alternate takes? or tagging you in meta of their own? not in a disrespectful way, obviously, but in a conversational one. (if you could maybe tag some of your other meta-writing friends in this too, that would be lovely, because you’re all so smart and I’d really like to know how all of you feel about other fans joining in the discourse)

By prettyarbitrary January 20, 2014 #Anonymous, #Asks, #culture, #meta, #the internet ladies and gentlemen, #tumblr

I say OH MY GOD YES.

Dear lord, I am ALL for anybody getting in on this stuff who wants to! I’m not writing thousands of words of meta and posting them online with the expectation that they NOT start a conversation! 😀 And it’d be a terrible world if we only ever exposed ourselves to people who agreed with us. ^_^

Also as far as I am concerned, social media is a public space. If I walk out onto the street and start shouting my opinions at passersby, then I had better be prepared to suck it up and deal if they decide to respond in kind.

I can’t promise that I’ll always reply. Sometimes people post a disagreement or alternate take, and I read it and think, “Ah, yes, that is another way of looking at it, although it’s not the way I see it.” And then there’s not always anything else to say, because they’re the same amount of right and wrong as I am, and in that case reblogging would basically just be starting an argument based on the fact that somebody else has a different interpretation than I do.

But I’m glad they do. I’m glad it’s out there. So if things I post give you thoughts, I’ll be glad for that too, whether I have anything to add or not.

I also can’t promise that I’ll notice if you tag me. I am bad at remembering to check tracked tags. I don’t know why, it’s just not part of how my brain naturally wraps around Tumblr. I’ll probably notice them sooner or later, but it might be days or weeks. But it’ll still be lovely to hear from you!

(If you have something you REALLY want me to see, you might be better off dropping me an ask to let me know about it.)