#Native Advertising Examples

[roimarketplacejoe]

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[kolibrispacestation]

uhhhh hi there :)

i know this isn’t exactly a POC band but there’s a russian band named kolibri made of four sapphic women (one of them has sadly passed away recently) and they’ve been making music together since the 90s? they don’t sing in english (unless you count half the song world of magic) but have really good music about various topics that go FAR beyond just “i am gay”… they have retellings of folk stories from various cultures, songs about loss and properly overcoming grief, songs about how rivalry gets you nowhere, and how you don’t need to be a “hero” to deserve good things

i’m just putting that out here in case anyone thinks that living in a country that doesn’t support queer folk means that everyone in it is homophobic. because why would they enforce homophobic laws if there were no gay people to enforce it upon?

proclaiming we're in a lesbian music renaissance NOW thanks to artists like Billie Eilish, Chapell Roan, Fletcher, Phoebe Bridgers, Dove Cameron and Renee Rapp is qWHITE interesting to me (dgmw I like those artists but)........... people are acting like Janelle Monae, Victoria Monet, Hayley Kiyoko, Arlo Parks, Halsey, Kehlani, Syd, Dua Saleh, Raveena, Kelela, and even Megan Thee Stallion haven't been CONSISTENTLY making music about loving women and eating pussy for well over a decade. is it only a "sapphic music renaissance" when white lesbians and queer women do it?

[jovialdeermentality]

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[hexiva]

Roleplay Is Not Dead Nor Doth It Sleep

There's a post going around about how text-based, freeform roleplay is dead, and I was typing up a huge response to this, with an accompanying guide on how to find roleplayer in 2024, when I realized it might have a bigger reach if I made it its own post. So here's that guide.

I hesitate to say that there isn't a problem with the new format of social media making roleplay more difficult to find, but in the desire to make that point, the OP of the original post has left people with the idea that there's no way for them to get into freeform text roleplay in 2024. Which just isn't true! Here, look at all the ways.

Forums

The link to RPG-Directory to find roleplaying forums is a good start. Once you've found a forum RPG, even if you don't join, there's usually an 'advertising' section on that forum where other forum RPGs post their ads - this may help you to find forums that don't advertise on RPG-D.

Another really good forum to find roleplay on is Barbermonger. Barbermonger is focused on connecting people for one-on-one roleplays.

This last one's going to be weird, but it turns out that there are still people seeking roleplay on the Gaia Online forums after all these years. I think this is delightfully retro and then crowd there seems a little older than average. No pre-existing knowledge of Gaia required.

Tumblr

You can also find forum roleplay groups (as well as tumblr and Discord groups) right here on Tumblr. Usually, the thing to do is to use the search function - search for "[genre] rp" or "[fandom] rp" and sort by "latest." (If you sort by Top, you are likely to find dead RPs.) For example, here's fantasy rp, historical rp, and marvel rp. You can also try jcink rp, as most roleplay forums are hosted on Jcink these days, or discord rp, depending on your favored platform.

There are also tumblr blogs specifically dedicated to advertising roleplays. I'm not super familiar with these nowadays, but just in the process of searching those tags above, I found these:

Jcink Tinder

RPG Adverts

RPings

There are more, I just don't know them off the top of my head.

Reddit

Listen, don't run away, I swear it's good now - I swear Reddit is good now -

Reddit is a good place to find Discord roleplays. It's a little heavier on smut-only roleplays than other platforms mentioned here, but it's not impossible to find sexless, plot-based roleplay here either. Most ads are for one on one RP, but you can find groups mixed in here too. The big subreddits for text-based freeform RP seem to be:

r/DiscordRP

r/RoleplayPartnerSearch

r/roleplaying

r/Roleplay

Some of these have weird rules about what you can put in your ad, and I don't remember which ones, so read carefully and don't get discouraged if your ad is initially removed.

Discord

In 2024, Discord is by far the biggest and most popular platform for roleplay, and it has its own native roleplay advertising hubs. Here are a bunch:

roleplay partner hub

Rockin Roleplay

The Roleplay Garden

roleplay help

the roleplay connection

RP Central

Roleplay Central

Roleplay Hub

Barbermonger also has a Discord server

Roleplay Meets: Reborn

RP Hub

The Scribes Guild

DM Rp Village

cherry blossom! roleplay hub

DM-RP

Roleplay Round Table (21+)

The Historical Syndicate (specifically for historical roleplay)

The Roleplayer's Directory

If you can't find the Discord roleplay you want on here, you can also try Discord hub websites, like Disboard. These work similar to tumblr tags - search for [genre] rp or [fandom] rp.

Other

The original post specifically mentions that 'all the old "omegle but for role play" type websites died out ages ago'. This is mostly true, but not quite! There's still Rolechat. It's a little janky, but what it needs more than anything is a bigger user base. Their Discord server is also a good place to find one on one discord roleplay. It is, of course, free, but if you want to support its development, they have a patreon.

