#because there's no other way people can see your post unless they search the tag you used so yea tags are 1000% the most important thing

[facingthenorthwind]

AO3 tag capitalisation and why you can't change it

Have you ever tagged your fic in all Title Case and then discovered one of your tags has become all lowercase when you hit save? Or had it become title case when you tried to type it in lowercase? Does this offend your aesthetic sensibilities?

If you said yes to any of these questions, I would like to offer my deepest condolences. I, too, have had this problem. Unfortunately, you can't fix it (except in one very specific situation).

The first time a tag is used determines its capitalisation (unless it becomes a canonical). For example, I'm sure not everyone who tagged kylux au intended for it to be all lowercase, but the first user who tagged it capitalised it that way, and so it remains. This is because the wrangulator (the part of the AO3 backend that handles tags; yes this is what we officially call it) treats different capitalisations of a tag as the same tag, and isn't capable of having it display differently in different fics.

There are two situations where capitalisation can change: firstly, it could become the exact phrasing of a canonical tag. This is what it's called when a tag becomes filterable and multiple tags that mean the same thing (called syns) get connected together and all redirect to the canonical. For more info, you can read this post I wrote! All canonical tags get changed to title case when they're made canonical, because the tag edit page that wranglers can see enables wranglers to change the capitalisation of a tag (it also allows us to change the diacritics, but not anything else). If your tag is a synonym of that canonical, its capitalisation does not get changed, only if you've used the exact phrasing that later becomes canonical (for how to tell what kind of tag something is, please see the post I linked earlier). For example, if I was the first user of the tag "obi-wan on tatooine" and typed it all lowercase, it will remain lowercase even when the tag wrangler syns it to the canonical "Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine". But if I was the first use of "obi-wan kenobi on tatooine" and typed it all lowercase, when it's canonised it will change appearance on my work to be in title case. Tag wranglers will never change the capitalisation of your tag in any other situation.

Secondly, if you are the only use on an unfilterable tag (which means it has not been synned anywhere), it is technically possible to change the capitalisation if you decide that you want to change how it looks later. In order to do so, delete the tag from your work. Then wait approximately 24 hours (give it a few more for leeway) and tag your work again. You should be able to now tag it with different capitalisation. The reason you have to wait 24-ish hours is because of a part of the wrangulator called the rake. The rake deletes any unfilterable tag that has zero uses (except if it's used in a tagset) approximately 24 hours after it's made. Notably, any tag that has been synned to a canonical does not get raked. If you want to check if your zero-use tag has been deleted yet, you can search for its exact text in tag search. If it still exists, it will be a search result and show (0) after it. If it's been deleted, it won't show up at all. It's important to note that just because an unfilterable tag shows up in tag search with (0) after it, that doesn't mean it will be raked in the future! These are usually tags in a tagset, which don't disappear. A tagset (example) is used by people running challenges for participants to have a pool of tags to choose from. There is no way to determine whether a tag is in a tagset, not even as a wrangler! You just have to assume it's the case if it never disappears. And remember, if anyone else has used the tag you're trying to change, it won't work!

So in conclusion: sorry about the tag that is the wrong capitalisation. You almost certainly can't fix it.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #5396:

I'm only 28 but I'm already starting to miss forums horribly and hate discord servers. Forums were such amazing spaces for fandoms! Yeah, most fandoms had their own forum you had to sign up for, which was sometimes annoying, whereas for discord servers you only really need to sign up once, for one discord handle, and you can go to pretty much any server. But servers suck.

For starters, there's no real search indexing. Forums had a wealth of information usually readily available for lurkers and anyone who just happened to stumble upon the forum during searches and things, it was all public. But with discord servers, unless you meet the requirements to join and in some cases are pre-vetted, and unless you even know the server exists in the first place, accessing any of the information it provides is really hard. It is not very convenient having to join several channels and servers just to find one guide, if you're a gamer, or get the answer to a quick question. Forums used to index all this information to be easily searched by the web. This is what they were built for. Servers don't show any of their contents during web searches.

Secondly: there's the whole matter of asynchronous communication. Discord is very fast-paced, and it does not necessarily reward quality posts and comments. Instead, you become well-known and liked by posting as much as possible, saturating feeds with your comments. You cannot communicate on your own time like on a forum, and still expect those conversations to be there in a few days or even weeks. You have to lurk all day and hope you get to the discussion within time. You could technically bring up an older conversation, but since discord servers work like real-time conversations, it's often frowned upon and awkward. Furthermore, very useful, important, or otherwise helpful information usually just gets lost among all the one-line comments, and there's no easy way to view past messages to find this useful stuff without getting totally overwhelmed. And since the window for jumping into a certain topic or sub-topic is usually very narrow, someone who would otherwise have very exceptional information suddenly can't share it if they miss that window.

Thirdly, forums could sometimes be cliquey, but discord servers are even more so. There is always an "it" person, or group, who controls the flow and nuance of the conversations. Diversion from these popular groups, just like real life, can lead to alienation, whereas forums had more of an egalitarian vibe. Anyone could contribute pretty equally because everything was slowed down, and there was equal visibility for all posts. Moderators may or may not enable these cliques, which is even more likely if those moderators and the cliques were the first people who arrived at the server. It is awkward to jump into many servers.

Fourth, there's the online dishibition and anonymity. On forums, your content was archived forever, and your presence on the forum was marked more concretely by each post you made due to that visibility. The more "permanent" function of forums and their content encouraged longform and high quality content. Shitposters were generally shunned. On discord, however, people are more willing to bully others because it is much easier to do so, and it's much easier to avoid scrutiny. They simply need to wait a few minutes or hours before knowing their comments will no longer be in plain sight, because a bunch more people will have commented and pushed the comment(s) up, out of sight. Why not call someone a rude name or bully them? No one will see it three hours later, and even if they do, the person can change their name and tag, and repeat again.

I'm not happy.

[kyra45]

Keys guide to scam spotting (v2)

Hi! I’m Key (Or Jess depending on which blog you know me from) and I’ll be telling you some better information and detail on how to spot a scam account be it a pet scam or a donation scam. All information is based on my own experiences and I’ll try to keep this post accessible so the only big text is the title. This information should help in understanding how these scams work and how to spot them without having to do too much work. As always, if you appreciate what I do and want to show it, sharing these info posts helps other users see it and learn about blogs that might send them asks.

—

What is a donation scam? - A donation scam is when someone is being deceptive to get money by claiming they need mutual aid or support. For example, they are using the story from someone else’s fundraising post in order to get donations and won’t tell anyone their lying. This is called a donation scam. While the story may be legitimate, it is a story stolen off someone else and means the real person isn’t getting the support they asked for because someone else is using it. These stories are often stolen off Facebook/GoFundMe or even Instagram and could come from a private account or group so searching wouldn’t come up with a source. The images may also be stolen from somewhere else too.

How do you spot a donation scam? - Donation scams are usually easily spotted if you take a closer look at the information being given. Stolen stories will often have certain parts removed and replaced with the information the scammer added themselves. Sometimes the post may be composed of two different parts and won’t sound right if you pay close attention. For example, part of the story sounds fine but then the second part of the story seems out of place and doesn’t match up with the beginning. Another thing to check is how old the account is and if you have timestamps on you can see if an older post is backdated. You can also check to see if the account has tagged certain blogs in their post though this isn’t always a sign of a scam.

What is post backdating? - Post backdating is changing the dates of a reblogged post to look older then it really is. While this can be used with good intentions, scammers often use this to trick people into thinking their account is years old or even a few months old. The one way to find this is by turning on timestamps in dashboard settings and checking ‘other notes’ in reblogs. This is the only way to see the true date something was shared. Accounts who backdate posts will often claim someone told them to do it or they’ll say they didn’t know it was bad. However, you can not accidentally backdate a post.

Did the account contact you first? - A common occurrence is that you will get scam asks if you share a popular or trending post. Usually these accounts send asks to anyone they find without care of who it is and might lie as well if you ask them how they found you. In general, a brand new account shouldn’t easily find you unless they were watching the notes of popular posts. Occasionally these new accounts will even send asks to certain accounts they shouldn’t know about unless they have seen the account before. If your DMs are closed, the ask may ask you to message them because it’s urgent but all they will do is ask for money or ask you to loan them some money.

—

What is a pet donation scam? - A pet donation scam is where someone has went and looked around for vet fundraisers online and then took it for themselves by saving the images and story while erasing any links that would lead to the real pet getting support. They will then repost it to tumblr and say it’s actually their pet needing urgent care with the post title being very large and in red text for a sense of urgency. Sometimes they’ll say they can’t use GoFundMe because it has a fee or something else. This is a scam because they are not the owner of the pet and have stolen everything meaning no funds sent will be towards the actual pets care.

How do you spot a pet donation scam? - A common way of a pet donation scam is by how old the pinned post is and how many posts are reblogged on the account. Usually there is only a few posts shared and always shared around the same time and then no more. These posts all come from a trending topic, a fandom, or are popular posts. Another thing is checking the bio in Google search and seeing if it’s been took from someone else as the scammer never makes their own bio. Reverse image search their pfp to see who it really belongs to in case they stole it. Another important thing is to check their link and see if it matches up with the vet bill. Since most pictures are stolen off a private group, reverse image search won’t find them. The name they may have is likely not their real name and is stolen.

