#I primarily use it to keep up with the update accounts and see what the CCs are up to

[royalarchivist]

Quackity: Oh, it's gonna be so cool to see how this develops. I'm excited, I'm gonna try my best. I'm not the greatest at Minecraft whatsoever, I did nerf Green Team a little bit by accident on the second day. My bad! But, you know, I'm so ready to just grind out and see what we can do, and I just–

I wish everyone saw it with the same amount of, like, kind of enthusiasm. I think all of this and all the development and all the potential arcs, that's going to fcking allow for something absolutely incredible.

And if anyone ends up clipping any of this, something I do want to say is I implore people to view everything with a lot of enthusiasm. No stress, no anxiety, just a lot of enthusiasm. Because, again, this is going to allow for a lot of cool things in the server. Not just now, but in the future, too.

[valkyrie1435atla]

If This is a Dream, Don't Wake Me - MASTERPOST

Welcome to my blog dedicated to my Avatar: The Last Airbender fan comic. This is the masterpost with links to every part in chronological order, and the link to the spotify playlist of songs I've used in the video version of the comic. It will be updated with every new part I release.

-Synopsis- Team Avatar failed to defeat the Fire Nation, and suddenly find themselves back at the beginning.

Part 1: One Door Closes...

Part 2: Another Door Opens

Part 3: Lazarus Syndrome

Part 4: This Pain is Familiar to Me

Part 5: Delay (My Body Catches up to my Mind)

Part 6: You are Different From Yesterday

Part 7: Meeting you for the First Time (Again)

Part 8: We Need to Talk

Part 9: Get it Right This Time

Part 10: Tense

Part 11: A Change

Part 12: Boiling Point (My Worry Tears me Apart)

Part 13: Play-by-Play

Part 14: MORTEM OBIRE

Part 15: I Think Of You As My Own (All That Matters)

Part 16: Witness

Part 17: A Thankless Job

CURRENTLY ON HIATUS

~

-things to keep in mind-

I am only one person. This series is not my top priority in my life, it comes second to college, work, self care, etc. I am however extremely passionate about this work, and will update whenever I have the time.

I am an artist, not a writer. While I am working to improve my writing skills, some story elements may have continuity errors, and characters may act ooc sometimes. I really appreciate advice on how to write better

My preferred method of telling my story is through music. The video versions are up on my TikTok (@ valkyrie1435) and will be posted here eventually as well. I will definitely draw in a comic format, but to get the full experience, watch the videos.

This story will feature many of the main cast members, but it is primarily Zuko-centric. He is my special interest character, so naturally I draw him the most.

I am autistic, so my interactions in comments and asks may be awkward.

If you have a question not related to this comic, ask it on my main account, @valkyrie1435 also, don't write an ask if you don't have a question. Please use the comment/reply feature on posts.

I need validation. Like any other artist, I can only motivate myself for so long without outside feedback. Commenting and engaging with posts is very encouraged!

The story is a work in progress. I am not entirely sure the direction this series will be taking, so feel free to speculate or give suggestions on what you would like to see.

Ships will not be a focus. If you are looking for atla ship content, you won't find it here.

Link to Spotify playlist of songs I have used in the video version of the comic V

[mariacallous]

You seem wise. Any advice for avoiding doom scrolling and terrible coping mechanisms?

Yes - avoid most social media, first of all. I keep my accounts on places like facebook, twitter, instagram, bluesky but don't post hardly anything and at this point I only use the dm function for some people, and even then it's mostly memes and occasional updates. I don't read or repost anything on them from people I follow anymore, and I unfollowed a lot of accounts. I use tumblr primarily for a number of reasons, one of which is that I can do other fun stuff on here and see other fun stuff.

Disable push notifications for most of your apps, particularly news apps - choose a few that you really trust or rely on if you feel you need to, but otherwise limit the onslaught coming towards you.

Remember the stuff you do like and enjoy and re-embrace them. You like playing pokemon? Get back in and catch 'em all again. You're a fan of the Inspector Alleyn mysteries by Dame Nagio Marsh? Remember your favorites and re-read them, or see if there's new stories or series similar. Walking with children in nature? Go back out there and breathe the outdoors air, selecting your favorite walks or finding new paths.

Don't neglect yourself - make sure you eat enough as you're able to, sleep enough as you can, brush your teeth and shower regularly enough, listen to your favorite music. Spend time with your favorite people, and rebuild those connections if you need to.

Focus on what you can do - there are always some level of practical contribution anyone and everyone can make, and you can always level up to the next one if you're able and confident enough.

Don't think of yourself as being alone in this - don't isolate and separate.

[th3-0bjectivist]

Chipper and Romi, A Love Story (and page update w/ Springin’ Chip)

Heya Tumblr folks, its page mascot Springin’ Chip here, and its autumn! And I’m in loooooove. Met a young woman. Her name is Romi. Young love is painful, folks. It’s supposed to teach you lessons that’ll help you adjust as an adult. And let me tell ya, there’s lots of pain in this relationship! So far, Romi and I enjoy playfully fighting in the park, late-night sleepovers, and deep talks about our future and the nature of the universe. It’s good to find something positive in 2024! I hope you had little specs of happiness this year as well. ANYWAYS, onto the brief page update.

So, folks, we’re going to be taking election week entirely off, maybe two weeks. When we get back, we’ll have three more songs to post and a few more paintings/drawings in 24’. Why take election week off you ask?? Well, primarily because partisan politics completely ruined Tumblr this year. It literally sucked all the fun out of everything and turned some usually normal people who we follow(ed) into shrieking, insufferable, irrational, pants-shitting dipshits. There’s nothing more useless than keyboard activism, and when we log in to Tumblr, we’re mostly looking for something that helps us mentally escape the harsh reality we’re living in. I mean, folks, as a dog, I really couldn't care less how you vote. What you do in the voting booth, just like in your bed, is none of my damn business. I followed your blog because I think you create exceptional art, or take excellent pictures, or generate excellent poetry, or make quality sounds, or because you have some hidden X factor, or because I think you’re a goddamned bona fide genius. I do NOT come to Tumblr for politics for several reasons, but mostly because… no one on here is a political expert and I’d rather not know how you vote at all. I’d rather you keep me guessing at how you vote and keep that to yourself. If for no other reason, because your politics matter to you, and I appreciate a bit of mystique.

Th3-0 wants me to tell you he early voted in North Carolina today. He said it was easy; he showed up early, he’d done his research beforehand, so he knew how he wanted to vote, it took like ten minutes. It was like, zip-zip-zip. The people at the voting site were friendly, the ballot process was streamlined. You don’t need to know how th3-0bjectivist votes. All you need to do is stop telling others how to vote and go out and vote. If you’re with friends or family that haven’t voted, tell them, “Okay c’mon! We’re all gonna go vote now!” Stop whining, stop whinging, and just go and vote folks. These last six months have been exhausting and demoralizing for the entire US. And if your side loses, learn how to lose with grace. Don’t let them see you sweat and think to yourself; what did my side do wrong to lose this election!?

Depending on the seismic reaction after the election, it could be up to two weeks until this blog is back up folks. Just please, grip fast to your mental health, hold your nose, and treat each other with respect. This year has been crazy enough. There’s no need to get crazier. th3-0bjectivist’s blog will be back for about two months and then after that we’re gonna take a LONGASS break from this platform to recover from the wretched, traumatizing, ass-ramming partisan shitstorm that was 24’.

Alt-links below in case you miss th3-0.

Stop bitchin' and just vote, Springin’ Chip

*****

The 0bjectivist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2sONH8IwzL_2sZie0ZNSnw/

I’m also on BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/uvKfJpNkzkIL/

FULL ART GALLERY on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/th3_0bjectivist_gallery/ <—- This just in, Instagram is for selfie-takers and living-my-best lifers! Delete your account early, just like early voting! We deleted our account this year, and we don't miss it!

FULL ART GALLERY on DeviantArt at: https://www.deviantart.com/th3-0bjectivist/gallery

[enbymaths]

Life update/vent/stress in academia

I'd like to preface this with the following two points:

1. this is going to be some kind of explanation for my hiatus and it's going to be pretty heavy so please watch out for TW drvg use/anxi3ty/depr3ssion

2. if anyone who knows me IRL sees this, I implore you not to approach about any of this stuff, I don't want to make all of this some soppy story about poor little me

Since the beginning of 2024. I've been sick on and off every couple of weeks, my nose'd be runny for like a week or so and then I'd be fine for a couple of days and that cycle would repeat itself every couple of weeks until I got really bad stomachaches that lasted for 8 weeks until I got some antibiotics.

Those 8 weeks were a complete hell for me. One does sacrifice a lot of their life in order to succeed in academia, but health? That's scary.

So I decided to try and not to stress myself out about my upcoming exams, keep in mind the fact that I'm in my last year of undergrad. After those 8 weeks have passed along with additional 2 weeks full of doctor exams, I went back to studying for the upcoming exam season which was now in a couple of weeks.

My college isn't the most organized one, and that exam season was stretched out over the course of two months and now I had only 4 weeks to prepare myself for the upcoming exam season and I was stressing out really badly. My health has been on a decline for about two years, and all the doctors have been saying that it is due to stress, not trying to do anything about it actually and they'd prescribe me some b3nzodiazepines and beta blockers.

The thing that they didn't take into account is the fact that I was prescribed b3nzos for my insomnia along with melatonin for the past 4 years. I'd take them pretty much every night because I just wasn't able to sleep.

And my exam season came along, and I failed pretty much all of my exams, miserably. I was hoping that I'd be able to finish my degree in time despite my declining health, and no, I wasn't able to pull off such thing. Life happens.

After that and a cardiac episode that I had on my birthday, I was sent to a psychiatrist for evaluation because of my blood pressure going sky high and random muscle twitching. I thought I did pretty fine, but the psychiatrist told me that I should 'worry less', 'go out more' etc. and sent me on my way home merrily with a prescription for 5 drugs, two of which were add1ctive.

Now that one month has passed, I can say that I haven't taken any of those meds, primarily because I believed that I can beat this on my own terms and I was scared of taking more add1ctive meds-at the end of the day, I was taking b3nzos for the

last four years

for my insomnia.

And I was kinda successful, up until today. Last couple of days I tried to go to sleep without taking my nightly b3nzo and I was able to pull it off!

For 3 days.

And I'd sleep!

Poorly.

And finally, I had a mental breakdown where I realized that I was really depressed, I had all kinds of thoughts flying through ny head and I couldn't calm myself down. And what did I do? Well yes, I popped a x4nny. And I became a completely different person. No more dark thoughts, no more sewer slide ideations, life had meaning again and then it hit me-unbeknownst to me, I have developed a b3nzo add1ction.

