#and I have a lot of trouble gaining followers on Twitter | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

otomiyaa · 1 year ago

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PSA: Back up your blog, check your tumblr e-mail for copyright strikes

Hi everyone, after suddenly losing my account with main blog + sideblogs last week, I would like to share the following warning with y'all. Not to scare you even though it is shitty, but to raise awareness. If this somehow results in me getting kicked off the platform again, so be it lol.

If you post anything fandom* related on your tumblr blog**, whether that's gifs, screenshots, videos, cosplay pics or even fics (?), you may risk getting a copyright strike (up to 3 in 18 months) or even immediate account termination. The chance is still rather small, but just know that it can happen.

*I say fandom in the broad term, so blogs that post about movies and series, anime/manga, games, celebrities, models, sports/olympics, etc. and it goes for gif and fic creators too. Not just accounts that post music or videos for example.

**I say tumblr blog, but this goes for all of the internet ofc. People have been getting this problem on any platform, from insta to etsy, youtube and twitter.

Disclaimer: I am no legal expert, just an unlucky blogger who lost her silly multifandom fic blog after 7+ years.

This will be a bit long and detailed so I proceed under the cut!

What can you do?

...To make sure you don't suddenly lose days, months, and years of content:

CHECK THE EMAIL LINKED TO YOUR TUMBLR. I know a lot of people don't do it, myself included. Tumblr does send warnings (though not always). It wouldn't have changed anything for me because I wouldn't want to appeal - since I don't want to go into this "fair use" discussion for just a fic & editing blog. I personally don't know the chances of retrieving your blog if you protest against the claims, so can't say much about that.

Back up your Tumblr blog if you can. Also save your Tumblr chats with people dear to you if you can. Account termination seems to work differently than deactivation. I was still able to see chats with people who deactivated long ago. But my blog that got terminated has vanished from everyone's DMs and ask boxes à la Thanos snap. I mourn my years of Tumblr chat with my best friend. It was not as if we even considered exporting/copying it just for the memories of the start of our friendship. But now that it's entirely gone, hehe, well. It is sad.

Save URLs and masterposts outside Tumblr. After losing your account, for I thiiink about 24-48hrs (I didn't clock, but it was temporary) you will be able to access it at least temporarily through cachedpages, if you have the URL. It doesn't seem to work for everything, but most of my Tumblr posts I could still see shortly through this site, even after I got wiped off the platform. I did this by googling my tumblr username + certain keywords, and the posts would pop up and give me the URL.

...To prevent getting copyright strikes and losing your account?

Probably nothing - but like I said, I'm not the expert, just the fool who lost her account. The termination e-mail will give you a numbered URL so it's not easy to see which post resulted in the account loss, but for me the keywords were:

Despite the 7+ years of posts, many followers and a lot of memories, I did not gain anything else from this blog and didn't think it was worth the (legal-) risks and effort to try and get it back. It would require filing an objection against the copyright claims with personal info from home address to name, and consenting to USA legal law stuff.

Even if I don't know the exact details, I'm sure they're not wrong, because whether it's fair or not, most fandom stuff has copyright issues in the end, so I can't protest against the claims with 100% certainty it won't get me in real trouble. Besides, I read about similar cases, lost cases, and admitted defeat right away.

They work with manual reports and most dangerously, bots, who seem to be randomly picking unlucky people to take down their posts and possibly the entire account.

So besides putting an entire halt to fic writing, gif making, video editing and other fandom indulgement, or the inconvenient act of censoring every single word and image, I don't think there is a way to entirely prevent getting targeted.

The one that treated me to the strikes leading to account termination was a certain Mr. Green who seems to have targeted mostly people on Etsy. But apparently now also on Tumblr. More about this I can share here for further information. I also share some other links that can inform you about how far the copyright problem can go. Again, no reason to panic. It's rare and I was unlucky. But it happens.

About Mr. Green, using bots all over the internet to take down fandom related material:

Tumblr post about his attack on fandom.

Long detailed doc from an Etsy user.

Insta post about also loss of Etsy account.

Also Etsy related, but same Mr. Green and his bots taking down something only because it used the NAME of an anime character.

Tweet about him and his company not being officially contracted but getting compensated.

About copyright claims on Tumblr - they are still rare, no panic, I just call it russian roulette and these are all unlucky people like me :')

Post by user @/marilynjeansiims about claims against users who post about Sims, including a petition against it.

Post by user @/happyheidi about Moomin posts facing issues.

Post by user @/hanyusan about olympic related claims.

Example by user @/koov about what a vague copyright warning looks like.

Good news, post by user @/yunghos about getting their account back after filing a counter notice. It seems to be possible.

Post by user @/iamkatehardy about getting a strike for using a gif.

Post by user @/stxrshxpxd about getting their acc terminated for no 100% clear reasons.

Post by user @/tekweela about getting terminated mercilessly because of a reblog.

Post by user @/fromanotherroom-revived about losing their account with similar advice as I write here.

Post by user @/ladyphasma about gifs and US law

Knowing this won't bring lost accounts back, or change the law, I do hope at least you can be better prepared just in case it happens... Better prepared than I was at least.

#psa #fandom #copyright #no panic but just be careful<3 #signal boost #important

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pearlywritings · 10 months ago

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Hi (sorry for the bad English!!)

I already sent a text but it sounded like a request and I really don't want to step on any boundaries so I'm resending one. Very sorry!! I just really appreciated both part of the Sampo fic and wanted to write out my appreciation.

I really love the fact that he come to our house even if he thought our daughter wasn't home to have some alone time with us. Also the fact that he goes through trouble to watch us sing is just so sweet to me.

When we first met him he was dressed as a woman and I wonder where the dress come from? Was it one of Natasha's or did he stole it from some rendome lady? Same for the wig, where did he get those???

If a Silverman guard was ever to come knock at our door and ask if we saw "this criminal" and it just a poorly drawn portrait of Sampo or a shojo version of Sampo

Also you specify that he didn't ask for intimacy in exchange for the babysitting (he just loves his little girl way too much), but maybe it becomes a fear for him? There's many rumors about him and with his flirty personality, probably some that picture him as a perv who'd ask for that kind of thing in exchange of a service on his part. So he'd just avoid bringing that kind of thing even later in the relationship because he loves us and our girl and don't want us to think all of what he did was just for that. I'm not sure if it makes sense...

Also I saw a fan art earlier today that reminded me of this fic (it's by YAMU724 on Twitter/X). It shows Sampo in a white dress with long hair and a hat, the hold credit with his left hand. He looks very motherly in it.

I could go on for sooo looooong but it would just never end. You truly write amazingly well !

Thank you so much for your kind words from your first ask, sweet anon! I really appreciate them!

Oh, I follow that artist, you mention there! So I might know what you are talking about!

As for writing more for this kinda 'dad AU' I don't think I will - I have more stuff I want to write about, and not enough time to do even more.

Now I'll try to answer this ask paragraph by paragraph

I just wanted to show that he didn't simply stick around, but started genuienly caring about the family that accepted him into their lives. Glad it came out well!

I believe this man has his own wardrobe full of disguises for different occasions. Plus, he is a part of the Masked Fools, so I don't think he takes his disguises lightly - like simply stealing them (though partly it might be true)

No matter what type of poster is going to be shown - reader would recognize her clown. But never rat him out (though would nag him later for another stupid thing he couldn't help but do just to annoy Gepard's men)

It'll take time, but eventually the relationship would reach an intimate step. They are adults so, eventually, the discussion will arise, and they talk everything through. And, surprisingly, I think Sampo is going to be more nervous than reader. It'll be clear in the ways he'll try to make everything about her, to show it's not for his personal gain (which already says a lot, given he indeed does stuff for his personal gain).

Thank you so much for you take on my Sampo fics, I had fun analyzing his character once again!

#✨asks #honkai star rail #sampo koski

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monkey-network · 2 years ago

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My Issues/Problems/Disgusts Resolved(?)

When you have issues, troubles, or disgusts with anything, the hardest but relieving thing to do coming to terms with them. A couple of years ago, I made a trilogy of posts exploring three people I found ranging from repugnant to devious. It came at a time when frustrations might as well have come out and frankly they were just about people everyone was more than aware of online. Enough time has passed and while this isn't just gonna be me apologizing or being remorseful for what I said, I want to I guess truly bury the hatchet and resolve these stuck-around feelings as somebody that has... been humbled a lot over these years (make of that what you will). This is coming from somebody that knows a lot about staying in your own head. So yeah, let's talk.

