#also not a facebook user (anymore) but i used to be like on my own i had no 'audience' because everyone i knew had me blocked or unfriended

[derpinette]

there should be a poke feature here like there used to be on facebook

[tussive]

Some thoughts on various other social media/microblogging websites.

"Pillowfort.social is a new blogging platform where fans and creators alike can share their work, create a community of their own, and do so in a positive and safe environment. Pillowfort aims to be a sort of hybrid of your favorite blogging websites-- keeping the strengths of these platforms while compensating for their shortcomings." Dumb. Terrible name, hate it. Also it just looks like Tumblr so it seems like just another Tumblr clone, but they allow porn.

"We are a free and open-source platform to launch your digital brand, social network and mobile app. We are also a social network ourselves. It is a global social network of social networks. Available in either decentralized or centralized options."

So it's a social media network where you start your own social media network? Shut the fuck up.

"Image enthusiasts united. Discover, repost, contribute and share images stupid simple. Looking for an Tumblr & Reddit alternative, maybe for NSFW content , Thumbtable has you covered."

So like, okay I get that like if you sell NWS content, the Tumblr ban affected you financially and that's not very cool. My issue with the dozens of Tumblr-esque sites, but they allow porn, is that none of them have any users. So who are you selling your content to? Wouldn't it be better to just go on Twitter, where there are more users than Tumblr anyway?

"monocles social is based on mastodon. A privacy friendly social network."

I want every person registered for this site to die.

"Authpad is a frictionless approach to blogging."

Are people like, having issues with blogging that I'm not? Because I feel like this is pretty easy.

"The Dayum is first all in one website on the internet. See the most viral videos, read breaking news, and connect with friends and people around the world!"

So it's like Facebook but for people who are even less connected with the world? That's cool I guess. Stupid name though.

"Known is a simple platform for publishing words, pictures, podcasts and more to a site that you control. Choose to share it on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, or extend it to integrate with the software you already use."

Why does every site act like Facebook or Twitter integration is this desirable feature? If I want to post something to Facebook or Twitter, I'll just post it there. I do in fact post a lot of my text posts to Twitter and Bluesky and sometimes post images to Instagram. It's just easier to do it manually, I don't need every website to be attached to every other account I own. It's fine.

"Squabbles is a new social platform which combines elements of Reddit and Twitter. It takes the best of both worlds where you can both follow the people you love, and have great, in-depth conversations with them and others."

This one made me laugh because like, Reddit and Twitter are pretty much the two worst websites on the planet. And this one is the best of BOTH worlds? Holy shit. Even the name sounds like bickering with people you hate on the internet. "We're Squabbling!"

"a decent(ralised) secure gossip platform sea-slang for gossip - a scuttlebutt is basically a watercooler on a ship." This just makes me miss Yik Yak. I mean, I know they brought it back, but it's not fun anymore. I used to troll Yik Yak so hard. Everyone on there was just a fucking idiot, it was awesome.

Y'know, the other thing about Tumblr clones is somehow they all are worse than Tumblr. Tumblr is the most broken website I've ever used and somehow every clone of it has less features and works worse. How is that even possible? Maybe you just can't make a functional webslte like Tumblr. It's just not possible.

"A stream server that does most of what people really want from a social network."

Whoa.

"We like to think Plurk as a social network for weirdos - the cool, uncompromising and loving community for misfits we all long to have." Lamest userbase on this list, for sure.

"Social sharing blogging friends network - Whaleshares offer its users the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency rewards for posting and sharing content that interests them and that others find value in."

I'm pretty sure nothing I've ever said in my life has any monetary value. So I guess earning cryptocurrency for saying it is actually pretty fitting.

"Whispurr is a new interactive way to stay in touch with people. We all have something to say to those that matter."

Unrelated really, but this reminds me of the app Whisper. Apparently like in cities people use Whisper to meet up and have sex and buy drugs? I mean, I guess people use every app for that so it's not that odd, but Whisper? I don't know. I never got into Whisper tbh. Probably because I live in the middle of nowhere so there's no local posts.

"The new generation social networking client for people who value their time and are tired of information noise. Requires Adobe Air."

Okay I'm sorry but

This is the most cluttered UI I've ever seen on a social network website. Fuck off.

"Member.cash is a micro-blogging platform that uses the BCH blockchain for storing posts. Posts are impossible to delete and since member.cash uses an open protocol (memo), other websites can show the same posts."

Interesting. Posts you can't delete. That seems like a feature people would want.

I don't know dude. A lot of the newer social media sites seem like they're probably based on interesting technology, I just. It's all like decentralized and self-hosted and it's not actually a website it just saves your blog to your Dropbox and everyone is their own social media site and like it all just sounds fucking retarded to me.

I'm sorry, I'm not sure that this post was entertaining or funny to begin with, but it's certainly not after it's gone on for this long. My bad.

[richardrayovaunofficial]

I am gonna commentary dabewarehub's bullshit post about me, It's because i don't give a shit about that user.

"You're posting on a public platform. If you don't want a random stranger into your "business" than don't post it where people can see it. Do you believe that anyone who isn't on your side to be "evil"? cause if you do, maybe you should reflect on that cause that's toxic behavior."

-You think i could posting on a public platform? Of course i would, You are not a boss of me. And in fact, The business that i am not 18 years old until i will be in 2025. I do fucking believe that anoyne could be evil if someone does every crimes in social media such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, And etc. And they cannot be a toxic behaviour, It will be surely a jail. And you are trying to attack me, Sucker.

"Absolutely. But if you get banned the only person you have to blame is yourself."

-Do i fucking believe you? No, You are decided to harassing and attacking me on tumblr because i did not break the dA rules, Instead! I do not fucking blame myself, Blame your bullshit friends including ilia and evie that my bullies should leave my social media channel the fuck alone.

"Terms are not getting "overused". They are there to help regulate and follow within the sites state their headquarters are in. DA is housed in the USA, In CA. They have laws they have to follow just like tumblr, facebook, youtube and other social medias. Even Discord has rules. So, the fact that you continue to say that the terms is getting "overused". It's not. It's the fact that YOU REFUSE to obey the rules. You're a rule breaker. You're a rude child who shouldn't be online."

-Yes it will be overused, You are decided to use this annoying terms instead of quitting calling me a ban evader, I am not a ban evader because i am a fucking innocent, And you wanna reporting me on tumblr! Go ahead but it will not helping because you likes to harassing minors and you are trying to ruined my social media career, I can stay in this site whatever the fuck i want. And do not try to find me on dA, If i still see you by finding me on dA! I am gonna get my revenge until march 2024. And stop calling me a rule breaker cause i am fucking NOT! You are monster and brainwasher. Also, I am not a child anymore, I am a teenager until i will be 17 at 2024 after the september will come out in 9 months. Dumbass.

"Evie and Ilia hasn't said anything about you. Infact they've moved on with their life. You haven't."

-I already move on, Bitch! And yes she does say anything to me about a fucking annoying ban evader terms, They could quit using this bullshit terms. And you are lying to me.

"It's not stalking if you post on a public platform where EVERYONE can see. And you call me an idiot. - Don't want your enemies to know what you're doing? Stop posting publically on YT community or this Tumblr."

-No, I will not stop until you will end my dA drama right now. I will only see your friends when it should end my new drama and not bringing up my fucking past. - Can't you fucking see that i have my own secret to hiding my dA account? You will never find my incomplete hiatus dA channel because i know you are a stupid hacker finder.

"Why don't you give up creating a dA account knowing you'll be banned? Why don't you move on ? Why don't you blame yourself and your own actions instead of placing blame on someone else when you have NO physical evidence of your claims? - Btw, We're still waiting on the so called evidence you have to prove how "evil" some of the users you have issues with. The only reason why they are "Evil" is because they don't bend to your will."

-Ha, I won't give up creating a dA account so you will NEVER find me as well. Dumbfucker, How about you blame yourself and move on another site instead of your bullshit post. And i fucking told you i don't blame myself because you are making me a angry, Harasser supporter. And yes i would GET my physical evidence of my claims soon. - Btw you should leave my social media channel alone and quit calling me a ban evader, Calling me a ban evader is a fucking annoying and it should quit calling me like that. Since july 2023, I have been fucking reported by ilia when she contact nick to ban me when i didn't do anything wrong for FUCK sake.

