#[ some filler tags so i don't spam the | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bengiyo · 8 months ago

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We Are Sucks, and BL Will Be Worse When This Succeeds

We Are the series, the latest empty drivel from New Siwaj, has crossed a line for me that I cannot abide. This show is nothing more than loosely connected setups for BL moments that are easy to gif or clip for maximum virality, designed to fulfill a financial obligation to iQIYI and otherwise keep the B- and C-tier BL pairs occupied with work. This show is saying nothing about the human condition with any verve, and there is no queer subtext or text to pull from any of these characters that the viewer isn’t already bringing to the table.

I had stopped writing Stray Thoughts for this show because it doesn’t really have much of a plot or story to tell, but I am not going to be able to continue this show past episode 5. This show is the BL equivalent of a cumshot compilation. It is designed exclusively as fap material to coo over known BL pairs smiling at each other. I was chatting with @twig-tea yesterday about how after five episodes we still don’t really have anything resembling an arc for these characters and how it’s just a bunch of BL dudes hanging out. Twig described it as “disingenuous to [even] call it a show” and “...a bunch of compatibility workshops strung together.”

I hate this so much. There is no story being told here. This is like watching actor reels on IG or TikTok. There is nothing here to hold onto other than your baseline fondness for the cast. There was a moment in episode 5 that felt completely unscripted between Aou and Boom that felt like Boom reacting to being teased by Aou and not a moment between their characters. They didn’t even let Aou’s character confess the specificity of his feelings because they don’t matter to this show! It doesn’t matter why he likes Boom’s character! Just that he does! Why does Boom’s character respond so positively to these feelings? Why didn’t he take initiative on his own before? What changed at all? What’s the goddamn story here? There’s nothing! We just make it up and enjoy the smiles.

I usually don’t want to bitch about shows I don’t like extensively on here, and I especially don’t like spamming tags with negative commentary or musing on shows. However, there are 11 more episodes of this empty nothing, and 30 more episodes of New Siwaj trash on the horizon. He has become the GMMTV BL Babysitter, and I am horrified by what this means for the genre. I try to stay patient with New because usually he captures some form of gay melancholy or angst in his shows, but there is none of that here in We Are. All of these characters know each other and are basically just hanging out for about an hour of TV.

I worry about stuff like this being good enough to monetize. There’s nothing interesting for me in this experience with a queer lens. There is no real story being told, and caring about any details as if they matter leads to questioning the integrity of the characters (are we really doing a slave narrative in a college BL again?). It feels like the end product of giving up on chasing ratings and only chasing virality to monetize the talent for ad spots, concerts, fan meets, and merch. No longer do we even need to make stories about compelling romances between men. We just need to get passably attractive boys on screen together and just ask them to smile.

What does it mean for the genre if GMMTV goes another step forward with this and no longer brings any robust writing to the BL table. Are we satisfied with BL as glorified slideshows of shippable actors? What happens when GMMTV is able to easily milk this over other robust productions? Is this just the filler fluff to keep people engaged with the network between their solid projects to prove their bonafides? BL has always struggled with depictions of queerness, but are we at the point where we don't even try to tell stories that even feel queer? Is just simply putting boys next to each other enough? I don’t like this at all, and it unsettled me as I watched five episodes of We Are only to feel nothing.

I am always half-joking about being over New Siwaj, but I really am at this point.

#Ben writes #we are the series

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asterhaze · 1 year ago

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Writing Habits Tag Game

RULES: Bold or color the things that you relate to and then tag some people to play.

I write: daily | most days | a few times a week | a few times a month | random

I tend to write scenes: in chronological order with no skipping | mostly in order but with some filler/skipping | whatever scene I feel like | who knows what’s gonna come out

When I take a break from writing, it usually lasts: a few days | a few weeks | a few months | it’s kind of random

Thank you so much for the tag @winterandwords! I've been delighted talking about myself for a change. You can see where I was tagged here!

I'm leaving this as an open tag since I have seen this quite often (yet, I'm not sure if I was tagged...oop) and don't want to accidentally spam anyone. Much love to all of you!

