#if you use twitter and want to crosspost this feel free

[the-king-of-lemons]

I know a lot of people on qsmpblr use Tumblr mobile, but if you do use browser Tumblr then I would recommend the Simple Translate extension. Because Tumblr doesn't have built in translation like Twitter, there's less fans posting in their native language, instead most people just use English.

Simple Translate is an extension that allows you to translate text that you highlight into a target language. (It uses Google Translate API, but so does Twitter so the translation quality is pretty much the same).

Firefox Extension | Chrome Extension

When you highlight text in another language, a translate icon appears, when you click on it a panel containing the translation of the text appears.

You can also change the settings of the extension so that the translation panel automatically appears when you highlight text in another language.

Here's some more examples using the official QSMP Twitter accounts, you do not need to change the settings of the extension to translate from different languages into your target language.

(All of these match the translations given when using the "translate bio" button on Twitter directly.)

You can also access a translation box using the icon in the toolbar, any text you enter can be translated to the language selected in the drop-down menu (meaning you don't need to open a new tab to use Google Translate).

Some settings explanation and other stuff under the cut. Not super important but I figured I'd add it anyways.

There is an option to use DeepL API as opposed to Google Translate (it's another translation tool, there is free access to the API with a limit of 500,000 characters/month, and a pro version for unlimited access).

Whatever the target language is set as is what text you highlight will be translated into. There is another option for a second target language, I'll explain that further down.

This option changes how you view the translation panel, the first option (default) has the icon appear when you highlight text (as seen in the first image of the post), the second option has the translation panel appear automatically when you highlight text, and the for third option the panel and icon won't automatically appear, but can still be accessed by right-clicking the highlighted text and selecting "translate selected text".

The checkbox below these options means that if the text you're highlighting is already in your target language, the translation icon and panel will not appear, it can again still be accessed by right-clicking what you've highlighted and selecting translate.

This option appears twice, in both the Web-page section (for translating selected text) and the Toolbar Popup section (for the translation box in the toolbar popup).

The web page option, when toggled on, means that when you select text that is in your target language, the translation panel will translate into the second target language that has been selected. If the checkbox for "do not display if translation is not required" is toggled on, you can only view the translation from Target -> 2nd Target by right-clicking to translate selected text.

The toolbar popup version of this option is used to automatically switch the language in the toolbar translation box when you input something in your main target. (ie. second target set to French means that when you input English text in the translation box it will switch the translation setting from "(detect language) -> English" to "English -> French").

There are also settings to change the style and size of the translation button and panel.

Side note: Mixed language messages (not containing your target language) will only translate one of the languages, you can work around this by highlighting the different languages separately.

Links again if you don't want to scroll all the way back up

Firefox Extension | Chrome Extension

#if you use twitter and want to crosspost this feel free #but please link to this post and perhaps paste the post text into the alt text of the screenshot #so people can translate the post text from english to their own language (or honestly feel free to translate it yourself and post that too) #qsmp #qsmpblr #qsmptwt #i think this could also maybe be useful for tweets that arent detected as another language so the translate option doesnt appear? #idk i dont use twt much #idk if anything like this has been posted before tbh #i just enjoy seeing people speaking in their native languages over on qsmptwt and when it occasionally happens here too #and i think itd be pretty cool to see it more on qsmpblr #tiggady tags #also i figure it could be useful translating from english into ur native lang!!! forgot to mention that in the post

[lesbianralzarek]

tumblr in reddit terms

blogs: personal subreddits where the theme/topic is 99% of the time just “me and whatever the hell i feel like at the moment”. for reference, the most common other theme rn is “wizard roleplay that never breaks character”

reblogs: crossposts. these are crucial to maintaining tumblr’s ecosystem. due to blogs generally having fewer followers than subreddits have subscribers, this is the way that posts get seen and passed around. the vast majority of posts on a person’s blog tend to be reblogs, so if the people you follow dont reblog a whole lot, your dashboard is gonna be a ghost town. post limit (combined total of reblogs and original posts per day) is 250, so feel free to go hog wild

tags: this one is complicated. theyre a combination of flairs and Comments But Low-key. you can use them for organization and to avoid seeing content you dont want to (go to your blog, settings, account settings, content you see, and then add tags you want tumblr to warn you about before seeing it). if op tags the post #reddit (in the tags, not the body of the post), itll show up in the #reddit tag when anyone searches that tag. tags are also used for comments that dont really add anything to the post. you know how a jpeg gets kinda gross when its been through a million screenshots and has ifunny watermarks and shit? thats what adding “lmao same” as a comment does to a post. comments stay on reblogs, while tags show up in 4 places: op’s notifications, the notifs of whoever you reblogged it from, when someone clicks on the “notes” button of a post and actively looks for the tags left on it, and when people view your specific reblog of the post (like a follower would on their dashboard)

likes: upvotes but weaker. almost everyone turns off all the algorithms (settings, account settings, dashboard preferences, toggle off the first 3 options. also, make sure your dashboard is on "following" and not "for you". this is highly recommended), so leaving a like doesnt boost the post in any way. they still matter to some people. you can also use them to bookmark a post and go back to your likes later

enthusiastic and/or hyperbolic tags: reddit gold. you wanna let op know you like their art? leave something like ”#printing this out and stapling it to my forehead #op you wanna get married?” in the tags

pornbots: both reddit and tumblr have an issue with them. we block and report them on sight. they usually have hot women as their icons, no posts or reblogs, and a description like “22, brazil, nurse <3″. try to not look like that if you dont wanna get blocked by everyone you follow

blocking: you have this as well, but it seems like a bigger deal on reddit. the reason we are not twitter is because we block bitches who annoy us and move on with our day. do not feed the trolls

things we dont have:

karma: clout-chasing is The Most embarrassing thing you can possibly do on this site. we are all in this circus together and the clown who gets the most laughs is still a clown. popular users will literally deactivate sometimes because clout is a burden. no one here makes money

#reddit #reddit migration #tumblr guide #lemme know if you have any questions btw. happy to help

[androidcharles]

More info under the read more, since it gets a bit long!

