#psa for any new tumblr users i might have following me

[sometimecynic]

Hey there, welcome to my blog!

I'm Jeremy a 34 year old, poly Canadian dude (he/him) .

I’m a geeky, neurodivergent, leftist, history buff, hockey fan, stoner, and introvert, who tries not to take life too seriously. I'm poly and partnered.

I’m using this post for advisories and a tag directory

New to Tumblr?

Click on the "psa for any new Tumblr users i might have following me" tag at the bottom of this post for info on how to have the best Tumblr experience. Tips, FAQ, insights into the general etiquette/culture and more

Advisories

- I’m a leftist. I believe in free Palestine, that Black Lives Matter, in a woman’s right to choose, that trans women are women and trans men are men, that sex work is work, that LGBTQ+ rights are human rights, and that all cops are bastards. I’m anti-xenophobia, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism…you get the picture. This list is not exhaustive.

- I will often check blogs that follow me out of curiosity. If I see posts that I feel promote/perpetuate the harmful views outlined above on a blog that has followed me, I will block them.

- I will also block blank blogs, blogs I think are run by bots, or blogs I just don’t like the vibe of

- I have a sideblog for more melancholic, visceral, explicit posts, and spicier pictures of myself, @pollutedshores. You might see it pop up in your activity feed. Since I've had people ask, you're welcome to follow and interact with that blog

Tag Directory

"#me.jpg" for pictures of me

"#things to learn/remember" for relationship, mental health, life advice etc

"#future home" for interiors that I would love to have in my dream home

"#pffft hahah" for dumb jokes, play on words, etc

"#dayyyum" for tasty food or drink

"#maximum cozy" for pictures/posts that give cozy vibes

"#unfff" for cars I especially like

"#what up hometown" for pictures of the city I live in

"#what up home province" for pictures taken in the province where I live

"#fight" for videos I post of hockey fights. Players and teams are also tagged and can be searched by #insert name

[taytaay131313]

DEBUNKING THE “KARLIE BETRAYED TAYLOR BELIEF”

Disclaimer: this post is taken from Reddit and it was put together and posted by this user : OddDragonfruit6179 I just made it into Tumblr post.

This is for people who might be new to Gaylor side of the fandom and to those questioning the “betrayal” surrounding Taylor Swift and her masters and Karlie Kloss. This is also an answer to anonymus messages about the line in the song It’s time to go believed to be about Karlie Kloss / When the words of a sister come back in whispers that prove she was not in fact what she seemed not a twin from your dreams she's a crook who was caught.

PSA - Personally, I exist as a Gaylor because I love interpreting Taylor's Queer themes that don't specifically revolve around certain muses & the beautiful way they can exist on their own. I am also not 'Late-Stage'-Anything, haha. But, saying that, it's amost impossible to ignore the elephant (or Giraffe) in the room when it comes to Karlie & Taylor's storytelling since Reputation. It seems there are some very firmly-held beliefs about 'what happened' (including Gaylors), and a lot of them revolve around the idea that Karlie 'betrayed' Taylor during the Master's Heist era of June/July 2019, 'feeding information to & siding with Scooter Braun' - which are often used to debunk Gaylor interpretations as a blanket shut-down. Given the latest drama with Selena & how she recently spoke up about slandering Taylor on TikTok, it reminded me of how we have a lot of evidence from both Taylor & Taylor's inner circle that this was probably not actually the case, and how quickly rumours & interpretations get adopted as 'fact' without any proof - something I think Taylor's also tried to get across with her music, too. I wanted to do a little deep-dive into this side of things to remind us all that we simply cannot believe everything we hear - there's always a lot more to celebrity stories than the loosly-held general beliefs :)

What was the big 'betrayal' in 2019?

If you're new here, welcome! The supposed 'betrayal' revolves around Taylor's Master's Heist in summer 2019, when Scooter Braun (millionaire celebrity manager) bought Taylor's entire back catalogue of music, leaving her without ownership of all her previous music. Taylor was at a turning point in her career, having just ended the 13 year contract that she'd been tied into since she was 15, and was just about to release her first fully-owned album 'Lover' She wanted to buy all her past music, allowing her to have full freedom & ownership going forward - yet it was allegedly sold to Scooter from underneath her, meaning he would be the one profiting from all of her life's work from Debut to Reputation & leaving her without any ownership rights of all her past work. (This is now why she's re-recording her 'Taylor's Versions' of her past albums.) How does Karlie tie into this? Karlie had been a huge part of Taylor's life since 2013. As Gaylors, most of us believe they were much more than friends & Karlie was the main muse for Reputation (2017) & multiple songs on Lover (2019). Karlie had signed with Scooter Braun in 2015. In 2016, Scooter was involved in the Kimye 'Taylor Swift is over controversy', being included in a photo Justin Bieber posted online to taunt Taylor (which Justin later said Scooter had nothing to do with). As she was Scooter's client, Karlie was immedietly caught up between Scooter Vs Taylor rumours, leading her to tweet this:

In early 2017, as the Kimye drama grew, Taylor stopped sharing her private life on social media. From 2017-2018 she releases Rep, goes on tour, ends her contract with Big Machine & begins working towards releasing Lover. All the while, rumours are consistently following both Taylor & Karlie about 'whether or not they're still friends' because they'd not been seen together. A lot of people believe they were still in each other's lives (there are multiple masterposts going into the possible romantic side of things), but the narrative is all over the place: In March 2018, Karlie tells the NY Times: 'don't believe everything you read' & that she and Taylor as still 'very close'. In July 2018, Karlie announces that she's engaged to Josh Kushner and Taylor doesn't publicly comment. In August 2018, Karlie attends the Rep Tour & is brought to the front pit when Taylor sings 'Dress'. In October 2018, Karlie has her first 'wedding' with Josh (up for personal interpretation if this is Lavender or not) - Taylor doesn't publicly comment. The same month, Karlie's YouTube shows her apartment is still full of photos of Taylor & her family/friends (not Josh):

In the first half of 2019 Taylor is finishing writing Lover, which include themes indicative that she is extremely up/down, full of anxiety & has push a 'lover' away: "I'm terrified if you ever walk away" (Cornelia Street), "We were crazy to think this could work, but we might just get away with it" (False God), don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you" (Cruel Summer), " jump from the train, I ride off alone" (The Archer), " blew things out of proportion, why'd I have to break what I love so much? I need to say hey, it's all in my head, I'm the one who burned us down, sorry that I hurt you, I don't do this to you, I don't wanna loose this with you" (Afterglow), "Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts, I look through the windows of this love, even though we boarded them up, chandalier's still flickering here" (DBTC)

What actually happened in Summer 2019?

Taylor begins promoting the release of Lover. In April 2019 she unveils a butterfly wing mural which looks extremely similar to Karlie's butterfly wings from the VS Show where they met & then continues to be ridiculously gay-on-main. She releases You Need To Calm Down, where she's the Sherriff of the Gay trailor park with Bi hair, and ME! on Lesbian Visibility Day... there's endless flagging in clothing/theming. She was getting very 'loud'. Many people believe she may have been leading up to 'coming out' officially, either with the album and/or the Miss Americana documentary that was in the process of being filmed. On 23rd/24th June, Karlie has her second 'wedding' (a big party). Taylor doesn't attend. Scooter does (he's close friends with Josh).

Within a week after he's at this party with Josh & Karlie, Scooter then flies to Nashville and completes the sale of Taylor's masters. The sale is partially funded by the Carlyle Group, who is in business with Kushner Companies (Josh's family's business).

On 30th June (the following weekend), Taylor announces that the Master's Heist has happened & how distraught she is. Lots of celebrities speak up against Scooter & many of his clients (Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber etc) speak up in defence of him. Karlie remains silent & doesn't make a statement either way.

On 3rd July, Perez Hilton starts stirring shit by saying that 'Taylor is no longer close to Karlie because she found out Karlie was telling things about her & her career to Scooter! It began circulating that 2 of Taylor's close friends, Ashley Avignone & Claire Winter had liked the tweet, 'confirming' that this was the case to those that follow gossip sites. Karlie is then photographed at events/lunches/trips with Scooter multiple times throughout the rest of 2019 - further ‘cementing' this idea for fans.

The final blow for this theory came when Taylor released Folkmore (2020): in the song 'Time to Go' she sings "When the words of a sister come back in whispers, that prove she was not in fact what she seemed, not a twin from your dream she's a crook who was caught", which many fans immedietly assumed was about Karlie.

Where are the cracks in all this?

Taylor's other friends: Obviously, social media is only a partial glimpse of a story, but it is very suggestive of behind the scenes information. The reaction to the current Selena controversy was what reminded me of her friendship with Taylor, after she stuck up for Taylor on a video of Hailey Bieber. Selena's been very close to Taylor since they were teenagers. In October 2019, shortly after the Master's Heist, she did an interview where she was in tears talking about how important her friendship with Taylor was, and how much she loved her & her family:

...so she would've been very much on Taylor's 'side' if Taylor has had an awful betrayal from Karlie, right? Yet in November 2019, just 5 months after the Masters Heist , she's very publicly supporting Karlie, too:

..and they have both consistently continued to support eachother ever since, right up to Selena's latest birthday:

In terms of social media, many of Taylor's current close friends & people she's worked closely with continue to follow Karlie (despite following a very limited number of people). This includes Taylor's oldest childhood friend, Abigail (who only follows 285 people - Karlie still follows her back), Haim The Band, as well as Danielle & Alana Haim on thier individual accounts, and Sadie Sink:

Karlie also continues to follow Taylor herself and Taylor's brother, Austin:

We also have two more of Taylor's very close circle, Ryan Reynolds & Gigi Hadid, liking posts about Karlie's 30th birthday in 2022:

What about Perez Hilton's claims? Baring in mind this is the ONLY 'evidence' that exists to support this story, I tried to find the original tweets about 'Karlie telling things about Taylor to Scooter', and low & behold: they're ALL gone. That includes Perez's & the 'Taylor Swift Updates' tweet that was supposedly liked by Taylor's friends. Gone, deleted, non-existent. Why would they have been deleted if they were true & Taylor wanted that story out there? Who made sure they were, from all accounts involved, and only those? Interesting.

