#might cancel my subscription honestly

[asian-drama-whump-blog]

I feel like there haven't been any good new shows on viki in ages.

Has anyone else noticed that?

#asian drama #viki #no new shows #might cancel my subscription honestly #am i just missing them somehow?

[boneless-mika]

Two new nearly 40 minute episodes of Make Some Noise since I last checked Dropout?? This can’t be reality, it’s too good

#honestly dropout might be the only subscription service that’s worth it #I’d 100% cancel Disney+ and just use dropout if my sisters didn’t use Disney+ #also new play it by ear and as a huge fan of off book the improvised musical podcast I obviously love that #and I’ve got some interest in dungeons and drag queens #so there’s a lot of content for me to gobble up

[mauraandeyk]

I’m so fucking devastated at the news that Netflix has cancelled 1899. It’s been years since I’ve felt this passionate about a show - any show - on TV. I’m fucking sick of Netflix treating its fans like this. Treating its artists like this. What’s the point, as a writer or showrunner, of going to Netflix when they’re only ever going to fund 1/2 or 1/3 of your project? I’m so tired that entertainment has become a numbers game rather than something that encourages and enables diversity in thought and creativity and people pouring their hearts and minds into an idea. Every time I see Netflix mentioned on the internet nowadays it’s literally in the same breath as a show that was loved and left behind. As an aspiring writer, I can only imagine what the creators and actors and crew must be feeling right now. As a fan, my heart is broken because I might never learn the ending to this story, of what it all means. This show was truly a lifeboat for me during an extremely difficult time and I was hoping for it to remain a lifeboat for a little while longer. I’m really, truly, honestly sick to my stomach. And I have gone ahead and rage-cancelled my subscription because there’s absolutely zero point in paying for a platform that values neither its fans nor its creators.

edit: just going to leave this here as well:

#netflix #1899 netflix #1899 #literally in tears #entertainment should be exciting not exhausting

[mhalachai]

some of you may have seen a notice today from a tumblr-popular youtube show, saying they're putting all their content behind a subscriber paywall. This post isn't about them per say, only bouncing off what that has brought up into the following:

When is a digital subscription something i'm willing to pay for? Rubric edition

Disclaimer - my first news job was in the early aughts at a digital stock news company, so I've been keeping an eye on this subject for over 25 years.

So you want to access an entertainment or news service that has content behind a subscriber paywall. What steps should you go through, to figure out if it's something that you should pay for?

This post will go off the caveat that artists/authors/reporters (I'm not calling them content creators, that term is garbage) should be properly compensated for the works they produce, and the current business model in our late-stage capitalist society means we all have to deal with the worst possible way of engaging with art - the subscription-model paywall. It's a terrible garbage system but there we are.

Step Zero: Do you care enough about the content to consider paying for it?

It might not be important enough to you to want to pay for, and that's okay. On the other hand, you may want to continue watching/reading/listening, either because of the content itself or because you want to support its creation.

(I'm separating the above as they are two different reasons - personally, i'm in favour of paying an annual subscriber fee to my small local news room to keep them in producing the content because I think it's important they exist.)

Step 1: Can you literally afford it?

Everything costs more and salaries aren't rising. If the answer to the question is no, can you split the cost with someone? Is it something that can be accessed through your local library (in terms of audiobooks or magazine/newspapers)? Otherwise, moving to:

Step 2: Is the cost of the subscription in line with what you're willing to pay for the content?

I still subscribe to the newspaper i used to work for - I can read all the news and get all the quotes I'm interested in, and I know i'm supporting local news. I'm willing to pay money for that.

On the other hand, back last year when Disney Plus announced it was raising its prices, I decided that I wasn't interested in paying that amount for what I was getting, so I cancelled that one. Do I miss it? Yes, somedays. Would I go back to them if the cost went down? Honestly I don't know.

Step 3: Did the company/channel do something to lose your trust?

Sometimes, all the above have been met with the affirmative, but something about how the company is doing things sets your teeth on edge. Maybe it's how their business model is evolving, or how they treat their customers (Netflix and their password sharing crackdown was that tipping point for me - i no longer wanted to support a company that sees its customer base like that). Maybe it's how they decided to move to subscriber-only. Maybe it's their take on geopolitical or social issues. Whatever it might be, you get to make that call for you.

Summation: Don't feel pressed by FOMO to pay for something when you're not comfortable doing so.

Whatever the situation is, you get to decide where you spend your money. The corollary of that is that you may not get to see the new stuff created by companies/channels that you like, but honestly? That trade-off might be better for you in the long run (and I'm saying this with too many years of regret behind me) nothing poisons the enjoyment of art more than feeling like you were forced to pay/pay more for it than you were OK with.

The tl;dr: Take a step back and see if you're really comfortable with paying for all your electronic subscription fees for news or entertainment. Don't feel pressured into paying for something you don't really want to see, or what to support. Consider where you want your money to go.

