#which answers why so many of the links don't work but the pages actually still exist

[centeris2]

I figured out a day or two ago that SSO Ridethrough still exists. The unique domain name just expired, so it's back to using a wordpress url, which is why a bunch of the old links don't work

So if you guys want to see the Old Quest Dialogue (like 2018 and earlier), look for ssoridethrough.wordpress.com (not linking it directly because we all know tumblr can be weird about links). If a link on the site doesn't work trying the search function instead, so far it's worked for me.

[jscwrites]

Please Follow this Backup Blog for Vendetta-IF

Hey guys, it's jsc, the author of Vendetta. I'm making this blog to backup all of the stuff I've posted over on the vendetta-if blog because I can't access my main account. Until I can access my account again, this will be the blog I'll use to interact with all of you and post updates. And in the worst case scenario, this will become the main blog.

So, please, follow this blog as I will be posting updates and answering asks like usual here. Also, for those who want to share their fanarts and other fanworks, please tag this blog too so I can see it. I'll also start reblogging some posts and asks from the Vendetta blog here in hopes of preserving them as much as I can. So, be prepared for a little blast from the past as we walk down the nostalgia road, I suppose.

I'm really sad because just earlier today, I checked my followers count and saw that we were 30 followers away from reaching 4K Followers in the main Vendetta blog, and I was thinking about what to do to celebrate it. Plus, there are also so many awesome fanarts and asks that I don't want to just be gone, which is why I'm making this blog to reblog all of them.

For those who are new and wondering what my story is all about, please check out the intro post I've reblogged. I might need to make another intro post in the future if I never get access back to my account, but for now, I hope it'll suffice.

IMPORTANT LINKS

[ORIGINAL INTRO POST]

[VENDETTA BLOG ARCHIVE]

[DEMO | Latest Chapter: 6 Part 1 | 272.8K words total] 

[FORUM] 

[PATREON] | [KO-FI]

[DISCORD]

CHARACTER RELATED MASTERPOSTS:

[CHARACTERS LIST]

[ARTBREEDER PORTRAITS] [ROs] [Other Pt. 1] [Viktor] [Other Pt. 2]

[CHARACTER PLAYLIST]

ADDITIONAL LINKS

[PUBLIC SIDE STORIES LIST]

[AO3 WRITTEN FANWORK] -> Currently 3 works

For those who are interested in what happened, I'll tell the details under the cut.

So, a few hours ago, I decided to open my iOS Tumblr app to check on notifications and stuff, as I usually do. But instead, I got hit with the Tumblr error messages over and over as it keeps trying to load in.

At first, I just thought it was my cellphone Internet connection, so I tried logging in on the desktop. At first, after I input all of my login credentials, the page loaded, but it brought me to the viewing page of my Vendetta blog as a non-user. I tried again, and this time, it said that my account got terminated. I never got any email from Tumblr about this, and it came as a shock because I just used my Tumblr earlier today to reblog some fanarts with no problem and I have never really used my account for other non-IF related stuff.

So, I scrambled to ask my members in Discord whether my Vendetta blog is still up, and thankfully it still is. But, my main account is somehow gone. The problem is, my Vendetta blog is actually a sideblog to my main account, jsclarissa.

As you can see here, when I tried searching for my main account, it says "Ghost blog! This blog does not exist." despite me having used that account to respond to comments and send asks to other authors before.

I have sent a support ticket to Tumblr support and also tweeted them on Twitter. I really hope they can give me my account back as I'm pretty sure this is some kind of technical issues on their end. I'm just worried about how long it would take them to respond and of course, the worst case scenario that it actually got terminated, so, I'm making this account.

Even if I got my account back, I'll still reblog stuff from the main blog here and maybe I can finally have a more personal blog where I can talk about stuff that is not really related to Vendetta.

[babylaptop]

setting up an ipod is harder than you fucking think

just spent the last life four+ hours setting up this ipod classic 4th gen. here's a summary of all the problems i ran into:

(1) ipod had files in it. they appeared as gray and un-editable on itunes, so i thought reseting the ipod to factory would be the fastest and easiest solution.

turns out the last step of the process is connecting ipod to a wall power source. i do this. nothing happens for at least an hour. ipod is stuck in "connect to the wall" icon screen no matter what i do. the internet says it needs to connect with an actual apple firewire wall connector, which i do not have. tried using my ipad's charger with a usb-to-usb-c adapter that i own. didn't work. eventually figured it out the problem had to do with the amps it needs to get defibrillated. i remember that i own a pretty hefty power bank with a 5v/2.1a output. it works. ipod is reset. i have a nice fun time adding the 6 or so songs i have downloaded on my computer (:

(2) i had downloaded soulseek a while ago and gotten frustrated with it but decided to give it another spin since piracy experts on reddit sing it many praises. it seems to have a heavy culture of egalitarianism: a pop up window informs you that a lot of people's download's are restricted only to other people sharing files.

__(2.1) it prompts me to enter my account and password but i don't have one. there isn't an immediatly visible 'create account' link. i google this. eventually i find this soulseek forum where a ton of normies are asking questions pretty regularly. excellent. i search my problems and someone else has already made a post and had the question answered. thank you normies. also: google groups is still a thing???????

the inability to create an account is a weird bug. someone's answer tells me how to circumvent it.

__(2.2) i still can't search for anything. there are no files in this wasteland. i turn on my vpn. put my humble six songs in a folder and share it. voila!!!!!!!

soulseek is actually VERY cool. you can browse other people's music folders, which opens an incredible secret world of possibilities re: finding new music similar to your tastes. EXTREMELY exciting. feels like i'm in a cool secret club of the internet. feels like the old internet.

i download one (1) lana del rey song that's stuck in my head. choose .flac (a lossless audio file) because i want to be fancy.

(3) ...........itunes doesn't read .flac files

__(3.1) searches: what files does itunes read? > which of these files is best for lossless audio? > how do i convert .flac files to itunes-compatible file types? > download foobar2000 > click around till i figure out how to convert .flac files to .wav files.

__(3.2) it works! (: the songs are now in itunes! (:

............but the metadata (album cover, genres, artist, album, etc) doesn't transfer. i don't want to manually input it again. searches: how to keep metadata when converting files? tutorial is slightly different from the version of foobar i have, but i eventually find the setting to keep the metadata.

(4) it works! (:

.............but it won't transfer to my ipod ): i get the message: your ipod can't read this file <- paraphrasing.

okay. searches: what kind of files can an ipod classic 4th gen read? (perhaps they are different from the files itunes can read. this is, after all, the last version of itunes ever released, many years and itunes versions after the ipod classic 4th gen.)

this information isn't in the wikipedia page. this isn't in the ipod wiki. can't even find this model in the official apple pages. it's mentioned in several reviews but it's the wrong model. christ almighty. ok. here it is. found it. allegedly it should be able to read it. ok. why isn't it.

read through forum threads. some people say older ipods get fussy with high bitrates. (search: what is a bitrate? oh ok. higher bitrate > higher audio quality. got it.)

bitrates reccomended by foobar: 180-300something. lossless file bitrate: 2000 and change. hm. surely that's a huge difference.

i convert the .flac file to .mp3 instead.

