#tumblr discourse

[lockea]

I've been seeing a lot of Discourse around outdoor cats that talks past one of the biggest problems addressing community cats/outdoor working cats so I thought I'd chime in with my two cents.

Many arguments I see just... don't think about the cats at all? Or don't consider the logistics of actually addressing the feral cat problem in a humane way. It's always about how outdoor cats shouldn't be outdoors, which is neither realistic nor helpful.

I used to volunteer at an municipal animal shelter in the USA that had a TNR program (Trap, Neuter, Return) and also adopted out community cats to local farms and businesses. Here's my side of the story.

"Your cat doesn't need to be outside" -- Yes, correct. Your domesticated (non-feral) house cat does not need to go outside at all. They can have a fully actualized life safely indoors. When I see this argument, proponents of indoor only cats are correct in most or all their arguments regarding this.

"Outdoor cats are the largest invasive species in the world, and decimate bird populations." -- This is also correct, and part of the reason why you can help by bringing your house cat indoors. Cats are the largest invasive species. Spay and Neuter your cats, bring them inside, and socialize them so they don't become feral.

"TNR doesn't work." -- False. Whether we like it or not, feral cats exist. We have two methods by which we can address the feral cat population -- decimating them (humanely euthanizing the whole colony) or TNR. For a long time, euthanasia was the preferred way to address the feral cat problem. Afterall, if the cats aren't there, doesn't that save the local wildlife population?

Except that we found, studying these colonies, that when a colony is wiped out, the cats of another colony will spread into their territory and continue to have kittens and the population of feral cats is neither controlled nor diminished.

Hence, TNR. What we found performing TNR on cat colonies was that this controlled the population of the colonies, allowing them to stay in their territory, which kept other colonies from spreading (especially colonies we hadn't performed TNR on yet). We at the shelter felt this was the most humane way to control the feral cat population and safely deflate their existence without dealing with the population blooms that euthanasia caused.

"What about kittens?" -- Kittens from these colonies were brought into the shelter, socialized, and fostered out until they could be adopted. Some of these semi-feral kittens needed special homes to be adopted into, but this was the best quality of life for these cats.

"What about cats that get missed during TNR?" -- We would return to the colony several times over a period of several years to perform TNR on the same colony. We mark cats that have been neutered by clipping their ear (this is done humanely, but is the most reliable way to tell if a cat has been neutered so the poor thing doesn't have to have surgery 3-4 times in their life). Also, during the TNR process the cats would be vaccinated to ensure disease did not spread from the colony (i.e. rabies). Still, even getting 60% of the colony TNR'd would dramatically reduce the number of kittens being added to the colony each year. This controlled the population by allowing the territory to naturally deflate in size over time, buying us time to address the larger feral cat problem.

"What if the colony was in an unsafe location?" -- There were two ways we addressed unsafe colony locations -- remember, we know that when the colony is removed, a new colony will move into its place, so we tried not to move the colony unless we really felt the cats or the public was unsafe -- one was to move the whole colony to a new location. Preferably someplace like a warehouse where we have an agreement with the owners of the warehouse. Some of the cats were even relocated to shelter grounds as our community cats. If the colony was small enough we would bring them into our Feral Cats room and adopt them out as community cats.

"What is a community cat?" -- The way the program worked, was that anyone who needed a working cat could apply to the program. These were often rural farmers or businesses with warehouses that needed rodent protection. We trained the farmers and businesses on how to acclimatize the cats to their new home, and as part of the agreement, they had to care for the cats (veterinary care, vaccinations, food and water). This gave businesses and farms an alternative to expensive and environmentally unfriendly rodent control, and also gave these feral cats good places to live out their natural lives.

"Can't you just adopt out feral cats?" -- No. Cats that have not been socialized around humans as kittens, or who have several generations of feral cat in them could not interact with humans in a way that did not cause them undue stress. This was not a humane way to handle feral cats. However, when a cat was brought into the feral cat room, they would be monitored for up to a week. If the cat displayed signs of being semi-social or fully social (hanging out outside of their den, allowing staff to pet them, showing interest in staff in the room), then we would either move the cat into the adoption room or place them in foster to be socialized before adoption. Feral cats who displayed signs of being able to live full and healthy lives with human companions were NOT adopted out as community cats. We also observed this behavior during TNRs and would do the same for those cats too.

