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starcrossed-sky · 10 months

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Hey Twitter(/Reddit) alternative seekers

Okay, fandom. Everyone's all worked all the time about this or that new alternative to Twitter and how it's either awesome or it sucks. I'm here to tell you about an OLD alternative: Plurk.

(Note that this was originally formatted for Twitter so forgive the jank thread paragraphing)

Disclaimer: This information is specifically aimed at people who use Twitter for fandom purposes; it is not intended to cover the exhaustive list of things that people use Twitter for (professional networking, art/photography promotion world news, etc). It's friend-centric rather than follow-centric, at least as the existing site culture goes.

So what is Plurk? It's a threaded microblogging platform dating back to 2008 that has only ever seen extremely niche use in English-language use. (Its primary userbase is Chinese-speaking.) It has a purely chronological timeline and a lot of privacy features that you haven't seen since the LJ era (assuming you're old enough to remember that).

Plurk functions through an exclusively-chronological timeline on your homepage (desktop) or in the app. Algorithmically sourced content? We ain't got it! (There is a different page for viewing top content but you have to go there specifically.) Instead, your timeline shows your own content and the content of other plurkers you friend or follow, and the occasional ad (MUCH more occasional than Twitter).

Each top-level plurk can be replied to, and this creates a chain of replies that can be used for conversation. Unlike Twitter and Reddit, replies don't form branching threads; each plurk is only one stream of conversation. Plurks with unread replies will be lit up as unread; however, they can be "muted" to stop them from giving you notifications.

(Two small caveats: You cannot mute your own plurks, and there is actually a cap of around 200 muted plurks. Mutes will fall off from the oldest, so you'll sometimes see an ancient plurk pop back up on your timeline if someone comes back to it. You can just mute it again.)

Your plurk timeline has a global privacy control. If your timeline is set to private, only people you have friended can see what you say on there. If your timeline is public, then anyone who comes to you page can see what you've posted, AND logged-in users can share your post on their own timeline with the "replurk" function (works just like a normal retweet), as well as reply to it.

There is also an "anonymous" option, which anonymizes you and also the names of everyone who replies (it randomly generates names like "lemon354" and "libra262" for repliers to differentiate them). Anonymous plurks will stay within your timeline if your plurk is set to private, but can be replurked if it's public.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE, because individual plurks can also be given specific privacy levels: -> Friends only (if your timeline is public but you don't want this one getting around) -> Private to "cliques," which are Twitter circles but you can have more than one -> Individual users (including those not on your friends list - this is plurk's equivalent of DMs)

Your own plurk homepage is also insanely customizable, if you want to break out the CSS or even just have a custom background. You can also alter your display name (though the character cap is VERY short), and your display name color, as well as the standard avatar change. Usernames cannot be changed as a free user, but can be changed by paid users (more on paid options in a second).

Plurk also has its own image hosting, and a pastebin-alike plaintext called Plurk Paste that has no character limit. (The character limit for top-level plurks is longer than Twitter's.)

It also has CUSTOM EMOTES in addition to its (somewhat wild) default selection. They're similar to Discord's customs, except that you can use GIFs from the get go; what's restricted is the number of slots you have as a free user. (And size is capped at 48x48 px.)

Plurk has ads, but they're mostly unobtrusive (and can be clocked entirely with ad blockers, but I didn't say that). Plurk keeps the lights on through a subscription model called Plurk Coin, which is very cheap (under $2.50 USD/month) and can be gifted to other users. Coin gives you a number of benefits including the "Except" privacy option, more username colors, response editing, and a bunch more custom emote slots.

Concerned about harassment? Plurk has one of the most robust blocking systems in social media that I've ever seen. You block someone, and they can't see you (even by going to your profile) and you can't see them. That's it, done. Full no-contact.

NSFW/18+ content is allowed. There's a specific flag for it when you first post a plurk. Plurk does expect you to use that tag when appropriate, but is otherwise very forgiving of NSFW content, at least in my experience. (Again, though, English plurk is a very small community ATM).

The thing to remember about Plurk is that it is very much a remnant of an older internet, from the days before algorithms. Like Tumblr, it's a social media where you won't see anything if you don't reach out to follow and friend people. It predates "going viral" as a goal of internet usage. The goal is to talk to people.

As an aside: Since I originally wrote this up, I've seen rumors about Japanese fanartists moving to plurk and even seen one or two mentions of it in the wild on my Twitter timeline as people talk about following those artists. Fantastic! If that's you, then I hope you find this slightly more in-depth guide to features helpful.

If this sounds up your alley, I've made a public plurk specifically for Twitter refugees to come meet people and get more information on how plurk works! You can find it here.

Twitter version: [link]

Please replurk to spread this information about!

#plurk #social media #twitter exodus #reddit exodus #twitter

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thankskenpenders · 8 months

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And now for something new

So, here's something I was never planning on doing, but I just couldn't shake the idea... Thanks Ken Penders is gaining a sister blog featuring an entirely different comic franchise!

Introducing... Thanks Steve Ditko, a blog where I read the Earth-616 Spider-Man comics, starting all the way back in the '60s! It's gonna be much more casual and less thorough than how I run things here on TKP, though, which I'll explain in a sec.

If seeing me post weird bits from old Spider-Man comics sounds fun and you need no further info, then just head right on over to Thanks Steve Ditko. But for longtime TKP readers, I know you probably have questions...

Number one: Why?

Spider-Man's always been my favorite superhero, and with the Spider-Verse movies kicking ass and my excitement building for the new Insomniac game, I've been in a Spidey mood. Inevitably, a thought occurred to me: Maybe I should actually read the comics that everything else is built off of and see the wildly varying contributions of all the original creators, rather than filtering them through big budget adaptations. If I can power through One Piece and all these other manga with hundreds of chapters, it can't be that hard... right?

And, well, after a few issues I quickly realized that my options were to either clog up my other accounts with random Spider-Man panels for years, or to just make a side blog. And so the side blog was born.

Two: Will this blog replace Thanks Ken Penders?

NO!!!!!!!!!

Okay but prove it

To allow the two to exist side-by-side, Thanks Steve Ditko will have a different format than what Thanks Ken Penders developed. Rather than an in-depth guided tour that critically analyzes every story beat of every issue, TSD will just be a place for amusing panels and brief thoughts as I casually read the comics at my own pace.

If you've seen me make a few tweets about reading Spider-Man recently, I'm basically just moving that to a dedicated Tumblr. It's a place for me to dump these things so that it doesn't fill up my media tab on Twitter for the next decade. (You know, assuming Twitter is still around in a decade.) There will be many issues where I only post two panels that I thought were funny. There will be issues where I don't have anything to say at all. Maybe I'll reach a run that I just cannot get into, and I start skipping around more. Who knows!

This may sound similar to what I thought this blog would be before it blew up. Aside from the simple fact that there's already mountains of Spider-Man commentary out there and therefore less of a void for me to fill, one of the main steps I'll be taking to avoid repeating the past is not enabling an ask box on TSD. I do not need people to ask me to go into ten times more detail on everything. I do not need to write seven essay-length responses to questions about Spider-Man minutiae every day. I do not need a place for people to chide me for not covering certain scenes, issues, or ancillary series.

It also won't have any kind of update schedule. I'm trying to keep it very casual. I'm reading these comics at my own pace, and if I feel like sharing a moment or commenting on something while doing so? It goes there. That's it.

(On the subject of format changes, I'm also listing the issue, writer, and penciller in the body of every post. This is a thing I wish I'd done on TKP so that people didn't misattribute every weird Archie Sonic panel I post to Penders.)

Three: So when will TKP come back from hiatus? You said it'd come back after you finished SLARPG!

I don't know! Sorry. I have a couple things on the backburner right now for TKP, but I'm not sure when I'll get back to proper updates where I read more comics.

I wanted to bring TKP back this year, and that's still possible. The main hurdle is that I want to reread my own archive (again) as a refresher, which is, uh. A lot of posts. I've developed a high standard for myself on here, and I feel like I wouldn't be doing my job right if I forgot half the ongoing subplots and character arcs and didn't bring them up in my analysis. Especially when I'm discussing the work of an author as obsessed with continuity as Ian Flynn. Unfortunately, the nature of this blog means that every time I go on another long hiatus for Life Reasons I have even more comic continuity to catch up on than last time.

(This is a big part of why I'm making Thanks Steve Ditko an extremely casual blog instead of promising to become a Lore Expert on 60+ years of Marvel.)

Mostly I've just been very burnt out this year after having finally finished a video game that took almost eight years to make. I haven't really had the energy for any creative projects, including TKP. But I feel a little bit of a spark here with Spider-Man, so I'm chasing that feeling to try to get back into the swing of blogging about comics - no pun intended.

