hello it's part 3 of 3 for my cool fun graphic design adventure!! part 1 and part 2 got too long. to recap i am recreating this t-shirt design but with the magic 8 ball songs instead of city names:

here is the current draft, updated through 3/27 (pittsburgh) (!!!!)

Apologies for my recent radio silence. I've had a lot on my mind lately.

This post isn't Earthspark-related at all, but please read it.

I need to take a second on this blog to acknowledge some things going on in the world. I should not have stayed silent on this blog before, but I'm trying to fix that now.

Genocide in Palestine + how you can help Palestinians

You can buy e-sims for people in Gaza here. Anything helps.

Click here daily to help generate funds for Palestine. It's free and takes less than a minute.

Here's a list of where you can donate to help Palestine.

(If there's anything I should add to this section, please let me know.)

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The KOSA bill, what it's going to do if passed, and how you can help prevent it from taking effect

KOSA will essentially erase anonymity from the internet by requiring people to upload their government ID or other form of identification to any social media site, as well as restricting resources and information on LGBT rights, history, racism, and more. This bill will censor the entire internet and destroy privacy while violating First Amendment rights and potentially putting minors in danger.

This also could very well mean the end of Tumblr, and I'm not exaggerating here.

Tomorrow KOSA could be passed in Senate, and from there it will need to pass in the House of Representatives before being signed into law by the president. It's not doomsday yet, but it is a dangerous situation-- and here's what you can do.

StopKOSA.org provides you with a template email to send to your representatives. You can leave it how it is or edit it to say what you want, and then send it from their website.

The website also allows you to call your representatives and gives you a template of what to say.

BadInternetBills.org, run by the same people, takes action against KOSA as well as other bills like EARN IT. At the time of posting this, over 356,000 people have signed this petition.

Additionally there are several petitions on change.org to help stop KOSA. Here are a few of them.

STOP KOSA

STOP THE KOSA

Stop Kosa

Save Humanity, Oppose KOSA

STOP THE KOSA ACT

(Again, please let me know if there's anything I should add.)

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One last thing-- The evolution of AI images and video.

I don't really have anything good to say. AI is evolving fast and changing the world as we know it. We are adapting, but nobody knows how this really is going to end up.

A few quick points:

AI images are not art. That's all. AI "artists" who genuinely claim to have made something of their own just by typing a prompt into a generator will be blocked. (Which has been in my rules for a while, but I still think it needs to be said.)

I recommend Glaze for artists who don't want their art being scraped and used for data training. Especially with the recent rumors of an upcoming deal between Tumblr and Midjourney. There's also a similar program called Nightshade (haha, earthspark reference? anyone?🦉) that I haven't tested myself but have heard good things about.

-----

That's all, I suppose. Reblogs are good, if you don't mind.

Spread the word about KOSA. Contact your representatives. Sign the petitions.

Support Palestine if possible. Donate if you can. If you are unable to donate, make sure to do your daily clicks.

Stay safe and take care of yourselves. ❤️

Template to send to EA regarding Paywallers.

Hey y'all! I had an anon ask about this, so I wrote this up real quick for anyone who doesn't have the time or ability to pen a long thing to send to EA about the paywallers. Feel free to change it up as much as you'd like, add even more paywallers (highly recommend this), do whatever you want, let's REPORT REPORT REPORT 💖

How to report:

To report Mods, give us the details right here on EA Help:

Click Contact Us from any page on EA Help.

We recommend logging in to your EA Account.

Select The Sims 4. If needed, use the search bar to find the game.

Select your Platform.

For Topic, select Report concerns or harassment.

For Issue, choose Report website.

From here, you’ll open a webform to let us know more about what happened. Please provide a link to the Mods you think break the rules, and as much detail as you can about why. Your report will be reviewed by our team.

Then you just enter your name/email (which isn't shared with anyone but EA)

Here's my lil template! THIS HAS BEEN CENSORED. In my actual report I listed their full names, and patreon/tumblr pages. I HIGHLY recommend you check out mack3030's anti perma paywall posts. Give EA as MUCH info as you can on this. The more of us that report the better off we'll be. Also i borrowed a little bit of wording from @myshunosun (the distribution and installation part) sorry but it sounded nice and I couldn't think of how else to phrase it.

My Template:

I made the subject "Custom Content in the Sims community- perma paywallers"

"Hello there, my name is ______, and I have been an avid sims fan and consumer for MANY years. It has recently come to my attention that EA has released an official article on the distribution and installation of mods and custom content. It states to reach out if we find any mods that go against the guidelines in this article. As a community, we know of MANY people who permanently lock their custom content behind what we call 'paywalls', which means simmers have NO access to them unless they pay. This is clearly against EA's policies and I would now like to report them to you in the hopes that you will not let this continue any longer. As someone who has already spent hundreds on this game and franchise, I believe it is wrong in so many ways to lock content using EA's intellectual property/program/meshes behind paywalls when it is clearly against your policy. Following is a list of some of the most notorious paywallers in the community.

S*xamcc

currently makes over 10k a month from perma paywalling their custom content. They have removed thier public patron amount due to the backlash they have received. This is unacceptable when EA CLEARLY states that mods are NOT to be sold. This creator will continue to lock all of their content behind paywalls until someone stops them.

Other perma paywallers:

antos*ms, bergd*rf, cowbu*ld, P*xel V*bes

Thank you so much for reading my report and taking what we as a community have been against for so long seriously. I greatly hope that you look at these reports and do something about these creators."

