#this is a screenshot from my email because I haven’t used twitter in years but for some reason I get highlight emails still?

[filet-o-feelings]

Personally I think it would make a great fanfiction, if only somebody would finish writing it

[some-stars]

so the OTW does not provide an email where you can contact them, only a web form limited to 1000 characters, so I’m going to post the letter I wrote here and link them to it:

I am writing in response to this question and the OTW's response from the 9/29 board meeting minutes:

This might be a little off-topic but I have to satisfy my curiosity. Is the board aware of the continuing public “pressure” being exerted by outside groups who want the OTW to implement changes to Ao3 that could result in unfavorable changes for creators? […] Sure, there’s been a troubling amount of talk (and maybe it’s just all talk) on outside social media sites (It’s Twitter, it’s always Twitter) of groups that want to pressure the OTW to implement censorship guidelines for Ao3. Is that even on your radar?

This is a perennial pressure for the Organization for Transformative Works, but the AO3 was founded to protect inclusivity of content and we remain committed to that mission.

(It can be found here. I have a screenshot if they delete it.)

It is sickening to me that not only did the board not push back on the wildly inaccurate framing of "BIPOC fans criticizing AO3's racism and calling for immediate meaningful action" as "outside groups" calling for "censorship guidelines"--rather than fans who have been reading and posting to AO3 since its inception, which is what they actually are (and also white allies, also longtime AO3 users, with the same criticisms)--not only did the board not correct this false and racist framing, it implicitly endorsed it.

You have made a very clear statement to BIPOC users of AO3: you are not part of our community, you are not one of us, and we don't want you here. This is utterly unacceptable. I used to donate to the OTW every single year, but I haven't since 2019 because of this exact kind of behavior and refusal to take action against racism--but even with the OTW's lengthy track record of failing to address BIPOC fans' needs and concerns about the rampant racist harassment that gets ignored by the abuse team and pro-Nazi/slavery/genocide trolling fic that gets posted with the deliberate intent of making fandom hostile for BIPOC--even despite your long record of alternating total inaction with brief lip service, I was genuinely shocked to see the board actively affirm that it considers BIPOC fans an "outside group." (Not to mention affirming that it sees requests for such things as, say, actually responding to reports of racist harassment, or providing a built-in user blocking tool, as "censorship.")

If the OTW has even the slightest genuine intention of becoming a less racist organization and working to repair the harm it has done and continues to do, it is imperative that everyone in a leadership position read this thread on how to start fixing the internal culture and this thread on how to start meaningfully addressing the concerns of BIPOC users (and again, there are MANY white allies who feel strongly about this, lest you think all white fans side with you, but BIPOC must be centered in every step of the process).

It is imperative that the OTW spend money on hiring consultants trained to lead this kind of work, and on compensating BIPOC fans for their input. It is imperative that the OTW listen and act accordingly to the feedback they receive. It is imperative that any OTW leadership who refuse to take meaningful immediate action against racism in the way that professional consultants and BIPOC fans decide they should be kicked out of the organization before they can do any further harm. Until these things are done, the OTW will remain an actively white supremacist organization that is apparently quite happy to be one.

----

(FYI, I’m white, so if there’s a post responding to these meeting minutes by a BIPOC fan please let me know so I can boost it!)

(And no, I don’t think this is about antishippers/purity police who claim AO3 is a den of pedophilia, because no one outside the puriteen circle seriously thinks the AO3 is in danger of giving in to them. not to mention that antishippers and people criticizing racism are widely conflated, which is a problem in itself.)

[ggukkiereads]

Hey I was the anon who asked for your ao3, totally fine that you don’t want to share your username so I will gladly accept any tips on how to navigate ao3 🥺🥺 bc I try navigating by just using the guys name or the group name and yeah most of the fics that appear aren’t really my style. ao3 it’s a really overwhelming space 😔 so please help this dumb girl

🌷 hello, AO3 anon! It’s not that I don’t want to share, I just feel like it’s going to overwhelm others (with my 1K bookmarked fics). I am not an expert on AO3 and I’m trying to recall how I navigated through it. Though to be honest, I don’t recall much. I just remember visiting ao3 years ago to check yoonia’s Carousel fic and some other fics I got from those twitter fic recs threads. I sort of took note of the fics separately (like a note app where I list down fics I was monitoring) but AO3 actually has this feature and it should be easy breezy once you get the hang of it! 

I tried to make it as understandable as possible. Please see below the cut

🌷 So there are ways to navigate through fics: 

1) through the filters per fandoms, per member - this is usually the sidebar portion if on desktop

2) through the tags themselves - just click on any tags you like 

3) by subscribing to the author or fic

First, do you need to create an account?

It depends on you. Personally, I tried both. Not having an account, you can still comment but it’s kind of hard for me to keep track of my favorites or fics I’ve already read. Plus if you have an account, you can subscribe to fics or to authors so you get notified every time there is an update. You can also bookmark fics you like or fics you want to read. All up to you how you want to use the bookmarking tool.

I use my secondary email, the one I use for random subscriptions to stuff like games, netflix, etc. I feel more comfortable using secondary or dummy email as I call it. 

1) NAVIGATING THROUGH filters per fandoms, per member

I screenshot below the sidebar which allows you to filter content. If you prefer reading FxM fics, then choose that. If you’re in the mood for member x member scenarios then choose MxM. 

Additionally, you can adjust settings too for what to exclude. In my example below, say I don’t feel like reading multi-member fics and I just want FLUFFY fics. I can also adjust in the “exclude” settings.

You can also sort them per recent post, per hits, or per comments. I personally mix this because I also like discovering new fics. So, daily or every other day, it’s set to “date posted” so I get to see new fics. Earlier I had an ask re: a fic on AO3 and that was something I was able to read right away and commented on upon its drop (because the filter settings allowed me to see it right away way before it got popular). 

The Hits or Kudos or Comments filter allows you to see which ones are already popular among readers and I guess initially you want to try this settings to help you get started. Not all of the choices will be according to your taste though. It doesn’t mean it’s popular that it’s going to be to your liking 

🌷TIP:

Once I figured out the filter settings I want (which was more of the recent fics, mostly FxM), I  saved or bookmarked the url. I just clicked on the link and it directs me right away to pre-made filter settings (then I’d get to see new fics for the day)

2) NAVIGATING through the tags themselves

So this is helpful when you’re in the mood for certain tropes or genres. Like there was a time I was  in the mood for roommate AUs and I just binge-read all the fics in the results

So, for example this particular fic has well-defined tags ( I am reading this fic by the way. It’s rockstar Jungkook lol). Example you want to just read “friends with benefits” fics, you can click the link and it will give you ALL FICS that are under the same tag

This will give you ALL RESULTS (screenshot below shows you all fics from various fandoms, AUs, etc).  Repeat after me: the SIDEBAR is your friend. You can filter the results further by choosing the settings you want. 

Same process as #1, use the filter and use the settings you need. You want FxM, filter it to BTS fandom only, maybe for relationships you’re in the mood for just Yoongi x Reader? 

Take note that sometimes you have to apply the settings first before you can set another filter. For example, I set it to FxM and then BTS fandom first then clicked SORT and FILTER. That’s the only time these relationship filters will show (it’s like funneling. Once you’re in the “BTS fandom filter”, it will show you the other filters available to that category.. So for relationships there will be Jungkook x Reader, Yoongi x Reader, and so on and so forth): 

I read all members so I don’t really filter it to any specific members. I really go by the summary of the fic and the tags if they look interesting to me at the moment. 

3) Last, NAVIGATING  by subscribing to the author or fic

So, I actually subscribed to a lot of authors but they are usually on TUMBLR too. I guess, I read more series on AO3 since it is easier to navigate? 

Plus there are authors whose fics are available on AO3 but not on Tumblr. koyamuses for example, has their old fics like River Run (sea serpent!yoongi) and Mangata (pirate!jungkook) on AO3 but I remember their more recent ones are housed on tumblr. Obiwrites, a reader’s favorite, actually started on tumblr but they decided to use ao3 as a sole platform. I think she reposted some of her olds fics (but not all, still waiting for hoseok’s fic depaysement and that yoongi cinderella fic 😭)

There are also authors who have pseuds on AO3 and they post different content. gukluvr, for example, has an ao3 and the fics are different from her tumblr fics.

The beauty of subscribing to an author (say you like their body of work), is you get to see updates as they come. You get an email notif that [ _____ posted  fic title ] - I highlighted those with tumblrs too. It’s easier because with tumblr you search for fics manually but here ao3 does the work for you and just send you the email.

Even if they don’t post anything new, it’s just fun to see all the authors you like in one place in case you want to binge read per author. You can access it through your AO3 profile (if you set up an account)

You can also subscribe to a series only (meaning you don’t feel like subscribing to the author yet). If you subscribe to the author, you get notifs on EVERY FIC they will post. So if the author posts for other fandoms like Harry Potter or Star Wars, then you’d get these notifs too. So, it’s upto you

This is me subscribing per fic/work: (though this is not updated, some of these fics are already completed and I should start “unsubscribing”)

per series (though take note some of these have been completed). I am also subscribed to the authors so it’s kind double but you only get one email notif, don’t worry. 

ONCE YOU GET USED TO the navigation, you can bookmark the fics you like or mark them for later. Some bookmark fics they want to read while others bookmark their favorites. 

In my case, I bookmark all fics I’ve read and categorize them under collections like favorites, etc (but you don’t have to do this; this is just my method to remember fics), I haven’t really updated my bookmarks/collections so 🤷‍♀️. But that’s okay, it’s my own organized chaos so I can easily navigate through it.

For fics I want to read or re-read, I just mark them for later which you can access on the HISTORY page. 

Best to try all these on desktop. Once you get used to it, you can just play around on mobile. Sometimes, I just wait for notifs from my subscribed accounts/series; I just read it right away and mark them on my email as done once I’ve read or bookmark on AO3.

Don’t forget to give kudos to writers you like the stories of! I love giving kudos and I comment sometimes =) 

Okay, whew! I can’t believe I just wrote down a pseudo tutorial on AO3 navigation 🤭. I really hope it’s an easy tutorial for you to go through. Otherwise, I don’t know how I can further explain it. You can use the search bar of AO3 too! Just type, say “friends with benefits” and it will give you all types of fics. But, I just used this so I can click on the FWB tag (see #2 process)

There are so many fun stories or fics on AO3 too! And there are writers you won’t see on tumblr. 

I wish you good luck on your AO3 journey. It might be overwhelming, but it’ll get easier once you get used to it 🌷🧚‍♀️🥰

Enjoy!

[mouseratz]

I would LOVE it if u went in depth with that Willry au u screenshotted on twitter?

yeah yeah so basically williams character is scrapped, he's just a nerd now, he still designs the diner animatronics with Henry but has genuine intentions, he believes in their idea very much! they've always had a crush on each other but the comphet is too strong, they don't want to believe they're not straight nor do they want to deal with the backlash, it could even threaten their business if it got out, THEY HAVE WIVES, etc- so neither ever confesses despite it being mutual.

Mike still teases CC in the afton family home, and it eventually leads to the Bite of 83 as in canon. he unfortunately dies and it leaves the family in less than great shape, William gets even more involved in the business to avoid his family because it upset him. there are plans for the sister location bots, but they never are made. an unfortunate springlock failure with the remaining animatronic suit kills him only a couple years after his sons death. the suit nor the body are ever found. some even speculate he just ran away from it all., as he just simply goes missing.

mrs. afton after losing two family members become disconnected and unintentionally neglectful of the kids, and eventually they do end up living with the Emily's (nothing bad happened to Charlie).

Some years after William's gone missing, Henry does come to terms with his sexuality and divorces Mrs. Emily, but he actually ends up staying living with them, because this is a happier world and he does love his wife and being able to raise their family together, and Mrs. Emily had always suspected as much but married him anyway for similar reasons. (I plan to flesh her out more but haven't gotten around to it)

As for the kids, Charlie and Elizabeth do treat each other like sisters. As far as they're concerned, they were always meant to be close to each other. Elizabeth is an actress, although she's only landed a few roles in local ads and shows, so she still stays in the Emily house, as does Charlie because she's in law school and a few years younger than the Afton kids. Charlie herself, however, is probably the most intelligent of them, talkative and observant. Elizabeth is sweet but always hiding a loneliness. she feels disconnected from every member of her biological family, and always held out hope that her dad would come back miraculously and explain to them what happened.

Mike, however, had no such delusions. Will had always treated him as the "troublemaker" and was, in Mike's opinion, right about him. He probably blames himself - "he hated me so much because I killed my brother he couldn't stand to look at me anymore and left us here to start a new life". Mike still ends up being the one to take over Fazbear Ent after Henry retires. It did require a rebranding, but overall the chain did become widely successful. Mike does not live in the Emily household and is in a relationship, but his family has never met them. He keeps in contact through text and email, but hes always strangely cold. He deeply regrets all he's done to his family and feels they are better off without him, thoroughly traumatized by his brothers death.