"Public platform. Don't want unwanted people to see your PUBLIC PLATFORM. do something about it. - If you can"

-You are NOT going to finding my incomplete channel on deviantart, I don't wanna let your friends to reporting me on dA when i am coming back as a hiatus. You better leave my social media account alone right now.

[lilyzanin]

Week 9, Gaming Communities, Social Gaming and Live Streaming 

I'm definitely feeling burnt out from uni coming into week 9 but semester one is nearly done so that gives me hope! 

Week 9 was all about Gaming Communities, Social Gaming and Live Streaming. A topic I'm not too fond of anymore but when I was growing up with my two older brothers I was definitely extremely familiar with gaming and the communities in which gaming can form.  

It was honestly really nice to listen to this week's presentations as it kind of reminded me of my childhood and provided a sense of nostalgia too.  

Firstly, to my interpretation from all of the material provided video games can be defined as pieces of media (interactive media) designed by individuals or groups for people to play.  

Like many other things in our society, video games have the ability  form communities when likeminded people come together. However not everyone who plays a game actively participates in a gaming community. And that’s okay too!  

In addition to the gaming community, a huge part of games and gaming  is the gaming industry. Which I never had much thought about it prior, but when you think about it more than say 5 seconds you realise how much the industry is heavily reliant on the gaming users and gamers.   

But the industry is heavily reliant on player feedback – not just tied down to own specific game but can be broader. It is also tied into the idea that general feedback (negative or positive)  

Industry is heavily reliant on player feedback – can be broader or just one game based has a huge impact on the industry and can therefore create changes.   

Taking a shift to the required reading by Brendan Keogh "Independent Videogames: Cultures, Networks, Techniques and Politics, Routledge, these are the four key ideas and concepts I found interesting;  

"the Australian Penny Arcade Expo (PAX Expo), the largest consumer-facing geek culture expo in the Southern Hemisphere" (Keogh, 2021 p. 209) 

Different communities are often referred to as a 'scene', however these 'scenes' also include the academics researching them.  

Throughout the first half of the 2010s the Melbourne as well as Australian gaming industry changed by necessity "to an almost exclusively ‘indie’ industry following the closure of nearly every large studio in the country"  (Keogh, 2021 p. 215). Melbourne had particularly successfully nurtured this transition to independence. This was a result of a "wide range of cultural and political advantages."  (Keogh, 2021 p. 215) 

"While ‘indie’ and ‘independent’ are identity markers used by a wide range of videogame makers around the world, the participant remarks in this chapter serve as an important reminder that these labels do not define a singular nor a homogenous way of being a videogame maker." (Keogh, 2021 p. 220.)  

I also was really intrigued by the idea that "every year in November, the Australian city of Melbourne, capital of the state of Victoria, hosts Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW)" (Keogh, 2021 p. 209). I wasn't necessarily surprised but I guess you could say I didn’t expect it that this event would be "curated by the Victorian government body Creative Victoria"  (Keogh, 2021 p. 209). I initially would have thought it would be an independent group or body that isn't related to the government.  

References for this week  

Hardwick, T 2023, ‘Part 1 MDA2009 week 9 lecture.mp4’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 1 May, viewed 1st May 2023.  

Keogh, B 2021, 'The Melbourne indie game scenes: value regimes in localized game development' (Chapter 13), Download 'The Melbourne indie game scenes: value regimes in localized game development' (Chapter 13),in P Ruffino (ed), Independent Videogames: Cultures, Networks, Techniques and Politics, Routledge, pp.209-222.  

Log into Facebook (no date) Facebook. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/PAXAUS/ (Accessed: 01 May 2023).  

Maier, A. (2023) Calling all video game fanatics: Pax festival is returning to Melbourne, Time Out Melbourne. Available at: https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/things-to-do/pax (Accessed: 01 May 2023).  

Melbourne International Games Week 2022: Sat 1 – sun 9 Oct 2022 (no date) ACMI. Available at: https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/migw-2022/ (Accessed: 01 May 2023).  

[sreegs]

At this point it's a pavlovian instinct for users to see a monetization attempt and go all rebel. It's part of the culture I see in all circles here - the thinking that since tumblr was free this whole time, any monetization is an instant meme and a scam because this website is a 'dumpter fire'. Also the loudest majority haven't the faintest clue how such platforms are run. It's always easier to blame everything on the abstract 'staff' than read even one article explaining the whys.

I don't blame people for having the instinct, it's inescapable at this point. This is not just a problem with Tumblr. The internet was wide open and free decades ago, splintered into smaller companies and individual efforts. This was fueled by the novelty of the tech and no one really thought about the long-term sustainability of it. The Dot Com Bubble burst, then the inevitable monopolization happened as the surviving tech giants scooped up companies who didn't make it past the collapse.

Then, we entered an age of increasingly pervasive ads. At first, they paid the bills. But as the monopolization continued, the big ones cornered the market on ads (Google and Facebook) and server hosting (Amazon). This made ads an unsustainable revenue stream, and left very little choice in reasonable-cost server hosting. Now we're here. Ads don't make enough money anymore. After about 25 years or so of the world wide web as we know it being "free", services gotta charge you now, or beg for money otherwise.

I guess this aligns websites more with traditional business models now (money is exchanged for goods and services), but since there's so many people online, and they're used to it being free, it comes as a shock. I don't know what the alternative is at this point, beyond making the internet a wholly public service run by... who knows? A utility that you get no matter what, guaranteeing free access paid by taxes and such. But then what? Still gotta pay for web hosting. I don't really know what the answer is beyond a sea change in our economic system. I guess public mesh networks and alternative internets are a route but that still costs time, money, and resources to maintain. Inevitably, capitalism will seep into that domain too.

Got a little off track there. The point of my original post trying to explain the justification of ad-free Tumblr was not to try to convince people you have to buy it, or event that you should buy it. My point was merely to remind people that Tumblr is a corporation, owned and run by a few, but built and maintained by many. The maintainers have no real power over the decision making process. Corporations are effectively oligarchies or dictatorships depending on their structure. I forget that, since I've been working for corporations for a while now, not everyone has this perspective from inside a big company. And even fewer people understand what it's like to work in tech.

While I was working at Tumblr, some people got used to the hate slung at staff. Others didn't. Not everyone has thick skin. It stresses them out. Real people lose sleep over it. They worry about keeping their job, and not everyone working for a Tech company is fortunate enough to be engineers who have a bit more job safety and prospective employers.

If you get joy out of that, honestly what does that say about you? Do you really believe everyone has unlimited choices as to where they work? Do you think it's easy to just pack up and choose a new job once the company turns to shit? Are you that delusional? Or are you simply too distant from the meat grinder to understand it yet? Do you not yet know that more pay from a white collar job does not make it inherently easier than all others, and that all jobs that require you to work are stressful to some degree?

Not everyone is confident enough to keep a cool head when they're laid off, or have the guts to start looking for a new job before that happens. It's tough for everyone, I think, just moreso for some than others.

[thethirteenthcrow]

tbh i would love any kind of internet security list you could provide whenever you have time! :)

*kracks knuckles*

INTERNET SECURITY LIST AND OTHER FIREFOX EXTENSIONS

▷ use firefox, not safari or edge and Definitely Not google chrome;

▷ always use duckduckgo as your regular search engine. even w the extensions below you’ll see that none of them will light up bc duckduckgo is awesome and doesn’t track u;

▷ go to your add-ons and get these extensions (alphabetical order):

— adNauseum (fake-clicks on every ad it detects a bunch of times so the company's analytics will be all fucky-wucky and it will cost companies lotsa money)

— cookie autodelete

— decentraleyes

— disconnect

— don’t track me google

— duckduckgo privacy essentials

— hoxx vpn proxy (free, although limited, vpn)

— https everywhere

— localCDN

— privacy badger (redirects your trackers babey!)