2024/02/10 Blog post by Wakana おしゃべりガーデン第6回目！〜みんなのバレンタインと美味しいチョコレート♡〜

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ Do ❗NOT SHARE❗ on other sites❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Talk Garden vol.6！〜Everyone's Valentine And Delicious Chocolate♡〜

Vol.6 of Wakana's Talk Garden has been uploaded! ＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／ First of all, thank you so much for sending me so many Valentine's Day memories! ! 😂😂 I was wondering what would happen after I had made my blog post last time because it was so close to the deadline, surprisingly, it turned out to be the highest number of submissions ever! ! ! *laughs* There were so many people who sent a submission for the first time! ! 😭[I was one of them XD] I really felt everyone's love...😭✨It's almost as if I received Valentine's Day gifts a little early...😭💕I'm so grateful💕 As always, it was fun talking to you! ︎Sharing everyone's stories, tears, laughter, and warmth...♡ But!!When it comes to tragic stories, no one can beat me! ! 🤣 I don't think anyone reasonable would disagree with me on this, right? 😂😂 *laughs* (By the way, now that I think about it, it might have been 3rd grade instead of 1st grade *laughs*) Well, those are treasured memories...😌✨ [Note: She is talking about something "incredibly sad" that happened to her in elementary school. There was a boy she liked a lot so Wakana asked her mum to help her prepare some chocolate for him. After she gave him the chocolate he was quite apologetic and pretty much told her straight-up that he didn't like her. Needless to say, Wakana's little heart was broken into pieces.]

In the last blog post, I talked about a``mysterious chocolate that was so delicious but I couldn't remember its name,'' I did my best to search for it and... I actually discovered it! ! ･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+ I managed to order it from an official website that said they would ship it right away! ! Ta da~♡

The mysterious delicious chocolate shop is actually a Belgian chocolate specialty store called “Rêve De Bijoux”! Apparently it's a select shop that sells a variety of Belgian chocolates that are carefully selected every year･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+ It is not the same chocolate I used to eat, their selections seems to have evolved so the "chocolate of memories" no longer exists🤔I decided to choose a chocolate that had a similar shape to the one I had gotten in the past, I also chose a brand that I had purchased before😁

This is ZUUT's new product, "ZUUT Praline -2024 New Selection-"🍫 (I've bought some of their chocolate before) Way too beautiful...✨ It's almost a waste to eat them...✨(I will though)

And this is the chocolate of my memories, Rêve De Bijoux! ! (the box itself has not changed at all) The contents are all new though, I haven't had any of these before! This truffle seems to be very popular 😳💓 I am sharing my reaction on the podcast! ! So be sure to listen to it😆

And here is the decaffeinated coffee I drank with my chocolate ☕️ It's the instant coffee on the right. Although it is caffeine-free, it has a strong refined taste and is delicious 😳 (despite being instant) Personally, I like the fact that there is not a lot of acidity! What's even better is that it's organic and decaffeinated without the use of chemicals ♡

The drip coffee on the left is not decaffeinated but I really like it ☕️ It's called Cafe Verona from Starbucks. It has a very bitter taste that I occasionally crave😍

I had a lot of fun ordering chocolates and taking advantage the talk theme for the episode 😂 If you have any delicious sweets or foods you recommend, please let me know 😄 The next talk theme for March 10th will be “Graduation Memories”! ! Memories of your graduation ceremony from your school days, or when you graduated from ◯◯, etc, everything is welcome🤗 It shouldn't be that difficult! *laughs* I'm waiting for your submissions! ! !

Thank you to everyone who watched “Wakana 5th Anniversary “Prologue” ~Premium Online Live~” held on February 6th! ! ! 😭✨ You can still watch the archived video until the 13th (Tuesday), so I don't want to reveal too much! ! 😂 Let's just say, something quite shocking occured🤣 If you haven't seen it yet, please be sure to check it out! ! 😂😂

During this online event, I also announced my next live! ＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／ “Wakana 5th Anniversary Live” Date: May 12, 2024 Venue: I'M A SHOW Yurakucho Marion Appearing artists: Wakana, Satoshi Takebe, etc.

I wanted to start this year's 5th Anniversary celebrations with all of my fan club members. But I also want to use this year to share my music with many more people, that's why we have decided to hold a proper band live for the first time in a long time😄!! ️ Everyone, please come to "I'M A SHOW" in Yurakucho on May 12th! ! ＼(^o^)／

Lastly , here's a picture of myself and Sakurada-san who joined me on the piano on February 6th♪

Well, that's it for today. Until next time~☆( *'▽'*)/

＊＊＊Wakana＊＊＊

Wakana’s Talk Garden #6

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ Do ❗NOT SHARE❗ on other sites ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Episode #6 »»—— CLICK ME 🎁 CLICK ME ——««

Vol 6 Topic “Memories of Valentine's Day”

OMG, I can't believe she actually read my message😳 I always stress way too much over what to write and I am generally super self-conscious when it comes to my Japanese skills so I never really leave any comments, let alone long messages. But Wakana's blog post from last time made me feel so bad for her that I couldn't help but submit at least something. Apparently, lots of other people felt the same way XD That makes it all the more surprising my message ended up being chosen. I had no idea it would be so embarrassing to hear her read my message🙈 Especially now that it turns out my guess about the mysterious chocolate was completely off. I speculated that she might have talked about a popular Austrian sweet called "Mozartkugel" but turns out she was talking about a special chocolate from Belgium (see images above). Oh well, the message was a great transition to her introducing the chocolate and doing a little taste test. And I am happy that she at least remembers receiving my packages of "Mozartkugeln" during various lives. Also, this is the third time she has mentioned "Sachertorte" in relation to Vienna so I guess she must be pretty obsessed with it. I need to find a way to bring one as present for her.

