#complete shitpost I needed to get this out of my system

[luderailing]

OK RAMBLE TIME COMPLETELY UNORGANIZED + NEWSIES SPOILERS (wait does it even matter?? whatever just go watch it. pls) PROBABLY EDITION

okay oookay so. ideas that r all over the place but I'm working on it (This is sorta me digging up an older idea I changed some things, especially because I had no idea who I intended to be Katherine at first???

anyway it's hungary now. Because who else would wanna break the norm and go be a journalist to aid striking workers more than her.

+,,, in my original idea,, Alfred was Jack and honestly I couldn't bring myself to "recast" because honestly.....who else. And I think Ro should be Davey because I think it's cute if Mol is Les. And Alfred and Mihai's personalities in this context works. for them together. to me.

yea i think it's pretty funny

Honorable mention: Feliks as Race i need 2 draw it yet

[ayeforscotland]

What is Dataflow? Part 3: Doing the Practical

Apologies for the delay in getting this next section up - past few weeks have been super busy and then, hilariously, I was ill last week.

Read Part 1 here.

Read Part 2 here.

In Part 2 I wrote about how important diagrams have been throughout history. Understanding the 'big picture' has been important for every triumph of engineering. From bridges to skyscrapers to oil rigs and wind turbines, all of these have had diagrams backed by international standards which enabled them to be built.

The digital world hasn't quite managed that yet. In the other posts I've tried to drill home the point that modern digital businesses are often extremely siloed, communication and documentation isn't there and there is a lack of a common language between 'Business' and 'IT'.

This lack of understanding means organisations do not understand how data flows through their business and their supply chain.

It's the understanding of dataflow that's important here because it enables organisations to focus on optimising, securing and maintaining flows across an organisation rather than siloed teams patching things up where they can and not understand the upstream and downstream impact on the business.

Method and Layers

Going to preface this by saying that this may come across as complete common sense, and to some extent you'll be completely correct!

This is an example of how to create a very basic dataflow. But I will first start with understanding all of the People, Processes and Technology that I use to post on Tumblr.

So I start with six layers:

Ownership

Business Process

Application

System

Hardware

Infrastructure

What is important to remember here is that you do not have to be a specialist in every single layer.

A Business Analyst will feel much more at home in the Business Process Layer, while an Infrastructure Manager will be much more knowledgeable about the Infrastructure layer.

The important thing is that this Business & IT Diagram allows them to communicate more efficiently.

Let's Build a Dataflow!

In this example - There's an 'AyeforScotland' Element (the rectangle!) at the top. I'm the owner of everything below that element. The black lines are 'connections' representing the connectivity between the different elements.

Following the example, I'm responsible for' managing my blog 'Blog Management' which breaks down into smaller processes: Draft posts, schedule posts, answer anon abuse, and reblog shitposts.

Coming down to the Application Layer (red) - You can see that I draft and schedule posts using Tumblr Desktop and I'm using Firefox Web Browser for that.

But for answering anon abuse and reblogging shitposts, I'm using the Tumblr App.

In the Systems layer you can see I'm using Windows 11 on my PC (Hardware) and I'm using iOS on my iPhone.

Both my PC and iPhone connect to my BT Router.

And that's it for this Business & IT Diagram. I've shown clearly how I'm responsible for the processes and how I use the technology to perform those processes. I don't necessarily need to show everything on a single diagram because it would lose clarity.

This next Business & IT Diagram is much smaller, and establishes the relationships and dependencies on Tumblr to provide the service. And that's because we're complying with the laws and rules of a methodology.

In this diagram (probably need to zoom in to see it) I'm at the top left as 'AyeforScotland' and my 'BT Router' is spatially below me. Following the rules and laws of the method, that maintains the relationship that I have with the BT Router, I own it.

But I don't own the small 'Internet' that's next to it horizontally. I've simplified the concept of the internet for this example.

There's also two owners - 'Automattic' which owns and operates 'Tumblr' below it, with Tumblr being responsible for the 'Provision of Tumblr Services'.

Now naturally 'provision of Tumblr services' will break out into loads of sub-processes. Tumblr could map out their entire organisation (and if they need a hand, they can DM me!) But for this dataflow it's not really required.

Now both diagrams above are not dataflows. But close your eyes for a second and you can visualise what they are.

But because we've created our two diagrams, we understand the connectivity and using the software we can create the dataflow.

Now again, this is very basic. But when you put things into a dataflow context, you can put this down in front of a wide range of people from different business disciplines and they can start to optimise how the business works.

Here's a much larger Dataflow example, that you won't be able to read because it exceeds A0 printing size, but it should convey the scale.

If any of the connections or elements fail along this dataflow - The dataflow stops.

This costs organisations time and/or money.

So understanding dataflows allows IT people to articulate to business people "Hi boss, if this server goes down it will bring down this dataflow and cost the business $10,000 an hour" - Suddenly it's in a language they understand.

It helps with strategic decision-making, it helps with communication, it helps document how things *actually* work as opposed to how people think they work, and once you switch to thinking in terms of 'dataflow' it's hard to stop.

Conclusion

I can't wait to answer all the questions on the back of this.

Also one area I didn't go into is that each of the elements (rectangles) can also hold data (Financial data, Technical Specs, Risk & Cybersecurity metrics, Governance documentation etc).

It's also really easy to get started with it. You can start in any of the layers based on your area of work.

[cl-0v3r]

Okay this is gonna be super rushed and probably have alot of mistakes but I need this out of my system so it will most likely be like half a shitpost !!!

When i think of Jinx and Mel at a flat level, i assume that they are very different from eachother, there is no personal connection between the two at all, they don't even know eachother and they both have very different roles in the show, not to mention the difference in demeanor and character as well.

But Arcane, a show full of parallels, always knows how to connect each of its characters to one another somehow, I find it amazing that you can find so many similarities despite their vast differences even if it was the most subtle thing ever, its like the tiniest bits of detail SCREAM at you.

One of my favorite (and most obvious) things about Mel and Jinx is the fact that they speak of their past THROUGH THEIR ART, I don't think I really need to go ahead and dissect this to the last atom since it's already very clear what their drawings mean to them and to the story, but they prefer to cope with their trauma by painting/making things that remind them of the past or has a relation to it, there is ALWAYS a piece (or pieces) of art about something that continues to HAUNT them to this day, for Jinx its "doodles" of the hallucinations of Mylo, Claggor & Vi who are almost everywhere she is, as for Mel its the bloody necklace thats hung above her head and over her bed alongside the painting of the immortal bastion to remind her about "home".

Whats even crazier is the fact that their art is also tied to the people who cast them out from their family, Powder before this was always called a Jinx ESPECIALLY by Mylo and she was considered weak and unable to handle things like the others, leading her to change and become somebody new after they left, sound a little familiar? Because Mel was also considered weak, sentimental, too soft to be a Medarda E S P E C I A L L Y by Ambessa at a young age, and what happened after? Gone. Afterwards, they find themselves in a new place where people "look up to them" or they're seen as someone with higher importance.

And I've spoken a bit about the visual similarities in an earlier post, but we gotta appreciate their attitudes towards their "parental" figures, I don't know why but its funny to see how much sass they throw at them, its what inspired this post actually. Maybe its just the satisfaction of seeing my two least favorite characters get the same honest reaction I have by my favorite characters 😭

They're both tired of their shit and its the best thing to ever exist.

