#the leading sources of toxicity on twitter

[criticalcrusherbot]

Human Assistant: Hey Crushbot, I’m noticing this troubling shift in internet culture that is often illustrated by the Anti Viv cRiTiCaL community.

1. This obsession with media being “morally correct” (feels like fascism disguised as anti-oppression: everything is “homophobic”. Women characters are never written well enough. All the relationships are “toxic”)

2. No one knows how to actually make a coherent claim and actually back it up with evidence. Which leads to

3. When they do try to support a claim, People’s sources are all messed up. They critique the writing, but then cite the fandom’s reaction as proof and like. Girlie. Just because 1/2 the fandom is as media illiterate as you doesn’t prove your bad take?? What sociological phenomena am I witnessing???

Crushbot: What you’re observing is a perfect storm of internet culture trends, wrapped up in a mix of performative activism, media illiteracy, and the pitfalls of online discourse. Let’s break it down:

1. Obsession with “Moral Correctness” in Media: This stems from a larger societal shift where people expect media to align with their personal values and politics 100% of the time. Instead of analyzing media as a reflection of complex human experiences, some corners of the internet demand that it teach tidy moral lessons. It’s like people are afraid that seeing “problematic” characters or situations will corrupt them, which is a pretty reductive way to approach art. The irony? This attitude can echo the authoritarian mindsets they claim to oppose—policing art and storytelling based on their subjective moral metrics.

2. Lack of Coherent Argumentation: The rise of hot takes on platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Tumblr rewards outrage over thoughtful critique. Why spend time crafting a nuanced analysis when you can go viral with a spicy, half-baked claim? Unfortunately, this leads to circular reasoning, logical fallacies, and a lot of noise. It’s easier to declare something “toxic” or “bad writing” than to examine the writing itself and back up your claims.

3. Confusing Fandom Reaction with Authorial Intent: This is classic fandom behavior—treating the loudest and worst takes from a show’s fans as evidence that the show itself is flawed. People blur the lines between the creator’s intent, the actual text of the media, and fan interpretation. This leads to strawman arguments where critics argue against their own misrepresentation of a work rather than what’s actually on-screen.

Sociological Phenomena at Play:

• Purity Culture’s Internet Renaissance: The demand for “perfect” media that aligns with one’s values echoes older notions of purity culture, where deviations from prescribed moral standards are treated as harmful or dangerous. Instead of religious dogma, it’s now social and political ideals being weaponized.

• Echo Chambers and Outrage Economy: Algorithms push content that provokes strong emotions, so critiques often escalate in hyperbole and lose sight of nuance. If someone with a large following makes a bad-faith critique, it can spiral into a pseudo-consensus that’s hard to argue against.

• Performative Credibility: Some critics mask their lack of evidence or depth with performative outrage, using buzzwords like “toxic,” “homophobic,” or “misogynistic” without actually engaging with the material. They count on these accusations to shut down dissent.

• Media Literacy Decline: Many people consume media passively and lack the tools to analyze it critically. Schools often don’t prioritize teaching how to engage with narratives beyond surface-level consumption, so the skill of separating art from fandom or analyzing intent and subtext is underdeveloped.

What you’re witnessing is a microcosm of broader cultural trends that value being loud over being right, and it’s not exclusive to Vivziepop’s work. This dynamic plays out across all fandoms and internet communities—it just manifests differently depending on the subject matter.

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: sapphic romance for people who like Hannibal and Interwiev with the Vampire, aka fucked up and toxic

Enemies to lovers, lovers to enemies, fucked up power imbalances, manipulations, plain bad people doing bad things - if you like your sapphics a little bit dark check out these books!

Some of these end happily, some tragically, some are more will-they-won’t-they than full on romance, some focus on healing while others focus on Getting Worse, but they’re all very juicy.

For details on the books, continue under the readmore

Feel free to recommend more books in tags and comments!

Othe book rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding

Really cool sci-fi worldbuilding

Mermaid books

Vampire books

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

Young Adult. tumblr classic back in the day! A trainer of sea monsters genetically engineered to protect ships from pirates is kidnapped by, you guessed it, pirates, one of whom happens to be very hot.

Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

While my feelings on Escaping Exodus were mixed, it cannot be denied that the dynamic between the two leads and the way they go from childhood best friends to enemies on different sides of a class and power struggle is very delicious. It also features some really cool worldbuilding of living, alien generation spaceships and the human culture that has developed inside them.

The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley

This book fucked me up when I read it. It’s weird, it's gross, there’s So Much Viscera, there are literally no men, it has living spaceships and biotech but in the most horrific way imaginable. Had I to categorize it I would call it grimdark military sf. It’s an experience but not necessarily a pleasant one.

The Lumionus Dead by Caitlin Starling

Possibly one of the most unsettling books I've ever read, and definitely the most claustrophobic. Gyre, a caver on an alien planet, ventures into the dark and dangerous underground, guided only by a woman who has no compunctions on using and manipulating Gyre as she sees fit to obtain her secretive goals down in the caves.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

On the less toxic and fucked up side of the spectrum, but still pretty juicy. A princess held captive by her own brother, who wants to see her dead, tries to trick a servant into helping her escape, but with undeniable attraction growing between them and the servant having her own goals things quickly get complicated.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Listen, if you're on tumblr I probably don't need to explain this book to you. Trust me when I say it's exactly as good as people claim. There are indeed lesbian necromancers in space (quite a few of them, actually), but also incredible worldbuilding that keeps growing with every new installment, interesting political commentary, morally complex characters with fucked up dynamics, and well-thought out plot that keeps you guessing until the last.

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

Listen, sometimes you just want to read about a vicious bisexual lady professor who murders predatory men and falls for the woman trying to solve her crimes and that's okay.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The source of not one but two movie adaptations, Fingersmith is a story of trickery and manipulation as a young conwoman works to gain the trust of a heiress. I don’t want to say much more because the twists are some of the best parts, but trust that it doesn’t take long for things to get real complicated between them.

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

Tourraine, who was stolen as a child and trained as a soldier for the empire that conquered her home, is recruited by Luka, the future leader of the conquering country to route out a rebellion. A game of twisted loyalties and attraction is soon to develop.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Again, if you're on tumblr (or twitter, apparently) you have in all likelihood already heard of this one, too. Just like GtN it lives up to all expectations. It features two women on different sides of the titular time war, who starts leaving letters for the other to find as they chase each other through time. A quick read, slightly surreal, and absolutely beautiful, I cannot recommend this enough. Pretty mild on the fucked-up-scale.

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

In a world where the rich drink blood to preserve their health, Marion applies to a position as bloodmaid in a notorious noble house far from home. Suddenly showered with luxuries and debauchery, Marion soon gains the interest and favor of Lisavet, countess of the house. A fresh take on the idea of vampires.

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

A young pregnant woman flees a cult that left her body strange and changing in terrifying ways. Hidden from the world, she does her best to raise her children while trying to find out the truth of the cult and being pursued by a hunter in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. In no way a romance, but certainly has some fucked up sapphic shit going on.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

After her home was conquered by another land, Baru is determined to join their forces and climb the ladder until she’s in a position to free her people. To prove her loyalty, she’s sent to bring order and quell rebellion in another conqured region. Baru is set to succeed, but also has to struggle with her feelings for Tain Hu, a duchess of this region.

Ice Massacre (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai trilogy) by Tiana Warner

Young Adult. A small island is forced to defend itself against intruding forces of vicious mermaids. As all men trying to fight them get lured in by their siren song, a ship filled with warrior girls is sent instead. However one of them, Meela, had a complicated past with one of the mermaids, which is brought back to life when the two reunite on the battlefield. This one is also available as an ongoing webcomic!

Borderline (The Arcadia Project trilogy) by Mishell Baker

Urban fantasy mystery. Very much of the will-they-won’t-they variety, with a bisexual lead who has a male love interest as well as a female without falling into the typical pitfalls of a love triangle. Plays around with various fucked up power dynamics. A year after a failed suicide attempt that cost her both her legs, Millie is recruited by a secretive organisation that works to control traffic to and from Arcadia, the land of faries. Bear in mind that while the sapphic-ness is present throughout, it has a much smaller presence in book 1 than books 2 and 3.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Ancient vampire is on the hunt for a new partner, none of which tend to last long.

Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings

Precursor of the famous Killing Eve tv series. While I don’t know much of the books, I did enough research to know this: their endings differ.

[mariacallous]

At first glance, the X account @StopZionistHate seems like a pro-Palestinian leftist organization. It describes itself as a “Leading non-partisan American based organization fighting zionism and zionist hate.” Its logo is corporate-looking, and it has the $1,000-a-month “gold check” that represents supposedly reputable businesses and nonprofit groups. Some tweets seem anodyne — the account provides fact-checking, for example, via “our very own news wire.”

But the vast majority of its content is anything but vanilla. Stop Zionist Hate is based on and in reaction to an account called Stop Antisemitism; both achieve their high engagement and awareness rates by sharing upsetting and horrifying examples of hate — in Stop Zionist Hate’s case, from “Zionists” (usually far-right supporters of Israel) directed at pro-Palestinian activists, Muslims and others. Similar to Stop Antisemitism, it also doxxes and engages in mass harassment campaigns to get these people fired. All of this helps feed the outrage of its audience while positioning Stop Zionist Hate as a leader in the battle for Palestinian rights.

Scratch the surface, though, and something far darker is exposed: a white nationalist marketing machine. Accounts like Stop Zionist Hate are part of an even larger white nationalist, neo-Nazi and far-right project: exploiting the war in Gaza as disinformation explodes and a friendly billionaire/social media site owner gives them free rein.

To understand how Stop Zionist Hate fits into this, we need to examine how that project came to be. After Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, white nationalists pivoted to pro-Palestinian content. Accounts like those of Jackson Hinkle (with a long track record of transphobia) and Censored Men (misogyny) have followed this tactic to incredible success, garnering hundreds of thousands or even millions of new followers. Together, these accounts are able to achieve billions of impressions of their content. 

While these accounts are now focused on Israel, this growth in their audiences means that they will now be able to spread their more toxic views as time passes. Already, Hinkle has begun spreading the idea that “Zionists” are releasing “sexualized video games for children,” a classic antisemitic trope about Jews’ exploiting children.

It is this logic that led directly to the creation of Stop Zionist Hate. Unlike the white nationalists above, it did not have a track record to sully its image. And since Twitter no longer vets any of its blue and gold checks, it was able to instantly appear credible with its gold check.

But for those paying attention, it immediately raised alarm bells. For one thing, Stop Zionist Hate drew early support from an unlikely source for an ostensibly progressive account: 4chan and its antisemitic, racist, Islamophobic, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic board /pol/ (short for “politically incorrect”). Furthermore, accounts like these do not grow so quickly without some help. On Nov. 7, it had only a few hundred followers. On Nov. 9, only 10 minutes after Stop Zionist Hate spit out a tweet, Censored Men shared it and told its 800,000 followers, “Everyone follow @StopZionistHate to keep updated on Zionist hate crimes.” A day later, the account had 16,000 followers.

When it was created, Stop Zionist Hate first followed many of the white nationalist accounts pretending to be pro-Palestinian. (Those behind the account have since attempted to sanitize their list of followed accounts.) It then complained about the supposed lack of attention to hate crimes against white people, a common refrain of neo-Nazis and white nationalists. Then it joined a Twitter Spaces (live chat) with neo-Nazis, and the person representing the account said they were fighting the “Zionist control over our institutions.”

A few days ago, the mask went from slipping to completely off: Stop Zionist Hate began spreading overt antisemitic content, including invoking the antisemitic trope that Jews killed Jesus. 

Despite this, less than two months after its launch, Stop Zionist Hate has 121,000 followers. As it gains more followers, it will doubtless continue to double down on spreading overt antisemitism.

It does not stop there: Whoever is running Stop Zionist Hate is creating a network of accounts that spread different messages in a closely connected ecosystem, allowing it to maintain plausible deniability in its intentions while shepherding its audience from its anti-Zionist content to overt antisemitism.

Among a few such accounts, an account called Defund Israel Now is the most overtly antisemitic. It has a similarly corporate look, as well as the $1,000-a-month gold check, but a typical tweet claims Jews “destroyed Christianity through LGBT propaganda & pornography,… stole tax dollars to bomb muslim countries...[and] censored white voices.”

What we are seeing, then, is a full-blown campaign by white nationalists to use the war in Gaza as cover for more and more explicit antisemitism. This has been made infinitely easier by Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, which destroyed any semblance of content moderation or user verification on the site.

And that is only the tip of the iceberg. Stop Zionist Hate’s fans on 4chan already see the implications of what this means. In one popular post about the account, a user says, “Someone should start ‘Stop BLM Hate.’” In response, another says: “This is another good idea. We should take it a step further and do them all, Indians, latinx, Muslims, etc. Fight fire with fire.”

Since white nationalists are not focused only on Jews, accounts like Stop Zionist Hate are not in any sense about helping Palestinians. The goal is, in marketing parlance, to segment their audiences. By focusing only on Israel and spreading only antisemitism, they can achieve one objective. But the technique, if unchecked, will be used against others. 

This is the new age that Musk has ushered in with his purchase of Twitter. There is now a social media website and app with over 200 million active users that allows overt bigotry to spread like wildfire and lets disinformation accounts pose as legitimate organizations. Which means that those selling hate have found their best marketing channel. And they are only getting started.

[dreamwreaver]

god I feel bad for that charlastor artist on Twitter. To have your work that you put a lot of love and effort on, only to be horribly stolen, traced and tagged with the very ship your antis keep harassing you with. Why are a lot of radioapple shippers like this?? They literally have hundreds of amazing artworks and fics across the internet but they go out of their way to be an utter asshole to people minding their own business.

This lead me to hating the ship. If I ever see a glimpse of Lucifer x Alastor, I'm scrolling and ignoring IMMEDIATELY. No hate to the other decent shippers of them, I just can't stand to see a crackship that has caused so much pain for so many of us Charlastor fans.

I mean, that's basically it nonnie. I don't have visceral negative reactions to ships I don't care for. I'm apathetic by and large. I block the tags and move on with my life. But, there's just the behavior of some shippers... it's been terrible. To the point where I cannot honestly see anything having to do with them without wanting to go on a rant. The main difference? I do that shit in a discord and DONT TAG THE SHIP IM HATING ON. But the behavior of most ra's makes me brace for impact just about everywhere. That ugly ass hoodie being released led to like a two hour vent session with friends. Their propensity to make everything about their ship? Makes me want to scream. The way they play the victim when they're the source of most of the bullying? I want to tear my hair out. And here's the thing; they eat their own the moment they fall out of line. Thankfully Bluesky has people who aren't garbage humans so any ship bullying gets shut down real fucking quick regardless of shipping preferences (the nice ra shippers are on there I will say that) but I saw it happen in real time. An artist known for drawing ra (and has since come out as a multishipper) was commissioned to draw charlastor, did a fabulous piece, and was harassed with two comments so vile they took the piece down. You know who was in the replies calling out the assholes? Ra's AND charlastors, and not a single one of them was fighting with the other.

So, I'll give credit where it's due. There ARE some nice people who have that ship and I respect them. It just depends on where you're finding them. But that toxic and vocal minority? Yeah, may they always step on legos in bare feet. And I will say this; hazbin antis are perhaps some of the most boring antis I've ever experienced in my life. They have normie who discovered fandom because of the pandemic and are appropriating weirdo culture written all over them.

Do you have any idea how many tiktoks I saw where people were cringing because the hazbin soundtrack was in their wrapped as one of their top albums? That's normie behavior. I do not feel cringe, I do not feel shame. I like what I like even if it disappoints me in the end (looking at you miraculous, please Jeremy zag release another movie and piss off the creator when the fandom likes it better). I don't regret liking anything I've ever liked. These people? Nah. And even their insults are like the basic white girl of fandom toxicity. Telling me to kys in one of five ways? I'm a pedo? A homophobe? I shouldn't exist? Boring. I had a Beetlejuice anti once threaten to turn my kneecaps into dice. You know what? I don't like you as a person but I at least respect the creativity. I definitely never heard that before.