Did the account send you an ask? - Regardless of what the ask says, it usually requests you to answer it privately or message them so they can tell you thanks. These asks may have several emojis in them as well but their always just copy/pasted and sent to multiple users all at once on a daily basis. The private answer is so the ask won’t show up if someone is looking it up. If their post is public, there shouldn’t be a reason to need a private response to an ask you have sent to many people unless you are trying to hide it. Messaging these accounts is useless because they’ll lie to you when you ask them questions back or just ignore you.

—

What is a fake check scam? - A fake check scam is when a generally blank account with no pfp will message you after you used certain tags and ask you if you still need help. Even if you have links to send support, these accounts will ignore that in order to ask for your personal information such as phone number or banking details. They will then offer to send you a check. This is a fake check and cashing it won’t be scamming the scammer. You will lose money instead and the scammer will already move on to someone else. Never give them your private information.

Are there any other scam types? - When you tag posts, you’ll often get messages from accounts claiming they can help you get more attention on your campaign but you have to pay them money or go off-site to contact them. These are fake support accounts and they always use stock images while pretending to be officially affiliated and act like their Digital Marketing title means their not trying to scam you. They get defensive when called out and may start insulting you when they figure out you are already aware they aren’t legitimate.

—

What is a funeral donation scam? - A funeral donation scam is when an account posts saying someone has passed away but the images they used are actually took from someone else and may be photoshopped. Bills may be edited to suit their story and names may be changed to someone else’s. This isn’t a real common scam! But it’s happened a lot lately but the basics are the account will steal someone’s pictures and pass them off as theirs and when caught will say they were forced to or know it’s wrong but did it anyway.

—

In closing, this is information regarding common scam types you’ll find on tumblr. It’s always suggested to pay close attention to asks you get it they fit the criteria of being sent from a scammer. Answer the asks publicly and call out the blog. The scammer may block you as a result, but it’ll help your ask be seen it someone has looked it up. I suggest never spamming asks to share your pinned aid post because unfortunately scammers do this and you shouldn’t ignore people saying to please stop spamming. Always check to see if someone is comfortable getting these kinds of asks too because it won’t look too good if you have sent them an ask when they say please don’t.

As always, not everyone asking for support is a scammer! Legitimate people are out there. It’s just unfortunate scammers have made it harder for them to get help. You can always do your own research and compare it to what others have given and come to your own conclusion.

[atthebell]

do people understand that your reblog tags on a post do not impact whether or not a post goes into the main tag. like it does not matter how many times people in my notes tag a post of mine with "qsmp" or whatever the tag is, it's not going into that main tag; that's not how browsing tags work. the ONLY way a post goes into a browsible tag is by OP putting the tags on the original post.

relatedly, do people understand that tag blocking functions the opposite way-- if someone tags "discourse" on a post at any time, it is immediately blocked for anyone who has "discourse" on their filtered tags list. does not matter what op tagged, does not matter who puts it on your dash from that point forward, the tag is on the post so it's going to be filtered. this is how i end up not seeing a lot of those big "tag a piece of media that--" posts; it's because i have a lot of things blocked, so anytime a single person tags any of them on a post, i have the whole post blocked. [and i use xkit rewritten, which means i don't even see the post at all]

also related-- there is a difference between actually browsing a tag and searching a phrase-- tumblr has made it kind of strange to tell the exact difference, so i'll demonstrate:

so when i type in "qsmp fanart", it gives me a couple of options.

first, i can click "Go to #qsmp fanart", which will take me to the tag "qsmp fanart":

rad, exactly what i'm looking for, i'll scroll through latest to see what people have posted in the last couple hours.

however, secondly, it gives me the option "[search] qsmp fanart", which is NOT the same thing as opening the tag itself. it will open the search function and look up "qsmp fanart," meaning it grabs whatever assortment of posts tumblr's broken search engine has decided mention "qsmp fanart":

[most of said posts are, in fact, qsmp fanart, as the way tumblr's search indexing works does include searching tags, but it also searches post content. i'm censoring because posting screenshots of people's art feels iffy to me, not because i have any issue with the art itself.]

these two things are NOT the same. one of these takes you do the actual tag, the other makes you search for those terms mentioned on a post. which, like i said, means it indexes not just the tags but the post content itself-- this means any mention of said search term on a post means it could be seen in this search (unless OP has their blog marked unsearchable). for a while, as well, tumblr made this the default whenever you pressed enter rather than manually clicking an option, meaning people would think they were opening the tag to browse it but instead were searching for whatever they entered. i believe they've fixed that now, or at least one of my extensions has; regardless, clicking the # option will get you to the right place.

this is, in part, how i think we get people going "you put neg in the main tag!!!" which, while it does happen often, is not always the issue; what actually happened is tumblr actually had them search for the term mentioned in the tag rather than going into the tag itself. regardless of this issue, though, i think it's just good for people to understand the difference between when they're searching posts (not very helpful at times, doesn't get you much of what you're probably looking for depending on the search term, drags up every single post (that tumblr can actually index properly) that mentions the term) versus when they're opening the tag (OPs here clearly actually want you to see their posts).

[sysmedsaresexist]

Personally, as an OSDD system who's anti-endo, I think I'd be much more okay with endos if they'd separate themselves from CDDs, if they'd just use different language and claimed to be their own thing instead of saying their experiences are "just like ours", I wouldn't have a single problem with them at all, and I've seen a TON of other anti-endos share this sentiment, but I'm curious about what your take on it is.

/i think this post comes across a bit more negatively than I intended but I'm not sure how or why or what to fix. My tone isn't directly at you or anyone in particular, I'm just sort of rambling to myself. Anyone is free to discuss on this post, bring up other terms, or just ramble about your own thoughts.

I completely agree. I'm pretty open about that, and I've had several interesting conversations since I changed stances.

It's not necessarily an anti endo only stance. You can be pro endogenic and anti shared spaces/language.

CDDs = childhood trauma disorders

Endogenic systems = something else that can still be real and valid

The English language = surprisingly limited

I would love if there was a better divide in language, but I don't see it happening, so the best I can do is focus on CDD education. As young people move into system spaces, it's important that there be accurate info on CDDs in any system space, including inclusive plural spaces. You're not getting resources into those communities unless you're willing to talk to them.

But let's talk about language and the words we use.

I think the polls a couple posts down speak for themselves-- endogenic systems are moving towards plural language. Most prefer to be called plural over system.

Problem solved.

Now we can deal with internal family systems, computer systems, and the justice system coopting "system" for their own use 😤 /hj

As for alter, again, plurals would really rather not be called that. You'd offend most if you did.

System hopping was never ours, the proof is archived for everyone to see.

Everyone on this planet dissociates to some degree, and CDDs aren't the only dissociative disorders, so we don't own that.

Introjection is a general concept in psychology that everyone does.

What language are we fighting over?

And if it's just "system" why aren't we more angry about IFS and multiple selves theory? IFS directly compares itself to DID, and I consider their description of DID to be inaccurate. More people and clinicians know about IFS than plurality. Let's go be mad about that.

I've yet to meet an endo who says their experience is just like mine, and I've talked to a lot. At least ten, probably (I'm probably one of the most blocked accounts on system Twitter). Search my tag #shit endos say and bask in the glory of the most wonderful bullshit you've ever read. Several hundred posts, and I think I've only seen it happen like twice? I don't say that proudly anymore, but the posts are still up because we still laugh at misinformation here. It happens, I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I think proper education might be best the route to go to avoid overlap.

From someone who's been in this way too long, the problem isn't as big as it seems, I promise. Doctors are well aware of the difference, no one is being tricked, the articles are real and valid, and incomparable to CDDs. They just released an article about how Christians can hear God as a separate stream of consciousness, and they tested tulpas at the same time. Give it another year, the article will be out eventually.

Anti endo is a dying stance, but we can still prioritize CDD content. And hopefully it helps someone who sees it.

But they're not going to see it if I'm anti endo, or if I can't hold a decent conversation and question their self perception every chance I get. Medical autonomy is real, even if it can be frustrating.

Google multiple selves theory and see just how long this has actually been a thing people have experienced. Look outside of psychology and into theories of consciousness, philosophy, and anthropology.

Don't limit yourself to learning only one thing.

[shawtythatluvsurgut]

gunna have a video of me feeding my feedee up on my onlyfans soon. i’m thinking about starting it back up while i take a break from college because it was kind of empowering to get to own my kink in such a way. I also enjoy sharing that side of myself with all of you. subscription price will be between $8-$10/mo since my feedee is going to be collaborating with me on certain pieces of content. i will maybe begin gaining again once i get my health back in check, we’ll see. i want my muscle mommy build back, and to get that back i’ll have to pack on some weight. so we’ll see what happens with that. ;)

in the meantime and between-time, stay safe. especially on the internet. all of my old rules still apply for messaging me, but i will gradually get back to making regular content and posts. now that i am taking a break from school, i’m working more, but I also have free time on my hands when i’m not working. it feels really nice to get back into the swing of things. I’ve missed you all and I’ve missed the positive aspects of this community.

going forward, i’m just going to block people who talk shit to me or delete their comments (unless it’s of actual importance to discuss). i’m just done engaging with that shit. idk, i’m on new medication that seem to be actually working and i feel stable, so i feel ready to re-embrace this community with open arms.

a special thank you to everyone who continued engaging with me and communicating with me during my break. i appreciate all of your kind words more than you know, and if i didn’t respond to you it was because i didn’t want the answer to “hey how are you?” to be “i’m miserable. how are you?”. but I saw all of you - each and every message, comment, text, etc. - and i just want to say thank you. the people who still proceeded to message me with positivity are the reason I have decided I want to come back.