Then I tried to google a couple of articles about long-term b3nzo abvse and I came across this one article on

where they talked about people feeling a sudden decline in their health after years of taking b3nzos and it hit me.

I wasn't depressed.

I went through withdrawal symptoms. I am addicted.

So the next step? I'm going to talk about my b3nzos problem with my psychiatrist this monday and take the right course of action, maybe ask for a second opinion, to ask them to reconsider my diagnosis and delegate me to another clinic if necessary. My problem may be very much real, and I have caused it.

All of the symptoms and diagnoses that were listed on the site above as misdiagnoses for long-term b3nzo abvse were all once considered as diagnoses for me in this past year. Immensely weakened immune system can be explained by prolonged b3nzo abvse. And the scariest thing about all of this?

I wasn't aware that I couldn't make it without my body aching for meds.

All of this stress, all the worries about my grades, academia and my future and I wasn't even aware that I was add1cted to my meds. Just because I didn't take care of my well-being and didn't notice that I wasn't able to stop taking my meds.

The point is that health comes first and academia will always be second. Do not sacrifice yourself for academia, and if you're going through similar things right now, I hope that you know that we're making it out of this b

[blackwomeninrock]

Just saw a couple of people post about being born in 2010. Besides children actually talking and being on the internet (my working career begins in 2010 so that's nuts to me lol), it’s wild when I consider that this blog itself has been online since the end of 2011.

I've been thinking for a while of leaving it up and paying for the domains as long as I can, but not really updating it anymore. The info I have to offer isn't as groundbreaking now as it was in 2011, or when I personally needed it as a gaslit teenager in 2002.

I can't keep up with the sheer volume of black women there now are in alternative bands. I was at the forefront of this type of stuff at one point and now I'm not and I also don't have the time to be. I'm not a journalist, I have a whole different career outside of this that pays my bills. In tech, a whole different lane. I did start out wanting to be a journalist and when I started this blog I was just a retail worker with a dream. But in true Capricorn fashion, I went where the money was. 🥹 Anyway, this was a personal project. I wanted to see where it would go. It went way farther than I thought it would, to my delight. But I've moved past my use for it. And I think everyone has moved past their use for my little blog, which is fine. All things decay.

I think the biggest reason I made this thing was to not feel so weird and alone for liking rock music and I exceeded there beyond my wildest dreams. There's not a single show that I go to where I feel like an outsider even though I usually go to shows by myself, and that is an incredible achievement. That wasn't the case before I started this blog. And I have this blog to thank for a big part of that. This personal project was created primarily for personal reasons, I've always been upfront about that. And that isn't even the only gain this blog has created in my life and, from what I've heard, in the lives of others. I'm very grateful.

As long as the sites that the content is hosted on exist, then all BWIR related content will stay up, if I can help it. All the videos, the interviews, the playlists, etc. I'll maintain it all. The content still means a lot to me as I know it means a lot to others. But don't expect to see any more updates.

I would redirect to my socials but I don't really have any lmao 😂 If I'm not posting about this topic then I'm usually lurking. I was a prolific blogger back in the day, used to dump my whole world in my hand built blogs, but didn't like doing the same on Facebook and the like and still can't to this day. I have small Instagram and Twitter accounts that I don't share out but if you really want the usernames, ask me. Notifications will still be turned on for this app.

But anyway...thanks to everyone for the kind words over the years. Thanks to the artists who actually gave interviews. Thanks to the women who found themselves featured here. Thanks to everyone for making this what it was. 🙏🏾

Linktree with everything related to this project: https://linktr.ee/blackwomeninrockinfo

[bouncybrain]

CharacterHub vs. UnVale pt. 2

Because good god can I not be succinct? Anyway, from the first part:

[Link] to Part 1

These are two emerging "character storage" sites, in which you can create little profiles or pages to store and/or share your characters. The idea is the same, but the UIs and social spaces surrounding them are significantly different, and they include notable differences between them. Both of these sites are free to sign up for, but they are also constantly being worked on. UnVale states it's a beta, but CharacterHub does not.

You should use these instead of ToyHouse, primarily because they're free and you don't have to busk around for a code, but which one do you choose? I haven't seen anyone actually make a post comparing and contrasting these two, so I guess it's up to me!

All information beneath the cut, and I am so sorry about how long this got. I was going to keep it short and then I didn't.

We'll address everything in groups, so I'm going to list the primary topics out here, first, so you can skip sections if you prefer. (Account creation is simple and standard for both, so this will not be discussed.) There's a lot to cover since I want to be thorough. Here is what I covered in the first part:

User Profile: just how you set up your own profile, options there, and the differences between sites.

(Also, what will be showcased publicly on your profile.)

Character Storage: this is about the actual storing of characters, such as the image capabilities and information it can hold.

Custom Character Profiles: this will be about creating profiles, as these are significantly different across the sites.

World Creation: both sites offer "world" options, which differ from characters.

Additional Hosted Content: other types of content you can create/post on the sites beyond a character or a world, and how easy it is to work with these, or how discovery of these types of content is handled.

Social Interaction: what about the community and how they interact on-site? This is something I was more curious about that nobody was talking about.

And here is what I will be covering in this part:

On-Site Events: I have nearly a month's difference between joining CharacterHub and UnVale, so keep that in mind while I speak about the events I've experienced and seen.

Artist vs. Author Experiences: both of these sites advertise that they are for both those who draw and those who write, but how well do they cater to both?

Site Stability: how well they’re handling the site, traffic, downtimes, etc. and how that effects the end user experience.

Discord Experiences: they both have a dedicated, public Discord server that can be freely joined. Ties in slightly with the social interaction section, but dedicated solely to Discord experiences.

Stances on AI and Picrew/Warforge/avatar maker usage: this is typically addressed all together so I'm doing that, too, just be aware I despise use of AI in creative spaces and that I know it's completely different from avatar makers.

What About Money: what do they offer, how they offer it, and do they facilitate monetary transactions through the site?

Everything Else: I forget stuff, or don’t know where something goes, so I need a place to tack all this stuff on as well. No less important than the rest, it’s just this is a lot of information to organize and write out and keep track of already, so stuff will be thrown in the junk drawer for use later.

If you find you want more elaboration on a subject please feel free to reply, reblog, or send me an ask about it (anon always on). If you use the reply function I'll likely make it into a post to better elaborate. Reblogs will be reblogged directly unless you plainly say you'd rather see it in a separate post instead of attached to this absolute monster.

Now, the rest of my compare and contrast and review post.

(Anything marked as a "late addendum" was added literally last night because of recent updates that I felt needed to be mentioned in all of this.)

On-Site Events

Both sites do host events, but they handle them incredibly differently from each other. Please mind I've been on CharacterHub longer, and that I entirely missed any October events UnVale may have had because of my timing.

CharacterHub has absolutely constant site-wide, staff-hosted events. I don't think I've seen the number of hosted events go below... maybe 15? You can even pay real money or real-money-turned-into-currency for events just for you. I'm not going to cover every single event I've seen because it's literally hit nearly 50 in the few months I've been here. I am not doing that. They have a whole section just for events aside from being able to browse them on the homepage. There are daily, weekly, monthly, or occasional events, as well as paid events, and seasonal ones. You may have seen my posts about the daily writing prompt events, or their "OCtober/Storytober" event across all of October. They host what can be multiple daily art events, multiple weekly ones, or multiple monthly ones. This does mean there is literally always something to do. Always. It can get exhausting quickly. Thankfully, there are sometimes events where your only needed participation is "pick a character" or "design a themed profile and pick that character" and then everything else is out of your hands. There are sometimes "bidding" events, in which you can bid for the chance to do something special, usually designing a temporary logo for the site or the coins (we will talk about coins later, I have Thoughts). You can sometimes win gems, if you win.... Some seasonal events will give you a "profile ring" to put on your avatars.

Oh, did I only mention daily writing prompts? Haha, yeah, don't worry about that. I have a section for that. It's coming up next. (While writing this post, a haiku event started, as well as a microstory event, which is 100 words or less.)

UnVale events are actually... mostly hosted by the community! There have been events hosted by the staff of the site, but you can probably find constant events of some kind being hosted by the UnVale community. These are almost always presented in a world, as this is a post type the entire userbase has access to creating, though any staff events will be announced in a blog post that will usually accompany a pop-up notifying you of the blog post on the site itself—so you are unlikely to miss a new blog post, or a staff event! This does mean there are absolutely no rewards. It's just for fun, and to experience the creativity of the community. Unfortunately, I can't say much about the amount of art vs. writing allowed across events, because I can't as easily see all of these events unless they are mentioned and therefore linked in a monthly “community spotlight” blog post. What I can say, though, is that the staff events/challenges will offer options for both creative leanings! (Even if this is just saying that Picrew/avatar makers with proper credit is allowed, it's still something.) UnVale also has a Question of the Day on the homepage, where you can answer the QotD either as your character or for your character, and these will be simultaneously uploaded to the character profile in a "trivia" section, and all answers are publicly shared--that means users participating in the QotD often go and "favorite" characters whose answers were interesting enough to bring them to the character profile. This is the way to get your character out there constantly, but there are thousands of responses by the end of it, so there is no guarantee people will even see your response(s).

Also, with events being mostly user-run, it does mean UnVale events may be a complete flop or people might not actually complete their half of the event, and the user(s) in charge may miss when people fail to comply with rules or expectations. Thankfully, there are no currency or exclusively available cosmetics as prizes, so any feelings of FOMO (fear of missing out) are significantly lessened. I think this is a good thing. (Although, this is still a “so far” thing, as it’s in beta.)

Artist vs. Author Experiences

(This will be very long.)

If a site is telling me writers, who don't draw, can also use it, then I'm going to critique it as both someone who writes, and someone who draws. While I am an artist, I have joint pain that prevents me from drawing as much or as often as I would like, and it has both gotten worse and started happening more often. Because of this, I have been writing more as typing doesn't aggravate the issue as much or in the same way.

My qualifications for an "artists and authors" character storage site are simple. If I can make a good-looking character profile without having any pictures, of art or otherwise (because not everyone can find a Picrew/avatar maker that works "close enough" to their character, nor does everyone have the money to commission art for their character), and it doesn't irritate my design senses, then it gets a point. If the site's own staff work to equally boost writing as they do art, then it gets a point. I won't hold "likes" against these sites, because it is very unfortunate, but users are more likely to view art over text, unless the writing is being boosted over art, which would disrupt the balance, anyway.

