author_by_night | Jan. 7th, 2026

Challenge #4: Rec Your Last Page

Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!

I would like to defend two sites I think get a bad rap: Reddit and tumblr. (I say this as someone who rallied against tumblr for years.)

Don't get me wrong, the criticisms are not without merit. There are a lot of weirdo incels on Reddit, and a lot of the advice subs are pretty much, well...

Q: My aunt and I got into an argument over her rosebushes. What should I do?

A: Your aunt is a malignant narcissist. You should immediately cut all contact.

Yet sometimes, you'll get...

Q: AITA? My aunt started chasing me with hedge trimmers.

A: YTA. You're a malignant narcissist.

And of course, half the stories are probably fake.

AITA for robbing a Build-a-Bear during an orphan's birthday party?

I mean.

Tumblr has similar flavoring when it comes to people having very disproportionate responses. There's a lot of "how dare you say we piss on the poor". Then there's weird fandom drama, and my sense is that I've only seen the milder weird fandom drama, so I can only imagine what the rest of it is like.

That said, I've been Very Online for a very long time. Most spaces have things like what I mentioned above. Overreactions, gatekeeping, really bad advice, fandom drama. (fandom_wank existed for a reason.)

Moreover, I've found community for things that I'm interested in. I've seen people actually get a lot of support. Cliche though this advice is, you really do need to curate your experience. I stepped away from a fandom I felt was becoming too toxic. I stopped reading the relationship advice and AITA subreddits, although I do like BestofRedditorUpdates.

And I like that where tumblr is concerned, it reminds me a lot of old school LJ. Probably because a large portion of the populace are former LJers. I mean sure, that's also why the drama can be beyond, but it's also very quirky and fun and SLIGHTLY CHAOTIC.

So yeah. Reddit and tumblr are definitely imperfect. Lots of pissing on the poor to be had. But curating my experience has helped a lot.