#not churning out fanart for a response i guess?

[readymades2002]

something difficult about writing/storytelling but only in short disconnected bursts is that writing anything longform is very difficult. there isn't as much time to practice long-term character development or subtlety (implying character instead of immediately clarifying) when its not really meant to go anywhere but a notes app. its a little frustrating...i'd love to do something more longform though. i've considered maybe just doing some short writing scenes in my various original universes a lot recently mostly because i just havent had time to draw anything fancy recently </3 maybe that would be something...

[opinated-user]

aww, i'm not the Brittany Gallade Stalker anymore? guys, i lost one of my titles. i don't know who i'm anymore! as long i'm still one Brittany then i guess i'll be fine... but also... i hope i don't have to tell people to not go bringing up my posts to LO. not because i mind she responding, i know she'll anyway if she feels like posturing about something, but because i have said many times before to not interact with her, period, just to see a reaction out of her. i encourage people to not interact with her at all. the whole point of this blog is to spread awareness about her and deplatforming her. i can't do that if people just keep validating her platform by going to interact with her. plus, we all know she'll only use it as more fuel for her own victim narrative so, really, why would you want that? i know it's possible that LO send herself that message, but just in case i want that said: don't interact with LO. don't watch her videos directly, don't try to get a response out of her. moving on... who is going to tell LO that this the very first time she openly talked positively about the art of her wife? (it's rethoric, don't actually do that). by that i mean, she just uses the art of MO, whines in stream about how MO isn't drawing pokemadhouse fast enough, whines about how she has a life that impides her being exploited even more and talks about how many more fanart she'll keep ezqueezing out of her.

oh, and i'm meant to assume that the quality of her art has nothing to do with why you aren't showing your avatar anymore in any of your videos?

those two pieces of art are actually an example of the kind of problem that people do notice with MO. when she's doing things fast enough for you not to whine about it and churning out as many fanart as you want, it looks rushed. it looks unfinished and halfassed because you constantly tell her to make art that way. that can't be healthy for any creative person, just about in general. the fact that she's not even being paid for it speaks badly of you as a partner and a boss. that's not me saying it, it's a fact. one piece of art here and there is just a perk of having an artist as a partner, but you very much has abused that by having MO making entire animatic, multiple visuals for videos, an entire webcomic that you want fully coloured, animatic for that webcomic and all without any paid at all. but when MO can have all the time of the world and there's no wife telling her to forgot anatomy, it looks just so much better. for one, the color choices for the character designs are miles better than whatever is that you're asking her to do for your OCs. there's more flare, life and drama in that one picture of the green character that has ever been in all of pokemadhouse. i don't know why you won't just let her dress saige with something nice for once.

i literally said that MO on her own is a decent enough artist. funny enough, that's the one point that all critical blogs agree on. it's really quite transparent the kind of gasligting you're doing when people can clearly see me saying as much in that message, but still choose to present it otherwise and just ignoring entirely the rest of the point. your constant request for art from her and telling her to halfass it to make it as quickly as possible are my issue. a seasoned artist can do with a quick workflow because they know what they're doing, but MO is not there yet. so all you're really doing by using her like a slot machine for more art and fanart with your weird ideas of "right proportions" is keeping her away from actually learning. for the record too: i call you LO because Lizzy and Courtney, with Lizzy's blessing, wear the last name Orchard better than you. we went over this already.

[laughingphoenixleader]

Pairing: Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla

Word count: no idea

A/N: This is my first fanfiction that I’m posting out in the world! This takes place an hour or two after the end of Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Episode 7: Wings of the Master. I found a fanart when surfing the internet for Kanera content (as one does) a few months ago and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since! I don’t know whose work the art is but I’ll paste it on here! If anyone knows who it’s by, please let me know :) the art isn’t mine, but all of the writing is! Obviously, Kanan isn’t blind yet in this fic like he is in the fanart. I hope anyone who reads this likes it!! I’m hoping to post more fanfiction in the future—I have three others in the works already! I’m open to any and all feedback!

Hera rubs her temple as she steps out of the promotion briefing. Her head buzzes with new intel, and plans zip through her mind like starships. She is honored and ecstatic about her promotion to Phoenix Leader. At the same time, though, she can already feel the new responsibility settling onto her shoulders, all of the lives that will soon be placed under her supervision weighing on her. Hera can and will take on all of the privileges and authority her new position grants her, and she fully intends to own it, too. Still, her heart is heavy.

Truthfully, she’s still struggling with the losses they suffered on the first attempt to deliver supplies to Ibaar. Hera had been so determined to complete that mission, to find the right ship to make it possible, that the grief and sensation of failure hadn’t caught up with her. She had made sure of that. There wasn’t time to be crippled by guilt and loss when there was a mission to complete. Now that the mission was over, however, she can feel the effects of the losses setting in.

Thoughts swirl through her mind as she continues to head down the hallway towards the bay where the Ghost is docked.

If I had just let us turn back—if I hadn’t told everyone to keep going—maybe Phoenix Leader and the people on the transport would have survived.

She’d made the wrong call. Hera can still hear the panic-filled voice crying out, “Captain Syndulla!” as the transport—and the people inside—were blasted into a thousand pieces. She’d let her determination blind her, and lives had been lost because of it.

Guilt pours into her, paralyzing her. She stops walking in the middle of the empty hallway and steps into a nearby alcove to process it all. If I make a mistake like that again, the consequences will be worse now that I have more responsibility. What if I let everyone down?

Her churning vortex of thoughts and feelings is interrupted by a pair of strong, green-clad arms embracing her from behind, and a deep, warm voice comes from above her. “How’s it going, Captain?”

Pleasure surges through her lekku. His timing is perfect.

The pleasant surprise washes all of the guilt, fear, and sadness away, at least for now. Hera lets out a little “hey” of protest as Kanan Jarrus pulls her nearly off her feet, but an irrepressible smile spreads over her face. She closes her eyes and turns her face towards his, relishing the warmth emanating from him and the way his presence soothes her. Hera places her hands on the arms that envelop her, returning the embrace through a gentle squeeze.

“Better now, love,” she tells him. He releases her slightly so that her feet are fully on the ground and places his chin on her shoulder, still holding her close.

“And you usually hate PDAs.”

“If I’m not mistaken, there’s no one in this hallway.”

“What would you have done if there were?”

Hera is silent for a moment, eyes still closed. “Nothing differently.”

She can feel him grin. “Great,” he replies. “Because there’s someone walking by now.”

Hera’s eyes fly open and search the hallway—which is still empty. She elbows him. “Kanan!”

A deep laugh vibrates out of his chest. She rolls her eyes, but allows herself to settle back into his embrace.

