#Rather than random internet users

[gingerswagfreckles]

Lol I've been back on tumblr a week and already the "ZIONIST!!" accusations are starting up. Hey man. If a Jew talking a lot about antisemitism makes them a "Zionist" to you you might just be antisemitic.

[sirsugarmeat]

I’ve seen a lot of people be like, “oh how did people NOT know that Mr. Beast isn’t a good person?? Isn’t it obvious once you watch any one of his videos?”

And, like, yeah. I think to most sentient adults it was clear that this was prime fake-charitable philanthrocapitalism. But I think a majority of us who are celebrating this wave of Anti-MrBeast content are just happy that someone from the inside came forward with more tangible stories and proof that he’s actually abhorrent that even people who didn’t think he was bad before can’t ignore.

I think a majority of sentient adults, before this whole thing, saw a Mr Beast video once or at least heard of him and said, “I vaguely know what he’s up to; he reeks of finance bro. I don’t like him, but all I can do is not watch his content” because to Mr Beast fans there was nothing you could definitively say that would “prove” that he was a bad person.

But now there is, and it’s sparked a movement of people trying to expose more of his shitty practices, and I’m just grateful that those people can finally be heard now instead of immediately dismissed because Mr Beast “donates to charity”.

[leatherbookmark]

my favourite thing abt tumblr mass-finding out about the origins of the “poor little meow meow” phrase is a couple of people in the tags, who listen to things like, i assume, punk or rap, going “oh so THIS is what people got so emotional over? wow they wouldn’t last a day over here” or “ah, this, yeah a couple of guys from our side did it too”. refreshing

[olderthannetfic]

I love Ao3 donation season because it truly brings out the most unhinged people.

Suddenly, these people whose blogs revolved only around fandom and memes turn into the most vocal activists, the most involved protesters. There's not a single cause they don't root for, there's not a GoFundMe they don't advertise.

Oh, you think you can donate 10 dollars to a site that provides you with hours of free entertainment and doesn't ask you to sell your soul through data mining? Well, then you should kill yourself and go to hell, because look at these *insert request of money from someone you've never heard of before, isn't part of your online social group, and you share nothing with* causes need it more!!!

I'm far more likely to donate to my mutuals/people I follow/causes I care about than random people (especially when the request comes from Tumblr users, the same breed that gave us people pretending to have AIDS and of being attacked in a mall bathroom for shipping the wrong ship).

But how dare we enjoy life when JonBenet Ramsey's killer is still on the loose, am I right?

--

Yuuup.

And half the time, the gofundmes they link to are dodgy as fuck. I don't reblog e-begging almost ever. I barely post about organizations fundraising, aside from OTW and maybe the Internet Archive once in a blue moon. Very occasionally, I'll find someone's "I'm a disabled, trans POC" post compelling enough that I'll donate myself, but I'm still not posting it here.

Mostly, I don't post such things because if I did, I'd never stop getting pestered to post more. But a lot of it is that many, many, many of them smell of bad money management of the "Oopsie, I spent all my money going to a con and buying merch! Now rent is due!" or "I adopted 57 disabled pets I don't have the means to care for!" (Yes, I have known many fans of both types. And all of them needed to beg again a month later.) I don't doubt that something is wrong in their life, but I just don't think it's money well spent. I'd rather donate to an organization or, on rare occasions, somebody I'm pretty sure is telling the truth about being from a poor-ass country where my few bucks might actually make an impact. That's not the majority of posts that I see.

[wombywoo]

Hello ☆ I was wondering if you have any advice for any artists who want to start creating fanart but are afraid to deal with the unfortunate circumstances that artists deal with on the internet? ): (theft, tracing, unauthorized sales, etc.). I know that's something thats inevitably gonna happen and that almost every creator is gonna have to deal with, especially within bigger fandoms, like CoD.

I'm not a very confrontational person to begin with which most likely doesn't help, but I really really really want to share my CoD fanart but seeing how shit the fandom treats artists, on all platforms, it's very discouraging ://

Hi there! I wasn't really sure how to answer this because truthfully--I still haven't found an effective way to combat all of the negative aspects you're referring to. Unfortunately, this is probably the most..ah...immature fandom I've been in, so there is a fair deal of nonsense occurring regularly, lol. Artwork is seen as 'content' which is meant to cater to any random person's wants and needs. As such, the average 19 y.o. tiktok user is just going to see a hot guy and repost it on their page with terrible techno music, regardless of whether you've put a watermark on your work or not. I can't say it isn't extremely frustrating, but personally, the main point is for me to create all of my artwork for *me* first and foremost. Don't get me wrong--I do enjoy getting to share my stuff in this community, and I've gotten some lovely responses more often than not. But I think it's better for you to focus on why you want to create something in the first place, rather than the anticipation of others' responses. It's awfully disheartening for a lot of artists to see their work stolen, and even worse, monetized without their consent. I do think a lot of that only happens when you've reached a certain status (ie. I only started getting reposted and harassed when I gained more popularity in this fandom) so I think if you start out small, you may be left unbothered, at least for a bit. I wish I could be more encouraging, but the reality is that the current online landscape for artists is a bit bleak. It's not even just the art theft and AI elements--more and more creators are under attack for the most inconsequential issues, and it's all a part of this ongoing fandom trend to weaponize morality, but I digress... One positive is that, for the most part, other artists will look out for each other, so if your stuff is being stolen, there's a shared response of retaliation, and I think you'll find most people are on your side. My best advice for this situation is: just post your stuff and see what happens. I'd say that the majority of people will enjoy and interact accordingly, and if you're met with any instance of theft/tracing/harassment, you can report the offenders wherever applicable. Don't let the negativity discourage you from creating what you want <3

[evilspiritweek]

Super quick online activity tier list.

Notes:

Treating "Facebook" as weird catch all. Like- technically you have social media, but it's kinda sort of just there

Some of these characters wouldn't have access to the internet (Plop Plop, Sorcerer, etc.) but if we gave them the internet as a treat, I imagine this is how they would react.

more thoughts underneath

Heidi: Appeals to the masses, so while I thought she wouldn't be super into the going ons of the internet, she's so obsessed with it I think she'd find herself going into rabbit holes. Definitley would have a drama channel on youtube, but any drama there is for chronically online people; if she brought it up IRL, I think ppl would see something wrong with her <3

Theresa: I think all of Der Monster Klub is chronically online to some degree, Theresa's no exception. At the same time, she'd be good at hiding it, mainly because then she'd have people from her school finding out about her tumblr.