"But aren't cats bad hunters?" -- Compared to other species, cats are not the most effective form of rodent control. This is true. However, you have to understand that feral cats exist. There is no "undo" button we can push to stop them from existing. We have to deal with the problem we have right now, which is to safely and humanely decrease the number of feral cats in our communities. And yes, we do that by using cats as rodent control in the community.

"What can I do?" -- Stop saying community cats shouldn't exist. That's not helpful and doesn't solve the problem we have. Bring your cat indoors. Spay and neuter your cats. Adopt from shelters. Volunteer with a TNR team. Support TNR efforts in your community. Recognize that those of us actively dealing with the community/feral problem are trying to do what is in the best interest of our communities and the animals we love. We aren't sitting over here saying these cats should exist -- a feral cat will not have the same quality of life as one that is indoors with a family -- but we have to address the problem in practical terms. We don't have the moral high ground to just do nothing while pontificating solutions that have no basis in actuality.

And yes, it's okay to celebrate community cats. If your local farm has a couple of working cats, that means that farm is helping participate in the safe deflation of the feral cat population. Don't shame a farm or business for using community cats. We're all doing the best we can to solve the problem that we have.

#long post #community cats #working cats #cats #tumblr discourse

[fuckspezwithacactus]

Oh no, cartoonish calls to violence get you banned now! Do I need to change this url?

Oh, wait a minute, I'm cis.

#photomatt #predstrogen #carhammerexplosionmatt #tumblr discourse #discourse #🚗🔨⚒️💥 #this is sarcasm #i am trying to mock photomatt

[geek--haven]

This whole “anti Swedish” “they are rich racist snobs who wound’t feed your kids” thing to me is hilarious and I note two things:

It mostly seems based on an unsourced map data and people on Twitter/Reddit/Tumblr saying “seriously bro, this is true”

And

It’s weirdly timed to just being a week after Sweden says they are joining NATO.

#sweden #tumblr #tumblr discourse

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Just because I disagree with militant veganism and animal rights doesn’t mean I like how some act on this site towards vegans. Whether you want to admit it or not, tumblr can be pretty dog-pilely. People can claim it’s not about blaming vegans and it’s just pointing out they’re not cruelty free, but when I was vegan and saw all the posts ranting about vegans and their “slave labor quinoa/agave/almonds”, all it did was make me double down as I and many others never touched it. To a lot of people, it does come off as blaming and being way harsher on vegans especially when they word it in a way that positions those products as solely vegan things. People who claim veganism is cult like and also shared that post about how to treat people in real cults like JW or Mormonism often ignore that advice with vegans. You’re not changing minds when you feed persecution complexes by acting hostile and dog piling people. I stopped being a vegan because of people who actually took time to educate about animal welfare and misconceptions aras spread. You may not want to hear this, but a little kindness and patience can go a long way. This does not mean people who have been hurt by militant vegans have to act nice, just remember that acting very hostile towards anyone who disagrees isn’t going to change their mind.

#animal welfare #ex vegan #militant veganism #toxicity #tumblr discourse

[wowbright]

I never want to discourage anyone from commenting on fanfics that they enjoy when they want to share their appreciation with fanfic authors.

At the same time, I cannot convey how discouraging it is to me, as an author, to get comments on years-old fanfic that basically do nothing but tell me that I'm doing storytelling wrong. I have one story in particular where the character has a limited point of view and interprets a common phenomenon differently than many people who live in our real world interpret it. But this is intentional! It's an illustration of the character's thinking and point of view. But instead of people trusting that I might know what I'm doing, I *to this day* get comments from people who have never left a nice word on my fanfic about "well, apparently you don't know this, but actually, that's not the way the world works." And like, if they kept reading the story, maybe they would realize that the decision was intentional? But no, they feel the need to make the comment right off the bat. I mean, just *asking* me if the decision was intentional instead of telling me that I'm wrong would be an improvement. It would give me a chance to clarify, and if there is actually something in my writing I could change to make it clear that this is the character's point of view and not intended to be a representation of the real world, we could have that discussion and maybe I would improve as a writer in the future. But instead I get these discouraging "corrections" that really don't leave a lot of room for dialogue--because at this point I've gotten so tired of them that I just don't approve the comments. And a thing that could have become a dialogue and perhaps even a fandom friendship gets aborted right off the bat, because (even if it wasn't meant that way) it comes across as an intentionally bad-faith reading and, honestly, I don't want to form community with people who read things in bad faith.

