#make sure to make a Tumblr post and @ this account if you do.

[madamepestilence]

Comrades of Tumblr, I have a myriad of Gaza fundraisers to share, and have been in a thread that will be the pinned message on my profile until further notice.

Right now, I would like to highlight a GoFundMe sponsored by Victoria Beauchamp for Aya Mahmoud and her family. Her situation is urgent, having sent me heartbreaking messages that she alone has 8 people to feed.

You can find her account here: @ayoosh-gaza02

The prices of food in occupied Palestine and the Gaza open-air concentration camp have spiked drastically since the genocide swung to full power in October 2023. A year has passed and Gaza has yet to be freed.

I have nothing left to give right now, but please, if you have anything to give, please direct your funds to here:

Please, even if you can't donate anything, make sure to reblog this post as well. I don't give a shit about the notes, but I do care about more eyes seeing Mahmoud so that this post can pass through more hands that can help.

[quantomeno]

I've been following this matter for a while now (a quick search of newspaper articles showed it's been floated since mid last year, and I remember having to use my passport to verify my age on my gmail (it's not the account I use for tumblr, the account has my name in the address, so it's already pretty clearly me, so I was begrudgingly okay with it but am still annoyed my other account now can't watch age restricted youtube videos unless I tie it to my identity)). It's a vexed issue.

The first thing I'd like to point out is that the person quoted in the above post ("I am 100 percent etc") is Keith Pitt, a member of the Nationals who was resources and water minister under Morrison. I feel this is important because while he'd definitely be someone who'd vote in support of the measure, he's not a member of the party in power, let alone a Cabinet minister. His opinion is not necessarily that of the Prime Minister ― Anthony Albanese ― and it makes it seem like what he's talking about is what the government is planning to do.

What is the PM actually saying they'll do?

To be honest, I don't think the government knows yet. From what I can gather, there has been no suggestion by the PM that they would force people's accounts to have their real names. The Age a few days ago reported this:

"Australia’s eSafety commissioner has instead recommended a “double-blind tokenised approach”, whereby information would be provided to a verifying third party that would certify the user’s age to social media platforms without revealing details about the child. The details of the plan are being worked through by a trial of age-verification technologies."

(the "instead" is in reference to the current practice of social media platforms asking people if they over 13, which I'm sure most people realise would stop pretty much no child)

In that same article though they also said "the government has not unveiled key details, including the technology that would be used to keep children out". So I think there is quite a bit of time before anything is going to be written into law.

While I don't think your name will be "slapped onto your tumblr account" (if that does end up being what they do I would actually delete my tumblr, I really do not want that), there is still the question of privacy being invaded in that the government would (I think? I'm not a tech expert in the slightest) be able to connect you to your account.

Keep in mind that we are close to an election (there's been whispers it could be May next year), and this is an issue that (as the Keith Pitt quote shows) both of the major parties seem to mostly agree on. A cynical view is that the PM is talking tough to neutralise the issue so it can't be attacked by the opposition for not protecting children. The fact that both are talking about it does however suggest it will eventually come to pass (unlike other complicated legislation that was touted as 'essential' but then got shelved after being too hard to get through (naming no names i.e. Scomo's religious discrimination bill).

The other point to discuss is that while I really do enjoy people not knowing who I am on tumblr (and people in my life not being able to know I'm on tumblr), I also don't really think kids should be on social media (or at least not in the way they currently are). I avoided social media (I only had a facebook account I barely touched) until I was an adult (and even then I waited a while) and I'm quite glad, mostly because I think I'm a lot more mature. On the other hand, while I didn't interact with people, I grew up in a time when you could browse most platforms without an account, so it's not like I wasn't exposed to things on the internet. And then there's a bit of a moral panic about the internet, which can be a bit overblown at times. But then I'll hear a 14 year old I know mentioning stuff that makes me think he's kind of obsessed with growing muscles and I wonder if he's seeing these sorts of things online. I mean, there's a lot of garbage on the internet. But there's a lot of really useful things too... it's complicated and I'm not settled on an opinion yet.