Unwatermarked so you can crosspost to any site you wish, however, please give proper credit if you do repost.

Since I haven't seen any Stickmintober prompts (or if there are any I'm stupid and haven't really looked for them), so I decided to create a prompt list for myself (mostly because a while back I told someone I'd consider hosting this).

Anyway, as a small bonus, since I know it's difficult writing a small story for 31 whole days in a row (writing like that should be saved for NaNoWriMo), I thought I'd throw in a bonus writing prompt list as well! Feel free to get creative with the prompts or if you want, use the prompts from the top list.

I will be tracking the tag #stickmintober2023 for those who participate but you can also @ me if you want to see your pieces as well. I understand this is a bit short notice, I am angry w/ myself as well for taking this long to announce something like this (HELL there's prob a better prompt list on Twitter that peeps are prob preparing for that I'm not aware of) but either way, I hope you guys enjoy this little prompt list nonetheless.

That being said, this isn't a competition! Don't burn yourself out trying to chug out equivalents of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper everyday, just try to keep it simple, esp if it's your first time! And as always, have fun with it too!

Thanks in advance for participating!

Prompts for Screenreaders:

First Image: Stickmintober 2023 Prompt List! Day 1: Breaking the Bank Day 2: Henry Stickmin Day 3: Police Force Day 4: Escaping the Prison Day 5: Rupert Price Day 6: Dave Panpa Day 7: Stealing the Diamond Day 8: CCC Day 9: West Mesa Day 10: Charles Calvin Day 11: Infiltrating the Airship Day 12: Reginald Copperbottom/RHM Day 13: General Galeforce Day 14: Favorite Past Toppat Leader Day 15: Toppat or Government? Day 16: Ellie Rose Day 17: Fleeing the Complex Day 18: Dmitri Petrov/Grigori Olyat Day 19: Dance Day 20: Glitch Day 21: Sven Svennson Day 22: Completing the Mission Day 23: Favorite Ending Day 24: Underrated Ending Day 25: AU (favorite or your own) Day 26: OC (favorite or your own) Day 27: Silly Day 28: Angst Day 29: Favorite BG character Day 30: Costume Day 31: Halloween

2nd Image: Stickmintober 2023 Writing Edition!

Week 1 (Oct 1st-7th) Write about Henry Stickmin. Whether it's a headcanon interpretation of his past or about his life before or after certain events in canon.

Week 2 (Oct 8th-Oct 14th) Write about Toppat life. Either from the point of view of a character, minor or main or before or after certain events in canon.

Week 3 (Oct 15th-21st) Write about your interpretation of the events after an ending from Completing the Mission. Whether it's an ending you don't think about much or your favorite

Week 4 (Oct 22nd-28th) Write about the hypothetical past of a Toppat Leader of your choice. Special challenge: No Terrence or Reginald ;)

Week 5 (Oct 29th-Nov 4th) Two this time! Write a Halloween-y themed story or just a write something involving your favorite ship, rarepair or otherwise.

#the henry stickmin collection #stickmintober2023 #henry stickmin #prompt list

[fallenrocket]

#PirateOmens watch party - Season 1, Episode 1

(crossposted from my twitter)

Within the first few minutes of episode 1, we get Crowley reassuring Aziraphale, "You're an angel, I don't think you *can* do the wrong thing."

Rings well with, "You know, most of the pirates I know, they're dead. So you're doing a hell of a lot better than them."

***

Side note: I imagine the actors didn't know about this when they shot it, but the scene at the Eastern Gate feels so different now knowing about Aziraphale and Crowley's "before the Beginning" flashback. The layers to this show! Like a cake with a 40-orange glaze.

***

Gabriel: "I like the clothes! Pity they won't be around much longer." Hee!

***

Do you fancy a fine sushi, angel?

***

Watching the 3-card monte with the Antichrist child makes me wonder what Stede was like when Mary was in labor. I can't decide between squeamish at the blood, barely noticing at all, or trying to be way *too* helpful.

***

"Get thee behind me, foul fiend! ...After you," is absolutely a Stede Bonnet move.

***

Aziraphale: "Well, I'll be damned."

Crowley: "It's not so bad when you get used to it."

Stede: "Look, I've been a failure my whole life. It's not so bad once you get used to it."

It's a match made in heaven, @PrimeVideo! Won't you #AdoptOurCrew?

***

Stede and Ed would be so down for dressing up in costumes to influence the Antichrist child, except Ed would have to be Nanny Jeff.

***

Aziraphale's magic tricks? Also Stede Bonnet coded, from head to toe. Crowley's reaction is basically Ed with the treasure hunt in "This is Happening."

***

Obviously, we know what a great pair Good Omens and OFMD make, but I like the differences in the characters and their relationships too.

Crowley and Ed are the "dark/prickly" ones with hidden vulnerabilities, but Crowley puts on a transparent act for Hell and then does what he pleases. Ed knows he doesn't want to be Blackbeard but feels trapped in the role, fearing he *can't* be someone different.

After a life of struggling to follow the rules, Stede has broken free from those expectations and is embracing the life he wants. Aziraphale is still caught in the expectations, still obsessed with who he's "supposed" to be.

Even though Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death vibrate at a similar frequency, the differences between them make both shows even more delicious! That's why they'll pair so well together, @PrimeVideo--like crepes with marmalade!