CharacterHub is an unbelievably artists-first site. Remember in the last section, where I only mentioned one writing event? Yeah, most of the time there is literally only one event in which you submit writing. Everything else that isn't a character-submission or bidding type is 99% of the time going to be an art submission event. Remember how I said you can earn gems sometimes? There's been one event that I can recall so far that has offered gems as a reward, and it's a recent one for someone else's OC. What do you get for all those daily writing events, though? If you write every day, surely you'll get something for it. Right?

For every 7 prompts in a month, you'll pocket an Ink Drop—hoard 10, and trade 'em in for a Bronze Inkwell. At the 15-prompt milestone, you'll earn a Quill Feather Piece; collect 5, and craft your own Bronze Quill! Complete 28 prompts in one month to receive a Bronze Parchment Fragment. Secure three scroll fragments and unveil a bronze parchment! The fun's not over! Level up your Ink, Quill, and Parchment through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, to Diamond! Got 10 Ink Drops? You're at Bronze Ink. Get one more Ink, jump to Silver. Same for Quill and Parchment! Can you write your way all the way to Shakespeare's Diamond Writing Set with Diamond Ink, Quill, and Parchment?

So. Yeah. That's what they're using to motivate writing on the site. Why are they using this to motivate writing on the site, you ask? Well, see, remember how in the last post I said you have to actually be searching for types of posts to see them if you're not on a character that has them? That's where writing goes. Hardly anyone sees it, unless it shows up on their homepage, and then they're very unlikely to read it. Then they're not going to "like" it or comment on it.

I mentioned something called "OCtober/Storytober" earlier. CharacterHub created prompt lists for every day in October. If a user managed a 28 day-streak (which you wouldn't know if you managed it or not) they would get a profile ring (avatar frame) tied to the event, with the OCtober and/or Storytober one depending on which event you participated in. For 28 days straight. This was immediately followed up by a NaNoWriMo event. Combined with the daily writing prompt.

There was a fascinating phenomenon I noticed while participating in Storytober and doing daily writing prompts at the same time. Every writing event had the exact same tiny pool of users participating. Because there's no reason to participate if you can draw. There's no real draw in comparison. There's only one guaranteed writing event compared to nearly 20 art ones. Not to mention that while only submitting your writing to events will get attention from others participating in the event, it's completely gone by the time the next one rolls around, because even the "my submissions" tab doesn't work to let you see what you've written. (I brought this up, but nothing has changed, yet.)

Character profiles look absolutely terrible if you don't use images while filling it out when a section says you "can" add an image. Nearly every single placeholder image looks awful when combined with other placeholder images. If you have a profile full of placeholder images, I want to tear my hair out, because it's just so bad. The colors chosen (when applicable) look awful next to each other, and placeholder images working character page sections are absolutely huge compared to any text, and I feel like I would genuinely leave the site if I couldn’t draw and couldn’t find “close enough” avatar makers. (I brought this up but nothing has changed, yet.)

UnVale has a beautifully simple writing system, an easy way to access all writing to browse regardless of tags (mostly because you can't sort anything by tags except characters, yet, so it’s just chronologically sorted), and staff outright encourages writing contributions to their events and challenges (or avatar makers). It is far more accessible for those who write, and while I haven't really posted anything, I know that I could, and that it could be seen, far more easily than anything I posted on CharacterHub. It wouldn't be hidden within an event, where people likely aren't going to look unless they're also participating in it. It isn't going to make a big, annoying rectangle that can't be collapsed out of the way while looking at a character profile. It's got its own dedicated little section on the character profile like everything else.

Admittedly, you can't access just your writing on your profile on UnVale like you can by going to your posts and sorting on CharacterHub, but you can't access just your art that way, either. Personally, I think UnVale is already definitely going in the right direction, because you can browse writing freely! You can't like writing, but you can comment on it, and it's accessible, and you can put as much of it in as you want, and it looks very clean.

Unfortunately, with UnVale, you also can't post characters or worlds without at least a primary image. I tested it, and if you don't upload it with one image to show everyone, it will not show up in the "recent" feed. I don't know if it's going to show up in the "random" feed, either, but that's because it's a really good randomizer, but it's unlikely it will.

Outside of that little bump, though, the UnVale profile is so simple and text-reliant that it doesn't look like absolute garbage if you try to add too much information about your character's inventory without using images, because that either goes in the text-only boxes in the traits section or in the writing in the writing section! There's no need to stare at a thousand placeholder images, other than the default UnVale one, which is actually a nice shade of purple that I think I could handle seeing more of.

Unlike whatever is going on with the colors and placeholder images CharacterHub has chosen.

All-in-all, if you're more focused on getting writing out there than anything else, use UnVale. It's not obviously more likely to get your writing seen by users because society is crumbling, but it's much less likely to smother your writing under hundreds of other posts. The dedicated section for writing is genuinely so important, but I don't think people really understand why. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard of any decent social-creative spaces like this that cater specifically to those who write instead of lumping artists and writers together (though PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me if you find one so I can review it!!!!!). This section is already way too long, though, so I have to move on.

Site Stability

These are both small sites with small teams, so I'm not going into this expecting much other than that they'll handle outages when they happen, and that they're paying attention to the stability of their servers and how the site functions.

CharacterHub is actually pretty stable most of the time. Sometimes it will just completely die out and nothing will be available because nothing will load, but it gets resolved quickly enough. There are some times when it will randomly have a massive lag increase, where things will take much longer to load or it will just forget it was opening something. Any slowness will be site-wide, but they have said they are working on it. That is fine. The servers don't seem to often have problems with increased traffic, but when they do they typically recover quickly.

UnVale... tends to go down a lot, but briefly. Their QotD and comments will often stop loading. This is the hallmark for an outage. These can be reported on the Discord, and it will be handled reasonably quickly most of the time, unless it happens when staff is off. Sometimes it happens multiple times a day, but it's never for too horribly long. Unfortunately, this may cause users to miss a QotD or lose something they tried to post while the site was down, but that is the worst of it. I'm unsure what causes this, but loading characters on UnVale takes for. Ever. This is the only consistent problem with loading that I've seen, beyond the randomizer animation (it's a card flipping animation to reveal severally randomly picked characters) tending to lag when "reveal all" is chosen, but, like. My laptop is from 2016 and my phone is slated for death soon, too.

Late Addendum: It has been stated the UnVale team has "brought on some new engineering help, and they're working on a big fix for it" as stated by a co-founder on their Discord server. Crashes will either be solved or will change in frequency in "~a month or so" which is very nice to hear.

I wouldn't particularly call either site "very stable" in comparison to professional sites, but they're doing well for small teams. It's not too bad. It could always be so much worse. Even during the holiday season these outages weren't particularly bad, though UnVale didn’t have a continuous outage like CharacterHub did. Even though I only have a few months’ experience on both, they do appear to handle constant uptime decently well, even across holidays (despite that one bump CharacterHub had over Christmas).

(Going by reports of activity bogging down servers through their Discord channels, it appears most heavy usage comes from America, even though there are, of course, many people from across the world active on these sites. If you’re not awake with the majority Americans you’re likely to get a smoother experience, though apparently you should be wary of American National holidays.)

Discord Experiences

These sites both have a Discord server on offer. They are both public. They both have invitations accessible from the main site.

CharacterHub's Discord server at time of writing this sentence has 4,161 members. CharacterHub actually actively advertises the Discord server on the homepage. There is a required step to get deeper into the server than a couple of channels. They have a "starboard," which is where any message sent with ten ⭐emoji reactions will be showcased. Dedicated channels exist for reporting bugs and offering feedback for both the site and the server.

You cannot say "yaoi."

UnVale's Discord server at the time of writing has 5,534 members. UnVale's invitation link is at the bottom of the site, including their Twitter and Instagram links, and otherwise not particularly visible. They do not have a particular system for promoting something many people have enjoyed. Dedicated channels exist for "help" with the site or server; these two channels act as bug and feedback channels for each, instead. (Since starting this, UnVale added an “UnVale suggestions” channel.)

You can say "yaoi."

Again, these spaces tend to have a lot of Talkative Youths. The servers can also spontaneously become incredibly busy or incredibly silent, as larger servers tend towards. I have not seen any major issues crop up in either server, yet, but they seem fairly level otherwise. There was one issue on the CharacterHub server but I'm going to be quiet about that since it was between users. The UnVale Discord kind of fucking exploded over the nipple ban a bit ago, but it was such a big argument that I am not reiterating points here, just that it will remain for the time being. If you don't particularly enjoy larger servers, I would say these count, as they both have large numbers of members that continue to grow, a large number of channels, and periodic dramatic increases in activity. Moderation is done by staff members, though some small things do tend to slip through, as they do.

They're fine, I guess? I’m not a particularly social person, but from observation they aren’t toxic cesspools, so that’s a win in my book.

AI and Picrew/Avatar Makers

Yes, yes, yes, I know, they're nothing alike! But these are usually addressed either together or in the same general vicinity of each other, so I'm just packing them in.

CharacterHub does not have a strict policy against AI use in all but stated events, raffles, and marketplace offerings. AI can be used everywhere else. This does mean there are... quite a number of AI """"""artists"""""" on the site, or just people who use AI because they think it's toooootally fine (it's not). They do not automatically get taken down for simply being AI as long as they are not in spaces where AI was specifically said not to be used in or it is improperly used or marked. There are no clear rules stating that Picrew/avatar makers/etc. cannot be used in events, but there is the invisible expectation that they will be drawn.

UnVale has a strict no-AI policy. That means you can happily report all the AI you see to your heart's content. AI is outright not allowed on UnVale (site and Discord alike), and they take this very seriously. I haven't run into a single AI-generated image my entire time here compared to the many I've seen on CharacterHub. It's wonderful. It's perfect. Some events state that Picrew/avatar makers/etc. can be used, implying they do not wish for these to be used for all events, just a few.

Both sites allow Picrew/avatar maker/character creator images to be used elsewhere as long as they have appropriate credits/permissions. Not crediting a Picrew/avatar maker/etc. still counts as uncredited/stolen art, so be sure to put credit somewhere visible where it can be read and checked. Also, like, what if someone wants to use what you did? Just say it.

What About Money?

This will cover things you can spend money on within the site. Because I do have a relevant disability (dyscalculia or “numbers dyslexia”) I won’t be going into depth about finances and numbers and percentages or whatever; literally gives me headaches and makes me want to cry. All information is, thus, publicly available and fairly easy to find, if you want to find it. No real digging.

UnVale goes first here because it does not currently (Jan 2025) have a way to spend real-world money on-site. Payments can be facilitated elsewhere but are not hosted primarily on the site. There used to be a section dedicated to commissions and such (real-world transaction focused) but it was removed soon after I joined. Currently, you can mark characters as “for free,” “for trade,” or “for sale” within their settings, which lists them on the Market (accessible in the list you get by clicking on your profile image). This is as close as UnVale gets to an economy at the moment. They do have plans to reinstate their previous plans for a commission-focused function for the site but it does not seem imminent.