(Now, if I already know you and you say something like this, I might find it discouraging but I will also know you're not acting in bad faith, so we can recover from it. But if you just randomly alight on people's fanfic to tell them they're doing it wrong, you're not going to get any sense of community out of fandom.)

On another note, this might be a good reason for well intentioned commenters to keep commenting on old fanfic! Because at this point I would say the majority of comments I get on that old fanfic are "correction" ones. Since the fanfic still gets kudos, I assume there are people still reading it and enjoying it, but I hear less from them. So if nothing else, leaving a kind comment, even something as little as a ❤️, on an old fanfic can help buffer authors against the negative comments they may continue to receive on that fic.

(And just because you don't see any negative comments in the comment section doesn't mean they aren't receiving them. On AO3 and many other platforms, authors can delete or screen out comments--so they could have received them but aren't letting them show up in their comments section.)

#fandom #fanfic #ao3 #rant #tumblr discourse #fandom wank #reblog okay

[girlinlavender]

one of the most intriguing things about sapphic pairings, which, in my opinion, cements them as the best type of ship gender wise, (don’t come at me), is the dialectic parralels they often showcase. Very commonly, a narrative will queercode it’s characters by presenting them as something of a matched set, whether they be friends, enemies, rivals, etc.

This is especially and irrevocably true in sapphic relationships specifically because of how insanely close and often toxic and codependent female friendships can become, especially between repressed queer girls. The comparing yourself to them, the resentment and jealousy, the love, the possessiveness— it’s easy for those types of relationships to bridge on romantic, and that’s why queer girl “friend breakups” are so intense, and often so romantically charged. Because it’s essentially an actual breakup.

Similarly, as is often seen with two characters who are intertwined in this way, or any other, the narrative will present them as parallels to the other’s character, essentially inversions of each other, furthur proving the notion that these two people are a matched set— you cannot talk about one without also discussing the other, because their development within the storyline is entirely dependent on each other. Specifically, female relationships are known to present themselves in this way to a T; it’s what raises the extremely common question within queer women: do I want to be her, or do I want to be with her?

Take Jackieshauna, two girls so insanely connected that even their fucking funko pops had to be together, still codependent even when separated by death. Their relationship was insanely homoerotic, even without being canonical, which makes them one of the most popular ships in the entire Yellowjackets fandom.

Take Catradora, who were super duper codependent in their early days in the horde, and who’s narratives paralleled each other even right up to the very end of the series. They were also a matched set— yes, they had independent character arcs, but their traumas were so connected to each other that without the other, they would have turned out a completely different person, and very likely a worse one..

Take literally any sapphic ship, and you’ll likely see this issue presented in one way or another. This entanglement, like souls bound together, that can’t even become completely separate from each other in the midst of war, death, politics, starvation or cult activity. That’s what makes these kinds of dynamics so interesting, and ripe with motifs to discuss, like I’m doing now. To put it simply: fiction is bonkers bannanas, and girls are extremely close with one another in a way that cannot be understood by outsiders. People of any nature, gender, whatever, are shipped together because they are interesting together, and nothing is more interesting than people who cannot exist without some semblance of the person they care for most. Even if you don’t see them as romantic, you can’t deny the intensity and emotional intimacy share. The human condition is an endlessly expanding atrocity, and the depth that lies within it is easily exemplified by other people, and that, my friends, is why stories are good.

#whooooo that was a lot #everyone good? anyone need water? #shipping dynamics #shipping discourse #i can add as many tags as i want to thank you #wlw #sapphic #jackieshauna #yellowjackets #yj #catradora #she-ra #spop #lesbian #my lil mini essay yahoo #lottienat #mistynat #tumblr discourse #maybe #let’s hope not

[rainoftime3]

Just a reminder that we LGBTQ+ folks wouldn’t have rights without trans ladies with bricks.

Can you tell where I stand?

#qrow caws #trans #LGBTQ #queer #tumblr discourse #fuck matt #fuck tumblr #fuck staff

[one-time-i-dreamt]

The next big Tumblr discourse will be about beds. Sharing or not sharing, twin or full or queen or king, the religious angles, the classism angle, all of it.