Please reblog this post, and add your own tips on how to find roleplay!

[rederiswrites]

You can train your tastes. You can choose what you see beauty in.

Lemme go further, actually. You are constantly doing so--or letting others do it for you.

Nearly two decades ago, when we were planning our wedding, I made a very firm decision not to look at any wedding planning magazines or anything with marketing material for wedding products. I wanted our wedding to be uniquely us, and I also wanted not to be bombarded by product advertisement and beautiful photo shoots of very expensive weddings. Consequently, maybe we wasted a little bit of time reinventing the wheel, but we had a wedding we were very happy with that only cost perhaps four thousand dollars at most, probably not that much, spread out over our finances and those of both our families. Our guests went home with live potted plants that we'd paid pennies for at end of season, our florist had a great time getting to design a bouquet that tested her skills because I didn't have any preconceived ideas, my dress was utterly unique--and I really do feel that those magazines would have had a corrosive effect on all that.

When we moved to this property three years ago, I spent a LOT of time looking at images online, trying to form a coherent vision for a property that was at the time a fairly blank slate. I found myself scrolling through a lot of Russian dacha Instagrams, of all things, and they unlocked something for me. Seeing the same homey make-do decorations and techniques I grew up around a continent away, the same plywood cutout old ladies and tractor tire flower planters, somehow chewed through that last binding cord of classism, and suddenly I saw the art in it. The expression of a desire to embellish and beautify, even when you have very little, even when all you can afford is things the more well-to-do consider trash. I saw the exuberance of human love for beauty in a brilliant flower bed planted next to a collapsing shed--it didn't need to be perfect to be worthwhile. They didn't wait til everything was pristine to start enjoying things. And now I earnestly and unironically covet my own version of the tractor-tire Christmas tree at the farm down the road.

We've spent centuries now idolizing the manicured estates and quaint country retreats of the European wealthy elites. We've turned thousands of miles of living ecosystem into grass deserts in service of this vision. We need to start deliberately retraining our tastes. Seek out images of a different idea of beauty and peace. I'm not telling you what it'll be. I'm telling you this is not involuntary. You can participate. You can look at the many beautiful examples of native xeriscaping for arid climates, or photos of chaotic tangles of wildflowers, tamed by narrow paths, a bench under an arbor overwhelmed with wisteria. Maybe instead of trying to get lawn to grown under your mature trees, you'd actually get far more joy out of a patch of dirt. A hammock. A firepit ringed with log sections for seats.

You can free yourself from harmful conventions of taste and beauty, and you do it through imagining something better.

[ghostlyferrettarot]

✨️💎Jupiter and the signs💎✨️

❗️All the observations in this post are based on personal experience and research, it's completely fine if it doesn't resonate with everyone❗️

✨️Paid Services ✨️ (Natal charts and tarot readings) Open!

🌟If you like my work you can support me through Ko-fi. Thank you!🌟

💎Masterlist💎

♣︎Jupiter in Aries: They tend to be more enthusiastic, assertive, energetic, and full of ideas about how to initiate, promote, or expand ideas. You can also be more stubborn and very persuasive in getting people to embark on your plans and ideas. As Jupiter represents the principle of growth and the notion of something higher, the actions of those born under the influence of Jupiter in Aries can lead to personal development more easily.

♣︎Jupiter in Taurus: indicates a predisposition to use money and material resources correctly and beneficially. Jupiter in the sign of Taurus has a strong tendency to attract wealth and have a good sense of the value of things. Those who obtain it like to enjoy material comfort, good food, various forms of art and the good things in life in general. They appreciate what is good and what has personal value, even if it is expensive.

♣︎Jupiter in Gemini: they tend to be intellectually curious, they can read a lot or be that type of person who is always on the Internet looking for new information, news, curiosities and teachings. Their curiosity can be aroused in different areas, so they tend to be mentally restless and enjoy movement. Valuing communication is an essential part of those who have this position, for example Working in the communication industry, whether with journalism , advertising, public relations or tourism.

♣︎Jupiter in Cancer: these individuals focus on family experiences, knowledge base, past and personal roots. The place where they belong and call their own, is also a place where friends and acquaintances can find greater comfort in case they have problems guiding the course of life. There is a desire to create a safe, comfortable, friendly, welcoming and prosperous family environment that can also be used for educational and fun activities.

♣︎Jupiter in Leo: Optimism, generosity and a kind way of being are highlighted. You tend to like to be admired and valued. Jupiter in the sign of Leo brings the tendency of leadership. Its natives generally arouse enthusiasm in other people, and therefore have the potential to be good leaders. The generosity, firmness and reliability of these natives stands out.

♣︎Jupiter in Virgo: The person will care about the details and the precision of his behavior. It influences the person to appreciate the details, the kind that he can do a lot with a little. They have a superior, prudent, intellectual, analytical and practical nature; They differentiate what is essential from what is not essential, truth from fiction, what is valid and what is not. Their judgment is generally excellent.

