#DONT TELL PEOPLE INFORMATION THAT THEY CAN USE TO FIND YOU. IT ISNT THAT HARD

[nebulastarss]

You know how wild it is to see comments on YouTube of children going "i subed. im 7"

I did not interact with the YouTube comments until I was a teenager. I have made a grand total of less than 5 comments. Because I'm a pussy who was scared of saying something stupid and having the internet show up at my door to shank me. Yknow. Exactly what I was taught would happen.

And I stare at these comments and I think to myself

'If you knew your address, you would've posted it.'

[mymoshangthoughts]

okay, okay, okay, bear with me

mobei jun already knows about shang qinghua as airplane

oki ive decided to take advantage of the fact that WE NEVER GET A MOBEI JUN POV AND I'LL BE FORVER SALTY ABOUT THAT SHIT

but like, shen yuan figured airplane out REAL fast, right? they barely spent time together before the immortal alliance and then it takes one surprise before airplane is saying stupid shit, right?

and i cant help but think, mobei jun aint dumb and he's been spending How Many Years crashing at shang qinghua's leisure house whenever the fuck he feels like it?

he also finds shang qinghua to be Hella Sus because come on, ofc he does. a human just declares their undying loyalty to you after one fucking meeting??? even if he believes shang qinghua is being sincere in the moment, the fact that he was so quick to betray his sect doesnt speak of a loyal servant

so why wouldnt he snoop? why wouldnt he pay extra close attention when shang qinghua says shit that doesnt make sense? why wouldnt he notice when shang qinghua speaks or writes in a language that he doesnt recognize? airplane canonically isnt fluent in english so if he used a bit of it, especially chinglish, wouldnt mobei jun be able to learn some of the meanings of the words just by context clues? especially when he has YEARS to decode it? like if airplane was fluent, maybe he could hide the meaning, but a limited vocabulary adapted to another language isnt actually super hard to decode. it's the same reason that you can generally understand what slang means before you look up the definition. you might not know what 'rizz' means, but you can pick up the meaning from context clues.

anyway im over explaining the linguistic aspects ALL IM SAYING IS what if airplane kinda depends heavily on chinglish to be his Secret Language that Theres No Way That Anyone Here Can Get. and sure, for most people, it does seem like gibberish. but again, mobei jun has YEARS at his side and reasons to nitpick at it and decode it.

like what if airplane had a habit of writing out pidw plot points in chinglish bc look he is Going to forget shit no matter what, he wrote that novel a lifetime ago, but theres some info thats pretty important for him to Not Forget. so mobei jun is just left with a huge stash of Impossible Information that shang qinghua writes about

everything ranging from future events to obscure demon world facts that theres just no justifiable reason for shang qinghua to know about and just everything in between.

but also what if shang qinghua wrote his feelings? his thoughts? his issues? like cmon, he literally has NO ONE to consult with about the insanity of his life before cucumber-bro, and his life is really crazy, and he used to be the person who wrote out his feelings via novel but look dude he's not about to tempt fate by writing out another novel rn so a diary makes sense. or at least like, random venting

and again, this isnt even mentioning airplane having some potential verbal fuckups that mobei jun can add to his ever growing file of "shang qinghua has something fucking going on"

and like, maybe mobei jun hasnt actually figured out the exact truth but he has some eerily close guesses. or maybe airplane wrote a lengthy journal explaining literally his entire fucked up life and mobei jun knows Everything.

look im just a little bit obsessed with mobei jun casually being aware for YEARS that shang qinghua is from another world and might have once had god-like powers over this world. i think this is very funny and i think it could work in a canon compliant way. cuz i also like to think that some of mobei jun's aggro at shang qinghua was a mixture of

you literally wont tell me who you really are. you claim to be my loyal subject but you wont even tell me your real name and Yes I'm Upset About That

you fucking fucker, you literally PLANNED that horrible event to happen???? you suck so bad omfg. THAT WAS TRAUMATIZING FOR ME YOU JERK NO I DONT CARE IF YOU FEEL BAD ABOUT IT NOW

your handwriting sucks and im mad that i didnt just have to decode your weird other language, i also had to decode your fucking horrendous handwriting and i dont know if i can ever forgive you for that

you barely ever show your real personality in front of me and i have to learn how you really feel by reading this fucking notes and YES IM UPSET ABOUT THAT

i also just love the idea of Something Happening to do with the multiverse and basically mobei jun is the only one who isnt remotely surprised lmfao. binghe is in crisis mode, cucumber thinks he's gonna die, airplane is freaked out, and mobei jun is just like "yeah, figured some dumb shit like this might happen. you didnt know binghe? dont you pay any attention to your husband :/ dude, they're not even good at hiding it, i thought you were supposed to be smart"

also the simultaneous heartattacks that cucumber and airplane would have that mobei jun just KNOWS like thats hilarious. imagine they need to talk about something secretly in public and its super urgent and mobei jun just starts using chinglish or webspeak or something perfectly and cumplane are FREAKING THE FUCK OUT

mobei jun: that mofo is hella sus, but keep it on the dl. ttyl i need to do a vibe check

cumplane: ?!?!?!?!?!?