#writeblr #writing #writers #writers of tumblr #writblr #writerblr #write #writing community #seriously feel free to tag me

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fandom-hoarder · 11 months ago

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Because this person is apparently now making stories about their "friend" doing this for them, hence the account weirdness (and the different spellings of their name, i assume??), and they're claiming they didn't say anything about surgery, etc etc...

First and foremost, if anyone is actually harrassing you or attacking you personally, I don't condone it and I definitely didn't send them. But my post is not harrassment, nor is it harrassment for anyone else to ask for reasonable proof and explanation. And I don't think you understand the word gaslighting, with the way you've used it in my notes, so you should probably not use it.

However, if the "friend gave me the account" story were true, why was there a first post with a different coffee account and the correct tumblr link? If real, sorry, your friend's account was pinged as a scammer due to their spam and shady behavior. Take it up with them first. (But this doesn't really make sense since you're clearly in my notes as yourself. And, again, the writing style and structure seem very similar to me. I think you just goofed and forgot you already had a coffee account for "Adela"--and even spelled it that way in the donation bio, though it was spelled Adella on your tumblr post that linked it.)

Screenshots from notes (before i block them) and further rebuttal under the cut.

Secondly, the TAGS said surgery. If not scam, it's definitely SPAM. (Pics before they go and change it. I also put it in the wayback machine. )

Thirdly, I didn't say you are a scammer. I laid out the information I had gathered, and pointed out some weirdness, and implied it's possible or likely due to the evidence. The audacity of suggesting I get some kind of joy out of "bullying" someone, when anyone that follows me would know that's not how I treat a donation post I know is real, and that's not how I like to treat people in general. I very specifically said to leave you alone, in my original post. I didn't tag you, and I only linked to your posts for proof of the screenshots I posted. I didn't make anything up; it's all just right there!

I didn't want your blog to be a scam. I feel awful for anyone that IS in that situation, and hate that anyone is ever. I didn't want to just ignore you when your situation might be real. But I say right in my pinned post I support trans people. There's a ton of trans support on my blog, and things tagged mutual aid, so I'm a prime target for this type of emotional manipulation tactic of using current events around marginalized communities to run scams, and I know to be wary.

I grew up in and got away from a cult, and I've also seen a ton of scams and impersonations that took EFFORT from REAL PEOPLE on tumblr. (HIV Living, anyone?)

Fourth, and I didn't mention this initially because it's a little nitpicky, but isn't it a little weird to say "I got married though he's a good man" and then also say "without having to crawl back to her dad who hasn't even called to check on her since we got divorced"??? And I know divorce happens at different speeds, and there are varying custody agreements, but there's nothing about child support or childcare or anything. There's no birthday timeline. These are things that would actually be in a newly-single parent's head to mention.

The end of the post says details in the link, but there are no actual details. There's filler to make you feel sad, and vagueness about things "going wrong," but there's nothing real. There's no bill listings or deadlines. Nothing to say why the goal is $800. And a ton of visibility tag spam on the tumblr posts. No other personal posts about dealing with their situation, despite their aid posts having several weeks between.

They say to DM for more details, but that's another red flag. What would they feel comfortable showing or saying to a complete stranger in a DM that they can't put in a post? It makes it more difficult to compare stories with other people who donated, because there's a certain level of privacy expectation around most people's DMs.

And, furthermore, why does it seem like they've sent it around randomly? Everyone i saw in the notes was simply talking about reblogging because of the ask they received.

It all adds up to very suspicious to me. And then you STILL have the deepeagletimetravel tumblr link oopsie on the Adella buymeacoffee account. When there was already an Adela account with the "correct" tumblr link to casualdonutfire. The excuses don't make sense!

The fact that people believed enough to donate means nothing to me. People believe bullshit stories without any proof every day. Not because they're stupid, but because their emotions blind them to the warning signs. That's all on the person manipulating them.

I even was hesitant of making this post, because I don't want to help scammers improve! Nevertheless, I do want to help people spot the inconsistencies before they get taken in by their heartstrings.