♣︎Jupiter in Libra: They are people who tend to worry about the moral principles that guide society, their unions and their interpersonal relationships. Natives with Jupiter in Libra believe that love and justice can create a much more harmonious social order, being more generous people and, for this reason, more popular and loved. These personal characteristics can make them develop activities related to the public. It is not uncommon for people with this position to be attracted to becoming diplomats, salespeople, presenters, etc.

♣︎Jupiter in Scorpio: tends to have a greater appreciation for everything that is hidden, secret. They like to investigate and delve into other people's minds, as well as more ethereal topics, such as death, the occult and religion, for example. Jupiter in Scorpio can discover secret information about the private affairs of others in an extremely natural way. People have the potential to become more resourceful and have very strong and resolute opinions regarding their beliefs.

♣︎Jupiter in Sagittarius: One of the main interests of those who have Jupiter in Sagittarius is higher knowledge. Topics such as philosophy or religion, education and foreign cultures have a lot of meaning and are appreciated. They tend to choose their own system of thought that will govern their behavior and the way they view life. This is the type of attitude that can earn a person the respect and admiration of others in many situations.

♣︎Jupiter in Capricorn: You can demonstrate greater economic or political responsibility, being prudent, cautious and trying to be fair in your judgments. For people with Jupiter in Capricorn, management, status and recognition tend to gain more importance. Due to Characteristics such as ambition, patience, administrative ability and the wisdom to deal with the resources acquired throughout life, those born with this position generally manage to save money and own property.

♣︎Jupiter in Aquarius: they tend to enjoy interacting with people of all classes, races or creeds, without much distinction or prejudice. They tend to be more tolerant and understanding, recognizing more easily that everyone has their place in the world and that in all positions there are lessons to learn. Jupiter in Aquarius are more likely to engage in philanthropic activities aimed at helping others.

♣︎Jupiter in Pisces: they tend to be more emotional, understanding and endowed with a greater sense of compassion. Having spiritual or philosophical convictions, with this positioning, becomes more possible; People can develop a more comprehensive, universal and fulfilling spiritual understanding. Because of this greater search for elevation, they tend to eventually enjoy moments of isolation, becoming more introspective. By meditating, you can better develop this intuition and renew yourself spiritually.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Semantic Change

Linguists have distinguished several kinds of semantic change. Four particularly important categories are given below (other types and examples include: euphemism, cliché, figurative language, and the various dimensions of "political correctness").

Lexeme - the smallest contrastive unit in a semantic system (run, cat, switch on); also called lexical item.

Extension or generalization. A lexeme widens its meaning. Numerous examples of this process have occurred in the religious field, where office, doctrine, novice, and many other terms have taken on a more general, secular range of meanings.

Narrowing or specialization. A lexeme becomes more specialized in meaning. Engine was formerly used in a general sense of ‘mechanical contrivance’ (especially of war and torture), but since the Industrial Revolution, it has come to mean ‘mechanical source of power’. Several of the terms of economics also show specialization.

Amelioration. A lexeme develops a positive sense of approval. Revolutionary, once associated in the capitalist mind with an undesirable overthrowing of the status quo, is now widely used by advertisers as a signal of desirable novelty. Lean no longer brings to mind emaciation but athleticism and good looks.

Pejoration or deterioration. A lexeme develops a negative sense of disapproval. Middle English villein neutrally described a serf, whereas Modern English villain is by no means neutral. Similarly, junta has acquired a sinister, dictatorial sense, and lewd (originally, ‘of the laity’) has developed a sense of sexual impropriety.

NOTES

Everyone knows that words can change their meaning.

Example: We do not need to have taken a course in semantics to hold a view about what has happened to "gay" since the 1960s.

Some strongly disapprove of the new meaning which this lexeme has developed; some welcome it; but all native speakers of English recognize that there has been a change, and are able to talk about it.

Semantic change is a fact of life.

And those who have had to study older works of literature, such as a Shakespeare play, will need no reminding of how much of the vocabulary has been affected by such changes.

Source ⚜ More References: Word Lists

[olderthannetfic]

OTNF, I need your tagging wisdom. I see a lot of people discuss whether or not certain things meet the criteria for this tag or the other, but my question is, when is something significant enough to tag for? If we all know that Character A is 25 and Character B is 55, is it redundant to tag it as age gap, since we all know that's at play already for A/B as a pairing, or is it necessary for accuracy's sake? Is it only necessary if it's a big chunk of the plot or focused on? The above is just one example, but I can think of many instances where my problem tagging isn't that I don't know what tag the subject matter qualifies for, it's that I don't know if it's necessary or not. I don't want to overtag, and I also don't want to undertag. If you could grant me some of the wisdom that comes from years of knowing wtf you're doing and being in fandom, I'd appreciate it. I'm in many ways still trying to figure this out, especially since fic in English use a lot more tags than fic in my native language.