For next month’s episode which is scheduled to air on March 10th, the topic is “Memories of Graduation” The submission deadline is 02/29.

I was raised by parents who never taught me the basics of anything. I’m trying to learn how to do the basics of taking care of myself and others in a solar punk way. Do you have any recommendations on where to start. All i know how to do is sew and i have a basic grip on how to garden

This is a really fantastic question, and I actually have a basics/getting started masterpost in progress that you'll probably find helpful once I get it finished. In the meantime, here are some thoughts.

When it comes to deciding where to start, many people want to jump into something big - start a community garden or organize a renter's union in their building or convert their whole apartment to solar power. But if you're starting from a place of "my parents taught me nothing useful," think smaller. Learn how to take care of yourself first, and then you can expand it to others. Like a garden, you have to plant the tiny seeds first and invest time and water in them before you get big plants that can feed others.

Since you didn't mention any specific basics or skills you want resources and thoughts on, I'm going to cover a lot of general ones here. If there are specific areas you want more information/resources on, please feel free to respond (or send in another ask)!

Gardening: I stand by the assertion that the best way to learn about gardening is throw some seeds at some dirt and see what happens. If you're an apartment-dweller with no balcony or patio, try a small pot or a bottle tower garden in a windowsill. Even one of those houseplants that survives in low light will give you experience in what a plant needs to live. This post has some resources for gardening without spending money.

Sewing: I don't know if your sewing skills extend to mending, but if not, it's definitely something to look into! I've made entire dresses and quilts and I still find most of my sewing is repairing and mending other stuff. We have a mending tag, but I also love YouTube for this. Searching "how to mend X" (e.g. "how to mend hole in crotch of jeans") gives you a bunch of awesome tutorials. (And if you want to learn more sewing techniques, I highly recommend historical sewers on YouTube - Bernadette Banner and Morgan Donner are my favorites.)

Cooking: This is one of those things that's great for you (easier to feed yourself), great for gardening (growing fresh veggies is even more useful if you can cook things out of them), and great for community (humans be bonding over food). I don't have any particular resources for this, as my general philosophy is "if you can read, you can cook" - a good recipe will tell you everything you need to know to make it. If you don't have a good cookbook to work from, Smitten Kitchen has very clear recipes, many of which aren't difficult or time-consuming at all.

Building Community: One of the foundations of solarpunk is that it's about community. Even if you start out doing it by yourself, eventually you need a community to do bigger things. My favorite way to start is by meeting the neighbors. Taking over some food (cookies are great) and introducing yourself is a great way to open a relationship. We also have a community building tag for more ideas.

Finances: Not the most solarpunk of topics, but we have to be able to financially survive the current capitalist hellscape if we want to be able to do anything useful for anyone. I highly recommend Bitches Get Riches for this (website here, tumblr here). They're not specifically solarpunk, but they do have the "anticapitalist punk big sister" thing going on.

Integrate the 7 R's: There are more R's to sustainable living than just "Reduce Reuse Recycle". See this post for a primer.

Explore permaculture as a design system: Permaculture is often understood as a method of gardening, which isn't really accurate. It's actually a design system that can be used for a bunch of different areas of your life to make them more eco-friendly/solarpunk. I highly recommend Heather Jo Flores's work for more about this concept - this article is a good place to start.

I'm sure there are more things that I'm not thinking of right now. If you have more specific questions or topics you want me to cover, please ask! I love tracking down resources for people, too, so if I don't already have something I'll do my very best to find it.

- Mod J

Is it just me or are Amazon products getting increasingly dodgy? I don't actually buy stuff on there because I'm boycotting their evil business practices but I do use it to research stuff and read customer reviews.

Tonight I'm looking at heating pads and this stupid website is completely failing in my intended purpise of research because I'm not convinced any of these companies are REAL. The product descriptions are horribly written (are they using AI to write them or just refusing to proofread?). I just saw the same exact product listed under 3 different company names. And I mean the exact same, not like they're copying each other but like they're all getting the exact same product from the same source. Something something the illusion of choice. A lot of them don't put a brand name on their packaging, it just says HEATING PAD where you would expect a logo to be. And when they do put down a brand name, it looks like someone just smashed letters randomly together in a combination which is not permitted to exist in the English language.

Anyways if anyone has recommendations for plug-in electric heating pads, please send them my way. I tried reddit but the one everyone seems to like comes with a "may expose you to lead, which may increase risk of cancer" warning which does not exactly fill me with confidence.