“Really, though,” Kanan says gently, all traces of mirth disappearing. The care in his voice sends another ripple of affection through her lekku. “How are you? I could tell you needed this.”

“And you were right,” Hera admits as he guides them down onto the alcove’s bench, arms still entwined around her. Normally, she’d break away now to explain what she was feeling, the thought of fellow rebels walking by and being made uncomfortable by their display of affection present in her mind. This time, however, she isn’t ready to move away from him. Besides, this isn’t a heavily trafficked hallway anyway. She does move to the side rather than sitting on his lap, though, her shoulder overlapping his. “It’s those people we lost the first time we went to Ibaar to deliver the supplies,” she begins, her voice heavy with returning guilt. “They died because of me.”

Kanan lifts his head from her shoulder, his aquamarine eyes staring seriously into hers. “Hera, no.”

“They told me they were taking heavy fire,” she continues, her voice growing more and more agitated. “They lost their forward deflectors, and I still told them to keep going. I should’ve told them to turn back.” A sound of frustration escapes her throat. “Why am I so stubborn? Why are they putting more people under my leadership after my decision led to several deaths?”

“Hera,” Kanan’s voice cuts through her hysteria, rich and deep and sure. “Everyone here knows that any mission could be their last.”

“I know that,” she responds, voice still thrumming with anguish. “But that doesn’t mean lives should be thrown away just because of one person’s inability to retreat!” She breaks her gaze from his, shaking her head and staring down at the floor. “I don’t deserve that promotion.”

Kanan gently lifts her head so that her eyes meet his again. “No one trusting someone with authority expects them to be perfect,” Kanan reminds her. “Everyone here has made a wrong call, has failed to complete a mission—which you didn’t, by the way—but that doesn’t mean they’re a failure. You weren’t treating anyone like they were expendable—your optimism led you not to give up. You were determined to get those supplies to those in need and refused to give up hope.” Tones similar to those he uses when teaching Ezra a lesson color his voice, though with considerably less frustration. “The only way to rise above your mistakes is to accept the lessons they teach and apply them in the future. Letting your mistakes destroy your faith in yourself isn’t going to help anyone.”

Hera listens intently, his sincerity like a bacta patch on a wound.

“Sato could hear all of the comms between you and Phoenix Squadron, and he didn’t demote you or chastise you. Clearly, he doesn’t blame you for the lives that were lost.” Kanan squeezes her tighter reassuringly. “No one does.”

His voice becomes harder, more insistent. “And of course you deserve the promotion.” He sounds offended at the thought of anyone suggesting otherwise. “You didn’t volunteer to leave the mission—you were committed to seeing it through. But when I volunteered you for the mission to Shantipole, you dove in—literally—and headed straight into a world that no ship is supposed to be able to escape from—but you did. You’d only flown that B-wing once before joining the battle, but you flew it like it was built for you. You’re the reason those supplies did get to those people. When I recommended your promotion, Sato didn’t waste a second before agreeing with me.”

Kanan’s words replace her guilt and grief with a swelling of gratitude and comfort. Hera won’t forget those who had died today. She’ll be more careful to see when a situation requires a retreat, but she won’t let her confidence in herself die. “Thank you, Kanan,” she tells him, her heart full. He places his forehead against hers, and they share a rare moment of contentment and peace, enjoying each other’s presence.

Hera reluctantly breaks the silence after a minute or so, lifting her forehead from his.“We should probably get back home,” she tells the Jedi. “I liked that B-wing, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting the kids wreck the Ghost.” Kanan’s flash of disappointment is so endearing. She lifts his chin reassuringly.

“It’ll be all right, fearless leader.”

Kanan unravels his arms from around her, replying indignantly, “Hey, no, you’re officially the leader now.” They’d had the argument many times, each insisting that the other is the leader of their crew. Hera always tells him that “captain of the ship” and “leader” are two different things.

Now she rolls her eyes, smiling, but doesn’t correct him this time.

“I guess it’s about time we get back, anyway,” Kanan continues before she changes her mind and decides to refute him. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten something?”

Hera’s brows knit as she attempts to remember. “Yeah, too long,” Kanan’s suspicions seem to have been confirmed. “Come on.” He takes her hand and pulls her up, out of the alcove, and into the hallway. They share a comfortable silence all the way back to the Ghost, which Hera now realizes Kanan must have left to come find her. Even more affection for him to rises in her at the realization.

When the cockpit opens, the two release each others’ hands and are greeted by a rush of cheers and pumping fists. Even Chopper waves his grasping arms and spins around in celebration.

“Go Hera!” Ezra yells.

“About time you got promoted,” Zeb grins.

“Congratulations, Hera,” Sabine tells her earnestly.

“Mom got promoted! Mom got promoted!” Chopper chants triumphantly.

Hera chuckles, heart overflowing with fondness for her crew. “All right, all right,” she tells them. “You’re going to make the rest of the ship think that something’s wrong.”

“Who cares?” Ezra says as he pulls everyone into a group hug. “Hera cares,” Kanan replies, but he puts one arm around her and another around Sabine. The hug is a little awkward, with Zeb being so much taller than Ezra and Sabine and Chopper standing in the middle of the circle, but in that moment, the crew feels truly united.

“Okay, I can’t stand Zeb’s smell anymore,” Ezra quips, stepping out of the circle. Chopper rolls over and smacks him with a grasping arm.

“Ow! You always do that!” The blue-haired boy zips into the cargo hold, trying to get away from Chopper, who continues whacking him as he pursues.

The rest of the family shares exasperated smiles.

Kanan nudges Hera forward, dropping his arms from hers and Sabine’s shoulders.

“Lead the way, Captain Hera,” he tells her, that crooked smile of his setting the inside of Hera aglow. “We’re all behind you.”

[kaydeefalls]

boden’s mate: 14, 21, 23!

Thanks, nonny! Back to Boden's Mate. :)

14. Hardest scene to write?

I'm not going to lie, I wrote that whole fic in a manic haze over about seven weeks. I was churning out a scene every single day. It all blurs together from a writing perspective. But I also know me and what I do and do not enjoy writing, so while I may have plowed my way through it anyway, I'm betting that the scenes with Cain in the mansion were the hardest, because that sort of supervillain action sequence is NOT my favorite (and I really disliked writing Cain in general; why the hell did I set him up as one of the primary antagonists in the sequel?). So. That, probably. Or some of the filler scenes tying together the set pieces, where not a whole lot happens apart from getting us from point A to point B.

