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Elizabeth Minkel

@elizabethminkel.bsky.social
2.9K followers 304 following 2.2K posts

Digital communities, books, and fandom. Editor of Fansplaining & co-curator of The Rec Center ✨ elizabethminkel.com // fansplaining.com // buttondown.email/the-rec-center

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Reposted by Elizabeth Minkel
Michael Cisco @michaelcisco.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
a skeleton farming a pumpkin patch at night
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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
ChatGPT is adding the signatures of real New Yorker cartoonists to its AI-generated images. So far, I've found the signatures of more than 15 contributors. "It’s slop, and unlike the other slop that I’ve encountered, this is slop that’s pretending to be me." www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/chat...
Left: A cartoon generated by ChatGPT and signed with Emily Flake’s signature that was posted to a Reddit forum in June. Right: A real Emily Flake cartoon published in The New Yorker on August 20, 2026 and licensed via The Cartoon Bank.
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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I understand that paywalls are annoying, but the grim reality for everything right now, is if you want something to exist, you have to put money towards it. Every creative person is having their life's work hoovered up by AI companies. Layoffs never end. Private equity keeps making things worse.
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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
QT if you've ever had a piece stolen by the Times It's a long, long list, I bet The most galling part of this account is the Times editor refusing to acknowledge the reporting they regurgitated, but offering a pity link
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BrianMcLachlan @brianmcl.com · 02/10/2026
I was going over some of the trends/eras of illustration with my students today and Corporate Memphis created the most conversation. It was compared to a business man in a happy face mask, Arial & pop music. Good in contexts like brightening up a train station, bad in masking the cruelness of tech.
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hammancheez but spooky @hammancheez.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yall wanna see a 2 hour old highland cow
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dan mentos @danmentos.com · 22/09/2026
[job interview] interviewer: so god killed all your kids? job: that's right
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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In our latest, @pokachee.bsky.social talks to Pokémon fangame creators like Pokémon Reborn's Amethyst Liddell about the ways that community fundamentally shapes their fanworks. Read the article or listen to an audio version: fansplaining.com/pokemon-fang...
screenshot of text reading: “I couldn’t have done it well without such a passionate playerbase to engage in the game, give feedback both positive and constructive, and make connections with each other to help sustain the energy between long development times,” Liddell told me. “Because of all of that, it’s difficult to say exactly how the community affected the creation of the game. How does water affect the creation of the ocean? I can hardly separate one from the other.”
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
People outraged by the Cornell rape case should direct some of their energy to reforming the horribly antiquated NY laws that make it especially hard to successfully prosecute the vast majority of rapes. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The loophole that likely doomed the Cornell rape case before it even started
Accusers who voluntarily drink have little protection under an antiquated law many see as "victim-blaming."
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
One second every day, September 🍂
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🎃🎃🎃 IT'S OCTOBER!!! 🎃🎃🎃 One more call for seasonal recs. I mentioned vampires in my last nudge and we got a bunch of vampire stories. So now I'm mentioning werewolves, zombies, ghosts, and other kinds of supernatural creatures. Or anything Halloween-related!
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Ana Diaz @pokachee.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
New from me: I did a deep dive and spoke to Pokemon fan game creators for @fansplaining.bsky.social. This was so hard to source, but I am humbled by the sources who took the time to talk to me about this super massive, and relatively under-examined, fandom. fansplaining.com/pokemon-fang...
fansplaining.com
Pokémon Fangames Evolve Beyond Their Origins
For fangame creators, the work they develop and the communities they inspire are inextricably tied.
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
*Love* our latest from @pokachee.bsky.social, about a type of fanwork that's massively popular but one I rarely see discussed in convos about transformative fandom. Fangames are technically interesting—literally using the source material in modding—but even more so from a community/fandom angle:
fansplaining.com
Pokémon Fangames Evolve Beyond Their Origins
For fangame creators, the work they develop and the communities they inspire are inextricably tied.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is fantastic cultural geography. Very strong lede. Even if you don’t read it all (you should; remember we are working on our brains) the first three paras do the work. Thanks to the person who shared it. www.queergeographies.com/stuck-on-the...
queergeographies.com
Why We’re Stuck on the Last Ditch
Why does the public delight in watching lesbian bars unravel?