Henry ends up with springtrap after someone reports finding a whole character in a hidden supply storage area in one of the old restaurants (that for some reason Will never told Henry he built, possibly hiding a personal project) after trying to gather old fazbear props for a Halloween attraction. "It smells funny, but it still works somehow! Maybe you, if anyone, could fix him up?"

And that's when he finds out his old friend isn't so dead and gone after all.

[purplesurveys]

1157

survey by hxcsingingsk8r

Phone Scavenger Hunt

First off, what phone do you have? I have an iPhone 8.

And what provider do you use? It’s a local one you wouldn’t know about, called Globe.

How long have you had your current phone? I can’t remember if it would be 3 or 4 years this 2021. Either way, it’s definitely been a while and I’ve been itching to upgrade. It’s too early to make such a big purchase, though.

Do you have any cases for it? Describe them. I have a clear case that I bought last year. Before that, I had a pink Otterbox case that I managed to destroy even though Otterbox is normally known for its durability. I just have a very unique ability to wreck everything I’ve ever owned lol.

How old were you when you got your first cellphone? I was technically 6, but it was meant to be a present for my 7th birthday. We threw a birthday party a month in advance because my dad had to fly back abroad for work before my actual birthday, but we wanted him to be present at the celebration so we decided throwing a party early was the best route.

What about your first smartphone? [If the answer is different] It was an iPhone 5S.

How old are you now? Dunno what this has to do with the theme of the survey but I am now 22.

Okay, move onto the scavenger hunt part

What is your lock screen picture of? It’s of Kim Seon Ho at a restaurant, lmao.

Home screen? It’s one of the shots from a recent promotional photoshoot Hayley did for Good Dye Young.

How many pictures are thre currently on your phone? This question just made me so anxious hahaha. I have way too many photos; and upon checking, it turns out I currently have 6,266. My god do I need to clean up my camera roll this weekend.

How many videos? I have 227. I have no idea it’s gotten to be this many; I barely use my phone to take videos. I’ll go ahead and delete some of them right now, just to give my phone (and its storage) space to breathe.

What is your most recent picture of? It’s a work thing...I guess I’ll explain it so it can make more sense. So one of our clients has got this Lent campaign going on, and to spread word about it we’ve tapped a handful of food bloggers to try out the offers themselves and post about their experience on social media. Now that we’re in the middle of Holy Week they’ve gone ahead and uploaded their own posts, and I’m in charge of taking screenshots so I can show to the client that the execution had been successful.

And the most recent video? It’s a private vlog. Every Sunday, or at least every other Sunday I take a few minutes to sit down and do a weekly video thing where I talk about my ~mental~ and ~emotional~ status, and it’s basically a way to be in touch with myself and keep track of my progress. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually get to uploading them one day.

Do you have any albums? If so, of what? Yeah. I have one for Cooper, one for Kimi, and a bunch of tiny albums I’ve made where I compiled 4–5 photos of friends to post on their birthdays.

What pictures have you favorited? I have a lot of favorited photos. There’s no required category for me to label them as such.

Do you have any shared albums with friends or family or work? No. I’m not sure if I can do that, or how to do it if it is allowed.

Do you have any alarms set? For what time and for what occasions? I have a bunch of alarms but only because they’re archived into the Clock app and I just haven’t gotten around to deleting them. When I was still new at my work, I used to have alarms set for certain work tasks I have to take note of every week – but now that I’ve gotten into the groove of things, I don’t need the alarms to be reminded about them anymore.

Check your weather app, what is the weather and temperature where you live? It says ‘Mostly Clear’ and shows a temperature of 26ºC.

Do you have the YouTube app? Do you have your own channel? I do have the app and my own account, but I never use it to post videos. It’s nice to have my own channel so that my homepage can be tailored to my interests.

Do you have an email app? Which one do you use? I just have the default Email app that comes with iOS, but I never use it because it’s so wonky. It doesn’t refresh new emails and it takes forever when it does, and it doesn’t always show the full thread of email conversations. If I absolutely need to check my email for something I usually have to pull out my laptop.

Does it say that there is an update available on your phone or any apps? Yes, it reminds me everyday hahaha. I don’t update unless Apple has been planning a big revamp with new features, though; and if the updates are just to address bugs, I disregard the reminders.

Go into your contacts, how many contacts do you have total? It says I have 178.

Name all of your contacts under the letter M: Feels a tad bit invasive, so I’ll just name five people I have under M: Lui, Kim, Patrice, Danika, and Andi.

Name all of your contacts under the letter U: I don’t have anyone under U.

Do you have any contacts that are businesses rather than people? Which ones? No, I don’t really use text to contact businesses. If I wanted to inquire or order from one, I usually head to their social media page.

Go into your notes, how many notes do you have saved? This is another one I have a hoarding problem with lol. My phone says I currently have 561 notes, though I’m fairly certain the biggest chunk of it comes from minutes I’ve taken down from work meetings. It was a whole lot less when I was still in school.

What kinds of things do you save in your notes? Like I said, I use Notes for taking down minutes from meetings. There are also a few surveys on there, from times I didn’t have internet and couldn’t post them on here.

Do you have any voice memos saved? What of? Yep. Some of them were recordings I had to do for journalism classes I was assigned to do voiceovers; some are interviews, also from my journ class; and the rest are of me rambling.

Do you ever use the calculator app? Pretty frequently for work.

Do you ever use the Maps app? Not really. If I needed directions, I would check out Waze for that.

Do you have any health/fitness apps? Which ones? I still have the Nike Training app from the very brief time I wanted to start working out earlier this year.

Do you have the Instacart app? The what now? I’ve never even heard of that.

What about a delivery service like Postmates, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Doordash? I have the McDelivery app for McDonald’s, but I also have other general delivery apps like Grab, Lalamove, and Transportify.

Do you have something like Venmo, Cashapp, or Paypal? I have the Paypal app but I never use it. I also have a couple of e-wallet apps just in case I’d have to use them as a payment method, since some businesses  I purchase from prefer certain ones. Ultimately, though, I use Grab’s mobile wallet the most often.

Do you use Bitmoji? I think I did before? I never used it all that regularly though. Didn’t see the point.

What other keyboards do you use besides English? Any? Filipino, Korean, and Emoji.

Which social media network apps do you have? Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, TikTok, and Snapchat. So I guess I have all the main ones?

If you have Instagram, what is your handle and how many followers? I have a very private one I only use for work. I didn’t want it to have any followers but at present there’s Angela (because she asked to follow it this week) and Bea (idk why).

What do you typically post on the various social media platforms? The only ones I regularly post on are Twitter and Facebook, and on either I share life updates (if there are any) and memes; though on Facebook I have to watch out what kind of memes I share and make sure they aren’t too offensive because I’m friends with relatives, workmates, and media on there lmao. But on Twitter, I basically have no filter.

Do you make TikTok videos? I don’t make any myself, but I do enjoy going through the app.

Do you only add people you know on Facebook? Yes, for the most part. I’ve taken to adding people as long as they’re from UP or my high school even though I’ve never met them as well, but if I sense that they only added me to try and sell me insurance OR try to get me into MLM, then it’s an instant unfriend for me.

Do you have an app that tracks Instagram followers? No, because I don’t need to track my Instagram followers. I’m off the radar as off the radar gets.

Do you have a Snapchat? Yeah, it’s still on my phone just because but I literally never touch it anymore.

Do you ever take selfies with filters? What app's filters do you use? Eh, just before. I don’t really take selfies anymore, period.

Do you use any apps like Depop or Poshmark or Etsy? No. Out of these three I’ve only ever heard of Etsy, too.

What messengers do you use to talk to people? Any besides just texting? I have Messenger to stay in touch with family and friends; Whatsapp and Viber for work; and Telegram just in case my friends want to play games.

Do you have any photo editing apps? Which ones? I have this app called Foodie that has some pretty filters. Otherwise, since I’m not on Instagram anyway I’m never on the lookout for photo editing apps; no one ever filters their photos on Facebook and Twitter lol.

Do you have any games? Which ones? I do have a ton of games on my phone. I never play any of them, but I keep them just in case I get bored enough to start revisiting them. I have word games, drinking games, games similar to Heads Up! where one person will have to guess the word on the screen while the phone is on their forehead, and gimmicky games like 1010! and Candy Crush haha.

Do you have any rideshare apps like Lyft or Uber? I have Grab, which is a rideshare, parcel delivery, food delivery, and online grocery app all in one.

Now go to the actual phone app, whose phone numbers are saved as favorites? I don’t tag any of my contacts as favorites.

Who was your most recent outgoing call to? I can’t recognize the number, so it was probably a Transportify driver that I called to give him directions to my house.

Who was your most recent incoming call from? I also can’t recognize the number, but this time he was most likely a Grab driver.

Who was your most recent missed call from? Again, can’t recognize the number HAHAA

Why did you miss that call? On purpose? Were you sleeping? Busy? My phone is on silent 24/7, so I must have missed it while I was working.

Who is your most recent voicemail from and what's it regarding? We don’t have voicemail in the Philippines.

What was the last thing you Googled or searched on your phone? Candle tunneling and how to fix it.

What music app do you use? Apple Music? Spotify? Something else? I use Spotify, but I also availed of a 3-month trial on Apple Music earlier this year just because. I think it’s supposed to end soon but I have no plans to shift.

What playlists have you made on there? I have playlists called, “robyn discovers kpop,” “winding down,” “angst,” “not my loss,” and my personal favorite, “paramore but fuck you.”

Lastly, what is the most recent song/album you've added to your collection? What Type of X - Jessi.

[5sosbitchfest]

Alrighty, Nonsters.  We currently have 290 Asks in our box!  As much as we might try, I know there is NO WAY we’re going to be able to get through all of them.  Everything exploded this weekend when MessyGate went down!   I don’t want to ignore any asks just because I already answered a similar one.  So, I’ve tried to gather as many similar Asks as possible to let your your voices be heard.  Y’all are definitely NOT alone in your feelings.  Get ready for a lot of opinions on Messy’s Twitter Drama.  

Also, if you sent in an Ask and we haven’t answered it yet, please feel free to resubmit it!  I do try to scroll through all of them but it is a daunting task and personal stuff and work make it difficult for me to get through everything in a timely manner!

********************************

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I’m really disappointed in Luke and this band in general, the way they deal with things. “honest policy” with messy? So he knew all of this and it was okay? Or he confronted her on this and he is okay with what she has done? I’m not sure this whole thing would be a deal breaker for me, but it certainly would make me real mad at my SO and some whiny excuses wouldn’t be enough to make things alright. Radio silence would’ve been much better than that story he posted, made himself look like a fool.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: These girls will sooner or later become their downfall if their management or them does not realise they should rely on other things than bringing relationship up front to sell their music. I find it extremely bad that they are behaving as if nothing happened, I hope there will be changes once touring will be possible again and we won’t see these girls tagging along everywhere or being brought up in interviews all the time but somehow I’m not counting too much on that.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I wonder if Luke knows everything that Messy got exposed for or just the parts Messy wanted to show him. Bc Luke said in his Story that he wasn't online lately so maybe he wasn't on Twitter too and Messy just showed him the parts that make her look good and he still doesn't know that she spoke bad about Ashton or how she stalked the fans also after she knew that they didn't hack his email adress cause he wasn't on Twitter so he couldn't see the screenshots.🤷‍♀️

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I'm just waiting for the day one of them date someone who isn't a part of their circle. tired of them passing around the same toxic girls.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: These girls are just digging a whole for these guys and they want be able to get out of it soon

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: It was a chicken move for Sierra to do it as a reply and no one has talked on twitter that she deleted it because they probably think her deleting it is saying it wasn’t true

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Am I the only one who thinks that guys really only heavily interact with us when they want to promote something or say something about the music? I do understand they have lives so being on Twitter isn't number one priority and with all the drama that surrounds this fandom its very easy to not want to be online a lot, I just can't help but feel that way

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I'm talking about this messy situation (no pun intended) with my friend and she said to me that Messy should consider changing her career if she can't handle that not all people are going to like her. (that ofc doesn't include any form of harassment bc that's not cool)

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I really don't know how to feel about the Luke situation. At first I was upset and disappointed of Luke but now I almost pity him bc real or not either the management would want Luke to defend her or Messy. And I think Luke isn't the kind of person who would stand up against the management or Messy (even though it would probably be better for him if he would). And most people don't realise when they're in a toxic relationship so I can't really blame him. I just hope this ends asap.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I literally was so angry and frustrated with Luke and this whole situation yesterday that I couldn’t even look at him on my home screen, I had to change it. It’s really a disappointing thing to witness. Whether management put him up to this or he genuinely believes this toxicity is okay, I’m just very grumpy with him at the moment. He deserves better and WE (the fans) deserve better.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I think Luke really needs to be in a relationship with sb who either isn't famous and doesn't want to be or with someone who is famous bc they have a successful career too and who doesn't need Like to be famous.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I’ve only seen a few accounts on Twitter who are attacking Messy and Crusty to the core and exposing every bad thing they’ve done with receipts for the sossies defending them! I’m happy that karma is finally getting to those con artist who think they can get away with anything

