Art and Musings

[animefreak1892]

If only this is how their story ended.

Not sure if they're the artist but base on the watermark it's @ninaxi_sham

[giraffeter]

I often see posts about curating your own online experience that make the point, “content creators aren’t your parents.” And, yes, that is absolutely true! And I try not to be like “as a parent,“ but as a parent…

EVEN PARENTS ARE SUPPOSED TO ENCOURAGE RESPONSIBLE READING/VIEWING BEHAVIOR. NOT filter everything ahead of time for their kid.

When my kiddo was 5, his pediatrician was asking him the usual Well Child Visit questions (“What are your favorite foods? What do you do to get your body moving? Do you know what to do if you get lost in a public place?” Etc.) and she asked, “What do you do if you see something on TV that scares or upsets you?”

I piped up like, “Oh, he doesn’t watch TV without one of us in the room,” which was true at the time and is still largely true now. She said, “Yes, but that won’t always be the case, so make sure you’re talking to him about what to do if he sees something that upsets him.”

So we started talking to him about that, and the answer is simple: “Turn it off or leave the room, and talk to someone you trust about what you saw and what you’re feeling.”

The answer is NOT “Ask your parents to make sure you never see anything upsetting again,” because that’s just not possible — and ultimately that would be doing the kid a disservice, since sooner or later he’s going to be out in the world where we can’t control what he watches or reads. That doesn’t mean we don’t try to make sure he’s watching/reading age-appropriate stuff, it just means that’s not the only safeguard he has — and that’s a good thing.

So yes, content creators aren’t your parents and aren’t responsible for making sure you never see anything you don’t like — but also, your own parents should have taught you what to do when that happens. So if they didn’t, take it from me, your internet mom:

Turn it off.

Walk away.

Talk to someone you trust about how you’re feeling.

And leave the person who created the thing that upset you alone.

[katarh-mest]

I'll also add that some things will continue to alarm you will into adulthood. Trauma doesn't go away just because you get older. And some experiences that upset you happen in adulthood.

I can't handle gore very well. This is a me problem and I know it. This is not a problem of the content creators. This is not a judgment against people who like gore. And I can handle it as long as someone gives me a bit of warning and I can mentally prepare myself that it's coming and remind myself that this is fiction.

I curate my online experience as best I can, appreciate tags when they're included, and if I get blindsided because nobody bothered to warn me that some random anime I was watching was about serial killers in a mental hospital and their victims.... well, it's on me to remove myself from the situation. Because that's what grown ups have to do.

[arvalis]

The final battle in Pokemon Scarlet is weirdly very good. I had to paint it. Boy howdy Koraidon is a real complex design but I wanted to do it right. I learned a whole ton on this one, took around 67 hours of paint time. That does not include despair time.

[dschubba-art]

Got to properly sit down and play WOTR some more, I can safely say that Ulbrig is a great addition to the companion roster and the writing of the romance is really clicking with me. …Besides the fact that playing through it with tiny, tiny Fauve is pushing my height difference bias buttons.

[apollos-boyfriend]

we have GOT to kill tiktok/twitter self-censorship i just witnessed a grown adult say the word “smex” out loud to our professor

[apollos-boyfriend]

my poor professor was SO confused that she asked them to repeat themselves and they went “you know, like, blank . . .” and kept just vaguely gesturing until she somehow connected the dots. i fucking hate art school

[apollos-boyfriend]

god i wish i was making the shit i witness at this place up. my life would be so much easier if i didn’t have to deal with my classmates seriously arguing about fandom discourse in the group project chat

[apollos-boyfriend]

the price you think you're paying by going to art school: tuition, supply costs, etc

the price you're actually paying by going to art school: having to put up with the most brain-rotting terminally online discourse imaginable in real life

[prince-of-the-moths-deactivated]

I had someone argue with me that it was problematic for me to have watched Frozen with my niece because I was encouraging her to become an emotionally abuse codependent sibling. I'm a senior and I've had someone else doing their senior thesis ask, genuinely, if she was problematic for doing her thesis on domestic abuse, because sometimes domestic abuse effects rich white women and they're privileged, so therefore her doing it on that is racism apologism. I've had to sit there and watch people say "unalive", "SA", "PDF file", and my favorite, "marital relations" (it only happened once but it's really funny) to professors who look at them in total despair.

