#i know i posted this to bluesky already but i like it! i had fun drawing it i adore this design of the wifes SO much | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jackiezenauthor · 4 months ago

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Illustration by me.

Complete image will be available on my bluesky account. Full resolution image will be available on my Patreon once I figure out how to post on it from my tablet and how 'by item' subscription works to everyone's benefit (so u don't have to pay per just one drawing and I don't have to stress about posting monthly even though I probably will). I'll keep you updated

In the saddle

🔞 Minors DNI, ty.

Story posted on A03 as well, I won't remove it from there even if Tumblr goes entirely purity-mode one day.

Genre: Paranormal erotica

Word count: 3k

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Cw: you pov, stink enjoying mc, mild self degrading mc, containment, dubcon (?), stranger danger, haunted item (lmk if I missed anything important, ty)

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This is a work of fiction!

No haunted items were harmed for the writing of this story.

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Synopsis: Some people enjoy LARPing and historical items. You take that a few steps further. Tonight, you have your eyes on a saddle so old, they even think it's haunted. You don't believe in such nonsense, but you might be proven wrong...

‘Tonight is THE night!’ you tell yourself as you head for the stables with the dimmest light you could manage, just enough so you don’t step on any unfortunate animals, but not enough to alert anyone else nearby.

You've been working at the farm for a few weeks now, and pulled your weight rather well too, if you might say so yourself. They expected a lot more complaining from your rich ass, raised in the big city, hydrated on cocktails around the pool, but they had no idea how much you found yourself loving the place. Among other things.

The smells, the animals, the sounds, the feeling of dirt under the manicure that you’ve already cut short as soon as you heard about your parents’ plans for your summer…

Not to say you couldn’t say no to them. Not only are you old enough to live on your own already, despite the struggles that cooking for yourself still raises, but you know exactly how low to lower your lip and scrunch your eyebrows at your parents to have them give up any ill will that they might hold against you. Deserved or not.

You didn’t do it this time.

They thought it was because you were finally willing to take responsibility for your irresponsible choices, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The true reason was waiting for you in the barn. Quiet, rugged from overuse, smelling like anything but the leather that it’s made of: a saddle so old, nobody could tell how it even got there in the first place.

‘Might as well be part of the ole land, at this point’ their grandmother had said.

‘I reckon it outlived five barns now,’ the grandfather had said.

‘Word is, it’s haunted’ their daughter had said. ‘Don’t go looking about the barn if ye hear any ungodly noises, hear me?’

There were no ungodly noises to hear, as you stepped closer and brushed your fingers all across its unkept seat… yet.

If all went well tonight and nobody went by the barn, same as both weeks you’ve been around now, some ungodly sounds might come out… out of your mouth, that is.

Despite its mysterious age, the saddle holds perfectly fine as you move it from its resting wedge and onto the saddle rack closest to the height you need for your plans. Smells like sweat, tobacco, horses and filthy things that you can only guess, and you can feel your body tingling with anticipation, as you muse about adding your own filth to it.

There’s beauty in old things. You’ve always had a fondness to them, to the stories they might have lived through, the people who might have touched them. And old things in places as simple and unassuming as this, you can get to know them in ways that others might frown about… personal ways…

A horse whinnies in the pasture nearby and a dog barks with little conviction. You can hear the wind rustle the trees and grass around, but nothing human, nothing that could spoil your fun.

It’s time.

Your night gown drops off you easily and the hay and dirt on the floor sticks to your naked soles. There might be something wet on the ground too, and it makes you feel dirty. A smirk pushes at the corners of your mouth. The barn smells like it should: dung, dried herbs, old iron, spent wood, grains and leather…

The saddle is rough against your belly as you wiggle your way on it. Not sitting, like one should, but bent across it, like a damsel kidnapped by some rugged wild west men, ready to rob some train, lose all their loot in the pub, and brawl over which one gets to show you a good time first, not necessarily in that order.

Maybe the one carrying you might not even wait until you stop anywhere…

You bite your lip as your breasts hang down, your attempts at adjusting your position without touching the ground, as you would on a horse, making them jump, gravitation pulling against them. Your heart takes off as your imagination mingles with reality, the saddle under you easing you in the scene. It’s perfect like this, you know exactly what you want to hear, how to be held. Imaginary or not, you know you’re in for a really good time.

Touching yourself over the saddle sounded much easier in your mind, but you’ve been eyeing this saddle for far too long to have come unprepared. There’s something already inside you, just waiting for your instruction… at one press of a button…

Your smart watch is dead.

You could have sworn it was fully charged when you left your room in the farmhouse. You’ve been so meticulous too, made sure it worked on Bluetooth alone, if the signal was to fail you. There’s a manual switch too..

If only…

If only you could reach around…

A rag and what could only have been another saddle fall from a rack above and miss you by a scrape of your head, taking off your hair tie. That’s lucky. It could have taken off your conscience too, was it to fall any closer. Or worse? That would be a fun way to hit the news… good thing you wouldn’t be there to see it.

You could get off, start the vibrator, and get back on before you hit the first orgasm. Would be harder to stop or control it, but that sounds rather exciting, now that you think about it. Your misfortune turned out for much better instead.

…

You can’t get off.

Your toes can almost touch the ground, but your ribcage can’t pass through the space between the racks. They must have misaligned when that saddle tried to end your career…

Oh, no…

“Well, I’ll be darned…” a distinctly male voice vibrates in the silence of the barn, just as you were trying to turn around enough to see what’s keeping that blasted rack from moving off you.

Fuck!

You got so distracted with your fantasies, you forgot to pay attention to your surroundings. You’ve never gotten caught before. Today was the day.

“You look rather… tight, miss?” the man speaks again, from right behind you.

The racks are blocking your view and the hair in your face and the darkness of the night aren’t helping either. Moonlight doesn’t reach in the back of the barn, where he is. You don’t know his voice either. Who, and most importantly, why would they be here at this time of the night? Had he been here this all time? Watching you undress? Climbing in? Struggling?

He rests a hand against the rack that’s holding you pinned, but it doesn’t budge. You know he’s moving behind you, but you can’t hear any steps. Even if he was barefoot too, the floor should creak…

You do feel his hand caressing your waist, however, from right under your trapped ribcage.

“You could scream, ya know? I reckon someone would come help…” he says, his hand slowly following your hip and spine, his touch cold like the night air. You should be scared, but it makes you feel reassured somehow. Like you're some horse he’s trying to befriend… a very caught-red-handed horse…

You want to point out that he could help you himself, since he’s already here, but your voice cuts off when his other hand mirrors the first and his fingers dig into your ass, lifting you up for a closer look.

“What in tarnation?” he huffs and his breath travels all between your thighs.

He must’ve seen your vibrator and you’d like to tell him a thing or two about minding his own business, but he also found the button for it and your feet instantly raise and tremble as the stimulation hits you without warning. You hate to admit it but this entire situation… it works.