Lily Orchard [OP Link]

Gotta say that... nothing's really changed only in that it's all less with anger now. Put this first because it'll be short. To be as sincere as I can, she's just an unlikable person. Regardless of her out there opinions and ideas of media literacy, or her choices in fictional tastes, I won't be the guy that will throw every evil label and the kitchen sink onto her. Calling the spade a spade, even as a former fan I saw that within reason it was seeing a very insatiable and arrogant media "critic" with negative social skills. Hell, the mentions you see of her on Tumblr or Twitter especially are just the open secret that most people don't like her. For me, that resentment has become passive chagrin.

I won't convince anybody of who she can really be, how bad she can be at being both original and derivative, or what she is potentially. I wouldn't say a lost cause, but there's nothing complicated about this anymore. She's just a massive asshole. Not because of any human characteristic of hers, her opinions, or what was known about her in the past. Take away any personal semantics or bias, I remain only puzzled about how her circle is able to tolerate her presence because she's just an unlikable person and that's all on her.

Butch Hartman {OP Link}

2020 basically was the year where a man responsible for one of the most popular cartoons on Nickelodeon finished swan-diving his reputation just as fast as the likes of John K and Justin Roiland. From scheming a streaming service that still isn't out of early access yet to making a Christian flash cartoon that looks 20 years too late. It's a classic story of pride coming before the fall, culminating in his Youtube channel being a wasteland aside from sketch tiktoks that barely make the thousands in views despite his huge follower count. As much as LSMark looked to make good-faith conversation with him recently, Butch basically became a ghost now after all the controversies died down.

Now despite what I said initially, Butch's fall in reputation is definitely not comparable to Kricfalusi or Roiland's; we've heard nothing of him physically taking advantage of anybody in or out the industry. The worse he's done is take advantage of his legacy for either financial or supportive gains. This is not as bad as domestic or sexual assault of course, but it spoke wonders of how the ego of big time creators can kill any goodwill and faith when they're not actually considerate of the following that respect them. A quick search of his name on Youtube is more about the people discussing his controversies than anything he worked on. People still discuss Danny Phantom and Fairly Oddparents, hell the Cosmo mpreg episode is a meme to this day, but with the detachment towards Butch as the creator.

I'm fine with this predicament, but it's sad to believe this was all on him. It wasn't just about Oaxis being a scam or him saying "he created your childhood" or heaven forbid his attempts of promoting religious healing, it was about seeing a creator of some things you liked reveal himself as someone in a bubble that you lose any idea in looking up to. It's not exactly "Don't Meet Your Heroes," more "Don't glue on rose-tinted glasses". I won't force or insult what remains of Butch's "fanbase" for sticking with him, but this definitely woke me up in terms of how I view the creators I love. Humility is the special word in all this, where some creators can have some disapproving moments but you can still have respect for their craft. With Butch, it wasn't even him entirely that made his shows look great. As of now, he's making poorly illustrated kid's bible stories with Fairly Oddparents getting a live-action show that Nickelodeon regretted making immediately after releasing to the point of erasing it all not even a full year after it was first announced. Even when things are probably fine now, the guy fell off as hard as I expected originally. I can seriously put this behind knowing I was factually right on the money the first time and that does put a smile on my face.

Also... Butt Shartman. That's all, let's move on.

Mysterious Mr. Enter (OP Link)

I'll say this was the reason why I made this post. Lily and Hartman I say speak of an absence of change and reflecting on that absence. Mr. Enter is different and, cut to the chase, it has to do with this recent video.

youtube

I've talked my fair share of shit toward Mr. Enter these past few years, reasonably so. At the same time, my vitriol toward him came from some semblance of respect. Many have to this day brought up Mr. Enter calling out the writers of Spongebob for a particular episode they did, but John is right in that that was around the time he barely had a following and just started out with media reviews. Mr. Enter has made bad opinions, I will never deny that and this isn't me defending him, but I see that he can recognize they're bad. He's better than Lily Orchard in that... he can admit being wrong and grow from it. We meme and shit on this dude, but for me, there was still that modicum of respect I had for him being this dedicated. In spite of the harassment or the justified backlash, he's still putting in the effort.

Over the years, I've come to understand that media critics can have different understandings of media. That doesn't mean every critic is always right in their own way, grifters exist for a reason, but I don't see Mr. Enter as a grifter-type critic compared to people who to this day complain about The Last Jedi. He can have some off takes on the types of humor or tropes in a cartoon, but more often than not he's being sincere. That's why I say he still has some respect from me for as long as I've known him. Every bad take aside, I don't take him as somebody who is "ruining media criticism".

I don't agree with everything he says or believes, but John's doing better than I can say for Butch Hartman or Lily Orchard especially. He's doing Admirable Animations again, something I brought up originally, and am intrigued to see that he indirectly took my advice. He can work well with more positive videos. I never felt he was an actively terrible critic, Turning Red meme aside, and I didn't want to just treat him as the bane of online media criticism or the worst thing to ever happen. The dude has his faults but can acknowledge them better than most online personalities I've seen who feel it's weak to admit anything. He's no different from the Nostalgia Critic where the tumultuous attitudes toward them in the past have subsided where yeah, I'm not gonna side with every bad opinion or choice they make but they aren't actively killing any goodwill I would have for them. It's not pity, but making your empathy less black and white compared to people more deserving of scrutiny. Overall I still have hopes Mr. Enter will do better, imperfect as things can get.

Conclusion

I wanna say this post and the former three I made reflected the increased awareness and discourse of the parasocial relationships we can have, especially online. There have been plenty of people that certainly abused their status and paid for it, these three stayed in the mind for how consistently they tracked in soiling their reputation. At the same time, how wary we are about things or the people we followed isn't always cut and dry. That's why the title has the question mark in parentheses, nothing ever ends so I'm not saying these current feelings will just be buried away and forgotten forever. I just know that for this current future, it's better to seriously lay things to rest while subconsciously keeping in mind what can be done differently from now on. To conclude, this is all better than having to care about people like Andrew Tate or Elon Musk living another day.

#mysterious mr enter #mr enter #Butch Hartman #lily orchard #media #Youtube #sorry for the rant 'n bant

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fahrni · 2 months ago

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Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

I made it back home yesterday after a delayed flight and an unplanned overnight stay in Dallas and I’m happy to be here. I was able to kiss my amazing wife and sleep in my own bed. It’s amazing how uncomfortable someone else’s bed can be, especially as I’ve g in otten older. 😀

I hope you enjoy these hand picked, artisanal, links. 😃

Geoff Perlman • Xojo Blog

On November 12th Thomas Kurtz, the co-inventor (along with John Kemeny who passed in 1992) of the BASIC programming language died at the age of 96.

BASIC was the first language I learned and I’d say I owe my career to it.

RIP Mr. Kurtz. 🪦

Dan Milmo • The Guardian

In a post on X on Thursday, the author of The Shining and Shawshank Redemption wrote: “I’m leaving Twitter. Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic.” Referring to the rival platform launched by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, he added: “Follow me on Threads, if you like.”

I’m glad he finally made it somewhere else! Now all he needs to do is turn on Mastodon support for his Threads account so I can interact with him from the Fediverse. 😃

Federico Viticci • MacStories

Today marks the return of a very MacStories-y feature in one of my longtime favorite apps, which – thanks to this new functionality – is gaining a permanent spot on my Home Screen. Namely, the RSS client Unread now lets you create custom article actions powered by the Shortcuts app.

Unread is just killing it! John is on a tear adding new features and fixing bugs.

Manton Reece

I’m @manton on most networks, @manton.org on Bluesky, and @[email protected] on the fediverse. These are all managed by Micro.blog.

Yep. You can run everything through Micro.blog if you’d like to see Mastodon and Bluesky accounts natively. Oh, yeah, and there’s that whole blogging thing you get with it. 😃

Jason McFadden

Well, for some reason, last week I got the notion to re-try my RSS reader. Let me tell you, it was insta-awesome! It feels SO GOOD to be back on RSS. It lets me just read articles from the web — crazy, I know. RSS makes websites legible, stripping out all the distracting garbage.

I think RSS is pretty swell myself. I’m so fond of it I built my own feed reader.

Tom Bowman, Juana Summers, Scott Detrow, Greg Dixon, and Charles Maynes • NPR

Ukraine is granted permission from the Biden administration to fire U.S.-made long range missiles into Russian territory.

I’m happy we’ve done this. Poor Ukraine is going to need every tactical advantage it can get NOW. Pretty soon the Orange Turd will takeover and Ukraine is gonna be in trouble.

Tim Hardwick • MacRumors

Apple is facing an almost £3 billion ($3.78 billion) lawsuit after British consumer group Which? on Thursday alleged that the company breached competition law by locking millions of its customers out of its iCloud service and charging them “rip-off prices.”

I have a lot of thoughts around this and it would be nice to see Apple open the users choice of storage up in a way that makes it transparent to the user. We’ll see what terrible solution they come up with to make it so unattractive to the user no one will choose to use it.