__(4.1) it works! (: the files are in my ipod! (:

.....but goddamnit, i'm stubborn, and this goddamn ipod is supposed to be able to read apple lossless files (basically a .flac file, but designed to be used with apple products. lol.) i don't want a lameass mp3, i want lossless goddamn quality! even if this brick of an ipod won't be able to play it! it's the principle of the thing!

______(4.1.1) okay. try to fuck around with bitrates in the settings of the apple lossless conversion on foobar. foobar is like "you don't have the right encoder pack, bitch" <- paraphrasing.

oooh. surely, this is the problem. i download encoder pack.

______(4.1.2) foobar is like: "you don't have the right encoder pack, bitch" <- paraphrasing.

me: [crying] but i did.

foobar: bitch.

______(4.1.3) search: why is foobar calling me a bitch? > reddit thread: look closely at the sphynx's riddles three: it doesn't say "you haven't downloaded the encoder pack." it says: you haven't installed the encoder pack. (<- NOT A JOKE.)

go to C: > program files > foobar > find the encoder pack i downloaded > click on all the .exe files. powershell windows appear and dissappear. basically: stuff happened. i'm certian.

_____________(3.4.3.1) i'm STILL getting the riddles three message, but the same reddit thread says: if you know you solved th riddles three, you can just ignore it (: so i do.

__(4.2) .flac files seem to have been successfully converted to apple lossless files !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....but i am back to "your ipod can't read this shit!!!!!!!!!"

do some more searches > turns out it's a weird itunes glitch. the thing is just moody. try turning it on and off. try disconnecting and re-connecting. try resetting your ipod again.

try uninstalling and installing again.

(5) "iTunes Library.itl cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes"

.......................to be continued. if i don't kill mysuelf first.

[icypantherwrites]

Update on AO3 Situation + Final RAINN Support Event

(this is a little long, but please, if possible, read to the end.)

AO3 has *finally* reinstated my fanfiction To Become the Nightmare and in a way this nightmare situation is over. I'm still extremely frustrated and disappointed though with AO3 especially as I am 99.9% certain the only reason my issue was finally addressed was because I tagged their support page on Twitter/X rather than any of my emails and communications to their actual Policy and Abuse team. They also provided no apology or reason for the delay or an explanation for why their staff provided a 1-week timeline that they then ignored for 3.5 weeks. I'm grateful to have my story back, but this entire ordeal has been awful in so many ways.

I will also admit on a personal note it was also disheartening to see how many folks sent me messages, asks (to the point I locked them down on Tumblr) and comments on AO3 stories (of which I'd know there'd be even more if AO3 hadn't made the blanket decision to lock down all guest comments) wanting to know where I'd be updating now, getting upset over the fact I use Patreon as they don't want paywalls to read my works, asking about the status of current stories and former stories, etc. and very rarely, if at all, even taking into account how all of this was affecting me.

I have poured years into posting on AO3, on making it a platform where I have over 2.5 million words worth of stories for everyone to enjoy, and am dealing with AO3 painting me as some villain because I linked to an organization to try to help sexual assault victims, and their complete lack of communication on top of all of that felt intentional. It's put me in a really bad mental health state and coming in daily to see multiple people asking and asking about how will *they* read my stories and making me feel guilty for not updating just... it really hurt. And the answer was I didn't know entirely what was going to happen and was still hoping for the best outcome with AO3. And contrary to some of the accusations I received, I never intended to put all of my new and upcoming works behind a Patreon paywall and certainly never planned to delete any works other than the single one I mentioned (and I explained why that was). I may have used Patreon's platform (because it has better formatting than say Tumblr) and made the works posted there available to the public (anyone can join as a free member, fyi), but that was never the end-game and the fact so many people got mad and angry and posted honestly kind of cruel asks and comments... I'm really hurt. I'm a person too and I share my works with my own time and energy and to have everyone so embroiled in this "me me me" energy when I was really struggling with what AO3 did, just... makes me not want to post anymore anywhere at all. I won't do that because I won't punish those folks who have been supportive and kind, but please, take a moment before you comment to think how it feels to be the recipient of a message like that. That's all the energy left I have to spend on that but please, be kind. Be understand. Be appreciative for what you do have and remember always that authors have feelings too.

Going forward I'll be looking to get back to updating existing stories and publishing some backlog on AO3 during this suspension/lock; however, I will be holding off on that until AO3 lifts their own blanket ban on guest comments as I know there are plenty of folks who prefer to engage that way and/or haven't yet been able to get accounts. You may have seen as well that my account, given that it seems to be AI-bots leading the reason for the guest ban, has been locked down to only AO3 accounts able to read my works. That will remain in effect until AO3 releases theirs and it may be something I ultimately do to protect my account and my works in the future, but for now once the current AO3 situation has been resolved that will go back to access to guest accounts as well.

In the meantime, with To Become the Nightmare restored and the fact my earlier RAINN support events have thus far yielded $2 for me to donate (which hurts in other ways xD Come on y'all, financial support for a great organization and some emotional support and love for the author, what's not to like about that?) I'm going to do one final event to try to raise some funds for RAINN and at least try to make a small, positive difference in all of this mess.

For the remainder of this week, anyone who leaves an engaged comment (100+ words, no quote-backs in that word count, about the fanfiction at hand) on To Become the Nightmare I will donate $2 per comment to RAINN. It would also personally mean a lot to me as this story never really had a lot of comment engagement in the first place AND on top of that it got a really, really toxic comment. I unfortunately get those folks regularly on sexual assault recovery fanfictions I write because they refuse to accept that everyone heals in different ways AND also refuse to take accountability where if they don't like what they're reading they have the power to hit the back button on their browser and just not read it. I left that particular comment up (you can see it on page 2) if you want a taste of some of the people I still encounter to this day. Anyways, it would mean a lot to hear from those who may want to read it, but given that it both a; has sexual assault and b; is an M-rating please do read it at your own discretion. I'm posting the full summary below and please read the warnings tagged on the story. I'll post an update at the end of the week with how much we managed to raise for RAINN (and if you'd like to donate on your own too, please feel free~! ♥)

To Become the Nightmare

Summary: [College AU] “And if you didn’t want to have fun,” nails dug into Lance’s skin as the grip tightened and Dios, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t move, “then you shouldn’t have been such a pretty little tease, freshie. You wanted to hang with the big boys? Well,” he chuckled, “welcome to the real party.” Hot breath wafted over Lance’s face as the upperclassmen smirked down at him. “Now let’s get it started.”

[cursedwithgloriouspurpose]

Just to put it out there, this is the post that set this off though I've been seeing shit like this for weeks. I'm not reblogging it because I don't want to directly spread this.

Can't believe I have to say this, but: AO3 is not an inherently community properties. It is a Non-Profit Organization that was begun and organized by people with certain ethos in mind; in a very condensed nutshell, the freedom to write and share any and every kind of fic, no matter what subject matter it contains. Period. They wrote the charter to suite their ideals, funded it alongside like-minded individuals, and manned it for many years. People who believe in the dream that they set up are the ones largely running the show now (a few founding members may still be around, though I'm not sure about that,) but so far that ethos has remained in tact.