You curl against the saddle and jolt as you come before you can even remember yourself. The vibration keeps going as you do, and you can’t help but whine in humiliation and ecstasy as you come again, right between the strangers hands, his grip unyielding as you shake. He must be enjoying it. Seeing you writhe like this. Helpless. Trapped.

“You alright there, miss?” he asks while you come a third time.

You can taste the amusement in his tone, but his voice is low, his every word pronounced just a bit too carefully… He’s past just enjoying this.

There should be a remission time after you’ve come five times in a row, but you’ve never done that in front of someone else… your lower half entirely in their hands… Their eyes catching ever twitch of your pussy. You can’t even tell if your heart is racing or just took off on its own at this point.

You’re never going to hear the end of this, if word comes out.

“Please… stop it!” you manage to say between tears and gasps, too many emotions rushing for your attention at once while your ass is twitching so high in the air.

“Why, I thought you put that there plumb on purpose…” he chuckles but the vibration stops before you can start curling again. “Le’me give ya a hand then…”

A moan escapes your throat as you feel your vibrator pulled out of you, slow but deliberate, the orgasm you were heading for before he turned it off, revived within you. You can’t stop yourself from grinding against his other arm, as it stands right between your legs, supporting your belly.

You barely register your toy hitting the floor as you writhe in the stranger’s palm, his hold against you steady, despite your juices already spilled all between your thighs, much more still flowing out of you and all across his arm. You can feel him breathe against the curve of your back: cold but slow, heavy. It makes sense, a weak, rational thought passes your mind, but the animal, feral side of you is nothing but delighted to be met in kind.

Now that there’s nothing inside you, your body frets, demands… there’s nothing inside you…

“I reckon…” his voice is so low, he sounds like purring and your pussy throbs against his arm as the vibration trickles across your skin. “t’wasn’t bein’ stuck that ailed ya… and ya done made your problem mine, lass…”

He lifts your ass higher in the air, his hand still under you, your clit jumping to attention as it rubs against his wrist. You could die of embarrassment. But maybe… not just yet…

You try your best to keep from trembling and moaning as his other hand brushes across your innermost thigh and his thumb slips between the folds of your already tender pussy. It finds your entrance easily and he pauses by it, pressing to go in but not quite. Hesitant. He growls in a language you’ve never heard before and pulls his thumb away, straightening up and dropping you gently. He’s no longer touching you. Worse: he’s taken a step back.

After all of this?

Is he going to just up and leave you like this?

Would he at least set you free before, or will you have to endure the horror of being found in the morning, hopefully by anyone other than the grandma.

But you can hear cloth and metal, maybe leather?

“I won’t force myself upon you, miss,” he says while you can clearly hear him unbuckling his belt. “I never was that kind of man.”

‘Until now?’ you want to throw at him, but find yourself reluctant to argue.

“I reckon we can help each other a smidgen, though,” he says and grabs you once more, rougher this time, holding you up with an arm around your waist while he brings himself to you.

You feel his legs strap around yours while his cock slides right between your thighs, hard and impossible to ignore when it rubs tight between your lower lips and clit, hitting your belly.

On the outside.

“Just yell or make noise if you need me to stop” he says as his legs trap yours tightly and his hands grab each side of your waist.

It’s not stopping that you need him to do. You can tell he’d fill you up to the brim and your insides throb wilder than ever at the prospect. Wanting. Craving.

He pulls away before you can say anything, adjusting his grip one last time before slamming against you, his tip teasing your clit as your insides cry in equal parts excitement and frustration.

The sounds of your wet flesh against his unrelenting thrusts fills the barn and your entire body shakes with them. You want to say something, but save from yelling, you worry he won’t hear you, and he’s chasing the breath out of you as it is.

Your core heats up, you barely keep from collapsing against the rack you’re holding for dear life against. The pleasure. It floods from deep within you and your legs escape his grip as you shake under his thrusts. Your heels hit his ass hard and he grunts, his momentum disturbed.

He readjusts and is just about to resume when you finally manage to catch your breath enough to say “In…”

He pauses. He must’ve heard you but you weren’t clear enough.

“Put it in!” you manage to say.

“Well I’d never refuse…” he readjusts his grip on you and pulls away just enough to make room for his cock to tease your drenching pussy. “…such a lovely invitation.”

You can taste the smirk he says it with, even if he also sounds wistful, but have no time to even think of a retort before he moves inside you, your walls wrapping warm against him. Welcoming.

He swears, and whatever he mutters along with it comes out shaky as your insides throb against his advancing thrusts.

Demanding. Hungry. Still not full enough. Still not hard enough.

Your ass perks up, helpful, giving him all the room he could possibly need, your gspot pressed tighter against his length.

“Thirsty little thing…” he breathes out, his grip on you painful as he touches your inner ring at the same time as his hips come flush against your splayed ass. If his dick was made to order, it would still not reach as perfectly.

He seems to be enjoying the same idea for a moment, his grip loosening just enough that you can wiggle. Just enough that you can swing your hips against him. Urging him where your mind and voice are too taken with the thrill of a fullness you’ve never though possible, and the anticipation of what’s to come.

He resumes thrusting, too gentle at first.

“Harder…” you manage to breathe out but you can’t tell if your mouth managed to pronounce it. It felt more like a pleading moan… and once that was out, there is no stopping the others.

He thrusts harder with every single one of your moans, and every thrust breeds yet another moan, even more pleading than the other. More demanding… more pathetic.

If someone walked in on you now, you’d care for nothing, as long as you kept getting fucked.

Your throat is dry and you feel wet around your mouth but you can do nothing other than cry out in mindless delight as he slams harder into you, so hard that you could swear the whole barn might come apart above you. Your body holds. No, it craves for more. It craves for all. Insatiable.

His grunts behind you have long changed to moaning, his thrusts wild, unstoppable, unhinged. Pleasure that has been playing all across your body gets drawn to full attention, no longer just to the thrashing of your core, but to his grip, his voice, his mindlessness.

The ecstasy organizes. You feel it come together like a horde, savage and relentless in one goal only: ripping you apart. You’re helpless against it. And eager. It’s closing in.

He growls loud and helpless, his thrusts speeding up as your core clenches against him, your insides quaking as overwhelming pleasure threatens to tear at the very seams of your being. Unyielding. Unstoppable.

It’s as if a vulcano breaks from the center of your very existence as you shudder and curl against the saddle, around his cock, in his arms, his fingers digging so tight into your hips that you could swear your skin gave, but the pain only peppers the ecstasy that takes over when his moan sounds delightfully ethereal alongside yours. You can feel your insides trying to squeeze him dry still, as he fills every last space left within you with his cum.

You lay limp from the saddle, his hips still flush against your ass, his cock still deep inside you and you both catch your breaths and minds from everywhere.

