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rpbetter · 3 years ago

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a vent (feel free to ignore if it's too much!): so recently i've noticed psd makers getting anon asks on whether they're ok with people who write certain topics (mostly rpf, incest, rape, underage, the usual "problematic" topics) using their recourses. now, i don't roleplay any of these subjects on tumblr, so even if a content creator said not to use their stuff, it's not even something i need to worry about - but, and maybe this is me overthinking it, what if i, someday, write a noncon fanfic on ao3? i'm still not using their resources on the subject or writing it on tumblr, but i'd probably feel weird about it, like i'm crossing some boundary. what if a psd maker whose content i've already purchased suddenly goes "actually don't use my psds if you rp abusive relationships", which is probably the closest to what people consider "taboo themes" of the things that i roleplay. it just feels like a fine line between personal boundaries and a shitty situation for a customer - not wanting to cross boundaries but already having PAID for something previously, when no such rules existed. it's making me want to 1. block everyone i see saying this, because even though i don't personally roleplay the topics above, i don't feel SAFE around people who tell others what kind of fiction they are allowed to enjoy and 2. just quit using people's resources and spend years learning to make my own psds so i won't have to worry about this shit. it's just stressing me out, as someone who has been harrassed and bullied online for speaking against censorship. i've had literal sock accounts made just to spew targetted harrassment at me on twitter. i've been accused of being a pedo and supporting incest and this is??? literally for saying "i don't think real people should be harrassed for fictional shit", i've not even shipped underage or incest ships. both make me uncomfortable. but fuck, antis make me 1000000x more uncomfortable than people who ship these kinda ships. i digress, this got rambley, i just. do you have any advice on what to do with the potential psd situation, or am i really just overthinking it? (always worried i accidentally send stuff like this off anon. help)

I need you to know that I actually had to rush-scroll back up and just double check that you did submit on anon lol! I always get worried I'll miss the one person who accidentally didn't use anon, if it makes you feel any better! When someone does submit with their URL attached, I message them first to be sure they are okay with them having it posted that way/it wasn't an accident ;) That's what I would want someone to do!

Alright, so, anyhow...

I've also noticed that becoming a more common thing and it's been on my (maybe huge) list of things to look into for a bit because I really do try to make sure I'm not just noticing things in my areas of the RPC/failing to notice things that do not impact me. Since I do all my edits and graphics, it falls into the first category for me. So, thank you for moving that up the list and informing me that it really is more prevalent and not my imagination!

My take on seeing it was a combination of business logic and anxiety, not going to lie.

On the first: charging to do a psd that is just that, just a psd file being used as a template/to act as an easier version of a photoshop "action" in a way, that's 100% legal and fine. Absolutely no muddy waters there. However, charging to do things like icons, edits, etc. that include images of celebrities and stills from movies (or gifs) is quite muddy. Legally, it's not legal. It's a thing we're allowed to do and use (on most platforms) because we're not making money off of it, we're not claiming to hold rights to the images, and so on - it's ignored but illegal. Charging money for it, however, even when phrased as "for my time" (which, absolutely valid feeling), is a more serious form of illegal and potentially attention-getting. This all gets more iffy though when we add donation instead of direct commission/purchase when working with these copyrighted materials. You can ask people to donate and suggest a donation based on your time spent, and that is always what I advise people to do.

Okay, so, that preface is necessary because the thing about stipulating use-rights is that they're iffy, too, there are variables present.

Often, these same people are charging for things like icon packs as well, meaning that even if they're only charging you for a template-style psd file sans imagery they don't own, they've kind of shot themselves in the foot. Not to mention, it's exceedingly damn hypocritical to pitch a fit about someone violating your rights when you're literally using other people's copyrighted materials lmao And that does tend to occur to me, yeah, it's a consequence of attorney friends and running businesses.

The other issues with this are that usage rights have to be stated at the time of purchase and morality clause-style shit, as pertains to products, is not legally binding.

When you purchase something like a psd file, that purchase acts as a sort of contract.

Think of like...buying a photoshop brush set - the person selling it puts very simple rules as to its use, such as: non-commercial use only, brush pack cannot be resold or distributed for free, separate brushes from the pack cannot be resold or distributed for free individually. Meaning that you own the brushes you bought, but you are not legally allowed to make real-life money from anything you use them in, and you cannot send the whole pack or files individually to friends for free or charge other people for them. By buying these, you have agreed to these stipulations of use and ownership.

If the person sells psd's and you agree to what they've stated about the use (you can't use them to do commissions you make IRL money from, you can't give them away to friends, etc.), that's binding even somewhere as casual as RP Land. The exchange of real currency makes it that serious.

However, there are limits to stipulations of use! One of those things is when you agreed - this person cannot, even one literal second, later change their terms of use and retroactively hold you to them. If they were okay with you not crediting them anywhere or using them in works you will gift others or charge others something like game currency for at the time you purchased, then that's it. Tough shit for them, not you, when they decide a month later that they want credit given where the work appears, that they do not want finished products gifted, or don't want you to make even in-game currency from them.

