#I had an account to read from this one site that used to upload all of them anc ategorized them by era run and special

[samuraisharkie]

you want to reread archie so bad.... its a good comic book... ooooooo you wanna read it sooo badddd

I was an AVID Archie fan my life used to REVOLVE around Archie sonic. I’m already trying to read the Spider-Man comic books I think re-reading Archie would transform me into middle school autism me

[hyperions-light]

Making Fanfic Banners/Collages with Canva for FREE

Hello friends! Canva is an online software tool that mostly gets used for creating social media advertisements, but YOU can use it to make pretty, custom banners/collages/images for your fanfiction! For FREE!

WHY should you do this?

Fun

Custom art thing for your fic!

If you put pictures on your fic posts, sometimes you get more notes (sometimes)

The joy of creation!!!

I will walk you through it (with pictures) below the cut!

STEP ONE: GO TO CANVA, MAKE AN ACCOUNT

You can sign up with email, gmail, or FB. Gmail is the most convenient, but I think they do 2FA no matter what, so take that into account.

STEP TWO: DON'T PAY ANY MONEY & IGNORE AI

Every time you login or make stuff or do ANYTHING, Canva will try to get you to pay for Canva Pro. Don't do that. I've had access to the Pro and free versions and there's no reason to pay for anything on here. Also, they have an AI that's supposed to make things for you, but it sucks & isn't fun. Ignore it.

STEP 3: CHOOSE A TEMPLATE

Okay, so if you're a graphic designer... I mean I'm not sure why you're reading this tutorial, you can definitely make cooler stuff than I can! You should just use the 'create blank [post type]' button and go to town! But if you're not (like me) what I usually do is pick a type of template that Canva has (like blog banners, instagram posts, facebook covers, etc) and go browse their designs. My advice is not to look for something that you completely like, but something that has the right vibe-- you're going to be messing with all the individual aspects of the post anyway, so just pick based on aesthetics. Try to make sure that if you're going to put your fic title on your work that you pick/create a design where the text is clearly displayed/in an easily legible font.

NOTE: Some of the designs will have a little crown in the corner, and these designs are only available if you pay for premium. If they have a little $ on them, instead, that just means they have individual paid elements in them that you can get rid of, so feel free to use those, too!

STEP 4: CHOOSE YOUR PICTURES

Okay, so I like this screaming seagull one. I clicked on it, and selected 'customize template'. So now I want to get rid of the seagull, and replace him with my own stuff. You can do this a couple of ways: if you have screenshots from your game/show/other media, you can upload them by clicking on the little cloud icon on the left side that says "Uploads". If you DON'T have pictures, or you don't have ones you need, there are a couple options:

You can try to browse Canva's selection of pictures. It is in the "Elements" tab; you type in a search, and then select the "photos" filter from the little marquee below the search bar. My advice is to only use one word search terms, because Canva loves showing you all the photos that you can use if you pay for them, and if you use more words, they do that more often. There ARE free photos in there, but you have to scroll a bit.

If you don't want to deal with the search system or can't find what you're looking for, sites like Pixabay, Pexels, and Unsplash provide free photos that you can use without attribution, and do not require you to have an account to download. Please DO NOT just search using google/other engines and take things from there-- those photos are often not licensed for free use. The sites I linked will try to sell you pictures, but not as much as Canva, and there's usually a lot of free stuff to choose from. Download the pictures you want in a good resolution and upload them to Canva!

STEP 5: MESS AROUND WITH STUFF!

Okay, so now you can add your stuff and mess around with it!! Just click on the element (like the seagull) and delete it. Then go to your uploads and click + drag the image you want onto the canvas. You can use them as the background by dragging them to one of the corners, but you can also just put them on the canvas and mess around with them. In the left picture, you can see some of the options you have to resize and move around the image, so different elements appear on top of or behind it. If you click on the button that says 'edit' on the little bar menu that comes up when you select the image, you'll get the menu in the right picture, where you can mess with filters and colors, etc. It's not a completely comprehensive editing software, but you can do a lot of things! I encourage you to mess around and see what looks cool!

STEP SIX: ADD MORE STUFF, IF YOU WANT!

I love adding more stuff. You can change and add text by clicking on the textboxes that are already there, or you can use the "text" section on the left menu to add new blocks. They have some fun combinations and a lot of fonts! A thing I like to do is go in the elements tab and search for 'patterns'; you can add them on top of your image or elsewhere! The opacity setting is your best friend; you can overlay a bunch of stuff and create interesting/unique collages! You can also add basic shapes, frames, moving elements, and clipart, if you want!

STEP SEVEN (FINAL): DOWNLOAD YOUR THING!

When you're done, the 'share' menu in the upper right corner will let you download your image in a bunch of different formats (I'm pretty sure you could make a looping GIF for your fic here on Canva, too!) I usually do PNGs for the quality. I haven't had any issues uploading on Tumblr (or on Twitter, when I used it).

Anyway, I hope you'll try making these! I didn't show it, but there are a lot of different templates you can use, so if you want to make a collage instead, just look around! I think it's super fun to do for my fics! If you have any questions, you can bother me on my blog or in the replies section of this post, just please be polite! Thanks for reading!

[iri-desky]

○ Hi, TikTok people! ○

Soooo, I rarely ever make posts that address current events like this. Additionally, I doubt that most people on TikTok will be take refuge on Tumblr of all places. That being said, if you happen to be a newcomer to this site who came from TikTok, welcome! It's so nice to have you here!! We're so glad to see you. Now, here's the thing about Tumblr-- Tumblr and Tiktok are basically polar opposites. Lemme rephrase that; there's a lot to learn if you don't know much about here.

So, here's some tips to get you started!

[ Press "keep reading" to continue! ]

• Reblog, reblog, reblog. Reblogging is a way for artists, text posts, and other posts to get seen! It shows them to more people since this site really doesn't have any algorithm. You can reblog literally anything you want as long as the post doesn't have reblogs turned off. Did that text post make you laugh? Reblog it! Did you like that fanfic concept? Reblog it! Did you like that art? Reblog it! You don't need to if you don't want to, but it's very much allowed. "Will I cross someone's boundaries if I reblog too many times?" Nope. Reblog as much as you want, be as weird as you want. Plenty of artists on here take it as a compliment and a sign of excitement. You don't need to be as afraid on here.

• THERE IS NO ALGORITHM!! Everyone on Tumblr over here is equal and clout means basically nothing over here. We just like cool art, funny stuff, and cool ideas. Post your stuff to the tag and just watch as people who are interested in it come to you. We're just here to have fun--this isn't a game of clout. Sit back, relax, and find your people! The days of clout are no more.

• We Tumblr users LOVE reading and writing! It's in our nature. So you're probably gonna see a lot of long posts on here with blocks of texts. Don't be scared of it, check some of them out! That said, short but sweet posts are fun over here too. Feel free to type as much as you want. We have unlimited text over here! It's so cool.