So, basically, bear with me on this as I start this low-energy side project. But hopefully folks will enjoy Thanks Steve Ditko as its own thing, too.

Look forward to goofy shit like this

#tkp post

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huntinglove · 11 months

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How to get away from antiship spaces (mostly)

Warnings: Long post, antis mention, mentions of pedophilia, rape, self harm and gore (none show, not descriptive)

Have you recently learned that you align yourself with the proship label? Would you like to get away from antis as safely as you can? Here's what I've learned, as an ex anti:

1. It may be hard, but try to get rid of/abandon your accounts where you used to interact with antis.

This is one of the hardest steps because having a lot of followers can be discouraging, but it's the safest approach in this situation, because if antis see you following or interacting with proshippers they WILL question you about it and depending on how you tackle their asks they'll throw you to the wolves and publicly "warn" people about you so people can mass report your account/harass you

This applies to anything; Tumblr blogs, Twitter profiles, Discord servers, if you've interacted with antis block them and delete your account if you decide to adopt the proship label

Antis constantly claim that they don't harass people but as soon as someone drops the anti label they dogpile them and call them "traitors" as well as their usual buzzwords to catch people's attention, it's better to pull the plug directly than just rebrand your account

1.5. If you REALLY want to keep your account because you've used it for a long time or because it works as a portfolio, please create a different account to post about proship content

If you make a new account remember to block your anti mutuals/followers from your main account before you start posting, art styles can be very unique and easy to spot similarities in, as well as typing patterns and reoccurring emojis/symbols

If there's the option to, keep your profile private until you've built a steady environment for yourself, if you prefer to keep your profile private permanently that's also a good option!

Remember, your safety matters more than numbers on a screen!

2. This one should go without saying but, please don't share much of your trauma/mental health issues/triggers with people online in general, but especially not with antis

I used to talk about my struggles and vent publicly a lot, antis would stalk my accounts and send me all types of fucked up content.

I've had people send me rape videos and threats, people telling me I deserved the abuse I went through, people would send me gore and self harm images, as well as suicide tutorials.

They can and will use all of it to their advantage, they're restless and will dig up even decade old posts if they feel it'll be useful for them. It can and will take a toll on your mental health, so please save yourself the trouble and only open up with people you genuinely trust and feel safe talking to!

You're not alone, but please don't let dangerous people take advantage of you when you're at a bad spot

3. Keep an eye on your followers, especially if your profiles are public. There are always some things to look out for to make sure your followers aren't antis pretending to be proshippers

According to my personal experience, here's some red flags to look out for:

A.Antis think that the word proship means problematic ship, so they'll refer to pairings as "a proship"

Most proshippers dislike this terminology because it comes from an incorrect definition and usually avoid it

B. TikTok antis specifically come up and use a lot of emoji combos, creating meanings for them and usually adding one or two combos that are actually known to proshippers, along with some never seen before

A lot of the time they use it to identify themselves, a sign that means "I'm not actually a proshipper, just baiting"

I've also seen antis use the clover emoji in combos, inspired by the "clovergender/cloversexual" scam that 4channers came up with, to make it seem like the LGBTQ+ community was welcoming to offending pedophiles. Antis do this because they assimilate the proship label with problematic ships, mostly age gaps/underage content

C. Their account is brand new but they already follow a lot of proshippers. This is usually because they'll follow proshippers who've been posted on a blocklist, usually in the exact order that they've been listed too

If they're on Tumblr, they'll usually keep the people they follow public, so that other antis can find and harass those proshippers

D. Keep an eye on their follow list. Like stated above, they'll usually keep it public and 9 times out of 10 there will be an out of place antiship account, it's most likely their main profile/account/blog

E. They'll use their usual buzzwords on their own posts

For example, if they're trying to mimic a proselfship account they'll post pictures of underage characters and caption it things like "omg i'm such a pedo" and tag their post with proship related tags

Of course this doesn't apply to everyone, so it's always important to take context into consideration, as well as how many of these red flags may apply.

And lastly, please remember that the block button is your friend.

If someone's interacting with you and something about them seems/feels off, block and move on

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batshieroglyphics · 19 days

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I guess it's that time of year, again, when I ask folks to send me prompts(text is link to my ask box) for the 800-2k word ficlets I send out with holiday cards. (For those new to this, ficlets will get publicly posted to AO3 in Feb/March of 2025. And I usually post the rough drafts to Patreon, if you really can't wait.)

Things to keep in mind about prompting:

I do not anticipate to write every prompt I get, and multiple people sending in the same or a very similar prompt will not make it more likely to get written. (This does not mean you shouldn't send in a prompt.)

I don't write in any of my existing AUs, because I don't want folks to have to be familiar with a longer fic or series to enjoy a little ficlet with their card.

I am not currently writing Harry Potter for personal reasons. Any prompts sent for this fandom will be deleted out of hand. (This does include crossovers.)

I will 100% write a ficlet for my own OCs. I am not comfortable writing a ficlet with another person's OCs unless their creator requests it themself, and are open to me pestering them for more information.

I will write both shippy and platonic ficlets. However, these do aim to be family-friendly, since I don't know who's opening anyone's mail, so we aim for a generalised Teen rating.

If you've never seen me write a ship, but you know I'm in the fandom, go ahead and prompt it. (If it's a ship that I have no intention to write, I'll just quietly delete it, not here to insult anyone's joys.)

Yes, anon is on. Please don't give me a reason to change that.

You can also send your prompts to either of my multi-fandom blogs (batsutousai and the back-up bats-batsutousai) or my twitter (LadyMarvolo). You can also send them through my cohost (batsutousai) or bluesky (batsutousai), but I keep forgetting to check both of those places and don't know what sorts of notifications are turned on, whoops.

BATS' SHIP LIST (text is the link. This is not all-inclusive, just the ones I am 100% comfortable with and down with writing. Yes, I know I said, last year, that I was going to try to put together a platonic 'ships' list. That clearly has not happened. I shall make an attempt again this year, but my promises are sand.)

PROMPTS (just gonna do links to some of the prompt lists I've reblogged previously, just please let me know which list you're pulling from?)

Bats' previously created holiday ficlets prompts list

Line of dialogue

Four word prompts

Numbered dialogue prompts

X Me prompts

I think there's one in my drafts that cuddling related? I'll see if I can't find that and post it some time this week.

And, no, you do not have to pick prompts off the lists. If you've got one you've been dying to send me, go for it. Just, please keep in mind that I'm only looking for short ficlet prompts at this time.

#bats' holiday card ficlets #prompt request #about the Bats

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nocturnal-desolation · 2 months

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Hello sorry for tagging. I am very sick, my asthma is at its maximum level, my nose freezes, I have no medicine or food. I am in bad shape financially, I am a black disabled, who uses multiple medications, I pay for my food and lodging

Unfortunately I do not have all the resources to keep me safe, that is why I need your help, whatever you can contribute to me will be of great help.

Would you look at that… I have a prime example of how to spot a scam in my asks. It's not very well done, just well enough that some people might fall for it - and some have even reblogged it. You've been redirected to the Fraud Detection Unit, which will take it from here. (actually it's still just me, I'm the fraud detection unit, we have "Fachkräftemangel" in Germany, sorry, jk)

Seriously though… First of all, I'd like to address the fact that it's incredibly sad to play with people's emotions like this. You should be ashamed of yourself, but I'm sure you're not. It's the same with scams asking for help and donations for people and families in Gaza, which has come up a lot recently and is even more despicable because there are actual fundraisers going on (which are official) and these people are in a terrible situation. So to exploit that worldwide sympathy or solidarity and use the inhumane circumstances of these or other people for your scams is disgusting to the core.

But back to this particular ask and blog… The text itself makes no sense. Like, not at all. For example, a " freezing nose" is not a typical symptom of asthma. I've never had asthma, but I'm pretty sure your nose doesn't freeze up when you have asthma. What are you trying to tell me? That you got asthma in the middle of a blizzard? Sorry, I can't help you with that. "Get out of the blizzard!" is all I can tell you. And what is the "maximum level" of asthma? Is that some kind of asthma end boss? Sounds more like you need an ambulance, not money...

That's why it's important to be fluent in English if you want to pretend to be a native speaker. I can't help you there either. I can barely speak my own language, let alone English.