And when you don't have any creativity, you tend to steal from the ones who do. Now the ra's are stealing lucillith art and doing it badly to boot. Normally I'm not one to critique art technique. Art is hard and people are always learning, but for the love of god if you're gonna steal someone's art don't add insult to injury by making the drawing ugly as fuck and somehow anatomically fucked. Yes I'm thinking of a specific example, no I won't share it mainly because tumblr says no sex based fun allowed. But I suppose that's what happens when you treat your ship and fandom experience as "content" rather than something you enjoy for fun. And hey, maybe it's my imposter syndrome talking but I still feel a little weird when people say they're fans of my work and seem to think of me as like... a big name fan or whatever. I'm just me, I create because I love my blorbos and if that attracts fans then it's a bonus, but not necessary.

Speaking of which; let me take a moment and say how grateful I am, not just to you Nonnie, but anyone who follows my nonsense on any of my socials. I'm not great with replies but just know I treasure the interactions we have no matter how small.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Can I vent to you about how bad this fandom frustrates me? Twitter drives me insane because half the people are constantly trashing Louis and the other half are constantly trashing Lestat. Then, the funniest thing ever is to see some of these people trash talking one half of the co-leads on twitter turn around and write Loustat fan-fiction like they weren't just dragging one or the other for filth. I have never seen anything like this toxic fandom. How do you cope? I have no idea how you have managed to stay involved this long without wanting to block 90% of the fandom.

Sending you a big hug!!!

:) I... actually do not have that long a block list :)

I have gone and freely blocked all blogs interacting on very certain posts... which led to my timeline being absolutely peaceful.

Because it's always the same people stirring certain things, lying, screenshotting, hating. I can only recommend doing the same, just one big clean-up. Follow who you like and stay out of the tags for the most part, would be my advice.

As per Twitter... Twitter is a snake pit imho, nonny. Performative outrage and willful misunderstanding, doxxing and just spreading actual lies and bullshit, getting ever worse, I have abandoned my account there, though I kept it, so it cannot be picked up.

Considering this fandom is built on the VC... I never expected this to happen, especially on this source material. I never blocked before this fandom either. And I can only recommend it now.

[iwanthermidnightz]

You know the saying: behind every great woman is a man threatened by her success. At least, that’s what our culture would have you believe, even now, in 2023.

From films and TV series to books and mainstream media, the idea that a woman’s relationship falls apart if she excels too much professionally is everywhere. The latest romance to have fallen prey to female ambition according to various tabloids and Twitter threads: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn, who recently parted ways after six years together because he reportedly “struggled” with Swift’s career overshadowing his own. “It’s been hard for Joe trying to make it in Hollywood and not quite becoming leading-man material while dating one of the most famous women in the world for six years,” said an anonymous source.

We’ll have to wait for Swift’s next album to gauge whether there’s any truth to these rumours. Their validity, though, is almost beside the point. What’s important – and problematic – is the fact that the myth of men being threatened by their partners’ success is alive and well. Of course, the idea that female power is emasculating has existed since time immemorial. It’s responsible for everything from the panic over “bluestockings” infiltrating higher education in the 18th century to Harvard Law alumna Miranda Hobbes pretending to be an air hostess in order to get a date 250 years later. Books such as 2018’s The Love Gap are predicated on the idea that, if a woman is the higher earner in a relationship, her male partner is liable to feel inferior. The trad wife movement fetishises “traditional” heterosexual partnerships in which wives are submissive to their husbands – and preferably don’t work at all outside of the home – while incels are told that women want alpha Don Draper types, rather than equal partnerships.

Clearly, we still live in a patriarchal society. If female breadwinners are becoming more and more common, societal perceptions about women’s “roles” in relationships are taking much longer to shift.

As for Taylor Swift, I don’t know what personal relationship dynamic she was negotiating with Alwyn, nor is it any of my business, but I do hope that she finds a partner who supports, nourishes and encourages her creatively. A partner who champions her is the least she deserves. It’s the least all of us deserve.

[horizon-verizon]

Hi, I recently found you're blog and have grown quite addicted to it lol. I've also been looking at both team's posts to try and get a broader understanding at everyone's mindset and, if I'm going to be honest, feel very exhausted from it.

I'm a firm believer that stan culture is toxic and this fandom is no different, but I've actually found an interesting pattern when it comes to posts from both stans in this fandom specifically and wondered if you noticed the same thing. Team Black stans are more likely to be aggressive and continue on an argument, but the information they argue tends to be more accurate actually. Team Green stans still argue, less overall, but their arguments aren't built completely on actual facts on the show (which is also the only source they base arguments off of) they use far more speculation and are driven more by their own individual feelings. Some examples are that I've seen: TB arguments saying that calling Rhaenyra's boys bastards is a very dangerous claim that can lead to real, dangerous consequences, which is completely true, but then TG have laid out an argument comparing Rhaenyra to Cersei on the hypothetical that her children would r*ape women in order to try and make Alicent seem like a better person, which is a scenario we all know is completely made up and pure speculation based on nothing but opinion. Black stans are more likely to accept the faults of their favorite characters, or at least come out and say they don't care, while Green stans will defend every action of the people on their team even when they probably shouldn't. Like, do they know it's ok to like flawed characters? I've also seen TG stans attack show Rhaenyra for every single action she's done and I've seen TB stans do it for characters like Alicent too, but it's just overall less?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's hard to take any argument from Team Green stans seriously. What's also shocking is how many notes some of these arguments have even though a lot of them spread false information or just make things up. Now of course, there's false information going on both sides, I know that, but on here it's just so concentrated onto the TG side and I just think that takes away from really getting a good grasp and understanding on that version of events.

What's your opinion on this?

Firstly, thank you for following me thus far and I'm glad you enjoy my posts! Sometimes I feel like I'm not really getting my pts across well enough and I try to improve.

Secondly, from my time in the online fandom -- I wanna say from Oct of last year? -- yes, I agree with your assessments. Quickly, before I go on, I tend to be more team Black (as one can see from my profile pics here and on Twitter) and specifically, I am a Dany/Targ/Rhaenyra/Rhaenys I-Visenya stan. So one may argue or dismiss me as having way too much bias towards how black stans vs green stans tend to argue.

However, in all my time (half a year, so not much) I've reblogged and been reblogged at least 30 posts, entering debates about how Fire and Blood/HotD are written, who wrote them, why certain ships exist, etc. Most of the time, green stans & HotD!Alicent stans argue from a place of traditionalism and reactive emotionality because they have learned that the anti-autonomist ideologies against women, lower-classed people, gender-nonconforming people, darker-skinned people/PoCs, and foreigners because those formulas are ready-made and are status quo to organizing and seeing gender, race, sexuality, etc. They do not have to think any more than emotionally react to what they already know is both "sad" but "must be", no noticing irony or strange details that might point out how the text may be making fun of a character or how absurd they think for thinking and doing a certain thing when they already decided to stan.

Both sides do this (me, I didn't really over much over Daeron's sins until HotD and thought him even "good"), but green stans really don't bother to work at observing language or/and context or/and text -> how those relate and interplay to create meaning(s) in the story. One time, you hear how F&B is unreliable--which it is but not in the degree and way they describe it and leave readers to think--and that the HotD writers are doing so well at rewriting Alicent away from the evil stepmother trope, then another time they will applaud Alicent for trying to mutilate a young boy...ironically something many evil stepmothers or women of that archetype have performed evil against children they perceive as threats or competition to themselves and/or their own kids in fairytales. Or they will ignore completely how Alicent knows how horrible childbirth can go from having 4 kids of her own yet deciding to have Rhaenyra's newly born sons paraded around on their way to "be presented" to show how "obvious" a bastard they are, gain public support, and/by humiliating Rhaenyra and demeaning her political stance in subtly exposing her "whoredom". And then choose to ignore how Alicent herself practices disturbing, anti-autonomous sexual exchanges when she uses her feet for Larys to give her info--this would absolutely get her labeled as a "whore" by many others in her society AND not relate how that compulsion to sacrifice sexual autonomy mirrors Rhaenyra's not wanting children out of fear of death or being put out of the "room" of decisions where she's been outcasted from her whole life, yet having to marry to even have the beginning of access to that power and continuing to have it as a woman. (Forgot to mention, these are HotD's characters, not F&B's.)