• Speaking of writing and tags, remember how you had to censor your words on TikTok? No need. You can say literally whatever over here and you don't have to fear getting banned. The days of "unalive" and "sewer slide" are ALSO no more. SPEAKING OF WHICH. A lot of users still put tws on their posts and tags. If you're shoving it in the tags, PLEASE do not censor it. It won't filter it if they're using a blacklist.

• The first thing you should do over here after you get your account set up if make your blog look special. Change it to whatever color you want, change the font of your title, change your title to something funny, and change your pfp and banner. It's all to make it you! It also doesn't matter if it's something random for now--us Tumblr users are very wary against bots, and we often block anyone who doesn't have a customized account. Just take your time and have fun, but make sure you don't get blocked by the people you don't want to block you over something silly like looking like a bot!

• You can post videos on here too! Feel free to upload old TikToks you save! I've seen a lot of other TikTok refugees who want to see some old content. I never was on TikTok, though I think it'd be neat to see your old stuff.

• There's lots of communities on here for even the smallest of stuff. If you have a niche interest, go ahead, include it into your introduction-- no one will judge on here and you just might find someone else who's just as crazy over it. You can check the tags for other people who posted about it, too! It's fun to go scrolling through the tags. I included Ducktales 2017 in my interests list--I didn't lose any cool points. I even still post about it! Literally be as weird as you want. We don't care, you have no limits. This is a fandom haven!

• You can have opinions here. Post about the most random crap you want and spit whatever opinions you have, people are very non-confrontational on here. Use your blocklist, you have it for a reason. Blacklist tags you don't want to see. Again, be as weird as you want. You WILL find your people. Just don't go fighting people--unlike TikTok, we'd rather live our lives on here and having beef with other people isn't going to give anyone any clout. You're GOING to see upsetting stuff and opinions that conflict yours (after all, there's no algorithm), but that's okay. Just engage in your interests, speak your opinions, block when you neef to, and enjoy.

Other tumblr users, feel free to add any extra points in the replies!

Oh, and if you're a TikTok refugee who happened to read this, feel free to introduce yourself in the replies. I like meeting new people and it'd feel nice to know this helped someone!

~ Sincerely, Iridesky, a weird individual who loves writing and has way too many interests to count

[witchblood-if]

Small Update (and sad news?)

My loveliest lovelies!

First I want to adress the most important news that has already been spreading on Tumblr for the last couple of days:

The shutdown of beloved dashingdon.com

There's been a kind soul or two in my inbox that has informed me of these circumstances, as well as pretty much any IF-blog on here.

I always kind of assumed that would happen, as the alternative site cogdemos.ink has been around longer than I've been working with IFs and I had read about it as dashingdons successor when I first started looking into having a possible game hosted. I've seen people on here being shocked and sad (and weirdly the-end-is-near-y) about it all and I get it. But these things happen frequently as time goes on. In any case I thought the guy on who's shoulders the weight of the whole ChoiceScript-community rests (namely Don) is also hosting this new site.

So, what we'll do is: I upload the game on CogDemos andd change the link on both intro and announcement post (and it absolutely doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I lost the password to my dashingdon account, nuh-nuh, no Sir). I fact, I have already done it (and here's to hoping it works, please report back if anything doesn't work)

With this I will also upload the bits and pieces of the first chapter that have been sitting on my computer since forever, so... New content, yay! (It's not entirely edited though, so a couple of errors in wording and spelling should persist)

I will also use this opportunity and announce the sad news of putting Witch Blood on hiatus for the time being.

Over time I realized that I pretty much bit off more than I could chew, with it being my first actual writing experience. And it's been a lot of fun to learn! But as I've been working more and more on my first fanfiction over the past year I noticed how my approach for Witch Blood was certainly organized in a way but not enough or at least not in a way that works for me. Additionally creating a whole new world is more complicated than I thought because it makes you question everything. I tell myself that I don't have to have all bits and pieces sketched out and logically working, the only thing that matters is what ultimately takes place in the story anyhow. Whatever happens outside of it could be causing more problems than it solves (and God knows I don't want to turn into She-who-must-not-be-named and her whole "I've had this all planned out since the beginning and I am certainly not making this up on the spot because someone asked"-shtick).

But! I am not giving up. I personally still like a lot of things I've come up with. Just the way of going at it isn't working and at this point a re-write is unavoidable.

In other news I recently had a look into Twine, mainly because in a video I saw how great it is to visually represent non-linear storytelling, and it would work really well as just a visual (which I've been looking for since forever) but why not use it for coding as well? There's a couple of helpful things guiding you in contrast to having to do everything from scratch with Choice-Script. I don't think I will be doing any crazy visual effects, since I like the simplicity of CS a lot, but Twine would be interesting to use anyhow.

So, with this absolute monster of a post I also want to thank each and every one of you, who have still stuck around even though there was so much silence on my end! Special shout-out to the lovely Anon asking me if I am okay some time ago!

My inbox will remain open though!

And now, as always

Hugs and kisses

Carter

[bdafic]

Not everyone has enough experience on the internet to recognize scams, especially as scammers find new ways to make you feel weird for being suspicious. There is no shame in inexperience or naivete, scams work for a reason, so here's a heads up on a recent one going around that targets fic writers specifically.

You'll receive a message or comment complimenting your fic and asking permission to draw a scene from it. Scammers of this type are rarely aggressive. They're hoping to get you into a position where you feel obligated to send them money out of guilt, so they hide under a veneer of politeness and ignorance.

Once contact is established they'll try to pull you into a private exchange where either, A.) a service or product is provided as a "gift", then subject to a bait n' switch after delivery, where they demand payment, or B.) change their tactics and act like you've already agreed to a verbal contract about a paid commission, and so feel obligated to honour it. Payment up front. Either way, the approach is designed to make you think this person made an honest mistake. They misunderstood, maybe they don't speak the language well, maybe they're new, or young, or just don't know the 'rules' yet. You take pity on them, and so pay them for the work.

It works similar to the "donate to gaza" scams that have been proliferating on Tumblr lately: appeal to empathy and shame people for questioning it. We're a pretty socially conscious, leftist, bunch of users on this webbed site and those of us involved in fandom communities tend to go out of our way to support and encourage other creators. It makes for a healthy, welcoming, community and we should keep doing that! The flip side is that it also makes a great hunting ground for these types of scams, so stay skeptical and ask questions.

The first time I got a DM like this I actually assumed it was a ChatGPT bot

however, after this they appeared to talk like a person. On the off chance they weren't being deliberately malicious, just extremely clueless, I pushed a few buttons... and it was immediately clear the intent was to trick me into paying them.