What I did find, however, was some tweets and likes from the same friend, Ashley Avignone, discussing how none of Scooter's clients have been able to speak out against him or leave him because of their contracts (this would include Karlie):

What about Karlie 'siding' with Scooter & continuing to work/hang out with him? There were definitely pictures of Karlie continuing to spend time with Scooter after the Masters Heist. However, she was under contract. She never defended him or tried to reason about what he'd done. In fact, she left Scooter as soon as she possibly could. She hasn't been seen with Scooter since 2019 & she signed a new contract with a different manager in 2021. It's also relevant to note that Taylor's other close friend, Ed Sheeran, was also managed by Scooter at the time & didn't speak up publicly either. Taylor reportedly attended Ed's wedding in September 2019, yet Ed continued to stay with Scooter & publicly party with him well into 2021 (so, clearly, if there is an issue with Karlie it wasn't just because she continued to work with Scooter in 2019).

Last but not least, the music:

Throughout her albums since the Masters Heist, Taylor has consistently written about heartbreak & betrayal in different ways. Although 'It's time to go' has been grabbed by many fans as 'proof' that Karlie betrayed her, but most stories just aren't that simple. Taylor is a storyteller. One song doesn't equate to every emotion/situation that Taylor was feeling. As many of us do, I believe there's a clear arc of Taylor painting a picture throughout multiple songs, of how she thought she had been 'betrayed' & the pain of that, but later realising she was just blaming the person she had loved in order to get through it all. Others have done amazing, full analysis of these songs, but in terms of 'betrayal' specifically: In Hoax we see the raw pain of feeling hurt by the one she loved alongside what happened with the Masters Heist (this song is full of Karlie references & Taylor very clearly says she was writing about both love & the Masters Heist in the LPSS): "My eclipsed sun, this has frozen my ground / You know I left a part of me back in NY / You know it still hurts underneath my scars from when they pulled me apart, but what you did was just as dark, darling this is just as hard."

In Closure, we see that she's harbouring a lot of anger & isn't ready to move forward or past her pride: "Yes I got your letter, it wasn't right the way it all went down, looks like you know that now / I know that it's over, I don't need your closure / I'm fine with my spite / Guilty, guilty, reaching out across the sea that you put between you & me"

In Coney Island, we begin to see her taking accountability for her own role in the relationship breaking down in the first place (which ties in with Afterglow): "Sorry for not making you my centerfold / It gets colder & colder as the sun goes down / What's a lifetime of acheivement if I pushed you to the edge / Did I leave you hanging every single day / Did I paint your bluest skies the darkest gray?"

In Happiness, we see this accountability clashing with the hurt she still feels about the way it all ended, but ultimately acknowledging she can't make Karlie the villain (suggesting she never actually was one) & wants to forgive her whatever role she did play (when she's ready). Hope she'll be a beautiful fool who takes my spot next to you, no sorry, I don't mean that, I can't see facts through all of my fury / I can't make it go away by making you the villain, guess that's the price I pay for 7 years in heaven / All you want from me is the green light of forgiveness, You haven't met the new me yet, but I think she'll give you that"

Later, in The Great War, we see a continuation of reflecting back on the same themes - telling the story of feeling hurt & betrayed, shutting the other person out, but realising the other person was also being equally hurt by it all / was never the person she should've been blaming: "Cursed you as I sleep-talked, tore your banners down, took the battle underground / I drew curtains closed, drank my poison all alone" (processing her pain through putting an end to the loudness of Lover & writing Folkmore). "Somewhere in the haze got a sense I'd been betrayed/ telling me to punish you for things you never did, so I justified it" (Taylor's acknowledging once again that the other person hadn't actually done what she thought they had) "You drew up some good faith treaties / Tears on the letter / My hand was the one you reached for" (could be a callback to the letter' in closure & suggests the person was trying to make peace). "Your finger on my hairpin triggers, soldier down on that icy ground, looked up at me with honour & truth, broken & blue, so I called off the troops" (icy ground could be a callback to 'you have frozen my ground' back Hoax).

So where does that leave us?

Who the hell knows? No one does, but I love reading all the theories when the rest of the music is tied into it all! But in regard to there being a 'betrayal', given how there was never any concrete evidence that Karlie did anything wrong in the first place (& how the only tweets alluding to it have mysteriously dissapeared), the continual association with Karlie from some of the closest people in Taylor's life, Karlie leaving Scooter at the first chance she got & the arc of the 'thought i was betrayed but I was really just heartbroken & being dramatic' story from Taylor, I am now a firm believer that there wasn't a 'big betrayal' from Karlie in regard to the Master's Heist.

The rest of it is all up for guesswork. Taylor definitely felt betrayed by something at first. We know there were already break-up songs on Lover written before the Master's Hiest which suggest Taylor was the one to push her lover away, yet they were still dappled with hope that she'd get them back. Potentially, Karlie had already been pushed away & had sought security in her long-term partnership with Josh/decided to marry him. After the engagement & 1st wedding, this is when we see Taylor's very 'loud' Lover Era - could this have been an attempt to 'prove herself' to Karlie & make a statement about what she was willing to do? However, Karlie was already comitted to Josh & had gone through with the 1st wedding. Within a 1 week period of June 2019, Karlie doubled down on going through with her 2nd wedding to Josh & her manager bought Taylor's Masters, making it extremely risky for Taylor to continue to make a career-changing choice of 'coming out' (if that's what she'd been intending to do). Could it have been orchestrated by Scooter (& Josh?) in order to keep Taylor closeted? Could Josh have been involved financially in order to put a stop to the rumours about Karlie after they'd already comitted to marriage & keep his business deals/ family connections safe from speculation? Could Karlie simply have been trapped in the middle of all of it & torn between her loyalty to both Taylor & Josh, causing an already heartbroken Taylor to 'kick the cat' and initially put the blame on Karlie for the way it all happened? (If you factor in the possibility that both Karlie & Josh might be closeted & had eventually comitted to a consentual Lavender Marriage, it makes the risk of Taylor exposing them even bigger. Josh was tied up in Billionaire conservative circles & relied heavily on his business partnerships in the Middle East & Asia, as well as pressure from the Trump side of the family. We have no idea what kind of pressure he & Karlie may have been under behind the scenes).

Who the hell knows - but if Karlie had directly, intentionally been involved in such a big betrayal to Taylor, I HIGHLY doubt her best friends/family would be having anything to do with her.

Folkmore shows a clear theme of working through different, conflicting emotions, & then in Midnights we're back to seeing the Karlie-coded songs being portrayed as a big, authentic love (not one that was hate-filled or hurtful)...so at the very least, I'm definitley on the team of believing they have worked through whatever they needed to & have drawn a line under it all :) + a little update since the Eras tour started we have seen some of Karlies friends attend the show such as Derek Blasberg (her long time best friend), Cara Delevingne…Gigi Hadid revealed she will attend the Eras tour and go to as many shows as she can and she was just recently seen with Karlie in Mumbai. I hope this post made some things more clear for everyone not knowing this side of the story.

[unladielike]

So since it has been brought to my attention some rumours have been circulating about me, I just wanna make a few things clear.

First off, I did not supposedly stalk anyone's blog for years.

If need be, I can even provide my IP address (aka self-dox myself) to prove any screencaps to be false, but I'm nowhere near obsessive enough to check somebody's blog everyday. Like, sure, I might visit blogs of ex-mutuals every once in a blue moon out of curiosity, but contrary to popular belief, tumblr doesn't take up 90% of my time and at best, I would maybe lurk on COAR to read new confessions or refresh my dash once per day just in case non-active partners of mine have returned.

If anything, my time has been mostly comprised of going to work and grinding mobile gachas; in fact, should I notice I have replies to write, I will log in, throw my replies into the queue/save written replies in my drafts folder to queue later, and then fuck off to do other stuff. Honestly, provided someone has beef with me, it's unlikely I would know why unless my encounter with them on tumblr had been rather recent.

To my knowledge, I haven't harassed anyone off of tumblr.

Now, did I have spats with my own fair share of people over the eight or nine years I have been on this hellsite? Yes. Have I made vague posts about ex-mutuals, unintentionally ghosted others, privately vented to friends about people from the RPC I personally can't stand, and commented on COAR confessions? Also, yes.

But that being said, the only one I've ever sent anon hate to was myself and if I played a part in somebody deactivating their blog or quitting tumblr roleplay altogether, then that's certainly news to me, because I don't like participating in public smear campaigns, to the point where I even avoid name dropping certain users in my rules or PSAs I've made. Heck, the way I see it, I can only ever recall myself being relentlessly harassed/bullied, because when it comes to me for some reason, people on this site sadly don't know how to block and move on like normal people.

I also have never encouraged anyone to delete their blogs or chase them out of the RPC and have only ever reported one person due to the fact they would not stop posting about me/attempt to provoke me into engaging in drama on a site that we both frequent despite having me blocked; therefore, I have no idea where the narrative of me harassing people off of tumblr even comes from. Besides, I'm nowhere near popular enough to influence whatever following I have to dog pile on whoever I have grievances with, let alone have many people who would go to bat for me each time I'm being unfairly criticized. Honestly, the one time someone did call out my harasser, it was something I had no control over and they did so without my permission, to the point where I did privately tell them to stop url-dropping me and engaging with this person on my behalf... because again, I just wanted to be left alone.

Furthermore, I make it very clear to mutuals I've vented to that they don't have to unfollow/block roleplayers I've had bad experiences with... so I'm not sure if this is merely a case of the Mandela Effect rearing it's ugly head, individuals making up bad faith reasons to dislike me, or an issue of mistaken identity (especially since I'm likely not the only one who goes by the mun handle, 'Livi', and it has happened before where somebody had wrongly assumed a blog belonged to another person).

Of course, it's possible I could have forgotten stuff, as I have had more than three blogs over the years, so naturally, I won't remember all the OOC posts I have ever shared, let alone every instance before 2022 where I have been involved in drama... but regardless, I refuse to take accountability for things I have never done unless you personally come to me off anon with screenshots that provide evidence.

