paper-ketch

[paper-ketch]

with what is going on plus the addition of tumblr selling people's data/posts for machine learning, i'm considering of gradually removing my old artworks here especially since they aren't Glaze- or Nightshade-protected, but i will be removing any posts (arts, textposts etc) that featured him starting this week. i've no power over removing reblogs, but if in the future anyone came to my blog from the specific reblogged posts with him in it, it won't be here anymore.

#edit: im gonna do a big spring cleaning on this blog too #still debating over making a new blog as im not as enthusiastic with this fandom in general for the past few months anymore #and my blog is mostly known for that #but we'll see

[paper-ketch]

Automattic will sign a contract with OpenAI for Midjourney to learn off of Tumblr and Wordpress

Hello! Automattic, Tumblr's parent company, will sign a contract with OpenAI and Midjourney so Midjourney can learn off of Tumblr's and WordPress' art and other user data. :) (The full text of this article is copy/pasted in the cut below). You can opt out! but I truly cannot imagine a more idiotic or out of touch decision on the part of Tumblr's CEO.

First thing's first: When/if this goes live, opt out of this immediately. Do this even if you're not an artist. The more people opt out, the less valuable this contract is to Midjourney. in an ideal world, literally all of the active users would opt out, but if we can even get to 50% that's pretty delicious.

Second: Contact Tumblr Support. It's vital that you do this politely. Tumblr staff is not responsible for this decision and the point of doing this is to show the userbase's unwillingness to be involved in this, not harangue Tumblr staff. (Seriously, stop haranguing Tumblr staff). Here's a script:

Hi, I'm writing in to express my disappointment in Automattic's pending contract with OpenAI to sell user data. Midjourney is already embroiled in copyright lawsuits, and it is not possible to train it without compromising copyright, including violating the IP of artists on this site. I strongly protest this contract and will opt out if it goes live. Depending on the privacy terms around what user data is sold to OpenAI and why, it is possible I will leave the platform entirely. Thank you for your time.

Third: Download Glaze and start poisoning them prompts, my friends

Fourth: Stare into the middle distance for a second with me because holy fucking shit? How stupid can one decision be?

Tumblr and Wordpress are preparing to sell user data to Midjourney and OpenAI, according to a source with internal knowledge about the deals and internal documentation referring to the deals. 

The exact types of data from each platform going to each company are not spelled out in documentation we’ve reviewed, but internal communications reviewed by 404 Media make clear that deals between Automattic, the platforms’ parent company, and OpenAI and Midjourney are imminent.

The internal documentation details a messy and controversial process within Tumblr itself. One internal post made by Cyle Gage, a product manager at Tumblr, states that a query made to prepare data for OpenAI and Midjourney compiled a huge number of user posts that it wasn’t supposed to. It is not clear from Gage’s post whether this data has already been sent to OpenAI and Midjourney, or whether Gage was detailing a process for scrubbing the data before it was to be sent. 

Gage wrote:

“the way the data was queried for the initial data dump to Midjourney/OpenAI means we compiled a list of all tumblr’s public post content between 2014 and 2023, but also unfortunately it included, and should not have included:

private posts on public blogs

posts on deleted or suspended blogs

unanswered asks (normally these are not public until they’re answered)

private answers (these only show up to the receiver and are not public)

posts that are marked ‘explicit’ / NSFW / ‘mature’ by our more modern standards (this may not be a big deal, I don’t know)

content from premium partner blogs (special brand blogs like Apple’s former music blog, for example, who spent money with us on an ad campaign) that may have creative that doesn’t belong to us, and we don’t have the rights to share with this-parties; this one is kinda unknown to me, what deals are in place historically and what they should prevent us from doing.”

Gage’s post makes clear that engineers are working on compiling a list of post IDs that should not have been included, and that password-protected posts, DMs, and media flagged as CSAM and other community guidelines violations were not included.

Automattic plans to launch a new setting on Wednesday that will allow users to opt-out of data sharing with third parties, including AI companies, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and internal documents. A new FAQ section we reviewed is titled “What happens when you opt out?” states that “If you opt out from the start, we will block crawlers from accessing your content by adding your site on a disallowed list. If you change your mind later, we also plan to update any partners about people who newly opt-out and ask that their content be removed from past sources and future training.” 

404 Media has asked Automattic how it accidentally compiled data that it shouldn’t share, and whether any of that content was shared with OpenAI, but did not immediately hear back from the company. 404 Media asked Automattic about an imminent deal with Midjourney last week but did not hear back then, either.