21. Do you think the fic could be identified as yours if it were anonymous / did you put anything very you into it?

HA. This fic was originally posted anonymously, in an endless kinkmeme thread (I think...50ish parts total?) on Livejournal. That's how old it is. It was a goddamn nightmare to post, let me tell you. I don't think anyone guessed my identity at the time, but also I don't think anyone was trying to? In a lot of ways, this one defined me in the X-Men fandom, so I think it's more that later fics I wrote would be more identifiably mine because Boden's Mate was already out there. (On a personal level, Alex's voice in that 'verse is probably the closest I've ever written to what my own internal monologue sounds like, but I don't think anyone could recognize that and point at me from reading it.)

23. What would be the highest form of praise you could receive for the fic?

As far as I'm concerned, I've already received it. I was really floored by the response I got to that one. I received some gorgeous fanart for it; someone wrote their own little spinoff ficlet, too. That's incredibly special, when someone likes something enough to be inspired by it in turn. And, hey, here we are a full ten years later, and it's still the most likely fic for me to get asked about in random askmemes on tumblr! ;)

[profoundnet]

Header by @cryptomoon​ and is available on merch from her redbubble store. You can use all those fancy emojis (and more!) on our Discord server!

The Masterpost is open for all creations by ProfoundBond members which are posted in their entirety during that month.

MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR FEBRUARY AND MARCH 2020!

Featuring works by ArielAquariel, @saywhatjessie, @castielslostwings, @maleyah-givemetomorrow, @spnsmile, @banshee1013, @leafzelindor, and  wolf_mistress17.

Masterpost below the cut.

ArielAquarial - ArielAquariel

Out of the box (G, 10k)

Dean can’t complain about his life so far. He spent years beside a great kid with an amazing imagination. He and Ben had been through a lot in the short time he’d acted as his favorite toy, but all good things must come to an end. It was only a matter of time until Dean found himself in the trash, or if he was lucky, a yard sale. What he hadn’t considered was ending up in the attic with only Christmas decorations for company. Or, the one where Dean is an action figure, Cas is a tree topper, and Charlie is an elf with WAY too much time on her hands.

Tags: Charlie Bradbury Ships Castiel/Dean Winchester, Christmas Decorations, Fluff, First Kiss, Size Difference, Alternate Universe, Nosy Charlie Bradbury

The next best thing (T, 6k)

Sam had told Dean that California was different. More liberal, he said. You could walk down the street in a frilly pink dress and no one would bat an eye. Well, Dean wasn’t very interested in wearing a dress, but holding hands with a man without having to be nervous about it? That, he could get behind. Or... When Dean moved to California, he never expected to stumble upon a man publicly glaring daggers at a dildo. Especially when said neon pink dildo was suctioned to his car door.

Tags: dog sitting, Meet-Cute, Alternate Universe, Mechanic Dean Winchester, Fluff, Sex Toys

JessJesstheBest - @saywhatjessie - JessJesstheBest

Aromatic Adjectives Need Not Apply (G, 4.3k)

Castiel was an Alpha, despite what everyone always guessed upon meeting him. He was tall, and he had the stern and imposing profile, but, to most people, those Alpha traits were where it ended. He had a lithe, runner’s frame, with trim waist and thick thighs. “Child-bearing hips” he’d been told. Though, obviously, no children would be born of him. This scuffling man, though. He was... round. Potentially child-bearing. And Castiel was sure his true mate wasn’t either of the other two men. Or Castiel is an Alpha that doesn't believe in true mates but sniffs one out anyway.

Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, College AU, Alpha/Alpha, Scenting, Chubby Dean Winchester, DeanCas Reverse Bang 2020

castielslostwings - @castielslostwings - Castielslostwings

Deserted (E, 61k)

"This was a mistake, Castiel thinks, almost laughably. Lightning does strike twice." Six years after their plane crashed, stranding Castiel and Dean injured and alone in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness, life is pretty damn good. Married and more in love than ever, they've settled into their shared life together with few bumps along the way and no intention of ever ending up in a situation like that again. That is, until Sam shows up for a visit and turns everything they thought they knew about where they're going and where they've been upside down. Somehow, Sam manages to suck Dean and Castiel into flying to Hawaii to help him untangle a twisted, murderous web where tourists are disappearing and hacking for evidence just won't cut it. What will happen when a would-be heroic Team Free Will gets in over their heads, stranding Dean and Castiel in a brand-new kind of wilderness and leaving Sam to once again follow a breadcrumb trail to ensure they survive?

The Sequel to Wild

Tags: Wilderness survival, hurt/comfort, established relationship, no Destiel angst, case fic, beaches, Hawaii, deserted island, Survivalist Dean, Brave Castiel. Accompanied by art by @winchester-reload.

Enchanted Ink (E, 36k)

In a world where an artist's magic brings tattoos to life, ink-gone-wrong can spell lasting heartache for those unlucky enough to experience it. Jaded and cynical on both life and love, Castiel's about to find out that even the most deeply-etched scars can be transformed into something beautiful when the right person is holding the pen.

Tags: Magical realism, getting together, emotional hurt/comfort, tattoo artists Dean and Cas, magical tattoos, self-acceptance, secret author dean, domestic fluff, top cas/bottom dean.

Maleyah - @maleyah-givemetomorrow - Maleyah

Where Our Soul And Grace Meet (E, 5.3k)

“Still,” Dean says, as he leans in, “I believe I asked you a question?” Castiel hears that voice dip into another part of him. Something smooth and warm trickles down his spine. A churning, familiar feeling swirls in the pit of his being. “Restless,” Castiel whispers, responsive to that tone and all it implies. “So restless I don’t know what to do with myself. Perhaps you do?”

Tags: human!Cas, s9 divergence, Fluff, Established Relationship, Soft sub!Cas, Soft Dom!Dean, Bondage, Spanking, Light Dom/sub

Hot Wings and Magic Hands (E, 50k)

The one where Dean is a burnt-out surgeon, who has some minor self-esteem issues about it and Castiel is a gym instructor who helps him out of his rut. But it’s all just professional, right? (Real time Valentine's Day fic)

Tags: Valentine's Day fic, Surgeon!Dean, Yoga instructor!Cas, Idiots to Lovers, Burned out Dean, Sauna, Misunderstandings, Slow burn, Mild Angst, Fanart

Where Your Light Meets My Shadow (E, 3.3k)

“Cas, honey, come here. Sit between my legs.” The request jolts them both out of their reverie. Cas’ eyes widen as he licks his lips, but his response is immediate. He moves like water, fluid, beautiful, aglow, when he crawls onto the bed towards Dean. There is a touch of deep concentration to the way his brow furrows that’s so innately Cas. It seems to lay him bare and his heart thuds louder in his chest as Cas’ shadow falls over his legs.

