Why I hate headcanons

Headcanons. They're not meta, because they're just someone's opinion, and yet, if they're flat out factually wrong, it's offensive to call someone on it because "it's my headcanon, how dare."

I despise the things. They're an excuse for the poorly-informed and the wanky to label their opinions as off-limits to critique. They decrease creativity in a fandom and actually suppress the creation of new fic, because if you can vomit out a paragraph of nonsense and get just as many tumblr notes, why would you bother writing a few thousand words of fic or properly-researched meta to justify or clarify your line of thinking?

Genuinely, no joke, I recently saw someone complaining that their headcanons were their own property and how dare anyone use them in a fic without giving them credit! This for a (mistaken) conclusion that a five-year-old might have been able to reach unaided about the canon in question.

People can write better or poorer quality fic and meta, it's true, but at least that takes some amount of effort, some thought as to presentation (I really hope), some consideration of any audience beyond adoring fans who will [heart] any ridiculous thing posted.

Next time you have a headcanon? Do us all a favor and either put it in a fic where it belongs, or keep it to yourself where it can't be criticized. But don't pretend that your ill-considered opinions are something special just because you call them headcanons: they may be canon in your head, but to mine, they're just wank.