While AO3 was always meant to serve the community (and they do,) it was never meant to be run by anyone who does not share their ethos. That's why actively contributing to the organization itself--ie, through volunteering, and/or donating--is a requirement for having a say in what the archive does. You do not get to vote on board elections if you are not involved. You do not get to be on the board if you do not do these things. That is how all non-profits work. A non profit is not a union (and outside of possibly the original vote to organize, no union I've ever heard of allows non-union members to vote on union procedure, policy, or in elections.)

One of the reasons why this is true is that anyone who doesn't agree with the founding tenants of absolute free speech, no matter how vile that speech may be, will not stick with the organization long enough to change things internally--that is a feature, not a bug.

Why? In this case, because of that ethos. Because of the fic bans and the purges that the idea for AO3 was born out of, which always stemmed from "concerned individuals" and calls for "morality." Completely unironically, because of all the shit that's happening to regular libraries across the US right now. Essentially, because of all the things AO3 was always meant to stand against.

God fucking damn but am I tired of this latest round of anti nonsense disguising itself as "Proship" and "Anti-racist" and "Anti-harassment" in order to try and drive a wedge between AO3 and its donors. I've seen this song and dance before. We all have. It used to be "child porn" and "think of the children," and now its "harassment," and "abuse!" Ie, the exact things that the modern lefty is hard programmed to fall into line behind without actually considering the evidence.

People please read through this shit critically before just assuming its valid. Note the lack of actual, clearly displayed and easily legible proof*. How all the "I've complied everything in one page!!!" posts seem to just be paragraphs after paragraphs of conjecture and vague statements without, again, any goddamn proof (except, maybe, a list of links entirely removed from context, appended to the bottom.) Be critical of authoritative statements about how things "should" be run without any sense of where that authority is coming from, and the lack of solid answers (or even suggestions) as to how the problems should be fixed in any way that isn't "Fire everyone I've decided is responsible for this (again, without proof,) and replace them with people who want to completely rewrite the ethos of the site to allow bans on content that everyone (and by 'everyone,' I mean me, the speaker) agrees is objectionable."

There is an alarming number of parallels I've been seeing lately re: how people are currently attacking AO3 and how bad actors in various states are forcing through book bans. Please be mindful.

*"easily legible" is kind of a weird phrasing, but i can't think of a better one. What I mean, specifically, is a good 90% of the "proof" links I've found are all links to mid-page comment streams on anonymous wank boards which mostly start mid-conversation, effectively removing them from their original context, and never site any sources of their own. Literally everything is He Said/She Said levels of bullshit with some corporate buzz words tossed in to make it sound more valid than it is.

[voxofthevoid]

Hey, I actually don't know if you've ever answered the question I'm going to ask (I'm like 90% sure you did lol), but you're very active on Tumblr, so I couldn't find an updated direct response 😅 - have you ever considered to post more often on ao3, not just one chapter for each work you're currently posting? From my understanding, all JJK and Marvel works you have on a current schedule are finished? And don't get me wrong - of course you have life and I don't mean you SHOULD post everything all at once, but as a fic writer myself - I do not have a patience to sit on my works for long! Like I need to share my obsession I have with certain ships ASAP. For example, your Shibuya Swap fic - someone already picked on that too - will take 2 years to post! That's insane, I don't know if I would like my own stuff in 2 years enough to not feel embarrassed about it and delete, and you will be coming back to it on a monthly basis for 2 years at best, 2.5 at worst, if something will not change the schedule by that time.

Or could it be, that those works aren't actually *finished* it's just that you have a general idea or "drafts" how will it start, progress and end?

I really admire your consistency though, but sometimes can't help myself, but think "Man, I wish you'd post *that* fic more often, it's SO good!" Or post like one fic, just 3-5 chapters of it in a month or sum. But alas, I will restrain myself from begging on my knees in the ao3 comments, because I can understand how annoying it can get, FAST (I dealt with certain people there, too).

Have a great day and please don't take this question as an attack, I'm just a desperate fan of yours, who can't even mind my own business most of the time due to being an ANNOYING person with ADHD lmfao🙏

You WILL see me generally commenting *OMG SO GOOD WOW HOLD UP* gibberish on your works, though (it is a threat).

Haha, don't worry, I won't bite your head off for this. No offense taken or attack interpreted 💜

I have answered a few versions of this question before, twice in relation to JJK and at least once in relation to MCU. They're all somewhere in this tag (link only works in browsers), and the former two will be more recent...but well, that tag has 127 pages of results and Tumblr search sucks balls; even I can't find my posts most of the time, so I definitely don't expect others to. But I did hunt down the most recent one: https://voxofthevoid.tumblr.com/post/746745605036064768/hey-i-was-wondering-why-you-post-one-chapter-a

As for stuff you've asked that's not covered in that answer—

My works are all finished, not just drafts. The "plot bunnies" I talk about are outlines of varying detail, but the fics I'm posting to Ao3 as well as the fics I've posted in previous WIP Wednesday installments are all complete. They need editing, but my first drafts are essentially my final drafts. I proofread to catch typos and grammar errors and to generally polish the phrasing. My day job is editing, which means I'm extremely lazy about editing my leisure writing, but I manage a decent pass.

Regarding how I feel about my work years down the line: I've more or less settled into my writing style. It's still changing and growing, and I enjoy experiments and challenges, but the base quality is at a level I'm content with in terms of both prose and mechanical elements. I'm not embarrassed by anything I've written after 2018, and I don't really see that changing. I will always see the flaws prominently, both objective and subjective ones, but I'll also see the strengths. The older fics (2014–2018) are of significantly poorer quality as well as clumsily executed in many, many ways, but I'm still proud of my ideas and absolutely delighted by how they still entertain so many people. Regardless of my personal feelings toward my writing at a given time, I won't delete my fics.

As for patience, I am indeed patient 🤣. Well, for a year or so, I've been posting snippets from whatever I'm currently working on as WIP Wednesday posts, so I am actively sharing the pieces that I'm working on, but I'm pretty comfortable with sitting on the full stories for months or even years. It just doesn't bother me.

The only issue with how I build a backlog is that once I lose interest in the ship/fandom, my posting slows down, and I get 100 times lazier about editing—to the point I'll likely post the rest of my MCU and Bleach works all raw and dirty. One of the reasons I'm posting as much as I do for JJK is that I'd like to avoid a similar fate in this fandom. Fool's errand with how my inspiration and writing function, but hey, no harm in trying.

And, in line with the post I've linked above, even if I had fewer fics on the roster, my pace would remain a chapter a month per fic. Let's say I suddenly stop writing and also whittle my backlog down to only 2 fics: That won't mean I'll post 3 chapters each for those 2 fics every month; I'll still only post twice a month in total—one chapter from each fic.

