#mod shared union

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The specific process by which Google enshittified its search

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me SATURDAY (Apr 27) in MARIN COUNTY, then Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

All digital businesses have the technical capacity to enshittify: the ability to change the underlying functions of the business from moment to moment and user to user, allowing for the rapid transfer of value between business customers, end users and shareholders:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

Which raises an important question: why do companies enshittify at a specific moment, after refraining from enshittifying before? After all, a company always has the potential to benefit by treating its business customers and end users worse, by giving them a worse deal. If you charge more for your product and pay your suppliers less, that leaves more money on the table for your investors.

Of course, it's not that simple. While cheating, price-gouging, and degrading your product can produce gains, these tactics also threaten losses. You might lose customers to a rival, or get punished by a regulator, or face mass resignations from your employees who really believe in your product.

Companies choose not to enshittify their products…until they choose to do so. One theory to explain this is that companies are engaged in a process of continuous assessment, gathering data about their competitive risks, their regulators' mettle, their employees' boldness. When these assessments indicate that the conditions are favorable to enshittification, the CEO walks over to the big "enshittification" lever on the wall and yanks it all the way to MAX.

Some companies have certainly done this – and paid the price. Think of Myspace or Yahoo: companies that made themselves worse by reducing quality and gouging on price (be it measured in dollars or attention – that is, ads) before sinking into obscure senescence. These companies made a bet that they could get richer while getting worse, and they were wrong, and they lost out.

But this model doesn't explain the Great Enshittening, in which all the tech companies are enshittifying at the same time. Maybe all these companies are subscribing to the same business newsletter (or, more likely, buying advice from the same management consultancy) (cough McKinsey cough) that is a kind of industry-wide starter pistol for enshittification.

I think it's something else. I think the main job of a CEO is to show up for work every morning and yank on the enshittification lever as hard as you can, in hopes that you can eke out some incremental gains in your company's cost-basis and/or income by shifting value away from your suppliers and customers to yourself.

We get good digital services when the enshittification lever doesn't budge – when it is constrained: by competition, by regulation, by interoperable mods and hacks that undo enshittification (like alternative clients and ad-blockers) and by workers who have bargaining power thanks to a tight labor market or a powerful union:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

When Google ordered its staff to build a secret Chinese search engine that would censor search results and rat out dissidents to the Chinese secret police, googlers revolted and refused, and the project died:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(search_engine)

When Google tried to win a US government contract to build AI for drones used to target and murder civilians far from the battlefield, googlers revolted and refused, and the project died:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/technology/google-pentagon-project-maven.html

What's happened since – what's behind all the tech companies enshittifying all at once – is that tech worker power has been smashed, especially at Google, where 12,000 workers were fired just months after a $80b stock buyback that would have paid their wages for the next 27 years. Likewise, competition has receded from tech bosses' worries, thanks to lax antitrust enforcement that saw most credible competitors merged into behemoths, or neutralized with predatory pricing schemes. Lax enforcement of other policies – privacy, labor and consumer protection – loosened up the enshittification lever even more. And the expansion of IP rights, which criminalize most kinds of reverse engineering and aftermarket modification, means that interoperability no longer applies friction to the enshittification lever.

Now that every tech boss has an enshittification lever that moves very freely, they can show up for work, yank the enshittification lever, and it goes all the way to MAX. When googlers protested the company's complicity in the genocide in Gaza, Google didn't kill the project – it mass-fired the workers:

https://medium.com/@notechforapartheid/statement-from-google-workers-with-the-no-tech-for-apartheid-campaign-on-googles-indiscriminate-28ba4c9b7ce8

Enshittification is a macroeconomic phenomenon, determined by the regulatory environment for competition, privacy, labor, consumer protection and IP. But enshittification is also a microeconomic phenomenon, the result of innumerable boardroom and product-planning fights within companies in which would-be enshittifiers try to do things that make the company's products and services shittier wrestle with rivals who want to keep things as they are, or make them better, whether out of principle or fear of the consequences.

Those microeconomic wrestling-matches are where we find enshittification's heroes and villains – the people who fight for the user or stand up for a fair deal, versus the people who want to cheat and wreck to make things better for the company and win bonuses and promotions for themselves:

https://locusmag.com/2023/11/commentary-by-cory-doctorow-dont-be-evil/

These microeconomic struggles are usually obscure, because companies are secretive institutions and our glimpses into their deliberations are normally limited to the odd leaked memo, whistleblower tell-all, or spectacular worker revolt. But when a company gets dragged into court, a new window opens into the company's internal operations. That's especially true when the plaintiff is the US government.

Which brings me back to Google, the poster-child for enshittification, a company that revolutionized the internet a quarter of a century ago with a search-engine that was so good that it felt like magic, which has decayed so badly and so rapidly that whole sections of the internet are disappearing from view for the 90% of users who rely on the search engine as their gateway to the internet.

Google is being sued by the DOJ's Antitrust Division, and that means we are getting a very deep look into the company, as its internal emails and memos come to light:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/03/not-feeling-lucky/#fundamental-laws-of-economics

Google is a tech company, and tech companies have literary cultures – they run on email and other forms of written communication, even for casual speech, which is more likely to take place in a chat program than at a water-cooler. This means that tech companies have giant databases full of confessions to every crime they've ever committed:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/03/big-tech-cant-stop-telling-on-itself/

Large pieces of Google's database-of-crimes are now on display – so much, in fact, that it's hard for anyone to parse through it all and understand what it means. But some people are trying, and coming up with gold. One of those successful prospectors is Ed Zitron, who has produced a staggering account of the precise moment at which Google search tipped over into enshittification, which names the executives at the very heart of the rot:

https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/

Zitron tells the story of a boardroom struggle over search quality, in which Ben Gomes – a long-tenured googler who helped define the company during its best years – lost a fight with Prabhakar Raghavan, a computer scientist turned manager whose tactic for increasing the number of search queries (and thus the number of ads the company could show to searchers) was to decrease the quality of search. That way, searchers would have to spend more time on Google before they found what they were looking for.

Zitron contrasts the background of these two figures. Gomes, the hero, worked at Google for 19 years, solving fantastically hard technical scaling problems and eventually becoming the company's "search czar." Raghavan, the villain, "failed upwards" through his career, including a stint as Yahoo's head of search from 2005-12, a presiding over the collapse of Yahoo's search business. Under Raghavan's leadership, Yahoo's search market-share fell from 30.4% to 14%, and in the end, Yahoo jettisoned its search altogether and replaced it with Bing.

For Zitron, the memos show how Raghavan engineered the ouster of Gomes, with help from the company CEO, the ex-McKinseyite Sundar Pichai. It was a triumph for enshittification, a deliberate decision to make the product worse in order to make it more profitable, under the (correct) belief that the company's exclusivity deals to provide search everywhere from Iphones and Samsungs to Mozilla would mean that the business would face no consequences for doing so.

It a picture of a company that isn't just too big to fail – it's (as FTC Chair Lina Khan put it on The Daily Show) too big to care:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM

Zitron's done excellent sleuthing through the court exhibits here, and his writeup is incandescently brilliant. But there's one point I quibble with him on. Zitron writes that "It’s because the people running the tech industry are no longer those that built it."

I think that gets it backwards. I think that there were always enshittifiers in the C-suites of these companies. When Page and Brin brought in the war criminal Eric Schmidt to run the company, he surely started every day with a ritual, ferocious tug at that enshittification lever. The difference wasn't who was in the C-suite – the difference was how freely the lever moved.

On Saturday, I wrote:

The platforms used to treat us well and now treat us badly. That's not because they were setting a patient trap, luring us in with good treatment in the expectation of locking us in and turning on us. Tech bosses do not have the executive function to lie in wait for years and years.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/22/kargo-kult-kaptialism/#dont-buy-it

Someone on Hacker News called that "silly," adding that "tech bosses do in fact have the executive function to lie in wait for years and years. That's literally the business model of most startups":

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40114339

That's not quite right, though. The business-model of the startup is to yank on the enshittification lever every day. Tech bosses don't lie in wait for the perfect moment to claw away all the value from their employees, users, business customers, and suppliers – they're always trying to get that value. It's only when they become too big to care that they succeed. That's the definition of being too big to care.

