Do list curators like or dislike receiving comments with recommendations?

I know that quests encourage and even solicit recommendations/feedback, but lists are a bit more personal so I was curious how we're meant to approach them.

For example, I saw a list of books set in my region, and wanted to suggest a few more but didn't want to step on any toes! Another was a list where the books all contain an MC named Agnes and I am currently reading two books that could be included!

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for my Latin American Horror list to be made into a Side Quest and thank you to everyone who has already joined it!

I am overwhelmed by all the love I’m getting from everyone and I still can’t believe that not only was my list nominated, but that enough people actually voted for it to be made into a Side Quest! I am so honored and I truly have no words.

I never thought that making a little list would get me here. I’m from Costa Rica and I wanted to spread some love not only for Latin American authors, but for my favorite genre as well. To see that other people share my sentiment is so touching and amazing.

I can’t believe how much love my Side Quest is getting— it’s making me so emotional, especially during these times when Latin American people have been getting so much hate in the U.S. and some people would love nothing more than for us to be ashamed of our heritage.

To that I say: QUÉ RICO ES SER LATINO.

Ps. If you want to see more Latin American Horror recommendations, please check out my 🔗list that inspired this Side Quest. I am planning on keeping the list alive and adding more recommendations as I find them.

Holy SMOKES this chapter was 🔥🔥🔥

Follmann was absolutely not kidding when she said

"Critically, the history of invasive species is also the history of empire."

I am having a hard time condensing my thoughts! I shouldn't have been surprised to find the Nazi party involved in the early history of invasive species rhetoric but I definitely was. Both because that feels too recent to be a major part of the origins and because I guess I am a little surprised to know that their focus on "purity" included plants in its scope. It was super chilling to read excerpts from Mein Kampf and then quotes from a Trump rally and then part of a Science article all echoing each other.

What was not surprising, though, is the general connction between the way we talk about "invasive species" and the way we talk about immigrants. It is wildly disgusting how interchangeable the language is for these two things (at least in USAmerica.) Also not surprising is the loose and vague definition of "invasive" that allows policy makers and investors to implement destruction towards the goal of their profit. I was of course familiar with the Stop Cop City protests, but I was not aware that the campaign to build the copy city in Atlanta was built on the idea that Weelaunee Forest was, basically, too full of non-native species to be redeemable and so it should just be cut down in it's entirety. And that, further, many "conservation" projects are really about redefining a space in order to claim and misuse it when they otherwise couldn't.

The most interesting part of this to me by far was the paper that found eradication of a non native species never netted a positive????

"A 2016 study titled “Potential Problems of Removing One Invasive Species at a Time: A Meta-Analysis of the Interactions Between Invasive Vertebrates and Unexpected Effects of Removal Programs” shows how the eradication of a single invasive species can cause harm to native species in an ecosystem, destroying the new balance that has been formed in that ecosystem. The paper’s findings show that “the removal of a single invasive species always led to a negative or neutral mean effect on native species performance or survival” and “never found a positive effect size where the removal of one invasive led to an increase in native performance.”"

I'M SORRY, WHAT??? That is simply unhinged.

*" botantist Ken Thompson has declared, “On reflection I think that assertion [that alien species constitute the second greatest global threat to biodiversity] has been debunked so often (yet is endlessly repeated) that it no longer deserves the status of a myth, and is best described merely as a straightforward lie.”"

She goes on to talk about how the entire framing of non-native plant species causes native plant species to die out isn't really true, but do you know what non-native species DO cause extinctions? Cats. Cows. Humans.

Anyway there was so so much in this chapter I could gab about for a long time. I need other people to read this and chat with me!!

"This invasive species story, as it is widely understood today, is fraught. The predominant narrative—not only in the culture of invasive ecology and in popular methods of invasive species management but also in our larger global capitalist culture—tells us that poisoning, bulldozing, developing, and killing actually save lives. This story ultimately perpetuates a way of living that is killing all of us—whether we’re invasive or not."

fucking hurts learning about how Sam’s views originated in the bigoted things his father said and believed. just reminds me of all the people i know who gained the same (shitty) views as their parents :(