And that absolutely would apply to the morality wank, yes.

Except that this very morality wank comes with its own issues. Reality is not tumblr. In reality, at least in most instances and countries, you can't throw in a fucking morality clause regarding the buyer, use of item, or finished product.

Think of this in this way: Chik-Fil-A starts denying chicken and waffle fries to anyone suspected of being queer. They're legally allowed to run their business (as a private business, everything does have variables) with some things that are morally objectionable that they feel morally aligns with their religious beliefs. They're not allowed to deny queer workers a job or queer customers service, however, in accordance with overarching laws.

While "being gross" online in fiction is not like, making anyone a protected status person lol this is just an extreme example to drive home the point. Legally, when it comes to items/products be they digital or physical, your rights and responsibilities as the seller don't include your moral policing.

What your right is, is to make people uncomfortable to a degree, yeah. You absolutely can do that. You can state some nasty shit about prospective buyers you don't want. For example, they should (I mean, they should just grow up and get some real concerns, but) be stating that they would not like to see their psd's used by people on this following DNI list of idiocy, and they will block those users if possible to prevent interaction and purchase. That's really it, that's what they can do and the least immature way to proceed.

On the second: none of this logic would make me feel comfortable about interacting with them and their psd's in the future once they had outed themselves as morally objectionable and dangerous to me with this nonsense. And I would still feel anxious about using things I had previously bought because once harassed...it doesn't really go away, does it? It would just give me some ease about the latter with things I'd already made. Like, I could keep using the icons I'd made with those psd's with a little bit more comfort knowing that they honestly have not a leg to stand on outside of their harassment.

I might have the tendency to respond to harassment without much upset, but that doesn't mean I want to be harassed. Especially when I am not doing anything that draws that kind of attention. Not that harassment is warranted over anything, but when I make a PSA or answer an ask that I know is likely to get their attention and piss them off? That's an acceptable risk I am knowingly taking. When I'm just going about my life as a RPer, it isn't.

So, I don't feel like you're overthinking it or being too concerned! In no way did you sign up for getting unwanted attention, and because it has happened before, of course, you're trying to insulate yourself from having it happen again. That's totally reasonable!

Now, what you could do about it...

It's another of those situations in which we're only truly capable of controlling ourselves. Everyone else is kind of a NPC.

You don't have to do anything I'm suggesting, but these are things I would do!

I would block the shit out of anyone saying these things/trying to make them stipulations, yes.

By that, I mean that I would also visit blogs they appear to interact with and they'd be blocked as well. We can all reblog something like resources or a shit post from a user we do not agree with without realizing it, but when it's frequent reblogs, direct support, and friendly vibes going on, it's safer to assume that they are aware their friend sucks. More importantly, that they do not think their friend sucks and support their views.

Even if that is not the case, do you want someone else's repeated inattention to expose you to bad actors? Nope! So, don't run the risk of paying and otherwise interacting with the one resource blog in the group that doesn't express these views/"requirements," but does involve themselves with those who do.

Try to find people selling these resources, that are not connected to the problem ones, who do not have those views. Once a trend starts, it is very hard to stop until it has run its course naturally, so, this might be difficult and take some extreme effort. You might want to consider asking like-minded friends who use psd's where they got them so you can check those users out for yourself.

If they're all the same, problem, people...

Look for users well outside of your corner of the RPC(s) who are not asking to be paid. I know it sounds wild, but there really are RPers out there who just enjoy making things for others! I can think of at least one right off on my dash. They might not be advertising for doing psd's or psd packs, but either they might be willing to do so (especially if they do not appear policing-positive) if you explain what is going on, or they could at least fill some requests for you for fully made icons and such. Hell, people who love doing this work usually know others who do as well, and anti-policing people quite reasonably stick together. They could have suggestions for someone not vile selling psd's.

Depending on what it is you want your psd's to do, I promise you that it wouldn't take you very long to learn it. I know...I know lol that's both really easy for me say when I've been doing it for over twenty years and am about to piss some people off. The latter because the most common settings on popular psd's are extremely simple shit, a lot of that is the kind of thing you're expressly told not to do in design work. Like ramping up extreme contrast, pixelating the fuck out of an image, and turning up the primary colors only. Once you get to playing with photoshop or an equivalent, you will totally see what I mean. You can accidentally make an icon look identical to something that is on trend in the RPC. If that was what you were going for? You've hit the mark, and it's just repetition and tweaking it here and there!

Once you start playing with it, too, it's actually pretty intuitive when it comes to the basic things like resizing, adjusting colors and contrast, and doing easy effects like blurs and sharpening. Frankly, playing with it is better than half the tutorials you'll find because they get unnecessarily complicated when all you want to do is crop your muse's face, overlay some color, and add a damn dotted border. Listen, like I said, I have a lot of experience...and I find many tutorials frustrating and overwhelming!