The Guardian

The 40-year-old Minnesota native, who retired in 2019 citing the physical toll from a series of major injuries over the course of her 18-year career, told the New York Times that she had “retired with no intention of coming back”, but was startled to discover that she was pain-free after undergoing a partial right-knee replacement surgery in April.

Having a knee replacement was a freeing experience. Free from pain and free to move about without thinking about where I’m putting my foot. But, I cannot imagine putting on skis and going down a hill at breakneck speeds.

Pro athletes have a different gear than us normals.

Good luck Lindsey! 🍀

Emily Liu

On Bluesky, you can set your website as your username. This is one form of verification on Bluesky, and it’s our version of a “blue check.” We highly recommend that official organizations and high-profile individuals do this.

I thought I’d drop a link in here for this older post since Bluesky will let you set your own domain name. Mine is set to @fahrni.me. I love it!

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gatekeeper-watchman · 1 year ago

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Daily Devotionals for July 23, 2023

Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Daily Living

Devotional Scripture:

Proverbs 21:11-12 (KJV): 11 When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge. 12 The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness. Proverbs 21:11-12 (AMP): 11 When the scoffer is punished, the fool gets a lesson in being wise; but men of wisdom and good sense learn by being instructed. 12 The (uncompromisingly) righteous man considers well the house of the wicked, how the wicked are cast down to ruin.

Thought for the Day

Verse 11 - These verses show us that there are two ways to gain instruction in life. We can learn by hearing and obeying, or we can learn by trial and error. When those without instruction see a scorner punished, they understand that there is a price to pay for doing wrong. If the scorner has any sense, he will learn that evil does not pay. The wise person, however, does not have to learn things the hard way. Because he seeks instruction, he will not do the things that bring needless evil upon himself. Therefore, he will not suffer any ill effects because he will not do the things that cause them. The law of "cause and effect," (or what the Bible calls the law of "sowing and reaping") brings evil or good into lives depending on what we sow.

God is often blamed for things that He did not cause. He has set limits and boundaries; and when we violate them, we cause problems for ourselves. God does not bring those problems upon us. We bring them upon ourselves. For instance, if we are speeding down the road in our car, and we get pulled over by a policeman, it would be stupid to blame the car or the policeman for our ticket. It is our fault. We can avoid much of the pain we suffer in this world by simply obeying Him.

Some people declare they learned a lot through their tragic experiences. In many cases, however, the same lessons could have been learned by studying and obeying God's Word. For example, I do not have to learn the truth that "the way of transgressors is hard" (Proverb 13:15) by committing some evil and suffering for it. I can simply believe that what the Bible says is the truth, and commit no transgression. The Lord loves us and His commandments were given for our protection.

Verse 12 - The wicked are destroyed by reaping what they have sown (Psalm 9:16 AMP). They may live many years before they are brought to ruin, and many foolish observers may be tempted to think it pays to follow in their ways. The righteous, however, wisely observe the wicked man's actions and know that eventually, God will judge him. His ruin, when it comes, will not be worth all his years of ease and luxury. The Lord advises us to follow Him in willing obedience; not like a mule that must have a bit and bridle in its mouth to guide it. "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about" (Psalm 32:8-10).

Prayer Devotional for the Day

Dear heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You that You do hear and answer our prayers. Lord, help us stay on the straight and narrow path so that we do not go down the wrong roads and have to learn the hard way. Lord, we know that when we diligently seek You, You will answer us and save us from many pitfalls. Help us to avoid the things that will cause us pain and trouble in the future. We want to hear Your voice so that we may make wise decisions and avert many of the traps and tribulations that the enemy wants to use to destroy us. Keep us from evil, and help us to trust You. Please give us the strength to obey You in all things. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. From: Steven P. Miller, @ParkermillerQ, Founder of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Groups @GatekeeperWatchman.Org Sunday, July 23, 2023, Jacksonville, Florida., Duval County, USA. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sparkermiller.JAX.FL.USA, https://www.facebook.com/StevenParkerMillerQ Instagram: steven_parker_miller_1956, Twitter: @GatekeeperWatchman1, @ParkermillerQ, https://twitter.com/StevenPMiller6 Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/gatekeeperwatchman, https://www.tumblr.com/gatekeeper-watchman,

@gatekeeper-watchman https://www.pinterest.com/GatekeeperWatchman1/ #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO, #Ephraim1, #IAM, #Sparkermiller, #Eldermiller1981

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1viewtask · 2 years ago

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The Importance of a User-Friendly Platform: The 1ViewTask Experience

In today’s corporate world, using a user-friendly platform has become a necessity. There are so many tools that are available in the marketplace but talking about the best one, 1ViewTask is the one. All tools are based on artificial intelligence and offer multiple amazing features. But there is something special about 1ViewTask that I will disclose in this blog.

I am a professional content writer, working for three years. I usually work on multiple writing projects and the workload is huge most of the time. Earlier, managing tasks was not an easy thing for me, I was always stressed or used to having trouble fulfilling deadlines. Then a few months back I came across a tool, known as 1ViewTask. I used it for personal purposes and the sign-up was free. I was given a free demo by the team of the software.

Read More: The Importance of Coordination in Teamwork: Tips for Effective Task Execution

Then I began working and I understood how to create tasks. Task creation is quite easy and the software offers a lot of add-ins. A user can create a quick task and detailed task. I use quick task creation most of the time and I use detailed tasks when I have to involve my client in the portal too. I get to choose priority, compliance type, activity type, company information, recurrence pattern, and many more options from detailed tasks. I also attach the required documents alongside so that my record is safe within the tool.

Being an admin, I get the feature of adding my client to the portal to help them see the progress of the project. I provide limited guest user access to my client which allows them to peep into my work and they can suggest changes to me wherever required. If huge companies use this tool, I am sure they are going to benefit a lot from it because the features are amazing.

Another feature that I admired about this tool is of maker-checker concept. Whilst I create my tasks, there is an option of assignee and reviewer. As per the concept, the assignee is the person who is supposed to work on the task, so I keep myself as the assignee. The reviewer is the person who is responsible for double-checking and approving the completed task, I usually keep my clients as the reviewer. This feature makes things easier for me and the clients too and it has helped me gain better exposure in working as a content writer.

I get to view my dashboard, which is quite vast as it has three different kinds of views and lots of filter options. Using the dashboard, I am able to view my overall productivity and the working hours that I devoted to completing a task. also, whilst I am completing a task, I turn the time tracker on which enables unlimited screenshots and provides proof of what work has been done throughout the time. As per my knowledge, the finance industry will be flattered if they get to know about this tool.

There are daily tasks on my plate so I assign tasks beforehand, 1ViewTask sends me a notification via email every day reminding me of my tasks for the day and I am able to fulfill my deadlines on time. This software has helped me in organizing my work routine and I have become better with time management too. There are so many features that people can explore, and for that, they must sign up for free. I am sure you will love this tool, the features are quite fascinating.

For more information, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Quora

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plutoswrath · 2 years ago

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ａｓｔｒｏｎｏｔｅｓａｎｄｏｂｓｅｒｖａｔｉｏｎｓｐｔ. ６

╭──────────.★..─╮ -> my other astro notes ╰─..★.──────────╯

🐇 Pluto in the first house individuals might learn that they need to redefine a role people have put on them; a role they were made to believe they are or were forced to put on through lies and manipulation -> redefining the self can play a big role or actively shedding a negative self image or a self image that was build on negative coping mechanisms.

🐇 People who have control over your life or just generally influence your behavior a lot, even if they don’t verbally direct you or comment on your choices can have prominent MC, Mercury, Saturn, Pluto and Moon to MC Synastry with you.

🐇 Another indicator for this influence can be prominent 8th, 10th, 7th, 2nd and 12th house overlays. Here, it can be a lot about expectations, working together, shared and projected feelings, as well as vulnerability of feelings and ego that come forward.

🐇 Jupiter can be the planet of cults and sects, prominent Jupiter influence is very strong in most cult leaders birth charts. Obviously there is a lot more that can influence the strategies and approaches of cult leaders, but it does take a very convincing ‘philosophy’ or ‘spiritual approach’ to sell others in order to make them part of your following

🐇 Furthermore: lots of cult leaders happen to have the generational planets in close aspects (often conjunctions) with personal planets or Saturn/Jupiter. There is definitely a pattern of being able to move masses/groups by being in contact with collective energies even if it’s out of malice and pure evil.