Let's not forget how they both got genuinely angry at them as well? Jinx snatching Silcos injection from his hands and being pissed at him for lying to her about everyone being dead, while Mel slapped the goblet out of Ambessas hand, upset that she played with Jayce unrightfully so.

The color and design differences is a beautiful parallel too, Jinx is often surrounded by cold or dark colors like Blue, Green, black with a hint of purple and pink and dressed like her personality, while Mel is more light & Warm-toned with yellow/gold, red, white and a wee bit of black which is all matching to her Elegance. This is just a general parallel between characters of Zaun and Piltover overall, but its always very appealing when you compare them together.

And finally, its them completely letting go of their past selves and starting out new literally by the last episode after struggling with who they are the whole time, Powder was officially gone by the end of the season, and Mel was no longer Medarda. Jinx is just Jinx, Mel is just Mel, and they are both going to do things their own way and that was shown with how Mel took off her ring and painted over the Immortal Bastion with gold , and how Jinx launched her rocket towards the council with her own art on it too.

Its funny to think that thats the only physical connection they could possibly have and that its related to their character arcs, its related to them making a new big decision, it has a strong relation to their art, and a strong relation to them saying goodbye to their family.

Hope this made sense !!!!!!!! I honestly just want them to like idk hug or something and go to loo loo land and paint together or whatever in a different universe and cope with their shared trauma together no fuss no muss. Fanfic writers where did you go y'all are missing out on this super mega awesome cool older&younger sister / mother-daughter duo.

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

Brainrot Housekeeping: Updated Schedule!

Hi friends! I've got a whole message under the cut, but here's the important part regarding this blog's new content schedule:

Saturdays: mini-hcs Sundays: answering asks (& maybe some rambles?) Mondays: full-hc Tuesdays: answering asks (& maybe some shitposts?) Wednesdays: Vesuvia Weekly Thursdays & Fridays: rest

You might see some polls showing up in the next week or so about new content types - if you're interested, feel free to vote! ^.^ More under the cut:

While I haven't hit rock bottom, I've been getting some symptoms of burnout recently and I'd like to avoid completely running myself into the ground XD

This blog has really pushed me to see what kind of creativity I have, especially just how much work I'm able to produce and sustain. I thought I'd get tired and burn out at two months tops, and it's been over and year and I have no immediate plans to stop! However, taking a look at my own system right now, I do think I need to slow down.

To be honest, fanwork isn't something I've been doing a long time - this tumblr blog is the only fandom creative stuff I've ever done! Before that, most of the things I created were originals - music, art, and of course, writing (though I haven't touched my sketchbook/paints in forever and I haven't done any sightreading in years - whoops).

It gets hard to keep your muscles moving when you only move them in one direction. As much as I love writing headcanons for the M6 in response to people's prompts, there is so much else my mind can do that it misses having the space for. Which brings me to the reason for this schedule adjustment - I miss having that creative freedom.

I still greatly enjoy writing headcanons for you guys and participating in the fandom, and I don't plan to stop anytime soon. However, I want to take some time back to get back into frolicking in the stuff my own brain comes up with, and making space for that to grow into something real.

The questions I need to figure out now are 1) how much time is it going to take me to get my full capacity back? and 2) should I keep this as a purely Arcana blog, or expand it for all my creative work?

If you've read this far, you have my sincerest gratitude. I'll see you guys tomorrow :)

Cheers!

brainrot

[aiyexayen]

B, U, N

delicious.

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Liu Qianqiao/Shen Shen. A Little Foolishness by rustycreekspoon opened my eyes to the possibilities. I would read a 50k story about them easily. Maybe someday I will get to. 😏

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

it's difficult to pick favourites.

1. Wen Kexing from Shan He Ling. He's my most blorbo from my most show. He's my babygirl. He's my precious son. He's me in the ways I need to be reflected back at myself. I can fix him and make him worse and use him to express all my inexpressible feelings about home and identity and what it means to be human in spite of an inhumane life. He taught me how very sexy it can be to lift a whole-ass man up by his neck and slam him into the ground. Episode 11 lives in my head rent-free. His arc is the embodiment of maybe it's not too late for me. I can't love any of my beloved characters more than him to this day.

2. Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan) from The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System. He's truly one of my favourite character arcs I've ever read. Hands down the best unreliable narrator I know. Nobody is doing it like him. He's completely terrible. He's so good. He's both worse and better than he wants to believe. He cares so much and loves so fiercely and grieves so deeply and he'll never admit it for a second. He came from a world that let him forget what it was to be human and he's re-learning his own humanity at the hands of characters from a novel that themselves become more human the more he treats them like people, in an exquisite metaphor and compelling study on the nature of humanity what it really means. He's a fascinating study on the human spirit and willpower and regret and how little it takes to make someone commit atrocities and how much it takes to break a true conviction. He's a self-serving bastard wannabe who can't help but give everything of himself up when push comes to shove. Half his thoughts are panicked swearing and live shitposting and cackle-inducing nonsense against a backdrop of a story that moved me to tears. He is gray-aroace feels. He is precious to me. I want to slap him into next week. And so it goes.

3. Menolly from the Pern series. I am running out of words but I will say, I wanted little more as a child than to run away to a place where I could belong and be finally understood even if my peers still didn't want me, where someone would tell me I was good, where I could learn everything about the world and how to become a meaningful part of it. Menolly lit the fires of those dreams that still smolder softly in me, and I will always love her the most for that and for getting to live them out for me. Also, gender feels.

N - Name three things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

1: more rare ships let me devour them let me feast 🙏

2: more cross stitch patterns bc apparently i have to make them myself if i want to do fandom cross stitch?? 😭 as if i need more hobbies on hobbies...

3: more fics by this one author called aiyexayen i hear they have like fifty seven wip's where are the finished fics we want to READ THEM 😩

fandom ask me more things game

[poolsidescientist]

It comes across like you are painting anyone left-wing or sympathetic to Palestinians with a very broad brush. I completely understand your concerns about antisemitism and aggressive branches of activism, but there are also people worried about family in Palestine or rightly critical of the growing right wing extremism and militarism of Israel. Angry ad hominems that paint all protestors as larpers or "retards" silences good faith discussion and legitimate criticism on all sides.

Hey anon,

Thanks for writing in and hope you’re having a good day. 

I don’t hate the left (though I do have my qualms which have little to do with antisemitism), and I don’t hate Palestinians, and I truly believe that the more lives can be saved in it the better. War is terrible, and I have great compassion for people living in warzones or whose families are enduring them. Everyone has a right to their grief and I cannot fault people for struggling with the current conflict, especially those with personal stakes in it. I’m also not Israeli, so I hesitate to speak over them about the political system there as they’re the ones that have to live with it. I’ve never heard anything good about the current government there and though there are probably plenty, I’ve yet to meet an Israeli who didn’t hate the government. Most of them just want to live their lives. The way Israelis are dehuminized is truly horrific. I also feel for the Palestinians as they tend to get tossed around as political symbols by various movements and end up dehuminized in that sense. At the end of the day, everyone is human and deserves to be treated as such.

 I think nuanced and intelligent conversations are possible but most progress will likely be happening within the region or from people with a connection with it. Most of the people on college campuses or radicalized online feel trapped in their lives and have genuine grievances with a world that is increasingly a) unaffordable, b) politically volatile, and c) environmentally unstable due to the climate crisis. People are scared and crave security and often this turns into finding a group who is responsible for their suffering and that they can do something about. Historically this has been, in many instances, the jews. Antisemitism is baked into many cultures. It’s a familiar hatred, passed down as a family heirloom, that’s why it’s so hard to shake and exists at all points across the political spectrum. 