#pirate omens #save ofmd #adopt our crew #fallenrocket #good omens #our flag means death #ofmd #stede bonnet #edward teach #aziraphale #crowley

[romance-club-daily]

A little bit late, but I'm gonna jump in on the recent "RC uses AI art" bandwagon. I understand where you're coming from — I'm an aspiring translator and even before the whole AI craze I had no idea how tf I'm gonna look for a job once I'd graduate, but now the situation's even more dire. That being said, I think we really really REALLY shouldn't jump to conclusions about in this case because

do we actually have any proof that it's AI generated art besides "it looks like that"? Because AI... doesn't really have a "style", it's literally gonna look like the art you feed to it/what it finds on the web. I've already seen at least one instance of artists being told that their art is actually AI generated just because it looks similiar. CGs in all stories are usually more realistic-looking, imo, and showcase the biggest differences between different artists' styles. All of this is speculation is conjecture, but like, so is the whole thing about RC using AI art in the first place. So I'll just move on to more solid argument

just last month, on August 4th, RC announced an open call for hiring artists. I guess this vacancy was targeted at CIS countries since as far as I'm aware they didn't crosspost it to Facebook or Twitter or anywhere besides VK and Telegram channel. On 28th they stopped accepting applications from artists and are, most likely, currently continuing the tryouts. My point is: what kind of company would resort to using free AI and then go and hire real humans you actually have to pay? It just doesn't make sense

Here is my translation of these posts about the whole hiring business and screenshots. I'll send you links via another submission or ask because I'm afraid tumblr might nuke this one

translation, if anyone knows russian and thinks I made a mistake of some sort feel free to correct me, after all there's a lot of artist argot I'm not too sure about:

august 4th:

2D artist vacancy

Friends, we announce that we started hiring artists to Romance Club team. ❤

We're YSI, an independent game development sudio from Moldova, that creates interactive visual novels. We're looking for people who may become a part of our big family.

If you're a talented character and/or game locations 2D artist (or you're just great at drawing), then you're exactly who we're looking for!

✅ What do we want from the applicants?

- creativity and rich imagination;

- to be professionaly versed in 2D graphics softwares (experience with Adobe Photoshop is necessary);

- to be able to draw by hand using a graphic tablet;

- your portfolio is necessary.

❗All of the applicants will be given a test assignment❗

✅ Why you should choose Romance Club:

- friendly young team as well as modern office in the capital of Moldova;

- to work with experienced professionals in informal and inspiring environment;

- opportunity to realize your own creative ideas;

- exciting long-term projects;

- fair wage + bonuses;

- possible career development;

- game dev is cool!

If you're interested, send us your portfolio at jobs @ yourstoryinteractive. com and briefly tell us about your skills

August 28th:

2D artist vacancy, applications closed

Friends, we finished the hiring process for artists❗

Huge thanks to those who sent us their resume. Everyone turned out to be incredibly talented and interesting.

✅ Candidates that received an e-mail from us move on to the next stage of tryouts

Our apologies for not being able to reply to everyone personally. We received a great deal of applications and, unfortunately, couldn't possibly contact everybody.

Thank you for showing interest in Romance Club and working for our company!

With all due respect,

Your Story Interactive

As a side note, it is possible that some of the artists may use AI without their hire-ups and writers and so on even knowing that — unlikely, I don't have any proof of that, but it's a possibility. But I feel that the only thing we're doing here is treading muddy waters of conspiracy theories. I'm repeating myself, but it just seems unlikely that there's actually any AI involved when the company in question just started hiring new artists. You may argue that they had to use AI for the most recent update because of the staff shortage but once again: let's not dive into conspiracy theories. Okay, I took longer than I needed to, but I rest my case

_____________________________________________________________

I agree with you on some points, it could be the artist using it without the company knowing and it is a possibility (although I think would be naive of them). But I believe that hiring artists and using AI is something that can happen simultaneously, in the beginning. One thing may not have to do with the other either. That said, it has caught our attention because the style has changed drastically from one update to the next and is very similar to how AI-generated images look. The public used to complain that the characters didn't have realistic poses and out of nowhere they change some to something ultra-realistic (without being able to see a real evolution until reaching this point), almost like a painting which happens to be very similar to how the AI works with images. It's something to be suspicious of, we shouldn't straight accuse them, but being suspicious and sharing our distrust is valid, given that many companies have recently been doing this. And if an employee is using AI and they know about it, It has to be approved by someone at the company, and it carries the company name. I don't think they're that naive (an artist's style changes suddenly and no one wonders why).

Since when they see that using AI is cheaper (or costs almost nothing) and it's fast, they have to make a decision, ethical or not.

Let's see what will happen, but I hope for a good outcome! I love RC stories and would be shame if they go for this path.

And of course, this is absolutely my opinion on this, you can agree or not and that's ok for me.

#submission #romance club #romance club game #ask answered #ask anon #ask anonymous

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

here’s to a year of trigun :] just a cute little (1k. oops.) essay reflecting back on how it’s changed my life.

(twitter crosspost LOL)

You know that strange, dissatisfying limbo between hyperfixations? That was me in January. A 2-year long obsession with Genshin Impact was dragging itself to its grave and I was struggling with life. I got diagnosed with a rare chronic pain disorder at around the same time I caught mono and strep simultaneously (that week SUCKED), classes were kicking my ass, and I was experiencing the existential loneliness of adulthood for the first time. 

University student things! 

And to make it all extra unbearable, my writing was empty. Soulless. I’d write something for a zine and go damn—this shit is awful. Not because it was technically flawed or anything, but there was just…nothing there. I would stare at my stats page on Ao3 waiting for comments and then bitterly complain at my friends when no one wanted to read my work. Hell, I don’t think I wanted to read my work. I’m sure you know the feeling. 

And because my writing is how I cope with Everything, being unable to write made the Everything so, so much worse.

Then—and I forget exactly how I heard about it—I learned that Trigun Stampede had just released its fourth episode. I knew of Trigun from a buddy of mine who had been excitement-posting about the reboot months before, but all I knew about the reboot was that Yoshitsugu Matsuoka was voicing the main character. I had a free afternoon—why not give it a try? 

I still have my liveblogging from January. Here was my initial reaction:

I was having a great fuckin’ time. 