🐇 Last note on cult leaders: there’s also a pattern with having strong air influence (sign or degree) or having planets in the 3rd, 7th, 11th or 1st house! Even if there’s an abundance of earth and water signs, they are connected by having them sitting in houses of social interaction/connection or in degrees of air signs/sagittarius. Also, stellium, especially Leo, but in general leo influence or 12th house/Pisces influence are another pattern amongst (very known) cult leaders. I feel like the aspects of selling a group a collective dream comes with having to perform creatively and be very overt in one’s self expression as well.

🐇 Long time ago, I’ve read on astro Twitter (I don’t know who tweeted it but if anyone has read something similar lmk to give credit!) that the 12th house is showing us how we get in trouble. As the 12th house is our subconscious it makes sense, by acting out on our subconscious and others calling us out we actually gain self awareness.

For example: Virgo 1st house, Leo in the 12th: getting in trouble for hidden selfish motives, wanting more creative freedom, wanting self expression, wanting attention/an audience - Scorpio in the 1st, Libra in the 12th, wanting to be included, wanting to be treated gently and kind, wanted to be treated with extreme sensitivity, putting all their baskets into interpersonal close connections

🐇 With planets in the 1st house, you should look at the degree for a better understanding of why and how you embody the 1st house planet, same goes for the Ascendant too

🐇 Actually, the degree of a placement can show you how you how to approach it, it can help you adding an even more nuanced layer to the way you can best/most healthiest embody said placement, likewise it can help you in reflect the way why you live out your placement in a certain way.

For example: Aries degrees (1, 13, 25) can be the ones to either have troubles holding immediate reactions in OR have a tendency to seemingly explode in self expression when they decide to open up, can also make you very loud/your presence is strong, you radiate a lot of vitality and energy. Aquarius degrees (11, 23) can have a very in and out approach to themselves, people and situations, they strike with the ideas, words and performances they choose to present to the public and the morals they integrate into their life approach; they can actually be very conscious with their self expression because they observe and analyze a lot and are extremely group conscious, even if they can have random impulses they (want to) act out on. Come across as in their own world and/or extremely socially aware. Virgo Degrees (6, 18) can have the feeling that there are constantly in preparation mode, even if they don’t physically act out on it, in their mind they already started thinking and planing, they can feel like they have to immediately be able to adjust and be flexible to changes and crisis in their life

🐇 intercepted 1st/12th house intercepted can point to bad body awareness

🐇 12th house ruler in the 10th: your unseen flaws can be on obvious display for others or even show when you try to put yourself out there

🐇 Virgo moon and pickiness, an unbeatable duo, especially if taurus is in the mix too 💗

🐇 The fixed signs in the birth chart show where it’s hard to move on and where you stand your ground no matter what

🐇 Saturn in earth signs and not allowing other to help you <‘3 They really want to do it on their own, same can be said for Saturn in Aries, they really want to prove it to others because self worth and autonomy was often time taken from them .

🐇 Moon square Ascendant natally could've manifested as a mother that was often criticzing and moderating your behavior, possibly even appereance, it could've make the individual hyper conscious of their immediate reactions and natural self, which can in itself lead to hyper analyzing and self-moderating yourself

🐇 Libra Mars have the unique ability to create a Venusian atmosphere in the way they initiate and handle conflict

🐇 Both Taurus and Libra Mars can be very fixed on the atmosphere/'vibe', doesn't matter if they are alone or with others. They can feel quickly (physically) irritated if there is a lack of venusian qualities in their surroundings and become kinda jittery then

🐇 Virgo’s unhealthy relationship with self improvement can be caused by the desire for things to just flow better by becoming more efficient, which is granted to Mercury energy, since Mercury is the messenger of information

🐇 an intercepted Sun can potentially decrease the vitality and energy of a person, they can feel exhausted pretty quickly compared to other

🐇 Intercepted Sun could've also experienced that their father wanted to sell them their lost dreams as Sun natives ego and sefl they have to establish. Similar things can play out when Sun is aspected by Neptune.

🐇 Moon in 2nd, Taurus Moon 🤝. Scorpio moon = being fuckin greedy (Scorpio moon can be that way because there was a big lack of when growing up and now they want to make up for it, taurus moon can be that because of sheer overindulgence, they often want to accumulate more and more due to the emotional satisfaction and feeling of safety it can give them. Material goods = emotional safety)

🐇 Pisces/Neptune in the 6th house can use daydreaming or dreaming in general as their own personal mental hygiene. It’s the way they relax their mind and body, and clean any inner stress.

🐇 5th house overlays in synastry can point to either copying the other’s style or at least getting inspiration from it

🐇 Virgo Risings have control issues because of their Scorpio 3rd house: they want to read and understand their surroundings profoundly, but one thing they have to realize is that the unknown is there for a reason. It's actually pretty healthy to not be able to tap into every form of darkness, the unknown shouldn't scare but excite them (looking at neighboring sign Sagittarius)

🐇 but also Scorpio in the 3rd is why Virgo Risings often are the 'I told you so' friends lmao

🐇 Phantom pain can be caused by Pisces/Neptune in the 6th, South Node in the 6th/1st or if Mars comes in contact with these placements. Having Mars in one of the rulers of these houses while contacting Neptune/South Node can create phantom pain as well

🐇 The 12th house in composite can show how you like to spend your private time and how to make your 1 on 1 time sacred. Strong 12th house influence in composite can pint to the couple valuing privacy and their shared time alone a lot!

credit: plutowrath, 2022.

・・・・☆・・・・・・・・☆・・・・・・・・☆・・・・・☆・

#if this looks strange on computer it’s because I formatted it for the mobile version upsi #astrology #zodiac #astro notes #astrology notes #astrology observations #astro observations #astro community #astrology community #spirituality #Ascendant #Virgo rising #libra mars #composite chart #synastry #12th house #12th house in composite #12th house synastry #neptune in the 6th

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nojey · 4 years ago

Text

finally

feral boys x streamer!reader (separate)

genre: fluff, crack

warning(s): none

synopsis: the feral boys finally meet their favorite streamers

dreamwastaken / clay

word count: 407

the day you met dream, you were on the phone with your best friend george, also known as georgenotfound

he was speedrunning on stream while you were on a discord call with him

his viewers knew who you were, not only because you were george’s best friend but also because you were a streamer too

you weren’t a big one but well known for how well you play battle box in mcc

george was about to end his stream after an unsuccessful speed run when he asked you something

“you know dream right?”

“yeah, of course, he’s one of your other best friends” you answered

“are you okay with me adding him to the call?” he asked you.

“uh sure, but aren’t you gonna end stream?”

“no, i will after this.” he giggled

“why? are you trying to embarrass one of us?” you asked him suspiciously.

“you don’t have to worry about that.”

you heard a ding from discord, indicating that someone joined your voice chat

“hello? dream?” george asked.

“george. why? why are you doing this to me?” dream asked.

“hi dream,” you smiled.

“uh, hi. hi (y/n).”

“george why did you add me to the call?” he asked george.

“well, i know how much you like watching their stream. and considering you’re both my best friends, why not introduce you! perfect right? anyways. i’m gonna end my stream now. let’s raid karl. and you two can talk to each other. bye now!” he left the call so now it was just you and dream in the vc

it really warmed your heart that someone with such a big platform liked watching your streams since it had been quite hard to gain a following since you started streaming

“hi dream,” you said once again

he sighed. “hi (y/n).” “i really didn’t want him to do that, i didn’t want this to be the first time we meet, you know. i just love watching your streams so much and i wanted it to, honestly, be in person. but you know, george does what he thinks he shou-”

“it’s okay dream, i’ve actually been looking forward to meeting you, considering you’re also one of george’s best friends. but i do agree, he does tend to do whatever he puts his mind to.”

after you calmed his nerves, his conversation skills skyrocketed and the conversations flowed very easily

you guys spent the rest of the night talking

georgenotfound / george

word count: 326

being a minecraft streamer and a hypebeast got you some recognition

you were a hypebeast model on instagram and when you had announced you started streaming minecraft on twitch you had grown pretty easily

it didn’t take you time before you were invited to join mcc

not just because you had a big following but because you were actually really good at playing

since you didn’t really know any other mc streamers you got placed in a group with people you had never met

their names were Ph1lzA, WilburSoot, and GeorgeNotFound

the first time you talked to them, they welcomed you with open arms and we so nice

“hi (y/s/n)! i’m philza but you can just call me phil,” he introduced.

“hi phil!” you responded.

“i’m wilbur, is this gonna be your first mcc?” wilbur asked.

“yeah, it is. i’m actually really nervous.” you laughed a bit, to get the nerves out.

“ah okay, well no worries. we were all beginners before. don’t worry about trying to score high, just have fun!” phil assured.

“we’re just waiting for one other person and we’ll get started on the practice.” phil continued.

“okie dokie,” you said. you put yourself on mute and wiped the sweat off your hands on your pants.