--

I will once again use my cookies metaphor:

Label "Walnut-flavored cookies", not "contains nuts".

AO3 tags aren't about accurately labeling everything in a work but about advertising that work or giving it a library listing. Some of the more major and salient themes are what you'd find in library metadata. An advertisement is "Hey, you like this thing! Come here for more of it!"

Tags can certainly also function as warnings, but that shouldn't be the primary function of most of them most of the time. Overtagging is when you tag purely so people can filter X out but people who like X will be bitterly disappointed if they click on your work.

You may get the occasional person whining at you that they do need more warnings and more "just in case" tagging.

These people should be ignored.

--

That said, there's considerable gray area and a lot of it comes down to your own tastes.

In addition to trying to tag the major elements of a work for filtering purposes, I try to have my headers be like the back cover blurb on a book. I want at least a couple of additional tags, especially if my summary isn't too descriptive. This helps people get a sense of the work. But I also want a short-ish header that's easy to visually scan and that doesn't make people zone out.

The desire to turn up in every relevant filter and the desire to have a short, punchy header are at odds. One has to make a judgment call.

[wizard-irl]

Buyers Beware - Andara "Crystals"

TLDR: It's glass slag with buzzwords sold for an iPad's worth of money.

Explanation and examples below the cut.

Archive of post.

Andara crystals are said to contain the prima-materia of alchemic fame, found by a Native shaman on a sacred site near a spiritual vortex, often claimed to be Mt. Shasta in California. Andara crystal is said to be both Atlanean and Lemurian; a stone of ascended masters, saints, and angels that vibrates in higher densities. It can clear "electromagnetic smog," activates and aligns all chakras, and accelerates spiritual growth. They are also said to be monatomic, completely missing the point of the term, which is often applied to gases made of one atom, such as helium.

What is slag? Smelt byproduct, which is notably not natural crystal or glass. Andara crystals have comparable composition to artificial soda-lime glasses over natural glasses like obsidian. Glass is not monatomic; it is commonly made from silicon dioxide, the same material as quartz.

Do you want to know how much they sell for?

Below is a search for glass slag.

Pretty similar in appearance, huh? That yellow piece is very pretty; I bet I could take it for 12$ and sell it as "Golden Light Pleiadean Ascended 6D Shaman Monatomic Andara Crystal" for 500$, and someone would buy it for that amount.

Is this worth it because they've shoved a bunch of spiritual words into the title and description promising the sun and moon to you if you pony up the cash for them?

The reason why they price them so high is people do buy them at these prices, because many people have no idea what they're actually buying.

You're not buying communication to angels. You're not buying a spiritual accelerant. You're not buying a chakra opener. You're buying well-advertised glass.

[mintywolf]

A Long Road Home - Page 80 Author's Notes

Page 80

This was one of my favorite pages in the script. :)

It was inspired by two actual events — the first is the origin story of the real-life Calamari (whose real name is Baby), whom I found like 15 years ago at a tiny, cluttered, wonderful shop in Charlottesville, VA that sold exclusively cat-themed items. I dearly hope it’s still there. On one of the shelves were 3 or 4 of these cute little cat plushies, one of them wearing a sticker with “$4 as-is” written on it. When I picked her up I realized that they had meowing voice boxes in them but this one was broken and then I had to give her a home. (I had an OC at the time with selective mutism so it felt particularly fitting. She is the perfect size for a pocket.)

(That's her on the left with some friends.)

So I’ve had this character detail in my head for years — the idea of someone finding a broken, silent toy cat in a shop and loving it even more for its brokenness and afraid that if they don’t buy it, no one else will and it will sit unloved on the shelf forever — waiting for the right situation and character to write it for. And it’s Laudna! Of course it’s Laudna!!

The other is a family story and one of my favorite examples of the tendency of the English language to confound even its native speakers.

Some of our relatives from Ireland were traveling in Alabama and driving behind a guy carrying a load of gravel in the back of his pickup truck. A chunk of it flew off and hit the windshield of their car, cracking it. They flagged the guy down and got him to pull over to discuss the problem.

“Excuse me, but a bit of rubble fell off your lorry and cracked our windscreen.”

In response they received a blank stare and a puzzled drawl of, “Whuut?”

“A bit of rubble fell off your lorry and cracked our windscreen!”

Eventually they managed to get that mess sorted out and went to an auto repair place to get the windshield fixed. As they were leaving, the clerk amiably called out a typical Southern goodbye, “Y’all come back now, y’hear?”

So they of course turned around and went back.

Other details on this page include vintage-style advertisements (genuinely one of my favorite genres of art) for Zenotha’s Throat Elixir,* tuskpaste for orcs, Eisfuura air mail, whatever the Exandrian equivalent of Coca-Cola is with a polar owlbear mascot, handy haversacks, and immovable rods.