In antitrust circles, they sometimes say that "the process is the punishment." No matter what happens to the DOJ's case against Google, its internal workers have been made visible to the public. The secrecy surrounding the Google trial when it was underway meant that a lot of this stuff flew under the radar when it first appeared. But as Zitron's work shows, there is plenty of treasure to be found in that trove of documents that is now permanently in the public domain.

When future scholars study the enshittocene, they will look to accounts like Zitron's to mark the turning points from the old, good internet to the enshitternet. Let's hope those future scholars have a new, good internet on which to publish their findings.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

[therosebud]

Welcome to Sims 4 Romance Reef Challenge!

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If you struggle to stay focused on legacy challenges or any grind-heavy tasks, this challenge is perfect for you. The aim here is to create drama and have fun!

This challenge is inspired by the TV show “Love Island” but with a twist and you do not have to have seen Love Island to enjoy this challenge. However, if you're curious, I recommend watching the Australian or UK versions, as they tend to be funnier and more unfiltered than the American one.

Thank you to the EA Creator Network for giving me early access to create content for you.

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Download the Notion Template on My Patreon

I've created a Patreon for those interested in downloading the Notion template to keep track of all your islanders and progress. Notion is an online organization tool with a Pinterest-like aesthetic. My template provides a layout of the rules and space to detail each Islander. It's not necessary, but it's here if you want it.

For fans of my throwback save file, I will also be re-uploading the save there as it’s more reliable than Sims Share. Thank you for your support over the years on my YouTube channel and other socials. I hope you all enjoy the challenge!

Villa Video Update: If you aren't a builder Don't worry because I will update this post when I upload my speed build of my own villa for you to use. In that video I will also talk about the challenge rules. In the meantime, feel free to build your own or use the gallery to update a villa.

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Initial Islanders: 4 female Sims and 4 male Sims ready to be placed in the villa. They can have any traits, likes, dislikes, turn-ons, and turn-offs, but no skills to keep it fair.

Bombshells: An extra 2 to 4 female Sims and 2 to 4 male Sims in a separate household. These "bombshells" are ready to join and shake things up when needed. They can have traits, likes, dislikes, turn-ons, and turn-offs, but no skills to keep it fair.

Optional Extra:

💡If you want to be extra, you can register all of them with the labor union and use that space to write out a bio for each Sim, but it isn’t necessary.

💡 If you really want to shake things up you could make each sim have a distinct style. For example, one can be cottagecore, sporty, old money, alternative, beachy, urban, witchy, academia, Barbie, outdoorsy, etc. Here’s a list for ideas.

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Bedroom: One large bedroom with 4 double beds for couples. (And a couple extra single beds if someone gets left out.)

Bathrooms: Multiple shower and bathroom stalls upstairs and additional bathrooms near the gym and pool.

Upper Balcony: Equipped with sun loungers and couches.

Kitchen and Sitting Area: Spacious kitchen and indoor sitting area.

Sundeck: Features a large couch and firepit for eliminations and coupling ceremonies.

Outdoor Kitchen: Includes a barbecue and large bar area.

Dance Floor: Designated area for dancing.

Gym and Yoga Area: Semi-outdoor/indoor setup for exercise and yoga.

Swimming Pool: Large pool area.

Hot Tub or Onsen: Relaxation area with a hot tub or onsen.

Skill Challenge Room: Empty space like a basement to host skill challenges.

Buffet Tables and Drink Trays: Available for parties and events.

Victor Suite: Locked except when won by a gameplay challenge winner. Includes high-end objects like a computer (the only one in the house), spa massage table, fancy tub, and bed.

Secluded Date Area: Gated area to control access for private dates.

Iconic Pathway: Long pathway for eviction ceremonies.

Extras: Poohoo bush, closets, woohoo blankets, and optionally a photo booth for added fun.

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You don’t have to play with mods, these are my recommendations.

UI Cheats: Allows you to view exact relationship points by clicking the "set relationship" button under each sim's romantic relationships.

First Impressions Mod: Provides detailed explanations of sims' initial impressions.

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Weather Settings: Turn off rain, thunderstorms, snow, and blizzards in the game menu. Set seasons to the longest possible duration. Start the game in summer for a Love Island vibe.

Aging: Pause aging to preserve the contestants' ages for post-challenge play.

Free Will: Keep free will turned on to allow sims autonomy in their actions. Micro-manage only for needs; let them pretty much choose their interactions, friendships, and rivalries. The exception of the rule is if you are trying to get everyone in one area to start a gameplay challenge. But make sure you turn it back on after everyone is on their gameplay station. I recommend giving them a few hours to complete the challenge depending on what it is of course. Keep track of the order of who finishes (or stopped) the quickest.

World's: I recommend playing in Sulani or Tartosa for this challenge but the new world Ciudad Emamorada would work too (beware the villa would have to be smaller in that world though.) However, feel free to do this in any world you want but it’s best to play it in the summer season.

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Utilize the in-game calendar system to structure your Love Island challenge. Each round typically spans 4-7 days, depending on your desired pace. Here are the key daily events to plan for:

Private Date Day: Select two or three couples to enjoy a private date in a special area of the villa or off-lot.

Gameplay Challenge Day: Determine the strongest and weakest islanders through skill challenges or quality assessments. The islander with the lowest quality item or skill percentage within a time limit of around 2- 4 in game hours, will risk elimination if they lack significant relationships.

Chaos Spin Day: Introduce random events to stir up drama and unpredictability among the contestants.

Coupling and Elimination Day: Held in the evening on the last day of each round. Contestants dress in formal or party wear for the ceremony. After the first elimination, the gender with numerical advantage chooses their partner first. Those without partners face elimination. Re-coupling may occur if islanders form closer bonds during the round.

"Bombshells": Introduce 4-8 additional sims (evenly split by gender) sporadically in each round to shake up dynamics. Morning of the date day in each round is ideal for their arrival, allowing them to participate in that day’s events.

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On the first day, your goal is to have everyone meet and interact in the villa. Here’s how to get started:

Equal Numbers: Begin with an even number of males and females to form 4 couples in total.

Numbering Sims: Number each sim from 1-8 for easy reference during wheel spins.

Lovestruck Expansion: If you have the Lovestruck expansion, observe the sentiments and dynamics as the islanders interact. Pair up those with stronger connections.

Initial Dates: Start the day with a few different dates. Roll for the number of current islanders to determine who goes on dates. If a new islander or “bombshell” is entering, they will get the date. Choose their date based on sentiments, attraction, and relationship levels.

Natural Relationships: Let relationships develop naturally. Avoid interfering, but you can offer slight encouragement if you notice two sims flirting. The challenge’s fun lies in the organic unfolding of relationships.

⭐️ Keep the first day focused on introductions and initial connections to set the stage for the rest of the challenge!

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Setting Up Private Dates

Use a number roller from 1-8 (or the current number of islanders). The chosen number gets to pick their date based on:

- Attraction system

- In-game sentiments/dynamics

- First interaction

Date Execution:

Unlock the gate for the couple to access the private date area, or teleport them in.

Bombshells:

When a new bombshell arrives, they get 1-2 dates to decide who they want to couple up with.

Limit the total number of dates to 3 per day. For example, a bombshell can have up to two dates, and you can still have one date among current islanders.

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Suggested Skills for Challenges:

- Candle Making

- Cooking

- Painting

- Cross Stitching

- Gemology

- Knitting

- Woodworking

- Flower Arranging

- Media Production

- Mixology

- Nectar Making

- Fitness

- Yoga

- Rock Climbing

- Fishing

- Guitar

- Violin

- Pipe organ

- Juice fizzing

Here’s a list to spin for skill competitions

Challenge Outcomes:

- Winner: The islander with the best quality item, highest skill, timed score (depending on the skill chosen or combo of those) wins a night in the victor suite. They can invite their partner or someone else for added drama. If an unpartnered sim wins, they get a chance to invite someone and potentially steal a partner.

- Loser: The islander with the lowest quality item or skill point is at risk of leaving if they don't form significant relationships by the coupling ceremony. If it comes down to two sims, the one who lost the challenge leaves.