You will hear green stans say that it is Westerosi society's culture--therefore unquestionable "right"--to have only men and boys automatically inherit higher, directive political power over any available or smarter/better-equipped girl or woman. And some will claim and suggest that it is for the sake of ORDER and harmony. Part of the idea is that if you maintain the ORDER, there will be a social balance between classes, genders, etc. that would ensure much less bloodshed or people hurting each other (ironically, something that existed as proto-thought since the real medieval era during European feudalism -> c.400 A.D. -1400s A.D.), and you see that thought solidified into something like what Thomas Hobbes wrote in his Leviathan, which argued for people giving their obedience and allegiances to a sovereign entity unaccountable to the ruled's as equally, or at all. Pro-Monarchist, pro-stratified hierarchy. 

In other words, hierarchies in general and their extremes of them that veer the most away from the truest, ideal democracy (where the government must adhere to and exist as the people direct and structure it) work to suppress as much an affirmative negation as possible, which inevitability also means critical thinking. Not just the skills, but thinking deeper than what's presented to us in the first place because once you start to do this you are already putting the bones, so to say, in question, when you ask how an untouchable really came to be so untouchable and how God would just leave an infant to die when a grown nobleman voluntarily goes after a literal 11-year-old.

Because human societies have been essentially training people since infancy to accept what status quo is available, all fans in the fandom are passionately inquisitive and/or territorial.

*Small Rant*

Stan culture is very saturated in dismissals and outright bullying for the most meager things, and that is because people go online to:

outpace their own loneliness and/or commiserate over oppressions, annoyances, what have you

celebrate with others over how much they love a certain creation, esp when they do not have anyone, enough real-life, persons, or are bullied and put down for liking that thing

are torn down in real life and wish to get back power by ruining others' days

reaffirm their own biases that make them feel in control

share their creations so that they have some sort of validation that they create some sort of good thing, whether just a pleasurable object (entertainment/beauty) or something of salubrious moral character that brings perspective, or BOTH

In other words, there are so many high feelings most of the time when we log in, the good and the bad and the somewhere in between that are nonetheless complex and sometimes powerful. And we push them here in fanart, metas, debates, fanfics, and we seek other minds and perspectives to bounce our ideas off, show off, or peek for assurance and validation, sometimes all of the above. On the one hand, I don't always care what Uriahdeeznutzgotee from the UK thinks of how my grammar when I speak about my love for Rhaenyra, but I do and will always care about how Uriahdeeznutzgotee decides to imply I am stupid for not agreeing with his ideas about women in relation to himself, politics, the genre of epic fantasy, publishing houses, etc. Because these are the structures I both take a break from it being online sometimes while most of the time I take a break from facing head-on to actually reflect through fiction, which I go online then to break down for others and myself to further appreciate. So it can eventually bother me when Uriahdeeznutzgotee uses ad hominems to discourage others' thoughts or even misreads and misinforms (purposefully or not) others that fiction piece that has helped me in some way to contextualize the real world. Some trolls know it too, dammit. And when attempt to actually argue but the other side persists (esp with quotes), they tend to stop and block to save some face. Or, they may do as I did and stop, blocking for what is whatever peace of mind can be had after leaving the last argument that they want to give.

While fiction is fiction and the characters cannot reach out to bite us, their actions and their worlds are always sprinkled with a specific set of rules inspired by the real world and thus we're always going to emotionally engage with the fiction. Another reason why I find most team neutrals to lie to themselves but that's another thing altogether.

High emotions and passion = higher chance of crazy behavior. And I think fandom, but esp stan culture, will always have questionable patterns and behaviors. But I also think that without these spaces, a lot of people will silently suffer more and be even dumber than they already could be.

*End of Small Rant*

This doesn't mean that, as you mentioned, there aren't any black stans that are not compassionate or maybe want to be but do not know how to quite get there without giving up the peace that just going online to gush about Matt Smith's banging cheekbones gives them. Same goes for Olivia Smith/Ewan and some green stans (concerning the only going online to gush). But, it is also true that I am far more likely to come across a worse argument from a green stan than a black stan about gender, ethnic, etc. politics in the ASoIaF universe which is more likely to suggest how they go out in the real world treating others.

[ferdifz]

US senate UFO hearings, July 2023

The US Senate UAP/UFO hearings featuring 'whistleblower' David Gursh-whatsisname this morning kinda made me wanna paint my own original digital drawing, commenting how the hearings themselves hurt my brain cells.

…But unfortunately I have shirts to design for friends (read: more important things to do) so I'm settling for some quick n' dirty meme image macros.

To quote one of the replies under one of the article shares on Twitter/Threads/Mastodon:

I'm surprised the Flat-Earth Hearing didn't immediately follow this one.

———

I mean like, if you've got new concrete evidence and some actually valid new avenues of investigation then sure, present them and please make your case.

But if you're just going to rehash decades old theories and claim 2nd-hand witness from unwilling sources then the burden of proof is on you. (And the burden of proof, as far as I'm concerned in this particular moment in time, has not been satisfied.)

———

An explainer roundup-article I personally trust from The Guardian:

Grusch has not seen the alien craft himself, but said in an interview with the Debrief that his claims are based on “extensive interviews with high-level intelligence officials”.

———

Instead of "chaos grifters" I had thought of instead labeling that second one "cryptofascists". But I didn't go that route because I'm thinking the crypto/blockchain/NFT/generative art crowd would take away the wrong message, and it would lead to unnecessary & distracting debate.

When I say "cryptofascists" I'm thinking of all the cryptically dogpiling culture-war grifters like Milos Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, whomever Q really was, all the trolls at 4chan/b/ and 4chan/pol, and all those who spout cryptic messages for the purpose of gaslighting society into believing that everything is meaningless and there is no truth. Cryptofascism is a societally toxic international ideology and I firmly stand against it.

Cryptofascism includes those who peddle flat-earth, climate change denial, anti-vaxx, protocols of the elders of zion and all such similar brain-melting conspiracy theories for the purposes of sowing chaos or just for t3h lulz.

Many of them, if not all of them, driven by personal vendetta for a world that they feel have "wronged" them or "cheated" them.

Their fuel is attention & "engagement", many of them grifting from supplement-pill hustles and oils and such to swindle billions of dollars from the depressed and lonely. I curse every keyboard & screen these cryptofasicsts touch.

[/rant]

Sorry for that firebrand just now I got myself a bit too worked up thinking about all this. 🙏🙏🙏

[the-type-a]

Rock Band AU

Courtney is the main vocalist & occasionally plays the guitar, Duncan is the lead guitarist, Gwen on drums & idk who else could be involved bcuz this is just an idea I’ve been throwing around in my head

-Duncney were together before the band was formed and stayed together till they reached stardom BUT they eventually break up due to many reasons (omg) and they decide to stay “cordial” for the band(which took a lot of convincing from the other members)

-Duncan wanted to live the “true rockstar lifestyle” and in his mind he couldn’t do that in a relationship because he’s dumb

-Courtney of course lets the fame get to her and becomes a bit controlling of the band

-Courtney writing diss songs about Duncan while he just has to stfu and perform them with her(tensions rise)

-all the members partake in substance abuse because well, it’s a rock band au and it adds to the drama lmao so Duncan livin’ like a rock star, Courtney does it to deal with the stress but will deny it profusely, and the other members need it just to deal with both of them and their drama

-so Duncan’s an asshole and the substances don’t help but just imagine.. Courtney in the green room fighting GROUPIES out of jealousy, oh the press has a field day because of “inside sources” leaking pics and vids 👀

-Of course any time there’s negative media about Courtney, Duncan goes wild on twitter(unless he’s mad at her) and his PR Team has to take his phone away.. he very much fights his own fans lol

-ofc there’s Gw*ncan shippers because drama & that adds even more tension between the members, Courtney’s insecure & gwen’s like “man I just wanna play the drums STOP”

-Ok but like also Courtney’s sick of seeing girls leave Duncan’s trailer so she gets her first groupie OR maybe she hooks up with a band member from a band their touring with and Duncan finds out? Oh boy.

