#I really hope Tumblr doesn't block this for having links or something. Someone mentioned that being a possibility and now I'm worried.

[maypop-the-dragon]

PSA: Free Software

Reading this may really save your time, privacy, and money! Reblog or share to spread awareness!

Folks often use software that’s expensive and sometimes even inferior because they don’t know there are alternatives. So to those unfamiliar: basically, free and open-source (FOSS) or "libre" software is free to use and anyone can access the original code to make their own version or work on fixing problems.

That does not mean anyone can randomly add a virus and give it to everyone—any respectable libre project has checks in place to make sure changes to the official version are good! Libre software is typically developed by communities who really care about the quality of the software as a goal in itself.

There are libre alternatives to many well-known programs that do everything an average user needs (find out more under the cut!) for free with no DRM, license keys, or subscriptions.

Using libre software when possible is an easy way to fight against and free yourself from corporate greed while actually being more convenient in many cases! If you need an app to do something, perhaps try searching online for things like:

foss [whatever it is]

libre [whatever it is]

open source [whatever it is]

Feel free to recommend more libre software in the tags, replies, comments, or whatever you freaks like to do!

Some Libre Software I Personally Enjoy…

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is an office suite, much like Microsoft Office. It includes equivalents for apps like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, which can view and edit files created for those apps.

I can't say I've used it much myself yet. I do not personally like using office software except when I have to for school.

OpenShot

OpenShot Video Editor is, as the name suggests, a video editing program. It has industry-standard features like splicing, layering, transitions, and greenscreen.

I've only made one video with it so far, but I'm already very happy with it. I had already paid for a video editor (Cyberlink PowerDirector Pro), but I needed to reinstall it and I didn't remember how. Out of desperation, I searched up "FOSS video editor" and I'm so glad I did. There's no launcher, there's no promotion of other apps and asset packs—it's just a video editor with a normal installer.

GIMP

GNU Image Manipulation Program is an image editor, much like Photoshop. Originally created for Linux but also available for Windows and MacOS, it provides plenty of functionality for editing images. It is a bit unintuitive to learn at first, though.

I've used it to create and modify images for years, including logos, really bad traceover art, and Minecraft textures. It doesn't have certain advanced tech like AI paint-in, but it has served my purposes well and it might just work for yours!

(Be sure to go to Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Colors. I have no idea why that's not enabled by default.)

Audacity

Audacity is an audio editing program. It can record, load, splice, and layer audio files and apply effects to them.

Audacity is another program I've used for a long time. It is not designed to compose music, but it is great for podcasts, simple edits, and loading legacy MS Paint to hear cool noises.

7-Zip

7-Zip is a file manager and archive tool. It supports many archive types including ZIP, RAR, TAR, and its own format, 7Z. It can view and modify the contents of archives, encrypt and decrypt archives, and all that good stuff.

Personally, I use 7-Zip to look inside JAR files for Minecraft reasons. I must admit that its UI is ugly.

Firefox

Firefox is an internet browser, much like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Safari. While browsers are free, many of them include tracking or other anti-consumer practices. For example, Google plans to release an update to Chromium (the base that most browsers are built from these days) that makes ad blockers less effective by removing the APIs they currently rely on.

Aside from fighting monopolies, benefits include: support for animated themes (the one in the picture is Purple Night Theme), good ad blockers forever, an (albeit hidden) compact UI option (available on about:config), and a cute fox icon.

uBlock Origin

As far as I know, uBlock Origin is one of the best ad blockers there is.

I was on a sketchy website with my brother, and he was using Opera GX's ad blocker. Much of the time when he clicked on anything, it would take us to a random sponsored page. I suggested that he try uBlock Origin, and with uBlock Origin, that didn't happen anymore.

Linux

Linux is a kernel, but the term is often used to refer to operating systems (much like Windows or MacOS) built on it. There are many different Linux-based operating systems (or "distros") to choose from, but apps made for Linux usually work on most popular distros. You can also use many normally Windows-only apps on Linux through compatibility layers like WINE.

I don't have all four of these, so the images are from Wikipedia. I tried to show a variety of Linux distros made for different kinds of users.

If you want to replace your operating system, I recommend being very careful because you can end up breaking things. Many computer manufacturers don't care about supporting Linux, meaning that things may not work (Nvidia graphic cards notoriously have issues on Linux, for example).

Personally, I tried installing Pop!_OS on a laptop, and the sound output mysteriously doesn't work. I may try switching to Arch Linux, since it is extremely customizable and I might be able to experiment until I find a configuration where the audio works.

Many Linux distros offer "Live USB" functionality, which works as both a demo and an installer. You should thoroughly test your distro on a Live USB session before you actually install it to be absolutely sure that everything works. Even if it seems fine, you should probably look into dual-booting with your existing operating system, just in case you need it for some reason.

Happy computering!