Finally (for now), obviously this person doesn't know me at all, saying that I get joy out of calling someone out. They're not "meat on [my] plate." I didn't seek them out; they came to me. I hate having to deal with this shit, actually. I wish I could trust everything I read on the internet; ESPECIALLY donation posts!! I don't want to have to wonder if this ultra-marginalized person in my asks or on my dash is really who they say they are all the goddamn time. But that's not how it works, and I'm too old to act like it does.

If I see something weird, I'ma be like, "Hey, yo... y'all think this is weird, too?" And since it happened on tumblr, I'm asking on tumblr.

I'm not an influencer. I'm not tumblr famous. I've been here 11 years and I still have < 1k followers, and that's how I like it. My most reblogged post still has < 1k notes. I roll in a niche little pocket of my fandom--a subset of a subset. I am not a BNF. A post I make on my own little blog (with receipts, because I care about being accurate and detailed; and tags, because I like to organize)--- which happens to get shared by people who also found the post in the pics suspicious; and which specifically says to leave the OP alone--- is nowhere near even a proper callout post, let alone a malicious lie campaign.

Ok, so I got an ask for mutual aid. Of course, it's human to want to help someone in need, even if all you can do is reblog their post. But you also don't want to be scammed, or help spread a scam. So you look for clues, or you only reblog your mutuals' aid posts because you at least know they're *real*, or you don't reblog aid posts at all.

So, what are the tells? (I'm not an expert, this is just what I've learned through osmosis.)

Do they follow/interact with you, outside of the mutual aid request?

Is their username weirdly generic?

Does the blog look like a real tumblr user, and not just someone who made a tumblr to ask for aid? How old is it? Is it involved in any fandoms? Does it seem staged?

Does their aid ask and needs description make sense? Is it overly vague, or bogged down with unneeded details?

If you quote-search the body of their aid ask, do you get any similar hits for scams on other sites or under other names?

Does the account for donations look legit?

What do you find when you reverse image search?

So, having received an ask that sounded very much like someone whose mutual aid I would want to support if they're real, but already having two red flags from the jump (not following me and not in my notifications, weird wording and grammar on ask), I endeavored to suss them out.

Screencaps of my adventure under the cut.

Like someone else has said, please don't go harrass this blog. Even if it's a scam, at some point there's a person behind that screen.

So here's the ask.

Red flags: they don't follow me, I don't know them, the ask is long, the grammar and punctuation are bad, word choices are odd or misspelled. These don't mean it's automatically fake, but it looks more like a weird AI than someone using google translate to communicate in English.

So I check their blog.

Their pinned post is this (click to read, it's a longass pic):

I don't take any links yet.

I take a block of their post and check it in google; all I get are snapshots of tumblr reblogs for their aid post. I click the "buy me a coffee" link, and it looks...idk, fine I guess. There's a tumblr logo, but clicking it seems to do nothing. (I'm on mobile)

A quick search of their name on tumblr gives me 2 posts mentioning them spamming this same message to people.

I read the one with the readmore linked here

After reading wannursyafiqah74's post about it, I got on my laptop and went back to casualdonutfire.

Mostly random reblogs; cats and other random reblogs of mostly pics, many with comments that could've/should've been tags, and no actual tags whatsoever. Like set dressing that says, "See? I'm a real person! I'm leaving comments about my reblogs that show I'm not a bot! I interact! I know what I'm I'm reblogging!"

It gives me a creepy vibe. I try google again to see if I can find their presence elsewhere on tumblr. The returns are still all snapshots of their mutual aid post. I open their archive. Ok, their tumblr has archive on...?

There are no fandom-esque posts until the very first reblog, a comment on One Piece fanart on October 18, 2023.

Their first post about needing aid was on November 7, 2023. Nearly the same wording as their pinned post, except they don't mention having a child. Zero specifics on what amount is needed for what or a timeline or anything. Not even anything about Christmas coming up. Tagged generously for trans surgery and other visibility words.

Oh. AND. The buymeacoffee is different. Adela, not Adella.