I was wondering if you could write a saiki & reader oneshot fic with a reader who has DID & C-PTSD and paranoid tendencies? I understand that that might be a bit too hard to write but just in case I got some recorces that might be handy, here is the link to DID listing from my own copy of the newest version of the DSM https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htaraej65e34tg9/AADBATmelRQFUBfTMxaJ3W6wa?dl=0 as well as this website that has a lot of good info on it https://did-research.org/ and this page I found that has a brief overview of C-PTSD https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24881-cptsd-complex-ptsd but I also recommend quickly reading thru the different types of flashbacks (shouldn't be that hard to find info on)

The main idea is that because of the mix dissociation,switching,paranoia, different types of flashbacks etc that the readers thoughts are very fucking confusing to saiki (feel free to use this premise for any kind of plot you want just try not to make it overly angsty is all I ask, well as un-angsty as you can get with C-PTSD anyways lol) I just wanna see more y/n / reader inserts that I can actually relate to but the saiki K fandom is so small

Can be platonic or romantic

Hi!! So sorry for the late reply, I researched as much as I could so if theres anything remotely wrong or different please tell me! Ngl, im not very sure i like how it turned out, nevertheless I hope you enjoy :))

Also i totally get that its hard finding stuff for saiki k which is the reason why i write for it in the first place, they totally deserve more recognition!! Feel free to send more requests in the future!!

warnings: somewhat angsty but not really, i tried to be as vague as possible so as not to trigger anyone, reader suffers from trauma, DID, CPTSD, swearing, fluffy ending? slightly oc saiki

RULES !!

DO NOT COPY OR REPOST MY WORK PLEASE

REQUESTS: OPEN

NAVIGATION

WHO DO I WRITE FOR?

summary: Saiki was used to listening to many types of thoughts, and at one point, nothing he heard surprised him. However when you came around, he was beyond confused. What sparks as a little curiosity might turn into something more.

-------------------------------------------------

No matter what | Kusuo Saiki

He was used to it, or at least that's what he used to tell himself. Throughout the years he had heard all sorts of thoughts, at one point, he learned to tune them out when need be, having listened in on weird enough ideas that now don't surprise him anymore.

When you came in the picture, he was...baffled, to say the least. Confusing wasn't even close of a word to express how he felt. Your thought process was anything but simple. At times it'd be a fuzzy mess almost as if you lost part of your memory, other times, you'd think as if you were a completely different person, contradicting many of your previous thoughts. But what disturbed him most was the series of traumatic thoughts that would cross your mind. Flashbacks he realized in that moment.

In the beginning he felt annoyed, as per usual. Often times, he'd find you in class with a dazed expression, which to be frank, he had seen enough times to not give it a second thought. But then his attention would be caught when your mind would wander and you'd start thinking in a very unusual way. They were so unlike the person you presented to be, so much so that Saiki was left perplexed and in need to understand exactly what was going on.

The more it happened the more worried he'd be. There were days where you acted a certain way, and other days where you acted completely different. He could tell you weren't being fake trying to act differently for attention, after all, your thoughts lined up with the you acted and the things you said. Rather, it was the abrupt changes in your behaviour that had him thinking for far longer than he normally would.

Along the way, he also picked up how you'd flinch if you were in sudden physical contact, the way your shoulders would tense and the way your heart beat would speed up. Saiki wasn't stupid of course, he was aware that all of this was caused by some form of trauma.

He knew not to pry, yet his heart strings pulled everytime he saw you having a bad moment. So he began to follow you, in disguise of course, and even if he seemed like a stalker, he couldn't help it. Eventually he began to connect the dots, your reactions, behaviors, everything. It made sense now.

Unconciously, his words began to soften around you, his touch became gentler, he looked out for you in ways he had never done so with others. You began to notice but in no way did you mind, if anything, Saiki was someone you took great comfort in. What started of small slowly grew into something neither of you expected.

Of course, that didn't make it any less hard for either of you. Like right now. You were laying in Saikis bed, your head resting on his shoulder as you watched a movie, when suddenly a specific scene had triggered an anxiety attack. Your mind was racing through flashbacks of the many disturbing events you had gone through. Saiki was up almost immediately, having read your mind and sensed your reaction.

His touch was soft, his hands cupping your face so gently you'd think he was scared to break you, which he was. He was in no way someone who could comfort others easily. Nevertheless he tried his best. He attempted to lower your heart rate, rubbing small circles against your back as his other hand held the back of your head. No words were needed, they never were. He had, in a way, been there for you, way before you two even became a thing, so none of this was a surprise for either of you.

That didn't ease the guilt in your heart any less. You always felt bad. You knew Saiki could read you, literally. And well, it wasn't pretty. Countless times you had attempted to push him away, yet he never budged.

"'m sorry" you mumbled against his shoulder as your rested your head on it.

He cupped your face in his hands, pulling you to look at him.

`I won't let you push me away. The things you went through won't make me see you any differently, because to me you'll still be someone I cherish'

Your eyes welled up as you looked him deep in the eyes, finding nothing but love for you. Still cupping your face, he ran his thumbs under your eyes, wiping the tears away. He leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead.

'I love you'

"No matter what?"

`No matter what'

Crowdfunding Fulfillment at IPR

I already talked about becoming a publisher at IPR in this post, and now, as promised, here is the post outlining IPR’s Crowdfunding Fulfillment services!

The first important thing to note is that IPR only offers fulfillment services for IPR publishers, so you’ll have to get signed up as a publisher and agree to send us at least 50 extra copies of your game to sell after the fulfillment is completed.

So, what are the benefits of fulfilling with IPR?

