#salt cw

[glossolali]

neg cw

i don't talk a lot about gaming bc i don't do it regularly enough, but when i do, i commit like 400 hours to one game and then don't touch it again for ages. alas

anyway so let's talk games! let's talk about all these fucked up game factories that have ruined some truly iconic STELLAR games and series, just out of greed

- overwatch (when they lost kaplan and started fucking with balance on a weekly basis it was over tbh - also all the gross SH shit with Blizzard 😒)

- dragon age (veilguard was a flop technically - i have yet to play this properly, but dragon age fan friends have told me it feels rushed and not as well written as previous DAs and also clearly been Fortnite'd so it's more shiny and attractive AND look what EA just fkn did to BioWare lmao)

- the sims (dissolving maxis has reduced the quality of the games significantly and it's taken them almost 10 years to get back to their former glory, and not even - also EA prioritising financial gain over integrity, surprise..)

- cyberpunk 2077 (this almost goes without saying bc they've been raked over the coals over this, BUT have realised their mistake and recovered beautifully - still an example of corporate greed, that uhhh no execs in the game industry have learned shit from i guess)

- final fantasy (don't get me fuckin started lmao... it has simply not been the same since ff10 lbr - they had to remake ff7 to get people interested in FF again, and the most recent FF came out to no fanfare whatsoever, and tbh it's the most polished turd i have ever seen - although I have heard good things about FF14, despite its initial broken-ness)

I'm sure there's more - let's make a salt train!

This fuckery has got to be talked about more, and looking at the big picture too. They can't make the world hell and then also fuck with the alternate worlds that we use to escape and connect with others.

Not to mention all of the artists, designers, writers, techs that are a part of our communities getting laid off and fucked over

At least one of the good things about games is that if a game is compromised we can tell, and will vote with our money accordingly

huh it's almost like when you hurry art up before it's properly finished and overprice it to get more money sooner it reduces its quality and people can tell

wow 😦 what a concept

[musesofthesun]

ender woke up a little salty so here's a late munday opinion: ppl need to actually research how to write kids more often. like yea theres varying circumstances and situations for muses i get that, but sometimes its like.... "and you couldn't have just made them a young adult why..?" bc its like ppl are writing mini adults; there's a difference between a mini adult and a kid actually trying to be perceived as an adult. for the love of everything do research or watch how kids actually act. its such a horrid pet peeve of mine.

[seaoftheworst]

🔥🔥

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

🔥- Vegapunk is not a good man. He is complacent in what is done to those the government has experimented on. Complacency to evil does not equate good. From what we have seen of him he seems to think himself better than those who do the direct evil actions, like Judge or Queen or Ceaser.... but they learned from someone, they strove to surpass him and as such he is the direct cause of all the pain they have subjected their victims to. I refuse to say that a man who admits to not joining those fighting to liberate the world solely because they cannot pay him enough is 'good'.

🔥- I refuse to believe the story is going as fast as Oda says that it is. The short time frame eliminates a lot of travel and implies that the world is not as big and expansive and unexplored as was implied in early chapters. I refuse to believe that it is only a few short weeks between Fishman Island and the start of Wano. Luffy should not have still been 17 by the time they hit Sabaody, he should have been 18 at the least. This implies that Luffy spent more time with Shanks than he did his own crew. It makes no sense from a narrative perspective. It's a similar issue I have with GO.T, travel should not be like teleporting, especially when sailing ships are involved.

Where is the exploration, where is the adventure? Why have we not seen any unexplored islands, only the Island of Rare Animals, Little Garden, the Boin Archipelago and Rusikuina can be considered true exploration. LET THEM HAVE ADVENTURES, LET THEM DISCOVER MORE ISLANDS WHERE THERE IS NOT CIVILIZATION. Civilization at every turn, and a map at each island implies that the world is mapped. This cheapens and over all insults Nami's dream to draw a map of the world, if the map already exists aside from one single island.

[drachenblood]

tired of how this fandom treats female characters.

[chaosmax]

Asians are not white asians are not white asians are not white WE ASIANS ARE NOT WHITE. can we have paler skin? Yes. Can some of us pass as white if one parent was asian and the other not? Sure. But stop calling us white.