Then their next post for aid is fresh on January 11, 2024; nearly the same wording, except now there's a daughter and a birthday -- no date for the birthday, though, is there?!

[reblog linked here] If you go to their January 12th reblog and click on the "video proof," it's an audio-only black screen upload to imgur, with no identifying info for what's going on other than what they describe (and it doesn't really sound like what they describe; it sounds like a kid ready for christmas but not disappointed, like idk what more you're supposed to get out of it)

Then I clicked on their buymeacoffee link and noticed something. When I hovered my mouse over the tumblr symbol under their blurb, the link embedded there showed up at the bottom of my screen. And it was NOT casualdonutfire.

It was deepeagletimetravel. And, of course, it's a nuked tumblr. Hence doing NOTHING for me on mobile.

So I went to google again!

And lo, what do I find in those lurking reblogs?

ANOTHER MUTUAL AID POST IN EVERYONE'S REBLOGS. WITH A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSONA AND STORY. BUT THE SAME WALL OF TEXT + BAD PUNCTUATION STYLE

Using a stock photo for their initial "bio" that seems awfully misleading when you don't say it's a stock photo.

And with stolen/uncredited art by thetransformistress as a thank you.

And, of course, the buymeacoffee page it linked for Ameera (buymeacoffee.com/AmeeradelzC) is blank. 👀 Totallynormal, nothing to see here.

But this makes me think. I go back to that Nov 7 casualdonutfire post, with their first buymeacoffee link to "Adela" (buymeacoffee.com/adelladomil)--

and what do ya know, the tumblr that opens is casualdonutfire!

So did they forget they made an adela account, and change their ameera buymeacoffee account to adella for their new post, forgetting to change the deepeagletimetravel tumblr name?! 🤷‍♀️

#possible scam #scam alert #scam likely #receipts #i also chucked these into the wayback machine

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liloinkoink · 2 years ago

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Lamplight AU

What is Lamplight? Short answer, a DnD/Fantasy Third/Last Life Renchanting AU!

Long answer, here’s 20 Questions, the ficlet meant to introduce the concept.

Medium answer, Ren is a powerful god stuck in the form of living fire. Martyn is his sole follower. Martyn and Ren help free one another from imprisonment by the Watchers and are now traveling the world on a two-man adventure of fond companionship and occasional arson.

This AU has been written as I feel like it with absolutely no regard for chronology. If you have any questions about it feel free to ask! I also have a tag for it, “lamplight au,” which is where any writing, asks, or art go.

I’ll update this post with writing and art as it happens. Writing is organized chronologically, art is organized by artist and as it’s posted.

This AU was planned with the help of @/unexpectedly-haunted, whose designs for Martyn and Ren are linked at the start of the art section!

You can also find an archive of Lamplight on my writing blog, @driflew, under the same tag.

[AU itself is platonic, but ship content gets made for it]

And, for some other fun notes...

The (unofficial) Lamplight fan Discord Server can be found here!!

Martyn replied to my post saying he knows what Lamplight is, which is a wild thing to be able to say.

[Please do not spam the chats or the askboxes of Martyn, Ren, or anyone else with talk of this fic! Don’t need to annoy anyone with it, thank you!]

[Now that it's confirmed Martyn does know what Lamplight is, here are my thoughts on reading it on stream (he can can if he wants!)]

Lamplight writing

(for any works posted on both ao3 and tumblr where there are differences in content, consider ao3 the ‘correct,’ ‘updated,’ or ‘canon’ version. The AO3 versions are better, edited for quality, pacing, and often with extra bits not found in the tumblr versions)

The AO3 series with all works can be found here.

[If you enjoy Lamplight, I have a kofi? Please don’t feel the need send me anything excessive! The option to tip simply exists if you enjoy the series and are feeling generous.]