It is not just you, you're not dumb or anything. People get very comfortable with something and when they try to explain it to others, they use terms and methods that are more advanced or specific to them than they realize. That's all!

If you have friends who make their own things, ask them some very basic questions about what you want to do. They know you, so, they'll know better how to explain to you, specifically. Just keep it simple until you've had some time to experiment! Ask things like, "I want to take this image, resize it to be an icon, and add an orange tint to the image while sharpening only my muse's features...how would I do that? Easy mode?"

And! You don't even have to pay for photoshop or pirate it anymore! Photopea is as an exact copy as possible entirely located in your browser for free. It's all overwhelming at first, a real case of too many options and ways to do the same thing, but the only way it gets less overwhelming is just diving into it. Dive in, get a little frustrated, have some successes, make some awesome discoveries, it gets a bit addicting in short order. Then, the tutorials and tips are so much easier to figure out and expand on, too.

If you'd like, you can always send me a pm here and ask me. I'm happy to try to explain how to do things, zero judgment or impatience. Just an additional option if you both decide to try learning and would feel comfortable doing that. Zero judgment as well on not wanting to do either of those things!

Okay, this one is much harder than learning PS basics because it's honestly a bit terrifying...the way these people are, they're going to take issue with you no matter what you do, and in the end, if they notice you and feel like bothering you, they will. There's literally nothing you can do about it. All you can do is try to buffer yourself, stay away from them, and be aware that you are not the problem.

Like with the AO3 thing or writing what could be viewed as toxic relationships. You can never write or be interested in a single, solitary thing that they're on about (and accusing you of doing in real life when the burning Eye of Moron turns your direction), but to them, you supporting the right of other people to do so is just as bad as doing it yourself. To them, the toxic relationships not only would be problematic, they'd be problematic enough. Being uncomfortable with their policing and feeling unsafe because of it is, to them, a red flag of how problematic you are. Writing anything they've deemed objectionable (or reading or viewing it, for that matter) anywhere, doesn't have to be on this platform or RP-adjacent, doesn't have to actually utilize any of their materials, is enough.

They're absolutely including you in who shouldn't use their shit. That's part of the "logic" and methodology of policing. Everyone is problematic, so, everyone can be labeled a pedo and harassed without too many people getting up in arms about it. No one is safe, so, everyone better behave. You don't actually have to be engaging with or enjoying things like underage, non/dubcon, rape, abusive relationships, etc.

It's gross, it's bullying, it's actually a problem...and there isn't much you can do.

All that is truly up to you is making an effort to avoid them, though, this is very often unfair and likely to get more unfair as resource blogs of all sorts deal in it more. At least, in this case, you do have some small bit of actionable power - by not ever buying from them. They wouldn't be charging if they did not either need or want the money, not giving it to them is a bigger hit than things like simply unfollowing/blocking, reblogging PSA's, and so on is!

Nope, it isn't like you're denying them some extreme amount of money by yourself, but every three, five, ten dollars is felt pretty hard when you desperately need money and/or are saving for something.

I know, I mean, I personally do know, that it's impossible to "get over" bullying, Anon. I'm in no way telling you to just get over it and move on, find some great well of not caring somewhere! What I'm saying is that there is power in not giving them power. The power to make you anxious, uncomfortable, unsafe, when you have every right to be here doing your thing and are not hurting anyone. And it might seem to be a deeply contrary sort of logic, but realizing and accepting that there are people out there who irrationally dislike you for literally no reason, that you cannot infallibly escape or avoid, despite doing nothing wrong is a bit empowering. Because it puts into perspective the things you can control, and when we know what is in our control, it's easier to just enjoy our time here without constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. If it drops, we can go put it back in the closet where it belongs.

It starts to put a positive spin on the whole, damned if I do, damned if I don't feeling, if that makes sense? I'm probably way too tired to try to be explaining this lol I'm sorry!

Anyway, again, I'm not implying you can or should do any, let alone all, of those suggestions! I just really hope that something will help you feel even a little bit more at ease. It's an unfair situation, it isn't right, and you have every reason to be uncomfortable and stressed. If I could make it happen, you better believe that every policing asshole out there would be writing heartfelt apology letters and sending donations to everyone they've upset lol but...since I can't make that happen, all I can do is say what I, personally, do, would do, or have done.

#answered #anonymous #purity police #resources #rp advice

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spookyold-saintjm · 5 years ago

Text

Care - Part 2

[gif: @starsfleets]

Javier Peña x female reader

| Part 1 | | Part 3 |

Warnings: language, sexual references

Word Count: 1.9k

Summary: The day after your conversation with Javier, things are bit tense between you in the office.

a/n: So I decided to make this one a short series! Probably only another couple chapters, but I’ve been dying to write a little Javi again so here we are. If you’d like to be tagged in future updates don’t be afraid to ask! Much love. x

———

“You look fresh back from a trip to hell.”