[dustyfairywings]

Ok I think I know now how I wanna go about organizing my blogs.

I’m gonna make dedicated fan blogs for Blue Eye Samurai and Hazbin Hotel each. I’m gonna continue doing any original posts or reblogs about either within their respective blogs.

In the case of the BES blog specifically I’ll also be blogging about Edo Japan more broadly since I’ve wound up doing a lot of research in earnest about the period for fan fiction writing. I’m also thinking I’ll throw up any BES-related journal writing exercises I do over there. It’s probably gonna be a sort of open journal documenting my writing and research process interspersed with reblogs of others’ fan art, fanfics, and fan theories.

Likewise I will set up dedicated side blogs for any other specific non-fandom topics or aesthetics. I’m particularly fond of the surprisingly poetic prose of tumblr shit posts (think “tell me the name of god you fungal piece of shit” type posts) and just the very specific type of humor and storytelling that arises from tumblr’s reblog system and the community’s character. There’s a certain je ne sais quoi to these posts I want to preserve haha.

I’m gonna change the name of this blog so it’s in line with all my other socials and I’m gonna uh TRY to clean this blog up (this is likely a Sisyphean task and I expect I might give up on this over time. But I still gotta try). I’m also gonna try to cut down on the number of mindless reblogs that wind up on this blog. If I reblog something here it should be because it’s helpful info/advice, important news/PSAs, or other people’s complete/finalized original work or fan work that I don’t have a dedicated blog for. In the case of informative posts I will do my best to only reblog it here once I’ve read through it and not just skim it tell myself I’ll read it later. In addition to all this I’m gonna uh actually try to use tags for organizational purposes. Force myself to slow down my mindless consumption and actually interact mindfully instead.

There’s still a lot of stuff I’ll want to reblog with zero thought or explanation just cause it’s funny or relatable or whatever, so all that sort of stuff will go on a dump blog. I’m really attached to the blog’s current name, it’s been with me from the start, so I’ll probably use it for my reblog dump.

Why do I feel compelled to do all this? Well, for the vast majority of my time on this site I was content with just being a faceless, largely voiceless user that just reblogs whatever is relatable in the moment and scrolling endlessly. I was on tumblr sure but I was never really in community with anybody. Now nearly a decade down the line, I feel like I’ve finally found community with others on this website thanks to Blue Eye Samurai, and the last thing I want is to drive people away bc they find my blog to be obnoxiously spam-like and disorganized. You can’t follow others from your secondary blog, only your primary blog and I actually want to have mutuals here. When it comes to social functions on this website, THIS blog is my first foot forward and generally others’ first impression of me. And in that respect, I’ve been a poor steward of my own image. If mutuals want to get to know me, this blog doesn’t really say anything useful or coherent about me. It’s literally a dump and we all deserve better than that.

[benetnvsch]

PALESTINE SCAMMING PSA

I don't know who else is getting these asks:

But I wanted to make a general guide on how to detect scammers and what to keep an eye out for! Inspired by this scam account: @janeursural who sent me an ask earlier for donations and inspired this all. Please block and report them for scamming ;; Thanks!

Text- This is a very easy way to detect scams, copied and pasted messages from OTHER campaigns/gofundmes, etc. Take a chunk of the text, paste in a browser with non-name parts between quotes "like this" to see any exact matches. If you see other gofundmes or messages from other accounts that are the EXACT same but lead to the DIFFERENT donation sites, it's could be a scam

Images - Reverse image search images!! This point is important and ultimately lead me to realize the account mentioned above is a scam as they had images shared from another person's GoFundMe from months before their account even existed. Please reverse image search, see if the images existed before and who they belong to. Do they match with people and settings claimed?

People/story- A lot of times these scam account will appear out of nowhere, never posting and then suddenly asking for a lot of money. While many Palestinians might create new accounts to fundraise, one way to tell a person is legit is by seeing if they a past social media presence that lines up with what they say. Are they the same person they claim to be in old posts? Are old images located in Gaza?

Vetted Status- Fundraisers vetted by others tend to be spread more since people assume they're legit. But please check who vetted the campaign and why. Sometimes these scam accounts will claim they've been vetted but then lead to dead links, or nonexistent account- the account above was one of these and blocked people inquiring for more info about the status.

Payment Method - Fundraisers are primarily through GoFundMe. Most Palestinians will not have access to PayPal funds. The only organizations that really use paypal would be ones that provide resources bought from other sources to help (such as Care for Gaza on twitter) and not individual people. If they are collecting donations through PayPal (not accessible/hard to refund) please be weary. If it is PayPal, check what currency the fundraiser is in too. Why would a Palestine fundraiser be trying to collect USD when PayPal allows currency conversions?

Hiding Comments/Blocking People- If a post has a bunch / all hidden comments, be wary. A lot of these scammers will hide comments/block accounts that are calling them out/trying to spread awareness. Do they block people who ask them questions about the campaign (like the above account did to several people asking vetting status).

Search Account Name- Search for the account name. On Tumblr, search it to see if other accounts have replied to the user/called them out for scamming. Search on google to see if there's a campaign/efforts to fundraise for that specific one outside of Tumblr. While this is not a guarantee, on top of everything else, it definitely should raise a red flag

Post History/Following - Smaller one and definitely specific to Tumblr but please check the following / post history if able. Are they following a bunch of blogs that appear to be from the same social circle (Ex. the same fandom). Do they have random weblogs of certain fandom posts? AKA: were they behaving like a bot before suddenly switching over to fundraising? Very high chance they're a scam.

Of course, this list isn't gospel and shouldn't be treated like the truth. A post can fail some of these checks and still be legitimate, I just want to raise awareness to what common red flags to look after.

Please PLEASE do your research before donating. Every dollar sent to one of these scammers is one that could have gone to an actual Palestinian family in need! Thank you!

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Real quick PSA for the followers, just to make sure my positions are clear on some issues and to make sure I am not causing any unintentional harm (that devolved into a minor hiatus):

-If I'm intending to talk about something specific, I'll mention it, I promise.

-I do be forgetting that you all recognize me on both my A03 and my tumblr. It is surprising to me every time. I tend to be vERY flippant on here, especially in my tags. I think we have reached a point where I should be more careful lol. I am not used to having an actual effect, so if I have an effect you don't appreciate, or I say something hurtful, please please bring it up to me! Dms, anon, replies; idc, I'm always down for a conversation.

-I am not in the business of apologies I do not mean, and I certainly do not back down from my opinions, I think that's been fairly clear. So, if I apologize it's because I mean it, and that won't change.

-I make a lot of posts that are critical of fandom culture in a lot of different fandoms, and culture around specific characters as well. I want it to be very clear that unless I am directly interacting with another user, then the criticism should never surround anyone specific. I never want to direct hate ever, unless I'm tagging.

-If there are questions about the appropriateness of my headcanon posts in response to asks, that can be changed. I would really hate to be making my very small community uncomfortable. I had thought I was fairly clear on the blogs boundaries and what I think is appropriate, but perhaps I haven't been careful enough. Please feel free to address issues with me, or to block me. That is always an option of course.

Uh, that being said, I might take a couple days. I have used this blog for fun and friends since 2015, it's not my first time fucking up nor will it be the last. But, it's upsetting to me that my blog might be harmful to some (who I hadn't intended it to be harmful to, it's always been an active warzone for irredeemable character excusers lol, since 2015). The queue will go on as usual but no new posts for a bit while I figure out if things need to change. I'll respond to DMs tho, probably, bc I'm obsessed with my mutuals.

[gray--abyss]

Hi! I hope im not over stepping any boundaries by sending this ask, but if I did please lmk! Just wanted to ask help for Draven (my cat) who needs immediate vet care/help as im currently on financial bind. I know times are tough for everyone but please, if you can share/boost the post I did for Indie it would tremendously help us a lot! I pinned it on my blog. Thank you so much for reading! If you’re not able to donate monetarily, please send good vibes/prayers our way, please consider answering this ask privately as I know some people might get weird about this :(( wishing that you’ll have a wonderful new year ahead!

Answering this publicly for more collective evidence that this user is spamming multiple blogs.

You may very well be genuine, but between your first post being 3 days ago, you having only followed me today, and you know enough about tumblr culture to make an at-a-glance real seeming blog, I do in fact believe you are overstepping boundaries, especially as you have copy-pasted and sent this ask to dozens multiple other blogs, and that this information has been reused by multiple other blogs. It reasonably stands that you are trying to grift me, or try to get me to accidentally grift my followers.

Doesn't matter if this is real. It's close enough to a scam to be wary, and it's definitely spam.

If you receive asks like this- asking for for financial help, promoting posts in any PSA sense- callouts, financial help, promoting a game- research it first. Do not dismiss it out of hand, but verify for legitimacy and accuracy.

Unless you have a purpose for engaging, such as informing others publicly, DO NOT ENGAGE. Cruel messages or hate will not help this situation.

[vero-niche]

Dni-archive made the mostannoyingtmblruser-poll and has changed their header to essentially mocking tonysopranobignaturals deactivation. They have a history of harassment with all of the users targeted in the poll. I suggest using their submissions as a blocklist as it is an entire cesspool of people who get off on that kind of harassment and attention

ay, thank you anon for this, i have blocked them (and might check out the submissions too once i have more time).

i would also like to take this chance to say that im honestly sick and tired of these kinds of harrasser people. i dont have enough energy to spare for them in general, but these kinds of (usually twitter migrator) people are bullies, no more no less. as someone who had to deal with bullying (both verbal and physical) as a kid, nothing they do is anything new or the target's fault. and i hate that i have seen some of my dearest users being targeted by such people, Sivi (tonysopranobignaturals) included.

so, just a psa, if any of my followers experience this, you can message me anytime for venting or help too. make sure you block, and if needed (it doesnt stop, multiple accounts target you etc) report harrassment as well. tumblr staff is actually pretty quick with dealing with these reports (1-2 days) so its definitely worth the hassle.

im honestly rly saddened that Sivi had to leave, i hope she is doing better this way though. remember to take care of yourself and others, and ask for help. ily all 💞

[userpurple]

So My Name Got Banned...(but seriously this is a personal PSA pls don’t skip it)

Before we get into it, I know it says only tags but I’m not risking anything so I’m not using the banned words in the post itself either.