Tags: human!Cas, s9 divergence, SPN Kink Bingo, Deepthroating, Established Relationship, Soft sub!Cas, Soft Dom!Dean, Light Dom/sub, 69 (Sex Position)

spnsmile - @spnsmile - spnsmile

Gambler’s Woe (G, 6.9k)

Coda to 15x11 (The Gamblers) Sam lost the game, Fortuna wins. Dean calls Castiel to say goodbye. They didn't get kicked. They returned to the Bunker. Except Cas still hears the message and goes to tackle Dean. It's a lucky night. The idiots find what they don't want to lose anymore.

Tags: General audience, M/M, hurt/ comfort, idiots in love, angst

Banshee1013 - @banshee1013 - Banshee1013

Ten Inch Hunter (E, 17k)

After returning from Purgatory the second time, Castiel and Dean were just beginning to explore the new direction of their relationship, when on a case involving missing hunters, Dean is struck by a witch's curse and turned into a ten-inch plastic figurine. Can Sam find a way to revert the effects of the curse and return Dean to himself before the tiny spark of life Cas detects in him fades away? Or will Cas lose Dean just as their relationship has begun? Written for the 2020 Dean Cas Reverse Bang.

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Canon Compliant, Season/Series 15 Spoilers, Sam Winchester Ships Castiel/Dean Winchester, Hurt Dean Winchester, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Minor Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, Witch Curses

LeafZelindor - @leafzelindor

Dean’s Wings (SFW)

DeanCas Reverse bang piece

Tags: wings. Accompanied by fic by @quillsandink-writes.

Fading (SFW)

DeanCas Reverse bang piece

Tags: hurt/comfort. Accompanied by fic by Aapicula.

wolf_mistress17 - wolf_mistress17

Let Me Show You (E, 9.2k)

After their return from Alaska, Dean comes up with a great idea: teach Castiel how to play pool.

Tags: Love confessions, first kiss, first time, explicit sexual content, Season 15 code for 15x11 The Gamblers, playing pool/billiards, fluff and smut

[samsebefandom]

From the comment thread:

I used to want my small fandoms to stay small but then I realized my reasons were basically elitist: I didn't want bad fic written, didn't want to see people do things with the characters that I didn't like, etc. So I got over it.

***

IDGI either. Sure, there are more haters in large fandoms, but I just block them. And there's more fic, but very little of it works for me, so I still end up writing what I want to read. 

***

I think there's a 'perfect' level of popularity for fandoms. I don't like huuuggge fandoms - there's so much fic, you can barely read it, and a lot of it is crap. There's always one or a few people (who can't possibly work or have any normal responsibilities) who endlessly churn out fic after fic after fic for the main OTP of the fandom who I do inevitably NOT ship and they are the highly worshipped BNFs who always win every fic writing contest & nobody else gets a look in. But then there's me and my miniscule fandoms where I am often the only person out there writing certain pairings and that is as depressing as fuck. It's like being the only person to turn up to your own birthday party. 

I like to write fic more than read it, and being in what I guess is a pretty small fandom (small enough that I might give away my identity if I name it), I get to feel like a big damn hero for the few who do read my stuff. I guess I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond than vice versa? If I were writing for a huge fandom, I'd feel like no one's going to give a shit if I post or not. I like my cozy corner.

***

I love how close-knit my small fandoms are, but boy would I love for them to be at least a little bigger... It's lonely being literally the only person to have written a fic for something-- not just for a ship, but to have had to create the AO3 tag for the property itself. I know big fandoms have a lot of drama and people take fic writers for granted when there's a million fics for a ship already, but... a nice medium-sized fandom would be nice sometimes. *** I'm just super into obscure things with zero fandom right now, or else the existing fandom is almost all trivia-mastery-and-collectible-collecting dudes rather than fanart-and-fanfic-and-shipping folks, so there's technically a fair-sized fandom but only four people who even semi-ship my ship and a bunch of dudes who would be aghast at my non-canon (queer!) shipping if they looked at the non-gen, non-canon-ships side of the fanfic. (there's like... *one* 'fandom approved' fic and I hate the guy who wrote it, it's... this is a rough fandom to not be a middle-aged straight man in)

[cipherpolfiles]

Follower Appreciation and reply post - Part 2 (16/05/2017 - 31/05/2017)

I want to welcome all new followers, as always. My eternal gratitude goes not only to my followers, but to everyone who has followed this blog or liked and/or reblogged any of its contents, your sweet comments and tags make all the effort well worth it! You’re all AMAZING, people!

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@spiralnoodleworld Alliance Pain is, indeed, an accurate term for this XD

@wilsonkingofprussia I think Capone Bege will soon get used to it as well. As I always say, I’m now awaiting Kid and Co.’s reactions to their alliance with Luffy XD

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@nelkk LOL Thank you for your input!

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post (& its Spanish version):

@mossyseas My train of thought was something like this when I started thinking about the Vinsmoke kids having Devil Fruit DNA mixed into them and I 100% agree that Oda’s answer was completely random back on that SBS. Thanks for your input, it is much appreciated!

@jiofreed I’m definitely reblogging that post and adding your screencapped comments on it, because this is something I intended to actually include and due to some circumstances, I ended up forgetting about it. So thank you so much for reminding me :)

@otakuonthemove You literally have no idea just how gratifying and fulfilling this kind of comment really is for me. Knowing there’s someone who finds what I do interesting, makes me want to churn out even more content. Thank you for your enthusiastic words.

@niyaow Well, he DOES look like a midget after adding Judge... Also, thanks. I’m glad you found it enjoyable :)

@the-noone-me Glad you enjoyed the read!

@zaziecurie ¡Mucha gracias! Muito obrigado/a!

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@dusty-jester Well, I posted this right after episode 785 had aired and the very next week, on episode 786, they had already corrected the blunder. So I’m afraid it was not because kids watch it, they messed up and then corrected it. You can see both images from 785 and 786 here thanks to @otakuonthemove.

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@katsunenpiece LOL If this were the case, I highly doubt Usopp would be lying about it. Exaggerating a bit, maybe; but not lying. See, I think his lies are some sort of coping mechanism to him; to fend off his very low self-esteem, he comes up with all these stories (lies) where he’s the brave hero and has all these crazy skills to give himself an emotional boost and keep himself from falling into a possible depression. He’s never lied about any of his friends or their skills, though. At least not as far as I remember. You’re free to correct me if I’m wrong :)

@amigodecuentos and @yukizus Thanks! Glad people find this interesting :)

@damondraco Yes, I know. That ask was referring to this other post of mine where I said Elbaf is fable written backwards. Thanks for the contribution, either way :)

@draceempressa Well, I wouldn’t know since I don’t read/watch Fairy Tail, but I’ll take your word for it. I kind of imagine Usopp becoming some sort of storyteller after he reaches his dream and “retires”; he’s amazing at it.