— privacy possum (falsifies data so it costs companies as much money as possible)

— TrackMeNot (does randomly generated searches on random search engines so it hides what you really search for AND makes analytics all fucky-wucky)

— uBlock origin (superior adblocker)

— WhatCampaign (swaps out google analytics with fake shit, do you see a pattern? once again! the analytics are, repeat after me, fucky-wucky!)

▷ other add-ons that i do recommend but have nothing to do with tracking/adblocking:

— auto tab discard (closes ur tabs after long time no use, mend it to your own settings);

— bitwarden (one place to keep all your passwords, would not recommend putting Very Important ones like your bank account there but, like, tumblr works);

— dark mode (automatically makes websites dark, isn't perfect but it's nicer than being blinded by every Wikipedia page at 3am when you're losing that sense of existence and what is and isn't real anymore)

— firefox multi account containters (sort your tabs babey! give cute colors to your tabs, separates them from work/personal/shopping/etc.)

— google docs dark mode (turn off dark mode and use this one for docs, works amazingly)

— grammarly

— honey (save money, use honey ;))

— mind the time (keep track of how much time you've spent on a tab)

— reddit container and facebook container (two seperate add-ons but keeps your reddit and facebook stuff separate from the rest)

— reverso context (for my fellow bilinguals who sometimes Do Not Know the words and then there they are)

— shinigami eyes (it's a starting extension but it tries to hide transphobic and other anti-lgbtq+ stuff from your view. when you see something's slipped through, you can report it to them so they hide it from other users)

— simple tab groups (sort your tabs in groups with names n stuff)

— sponsorblock (also a starting extension, but hides sponsored-moments from youtube videos and makes you enjoy the content you're there for, not the 783rd hello fresh or raid shadow legends ad. it's user-driven, so be sure to submit the moments where there is sponsored content to help other viewers!)

— tranquility reader (if u don't want to be overwhelmed by all the functions on a webpage and just. read. the. damn. text.)

— unpaywall (a MUST for all students or people in research-driven workfields. read those paywalled items and articles! learning should be free! another option for this extension is 12ft ladder)

and those are all the extensions i currently have on my firefox. if you have any recommendations, drop 'em in my inbox and I'll add them to this list!! hope this helps you out!

small reminder that adding more extensions might make your firefox slower, but trust me, is alllll worth it.

stay safe out there on the big wide web that wants to know everything about you. don't tell them more than what you want them to know xx

[nachoscheesy]

Tumblr Revival

Tl;dr

Tumblr has a large interconnected community of artists and content creators, and should focus on its strengths and what it does right. Instead of trying to compete for space against Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Tumblr should focus on empowering its community and giving that community the tools to develop the site's unparalleled uniqueness.

Tumblr is the crossroads of the internet, with a monthly user traffic of 300 million it is the perfect space for artists, content creators, and small businesses to grow their following without having to fight for a seat at the table against companies with huge budgets.

Hi, I go by Nacho here on tumblr, and I'm sure as many of us on tumblr have noticed, the (hell)site is kinda going downhill. Tumblr was bought by Automattic in fall of 2019, and I am sure they have the best intentions to help tumblr stay afloat. However, I think it's time the community took a more deliberate approach to how tumblr is handled, and hopefully Automattic and @staff will hear us out. I think I have a solid solution to tumblrs money issues, that will help both the site and empower its online communities.

First and foremost, I am not involved with Tumblr or Automattic. I am just a simple blog trying to help out a place that I've been on since 2010, and I would hate to see it die here around 2023.

So, let's get to the root of the problem on tumblr right now. That being money, tumblr is currently costing more money that it produces, as we've seen with its 97% drop in value from 1.1 billion dollar sale to being sold at around 3 million dollars.

So the first thing that must be improved before anything else can be improved on tumblr is how much money they're bringing in a month. I don't think folks on tumblr hate monetization as much as we all collectively say we do, I think the issue is that most advertisers are completely disconnected from the groups they are trying to advertise to on here. Tumblr comprises roughly 65% millennials and 30% gen-z, the two generations that advertisers seem to have the hardest time advertising to for a myriad of reasons. The main one being that they don't fully understand what we want, and sometimes just don't listen to what we are saying.

Lets look at how tumblr makes its money, Tumblr has four main revenue sources,

Ads by sponsored posts

Display ads through video posts

Sponsored Day ads or banner ads

“Premium Themes”

I'll go into depth on all of these and how tumblr could make potential changes to improve their revenue anywhere from three to six months after it implements some or ideally all of these changes.

First tumblr ads and sponsored posts, these changes are going to be contingent on tumblr allowing its users to share, like, and comment on ads much like all other media sites currently allow. Or at least giving advertisers the ability to turn that on or off as a function.

The average tumblr post gets reblogged 14 times, that number increases significantly if the ad is engaging and actually caters to the communities wants and needs. My reasoning for giving users the ability to reblog ads is to increase user engagement while maintaining their current ad vetting process and all of the nonsensical ads that are run on tumblr 90% of the time.

The other reason for allowing tumblr users to share and comment on ads, or have it be an option for advertisers to turn on or off as they'd like, is that the appeal of tumblr is the ability to propagate and obsess over the most niche things (i.e OSHA.)

All the while allowing content that gets shared all over the internet bubble up to the top through the collective hand of the tumblr community. Along with this tumblr has no way for small users to share their own products or services, every single major site has a way for users to advertise their pages or products through the site.

Tumblr is a content machine that creates imagery and memes that get shared all the time across the internet, so the ability to share and curate its own ads is paramount to improving advertising and user engagement on tumblr.

My proposal here is for tumblr to expand its advertising capabilities to all users, while charging a flat rate fee to advertise on tumblr, with additional charges for popular tags or trending tags. Tumblr currently has no self service advertising system much like Facebook does for example. Where facebook charges a daily rate on cost-per-click(CPC) or cost-per-thousand(CPM)

Charging a flat rate fee at a rate of a day, week, month, or quarterly basis with variances in prices based on the lease term and what the advertisers would want to have their ads show up on certain tags. This would open up the doors for small businesses that don't want to advertise on places like facebook, twitter, or google with their complicated CPM and CPC models. Also bringing in more small locally owned businesses with the added value of less competition for ad space on tumblr.

This would also take some of the weight from tumblrs own advertising staff from having to explain a convoluted system to potential advertisers. Creating a simplified model with the the advent of tumblrs own infrastructure able to get a single post to a large variety of users. Where the current ad model uses a “shotgun” method to hit as many people as possible, the tumblr model could encourage advertisers to curate a more personalized and intimate experience that tumblr users would love.

Why not just advertise elsewhere? Tumblr still in fact gets over 300 million views a month as of June 2021 (Statosta), and the added benefit for users to be able to like, share, and interact with ads would allow ads that the community enjoys to be talked about more. Giving advertisers more honest feedback about their ads while increasing their SEO’s.

Also small businesses that can't compete with the vetting processes that are used on other sites, would have a better chance of developing their business and increasing their clientele on tumblr whose core demographics are approximately 60% millennial and 35% gen-z. This core demographic does in fact care about being able to shop at local stores, or even a store across the US that is trying to drum up its own online sales.

These ads could be placed inline on the tumblr dash while moving other sponsored ads to the right of the site on desktop, but making them alternate on mobile between user ads and sponsored ads.

Second, the display ads should be changed to allow tumblr users to share and further interact with ads to generate more user engagement, incentivizing more businesses and companies to build their brand status on tumblr. Tumblr has a good model for creating short diaries or daily vlogs for companies that wish to show off their products on social media. This includes smaller businesses and vlogers that want to post videos or tutorials of themselves on their blog.

Tumblr is a good site for user engagement with a pool of creative potential for anyone wanting to gauge the desire for a particular subject or piece of media, maybe even an upcoming show. Having the ability to share and comment on sponsored ads would also help advertisers by allowing them to get more bang for their buck with a considerable uptick on how users engage with that content.