Jesus, you had just walked into the room. Your hair was at least somewhat disheveled, your shirt probably wasn’t tucked in all the way, and your head was slightly tilted downward both because you wanted to avoid drawing attention to the dark circles under your bloodshot eyes, and because the lights in this building were so damn bright and jarring. Who the hell thought this lighting was a good idea? Could you get them fired? Fuck them. And fuck Steve, too.

You stopped in front of his desk, as he stared at you with furrowed brows despite the twitch of a smirk threatening to break across his face. Apparently, it was quite obvious that you’d had a rough night.

You rested your hands flat against his desk, your head drooping all the way downward before slowly rolling it back up so that you could meet his eyes and reply flatly, “Shit, Murphy. You could charm the pants off damn near anybody with talk like that.”

From behind you, you heard Javier snort at your words as he sifted through files at his own desk. Your muscles tensed at the sound, but you pretended as if you hadn’t heard him.

Steve only blinked back at you, his smile almost widening as he rolled his pen between his fingers. “What brings you in here?”

“I’m out of smokes.”

He let out a small sigh before reaching for the drawer in his desk to pull out the carton of cigarettes he kept there. You held out your hand as he dropped one of them into your palm, then mumbled a low thanks as you reached for your lighter in your shirt pocket.

“Glad to be of service,” Steve replied, looking back down to his paperwork. “I thought you were supposed to be sitting in on a meeting downstairs?”

“I’m headed there next,” You replied, sitting on the corner of Steve’s desk while you lit the cigarette between your lips.��

You couldn’t help it; your eyes flicked across the room to where Javier sat as you took the first long drag, but you didn’t bother to actually acknowledge him beyond letting your eyes lock for the seconds that you released the smoke from your lungs in a slow exhale. “I wouldn’t dare skip out on a date with Coronel Carrillo.”

Javier had opened his mouth to speak, but his jaw suddenly clamped shut. You then turned your gaze as if you’d never seen him sitting there at all.

Steve had looked up long enough to catch this silent exchange between the two of you before he replied. “Yeah, well, try not to linger too long so that the three of us can finish going over these tapes when you’re done.”

“No promises.” You kept your voice even as you joked. You stood from where you’d been perched at the edge of Steve’s desk, and slightly raised the hand that held the cigarette between your fingers in an appreciative gesture. “Thanks for your contribution.”

Steve shrugged. “Any time.”

As soon as you were out of the office and out of sight, Steve’s head jerked over toward where Javier sat, stone-silent, staring hard at his desk with a pen in his hand but having yet to write a single word.

“You gotta be kidding me, Javi.”

Javier didn’t look up. “About what?”

“Don’t start that shit.” Steve sighed. He jerked his head toward the door you’d walked out of just moments before. “How long has that been going on?”

Javi was shuffling through files in his desk drawer; whether he was actually working or just trying to look busy could have been up to anyone’s best guess. “There’s nothing going on.”

Steve sighed and dropped his head into his hands with an exhausted chuckle as Javi only further confirmed his suspicions. “Jesus Christ, Peña.” Even for Javi, getting involved with someone in the office, someone in such close contact almost ever hour of every work day…it was risky. If not just flat-out stupid.

Steve lifted his head, looking back over to his partner. “You know how much trouble you could get in if somebody finds out you two are—“ Steve raised his eyebrows, lifted his hands in the beginning formations of a gesture most definitely not embassy-appropriate, but Javier cut him off with the loud thunk of him slamming his desk drawer closed.

“I said it’s nothing, Murphy.” Javi stood, gathering together various papers on his desk into a single stack in his hands, forcing him to keep his head down. “It was a one-time thing.” A pause. “You saw it yourself. She didn’t say a single word to me.”

“Nah, you’re reading it all wrong.” Steve leaned back into his chair and crossed his hands together behind his head. “I saw how she looked at you. And we both heard what she said. How she said it?” Javi’s eyes flashed up at Steve, almost as if he were considering but decided against it, as he continued. “She’s tryna rile you up, bud. Win the argument.”

“We didn’t—“ But instead of finishing he sentence, Javi gave up with a short sigh as he put out his cigarette into the ash tray on his table before picking up the papers again, tapping them on his desk a couple times to straighten the edges. “Whatever, man. I don’t have time for your love doctor shit.”

Steve’s eyebrows rose, a lazy, amused grin splitting across his face. “Love, huh?”

Javier was half-tempted to throw the papers at his partner’s head as he stepped over to the door with them. “I’m taking these down the hall,” he grumbled as he swung open the door. “And going to ask for a fucking transfer while I’m at it.”

Steve only chuckled in reply as he dropped his feet back to the floor and leaned over his desk again to continue his work.

Javier was never known for being the best liar.

—

Shortly after your meeting, you were staring blankly at the coffee maker in the break room nearest your office, watching the thin stream of near-black miracle liquid pour into the empty glass pot, waiting for the familiar, safe smell of it to fill the small room. You had one hand rested on the countertop, the other pushing back stray strands of your hair before rubbing small circles in your temple with your index and middle fingers.