Kids really do need to learn better internet practices and behaviours, but there are also kids in primary school with social media accounts. I mean, what does a 12 year old do in their life that they need the world to see? (don't answer that it's rhetorical, I'm sure there are plenty of 12 year olds doing interesting things worth showing off, but I mean, beyond messaging friends, 12 year olds don't really need to be communicating with strangers on the internet). Note too it's specifically social media (the definition is given by OP but it's anything where the main purpose is share content or talk to a wide audience of people. Things like games with chat stuff are also being looked into.

I'm also a bit of a luddite and think kids should read more. I'm not actually trying to convince people the ban is good, I'm just thinking aloud here. The whole thing feels rather heavy-handed, brute-force, and there's every chance kids will still find ways around it. I don't think this is the ideal solution, but I do feel there is a problem to be addressed.

But yeah, do tell your local member that you are concerned and want to make sure your privacy is kept safe. Just be aware of who your member is and their/their party's stance (all Labor MPs vote with the party, Liberals and Nationals can vote against their own party, so they may not all be in agreement). The Greens are opposed to it. I am not sure what the teal independents think of it.

You may also want to contact some senators from your state, not just your MP.

As for the contents of the letter, maybe something like:

Dear Mr/Ms/Dr (whatever title they use) surname MP,

I am a resident of your electorate (electorate name). (Maybe say a little bit about yourself, just what you think is relevant to the letter or your arguments).

I am writing to you to discuss the proposed social media ban for children. I am concerned (explain what/why you are concerned).

(Try to keep it brief, but also try to be personal)

State what you want your MP to do. Ask them to reply to your letter.

Sincerely,

your name.

You may want to mail the letter rather than just emailing. This page from Oxfam I just looked up five minutes ago has some nice tips.

Hey Aussies, do you want your real name and ID slapped on your tumblr account? If the answer is fuck no, our gov’s got a upcoming legislation for banning 16 year olds and under from social media even WITH parental consent. And by “Social Media”…

The code defines social media as electronic services that meet the following conditions:

The sole or primary purpose of the service is to enable online social interaction between two or more end users

The service allows end users to link to, or interact with, some or all other end users

The service allows end users to post material on the service

Such other conditions (if any) as are set out in the legislative rules.

So. You know. Just the entire fucking internet. They even named youtube as banned, god forbid kids out in the bush get access to LGBTQ+ communities online when they could be watching adds for sportsbet.

I am 100 per cent supportive of eliminating bullying and fake information from online platforms. The easiest way to do that is to be able to utilise existing laws, and the easiest way to do that is to ensure there are no fake accounts. Your digital, online life is your real life. If you want to make comments, that's fine, but it should be as you, as a verified account. This means everyone knows who it is that makes those comments, that you can be found and prosecuted under existing laws, just as you would if you express those opinions in a newspaper, for example, or you went on to a television station and said something similar.

Contact an Aussie senator about this shit. They’re trying to slide it under all the USpol news.

[pedrostories]

🎄 PedroStories Secret Santa event 2024 🎄

Dear Fanfic writers and readers,

PedroStories would like to invite you to our second Secret Santa event! ✨

If you write fanfictions for any Pedro Pascal characters and/or you're a visual art creator (graphics, gifsets, fanart) with a love for our fandom's fanfic writers, this event is for you! You can register here until November 27 (you can expect our message about your giftee a few days later), and the gifters will post their arts on December 24.

We have tagged all the incoming questions and answers about the event with “secret santa questions”, you can search for it on the blog, but if something still isn’t clear, feel free to send us an ask!

Please read the rules carefully before submitting your application!

Please make sure that it’s specified in your bio if you’re a minor/adult (at least temporarily)

Please respect the deadlines: application ends on November 27 and you will need to post your gift on December 23

Please consider the following rules about the format of the gifts: gifsets should contain at least 3 gifs (or multiple banners) and fanfictions should be at least 1k words

We encourage you to anonymously contact your giftee if you feel like your prompt isn't clear enough, or if you have any questions about their preferences. If you're in doubt, you can send an ask to pedrostories, and someone will contact you via dm

If you're a tumblr user please make sure your anon ask is enabled, and if you're not a tumblr user please provide a contact where your gifter can approach you anonymously (obviously a media account or e-mail address you check regularly)

Please tag your gift as #pedrostoriesgift24 and #pedrostories so we can track and reblog all your arts on the day of the gifting, and don't forget to tag you giftee as well!

