Meta is adding a feature to the web version of Threads that, honestly, probably should’ve been there a while ago.

As spotted by Engadget, Threads executive Connor Hayes posted an image showcasing a new redesign for the web browser version of the Twitter-like social network. It’s a pretty substantial redesign, including a bunch of new elements on the left sidebar such as the ability to easily switch between different feeds. Eagle-eyed viewers will also undoubtedly notice the addition of a direct message inbox. That feature has been available in the Threads mobile app since last June, but web users have been without it for almost an entire year. That, seemingly, will change soon.

Hayes’ post didn’t include a specific timeframe for when this new redesign will go live, so don’t get too excited just yet if you’re a web-based Threads user who wants to send and receive DMs. The only hint Hayes gave is that users can expect to see some of these updates “in the coming weeks.”

Longtime social media users might find it strange that there has been such a massive gulf in feature availability between the mobile and web versions of Threads, but it makes a certain amount of sense. Threads has actually become pretty popular, but largely on mobile. X is still the preferred microblogging service on web browsers, at least going by user count. Meta is just operating where its bread is buttered. At least now web users can rest assured that they haven’t been forgotten.

The first panel at BookCon drew lines of fans an hour before its start. Fans have shown up in style. I spotted dozens of iterations of t-shirts with the faces of actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storie plastered on them. Boston Raiders, Montreal Metros, and New York Admirals jerseys are in abundance, too. 3,000 fans are here, waiting to see Rachel Reid and Jacob Tierney in conversation for the first time.

But while this may be the first public conversation between the Heated Rivalry author and show creator on a grand stage, it’s clear that these two have been in perfect sync since their first Zoom call. Moderated by former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Versha Sharma, Reid and Tierney took to the stage at BookCon for a session called “Game Changing TV: Heated Rivalry.” The conversations spanned across their entire collaboration, from their very first DM to the music that makes the show, to how their lives have changed since the show aired.

Tierney, whose knack for comedy shines through, discussed how the show moved at a lightning pace. The adaptation kicked off in August 2023, with the first episode airing on November 28, 2025. Heated Rivalry’s inception and creation happened at lightning pace for television. Tierney, who was the co-creator and director of Letterkenny, said that, rather than the show being slowed down by roadblocks, at every turn it appeared to accelerate instead. The show was sold to HBO before it was even finished, with episode six only finishing four days before it aired.

Reid, who has penned six novels in the Game Changers series, has been involved in the journey since the beginning, first meeting Tierney over Zoom. The author said that throughout the process, she felt respected and involved in reading script drafts and audition tapes.

While the show’s leads, Hudson Williams, who portrays Shane Hollander, and Connor Storie, who portrays Ilya Rozanov, weren’t physically present at the panel, both asked questions on behalf of the pair. Storie’s question was apt, asking the pair what made them such a mutually good fit for this adaptation. The pair said that their visions have felt instinctively aligned, with Reid noting that, as she wrote the infamous kiss between Scott and Kip depicted in episode 5 of Heated Rivalry, she had an image of the cinematic version, which Tierney was able to bring to life.

The show, which has become known for its intimate and plentiful sex scenes, is not there just for the sake of it. Tierney said he wanted to make a show with queer joy and a horny show at that, but more so, sex is a vehicle for the show’s characters to be honest and vulnerable with each other.

Music also came up, with the show’s needle drops, including Tatu’s “All The Things She Said” and Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe in Anything,” having a renaissance two decades after their release. There’s no formal equation to the music; instead, they let the songs be like casting the right actor, with Tierney noting that songs should serve a “specific task.”

Tierney is in the midst of writing season two of Heated Rivalry, which takes on Reid’s sequel, Long Game. The writer and director called Long Game “an emotionally sophisticated book” and said that parts of Reid’s Role Model will find their way into season two. For Reid, a new book in the Game Changer series, Unrivaled, is due for a 2027 release. The author is still in the writing stage, mentioning that while she felt pressure writing Long Game, the previous book in the series, Unrivaled presents a whole new challenge because of the show’s massive popularity.

Fans in the room seemed alight, hearing first-hand from the author and creator of Heated Rivalry, basking in an hour dedicated to a show that set the internet and book world ablaze. Moderator Versha Sharma ended on the sentiment that the whole room could agree on: “Rachel Reid’s universe is the world as it should be.”

By Brian Myers
| Published 25 seconds ago

Sometimes the terror inked from the pen of Stephen King strays from supernatural horror and personifies the worst in human nature. When the legendary author published Misery in 1987, he not only introduced readers to the human monster Annie Wilkes but also proved himself to be a sort of unwitting prophet.