This is a PSA to my mutuals, followers and fellow tumblrinas who’ve seen moi around. (and please excuse the obscene number of times i use ‘my name’ in this post I literally cannot type it or I might get banned)

I am also apologizing in advance for the size of this post because i cannot tag this ‘#{opposite of short} post’ since it’s also a banned word.

We know this is limited to the iOS app for now, but just to be safe, this is for all of you regardless of what OS and app/browser you use.

MUTUALS: I love y’all but don’t use my name as a tag in any of your answered asks pls, since this is common practice to tag asks from mutuals as #{name} tag followed by an emoji or some variants of this. I don’t want your blog to be flagged as explicit and hidden from view entirely (also another horrendous feature of this update) because of ‘moi’ (sorry fellas i can’t use the English version BECAUSE IT’S BANNED HAHA but just Google translate that from French to English). Feel free to delete any asks you have received from moi, it’s okay.

FOLLOWERS: I also love y’all and don’t use my name please! my ask box is always open (anon too) but don’t use that specific word in your message, yeah? I would hate to be the reason you got into trouble. If you feel unsafe, you can unfollow moi. No {opposite of soft} feelings :’)

More details are under the cut if you want to read it! I’m tagging every mutual I remember interacting with via asks but even if I haven’t, signal boost this please!

My good moot @katiekatebishop (ily kayla and THANK YOU) was lovely to alert moi that my literal name (and i imagine many others with the same name) became a banned tag, as found in this post by @bannedtags, who is also graciously keeping a gdoc with the list of banned tags in alphabetic order. Please send them an ask if you’ve found any new tags on the banned list!

@5ummit explains it better in their post here but in a nutshell, those of you who use the Tumblr app on iOS will get this screen

if you type my name. yeah. 

As I understand it, if my name has been used as a tag in any of your posts, it will completely not show on your dash at all. I’m not an iOS Tumblr app user (I’ve never used the app lmao it’s all browsers), but I know many of my mutuals and followers might be. 

I’m going to be removing my name from my bio. So if you wanna know, just send me an ask (off-anon) and I’ll be happy to share! 

Taglist: @izzymalec @lavieonroses @magnusedom @a-very-gay-spider @beclynn-herondale @swiftrosegarden @afolksongs @ohh-goddamn @tolerateit @cottagecoregothic @cheddarthefluffyboi @khaleesiofalicante @queerbaitingshouldbeillegal @stateofgraceacoustic @youngreckless @ikraar @mosiacbroken @iknewyouweretroublegoatremix @peraltaroy @13-taylor-swift @userobiwan @ramblingsoftheconfusedsoul @welhesherl @thehoax @chashniii @ramonapest @yourheartbeatonthehighline @deepika-padukone @delicatetaylorsversion @spiteandmytears @newrcmantlcs @rollyoureyeswithaffection @getawaycartocorneliast @moyadorogayas @cloudlessnightsleeplessfight @hotgirlsunoo @shrutiajit @kaviyam @violareys @antoniosvivaldi @falsc-god @cardiigan @everfolk​ @ohnoballoons​

[with-love-anu]

Some tips to start a fandom blog (for writers)

Okay, before I begin I will like to say that I am no expert or am 100% sure these are bound to work. But these are some things I learnt over time that might help you out! 

1. Tagging posts.

This one is one of the most important points! You must tag everything properly for your content to actually reach as many people as possible. 

Do your research! Search up common/popular tags people use for the content you want to post and use them wisely. 

Use no more than 20 tags because tumblr will not show them up. When you post something, make a quick search of any of the tags you used and go to the recent section to see whether your post actually showed up. If not, try posting again.  

For new blogs- don’t start posting as soon as you make a blog. Your posts will not show up. Instead, reblog some content (gifs / moodboards / fanfiction etc) for a week or two along with tags! 

Tags I use for my fanfiction**:   #character full name   #character first name   #character full name fanfiction   #character full name x reader   #character full name x you   #character full name x y/n   #character first name x reader   #character first name x you   #fandom name   #side character full names (excluding oc)

**I’m currently writing for HP, Marvel etc. 

2. Taglists.

Now this is a tricky topic because there’s never a straight answer to this. I’ll just list down the some things I’ve learnt about taglists.

A long taglist does not equate to more number of notes. While taglists help your readers to be notified about your content, I know for a fact that it doesn’t mean everyone mentioned will interact with the post. Some might do, some might just leave a like while some might not read at all. 

Taglists work only when the people you tag, read and reblog and are actually active. Otherwise not so much. 

Tagging will take at least 10-15 minutes, copy pasting a taglist doesn’t work. You have to click on each individual user so tumblr tags them. While tumblr has updated by adding the filtering activity option, there is still a good chance that the person might not get the notification at all. 

Is there an alternative? Well, what I’ve done is that I’ve made a side blog. Whenever I post some new content- I reblog it over there. If people have the notifications on for that blog, they get notified whenever I post. It technically works the same way as taglists. 

Another thing you can do is submit the link to your post to @catching-the-train-to-hogwarts to be promoted to a large number of readers. PSA: Only for HP fandom.

3. Posting time.

Yes, this is important. Search up the time tumblr or the specific fandom is most active. Post during that time or a little later, so that people could see your works on their dashes. 

Schedule your timezone reblogs strategically. 

4. Interact.

Interact with your mutuals, with other writers. Comment and reblog their works and talk to them. Don’t be afraid to seek help or ask something if they welcome that- you are always free to send me asks. It’s better when people know you because that way it’s more likely that they’ll read and see your work. 

I am not telling you that anyone is bound to reblog your work because you do the same or the fact that they are your friends. I’m trying to say that sometimes a little support goes a long way. I wouldn’t be here if my mutuals didn’t help me out in the beginning.

5. Post format.

Okay so what I’ve found while searching and reading up fanfiction is that I personally was more likely to read a fanfiction with a summary and mentioned word count. 

Use a keep reading option or tag it with #long post. If your fanfiction is more than 1K words and/or contains nsfw/smut content- use that, it’s monotonous to see a wall of text on your dash. It’s the three dot box on a new line  adjacent to the insert gif in case you’re using the website. If you’re using the app, type :readmore: on a new line and press enter.

Use warnings. It is essential- mention it if there are none. 

6. Miscellaneous.

Participate in challenges. Enter in different challenges while making new content because one, it will give you exposure and two it will be great way to promote your work. 

If you’re starting a completely new blog, it’s better to have content made up in advance. Because firstly you need time so that tumblr recognizes that you’re not a bot so you’ll have to reblog posts for a week or two with appropriate tags. Then posting content consistently does give you a boost because more content (maybe at a gap of 3 days) means more followers, more people who read your works. 

When to make masterlists? People are usually quicker to follow when they see a masterlist made so it’s an advantage to make one when you’ve posted about 3-4 works. But if you make a masterlist later- after posting about 10-15 works, it will give you a boost in the activity because new users will be able to see your works and binge. The choice is upto you.

There are users who would say that it’s good to take as many requests as possible because it helps you grow. While it is true to some extend, I don’t find it to be useful. Because when I first begun, taking in all types of requests burnt me out and lowered my motivation because there were scenarios I didn’t relate with at all but still wrote them. The quality of my content decreased too. Again, it’s up to you.

I used to write headcanons during writing blocks. Headcanons are usually easier to deal with and not to mention the fact that they are fun. That way I could provide for more content and still not stress out.

Most of all, take it easy. It’s not your job- you are not supposed to create content every time. You, your health and happiness comes first. People will adore and love you even if you stop posting for months straight. Have fun, okay?

[saltpepperbeard]

Let’s Talk About The Last Jedi

So I’m feeling So Pumped about this movie that I feel the need to do one of my giant reviews. The Internet had me feeling such mixed emotions going into this movie that I genuinely didn’t know what to expect. I half expected to come out of the movie seething and pissed at every choice made, and then I half expected to be utterly and completely #Shook. And I can genuinely and thankfully say that it was the latter. With that being said, I’d love to get into screaming talking about it for anyone who may have doubts about seeing it, or anyone looking for someone with similar thoughts.

So then! I’ll give a quick spoiler free review before I dive into the deeper stuff. The internet, tumblr especially, made me think that this movie was going to be completely different from how it actually was. I went into the theater expecting certain things to happen that never did. I went into the theater expecting to hate the character choices and never did. I was almost nervous really, preparing myself for this movie to be a Phantom Menace as opposed to a Return of the Jedi. But no, it was its own thing.

In retrospect, the plot had surprisingly very little going on. I feel like the other Star Wars movies take place across weeks, even months. But in this one, all the action felt like it took place anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. Despite this, it managed to keep me incredibly invested, never really slow down, and pack a lot into a short time frame. SO MANY THINGS WENT WRONG SO QUICKLY.

I kind of like that though. It shows how unpredictable and unforgiving war can be. It made it seem more real, more organic if that makes any sense.

Even the characters that were introduced had me quickly invested in them. There was a character who only had maybe 20-30 minutes of screen time, and she ended up being one of the characters who made me cry the most. 

Everything was just nicely paced, characters were handled well, and it was overall just a really good movie. It made me laugh a lot, cry a lot, and come out instantly wanting to see it again. It might not be everyone’s favorite, but it definitely left a lasting impact on me. The amazing new characters, the action sequences, the answered questions, the lore, and the setup for a new movie completely locked me in. It’s re-watchable for sure, and will definitely be higher up on my favorite Star Wars movies.

...Now with that being said, feel free to follow be beneath the cut for more! Just a warning, there will now be Heavily Spoilers and Heavy Opinions™.