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: that recent lierra picture is photoshoped lmao. if you look at Sierra's hand you can see color coming off from it and her arm looks hella weird.her forehead looks hella weird and look couldn't have taken the picture because I doubt that he could stretch his arm that far and make a perfect picture. also we haven't even seen Sierra's face so I still don't believe they're together

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: The Lemon pic was like a punch in the face (even though Petunia and Luke are looking cute there). But I've been asking myself lately if Luke has seen the whole drama going around on Twitter or just the posts Messy wanted him to know so the ones who make her look like the victim (and not the ones where she insulted Ashton or she made it clear that she stalked his fans). Cause Luke said he hasn't been online lately.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I mean we dont know how much of the story he truly is aware of and how much s changed to fit her narrative and get L to feel bad for her. Plus he was under pressure from management to do damage control and not standing up for his gf is a very bad look for outsiders who dont understand why she's at fault. It was a pretty neutral statement and he was obviously told to make the post so I dont blame him and just blame her more for putting him in the situation in the 1st place

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I wonder how much toxicity happens behind the scenes, we know S is very manipulative and L is very much a people pleaser so.. and with how much they have to sell their "love" and "happiness" in the relationship. Minipulation is a powerful thing and it could explain why hes out of touch with reality, especially lately since he's isolated with her and doesnt have the voices of the band to raise any concerns and he's been getting skinny again and seems very "meh" rather than happy, idk

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I feel so disconnected with this fandom rn. I feel like no one is streaming CALM and that makes me sad bc it's such an amazing album. The boys aren't even online anymore, everyone is mad at each other and now Luke comes up with this shit... tbh I wish I would wake up tomorrow and see him tweeting something like yeah I'm sorry about my ig story I still love y'all lmao

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Wait wait wait wait ive been gone from the fandom for a little while now and what the fuck is going on with Luke and S? What did S do that she made a fake ass apology for?? I’m so lost please help me! 😂

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I'm seeing a lot of my mutuals unstanning and I'm just so mad bc Sierra started this drama and got Luke into it and I'm sad that people are leaving bc of this, it's just too much toxicity and it shouldn't affect the band and their connection with the fans but with Luke saying this he makes it seem like he supports the ugly things she does

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I am a Luke stan and I've always loved him bc he has inspired me so much through the years but when he does this things it's like...damn. I feel like he's invalidating the fans' feelings by being like "if you don't like my girlfriend, ur fake" like he has never noticed me on Twitter or anything but my biggest fear is to be blocked by him or just ignored bc I don't like her (although I never expressed it publicly) n yeah anyways :// It feels weird

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Going back and re-reading the DM’s messy literally confirms that she accesses Luke’s account by saying “we couldn’t get in” or some shit like that

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I hate being a luke stan, sometimes it just seems like he doesn't care? he always puts these toxic gfs before the ones who adore him and pay his bills. might just move into Cashton's lane. unproblematic kings.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: He literally posted a picture of him cuddling her and petunia within the hour

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: The saddest part of this situation is it’s like a repeat of Arzaylea. Luke has no idea what a respectful, mature relationship is. We saw it with Arz and were seeing it again it’s just a little bit different. He stays being controlled and manipulated by toxic partners. I really think homeboy needs to be single for a WHILE and focus on himself. He needs to unlearn the things his past and current relationships have taught him about love because if I know anything, it’s that this ain’t real love.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Is it bad that I just want the larzaylea drama back?? Like everyone could at least agree on their feelings then...

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Just checked messy’s insta and of course, everyone that still supports her filled her tagged with just the single picture

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I feel like the reason Sierra is getting away with what she’s done is because she isn’t that known. Like yeah she’s associated with 5sos, but they’re also like not that big which is probably why it’s getting swept under the rug. I’ve only seen the 5SOS fandom calling her out for her actions. If this had happened with a well known celebrity, they probably would’ve been dragged and been trending on Twitter. I might be wrong but I feel like this is what’s happening which is just unfair.

[canaryatlaw]

okay, it’s just past two so let’s go. today has been....a lot, and unfortunately I really have to be more vague than I was about last nights events....basically between 7 and 10 I received a bunch of phone calls from “no caller ID” which is a classic tactic of the dude I was talking about last night. When I tried to answer most of them immediately cut off, but we did speak once that definitely confirmed it was him. then there were a handful of other things. I emailed my boss again with the new info, and of course documented everything meticulously with screenshots and contemporaneous descriptions of events (because, you know, I have a little experience as to how to do that). I also took down pretty much all public details from social media accounts and put everything on private for the time being. there shouldn’t be any way to link to my twitter or instagram as they don’t come up when you’d type in my name, but I put them on private anyway and proactively blocked his instagram account, which I knew from the like 80 screenshots of him messaging my clients we have. I also removed my last name from my fb and temporarily deactivated my linkedin (not that I was using for anything) as it did come up when you google my name. so that was all fun. My boss got back to me and we’re going to speak with the head of our org tomorrow and come up with a plan. I know this might through a lot of people off, but I’m honestly not very upset about it because I was pretty sure this was going to happen for the last few weeks, and I’ve seen so many clients that have had to put up with this kind of harassment for months and months (and sometimes years) of their lives, so me not answering any unknown phone calls doesn’t seem like too much of a life-altering thing. Plus, it’s not like he’s in IL, so I don’t have to worry about him trying to track down my address and show up at my apartment or anything. sigh. so that woke me up earlier than I would’ve liked, but oh well. I tuned into the church service, as they’re back to doing full services with a small live congregation and of course being live-streamed from their website. they always have good stuff, so no surprise there. for a while afterwards I just chilled and watched tv while also on my computer. I watched the last episode of “the case against adnan syed” and god was that fucking depressing knowing the current state of the case, where they were SO CLOSE to getting things turned around, only to be dashed by the opinion of a court that I can’t help but think was a lot more concerned about protecting the reputation of their government lawyers and lower courts than whose freedom was actually at stake (this is very similar to Brendan Dassey’s case as well), but I know they’re not giving up and we will definitely hear more from them soon. I hung out for a bit doing random stuff, then about an hour before Batwoman came on I wanted some meaningless background noise I didn’t have to pay very much attention to while reading fic, so I put on batman the animated series which is now on hbo max and is so damn great. And then of course we had the second episode of season 2 of Batwoman. thoughts will be expounded upon on the podcast (so go listen to that for all the opinions! @batwomanpodcast twitter), but I thought it was a good episode, I enjoyed the interactions between characters who haven’t really had interactions with each other yet, and just how well that turned out. anyway. after that I watched WW84 because it was disappearing from hbo max at midnight tonight, so I figured i might as well give it another watch. Unfortunately on this watch the errors were much more apparent than they were the first time I viewed it, which is really just incredibly disappointing when I wanted so much better for this movie- like the first WW is legit my favorite movie, like ever, so maybe my expectations were too high, but this was way further behind whatever expectations I might have had. The whole villain plot with Maxwell Lord (ugh) and Barbara was honestly just very blah and not entertaining, and watching Diana and Steve together was about 1000 times better to watch. I really disliked the ending fight scene between WW and Barbara while she’s full become “Cheetah” for a couple reasons, one of them being that I really didn’t feel like it was necessary to the plot at all, and the scene itself is all sorts of cringe worthy in the way that made you just not want to look. There’s also the fact that she’s supposed to be one of WW’s biggest villains, and she was only there as actually herself for like, a 5 minute fight sequence she lost? Ugh, I could keep going but I’m way too tired at this point. after the movie I showered and got ready for bed and now I’m here and did I mention I was tired? Going to sleep now, thx. Goodnight dears. Hope your Monday doesn’t suck. 

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, May 24 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles I came across since the early May report, although some may be older than that. Due to a need to get my taxes filed, and a continued busy jewellery business, I don’t expect to be able to do another update for a few weeks. You can follow me on Twitter for important breaking news, though! 

Have any topics you would like to see me cover in more detail? Drop me a line here on Tumblr, or email me through my website.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Small businesses can survive the pandemic and beyond, if they learn to provide what customers are now looking for. From desks to 3-D printed face shields, to including toilet paper on your takeout menu, to moving online, acting quickly has given these businesses hope. ABC also did a piece on this topic. [text & video; mentions Etsy & masks] Here’s another article discussing adapting to pandemic ecommerce “new normal”, with interviews with staff from Etsy, TechStyle and Zulily.

Ecommerce is about to get way more competitive (it probably is already), & arguably the retailers who will succeed are the ones who already put plans in action, including advertising plans. (mentions Shopify, Google Shopping & Etsy.)

Facebook and Instagram will now have “Facebook Shops”, which are free to set up. Sounds like it will be a slow rollout, though. Many take this as direct competition for marketplace sites such as Etsy, but it will probably also have a large impact on small website builder sites such as Indiemade. 

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy’s first quarter for 2020 was good, but April was astonishing by any standards; I covered it all here. 

Etsy Payments will soon be available to sellers in Turkey, Malaysia, & Mexico. This will likely be welcome news to sellers in Turkey in particular, who haven’t had an easy way to accept payment for Etsy orders since PayPal left Turkey a few years back. It looks like this move will be optional at the moment for those 3 countries, unlike those of us who are forced to use EP if it is available in our countries. 

Etsy gave some listing credits and ad credits to shops who had substantially lower than normal sales in late March through April; the credits don’t kick in until July, though. 

Etsy is beta-testing a new listing video tool. You can join here; if you want more info first, here are some details. Note that the videos must be quite short, and will not include sound. 

Etsy is still getting some good traction from the face mask initiative: “I would argue they were just in the right place at the right time," says Kodali. "When you think of who is able to consolidate the power of a million sewers in the country, the only answer is Etsy."  However, they are also getting some criticism for masks taking forever to arrive, if at all. The slow customer support is also annoying many of these new customers that the CEO was so happy to attract, with little to no response from Etsy. 

The Wall Street Journal did a well-received article on people buying food (mostly baked goods) on Etsy [paywall]. Other sources have picked it up, although some are a bit skeptical about safety. 

More trend info directly from Etsy: first, summer at-home ideas with Dayna Isom Johnson [podcast links with transcript]. It also covers what to do for socially-distanced celebrations. “[P]eople are taking what they would typically do for a birthday, but then doing it virtually. So many people love paint night parties and I've actually seen quite a few paint kits that Etsy sellers are creating. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate your birthday and still have that experience of expressing your creativity and having fun with your friends, but just through a screen.” Also, “tie-dye is blazing hot right now.”

Second, craft supply sellers get their own trend article for a change. Supply searches close to doubled in April, with “346% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for “diy”. Many buyers are making their own masks with supplies from Etsy; “2,089% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for “elastic”. Do read the whole article if you want to spin your shop in this direction, as there is a lot of good info included. 

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google pushed out a core algorithm update starting May 4, which finished rolling out on May 18. It seems fairly large, maybe the biggest in some time, and may have hit more areas than other recent core updates. They did take some criticism for releasing it during a pandemic. Possible targets aren’t agreed on yet by the people tracking it, but could include cryptocurrency, travel, real estate, health, tech, finance & dating. Or maybe we shouldn’t rush to pick winners & losers so quickly? News media changes may be affected by the regular algorithm reaction to people reading a lot more news these days, and some ecommerce companies had a boom that could affect their rankings. This article discusses Etsy among other companies, who might have benefitted from the update. [I’m not sure on the Etsy complaints, as I have been seeing multiple links for some searches for well over a year now.]

Link building is generally the hardest part of Google SEO, in part because you aren’t allowed to do any of the obvious things that might get you easy links. Anyone confused about the rules & the benefits should check out this guide for 2020. 

While you can learn a lot from general SEO guides, if you have a Shopify site, this guide provides some specific SEO tips. 

LinkedIn managed to de-index itself from Google on May 6, at least for the United States. Here’s one theory. Well-paid webmasters for major internet companies can still screw up, it turns out. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

If you are one of those organized marketers who plans their campaigns ahead of time, here are 5 content marketing ideas for June. 

With so many people not working as much as usual, this might be a good time to start a podcast. Gizmodo has compiled instructions on doing it cheaply.  

The best time to send an email depends on the purpose of the email. For example, “General site traffic emails have always been most effective mid-week — mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Mondays and Fridays tend not to perform as well” while “A general awareness campaign can be sent almost any time to be effective.”

Refreshing your evergreen content can be more productive than producing new content. That has some really good ideas for many types of businesses produce

Facebook bought Giphy, and while it will still be available to people without Facebook-owned accounts, it will be integrated directly with Instagram. 

Instagram is testing new fonts in its Stories feature. 

Twitter is enabling users to see how many people quoted a tweet, but so far only on IOS. They also have a new test where you control who can reply to your tweets. 

LinkedIn is rolling out both video events and polls, but maybe it is too late to get a big bump from either change? 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Online advertising can be expensive; here are some stats on the cost of various search engine ad clicks as well as a bit on social media. 