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Kate Hagen's House of Horrors 👻 @thathagengrrl.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"Meanwhile, Jane Doe dropped out of Cornell and was denied her request to get her tuition refunded so that she could transfer to a different college. She hence faced more severe consequences than most of the men who she alleges gang-raped her." www.thecut.com/article/what...
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It always cracks me up when our calls for recs here and on Tumblr get lots of shares...and like zero submissions (OK, in this case, 2). C'mon, I know people have vampire fic!!! 🦇
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Luke Plunkett @lukeplunkett.com · 28/09/2026
Hi, I'm looking to speak to people who have left games journalism in the last few years and have gone onto do something else. DMs are open, or luke@aftermath.site, thanks!
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"How could I, an adult, read fan fiction?" — A sentence I read in a major publication just now. These articles could stop whenever we want them to. It would be quite simple. Everyone would just need to agree to it.
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's almost October!! And at The Rec Center, that means it's almost time for 🎃 SEASONAL FIC RECS 🎃. - Vampires, werewolves, zombies, other supernatural creatures - Horror, eerie vibes - Halloween-specific stories (including fluff!) Canonical characters/worlds or AUs—please send us your favorites!
form.jotform.com
✨ The Rec Center Fic Submissions ✨
Please click the link to complete this form.
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Stefanie @neveryourgirl.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"One of the things that bothers me the most about this shift is that now we're seeing fanfiction just look like what's valued by the publishing industry. [...] I hate to see it get kinda squeezed back into these very traditional forms that, I think, it always existed in opposition to." Thisss!
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Levi Stahl @levistahl.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
“Autumn in New York,” by Vernon Duke, 1934. “It’s good to live it again . . . “
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John Lingan @johnlingan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Thread. This crap is so dumb. But more importantly, a waste.
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bijan (spooky version) @bijan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
i think about this post all the time. you might too
Snooby
@DoBiddley1
I am paid a very high salary to design new ways to hurt innocent people. Please don't hurt me. I want to live. My job is to hurt your children. Please, don't do anything to me. I want to be safe. My job is to make your family sick. I want to live. Please, I deserve to live. Pleas
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rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
you guys broke watergate
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I was extremely pleased to be asked to come on another public radio show, "This Is Uncomfortable" from @marketplace.org! A delightful conversation about what is clearly my current beat, "fanfiction is big business now and that's a real downer." 🙂 link.podtrac.com/sbi5iko8
Episode card featuring a picture of me (seated, wearing black, yellow, and orange, holding a tan purse, in a room with very midcentury colors at the TWA Hotel) and one of Josh (standing in a black jacket and burgundy shirt in some kind of park). Both against a mint background with the text: Thi$ Is Uncomfortable from Marketplace.
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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
How have the fanfic numbers changed over the past decade? In our latest, fandom stats wizard @destinationtoast.bsky.social writes about their origins in fandom data analysis in 2013—and compares the results of their early stats questions to the same questions today: fansplaining.com/crunching-th...
Side by side bar charts comparing "High-Omegaverse fandoms in 2013" vs 2026. In 2013, SPN RPF leads with 3% of works. In 2026, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms leads by far with 17.3% of works in the fandom.
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dylan‽ @audhdylan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A handy labeler for Substack links, including custom domains, to help avoid giving clicks: bsky.app/profile/labe...
bsky.app
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So excited to get this one out in the world! 💞 @destinationtoast.bsky.social has been such a fantastic collaborator over the years. I was really pleased we got the ORIGIN STORY here alongside comparisons between 2013 AO3 and 2026 AO3. (Plus interesting thoughts about fandom stats as fanworks!)
fansplaining.com
Crunching the Fandom Numbers
In 2013, curiosity about Johnlock fic led me to pull my first fandom stats. Today, the world of fandom data analysis is thriving.