* This was mentioned in the previous chapter, where it was out of stock. It was meant to evoke dubious Victorian-era patent medicines which often carried the name of a real or fictitious creator to lend them an air of authority. Because I was pressed for time owing to the ELABORATENESS of this page, the poster child is unused art of one of my Elder Scrolls Online characters. Her real name is Peaches Sweet-Whiskers but I’d always imagined the unseen Zenotha to be a Katari and used the UESP page on Khajiit naming conventions as inspiration for naming her.

[roimarketplacejoe]

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[botanylobotomy]

Spirit Shops Red Flags

Welcome to the list of Spirit shops Red/Yellow/Green flags post. These posts were Co-written with Katsper, and was also added to with the help of those in the Summoner’s Review server. General list was written with Katsper and expanded points are ones that people shared in TSR. Yellow & Green flags post to come

Please not that due to length some has been put under read more

closed religion species (up to personal values on what is closed or not)

There is a lot of religions and cultures that are closed. Spirits that come from them isn’t meant for people that aren’t of that culture or religious practice. Granted anybody can say “Oh I’m in xyz culture or religion” but it’s just uncomfortable to deal with. And a lot are really unsafe for those not in the religion or culture. Golems for example are of Jewish Culture, there is a whole process of making them and they are very specific to that process. Personally I wouldn't trust somebody selling them because from my personal understanding they are very complex and the one who makes them goes through a very heavy learning process. It’s uncomfortable. Adding, native American spirits are also big for people to sell, lets not do that for MANY reasons.

Straight up dangerous spirits (such as Native american w**s or skinwalkers)

“Spirit xyz can and will kill any human they can so they need a powerful keeper to keep them under control”, why are they thinking this is a good idea? Why are they selling Native american spirits or spirits that just want to destroy whatever they can and kill others. Serious lapse in judgment and a way to get other keepers harmed. Or even non practicing relatives.

over sexualizing spirits

Over sexualized spirits brings the feeling that sex is the only thing that matters and that’s all they are good for. Listings that say that spirit just wants to have sex devalues them as a being that has it’s own feelings, history, or really anything. They basically are advertised as breathing blow up dolls you put no care into.

selling ubis as sex fiends 

Not all Ubis (plural for for succubi and incubi, as well as a gender neutral term for those that don't identify as strictly male or strictly female) are actually interested in sex. It can be seen as a necessity for some, but there's also ones that want the emotional bond before getting down and dirty. It's a really heavy handed misconception.

selling "orphans" or children spirits

Now this was a big no no back when I started getting into online spirit work. Children spirits should be with their parents or adults of their species. If they’re selling orphans means they made no leg work to connect them with an adult spirit of their species so generally left with questions. Think of it like somebody selling you an orphan human child on the black market. Sketchy as fuck and feels super illegal {which it is}, there’s sometimes ulterior motives there that just leave the whole situation feeling wrong. And some species have strict as hell rules about their children and you don’t want to get into the cross hairs of that.

short CC or RC turnaround time (within a month or so) 

So this is more about having just conjured a spirit for your custom conjure (cc) or reverse conjure (rc). It's not giving you much detail or assurance that spirit is actually safe or says who they say they are. It also feels like “meh, did the work of conjuring good fing-ing luck. Give me my money I've waited long enough.” 

short vetting times

Short vetting times can be seen as super dangerous because it means they are just catching or conjuring spirits to sell for profit and not for care. Always ask about their vetting times and if vetting times are in physical or astral. Some astral spaces time moves differently so astral time of vetting could be shorter or longer compared to those who vet just in physical, it’s important to know their vetting times. Longer doesn’t always mean better, but it should give you an idea of how much they should know about the spirit

very little information about the spirit

This makes it feel like the conjurer didn't actually do vetting or did the shortest amount of vetting possible. They got some random details or bare minimum and said it was good enough. To a lot it feels like there is no care about the spirit and again, more interested in the money than actually connecting a spirit with a human keeper

misinformation about the spirit

Imagine you just got a spirit and the conjurer tells you it's a dragon but you learn from the spirit Is actually a hellhound. If you go to the conjurer and ask wtf is up and they ignore you? Chances are they don't actually care. Or they gave you the wrong info for that spirit. It's really frustrating to learn and so that's why you should always double check with your spirits and address things with the conjurer. but it leaves seeds of distrust and people talk.

"This spirit or item will solve all of your problems!" mentality

This can be dangerous to people as they then have the mentality that they don’t have to do anything for themselves if they can just buy a spirit or item because they were told that it can fix things for them. It can also be super harmful for those that struggle with mental health because they don't take the steps to help themselves and rely on spirits or items to help instead. It leaves spirits themselves in a difficult position especially if they can't do what they're being advertised to help/cure/fix what the conjurer is saying they can do

Doing "forever" bindings, or something similar

If a spirit wants to follow you after death into the next life, they will... don't make them. Forcing them to stay bound no matter what life takes away their right to choose and be free. It’s slavery in a way.