[requiemsystem]

ADVICE FOR NEWLY DISCOVERED OR SUSPECTED SYSTEMS

if you suspect you may be a system or have recently discovered that youre a system, things can be confusing and hard. im making this post as someone who has been aware of being a system for about 5 years and has been diagnosed for 2. these are things i wish we knew and did. i hope it will be helpful to some of you and i wish you luck on discovering things about yourself and your system keep in mind everyone is different and systems are no exception, so what i list here might be incredibly beneficial for one person but do nothing for another. find what works for you. i will try to provide a variety of advice in order for you to see what fits you best DO YOUR RESEARCH research the disorder, try to find others experiences and things you think would help you. this is especially helpful if you are suspecting and not yet sure if you have it, researching symptoms and others experiences can be very helpful in determining START SYMPTOM LOGGING this can be as simple as "i blacked out today" or "i dont feel like myself right now", you dont have to be identifying switches or putting names to alters, theres no rush to be able to do that and some systems have no desire to do that symptom logging is useful because it can help you identify potential triggers and patterns in your symptoms. for example, if you can remember what happened before a period of amnesia and remember being exposed to a stressful event or something potentially triggering, this would be worth writing down to see if its a recurring pattern REACH OUT TO OTHER ALTERS this can be done in a variety of ways, but the easiest way would be to leave a note in a place itll be seen. for example, a sticky note on a mirror (if you live with other people and cant do this, try leaving a note on your phone in a frequently checked app) i would advise saying something along the lines of "hello, i am (name) and i would like to communicate with you. i suspect we have a disorder called (DID/OSDD) and we share the same body and mind. please write back to me in (location, can be a notebook or app etc) and tell me some about yourself if you feel comfortable" but you can say whatever works for you. i just think the main points to cover are having DID/OSDD and introducing yourself as well as asking for an introduction in return START WORKING ON COMMUNICATION this takes a lot of practice, so i always say its better to build up early rather than late. we have a whole post on it that can be found here REMINDERS AND THINGS TO REMEMBER if you do not remember your trauma, do not dig for it. it isnt safe to try to remember trauma without professionals help. if you happen to remember, thats one thing, but dont intentionally seek out triggers to try to remember denial is common and not a sign of faking, if you were faking you would know and would not be in denial. being wrong about having DID/OSDD (if you are suspecting but not sure) is not the same as faking no two systems are the same. you dont have to look exactly like some other system you know or online to be real its normal to not know everything right away. you wont know all your alters immediately, you may not be able to access (and you may not have) your innerworld, you probably wont remember all of your trauma without professionals help, etc. its all normal its totally ok to keep information about your system private. there is no need to share with anyone you do not feel completely safe and comfortable with switching at any frequency is normal, there is no "correct" amount to switch. any amount of alters is normal, there is no "correct" amount of alters. any level of amnesia is normal, there is no "correct" level of amnesia apps like simply plural and bots like pluralkit can be incredibly helpful for some systems, but there is absolutely no pressure to use them if you do not feel comfortable - grey

[meatsex]

hi im sorry if this is weird to ask and you definately dont have to answer, but how did you start transitioning? im sure its different outside the us, but i guess i mean like more how did you get the "courage" to ig? im just now in my early 20s and i want to start before its "too late", but im just worried abt so much shit surrouding it (family, my job, school, etc) and it stops me everytime i get close to trying to

im sorry, idk i just remeber seein your top surgery pics a while back and thought abt asking for a bit cause im kinda alone in this. its okay if you dont respond, ik this might be like a hard subject

hello, this isnt a weird question at all, especially if you find yourself in a situation where you feel alone about this matter.

before i begin, obviously none of the things i say are a guide or should be taken as exact reference, they are just my experience, precautions i took and things i realized/explored; this will also be LONG

i began transitioning around 2016 (i was 19-20 iirc), this is when i began to reconsider my gender and how i saw myself, i wasnt sure about my stance on myself so i used the label genderfluid as that was what felt right atm, i wasnt sure if i really wanted to be a guy or just felt like it every so often; back then i only confided this information to my then boyfriend

i began using a different name online, tried different clothing and also got my hair cut way short for the first time, basically tried and experienced, i was also used to crossplaying often (cosplaying male characters)

in 2018 i was fully set with the idea i wanted to be a man, id fully take on the role of one online and i had already told other friends i trusted about this

i stopped using the label of genderfluid by this time as well, i also tried binding a bit but it was complicated for me so it wasnt long lived but definitely helped in settling the idea of what i wanted

in 2020-2021 i came out to my parents, i tested the waters *a lot* first, i brought up topics like having transgender friends or similar too see how they would react, luckily they both did positively. after this i felt confident in telling everyone else irl

in 2022 i got my legal name change (the process in Argentina is basically a re-enacment of your birth certification with your preferred name and gender, i dont know if this is different or the same elsewhere), and in 2023 i got top surgery, the overall healing process was around 6 months, i did require aid for things like getting up from bed and eating

i was freshly 26 for my surgery by 2023, what im trying to say is for some people its something that could take a lot of time while others might find instantly this is their correct way to feel and be, but its also never too late or never too early and its also okay to change your mind and go back on how you felt, utimately its your decision to take

truthfully you will have to think and consider hard in which areas and with which people you feel safe sharing your gender, some people might not be open to the idea and depending on the circumstances it might not be worth the risk (like at a job or school) unless you have a backup plan to fall onto if it comes to a worst case scenario; i hid these things from my family for a lot of time (especially my internet-disconnected, right-leaning dad)

i think "closet" transitioning or just taking small steps that can be subtle to others is a good idea if you are still unsure about your situation and/or environment, in the sense of exploring ideas, terms, feelings, and with things like trying on different clothes or changing the way you present yourself in a smaller scale (like friends you trust or online presence)

i think its also important i was an adult by this time, therefore (as stupid as this sounds because it is) i had more credibility in the eyes of others to my emotions and how i felt, but this is something that depends and varies with the environment you are in and the people that surround you

ultimately it truly never is late or early, its okay if you try it and change your mind, no one is going to punish you for it and no one is entitled to how you feel about yourself other than you; i hope this helped in any way and if not feel free to ask again about more specific ideas or topics regarding this