Tips:

☑️ Place skill-related items around the house or in a special skill room to allow sims to use them autonomously. This ensures fairness when spinning for the next challenge.

☑️ Don’t force sims to gain skills; let them choose to do so on their own. Any skill points they gain is all fair game for when it’s time for a gameplay challenge.

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This day is just to keep you on your toes. The randomness will make your experience more customized and help you determine who is good with whom. I numbered these so you can use a number randomizer to determine which one you get for today.

⭐️ You do not have to read all 45 of them right now if you don’t want to. You may skip to the elimination section.

1. Use a number randomizer to determine which girls are getting into a fight today.

2. Use a number randomizer to determine which boys are going to fight today.

3. The couple with the lowest romance is fighting today.

4. The couple with the highest romance is fighting today.

5. Someone in the couple with the lowest romance is getting cheated on today.

6. Someone in the couple with the highest romance is getting cheated on today.

7. An old villager comes back for a day to cause some drama among a couple.

8. Get some activity tables; we’re doing a group puzzle.

9. Everyone gets on the yoga mats for a yoga class.

10. Throw a party of your choice; this can include villagers who have been voted out.

11. An islander of choice must get close with another islander outside their couple.

12. A massage therapist is hired for everyone today.

13. We get a slip and slide for today.

14. We get a couple of bowling alleys for today.

15. Tanning and beach combing day (if you are in Sulani or Tartosa).

16. Use a number randomizer (1-8) to give a sim 1+ skill points for free to use in the next challenge day.

17. Use a randomizer to determine who’s being messy today and woohooing with two different sims.

18. A couple of choice gets a date alone today; a couple with the lowest romance gets a chance to work on their relationship via a date alone.

19. A couple with the highest romance gets a date alone today.

20. Everyone plays a game of basketball.

21. Everyone has to skill up one point, but they each have to do a different skill from one another (and, of course, skills used for competitions).

22. The losers and winners of the last gameplay challenge day go head-to-head in a redo of the competition.

23. A new bromance occurs today.

24. It’s just me and the girls. Two girls get to be friends today.

25. A friendship occurs between a male and female who aren’t attracted to each other.

26. Everyone makes a friendship bracelet.

27. Throw a house party.

28. Throw a dance party.

29. Throw a pool party.

30. A sudden death occurs. You must kill off a sim; roll from 1-8 to determine who dies.

31. An engagement?! Roll 1-8 to see who’s getting engaged with their current coupled-up partner.

32. Tanning! Everyone just works on their tan today. (Maybe an enemy sabotages someone’s tan.)

33. Get a photo studio; let’s take some pictures for the house.

34. Everyone plays a card game.

35. We take everyone to another lot.

36. Take all of the girls to another lot.

37. Take all of the boys to another lot.

38. A double elimination occurs. The two people with the lowest gameplay challenge score go home.

39. They’re back! A female player that was voted out comes back for the next round.

40. They’re back! A male player that was voted out comes back for the next round.

41. Drama! Three islanders go on a date together in hopes of two coupling up.

42. Use the woohoo blanket.

43. Everyone plays darts or foosball.

44. Use a number randomizer to determine who’s getting a secret lover on Cupid’s corner outside of the household.

45. Throw a costume party and have everyone wear a random outfit from the costume trunk.

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The first elimination is based purely on the islander who loses the initial challenge, because not everyone might of made a romantic connection yet.

All other eliminations will be based on who has the lowest relationship(s) and ranking in gameplay challenge.

Set up challenge stations in a large room, like a basement.

Randomize the gameplay challenges for a fun and unpredictable experience. Choose skills that produce items with a quality rating or judge by the highest skill points achieved in a set time.

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Observing Interactions:

Pay attention to Sims naturally interacting, especially if they're already coupled but start talking or flirting with others.

If two Sims start being flirty around each other alone often, you can nudge the relationship by having them flirt once or twice to see if they will keep it going.

Recoupling:

A Sim might choose to recouple if their bond with another Sim grows stronger.

In a love triangle, the Sim that has the least connections (romantic and friend wise) and ranked the lowest among in the gameplay challenges, is the one that will be eliminated.

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Let Cheating Happen: If a Sim cheats, let it play out naturally. Don't intervene in saving Sims if they die; it's part of the challenge. Butlers or maids can be hired to manage the cleaning.

No Careers at the start: None of the Sims should have a career initially. However, you can write them a bio if desired.

Adapt as Needed: If you don’t have a certain pack for a skill or activity, replace it with something you do have.

Managing Needs: Assign a bedtime to ensure needs are met. In the morning, control them to shower and eat. The first Sim up makes breakfast unless you have a hired butler or maid.

Encourage Flirting: It's okay to make Sims flirt or chat generally whenever you like, but for new romances, only initiate flirting once or twice to get things started. Do this only if you notice Sims getting flirty around each other often, as Sims usually won't start a romance autonomously without a mod. After that, don't intervene. If the romance doesn't progress, it wasn't meant to be. Follow their social cues and wants to let you know who they like.

Unlimited Funds: This challenge isn’t about money, so feel free to use the "rosebud" cheat as much as you like. 😉

Rewards: The winners could win the villa and you can renovate it in their style. Alternatively, use them in another challenge.

Questions and Feedback: If you need any clarifications, feel free to ask. If you try out this challenge, tag me! Use the #ts4romanticreef

Sul sul! 🌹

YouTube, Pateron and other socials

[practicalsolarpunk]

Hello I was wondering if you had any advice for solar punk dwellers that live in apartments. I always see all these cool add-ons to houses to make life more sustainable, but a lot of them I can't really do while living in an apartment. Also my apartment is fully indoors so it doesn't have a balcony where I can put stuff outside. However, I have started an indoor garden.

Hi! Indoor gardening is a fantastic place to start. Beyond that, it can really depend on what you're interested in. If gardening is really your thing, see what kind of gardening resources are around! Is there a community garden in your area that you could participate in? Would your apartment complex be interested in letting you start a garden for the complex? (They may be more interested than you might think - it's an amenity they can promote to future tenants, it engages current tenants, and they don't have to pay for landscaping on the area you turned into a garden.) If you have a lot of gardening experience, are there people in the area who want to learn that you could work with? If you're new to gardening, is there someone in your local Food Not Lawns group who would be willing to teach you more in exchange for some work on their garden?

Speaking of Food Not Lawns, see what other groups are around in your area that you could get involved in. Food Not Bombs, Freecycle, and Buy Nothing are other good groups to look for. There's also likely groups specific to your area - you may be able to find them by searching on Facebook, but more likely by connecting with other people at one of these bigger groups and asking.

Beyond that, I highly recommend cooking, mending and sewing (see our #mending, #mend and make do, and #sewing tags), and building some community. Meet your neighbors and get to know them! (I love cooking as a vehicle for this - humans often bond over food, and bringing over cookies or inviting them to share some homemade soup is a great way to connect.) You could start a free pantry in your apartment complex or building, or talk about a tenants' union. You can also try similar stuff at work, like a Breakroom Free Box. If politics is more your speed, you can do some activism (see our #activism tag) or even get involved with local political organizations and push them to be more progressive. Especially in local politics, one person can make a big difference.

For more ideas, we also have the following tags:

#apartment solarpunk

#dorms and small spaces

#community building

#mutual aid

#fiber crafts

#diy

I'd also encourage you to check out this post and this post, which are previous answers to similar questions.

I hope this gives you some places to start. If you have more specific questions, feel free to send in another ask!

- Mod J

[aroyallybigbangrwrb]

A Call to Join the Royal Court 📯

A decree to everyone in the kingdom of the Red, White and Royal Blue fandom to join us for A Royally Big Bang -  an event where we welcome all of you, but first:

What is a Big Bang?

A Big Bang is a fandom wide event in which authors and artists are paired up. Authors will write a work within the parameters of the timeline proposed and the Artists will transform said work into a pairing piece of some kind within the timeline as well. The works are then posted together in harmonious union. 

Who can participate?

We invite all authors and artists and betas over 18 to be a part of the festivities. We welcome all forms of transformative work here. As an artist, paired pieces are only limited by your imagination, let it be a podfic, a gifset, a playlist, a moodboard, visual art, etc!

