Sometimes I remember that when VLD first dropped, there was a lot of Sheith art. And looking back now, a lot of sheiths went in with the same mentality we've always had in fandoms past:

'If people don't like it, they'll steer clear'

Instead, a new gen of fans began to wage war.

Think of fandom as a huge, beautiful tree. Lots of branches. Lots of theories. AUS, headcanons.

Everyone sits on a different branch, some bounce from one to another.

But still, everyone lives in their own section of it.

The tree changes with the seasons.

As life evolves, maybe they gain flowers(a decent tagging system!!)

Or more branches of content for those who thought they would never see themselves in fic (trans, asexual, etc)

And this tree has thrived for generations.

When the internet wasn't accessible, the tree was still there. We used other means.

I'm not saying there weren't some hard seasons.

Where the tree had trouble thriving as fandom midsets changed, but there was still this golden rule of

Let people enjoy their branch.

Now.

Fast forward to the dawn of Tumblr. Of Twitter. Of AO3.

Fic is easier to find. To enjoy.

More branches sprout. It's exciting and new and wonderful to watch.

But while we're all settling into the new norm.

A fungus is growing on the tree.

This fungus starts out small. No one pays it much attention at first.

And to this day, I can't tell you where it even came from first.

Only that I saw its spread a few weeks after VLD aired.

And I watched as artwork and fic poured out of people.

I've grown up with every VLD incarnation, but this was WILD. I was excited to join.

Until I had to see artists and writers publicly humiliated. Voice Actors threatened. Death threats sent to human beings over fictional pairings.

Until I had to see a respectful and meaningful pairing get sidelined.

All so some cruel teenagers could pair up an immature, jealous bully with a character (who put his heart and soul into keeping his best friend safe) and then have the gall to call it 'Pure' and 'healthy'.

That fungus has spread into every branch. Every root.

It's sunk beneath the bark and is slowly killing the tree.

Very, very slowly.

And it doesn't care that someday the tree will be gone.

It won't care that there will be nothing left but scattered leaves and flowers on the ground, the brave few who leave their work behind.

And one day that fungus will ask 'where is all the content? Why is there no host tree for me to thrive on?'

The fungus will ask and ask and ask. Give us content. Help us build back up what we destroyed.

And in the words of Rorschach:

No.