[prttyjia]

how to get over bad grades ᝰ.ᐟ ⊹ ࣪ ˖

quick disclaimer: being down or dissapointed by bad grades is totally okay, we all grow and feel differently so im not invalidating anyones feelings by this post, its just for anyone who needs it!

taking time to realize : this is bad grades right? it may so unmotivating and disappointing to see how your had work ended up looking. but remember, good grades take being consistent. Try new studying methods, and use more time to understand the concept your lacking rather than memorising it. its just a grade, like every of the billion people on earth get.

remember, this is literally just a number. would you let a number, A NUMBER, define you as a person? no. no you wouldn't. and if you would you have to get yourself together and realize your worth more than what you're worth academically. you're a living human, you wake up every morning and walk out of bed. do you realize how proud you should be for that? because if you dont, i'll tell you how awesome that is. we live on a floating rock, seriously its not that deep. its okay, you did your best.

treat yourself : you worked hard and even had to deal with the misery and sadness by these grades, you deserve to treat yourself. drink some tea, do something you love or go buy yourself something fun. you deserve it because the fact you went through the struggle is the only thing necessary to validate the fact that you deserve to be treated.

remind you that you are the one receiving these negative grades, and you are the one being effected by it. no one should be disappointed in you other than you, because this is affecting YOU. no one should be allowed to punish or shame you for something that wont affect them in any way, but rather you. even if your parents are disappointed or scolding you over your grades, dont take it personal. do it for you and get better as time goes on.

find someone to talk to : whether its a good friend or a responsible adult, you should try talk to someone about how you feel. it makes you feel so much better once you're not the only one borrowing this heavy information around. just make sure you can trust them since not every person is loyal and trustable to talk with.

switch the default : instead of crying or being sad about your grades, laying in bed as you binge eat chips and watch a show isnt the solution. instead, use all that negative energy on getting better at what your struggling at.

im not saying that you shouldn't be allowed to feel down after your grades got assigned, everyone deserves to take a break for as long as they need. im talking about being stuck in an hourless slump, just wasting your time on thinking about things that happend instead of things that are soon to happen. prepare for that.

[murky-tannin]

so is cellbit pro-fed? all his investigations have helped the fed and worked against granting the islanders freedom. also even though he didn't tell the feds everything in his recent investigations he did just confess that he withheld information to cucurucho which we know will have consequences, which will probably harm all the islanders, since they all helped steal the minimes. i guess i'm just a little confused since his words have all been anti-fed but his actions have helped the feds a lot in stopping the islanders from escaping or finding out about the rebellion faction, even if he did it unintentionally. at the end of the day cellbit has said he would be fine staying on the island as long as he can be with roier and richas, and that the islanders have the freedom to come and go as they please, which is very similar to what foolish has said.

A: the benefits to the feds (which seemingly arent actually benefiting the feds moreso then benefiting Antoine which is a whole other can of worms) are also benefits to the larger EXPLICIT anti fed goal.

B: what about Cellbit's last stream and that scene with Cucu has you calling him pro fed? The feds are fully aware the islanders stole the minimi's. What Cellbit did was take the blame away and put it on himself. And we dont know where his arc will go from here, but the general terminology of pro federation isnt applicable yet. If he genuinely sticks to what he said to Cucurucho? (which he likely wont for any longer then a week or two) ((three weeks if we count him sleeping)) then maybe that can be reconsidered

Not everything he does is perfect and sometimes he DOES do something to hurt the anti fed cause. There are times where you can look at his actions and say "this is pro fed whether he realizes it or not." But that doesn't make him generally pro fed. God he literally created a resistance group (one acknowledged as such by the larger anti fed resistance group Etoiles joined) And has worked tirelessly towards anti federation goals for months. I do not watch this man spend 6 hours trying to fuck over the federation every single day for him to be labeled pro fed 😭

Unlike Jaiden and Foolish. Foolish who actively hurts islanders to benefit the feds- not for any anti fed goal or anything. Just because he finds it fun and wants the power to have more fun. Jaiden who rarely contributes to anything anti fed. Who claims to be neutral (aka pro fed. Because to not be anti oppressor is to support them. That's a good life lesson!/gen) Who despite this "neutrality" actively helps the feds!

On top of this, both of them actively shut down anti fed actions and opinions quite often.

There will never be a hard line to draw with labels, especially labels like "pro" or "anti". But we use them anyways and expect people to be able to read between the nuances. What you are saying is something called semantics.

The large point of my post is not to complain when people call Jaiden or Foolish pro federation. Because that doesn't mean they are ignoring nuance or ignoring characterization or whatever. Because calling them pro fed is completely reasonable in the general way we use these kinds of terms

[lord-shitbox]

[pls no repost w.o asking etc etc. the mcdonalds one has been done but i had to]

latest dumbassery. extremely rare leander post moment + a diagram of cast's relations a la my personal interpretation but i made it an hour after my bedtime so its not that deep

leander ramble i took out of the tags & instead put under readmore:

#leander is litreally a mcdonalds manager to me. i dont care that eridia is in fantasy world hes a mcdonalds manager #somethings so wrong with hm why does he have no friends (canon from redspringstudio posts about him) whats his problem #we know everyones problems except for leander's.

kuras hides his Flaws TM like leander does but we know what his deal is #there's also a matter of flaws (personality) vs flaws (narrative monstrosity). mhin's narrative monstrosity is hidden—more or less—from mc #but their personality flaws are not. similarly kuras #isnt an ASSHOLE but has discernible personality that can be personally liked or disliked. personality flaw evident (distance from others)

#sidenote i dont think of flaws as inherently bad things in people in general & certainly not in characters. 'flawed' <-(used loosely) aspects of every person are important and everyone should have them

#anyways. leander is mostly...nice. too nice. his character is presented almost entirely as him doing stuff for you. giving you flowers#checking out your curse finding you somewhere to stay. even when youre talking to him about other characters he asks what YOU think. he is#the only one to do this. its not about his opinions of others its about how his opinions of others compare to your impressions #not necessarily negatively. hes just. at every step 'hey lets focus on you' kinda deal.#as a result my impression of his character is ''he is very generous'' && like....TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!#im an informed consent kind of guy thanks.