If for any reason you need to drop out, please do let us know as soon as possible so we can find a pinch hitter for your giftee

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to send us an ask!

Join us and spread the word! 💜

 - PedroStories Staff

[alnst-secret-santa]

Welcome to the Alien Stage Secret Santa 2024 !

How This Works:

Send in what kind of content you want in an ask or a submission ! All submissions are due by Nov. 24th. Feel free to also add to your ask if you have any characters or ships you don't feel comfortable making content for! If you need to back out for any reason, please send an ask to this account before the submissions are due.

The next day, Nov. 25th, I will randomize the participants and DM you who you're making your gift for! You can come to this blog to see what they want, and you can start your process from this point on.

While I won't make it mandatory, feel free to send me your progress on Dec. 10th ! This would be to make sure that everyone is on the right track.

On Dec. 25th, everyone can post their works to Tumblr! Make sure to tag this blog as well as your gift receiver! I will make sure to reblog all gifts! If you don't receive your gift by Jan. 1st, please send an ask to this account!

That's the schedule! The rules are simple:

No NSFW content allowed.

This event will only be for canon characters! Unfortunately, there won't be any OCs in this event.

You can create art and/or writing! This will be pretty casual, so no need to worry about making anything too hardcore.

For art, the expectation is lined art and flat colors if you can do so!

For writing, the expectation is a minimum of 500 words!

That should be all! If you have any questions, please send them here!

[hanleiacelebration]

🎆 Han x Leia Holiday Exchange 2024 🎆

Hope, creativity, and love are more important than ever in these times, and we hope this event can do a little something to help brighten up the coming months. Welcome to the 2024 edition of our classic Han x Leia Holiday Exchange!

This is an anonymous exchange where each participant will write and receive a Han/Leia fanfic (min.: 500 words, max.: ~5k words).

Who can participate? Anyone and everyone who loves Han and Leia! Whether you prefer Legends, Disney canon, or AUs; whether you've written 100 fics, 5 or zero; whether you’re a new fan or an older fan; whether you even celebrate any holidays or not... if you enjoy writing, presents, and Han and Leia, this event is for you!

Schedule:

Signups open: November 8, 2024

Signups close: November 22, 2024

Assignments go out: November 23-24, 2024

Half-point check in: Week of December 16, 2024

Deadline to request a beta: January 9, 2025

Submission deadline: January 18, 2025

Works revealed: January 19, 2025

Authors revealed: January 31, 2025

How does it work?

This exchange will take place both on Tumblr and on Archive of Our Own (Ao3), which means having an account on both sites is required to participate. (If you don’t have an Ao3 account, please contact the mods — they can send you an invite and help with any questions!)

You will need to sign up via the link to Ao3 below and will upload your work to the collection there whenever you’re finished. We will post it for you on January 19, and it will remain anonymous until January 31.

You’ll use Tumblr to receive communications from the mods and to send/receive anonymous messages to/from your recipients/writers, so make sure your Tumblr has anonymous messaging turned on. We do ask you to please reach out to your recipient at least once: not only is it a great way to find out more about what kind of gift they would enjoy, but it’s also a really fun part of the exchange!

🎆SIGN UP HERE!

🎆READ THE FULL RULES HERE (mobile version here) AND THE FAQ HERE (mobile version here)

🎆ASK US A QUESTION HERE

Please make sure to read the rules and the instructions on the sign-up page carefully, and please feel free to reach out to blog or one of us individually if you have any questions (or if you could use a little encouragement).

Your mods: @otterandterrier @lajulie24 @hanorganaas

[lemotmo]

No clue if you've received this one yet but I like this one a lot.

Q. You can hate him but you really don't think that breakup came out of nowhere? It was insanely fast. And weird and just strange overall.