@ktosiowa Glad you like the theory! :)

@lizzyg-lifesgood and @memesterpink LOL Sorry, but it seems Usopp was destined to go to Elbaf since Oda created him. His entire character revolves around being a fabulist of sorts, so yeah, I’d love for One Piece to end like that. Thanks for the reblog and your input!

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@acesenpaimissyou Did I just get the OK from a Viking descendant for this? LOL I’m joking (hope I didn’t offend you). I agree with you on that one. It’s just that the Viking/Norman issue just popped up in my mind first, because the non-Elbaf giants we’ve seen so far all work for the WG and directly antagonise the “Elbaf ways”. I mean, every Elbaf giant we’ve seen so far have all been pirates: Mountainbeard and Fallbeard, Dorry and Brogy, Hajrudin (he technically was introduced as a mercenary but he was working under Buggy before he defected and joined the Straw Hat Grand Fleet as a pirate) and Oimo and Kashi, with whom we’ve seen the WG is not beyond making scammy offers to get them to work for them. The situation with Oimo and Kashi especially strikes as really similar to what was expected of the Normans once they settled in their new home (aside from becoming Christians): to keep the other Vikings at bay; in short to guard France against the Norse raids. I guess that’s why I made that connection first. Thanks a lot for your input!

@nicefandom & @katsunenpiece I’m glad you find it plausible. I like knowing if things I say make sense or not, because sometimes I think it makes sense but other people don’t. So it’s good to know I’m not being too imaginative. Thank you both for your inputs :)

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@zaziecurie & @the-not-so-dark-age Thank you for your inputs and yes, that would explain a lot about Government agents and other Marine recruits.

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post (1), this one (2), this one (3), this one (4),  this one (5), this one (6) and this one (7):

(1)

@starrynight32 I’ve been considering this possibility ever since Kaido was stated to be immortal. Maybe only Law can take the immortality from him. Something like “what the Ope Ope no Mi gives, only the Ope Ope no Mi can take”.

(2)

@katsunenpiece Well, it has something to do with Blackbeard’s Jolly Roger being the only one featuring three skulls and whatnot. See, most of the other flags represent the captain of a crew in one way or another; they always have one skull because it represents one person, but Blackbeard’s has three to represent one person.

This comment from Marco at the very end of chapter 577 adds to the theory and some people interpret it as Blackbeard having three different DNAs in him, thus he is three people into one and the reason he can have more than one DF power without them clashing and destroying him. It’s all speculation, but it’s an interesting take, especially since it’s true that Teach’s Jolly Roger IS the only one with three skulls, which is really curious unto itself.

Now for your other set of tags.

(3)

I hope for the same. Will Oda explain it though? I just don’t know, but I’d like to know.

(4)

@mapofallblue Yay! More Hajrudin fans. I’m actually surprised I’m not the only one who liked him, since there’s barely any fanart or meta posts of him. I’ve always loved the giants ever since Dorry and Brogy. Then again I’m really biased because I just love ancient Norse culture, it’s fascinating.

(5)

@kartellthings That’s exactly what I mean. Apart from that, I also heard that his editors announced that this arc was going to end by the end of May or the end of June; there are literally four chapters left (if he doesn’t take any breaks) for this arc to end according to that deadline. I don’t really think he’ll be able to properly finish the arc in four chapters and it’ll be a bit longer than that, but if he were to be trying to meet that deadline, the story might suffer. I may be wrong, though. Maybe he’ll manage to pull off something like that, but for the time being, I highly doubt it. Thanks a bunch for your input!

(6)

@hawk-in-a-tree I absolutely agree with you. You said it all, nothing else to add :)

(7)

@the-not-so-dark-age I feel you! I suddenly NEED this to be Bonney’s backstory. As I said in the post: Oda, make it happen! ... Pretty please? Thanks for adding your opinion!

And last, but not least:

@chance4choice No problem. Even if you had still disagreed with me, it would have been fine as well. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I’m not here to fight with anyone, so yeah, no hard feelings on my part :)

@hawk-in-a-tree LOL I’m glad I have my net back, too. I was going crazy because I could literally do nothing: no OP episode, unable to answer asks or work on meta/raffle prizes, unable to communicate with three of my closest friends... ‘Twas Hell, I’m telling you! HELL!

@mssarahkathryn Oh, don’t worry, your first comment was clear enough. The thing is, I’d seen quite a few posts claiming that people who are against Pudding’s recent development did not want complex characters and the like, so I kind of took the opportunity to make that clear while answering to your comment seeing as it was about that same subject. Sorry for the confusion ^^; That said, I must say that I’m happy about Big Mom’s flashback not having that “pity factor” I mentioned. Then again, she’s not one of the beautiful/cute female villains either... Nevertheless, I appreaciate the fact that Oda is letting her be one of the bad guys.

As usual, if I forgot anyone, it’s more than likely because I didn’t get a notification about it. Big thanks to all of you!

[thebibliosphere]

As a newer follower, what is A Highlander's Tail?

Oh boy. I’m guessing that means you also don’t know PDOC about Fifty Shades of Plaid and The Devil’s Sporran either then.

Hello, welcome to the crack that is going to be my literary career, this post will be your guide.

Hunger Pangs you likely know about but here’s the origin post where @jeneelestrange straight up altered the career path of my life.

I’ll keep Public Displays of Confection short, but basically I came up with the pun and liked it so much I decided to turn it into a w/w romance about two bakers who fall in love while competing in a wedding cake contest. It’s so sweet it might actually give you diabetes. (Small humorous extract)

A Highlander’s Tail started because @thestarfishdancer is a horrible enabler and I couldn’t help from shitposting in response. Somehow I ended up being convinced I should write a thing called A Highlander’s Tail. The vague plot outline I have so far features a Scottish werewolf who becomes a retainer for a young English woman who is brought to Scotland after marrying her much older (also English) husband. (A common trope in awful American written Scottish romances.) As with most old Scottish houses however, there’s rumors abound of ghosties and goblins and things that go bump in the night. Which is absurd of course. They howl. 

Cailean Glenn—our resident werewolf, does his best to make her feel welcome in his own gruff way, but when her marriage starts to flounder and she starts straying farther and farther from home as a means of distraction, he realizes the secret of the (fictional) town of Braedhuin may be at risk of exposure. 

There’s all sorts of shenanigans and romantic guff, as well as fun little absurdities like were-sheep who herd themselves and win national prizes. As per @deliriumsetin‘s wishes Cailean’s best friend is a plucky Irishman, Ruaidhrí, who seems to own an Irish setter who is often conspicuous by his absence. The setter is a downright friendly fellow though.

The Devil’s Sporran is a lighthearted contemporary romance spurred on after an article denouncing romance literature as basically sin, used the hilarious phrase “Shirtless Satan” to describe men in kilts. Some people wanted it to be the actual Devil, but for now he’s just an ordinary good looking man with a smile that can make you think very bad things.