It's hard economic times - do what you need to, and spend your money where you want to.

(And check into what your local library has on offer - they may have streaming services or digital content you weren't aware of - might be enough to tide you over for a while).

#mhalachai has opinions on the internet #seriously tho #feeling like you're being forced or tricked into paying more for something that you reasonably can #poisons the well like nothing else #this post deliberately doesn't mention off-book ways of getting content #you can all figure that one out on your own

[ohmyeyesmyeyes]

trevor fr punching

social media au - t. zegras x stroll!sister

fc: taylor hill

warnings: swearing

< n/a: this one is short bc i suffered a terrible drought of inspiration (i blame a levels) and this one is a week and a bit into the making but i do plan on *trying* to fire out more stuff! >

liked by mclaren, colecaufield and 341,945 others

trevorzegras: that was crazy, i've never experienced that sort of atmosphere before it's absolutely electric the passion everything we've seen from the mclaren garage...

view all comments

fan1: ynstroll

fan2: this was defo an effort to rile up y/n

fan3: are they dating?

colecaufield: yeah these mclaren jackets are real comfy, might have to stay here all weekend ynstroll

jackhughes: i look good in orange

ynstroll: you're going to need your orthodontist on the phone again if you carry on

lhughes_06: oh shit, trevorzegras can we keep her?

trevorzegras: why me lol

jackhughes: lhughes_06 oops

fan4: #awkward

ynstroll: colecaufield is my favourite AND a hab so idk about trevorzegras and jackhughes chances here ngl

colecaufield: i fucking knew it

trevorzegras: WTF NO

ynstroll: beggars can't be choosers 🤷

jackhughes: i'll give you season box tickets and you can meet nico

ynstroll: tempting but i prefer glass views

jackhughes: i can sort it though

ynstroll: no thanks but i'll accept meeting nico

trevorzegras: absolutely not that can't happen

colecaufield: buddy, i hate to tell you this...

trevorzegras: tell me what

jackhughes: you need to make it official!!!!!!!

this post has been deleted

liked by kyleallenofficial, jamie.drysdale and 419,173 others

ynofficial: EXTREMELY LATE STAGECOACH CONTENT I'M SORRY

view all comments

fan5: STAGECOACH WITH TREVOR AND JAMIE???

fan6: that's defo jamie in the first pic and i'm hoping she's teaching him guitar in the last one bc that'd be adorable

fan7: the lack of trevor in these and the load of jamie makes me think that she might be dating jamie instead of trevor...

fan8: no bc she's been wherever trevor has been for ages now

colecaufield: i think the real question is stagecoach or taylor swift

ynstroll: TAYLOR SWIFT EVERYDAY WITHOUT A FUCKING DOUBT

jamie.drysdale: always nice to know you enjoy my company 😄

ynstroll: babe i do, it's just taylor swift

jamie.drysdale: honestly, i get it

trevorzegras: i'm offended cole invited you over me

ynstroll: cole and i are besties

colecaufield: yeah, remember who introduced you guys 😏 

trevorzegras: 🙄 

fan9: idk what to do with this information

jackhughes: colecaufield wait what was the un-real question?????

liked by trevorzegras, lance_stroll and 589,152 others

ynstroll: montreal, a pleasure as always!

view all comments

fan10: peep the boat photo 👀 

fan11: i'm peeping it 👀

fan12: AHH!!!! THE TEXTS!!!!!

fan13: i can hear trevor saying that it's actually incredible

colecaufield: everyone talking about the last photo but MY BEST FRIEND IS FUCKING GORGEOUS

colecaufield: can i say that or is it inappropriate

chloestroll: you can say it

ynstroll: it's not inappropriate KEEP HYPING ME UP BESTIE 🙌

trevorzegras: i beg to fucking differ

jackhughes: keep it in your pants, zegras

fan14: i think i need to cancel my kuwtk subscription because this is infintely more entertaining

_quinnhughes: me too

fan15: LMAO QUINN

liked by mickschumacher, lissiemackintosh and 499,153 others

ynstroll: i'm just a girl ✨🐚🌊🌺

view all comments

fan15: I DARE SOMEONE TO TELL ME THAT'S NOT TREVOR ON THE SURFBOARD

fan16: no bc it definitely is 😭

fan17: i'm in love with the caption

colecaufield: THIS IS A FAMILY SHOW

ynstroll: wtf did i do?????

fan18: i'm begging them to just address the rumours

lhughes_06: me too

lance_stroll: me three

fan19: LANCE BASICALLY JUST CONFIRMED SOMETHING

ynstroll: lhughes_06 lancestroll 😐

liked by jamie.drysdale, chloestroll and 301,845 others

trevorzegras: boomshakalaka

view all comments

colecaufield: you couldn't be serious just one time huh?