[neechees]

Hi! Do you have any information about how to vet PayPal-based donation blogs based in Gaza? I got an ask from this user (screenshot below) and on their blog it seems that the only donation source is PayPal, but my understanding was that PayPal didn’t work there. I really don’t want to not help people because I misidentified their blog as suspicious but I don’t want to lead anyone to a false link or donation. Any help super appreciated.

First of, this user is a scammer. They're already on the scam list, and their pinned post is directly copying this genuine gfm (buy we know this can't be the person from the gfm, because the gfm doesn't link to this tumblr or offer that paypal the tumblr blog uses as a form of accepting donations)

Regarding vetting, I'll say, and this is important, that 1. I myself don't do the vetting, I call out the scams that are definitely scams and that I have proof of, and 2. The people who are doing the vetting are multiple Palestinian users on here (such as 90-ghost, nabulsi, el-shab-hussein-, & others) who have been on tumblr for quite some time, and who can confirm what Palestinian fundraisers are real because they either know them, know someone who knows them, or have talked to various Palestinians who have made new blogs and determined them to be genuine due to a number of factors. Most scammers are either not trying to talk to real Palestinians doing the vetting because they know they'll get caught lying (and many will block the users doing the vetting), OR the ones that DO are quickly found out anyway for various reasons (such as for obviously using something like Google translate).

But if you want tips on how to suss out who you think might be a scammer on your own, try these:

If a suspected blog claims to be "vetted and verified!" In their donation post or ask, go and look at their posts and blog: most genuine fundraisers who claim to be vetted will @ the users that vetted them, sometimes might even provide a link to a post of the vetter confirming them to be genuine, and/or you'll see a Palestinian user verbally confirming them to be genuine in the notes in one of their posts, OR you can go to a vetter's blog & look for their url. If they're actually vetted you'll find them there. Additionally, the person confirming them to be genuine MUST be a popular Palestinian user who is currently volunteering to be a vetter, it CANNOT be the suspected blog in question "verifying" themselves or any other rando. But many scammers are lying by starting off their post by saying they are "vetted" & sometimes even name dropping random users hoping nobody will double check to see if they're lying. Double check. You won't find any vetter in their notes confirming them to be real. If you're still unsure, don't interact with the blog or reblog their donation posts until you find evidence theyre vetted.

Go to the blog @kyra45 and have a look at our resources where Kyra helpfully gives tips on how to spot scams, and lists the really popular scammers & the stories they like to reuse. Also keep tabs on the "users pretending to be Palestinian" post there, where Kyra & others give daily updates on which users are scammers pretending to be Palestinian on the same post & give proof for why.

Connected to our resources post, but look at the tips posts, anc give the blog a scan to see if it fits any of the common red flags that of a scammer (and remember, these things have to be taken in context together, it can't just be one thing). Does the blog fit the description of any of the scammers we listed (such as one who constantly reuses the fake story of being a diabetic Palestinian & mentions humalog)? Does their paypal location match where they claim to be (such as, they say they're in the U.S but the paypal link says they're located in the Philippines)? Are they using a knockoff site instead of the more popular one (such as gogetfunding instead of gofundme)? Do they ONLY link to a paypal set to USD instead of a gofundme? Does their profile photo show up in another place but they're claiming its a photo of themselves (such as one I found where the photo belonged to a woman in Pakistan, & the scammer pretending to be Palestinian claimed the photo was of them)? Copy & paste the ask or parts of the ask they sent you: do other asks with the exact same or similar wording show up on lots of other answered asks in the tumblr search from now deactivated blogs? Does their donation post seem to have multiple replies, but the replies section shows nothing except a notification that says "some replies may be hidden or deleted", and/or replies are turned off? (<- this usually is an indication that this blog is a scammer, and people were calling them out, & so they hid those replies so no one could see the evidence). Does their url show up in the scam list? Things like that.

But if you're still unsure and want some help, and think a blog might be a scam, bring it to one of us scam busters (& there's about 8 of us currently active) & we'll have a look at it. If you think a blog might be real, visit a Palestinian vetter's blog and see if that url shows up. In the meantime when you still aren't sure, don't interact with blogs claiming to be Palestinian that you can't be sure are genuine.

[lookingfts]

Hi, I'll preface this by saying that I'm a fan of your writing and this is not a rant at you specifically. It's something that I'm growing more and more frustrated with when navigating content/creations in the fandom (and other fandoms on here too tbh). Your posts just happened to be the ones I came across today and they provide a convenient case study into the matter.