Google Merchant accounts now let you compare your prices to other sites and also look at trends in clicks. 

Here is a good brief overview of the new free Google Shopping listings, including the 3 main reasons the author believes Google made this change. Here is another much longer overview, with screenshots for those not in the US, and info on how to set this up for your website. The PayPal integration is now available. 

Online advertising clicks seem to be bouncing back from the worst of the pandemic, according to several sources, including this one. It is still far too early to tell if this will last, however. 

YouTube has re-conceived its premium ad program, now called YouTube Select.  

If you have ads that slow down people’s computers or drain batteries by being too “resource-heavy”, note that Chrome is going to begin blocking those in August. “Chrome will filter ads based on the following thresholds: 4MB of network data or 15 seconds of CPU usage in any 30 second period, or 60 seconds of total CPU usage.”

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

Seeing all hits to one page in Google Analytics is a lot easier if you exclude the URL query parameters (but note that sometimes they are useful, such as for various pages on Etsy.) If you like the idea of filtering your GA results in general, here is another tutorial on that. 

If you want to do A/B testing on your website, here is a fairly straightforward introduction to Google Optimize, which is free to use. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Many online companies had a good first quarter despite the pandemic, including Shopify, which beat income estimates and saw its stock rise 5% after its first quarter report. “New stores created on the company’s online platform jumped 62% between March 13 and April 24 as many brick-and-mortar businesses migrated online.”

Shopify rolled out software that allows its users to more easily do curbside pickup orders. “...Shopify was already in the process of redesigning its POS before the coronavirus, but decided to accelerate the development of a few new features, namely fulfilling curbside pick-up orders and home delivery. Shopify said that by the end of April, 26% of its merchants with a brick-and-mortar presence were offering local delivery or buy online, pickup in-store, compared to 2% in February.”

Rolling out for the US first, Shopify is also getting into financial products, offering a new debit card which you can use to receive your sales income on the same day you earn it. Shopify Balance can be described as “a merchant account with no fees and no minimum balances.” It’s also setting up an instalment plan feature for customers. 

Also new with Shopify: a Pinterest app for turning all your products into shoppable pins. 

An Amazon VP quit - very publicly - over the company firing several whistleblowers and labour organizers. “Amazon declined to comment.” The company is taking heat for those issues as well as poor management of and information about how many employees have tested positive at various warehouses. Several employees are known to have died of COVID-19 so far. 

Amazon has extended its order performance suspension exceptions for the pandemic to May 31. Which is a good thing, because it seems that buyers are leaving more bad feedback than ever before [soft paywall] “More than 11 percent of reviews left for sellers in the past 30 days are negative. That’s nearly twice the level of frustration vented by shoppers regarding Amazon’s third-party sellers during the holidays, when customer anxieties spike over not getting presents on time”. eBay extended some seller protection changes until July 19. [note: if you sell on these platforms outside of the US, lease check for your own country’s rules, as some of them are different.]

Amazon Handmade sellers from the US got a boost from a new local makers page and the accompanying blog post. [I was unable to find any similar promotions for other countries; seems like a missed opportunity]

Buyers in Canada and the US are trying to get class-action lawsuits certified against Amazon for their policy preventing/discouraging its vendors from offering lower prices elsewhere. This article includes the US class action complaint paperwork. 

If you are wondering about Prime Day, Amazon is apparently going to try for September, but there is no official announcement yet. 

eBay will be changing the fee structure for sellers using managed payments, including charging one fee on the entire transaction instead of separate commission & processing fees. 

USPS, complaining of deficits and being pressured by Trump, is reportedly reviewing its package delivery contracts with large companies such as Amazon. “According to the Washington Post, over the last few weeks the USPS has been seeking bids from consulting firms to reexamine what the agency charges companies like Amazon, UPS, and FedEx. Contracts are generally reviewed on a yearly basis, and analysts have repeated warned that suddenly raising package prices that drastically would cause more bad than good, not just for the USPS or Amazon, but for small businesses and individuals too.”

Square has created an easy online checkout option that works without being connected to a website/shop. (US only)

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Google has introduced a new Trends-like tool that covers recent top product searches by the amount of growth. Yes, it is free!

Gen Z wants to see “fun and exciting advertising” during the pandemic, because they are bored. They are apparently not really fond of “things are different now” ads. Also: “A survey taken seven weeks ago indicated that younger consumers were more likely than older adults to say they wanted to see purpose-driven advertising that showed how companies were helping others.” Actually, Gen Z isn’t alone in wanting something different from commercials right now 

Consumers want to see companies taking positive action and supporting their employees during the pandemic - and claim they will remember who did a good job, so they know who to support with purchases. 

Not surprisingly, mobile usage is up during the day time since the pandemic was declared, and people are also staying online later during the week. Web browser usage is up, and more serious news and information is getting attention. 

There will likely be many more bankruptcies as the effects of COVID-19 ripple through the economy, but some businesses don’t have enough cash flow to go bankrupt. [text & video]

Canadian retail sales were down 10% in March compared to 2019, but many things went up, including general merchandise stores (6.4%) and online retailers (40%). Note that the online numbers didn’t include sales made from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca and delivered in Canada, so ecommerce was actually higher than that. In the US, March retail sales were down 8.7%, but April looks like it turned around for many ecommerce sites. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

So-called “cookie walls” are not enough to comply with the EU’s privacy laws. “[I]n order for consent to be legally valid under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) there are specific standards to meet: It must be clear and informed, specific and freely given.  Hence cookie walls that demand ‘consent’ as the price for getting inside the club are not only an oxymoron but run into a legal brick wall.”

Website layouts (and even other elements) are starting to look like each other more & more.

[annakie]

Notes on a Blog Cleanup (& some other stuff) Part 4

Made it all the way back to  to page 1000. 

Started with 3021 pages.  Currently have 2954 pages, adding in posting 10 - 13 times a day for the last month... deleted somewhere around 87 pages of posts (or around 1300 total).  I’m in April 2015.  So it took two and a half years to do 50% of my posting here and nearly another year and a half to get that down to 2/3rds. It’ll just speed up from here.

Anyway, here’s a bunch of words about tumblr, fandom, and Doctor Who.

I’ve found myself deleting more news articles lately.  There’s almost no cringe-y stuff left. If I go back and do this again it’ll be even more deleting current events stuff unlessI connected to it somehow.

A LOT of the content creation I ever did happened in this time.  I did so much giffing for Who’s Line, a lot of video game stuff, especially Mass Effect, cause you know, it’s me, and a lot of edits and such.  Some way better quality than others.  I was also getting thousands of notifications a day from the few things I did that were really popular back then (still sometimes get notes on that Whose Line/Elmo/Game of Thrones gifset to this day).   

I know I’m not like, the best at gifs and edits, but hey, I think some of it is like, pretty good?  There’s a few things I’m a little sad about that just never took off, but I bet all people who try and post OC on Tumblr feel that way about some of their stuff.  A few things I made did surprisingly well, though.

I still will make the odd gif/photoset there that’s more than just “here’s some nice screenshots I took slightly edited” but honestly, I feel like these days it’s so hard to get many notes on tumblr at all?  Like there’s just so fewer people making stuff, and even less reblogging gifsets/photosets?  Idk, maybe it’s something more specific to my overall followers and who you all follow?  But I made a joking post a couple of days ago about my dash feeling weird because not everything is specifically tailored to me after scrolling through my blog, but on the OTHER hand, I also feel like, overall Tumblr has become just yet another place to post memes and text posts and has the big problem of the Reddit/Twitter/Tumblr/Instagram (+TickTock) circle where each place is like 50% screenshots/reposts of content the others?  This obviously isn’t a criticism of any actual people, but just... what tumblr has become the last year or two?  Is it just me?  Like you can find some gifsets and such with a couple thousand notes here and there but... just not as much is being produced now?  Does that make sense?

Like a month or two ago I spent a couple of hours specifically looking for good general fandom blogs specific to several fandoms I’m in and... it’s hard to even find those blogs anymore.  Like, “fuckyeah” type blogs that are someone’s sideblog about a specific topic.  And hey, believe me, I’ve created and abandoned several of these kinds of blogs on my time here (and at least one I’d keep up with but.. it just doesn’t have any content being generated for it so it’s just... sparse) so I get it.  Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places, I don’t know.  

I keep wondering how much longer I’m going to keep doing this little project, and then every 10 or pages I come across a post I didn’t tag properly that’s now been found, or something I just really wanna get off my blog and I’m like “Welp, when I stop finding these, I’ll stop looking.  So maybe in like, 2018. :p  LIterally finding posts I forgot I ever made in the first place and like has made it worth it.

Notes on TAH Fandom

This was also the phase of being heavily heavily like SO heavily into The Thrilling Adventure Hour.  And I have a lot of thoughts on that, too.

Literally, one of the best decisions of my life, tbh.  Not every moment of being like a SuperFan of this thing was sunshine and roses, but most of them really were.  Honestly, I made such good friends.  I had some extraordinary experiences, doing things that I wouldn’t have otherwise done, for sure.  I traveled to Seattle, Chicago, New York twice, and LA three times, hanging out with new friends, and getting to know the cast of a thing I loved so much, and also somehow getting to be known by them as well.  There were things that happened that I didn’t blog about here because I never wanted to come off as braggy, or just to keep a confidence.  There were a few not-as-great things that happened during that time, but basically, 2014 through mid-November 2015 will likely go down as one of the best time periods of my life, for a lot of reasons, but a good chunk of that was the experiences I had through TAH.

Hoo boy though, I blogged about it a LOT.  Like, it felt like almost as much as early blog was about Doctor Who.  I was, uh, real enthusiastic and am now kinda regretful about some of those early fandom tags.  Also turns out some of the TAH people looked at my blog more than I knew, I think, so a little yikes there thinking back on it now.  But also I was kind and helpful a lot, so all of that was good.

This is a good recap post of all of the awesome stuff.  And even that glosses over a lot of the really cool stuff, or skirts around some of it, just to try and stay brief about it.

One of the big things I learned from that experience was that being a very involved person in a fandom is such a double-edged sword.  For one thing, it honestly became somewhat of a second job for me, which I 100% put upon myself.  But running FYTAH (with Shannon!) and admining/writing a large percentage of the TAH Wiki (with Ange!), working in the booths at conventions (with Jena + Shannon/Kitty/Jamie/Dani) and being available to help in a variety of other ways was A Lot.  Which again, I took on willingly.  And Ange warned me about it several times but I was like “No I want to do this.”  So then it also kind of turned into like a customer service job even outside of working at the cons.  After awhile you gotta smile and be nice allllll the time. I ended up taking a lot of things offline to a small subset of friends.  And most of that came from other fans, not from the show itself (except like, feeling like I couldn’t show my true disappointment when the show was ending, or feeling like I couldn’t air any criticisms I had about the show except in very private conversations.)  

At one point I was having an email conversation with a couple of those friends and realized that, for the first time in my life, I was like a “popular kid”, which was weird.  And I tried my damnedest to be as welcoming and inclusive and not to let anyone feel left out.  But also there’s a point where like, you can only take on so much, and you can only be actual friends with so many people?   You can be kind and welcoming and enthusiastic and all, but you only have so much time and energy to give away.  There were so many messages I never answered still sitting in my / the FYTAH inbox or in email and some on twitter because I just didn’t have the bandwidth to give away sometimes.  It was a weird lesson to learn because I knew it so well in general in my personal life, but had never had to apply it... in this way before?  Does that sound weird?  Or braggy?  I feel like I’m walking on land mines with this one.

For a more specific example of what I mean, in March, 2015 ten of us rented a house and lived in it for a long weekend for the TAH 10th anniversary show + a fun getaway vacation. Everyone invited was someone I knew or were close with someone else in the group.  A few more people had been invited but couldn’t afford it, so word got around a little bit.  And it was AMAZING.  But I later heard that there were a few people, most of whom I didn’t really know, were hurt that they weren’t invited.  Jena and I spent dozens of hours and put a lot of financial risk into being the custodians of the trip for even the ten of us, and it was a huge undertaking.  It was never meant to be a thing for the entire fandom, just a group of people who were already friends.  But there was still a small kerfluffle from a few people about it.  Which, I TOTALLY get feeling bad about being left out but... it was always supposed to be a relatively small thing, never any kind of “Official Fandom Get Together”.  And we definitely didn’t have the time/money/ability to host an “open call for anyone to come” type thing.  Just coordinating 10 people (and about 25 - 30 overall getting together to hang out at designated times over the weekend) was... more than enough.

At one point sometime later people started suggesting that we organize and hold an actual TAH-Con and I... let that one pass me by without really talking about it.  It was definitely too much, and even then I knew it.  And I mean, the shadow of Dashcon was still hanging over all fandoms heavily in those days.  I wasn’t about to become the next Dashcon.  It never got past a few emails being passed around.

So yeah, to be honest, if I could go back and do those years again, I absolutely would, it was like 95% awesomeness.  But I think in regards to some of the fandom-specific things, I’d be a little less of a doormat, and I’d be a little more careful about spreading myself too thin.