Another internal document shows that, on February 23, an employee asked in a staff-only thread, “Do we have assurances that if a user opts out of their data being shared with third parties that our existing data partners will be notified of such a change and remove their data?”

Andrew Spittle, Automattic’s head of AI replied: “We will notify existing partners on a regular basis about anyone who's opted out since the last time we provided a list. I want this to be an ongoing process where we regularly advocate for past content to be excluded based on current preferences. We will ask that content be deleted and removed from any future training runs. I believe partners will honor this based on our conversations with them to this point. I don't think they gain much overall by retaining it.” Automattic did not respond to a question from 404 Media about whether it could guarantee that people who opt out will have their data deleted retroactively.

News about a deal between Tumblr and Midjourney has been rumored and speculated about on Tumblr for the last week. Someone claiming to be a former Tumblr employee announced in a Tumblr blog post that the platform was working on a deal with Midjourney, and the rumor made it onto Blind, an app for verified employees of companies to anonymously discuss their jobs. 404 Media has seen the Blind posts, in which what seems like an Automattic employee says, “I'm not sure why some of you are getting worked up or worried about this. It's totally legal, and sharing it publicly is perfectly fine since it's right there in the terms & conditions. So, go ahead and spread the word as much as you can with your friends and tech journalists, it's totally fine.”

Separately, 404 Media viewed a public, now-deleted post by Gage, the product manager, where he said that he was deleting all of his images off of Tumblr, and would be putting them on his personal website. A still-live post says, “i've deleted my photography from tumblr and will be moving it slowly but surely over to cylegage.com, which i'm building into a photography portfolio that i can control end-to-end.” At one point last week, his personal website had a specific note stating that he did not consent to AI scraping of his images. Gage’s original post has been deleted, and his website is now a blank page that just reads “Cyle.” Gage did not respond to a request for comment from 404 Media. 

Several online platforms have made similar deals with AI companies recently, including Reddit, which entered into an AI content licensing deal with Google and said in its SEC filing last week that it’s “in the early stages of monetizing [its] user base” by training AI on users’ posts. Last year, Shutterstock signed a six year deal with OpenAI to provide training data.

OpenAI and Midjourney did not respond to requests for comment. 

#rbing this as a heads up as well

[paper-ketch]

Ceasefire now!! 🍉❤️

[Collab with the amazing Nero!]

Use #ocsforjustice to join us!!

[paper-ketch]

hi. go buy esims for gaza. go preorder a kufiya from hirbawi. buy insulin for palestinian diabetics who need that help. if you live in the states use this to email your reps (this takes maybe 5 seconds to do). check out this massive list of resources where you can educate yourself in a meaningful and actionable way even if you don't have the financial means right now. from the river to the sea palestine will be free. 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[paper-ketch]

We are doing round 2 of this and I will be participating in #CROWS4PALESTINE once again! >:D

Donate your moneyyy GOGOGO

I'm also leaving this pinned the whole time this is on!

#crows4palestine #wanted to join projects like this but real life is kicking my butt atm #so i shall reblog :D #philza

[paper-ketch]

guys i actually beg of you to not let palestine become an unpleasant flashback, a transient tumblr trend, a hasbeen subject that just faded away. as an arab—and specifically iraqi—girl, i know what it feels like to have family displaced all over the world as a result of western imperialism. i know what it feels like to not be able to step foot into your homeland because it’s no longer safe. as an american iraqi, raised in the us and insulated from my roots, it wasn’t until last summer that i was able to visit iraq for the first time, and even then my family was worried for my safety—in my own blood country. although nothing like what palestinians are experiencing right now, it might be the tiniest semblance of what it feels like to watch your country disintegrate in front of you.

and this is a universal arab experience. i volunteer weekly at a refugee center that serves middle eastern refugees, and every day i see the longing in their eyes when they speak of where they hail from. it’s safe to say that we will be getting a wave of palestinian refugees very soon: just another generation of arabs who can’t inhabit their own country.

arab culture is so rich, so profound, so beautiful. i am tired of being told by the world—through literal genocide—that it doesn’t mean anything. please never let this be forgotten. free palestine. free palestine. free palestine.