You felt a bit better on the whole, but the meeting had been…a lot. The situation with Escobar’s empire wasn’t getting any better, and his cunning relentlessness and the chaos it caused trickled down all the way through both this chain of command and through every facet of the Colombian government’s oppositional forces; one lead’s trail ending at nothing and another coming unraveled with more and more innocent people dead in the streets.

Not only that, but there was also the fact that your mind kept going back to the way Javier’s eyes had tried to silently plead with you in the split-second you’d looked at him while in he and Murphy’s office just a couple hours earlier. For what, you weren’t sure. And you didn’t particularly care to know. But that didn’t mean you’d be able to stop thinking about it, about him, any time soon.

“y/n.” As if he could read your thoughts from down the hall, his baritone voice floated through the room from behind you.

“What do you want?” You asked, unmoving.

Javi took a couple steps further into the room, leaning against the wall as he pushed a hand back through his dark hair. He waited for you to eventually turn around, your coffee cup now waiting in your hand to be filled as you stared back at him expectantly.

He sighed before meeting your eyes earnestly. “I wanted to…apologize.” He swallowed quickly, watching you blink at him as he spoke. “I should have minded my own business last night.”

“Yeah. You should’ve,” you replied simply, though you let your expression soften somewhat. “I’m a grown-ass woman, Javier. If I make a stupid decision, the consequences are on me.”

Javi slightly cocked his head at the undertone of admission about your actions the night before. God knows he was just as guilty of the same things, and far worse for that matter, but…

“I just don’t want you getting hurt.” He said, his voice coming out quieter than he’d meant for it to. He looked down to the floor, collecting a thought before he lifted his head again. “I don’t…I don’t make a lot of friends these days.” A slight shrug tugged his shoulders upward, though his dark eyes were filled with intent sincerity as he looked to you. “I’d like to keep the ones that I do have.”

You allowed the stiffness in your shoulders to lessen as you sighed. Dammit, you hated how easy it was to forgive him. It was always like this.

And yet, you could see the sincerity in his face, his lips pressed tightly together and the focus in his brow, and you’d caught the almost nervous curling of his hand that wasn’t jammed into his pocket into a fist as his side when he’d spoken.

He really did mean it. Of course he did, and you were glad to know someone who truly did care about your safety in a place like this, at a time like this. You just wished you could figure out what else it was that hung in the air between you as he waited for you to answer him with an anxious humming in his chest.

“Fine.” You nodded once before you turned back around to reach for the now-filled coffee pot. Javier’s presence lingered behind you, and you considered your next words with a grimace as you poured the steaming-hot liquid in your cup. “He was shit in bed anyways.”

Javier snorted a laugh, relief flooding him at your forgiveness as he pushed himself off the wall and walked over to stand by you, placing his hand on the counter next to yours as he looked over to you. His hand was close, almost too close to yours, and he’d quickly slid a few inches backward.

“You busy tomorrow night?” he asked. It was an innocent question, truly, nothing beyond a friendly invitation. “It’s been a while since we just…talked.”

You hoped he didn’t notice the slight falter in your grip as you put the coffee pot back in its place and turned to look at him again.

He was right. It had been a while. But the last time you’d “talked,” the night had soon shifted to the both of you becoming a mess of wandering hands and mouths and tangled limbs before you were even able to unlock the door to your apartment.

You could sense his acknowledgement of that reflected in the way he slightly pulled back from where you stood as you leaned back onto the counter and took a sip of your coffee, not wanting to appear overbearing. But you could also see his intention to make up for his intrusion the night before flickering behind his eyes.

You wanted to hate yourself for it, but you only shook your head, a weak smile crossing over your face once you pulled your coffee cup away from your lips.

“Not at all.”

| Part 3 |

#fic: care #javier peña x reader #javier peña #javier peña x female reader #narcos fic #javier peña fic #javier peña x you

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haich-slash-cee · 5 years ago

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Is the print publishing world picking up online/fandom terms? How they are using them? How do we feel about this?

So this is... attention-getting, for folks who like to follow publishing and meta stuff.

https://twitter.com/sapphicxrey/status/1215065948677443584

https://twitter.com/TorDotComPub/status/1233391556750647299

(2nd tweet -- TW, mentions of non-con)

Are we seeing the beginnings of book publishers directly borrowing from online/fandom culture in promoting their books? How do we feel about these examples?

More below cut.

Exhibit #1: screenshots of Bonds of Brass promo from Jan 8 2020. (Which is probably going to have reactions of “haha, cute” at most.)