Some other things everyone should notice or look for when getting messages like this:

blog was created fairly recently, no consistency, just reblogged some random things (like posts from 'tumblr staff' lol - no offense) to have something on it at all + obviously otherwise empty blogs that are just begging for money or reblogging other similar posts all the time are even more suspicious

something I haven't seen before either is "Black Lives Matter" being used as bait to appeal to those involved in the movement

randomly generated usernames (what is "toosaladgarden"? I've never had a salad that was too garden, so I don't know - not too important, but in this case it doesn't help to be convincing)

no bio, no age, no country (usually not important, but in this case it is)

non-transparent fundraiser, no one knows why this exact amount of money is needed (I think it even went from $1700 to $1900 since yesterday if I saw that correctly lol) and how the supposed current donations came about (you could put any number in there)

randomly contacted

scammers often use tactics such as emotional manipulation and urgency to evoke sympathy and to prompt a quick response

lack of details, very vague in general, limited information about specific circumstances

But that made me curious and I wanted to know more. You (the scammers) were "smart" enough to use a profile picture that can't be easily traced back to the original source, I'll give you that. But that's a problem for you, because it seems to be the only picture you have of this person with this child, so you had to use it everywhere…

And that's why I was able to trace your picture back to a Twitter / X account that goes by the name "Aska" and the handle askafarao… which also engages in very, very obviously fraudulent requests for money. Every few days or weeks since August 2023, this "X" account posts nothing but new "reasons" why the money is needed. And it's quite funny how little effort they put into it, because the reasons are not creative and half of them don't even add up. But most importantly, somehow there are a couple of different email addresses for different paypal accounts with different names on them. I think we can all agree that unless you're trying to hide something, you don't need more than one name… right? Unless Paypal is going to close your accounts all the time, or you're afraid they will because they're detecting fraudulent activity, you don't need more than one account, right?

TL:DR Let's make this part short and sweet: If you get a message like this, or see a similar post, be aware that it's a scam. Don't reblog it and don't be like, "But what if it's true…" It's obviously not, and when I saw the X account, I actually had a good laugh because this account is a complete mess, even for a scammer.

#scammers #scam alert #scam warning #donation scam #scam bots #scam #fundraising #fundraiser #don't fall for it #don't reblog their posts #think about it #ask

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savelockwoodandco · 4 months

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Have you ever thought of crowd-funding?

Thank you so much for the question and for your support -- and for the support of those who've asked similar questions.

We got a few like this, so we figured we'd answer them all in one (and our apologies if we've missed your question -- our inbox is apparently very hungry, eating asks before we get them, and we have quite a few people who have to try three or four times before their question ends up in our inbox).

Crowdfunding comes up every now and again as a solution, especially when people see other fandoms doing it to purchase ad space (such as the OFMD fandom recently). We've seem many fandoms do this over the years and many fandoms avoid this, and there's pros and cons to each approach.

As far as we're concerned -- speaking here as Twitter and Tumblr Mod, not by any means speaking as the One True Voice of the Fandom -- crowdfunding is very often a slippery slope. There have been a few things crowdfunded within this fandom -- space at cons being the one that comes to mind -- and in our opinion that kind of thing makes sense. It's small and personal, and has a real, tangible result -- aka a booth -- along with a set price and very little wiggle room for presenting where money is going. You've probably seen posts on this blog alerting the tumblr space of these happenings, and we're comfortable with that.

Crowdfunding for ad space -- billboards, blimps, electronic ads, and their ilk -- on the other hand, gets tricky very quickly. There have been dozens upon dozens of crowdfunding scams within fandoms -- not saying within ours, saying that with our decades of experience in fandom, we've seen more than our fair share. Crowdfunding attempts that start out with a small group's passion can turn ugly very quickly, and it's a big ask to trust strangers on the Internet not just with your passion and time, but also with your money.

And while there's a chance for high visibility, even if everything goes perfectly, it's a lot of outlay for little to no tangible benefit. There have been fandoms who use it who have had their show picked up; there have been fandoms who use it without any effect whatsoever. It's not a guarantee; it's not even something that always does something.

We the mods invest our limited time and humble talents. We're always amazed at how LockNation has gathered to provide their prodigious talents and time to make this campaign something to be proud of. Knowing the inherent risks of a lot of crowdfunding campaigns, especially ones as directionless as saying (random example we made up but have seen in past campaigns) "donate to save the show" with no other information, causes us to be extremely wary of such efforts.

Once again, we don't speak for the fandom at large. At its core, and like we say in our pinned post, this blog is primarily a place for a lot of information to be gathered in one place and for positivity and encouragement -- celebrating the wins, keeping up momentum, and marveling at what LockNation has managed to do, all in less than a year of the show being out, and less than 9 months since Netflix's hissy fit (as we call it). Others may use their allotment of time and energy and, yes, capital, as they see fit.

There's a post about 2 weeks ago on this very blog from our friends at the Discord, looking for donations to get a booth at GalaxyCon Richmond if you're looking to get your wallet involved! If you have the power, more power to you. We're huge fans of the power of cons here on this blog.

Being the Fandom Grandmas (affectionate) that we are, we've seen nebulous crowdfunding events go south a few too many times to try to organize anything ourselves, and you won't see a big sweet to buy ad space on Times Square anytime soon originating from the mods. We're comfortable with the constant, measurable successes we've been able to bear witness to and help along in some small way here on this little blog.

Above all, we all love the same show, and we're all working towards that awesome day that we get the S2 announcement! Let's work towards it the best ways we know how. We'll be at the finish line before we know it.

#save lockwood and co #lockwood & co #lockwood and co #l&co #answer post #thank you to all who sent in a question like this! we answered it all in one just for clarity's sake #once again we do not speak for our friends in the discord nor any other fans except ourselves! go crazy!#we're just not comfortable promoting or starting Big Nebulous Ad Crowdfunding here due to Internet Safety etc etc

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faemytho · 1 month

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some social media interaction culture breakdowns, as far as i can tell this is how these things work :3 i did this for fun and for my own amusement, so i probably got some of these wrong. please do not bite my head off. im willing to make corrections!

the differences between tumblr, twitter, cohost, and pillowfort! as far as i can tell, bsky is a twitter copy/paste, just with better site usage quality.

likes:

tumblr: do nothing. most people use this as either a bookmarking system or a "hey i saw your post and i like it". you can hide them; most do.

twitter: influence followers homefeed and algorithm. you can't hide them.

cohost: do nothing. this is for specifically "hey i saw your post and i like it". they can only be accessed by you; there's no way to make them public.

pillowfort: do nothing. this is for specifically "hey i saw your post and i like it". there is no way to access your own likes at all.

re- blog/tweet/share

tumblr: called a reblog. you can reblog with tags AND commentary, though most only reblog with tags instead of reblogging with commentary (ive seen this described as the difference between whispering to someone in an auditorium vs shouting something in an auditorium for everyone to hear)

twitter: separated into retweets and QRTs. a retweet is a direct share to your followers on their timeline with no way to add commentary, and a QRT is an embed of someone else's post with your commentary at the top, which makes it an original post.

cohost: called a share or a rechost, similar to how tumblr's system works, but the commentary culture is different. it's more common to add commentary in the post body, and discouraged to talk in the tags (based on how tagging works sitewide)

pillowfort: called a reblog, similar to how tumblr's system works, but the commentary culture is different. it's more common to share with no commentary before adding commentary, and not really common to talk in the tags. pillowfort replies are mostly where commentary happens.

replies/comments:

tumblr: unlike twitter, tumblr replies ARE NOT their own posts. they're like DMs between you and the OP, except everyone can see these messages and join in on the conversation.

twitter: replies are their own post! they function similarly to how tumblr reblog threads work, but with more limited visibility

cohost: called comments and work like tumblr replies, BUT, are able to be threaded like AO3 comments. these are actually the ONLY interactions visible for anyone to see on a post!

pillowfort: called comments, and work like tumblr replies, BUT, are able to be threaded like AO3 comments.

tags:

tumblr: TAGS ARE VERY FREE. tags are both a sorting system BUT also a way to whisper your thoughts on someone's post that you've reblogged. you can make up your own tags for your own personal blog sorting system, or keysmash your reaction to cute art. tumblr culture involves a LOT of "tag talking", in which people don't actually put their overall commentary in the body of a post, but the tags of it when they're reblogging it. when making an original post, only the first five tags are counted. tags on reblogged posts do NOT show up in tumblr search.

twitter: tags are more formal from what i can tell. they go directly in the body of a post and are an explicit way to sort posts into topics and categories. tags on replies and QRTs DO show up in twitter search.

cohost: tags are more formal like twitter, but function visibly similar to tumblr tags. they go beneath a post and are the only way to search cohost (so its not common to talk in the tags). however, unlike tumblr, all tags from every user in a rechost chain are visible and searchable in shared posts. tags on rechosted posts DO show up in cohost search (from what i can tell, it's discouraged to re-tag a share of a post to prevent accidentally spamming a tag, since the tags of the OP will transparently carry over into the rechost).