[paper-ketch]

Artists Against Apartheid has a beautiful collection of free-to-use posters related to Palestine. These are some of my favorites. I've also included their mission statement at the end

Link to their website:

[paper-ketch]

good afternoon, day five of the strike for palestine! here are some action items for you to help palestinians

donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, the fund goal is 80% raised as of today

2. donations for the Pious Project, to help get menstrual products into Gaza. you can donate $5, $20, or bigger amounts depending on ability

3. download the Nomad app -> Menu -> Shop Plans -> Data -> Select "Middle East" (or if there is no option for that, choose "Global") -> enter data amount and pay (plans range from $4-$60, >20GB plans preferred!) -> do not activate eSIM! screenshot the QR code in the confirmation email -> email [email protected] with the subject title "[CARRIER] eSIM" and attach the QR code screenshot

4. download the Holafly app -> search for "Israel" in the search bar -> select data package -> Checkout -> Pay -> do not activate eSIM. wait for confirmation email -> email [email protected] with the subject title "[CARRIER] eSIM" and attach the QR code screenshot

Infographics souce for 3 and 4

[paper-ketch]

There's one charity that I haven't seen shared here personally, and that's Care for Gaza.

They're shared a lot on twitter as a reputable on-the-ground relief source. You can donate to their gofundme to help their efforts here.

[paper-ketch]

there was a tiktok video where the person was talking about how the food preparation segment in Dave the Diver is their favourite part of the game and they used the hastag 'cozygaming', but all i could think of was RTGame relentlessly hunting down sharks and arguing with his chat about his irl sushi choices

#rtgame #dave the diver #im pretty sure it was for another game #but i remember a person from his chat said they work as a chef and watching rt before work does not help with their stress lol

[paper-ketch]

+ absolutely BANGER additions

[ID] a screenshot of the post from above with additional tags from user 'sorrelce' that reads: sometimes he (Philza) uses 'bomp'. Headcanon: Chayanne & Tallulah adopted a different favourite sound from him, or each created specific 'rules' for when to use which noises... well VIBEing it out and using them randomly and interchangeably is also fine, like Phil lol. But, consider someone asking about it an' the little eggies going, 'it's based on block type', 'rhythm/rate of placement', 'this build feels like 'BOOSH''. [END ID].

[ID] a screenshot of a reblog and tags written by user 'tacomedli' that reads: another one is 'bomp. bomp. bomp!'. [END ID].

you know how Phil has this habit of saying 'boosh, boosh, boosh' when he places a block whenever he build something?

headcanon: Chayanne and Tallulah picked up that habit from him, so whenever they built something regardless if its just a pillar to do mlg waterbucket or anything really, if you stand close enough, you can hear a tinier 'boosh, boosh, boosh' from them.

#srb #you guys made me smile like a fool in my commute to work hehe

[paper-ketch]

you know how Phil has this habit of saying 'boosh, boosh, boosh' when he places a block whenever he build something?

headcanon: Chayanne and Tallulah picked up that habit from him, so whenever they built something regardless if its just a pillar to do mlg waterbucket or anything really, if you stand close enough, you can hear a tinier 'boosh, boosh, boosh' from them.

#qsmp headcanons #qsmp philza #qsmp chayanne #qsmp tallulah #q!philza #q!chayanne #q!tallulah #the image that was conjured out of this was too cute #i want to draw them but i wanted to share this too lol

[paper-ketch]

#qsmp #qsmp chayanne #seeing this actually made me smile really big irl #i adore this so much

[paper-ketch]

QSMP Anthropological Survey

Hi guys! I'm writing a research proposal currently for one of my classes, and need a brief of survey of the QSMP fandom.

No emails or personally identifying data will be recorded or used in this survey, or my proposal, and participants may choose to abstain from answering any questions they like. All recorded content submitted will be used for educational purposes only.

Reblogs to spread are appreciated! This survey closes at 11:59 pm EST on Saturday, December 2nd, 2023.

#qsmp #survey

[paper-ketch]

bird people

#qsmp #qsmp baghera #qsmp jaiden #qsmp philza #i LOVE this so much #awesome art OP!

[paper-ketch]

the comedic shift of volume Phil used to wake up Chayanne (yelling as loud as he can) and Tallulah (whispering as soft as he can) respectively even though all of them are in the same room

#qsmp #qsmp philza #q!philza #vei is vodwatching #← using this tag from now on for post of myself reacting to vods :>

[paper-ketch]

<3

#qsmp #qsmp philza #qsmp chayanne #qsmp tallulah #op this is so wonderful! #you art style always give me such a fuzzy and comforting feeling whenever i look at them!