(Average Metropolis reader after investigative reporter C. Kent's 452nd article on yet another case of landlords/business owners/factories' continued use of lead pipes/paint/gas/glass knowingly exposing the public to dangerously toxic lead levels) what the fuck happened to this guy
One day Bruce Wayne mentions in an interview that heroes like Superman are overrated, as the most effective way to reduce crime is to provide public resources and improve local infrastructure, then cites how neighboring city Metropolis has effectively lowered their violent crime by 13% after addressing their outdated water system and investing low income housing. the reporter conducting the interview suddenly starts looking a little uncomfortable
"Who, Clark Kent? Yeah, we're pretty sure he's a Meta. Is he a superhero? Like what, "Lead-detector guy"? "Captain pipes?" Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy and it's a handy trick, but it's lead detection, not laser vision. He's not about to go running around in tights any time soon."
everyone assumes that kent is so squirrely around superheros because heâs just desperately hoping not to be conscripted to the JLA to fix their plumbing
A non-writer asked me "but where do you get your ideas" and i genuinely did not know how to explain that it's not a place. it's not a website. it's not a folder. it's that i was on the bus and a woman was holding a paper bag very carefully and something about the way she held it made me need to know what was inside and then i needed to know why she was sad about it and then there was a whole person and then there was a whole story and the bus had already stopped and i missed my stop. that's where.
as a writer, itâs very important that you know this: whenever you tell yourself âthis will only be one-chapter-longâ that is a lie. your brain is lying to you. it wonât, in fact, be just a short one-shot
As spam continues to be a problem on AO3, here's an update on the types of spambot comments you may see, what we're doing to combat them, and how you can help! Read more at https://otw-news.org/mr42w8j9
As of June 2026, bots are also leaving guest spam comments that are:
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PSA to fic readers, it is so hard to freak a fic writer out with your comments. we are just as crazy about the fic as you are.
tell me you love it. tell me it made you slam your laptop shut. tell me you brought it up at your college lecture about kink. key smash in all caps. quote the passage that made you think. i promise, weâll love it.
we spend hours thinking about it, writing it, editing it. there is no such thing as over enthusiasm when youâre talking about our fics to us. we are sooooo weird about them, i assure you. you are just matching my freak. the freak bar is already set so high. feel no anxiety about enjoying something and letting the creator know.
they should make a version of socializing that doesnât make you feel like youâre still the weird 12 year old kid that doesnât know why sheâs not normal like the other kids
Not âOnly my reading of canon is correctâ or âInterpretations are subjective and all validâ but a secret third thing, âMore than one interpretation can be valid but thereâs a reason your English teacher had you cite quotes and examples in your papers, you have to have a strong argument that your interpretation is actually supported by the text or it is just wrong and Iâm fine with telling you itâs wrong, actually.â
If the text says the curtains are blue you can argue about what that means; but if youâre going to claim theyâre actually yellow youâd better have a really good argument.
Fandom has such unresolved mommy/daddy issues about authors. If you apply a little reading comprehension skills to my original post youâll see I didnât say anything at all about the author. You guys always make âinterpretationâ about your beef with the author. Youâre all obsessed with the author. This post is just about deciphering what is there in canon. Figuring out what is being communicated by the canon itself with all the words and images and basic formal elements that are there in canon. Thatâs all itâs about. It really doesnât matter if the author intentionally put all those things there in a pattern that might support the idea that this one characterâs queer. Thatâs not what this is about. What matters is if you can compellingly argue thereâs a pattern of evidence there. Or not. Everyone is conspiring together to make me go insane still adding shit about authorial intent on my post.
Seto Kaiba really is The Character of All Time. He has more money than God. He's the reincarnation of an Ancient Egyptian Priest. He gets a lobotomy that erases all the evil in his heart and is still mostly a dick. He loves his brother more than himself. He drove his step-father to suicide at age 10. He's obsessed with one very specific Dragon. He killed the digital ghost his step-father left behind. He literally said "Stop saving the world and get a hobby." People are constantly trying to steal his company. He turned the in-universe equivalent of Lockheed Martin into the in-universe equivalent of Nintendo. A second lobotomy would not fix him. He gets his soul stolen more than once. He flies around in a jet shaped like the Dragon he's obsessed with. His entire dueling strategy is summoning the Dragon he's obsessed with and bludgeoning people to death with it. Somehow this strategy worked so well that he never lost before he got lobotomized. People try to kill him with satallites.
"This week I discovered the same pattern, executed by Google. Google Chrome is reaching into users' machines and writing a 4 GB on-device AI model file to disk without asking."
Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise t
Going to fucking scream. Just got directly hit with YT's age verification today and it's just such a magnificent highlight of every reason said verification is utterly fucking stupid.
TL;DR: YT's age verification is fucking stupid and useless and doesn't even remotely protect kids in the slightest, at best it gives Google something to point to so they can say they're "trying to protect kids," but we all know they're likely going to at least attempt to use the data involved for predatory/malicious purposes.
Firstly, the way I actually did it, which is just using a credit card (which was already linked to my account). Which, in and of itself, is a perfect demonstration as to how these verification processes are all about companies being able to point and say they're doing something without actually doing anything meaningful. Because literally any minor can just use a card already associated with the account, or fucking borrow one from their parents and lie about why. Not to mention that if you can take a credit card for verification, why the fuck did I need to verify at all. It's literally the same card that's been linked to the account for years!
And then there's the other options. Obviously, I don't fucking trust any company enough to give them my ID unless I absolutely and completely am forced to do so, and even then, that's only after trying literally everything I can to either get around it or just plain not use the thing that needs the ID.
I don't care what any of these companies say; even in the absolute best case scenario, where a company genuinely isn't using or planning to use the information for any malicious or predatory ends, there are other bad actors that can get access to that information one way or another. Even just not keeping the info does not truly prevent it from being taken.
And then there's the fucking face age estimation. Even if I want to ignore the fact that I want to give them an in-depth scan of my face just as much if not less than I want to give them my ID, the fact of the matter is that those things require you to take your glasses off, and guess what? I can't fucking see without my glasses. I wouldn't be able to do it even if I wanted to, not without help, and that assumes it even recognizes me as an adult to begin with, because fancy that, I've been repeatedly told that I look a lot younger than I am, so there's a solid chance the AI would still fucking think I'm underage.
I fucking hate this stupid fucking push for "age verification" with every fiber of my being.
prguitarman
stormborns