Third, tumblrs sponsor day ads and banner ads are inexpensive and should be highlighted as a selling point over their competitors. Tumblr 24-hour banner ads are considerably more affordable for businesses when compared to places like twitter with their 200k price point. For the same amount of money on tumblr a business could have their company at the top of the dashboard or app for 8 whole days. Much longer and much better than the competition.

Keeping this price fixed, with a change in the price CPC is still a much more lucrative and attractive selling point than any of the competition on the internet today. I know this might not be exactly what tumblr wants to hear when it is hemorrhaging money right now, but let's look at the cost for these 24 hour daily ads and banner ads. If tumblr hypes up the price point on these ads they could see a significant rise in advertisers considering the lack of competition on tumblr and past success stories of companies who did advertise on tumblr.

At the same time larger advertisers should be encouraged to make engaging ads and blogs on tumblr that will make people want to actually go to their blogs, that then link to an external site or page. Not ads that instantly try to force you to go to some other site, by rewarding or offering special discounts for people who find a special code or something off of the actual blog. Or even for giving the same code to everyone who reblogs a certain post made by the advertiser.

Seems too good to be true? Look at “Asos” back in 2015 when they held a shirt design competition on their tumblr blog. Where they had 900 submissions, four of which were picked, and were sold out of the user generated shirts in 10 hours.

This is not the only case however, but FX ran their own campaign for the show “Man Seeking Woman” where they saw a 2.8% increase in user engagement, 86% increase in their tumblr followers, and they actually saved money through advertising on tumblr.

All this leads me to believe that tumblr actually was and continues to be the best place for brands, small businesses, and artists to develop themselves through genuine user engagement.

Finally, the “premium themes” that are available on tumblr that allow for unparalleled customizations that you hardly find elsewhere on the internet anymore. Tumblrs ability to take a variety of media sources, as well as having an unparalleled level of customization, user interconnectivity, and a vibrant artistic scene shows that it is ripe with potential.

Tumblr could still use its post+ feature, but in the same way that Discord uses its subscription service. For cosmetic changes that can be added modularly to the site or individual blogs for an additional monthly fee. In conjunction with partnering with community artists to bring small cosmetic additions to individual blogs, while paying the content creator and tumblr taking a small portion of the profits over a certain amount.

To be completely honest this is probably the hardest portion of this entire pitch to make changes to in a shorter period of time, considering all the testing and “under the hood” changes that must be made. However, I think that implementing this as well as the other changes I have proposed will bring back more foot traffic to tumblr as well as increase its revenue and profitability.

In closing, I am simply working with whatever information I was able to find online and a good amount of time invested on my part to do this. I think tumblr has a ton of potential still to return as a force for good for the communities that exist and want a change from what the internet has become. Time and time again when any company or public entity dies it was because it did not change and refused to adapt and innovate, oftentimes not at the hands of the people working everyday to keep the site running. Instead at the hands of people who dont see the value in what has fallen in their laps.

If you agree and think this is something that can be done, please reblog this post and follow me for more updates. If I don't hear back or this does not gain any traction by the end of the year, then tumblr can go to its inevitable end. I will be here sinking with the ship.

@support @engineering @music @wip @changes @photomatt

[beatricebidelaire]

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/06/the-internet-is-a-collective-hallucination/619320/

the current discussions about netflix’s future and asoue reminded me of this article (one of my favorites i’ve read these two years). it talks about how the lack of a central control for the internet, for all the benefits decentralization brings, makes content preservation harder than before in some way. it talks about content drifts and link rots for hyperlinks and also about digital copies of media being not really yours. (content drifts and link rots are like, say you adds a hyperlink to my post like above linking to https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/06/the-internet-is-a-collective-hallucination/619320/ , if someone were to modified that page and change what is on it, it would be a content drift, and if the page is removed entirely then it would be a link rot). in today’s world where many citations of information are provided by using links to pages that are not part of a centralized system, it can lead to much information getting lost.

as the article said, “Of course, there’s a keenly related problem of permanency for much of what’s online. People communicate in ways that feel ephemeral and let their guard down commensurately, only to find that a Facebook comment can stick around forever. The upshot is the worst of both worlds: Some information sticks around when it shouldn’t, while other information vanishes when it should remain.”

there are also examples of how amazon modified and removed digital copies of books on kindle device, which is some way tangentially related to streaming services such as netflix and how having membership does not mean owning the actual content.

anyway i was thinking about snicketverse and vfd’s library archiving and preserving information/knowledge, the organization’s emphasis on reading, and the ways volunteer document things in their commonplace books. about how vfd librarians would go about in trying to preserve and document and categorize information in a modern world and how internet operates now, how they navigate this and do their job. i know that when it comes to snicketverse modern au it’s social media or pop culture of more recent eras that are most often discussed but i am really intrigued by the idea of modern day vfd and archiving work and mission of preservation and communication of knowledge and information they would do.

when i first got into online fandom in the mid 2000/ it was on a non english forum hosted by a publisher company for a series of ya lit they translated, and on a geocities page set up by fans (both of which for an obscure fandom of a book series that ended in 2004), neither sites are around anymore. geocities went away first, the forum was still around in the mid 2010s but no longer, but even before that the traffic had been low for the last few years with not much new content. but i do have some saved word documents of some old time favorite fics of mine and there used to be an archived page somewhere of the listed of works page of that geocities page that i might still be able to dig up. like, you know, some things are gone but there are some little pieces here and there kept by individual users here and there, far from complete but each are segments of a bigger part of something that’s gone now. fragmented pieces of information and the difficulty of accumulating them all ….. it’s very snicketverse flavored, in some way. the communication issues in snicketverse adds to that, too. (i think about this snicketsleuth post about the broke communication channels in snicketverse a lot).

anyway just. modern day vfd and information archiving work and how that intersects with the way internet is today. it’s all very fascinating to me.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Facebook algorithm boosts pro-Facebook news

Facebook is a rotten company, rotten from the top down, its founder, board and top execs are sociopaths and monsters, committers of non-hyperbolic, no-fooling crimes against humanity. They lie, they cheat, they steal. They are some of history’s greatest villains. Because Facebook is a terrible company run by terrible people, it periodically erupts in ghastly scandal. Sometimes whistleblowers or reporters reveal historic crimes, including (but not limited to) deliberately helping to foment genocide.

Sometimes, the scandals are contemporary: either Facebook blithely announces it’s going to do something terrible, or we learn of some terrible thing underway from leaks or investigations.

Thanks to a history of anticompetitive mergers — Whatsapp, Instagram, Onavo and more — based on fraudulent promises to antitrust regulators, Facebook has grown to nearly three billion users — except FB doesn’t have users, really — it has hostages.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/07/dont-believe-proven-liars-absolute-minimum-standard-prudence-merger-scrutiny

As Facebook’s own internal memos show, the company doesn’t just buy up competitors so users have nowhere to flee to, it also engineers in high “switching costs” to make it more painful to leave the system.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/facebooks-secret-war-switching-costs

For example, Facebook’s internal memos show that the manager for its photo products set out to seduce users into entrusting FB with their family photos, because that way quitting Facebook would mean abandoning your memories of your kids, departed grandparents, etc.

Everybody hates Facebook, especially FB users. The point of high switching costs, after all, is to increase the pain of leaving so that FB can dole out more abuse to its users without fearing that they’ll quit the whole enterprise.

FB’s mission is to increase the size of the shit-sandwich they can force you to eat before you walk away. But they’re not mere sadists: shit-sandwiches have a business model: the more hostages they take, the more they can extract from advertisers — their true customers.

The polite term for what FB has is a “two-sided market” (selling advertisers to users and users to advertisers). The technical term is “a monopoly and a monoposony” (a monopsony is a market with a single buyer).

The colloquial term?

“A racket.”

A scam. A bezzle. A blight.

Facebook gouges advertisers on rate cards, then lies about the reach of its ads (like when it lied about the popularity of video, evincing a media-wide “pivot to video” that bankrupted dozens of news- and entertainment-sites).

Facebook didn’t set out to destroy journalism by price-fixing ads, lying to advertisers and media outlets.