Has very little information about the spirit to offer, a paragraph or less

This ties into the vetting red flag. It shows they took little to no effort to getting to know the spirit and let you know that they actually took the time and care to get to know the spirit before matching them with a keeper. It shows they care more about the money not the spirit or the people they are matching them with

selling a "girlfriend" or "boyfriend" spirit

This feels icky just for the fact it feels like a spirit is forced into that kind of situation. Like a hostage and kidnapper feeling

Really Really high pricing, especially for very little information

According to others in TSR, if the pricing is really high and you get a page or less of information, they’re more interested in their pocketbooks than they are actually connecting spirits with keepers.

They don't allow any visits with spirits before adoption, seeing how certain energies and personalities fit in your family is important. 

This is becoming a lot more popular, especially if shops have discords. The general consensus from this is that a lot of shops do not allow refunds or returns after buying a spirit’s binding. So you’ve bought a spirit, turns out they just do not vibe with your energy, or they don’t get along with other companions. Now you’re just stuck. Visiting a spirit allows you to see if you actually vibe well together or if they can get along with your current family. General idea is that you should visit a few times to be sure that the vibes and energies all mix well.

making up species that diverges from canon, especially with closed religions

“Canon” being the core myth of the species. Take leviathans for example {new example because Native american spirits been pointed out a lot}, they are world enders. They want to destroy the world and consume it. Somebody selling a leviathan that’s friendly, wants to be buddies, isn’t a thing. Or taking a closed culture/religion species and just completely erasing their ties for sellability.

Human spirits in general 

It gives buying and selling humans for a lot of people. Which is weird considering the humanoid spirits, but the outright from earth humans feels… wrong???

Haunted dolls in general 

This is generally seen as buying human spirits and selling them. A lot tend to be children as well for a ridiculous amount of money. And they are traded and sold a lot which makes things uncomfortable. Mixing it with the severe lack of any vetting, feeling that the spirit is trapped in the haunted doll, and it feeling like selling/trading children it feels wrong.

uses language like "caught" or "captured" a spirit

This makes it seem like the spirit was completely unwilling for companionship and basically taken against their will and sold. Like slavery.

Offers "black magic" spells or "essence" spells 

Black magic is a racist term. Please google on how it's considered racist. In this day and age we should be more alerted to the fact that a lot of core practices were built in a way to suppress BIPOC individuals and their cultures and practices. Be better. Essence spells also feels weird.

A spell that affects you physically, such as giving you fighting knowledge when you had none before or making your teeth sharper

For a lot of people this feels more fake and more giving the hollywood glow to the witchy or spirit work community. It gives false expectations of what doing spell work is like. In return you get people that are pissed that they paid

[lilietsblog]

The difference between chess and language generation is that chess is complete in itself. The other player and the board not real are not concepts within chess, chess is not self-referential. A chess player is not worse at chess for not having philosophical thoughts about it.

A language, on the other hand, is very much about the real world, and very much self-referential. There's no "inner" goal like in chess, where you can win at it without any kind of parallel to anything outside the narrow confines. I guess maybe you can have AI suggest rhymes when you're composing poetry, or maybe you can have it aid with rough translation - but it still has to be a person at the end of the day making the final choices, because the AI has no concept of the context it's making these things for.

Like...

if the simulation gets too good then is not really relevant.

Not really relevant for what? What purpose is out there where it's not relevant that the simulation can only ever recycle already existent word sequences, and is incapable of conceiving of the concept of "fact" and it being "true" or "not true"? What is the context you're arguing this in?

What are the problems that come with it thinking that are relevant in a practical sense? Ethical in the sense of "AI is a person"? Well, no, it isn't and there aren't, because it doesn't have emotions - it wasn't programmed with the capacity for those - and cannot "feel bad" or "be hurt" or anything else remotely ethically relevant. It's not aware of its own existence - of the concept of "itself", "existence", or anything at all, it's not capable of awareness. It's literally autocomplete. If you're not worried about the google search engine being treated unethically, you shouldn't be worried about ChatGPT and the like being treated unethically, because they're the exact same concept but without actually pointing towards the primary sources.