With all that being said, I hope you will all accept me back. I understand that some of you were upset that I left and didn’t understand my reasonings, but I hope we can reconcile our differences and i can gain your trust again. I’m not the angry person that I became when responding to hate messages, and that also influenced my time away. I could see that my demeanor on this hellsite was changing and I was getting more upset, angry and, honestly, afraid of going on here (let alone posting myself on here). However, that has changed. I’ve been working on being more optimistic and caring less about the negative opinions of others. Frankly, if someone doesn’t like me or my content they should just be an adult about it and either reach out to discuss that or ignore me. If they can’t do that, I believe they are childish and need to get a grip. There are some key things I’ve learned in life that I want to share with people who are as I described above:

- your comfort is not someone else’s responsibility. if it makes you uncomfortable, then don’t engage. It’s as simple as that.

- no one has to cater to your interests. everyone lives on their own agenda. your wants and desires do not take priority over the wants and desires of others. sure, there are some people who will cater to your every wish, but i’m definitely not one of them.

- similarly to above, your desires do not take priority over someone’s health. that includes both mental health and physical health. (death feedism is a thing if you are interested in someone wanting to gain while not caring about their health. this is not a death feedism page and i suggest you go search in the tags for that if it is what you are looking for. I do not want to kill my feedee, nor do I want him or I to gain enough weight to become immobile or at risk in any way. As hot as the idea is to me at times, we are both too active and work in active careers for that to be a realistic possibility for us. maybe someday i’ll get a stay at home job and get really big, or maybe someday he will. only time can tell. sorry for the length, i’m high. i’ll stfu now.

- people don’t care. no stranger online owes it to you to care that you don’t like their body, or that you don’t like this or that. it doesn’t matter because that person does not know you. there’s no point in wasting time caring about your negative comment unless it’s actually useful and constructive commentary.

So anyways, i’m back in business again. gonna post some FA art soon + start uploading to my OF again. I thank any of you who read this far and again I hope you can accept me back into the community.

Thanks,

Nico

[azi-sings-calliope]

The Sandman female characters - why are they buried?

I'm gonna make a series of my thoughts on the female Sandman characters, both critiques of how they're treated and appreciation posts for them. (These are just my opinions, everyone is entitled to their own) Hope you enjoy!

Also tagging @thesandwomen because I'm also very curious to hear your takes on her.

Part 1: Rose Walker

As a character, she gets an obscene amount of hate. Even her actress was bullied terribly when the show came out (which is a whole other issue).

The thing with Rose Walker is that she's strong, complex, powerful, but not in necessarily always visible ways.

She's making her own way in life, traumatized but loving, ambitious and creative. Her inner dialogue and workings is complex and tragic but not in always... I guess cinematic or traditional ways.

She shows the realistic side of someone, specifically someone growing up through tragedy.

She's endlessly creative but she's cursed as this Vortex which destroys and she can't escape that, unless she dies. While she's going through all this she's dragged for not being more dynamic or charismatic.

I found Rose Walkers character to be awfully realistic, because in my eyes, a way of interpreting her story is that one of a young woman, growing up, promising and creative, has been pushed down by society and other people's actions against her. She's creative, loving, ambitious, searching for her brother and making a life for herself. But then she's pulled down into this Vortex, this series of awful and inexplicable events where things are happening around her, she knows she's causing it, and she can't stop it, and the only way to solve it is to die and leave a life she has fought for so hard.

Strange people are telling her what to do, she doesn't understand it entirely, but she does it to the best of her ability. She pushes back at them (Dream and the Corinthian) at times, because what else can she do?

In the end, she ends up with one of her last living relatives dying in front of her and realizing there was no other way for it to turn out. And she's hated, because throughout these events, she isn't entertaining enough.

I'm not someone best suited to talk on the racism that undoubtedly impacted how the fandom impacted the character, but it's worth noting that racism certainly played a role.

Rose Walker shows the sides of a character, specifically a young, strong woman character that I feel like isn't often marketed.

Some of those who claim "girl power" dislike her because she isn't what they're used to seeing. I'm not claiming that she's revolutionary, I'm saying that she IS that type of character, portrayed perhaps more realistically.

She is powerful but she's not cocky and smiley and she won't punch you in the face. Female characters are only perhaps worth paying attention to if they have any qualities that are surface level beneficial or amusing to the audience.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Rose Walker is disliked because she's realistic, she has no amusing qualities.

Female characters often have stock marketable traits, such as humour, physical strength, or maybe magical. It's almost as if they're being paraded around, but not as a celebration but as a freak show. These are fake empowerment characters, and I feel like a lot of the basis for initial main female characters in big media pieces was written like this.

Rose Walker has marketable traits, but mixed in there are the real thoughts of a young woman, panicked and trapped and loving, and deeply honest. And it's honesty people don't like.

A young woman's struggle isn't fun to watch, it's not funny, there's no action, it's realistic.

I'm not trying to call her the female character of all time, I'm just trying to articulate my thoughts.

Rose Walker can make people uncomfortable. A female character not being pushed into the box of marketable, but real.

I think it's telling that we as a fandom dismissed her because of her lack of marketable qualities, because if you look deeper into the character, there's so much more.

Anyway, I hope this didn't come off as too rant-y, and thanks for reading!

[whisperingthorns]

(Yandere Ticci Toby x Reader)

Chapter 4: Unseen Care

Find chapter 3 Here:

Toby was at the library, a bit pissed off at the slow system and outdated computers. Also, the dirty looks he was getting due to his tics. He knew it was only so long before someone kicked him out. He was also annoyed his target seemed so elusive. He couldn’t find them anywhere. He gave a quiet whine before looking up at the ceiling and brainstorming ideas on how else to get information on this guy.

That’s when an idea came to mind, but not one for his target. He’s never thought of it before but why didn’t he just….

He pulled up the search engine, fingers typing quickly. “(Y/n) (L/n)” Surely she had some sort of social media or-

Holy shit. Why hadn’t he? It felt like such an obvious way to know more about her, to see parts of her life that she hadn’t told him about.

His heart skipped a beat when a YouTube channel appeared with her name. The thumbnail showed her smiling, holding a guitar in her lap. He clicked on it, and her voice flooded his headphones. It was soft, melodic, and mesmerizing. As she sang, Toby’s pulse quickened. She was perfect. She had to know she was perfect, right? But then he glanced down at the comments, and his stomach twisted.

"Your voice is amazing!"

"You’re so talented! Please post more!"

“I could listen to you all day."

Toby’s jaw clenched. Who the hell were these people? All these strangers showered her with compliments like they had the right to be close to her. They didn’t *know* her. Not like he did. How dare they think they had a claim on her attention, on her voice? *That* was his. She was his.

Anger surged through him, clouding his judgment. Before he could stop himself, he typed a comment.

"You’re not that good. Maybe stop singing and spare us all."

His finger hovered over the enter key. Nah it would take more than that. He wondered whose account he was even on because he couldn’t comment without an account. Whoever used the computer last would just have to deal with it….no. There was nothing he could do or say that would get her to stop making videos. Unless he broke all her instruments. Awe. But then she was crying…and come to him…and cry about it…and let him hug her.

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea…nah. Too much hassle. Hm. He got out of his phone searching the video for himself. He couldn’t comment or anything on it, but it was nice. Maybe if the power was back on at his house the service would be up. Maybe he could set the video to loop…get it to play him like a nice lullaby.

More irritated looks. His time was up. Toby clicked off and left.

⦻

Toby frowned at your door. It felt weird to not have to sneak up on it. To be so close while the sun was still out. He looked down at the flowers he bought nervously. He twitched more nervously. He can’t stand at the door forever. He rang the doorbell. Seconds passed. Maybe this was a mistake, maybe he just turned back around and-

“Toby!” Too late, you had opened the door. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t show!” Her eyes shifted to the flowers. “Ooh! Those are lovely.” She gave a smile and opened the door. “Come on, don’t be shy!” Toby blushed and stepped in.

The scene before him made his heart sink. The room wasn’t empty. Kai is who his eyes landed on first. Next to him was a girl who looked pretty similar. With golden brown skin and full lips. She was very pretty. Of course not as pretty as his angel. Nobody was as pretty as his angel. Her face seemed to sit in a sort of natural smirk. Mischievous if you will. Her hair was dark and straight unlike Kai’s though and her eyes were a subtle green.

The other girl kinda scared Toby. She had hard short black hair that stopped at the bottom of her ears. The ends curled slightly, giving it a bit untamed look. Her skin was pale like she never went outside much. Not the sickly gray his was though. She had dark circles under her eyes which were steel gray. They held a sense of mischief as well, but the wrong kind. As they could see right through Toby and instantly knew all his secrets. A giddy of knowing something he didn’t almost.

The final girl, Toby noticed sat a bit away from everyone else. She looked almost…guilty. Like she was somewhere she really shouldn’t be. She had long wavy hair that was dyed a bubblegum pink. Big blue eyes with long lashes and a red gloss shined her full lips. She looked very made up. Like she took extra good care of herself. The kind Toby knew boys looked twice at down the street.