Hamlet didn't unalive himself, he killed himself. Our Crime Prevention class is discussing sexual assault and pedophiles. The implication of this paper we're reading in Intro To Africana Studies is not about white settlers marrying and having gentle loving monogamous funtimes with slaves, it's about rape.

I genuinely do not see how I'm supposed to take the people around me seriously. How am I supposed to believe you have incredible insights into something you can't bring yourself to say? How am I supposed to look over your rough draft and not cross out the euphemisms and write grown-up words?

And I DO NOT go to art school! I go to Montana State! I'm in redneck country - remember when redneck meant tough enough to at least say words?! Not anymore!

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

[justlet-melive]

thought about astarion and jaheira the other day and now i canNOT STOP

[carduelis-carduelis]

Fandom PSAs

Dont’ Like, Don’t Read

or DL; DR

You are responsible for curating your own online experience.

If something upsets you, makes you angry or queasy or triggers you, stop reading/looking at it. Avoid things that might make you feel that way.

Learn to use the Sort and Filter function on AO3, especially the Exclude tools.

On social media, block and mute accounts / tags / words when necessary.

If you hated something, you don’t need to tell that to the creator or start pointing fingers at them publicly.

The Back button is free. Use it.

Addendum:

Yes, for this to work, creators need to tag their works accordingly, so that people know what sort of content they are about to engage with and can nope out if necessary.

I will probably make another PSA about the importance of proper tagging later.

Ship And Let Ship

or SALS

You are allowed to ship whatever you want.

Everyone else is also allowed to ship whatever they want.

You are entitled to dislike or even hate a ship. If you want to do this online, in public, don’t use the ship tags for hate posts.

If you see someone posting about a ship they like and you don’t, there is no need for you to start arguing with them in their replies / comments / QRTs / reblogs. Don’t throw your hate in their face.

Do not harass fan creators or fans for shipping something you disapprove.

All of this also applies to liking / disliking an individual character.

Addendum:

”I agree with this, except when…”

No, then you are NOT agreeing with this.

Let me make this VERY clear. There are NO exceptions. None.

You don’t EVER harass real people over pixels.

If you disagree with this, kindly block and move on.

Your Kink Is Not My Kink

or YKINMK / YKINMKATO

The longer version is ”Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That’s Okay”.

People have different tastes. Not everything is for everybody.

Even if you don’t like a specific kink, other people are still allowed to use it in their creations.

You are entitled to dislike kinky content and think that it’s ”weird”.

Don’t kink shame or judge people based on their kinks.

This goes both ways: your kink is not someone else’s kink, so don’t push it onto those who are not into it.

Be Kind

or Don’t Be An Asshole

Focus on the things you like instead of the things you hate.

Create and unite instead of destroying and dividing.

Don’t harass real people over fictional things.

Stop stirring up petty drama just to get some attention on social media.

Stop trying to ”win”. Fandom is not a competition.

Remember that your own experiences aren’t universally shared. Your perception of things can differ from someone else’s, but that doesn’t mean either of you is necessarily wrong.

[cacodaemonia]

This!

You don’t EVER harass real people over pixels

[karmadegon]

[no-regrets-just-confusion]

@kunikuma 🫣🤭

[moonlightredfern]

I’m all scratched up and I can still taste spray paint in my mouth and my husband almost fell out of a tree BUT THE GHOST SCULPTURES ARE FINISHED!

They’re finally finished and I’m so happy with them!!

Some progress shots:

[neekaxiv]

We lost our furbaby earlier this year. Our way of making sure Emma stays with us always.

[princessmuk]

🚨⚠️ATTENTION FELLOW WRITERS⚠️🚨

If you use Google Docs for your writing, I highly encourage you to download your work, delete it from Google Docs, and transfer it to a different program/site, unless you want AI to start leeching off your hard work!!!

I personally have switched to Libre Office, but there are many different options. I recommend checking out r/degoogle for options.

Please reblog to spread the word!!

[bronzeagecrafts]

Crypt Pad can be an option too!

