"English speaking users who comment on accounts that speak non-English should stop using the 'Please kill urself aren't u ashamed ugh' 'I am mentally ill' etc when trying to express love/fangirling/fanboying on a post"

Meta
Title:	untitled
Creator:	江市コム @Eshtarwind
Date(s):	07 January 2024
Medium:	Twitter
Fandom:	Pan-Fandom
Topic:	Feedback, attitudes towards crit, English-speaking fandom, worldwide fandom, auto-translate
External Links:	meta by Eshtarwind, Archived version
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"English speaking users who comment on accounts that speak non-English should stop using the 'Please kill urself aren't u ashamed ugh' 'I am mentally ill' etc when trying to express love/fangirling/fanboying on a post" is the first part of an untitled meta essay posted to Twitter by Eshtarwind regarding how some English-speaking fans express appreciation and feedback for fanworks created by non-English speaking fans. Eshtarwind is a fan translator in the Vtuber fandom, and she often translates otherwise Japanese-only interviews on her Blogspot for Vtubers such as Ange Katrina, Inui Toko and Lize Helesta.

The meta essay soon spread far beyond Vtuber fandom, quickly becoming popular site-wide, with the first tweet in the tweet thread receiving 325 comments, 13,000+ retweets, 39,000+ likes and 5.9 million views in just a month after it was posted. The essay appealed to many fans who also didn't like the often inflammatory, yet said in good faith, variety of feedback which had been popularized on Tumblr and Tiktok around some years earlier for English-speaking fandom.

English speaking users who comment on accounts that speak non-English should stop using the "Please kill urself aren't u ashamed ugh" "I am mentally ill" etc when trying to express love/fangirling/fanboying on a post. Not everyone know it means positive, please say it properly

It's really horrifying seeing comments like "ugh go die plzzzz" on fan artists posts and official accounts etc. Seriously, express it with good words. Say it properly like "I love them so much! Thank you" or something.

Even only "UOOOOOOOOO!!!" "OMG YES" Is way better than "ugh die" "I hate this so much ugh u'll kill me"

Don't forget that many non-english speaking users are using google translate on English comments. These kind of aggressive words would only hurt them. Please write with proper grammar AND message to tell them your feelings. No matter how intense you feel, NEVER use bad words

full tweet thread

Many commenters expanded on the issue, saying it originated from younger fans on Tumblr, fannish migration moved the practice to TikTok, and that it is not solely an issue in English-speaking fandom; other languages also have a culture of "aggressive affectionate bullying," just on a smaller scale. A post by felicider featuring a non-descript fan saying Japanese-equivalents to "precious", "stop" and "weak" for use as reaction images was also shared by several fans in the thread.

Comments

[Seter MD]
There was someone who said once under my post " i have an urge to r.u.n over the k.i.d.s on the street with a car " thinking they made a good joke.

[Eshtarwind]

Oh my goodness.... Idk why people think it is a good idea to say those lines. I know several jp artists quit twitter/lock their account entirely some years ago because of creepy foreigner comments too. 'I hate you for this' etc etc

[Seter MD]

Thanks, oh, that's why most of amazing JP artists are completely isolated, and it's so hard to reach out to them. It was always unfortunate to see that since i wanted to communicate

[HhhhRuki]
Wait, people actually tell others to die to express love????? 💀💀💀

[Eshtarwind]

Or the character they draw to die. I honestly saw someone went '(chara name) die' (said person has the chara as prof pic and a ship name)

[cherubees]

i don’t understand it either, i see people say they hate a character but they actually love them. like, why say you hate them then??? or tell them to die, or they make you sick? 🤷

[HhhhRuki]

What kinda irks me is that they would say it to the art creators 🥹 Like what made them think that artists will be happy to see dead wishes for them and their biases.

[cherubees]

yeah, idk how people aren’t more aware that other people might not understand it. especially when it’s being translated!

[AimeVM1]
I use simple words like "So cute!!"
"OMG I love it" or things that are not that complex because of google translate, it doesn't catch the whole context of a sentence, so when they're just expressions they're easy to translate the message :D

[Eshtarwind]

Yes!! This is totally a better way to go. Even slightly complex sentences may be wrongly interpreted by the twitter auto translate after all!