Other than Toby and Kai, there was one other male. This one, Toby recognized. He was at the claw machine. His name was ‘Moon’. If that was his real name anyway. Moon had a very boyish face if that made sense. He had sandy blonde curly hair. The texture was a bit like Toby’s. Now that Toby was closer he noticed the light dusting of freckles on his face, heavy eyebrows over grey eyes that had slight circles underneath.

Somehow, other than Kai he honestly gave a slight air of maturity. “Toby, this is Brook, Kai, Jaga, Moon, and April!”

What a weird set of names. Toby wanted to say something but for some reason, he couldn’t speak. He felt like he was back at school, watching all the kids hide their snickers as the teacher introduced him and reminded them to be nice. He shuffled closer to you. You took the flowers and went to set them on the counter in the kitchen.

“Woo! Toby!” Moon said throwing his arms up. “Just in time. We still haven’t decided what to watch.”

Noooooooooo! NO NO NO NO!

You were supposed to be alone! This was supposed to be his chance! It was supposed to be a date! Not an intro to all your useless friends nobody cared about! Toby forced a slight smile. His bandage crinkled and he felt self-conscious.

Where did you go? Why did you leave him here?! Kai was smiling pleasantly at him and even moved aside. “Here Toby, take a seat. I’m sure (Y/n) won’t mind.”

The last person Tobias Rogers wanted to sit by was Kai of all people. He didn’t know why he hated Kai so much. Couldn’t place it. Why did he feel that way about Kai but with Moon…Toby wasn’t sure. There wasn’t the same need to carve into Moon’s skull with his hatchet as Kai’s.

Toby felt like his skin was on fire as he glanced around the room. Each of these people seemed to have a role in your life that he wasn’t a part of. Yet. His teeth clenched, forcing a smile. “Th-thanks f-for inviting me.”

Kai nodded. Toby hated the way his cologne smelt. It was too strong. Surely you thought so too. “So Toby.” The girl next to Kai, with the subtle green eyes, spoke up, to Brook as she was introduced. “How do you know (Y/n)?”

Toby was trying hard not to twitch, and ignoring the way Kai moved slightly away to avoid getting hit. ‘Good. Get away from me. Freak.’ Toby thought. “Uh. I s-saved her from a falling t-tree.” Toby’s eyes narrowed slightly. He hated that smirk on her face. It was like she was mocking him, daring him to say something embarrassing. “Sh-she was in the woods o-out back…d-down the p-path.”

Brooks's gaze didn’t waver. “Really? You didn’t strike me as an outdoorsy sort of guy.” Referring to Toby’s pale appearance.

If only she knew.

Toby forced out a chuckle, though his grip on the couch tightened. “Y-you’d be s-surprised.”

Moon jumped in, saving him from further questioning. “We’re just glad you could make it, man. (Y/n) talks about you a lot.”

Toby’s heart raced. Did she talk about him? *A lot?* He wanted to press Moon for more details, but the girl with the short black curly hair (Jaga as she was introduced) voice cut in.

“I hope you’re not shy, Toby,” she teased, her eyes glinting mischievously. “We’re a loud bunch.”

“Shy?” April scoffed. “No, he’s just quiet. There’s a difference.” She gave Toby a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. He didn’t like her much either. She reminded him of those girls in school who were all makeup and lies. The ones who would laugh as their boyfriends beat the shit outta him.

He wanted to get out of here. He wanted to take you by the hand and run far away, somewhere where these people couldn’t get between you. His thoughts spiraled, but then you returned, settling beside him on the couch with a smile. Toby visibly relaxed.

“So, what are we watching?” you asked, looking at everyone expectantly.

“Something scary, I hope,” Kai said, leaning back and stretching. “Toby doesn’t look like he scares easy.”

Toby’s jaw clenched. That was a bait, right? He was pretty much just trying to piss Toby off by even speaking to him. Make him snap so he would scare his Angel away and then Kai could have her all to himself. Well, Toby wasn’t gonna fall for it!

He watched Kai pull out his phone real quick to check a text, and an idea formed in Toby’s head, he felt you shift closer to him, and Toby’s breath hitched. He forgot you were practically cuddling up to him. I mean, you were sitting normally, but you were an inch closer to him the Kai! That was a win in Toby’s book if anything.

“I-I’m d-down for any-anything,” Toby said, trying to calm his heart.

“Perfect,” you said, your hand brushing his arm as you reached for the remote. Toby almost shivered at the contact. “Then let’s start with this one.”

As the movie began, Toby’s mind was only half on the screen. The other half was fixated on Kai’s phone. If I can get it, what could I do? Go through his messages? Make sure he stays away from her. Toby’s heart raced at the thought.

He glanced over at Kai, who was leaning back, his eyes on the screen. Careless. Stupid. It’ll be easy to take it. All he had to do was wait for the right moment.

For now, he’d play along, smile when he needed to, laugh when it was expected. But his mind was somewhere else entirely. Focused. Calculating.

Tonight, he’d make sure that Kai knew who belonged in (Y/n)’s life.

⦻

They were halfway through the movie Toby kept his eyes on the screen but his mind was right with you. Feeling you brush against him with every laugh or gasp. You didn’t seem all that scared though. It seems horror movies just weren’t enough to jostle you.

His.

But every time he tried to at least pretend you were alone with him, pretend that it was what he so desperately wanted it to be, his eyes flicked back to Kai on your other side. He seemed all too comfortable, too relaxed, too familiar with you. It made Toby’s blood boil.

Toby forced a smile. “Y-yeah, just n-not used to b-being around so m-many people.” Moon nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, I get it. But don’t worry, we’re cool. No one’s gonna bite.” He offered Toby a grin, his expression friendly. Toby found himself softening slightly. Moon was different. He didn’t have that smug arrogance that Kai did.

Though he didn’t like how Kai and (Y/n) could hear. Great. Now she knew he was uncomfortable. He looked at you briefly, and thankfully you were engrossed in the movie, unaware of the hurricane in Toby’s head that he was desperately trying to contain.

As the movie progresses, the tension builds in the story. Now and then, Brook or Jaga would make a snarky comment, breaking the atmosphere with laughter. Toby felt out of place, like a shadow in the corner of a picture that didn’t belong.

“So Toby,” Jaga spoke in a more boring part of the film. “(Y/n) says you into like, nature right?”

‘Nature? What the hell is (Y/n) making him sound like a tree hugger or-’

“S-something like th-that.” He responded.

“That’s cool,” Brook added, leaning forward, her eyes studying him. “Are you into anything else, or…”

“U-uh mostly like, video g-games.”

At least that used to be a hobby of his. It still kinda is in passing when he wants the noise in his head to stop, or if Ben was around. Toby felt his face heat up. He wasn’t good at talking about himself. “Mostly e-easy stuff I’m n-not competitive…”

“Video games?” April piped up. “Like what kind?”

Toby glanced at you, your eyes were bright and happy with your big smile like you were so pleased he was getting along with your friends. He didn’t wanna embarrass himself in front of you.

“Uh…sandbox. Wh-whatever I feel l-like.”

“Ooh, sandbox! What like Minecraft?” Brook teased, leaning forward more. “Are you a Minecraft kid, Toby?”

Toby’s grip tightened on his knee. “M-maybe.” He tried to play into the joke.

“Come on, don’t be shy!” Jaga pushed, her eyes gleaming with that unsettling amusement. “You could probably help (Y/n) with her Minecraft house. She loves that sandbox game stuff.”

The others laughed, but Toby felt a wave of annoyance wash over him. They were mocking him. He could tell. You were too kind to see it, but he could feel their disdain, their condescension. They think I’m a joke.

You seemed to sense his discomfort, because you leaned closer, your voice soft. “Hey, don’t let them get to you. They’re just messing around.” Your voice tickled his ear. “They do it to me too.”

Toby’s heart fluttered. You’re defending me. He gave you a small, grateful smile. “Th-thanks.”

Kai suddenly stood up, stretching. “Gonna grab a drink. Anyone want something?”

As he moved, his phone slipped from his pocket, landing softly on the couch. Toby’s eyes locked onto it, his mind racing. This is it.

“I-I’ll g-go with you,” Toby blurted out, standing up as well. He was surprised at himself. He didn’t wanna be alone with Kai, but even that seemed better than having all this attention on him.

Kai shrugged. “Sure, man. Let’s go.”

As they left the room, Toby glanced back, seeing you watching him with a curious expression. He forced a smile before turning away, following Kai to the kitchen.

Once they were out of sight, Kai opened the fridge, grabbing a couple of drinks. “You doing okay, Toby?” he asked, his tone annoyingly friendly. “You seemed a bit tense back there.”

“I-I’m fine,” Toby muttered, his eyes darting around. Kai had set the drinks on the counter, his back to Toby as he rummaged through a drawer for something.

“Here you go,” Kai said, turning back around and handing Toby a soda. “Let’s get back before we miss too much.”

As they headed back Toby was quick to sit down while Kai passed out drinks. He used the opportunity to quickly swipe Kai’s phone while everyone was distracted. He stuffed it in his sweater planning to hide it better in a minute.

Kai sat back down, completely oblivious. Toby felt a dark satisfaction and felt free to enjoy the warmth of you next to him again. You leaned into him slightly. As if you knew he needed it.

As the night went on, Toby found himself gradually relaxing. Moon and Jaga kept up a steady stream of jokes and banter, and even though he didn’t feel completely comfortable, he found himself laughing along with them at times. Brook asked more questions about his hobbies, (Toby had to start making some up on the spot, realizing he didn’t have much pleasure in anything anymore) seeming genuinely interested, and April shared a few stories about her hobbies, which were mostly makeup and fashion and oddly enough roller skating?

