Ihmislehma

Your friendly neighbourhood artist! Just trying to get back to drawing. MLP is still near and dear to my heart. RootClan Find me on Deviantart More Later, perhaps!

[maddiebiscuits]

huuuughhhhh yahoo selling scraped data from tumblr to AI sloo probably uughhhwaaauuwghhhhhh

[maddiebiscuits]

Tumblr user? Here's what to know about Tumblr selling your data to OpenAI and MidJourney

Parent company Automattic will reportedly sell Tumblr content to OpenAI and MidJourney for training data. Here's how you can opt out.

bwwaaaughhhhhhgggh enshittification continues

[the-barn-rat]

this is what you're looking for to opt out!!!

[cappuccinoandglitter]

It's under Visibility, noy Privacy like I assumed at first.

[ihmislehma]

You know what I hate about this the most? Two things, actually.

One: anyone with a dead Tumblr, be it because they moved on, or have passed on, has their work taken without consent. Opt-out is a shitty system, this should be opt-in.

Two: the option is hidden and blog-specific. I want to be able to flip a single switch to stop Tumblr selling my shit, such as it is, to AI companies.

I fucking hate generative AI.

[clinical-space-podcast]

Reblog if your art project has not, does not, and never will make use of generative ai at any point in your creative process.

[theparadoxguy]

Hell no

[sleepycuga]

I dont have one now but I'll never use ai for art ever.

I'll learn to draw myself

[abbiistabbii]

New Windows AI feature records everything you’ve done on your PC

Recall uses AI features "to take images of your active screen every few seconds."

I think every computer user needs to read this because holy fucking shit this is fucking horrible.

So Windows has a new feature incoming called Recall where your computer will first, monitor everything you do with screenshots every couple of seconds and "process that" with an AI.

Hey, errrr, fuck no? This isn't merely because AI is really energy intensive to the point that it causes environmental damage. This is because it's basically surveilling what you are doing on your fucking desktop.

This AI is not going to be on your desktop, like all AI, it's going to be done on another server, "in the cloud" to be precise, so all those data and screenshot? They're going to go off to Microsoft. Microsoft are going to be monitoring what you do on your own computer.

Now of course Microsoft are going to be all "oooh, it's okay, we'll keep your data safe". They won't. Let me just remind you that evidence given over from Facebook has been used to prosecute a mother and daughter for an "illegal abortion", Microsoft will likely do the same.

And before someone goes "durrr, nuthin' to fear, nuthin to hide", let me remind you that you can be doing completely legal and righteous acts and still have the police on your arse. Are you an activist? Don't even need to be a hackivist, you can just be very vocal about something concerning and have the fucking police on your arse. They did this with environmental protesters in the UK. The culture war against transgender people looks likely to be heading in a direction wherein people looking for information on transgender people or help transitioning will be tracked down too. You have plenty to hide from the government, including your opinions and ideas.

Again, look into backing up your shit and switching to Linux Mint or Ubuntu to get away from Microsoft doing this shit.

[cosmalumi-archive]

[Art Fight 2024] Some Headshots

Attacks on @ihmislehma, Luminoux on Toyhouse, LottePieSketches on deviantart, and @cry-bird

These were all so fun to draw <3 <3 <3 Loved this batch <3

[ihmislehma]

EEYYY look at this great art! And my sassy mans is included! I honestly absolutely adore these all!

[acorviart]

not to sound like a boomer, but I need some people to learn how to write emails in a semi-professional (at the very least) format so you're not cold emailing a business/potential employer/any other stranger about formal matters in the exact same way you'd DM a close friend on instagram

the formality/language can loosen up in the email chain once you've established a rapport and you match the other person if they're being less formal, but please don't have the very first email you send a stranger be written in all lowercase ultra-casual sms slang with no greeting or signature and a billion emojis

[wayward-exulansis-reactivated]

Can I just ask, why?