FB set out to acquire a monopoly and extract monopoly rents from advertisers and publishers, with a pathological indifference to how these frauds would harm others.

Having shown a willingness to destroy journalists and media outlets to extract a few more billions for its shareholders, Facebook has attracted a lot of enemies in the media.

If you’re a whistleblower with a story to tell, there’s a journalist whose editor will allocate the resources to report your story out in depth. The combination of a rotten company and a lot of pissed off journalists produces a lot of bad ink for the company.

But the fact remains that FB has a vast pool of hostages, billions of them, and it gets to decide what they see, when and how. I used to joke with my human rights activist friends that the best use for Facebook was showing people why and how to leave Facebook.

FB’s response was predictable. As Ryan Mac and Sheera Frenkel write in the New York Times, FB’s Project Amplify is a Zuckerberg-led initiative to systematically promote positive coverage of FB and its founder — including articles that originate with FB itself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/technology/zuckerberg-facebook-project-amplify.html

That is, FB staffers are charged with writing puff pieces about how great the company is, and FB’s algorithm will push these ahead of reporting by actual journalists who present detailed, factual, multi-sourced accounts of the company’s fraudulent and depraved conduct.

Project Amplify marks a pivot from FB’s longstanding policy of issuing insincere apologies for its scandals. Company sources told the reporters that everyone figured out these don’t convince anyone, so the company turned to pushing happy-talk quackspeak instead.

One of the leaders of this project is Alex Schultz, “a 14-year company veteran who was named chief marketing officer last year,” but the major impetus comes from Zuck himself, one of the most hated men on the planet.

Amplify is just one of FB’s strategies for distorting the discourse about itself. In July, it neutered Crowdtangle, an widely used analytics tool that showed that FB’s top posts were unhinged far-right disinformation and conspiracies.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/15/three-wise-zucks-in-a-trenchcoat/#inconvenient-truth

And Facebook has declared all-out legal warfare (accompanied by a disinformation campaign) to kill Adobserver, an NYU project that tracks paid political disinformation on the platform.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/05/comprehensive-sex-ed/#quis-custodiet-ipsos-zuck

By shutting down Crowdtangle and Adobserver, FB hopes to control the academic findings about the company’s role in disinformation, hate, and harassment. The company runs its own research portal where academics are expected to access data about the platform.

But as with the journalists who report on it, FB has heaped abuse on the academics who research it.

Its portal data was bad, leaving PhD and masters’ theses are at risk of retraction. Mid-dissertation researchers have been set back to square one.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/2020-election-misinformation-distortions#facebook-sent-flawed-data-to-misinformation-researchers

In retrospect, Facebook’s decision to game its own algorithm to push pro-company quackspeak seems inevitable. It’s not just that no one believes the company’s apologies anymore (if they ever did) — it’s that the company seems incapable of hiring competent spin doctors.

Take the WSJ’s blockbuster “Facebook Files,” a series of reports detailing the company’s willingness to harm children, commit fraud, and allow millions of favored, powerful people to violate its rules with impunity.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-09-16/facebook-s-promised-to-gain-the-public-s-trust

FB’s response was genuinely pathetic. In a perfunctory blog post, its top flack — the widely despised British politician Nick Clegg, paid millions to front FB on the global stage — vilified the WSJ’s reporting without producing any factual rebuttals.

https://about.fb.com/news/2021/09/what-the-wall-street-journal-got-wrong/

It’s the kind of ham-fisted policy advocacy that Facebook is (in)famous for. Who can forget the absolute shitshow in India over its Internet Basics program, when it bribed telcos to exempt FB and the services it hand-picked from their data-caps?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/12/facebook-free-basics-india-zuckerberg

This Net-Neutracidal maneuver, falsely billed as a way to bring the internet to poor people (something is absolutely does not do), was the subject of a consultation by India’s telco regulators.

FB pushed deceptive alerts to millions of its Indian users, tricking them into sending a flood of form-letters to the regulator urging it to leave Internet Basics intact.

But whoever drafted the form letter didn’t bother to check whether it addressed any of the questions the regulator was consulting on. That made these millions of letters non-responsive to the consultation, so the regulator ignored them.

FB lost! It’s almost as though people who are good at fighting policy battles don’t want to work for Facebook, and the only talent they can attract are the kinds of opportunistic blunderers that no one takes seriously and everyone hates.

Weird, that.

[cockroachmotherfucker10]

PRIDEFALL UPDATE: real or fake?

What is Pridefall?

Operation Pridefall, also known as Project Pridefall or simply Pridefall, refers to an attack planned by /pol/ (a political discussion board on the anonymous website 4chan) for all of June, AKA Pride month. The original 4chan thread, which has since been deleted, was primarily focused on “redpilling,” i.e. spreading queerphobic propaganda to make people question the LGBTQ+ community. However, now that it has spread outside 4chan, there are threats of harassing, doxxing, and outing queer people (especially minors) on social media, spamming gore and rape videos in private messages and Pride tags, and even kidnapping, assaulting, or killing queer people in real life.

Specific targets include Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and dating apps. The goal is to go after smaller accounts so the queerphobia isn’t lost in the comments.

Is Pridefall real?

Yes and no.

I searched “pridefall” on 4chan last night. Apparently any new threads on it are being deleted, and anytime someone mentions it, everyone calls them slurs and says no one is doing it.

However, Pridefall is gaining some traction on Instagram--I have seen it for myself. I don’t have TikTok or any dating apps, but I’ve heard that some people are spamming homophobia on TikTok. As for Twitter, I only looked briefly, but I saw some Pridefall accounts there, as well as a lot of warnings and blocklists from people who are worried about it.

I’ve also heard that there have been a few Reddit and Discord raids, and that there is an Operation Pridefall Discord server (someone who spied on them says they have been banned on Discord as well as a platform called Riot before, so very few people are left on the Discord server now).

What do you think, Lia?

This is not coming from 4chan. No one on 4chan is interested anymore.

Most likely, people outside of 4chan heard about it and decided to take matters into their own hands.

The original 4chan thread wanted to make Pridefall “normie-palatable” by avoiding Nazi imagery or other overt unpleasantness, but I have seen a LOT of both on Instagram. This reinforces my belief that 4chan isn’t doing this.

A lot of the people behind this are young, or at least unsophisticated. Most of the Pridefall accounts on Instagram engage in very childish trolling, and one of them said they were a minor. Some of the threats I’ve seen are so outlandish that I can only imagine they came from a fairly young person.

My guess? Most of these people are around 13-19.

There are also very few of them and some of them probably have multiple accounts. Anti-Pridefall accounts outnumber them by far.

However, on Instagram I’ve seen Pridefall accounts following each other and commenting on each other’s posts, so there may be a few groups working together.

A lot of this shit is going to get deleted. I know Instagram is working through reports very slowly right now because they have fewer people available due to COVID-19, but most of the worst accounts I saw last night were deleted by this morning. I saw some more accounts deleted today.

Most, if not all, of these Pridefallers are just trying to scare us. Because they’re probably quite young, there’s very few of them, their accounts keep getting deleted, and law enforcement can track online activity, there is no way they have the balls or resources needed to coordinate major attacks.

There is a very, very slight chance this could spill over into real life, but as long as you practice basic online safety, you will be fine.

That being said, if you are threatened or doxxed by a Pridefall account, PLEASE contact the police. Better safe than sorry.

I do think that the threat of being doxxed or outed is more real than the threat of being attacked. I have already seen one Pridefall account who posted a trans boy’s address on Instagram (he is okay, he posted recently) and another who posted someone else’s address.

There is little chance this will last throughout Pride month. Apparently the goal is for Pridefall to worsen until the end of June, but given that this is most likely just some vastly outnumbered teenage trolls who are bored in quarantine, I seriously doubt they’ll be able to stay interested for a whole month.

This might not be as big on Tumblr. Tumblr is a lot more anonymous than, say, Instagram, which will hopefully deter would-be doxxers. It’s also known to be a highly liberal and queer-friendly site, so any Pridefaller with half a brain cell should know that A) their content is sure to be outnumbered and reported (only us Tumblr users know how bad staff is at deleting questionable stuff), and B) anyone with the original goal of “redpilling” is sure to fail here. Plus, I only remember seeing few, if any, mentions of Tumblr on Pridefall planning threads.