Julian: is in the same area, although, I think he would also be surfing tumblr in public.

Levandar: Terminally online, but that's because he more so ego searches and sees what his fans are posting. In turn, he's probably not only seen the deprave stuff his fans would post about himself, but also the other fandoms their in.

Stevens: I think would just be a shitposter. Don't really have a specific niche in mind for him because I think he could go into really any sector of the internet and

Sorcerer: does not have internet access, but I can see the potential, you know? Would send anon hate like it's a living, because when you're trapped under a high school for hundreds of years it probably is. Unrealistic, but I think he would get into weird niche tik tok drama just for the fun of it.

Daves: like,, a normal amount, but that's because he doesn't really interact much? Outside of the Der Monster Klub, I imagine he would just lurk. That being said, he is definitely privy to the weirdest internet rabbit holes

Ignoring how busy he is with being a ninja, Randy would probs be online a regular amount. Definitely posts random youtube videos, but he's like,, trying to be youtuber so uploads are sporadic. Also, this boy does touch grass. He seems to want to be active in the social life of high school and that means hanging out in person rather than blogging on tumblr lol

Howard: Same level as Randy, but I can also see this guy trying his hand at streaming. Sporadically does it with no set schedule and it's only ever Randy and a few other people in chat, but like. It's fun. they're teenagers.

Bash: Normal amount? I don't think I have a lot to say on him, really. posts like,, pictures of all the stuff he owns to flex, but that's what any rich teenager would do. Would say something dumb online, but it never really blows out of proportion.

Brent: I think he'd really only post his work. Would occasionally vent too. Blew up at some random person who left a hate comment, making it his sworn duty of the day to make them just as miserable.

Debbie: I think she's not super social and really would keep up with her friends and like, the school accounts. That being said, I can see her running the social media for the news club too, that's where her passion lies afterall. Thinks about making a news/commentary youtube channel, but just doesn't have the time

Marci: I was initially going to put her down as a Facebook mom, and while she does have one, I also see her almost being like one of those Instagram influencer moms too. She does have the status already, so I think it would just come naturally to her. Thankfully, because she's already rich, she wouldn't try shilling you an MLM. Def follows her son on social media, but doesn't comment because Bash said it's embarrassing.

Flute Girl: Tumblr user, but not in trenches, you know? Runs several aesthetic blogs for each of her interests, but actually is sane enough to just block and move on. Could also see her writing fanfic, but most of it doesn't get posted because she might be a bit self conscious

P: I think bros neat design wise, so while I don't have many thoughts on him, I wanted to include him lol

Plop Plop: if this guy had social media, I think he'd be into the DIY stuff, for some reason? Never really posting his own tutorials, but always there to comment and help others out on forums

Rachel: Normal amount. Pinterest board game goes CRAZY. One of those cute aesthetic tumblrs, but genuinely a nice person. Avoids drama at all costs

Doug: Get the vibe his parents would restrict internet access. That being said, could also see him on Reddit, so..?

McFist: I don't think he would use social but instead pay someone to post McFist posts both for himself and his businesses. Does not understand it and is a very busy man.

Slimovitz: Just has a Facebook. Reposts minion memes and cat photos. He used to post about his car, but then a student found it and turned it into a meme showing the before and after of it's destruction one day. He put a ban on phones for a bit. They never found the culprit.

Bucky: Also probably had restricted internet for a while. Interested in getting a social media, but they say he has to be above 16. I imagine he'd actually want to post band videos, though, so that'd be nice

Jacques: He does have parkour videos, but I don't think he actually likes talking online. Touches grass.

Sorceress: I think she'd be on social media like any "teen" would, but I don't think she'd get it. Posts selfies, but also doesn't really post them enough

Viceroy: I just imagine this guy goes on engineering or science related forums and solves problems, but he'd like,, also be the dude that would message the answer directly to the initial poster so when you find the forum 10 years later for your very specific problem, the answer isn't there. Could also be on tumblr to and while he says he's above it, would start shit online (or at the very least keep tabs on it to watch from afar).

Juggo: I can't see him on social media, but like,, frequent poster in clown related forums and accounts? Would answer weird clown trivia questions and is a respectable member in the historical clown community.

McAffee: Business has a Facebook that hasn't been updated for several years because he keeps forgetting about it. Also would occasionally post on youtube, but I feel he really shines nestled deep within the comments of a random youtube video he got mad at. The comment was about how the Star Wars prequels suck and by the 100th comment, it's moved onto furry discourse.

Morgan: I think she lurks more than anything. Her account has nothing and if you ever see her, it's one of the other members of dancing fish posting and her showing up in the video (I also think I just make Morgan more mysterious than she actually is lol)

Ranginald Bagel: Goofy guy with next to no internet access. If he did, he would sadly

S. Ward Smith: I can't even see this man on any like specfic welding forums online.

Finja: I think even if we gave him internet access, he'd actively avoid it. He's got other shit to do. Doesn't understand the youth's slanguage. Like that one post where that person shows Fortnite to an Ancient Roman that I can't find for the life of me, someone PLEASE GIVE IT TO ME BEGGING

[adjit]

So what really happened in Red Robin between Dick and Tim?

Because I am constantly seeing misrepresentations of it, I want to talk about the actual events of Red Robin, and Dick and Tim's relationship during it. It's a favorite storyline for fandom to use and riff on, and so for people who haven't read the source, it's hard to know what is canon and what is fanon.

Honestly? It might be easier to just go read the issues. The majority of what I'm going to discuss here all happens in the first 4 issues of Red Robin (though I cover some stuff through the first 12), and I enjoyed that entire run, but if you'd rather hear a random internet user tell ya their take on it, read on.

This is going under a cut because it's long. But TLDR? Dick is not the bad guy in this situation. No one is the bad guy in this situation. If we had to name one... poor coping skills? And though they do fight, they ultimately reconcile because Tim and Dick are brothers who love each other.

Damian

First things first, let's talk about Damian. Did Dick give Robin to Damian without even informing Tim, so Tim had to find out by Damian showing up in the Robin costume? Not exactly.

So, some technicalities. Damian had worn the costume before the infamous Batcave scene. In Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3, he's given it by Alfred and goes with Squire to save Tim. So, not only has Damian worn the costume before, Tim has seen it.

However, arguably this is also before Dick has accepted the mantle, so the scene in the cave is still notable as it is Dick specifically informing Tim that Damian will be his Robin. And Tim had also worn the costume out for a one-time rescue months before he officially became Robin (also enabled by Alfred), so I'm still of the idea that the cave scene is The Scene about the Robin mantle being passed down.

That being the case, I'm still going to defend Dick anyway.

Firstly, he told Tim before Damian showed up. But it's true that he didn't give Tim a choice, and that Tim was NOT okay with it.

Damian shows up and talks some shit, Tim punches him in the face, and then storms out.

Overall, it went pretty terribly! But I'm of the opinion that there was no good ending here. Damian needs the family connection that the mantle of Robin would give him in order to feel accepted, not to mention the close supervision that the duo of Batman and Robin would provide. But Tim is extremely attached to Robin 14 years after this comic and he still hasn't given it up and would never be happy being asked to give it up, especially when he's already lost so many things. One of them was going to end up unhappy. (Fwiw, I'm of the opinion that Dick is right, and Damian needs Robin a lot more than Tim does. But that doesn't mean that that decision wouldn't hurt Tim, too.)

Arguably, Dick could have been a bit nicer when doing this, but let's be fair to Dick: his father figure has just died, and suddenly he has to be Batman, and he now has a young child he is partly in charge of. That's a lot to be dumped on his lap, not to mention that he didn't want to be Batman (he initially refused despite Bruce's wishes, and only took it on after basically being forced to after Jason tried to take on the mantle, killed a bunch of people, and injured both Damian and Tim), and said child is a highly traumatized child who is still in the process of basically cult de-conditioning! So Tim could also be asked to be a lot more understanding than he's being. But Tim's too wrapped up in his own grief to see that. Just like Dick's too wrapped up in his own issues to properly deal with Tim.

He has a lot of shit going on and he can't juggle it all. Tim is coping incredibly poorly with his own circumstances. They clash and neither comes out happy. It sucked. But to say that Dick is the bad guy here... He made the best decision he could when given no right options. I do think that he made a mistake here in his approach, but to call his entire relationship with Tim into question due to it... doesn't make as much sense to me (especially because of the events which follow!)

Self-isolation

So, did everyone abandon Tim? Did his family forget him and leave him out to dry?

Absolutely not. The opposite, really. Tim pushed everyone away, despite them repeatedly reaching out to him.

One thing to note about Tim here is that he is self-isolating extremely hard. Even after their argument about Robin, Dick keeps trying to reach out to Tim. Tim pushes him away. Tim pushes everyone away. And this is not even subtle- it's shown in the text very clearly.

Multiple people try to talk to Tim, and Tim absolutely refuses them.

Tim is pissed even at the idea that Dick might be checking up on him. And Tim and Steph's relationship is super rocky right now, and he takes her concern for him poorly. Part of that can be attributed to an ongoing fight between them, a lack of trust implicit there, but combined with everything else it's also clearly Tim pushing away all of his lifelines.

Cassie also comes to try to check on him- after he dodges her attempts to contact him, she flies all the way to Gotham. But when told that a man who everyone knows as dead, and whose body was recovered and buried, is still alive, she doesn't believe him. (And considering Cassie has already dealt with Tim's grief regarding Conner and his suuuuuper rational reaction there, one might understand even more why she doesn't believe him right away.) And Tim immediately pushes her away for it. He doesn't try to give her any explanation, doesn't respond to her concern, he just immediately cuts the cord.

(And just a note that when Cassie doesn't know who else to turn to about Tim? She turns to Dick! Because she knows how important Dick is to Tim. And yes, right now Tim is mad at Dick and resents that Steph and Cassie go to him, but that doesn't change the fact that when people think about caring for Tim, Dick is the first person they go to.)

Dick and Tim's argument

Did Dick refuse to believe Tim, despite Tim having evidence, call him crazy and threaten to throw him in Arkham? NOPE.

That is entirely fanon. And one of the more pervasive, and annoying, misrepresentations of Dick's character, as it causes people to talk shit about him.

So. What actually happened? (We're getting into full pages here because I am not letting anyone get this conversation twisted.)

Dick shows up and speaks to Tim compassionately, though decisively, about the fact that Bruce is dead and they need to learn to move on and deal with that grief in a healthy manner. He then offers help to Tim once more, and is rejected, Tim instead opting to start a fight in classic emotionally-repressed Bat tradition. (Which, sidenote, do you think they do this just so that panels during a long conversation are more dynamic instead of two people standing there talking to each other?)

Tim pleads his case to Dick....to an extent. Notice, however, that he never mentions that he has any reason to believe what he does. Doesn't even try to convince Dick to believe him, really. Just insists that he's right after he makes a good case on why he does in fact sound crazy.

And then, Dick offers help. He suggests that Tim talk to a therapist. This person is, notably, NOT ARKHAM ASYLUM. Isn't even secretly Arkham, because they're in Metropolis!

And, frankly, the idea that someone suggesting therapy to his brother who is dealing poorly with grief has been equated to "calling him crazy and trying to get him thrown in jail/committed" is absolutely bonkers to me. I know that it's more likely that someone escalated the stakes for drama in their fanfic or something, and for some reason that's the version that circulated, but from here to there is a LEAP. And for people to claim it's canon is frustrating to say the least.

And finally. Tim tells Dick to let him leave. And Dick does. Dick stops trying to stop Tim, and lets him go. He trusts in Tim enough to let him do what he thinks is right, even if Dick himself disagrees. He does it because Tim asks him to.

Is it a mistake? Maybe. Does it make Tim forgive Dick for choosing Damian as his Robin? Definitely not. But it's very clearly not because he doesn't care, not because he's too busy to pay attention to Tim. It's an act of respect, of treating Tim as an equal who is capable of making his own decisions. In that way, it's showing his trust to Tim.

I have an entirely separate post on the subject of why Dick not believing Tim is narratively supported to make later (EDIT: posted here!), so I'm gonna go on a little Tim rant here instead. Because this post isn't long enough.

During this time, Tim is consistently begging for people to believe in him, while also refusing to play all his cards. The picture that started his hunch is never brought up. Frankly, I'm not sure that even if he did show it to everyone that people would believe him, but I think it's telling that he doesn't.

First, I kind of see it as Tim engaging in a "relationship test". They're the kind of thing that only people who are deeply insecure or in a bad place think to do- if I stop talking to all my friends, how long will it take people to notice? Who's going to notice that I'm upset without me saying anything, who really cares about me? If I share an insane theory, who is going to believe me point blank?

They're the kind of thing that is....not healthy in any way, shape, or form, and really aren't fair to the people you're testing. Sure, someone "passing" the test may show that they care for you (and, ultimately, the only person who believes Tim without reservation is Kon, once he comes back- and that unquestioning belief and loyalty is meaningful), but "failing" the test doesn't mean that they don't care. And they're ultimately a sort of self-sabotage, because you know that most people are going to fail because you know the test is unfair.

And that's exactly what it is: self-sabotage. As previously mentioned, Tim is massively self-isolating during this part of the arc, and pushing people away because they "don't believe him" is just one facet of that self-isolation. But he also doesn't try to get them to believe him, doesn't even give them that chance, because his ultimate goal is not to actually get anyone on his side, but to push everyone away. That's not to say that he secretly doesn't want people to believe him, but... he's acting mostly irrationally. He wants people to believe him but won't let them close enough to meaningfully give them the chance to do so.

Second, as much as Tim says that he's positive he's right and he's going to prove it, he's straight up lying, and he's actually not that sure at this point. And he's probably terrified that if he does show his proof, that someone will see it and still not believe him, and he'll have to face the fact that his only piece of evidence is extremely flimsy and that his conviction is based much more on grief than it actually is on logic.

So. Yeah, no one believes him. And that does suck, and it's a hit to him. But he didn't exactly give them a chance. He's preemptively cutting people out before they have a chance to hurt him or point out where he's wrong.

Tim is still a pitiable character here. He's a disaster and a wet puddle of a man who is living through the worst time in his entire life. But he's not a poor victim, scorned by his family and the world at large, thought to be crazy for no reason at all! Instead, he's (much more interestingly, imo) a kid dealing with his grief incredibly poorly, self-isolating and refusing every outstretched hand, clinging desperately on to his last hope that maybe his world hasn't changed as much as it seems like it has.

Blackest Night

Blackest Night is a huge crossover event that happened during the Red Robin run; technically speaking, you can skip it without missing anything in the plot of Red Robin, but it does have some good moments that highlight Tim's mental state and his relationship with Dick.

So, Tim leaves Gotham, but when Black Lantern Rings start bringing a bunch of people back from the dead in the form of zombies, including Dick and Tim's parents, Dick calls him back to Gotham. And Tim, looking at the decaying zombie corpse of his parents, is also arguing that he can save them.

When faced with an evil zombie that is trying to kill him, Tim still says "I can still fix this, I can save him". And Dick, as compassionately as ever, tries to talk sense into him. It's the exact same situation as with Bruce, but this time Tim is absolutely wrong.

And with this situation as a parallel, I think it's a lot clearer how unreasonable Tim's mental state is. He might seem like he's just a misunderstood genius in Bruce's case because he happened to be right, but the fact of the matter is, he's not thinking clearly. And he'd cling onto the same hopes even when he's wrong. With Bruce's case, he got lucky.

Also! This panel.

Even with all of this between them, Tim still answers Dick that he trusts him, with no hesitation. Of course.

Reconciliation

So, does Tim come back to Gotham, replaced and forgotten, and become isolated from the rest of the Bats?

Nope! There is, actually, a reconciliation of sorts between Dick and Tim. Admittedly, there is no scene where Dick outright says he's sorry, and Tim says he forgives him. But in my reading, there are interactions that serve a similar purpose, if you read between the lines.

After Tim finds proof of what's been going on with Batman, had a whole thing with the League and the Council of Spiders, and blown up a bunch of League bases, he returns to Gotham where Ra's is enacting a plan to get revenge for Tim acting against him: destroying Batman's legacy. Everything he loved and everything he built is in the crosshairs.

And when he's trying to figure out what Ra's is planning, he meets back up with Dick.

Tim is spewing crazy theories, and with absolutely no proof or explanation, he turns to Dick and asks him to trust him. And this time, Dick tells him, Of course. The fraction between them that preceded Tim's departure from Gotham is repeated, and this time Dick tells Tim he trusts him, and asks what he can do to help.

(This time, Dick does call Tim crazy, while he's muttering to himself. And then he chooses to trust him anyway.)

Granted, this is not an actual apology. But it feels like a second chance. One more bid for connection, and this time Dick meets him in the middle and reciprocates.

Anyway, since when do siblings actually verbally say "I'm sorry"?

And then... quick summary, in case you want the real details for the following events:

Ra's sends assassins after all the people Batman cares about to distract Tim from the fact that he's getting Hush (who is impersonating Bruce Wayne) to sign over Wayne Enterprises. But Tim wins because he finally stops self-isolating and gets his many friends to protect everyone who needs protecting while Tim faces off against Ra's. (Which is, ultimately, a climax of his character arc for this story- reaching out and trusting people again. Team up guy back in action!)

Tim's able to keep Ra's busy long enough that Lucius can file the paperwork to make him the majority shareholder of Wayne Enterprises, thwarting Ra's' attempt at a takeover. However, Ra's wins the fight, and Tim ends up plummeting to his death out of the window.

And then Dick catches him.

Later, Dick asks Tim how he could have planned for Dick to be there to save him.

And Tim says "You're my brother, Dick. You'll always be there for me."

This scene has been talked to death, because most people are at a consensus: this is a fucking lie. Tim didn't know that Dick would be there, and was fully prepared to die.

However! I'm not here to rehash this. I just want to add my take. It's a lie, but. Tim is a good liar. And every good liar knows that the best lies have a grain of truth in them.

I do believe that Tim didn't know that anyone would be there to save him. But I also believe that he fully means what he says here, that it's not just to placate Dick. Tim is telling Dick that he trusts him, that he believes in him, that they're brothers. It's forgiveness.

I could keep citing all the places where Tim shows an unconditional belief in Dick that happen after this arc, to prove that their relationship is truly mended after this and that they don't continue fighting, but that happens often enough that you could just read any comic including Tim and Dick and I'm sure Tim will say some fanboy shit eventually.

So, that's it! If you take nothing else from this post, take this at least: Tim and Dick LOVE each other, and they might fight, but they forgive each other, and if you try to talk shit about Dick Grayson, Tim will be one of the first to fight you, guaranteed. Suffice to say:

[hexenmond]

dividers in fanfiction: experimenting with screen readers

So I wrote up this tutorial on pretty AND accessible dividers for fanfiction (focusing on AO3, but this goes for every piece of text on the internet that has a divider somewhere). I confidently proclaimed that using an hr element instead of some random characters is the better way to do it, to accommodate screen reader users – but I had never actually tried it for myself.

I wanted to remedy that and took some time to experiment with a screen reader (Orca, because that was easiest for me to get my hands on). Setting that up was actually a bit of a hassle, so I captured the audio output to post it here, and you can hear for yourself what I'm talking about without having to bother with technology and then you can make up your mind about how you want to handle dividers in your own works.

I picked three pieces of fanfiction on AO3 that I knew off the top of my head had characters as dividers in them (because I love them! so much!!), selected a bit of text with the divider in the middle, and had Orca read it out to me. Here are the results:

Example #1: simple dreams of comfort by softestpunk

I tried this one first, and it confirmed my guess: the screen reader simply reads out the characters as it can't tell what they're supposed to mean.

Example #2: Pretending! Unless… by Aria_Lerendeair

This was up next, same thing in principle. Here I also found out that empty paragraphs are a little bit unwieldy if I wanted Orca to read the selected text. And also I was starting to get used to the voice by now.

Example #3: Tower and Rose by Moorishflower

Same thing, Orca reads "plusplusplus". As a bonus I discovered what happens when there is a full stop missing (did you catch it?). And this was also when I realised that I really could get used to that objectively awful reading voice. Like, if my other options were more tiring, or I had none? I'd probably try different readers, and I'd spend a lot of time tweaking the settings (there are SO MANY SETTINGS), and then I'd enjoy my favourite fics anyway.

And how does an actual hr divider get read?

Orca by default reads it as "separator". Which is not all that great either in my opinion, BUT I could teach it to just read it as a three second pause. Or make it say "skip" or whatever I like. That would be fairly easy to do, but teaching it how to read every random string of characters – not so much.

So, bottom line? It's less problematic than I thought. Sure, "asteriskasteriskasterisk" in the middle of a story doesn't sound nice. But I could get used to that meaning "separator". Brains are flexible like that. It does increase cognitive load a little, but not that badly I think. (Cognitive load is useful a concept, I'll write more about that soon.)

If you have published on AO3 and you'd like to convert to hr elements in your works (those can also be styled to look very nice!), I wrote a step by step tutorial on how to safely and easily replace the random characters with hr elements. If you use it, let me know how it worked for you! Constructive criticism very welcome 🙃

Oh and: I actually made a cool tool that lets you push sliders around instead of fiddling with code! Go ahead and design some lovely dividers for yourself. No CSS skills required, just copypaste the resulting code into your work skin!

@softest-punk, @aria-lerendeair, @moorishflower:

I hope this does not make you feel put on the spot (not at all my intention), but maybe rather a little flattered as I really did know those three fics sufficiently well to remember they had different strings of text as dividers. It's not quite the same as someone making fanart but… right now I'm just loads better at coding than at drawing. So, do with this possibly newfound knowledge as you will! And also whenever you will, I imagine you've all JUST come out the other end of Dreamling Week, phew… I am writing this with much love for you and your fics 🥰🥰🥰

[rohirric-hunter]

I made an @ellipsus-writes account yesterday and with one day under my belt here are my first impressions.

It's basically Google Docs, but without being associated with Google. You're able to edit documents from any device with a web browser, which is a lot more convenient than the WebDav server I'm currently using.

Things that are less than ideal:

There aren't a lot of customization options. You can switch between light and dark mode, but I would like to be able to set my document backgrounds to a color. Also it would be better if you could change your view layout. Right now it looks like this:

and I would prefer to have these documents in a list, rather than these big bubbles. The bubbles might be cool if you could change their color or add an image background to them, but as is they're just boring white and taking up a lot of space. I have only 12 documents in this folder and it's a bit silly that I can't see them all at once.

2. You might also notice that these documents appear to be in a completely random order. They're actually in the order I last edited them in. I prefer my documents to be in alphabetical order, and this is an option that exists, but a) when switching to this view it for some reason defaults to reverse alphabetical order and I then have to manually select regular alphabetical order, and b) this setting will not be remembered between sessions.

3. I can't seem to get rid of the, "Need help? Chat with us" popup at the bottom of the page. It takes up an annoying amount of space, and I wish it was collapsible.

Things that worry me:

Instead of having a password system, Ellipsus sends you an email link every time you go to log in. There's nothing wrong with doing it this way I guess, since you can access the link from the same device you're accessing the website from, but it kind of just smacks of being different for the sake of being different. Makes me worry about security. Not that I write anything worth stealing.

Instead of having a normal profile system, Ellipsus uses Gravatar, which is some "universal internet account" nonsense that I will absolutely not be using. This probably won't be a huge issue, though, as I don't really plan on using the collaboration tools, so I won't need to make a profile. I wish I could change my email address, though, as I accidentally used the wrong one to make the account. I might make a new account.

I don't understand how all this is being paid for. There are no ads, the account is free, but the hosting is all done by Ellipsus. While text does not take up a ton of space to host, it does take up some space, and that costs money. Are the creators doing it out of their own pockets? Do they have a donor? Will there be donation drives to support it later? Or will they adopt advertisements in the future or introduce a "premium" option where you can pay for additional features? The last one normally wouldn't worry me, but since it is currently so bare-bones I'm a bit antsy. What if you have to pay for the option to have your documents in alphabetical order by default?

Their advertising is. Vague. I put this off for a long time because looking around on their website there was a lot of talk about how you're a writer and super creative and also they'll never steal your data to train AIs, but it was really hard to find a place where it outright said what the product was. This concerns me because it makes me feel like the company has something to hide.

Good things:

It's a platform that does the same thing as Google Docs without actually being Google Docs. This is a powerful pro. I'll probably keep using it for now.

Oh yeah and they don't have an app. A few years ago this would have gone in the less-than-ideal section for me but these days with the way app stores are about user generated content it's probably best to avoid the whole thing. I followed their suggestion to set a link on my homescreen (through Firefox) and it works very well. I was worried it might be laggy (Tumblr was laggy when I used it through Firefox) but it's been very responsive. No server access if you're not connected to the internet, but if you have the document already open then you can keep typing into it and it will update when you reconnect. This is the same way I used Google Docs back in the day and perfectly serviceable in my opinion.

[fadebolt]

I've seen some people posting their attacks collection from this year, so here's mine:

With the lovely targets being:

1. meowynn

2. aquaticnebulae

3. soul-sylver

4. sb-is-a-thing

5. saintwyrm

6. bindibites

7. phishtoast

8. pansear-doodles

9. toiletpapericecream

Decided not to ping them here, since I already did it once when I posted the attacks individually. But these are their blog names, and they're cool people with cool art - so feel free to look through their stuff!

This was an awesome first year of Artfight! Huge thanks to everyone who sent me their creations involving my powerswap scugs, I adore them all quite a lot! And thanks for all the wonderful comments and reactions to my attacks as well!

You guys were wonderful, and I hope I'll get to see you next year as well! :)

(Bonus ramblings about AF thoughts below cut. Be warned, they do be lengthy)

So when I was starting out with the site, I looked around on the internet to see what people had to say (out of curiosity, and to maybe find something helpful). And apparently, there are a bunch of entitled users that complain if the art you send them isn't "high quality" enough, or if you don't send a revenge for their attacks.

And I'm just sitting here, and wondering which Artfight did these people show up to, cus I've frankly never seen a person like that. Everyone was super sweet and appreciative when I attacked them, and I received zero scorn from attackers I didn't revenge. Perhaps it's something that happens only outside the Rain World community?

Anyhow, I ended this year with a solid 9/5, which might seem like rookie numbers for many, which... is actually kind of fair, considering that I am technically a rookie.

I really didn't expect to get attacked at all, considering that my refs were slightly rushed, and not particularly polished (something I'll hopefully get around to addressing in the meantime). Though I did have hopes that sharing my profile on Tumblr, and some Discord servers might help.

Funny thing is, I don't think any of those 5 people came from there, as they haven't interacted with me on Tumblr yet, and they haven't joined the servers that I was in. There's no way for me to confirm this, but they probably found me while browsing through the AF website itself, which is extremely flattering (especially since I initially thought that folks usually just attack their friends... turns out that ain't quite the case).

But this also proves that my theory about people liking powerswap Slugcats was actually correct! Which is great, cus they're a blast to create, and hopefully by next year, I'll get to have the other half of the cast (name ideas are 'Lightcat', 'The Crusader', 'The Solitary' 'The Augmented' and 'The Gambler', but it's all subject to change).

There were also some of my OCs which showed up in my attacks - I'm planning on adding them in, too. (So if you like necromancers, wizards that copy the spells of others, and weird fanchildren of niche ships, then I got some wonderful news for you!)

Speaking of my attacks, I definitely didn't draw nearly as much as I did for Art Month. That's because I decided it would be better to take things a bit slower, to have more fun, and avoid burnout. As I would rather send over a few attacks that I enjoyed, than to rapidly rush out like 60, to hit as many people as possible.

Sure, it'll mean that I won't get to attack as many people, but I still think it's worth it, as I get to enjoy myself more, while my target gets a better piece.

I was slightly concerned that a lot of people would find it insulting that I used a randomizer to pick targets, but nobody seemed to mind, which is great. After all, there were no bad intentions on my part, I just simply had too many people I considered worthy of being attacked, and I needed some outside help to combat my indecisiveness. There's simply too many great artists in this community!

My list consisted of SC members that stayed (I was grateful for their efforts to keep the place alive, and I felt this would be a great way to thank them), some other people from the fandom that I liked, and my attackers, who were given a multiplier of 5 to their chances, cus yeah xd

There were over 30 people there, so it's safe to say that I didn't get to most of them. I think next year, I'll give them increased chances too, and hopefully, I get around to most of 'em. (Unless I'll have to work on my thesis in July... I don't quite remember when that's going to happen. Hopefully, that won't be the case, and I'll have a bunch of free time, like this year, and I'll be able to do more than 9 attacks then. Fingers crossed)

So that's pretty much all I wanted to say here. I'm not sure if I should post any updates or uploads I do to my characters there btw. I suppose we'll see.

But the event was real fun, and I'm looking forward to experiencing it again!

[sunny-reis]

Can I request headcannons with poly vbs reader who's like wonyoung from ive?

(Job and appearance wise)

hcs - vvbs w/a wonyoung-like reader

an: you bet your ass you can !! i saw wonyoung and did a little jump for joy (mentally)

tags: somewhat-feminine!reader, idol!reader, reader's a member of more more jump! or some adjacent j-pop group, ppl give idol!reader shit (much like wonyoung) but they handle it like the slayboss they are

🎀 okay first of all

🎧 bc you're wonyoung-like i have to clarify that yes, ppl on the internet criticize you for no fucking reason ! not cool but it izz what it izz

🍓 you don't let it bother you because you're just Better Than That (plus you're rich, loved, and confident, why should you?)

🎀 assume you're a very popular, well-liked member of mmj! and you've had a pretty large following from a past career as a soloist

🎧 i hc an and akito as big idol fans (akito would rather die than have you find out he used to be a die-hard fan of yours, posters and merch and all stashed in his closet), so they'd definitely support you at gigs and performances!! front row seats and banners babeyyyy

🍓 kohane doesn't really listen to idol music and toya... is toya. but they'd prefer to watch you dance/dance with you!! especially during the rare moments when your normally-PACKED schedule is empty for once !!

🎀 watch you three be stuck in the company practice rooms for hours on end (assuming akito and an join later/for less time since they're Busy doing Stuff . yeah)

🎧 now for specifics !!

🍓 akito defends you from antis online . user ynlover123? that's him [he has multiple side accounts on every social media you can think of]

🎀 every time a clip of you doing something random but Cutely (like wony's little happy dance and the video of her eating a strawberry) you get So Much shit for it. god forbid a girl (g/n) do anything

🎧 Haters be hating 😂

🍓 an is a full on fansite dude (idk why but she seems like a photographer to me. i haven't played through the vvbs story don't @ me)

🎀 fansign? concert in tokyo? popup event? coffee shop event? private performance? she's there with her big ahh camera and filters and light boxes

🎧 you think you look ridiculous in the pictures she takes but to Literally Everyone Else you look ethereal !! like that one relatively recent pic of wony at the airport - everyone (but you) goes wild bc. yeah

🍓 kohane and toya are there to comfort you and make sure you take care of yourself when things get rough

🎀 ik that sounds generic and bland as hell but HEAR ME OUT !!!

🎧 i hc kohane is like a walking heater!! she gives the best hugs that make you never wanna get up from bed (best lazy day partner fr)

🍓 toya isn't a good cook but he'd try to make snacks and your favorite food for you !! good thing you had to take acting classes bc ... he could've tried harder 🗿

🎀 thankfully he can at least cut fruit without losing a limb, so in classic asian mom fashion, he brings you plates of fruit when you're feeling down - he and kohane make sure you finish it all (and kohane sneaks some pieces while toya's not looking 😁)

🎧 (tbf she looks like a squirrel bc of how chubby her cheeks are - im not immune to the kohane rodent agenda)

🍓 all in all i feel like it'd be a really understanding relationship with poly!vvbs - they're dancers so they get how tiring it is, and especially with industry-induced worries, they'd be there to support you and make you feel loved no matter what!

[canmom]

since this seems to be my topic of obsession for today...

turns out Bluesky internally uses content-based addressing and IPFS. I don't have a lot of use for it since it's a Twitter clone, and I've never got on very well with Twitter. Bluesky hides most of that from the user - it looks just like any old web app backed by a central server. i need to look into this more, Bluesky is taking inspiration from IPFS but it's using its own protocol, and it is doing some good things. I think its protocols could be used for something more Tumblr-like.

there's a protocol called PubSub which sounds like it does a lot of what I want, or rather gives you the low-level framework to broadcast info across a decentralised network. you could build a social network on top of that. IPFS uses it as one way of handling mutable data, like 'my website just updated'.

there's an absolute plethora of ideas, protocols, and tools for decentralised file sharing, decentralised messaging, decentralised social networks. this broad idea space is very much the hot new thing at the moment. some of them seem like they're growing. a lot of them have glossy websites with animations and stock photos of smiling people. it's hard to know in advance what's worth paying attention to. the whole field is dense with acronyms and rather abstruse concepts. which unfortunately means the current audience tends to be limited to tech nerds (c'est moi) and crypto cultists (ce n'est pas moi. merde!).

Briar is a protocol I find personally very appealing. it's security-oriented, designed to be crazy resilient, creating a mesh network through whatever protocols are available. you use it for E2E-encrypted messaging, but also you can use it for threaded discussions and blogs. right now it's only available for phones but they're working on a desktop version. the primary use case seems to be like "you're at a protest and the gov shuts off the internet", but it would be a very sexy place to put your blog. that said, I expect it would not be very fast at all.

the major encryptable, decentralised Discord/IRC alternative is Matrix. I broadly like the look of it, but we have the same problem of inertia getting people to switch from Discord, and there's still some jank I encountered when I tried it.

there's a lot of cryptocurrency in this whole area. (not surprising since the underlying tech of crypto is also hash-based, and there's ideological overlap between crypto and torrent people, because 'decentralised').

notably, there's a companion project to IPFS, a complicated scheme called FileCoin which is designed to encourage people to host data for a certain period in return for FileCoin tokens. you get FileCoins for consistently holding onto the data, and you lose a stake of FileCoins if you delete it prematurely. these FileCoins can then be used mainly to pay other people to host data for you: you pay FileCoins to a host, and pay them again to fetch your data(!). or you can trade them for other cryptocurrencies.

I'll acknowledge it doesn't seem as intrinsically environmentally corrosive as proof-of-work crypto, or even as simply 'the rich get richer' as proof-of-stake crypto. it's not filling up HDDs with random crap either. though it does sound like it requires quite a bit of CPU work to be done in all the hashing for the 'sealing' process.

I'm still not entirely convinced of the benefit this scheme brings. crypto stuff has a tendency to go belly-up very abruptly when speculative bubbles pop, so I wouldn't be super excited to rely on FileCoin for archiving some valuable bit of data. of course any offsite backup carries risk, e.g. Dropbox could go bankrupt one day. but I'm way less convinced of the benefits of something like FileCoin than IPFS. I guess it remains to be seen if this takes off.

[stellar-constellations]

Hey! I'm not a very active user here, but I wanted to check in with the yandere shinso au a few days ago and haven't been able to find it. Has it been discontinued? If it was, i couldn't find any post saying that it was

Oh, you're right! I completely forgot to post that announcement. I thought I did, but knowing me I probably had a dream of writing it and I thought I posted it when in reality I didn't... Silly me!

Yes, the Bound Together series has been discontinued and deleted for a multitude of reasons.

One; I feel like it was very cringy. I kept looking back at the work and I couldn't feel myself enjoying it. I knew I could do better, and that series just wasn't cutting it.

Two; It was originally a self-insert. I started writing, I've written hundred-thousands of fanfics I did for fun, which is how I discovered I liked writing. In fact, An Alliance was actually a self-insert too, when it got to 60,000 words was when I decided to post it to the internet (after editing all the exclusive facts of me and my appearance).

The difference between An Alliance and Bound Together was that An Alliance had a completely different (Y/N), one that was made of pure fiction; whilst Bound Together felt extremely exclusive and I felt it didn't relate to other readers since it was originally a self-insert series beforehand.

Three; I had no motivation for the series. It felt like I was constantly at a writer's block with it, and it felt like there wasn't much to write or try to plot-out since it was so exclusive. It was stuck in its own little box that it made it hard to try and branch out.