[acorviart]

(adding your tags since I'm addressing them)

It’s polite, for one. Professional doesn’t need to mean elaborate—in fact, most professional emails are aiming to be as clear and concise as possible. (in english at least, I know some other languages have some very complicated and elaborate email etiquette)

Greetings and signatures also don’t need to be elaborate. I feel like lots of people overthink it and assume that professional emails need the whole “dear x, my name is x and I am writing this email to inform you about [topic], sincerely [my name and all my contact info]” shebang, when really it’s as simple as adding a quick greeting/signature and avoiding super informal slang.

Here’s an comparison using art commission inquiry as the topic, written with zero extra fluff:

Hi, Are you currently open for commissions? Thanks, [my name]

If I want to add a little more fluff, maybe I write:

Hi, I love your art and wanted to ask if you're currently open for commissions. Here are details of what I'm interested in. Thanks for your time! Thanks/best/etc, [my name]

Those are very short while also being more polite than an email that just says:

are u open for comms??

with zero greeting/signature and very informal tone. 

There’s still a person on the other side reading that email, and just like how being polite with a customer service agent on the phone will get you better results than being rude with them, sending a clear and professional email will have you taken more seriously by whoever is reading it. All 3 emails get the same point across, but the last one leaves a much worse impression. You don’t speak to your close friends the same way you’d speak to strangers, and it’s the same in text form. I get so many emails that are just abrupt questions, with not even a quick "thank you" either in the initial email or as a follow-up after I respond, because they ghost me as if I'm just a chat bot answering questions.

I know complaining about email language sounds like a ~corporate america white-collar bullshit~ kinda thing, and there is indeed significantly more elaborate email etiquette that can vastly differ depending on your job/field that I’m not addressing at all, but just having the very basics goes a long way in how your emails are viewed by other people.

[enonem]

As an addition, professional language acts as a social boundary setting to the protection of both parties.

Long story short, it indicates that this is a professional relationship, not a personal one.

That matters because when you are dealing professionally with someone (be it within a corporate office or commissioning an artist on tumblr), there are going to be discussions and disagreements. Maintaining that professional language ensures (at least in theory) that those disagreements are treated as part of the work and not as professional attacks. It also ensures that work will be done during work times and for appropriate recompense. This is work after all, not a favour for a friend.

[racethewind10]

^^^^^^

also in *any* professional space you are going to be dealing with a very very wide range of people in terms of age, experience, cultural background etc. the basic rules of professional writing can help you ensure that your message is interpreted correctly.

[ihmislehma]

Pretty much all of this.

Not that I was aware of why I was doing it, but when I performed admin duties in an art community, I always had a more official tone. It helped me keep my emotions "at an arm's length" from the situation, letting me stay calm when I otherwise might have been more reactionary. (For clarity, I often handled warnings specifically.)

[neo-kajatrash]

Here are some recent commissions! Thank you to @zentok for the 1st, 2nd, and 4th, @/prinnrants on twitter for the 3rd, and @gigatontrarian for the 5th!

[zentok]

I am still blown away by the detail you put in to the drawing of Ridley! All the commission work is absolutely stunning. Thank you as always <3

[ihmislehma]

I spy with my little eye... certain characters belonging to my friend! And one of mine!

Still some dang amazeballs work, no joke these are amazing.

[ihmislehma]

Can we get an update on clangen sprites

Certainly!

The unfortunate answer is that the neurodivergent department of my brain decided to concentrate on other things and the mod is in a bit of a standstill.

If/when I can finish climbing the looming mountain that is White Marks, the rest should be easier. Technically the mod can be pre-released once all genetics and scars/missing limb injuries are finished, but I'd have to provide empty files for accessories, and I'd rather not do that.

[dale-afficanado-blueberry]

I regret to inform you that Discord's new Terms of Service includes an arbitration clause. You can find it here https://discord.com/terms/#16. This clause includes an opt-out, which I have transcribed here:

Terms of Service | Discord

Read about Discord's Terms of Service

You can decline this agreement to arbitrate by emailing an opt-out notice to [email protected] within 30 days of April 15, 2024 or when you first register your Discord account, whichever is later; otherwise, you shall be bound to arbitrate disputes in accordance with the terms of these paragraphs. If you opt out of these arbitration provisions, Discord also will not be bound by them.