trevorzegras: fuck you 😀

jackhughes: you're punching

ynstroll: yeah he's punching your teeth out

liked by trevorzegras and _quinnhughes

jackhughes: never gonna let that go

fan20: FUCKING FINALLY

fan21: fr we all knew

fan22: they weren't slick ✋

fan23: they're gorgeous together 😭😭😭

fan24: they look so good

fan25: how long have they been together

trevorzegras: 8 months 😛🤘

fan26: lmao what

fan27: I'M SQUEALING I'M SO HAPPY FOR THEM BOTH

colecaufield: OMG ME TOO

chloestroll: 💗💗💗

ynstroll: hope you're enjoying the honeymoon!! say hi to scotty and kelly for me

scottyjames31: i leave for a week and this happens???? why didn't i know about this???

ynstroll: scotty we talked about this what 😭😭

scottyjames31: omg we did

scottyjames31: trevor, long time no see!

trevorzegras: scotty! gotta get you some tickets for next season

scottyjames31: 😁😁😁😁😁 thanks

liked by jemima_jo_kirke, danielricciardo and 528,193 others

ynstroll: #2 favourite hockey player

view all comments

trevorzegras: ouch

fan28: boy flew to this post 😭

ynofficial: babe you knew nico hischier came first in our relationship when you asked me to be your gf

nicohischier: i'm honoured?

ynofficial: you're very welcome

trevorzegras: who's that hot babe you're hugging?

ynofficial: that's cole, i must've accidentally added it in there 😬 apologies

trevorzegras: it could never be cole he's too short

colecaufield: sad but true

ynofficial: my short king 👑

colecaufield: love u

ynofficial: 😘

fan29: are we sure it's not cole and y/n that are in love

trevorzegras: honestly, i can't say that for certain

ynofficial: u know i only love you

trevorzegras: always nice to hear it ☺️

jackhughes: you got him WHIPPED bro

_quinnhughes: are you sure about him?

trevorzegras: OI

ynofficial: yes (but i appreciate the concern)

lance_stroll: are you ok, like, mentally?

ynofficial: you don't have to pretend to be concerned, i know you secretly love him too

lance_stroll: right ok 🙄

trevorzegras: golfing next week?

lance_stroll: name a time and place and i'll be there

trevorzegras: 👍

#trevor zegras social media au #nhl fic #trevor zegras imagine #nhl imagine #hockey fic #hockey imagine

[meanbossart]

Asks about VaM, art advice, and miscellaneous stuffs

HI! Real quick please refrain from referring to Sad Sack as S/S for the uh... Obviously reasons LOL We call it "sads" for short!

If what you're asking for are recommendations for a website to host that kind of thing, Neocities, Twitter, Itchio and as you mentioned AO3 are all perfectly good options! Patreon too (depending on how gnarly you're planning on getting) but I'd suggest keeping that as a secondary host option because I don't think it lends itself super well for getting your work circulating. I believe Bluesky allows that kind of thing too, but I'm not too sure since I don't use it.

Now, If you're asking about public reaction rather than guidelines, anywhere you go you might find people that don't jive with the work you do 🤷 just be upfront about the type of content you're making right off the bat to avoid having anyone stumble upon it by accident to the best of your abilities, otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much. I know we're constantly exposed to examples of overwhelming harassment and "dogpilling" happening to others but... Truth be told, most of us won't ever get to the size/internet level of fame where we experience that. I think the threat is a little bit... Overstated, nowadays. Not to mention that most of the time people are getting harassment for things that have nothing to do with their work, and rather relating to their behavior and attitudes. Play smart, be responsible, and be honest! Whatever comes next is in god's hands LOL

Thank you for the ask! Not sure I was of much help 😅 but frankly when you're just starting out it's best to focus on getting the work done first and just throwing it out there, wherever it may be. You can worry about technicalities like that later!

I GOT YOU MAN the full sketch is now up on my patreon!

YES AND YES WHETHER IT BE STORIES OR ART OF DU DROW AND YOUR CHARACTERS SLAMMING PINTS TOGETHER BE MY GUEST PLEASE

I love seeing everyone's take on my weirdo so much, anything is honestly welcomed!

AW DUDE thank you so much! Especially for suffering through the mammoth of a story that ANE turned into - writing has never been my strongest point so I'm always shocked to hear from people that enjoy it 🥲

About the booze question, honestly I'm not picky at all, I usually go by price and by that I mean whatever is cheapest LOL but I prefer a dry white as far as types go.

You only have to pay for it once! You get a code that unlocks the software and all of it's features and you're free to cancel your subscription after that. At some point the code might change or there might be an update that requires subscribing again - but that seems like a very rare occurrence so I wouldn't worry about it.

OH NO I HAVE DEFINITELY TRACED MY OWN REFERENCE BEFORE, but not entire poses! When something is challenging I'll make a point of drawing it out the usual way.

I can remember a couple of instances from Nick and mine's comic where I traced pictures I took of myself, just as a time saving measure. Again like I said in the post, there are several ways to employ tracing your own material that is perfectly acceptable. I have also traced bare-bones 3D backgrounds that I made for the same reasons.