I politely appeal for you to insert gif credit and sources in posts like these: https://www.tumblr.com/lookingfts/752534640842211328?source=share and https://www.tumblr.com/lookingfts/752585046132752384/this-ridiculous-little-man-with-his-stupid-little?source=share

From what I can tell (unsure about the s3e1 bedroom one) but the other two come from: https://www.tumblr.com/chenfordsbee/752307297817165824/kanthony-hands?source=share and https://www.tumblr.com/bakerolivia/750875519674892289/anthony-bridgerton-and-benedict?source=share

I think we all know that the inbuilt tumblr feature to embed existing gifs in posts is very broken (where it automatically credits, and links you back to the full set when you click the text/username under it), and it can be very frustrating to find the exact one you want.

But reposting them yourselves without credit is seen as very bad etiquette amongst creators, and a lot of creators will block people for this reason (to avoid said person collecting and reposting their future content), and warn their fellow creator mutuals to do so too.

Also, it makes the user experience quite annoying for some users. i.e. You see a post with a really cool gif; you swore you've seen that exact one before, you may even recognise the very specific style/coloring, OR you've not seen that scene giffed before but you've wanted to, you now really want to like/reblog the full set if you could find it. Either way; you wish you could see the whole thing from the original post. But there's no link or even an indication as to the original creator/blog it came from, so... yeah this sucks.

From your other posts you seem like a reasonable and well intentioned person, so I don't think you're setting out to be deceptive in any way (some will actually fully repost a mish mash of different sets, and caption and tag it as if it's their own creation), you just want to scream about your faves, as you should. And I'm sorry this got so so long but I think I need to make it really clear, because I assume that some of these reasons/povs/repercussions must be unknown for it to keep happening. I could go into how it affects creators in fandoms in more detail but I'm sure you can imagine and I don't want to extend the lecture (just imagine someone copying and pasting excerpts from your fan fiction, and posting it, without any citation of said fan fiction or even mention of the author).

TLDR - Please link back to the original post if you're sharing stand alone gifs, made by someone else, in your own posts. Or better yet, reblog the original post that you're downloading the images from, with your added commentary (we would actually LOVE to see it, but I do also get if you just want to pluck out one specific moment from the set).

An example:

[THAT ONE GIF FROM THAT MOMENT YOU REALLY WANT TO POST ABOUT]

GIF by @tumblrusername

Blue font to illustrate that this is a hyperlink to the original set. I just based this on the way the aforementioned broken inbuilt one is formatted, but as long as you @ the user (this pops a mention into our activity just like the inbuilt feature does so we can come scream along with you) and link the applicable post in some clear way it's all dandy and helps everyone out.

I really hope that this doesn't come across as hostile, and that you answer so it can be shared to make others more aware too.

Thank you for asking this. You're totally right - I have not been thinking about crediting gif creators, and that's something I need to learn!

I'm still very new to Tumblr and learning the ropes. I didn't really intend to post S3 gifs at all - I was keeping Kanthony photos/gifs I liked on my phone to share with friends, and eventually I realized how many I had saved, so I decided to start making posts with them, and I was simply uploading them from my phone at that point.

You see so many gifs floating around here - I didn't think closely about the time and effort that people are going through to create these gifs, and I will do better in giving them the recognition and attention they deserve. (If one of the gifs I've used is yours, please let me know and I will tag you.)

Thank you to everyone in the fandom for contributing their art, and thank you for standing up for creators.

[sucrows]

https://www.tumblr.com/sucrows/718019701660434432/ough-the-new-crazyb-summer-collab-things-visuals

PLEASE DO IT WOULD BE SO FUNNY

(link to previous post)

alright. doing this hc style because that'd be fun. Also committing a cardinal sin in writing directly into tumblr drafts instead of a second document so lets see how this goes.

uhm "let's see how it goes" it's been almost 5 months since i typed that. writing into drafts is the easiest way to forget about something it seems! Whatever I'll answer this now

and now its been 1 full year since i received this ask and i am only now finishing it up.... not doing graphics or putting this in my masterlist or anything so have fun finding it later on.

Under cut due to length! Primarily sfw with mentions of hooking up

RINNE:

Opens up a dating app profile for the fuck of it while he's really bored, it's not really his style, he'd much rather go out and physically meet someone tbh but why not

Matches with a good amount of people but tends to get bored of conversation with his matches realllly quickly. If he is vibing with someone though he's also really quick to invite them out to a bar or something

If you manage to catch his attention. and you accept his invitation, expect to be dragged around for a whole night of shenanigans

His ideal date is getting lunch, walking around until dark, getting tipsy, then bar hopping. He gets his duties done earlier on in the day so that he can spend the rest of the day with you.

If he ends up not liking you of course, he's not going to spend any more time with you than he has to. He comes up with some random excuse that you both know is bullshit and if you question him, he's not afraid to just tell you with no sugar coating that he's not into you

He'll be flirty and suggestive but he'll probably hold off on actually initiating anything until you either ask him to or make the first move yourself. He doesn't have something against some casual fun. He doesn't really have anywhere to take you back to thought so unless you have your own place, then an alleyway it is

He might actually treat you to a meal as thanks afterwards and just chill with you. After you get up to any kind of fun he's actually pretty calm afterwards.