These clauses are underhanded ways that corporations seek to deprive you of your right to participate in class-action lawsuits and your right to a jury trial. (This does only apply to us users ,other people still spread the word though )

[ganurath]

#whats arbitration someone help me

Bad news, @noodelzmop. Arbitration basically means that if you want to sue Discord for whatever reason, the dispute needs to be handled in house. Specifically, in their house. If you don't get this email out, you're basically signing away your right to legal recourse if they do criminally shitty stuff to you, like with the McDonalds app.

[dale-afficanado-blueberry]

I have been told that emailing "I am confirming that as of the date of this email, I am choosing to opt out of binding arbitration to settle disputes with Discord." With the Email you used for your discord account is enough for the notice but take this with a grain of salt as this was not said by a lawyer

[everyone-needs-a-hoopoe]

reiterating that this only applies to US users

[batsandboba]

THIRTY DAY LIMIT BTW. I suggest taking sixty seconds to fire off a quick email with op’s recommended text. I have no plans to sue discord but better safe than sorry

[ihmislehma]

This only applies to US citizens, but spread the word - do not let corporations take our rights.

[midwinterhunt]

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

[narrettwist]

Homie gonna share this

[ihmislehma]

This is some good stuff.

[thewramblingwebcomicreview]

Looks like those rumors about Tumblr and WordPress selling user training to AI companies were true. There's a registration wall for this article, but I'll include a few short screenshots from it.

Tumblr and Wordpress to Sell Users’ Data to Train AI Tools

Internal documents obtained by 404 Media show that Tumblr staff compiled users' data as part of a deal with Midjourney and OpenAI.

So it seems like a bunch of data that shouldn't have been included for AI was queued up, including deactivated posts from blogs. According to the product manager at Tumblr, some of this this data will be removed.

It seems you can opt-out of having your posts scraped, but honestly this should be a opt-in feature. Ugh, it just feels like what we suffered through with DeviantArt all over again in terms of permission and consent.

I would encourage you to read the entire article for yourself (use a burner email, if the free registration wall bothers you.)

Personally, I'm glad I moved my WordPress.com blog to a self-hosted option just a few hours ago. It wasn't for this reason, but the timing couldn't be better. So yeah, I don't think I'll be recommending WordPress.com as a blogging option to anyone who asks. As for Tumblr, I guess we'll have to keep an eye on when we can opt out having our data fed to the gen AI machines. (And hope that these companies actually honor those requests, though I'm skeptical.)

[cmcrusoe]

[ihmislehma]

I will 100% vacate Tumblr if this shit comes to pass. THE ART POSTED ON TUMBLR IS NOT TUMBLR'S TO GIVE RIGHTS TO OTHERS.

Opt-out is predatory. Anything like this should by default be opt-in.

I get it. Tumblr is struggling. And this? The only reason I'd keep my blog is to yell into the void, to warn everyone, that Tumblr sells their creative works to companies profiting off of preying on creative people.

[jv]

What is this about the tumblr staff wanting to sell art data to midjourney?

An ex-colleague of mine mentioned yesterday that there may be contacts between Automattic and midjourney in that direction, but nothing is public yet and I don't have any more info. They probably won't have anything specific to share either, since they left the company weeks ago too. That being said:

I have no reason to doubt my ex-coworker word, they are a trustworthy person.

Tumblr's CEO has been absurdly enthusiastic (comically, even) about AI, and is a big fan of LLMs and 'AI' companies.

A deal with midjourney could solve tumblr financial issues (not the same company, but openAi is paying up to 5 million/year to news companies to use their content as training data... tumblr generates several orders of magnitude more content than any newspaper or any media company and it only would need a 20 to 30 million per year deal to be profitable)

So I don't have any extra info yet, but I'm keeping my ears open.

