#Mod primarily uses desktop Tumblr so.

[sciencegeniusgirlshowdown]

So uh while the site explodes due to Tumblr desperately trying to draw in more people that fled to Twitter once the porn ban happened, I'd like to remind everyone that the deadline for Science Genius Girl submissions has been adjusted to tomorrow due to the influx of submissions! If you'd like to see your SGG compete, please submit them to this form by midnight CST tomorrow night!

Also, since I've had a couple people confused about this, SGGs are solely meant to be submitted through the form! Thankfully, all the SGGs that have been sent in as asks instead have been submitted by someone else in the form itself, but please don't send submissions into my askbox! It'd make my life a whole lot easier for all the SGGs to be i the same place, plus there's some extra things I'd like to know that are only mentioned in the form itself.

[wangxianficfinder]

Paragraph break anon here: I think the problem's in the desktop site not being in dashboard mode, yeah. I've primarily been using the desktop version, wangxianficfinder . tumblr . com / ask and I just tried out both the mobile and the / new / ask / wangxianficfinder (using the latter right now) and both work just fine.

And hopefully I'm not being too hasty in agreeing the character limit shows up in the non-dashboard version. I don't know if that's the case across the other versions, though.

Oh! I'm glad you were able to get it to work! Tumblr can be weird, so who really knows what's going on with it 😅

- Mod C

[qhazomb]

Do you use Tumblr primarily on a phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer? (Or something else!!)

mainly on my laptop (which is the only computer i got. one day, ONE DAY, i'll have a full sized desktop computer that can run more games, like spyro reignited with mods.... one day.......)

i only use it on mobile when i'm in bed or out of the house, and every time i do i'm just like "how the hell do people even DEAL with this, it's so shitty compared to desktop, geez"

[lady-wildflower]

Not to defend this kind of incuriosity that's flourishing lately, since I hold basically the same opinion, but it's worth noting the degree to which companies themselves are basically encouraging this.

A consumer base which doesn't know how to fix the device nor how to find out how is a consumer base that buys a new one or pays the company to fix it for them. A consumer base that does their own thing instead of engaging within very specific parameters outlined by the software company is harder to gather valuable data on and harder to keep to brand partners and brand loyalty. It serves the companies to force the access to these things out of the user's easy access, to keep the user to what they can control.

So many new devices are being released with app-forward OSes, iirc even Windows is trying to do that these days. Devices whose guts you can't get into with any ease, whose file structures you barely have access to, and which just do things like disable apps you haven't opened in a bit on their own. I don't think these kids are even being exposed to the necessary prerequisites to explore file directories, do they even know what that is? And in fairness, how would they if every device they've used deliberately obfuscates the file structure from them?

They've never been shown the details of how a search engine works, they're being pushed into an environment where you download an app for everything - don't google what that mushroom is, use our extraordinarily unreliable and dangerous mushroom identifying app! Don't seek out news and research, trust our incredibly unreliable and dangerous algorithmic content app! Children of today are also being supervised exponentially more and prevented from having the freedom we had to explore how our devices work, I learned how to do most of what I know in computers by exposure. When I was a little kid, I wrote my stories in Paint because I didn't know what a text processor was. I soon discovered Wordpad.

Now, any gaps I had were closed up because I was like, the last generation to get ICT lessons, where we learned how to use search engines properly, how to use computers properly, and how to use word processors.

But, and this is where us older-than-18s are a bit responsible, we assumed our successors had our experience and stopped teaching them these things actively. They don't! They don't even know what Paint is, and I reckon they'd be completely lost if they encountered an even slightly more advanced image manipulation software because all they've known is the proprietary photo app on their phone or the filters on Snapchat or whatever's big right now (I've obviously hit my point of curmudgeon-ness when it comes to Snapchat and TikTok or whatever, I barely have facebook and primarily use desktop Tumblr).

And meanwhile, our asshole classmates now work in marketing and are doing everything possible to make the consumer, in this case the youth, stay within the company's app environment. To use an example that comes to mind, video game modding. I learnt how to mod Minecraft and Skyrim by googling it, because that's all one could do. But now, Bethesda's trying to push for its own marketplace for mods and make all mods compatible with new versions of Skyrim required to be available on their platform, and Minecraft is getting folded into Windows and being updated so fast modders can't keep up.

