coaltide | Morbane's coal

In quantum wankchanics, Morbane's coal is a thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, of quantum wankerposition. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical gift may be considered simultaneously both the fic of your dreams (TFOYD) and coal, while it is unread state, as a result of its fate being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur.

The Coaltide interpretation implies that, after a while, the gift is simultaneously TFOYD and coal. Yet, when a coalie clicks on their gift, the coalie sees the gift either TFOYD or coal, not both TFOYD and coal. This poses the question of when exactly quantum wankerposition ends and reality resolves into one possibility or the other.

Madness Opens: Tuesday 26 December
Author Reveals: Monday 1 January

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rejection is clearer than either communicating the issue

No one said this. Of course actually telling people "I really hated this, please never write for me again" would be *clearer*. But the clearest approach is not always the most feasible and I don't blame people for not being willing to be that openly confrontational in namespace.

Right, which is...why it's far more common to just write a bare minimum "hey, thanks!" comment and then move on.

And you believe that communicates your feelings clearly?

Nope! Clarity isn't the goal here, extricating us both from the situation is, and a rejection doesn't do that because it's passive and unclear (because of how the feature works). If clarity was my goal I'd talk to the mod or the writer. I've never been in a situation where a fic moved me so negatively that I felt the need for clarity where I also wasn't willing to talk to a mod or the writer about it.

I might feel differently if AO3's rejection feature actually notified the author, but it doesn't, so I think it would be really rude to use for an objectively fine (rule-following) fic I just didn't like.

It's not passive or unclear. I'm sorry you want a singing telegram to tell you that someone hated your gift instead of just having to, you know, notice that their name is no longer on the thing at the top of your dashboard, but that's how it goes.

Nonny, you're exaggerating what I'm saying to justify dismissing it, but I think you know the difference between an email - the same sort of transactional notification you'd get when your fic is added to a collection, kudos, or commented on - and "having to notice" something. I would have zero confidence that someone "just noticed" a rejection. It really seems like the most passive and confusing way possible to navigate the situation, which again, is why I think it's rude.

I think it's equally as rude not to remember that you wrote something as a gift. If you can't even place it, why do you care that someone doesn't want it?

Well, for starters, because I write gifts for people more often than I write gifts for people as part of an exchange, but this is an attempt to shift the goalposts so you don't have to engage with the reality that many people don't use the site exactly how you do. Which is quite literally the kind of problem etiquette helps people navigate. We don't all have the same experiences or outlooks, so we agree on basic politeness to let us move around each other in peace. I disagree that gift rejection, particularly how it's implemented on AO3, is a workable aspect of that etiquette. You clearly feel differently. We can leave it at that, there's no need to go off on insinuatory tangents.

Why does that matter? If you wrote a gift for someone out of an exchange, shouldn't you remember that, too? It's rude of you to forget them. How shameful. I'm embarrassed for you.

Yes, nonny, I understand that you're very angry at the idea that people exist in the world with different perspectives and priorities than your own. Best of luck.

Do you run an IMAX in your spare time or something? Yowza.

I don't think it's shameful or embarrassing but borderline rude? Yeah. And also very telling about how they do exchanges. If I spend a lot of effort tailoring a gift to someone, I'd sure as hell remember who they are. Or that the fic was a gift.

The self replying is making me dizzy!

Morbane's coal

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