The main focus is on Kate, an American who is the maid of honor to her college bff’s wedding to be held in Scotland where both her and her beau are from. As the maid of honor she gets introduced to all kinds of quaint traditions she’s never before encountered which you don’t really have to deal with in America. Like trying to find a real silver sixpence, taking the bride out around the town on her Taking Out, the whole kerfuffle with trying to find matching dresses for three vastly different shaped women, and realizing at the last minute she’s expected to pick out a tea set for the bride despite being a coffee drinker her whole life, and what the fuck is the difference between Wedgwood and Denby. And then there’s the groom’s best man Donnie…she feels someone should have warned her about him:

“What are you doing in here?” Kate demanded, scrabbling to cover herself with the ugly tartan shawl despite being fully dressed.

“I was next door,” Donnie informed her, eyes darting over the length of her, “looking at scabbards. Are you all right? You sounded upset.”

“I’m fine!” She protested, but even to her own ears it sounded shrill. Her shoulders slumped, defeated. “I can’t get out of this stupid dress. There’s too many buttons and the assistant has apparently run away and I can’t breathe.”

Donnie chuckled easily and the sound went curling straight down to Kate’s bare toes, hidden under the length of her skirt. It was offensive how charming this particular Scotsman could be, especially given how effortless he made it seem. She was almost certain she’d have hated anyone else for it.

“She’s helping a bride,” he informed her, “I heard crying so you’re on you’re own for a while. Let me?”

The question was so unexpected and softly spoken it threw her off guard, and Kate found herself compelled to turn as he stepped further into the changing room, pulling the curtain closed behind him. She’d half expected to be manhandled by rough hands, surprised when he began freeing her from the confines of the bodice with the utmost of gentleness.

“There now,” Donnie intoned soothingly as the dress began to slip away from her shoulders. “All better.”

“Thank you,” Kate murmured, drawing in shuddering breath, the ghost of his fingertips still hot against her spine.

“You look lovely, by the way, very,” he smiled tightly, catching her eye in the mirror, “honorable.“

Kate snorted, and moved to hold the bodice in place against her chest, aware that a good portion of her naked back was now exposed to him. “I’m supposed to look like the bride. Some tradition about keeping the Devil away.”

“Hmm,“ Donnie hummed, the silk of her skirt trailing through his fingers as he leant in, smile broadening into a roguish grin over her shoulder. “Tell me, Kate, do you think it’s working?”

It’s even got fanart already, cutesy of @songofsunset:

Fifty Shades of Plaid started out again as a humorous shitpost when I was being salty over how Scottish history is often romanticized to make us look like tragic heroes, rather than the victims of class oppression, and cultural warfare. 

It’s since turned into a serious novel which follows the standard Scottish romance style but is actually a visceral denouncement of the whole trope of Scottish romances written by outsiders with little to no regard for our heritage beyond “men in kilts look good” (a lighthearted sample).

It’s the story about a wealthy weaver and his daughter acquiring land in Scotland, after buying out a weaving town, intending to produce the cloth for much lower wages, and selling it at a far more expensive price on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh after it became fashionable to wear again in 1822 after King George IV felt like playing dress up, despite the kilt having been banned for actual Scottish people to wear for almost four decades for being considered an act of treason. Hence the title, fifty shades of plaid.

The main characters at present are called Elizabeth and Alasdair, and it will likely be years before I am done writing this. But it’ll get there, one day.

I also have various other writing projects going on, but these were the ones inspired by tumblr. I am hoping to churn one out each year, though in what order I don’t quite know.

And that my doves, is why I have no fucking time on my hands lmao.

[theconservativebrief]

Tumblr announced Monday that it would be banning many categories of adult content across its platform, including “photos, videos, or GIFs” displaying explicit material, as well as “illustrations that [depict] sex acts.”

The controversial change will take effect on December 17; existing posts flagged by Tumblr’s censors as violating the new policy will be automatically set to private, meaning that no one will be able to see them other than the blog’s creator.

Debate is raging about what Tumblr’s userbase will even look like at that point, given how much of the community involves erotica and the use of explicit imagery. Discussion of the ban consumed social media throughout Monday evening, and Tumblr users responded with a mixture of outrage, worry, and hilarious memes.

On the one hand, it’s easy to see why Tumblr, now in its 11th year as a social media platform known for “reblogs” and image-heavy content, made this move: it seems very likely that its hand was probably forced by Apple. In November, Apple banned Tumblr’s official app from the IOS store because of reported child pornography on the platform. This led to a sitewide crackdown on pornography that left many users complaining that their NSFW blogs had been unfairly purged in the sweep.

Yet despite last month’s initial purge, the app has still not been restored to the IOS store, in what seems to be a clear ‘fix this or else’ ultimatum from Apple that has almost certainly prompted the current crisis. As Motherboard wrote on Monday in its breakdown of the Tumblr situation, “Apple has repeatedly leveraged its unprecedented power over millions of smartphones to sanitize the apps that are available on iPhones.”

In an email response, a Tumblr spokesperson directed Vox back to the staff announcement, including the staff’s acknowledgment that “filtering this type of content versus say, a political protest with nudity or the statue of David, is not simple at scale. We’re relying on automated tools to identify adult content and humans to help train and keep our systems in check. We know there will be mistakes, but we’ve done our best to create and enforce a policy that acknowledges the breadth of expression we see in the community.”

But on the other hand, many users are outraged over what they see as an attempt to disrupt the entire culture of Tumblr and its community, where erotica and NSFW artwork and storytelling have thrived and flourished — and where marginalized communities who have built safe spaces may now be newly vulnerable.

“According to marginalized and vulnerable people, this change in policy will directly hurt them,” wrote geek icon and power user Wil Wheaton, in a reblog of an inappropriately flagged post which featured nothing more offensive than shirtless men kissing. “And that’s indefensible.”

What’s at issue is not only the question of whether Tumblr can survive its own purge — it’s the question of who Tumblr’s core users are, and what will motivate them to continue building their communities on a platform that seems to be devaluing them and their vital contributions to building Tumblr culture.

Though Tumblr was born alongside most other modern social networks, it’s long been associated with a certain countercultural deviance. Founder David Karp launched it in 2007 when he was just 20, and his much-vaunted hoodie-wearing ethos helped give the site a permanently youthful attitude — even an air of “millennial narcissism.”

Tumblr’s younger, digital-savvy denizens made Tumblr into a center of internet culture, churning out memes and cultivating subcultures from fandoms to study bloggers to digital art collectives. But despite all this, the site has long been plagued by an unfairly dismissive cultural reputation that reduces the entire vibrant platform to a vast repository of porn, and not much else.