When I was a kid, Youtube was young, and its search engine was easy to use to find the content you wanted. Now, you can't get so much as ten results of what you want before it starts recommending you unrelated bullshit. When I was a kid, Google still promised not to be evil and was a good search engine - now, it hides things from you, tries to reinterpret your search using algorithms, and so often I've had to clarify searches that were self-evident when I was a kid because Google thinks it'll make more money by serving me results from partners in my area selling a thing related to what I searched for.

Our intuitive mechanical curiosity (for lack of a better term) is actively being discouraged in the youth of today by companies who benefit from it going away. It's not a good thing, but it's also not a spontaneous thing to entirely blame on the Kids. Kids require teaching, and we were taught by experience and actual teachers. These kids have neither of those things, it's no wonder they haven't learnt.

I'm basically the opposite of them; because I didn't grow up with smart devices. I was the last kid in any of my classes to get a phone, and I had a brick when they all had smartphones. As a result, I'm the reverse of the kids; smartphone OSes are opaque and difficult for me and I don't use my phone for anything other than tiny notes, chatting, and music, and proper file structure desktop OSes are easy for me even if it's not the OS I'm used to, because they all function fundamentally the same way.

And that's coming from someone who did develop that mechanical curiosity from growing up with access to file structures, knowing more about computers than her parents and subsequently using that knowledge to stop my ostensibly computer-savvy mother from stopping us from playing Minecraft (my parents hated the concept of their children engaging with anything childish). I know generally where to go to learn how to get through the damn opaque phone OS. Imagine how lost the youth who've had none of that education by experience are.

the thing that gets me about the lack of technological literacy in a lot of young gen z and gen alpha (NOT ALL. JUST A LOT THAT I SEE.) isn't necessarily the knowledge gap so much as it's the lack of curiosity and self-determination when it comes to interacting with technology.

you have the knowledge gap side of things, obviously, which highlights issues related to the experience of using pieces of hardware/software becoming detached from the workings of the hardware/software itself. you start seeing people (so called "ipad kids") who are less and less familiar with the basics of these machines—like knowing how to explore file and system directories, knowing what parts of the system and programs will be using the most power and interacting with each other, knowing what basics like RAM and CPU are and what affects them etc. these aren't things you need to sink a lot of time into understanding, but they seem to be less and less understood as time has gone on.

and this lack of familiarity with the systems at work here feeds into the issue that bothers me a lot more, which is a lack of curiosity, self-determination, and problem solving when younger people use their technology.

i'm not a computer scientist. i'm not an engineer. i have an iphone for on-the-go use and i have a dinky 2017 macbook air i use almost daily. that's it! but i know how to pirate things and how to quality check torrented material. i know how to find things in my system directories. i know how to format an external hard drive for the specifications of my computer. i know how to troubleshoot issues like my computer running slowly, or my icloud not syncing, or more program-specific problems. this is NOT because i actually know a single thing about the ~intricacies~ of hardware or software design, but because i've taken time to practice and to explore my computer systems, and MOST IMPORTANTLY!! to google things i don't know and then test out the solutions i find!!!!

and that sounds obvious but it's so clear that its just not happening as much anymore. i watched a tiktok the other day where someone gave a tutorial on how to reach a spotify plugin by showing how to type its url in a phone's browser search bar, then said "i'll put the url in the comments so you guys can copy and paste it!!!!!" like ?????? can we not even use google on our own anymore?? what's happening???

this was a long post and it sounds so old of me but i hear this lack of literacy far too much and the defence is always that it's not necessary information to know or it's too much work but it is necessary for the longevity and health of your computers and the control you have over them and it ISN'T too much work at all to figure out how to troubleshoot system issues on your own. like PLEASE someone help.

[textpost-ronpa]

how do you make the text posts

And now, some somewhat-unsolicited behind the scenes on how I make these posts.

- Regarding the textposts themselves, there are 3 main ways I find them:

1. Going through my dashboard

2. Searching for them on Google (if I wanna do one on a specific topic but can't find any on my dash)

3. Screenshots from the "Late Night Tumblr Posts" series on Youtube (though it's hard sometimes when the text is edited like crazy)

I put all of them into 1 convenient album on my phone since there are a fuckton of other pics.

- Since I primarily use the mobile app more than the desktop site, I use PicCollage to make the posts bc it's the most convenient for me. Since I'm using the free version, I can only get past the watermark by cropping a screenshot. (also ignore the other stuff in the first pic, those are unrelated). Of course there's way better editing software to make textpost memes, but I've used PicCollage to make edits since middle school.