The Discourse™: OKAY. So I feel like this is the thing I need to address first since I’m an open air now, because this is what had me lowkey turned off from the movie in the first place. I went into this movie thinking there was going to be a romantic connotation between Kylo and Rey, and was admittedly bothered by it. Force Awakens clearly set up their relationship, with Kylo being drawn to Rey’s power, and Rey being utterly disgusted by Kylo’s actions. So to get it in my head that these two were going to be led in the direction of a romantic relationship had me cringing a bit.

I don’t have a problem with people who write fanfiction and kind of shift/manipulate their intentions for shipping purposes. But to have said motivations be canon would be...a bit concerning considering how JJ set them up to be.

And I can say that when I saw the movie, I was so relieved to see that it followed the arc that JJ introduced. I know a lot of people are holding on to the idea that Rey and Kylo were reaching out to each other, and were romantically/sexually invested in each other. But really, genuinely, I did not see this.

I saw Kylo wanting Rey solely for his power. I saw him craving power and craving leadership. His actions reminded me very much of, ironically, Darth Vader. I saw the same kind of motivations that I did with Vader and the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. Vader wanted Luke to join him in his quest to rule the galaxy, because he knew that having a very strong force-sensitive individual by his side would amplify his power. And I feel that was the same with Kylo. He knew Rey was force-sensitive. Hell, he got hIS ASS KICKED AND HAD A SCAR TO SHOW FOR IT. So he and ultimately Snoke both wanted her on the First Order’s side for that reason.

And then of course, Rey wanted Kylo on her side with the motivation of changing the war. I recall her talking about how beneficial it would be to have him in the light again. And that makes sense; having Kylo on the Resistance’s side would take a huge chunk of darkness/power away from the First Order. It would really change things the frick around if Kylo joined those he swore to defeat. So in knowing that there could potentially still be good in him, Rey pulled a Luke and attempted to bring him away.

Their little force connections were very interesting, but again, I didn’t sense any romantic longing. Any time Kylo reached out to her, he appeared to be attempting to corrupt her. I noticed that he would jab at her weak spots a lot, such as mentioning her loneliness and past burdens. And in knowing that channeling negative emotions such as those leads to the dark side, it can be pretty safe to assume that he was trying to get under her skin and get her to join his purpose.

Rey of course, resisted his dark intentions. She did however, reach out to him once. And I believe this happened because she saw potential good in him. She saw a supposed gate to reach his light side, and attempted to pass through it. She wanted so bad for him to be good again.

And of course when he appeared so close to be redeeming himself, only to shut it all down, she had no problem with shutting him out. She realized at that point that he was irredeemable.

Not to mention that Snoke had been instigating their little “Force Skype Calls” from the beginning anyway. He openly admitted to filling their heads with thoughts and tampering with their weak spots to break the both of them. So it never really was Kylo reaching out to Rey or vice versa anyway. It was all formulated.

SO ANYWAY, I was very much satisfied with the way their interactions played out. And just a PSA, I don’t really have a problem with anyone who ships them. If you like writing fanfictions and what not, imagining what could be, then you are definitely free to do so. I however, do not see any kind of romantic or sexual connotations in their relationship, so I was happy with how things were presented in this movie.

The New Characters: This is the part where I start screaming, bECAUSE H’OH MY GOD. I LOVE THEM????? WHAT GOOD KIDS???????? Rose quickly had me invested in her character with how smol yet heroic she was, and her chemistry with Finn was amazing. And then of course Holdo sjflksjdksds. Jesus CHRIST that woman. I cannot get over her character honestly. I was so frustrated with her in the beginning and felt like she was holding back the Resistance from achieving their goals. But then everything fell into place and her motivations were explained perfectly and??? The part where she sacrificed herself by slamming???? into the First Order ships at light speed in absolute????? silence?????? had me probably tHE MOST SHOOK I WAS IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE??????? AND SHE HAD SUCH A MINOR ROLE IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS BUT MADE ONE OF THE BIGGEST IMPACTS AND IT WAS SO UTTERLY INSANE

Rey: I have to admit, I was hoping that Rey would explore more of that “balance” between the force in this movie. She seemed to give into one side or the other pretty quickly as she attempted to figure out her purpose and who she was as a jedi. But I suppose ultimately at the end, she found her place and decided what path she was taking by shutting the First Order out and aiding the Resistance. I suppose I had it in my head that she was going to master both the light and dark side, becoming a Grey Jedi. I had images of her in my head wielding a double-sided red and blue lightsaber. And who knows; maybe she’ll explore more of this in episode nine. We still really didn’t get to see the type of Jedi she’ll become, and I guess that’s what I was hoping to see in this movie.

I did of course, really like to see her journey as she attempted to figure things out, and the small hints at how powerful she really is. I’M JUST SO READY FOR THIS LITTLE POWERHOUSE TO BECOME SUCH A POWERFUL FREAKING JEDI/FORCE USER.

Poe: I know a lot of people were complaining that Poe’s character was cut down, and he was made to be this “scoundrel” type of character. I even saw people going so far as to calling his character choices sexist because of how he disobeyed both Leia and Holdo. But honestly, I saw nothing wrong with his character choices. It was established pretty well in the first movie that Poe is very gung-ho, that he’s a bit cocky, and that he likes leaping before looking necessarily. And I think this movie only amplified those character traits.

I think Poe is our Han of the new trio. He tends to act before he thinks things through properly, and acts in the hero mindset. I think he would have disobeyed anyone who tried to give him orders, as he was so set on his plans and so invested in saving the Resistance in the way that made the most sense to him.

So he wasn’t problematic. Just a Good Boy who was trying his best and just wanted to save the day for his boyfriend fellow fighters.

Finn: FINNY-FINN-FINN IS BEST BOY. God, I love him. He’s just so good. His character is just so delightful, and I adore how he has the same fighting spirit as Poe. He’s willing to do anything for those he’s fighting for, and I swear to God, if he had flung himself into that charging gun, I would have flung myself down the theater’s stairs. Like I appreciate your sacrifice and character, bUT YOU ARE TO GOOD TO LOSE LIKE THAT SO YOU SIT YOURSELF DOWN. Also, while I love his dynamic with Rey, his dynamic with Rose was super cute as well. I’m glad he was able to establish a good relationship with her, and then also go to Rey in the end. My boy is surrounded by a lot of good friends, and I am So Glad.

Luke: So being overly dramatic must come from the male side of the Skywalker family. All the ladies have it together, but the mEN JUST LOVE THEIR STOMPING AWAY AND THEIR DRAMATIC CAPE FLINGS AND THEIR L’OREAL HAIR MOMENTS. But also let Luke rest, he is tired.

In all seriousness, this was actually another element the Internet had me real worried about. I was honestly expecting Luke’s character to be utterly butchered. Like, I was expecting him to not feel like Luke whatsoever. And admittedly, initially, I was a bit worried there in the beginning. He just seemed so cold and so unapproachable and so just...not himself that I was sitting there like ohgodohgodohgod.

But then I came to realize that Luke had been through A Lot; the poor guy was literally blaming himself for the entire uprising of The First Order. Like, despite Snoke being the one to seduce Ben to the dark side, and Ben ultimately failing Luke as opposed to the other way around, he could not see it as such. He carried the burden of starting everything.

And then I also realized that Luke has been a sassy lil dork since A New Hope. After all, he only wanted to go to Toshi Station to pick up some power converterrrssss! And then when he was learning the ways of the force with Yoda, he was impulsive and even quick tempered at times.

So really, he wasn’t out of character at all. Just really really really tired. 

He also probably saw a lot of his younger self in Rey. And in seeing what he became, and what he thought his actions created, it made him shut himself out, and therefore her as well.

It was so amazing however, to see Luke come back in full swing. Good God. To see him finally warm up to training Rey, all the way to seeing him LITERALLY PROJECT HIMSELF ON THE ASTRAL PLANE TO WHIP HIS NEPHEW INTO SHAPE LOL. LIKE YES. THAT’S HIM. THAT’S LUKE SKYWALKER.

And his death didn’t feel too out of place either. The whole thing with him finally being at peace, and that friggin binary sunset symbolism bullshit that decided to show up and murder me was a great touch as well. It’s like his arc made a complete circle, so his death felt heroic, it felt like he was laying to rest and allowing the new jedi to take his place.

Leia: I couldn’t handle Leia for a few reasons. First and foremost being, I would tear up whenever I saw Carrie Fisher on screen for obvious reasons. Secondly, she’s always been one of my favorite characters in the entirety of the Star Wars franchise, if not my ABSOLUTE favorite. So I of course adored watching every aspect of her personality on screen. I love Leia in the sense that she never has time for anyone’s shit, but is also one of the warmest and wisest characters in the entire franchise. And probably one of the strongest too; your girl has been to every circle of hell and back and hasn’t ONCE been tempted by the dark side. I absolutely adore her.

But what had me really really REALLY shook with this movie was finally FINALLY getting to see her use her force sensitivity. Like of course we got to see her reaching out to Ben and Luke, something she’s demonstrated in Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Force Awakens. But tO ACTUALLY SEE HER SAVE HERSELF FROM THE DEEP DARK DEPTHS OF SPACE BY UTILIZING A FORCE PULL???? I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT.

I had actually spoiled that one bit unfortunately, because I couldn’t live with not knowing if Kyle Ron killed his sweet mother or not lol. But even in knowing it, I was still crying and in complete shock in seeing it. I’ve always wanted Leia to show her jedi tendencies ever since I was a smol Star Wars fan. And even though it wasn’t much, seeing her legitimately using the force on the big screen...I’M STILL MESSED UP JUST THINKING ABOUT IT

And also on a little side note, I want to cry every time I think about Leia being able to see and feel Luke when she was on Crait. Her being able to converse with him, and practically reuniting with him just...MURDERED ME. IT WAS LITERALLY THE ONE THING I WAS HOPING FOR, AND WELP THERE GOES LUKE KISSING LEIA ON THE FOREHEAD AND CAUSING MY SOUL TO AGGRESSIVELY ASCEND.

The Creatures: It honestly cracked me up to see how much the Porgs and Vulptexes were hyped up, and then to rECEIVE SO LITTLE OF THEM. Any time they were on screen though, they were very delightful. The one scene where Chewie had a cooked Porg, and he got guilt tripped into not eating it by these little puppy dog-eyed Porgs had me DYING. And also the Vulptexes were heckin’ good doggos. Brought the Resistance out of the salt mines 10/10.