That being said this a personal blog. Were this an official or educational resource I may choose my words differently.I also think we need to separate sympathetic to Palestinians with sympathetic to Hamas and Islamic extremism because these are very different things. Wanting to live in peace and have their own State is not the same as wanting to kill especially Jews but also other minority groups (Christians, etc.) in the region and establish an Islamic state for everyone in the region. My frustration is with the activists who are promoting the latter. In my experience that is unfortunately most of them. I think things like the student encampments and “revolutionary summer camps” are revolutionary LARPers at best and accelerationists at worst. Not all activists or protestors want to kill half the jews in the world, but very, very few of them are going out of their way to explain why statements like “go back to Poland” or “from the river to the sea” are harmful and less of those standing up to actual hate crimes. My thoughts on the current state of activism can be best summed up by Shania Twain: “that don’t impress me much”. My personal complaints are mainly bitching about the ignorance and hatred I see around me, of which there is no shortage of. I don’t know how to deradicalize people. I’m just here to whine and make cheesy shitposts.

[slimepuparibaba]

Stars and Asters: Chapter Prologue or something

hi welcome to my last attempt at ever making stuff on this shitshow of a genshin au here are some groundrules before we start

Ari's Braindead Notes:

canon divergent. heavily. characters will change. events will change. canon is a blank canvas, and we tore it apart and set it on fire before repurposing it into a pinata and beating the crap out of it to get colorful candy

chilumi is like main focus ok i dont make the rules no i am not changing my mind shut up i love them

theres some weird other interdimensional shenaniganary that i might make into another fucking brainrot shitpost thingamajig but for now just accept that genshin is a simulation, nothing is real, and they are all trapped in a game

did i mention we be canoning the divergent

anywho here's chapter prologue or whatever the fuck im trying to make this as fun as possible ok have fun byeeee

CHAPTER PROLOGUE: THE WORLD IS FUCKED!

[WORDCOUNT: 385] (its the prologue okay cut me slack--)

So, once upon a time, the universe existed. Hear me out here, okay? It. It exists.

There are worlds that are created from pre-existing worlds. Some people call them Simulated Worlds, Bubble Worlds, etc. It honestly just. Doesn't matter what you call them. Just know that these worlds are created as soon as someone creates them.

The initial creator of that world creates the "seed"--this seed has blueprints on the initial version of the world. Major characters, events, locations, et cedera.

From there, the seed grows overtime as it's introduced into the rules of reality. As the seed "sprouts", it grows into a beautiful tree, branching out to create differing worlds. The farther up the tree? The farther away from the original seed it becomes. And when it becomes different enough, that world disconnects from that tree and becomes it's own world seperated from this system.

Each world has two things it's born with. Some have dubbed this a God Program and the World System.

A God Program is basically what it sounds like. Each world needs to have a protector, a parental-like figure to watch over it. They're not allowed to intervene unless the World System allows it to.

Then there's the World System. The World System is like the child, growing and ever-changing, adapting and living it's own life under the protection of the God Program. However, it is vulnerable, and needs to be protected at all costs.

The two work together in tandem to keep the flow of that world safe. Everything there is left to develop on it's own.

Except, there's just... one thing that exists. Something that can disrupt that harmony.

It's said long ago, not long after the universe was created, a tragedy struck, and corruption spread across the world. A struggle for complete control over order and chaos. Thus was born a Seed of MAlice--a SOMA.

When a SOMA comes into contact with a God Program, it will corrupt it. There are only ever two outcomes: the God Program will seek to destroy the world entirely, or will attempt to "recreate" it into the perfect blueprint of the original "Seed" the world stemmed from

This phenomena was the same phenomena that struck one of the Genshin Worlds. The World of Stars and Asters.

Welcome. Let's start the Game.

<masterpost> &lt;next>

[gorey-gorella]

It’s a genuine shame that you think academics like Cathy Cohen aren’t worth listening to because they supposedly use too many “buzzwords” (another silly anti-academia fear mongering term) or “get to the point quickly enough”... It’s obviously important to consider the positioning/background of your sources, but Ieft-leaning ones tend to be more in line with facts than right-leaning ones, especially notorious grifters like Shoe0nhead.

You keep bringing up observable reality as if it exists in opposition to my positions when it’s not. As a fellow atheist, I also acknowledge that subatomic particles not being observable by my eye does not make them any less real or measurable. Things like systemic racism have numerical evidence and historical context.

I called your description of the left exaggerated because you clearly do not understand what “be gay, do crime” even means (i.e. associating it with gays thinking they’re above the law as a whole as opposed to it’s actual meaning of participating in civil disobedience/good trouble to create more just laws/eradicate unjust laws).

Mike is literally one of the creators, safe to say he knows what ATLA stands for better than you do.

A show can be leftist and also critique it. The video game Disco Elysium is communist but critiques communism. Also, a monarchy is still a form of government and the show doesn’t need to display a one-to-one governmental representation of its ideology to hold said ideology (After all, suggesting Mike is advocating for monarchy would be a silly lack of media literacy). Furthermore, saying that authoritarianism isn’t bad on its own is interesting, to say the least… Also, while liberalism, leftism, and libertarianism may have some overlaps, they are all distinct and you seem to keep conflating them. I think it’s similarly interesting that you think Airbenders were too pacifistic, but label the entire anti-fascist movement as too extreme (i.e. support more active forms liberation for fictional characters, but not for real oppressed people). ATLA promotes balance as a means to prevent/resist authoritarianism and fascism, not to endorse centrism.

Of course not all right-wingers are exactly the same, people across the board are individuals. Some extreme right-wingers love Trump and some hate him because they’re also not a monolith. However, at its core, the right is united by inherently harmful and dehumanizing ideologies.

I’m obviously left-leaning and I own that. Bias is impossible to avoid, being a centrist is still buying into certain forms of propaganda, so the best one can do is align themselves with whatever position is most in line with facts/has the most consistent and harm-reductive worldview. I am, however, not caught up in culture war bull like worrying about people’s gender identity. You genuinely think the left is out to “eliminate masculinity” or whatever that means when it’s all in your head and you responded in earnest to a shitpost. No one is force-feminizing men against their will and you seriously need to change your media diet if you think that.

Buzzwords aren’t a leftist thing. If a right winger is saying top many buzzwords, I tend to tune off from them, too.

I never said anything in my other post about the left holding men down and making them wear a dress.

My point was that the left hates men who are mentally dominant and have their own opinions in any way. They don't actually care for men being able to express their feminity. They just want men to submit everything. Most 'feminine' men I see on the left are either gay and act exactly like stan Twitter users or just completely submit themselves to the left, and they drink, 'respect women juice'.

They may be 'joking', but I can tell its based on their own beliefs. Especially since one of the comments was on the person's side and was all like, 'The misandry truthers' like if misandry clearly doesn't exist.

As I said, it's not like I don't use data at stuff at all, I just don't use the ones with buzzwords, half-ass data, and clearly with an extreme bias. Cathy Cohen has a clear bias of wanting to make blacks and lgbt people look like victims of everything.

I'm not rejecting data or academia. I'm rejecting studies that are clearly agenda-driven and full of emotional buzzwords. Bias exists in academia, and that's why I won't blindly accept someone like Cathy Cohen, who constantly frames minorities as helpless victims of everything.