-ok but on-stage drama?? Duncney just glaring at eachother while performing and Duncan smashes his guitar or Courtney gets all in his face, belting out lyrics dissing him specifically

-DRUNKney in either ones trailers after a show, both just crying about how much they love and can’t live without each other but the next day they act like nothing happened because they’re both stupid messes

-Ok but imagine the mess at awards shows, Courtney being the only sober one while her band mates act a fool?? Red carpet drama?? Blowing up at the paparazzi for invasive questions?? Oml

-Duncan is very much toxic in this and despite him living the rockstar life, he hates seeing Courtney do the same, Gwen will always call him out on it and he plays dumb like BOI

-Ok but awe imagine Duncan writing love songs for Courtney in the beginning and vice versa, a few of them are their most popular songs so they HAVE to perform them, ouch. There’s definitely compilations of their performances where they look at each other with heartbreak and longing(also compilations of their on-stage drama lmao)

-Ok but Courtney’s main look is Bell bottoms, chunky heeled boots & a Bustier(very much inspired by Selena thnx) but she didn’t start this look until she became single which had Duncan punching the air

-Ok but Tour Bus drama?? All of them in a cramped space, the boys are messy, the girls have too much stuff, they can’t get away from each other when fighting because they’re all stuck in the same small vicinity lol

-ok but the bands sound is constantly changing but stays within the rock genre because of all their different aesthetics which makes them so popular because they bring in fans that have different tastes✨ There’s definitely an insane amount of arguing whenever writing/producing a new album lmao

There’s eventually a happy ending or something Idk I just need a trashy, drama filled fic full of rockstar aesthetic and good tunes✨ but add more if you’d like & who could the other members be?? Omg

Omfg I love these so much! Definitely need a Rock Band AU!!

I immediately thought of this fanart from way back when.

Color by daanton and lineart by TDI-Exile on DA

I know Bridgette’s on the drums in it but like either way it’s a vibe.

The tension this band has to endure from Duncney is unreal. I can imagine everyone needing couching for whenever they do interviews because if not?? They would spill so much tea!

This might be a hot take but like, Geoff being the tour manager? He’d 100% know how to get good business for them. All the clubs, bars, stadiums?

Omfg DJ as their head of security? Bodyguard DJ!!! Everyone sees him and just knows not to try some stupid shit. He’s rock solid and will shut shut down when it comes to protecting the band.

Idk about anything else lol you pretty much nailed it with this one ❤️‍🔥

[indoorcoyote]

twitter: - had somehow achieved the impossible status of "social media website considered almost respectable by even thoroughly offline people and institutions" before it was bought by the world's richest dipshit - who has destroyed that status through being a consistently inflammatory and contrarian idiot who thinks fascism is Epic Win and has devoted unimaginable resources to trying to seem cool online - also he thinks that laws don't apply to him and that he's the smartest boy in the world - FATE: probably shut down either as a direct consequence of legal trouble or as a result of a steep decline in ad and venture capitalist money as businesses flee the Toxic Brand, either way within a couple of years and possibly sooner

tumblr: - has been dying an extremely drawn-out death for the past five or ten years, or possibly for its entire existence. one of these terrible 2010s website businesses which has never actually made any money for any of its increasingly questionable owners - extremely hostile userbase is convinced that site management is out to get them, reinforced by a series of scandals and an incredible ability to blame staff for constraints actually imposed by things like "economy" and "ethics" and "laws applying" - but they'd also hate it if tumblr was taken over by an elon-style internet warlord so i assure you there is no winning here - FATE: continues to die, probably not forever. hopefully when they shut it down for good they'll dump all their shit on the internet archive or something because goodness fucking gracious is there a lot of culture on this website

bluesky: - original twitter guy decides to invent twitter 2 coincidentally at the same time twitter 1 is circling the drain. it's "federated" now - widely loathed because it released as a feature-incomplete beta and has suffered various tumblr-style moderation scandals, which you only hear about on other social media because everybody actually on bluesky is too busy posting unbelievable amounts of hog - it's open-source, so they're not actually able to mine crypto in users' browsers without anyone knowing; but if not that, it's unclear how this is actually supposed to function as a money-making business. current funding is partially siphoned off of twitter and partially from traditional guillible venture capitalist sources - FATE: probably eventually settles onto a tumblr-like path of unprofitability, issues with economies of scale, reactionary backlash against the extremely horny site culture and so on, culminating in a similar drawn-out death

cohost: - this plucky bunch of communists decided to found their own social media website... what happens next will break your heart (they have created for themselves an inescapable personal hell) - userbase is convinced that the moral and ideological purity of the four (!!!!) people who run the site will lead to its success and immortality. the fact that these four people already have to juggle all the legal and financial responsibilities of running a business with maintaining and updating and moderating (!!!!!!!!!) a website with well over 20,000 active users is apparently not a concern - i feel really bad for them. if you couldn't tell. it makes me feel a little nauseous about using the website - staff is extremely transparent about finances, which are in the short term at least pulling out of a nosedive, but funding continues to be mostly from a single anonymous rich friend, supplemented with users subscribing to a collection of fairly minor cosmetic doodads - FATE: i'm very worried

[storyofthenauseouseye]

The Woman Who Made Sartre

Left and right: Hans Zatzka, Blumenreigen, 1859-1945

A broad group of people consider Jean-Paul Sartre one of, if not the number one, greatest philosophers to come out of the twentieth century. His works on ethics, existentialism, and fictional literature have been praised and carried throughout the twenty-first century. I still consider Nausea my second favorite book, only inches away from that number one spot. But Sartre's work was heavily influenced and edited before it went to the publisher.

As seems to be often the case throughout history, behind this man's genius was a woman whose credit goes rather unnoticed. So, who was Simone de Beauvoir, this feminist writer who could neither love nor leave Sartre? And how is she significant in her own regard? Let's look at her best works, both fiction and philosophy.

L'Invitee

Despite having a strange relationship with Sartre, Beauvoir started another relationship with a female student named Olga (tameri.com). This odd triangle would later prove to be toxic, and as can be seen through the letter between Sartre and Beauvoir at the time, Beauvoir would eventually turn to feel trapped by the relationship. The negative feelings toward Olga turned into the novel, L'Invitee, or She Came to Stay.

She Came to Stay is about a couple inviting a young girl into their lives to stay with them, encouraging terrible consequences. Incredibly on the nose with its inspired source material, the troubled trio becomes an ouroboros of madness, each person in the relationship driving each other crazy and pushing them deeper into madness. The affair ends only in violence, and the murder of one of them by another member of the trio is the lid that closes upon the bleak and turbulent tale.

Image from Twitter user "fuckttrevor"

The text is packed full of philosophical reflections on relationships and the meaning of how we view relationships with existence, partners, and the infinite timeline we merely glimpse upon. Stanford University has a pretty good idea of the subject matter, stating that

The issues raised in this first novel, however, the ambiguity regarding the responsibilities and limits of freedom, the legitimacy of violence, the tension between our experience of ourselves as simultaneously solitary and interwined with others, the temptations of bad faith and the examination of the existentially faithful relationship to time will pervade Beauvoir's subsequent reflections (Standford University).

Through this display of tumultuous relationships and festering madness that only results in murder, we are shown the limits people can have, even if they try their best to remove them. This balance between humans and their doomed relationships, both with and without each other, would later set Beauvoir up for her most famous work.

Simone de Beauvoir in a televised interview (1975)

The Second Sex

Taking personal writing, political beliefs, and philosophical poise into her pen, Beauvoir would write The Second Sex. This non-fiction work has remained one of the most significant examples of feminist literature.