pillowfort: exactly like tumblr, without the five tag limit and without the tag talking culture. tags on reblogged posts do NOT show up in pillowfort search.

followers:

tumblr: mean nothing. if you have a lot of followers that's probably bad actually because it means you're infamous. you're the tumblr clown and everyone's watching you flail around. clout doesnt exist. you can also hide who you're following on tumblr like with likes, again, most do hide this.

twitter: clout. clout clout clout. followers is good. followers means you're famous. you can't hide this information, nor can you hide who you yourself are following.

cohost: mean nothing, but doubly so. there is absolutely no way to see how many followers you have, nor how many followers anybody has, nor who is following who. you can view your own followers, but there's no number count and nobody else can view this.

pillowfort: an odd mix of all three of the above. hidden entirely like cohost, viewable numbers like tumblr, and some sense of clout-dignity like twitter. in actuality, most users follow Pillowfort's user-created communities rather than other users specifically.

feeds:

tumblr: if you're an old user, your default is called your dashboard, in which you only get posts from the people and tags you follow. if you're a new user, (allegedly) your default is the "For You" feed. there are separate feeds separated into tabs at the top; other than the "For You" feed, you're able to customize what tabs you want to see and switch between. a half and half compromise between algorithm/no algorithm. it's there if you want it, avoidable if you don't.

twitter: you've got your "For You" and your "Following" feed (also called TL or timeline). im unsure which is set as the default, but "For You" is listed first so it's probably that. while the following feed is self-explanatory, the "For You" feed shows you posts that users you follow have liked as well as posts based on an algorithm around that. the algorithm knows all.

cohost: you also have two feeds here - "Latest Posts" and "Bookmarked Tags". Latest Posts are from those you've followed, while Bookmarked Tags is a feed you can build based on which tags you've bookmarked. there's no algorithm at all!

pillowfort: only one feed, composed entirely of posts from users you follow and communities you're in/following. no algorithm!

search:

tumblr: only the tumblr wizards know how this fucking thing works (affectionate). sitewide search brings up both text in the body of the post as well as tags. clicking on a specific tag will give you posts that have been specifically tagged with the tag. blog search is similar but it breaks often.

twitter: hell. sitewide search brings up both text in the body of the post as well as tags AS WELL AS every post made by a user who has the searched term in their goddamn handle. clicking on a specific tag will give you posts that have been specifically tagged with the tag. profile search does not exist unless you know the secret codes to put in the url.

cohost: the site can ONLY be searched via tags that exist already. blogs here can only be searched via clicking on a specific tag. however, cohost provides toggles within every blog so users can toggle on or off a user's shares, replies, and asks to their hearts delight, which makes blog scrolling customizable to the users preference

pillowfort: sitewide search is how tumblr's search is supposed to work, AND way more stable. blog search can be searched only through clickable tags, but you're also able to view only original posts or only reblogs on someone's blog.

blacklisting, blocking, muting, muffling, making posts with sensitive content

tumblr: you're able to build a blacklist based on tags, and you're able to block users. "community labels" are a predetermined set of labels users can apply to both their posts and reblogs of other people's posts, and can be toggled to the user's preference

twitter: there is no blacklist, but a "muted word" list that you can customize. there is sensitive content filtering, but it's only under a generalized "sensitive content" warning. you can mute a user if you'd rather not block, which means you won't see their posts or when they interacting with you. you are also able to block users outright.

cohost: you can set a customized "content warning" on a post for others to click through, similar to twitter's sensitive content warning, but able to be customized as needed. you can blacklist OR whitelist content warnings. for tag filtering, you can muffle (requiring a click-through) or silence (hide completely). you can mark a post as 18+ very easily. you can toggle and customize the way posts on your feed display.

pillowfort: filters and blacklist are easily accessible on the sidebar rather than hidden in the settings. however, 18+ posts can only be toggled on or off (shown or entirely hidden), there is no click-through option. you can blacklist "words and tags" all at once, or just blacklist tags, to your discretion.

posting:

tumblr: as long or short as you want. tons of different ways to post, images, videos, audio, links, ect. some VERY basic code is allowed. it USED to be go nuts show nuts, but...

twitter: theres a 300(?) character limit and a four images per post limit. you can pay money for more post characters. 18+ is more limited than other sites, but allowed.

cohost: very basic posting editor. you can code html, css, and basic markdown straight into the post if you want to. there's even a preview toggle in the posting editor to see what it looks like before you post it. literally the sky is the limit. YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW CODE TO POST ON COHOST, but if you do you can make your posts look cool. there is a "readmore" like on tumblr, but it's a soft readmore based on the post length instead of tumblr's hard readmore. 18+ is allowed.

pillowfort: a rich text editor that's built to support images, videos, links, ect. as long or short as you want. 18+ is allowed.

site-specific:

tumblr: the ability to send asks and submit posts, polls, limited profile badges (most need to be bought), blog coding customization, post blazing, sideblogs

twitter: lists, spaces, circles, and polls

cohost: the ability to send asks, user funded, no ads, anti-AI stance, range of options for profile customization, private notes (able to be left on a user's profile for only you to see), sidepages (built-in sideblogs that function as their own main blogs)

pillowfort: communities (these are in tumblr beta testing currently), user funded, no ads, anti-AI stance, a WIDE range of profile badges (99% are free, 1% are rewarded for donating to the site during specific fundraising periods)

site sign-up and apps

tumblr: free and easy, app in the appstore.

twitter: free and easy, app in the appstore

cohost: free and easy, but posting is limited for a small period of time at first sign-up. you can browse, follow users, and like posts during this period of time, but cannot make your own original posts until cohost greenlights you (they'll send an email when you're able to post; mine was just under 24 hours). they have a progressive web app hosted by chrome that functions and appears as a regular app that bypasses appstore restrictions.

pillowfort: free, but unlike the other sites and more like AO3, sign-up puts you on a waitlist for an invite code, or you can sign-up with an invite code from a user already on the site. no mobile app, but a progressive web app like how cohost has is in the works.

bsky: the twitter copy. sign-up is free, but there's a wait period before you're fully invited to set up your account unless you have a bsky invite from a user already on the site. there's an app in the appstore.

#tumblr #twitter #cohost #pillowfort #mae rambles

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channel-54 · 28 days

Text

Hello and welcome back to our first official story now that we're back! Isn't that nice? I missed this. Enough with that though.

We're taking it relatively easy today with this one, as always we're accepting calls and letters from viewers with any information, or just those who wanna say hi! But this time we won't be going out and getting any opinions or doing any field questioning, keeping it nice and simple.

So chances are if you've been at all active int the community in the past few days you've seen this image, or one similar to it.

It came from this video posted to the eddsworld twitter account, in which serval other developments are announced and a cat is shown, but most interestingly the video is interrupted by static and a short animation of Tord is played.

There's been plenty of speculation about what this could mean. He's shown bleeding, so some believe it may take place before the events of "The End" in which he had a band aid over the wound

But you must wonder what exactly is even going on? Where is he? There's clearly something clear between him and the watcher (who or whatever that may be) perhaps glass? in another picture (now shown on screen)

there are show to be bubbles on our side of the glass. I'm not sure what it could mean but I definitely think it's worth speculating

people are also concerned about the purpose of this clip being included. It's likely a teaser for an upcoming episode, after all it's very unlikely they would do it simply to promote all of the recent Tord merchandise because that would almost definitely cause an incredible backlash

No matter the reason or cause, I believe I speak for all of us when I say I am very excited to see where this goes and what it's leading up to! Be sure to pay attention because I can promise you that whatever it is, we'll be there to cover it. Until then, this is Walter, signing off.-

#eddsworld #channel 54 #channel 54 news #ew tord #eddsworld news

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heaventree13 · 5 months

Text

How Jikook Found Me

Hi anyone who happens upon this!

**I'm going to preface this with the information that I don't know how to link stuff, embed etc, so hopefully my attempts to do so will work!!**

I've been thinking of doing a "how I discovered jikook" post forever, because I love coming across other's similar stories, and was inspired this morning by @jiminieloved post below:

We discovered jikook at pretty much exactly the same time, if in slightly different ways.

I first joined instagram around October 2019, after only being on facebook prior to that (I had started a twitter account at some point, but had never used it), and somehow the algorithm decided I would be interested in Larry Stylinson. I don't know why. I knew who One Direction were, but didn't really listen to them. I didn't know what a "ship" was, except for "Bennifer" and "Brangelina", and that's not even really the same thing, is it? Anyhoo- it turned out I was a bit of a Larry. They were adorable and what I saw was compelling at the time.