Mike literally can be flawed. And just because years later, he quoted some dumb shit doesn't mean that ATLA meant that back then.

I never said Mike meant that we should become a monarchy, I meant that the show, in general, was anti-extremes. That's why they didn't dismantle the monarchy, he may disagree with it, but it's not an extreme in it of itself, that's why the monarchy wasn't destroyed.

Just because Mike DiMartino is the creator doesn't mean his later political takes rewrite the themes of ATLA. The show is about balance and resisting extremes, not about pushing a single political ideology. Creators don't get to dictate how we interpret their work years later.

Antifa is a garbage movement. I am anti-fascist. That doesn't mean much. That doesn't say much about my beliefs. Saying your anti-fascist does really mean anything. Antifa is a radical, dangerous movement that harms those they disagree with.

I literally agreed it was anti-fascism. It's just not completely anti-auth, or else, the Firelord and Royal system would be dismantled all together.

The right thinks the same thing of the left. They think at its core, all the left and libs are trying to destroy everything they love.

For me, centrism makes the most sense because it's not on one side. It takes in all perspectives.

Centrism isn't propaganda-it's about taking a balanced view and rejecting extremism on both sides. It allows me to evaluate issues based on logic and evidence, not just tribal loyalty to a political camp.

I call out the night's bullshit too. Where did you get me saying I'm worried about that? I'm saying the left never has cared about men(exactly why the right can easily brainwash them on being on their side).

The left ignores men's issues, which is why the right has such an easy time pulling men into their camp. The left only 'cares' about men when they fit their agenda, and that's why many men feel alienated and brainwashed by the right.

Also, Mike and many other creators can be stupid, especially in the future. He could just be following the dumb modern trends now.

I'm not sure if Mike quoted it 2016(the time of Trump) or in a later year, but ATLA was made in 2005 and ended in 2008. That's years from even 2016 and even more years from a year above 2016.

Clearly, back then, it was anti-extremes. His newer opinions don't change what ATLA, the TV series, was all about. It was about harmony.

I mean, wow, nothing says anti-auth like continuing the Firelord and Royal system, even in LOK.

[pretty-toastie]

But in all seriousness (because i'm incapable of just shitposting without backing it up with reason, it's a problem. i should be asleep), death of the author is all well and good for the consumption of media, but people need to understand that they are not entitled to critique media from a perspective that ignores artistic intent. If you have any desire to understand or talk about any piece of media, the creator's intent is an essential piece of that understanding.

You CANNOT, for example, understand indie games like Anna Anthropy's dys4ia or Zoë Quinn's Depression Quest without knowing that they are both intended to be chronicles of personal experience. People have complained about both on the grounds that they are inadequate or inaccurate representations of the experiences of, respectively, gender dysphoria and depression. [1]

This is objectively a misreading of the works. Depression Quest is about QUINN's experience. It is not prescriptive. Likewise, dys4ia is about ANTRHOPY's experience with navigating dysphoria and the medical and societal systems which make life for trans people difficult. It is, again, not prescriptive.

Critique of these works on the grounds that they don't represent everyone's experiences is not a valid criticism. It's like complaining that a fantasy novel isn't realistic: it isn't trying to be. [2]

So, go, consume your media, and care not about the author's intent. If it brings you more joy to project your own interpretations onto a work, do it! [3] But if you want to examine media in a critical manner, if you want anything more than a surface level understanding, if you want to critique a work in any way, you cannot ignore the author's intent.

Footnotes:

[1] Depression Quest has also been "critiqued" on many other grounds, nearly all of them bad faith and bigoted. I don't want to talk about G*merG*te. I could not write any degree of an informative post about it. I would lose my shit. It makes me so fucking mad. Also it might get me doxxed. If you're curious, watch this video. Content warnings are included, and please, loves, pay attention to them if you don't know what G*merG*te was/is. It's bad.

Also, in case you're wondering, I'm censoring the word because I don't really wanna attract any of that crowd? For them to be aware of my existence could be genuinely dangerous, and it might be a little paranoid, but I just don't want to risk it :/

[2] Critique and analysis of works absolutely does not have to be limited to artistic intent. Saying "I interpreted x media like this" is, in my opinion, one of the coolest parts of media analysis. Additionally, you can ABSOLUTELY discuss whether or not intent is relevant in the face of public perception; if the entire audience of a work reads it one way, there are grounds for that being more relevant for understanding its impact than the author's intent. All I'm saying here is that you cannot completely disregard authorial intent just because you want to.

[3] Keep in mind, though, that some media just will be better if you know the author's intent. It's just the way that things are. You can still project your own interpretations onto it afterward, but you will be missing out if you refuse to consider authorial intent. You have to decide if that's worth it to you.

death of the author? DEATH OF THE AUTHOR??? babe just TRY to kill me

[i-eat-your-pancakes-art]

why can't we be friends :(

actual art of them coming soon

[windvexer]

actual magical advice (*it's not about fire safety)

Ok I've had my fill of shitposting so here's something that might actually be helpful:

We all work in various ways of course, but I find that making permanent spell vessels and charging them when you need them is a really great way to deal with having too low time/space/energy to cast spells on an as-needed basis.

When I say a spell "vessel" I mean a physical object which is not destroyed in order to complete or activate a spell. So a candle which has to be burned down, a knot which has to be untied, etc., don't count for the type of thing I'm talking about right now.

The kinds of "vessels" I'm talking about are things like witch ladders, poppets, container spells (bags, boxes, jars, bottles, etc.), enchanted jewelry or figurines, manifestation boxes, and so on.

These objects don't have to look "witchy" at all and can easily be made stealthy.

In order to be useful time and time again, I find my own vessels tend to employ more general intent. For example, I might make a "vessel of ill-will" but I wouldn't make a "get Becky from accounting to suffer the consequences of her actions" vessel.

So there are limitations to this system - pre-making stuff for later use means that it's only going to cover generalities.

Another downfall to this method is if a person has really energy-intensive methods of charging, or if they're already struggling to accomplish manifestation due to issues properly gathering and applying energy.

The benefit for me is that my method of charging is very low-energy for me, so once I've spent the energy making the vessel, recharging it when it runs out of batteries is pretty simple. But if someone's personal charging method leaves them exhausted for a couple of days, the benefits to this system dwindle.

In addition, if someone's magical fatigue/difficulty manifesting has to do with not yet having figured out how to cast spells in a way that works for them, then of course this in and of itself won't fix anything.

All that being said, I do think there are lots of benefits to working this way, including:

having time to experiment with and develop spells for the future (as opposed to emergency casting on current situations),

being able to more rapidly respond to situations as they arise (not needing time to research/develop/cast an entire spell; just charging a vessel instead), and,

spell vessels accumulating greater power over longer periods of time that might be very difficult to achieve for one-off spells.

IMO the benefits list does get pretty long but also pretty specific, like, it's a great way to test your energy-raising and charging abilities because you're eliminating the variable of the vessel in your work.

And, you can still cast as many one-off spells as you want towards a goal while the long-term vessel is activated.

And, you can practice magic on lots of stuff that you're not actively dealing with right now.

And, you can get into experimenting with managing and caring for long-term magical objects, which in and of itself is a pool of knowledge. Stuff like that.

So anyway yeah if you're someone who struggles with figuring out how to employ more magic in your life start catching those spells like pokemon and leaving some of them in the PC until needed.