Still, expect to see some Pridefall activity here. Unsurprisingly, not all of these Pridefallers have half a brain cell. Some of them will definitely be unable to resist the lure of a community as openly queer as Tumblr, and we’ve all seen or heard about doxxing, harassment, gore, Nazis, and queerphobes on here. Also, 4chan has historically had some beef with Tumblr, so young teenage boys who idolize 4chan may target us for that reason.

How can I stay safe?

If you have any social media accounts where you A) have posted identifying personal information, and B) are openly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community (especially if you’re queer yourself), put them on private for June. Any other accounts are probably fine to stay public.

If you need a private Tumblr, you can make a password-protected secondary account and only share the password with mutuals you trust.

It is probably okay to be openly queer on a private account (e.g. have pronouns/rainbow emojis in your Instagram bio), since a private account is not likely to be doxxed. But if you want to be extra careful, remove queer identifiers from anything that is publicly visible.

Use Pridefall blocklists. They’re all over Instagram and Twitter. I may repost some here.

Report any Pridefall accounts you see. This is VERY important because this is how we can actually get rid of Pridefall content.

DON’T RESPOND TO ANY PRIDEFALLERS WHO PERSONALLY INTERACT WITH YOU. I know it’s tempting to give a snarky reply, but if they message you, comment on your post, etc, just block them. Seriously, don’t feed the trolls. It's exactly what they want.

Make sure your password game is strong. Use a different password for every site (I know, I know, it sucks), and use passwordmeter.com to test their strength. Write them all down on a piece of paper.

Make sure your username game is strong. Don’t use the same username for multiple sites, and avoid putting personal information in your username, such as your name or birthday.

Do NOT open random links!! Pridefallers could message you links that will give you viruses or track your IP address.

Don’t accept DMs or follows from people you don’t know. Pridefall accounts don’t always look like Pridefall accounts. Some of them are undercover.

Use a VPN. This is probably a little overkill unless you’re particularly at risk of being doxxed, but it will hide your IP address.

Be careful who you interact with. A lot of queer people on Instagram are DMing Pridefall accounts or commenting on their posts, but this could make you a target. As helpful as anti-Pridefall accounts are, you might even be targeted for following those.

Be wary of Pride tags. Unfortunately, a lot of Pridefall accounts plan to infiltrate tags commonly used by queer creators during Pride month. Use discretion when looking for queer content.

Be safe IRL. Lock your doors, lock your windows, be aware of your surroundings, don’t walk alone in poorly lit places, know basic self-defense, etc. Again, I absolutely do not think people will be attacked in real life, but you should be doing this shit all the time, not just in June. Thanks to COVID-19, you’re safer inside anyway!!

Make yourself hard to dox. Even though I have a very unusual first name (it's not really Lia), I am extremely hard to find online. I just went into an incognito browser window and searched my first and last name in quotation marks, but I didn’t find myself until page 4 of Google (and that result wasn’t even posted by me). I’m only half as careful as I could be, but here’s some of the things I do:

-I never use a picture of myself as my profile pic, except for Facebook and Instagram, which are both on the highest privacy settings possible.

-If I post identifying information on a public account (my college, my age, etc), I use a pseudonym or my first name only.

-On Instagram, I only use my first name, and I used special characters to type it, so you won’t find me if you search my name.

-On Facebook, I only accept friend requests from people I know. Most, if not all, of my Instagram followers are IRL friends, friends of IRL friends, and trusted Internet friends.

-If I’m really being paranoid, I’ll make a brand-new email account to sign up for a site. That way, my accounts aren’t all linked through one email address.

-Before I post a picture online, I delete the EXIF data with verexif.com, since EXIF data can hold GPS coordinates.

🌈 Stay safe, everyone.

You will not be harmed. You will be okay. Like cockroaches, we are survivors, and we will get through this!! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

-Mod Lia

[unexpected-readings-of-poetry]

It really works!? With one simple hack, you can stop looking at things you do not like looking at!!!

Some of you really liked my post explaining how to block tags on tumblr, so I’m going to talk you through a couple more helpful ways to curate your experience online, and particularly in online fandom spaces!

Some of these things might not be new to you, but if you’ve ever just thought to yourself “god, I wish I didn’t have to see this anymore”, take a look at some of these handy tips!

First up: if you are seeing someone on your tumblr dashboard who you would rather not be seeing content from, there’s actually a fairly easy solution to this! If you look at the top right hand corner of their profile, you will see a button that says “unfollow”. If you click on the “unfollow” button, you will no longer be following them, and therefore will no longer see their content on your dash.

If you feel that simply unfollowing them is not enough, you can click on the three dots to the side of the “unfollow” button, which will bring up a drop-down menu, where you have the option to block them. Blocking them will ensure that they are not able to interact with you either, leaving you with an extra sense of security from their content.

Moving on to other social media platforms, these functions are also available on twitter, instagram, facebook, indeed, every social media has both an unfollow and a block option. You can use these to stop receiving content from people you do not want to interact with, anywhere!

Ao3 does not have a block function in its main format, but it does have a very similar function to the “unfollow” button: “Unsubscribe”. By clicking on the “unsubscribe” button, you will no longer be subscribed to a particular author, meaning that you will no longer receive their works directly to your inbox.

Despite the “block” option being unavailable on Ao3, there are several addons to Ao3 which provide enhancements to the site, including AO3 Enhancements. This extension gives you the option to hide works based on their author, as well as several other additions to provide extra filtering services. AO3 has also announced an upcoming block function to be added to the site.

As well as the option to hide a user, you can also filter the content you see on AO3 using a very handy tool, called the “Sort and Filter” menu. In this menu, you can choose ratings, warnings, categories, fandoms, characters, relationships, and additional tags, to either include or exclude from a search. If you choose to exclude a tag that you do not want to see in a search, that tag will not show up in your search. This will mean that you will not see any fics with that tag, and you will not have to read them.

Finally, perhaps the biggest and most important option for you be aware of. This is not specific to any one site or platform, but it is always an option. If you are not enjoying looking at a post on tumblr, seeing something on someone’s profile that upsets you, or are reading a fic with content that you do not like, there is a simple solution. If you are on a browser, either on a computer or on your phone, if you look at the corner of the tab you are using, you should see a little “x”. If you click on the x, the tab will be closed. When you close the tab, the content you were looking at will be gone. You will no longer be looking at it. It is no longer in front of you.

Incredibly, when you take these steps to moderate the content you see on the internet, the content that you see on the internet is moderated! It is up to you to curate your own internet experience, not to police other people’s use or creation, or demand that other people make allowances for your own demands.

[rheallsim]

Social Media Rambling

I don't use any of the big social medias anymore; I used to be an avid Twitter/Facebook user, but I had to quit them a few years ago for mental health reasons in addition to a sense of moral obligation. They were so horrid for my self-esteem, and I was constantly stressed out by them; and I couldn't ignore how shittily they were being run, either.

I used to be a big Tumblr user, too, back in the day, for my art. I stopped posting regularly about four years ago. It also wasn't great for my mental health at the time, but I met some wonderful people here. ^^

I only returned to Tumblr last year for Sims reasons, and I'm glad I did; this community is so chill and sweet, and I'm having so much fun sharing my game and CC with you all. You're all the best. <3

Where I spend the vast majority of my time, though, is Mastodon. I joined it in 2017 looking for a Twitter alternative, and I fell in love. (It improves on so many of the areas where Twitter fails! It gives you descriptive content warnings, per-post privacy features, algorithms don't exist to mess up your chronological timelines or track you, and the decentralized system of instances means you can very effectively moderate your own distinct communities, and block other instances who don't; we were even able to discourage and drive out a huge group of alt-right and transphobic assholes who tried to make their home there through the collective action and hard work of instance admins. ^^ It's not perfect, but it's a million times better than Twitter for even those small reasons! There are many others besides.)

