basilbirb - Tumblr blog

basilbirb · 2 years

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PSA regarding tumblr’s latest Censorship Nightmare

For those of you who haven’t seen this announcement, tumblr recently made some changes to the iOS version of the app, purportedly to comply with Apple’s content guidelines. These changes took effect on Dec 21, starting in version 22.5.1 of the iOS app. As some of you may recall, Apple’s strict guidelines were the driving force for the infamous Great Purge of 2018, which coincidentally also happened around this time of year, but it seems banning all of the female-presenting nipples wasn’t good enough for Apple.

Below is a summary of the important changes. Note that these changes technically ONLY affect those using the iOS app. If you’re accessing tumblr through a different app or operating system (Google Chrome, Android app, etc) it won’t affect you directly but it will affect your followers who use iOS so you should definitely be aware of it.

The list of banned tags has been expanded. As before, there’s no way to know which words or phrases have been banned until you try searching for them, in which case you’ll either get no search results or the following message: “This content has been hidden because of potentially suggestive or explicit content.” You may think this doesn’t concern you if you don’t post explicit material, but do not make the mistake of expecting the banned tags to be logical or reasonable. I’ve already encountered multiple completely innocuous posts (random fandom gifsets) that seem to be hidden on iOS for no discernible reason.

Blogs that have been flagged as explicit can no longer be viewed. Previously, flagged blogs just had their posts hidden from searches, but if you knew the username you could still visit it after clicking through a warning about sensitive content. Now you can’t access it at all.

Likes and reblogs from blogs that have been flagged will no longer show up in your notes. This one won’t affect most people’s user experience as much as the others, but it does mean you may be missing notes. It’s unclear if likes and reblogs from flagged blogs will still count towards the overall note total (and only be missing from the activity feed and note viewer) but I suspect that’s the case.

THE BIG ONE: ANY POST TAGGED WITH A BANNED TAG WILL NO LONGER SHOW UP ON YOUR DASHBOARD. Previously, if you tagged a post with a banned word or phrase (even if the words were used inside another tag), that post would not show up in searches, but your followers would still be able to see it on their dashboard. Now those posts are hidden from your own followers as well. This includes both original posts and reblogs. And if that wasn’t bad enough, here’s the real kicker: even if you don’t tag something with one of the banned words, if the OP used a banned tag, any reblogs of that post will not show up on anyone’s dashboard (on the iOS app). The only saving grace here, and I hate to even call it that, is that the blocked posts are still visible if you visit a blog directly or if you have post notifications turned on.

As usual, tumblr was extremely unclear and evasive about all of this in their official announcement. Not surprising, of course, since if more people were aware of these new draconian tactics I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be more of an uproar about it. Tumblr claims that these changes are somewhat temporary and that they are currently working on something that will allow for a less restricted iOS experience, but they refuse to say what that something is and when it will be implemented. And let’s just say, considering their track record, I’m not hopeful.

All of this is horrible and infuriating for many reasons, but the worst part is how insanely counterproductive it is to creating the “safe” environment tumblr (or more specifically Apple) supposedly wants.

Tags have always been used for both blog organization and filtering purposes. Tagging posts with triggers and content warnings is a common practice that gives users the ability to filter out content they may find upsetting or just don’t don’t want to see for whatever reason. By choosing to ban a bunch of unlisted “sensitive content” tags, all they’re doing is encouraging people who want to share that kind of content to come up with alternative less well-known tags or simply not tag that content at all anymore if they want it to show up on their follower’s dashboards, thereby making it more likely for someone to encounter it when they didn’t want to.

So really, with all of the alleged concern for safety and “protecting the children,” all they’ve done is make tumblr less safe for everyone. Typical.

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basilbirb · 3 years

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Have you ever gotten news that makes you so sick you barf

im not at liberty to share the news yet but fuck this is so bad for me. So bad. So so so so bad.

I need yalls happy positive energy and for you to send some luck

Because this is

Oh man.

Its going to be such a shitty couple of months.

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basilbirb · 3 years

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Please share this! Donations are greatly appreciated ❤️ https://gofund.me/9979e938

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basilbirb · 3 years

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please please any help is appreciated 💞

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basilbirb · 4 years

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Hey guys, Basil is sick. We don’t know what’s going on yet but she’s at the vet for the day. We noticed her acting funny and she started hanging out at the bottom of her cage being puffy, as you should all know that is a classic sign of a sick bird. She’s been eating like a beast but dropped from 75 grams to 58 grams and we’re really worried about her. Please send some good vibes!

#birblr #bird #parrot #basilbirb #green cheek conure #gcc #pineapple green cheek conure #bird health #I can’t lose her #she’s my whole world

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basilbirb · 4 years

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A Guide to Scoring Keels

A long time ago, I wrote a post on how to feel the keel of a bird to determine whether a bird is thin, obese, or somewhere in between. (You can read it here). However, the topic has come up again and looking back, I dont think I did a good job of explaining how you feel the keel or what you are looking for.

So I’m hoping to fix that with this post

—Transcription of images after the break—

Keep reading

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basilbirb · 4 years

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Standings as of Tuesday Morning, 8/25/20

So that we don’t end up with a giant thread, I’m going to post the standings for each day singly until the final one on September 1

Bird-bird maintains her lead with 30 votes!

Ankhou continues to hold his own in 2nd with 25 votes!

Velvet maintains her place in 3rd with 23

Sprinks remains in 4th with 22.

Tandy moves up to 5th place with 19.

Beetle moves down to 6th with 17

Satin moves down to 7th with 16

Vynni and Leela remain tied in 8th place with 14 votes each

Cookie remains in 10th place with 12

Leonard holds his own in 11th place with 10

Pippin falls and Puddin’ rises to 12th place with 8

Hagrid and Betty fall while Indica and Pookie rise to 14th place with 7

Gordon and Rigby rise, Luxotica falls, Thistle rises, and Farthing falls to 18th place with 6

April rises to join Alex and Elliot in 23rd place with 5.

Emillio and Cherub fall to 26th with 4

Lilly, Ellie, Cody, Dodger, and MJ remain dead last with 3

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basilbirb · 4 years

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Birb knows she not allowed in kitchen.

But birb not *in* kitchen. 😉🤐

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basilbirb · 4 years

Video

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basilbirb · 4 years

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The sniff n’ dig! Go Shoelace!

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basilbirb · 4 years

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Took the buns outside for some fresh air! They loved it!

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basilbirb · 4 years

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Sugar has flown over the rainbow bridge.

She became suddenly very ill and was hospitalized. They did everything they could to help her but ultimately it was too much. She passed away early in the morning on Friday the 24th. I am completely devastated by her loss, but am doing my best to keep moving forward. I want to thank everyone here for all the love and support you have all shown me since her passing. I am so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful community. I know you all loved Sugar and it makes me feel less alone to know that there are others mourning her loss too.

I will always cherish every moment I had with you, Sugar. The sound of your sweet voice, the flutter of your wings, and the taps of your little feet will whisper in my ears. The soft, warm smell of you will sweeten the air I breathe. The sight of your beautiful feathers and your pretty dark eyes will linger in my vision. The warmth of your feet, the softness of your feathers, and the smoothness of your little beak will live in my fingers, on my cheek, and on my shoulders. Every memory of love will warm my heart.

I am so grateful for the time we had, short as it was. It should have been so much longer, but every moment was precious. You were so loved and so cherished. You were the most perfect bird in the whole world. I will miss you always and I will never, ever forget you.