#the best kind of data

[kimberlychapman]

Okay but it's not just the hat, it's the hat AND the whole little fndhdhdhblrble expression:

[image: Animated gif of Star Trek The Next Generation's Data in a cowboy hat lifting his brows flirtatiously.]

Because Data wears lots of hats (and occasional fetish masks in an episode literally called Masks omg). He has his Sherlock hat, his Carlos hat, his "feel cute might take Bev's advice literally and chuck her in the water" hat, his Fistful of Datas hats, and probably others in his cosplay chest in his quarters. But the cowboy hat is extraaaaa because of that little smoochable brow-lift flirty djsjdnfjdjdness.

Quick PSA: slap a cowboy hat on him and he immediately becomes even more adorable. Please observe:

[kimberlychapman]

So far this is going about as expected.

Data Has Questions

@SpaceDadData

Would you rather be trapped in a turbolift with a random, unknown humanoid male or a targ?

12:10 AM · Apr 30, 2024

[startrekvsfaceapp]

[lightshiningforth]

[kimberlychapman]

This is a good list, but I cannot overstate how much better this list is if you imagine it read by Data in his synonym-listing manner.

100 Dialogue Tags You Can Use Instead of “Said”

For the writers struggling to rid themselves of the classic ‘said’. Some are repeated in different categories since they fit multiple ones (but those are counted once so it adds up to 100 new words). 

1. Neutral Tags 

Straightforward and unobtrusive dialogue tags: 

Added, Replied, Stated, Remarked, Responded, Observed, Acknowledged, Commented, Noted, Voiced, Expressed, Shared, Answered, Mentioned, Declared.

2. Questioning Tags 

Curious, interrogative dialogue tags:

Asked, Queried, Wondered, Probed, Inquired, Requested, Pondered, Demanded, Challenged, Interjected, Investigated, Countered, Snapped, Pleaded, Insisted.

3. Emotive Tags 

Emotional dialogue tags:

Exclaimed, Shouted, Sobbed, Whispered, Cried, Hissed, Gasped, Laughed, Screamed, Stammered, Wailed, Murmured, Snarled, Choked, Barked.

4. Descriptive Tags 

Insightful, tonal dialogue tags: 

Muttered, Mumbled, Yelled, Uttered, Roared, Bellowed, Drawled, Spoke, Shrieked, Boomed, Snapped, Groaned, Rasped, Purred, Croaked.

5. Action-Oriented Tags 

Movement-based dialogue tags: 

Announced, Admitted, Interrupted, Joked, Suggested, Offered, Explained, Repeated, Advised, Warned, Agreed, Confirmed, Ordered, Reassured, Stated.

6. Conflict Tags 

Argumentative, defiant dialogue tags:

Argued, Snapped, Retorted, Rebuked, Disputed, Objected, Contested, Barked, Protested, Countered, Growled, Scoffed, Sneered, Challenged, Huffed.

7. Agreement Tags 

Understanding, compliant dialogue tags: 

Agreed, Assented, Nodded, Confirmed, Replied, Conceded, Acknowledged, Accepted, Affirmed, Yielded, Supported, Echoed, Consented, Promised, Concurred.

8. Disagreement Tags 

Resistant, defiant dialogue tags: 

Denied, Disagreed, Refused, Argued, Contradicted, Insisted, Protested, Objected, Rejected, Declined, Countered, Challenged, Snubbed, Dismissed, Rebuked.

9. Confused Tags 

Hesitant, uncertain dialogue tags:

Stammered, Hesitated, Fumbled, Babbled, Mumbled, Faltered, Stumbled, Wondered, Pondered, Stuttered, Blurted, Doubted, Confessed, Vacillated.

10. Surprise Tags

Shock-inducing dialogue tags:

Gasped, Stunned, Exclaimed, Blurted, Wondered, Staggered, Marvelled, Breathed, Recoiled, Jumped, Yelped, Shrieked, Stammered.

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!

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[my-thoughts-and-junk]

a character's self-deprication being what keeps them from being in a relationship can be really good but mostly when the self deprication is 1. justified and 2. only no longer an issue because their significant other is Into whatever they're angsting about

[moinsbienquekaworu]

Also. The weird girl in school feeling of both intense jealousy and violent repulsion towards "normal" girls.