[bogleech]

We’re in the final days of Halloween here’s all my spooky contents

Because I get new followers EVERY DAY from old shitposts or biology posts and they don’t all know that I just sit there making spooky content all year!!

Mortasheen - now at last has a fully funded kickstarter for a tabletop RPG, so that’s coming 2021, it’s a “mons” world (like Pokemon or Digimon) with mad science and body horror motifs that I’ve been expanding for almost 20 years of my life. Link goes to the main monster list, now exceeding over 700 (I WILL catch up to Pokemon sooner or later!!!)

Awful Hospital: Seriously the Worst Ever - a webcomic now in its sixth year, where actions and dialog are partially guided by user comments. You help a mom explore a broken, otherworldly hospital to save her son and, by now, save reality as we all know it.

Monster Reviews & Guides - most are on the front page of my site but more are archived under the “articles” button. My hyperfixation on creature design is such that I’ve meticulously reviewed and analyzed entire video game bestiaries, monster toy lines, Halloween decorations and sci-fi cartoons to the tune of tens of thousands of monsters by now, because to this day, it seems like only a handful of other people care enough about the subject to do that??? Or are they holding off because they think it’ll step on my toes??! Maybe I wanna be able to read monster analyses that aren’t mine sometimes!!

Don’t Get Spooked - one Halloween I learned how to use Twine, made this elaborate fully illustrated Creepyasta Haunted House game with an inventory system, hidden mini creepypastas and tons of easter eggs, then I forgot how to use twine ever again. SCAREY!!! May not work right in all browsers anymore.

Homunculus Nightmare - another Halloween I made this kind of obtuse game where you just either print out or draw monsters (you don’t have to use their “official” cards! I just liked making them!) and then you photograph them under different circumstances to “defeat” them. Anybody who completes 31 of them (counting fan-made monsters) gets to design their own.

Nightmare Menagerie - (Warning for some gore, disturbing imagery and disturbing writing) - every November and December I’ve been inviting people to share their weirdest and creepiest dreams in my site comments, and then I draw some of my favorite monsters/entities from people’s actual dreams, hallucinations and sleep paralyses! Other artists tend to join in too! Link goes to the most recent one from 2019′s season, links to all other entries are in thumbnails at the bottom!

CREEPYPASTA/WEIRD FICTION ARCHIVE - this is the first year that I just have too much going on to host this again, but from 2012-2019 my site hosted a writing competition every November to January as a winter extension of Halloween. People have submitted over a thousand stories all archived alphabetically under the link, ranging from supernatural comedy to multi-part dark fantasy epics and even a full length novel!! Check out the links by year to see authors who won the contest aspect, but for real, almost any story you click is going to be interesting to just amazing. There’s no way for me to ever really express my appreciation for every author here, especially those who wrote or shared their writing for the first time in their lives. I still hope that a lot of them, whether they won or not, kept an interest in storytelling.

Spiderween - an “Arachnophobe Safe” guide to spiders -  while this kind of falls under the “creature reviews” it’s still one of my favorite things I made, with a lot of help from @revretch​! I generally want everybody in the world to think spiders are cool and good even if they got stuck with an inability to look at them, which generally isn’t anybody’s fault, so I made this 31-page guide to the weirdest, most amazing spiders with illustrations that don’t actually look like spiders. Each includes a link to what they actually look like, but some of those might have gone down in the time since it went up. You can always google their names if you need! Includes heavily sourced mythbusting on the most feared spiders of all, too; there are some that are dangerous, but none of them are actually as dangerous as you think they are. Our recluse spider entry goes into the most detail.

[ironmandeficiency]

internal bleeding

pairing: kix / mechanic!reader

word count: 2425

summary: work can be dangerous, even for someone who barely leaves the star cruiser.

a/n: i’m hitting three birds with one stone with this one!! not only is this shitpost prompt #1 AND a separate request i got a few days ago, but the 14th was my bestie @morganas-pendragons​ ‘s birthday!! have a little kix, kayla, as a late bday treat

warnings: getting kinda crushed by a ship, fives being a dumbass

the guys had just arrived back on board the resolute from what you heard was an almost too easy campaign. despite the lower than normal admittances to the medbay, there were still plenty of ships to tend to with varying amounts of damage.

your normal drill on days like this one was to work like hell until kix was relieved of duty for the night, then go with him to his bunk and let the both of you sleep out your exhaustion in the comfort of each other’s arms. the next morning before you were both summoned to your duties would be spent catching up on each other, letting the worries melt away as you chatted about everything and nothing all at once. it was a system that you both adopted soon after you started dating, one that you were extremely grateful for.

it was nights like that where you were able to see your boyfriend vulnerable in a way he couldn’t show often. if the campaign was more rough than usual, then you were able to hold him and remind him just how wonderful of a man he is. you hated to see him hurting but took comfort in the fact you were always able to bring him back to you, back to his brothers.

thoughts of laying in kix’s loving arms keep you blissfully distracted during the later hours, when the rest of your fellow mechanics had already retreated to the bunks for the night. others thought your late hours spent under various ships were because of your dedication to the cause, but they didn’t know about you and kix. you worked hard so your medic was safe, so his brothers were safe.

those reasons were what had you under general skywalker’s delta-7b aethersprite at some unholy hour of the night. your reputation preceded you, and after some good words put in by torrent company, you were able to become the only person besides general skywalker himself allowed to make repairs on it.

it was a strenuous job sure, what with how the jedi knight wore down his ships, but you enjoyed your work and felt honored to be respected at such a high level.

that is, you enjoyed it when the jacks holding the ship up weren’t breaking while you under the damned thing. you heard the telltale creaking of the jacks while your entire body was on the ground below it. you were never more grateful that chet had convinced you to use one of the rollers.

with all the speed your half-conscious body could muster, you walked your feet forward as fast as you could from under the delta and thought you were home free, but then an excruciating pain erupted in your left arm. the ship was on top of the limb and the weight was no pain you’d ever felt in your life. you were certain your scream should have gotten somebody’s attention, but it seems that you’re all alone.

your comm was, unfortunately, on the wrist of your crushed arm and on the off chance that it wasn’t busted beyond repair, you couldn’t communicate with the thing regardless because the buttons were out of reach.

maybe if the surveillance team would see you eventually but you doubted it. there was no way in the galaxy you were going to let yourself be bested by a damn ship though, so you got to yelling for someone to help you and hoped you wouldn’t lose your voice before help came.

--------

“kix, i know for a fact you haven’t slept in at least two days. get your ass outta here or i’m gonna call your girl in here and have her drag you out.”

“i’m not gonna leave when there’s still so much left to do.”