Of course, this does not mean all “for sale” characters are being sold for real-world money. It’s just the only place on the site right now where anything is sold for real-world money.

How is UnVale funded? Ask answered here with what I know.

CharacterHub, on the other hand, has… a load to do with real-world money. Because there’s quite a bit to go through and explain, I’ll separate all of this into subsections.

Hubux

These are the free-to-earn currency used to purchase most profile rings/avatar frames and background overlays. It currently has, in my opinion, an absolutely abysmal free-to-earn rate. They did literally just update that but that’s going into a different section. As a free user, spending no money, you can earn Hubux through opening six gift boxes daily—these give such a wide variety of coins that you’re unlikely to receive more than 100 in a box more than once a day, if that. You can also get two digits’ worth of Hubux in every box for the day.

There are cosmetics that cost over 100,000 Hubux, by the way.

You can either grind for a year to get that profile ring that might not even be in stock for a while, or you can just go buy a package of 98,000 Hubux and 3,900 Gems with real-world money (“Supreme Currency Bundle” for $23.90USD, feel free to tell me the conversions for your country on this).

They have only just recently added a small Hubux reward for commenting on Com[liment Bombed characters on the homepage. How small, you may be asking? Well. 50 Hubux. Not 500 Hubux, not 5,000 Hubux, but 50 Hubux.

Late Addendum: They just added Fanart Flares. You can get 150 Hubux for participating.

Gems

Gems are the premium currency of CharacterHub, in that you can get your hands on these in a very limited number of ways: winning an event, being paid them on the marketplace, or purchasing them using real-world money. These are notable only for one thing: exclusive purchase options.

There are cosmetic items that can only be purchased with Gems. Most items displayed in the Shop are Gem-purchase only. This is where I have the most gripes, and you’ll hopefully see why in the next section.

Shops

There are currently the “CharacterHub Store,” which lists everything from “special offers” to “gem packs,” the “Profile Rings” shop, and the “Background Overlay” shop. This is where the primary real-world money transfers occur, because there are so many things to buy with real-world money. (USD)

Behold, the shop as of January 21, 2025:

VIP Winter Holiday Package (10 profile frames!) {$49}

Magic Garden Pack - LIMITED Weekly Bundle (Expires 1/16) {$49}

Welcome Starter Pack {$2.99}

Starter Pack! {$6.99}

Super Value Currency Pack! {$2.54}

Special Pack! {$8.49}

Lite Currency Bundle {$2.99}

Super Currency Bundle! {$4.99}

Deluxe Currency Bundle {$9.99}

Supreme Currency Bundle {$19.99}

Rate My Character {1,800 Gems}

Compliment Bomb {1,800 Gems}

“Ask Me Anything” for OCs {4,000 Gems}

1 Fanart Flare {9,000 Gems}

Fanart Flare Trio {22,500 Gems}

Compliment Bomb Trio {4,500 Gems}

(Following daily boxes interruption) Small Compliment Bomb Bundle {9,000 Gems}

Medium Compliment Bomb Bundle {15,000 Gems}

Large Compliment Bomb Bundle {30,000 Gems}

Support The Site {1,500 Gems}

Fanart Flash {9,000 Gems}

NaNoWriMo streak freeze {200 Gems}

Your Custom Profile Ring {4,950 Gems}

Your Custom Animated Profile Ring {8,800 Gems}

Your Custom Profile Ring Drop {12,420 Gems}

Profile Frame Gift Box {700 Gems}

Throw a Party For Your Character {8,450 Gems}

Giant Special {33,600 Gems}

Led The Site For A Day {30,000 Gems}

Adopt An Advertisement {7,500 Gems}

Followed by, of course, the Gem Packs listings (doubled on first purchase):

200 Gems {$0.84}

1050 Gems {$4.24}

2200 Gems {$8.49}

4600 Gems {$16.99}

12000 Gems {$42.46}

25000 Gems {$84.99}

38250 Gems {$127.49}

55000 Gems {$169.99}

The Profile Rings shop contains a load of profile rings/avatar frames. Some of them are permanent, some of them rotate every few days, some of them rotate in and out per holiday seasons, and some of them are Gems or Subscription Tier exclusive. As mentioned, some profile rings/avatar frames are over 100,000 Hubux, and there’s one available that’s 1,000 Gems. Some of the. Are animated, some of them are user-designed, but they are nearly all worth months of daily hunting for six gift boxes.

Background Overlays are new, so they’re a bit buggy and there aren’t nearly half as many of them as there are profile rings/avatar frames. There are no other ways to purchase these overlays other than through Hubux right now. The price range is 4,500 Hubux to 65,000 Hubux. Some of these are animated, some of them aren’t, and you can try them on while browsing the shop.

Now there's other stuff to address, and I'm putting it in here because this is the only consistent place to acquire said stuff without hoping you get one for dumping comments on a character. I am very passionate about this but it is important to know about.

Compliment Bombs are a method to get your character to show up on the homepage. This means you can buy a compliment bomb... to force people to look at your character, because it's going to be up for as long as it takes to get 10 comments at the very least. The biggest problem I have with compliment bombs is that these are thrown up on the homepage, and users are lured into commenting on these characters through the promise of "maybe" getting a compliment bomb in return, and more recently the 50 Hubux per character commented on.

If you want tens if not a hundred or so empty comments on your character, this is the way to do it. And when you get a load of comments on your character, this pushes them higher up in the "trending" sort view, and compliment bombs are the one sure way to get any interaction on CharacterHub.

You can fucking buy your way to popularity.

I'm not even kidding. People with the most popularity on the site, with hundreds of followers and tens of reactions per character/post/etc., are all people who are able to keep at least one character up on the compliment bomb feed at all times. This obviously drives more people to their profiles by the sheer presence they're able to gain by constantly sitting at the top of the homepage all the time, where people are constantly passing through trying to get their own compliment bomb and 50 Hubux per character, where they are naturally going to get curious about the user, and then they're going to go interact further with the user elsewhere on the site.

For comparison, please look at the profiles for Maddox and Mort. Since Mort was the first character I uploaded and you think that's going to affect the numbers (it's not) then you can look at Li Hua instead, who is directly linked on Maddox's profile and was uploaded about four days before I used a compliment bomb on Maddox.

If you didn't go look, Mort, my oldest character, has zero comments and 4 likes. Li Hua, directly linked to the character I bombed, has zero comments and 4 likes. In comparison, Maddox, who was on the homepage for 3 days, has 77 comments and 17 likes. Excluding replies and the only comment he had prior to the bomb, as well as the likes he had prior, the total is 50 comments and 12 likes. (I kept track of this at the time so I could refer to it later like this.)

Compliment bombing is, at this moment, the only reliable way to get people looking at your character, and only maybe your profile. It's still the best way due to the reliability, and why I hate it, because this is a case of you can buy interactions and popularity, and I personally believe this is completely against the spirit of the art community.

If you see a character with hundred of likes and more than ten comments, don't feel discouraged, because the average user barely gets ten likes a character, much less one comment.

Late Addendum: They have recently updated the site with "Fanart Flares" that can be purchased in the shop. This is asking people to make fanart of your character in exchange for a paltry amount of Hubux. This is also, similarly to Compliment Bombs, buying popularity through spending money to get on the homepage. I haven't had the chance to review the Fanart Flare in comparison to other characters or the Compliment Bomb (if you're on CharacterHub and are willing to send me one, I'd appreciate the donation so I can add the information here!), but it really is just another way to purchase your followers without buying bots to follow/engage with your content.

Marketplace

This was mentioned previously. The Marketplace is different from the Shop in that the Shop only carries CharacterHub products. On the Marketplace, users can make their own listings, and accept payment in real-world money or Gems (or for free, I guess). The minimum real-world money is free, and the minimum for Gems is 200. There are fees. I don’t know what they are because it makes my head hurt.

Offered default types of listings are:

Art commission

Writing commission

Character sale

Art base

Merch

Reference sheet

Emotes

Animation

Your Character Here (YCH)

Other

They do not allow for the sale of AI images by users, and those can be reported in order to have them taken down.

Subscription Tiers

There are two subscription tiers available on CharacterHub. There is the “+plus” tier and the “+plus ULTRA” tiers (yes, the plus ultra tier). Here is what the cheaper tier, $10.99 a month or $84.99 (Save 35%) a year, consists of:

50GB of character art storage!

Custom background images for your profiles!

Special Username Colors

FREE limited edition profile frame monthly!

Show off badges next to your username!

Double your Hubux rewards daily!

Supercharge your profiles: attribute sliders, alignment charts, timelines, trivia

Ad-free Browsing!

GIF Profile Pics!

6 more Daily Personality Quizzes

Hundreds of Extra Trait Options!

3 Slideshow cover photos!

6 Extra Profile Highlight Slots

And the +plus ULTRA tier, $21.99 a month or $114.99 (Save 55%) a year, consists of:

125GB of character art storage!

Custom backgrounds for your profiles!

Special & Super Special Username Colors!

FREE limited edition profile frame monthly!

Show 2 badges next to your username!

TRIPLE your Hubux rewards daily!

Supercharge your profiles: attribute sliders, alignment charts, timelines, trivia

Ad-free Browsing!

GIF Profile Pics!

9 Slideshow cover photos!

Unlimited Daily Personality Quizzes!

Hundreds of Extra Trait Options!

9 Extra Profile Highlight Slots

Everything Else

Like always, you should be sure to read all posting rules and regulations, as these are never the exact same unless it’s a bit shady. There’s no harm in reading through them again if you’re worried, and questions can always be asked through on-site help chat (that little floating bubble—might not be visible if you have an adblocker) or in their Discord servers.

CharacterHub does allow posting of mature content but only under certain corcumstances with restrictions on how they’re presented, and they must be marked appropriately, which you may not be able to do if you’re under 18.

UnVale does not allow any mature posting (the Discord kind of did fucking explode over nipple censure, so) and does not have any way to hide such content, anyway. They do not use bots to reinforce their content rules at all, though, and all their staff is paid, so they do have limitations simply in the number of hands to handle such things. More mature content may be allows in the future, but the user base is young and they would rather protect them over anything else.

If you’re over 18 and prefer more mature content (does not include only nudity, but things like violence and other such topics) you’re better off with CharacterHub and using the mature filters appropriately. If you don’t care or are under 18, UnVale will work just as well for you as will CharacterHub.