The pitch was generic but their background work could easily scan as legit if someone is just doing a cursory pass. They had a had a bio that linked to various socials. Some more convincing than others

Their ArtStation account, formatted like those "p u s s y i n b i o" Twitter bots, actually had some drawings on it too. All the images look like standard newbie stuff on stock backgrounds with a Photoshop filter applied, which plays into the "young/new artist" persona that some will adopt. All the images were uploaded at the same time: either a week ago, or six months ago. It's all tagged "noAI" but...

I ran a few through AI image detection and the results were anywhere from 60 to 98% likely AI, with one or two 15%'s thrown into the bunch.

This particular thread died after I sent that last message, which tells me that while the cold call may have been automated, the pickup probably involved a real person. Over the last week more have come in. Most are extremely obvious; way less sophisticated than the first try. One of the tricks is to use code to pull the username and a random story from the author's account. If you receive a copy of the messages somewhere the code gets stripped out they'll appear like this:

Whereas on fanfiction.net, it looks like this

This is why you'll sometimes see those random spaces around punctuation. Underneath the hood the opening line might read, "Greetings '=$AUTHORNAME' ," and they forgot to delete the space after the variable or didn't format it well and the punctuation was interfering with code execution.

These types of scams are extremely old, this is just a new way of doing them. There are cases where the whole thing is malicious and intentional from start to finish. There are cases where the people doing it are being forced to. And there are cases of people new to art and commissions who legitimately believe this is the best way to approach someone before they've built up enough of a reputation to rely on word of mouth. I have been on the internet since the early to mid 90s and I have seen all three varieties many, many, many times, in many, many, ways.

If you're not sure, ask a few leading questions -- but never give personal information or move to a second contact until you are 100% positive of who you're talking to. If you've got doubts, you don't need to be a dick about it, just block and move on.

[tessasilverswan]

Latest AO3 scrape into AI database

Please read this if you're an AO3 user with public, not archive-locked works. This is information on the latest known instance of someone taking AO3 works to build datasets on which to train AI and the ongoing process to get them removed. I don't really make posts adressing people, but I am furious about my work being used and I know some of my mutuals don't have their fics archive-locked so I hope I can at least get the information to some people.

Earlier this month (April) a, to my understanding, rp fanworks website named PaperDemon.com got word that a user of an AI dataset website, HuggingFace, had scraped its contents, as well as those of a bunch of other websites among which AO3 is included, where they can be freely downloaded to train generative AI models. For AO3 specifically, the user themselves reports that all public works with IDs ranging from 1 to 63,200,000 have been scraped.

As of April 25 and per the updating Paper Demon publication, 2 of 8 affected sites have gotten their content removed and the rest have achieved temporary disabling (supposedly data is visible but not downloadable) pending a counter-notice from the scraper, who appears to be set on the aim of dismissing the request as unfounded. Furthermore, the AO3 dataset has already been downloaded 2,244 times in the last month. On earlier updates of the PD post they mentioned that the scraper agreed to remove, on an individual basis, the content of those who file a Copyright infringement report. So far there are about 150 reports against the AO3 dataset. The scraper also uploaded them to another website, but appears to have removed at least the PD ones, as well as to his personal website which the PD post doesn't even link for safety reasons. The platform HuggingFace has also been made aware of the situation (that's what got us the temporary disabling)

I have personally filed a Copyright infringement report using the helpful guide put together by the PD team and have emailed the scraper on the address listed there providing the title and URL of my work and requesting for it to be removed from the dataset.

I have one concern regarding the PD guide, though (disclaimer: this is coming from someone with a very limited knowledge on computers & digital information and my understanding of the majority of concepts is from 3h of internet searches + ms help page + messing around in my laptop) They rightly recommend to not publish the work URLs in the report and instead instruct to collect them in a spreadsheet in .cvs filetype. This, however, has a problem of personally-identifying metadata being stored "alongside" the file itself and it can be accessed. The MS Excel Inspector tool allows the removal of this type of data, but apparently only when it's shared through the MS account? For Google sheets there is a different problem, which is that you can't just make your spreadsheet in .csv filetype, you need to download it and the reupload it (if there is a way, it's not easily accessible; i looked at like 4 step-by-step guides and they all said to download) which again adds properties to the file that may contain personal information.

I was very sleep deprived and very close to giving up, because I do not wish to provide a person that's massively stealing content any information linked to my identity, but then I thought I could just send the info on the email body itself. It's not the best solution but I think it's better than the alternative.

I am beyond mad that this happened and will archive-lock my affected work as soon as I receive a response (or after enough days of silence, I guess, but I hope my report won't be ignored). Unfortunately I can't file a DMCA take-down notice, because it requires personal information which might be shared with the infringer if they file a counter-notice, but I have hope that, if everyone whose works were scraped files Copyright infringement reports, AO3's DMCA won't be dismissed.

I encourage anyone who has read this to also file a report to get their work(s) removed asap and, if anyone is more informed or knowledgeable on the topic, to please share any useful info you have. I might also email AO3 to inquire about the DMCA status later because the PD publication is understandably only really tracking theirs.

[maggotinadollhouse]

MAGGOT VENT INBOUND. FLEE THE AREA IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ME HAVING MY LITTLE JUSTIFIED TANTRUM. I'LL GET BACK TO MAKING MY REGULAR CONTENT SOON, JUST LET ME GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY FIRST.

🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛

(LOOK AT THESE LITTLE BUGS IF YOU WANT TO!)

(Also, bear in mind that this is all that I know so far. Keep in mind there might be discrepancies that will be updated upon notice.)

So, recently, as some of you may or may not know, AO3 – among many other sites, but AO3 is the only one I use, so it's the focus for this post – was recently scraped by a lone individual and publicly uploaded onto the AI training site Hugging-Face as an AI dataset.

Thankfully, the dataset has been temporarily taken down, but, once active, any AI given the set will be able to intake and learn off of the vast majority (if not all) of the fics ever uploaded. (The summary of the dataset is in the picture below, to help you understand this a little better.)

After hearing of this, I'd like to say something. And I cannot POSSIBLY stress this enough. Pardon my French (/j) beforehand.

*Ahem.*

FUCK AI. JUST- IN GENERAL. SERIOUSLY.

It absolutely appalls me that it possessed someone to do this, but the consequences are horrifying (in my opinion). Works like my own, which have genuine passion put into them, could be fed to mindless robots with sentiency entirely artificial so as to train them to produce fics of their own that are wholly soulless and show no effort put into them other than the lazy input of a command. Works that have genuine blood, sweat and tears put into their bare bodies could be churned through an unfeeling machine to spew out new, horribly insipid works at the user's lazy will. (And the whole AI issue has been going on for ages. Just check the "Created with Generative AI" tag on AO3. Currently, there are 5,100 or so fics with that tag. Come on, people.)

And that's just referring to the use of AI on singular fics. This data-scrape affects the whole site, as far as I'm aware.