We ship anywhere on the globe, via USPS, UPS, or FedEx

Handling expenses are as low as $2.30 per shipment ($1.90 per shipment plus 0.40/item as of 2023-01-01)

We charge $17/hour for miscellaneous labor (loading and unloading trucks, filling out forms, assembly, shrink wrapping, and other services)

Our storage rates are as inexpensive as $22.00 per pallet per month, or free if you’ve got less than a pallet’s worth of product!

After the fulfillment is complete, your game will immediately be available to a wide range of customers and retailers.

Cool! What do the steps of crowdfunding fulfillment look like with IPR?

First, you reach out to us and let us know you’ve got a project that you would like us to fulfill. This works a lot like applying to be a publisher, so please include a PDF of your game(s) as well, so we can look through them and make sure they’re something we would like to have at IPR.

Then, if you’re not already an IPR Publisher, we’ll get you signed up as one! This involves all the steps I talked about in the previous post, like signing the IPR Sales Rep contract and getting you an IPR Publishers account.

After that it’s a bit of a waiting game. If you have accurate weights and sizes for all the products of your fulfillment, we can find you estimates for domestic and international shipping, but they will just be estimates. 

Shipping prices, especially international ones, fluctuate constantly. This is why I always recommend charging for shipping after your campaign has ended, and as close to the actual shipping dates as possible.

But other than that, you just run your campaign and get back to us once your backer surveys have been filled out! We’ll then take your backer info and use it to create a cost estimate for the fulfillment. This is, again, just an estimate, and it accounts for the costs of shipping, handling, packing material, miscellaneous labor, and a 5% surcharge on the packing and shipping costs.

That 5% is to account for unexpected charges, for example shipping prices can absolutely change in the week between us calculating the estimate, and us actually receiving and starting to ship out your game. It just gives us a bit of wiggle room.

Then we’ll send the estimate to you, you send your product to us, and once the estimate has been paid we’ll start boxing up and shipping out orders!

With the shipping service we use, we’re able to email tracking numbers to each individual backer automatically, to hopefully help curb all those “where is my reward?” emails. Still, we’ll also send you a spreadsheet of all the tracking numbers for your own reference.

Once the fulfillment is complete, we’ll draw up the actual cost of the project, and bill you for the difference between the actual cost and the estimate. Once that’s been paid, we’ll take your game live on the IPR website and promote it on our front page, social media accounts, and monthly newsletter!

Essentially, we offer fulfillment services at cost, with the main benefit to us being that we get copies of your game in our store before anyone else.

This all sounds good but I’ve still got questions!

Check out our Crowdfunding Fulfillment FAQ!

I read through the FAQ and I still have questions!

You can always send us questions on tumblr, or email me! [email protected]. As always I am happy to answer questions of any sort, as long as they have to do with TTRPGs.

Do you have any tips on both becoming a beta reader and getting a beta reader? I'd love to be a beta reader for someone's work so I can get better at editing my own works by pointing out things the author of the beta fic could work on, but i'd also like to have a beta reader of my own just so I know if there's anything I missed while combing through my rough draft. Are there any platforms in particular that are great for this or is it relatively easily to find/become a beta reader?

Hey! I’m sorry to say this is one of those things I don’t presently have much experience with, but I’ll try my best.

I’ve never asked to beta for anyone before, but I have been asked and I’ve asked others. In my experience, it came from connecting with writers I enjoyed and readers who enjoyed my work. That’s why, off the top of my head, I recommend connecting with your fandom niche through a Discord community.

I asked one of my mutuals in my ship’s server to be my beta because not only does she have a lot of enthusiasm for my work, but she and I have a lot of overlap in our preferences. This is important because the worst thing a beta can do is try to turn your story into something it’s not meant to be. For example, trying to speed up a slowburn or tell you to give your tragedy a happy ending. A beta needs to understand and enjoy your vision so much that they make it their mission to help you improve and refine it.

And I think a lot of writers prefer to recruit people they know for that reason, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t communities able to help you find a beta. Not everyone has made those connections yet, after all. That’s why the best I can recommend is to find a fanfiction subreddit specific to your fandom if you can (or a non-fanfic-specific subreddit if that’s the best you can find). Make a post describing your fic, the major characters and relationships, how long it will probably be (both chapter and word count if you can), how often you’re aiming to post, and what your preferred method of communicating will be. You can also look for those kinds of posts looking for beta-readers as well and volunteer.

If you’re writing for a ye old fandom on Fanfiction.net that’s still active, the website does actually have features to help you find a beta. People will write out profiles about their fandom preferences, their approach to editing, and other stuff like that. Be aware that FFN is falling out of fashion though, and it’s riddled with bugs. When you find a promising beta candidate, check to see when they were last active (available at the top of their reader/writer profile), send them a PM, and after they’ve agreed, arrange to communicate on a more reliable platform.

One thing I want to caution you is to not look for beta-readers on websites that aren’t specific to fanfiction. The reason why is that in the traditional/original fiction world, beta-readers are intended to be a “test audience”, while in the fanfic world, we think of beta-readers as critique partners. It’s just one of those discrepancies in the writing world that it’s good to be aware of so you don’t end up with misunderstandings and such.

Anywho, that’s the best I can do. Hope it helps and hope you find your foothold in the world of beta-reading!

If anyone more knowledgeable than me on this has any advice to share, please do 💖

Scarves & Coffee Survey Results

Thank you very much to everyone that filled out the survey from last month! I truly appreciate each and every one of you sharing your thoughts on the site.