“Darn, sweetheart…” he whispers, slowly pushing himself to his feet. Your insides complain as he pulls out just as slowly, but they’re too spent to put up any fight. “They’d need a locomotive to pull me out of you, were I still kickin…” he lets his hands brush across your back so slow and intent, it feels like a caress.

There is a mess of rags and saddles all around you, every rack destroyed, but the one you’re still bent over, the old saddle tight against your belly. The whole barn looks like a tornado just went through it…

“Alas…” the stranger whistles sadly.

It’s morning, and everything around you is increasingly visible, but when you slip off the saddle and turn to look at the stranger, there is nothing but darkness. Pitch, surreal, darkness.

You can feel his hands caress your legs as you pull away, but still nothing of him. The entire side of the barn where he’s standing is nothing but strange, unrelenting blackness. As if the night itself is taking refuge there.

A rooster crows outside, announcing the new day, and, as its song travels across the morning dew, the darkness lessens, giving way to… nothing. The entire side of the barn is empty of even the smallest speck of dust. Not even your toy is there.

Everything around, but the barn itself and the saddle you got fucked on is in complete disarray, you included. There’s bits of mysteriously old leather rubbed into your skin, the smell of it sunken into your pores. You can’t explain what has gone on, but you can still feel its aftermath. You can see it too: your inner thighs are punctured, blood dripping slowly, mixing with juices that are not only yours.

The dogs bark by the farmhouse and the animals start fretting. Soon, the family and their helping will come out to tend to the farm’s many needs. They’ll ask questions that you have no answer to.

You need to get dressed before they see you… still dripping…

#cowboy smut #ghost smut #haunted item smut #smut #jackie zen shorts

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oldguardleatherdog · 8 months ago

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I am being smeared as a "predatory transphobe" to hundreds of thousands of people by Rainbow Passage, a so-called "trans rescue" nonprofit that's covering up its safety failures and misconduct by attacking me and placing my family in danger. Deliberately.

There's a headline I'll bet you never thought you'd see on this blog, and you can be sure I never expected to write it, but here we are. I want you to hear about it from me first before the smear campaign against me poisons your feed.

Regular readers know that I've been fighting for LGBTQ+ civil rights for nearly 40 years, with an emphasis on mobilizing against the "trans panic" sweeping America the past two years, the horrific laws already in place, and the stark plans for eradication laid out in Project 2025. The notion that I'm "transphobic" in any way is absurd. But -

Three weeks ago, YouTube streamer trolls went to the Rainbow Passage website - their unsecured, login-free website - looking for dirt that could bring their operations to a halt. They found my picture and bio listed as a director for the organization.

That was all they needed, and in short order I was the star of several full-length videos and livestreams featuring breathless, jeering takes on my kink life, my history, my family, my age, my AIDS, my September 11th survival (suddenly I was "running the organization" and "hosting 9/11 reenactment roleplays!"), my looks, my unsuitability to be involved with a trans rescue organization, and everything you can imagine a middle-school playground would highlight. At this writing, I've been held out for ridicule, harassment, and threats ("it's time for this dogfucker to be euthanized") to a quarter-million people and counting.

Why?

Because Rainbow Passage failed to implement even the most basic security on that website, despite my multiple warnings in board meetings that this scenario was likely to happen and that we were prime targets for this kind of abuse.

To be honest, everything that the streamers made fun of me for has been said and done to me a thousand times a year for the past 30 years. Heard it all before, nothing new, just the same old "lookit the AIDS-ridden perv faggot old man pretending to be a dog, hurr durr hurr durr!". All those hours of video and they couldn't come up with anything new? These people need better writers.

Here's the issue: Two of the leaders of this sad and tiresome brigade (one named "Blowcockx" or something equally clever, the other one is discussed below) seized on a recent exchange I had with a group of leftist "Trans For Trump" (yep, you read that right) that was mobbing me on Bluesky for objecting when someone referred to Biden as "Genocide Joe". These people were vile and vicious, saying that my gender was "shit beard" and lobbing remarks and insults at me that would make a MAGA blush.

One of the Bluesky mob (who may or may not have been transgender) said, "Prove you're an activist," to which I countered, "Okay, prove you're trans." (Screenshots of my three additional replies referencing "fake trans" to their accusations of my being a "fake activist" and other vomitous epithets, along with screenshots of the posts to which I was replying, can be found after the jump.)

During the mob attack on me and Rainbow Passage. a disgruntled former member of the Rainbow Passage community - a 20-year-old trans girl who had first warned me about the YouTube hijacking and who leaked my personal identifying information and private chats with her to the Twitter trolls and worse - went to Clearsky and harvested my replies without the posts I was replying to, leaked them to the YouTube streamers and Twitter trolls, along with selected portions of our lengthy private chat from Discord, then threatened Rainbow Passage with another attack if they didn't "denounce" me and my replies to the disgusting attacks on me by the Trans Trumpers of Bluesky.

To prove her point, this young trans woman and her girlfriend started a thread about me on Kiwi Farms, where I was the featured post for about a week, and told Rainbow Passage that the same would happen to them - and worse, including the revocation of their nonprofit status with the IRS and the end of their ability to raise funds - if they didn't publicly condemn me for my Bluesky attack replies.

And what did the oh-so-courageous chairwoman and board members who "cared so much" about me, do in response to those threats?

They caved. They capitulated. They allowed a troubled individual with an axe to grind and her little gang of fake-outraged trans shitposters to dictate their handling of a serious and sensitive matter where a former director of the organization and his family were in active danger and under siege. These people, who claim to have the bravery to "rescue" endangered trans people from Texas and Florida, folded like a cheap tissue-paper prom dress, revealing their utter lack of integrity, ethics, or courage.

The statement Rainbow Passage put out, which at this writing has been seen by at least 60,000 people on Twitter alone, is filled with false accusations about my attitude toward the transgender members of the LGBTQ+ community, outright lies about my character and conduct, weirdly characterizes me as a predatory stalker, and warns the general public that I am a bad, bad person who should be avoided and shunned as unfit for decent people in a civilized society. They provide ZERO evidence to support any of their claims against me, their accusations and assertions about me, or their characterization of me as "transphobic."

From my statement below: "Rainbow Passage knew that issuing this statement would intensify the threats, harassment, and stalking of me and my family. They issued it anyway. This statement is a willful and malicious act of violence.

"Rainbow Passage caused a queer elder with AIDS to be featured on a website known for harassing LGBTQ+ people to death and driving them from their homes, while smearing him to hundreds of thousands of people and inciting attacks on him and his family - but they want you to trust them to keep our most vulnerable members safe from harm."

