#so if you want the url then you can have it but it is with the ... low activity pls still love me... warning.

[mrasmus]

Cosigned. I'm a major Firefox and privacy advocate, and one of the biggest causes of Firefox incompatibilities with websites for me is... how damn private it can be. Enhanced Tracking Protection is a Firefox feature that aggressively sandboxes your browsing data in a way that still lets the web, y'know, basically work for you. Can you go more aggro? Sure; turn off JavaScript and block all cookies and enjoy the fraction of the internet that still works. But ETP gives a solid baseline of privacy functionality (and it's tunable!) without breaking everything.

It does break some stuff, though -- Twitter embeds in new articles, for instance, never render right for me. Why? ETP is blocking the code that Twitter provides to do those embeds in a "rich" fashion, so a basic text fallback is used. Twitter, of course, doesn't want me to do that, because they want their code running and telling them all about what I'm reading and where; I'm happy with denying them (most of) that info. And some websites have a really loose (read: poor) implementation of how they do cross-subdomain login services, and ETP can break those, too. If I want an article to render right, or want to log into some weird secondary Microsoft site that's acting up, I know I can turn off ETP selectively for that tab, right from the shield icon in my URL bar. I rarely actually need to do this at all.

This is built into Firefox; no extra extension needed (not that extensions are always bad; uBlock Origin is indispensible). I don't know if ETP is on by default -- perhaps not, since it does cause occasional minor issues, but you should try it out! The Firefox team is legit giving us tools that Google has financial stake in us not having, and they should be lauded for it.

that article going around abt firefox's new ad program is annoying bc it's phrased as though "mozilla has finally TURNED on its people and is SELLING YOU OUT for cold hard cash!!" when. that's not what's happening. it is specifically being implemented to discourage tracking behavior, and literally all the data they are giving to advertisers is aggregate and anonymized, which is like, the opposite of what that post wants you to worry about, lol

[unpretty]

OKAY

i think i have sharkey set up

so if you're in the fediverse (mastodon, misskey, sharkey, pixelfed, literally whatever) you can follow me @kitty@unpretty.space

i also followed the bridgy fed account so if you want to follow me from bluesky i think you can do that with @kitty.unpretty.space.ap.brid.gy (i can't make any promises about what's going to happen to the formatting of long posts or posts with images)

if you want me to be able to follow your bluesky you're going to have to follow the bridgy fed account

having a now playing widget hooked into listenbrainz is so nostalgic i might die

edit: oh right, and if you want to follow me there via rss the feed url is https://unpretty.space/@kitty.rss :3

[utilitycaster]

this may seem needlessly finicky but I do actually believe it's important: calling Verin a himbo is just one of many examples where like, one of the cast says something off the cuff and it's not exactly the right word or it is highly contextual, and that is fine because no one is perfect especially in improv, but then it gets repeated ad infinitum within the fandom when it never really fit in the first place. We have Verin's stats and he's decently more intelligent than average with a 13 (smarter than most of Bells Hells for one; as smart as Pike); it's just he's the guy with a bachelor's degree with good grades followed by military service in a family where everyone has two PhDs - Matt said "himbo of the family" the way in a family where most people are exceptionally tall you'd call the 5'11" child the short one. In Call of the Netherdeep he appears as thoughtful and competent and promoted to a difficult position at a very young age, and in the campaign his appearance is simultaneously as a leader of troops in a dangerous mission, and someone who cares enough about poetry from a completely foreign and distant culture to have tried to learn more about it. I'm sorry, but if you're using the word "himbo" I don't think you're processing a thing about the character yourself; you're just the latest repetition in a game of telephone that's been going on since mid-2021.

And that's not deeply bad on the surface, and I'm using Verin not because he is the character most wronged by this sort of thing but because he's recent and it's really clear where the word came from and that it's not a good assessment, but something I happen to have a decent knack for is pattern recognition in language. I usually find it really easy to pick up on when someone's plagiarized because of the language and pattern shifts. I tend to remember urls and out of place words well. So I do tend to notice when everyone suddenly starts using a single turn of phrase and I tend to flag it. Sometimes that's not bad; sometimes it means everyone came to a similar conclusion and that's the best way to express that conclusion. But like, when Taliesin called the Yios episode a gas-leak episode and the entire fandom started parroting it? The line "bone-dry takes"? The fact that a lot of ship defenses I see were phrased precisely as "I have eyes"? without actually talking about the ship itself? the fact that I've seen a spike in the use of the term "ontologically evil" including in myself and not all uses are actually correct? And extending this beyond strictly language but consider any headcanon with minimal textual support that catches like wildfire (sidebar: remember how we make, or made fun of the SPREAD THIS LIKE WILDFIRE tendency on Tumblr a decade ago? same concept of repetition of a specific turn of phrase without internalizing) all sort of ping this.