I didn't write my fics for this to happen. I didn't spend weeks developing the courage to sign up for an AO3 account for my content to be potentially stolen and fed to machines. I didn't spend all those hours as an eight-year-old reading fanfictions on Wattpad (prior to my discovery of the Archive), dreaming to be like those writers that I admired, for the content that I'd later produce to be stolen and used as training material for godforsaken generative robots. And I doubt anyone else wanted this, either.

Anyone who uses AI to write fanfiction, or endorses its use in the space of writing – a space that should be filled with human creativity – get off my blog. Get out. Now. This is a safe space for everyone, but it is not a safe space for lowlives like you.

"But- but- but AI makes it so much easier! 🥺" GET OFF YOUR ASS AND LEARN TO WRITE WELL LIKE THE REST OF US HAD TO.

To summarize: my blog – and all of my accounts across the internet – is never going to be safe spaces for AI, and I want none of my content used for its purposes. It scores no damn respect from me, and it never will.

...VENT OVER! OUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING WILL BE RESUMED SOON.

[franklyautistic]

WrongPlanet.net, the largest autism forum, is in the midst of a hostile takeover

tl;dr: WrongPlanet’s owner got hacked and there are now no mods. Please signal boost this so that autistic people know the site is likely to be unsafe from now on.

I heard that Alex Plank, the absentee admin of WrongPlanet, had returned with a big announcement. 

Here it is:

Hey there, fellow Wrong Planeters! I know it's been an eternity since I last graced this forum with my presence. I apologize for my absence, but I come bearing an astonishing tale of woe and wonder. Brace yourselves, for I suffer from the most peculiar affliction known to mankind: "Chronic Update Blockage Disorder (and forgetting to change my password)." Yes, you read that right. For a decade now, I have been plagued by a condition that has kept me from updating Wrong Planet, ensuring that it remains untouched, like a relic preserved for future generations to marvel at. Imagine the monumental impact this has had on the state of the internet. Don't worry; I'll give you a moment to gather your thoughts. Now, you may be wondering how such an unusual ailment came to be. Well, let me enlighten you. It all began when I was innocently tinkering with some HTML code, trying to add a dancing unicorn GIF to my signature. Little did I know that this innocent act of digital mischief would lead to my tragic downfall. In a bizarre twist of fate, my fingers slipped on the keyboard, causing a cataclysmic error in the space-time continuum. A rift opened up, and Wrong Planet was sucked into a parallel dimension—an alternate reality where updating websites is a crime punishable by being forced to listen to dial-up modem noises on repeat for eternity. It's a dimension where webmasters are trapped in a perpetual loop of server errors and broken links. Oh, the horror! Ever since that fateful day, I have been caught in a cosmic limbo, unable to break free from the clutches of my disorder. Every time I attempt to update the site, my hands freeze, my eyes glaze over, and my mind is overrun with visions of cascading style sheets and merciless pop-up ads. It's like a digital possession straight out of a techno-horror movie. But fear not! I refuse to let this affliction define me. In my isolation, I have become a webmaster hermit, a guru of outdated HTML and obsolete plugins. I have attained a level of enlightenment that transcends the mere mortal realm of web development. My website, frozen in time, stands as a testament to my indomitable spirit and steadfast refusal to give in to the relentless march of progress. So, as I sit here in my digital dungeon, surrounded by stacks of floppy disks and a shrine dedicated to the ancient Netscape Navigator, I implore you all to cherish your ability to update your websites. Take a moment to appreciate the mundane task of uploading a new blog post or tweaking your site's layout, for it is a privilege denied to the unfortunate few, like me. In conclusion, I hope my tale of woe has brought a smile to your face, despite the tragic consequences it has had on my own online presence. Remember, life is unpredictable, and so are the pitfalls of the digital world. Cherish your ability to hit that "Publish" button, for you never know when it might be taken away from you, leaving you stranded in the abyss of chronic update blockage and forgetting to change my password that's been used for over 10 years. Yours humorously, The Eternally Unresponsive Webmaster Alex i come in peace

Now this is a weird post, right?

Some early commenters mentioned that this was weird - one accused “Alex” of being high - but most of them seemed to think it was just Alex being a bit goofy.

Then on page two, we have a post from The_Walrus, a long-serving moderator. Well, former moderator:

There is a >95% probability that it isn't the real Alex, and instead his account has been compromised. Firstly, Alex doesn't write like that. It just isn't his style. It's far too poetic. Alex is usually very direct and blunt. It's also self-deprecating in a way I do not associate with Alex. Additionally:

Quote:

Take a moment to appreciate the mundane task of uploading a new blog post or tweaking your site's layout, for it is a privilege denied to the unfortunate few, like me.

In conclusion, I hope my tale of woe has brought a smile to your face, despite the tragic consequences it has had on my own online presence. Remember, life is unpredictable, and so are the pitfalls of the digital world. Cherish your ability to hit that "Publish" button, for you never know when it might be taken away from you, leaving you stranded in the abyss of chronic update blockage and forgetting to change my password that's been used for over 10 years.

This is pretty much spelling it out - this individual has gained access to Alex's account. Alex's email address has been involved in 30 data breaches, according to https://haveibeenpwned.com/. Having failed to update his site for a long time, the "hacker" (using that word loosely) feels that Alex has forfeited the right to it.

Additionally, all moderators and admins (apart from Alex himself) have been stripped of their permissions.

This is obviously a regular WrongPlanet user, and I can make an educated guess as to who, but almost certainly isn't the real Alex.

To this, “Alex” responded “educate my balls, Cartman”.

It seems WrongPlanet is probably permanently compromised. It has always been a site that has serious issues with spammers, scammers, and passing trolls, but those issues are only likely to get worse now.

If you are on WrongPlanet mailing lists, be very suspicious of any emails you receive. They are likely to be scams or otherwise misleading.

Please signal boost this post as much as possible... @autie-j @asdcats @chavisory I’d be grateful if you could help get the word out however you feel appropriate.

[youre-where-i-wanna-go]

My YouTube account just reached 1k subscribers so now I'm gonna make a list of the coolest Angela Bassett video finds I've found and shared on there and how I found them (even if the target audience here is only like one person)

Mr. & Mrs. Smith deleted scenes

Gonna start with the most recent find bc I never thought this footage would see the light of day. They shot all these scenes and only 30 seconds of Angela's voice made it to the movie bc the villains were dropped completely. Turns out the footage had been hiding on the second disc of an unrated special edition DVD release all along.

Old TV Commercials (KFC, Equal, Allstate)

These commercials you're really only able to find if you know what you're looking for. And the way I found out was through interviews in which they were mentioned (one was a newspaper clipping from 1991 that mentioned Equal and Allstate). Then it's watching tons of old commercials from those brands on YouTube until finally Angela's pretty face shows up. So grateful to the people who uploaded them first (even if they didn't mention Angela in the description).