Canon

Torchlight Arc

Torchlight

[Torchlight short fic: Ren POV] [this scene is also on Ao3, in Moonlight ch2]

Heliography (multi-chapter, complete)

[tumblr preview scene, incl in Heliography ch1]

Lamplight Arc

Strange Traveler (ao3) (tumblr)

From Here to There (incl 20Q and other scenes)

Incident at the Sleeping Hound (ao3) (tumblr)

Winter's Herald (ao3) (tumblr)

Moonlight Arc

Moonlight (multi-chapter, in-progress)

(ch one is also on tumblr, but significant edits were made when it was moved to ao3. i’m leaving the first version here unchanged, just for fun, but be aware it’s different)

Non-Canon

worship the ashes (ship, noncanonical)

featherlight (Treebark Week D2: Light/Dark. ambiguous on both the ship status and the canonical status… anime filler arc status lmao)

somniphobia (ship, noncanonical) (og version is also on tumblr, a fic from taking treebark Lamplight requests: Ren doesn't sleep)

Heat Haze (Treebark Week D4: Warmth/Breeze) (ship, noncanonical)

the only place i don't feel cold (Treebark Week D3/4: Build/Burn, Infernal/Divine) (ship, noncanonical) (og version is also on tumblr, a fic from taking treebark Lamplight requests: God of...)

Leaflight Series (Lamplight Roleswap) [ask about the Leaflight concept]

Cover Me in Roses

Ficlet of a different Lamplight offshoot

Other Writers

Help with plotting the AU has come from my friend Haunted, whose contributions to design, plot, and general function as a rubber duck have been greatly appreciated

Series

Desert Duo subplot series by @/cosmicretribution (Haunted's designs)

crystalline

Boat Boys subplot series by @/boatboysrowout

i said fuck it long ago

Canon-divergent horror series by @/sixteenth-days

so no head?

Oneshots (non canon)

the heart of the pyre by Zeph

striking steel by Apollo

guiding light by Apollo

Devotion of a God by Tide

Trespassers by Tide

Bog Bodies by Tide

Nearly Forgotten by Anpan

idk what to call this by seiber_sel

Lamplight/Leaflight ask by anon

Lamplight Art

if you want to draw Lamplight art, go ahead! i would love to see it! @ me and/or Haunted and i’ll put it here! if i don’t see it, send me a message! and be sure to check out these artists’ work and show them some love!

Haunted’s Lamplight Official™ Martyn design

Haunted’s Lamplight Official™ Ren design (ft. Martyn)

Haunted's Lamplight animatic, FIRE--this is an animatic for the latter half of the fic Torchlight and is really cool!

I hit the fucking link limit so the rest of the art can be found HERE

#lamplight au #lew library #top hits

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daggryet · 2 years ago

Note

Hii I'm new here on Tumblr, I'm not gonna ask a blog rec since I saw you do one earlier, but do you have any tips? I know the usual reblog over like, but not much else :')

sure! and welcome :]

- cater your dash, unfollowing people isn't something you should be afraid of; if their content makes your dash feel worse, just unfollow

- if you install xkit (very much recommended!!), don't download the mutual checker. not only can it be stressful, but just like you have the right to unfollow whoever at any time; so do they. there's often not any malicious reason, just merely your content doesn't fit their dash anymore. (also if you notice someone unfollows, don't send them a message asking why)

- if you install xkit, quick reblog and tag filler (i'm not sure those are the names but they're similar) are a gdsend

- be active in the spaces you're interested in, make your own posts so people can see you on their dash

- only use tags that pertain to your post, don't tag spam for more clout; people looking through those tags will just get annoyed with you

- you can change your content at any time; if you wanna put in some extra effort you can make different sideblogs for different interests, but if you only use your main blog - don't let followers' expectations hold you back from expressing interest in new stuff you discover

- followers don't mean anything, they're a number only you can see, and unless you share that number; no one will ever know how many followers you have

- interact with people!! :D

- have fun!! :D

#ask #anon #hope these can help you - there's probably a lot more but that's what i could remember right now haha

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nhwoods-blog1 · 5 years ago

Conversation

[text] nico ↔ jody

NICO: I'm gonna go blow fireworks up with Jules I think. You gonna be good with the kids at home?

NICO: Also she's asking if you want anything from the grocery.