[jv]

And I just got confirmation from a second ex-colleague that a deal with midjourney has been brewing since months ago. Not any extra details, just that's a real thing.

Shit, I don't see any way for this to happen that doesn't make it an apocalyptic event the size of the porn ban. Fuck.

[jv]

Shit. This may be pure chance and coincidence, and it's not he is in a position to be able to talk about anything, but seeing prominent staff members announcing they are moving their original photography out of tumblr just two weeks ago seems a pretty significant cue of shit to be about to hit the fan.

[a-foxo]

Fucking welp. Time to double time my Website dev time...

[thewramblingwebcomicreview]

I'd wager this would sink Tumblr pretty quickly.

[ihmislehma]

I would remove all my art off of Tumblr faster than they can say "oh shit", what little there is.

Why do art-friendly areas insist on becoming cesspits?

[jitterbugjive]

Please PLEASE help

One of our cats, Neith, has been throwing up this morning and won't eat. Sin and I, despite all efforts, have not been able to sell any commissions last month or this month. We're both really scared no one's going to help us with this either because the economy is so bad but this is a last ditch effort because we really don't have the money for the vet and Neith really needs to go to the vet which will likely cost at least 150 to get full blood work done.

We are perfectly willing to do commission work for this so if you want to get a commission, Sin's info is here, and my info is here (I have 5 slots open right now)

Otherwise, people can donate to either of our ko-fis. Sin's, Mine.

I really really hate having to beg but we have TRIED so hard to sell commissions and nothing is working, and I keep having to dip into savings with all the costs that keep coming up this last couple of weeks. And now this is basically an emergency situation. This is a very food motivated cat, she has never refused food before, EVER.

We're just not getting a break here and I don't know what else I can do.

[askdiscordwhooves]

Emergency Reblog

[ihmislehma]

I can't do much, but maybe this will reach eyes that can help more.

[ihmislehma]

So for those interested in the Extra Sprites mod! Palworld was just released and I'm probably playing it a lot, but I will return to the mod eventually!

Here's current progress!

Lineart - ✔️

Coats - ✔️

Eyes - ✔️

Skins - ✔️

Tortie/Calico patterns - ✔️

White Patches - In Progress

Scars - ❌

Accessories - ❌

Scripts - ✔️

[ihmislehma]

Are you still working on those cute ClanGen sprites? They're very cute!! I'm not familiar with modding ClanGen in the slightest but I'm so excited AAAAAA

Yes! Just very very slowly!

When it comes to modding, GlanGen's Discord is the place for those. You'd need the dev version to run my mod, though.

[ihmislehma]

Moon 10 in RootClan

Fiercepaw finishes their training, and is named Fierceglint.

Bluepaw reaches the age of six moons, and is apprenticed to Fierceglint.

Drypaw is also apprenticed, with Ravenspore as their mentor.

[ihmislehma]

Hey how TF do I get rid of this BS Live thing? It's nothing but adult crap, and I don't want it.

[changes]

Tuesday, July 18th, 2023

🌟 New

We’ve renamed the “Include stuff in your orbit” dashboard setting to “Include posts liked by the blogs you follow”. It still controls the same behavior: whether or not you’ll see posts liked by blogs you follow in your Following feed. Also, reminder that you can hide your own likes from this feature in your blog settings.

On web, on the mobile layout of the site, we’ve shuffled the order of the items in the navigation drawer slightly.

🛠 Fixed

We fixed an issue with the activity graph on web that could cause your browser to cache an outdated copy of the data. Now your browser should refresh with the latest data every time you visit that page.

🚧 Ongoing

Nothing to report here today.

🌱 Upcoming

Starting tomorrow (July 19th), some of you will see a new navigation layout for the desktop website that we’re experimenting with.

Experiencing an issue? File a Support Request and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Want to share your feedback about something? Check out our Work in Progress blog and start a discussion with the community.

[ihmislehma]

So apparently this is the culprit.

I still don’t want it. Get this as far away from me as possible. Make it optional. Let those who want it, have it, and let the rest of us browse in peace. PLEASE.