“hello, hello, sorry i’m late. had trouble starting the server.” you heard.

“well nice of you to join us george.” wilbur said.

“yeah, yeah. hi philza, hi wilbur, hi (y/s/n)- wait, (y/s/n)??” he stuttered

“hi george?,” you said softly.

“oh my god, i’ve watched your streams before, they’re really cool. i enjoy watching them.” he rambled.

you giggled

“well thank you,” you said, still giggling a little.

for the rest of the day you all practiced, everyone giving you pointers, but george watching carefully to make sure you understood the pointers you were getting

and if you didn’t then he knew to tell you which part you were kind of misunderstanding

sapnap

word count: 398

you met sapnap long before you became a streamer

you were a big fan of sapnap

and one day you ran into him in public

it was a short interaction but it really meant a lot to you

so you asked for a picture to remember the moment by

after you took the picture you said your goodbyes and you were extremely excited

a few weeks after than interaction you had made the decision to start streaming

you were thinking about becoming one for a long time and after meeting sapnap you made your decision

because you wanted to be the type of person sapnap was to you

and be a person someone looked up to and meet people that felt the way about you that you feel about sapnap

you’d been a streamer for a few months when you got a raid from sapnap himself

his viewers were suggesting he raided you so he did

you freaked out, you gained a small following and the fact that sapnap decided to raid you? amazed

but what you didn’t know was that he kept watching you

after he saw how appreciative you were he wanted to watch more and he got intrigued

so he followed you and started watching your streams almost every time you streamed whenever he wasn’t busy

after about 2 years of streaming you got a very big following

your supporters were stalking your twitter and found the picture of you and sapnap when you both met

they then began to repost it on twitter tagging the both of you

you saw it and replied, “LMAO i look so small. but big shoutout to sapnap for raiding me as a small streamer and making all this possible <3″

he saw your reply and his eyes went big

HE MET YOU BEFORE!??

he then proceeded to respond to your tweet, “we’ve met before??”

and it went back and forward

“yeah, it was before i was a streamer, we met at like.. the grocery store lol”

“i literally had no idea you were a fan of me”

“yup, i’ve been for the past 3 years”

“dude after i raided you i started watching your streams and you became my favorite streamer”

“well,, you’re still my favorite streamer ;)”

after that sapnap dmd you asking if you guys could meet in person again

and who could pass up that offer

karl jacobs

word count: 510

you and karl met at twitchcon

you had recently become a big streamer and this was your 2nd time going to twitchcon

1st time having a meet and greet

meeting your supporters meant so much to you

you finally get to give each of them a hug, and it may not be all of them but seeing this many people come out to meet you meant more than anyone could imagine

but being at twitchcon also meant you could meet your streamer friends

which made everything 10x more exciting

you decided to meet up with your friend, valkyrae and you guys were going to a creator party

when you finally got to see her you gave her a huge hug that lasted a while because it was the first time you were meeting in person

once you both reached the venue of where the party was being held you all met up with your other friends. you hadn’t met any of them in person but rae had

you saw sykkuno, lily, michael, toast, and a few other people and smiled really big, excited to see all of them

you finally got to them and pulled them into a group hug

“you guys!! oh my god it feels so good to finally meet all of you!” you said.

“it’s nice to meet you in person, (y/n).” sykkuno said smiling at you

you let go of the hug and remembered everyone else that they were with

“hi! i’m (y/s/n) but you can just call me (y/n),” you said with a smile.

“this is karl, poki, and scarra.” toast introduced.

you saw karl and poki whispering to each other while you got into a conversation with everyone else.

poki coughed and said, “hey guys! don’t we have to go to that thing, right? that thing.” hinting at something, looking between you and karl.

you’re pretty sure everyone caught on and they all agreed.

“oh yeah! that thing!”

“yeah, we should probably go!”

“yup, don’t wanna be late to that thing.”

you looked at them with an unimpressed look as they walked away, looking behind their shoulders to see you and karl standing there.

“hi, i’m-i’m karl, i’m sorry about that. i just told poki that you’re like literally my favorite streamer and i guess she wanted us to talk more? i don’t know, but it’s really nice to meet you.” karl said.

you laughed as you quickly understood your friends weird behavior

“yeah, you raided me a few times- thank you for that by the way. it helped me a lot in growing my fanbase and i don’t think i’d be where i am if you hadn’t raided me.” you smiled at him. he beamed and smiled back at you.

“yeah, no, it was no problem. like i said you’re literally my favorite streamer and being able to help you with that is absolutely insane to me.”

for the rest of the party, your friends could see both of you talking the night away

and maybe even dance together

quackity

word count: 428

finding out what to do for stream was kinda hard when pretty much all your friends were busy

but then you got a text from karl, asking if you wanted to play jackbox with him and a few friends

you accepted, knowing you wouldn’t have anything else to stream

in the lobby it would be you, karl, dream, sapnap and a few other people you didn’t know

when it was finally time to play, you started up your stream and introduced what you’d be playing that night

“hey guys, welcome welcome, welcome. today i’m gonna be playing jackbox with karl, dream, sapnap, and a few other of karls friends.”

you joined the vc and immediately heard a lot of boys talking very loudly

you let out a small, “hello?”

somehow everyone heard you and stopped talking

“(y/n)!” karl yelled out.

dream and sapnap let out a “hi, (y/n)” and you said hello back.

“hi everyone, i’m (y/s/n) but you all can call me (y/n)” you introduced yourself.

eveyrone else said hi and introduced themselves

you found out you were playing with quackity, wilbur, tommy, and techno too

during mad verse city karl was going against quackity and his rap went something like this

“you talk so weird, i’m gonna need translator, next time (y/n)’s here they’re gonna be a hater, because your big crush on them i’ll see ya later”

your mouth was wide open while all the boys started teasing quackity

“what the fuck! i don’t have a crush on them!”

quackity ended up losing that one.

after the game and you ended you stream you asked quackity to stay

“hi quackity,” you said, with an energetic voice

“... hey, (y/n)”

“sooo, was what karl said true?” you asked.

“mm not necessarily. it’s not that i have a crush on you. you’re.. just my favorite streamer and you know. this is the first time i’m meeting you and i was telling all of them that i’m nervous because i’ve never talked to you before and i think you’re a great streamer and that you put out really funny content and i didn’t wanna embarrass myself but. karl did that for me.” he rambled

you giggled

“i think that’s really cute. thank you for supporting me. you can dm me on twitter or discord if you ever wanna play sometime.” you told him and left the vc.

you then saw all the boys you were playing with pile into the vc and you could only imagine what they were talking about.

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coochiequeens · 4 years ago

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Saturday, June 26 saw the third London Trans Pride march for ‘BIPOC trans people, trans women, trans sex workers and trans kids’ (sorry transmen, they forgot you again!), and here’s some of the #bekind signage from it.

There is speculation on social media that these calls for murder were made by 51-year-old Sarah Jane Baker, as someone who looks like Baker is holding one of the signs, they’re in Baker’s style and they even use Baker’s slogans.

Baker, who wants to become Britain’s first transgender MP, was once jailed for armed robbery, and kidnapping and torturing a family member. While in jail, he tried to murder a fellow prisoner and began identifying as a woman. He ended up serving 30 years until his recent release.

Baker has since written a book which is essentially a guide for gaining privileges as a man in jail, by saying you’re a woman.

As with Aimee Challenor and Morgan Page, Baker is no outlier. Here he is with Monroe Bergdorf.

Also: Baker was an actual speaker at the march, giving an inspiring message to young women that even if they lose the ability to orgasm by taking testosterone, it doesn’t matter because “you spend hours on foreplay and that shit is good too”. Nice piece of advice there from a middle-aged ex-convict to young women.

As Rachel Rooney put it on Twitter: “I've been going to Pride on & off since the mid 80's & I don't recall any of the top speakers there having a history of kidnap, torture & attempted murder… Maybe I just didn't look hard enough.”

You might be asking yourself: if a person has a history of extreme violence, and he’s possibly issuing death threats against a woman amid calls for criminal activity, is that not a police matter? Why haven’t they intervened? Is it because they’re too busy arresting women for posting pictures of Suffragette ribbons?

Perhaps the answer can be found in this video by a Metropolitan Police officer at London Trans Pride who made a statement to attendees saying: "If you need anything, give us a call on 101 or 999", which the Met LGBT+ Network thought was an appropriate message to publish.

On the same day, at Paris Pride, men who identify as women physically attacked lesbians because they were defending their sex-based rights.

And in Spain, Feminist @LauraStrego was violently attacked by a trans activist while participating in a peaceful demonstration on women's rights.

So confident are these violent misogynistic men about their sacred status, one even went on Spanish television with a T-shirt saying ‘KILL THE TERF’.