When is this happening?

👑A ROYALLY BIG BANG STARTS RIGHT NOW!!! 👑

AUTHORS: Sign ups for Authors start (today!) February 1st and will close on February 22nd. 

You can sign up in three tiers according to minimum word counts and posting dates. This “Big Bang” has three different tiers (see below) for all authors' creative needs. The bigger the size, the longer the timeframe you have to write.

ARTISTS: Sign up will start on February 23rd and run until March 8th. You will be able to rank your top choices based on summary and tier.  

BETAS: Sign up dates will start on February 23rd and run until March 8th. You will be able to share what you are and aren’t comfortable to beta based on tag restrictions and tier. 

What do tiers mean?

🎂Tier 1 - Mini Bang: 10k+ words. Posts May- June

🎂Tier 2 - Medium Bang: 30k+ words. Posts July - September 

🎂Tier 3 - Big Bang: 50k+ words. Posts October - December 

Works within Tier 1 are expected to be a minimum of 10K words leading up to 30K words. If your work is over 30K words it is within Tier 2, and so on and so forth. 

SO… ARE YOU READY? 

✍️AUTHOR SIGN UP FORM IS HERE

ARTIST SIGN UP FORM (coming Feb 23rd) 

BETA SIGN UP FORM (coming Feb 23rd)

But what if I have more questions? 

You can check out our original FAQ here and our new Live FAQ here and if that doesn’t answer your questions you can send us an ask here on Tumblr, A DM on Twitter, or an email at royallybigbangrwrb@gmail.com and we will get back to you as quickly as we can! 

P.S. Once signups are completed and pairings created all authors and artists and betas will be invited to the RBB Discord server for easier direct communication with the mods, support from other participants and to make this a royally good time!

[arc-misadventures]

Streamer Au:

Considering just how down bad our dear Errantry Paladin's chat is

Has his fair Maidens ever devolve into a donation war to show who was the most dedicated sim-I mean lover of our boi Errantry or have they unionized into just agreeing to simp hard and donate harder together?

The VTuber: Bidding War

~~~ Stream Chat ~~~

“20 Lien Donation”

KinderGurl: let me become your girl!

“20 Lien Donation”

—Lydin—: I’ll be your baby girl!

“20 Lien Donation

LittleDoggo: I’ll be your bitch, just say the word~!

“20 Lien donation”

OverYander: Get in line skank, I’ll be his bitch!

“20 Lien Donation”

Kirbylord: I’m already his bitch!

“25 Lien Donation”

Triffity: 2 for one deal: Me, and my sister will be your bitches!

“25 Lien Donation”

Vilipin: He wants a real woman to be his bitch, not you kids

“25 Lien Donation”

DragonQueen: You wanna go skank!

“30 Lien Donation”

KettleDown: Bring it whore!

“25 Lien Donation”

BittyDitty: Can’t we just share him instead?

“20, 30, 25, 25, 20, 20, 30, and 20 Lien Donations”

Chat: No. No! Yes! fuck no! Kinky~! Dibs on first go! He’s mine! Fuck off!

“50 Lien Donation”

ShadowsofDesires: Why don’t you play with an older lady instead of these children~?

“50 Lien Donation”

Lollipopdva: I’ll be your mommy~!

“60 Lien Donation”

Kitty6840: Ara Ara~!

“75 Lien Donation”

Monarch: The kids are sleeping, lets have some fun dear~!

“80 Lien Donation”

Fillerton: Fuck off you old hags!

“100 Lien Donation”

Stichsayshi: You wanna go brat?!”

“100 Lien Donation”

Kindergurl: Bring it slut!

~~~~~~

Errant: …

Errant: Haaa… Here we go again…

Errant could only sigh in defeat as he watched his chat feed delve into chaos as a bidding war for his attention erupted. Again.

Errant: I didn’t do anything, but log on, and say: “Hey everyone, welcome to the stream!” And, boom… another damn bidding war…

His voice went a touch higher as he made fun at his plight as he looked down at it with a tired eyes, and a lamenting voice filled with dread, and regret.

Errant: I mean, one of these events gets me a lot of money. Not a hundred percent of it mind you, I get more like seventy percent of it. The rest gets split between my mods, and the platform for their cut. But, I never ask for these!

Errant: I would ask the mods to stop them, but even they can’t do anything to stop them. It’s like stopping a broken dam: You can’t, all you can do is run, and wait for it to stop…

Errant looked at his monitor as the numbers were rising higher in the triple digits. He could only grin, and bare this oncoming nightmare.

Errant: I know a lot of the girl VTubers have unapologetic simps following them. But, you people… You people are something else!

Errant: I think the worst evidence of simping, bar this is the ones that follow… That follow that one, Schnee sister… The black sheep of the trio. The self proclaimed… Haaa… ‘The slutty one…’

He shook his head as he said that, he hated saying stuff like that, but there was footage of her saying that, so he wasn’t bad mouthing her.

Errant: I’ll level with you chat, I try not to think about the Black Sheep of the Schnee’s. Why you ask, simple; She’s scares me… Good lord does she scare me… I mean… Those eyes…

Errants looked away with fear stricken eyes as a dreadful shudder escaped his bodies.

Errant: Okay, let’s pop up a game of solitaire, or something while we wait for these people to… (Ping~!) Haa… See! All these bloody notifications popping off, I can’t con… Eh?

~~~Stream Chat~~~

“1000 Lien Donation”

Grimmdesires: I’ll buy you a hot tub for us to cuddle in darling~!

“1000 Lien Donation”

SunshineDolly: I can get you a huge one where we can have (Redacted) in it!

“2000 Lien Donation”

FallenLust: Hot tub Streams~!!!

~~~~~~

Errant: …?!

Errant: What?! No! No, no chat I am not becoming a hot tub streamer! It doesn’t matter how much you pay me! I’m not doing that! Besides I live in an apartment, I don’t have the space for one! So stop going on about hot tubs?!!

Errant swiftly lost it as he tried to reign in chats depravity for him. It was a losing battle, but it was a battle he would die fighting for.

Errant: No stop trying to get a train of, ‘hot tub streams!’ I’m not going to do that so enough with this hot tub non…?! Who’s calling me?

Errant’s model seeming picked up something in its hands before inquisitively staring at the screen.

Errant: My sister? What does she want…?

Errant: Hey sis, I’m in the middle of streaming; did something happen, or can this call wait until later?

Errant: …

Errant: Eh…?

Errant: Give the hot tub to you? N-No I’m not getting you a hot tub! I’m not getting the hot the either! Wait? You connected our call? To who?! Oh, hey sis what’s…?! No I’m not giving you a hot tub either. I’m not getting one, so why should you?!

Errant: …

Errant: ‘To pick up chicks?!’ The hell are you talking about; You’re married?!

And, thus swiftly ended, Errantry Paladin’s calm, and relaxing stream as it swiftly descended into an unmitigated disaster once again.

At this rate, the idea of a normal stream was just a fleeting phantom memory of his imagination.

Peachy.

[glacial-waltzes]

Kaeya, cavalry captain of Mondstadt! A pleasure to meet you all~ 23, he/him.

This picture isn't fully accurate now, but Borealis is still with me! Along with his other friends who keep tailing us around, haha.

Kaeya’s pokemon

Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Lynette. 21 and she/her only.

Kaeya has let me borrow his... odd mechanism when I please. If you are interested in magic, or my brothers… this is the wrong time and place for that. But if you wish to speak with me... just get to the point.

Lynette’s pokemon

If any of you see my good friend Aether, or our other companions, Alhaitham or Furina, please do let us know. We’re a bit worried for them.

//Universe shared with - @diamond-lost-in-time - @fallenboughtkeeper (on the genshin side) - @blueberry-gills - non emo au of @arven-x-drayster-4ever (both on the pokemon side)

please go through ‘read more’ before interacting!

Heyaaa!! It’s @saywha413, mod of @arven-x-drayster-4ever, @ask-sarah-and-co, and all the other blogs in that universe!

I love Kaeya genshin sm and I thought a faller blog would be silly…

since this is a separate universe from my main one, I’d be alright with him being in like other universes if that makes sense? but uh. hmu if you want to do like a rp thread or join universes or smth.