Transcript of blurb:

“If you like...

forbidden romances, “there’s only one bed”, cityships, weaponized umbrellas, powersuits, secret princes, best friends, best friends PINING, fake dating between PINING best friends, tactical streaking, the minivan of starships, cigar-chomping cyborg ladies, scary empress moms, galactic-level bisexual disasters, LEGACY (WHAT IS A LEGACY?), rooftop hopping, golden trios, rumblin’ drums, bootleg fireworks, BIG SPACE BATTLES PEW PEW, a surprisingly functional public transit system, mob trouble, one hell of a pilot, the inherent DRAMA of empire, a nice interlude in a river, smoking a joint that’s been on the floor, sick stunts, slick grifts, hiding in a dumpster, or any combination of the above,

Then you might like

BONDS OF BRASS”

The Twitter responses seem to be generally enthusiastic. (And also, “FinnPoe! FinnPoe!”)

Personally, I’m intrigued from a meta-view of “oh so that’s definitely pulling from online world and fanfiction world, interesting. I wonder how much fanfiction culture is starting to influence print book culture and promotion.” Maybe I’ve got some questions like, “Ok so moneymaking companies such as Penguin are now using culture developed by the not-moneymaking-world of fanfiction? How do we feel about this?” Anyway, the book looks cute, I’m interested enough and I might get it from the library.

I suspect many people’s reactions are along the lines of “hm, interesting”, “sounds like a lark”, or “haha they’re using AO3 tags as promo”, etc.

Exhibit #2, screenshots of DOCILE promo, from Feb 28 2020 (today is March 1 2020), and screenshots of Twitter responses so far:

(*CW, non-con discussion)

Tweet transcript:

“DOCILE by @KMSzpara:

-Dubcon/Noncon

-Dramatic Trillionaire Content

-BDSM and then some more BDSM and then a lot more BDSM

-Hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort

-Cinnamon roll of steel

-The most scandalous kink: love

-Courtroom, bedroom, & Preakness drama

[Tor book website link]”

So this is getting mixed reactions on Twitter. All dozen or so reactions, so far. Here’s text transcripts and bio info from repliers, below. I’m being a little obsessive, mostly to show that there’s a mix of queer, book-ish people in the replies (including the author).)

Noncon is nonconsentual sex, rape. Even in fandom it's a content tag, not a promotional term. I can't imagine being a rape survivor and seeing this come across my TL. -- @WriteSomeGood [queer rainbow] [Cis queer homemaker, aspiring author, maker of incredible cinnamon buns. She/her] [has a Tumblr page]

I’m not a survivor but it was an instant “no thank you” from me. And I was sincerely looking forward to this prior to. This is the most immediately off-putting marketing push I’ve seen for a book in a long damn time. -- @AGAWilmot [Author, editor, artist. Co-EIC of @anathemaspec. @SFU alum. The Death Scene Artist/W&W 2018. Ace/enby. They/them. Horror is my comfort food.]

Whichever intern wrote this tweet, deserves a full time job. With benefits. -- @simeontsanev [Aspiring writer, post-aspiring musician, and overall geek He/Him /[queer rainbow]/ To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now! http://simeontsanev.com]

Idk why everyone thinks it’s always an intern writing copy and not a team comprised of extremely skilled social media experts, editors, publicists and marketers, and their assistants I worked on those tags with my editor and a good friend!! -- @KMSzpara [Kellan. [queer rainbow] Speculative fiction writer. Queer agenda. Hugo & Nebula finalist. DOCILE 3/3/20 from Tor Dot Com Publishing. He/him. Rep @suddenlyjen] *The author, bio page and twitter page.

this is CUTE! -- @MSSciarappa [queer rainbow] I do books. he/him.

I am Extremely Ready for this content thank u -- @JessicaBCooper [Journo ☽ Writer of faerie, villain fuckery & cruel desires ☽ Lestat & Loki's love child ☽ Aleksander Morozova's side-hoe ☽ Rep'd by Kate Testerman @ktliterary]

I’m listening -- @MerynLobb [Government worker. Weightlifter. Nihilist. Aspiring cult leader. Avid user of words, often bad ones. #AMM R6 Mentee. she/her]

Soon! Soon!! -- @castrophony [Geek. Gamer. Cosplayer. Bibliophile. Scientist. She/Her.]

[happy reaction gif] -- @TorDotComPub [Providing a home for writers to tell SFF stories in exactly the number of words they choose. All our titles are available globally in print and DRM-free ebook.]

[throwing stuff in dumpster, unhappy reaction gif] -- @cursedgravy [name's xavi, im a transman and i like to daydream about making content]

For more context, here’s the blurb from the author website. Below is the blurb from the publisher’s site:

“Docile

K.M. Szpara

K. M. Szpara's Docile is a science fiction parable about love and sex, wealth and debt, abuse and power, a challenging tour de force that at turns seduces and startles.

There is no consent under capitalism.

To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents' debts and buy your children's future.

Elisha Wilder’s family has been ruined by debt, handed down to them from previous generations. His mother never recovered from the Dociline she took during her term as a Docile, so when Elisha decides to try and erase the family’s debt himself, he swears he will never take the drug that took his mother from him.

Too bad his contract has been purchased by Alexander Bishop III, whose ultra-rich family is the brains (and money) behind Dociline and the entire Office of Debt Resolution. When Elisha refuses Dociline, Alex refuses to believe that his family’s crowning achievement could have any negative side effects—and is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect Docile without it.

