Can you PLEASE explain the no-default-avatar thing in a way that makes sense? Bots don't look like that. Bots have pictures of attractive people scraped from the internet as their avatars.
Okay, so I'm going to assume you're either from the Twitter evacuation still trying to figure out Tumblr, or the recent Reddit blackout. Either way, I want this to be as useful for you as possible, so if I sound sarcastic at all, I don't mean it toward you.
Putting it under the cut, since this ended up being longer than I meant it to be.
So, the no-default-avatar thing isn't necessarily only for the avatars/icons/pfp, lots of people (like you) use them. That's fine, they're there to be used. However, most of the time, when people are active on Tumblr, they usually change it to a meme or some kind of art. So most bots, while they also use the pictures of hot women, do also tend to use the default avatars. This can set off some warning bells for some people; for me, it makes me more likely to inspect a profile to see if they look like a bot. Yours, for example, if I saw you follow/like/interact with me, I would block you and report you as spam on-sight. I don't want bots following me, and so I personally subscribe to the "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck," mentality and block what I suspect to be bots. I don't message, I don't send asks to confirm, I just block and move on, with no interaction. Your profile has no evidence that you are a person, no reblogs, no header, no bio. I look specifically for the lack of reblogs, empty bio, and "Untitled" header. Because your account looks like that, it makes me a bit suspicious of your ask, but it sounds reasonable and I have the meme about bots as my pinned post right now, so maybe you are just looking for someone who blocks what I suspect to be bots for some clarification.
You don't need a huge bio, but anything to indicate that you are an actual human person would be good. "I like Far Cry 5" or whatever fandom(s) you enjoy would be simple enough. A lot of people (me included) put a general/specific age and sexuality, some others also add pronouns. Those are not required, though if you aren't a minor, there should be some indication so that minors can avoid you if they are uncomfortable interacting with an adult person (since this is the internet, and all), but that's a different topic.
Here are some other posts by other people that I've reblogged so I could help spread them around, and also find them again, if anyone is curious or still unsure.
The 2018 Call-to-Arms for blocking (porn)bots and how to ID them
(except now you can report empty blogs for spam, as most pornbots today should be, save for ones that have actual explicit videos, those should be reported as explicit content)
When Pornbots were hacking accounts (inspect links before you click them on PC, or only hit links you absolutely trust on mobile)
Short explanation of what you can change your stuff to so you look human
Explanation for bots using real human pictures and people having blank blogs
You're right that bots use human women, but they can try to revert back to default avatars to hide
I don't look at the usernames anymore, either, because it doesn't matter. A bot is a bot not matter the username attached
Long post that briefly explains why we block bots on-sight and how to personalize your profile to avoid being blocked by blogs you follow
(it also goes into how reblogs actively support the creators on Tumblr, and if you are enjoying their stuff but aren't reblogging, you aren't supporting them)
And, of course, we have made memes about this whole thing, so here are some of those that I enjoy as thanks for reading all of that.
So it looks like NaNoWriMo are happy to have AI as part of their community. Miss me with that bullshit. Generative artificial intelligence is an active threat to creativity and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in creative fields.
Please signal boost this so writers can make an informed choice about whether to continue to take part in such a community.
Huge thank you to Squarespace for fucking automatically opting peoples' websites in to let AI train on our site's data without letting us know. Real cool.
ARTISTS WHO USE SQUARESPACE, HERE'S HOW TO DISABLE AI CRAWLERS ON YOUR SITE!!
So it looks like NaNoWriMo are happy to have AI as part of their community. Miss me with that bullshit. Generative artificial intelligence is an active threat to creativity and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in creative fields.
Please signal boost this so writers can make an informed choice about whether to continue to take part in such a community.
If you use Duolingo, maybe don't anymore? The company is moving to be "AI-first" and is using AI to generate their content. Meaning, AI is now generating your language lessons.
They announced that they were going to use AI for this a while back but now they're annoucing that they're getting rid of the contractors reviewing the AI generated content. So, very soon Duolingo is just going to be AI generated slop that might not even be correct.
For alternatives, I'd recommend checking with your local library. For instance, mine offers Rosetta Stone for free if you have a library card.
āThis shotgun knows the flavours of sin. Delicious.ā
It took me seven real life years but I finally committed and finished making Faith Seedās variant D2 āSin Eaterā from Far Cry 5. Itās one of the most beautiful weapons Iāve seen in a modern setting game, and I knew I wanted it from the first time I saw it (rip Faith Iām sorry I had to do you like that). The whole thing is foam and foam clay, and I created custom moulds for all the Peggie insignias on it. It was definitely worth the wait.
THE ENTIRE WEST IS BEING PUT UP FOR SALE AND I AM BEGGING YOU TO CALL YOUR SENATORS
Trumpās budget bill has many, many things in it, but buried amongst it is the MILLIONS OF ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND FOR SALE.
This is the entirety of the Arizona state forests, the entire Cascades mountain range. Swathes of pristine desert around the national parks in Utah. On the doorstep of Jackson Hole.
THIS BILL IS BIG, BUT IT CAN BE AMENDED AND ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT PASS AS IS please.
If you have ever enjoyed the wilderness, we stand to lose it all forever.
CALLING your senators - NOT JUST IN THE WEST. ALL SENATORS, is CRUCIAL.
Outdoor alliance has a great resource for reaching out.
The Senateās spending package could offer up nearly 300 million acres of public lands for saleāa vast area that includes nearly 100,000 mile
I donāt have a huge following but please, everywhere I have ever loved, the forests I grew up playing in, the land I got married on, is all at risk and I am begging.
My friend pointed it out first, and then I started noticing too. Why would books that multiple libraries definitely, 100% had digital access to a couple of months/weeks/days ago disappear?
Amazon is getting exclusive rights to them.
Ebooks that the public library once had digital copies of are now only available through Amazon. Audible boasts on their covers about Audible-exclusive audiobooks that did not used to be Audible-exclusive. Entire series and collections are disappearing overnight.
Keep your eyes on the privatization of media and your libraries.
According to this article on The Verge, it's been happening since at least 2021, but if I were to make a guess, Amazon has doubled down recently in response to the boycotts: if there are specific books people want, particularly ones only available digitally available, they now have the monopoly, and you are forced to scab, which often also means remaking your account and breaking your boycott altogether.
Now more than ever, support your local libraries, support authors directly when possible, and support your local used bookstores!
If they are doubling down, the timing kind of makes me wonder if the launch of Bookshop dot org's ebook app and storefront were also a contributing factor.
Since the frog theme I made earlier was light mode, I decided to make a dark mode skin as well. This one is galaxy-themed and in shades of purple, pink, and blue.
You can get the code under the cut.
I've put my skins on github now. It's a lot easier to copy from there.
I was updating this one with the same icon recolour idea that I did for the glowy dark mode with the fireflies, but honestly? It's the stats chart that deserves a screenshot this time.
(I'm super proud of this one, y'all)
You can get the full site skin, along with instructions for how to apply it, over on github.
PRE-ORDER ROUND 2: Only available until June 30, 2025! Shipping from the United States and Europe to: US šŗšø, EU šŖšŗ, UK š¬š§, Canada šØš¦, Australia š¦šŗ, and New Zealand š³šæ Thank you everyone for voting on the polls and helping shape these pride sword pins together. It is been so much fun making these! You can get yours here:
