#also can people please stop censoring their hashtags | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

found-family-my-beloved · 2 years

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Rules for new tumblr users

I'm sure people will have seen other mcyt blogs first and they've all given warnings but I'm just making this to pin at the top of my blog and so I can edit it when I inevitably realise I've forgotten something.

General ground rules:

If you have a default profile picture, blog and haven't reblogged anything, you will likely get blocked as a potential spam account. It doesn't have to be a lot, just search the tags for some of your interests and reblog some cool art or something.

You have to curate your own dashboard on tumblr. Search and follow the tags of things you enjoy, find users within those tags you want to see more from, follow and reblog posts from them. And if you aren't enjoying yourself, don't be afraid to unfollow people again (we don't usually pay attention to follower counts) and block tags/people if you really aren't happy seeing them.

If you want to keep things nice and neat, most of us will have a main blog (the one you get when you join the website) and then for any particularly strong interests will have a side blog. You can't like or follow from side blogs, but you can reblog things easily and people can follow side blogs if they share that interest with you. You can even make group blogs by going to the side bar of your sideblog and clicking 'members'!

Don't censor words, especially in the tags. You won't get reported or 'shadowbanned' for saying words like 'kill' or 'fuck' and if you do censor them then people who have them as blocked words and may be triggered by them will see them anyway.

When you join tumblr, there will automatically be sections showing what you've liked and who you've followed publically visible on your blog. Not only can you make these invisible in your settings, but we actively encourage it! People don't usually pay attention to them anyway but it's easier for you to like the things you want when you know people won't see them and judge you.

If you want to have a conversation with other people and get replies, put what you want to say in the main text of reblogs. If you're just trying to add a funny comment or say things without people responding to them, put it in the hashtags or as a reply. It means you can reblog things from other people without also having to reblog hundreds of people's random little comments.

Mcyt specific:

If you're gonna make posts, use 'mcyt' rather than the word 'mine/craft' when you're tagging. That tag is reserved for people who want to talk about the game and if you start talking about your blorbos in their tag, you will be told off for it. Same with tags where the word is included, use (e.g. use mc championships instead of the full name because it will still get picked up by the game's tag)

There are people in the mcyt communities on tumblr who ship and will post about those ships in the main tags. I'm personally not one of those people and try to avoid it where possible but you will inevitably come across it. If that's not your thing, don't make posts raving about how terrible it is or start harrassing them. If you don't want to see it just block the people doing it, block the relevant tags and move on. The communities here are pretty good at tagging their stuff using 'hermitshipping' for hermitcraft, 'trafficshipping' for the life series, 'empireshipping' for empires, and 'dsmpshipping' for dream smp. I don't think it happens much for dsmpblr but the others it's a regular occurence.

A lot of us (including myself) don't want to be noticed by content creators! We were here first and for the people who write fics or make art, they may feel uncomfortable posting if there's a chance a CC will see it. I believe Aimsey's now saying there's an 'Aimsey look' tag that they will go through each week so only people who wanted to be noticed will be, and I know we can't really do much to stop CCs going through the hashtags but just don't @ them in posts unless they're your own or OP specifically says you can.

No drama please! This is supposed to be a chill space and people moving over from twitter aren't going to ruin that. We've been here longer than you have, so you're the guests under our house rules. This is especially the case when it comes to MCCs. Leave Scott and Noxcrew be!

This is a personal one but please don't complain to me about buildmart. Yes I know people hate it and think it's unfair but I and other people here really enjoy it so I will simply block people who complain about it. We're all entitled to opinions but it's really tiring to see people shit on it once a month every month.

#mcyt #new tumblr users

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gaalee-events · 3 years

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What is GaaLee Hallo-week? How does it work?

GaaLee Hallo-week is basically a Halloween-themed ship week for the pairing Gaara/Rock Lee. Each day from Oct. 24 - 30th, there will be different prompts to fill. There are (at least!) two prompts per day: a spooky prompt and a sweet prompt, riffing off the idea of trick-or-treat. There is no sign-up and no obligation. Creations for this event can be fanfic, fanart, playlists, icon sets, panel edits, moodboards, memes, closet cosplay, or any other fannish pursuit you can think of! As long as it features the GaaLee pairing and fits a prompt, it counts!

Sounds great! How do I participate?

There’s no sign-up for this event, and it’s open to everyone. On the appropriate day, simply post your creation on Tumblr, indicate which prompt you’re filling, and tag the @gaalee-events blog! You can also use the hashtag #gaaleehalloweek, but be sure to tag the blog as well to ensure your creation doesn’t get lost. The GaaLee events Tumblr will then reblog your work for all to see! If you don’t have a Tumblr or would prefer to participate only on Ao3, that’s also fine. When you’re uploading your work, you can add it to the GaaLee Hallo-week Collection by typing ‘GaaLee_HalloWeek’ (without quotes) into the ‘Collections’ box. For people who choose to participate just on Ao3, the organizers will create a link post on Tumblr with a link to your fic. If it’s been 24 hours since you posted and you haven’t seen your contribution reblogged, please send an ask to @ghoste-catte, as it may have gotten lost in notifications.

So, what are these prompts you’re talking about?

Each day has a scary prompt and a sweet prompt associated with it! For a handy rebloggable visual guide, check out the prompts page!

Day 1, Oct. 24 - Haunted House -or- Hallowed Ground

Day 2, Oct. 25 - Demons -or- Deities

Day 3, Oct. 26 - Nightmares -or- Sweet Dreams

Day 4, Oct 27 - Fear -or- Wonder

Day 5, Oct 28 - Movie Night! (The Amityville Horror -or- The Addams Family)

Day 6, Oct 29 - Scary Stories (“I do not love men. I love what devours them.” - Prometheus Illbound, Andre Gill -or- “People don’t want to see what can’t possibly exist.” - Mort, Terry Pratchett)

Day 7, Oct 30 - Trick-or-Treat (free day!)

How do the Movie Night / Scary Stories / Free Day prompts work?

In the second half of the week, let your imagination run wild! You can be inspired by the suggested movies, images, or quotes, or you can create something for the overall theme of “Movie Night” or “Scary Stories”. For the final day of the event, you can create whatever your heart desires, as long as it’s scary or sweet, and GaaLee-themed! As with the previous days, you can also use “Trick-or-Treat” as your prompt and create something based on that.

What are the minimum requirements for a prompt fill?

This is left open to the individual participant’s discretion. If you feel that what you created meets the prompt, then it counts! A single creation can only count for one day, but it may be inspired by one or both prompts on that day. (For example, you could create something for October 25th to fit the prompt “Demons”, or “Demons and Deities”, but not “Demons” and “Nightmares”.) You can create multiple creations for a single prompt or a single day. If you make something that has multiple components, like a multichapter fic or a multipage comic, each chapter/comic page/etc. can be counted towards a different day/prompt, as long as they’re posted on the correct day and fit one of the prompts for that day.

Do I have to participate in all seven days? Do I have to fill every prompt?

Not at all! You can fill just one prompt on just one day, you can fill multiple prompts across multiple days, or you can fill all the prompts on all seven days. Think of this event like that bowl of candy on your neighbor’s porch that’s labeled ‘Take One’ -- you can do whatever you like with it; nobody’s going to stop you. That being said, if you do create something for all seven days, you’ll be in the Monster’s Ball, which sounds very cool but really just means that your creations will be listed at the top of the event wrap-up summary in a fancy text box.

Does everything I make have to be Halloween-themed?

Nope! While we’ll all be getting in the mood for Halloween, ghosts, ghouls, and pumpkins don’t need to feature in your creation. As long as you feel like your creation fits one of the prompts, it counts. That being said, we’d love to see the fandom flex their horror muscles and go full Spooky Season on us. Bring on the blood and guts!

I have something I’m already working on that fits one of the prompts, can I use it for this event?

Yes, with a couple of caveats! The creation must be new and posted on the date of the prompt that it was created for. If you already have a partially published project and something new you’ve created for it fits one of the prompts, that can absolutely count. For example, if you’re writing a 20-page comic about a haunted house, and you post a new page on Oct. 24th, you can count that for the prompt “Haunted House”. If you say you created something with this event in mind, we’ll take your word for it. The only other restriction is that if you’re creating your project for a different event (such as an exchange, ship week, theme week, big bang, etc.) and it also happens to meet one of the GaaLee Hallo-week prompts, you should check the other event’s rules to ensure they don’t have any restrictions on counting a single work towards multiple events.

Are there restrictions about what kinds of content can be created for this event?

Because of the Halloween theme, it’s to be expected that some works might be transgressive, upsetting, or triggering. However, we want this event to be enjoyable for as many people as possible! We ask that you use caution and consideration in your creations and be mindful of the ways that traditionally ‘scary’ tropes have been used to harm marginalized groups. Tag judiciously and use your best judgment. Be wary of ableism, such as using a person’s mental illness or physical disability as a scare factor or to make them seem more monstrous or mysterious. This does not mean you can’t create works with or about disabled or neurodivergent characters, simply be mindful of how those characteristics are portrayed and the role they serve in your work. Avoid transphobia, such as portraying a male character in a woman’s costume for laughs or using a character’s trans identity to make them seem villainous. (Lookin’ at you, Buffalo Bill.) This doesn’t mean your characters can’t explore gender roles! But it’s important to be thoughtful and intentional about how you portray transgender characters in a horror setting. Also, please be aware that the word ‘spook’ is an anti-black slur, and should be avoided in the creation of your works. (‘Spooky’, the adjective, is fine.) This is not a comprehensive or exhaustive list, and your judgment as an individual creator is important! If you have concerns about something you’re making, you’re more than welcome to message either of the organizers (@ghoste-catte or @puregaalee) for feedback. The organizers reserve the right not to reblog or republish work that is not appropriately tagged or that may not fit the spirit of the event.

What about sexually explicit (NSFW) content, is that allowed?

NSFW content is more than welcome, with some guardrails. NSFW content posted on Tumblr should be appropriately tagged and behind a ‘Read More’ cut. Any NSFW content hosted off-site should likewise be clearly labeled. If you choose to create NSFW images, be aware of Tumblr’s content guidelines. You may want to consider posting a cropped or censored image on Tumblr and linking to another site (Twitter, Privatter, Pixiv, Imgur, etc.) for the full image. Individuals under the age of 18 may not create sexually explicit material for this event.

I’m so excited, I just can’t wait! Can I post my creations early?

Please wait until the assigned day to post your creations for that prompt. Creations will not be reblogged until the assigned day for the prompt that inspired them.

Eek, I’m running behind! What if I created something for a specific day, but I didn’t get it posted in time?

Late postings will be accepted throughout the week, so if you created something for October 25th’s prompt but didn’t get it uploaded until October 28th, that will still be reblogged. The two weeks following the event will be reserved for ‘late posting’, during which time you can still upload your creations and tag the blog to have them reblogged. An event wrap-up will be posted after the end of the late posting period.

There’s an awful lot of words on this page, but none of them answer my question!

Please send an ask to @gaalee-events and we’ll get it answered as soon as possible!

#gaaleehalloweek #faq

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skyecrandall · 6 years

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CCAs 2018 Afterparty (Choices fanfiction)

Book: Most 2018 Books

Genre: Comedy

Words: about 2800

Summary: A look to the party held for the winners and others of the CCAs 2018. Read along to follow the adventure of the party hosts, Pax and Eos Elara as they go around interviewing people like the gorgeous Annabelle Parsons or even the grumpy Thomas Hunt. Witness even a dance performance by Kamilah Sayeed.

Note: This story i based on the results of the CCAs 2018. If you haven’t read it yet you may find yourself to be a little confused. So I definitely recommend reading about the results, here first.

"This is Pax and Eos Elara reporting live from the CCAs 2018 after party where our fellow winners and losers alike, " said Pax to the camera.

"We will be your host for next hour or so as we talk to the gathered personality and others. So if you have a question you really want your favourite stars to answer it, twat it to us on Twatter with the hashtag #CCAask, " smiled Eos.

"Can we cut this part please. Ugh why is that social media called Twatter, it feels really gross, " complained Pax.

"We are live right now, we can't edit stuff now. Anyway here is Miss Parsons, the winner of the Best Female LI category. Let's go and hear her mind out, " said Eos as he dragged Pax towards where Annabelle was talking with Hana.

"Miss Parsons, Miss Lee. Good afternoon. We hope that you are having a good time, " smiled Eos.

"We are doing good thanks, what are you two doing?" Asked Annabelle.

"We could be doing better since our book didn't get nominated in any category at all, so that’s why we are charged of filming with after party. We are live say hi to your fans!" Said Pax as she waved into the camera.

"So what could the two winners of the same category be talking about like this, " asked Eos.

"I was just complimenting Miss Parsons for her beautiful speech. Sure we, women are currently better treated than during her era, but there is still a lot that is left to be done for men and women to be truly equal, "

explained Hana. "That is very true. It is because of men like Eos right here that our society is still so horrible to women, " agreed Pax.

"Wh-what did I do? I have been respectful to everyone who deserved it, " replied the elder Elara.

"I wouldn't call constant flirting respectable personally, " added Annabelle.

"That's a personality trait!" Complained Eos.

"Sure whatever. Let's go talk to Damien and Hayden now before my brother has an emotional breakdown. Let's head over to the mini-lounge area, " said Pax as she started walking towards where Damien and Hayden were chatting.

"Hey there winners are you enjoying the party?" Asked Pax.

"Parties are not really my thing but hey a party to celebrate my victory is nice, " said Damien.

"Plus free drinks!" Added Hayden.

"Yes and free drinks, " smiled Damien before taking a sip of his drink.

"Anyway where is the rest of your crew? It is a little odd to see just the two of you like this, " asked Eos.

"Sloane was really sad that she could not win her category and so Kai, Nadia and Steve went to console her. Khaan could not come due to Hamza and Alana is busy on a job overseas, " explained Hayden.

"Talking about Kai, here they are, " said Damien.

"I knew Nadia was a little cray but wow she is quite extreme. We could not console Sloane so Nadia just got her so drunk that she passed out. Then because it was make out time, she dragged Steve under a table and god knows what she could be doing right now. Oh hey, Pax and Eos, " said Kai as they settled between Damien and Hayden.

"She sure us a handful, " said Damien when a buzzer could be heard.

"What is that sound, " asked the robot.

"That means that it is time to answer a question from your fans on Twatter. Let's choose a random one that involves either of you three, " said Eos.

"Here's one. By @wescott-imogen . Let's see what it says:

“ Hey Damien I love you. Anyway I would just like to ask you whether you are Bi. I know you are, but some people still believe you are straight so I just want you to say it with your own mouth to confirm it.”

" read Pax.

"Oh, well I'm most definitely bisexual. I hope this suffice you, " said Damien.

"Thats not enough. We need confirmation that you truly are bi. You need to kiss a guy right here," added Pax.

"If so, I volunteer," smiled Kai.

"Hold on you can't. Since you are a girl in some playthroughs and for the same reasons i can't too. So that just leaves Eos," explained Hayden.

"Do I really have to?" Asked Damien.

"Well it's just a kiss. It's not a big deal," smiled Eos.

"You better kiss as good as you claim to," said Damien as he reluctantly kissed the elder Elara.

Their kiss seemed rather awkward at first but eventually they both fit together like pieces of a puzzle, much to the disgust of Kai.

"Whoops, we should probably stop the kissing for now. This is supposed to be a family friendly show, " said Pax as she pulled her brother away from Damien.

"That kiss was actually really good. Like people who boast about this stuff are not really good but you Eos... whoa, " said Damien with a smile.

"I hope you believe me now Pax. My kisses are just the best, " winked Eos.

"Yeah yeah okay. Anyway we better and go take a look at some other people before we witness a murder live on camera, " said Pax as she pushed her brother away after noticing Kai's murderous gaze towards Eos.

"Anyway time to go and find someone else. We won't find anyone in such a recluse corn-What the hell!" yelled Eos as he turned around and nearly bumped onto Skye Crandall.

"What are you doing here? Where are your friends?" Asked Pax.

"Bailey could not get the permission to come, Rory had to check on their mother, Ajay was bickering with Thomas Hunt the last time I saw him and Bailey's twin came to take Erin for a consolation date, " explained the goth.

"Ah...okay. Still aren't you lonely here? Wouldn't it be better if you stayed at home, no offence ?" asked the younger Elara.

"Anywhere is better than my house, " replied Skye coldly.

"Well anyway we've been wanting to have a talk with you, so will you answer a few questions for us?" Asked Eos.

"If I say yes will you stop bothering me?" Asked the red head.

"Yes? Anyway how are you feeling Miss Skye Crandall? You scored 2 nominations and despite being the underdog in the Best Female LI category you still scored a brilliant 3rd. So what are your thoughts?" Asked Pax.

"Cool... I guess?" Said Skye plainly. "Okay...Do you have anything you'd like to say for your family?" Asked Eos and Skye just gave her middle finger to the camera.

"We will have to censor that in editing, " said Pax.

"Again, this is live. We can't blur this out. Anyway anything to say to your friends that are at home?" Asked Eos.

"You guys are definitely not as uncool as you seem to be, especially you Bailey, " smiled Skye.

"Aww that is so sweet. Looks like our goth baby is actually a goth teddy bear, " smiled the elder Elara earning the two a scowl from the redhead.

"Well we should probably be moving on now. Oh wait look at the time, it's time for the dance performance, " said Pax as the two reporters moved away from Skye.

"Pax is right! Kamilah and her best friends have been willing to celebrate the event by offering us a dance performance. It might seem a little out of season, but that is mostly due to the CCAs being postponed so many times. Let's give our glorious performers a grand applause, " said Eos as the camera panned onto the central stage.

The stage curtain lifted up and Kamilah, Priya and The Baron appeared on stage in their Halloween Santa outfit with a Christmas backdrop.

"Are you sure the dance is worth being performed anymore? It's no longer Christmas, " whispered The Baron to Kamilah.

"We can't let our efforts be wasted. We worked hard on this performance and so everyone will have to watch it, " explained Kamilah.

"Also this is all just for fun and it will be a nice excuse to show off our Halloween outfits again hehe, " smiled Priya.

"Anyway... Nova Elara! Bring on the music! Give us Jingle Bell Rock!" Ordered Kamilah and Nova, the ATV MC! launched the soundtrack.

"Stroke em, Like em, Suck on my -" the soundtrack went on when our duo of reporters noticed the music and rushed on stage.

"Stop the sound!" Ordered Eos and the soundtrack stopped.

"What the fuck where you thinking Nova! This is not Jingle Bell Rock!" Yelled Pax.

"Shut your trap, Pax! This is a fucking family friendly show! You can't curse!" Yelled back Eos.

Realising what they both did, they both fell limp until suddenly Pax's phone started ringing. She glanced to take a look at the name and just accepted the call before shoving it into Eos' hands.

"This is for you, talk!" Ordered Pax who started sweating nervously.

Eos slowly brought the phone to his ears and said a small hello, before an stream of insults flowing from the phone. The person at the other end was so mad that their voice could be heard a few metres away from the twins. After a few minutes of berating the call finally ended.

“So what did Piper say?” said Pax, anxious as she took back her phone.

“She berated me the whole time before saying something like ‘The two of you are never getting hired again’” sighed Eos.

“Hmm, can we continue our performance?” asked Priya.

“No way. Your time slot is over. It’s now Maxwell’s time with his jokes,” replied Pax.

“This is unfair! The two of you crashed our performance!” complained the Baron.

“Listen. I don’t care that you are a super old and powerful vampire. We just got fired and we don’t want to anger that woman again, so please,” said Eos as he walked away, his sister in tow before passing Maxwell the microphone.

“I could use a drink,” said Pax.

“Same...You know what let’s just have fun and keep reporting. Who knows maybe she will take us back? Anyway dear audience, Eos and Pax Elara are back in business and we are headed towards the buffet table to show you all the delicious snacks on the menu,” smiled Eos.

“Let’s go and see if these food are as wig snatching as people have been claiming all over their Twatter accounts. I mean seriously, our fellow winners have been posting more about the food than themselves,” continued Pax as the two siblings started heading towards the snack table where Elliot Vance and his sibling Harper Vance were having an eating competition.

“Hey there, mind giving us five minutes? We would like to interview you two about your awards,” said Eos.

“We...ant...eed...eaf....fafter” Said Elliot while munching into his food with fervour.

“What did you say? I don’t understand?” said Pax, confused.

“eaf...ing...con...fe...fifon...I...wiff...win,” mumbled Harper in between bites.

“I think they are doing an eating competition. Probably to settle their rivalry with this,” said the elder Elara.

“In that case.... Wooo go Elliot! You were the best!” cheered on Pax.

“Nonsense, Harper had the best performance. If you knew the amount of tissues I cried in watching their acting,” argued Eos as he wiped a tear from his eye.

“Maybe yes, but Eliot’s growth was one of the best part of the book. Uncultured swines like you can’t tell the difference,” voiced out Pax before the siblings started bickering among themselves.

Noticing the fight, Elliot tapped his sibling on their shoulder and said, “We don’t sound like this do we?”

“Nah, our banters are better. Let’s just leave them at it,” said Harper after they finished their food before leaving.

“They should value their kinship more,” mumbled Elliot as he walked away with Harper, however the two Elara could not hear him and just kept fighting among themselves about who had the best performance. It was only when a certain man appeared that they had to stop.

“Can I pass please? You two can bicker elsewhere,” said the man who was none other than Thomas Hunt.

“Ah Mr.Hunt, we are very sorry. Anyway Elliot, Harper can you lend us a word now?” said Pax.

“Welp, they are gone. I guess that means you will have to answer our questions now Mr.Hunt,” said Eos.

“I don’t get a say in this, do I?” asked the director.

“No you don’t. You know we will be annoying until you give us your time,” replied Pax.

“I knew I shouldn’t have come here. First that high school director wanna be and now paparazzi wanna bes. Begin your questions already,” grumbled Hunt.

“Well, as a director, do you agree with the winners of this year’s CCAs?” asked Eos.

“The winners are more or else deserved, although I believe Veil Of Secrets should have won the best atmosphere category though,” said the director when the buzzer suddenly rang.

--BE WARNED: The following section is not safe for work nor suitable for minors, read at your own perils or you can skip it till the next time you see bold text.--

“Looks like its time to search a question for our amazing director to answer, Eos will you do us the honour,” said Pax.

“Of course, here is one by @teamtomsato:

“Hiya Hunty :3333 Have you read my fic yet? Here’s the link! I’m really proud of it! *link to their ao3 fic* *gazillions of heart emojies* “

Aww how sweet. They want to ask you if you read their fanfiction, so have you done so Mr.Thomas,” said Eos

“I do not have time for such nonsense. I’m also having a bad feeling about this,” shuddered the director.

“Come on, it is just a story. What’s so bad about it? I know! How about we read just a page of it right now. Choose a page!” proposed the younger Elara.

“Ugh, let’s see then. Page 84. I don’t think that person’s fanfiction would be that long,” growled Hunt.

“Well you are wrong Hunty. This person’s story is 169 pages long. Here, I already put it on page 84,” said Eos as he handed the grumpy director his phone.

“I guess I should play along just so that this martyr ends quickly,” said Hunt as he started reading off that page.

Additional warning: This is the time that i recommend you to skip to the next bolded sentence once again as the following part is heavily nsfw and definitely not suited for minors.

“Hunt’s rough hands find their landing on Jessica’s shoulders, holding her tightly as his fluid movements against her body cause her to scream out in pleasure.

“Harder Daddy, hARDER!” Jessica’s pants, the grumpy marshmallow picking up his momentum inside of her slick caverns, overflowing with her love juice.

“You like that princess?” Hunt growls into her ear, “You like daddy’s big dick?”

“I love your big dick daddy!”

“read Thomas, astonished.

“Wh-why...” stammered the director, aghast.

“Oh no, this is bad...We thought we passed through the worst earlier but this is nothing compared to this,” muttered Pax.

“Let’s just walk away like nothing happened,” said Eos but as they tried to go away, the director stopped them.

“Hold on. I’ve got a message for you @teamtomsato . I’ve called the police. They are coming to get you. You going to jail. You hear me. JAIL,” yelled Hunt as he grabbed the camera and focused it onto him.

--You my now continue read. The nsfw part is now over-

“Alright let’s see who we can talk to now...” smiled Pax.

“Hopefully it won’t be someone indecent. Wait, Rye? What are you doing here?” asked Eos after he noticed Rye hanging around.

“What are you doing here, its not your book’s year yet,” said Pax.

“I’m just here to observe. This way It will be perfect when we get win the awards,” smiled Rye.

“Cocky aren’t we?” teased Eos.

“Well I have a reason to be so sure of myself. Our book is doing really good right now and Eris and Tillie have a good shot at winning the best Female LI category. The only real opponent we have are the Desire and Decorum team and also if another It Lives comes out,” explained the conman,

“Interesting. What about your teammates? It is odd to see you all alone, especially without even Eris or Lee,” asked Pax.

“Well they are kinda on a job right now...” smiled Rye and as if on cue, an explosion occurred in the hall they were gathered in.

“The escape route has been formed, let’s go go go!” ordered Eris as members of her crew started running towards the hole she made with jewellery and trophies in hand.

“Well, this is a good bye. See you at the CCAs 2019 and remember to vote us when the time comes,” smiled Rye as he also disappeared through the hole.

“Arggggh I’m not letting them get away! Zekei! Deimos! Parker! Naomi! Let’s catch those thieves!!!” roared Eos as he pulled out his ray gun.

“Well I guess this little report is ending right here. We hope you had a lot of fun and we can’t wait to see you again for the CCAs 2019!!!” smiled Pax before the program ended.

-------------------------

Phew finally finished this fic and with it concludes the 208 round of the CCAs. This fic came in impromptu in my mind so to prevent it from also getting inside the endless cycle of never being written I decided to rush it and I got it right,

IF you enjoyed the fanfiction, please leave a like or a comment/reblog, I like hearing other’s opinions. If you really like my style, please do check my masterpost (in my bio or press the masterpost word) which features all of my written work.

#my fics #CCAs2018 #playchoices #fanfiction #choices stories you play

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figuretealeavely · 6 years

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IN THE LOOP - check yourselves

I recently had the chance to go to Skate Canada International in Montreal. It was a really wonderful experience and I feel grateful to have been able to enjoy it. The event was well-organized, the volunteers were incredibly nice, and the audience was supportive and friendly. It was therefore extremely dismaying to find that one of the newest and most popular journalism sources for figure skating had such a, frankly, inaccurate, skewed, and alarming perception of the event.

Let’s look at what In the Loop’s goals are:

When I first saw this I was really encouraged because I agree that this is what the sport needs. And I listened to a few early podcast episodes, which I thought were pretty enjoyable. However, last week, I tuned in again and found something rather uninformed in their tone about Russian skaters.

In re: Tarasova/Morozov:

Red: Yeah. They always look like there’s skating to the formula and they don’t really care [about] anything else as long as they’re getting what they need to get the high score that..I don’t know, it’s just very formulaic there’s not a whole lot of emotion like all were saying.

Yogeeta: Hashtag skating while Russian.

...

Red: That’s how it is with most of the Russian pairs, I’ve noticed. And sometimes even Russian Ice Dance, it’s just formulaic. It’s just there. It happens. They did really well technically, but you never really feel anything from it.

About Russians in general:

Yogeeta: Yeah. I think in general Romeo and Juliet programs - their music cut isn’t really good. I never want to hear a Romeo and Juliet voiceover that isn’t “Juliet” [Referring to Junhwan Cha’s voiceover] ever again.

Sam: Skaters out there, voiceover is for camp and very Russian programs. It’s not for you when you’re trying to be serious. It doesn’t work as well.

...

Red: I definitely liked her skating a lot more than some of the other Russian skaters I’ve seen in the past. You can tell that she really does enjoy what she does. She ended both of her performances with a huge smile, so that was really nice to see. But I still think there’s some of that in there, like what you usually see from a lot of these Russian skaters is just “We go out, we do our job, we get it done.” You know? It doesn’t feel as passionate. But I still think she did a really good job.

I was extremely shocked to read this blatantly UNEDUCATED take on pairs. Now, if someone decides that they don’t like “Russians” (whatever that means), I cannot stop you. But it is quite another thing to say that all Russians don’t show emotion, that you don't feel anything from it, and don’t enjoy what they do. Or that Russian pairs are “formulaic.” Perhaps they are not aware of the extensive, epic, and game-changing legacy of Russian pairs skaters. Or even worse, perhaps they are aware and choose to ignore it to write off the current pairs AND the entire history of the discipline in one go. Listen, if you don't know much about pairs, that’s totally fine. Not everyone likes every event. But don’t pretend to know what you’re talking about and spread this as the truth when it is clearly not steeped in any deep knowledge of the sport. Where is the “international perspective” or “in-depth historical data”?

I wish I could say things improved from there, but they did not. Again, the audience was VERY respectful at Skate Canada, did not boo anyone, cheered for all, and especially the home team skaters. By the way, for anyone who has ever attended a sporting event, this is normal behavior. I noticed I was sitting within viewing distance of the In the Loop crowd, but didn’t think much of it. But I want to emphasize this because I heard exactly what they heard in the same area of the rink. So when I read this:

Kite: I want to say I was not super impressed with some of the audience not really cheering for the non-Canadian skaters. It was something I noticed. I mean, it is an event in Canada, it’s called Skate Canada, of course you’re gonna be going all out for your home skaters.

...

Kat: Yeah, Vanessa and Morgan got a huge standing ovation and they got a lot of cheer, and obviously, they deserved it. And also Evgenia got a lot of cheering as well, but I guess she’s been adopted into the Canadians, kind of?

Kite: Well she’s also just so well known and I think she has become a pretty beloved figure for a lot of fans post-Olympics.

Kat: Yeah, I guess so.

Kite: So yeah, it was either if you were a very well known skater, or if you were a Canadian/French skater.

Nina: I wish the well-known points would have counted towards some of the Men’s skaters.

Gina: Yeah, it was really obvious when streaming that the crowd was just so half-hearted who wasn’t either really well known or Canadian.

I was a bit irked because the audience cheered for EVERYONE. Perhaps they were more enthusiastic about the Canadians but guess what? You are in Canada. It’s not exactly shocking behavior, and I’m glad to see the home skaters got attention. A truly rude crowd is one that is salty to their own - what we should encourage is more casual fans becoming serious fans, and that starts with them cheering for a home team. It’s true that for others it may start with the fact that the skater is another nationality, but the majority of people are not this way. Just a reality check.

By the way, it is really stretch to tie everyone who got super loud cheers back to Canada, or to assume that ALL CANADIANS LOVE FRENCH PEOPLE. Excuse me, what kind of generalization is this? Certainly NOT a primer “on cross-disciplinary areas such as sociology, medicine, media, gender studies, and politics.” I was at the event with many people and none of them found the crowd half-hearted. And guess what, only one of us was Canadian (no, it is not me) (no, I am not a middle-aged Canadian white person, in fact I am none of the above).

And then this:

Gina: I am going to get banned from Canada, I’m never allowed to enter, I find Canadians so boring.

Kite: Go off!

Gina: I’m sorry! I found the performance-

Nina: I was trying to be diplomatic.

Gina: Really one-note and really dull. I think they rely, especially in their Free Program, they rely a bit too much on the music to provoke a response in the audience rather than working with the music to create something themselves.

Kat: I agree.

Gina: I just find them so dull.

Kat: A note on the music: So they skated to Pink Floyd in their Free Skate, and that is such… A lot of the Canadians, I’ve noticed, pick oldies to skate to-

Nina: So Canadian…

Kat: Yeah, they pick oldies to skate to. That elicits a response from a certain demographic.

Gina: I think I’m about 30 years too young for Canada.

On Keegan:

Nina: Oh, I’m very curious to see what his scores will look like at other locations.

Kat: Yeah because our crowd obviously got really, really into his programs.

Gina: I don’t understand Canadians. I will say that I was correct last time that his Short Program is much more enjoyable when I mute the music.

Nina: This just in, Gina doesn’t like oldies.

It is extremely unprofessional and rude to write off an ENTIRE COUNTRY based off a few figure skating performances you found uninspiring. By the way, if Pink Floyd is an “oldie” that you dislike, then what exactly is Shoma Uno’s Led Zeppelin cover SP? The bias is rather jarring and way worse than anything I hear on live tv. Which by the way, is already pretty bad, so if your goal is to encourage “critical, educated fans” with “sociology” and “politics” I’d say you are doing pretty much the exact opposite of that.

In fact, they seem to have a very poor understanding of why Canada is a country that produces a lot of skaters, whether for themselves or others. During the ice dance event they say:

Kat: The most enthusiastic crowds for sure, like most of the front row seats were pretty filled for ice dance considering it was - they were both like early evening events as well, like they started at around six or seven. It's not super late either, so a lot more people were able to attend their, you know, it's like off work hours. I guess Canadians come watch Ice Dance when that happens.

Actually, rather than Canadians all collectively deciding to watch ice dance after work, In the Loop might want to consider that Montreal is currently the global hub of Ice Dance with Gadbois, and many of their teams were at this event. And I believe there was a large contingent of affiliated skaters, families, and friends in the stands. Do your diligence.

And then, back to the Russians:

Nina: The Free Dance seemed like it was supposed to be clean, and glassy, and very elegant, but they didn't really have the tech to back it up-

Kite: No, they do, they have good tech, like their tech is fine. It was just boring, like it didn't connect to the audience.

Nina: I feel like this will make no sense but it felt like their program wanted to be very lyrical- not lyrical, but like balletic, almost? Like the vibe-

Kat: That’s very Russian.

Very Russian, is it?

Let’s remind ourselves again:

Don’t overextend yourself before you educate yourself on what you’re actually trying to do. Please, In the Loop, moderate your tone and biases. It is very clear to me that you guys have your favorites - we all do. But there is absolutely no need to sacrifice education, information, professionalism, and your raison d’être above in order to talk about other countries’ figure skating traditions, fans, and history.

By the way, the last thing I want to do is censor anyone. If you want to say these things, by all means go ahead. But please do not try to come across as serious, objective journalists who encourage varied discussion because new fans will be influenced to follow your reasoning. It is not hard to lay out the facts and THEN present your biases as your own. There is no need to conflate the latter with the former.

As a final note, for fans who were so disappointed with the event and the people who attended, it seems they had no qualms about taking seats that they did not pay for and openly bragging about it on social media:

I am extremely disappointed in what was once a promising new journalism outlet losing credibility rather quickly via what appears to be unprofessional generalizations about culture, fandoms, and everything they purport to encourage discourse about. Do better, In the Loop.

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butterflyinthewell · 7 years

Text

Affirmations For Bullying Victims turns 5 on October 17, 2017! You can participate in the antibullying celebration! :)

* * * TW: Mention of suicide * * *

This may resolve what “afbv” means when I post or reblog positivity on my Tumblr. :)

On October 7, 2012, I heard the news about what happened to Amanda Todd, and it was after hearing a couple other news stories through the years about people being bullied to the point of suicide. I got really mad about it because these are lives needlessly lost due to people being cruel, so I decided to do something about it.

I created a message of hope for people dealing with bullying right this moment and people who survived it. It isn’t that much, but it’s something instead of a whole lot of nothing. It first went on the internet on October 17, 2012.

I’m a bullying survivor who almost committed suicide back in the 1990′s. It’s not a new thing, it’s just a lot worse because of the internet. I know what that dark black hole of bullying feels like, and I want to pull people out with my words. Every single life saved means everything.

What started as a simple message ended up exploding among some of my online friends, such as @donnywinter and @tiffanygrayslife, two people who are also bullying survivors. So every year, we go wild with the AFBV message to spread it on the internet, and you can help us.

The AFBV message is at the end of this post, so you will see what I’m talking about after I explain the ways you can help spread it.

* * You don’t have to sit and post AFBV stuff all day long if you don’t want to or are unable to. Just one post can help, so don’t feel pressured to post multiple times. You’re also quite welcome to be spammy about it if you want. Your level of participation is totally up to you. * *

I’m sharing this in advance so people have time to prepare if they want to participate.

When does this event start and where is it happening?

Whenever it’s October 17 in your timezone, so people who see October 17 sooner than the USA are welcome to bring the #AFBV rain and sweep it westward!

Where is it happening? Online! Anywhere! Everywhere! Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, forums you visit, instant messaging, email, wherever you have social media or participate in stuff online is where it’s happening.

Tag / Hashtag:

This is super important! Make sure to tag or hashtag everything with #AFBV or #afbv. I’ll state this throughout the listed ideas for the celebration so you don’t forget. :)

Please keep it work safe and kid safe:

Please avoid anything showing bare genitals. Don’t show sex acts that go further than kissing, hugging, cuddling, or holding hands. This message needs to be safe for all ages, that includes kids 10 and under. <3

* * * * * * * * * * Ways to participate! * * * * * * * * * *

Photos:

You can take a selfie holding an index card or a piece of paper with one of the Affirmations on it or your own message of positivity. Be sure to write #AFBV on the sign you hold up. Post the photo on social media and hashtag it #AFBV. (ie “You matter. #AFBV” or “Bullying is bad and you should stop it. #AFBV”)

If you’re not comfortable posting a selfie, you can take a picture of just the sign with the writing on as described as above, and tag it #AFBV on social media.

You can do the selfie or photo of something and add text to the photo in a photo editing program if you don’t want to write or have trouble with handwriting.

You can be totally creative with this! Put the sign with a stuffed animal. Do it with sidewalk chalk with #AFBV somewhere in it. Draw art with a positive message on it and write the #AFBV tag on it somewhere. You can make a text banner if you want to.

Please do not post anything with bare genitals or sexual acts because this message is intended for all ages.

Videos:

You can take video of yourself reading the AFBV message to the camera, You can show your face or you can make a slideshow of artwork and say the message in a voiceover, or do it with the words of the message appearing on the screen. Again, the limit is your imagination. Just be sure to hashtag what you post with #AFBV

Please do not post anything with bare genitals or sexual acts because this message is intended for all ages.

Translate it:

If you speak a language other than English or if English is your second language, you can translate the AFBV message into your native language or the other language(s) you speak to help spread it to a wider audience. Make sure to tag with #AFBV.

Tying into the video aspect: You can sign the message in sign language-- and you can aim the camera at just your hands or censor your face out if you don’t want to show your face. Again, be sure you tag what you post with #AFBV.

Copy / Paste / Print:

You can copy / paste one or all of the AFBV Affirmations and share it on social media. Twitter is great for short messages, so you can post one or all of the Affirmations throughout the day on Twitter. Just remember to tag it #AFBV. :)

You can print out the AFBV message and stick it to people’s lockers, or pass it around at work or school, or just stick it to telephone poles. You can post one Affirmation in big text all over your city if you want to. Be creative! Take photos of your work and share it with the #AFBV hashtag.

Show the world that you stand against bullying!

The message!

Affirmations for Bullying Victims

This is a message to anyone who is being bullied right now. It doesn't matter if it's online or IRL. This is for you. YOU matter. Your opinions matter. Your feelings matter. Your thoughts matter. Your dreams matter. Your LIFE matters. You are special. You are beautiful. You are talented. You are valuable. You are wonderful. You are respected. You are cared about. You are STRONG. You are a good person. You are loved. You can succeed. You can reach out. You can hold on. You can overcome. You mean something. You have worth. You deserve to LIVE. I LOVE YOU.

#AFBV

http://tiny.cc/afbv

#actuallyautistic #afbv #antibullying #cyberbullying #bullying #it gets better #education #teachers #students #peers #love #school #college #workplace #positivity #survivor #inspiration #5 year anniversary

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theultimatefan · 5 years

Text

International Pole Dance Organizations, Pole Athletes and Pole Artists Launch Change.Org Petition Challenging Instagram's Discriminatory Practices

United Pole Artists, Pole Dance Nation and thousands of professional and amateur pole dance athletes, dancers and fitness enthusiasts have united in an effort to bring Instagram to task with claims of sexism and discrimination attributed to the social media platform. A Change.org petition has already compiled over 12,000 signatures in less than a week, asserting that Instagram is unfairly hiding and burying pole related hashtags and content with their algorithm system. Hashtag usage on Instagram is instrumental for accruing exposure for postings and followers within the platform's system.

Pole fitness as an international competitive sport and dance art has exploded in popularity in the last decade. The Global Association of International Sports Federations granted Observer Status to the International Pole Sports Federation in 2017, the first step in a journey to Olympic recognition. Hundreds of thousands of amateur and professional polers from around the world have used Instagram for years to network, share inspiration and knowledge. For competitive athletes, instructors, performance artists and small business owners, social media is crucial to professional survival. Interest in the pole industry has been fueled by the growth in social media usage, with postings offering education and insight into an often-misunderstood art form.

In July 2019, almost all popular hashtags like #poledancing and #polefitness, and technical tags like #pddeadlift and #pdayesha, used by the online pole community to train and connect were hidden - tagged with a message from Instagram saying "...content may not meet Instagram's community guidelines."

Internationally famous pole dancer, instructor and business woman Michelle Shimmy, at Pole Dance Academy, in Australia, has over 175,000 Instagram followers. She cries foul, pointing out, "There is nothing profane or pornographic about what we do. Pole dance is skillful, artistic and entertaining. It can be fitness-based, it can be performance-based and yes it can be sexy, but it does not violate Instagram's terms of use or community standards. We see an alarming trend of policing female bodies on Instagram, a trend that doesn't seem to affect male bodies in the same way. This policing of women's bodies is not okay."

United Pole Artists (UPA) has been active in the pole community since 2009 and boasts close to 200,000 followers on Instagram. The organization recently published an in-depth feature about the community's concerns per Instagram at https://www.unitedpoleartists.com/learn-about-and-take-action-on-the-pole-dance-shadowban/ . UPA founder and CEO, Annemarie Davies states, "Our community is under attack, yes, but there is an even bigger issue here in terms of how this scenario plays out for not only pole practitioners, but for all social media users. Who gets to define us and how? Instagram needs to update their algorithms - stop hiding pole hashtags and also to stop policing body positivity hashtags, and sex worker hashtags as well. The global hashtags lockdown seems to a be a trickle-down effect per the U.S FOSTA-SESTA bill - but banning our hashtags because they conflict with a nonsensical, vaguely defined, puritanical view of 'community standards' is just plain discriminatory!"

Nikki St John, author of "Pole Dancer" and founder of @PoleDanceNation, with over 238,000 followers on Instagram, points out, "Instagram has no problem running paid advertising for the latest J-Lo movie 'Hustlers' featuring top Hollywood actresses and recording artists like Cardi B, and demonstrating their pole dance skills, but actual real life dancers and athletes are deemed 'inappropriate.' It's an unfair double standard."

Offers Laura Arbios, owner of Sadie's Pole Dance in Redondo Beach, CA and founder of Pole Dancers Vote, "We're of course very frustrated with Instagram's willingness to comply with the sweeping, ill-conceived legislation that is FOSTA/SESTA. It seems counterintuitive to censor our communities this way, and not even try to appeal or find a better solution. With women being responsible for more than half of the content on their platform, you'd think it would be in their best interest to defend and support their most active users and content creators. Our next collective goal should be to activate disengaged voters around the country to elect new leadership in 2020 and find ways to fight sex trafficking that won't harm sex workers or endanger the pole community's ability to share and connect."

The organized front of pole enthusiasts is hoping that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, take note and address the concerns of this community. As Dan Rosen, the UK Male Pole Champion and an instructor with over 56,000 followers on Instagram asserts, "We want Instagram to respect everyone on Instagram - as they advise us to do. Stop discriminating against us, unblock all pole dance related hashtags, and review their practices. We want Instagram to be a safe place to share inspiration and expression for all people - as is their stated mission.''

For more details about and to support the "Instagram, please stop censoring pole dance,"campaign and petition, please sign on at https://www.change.org/p/instagram-com-instagram-stop-censoring-pole-dance-fitness.

Cover Image: Wikimedia Commons/Usien

Photo credit: John Higgins / @xanadu4

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global-news-station · 4 years

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US President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to shutter social media platforms after Twitter for the first time acted against his false tweets, prompting the enraged Republican to double down on unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy theories.

Trump will sign an executive order “pertaining to social media” on Thursday, aides to the president said, without offering more detail about its contents.

Twitter tagged two of his tweets in which he claimed that more mail-in voting would lead to what he called a “Rigged Election” this November.

There is no evidence that attempts are being made to rig the election, and under the tweets Twitter posted a link which read: “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.”

For years, Twitter has been accused of ignoring the president’s violation of platform rules with his daily, often hourly barrages of personal insults and inaccurate information sent to more than 80 million followers.

But Twitter’s slap on the wrist was enough to drive Trump into a tirade — on Twitter — in which he claimed that the political right in the United States is being censored.

“Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen,” he said.

He plunged right back into his narrative that an increase in mail-in ballots — seen in some states as vital for allowing people to avoid crowds during the COVID-19 pandemic — will undermine the election.

“It would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots,” wrote Trump, whose reelection campaign has been knocked off track by the coronavirus crisis.

His torrent of angry tweets earned a top-10 trending hashtag: #TrumpMeltdown.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg also waded in to the row, telling Fox News that his social network — still the biggest in the world — has a different policy.

“I just believe strongly that Facebook should not be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online,” Zuckerberg said in a snippet of the interview posted online Wednesday by Fox.

“I think, in general, private companies, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that.”

Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey fired back on his own platform Wednesday night, saying that the website’s effort to point out misinformation did not make it an “arbiter of truth.”

“Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves,” he tweeted.

He doubled down on the new policy, writing: “Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.”

– ‘Blatant lies’ –

Kate Ruane, at the American Civil Liberties Union, said that Trump has no power to regulate Twitter.

The constitution “clearly prohibits the president from taking any action to stop Twitter from pointing out his blatant lies about voting by mail,” she said.

For all his protests, Trump is a political giant on social media.

By contrast, his Democratic election opponent, Joe Biden, has only 5.5 million Twitter followers.

Social media suits Trump’s unorthodox communications style and his penchant for conspiracy theories, rumors and playground-style insults.

Now that he faces Biden, Barack Obama’s vice president, Trump is again using Twitter to attack his popular predecessor.

His murky claim that the Democrat was part of a “coup” attempt during the early days of his administration has a Twitter hashtag — #ObamaGate — that the president uses regularly.

The claim that Twitter is biased against conservatives fits the White House narrative that the billionaire president is still an outsider politician running against the elite.

The row is a useful smokescreen when Biden is homing in on widespread dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the pandemic, which has left more than 100,000 Americans dead.

Polls consistently show Biden in a strong position, despite barely having left his home during weeks of social distancing measures — and his relatively meager social media presence.

An unrepentant Trump also resumed spreading a conspiracy theory Wednesday about a prominent television critic, Joe Scarborough, whom the president is trolling with accusations that he murdered a woman in 2001.

There has never been any evidence that Scarborough, a host on MSNBC, had anything to do with the death of Lori Klausutis, who was a staffer in his office when he was a Republican congressman.

The post Trump threatens to ‘close down’ social media after tweets tagged appeared first on ARY NEWS.

https://ift.tt/3cb9KSf

#World News

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lodelss · 5 years

Link

Our Online Speech Rights Are Under Threat

Congress on Wednesday will examine a little-known law that has made the internet the space for self-expression and connection that it is today. The law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230), is one of the most speech protective laws Congress has ever enacted and it is now under threat.

The internet today provides us an indispensable platform to communicate freely with others who might otherwise be beyond reach. One person with an idea or a desire to create change can reach millions. April Reign coined the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite in 2015 and spawned an online movement drawing attention to the lack of representation of people of color in the nominated films.

https://twitter.com/ReignOfApril/statuses/555725291512168448

Like Reign, people around the world are leveraging the internet to fight back against anything from systemic racism to the tactics of oppressive regimes. And the benefits can be personal too — new parents needing advice on a stroller can turn to online parent message boards, home gardeners seeking lawn care tips can turn to DIY gardening blogs, and more.

This is possible because so many online forums enable speakers to communicate freely on their platforms. Wikipedia provides a free online encyclopedia in scores of languages, thanks to volunteers around the world. Yelp lets us give recommendations on anything from restaurants to nail salons. Consumer watchdog sites encourage the public to submit reports of corporate malfeasance. Environmental activists at sites like Frack Check WV ask citizens to submit horror stories about fracking in their communities. The Bed Bug Registry asks users to report bed bug infestations. And then, of course, there are Facebook and Twitter.

CDA 230 makes communication on these platforms possible by assuring online platforms that they generally won’t be liable for user-generated content. Yelp can’t be held legally responsible every time one of its users posts a potentially false negative review. The Bed Bug Registry doesn’t have to visit every hotel with a magnifying glass to confirm the public reports. And Facebook can offer a forum for billions of users to share their thoughts, pictures, memes, and videos freely without having to approve every post before it goes up.

If it weren’t for CDA 230, no website owner would permit public posts knowing that the site could be investigated, shut down, sued, or charged with a felony over one user’s speech. Avoiding legal risk would require even the smallest blog to hire an army of lawyers to assess in real-time all content created and uploaded by users. It’s unaffordable. Instead, sites would avoid legal liability by simply refusing to host user-generated content at all.

Of course, users make mistakes. We get facts wrong. We can be terrible to one another in ways that break the law, offend, or hurt. Bad actors can — and do — abuse the internet for nefarious and destructive purposes. But there are already safeguards in place to address harmful content not protected under the First Amendment, and Section 230 does not shield bad actors or lawbreakers. If you use Facebook to harass someone (please, don’t do that), you remain responsible for those actions.

CDA 230 also doesn’t stop online platforms from trying to cultivate orderly, pleasant, and useful sites. While the biggest social media companies, responsible for hosting the speech of billions, should resist calls to censor lawful speech, CDA 230 allows sites to delete abusive accounts, remove content that violates the site’s terms of service, or refuse to carry pornography without risking liability for the speech that they do host.

Despite these safeguards, the obvious good CDA 230 has done in creating a free, vibrant forum for speech in the modern era, and the clear harm that would result for the speech of billions should it no longer exist, some lawmakers are considering rolling the law’s protections back in ways that are poorly informed and even dangerous. One lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require a federal agency to decide whether a platform complies with a “political neutrality” requirement as a precondition for immunity. Others have proposed revoking platforms’ immunity when moderating “objectionable” content while retaining immunity for moderating “unlawful content” in good faith.

Setting aside the obvious constitutional problems with a government entity judging the political content of speech, or dictating the censorship decisions of online platforms, these proposals would make it far less palatable for online services to host others’ speech at all. If enacted, the internet’s marketplace of ideas — and our freedom to communicate online — would suffer.

The ACLU has continued to fight for Section 230 to protect people’s ability to create and communicate online. We have encouraged courts to interpret the law’s immunity provisions to enable as much free expression online as possible under U.S. law. We will remain vigilant in ensuring that the internet remains a place for self-expression and creation for all. We urge Members of Congress as they examine CDA 230’s role in the free expression to do the same.

Published October 16, 2019 at 02:04AM via ACLU https://ift.tt/2OPViWM

#IFTTT #Blogger

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nancydhooper · 5 years

Text

Our Online Speech Rights Are Under Threat

https://twitter.com/ReignOfApril/statuses/555725291512168448

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247012 https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/our-online-speech-rights-are-under-threat via http://www.rssmix.com/

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sustainhealthmagazine · 5 years

Text

International Pole Dance Organizations, Pole Athletes and Pole Artists Challenging Instagram's Discriminatory Practices

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For more details about and to support the "Instagram, please stop censoring pole dance," campaign and petition, please sign on at https://www.change.org/p/instagram-com-instagram-stop-censoring-pole-dance-fitness.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

READ NEXT

#health #fitness #lifestyle #good health #brits

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matteorossini · 7 years

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Before you lynch United Airlines, get the whole story, and stop defending the ridiculous behavior of David Dao

On April 9, 2017, United Airlines had to remove a passenger with a history of trouble, but that wasn’t the headline you’ve probably seen. Bits and pieces of videos and passenger accounts tell only half of the story. The internet is a great thing, but it’s also full of stupid people that could care less about facts. America has a perpetually outraged culture that finds anything it can to be angry about and the mainstream media is happy to feed that culture. A fabrication or misleading story can make it around the world in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, if you’re the business owner, you may be at the receiving end of a digital lynching. This is 2017 and we should be past lynching people, but the ignorant court of public opinion is continuously finding its next victim. There’s more to the story and people should not call for a boycott of the company without first considering all of the facts.

Before You Lynch United Airlines, Get the Facts

Dr. David Dao, a 69 year old man, was taken off United Express Flight 3411 at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Sunday (4/9/17). Social media blew up with short clips of what appeared to be an older man babbling something and bleeding from his mouth. A full video of the entire incident has not been publicly available. United Airlines regularly has to bump people from flights, but it’s only a small percentage, usually as a necessity to allow for other employees to get to where they need to go. This is standard practice, not new, and happens all of the time. In fact, most people are compensated more than their original ticket price and go about their way. It might be inconvenient for the average passenger, but what happened on United 3411 was discussed all over the internet this Monday.

It’s easy to play quarterback as an anonymous person on the internet, fueled by outrage hashtags and Facebook posts. However, those of us that are professionals and have been bumped off of flights before know this behavior is unacceptable, especially for a doctor.

I have been bumped off of countless flights because I regularly fly. You might be angry or inconvenienced, but if you have any experience with flying at all you have a backup plan. Certainly, if you’re some kind of critical doctor, you should be leaving earlier, have a backup plan, purchase another ticket, or make a more reasonable plea, as a professional, to the company and passengers. I immediately questioned the claims of needing to see patients or that this was some kind of critical doctor. Maybe this was because I think with a scientific mind, focused on evidence, facts, logic, the whole picture and reason, instead of blind outrage and emotion.

Some of the pictures and a few Twitter videos looked bad, but this wasn’t the whole story. Before lynching United Airlines, it would be smart to find out more information.

As far as the premise of him being a doctor needing to see patients? There is a lady in one video repeatedly saying “this isn’t right, oh my God.” If any one of these selfish, gutless, hypocritical passengers said this doctor should have a priority, be allowed to break the rules after being told to leave, then why didn’t they give up their seat for him? Hypocrites are disgusting. Not one of these selfish people on that flight bothered to stand up and give their seat for this fool, which is just typical. Dau has a history of behavioral problems, made an ass out of himself, caused all of this by his actions, and these people are just turning this into a sensational mess.

At the end of the day, this is a company that has a right to ask you to leave their aircraft at any time. You may be compensated later, but you must leave the aircraft, if you’re asked to leave. A professional, acting like a civilized human, knows this already. This has happened to me multiple times, even overseas, but I remained professional and avoided this kind of incident.

It’s easy to get hurt, especially if you’re resisting a lawful order where police are forcefully removing you. A professional would likely have the intelligence of avoiding this or finding other options before the situation even escalated to the point it did on Sunday. If you fall while someone is executing a lawful order because you were resisting, is that the airlines fault? Does it mean that police roughed you up? So far, the videos do not show excessive use of force. How else would you get an unruly passenger, who refuses to comply, off of your plane? It was not United Airlines that forcefully removed the passenger, it was police executing a lawful order.

Dao can be seen telling a police officer that he would sue the airlines, they have to drag him away, and to go ahead and take him to jail. He clearly plans to resist and even says he will make them drag him.

It immediately occurred to me that this passenger didn’t act like a professional. There were rumors that he claimed to be a doctor. I had originally questioned this because of the way he was acting, but he is indeed a troubled doctor from Kentucky. Not surprisingly, his behavior has been justified by various random internet social justice warriors as normal or even “PTSD” because of what had happened to him.

Some people say he was acting the way he was because he was traumatized by being forcefully removed from the plane, which was his own fault. However, this seems to be his regular behavior and is clearly unjustifiable, especially as the professional everyone is making him out to be.

His behavior was very unprofessional, seemed to exhibit mental illness, he refused to comply with lawful orders on multiple occasions, he’s a convicted felon, lost his medical license, and lied to the United Airlines staff. Dr. David Dao’s past would seem to suggest he should have no business being around patients, especially after he was arrested and convicted of trading drugs for sex. Why is a doctor that was convicted of drug dealing as a doctor being allowed to practice again? The State of Kentucky is insane for even considering letting this guy practice medicine.

Various news media organizations, such as Daily Mail, are also reporting that Dao had well-known mental problems, noted in court documents:

“A psychiatric report prepared for Kentucky’s medical regulator revealed a series of issues, including that he is generally not forthright, tends to have poor decision-making and needed anger management.”

Syracuse.com news reports:

“Dao was arrested in 2003 after being accused of trading prescription drugs for sexual favors from a male patient he later hired. He denied paying for sex, but was charged with 98 felony drug counts for illegally prescribing and trafficking painkillers, including hydrocodone, Oxycontin and Percocet.”

Dr. Dao’s own ridiculous behavior caused the situation to escalate to the point of him being forcefully removed from the flight. Even after he was removed by force, he continued to defy a lawful order and ran back onto the plane. Maybe Dao needs a mental evaluation?

Whoever is defending Dao’s ridiculous behavior needs to check on their own reasoning capacity. This guy is not a professional and has a history of trouble. His actions on United 3411 were just another example of his failed reasoning capacity.

What you do see on the videos being passed around is a public that doesn’t know his history, witnessing something they don’t see all of the time (an old man being forcefully removed), the guy making a big scene, and people being upset over witnessing all of it.

The voice of reason is almost always buried under a pile of ignorance and often goes ignored by most.

When you look at just the facts, the whole story, and reason, Dr. Dao caused this entire event to unfold. He acted unprofessionally and refused to comply with multiple, reasonable, lawful orders.

Agenda-laden, highly manipulative, censored websites, such as Reddit.com, quickly manipulated posts to the top, feeding the digital lynch mob. Forget the whole story, we’ve got a lynching! Get your pitchforks! Digital lynching is a dangerous trend on social media and could potentially hurt someone and or destroy a business.

When you look at blind emotion, sensationalism, and outrage, you just see an old man that was beaten up by United Airlines for not giving up his seat. That sure sounds outrageous. Too bad that isn’t true.

Before you digitally lynch a business, think about the facts, whole story, and be reasonable.

The facts are United never “beat up” David Dao, he broke the law by refusing to leave (yes, even if you paid for a ticket or already sat on the plane, it’s in the fine print, you have to leave), refused to move when police showed up, and ultimately was responsible for this whole mess. It was the police that forcefully removed him, not United. He has a history of dishonesty, aggressive behavior, and decision-making problems, as a matter of public record, which is relevant because his behavior led to the viral videos you see.

Thinking of never flying United again? Every other major airline bumps passengers, sometimes forcefully removes people, and has similar carriage policies. People need to calm down and be reasonable, but that’s hard to do when you’re high on emotions and perpetual outrage. Reason would have prevented this whole thing from happening.

There are a lot of uninformed people making comments on social media (completely making up their own rules) about what United’s “Contract of Carriage” actually says. Please read it here so we can stop misinformation. Rest assured, you can be removed from a flight, even after paying, boarding, and sitting down. This has happened before, regardless of whether people like it or not.

There are still uninformed people claiming Dao was never convicted. Please, verify this for yourself because Dao is a convicted felon and numerous news agencies have confirmed his identity and record.

In fact, Heavy.com reports the State of Kentucky once thought of him as a danger to the safety of his patients and general public:

Dao’s medical license was suspended on October 16, 2003 by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure because of his transgressions. He applied to have it completely reinstated in 2007, but the board shot it down.

It cited Dao’s practice as constituting “a danger to the health, welfare and safety of his patients or the general public.” The ruling added that it has “probable cause to believe that the physician has committed certain violations in the recent past that present probable cause to believe that (Dao) will commit similar violations in the near future.”

Need more evidence? See the State of Kentucky record.

You should consider all of the facts, including public record history, when trying to understand what happened. A smart person wants the most information possible, not just bits and pieces. His history is a matter of public safety record and is relevant to why he acted the way he did.

No, there’s no secret rule that says a doctor gets to stay on a full flight, even after being asked to give up his seat, just because he’s a doctor, that’s Hollywood stuff.

People are being unreasonable, suggesting the airlines play a game of auction onboard the flight, offering huge amounts of money to entice people to get up and walk off. This is probably why most of the people making stupid, unrealistic suggestions like this have not/are not/and never will be leading a company of any decent size. You would bankrupt your company doing something like that. Imagine how expensive tickets would be. It’s kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. The airline did indeed offer a substantial amount of money to entice people to leave, but it didn’t work this time, and you can’t just increase the offer to infinity amount of money.

No, you can’t just blame the airline for needing to get their crew somewhere. Airlines are extremely complicated with millions of factors and special computer algorithms that keep thousands of flights operating smoothly every hour all over the world. The uninformed, armchair expert solutions being offered by random internet commenters are not realistic, feasible, efficient, smart, or effective for a large airline operation.

I do not work for United and I’m not associated with them in any way. However, I bet most of the people claiming they will never fly again hardly did to begin with or would still buy a United ticket, if it was the cheapest option. People are all talk on the internet.

There’s a lot of people attacking journalists for providing more details about Dao’s background. Whenever you have no argument or anything tangible to add to the actual facts, it’s always best to attack the author, get personal, and whatever else (every experienced author is used to this). Historically, how many people have been hurt because people in an outrage rushed to attack and silence anyone they didn’t agree with?

You will find that the second someone takes a stand, they will immediately tick off roughly half of their audience. The more important the issue, the more bold the stand, the more specific the reasoning, the more divisive it will become, especially among the American public. Maybe someday we will value science and reason more than outrage, tradition, and emotion.

As far as people accusing me of being a corporate shill… please see my websites and articles all over the internet. I’ve done far more for the public than most of the people attacking me. I’ve dedicated a large portion of my life to public service, emergency medical service, education, helping others, and informing people. My articles are about informing the public, not feeding blind outrage or sensational media coverage. I’m doing my part to inform people about science and technology matters, including things like this that have internet social media buzzing. Over 7,000 people have read this article, as of Friday, April 14, 2017. At least triple that amount have seen it elsewhere on social media. Most people do not bother commenting or liking on articles, but they see the information. I’ve always thought of the consumer first, but I will not compromise just to make everyone happy, that’s impossible. You just can’t please everyone, especially if you take a stand on something.

It’s crazy for so much of the public to attack anyone that wants the full story, more details, background, and whole picture, as if there’s something wrong with being informed before rushing to lynch United. America has a culture of political correctness, turning the problem individual into the innocent, encouraging perpetual outrage and victimization. This culture of sensationalism and political correctness is dividing and destroying an entire nation – taking us futher away from reason. Too many people are generally not interested in science, facts, or reason.

As for myself, I will continue to act professional on a flight, keep my dignity, follow the rules, and leave the flight upon being asked – whether I was already seated or not. I would rather keep my dignity and walk off the flight, instead of being dragged off by police. Again, this has happened to me before and I’ve always complied with the airline crew. I was always compensated, given a hotel, and a free flight the next day. Why should this be different for anyone else?

You may find the idea that an airline can ask you to leave (even if you paid and already sat down) as unfair, but rules are rules.

David Dao knew (he stated it in a video that he wanted them to drag him) this would happen. David Dao could have acted like a professional and calmly left the plane, but he didn’t.

What I’ve said above doesn’t have to reflect your exact opinion and I do appreciate every one of you taking the time to read my articles. Everyone has opinions, but some are more informed and reasonable than others. The lightning speed of social media makes it easy for misinformation, sensationalism, and blind outrage to utterly destroy people and business. This is why it’s important to get as much facts as possible and to avoid being a part of the digital lynch mob.

I will say that events like this seem to resonate with the general public because people often see airlines as evil. Passenger incidents like this give the public something that collectively brings them together under one umbrella of outrage. For example, I hate being assaulted by the TSA every time I travel, but it continues and there’s hardly any outrage or lynching over it. Corporate greed and terrible policies are a real thing, I agree. We have to be reasonable, if we expect others to be reasonable with us. Out of all of the things we could be outraged about, maybe we should pick our battles a little more carefully.

Be More Outraged About TSA Assaults

Where is the outrage over the TSA assaulting men, women, and children every single day? When the lynch mob was proud of itself for costing United $600 million in a temporary stock slide, what about the TSA assaulting people? Do we have such a huge double standard with dignity?

You want airport outrage? Check this out. Where is the outrage over this?

Where is the outrage and lynch mobs about the TSA assaulting men, women, and children? Why are you guys angry about what happened in this case to Dao, but not the daily assaults that occur in the name of a false sense of security? Think of all of the innocent people being assaulted every year.

Passengers getting bumped off happens all the time, but what made it different this time is David Dao refused to leave after airport the crew told him to, and then after security came to remove him from a flight. At that point, regardless of whether you think it’s fair or not, especially after 9/11, you must leave the flight. Maybe people should be mad at the airport security team that actually touched Dao? United didn’t beat him up or drag him off the airline. This was the perfect storm of someone with poor decision-making capability refusing security orders to leave a flight as well as poor handling by the security officers.

Again, the video seems to indicate United didn’t touch this guy. Therefore, the issue is the security team. Regardless, every other civilized person typically gets up and leaves with dignity. In the age of internet video, most of us know that once officers ask you to leave and you refuse, it can get ugly. In airports, there’s more of a zero tolerance policy than in the streets.

Despite the facts that are now out, various news sources and social media posts continue to spread misinformation about this event.

More reading: LA Times: No, the media did not identify the wrong David Dao as United’s passenger

There’s a great blog post about this from a pilot’s wife…

More reading: check out “I Know You’re Mad at United but… (Thoughts from a Pilot Wife About Flight 3411)”

Author: Ben Alonzo

is a scientist, professor, tech expert, and director of

ULTRATechLife.com

. He’s currently CEO of the tech firm

Emera Media

. He holds a M.S. in Geoscience, M.S. in Health, and a B.S. in Geoscience. Alonzo is a highly-rated professor that teaches numerous courses at multiple colleges, including earth science, meteorology, environmental science, geology, oceanography, and public health. His diverse background also spans network and computer engineering, healthcare, telecommunications, weather forecasting, consumer electronics, and web development. He holds a variety of professional credentials, ranging from A+ information technology to healthcare provider and emergency medical technician certifications. He’s been writing about science and tech for over 10 years.

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lodelss · 5 years

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ACLU: Our Online Speech Rights Are Under Threat

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