A. The pacing of the entire episode was fast. But that's because they tried to work in too many calls amongst the personal stories and they shouldn't have done that. The only reason they used the cut call from 7x4 was because without it Athena wouldn't' have been in the episode at all. There is no other explanation for why they had to use that call. There were too many calls. That was the problem. Sometimes a character driven episode is needed and good and that should have been a character driven episode only. But for whatever reason they're trying to work in all of these calls that call back to bigger Buck or Eddie calls. They're doing it again next week. With the lightning and rollercoaster callback. What we don't yet know is why. But you all are trying to find depth in a breakup for a relationship that had no depth. It was a relationship in name only. It existed only to get Buck out. The entire point of Tommy's character was his dialogue in the breakup scene. Everything else in that scene was irrelevant. But even Buck's part of the conversation made sense for Buck's character. He's not sure what he feels so he decided to overcommit and just jump instead of trying to figure out what it is he really feels. That's relationship Buck through and through. Nothing about him was weird in that scene. Most of us have said from the beginning that all Tommy is is Buck's male Abby. The show allowed Buck to confirm that. They literally had him say she was a transformative relationship for me and so are you. Abby was his introduction to adult relationships. Tommy was his introduction to male relationships. That's it. It's not deeper than that. So there's no need for their breakup to be deeper than that. Buck only sounded crazy because there are only two people in the world who speak Buckense and their names are Evan Buckley and Eddie Diaz. So even though what Buck was saying made perfect sense to him, and story wise, it sounded insane to Tommy and the audience.

It feels more like Tim extended the Tommy part longer than he should have or meant too and they reached a point where they ran out of later. I feel like they're headed towards a particular story point and for whatever reason they needed some time between Buck being single and whatever is coming in the mid season finale. But the breakup has been signposted since day one. So calling it rushed is incorrect. The anniversary date was a disaster. The writing was on the wall. There was no need to drag it out.

Thank you Nonny! 🤗

Yep, all of this makes perfect sense. Nothing to add here.

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[rjschoicesstuff]

Choices fandom appreciation shoutouts

This event is so so so lovely and I really want to join in hehe. I'm not great at expressing my thoughts/feelings and stuff but I really wanna try because I'm really thankful for all of u guys!! :)

When I first posted on this account last summer I honestly expected I'd probably post a few things and dip again because I usually don't get much attention on social media platforms. And also wasn't sure if anyone would really vibe with my approach to characters and stories hahaha 🙈.

But instead people were so nice and I felt so welcomed and like 'oh wow people seem to actually enjoy what I do??' And I had so much fun reading the tags left on reblogs of my art and stuff. And alongside that it has been soooo fun to see everyone elses posts and characters and leaving my thoughts on those as well (and slowly getting less shy about it too 💪). And I even started reading fanfic for the first time in my life hahaha.

I feel like I'm rambling but I just really want to say all this haha, it's been so fun being on here! I love drawing everyone's characters and other requests and will keep doing that (like pleeaase dont be shy, I love drawing everyone's characters) because it's fun and it's also kinda how I say 'thank you' for all being so nice to me!! So yeah thank you all for making me feel so welcome the past months! :)

Especially as someone who usually has trouble making friends and putting myself out there due to shyness it means a lot!

Under the cut I'll also put some messages directed at separate people, I'm fighting the lil voice in my head that's shy about this but you guys all deserve to hear it hehe, even if I'm kinda ass at expressing myself like this

But even if not mentioned/tagged I appreciate everyone who supports me/my work so much and I love seeing you guys in my notes!!

@lovealexhunt In the short time I've been here I've noticed you do so much for people and this fandom! I've loved all the fics you wrote that I read so far and love how you write Mal and Daenarya together (and the vampire au OOOO). She's so fun and I loved drawing her interacting with Ripley and will definitely do it again sometime!! And I'm also still so obsessed with the geometric Ripley art and I thought it was so sweet of you to draw that for me aaaa

@lilyoffandoms I always love seeing your art on my tumblr feed and your designs for your mc's!! And I'm still sooo in love with the Ripley drawing you did and that really made my day back then because it was a total surprise too!! In general all the art you've done of my characters has just been awesome and made my day every time!!

@choicesmc I love what you do with all your mc's, when you make picrews for them, the artworks I've seen you do for them and all the info you share about them, you're so so creative!! I love all your writing a lotttt, especially the shorter ones you've been posting lately!! I rly enjoy talking to you in dm's a lot, if it ever seems like I don't it's just me being shy haha 😭. I also love the tags you leave when you reblog my art and when you point out stuff you notice :)

@sapphoschoices Thank you for so often sharing my posts!! And in general always supporting people and sharing their work! I love all the edits I've seen you do and hope you'll keep sharing more hehe. I also read a fic by you for the first time last week and really enjoyed it! Made me wanna replay Desire & Decorum..