As long as no one's being rude or entitled (I've seen some asinine takes about prewritten fics being posted slowly), I consider people wanting more of specific stories as a compliment! However, you'll have to be patient right along with me 😂

And that's a wonderful threat; I look forward to it 🥰

[tiltingheartand]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @perfectlysunny02 and @inell both; thank you!

how many works do you have on ao3?

28.

what's your total ao3 word count?

96,670.

what fandoms do you write for?

911 at the moment; sandman and stargate sg1 in the past. also repo! the genetic opera, which i had (somehow) forgotten until i looked at my fandoms page.

top five fics by kudos:

let me in before the rainy season starts again (sandman, dreamling)

i want to believe (sandman, dreamling, outsider POV my beloved)

clouds the size of oceans outside and above our heads (sandman, dreamling)

colliding with forever when you speak (sandman, dreamling, sequel to 1 and 2)

the symphony of what we are (sandman, dreamling)

do you respond to comments?

i try! but sometimes i don't get to them until there's a lot and then i get overwhelmed and just don't. this was @perfectlysunny02’s answer, and honestly it could have come directly from me.

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hmm! i think it’s a tie between thunder in our hearts, baby (a repo! band AU in which a zombie apocalypse happens) and we were warm until we went to hell (a star trek repo! au). they’re my only two works with the MCD tag, so.

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

gosh. i dunno. maybe last night i had a dream that you adored me, just because it’s a college AU where shilo is briefly aware of what happened in canon and really appreciates what she’s got.

do you get hate on fics?

no! thankfully. the closest i got was a comment recently telling me what i should do for the next installment of the series without even an “i liked this!” so. like i said. i’m thankful.

do you write smut?

i have just resigned myself to not being a person who writes smut, okay. some of us just can’t.

craziest crossover:

the sound of her wings, which is a crossover between m*a*s*h and the sandman comics.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

not as far as i know.

have you ever had a fic translated?

not as far as i know!

have you ever co-written a fic before?

not fully, but i like to think i have been Helpful with some of @wilddragonflying’s fics.

all time favourite ship?

OH GOD why are you asking me to choose. no. i refuse.

what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

so i started a sandman/sg1 crossover like a year and a half ago and i do, in fact, have a decent chunk of it written! i am still in love with the concept! (hob gadling, the man who doesn’t die, and daniel jackson, the man who dies so much they make jokes about it in-universe; also, hob gadling, the man who doesn’t die, versus everyone’s favorite space vampire wasps.) but at this point idk if i’ll ever actually finish it.

what are your writing strengths?

i am being! kind! to myself! i am good at getting into characters’ heads.

what are your writing weaknesses?

sometimes i have trouble figuring out where to start something, and if i can’t figure that out i have real trouble just jumping ahead in the scene. i’m getting better on it though. (also, ends of scenes my beloathed.)

thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i … don’t know what this question means? positive?

first fandom you wrote in?

sailor moon. in 2001. it was on geocities. and honestly it’s best for everyone that it’s lost to time.

favourite fic you've written?

a tie, i think, between i want to believe, which i linked already, because i love outsider POV and ended up loving the students, and be careful what you say (or you’ll give yourself away) because a) i love barclay/agent stern and b) it still makes me laugh.

tagging people for fun and profit! (where “profit”, here, means “i get to get my grubby little hands on your answers”) @wilddragonflying @wakeupnew @bagheerita @half-bakedboy @landwriter

[penny-anna]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @evilwickedme, thank you!

How many works do you have on ao3?

uhh okay let's see!! *pulls up statistics page* I have 419 works on ao3!

what’s your total ao3 word count?

as of right now: 1,429,463. shut up.

What fandoms do you write for?

i'm usually a 1 fandom at a time gal but currently i'm writing for BTTF and Shazam and less frequently for the Witcher and Lord of the Rings!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

in descendign order:

New Monster Stories (6803 kudos)

the world won't wait until you're older (4700 kudos)

The Price of a Touch (4245 kudos)

Somebody to Love (3629 kudos)

Tender, like a soft new sapling (3277 kudos)

at this point i've accepted that i will never experience the highs of the 2020 witcher fandom ever again

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

SO i used to respond pretty frequently but then i spent a while writing in a very very tiny fandom where every single comment was cherished & i got out of the habit of replying bcos in my mind once i've replied to a comment it's 'finished' so living them unreplied to meant i could enjoy them for longer. and then i got out of the habit!! these days i tend to only reply if i have something to say but i am grateful for all of them <3

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending

im not gonna link any of them but in my Merlin days i did write multiple fics about my OT3 killing each other. im fine thank you for asking.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

huh i feel like this is harder to measure than the above?? hmmm. scrolling back through my recent-ish works, it isn't kind is pretty unabashedly fluffy.

Do you get hate on fics?

ehhh i've had some rude comments but i wouldn't say hate

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

these days not so often!! have ended up in a string of found family type fandoms. but yeah i got uhh 65 fics rated E on the ao3. most of them are m/m occasional f/f or f/m.

Do you write crossovers?

im more into fusions which is a different thing! but have on occasion written crossovers.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

yeah actually, had a fic taken once by someone who was habitually translating fics into a different language & posting them without acknowledging the original. i think they got reported but i don't really remember who it shook out!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

yeah quite a lot of times! u can see translations of my fics on ao3 here. disproportionately russian? i assume there's just a lot of russian fic translators out there!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

NOT for 1 million years but yes i have

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

hmmm my go to answer for this is usually two/jamie so that's what im going with

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

i'm actually still sitting on a second doctor wip that at this point i think is a lost cause. i sent the opening scene (fake out character death lol) to some people on discord a while ago just to torment them.

What are your writing strengths?

i'd like to think dialogue!!

What are your writing weaknesses?

basically all forms of description tbph

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

im monolingual so i don't think i'd do this without assistance from a native speaker. i've actually published (like, professionally) a piece of fiction w some dialogue in another language and to my eternal gratitude some of my tumblr followers assisted me with the translation <3

First fandom you wrote for?

lord of the rings, when i was about 12

Favorite fic you’ve written?

of all time??? GOD. okay. first thought best thought the world won't wait until you're older.

ok uhh i will tag @uighean @limerental @a-kind-of-merry-war @megamindsupremacy

✌️

[intern-seraph]

Hello. I hope you don't mind me asking. There aren't many Jewish people in my country and there never have been. I know very little of Jewish people and so do most of my countrymen. Because of the recent events I have had this, not even a conversation, just an offhanded remark, many times with many people: Why is it that the Jewish people are so hated? Why do so many people hate you? We genuinely don't understand or know. We have no hate for you, you are just people we don't know much about and don't really think about. Of course, we know about the holocaust and all that, but where does all this hate originate from? I'm honesty and genuinely confused. I'm really sorry that so many people hate you. I wish it weren't so.

<3 The confusion is understandable, and the answer likely won't help clarify much, because it's rather, uh, depressing. The following is a cursory summary of what, to my knowledge, are in the roots of antisemitism in its various waves and forms. This is the Wikipedia page on the history of antisemitism — yes, Wikipedia isn't the most reliable, but they cite their sources and this page has links to more detailed pages on antisemitism in specific regions and time periods— if you want to get in the dirt of it all. There are some parts I disagree with re: some of the descriptions of "New antisemitism", but the purpose of the page is to document it as an idea, not as an endorsement or as approval.