“you’ve done plenty, vod-”

“coric, i-”

kix wasn’t sure who had a hold on his arm but suddenly he was being dragged out of the medbay, and his body was too weak to resist the familiar grip. “vod, you’ve got a pretty woman waitin’ for ya and she’d hate to see you working yourself to death like this. let’s head to the barracks-”

“no,” kix mumbles, “she’s waiting for me in the hangar, it’s what we always do.” to be frank, kix isn’t completely honest how he’s able to form a coherent sentence with how tired he is. fives says nothing, just nods and takes a turn towards where you were waiting.

the closer the brothers got to the hangar, the more they heard it. they weren’t completely sure what “it” was, but it was a little worrying. the noise kept repeating itself and when they were closer, it sounded… human. they were yelling, and were they crying too? it was hard to tell from here.

warning bells were ringing in their heads and any tiredness kix had before was shoved down deep as they ran to investigate the source of the noise.

if you weren’t in so much pain you would have thought to keep track of the time you spent under the ship. your arm was in a strange limbo of total numbness and almost blinding pain and you couldn’t even focus on your surroundings because all of your focus was on the pain.

no one was listening, no one had been for the past however long you’ve been laying there. your throat was raw from screaming and you began to sob, which didn’t exactly help your throat. you weren’t completely certain when your sobbing began to contain cries for help but what you did know was that the longer you were under this ship, the worse the damage would be.

several more minutes of sobbing and screaming and nothing. not a soul cared that you were pinned down. you were doomed to spend the rest of your days under general skywalker’s ship, forever known as the mechanic whose love for her work killed her.

but wait a minute, were those footsteps? or was it the pounding of blood in your ears?

the two soldiers enter the hangar and their eyes nearly fall from their skulls when they identify your body in such a precarious spot under the bright yellow ship

“cyare! sweetheart, what happened?!”

their feet pound hard on the durasteel floor towards where you were pinned, fear the dominant expression on both of their faces. kix has never seen you cry out of something that wasn’t laughter, and he didn’t think he’d ever be ready to see his headstrong cyare temporarily defeated by a hunk of metal.

“kix, help me get this off her!” fives yelling for his help and the sobs from your throat snapped him back to reality as he helped lift the ship just enough for you to move to the side enough to free your arm.

it almost hurt worse now that the weight was gone which made no sense. once you were free, the men dropped it with a clang and kix was immediately hovering over you, examining the wounded limb. he quickly notices the way your veins are swelling and the unnatural angle of your wrist and is brought to two conclusions: there’s some sort of internal bleeding in your arm that needs to be taken care of immediately, and you have a broken wrist.

“what’s the damage?”

“internal bleeding and a broken wrist. could have been worse but this is a bitch of an injury.”

“internal bleeding? isn’t that where the blood’s supposed to be?”

you wanted so bad to laugh at the stupid joke, it was one of the worst ones you’ve ever heard from him. the most you could muster is a sob-laugh accompanied by a shake of your head. you’d give him the proper laughter later when you weren’t in blinding pain.

fives is watching worriedly as his vod unzips half of your jumpsuit, using the sleeves to tie your arm to your torso. he knows that as a mechanic, your hands and wrists are crucial for your job. would you be let go for this? oh gods, what if you had to leave the resolute? kix would be absolutely crushed without you.

whispering a soft apology in your ear, he lifts you into his arms and begins to run to the medbay as fast as his legs could go. the jostling irritated the wound and brought the tears down harder, and with every step kix was cooing gently and giving choked apologies for hurting you.

“i thought i told you to leave, k- holy shit, what happened?!”

“she was working in general skywalker’s delta when the jacks collapsed and the ship fell on her!”

“there’s a free bed over here!”

coric was struggling to comprehend you crying, that just wasn’t something that happened. ever. he would have continued down this rabbit hole of “holy kriff” but kix was beginning to shout orders. he literally just kicked this man out of the medbay moments ago, this isn’t going to fly. not even - no, especially when the patient is his cyar’ika.

coric and fives could tell that kix’s hands were shaking from several feet away. whether it was because of you, his ongoing lack of sleep, or both, neither of them were sure. a silent plan was devised and fives was soon pulling kix backwards away from you. he was struggling in the arc’s hold, yelling about how he had to be there, how he wasn’t going to leave you. coric was then able to bring the needle to his vod’s neck and pushed in the sedative.

fives gently sat his brother in one of the sparse guest chairs and pulled a second chair next to kix’s. you two weren’t going to be alone, not through something like this.

you woke up connected to machines you knew the names of and how to fix, but not why they were attached to you. then you tried to move your arm and you remembered exactly why in seconds, your eyes seeing spots with the pain. it was nowhere near as bad as it was when you were still under the ship, but it was terrible for just waking up.

then you tried to lift your other side and panicked when you couldn’t move your entire right side. that wasn’t where you were hit, what gives? then you recognized the anti-droid aurebesh and lightning bolt designs and let yourself calm down.

it was just kix, and he was curled around you like a tooka kitten trying to steal warmth. his hands held your right one to his chest, his forehead pressing against your shoulder while the rest of his body was curled up to make itself as tiny as possible. even in sleep, kix was always putting your comfort first.

not wanting to wake him, you decided to gently trace the designs in his hair and count down the minutes until you could kiss him like you’ve been wanting to ever since he left for the planet’s surface.

a throat clears from kix’s other side and you poke your head up with confusion. why was fives there? did he even sleep last night? didn’t look like it.

the arc trooper could see the question forming on your lips and answered it before you could say a thing. “i uh, i didn’t want either of you to be alone when you woke up. i hope that’s okay.”

“that’s more than okay, fives. it’s really sweet of you.”

“yeah it was a guessing game as to which one of ya would wake up first,” you raised an eyebrow as to why they’d be unsure of whether you or kix would be up before the other. “he was frantic when we brought you in, nearly punched coric when he told him to move away from you. had to sedate him to get him down.”

you gasped at the revelation and turned to press a soft kiss to your boyfriend’s crown. it was still jarring to know that you had someone that would fight tooth and nail for you, despite having been with kix for nearly a year. but for him to be given a sedative because he was so violent in his need to help you? it was bizarre. violent was never a word you thought would describe kix, but trying to punch his brother seemed to fit under that category.

he stirred next to you and his hands tightened their grip on yours, his forehead pressing a little harder against your shoulder. a few grumbles came from his throat as he awoke, eyelids droopy as he raised his head.

“are you okay, cyare?” this was more like the kix you know, always putting others above himself from the moment he’s awake.

you hummed and continued to trace his lightning, nodding in reply. “yeah, because you saved me.” he smiles and places a gentle kiss in the palm of your hand before lacing his fingers with yours.

“i helped a little, i think.”

“fuck off, fives.” your boyfriend mumbled groggily as he wrapped himself around you, burying his face in your neck.

“i did!”

it hurt a little less to laugh now and your boyfriend seemed to lose a bit of the tension from the night’s previous events. you smiled and felt kix curl even closer to you, legs tangling with yours like they do every time you share a bed. “thank you fives, your heroism is most appreciated.”

kix chuckled into your skin and began to leave soft kisses on the skin there. “now leave us alone, dumbass. i need some time with my girl.”

fives chuckles and rises from the chair that served as his bed the night prior, patting your leg as he walked by the cot you were laying in. “no funny business in the medbay, you two!” he jokingly wagged a scolding finger at you both.

“oh, get kriffed!”

fives’s head was the only thing visible to you now, a smirk on his face in spite of the somber mood he was in prior to your waking up. “that seems to be your goal, vod!”

your medic grabbed the nearest projectile and hurled it at his head, fives yelping as he ducked barely a second before a datapad stylus speared him in the eye. “thought he’d never leave,” kix jokes. you chuckle at the ribbing and let yourself rest. there was a lot of healing to be done before you’d be back to working shape, you knew that, but having your kix beside you would make it all the easier.

happy late birthday, kayla!!! love you bunches!!!

[gxmonth]

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Month 2020

IT’S ON!

We start on August 31! I realize this may be a bit short notice for some, so I’ll be sure to get the word out earlier next year. Just do your best, take breaks when you need to, and most importantly have fun!