There are, on the other hand, a lot of problems that come with it *not* thinking. And oh boy, are those relevant.

this is nothing new but it really struck me once i was finally able to catch up with it

so many people like to say "oh! the machine is not actually thinking! it has no understanding of concepts or what the words mean! its just predicting the next token! stochastic parrot!"

and at first i was like, sure, yeah. its a neat trick but just a trick. much like if we trained a machine to play chess, all it can do is play chess, it has no real understanding of a world beyond the pieces and the board and the rules by which they can be moved. if we trained a machine to cook pizzas it would have no understanding of reality beyond the constituent elements of a pizza, it probably wouldnt even be able to extrapolate concepts about taste or italian culture or the human digestive system or anything like that.

sure

but

see, here. the thing is we did not train the AI on chess or pizzas or any other narrow task. we trained it on language. which is probably one of the least narrow domains we could have possibly chosen.

and what is more, people keep saying that it "generates text" but it doesnt JUST generate text, if it were to JUST generate text it would just give us a shitton of random words and that would be it, that is "text" right?

but no, its generating coherent text, its generating text where we humans can read coherent ideas from. its, in a sense, trained to generate not just text but coherent ideas. and guess what is another word for the generation of coherent ideas...

yeah, that's right, its called thinking

and one might say, well its not ACTUALLY thinking, its merely doing a great job at pretending to think, its simulating the act of thinking. which fair enough, but for that matter you might as well say that deep blue is not actually a chess player, is just "simulating" playing chess.

the funny thing about simulated thinking is that if you do it well enough for for sustained periods of time is basically indistinguishable from the actual thing.

[doberbutts]

HOWEVER I scrolled by an article the other day that was basically “adding POC to fantasy stories that don’t have POC is more racist than those fantasy stories not having POC whatsoever” and I have been chewing on this for a while because it Bothered Me.

The argument was that, by changing nothing about the story except the skin color of various characters, you make something more racist by forcing POC into “white cultures”. The examples used for this were, of course, Rings of Power and Netflix Witcher.

Except... There are black people in Europe. There are Asian people in Europe. There are African people in Europe. There are Arabic people in Europe. There are even Native American people and South American people and Caribbean people in Europe.

And... as said before Witcher is not happening in our world but in a different world which humans were unwillingly transported to during the Conjunction of the Spheres, and multiple races and cultures were transported considering there are actually POC that exist within the Witcher books, which have trade and slaves and war that stretches across multiple countries and continents. Tolkien’s universe also has POC that exist within the books- albeit they are almost entirely Bad Guys Only- and it has other evidence of non-European items existing within it such as tomatoes, tobacco, potatoes, tea, and various spices meaning trade would have to exist because these plants do not originate in Europe.

Before anyone gets on me about tea- Bilbo mentions tea in PJ’s Fellowship of the Ring and the dwarves, in Bilbo’s house, offers Gandalf a cup of chamomile in PJ’s An Unexpected Journey- with first recorded use in Egypt [yes I know chamomile also grows in Europe, however it was not used as tea that we’re aware of until after Egypt taught the Romans how to do it]. If we want to say that it could be really any type of tea, the first recorded use of tea in general was in China. Either way, that’s a non-European invention.

The argument is, in itself, a racist one. People of color exist in Europe and have existed in Europe for almost as long as Europe has been around. War and trade and slavery will do that. The Vikings did it. The Moors did it. The Romans did it. The Mongolians did it. And others throughout history have done it. Whether they succeeded in holding ground longterm or had to turn back quickly, whether it was a nobleman on some world tour to stroke his ego or a merchant travelling on the silk road or a ship blown off course seeking exotic spices and products, people have always shown up in unexpected places. There was a black samurai in Japan in the 1500s. There were Native Americans being imported en masse to England in the late 1400s to show off as trophy wives and zoo exhibits. We have always existed in these places. Us being people of color doesn’t mean we don’t belong there or that somehow it’s not “actually” the culture of those who live and were born and raised in these countries.

And, in complete honesty- while I would, obviously, like to see more POC-originating stories being adapted into multi-million dollar franchise... the fact of the matter is that the few times it does happen no one goes to see it except for the race that it pertains to, no one talks about it, no one advertises it, no one supports it. POC authors and directors and producers and writers fight tooth and nail to show their work and then are told by the industry that their stuff is garbage that no one wants to see because people are too busy touching themselves to Famous White Guy’s Books.

[gravesung]

WELCOME TO SHELTER ISLAND.

There is a city in upstate New York, glamoured and hidden from the rest of the US, where magic flourishes in secret. No, it isn’t the small coastal strip of land in the same state with the same name. Shelter Island, this Shelter Island, is accessible to strangers only by accident. Fell asleep on the R train in NYC? Wound up there inexplicably one morning when you opened a door that wasn't there before? Teleported in from another universe on accident and got stuck there because the City won't let you go? Possibilities are endless! 

Shelter Island is a reclusive place, welcoming its own but near-impossible to seek out. Some theorize that the city chooses its residents. Some chalk it up to magical anomalies. No matter their stance, those who live there agree that in some strange, unexplainable way, the City is alive.

Genre(s)

Shelter Island as a setting contains many possibilities for stories of different genres. While no theme is off-limits, some are stronger and easier to pull on than others. For example, here are a few of the inspirations for building the setting:

early 2000’s techno-kitsch (leetspeak, over the top hacker counterculture, etc.)