[dduane]

I don’t use Docs very much at all, but this looks like a good moment to take a sweep through my account and delete anything that’s in there.

[pasteboard]

hey netizens! i'm not sure how many people are aware, but youtube's been slowly rolling out a new anti-adblock policy that can't be bypassed with the usual software like uBlock Origin and Pi-Hole out of the gate

BUT, if you're a uBlock Origin user (or use an adblocker with a similar cosmetics modifier), you can add these commands in the uBlock dashboard (under My Filters) to get rid of it!

youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.openPopupConfig.supportedPopups.adBlockMessageViewModel, false) youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.adBlocksFound, 0) youtube.com##+js(set, ytplayer.config.args.raw_player_response.adPlacements, []) youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.hasAllowedInstreamAd, true)

reblog to help keep the internet less annoying and to tell corporations that try shit like this to go fuck themselves <3

[lyridmeteorshower]

Tumblr Migration 2: Reddit Boogaloo

We all know about the Twitter immigrants, but there seems to be radio silence on what's happening now with Reddit users from certain subreddits doing a similar thing.

What's happening?

Reddit is restricting their API later this month and killing off third-party apps. An AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the CEO Steve Hoffman was held and it was clear that he would continue with the changes.

In protest, thousands of subreddits across the site are planning to go dark for 48 hours on June 12th. Some are planning to continue indefinitely until the changes are reversed.

Okay, so how does this affect Tumblr?

Some subreddits (mainly queer and left-leaning meme ones, don't worry too much about Reddit Atheists™ overrunning us) are encouraging their users to jump ship to our beloved - and beloathed - hellsite. There will be another influx of new users and many will be unfamiliar with how the site works.

What do us Tumblr users do?

Show them how to use the site; introduce them to the site's culture, tell them to reblog shit and curate their dashboard. Sorta like how we welcomed Twitter users back when they flocked here. Kungpowpenising optional.

I'm new from Reddit, what do I do here?

CHANGE YOUR PROFILE PICTURE AND BANNER TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN DEFAULT BECAUSE THIS SITE IS FILLED WITH BOTS AND YOU MIGHT BE MISTAKEN FOR ONE. This is the FIRST thing you should do after getting a blog.

Other folks can help you with stuff like curating your dashboard or creating sideblogs (or you can look shit up) but please, PLEASE just give yourself an icon and reblog some stuff so people don't mistake you for a bot

[saltyflump]

This is one of the first posts I've seen after trying to look at Tumblr again, so I've decided to head their advice and reblog this. I don't even know what a reblog is but I'll find out in time. It's a learning process

[lyridmeteorshower]

a reblog is what you just did! it's similar to a retweet on twitter and it's the main way things spread on tumblr

[themirokai]

I got this comment on a story from my Other AO3 Account this morning.

(Info redacted because I prefer keeping these accounts separate but no one follows me on the side blog I have for that account.)

The story was posted almost a year ago and is relatively “popular” by my average statistics even though it has tropes and themes that are big turnoffs for a lot of people (hence separate accounts). This popularity is undoubtedly because it’s a Marvel Loki story and that fandom is massive.

So there is obviously an algorithm or a bot scrubbing ao3 statistics and leaving this comment on fics that meet a certain metric with the main character of the fic inserted into the comment.

I had a little time to kill this morning so I decided to investigate further. And y’all this is so predatory. Come on this journey with me. It made me mad. It may make you mad.

First, if you go to Webnovel’s website, you HAVE to choose between male lead or female lead stories before you can go any further. WTF?

And that’s weird, but this gets so much worse. This is basically a pay-to-read site that has different subscription models. Which… okay BUT! The authors don’t get paid! Look at that comment again. They’re promising a supportive and nurturing community, but zero monetary compensation. It’s basically, “post your stuff here so we can get paid and you can get… nice vibes?” I mean look at this Orwellian writing:

Using the phrase “pay-to-read model” in the same sentence as “qualitative changes in lifestyles for authors” deliberately makes you think that you can get paid and maybe even make a living on this website. But that’s not actually what it says and authors will not receive one red cent.

Oh but wait, the worst is still to come. In case this breaks containment (which I kind of hope it does) this is where I mention that I’m a lawyer in the US.