By the end of the movie, Toby was feeling strangely calm. You were smiling at him, your eyes bright, and for a moment, he felt almost normal. Almost like he could be a part of this world you lived in. He could earn your heart the right way. Maybe buy you flowers. Ask you out on dates…treat you right. Ask you to be with him.

If he wasn’t a proxy. If he wasn’t a murderer employed and marked by a demonic entity and forced to do his bidding. What was he even doing? Trying to win you over? Even if he did it’s not like-

But then he caught sight of Kai, who was looking around with a frown, patting his pockets. Toby’s heart rate spiked again. He knows.

“Hey, has anyone seen my phone?” Kai asked, standing up and looking around the couch.

“I’m sure you just dropped it somewhere,” Brook said, rolling her eyes. “You always lose it.”

Kai’s frown deepened, but he nodded, starting to search the cushions. Toby felt a surge of satisfaction. He’ll never find it. He glanced at you, who was watching Kai with a concerned expression. For a moment, Toby felt a pang of guilt. But then he remembered the way Kai had looked at you, the way he’d smiled like he had any right to be close to you. And the guilt disappeared.

“Maybe you left it in the kitchen?” Moon suggested, standing up to help look.

“I-I didn’t see it,” Toby offered, his voice steady. He felt a strange thrill at the lie, the way it rolled off his tongue so easily. It was almost too easy, how he could manipulate the situation to his advantage.

Kai looked around one last time before sighing. “Yeah, maybe.” He shot Toby a look, one that made Toby’s skin prickle with unease. “Guess I’ll have to check when I get home.”

“I’ll look while you are gone too!” You piped up.

Toby had no idea what he would do with the phone now that he had it, but for now, he had gotten away with it.

“Maybe we can call it?” Brook suggested, pulling out her phone.

“Nah I got it on silent.”

“The vibrate will still make noise”

“No, because I turned that off too.”

“What why?!”

“Because we were watching a movie and your friend is blowing up my phone! She’s like convinced we have something together because I gave her my number for business reasons!”

Brook giggled at this. “Sounds like her.” Kai nodded in annoyance still looking. “Yeah well, tell her, your cousin has a life.” Brook rolled her eyes.

As the night wound down and everyone started saying their goodbyes, Toby felt a strange sense of satisfaction. This was just the beginning. Soon, he’d make sure everyone knew who you belonged to. And no one—not Kai, not anyone—would stand in his way.

⦻

He didn’t know what he would do with the phone, though he had spent the rest of the night making sure all location sharing was off. Then scroll under your name. Which he couldn’t find. He found you under “🩷” which was irritating, to say the least. He only found out it was you because in some group chats, you were called out by name, and snooping through his private messages with you he used his context clues. Then after doing some more snooping and looking through other chats, he quickly realized his suspicions were true:

Kai Isaac. (As he learned his last name now) Had quite the crush on you. Gushing to his friends about you, saying that you were just the perfect girl. That any guy would be so lucky to have you.

His friends pushed him on, but Kai insisted he wasn’t ready to confess his feelings to you just yet.

Well, he got that right. But you weren’t meant for Kai Isaac! You were meant for him! Toby! Ugh! It made Toby hate Kai even more! He shoved the phone in a drawer and slammed it shut.

Kai didn’t deserve you! He didn’t have dreams about you for months before meeting you! You guys were not tied by the red string of fate! You and Toby were! You guys were meant to be together. You were meant to make it all better.

Maybe he was the hero in your story. Saving you from Kai who was quite obviously the villain. He would ignore you, not take the time to learn everything about you, and just be on overall bad boyfriend. Yeah. He wouldn’t be able to please you either! Toby bet his dick was small!

Toby crossed his arms and pouted. Stupid Kai. With his stupid phone.

Toby grabbed his hatchets.

He needed to go let off some steam.

⦻

(Y/n) (L/n) was tired. She shuffled into her house and flicked on the light, toeing her shoes off and kicking them away from her she’s struggled with her apron for a moment, panicking slightly when she felt it do the knot of death. ((Y/n)’s way of saying when the apron didn’t come undone and instead made a tighter knot and you couldn’t get it off) It fell though, and she yanked it off. She almost took her pants off too before realizing she should probably wait till she was in her room. Not that she lived with anyone. It’s just this watching feeling has gotten a bit worse since then.

She made her way to the kitchen, going to get her well-deserved snack, and went to open the pantry door, being careful. A while back, (Y/n) doesn’t know how it happened, but her friends had gotten drunk along with her. Locking Moon, the only sober one in the pantry as a joke. Moon wasn't playing when he broke the door off the hinges to get out. Fair enough. She really should just put the door in her garage and settle for the now walk-in pantry, however (Y/n) still wanted to convince herself that she would eventually be able to fix it herself. When she opened the pantry the door didn’t fall forward like it usually did. It swung open, almost as if…

Looking at the hinges she saw shiny new pins had been put in place. What? When had she gotten the time to do that? Did she remember doing that? Surely she would recall finally fixing her pantry door? Maybe her friends were messing with her. They were over earlier this week. Surely she would have heard them messing around in the kitchen fixing her door though?

She picked up her phone.

Haha! Very funny guys! Thanks for fixing the door! Means a lot! 🩷

Moon: ?

Moon: We did not fix a door. At least I didn’t.

(Y/n): Stop lying. You guys fixed the pantry door. Looks great!

Brook: Girl fixed her door and doesn’t even remember 💀

(Y/n): Stop messing with me!

Nobody responded after that. Probably giving up on trying to convince her it wasn’t them right? Cause it's them. Surely (Y/n) would remember going to the store and buying new pins for the door right? Surely (Y/n) would remember grabbing her tools and fixing the door right???

However, she was tired lately. Maybe she did. Who cares it was fixed! Tossing the thoughts away in a dark corner of her head she grabbed what she wanted and started to head upstairs, pausing at the landing when she realized the stairway light was on.

The stair light light blew out during the storm last week. Didn’t it? Or did it? She searched her memory, remembering the panic she felt when a clap of thunder woke her along with a series of popping sounds. That happened. (Y/n) had been meaning to get that fixed but she needed to go buy a stool. Maybe it fixed itself? She doesn’t know how electricity works! Maybe it could happen! Okay, whatever she’s being so ridiculous it’s not even funny. Go upstairs! It’s bedtime!

You felt uneasy.

Tobias had been in your house. Of course, he had. He had cleaned up and went around with some tools he found in your garage to fix things. He even did your dishes. He could just imagine how grateful you would be! You’d appreciate it for sure right? Like a guardian secretly taking care of you. Cause that’s what he was right? Your guardian. Maybe you hadn’t mentioned these things. Maybe you just dealt with it. Broken latches and flickering lights. Mm. Maybe these things didn’t bother you. They bothered him. Poor baby. Living in a run-down house with nobody in the world to help her keep it up.

Tobias scrubbed the stains out of your counters while the washer ran with your clothes. Feeling like he was directly taking care of you as he poured dish detergent and started the dishwasher as well before continuing to scrub. A clean environment was important for not getting sick right? He would hate for you to get sick. Or maybe he would. That way you could call him. Then he could take care of you. The smell of disinfectant filled his nose. Oddly familiar. From where?

⦻

“Tobias.” Toby rolled over to look at Lyra, snot running from his nose. The smell of disinfectant in the air. He spied the spoonful of medicine in her hand. “Oh ew n-no.” He rolled back over. “Y-you already m-made me get up so y-you can wash my sheets and fucking sh-shit. Just let me l-lay down!”

Lyra Rogers, however, was more concerned for another reason. None of the medicine was working. Just like she thought it wouldn’t. She was giving it one last go but after feeling around Toby’s face, her eyes widened. She dropped the spoon, not caring for the mess it made as she practically yanked Tobias out of bed and forced him down the hall and into the tub. She turned it on the coldest setting and disappeared. Toby reluctantly undressed and went in, curling up. This was stupid. He felt fine. As fine as he could anyway. Lyra came in and dumped an entire bowl of ice in the tub and on Toby’s head.

Toby couldn’t feel the temperatures, nor could he sweat. Lyra’s reaction meant his fever must be very high. Sometimes, Lyra was the only reason Toby didn’t go into a seizure due to heat stroke. Toby was always sickly though. With CIPA not only was his body not able to feel pain, but it also struggled to regulate his immune system since it honestly couldn’t tell when it was sick. At least that's how Toby thought of it. Lyra left the bathroom, handing him a rag and telling him to keep putting cold water all over him. If it wasn’t for Lyra Toby’s body would have killed him awhile ago. His mom didn’t care enough to check his temperature 59 times a day as his worrying sister did. Lyra was the only one who could take care of him.

⦻

Just like Toby is the only one to take care of you, right? Nobody ever checked in on you, to make sure you were okay. He was gonna make sure that he at least cared. Finishing the chores he left the house and locked it up.

He was taking care of you, protecting you. And one day, you’d understand.

You’d realize how much you needed him.

[orphiclovers]

Not orv related but kinda new to Tumblr so like what is the behaviour 101 on Tumblr , can I get a few tips , i desperately wanna interact but idk

Okay, I knew I would get something like this. You're already doing pretty well, in that you have a profile pic and have figured out the ask function, so good job. 