I know you specifically asked about tracing when something's complicated, but I still wanted to be upfront to demystify the practice under different circumstances. The rule of thumb is to never use it when you know it would be inhibiting your skill development!

Happy to hear you wanted to pick up the skill! I definitely understand the urge too LOL since playing BG3 and becoming so invested in the stories and characters my art has improved a ton, simply from forcing me out of my usual style and making me want to capture different moods and scenarios - finding something you're passionate to draw is, frankly a great damn start.

I replied to a bunch of asks asking for pointers and advice a while back, one of the questions was very similar to yours and I still stand behind the advice I gave then. Hopefully you can find something helpful here! https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/740543514692173824/some-art-advice-asks-ive-been-meaning-to-reply

HMMM I don't usually think of myself as the best teacher/tutorial guy, but funnily enough I can think of a few things about this topic that I could elaborate on lol. If I do that in the near future, I'll put it up on my patreon (for free as with everything else.)

If there are any specific things about it that you (and anyone else who would be interested in it, for that matter) find challenging and would like for me to focus on, let me know!

---

That's all for now folks, and as usual thank you so much to everyone who's left a nice compliment, word of encouragement or funny tidbit in my inbox as well! I can't reply to you all individually, but I see and read all the messages I get c:

HAVE A LOVELY REST OF YOUR WEEK

#lore asks coming either later today or tomorrow! #I might reply to a few right now/space them out rather than do another compilation #we'll see how I feel about it! #ask compilation

[duckprintspress]

Really feel the need to call out this insane manipulative crap that Adobe is trying to pull on me.

They are l.y.i.n.g. this e-mail bears literally zero relationship to reality, it's a bizarre attempt to try to trick my organization into thinking this was a ~mistake~ and in a place run by multiple people heck it might even work but it's just me up in here and here's what actually happened:

last month I got an e-mail from Adobe

that e-mail said, basically, "when your annual subscription renews next month, your monthly rate will go from $30 per month to $60 per month

I'd already been planning to scale back, and go to having only Acrobat probably, but at this ludicrous money grab, I instead completely canceled

it took forty minutes to figure out where in their website I COULD cancel but I eventually managed it

a week ago iirc I got a reminder to renew

and today I got THIS.

SUSPENSION? In your goddamn dreams, Adobe, I told y'all and your 100% increase for the exact same crap programs to GET STUFFED and this manipulative nonsense makes me EVEN MORE SURE I did the right thing.

I swear, everything Adobe does makes me that much more sure that I will never use Adobe again. It's like they're actively trying to lose my business, but this, I'll own, I'm honestly appalled. Not "we're sorry to see you go." Not "here's a discount, please come back" (they did try that, before, as part of the cancellation process, disgusting jerks). Nope, just, "this is YOUR fault and you need to FIX IT" like I still want access to their garbage.

Hey Adobe? Get fucked.

#unforth rambles #sorry but this makes me insane #rant #adobe

[aerodaltonimperial]

.

I left all my writers discords and cancelled my QueryTracker subscription in the last week or two. There might still be a few rejections that come in super delayed on queries I've CNRed (closed, no response), but they are already rejections to me anyway. This is the first week or so where I've been completely out of trying to achieve that big, big life dream, and I feel... lighter. I feel free. I think I knew the writing was on the wall with the publishing industry years ago and I was too embarrassed to quit, because it meant acknowledging that I had failed. And now that I've deliberately taken myself out of it, I don't feel like I have to keep producing things I don't love anymore. I haven't loved original writing since probably 2018. I just want to write shit that I'm excited about. I just want to be ridiculous in fandom and write fics that make me happy to create and happy to share. And this fic is pouring out of me, and I'm no longer feeling guilty about using my limited free time to write fic when I know I should be working on a novel, and I look at it and I'm like yeah, this is so fucking good. This is fucking great. I love what I am making. I am having such a nice time.

Sure, I have nothing to brag about on social media: no book deals, no end caps with my name on them, no shiny hardbacks to autograph. But that doesn't change that I'm a good writer. It doesn't change my writing. I even told my therapist a month or so back that my novels and my fic, I know it's the same words. It's the same sentences. My writing is the same across the genres. And I admitted that I wonder if agents and editors and everyone in the publishing industry, they could tell that I didn't love it. They could tell from what I was producing that my heart wasn't in it. And maybe they could. But that doesn't mean I'm not good. I tried to make my hobby a stream of income, partially because of course, who doesn't want to see their words in a Barnes & Noble? But also because it legitimized it. I just want it to be my hobby. It stopped being enjoyable when all the pressure came along with it, all the need to succeed and be validated, especially when I failed.

All I ever wanted was for people to read my words and feel something as a result. And I can do that here. It's a smaller scale, sure, but honestly, I think in fandom it means more. People show up to fandom out of love. And that means something to me, that people have chosen to use their free time reading my fics. They could be doing anything! And they read my fics. That means something. I'm still struggling with flipping back over to that being enough. But I suppose, at the end of the day, I am a failed author, but I'm not a failed writer. I tried, you know? At least I can say that I really tried.