I was the admin of Mastodon.ART for a while, the largest primarily English-speaking art-focused Mastodon instance. The community there is awesome. :D Now I have my own small instance, ComicsCamp.Club, where I hang out with a lovely group of people. It's a cozy, quiet spot on the web, and just how I like my social media to be. ^^

There used to be a Sims-focused Mastodon instance called @simstodon, but it's been gone for a while now (I think it got overrun by NSFW/Pornographic Sims players, and the community kind of tanked from there :\). It just makes me think how nice it might be to get a community of sims folks on Mastodon again. I don't have the time or energy to admin yet another instance, but I wish someone else would! It would be a lot of fun to share my Sims stuff with a larger community of like-minded folks on Mastodon. :D

Anyway, if you're also a Mastodonian and want to follow my very quiet ramblings about my garden or its visiting birds, you're welcome to! I'm located @Rheall@ComicsCamp.Club. I might occasionally post the odd art or two, also, if the mood strikes. <3

Also, if anyone has any questions about Mastodon and how it works or what it's like, don't hesitate to get in touch! I'd be happy to ramble anyone's ear off about it, but I'll try to be helpful too. 😅

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph!

I’m sorry it’s my first time sending you an ask, so I dunno which button I clicked man. Sorry about that.

Ok, so what I wanted to request! I love your blog. You’re really kind and genuine, and I’ve found some great fics to light up my day from here. But sometimes, the posts are suuupppeeerr long, and I may not be looking for this info exactly? Like it clogs up a lot of my dash. So I wanted to request if you could use a “read more” feature after a brief, at least for the fic rec posts.

I hope I didn’t offend or anything. Thank u for all the kindness you put into the world each day. Have a good day fren!

Hey Nonny!

Ahh, okay, you’re not going to like what I am going to say, but you are very respectful and were smart and sandwiched your issue in compliments, so Ahhhh, I feel conflicted now.

With all due respect Nonny, this is my blog and I get more engagement on my lists if people can see the full list; many people prefer it that way, and honestly I get crapped on either way, so I’ve made the executive decision to not cut my posts. The only time I do is on “second” reblog on super long LONG lists so that I have a “cut” and “uncut” version of the post, but even those I’ve been reducing. 

I’ve tried both ways, and full posts get better notice. All I want to do is share my love of fics and content with y’all, and the best way to do that is to just have it all there so people know what they’re getting. 

Plus, am I to just “readmore” every single reply on my posts? A lot of the reason my blog has stayed as long as it has is because I’ve always been a very interactive blog. People LIKE seeing their replies added to a comment thread on my post, and it helps smaller blogs get noticed. It’s not much on the surface, but I’ve had smaller blogs come to me DELIGHTED that their name is now attached to one of my posts that are going through a “popular reblog cycle” (that is, a post that is being interacted with for a good few days before I actually finally add it to the month-reblog queue). It helps create a sense of community, I feel, and that’s one of the things I am very honoured to be: a starting place for community.

And this is just in a general sense and NOT directed at you, more at the people who shit on me in the notes of my long posts, but I don’t GET people getting upset about my TEXT BASED POST WITH NO IMAGES IN IT, but not on any of the image or playlist posts I reblog, which take FOREVER to load on mobile. I GENUINELY don’t get it. I don’t even use the app on my phone, I’m logged into the browser on my phone, because the app is garbage. 

The problem is the app, in my opinion. That’s the gist of it. It loads slow, it scrolls terribly, and the UI is annoying, but instead app users blame the bloggers and not the fact that Tumblr staff ignore every suggestion we make. And because more of the newer people use their mobiles these days, us old-time Tumblr users are expected to microblog like the shitty sites that are Twitter or Facebook. Tumblr is a blogging platform, like LiveJournal, laid out all nicely and clean and honestly, (the royal you) you’re getting exactly what you signed up for: long posts, opinions, and interaction. If one wants shitty layouts, shitty comment threads you can’t follow and reactionaries, go to Twitter. Call me a boomer, whatever, I just find Tumblr so much more appealing now more than ever. 

Sorry, I’ve needed to get this off my chest for awhile now. I don’t know. Maybe I’m being pedantic. I don’t care, really. My thoughts on this: if (the royal) you don’t like the content, or find stuff annoying, don’t follow me.

Because you know what a lot of my longest posts are? Helpline numbers at the bottom of posts. Useful links. And just stuff that make people happy. People in despair are not going to click on a read more of a post. People who want links to resources aren’t going to click on a read more. People who just want happiness after a stressful day are literally just scrolling to smile, and they ain’t gonna click a read more.

YES, there are reasons read mores are good, absolutely. I just PERSONALLY don’t like them because I like engagement. I don’t get much of it anymore on my posts, EXCEPT the fic rec posts, and THOSE work better as a full view.

BUT NONNY PLEASE KNOW I AM NOT UPSET AT ALL WITH YOU, and you’ve given me a great opportunity to discuss this thing that I’ve put off for awhile because the other people were less-than-kind, and it only made me NOT address it out of simple spite because I’m nothing if not a passive aggressive old lady. 

So, here are a few ideas you can implement:

If you like my posts but not the longest ones, I always tag them “long post”. Tumblr finally has its own tag blocking feature, so just block “long post”. All of my very long lists will be blocked, and you can decide if you want to click on them based on what the additional tags are. I try my best to tag all my lists appropriately.

Similarly, you can “tag block” my username, and only click on the posts you like the tags for.

DON’T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY, PLEASE, this isn’t a “so there!” comment, I promise!!: You can unfollow me if you’re only following me for the fic lists, and instead follow me on Twitter at @inevitablyjohn1, which is used only to promote my new lists and art. Every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday I post up the Wednesday Reblog, Five Fics Friday, Fic Rec Roundup, and Fic Rec Sunday, with a link to each post :) Then you’ll get all the lovely full lists I post 4 times a week. OF COURSE, this is the option I don’t want to happen, because I love all my lovelies and you’ll miss out on the random fics, insightful asks, and suggestions I get throughout the week, BUT I want you to enjoy your time on Tumblr, and if my blog is causing you stress, it’s the last thing I want to happen. I love all of y’all too much to see that!

THAT ALL SAID, Nonny, I’m really sorry to disappoint you, and I hope you understand my POV on this. I just don’t see any benefit on my part, for MY blog, which I run for MY happiness which has the side effect of making other people happy. I also hope you will still stick around regardless, but I care about your well being and I understand if you have to leave.

AND everyone, please don’t be harsh on this Nonny! They asked a question respectfully and deserve our respect in kind.

I truly wish you the loveliest of days, Nonny, and have a great week! <3

[natalie-conklin]

Week #2A 

I think that social media’s influence in my daily life very prevalent. I find that I am often concerned with app notification specifically notifications from snapchat and Facebook. I also find that I can get drawn into this apps as well as Instagram all on the homepages and the discover pages.  

I think that having the internet constantly available affects my life by offering daily distractions from my own life, but also these distractions are not always welcomed. I can feel disappointed after being on social media and for all different reasons. This goes to show that social media can affect my emotions. 

Sometimes that I haven’t had access to the internet for an extended period of time would be back in high school I only had one gig of data a month, so I use to never go on social media until I was at my house or my friend’s house. Another time would be when I go camping up north. I enjoyed the time there would be a moment every here and there where I wish I had access, but they were fleeing moments. 

Some things that I would like to be more intentional about my use of technology would be definitely not being on my phone at least on hour before bed. I would like to limit my media usage and I feel as though going through my social media accounts and removing people I don’t talk to anymore will be beneficial. 

Overall, the video and the article gave me a new perspective. I have grown up in a time when technology has gone through rapid advancement. I was born in 2000 just a year later the iPod came out and look where we are today. There is much that has changed. I remember a time when social media was not as consuming. I remember Facebook being a thing and when my older sister was in high school, she and everyone she went to school with had to myspace. Social media has become part of our everyday lives. I feel as though we need to keep in mind that there is someone and some company behind that screen and we should be aware and cautious of what information we give them access to about ourselves.