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I was so delighted that @bookshop.bsky.social wanted to revive the Tropefest series with me! 💓 We started with the broad umbrella of "secret identities," touching on masks, identity porn, fairy tales, opera, superheroes, bodyswapping, romance, transness, RPF....and even more topics somehow lol.
fansplaining.com
Special Episode 40: Tropefest: Secret Identities
He’ll never know the real me hiding behind this mask…
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Please admire the drawing that has graced my Tumblr dash multiple times in recent weeks:
tumblr.com
Reblog by @nevertoomanyspiders · 1 image
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I laughed out loud when I got to this part during copy edits.
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Photograph of Orlando the cat playing with a cat toy that is shaped like a jar of strawberry jam.
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Jess Zimmerman @jesszimmerman.com · 21/09/2026
That’s today
youtube.com
9/21 - YouTube
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Max the comics guy who does comics about comics @waitingforthetrade.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The thing I like about the X-Men is that if you join it doesn’t matter if you were an assassin or raised in a murder cult or worshipped as a god, at some point they will make you try to teach geometry to a bunch of fifteen year olds.
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Very interested to see this, esp as I work on a piece about the culpability of non-monetized HP fandom in the current climate. AO3 banning a fandom is antithetical to the site's values—turning away from the franchise needs to come from creators/posters. Which is...extremely not happening in fic.
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g0m @g0m.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A world where a twist ending is repurposed as a video title. where a thing's climax has been removed, leaving an advertisment for the gap where it used to be. such things are commonplace in. the twilight zone
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the hills have vrunt @vrunt.social · 19/09/2026
sure yeah, can't even make a stick figure without fucking up and no one at the company gives enough of a shit to even give it another pass but go ahead and take my money so i can use this lazy shit technology every day too
ad for some AI company called evenfall
copy says "meet derek. ai every day. always hitting a wall. then he found evenfall"
the only graphic is a stick figure holding... a tablet maybe? he's missing an arm
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Stephanie 🍉 @ageofoddish.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
mmygod
the slut gnomes of false berlin jeopardy bluesky posttoday's jeopardy categories. the last 2 are "false berlin" and "bizarre little men"
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Nicolas Hénin @nicolashenin.net · 17/09/2026
Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
You know, in the grand scheme of things the Times and I are on the same side and yes of course existential threat, but it is wild to look at this case in light of having your own small publication blatantly ripped off by the Times. (And hearing anecdotes about them doing it to *so* many others.)
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Elle @elleisanisland.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The size of a kitten oh my god
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404 Media @404media.co · 17/09/2026
"I am here to tell you that recent advances in artificial intelligence and the ability for AI to act on the internet has a 100% chance of being annoying as hell, and is already ruining the internet," @jasonkoebler.bsky.social reports. Read now: www.404media.co/theres-a-100...
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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Is there still space for smaller artists in the convention artist alley? Increasingly not, @mashazart.bsky.social writes in our latest. "The new realities of the industry make it difficult to continue to table as a hobby—and even more difficult to turn it into a sustainable art career."
fansplaining.com
The Death of the Artist Alley?
For smaller artists, increased costs and outsized merchandise expectations are putting convention-selling out of reach.
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Lisa Messeri @lmesseri.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The media coverage has been all over the place with covering the latest from AI CEOs. This is an excellent piece, which jives with my own research and reading of the situation.
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Jacob Oller @jacoboller.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
people think it's SO easy to be a film critic but so few seem to know that it's an extremely complicated process that often involves watching at least one movie
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Masha Zhdanova'S WEBCOMIC IS ONLINE NOW!!! @mashazart.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
my article about artist's alley is up at @fansplaining.bsky.social today! thank you to everyone who talked to me about their AA experiences for this piece and let me use their photos fansplaining.com/the-death-of...
fansplaining.com
The Death of the Artist Alley?
For smaller artists, increased costs and outsized merchandise expectations are putting convention-selling out of reach.
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Elizabeth Minkel @elizabethminkel.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Absolutely essential reporting from @mashazart.bsky.social at Fansplaining today for indie artists and the fans who want to support them. If you've been to a con in recent years, you've probably sensed that smaller artists were being pushed out. Here are the on-the-ground realities:
fansplaining.com
The Death of the Artist Alley?
For smaller artists, increased costs and outsized merchandise expectations are putting convention-selling out of reach.
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