Note relating to the actual genshin part. The only other faller chars planned (as of rn) are the ones he listed. Most other chars will be back on Teyvat- so in @/fallernboughtkeeper’s side.

finally. There will be kaether (kaeya/aether) bc I am crazy abt them. Aether is 20 (under legal drinking age of 21). I am also highly considering furina/lynette and kaeya/aether/alhaitham but we’ll see lmao

Pelipper mail/malice/mystery gifts: ✔️ Musharna mail/malice: ✔️ Union circle: ✔️ In character hate: ✔️ Magic anons: depends on the anon

Anyone can interact, given that we keep it within a social media context.

also full icon bc im super proud of how it turned out

Tag guide:

I didn't know you were such a slacker. Anything by Kaeya Hey; fancy joining me at the tavern for a bit? Asks We're not frozen in place; after all. Reblogs Haha; just don't feel intimidated by what I can do. Plot related stuff Hehe; seems all the other knights already have their hands full. Anything long lol

There is nothing new under the sun... Is that really true? Anything by Lynette + text color

ask games ooc posts ooc reblogs

dividers: x og icon (mines a redraw): x header: x background of lugia image: x

[motyashasims]

Siblings Vatore (makeover) with CC

In honor of the upcoming Halloween, I decided to share one of the first makeovers of Sims 4 characters. This makeover was inspired by the author @birdy-sims, whose screenshots I accidentally saw on Pinterest. The link to the original post is here.

Download: links

Special thanks to the creators whose CC I used to create the characters ❤

Позы в cas/cas poses: 

helgatisha model poses 33 - boosty, tumblr

helgatisha pose pack 01 - boosty, tumblr

Фон в cas/cas background:

vyxated casbg 01 reflection black - patreon

Дефолтные замены/Default Replacements:

kijiko remove ea lashes - links

mb default feet 5v - patreon

nunamoona default eyes 1 – boosty

Детали кожи и слайдеры/Genetics:

raiichuu toffee skinblend – links

faaeish structure merged sd – links

goppolsme gold m-eyebrows g10 – patreon

goppolsme gold m-eyebrows g6 – patreon

kijiko eyelash yu makeup; kijiko eyelash yu v2 uncurled – links

wrixie ts4 eyes dolce v2 – patreon

pralinesims eyes mm n06 waterdrop – patreon

tamo-sim basic 10 eye bags set for all – links

euno sims body preset 9 – patreon

obscurus mbody presets 2 – patreon

obscurus esotropia and exotropia slider fixed – patreon

dumbaby shoulder height slider male – patreon

ihfo ts4 torso hips height – links

luumia mod height slider update june 2022 – patreon

luumia mod neckheight slider update june 2022 – patreon

miiko eyebrow slider – patreon

Волосы/Hair:

clumsyalien aurora hair – patreon

s4simomom josh hair – tumblr

simkatu kitty hair – patreon

Аксессуары/Accessories:

waekey chain cap – tumblr

pralinesims glasses union v2 sunlens – patreon

gorilla x3 spider earrings – patreon

darte77 m spear pendant necklace – links

clumsyalien rae scarf v1 yf – patreon

solistair toastytoes 05 tennis mf hibiscus – patreon

silence bradford lilith set hc21 – links

miiko winter beret hat – patreon

Одежда/Clothing:

rimings lovely mood homewear set cardigan & bra & shorts – patreon

belaloallure melanie cutout dress – patreon

darte77 leather jacket 0103 hq – patreon

backtrack louise top – patreon

backtrack off shoulder destroyed sweater – patreon

chaessi male shirt & turtleneck – tumblr

gorilla x3 oversized t-shirt ii – patreon

gorilla x3 slit tank top – patreon

gorilla x3 pintuck slacks – patreon

gorilla x3 cropped slacks – patreon

clumsyalien trisha t-shirt – patreon

rona malus cutout top v1 – patreon

sudal turtleneck & suit – patreon

seoulsoul chic mood n1 – links

mossylane gemini horts v2 – tumblr

mochizen cc slim fit jeans male – links

kk basic set 05 cotton pants – patreon

solistair solshark long leggings simlish – patreon

trillyke black skinnies – tumblr

nitropanic vtmn top – links

flicker stealer outfit set bottom – patreon

plush ss18 menswear collection leather jacket – tumblr

Обувь/Shoes:

dallasgirl kiri and hana d'orsay pumps – tumblr

jius double strap platform sandals 01 – patreon

jius suede ankle boots 07 male – patreon

jius low top sneakers 07 male – patreon

trillyke purple kiss sandals – patreon

lazyeyelids suede ankle boots – links

Косметика/Makeup:

goppolsme gold kpop style set – patreon

goppolsme gold halloween vampire set – patreon

remussirion hek lipstick – tumblr

ddarkstonee eyeliner n7 – patreon

[transunity]

Blog Announcement

We have come to the decision to step back from this blog for a bit. It is clear while many people are excited for transunity theory, many others are excited to find ways to tear it down. As such, the impact on the mental health of all of our mods has been negative.

Speaking for myself here, this ain't my first time at this rodeo. I'm the only trans man on the mod team (everyone else is nonbinary, transneutral, transfem, intersex etc). I was there when transandrophobia as a term was in its infancy- and it was just me and about 6 or so other transmascs blogging about it. That was maybe 5 years ago now and as transmascs, we weathered whatever hatred people had for transmascs (and those of us who dared to speak out about our oppression did bear a great brunt of that). The hatred for the concept of transunity, in my mind, cannot be divorced from the same hatred that was and is wielded towards transmascs. Transunity is a movement for all trans people- its origins in the struggle of transmascs is relevant, however. What I saw then is being repeated towards transunity now- and as such, one can only tolerate such contempt for your identity for so long. This is what led me to go on hiatus earlier.

The rest of the mod team is similarly burnt out. We created this blog to create unity in the face of oppresion, but it seems some trans people are all too glad to be disunified in order to hurt trans unity out of spite. The levels of sad, bitter trans people angry that some trans people aren't as apathetic and separatist as they are- the level is way, way too high and is symptomatic of a trans community that desperately needs unity.

What is sad about that is that trans separatists who seek to tear down trans unity and this blog clearly have no understanding of queer history in general. How solidarity is what gets us where we need to be. How disunity leaves the most vulnerable trans people out in the cold. I'm British and most queer history people know is American. But here's an anecdote from British queer history that sums up my point-

LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) was a group of lesbians and gay men from London who raised funds for the striking coal miners in 1985, protesting against Margaret Thatcher's government. What is so special about LGSM (and I reccomend Googling them) is that they formed an alliance with striking coal miners in South Wales. Mining was a very traditional, cishet job, while LGSM were very obviously queer. But they formed an alliance because they realised, cops were beating up gay people and now the miners. They recognised their oppresions and struggles in common and decided to unite. Leading to the mining unions being vital in helping the Labour Party to add protecting gay rights to their charter at Bournemouth in 1986.

The point is- if the most cishet people in Wales in 1985 can find solidarity and unity with queer Londoners, then as trans people we have no reason *not* to find solidarity with each other. Transmasc and transfem, transneutral and intersex. There's no reason why we shouldn't attempt to unite in the place of fear.

The people who have already given in to fear, trans separatists, don't want their bad decisions to be all for naught. So they are motivated to destroy unity to reassure themselves of their position- it's why their railing against transunity has been so bleak recently. But it's a bad ideology- one which will not lead to trans liberation.

I've said my piece now and I hope that if any of it resonates or chimes, that you will go forward with more intent to unify with trans people not like yourself- but nevertheless finding solidarity in your shared fight.

Good luck, we will not be on hiatus forever. Till then, keep using transunity theory and look after yourselves.