Overall: I would get into even more detail, but considering this whole thing is getting to be a legitimate novel and I touched upon what was most important to me, I’ll just wrap things up by saying I thoroughly enjoyed nearly everything about this movie. I went in with lowered expectations, and ended up being blown out of the water. It definitely has re-watch value. It definitely stuck with me. It definitely kept my fandom spirit alive, and made me all the more desperate to see what happens next.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens now that Snoke is out of the picture, and now that there are other force sensitive users in the galaxy. Please see: that smol baby bean at the end of the movie. I’m very excited with everything this movie set up, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what Nine will bring.

[sadistic-sakamaki]

I've been wanting to start an RP blog for a while, but like the other anon I'm kinda terrified on multiple levels. It's not so much about the other RP bloggers I see, because you guys have been very friendly and approachable. It's more about my own self-doubt, and the fact I've never really RP'd on this platform. I'm not even sure where to get started when it comes to an RP (or OC) blog. I don't know if you've ever answered this, but do you have any tips? Thank you for your time!

Ooc; Hm… I get what you mean. It is tough to overcome one’s self-doubt, that’s for sure. And if you have never made the transition to tumblr, then it might even sound more scary. But it is not as hard as it seems, I promise! I did once writing an entire PSA regarding this issue, but this was years ago and I’d much rather give an answer anew, possibly more detailed (if there is something that I’m not covering here, though, always feel free to send me a new ask with your questions!).

The fact that you’re telling me that you’ve never roleplayed on this platform tells me that perhaps you have roleplayed outside of it, which makes things a lot more easier to a certain degree. The first thing you would have to do is, of course, CHOOSE A MUSE to write. Personally, I have always defended the argument that starting with a canon muse (that is already existent) is easier than starting with an original character. Why? Because there is more room to study the character and develop them in the first stages. For example, you might post an open that reflects one situation that already has happened in the show/game/whatever franchise you choose from. Plus, you have material to look at, which will definitely inspire you and somewhat mold your answers when you feel less secure. Look at it as a guide of sorts. When I’m not feeling certain of my portrayal, I always rewatch an episode of the anime or play the games, or even listen to drama CDS. While roleplaying is a new experience and you should eventually expand from the already existent situations, there is no law that says you can’t use the canon material as a resource. Most people do, whether they wish to portray a certain state of mind, mannerisms, or even replicate and incorporate their character’s way of speaking (Ayato’s has loads of slang, for example) into your roleplays.

Now, you may also argue: but isn’t an original character easier to write? It is unknown to others, so I will never have this pressure on me to always act 100% according to the character, like in canon! (there is always the possibility of having a canon divergent muse, although I won’t go in much detail because of obvious reasons haha). Yes, you won’t have pressure. But I believe starting a complete character anew and see how they adjust to things may be harder than expected. I say this from experience. With Ayato, I always have this impulse, because I know how he works. With my OCs it is tougher, because I spend more time figuring them out, and I might feel a bit lost during the process, because I have nothing to guide me. That’s why I say that canon muses are better than original characters, because you have something that will serve as resource.

Secondly, CREATE A BLOG. There is this… myth about pretty graphics and beautiful themes and all that —– Forget it. For now —- and always, really —- that should not be one of your concerns. Just choose something that you enjoy, mayhap even decorate your blog and customize it with colors that remind you of your character. While yes, having a pretty blog full of graphics CAN give a special aura and feeling to it (hell, looking at it might even motivate you to write! I usually change themes when I’m feeling stuck with Ayato. It’s kind of a fresh new start kinda feel.), it is not necessarily a requirement. Just do your thing with something that makes you feel comfortable. Although first impressions may be important, people will ultimately follow you for you and your writing, not the aesthetic of your blog.

All right, let us say you have created your blog, decided on your theme. You might be really excited to start things, but it is better to GO SLOWLY, truly. The next thing you should do before you start up the blog is to write the ABOUT & RULES pages. It is so, so, so very important! People have to know what you, as a mun, like and don’t like; are willing and unwilling to do. Therefore, take a few moments to think about your rules and always read the rules of the partner you’re interacting with!! It’s common courtesy.~ Then, the about page is crucial. Let’s say someone gets across your blog, and decides to check you out. Well, but you don’t have an about page!! And they don’t know you’re character at all!!!!! It’s 2164684654 gazillion times worst if you roleplay an original character if you don’t have an about page!! People can’t get into your head now, can they?~ So, you must have an about page. But please don’t make it a copy paste of your character’s wikipedia page, for example… No one likes that, and people will understand that you didn’t put the effort in creating your about page… 

Just try something for yourself, make the information more personal than just saying «x is a boy/girl, was born in w and does this for a living». While yes, that is good info, that’s just an introduction. Try going a bit deeper. What are their likes? Dislikes? Is there something they are really interested in? Is there something that happened with their past that marked them forever? How do they deal with people in general? Are they nice/bad? Do they have reasons for such? What are their personality traits? And so on. Of course, there are different ways to make an about page. You don’t want to reveal every single thing about your character, but you must present something important to them. For example, I have Ayato’s past in my about page. Some might consider it a huge spoiler, but I personally don’t, simply because I use his past to explore his way of acting, his flaws, and how he acts and deals with feelings in general. I’m explaining his character by sharing this important event, but I’m not spelling everything to the point that discussing that in a roleplay is useless because people already know what happened. Might be a tricky task --- to create these pages ---, but people appreciate it, because the moment they enter your blog, that will be the first thing they will consult.

So you have your about and rules page done. You might want to add a NAVIGATION PAGE, but before that you might want to create TAGS, so that it is easier to organize your blog. Once you have them figured out, create the navigation page. It will be sorta like a map to your blog, something similar to this: http://sadistic-sakamaki.tumblr.com/navigation Once you have your tags, make a blank post, or something among the lines «Tag dump!», and then insert the tags in the tag section. This will prevent tumblr from forgetting your tags, so once you start typing a certain tag of yours in the future, it should automatically pop up in the tag section. 

Tumblr is tricky, though. Let’s say you go on a long hiatus… Tumblr is only human… And he will forget your tags. My recommendation is that you create a word document and place all your tags there. Save it. Whenever tumblr doesn’t pop up the tag you want to use, open the document and copy paste the tag you want to use. Also, your blog will have ITS OWN TAG, so if people wanna nudge you, they will write to you through that tag. That tag will depend on your blog’s name. IMPORTANT: HYPHENS DON’T WORK IN THE TUMBLR TAGGING SYSTEM. I put this in all caps because my url has hyphens, and people still continue tagging me as «sadistic-sakamaki» despite my tag being «sadisticsakamaki», as I explained in my rules. That’s because some users have an automatic tag system that writes urls as they are… Result: most of the things that people write to me without using the correct tag, sadisticsakamaki, and using instead sadistic-sakamaki, ARE FOREVER LOST IN OBLIVION. So you will have to go in the depths of their blogs to see if they mentioned you in something or not… Easy way to resolve this: Choose an url with no hyphens. For the love of God, listen to me. You will thank me later. :’D

OPTIONAL: You might want to roleplay while using icons. Personally, I feel that this is very important, simply because I like to have a visual complement to the reply, so that it is easier to imagine one’s reaction to something. Plus, it might even help you describing an event in a more detailed way, so it’s a plus x plus relationship. Of course, not everyone uses them, and some even don’t want to in the first place. Why? It’s a lot of work. I can already hear a groan coming out of everyone’s mouth whenever they collect images and open photoshop (or any other program) to icon them. It can be fun, but most of the times it’s… eh. But it’s totally worth the process!!! Also, you can also style your own reply via html codes (i.e. making your text smaller of bigger, using italics or bold, etc etc). But this is getting really huge, and I don’t want to make it sound overwhelming. :’D IT’S EASIER THAN IT LOOKS.  Trust me on this one.

So, my friend! You’ve done all of this… It’s time to start up your blog! Everything is in order, so just write a post introducing your muse. I recommend doing so and tagging it under «anime roleplay», «anime rp», (if your chara is from anime) and «insert your character’s fandom here rp». You don’t have to be too serious or detailed, this post is only there to give a shout out to your blog and make yourself known. Example: http://sadistic-sakamaki.tumblr.com/tagged/anime-rp . From then on, start following people, send them asks, ask them to interact, make starters!!! And have fun!!!

[porcelaindagger]

since this won’t show in the tags from the actual blog

After speaking with some people privately, I had been under the impression that I had been doing a good enough job keeping my head down, minding my own business, and not making a fuss, but it’s evident that this is not the case. I have been back in the community for about a year now as Elle, and since then I have made every effort to use this new alias as an opportunity to turn over a new leaf, make a new start, and be an unobtrusive and altogether quiet presence in the community. I came back simply to write – not to make a fuss or make waves, and I was open and honest about my identity and my past mistakes with those who came to me to ask, and have a small group of people who know that I am Beth, who have known for quite some time now. It was not my intention to “fool” anyone by returning under a different alias, but to exercise the change that I’d implemented in my own life and to show both myself and those who I’d so horribly hurt in the past that I have changed, and that it is possible for people to change for the better. I think the fact that I’ve flown under the radar until now is decent proof that I am not the person I was a year ago; a year ago, I would have gone absolutely nuts in the face of the PSA that’s floating around, and I would have lashed out with irreparable damage – we all saw it happen last time, and it’s because of that that I was so determined not to do it this time. I understand completely why people would not want to be close to me given what I’ve done in the past; I lied, I talked about people behind their back, I pretended to be someone else to hide from what I’d done, I spread slanderous lies about someone who had been nothing but a dear friend to me, and I kept that same friend’s group from receiving the love and praise it deserved simply because I was bitter, paranoid, and malicious in my mindset. I was in a horrid place and going through a downward spiral in which I could not recover from – and though I knew I could not recover, I lashed out and pulled people down with me simply because it was the only option my toxic mindset gave me. I wrecked people who I’d considered family, who’d followed me through hell, high water, and two roleplay groups which ended with my complete meltdown. It was all building up from mistakes I’d made, even before that – in 2013, I copied things from a drabble someone had written; in 2015, I encouraged a friend to write a PSA about another friend simply because I felt that they were drifting from me, and I was so selfish and paranoid that I just couldn’t handle it. I was immature, and felt as if I didn’t have to own up to my mistakes, but as I see the error of hiding from this all and hoping that it’ll just blow over, I think that it’s time for me to put it out there. I was Wesley, I was Beth, and this blog was supposed to be Elle – the new leaf. Elle would never start a positivity blog, only to filter the messages; Elle would never send nasty messages; Elle would never vague blog; Elle would never strongarm someone out of playing the same character; and Elle would certainly never steal, though Beth once thought she could get away with it, and owned up to it.