I wanted to go over most of the responses (some were redundant/already discussed) and respond to those publicly so you all know what's going on and what the future has in store for S&C (and maybe even field some more insight). Responses are under the cut:

Are there any changes or updates you would like to see to current features on Scarves & Coffee?

Currently the "Categories" available seem really limited - while posting things I noticed there were no options for historical, alternate meeting, canon compliant, or other common tropes. Also, the way of selecting categories and characters using the ctrl key is a little clunky and unintuitive.

All of the current categories on the site were directly ported from the original site and haven't really been updated since 2011. If you have any categories you would like to see added, please send in an Ask or reply below. (Though the categories may be split into major categories and tags in the future.) But yes, the form requiring the ctrl key to select multiple categories/characters is super annoying, adding that to the list.

Yes! I would like to see all the fics posted by kudos or most read not only the first ten!

You can sort the entire library by kudos/most read using the Browse Library page. Just click what you want to sort by in the search menu and then press "Search." You don't have to have anything in the Search box to sort/filter entries. The Top Tens page is just a page that was on the original site that showcases the top ten in each category for fun.

Some sort of RSS feed so I can track new stuff posted to the site without having to check ever couple days. The site is currently low traffic so I stopped visiting regularly.

Noted. Email notifications should be coming back soon as well.

What features would you like to see added to Scarves & Coffee? (this can be anything! feel free to request as much as you want, from anything as small as font size buttons on entries to something as ambitious as an archive gallery or forum)

- a similar thing to the *private* bookmark option on ao3 - If it is not already there, a function to DM a writer instead of having to leave a review or manually searching them out on tumblr. - A part of the website specifically designated for anyone to post prompts instead of fics, which works in the same way with the categories etc. A bit like a crossover between a forum and a fic archive. Writers could just browse through lists of prompts and pick whatever tickles their fancy. - Again, if not already present, a dark mode for reading at night, because let's be real here.. Who ever put away a book just because it was bedtime, when they were enjoying themselves?

Private bookmarks have been added to the to-do list. You can DM any user on the site by going to their profile page and clicking the "Message" link in the left sidebar (at the top on mobile). A prompts system is already on the to-do list, but I like the way it's described here. A dark mode for the text section of stories has already been implemented, but a full-site dark mode is on the to-do list.

back dating uploads

I know AO3 allows backdating entries, but I'm not 100% sure if it's a great idea for various reasons. But if many of you are interested in having that ability, I may implement it. If anyone else has an opinion on this, I'd love to hear about it below/in Asks.

Forums or more opportunities for user interactions would be great - I think making it more of a social space for users to post questions/ideas/thoughts about klaine, recommend or discuss fics, and have conversations about related topics would set the site apart from other options for posting fic.

Yes, I agree! I would love to have more interaction options on the site. I do plan on adding in a forum, maybe even a chat and journal posting system as well. These might be a ways away, but they are on the list, I promise.

I would like found the stories which are labelled with the special attention because they are most relevant and people liked these stories so much. A special section.

I think you're referring to some kind of Featured section, which the original S&C did have. I am open to adding that back in, I even have the log of what was originally featured. It has been added to the list.

I would like you to add the options You can save authors or books and also add the option for an author to follow a story abandoned many years ago.

We currently have the option to track/bookmark/give kudos to stories and track authors. But, favoriting for stories and adding them to Lists is on the to-do list.

What do you think would draw more active authors to add to the archive?

- Active partnership/collaboration with things like prompt bangs, the Lima Bean and the Klaine CC library for maximum exposure. - The prompt archive I mentioned previously.

I'm open to working with other Klaine fandom groups and events. I do have a really exciting feature planned that would allow events to be hosted on the site. I can't wait to share it with you all :)

knowing it is up and not going away

I hear you. I'm sure the site going down for over a year damaged some trust in the validity and longevity of separate site archives. However, rest assured that I plan on keeping this site alive as long as I'm here, and have taken measures to ensure that it'll never get lost again. In the event that things do go south (extremely unlikely at this point), the archive will be handed over to AO3's Open Doors project for preservation.

It needs to have elements that make it, in some way or another, equally or more attractive to post on than AO3. Somehow leaning into the Klaine-centric nature of it, or offering user interaction features that don't exist on AO3, might make it a better place to engage with readers about Klaine fic.

I agree. I think the upcoming interaction features I have planned will help with this.

Implementing the Cloudflare security like ff.net. I HATE that I have to authenticate regularly and it often fails.

I'm not sure what you're referring to regarding having to authenticate, and you didn't leave a contact account on the survey so I can't ask you directly about your experience. But I've personally never had an issue with authentication on the site on PC or mobile. The SSL certificate is valid and should show the Secure lock on browsers. If anyone has any more information on this issue or recently experienced anything similar, I'd love to hear about it below, in an Ask, or by message.

As a reader, what would draw you to or prevent you from using Scarves & Coffee?

Tag searching and filtering. The more specific the better, but it should still search for things if you misspell them or if you word your search differently than the popular tag. (Like on ao3)

Yes! I have adding a section for tags on my to-do list that would include blacklisting. However, I can't promise that it would work quite like on AO3, simply because S&C doesn't have a giant team of tag wranglers like AO3 does that allows it to have such a dynamic tagging system. But I'll try to make it as usable as possible.

I can’t find a story that I want to read in that moment easily. It’s difficult sorting stories.