^note i brought up kuras and mhin for comparison because ais and vere r both straightforward #with their flaws. thats what they like about each other (also what i like about them) and a point they, to varying degrees, dislike about the rest of the cast. vere is right leander is compensating for something whats his problemmmm #him being nice is a smokescreen for any actual personality so its hard to tell if he just has a miserable self esteem or if hes secretly a huge cunt bastard.

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

Made it through chapters 13-18 today and I wanted to start this one off by mentioning something that I noticed a while ago but neglected to mention here so far, which is that Feyre uses Ihr/Euch when referring to Tamlin and I think Lucien and even Alis as well (Ihr/Euch is the Formal You thats used to refer to nobility (as opposed to the more common Sie/Ihnen which is the Formal You used in others contexts)), while Tamlin and Lucien refer to Feyre by du (Informal You) and Alis refers to her by Ihr/Eugh as well. I wanna try and keep track of when Feyre starts to use the Informal You for Tamlin because its a small detail but it always signals a pretty big shift in the relationship in german-language media and I think its really neat

Anyway, now onto the other stuff; i remember that I complained about the pacing feeling very slow in my first post and I would like to say that thats gotten a lot better, at least on the level of individual scenes. When it comes to the story as a whole though, I feel like its moving unnaturally quickly. Like, its a little hard to describe but Feyres character development and her warming up to the fae feels like its happening in chunks rather than a smooth, natural progression. The fact that SJM's writing is incredibly unsubtle isnt helpful either, it just makes the unnatural-ness of it all stick out that much more. I wouldve definitely needed atleast one realization of "Oh, these guys arent that different from me and the people I knew in my life" from Feyre before she started warming up to them and feeling sorry for Andras' death because as it stands, her feeling guilty felt very sudden

While the fae are still dissappointing overall and I despise the horrible What-if-America-colonized-the-British-Isles ass layout and the exposition was clunkier than ever before, I did like all the non-high fae fea creatures, the Suriel and the Bogge in particular, its truly incredible how interesting SJM's writing can be when shes not too focused on the most generically handsome basically-human-except-they-fuckin-growl-and-roar men

Speaking of those men, I continue to find Tamlin pretty charming although hes definitely definitely not my type, my type are pathetic submissive easily flustered guys, but given that this is a book by Sarah J Maas a guy who actually has hobbies outside of fighting and fucking might be all I can hope for. Despite that, I like Luien a lot more and I find his relationship with Feyre far more compelling. Like, him giving Feyre that dagger telling her not to stab him in the back with it was absolutely lovely, not mention his incredibly interesting family drama. Like ughhhhhhh whyd SJM decide she wanted to subvert expectations by having Feyre end up with Rhysand when Lucien is literally right there. Although granted, I think a large part of the reason I feel that way is because Feyre and Tamlin havent really interacted too much in almost 200 hundred pages while Feyre and Lucien have spent a decent amount of time alone already and its a little baffling because its not like Feylin have absolutely no time together, its just that we dont really see it. Like, we dont see their almost nightly dinners and its really frustrating because Im not even someone who really enjoys this kind of bland cishet "dark romance" thats popular on booktok, but like, whats the point of a beauty and the beast retelling where you dont see the beauty and beast slowly get to know each other. Its even more frustrating when I remember that like a quarter or maybe even a third of this book is gonna be all the Under The Mountain bullshit, like you know you can just tell a smaller scale romance story in a fantasy setting without a big war right

[corvidcall]

the way people act like the people youre sexually attracted to is some sort of praxis is really annoying for a lot of reasons! because like, yeah, when people say that a whole marginalized group isnt hot, its usually informed by some sort of bigotry, either implicit or explicit. are black women not hot, or have you just decided that every black woman looks and acts the same, and that anything outside of eurocentric beauty standards is "ugly"? would you actually hate dating a fat man, or have you just made a lot of assumptions about what kind of person they must be because of their body, and decided that was at odds with your own interests? you say you wouldnt date a trans woman because you "dont like men" and you're "not interested in penises", but youre just assuming that every trans woman is just a cis man in a dress, which is absolutely not true! OBVIOUSLY prejudice influences peoples attraction

but also like... you cant frame it as a direct expression of someones morals. some parts of what you're attracted to will change throughout your life, but a lot of it is baked in and cant really be changed, even if you might want it to! i mean, thats why conversion therapy demonstrably doesnt work. if youre a person who is really into. idk. vore or bdsm or redheads. even if you decide that actually thats immoral to be into, you're not really gonna be able to stop being attracted to it because sexual attraction isn't really something you get to sit down and CHOOSE. if youre not into anthro animals, theres no amount of sitting down and working on yourself that will convince you to start getting a boner at furry porn.

and then theres the obvious other problem, that being attracted to certain qualities or traits or demographics doesnt even mean that you actually have their best intetests at heart? racists date POC. fatphobes date fat people. misogynists date women all the fucking time!!!!!