So now that the show is “back”, I am enjoying listening to it, and I’ll reblog some things or post big news on FYTAH, but I’ve been lazy about even helping out with the wiki (I keep meaning to get back to it, Ange is still doing great) because... although I’m still a HUGE fan, I also am gonna be more laid back about it now.  

I also haven’t REALLY loved a thing in the same way since TAH.  The closest there has been is Critical Role, and I’ve been real careful to stay out of any actual fandom stuff there.  I really love the thing, but I’m gonna keep with my group of 5 or 6 other fans I already know (all from other fandoms) who love the thing too, and stay out of wider discussions.  With some of the stuff happening there lately, it was a good decision.  

Wow, that was a lot of words.  Sorry. 

Hey one last thing to catch up on.

Doctor Who Rewatch 2019!

I’m now already at 6x01, into the Silence episodes.

So I did finally rewatch the Desert Bus episode that I hated so much before and like... this time... it was fine?  Cheesy and all, but not so bad that I should have hated it as much as I did?  Also noticed the Doctor doing the classic “gonna hit on this girl really hard in the beginning then drop her so quick at the end” thing to the companion of the week.  Ah, Ten.  The most bi-polar of all Doctors.  I’m gonna be honest, I decided to skip on through Waters of Mars because I realized I was just ready to be done with Ten at that point.  I’ll probably go back to it at some point but I wasn’t ready for another Ten Temper Tantrum, maybe the worst one of all, in that episode.

So I finished Ten (and oh man that whole two-parter to end Ten with... like the whole Master plotline is such a stinker.  The first half, in particular, is so bad, the only really good scene is the one in the cafe with Wilf.  The rest of it... wow.  Wasn’t that whole thing written like the week before filming and never really edited or something? IDK.)  The last half hour or so is really good though, with Ten’s sacrifice (after a tantrum) and then all the companion goodbyes (except Joan Redfern’s granddaughter, bleh).  

But yay, on to Eleven and Amy and Rory and more River!

Season Five is... wow it starts off strong and really stalls there in the middle for a bit.  Picks back up a bit with Rory returning, then somehow has two great episodes without Rory and ends strong, though the first pretty nonsensical Moffat-era “this doesn’t make sense but it looks and sounds so good you don’t care, right?” season arc and ending.  Season six, I’m already remembering, is way, way worse for that.  But anyway.  Rory remains my second favorite companion ever.  And episodes with Amy, Rory and River continue to be my favorites.  Also? Matt Smith is so good.

But even early on in season six I’m remembering how really dumb the overarching plotline is... Moffat is great at “Oh man this will be cool so I’m gonna throw it in there! (and it really is some very cool stuff!) and hope it all makes sense later!  Or just don’t think about it too hard!”

Honestly though, despite all the quibbles, most of the episodes work on an individual level if you don’t think about the the overall arc Moffat is trying to do.  Even those that are a bit sloggy, like the Cold Blood/Hungry Earth two-parter, have enough great moments to justify watching them.  (Ambrose is still maybe one of the worst “regular people” characters to ever be on this show, though.)  There’s still no “Fear Her”.  And that’s pretty good.

Also?  The blog itself is now about as Doctor Who oriented as it is in the last year.  Like... oh the season is airing?  There’s a lot more good stuff to reblog, I’ll reblog good stuff.  Season not airing, a scattered post here and there.  It’s a much better place to be.

After Amy and Rory leave, that was about the end of my true like “Doctor Who Obsession” phase.  On my Blog we’re in the break between Amy and Rory leaving and Clara showing up. I never really clicked with Clara, I think like a lot of people.  Like I really liked the season with Danny, but after that season I never really rewatched episodes, so I’m looking forward to getting there and experiencing some stuff again for the second time.  

[toweringarts]

Please donate to a good cause!

Hello everyone! It’s that time of the year where I ask you all to help me raise funds to the ALS Association in honor of my grandmother, who had died in 2011 due to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). You’ve probably heard of it before, as lately I feel like everyone is dying of it (Steve Hawkins had it, and Stephen Hillenburg the creator of Spongebob. Even a member of the furry community, Dogbomb, was famously diagnosed with it and just recently passed away). It is a dangerous disease for which no cure has been found. That’s why we have to help in any way we can!

This May 4th, I’m going on a walk to help fundraise. Me, and millions of people, would be very grateful if you helped by donating to a team that’s walking! My team is Team Torres, led by my mom. I have a personal donation page, too. It’s right here. This year, we registered very late. There have been a lot of inconveniences and unprecedented situations and surprises that distracted us, some of them good and some of them bad, so we’re in a bit of a rush? That’s why, I want to do something different this year for my donation page, although please excuse me, I haven’t really thought it through very well, so it’s a little disorganized and might be a disaster.

Everyone that donates from this page (or the main Team Torres page) in my name, if they want to, will get a free drawing request! I’ll draw you anything! I mean it! ANY Donation, too! Anything as low as a dollar will get a drawing! Simply send me proof that you donated, tell me in what name you donated (please don’t write anonymous! Just make up a name if you don’t want to be known), and then tell me what you’d like me to draw.

But please keep in mind my busy schedule... I plan these drawings to be sketches. Some of them might be colored, some of them might even be inked. I have a set of rules or guidelines I’d like to follow, but seeing as I don’t know what I’m doing I might not follow them anyway! I just want to give you an idea of what to expect if you want a drawing, and donated with that idea in mind. More info on the sort of drawings and the “rules” below:

rules:

Please don’t donate anonymously. I want to keep track of who’s doing this, if anyone is, and it’ll be easier if I have a name! Please make up one, the website allows you to write down any name you want displayed, it doesn’t have to be the one in the credit card.

You must send me proof that you donated! I have submissions open both in this blog, and on my main blog. The proof could be anything really, from a screenshot of the transaction summary, to a screenshot of your email confirmation, to even your bank statement. but please PLEASE blur out or crop any sensitive information like your credit card number, your address, or your even your full name if you’re uncomfortable with that. I don’t wanna know! I just want to make sure I’m rewarding the right people! Here’s some examples:

One character please! As stated, my schedule is busy! If you don’t want a character but rather a thing (like a landscape..?) I can do that too! Just please don’t expect masterpieces, I’m begging you. Here’s the level of work I’m capable of doing for donators:

Level 1 is just a straight up sketch or doodle. Neither of those drawings is particularly edited or checked for anatomy, but they have overall shape and are not, at least I hope, ugly. However, whether it’s a messy sketch, or a cleaner sketch, will probably depend on the amount donated. Down below are more examples and the possible cleanliness of the sketches. These automatically happen if you donate between a dollar and $9.

Anything colored but not inked, such as a level 2 pictured here, will probably be because of a donation of over $10. They usually take me over 30 minutes, and this is an estimate without me knowing what it is that you’d like. I might color a sketch for someone that donates below $10, specially if I really like how it turned out, but I’ll most likely do it later on? By the way, it would be the same thing if you’d want it inked but not colored. Inking and coloring takes me a similar amount of time, so if you donate $10 or more I’ll ask you for your choice!

And then... a level 3, which is to say both inked and colored, with the pencil sketch removed, (and I’m sort of assuming this one will be rare but truthfully I don’t really know?) would probably be... over $25.

If anyone donates any price over, oh I don’t know, $40? $50? I’ll add another character, or something? Give you my firstborn? If anyone donates over $100 I will die, and my gratitude will give you eternal life, but also I will massively up the effort! I might even... dare I say... draw a background?? Or a whole family!?

If you REALLY can’t pick a character, and want more than one person, but are just as broke as me, perhaps consider donating something like, $10 for two full bodied uncolored sketched characters instead of one colored or inked character? A $20 would similarly be worth about 3 uncolored characters.

If you came here from twitter don’t feel like you have to message me through tumblr! My twitter is right here (which, I’m assuming, is where you got the link to this post from.) Please message me there if you want.

Thank you very much for reading. If you live in New York, please come walk on Saturday May 4th! They have free food! And usually they have free cocnut water!! Thank you. Please reblog and spread the word! DEFEAT ALS!!!

[benhardyorbust]

The Trip of a Lifetime PT 10

Recap: You had just graduated from college, but you had one last trip to go on for one of your classes. You were going to London with your intercultural media communication class for two weeks. The first night you matched with a boy named Ben on Bumble. The second night of your trip you go on a date with him and go home with him. You are now on a weekend trip to Paris with him after you had gotten into a fight. 

A/N: sorry if this is super short or really bad lol, I wrote it in the car on a road trip and it might be terrible. ALSO I listened to this playlist while writing this, so if you want to listen while you read feel free! 

1612 words 

Read Part 9 Here

Before you leave the makeshift picnic that that Ben set up, you of course make sure that Ben gets the perfect Instagram picture of you.

“You know I haven’t looked at my phone all day really,” you say. “I wonder if those pictures of us at the airport have surfaced yet.”

“Why don’t we look at see,” Ben suggests.

You first just look at your messages, you have texts from all your friends back home and like a million from your mom. She had so much to say, from “what the hell do you think you’re doing” to “glad you finally found a man”. You laugh, that’s pretty typical of her.

“Ben! My mom said we did get on E! Wow we did it. I can finally check that off my bucket list,” you say laughing.

You open Instagram so you can post your picture, and notice you have 350+ new followers and counting and hundreds of comments.

“Well, they definitely found my Instagram,” you laugh as you show Ben your phone and he laughs.

���You’re so popular! I can’t wait for you to start selling Fit Tea,” he laughs, teasing you.

You post your picture and then head over to Twitter to see if anyone has said anything. You check the what’s happening section and you are shocked.

The headline reads “British Actor Ben Hardy Finds Love Again” with a picture of you guys kissing at the airport. You turn your phone around and show him.

Ben laughs, “Y/N, you’re Twitter famous!”

“All my dreams are coming true!” You laugh along with him.

You click on the moment and see what people are saying. You read the the description out loud to Ben; it reads:

“After an E! News UK interview with British heartthrob Ben Hardy where he stated he found a new love, the world has been on the hunt for who the lucky girl is. Good news, we found her. Her name is Y/f/n Y/l/n and she just graduated from the University of Nebraska. Take a look at their new found love. ”

There’s then a series of tweets some various UK and US based tabloids and, of course fans.

One of your favorite tweets was from People magazine (you’ve always wanted to be noticed by People so you’re kinda fangirling over this) reads: “Bohemian Rhapsody star Ben Hardy and his new bae have officially joined the Mile High club! According to a source on the plane, the couple disappeared for 15 minutes from their first class seats and returned looking ‘pleased’. Congrats to the happy couple!” Two pictures were attached: you two holding hands on the airplane from the back, and the two of you kissing in the airport.

You laugh and show Ben. “I guess someone did notice!”

He laughs as he reads the tweet, “you’re absolutely wild!”

Over the course of roughly twelve hours since you got off the plane to now you had gained 300+ twitter followers and had too many notifications to count.

“Ben this is so crazy!” you say as you scroll through the twitter moment.

“I hope this isn’t too much for you,” he says, sounding serious. “I know it can be a lot to handle, it’s one of the reasons my ex and I broke up.”

He looks so concerned, you kiss his forehead and take his hand in yours.

“Of course not, babe! I knew what I was getting myself into as soon as I figured out who you were. If I didn’t think I could handle it, I wouldn’t be here right now,” you say. “Your career is not a make or break for me. Is it super cool? Hell yeah! Would I still be in love with you if you were a clerk at a gas station? Absolutely.”

Ben kisses your hand and looks at you.

“I just want to be sure this isn’t overwhelming for you or anything. I know it can be a lot, and you’re probably going to get a lot of hate comments and stuff, but ...” he trails off.

“Ben, I have a thick skin, I think I can handle it. Anyways, I would do anything to be with you. Mama didn’t raise no bitch,” you say laughing.

“Well in that case, I have the Hollywood Foreign Press Association dinner thing on Tuesday night that I would love you to accompany me to. I was going to go alone, but now that we are official, and apparently public, I would love to have you on my arm,” he says smiling at you.

“Oh my god, I would love to!” you say. “But I have nothing to wear.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll have my stylist pick some stuff out for you.”

“Are you sure? That’s too much Ben.”

“Absolutely! It’s no problem for her, she’s always bugging me that she wants to dress a woman for me,” he says laughing.

“Well in that case, I can’t wait!”

“Let’s get out of here, shall we?” Ben says.

~~~

When you get back to the hotel room, you tell Ben to close his eyes because you have a surprise.

You grab something from your luggage and to go the bathroom to change. You want to have a grand reveal.

“Can I open my eyes love?”

“In three, two, one”

Ben opens his eyes to see you standing in front of him in lacey black lingerie. He smiles and pulls you closer to him.

“I told you I’d repay you” you whisper into Ben’s ear. You starts to lightly kiss behind his ear and down his neck.

“You drive me bloody mad,” Ben says. He pulls you onto his lap so you are straddling him and kisses you passionately. He kisses your forehead, nose, lingers on your lips, chin, down your neck and down your chest.

“As lovely as you look in this, let’s get it off, shall we?” Ben pulls the black garment off of you, you shake out your hair and smile at him.

“Your turn,” you say as you take off his shirt. You run your fingers down his chest. You push him down and climb on top of him kissing down his body. You start to unbuckle his belt.

“I love you” he whispers in between breaths.

“I love you too,” you say back in between kisses.

