tell everyone about it so they can enjoy that cool thing too.
I'm not here to pound out extruded fic product or ~promote content~ so faceless people can ~consume it~.
Get out of here with that marketing speak.
The reason behind it is that a random post reminded me of that awful Discord experience I had a couple months back*. Something that upset me almost as much as that bait-and-switch was that the person who invited me referred to me as a content creator, that she kept calling my fanworks content.
I tried not to let it bother me initially, because this is just the way that a lot of people talk these days, but man did it ever piss me off. I find this way of talking about fandom absolutely repulsive. But it's difficult for me to articulate why in a coherent way.
It just reeks so much of corporate speak. Creating content, ~driving engagement~, Promoting Your Brand. It's marketing all the way down.
And if you're someone who's taking commissions and whatnot, it does make sense to think of it that way, to a degree. Because there is money involved in that case, and there is marketing involved. I'm not inherently against making a profit off fanwork, and my issue isn't with that per se (though I would never do it myself because it wouldn't be worth my time).
When people approach all fandom activity in this corporate, marketing-focused way, that does bother me. Or rather, it bothers me when people try to include me in it, I guess you could say. Because even if someone isn't thinking about it that way, it sure comes off as a commercial focus to, well, everything. And that isn't how I do fandom at all. And I don't like it when people approach me with that.
It's a hobby. Fandom is a hobby. And if I'm talking to someone that likes the same fandom that I do, the things I tend to think about are "Maybe we can be friends", and if we hit it off, it might turn into "Let's do something together!" (whether that be just discussing fandom, or working on our fannish projects separately, or collaborating on something, or whatever). And it sounds kind of childish when I put it that way, I guess. "Let's do an activity! :D" But that's how I like to do things in fandom.
I'm here to muck around and make friends and have fun. That's all.
Just... fuck, I hate it when people talk to me like they're making me a business offer. Bloody hell. (And I guess I'm still mad about it, since I'm writing this post. But there we are.)
There's something I'd like to make clear.
My fics are not Content. I am not a Content Creator. I do not Produce Content. I do not Promote Content.
I'm a person with a not-for-profit hobby who is here to make friends and write about my favourite characters kissing. I like reading fic and looking at fanart by other fans. Maybe if we like some of the same things, we can be friends! If I find something cool by a fellow fan, I'll tell everyone about it so they can enjoy that cool thing too.
I'm not here to pound out extruded fic product or ~promote content~ so faceless people can ~consume it~.
Get out of here with that marketing speak.
The reason behind it is that a random post reminded me of that awful Discord experience I had a couple months back*. Something that upset me almost as much as that bait-and-switch was that the person who invited me referred to me as a content creator, that she kept calling my fanworks content.
I tried not to let it bother me initially, because this is just the way that a lot of people talk these days, but man did it ever piss me off. I find this way of talking about fandom absolutely repulsive. But it's difficult for me to articulate why in a coherent way.
It just reeks so much of corporate speak. Creating content, ~driving engagement~, Promoting Your Brand. It's marketing all the way down.
And if you're someone who's taking commissions and whatnot, it does make sense to think of it that way, to a degree. Because there is money involved in that case, and there is marketing involved. I'm not inherently against making a profit off fanwork, and my issue isn't with that per se (though I would never do it myself because it wouldn't be worth my time).
When people approach all fandom activity in this corporate, marketing-focused way, that does bother me. Or rather, it bothers me when people try to include me in it, I guess you could say. Because even if someone isn't thinking about it that way, it sure comes off as a commercial focus to, well, everything. And that isn't how I do fandom at all. And I don't like it when people approach me with that.
It's a hobby. Fandom is a hobby. And if I'm talking to someone that likes the same fandom that I do, the things I tend to think about are "Maybe we can be friends", and if we hit it off, it might turn into "Let's do something together!" (whether that be just discussing fandom, or working on our fannish projects separately, or collaborating on something, or whatever). And it sounds kind of childish when I put it that way, I guess. "Let's do an activity! :D" But that's how I like to do things in fandom.
I'm here to muck around and make friends and have fun. That's all.
Just... fuck, I hate it when people talk to me like they're making me a business offer. Bloody hell. (And I guess I'm still mad about it, since I'm writing this post. But there we are.)
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
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Date: 2022-01-03 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-03 03:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-03 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-03 02:09 pm (UTC)It definitely does make sense to use it when there actually is something commercial involved.
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Date: 2022-01-04 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-03 03:59 pm (UTC)Like you, I feel like a lot of the younguns these days are preferring to call themselves content creators, maybe as a way to legitimise what they're doing, without understanding that they are contributing to a greater side-hustle type culture where simple enjoyment is not its own reward and you have to monetise everything. But I also remember early on in my tumblr days when people would attack others for not tagging the most random-seeming of things, and I think this is the roots of that behaviour, too. Cause like, that was just random tumblr blog #9433845 posting whatever they liked, no guarantees of perpetual consistent content even if tumblr blog #9433845 appears to specialise in a certain niche topic of post/reblog. But then here's anon coming in telling them to tag a certain way (a trivial yet annoying thing like 'tag possums I am afraid of them'), because of an implicit understanding that anon has opted in to a content stream (i.e., the blog) and it's now therefore the creator's responsibility to make it easier for the anon to engage with that stream. When like - nothing's holding you here, bud, unfollow whenever!
Anyway! I know it's 'just' marketing and corpo speak, but I v much find the whole concept of followers flawed to begin with because it feels like marketing and corpo speak and it all started there, and it's so insidious and you see it everywhere. And I wonder if it's only getting worse - you're right that it's become almost fandom slang now. ❤️ for you
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Date: 2022-01-04 02:13 am (UTC)Yes! Yes!!! This! You hit on one of the things that bugs me - like, it causes people to approach me (or other fans) as if I'm not just some guy. When people do this it gives me the impression that they don't see me as a fellow fan and a potential friend - instead I'm ~content creator~, I ~create content~, I'm just a generator of material that other people can then feel entitled to.
It sucks! It really sucks!!!