February rolls around and I am immediately, irreversibly, hit with Plantcest brainrot so bad that I discard any pretense of being icked out by brocest ship and I write a 9k long KV thesis called “we’ve got to get back to that stinking garden,” named after a Natalie Diaz poem called “my brother named gethsemane,” which is, truly and genuinely, The Poem on Brothers (Complicated) of all time. That fic is where the visions and prophesies came back, where I started feeling like my writing was impactful again. Like it meant something. It was my first ever foray into in-narrative smut and the first of many, many attempts to capture a future where Vash and Knives love each other even after the end of everything. 

This is really where I found my footing on Twitter and as a short story writer, I think. Where I started really caring about making every word of a narrative pay rent, about conveying and evoking specific, tangible feelings, and exploring genres of media I’d never really been interested in before. Before February, I wrote mostly genfic and T-rated romance. Every so often, I’d dabble in some graphic violence. 

And hey! Now I write hardcore kink and graphic erotica. The gore I used to dabble in is now something I dive into feetfirst and with a rabid desire to make it as sexy as possible. I fetishize the crease of an elbow and the bristly sections of an undercut and I write about brothers having nasty, angry, dubiously consensual sex. I could not possibly tell you how I got here, but shit, man, I don’t regret a damn thing. 

It’s through Trigun that I met some of the most talented, sweetest, most encouraging folk. Plantcest creators, Vashwood creators, people who saw me writing ZazieVash and went hello motherfucker please feed me some more, Romeryl enthusiasts, Kniveswood and Plantwood enjoyers…shit, guys. You’re all so fucking cool.

I got invited to a zine for the first time, I started taking commissions (and holy shit, what the fuck, I still can’t wrap my head around that at all. The fuck you mean, you’ll pay me Real Actual Money for personalized fic? Insane to me. I’m so goddamn grateful.) for the first time, and hell, I published a poetry collection for the first time. Which people downloaded? And tipped me for? What the fuck? I’m still reeling from that. Thank you, by the way. Genuinely. 

What else this year…well. I commissioned art for the first time, I participated in more big bangs and exchanges than ever, I read voraciously and wrote with just as much fervor. I watched ‘98 and I cried and I read half of TriMax and cried some more. I wrote more erotica than I ever have, and I wrote more fic that I’m genuinely, painfully proud of this year than any other year. 

A lot of my writing is about grief and rage, and a lot of it is about trying to be funny in the face of that. A lot of is about learning to live, because that’s what I’m doing right now, despite everything. A lot of it is about trying to be kind. 

But in summary, because this is getting ridiculously long, here’s what I got out of Trigun:

Vash the Stampede refuses to die. I’m trying to emulate that. 

Meryl Stryfe cares about doing the right thing, even if it means she’ll get in the middle of a fight between aliens armed with two bullets in a tiny pistol. 

Wolfwood is carefully, disastrously kind. I want to be like that.

And Knives is nuttier than a Victorian lady in a room painted in arsenic green, but still. I love him anyway. 

And Milly :] no thoughts about Milly. I love Milly because she is also incredibly kind :] 

Trigun has changed my entire goddamn life this year. I think it’s made me a better person. It’s certainly made me a better writer, and it’s connected me to so many lovely and beautiful people. Thank you all for sticking around, and here’s to another year of love, peace, and unhinged porn. I love you all :]

#trigun

[badbuddykinkmeme]

The Bad Buddy Kink Meme!

We've officially launched on AO3, Twitter, and Tumblr - but we'll be operating on AO3, so check us out there!

The AO3 Collection - This is where the kink meme will be hosted, and has the most important information for how all this works. Don't be intimidated by all the text (we just wanted to have our bases covered) - if you know how a kink meme works, it basically operates the same! And even if you don't, if you were around for our prompt fest, then think of it like that - except with no deadlines, no official assignments, and as much doubling up on claims as you want.

The Twitter/X Account - Announcements that will be crossposted here as well, so if you're not over there, don't worry - this is just for accessibility cross-platform.

This Tumblr - Announcements that are also crossposted from Twitter. You can ask anonymous questions here as well.

The Pinboard (coming soon) - A PInboard account where you can navigate all the prompts in a much more easy to read and organized manner, which we'll get set up soon, especially as we get more prompts!

Our email - If you'd like to contact us privately and through email for whatever reason, you can also email us at badbuddykinkmeme at gmail dot com to get in touch with us.

Get excited! Spread the word, leave prompts, and maybe claim any that you're already taking an interest in? ;) Kink memes are a great way to keep small fandoms like us alive, especially with the two year anniversary coming up. So feel free to start participating the moment you finish reading this post - did we mention there's no deadline either?

#bad buddy #bad buddy kink meme #patpran #waikorn #inkpa #and whatever other bad buddy ships you like!

[brisquad-unit-4402]

regarding ai as a fic writer

hello my name is unit 4402. i don't like to take my tactical gear off but you can recognize me by how i'm going to punt ai into the sun

this has been a common topic on tumblr but i figured i'd make a post about it as a heads up + info for anyone out of the loop

this blog is against ai scraping fanwork without consent. DO NOT FEED MY WORK INTO AI ALGORITHMS.

my current plans below

can i use your work for ai to create a new story? fuck no. that's plagiarism and incredibly disrespectful to the author of any fanfic, not just me. fanfic is a labor of love, not replaceable content. please do not feed my work into ai algorithms.

can i use your unfinished work for ai to finish? fuck no. that's also plagiarism and disrespectful to my time and effort. please do not feed my work into ai algorithms.

but i really liked what you wrote and want to read more: then feel free to talk to me! i love asks and i love messages. i will ramble for hours if you let me. trust me, fanfic writers love when someone lets them indulge in their headcanons or ideas, even if they don't plan on writing them out into fic. and tbh? complimenting a fic writer can sometimes inspire them to write more

[from anon] can i write something myself inspired by your work? yes! i’m flattered to hear that i inspired you! as long as your work doesn’t actually copy mine, such as copy/pasting. if it directly references or uses elements of my fic, please credit me. i’d love to see what you come up with!