Then, of course, the algorithm started throwing in some other ships for my consideration, and along came the vmin ship videos.

I had no idea who they were at first. I had heard of BTS, vaguely recalled seeing them on some entertainment news program once, but (much to my chagrin, as I could have been listening to them earlier), hadn't paid attention. I'm embarrassed and a little ashamed to say I just remember they all had different coloured hair, were so impossibly pretty, and thought they were likely just a fad.

Don't hate me!! I would fight to the death for all 7 of them now!!!

But I digress! So, I thought vmin were so sweet. Nothing necessarily romantic there to my eyes, but I had an open mind about it, and I had never seen that kind of affection between males. I ate it up. I'm a 50 year old female (46 at the time), and from Canada, and this was so outside my personal experience. I adopted them into my heart. I watched everything I could find on instagram.

And then some stray jikook content started sliding in.

And I got worried. What about my vmin babies? Was my mischievous little V ( I didn't know him as Tae Tae yet) going to get his heart hurt? Of course, I was seeing stuff that had already happened years before in most cases, but all very new and "real time" to my heart, that was slowly turning a vivid purple without my knowledge 💜. But what I was seeing in jikook was quickly becoming undeniable in my eyes.

And I was blown away. My heart remembered what it was like to believe the stories I read and watched in romantic books and movies when I was young. I had decided that was all just the stuff of fiction, and that maybe I was a fool to have believed in it. But no- these two young Korean men were putting Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth to shame! In real life!! I had to slide over to YouTube. I had to start searching stuff like "the way Jungkook looks at Jimin":

And I was able to reconcile vmin and jikook for what I believe it is- no animosity, no competition (at least romantically) because it's two different kinds of love, both just as real. Not that I don't see moments in the content where I think our Tae Tae felt left out, but our babies (all seven of them) had all lived together and done everything together for so long, I think their relationships are not like anything most of us will ever experience or be able to fit into any tidy relationship categories. They are so much more than that.

Somewhere in my searches I found this excellent 3-part commentary by @mimiandkookie4607 :

youtube

And this then this favourite by @themooniswaitingforus (who also makes some really beautiful song edits ,btw) :

youtube

Then I started wanting to watch original content, so I joined WeVerse and VLive. And then of course, as will happen, I fell in love with all 7 of our amazing, hard working, passionate, talented, brave, fun, impressive young men. I will love and support them until they are old men (or at least much older, as I won't be around as long as I fervently hope they will).

There is more, of course. So much more, but I've run out of steam for today! I do want to say that I joined tumblr because of jikook, as well. I first discovered @dalloga through the Korean Perspective video (they haven't been active for a little bit, but it's worth it to go read their blog, for those who haven't), and then @stormblessed95, and went further down the proverbial rabbit hole from there.

Thank you for reading. Stay positive. Be kind. Seek out happy!

#jikook #kookmin #bts #vminkook #vmin #bangtan ot7 #Youtube

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mimiatmidnight · 1 year

Note

Hey! How are you? Would like to say that I LOVE your blog, and I was wondering if you would like to update your top 5 H&M moments, maybe add another 5??

Folks, if you've ever wondered what is the oldest message sitting in my inbox, it's this one. (Well, I'm pretty sure there are a couple others that are a touch older but every time I try to scroll back that far, my inbox just glitches. There are . . . a lot of messages sitting in there. Sorry about that 😬). So I just want to say thank you to this anon and everyone else who has sent me tens of messages over the years asking for this updated post (unless the messages were all from the same one person all this time, in which case, my god I'd feel even GUILTIER).

It's been two years since the original, but an even wilder FIVE years since Harry and Meghan wed in one of the most consequential events in modern cultural history. What a wonderful, special day to look back on their relationship, with even more of my favorite moments between these two unlikely lovers. While writing this post, I laughed, I swooned, I cried. And I, uh, REALLY went off the rails at the end. Content warning for just the sickest, sappiest philosophizing you've ever seen. I'd apologize, but I just can't help it. Harry and Meg just have that effect on me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So, with one more thank you to everyone who has been so patient and kind and loving to me these past few years, let's get into it! Five(-ish, lol) more of my favorite Harry and Meghan moments:

5. WE will not look a mess

I'd be remiss not to start this list of my personal favorite H&M moments with what is, judging by the numbers, arguably the entire WORLD'S favorite H&M moment. This iconic video by twitter user @/ddarveyy is perhaps the Sussex Squad's most viral fan tweet of all time? And if qualitative evidence is more convincing to you than quantitative, this video has been blessed with the mark of being liked by none other than Madame Rhianna herself. That's certified social media Diamond. The tweet also spawned some great jokes, ranging from Virgo Harry always making sure to keep his wife looking on point, to some people speculating about certain other, ah, intimate contexts where H might have developed this habit of putting his hands in her hair.

Ahem, either way, I've always seen this touching practice of his as being in the same vein of all those times he watches out for her footing on stairs or treacherous terrain. He's always on standby, always keeping an eye on her, never 100% focused on something else when she's near. You know, just in case she needs help. Or (more likely) just in case he has an excuse to fuss over her 😏 And you know what? Harry strikes me as the kind of man who has waited a long time to have someone to fuss over, someone to worry about and take care of outside of himself. And now that he has that someone . . . well, Captain Wales reporting for motherfucking duty 🫡

BONUS MAINTENANCE FASCINATION:

Yes we're doing bonus content again -- I did say "five(-ish)" moments! The "ish" was forewarned!!!

Anyways, while we're on the topic of sentimentally rhapsodizing about Harry keeping an eye on Meg and her hair, I want to sneak in a reboot of a discussion I had with an anon a few months ago after the Netflix documentary came out. These quiet, behind-the-scenes moments where Meg is getting her dress fitted or painting her nails, and there is Harry happily watching from behind. It's a small thing, I know, but it speaks volumes to me. The intimacy that comes with watching your partner prepare herself to face the world, the peaceful trust and unspoken support. And if you think THAT is me reading too much into it, scroll back to that original discussion and watch me make myself cry over picturing Harry as a kid watching his mom go through her similar glam routine. Y'all don't even KNOW the kinds of crazy parasocial assumptions I can lose my mind over!!!!!

And while we're here barely on topic talking about the intimacy of behind-the-scenes, let's move now from the "before" preparation, to the "after" unwinding (and undressing??). One of the most bittersweet moments from the doc for me was this picture, taken after one of Harry and Meg's final royal duty events. Away from the cameras, and the press, and the people, alone in their kitchen at last. I can think of no better representation of "Leaving the world behind."

4. Meghan "My Husband" Markle

There has been much discussion over Harry being the ultimate "wife guy," and deservedly so. If I tried to put in this post every moment the man has practically glowed with the pleasure of saying "my WIFE," I'm afraid this website would crash from server overload. But a less-discussed, yet equally sweet through line is Meghan being the ultimate "husband girl." And I think no single moment is a better demonstration of this phenomenon than her opening speech last year at Invictus 2022.

Introducing her husband to the crowd of his Invictus family, Meghan said, "I could not love and respect him more, and I know that all of you feel the same. He is your fellow veteran, he's the founder of the Invictus Games, and the father to our two little ones, Archie and Lili. Please welcome my incredible husband, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex." And then the crowd roared, and Harry and Meghan kissed, and we got all these ooey-gooey heart eyes.

And then as Harry took the stage, overwhelmed by the love of his wife and his community, he choked up.

"Thank you my love."

And I was never the same :')

BONUS "HUSBAND GIRL" SIMPING:

At the 2021 Salute to Freedom Gala, a reporter asking, "Meghan are you proud of your husband?" And Meghan bashfully turning back to answer, "I'm always proud of him." 🫠

And one even blushier, from the African tour documentary. Somebody come pick our girl up off the FLOOR!!!!

3. BAY. BEES.

Ok so I am REALLY gonna have to restrain myself for this section, cause if I put every single heart-bursting baby moment (especially after the FEAST we were delivered through the Netflix doc), I would never be able to finish this post. So I'm just gonna highlight a select few and keep my baby fever in check (and then mayhaps rewatch the entire documentary tonight lol whoops).

Our first real baby moment ever was Harry being so delirious with joy and nerves and just like, raw energy, after the birth of his first child (and then turning around after the big birthday media announcement to thank the horses in the stable behind him 😅).