Orphiclovers’ guide to Tumblr 101:

1.The number one crucial step that EVERYONE should do, even if you don’t care about the rest. CHANGE YOUR PROFILE PIC to ANYTHING that's not the default one (Though not your face. We don’t generally do that here.) The reason to do this is because it’s almost impossible to tell apart a just created blog from a porn bot. If you haven’t encountered one yet, you will. They're a big thing on tumblr, a completely blank blog created by a bot (sometimes with an attractive woman as the profile pic) that follows you and and sends you ‘hot singles in your area’ type scam messages. If you get one, don’t click any links! Under the message there will be a prompt saying ‘mark this as spam?’ click that and tumblr will automatically report and block the blog.  Some people with huge bot infestations automatically block any blank blog to be safe, and you don’t want that accidentally happening to you, so CHANGE YOUR PROFILE PIC!

2. The other essential blog customization thing is go to Blog Settings>turn off ‘share posts you like’ and ‘share the tumblrs you’re following’. This will hide your likes and the people you follow from every other user. Basically everyone turns this off to have privacy. Otherwise noisy fucks like me can come to your blog and look at all that.

3. You ALSO need to go to Settings>Dashboard>scroll to Prefrences> disable ‘Best Stuff First.’ Having your dashboard (that’s what we call the “Following” tab on Home where you see all the posts) be in chronological order is objectively the best way to be on Tumblr. This is the one social media that doesn’t shove the algorithm down your throat, enjoy it to the fullest. I have never in my life clicked on the ‘Explore’ tab except by accident, and the ‘For You’ tab is also controversial. I don’t recommend it. You can learn to use tumblr with no algorithms and you will feel better.

4. Okay, but there’s like two posts on my dashboard, what do I do? You need to follow people, friend. Go to the search bar and enter a tag for a fandom or character you like. That’s ‘#kim dokja’ or ‘#honkai star rail’ - unlike instagram, you can put spaces between words. It’s not case sensitive, so #Kim Dokja #kim dokja and #KIM DOKJA is all the same to tumblr. I recommend going in tags and not just ‘kim dokja’ because tumblr’s search system is often wonky.

5. Now, scroll through the posts and follow the blogs. That’s it. Now their new posts will show up at the top of your dashboard. Currently, I follow 119 blogs and that’s a pretty decent number. I get new posts every couple of minutes, and if there are no new posts I exit the app. No endless doomscrolling. Also, all the people I follow actually post stuff I want to see.

6. You mentioned wanting to make friends and that brings me to my next tip: Reblog. Reblog, reblog, reblog. Every post you want to click ‘like’ on you should reblog instead. Everytime you want to comment you should reblog instead (and put the comment in the tags).

7. This will put their post on your blog. Most of the posts you see on your dashboard are posts the people you follow have reblogged. It’s hard to wrap your head around, but it’s essential tumblr stuff so I will try to explain it in detail.

Reblogging etiquette

8. Blank reblogs are fine.

9. If you want to say something like ‘good art!!’ or ‘wow I love this theory so much’ put that in the tags of your reblog. The original poster will see the tags you have added, and also anyone who follows you will see the post + your tags. But if they reblog a post from you, your tags don’t come with unless they decide to manually copy them (which people don’t usually do unless they want to respond to something you said in the tags. Then they will copy the tags and put <- prev as in ‘previous’ and respond to them. This is like a whispered conversation you have on op’s post but they will still be able to see all of it so be mindful.) Some people also use the tag system to organize their blogs.

For example, if you reblog art of kim dokja, in the tags you can put ‘#wowowow I’m drooling thank you op, #kim dokja, #orv, #orv fanart’. Theoretically now when you or anyone else goes to your blog’s search function can search #orv fanart and see all the original posts you have made and the stuff you have reblogged with the tag #orv fanart.

Now I will address some common concerns people have before reblogging. “Am I reblogging too many posts in a row??? Won’t the people who follow me get annoyed???” No, they will not 99% of the time. And if they do, they can unfollow you. But okay, if you’re worried about this you can put your reblogs in a queue. Here’s how tumblr themselves describe it: ‘The queue lets you stagger posts over a period of hours or days. It's an easy way to keep your blog active and consistent.’ Basically if you tell it to it will automatically post the stuff you can put in the queue every hour or 15 minutes or whatever you want the interval to be. Check it out.

“Won’t reblogging posts bury my own posts and prevent them from being seen???” No. All the posts you reblog are probably long buried in the OP’s blog too. But as long as they get passed around in reblogs they will get new eyes on them, forever. Also, you can reblog your own posts if you want them put on your followers dash again (usually tagging this as #srb or #self reblog). They will also still be in the tags you put on them originally. Myself, I tag all my posts as #my posts or #my art so anyone visiting my blog can easily check for those specifically (though I don’t know if anyone does…lol. Lmk.)

 “Okay, but I have so many different interests, won’t people hate seeing random reblogged posts about stuff they’re not interested in?” They can deal or unfollow you. But okay, some people create ‘sideblogs’ for every fandom they’re in. This functions as almost a fully fledged seperate blog. For example, you can’t easily tell if a blog you follow is a main one or a sideblog, or what their main blog is (unless they tell you). You only can’t like or follow or send an ask from a sideblog.

In general you don’t add stuff to the text part of a reblog unless you have something significant to add and/or are mutuals with the OP. Mutuals is when you both follow each other. I’m guessing you’re asking me how to get people to follow you back and to that I say idk man. Make posts and talk to them in reblogs and it will naturally happen. 

Also, asks are fun, send people asks (and enable them in setting on your own blog.)

10. Also, give your blog a description and a title. It’s just nice customization. The title can be a quote you like and the description anything you want to tell someone about yourself. Look at how other blogs do it. I think nickname/pronouns/list of fandoms is pretty standard.

Let me know if you want to ask anything else :)

[teaboot]

hello this is my first Tumblr and I am quite confusef Hel me!

Hello!

Tumblr in my experience is different from a lot of other social media platforms as there is no real goal or purpose or competition in posting. You can pretty much just say or do or add whatever and if people like your vibes the follow you, and if they don't, they don't.

If you like certain topics or Fandoms (groups of people who enjoy a particular show, book, media, etc.) you can search for it and click "follow" on blogs dedicated to those things.

Whenever they post something, you can see it on your dashboard (your "feed" or "homepage") and decide to comment (add pictures or words) reply (say something without sharing the post with your followers) or reblog (share with your followers, so that anyone following you can see the post, with or without adding your own commentary.)

Beyond technical stuff, there are some cultural things you may want to know about.

If something you reblog has potentially upsetting content- violence, traumatic topics, nudity- its considered an act of courtesy to "tag" it. This is so your followers who specifically do not want to see those topics can use filters to make those posts invisible. This is handy for people with phobias, PTSD, or photosensitive epilepsy, but also for people who just don't like those things.

There are a lot of memes that will not make sense. That is because posts don't vanish when they get old, so anything that becomes a "meme" often gets referenced over and over again for years, sometimes actual decades. Posts like "do you like the color of the sky?", "Horse Plinko", "loss.jpeg", etc. are examples of this.

There is no algorithm that decides what you might like and shows you those things. You are in control of your own experience. If you see a lot of posts from people you don't like about things you don't want to see, you can block them and never see them again. They won't see you, either. It's like making friends- you can choose to follow whoever makes you happy and avoid whoever doesn't.

There is a bot problem. Bots are automated spam designed to look like other users. This is often "cute single women" type stuff, but can also be anonymous or generic fake blogs that send out a thousand identical messages that accuse you or others of wrongdoing, or just send out basic insults. They will never see your reply. They only exist to cause chaos. You can report and block them and are encouraged to do so.

There is a difference between "liking" and "reblogging". If you "like" something, it is added to an invisible list so you can go back and find it later. If you "reblog" something, your followers can see it too. Artists prefer reblogs over likes, because they put a lot of work into their art (or writing) and the only way they can reach a large audience is if lots of people share it. Artists who are trying to get commissions or develop a career depend on reblogs to continue making art.

Sometimes an update or change happens that alters the website without any warning and everyone whines about it and adapts. This happens every few months. It's kind of dumb and sometimes makes it worse but if you Google "tumblr 2012" you will see that it's actually been a slow march of improvement.

Something weird will happen on April fool's day. Sometimes this will affect the website layout.

You will not get many followers unless you engage with other users. This is a cafeteria and if you wanna eat alone you can.

If any of your posts go viral you will see it forever until you die and if it's about Beans you will live out the rest of your days getting messages like "Are you Bean Guy" so tread lightly

You will need to choose an icon and change the appearance of your blog or people will think you are a bot. (Side effect of the bot problem.)

I have no idea if you are a bot or spam message this reply is an act of faith

Good luck!

[rjalker]

hey neopronoun community here's a tip:

you should tag your posts about specific kinds of pronouns as [first word][secondword][pronouns] as all one word.

Like ititspronouns or zehirpronouns.

Why?

because tumblr's search function is useless. To see just how useless, go ahead and try searching for "it/its pronouns", with the results set to "Latest".

It's much better than it was before, but you can still see how many posts are included that are there only because they contain the word "it" at some point. Lol. It used to be that zero posts actually about it/its pronouns showed up at all, just....literally any post that had the word "it" in the post or in the tags.

And this happens with all the other pronouns you can think of, unless each word is unique enough not to get used in any other kind of post.

So the easiest way to avoid this is to use specific tags, like ititspronouns, which will guarentee relevant results when you search for that.