i think your tastes are heavily influenced by your environment and your values, obviously, but you cant act like its a pure expression of your values. personally, as a fat person, i dont like people saying that not being attracted to my body is solely because of prejudice you need to unlearn. being attracted to my body isn't homework! it's not vegetables! it's not a thing you need to start doing because its Good For You whether or not you enjoy it! if you dont like my body, thats fine. the thing thats fatphobic is if you TELL ME that you think all fat people are unattractive, even though nobody asked what you thought, and we were talking about me specifically and not all fat people en masse. you can find me unattractive without being a fatphobe. the problem lies in using your lack of attraction to me as an explanation for why youre a fatphobe, or using it as a criticism of me personally. like you not being attracted to me is something i need to change about myself

anyway the actual point i wanted to make was that the worst part of this kind of rhetoric is that it makes it really hard to hornypost without people acting like im advocating for specific actions people MUST take about their own bodies :/ I'll be like "i think transfems with deep voices and who dont really pass well are incredibly sexy" and people will crawl out of the woodwork to be like "oh you think its WRONG for transfems to pass?? you think it's IMMORAL for them to do voice training? you think none of them should EVER get FFS or laser hair removal?????" like... no! i never said any of that shit! just because i think something is hot doesnt mean i think its wrong and bad to not do it. not everyone should make all their decisions based on what i think is hot. no one should, in fact. just because i think its cute when people have crooked teeth doesn't mean i want to criminalize braces. doesnt even mean that i dont think people who have straight teeth are hot. please just let me be horny in peace 😭😭😭

[anthraxplus]

forgive me for writing so much about tumblr but i have a lot of thoughts

here's the thing about tumblr. i've found it interesting how we continue to call our profiles our "blogs" even though they function differently to the common idea of a blog (like livejournal). but in a way, calling our profiles our blogs makes sense. they're our place to post things we've made or repost content we like. it's more personal than twitter, which has an "information" or "discourse" lens applied to it. the focus on twitter has increasingly been to encourage sharing of information (i.e news or opinions). tumblr's focus has always (afaict) been to encourage sharing of our creations, kinda lumping blogging in there as "self expression" or something to that effect. technically speaking, artists should be more at home on tumblr than on twitter.

but people using their blog as ONLY a blog (no reblogs, just their thoughts or creations - like a livejournal) are in the minority on this site, right? make no mistake, i follow tons of artists who use their blog in a very focused way, but mostly we're all reblogging other people's posts, putting their art on our blogs and riffing in the tags on people's jokes. it is very much a site of Content, Things To Share. the fact that we can blog on here almost feels oddly secondary. but, ok. tumblr is a site for people to post their creations/content, and said content finds an audience through being discovered or reblogged.

so why is it so damn hard to find anything?

like, ok, obviously we can do that. type words into the search bar and you will definitely find posts. but dont you often wonder why the hell some posts showed up in your search and others didnt?

you're telling me filtering searches by top posts of all time isnt showing me the post that has this exact string of text (+- punctuation), but is showing me posts that... have those words in them, scattered, and sometimes not even that exact word ("piss" vs "pissing")?

what about when you try to search for a word or phrase that you KNOW is on a blog in some post, but searching for it brings up NOTHING? i just had to deal with this when searching someone's blog for a specific post i had just seen on my dash - i can only imagine tumblr told me no such post existed because it wasnt tagged with that word.

and all of this feels so obviously wrong, right? even without tags, we should be able to search for words or phrases in a more reliable way on both the site and our blogs. i dont think im alone in the thought that the search function is almost useless - even if it gives me what im looking for sometimes, it can be a struggle, and mostly it just doesnt feel worth it. this is how we can keep ourselves in insular circles and struggle to break out of them. it is literally easier to do this than it is to find new shit.

so, yknow, staff isnt wrong when they say this:

tumblr does need growth, but not necessarily by attracting new users (though, idk, i wouldn't mind that). tumblr needs internal growth. this site is stuck in the early 2010s in a way that is baffling to me, and it has continuously failed to adapt to its userbase's needs in a way that honestly doesnt make sense, and when they do change something, it just ends up causing more strife between staff and users.

so, for example: tumblr needs money to keep functioning, obviously. the common practice is to have ads on the site. but oops, the ads suck and everyone hates them. ok, allow users the option to pay to get rid of ads. but oops, a lot of people dont want to give money to the site that continuously breaks itself (among many other complaints). ok, meet users in the middle and allow them to pay to advertise their stuff - this should be, like, the perfect mix of everything, right? being able to advertise your content on the content site? but oops, this is only a good option because finding new content is so goddamn hard that random people shoving their posts onto your dash is the only remaining viable option. when you have to rely on pure chance/luck for your posts to even be found, even when you do everything in your power to increase their visibility, you're not gonna want to stay here.

i feel like addressing the search function should be the staff's top priority before they implement anything else. we need to be able to find content on the content site. i think thats pretty obvious. once it works the way it already should have, then they can worry about what comes after. i think people feel this animosity with staff because we're struggling to continue to use this site while they struggle to find ways to get money out of us. i think if people felt they could actually use tumblr in the way it intuitively feels like it should be used, that kind of animosity would be more rare*. but until we get that, any change to the site is going to feel wrong.

fwiw though, i'm glad to see staff say that the site basically doesn't work. like. goddamn. took them long enough. i just hope (probably baselessly) that their acknowledgement of this issue will lead to some fixes that benefit the foundational usage of the site.