This brings us back to where we began, with JK Rowling, who you may remember wrote the following words in her moving essay, which is so dangerous that trans rights activists spent a lot of man-hours telling people not to read it.

“We’re living through the most misogynistic period I’ve experienced. Back in the 80s, I imagined that my future daughters, should I have any, would have it far better than I ever did, but between the backlash against feminism and a porn-saturated online culture, I believe things have got significantly worse for girls. Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now. From the leader of the free world’s long history of sexual assault accusations and his proud boast of ‘grabbing them by the pussy’, to the incel (‘involuntarily celibate’) movement that rages against women who won’t give them sex, to the trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble. Everywhere, women are being told to shut up and sit down, or else.”

#UK #Graham Linehan #I stand with JK Rowling #Sarah Jane Baker is a man #Sarah Jane Baker is committed violent crime #Monroe Bergdorf #Pride speakers with a criminal history #Spanish feminist attacked at Pride #Laura Strego

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spinninwiththestars · 3 years ago

Photo

Hello everyone, much like most of the LGBT community around the world, I’ve devoured the beautiful show HEARTSTOPPER. I’ve at least cried one a day since watching the first time and I feel like I need to vent them all out and I hope you enjoy reading.

Both Kit Connor AND Joe Locke’s outstanding performances in these eight hours of perfect television. Wow. Not only did they standout on individual fronts:

Kit’s accurate portrayal of a teenager coming to understand his sexuality, to his gentle and loving portrayal of healthy masculinity. Not only did he make a beautiful character even more beautiful, he made an icon.

Joe’s vulnerable portrayal of a boy who is unashamed of his sexuality but doesn’t wish any animosity or pain on Nick who was still figuring out his feelings and sexuality. His also quiet but powerful portrayal of a boy who has an eating disorder (which will be explored in the inevitable second season) and his painful exposure to homophobia, gaslighting and bullying.

BUT TOGETHER ON-SCREEN, wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a couple be portrayed so authentically and beautifully. To hear stories that they got along so well and would often playfully fight with each other/kit threaten to drop joe into the ocean/off his lap, it just makes the relationship as rich as what Alice Oseman intended. It was just such a natural and loving relationship and I can’t wait to see them grow with their characters.

And the supporting cast - amazing! I have to list them all - William Gao (Tao), Yasmin Finney (Elle), Corinna Brown (Tara), Kizzy Edgell (Darcy), Fisayo Akinade (Mr. Ajayi), Cormac Hyde-Corrin (Harry), Jenny Walser (Tori), Sebastian Croft (Ben), Rhea Norwood (Imogen), Tobie Donovan (Isaac) and the incomparable Olivia Colman as Nick’s darling mum, Sarah. They ALL and I MEAN ALL OF THEM shine in their own ways.

HEARTSTOPPER is a welcome and loving addition to the world. Netflix would be absolutely insane and idiotic if they dared cancelled this show. It’s a gnawing thought that’s been on my mind since I watched this show (especially with Netflix’s recent troubles) and to those with similar thoughts, let me try and make you feel better:

The show debuted to 14.55 million hours after three days. In comparison, Young Royals debuted to roughly ~9 million hours and it got a second season renewal.

The cast and Alice Oseman are gaining a lot more traction. Kit Connor almost now has 2 million Instagram followers, Joe Locke almost has 1.5 million. Alice Oseman’s follower count has risen as well. The official Heartstopper Instagram account is also nearing 1 million followers. As of April 30, it is currently ranked No.5 on the Global Netflix TV Show list, and it is in the top 10 of roughly 50 countries around the world.

The show has been trending across Tumblr, TikTok and Twitter the past week.

Netflix has been swooning and raving about the show across their social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If it’s just a marketing ploy and then they cancel it BOY will Netflix face an uproar. And with Netflix needing a win, HEARTSTOPPER has essentially given it to them.

It sits highly with critics and audiences. It holds 100% Certified Fresh, 98% Audience on Rotten Tomatoes, it sits at 9.0/10 and at #83 on the Top 250 Shows on IMDb and holds Universal Acclaim status on Metacritic.

I have to remind myself constantly right now that HEARTSTOPPER is only just beginning there are no logical signs that this show is going anywhere yet and I hope people will continue to discover the show and fall in love with it. Regardless of whether you’re LGBTQ+ or straight there is much to love and admire here. It’s funny, it’s cute and it is unafraid of exploring darker themes in a healthy and authentic way. Don’t sleep on it, take it all in, read all the graphic novels and then take the show all in again.

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potteresque-ire · 4 years ago

Note

Concerning the incredibly far and deep reach of CCP’s propaganda, the narratives the government can spin and call the truth; does ‘the common normal populace’ actually know what’s really going on?

Hello everyone!!! Happy Chinese New Year!!

I’m grouping these asks because if I hear them correctly, they’re all related to this question: how much do people in China know about the atrocities committed by their government, and why don’t they do something about it?

It’s a difficult question, isn’t it? A potentially upsetting one too, just to think about. My answers are more opinion-based, more personal this time. Since there’re no polls about what people know, they have to be based a little more on my own impression, which has more chances of error. Please bear with me and proceed with caution ...

As with people in most countries, what people know is hugely dependent on individuals. Specifically, re: politics, I can think of at least three reasons why people don’t have the facts

1) they have limited access to information 2) they’re being lied to about what they know 3) they’re not interested in current affairs.

1), of course, is what most people think about when it comes to China. You’re right, Anon(s), that VPN use is indeed rampant in the country and is essentially an open secret; there’re no official numbers but surveys have estimated the number of users can be up to 100 million, most of them being youngsters. They use it to do exactly what most of us would imagine: gain access to things they don’t have otherwise. Instagram has been (sporadically?) blocked since 2014 September and so while users may have set up their accounts while being overseas, it’s indeed, (very) possible, that they’ve set up and maintained their account under VPN use.

Wait, you may ask, so you mean the Great Firewall of China doesn’t exist?

That’s exactly the official stance. Not because of private VPN use, but because individuals/companies can apply for a license via their telecommunications company to visit all internet sites. Hence, the government’s claim that the Great Firewall doesn’t exist—you’ll be let through as long as you ask (and we’ll watch your every step)! There are also no explicit laws prohibiting the use of private VPNs; only a handful of arrests associated with private VPN use have been made and only since 2019, and the punishment is considered light—no imprisonment, just fines. It is, in contrast, against the law to *provide* private VPN services, and while companies have been shut down, the crackdown has still been incredibly sluggish by Chinese government’s standards, especially when the Xi regime has made its intention of banning VPN known and directives have been issued for that in 2017.

Why has VPN continued to enjoy this “grey existence”? Because without VPN, a lot of foreign businesses would leave—some, for example, require the most efficient online tools developed outside China to track the foreign markets, and talents have rejected job offers in the country when they realised they couldn’t get on their favourite social media. The science and tech sectors also rely heavily on VPN—programmers relying on Google to search stackoverflow, for example, to find known solutions to bugs.

VPNs have also served political purposes—Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-critical communities all over the world are all painfully aware of the Chinese government’s practice of hiring its own collection of internet commentators (”50 Cent Party”), and at times, mobilising their youths (gamers, fan circles) to scale the Firewall and astroturf, throw insults at the “CCP enemies” and bomb message boards with pro-CCP messages.

Also, a significant fraction of VPN companies, both in China and overseas, have been reported to have Chinese ownership, by companies with government connections. These VPN services provide a false sense of security for those who do not enjoy having big brother peeking behind their backs while acting as surveillance tools that extend beyond the country.

(Please be careful about free VPNs).

The next question: If until now, users of private VPNs only rarely get into trouble, what’s holding them from scaling the Great Firewall and learning the facts?

It is this: the law isn’t about “climbing the wall”, but what one does outside the wall.

Article 6 of the 2016 edition of Cybersecurity law states the following:

第六条　国家倡导诚实守信、健康文明的网络行为，推动传播社会主义核心价值观，采取措施提高全社会的网络安全意识和水平，形成全社会共同参与促进网络安全的良好环境

Article 6: The State advocates sincere, honest, healthy and civilized network conduct; promoting dissemination of the core socialist values, adopting measures to raise the entire society's awareness and level of network security, and forming a good environment for the entire society to jointly participate in advancing network security.

What this article implies is this ~ legally, Chinese citizens are bound to the Chinese government’s rules of good internet conduct, regardless of whether they use VPN to get on the internet. As with many Chinese laws, however, the vagueness in wording invites more questions than answers. Is it getting on Twitter, a banned website, “sincere, honest, healthy and civilized network conduct”? Obviously, it’s illegal to interact with other users about the Xinjiang’s internment camps, but what if one only goes there to talk about their favourite stars, because on Weibo supertopic they can’t even mention the stars’ name, can’t ahkgkhagjkfaskjgdf about their favourite fics? What if one goes there to discuss a M- or E-rated fic? Where is the line drawn and given its vagueness, will that line move tomorrow? How?