Draw/write/create, it’s your choice! All creativity welcomed!

Please remember to tag you posts with #gxmonth2020. If I miss a post please let me know.

And special thanks to @crystalbeastruby​ for creating the awesome banner!

Day 1 (August 31): “Game on!” It’s Judai/Jaden Yuki’s birthday today! Let’s celebrate!

Day 2 (September 1): “Red, Yellow, Blue!” Ah, the tier system at Duel Academy. Which dorm is your favorite?

Day 3 (September 2): “Rule the School” These kids might be saving the world, but they’re still students with homework to do and exams to pass. Celebrate the school life today!

Day 4 (September 3): “Sometimes I Can’t Believe We’re Related” 10Join! Today is all about the iconic brother-sister pair, Fubuki Tenjoin/Atticus Rhodes and Asuka Tenjoin/Alexis Rhodes!

Day 5 (September 4): “Pass The Salt” No story is perfect. So what is something you wish you could have seen in the story of GX?

Day 6 (September 5): “Going Down With The Ships!” You know what I’m talking about. We all have an armada parked in the bay, but there’s that one ship, that one ship, that you would die for. Today is all about OTPs and OT3s!

Day 7 (September 6): “Bring the THUNDER” Ichi! Juu! Hyaku! Sen! Chazz it up! Today the world does in fact revolve around Jun Manjoume/Chazz Princeton.

Day 8 (September 7): “The Power of Friendship!” Favorite dynamic duo, two characters you think would have been friends if only they met, how friendship saves the day, or maybe a friendship fail. It’s up to you!

Day 9 (September 8): “Born to be Bad” Inherently evil, brainwashed, misguided, or misunderstood. GX boots a colorful cast of villainy. Who’s your favorite bad guy?

Day 10 (September 9): Free Day/Introductions Tell us about yourself and your GX experience! Your favorites, why you like it, how you got into it. Or leave the day open to do whatever you want!

Day 11 (September 10): “Cyber Legacy” No Yu-Gi-Oh! show is complete without a pair of brothers. Today’s stars are Sho Marufuji/Syrus Truesdale and Ryo Marufuji/Zane Truesdale!

Day 12 (September 11): “But What If We Had Bikes?” That’s right! It’s time for the GX crew to rev it up on their very own D-Wheels/Duel Runners!

Day 13 (September 12): “And You Are...?” Got a favorite OC? Or one you’ve been hiding in the closet? Introduce them to the world today!

Day 14 (September 13): “The Perfect Formula” He duels with the power math and science! Today, show the world that you still remember Daichi/Bastion Misawa!

Day 15 (September 14): “Insert pun here” It’s meme day! Recreate your favorites! Make some shitposts! Be the troll you’ve always wanted to be!

Day 16 (September 15): “Creation and Destruction” The Gentle Darkness and the Light of Destruction. The eternal struggle. And also the Darkness that tried to drown the world. Huh. Feels a little unbalanced.

Day 17 (September 16): “Putting the D in Destiny” Pro duelist by day and crime fighting vigilante by night. Today is Edo/Aster Phoenix’s day!

Day 18 (September 17): “In Another Life” It’s AU day!

Day 19 (September 18): “I Was Here Too!” GX has a vast array of unique characters, some of which we only saw once. Pick a “one shot” character and show them off!

Day 20 (September 19): Free Day 2/Support Fellow Creators Show some love for your favorite creators, or leave the day free for whatever you please!

Day 21 ( September 20): “Prehistoric Predators” The dino duelist with a fossil in his leg. Today is all about Kenzan Tyranno/Tyranno Hassleberry!

Day 22 (September 21): “Stop Blowing Holes In My Ship!” Some ships are popular and some are...not. Today is all about rare pairs and crack ships! Give those underdogs some love!

Day 23 (September 22): “And For Today’s Lesson...” The teachers at Duel Academy have their work cut out for them, but they still take care of their students. Show the DA staff some love today!

Day 24 (September 23): “Legend of the Seven Gems” Resurrect the greatest light in history today with Johan/Jesse Anderson and the Crystal Beasts!

Day 25 (September 24): “For The Glory of Academia!” We got to see Asuka/Alexis and Edo/Aster over in Fusion Dimension, but what about the rest of the cast? Show us some Fusion counterparts today! What are these dorks up to and what part do they play in the war?

Day 26 (September 25): “Dream Team From Overseas” Austin O’Brien/Axel Brody, Jim “Crocodile” Cook, and Amon/Adrian Gecko. Today is all about them!

Day 27 (September 26): “Duel Monster Spirit Day!” The world of GX is full of spirits. Do something fun to celebrate your favorite!

Day 28 (September 27): “Gold Eyes in The Darkness” Today’s all about the Supreme King! Unleash the Darkness and create your content!

Day 29 (September 28): “Don’t Forget Me!” Have an underappreciated character you wish you’d seen more of? Give them some love today!

Day 30 (September 29): Free Day 3 Share anything. Anything at all. It’s free game.

Day 31 (September 30): “Gotcha!”  The series ends with Judai/Jaden running off another adventure. But where is he going? Today’s the day to share your post-GX headcanons!

[jbbuckybarnes]

We need to talk...

I knew that this topic of interactions will come up again, because it has never been talked all the way through, so I had this drafted for a while. So much of this old draft still resonated with this permanently unfinished discussion that I just had to edit it and post it, because I feel like it has to be said and put into one post. We can’t keep starting this conversation and then make it so dramatic that there is no conclusion or compromise. The only reason this time is more mellow is because people have better standards for this stuff due to a pandemic going on. This is written for the MCU fandom, but I’ve seen this go down in different fandoms, so here we go:

Things that are NOT at fault for readers not interacting:

The Readers. Should be clear after asking them again and again. And nothing changing. The readers at large are not at fault for a couple people being demanding or hateful. Neither are they at fault for this website and other social medias automatically putting writers at a disadvantage. They do their best with the time they have in their life (just like writers). And after asking them over months to try and reblog more and not much changing, it should be obvious that it isn’t where the problem lies. At least not 95% of it. NOW:

Things that ARE at fault for readers not interacting:

Pushing them, thinking they owe you stuff, while you tear other writers down saying that nobody owes them stuff. That happens time and time again. To me, to friends, to writers I check in with. Don't expect community to come to you when you don't come to them.

Not putting anon asks off when demands and hate get too much. It’s literally THAT easy when people get nasty. It’s sad for the nice anons, but they will understand. Save your mental health! Save the mental health of people reading that hate on their dash. I don’t know how many people constantly answering to hate I have unfollowed and I’m sure people have unfollowed me for doing the same.

Ego and hypocrisy. You can't say numbers aren't a problem and then say they are. In the same post. AND then also deny it later in some of the cases we’ve seen in recent months. Yes, that happened. In several fandoms where this topic comes up semi-regularly. And that might also be the reason people are tired of this stuff and speak out against it.

The fact Tumblr is only used approximately twice a year by most people. And has a shitty tag system. And a shitty algorithm. You are at an automatic disadvantage.

The fact some of you can't understand that 3-5% of your following interacting is a good and normal rate on pretty much all social media. The bigger you get in followers, the bigger the gap gets between followers and interaction (and demand and hate). There are literal statistics on that. 1% interaction at 10k is still good for a platform you have no power over!