I'm not really sure how to make it more straightforward besides adding a tagging system. There's the Categories page for specific categories and all of the filters on the browsing page. If you or anyone else has specific suggestions or ideas to improve finding stories, let me know.

How would you feel about Scarves & Coffee expanding to include entries from its former sister site, Sebklaine.net? Should they remain separate archives?

The majority has spoken! Sebklaine and S&C will remain separate archives, but....

Would you be open to Scarves & Coffee being part of a network of separate archives, such that you could use the same account to access each individual archive? Why or why not?

sure

Yes, so long as I can still choose what to share with the world (private bookmarks etc)

yes

I think this is a good compromise - ultimately I feel that they should remain separate, because I think a lot of users strongly feel that they want to see content from certain ships and not others. But having them be closely-connected sister sites in some fashion sounds like a great idea.

It’s easy use the same account!

Look out for some Sebklaine.net and It-Could-Happen.net related news at some point ;)

---------------------------------

Thank you again to everyone that participated. If you missed the survey and would like to share your opinion on any of the questions or responses, feel free to do so in the replies, by sending in an Ask, by messaging ritco, or emailing the site at [email protected].

-admin atlas

helloooo multi

hypothetically, do you have some (hypothetical) advice for a hypothetical person who may hypothetically be attempting to make an animatic. you've done that before so you're more knowledgable than i (hypothetically) could be if i were to do this. hypothetically

(i cannot stop thinking "the magnus archives mad iqs animatic the magnus archives mad iqs animatic the magnus archives mad iqs animatic". help)

helllloooo nico!!!!!

oooooh yes i may have some advice in this completely hypothetical scenario!!!!!! so fair warning, i'm far from an expert and i also do Not have any cool advanced programs for fun editing, so i can't help on that front. HOWEVER i can maybe help with getting started or offer some general advice, and i can point you to some resources that may help as well!

my main point of advice is to not stress yourself out too much over planning it very extensively or making it super polished--an animatic isn't a complete and perfect animation. you know your own planning methods and workflow better than i do, so really do whatever is most comfortable for you, but don't stress yourself out or feel like you need to make it SUPER polished.

essentially, each frame doesn't have to be a complete, rendered piece with full coloring and shading. if you want to, you certainly CAN do that, but animatics are more often, as far as i've seen, done in a simpler style with a limited color palette (or not even colored at all), and if there is any shading it's usually done to emphasize certain moments.

but uhhh other things to keep in mind:

regardless of how extensively you plan (i.e. like if you make a storyboard or something first or jump right in), make sure you know going in how many frames it's going to be. again, you know your own planning method preferences better than i do, so do what's best for you on that front, but that's the big one for me.

you don't need any fancy editing programs or anything. while they can be NICE, all you really need is something to draw your frames in and some way to set them to the audio you have in mind. i use windows movie maker and that works just fine for me.

if you're planning to upload this to youtube, then i definitely recommend sizing your frames to make sure that they 'fit' in the video player without having those black boxes on the sides. i'm sure there's probably a more specific guide with exact ratios out there, and if i find one i can send it your way, but the size i use for my frames right now 1920x1080

the most important tip i have to offer: just have fun with it!!! ultimately it matters most that you enjoy the process more than anything else, and don't stress yourself out trying to make it perfect, especially for your first one (even if you don't intend to make more in the future). making animatics is a SUPER time-consuming process, but it's also really fun and rewarding!!

and now for some other resources.

here is a good website for cutting and trimming audio--you don't necessarily have to worry about that right away, but it can help in planning to know exactly how long your audio will be: [link]

and there are a ton of websites for downloading the audio you might need from youtube or wherever else you're accessing it, but one website that has worked well for me is this one: [link]

aaand i think that's what i got!!!! if you have more specific questions i can try and answer those, but this is at least some general advice!! :>

also while answering this i got an idea for another animatic i could make. hohoho heheeh

(also if anyone else wants to chime in to offer advice, please feel free to!!!)

Weekly Announcements for Week of 8/27-9/2

Dear SBSC families,

Practice Schedule

Riley HS

Group 1 Next practice Tuesday September 5

G1 Elite Next practice Thursday September 7

Group 2 Next practice Tuesday September 5

Group 3 Next practice Tuesday September 5

New Prairie HS

Group 1 Next practice Tuesday September 5

Group 2 Next practice Tuesday September 5

Group 3  Next practice Tuesday September 5

Practice Notes:

Potential Practice Site Change

The Riley pool is drained and the bulkhead has been moved to the shallow end for repairs.  Fingers are crossed for work to begin tomorrow and finished by the end of the week.  I am doubtful we will be back at Riley for our first week of practice.  We have secured pool time at Washington High School for the first two weeks of our season as a back-up plan.

Help Wanted

We are once again looking for coaches for our Group 1 this season at Riley.  If you know of anyone who might be interested have them contact me at [email protected]

Welcome To Our New Families

Thank you for choosing the South Bend Swim Club! Every Sunday moving forward you will receive an email from me, just like this one.  The email will include all information pertinent to our club. There will be a lot of information that is repeated week to week.  All in an effort to make sure information is not missed.  

The emails will include the weekly practice schedule, deadlines to commit to meets, links to meet results/info, and anything else you might think that relates to SBSC. 

If there is something that is not covered you have questions about please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].  No question is too small.  We will be having new parent meetings for both NP and RHS later next month, specific dates are still to be determined.  But if you need something answered before then please do not hesitate to ask.