The association of Tumblr with porn is part of a longstanding media narrative that has perpetually dismissed the site and its userbase for its relative youth, its progressive politics, its fandom leanings, and its predominantly queer and feminist userbase.

“Every time I make the mistake of opening Tumblr at work I end up seeing a stray boob,” Akila Hughes joked in Splinter News.

This reputation further reduces the community that gave us “Tumblr activism” — the disruptive but progressive political force that grew into a loud generation of real-world activists — down to that of a bunch of women who are only there for porn.

And even the porn itself gets mischaracterized. The fact is that the erotic and NSFW imagery on Tumblr includes everything from fanart to sex education, and is a vibrant and much-valued part of the community. And while data analysts have uncovered that, yes, there is a lot of porn on Tumblr, it’s coming from only a tiny fraction — about a tenth of one percent — of the site’s creators.

And the producers of this pornography are not active members of the Tumblr community. Most of the producers of pornography on Tumblr are pornbots, automated accounts set up to specifically generate NSFW content, much of it designed to lure users to third-party paid content sites.

Still, because pornbots don’t always stay in their lane, it’s easy for users reading random “normal” tags to be exposed to them. The site has tried multiple times to deal with porn in its midst. Users have even tried to help, organizing spontaneous organic pornbot-banning campaigns. But the site’s efforts haven’t been enough to keep it from running into trouble with third parties — most notably, Apple, which, in its ban of anything “overtly sexual,” is not attuned to the blurry lines between porn, erotica, and other types of racy content.

Tumblr has long sagged under the weight of doubt regarding its longterm sustainability. The site plateaued its growth in 2016 at just 23 million users, less than half that of Twitter at the time and a third that of Instagram, which has since ballooned exponentially.

Since the exit last year of its longtime chief David Karp, and the sale of the site to Verizon, rumblings that Tumblr is finally finished have abounded. Meanwhile, Tumblr users have been increasingly at odds with Tumblr’s corporate side, as the business tries to balance potential money-making opportunities with its unruly yet thriving corner of internet culture. Unfortunately, the short-term solution seems to be a pivot away from that grassroots culture towards more rigidly controlled content — which opens the door to a whole new set of problems.

One of the biggest questions on the minds of Tumblr users is whether Tumblr can effectively carry out this policy without nuking everything in its path. The consensus so far, based on both past experience with Tumblr as well as other algorithmic censorship attempts, as well as the abundant reports of posts that are already being inappropriately flagged under the new change: not a chance.

Welp, my Tumblr blog is marked NSFW, bc I curse like a sailor and occasionally I reblog fanart, fine art, and protest art that contains nudity. (Yes, including FEMALE-PRESENTING NIPPLES.) So I guess my Tumblr blog will be on the chopping block too.

So where we goin’ next, y’all?

— N. K. Jemisin (@nkjemisin) December 3, 2018

It’s important to note that Tumblr is attempting to explicitly draw a dividing line between its users’ creative content and the more hardcore stuff. Tumblr’s new policy defines “adult content” as “primarily includ[ing] photos, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content—including photos, videos, GIFs and illustrations—that depicts sex acts.” That doesn’t necessarily include many types of erotica, which may be sexual and evocative without explicitly depicting sex. And Tumblr is only banning “photos, videos, or GIFs,” not text-based erotica or artwork — except when that artwork portrays sexual acts.

The platform is also trying to differentiate between explicit porn and non-sexual nudity — a tricky bit of semantics that led the site to go with language banning “female-presenting nipples” while protecting “exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with breastfeeding,” among other things. The new policy also specifies that nudity for the purposes of sexual education and other contexts is okay. That should be comforting to the thriving community around sex work on Tumblr, as well as to those who are concerned about its increasingly important role as a de facto sex education site for millions of its users.

But all of these attempts to separate the wheat from the porny chaff raise the question of whether Tumblr will be able to accurately police along these dividing lines without committing overreach and becoming censorship-happy, thus silencing many vital blogs and users.

In the wake of the passage of FOSTA, the anti-sex trafficking bill that has raised internet-wide concerns about censorship, many Tumblr users have spoken out about their anxiety that Tumblr will become a platform of broad and ill-defined censorship which will silence some of the most important parts of Tumblr. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time; in 2013, Tumblr attempted to ban NSFW tags and wound up censoring queer content before backtracking.

And how does anyone, let alone Tumblr’s automatic censors, draw the line between illustrations that depict sex acts and illustrations that simply “feature” nudity?

These questions have alarmed many Tumblr users. Many fanartists and original artists create explicit art alongside non-explicit art as a matter of course; some, like the well-known artist Siij, whose NSFW blog was banned in the November purge, have already been targets of Tumblr censors.

In addition, some users have reported that entire tags are currently being scrubbed of content and hidden from Tumblr’s search; for example, searching for the NSFW tag no longer generates any content. And users who’ve already started receiving emails about their flagged content under the new policy are reporting that their content is being flagged incorrectly.

One Twitter thread compiling reports of incorrectly flagged Tumblr posts collected everything from benign art and fanart to cave photos, safe-for-work vintage photos of black women, and even a reblog of Tumblr’s own announcement:

On a superficial level, this is all hilarious — and, to many of us, hilariously familiar. (More on that in a moment.) But on a deeper level, the giant outcry over this decision reflects a larger anxiety from users — a fear that Tumblr is cracking down, not just on porn, but on the very essence of Tumblr culture: unruly, unsanctioned, and in many ways, united by the very spirit of deviance that Tumblr is trying to kill.

“The reality is that for a lot of the LGTBQ+ community, particularly younger members still discovering themselves and members in extremely homophobic environments where most media sites were banned (but Tumblr wasn’t even considered important enough to be), this was a bastion of information and self-expression,” wrote one Tumblr user in a widely reblogged post. “For a lot of artists too, this was a great place to come and post NSFW work and get traction that became Patreon pages that became honest jobs.”

What’s frequently lost in the reductive equating of Tumblr with porn is that, as on LiveJournal before it, much of the platform’s erotica is community oriented — and essential to the vibrancy of that community.

For instance, entire fanart traditions have sprung up around cheeky erotic illustrations and the frequently NSFW artists who produce them. Tumblr also birthed the phenomenon of popular fandom blogs featuring porn stars who look like various fictional characters, peddling erotic content specifically through the lens of shipping. Modern-day Tumblr artists have entirely revived the long-dormant tradition of professional-quality fanzines, many featuring subversive queer content and explicit content.

Then there are the many, many queer and genderqueer and marginalized users who found in Tumblr a positive, identity-affirming community space that simply doesn’t exist on most other social media platforms. As Tumblr users grappled with the news, many spoke out about the degree to which the banning of explicit content could impact untold numbers of individuals who lack the ability to safely explore their identities and their sexualities, on other websites or in real life.