- For me, another advantage to using PicCollage is that there's a built-in search engine where I can find most of a character's sprites without leaving the app. Otherwise, I try to save the image from the wiki, though you can't download them straight off the page for some reason so it's more of a hassle. The only exception is for Mikan's sprites as I already saved some of them under a separate album for asks and admin posts.

- The real challenge for me is trying to relate each textpost to a character. Sometimes it's easy, other times it feels like a bit of a stretch. I also try not to cross over games and just use characters from one game in a post. The only exceptions are Junko and Monokuma.

(The post I made here may not be an actual post, I just used it as an example. Idk whether or not I'll post it in the future)

-Mod Tsumiki

[delicatesoul88]

10 Questions Meme

I was tagged by the lovely @starrsim

I’m not sure what’s up with Tumblr’s notification system. It doesn’t alert me when someone tags me in something (I know it used to in the past). Please bear with me - if I failed to respond to previous tags in the last couple of months, it is probably because I never got them in the first place. Any idea how to turn this back on?

Let’s get right into it:

Rules: Always post the rules, answer the questions given to you, then write 10 questions of your own, and tag some friends!

PS: Sims 2 is the primary game I play so all of my responses will be in reference to it.

Starr’s 10 Questions:

1. How long have you’ve been playing the sims franchise?

I first discovered Sims 1 in 2002 and Sims 2 about 2 years later. My Comptuer teacher at the time played it, and being the nerdy kid I was it fasscinated me so he let me play it. I don’t think I could get on the forums them as it was a banned site in my country (not sure why). It wasn’t until my family and I moved to the U.S that I was finally able to purchase my first copy of the Sims 2 Double Deluxe, get on the forums and I haven’t looked back since.

My love affair with the Sims franchise goes way, way back. Presently, I own Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, Sims 4 and a couple of expansion packs, as well as Sims 3 and a couple of expanion packs. 

2. Do you have a favourite sim? why?

I hate choosing. Do I have to? Fineeeeeeeeee.

Abigail Sanders. She intruiges me, to be honest. She was initially meant to be a supporting character only, and somehow she took on a life of her own. She a tortured soul with too many layers to her and I can’t wait to slowly peel them off. Keep in mind that she is somewhat immortal and will be around for a long, long time. I did a Character meme for her a while back.

3. What’s your favourite sims career?

Science. I love living vicariously through my sims.

4. What’s your CC weakness? Rugs, paintings, hair, etc?

All of it. Espeially Hair.

Although, after by bout with the Jump Bug, other bad/conflicting cc isues have come up. Since I have been so focused on cleaning it all up, I have been excercising a lot of restraint these days.

5. What aspect of the game have you not played with, or tried, yet?

Hmmmm.....Not sure actually. I’ve tried just about everything, but still get supprsoed every now and then.

6. When do you usually play

Weeknights and Weekends, unless I have IRL plans.

7. What’s your simming routine? (settle in with a drink and a few hours, keep the game open for days, etc)

I keep my game open for days because it’s convenient. I can skip the 10-minute loading time and get right to gameplay.

8. Do you talk sims with others outside the simming community?

Yes and No. Most of my friends IRL don’t know that I play Sims unless I tell them. The few who do can’t wrap their minds around the fact that I choose to play a 13 year old game instead of a 3 year old game. Takes too long to explain.

9. Besides tumblr, how else do you interact with the simming community?

As most of you know, I have a blog Cederville Heights, one on Wordpress Riaend’s Haven (will be mostly for my supernatural-related storylines & it is still very much a work in progress), 2 LiveJournal accounts (personal, community) - I don’t use them as much, but I still keep in touch with those whose stories are primarily hosted on there - hey @ilikefishfood, 

10. Why the sims vs other games?

Short version: It is a life simulation game.

Long version: 

That was fun! Tagging: @getmygameon, @ladyrosedeversailles, @memoirsofasim, @cinamun, @bubble-sims, @retromaisie, @ilikefishfood, @lilsisterg, @dstarsims, and @lilyshadowwriter.