Doubletake & Liberty

There are quite a few movies and shows in Angela's filmography that seem impossible to find. And some of them are really not available to watch anywhere unless you pay private sellers to send you the files. That's what I had to do to unearth these two rare gems. [insert Thanos gif iykyk] but no regrets because I really wanted to see them. Still hoping to find Equal Justice, STAT and the full Ryan's Hope episode

Ryan's Hope clip

Which brings me to the next tiny (very tiny) gem. For some time I had my doubts she was actually ever even in this soap opera. That was until I watched the Oscar's red carpet 2023 and they aired this super short clip of her character. Next to Angela's dress and Gaga's performance that was my highlight of the night.

My Man Bovanne

Talk about credits that aren't even on her IMDb. I found out about her role in this in the Playbill of Joe Turner's Come and Gone (which Angela starred in on Broadway in 1988). Made an account for the one website that hosted this little-known-about short film to be able to screenrecord it. That was a happy day. Fun fact I learned in a newspaper clipping since: Angela only got to be in it because the person who was first cast for her role got sick.

HeartBeat

Another one that took me very, very long to find. This is probably the one I had to use the most detective skills for. Found a dead video on a site that used to host it, tried to look up the account owner on other social media channels and finally found their tumblr that was still active (hooray) and they sent me the file. Best day ever (even though the plot of the episode is really heartbreaking).

Angela talking about kissing Gaga to Access Hollywood

Listen... Listen. If you know me, you know that these two are my QUEENS. They are everything to me and the fact that they played lovers? That they kissed and enjoyed it? Means the world (read my fanfiction on AO3 😉). This interview in particular has only been available as an article to read on their website for many years now but I could never find the video. I wanted to hear Angela say how she kissed Gaga and pulled her in and told her I love you when the director called cut and made Gaga jump. I found an old link to a long deleted YouTube video in an old tweet on one of my many Twitter searches for any trace of this video. Bless the person who uploaded it back then and bless the people who shared it on Twitter and bless the person who backed it up in the Wayback Machine. I owe you all eternal gratitude.

A 17-minute interview about Ruby's Bucket of Blood

DVD extras hold many gems and this is one of the biggest Angela-focused special features on a DVD I've seen. According to a friend who bought the DVD much longer ago, it wasn't even always part of it so I feel very blessed that this came with my DVD that I only bought bc it's one of my favorite movies and I like to collect those on physical copies.

Her Boyz n the Hood audition tape

In a newspaper clipping I read that this has actually been a part of physical releases of this movie since they still put out Laser Discs. But somehow I've never seen it surface online. I found it in a torrent that had all the Bluray special features (the best kind of torrents) and decided to share it of course. It has since gone viral on TikTok (where someone reposted it) which made me very happy. Who thought we'd ever get to see Ms. Angela Bassett audition??

Celebrity Poker Showdown

You have to admit, Angela in a reality game show is just gold. Was looking for this for a long time too and eventually found a Russian torrent (thank you Russians). Was luckily able to share the full episode on YouTube so everyone can get the full experience of "Angela folds" ten times in a row 😁

Angela's full performances of 3 songs on Close to the Enemy

[I only linked one here] Angela's character on Close to the Enemy was unfortunately very small but the British DVD release had extended scenes of 3 of her performances on it. [The American Bluray for some reason didn't.] Glad I found out about these.

1993 Fresh Air radio interview

I don't know if this counts as a rare find as it is freely available on the NPR website and in my university library BUT I have never seen it acknowledged until I shared it on YouTube and let me tell you I put blood, sweat and tears into captioning this 16-minute interview 😭 the payoff was grand. One interviewer from Variety used it in her research and mentioned it to Angela (who couldn't even remember it lmao) and part of the audio was also used in a tribute post the Academy (yes the Oscar Academy) did for her birthday. It's not my interview but I know they wouldn't have done so if it wasn't for my video (that I posted in tribute to the great Tina Turner. RIP.)

(Assumably) all her episodes of Search for Tomorrow

If I'm not mistaken this was her first on-camera acting job and a cool guy posted all her episodes (and hundreds of episodes she wasn't in) on YouTube last year. Luckily I downloaded them all right away as his channel no longer exists. Her episodes are safe on my hard drive tho and her scenes are safe on my YouTube channel :)

I was going to share a link to the unaired pilot of Identity (2011) that someone posted but it's already been privated again. Might post her scenes at some point, in the meantime if you're interested in this episode you can always dm me, I saved it to my hard drive. Very exciting find indeed as I also never expected it to see the light of day.

Honestly I get excited over every interview, DVD extra, speech or segment from a TV special that I come across (especially old ones). Sharing these on my YouTube channel is my pride and joy and I also have a scenepack account on Instagram (@/angelabassettscenes) where I share all her scenes from her bigger projects that I can't share to YouTube for everyone who wants to watch, edit or GIF them. Seeing people get as excited as I do when I share my finds makes me so happy and I'm definitely not done. Many DVD featurettes still to come. Angela's work will be preserved on this channel by any means necessary 😌

If you've read this far, thank you for reading and have a good day/night

[kaleidodreams]

20 Questions for Writers

Thanks for the tag, @they-lived! I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to steal this, feel free.

How many works do you have on AO3?

223

What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,782,322

What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, my main fandoms are Yuri!!! on Ice and Sailor Moon, but I've written for Fruits Basket, Kaleido Star, Harry Potter, Card Captor Sakura, Someday's Dreamers, Princess Tutu, Fire Emblem, and Super GALS in the past.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Midnight Magic (Card Captor Sakura) with 415

No Longer Alone (Kaleido Star) with 167

One Kiss (Sailor Moon) with 152

Realization (Sailor Moon) with 152

Distraction (Sailor Moon) with 138

Do you respond to comments?

Yes, usually!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably "Do Not Cry For Me" (Sailor Moon)?

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Gah, that's a tough one when you've written over two hundred fics. Um… Maybe "To Be By Your Side" since the rest of the fic is so angsty, the ending is especially happy?

Do you get hate on fics?

Occasionally. The most memorable was years ago when someone wrote literal PAGES of unhinged reviews on FF.net because I dared to write a Setsuna/Mamoru fic. I didn't even read them all because it was just…wow. (Apparently, the person behind it was an ex-friend of someone who had contacted me about the fic in the past? Like, they had hacked into their account and harassed the authors the person had sent private messages to for some reason? It was a weird situation. I've since deleted the reviews, of course.)

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, I do, on occasion. I've written all kinds, mostly het, but some m/m and f/f, and even a couple of threesomes (f/f/m and m/m/f).

Do you write crossovers?

Once. I wrote a Sailor Moon/Super GALS fic. (I did have some ideas for others, most notably a Sailor Moon/Witch Hunter Robin fic and a Sailor Moon/Kaleido Star story, but I never got around to doing much with those ideas.)