This goes for GOAT too tbh 😭 like I saw a Japanese guy saying he thought he was getting called an animal by his Western audience........ It's so embarrassing that people use it on non-English speakers

[purplecosmonaut]
I wish people would stop saying this in general. I don't really get why this even became a trend in this first place. It's so vile and disrespectful. I get it between friends, but when you're talking to someone you don't even know....

[Eshtarwind]

I would rather the 'this art makes me graduate college, watered my plants, erase my pimples...' to be popular, way more than this trend....

[ZielschmerzTIDI]
This is a recent trend that developed primarily on Tiktok and spread to other places. Insular groups and communities developed a sort of "aggression affection" way of commenting that does NOT work well anywhere outside of those communities

[Eshtarwind]

I saw non native English speakers also replicating this trend so I guess it falls more to the communities where they are from than their nationalities... I don't even wish this trend stays in Tiktok or anywhere, really

Comment below is a direct reply to the comment above:

[chainbelts]
you’re just straight up wrong this kind of language was popular on tumblr for years before tiktok even existed. along with similar posts to this, ie “maybe don’t comment that to non english speakers”

[ZielschmerzTIDI]

I did think about that, as I was active on Tumblr before the Yahoo takeover. I remember a similar kind of verbiage in the community but it was never as aggressive and dark as what developed on Tiktok

Project Sekai Colorful Stage example provided by Eshtarwind

[Yuuri_AneyAsahi]
So, while I understand what you are saying as a whole because why would anyone use those terms to express good-will its kinda idk weird to me. If the post or comment is in a non English language and the comment you using English vernacular, slang and AAVE. I get your issue+

But If, the non English speaker posts or comments in English thus they are speaking to a certain demographic and sometimes with algorithm and such these persons won't know they are non English speakers and will comments using they native tones and slangs because they 'expect you

Know these terms'. I've seen a lot of non English speakers all the internet slang and AAVE. While either not using it right or just excessively which a simple Google research could prevent; like why is everything 'Slayed' even when there no need for usage. Respect be given on

Both sides but it's kinda subjective to not look on both sides of the coin here.

[Eshtarwind]
The post is not even in English at all and the English speaker replied/qrt in English with those terms. Unfortunately it happens. These are some of the examples, I already blocked any kys this is a quick search

btw from profile picture and username, it is easy to see that they are a fan of the characters. I dont have time to look for comments from individual creators but I have seen that time and time again (it appears other comments and qrts also experience it) Thus the issue.

日本人は英語を

中学生、高校生と６年間学んでも

日常会話も出来ない種族です

スラングは100%通じません

Quote Tweets

Please don't do this with strangers too. I get it you want to express your excitement, but not everyone speaking in this slang-ish way. As a non native speaker, I have to google things to make sure it has pos intention sometimes, especially in my early year interacting overseas.

English isn't my native tongue and I remember when people on tiktok were commenting "sheesh" or "I'm gonna kms 😭" in one of my videos about my oc and I deleted all of them since I was unaware that it's actually a gen z english slang for "this is amazing" 😭😭😭

i am an english speaking artist and while at times i dont particularly mind these types of comments i will say please do not send me any *extremely* violent sounding comments/qrts like threatening me or my family even if its positive if you arent a mutual;; ive gotten some before

idrm cause i say it myself at times as a joke but ive had people say to me stuff like “i hope you k1ll yourself and hang” “ew / wtf is wrong with you” even if they are /pos.. they rub me the wrong way so please tone it down UNLESS ur a mutual (i dont mind if any mutuals do it)

i 100% love moots joking around like that, im fully aware its a joke and meant /pos so it doesnt come off as a threat to me from people i trust. i also may joke like that /w them if they say they dont mind too! but with strangers its a lil different..it gets confusing(´༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ`)

affectionate bullying requires knowing a person and their boundaries, and when you have a language & cultural barrier on top of that your comments do not come across as compliments. people have locked accounts and left websites entirely from this kind of behavior