The novel, and the 1990 film adaptation that followed, were grim predictors of fan behavior in the coming digital age. King’s work was a forerunner of what some social scientists refer to as “toxic fandom,” playing out on the page and on screen with chilling accuracy.

Toxic Fandom Depicted In Misery

For those who need a refresher, Misery follows romance novelist Paul Sheldon as he finishes the manuscript for what he hopes will be his first success in another genre. Shortly after leaving the remote mountain cabin where he was working, he loses control of his car on an icy road and crashes. He is rescued by the reclusive Annie Wilkes, who pulls his unconscious body to safety and takes him to her nearby house to recover. With a snowstorm closing off the area, Paul is stranded with Wilkes as she nurses him back to health. She reveals that she knows who he is and proclaims herself his “number one fan.” But when the final book in his romance series is read by Wilkes, her treatment of her snowbound patient takes a dark and twisted turn.

Annie flies into a mad rage when the principal character of the series dies at the end. During a long rant at his bedside, she tells the writer that no one knows he is there and that he is stuck with her. Determined that the latest romance novel will not be the final entry, Annie forces Paul to write a new installment featuring the same main character (aptly named Misery Chastain), while also coercing him into burning the only copy of his new manuscript.

Destroying A Life Is Fair Game

Annie’s treatment of her captive author turns savage quickly. She withholds pain medication as punishment and breaks both of his ankles with a sledgehammer in an act she refers to as “hobbling.” In the novel, her punishment is much more brutal and irreversable. As the story progresses, Paul discovers he is being held prisoner by a former nurse whose license was revoked after the deaths of infants in a local hospital.

No spoilers on the ending here. But what can be gleaned from Annie’s attitude and actions seems to mirror, symbolically anyway, the toxic fandom culture that exists across multiple forms of media and is prevalent in film franchises and the music industry. A rabid fan feels disenfranchised by the direction their beloved book series has taken and decides to assert herself to change the artist’s mind.

In the days before social media, Annie took a literal hands-on approach to fulfill this ideology, with devastating consequences. In the book and the film, the toxic fan is the maniac with the sledgehammer (or axe) and fairly easy to identify. But how do you recognize toxic fandom in today’s real world when you see it?

Toxic Fandom Could Be Cured By Touching Grass

Very Well Mind defines toxic fandom as a group of fans who “work to display negative and harmful behaviors, often online,” which often leads to targeted harassment of other fans, creators, and studios. While many fans consider their love and devotion to a particular film franchise or entertainer part of their identity, a toxic fan base dedicates itself to bullying others, mostly online, in an attempt to accomplish one of two things: assert authority over others and/or change the direction of the creator’s intent.

The last decade has been full of stories about the subset of Taylor Swift followers that turn toxic. Likewise, the worst offenders who have dedicated their adult lives to the Star Wars franchise reared their ugly heads immediately after the 2017 release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, taking bullying and harassment to new levels.

Some toxic fans, angered by the film, launched petitions to have the installment removed from the official Star Wars canon, arguing that it ruined earlier entries. Others demanded a total do-over. But the worst behavior was the sexism and racism that toxic fandom unleashed on the film’s co-star, Kelly Marie Tran. The Vietnamese American actress was harassed so relentlessly on social media by trolls that she left the platforms altogether. Her character’s entry on Wookieepedia was also edited by toxic fans with remarks that were horribly misogynistic, racist, and extremely vulgar. Tran quickly gained support from her fellow cast members and other celebrities, but the damage had already been done.

Stems From An Overly Entitled Sense Of Self

Toxic fans have no respect for the art or the artist. Rather than appreciate, or respectfully disagree with, what has been presented to them for entertainment, they allow their perceived fan superiority complex to take over rational thought and go into attack mode. While they aren’t literally taking sledgehammers to the ankles of writers, the actions they take online are just as violent symbolically. Threatening to derail an entire franchise because of an installment they didn’t feel was up to snuff, or because they don’t care for the casting choices, is ludicrous and speaks to the overly entitled sense of self at the core of toxic fandom.

Most anyone who has followed a film series, a TV show, or a musician has felt some level of disappointment along the journey. Die-hard Seinfeld and Game of Thrones fans can bond over their hatred of their respective finales, early Metallica fans are still fuming about how 1991’s The Black Album took the band in a direction they hated, and, to be quite honest, the powers that be behind the Police Academy films really should have stopped after the third installment.

What separates a normal fan from a toxic one is how each reacts to and acts on disappointment. A normal fan will still love the remainder of the art and move on. The toxic fan will make that disappointment part of their identity and refuse to let it go.

In the end, it’s all just for entertainment purposes. Why take any of it so seriously?