“This is a mistake,” wrote Tumblr user caitercates in a widely-distributed response to the Tumblr staff post. “You say you’re all about “sex positivity” while banning all adult content of any kind? … You are actively deleting a majority of your account base. … your solution is to bleach your site until it’s unrecognizable.”

Not to mention the countless artists and writers who are about to lose their viewer/readership. I understand erotica will still be allowed – but what about the relationships that are fostered between artists and writers? There are so many of us who make fanart of our favorite fics, and a lot of the time that involves smut. This ISN’T A PROBLEM. This is creativity at work, and sex positivity, like you claim to support.

Change this.

EDIT your site. Make positive changes that we as the community have asked for – don’t blanket-ban the content that, tbh, most of us are here for at least in part.

It’s extremely significant that Tumblr users are fighting for Tumblr to walk back this change, because Tumblr has traditionally had a primarily harmonious relationship to its userbase, despite its users increasing distrust of its motives and interests. With the exception of Reddit, which is mainly community-run, Tumblr has given its users more freedom than any other platform in shaping and making the site into what it is.

This is partly due to the fact that Tumblr was never intended to be a grassroots haven for the misfits of the rest of the internet. But that characteristic is part of what has made Tumblr uniquely quirky and offbeat among social media spaces — and it may be the trait that saves it.

There’s a legitimate argument to be made — and one that I, as a longtime Tumblr user, would admittedly like to be true — that people who think banning porn on Tumblr will kill Tumblr really don’t know that much about Tumblr’s core users. Despite the mainstream media narrative, Tumblr has never, ever, been about porn.

Tumblr was built around community, around fandom, around viral absurdist meme blogs and street fashion bloggers. What other social media platform annually sends amateur bloggers to Fashion Week? It was grown from arty hipster landscape photos whose wistful aesthetics were deposited straight onto the collected works of the Chainsmokers. Tumblr has given us feminist art galleries and digital art collectives pushing online art movements like vaporwave, seapunk, and glitch art while showing off, bar none, the best GIF artistry on the planet.

Tumblr’s deliberately hyperbolic language fueled everything from “all the feels” to the rise of One Direction. It’s been called the progenitor of Neo-Dadaism, the wellspring of a vast amount of absurdist millennial humor that’s pushed out of its niche Tumblr basement to hit the mainstream corridors of the internet. Mic shamelessly built its brand by exploiting Tumblr’s politics while Buzzfeed shamelessly built its brand by piggy-backing off Tumblr’s content. It’s the place where angry feminist clapbacks and “your fave is problematic” exist alongside hungover owls and “Mmm Whatcha Say?” — that is, it’s as marvelous, and marvelously frustrating, and deeply surprising, as the internet itself.

It’s tempting to argue that while core Tumblr users will grumble about the site-wide crackdown on porn, they’ll recognize that while they can get the porn from other sites, it will be impossible to replace everything else that makes Tumblr what it is.

That said, the very quirky nonconformity of Tumblr’s users may, in fact, push them to leave. Some users see the site’s push to ban adult content as echoing the downward spiral of LiveJournal, the once-popular early blogging platform which was highly admired for its open-source ethos, its laidback moderation style, and its positive sense of community.

In an infamous pair of 2007 incidents that became known as “Strikethrough” and “Boldthrough,” LiveJournal famously destroyed the trust of its userbase overnight when its own attempt to ban certain types of explicit content resulted in a ban on fanart and other innocent and creative types of content.

The relationship between the site and a userbase that had, until then, been ride-or-die, never fully recovered. In the wake of LiveJournal’s steady overtaking by Russia, many of those users migrated to Tumblr, where they joined the much-larger stream of millennial and Gen Y and Z users who have relied on the site’s user-friendliness and openness to many types of erotica as they built their communities.

A side effect of the ban involved a renewed appreciation for the Archive of Our Own, (AO3), a nonprofit, censorship-free website run by fans which is explicitly set up to archive fanworks in the event of major content crackdowns like this one. Among the other more serious responses to the ban has been a litany of fandom history and advice posts being shared for the benefit of younger Tumblr users and others for whom the overnight implosion of their digital home was a new experience. Especially prominent have been recommendations for alternative sites to Tumblr.

Many users, desperate to recapture the deep sense of community that once existed on LiveJournal, have been advocating for a retreat to a new social platform called Pillowfort, a site which very overtly attempts to combine the best characteristics of LiveJournal and Tumblr with a more laidback old-school approach to fandom and content moderation. That platform, which is currently in beta, is currently down for planned security upgrades. On its Tumblr in response to the news about the Tumblr ban, Pillowfort stated that it plans to “allow NSFW content with very few restrictions.”

Still others looked to Dreamwidth, a blogging platform built on LiveJournal’s open-source code that was originally built in 2008 in response to LiveJournal’s demise. Its owners, too, were ready to welcome the Tumblr diaspora with open arms, just as it welcomed the LJ diaspora a decade ago. Other sites like MeWe also responded to the news by welcoming potential Tumblr refugees.

For many Tumblr users and onlookers, however, the simplest solution seems to be a return to the spirit that built Tumblr culture: when all else fails, make memes.

It was inevitable, for example, that there’d be at least one reference to DashCon, the notorious 2014 Tumblr fan convention that turned into a viral disaster, typified by this famous forlorn image of the “DashCon ball pit:”

At the top of the list of agenda items was the phrase “female presenting nipples,” which received the lion’s share of hilarity from Tumblr users.

free the female presenting nipples. robbieross/Tumblr

Of course, all of this won’t really help answer the larger question of what’s next for Tumblr. But ironically, in response to the news, Tumblr’s userbase has reminded us all exactly what a valuable and irreplaceable role Tumblr has played in the evolution of modern internet culture.

All of the wry humor, the trenchant memes, the progressive social commentary mixed with genuine care for Tumblr’s marginalized communities that Tumblr users have deployed in response to the adult content ban — all of that is a unique combination that’s grown out of Tumblr culture. When it’s gone, there’s no guarantee it will return on another website in the same form. And it definitely won’t be accompanied by the same fabulous GIFs and fanart.

Still, there’s no guarantee that Tumblr’s profit-driven side will prioritize keeping that culture sustainable, even if it does somehow manage to ban adult content and retain its core membership. If that’s the case, then it’s a loss not just for Tumblr users, but for the entire internet. Like Vine before it, another irreplaceable cornerstone of our online world that should have been better appreciated all along, Tumblr might be fated to be loved best only after it’s gone.

Original Source -> Why Tumblr’s adult content ban is about so much more than porn

via The Conservative Brief