He won't block you afterwards even if he wasn't really a fan of you. He'll still might hit you up again when he's bored as long as you weren't an explicitly bad lay. There's definitely potential to go from fwbs to lovers with him

Spend enough time with him and then one day he'll just show up and announce you're dating and from then on you'd be stuck with him lol

HIMERU:

So this either goes one of two ways. Either someone else signs him up for a dating app and secures him a date and he gets guilted into now leaving the person hanging OR when out of town he posts a profile with no images of his face just his body to get laid.

In the first scenario, he does his best to seem polite but ultimately disinterested. If you somehow manage to charm him and he has a good time, he'll be pretty conflicted.

He knows it's a really bad idea, but he won't be able to stop thinking about you. He might try to ghost you for a bit in hopes it'll smother whatever interest he had, but it probably doesn't work.

Either he caves when you message him after a good few days or he caves after a week and comes up with some excuse for not responding. From there it's complicated. He's very secretive and honestly it's a red flag but hey if you ignore it that's on you.

If it seems like you can't handle the way he keeps you at an arms-length for a while or that you might be a threat somehow, he will leave you. Most likely via sending a breakup text and then immediately blocking your number.

If we're talking about the second scenario though? His profile is just a pure thirst trap and he swipes on any person who seems like they'd be down for a no strings attached fuck. He's super quick to unmatch or block people if they give him the wrong vibes.

If you fit his criteria and seem like a good fit? He'll invite you to a hotel and spend a few hours with you. After it's all over he'll probably order some food for you both and stay with you until you fall asleep, then he runs off before you wake up.

Depending on how much he liked you and how trustworthy you seemed, he might thank you and promise to text you the next time he's in town orrrr he might also send a goodbye text then block you.

potential for FWB to lovers? would have to really be a slowburn but the potential is there.

NIKI

Ok so Niki is quite busy with his day-to-day life and I can't really see him going out of his way to set up a dating app account. He's another one who probably gets into this from someone else either making him an account or someone else convinces him to do so.

He's pretty liberal with his swiping. He doesn't exactly have a specific goal in mind while he's doing it so he kinda just goes for the ones whose bio makes it seem like they'd get along with him

He's pretty down to go out for a meal with most people relatively quickly but it might take him a bit longer for him to invite somebody out. When he does decide he likes someone enough to invite them out, he's honestly pretty likely to invite them to cafe cinnamon for a treat.

Niki's genuinely a friendly guy and seeks to know someone as a person and a friend before he makes any romantic or sexual moves on anyone. This doesn't mean he wouldn't reciprocate if someone else made the first move though.

If you make a pass at him, he's generally speaking down pretty quickly. Maybe not first date level quickly, but still pretty quickly. He's not really easily embarrassed or a prude by any means so if he likes someone as a person well enough, he doesn't see why not to enjoy himself.

He'll take you back to his place or go with you to yours without much fuss. After you guys have fun, he'll probably try to make some food or raid your kitchen for snacks. He has to feed himself first because of his condition, but he'll always feed you too.

I imagine he's probably bad at reaching out to people first to make plans and often loses track of how long it's been since he last talked to someone, but don't mistake that for disinterest! he's pretty non judgemental and as long as you weren't explicitly an ass, he's very likely to give you a second date.

[leedollop]

Hazbin Art Scam

Hey everyone. I've gotten a few of these scam DMs from people pretending to be in the Hazbin Hotel fandom, so I just wanted to share some information and make others aware of this scam. I am sure a lot of people would see the red flags through their DMs with these people, but this is also so you can spot when one of these accounts has followed/DMed you so you can just block. It sucks to get your hopes up about meeting a new Hazbin Hotel fan, only to realize you're talking to a scammer.

So, this is how the scam starts. You'll see someone has followed you out of the blue. Typically they don't like any posts and it is unclear how they found you or why they have any interest in your content. It happens sometimes, but it doesn't stop there. If you look at their page, it looks normal at first because they'll have a Hazbin Hotel related profile picture and banner. It tends to be themed around one character in particular, mimicking how a lot of fan blogs look. Usually they'll say they're an artist, but they either only reblog other art posts instead of posting their own (without tags normally) or any art they post is clearly stolen. They're a bit buried but, if you scroll enough and the latter is true, you will find it.

Their bios, in general, look real enough, though if you look closer there's usually a "nonsense phrase" stuck in there that makes you give it a second glance. They also commonly have hashtags in their bio, showing they have no idea how Tumblr works. Here are two examples from the two I had message me:

They will message you almost immediately after following, saying "hey", "hi", or something similar. They'll start some small talk with you enough to make them seem like a genuine Hazbin Hotel fan before getting down to business (mostly asking your opinions on stuff).