If Rainbow Passage can't and won't protect their own staff (and volunteers, and clients) from harmful exposure to malicious attackers online and IRL, and shifts blame for their failures and lapses of care onto the staff members while caving to threats from random kids, how can they be trusted to keep the most vulnerable members of this community safe from harm during one of their "rescue" missions? If something goes wrong and that client ends up in jail, will Rainbow Passage blame the client for that outcome the same way they're blaming me for their colossal failure to keep their own people safe?

Rainbow Passage's rank AIDSphobia, their calculated smear of a four-decade veteran LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist, their capitulation to threats from an under-21 trans Kiwi Farms shitposter with an axe to grind, and their hateful, craven, deliberate act of putting my family and me in physical danger, show them to be not only a collection of unwise and uncaring individuals who have abused me and betrayed my trust: The current chairwoman, board, and staff of Rainbow Passage are manifestly and utterly unfit to run this organization. They are not capable of keeping our most vulnerable members out of harm's way, they should not be regarded as worthy of our trust in any way, personally or professionally, and the organization needs to be stripped of its nonprofit status and must cease operations so that a new LGBTQ+ and trans rescue group can quickly be established and get to work.

[Alt text and screenshots follow after the jump.]

STATEMENT OF ANIMAL J. SMITH REGARDING THE RAINBOW PASSAGE SMEAR CAMPAIGN

These allegations are false. Rainbow Passage is deliberately and maliciously spreading lies about me to hundreds of thousands of people on this and other platforms in a calculated smear campaign to cover up their reckless disregard for the safety of their vulnerable clients and their failure to protect them. To date, they have provided no explanation or evidence of "transphobic rhetoric and behavior" on my part. They failed to protect me, a former director of the organization, from sustained and brutal online harassment, threats, doxing, and stalking that began more than three weeks ago and continues unabated with the active encouragement of chair Amy Nicole Check and the members of the board, putting me and my family in danger of being driven from our home and causing major distress and disruption to our lives and health.

On Saturday, April 13th, I received word that the Rainbow Passage website had been targeted by YouTube streamers who had seen a rival say good things about the organization and went to the website to find information that would "expose" Rainbow Passage. The trolls found my name and photograph, then went into my public-facing social media and began streaming about me and my life and work.

In several lengthy videos and livestreams, the YouTube trolls held me and my family up for sustained public ridicule, humiliation, and targeted harassment, spreading to more than a quarter-million people details about my personal life, my sex life, my family, my being a survivor of September 11th, the fact that I have AIDS, and every other aspect of my life and history that they could harvest. Although my social media is largely public by design, the contents were never intended to be stolen and distributed to thousands in a malicious manner designed to damage me.

The only reason I was targeted and humiliated in this way is that I was a director for Rainbow Passage and was discovered when the organization's unsecured, login-free website was targeted - a scenario I had warned them about on multiple occasions. Despite my warnings, no security measures were ever implemented. On Monday, April 15th, I resigned my position due to Check's exploding at me in an unprovoked torrent of verbal abuse during a call that afternoon.

My work as an LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist over the past 38 years (including ACT/UP, Queer Nation SF, AIDS quarantine initiatives, medical cannabis, marriage equality, and prisoners with AIDS) is well known and has always included advocacy for the transgender community. In fact, I have prioritized trans rights activism in response to the rising tide of hatred toward transgender Americans, and I have received support from people in the transgender community who know me and have seen me in action as an activist and a friend.

After an initial offer of help that wouldn't come for a full week, I said that my family and I were in immediate danger, that this was happening solely because I was part of their organization, and that their security failure was to blame. They then instantly denied any responsibility, blamed me for the situation, and withdrew their offer of help. I have been told that they are aware of the ongoing harassment and cyberbullying being directed at my family and me. They knew that this statement would intensify the threats, harassment, and stalking of me and my family. They issued it anyway. This statement is a willful and malicious act of violence.

Rainbow Passage was threatened by the leaders of these attacks that if they did not "denounce" me they would face the loss of their tax-exempt status and worse. As part of the threat, I was featured on the front page of the notorious Kiwi Farms website, a 4chan-like forum known for driving their LGBTQ+ targets into hiding and to suicide.

Rainbow Passage caused a queer elder with AIDS to be featured on a website known for harassing LGBTQ+ people to death and driving them from their homes, while smearing him to hundreds of thousands of people and inciting attacks on him and his family - but they want you to trust them to keep our most vulnerable members safe from harm.

These liars want you to believe the fiction that a four-decade LGBTQ+ activist is a predatory transphobe. They think you'll fall for the stories they're telling and approve of the damage they're causing. What nerve. Their contempt for me - and for you - has no place in our community or in our lives.

- Animal J. Smith, April 25, 2024

#information gladly given #animal j. smith #queer activism #lgbtq+ activism

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natalieironside · 10 months ago

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hello ms. comrade Ironside, longtime reader, first time caller.

as a fellow writer of queer erotica, I was wondering if you had any thoughts/spoons to share those thoughts on wordpress being swept into the AI debacle under automattic? (I think that’s what you use to host your cool website, forgive me if I am mistaken.) I’m trying to figure out where to set up an author website of my own so I don’t have to host my stuff on tumblr anymore, but I’m a bit gun-shy in the current moment. I know AI trawling is inevitable in today’s internet, but as someone who’s been doing the indie author thing for some time (and admirably!), is there something you would recommend, best practices or otherwise, to someone just trying to get their metaphorical kite off the ground? or anything you wish you knew when you set up your own author-type socials? any thought at all would be genuinely appreciated.

thanks for your time, and I hope you and yours are as well as can be expected 🖤

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but afaik nothing approaching best practices has been figured out yet; it's all already happening and there's precious little as can be done to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Of course I uncheck all the little boxes in settings and deny them my consent or whatever, but I don't think a gaggle of unimaginative piss-bellied technocrats who decided it was a sensible use of vast amounts of water and power to teach a computer how to write very badly are what I'd call trustworthy. I'm still gonna move all my website shit off of Wordpress because they won't let me get rid of the stupid AI assistant thing, but that's more a case of their UI being ugly and dumb than me thinking it'll actually do any good.

Best I can tell you on that front is to try to find yourself a niche and develop yourself as an artist from there; "Write the kinds of books you wish other people were writing" is good general advice, and a human operator is always going to be capable of things a predictive network just isn't. Other ppl are gonna disagree with that, but they're wrong. Their understanding of resource allocation and scarcity is just childishly naive and you shouldn't waste your time listening to people who think we're gonna solve climate change with apps or whatever.

Far as social media goes, this is still the best one for hocking books as far as I can tell. I'm hearing a lot of good things about Cohost and Pillowfort, but their user bases are still quite small, and I haven't found the indie author community on Bluesky yet. If Tumblr goes belly up I'll probably end up migrating to one of those first two primarily b/c I think longform blogging is the secret stuff for ppl like me who are just too crabby and agoraphobic to be Twitter influencers; I may not be any good at videos or regular quick posts or documenting the writing process (which is too bad, b/c a lot of my friends who do that stuff seem to be having fun with it), but I sure can Lay Out Some Thoughts in A Few Paragraphs and I like to think that's something ppl expect from a novelist.