There is no reason, at least nothing actually rational or defensible (which is the nature of bigotry: it's irrational). It's because we're inconvenient (we're in the way, we're in the wrong place, we've become too successful where we live. which ties into...), we refuse to assimilate (we have maintained our traditions for thousands of years without giving in to larger cultural pressures to blend in, and thus disappear as a people), we were legally forced into certain roles that made us targets (the greedy Jew stereotype can be traced back to and was reinforced by Jews only being allowed to work as moneylenders and other money-related jobs considered "unsuitable" for Christians in Europe). Early antisemitism, back in the classical era, was ethnic. After Christianity, religious (but this cannot, of course, be separated from Jews being seen as a separate people (if people at all), so there was definitely ethnic components as well). When secularism started catching on, they latched on to more of the nonreligious canards ("Jews run the world", "Jews control the money", etc), but still linked Jewishness to being demons. Eventually it became racial (Jews weren't white or black but something Else (and certainly not full humans)).

These all still factor in to modern antisemitism — you've no doubt seen Zionist Occupied Government-type canards recently or accusations of (((Zionists))) running Hollywood or the banks or what-have you, most Jews have some story of being asked by a gentile "Where are your horns?", and you'd be hard-pressed to find a white supremacist who actually thinks Jews are white (they don't think we're human, really). Something consistent you'll see is the belief that Jews are foreigners no matter how long they've lived somewhere — before WWII, Jews in Europe were often told to "go back to Palestine", in fact. You can find photos of graffiti saying this exact phrase dating back to then. Those Jewish communities had been there for centuries by that point, and they considered these countries their homes. The feeling was not, of course, mutual.

I also hope that things change. Maybe one day, we'll be able to tell our children that this was the past, and now we are safe rather than safer. One can only hope.

[lexiklecksi]

Writing questions (tag game)

Thanks @mjparkerwriting for tagging me to answer these writing questions!

1. What is your absolute all-time favourite idea you’ve ever had?

Probably the idea for my ya fantasy novel/ main wip "Drachenbrut". I wrote a flash fiction piece way back in the summer of 2018 about a vengeful dragon girl and I liked the character so much, I made her the protagonist of my book to tell her whole story.

2. Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

Someone asked me if my characters are self-inserts and I think a lot about it. Since I'm writing my novel in multiple personal povs, I think in a way all my characters show a different aspect of who I am or of the person I don't want to be.

3. What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

While writing, I love pouring my heart and soul onto paper, when the words just flow onto the page and a story that was caged in my mind comes to life. I don't like editing because I tend to overdo it and start questioning every word, which doesn't improve my original writing. Likewise, I rarely edit my poems and since I'm on the first draft of my novel, so far I've only edited basic grammar, spelling and plot holes or character names I've replaced.

4. What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

I could ramble so much about this, but it can be summed up in: The joy of telling a story, of getting lost in another world and find myself in the spaces between words.

5. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

“Everything is driven by characters wanting different things, and by those different things colliding. Every moment that one character wants something, and another character wants something mutually exclusive, and they collide—every time that happens, you have a story.” – Neil Gaiman

6. What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

To stop overhinking all the details and just write out one story. A shitty first draft of a novel is better than many unwritten stories.

7. What is your favourite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

Apart from my wip, I've only written poems and flash fiction. Here are some of my favourites:

Fleeting hearts (flash fiction from the pov of my oc mage Saoirse)

The fork (poem with a weird metaphor for body positivity)

The wheel of time (sci-fi/ fantasy poem)

8. What is your favorite out-of-the-box quote?

“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.” — Allen Ginsberg

9. Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

That is a tough question since all my characters are flawed and morally ambigious. I'm choosing Isobel, the evil faery. She grew up in the faery Queendom, which is basically a sex cult. She always takes what she wants and thinks she deserves more than others. Most beings only see her beauty and are enchanted by her looks, that’s why she gets away with treating others poorly. Plus, she loves to seduce other faeries and make them submit to her and her desires, so she never needs to raise more than a finger and actually work. I despise her selfish and lazy attitude and her lack of empathy and consent. Though I have to admit it's fun writing from her pov, because she is so convinced she deserves to be worshiped.

10. If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

I think I first started writing stories in 3rd grade/ at the age of 8. Back then, I daydreamed about becoming an author and publishing a book. Well, I've self-published my first book last year (just a collection of my German poems) and I'm working on my second book now. So I think younger me would be proud of me for not giving up on my dream and continuing to write for all these years.

I'm tagging @wingedcatastrophe @lavender-laney @charlies-storybook @perasperaadastrawriting @betweenthetimeandsound @caprifoi @writinglyra @silent-creed @thespacelizard @innocentlymacabre @anagnorvices @space-writes @veneritia (template under the cut)

What is your absolute all-time favourite ideas you’ve ever had?

Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

What is your favourite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

What is your favorite out-of-the-box quote?

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

[louise-verneuil]

the day y'all share your sources with me will be the day hell freezes over, honestly. where are all those interviews? share a link, pal? // the day you realize stating facts isn’t “hate” will be the day hell freezes over. Here are the sources and links, pal. Most of them posted by yourself. Don’t you read her interviews or what you post? You posted that screenshot of Amanda’s post yourself. You must be new and don’t remember the days Louise blocked people who commented about her real name being Pauline and being from the south. I guess you just have to accept that sometimes some people’s lives and personalities aren’t as shiny and cool as you want it to be. You have to accept that you can like someone’s work but still admit they’re not who you expect them to be. I don’t hate Louise, I enjoy listening to some of her songs because they can be quite enjoyable, but I’m also aware of that side of her that you and her so called fans keep denying. Not gonna get started on so many other aspects of her and her life cause you clearly don’t like to reason and don’t even bother remembering what she said in her interviews, asking me to share links as if I’ve made stuff up and now I’m gonna fail providing you with sources. Again, this is not “hate”, just facts & things that exist. Such is life, pal.