~~~

You roll over and see that Ben is still asleep. You look at your phone and it’s 9:56 already. Wow you both must have been tired.

You get out of bed, take a shower, brush your teeth and slip into one of Ben’s t-shirts. Then you slip back into bed to see Ben still sleeping.

You don’t want to wake him up because he looks so peaceful when he’s asleep, so you decide to spend this time texting back everyone they texted you about your new relationship.

Almost everyone you’ve ever met sent you a text along the lines of “is this you?” with a screenshot of the picture of you two. As much as you are embarrassed that everyone knows you and Ben fucked in the airplane bathroom, you also think it’s hilarious, as long as no one tells your grandparents.

Jake, the guy you had an on and off “thing”with texted you. Ugh what does he want. The message reads “you were always the one that got away” with the picture of you and Ben at the airport.

“Ugh what the hell,” you say. This caused Ben to wake up.

“What’s wrong love?” He says, with a groggy sleepy voice. He sees you glaring at your phone. He comes closer to you and wraps his arms around your waist and rests his head on your lap.

“I used to have a weird thing with this guy and he texted me about you,” you say, obviously annoyed.

“Really? What did he say?”

You read the text message to him and Ben rolls his eyes.

“He sounds needy .... and annoying.”

“Oh he was. He could never commit to being in an actual relationship but always wanted to be able to control me. I eventually had enough and told him to stop contacting me and he lost it. He sent me messages until I finally blocked him. Then he sent me messages on like every social media platform, and even sent me an email on my school email. It was so obnoxious.”

“When was this?” Ben asks, he’s now sitting up and looking at the room service menu. “Also, how does a bagel sound?”

“First of all, you read my mind,” you say laughing. “Second of all, it was like a year ago ish. I unblocked his number like 6 months ago and this is the first time he’s contacted me.”

“Hold on, love,” he says as he orders the room service. After he’s done he gets up and puts on his pajama pants and gets back in bed with you.

“So he’s just texting you because of what he saw online?”

“Oh yeah. He’s always been a super jealous and controlling person. After I broke it off with him, I’ve ...” you trail off, not wanting to finish your sentence.

“You’ve what?”

“I dunno, it sounds dumb, but I’ve just had a hard time letting people in. Being vulnerable with anyone is already hard for me, but he kind of took advantage of me being vulnerable and used what I told him to control me,” you say, looking down. “It’s just been hard to let go of that I guess. Until I met you.”

Ben looks at you and smiles. He kisses your forehead and pushes a hair out of your eyes.

“You’ll never have to worry about that with me, love.”

Part 11

Tags:

@isabella-bby

[ads-is-shady-blog]

#5) [Otome Games/BTS] An Update on Aeon Dream Studios - hiatus, founder leaving, allegations of emotional abuse and non-payment by a former employee, + more

View the discussion on reddit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/amiuas/otome_gamesbts_an_update_on_aeon_dream_studios/

Post (words by original poster linked):

This is an update to my previous post here which has some background and a Tl;dr at the end for those who need it. It's time for an update as a lot has happened in the past month.

Before that, though, here's something I missed in my last post: a scandal in June 2018 where ADS tweeted on their official account to call out a fanfic author on Wattpad for copying ADS's work. The tweet included an image containing the author's username, leading the fifteen-year-old author to receive harassment from TTEOTS fans who had seen the tweet. Considering TTEOTS itself did not have legal permission to be using BTS's likenesses, the call out post seems rather hypocritical. There was also an exchange in the replies where the devs passive aggressively blamed a fan who asked for help due to the app being glitchy.

So, to recap where we left off:

The studio went silent for a couple of months at the end of 2018, letting a promised release date for TTEOTS pass without comment. In mid-December the CEO emerged to link her inability to work to a BTS member sustaining a minor injury, and then pushed back Echoes to 2019 (initially promised for March 2017), giving no date for further TTEOTS content.

January has brought renewed anger and attempts to raise awareness by ex-fans and customers who have been burned by the studio.

January 14th

In two tweets on her personal account, the CEO decried the capitalisation and dehumanisation of BTS through merchandise and idolatry and condemned fans for buying products that contributed to this. This was certainly an ironic tweet to make for someone who:

dehumanised BTS by turning them into characters for her game without their consent;

promoted the game using BTS's faces, name and existing fanbase, and strongly encouraged fans to pay for crowdfunding, TTEOTS merch and, later, the monetised Premium version;

enticed fans to buy Premium by promising Premium-exclusive content such as eventual romantic content with said characters, further dehumanising the members of BTS without their consent.

Several people responded pointing out the hypocrisy of making such tweets after capitalising on the faces of BTS, but the CEO did not respond; instead one fan chimed in to defend the studio.

January 18th

The CEO posted a new blog on ADS's official website announcing a hiatus for financial reasons. It is no longer accessible for reasons I'll explain, but there is a cached version viewable here. The hiatus will last until at least March and means writing and programming will continue but almost everything else is paused and their social media presence will be reduced. Elaborating, she explained that they had "been on hiatus in some ways since September [2018]", having slowed work due to budgetary constraints.

The post also included a vague paragraph about a personal financial settlement she was owed from a person referred to as "He-Shall-Not-Be-Named" which she had planned to invest into ADS, but allegedly he had dragged out the proceedings and this, combined with the "untimely" cease and desist from BigHit Entertainment and decreased sales, led to financial difficulties. During the hiatus, which will last until March or later, the CEO wrote that she would work on novels and commissions in order to help the company.

Ex-fans linked the hiatus post in the Steam forums and in a post on /r/otomegames. Criticism was directed at numerous parts of the statement, including:

"We promised you guys a lot of things, and we’re going to deliver, come hell or high water. It might not be in the time frame I had planned, but it will be done. I am definitely known as a person of my word." (emphasis added)

A claim critics would happily dispute, and:

"Anyway, as a result I decided the best thing for us was to be honest, now that I knew more, and let the fans know exactly what was happening as soon as possible and take an “official” hiatus." (emphasis added)

This latter statement attracted particular criticism considering the studio had already been winding down development activity since September but had failed to inform fans and eventually went radio silent for roughly 2 months, leaving TTEOTS fans confused and worried about the status of the game. Further, this hiatus post was not announced anywhere on ADS's social media, leaving those who had noticed it wondering exactly how this constituted keeping fans in the loop.

January 25th

On the 25th, the CEO made several tweets, one of which began with:

"Lately, relationships have ended in my life. I'm grateful for the lessons I learned. Courage, generosity, empathy, honesty, openness are all traits required for a healthy relationship."

Perhaps coincidentally, that same day the other remaining founding member of the studio announced her departure for mental health reasons. As she is no longer an employee I will not link directly out of respect but here is a screenshot of the main tweet. This left ADS with two remaining employees - the CEO (the only remaining founder) and a writer who had formally joined the studio in February 2018 and who is allegedly now living with the CEO. This departure means there are now four former employees listed on the official ADS website. The third founder was the longest serving former employee at 2 years.

Shortly afterwards, the official ADS Twitter tweeted out a new hiatus statement on their official website, the previous one having vanished. The new post was shorter than the first - down to 426 words from the original 1,089 - and now included the departure of their founding member as a reason for the hiatus.

The tweet attracted a mix of supportive and critical replies, with former fans and backers wading in to demand answers about the two versions of the hiatus post and to back up frustrated TTEOTS fans. Unusually, the CEO appeared in the replies to respond to some of these criticisms, tweeting that:

anything perceived to be "shady" by critics was merely due to their founding member struggling with her mental health behind the scenes;

the second hiatus blog was the "same exact blog" as the original except for the addition of the founding member leaving (in fact the original was twice as long);

the only reason they didn't share the original hiatus post on Twitter was because the member responsible for sharing it had quit.

January 27th

The CEO posted two blogs on the ADS website: a post detailing her plans for restructuring and fulfilling their obligations, including hiring more freelance staff after the hiatus, and another detailing the struggles of ADS from their founding, written in response to a critic who had apparently claimed not to believe in the recently departed founding member's mental health issues. (I am unsure what comment(s) the CEO was referring to specifically as the reference is vague.)

As you've probably guessed, ex-fans picked this latter post apart too.

"I haven’t seen all the bad things out there about us. I don’t read them, because I know that some of it is made up,and would only distract me from my job. I know the truth, and I have always been honest, even if there were things I couldn’t say. I have no motive to lie, and I know these people don’t know or understand me." (emphasis added)

Critics wondered how the CEO could know if criticisms are made up if she doesn't read them.

"I thought of the possibility of course, of hanging it up, working on providing refunds to people (what, you REALLY thought we were so dishonorable as not to do that?)..." (emphasis added)

Of course, as mentioned in my last post, numerous customers had reported difficulty obtaining refunds (despite a threat from the devs that backers who were toxic would be forcibly refunded).

On their official Twitter account, they also announced plans to move away from social media and focus on communicating through the "healthy space" of their Discord channels. Ex-fans speculated this was a way to more tightly moderate speech and shut out critics. One began lurking in the official Discords, reporting on what the studio's remaining employees were saying and alleging that critics' arguments were being misrepresented by ADS devs to their fans in the Discord enquiring about the controversy.

This user also heavily hinted at having testimony from an inside source that supposedly included emotional abuse allegations against the CEO, but was holding off on saying anything due to concerns about preserving the source's anonymity.

28th January

Despite failing to give a release date elsewhere, the developers posted a backer-exclusive Kickstarter update which as a non-backer I cannot read, but according to a poster in the Steam forum it gives the release date for Echoes as March 2019, despite the hiatus.

The CEO also tweeted refuting past criticism that she was throwing employees under the bus in her updates, and closed by stating she would not be tweeting about negativity or rumours anymore.

29th January

A Twitter user who is the MDSOA Deluxe Edition Kickstarter's highest backer (to the tune of $2000+ USD, proof posted on their Twitter account) posted a series of tweets strongly condemning the studio. She claimed one employee from the studio had blocked her (something at least one other backer has also reported) and that she had been refused a refund.

In fact, when she had emailed the studio in November 2018 asking for refunds for physical Kickstarter rewards which did not yet exist almost 2 years after the Kickstarter in question - and indeed still do not exist - ADS responded that crowdfunded pledges are "donations" and "ordinarily considered non-refundable", with the promised rewards being "just a perk". (This screenshot of the reply is embedded in one of the tweets.) However, they generously stated they would "consider it" when they start sending out merchandise.

In fact, according to Section 4 of Kickstarter's Terms of Use, this is very much not true: "project creators must complete the project and fulfil each reward." Backers are owed regular updates, and if the project fails, creators must go to lengths to show why they failed, prove they used funds appropriately, and either refund backers with any remaining funds or use this money to complete the promised project in another form. The only way to terminate these obligations to a backer is to issue a refund, ending the contract between them.

And, in any case, the developers had promised refunds in December 2017 for those who wanted them and had set up a page for refund sign-ups which they posted about in January. As such, it's clear their email response was not consistent with their past statements, especially as some people were previously able to get refunds. What changed?

Again:

"I thought of the possibility of course, of hanging it up, working on providing refunds to people (what, you REALLY thought we were so dishonorable as not to do that?)..."

31st January

Meanwhile, ADS were posting teasers of new character designs for TTEOTS, including one of the redesigns that had been made necessary by the cease and desist in August 2018. As the main male characters had originally been based on BTS they had all appeared Korean, but the redesigns had changed the races of some characters to reflect a more racially diverse future.

On the 31st they posted a passive aggressive tweet with a meme gif alluding to comments they had apparently received in the past, encouraging people to unfollow if they were likely to be upset by future character designs, all of which are "various shades of brown", with one also being agender. Again a mix of supportive and critical replies followed; even some of the studio's supporters criticised the tone as condescending and unprofessional. Several responders appeared wary of being branded as racist for criticising Five's redesign for not fitting his established character. One or two even expressed views that the devs were intentionally avoiding adding white characters out of spite or pettiness. Matters were not helped by ADS making a couple of replies of a similar hostile tone.

1st February

At last, the "inside source" that had been hinted at came forward: the former Lead Artist and Art Director at ADS, Monzana21.

Monz alleged in a Twitter statement that she had been a victim of emotional abuse at the hands of ADS's current management, ended up in the hospital with extreme exhaustion, and when she left the company received only one and a half months' payment for 7 months of work. She appealed to people to question what is happening at ADS and why they have lost so many employees, but declined to give further information publicly in order to protect herself and her friends and coworkers. In other more recent tweets she added that people in the art community are also aware of abuse and mistreatment within ADS and the scamming of fans.

Replies were overwhelmingly supportive, with a couple of other Twitter users who had interacted with ADS chiming in to say that their experiences with ADS were also negative and they did not doubt the veracity of the allegations.