Also, never get in a public argument, don't go posting Your Thoughts On The Issues unless someone asked or you feel like you've got something interesting to say, and be very selective with how much and what personal information you give out to the hoi polloi. Those are my 3 rules for how to do social media good.

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fayesdiary · 10 months ago

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I'm going to be entirely honest: after everything that's happened these past few days and the fact it's very likely going to get even worse, I'm making preparations to bail out of Tumblr.

I still haven't decided on what social and art plaform I want to migrate to yet, but I am working on a way to keep in touch with my closest friends and mutuals on Discord when the time comes. It won't be the best approach, but we're gonna have to make due if you're willing to join.

I'm going to miss this website, really. I had a lot of fun and made a lot of friends here. But if nothing changes, if trans, black, Palestinian people and so on keep getting silenced and harassed in-and-out of the so-called queerest, most inclusive place on the Web and all of my text posts and art is likely to be stolen and fed to an AI, then I don't want to be here anymore. Besides, I've already been terminated without warning once, so who's to say it won't happen again?

I'll still be here while my blogs are in the process of being exported and I decide the socials I'll be on in case you've grown attached to me enough to follow me there, and at that point I'll likely stop activity in all of my blogs.

I'll miss you. I hope we can meet somewhere else.

Edit: Finally finished preparing my new social profiles! So if you wanna follow me there, here you go:

Pillowfort

Bluesky

Cohost

Cara

I'm not sure which one I'm gonna stick with yet, but I guess time will tell.

(No Mastodon for now, sorry. It sounds way too complicated.)

And who knows, if Tumblr staff actually keeps its promise of improving moderation and actually protect minorities from harassment I might come back here full time. Here's hoping!🙏

Edit 2: THE AI DEAL HAS BEEN CONFIRMED. I am absolutely going to bail now, sorry not sorry. You know where to find me from now on.

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promptisgiftexchange · 7 months ago

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We have reached the conclusion of the 2024 Promptis Gift Exchange and I want to thank each and every one of you. Whether you were a participant, or simply along for the ride to read the wonderful stories and view the exceptional artwork, thank you for helping to make this gift exchange the joyful event that it was.

To all of our talented participants, you have gone above and beyond and have contributed so much incredible Promptis content for your gift recipients, and for this exchange. Thank you for all of your hard work and for being a part of this event. You are what made it so special and I’m so happy for you to finally be able to share your work with the community as yourselves.

At this time, all of our wonderful creators are now free to post your stories/artwork under your own name anywhere else that you desire. You may also choose to update the posting date of your Ao3 post at this point so that your contribution appears as a new work under your own name.

If anyone is aware of any stories that were written in response to art from our exchange or more artwork that was created in response to any other stories in the exchange, please let me know by sending me a link or by pinging me at @promptis-gift.bsky.social on Bluesky, @promptis_gift on Twitter, or @promptisgiftexchange on Tumblr so I can give it a boost. Likewise, if any of you have plans to write or draw anything as a response to the gift you received, I would love to be made aware of them once they are completed so I can promote it as well.

I would also like to give a special shout out and thank you to @ffxv_zine_news on Twitter. Your retweeting and support of the Promptis Gift Exchange (especially considering the fact that I wasn’t tagging your account while I was promoting individual works over the course of the last two months) did not go unnoticed. Thank you for your support and promotion of the individual stories and pieces of artwork that our participants worked so hard on, and for all of the wonderful things that you do everyday for our FFXV community as a whole.

Another huge and heartfelt thank you goes out to our wonderful Pinch-hitters: Firechocobro, InNovaFertAnimus, and QueenHomeSlice, as well as yet another enormous thanks to Charmms and SalamanderSocks for their willingness and ability to switch posting dates with participants who ran into unexpected problems. You guys are the best and I appreciate everything you’ve done!

Once again, thank you to everyone who has been a part of the 2024 Promptis Gift Exchange. This year has been our largest exchange to date and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have had such an amazingly successful fourth round. It has been a fantastic two months, filled with tons of excitement, and amazing Promptis fanworks! All of that is thanks to all of you!

I hope to see you all again next year for our fifth round. Please continue to follow us for more information that will come out later this year on the 2025 Promptis Gift Exchange. In the meantime, if you are not already a member of the Promptis Discord Server I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to join us for year round Promptis fun. Anyone who loves Promptis is welcome to join us. It's a great place to chat with nice people about Promptis, share fanworks that you love, and we also have fun in-server events like a Monthly Challenge. I have included the invitation link to the server below.

Promptis Server- https://discord.gg/Xfw4jQWQ28

Masterlist and Creator Reveals

Without further ado, here are the reveals for the Promptis Gift Exchange 2024. You can find the reveals detailed in the following places:

Google Docs- (organized by the type of fanwork) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fb2FN4HVNODkTkybFpyV1fwXQ6GpYsCvf_EcfFgJEig/edit?usp=sharing

You can also, as always, locate the entire collection on Ao3- https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Promptis_Gift_Exchange_2024/profile

#promptis gift exchange #Promptis #Noctis/Prompto #Noctis Lucis Caelum #Prompto Argentum #ffxv #final fantasy xv #creator reveals

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authorsadiethatcher · 10 days ago

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It's another late State of the Thatcher Address. What else is new? I have a lot going on right now, both because of the holidays, but also because I'm going to be traveling for three weeks in January. In a perfect world, I'll be able to leave with all of my stories for the month. complete.

I mentioned last month that you could expect some changes in the coming months and I no longer know what I was talking about. I'm honestly confused about this. It can't have been that important.

However, one change that I'm making is a pullback from Twitter. My Twitter will stay up, but it will only be used for book announcements from now on. Instead, I'm moving all captioning and commenting to Bluesky. I've already got a handful of fun and sexy captions and will be writing more soon. Check it out.

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sadiethatcher.bsky.social

A quick reminder that you can find my books on Amazon, Smashwords, Google Play Books, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Everand. You can also read everything I’ve published under my Sadie Thatcher name since last May 2023 on Ream, which is a subscription platform built specifically for authors. You can check out my Ream page below.

Ream: https://reamstories.com/sadiethatcher

And speaking of Ream, I have a Ream exclusive novel called The Muse (extreme dollification) that is now complete. I’ve made the first three chapters available for free. All you have to do is sign up as a follower at the link above to get a taste of my first real story that is too extreme for Amazon. I'm thinking about writing another Ream exclusive, but I haven't had any ideas for it yet.

I also post the occasional bit of flash fiction for followers on Ream. I have one up already and plan to post another one this week. As soon as I’m inspired, I’ll add a new mini-story to Ream.