Opening things in a new tab isn’t something I originally thought would be a topic to discuss but it turns out I probably should, somewhere. On mobile CharacterHub, you cannot open (practically any) links on the site in a new tab. Long-pressing will do nothing but highlight. Absolutely nothing. This doesn’t apply to desktop. They claimed this is to prevent stolen art through saving it when I brought it up, but this makes no sense considering this isn’t a thing on desktop. Only mobile. You can right click normally on desktop even though the mobile equivalent just doesn’t work.

UnVale allows for opening in new tabs no matter what you’re on. This, of course, makes it easier to do things like… participate in collaborative worlds/events, comparing your own character profiles, and looking at characters without losing your place in your browsing.

This is something that doesn’t really belong anywhere else since UnVale doesn’t have an equivalent, but CharacterHub offers personality quizzes you can take for your characters. You can then add those results to the profile, if you want. For free, you get a limited number of quiz steps you can take per day, though this does appear to be connected to the same internal system that manages other timers across the site, so sometimes it completely breaks and won’t give you your quiz tickets on time.

Additionally, CharacterHub has an iOS app in closed beta at the moment. Updates to the app are far, far slower than updates to the site itself, but it's supposed to have the same functionality as the mobile site (it does, sometimes, except for when it doesn't, because it's a little broken).

UnVale, as far as I know, does not have any plans for a mobile app in the near future, iOS or Android. I don't mind since it works identically on desktop and mobile, already, anyway.

I forgot……….. they’re also here on Tumblr @characterhub-com and @unvale-io. Tagged so you can just click to go to the blog instead of searching for them because I find that annoying on posts I’m just gonna nudge them for ease of acces nbd

[bite-scars]

18+, MINORS DNI

Ageless blogs will be blocked

Dark kink and fiction blog. Seriously, if any specific kinks or dynamics bother you, this is likely not a safe or pleasant place to browse. Look after yourself ♡

This post will update periodically, please keep an eye out for Limit changes and etc

About Me

I follow/like from @corvid-cerebrum, check it out for a more well-rounded experience i guess lol

My name's not a secret or anything but I'd prefer you use petnames or nicknames (Birdie and doll are the first that come to mind, Kid counts as a petname with the right energy lol. Nothing is explicitly ruled out as of yet but a helpful "no" list will be made eventually)

I have self-harm scars. I'm not clean from it, i don't see myself quitting, it is partially a kink thing. Things may appear in photos. Any blood will be appropriately tagged. I in no way want to encourage it for anyone else, it's a terrible coping mechanism and can be extremely dangerous. If it makes you uncomfortable please block. I find them attractive on myself and am content with this. I don't intend to hide myself on my own blog or feel shame for feeling attractive, it would go against the entire purpose of having this blog in the first place. Posts mentioning it explicitly will be tagged with "tw sh" for those with that muted/blocked. Please respect this warning and proceed according to your best interests.

5'1 short king mama ey

Nonbinary/genderfluid transmasc, certified prettyboy, working on getting T and top surgery

They/them primarily but really wanting to test out he/him and it/its more

Just a little creature. A housecat. A pretty bird. An unknown entity to study and unravel and pick apart piece by piece to see what makes it tick.

AuDHD

Bi/pan, aro+ace-spec

Switch, dom-leaning in theory, sub-leaning in practice (for now)

Married ♡

Poly but not currently interested in/in a place for building new connections

Just here to figure out what I'm into, explore gender a bit, and embrace the art of posting explicitly horny cringe (art, writing, fan content, thirst posting, anything I still get embarrassed over people seeing).

The goal is to eventually use this like my main but with 0 shame, so it might end up pretty eclectic.

Boundaries

Not comfortable with direct flirting or dms in general (unless asking me to remove a tag from your post or something like that)

Asks to talk about kinks, posts I've made, or anything else really are ok but not guaranteed to be answered due to low social battery ^^; I do love interacting when I'm able, I'm addicted to attention ;p

I'm not Super into the whole mutuals thing as of yet (on account of the afformentioned social battery) but that may change as I get more comfortable here :)

I mostly only tag for clarity/categorization

(ie if you have any big Nopes please tread carefully)

• ♧ - With Fictional Characters. I like the concept/kink but primarily to explore through characters and not myself (unless paired with another symbol ig lol)

• ♤ - I'm picturing myself on the dominant side of the concept

• ◇ - I'm picturing myself on the submissive side of the concept

• ♡ - both is good

• Need - would like to try something similar irl given the right opportunity

• Spare Parts - pictures of me :3

• Not a kink - just yapping bc I feel safer posting over here than on main ig lol

• Art, Writing, Fic, Word Vomit, Concept - Things I've made myself, all pretty self explanatory. The difference between Writing and Fic is just ocs vs existing characters, Word Vomit is effectively brainstorming out loud anything i don't have the energy to structure into a better format, Concept is effectively the middle ground between Writing and Word Vomit.

• the wolverine brainrot strikes again - also self explanatory-- If you're trying to avoid spoilers like the plague or have beef with this guy/people drooling over him feel free to block this one lol

○ I might also tag for specific ocs/ existing characters, depending. If you're not ok with blorbo-tagging on your posts just shoot me a dm and I'll untag that bit and do my best to avoid doing so in the future, no problem at all :)

More may be added in the future but this is a good starting point i think

Body-related language/terms I vibe with:

Ok: chest, dick, tdick, cock, hole, boyhole (could refer to front or back). Pussy and cunt are on thin ice for the time being

No thank you: clit, breasts, tits, most other words typically used for boobs, you know how it is

Kinks/Limits List

Subject to change and fill up more as I figure things out

Favorite

Finally some good fucking food, foaming at the mouth about it, shows up in more fantasies than not, etc etc

Biting

Marking

Cnc

Knifeplay

Into

Cheers I'll drink to that bro

Praise

Bondage

Exhibitionism (i like feeling like art on display in particular 🌸)

Size kink

Teratophilia

Corruption

Rarely into, but not Never

Very picky about it, or very dependent on my mood

Petplay

Hypnosis

Roachification

Exploring

I have feelings about it but I'm not sure what kind yet

Fauxcest

Ageplay

Hard Pass

Mostly no shade, just not for me

Detrans

Scat

Any kind of food/weight control

It should go without saying that anything genuinely (as in, not solely fantasy/negotiated/roleplay/etc) nonconsensual or harmful (RACK excluded ofc, mentioning for clarity) is not acceptable here, DNI

I also just block anyone that makes me uncomfortable or is an outright dick✌️ protecting my peace.

[slybluehologhost]

Admin housekeeping incoming — just wanted to write a few updates on some upcoming projects.

1) I've done some major redesigns to my tumblr, so hopefully it will be nicer to look at & easier to use. I will note, however, that some pages might be better suited to desktop viewing & minor decorative pieces could look a little off when viewing on a mobile browser. I don't use the tumblr app, so I'm now realizing that I have no clue how things will look there at all... whoops. If you happen to find something massively broken, send me an ask & I'll look into figuring out what went wrong. It's worth noting that I've set up redirect pages for the two old static masterlists, but you'll need to click the link on them to redirect to the new navigation page since every auto redirect code I found uses JavaScript.

2) The DMMd re:code Materials Book will take a little longer than I originally expected to get up. TL;DR, my day job has been kind of wild this month & the scanner I use was out of commission for a while. I'm hoping to finish it sometime during March, so long as no more wrenches get thrown into my plans.

3) Work on TCN 2009 is progressing relatively smoothly, so I'm still crossing my fingers for things to be finished by White Day. Eagle-eyed folks might've noticed that the new masterlist page for TCN also includes a third event... That DVD will be arriving at some point in the future, but I'll likely work on it during the summer/fall so I can upload some other items first.

4) I have... a lot of things to scan. Like a LOT. We're talking probably close to 1k scans. It's immensely tedious. I will get through everything eventually, but if things get slow around here, it's likely because I'm in scanning hell.

5) Some VK things will eventually be posted on here as well, primarily because I just want someplace to put them. It won't become the focus of this account, & some of it will be of interest to DMMd fans anyway.

6) Lastly... If you're interested in seeing something in particular on here, send me an ask. I can't make any promises — especially if I don't have access to whatever it is — but I will take note if it seems like there's a big interest in something. I'm just one person & I'm paying for everything with my own funds, so please keep that in mind.

If you read all that, then thanks, haha. Hope you're enjoying things here!

[clippedwingsmuses]

ooc: good morning, no icon bc i am. guh. i am so tired rn, but i had to give yall a psa update about stuff going on with me (since i just got back from my doc appointment)

basic tldr; my activity is most likely going to be even more sparse than it is for a while because i'm focused on my mental and physical health (working on regulating my bipolar disorder primarily), as well as some legal issues that i need to address; what activity i do have may be restricted to my current threads and i might not be making ooc update posts very frequently

full information (and miscellaneous ramble-venting) is under the cut

active muse check: surge, laurance, wanderer, kieran

(cw: mental health, general medical and legal talks, venting)

ooc: so breaking news, apparently it turns out my bipolar disorder might be the more major diagnosis between everything that i got checked out a couple weeks ago, i got prescribed some mood stabilizers so i should be getting them in tomorrow

im having to re-set up my insurance bc they fucked me over and cancelled it (we didn't get any of the documents that they were supposed to be giving us, and my acc on their website can prove we didn't receive them) so that's stressing me out

i also had to get bloodwork done today for whatever reason, going there and doing the bloodwork is what gave us the heads up that my insurance was cancelled so i guess i'm glad for it, but also we can't really afford to pay for the bloodwork rn (and barely if at all); i'm glad that i got it done so i can see if i have any physical issues to worry about, but at the same time that payment is gonna fuck us over for a little, cause we barely get by as it is

im also cramping which sucks!!!!! but that's small beans compared to everything else

i mean today already started off pretty shit for me, i only got about 4 hours of sleep cause my anxiety kept me up most of the night (who was surprised that would happen? not me) since i was stressing about the appointment (they're also still ignoring the potential that i could be neurodivergent, and i know damn well that i am, they just keep blaming my issues on everything else that's wrong with me, so that's stressing me out to a pretty strong degree too)

so yeah, considering all my mental health issues and the doctors visits ive basically been having nonstop for the last couple of weeks, my activity on this account is probably going to be even less than it already is; i've just got too much going on to put all my energy into fixating on writing, and even writing my novel is a chore that i've really had to trudge through the mud to finish (i'm still not even done with it)

i will still be around to write on here ofc, but i might restrict myself into not actively searching for any new rp partners for a while; i'm going to try spending my time relaxing and getting my shit sorted before i fully commit to being here as much as i have been. again, activity will still be here all things considered, but i might not be making very many ooc posts like i have been, and as far as dash shenanigans go i might be pretty quiet

my discord is open to mutuals if anyone wants to chat or discuss plots, and my ims on here will always be open as well

sorry for rambling and bitching so much on here i just like to keep yall informed, but yeah the tldr at the top basically explains all the important details outside of my rambling

[khttrpg]

V0.2 Release Schedule

Hey all! Apologies for the long period on hiatus. Amongst other things I am now back on The Good Meds (fingers crossed no allergic reaction this time) and have gotten through the worst of several sudden tragedies in a row. So we're finally back on track to talk really seriously about KHTTRPG V0.2! (Sorry for the long wait!!)