Most people, therefore, have opted to simply stay away from VPN. After all, China offers its own version of many of the fun websites out there (Weibo-Twitter; Instagram-Oasis; Tiktok-Douyin; Youtube-Bilibili). For those who do use VPN, they tend to stick to websites that are unlikely to cause issues (such as Instagram; Instagram became an issue when Hong Kongers started to upload information about the protests on there).

Now, let’s proceed to 2): People don’t know the facts because they’re being lied to about what they know.

There’s a difference between having access to facts and knowing that they’re facts. This is among the most painful lessons, perhaps, for those who followed the politics of the United States in the last few years (please forgive me for the US-centric-ness of the following few paragraphs!). Even with equal access to identical information, people can vary a LOT in their understanding of what are facts and what are lies.

This illustrates the power of propaganda—and propaganda in the US isn’t even centralised. Some media outlets and individuals (political leaders and analysts) have more say on what should be viewed as the truth, but parties without significant power—small foreign and domestic interests, fringe political organisations, conspiracy theorists, regular folks—have also made critical contributions to the “fake news” phenomenon in the US. There haven’t been apparent coordinations between these parties; little concerted effort has been made to create one coherent story out of the many tales told.

In China, the propaganda effort is centralised, coordinated, free of distractions from competing story lines. The One Story the government decides on is repeated, over and over again, on newspapers, in shows, in textbooks, on signs on the streets, on social media. To put it another way, when it comes to political discourse, the country is designed to be an echo chamber with 1.4 billion people. Over time, the One Stories inevitably become firmly held beliefs—so firmly held that even if the people are exposed to facts, they no longer believe in them.

This is especially true when the source of the facts are countries with strong traditions of freedoms of speech and press, where the facts are often laid out with a critical eye to the administration and with vastly different opinions attached to them. While we view the latter as evidences that the values we embrace are alive and well—a critical eye to the administration means the Fourth Estate is doing its job, and the different opinions means freedom of speech gets to live another day—people who haven’t been exposed to these values tend to interpret these things as signs of weakness of the government. They may think the Chinese government is better than its counterparts elsewhere because no one is penning scathing criticisms against it. They may think the Chinese government is stronger because it unifies the opinions of their people—the failure of which, they’ve been taught, would lead to social chaos and economic free-fall.

The Chinese population has also been “immunised” against the truths that may be exposed about their government by a propaganda talking point used since Chairman Mao’s days—that the “Imperialist” western world, particularly the United States, is always scheming its downfall. The phrase often used is 美帝亡我之心不死 (”The heart (intention) of Imperialist US to bring us down will never die”). Unfavourable truths exposed must therefore be part of the “bring down China” scheme. This decades-old demonisation of the political apparatus of the US and Europe also prepares the people to accept what most would see as outrageous conspiracy theories: for example, in March 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the US Army intentionally planted COVID in Wuhan during the 2019 Military World games. “Foreign interference” becomes a frequent and convenient scapegoat for policy decisions gone wrong, sometimes to a (somewhat) hilarious effect ~ for example, a Taiwanese journalist calculated the cost required for the CIA to fund the 2019 Hong Kong Protests, as the Chinese government had claimed—and it turned out that the CIA was too poor to do it.

(Many of us in the US would probably laugh at the idea that our government is capable of secretly paying 2 million foreign-language speaking strangers to show up together in one march.) (It can’t even get the COVID relief payments to its own people right over a period of months.)

(Fun trivia for turtles! As 美帝=“Imperialist US” is the synonym of a feared, imaginary super-villain—super organised, super efficient, super everywhere and super impossible to take down—c-BJYX, the indestructible No. 1 CP fandom in China, has been nicknamed “美帝 cp” by those not so enamoured with it.)

Finally, there’s the psychological factor. Once a set of beliefs becomes personal truths, listening to alternatives can be very upsetting (for those in the US: imagine the blue voting block made to listen to Fox News). Hence, even when people gain access to the facts later—for example, when they study/work abroad, even emigrate—they often don’t take advantage of the access. Instead, they remain logged in in the Chinese social media sites where they’re comfortable with not only the politics but also the language and the friendships they’ve built, and continue to immerse themselves in an environment heavy with CCP propaganda. They remain defenders of the Chinese government; some have even gone out and harass people who disagree with it, in the name of freedom of speech that their country of origin never offered to them.

Censorship, of course, is an important component of building a One Story echo chamber, and I should add a note about it: censorship in China comes in vastly different strengths. The restrictions on LGBT+ issues, for example, are fairly lax, relatively speaking—“homosexuality” remains a term one can find on their internet and a topic the administration continues to address, and while BL dramas are censored, their adapted versions, along with highly publicised discussions of their original material, have so far been tolerated. The strictest form of Chinese censorship would’ve allowed neither: any mention of the 1989 June 4th Tiananmen Square massacre , for example, is immediately removed, including any hints that the event may have happened. When the former leader of the Chinese government, Jiang Zemin (江澤民), was rumoured to have passed away, the censorship apparatus went so far as to remove all mentions of Jiang, which also happened to mean “large rivers”. Chinese netizens therefore joked that major rivers had ceased to exist in China that day, as one couldn’t find any information about them online.

(LGBT+ activists have therefore remained optimistic about the future of their campaign, despite the current state of affairs. To put it simply: the Chinese government has bigger fish to fry. Sexual minorities haven’t had major clashes with the administration, haven’t embarrassed the Chinese government with their demand for rights as the ethnic minorities—the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, the Mongolians etc did. Political dissidents, including the millions in Hong Kong, are also (far) ahead in the ranking of fish size.)

For most issues, the censorship effort sits somewhere in the middle and is often inconsistent over time. The people, therefore, often have knowledge that an event has happened — even when the event is considered, beyond the Great Firewall, damaging to the reputation of the Chinese government. However, critical information is often missing in their knowledge, or is heavily distorted. For example, overseas Chinese citizens have insisted that the motivation of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests was economic, echoing the longstanding CCP propaganda that Hong Kongers have been jealous of China’s prosperity (reality: China’s GDP per capita was $10,268 USD in 2019, and Hong Kong’s, $48,713—more than 4 times higher). They missed out a critical fact: while the fast economic growth of China has created some unease—Hong Kongers have always known the Chinese government has only tolerated them and their freedoms for their ability to generate wealth—what has truly ignited Hong Kong’s anger is the Chinese government’s violation of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, and the terms it had agreed upon to get back the then British crown colony. Hong Kong hasn’t been demanding autonomy and freedoms because it’s a troublemaker, but because these things were promised to the city as conditions of the 1997 handover. As residents of the world’s third largest financial centre, Hong Kongers are diligent drafters and executioners of contracts (which international treaties are) and above all, faithful believers of them. For an asker (the Chinese government) to claim a contract as “historical” because it has received the goods (Hong Kong) and no longer feels a need to pay (allow Hong Kong 50 years of freedoms and autonomy) is offensive to the principle, the very heart and soul of the city.

(Gg’s former boss was a Hong Konger, and his experience working for him was a rather accurate reflection of Hong Kong’s view on business. What made an impression to Gg—that the posters should be without rips and misprints, even if these imperfections were not the fault of the design company—is a no-brainer to the Hong Konger in me reading the interview. Delivering high quality goods and services isn’t an act of kindness but rather, of professionalism and respect for the contract.)

(This interview is a highly recommended read, for those who’ve missed it!)

(One more example of “conveniently missed critical information”: remember GG’s show on Chongqing? Did you know the underground bombing shelters were not built by the Communist government, but the Nationalist government that was still ruling China during WWII?)

Anyway, where was I?

Right. We’re getting to 3): People are not getting the facts on the political situation in China because they’re not interested in current affairs.

Some—well, many— people are not interested in politics.

Some of you may be thinking: well, I’m not interested either. I follow politics because it’s important.

Why is it important? Because political engagement means you can do something about the many ills of the society, speak for those who cannot, force the government to change by voting, by voicing your opinion, by going to marches and protests etc.

What if you follow politics and still can’t do most of these things? What if, if you do choose to do these things, the price you pay may be astronomical? Will you still follow politics or devote your time, your energy to something else, something you’ve got more control over, something that won’t be as saddening, frustrating because it’s something you can actually change?

3) is therefore intricately related to why people often don’t do anything, even if they manage to find out about the facts.