On the Libby Feron front, I am finally moving forward with Astra's first book in Magical Misfits Academy. Astra will get a trilogy and then there will be a second trilogy featuring a classmate of Astra's. Hopefully it all comes together soon. Since I don’t talk about my fantasy writing often, checking out https://libbyferon.com/ and signing up for the email newsletter is the best way to stay informed. At some point, there will be a free novella offered.

Now for what to expect for the rest of the year. I've already published my three Christmas-themed stories this year. I still have the anthology to publish. But before I do that, it's time to think about my best books of the year. My Best Bimbos of 2024 anthology will take my favorite books from the year and package them into a single volume. It looks like I'll be including six books in this anthology, with three novellas and three short stories. For people who are new to my work, this is always a great place to start. Look for that soon.

But just because it's the end of the year, you can't expect me to just phone it in. I have new stories to tell still. First, I should mentions a commission that I will be publishing soon that features a superhero who is captured by villains and transformed into a bimbo villain. It should be a fun one and it's my first superhero story.

I'm also planning a series about the water supply being tainted with bimbofying chemicals (we'll end up with bimbos and himbos in this one), but with a significant twist. The idea for this series came from Limerick's Aqua Vitae, although the stories will be drastically different.

And that's all for now. I'll hold off on talking about January's stories until the new year. My traveling won't start until the second week of January, so I should theoretically have time to give an update before I leave. In the meantime, I hope every enjoys the holidays, no matter what or how you celebrate.

#sadie thatcher #writing #buildingbettergiggles #story #state of the thatcher address #christmas

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empressxmachina · 1 year ago

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"To Have and to Hold," by me. Click the link to see... something. It's, uh... Um, this is... See, what had happened was...

Read this post -An Intimate Inquiry for You?- about this picture and my past thoughts about it, as I did more editing on it after both that post and a later status update about its completion to keep me sane, lol. If someone wants to see an alternate version without a sticker, it may be on Bluesky, but I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could guide me on a proper flag for it first. While I could find it just 'suggestive,' this could definitely be read as more than that, so let me know. 😊

The title gives an impression of these two lovers being (almost?) married, not unlike "...In Sickness and in Health...," and in truth, this was initially intended to be some honeymoon/consummation scene, but the title could just be literal because puns and double entendres are great. Maybe this doesn't have to be the alternate picture, and both the lady and the fruit are part of the party, lol. What do you say?

Circa July 2023. Happy New Year. 😎

AYOOOOOOOO~

~Autodesk Sketchbook

~this dom

~good grip girlie

~satin, silk, soft

~[the room] "Luxury bedroom with modern design and elegance..." - Image by vecstock on Freepik

~banana

~a perfect label

~~vignette borders

[Regarding the real 'banana' in the alternate version]

~veins

~skin

**If it somehow looks legit to you, then bless my sources and the little bits of patience I had. 😘

If I said this wasn't fun, I'd be lying. But don't expect more like this; I already can't focus on a piece of my writing for too long.

La etiqueta adhesiva combina muy bien aquí, ¿no? jajaja

#g/t #my art #sw #giant male #Photo manipulation #Collage #this was a decision

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scarlettnovella · 1 year ago

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So i have already started my next project and of course it had to be a lot harder than the last one. I got a really good deal on a world eaters army and it had like 2 squads painted exactly how i wanted. Unlike my nids i think with all the trim i am only gonna have the mental energy to do like 1 a day base coats. And then do all the fun shit after the near 40 models are painted. I wont post updates on here until i get somewhere cool like a full squad or two done. if you want daily updates, i track my hobbystreak on bluesky over on @scarlettnovella.bsky.social I know the app is invite only atm but it's the only place i feel comfy for regular updates on shit. Plus you get some like selfies and life stuff there if that is summit you care about

#warhammer 40k #world eaters #chaos

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hoardlikegoldenirises · 6 months ago

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bro, this took like three days 😅

EDIT: updated "1997" to "1994" and tweaked face a little bit AND added a little scar ref/notes

I'm not posting TJ's dick on tumblr but it is also tattooed (the pac-man tattoo is on the underside and the magic wand is on the top side)

These tattoos are, as mentioned on the drawing, a mix of DIY and professional or semi-professional work, with most but not all of the pro work done later on (post-costume update in my head but idk exact dates necessarily since I don't have a real story for TJ atm...)

So some of them suck more than others 😂 The real challenge is making them look bad in a way that looks good... lol

anyway closeups of some of the tattoos under the cut:

these are mostly the DIY stick and pokes and I tried to make some of them look like the ink bled a little (hopefully successful) — It's just random stuff, some of it TJ did himself (and that's why some of his tattoos are upside down or sideways lol) and some of it probably by friends or ex-girlfriends or tattoo apprentices who suck.

He does have a little chunk missing from his left butt cheek, yes, btw.

the masterful tiger was probably a $50 job from someone with a tattoo gun rather than stick and poke, though... like an apprentice... or someone who just can't draw tigers...

Left wrist is a flower done professionally and the right is that alien stick and poke.

Palm scars are from Snack Incidents (knife slipping while cutting various foods)

in my notes TJ lives alone with his dad, and his mom is dead, so the intent with the flowers tattoos here is that this is one of TJ's first actually professionally done tattoos that he actually spent money on to memorialize his mom.

and then as time passes he gets a full sleeve done that's also pretty good quality in stark contrast to most of his tattoos.

It's not like a super complicated, extensive one because I'm terrible at coming up with ideas to fill out sleeves like that, but he can probably add on to it later. I figure this one is at least partially done with actual dotwork, vs the DIY stick and poke stuff or cheap tattoo guns.

the firework on his elbow probably technically qualifies as either a coverup or an expansion since it's going off the smaller one he already had there and making it look much nicer.

I also decided that he has a cigarette burn scar inside of that little sun, not as a cover-up necessarily, it's just a dumb scar he got from a dumb bet (which he won) lol but I figured that would be as good a place as any to put it

and...

also these lol. obv the 10 cent ride is above his dick, and probably hidden under his underwear or pants most days... and the Pac-Man tattoo, like I mentioned before, is on the underside of his dick. You know, for presentation. Also because I didn't want to deal with trying to figure out how it would look squashed together when he doesn't have a boner LOL

the magic wand is on the top of course but like I said, I'm not putting that on tumblr, even if it's not sexually explicit or whatever.

and yes he has a pubic piercing, a dydoe, and matching prince albert with a curved barbell specifically for the Pac-Man joke 😂

TJ has most of his tattoos because he's kind of a masochist and he likes it, but he also has a sense of humor more than being a particularly edgy guy, and he likes to have fun, so I figure he would get a kick out of going to hook up with someone and waiting for them to start laughing once they get his pants off.