And it's fine, truly, to come to fandom and turn off your brain. I know this will sound sarcastic from me, and that's because I don't personally agree, but I do strongly agree that you can do what you want in fandom and you don't have to listen to my opinions so in the end, yeah, it's fine because I am not the arbiter of "fine". But I think critical thought is a vital exercise and I think precision with language is part of it and so if you find yourself using the same exact words and thoughts as everyone else, that should, ideally, trigger a process of "but are these the right words? what do I see when I see this character and how would I describe them? do I agree with this assessment?" Fandom is an interesting and easier microcosm than reality in which to start doing that.

[batlleonafc]

You can use this site (https://archive.ph/) to read the article by copying and pasting the URL. We don't learn much new (lots of questions about the Olympics) but it's a fun interview and it's always great to see the girls in the media. This passage touched me: It's an honor and a great recognition for women's basketball, even more so given my personal background. I had a complicated year in 2024, with the death of my father and my unwanted departure from Lyon. Thanks to this trophy and the Games in France, I'll have fond memories of this year, despite the terrible times I've had.

I also want to point out the "I'm starting to think about starting a family and imagining that I have to do it with Trump in the White House is hard."

Also thank you Anon!

[wyattjohnston]

the winter fic exchange 2k25

important dates

sign ups close Wednesday November 27 at 11:59pm AEDT (what time is that for me?)

you’ll receive your match no later than December 2

the final day to post your finished fic is January 31 at 11:59pm Anywhere On Earth

guidelines & sign up link below

this is a hockey imagine exchange, meant for reader insert or OC fics (not player/player)

if you signed up for the summer fic exchange 2k24 and did not finish a fic you are not eligible for this exchange without chatting to me first

if you signed up for the summer fic exchange 2k24 and did not reblog the fic written for you, you are not eligible for this exchange. you can go reblog said fic and show your appreciation right now, and then sign up

the minimum word count is 1500 words

no multi-chaptered fics allowed. whatever you do with the fic after (i.e. if it becomes a series) is fine, but the fic posted for the exchange must be a standalone fic.

there’s no requirement to have written x number of fics prior to signing up

if you change your URL at any point after you’ve signed up, please let me know so that your sign up doesn’t get lost. this ideally includes letting me know if it changes before the masterlist goes up

you do not have to be following me, but please check back occasionally between sign ups opening and matches being sent as there might be changes/updates

this is supposed to be fun. if you are going to be overwhelmingly stressed out about the writing process, due date or what people’s response will be to your fic then this isn’t for you. know your own limits.

any updates will be tagged with ‘the winter fic exchange 2k25’

you will need to allow anonymous messages once matches have gone out so that you can be asked questions. if you are unsure about how to change these settings, please let me know

i’m doing this by myself so don’t be a dick.

my DMs and ask box are always open (anons welcome!) if you have any questions.

you can sign up here.

explanation

this functions like secret santa/kris kringle, where people sign up and are then provided a person they will be writing a fic for.

on the google form linked above, you will fill in a bunch of information including players and genres/themes you like to read about and players you like to write about—i then do my absolute best to match these up with each other so that people are receiving what they want and writing within their comfort limits.

there are also spaces to tell me genres and players you want nothing to do with, so that i won’t pair you up with a person who exclusively writes things you aren’t interested in.

after you’ve received your match (the person you’ll be writing for), you can then head into their inbox anonymously and really drill down into what your match would like to receive.

[nattikay]

I had so much fun putting my sona on the little Na'vi base I made recently that I had to do some more characters as gifts! 😸 there were two more I was going to do also, but just these four already took way longer than I anticipated and I need to move to something else for a while. Might come back to them later though... 👀

@arcadia-trash, Gwen is lucky she's a Reef Na'vi; she gets to keep the G and D in her name 😹 in the Forest dialect it'd be spelled Kxuwentxolìn. I based her loincloth on one of the designs from the Metkayina concept art, then for her top I tried to make it match the loincloth while still remaining similar to that initial sketch you did a few years ago haha. Also threw in some white shell/pearl accessories that would shine all pretty in the light as reference to troll!Gwen's moonstone skin :) also originally tried giving her some arm tattoos in addition to the chin and torso ones, but between the detailed chest piece and long curly hair I thought the area was starting to look a little too cluttered so I removed them. But I can still send you the version with them if you'd like! 😸

