#which is why i have the tags blocked. i can still engage with the topic when it's safe and productive for me to do so! but i have the choic

[brokendownhearse]

i am literally begging people to tag their posts about palestine/isreal

[zepskies]

What Does "Supporting Writers" Mean? ✍️

Apparently it's Fanfic Writer Appreciation Day! To all my fellow writers, I truly appreciate you for bringing me joy, making me smile on rough days, and giving me my weekly/daily dose of escapism and warm fuzzies. (Shoutouts to you personally below.) 💓💓

But what does it mean "practically" to appreciate your favorite writers, especially on Tumblr?

For example, I know some fanfic authors are starting to block "serial likers": people who'll go through someone's entire masterlist and hit the "like" button on 20-something stories without commenting or basic reblogging.

While I think blocking them is extreme, I understand the authors' frustrations. I've actually been asked if I'll ever leave Tumblr, since many of them have dropped off over the past few months, or even the past few years.

I'm still here for two very important reasons:

I love to write about my favorite characters. I write primarily because I love it, not just for the kudos.

I'm friggin' blessed to have a lot of friends and lovely readers on here and Ao3 who support me immensely on my writing and on this blog in general. I love and appreciate each and every one of you! Which is why I do my best to reply to your comments and reblogs. 💖💖

Of course, there are many reasons why a writer might take a break or stop writing entirely, but one of those reasons is also why the #supportwriters tag exists...

And why you'll see us include banners like this on our posts:

(Credits: cafekitsune, me, inklore)

That being said, here's my own rule of thumb on how I try to support my fellow writers when I read something I enjoy:

If I "liked" something, it means I had the time to read a story all the way through and I enjoyed it! (Or I'm bookmarking it for later in the day lol)

If I have the time to read it, I have the time to leave a comment on what I liked the most about it.

If I have the time to write out a comment (anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes), I typically put that comment in a reblog -- maybe even add a gif or two for ✨razzle dazzle.✨ That way I can share it with the rest of my followers, so they can see it and hopefully enjoy it too...

Why? Because Tumblr isn't TikTok or IG. Reblogging is the best way to help a post gain traction on Tumblr. The algorithm doesn't care much about likes.

But on a more human level, supporting writers is just the basic thing of -- if you enjoyed something you read (that a writer shared for free), just let them know what you liked about it.

Remember that there's a person behind the content you enjoy. They might have been working on that story for weeks or months, or even years before they got the courage to post it.

They might really be putting themselves out there, writing about a topic or subject matter that they're not sure people will even like or engage with.

Maybe they're exploring something new, like a character or trope they've never written before.

Maybe they're expressing part of themselves that they haven't even told another living soul.

Maybe they just wanted to write something fun and smutty or angsty or fluffy and want to share the escapism with you.

Whether they've been writing for years or are just starting out, any and all is valid.

For me, as a writer and a reader, supporting my fellow writers often means supporting my friends. And 9 times out of 10, the way we became friends was by leaving feedback on their work and asking them questions, or responding to their awesome feedback on mine.

If you want a little jumpstart on how to leave feedback, whether encouraging or constructive, here's an awesome post about it (not mine).

Shoutout to some of my favorite writers 💞:

(In no particular order)

@waynes-multiverse @luci-in-trenchcoats @dean-winchester-is-a-warrior @thatonewriter15 @rizlowwritessortof

@waywardxwords @tofics @kaleldobrev @deanbrainrotwritings @deanwritings

@jawritter @deanwinchesterswitch @justagirlinafandomworld @ravengirl94 @waywardxwords

@spnbabe67 @deanwanddamons @ejlovespie @kittenofdoomage @venus-haze

@talltalesandbedtimestories @sam-is-my-safe-word @jacklesbrainworms @artyandink @princessmisery666 (I just starting reading your stories, but I'm continuing with Samnesia soon!) -- and I'm sure many more! 💋

[rwbyrg]

How do you stay positive seeing all the negativity we get for shipping this?

I don't typically talk about discourse, but I know this is something pretty much every RG shipper has faced at some point. So I'll make an exception this once. For anyone that doesn't want to hear about it, I strongly encourage you to keep scrolling.

I'm gonna keep it brief(ish) and vague, but content warning for topics of mental health, abuse, general fandom toxicity and ship discourse.