"Beware, I talk a lot!”

https://www.grazia.fr/culture/musique-culture/louise-verneuil-variations-sur-lou-125066.html/amp

"I am an extroverted person, extravagant but with flaws"

https://www.bewaremag.com/interview-louise-verneuil/?amp

"I am very extroverted when it comes to singing"

https://www.artisterevelation.com/post/louise-verneuil-rimes-vermeilles

“How much we love to talk” comment on Amanda’s post

https://www.tumblr.com/louise-verneuil/705307560004173824/121522-x

thank you, wasn't that hard now, was it? nobody said you made shit up, i was asking for sources? i have a life of my own, i don't have the goddamn time to memorize every single thing i post & read -- especially when it's an interview from 2-3 years ago; no matter how much i like someone or not. i'm not that obsessed. i still think that being shy in some areas doesn't mean that a person can't talk a lot or be extroverted in other aspects (especially when around people she knows/is comfortable with, like amanda). she's been saying she's shy in some form or other for the last ten years now. that same interview (beware) where she says she's 'extroverted' is also the same one where she says she felt shy about performing her songs/lyrics on stage. there's literally an article from her 'the voice' days (2012) where it's said her legal name is pauline, she's answered questions about it in interviews, it has never been a secret (that same quote that started this whole discussion is literally about her creating the 'character' of 'louise verneuil'). idk what some of you guys' issue is with her using a stage name. are y'all all in lana del rey's & lady gaga's comments like this as well? are you reminding elton john every five minutes that his birth name is reginald? she's also talked about being from the south. maybe it's the tone in which you guys leave these comments that makes her block you? like why are you so pressed about this? who cares? she's not a criminal for creating a stage persona (so many artists do) or giving different answers/changing over the years. i could've sworn many years ago harry styles either said he'd never go solo or go into acting (one of the two or maybe both) & look at him now. are you calling harry styles out for his answers as well (now i'm not a fan nor do i go on his fan pages, but i'm very positive that no one is leaving asks about how his answers have changed over the years). & if she wants to block someone then that's her right, it's her account. she hasn't hurt anyone with her name or saying she's actually multi-faceted & has more than one characteristic. why does this bother you so much? why are you letting her have such an affect on you?

[yoonia]

Thank you for answering!¡!!!!!!!💕💕💕

I'll be sitting waiting patiently for Alpha's inferno🤗

(I asked because I couldn't find this old post where you said something of the like and wanted to make sure I wasn't seeing things and getting my hopes up🫶🏻)

Sidenote, I fucking love that series, I still come back to reread Jin's one and made the horrible mistake of reading Yoon and Kookie's one without being finished and I get sad because my anxiety makes me want to cry when things aren't finished😭, either way the scenes where Yoon and Kookie go at it and it's uncomfortable because they aren't "complete" was so superb! You have no idea how amazing it was to read it in it's fullness! You know that feeling you get when a book has a lot of shit to do and you see it doesn't have as many pages left to do so and you kinda panic, that's how it felt, but I'll be waiting patiently!✊🏻

Jin's one is so interesting, I don't know if it's going to be a focus of the other parts, but I would love to know more of the lore of how they become feral to the point of not being able to turn back and if it happened before/after Jin's incident, that was super interesting and I loved seeing their interactions.

About Jin, is it cultural to his people only to be opposed to having sex before finding your mate or is it more spread out to other hybrids? Because her people seemed a lot more "lax" about it, I always wondered, or maybe I didn't pay enough attention 😅 if so, sorry 🤣 I usually agree to this idea of only mating with your mate only if the male counterpart does so as well, because it doesn't seem justified to me only the female to do so (which from what I remember was the case with Jin but not OC).

Okay, thank you again for answering and love you💕😘

Sorry for answering this one so late. I've been catching up with work so I'm rarely on Tumblr after posting my latest update lol

Yes, I "think" I did mention about postponing Alpha's Inferno and the reason why. Basically, I have a couple of reasons why it's on pending: 1) Alpha's Inferno is set after Blood Moon Rising, and there will be some scenes that are directly connected with one another (meaning, there will be spoilers), I've been writing the two together which makes the writing process a bit longer; 2) with the female character being introduced first on BMR, I have to wait until that specific chapter is out before AI can be published; and 3) I've been expanding the universe where the entire series is set for the past year, including fixing the storyline, the events timeline (starting from the past wars to the present one, which you can find the details on my Patreon), and the world's pack system, so some things might have to be added to the stories that have been posted. which is why I've been rewriting BMR again (rip) so AI might be posted once I'm done fixing the storyline and the details from the stories that have already been published to fit the universe's timeline.

I'm glad you mentioned Jin's story! I have to say that his story is actually the most important one in the entire series.

In his story, we got to see a few different parts of the universe that link the stories together, first by meeting the Dark Coven and getting to know the name of the Warlock that everyone is fighting in BMR, and learning the lore/culture that the shifters live by.

the example of a shifter going feral because of a heartbreak (just like what happened to Jin after losing his family) was also introduced here, while it'll only be mentioned briefly in the main series and Joon's story. Jin is also the second character in the series aside from Namjoon who personally experienced Rogue Wars (the series of small wars which happened after the Blood War), so they both are the only ones who understand more about the past and how to face the war while still carrying the trauma from it (the last Rogue War was when Jin lost his family and Joon lost his mate).

To answer your question, it was an old culture and belief for mates to wait for each other and stay loyal even if they haven't met.

As explained in BMR (if you've read it), fated mates are getting rare to find in the present, which is why some of the younger characters are more 'lax' about it (for an obvious example: Hoseok). The main difference is that since Jin and Namjoon are the only two characters who lived through and experienced Rogue Wars, not only it means that they are way older than the rest, they were also born and raised in the previous generation that still followed the old mating culture. that's the reason why Jin was so uptight about finding out that his SO had been with someone else before meeting him (that being said, yes, Jin was a virgin when he met his SO lol). If it had been Hoseok or the others, the reaction might have been different lol

[ps. taehyung was still a baby during the Rogue wars, and his parents are super old, with his father old enough to be involved in the Blood War, so he still followed the same belief. he was only lucky he met his mate first when he was barely a teen so he was never interested in being with other women]

I'm so glad that you enjoy reading this series. I always love talking about it and sharing the things that aren't so obvious in the stories yet (the lore, the theories, etc).

As for Yoonkook story, I might release it close enough to AI if I can speed up and finish BMR early. the second part of the story won't make sense if released now because it continues directly after the war happening in BMR :')

thank you for sending this ask and allowing me to rant about the stories again! I hope I can continue writing and releasing them soon <3

[gloriousmonsters]

can you answer 38-48 for the ask? thanks :)

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

you say jump i say how high is my most popular fic going off kudos and bookmarks, and I did NOT expect that at all. It's a Yuletide request fic, Billy/Stu, and I remember distinctly writing it in a blind haze of stress sitting in the kitchen with the dishwasher running because that was the only white noise that worked to write to at the moment. I feel like it actually turned out pretty great for how teeth-pulling writing it was (I stopped doing exchanges a while ago bc i am really bad at writing anything i'm not super inspired for) but not for it to be on the *checks* front page of billy/stu fics kudos-sorted after. Four years. I can only assume I did something right and/or I wrote it at a time the pairing was having a resurgence of popularity, but it still mystifies me a bit.

Also tbh, despite the relatively low amount of kudos/hits, allow the ground to find its brutal way to me feels surprisingly popular because i posted it with the feeling of 'maybe two people will want a sequel to the indulgent mind control porn i posted like 3 days ago' and it's been getting so many great comments as the chapters progress. I guess the benefit to writing something that feels like it won't have wide appeal means that the people who are into it tend to be very enthusiastic about it, lol.