The biggest tell is they always seem to ask two things: They will always ask who your favorite Hazbin Hotel character is (even if that information is extremely obvious) and they will ask you if you want to see their commission work or artwork. It's typically under the guise of having OCs they want to share with you, also asking you if you have OCs.

This is their side of the conversation from one that messaged me recently. I went along with it a little more just to see how it would play out:

I linked the commissioned art they showed me back to a Fiverr account (like, it's literally just the example pictures) they had no connection to. Don't be convinced by them getting defensive when you point out it is extremely bizarre to randomly offer someone OC art when you know nothing about them or their content. It is weird, they just want to guilt you into thinking you're being overly cautious so you'll go along with the scam. If you wanna know how outright bizarre this is, my Hazbin Hotel OC is readily available information in my pinned that anyone can access at anytime, even the slightest look at my page would have told them that.

I didn't see the scam the whole way through for obvious reasons, but. For anyone new to Tumblr, like actual users, just so you know this is not normal Tumblr etiquette at all, especially in fandom spaces. Someone messaging you right after following you isn't weird...granted they actually have interacted with you or your posts beforehand and actually talk to you about this rather than asking questions anyone could ask. Most of the questions these scammers ask is based off of basic knowledge you could find through a Google search (like character names, the fact Hazbin Hotel is getting multiple seasons, and so on) without going into any specifics or normal fandom talk like headcanons or gushing. Any time you mention something specific, they will deflect it or ask another question so they won't have to admit they know nothing about the show or its actual contents.

Plus, if an artist really wants to draw your OC, they'll probably send you an ask or a DM directly asking permission, not try to coax you into it through vague small talk or showing off the art you should already be able to see on their page. Or, if you've made it clear you are okay with people making art of your OCs, they'll just do it and tag you. You'll probably have seen them around in your fandom spaces too rather than them just popping up out of nowhere. If someone you've never heard of or seen before follows you and immediately messages you, especially if they're claiming to be an artist with no pinned or very little information about it, it's best to just block.

[minafeu]

Hi! I’m a day or two late but I wanted to give my opinion RE: shipping Tubbo. I did my best to make sure I don’t sound mean/critical but I apologize if I do come across that way.

I think the most important thing for any sort of shipping and something that’s kind of been in place since the dawn of shipping but especially in early mcyt shipping (as someone who was there!) was to keep it AWAY from creators. If that meant using unique tags, keeping it on sites they’re not on, etc. that’s how it’s done. Not that it didn’t happen once in awhile but generally it was considered extremely rude to ask a creator’s boundaries about this sort of thing up until relatively recently, as it meant they were being forced to discuss something they may not even want to be thinking about. The blending of community and creator and so many young creators (many of whom were IN fandom spaces!) have kind of colored that a bit and made it a bit murky, but that used to be the general consensus. However, Tubbo has seemed to relax a bit about some of the shipping now that he’s an adult seeking his own relationships and not a kid, and sort of implied he scrolls past if he sees it. I’m sure a proper tubbling could provide more links of what he prefers, though.

On the age gap thing, while it CAN be a red flag, there are plenty of healthy, wonderfully functional relationships between 20 and 30 years olds. NOT TO SAY THATS ALWAYS THE CASE! There are plenty who use that age gap to leverage power over the other party. However, two consenting adults who have a lot in common or have built a trusting relationship can result in a perfectly healthy, functional relationship. I understand the caution, I really do, and that caution is good! But trust that relationships come in all shapes and sizes and are just as messy as other parts of life.

Again, just my thoughts and you’re free to disagree with my points. You’re also totally free to block the Tubbo shipping tags, and filter it from your ao3 search. I also hope I don’t sound rude or critical, and if I do I’m really sorry. Have a great day!

Thank you for your explanation and I just checked tubbos boundaries and he has expressed discomfort with shipping outside of what he has made personally canon along with not enjoying nsfw/shipping fanfiction. He hasn't expressly state that he doesn't want it to happen as he knows people will write it either way but he is uncomfortable with it.

Also, the whole age gap thing stems from my parents having a 6 year age gap and it being entirely awful for both of them. I understand it can be good but 30 year olds and 20 year olds are in differnt parts of their lives and that disconnect can make it hard to have a good relationship with someone. Along with people who write age gaps can sometimes write age gaps weirdly(or I may just have trauma from being an aphmau fan haha)

I can't simply block the tubbo shipping tag on tumblr(where I look at most content) as it'll still show up because people can sometimes slip stuff like that in sub consciously and not tag it.

Again, thank you for writing that all you didnt sound rude or critical it was very kind and understanding and simply an explanation. I just am mainly concerned with the heavy shipping that seems to happen in this fandom and the disregard for the basic decency of not just shipping everyone with everyone especially when the banter is typically seen within their other friendships and outside canon interactions(I forgot to mention in my last post how it was typical for sbi to flirt just like tubbo with others and it just seems as a tubbling for a few years now that its what he does when hes comfortable with someone.)

