ayrt - It's not a big head, it is knowing you have people who care about you and one specific place you know they'll all see. And the idea of taking people's scrolling time away from them is pretty hilarious.

I have authors that I don't follow their personal blogs but I know they'll post to certain communities so it's easier to follow the community as a catch all for all the authors/artists. I find it very kind when people will let their community know they're stepping back from the internet for whatever reason.

If you're talking about posting on AO3, that's against the TOS and should be removed regardless of your personal feelings.

If you're talking about Tumblr or wherever, where the heck do you think these posts are coming from, if not personal blogs? Just because they're including a fandom tag that you (gasp!) have to scroll through doesn't make it any less a post in that person's personal blog.

It really depends on the subreddit. A retirement post would be perfectly valid in some but not in others. But only if the person is really stepping away, none of that fishing for begging to stay comments bullshit.

I think it's incredibly antisocial to argue that people shouldn't say good-bye to communities that they've become part of, and to speak of people as if they exist merely to provide you with content.