A few days later, there was a particularly famous photo of Baby King Archie meeting some regal relatives or whatever, but in THIS photo, the two irrelevant old geezers are instead replaced by the new little prince's noble steeds, Guy and Pula. An iconic family photo. Outsold the original, if you ask me 😌

The news of their pregnancy with Lili was world-stopping for many reasons, but most famously it held a powerfully touching connection with the past. Apparently accidentally, Harry and Meghan announced they were expecting their second child exactly 37 years to the day after his mother, Diana, announced she was expecting him. Two extra-special Valentine's Days to remember.

And once again, as I said at the time, I am NOT someone who is particularly occupied with imagining the spirits of the departed watching over us, nor am I crazy about inserting the memory of Diana into discussions in which she has no agency. HOWEVER . . . who could stop the wave of emotions looking at this moment, as the grandbaby she never got to meet reaches out to her photo, through glass and time, trying to hold her hand. Bruv . . . 🥲 Even a motherfucking atheist can occasionally feel God in this Chili's tonight.

I don't even have anything to say about these next two, except to wonder with awe at the universal panacea that is baby snuggles. My absolute favorites:

And lastly, to wrap up this unbearably melty baby section, I have a moment that isn't really about the babies at all. In this video you can watch here, Easter 2021, we have Mama Doria, Meg (bursting at the seams with soon-to-be Lili), the little king himself, Sir Archie, his ever-loyal canine companions, and Harry -- who stands there, on the other side of surviving so, so much, and says almost under his breath, "Come on, family, let's go." And . . . yeah. That pretty much says it all 🥹

2. My Sussex Squad Origin Story

I'm going to keep this one short, cause I know what #1 is about to be and it's a doozy. But I wanted to briefly mention a moment in Harry and Meghan lore that will forever be the most special to me, because it is the one that sucked me into this here community I still haunt to this day.

October 2018. I have just recently managed to recover my old Tumblr password and logged into this site for the first time since middle school. I am scrolling the trending pages and see "Meghan Markle" listed among the top current tags. It says she's recently announced her first pregnancy. "Huh," I think. "I kinda remember hearing she got married." I've never willingly read or watched a single solitary piece of information about the royal family ever in my life. I don't even really know who's who, outside of the members immediately surrounding Diana. But I scroll through the Meghan tag, and I see she and her new prince are on tour. I see a photo. I read the headline attached.

Is that an actual tear spilling out from the corner of my eye? I stare at the tag for a few minutes more. What is wrong with me? Maybe I'll check this page again tomorrow, just to see what else they get up to on this tour. Couldn't hurt to learn a little bit more about this couple that literally stopped me in my tracks. I wipe the back of my hand across my burning eyes. "Well," I think as I try to bring myself back to what I was doing before. "That was weird."

Ha. Little did I freaking know :')

1. A Modern Fairy Tale

And now, to end this long-winded (and -awaited, sorry again >_<) journey, if you will allow me to get a little unbearably sappy.

When I set out to write this Part 2 post in 2023, I was doubtful. Could I even muster up that same enthusiasm, that same untrampled hope with which I beamed when I wrote the original? Harry, Meghan, the world, and I have all lived a thousand lives in these brief five years. There has been so, so, so much unspeakable pain. More than anyone has a right to suffer in a lifetime, let alone half a decade. "And for what?" I've sometimes asked myself. "What is the point in trying to love when there's all this pain that follows?"

This June, we will be coming up on the 10 year anniversary of my absolute favorite Internet meme of all time: Tim Kreider's legendary New York Times Op-Ed "I Know What You Think Of Me," which gifted human history with his startlingly sincere declaration, "If we want the rewards of being loved, we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known."

Well, there is perhaps no one on the planet who has submitted herself to a more painful ordeal of being known than Meghan. She has bared to the world her vulnerabilities, her quirks, her flaws, her losses, her pains. To think of the life she has lived thus far, and the life that she walked away from to be here . . . I can't pretend that I've always been certain of the righteousness of her choice. But as I was working through writing this post, I reached a point in my research where I landed back on the speech Meghan delivered on the night of her wedding, shared in their Netflix documentary. And she told, as she called it, "a modern fairy tale."

“Once upon a time, there was a girl from LA (some people called her an actress) and there was a guy from London (some people called him a prince). All those people didn’t fully get it. Because this is a love story of a boy and a girl who were meant to be together.

“Amidst whatever momentary worries that creep in, they look at each other and think, ‘Whatever world, we’re in.’

“They would love, and garden, and travel, and laugh, and rack up more air miles than any couple could have.

“And when the tides were rough, they squeezed each other tighter. ‘Nothing can break us,’ they’d say, ‘For this love, she was a fighter.’

“I appreciate, respect, and honor you, my treasure, for the family we will create . . .

“ . . . And our love story that will last forever.

“So I ask you to raise a glass to the astounding assurance that now life begins, and the everlasting knowing that, above all, love wins.”

And so, here I am once again, with real actual tears streaming down my face, listening to a woman who has crossed so many oceans and lost so much of herself to get to where she's sitting today, and yet still, STILL, speaks with the same determination and conviction in love that she had all the way back at the beginning. They have taken so much from that woman, but they have not taken this. And so if Meghan, of all people, can still believe that love is worth it all . . . well, then, how could I possibly disagree?

Happy 5th anniversary to the lovebirds, and my heartfelt wish to you all that you may find victory in joy, love, and peace, just like them.

L'chaim 🥂

#meghan markle #prince harry #harry and meghan #anniversaries #see you all again for year 10?#and to many many more 💞

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imminent-danger-came · 10 months

Note

drop a bitterbomb about lmk or the fandom, just go ham. i am here for that mk rant

Hmmm I don't think I have a complaint about lmk itself! (Except maybe the fat clone joke, but I have my man Pigsy so it evens out for me). I really love this show with my whole heart, and though I can be bitter about some things (toh, shera, recently nimona) I do try to give things the benefit of the doubt if I can tell there's real heart and thought behind something. And lmk? So much thought goes into this show, you can feel how talented these writers are!

As for the fandom. *Ahem* *Gets on top of my soap box.* This is a lot of power you've given me.

Like I said in my tags, MK is so often relegated to the role of "therapist" it's shocking. I think a lot of folk view MK and Steven (from Steven Universe) as the same character, and while there's fun similarities, MK is very different from Steven. Steven is definitely the group therapist and ends up having to be the most emotionally mature of all the crystal gems, struggling to keep everyone above water. MK on the other hand has to rely an incredible amount on everyone around him, rarely being the one to actually give comfort himself. MK just also isn't really a character with a "I can fix them" mentality. He's not going out of his way to redeem anyone, except the person in front of him who he thinks can help save his friends/the universe.

Maybe this is a bold take, but I view MK as someone who would choose his friends over the world (he also literally does so in 4x02). He is not a selfless world-first kind of hero, which makes his guilt over getting the world in trouble all the more delightful to watch.

So, it's always surprising to me when I see MK being the one to comfort other characters (namely Red Son and Macaque), when Mei is LITERALLY right there. Our hopepunk shonen protag girly. She's the one to usually do the comforting (along with the rest of the gang), but I think in general a lot of people sleep on Mei.

Which brings me to my second rant: another thing that's kind of disappointing/annoying about the fandom is how pretty much Sun Wukong and Macaque are the only two characters, with MK as a third to promote some kind of interaction between the other two. Sometimes I play a game with myself of seeing how far I can scroll the lmk tag before I see a post about only Sandy.

Which, lmk has such a wonderful cast of characters, it's kind of sad seeing fan content only about Wukong and Macaque—now don't get me wrong, I also love those monkeys, but there's also a lot more characters to explore! Mei is one of my favorite characters, and I think Tang has one of my favorite arcs in the show (3x08 is such a good episode. I am also a big fan of 4x03).

And, god. For all the fan content about Wukong and Macaque those two definitely get the brunt of the blorbofication.

In canon? They're very flawed and fucked up immortals who have hurt themselves and others. But in the fandom? UWU Precious sad boys who blush. It's kind of maddening. Originally I had a lot of people mad at me in my notes for thinking sweet boy Sun Wukong knew MK was a monkey the whole time/involved in MK's creation. Like. I legitimately can not believe there was discourse on twitter about Wukong being a "deadbeat dad". Have you seen this man. Hello. He's an asshole, but he's our asshole, and he tries.

