If you didn’t call me out because I’m a mod, I’d be upset. I don’t care if I’m the King of fuckin England, if you wanna cook me feel free to try.
1 Like
I dunno, that’s like saying sadness and depression are the same thing.
The real question is: does the box get its name from the perspective of the reader, or the subject? Reader perspective, I’d argue that bleakbox is its own thing, since it’s meant to induce helplessness at best. Subject perspective, accelerated sadbox works, since its aim is to sadden the reader.
I love genre discussion. 
It’s so complex.
3 Likes
Well I’m glad you’re humble in this way at least.
I’ve dealt with my fair share of shit from people in various positions of power, from basically nothing like game mods to actual real life school teachers, so I’m always a bit on edge nowadays.
I look at it like this: I’m not right because I’m a mod, I’m right because I’m absolutely unfathomably fucking based
2 Likes
It feels a bit like you’re projecting - either your insecurity or your past negative experiences. We all state our opinions like they’re facts. Nobody bothers with a shaky “um, well, it’s just my opinion, uhh, but you know, I think that, but of course feel free to disagree, but…”
It’s whether we allow our opinions to be contended or not, that shows what they truly are.
And this really sounds like an opinion. But also, sometimes, some opinions are wrong, don’t forget about that.
1 Like
Well, I can’t argue with that.
But if I did try to cook you, wouldn’t you burn? ;p
Don’t turn my cheese brown. I’ll have to commit hara-kiri based on the internet racist by-laws.
1 Like
I’m not insecure about myself, but I have had negative experiences as I said.
I do jump the gun a lot if it seems like someone is talking down to me or accusing me of something I didn’t do (which I didn’t think Za did, but it’s happened before so I thought to mention it), even if they’re actually not.
I present here, what IMO is the penultimate Bleakbox that I know of.
I find it beyond Sadbox specifically because it could so easily have been a real animal and not just something that haooens to fluffies.
3 Likes
They are fun anyway.
Yeah, that note absolutely makes it bleakbox. Mind, Joyce(?) wasn’t very smart, not checking to see if the place was even open. Guess she was distracted.
You are not right because there are only two boxes: Hugbox and Sadbox.
Abuse is just a “flavor” (good way of putting it.)
And Weird is just an artist venting or autism, usually autism.
1 Like
I think that the full range of sub-boxes is best shown on a 4 quadrant graph.
The X axis would be “Plebian to Patrician”
The Y axis would be “Autistic to Erudite”
Clockwise from top-left would be Abuse, Sadbox, Hugbox, Weirdbox.
All others would be somewhere on this graph.
Tossing in my two cents, boxes are kind of like genres. The four basics are overarching.
“Sad stories”, “cute/heartwarming stories”, “torture/venting/schadenfreude stories”, and “strange stories”. Almost all stories (not neutralbox) can be placed into these.
The other boxes are for those who want something more specific. Horrorbox would fit into “strange stories”, because it’s about supernatural things, strange monsters and happenings. But the specific definition for it is “horror stories”, because it’s specifically about creating fear and unease. It is its own carved-out space within weirdbox. Thus, those who want to look for “horror stories” can find them without digging through all “strange stories”.
The same can be used to define other sub boxes. Moronbox can be hugbox or abuse, so it bounces between categories, but its own definition is simply “stupidity-based comedy stories”. Easy!
Sexualbox is “porn stories”, as opposed to sexual weirdbox which is “strange stories that have sexual elements”.
As for bleakbox … It’s misery porn. It’s just misery porn, made not to make you feel sorry for the fluffy’s misfortune, but to make yourself depressed for the next few days. It’s a sub genre to sadbox, so all bleakbox is sadbox but not all sadbox is bleakbox.
The four base boxes are the load-bearing pillars of our community, but the others are valid as sub genres. Just like how mystery shows can fall under “drama” or home improvement shows can fall under “documentary”, having specific sub genres helps us find our murder mystery shows without digging through 1500 teen angst movies.
5 Likes
Genres are a made up concept we use to classify our work, not an immutable law of the universe. There will be overlap and complex situations, bleakbox could be sadbox or abuse depending on the setting.
I don’t feel like distinctions are really that important. At the end of the day we’re spending minutes of our precious lives arguing about how to classify torturing cartoon horses.
4 Likes
What would be the misses?
1 Like
Yeah, trying to make hard and fast rules for any of this shit is like fun-poison. They’re descriptive tags, not monastic orders.
3 Likes
Sadbox for me shows a struggle, lets use a typical feral mummah and her foals trying to survive in a alleyway.
A sadbox story would be more drawn out, involving her searching for nummies and not finding anything becomming more and more desperate, perhaps she does get charity at some point but its only enough to produce milk for so many babbehs and she has to see some of her babbehs waste away as she grants a chance at living for others for a while longer, maybe she find a human who only takes her babbehs leaving her alone to live in her own sorrow and pity, its a much more drawn out prospect.
Bleakbox seems alot more “feral enfs the babbehs, she eat half of them then a abuser cuts her up and crushes her last babbehs in front of her, pushing the remains in her ass”
…
Bleakbox is often very 0 to 100, sadbox i feel makes for much more compelling storys.
1 Like
That sounds more like classic abuse than bleakbox.
The difference between bleakbox and sadbox is the lack of any redemption, of any hope, hence the “bleak” in the name.
3 Likes
Purely things that don’t personally appeal to me, nothing to do with your writing. I should have been more clear.