Content warning: Docile contains forthright depictions and discussions of rape and sexual abuse.”

So that’s a lot of info and reactions.

Personally: at first glance, I absently skimmed the tweet and “hurt/comfort” popped out, and I was like “What? Mainstream publishing is cool with this now? I was wondering if ‘hurt/comfort’ would one day become commonly used in publishing [related post]. But this is way sooner than I thought.” And then I read the rest of of the tweet and thought, “Wait, what?”

And then I started reading through the tweet replies and thought, “OK, at the risk of getting a bunch of Tumblr drama, I want to bring this to the whump community and see how people feel."

As for myself, one of my squicks is non-con, and I’m not really interested in hurt/no comfort. So just from the tweet, I know the book is not for me. The official blurbs confirmed that. In this sense, this is like skimming Ao3 tags on a fic and saying “pass” on a story.

However, I have questions about the specific promotion of the book. So the official blurbs are pretty standard. What about that tweet, which Tor (and the author, who helped put it together) put out? Because I think an official publisher’s Tweet comes with different context than Ao3 tags.

First, the different internet spaces. You can filter tags on Ao3 and Tumblr. I know you can mute words on Twitter, but is that the same thing? Also, would people be expecting these tags on Twitter? Compared to Ao3 or Tumblr or Tumblr Whump spaces?

Within the Tumblr Whump community, from what I’ve browsed, the community attitude (guidelines?) seem to be “Write and discuss what you want. Be sure to tag it, use content warnings, or otherwise clearly communicate if you have things that may be triggering. Respect people’s squicks/triggers. Walk away from what you don’t like.” Like, tumblr whump has a very specific culture of trying to balance discourse/stories about potentially very dark stuff, but also wanting to make sure the IRL people and Tumblr users are okay. There’s always posts going around about how to do this, are we doing this in the right way, ethics, so on. Also -- and people can correct me -- the whump tumblr space might be where tags are content warnings for people to stay away, and also what people might actively look for. So if any space is going to discuss if this promotional tweet checks out, I feel like it’s this space.

Also, to note again, Tor Tweets are in the money-official-publisher-world, not unpaid-tumblr-people or unpaid-fanfiction-fandom-world.

Maybe I just want to ask, “Hey those first two tweet responses, does they have a point? Tor using ‘noncon’ as official promotion? On Twitter?” I mean, I’ve previously written, “The CW and TW tags that Ao3 writers use, I really wish those were used with published books as well.” But somehow, the Tor tweet was not quite what I was expecting. Maybe for reasons similar to that first tweet response. (I guess one could debate if a tweet is really promotion or just information... you know what someone can correct me, but I’m gonna say that a Tor.com tweet is promotion, compared to information like Ao3, and that tweet was there for promotion.)

Those tags operate within specific Ao3 and Tumblr cultures and infrastructure. I don’t hang around Twitter for whump stuff, IDK what the culture is. Anyway, does dropping these tags into a promotional tweet from Tor.... translate?

The tweet is evidently gathering the people who are there for it, and the people who aren’t there for it are quickly realizing that they are not there for it. But personally, the Tor website blurb does a better job at that, using writing that I’d expect from a publisher for communicating fictional non-con situations. (Maybe the blurb content warnings are what I wanted more of, when I said I wished for CW and TW in books.)

Anyway, there’s no huge drama about that Docile book promo on Twitter, as far as I can tell. So this is a niche thing, right now. But. The promo for Bonds of Brass and for Docile might be the beginnings of a trend of well-known book publishers borrowing from online writing / fandom culture and terminology in order to promote or categorize their books. These two promos might set a precedent or have other significance.

So if anyone has discourse on the tweets or potential future trends...

#meta #discourse #publishing #bonds of brass #Docile #publishers #future trends #maybe #non-con #trigger warnings #content warnings #fanfiction #ao3 #tumblr #whump #hurt/comfort #hurt/no comfort #books

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jvzooproductsclub · 7 years ago

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SociChief Review & Bonus

Learn more here: http://mattmartin.club/index.php/2017/06/20/socichief-review-bonus/

Welcome to Mattmartin.Club so proud to present to you the SociChief Review Hope you enjoy !

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SociChief Review – Overview

Maker: Ivana Bosnjak

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Though posting on social networks is an excellent method to obtain free traffic as well as make money, there are some huge problems that you have to face

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Has a simple graphical user interface so anyone can get big results quickly (even if you don’t have any “tech” skills)

Search and add new groups with just a few clicks all inside the SociChief dashboard

Works with Facebook and Twitter

Add GIFs and carousel posts to pages you manage… Usually this is not possible or it’s extremely complicated… with SociChief, it’s just a few clicks of your mouse

SociChief also gives you multiple posting options…

Twitter Posting

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Facebook Timeline Posting

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A simple method that uses Facebook groups to get tons of free traffic to affiliate offers that will pay you instantly. You can start making $100+ per day right away. There is no learning curve and no waiting

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Inside these case studies, they’ll take you by the hand and show you just how powerful SociChief really is. They’ll start from ZERO and show you EXACTLY how they make money with SociChief in a matter of a few hours.