I just wanna do this. Be in fandom. It makes me happy. It's a spot of joy for me when I sometimes don't get much in a day. 💚

#katy's writing tag #or something like that lol

[this-is-beanstalk]

QUICK RANT (Japanese and Duoling Based

i lost my duolingo streak!!!! I was on 230something streak!!!

I used a lot of freezes cause to be honest with yall I'm not very good at studying every day. and lately I've been doing more and more freezes each week

it was only a matter of time I guess

but 230days!!! gone!!!!!

I was so close to a year!!!!!

but i guess this means I've been studying Japanese for ALMOST A YEAR NOW!!!!!

Another thing is, I paid for duoling super, so studying each day(or as much as I did) was so much easier, and I kept telling myself "just do a year, just finish the 365 days and we'll cancel the super" but now i lost my streak!

I honestly thought I had that "IF YOU LOSE YOIR STREAK WILL FIX IT FOR YOU" cause ir happened once and it got fixed due to me having super but I guess not...idk

I might have to get super again, I'll see how it goes without super once it cancels (I got it accidentally cause I forgot to cancel my free subscription and I canceled it immediately after it charged me so it won't charge me again until I pay for it)

anyways, what other ways do yall study japanese? and are there any free books I can read online to help study(like super bigger level, I just learned the difference between これ and ぞれ lol)

also what other apps do yall use for studying, and is it harder to study with duolingo without super (I dont think i can handle the ads)

#long posts #japanese langblr #japanese #learn japanese #learning japanese #duolingo #kanji #langblr #日本語 #new language #multilingual #tumblr

[musings-from-mars]

I’m honestly very conflicted about what to do, cus like, I don’t really wanna support RT itself anymore but if then if the company doesn’t get money then neither do the animators themselves, and if most people cancel their subscription them I’m worried it might just make the animators situation worse…

I think it's safe to say that revenue from FIRST subscriptions has no bearing over worker salaries at RT. And if subscriptions start to plummet as a direct reaction to what people now know about the company, maybe that will get the executives' collective attention.

An RT FIRST subscription sends money to the company, not the workers. And I don't trust RT with my money, that's why I won't renew mine. But I will keep watching RWBY, as that will show that I am willing to devote my time to the product of CRWBY's passionate work. It's not much for just me to do but it gets across the point that, I love RWBY, not RT, and I will be more loyal to this series and the workers involved in creating it more than the company that profits off of it. If the company behind it wants my money, they'll give those workers the respect they deserve, and invest in their well being and happiness.

Until then, I'm fine with waiting to watch the show for free.

[incarnateirony]

From the article you posted it’s a relief to know the unions are aware of the smokescreen the studios are putting out right now. While I can see the unions striking the rest of the year do you think the studios can hold out not making a deal for that long?

For those who haven't read the article, they're talking about this part, which... I've been talking about myself or a while before this,

Honestly the last chunk sums up my thoughts. Even with the inside feelers I have with some studios, I can look at the paperwork and numbers. I can tell you what they SHOULD be doing. They have not been doing that, so far, so I'm saying the same thing Wall Street has been. They truly thought they could scrooge out of this and they've scrooged themselves into a corner that's about to cripple them for years and it looks like they're still trying to double down on scrooging. It's truly just fantastically bad business, assuming their inethical model to yield mass profits would work regardless of reality or conditions.

I do know that if by end of August there's no resolution--which I really don't think there will be--Zaslav at least is gonna panic. The others are trying to echo his tactics late so they might be a month or two behind on the panic themselves. This is also why What Aren't You Watching was geared for September. (And please, goddamn muggles everywhere, do not Well Actually be about this shit, your lack of understanding of legal limits on union official action or the back workings are not something I want to go back over with 100 randos making excuse to keep streaming every time I make an offhanded mention.)

Streamers are already bleeding subscriptions, and the subscriptions are one of their main income flows, so if people turned off demand and cancelled their shit their bottom line goes in the hole in the last month of the quarter, and completely derails their growth. It's a fantasy dream to imagine all shows can be supported/ordered through while simultaneously hurting the studios enough to give the community leverage, the only leverage in continued viewing is larger more famous names being able to leverage-out smaller shows and creatives with lower demand in the crunching market, and it's shooting yourselves in the foot to try to keep their bottom lines up for fear of limited budget to order things, when pre-strike they were reducing orders anyway, and the point is to hurt their bottom line, but the internet decides to kick motherfuckin water uphill.

So. Hard to say. the content addict gremlins of tumblr needing to shoot gifs into their veins are a perfect example of what's enabled this behavior by consumerism, much less their aggressive refusal to understand why WGA won't announce streamer boycott officially on main rather than as an individual to avoid the fuckin lawsuit fallout blowing up their entire thing. It would be a suicide bomb decision to try to end it, when WGA-E guy retires and the guy running on the What Arent You Watching election platform takes over, and would turn it into a pile of endless litigation instead. Which is a viable tactic but only at the right time. So.