We also have links on our social media sites when the weekly announcements are posted to our website.  I suggest to each of our new families that they follow us on our three social media sites, Facebook (SouthBendSwim), Twitter (@SBSwimClub), and Instagram (south_bend_swim_club).

There will also be two apps you will eventually want to get.  The first one is SportsEngine Motion.  This app ties directly to our website and uses the same login information.  The app is free.  The second app is Meet Mobile.  There is a small annual fee but once your athlete starts competing you will find it very useful.  This one is not a necessity but it can make your experience at a meet more enjoyable.

Team Apparel

The local swim shop in town is Milinko’s Scuba & Swim (formerly Just Add H2O).  This is a great place to find a good practice suit or pick up a spare pair of goggles.  

We are also partnered with A3 Performance.  You can purchase a logoed team suit directly from this site (these will once again be offered as prizes for raising enough money during our Swim-A-Thon). Here is the link to the A3 Team Store. When your swimmer is old enough to purchase a tech suit (13 and over) this company is who I recommend purchasing from.

We will have spirit wear available in the coming weeks as well.  Once that is ready I will send out the order form in a future weekly email.

Fall/Winter Season

Our first practice for all groups will be the Tuesday after Labor Day,  September 5.  All swimmers will need to re-register. Our on-line registration platform is active and you can register at any time. 

Our fall/winter meet schedule is posted and also open for commitment.  The entry files are not yet available so if you do not want to swim every day of a particular meet leave a message in the note section as to which days you’d like to swim. 

Some important dates to put on your calendar include our intrasquad meet on Wednesday, October 4 and the Swim-A-Thon on Saturday, October 14.

Our tentative practice schedule is posted for both sites for the first two months of the fall.

Also of note for this upcoming season the Riley Group 1, with the exception of week one, will be moving to Monday and Wednesday evenings.  It will give us the most consistency for practice scheduling.  New Prairie Group 1 nights will still be based on coach availability.

USA Swimming Memberships/Birth Certificates

All athletes need to complete the USA Swimming Registration.  This should be done no later than October 1st.  The new membership link will not be live until sometime in September.  Please do not try to register until at least September 15th.

Here is a link to the document with instructions on how to register with USA-S.  A few of our members have had trouble adding their swimmers once they created their own account.  If you have trouble after creating a parent account, try using this link. If your swimmer qualifies for the Outreach Membership (free/reduced lunch at their school) click on this link.  Remember, if you use this link you will need to provide documentation to me that your athlete qualifies.

If your athlete has never competed in a meet for SBSC (or another USA Swimming club) you will need to send me a copy of their birth certificate.  The preferred way is to electronically send a pdf.  If that is not possible, please email a 

USA Swimming Guidelines - MAAPP/Safe Sport

USA Swimming issued a directive with regards to electronic communication and social media contact between coaches and athletes.  Most of what is being implemented is common sense and falls in line with our club's policies.  One new requirement we will need to adhere to is how your minor child communicates with all coaches.  For several years we have asked swimmers in Group 2 and Group 3 to text/email their coach if they would be missing practice.  Moving forward, swimmers will be instructed to include a parent on all communication with me or any of our coaches.


If you are the parent of a Group 2 or Group 3 swimmer, and have never sent me a text before, please text me so I have your contact info in my phone.  This way if I need to contact your swimmer about missing practice I can be sure to include you.  My cell phone number is 574-276-6057.
  I encourage all parents and swimmers to read the full policy.  We are required to keep this policy on our website, here is the link.

Fall and Winter Meet Schedule/Dates of Meet/Location/Deadline to commit

Below is our fall/winter meet schedule. The first date listed is the day(s) of the meet and the second date is the deadline to commit. 

Swimmers wanting to compete will need to commit to those meets.  The deadlines are based on deadlines that were set in previous years. They may change once the meet hosts posts the meet information.  When committing to multiple day meets, if the option to select the days you want is not available, leave a message in the notes section stating the specific days you would like to attend. 

Meets marked with an * require swimmers to meet minimum time standards.  All pool locations can be found on our website under the "Pools" tab.  

Intrasquad Meet/Riley High School/Oct. 4/Oct. 3

WAR Monster Splash/Warsaw High School/Oct 28/Oct. 8

NASA Sprint Meet/Northridge High School/Nov. 4 & 5/Oct. 8 (10 & under ONLY)

CON Skypoint/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Nov. 10-12/Oct. 8 (11 & over ONLY)

ELK Rudolph Romp/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Dec. 1-3/Nov. 12

IA TW Invite/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Jan. 5-7/Nov. 25

CON IMX/Concord High School/Jan 19-21/Dec.31

CON Last Chance/Concord High School/Feb 23-25/Jan. 28

*IN Swimming Divisionals/TBD/Mar. 1-3/Feb.18

*IN Swimming Senior State/TBD/Mar 7-10/Feb. 25

*IN Swimming Age Group State/IUPUi/Mar 15-17/Feb. 25

ELK 8 & Under Superstar/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Mar 16/Feb. 25

*USA Swimming Speedo Sectional/IUPUI/Mar 21-24/Feb.11

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

--

John VanDriessche

Head Coach

South Bend Swim Club

South Bend Riley High School

(574)276-6057

www.southbendswimclub.com

#SBSCForLife

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