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

...no, because I was doing the thing of 'go through the tag with increasingly lowered standards' with a pairing so the last page of my history is. eh, but I'm obviously not going to call by name a fic I didn't like - that feels unnecessarily mean. Instead, scrolling back, I'm gonna say the last one I really enjoyed was Chainbreaker - I don't often read A/B/O, but when I'm looking for Ganondorf/Link noncon and a GORGEOUSLY written bitching fic is dropped on my lap I absolutely will. If you're at all into messed-up noncon, A/B/O, etc, check it out, because I meant it when I said it's fantastically written - very hot, genuinely beautiful prose, fantastic characterization, and the author's great about putting quite detailed content warnings in the notes if you need them.

[cindylouwho-2]

Etsy's New Share and Save Program for Sellers: A Few Questions Answered

Screenshot of sharing a listing link to Twitter via the new Share and Save menu

On September 6, Etsy announced a new Share and Save Program, that refunds sellers 4% on each order in their shop that comes from a Program link within 30 days of the link being clicked. [UPDATE: Sept 30 2023: I now have a longer blog post on the topic.]

First, make sure you read all of the Share & Save Program (S&S) materials, as most questions are covered there:

Seller Handbook article: https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/1187231088945

Shop Manager announcement: https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/me/share-and-save

Etsy Help page: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/16981332744087

S&S Legal Policy: https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/etsys-share-save-terms-program-terms/1162874007996

There is also a (closed) forum thread that staff are going to answer questions in on September 13. I won't be releasing a blog post before then, as there are still a few things we don't know.

Quick Thoughts and Points of Interest

1) You can't see any of the S&S links or stats unless you opt in to the program. To opt in, sign up in your Shop Manager by selecting Marketing, then select Share & Save, or in the main announcement in your Shop Manager. You can also opt out under Marketing.

2) Sharing a normal link to your actual shop URL or listing URL will not work; you must use one of the S&S Program links. The required S&S link formats vary depending on where you find them. The shop link is the old redirect/subdomain: https://cindylouwho2.etsy.com The listing link you can get on the top of each listing (as shown above) is also relatively short: https://cindylouwho2.etsy.com/listing/225396754 If I copy that same listing's link in the Listing Manager from the S&S option:

it is much longer: https://cindylouwho2.etsy.com/listing/225396754/watermelon-sliced-agate-necklace-long?utm_source=Copy&utm_medium=ListingManager&utm_campaign=Share&utm_term=so.lmsm&share_time=1694213447082 If I opt to Tweet from the S&S menu at the top of a listing, it tweets the Etsy.me shortened link: https://etsy.me/3Z7Wua4 So if you are having issues with a link being too long, try one of the other options. Note that once opened, the S&S links usually look different, with reference values in the URL. This is one of the ways Etsy will be able to track these special links.

3) This program is intended to drive new traffic to Etsy, so only off-Etsy shares are eligible. Linking in your listings or via Etsy Messages will not get you the refund.

4) The refund is 4% of the order total (including shipping and gift wrap costs). An S&S order of $100 with free shipping will lead to a $4 refund immediately in your Payment Account. In other words, it's the same as Etsy charging a 2.5% transaction fee on an order instead of the normal 6.5%.

5) Some options are only available on the Etsy Seller app. Sharing reviews or shop sections can only be done from the app, while shop home pages, listings, and promo codes can be shared from any desktop or mobile format.

6) Etsy stats only show the total number of S&S clicks for a time period, and not which links received visits.

7) A few sellers are reporting issues with Pinterest, including having their accounts suspended. Others are simply unable to pin using the S&S links, due to the subdomain format being unverified by Pinterest. I expect Etsy will want to fix this problem quickly. [UPDATE: problem fixed]

8) If the buyer visits an S&S link, but then clicks an Offsite Ad for the same shop and orders within 30 days, that order is not eligible for an S&S refund, and will instead incur a 12 or 15% Etsy Offsite Ads fee (if the shop is opted in to Offsite Ads, of course). This is always a big risk when promoting any page on Etsy, due to retargeting ads that appear on sites after shoppers visit an Etsy page in any format. It's part of why many shop owners only promote their websites or places they sell with little to no fees, as opposed to directing traffic to a large corporation who then has control of your customer and can market other businesses to them.

9) Some people are concerned that the wording in the S&S legal policy will opt them back into binding arbitration, which many of us just opted out of last month. While the wording of Etsy's policy is poor, the Terms do encompass the portion of the arbitration section that allows us to opt out, and does not expressly say those opt-outs are cancelled by accepting the S&S terms. [UPDATE (Sept. 14) 2023: signing up for Share and Save does not opt you back in to Etsy arbitration.]

I will update this post as new information becomes available. Have new information for me? Send me a message here or on my website.

UPDATED September 30, 2023

[rapidketogummiesss]

Rapid Keto Gummies Review: Slim Down In No Time

Burning away excess fat is no easy affair. Why is this so? Several many things, there are many answers to this enquiry. Society plays a big role, though. You're presented with unrealistic bodily expectations, all while being offered foods that are loaded with complex carbs. And, advertising these are an is actually because your body likes to burn them first. It's biologically conditioned to conserve fat. In antiquity, this has been a necessity. When you weren't sure where great meal was coming from, fat kept you surviving. Those times are well behind us, yet still. And, evolution has yet to catch on top of our modern lifestyle. Be expecting that to happen for a lot of millennia yet, though. In the meantime, we recommend Rapid Keto Gummies to put you into the fat-burning zone faster than anything else can. To order yours, click any of the links on this page!

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How Rapid Keto ACV Gummies Work

What do the Rapid Keto Gummies Ingredients do that sets them apart from other weight loss supplements? We've already brought up the ketones they contain. Amid studying the various techniques, you've likely heard with the Keto Diet. This can be a low-carb regimen designed to generate ketones within your complete. The reason we don't recommend going this route is that it isn't safe to go without carbs long enough for this diet to take reply. Go without them for a period of time, and it should eventually induce a metabolic state referred to as ketosis. It's in this state that the liver creates the necessary ketones. Like the ones which are available from these Fast Keto Gummies, they'll get you burning fat. But, the consequences of depriving your body in this way can be severe. It can actually lower your life expectancy, making its use to improve your health nonsensical.

Instead of going the Keto Diet route, we recommend getting your ketones from Rapid Keto Gummies Ingredients. But, that's not too . getting here. These gummies also contain a concentrated dose of ACV, or utilizing. Just as a study of weight loss techniques invariably in order to discussion of the Keto Diet, ACV is also sought after. It's similarly controversial, in the sense that you're able to easily overdose when drinking the substance. That's why getting it in gummy form is advantageous, because lengthy as as you in order to one per day, you're not experiencing too much towards your body to tackle. ACV's primary role lies in blocking the body from storing new fat cells. Coupled with ketones, this means you're all but certain to net a loss of weight.

[arizonaconservativegal]

This poll does not say that at all.

Strap in boys and girls, let's talk about how a politico reads a poll.

Disclaimer: I am not a data consultant or a statistician. I prefer to let the math people handle the math things. But most of the time, campaigns don't have a math person and it's up to whoever is around to be able to glean information from whatever questionable sources they can find so I've picked up a basic understanding.

First of all, the tweet doesn't link to it but I'm pretty sure this is the poll. Let's look at just the Arizona section for now. Toplines for Arizona begin on page 31.