...wait, does that count as a humiliation kink?

obviously plenty of girls would be unimpressed by this and other times it probably just derails the whole "sex" thing because "Oh my God, didn't that hurt?!" but... I think it adds character even if I'll probably never draw it again lol

If you really want to see his dick I have a separate bluesky account where I post nsfw or suggestive art so my mom doesn't see it (lol) which you can find by searching for the username "hornygoldenirises" LOL

oh here's a bonus just showing his build side by side before and after doing lots of REfactor stuff and working out to impress-slash-fistfight a cute girl:

#nadiart #arghdesign #sort... of?#not fanart #tj masterson #scratchverse #shiny art #most of these are in places that aren't visible to other people if he's clothed on purpose; though he is just a dishwasher so like #i doubt his employer would give a flying fuck but he doesn't necessarily want people asking him about his tattoos all the time #but obviously the nice sleeve he gets over the years is an exception and also less likely to have people ask like #''why do you have a crappy Mr. Yuk tattoo?'' lmaooo #even if he probably does get a little tired of the occasional ''oh i'm so sorry'' about the ''love mom'' tattoo #but the wrist one is vague enough he can just kind of brush that one off with whatever excuse #the fact that he did some of these himself including the ones on his feet really shows how much composure he has tbh #...also the magic wand LOL #it is very simple though #probably *afterward* is when he goes around shouting ''fuck! fuck! ow!'' and/or uhhh... well. i shan't say.

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simmerianne93 · 9 months ago

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[Simmerianne93]Children_poses_01

Hello everyone!!! How are you today?

Here I am, with the winning posepack from patreons' January survey!! Some poses for children running!!

Back in December, I was making a small video for a collab (which if you are curious you can watch here, in English and here in Spanish) and when I was taking the pics, I missed that the children in the game could run around laughing and so on... The truth is, I don't know if there are many poses of these because I didn't look for them (I made the video with what I already had) but I felt like making some running options for everyone to use.

In the other hand, when I was doing these poses, I did a poll on twitter to see whether to make a single package with all the poses, or make separate packages with the different expressions. The separate packages option won, but I saw that a few chose the option of a package with everything, so I decided to do both: the version of all the expressions together, as well as four packages separated by emotion (happy, scared/surprised, sad/worried and angry).

I really liked doing these poses, unfortunately, there are too many poses for a "running and playing" pack, so I couldn't include "playing" poses in addition to the running poses, but I'm planning to do some of that in the future.

I really like doing children's poses because they are fun to make, so I hope to bring more soon.

For now, enjoy this pack of poses that I have lovingly made for everyone.

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What is on it?

ALL IN ONE PACK: 12 solo poses (made with a child rig) with 4 expressions each one + 4 all in one.

EMOTION VERSIONS: 12 solo poses (made with a child rig) + 1 all in one. EACH VERSION HAS DIFFERENT EMOTIONS (HAPPY, SCARED/SURPRISED, SAD/WORRIED and ANGRY).

---

What do you need?

Andrew poses player.

Teleport any sim by Scumbumbo or Mccc by deaderpool.

---

Instructions in the original post.

——

TOU

Do not claim my creations as your own.

Do not re-upload or modify my creations.

Do not make money of my creations.

Do not include my creations in Mods folders to download.

Please follow my Term Of Use.

——

Download it now here — [Early access until April 10th, 2024]

——————

If you want to support me: Patreon | Ko-fi

All my poses overview: Pinterest | Wix | Tumblr

More in-game preview pics of all my poses: Instagram

My socials: Twitter | BlueSky | Instagram | Tumblr

——————

I really hope you like them and I will say in advance: Thank you so much for use them.

@ts4-poses

#poses #ts4 #simmerianne93 #sims4poses #thesims4 #posesforsims #sims4 #thesims #ts4poses #creator content #soloposes #childrenposes #childposes #runningposes

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arclith · 9 months ago

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I started doing daily drawings again but I've forgotten to post them here oops :P.

Here's the 9 I've done so far. For some context most of these are my OC's. I know I've posted Neoma here before and Zeva was in one or two of my works here but the others were not so I guess some introductions are in order. But before the yap session, some context on number 7 and 8.

Drawing 7 was for april fools, I had promised a Neoma drawing for that day so I made this and posted it with the caption "Probably most Epic Neoma Drawing ever" with content warning over it on twitter and bluesky. Drawing 8 was a study I did of a Ryuko figure sitting on my desk, I don't do digital lineless paint very often unless it's for a background so it was fun practice!

The first drawing is of Zeva's brother Nevis. He's an extremely intelligent person who's seen some pretty nasty things being a researcher intern for a major corporation since he was just a kid (he's just that smart and studious). He barely ever gets any sleep even though he's only an intern cause they work him to the bone with almost no time to rest. Through private testing he learned he has the strange ability interact with anything that's reflected on any object. Because of this he always carries a handmade revolver on him (to him guns are the most effective weapon to use for his ability).

The second drawing is of my boy Zeva! Him and Nevis were pretty close as kids but as Nevis went away for his "internship" and their mother passed away he was forced to live with his pretty miserable father. After some events (saving that for when I actually make my Webcomic) he ends up far from home and alone on the streets of the largest city on the planet New Cider City. As a young kid he has to learn to fend for himself on the brutal streets of the New Cider City outskirts. As he grows he learns he needs to make money somehow to survive so he does street performances using break-dancing moves he makes up by watching people at skate parks he hangs at. Because he gets so fluent at it break dancing is also the way he fights! Years after he's survived on the streets he meets Neoma and gets an opportunity to learn about his special ability from a Master of some sort. His special ability is to manipulate the moisture of the air and the ions around coluds. It's a pretty useful ability!

The fourth drawing is of Zeva and Neoma doing graffiti together, it's something they do to bond. It's a activity they came to do after they realized it would be the perfect activity for Zeva who was molded by street and skate culture and Neoma who has a passion for making art.

The sixth drawing is of Lyna. She is the aforementioned Master. She is highly skilled in the martial arts and seems to know a lot of specifics about how superhuman abilities work. Her ability is to create stars, if she creates one using her left hand it has an explosion that can be set off by slapping her left wrist. If she create one with her right hand it creates a bright flash of light that can be set off by slapping her right wrist.

For the the last drawing (todays drawing) As I previously said I've already talked about Neoma here a bit like her time based ability and her passion for art. This was really just the Neoma art I initially promised before April fools LMAO

Anyway if you've made it all the way to the end congrats! You've withstood my detailed yet vague OC lore dump LMAO. I hope you enjoyed that, thank you for reading and enjoying my art :D

#oc artwork #ocs #sand land #ryuko matoi #Zeva is simply him #her name is neoma not nemona don't get it twisted #Star powered woman: Lyna!#digital art #daily art #daily drawing #beelzebub #kill la kill #This was supposed to be a simple daily drawing catch up post for tumblr but I ending up going on a crazy oc yap session #Not so smart smart guy Nevis

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therandomavenger · 1 year ago

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Social Media Showdown

Twitter used to be the place for artists, writers, journalists, and other professionals to hang out online. It had great discoverability, and people built huge followings seemingly from scratch. People sold books, connected with agents and editors, and became (sometimes unfortunately) celebrities based on the pithy comments they posted about matters both serious and inane. At its height, it had over 528.3 million monthly active users. If you wanted to be somebody, you were on twitter.