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Twice that I'm aware of. The first was in the days of A Sailor Moon Romance. I don't even remember which story it was (I'm thinking "Sweet Dreams"), but what was weird was that the summary they used had absolutely nothing to do with my fic, with a completely different pairing. I may have never even noticed they had stolen my story if not for the fact that they claimed it was a Minako/Yaten fic, and I happen to be a M/Y fan. In hindsight, I wonder if they actually did write a story fitting the summary and just uploaded my fic by mistake? That's the only explanation that makes sense. The other one is probably still up, since FF.net no longer moderates their site. They took my fic "Daddy's Little Girl" and just switched the names and descriptions to make it a Gundam Wing fic.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, a ficlet into Russian.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not technically, but back in the day, SuperKateB did give me co-writing credits on her story "Love Chain", since it was based on my original idea and I helped her with some of the plot points. I didn't do any actual writing, though, just editing.

What is your all-time favorite ship?

Chibi-Usa/Helios from Sailor Moon will always be my number one, but Otayuri (Otabek/Yuri) from Yuri!!! on ice is a very, very close second!

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

"Metamorphosis", my fic exploring how Helios originally became priest of Elysion. I've been stuck on it for years and years, so I doubt it'll ever be finished.

What are your writing strengths?

Oh, I don't know…

What are your writing weaknesses?

Description, without a doubt. Oh, and writing kisses. I HATE, HATE, HATE writing kisses!!!!!!

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm fine with it, as long as it's somehow made clear what the translation is, whether it's by context clues, an author's note, or whatever. I've done it many times myself.

First fandom you wrote for?

Sailor Moon

Favorite fic you’ve written?

I'd say it's a three-way tie between "To Be By Your Side" (Sailor Moon), "The Bonds We Choose" (Yuri!!! on Ice), and "Blood On His Hands" (Kaleido Star).

[unculturedswine69]

Introduction! (2024)☆

Its about time to re introduce myself, since i made my first introduction post in 2021,ive been editing it as ive been going along but honestly i would just feel better making a new one now!

First of all, if you want links to accounts on other websites,or you wanted more info on commissions, OR you just wanna see a full list of my interests...Click on my carrd link! (bottom of the post)

Intro starts NOW!☆

AGE: 19 (8th may)

NAME: Ali, Paris, Sheetz, honestly you can just call me whatever! But Ali is preferred these days :)

PRONOUNS: He/Him + They/them, you can use either of those but currently i prefer He/him!

LIKES: Anime,Manga,Games,Art,Cosplay,Otome games, Etc. to list some things im currently into right now ~ Gintama, The muppets, Jerma985, 18trip, A3! ,Fullmetal alchemist: Brotherhood and Digimon adventure! i rotate my interests around alot, please check out my carrd to see more :)

DISLIKES AND DNI: Proshippers, Racists, Homophobes, anyone like that! i understand you probably wont listen to me anyways but i still want nothing to do with people like that ^^

EXTRA INFORMATION ☆

This is my main blog! ill mostly be spamming random fandom related things, sometimes i might reblog a post that might be a bit nsfw somehow (nothing explicit, just dirty jokes and the like) but i advise minors to be wary!!! i also just want to say that i dont want to be close with minors, we can chat occasionally but i dont think its appropriate to do anything more than that! ^^ and also remember that regardless of your age you should be polite and responsible on the internet! (said by the stupidest person on here (me))

im a digital artist who mainly focuses on my OCs while sometimes drawing Fanart, i also open up Commissions every once in a while,id like to do this as an actual job sometime in the future instead of just doing it for fun!

i love to discuss art with others and i also love to hear feedback and and talk about stuff like that in general, art is basically my only hobby so i have alot to talk about ^^ feel free to chat with me about it! i also dont discriminate against beginners or anyone who does art differently from me, so dont be afraid to show off your own art :) everyone is welcome here!

Im neurodivergent, Im diagnosed with Autism! which might not be important to some but for me i have a really hard time talking with others and expressing myself properly so id prefer if people knew that i had difficulty with things first,as to not have any misunderstandings ^^ i hyperfixate on things alot too, and i tend to project all these things onto characters i like.

i have mental health issues, this can mean that sometimes i dont come online for months or it can also mean i will fixate on spamming ,so my activity on this site is a little weird.please dont take me ghosting you personally!! i try to respond to everyone, im just going through some stuff <3

relating to my art and interests: im a oc x canon artist too, i make lots of ocs for my oshis and also self inserts, im OK with doubles (the same goes for Kins too!)

OH ALSO. im super bad at spelling and grammar and all that . sorry if it gives you a hard time when your reading through my stuff </333333

tldr: im just a silly guy on the internet, feel free to come chat with me! i love making friends!!!

My art account is @sheetzking its a little empty right now, but ill be uploading alot soon~☆

Thank you for reading my new intro!

[terraliensvent]

I hate terraliens because the price of characters has dropped so much. I spent a lot of effort and valuable characters to get my first terraliens and now they cost nothing.

I blame them for giving out point buy myo to every person and not even making these characters linked to an account to reduce inflation.

I blame them for the species no longer ignites my heart because I see how much bullshit they do and how they don't do anything interesting. They delayed the launch of a new subspecies even though they've already spent a shitload of time on it, and they still can't get enough?

I blame them for being idiots and not bothering to find a better programmer and fix their fucking website. They're idiots and don't understand the consequences of uploading 4 megabyte images, which is what uploading 1k pixel images each leads to. They are idiots and they don't give a shit, because they don't use the site from the average user's point of view.

I blame them for not bothering to find normal extensions for their fucking site, although karma found and installed world expanding for their site, while the theres were open-mouthed at the mention of this extension. ARE YOU FUCKING IDIOTS OR ARE YOU JUST FUCKING WITH US?