A couple things to keep in mind right off the bat. First, this poll has a margin of error of ±3%, which is a perfectly respectable, normal margin for a poll like this. Why do I bring it up? Because seeing people look at a 51-49 result (to make up some numbers as an example) and declare victory makes me want to bang my head against a wall. ±3% means that any number you see in a poll might actually be 3 points higher or 3 points lower than what it says. So in a 51-49 result, the real numbers could be anywhere from 54-46 to 48-52. We can guess where that real number might fall based on other data, but technically speaking, we don't know.

Second, this is a poll of registered voters, not likely voters so it's not really sampling the right group of people. I worked a campaign years ago where a poll a couple days before the election had us up 5% among registered voters. Turnout on election day was abysmal and actual voters voted us down by double digits. A registered voter poll is better than nothing in a campaign with limited information, but you always have to remember that it is not necessarily an accurate representation of who will show up to vote.

This poll does note if the respondent is 'motivated to vote' in its demographics section but I'm not clear on how motivation was determined. Somehow they figure 96% of Arizona respondents are motivated. I will say that I am always a little extra cautious about likely voter participation these days because among Arizona Republicans, we have a significant population of historically dedicated voters who have sworn off voting because statements like 'Arizona is a fraud factory' have convinced them their vote doesn't count. Thanks for that, everyone.

Next thing I usually look for are the crosstabs, which is where the really detailed stuff is and you can see how different subsets of respondents answered each question. Not providing crosstabs is a red flag for me when determining a poll's credibility. The Arizona crosstabs begin on page 822.

You'll want to give the methodology a quick look. Pay attention to the dates the survey was conducted. Old data is useless data. Knowing how the poll was conducted. Via phone (landline or mobile?), in person, or online? Were respondents paid for their participation? Basically you're looking for anything here that would affect what group of people actually answer the survey. The obvious example here is that surveying via only landline can skew your data to older (more conservative) voters because young people don't have landlines. It doesn't necessarily mean the poll is useless, but you want to be aware of the context.

You should always give the demographic section a look as well. I can't tell you how many times I've seen polls with an unexpected topline response and then I look at the demographics and see they sampled 75% Republicans or something. You want to see demographic numbers that look reasonably similar to the whole population you're trying to understand. If it isn't, you might still be able to get useful information, but you'll need to dig in on the crosstabs.

This poll looks mostly okay on that front. They oversampled Dem women and undersampled Dem men but I'm not too concerned because total party registration sampling looks about right. The conservative vs liberal breakdown looks a little too heavily conservative for Arizona. Also looks like probably a bit of an oversample on younger voters too but again, this is registered voters, not likely voters, so that's to be expected.

Now we look at the questions themselves. You'll want to consider how they are presented before deciding if the answers are credible. Are the questions asked clearly? Are they leading or biased? Are the answers open-ended or did respondents choose from a given list? What order were the questions asked in? Sloppy surveys will throw off your results. Writing a good survey is a skill. Most of the questions asked in this survey aren't of particular interest to us but they provide context for the parts we do care about.

Now we can look at the toplines. Toplines, by the way, are the total responses to each question, regardless of demographics.

With a poll like this, I'm looking for a few pieces of information:

How favorably/unfavorably are the candidates viewed? Is that unique to them or do other members of their party have similar numbers?

What are the things voters care about and how do the candidates (or parties) rate on them?

Which candidate (or party) are the respondents most likely to vote for?

That last one will be actual question in the survey. That's what will be reported in headlines. Most people will take it at face value. It means very little to me without the other questions.

So let's dig in.

Trump and Biden had statistically equal unfavorables among Arizona respondents. Congressional Democrats are doing a little better than Republicans on that front, but to no one's surprise, neither group is very popular at the moment.

Not ideal but not too worrying on its own.

Trump is ahead or statistically tied on most of the "who do you trust more on this issue" questions - with two of his biggest leads being the economy and immigration, which also happen to be the top two most important issues to Arizona respondents.

Great, right?

Don't get too excited. I'd like to remind everyone that Mitt Romney was up in almost all of these areas in 2012 exit polls and still lost. Why? Because of this question:

A statistical tie in this poll but Romney came up short twelve years ago and it cost him the election. I'd be concerned about this one on its own but I'm especially concerned when I see this:

That is a statistically significant spread, by the way.

And if I were the Trump team, I wouldn't be feeling too good about this one either:

Registered voters in Arizona may be undecided on which candidate cares more but they think Trump is dangerous and Biden is compassionate. Which way do you think that "cares about me" question is going to tip in the next few months?

Those numbers don't get any better for Trump if you look at just the 'motivated' voters, by the way.

And finally, the question everyone pays attention to:

Everyone looks at this and sees Biden at 43% and Trump at 49% and thinks "awesome! it'll be a landslide!"

But remember that ±3% margin of error I pointed out earlier?

±3% means that Trump could be three points lower and really be at 46% and Biden could be three points higher and really be at 46%. This is statistically a tie.

This poll does not say that Trump is ahead in Arizona. Marking it as even light red on this map is misleading. According to this poll, Arizona could go either way.

Frankly, with how unpopular Congressional Republicans are and those compassionate / dangerous numbers, plus recently depressed Republican turnout because we think voting is a farce... I expect Arizona to go very slightly for Biden when all is said done, even as people tell exit pollsters they think ol' Joe sucks.

So what do we do about?

First, let me call out one thing in this poll that gives me hope:

Biden drops like a rock when RFK Jr is added to the mix.

So if I were advising the Trump campaign my number one piece of advice would be, at all costs, make sure RFK Jr is on the ballot.

I'd also suggest they run polling on what happens if RFK Jr is your VP nom. My guess is that the affect is limited to when he is an equal alternate choice but if he can keep Biden down by just being on the ballot somewhere, that is worth considering.

That aside...

Unfavorability of Republicans in Congress is going to be a drag on Trump. I'd suggest he cut them loose and shut up entirely about their existence. His campaign should act like he is the only person on the ballot and forget the rest. Don't talk negatively - just ignore them.

(interestingly, Congressional Republicans would probably thank him to do so)

I'd also pretty much shut up about anything that isn't the economy or immigration. Those are Trump's two biggest strengths and conveniently, two of Biden's biggest weaknesses. Talking about anything else is a waste of time at best and a liability at worst. You don't want to distract people from the areas where you are winning.

I'd soften the messaging on those a bit and focus on the human side of each issue. No one really cares if the economy is strong. They care about whether they can afford the things they want/need. Talk about struggling families who are forced to make sacrifices in Biden's economy so that they can put food on the table for their kids. That isn't right. It shouldn't be like this. Biden created this disaster and has refused to solve it. Trump is going to make fixing it his top priority, not because having a strong stock market or low gas prices particularly matters but because he cares about families like yours and you shouldn't be suffering like this.

Make sense?

A tie isn't a victory but we can get to a win from here. There is a roadmap in this data if you know where to look for it. We just can't be taking victory laps yet. Doing so will cost us something we don't have to lose.

Can't truthfully say I'm surprised.