Just keep the tagging scheme consistent, and everyone will be able to find relevant posts! Firstword, second word, pronouns!

Theythempronouns, bunbunspronouns, starstarspronouns, ect!

I use this tagging system here, and started using it for @neopronouns-in-action and @custom-pronoun-pins (which has not received any requests in forever, but they're always open!)

I very highly encourage others to start using these kinds of tags, so that posts about certain pronouns can be found easily!

I would just say it's probably not a good idea to do it for posts where you're just listing out a ton of pronouns, though, that would clog the tags up very fast, and be a lot you'd have to type.

Also, for anyone who missed it, here's a post I made with different categories I came up with for different kinds of neopronouns so that it's easier for people to specify!

[abby118]

Tagging

I see people complaining about Tumblr's search systems not working, and that's fair if you don't know the rules (I don't know all of them either), but one little tip I can give you is that, sometimes, simply looking up a tag on your blog shows you less posts than if you were to click on said tag on your blog and browse it that way. That's how you get all of the results. Also, when tagging, make sure the most important ones for general searches are the first three and for blog searches the first five. If you create a problematic tag, more often than not, it does hide the entire post from your searches, meaning it won't come up even when you search it using one of its other tags (or the post's words). When I can't find something, the method that never fails is to go through archives. If it's a text post, then that's fairly easy- you click on the text post filter and search a word from your post (not a tag! you can't do that with the in-built browser search, only the archive search). Remember, the result is only for the posts you see on your screen so you need to scroll -> refresh the search -> scroll etc. It won't always highlight the word for you, or better said, you won't always see it, and in that case, it means it is there but not in the post's preview (the preview is small; it can't fit everything in it).

Photos are more difficult to find but it is possible if you use the right tags to organise them. As in, don't just tag under the general tag, create subtags.

Asks tend to be notoriously hidden for some unknown reason (not for everyone though) so I'd say don't even bother tagging them (if that is your case) unless you plan to have the ask tag in your featured tags for archive search purposes*, or you're happy with the few that do come up, because not all of them will come up on your blog search (but featuring the tag is unnecessary because it is in the post types already). However, unlike in the app, you can set the Ask post filter without specifying a tag on your blog's search in the browser (just like you would in your archive).

*the tags you can filter by in your archive are the ones you had set as featured tags. If you can't find a tag there, add it to your featured. If you don't have them set, tumblr will pick them for you based on what you post the most.

Don't ask me about searches beyond your blog (the "search all of tumblr" ones). I'm not even sure staff knows what's happening there.

And lastly, capital letters make no difference (Abc = abc = ABC). They're a matter of personal preference. However, spaces matter (abc def is not the same as abcdef.....think of fan art and fanart for example).

update: this post & this post

[midnightsilver]

Tips for Spn Artists posting on Tumblr 😄👍🏻

I see a lot of new artists posting Spn art and it can be a struggle to get your art out there. Or you might be new to Tumblr and not sure how best to put yourself forward.

I post Spn art and do a lot of bangs when my health permits. And I have picked up some tips that I have found helpful for posting art tumblr 😄 so I thought I would share.

Please feel free to take any of these points or leave them as suits you!

✨Personalise your header and icon. Bots will often make posts with popular tags and stolen art, to try and gain followers before throwing out the spam links, but some clues the account is a bot is not having personalised headers and icons, not having a long history of posts (more than a few days), and not talking about their art or fandom. So make sure you don’t look like a bot 😄

✨Interact with accounts you enjoy. Like, comment and reblog your favourite accounts and they will likely return the favour and you will get more followers. The first way your post gets noticed is by your followers. Interacting isn’t always easy if one is an introvert or doesn’t have much time for social media, but do what you can where you can.

✨If don’t have many followers then the next best thing is to use tags more. People follow key tags to find new posts from blogs they are not aware of. I recommend using the ‘Spn fanart’ tag on all your art posts. Also be sure to include: common ship names, the character names, and key words like: cute, funny, angst, angel, wings, etc 👍🏻 😄 this will help people find your posts, so be sure to tag consistently!

✨Make a personal art tag, it could be ‘your name art’ or something as wacky as you like. But tag all your art with it! If someone sees your art post out in the Spn fanart tags and they like it, they can click your art tag to see the rest of your art posts.

✨Don’t include links to outside webpages unless absolutely necessary. If you are posting for a bang, reblog the bang master post for the story which has the links to ao3, but then make your own art post and only link to the tumblr master post. Tumblr often hides posts with links to outside webpages (so that the porn bots sending you to spam websites get minimised, but unfortunately this also minimises links to ao3 or shops 😔). Links to another post inside of tumblr are ok tho! So to keep your art post from being hidden from searches, only link back to the master tumblr post with the story info. If people want to read the story they can follow the ao3 link from there. But it’s better that they actually get to see your art (the ‘advert’ for the story) in the first place so that they know it exists!

Also keep this info in mind if you are linking to your shop or your other socials. Your direct followers will see your shop posts but because of the external links the post might be hidden from searches. Consider doing a mix of posts with direct shop links and ones that get the info out there but link back to a pinned tumblr post or bio post with the outside link.

✨Don’t crowd your art. Many people view tumblr on mobile so your pictures will look small. People can’t really see the details if you put 2 images side by side. Put one image on each line and consider making some cropped images to show close up details of your favourite bits. You need to catch people as they are quickly scrolling past, so be sure that you make it easy for them to see what you are offering.

✨And finally don’t be afraid to do reblogs. It isn’t rude to reblog your own work, it’s helpful. Dashboards can get very busy and even if people follow you, your post might be burried a long way down if they don’t get back online multiple times a day. Reblogs will give them a chance to see what they missed. As long as you are not posting on the hour every hour, most people appreciate 2 or 3 reblogs at different times to save them having to scrolled back for days! 😄 and don’t forget that tumblr is multinational. Time zone reblogs can be helpful.

✨oh I forgot one more thing! Don’t put yourself down! No piece of art is perfect! Ever! But Michelangelo doesn’t start off by apologising that the statue of David is out of proportion. And neither should you! Let your work shine where it shines and don’t bury it in put-downs before you even give others the chance to enjoy its triumphs! You deserve better and so do they!

Those are the main points my friends. If you have any other helpful tips that you want to share, feel free to reblog this and add on points. We were all new to this hellsite (affectionate) at some point. And life is already hard for us struggling artists so whatever we can do to help each other is a good thing 💛

Stay awesome my friends, and happy Arting 🙌🏼😄

[kyra45]

Pet donation scams

What is a pet donation scam? - This kind of scam is most commonly done with cats though on occasion a dog is used. When someone is doing this scam, they have went on a private group or public site and saved the post there such as it’s images,story, and the owners name. The scam is that when they repost it to here, they have edited out any real fundraiser method and replaced it with their own fraudulent one. They don’t actually own the cat/dog but have copied the real fundraiser just enough to pass it off as their own pet. Nothing in the post tells you it’s someone else’s pet as they really want you to trust them enough to send money without looking too much into it. While the images and story are legitimate, the other information has been purposely removed. Nothing given goes to the animal in need.

Was there an ask sent? - Commonly found by asks that are sent requesting private answers. Recently, these asks tell you they don’t want people thinking you was pressured into sharing the post and people might be weird about it. Really, they just don’t want people seeing your answer when the ask is searched because you’d see how many others have got it and may have called it out. These asks are designed to guilt trip you and shame people who call them out but usually gives it away their not being honest since no one would ask you something like that. You might get this ask by sharing a trending/popular post.

How much content is on the account itself? - When checking the blog out that sent you the ask or has the post shared by someone you follow, keep in mind how many posts the account has overall. Usually there’s only a few trending/popular/fandom posts shared and then the pinned post itself. Their archive is usually turned off so you can’t see this; But scrolling for a few minutes should mean you’ll find the last post quickly. Turning on timestamps should also show you the posts were all shared at the same time too and they don’t have any tags either.

Have you asked them questions? - If unsure of the account’s legitimacy, I suggest asking them a few questions about the pet: How long have they had them? Do they have older vet records of past visits? Can they show you a recent pic of them holding their name on a paper near the cat? Would calling the vet itself be possible for donating? Any of these would be answered easily by someone who actually owns the pet. But those who don’t own them won’t be able to answer or properly.

What is a quick way to spot this scam? - Check the date of the pinned post. It’s usually only a few hours old, a day old, or even a week old. Another way is searching the bio to see if it’s been stolen off someone else. Look at the vet location and then press/hold or hover over the link they give you. If the country doesn’t match the state, it’s likely not the real owner of the pets link. As these suspicious accounts tend to impersonate the actual owners closely in order to look legitimate.

What to do once you figure out it’s a scam? - Warn anyone who doesn’t know it’s a scam and has shared the post unless they’ve called them out. Report the account for phishing (Report -> Something else -> Illegal uses or content -> Phishing), block them, then alert your followers as well. Keep in mind scammers will always delete/hide any replies/reblogs that have called them out.

—

If you like this guide, feel free to check out my blog as I report on these scams nearly daily among other kinds of scams that I post about. If you like my hobby, feel free to drop some pocket change as thanks! However, all I really want you to do is share this post to help me bring awareness of tumblr scams. Send it to people who might not know what a pet donation scam is or link to it in posts you make! Thanks. Hope this information is helpful!