Zaslav projections to recover are based on a september return to work date. If not only is the strike still going, but people start bulk closing their services, their Q3 is going to go catastrophically in the toilet, almost beyond repair. Things that will take them literal years to recover from. WGA is playing chess here on a legal/business level and fandom is trying to argue about how to play checkers.

But, like myself and wall street say, just because obviously this is a stupid as shit nonsense pattern of behavior doesn't mean they're going to stop making bad decisions.

Honestly let it burn. We'll make our own.

Personally I think Amazon and Apple are kind of filibustering it for everyone else in AMPTP at this point, like some company union making bad decisions in comparison with two heavyweights leading a charge that will benefit them to collapse older studios, and now the older studios are realizing they're getting fucked but their deals have to fly by Apple and Amazon. Pre-strike Zaslav as the first one to admit Apple and Amazon and the tech giants would eat them if they didn't change how a lot of shit works, so I'm thinking he's gonna be one of the first cracking regardless of his Let Them Starve quote before.

[shai-manahan]

Finalized Update Schedule: October 8, 6:00 am (GMT+8) 

Hello! I hope you’ve all been doing well this week! Like I mentioned above, the update’s finally coming :) And there’ll be no further delays, I promise. I will be sending the edited last scene for the update to my testers later, or tomorrow morning if my headache still persists tonight, but I’m truly excited to show you this!

As of now, there are three main things I wanted to discuss:

FUTURE UPDATES

For the sake of my health, mentally speaking and to help my eye issues recover somewhat, I will be taking a one-week break from writing after every update. I’ll still be answering asks, but I’ll be limiting myself to that.

Reblogs for the updates are very much appreciated every time. That’s really the only way for me to reach more readers, and it’s also quite motivating when I see folks reblog my silly posts and my silly game.

I’m no longer going to write as many prompts as I did last year; I kinda learned my lesson with that (that was a very bad idea of mine). When I do share prompt lists, it will probably be every 2 or 3 months, and you’ll have to wait a week or two before I actually get to writing your requests.

My target right now is to upload an update every 2 months, although this will only be possible if I get to focus on writing.

Please expect there to be more edits to preceding updates once I upload the next ones. It’s just how I write. For all the years I’ve written screenplays, I’ve never finished one without making a lot of edits to the opening parts. This will likely happen here, too. What I plan, though, is to do these edits once I’ve given my updates to the testers and before publicly releasing them, so there will be no time wasted on it.

Any kind of feedback and/or suggestion will be appreciated every time I push out an update; they help in motivating me, which then equates to a faster pace of writing, as weird as that may sound.

The first book for Hollowed Minds is quite long, so I will be looking forward to your continued support!

If anyone here has a better sense of time management than I do, please help me out and give me some tips lmao.

PATREON

I’m planning to launch my patreon a week or so after the update; I’m also aiming to set up my ko-fi in a way that you could choose to get the same benefits there instead if you wish to.

I hope y’all wouldn’t see this as greediness or anything alike, but I’d definitely prefer to focus on writing Hollowed Minds as much as I can, without a lot of distractions. Gradually raising funds through these platforms would help in doing that, while ensuring that more frequent updates will come in the future and that everything with regards to my health would be properly taken care of. Setting this up will also help me manage my time more efficiently through stricter deadlines, and you’ll be free to cancel your subscription at any time.

I want to ask for your inputs with regards to the content you wish to see in here. So far, I’ve been planning for: sneak peeks, lore content and q & a, more plot-oriented snippets for the ROs, bonus short stories for the characters, access to polls, and a 2-week early access to the succeeding updates once applicable. I honestly don’t want anyone to just waste their money, so knowing what you want to see would be great.

A weekly progress will be kept free to view here on tumblr, though I will also start posting them on patreon and on ko-fi. (I might not post them at certain times if I feel like I didn’t have sufficient progress to report about.) 

FEEDBACK

I don’t like having to keep asking for them, but really, receiving any sort of opinion about the game and especially about its characters will help a tremendous amount. While I do have testers, it’s not as if they can catch every issue in it, so knowing how you feel about the overall flow will be appreciated.

I will be searching for more testers for the next update, so keep your eyes peeled!

Do note that you can choose to send your feedback here, on the discord, or on the forums, wherever you prefer.

I feel like I’m forgetting something, but uh, I’ll just reblog an edited version of this if I do remember. See you soon!

#interactive fiction #hollowed minds series #hollowed minds book one #hollowed minds #interactive story #interactive novel #if game #if wip #dashingdon #choicescript #hosted games #choice of games #writing #progress update #hollowed minds progress update #cyoa

[kwiyoshi]

彡✎ Is Blogging Still a Thing, or Did It Get Lost in MySpace? ("Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagram?")