@rosesnink Thank you for letting me borrow your mc's a few times when I wanted to draw interactions! I had so so much fun writing back and forth about Rex and Brienne after I posted the art of them together hehe, I always love to see other people with orc mc's in general. I also really like the gif edits you make and your fics I've read so far!

@aria-ashryver You were one of the first people in the fandom who started sharing and commenting on my art and thanks to that I ended up not just  posting a few things and dipping forever like I expected hahah. I always really enjoy reading through the tags you leave on the art I post!! I finally caught up to SICSIG a while ago and it was sooo fun seeing what you did with Immortal Desires and all the extra lore and stuff and I can so clearly tell so much love went into it. And your sprite edits are also always so amazing aaaa.

@cadybear420 Thank you for often sharing my posts I really appreciate it hehe. And thank you for letting me draw your mc's a few times, I had sm fun with it haha. And it was really fun talking about Ripley and Evie interactions. I really enjoy your edits, you're so skilled aaa!! I also enjoy reading about your mc's a lot + how you write gnc characters and gnc m×f romance.

@gaiuskamilah I loveeee your art a lot and love seeing it on my feed!! I also really enjoy reading your thoughts on books, characters, themes in books etc. You make me wanna replay BloodBound so bad (and I definitely will do that soon)

@hsslilly-blog I'm sooo obsessed with your art you have no idea. You're rly funny and I rly enjoy seeing your posts on my feed. I really really love how you write characters, like they just feel so real, it's super inspiring!

@mydemonsdrivealimo I really really enjoy your art and everything you share about Jensen and Bryce. You're like  The Bryce Mutual to me, anything you say about him is basically canon to me lol. Thank you for letting me draw Jensen a while ago it was SO fun aaaa

@peonyblossom

Thank you for the cover redraw ideas you sent when I asked for ideas, I had sooo much fun drawing the Alpha cover with Kalani and Channing!! I enjoy the bits you share about your mc's and oc's a lot too!

@choicesfandomappreciation

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

*gasp* it's you

You've been commenting on my Zach and Jacob fics for a while now

:OO it's you!!

and it's me!!

Yes I have they have been my lifeblood in this fandom <33

[todayisafridaynight]

I’m fairly new to the fandom, but I do have a question if you can answer it! Why do people ship Daigo with Aoki / Masato? I tried looking to see if they’ve interacted before, but couldn’t find anything! Sorry for asking I’m just </3 dumb AND I LOVE YOUR ART OF THEM!!! Nerd looking ahhhhhh

hi ! welcome to the community i hope you're having a lovely time so far and ty for enjoyin my stuff :) no need for apologies it's a very fair question to have :]

i cant speak for everyone (all. ten people into masadai anyway) but Personally To Me i just think the idea of them together is very funny. thats quite literally it im afraid..

[snekdood]

i mean i should probably stop saying shit just to be mean

[fvckednddistvrbed]

i ate a lot today, not as much as other days, but still im disappointed with myself and starting to feel sick. why cant i be good at restriction? god this makes me wanna sh so fucking bad

[kjzx]

Lowkey would love to be one of the artists for the f&h Gacha for Gaza thing but idk if they still take in artists for that and if my skill is good enough for that

[devinwolfi]

im a hater who took one (1) stats course and these "real queer ratio" polls drive me up the fucking wall

[mossflower]

yeah you need hobbies outside of media consumption or you’ll go insane. however if i spent an entire day reading books i would not go insane i would feel happy and fulfilled <3

[twitchyglitchy]

I love getting back into one of my cringe phases while playing VRChat and stumbling upon people in my age range (adults) who are fucked in the head nasty. /sar

[something-about-sunflowers]

I had to turn off reblogs for the post about the anon asks. . . I am just a lil guy. . . I cannot handle 18k notes. . . My notifs/activity tab are in shambles. . . H-how do big accounts do this all the time?