#*50

[destinationtoast]

I know this is the least of our problems right now but do you think the US election results will impact ao3?

I am not a lawyer, nor a founder of AO3, nor a volunteer there, nor a fandom journalist or historian, so I'm pretty far from the best person to ask. I encourage any and all of the above to please chime in with more knowledgeable answers.

That said, I don't think the next few years will probably directly limit AO3 or its umbrella org, the OTW.* But that depends in part on members voting for board members who will uphold the organization's current principles. (Vote! Become a member if you're not already, and vote! Vote in ALL the elections you are eligible for and will be affected by!) And that doesn't mean a bunch of works won't become private, orphaned, or deleted.**

*A couple reasons for my cautious optimism: The OTW was formed with the preservation and maximalist defense of fanworks in mind. So the shifting US cultural norms and increasing purity culture can't easily change the OTW from within (as we've already been seeing in past years when some fans have disliked some content). And in spite of everything scary happening externally (and there is a whole fucking lot), the US still has far more constitutionally enshrined freedom of speech protections than most places in the world. It will take a long time to tear all that down. Some states and locales are doing a lot to try to challenge free speech, especially queer content and sexual content, and there will be more challenges. But many of those challenges will be defeated because of the First Amendment, and it'll take a lot of time and effort to push through any constitutional changes. You can donate to organizations like the ACLU and the EFF to help protect against the erosions of rights, in addition to supporting the OTW and the Internet Archive who work to preserve free speech rights and online rights. (Other suggestions of where to donate or volunteer are welcome in the notes!) Also, perhaps best of all, the OTW is a non-profit who owns their own servers, which makes it MUCH harder to change what they choose to host than if they relied on any external hosting services and/or had advertisers.

**The archive already has had a whole lot of fanworks shift from public to private due to external events, including the AO3 ban in China, and recent AI scraping of web content. I'm sure more AO3 users will choose to make their content private over the next few years out of a fear of potential personal risks of them being found, and/or due to new attempts to ban content. (Some users will also delete their works for similar reasons, though I urge people to consider orphaning them instead!) Downloading for personal use any fanworks you love is always a good idea, and even moreso at a time of great heartbreak and panic, like now.

*hugs* Hang in there, all, and continue to take comfort from AO3 & OTW as you survive the upcoming hard times.

[jtl-fics]

God, after last week you know I need to ask for TBD

10/30/24 WIP Wednesday (CLOSED) | TBD AU

Andrew needed to push past the objections of three doctors, five nurses, a hospital admin, and even his own coach but he signed the AMA papers. Phone in hand he hailed himself a taxi and gave it a familiar address as he pulled up to Smith’s house, paying the taxi driver and heading to the front door.

By this point Andrew knew where they kept the key so he unlocked the fake rock and with it he unlocked the door.

He ignored his phone buzzing in hs pocket, sure that Smith, Jackson, or Matthew had seen him enter their house through the doorbell camera but he was on a mission. He called into the house to announce his presence but no one responded back, he wouldn’t be surprised if the family had gone on some sort of Saturday outing, he just hoped that Neil hadn’t gone with them. So he headed inside and made his way over to a part of Smith’s house that he hadn’t been to at all.

Neil’s apartment.

[spontaneousmusicalnumber]

Always great when this is the thumbnail of the weeks forecast

[dxppercxdxver]

physically incapable of being upset by being rickrolled. if it’s well executed i get to engage in the playful wink-nod with the jokester. and if it’s obvious. well then i just get to see my beautiful friend rick astley

[dorothygale]

the other night i saw a kid with the most nonchalant expression wearing a big puffy coat being pulled along on rollerblades by a tiny dog

link to stickers and stuff

[beardedmrbean]

[jupiter-suggestion]

consider the sperm whale and the squid. an ancient rivalry that dates back millions of years. we know the whales eat the squids. we know the squids do not make it easy for them. we know this because of the scars the whales carry, scars on the outside of their body, and on the inside as well. how badly must you want something to endure wounds inside your mouth? inside your gut?

consider the whale, who is harmed by what sustains her. consider the squid, whose flesh is soft and delicious but refuses to go down easy.

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

[azure-bluet]

inspired by this wonderful comic by @melonsharks. transfem dipper my beloved. (Edit: IDs in alt text!)

bonus:

[is-this-really--life]

Hot take ig but kids in high school shouldn't have to work either. They should be spending their evenings doing homework and extra-curriculars and fucking around.

There definitely shouldn't be entire industries reliant on their low-wage labor. Why are there many kids being scheduled for a 6 hour shift after a 7 hour school day when they've got learning and their future and their childhood to worry about?

Any industry built on poverty wage child labor should perish, and that's most fast food and grocery and retail so I guess the economy's tanked 🤷. Should've thought about that before deciding to make the essential work into jobs for children and the underclass.

[destinationtoast]

My grandmother is Japanese and really likes to give gifts. Often those gifts are Japanese desserts or other food, but sometimes she just slips me cash, folded up inside a tiny, beautiful envelope. But she likes to pretend she's not giving me money, so when possible, she'll hide it somewhere that I will find later.

Today I spent the afternoon with her doing chores and tech support, and she clearly felt this warranted a significant gift in return (no matter that I enjoyed myself). But she forgot to slip something into my pocket or bag before I left, so instead she rushed outside as I was starting my car, making the old-school "roll down the window" gesture. Once I complied, she was forced to acknowledge she was handing me money, but she also tried to minimize the gesture.

The result was that she said, "Thank you, dear! I just wanted you to be able to... to buy yourself a hamburger," and then handed me a darling little envelope that turned out to contain $100. And all I could think was:

[twyrrinren]

senshi is truly the main provider of fan service in all forms huh

[spontaneousmusicalnumber]

There are ten trillion pictures of flowering trees to the point where they sometimes seem trite and overdone. But then you see a tree in full flower and go holy shit this rules and I've gotta show this to everyone so they can experience the same magic and wonder and there are ten trillion and one pictures of flowering trees

[kyjen-r]

[dorothygale]

edit: i have made the decision to disable reblogs because i am concerned that the spread of the repository link will get it shut down.