In my personal life, the last semester has been an absolute trainwreck, and this blog, in my own corner with a small collective of people who I’d told, and in the roleplay groups that I’d chosen to join, was an oasis, and I am incredibly proud of the progress and of the changes that I’ve made in my life, as reflected by my unobtrusive and quiet presence in the RPC. I’ve done my best to be nothing but positive – and those who I’ve found myself close to can attest to that. I never thought of this attempt at a positive new start as an attempt to “trick” anyone with friendship and kindness, and I am so sorry that it’s come across as that, or as anything even remotely underhanded. I hoped that by being Elle and by starting over I could somewhat start to make right the wrong I’d done when I was Beth, and by being kind to those I’d wronged in any way I could, I thought that I was. I never intended for any of this to become a question of lies, victim shaming, or anything of the sort – I was just trying to keep my head down, and mind my own business. I’d even become close friends with one of the people I’d wronged in the past, proving to them that I’d changed before they even knew who I was, and I spoke to another, leaving things on what I assumed was a peaceful note. Perhaps it was a mistake to apply for a character that I’d played so often while I was using my old alias – but I never thought that it would start the wildfire that it did, since I’d been nothing but supportive in doing it. If anyone would like to message me privately, and not anonymously, to discuss the things that I have done, I would be more than willing to do so openly and frankly at my new url, which was created not to hide but to post fandom content rather than rp content without clogging up anyone’s dash.

I do, however, wish to address the claims of plagiarism that have been floating around, as this may be the only chance I have to do so. I understand that everyone’s concerns have merit; I have been a horribly sketchy person in the past, but the claims that are going around now are ones I hold issue with, and I’d like to address them here. Firstly, I’ll start with the claim that I plagiarized an OC from the group I used to run, Fidite Nemini. The character in question is named Holly – I don’t even remember the OC’s last name. A wonderful OC, written by a wonderful person; perhaps the best OC I ever had the pleasure of writing with. But the fact that I also have two characters named Holly is now being called plagiarism, and with this I take issue. First, I have Holly Blanchard, named as such for Holly Golightly. I’ll link her biography HERE. Second is a character in another roleplay that I ran named Holly Gilmore, who was named as such for the plant reference, and because I was going through a heavy Gilmore Girls phase at the time of writing her. Her bio is HERE. I cannot link you to the bio of the OC simply because I deleted the Fidite Nemini main and have no way of finding it. I don’t know where it is, I don’t know what her last name is; the only similarities between these characters is the fact that they’re named Holly and that they’re generally nice, sweet people. I can see how, upon first glance, having a character named Holly might raise some eyebrows, but upon actually reading the bios, it is quite clear that there is no other overlap.

I was also accused of stealing things from the person who played Bellatrix in my group – I cannot link anything here since the Fidite Nemini main has been deleted, but I used, in applying for a Marauders group recently, the bio that I, as an admin, had written as a jumping off point for an application. I’d gone through the old player’s blog to find the biography that I’d written since the main was deleted and I hadn’t saved anything for my own use, and I understand how that must have looked, but had I not deleted everything I could when I left Tumblr the first time. I’d be happy to dig through my google docs and link the application that I’d written up in this post, but I regrettably cannot access the Fidite Nemini bio anymore, or I would. The person who played Bellatrix at Fidite Nemini is, without question, one of the greatest writers I’ve ever had the pleasure of collaborating with, and I must say that it would be very obvious had I stolen from them, as their writing truly stands alone.

I would now like to address the claims that I stole a fair bit of characterization from the user who wrote the PSA about me. I’ll start by saying that yes, I did pin a few of their pins on Pinterest (but I went to a lot of Pinterest boards to create my own), and we have reblogged some of the same things – were I to remain a large presence in the RPC, I would make a point not to reblog musing from anywhere but inspo blogs to avoid this. But I must raise some issue with the claim that I stole a headcanon about sunflowers, a headcanon about running/athleticism, and a FC. I use flower symbolism in a fair number of my applications and characters, and this particular headcanon was written when I read the ProFlowers description of what sunflowers meant (in fact, at the time I was buying flowers for my grandmother, whose birthday I had forgotten, and thought sunflowers might be nice according to the description). I’ll link the headcanon HEREas it includes a link to the article. The running/athleticism headcanon is twofold – the graphic linked HERE is from a quiz which many people in the tag were using, and was therefore not my own doing. But I had put some stock in the character’s athleticism, since it’s both canon that she’d have to be athletic, and because the character is suffering, in the plot, from severe PTSD. It is often recommended to sufferers of PTSD, like myself, and like my combat veteran father, to put much of their anxiety into athleticism, as linked in the headcanon HERE. I put a lot of myself into my characters, and I thought that, as I am dealing with my own battle with PTSD, it would be appropriate to make a point of expanding upon it in the development of a character who very clearly has it. This is not copied and pasted from any blog, nor was it written in an attempt to mimic anyone else’s portrayal. And to insinuate that I am stealing simply because there is overlap in the usage of two face claims is also up for question – I will admit that I did take an interest in Lindsey Morgan as the character because the author of the PSA used her, and I commend you for your excellent FC choice. But the second mentioned, Deborah Ann Woll, is merely a coincidence, and I must take issue with the idea that face claims are exclusive.

In the PSA, it linked things from my old Alice blog that I’d recycled because I am who you all now know I am – were I trying to hide, I wouldn’t have done that. I’d have never been so obvious. I was too optimistic, I suppose, in that I’d kept my head down enough to play this character again, and I truly am so sorry for making you all uncomfortable, and for making you all feel as if I was trying to be devious by going under another alias. All I was doing was trying to mind my own business – and that is what I’m doing now, by turning my writing blog into a simple fandom blog. I’m even further in my corner now, and though I have no intention of leaving my corner, I thought it appropriate to leave this here as both an admittance of everything I’ve done, and a defense of the new character that I’ve built for myself. I understand that the PSA was made to warn people about someone horrible – but I’m not that person anymore. I have nothing but remorse for what I’ve done to those I’ve hurt, and I will never stop regretting the friendships that I destroyed. I considered so many of you my family, and I hurt you. It’s irreparable, and I will never ever stop trying to be a better person because of it. All I wanted was to turn over a new leaf, and to have fun writing with those I could reconnect with, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart for drudging up old hurts. I never want to hurt any of you again, and I never plan to. If anyone wishes to come talk to me about this, so I can explain and own up further, or if you would like a direct apology, I’m now at arhwen. I hope you’re all well, and finish out 2017 well, too.

[rhysand-vs-fenrys]

A PSA on Online Scams and Creeps (Please Read)

I know this isn’t typically what you all see from me, but lately I’ve gotten a lot of messages from various scam tumblrs, a handful of e-mails, and even a few phone calls. Others have been reporting the same uptick in scammers, and so I wanted to do a PSA for those of you who might find yourselves vulnerable.

Scams do not just target the old and elderly, I personally know people who fell prey to scammers who are teenagers or in their early 20s, and every personal story I share in this post is from someone within that age range.

In this post I’m going to describe some of the scams I’ve seen, and then later on I have a message for anyone who has been the victim of one of these scams.

There is no judgement against anyone who has been duped, if it comes across that way I wholeheartedly apologize. The purpose of this post is to identify some common scams and give some advice on how to handle them if you’ve been caught in a trap. Victim shaming is not my intention.

The Scams:

Hey, I’m a celebrity you love and I’m DM’ing you to tell you _______.

This is like a daily occurrence in some fandoms (Sebastian Stan fandom gets it 8 times a day and that’s why I’m tagging that fandom on this). It presents itself like this: You get a DM on twitter or IG from an account with a similar name to the URL of your favorite celebrity. They tell you they’ve seen your posts in their defense, they’ve gotten your messages, or they saw your icon after noticing you in the comments and fell in love. The first messages probably seem chaste- they’re just opening the door for a conversation and will gradually push it from there. 

The important thing to know about these is that they are FAKE, but they’re also good at what they do. They’ll back down if you start to pull back, they’ll reassure you, they might even say “I know it sounds like a scam but I couldn’t send this from my real account because ______”. 

No matter what reason they give::: It. Isn’t. Real.

It’s a lovely thought- that your favorite celebrity fell in love with you via IG or twitter. That you moved them so much with your care and honest defense of their honor that they’ve fallen for you in some kind of fairytale romance- but it isn’t real. This scam segues into asking for your address or asking for pictures or money- none of which you should be giving away online to anyone, no matter what. If they really want to contact you, tell them to do it from their verified account, no matter what their excuses are, or they can contact you through official channels.

A friend of mine in high school legitimately believed she was in an online and snail-mail based relationship with voice actor Vic Mignogna, and whatever guy it really was started by sending her little things based on the shows that actor worked on- little fangear trinkets. Over MONTHS it segued into him asking her to send him stuff- like “send me $15 and I’ll hook you up with this little exclusive thing”, or “hey, can I get a picture of you in that skimpy tee I sent”. Luckily she wised up to what was going on (after she told some of us and we told her if she didn’t sound the alarm we would) and handed that e-mail address and the address she’d sent cash to over to the police.

Hi, I’m a follower or other user or this messaging service who wants to talk to you and see where things go...

Skype is the absolute WORST for this scam, but I have personally dealt with this one though even just tumblr. Sometimes it’s a scammer, sometimes it’s just a creeper, either way, it’s dangerous.