Right now, the plan is to have the entirety of 0.2 released by May 31st, 2023 - about a month and a half from today. Whether I will release these in modular bits and pieces up to that point or if I will wait and release it all in May is currently tossed out to the voting populace, but regardless, this will be the final release date for all involved text!

I've compiled a list of all the updates under the cut so you can see what exactly took me so long! I've also included a few of the things I'm hoping to start working on after V0.2 comes out, life permitting. Examples of some of these will be posted in the next couple days to give a sense of what's coming, but feel free to ask any questions you may have! and keep in mind this isn't everything, just the big things! (:

Core Rules Changes

Major change to how Reducing a CR works, inspired primarily by Caltrop Core.

Addition of Memory mechanics.

Trading out and removal of certain redundant Talents for more useful ones.

Simplification of the Light/Darkness rules.

Less complex and more balanced levelling.

Addition of many, and better integration overall of, Abilities as a core part of the gameplay.

The return of EXP, but in a much simpler, easier to account for format.

Combat Changes

A pretty large, sweeping combat change – trading out of the “Attack Stat” for specific attack abilities that follow a code of Union Cross-inspired Power, Speed, and Magic Attacks; a generally more Ability-oriented combat system.

Complete rehaul of building enemies and how to run combat itself.

General attempts to find a middle ground between “my stats determine I lose this fight no matter what” and “this combat takes 7 full hours and 8 dice.”

A guide for how an MM can “map out” a battlefield to keep track of relative locations without losing the flow.

A specific list of damage types, and minor changes to the list of conditions.

More organized and elaborate options for combat rewards.

Classes

Adding passive abilities to the Keyblade class such as “able to open locks with a visible keyhole.”

Major changes to every class to account for the shift to a more Ability-oriented combat system.

A full recreation of the Witch class based on new Memory mechanics.

Magic

Adding an option to recharge MP through actions on your turn in addition to its passive gain over time.

Changes learning and upgraded spells to AP instead of stat-reliant.

Other

General language changes, typo corrections, addition of flavor text or examples to clarify unclear rules, etc.

Things that Won’t be in V0.2, but are on the docket for the future!

Weapon classes (as of right now, I have over 10 of these on the list to work on! These will likely be first priority after V0.2.)

Expanded shops/items

Gummi Ship rules, Synthesizing rules

NPC Ally rules

Further job classes (currently on list: Engineer, Berserker, Summoner, some sort of class based on Light/Darkness scores and neutrality)

Design updates...making it look pretty......making a functional pretty character sheet...........Art TM (maybe)

A new official name for the system, for "wait a second. this is kind of rude to the KH ttrpgs other people have made" purposes! (The URL will stay. I'm not giving up this prestige.)

[ciaran]

Yoo ask writing meme? Hope you don't mind taking more, 13... 17? 18 if you're okay with that, 33, 35, 36? And 38, sorry if that's a lot. Btw seeing you update your layouts is fun, where do you find all the ethereal looking images you use for your icons? I too am a sun hater.

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

i find writing kink really easy, but also really hard. it's always in my head, but there's so much of it that pulling it into a manageable size is really tough. i think most of the things i love writing are at least a little hard, but the stuff that should count as "hardest" is also the most satisfying. i love writing characters having breakdowns. i find it easy to write dialogue and atmosphere and emotion; i find it difficult to write action. i feel like i'm walking around the answer without hitting it.

the rest are under the cut for length!

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

i don't know if i'm good at doing this but let me try. i generally keep all the details in my head so i feel excited about putting them down? but this WIP is set in a world where the land and king are intrinsically connected, and nick was adopted because he was recognized. the mechanism of recognition is irrelevant. there's a scene where vash says he was drowned by a rusalka; what happened was that the rusalka was hurt by a human man, and in retaliation kidnapped and drowned a couple of children. vash jumped in to save the kids, and the river froze over, so he was in there for a time that would have killed a human but he's not human, so... he managed to talk the rusalka down, then climbed out and dispersed a crowd of villagers with pitchforks and torches, made them all really mad at him, and ended up freezing to death between the water and the snow. there's another scene where vash says his cloak is made of phoenix feathers. his brother deals primarily with the supernatural creatures of the land, and does not truck with humans. vash himself brought this phoenix to knives, because she was dying and he was hoping his brother could save her, but his brother couldn't do anything by then. she died in knives's arms after vash left. when he came back, knives had made her feathers into a cloak for his brother. though phoenixes never fully die, they do fade out - their heat does not dissipate, but the consciousness leaves. since vash is a dragon with (story spoilers) no fire, he needs the warmth when he travels... and stuff like the thing with the rusalka happens anyway.

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

i paint and draw, but it's all very abstract and way less emotionally charged for me than writing. i also want to get back into singing. i don't think it ties into my writing, unless i want to talk about the process of Creation, one of my pet themes :)

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

all of them. show me a rule and i'll show you a way to break it. but mostly i think i hate the idea that every scene needs to be relevant in an immediate way. pacing, you guys. let the emotions breathe!!!

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice...what do you Know?

i know almost nothing... well, i know gender, and trauma, and mental illness. i know loneliness. everything else - well, who can say? i'm curious what people think i know, after reading my stuff.

as for the icons - pinterest >_< my guilty pleasure i never grew out of. i am sort of obsessed w maintaining a very specific aesthetic across my accounts. sun haters UNITE

[scarlet--wiccan]

Would you be interested to see Samhain return in the Scarlet Witch series?

Yeah, absolutely, although in what capacity, I'm not so sure. There are already a lot of connections in the current run of Scarlet Witch that could be used to bring this character back, but the book is primarily committed to breaking new ground, rather than dwelling on Wanda's past, so it's hard to imagine exactly where he'd fit in. I do think that Samhain needs a bit of a refresh, and I'd like for his background to be updated to better suit the current treatment of witchcraft and mythology.* If he did come back, I would like for him to get a revamp similar to Lore.

For anyone who's not familiar, Samhain was a recurring villain in both volumes of the original Vision & Scarlet Witch. He's introduced as a malevolent spirit that's bound to an ancient magical book. Stop me if that sounds familiar. The book has made it's way into Wanda's collection, and Samhain emerges on Halloween to wreak havoc. Wanda defeats him the first time by throwing the book into a fireplace, thereby destroying his tether to the material world. In the second volume, Wanda becomes trapped in the Land of the Dead while attempting to communicated with Agatha, where Samhain attempts to siphon her life force, and that of her unborn child, to facilitate his return to the mortal plane. After the book is once again incinerated by Vision, Samhain becomes incorporeal, and Agatha is able to divide his essence and bind each fragment to one of the recently deceased Salem Seven. Ostensibly, this should keep Samhain trapped in the Land of the Dead forever, but the Seven have returned to life several times over the years, and Samhain has never been accounted for.

So, where is he? The most obvious answer is that he's either trapped and perhaps unable to fully manifest in the Land of the Dead, or he's still lying dormant within in the Salem Seven. Both options provide easy opportunities for him to return. The Land of the Dead has recently been integrated into Scarlet Witch's present-day worldbuilding. It played a major role earlier in the series, and there are still some loose threads there that I'm expecting Orlando to pick back up with Lore and Nicholas. New Salem has also been a recurring location, and although the Seven themselves haven't appeared, the recent spotlight on Agatha and Nicholas sets the stage for their re-introduction. It might be cool to see the Seven attempt to summon and command Samhain's power-- and maybe get some updated designs in the process-- only for it to backfire.

It seems as though death is going to be a major theme in the upcoming Vision & Scarlet Witch miniseries-- in fact, there appears to be some sort of "thinning of the veil" going on-- and it's safe to assume that the Grim Reaper, who was also a recurring villain in the classic 80s run, will be involved in some way. I don't like baseless speculation, but it would be very cool if Samhain was somehow beind this "Death's Door" phenomenon, whether that's as the mastermind, or maybe as a pawn of Lore.

*"Samhain" is the name of a Gaelic seasonal festival held in late October or early November. The festival marks the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter, and, historically, it was believed that "doorways" would open between the realms of the living and the dead, mortals and faeries, etc. Sound familiar? In the modern day, Samhain has been adopted by Wiccans and other neopagan traditions as a major holiday, coinciding with Halloween.

In the 80s, writers like Englehart drew inspiration from Wicca when describing Wanda's magical practice, which is very evident in Vision & Scarlet Witch. Samhain proclaims to be both the embodiment of All Hallow's Eve, and a "druid deity." No such deity exists, nor is there, to my knowledge, any one specific deity associated with the festival. Modern comics tend to be at least a little more well-researched when it comes to mythology and folklore, and they've shed the overt Wiccan influences, which is why I think Samhain's backstory needs to be updated. He could also be interpreted as an avatar of death, or fear, as he describes himself almost like an abstract personification, but there are already several characters in both of those roles.

I have two ideas for this-- many Celtic gods and mythical figures, such as the Tuatha de Danaan, do exist in the Marvel world, just like Thor or Loki. Maybe we could reveal that "Samhain" is actually an alias for a real mythical character that hasn't been represented yet, like how Jack Frost was revealed to be Isabrot. My first thought is Aillen, a malicious being who terrorized mortals on Samhain until he was slain by Fionn mac Cumhaill. Alternatively, you could establish him as an archetypical being specific to the Witches' Road-- maybe there are spirits that represent different seasons, or maybe he is meant to be a parallel to the Witchcraft goddess who presides over the Land of the Dead. I'm not sure how I would reconcile that with his motives in the 80s, but it could be cool to see him challenging Lore to reclaim his throne, as it were.

[broken-dollhouse]

Sorry we're discussing filegarden sm, I promise this is the last post lol

Huge post be aware!!

We just want to share info from their bluesky, if anyone has info from their discord we absolutely would appreciate that however we aren't in their server [nor can we join any whoops] We also decided to add more information about GoDaddy, which is where the ".garden" domain filegarden uses comes from.

Here [link] is a link to their bluesky account if anyone needs it

The first three posts are from Febuary 11th @ 9:54 [am]. The resg are Febuary 12th @ 15:35 / 3:35pm

"The file.garden domain is currently down. The website (filegarden.com) and all files are fine, but direct links are inaccessible. The issue seems to be on Cloudflare's end (our domain provider). I contacted them and will post as soon as they reply. Unfortunately the average response time is 3 days."