#jlabbott #jody: 002.#text.#[ some filler tags so i don't spam the #tag for the event ]#bmontfourth

0 notes

voltsm · 4 years ago

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I got tagged by @briandthemoon ! Thank you ~ Excited to see if you end up doing my DTIYS!!

Rules: answer 28 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.

Name/Nickname: Volt

Gender: Agender

Star sign: Sagittarius

Height: 161cm (im sick and on mobile, do conversion urselves 😤 haha)

Time: 10:20pm

Birthday: 2nd December

Favorite band/groups: Probably EXO, a kpop group, but I don't have favorites, I just listen to whatever honestly haha

Favorite solo artist: Hmm probably Lady Gaga just because I've been listening to her a lot lately. I like Sumni too.

Song stuck in my head: Judas - Lady Gaga

Last movie: Hmmm I can't remember but it was either Inside Out or Barbie and the Nutcraker (10/10 movie it aged so well despite the graphics). Inside Out is probably my fav pixar movie, everytime I watch it I find out a new detail

Last show: I watched Queen's Gambit!! I don't usually watch live action shows but this one got my attention. I wish it had less filler time and less random sexualization but the end is rly nice.

When did I create this blog: I created to post my art ^-^

What do I post: Sanders Sides and random posts abt myself I guess lol I started posting some Dream SMP stuff recently

The last thing I googled: What is the temperature of a fever? As I said, I am sick heh I swear it's not rona btw

Other blogs: I have a blog to hold my old url and spam reblog. I also have like a billion that I kept lefting and forgetting throughout the years

Do I get asks: I have a request for the angst art meme that I'll do some day. Also there is some cute chain thingy that I'll answer in a bit

When did I chose my URL: It's just short for my old url, voltairenism.

Following: Hmmm checking this now will be a pain as I am on mobile ;_; ok.... it's 51

Followers: 386

Average hours of sleep: I sleep for abt 10 hours if random naps throughout the day counts

Lucky number: 9 or 10, I think, but I don't rly give it too much thought

Instruments: I play the bass. I want to learn how to play piano tho

What am I wearing: My pajamas haha feelssickman

Dream job: Game developer!

Dream trip: Japan or Spain

Favorite food: Pamonha

Nationality:

Top 3 universes I’d like to live in: Star Wars, Star Trek and.... Idk Care Bears I guess skdkkd

uhhh Idk who to tag akdkk

@theo-lord-of-love-and-rage @writerwithtoomanyships @leelee-con

and anyone that wants to do it honestly akskkf i cant think properly

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hopetofantasy · 4 years ago

Note

Okay, there is something that I don't understand, why does some people are bothered by the fact that we want to see more sander and robbe? We followed their story for 10 weeks, of course we want to see how they are doing? Why does it bother you that we want to see them because for now we dont? When it was the season of zoe and senne, we had the continuation of their story in season 3 and now too, but I don't see anyone complain about it, but when it's the gay couple it's a problem now ?

So basically the season about the gay couple has ended, we had the representation we needed now it's over we can't have them anymore? It's the way I feel when I see people bothered by the fact that we ask for them, but stay silent when we have yet again in the back the straight couple...

Well, for one, you clump me together with people who think that it's a problem if the gay couple gets more screentime. I don't think that way. I didn't say that and suddenly you send it to me? But okay, I'll talk. The only thing that bothered me before, were the people constantly spamming it in the tag. Yet, it's episode three now, it's been a while, so I want to see them too. 🥺

People ARE complaining about Zoenne in this season and frankly, same. What's done is done. Their story has been dragged along too long. What I don't get about this season, is like you said: we don't have a continuation of Sobbe's storyline like Zoenne did. When it's a filler season like this, then why don't they show us stuff that matter? Like the gay bashing trauma? This would be the time to address it, right? So why didn't they take that opportunity? 😔

As for the representation. No, I don't want people to 'have a gay season and be over with'. On the contrary, I wish they had included more LGBT characters in wtFOCK. I mean, come on. Luca has been hinted as bisexual, at least make that canon. The fandom wish of Jens as a bisexual male isn't such a stretch either. And it would've been perfect if they made Moyo asexual, since he really tries to compensates it with macho behavior.