*yes, there is animosity towards staff for other reasons - like, yknow, how innocuous selfies of trans women get flagged as "mature" (among other things) - but that's an issue of culture/enforcement and not necessarily the raw function of the site, so i feel like it's best suited for a different post

tl:dr PLEASE FIX THE FUCKING SEARCH FUNCTION, IT NEVER SHOULD'VE BEEN ALLOWED TO BE THIS BAD AND I THINK ITS ISSUES HAVE BEEN A MAJOR REASON FOR TUMBLR'S STEADY DECLINE

[yourrworstnightmare-blog]

it just amazes me how women dont even have decency for each other and then wanna be like oh you're not a girls girl. like bitch youre mad because i wont let you keep calling, talking, sending pictures to my boyfriend, now father of my child and man i share a HOME with. trys to paint me out to being some girl who doesn't like other women or doesnt support other women. you're calling a man over and over again while hes putting together a crib with his pregnant girlfriend. youre miserable and only wanted to cause me despair which in my eyes also caused/causes pain on my child so yeah fuckkkkkk youuuuu.

you arent a girls girl. you're a dirty stripper with no self respect!

you truly deserve nothing out of this life and i have all the energy in the world to constantly wish nothing but bad and ill on you and everything you love. as far as i am concerned you tried to hurt my unborn baby every chance you got because you were so mad this man picked me, had a child with me, cut you off for me, never took you seriously, and ultimately used you for sex and free vacations which i can not blame him for, youre a stripper. i know he has a past but also equally disgusting. you even went as far as to message me on Instagram and tell me you hope my baby dies and i dont deserve to be a mother. you did drugs and leave your child alone with other people constantly to support you unfit for a CHILD life style and you wanna say i dont deserve to be a mother??? its actually sick in the head when you write it all out and read it huh.

when he didnt wanna be with you you sent pictures of you holding knifes over your daughter saying you were gonna kill her and yourself... that isnt even his kid. it baffles me how you tried so hard to stay relevant but as you know he will never try and be in contact with you again.

you're so miserable and it shows with the more and more i find out about you, you grew up a ghetto unloved bitch who did meth and became a teen mom then stripper.

i am karma, i am your karma and i will everday contuine to gather the information of the shitty shit you do as the shitty ass person you are. mother, sister, daughter, girlfriend. youre dirty, DISGUSTING

wish death on my daughter bitch and you are now gonna wish you were dead everyday i am on this earth you useless piece of shit, worry about ur fat sister, ugly ass mom and retarted bothers you dumd cunt.

[maurenislife]

i hate tiktokers and mf lifestyle youtubers

now before i say anything im not hating

im not even really hating on what you think cause i dont wanna be or have a desire to be known for anything cause thats not even my mode or my goal in life and i dont idolize anything cause im not a sad 16 year old who yearns for a image that i liked and bookmarked on the internet ANYWHO ...

everybody thinks your a instant hater cause ur just jealous...... umm newsflash u fucking junkie whore, whats not meant for me isnt mine to have and whats not done for me i can do myself it takes nothing to get a few coins and prance around in a marble counter cosplay

trust.

Moving foward this whole brigade of wannabe lifestyle whores

they all immolating and channeling which i think is quite impressive down to the candance and lingo etc. its impressive :) all the copy and pasting they do is quite impressive to see, and ill sit with a popcorn bucket and vape to laugh at it all cause its a waste of time.

a long time ago i stopped being jealous of certain lifestyles and things cause once u can attain them or find a way, or figure out how the sausage is made its not that hard and that isnt impressive or even likeable in any sense

people are immulating at a high frequency and the universe can sense imposters and non believers who do not live in. their truth and go cower in fear and just simply conform one thing they will never know if nobody can smell it the universe can sense it even if nobody can see, universe sees, it feels, it calls out, it grasps you

Everybody wants to potray and cosplay a shitty portray aina but what u dont know is lets say even if u make it big, get the sponsorships, the trips reap the benefits of u raping your own life with cameras and tripods what is it all for? fuck money, fuck the gift. fuck the family feeding for just 45 seconds what are you gaining in spirit?

like what in your femmine spirit and the many who have died along the way for you to get here are you proud the answer might still be yes just to stick it to me or it might be genuinely yes cause you in turn think you are very much a success i mean thats what you have been showed and by scoreboard standards band 4 band u beat a bitch >

you didn't though lame you didn't, the inner work didn't completed and i honestly dont give a fuck if a bitch got a isn't for me of why i dont know her and im not in her household,

bitch with your content I AM IN YOUR HOUSE, I AM IN UR BRAIN, your constantly gagging up information every-time u take a bite into a stupid food u bought cause of your audience and everytime u gag up information when you say spend the day with me

we see inside your frame even if its all a act what does that inherently say about you???

You give us yourself and think we got no right to comment

okay enough of jealous prefacing and putting the condom on for yall

Wannabes

These women grew up being ridiculed or extremely loved theres no inbetween because both have the ultimate libido and desire to be seen and heard and viewed in a certain light to get illicit reactions out of other people... its odd ngl

i look at my tiktoks and its all been jokes i crack on me or stuff me and my friends did drunk and just goofing im not saying everybody gotta take that route i do appreciate lifestyle influncers who serve the purpose of showing us the viewer and cost breakdown of spas or vacations or maybe even a resturaunt or things i might wanna go do

like who am i to get mad at them for the sake of curiosity and further knowlege on a place i intend to visit i never been like dope case closed type shit

But if you a wannabe ..........................................................

its a waste of time and energy and your soul and we see it bleeding out for a "look at me mommy" like its sad.....

you can tell the want the mommy to compliment their outfit and the sister to ask where did you learn to do your makeup? and the auntie to ask where can i get that slice of pizza

they want the overall appeal of who is gonna ask me

who is gonna notice me and with each clip you see apart of them kinda just yelling out to the universe not only notice me but award me for being noticed and nobody is gonna do that not even 1 million viewers can set you free,