can i share your work with others? yes. my only accounts that i post fic on are this tumblr and my ao3. feel free to send my work around to friends, discord servers, twitter, etc as long as my name/links are still attached. i want credit for the time and effort i put into writing

can i post your work on other sites (wattpad, ff.net, etc)? send me a message for permission. please do not crosspost/upload my work to other sites without my permission.

my question wasn't answered: you can message me or send an ask with your question and i'll respond soon

why is ai scraping such a big deal? it's art/writing theft on a massive scale to ultimately make a blander, loveless product from fanwork. plagarism is rampant because of how unmonitored ai scraping is, especially now that bots like chatgpt that use common crawl are confirmed to use ao3 and other fanfic sites as sources. some fans also frown on ai-written fanwork because it's being passed off as completely original work from a human when it's actually a regurgitation of prewritten ideas. there's a lot of reading to do on the subject especially in fan communities such as tumblr/twitter/reddit/etc. send me an ask/message if you want me to elaborate

thanks for your patience everyone. ai scraping is a shitty situation and i appreciate your understanding

#unit 4402 reporting #navigation #rules

[aurosoulart]

hey, for the record ive seen a few posts now about lives privacy policy/tracking being pretty sketchy, just for the record. idk how true that is since i haven't touched live at all but i just wanted to mention it in case there IS something sketchy going on that could potentially be bad for you/other potential live streamers

oh yeah I read through the ToS and I think I know exactly where peoples' concerns are coming from

in many social media ToS's, there is a section saying that by agreeing you consent to have all your content reproduced freely and without pay by the platform.

the purpose of this term is so that the platform can take your content and do different things with it - like DeviantArt's or INPRNT's Twitter accounts promoting artists by posting people's artwork, or basically anything involving a platform taking user content and featuring and/or changing it in any way. these use cases include things like automatic thumbnail crops of images, automatic watermarks, and content being categorized and featured in any way - but the list goes on and examples are many.

here's a specific example: I signed a similar ToS contract when I submitted my work to be featured on Intel's Office Hours. giving Intel permission to 'reproduce and transform my content without pay' allowed them to take my art and reproduce it (via screenshots) on their Twitter feed in order to promote the Office Hours session, and it gave them permission to actually show and record my work on the livestream in the first place.

these terms are broad in their wording and many people are not comfortable consenting to them because the language sounds predatory, but this is how social media currently functions in the internet ecosystem we know today.

we create and share content for free, and while social medias may give us tools to make money using them - these platforms are not obligated to pay creators when, say, crossposting their work somewhere else or featuring it on the Tumblr Radar.

the ToS DOESN'T mean these platforms get to take and sell your content directly - like they can't take my art and start selling merch with it - which is the only thing I personally care about regarding my own work.

it's definitely a tradeoff though, regarding privacy and personal data. like with late stage capitalism, there is no real 'non-sketchy' way to produce content for social media these days because we are all treated as products ourselves.

as a content creator, I have to weigh the pros and cons of what a platform provides for me vs. what it takes - but ultimately if I want total, %100 control of my work, I would have to stop using social media entirely, which unfortunately isn't feasible for me because it would directly harm my income. (my feelings on that warrant a whole post of their own but I think I'll stop typing here LOL, this is a novel already)

TLDR; the ToS sounds predatory but it's not as bad as it's worded to be... but it is still kinda iffy because that's just the state of social media. you can take it or leave it depending on your own preferences

#auropost #SORRY THIS IS REALLY LONG #and thank you for your concern anon it is appreciated to see people looking out for artists #stay critical stay vigilant etc.

[rustyscreech]

now seems as good a time as any to crosspost something I wrote about twitter's api changes about grieving a web we never had, and my half-formed feelings about what it means to grieve a childhood vision of the future

When I saw the news about Twitter’s API, I couldn’t stop thinking about all of these things. About how knowledge of the web has gotten increasingly more specialized. About how Flash used to be a one-time purchase. About our loss of GeoCities, Angelfire, Yahoo Pipes. About how when I first researched making a website, my first results weren’t for something like WordPress, it was for full stack “web app” packages by startups with minimalist color schemes. It put me in a bad mood, and I couldn’t understand why I wanted to just scream. And then I realized.

I was grieving. I was grieving everything that could’ve been. There ARE good parts to Web 2.0; and if you look hard enough, you can even take advantage of them. But to think about what could’ve been, had corporatization not taken hold, had three platforms not gained control over the vast, vast majority of the web, fills me with legitimate grief. My head spins when I think about those early days and compare them to what we have now. I get overwhelmed thinking about everything a modern web dev has to keep in mind. I want to be able to buy Flash, learn basic coding, post something I make on deviantArt, and have it work. I want to stumble across data and information, and have it be beautiful and true. I want things online to exist, for the sake of existing. We’re all reaching for the crumbs of what we could’ve had. We’re lapping at the small puddles of what was left for us: customization, free tools, toys, information. Facebook took away gifs, and then graciously gives us looping video. Adobe took away Flash, then graciously gives us free Instagram editing. Our ability to freely interact with the web keeps getting stripped away, bit by bit by bit, and we don’t get a choice. We can only acquiesce, or outright refuse. There’s no more wishing for only the good parts if you’re not a web developer yourself. Forgive me for thinking it’s not just them who should be able to have fun anymore.

#just a little rusty #reddit blackout #api #twitter #web 1.0 #web 2.0 #web 3.0 #reddit #writing #essay #im emo

[stinkybreath]

hello

do you trust me to recommend you some books

I read ~170 this year and here’s reviews of my top ten, written for fb and crossposted under the cut in case you’re interested

1: Camp Concentration by Thomas Disch

-I know it’s not obvious from the way I conduct myself here, but I have a very large vocabulary. I was a kid who read the dictionary and also any thesaurus I had access to. So, that said, consider how much it means to me personally that this book taught me 30-50 new words. This isn’t a huge part of the reason I loved this book, but it is a very impressive fact about it that I think will grab the attention of people who might otherwise not read it. This book changed the way I read, the way I think about literature, and the way I evaluate what I have previously read. It’s offensive to me that I lived 30 years as an avid reader and culture sponge without hearing about this book. I cannot recommend it enough. I give it top spot on this list for a very good reason. I’d like to avoid spoiling any of the plot because while I called the twist easily, discovery of each point was so delightful that I want you to have that same experience.

