HOT TAKE

I wrote tm once again but I hope this explains where others are coming from!

We wouldn't move forward in society or in media if we don't have valid criticism. There are definitely times when I'm like why would you dislike it without getting past the first chapter but at the same time, sometimes people's concerns are perfectly reasonable I.e. if a story has rape/SA in it. Honestly we wouldn't have half the good bl stories we have today (i.e. Guildmate Next Door, Our Sunny Days, Don't kiss the puppy, etc.) If we stayed stuck in the era of no criticism towards BL authors bc at least they're providing us content with good art. I can tell u rn 2014 yaoi was a cesspit of pedophilia, good art, and rape EVERYWHERE. I only read bl for a couple weeks before i gave it up as a doomed venture. So imagine my surprise when i tune back in and i hear ppl actually criticise the author when they have good art but no real good story. I don't think good stories get washed out by criticism tbh even if they receive only negative reviews in the beginning, their potential shines through and people end up tuning in and uplifting anyway. We are slowly moving away from all fwop fwop (rape style) with no real development to genuinely enticing characters with good plot development and that happens thru criticim. Another reason that ppl voice these opinions early on is because there are many fans who may not be comfortable with what's going on i.e. incest, gang rape, etc. So it's better for people to have trigger warnings from ppl who read than to traumatize oncoming readers (esp for stories where child rape, etc.) The last reason could be that there are literally children on this website (under 14, yes) and ppl may wanna warn them off these stories from the get go so that they don't consume smth that would ultimately be bad for them. I've seen ppl say that it doesn't matter why do u need to let the audience know through criticism welp I can tell u that a lot of kids on this site do actually heed the warnings of the rape or SA being unnecessary or wrong to add (taken from my sister who used to read here while underage).

PREACH

I can see where you are coming from. I'm someone who is open to constructive criticism that is nuanced with strong points. I actually like it when people bring up topics that I would have overlooked and ignored altogether.

For example, I'm gonna criticise authors who just randomly use mental illness to justify all the wrongdoing of a character. As our society is already prejudiced against people with mental illness and treats them as outcasts and stuff like this only makes the condition worse. I wish authors would handle sensitive topics such as mental health more carefully and respectfully.

But of course, there is another side to the coin where people are just bluntly abusive towards authors in disguise of criticism, and they make the comment section very toxic.

I remembered a manhwa where people in the comment were saying stuff like "I'm gonna drop it cuz ML was sleeping with a woman", and "BL should only include gay couples and gay smut" and I was like what an irony. These people will talk about inclusiveness but they're not gonna accept other sexual orientations such as bisexual and pansexual in BL.

Oh hella agree dude, I wasn't aiming my comment at toxic fanbases, if comments are misogynistic or bi/pan/transphobic may God strike a million thunderstorms on top of their houses, that's not true inclusion if anything if you're supporting exclusionary narratives like that then all you're doing is making queer ppl feel more excluded in a supposed safe space. I hate misogyny, and while I'm gay, one of my sisters is demi and the other one is bi so believe me in my household, the rampant misogyny in bl spaces gets talked about to death. If you don't want one of the characters being pan/bi/demi then that points to underlying issues that you have, not issues with the authors work. Of course, as I mentioned in my comment, good stories shine through regardless of idiots who proclaim unreasonable or stupid 'criticisms.' True criticism is nuanced and helps a story improve through feedback rather than sets us back a 100 years.

As for your first comment, I said in mine that true criticism tries to take stories away from toxic narratives and enlightens not only the author but maybe even the whole genre, to what is considered healthy, gross, good development, etc. I explaining why people who read books from the genre nowadays (more queer ppl than ever before!!) Look for elements outside of good art and why they expect stories to have limited/no SA bw characters of the story. Ppl have higher standards than good art nowadays and it's perfectly okay to criticise an author's inability to write good stories without toxicity at every nook and cranny. I also agree that authors need to pay more attention to how they approach mental health as we are starting to implement the social model of disability as opposed to the medical model of disability so having some basic awareness that 1. Mental illness is not an excuse for a character's actions and 2. Ppl with mental illnesses are NOT magically fixed thru the ~power of love~.

3. Ppl with disabilities (including forms of mental illnesses) are most affected by the way society is constructed and built to disfavor them rather the disability itself. Thus our disabilities don't need to be 'fixed', we are perfectly whole and beautiful as we are. Society's treatment of individuals with disabilities needs to change.

- mental ill queer who is very frustrated with the world

Oh lastly, a good example of a story shining thru regardless of idiotic comments aimed at the author for the ML having an ex (a woman) who he was married to and loved like crazy is The Man Who Can't Taste (elite, amazing, jaw breaking, MWAH).

I thought u were talking about concealed carry as in concealing guns laws and I was wondering why tf are we bringing this up on the illegal yaoi site (American politics has rotted my brain)