Terraliens are burning and dying and I wish them a quick descent into hell.

i agree with everything here anon

the terra economy is one of the strangest to me, they were insanely high value at the start, then grubs tanked because staff never gave anything to spend on other than items, then jasper items tanked because they were made forageable, then terras themselves tanked because the mod team was so shit people just wanted nothing to do with them

point buy myos were the final nail in the coffin for this economy that they royally fucked up by introducing staff myos into (thus creating a focus on lim traits to add value) so not even lims have trading power

they pushed out a new subspecies without thinking about fixing the lore people have been asking for since the species start, and then when confronted about it just said "whoopsies we r dum!!" then delayed the launch of said subspecies that WAS ALREADY LAUNCHED

they use insanely large images for their site, going against the recommended image sizes that lorekeeper gives you right next to the "upload image" button, creating such a workload for the site that now it runs incredibly slow because they refused to read and decided they needed 1000x1000 px images for items

they know NOTHING about their own tools to the point that members suggest very easy implementations and staff turns it down because they cant even begin to comprehend operating lorekeeper; when someone suggested allowing a volunteer coder, kea assumed that they could just delete the whole site which isnt possible at all. even the coder they currently have on has said they have no lorekeeper experience.

the staff are constantly mystified by the most basic parts of lorekeeper, even a glance across the extensions wiki gives you so many options for site features that are typically very easy to add outside of dealing with migrations.

even upgrading the site to v3, which theyve said is supposedly at the top of their priorities, should be incredibly simple considering how there are almost no extensions installed, but they still just havent made the change.

the team is incompetent and has been for a very long time. terras is dying and it has been for a very long time. we are halfway through the month of october and there is still no announcement for this month's event. it took them a full month after the birthday storm event ended to even roll the damn raffle because they just didnt give a fuck. hell, they probably didnt even have a design for it until someone asked in staff-ask saying "hey where the hell is it its been a month" and they had to scramble and throw something together

i just want it to be officially done and over with because its clear that everyone is moving on

[fushiglow]

Hi! Soo 👉👈...I'm from brasil and as you may already know, twitter is unavaible for us from now on, and first of all I would like to say that I'm missing like hell your content and interactions as well as of many others from the fandom 😭 Secondly, I wanted to know if you intend to upload the AU you were writing about office sts on ao3 or any other platform when it’s finished, bc I was JUST READING the update when the app and site went down!!! I love your writing and would love to have access to your au's (if it doesn't bother you ofc!!!). Oh, and a fun fact (not fun at all) – I still receive notifications from the accounts, so I can see that you’re tweeting and updating, but I can’t open them!!! (A new form of torture, if you ask me). Anyways, miss you and jjk fandom like crazy (especially the freaky ones who don't impose rules – I had finally found my place!!! 😭) ❤❤❤

Hello! First of all, I'm so sorry about that man going out of his way to ruin that platform! On the one hand, I'd love to see it burn. On the other, there still isn't another platform which offers the unique benefits it provides (including threadfics) — otherwise I'd be outta there! I'm on BlueSky too, but that's currently not a viable alternative... We'll see what happens there though!

The good news is, I am planning to upload the office AU to my AO3 when it's finished, so you'll definitely be able to read it then! I'm not anticipating it to be a lengthy fic, so hopefully you won't have to wait too long either ♥️

Sorry again! I believe there's still a chance it might get rolled back, so keeping my fingers crossed for you guys!

[thedemigodoracle]

Please read:

Ok, so as I jokingly said before “I’m back.” - I’m not joking, I am back.

Not entirely yet but here are some things to wait for in the near future.

Before I list it I need to browse fast through the real life stuff first so bear with:

- one of the reasons I did go missing from art and fandoms in general wasn’t just the ammount of books but also family situations, depression, relationships and in the last few years I lost grandma, grandpa and even my mother to a disease they don’t have it diagnosed yet because it was so rare.

Obvsly took a major hit to my mental health and the ability to write and just have energy kinda left me. I’m handling it I’m in therapy. This is all we need to talk about it.

- it’s been over ten years since some of your fave fics have been updated and while both Clichesbullet on ff.net and thatu on DA will be there and won’t be deleted HERE are what’s to expect:

1. My endgame here is reading the books back and forth again, as well as other source

Material for other fandoms I will

Be publishing for.

-updating the old fan mixes and uploading it to Spotify so it’s more accessible and going back (when possible to art).

- I will use AO3 some new aesthetics and user name (though probably just thatu) and edit a lot more to fit what I believe is better not because the world changed in general but because so

Did I.

Some of the racism and homophobia will still be there are these are the characters having flaws whose arcs weren’t complete but lots of it will also be changed because I’m 34 now I also the world is changed and some stuff just wouldn’t fly and I kinda hate it (but the old material is still there available on the old

Accounts).

- I’m not sure technology will be adapted but some references will here and there and I can clearly deliver something better now that I’ve taught English for over half of my life and am taking a masters degree on translation studies.

- real life will get me too busy sometimes so please I hope you’re excited but I know lots

Of you also have jobs or even families. So leave reviews and keep

Me company but also understand I was bad at updating before even with better time

Management this is will be a ride.

- I’m doing this to prove myself I can do and make good things.

- This site as well as the thatu blog will be updated.

- if you were a follower and have deleted your tumblr or changed usernames please leave a reply with who we were because I’ve had an eventful few years. I remember most of you, but I may need a nudge.

- both my writing and art style have developed and so did my world views - stuff will look different but hopefully still bring you comfort. And laughter.

And tears…?

- there will be some one shots posted focusing on stuff like grown up characters and new knowledge

We now have though the characterization will still follow the book ones as that’s how I kinda got used to it.

- I’m back but I’ll be getting back slowly and posting updates here. Tell ur friends who haven’t been here in a while but used to be part of our group of

Weirdos.

- I missed being a fandom person and hopefully now I can find solace in you guys back again.

- some new fandoms will pop up, as will

Some

Ships (see what I did there? Find solace? Will some ships? Hehe).

-Some extra texts will be added to whatever adaptations I make especially regarding transphobia and HP though I do intend to finish my Hannah/Neville story.

- maybe I’ll write original

Stuff too who knows?

Also, I missed you, spread the word. There’s a brand new old me in town. New ships, new views, new one shots, edits, a very different music taste (actually no I just added more stuff) and a lot of improved knowledge of vocabs and world geography.

Please spread this to whoever you think might be interested. It’s not popularity or anything, I’m trying to get back some pieces of me I lost along the way and writing and drawing used to be FUN and help me make FRIENDS.

I’ll keep u posted once everything is at least remotely ready to go.

And omg you’ll finally know what Silena had on clarisse.

Oh and I’m still not for writing smut but there will be more Adult/Mature like material as some ships require it and I am older. No minors having descriptive s*x

Of course but u know it’d feel weird to talk about these huge ass long relationships and not bring it up naturally.

Anyway, reply to this with whatever. Leave a like or something too but mostly leave a reply so we can start this journey together -

New younger fans are also welcome I’ll make my best to keep this space as safe as possible!! I teach kids and teens and I’d kill for u to have a place to be you safely.

Also there will now be additions on author notes for whether a ship is canon or fanon what I adapted and new fandoms new ships and trigger warnings before sensitive chapters that deal with stuff that before I wouldn’t.

Love, I’ve missed this,

thatu.

[petalruesim]

I'm really unhappy with MTS right now. I understand the need for moderating content on their site and I don't even mind waiting in the queue for my content to be posted. What bothers me is the inconsistency in moderation and the blatant disregard for my inquiries.

The first time I used their 'Bypass Queue' feature, my post was removed for missing comparison pictures. According to their rules, minor issues should prompt a comment from a moderator requesting fixes within three days, while major issues should be returned to the queue marked as 'Changes Required' with a seven-day deadline.