Welp, all good things must come to an end. When it was purchased by Elon Musk in 2022, he started implementing changes that let some of the already extant toxic elements come to the forefront, as well as doing things like letting anyone who wanted to pay $8 a month be verified which had, until then, been a privilege of people with some sort of public notability. It became, essentially, useless for the purposes people had been using it before. It was even rebranded as X, which was as frustrating as it was nonsensical. Most progressives jumped off the platform over the course of the next year, along with most advertisers.

But Twitter isn’t as dead as it feels. People are still using it. It’s developed an even more toxic culture, however, so for my purposes is no longer a fun place to hang out online. It still has 353.7 monthly active users, so it’s still kind of the King Gorilla of micro-blogging sites.

Into the void twitter’s ‘sort-of’ implosion left, several other sites emerged. There seemed to be a new twitter clone every week, sometimes multiples of them. But three of them have really gained some sort of traction, and I want to write about my experiences on them here. In addition to these three, I also tried Hive, which seemed promising but did not have a staff that was ready for prime time. A month or so in, it went down for updates for what was supposed to be one day and which stretched out into multiple weeks. No one came back when it did. I don’t even know if it still exists. I also signed up for a spoutible account, but I have never used it. Is Spoutible even still a thing?

But the three I have used extensively are Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky.

Mastodon

What can I say about Mastodon? It currently has about 1.8 million monthly average users, so it’s not even the same class of creature as Twitter was. Part of Mastodon’s deal is that it’s not one site, or even one collection of sites. It’s part of something called ‘The Fedi-verse’ and is made up of hundreds of different servers (called instances). You need to join one of them to participate. This used to be a daunting challenge, but lately the mastodon app has made mastodon.social the default app for new sign-ups. Theoretically, you are able to change instances to find one that is a better fit for your personal circumstances, but this process can be described as arduous at best. Basically, you need to know what you’re doing, tech-wise, to fully get Mastodon. Also, while each instance has its own rules, there are some commonly accepted practices you’re supposed to follow. Like using descriptive alt text for your images. These rules are just kind of understood, and new people sometimes run afoul of them and then the hordes descend to yell at them. Sometimes. My specific instance is welcoming and pretty chill, but there are some instances that are less so.

Also, it can be difficult to find the people you want to follow on Mastodon. Another problem is that discoverability is low, since every different instance has different rules for what accounts it will show you. They also have different rules for how they handle link previews and even how long your post can be. I’ve found a pretty nice group of people to follow on Mastodon, but none of my posts have really gone beyond them. Adding to this problem is the fact that there just aren’t that many Mastodon users who are active. If you already know of an active community, it can be a great place to plug in, but if you don’t know anyone, you’re going to have a very lonely time of it.

Also, instances can be what’s called ‘de-federated’ from other instances, meaning they basically cease to exist for each other, which means if that happens you lose all of your followers. Mostly this happens because of content violations, but it’s possible for it to happen for whatever reason the other admins decide upon. This is basically social media for people who know what they’re doing, not for normies. That can be a feature, not a bug. It’s up to you. I enjoy Mastodon, but it’s not my go-to when I have a new release or any other kind of news to share, the way twitter once was. It’s probably not destined to become a twitter replacement, and many, of not most, of its users would prefer that it didn’t.

You can follow me on Mastodon @[email protected]

Threads

Threads is the micro-blogging entry from Meta (the company that runs Facebook and Instagram), and that is both a blessing and a curse. It started out being linked to your Instagram account, which was nice because it gave users a pre-existing network of followers and accounts to follow. The bad part is—how do I put this?—the reasons I follow someone on Instagram, which is all about images, are completely different from the reasons I might follow someone on Threads. I think it would have been better not to link the apps at first, but I am not an expert.

To begin with, everything was running on an algorithm, with no following tab, but that was fixed after a couple of weeks. Compared to Mastodon, it’s much easier to develop a following on threads. After starting a little slow, I started interacting with people and responding to the questions and ‘follow-threads’ other people posted, and I quickly had over 100 followers (not a lot, but better than Mastodon).

Threads currently has 23.7 Monthly Active Users which, again, is not in Twitter/X’s ballpark, but is better than Mastodon. Also, discoverability is much higher on threads. It’s easier to get your posts seen beyond your small circle, using whatever algorithmic witchcraft is available to you. But every day I see several posts from people that are basically like ‘This Place is Dead,’ and maybe for them, it is, but Threads is definitely an app that will give you back what you put into it. Find your people (I’ve found a thriving community of writers and readers), interact with them in non-toxic ways, and your feed and your following will grow.

The Culture of Threads is much less focused on the ‘outrage of the day,’ which was what Twitter felt like most days. Everybody is kind of chilling and doing their own thing. It’s not a place you would go to for breaking news, but most people like it that way. Right now, Threads doesn’t have ads or sponsored posts, but I’m sure that is coming, eventually.

So, yeah, it’s a Meta product, with all that entails, but if you’re willing to give it time, it can be a rewarding experience.

Follow me on Threads @c.e.grayson

Bluesky

Bluesky has the blessing/curse situation as well, as it was created by Jack Dorsey, who co-founded twitter. Right now, it has 1.5 million monthly active users, putting it somewhere behind Mastodon. It’s the identity of those users that makes it worthwhile, however.

Bluesky is considered to still be in beta, and the only way to open an account is to have an invitation. Invitations are given to its active users to hand out however they please, so, to get in you have to know somebody. Cue flashback to my high school years when I wasn’t allowed to sit at the cool kids’ table. But thanks to a friend, I did eventually score an invite. Here, I found all of the famous people who had abandoned twitter, which was nice. There is also a big population of civilians like me, and so far, everything seems pretty respectful and chill. I’ve had some nice interactions with some people, and I’ve been followed back by people who are heroes of mine, which feels weird and nice at the same time. I’ve only been on Bluesky for a couple of weeks, and my reach there is not large. Discoverability seems to be an issue here as well, but all of this might change when it’s out of beta and you no longer need an invite to join. How that will change the culture remains to be seen.

Follow me on Bluesky @chadgrayson.bsky.social

I titled this ‘Social Media Showdown” but I’m not really picking a winner. I will say my reach is greatest on Threads, and I absolutely know that I’ve sold some books from there, not so much Mastodon or Bluesky. They each have their distinct cultures, but every site does. You get out what you put in, really, as it is with most things.

#blog post #social media

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