2: Cockatiel x Chameleon by Bavitz

-You all have plenty of experience with me recommending works of fiction published online in formats that deter most readers. This is a normal Najwa activity. I know how it sounds and I know, therefore, that this plea will go more or less unheard, but I BEG you. Look past the fact this was published on AO3. This is one of the most remarkable books I’ve read, period. I mentioned in my worst of how much it bothers me that most writers can’t plausibly write about the internet. This book is the FUCKING ZENITH of writing about being online. It is the absolute peak and I will be shocked if I ever encounter another work that overtakes it. This is a book about people who are so strange they are barely human, but in ways that will be instantly familiar, intimately true, to those of us who grew up on the internet. There is violence and abuse and love and beauty and Chatroulette. There is art and gore and exploration of identity and apocalypse. There is fucking POSTING.

3: Serious Weakness by Porpentine

-Charity Heartscape Porpentine is one of our greatest living authors, opinions of snide Twitter users notwithstanding. I am an evangelist for her Twine game poetry because it is so singular and so affecting. Even a decade on, I can play through Their Angelical Understanding and feel freshly stabbed in the gut. Imagine the thrill I felt when she posted about her completed novel. I would (strongly) recommend this even to people who (somehow) bounced off her games, because her prose style is very distinct from the voice those are in (yet still recognizable). This is an incredibly violent, sick, stomach-turning, difficult, ugly, terrifying book. It’s also ultimately asking the reader a question about love and compassion. If you are sensitive to any trigger in written word about any violent action one person can do to another, skip this book, but if you feel like you have the strength, give her the nine bucks or whatever that she’s asking and devour it like I did. A hook for you: our protagonist has a chance meeting with an embodiment of pain. What follows includes torture, gender, climate disaster, and Columbine. Gorgeous. This book almost convinced me to start doing video essays so I could explain to people the incredible factors at play in it.

4: Negative Space by BR Yeager

-I have been trying to read this book for free for so long that I broke my streak and paid actual money for it. It was one of the better purchases I made all year. Thanks to finally reading some Stephen King this year I now have the requisite foundation to see how heavily his style inspired Yeager in this book, but I would die on the hill defending my position that Yeager does King better than King ever did. There is evil seeping out between the lines of this book. Have you ever had a nightmare that made you feel doomed the entire next day? Have you ever felt you were trapped in your shitty, dying home town? Have you ever been seduced by the excitement of activities that you know might actually kill you? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and looked at your own dark reflection? Go back to the deepest point of your teenage depression here.

5: We Who Are About to by Joanna Russ

-One of the shortest entries on this list and so one of the easiest sells, but it is just as full of meaning as any other that made the cut. There is so much implied and unsaid about this protagonist. She feels whole, like this is the last chunk of chapters in a series centered on her, but she represents something universal. She is one member of a group from a crash-landed spaceship, a group small enough in numbers that there’s no way for humanity to last on this planet more than one more generation. Any attempts to do even that are so plainly cruel and self-deluding that she wants no part of them, but the others with her don’t see it the same way. Her story is womanhood under patriarchy, it is life and death, it is self-determination. Brutal. I read this at the airport and cried in public.

6: Carrie by Stephen King

-As much as I hate to say it, I gotta hand it to Uncle Steve (or really to Tabitha). This book very nearly justifies the rest of his career on its own. I thought had picked up most of it from cultural osmosis, but there was a truly shocking depth that I couldn’t have found without experiencing it firsthand. Maybe it’s funny to use this word here, but this book is humanist and compassionate and sincere in a way that King never finds again, particularly with the women he writes. Carrie is so vivid that I felt a protective instinct for her throughout the book even though I knew she was about to discover her own power. She reflects parts of me about as well as Lindqvist did in Little Star, which is the work of art that is THE most personal to me. A classic for a fucking reason.

7: The Doloriad by Missouri Williams

-This year, lots of the books that I read had strange echoes of each other. In this, I can pick out shades of Carrie, of Camp Concentration, of We Who Are About To, and even of Serious Weakness. Rarely if ever are these references by each author, but it has enriched my experience by having unofficial interlocking intertexts for all of them. This book has been very divisive with reviewers, and I understand why, because it is cruel and the prose is extremely stylistic. This is somewhat experimental and fully literary and sincerely philosophical. I get it. Not for everyone. But it was for me. A clan of inbreds at the end of the world with their eyes on their scapegoat, nonverbal and disabled Dolores. It shocked me and it challenged me and I loved it.

8: The Ice Cream Man and Other Stories by Sam Pink

-These short stories did the exact opposite of the thing that pissed me off about The Florida Project. These are about people who are varying degrees of sympathetic but the same degree of desperately, penny-scrapingly working poor. The easy pull quote is “unflinching,” because it turns an eye on very ugly parts of real life for so many of us. I think people who grew up middle class will find some voyeuristic, prurient pleasure in these stories, but they’re not written for you. They’re written for us, the people who have lived this way.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman 9

-I don’t need to tell you how great this book is, because the whole of booktok has told you this all year. Instead, what I will say is that it is much stranger and less tidy than you’re imagining when you hear the blurb. It’s a short read and it is one of the few times I haven’t regretted following booktok’s advice.

Only Lovers Left Alive by Dave Wallis 10

-This barely squeaked onto this year’s best of, because I started it before 2022 ended and finished it early in the new year. As I read it, especially in the first 20% of the book, I was confused as to how it ended up on my TBR. But toward the end, and throughout the year as I’ve continued to think about it, I understand more instinctively than intellectually that this is a remarkable work. A short synopsis: in the 80s in the UK, there is an epidemic of suicide, but only by adults. The teens left behind forge their own path.

