So.
Homestuck is an acerbic, meta, and constantly self-referential piece of fiction. This ought to be obvious to anyone who can read. It loves to make little pot shots at you for reading it, and being invested in what it considers the wrong ways.
Did you like Gamzee when he showed up? Fuck you, is what the comic says.
That said, Homestuck is also very interested in giving its readers potential ways to read into it. Classpecting is one of these meta analysis methods that, whether or not it's the "right" way to read Homestuck, is developed consistently in fiction, and has had thousands upon thousands of words spilled about it since. I think it's worth mentioning that most of the characters who confidently speak on "classpecting facts" from are bad guys; Aranea, Scratch, Caliborn, HIC.
My main squeeze, however, is this. Circumstantial simultaneity. The big phrase given by Scratch, a bad bad man, to justify metaphysically and metatextually, that all of Homestuck's little callbacks and reused art are not purely stylistic, but are essential elements of its world. This is so important that the deaths of universes depends upon it. Taking Scratch at his word (foolish, I know, but doesn't seem to be strictly wrong) Circumstantially simultaneous events give us information about both events, the rules of Paradox Space, and what Homestuck means in a metatextual sense.
This is what the refrance. Paradox Space is defined, to some extent, by these rules. It seems like the comic wants its reader to reread, and look for circumstantial simultaneity for more information. It seems like it wants you to reread for a lot of reasons.
Then Calliope starts reading into penis ouija.
It's dicks on a page, and she's the asshole for reading meaning into them. This might be the meanest Homestuck is directly to the reader.
It gives us a lot of information. It gives us novel internal methods for reading that information. It says we're trying to read meaning into random dicks scrawled on a page.
Am I crazy?
I think there's an extent to how much you're "supposed to" read into Homestuck. Can you read in further? Of course. Always. People may say it's cornplating but shit, I didn't see that plate of corn either, please tell me about it.
Personally, I think there's a line when you start trying to insist that some of these really little or niche things are ONE HUNDRED PERCENT INTENDED. Sure there's a chance but sometimes the curtains really are just dicks. Never intended to be anything more, but I'd still like to hear how you think they connect into the story.
Maybe that's a bad example to use in a story that literally has plot relevant colored curtains for each act.
I think Homestuck can make fun of its fans on occasion without straight up "hating us for reading it". Homestuck is a big story with a lot of big things to say about the relationship between story and reader; sometimes those things are gonna be "hey, read closer, there's more here than you think!" and sometimes those things are gonna be "haha, nope, you're reading into the wrong thing!"
I don't even think those two attitudes are necessarily at odds with each other. Even if we do assume that the text making fun of Calliope is supposed to seriously hurt our feelings as fans, I don't see why shutting down some interpretations means it thinks we're wrong for having interpretations at all. I mean after all isn't that what a story does as it unfolds? It closes some doors in the process of opening new ones?
>eats somewhere other than olive garden once
>fucking dies
Generally agree with JakeMorph's take.
I also feel like any reading of Homestuck, especially in terms of how it thinks of it's readers, has to take into consideration the sheer amount of time it was actively updating. I think it'd be impossible to write something for seven years without your feelings and attitudes towards what/how it is supposed to be read changing, especially with the size and voracity of the Homestuck fandom. I personally don't believe Homestuck is supposed to be a spiteful work, and I think it's possible to read it in a positive and constructive way as opposed to pessimistic and destructive.
Homestuck always had a back and forth active relationship with its fans even long after actual reader input suggestions stopped. some of that was teasing and antagonizing and sometimes it was heartfelt and maybe a little awkward but overall is not Hateful. It’s challenging and it probably will upset you at some point but it’s ultimately glad you are there to experience it because what good is a story if no one is ever going to hear it? Even if it is at points extremely stupid.
Tangential but I tend to think it's pretty funny when the curtains are dicks. Like the page where Dave delivers a speech about the ironic subtleties of Mr. T jokes and only mentions that Mr. T is in thong and handcuffed to a near-naked Chuck Norris as an afterthought. Or when Vriska calls the riddles of Sgrub boring because she's already figured out that the theme is reproduction (hence the statues of kissing crocodiles looming over Tavros's puzzle), so she cuts to the chase and calls Tavros over to make out. Some readers might find secret sex jokes to be an unsatisfying resolution to the grand sense of mystery that Homestuck cultivates (and that dissatisfaction feeds the sense that they are being antagonized), but I just kind of laugh when Oblong Meat Products Tumble Into Places They Don't Belong.
reading posts before usernames really caught me off guard this time because I was about three sentences into the above reply before I started to think "hey, this guy sounds like he's read malo"
>eats somewhere other than olive garden once
>fucking dies
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Homestuck is (among other things), a long-form conversation between author and audience. The forums and fandom continued to be an influence on what is said on the page long after reader submissions stopped being used. A lot of the clamor about "author spite" comes from people who, imo, were mad that the story didn't play out in a way they envisioned. But even the most contentious events (like the dancestors for example) carry important discussions and arguments.
But yeah if you liked Gamzee at the start that is on you. That guy sucked day 1.
Magic is FAKE AS SHIT/FUCKING REAL
Andrew Hussie likes fucking with people. I concur.
I honestly don't think it's any more complex than that. I have never seen a valid claim to Huss "hating their fans" within the text of the story, it's always just story decisions that the person speaking doesn't like or which are jokes that didn't work on them (which, true to form, I've never been a fan of the "Huss creeps on Vriska" gag).
Even outside all this, I'd characterize Hussie more as negligent or dismissive than outright hostile towards the fandom. Certainly someone who makes...a lot of mistakes. Like, a lot a lot. But my strongest impression in all that has always been one of Hanlon's razor, just a rich kid trying his best but not being well-equipped to handle the hot potato in his hands.
https://youtube.com/@DeepDiveDevin
re: JakeMorph Lmao! I'm digging that aspect of the forums tbh, the way you can read a whole conversations without glancing at the right columns for names is kind of refreshing. Like overhearing a conversation with your eyes closed