[trustrage]

lemme sum up my issues with the series with this:

you cannot make a character get better or overcome issues or have any kind of development without first understanding them and why they have those issues to begin with.

[saltlordofold]

double tank team issues 😔

[salted15]

personally i think he should be given a really big hammer nothing wrong will happen i promise

(i very recently started commissions btw !! since this post has been so successful i thought i'd edit it and do a shameless plug dkjfghsdkfgh)

[deadkenndy]

I legit think they could've done something interesting with maria and her revenge motivations.

[wolfchans]

Eat! Eat, it’s okay! You eat! YOU EAT! ↳ 9 / ∞

[saltedsnailstudio]

blueberries & teeth

linocut prints on lokta paper

[provinzpoet]

On Engagement Bait

Whenever you see it, that's an additional five years. All currently active negative effects are dispelled.

A lil' essay.

I hate engagement bait - with a passion.

"Reblog if you care" "Reblog to mark your blog safe for [marginalized group X]" "Reblog or your mom dies in her sleep tonight."

"Reblog, or else."

I know most of these are made in jest. Harmless fun, right? But to me, "harmless fun" doesn’t excuse poor taste. Especially when it veers into manipulation.

So, here's a little something below the cut. If you're here for the poetry, you're free to scroll. If you're here for the ramblings, keep reading.

Either way, have another look at the duck. That's another 5 years on the house. Download it, look at it whenever - stack that immunity to last a lifetime. No engagement bait shall ever touch you again.

That little ducky up there was born in response to a post about you not having any original thought for the next five years.... unless you reblog.

It was meant as silent defiance, as a soft out. Then @bred-is-a-dumb-name reblogged my little ducky. With the following tags:

First and foremost: Thank you for speaking so clearly. Your tags were the push I needed to sit down and write this.

I. The Premise

Engagement bait plays with a simple human desire. Recognition. People want to be seen, they want to be recognized. Above all, they want to be validated.

From the early days of social media 'likes' equaled validation.

On tumblr, the currency of choice is reblogs. Reblogging equips a post with wings, allowing it to touch down on your own blog, be exposed to your own audience. The growth potential here is exponential, as reblogs don't just live tucked away in your profile, but are the groundwork of the tumblr algorithm on what content to show to its userbase.

My Thesis: You are responsible for the content you pass along to your mutuals. Even if you didn’t create it. Even if you reblogged it "ironically."

From the creator’s side, engagement bait is often a way to chase notes - a hit of serotonin from the numbers ticking up. And I get that. I love seeing my posts resonate too - reading your tags, your comments, the ways my words find you.

But I would never boost engagement through pain, coercion, or bad vibes in general. And I think no one should.

II. The Danger

Here's the catch: reblogging engagement bait feeds a manipulative feedback-loop.

But, at the same time, Let me be clear: Not all engagement bait is created equal.

Baity posts like "reblog to show your moots you appreciate them" (you know who you are! And I appreciate you too! c: ) are fine. Sure, they're meant to play the algorithm and the very human rationale that 'external validation is more valuable than internal validation' . basically: "If I reblog this post it'll mean more than if I just tell my moot they mean a lot to me".

At best, they're a reminder to be kind.

But - and this is the important part - there is also a different kind. Engagement bait like "Reblog or your mother will die tonight", "Reblog or no more creativity for 5 years".

These aren't funny to everyone. To some, they're not even neutral.

They're cruel. They are emotional abuse hidden under the guise of a 'funny context'. Of the absurdity of a duck holding that power.

Let's be real. It's not holding that power. And you'll reblog it ironically with funny tags in the vein of 'oh, better be sure, mighty duck'. Unless you don't.

Because guess what? It IS holding that power.

To those with OCD. To those in intrusive thought loops. To those with deeply rooted fear of loss. To the neurodivergent. Maybe even to you? To those, these posts can be triggers.

III. The Mechanics of Harm

To people like that, the harmless meme becomes a source of real-world stress.

It's toying with - to me - deeply problematic, psychological concepts:

Compulsion and Intrusive Thoughts For someone with intrusive thought patterns, seeing a post that ties inaction to harm can spark a cycle that’s hard to break. It’s not a meme - it’s a trigger.