#dream #tumblr #discourse #beds #tumblr discourse #classism #religion

[terrencetheshark14]

If those bitches deactivate my account I am not making a new one.

So, here's hoping it doesn't happen, but, this post is my preemptive goodbye.

If I do get terminated, it was a good run, tumblr has made my life better in so many ways, I wouldn't have any of my active friend groups without, genuinely. You guys are the best, I love you all. /p.

So much for "the queerest place on the internet", I have nowhere left to go after this, if any of my friends want my discord, dm me about it. Shit has gone to fuck and I hope it gets straightened out before too long.

I'm going to sleep, goodnight, everyone, and stay safe.

tags: @bakersfield-row, @peanutbutter-and-jellie, @willowplantcat, @kerri-the-skunk, @whoevenisoliver, @autistic-fuckwad, @salt-and-tie, @eggothesquirrel, @falsegrey, @rocatex, @ncsasp, @freelancefiend2112, @tallyhoot, @f4y3w00d5, @blacktipreefsharkwizarding, @expectoc, @deadpotat, @shittest-wizard-ever, @ima-snekk, @glugglestar, @vaguelyregrettable, @extraemopossum, @valentine-616, @bacony-cakes, @theidiotdowntown

#terrys thoughts #tumblr #tumblr discourse

[omnybus]

Tumblr post: I wish some people would be more polite to cashiers

The exact sort of person this post was talking about: Fuck you, just because you bag my groceries doesn't mean you're entitled to women sucking your dick you fucking incel! Where do you get off asking for sexual favors from customers???

OP: That's not even remotely what I said. I never brought up sex at all?

The complete dipshit from before: oh so now you're saying asexuals shouldn't be allowed to buy groceries????

Dozens of people in the notes: (argues about how being rude to cashiers is a local tradition in some countries, claims that bagging groceries was an ancient Native American courtship ritual, debating the ethics of casual sex with retail workers, and a dozen other arguments that completely miss the original point all while calling each other pedophiles and/or beta cucks)

OP: (silently wishes everyone's heads would explode)

#ramblings #tumblr discourse #piss on the poor #reading comprehension #so many of you on this hellsite keep making up shit to be mad about and blaming other people for it #it's a wonder y'all haven't died of a stroke by this point

[castielsprostate]

tumblr is literally a dead bloated horse we found on the beach and we're all poking it with sticks and slapping leaves on it. one day it'll blow up in our face and we'll find another dead horse but for now we just keep playing with it

#sjonnie.text #please don't get spooked by jv or anyone else. yes tumblr will be migrating her staff. we knew this for YEARS let's be real #but just because it's going to be a minimal crew does not mean it's going to die tomorrow. realistically 5 to 7+ years #and during that time one of us just needs to get rich to buy tumblr #text post #tumblr #tumblr discourse

[thegirlmirage]

I know the common joke is that this is the "reading comprehension" website but sometimes I have to put myself into about 5 different headspaces to understand what people mean when they say what they say verses the typical meaning of the phrase plus the Tumblr meaning of the phrase plus the internet meaning of the phrase plus the actual historical influence of the phrase and I don't think it's just me being autistic, I think some more rigerous examination of what we're saying and how we learned it could go a long way. It's okay to be wrong.

In the kindest way possible, some people have no idea what they're even arguing about

#tumblr discourse

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Anti Tagging is a Broken System

So there was this anti Zutara post that I saw a while ago that was tagged as both 'anti zutara' and 'zutara'. As you can imagine, zutara bloggers were mad and the OP claimed they tagged the post as 'zutara' as payback for zutara fans bashing kataang in the 'kataang' tag.

There was also a jedi critical post that was considered to be insulting to someone's religion or culture or some other nonsense. The person asked (**demanded**), the post be tagged as 'anti jedi' because seeing it in the 'jedi order' tag was causing real-world harm.

It confirmed my belief that the tagging system is severely broken and lacking.

These are two issues at play that I notice:

Villain vs Hero Double Standard

What's interesting is that this issue is mainly relevant for protagonists. If I want to bash Ozai, Palpatine or Joker on Tumblr, I don't have to tag my posts as anti. Maybe their fans would prefer it but we all know that these men are villains and the lowest scum in media. It's not bashing - it's the cold hard truth.