[sugajimin]

unhelpful tips and resources for gifs&gfxs

Hi everyone, I don’t know how useful this post will be but I wanted to share some of the things I learned through the years of creating content for tumblr and also new information I find every now and then. I see lot of new people who start creating content here and I want to help with what I know.

Note: I won’t upload any tutorial of mine or anything because I believe the resources I will link here will be more useful than just a tutorial that I won’t be able to explain well because English is not my first language. Let’s start!

First of all, few words about tumblr and how it works. Tumblr is a site with many communities. Every user has its own blog that can post many kinds of content, including a text,photo,video,audio,art etc. When you first join the site it might be overwhelming but in reality, it is not (*whispers* I personally find instagram harder to understand how it works). 

Like every site tumblr has its own search bar, tags, likes, reblogs(share on fb,rt on twitter),and follows. When you search a blog to follow and you see their posts you can like their post by tapping on the heart and share(reblog) by clicking on the two arrows button that looks like the recycle icon. 

What does reblog mean and do? 

Reblog is as we said the “share the post” of facebook, with reblog you don’t repost someone’s content but you share it with your followers and help it to be seen bymore people that way you actually help the creator to promote their creations. 

Likes

Unlike, instagram,twitter and facebook, when you like something the website doesn’t recommend the post to your followers unless they go to your blog via their phone and go to your likes page, if you have it unlocked, so basically, likes don’t help with supporting creators as much as reblog does. 

Tags

Tagging system on tumblr, in my opinion, is pretty fun both for the op of a post and for the reblogger. With tagging you can organize all the posts on your blog by anything you like. For example, if you tag artworks as #art and you want to find a certain artwork you reblogged a time ago you can just go to the tag and find it. 

For op you can use tags the same way as other sites to promote your work, as I remember the first 5 tags will be shown on the general tag like if you search on tumblr #artwork and you have the tag #artwork on the first 5 it will be shown there.. but I am not sure if this changed.

Creating a post 

As you can see from your dashboard(timeline on twitter) you have the option to create a text form post, a photo form post.. etc. You can experiment with all of these, don’t be afraid. I will focus on photo form posts because we will talk about gifs and gfxs.

The photo form(with the camera icon) post, is what most content creators use to post their creations like designs/graphics,art/fanart/photography, and gifs.

The site allows you to post 10 photos(if you want to post more I think Text form allows more). 

The size of your photos and gifs must be under 20mb for photos and under 10mb for gifs. 

As for dimension, tumblr has its own dimension but you can always post whichever you want, the bad thing is that the quality will be reduced on the dashboard and the viewer will have to click on every single photo in order to see the original quality. Here are the dimensions:

For a single photo/gif per columna it is 540px horizonatally

For 2 photos/gifs per columna it is 268px x 268px

For 3 photos/gifs per columna it is 177px x 178px x 177px (be careful the middle one always has to be 178px)

Themes

When you feel comfortable with using tumblr, you can customize your blog with beautiful themes that talented people have shared here! 

You can find and learn about themes here: @/theme-hunter

Gifs/gfxs

In this part, I will provide links and tutorials for gifs and graphics, But first of all you need a program for content creation. The most common one is Photoshop, you can buy a subscription from Adobe(it is expensive) or you can find crack version on the internet.  

Chaoticresource has a whole tag for photoshop and many more programs for you to start with photoshop. Not only that they have a whole list of resources for both giffing and graphic making. You can find their tag list with everything you need to here.

Here are some tutorials on how to make a gif

Tutorial by: misty-quigley

Tutorial by: kylos

Tutorial by: hayaosmiyazaki

Tutorial by: cal-kestis

Tutorial by: gr-ogu

Tutorial by: misfitsexual

Tutorial by: unbrokencolorings

Tutorial by: josefnewgayden (also has many resources)

Tutorial by: dunkzilladaddy

Tutorial by: theedorksinlove

Tutorial by: ashleysolsen (with more resources)

As you can see there are many different ways to gif, experiment with as many as you like and choose one you feel more comfortable with.

Usergif and deenafier  and cillianmurphy have collected many tutorials in their page/posts so I recommend reading them. 

Some random yet helpful tutorials I have and I find myself going back here and there are: 

The coloring tutorial by @/ daisylouisejohnson

The coloring tutorial by @/magnusedom

The color table tutorial by @/ggroupsdaily

The coloring tutorial by @/lee-haechan here and here

Coloring tutorial by @/binariesuns

Layer mask tutorial by @/daisylouisejohnson

Transition tutorial by @/fionagallaqher (and coloring tutorial)

Blending tutorial by @/linda-darnell

Blending tutorial by: @/morningstr

Channel Mixer tutorial (REALLY IMPORTANT IMO) by @/zoyanazyalensky

Glitch effect tutorial by @/nobodynocrime

Glitch tutorial by @/sarah-snook

How to fix orange-washed characters by @/zoyanazyalensky

Colored background tutorial by @/rafael-silva

Sharpenning gifs by @/joelmillrr

Coloring tutorial by @/yelenafbelova

Coloring tutorial by @/yenvengerberg

Don’t be afraid to experiment with gifs, try different styles and most important have fun!! I know thereis a lot to learn but trust me, it can be pretty fun! Good luck!

Now for graphics.. all I have to say is just have fun and experiment, experiment and experiment more! Here is a list ofresources I have collected that helped me improve my skills and find resources.

Where to find fonts/textures/vectors/mockups.

deviantart (everything)

unsplash (photos)

pixeden (mockups,photos)

graphicburger (mostly mockups)

freedesignresources (everything)

spoongraphics (mock ups)

graphicgoogle

rawpixel (photos)

digitalbrushes (brushes)

zippypixels (mockups)

dafont (fonts)

fonts by google

behance( under the tag freebie)

pinterest

fonts.ilovetypography (fonts)

gvfxarmy on twitter did an amazing job collecting resources.. you can find them here

List of youtube channels that will help you with tutorials and educational information on graphic design

Envato Tuts

Madia Designer

elliotisacoolguy

Brad Colbow

LearningScreen

PiXimperfect

The Futur

The Futur Academy

Jeremy Mura

Blue Lightning TV Photoshop

Nemanja Sekulic

Digital Art Creation

Will Paterson

Nobu Design

Satori Graphics

Logo Design Ideas

Adobe Creative Cloud (recommend to watch some of the livestreams they are interesting)

Gareth David Studio

Spoon Graphics

PSD Box Official

creatnprocess

Jamie Windsor

Dansky

Daily Photoshop Tutorials

How to Graphic Design

Photoshop Tutorials - PSt

Yes I'm a Designer 

Photoshop Tutorials

PHLEARN

Some other sites and links that i find interesting:

designbolts

thefutur free resources

The most important compositional principles in graphic design(article but check the site too)

The power of color (article, check the site too)

bezier.method (site to practice the pen tool)

aiga

httpster.net (site for inspiration)

access.mymind (color inspiration)

How to design a logo (article)

How to design a logo (article 2)

The Importance of Branding in 21st Century (article)

Color combinations

Lastly here you will find books and more resources for graphic deisgn! Thanks to @/isaaczara_ on twitter

That’s it! Hope you find this post helpful! I tried my best to not forget anything! 

Have fun on tumblr and on creating your content! Don’t give up and have fun creating!

[crabussy]

I'm not putting anything in the tags, turn on comments coward. Have you tried to use google lately or any other search engine? they censor a plethora of information and are known to feed narratives based on what certain corporate counterparts want. I would rather hear from a person, or even ai who has the toolset to officially attain information convey a specific point rather than provide some of the most mind numbing journalism articles to ever exist. Scholar is the only good part of google anymore unless you're checking the weather.

hi there! I'm a bit baffled by the tone of this, we're strangers and I don't understand why you felt it was okay to call me a coward over this, but I'm going to try and explain a few things to hopefully clear this up! I'm very sorry you felt upset at the wording of my poll.

first, I have comments off because people kept using my comments to make fun of me, or call me awful things. this was on posts that were apolitical in nature, too. I guess I'm pretty easy to bully. I'm just trying to reduce the number of upsetting comments I see about myself. my comments are off on all posts (unless you've been following me for over a week!). I'm sorry, I'd turn them on for this post if I could but the setting can only be applied across my entire blog. You can totally reblog and put your thoughts in the body of the post though! that way it doesn't get lost in the tags.

next, I realise I wasn't clear about what kind of information the poll was about. I was talking about questions like "what does 'myriad' mean?" or "what is the name of the fruit in this image?" or "are kiwi birds extinct?", all of which I've seen something similar being asked in the comments of posts. I wasn't talking about the more nuanced, complex, important information that needs a lot of explaining. I'm very sorry I wasn't more clear in my post, I'm going back to edit it and clarify after I've posted your ask!

Lastly, you do have a good point. search engines are notorious for picking and choosing information and are very prone to corporate interference. but please, in future, try not to assume the worst about people you don't know! I posted that poll for fun, out of curiosity, and apologised for the lack of nuance in the post. I was quite surprised and hurt at how unkind your wording was, when it didn't need to be at all. you could have conveyed the exact same information without calling me a coward for a choice I made. I understand that this subject is important to you and you might have felt like I was restricting your ability to share your thoughts, which could have influenced the tone you chose, but like I explained, it was for entirely unrelated reasons, to keep myself safe online. I know you might be used to people who do this kind of thing on purpose, or are intentionally abrasive towards you and others, and I'm really sorry if that's the case. It still hurts to hear someone call me names.