Gothic Americana

absurdist comedy & satire about the modern age (capitalism/advertisement culture, memes, life on the web)

uncanny-valley atmospheric horror (think Night Vale, The Magnus Archives, SCP, etc.)

street crime, gangs & the mafia (peaky blinders, many many mob movies, six of crows, etc.)

Residence

Those who end up in Shelter Island by accident are henceforth welcome into the city, so long as they don’t enter with the intention of exposing it. The City knows. Trust that it knows. Most of the citydwellers were born there, but every year there is a steady trickle of new residents as well.

Because of this, there are New Resident Info Desks peppered around common entry points throughout the city. Here, you can get temporary housing, an ID card, and other resources to help get you started as a citizen. Geography and Demography

Despite the name, Shelter Island is actually not an island. Legends say the city once sat in the middle of a lake. After some geographic event over a century ago, the water around it receded, leaving a sunken halo around the city. The name stuck, however, and now it’s considered a bit of an in-joke among residents.

Shelter Island is laid out like a three-ring target. The central “bullseye” (called citycenter) contains the 1% — both literally and figuratively. The middle ring (called cityproper), home to roughly 40% of the population, is made up of suburbs, apartments, shopping districts, and other highly metropolitan middle-class neighborhoods. The outer circle (the Ring), containing nearly 60% of the population, is shoddily constructed and tightly packed with buildings, alleys, and people.

OTHER INFO: FULL SETTING GUIDE PINTEREST BOARD PLAYLIST

A Note from Raine

All of the characters in my muse roster (including on my other blogs) either exist in this setting natively or have a verse within it. Shelter Island is the ever-evolving product of many, many years of work by Reu and me, and I'd absolutely love to craft SI verses for your muses if you're interested!! Come on in, the water's fine(?)!

[jasmin-d55]

9/2 Blog Post Week #2

Why is there an importance to understanding the media's roles? 

The media's roles are important to know because they show how it shapes and reflects power relationships in society, changes how race and ethnicity are portrayed, and causes social change. According to Gonzalez and Torres (2011), the media shapes racial and ethnic identities mostly by sustaining prejudices and stereotypes, thereby reflecting their nature. By looking at the media's roles in the past and present, we can see how it supports injustice and how disadvantaged groups have used it to fight for social justice. To fix the continued issues of bias, underrepresentation, and inequality in the media (González & Torres, 2011), it is very important to understand this.

Reference: González, J., & Torres, J. (2011). News for all the people: The epic story of race and the American media. Verso.

2. How does media influence perceptions of different racial groups, and in what ways has social media transformed societal perspectives over time?

Using an example from the text, the writers looked at early examples of how different racial groups, such as Native Americans, African Americans, and immigrants, were portrayed in the media. These incidents demonstrate the extent to which the media has shaped racial and ethnic identities in the US. By making a range of voices and points of view more visible, social media has questioned accepted media narratives and preconceptions, therefore altering public perceptions. Over time, social media channels have enabled public understanding of racial and social issues, therefore impacting public opinion and behavior.

Reference: González, J., & Torres, J. (2011). News for all the people: The epic story of race and the American media. Verso.

3. Why are there people in power, as if there is a hierarchy within the internet? 

Fuchs explains that the internet like social media sites and other digital spaces is governed and looked over by strong governments and companies. Money is being made from user interactions towards these big companies which gives them an established financial standing. This is caused by the large amount of data that is gathered by these organizations which establish very strict platform policies that then bring in money from the users' interactions. The internet is viewed as open and in a very broad way democratic, which then offers social economic disparities to reinforce by that exact concept of power, this allows a small number of firms to dominate the online space. Although technically speaking everyone has power online due to the fact that they run their own platforms there is still a strong hierarchy. Online platforms tend to have specific content in favor due to mainly only financial gain. With this comes the marginalization or stifling of the voices of others which brings in a representation of the hierarchical structure within the social media world. The internet as a broad is reflecting as Fuch states, “real world power structures” where political and economic power justify knowledge and communication. 

Reference: Fuchs, C. (2014). Social media: A critical introduction. SAGE Publications.

4. What are the effects of social media's absence of user data ownership and management for online businesses?

In "Social Media: A Critical Introduction," explains that the lack of users owning and controlling personal data on social media platforms, is greatly affecting and overpowering internet companies. This form of dynamic brings in power which allows these companies to bring in and generate enough profits through targeted advertising and data sales. This is done while they leverage detailed use information to be able to attract advertisers. The immense amount of personal data allows there to be many advancements within the surveillance capabilities allowing them to monitor and analyze user behavior. Data control makes power imbalances which limits users privacy while making the computers influence greater and more prominent over information dissemination. This correlates to the class discussion where we spoke of the power dynamic this has that correlates to democratic processes where data manipulation can potentially influence public opinion and even elections. (Fuchs,2014)

Reference: Fuchs, C. (2014). Social media: A critical introduction. SAGE Publications.