So why is it that my calling Ozai a bad father is not Ozai bashing, but me calling Aang a bad father is Aang bashing?? Why the double standards?? Sure, the hero will likely be more sympathetic because we are meant to root for them. But at the end of the day, just like Ozai, Aang played favourites and this left scars on his kids even in their fifties. If you are an Aang fan you can try to justify it, but his actions still hurt his kids no matter how you spin it.

What Does 'Anti' Even Mean??

There are too many ways to be anti character, anti ship etc which makes things murky.

Let's use Kataang as an example. Are you anti Kataang because you objectively looked at the ATLA show and you think how it is presented makes it a bad ship? Are you anti KA because you genuinely like the ship but you think it was not developed properly or did not go the way you thought best? Are you anti KA because you are just emotionally repulsed for whatever reason even though canon may give you reasons to support it? Are you anti KA just because it may be popular to be so in your circle?

That's the problem. Theoretically, the first two scenarios could be classified under the general 'kataang' tag. Because people who hold those opinions are not just bashing it for no reason but have objective truths that they have observed about the ship. Saying that Aang kissed Katara without her consent is an objective truth. Why should that be labelled as 'anti kataang'? It's the truth about the ship.

How would I address this?

The general tag should not be treated as a safe space. If you want a safe space, stick to a 'pro' or 'anti' tag. The general tag should be treated like a neutral zone where everything is laid on the table for debate and discourse. So if I browse the Jedi Order tag, I should see metas about cool Jedi powers and master-padawan relationships but also metas about the separation of families and the social harm it causes kids.

People need to stop being babies and grow up. If someone posts a critical meta about the Jedi order, it does not mean they are attacking whatever religion you have or calling for genocide in real life. Do you know how much witchcraft, paganism, atheism and other kinds of Christian bashing posts I see in the Christianity tag?? If you don't like something, just scroll past it like a big kid. Don't send death or rape threats to someone if you disagree with them.

I think if someone does not have substantial or accurate reasons for hating something, they should stick to the anti tag and avoid the general tag.

What do others think?? Tagging is hard because it's up to the discretion of the poster but I hope my arguments here made sense.

@caripr94

@tragicfantasy-girl

@sokkastyles

@the-badger-mole

#tumblr discourse #fandom etiquette #tagging #shipping discourse #character discussion #atla aang #aang vs ozai #character bashing #atla #anti tagging #jedi order #jedi order critical #toxic fandom #star wars discourse #star wars #atla discourse #anti kataang

[not-mary-sue]

Maybe we should give Tumblr to the Green brothers. Their revenge would be swift but fair.

#Hank Green #john green #green brothers #tumblr #tumblr discourse

[thef4ppening]

”i don’t know enough about this to make an informed opinion” is a valid standpoint to have, And is INFINITELY more respectable than just pulling whatever out of your ass and dying on that hill

You can only know what you know, and that’s okay. The sooner you acknowledge that, it’ll be easier for *you* and everyone else around you

#rant post #debate #hot take #tumblr discourse #internet discourse #actually anxious #actually ocd #actually mentally ill #idk what to tag this as

[robiland]

My heart aches for each and every one of my trans sisters who have been wronged or deleted here. I'm parroting a sentiment that I see a lot here, but for a little while, this website felt almost like a safe haven for transfemme people in a sea of websites piled with bigots. Now, this site was never perfect, but the problem has only grown from the small part of the userbase that went out of their way to harass and silence trans women and ESPECIALLY trans women of colour to even the *goddamn staff members* having a very visible bias against these groups. This situation with Matt is just another progression of this awful culture that's infecting the entire internet, and it makes it feel like we're on a rapidly melting iceberg when it comes to having spaces to be ourselves online. This rampant othering, the blatant dehumanization, and the awful T*RFS celebrating taking away a Transgender Woman's online existence is frankly terrifying. In a time like this, we can't afford to let ourselves be silenced. Justice for Predstrogen. Justice for each and every person who has been silenced by this website. We hear your voices, and we who are still here will echo your sentiments for the world to hear.

Please let the trans people in your life know they're loved.

#trish.txt #tumblr discourse #idk if this is anything I just have A Lot Of Feelings about this #carhammermattexplosion #transgender #predstrogen #we need solidarity more than ever #discourse #carhammerexplosionmatt #🚗🔨💥