COPIER

you know the one philposhy thingy of the barnyard picture and like idk ill have to look this up but basically to break it down simply

theres a pic of a farmhouse and soon it gains popularity every mf wants to go and soon its like a disney w a giftshop its copied and copied till it loses its meaning idk look that shit up its a real philosphy and its deeper than what im saying but i ont got time for allat yo

bitches copy till they mf face turn blue and they want it to have the same effect the 1st one did

but the reality remains your immulation ends there

your cleaning the same marble counter like everybody else

taking the same pic on that goddamn boat like everbody else

wearing the same oufit bookmarked and tagged on pintrest like everybody else

its a waste..... why do we need 567,000 copies of the same bitch doing the same shit its lost its meaning besides "you did it"

like ................... no

and i dont wanna be different either and throw my hand in and see who can do it better cause why its so dumb

live ur life like ??? u gone spend ur 20s and 30s chasing after whats not yours ............... no thx

[nevebennett-viscom]

Researching how to make text more readable 3/5/24 ( in response to tutorial feedback)

this suggests subheadings etc but this isnt helpful for within the articles since they are whole paragraphs with no defined changes

The Harvard University Information Technology Accessibility Guidelines offer recommendations for designing accessible and readable digital content. These guidelines emphasize the importance of considering diverse user needs and providing clear, well-organized content. Key points include using plain language, providing alternative text for images, ensuring sufficient colour contrast, and structuring content with headings and lists. Additionally, the guidelines address the importance of testing content for accessibility and providing resources for further information. i have these but just not having an easy way to separate text, indents

use of indents

thought about using big captials at the start of sentences however these can actually sometimes make it harder to read as they effect the form of the paragraphs and i cant always tell which line is which and it makes bigger spaces

this does not look too bad however, i think it is hard to do this for each and have it still being readbale

"The whole idea of a paragraph is to make things easier for the reader. You indent at the beginning of a paragraph to signal, 'Hey, Reader! I'm shifting gears now.' All of the ideas in this paragraph are about the same main thing. … The indent—a nice big indent of at least half an inch—also makes things easier on the reader's eyes." (Gloria Levine, The Princeton Review Roadmap to the Virginia SOL. Random House, 2005)

this suggests you can make it clearest by having indents and boxes for text which i dont think helps for my magazines, but also splitting up text with images which i have done.

many say, for most people they find paragraphs with gaps easier to read since it isnt as much to try to take in at once.

[wizardnaturalist]

related to the post I just rb'd, but not enough so that I was willing to tack it on:

technical language, as frustrating as it can be to learn, is needed for academic papers not just for purposes of clarity and precision, but also efficiency

you know that thing where some fanfic writers will spend several paragraphs at the beginning of their fic explaining the plot and mechanics of the source material, as though you the reader havent consumed it already? is it not frustrating to wade through unnecessary exposition, telling you things you already know, but unwilling to skip ahead in case theres some detail relevant to the fic buried in there? it's the same with academic papers

let's say for the moment that you are researching the effect of a certain herbicide on the health of crops. you want to find out if it is worth using to kill weeds, or if it will kill farmer joe's corn as well

you have to read dozens, if not hundreds of papers in order to form your well of background knowledge before beginning your research. you need hard data and similar projects and jumping off points to refer to and to reference your own findings against. all of the information you discover will be combined with the current body of information to construct a new conclusion.

now imagine that in every single paper you read, every basic concept of biology was reexplained to you as though you were in high school. every time the author referenced rates of photosynthesis, they took a multichapter tangent to break down its processes, the cell mechanics involved, how it functions in an environment.

and then you finish that and get back to the research, only to be derailed again two sentences later because the author had to explain the concepts of predation and herbivory. and this happens over and over withing a single research paper. and over and over and over with every single paper you have to read. having the word "biosphere" explained to you a hundred times over the course of a single project. and you make your career out of those projects.

and then you have to write your own paper and do the exact. same. thing.

it would be exhausting! dejecting!

yes, there will be words and phrases and concepts in academic papers that non-experts will not immediately understand. but the fact is, these papers are written For the experts, so that they can collaborate and use each others' findings to advance the field.

does that make them frustrating ro read as a beginner or a layman? absolutely! but it also makes academic papers workable for the people who will actually be using and creating them.

fortunately, academic papers are not the only source of information for scientific findings. if the research was published in a major journal such as Science or Nature, or is of relevance to everyday people, then there will be pop science articles breaking it down and explaining it in common vernacular. for more general information, there are thousands of books written to be introductory material for either a discipline as a whole, or for particular subdisciplines.

im not trying to argue that there is nothing wrong with academia, that there is no issue of classism or superiority, or that some academics dont get off to demonstrating how very intelligent they are. but I am saying that there's a reason for specific jargon and saying "just write it simpler!" isnt so easy as you might think

[jasm1ne601]

Research Method Notes

Research Methods:

Interviews:

(aim for 5 people minimum) (Qualitative method)

good for finding attitudes

recalling critical incidents

not good for help with design decisions - they arent designers, they wont be able to help much

accurate recall of the past - memory isnt great for most people

what they might do in the future - no point in asking stuff like do yourself using this feature, they will most likely say yes

In Interviews:

we want to use open questions like; “tell me about…”, “How do you currently”, “what was task you found hard to achieve on the app”…..

we are looking for patterns:

What do people value?

