喻乔

Cuts deep, flips fast.

喻乔: I first got into fan creation because I loved reading and, well, “messing with” fanworks. Then at some point, I just couldn’t find the kind of content I wanted to read. So I started making the stuff I liked myself. Another reason was that I wanted to meet like-minded people and share my thoughts with them through this kind of creative space.

喻乔: Lately, I’ve been really into two characters from a game I play. At first, I was drawn to just one of them—their personality, the voice acting, and the art style of the game really stood out to me. I was originally just into that one character, but then I started noticing their interactions in the storyline. That’s when I got into the pairing. It started with a relationship built on mutual interest, but then one of them helped the other in a really crucial way. Things like how they started addressing each other—little moments like that really hit the sweet spot for me.

Cleo: Have you created anything for that pairing recently, or are you more into just reading fanworks about them?

喻乔: I’m mostly just into reading them right now. Because the ship I was really into before...sort of fell apart. (laughs)

Cleo: (laughs) If you don’t mind me asking...what happened?

喻乔: It was a ship between two professional esports players. They were on the same team, and I liked them because they had this mutual respect on the battlefield and had played together for years. But later...well, one of them started dating someone. And let’s just say, after that, his gameplay kind of fell off. Also, his girlfriend liked to “贴脸” fans.

Cleo: Could you explain what “贴脸” means?

喻乔: She posted their official relationship announcement directly into his personal Super Topic.

(Cleo’s Note: 贴脸 (tie lian) – A Chinese fandom slang term that literally means “getting in your face.” In fan community contexts, it refers to posting or publicizing content that violates the norms of a specific fan space, such as sharing real-life relationship updates or unrelated characters directly into a fan-designated area. This is generally seen as disruptive and disrespectful because it blurs the line between fan-created atmosphere and real-world celebrity life.)

(Cleo’s Note Again: “Super Topic” is a feature on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. Each Super Topic functions as a fan community centered around a specific person, concept, or interest. Let’s say, a Super Topic for "strawberry" would gather fans of strawberry the fruit 🍓. A personal Super Topic is meant to focus on content directly related to that person only.)

喻乔: One of my posts that got censored…well, the inspiration actually came from my interest in traditional Chinese opera when I was in middle and high school. I was also really into Republican-era culture at the time, so I wrote a story set in a theater during that period. But because the setting was kind of elaborate, the post ended up being flagged. Probably for “sensitive political content.” I mean, I’m guessing. I never got a clear reason. (resigned laugh) The ending leaned toward this “save the country, save the people” theme.

喻乔: When it got taken down, it felt like the sky was falling. I had just rushed to finish it the day before for a collaborative writing event with a friend. And then when I tried to post it, it just wouldn’t go through.

喻乔: There are different kinds of 联文 (collab fic events). The kind I was doing was where a group of writers all create works based on the same ship or theme, and then we each post our pieces on the same day—usually a meaningful date, like May 20th or Chinese New Year.
(Cleo’s Note: “520” is a number that sounds like “I love you” in Mandarin Chinese, and is treated like a folk Valentine’s Day in Chinese internet culture. Many fan events are timed around it, with creators posting works at specific times of day.)

喻乔: After it got censored, I immediately sent the draft to my friend. We tried to figure out which parts might have triggered the filters. We used alt accounts to test sections of the text, posting one chunk at a time to see what would get through. I think we edited that thing at least ten times—maybe more, it’s been a while. Eventually, we did manage to get it up... but then a week or two later, it got taken down again.

Cleo: Do you have any idea why it got taken down the second time?

喻乔: Honestly? I’m not sure. The platform must have some kind of internal filtering mechanism. After the first round of edits, I really thought it was clean. But maybe the post got more attention—likes, comments—and that triggered a second round of moderation. I mean, I know the stuff I write tends to brush up against the limits, but the review process is just... really demoralizing. Sometimes it takes 20 or 30 minutes, even longer, and they don’t tell you what the issue is. They just take it down.

喻乔: But none of that has stopped me from loving the ships I love.