[hexyourheartablaze]

i saw this post and thought you could read and spread it :O i was unaware of how offensive the term really is, and you and a couple of your mutuals seem to be using it a lot (not mad, just wanted to spread awareness! especially that aave is so heavily misused in internet spaces) theerealcowboy (.) tumblr (.) com/post/647477577550872576/white-fans-are-exhausting-every-time-a-white-fan

Yeah! I'll link the post right here for my mutuals/anyone else to read, it's a bit long and I want to keep this blog as KNY themed as possible. I also want to link this too, the aave carrd.

I didn't realize that it was an offensive term either... I'll be honest, when I first made this account I just thought it was e-girl/tiktok slang until I heard it was AAVE, which was a new term for me. I also didn't realize that non blacks and whites were being asked to not use AAVE completely, when I first learned the term I assumed it was to spread more as far as the history of where these terms are coming from to avoid abusing the terms. Hopefully that makes sense? Like telling people to be more aware of the pop culture terms they throw around. I know these words (as well as other cultural aspects from poc culture in general) have a history of being stolen/distorted by non black communities while continuing to demonize poc (looking hard at some gay white men, but if I start on that I'll rant all day because that topic gets my blood boiling). That's my fault, I should have read more about AAVE, I'm really sorry. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm defending myself or anything too by the way!

After reading more about it, I'm leaning towards changing my blog name and nickname.

Off topic, sort of: ((I was sort of thinking about changing it anyways. I might go with the name I use on my main, but the reason why I'm hesitant on that is because I want to keep my main blog and this blog as far away from each other as possible. I had a fall out with someone I knew IRL in the middle of this year because they said me some extremely homoph*bic and r*cist things to me, not to mention some suspected transph*bia from what another friend told me. They used to follow my main blog, but I blocked them. It's a very long story, but basically they also used to brag about how good they were at making sock puppet accounts to stalk people on the internet who they are exfriends with so they could "keep track of where they are." (makes me sick just thinking about it, everyone they knew told them to get help including me).

I'm not super afraid of them (mostly creeped out to the max) but it's one reason why I haven't been open about my main. Sorry to get off topic, but it's something I was going to bring up soon.))

Sorry this became a bit long! 😖 It's a tough subject, but something that I think people should read about. I think either later on today after work or tomorrow I'll start moving things around on my blog though, for now I won't use the usual personal post tags though.

[nocherryblood]

PLEASE REBLOG FOR AWARENESS- S*X BOTS:

So, only recently, in the past week I've been getting a lot (and a lot, for my blogs, is six) of random followers, and it was making me a little suspicious, so in the end I just decided to check everything out and see what was going on.

I mean, did a post of mine do really well or something? Did someone tag me a bunch of times? Did someone reblog something?

NO.

I checked who had followed me recently, and, low and behold, it was: bots! How great.

But what was even worse, was that these were s*x bots (I'm censoring some words to keep my blog somewhat safe). S*x bots.

So since I've seen a lot of these over the past few weeks, I've decided to put together a little of what I've found. It's nothing new- and it's pretty much common knowledge- but hopefully it might help a few people out (especially since I'm one of many people who try to keep their blog safe from harmful, or 18+ content) and maybe even help keep some people a little safer here on Tumblr

So, here we go:

PROFILE PICTURES AND USERNAMES:

First of all, check the pfps and usernames. Sometimes they'll be something like "d3rtyg1rl", but not always. Other times it'll be something like "sangdori" or "jpi011" (those are two real accounts that followed me, I've just changed one or two of the letters in them)- so something that sounds like a regular Tumblr account to tebe average user. So if the username checks out as 'normal', the next thing to look at, is the profile picture.

These, similar to the usernames, and all the other things I'm going to mention, may seem normal at first. Some of them may be fluffy kittens (a lot of them are "generic"), others may be a seemingly innocent selfie, a few of them are just blank Tumblr and some are just... straight-up 18+ photos. So be aware that not all of them are going to be easy to spot right away.

LIKES, FOLLOWS AND UPLOADS:

Right, so now we've come to the part where you've checked out the usernames and profile pics, and they both show no signs of anything sinister. Good- now, if you're still suspicious, it's time to check the actual account itself.

The first thing you might want to take a look at, is the content they've uploaded, or in some cases haven't uploaded, onto their blog. This is where things can get deceiving. Many of these accounts have just one "generic" post- such as slime, kittens, glitter, etc (usually these are eye-catching things, which means it can draw people, especially children, in)- immediately followed by some sort of sexual content underneath that, usually in the form of a nude photo or p*rn (some are obscured, though most aren't), which catches you off-guard, to say the least.

Now, as I said before, not all of these bot accounts are the same. Some don't have any uploaded content at all- this is where checking their Likes page comes in.