There’re no national elections in China. Marches and protests are practically banned because while the Chinese Constitution guarantees the freedom of assembly (as it does freedom of speech and press; Article 35), it also explicitly states that "Citizens of the People’s Republic of China, in exercising their freedoms and rights, may not infringe upon the interests of the State, of society or of the collective, or upon the lawful freedoms and rights of other citizens.” (Article 51) — ie. the freedoms and rights only go as far as if they do not stand in the government’s way. Social media and all communications platforms are under constant surveillance, and so only opinions tolerated by the government is allowed...

And so, the fact, social ill that has broken your heart—you can’t tell for sure if it isn’t talked about because the government has censored it, how many people know about it and more importantly, how many among the people who know about it will agree with your take. If you break your silence and voice your concerns, how many people will have your back, even if you also conceive them as victims of the social ill? If the social ill is the lack of rights of a minority group, for example, will they appreciate your speaking out, or will your “rocking-the-boat” make things even worse for them? A heavily watched net means communications with the oppressed/vulnerable social groups are often filled with obstacles, if not outright impossible. You don’t know how these groups feel; you don’t even know how many affected individuals are there. You watch the and news and shows and they all talk about how wonderfully things are going; how everyone seems so hopeful and positive and happy with their lives—are you the only person feeling that way? Are you wrong? If you speak out then, will you be yelling into the void, or worse, yelling at the police who “invites” you for a chat in the police station? To speak for those who do not have a voice to speak, are you ready, willing to take the risk of also becoming one who no longer has a voice to speak? Is your family ready?

To put it another way: the opportunity cost of “doing something” about the political situation can be astronomically high in China, compared to the opportunity cost of us doing something similar in our own country.

If I want to support the LGBT+ population in my part of the US, for example, I can do so effectively with minimal investment and most importantly, with minimal risk. By pasting a rainbow flag on this Tumblr post, for example, I’ve already signalled to those who need support on this issue that I’m ready to give mine. And this “signal” of mine will join the hundreds and thousands on the site, collectively telling the activists doing the “on the ground” fighting that they’re not alone; that they have my vote of support. I pose no danger to myself in doing so; no one will accuse me of, arrest me for infringing upon the interests of the State and the Collective. The rainbow flag, a display of my stance, will not turn into a blurred blob the next time I look at it, transform overnight from a symbol of solidarity to a warning sign to those who may wish to join the cause. There’s no danger for me, even, to carry an actual, huge rainbow flag to Pride, perform my activism in person. I don’t have to worry about my phone already giving away my identity as a protester to the government, especially in post-COVID times. I don’t need to watch out for plain clothes pretending to be my allies. I don’t have to look at the many surveillance cameras present and wonder if I’ll get blacklisted as a troublemaker.

Am I still being tracked and taken pictures of? Possibly. But for this cause, at least, I’m not afraid that these information will be used to arrest me. If I were arrested, I know there'll be lawyers and activists who would come to my aid. LOUDLY. ANGRILY.

I’m not afraid. Period. I’m having fun. And I doubt I can say the same if I try to carry a rainbow flag to Tiananmen square and march there.

This vast difference in the opportunity cost of taking political action is the reason why I’ve refrained from demanding those who live under authoritarian dictatorships to stand up for their neighbours who’ve been oppressed / bullied by their governments. I’ve refrained from criticising them for looking away, minding their own business. Do I wish they’ve take action? Of course I do. Am I aware that their lack of action is potentially more harmful because of the frequent atrocities happening around them? Yes. But I also understand that going on a fight is far more frightening when one doesn’t even have a sense of how many will join their side of the fight; I understand that fighting for what one deserves—freedoms, rights, justice—should never equal martyrdom, and just because a regime has elected to put equal signs between the two doesn’t mean those equal signs should ever be there. I remind myself that, to ask the people in any authoritarian dictatorship to stand up for a political cause is to ask them to make sacrifices that we, as people in relatively free societies, do not need to make when standing up for the same cause. In a country where a father demanding the truth about the milk product poisoning of his own son got jail time for “eliciting social disorder”, to stand up for even a single issue, no matter how small that issue is, requires courage that I’m not sure I have.

I can’t ask anyone to do anything I may not be able to do myself.

And this is why I, too, have chosen to support these people, even if many of them are single-issue activists, even when many support the Chinese government on other issues that matter. For example, the late Dr Li Wenliang, one of the eight COVID whistleblowers in China who passed away from the disease, was an opponent of the Hong Kong Protest, but I still (greatly) appreciate, respect him for what he did. As long as they’re not actively helping the government to cause (more) harm to others, as long as their cooperation with their government falls within what is demanded of them as citizens, they have my support. Why? Because most people who speak out in China cannot afford to stand up for more than one cause before it becomes dangerous for them. Because even if it’s only a tiny vulnerable social group, one small minority that makes a tiny step towards more rights, more freedoms, more justice, it’s still a victory in a country where rights, freedoms and justice are luxury items for those with neither political nor economic power. Because those who’re not part of the ruling class cannot afford to cherry pick their allies, cannot afford to in-fight when the ruling class already holds absolute power. Because I still believe in pay-it-forward, that most people who’ve benefited from someone standing up for them, even for one small incident, one minor cause, is more likely to stand up for someone else.

This is, admittedly, not always an easy choice to make—not for me, at least. I do get frustrated, can’t help but think at times that those who subscribe to and spread propaganda are, to a certain extent, corroborators of the atrocities committed by their government. (So, to those who’ve felt this frustration, you’re not alone!). And the Hong Konger in me has every reason to be furious with everything about China right now—all I could think of, when I listened to Gg singing 異鄉人 Foreigner the other night, are all the Hong Kongers fleeing the city now, as refugees, because of their political beliefs.

But for now, I’m hanging on. I’ve been able to tell myself that given the country’s political reality, given its tradition of collectivism (which tends to view confrontational dissent with scorn), the paths to freedoms, to equal rights and acceptance, will not be the same as what I’ve seen, what I’ve wished for. They’ll likely be slow; They’ll likely be long and winding, taking three steps forward and two steps back; they’d likely be unexpected in places, offer us surprises —

And since it’s Chinese New Year / Valentines and I’m feeling brave (irresponsible?), I’d venture a little bit of speculation and say this ~ yes, I’ve wondered if one of these many paths may be trodden, intentionally or not, by two beautiful male idols and their millions of turtles. Is it wishful, fantastical thinking? I’d be the first to admit the answer is yes. But the BJYX scheme has been so well executed as of now, so effective that I can’t help but wonder if it’s leading towards some sort of a goal, whether devised by the humans involved or by the gods/Fates who, as c-turtles have said so romantically, have been writing an original BL story with our favourite boys. The goal may be personal —simply two people being able to act more like themselves again under the spotlight—or a bit more ambitious…

… Because the sneakers + ice-cream post did catch my attention (will probably have to devote a post on that?). Another small incident that has caught my attention, unrelated to Gg and Dd but can significantly change the path they may be trodding, is this — in June 2020, People’s Daily, the state controlled newspaper, boasted its country’s increasing friendliness towards the LGBT+ communities on Twitter . While the tweet was met with skepticism and soon removed, the message it sent is this: the Chinese government may have figured out the the Western world (in particular, the younger generations) view LGBT+ rights as a measure of progressiveness. While I’m still leaning towards the government maintaining a tight grip on LGBT+ rights within its borders, with the strengthening call to boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics because of the country’s poor human rights record, I can see a glimmer of possibility that the same government may do the unexpected and cater to the queer community for the sake of propaganda. As I mentioned, the queer community hasn’t caused much headache for the Chinese government, and so it’s far more likely to be chosen as the “benefactors” of such a “we’re a human rights champion too!” propaganda campaign than, say, ethnic minorities and political dissidents. Promoting dissemination of core socialist values has always sat high on the CCP’s agenda list, and its target audience has always included foreign, non-Chinese populations; this effort is known as 大外宣—“The Great External Propaganda”. And who better to cast as leads of an international propaganda campaign on LGBT+ rights than two of its own stars who’ve already demonstrated loyalty to the government, who’ve already garnered international fame from a TV series widely viewed as queer, and who may actually be queer?

(And if—if!!!— this ever happens, may I ask everyone to please consider doing the following? Please do not feel a need to express gratitude. Please do not act as though it’s a gift. Celebrate as you would celebrate anyone in a free country exercising their birthright to live, to love the way they want — no less than that, no more than that.)

(For those who’ve asked ~ as international fans, not allowing the CCP to modify our expectations of how a government should behave may be one of the most effective ways to protect Gg and Dd.)

(I call this learning from the best: get the goods we want (more rights for the people in China), refuse to pay the cost (subscribe to CCP’s propaganda), and RUN! ❤️💛💚)

#pie metas #yizhan #bjyx #pie answers

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