[badolmen]

*leaves a comment on every single chapter of a fic as I read it* *author replies to every single comment with increasing giddiness and excitement*

This is good. I’m getting a good grade in fic reader. This is both something that is normal to want and possible to achieve.

[kimberlychapman]

LOL, yes please! :D

My SpaceDad Stories already have Data's infodumping addressed as a beloved element of this early stage of the romance.

Excerpt from Book Two below:

PDF, epub, and links to AO3 versions of the books are here if you want to read more wholesome, sweet Data romance, including seeing how Anna mildly chastises Geordi on the next page for how people limit Data's infodumping, and then how she joins in with her own joyous infodumping.

Working on Book Four now as much as chronic illness and parenting allows.

he can infodump so deep inside me I'll have trivia running down my leg

[iamidentical]

autostraddle... yikes

[pepprs]

STILL wide awake! i did not put down my phone! and now im hungry. so i will not be sleeping tonight ♥️

[takamoris]

Sorry I can’t come into work today because I stayed up too late smoking that shit and ranting with my partner about the benefits of socialism and communism, tearing down the pre-existing systems and governments and how exploitative it all is, and

[tytopls]

.

[lycorid]

It’s kind of wild looking at jobs near me.

They all require years of experience and expect you to have things that aren’t even used on the job (drivers license for a job that doesn’t require any form of driving) but they all pay like garbage.

The pay is low enough that you wouldn’t even be able to afford one of the low income housing apartments because they require you to make 3x the rent.

[kimberlychapman]

From SpaceDad Stories Book Two, available here: https://kimberlychapman.com/spacedad/read-the-stories/

If I was friends with Data I would let him infodump about whatever he wants whenever he wants. Rip to the crew of the Enterprise but I'm different.

[communistkenobi]

(taken from a post about AI)

speaking as someone who has had to grade virtually every kind of undergraduate assignment you can think of for the past six years (essays, labs, multiple choice tests, oral presentations, class participation, quizzes, field work assignments, etc), it is wild how out-of-touch-with-reality people’s perceptions of university grading schemes are. they are a mass standardised measurement used to prove the legitimacy of your degree, not how much you’ve learned. Those things aren’t completely unrelated to one another of course, but they are very different targets to meet. It is standard practice for professors to have a very clear idea of what the grade distribution for their classes are before each semester begins, and tenure-track assessments (at least some of the ones I’ve seen) are partially judged on a professors classes’ grade distributions - handing out too many A’s is considered a bad thing because it inflates student GPAs relative to other departments, faculties, and universities, and makes classes “too easy,” ie, reduces the legitimate of the degree they earn. I have been instructed many times by professors to grade easier or harder throughout the term to meet those target averages, because those targets are the expected distribution of grades in a standardised educational setting. It is standard practice for teaching assistants to report their grade averages to one another to make sure grade distributions are consistent. there’s a reason profs sometimes curve grades if the class tanks an assignment or test, and it’s generally not because they’re being nice!

this is why AI and chatgpt so quickly expanded into academia - it’s not because this new generation is the laziest, stupidest, most illiterate batch of teenagers the world has ever seen (what an original observation you’ve made there!), it’s because education has a mass standard data format that is very easily replicable by programs trained on, yanno, large volumes of data. And sure the essays generated by chatgpt are vacuous, uncompelling, and full of factual errors, but again, speaking as someone who has graded thousands of essays written by undergrads, that’s not exactly a new phenomenon lol

I think if you want to be productively angry at ChatGPT/AI usage in academia (I saw a recent post complaining that people were using it to write emails of all things, as if emails are some sacred form of communication), your anger needs to be directed at how easily automated many undergraduate assignments are. Or maybe your professors calculating in advance that the class average will be 72% is the single best way to run a university! Who knows. But part of the emotional stakes in this that I think are hard for people to admit to, much less let go of, is that AI reveals how rote, meaningless, and silly a lot of university education is - you are not a special little genius who is better than everyone else for having a Bachelor’s degree, you have succeeded in moving through standardised post-secondary education. This is part of the reason why disabled people are systematically barred from education, because disability accommodations require a break from this standardised format, and that means disabled people are framed as lazy cheaters who “get more time and help than everyone else.” If an AI can spit out a C+ undergraduate essay, that of course threatens your sense of superiority, and we can’t have that, can we?