Guilt-Tripping and Moral Coercion There’s a quiet cruelty to coercion wrapped in kindness. ‘Only good people will reblog’ is just a digital form of social blackmail.

False Urgency & Manufactured Stakes The moment a post tells you "do this now, or else" - it's bypassing your agency. It swaps thought for panic.

Neurodivergent Sensitivity to Harm Avoidance This isn’t about superstition. It’s about the fear of what happens if we don’t play along. That fear is real. Many neurodivergent folks have built entire internal systems around minimizing perceived danger. These posts poke at that. They exploit it.

The Illusion of Safety through Compliance Some users - especially those who’ve seen harm happen "coincidentally" after ignoring a chain post - develop ritualized engagement. It becomes a way to feel in control, even when logic says otherwise. Engagement bait can reignite old fears tied to punishment, loss, or abandonment. And I get it. These posts feel silly. But they sit in the mind like a splinter.

Yes, it's uncomfortable having it called out like this - and it should be. It's meant to be.

IV. Walk a mile in their shoes

I’m not writing this from a pulpit.

I’ve wrestled with compulsive thoughts and weird little rituals my whole life. So when I say this stuff can hurt, it’s not theoretical. It’s personal.

And I’m not here to scold. I’m just inviting you to zoom out. To consider that your reblog might have more impact than you intended.

V. Being Responsible

I try to bear responsibility for what I put out here. Tumblr is full of vulnerable, brilliant, open people. The way we talk to each other matters.

Don't get me wrong, sharing a joke is fun - But if you knew a joke would hurt your friend, you'd probably hold it back. The same logic applies here.

I'm not here to shame anyone - unless you’re making this kind of post in bad faith. If you’re knowingly feeding on people’s fears for notes? That’s not a joke. That’s cruelty. That, to me, is despicable.

All I wanted was to offer this, another point of view. And just maybe, if you’ve ever reblogged something like that without thinking, this helped you see it through a different lens.

Be nice to each other. Look out for each other.

We're all navigating this life for the first time, let's not make it any harder than it needs to be, okay?

Yours truly,

Poe

Just silently accept. The donkey will know.

[aether-weather]

experimenting with a brighter color pallet + backgrounds!! :DD

[seaoftheworst]

🔥 🔥 🔥 gimme gimme gimme

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

🔥- Barto is not someone I enjoy seeing on my screen or on the page. This has nothing to do with the character and everything to do with the gag that he portrays. The fan aspect is blown to creepy proportions, including going to the point of a shrine on the Barto Club ship for the Strawhats. Speaking of that ship.... it is an atrocity of a ship and something that each time I see it I shudder. Designing something to look like a person is something that will never sit right with me.

🔥- I am prefectly fine with the casting of Vivi and Cobra in season 2 of the live action. I have seen a disgusting amount of hate directed at the actress and actor. Do I wish I could see a Arab actor play, due to Arab actors and actresses being rather rare? Yes. But ALABASTA IS A FICTIONAL COUNTRY. It takes heavy influences from Egypt, yes but it also takes influences from other cultures including India (looking at those dancer outfits most of all, that was NOT a thing in Egypt, it looks more like outfits I have seen from traditional India's dancers). More than that, Oda has final say in the casting. HE GAVE THESE TWO THE GREENLIGHT.

🔥- Can we please stop infantalizing the women in One Piece? I have seen people refer to Perona as a minor when she was 23 when we first meet her, and I have seen similar in regards to Nami who was 18. These women can be girly and feminine without being referred to as kids. Let adult women be childish, especially ones who were obviously spoiled like Perona was.

[clopiya]

the dichotomy between my only current shadowsalt doodles

[chaosmax]

As much as the dub/kids wants you to forget the main yugioh cast are Japanese, they still fucking are. Tired of seeing people americanize or westernize them without even acknowledging the original source is Japanese. The main casnt wouldn't celebrate Christmas like we do in the west, it's more of a couples holiday in Japan and is celebrated Christmas eve and almost no one gets off work that day since New Years is their big break of like, 1 week. Majority of Japanese children do not grow up decorating Christmas trees or believing in Santa ffs im tired ok