@the-tiny-dragons-tea-room, I know Kiwi is actually the name of your Sarentu character which may not be the same as the character in the sketch I based this on, but I wasn't sure what else to call her hrh. The sketch only showed her head so I had to take a lot of liberties with her outfit; tried to give her a kinda goth-ish vibe, hope you like it! 😸

[dreamyintersexouppy]

all the tme intersex people i used to know suddenly jumping on the newest transmisogynistic bandwagon and immediately spewing all the same “ur just overreacting, you call everything transmisogyny, stop being hysterical!!!” bullshit really puts into perspective how the intersex community on here gained any traction to begin with, y’all are not immune to pulling the same bullshit perisex people do and you’re calling the intersex transfems arguing against you perisex??? just to let afabs pretend to be us so you have that idealized quiet trans woman again, like i’m sorry but this is a strawman on par with “white trans woman” nothing has changed and at some point you need to realize that your conception of what these terms mean just doesn’t reflect their actual rhetorical use in real conversations about queerness

[theexorcistiii]

I digitized my true stories vhs u can watch it on google drive here if u haven’t seen it please watch it right now it’s the most important movie ever!!!!!!!

Also here’s my whole vhs uploads folder for you to keep an eye on there’s only 1 other thing in it rn but I’m working on digitizing as many of my tapes as I can today ^_^

[corviiids]

wben i finally get more than 0.2 microns of energy and make one of the multiple video essays i desperately want to make so i can yap out loud as god (never) intended

[yingren]

gm yesterday i changed up my carrd again (surprise surprise) and clarified some things in my rules. while i absolutely adore other portrayals of the same character i write, i have never and am not going to start following blogs that are solo blade muses or multis heavily centered around a blade muse. i really want to avoid accidental similarities.

[starflungwaddledee]

What Starstruck Dee theory have people made that is your favourite?

there have been quite a lot, and i genuinely love them all!

early on i think the most popular theory was that she was possessed or had been possessed at some point, most likely by dark matter. she actually debunked this theory personally, but i think people just assumed she was lying! 😂

my favourite part is not any one theory, but watching a shift in thoughts over time as more things are revealed, and seeing people share theories/work together in comments and reblogs. i like the "OOHHH WWWWHAT...!?!" moments a lot; whether they are a reaction to my storytelling or to other folks' detective work!

early theories revolved around how she was weird for a waddle dee, or at least a native of popstar. despite my never explicitly confirming anything to the contrary, theories have now broadly shifted to assuming she is not from popstar at all, and most people do now generally agree she's not really a waddle dee.

i don't recall exactly who first came up with each theory (though some big players are @the-void-is-a-disappointment who did a huge amount of early deetective work and encouraged me to build it as a story for solving, @shibuya-toasted-with-extra-cream, @graycoin and @jojo-schmo) and i'm not sure which of these theories are still held by anyone

but here a few of my favourites, roughly in order that they started appearing...

♻️ she's a total mimic species like kirby or void, copying things around her either by intent or by accident 🗑️ similar to above, but she's an incorrect copy or a "beta" mock-up type of a waddle dee 🧚 that she was just born different, like a fae changeling, and might have been hidden away when young as a result 🕰️ she is something totally inorganic and/or mechanical, created by or like the clockwork stars or stardream, perhaps wish contingent 🥇 sometimes attached to the above, she was created to serve some sort of Greater Purpose. she might have failed at it or been flawed, and was subsequently discarded on popstar 🌠 a dozen and one wildly different things connected to the "falling star that hit her". alien life form on the meteor transferred into her on impact. infection by intergalactic bacteria/dark matter. simply massive concussive trauma that fucked up her signature (back when we thought that was the only thing wrong with her). the star was magic and fused with her. she hatched from it and is literally a star herself. probably missing some here. 🪐 waddle dee from a different place/planet. this one is quite a sensible theory, given that we do see many quite different dees! 🤍 she is a fragmented piece of void/void termina. this one in particular i know is @shibuya-toasted-with-extra-cream 's ongoing theory and she's put in a lot of really cool work towards it! ⚔️ she's somehow connected to the heroes of yore. this theory i think has only started popping up since galacta knight has become a reoccurring visitor in her storyline and we've started asking questions about her familiar looking magic spears, but you can certainly 1hko @moonverc3x with this one 🧿 she's connected to the matters. sometimes soul, because it's sometimes star themed and lacks a token representative. where as a connection to dream might link her to fecto forgo/fecto elfilis in some way (a creature also well known for a catastrophic meteor attack). i've also seen folks confident that she's connected to heart matter as well, probably again due to everyone's favourite grumpy swan showing up