My experience was with two followers who I’d chat with normally and they seemed fine, then they started getting more and more out there with their messages. One would ask me for pictures of me in a swimsuit, the other KEPT making comments like “I’m going out with friends tonight, I wish you were with us...” and ignored me repeatedly saying those kinds of comments made me uncomfortable (Flirting with an online person just feels skeevy to me). 

I blocked both, and that’s really the best thing you can do. Don’t forget- scammers or pervs will spend weeks if not months if they think their efforts can end in a pay day. 

It’s called “catfishing” (though that term mostly refers to when the scammers target men). You can google it for a plethora of examples of various tricks and traps used.

Skype is dangerous particularly because it deals with your webcam. You might see a legit person on your screen, but don’t let that trick you into trusting them. NEVER send an online person something- loaning money via paypal can end with your account hacked, sending stuff IRL is just paying into their hands directly, and things like nude pictures/videos??? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!!!! Just because you can see them on your screen doesn’t mean you can trust them.

A Note About Webcam Hacks//Videos

A lot of scams are scams because they start innocently. A relationship building via some messaging service (this one happened through an early version of skype to someone close to me) leads to... well... you know. You flash a bit of skin, maybe some cleavage, maybe you talk in a swimsuit top or bra, then maybe it slowly escalates and you’re covered by a blanket but you’re encouraged to masturbate while they watch your face or engage in some form of cybersex. 

It is absurdly easy to record what is on the screen of your computer. In most Macs, the program is even available as an app to record your screen and/or skype calls specifically. Hell, I’ve used that same program on my PC when working on projects for language classes in school. 

I talk in a moment about what to do if you’ve been scammed via an inappropriate video or pictures, but know that cyber-sex is DANGEROUS because of how easy it is to blackmail someone with a screenshot or video. 

There is good news if you’re facing that and I will get into that later, but I wanted to post this here along with that previous story.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’VE BEEN CAUGHT IN A TRAP

****FIRST OFF::: SAVE ANY AND ALL MESSAGES ON AN EXTERNAL DRIVE, FLASH DRIVE, E-MAIL SCREENSHOTS TO YOURSELF, AND/OR SAVE THEM TO A CLOUD SITE, THIS IS EVIDENCE.

***** SECOND OFF::: WITH ALL THAT INFO SAVED- INCLUDING THE SCAMMER’S PROFILE INFORMATION- CALL THE POLICE. SAVING THE EVIDENCE IS IMPORTANT, BUT CALLING THE POLICE IS NON-NEGOTIABLE. THAT IS THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO IF YOU ARE BEING SCAMMED. 

If you live in the United States, do not be alarmed if you call the police and they mention the FBI It sounds intimidating, but the FBI handles crimes that cross state boundaries (where there are questions of jurisdiction) and international issues. Because of that mandate, cyber crimes automatically fall under their command, since they can more easily investigate.

ALSO-- DO NOT TELL THE PERSON SCAMMING YOU THAT YOU ARE CALLING THE POLICE. DO NOT THREATEN THEM, DO NOT SAY OR DO ANYTHING BUT CALL THE POLICE. 

Once you have contacted the police, report that person’s profile/username to the website or app you met them through. Every single site has a way to report scammers. Take advantage.

The Bad News:

If you’ve been scammed out of money via paypal or you were tricked into sending someone money for any purpose (to help with their “bills” or even straight-up blackmail money):: You’re not seeing that money ever again, more likely than not.

If you’re being blackmailed or scammed by someone you know, then yes- you might be able to take them to court and get that money back... But most scammers online aren’t caught. 

There’s just not enough manpower in law enforcement or cooperation between state or national governments for any kind of significant prosecution unless they break more laws than lying online or blackmail. Now, if there is a sexual component to this, that changes how strongly they’ll focus on the case, but you’re still not likely to see the money again.

The Good News

No matter what threats are made against you, no matter what the person scamming you may say--- most scammers do not follow through with their blackmail threats.

Even if they send you screen shots to prove they have whatever they are blackmailing you with (usually blackmail has a sexual component, but not always), even if they sound super serious, most do not follow through.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of scammers do this as their way of making money. They can’t be bothered to follow through with the threats, because it invites more trouble than it’s worth. Remember when I said a lot of scammers aren’t caught because countries can’t be bothered with blackmail and making false statements online? Well that goes out the window as soon as they actually follow through. The charges become more serious, especially if they release any videos or pictures they have of you.

I’ve got to put it in here to be super clear- some may follow through. When I say most scammers don’t follow through I mean that in the handful of cases I have seen of this IRL with friends or even family, the threats were baseless. They never followed through no matter how far they went with the threats- threats that included fabricating screenshots that “show” them e-mailing the file or video to mutual contacts or again doctored images that make it look like they’ve created a profile in your name.

I worked on a documentary about people being scammed, and while that mostly focused on the elderly, we saw plenty of cases where it happened to a teen or young adult. I don’t know of a single case- of the dozen or so I heard- where the person trying to blackmail the victim ever actually did what they said they would. In looking up scams online you see hundreds of stories of people calling the scammer’s bluff and nothing ever escalates.

Again, I’m not saying it never happens, I’m saying that in my experience, the odds are massively in your favor.

If someone *does* follow through with their blackmail threats though---

The Good News

Compromising pictures and media are the most common way scammers catch you in their traps and extort you for money. They threaten to post the videos/pictures if you don’t put up however much they’re demanding.

THE LAW IS ON YOUR SIDE.

Even just in the last MONTH, countries all around the world (including the US and many states individually) have been passing stricter and stricter laws against what is known as “revenge porn”. What ‘revenge porn’ means is that it does not matter if you were consenting to appear on webcam with someone and have cybersex- it doesn’t matter if you willingly recorded it- if the video or any pictures are posted online without your express consent and permission, the person who posted it can be arrested and the website the video is on can be sued.

Because of these stricter laws protecting people from having their privacy violated so wholly, porn websites are getting better about making it easy to report revenge porn and they take it down DAMN FAST. Depending on where you are, a website can be sued for EACH VIEW the video got before it was taken down, adding an extra layer of incentive for them to get it down FAST.

If someone posts ANYTHING without your consent, your first call is to the police to file a police report (in most states this can be done over the phone and you might have to go in at a later time to actually sign the papers). The second thing you do is report that video and contact the website it was posted to. Again, take a screenshot that shows the URL of the site and, if you can, the username of the person posting it. Then take another screen shot of that person’s profile page on the website.

The Bad News

The bad side of this is that yes, people will see it. It might be just one, it might be a much higher number before it’s caught and taken down. The odds are that no one you know will see it unless they’re specifically sent it by the person attacking you.

It’s a horrible situation to be in, and knowing that the law is on your side doesn’t change the embarrassment you feel or the shame of being tricked, but know that you’re the victim. Maybe you made a bad call, trusted the wrong person, but you aren’t the bad guy in this story. The person who is attacking you is the one to blame.

Call the police, I can’t stress that enough. Call the police because they see this happening and they’re police officers because they want to help people and because they want to make things safer. Everything you feel- every last ounce of stress and pain- by calling the police you have the power to maybe stop someone else from feeling that.

It’s a sad fact of the world we live in that people online need to be treated like a computer virus. Don’t trust easily, don’t trust wholly, and don’t take anything at face-value alone.

Also- if someone wants your bank account number for any reason, asks you to send them money for any reason, or even randomly one day sends you a link they want you to blindly follow, BLOCK their ass and spare yourself the headache.

[cryptid-anarchist]

thinking about the whole censor thing tumblr is doing, its kind of hard for me to care because it doesnt effect me. at the same time, this is bothersome because porn bots and all that still show up for me. they did not improve the website at all, all they did was put a barrier in front of minors so they cannot see half the content. and im sure at least half of that content is appropriate or even important for people of any terms of use age (note- you are supposed to be 13 to use tumblr, any younger and they have a right to delete your accounts) to see. 

age 13 and up and the point where kids need to be introduced to ideas of the world and one of their windows is tumblr. questioning sexuality? tumblr is probably the BEST social media website for orientation questions that is not focused on relationships or hookups. there is a lot of toxicity here too, but if you’re responsible enough to understand that websites don’t cater to you then you can avoid following the bullshit. UNFORTUNATELY, with how whiny and quick to aggressively defend some people are (note- its commonly thought that these people are all minors, even if not all minors are defensive. but plenty of adults are like this as well) tumblr staff probably decided that its younger users are not responsible enough. 

this is also a good location to find world news. way better than facebook, because there you have to be following a certain set of people to see anything and the comments are not usually in the post itself. on here many PSA blogs will scour for sources and often times debate or additional sources to confirm/debunk articles are within the post thanks to how the reblog captions work. i’ll be honest, im too lazy to research EVERY scrap of news i find interesting. so the collection of supporting and criticizing articles in a single post (as can only be done on tumblr) is an important resource for most people who wont do their own resource. im sure plenty of these posts will fall under the nsfw filter because of violence (like the target bathroom situation where someone did drugs and blew up the bathroom, but people were reporting a bomb and terrorism), sexual terminology (basic orientation words that are not sexual to say but have been stigmatized, such as gay, lesbian, etc), and whatever other generic tags the filter is against. most 13-17 year olds are not looking up world news every single day the way they may be on tumblr and come across articles of interest.

lastly, this is just plain lazy of the @staff. they put a wall up that covers content that might be important for young people to see just because it might have a word that a computer will think (as programmed by the staff) is related to content that minors should not be seeing. by doing this all you did was cut off their resources, while porn bots are still active. just because the rest of us are 18+ does not mean we want to see what we do. just because i am 21 does not mean i want to see uncensored gifs of women chocking on penises because i wanted to make sure my new follower was not a bot (surprise- it was a bot). i see that you put in your own policing system but it is flawed in every way. take down this wall and add a blacklist function. users have been clamoring for a blacklist function. all you have to do is create a way for users to make a list of tags that will take blogs and posts off of their dash and search. you cant say thats impossible since you know how to omit blogs and posts from dashboards and searches.