Hacks - how do they currently do this, what work arounds have they used instead

Contradictions - say something but behaviour contradicts that

What are they good for us at this stage:

Helps us understand the problem, What problem should we be solving

creating personas

identifying opportunities - what unmet needs in this problem space can you find from interviewing people/ What hacks are they currently using that could give you ideas”

uncovering mental models

for this assessment - itll give us quotes to use, helps for comparions at the end, Poster/infocard

Surveys:

Quick and cheap to get results

quantitative surveys give you metrics

are affected by response bias (surveys will always come with this..) - Acquiescence, recency, social

qualitative responses can be hard to anaylse

use open questions and closed questions

Tools you can use (give it a go):

Survey Monkey

Google forms

Type form

Industry benchmarks

NPS: Net Promoter Score - likely hood of user reccomending ___ to other people - usually has a happy face/sad face

SUS: System usability Scale - always same negative/positive questions

SEQ: Single Ease Questions - you ask this after a particular task, “you did __ now give me a ranking”

Surveys at this stage

Numbers: how many people are affected

Demographics: does this experience affect everyone equally?

gathering sentiment: what is current opinion of the experience you are looking at amongst users, do they like it.. dislike it? this is potential success metric

Special Survey types: information architecture surveys like card sorting… Persona Surveys like Akin

For the assessment: Reaction words, Star Ratings, Benchmarking your IA

qualitative : 5+ participants

quantitative: 100 + participants (we most likely wont get this many responses… but it can be used as ‘method tried’ thing

User Testing:

do watch what participants does and says

encourage them to think outloud

don’t try and sell your experience

don’t Try and explain how it works (priming)

don’t Rely on user test for design critique

don’t jump in and rescue the participant if they are struggling.. get comfortable with seeing people struggle

3 part test

Interview: context and rapport building (be careful not to prime your participant)- for demographics

Task: Set believable scenarios and tasks to observe the user: Watch, dont talk

Review: ask them to recap and summarise the epxerience - if they miss a screen you can take them back and see like what did you think about this

At this stage:

Competitive user testing - test other/similar experiences

What works well?

What might your users be expecting?

What do they do poorly that you can avoid?

Benchmarking your experiences

record everything, capture current experience and create a highlight video - proves pain points

For assessment - user testing videos of the ‘before’ state of your experience

Quantitive: 40+ participants

Qualitative: 3-5 Participants

Roles and responsibilities:

moderator/facilitator (me)

participant

Observer (at work, someone will take notes) - get engineers and stuff to build empathy with user

*Record Everything.

Leading Questions:

Be open minded and genuinly aim to learn the truth about topic

avoid leading or biased questions

we are not confirming our own assumptions!

In Surveys:

Avoid emotive language

try to ask in neutral way, eg. like or dislike

In user testing:

don’t offer hints or suggestions

don’t put your own interpretation on the user actions, eg. “ i saw you confused about…”

Avoid using ………

Dont gloss over an experience - “devil and delight are in details”

[expfcultragreen]

I accidentally stuck my tongue so far into my cheek that it turned into a rude gesture 🤷

Like where's the lie, they do think exactly that, i nailed their sentiments exactly and now someone thinks i share them? All like "im here to patrol whether you count as a lefty or not", not like "what did you mean by that" just like "my interpretation is x, here is your sentence". I really wanted this kid to message back so i could find out more about his ideas of community like approximately what kind of organizing he's done RL and, if any, whether it was with anyone over 25. Because like, something i find endlessly interesting about "the left" or qiltbag culture, is there are sharp generational divides in what makes someone feel unwelcome in these communities or "thrown under the bus," and ironically this way of bringing an issue to someone is patternisticaly how people younger than myself in any network ive been in, have alienated the people older than myself. So rather than responding glibly to this kid with some brush-off about like "this isnt it, learn to parse content more astutely or you'll be branded a narcissistic disruptor" i really wanted to get some dialogue going.

Like I'd tell myself to work on clarity but there's literally no accounting for how people read stuff/whether they choose to pay attention to the part of my blog description that says dont even bother reading this blog. So all i can do is clarify if/when someone brings something up. And no one ever likes that, because being asked to look at the other person's pov is just filed as gaslighting when the person with a (tone-policing, hello) criticism already doesnt trust you.

Intersectionally speaking its insane to read "wellness check survivor" and be like "anyway im here to hold you accountable for calling yourself a lefty--using my own standards which are very important and objective"

Like this is so fascinating, what is this kid THINKING, like what kind of egotrip is it exactly? Youthful inexperience?

Jsyk wellness check survivor is code for "i am so controversial the pigs nearly murdered me and they may try again" so like i am clearly madpridecore and hard acab/kcsw-wave, and if youre positioning yourself as the arbiter of who gets to be a lefty, you should probably know that bossing the-crazy-people-who-are-targeted-by-police-violence around and telling us what our words mean, is actually really unconsciously fashy and your whole ass is hanging out right about now

But apparently we cant have anything approaching a fruitful private exchange about it because what i said seems to have been ignored. Like, you could have just paid attention to any of the cues in my header and not wasted your time messaging me. The gender neutral fairy emoji alone screams "i am not going to respond to you in a way that you find productive 💚"

I can actually read and can actually apply intersectional leftism, being very old (accident) and experienced (i racked up life experience like it was my career, its gotta count for something), so when i got this message i was just like "oh he's autistic ...meaning, he didnt happen to understand my tone from how i worded it and he found what i said pointlessly inflammatory because he cant imagine the audience aside from himself and doesnt understand the intention of my words within that broad context of unknown audience,,,,,, i will simply explain myself to him and apologise for the upset, rather than going out of my way to point out what a stupid jackass he is" ...directly anyway 😏 it was my first instinct but then my reading comprehension kicked in and i saw clearly through the haze of my triggered emos that it just wouldnt be appropriate, considering the information ive been given about the person who triggered me. Is this funny to you yet? Its funny to me....