My Questions:

1. How often do you play the sims?

2. What is your favourite game/franchise and why?

3. What is your favourite expansion pack and why?

4. Do you play pre-mades, your own sims or a mix?

5. Have you ever made a simself (sim of yourself)? Pictures.

6. Do you play with cc or no cc? Mods or no mods? Why?

7. Do you play on a laptop or a desktop computer?

8.  What is your favourite aspect of the Simblr community?

9.  Besides tumblr, how else do you interact with the simming community?

10. Lastly (this question is my favourite!) - Another simmer whose game you would love to have and why?

[pokebloggingnetwork]

Sounds like a good idea - so far they've been tagged with things like "Tag list" and the like but "Mobile Nav" is also a very good idea. As for other tags, I can add what the actual tag is for everything on the tag page (Usually just the word/phrase listed, but for types it's [x] type, and those with service pokemon are all tagged Support Pokemon iirc) so they can be manually searched.

Hopefully that works! Mobile tumblr seems to be even more confusing to use than desktop, at least in my inexperienced opinion. I wish everyone who primarily uses it as many good vibes/technology-is-working-properly days as I can - Mod Zoroark

The tags links list for mobile (like Unova or Professor) arent working for me! Could you check if theyre set up properly?

Of course! Apologies - I don't have mobile so I have no way of checking it. I had thought the tags were working last I checked, but I'll fix them up once I've cleared the current inbox. Very strange... hopefully they should be working soon, though!

If I could get some advice on how mobile works as well, that would be wonderful (Not just from you, anon, of course!), since, again, I only have desktop. I'm not sure of what the differences are between the two? - Mod Zoroark

[aroacefaq]

A guide to a discourse free AroAce blogging experience

As many of you’ve probably experienced, it’s difficult to avoid seeing the ace discourse and aphobia on tumblr these days while being involved in the aromantic and asexual communities. This guide will highlight some of the steps you can take to keep yourself safe from harassment using tumblr’s built in features, some extensions you can use to make it even safer, and some blogs we recommend following for a positive Acespec and Arospec blogging experience! 

As always, our own blog will remain 100% discourse free as well. 

Part 1: Tumblr’s Built in Features 

This section will cover things such as the tumblr search sysyem, what to do if you’re being harassed, and how the tumblr privacy and block features work. 

Unfortunately a lot of acespec and arospec specific tags tend to get cluttered with harassment and anti-aspec posts. While some of that comes from aphobes posting in tags that are supposed to be safe (such as “asexual positvity” or “actuallyaromantic”), with the way tumblr’s search system works, aphobes don’t even necessarily have to tag their posts. The tumblr staff explains it fully in this post, but in short, even words that are mention in a post, even if they aren’t in the tags, can show up in a search. The good news is that you can opt out of this by adding a # in front of your search. That way, posts tagged as #greyromantic will show up in your results, but posts that only mention the word but don’t tag it won’t. While this doesn’t guarantee that you won’t see aphobic posts while searching tumblr, it will filter out untagged discourse rants. 

The flip side to this is that aphobes and discoursers searching on tumblr can find even your untagged posts. Thankfully you can actually keep your own posts out of tumblr’s search engine. As explained at that link, turning off “allow search engines to index your blog” applies to tumblr’s search engine as well. By selecting that setting, you will effectively stay invisible in the search engine, both when people search by # or by mentions. 

Another feature that can save you a lot of hassle is the block feature. If you come across an aphobe in the tags: block them. Even if they haven’t interacted with you, block them. There are even block lists out there that’ll save you the distress of having to come across a blog first. A blocked user cannot interact with you or your posts in any way, in fact they won’t even see your posts on their dash or in the tags. So if you see someone being particularly nasty, the best way to keep yourself safe from them is to make sure they can’t find you at all. You can block users from your settings- scroll to the bottom of your blog’s settings and you’ll find a space to type in users to block them. There’s also a guide here on how to block several blogs at once (for chrome and firefox). You can also block people from their blogs if they have the mobile theme (this is the only way to block people on mobile). 

If you’re already receiving harassment though, there’s several things you can do to stop it. My first advice is the same as before: block them. It’s not admitting defeat, it’s not a show of weakness: it’s the easiest way to protect yourself. When blocking people isn’t enough, make sure that your private messaging is set to mutuals only, your submissions are turned off, and anon asks (or even asks in general) turned off. The last two will prevent blocked users from simply logging out and then interacting with you that way, while the first is just a general way to limit interactions. If this is not enough and people are still harassing you then temporarily set your blog to private by giving it a password (this applies only to the blog you chose for it to apply to, and is not account wide). Once they’ve moved on (and they will, I’ve had to deal with them before myself) you can return your blog back to normal with just a single button under your settings. Note you will need to be logged into desktop tumblr to do this. 

Keep in mind that you can also report people for their behavior, especially if you’re a minor, or their messages include death threats or suicide baiting. 