I have added the links to the video and the article as I feel they are real eye openers and a great reminder to any social media user.

Max Stossels talk (https://vimeo.com/370135963) 

Emma Rathbone's article, "Before the Internet: (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/26/before-the-internet).  

[fortunatelyfresco]

Hi hi. Loved your post about Moist Von Lipwig and narcolepsy! I’m trying to learn more about narcolepsy since I suspect I may have it, and I noticed your post mentioned several symptoms I hadn’t read about on any symptom lists (but which I also relate to strongly)—can I ask what resources you used to learn about them? Thanks and have a great day

Hello, Anon! I'm glad you liked the post, and I hope you find some useful answers.

I have been on a fruitless quest for years to figure out exactly which symptom list made me go “!” back when I was tiredly googling sleep disorders. But I will gladly give you all the resources I can think of.

1. Narcolepsy Network. Specifically you could start with their About Narcolepsy page here https://narcolepsynetwork.org/about-narcolepsy/ though I will note a couple of things:

a) They say MLST instead of MSLT, though they get the full name correct. Just good to know if you want to google it because MLST is a real acronym for a couple of other things.

b) "PWNs [people with narcolepsy] typically have no difficulty initially falling asleep." Ehhh I'm being anecdotal, but not in my experience??? I struggled a lot with insomnia before medication, and I've seen other people say the same.

I haven't scoured the site so there might be other issues, but it's the organization that jumps to mind for me when it comes to resources and information.

  2. NN also has a list of support groups https://narcolepsynetwork.org/resources/support-groups/

The only one I have any personal experience with is their Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/narcolepsynetwork/

It's... useful. I would suggest searching it for keywords related to your questions before making any posts yourself. Most people on there are fine and I think everyone genuinely wants to help, but sometimes you'll get (unintentionally?) negative comments that don't actually answer your question. We're all tired, I guess.

At any rate this is the first place I would suggest searching things like "sleep paralysis" or "vivid dreams" or "insomnia" etc. if you're interested in hearing other people's experiences.

  3. The other FB groups I have any experience with are

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NarcolepsySupportGroup/ Narcolepsy Support Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/760324190697068/ Narcolepsy Humor

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1611167005839496/ Zebra Butterflies (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Narcolepsy)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1508288736139122/ Service Dogs for Narcolepsy

https://www.facebook.com/groups/narcolepsyart/ N[ART] narcolepsy art

I'm in one more for a specific medication but I'm not sure if there's a rule about linking it publicly??? And you're almost definitely not on the medication without an N diagnosis, but feel free to message me privately if you'd like a link.

I don't use Facebook much these days and I'm not really active in any of these groups anymore (so unfortunately I cannot give you a clear picture of the overall attitudes within them), including NN, but I read through the posts that show up when I check my feed. Joining these helped me learn a lot about other people's experiences with narcolepsy, and other things like sleep apnea, circadian rhythm disorders, and idiopathic hypersomnia.

If you're an active Facebook user I would recommend limiting the number of groups you join, just to avoid becoming overwhelmed by strangers' vent posts, especially if you're already nervous or frustrated about the possibility of having N. Keep in mind people are often more likely to post about bad days than good ones.

4. If you're more interested in academic sources that you could cite for a doctor (or just because), I am no expert and am Too Tired To Read Things(TM) but there may be something for you in NN's Educational Materials https://narcolepsynetwork.org/resources/educational-info/ or Conference Materials https://narcolepsyconference.org/2019-materials

5. Finally I would honestly suggest just googling "Narcolepsy [keyword]" and clicking the newest articles that look trustworthy. New research is popping up all the time. I think a lot of what I've picked up over the years was just stuff I absorbed back when I had more time/motivation to google it every once in a while and see if anything had changed.

I would say to read as many sources as you can, because most of them will get some things right and some things wrong, or just have differing opinions on things that aren't settled or are subjective, or make statements about "typical" narcolepsy cases that might be statistically accurate but not apply to some people's lived experiences.

Like, I googled "narcolepsy vivid dreams" just now and found this page, updated February 18, 2021. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/narcolepsy/symptoms

It's got some interesting stuff about hypocretin/orexin, and atonia, and other stuff. It also states that narcolepsy doesn't typically worsen with age, which may or may not be statistically supported (I don't know), and which does not apply to some people's experiences and may make them second-guess things.

It also states "People with narcolepsy fall asleep quickly". I take issue with the entire premise of that, because I think it conflates sleep latency with sleep attacks, and can cause problems for people when they take the MSLT. This page does list insomnia as a possible comorbidity, but (like most resources in my experience) does not list it as a possible symptom.

Okay that’s probably enough of my own soapbox but please do feel free to ask me more questions if you’d like! Good luck!

[marwa-mawa]

CRM software

In this day and age, any business that wants to thrive must go online.

With so many things going on worldwide and global changes that will forever impact the way people live and do business, going online is no longer just an option.

Not only to maintain their success but even just to survive.

Sure, there are already available tools that any business can use to run their entire company and processes digitally.

However, any minimum amount of research will tell you that most of these products are expensive, complicated, and limited in customization.

In other words, not very user-friendly, and definitely not suitable for all business owners, especially those who are less tech-savvy and might even be on a budget.

I mean, who can afford to invest thousands of dollars a month into a bunch of complicated tools, and on top of that, hire employees to manage the systems, right?

Well, if this sounds familiar in any way, I have some good news for you.

As an online marketer and blogger myself, I am always looking for new solutions for these everyday challenges we face as business owners.

Today, I am very excited to introduce you to my latest discovery.

GrooveFunnels is, by far, the best way I have found to be able to build websites, sales funnels, and sell digital products online.

The best part? It’s FREE.

But the free value does not end there…

You see, GrooveFunnels is not just a website and sales funnel builder.

The co-founder of GrooveFunnels, Mike Filsaime, is actually a veteran in the Internet marketing space and has put all his experience and expertise into one of the best suites of marketing tools I have ever seen.

I’ve also signed myself up for an account (it’s free), and for the past few days, I’ve had the chance to play around with it.

And you know what?

I can definitely tell you that this 100% free tool is perfectly capable of running your entire business, maybe even better than some of the expensive complicated tools out there.

I’m not exaggerating by any means…

From what I’ve seen so far, GrooveFunnels includes everything that I need to run my online business, all for absolutely free.

Here’s just a quick list of what I’ve gathered so far:

FREE sales, page, and funnel building platform Possible to build my own branded websites with full navigation Can integrate with my own custom domain name Able to sell my products with what they call a 1-click upsell Capability to integrate upsells, downsells, and order bumps Even has a way to create my own powerful affiliate program for my products!

And that’s just for starters because there is so much more for me to explore!

I’m not even joking when I say that I am planning to change my ENTIRE online business over to GrooveFunnels!

I mean, why wouldn’t I?

It’s FREE, and it’s probably the BEST suite of marketing tools I have ever seen in my life.

By the way, there’s more…

I didn’t even mention some of my favorite benefits of GrooveFunnels.

As a member, I’ve also received a TON of community benefits.

I’ve been able to join their private Facebook group, connect with marketing experts inside, get help with all my problems, access private training within their own academy, ask questions through their helpdesk, and meet other like-minded entrepreneurs just like me to make the best use of these tools.

So, if you’re like me… Striving to grow your business, looking to learn more about marketing and getting to know some of the best in the industry at a more personal level, then you won’t want to miss out on this opportunity.

Sounds great, right?

But you might be asking… what’s the catch?

The catch is that GrooveFunnels is free, but for a limited time only.

GrooveFunnels is in its pre-launch phase, which means that many of the products have still yet to fully launch.

When they do, and as the products continue to get upgraded, GrooveFunnels may no longer be free anymore.

This means that now is the time to sign up for your free account, which would also qualify you for the additional software upgrades that they make as time goes on.

Awesome deal, right?

It’s called being at the right place, at the right time.

And that’s where we’re at right now :)

Don’t wait any longer, because I’m honestly unsure when this free offer will go away.

Do yourself a favor and sign up for your free GrooveFunnels account right now, and I will see you inside of the Facebook group.