#Porpentine #Bavitz #Thomas Disch #Dave Wallis #Sam pink #Stephen King #jacqueline harpman #Joanna Russ #Missouri Williams #br yeager #b. r. yeager #charity heartscape porpentine

[charcubed]

Some thoughts on The Winchesters after episode 5, and on self-reflection, and what it may tell us about Dean’s situation:

This was originally written as a thread on Twitter, which is (unfortunately) where I have historically done most of my meta writing. (Here is a collection of my Twitter posts about this show, including a few long meta threads.) I’m trying to get better about crossposting to tumblr ASAP when it's manageable.

All this to say that if this reads like it’s written in bite-sized chunks… that’s why. Also, I am writing this at midnight from an iPad lol.

So… This “Dean all the way down” show, if you will. In every episode of this show, its main characters highlight important things about Dean’s life and his relationships with others, as well as the unfinished parts of his story. Here’s a handy refresher, courtesy of my friend Matt.

I am compelled by the consistency of this (to the point of hypothesizing that Lata will be the main Dean mirror of the week in ep6).

I am also compelled by what is shaping up to be one of many consistencies in not only the themes but also the PLOTS of these episodes:

In every episode so far other than the pilot (I think?), someone is taken and trapped physically and/or mentally. Their freedom requires examining who they are as a person and what’s important to them, and/or examining who they are in relation to who they care about, mostly via reflective versions.

2: John, taken by La Tunda who punishes disobedient children & masquerades as Millie

3: Mary, taken by Bori Baba who lures you in with what you want most

4: John & Carlos, taken by a god of “destiny” who wants John to be like him

5: Mary, trapped in her mind by the Akrida

They’re all different situations, but at their core the key to freedom in the plot is always some form of self-reflection.

It’s making me wonder, because… well, we’re explicitly dealing with a narrative that’s cyclical, yes? We know that already, and the show’s not shy about it…

Cycles of violence + parents & children, on a micro level (Winchester family) and macro level (forces wanting to mold you into something you don’t want to be, or control you; Chuck/God as Father, destiny, and now Akrida).

But is it also a cycle in regards to this self-reflection?

Metaphorically, yes. This is what Dean is doing here and it’s why the characters are continuously acting as rotating mirrors for him. But what I’m beginning to wonder is if we’re meant to start taking it as hints to being literal for Dean, the way it is for the characters.

The characters repeatedly participate in self-reflection to free themselves from literal traps, and that self-reflections acts as reflection of Dean. What does this maybe tell us about what’s LITERALLY happening to Dean? Can we start piecing together that he’s trapped somewhere and uncovering/telling this story is key to his freedom?

🎶 Like a circle in a spiral

Like a wheel within a wheel

Never ending or beginning

On an ever spinning reel 🎶

They keep being trapped in places where they have to face aspects of who they are, who they love, and what haunts them. Maybe that’s the literal situation Dean could be in (fake Heaven trap?) and is part of the reason for the story he’s telling. Examining himself to break free.

I don’t know how front-facing in terms of the plot this may be. It could remain metaphorical. or be an extra-narrative reference about the prequel being its own thing but also a quasi stepping stone to a sequel.

But Dean being Trapped is, at this point, feeling pretty implicit.

Combine this with how mirror and reflective imagery is starting to visually pop up a little bit more.

And also combine it with all of the ways Tony’s story parallels Jack’s, and what that could imply about a “Chuck won” through-line… but I’m not getting into that tonight lol.

I am very intrigued. Everything about this is circular, and talking about one aspect kind of tips you into talking about another, which is FASCINATING story construction. So I’m sorry if I repeated myself here!

It’s reminiscent of a triskelion, naturally, a la the necklace in ep2.

Calling it quits for tonight because I am TIRED. Bottom line:

The repeated implication is that Dean is Trapped and doing self-reflection to try to break free. How literal that may or may not in terms of where/when he is remains to be seen, but… it’s feeling more and more pointed.

And I know I’m one of the foremost Chuck won preachers, okay, but I do try not to let it color my view of this show too strongly. I can’t help it that the material feeds me at every turn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#spnwin #spnwin meta #the winchesters meta #the winchesters #spnwin 1x05 #the winchesters 1x05 #when will I post my very long 1x04 meta on this website... #char writes things #dean winchester #unreliable narrator my beloved #hallofmirrorsnatural

[doubleredweek]

Happy Roy and Jason Reunion Week Y’all!!! 

We’re a little early but it’s almost two weeks until Double Red Week!!! We are so excited to see what everyone has come up with concerning our two favorite boys!  

Double Red Week will run from August 15th to August 22nd. Our prompts are our pinned post and in the source of this post!

We just wanted to do this quick post as a reminder and show people how to participate!

Try to post on the appropriate days, if you’re posting multi-chapter works and it feels like it hits more than one day, do whatever is easiest for you!

If you’re posting on social media, feel free to @ us at @doubleredweek, and tag your post with #DoubleRedWeek or #JayRoyWeek or #JayRoyWeek2022 just because tumblr does mess up more than it works. If you’re posting on Twitter or Instagram (or other social media), just let us know and we can crosspost here!

If you post a work on Ao3, feel free to add it to the Double Red Week collection! Remember to put the appropriate tags or warnings! It will look like this if you add it to the collection properly!

[i.d: a screenshot of archiveofourown, on the post new work page, the option says “Post to Collections / Challenges:” and inputted is “Double Red Week (JayroyWeek2022)”]

We are so looking forward to Double Red Week and we hope you are too!