(And I'm aware that this may sound like we're stalking someone's account at this point, but trust me, we're not. We're just trying to keep ourselves safe- and these are not people, remember, they're bots. Bots don't care, bots don't have feelings. Bots don't care if we block them). So, back to the point, the next thing we check is the Likes pages.

Now, some of these pages will be purely 18+ content, as you would expect. Just straight-up p*rn links, or nude photos. But others, however, seem innocent at first... that is, until you scroll down the page. Usually, it's just liked photos of (again, the generic, and eye-catching stuff) some cute animals, a GIF of slime, or a popular meme, but if you scroll down a little further underneath that, you'll see that same innapropriate content all over again.

Though again, as with all the other things I've mentioned, some of these liked pages seem fine upon inspection, which is where we move onto the final thing to check if what you're seeing is a bot account: the following page.

To be quite simple... this is where you'll need to look at a bunch of accounts all over again... hooray! If you find that some of the accounts seem suspicious from just looking at the pfps and usernames, then great, that usually means you know that the account you were originally looking at is a bot account, and you can block them and be done with it (and even if you're not entirely sure, blocking them will keep you safe, and besides, it doesn't hurt anyone- believe me, your safety takes 100% priority over having that one extra follower).

But, if you can't tell just by looking at them, and you're still suspicious, and you don't want to just block the original account you were looking at... then this would be the time do all of the above again (checking likes, following pages, and content) just to make sure.

If you don't find anything else suspicious, then congratulations, it's probably not a bot account, and you don't have to worry about it. But again, if you ARE worried, then PLEASE do just block and/or report, the account. It's better to have one less follower, than be unsafe, or have to feel uncomfortable.

SO, I THINK IT'S A BOT ACCOUNT, NOW WHAT?

Now, if you've been through all of the above, and/or you're pretty sure that what you've seen is a bot account, then it's time to either block it, or report it.

To block an account, simply tap on the little 'human/person' icon in the top right of that specific account, and tap 'block' (note: this will only report them from one of your blogs. If you want to block them from another, or all of your blogs, you'll have to add them to the block list for taht specific blog). To report someone instead, just tap 'report'.

So, you might be wondering: what's the difference between reporting someone and blocking them?

Well, I'll tell you as best as I can. Blocking someone means:

They won’t be able to follow your blog, or send you fan mails or asks to your blog, and they won't be able to see your blog’s posts in their Dashboard. In addition to that, neither will they be able to like, reblog, or reply to your posts, and your blog won’t show up in their search results. It's a really good option.

They'll still be able to read your posts if they somehow come across them, but they can't interact/reblog them- at all. The only way people would even know you've blocked them is if they find that they get denied permission to interact with your blog- but remember, the chances of the finding out that youve blocked them is VERY slim, if it even happens at all (though remember we're talking about bots here though, not actual people, I just thought it would be useful information to include anyway).

Alright, so now onto reporting someone. Reporting someone means that:

The account will receive an email stating that they've posted banned content and must take it down. Tumblr will then still automatically take it down, and the account either gets suspended or deleted.

I would say that reporting the s*x bots would be the best thing you can do in this situation (you can still block them afterwards), seeing as the account will hopefully then be taken down (instead of just blocked on your blog) after being reviewed, which could help keep Tumblr at least a little safer once it does.

And just in case you were wondering: no-one will know if you've reported their account. The only way they'll know they've been reported (and they won't know who reported them) is if their content gets taken down or if their account is deleted- so don't worry about people accusing you of reporting them, as Tumblr keeps it anonymous anyway.

(Again, I've only added that part as useful information, seeing as s*x bots aren't real people and therefore won't care if they've been blocked or reported.)

There's more information about reporting and blocking people, along with Tumblr's policies and guidelines here, if you need it:

https://iheartmob.org/resources/safety_guides/tumblr_guide

Right... so I think that just about covers everything I wanted to say. If there's anything I've gotten wrong, or you think you could add on to, just drop a note or reblog this to help. After all, I don't know everything about these s*x bots, and just writing from my experience and what I've noticed about them. So help and/or additional information would be greatly appreciated.

I'm just fed up of seeing them everywhere and them making me think I've got a new follower who's actually interested in the blogs I make, when it's actually just a not trying to take me to some random p*rn website. It's wrong. So I just decided to write about my frustrations.

Now, Tumblr, if you could please sort your shit out, that'd be great, thank you very much, and we can all get on with our day.

If you've read this far, thank you very much for your time, and I hope I've managed to help you at least somewhat when it comes to dealing with these types of things in the future, or maybe just given you a little more awareness about how to stay safe on Tumblr, and other similar sites.