But just like the fact that wtFOCK doesn't want to provide a decent storylines for their POC, they don't seem to want to give others broader LGBT+ storylines either. So disappointing...

#wtfock #wtfam

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inatyzzy · 3 years ago

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[had this random idea plop in my head soooo here we are lmao hope ya like as an early halloween gift]

Are You Filming Me? (original creepypasta)

The following is a post from a now deleted Facebook profile.

Hello to anyone who ends up reading this. I have something I've needed to get off my chest for a while now. I'm using a burner profile since I want to remain as anonymous as possible for this story while still sharing my experience. But if you want to call me anything then just call me J.

This happened months ago, so the events are still fresh in my mind. It started when I was looking through my email. I was scrolling through my inbox and was expecting an important email that day. I didn't see it in my normal inbox, so I decided to see if it was incorrectly sent to my spam and junk ones. While I didn't find it there, I did notice an email in there that kind of jumped out to me. The email address it was sent from was a series of random numbers and letters the @watchingus.org. The subject was a period. The email was some sort of job listing? I don't know if that's the right word. They were looking for people to participate in an online experiment and offered pay. I immediately caught this as some sort of scam, but I can't lie. I was kind of interested in how this scam would work. Attached to the email was a link to watchingus.org. After setting up my VPN and antivirus software, I clicked on the link out of pure morbid curiosity.

The website reeked of an early 2000s website that any random person that knew how to use HTML would make, with it's black background with neon text. The email was only a week old, so it's outdated website look was confusing to say the least. The website was barren, but there were various tabs on the top. There was 'home', 'join us', a search bar, and an 'advanced search' tab. I just decided to run through the home page then look at what's actually on the page. If I was interested enough, maybe look at the 'join us' tab.

The home page only consisted of an 'about us' and an empty 'contact us' section. This makes me think the website was new and didn't have much time to set everything up. The 'about us' section was incomplete. There was text, but it consisted of that "lorem ipsum" filler text. I was pretty annoyed at this point and just shot to the advanced search bar since I didn't know anything about what this was about.

In the advanced search, there were two options with sub tags beneath them: location options and identity options. Location options was self explanatory. There were sub tags of different locations but they weren't of countries or states or whatever. They were more specific than that. 'Homes', 'Schools, 'Dorms', 'Restaurants'- those are only some of the tags I can remember off the top of my head but there were way more. The identity option was even creepier. Sub tags were of things like 'Age', 'Gender', 'Sexuality'. There was even a selection called 'Names' with letters to click from.

I was creeped out. What the fuck did I stumble upon? Surely this couldn't have been as bad as it seemed? I clicked the 'dorms' option and clicked search. What came up was a YouTube-like format of videos though none of them were named. Instead, there were various tags listed beneath the thumbnails. Things like 'Dorms', '22', 'Female', 'Heterosexual' or 'Dorms', '19', 'Other', 'Unknown'.

Against my better judgement, I clicked a video. It was almost normal. A girl was picking out food from a mini fridge and preparing a meal. There was no sound or anything. It was just a girl going about her day in what looked to be a shared public kitchen. I clicked another video and another and another. They were all so normal. People going about their daily routines, sometimes with multiple people just talking. This all felt wrong to look through but I wanted to know the context.

I hated watching the videos and felt grosser by the moment. I clicked on the 'Join Us' tab in hopes for better context. It only made my blood run cold. The words are still so clear in my mind.

'Thank you for joining us. You have been live streaming for [1 week] and [2 days]. Help us grow by entering your information.'

Below the text was a live video of me taken through my webcam.

I immediately shut my laptop. I wondered if I was being watched for all that time without me even realizing it. Did the people in the videos know that they were being watched?

I called the police. When they came to my dorm, the laptop had blue screened and was restarted. The windows all were close. Thankfully, I still had the email and used it to get to the site. When I got there, it said the website was not available. I gave the police any information I could and forwarded the email. I haven't heard anything else about the website. A part of me wants it to be kept that way.

Nowadays, I keep all my cameras covered up. I don't know if they can still see me.

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