-Mod Luke

[msmc-796-official]

Tales From Planetfall #2: 3NK1-D0N7

'sup nerds! Slipshod here - P said I was allowed to tell stories from my past if I put 'em under this tag. might as well share one of my favorite stories from the HORUS days and give y'all a sneak peek into the absolute shitshow that was my past

little bit of context - during my time with HORUS, I went by the callsign Ripcord. the cell I come from is long since defunct, but given the kind of shit we got up to, not entirely sure it's safe to give that name out publicly just yet. let's just say if the phrase "shove that up your shaft and smoke it" means anything to you, you know exactly which cell I'm talking about ;)

one of my buddies from back in the day - username KeepHonking-ImReloading, if they still use it - was a bit of a whiz when it came to masking their mech signature. you all know how the lycan frame works nowadays - it uses a dummy shell to hide its true nature until it actually gets into combat, then sheds that shell and goes full tilt. KH-IR did something that, but with a slightly different method. they liked to physically modify a mech's frame until it actually resembled a completely different mech - sometimes not even one from the same manufacturer

(if memory serves, the most extreme they ever got was modifying a hydra with some illegal greywash extruders until it was damn near a functional balor in its own right. real impressive shit, lemme tell ya, especially as they were able to keep the drone capabilities mostly intact. idiot damn near got blown to hell and back when Union found out, but RA almighty was that a sight to see in combat)

anyways, I wound up in a chatroom with 'em one day and we got to talking. told 'em I was a toku pilot and they got real excited. (one of their first ever modified builds was a toku, apparently.) they asked if I was down to take a dare, and being the hotshot piss-and-vinegar pilot I was back then, I said yes. they pitched me this: take the secondary set of arms off my toku, set my torch configs to look like claws, adjust the legs to be digitigrade, and see how long I could fool an opponent into thinking I was piloting an enkidu

now, if you know anything about HA history, you'll know that legit enkidu frames can only be found over on Hercynia, and even those are only prototypes - an officially licensed HA enkidu frame categorically doesn't exist. however, as their prototype code is what eventually became today's tokugawa, it wasn't all that unreasonable of an idea... and so I said sure, fuck it, let's see what we can do

the mods themselves were easy enough - the secondary arms came off clean, the torch config mods were practically built into the base system already (apparently if you poke around in the right code blocks long enough, you can find the original torch-projection pattern for enkidu claws - who knew?), and a few tweaks was all it took to swap the legs over to digitigrade. I had my "enkidu" all ready to go, now it was time to deploy

myself and a couple of buddies got our chance soon enough - we got word that there was a squad of IPS-N trunk security goons poking their noses where they didn't belong, and one of our fellow cells was under heat. naturally, that shit doesn't fly on HORUS turf, so we headed out there to resolve things

with the way enkidus were originally built, they're meant to override their pilot's minds and drive them murder-crazy. (kinda like a SEHKMET-class NHP, if you wanna use that comparison.) I've always been a pretty aggressive pilot, but that kinda behavior is a bit much, even for me. that being said, most pilots have never seen an enkidu before, and I could use that element of surprise to my advantage. crouch real low like a big cat about to pounce, turn the torch-claws on (and summarily watch these nerds shit themselves, because holy fuck that's an enkidu oh shit-), and then lunge full tilt at the nearest enemy and give 'em hell

the wave of pure adrenaline I got from tearing into that first poor trunk security sucker like a wild animal made me question if there wasn't still some latent enkidu code hidden in my toku after all. never before had I felt more alive, and never have my reactors sang louder than they did that day. pilots today may joke about "going feral", but brother, I was living it. (I wish I still had the after-action recording that I sent over to KH-IR - I'd love to rewatch it now and see just how insane I must have looked inside that cockpit)

needless to say, I lived up to the dare, and I had earned KH-IR's respect for it. I got sent a few new torch config patterns as compensation (one of which - a battleaxe - I still use to this day), and also earned a new nickname on the forums. y'all know me today as 70KU-N4H-W4, but for a few glorious weeks after that incident, I was known on the HORUS forums as 3NK1-D0N7. (fun fact about my username - almost changed it to F4UX-UG4W4 instead after this went down. ultimately decided against it after KH-IR weighed in and said they liked this one better)

anyways, I think that's enough of a wall of text for now. this was fun to write - haven't thought about those days in a long while. who knows, if y'all wanna hear more from me, I might write another one of these someday

take care out there, nerds. until next time ;)

-- Slipshod

[amies-corner]

Hey, it's me! Mod Amie over from @pettablepokemonpolls. I thought I should finally make a personal, where I talk about my life.

I'm 21 years old, was born in Galar, my pronouns are she/her, and as you may have guessed from the other blog I run, I like spending time with my pokemon!

In terms of what I do in real life, I'm a pokemon breeder, and can be found by daycares fairly often! I also enjoy traveling around several regions. Right now, I'm in Hoenn!

I'm not great when it comes to sharing information about myself unprompted, so if you want to know more about me that I haven't already said here, feel free to ask me about anything!

Hey, @mersonpkmnirl once again. The basic rules are as follows:

No sexual NSFW

This blog has no stakes to low stakes.

Pelipper Mail, Musharna Mail and Union Circle are on!

I can be kinda scarce on tumblr, so please be patient with me.

[pommunist]

the recent stuff from the now fired "volunteer" twitter admins where they were given an insane amount of work to do (outside of updates: collecting art for the museum, collecting clips, subtitling clips, acting as translators, update multiple streamers at once, etc), often that work having explicit deadlines? like... a worker?

if they hired them as volunteers (which they did) then they shouldnt have been given the workload they were, to the point of many suffering extreme burnout. and they had to pay for their own subs to avoid ads for quicker updates or for streamers that locked their vods?

(also the apparently complete segregation of the different admins teams (for the server made to "connect people across cultures"?) reeks of trying to avoid something like unionization of the updates teams)

(see @/IdrisCarstairs on twitter (former qsmpPOR admin) for a google doc documenting a lot of these.)

just read the new testimony !

and I totally agree with what you said, volunteer work is not bad by nature but it is when you have all the charge of salary work for none of the compensation

Antoine gave his mods as an example when he first talked about the admins situation : his twitch mods are all volunteer but whether they mod and how much is totally up to them, he never asks them anything directly and if they want to take months long break they can, because they’re volunteers ! Those who were present in chat all said they were perfectly content with it being as it is.

I’m sure that if the work conditions for the admins were better, maybe they would have never complained and would have been happy to just be an active part of the QSMP project. U can see it in Bobbys admin testimony : he was just hired to play an egg on the server, did just that and so he had a good experience.

and YEAH the twitter admins being separated by languages is just so ????? to me like not only does it go against what the QSMP is but also it would have made their work easier if they could have shared information

[clvr-the-insect-enthusiast]

IT IS I! YA GIRL!

Hello, humans and Pokémon alike! I am Clover, a student from Naranja Academy, and Champion-Ranked Trainer! My pronouns are she/her and I'm the main person behind this blog.

And I'm Rotom! He/They pronounzzz for me! I'm Clover'zzz partner in crime and navigator!

Arceus was here too for a while. If it ever appears again you'll probably see text like this

(Made with https://picrew.me/ja/image_maker/1469769)

I joined Rotomblr so I can share my thoughts and experiences as I explore Paldea, but things kinda snowballed so now I'm just documenting every absurd event that happens in my day-to-day life.

If you have any questions, I'd love to answer them, just send an ask! This post may or may not be edited as time goes on to include more details. Also feel free to ask for a Union Circle/Union Room if you wanna battle or something.

If you wanna read about my party, here's a list of all the fellas I've caught!

And also here's a link to my Pokédex's Master Post.

(OOC/Tag information below)

Pelliper Mail is ON

Musharna Mail is ON

Mystery Gifts are ON

Union Circles are ON, DM this blog or @elpendrive for more information

Magic Anons are ON

TAGS:

Arc Tags (Current Arc: Intermission between arcs):

Treasure Hunt Chapter

#treasure hunt: General Paldea adventure shenanigans. From start of journey until the very end of the main story of Pokémon Scarlet.

#victory road: Treasure Hunt posts specific to the Pokémon League's gym circuit.

#path of legends: Treasure Hunt posts specific to the mission to save Arven's Mabosstiff + slay all Titans.

#operation starfall: Treasure Hunt posts specific to the quest to take down Team Star.

#the teal mask: Clover's field trip to Kitakami.

#the way home: Treasure Hunt posts specific to the voyage to Area Zero.

#blueberry exchange program: Posts about the BB League challenge and second voyage down Area Zero.