"Cloudflare has confirmed they blocked the domain intentionally, and they did not notify me of this or provide any explanation. I submitted a request to get it unblocked and asked for further details. More updates to come."

"No response yet, but I completed a domain transfer from Cloudflare to Porkbun and can now begin restoring the domain's functionality. We relied on Cloudflare for some of our infrastructure, so replacing that may take some time. Rest assured that all will be restored. Thank you for your support. :)"

"The domain is still inaccessible on Porkbun's DNS, so Cloudflare likely misunderstood the situation and was wrong to take blame (fortunately). The issue is likely on the .garden registry's end instead (unfortunately), which is owned by GoDaddy. I contacted GoDaddy and Porkbun and will update you."

"GoDaddy confirmed they blocked file.garden for violating TLD community guidelines. This is the first I'm hearing of this, and they aren't clarifying how their guidelines were violated. They say our registrar Porkbun is responsible for appealing the block, so I'm in contact with them now."

There are also these two posts from Febuary 13th @ 18:34 / 6:34pm and 18:25 / 6:25pm respectively with the second being a reply to a user who asked "do you know how much longer it'll be till its back up ?"

"The Cloudflare support agent mistakenly confirmed they blocked the domain itself, when in reality they only blocked two individual user-uploaded files for containing abusive content. They conflated these two unrelated issues. Cloudflare hasn't wronged us other than by giving inaccurate support."

"There is no way to be sure unfortunately. We're posting more frequent minor updates on our Discord server, in case you'd like to keep track of everything going on with this case in more detail: filegarden.com/discord"

Now, I did want to discuss a bit about what a "TLD" is , a TLD is a top level domain, so urls are actually right to left. As an example "file.garden" is top level domain ".garden" This TLD , in the case of filegarden , comes from GoDaddy. I'll link their TLD policy page that shows when you look to "garden" [link].

Now GoDaddy doesn't have a good reputation, primarily with customers after they've bought their domain, with the common complaint being their customer service is awful. Heres a Reddit thread [link] we found, obviously not gospel but it does share a lot of the exact same points, ones we see within FileGarden, which is no communication from the people who work within GoDaddy about what happened and heres one going over information about pricing. 'Okay well those are old posts now' those posts are 2 and 3 yrs old respectively, however heres a post [link] from 6 months ago, another [link] from 4 months ago and also this one , discussing their trustpilot [link], from 3/4 months ago. 'Those are reddit posts tho people are biased' yes, they are reddit posts, hence why we say do not treat them as gospel, however isn't it weird everyone has the same problems? Slow site , pricing is really high compared to others, poor communication, ect. Another personal experience [link], which in this one they had to go through hoops for a refund of 4025$ USD. "I placed the pre-registration of the domain name and it costed about USD $4025. And, after placing the order the amount was deducted from my account. However soon I realized that renewal would not be at the base price but again have to pay the premium, which is not what was expected. I reached out to GoDaddy support and requested them to cancel my pre-registration. They suggested me to reached out after 14 days when the domain registration is done and then they will cancel the domain registration and do the refund."

'Why would they have a good rating if they're so bad though??' They're heavily promoted, and many people who haven't made a site before often don't know much about it or what options they may have. No domain hoster will be perfect , keep this in mind, even Cloudflare has problems of its own.

Lets look at their trust pilot , as much as I don't care heavily for it many people look there, I'll share some 1 star , 3 star and 5 star reviews, specifically the newest 3 available as most are within the last day [minus 3 stars which are older , I also skipped one as it was either a joke or wrong company.] You will notice some reviews say "invited" , all this means [per trustpilots website] "A review that's marked “Invited” indicates that the business invited the reviewer to write it by sharing a link leading directly to their review form." link

1 star;

Review 1: "On advice from a Guide I purchased a migration package and was told I needed it to avoid any issues when migrating my website from wordpress to GoDaddy. They failed to complete a successful migration, insisted it was not a guarantee, and collected my $200 fee. Used to be a fan, NO MORE, will move my business else ware. BEWARE!"

Review 2: "Just Avoid At All Costs. Terrible Company. Useless Customer service. They force you into upgrading. Free plan worked for my website great until they decided to push me into buying a plan. They limited my access to many sections of my website. And their useless customer service just wasted my time. I can't have this anymore. I'm moving my domain and website to another host." Review 3: "I removed all the cards to avoid any kid of payment to godaddy because I had previous issues with them. They don't care, and charged me again using my paypal account, which I can't remove from their panel. They literally steal hundreds the euros from me using different techniques like this one, so terrible company"

3 star ;

Review 1: "GoDaddy's call center expertise has always been swift, very intuitive and prompt. Unfortunately, GoDaddy has moved their call center off-shore (India, I presume). The gentleman was helpful to the point that he directed me to Hosting, after approximately an hour on the phone. His English was ok but hard to understand, as he investigated my issue, asked direction from his supervisor, and eventually sent me back to the US. The tech in Hosting was helpful and has submitted my code change to be completed within 72 hours."

Review 2: "GoDaddy talked the talk and at the time seemed like a good idea to pay for them to build me a website. I paid the amount in full over £1600 Which I thought was very reasonable. After half hour I decided that I’d made a mistake and basically had “buyers remorse” so called customer service to cancel the product and get a refund. They said it would have to be sent for “review “ and that I would get an email within 3 days. Didn’t hear from them so called again and again they said they would send for “review “ I asked them if they could email me proof that I had asked for a refund but they said they couldn’t send an email confirming this and that I had to wait for it to be reviewed. I still didn’t hear back so after a further 3 days I called again only to be told the same thing again only this time they cancelled the product as apparently they can’t refund until the product has been taken off . Why wasn’t I told this previously? Again they said they couldn’t send an email to confirm I had asked for a refund etc but once it had gone for “review “ ( a third time ) i would receive an email confirming the refund within 3 days So after approximately two hours of phone calls and 12 days later I finally received a refund so thank you for that. But I would have thought a company that deals in websites surly could have sent me an email confirming that I’d cancelled the product ."

Review 3: "Takes long to upload videos and very limited space , they make you buy storage to upload more videos"

5 star;

Review 1: "As someone who has minimal "tech" skills, I get very agitated and frustrated by tech issues. Mario, the person I worked with to resolve my issue, could not have been more patient, more kind nor more helpful. He not only assuaged my fears, he did it with kindness and patience. It was a huge issue to me and to my company so my appreciation for how he helped cannot be under-exaggerated. I am most grateful."

Review 2: "Jason was really helpful and resolved my issue. He even called me back because I had to do something. I told him I was not proficient with websites and he was really understanding. My overall experience with Jason and Godaddy has been exceptional! I will definately tell anyone who is planning on getting a website to use Godaddy as they provide the best customer support! Thanks!"

Review 3: "I have been working with GoDaddy for over ten years and I must say your team gets better and better when it comes to service and support. The representative, Scooter I spoke with today went above and beyond in every aspect. He was super kind, patient, and innovative when it came to suggestions on how to help me. I'm very grateful for your kind words and help Scooter. Thank you! VV"

Why don't we trust, trustpilot? Fake reviews. Thats the simple answer. Sadly as most companies, they are "allowed" often due to a high payment, with fake reviews they often have little commentary to what they're reviewing, or what they say doesn't make much sense to what they're reviewing. We personally say , regardless of what site you use , look to 2-4 star reviews first as they do tend to be the most honest , 1 star reviews can be user error or something else so always pay attention. Every review needs a grain of salt to it because companies do pay for good reviews [we are NOT saying GoDaddy does this]. We also barely trust influencer reviews, Honey is a very good example of why. From r/outoftheloop [link] "Are YouTube content creators being scammed? Are watchers getting scammed? Who is this affecting?" "Answer: The Honey App is advertised as an extension that will automatically search coupon codes for you when you are doing some online shopping. Well, there has been investigations into the extension, and they are not being as honest as they are saying. One if you click on an affiliate link from a creator to buy something, they will sometimes get credit or a commission for you purchasing that Item. However, if you scan it with honey, honey will reload the web page so they get the commission. Two: Honey will say "We scoured the internet and found you 5 codes" well, they don't actually search the internet, what is actually happening is the seller of the item chooses what coupon codes honey can use. So you you may actually be able to find a better coupon code if not using honey." Honey , a browser extention which claims to find the best codes, also happens to be owned by PayPal, a company known for not having a great reputation , post from r/paypal [link] and also ttrustpilots reviews.

Just because a website has a "good reputation" does not mean they are trustworthy. We've seen this quite a few times now, I mean so many youtuber promoted products haven't actually been good or reliable, such as betterhelp , but it holds a "good" reputation because of youtubers and possibly false reviews regardless of if its truely "good".

I'm sorry for the yapping, we wanted to try and explain what we knew about this situation , as someone who uses filegarden quite frequently.

[starseedfxofficial]

