Before I start, please know that all the facts about ships ive stated here are factual and have been confirmed, so don't worry. I skipped listing a lot of ships because I didn't have factual information about them and to keep this as serious and accurate as possible

I also did my best to avoid any DNF ranting to keep this as serious as possible lol

You might have seen my comment exactly like this on the "whats your favorite ship" post, so if you did feel free to ignore, but I think this has to be discussed a bit more openly:

Irl shipping isn't bad as long as you're not weird about it

Not everybody who ships irl people are weirdos, not all of them abuse it, and not all of them are weirdchamp about it. Just because somebody says they ship 2 people irl shouldn't make you immediately hate them. Instead, you should find out if the 2 people they are shipping are comfortable, and if they are, and the person is being respectful, then leave them be. That's okay.

As long as the content creators have BOTH said they're comfortable with the irl shipping, it's fine as long as you don't do anything weird with it and stay respectful to any boundaries they might have. (if they have no other boundaries they've discussed/listed, still just respect them as human beings with their own choices and feelings. Be a decent person lol)

For example, Dream and George are both adults and have both said they are comfortable with the shipping, and apparently they "joked about it before youtube" 👀 (on dream's boundaries page)

They've also said that they usually like to laugh and cringe at some of the fanart HAHA, and by the way they act about the ship, joking about it and making sus comments on it, they seem quite comfortable with it LOL (for example, if you watch this clip, you see how Dream reacts to "DNF" being said as "Did Not Finish," and he goes like "cmon guys, they're- hhthey're t-heh-talking about dnf, cmon...")

I could very much go into a dnf rant right now but I will not since this is a pretty serious topic haha

HOWEVER, shipping minors or adults who stated they're not comfortable with the shipping is very weirdchamp. Don't do that.

So as long as the content creators have said they're okay with it, and as long as you're not being weird and respecting them as people, then it's okay.

Also, if you see somebody shipping 2 people irl who have both confirmed they are comfortable with it (and they're shipping it respectfully and not abusing the ship or anything), please dont hate on them lol. However, if you see somebody shipping 2 people irl who have not said they are comfortable or have said they are uncomfortable, then that's not okay. Always make sure both people are comfortable in any shipping situation, especially irl.

Here are some examples of ships and where they stand.

Okay to ship IRL:

DNF (Dream and George. They have both said they are comfortable with the shipping, and you can clearly see they are comfortable with it, so shipping them irl is fine! Just be a decent person about it haha)

VelvetFrost (Velvet and Antfrost. They are both dating in real life, so as you may assume, it is more than okay to ship them irl, haha! Very cute couple <3)

Not okay to ship IRL:

Beeduo (Tubbo and Ranboo. First of all, they are both minors, and secondly, Ranboo has stated multiple times that the shipping makes him very uncomfortable. However, they are CANONICALLY married, so shipping them CANONICALLY and PLATONICALLY is okay. Anything more is very weird, don't do that.)

I would add more examples, however, I'm not sure about any others, so to be safe, i didn't add any other ships to the examples.

(DISCLAIMER: I do not think any of the following has been confirmed, so don't take the following as facts)

For example, i would've added Karlnap/Karlnapity, but I don't know any of their stances on shipping, so it's better not to really use them as a prime example. However, all 3 are canonically engaged, so it's safe to assume they are at least comfortable with canonical and platonic shipping. However, I have seen romantic shippers/romance fanfics about karlnap, and they both seem okay about the shipping, so I guess they may be okay with it. HOWEVER, just be cautious and don't be weirdchamp! As long as your respectful you should be okay <3

(End of disclaimer)

Thanks for reading my rant, and if you have any comments/concerns about it please let me know!! I feel this topic needs to be discussed more openly because irl shippers get a lot more hate than some deserve, because some are respectful about it and ship 2 people who are comfortable with it, so next time you see an irl shipper, maybe give them a chance and look into who they ship and their own stances on the shipping.