Hisui Chapter

#hisui arc: That one time Arceus sent Clover like 200 years to the past and asked her to write the first encyclopedia.

"Mystery Inc." Chapter

(crossover with @teamoracle)

#return to kitakami: Clover goes back to Kitakami and engages in shenanigans. Mostly catching the Bloodmoon Beast since Carmine and Kieran aren't there.

Character Tags:

#rotom shenanigans: When Rotom takes over and posts stuff, usually in orange-colored italic text.

#arcposting: The occasional Arceus cameo, much less frequent now that Clover isn't in the past. Usually accompanied by bolded italic blue text.

Other Tags:

#clover responds: Clover responds to asks

#magic anon weekends: Every month's last weekend, an event is hosted in which basically every Magic Anon ask has an actual impact in the story, even if the effects end after said weekend passes.

#pokédex register: Clover's entries for the Hisuian Pokédex.

#legendary pokémon entry: Pokédex entries covering Legendary Pokémon.

#mythical pokémon entry: Pokédex entries covering Mythical Pokémon.

OOC INFORMATION:

Any out-of-character notes/comments will be marked with a //

Sticking close to canon but not too close.

Anyone is welcome to interact, rp blog or not, sentient pokémon or human.

Let us avoid drama! DNI bigots and NSFW blogs.

Magic Anons are open!

During most months' last weekend, I'll be hosting Magic Anon Weekends, in which Magic Anons will be unrestricted until the month is over. Might extend if there's a holiday on friday or monday as well.

Mod @elpendrive is same age as character and uses he/him pronouns.

Previous arcs (Treasure Hunt/Hisui)

[magic-foraging-tooltips]

This is Forage-mod here. I think Glitches and I agree on almost all of the points in their post. I'll add what I have to say and stuff I wanna emphasize, but if you're wondering "hey, what on earth is going on this time?" I'd just go check out their post. We share a lot of the same feelings.

I have a lot of discord modding experience. I wasn't ever a professional, but I've been around the block a few times. And as a previous discord mod who's handled communities with mixed age ranges, I agree with Glitches that no one who was in power in the server had or has any idea how to do this themselves. So much of the stuff in that server never should have existed in the first place, re: his post.

The union has good intentions. Hopefully it's going somewhere better. But several of your demands are short-sighted at best and actively detrimental at worst--see Glitch's breakdown of them, because in my opinion, their points there are golden. In particular you guys need to make sure you are understanding the practicality of what can/should be done in modding vs what you think will be equitable--especially because no one is getting paid to do this. Everyone has lives outside of roleplaying sentient punctuation on tumblr. Don't let yourselves get tangled up in the self-righteousness that I know you're feeling, because I've been in your shoes before.

The writing on the wall that the community couldn't handle itself has been here for over a year. And that's saying something, considering the one-year anniversary was about a month ago. The way that this community has conditioned itself to act is horrible and unhealthy, and it is actively harming the people who interact with it. I wanna stress that you guys are good kids and people, but this is bringing out the worst in a lot of people. At some point you have to look at yourself and wonder: is this serving me anymore? Is this good for me? Does this still make me happy?

I'm officially leaving the broader community. I'll still be shitposting here as Forage, and I'm open to interactions, I'm just staying stepped back like I have been for a long while already. (Magic is already stepped back for reasons unrelated and has been for a while, hence me being the main one who talks here. You can still interact with him specifically, I let him know if we get asks for him.) I'll be making a post about their combined lore and stuff I/we had planned for them later that never panned out due to energy and time.

I loved roleplaying with y'all and I hope you move on from this to healthier communities and to make great things.

[fans4wga]

Hi, I'm interested in organizing my fandom. Can you throw me some templates?

Absolutely yes! Some things have changed in recent weeks, so the top advice we can give you is to be flexible and adapt as you can. The needs of the picketers might change, so keep an eye on the news and the official WGA and SAG-AFTRA channels. Twitter is a good place to follow the union members on strike.

Also, don't feel the need to rush: there is plenty of time to build up a good foundation by talking to people in your fandom and testing the waters to see what people are prepared to do. Some fandoms just have more financial capability than others for whatever demographic reasons, or have more pro-union sentiment in the community. While you can't push anyone to do anything they're unwilling to do, you can find out what's possible and encourage interested people to get involved.

The next best advice we can give you is that this will require logistical skills; therefore, if possible, collect a small moderator team of trusted, responsible fandom friends with organization skills so it's not just you going at it alone. 3 people is probably adequate to start with, more if your organization expands.

I do recommend fandom organizers be at least somewhat active on both Twitter and Tumblr. That way, you can size up the big fandom accounts and figure out the best way to get the word out to your fandom on both sites. (If you have a mod team, you could even just have one person be your official Twitter liaison.)

Here are 3 methods to organize your fandom, and this applies to any fandom, so feel free to share this to whatever fandom group you want to get organized. Pick whichever method seems most feasible for your fandom, and go for it!

Method 1: Mod team assigns volunteers to shifts

Pros: very grassroots and non-hierarchical, can lead to the most consistent fandom support across time

Con: hardest to wrangle, and potentially more difficult for the shift-by-shift volunteers especially if individuals are difficult to reach online

Examples: The Star Trek Snack Squad, the OFMD Snackery

Claire Willett @/clairewillett on Twitter started the Star Trek Snack Squad back in the early days of the strike to get Star Trek fans organized. That's still a solid template to use, but will definitely require modifications. Link here (please make a copy to your own Google account/a throwaway if you'll be making it public and want to protect your identity)

How it works:

-You, the moderator, pick a specific picket location (all locations listed here) to target for delivery. (Since Stranger Things is a Netflix show, targeting Netflix makes sense; however, Netflix is already a very popular target location so maybe the other locations could use some love? I'll leave that to your discretion!)

-Moderators put out a call for volunteers. Make graphics, create a hashtag or catchy name, and get it boosted across the fandom as much as possible. Volunteers will then sign up (via an ask or a Google form, up to you—just make sure you keep track of who's volunteered and their Tumblr or Twitter username that must be open to DMs so people can talk to other people in their group.)

-Moderators organize 3-5 volunteers to a shift (morning or afternoon) on a specific date. It is then up to these volunteers to get talking and for one member to place a DoorDash/UberEats snacks/drinks order for delivery to the picket lines by pooling whatever money they can via Venmo or Paypal (the only international option). From $5 to $50, anything helps: it could be a case of Lacroix, it could be a whole meal for picketers. More instructions and ideas in the template.

-The template can be updated with new shifts until you run out of volunteers.

-If this method is a little overwhelming, fear not, there are other options!

Method 2: Single fundraiser on GoFundMe or PayPal Pools

Pros: Single place for money to go, very easy to set up and organize

Cons: Runs out of steam the fastest as a large monetary goal can seem daunting; money all goes to one place so there has to be a lot of transparency from the fundraiser.

Examples: Julie and the Phantoms hot dogs fundraiser, Lord of the Rings second breakfast (from SAG-AFTRA member Chelsea Schwartz's Ko-Fi); Our Flag Means Strike Paypal pool.

This is your basic fundraiser, which means the mods will have to decide how exactly the money will be used and how to have as much transparency as possible. Sometimes you're fundraising for a specific goal (taco truck at Amazon Studios, for instance). Sometimes you're pooling money to give to the Entertainment Community Fund. If you're looking for food truck options and don't know where to start, you can always reach out to people who have done the OFMD pooling here! From what I've seen, a food truck will generally cost around $3000 for a day, so plan accordingly.

[One possible fundraiser I haven't seen but would love to see is fandoms giving support to the Green Envelope Grocery Fund, which gives out $100 to people affected by the strikes specifically for groceries! So that's definitely an option as well.]

Method 3: Fandom auction for donations

If you're in a fandom that has any big-name writers/artists willing to chip in, you could organize an auction for commissions, with the proceeds going to the Entertainment Community Fund, the Green Envelope Grocery Fund or another WGA/SAG-AFTRA-related fund. As with the above, you'd need to be transparent as to where the money is going.

---

A final note: Organizing any kind of action from scratch is hard, but thankfully people have walked this road before. You can always contact us, or the people at any of the above linked groups, with questions or advice.