The Secret Sauce for Predicting EUR/CHF Movements Using Chaikin Money Flow Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room—no, Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) is not the latest health drink meant to boost your immune system, nor is it a fancy new cocktail (though, after some trades, you might wish it were). CMF is actually a powerful momentum indicator that can give you the edge in predicting movements in the Forex market, specifically with the EUR/CHF pair. But be warned: this article is not for the faint-hearted or those who tend to treat Forex trading like a guessing game. We’re about to dive into some advanced tactics, little-known secrets, and game-changing insights that might just save you from your next trading blunder—you know, the one that feels like buying a treadmill during a midlife crisis only to use it as a glorified coat rack. Why Most Traders Get It Wrong with EUR/CHF (And How You Can Avoid It) Most traders have a love-hate relationship with the EUR/CHF currency pair. It's not exactly the hottest thing on the market, but it offers opportunities for those willing to play a smarter game. The EUR/CHF pair is unique—think of it like that sophisticated friend at a party who avoids drama and refuses to be part of wild price swings. Instead, it quietly exhibits stability, driven primarily by European economic sentiment and Swiss safe-haven status. The mistake many traders make with EUR/CHF is ignoring the importance of volume in identifying trends—and this is where the Chaikin Money Flow indicator comes into play. CMF allows us to track buying and selling pressure, which is crucial in a relatively predictable pair like EUR/CHF. When you see price action and CMF working together like peanut butter and jelly (or like your left and right shoe—unlike my last-minute packing attempt), you know it's time to get serious about making a move. Chaikin Money Flow 101: The Lesser-Known Gem of Market Indicators First things first, for those who may need a quick refresher: Chaikin Money Flow is all about tracking the accumulation and distribution of a security over a given period. In other words, it measures how much buying (accumulation) or selling (distribution) pressure exists. When CMF is positive, it's a signal that buyers are in control; when it's negative, sellers are taking charge. Unlike traditional indicators like RSI or MACD, CMF takes into account both price and volume. Now, I know what you’re thinking: "Volume in Forex? But there’s no central exchange!" You’re right, sort of. Forex volume may not be centralized, but that’s where Chaikin Money Flow shines—it’s all about the balance of buying and selling power relative to price. And let’s just say that using CMF with EUR/CHF can be like having a map in a maze where most people are wandering without direction. The Hidden Formula Only Experts Use to Trade EUR/CHF with CMF Let’s get to the good stuff. The secret to using Chaikin Money Flow effectively with EUR/CHF lies in combining it with the market context. That’s right, context is king. You wouldn’t wear a tuxedo to a barbecue (unless it’s that kind of party). The same goes for trading—using the CMF indicator without considering market conditions is like trying to make a soufflé without knowing your oven’s hot spots. Disaster waiting to happen. When trading EUR/CHF, always check macroeconomic indicators—Swiss inflation data, European Central Bank policy updates, and any geopolitical tensions that could affect investor sentiment. Here’s how you bring it all together: - Use CMF to Confirm Trend Strength: When EUR/CHF is showing an uptrend and CMF crosses above the zero line, you’ve got buying confirmation—a signal that the trend could continue. If the indicator turns negative while price keeps inching up, it could be a false rally. Like that New Year’s resolution to go to the gym—all talk, no action. - Spot Divergence: Divergence between the CMF and price action is a powerful sign that a trend may be ending. Let’s say EUR/CHF is making new highs, but CMF is failing to follow—that’s when you may want to hold off on buying, or even better, consider a reversal. The idea is to avoid being the trader who buys at the top because everyone else is buying at the top. We’re smarter than that—and you’re here to get smarter, aren’t you? Case Study: EUR/CHF and the Money Flow Signal of 2023 Remember that memorable blip in July 2023 when EUR/CHF took a slight dive and then rebounded with grace like a ballerina on opening night? Most retail traders missed the party, but if you had the Chaikin Money Flow on your chart, you’d have seen the early accumulation—CMF crossed above zero even while EUR/CHF was dropping. This was a textbook example of divergence, indicating that institutional traders were stepping in to buy. In other words, they knew something the rest of the market didn't. Advanced traders who caught this shift not only avoided the panic sell but capitalized on a beautiful trend reversal. It’s like having insider information, but without the jail time—thanks to CMF. Chaikin Money Flow Settings for EUR/CHF: The Sweet Spot Settings matter. Some traders use the default 20-period setting for CMF, but with EUR/CHF, it’s often better to dial it down to a 14-period setting for quicker responsiveness. The market moves slower than some of the more volatile pairs, so adjusting the period helps get a faster read without lag. It’s kind of like getting your coffee order right—some need a triple shot, others just a decaf. Get the mix wrong, and you’ll either be asleep at your desk or jittery enough to take every trade. The key is to stay flexible. Adjust your CMF settings based on recent market volatility. In a relatively calm market, consider using a 10-period CMF to capture any changes in buying pressure before they hit the broader market's radar. Why Ignoring CMF Is Like Skipping the Free Sample at the Store You know that moment when you walk past the free sample stand at the store, trying to act like you’re so above it? Yeah, we all know that free samples are often worth a taste. CMF is like that sample—a taste of what’s to come. If you’re ignoring it, you’re likely missing out on critical information that could shape your next trade. For EUR/CHF, ignoring CMF means ignoring one of the few reliable tools that can help you navigate those sideways price actions or sudden bursts of activity. It’s not the flashy, front-page indicator—it’s more like the secret sauce that makes the whole dish work. The Forgotten Strategy That Outsmarted the Pros Back in early 2022, a lot of retail traders were completely baffled when EUR/CHF started trading sideways after a brief rally. The market had shown a bullish sentiment, but then seemed to lose momentum. Here’s where using CMF alongside traditional price action made all the difference. By analyzing Chaikin Money Flow with EUR/CHF, you could see the accumulation that was happening quietly under the radar. Price wasn't moving, but CMF was showing increasing buyer activity. Most retail traders thought it was a dead market—meanwhile, pros were getting in while prices were low. When the inevitable move came, it came hard and fast. Lesson here? Smart money acts before the rest of the market notices. The One Simple Trick That Can Change Your Trading Mindset Let’s keep it real—trading is hard. Sometimes you need more than just technical analysis; you need a mindset change. And here’s one trick that works wonders: Treat your losses as tuition fees. Every bad trade is like paying for a semester at "Forex University." The lesson might sting, but the knowledge you gain is invaluable. With EUR/CHF, a pair notorious for its stealthy moves, CMF can be the professor you never knew you needed. Each time you ignore it and lose, remember: That loss is a reminder that the market doesn’t care about your opinion. It cares about volume and who’s really in control—buyers or sellers. Chaikin Money Flow gives you the insight to see the smart money. —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated Read the full article

[thoughtsofadyingsoftwaredev]

Hello, Tumblr world! For some reason I am drawn to you in the Fall season. My last post was just over a year ago… sorry about that. Not that you, my lovely reader, care - and that is IF anyone reads this! I won't lie I don't care if people read these or not, this is essentially an online journal for me at this point, ha.

So, what's new with me lately, you might ask? Well, I'll break it down:

Still happy with our house. We've made gradual updates to it since moving in, including redoing some old flooring with some new vinyl faux-wood looking stuff. Super nice. Also replaced an old toilet in the process. Next we're eyeballing a bathtub upgrade for one of the bathrooms and big landscaping changes to our back yard.

Got promoted at work to Senior Software Engineer after 3 years. Not bad turnaround time for that title change, in my opinion. My responsibilities shifted from managing the IAM software to managing our search experience for the many different applications we provide.

This primarily means I'm responsible for drafting search document schemas, working with these other teams to get answers on questions they refuse to provide answers to without me having to ask first, and handling the logic for ingesting hundreds of thousands of items of varying types to different search engines. In my 3.5 years of working here, I have enjoyed the challenges of the job. Of course, it's not without it's awful days or days where my head is screeching, but the good days outweigh the bad for me.

Wife and I are still on speaking terms. That's my way of saying we're both as good and happy with each other as ever lol she's my best friend. We both got super interested in NFL this season and watch every Monday and Thursday game and watch Minnesota (wife's favorite team) on Sundays. RIP Vikings post-Cousins injury.

That's about all I can think of life-wise. My 31st birthday was a few weeks ago, and I feel old as shit sometimes LOL I look in the mirror and I see what seems like new wrinkles in new places, my hair is graying in small parts, and I find it hard to stay up late. It's 1:04AM right now and I find this to be the upper range of my limits lol

I had a dream recently that my wife and I died in a freak accident at some theme park (not a specific one, just some weird abstract dreamy one) - from what I can remember we were on what we thought was part of a ride, but what ended up happening is we both fell to our deaths.

After we died, we both were floating over family and friends as spirits, watching our bodies get carried in open caskets. For some reason, I had two huge pieces of hair that went down both sides of my face (this is nowhere near what my hair looks like so no idea why this was).

At first, when I woke up, I kinda had to laugh at it. The overall sequence of events was a bit silly. But I found myself thinking more and more about it throughout today. Who will care if I die? Not in a "bad thoughts" kinda way, but genuinely - what kind of footprint am I leaving in this world? Will people know or care that I die? Probably not, and I think ultimately I'm fine with that, but the dream gave me pause and kinda fucked with me today haha.

Can I tell you a secret Tumblr? I have a burner Facebook account that I use to see how my old friends are doing. I am very anti-social media, and as part of that, have no real ways of keeping up with people from previous parts of my life aside from those who have my cell or email, so this gives me an outlet to see how friends I've made over the years are doing now.

Some of them never left my hometown, which kinda bums me out, because when I think of my time there, I couldn't imagine having stayed. But I have to consider that they may really love the place and have strong ties to it. I don't want to sound mean when I say that, but it's just a very small, quiet town that seems like a place you'd stay if you decided not to attend university or a trade school. And that's perfectly okay, too.

Some are thriving, too! A very good friend of mine recently got married, and I'm thrilled for him. I remember late nights at college talking with him outside of his dorm in the night air, rocking back and forth in a rocking chair, like the ones you see at Cracker Barrel. We'd talk philosophy, religion, girls, music, and much more. He's an awesome, genuinely kind hearted person and I'm glad to see he's doing well. He's not the only one, there are others who are all out there doing their thing, so to speak. I can't say why, but seeing these people I've known at some points in their lives doing well makes me incredibly happy.

Music is always a wonderful memory and hobby for me. Music is what brought most of my friends I've made and I together. I recently started playing guitar again (thank you Rocksmith 2014) and it has been a blast! I recently acquired a dream guitar of mine for awhile now: a Surf Green Fender MIM Strat. I fucking love it.

Piano is still on hiatus and has been for many, many years. I think it might intimidate me a bit. I eventually will have to bite the bullet and revisit it. I plan on using ABRSM resources to find some appropriate pieces for where I'm currently at. I'm hoping I can ramp back up to SOMEWHERE close to where I was when I went to school for music. I realize it may take years, but I think if I devote myself to it, I can achieve it. Honestly the hardest thing will be getting that dexterity back and remembering scales/fingerings/etc. Hopefully by the time I post next, I can report back with some success on that front!

Hobby coding-wise, I'm starting a new project using a new stack (for me): Java (Spring), Vue, and Postgres. My goal is to create a web application for Veterinarians offices for administrative use. This app will handle invoicing, communications with patients, store pet/owner data, store data regarding prescriptions, surgeries, etc., and probably more I'm forgetting. It's a lot of moving pieces, but it presents a fun challenge on both front-end and back-end, and frankly I've seen the most popular competition (Avimark) and it looks like dogshit. So my plan is to work on this for the foreseeable future, get an MVP up, snoop around my local area and see if anyone is interested in testing it out. This will be a long-term project, though. I have some ramping up to do with Vue as I have not used it since it was still in v1.0, so many things have changed!

Started watching Frieren and that shit kicks ass! The music, the animation, the art style. Only 4 episodes in, but it is easily top 5 anime.

JJK Season 2 has been fucking insane. It started off so crazy, I ended up binge reading the manga up until the end of the Shibuya Incident and holy shit. Seeing the Yuuji vs Choso fight animated was a fucking masterpiece!

Games-wise, I've been deep into WoW classic and FFXIV. FFXIV has always been my go-to, but lately I've been doing WoW and I love the customization that is possible within a class (priests, wars, etc builds can vary wildly and that's awesome!).

And I think that's all I've got! I've been drafting this post for the past 20 minutes-ish. I have to start winding down for today. This may be my longest post so far? Not sure, I'll compare it to my others word count-wise after this and confirm!