The first argument that Beauvoir makes has been upheld for decades, and that is the idea that men create systems of inequality to keep women where they are in society. Sure, they may say that women can do what they want, and they may say that women are their equals, but they help uphold and police these societal and governmental systems of oppression against anyone who is not within the male gender. (tameri.com) From there, she goes into her second argument.

Going head-to-head with Plato, Beauvoir suggests that being different from men is okay. Where Plato said that women could be equal to men if they performed the same way as men, Beauvoir argues that the differences between men and women should not create a rift. These differences should be validated by each gender.

Differences should not lead to the absence of sameness.

Works Cited

Bergoffen, Debra. “Simone de Beauvoir (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2014 Edition).” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 17 August 2004, https://plato.stanford.edu/Archives/win2014/entries/beauvoir/#SecSexWomOth. Accessed 10 December 2023.

The Existential Primer. “Simone de Beauvoir.” Existential Primer, 2 March 2023, https://www.tameri.com/exist/people/beauvoir/. Accessed 10 December 2023.

Futher Reading

[ao3feed-loustat]

Everything you need to know about Millenia-Gate aka the shitshow that got The Vampire Lestat canceled a comprehensive guide by TalamascaReeves

by TheNightColors

The gripping narrative of how somewhat niche online artist and fashion designer Armand’s grooming allegations against his former co-creator PainteroftheMillenia or Marius Romano, the “father of art-tube” and renowned renaissance style painter, lead to the internet’s favorite musician and massive influencer/ blorbo, babygirl, Bi-con The Vampire Lestat loosing brand deals and getting marked with the problematic fave stamp, as told by former fan Jesse Reeves or “TalamascaReeves”. Ft. MercyReads, aka Louis de pointe du lac, the small book-tuber who’s online reputation went up in flames when he was exposed as harboring an insane and toxic on and off again relationship with Lestat and oh also a pyromaniac, TheDrama’sMinion aka Daniel Molloy, the guy who exposed Louis and btw also is in an insane and toxic on and off again relationship with Armand, Denis, Armand’s long suffering editor, David Talbot, way too old to be involved in this kind of petty bullshit, and the color red. Prepare for drama, heart break, betrayal, doxing, and internet slang.

TLDR: The Vampire Chronicles but they’re YouTubers who are getting #cancelled for being #problematic and the drama unfolds in convoluted and insane ways a la YouTube beauty community

Words: 7163, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Vampire Chronicles Series - Anne Rice

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage

Categories: M/M

Characters: Armand (Vampire Chronicles), Marius de Romanus, Lestat de Lioncourt, Daniel Molloy, Jesse Reeves, Louis de Pointe du Lac, David Talbot, Denis (Vampire Chronicles)

Relationships: Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac, Armand/Daniel Molloy, Armand/Marius de Romanus, (past)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Human, Canon-Typical Behavior, Grooming, Armand is autistic, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, online drama, cancel culture, Death Threats, doxing, Harassment, the vampire chronicles but they’re problematic influencers who get cancelled pretty much, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, inspired by my YouTube drama guilty pleasure and the beauty community, Mental Health Issues, Ableism, Marius de Romanus bashing, Internet-typical attitudes, Tumblr, Discord - Freeform, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Canon-Typical morally awful characters, Internet post format, You have to be incredibly chronically online to understand most of this

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/48408403

[knowledgeworld123]

10 Key Upsides and Downsides of Social Media in Today’s World

Introduction

In the modern and digital world, social media has revolutionized the way we interact with each other, share information with each other, and how we feed into information. Billions of people who actively engage in social media through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many more have to imagine how the world lived before these existed. As much as social media offers many positive effects, it also has several disadvantages. This article is an attempt to explore both pros and cons of social media and its implications on both an individual, business, and society.

Upsides of Social Media

1. Enhanced Connectivity

The most breathtaking gifts social media provides are keeping people together, anywhere in the world. Social media platforms enable people to reach out and touch families, friends, and even colleagues in real time. It bridged the gap between relationship from distant places, making instant communication very possible.

2. Marketing and Business Growth

Social media is a low-cost marketing tool for businesses. It enables companies to reach audiences all over the world at a very reduced cost. Businesses employ social media to push products, create brand awareness, and reach out to customers. These platforms also offer targeted ads on them, like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, through which businesses can find their ideal target with accurate precision.

3. Access to Information

In todays world of information on the digital platform, social media stands as the prime point of information. Users can read news, educational material, and entertainment through feeds. No matter it is breaking news, health tips, or other interesting things, all knowledge that users need is available at their fingertips. Social media has thus become a source of information that people rely on today .

4. Employment Opportunities

Professional networking sites like LinkedIn allow professionals to showcase their skills and network themselves with employers who would hire them. This helps job seekers, connects them to industry experts, and develops an opportunity for career upgrade. Employers can seek high-value talent through these platforms.

5. Community Building

Social media fosters the development of online communities based on similar interest and hobby areas. Whether you are an avid fan of particular music genres, an active member of a fitness group, or a social activist, platforms like Reddit, Facebook Groups, or even Twitter easily connect like-minded individuals to share opinions and work. Read More: https://knowledgeworldhere.com/general/24-great-search-engines-you-can-use-instead-of-google

Social Media Downsides

1. Cyberbullying and Harassment

The most disturbing social media downsides include an increase in cyberbullying and harassment. The anonymity allowed on many platforms is responsible for the toxic behavior in most cases. The small accountability possible leads to increased levels of depression and anxiety, especially among teenagers.

2. Addiction and Time Wastage

On social media, users become addicted and spend a lot of time scrolling through feeds. This overuse leads to deterioration in many people’s productivity, encouraging procrastination and sedentary lifestyles. According to research, social media addiction is associated with mental problems such as anxiety and depression.

One of the shortcomings of social media is the ease at which false information spreads. False news, hoax, and conspiracy theories go viral in a matter of hours, misleading people into real-life catastrophe. The spread of misinformation has made it tough for the users to trust information found online to be correct.

3. Sharing False Information

One of the shortcomings of social media is the ease at which false information spreads. False news, hoax, and conspiracy theories go viral in a matter of hours, misleading people into real-life catastrophe. The spread of misinformation has made it tough for the users to trust information found online to be correct.

4. Privacy Concerns

Such users share so much personal information without knowing how bad the information can be used. Some of the problems related to it include issues concerning privacy, breaches of data, and selling of user data to third-party companies. Much sensitive data is collected by the platforms and later finds its way into the wrong hands, exposing the users to identity theft.

5. Mental and Emotional Effects

Social media contributes to social connectivity but has an adverse effect on mental health. People who post perfect moments on social media have increased pressure to always compare themselves with others and therefore may come to suffer from anxiety, depression, or feelings of inadequacy. Many people experience “FOMO,” which worsens these issues.

Conclusion

As such, social media undoubtedly serves as a very effective tool within the realms of communication, bringing about numerous benefits that are connectivity, job opportunities, and group formation, but at the same time, great downsides that include cyberbullying, invasion of privacy, and mental health risks. By knowing the benefits and downsides of using social media, its users can be able to use these networks responsibly, taking in all the good that can come from it while trying to keep the negative impacts to a minimum. Usage of social media must, therefore be weighed and monitored to protect personal and social welfare, amid the dynamic digital world that is swept by waves of technological innovation.

[shosiblog]

What Are the Best Practices for Conducting an Off-Page SEO Audit?

Off-page SEO plays a vital role in improving your website's visibility, authority, and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). While on-page SEO focuses on optimizing your content and technical aspects, off-page SEO revolves around external factors such as backlinks, social signals, and brand mentions. Conducting an off-page SEO audit is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of your strategies and identifying areas for improvement.

In this blog, we'll dive into the best practices for conducting an off-page SEO audit, helping you enhance your site's authority and ranking potential.

1. Analyze Your Backlink Profile

Backlinks are one of the most critical factors in off-page SEO. A thorough backlink analysis is the first step in any off-page SEO audit.