The fact some of the people here call anons *haters* for pointing out that you interact w the same 10 people, making that speace seem excluding, when it's literally true what those people say!? Nothing wrong with only support the same 10 people on your blog, but then don't say that you practice what you preach (cause you don’t). You can’t demand more interaction when you don’t interact more yourself. That is how it works, for anyone, not just people of a certain follower count. If I reblog more fics, my blog gets more clout. Logical conclusion. Works for everyone. You have no time for that? Then don’t expect more back. It’s called SOCIAL media for a damn reason.

Telling people asking for Tumblr advice to interact more to make new friends but being the most defensive/indifferent person once they talk to you in DMs. Yes, that keeps happening and I know it from either my own experience or from others sharing their experiences with me. It’s kinda sad. It’s more of a minor factor in people not interacting, but I’ve seen it enough to mention it.

Making shitposts and personal posts all day and then saying you don't have the time in your life to interact w peoples' writings. Like, drabbles exist on almost anyone's masterlist. 5 minute read, easy support for a writer that might be losing motivation. Not every work has to be written like a novel to be great as hell or “quality proven.”

Oh, and there hasn't been a MCU movie in a while, making most of our readership probably currently not care about the fandom as much. Especially after Endgame ended up being a total opinion splitter.

Bonus: The misunderstanding that pushing shy readers to interact does the exact opposite. Not to start about the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic at the moment. That means they may not have time to read and you may not have time to write. Normal. Logical. The same reason lots of people currently don’t publish. Don’t expect anything predictable and controlable out of current times.

Bonus: Check how you connect interactions to self worth and worth/fun of your writing hobby. Define what success means for you in this space, otherwise you will never be satisfied. It won’t matter if a post has 1k reblogs, you’ll always want more, because you chase an infinite metric.

Bonus: Maybe take a month to concentrate on community, getting outside of your bubble that you deny but very likely have (I’m not excluding myself from this), and actually improve interactions. Some people seem to have forgotten that when you interact with other writers, they probably interact back. Surprise! Your followers already know your tried and true fanfic friends, they want some new stuff without searching for it. Basic Marketing knowledge, know what your audience wants. If you do this for the interactions you gotta look at it from a marketing standpoint and not a pure passion standpoint. Oh: And maybe they find you interacting in the notes of someone else’s post and become an active follower. Win-Win-Win situation.

Bonus: Community is a loop, a net of interactions. Some people here have clique behavior, sound defensive and/or simply don't practice what they preach. That is not me or anyone else hating on specific blogs (I’m also no complete exception), it’s people trying to tell you that you can’t ask for shit you don’t practice yourself. Nothing wrong with supporting your friends only, but then don’t go around expecting new people to find your stuff. It’s literally THAT simple. You can’t have both!

Bonus: Ignoring some of the ride or die readers that are already there. Some of the people on here wish they had that and it’s deadass taken it for granted by some. Meanwhile I'm sitting here with Serotonin levels like christmas when someone I know reblogs my stuff and my fic gets some clout. Imma repeat myself: If you do it for the numbers, you gotta look at it more like marketing and less like pure passion.

And again: You are on a social media platform that will always put you at a disatvantage. That is not the readers' fault. It's how social media works at this point. If you want as much interaction as you can without putting in more interaction work yourself, simply share your works on here, AO3 and Wattpad simultaneously. Problem solved.

Bottomline: If you want more love on your work you gotta go beyond what you currently do, since it’s clearly not working for you. Reblog stuff from people you don't know. I don't give a sh*t if it's a 5k or a 100 follower blog. Hell, there is the whole 366 reblog challenge and some of you deadass went on reblogging the same people when that’s not really what this was made for. I, personally, haven't run out of new people to reblog, so this shouldn't be hard. Actually take time to talk to people in DM's, it takes 10 minutes in the evening to write a few people a message asking how they are or sending a cute gif. If you want stuff, you have to give it. Not leave it. People have come to me before, telling me "the community doesn't owe you stuff", no, they don't, but they do owe if they wanna be owed something back or even demand to be owed something back. Community is about back and forth. You give, you get. It's work, cause it's a big hobby. If you don't have time, that's cool, but then don't be sad about lower interaction. It’s logical that low activity from you leads to low activity from others in the long run, unless you do something worldshakingly new. You don't wanna look beyond a circle of friends or your go-to writers much? That's fine, but don't be upset about barely new people interacting cause they feel excluded or simply don’t find your work because of the same people seeing the same people reblogging the same works. What's not fine is not seeing how readers are NOT THE PROBLEM.

I haven’t talked to a single person about this that DIDN’T find the posts surrounding it demanding and completely ignoring the arguments some others had...repeatedly. Every single time it came up. Not just once but time and time again, whenever this topic comes up. You want interaction? Interact. You don’t want hate? Don’t give it a platform. As harsh as that sounds, I’ve never felt better on this platform since I put anon asks off, even when I miss the nice anons. They probably understand. PS: Again, this was written a while ago and edited to fit into a more general context now. I hope people can discuss this in a civil, non-judgmental way, because that is how I tried to write this. This is not again a specific person or group, it’s pinpointing what I see repeating for two years on this platform now, in all corners. I’d also like to mention that we are still in a pandemic and lives have never looked so vastly different, so you can’t demand anything normal in this very not normal time. Even if you do it all right, your interactions dropped in the pandemic cause people likely stay away form this platform for mental health reasons. There is so many layers to look at, these clearly aren’t all, but I hope it makes some people think about what and when they complain. Numbers will never satisfy you, they will always leave you wanting more if you don’t know why you do what you do and for what. Anyway: Be nice to each other and me in the notes in case this gets shared! No drama please! Ignore any grammar and typo mistakes, lol. Love ya!

[system-of-a-feather]

Kinda chuckling cause XIV was literally trying to write a shitpost while his extremely low empathy ass was soothing our fiance's anxiety. Like one half of his brain is here going "LOL SHITPOST" and typing on his phone and the other half is like "Its okay and its a completely normal and valid thing to be struggling with and its just part of it and..."

And Im like 😂 Of course you would you asshole 😂

That said hes over my shoulder and he's like "Well he's not stupid and he knows my way of going about things, I don't need to pretend to be emotionally engaged for him to know the fact that I'm listening and giving advice / feedback / my opinion when asked means I care cause he knows I don't put ANY effort being empathetic towards people who I don't enthusiastically care about let alone the little bit this amount requires"

And FAIR and TRUE cause our fiance really understands out autistic, PD-ass form of affection and how we show we care but STILL

Someone looking in from the outside would just see

Guy: *pouring his insecurities and anxieties more than usual*

XIV: *on his phone writing a shit post, frequently looking up when he wants to speak or say something before returning to his phone while he listens*

XIV: damn I was distracted writing this shitpost, I hope I used right grammar

Like 😂 Functionably I am the Mega Mask of the system but god I do not know how that man can be so unapologetically and confidentally symptomatic yet have a curated environment of selected people that understand and operate well within it that it still works 😂

I mean Im sure this is where being a system makes extremes more optimal cause I'm sure if our fiance had the constant attitude XIV has around only, itd become an issue - but theres me and Lucille that are a lot more "typical" as the well main ANPs so he gets both XD

Look I know we have more takes than just sheer shitposts but we shitpost so often and take shit usually so not seriously on this blog that its kinda wack hearing yall talk about how we have "Best / Good Takes" 😂

Like man I havent said a quarter of my takes cause I'm not allowed to be too discoursey and inflammatory on main 😂

(Also if this is incoherent I've been supporting my fiance while trying to type this for 30 minutes)