#if somebody’s super weird and or bigoted i just block them

[florwal]

i think tumblr is making me randomly unfollow a bunch of people? cuz i suddenly don’t follow a lot of blogs/mutuals i love and i’m so confused???

[golbatgender]

The transphobes on my blog are getting worse.

Okay, first of all, I don’t normally get into extended fights with people who are determined bigots. They are not going to change their minds and it exposes their bigotry to other people, including people who might be triggered by it (and no one’s followers want to see 50 versions of the same post). It’s better to block and move on, because they’re not going to listen to you; they have heard it all before from other people (almost certainly) and still decided to keep being bigots.

Second, I’m in the hospital. I had septicemia and a septic ankle (I could have died) and have lost a lot of the muscle mass in my right leg. I am on some serious pain meds, and often they increase an existing problem I have where bits of my sleep cycle and dreams intrude into my waking life. Basically, I’m having minor hallucinations and occasionally I lose control of my hands and the ability to hold things, and often my eyes are crossing a lot so I can barely read. I also have a bad infection, and I’m just tired a lot. Also, poorly adjusted assistive devices plus my joint hypermobility mean I have pinched a nerve in my hand and can’t feel the tip of my right ring finger except for nerve pain, which makes typing on my laptop difficult. (Actually, I have partial numbness in the tips of most of my fingers, but that one has the most noticeable and debilitating sensation loss.) Additionally, possibly because of the infection, my heart rate is weird and sometimes skyrockets for no reason, which is uncomfortable (I had a clear echocardiogram but I’m worried I might have invisible damage). I’m also having some kind of allergic reaction to something in the surgical disinfectant for my second surgery (apparently the first time must have sensitized me) so my leg is super itchy to a distracting degree. So please find somebody who is actually well enough to do what you ask.

Not tagging things as “stupid people” (a mildly ableist term) might also help my willingness to do things for you. It’s the reason I haven’t actually followed you. I don’t think it’s actually a particularly bad word and sometimes it’s hard to find a synonym for a certain kind of “why the fuck would you do this” that “stupid” implies, but at the same time if I followed you and someone called me out for following someone who used “stupid” a lot and very broadly (when it could easily be substituted for something else more accurate), they’d be right.

So just block those people and stop arguing with them, and instead use the time on something more productive. And check that whoever you want to enlist in a fruitless, pointless, repetitive crusade actually is likely to be able to do that before you send them repeated requests for that. Or, you know, realize when the requests are being ignored. I don’t think you’re trying to be a jerk, but the repeated requests to do something unpleasant and pointless are really annoying.

If you actually need help or clarification on something non-trivial, do feel free to ask and I will try to help within reason and within my ability, but I just wanted to make it clear that I am not available to play ping-pong with trolls who have no intent to consider anything you or I would say anyway, and that I would like you to please stop asking in those circumstances. If it’s more like you really need some kind of resource and you think I would know where to find it, that’s when to send me a message. (And I like to reply using my laptop, not my phone where I do most other tumblr stuff, so the response may be delayed by up to several days. Tell me if it’s urgent.) But don’t ask me to involve myself in pointless arguments that just expose me to caustic hatred for no reason, without the troll having even attacked me first.

I hope this has been a good explanation of my boundaries and current ability to do things. I know you weren’t trying to be annoying, it just happened by accident, and I’m not mad at you for that (though I might be if you keep sending me these kinds of requests after reading this). I hope you have a good night and get some sleep instead of arguing with trolls who won’t listen. I will try to do the same.