Every time I go on social media platforms like Twitter or Tumblr, I can post the most trauma-dumping content to ever exist, or even post the funniest memes. This image is all I could think about in regard to that.

In a world where cat videos go viral and memes have become a form of communication, it's high time we ask: Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikTok and Instagram?

Blogging? Whats that

A blog is defined as an online journal or informational website that displays content in reverse chronological order, with the most recent posts appearing first. It serves as a sort of forum for writers to express their opinions on specific topics (Minaev 2023). Over the years, the relevancy of blog sites such as Tumblr and even Blogspot (now known as Blogger) seems to be declining.

Tumblr, tumbled away

For Tumblr specifically, I noticed that not a lot of people are talking about or even using Tumblr after they banned explicit content on the platform. Honestly, even before they banned adult content, I still never heard anything about Tumblr. However, it was reported that the website experienced its most significant drop in the number of blogs following the ban on adult-oriented content in December 2018, plummeting from 521 million to less than 370 million in just two months (Eira 2023).

To make matters worse, Tumblr does not even appear on any of the social media usage rankings anymore. Most people nowadays would prefer using social media platform giants such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. In short, Tumblr fell off. From that, it seems that Tumblr isn't "the vibe™" anymore with Gen-Zs.

Despite Tumblr not seeing the light of day in today's generation, I do think that blogging in general is still relevant on platforms such as Twitter and its newest competitor, Threads (from Meta). I do think that some, if not, most of the community from Tumblr has migrated to Twitter due to the similarities that the two platforms have.

Twitter, Oops I meant X

Twitter, or you can even call it "X" (don't call it that), has done quite an amazing job at carrying on Tumblr's legacy but through a different format. Twitter is considered as a microblogging platform that combines content creation and instant messaging. It also increases interaction with an online audience by sharing brief remarks using a microblog (Sprout Social 2023). Personally, I think that Twitter is a great platform to receive news, interact with the fandom that I am in, and also see who got canceled (again). I feel that part of the reason why Twitter seems to be more popular than Tumblr is due to the character limit that Twitter has, which is capped at 280 characters per post (without the premium subscription). As someone who suffers from mild ADHD, I would prefer Twitter to Tumblr for that reason. I find that Tumblr could be quite overwhelming to some people, especially those who have just started out. Twitter, on the other hand, is mostly short-formed content, that can also be separated out as a thread.

Here are a few examples that I took from my own Twitter page:

Hanging on by a Thread(s)

Threads (from Meta), is also really similar to Twitter in terms of everything. It is also a microblogging platform. In my honest opinion, I quickly got tired of Threads after a week of using it. I just thought it was quite boring to use and there isn't really anything new other than being able to still use your existing Instagram account to create a Threads account. It just felt really similar to Twitter and I think that might be part of the reason why it is not doing as well. I also feel like I am very comfortable with Twitter and have been a part of Twitter for a long time now (even though it got rebranded to "X"). I still hate the fact that Twitter got rebranded to X. No one can ever make me call it X.

Welcome back to my channel !

Besides Tumblr and Threads, blogging has also evolved into a video format, called vlogging. Vlogging is short for video blogging or video logging (changing the b to v from blogging, very original). Most content creators nowadays would typically post either their daily routine or the adventures they had on platforms like YouTube or TikTok. Each of their videos has a unique style that fits the aesthetic or personal preference of the creator. I find that vlogging is one of the easiest media to consume due to the fact that it is in a video format where I can see their vlogs visually and also from their own perspective.

Final thoughts and prayers

Overall, I do believe that, in some aspects, blogging is still a thing and is also relevant in the ages of TikToks and Instagram. With social media platforms such as Twitter, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, and Tumblr, blogging will remain relevant.

References:

Eira, A 2023, Number of Tumblr blogs in 2022/2023: User Demographics, growth, and revenue, Finances Online, viewed 27 September 2023, <https://financesonline.com/number-of-tumblr-blogs/#:~:text=The%20site%20suffered%20its%20biggest,the%20global%20COVID%2D19%20lockdown>.

Sprout Social 2022, Microblog, Sprout Social, viewed 27 September 2023, <https://sproutsocial.com/glossary/microblog/#:~:text=Microblogging%20is%20a%20combination%20of,offer%20popular%20platforms%20for%20microblogging>.

Minaev, A 2023, What is a blog? - definition of blog, Blogging & Blogger, First Site Guide, viewed 27 September 2023, <https://firstsiteguide.com/what-is-blog/>.

#MDA20009 #Week4

[thessalian]

Thess vs Older Titles

So here we have one of the big problems with this “Always Online” bullshit.

Some games I own, I own in two places. Because Reasons, mostly, I think. One of them is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. And one of the things about that one is that all the DLC you get with specific editions can only be accessed when you’re logged into your EA account.