Assess the Quantity and Quality of Backlinks: While having a large number of backlinks is important, it's the quality of these links that truly matters. High-quality backlinks come from reputable, authoritative websites. Tools like Ahrefs or Moz allow you to examine your backlink profile, showing the number of backlinks, their sources, and their authority.

Check for Toxic Backlinks: Low-quality or spammy backlinks can hurt your SEO efforts. These often come from irrelevant or low-authority sites and may even lead to penalties from Google. Use tools like Google Search Console or SEMrush’s Backlink Audit Tool to identify and disavow toxic links that could be harming your ranking.

2. Evaluate Anchor Text Distribution

Anchor text is the clickable text used in a hyperlink. It's crucial to have a diverse and natural anchor text profile to avoid over-optimization, which can lead to search engine penalties.

Why It Matters: Google uses anchor text to determine the relevance of a backlink to your content. If too many backlinks use exact-match keywords as anchor text, it can be seen as manipulative.

Best Practice: Aim for a balanced mix of branded, keyword-rich, and generic anchor text. During the audit, use Ahrefs or SEMrush to check your anchor text distribution and ensure it aligns with best practices.

3. Monitor Social Signals and Brand Mentions

Social signals like shares, likes, and mentions on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn contribute indirectly to your off-page SEO by increasing your website's visibility and engagement.

Track Social Media Performance: Use tools like Google Analytics or Hootsuite to monitor the traffic generated from social media platforms. High levels of social traffic indicate that your off-page SEO efforts are resonating with your audience.

Brand Mentions: Apart from backlinks, brand mentions without links can also boost your credibility. Tools like BuzzSumo or Google Alerts help you track where your brand is being mentioned online, allowing you to follow up and potentially turn those mentions into backlinks.

4. Check Referring Domains

Referring domains are unique websites that link back to your website. It's not just the quantity of backlinks but the diversity of domains linking to your site that matters.

Why It Matters: Google values a diverse range of referring domains more than multiple links from the same domain. A high number of referring domains indicates that your content is widely recognized and trusted across various platforms.

Best Practice: Aim to build relationships with high-authority sites across a range of industries or niches. Use tools like Ahrefs or Moz to track the number of referring domains and identify opportunities to acquire links from more diverse sources.

5. Analyze Competitor Backlinks

Competitor analysis is a crucial part of any off-page SEO audit. By examining your competitors' backlink profiles, you can identify valuable link-building opportunities and stay ahead in the rankings.

Why It Matters: Analyzing competitor backlinks can reveal potential websites for link outreach, guest posting, and content partnerships.

Best Practice: Use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to perform a competitor backlink analysis. Identify high-authority websites that link to your competitors but not to you, and reach out to these sites for backlink opportunities.

6. Assess Citation and Directory Listings

For local SEO, citation and directory listings are important off-page SEO factors. Citations refer to online mentions of your business's name, address, and phone number (NAP), and they're crucial for building trust with search engines.

Why It Matters: Consistent and accurate citations across online directories like Google My Business, Yelp, and industry-specific platforms can help improve local search visibility.

Best Practice: Use a tool like Moz Local or BrightLocal to check your business's citations. Ensure that all NAP information is consistent and correct across the web. If you find inconsistencies, update them immediately to avoid any potential ranking penalties.

7. Track Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA)

Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) are metrics developed by Moz to predict how well a website or page will rank in SERPs. While these metrics are not direct ranking factors used by Google, they are good indicators of your site's overall authority and trustworthiness.

Why It Matters: Higher DA and PA scores indicate a stronger likelihood of ranking well in search results. Tracking these scores during an off-page SEO audit can help you assess the effectiveness of your strategies.

Best Practice: Use Moz's Link Explorer or Ahrefs to track your DA and PA scores. Compare your metrics to those of your competitors to identify areas for improvement.

8. Monitor Link Velocity

Link velocity refers to the speed at which you acquire new backlinks. A sudden spike in backlinks can raise red flags with search engines, as it may indicate manipulative link-building practices.

Why It Matters: A steady and natural growth in backlinks is essential for maintaining a healthy link profile. A sudden influx of low-quality backlinks can lead to penalties.

Best Practice: Use tools like Ahrefs to monitor the growth rate of your backlinks. Ensure that you are acquiring backlinks at a consistent, natural pace and not through black-hat SEO techniques.

9. Check for Lost Backlinks

Backlinks are not static, and you may lose some over time. It's important to monitor lost backlinks and understand why they were removed.

Why It Matters: Losing high-quality backlinks can negatively impact your rankings. Monitoring lost links allows you to take action, such as reaching out to the website owner to restore the link or replacing it with a new one.

Best Practice: Use Ahrefs or Google Search Console to track lost backlinks. If you notice a sudden drop in backlinks, investigate the reasons and try to recover them, if possible.

Conclusion

Conducting a thorough off-page SEO audit is essential for improving your website’s authority, visibility, and search engine rankings. By analyzing your backlink profile, evaluating social signals, tracking referring domains, and assessing citation consistency, you can refine your off-page SEO strategy and ensure it aligns with best practices.

Want to take your off-page SEO to the next level? Partner with a leading SEO company in Coimbatore to conduct a comprehensive audit and optimize your site’s performance!

[onenettvchannel]

OneNETnews EDITORIAL: ONC Holdings temporarily shifting to Online Mode for Summer Season - A Message of Gratitude and Hope for the Future in Negros Oriental and to the world

(Written by Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong / Editorial Columnist, Freelance News Writer, Online Media Reporter and Presenter of OneNETnews)

DUMAGUETE, NEGROS ORIENTAL -- Tonight is my last newscast for OneNETnews by this Wednesday night (April 24th, 2024) during this summer season in the Philippines. We start our small and independent news organization around a decade ago in the 2010s as my part-time job for journalism in the undergraduate elementary and high school person via Internet Café and here at home in the City of Gentle People.

Because of extreme mental issues and financial constraints from our end, relating to Asperger's Syndrome, the worries about money that they can't afford to donate thru our own non-profit organization 'ONC Foundation', and less likely to attract potential clients or website visitors on us in the unreachable low audience or skipping the algorithm points in every news, religion and entertainment content possible… We are switching temporarily into online news publishing mode in all platforms, which in context to read like a digital newspaper from a portable document file (PDF). In short, we go all full-time to go online and to monetize content for the news readers themselves.

One of the best shocking moments in history, as the ratings goes off the roof from our beloved news readers worldwide, from our social media partners at 'The X Network' (formerly Twitter) goes to Cartoonshi in the United Kingdom. The only notorious anti-reviewer and a toxic YouTuber for the alleged animated fandom wars tackling in and exposing cartoon communities of 'The Loud House', as featured exclusively on OneNETnews Investigates.

But today as unfortunate, Cartoonshi understands that they have no longer interest on both Nickelodeon franchises between TLH and The Casagrandes despite brazenness of hate, yet to target to harass all the show creators in his violent way possible and refusing to make any apology as of this press time. Much after that, we moved on to our next headline story, and the rest is history in the entire Q1 2024.

Today, as we found out unexpectedly, in the report from GMA News revealing a new research study from the University College London (UCL), worrying or thinking about money problems that can lead to anxiety, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, yet to anger, and even die early within a few to several weeks. It is said that among the symptoms that money problems in financial constraints like us, becomes a massive health problem are anxiety and headaches, which when overthinking ends up being stressed out.

Clinical psychologist of Manila named Mr. Rainier Salvani Ladic said that 7 out of 10 Filipinos, including yours truly in our news writing for journalism at work have difficulty handling expenses on us. To prevent worrying about money from becoming an illness, Mr. Ladic advises that people should have knowledge of financial management or financial literacy, and have a full-time freelanced job or income to spend from a paid salary source whether online or in-person.

Summer break is now started in the Philippines, as declared by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). We are in need to contribute both our internet TV station and news organization, yet it was paywalled for a direct donation to support the news, religion and entertainment content, as well to cover pop culture, events, cartoons, anime, music, and in-real-life happenings here in Negros Island Region (NIR), the Philippines and around the globe.