Part 2: Beyond Tumblr’s Features 

This section discusses how you can go beyond tumblr’s features using extensions such as the new xkit or tumblr savior. 

While tumblr does have several built in features to deal with harassment, there’s even better ways you can keep yourself safe. 

The first of these is an extension called tumblr savior, which is available for firefox, chrome, and opera (a similar extension called Washboard does the same for mobile devices). The long and short of it is that both extensions are blacklists. Add a tag or a phrase to the blacklist and any posts which mentions it are automatically hidden, being replaced by a notification, which you can click on to see the whole post, e.g. if you trust the person who posted it. You can even set it up so that you don’t get a notification on your dash for hidden posts, or that you get notifications but it doesn’t show the tags, etc. You can block whole phrases using this feature, so if there’s ones you commonly see used you can filter them out. 

My personal recommendation however is to download the new xkit which is available for firefox and chrome through that link. Make sure you download the new xkit, since the old one hasn’t been updated in several years. This extension lets you do all kinds of things with your dashboard, including it’s own blocklist (which functions about the same as the others) and the ability to block specific posts. This is a feature that can be super helpful especially if there’s an aphobic post that gets passed around by people who don’t understand that its aphobic without going to the op’s blog (such as that “the A in stands for all star by smash mouth” post that was going around a while ago). Not only does this feature, called “Postblock” prevent that post from showing up in tags, it also keeps it from showing up on your dashboard. This is a great addition to tumblr’s already existing block feature, allowing you to block not just a blog but a specific post as well. 

Part 3: Blogs to Follow

Lastly, this section will list discourse free pro-acespec and arospec blogs that the mods here recommend, including a bit of info about each one. Some of these blogs are aro or ace specific, while others are LGBTQ+ blogs that include aspec individuals. All of them are discourse and aphobia free though, and are a great place to start finding a safe inclusive community!  Many of these blogs also frequently promote other aspec inclusive blogs, including advice blogs and positivity blogs, making them a great starting place to expand your following list from! 

Our own blog aroacefaq, as mentioned before, is 100% discourse free, so if you don’t follow us already, give us a try! 

goodpositivitylgbt is aspec inclusive (several of the mods are aspec) and has a zero discourse policy, which you can read about here. They make custom positivity posts as well as reblogging positivity made by other blogs. 

letters-to-lgbt-kids is another aspec inclusive LGBTQ+ blog with custom positvity messages, styled as letters coming from “your tumblr mom.” 

a-positive is an aspec specific positivity blog. They do not respond to discourse/ aphobic asks as explained here and are as such also safe to browse! 

queerlobby makes custom moodboards, including for aspec people. When asks are open, just send in a request! No discourse here either since the focus is 100% on moodboards, so relax and browse their tags. 

theasexualityblog is a blog specifically about asexual and acespec experiences, positivity, humor, etc. They have a “happy stories” tag for bad days, and even have a block list of aphobic blogs. 

aspecpeoplearebeautiful is a blog dedicated to posting and reblogging aro and ace spec positivity! 

asexualartists posts about (to no surprise) artists who are also asexual. This includes all kinds of artists, including youtubers, fine artists, writers, etc. It’s a great place to find people who post creative acespec content. The artists talk about both their art and their asexuality, including advice they have for other acespec individuals. 

aromantichelp is an advice blog for arospec and aro individuals. They also have links to some great resources on their blog! 

asexualadvice is not currently active, but their blog has a lot of answered asks and resources that can be helpful regardless! 

splend-aros posts “Daily Affirmations” which are positive posts meant to encourage and support arospec people on all kinds of things! At the same time, they also reblog positive posts. They have stated in their FAQ that they are not a debate blog, so they should be discourse free! 

affirm-ace-ions is the same concept as spend-aros but for acespec people! Daily Affirmations on all kinds of acespec related topics. They describe themselves in their about page as a safe space, and as such they post primarily positivity. 

haveaqprsuggestion is a blog all about positivity surrounding qprs and aspec folks! 

You can find even more blogs in our resources tab which can be accessed either through that link or directly from our blog. This post also has a list of aspec friendly blogs, however we cannot guarantee that they’re all discourse free, since it’s not our list. If you have any aspec positive or informative blogs you’d like us to add to that page, feel free to send us the link! You can also check out blogs we reblog from for other starting points! For privacy reasons, we did not include personal blogs on this list (so they wouldn’t suddenly be flooded with followers), but we do reblog from them.