I don’t do intellectual property or copyright law but I do read and write contracts for a living. So I went to look at their terms of service. It was fun!

Highlights the first, in which Webnovel gets a license to do basically whatever they want with content you post on their site. This is how they get to be paid for people reading authors’ writing without paying them anything.

Highlights the second, in which Webnovel takes no responsibility for illegally profiting off of fan fic. This all says that the writer is 100% responsible for everything the writer posts (even though only Webnovel is making money from it).

Highlights the third which say that by posting, the author is representing that they have the legal right to use and to let Webnovel use the content according to these terms. So if a writer posts fan fiction and Webnovel makes money from people reading the fan fiction, and the House of the Mouse catches wise, these sections say that that’s ALL on the writer.

So that’s a little skeevy to start off with but the thing that is seriously shitty and made me make this post was that these assholes are coming to ao3. They are actively recruiting people in comments on their fan fiction. And they are saying they are big fans of the character you’re writing about and that they share your interests.

They are recruiting fan fiction writers and giving every impression that you can make money from posting fan fiction on their site and hiding the fact that you absolutely cannot but they can make money off of you while you try, deep in their terms of service which no one but a lawyer who writes fan fic and has some time to kill will read.

I see posts on here regularly from people who don’t understand how this stuff works, don’t understand that they (and others) can not legally make a financial profit from fan fiction. And there are tons of people who will not take the time to dig into the details.

Don’t deal with these bastards. Fuck Webnovel.

[thefirsthogokage]

If you're in an area that is suffering from wildfire polluted air, I just saw this on Twitter:

Bonus:

Here's a site I found that can tell you how to make these:

Also known as a Corsi-Rosenthal box, this DIY method of building your own air filter with MERV13 furnace filters and a box fan are an easy a

Edit: There have been some extra pointers (about open sources of water in the home, and I believe some other things) in the reblogs, so I highly recommend taking a look at the notes of this post!

[vsemily]

Internet Safety

[concertconfetti]

Look, I’m nearly 30. I know that means I’m inches from death to most teens here. In the United States, teens have been so utterly failed by the education system deciding that “digital native” meant “miraculously knows how the internet works”.

I was taught, in school, how to use search engines. I was taught about what information people can take advantage of and how they do that. Did I still do teens stuff? Yes - I accessed sites I shouldn’t have and lied about my age to read erotica. But I didn’t announce my presence, and I knew that if I decided to say I was an adult, despite not being one, if I saw shit I didn’t want to see, that was my fault. Because I was taught why age gates are there.

I am not saying this to say “teens are stupid” - if you’re a teenager and reading this, I do not think you’re stupid. You were not given the appropriate amount of information to keep yourself safe in the same way I was. That’s not fair. Please try to keep in mind that adults who have the information and want to share it aren’t doing so because we think you’re an idiot. We want you to have good information so you can keep yourself safe.

[saentorine]

As someone who was stalked/preyed on online back in the “old days” of the internet, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for those norms of not publicly sharing my real name, age or hometown, and dialup internet being too slow to easily share pictures of myself, my home, my school, etc. It was so much easier to get myself out of it when my internet presence was dominantly anonymous and tied primarily to usernames unconnected to my real life and easily changed. These days, it seems like the entire point of being online for many young people is to share these things, and you can do them with such ease and abandon. I warn my students about this and I’m warning the rest of y’all. PLEASE be conscientious, please don’t make it easy for anyone to stalk or exploit you.

[science-lings]

I love how all throughout totk Links motivations are laser focused on finding Zelda. That’s why he’s going everywhere, that’s why he’s frantically chasing every ghost of her. That’s why ganoncorpse uses her image like he does, he saw Link jump in front of the blast of gloom and literally throw himself into an endless pit without hesitation in an attempt to catch her. He knows how much Link obviously cares about her and will chase any rumor of her to the ends of the kingdom.

It’s almost on par with sksw with how little Link cares about the actual plot, he’s asking literally everyone if they’ve seen Zelda and the mummy man that tried to kill him doesn’t even pass through his thoughts until someone else brings it up.

His whole motivation in this game is to find her and its mentioned many times that they’re always together and it’s odd that they’re apart and people are still arguing about them sharing a house.