It may also be helpful to remember that lots of people have done this before successfully. During the 2007-08 writers strike, the Battlestar Galactica and Whedonverse fandoms were instrumental in showing fan support for the WGA strike. (More on that here!)

Best of luck and feel free to shoot us any more organizing questions! Solidarity always.

[timomoe]

estonia for the bingo thing

Oh god, anon, you really opened the flood gates with this one. This is gonna be a massive post, and I'm so sorry to everyone in advance.

Note: these are all things that bother me personally. I am not attempting to make anyone feel like they should also feel mad about these things. I am not out to shame anyone who has hcs that are different than my own. I'm just breaking my thoughts down. Idc how anyone characterizes Estonia.

1. I Dont Trust The Fandom With Estonia, Ever

Estonia's fandom depictions range from elegant, eloquent, intelligent, calm, and collected to creepy basement dwelling discord mod neck beard with no friends and no personality. The latter characterization is - you guessed it - a leftover from Old Fandom and is slowly dying off. It doesn't stop people from continuing to make him into an internet-y, awkward loser, though, and that's really sad to me, ngl. A lot of people see him as a weak, lonely loser, when this is actually extremely removed from canon. Ofc, headcanons are fine, but I see a surprising amount of people who think this characterization is canon, when in reality, it's just fanon. Canonically speaking, Estonia is very good at making friends and is easily able to maintain good relations with most of the nations. He's perceptive and able to read the feelings of people around him. He has lots of hobbies that he's really good at, too. He's smart and good with money and business. According to Himaruya, he SMELLS LIKE MONEY (which I just think is funny).

Nowadays, the fandom is usually nice to him, but unfortunately I do still see ppl completely mischarachterizing him and his relationships, especially when it comes to the Nordics. I think people tend to forget that Estonia is on good terms with every Nordic except for Iceland, and it isn't for no reason. Estonia shares very strong history with Denmark, Sweden, and Finland - a majority of the Nordics - and Norway seems to like him - or at least tolerate him - too. In the series, Estonia sees Sweden as a mentor figure, and he deeply respects him and his opinions. Finland is Estonia's best friend. Denmark and Estonia are on good terms. Their relationship isn't expanded on much, but Denmark never so much as implies that he thinks Estonia is annoying or a try hard. Norway, notorious teaser and pain in the ass (affectionate) also never teases or takes a jab at Estonia on screen or in the manga.

He's friends with people like America - the two work on silly little projects together just for shits and giggles. Oddly, America seems to treat Estonia quite well; from the little we've seen of their friendship, it seems like the two have been friends for a while, at least since 2007, as "The Gentle Fight Between Russia and I" is based off the 2007 Russian cyber attacks on Estonia. That's around 16 years ago, now.

As mentioned previously, Estonia is also frequently viewed as being wimpy and weak, when this is not the case. People usually tend to point to Estonia's time in the Soviet Union or the first time that Sweden and Estonia meet to back that up, but I counter with this - Estonia was actively being colonized at both of those time periods. The strip "The Violent Mr. Sve of Northern Europe Takes a Swing," is set at the beginning of the Swedish Era in Estonia. It details just how Sweden got ahold of Estonia to begin with - by being generally terrifying on accident. Prior to this point in time, though, Estonia was being treated badly by literally everyone around him (Teutonic Knights, Baltic Germans, etc.), so of course he would assume that this new man was here to treat him similarly (especially if you consider Estonians and Swedes had squabbled in the past over various things, and Estonia ALSO burned down Sweden's first capital.)

As far as the Soviet Era is concerned, Russia was extremely abusive to all of the Baltic States, dishing out really nasty punishments to them - going so far as to kill Latvia (albeit on accident) - when they speak out or annoy him. Of course he would be afraid of him.

Now, though? Estonia is daring and confident. He isn't afraid of Russia and routinely mouths off to him, challenges, stands up to, and outsmarts him. Even if he was afraid before, he isn't now. He has, seemingly, come back into himself. Yay character progression!!

2. I Know Him Better Than The Creator, Yaas, Queen, Give Us Nothing, & If I Could Save Him From the Narrative, I Would.

I know I just wrote 6 whole paragraphs about why I like Estonia's canon depiction, but I have to be 100% honest, I'm also not the biggest fan of Himaruya's interpretation of Estonia. There are good things about him, and I enjoy a lot of what he's put out, but at the same time there are things about him in canon that really annoy me.

For one, despite Estonians being very fond of their country, its history, culture, and language, Estonia... Isn't. At all. He is obsessed with being a Nordic, does not really treat Latvia and Lithuania well (which is strange imo, bc due to shared oppression, history, and struggle, the Baltic States are pretty tight knit.) and doesn't seem to care that it hurts them to know he would rather be a Nordic than a Baltic, and he seems to think that becoming a Nordic will solve a lot of his problems. He talks more about how cool Finnish culture is than he does his own, and that's really disappointing to me because when it comes to history, culture, and language, for Estonia there's so much to talk about.

Like let's think about the Eesti Can't Into Nordic joke that's running in the series. I'd like to remind y'all (/lh) that the Estonian government proposed the idea of Estonia being Nordic only once. One time. And the reason it failed was two-way. Not only did the Nordic nations not care, but Estonians were generally against it.

As far as I know, it's got to do with previously stated attachment to the other Baltics, and also because of their flag. For those who don't know, the Estonian flag was a banned symbol in the USSR, and anyone caught with it could face some pretty hefty punishments. The only reason we still have the original Estonian flag is bc two college dudes were like "mine vittu, venelased!" *Spits on the ground and shoves the Estonian flag behind a chimney where it will stay safe.*

Also. The joke about Estonia wanting to join the Nordics seems silly, as there's been this neat little thing called the Nordic Baltic 8 that's been around since the 90s. There's already an entire organization made up of all the Nordics and Baltics with the point of it being mutual aid and cooperation. Meaning all of the things Estonia thought he'd get by becoming a Nordic have already come to fruition.

On top of that, it had been a symbol of Estonian endurance, freedom, and perseverance for decades by that point. People were so attached to it and adverse to making the tricolor into a Nordic cross, so the idea died.

Edit: was also reminded by an Estonian friend that some of the suggested designs for the first Estonian flag were in fact in a Nordic Cross pattern, but they all lost out to the tricolor, meaning that whole idea wasn't just rejected once, but twice.

There's also something about his name that annoys me a little. While I believe it was genuinely an accident, Eduard's name is surreal. Let me explain what I mean. Himaruya tends to legacy name his characters. England is named for king Arthur, Sweden's last name is taken from a Swedish writer, Finland is named after Väinämöinen, Latvia is named after a Latvian singer.

The only person in Estonian history of any note with the last name Von Bock was a Baltic German man who, among other things, hated ethnic Estonians and believed them to be subhuman. Bit of an oopsie to give him a name like that. Not even Eduard is an Estonian name, it is just the Estonianized spelling of a German name too. Eduard isn't so bad though, since it is actually a common Estonian name.

3. I Want To Protect Them, Babygirl MF, They're Like a Brother to Me, & They're So Cute When They're Bleeding.

Ok so the basics of this one are: I love Estonia, he's a weirdo, he's my favorite, I only ever want good things for him, and yet every single time I write anything involving him, it always winds up being angsty as shit and sad. I am not allowed to let this man be happy, IG.

[fandomshatepeoplewdisabilities]

I hate how many parents uses their kids for money on YouTube, tiktok etc. Especially disabled kids has zero privacy with their parents sharing everything about them. I saw a mother detail private informations about her 6-year-old autistic son on Facebook, videos and all. Even of him taking a bath! family vloggers making monetized videos talking about how hard is having a disabled kid, with their followers praising them for "not giving up" on their kid.

ok so I know I'm showing my age now but like this whole generation that learned absolutely nothing from the truman show. Even millenials and older generations have forgotten about that movie and its lessons.

One of the scariest things about being a family vlogger is that their kids don't have a choice. there's no unions looking out for them, theres no laws prohibiting the parents from overworking their kids. there's a few good posts I've seen about this phenomenon that I'll try to find but yeah inspiration porn is a BIG problem.

mod ali