#People were also mad at my ''SWK and MK are gonna fight next season'' prediction. And I'm like come on man #One: You can still love someone who has hurt you. We all hurt each other. That's life #Two: MK has not ever gotten to express the ways Wukong has hurt him in the show. And that's gonna come out at some point #Though I think my blog has found it's way to folk who are a lot more chill #And some who are on this SWK V MK pain train with me #Which is based #anyways that's enough complaining from me #lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk rant #asks #imp's a little feisty

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benetnvsch · 9 months

Text

ADDRESSING TWITTER'S TOS/POLICY IN REGARDS TO ARTISTS AND AI

Hi !! if you're an artist and have been on twitter, you've most likely seen these screen shots of twitters terms of service and privacy policy regarding AI and how twitter can use your content

I want to break down the information that's been going around as I noticed a lot of it is unintentionally misinformation/fearmongering that may be causing artists more harm than good by causing them to panic and leave the platform early

As someone who is an artist and makes a good amount of my income off of art, I understand the threat of AI art and know how scary it is and I hope to dispel some of this fear regarding twitter's TOS/Privacy policy at least. At a surface level yes, what's going on seems scary but there's far more to it and I'd like to explain it in more detail so people can properly make decisions!

This is a long post just as a warning and all screenshots should have an alt - ID with the text and general summary of the image

Firstly, lets look at the viral post regarding twitter's terms of service and are shown below

I have seen these spread a lot and have seen so many people leave twitter/delete all their art/deactivate there when this is just industry standard to include in TOS

Below are other sites TOS I found real quick with the same/similar clauses! From instagram, tiktok, and even Tumblr itself respectively, with the bit worded similar highlighted

Even Bluesky, a sight viewed as a safe haven from AI content has this section

As you can see, all of them say essentially the same thing, as it is industry standard and it's necessary for sites that allow you to publish and others to interact with your content to prevent companies from getting into legal trouble.

Let me break down some of the most common terms and how these app do these things with your art/content:

storing data - > allowing you to keep content uploaded/stored on their servers (Ex. comments, info about user like pfp)

publishing -> allowing you to post content

redistributing -> allowing others to share content, sharing on other sites (Ex. a Tumblr post on twitter)

modifying -> automatic cropping, in app editing, dropping quality in order to post, etc.

creating derivative works -> reblogs with comments, quote retweets where people add stuff to your work, tiktok stitches/duets

While these terms may seems intimidating, they are basically just tech jargon for the specific terms we know used for legal purposes, once more, simply industry standard :)

Saying that Twitter "published stored modified and then created a derivative work of my data without compensating me" sounds way more horrible than saying "I posted my art to twitter which killed the quality and cropped it funny and my friend quote-tweeted it with 'haha L' " and yet they're the same !

This part is more messy than the first and may be more of a cause for concern for artists. It is in regards to this screenshot I've seen going around

Firstly, I want to say that that is the only section in twitter's privacy policy where AI /machine learning is mentioned and the section it is is regarding how twitter uses user information.

Secondly, I do want to want to acknowledge that Elon Musk does have an AI development company, xAI. This company works in the development of AI, however, they want to make a good AGI which stands for artificial general intelligence (chatgpt, for example, is another AGI) in order to "understand the universe" with a scientific focus. Elon has mentioned wanting it to be able to solve complex mathematics and technical problems. He also, ofc, wants it to be marketable. You can read more about that here: xAI's website

Elon Musk has claimed that xAI will use tweets to help train it/improve it. As far as I'm aware, this isn't happening yet. xAI also, despite the name, does NOT belong/isn't a service of Xcorp (aka twitter). Therefore, xAI is not an official X product or service like the privacy policy is covering. I believe that the TOS/the privacy policies would need to expand to disclaim that your information will be shared specifically with affiliates in the context of training artificial intelligence models for xAI to be able to use it but I'm no lawyer. (also,,,Elon Musk has said cis/cisgender is a slur and said he was going to remove the block feature which he legally couldn't do. I'd be weary about anything he says)

Anyway, back to the screenshot provided, I know at a glance the red underlined text where it says it uses information collected to train AI but let's look at that in context. Firstly, it starts by saying it uses data it collects to provide and operate X products and services and also uses this data to help improve products to improve user's experiences on X and that AI may be used for "the purposes outlined in this policy". This means essentially just that is uses data it collects on you not only as a basis for X products and services (ex. targeting ads) but also as a way for them to improve (ex. AI algorithms to improve targeting ads). Other services it lists are recommending topics, recommending people to follow, offering third-party services, allowing affiliates etc. I believe this is all the policy allows AI to be used for atm.

An example of this is if I were to post an image of a dog, an AI may see and recognize the dog in my image and then suggest me more dog content! It may also use this picture of a dog to add to its database of dogs, specific breeds, animals with fur, etc. to improve this recommendation feature.

This type of AI image, once more, is common in a lot of media sites such as Tumblr, insta, and tiktok, and is often used for content moderation as shown below once more

Again, as far as I'm aware, this type of machine learning is to improve/streamline twitter's recommendation algorithm and not to produce generative content as that would need to be disclaimed!!

Claiming that twitter is now using your art to train AI models therefore is somewhat misleading as yes, it is technically doing that, as it does scan the images you post including art. However, it is NOT doing it to learn how to draw/generate new content but to scan and recognize objects/settings/etc better so it can do what social media does best, push more products to you and earn more money.

(also as a small tangent/personal opinion, AI art cannot be copywritten and therefore selling it would be a very messy area, so I do not think a company driven by profit and greed would invest so much in such a legally grey area)

Machine learning is a vast field , encompassing WAY More than just art. Please don't jump to assume just because AI is mentioned in a privacy policy that that means twitter is training a generative AI when everything else points to it being used for content moderation and profit like every other site uses it

Given how untrustworthy and just plain horrible Elon Musk is, it is VERY likely that one day twitter and xAI will use user's content to develop/train a generative AI that may have an art aspect aside from the science focus but for now it is just scanning your images- all of them- art or not- for recognizable content to sell for you and to improve that algorithm to better recognize stuff, the same way Tumblr does that but to detect if there's any nsfw elements in images.

WHAT TO DO AS AN ARTIST?

Everyone has a right to their own opinion of course ! Even just knowing websites collect and store this type of data on you is a valid reason to leave and everyone has their own right to leave any website should they get uncomfortable !

However, when people lie about what the TOS/privacy policy actually says and means and actively spread fear and discourage artists from using twitter, they're unintentionally only making things worse for artists with no where to go.

Yes twitter sucks but the sad reality is that it's the only option a lot of artists have and forcing them away from that for something that isn't even happening yet can be incredibly harmful, especially since there's not really a good replacement site for it yet that isn't also using AI / has that same TOS clause (despite it being harmless)

I do believe that one day xAI will being using your data and while I don't think it'll ever focus solely on art generation as it's largely science based, it is still something to be weary of and it's very valid if artists leave twitter because of that! Yet it should be up to artists to decide when they want to leave/deactivate and I think they should know as much information as possibly before making that decision.

There's also many ways you can protect your art from AI such as glazing it, heavily watermarking it, posting links to external sites, etc. Elon has also stated he'll only be using public tweets which means privating your account/anything sent in DMS should be fine!!

Overall, I just think if we as artists want any chance of fighting back against AI we have to stay vocal and actively fight against those who are pushing it and abandon and scatter at the first sign of ANY machine learning on websites we use, whether it's producing generative art content or not.

Finally, want to end this by saying that this is all just what I've researched by myself and in some cases conclusions I've made based on what makes the most sense to me. In other words, A Lot Could Be Wrong ! so please take this with a grain of salt, especially that second part ! Im not at all any AI/twitter expert but I know that a lot of what people were saying wasn't entirely correct either and wanted to speak up ! If you have anything to add or correct please feel free !!

#long post #twitter #x #xcorp #ai #ai art discourse #twitter discourse #idk what to tag this #but yeah

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rokkenjimaisland · 1 year

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Ren's "similar to Umineko" list! (now overhauled)(You're welcome)

Stuff on here reminds me of Umineko for a variety of reasons. If I add to it, I'll just edit this post and add the date I added it to this list. Separated by genre this time.

Under the read-more, with the "why it reminds me of Umineko" blurb after the title rather than a whole plot synopsis like I had done in the previous list

Feel free to rec stuff in tags or in comments etc. if I haven't read/played/watched it it might be hard for me to add it but I'll definitely add it to my own list of things to check out!

VIDEO GAMES The House In Fata Morgana - Visual novel, Unreliable narration, witch haunting an illusory mansion for thousands of years, cycles of abuse and trauma, Gothic setting, romance 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors - Visual novel, "The killer is among us" (lol), murder mystery scoping out paranormal/metaphysical elements and twisting them into its own crazy logic, romance NieR Replicant - It's up to you to find your own happiness whatever that means to you despite the circumstances of the world you're living in or your own birth Alan Wake - Author creates and infers reality around him, horror setting, unreliable narration, creations rallying against their creator Alan Wake 2 - see the above, it's the sequel, except Alan Wake 2 is an actual survival horror. I didn't like Alan Wake 1 much but I'm LOVING 2 so far. The Forgotten City - I haven't played this just saw someone on Twitter say to play it if you like Umineko so I'm trusting their recommendation Pathologic Classic HD - Questions of morality, wishy-washiness on the reality of the fantastical elements of the town's culture, meta universe shenanigans forcing you to contend with "none of this matters, so why do/should I care?" Patho 2 can probably go here too but I am playing that at the moment.