They didn't do any of that. The post was pulled out, marked as 'Rejected' and this all happened a day after it was posted. Although an admin restored the post, they didn't address what happened or respond to my questions and was like 'here I restored it, it's back in the queue so fix it before the moderation'.

I admit it was an oversight on my part not to include comparison pictures for a renovation lot, but why was my first upload—a renovation of Sunset Valley's Library without comparison pictures—approved? That's where the inconsistency of their moderation comes in. This is strike one.

The second time, I received a 'Changes Required' warning for my campground lot because I didn't include a link for custom content in their designated section. However, before I could even read the email, I received another email saying it was already approved.

I asked a clarification on what happened due to their CC Credit section was supposed to be for cc included in the download file. But I never include those items in my downloads and offer a link instead to download it separately which I placed in the description of the lot.

I wanted to make sure that it never happened again so I asked nicely on the correct process for such things but I still never received a reply. Okay, it's fine, it was approved already so I thought they didn't want to respond to something that was already 'resolved' on their end. Strike two.

This time, I received a 'Changes Required' warning for my beach lot. And guess what the reason was? Yes, the same issue as before, no link of the store content and a moderator left a "feedback" to put the link in their Custom Content Credit section of their upload wizard.

I had clearly provided all necessary information in my description even providing a direct link in bold and underlined to make it even clearer for everyone and a disclaimer that it is not required nor included in the download file. Like how blind can you be to not see that?

I informed them of this, pointing out that it was the second time this had happened. An administrator intervened, instead of the moderator who moderated that post, and basically admitted it was a mistake. Strike three.

It's frustrating that despite having clear rules, some moderators don't follow them or take accountability for their oversights. I was initially willing to give them the benefit of the doubt but this ongoing inconsistency and ignoring my valid questions is infuriating.

MTS may have a large audience for TS3 content, and it's nice to see comments and download counts increase, but it's no longer worth it for me. I no longer care about download counts or followers these days and I have no interest in moving to Patreon or monetizing my downloads with ads so I don't need any other exposure.

I just want to share my old builds because it took time to build them and they were wasting away in my folders. I wish there was a better site suited for TS3 creators and I guess I'll focus more on Tumblr from now on.

XOXO, petalrue🌺

[saber-of-dreams]

How to (Probably) Save Those Fanfictions You LOVED That Were Deleted

I know I'm not the only one who has experienced this, so I wanted to explain how I was able to recover a fanfiction from a deleted account.

Obviously there is no guarantee 100% that this will work, but I'm fairly confident you'll find most old fanfictions. With the caveat here that you know some concrete detail about that fanfic (i.e. you need to know who the author was or what the title was, ideally the fanfic's ID # or upload/update date). You can search without it, but it's going to take quite a long time.

So, oh no! The Fanfiction that you read 5 years ago that you LOVED is no longer on FF.net/AO3/Etc. What are you going to do (besides weep hysterically)?

Go here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/b6ut3j/fanfic_just_all_of_it/ (Reddit user nerdguy1138 deserves ALL the kudos and coffee and praise for this, because this would literally NOT be possible without their efforts (yes, ongoing)).

On that link you'll find multiple archives for various popular fanfiction sites over the years. Importantly, there are MULTIPLE FF.NET ones. If I remember correctly the 2nd link (updateablefanfic) is the more recent of the two. The one below that is old and is everything up to 2016. The second link is after 2016 and is ongoing. The key information here you need to know: 1. where was the fanfic you're looking for originally posted? 2. When was it created/last updated? The fanfic I wanted was finished at the end of 2017 and so I went with the updateablefanfic link.

Once you know which archive to go to, you're going to have to search for your file. You could do it the old-fashioned way and open up the preview and search with CTRL+F. But I'm going to tell you from experience that it sucks, takes forever, and can 100% be inaccurate (not because the data is inaccurate, but because there is SO MUCH data there that your browser is trying to load that it simply cannot handle it all, and if it can't load it, you can't search it). So. Instead, what you're going to do is look for the appropriate file for your fandom/work. You may not know it. Sometimes the data is sorted by Fandom letter (i.e. Pride and Prejudice is under the "P" file), other times it's sorted by username of the author(s) or the actual fic ID or name. If you know some or all of that, it will help immensely. If you know what you're looking for you can find the appropriate file pretty easily. For example the one I was looking for was in the "P" file. So I just had to look there. If you don't know any of the specifics you're going to want to repeat the below couple of steps for each file until you're able to find what you're after.

DON'T just download the giant zipped file for that letter. Let's do the simpler thing and search first. You'll also have to do this step if you don't know the ID/Name/Author, and it's a good thing to know how to do anyway. Go find the files ending with SQLITE/SQLITE3 under the ALL FILES section on the right. Download the file(s).

Paste https://sqliteviewer.app/#/metadata122.sqlite/table/metadata/ into another browser window. Click the "Open File" button on the top left and add in the file(s) you are trying to search through that you just downloaded. Give it a second to load and you'll be able to search the file for the author name/ID/Title/Fandom/Update Date, etc. etc. If the file exists in that list then it exists in the corresponding Zip file. If it doesn't, try another file. (I'm not sure if you can load multiple of the SQLITE files at once, but I kinda doubt it).

Okay, once you have located the name of the ZIP File you need - DON'T just click download. Trust me, your computer WILL hate you for it. Mine did. A lot. Instead, look and see what program was used to Zip the files. Most of the time it'll probably be 7zip. Now, go to: https://www.7-zip.org/ (or other appropriate zipping tool and download). You're going to use the program that was used to zip the file to unzip the file. It WILL go a LOT faster and your computer will hate you a (smidge) less. These files are still MASSIVE and WILL eat your memory like crazy. (I actually used a good chunk of my external 1 TB hard drive to get some extra memory for the duration of the download - I did the first option on this page: https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmanager/use-usb-as-ram.html page - you should also consider clearing your cache, but at these sizes I'm not sure how truly effective that will be). Anyway, download the 7zip/etc program and install. Now go and download the zip file. Once the zipped file is downloaded to your computer, right click, More options - 7zip and THEN click "Open Archive" Do NOT extract everything. You will literally be extracting hundreds of thousands of files, and while you may want more than one of them, I can guarantee you you probably don't want ALL of them. So, open archive. Search for the specific file(s) you're looking to get and extract JUST those by highlighting and clicking EXTRACT.

Okay, now the files you want will be downloaded to your desktop. But you'll notice that they are .txt only files. No more rich text. I can walk everyone through a tutorial of how I reformatted the files I pulled, but I don't want to do that on this post. I'll create a follow up on that, but with the plain .txt version you can paste it into word/google doc/notepad, whatever floats your boat and you can READ it.

An important lesson for us all: if you loved it - SAVE IT.

Hope this helps anyone who may be/has been in a similar situation to what I was in.