Amalur’s one of the ones I reinstalled on Steam, but apparently it has a tendency to bork out before it even hits the title screen on Steam. Does it on the EA app too, but ironically, that’s easier to deal with - you just run the Repair function and you’re fine. (Or rather, it was; today that fix is not working.)

Then I ran into the other problem of “Okay, it won’t log me into my EA account”.

First thought was “Did I misremember my password?” It’s possible; there’s a lot of autofill on passwords nowadays. So I changed my EA password and ... still no.

Did some Googling. Turns out that in May this year, EA shut down the server that services Amalur. Which means the base game is playable, but I don’t know whether we still get the DLC. I mean, if we have to be logged in for it, I don’t see how we can.

So there it is - I know there are other examples of this, but this is supposed to be a full-on single-player game with no actual need to be linked to Being Online, but they did it to validate DLC, and now they can’t validate DLC anymore because the servers shut down. So everyone who’s starting a new game at this stage loses their DLC, which includes entire zones, I might add, as well as some gear I really liked. Fine, it’s an eleven-year-old game, but ... people play those. *gestures emphatically at Dragon Age*

(I’d be gesturing emphatically at Mass Effect too but the LE kind of made that superfluous.)

Not that it matters when the damn game really does not like Win10 and now I can’t get it to load no matter what I do. I guess I’ll just have to find something else to play. I struggle to decide which game to play, and get my wheel spoked at the outset with tech incompatibility and the problems inherent in lack of physical ownership of product. I mean, I’m trying really hard not to be “Old Man Yells At Cloud” here, but I look at my computer, which didn’t come with a disc drive because that was apparently a more expensive option somehow, and I look at this shit, and I go, “...Honestly, doesn’t anyone miss games where you just owned the disc and you played?” I can see console players being smug but given the online store and subscription services run by the biggies, we’re not far from losing disc drives on consoles either.

There’s a lot I could say about how precarious an existence it is these days. We own less and less, and there’s a security in ownership. There’s knowing that no one can take this away from you on a whim. But most people can’t afford to actually own a home, so they’re beholden to landlords who could play silly buggers with the terms of the lease at more or less any time. Job security doesn’t exist for most people, particularly given “at-will employment”. And as for things like entertainment...

Side bar: If Netflix wasn’t being such a stingy bitch about cancelling programmes before they’re due residuals, I’d probably be more or less okay with the renting of that particular service because I remember a time before all this when we couldn’t afford a VCR or cable TV so we were at the mercy of the networks a lot. And even with cable, it was just more channels where someone else controlled your programming entirely. They do have to consolidate server space somewhere - I just wish they’d do it more with older movies instead of original programming, and that it really was space consolidation instead of screwing the writers and actors and so on out of hard-earned residuals.

For things like video games, though? I mean, come on. How many of us are sitting on games we’ll play eventually but haven’t got around to yet? It’s absolute shit when we do get around to those, only to find out that no, apparently the publisher decided that it’s not profitable for them to run the game that we specifically paid for anymore. It’s one thing when it’s a MMO; it’s another when it’s a single-player game that didn’t have to be online that you paid full price for but suddenly can’t play because the publisher said so. I can live with the technology no longer being compatible because age - it annoys me, but I get it. But they didn’t have to make it need to be online. Yeah, I know, digital rights management, anti-piracy action, blah; it never works anyway and I have a whole other rant about piracy that I don’t really want to go into right now. I just want to be able to own what I bought.

Right. I’ll stop bitching and go find something else to play.

#Thess plays video games

[beachesgetpeaches]

honestly, all of the people saying they will cancel their netflix subscription if stancy is endgame are fucking ridiculous. learn to consume media in a healthy way. it's a ship on a tv show.

even i with my stancy brain rot can tell them to chill tf out.

you know what i will do if stancy isn't endgame? read and write fics. talk to my fellow stancy shippers on possible alternate endings. whatever AU is possible. if stancy isn't endgame I will still keep my netflix subscription. hell, I will rewatch the show likely bcs my mum hasnt watched it yet so we might just do that.

if stancy isn't endgame I will deal with it like a normal fucking human being. jesus get a grip on your emotions. for your sakes to be honest.

#stancy #i swear some of you are ready to end up in a mental facility over a ship #learn to write and read fanfiction dont ducking cry about the plot #i survived bellarke fiasco i can survive anything

[fandomshatewomen]

so Warner Bros. decides to not show a completed Batgirl movie why? what's the reason, not releasing it won't get them any of the money back seeing as the movie is pretty much done??? why not release it

the article I read said they weren't willing to spend another 30-50 million on making it good enough for a theatrical release and they preferred the tax write off of just not releasing it.

but honestly I think its just misogynoir at this point. this would have been the first dc property with a Black woman as the titular superhero on the big screen. And look at what they did with Batwoman??!?!?

honestly I think if we kick up a big enough ruckus we might get it on hbo max. I for one am willing to cancel my hbo max subscription over this.

mod laina

#batgirl #leslie grace #dc #dceu #barbara gordon