this is all i can think of or locate right now, but there's been a pretty wide range of things. i feel there has been a rather interesting transition over time from "she's a messed up waddle dee" to "she's probably connected to a universal superpower of some kind" which i am genuinely really really thrilled about?! 😂 what a glow up for a pathetic little wawa!!!

i'm also personally really fond of seeing how people's existing biases influence what they can find and draw connections in. for instance: i know @jojo-schmo loves the forgotten land and elfilis, and digs into those connections and draws out some really cool stuff because her knowledge is already so specialised! i think this is the true highlight of working on this story for me, people theorising and engaging in the lore, and laser pin-pointing things that tie into our personal faves-- the way we tend to do with kirby lore as a whole-- is such uninhibited delight

i sincerely hope people will enjoy where starstruck's story does go, in the end!!

[crimeronan]

i try not to be openly mad super often about tumblr users being obnoxious because it really is a small minority of people & i know that a lot of you guys who are Literally Perfectly Fine but also Very Anxious will be like "oh no. am i one of the people who does this."

so let me give u an example of a wildly obnoxious tumblr interaction i had a few months ago. that sticks with me.

at one point i locked the rbs on a house MD post that had gotten a few thousand notes. no one had done anything wrong or bad, but the post was starting to breach containment into discourse that i find pretty upsetting/draining, so i preemptively shut it down. for the sake of my own sanity.

a few weeks after i did this, some tumblr user who does not follow me commented

"OP TURN ON THE REBLOGS"

hm.

hmmm.

to which i responded, "no 💕"

and they said, "why not?? :("

frowny face included btw. apparently it was incomprehensible to them that i might not comply with an all-caps command from a total stranger.

i replied "because i don't want to 💕" and left it at that. as is my right.

this apparently vexed the tumblr user. who left three long and increasingly nasty messages about how i have a shitty attitude and i'm a shit person who's shit at interacting with people who's "so unserious." i do not remember the exact wording of anything except "you're so fucking unserious" because i was like. Hello.

at this point i simply blocked the tumblr user and deleted their comments and my responses to them. i do this frequently on my popular posts. when i get comments that annoy me or people start debating in the notes, i just delete Aaall that shit. and block everyone involved. not in my house!!

if you are a person who can understand where this interaction went wrong, and who cannot conceive of approaching an internet stranger in this manner, then you are Probably not one of the people who drives us fucking crazy. (and chances are that if you HAVE annoyed someone, it was over something pretty minor and low-stakes.)

the wildest thing is that if this person had just said "hey, could you turn on rbs for a few minutes?? i want this on my blog," I WOULD'VE SAID YES....? WHY WOULDN'T I. YOU KNOW.

sometimes. the internet. is.

.....taxing.

[userlaylivia]

ps a couple of these I have used already but I have saved for future use and might go back to at some point lol I'm tempted to use useroliviajames because the spelivia wedding!! almost all have user in front of them because it was taken otherwise lol the stydia one I made awhile ago and saved after I had feelings it's there because I wanted a even number but they are my tw otp even though I ship most of the ships lmao

@maya-matlin, @nikkisgwens, @makeyouminemp3, @katebeckets

[porque-nolos-dos]

i once made a slideshow for my friend of all the various ships and pairings i thought were entertaining and interesting and that is just one of the many fun and enjoyable things you can do for the low price of opening your mind and embracing multishipping. side effects include delighting in various relationship dynamics, devoting your time into searching for fics and content and/or creating fics and content, and apparently experiencing a barrage of hate from people who don't know how to have fun. viewer's discretion is advised!

[l-tora-l-archived]

Hello ! I think for the foreseeable future I'm not really gonna update this blog ! I've been absent for so long here that idk if anyone remembers me LOLS but if you do and you want to continue interacting then I have a new blog set up ! Other than that I hope 2024 is treating everyone well <333

[noctualagenaria]

follow up to my other ask - and i’m not talking about everett (although i might draw him at some point because he’s cool)

JWFHSHD YOU PAID ATTENTION TO MY PINNED 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