ANIMANGA Naoki Urasawa's Monster - "Why did the culprit do this?" over "Who is the culprit?", murder mystery, cycles of abuse, questions of character identity, the ultimate "victim of circumstances has created the monster" situation Shiki - Sleepy town being annihilated by an unknown threat, humans doing unspeakable things in the name of justice, the question of the antagonist's morality/justice is brought to the forefront and maybe they were right all along...? Princess Tutu - Characters who have been created for a story and are living out a narrative sort of against their will, the narrative as a framing device and also a prison, love love love lots of love, the death of the author and what this means for a tale and the characters within it too--if you can only call them characters I Want To Hold Aono-kun so Badly I Could Die - romantic relationships as a way to combat your personal loneliness, horror and romance and how they intersect...kind of hard to explain this one unless you've finished Umineko but this manga really reads like AU Bato[redacted] to me so far, lots of supernatural elements, learning how to find happiness

TV Succession - Rich people dealing with their abusive and unpredictable father deciding who will be the successor for the family business and dragging everyone else into it, cycles of literally every sort

MOVIES Knives Out (2019) - Rich family called to a house to discuss the ailing patriarch's will only for him to be murdered, murder mystery Haven't seen Glass Onion yet but that too. Decision To Leave (2022) - Confessions of the unspeakable as acts of love, Another time another place maybe it could have worked, I created myself to love you, tragic romance, the sea as a motif representing character worlds Memento (2000) - it's up to the watcher to interpret events as they happen and piece them together, the most unreliable narrator of narrators, just go in blind The Prestige (2006) - Magicians get into a big dick competition and destroy their relationships for the sake of greatness, branches into metaphysical territory for the sake of pursuing magic House (1977) - Group of girls visit an ancient family home, horror setting, love is always enduring for better or for worse, witches, using other bodies to fulfill your own wish

BOOKS The Locked Tomb Quartet - Cites Umineko (and 999!) as an inspiration and Muir is a very very referential reader so it's kind of hard to say stuff without spoiling TLT also so honestly just go read it. Magpie Murders - Murder within a murder And Then There Were None (duh) - Directly inspired Umineko and the murders within Umineko The Last Unicorn - Characters acknowledge they are living in a fairy tale, the unicorn is often called the only 'real' one in the group due to her immortality, dream-like narration and fantastical whimsy, ocean representing character strife House Of Leaves - The metaphysical book of metaphysical books with stories within stories within stories and extremely unconventional formatting, house as a vehicle to tell a horror story IT - Two stories in different times existing side by side to inform the reader how to read it. I never finished reading this either though sorry </3 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - metafiction play about characters and the absurdity of their existence, repeating stories, tragedy is only a story and the characters within only exist to tell that story regardless of their own individuality Wuthering Heights - toxic romance the novel, idk why I didn't have this here yet. Honestly I'm not super big on this book but it's a classic for a reason. Dread, isolated spaces, fucked up romance, ghosts, etc.

#similar to umineko list #red truth

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just-plenty-of-prompts · 2 years

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Hello, dear! I am a writer and new on Tumbrl! I also maintain an Instagram account and just created a Twitter and also a Wattpad to post my original short stories! I was wondering where and how I could find a nice writing community! I would like to share poems, live the writing process with people that are on the same path and, why not, even pen pal! Could you give me any tips? Much thanks! ♡

hey! welcome to Tumblr.

I know you only asked for a few communities but I decided to expand a bit more, I hope you don't mind. Please note these are only things I have at least some experience with, there is a lot more on the internet.

so for writing let's goooo!

Social and Chat Platforms:

Tumblr is def a good place to be if you're looking for a nice place to spread your work, I find it the easiest of all the social media channels to use. for poems and single-page short stories it is a good place to post. you can also find a lot of amazing pages dedicated to writing tips and challenges.

Twitter, I have it too but I don't use it at all, I'm more of the opinion that Twitter is something for people to follow others that they like but you won't build a following unless you are already well known. for writing, I think building up a community on Twitter won't be easy until you're pretty well known on other social platforms and bring people over from there.

Instagram I find harder than Tumblr but easier than Twitter, it takes a lot more effort than Tumblr due to its layout. I think Instagram is better for art-based stuff than writing but it can still be a relatively good platform.

Reddit, this is a good place to go, they have writing communities that you can use to post your work in if you're active enough people will start recognizing you in the posts and you can build a nice following and make some good writing friends.

Discord, there are several writing servers in discord. it's a good place to share work and make friends that are writers. It's a live at the moment type of thing so you can chat in real-time to people instead of waiting hours for a reply. I have my own discord as well for readers and writers and it's pretty fun. you can do writing sprints with other writers where you all write together and compete to see who writes the most words in a selected time frame. I personally love doing sprints while chatting on the voice channels with the other writers who are doing the sprints with me.

NaNoWriMo, though the NaNo challenge is in November it's a year-round platform where you can share how much you've written and what you're working on, there are forums to chat with other writers and you get awesome benefits when you complete writing challenges. you also have camp NaNo to do. I've made a few writer friends through this, and have gotten a lot of advice from published authors that also take part in the Nano challenge.

Pinterest, this may be a place to search for images but you can still use it, I've found a ton of prompts and writing tips, poems, and blogs from Pinterest. post an image and link it to one of your other social platforms. admittedly, you need to be active if you want your interest to grow.

Facebook, I do not use Facebook for writing, in fact, I'm rarely on there but I've seen the groups and pages dedicated to writing. It is def a good place to go.

TikTok, sharing tips and tricks, acting out the dialogue or playing out scenes from your own written work, reading your poems, and posting it on TikTok. This is a good platform for those types of things, if my house wasn't so noisy I'd be using TikTok to act out dialogue prompts.

Posting your writing:

Wattpad, for both original fiction and fan-fiction, I personally don't post on this site, it has a good setup for writers but not as good of one for readers, I find the search system annoying and it's super hard to find good stories, as a writer having your story discovered is not easy.

Commaful, similar to Wattpad but smaller, the community is a bit more engaging. this is better for short stories and poems, if you have a full-blown novel to post, I think this place is not for you.

fanfiction.net, for fanfiction, is a pretty good community as long as you're good enough at writing, if you post regularly your story can grow pretty easily.

Archiveofourown.org, my fav when it comes to posting fanfiction, is easy to use and easy for your story to be found. you can also post originals on this site but it's more geared to fanfics.

Royal road, my personal choice when posting original fiction, the community is tough to crack and can be harsh when criticizing. Fanfiction is also posted here. if you're not the best at writing don't try. you can link Paypal and Patreon for donations.

Quotev, this site is a bit teenier, I guess, it's fun, you can post short stories and fanfiction, make quizzes and engage with people quite a lot. the audience is young usually, so if your aim is young adults and teens it's a good place to build up a fanbase but don't expect critical feedback. the younger kids aren't the best at giving good feedback but their kind and supportive words are super nice.

Bookrix, I haven't used this one in a few years, but it was a nice place and a good way to monetize writing. they help with publishing, and they also have forums and groups that you can join. it's best if you're looking into self-publishing

Helpful writing software and websites:

Scrivner, this is a writing application, paid though, I use it myself. extremely useful and a great way to keep everything for your novel in one document without it being a complete mess.

Scapple, paid, mind mapping software, super useful for planning out chapters and connecting events.

WorldAnvil is good for worldbuilding, I used it for a while but I do my world-building on Scrivner now.

Azgaar's fantasy map generator, is my go-to for creating fantasy maps, it's free, you can customize and it has a fantasy city map generator connected to it so you don't have to stress about the city layouts either.

Grammarly or Hemingway editor, grammar checkers. Hemingway works with Scrivner if you have the paid version which is super useful but both have free versions. if you use Grammarly on the website it also saves your documents. it can't be organized but it's useful if you want a site to keep your written works.

One drive, free limited space, before moving to Scrivner I used One drive to manage my writing and keep everything organized.

and that's all I can think of at the moment.

if you want you can join us on discord with fellow writers

like my work? show some support by checking out my web novel - Throwaway Villain

#writing ideas #writing #writers on tumblr #creative writing #my writing #writeblr #writers #writing advice #writing community #writing exercise #writing inspiration #writing tips #writerscommunity #writerslife #writer things #writerscorner #writerblr #writer problems

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