This work even if you don’t have a Facebook following or any experience.

Now let’s hear what others have to say about SociChief

“We all know how important keep our social media accounts engaged, but it can be time consuming to go in and post things on our pages and profiles on a regular basis. That’s why I love SociChief. It allows me to set up all my posts, schedule them and times I choose and also post to multiple groups and pages with one click. So I can just set it up and forget about it. It’s a real time saver and the software is so user friendly. I highly recommend SociChief”

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#Apps, #Blog, #Software

#Apps #Blog #Software

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selinaguclassblog-blog · 8 years ago

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Module 9: Twitter Tumblr Media Switch Up

Twitter, in short, is “what’s happening.” It’s a social network platform aimed at giving “everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.” Due to Twitter’s microblog nature, users can only post, or “tweet,” in 140 characters or less. That can be quite challenging! The good news is that as of September 2016, photos, videos, GIFs, polls and quoted tweets no longer count towards the 140-character limit. This made a lot of users, to include the Colorado Rockies, very happy!

Let’s go back about 11 years. The first tweet was released into the world March 21, 2006 at 12:50 p.m. by Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder.

Dorsey was inspired by LiveJournal, a blog-sharing site. He wanted to create a more “real-time, up-to-date blogging service that you can share with friends.” He first called it “stat.us” and sketched his vision. Stat.us turned in to Twitter and the rest is history.

I have a personal Twitter account, but I am not very active in terms of generating posts or engaging. That is the case for all the platforms I maintain a presence on, aside from Facebook. I am more of an obsessive “scroller” than anything. I use Twitter more passively to:

-Keep posted on (and occasionally complain about) public transportation issues in the National Capital Region.

-See what’s going on in the mind of Donald Trump.

-Follow my favorite friends, events, businesses and organizations, television shows, and celebrities.

Professionally, I have been managing my workplace’s Twitter account for the past five months and am thankful for the tactical-level communications experience. It’s still new to me, as the specific duty of posting to social media on behalf of the organization I work for has never been one of my main duties. One of my main struggles is to not feel like the grammar gods are looking down on me with disgust when I abbreviate a word. I do love using emojis in tweets whenever possible and appropriate.

Another thing I love is the ability to use TweetDeck to schedule tweets. I do wish it was possible to schedule a retweet (tweeting someone else’s tweet) from Twitter versus from TweetDeck and edit a scheduled post that has media attached to it. I also wish Twitter would allow users to edit their tweets. I once had to delete a tweet that had generated some great engagement because the photo that went along with it needed to be changed.

The 2016 election made Twitter a particularly interesting place to hang out and the saga continues. Every day, it’s something and that something seems to make the headlines. Today, McDonald’s claims their account was hacked and a politically-charged, anti-Trump tweet was posted from it. Often, Donald Trump voices his displeasure with what he calls “fake news,” the Affordable Care Act, and more. Of course, there was also an uproar of “alt” accounts after the election.

The thing about these examples and others like them also highlight how the community of Twitter users is quick to contribute to a never-ending thread of comments on posts. They are always watching and will call out false or ridiculous information and check facts instantaneously. They are very open with their thoughts. It can get bad (Jimmy Kimmel’s “Mean Tweets” segment) and ugly. Yet, some users are just there to find and participate in a discussion that references all things #cats. That was a hashtag, by the way. If added before a word on social media, it aids in content discovery and categorization.

Here’s a composition of the community of individuals using Twitter and some additional information about Twitter as a business:

Pew Research Center provides more details about who is on Twitter:

-23% of online adults

-24% men and 21% women

-27% Black, non-Hispanic, 25% Hispanic, 21% White

-Under 50 years of age (37% between 18-29, 25% between 30-49)

-College-educated urbanites

-Making $50K-$75K+ a year

Pope Francis is on Twitter. Justin Timberlake is on Twitter. Businesses are on Twitter too (See Wendy’s, Mr. Clean, NPR, Olive Garden, and more!). Also, I love this list of the 55 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts Guaranteed to Make Your Day. They use Twitter to promote their brands, products and services, and engage with followers. The community uses it to engage with them and with each other. A period before the @ and the handle to tweet at someone isn’t even necessary anymore. Just the @ and the handle is all that is necessary to make sure a tweet has more reach.

Twitter continues to evolve. In the future, Twitter is considering an edit button to allow users to edit their tweets, so this is something to look forward to. Twitter will also be showcasing new original content and streaming video soon. This will help content makers and advertisers. But the real question is, Will Twitter, currently tasked with showing you what’s happening right now, be able to predict for you what’s going to happen next? Stay tuned to see if Twitter will succeed in its plan to turn 20!

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