Anyway, I hope y'all have a wonderful day, and that you stay safe. Happy new year, too! 💛💙

[scarletteflamerald]

There isn't really a standard for those, no. Most people just put "[thing] tw" or "tw [thing]" as one of the tags. The format doesn't matter too much because tumblr should hide anything with the name of the thing you've blocked in the tags. Cw is less common as far as I've seen but I'm assuming you already know the difference between the two from twitter? And sometimes in longer posts, particularly if the potentially triggering content is in a particular section, people will add a trigger warning in the text of the post as well, something like:

tw for: gore, blood, sexual assault

Or

WARNING: THIS SECTION CONTAINS MENTIONS OF BLOOD, GORE, AND SEXUAL ASSAULT

I'll add these sometimes when I post my writing in case someone doesn't have a particular tag blocked but isn't in the mood to engage with that type of content, and so they don't have to scroll past potentially triggering content to check the tags. (and this is hardly something I invented, other writers do it too, I just wanted to explain my reasoning as to why it's important)

As far as tagging systems, you're certainly not required to have one, but they can be somewhat useful. The idea is to have a standard tag for certain genres of posts so you can find things more easily. Some people include links to certain tags in their bio or pinned post. The problem is that tumblr's search feature is Oh So Very Functional (/s) and so usually if you search your blog for a tag you only get a limited amount of things that were posted fairly recently. I mostly use tumblr on my phone, because I am foolish and set in my ways, but if you're on desktop and trying to find a particular post in your archive, using "find in page" to search for the tag is a handy trick, particularly if you don't remember the text of the post word-for-word.

Hope this is helpful!! :)

Hi ro!! I see you're new here so welcome to tumblr! :)

Need help with anything?

hello! thank you!

i have spent today doing a bit of googling and a lot of scrolling and i think i have most things figured out :]

one thing i haven’t found an answer for though - is there a standard format for cws/tws? (they go in the tags right?)

also ive seen a lot of people doing like. tagging systems for their posts. whats the general consensus on those. how useful/important are they?

thank you again for the welcome :]

[cyanidefilledcandy]

Geez! I hate to see this happening with this fandom. But, I mostly agree with @doot-meister.

I don't think anyone's intentionally being left out and ostracized. And I think a HUGE part of this doesn't come down to being clique-y, but simply visibility. As mentioned above, time of day is a factor (I've noticed this personally), as well as the dashboard being literally just FLOODED constantly. As popular as eene-fangirl is, I still rarely see her on my dashboard, and it's because other blogs are posting more at a faster pace. Most of the time, I won't see anything from EEnE related blogs unless I go directly to the specific blog. And even accounting for searching for the show directly, even that gets messy. Searching only gives you the most popular posts (again, it's a matter of visibility), and searching for recent posts only gives you a finite number (for me, it's usually less than 10). So.... it's tricky.

Trust me, I completely understand. There have been loads of time when I've posted something I've worked EXTREMELY hard on only for it to basically get no notes. It hurts, and for someone like me who's a perfectionist and already hard on myself about my art, it's like confirmation that I really am worthless. But, at the same time, just looking at my own dashboard, I know that my posts could just be buried in a sea of other posts.

And I may not be the best person to talk about this because at one point I was a lot more visible in the fandom, but I have been gone for a while and where I used to get maybe 10 notes on a post about the show, I'm now lucky if I get 2. But....at the same time, I posted more back then, so it makes sense. For the person who said you don't post much, the truth is, if you don't post content, there's no way for people to know you're there.

And I also get it about social anxiety as well. I have it (and I'm talking if I'm in a virtual world with virtual avatars, like Second Life, I will literally panic in real life if I come across someone else's avatar). I'm not very social at all, but...and this may seem hard, don't let that stop you. Half of the friends I made in this fandom was not from approaching them. It was from simply commenting on any post I found interesting and giving my opinion on it. I didn't directly interact with people through PMs and whatnot. We simply discussed the show, and that would eventually lead to private conversations, which lead to friendships (in some cases). Simply put, if you don't put yourself out there, how CAN people know that you're there?

And as far as no-one being there for you in times of great need, that's also not something I think was intentional; again, it's just an issue of visibility. One of my closest friends here on Tumblr has posted that they're going through a rough time, and I've missed it completely. But, it wasn't because I was actively avoiding them and didn't care. It was because I just didn't see the post.

I'm not trying to lecture anyone or tell anyone that they have no right to feel the way they do, because you absolutely do. I'm just trying to offer a different perspective and try to see if we can come to a consensus.

I do agree that maybe a masterpost linking to all of the fandom's blogs would be nice. But again, it has to be a two way street. You have to put yourself out there a little bit so people can see you. It's hard to get over, but start small. If you see a post you have an opinion on, just give it. The fandom as a whole tends to be very chill, and even if you come across a few haters, block them. Brush them off and move on. You'll eventually find people you click with.

I really hope this works out for everyone. Truly. :)

ok

Let’s get one thing straight before I really get into things: I am not angry. The only thing that will make me angry is insisting I am. I am very nervous, though, but I’m always nervous lol

onto my main thoughts

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