GSNs, or Grumpy Sutcliff Nonnies (sometimes Gleeful Sutcliff Nonnies), are a subset of memers who — especially since the release of the 2011 film The Eagle (loooosely based on the 1954 novel The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff) — may pop up in almost any thread in meme, defending book canon and fandom, recommending fics, and enthusing about other Sutcliff books as well.

There's a not-so-secret handshake, which often involves mentioning “my historical fandom suffers from too many modern AUs.” Other GSNs will swoop in to sympathize, someone may ask “what's GSN?”, and the thread will turn into a drive-by GSN love-in.

Topics that may summon a GSN include:

• loyalty kink
• attractive prose
• semicolons
• scenery porn
• AUs (including coffeeshop AUs, in-space AUs)
• ATG (Any Two Guys) fic
• (Charming) Potato
• canon power imbalance/slavery
• hurt/comfort (sometimes with the same character doing both the hurting and comforting)
• OT3s
• childhood favorites
• earliest slash ships