Since then, any tweets on the ADS Twitter have numerous responses asking about the abuse allegations and trying to spread awareness, but the studio still has plenty of eager responses from fans as well.

On her personal account, the CEO tweeted to thank those who believe in her for their supportive messages and retweeted this on the ADS Twitter, but there has otherwise been no official statement on the matter outside of Discord. There, the CEO has outright disputed the allegations (compilation), as has ADS's other writer (compilation), and members of the Discord (some of whom address the CEO as "mom") have mostly taken them at their word, while people who were already critical or doubtful of the studio appear more inclined to believe the former Lead Artist.

The #TTEOTS, #MDSOA and #MDE Twitter tags are awash with criticism towards the studio from numerous different users, and new tweets from the CEO and the official ADS Twitter are quickly met by former fans and backers banging war drums. The fallout from the abuse allegations has yet to settle and presumably more drama is to come.

Tl;dr

Throughout January, angry ex-fans have increased efforts to raise awareness and turned ADS-related accounts and tags into a battleground on Twitter

Conspiracy theories abounded as a post about a hiatus for financial reasons was never shared, then vanished and reappeared significantly edited down a week later

A founding member of the company departed for mental health reasons

A $2k+ backer alleges she was refused a refund for items she had not received and was informed her Kickstarter pledge was a "donation" and "ordinarily non-refundable"

ADS stirred up further controversy with more passive aggressive tweets

A former employee came forward with allegations of emotional abuse and being underpaid for 7 months of work, which the remaining ADS members have refuted

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

How SparkNotes' social media accounts mastered the art of meme-ing literature

Most millennials know SparkNotes as the ultimate no-nonsense study buddy, but today’s students not only receive help with schoolwork from the website, they get high-quality entertainment, too.

SparkNotes remains a crucial tool for text comprehension — full of study guides and supplemental resources on english literature, philosophy, poetry, and more. But over the past two years it’s also become a source of some of the internet’s most quick-witted, thought-provoking, and ambitious memes.

SparkNotes' Twitter and Instagram accounts have carved a unique niche for themselves online by posting literary memes that find perfect parallels  between classic works like Macbeth, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and Frankenstein, and present-day pop culture favorites like The Office, Parks and Rec, and more.

It may come as a surprise to those who once frequented the site for the sole purpose of better understanding Shakespeare plays before a final exam or catching up on assigned chapters of The Catcher in the Rye before the bell rang, but SparkNotes is cool now, and absolutely killing the social media game.

SEE ALSO: The magic of Book Fairies

As someone who spends the majority of her workday on the internet and splits her leisure time almost exclusively between reading books and re-watching episodes of The Office, I fell in love with the account's near-perfect meme execution after mere minutes of scrolling through posts. 

In a world with so many bad brand tweets and tone-deaf memes, I felt compelled to seek out the well-read meme masters behind SparkNotes' social media to learn how it is they manage to make each and every post so good.

How SparkNotes' social media became LIT ✨📚

Chelsea Aaron, a 31-year-old senior editor for SparkNotes, is a huge part of the success. She started managing the site's Instagram in September 2017, and her meme approach has helped the account grow from 5,000 to 134,000 followers.

"When I first started managing the account, I tried a bunch of different things," Aaron explained in an email. "I ran illustrations and original content from our blog, and I also borrowed memes from our Twitter ... The memes seemed to get the most likes, so I started making and posting those on a regular basis, and now I try to do four to five per week."

Image: screengrab / Instagram

Aaron discovered the account's recipe for success by not only making memes about some of SparkNotes' most popular, highly searched guides — which include Shakespeare's plays, The Great Gatsby, and Pride and Prejudice — but by mashing them together with a few modern television shows that she's personally passionate about, such as The Office, Parks and Rec, Arrested Development, and John Mulaney's comedy specials. She's also known for hilariously retelling entire works (SparkNotes style, so, abridged versions) using the account's Highlight feature.

Image: screengrab / instagram

The brilliantly sharp, comical posts seem effortless, but Aaron explained the process takes some serious concentration. Essentially, she stares at a large collection of collected screenshots "in a state of panic" until an idea strikes. "It's wildly inefficient and incredibly stressful, but I haven't figured out another way to do it," she admitted.

Luckily, Aaron always has the SparkNotes Twitter account to turn to for inspiration, which is managed by Courtney Gorter, a 26-year-old consulting writer for SparkNotes who Aaron calls "a comedic genius."

Gorter has been managing the Twitter account for about a year and a half now, and joined the SparkNotes team because she utilized its resources growing up and wanted to help "make classic literature feel accessible" to others.

"I wanted this stuff to seem slightly more fun (or, at the very least, less intimidating) to the average stressed-out student who's just trying to read fifty pages by tomorrow and also has a quiz on Friday," she said. The memes definitely help her achieve that goal.

Scrolling through the SparkNotes Instagram account, you notice it generally uses a recurring but reliably satisfying meme format. Most of the posts consist of a white block filled with introductory text and a screenshot from a television show, like so.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SparkNotes Official (@sparknotes_) on Apr 16, 2019 at 10:25am PDT

Gorter, on the other hand, ensures the Twitter account showcases a far more widespread representation of the internet. She posts everything from out-of-context screenshots, GIFs, and videos, to altered headlines from The Onion and trending meme formats of the moment, like "in this house" memes, "nobody vs me" memes, and more. The account is full of variety and gloriously unpredictable.

Hades: Orpheus I’ll let you bring your wife back from the Underworld, but if you turn and look behind you she’ll be lost to you forever. Orpheus: pic.twitter.com/FWD9P2nO0m

— SparkNotes (@SparkNotes) April 16, 2019

Normal heart rate: /\⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ /\ _ / \ __/\__ / \ _ \/⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ \/ The old man you just killed, whose heart lies hidden beneath the floorboards yet continues to beat: ⠀/\⠀ /\⠀ /\ _/ \ /\_/ \ /\_/ \ /\_ ⠀ \/⠀⠀ \/⠀⠀ \/

— SparkNotes (@SparkNotes) April 12, 2019

Gorter, who describes herself as "constantly on the internet" feels a lot of her ideas are the result of "cultural osmosis ... our collective tendency to consume references and jokes without realizing it just by being on the internet a lot."

"Sometimes I’ll be reading a book, and I’ll remember a joke I saw earlier that fits. Sometimes a new meme format will crop up over the weekend, and I’ll think, 'That could work for Macbeth,'" she said.

Though the two accounts are clearly distinct from one another, they both give off the same hip English teacher energy and running them has become a truly collaborative effort. "I constantly send her [Gorter] emails asking stuff like, 'Can I still say 'big mood' or is that over?' and 'What's the deal with this whole 'wired vs tired' thing?'" Aaron said.

Together, the two women spend their days discussing iconic works of literature, making pop culture references, and keeping up with the latest memes. (A dream job.) Their separate styles fuse together to make each other's posts the best they can be.

The meme approach works wonders

One might not initially think that Boo Radley and John Mulaney have much in common, or that Michael Scott could effortlessly embody Romeo, Julius Caesar, and Holden Caulfield if you simply alter your perspective. I certainly did not. 

But Aaron and Gorter's work will convince you. Once you start merging the worlds of classic literature and modern television series, you won't want to stop.

The SparkNotes instagram is my favorite thing pic.twitter.com/FCc6sXjJly

— Jessie Martin (@jessie_martin97) March 29, 2019

Fun fact, the official Sparknotes Instagram account is probably the best one: pic.twitter.com/sIR6tsw7ZP

— Tommy (@tommy_jacobs92) February 28, 2019

When describing why the posts work so well, Aaron explained that Hamlet, Mr. Darcy, and Gatsby — three of her favorite characters to meme — have super relatable personalities, which makes the process so simple.

"They're dramatic, and awkward, and obsessive, which makes them identical to about 97% of the people on The Office," she said. "I've learned that you can use Michael Scott as a stand-in for pretty much any classic lit character, and it isn't even hard. (That's what she said)."

What wow the @SparkNotes Twitter is extremely good???? It all appears to be this good!!! https://t.co/PyEqTdQ3Ly

— Rachel Kelly 🥛 (@wholemilk) May 2, 2019

Why is @SparkNotes's Twitter so good it has no right to be this good https://t.co/eFBQpLMpe3

— Kelsey [Version 2019.05] (@flusteredkels) May 2, 2019

Gorter thinks the accounts are so appealing because they create a deep sense of community — an online space that isn't so isolating, rather a place where where bibliophiles, television enthusiasts, and meme lovers can all come together and geek the hell out. There's really something for everyone.

"When Steve Rogers said, 'I understood that reference,' I felt that deeply. I think people enjoy being in on a joke, especially when the source material (classic literature, for instance) isn’t particularly hilarious," Gorter said. "There’s a delicious juxtaposition there. I know that I personally get a secret little thrill when I understand something as contextually layered as a really niche meme, and a slight sense of frustration when I don’t."

Engaging followers and changing with the times

SparkNotes as a whole has come a long way since it was launched as TheSpark.com by a group of Harvard students in 1999.

What started out as a budding web-based dating service quickly transformed into a trusted library of online study materials, and over the years, as the publishing industry, technology, and the internet evolved, so did SparkNotes. 

Like the social media accounts, SparkNotes'  SparkLife blog — full of quizzes, artwork, rankings, advice, and trendy posts like "How To Break Up With Someone, According To Shakespeare" and "Snapchats From Every Literary Movement" —  perfectly encapsulates the site's commitment to catering to its audience.

Whoever runs the Sparknotes twitter and Instagram pages deserves a raise

— louise🌻 (@_Fallxn_) February 21, 2019

SparkNotes does a remarkable job of shifting with the times to stay relevant and interesting in the eyes of its readers — and the quest to balance fun and education really seems to be paying off. Recently, the Instagram account tested out a post that called upon students and teachers to request custom-made memes by reaching out via email with the title of a book or subject they want meme'd, along with a message for the intended recipient.

"The response was amazing!" Aaron said. "We got almost 250 emails, and it's so great to see the genuine affection and admiration that teachers have for their students, and vice versa." 

Thanks to the social media accounts, SparkNotes is not only helping students learn, but helping entire classrooms bond with their teachers. (And hopefully teaching educators who follow a thing or two about good memes.)

Print isn't dead, it's just getting some help from the internet

Aaron and Gorter are having a blast running the accounts, but ultimately, they hope their lighthearted posts will inspire people to pick up a book and read.

"I hope what our followers take away from this is that classic literature doesn’t have to be totally dry," Gorter said. "If our memes encourage our followers to engage with classic literature and be excited about reading, that's so rewarding," Aaron added.

The present-day approach to selling classic literature is undeniably unconventional, and the crossovers are absurdly ambitious, but they work so damn well. What's great about the memes is they're created in a way that doesn't diminish the literature plots, because in reality, one would have to have such a comprehensive understanding of the text to make such good jokes.

The memes are actually pretty high-brow when you think about it, sure to delight intellectuals with great taste in pop culture. I have no idea how the legendary writers would feel about their greatest works getting the meme treatment, but people online are definitely loving it.

It's refreshing to see a brand account succeed at such a genuinely funny level, but perhaps even nicer to see it thriving off of wholesome content that doesn't drag other accounts or get its laughs at the expense of tearing others down, as we've seen accounts do in the past.

SparkNotes social media accounts are genuinely just nice corners of the internet dedicated to making people laugh and hopefully igniting a love of literature.

WATCH: Steve Carell to reunite with 'The Office' creator for Netflix's 'Space Force'

[whatthefuckugou]

1. Why did you choose your url?

i was huge into bnha and wanted a cheesy pun name, i wanted sighzawa so fucking bad but it was taken so here we are. i also had this as my discord name but when my mom saw it she said it was inappropriate because it said fuck in it so she made me change it on there

2. Any side blogs?

YESSS my art blog, formerly fingerspellingtopassthetime now @magnatherium; my writing blog, @basadd; a character acc for a fic i wrote, @test-account-s; and a vent blog and a ‘horny’ blog for when i draw characters kissing and i’m too embarrassed to post it on my main art blog lmao

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

UUUUHHHhhhhhHHH fifth grade! so like. wait lemme math this. since i was eleven, aka 5 years ago aka 2016

4. Do you have a queue tag?

absolutely not. i will bombard my followers with a little bit of everything all of the time

5. Why did you start this blog in the first place?

i kept seeing tumblr screenshots on pinterest and loving them and made a tumblr w a school account, but then i got paranoid they would hack it and find out i was trans (yeah so a WHILE ago) so i made this one w my personal email, originally under the name rooflesandelectrictrashcans

6. Why did you choose your icon?

i love typhlosion because it was my first starter pokemon in my first pokemon game, my first exposure to all things pokemon at age like, 7 or 8? his name is SCORCHSTAR and i still haven’t beaten that game at age 16 but i love him so much ive kinda made typhlosions my mascot, i was also given the name Ty because of it by a dear friend ily Ikki. oh also i drew it bc of the socialistteeth thing from furry twitter like?? spring 2020ish?