Four; I actually bumped into many obstacles because I didn't actually watch or readMHA! Trust me, I tried so damn hard (I tried watching the series on three separate occasions throughout the years, and I also tried reading the manga but I just couldn't like the series). Honestly, I hated the protagonist and couldn't find myself enjoying the series plots or ideas, the anime just felt forced to me. So because I never liked the anime or manga, I never had a full grasp on Shinso's personality; I only knew the basics and that made it difficult to write.

The reason why I even wrote for Shinso was because he was a relaxed, semi-realist/pessimist, and a sleepy boy (don't judge me, I have a type). Personally, I like slowburn relationships with lots of quality time and just enjoying each other's company, not much romance honestly, so it also projected into that series and made it even harder to try and relate to the audacity (basically like reason two).

I write for characters I actually simp for, that way I can be motivated and so I can actually enjoy writing. I would rather lick gum off people's shoes for a living than EVER IN MY LIFE write for Toji, so I just need to like the character to write them.

So yeah! That's my reasons for canceling the series. Hopefully, all of my stars orbiting my galaxy will understand my reasonings. I'm not going to even try lying, it's best not to look to me redoing the series because I seriously doubt I will. After that fiasco, I decided to update my masterlist to only anime I've watched or mostly watched, that way I could have an easier time writing and you all will have an easier time reading! Thank you for this question, and I'm glad you reminded me about this!

This is my new and improved masterlist if you want to check it out. Please be aware, requests are not my top priority. My top priority is myself (because good work is only when you're in a good state of mind and body. Don't destroy yourself for random people on the internet) My second priority finishing Star Patient, listening to my reader's opinions and ideas for the plot and characters, and answering questions. Anything else is third priority.

[matterlessmono]

INTRO

Howdy howdy, I'm Mono or Matter, I don't mind either. I use They/It/Void by default but feel free to ask on individual days as my gender is a sort of liquid. I mostly post random art or stupid things that may or may not pertain to the fandoms I'm in. Feel free to send asks or requests, but I can't promise I'll see them immediately. I have the same user on any platform I'm on "MatterlessMono". I am also a P-OSDD system so if you're a part of that community feel free to chat! Please let me know if an ideal of mine or someone/thing I support is bad/wrong, I'd rather be educated than hunted. This blog with be 16+ as I may touch on NSFW or heavy topics so be wary for your own health as it is not my job to regulate your internet use.

DNI

General negative isms and phobics (Like racism/Homophobics ect-)

Those who believe source defines an alter or "non-traumagenic" systems

Those who drag people into their personal drama

[moved-to-aromanticsuzuya]

yeah it’s definitely not that these people didn’t experience what they say they did! it’s that the word they’re using is a dogwhistle for antisemetic conspiracy theories and satanic panic. you’re exactly right about the ISSTD. they’re a fraudulent organization created to push those conspiracies and unfortunately people have latched onto their wording and gotten very attached to using it, despite what it means and where it came from. there’s no ‘repurposing’ this sort of thing and there’s no reason to. nobody who wants people to stop saying ‘ramcoa’ is denying the trauma of people who experienced those things, just desperately trying to prevent those conspiracies from infecting the DID community which is desperate to defend itself and its own legitimacy. it’s a very confusing thing, but the only sources - actual sources, real documentation of the history of the term and what it means, not some random internet user who’s attached to the term (or who has been told that refusing to use it means not believing survivors, rather than not participating in SRA conspiracies) - are ISSTD fraudsters, many of whom have been accused of heinous misconduct by patients, or people who are getting all their information from those conspiracy pushers.

okay hi anon so! my brain is fried from all this new information so I'm sorry if my response is a bit messy or if I'm basically repeating what you said.

so from what I'm getting it's the term that's the problem in this whole thing? and it got very popular in DID spaces which led to people not knowing the actual history behind it? and everytime somebody tries to bring it up they get like. super defensive because they think it's a personal attack and someone dismissing their trauma and not believing them? so they just? get even more defensive about it instead of acknowledging its origins? is... that it?

I went to dig into where it came from. again. all I found (other than Wikipedia) was the ISSTD website. which again. proves your point I think. then again I understand how it's easy to NOT know the origins, especially with how much its used, so I can see why so many people just... don't or didn't know (myself included) .

overall what I got from this whole thing other than the fact it's very confusing and everyone's desperate to defend themselves and be heard is that people should probably... find.. a different word to use. right? I mean, there's gotta be a different word that isn't rooted in weird antisemitic conspiracies? right? I don't know. this whole thing is so so confusing. please just know I meant no harm. nor do I support antisemitic conspiracy theories. thank you for talking about this though, I learned a bunch of new stuff that I think is good to know for future reference.

[fitzrove]

not to vaguepost about a popular post about how Gen Z Bad but. Omg this is just a bad post. I promise you can have a full exciting life without smoking, drinking or a driver's license. In fact it's super weird and infantilizing to correlate the lack thereof with being Dull And Repressed............

BESIDES this is just not in touch with reality, so many gen z people smoke it's kinda gross 😂😂😭😭 And at least all of the people I know seem to be the same amount into drinking that older generations are lol.

For what it's worth, I 1000% think the push for internet "puritanism" re: media has much more to do with the political climate than with individual lives. Politics have become a witch hunt on all sides (or rather, there are witch-hunters on all sides of politics - the age of coalitions and cooperation across the political spectrum seems to be ending worldwide because moderates don't or can't exist anymore). People care more about what is appealing, attention-grabbing & satisfying to their own biases and preferences in the short term than what is scientific, or thoughtful, or nuanced, or multifaceted. The cultural and social polarization created by algorithm-based social media platforms (ie. echo chambers) draws from and enhances this. I PROMISE it's not because The Youth Is No Fun Anymore jesus fucking christ

EDIT: Also tumblr users aren't immune to equally reductive takes about maturity and what's inappropriate. I've seen so many bad posts (made by 30-somethings!!) about Brain Matures Until Age 25 so Dating Across That Border is Literal Grooming. 💀💀 Newsflash brain matures throughout your lifetime and just because you turned 25 last year doesn't mean you're a more mature person than someone who's literally a few years younger. Like you went to primary school together with these people I'm not sure there's a divide that actually matters that much lol. I (early 20s) am often told IRL (not by romantically interested parties, by random people) that I'm functionally indistinguishable from someone in their mid 20s :P