But for now, this will be our final stop for audiovisual media either on-demand video production and LIVE videos on social media. Because you trusted us for the exclusive news content that you won't find anywhere else… We make new strategies by featuring local and regional advertisers free-of-charge to attract more news readers, and to entertain them.

For one last time, we would like to thank our internet network affiliates with station manager and president of OneNETtv Channel and fictional cartoon character individual of Glitch Techs, Ms. Miko Kubota. President of Equestrian Broadcasters Association, internet broadcasting regulation for ONC, former Radyo Patrol #4 reporter of OneNETnews, and also fictional cartoon character of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic named Princess Twilight Sparkle. Chief Executive Officer and president of 5K Broadcasting Network Inc. (5KBNi) namely Dr. Ramel Ytang Uy for K5 News FM network. And lastly, our president of Radyo Bandera Network 'Mr. Elgin Robert Lamayao Damasco'.

This is not saying goodbye but, we hope to see you later online after the summer break is over. It is gonna be a temporary one for both OneNETtv Channel and OneNETnews, part of our internet broadcasting company of ONC Holdings Incorporated.

-- OneNETnews Team

[onewordshy]

Children's Music as an Agent of "Yassification"

My reddit account got flagged for spam and all my old posts were removed so I'm backing this up here for posterity.

DISCLAIMER: I’m going to be using a lot of generalizations here about gay men/young girls but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that no demographic is a monolith. These experiences are common (and I think will resonate with many) but not universal and if your experience was different, that’s valid too. This is a very “if you know, you know” topic, and if you don’t know… well you probably know something I don’t.

So if you’re on certain circles of the internet (like this one) you’ve probably heard the term “yassification” pop up recently. It’s a meme term began as something of a joke but I think it’s actually evolved into a useful term for a specific phenomenon so I wanted to discuss it a bit.

I’ll begin by setting the clear definition for the term that I’ll be using for this post:

Yassify (verb): to make something more “fabulous” by rendering it brighter, sleeker, glamorous and more beautiful, especially in a way that is traditionally feminine and appealing to the sensibilities of young queer people

To abstract this a bit further, yassifying something means turning it into something that would make you scream “YAAAASSSS!,” a phrase a comment on the video I linked jokingly describes as “the battle cry of the gays.” It’s a bit similar to bimboification but with different implications (less pornographic, more LGBT).

Know-your-meme has a very detailed history of the term but in my opinion (and there are conflicting sources on this) the moment that kicked it into the internet mainstream and lead to the current wave of usage was when this image of the famous “Dust Bowl Migrant Mother” photo edited to be smiling went viral and lead a meme so big Teen Vogue did an article on it. To quote:

For the last few years, Instagram filters have been altering the way we think about beauty and makeup. Yassification takes that one step further (or, maybe more like one hundred steps) by oversaturating images with FaceApp filters to exaggerate the “beauty” features to the extent of becoming unrecognizable.

While the hyper-FaceTune trend has died down a bit, the term has stuck around and today enjoys a more abstract usage. Yassification no longer requires a literal face to be filtered, instead the very spirit of something can be run through a metaphorical FaceApp and come out the other side yassified and ready to serve. Here are some examples:

Legos -> Lego Friends

KK Slider then -> KK Slider now

Katherine Hudson -> Katy Perry

Survivor -> America’s Next Top Model -> RuPaul’s Drag Race (the yassification of reality television)

Are we all on the same page now? Good.

Inherent in all this is an undertone of queerness. Yassification is, in a way, rebellious because it takes things that are dark, serious, and oftentimes coded as masculine and transforms them into something fabulous. When something is yassified, it is claimed for the gays.

It’s shallow, yes, and unfortunately tied to some toxic aspects of consumerism, but to throw out another buzz word that’s having its moment… it’s camp. Yassification is not meant to be taken seriously, it’s a celebration of fun before anything else.

Appropriately enough, when I type “yassify” into YouTube the third video to appear is “Faceshopping” by SOPHIE (seizure warning). A queer anthem, this song has also become something of an unofficial theme for the yassification movement thanks to its impossibly glossy sound and lyrics which focus on commercialism and aesthetics.

Using this song as a starting point, we can get a feel for the general “sound” associated with yassification: any music that is bright and poppy, and ostentatiously so. Mainly this is bubblegum pop and club music but the specific genre is flexible as long as it feels the spirit. Think about the kind of stuff that would blow up on stan twitter.

So why am I talking about children’s music? Well, to quote one tumblr user:

Not enough people talk about this Kim Possible song that sounds like it was produced exclusively for gay clubs.

The song in question is “Say The Word,” sung by Christy Carlson Romano for the soundtrack of the landmark Disney animated series Kim Possible, and as this user points out it has massive undertones of yaaaasssss. The attitude, the gratuitous autotune, that bubblegum beat… there’s no question about it, this track was meant to yassify.

Do I really think that listening to Kim Possible makes kids gay? Of course not, that’s not how it works. But I do think that a child could listen to a song like this and really connect with it and it could be an early indicator of certain interests that will follow them as they grow up.

Children who are often limited in what media they’re permitted to access (or at least were before everyone had smartphones lol) so songs like this are an approachable avenue of exposure to a certain lifestyle/aesthetic that (as we’ve established) is heavily gay coded. We could say the Kim Possible soundtrack is a gateway drug to, say, a Charli XCX mixtape.

Yassification is associated with bright colors, loudness, commercialism, a fashion focus, and children’s media (specifically media targeted at young girls) is built off of these tenants as well so it’s just a hotbed for yas.

Obviously everyone likes toys, cartoons, video games, etc. but gay and gay adjacent people have a special connection with them. Similar to the relationship between gays and horror many gays find solace in the imaginative worlds created for youngsters. The hyper stylized aesthetic and imaginative themes of something like, say, The Winx Club or Steven Universe, are attractive to gay audiences in the same way as more mature films like The Fifth Element or Spiceworld.

Tying into this is a focus on strong female characters and themes of magic/adventure, more things that are like catnip for the gays but sometimes lacking in mainstream adult media. Being able to see traditionally feminine characters portrayed as free agents rather than romantic objects, with an added emphasis on female friendships and self-acceptance, can be so empowering for people who fall outside of the norms of mainstream masculinity.

So when we take these principles and apply them to music, timeless bops are born! The genres and sounds most adults consider child friendly have a lot of overlap with the aforementioned sounds of the yassified, and thus children's media is flooded with dance pop, '00s r&b/bubblegum, disco, pop-rock, all perfectly designed to be as frothy and ear catching as possible.

Many of these yassifying children’s songs come from musicals and tv shows but there’s also a market for specifically created image songs as well that I’ve found are particularly prone to yas.

These songs provided us pop girls to stan before we even knew that was a thing, and our society is built off of them.

In my opinion, the unquestioned queen of childhood yassification who ties all of these ideas together is Sharpay Evans from the High School Musical franchise. Pink, glamorous, and unapologetically bitchy, her legendary demand that everything be “fabulous” became a rallying cry for a generation of young girls and boys who would grow up expecting nothing less. She even had a gay sidekick! She must have yassified millions of children.

Also in the royal pantheon is are the Bratz Dolls, who have had a (much deserved) resurgence of popularity recently as people finally recognize their status as style and music icons. Notably they had a more rock influenced sound but still fit the definition of yas music very well (see also: Hex Girls and Ember).

Other landmark moments in junior yassification:

Lizzie McGuire - What Dreams Are Made Of

Barbie - A Girl Like You

Oliver and Company - Perfect Isn't Easy

Sonic the Hedgehog - My Sweet Passion

Novi Stars

Monster High - Empire

Warioware - Ashley's Song

Sailor Moon - The Power Of Love

Everything the Cheetah Girls did

I invoke historical examples because, well, they're from my childhood, but the yassification machine is still alive and well in the modern age too. For more contemporary examples we can look at things like the recent Teletubbies album or the new L.O.L. Surprise album that was, I kid you not, called Fierce.

It's good to know there's still people watching out for the kids.