7. Why did you choose your header?

uhhhh i drew it, thought it was cute, and fits the alotted space well! also it’s dp everlasting trio(?)

8. How many mutuals do you have?

i have literally no clue how to count this. wish i could

9. How many followers do you have?

417!

10. How many do you follow?

2,919! i love seeing content

11. Have you ever made a shitpost?

id have to double check the definition of a shitpost but it’s a strong probably

12. How often do you use tumblr a day?

mmm maybe a few times a week, threeish, definitely more than i floss

13. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

the most exciting thing ive had happen on tumblr is my ex blocking me but not my sister akjksjd

14. How do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

im a rebellious teenager so if u say that im immediately discouraged from reblogging; if i do reblog, i will cut out that reply if possible by rbing from a previous person on the post to save others the stress

15. Do you like tag & ask games?

yes i love attention <3

(i stole this without being tagged so you should too)

[pushbuttontraffic]

Strategy to Increase Blog Traffic, Metrics, and Shifts with SEO in 2021 with Aja Frost

- Hi, guys, I'm Kara, marketing associate here at Campaign Creators. If you're watching this, you're watching part two of our three part AMA series interviewing HubSpot's head of content SEO, Aja Frost. If you haven't watched part one, go ahead and watch that. We covered some great things on SEO, content strategy, and more. So let's get back into it. (upbeat music) You kind of answered my next question, but wondering if you want to elaborate more on it. But, yes, there's a lot of blog writers, content creators that are writing a lot of blogs, but don't necessarily have a strategy put in place, and they see the results, traffic isn't growing. What would you suggest for them to do next if they want to improve their traffic, but they just have a bunch of blogs now? What's the most efficient or effective way for them to use their time? - Yeah, I think my first step would be going to Google Search Console or a keyword research tool like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, you've got a bunch of options, and just looking at where you're currently getting traffic. What keywords you're currently ranking for. And being really honest with yourself about whether those keywords are actually ones you should be ranking for, whether they have the potential to drive qualified traffic or not. And if you find that there's some keywords that are good fits, I always think about it in two ways, good fit for your audience and good fit for your product. And for a keyword to be worth targeting it needs to have both. So if you find keywords that you're currently ranking for that meet those criteria, you can either work on improving the content and getting it to rank higher, or finding more good-fit keywords if you're already ranking highly for those. Like, what other keywords in this sphere can we rank for as well? And that's probably like, the simplest, this should take, you know, five hours of your time, activity that you can do, whether you're doing it once a month, or once a quarter, it's really easy. But it does, yeah, it requires being very, I don't know, just honest with yourself. - Intentional. - Yeah, honest and intentional because I think you can rank for a lot of keywords without having them be good-fit keywords. You can get a lot of traffic, but if it's not qualified traffic, it's like a vanity metric. - No customers, exactly. - Yeah, yeah, and if you are using GA and you have like custom goals or events set up and you're actually tracking conversions on the page or, you know, email subscribers, or like, any goal that you've set up, you can drill down even further and say, okay this page. Maybe it's in the 50th percentile for traffic, but it's in the 99th percentile for conversions. Why? How? What do I do to make more of these pages? - Yeah, yeah. And now that you're talking about conversion rates, traffic, I think another question that I wanted to ask was, what, besides traffic, is a very common metric that people use to determine whether their post is successful, are there any other maybe more important or relevant metrics that you use to determine or say like, yes, this blog post or this content I've created was a good idea and is proving success? What are some metrics that you would suggest tracking? - Yeah, so I think earlier when I touched on, okay, it's organic first, it's not organic only, we're also looking at these other things, our reporting metrics have, and I would argue that for everyone, your reporting metrics should line up very closely to your strategy and your goals. Like, they should be one and the same. If you want to do X, what you're tracking should be right there with it. So we're still, I'd say, organic traffic is still one of the first metrics that we look at, but we are also looking, and it depends on the type of content. So, let's say we've written something that is specifically designed to convert someone into a free user. Like, we have a free meetings tool, and so if someone's looking for how to schedule a meeting using Gmail, we know that person could be a great fit for our products. So that query might have 150 MSV, fairly low for our normal target keyword, but it's a perfect lead into the product. So for that post, we will look at organic traffic, we'll look at ranking for target keywords, but we're also going to look at, okay, last touch attribution for that product page. And even going so far as to say, like, did someone hit this blog post before they became a user? If so, we're going to attribute that to the blog post. So that would be one metric that we look at. We have a lot of more lead-gen oriented posts, kind of colloquially known as conversion bait. So for those we're looking at how many people hit a lead-gen thank you page from a blog post, yeah. For posts that are intended to kind of strengthen our point of view, or garner a lot of buzz, which tend not to have the most traffic because they're more like, future thinking or more timely. I think like a lot of what Nate Silver does is a really good example. I don't know if you read his website-- - No, I don't. - But he does a lot of political, of each piece of content so it will say like, this is designed, I mean it's not going to write out, this is designed to get links, but it will say-- - What's the goal? - Yeah, it'll say goal, like links, or legion, or academy sign-ups, whatever, and then we can look and say, okay, did that do what it was intended to do? - Got you. - So it makes it very easy to measure, yeah. - Yeah, it's a good way to organize, yes, did it accomplish a goal? No. It's really good that you're writing that out and everything. - Yeah. - Awesome, great tips. So we talked about metrics. Now that it is December, what is today, 10th? - 11th. - 11th, it's again, time is flying by. - Time is flying, yeah. - Now that we're coming to the new decade, 2020, do you feel like SEO is changing in the next upcoming year, do you feel like it's not? Or do you have any predictions of what you see SEO going in the next year? - Yeah, I think one thing that is starkly obvious when you use Google, is how much of the traditional SERP has disappeared. So SEO's talk about the 10 blue links, and that was, you know, standard Google, back in the day, type in a query, you get ten blue links. Maybe you'd have one or two ads at the top, but that was pretty much it. And now, I was on Twitter, the SEO Twitter community is fantastic. - Is it? - Yeah, people are-- - I had no idea. - It is my favorite pastime during the day. I spend a lot of time on SEO Twitter. Someone just made like an SEO, have you heard of an RPG? - No. - It's like an old-school computer game. Someone made one for SEO, Alexis Merkle, and published it on Twitter yesterday. - Love it. - Yeah, so that gives you an idea of the type of cool stuff that's coming up in this world. But yeah, someone posted a screenshot of, it was a Black Friday related query. I can't remember if it was like a product query or like, Black Friday deals or something like that, but it was massive, and all the way down at the very bottom was the first organic result. By organic, we mean something that's not an ad or a featured snippet, or a people also ask box, or knowledge grab, or media. Yeah, so Rand Fishkin calls this, "The rise of the zero click search," because Google is giving users so much information right on the SERP, they have no reason to click. And now, I think, for the first time ever, this year, more than half of desktop queries no longer result in a click. - That's a lot. - Yeah, it's a lot. And even if people are searching more, and more people are getting access to the internet, and the overall pie is growing, websites are increasingly getting a smaller slice of the pie. So I think it's every SEO's job, knowing that this is a trend, knowing that outside of Duck Duck Go, or Bing, having, you know, this incredible upward trajectory and displacing Google, it's going to keep happening. It's an irreversible trend. And how do you either get as big a piece of the pie as possible, meaning like, as much search activity, as many clicks are actually happening. How do you make sure that your website is getting as many as it can for the right queries? Or how do you find other sources of traffic that you own, that aren't reliant on Google, very hard to do, if you figure it out, let me know. (both laugh) - I was hoping you'd answer that one. - No, no, don't have answers to that. Just know that it's important and that someone should. Or how do you make your website so effective that it doesn't matter that you're getting fewer clicks, necessarily? You know, can you turn the lever in other ways? Can you increase conversion rates? Or create a new type of content that's more engaging? It's a really tough question, I think everyone's struggling with it. It's incredible to see entire market caps, you know, business market caps just tumble, like, TripAdvisor's a great example. Or like hotel booking websites, you know, once Google decided to go into the bookings or restaurant reservation games, you can take out an entire industry. That's a lot of power. So, you have to think about it, but I don't know if there are any easy answers. - Yeah, no, it's crazy how there's featured snippets. I'm starting to see now, well like, YouTube clips specifically, or even like, if you ask a question, it'll put the clip exactly at the video-- - The suggested clip, I know, it's crazy. - This is so specific to, yes, answering my question, but, yeah, it pushes down everything. There's like, I don't know what they're called, but all those questions that are-- - Yeah, the people also ask boxes. - Yeah, and I guess I didn't think about it until you mentioned it now, but it is becoming like, organic is at the bottom now, and so, yeah. If you have answers to-- - Yeah, let us know. - That would be a great answer to know, but a good thing to think about.. Read the full article

[sometimesrosy]

I'm so tired of certain people in this fandom making it miserable for the rest of us. Even if they're right sometimes, they can't make their point without being assholes--clearly it often crosses the line into harassment too. It's frustrating to see them attacking people again and again in the name of social justice. Anyway I just want to say sorry you've been getting lots of shit lately and I'm hoping against hope those people can focus on something else soon. The rest of us are sure trying.

Thank you.

 I actually HAVEN’T been getting a lot of shit. I really haven’t. It’s just her. 

I think she doesn’t really understand that disagreeing with a black person isn’t racism. 

I disagree with her. Therefore, I must be racist.

I could have said nothing when she screenshotted my whole post to call me racist, and also drag Clarke which…. I’m not sure what that has to do with anything except it shows a failure of logic and Trump-like grandstanding (what about Hillary’s emails!) but I’d had enough.

If a person can’t just go about their business, enjoying a show and having opinions that have nothing to do with anyone else, and even engage in a discussion of opposite view points, like we did ON THAT POST, without having some attacker come from out of nowhere… I mean, is she ever going to stop?

I apologize to my followers, that this is coming up again. I’ve been a BIG proponent of passive resistance, ignoring and blocking and unfollowing and focusing on the positive instead. Cutting off the air to the fire she keeps trying to start. But I recognize when it’s not working. Passive resistance is not letting people walk all over you. And I’m TIRED of her calling me a racist and white washing me and trying to silence me whenever I have an opinion she doesn’t like. I’ll tag everything as #fandom wank, so you can filter it if you want. 

If she drops this. I will drop this. I won’t talk about her. I won’t call her names. 

If she keeps coming back at me. The time for block/ignore/unfollow is past. I will fight fire with fire. I will lay out her transgressions. Those transgressions DO have to do with social justice, bigotry, bias, racism, morality and identity politics. SO they WILL expose her personal hypocrisy as a person fighting for social justice. 

I DO have receipts. And people are apparently sending me more, because people are tired of the bullying. This has been an issue for a long time, and not just for me. 

Dear April. Do you want to have people start calling you the names that you’ve been calling me for over a year?

It’s not nice, is it?

Would you prefer to just fangirl and analyze and predict and talk about concerns you think are important? Cool. You do you, you have a powerful voice. But I am not your social justice crusade so back the fuck off. 

I sat with this post for a while and seriously debated whether I should post it or not. I am not actually INTERESTED in this dumbass fandom war. I would prefer to let it disappear, as it is ENTIRELY based around two people having different ideas about The 100, which is…

FINE.

You won’t let it be fine. You won’t let me exist in my cultivated tumblr bubble and just have my own opinion without attacking me for it. Stop popping my bubble or I will pop back.

I need to inform you about my change in tactics. You should be aware that there will be consequences if you attack me again. This isn’t a threat. This is so that you will be able to make your choices with the knowledge that I am going to respond in kind– because I have not done this in the past, I’ve ignored you. No more. I won’t be defending myself, I will be exposing you.

Do not take this as a challenge. 

You don’t WANT people calling you these things. Even if you stand up for yourself, they will be forever out there. I know because that’s what you’ve done to me. Your ‘fabulous’ clapback will not matter, because everyone will still hear what I have to say, and it will change how they look at you. You will not be able to sue me for libel, because my receipts are your own, published work. You said it. It’s not me lying. You can spin the receipts any way you want, but the fandom knows how to think for themselves now. We’ve been through the shipwars and learned.

I won’t stay silent anymore and let this harassment slide and die down for two months until the next time you can’t control yourself and have to lash out at me again. I want it to end. 

APRIL

LEAVE ME ALONE

Be a bigger person for once, and let it fucking drop. And don’t bring it up again. Let us all go on and enjoy The 100 and Bellamy and Bellarke, having absolutely nothing to do with each other. 

Let it drop because you’re sick of me. Okay. Let it drop because I’m an asshole. Fine. Let it drop because I’m too stupid to be believed. Yes. Let it drop because why should you waste your time with such a ‘racist’ twit. I don’t care why you let it drop. Just do.

If you’d like to hash this out personally and in a respectful manner you can message me on twitter. But I don’t particularly want to talk to you so if you don’t, just drop it, and we can move on, ignoring each other.

Signed, Rowena (I have a name, and it isn’t Rosy.)