#jayroy #royjay #happy reunion! #jason todd #roy harper #red hood #arsenal #JayRoyWeek2022 #doubleredweek

[palebluenoblesse]

some rambles about my project sekai swap unit, moonbeam arcadia!

crossposted from my twitter ... but i also wanted to post something here!!

moonbeam arcadia consists of mafuyu, ichika, toya, and haruka. in this universe, ichika never got the chance to reconnect with honami and shiho despite her and saki's best efforts (this is also mainly why saki decided to team up with emu in momoiro parfaits (another swap unit) og duo.) she becomes more and more disconnected from her peers, only focusing on her schoolwork and saki (occasionally). she still makes music and listens to miku in her free time, though. mafuyu stays the same. haruka after suffering from severe stage fright decides to quit being an idol and her fear starts developing even further, slowly but surely becoming agoraphobia. even when she met minori, haruka felt like she could never be seen as a proper idol in the eyes of her fans and her friends again. haruka turned to making music and uploading it to a nightcord music server anonymously to help her speak the things she's too scared to say. toya has the same story, but he never got the support and validation that vbs and akito gave him. coincidentally, ichika (1) owned the nightcord music server that all of the other members were in. ichika really liked haruka's (penguin) usage of vocaloids in her songs, so she invited haruka to make songs with her and teach her how to tune miku. touya (bluewillow) also enjoyed haruka and ichikas music and started making piano covers of the songs, drawing the others' attention. at the same time, mafuyu (yuki) was also making songs of her own and uploading them, and ichika (1) also invited her to the music circle (in a separate server. ichikas server name was also something miku related because i have to keep the girlflop in there. they make electropop music and the starter vocaloids are kaito and miku. their sekai is an underground metro station. there are shops littered around it, and you can get on the train to travel to another station. if you take the second train and drop by the 3rd station, the 4th shop to your right is a shop that sells your memories. a bottle of moonlight from that night, all the pens you've lent someone but never got back. and the cashier is no other than yourself, or rather, another version of yourself. ichika sees herself in the main storyline where they formed leo/need, toya sees himself in the main storyline where they formed VBS and haruka sees herself in the main storyline where they formed MMJ. mafuyu sees her past self. there's also a ramen shop and ice cream shop as well as vending machines. and a 7/11. and everything and anything you need. miku is laid-back and doesn't talk much, but she cares a lot for moonbeam arcadia's members and tries her best to help them. her hair is its original color but fades to dark blue at the ends. she has headphones that light up whenever she uses them (gamer headphones) and a tetris t-piece hairclip (don't ask). she wears an oversized jacket over a black crop top and loose high-waisted jeans. she also wears black converses with a white heartbeat pattern embroidered on top. she can often be found at the station arcade playing tetris 99 or beating the shit out of the maimai machine. she chews gum and has a seemingly endless supply of blueberry gum always on her. kaito wears a sleeveless hoodie and black arm coverings (think: mafuyu zozotown gloves). his hoodie has a little screen on it that changes based on what he's currently feeling (it changes to an angry face when he's pissed, sad face when he's sad, etc.) so even if he tries to lie about his emotions, he can't. his pants have a shit ton of pockets on them and has chains attached (think techwear). he also wears ankle high sneakers. kaito is less expressive than miku but is quick to anger, and any emotion, really. he tries his best to help moonbeam arcadia...but these don't end well sometimes. SOMETIMES. he's trying his best, okay.

miku got headphones for her and kaito but accidentally ordered kaito cat ear headphones and hes too embarrassed to wear them, but he still wears them in secret because as embarrassing as light-up cat ear gamer headphones are, theyre really high quality with good noise canceling. miku has a picture she snapped of him in secret wearing the headphones. he would EXPLODE if the others saw (they have, they're just sworn to secrecy). miku uses the picture as blackmail sometimes to get kaito to buy her free stuff sometimes.

kaito tried to beat miku in tetris 99 once and failed miserably. the only person that has been able to beat miku in tetris is toya and she has sworn herself to beating him someday. mafuyu also plays and is nearly as good as miku, but nowhere as good as toya.

miku tried the "dipping ice cream in ramen" trend once and kaito is trying his best to not get violent. he's shaking and so fucking close to combusting while miku is enjoying the ramen and trying to get ichika to try it. he tries to stop ichika from trying it but doesn't get there quick enough. and to his surprise and devastation, ichika enjoys the ice cream ramen.

once luka arrives at the sekai, she immediately catches air about kaito's cat headphones (somehow.) she proceeds to get him a whole cat set with ears and a tail and everything. like the cyber cat kaito module. kaito is FUMING. face is RED and theres SMOKE coming out of his ears. hes so mad the emotion screen is going to catch on fire with how much it's overheating. kailuka chase ensues through the station.

kaito has started to hide but luka keeps finding him and dragging him back to the main station. every time. he has started to check his clothes for hidden trackers because how the heck can she find him Every Single Time like that.

even more chaos will ensue once meiko appears, or at least that's what kaito thinks. meiko actually manages to calm down luka's shenanigans by occupying her time (thank god.) but kaito has to admit, he misses luka's constant pranking.

#project sekai #colorful stage #proseka #pjsk posting #kailuka #vocaloid #vocaloid miku #hatsune miku #moonbeam arcadia

[elidee-art]

Heads up!

Because the internet is a hellscape for artists and everything, I have joined Pillowfort and Hive and will be crossposting some stuff. (Hive properly once the team has time to optimize the android app lol)

Because pillowfort is the only stable-ish platform to allow nsfw, I'll be posting promos over here when I post something there. I may also start doing this for my nsfw twitter

They will be fully cropped/censored, but the images might still be a little suggestive for some. If thats something you want to avoid from me, feel free to block "#nsfw promo" or "#spicy promo" since I'll be using both to tag those posts

#not art #thats all thank u for ur time #i refuse to go crawling back to instagram it SUCKS for non-photography artists

[atlantaantifascists]

Crosspost

Re @CPIExposed We support you taking down Maupin. We don't support your fash-loving, transphobic, misogynist, racist, dictator boot-licking culty "movement" failing any goal except feeding idealistic young people to abusers. If you don't want our limited support, feel free to block us. via Atlanta Antifascists Twitter (https://twitter.com/afainatl/status/1595856363976265728)

#atlanta antifascists