The short answer is that I've had to completely remove myself from large fandom spaces. I left Twitter last fall, I'm not in any big Discords, and I never check the fandom Reddits. I block bullies, bystanders, and bad faith arguers liberally. I mute words and phrases I don't wish to see, I don't engage with the bad faith takes, and I don't go looking in tags much either.

I surround myself with a small group of friends that I enjoy spending time with and can trust. So I still have outlets to be able to geek out without risk of dealing with the wider community's negativity. This blog was also created as a safe outlet to ramble, join together, or spread positivity about the ship. I know how rough it is for us out there - in the RWBY fandom as a whole, as well as within our own RG shipping spaces. So since I can't be an impartial community leader that helps run events or bigger spaces for us like I used to, this is kind of all I have left to offer.

The slightly longer addition that got way out of hand:

I'm not going to say it's not lonely. That I don't miss being part of a more active, wider group of people that we should have every right to join. But despite how hard some of us tried, there was nothing we could do to change the toxicity that is so deeply rooted at the core of this fandom. The fact that I even tried as hard as I did was 1. a trauma response and 2. just ended up with me - and too many of my friends - getting hurt anyway. I can't regret it because it's how I made the friends that are so dear to me now. But none of us should have had to deal with the cyberbullying, harassment, dog-piling, backstabbing, suibaiting, or any of that other garbage to find the group we have today.

It's extremely fucked up. There's no way to sugar coat it. All of it is abuse and is genuinely traumatizing to many people. I am not using these as buzzwords either. Myself and a handful of my rg shipping friends have literally gone to therapy to help us heal from all the things we've experienced in this fandom. So I have it on the authority of multiple psychiatrists, therapists, and social workers that what I am saying here is true.

Rosegarden and its shippers have become the scapegoat of a toxic community. There are big name fans who've staked their entire platforms on the idea of a rival ship being canon. And so, when they see any of us suggesting a Very Likely alternative to their reality (even if we're minding our own business), they become violent and go out of their way to try and defend it. There are entire servers and friend groups built on bullying this ship and its shippers for similar reasons. Anyone that argues against them, no matter how valid their stance, or how articulately its delivered, is going to become a target. Because we are seen as a threat to a system they directly benefit from. If any of them were to acknowledge how unreasonable or ridiculous all of this is, what would that mean for the circumstances and relationships they've built for themselves? It would all fall apart, wouldn't it?

This is why we also see fellow RG shippers invalidating or blaming us for what we go through. Because some of them have become convinced that if they side with the bullies and paint themselves as "not like those shippers", then they'll be "safe". Which as we all know isn't true. Because the antis attack each other for the smallest offences that don't have anything to do with us anyway.

The RWBY fandom is not alone in struggling with this. Fandoms everywhere are seeing these same patterns play out in different ways. A lot of people without as many stakes in the arguments will often scoff or dismiss it on the basis of it being "so serious, when it's just about fictional characters". And to that, I say: bullshit.

First of all, the people on the other side of the screen dealing with all of this are Real People with Real Feelings and their own lives that are already hard enough as it it. And these sorts of environments, as previously mentioned, can and do cause severe harm. Second, none of this hate has anything to do with fictional characters. That is part of the reason why I am still able to enjoy this ship and this show despite everything I've been through here. Because the fictional characters are simply the means to an end. And while that end is different for everyone, for the bullies - by and large - it offers them power in the face of their insecurities.

The only reason this space is as toxic as it is, is because the loudest voices are often the most emotionally immature. All the reasonable people see the infighting going on and know that engaging with it is a pointless waste of energy. As someone that did try to fight it, I truly don't blame any of them for staying uninvolved. But power comes in numbers; so until a large enough group of the reasonable ones come forward, this fandom will only continue on the course it's headed.

I rambled a lot and I'm not even sure how much of this is relevant to your question. If i were to give a tl;dr to answer you, it is this:

You need to curate your own experience by setting boundaries for yourself that cannot easily be crossed by people or content that is going to upset you.

Recognizing the reason people behave the way they do towards all of this has very little, if anything, to do with the show, the ship itself, or the people shipping it is very liberating.

Don't be like how I was. Don't try and force it when it isn't working. If you are in an environment or a habit that you are getting more harm than joy from: leave. It doesn't always feel like it in the moment, but it is better to be alone than to be surrounded by people who suck. And when you shed the ones that don't treat you well, you open yourself up to more like-minded people that will want to be friends with you anyway.

I say this genuinely with only love and support in my heart, but: touch grass. As often as you can, as often as you need to: get offline. Read a book, engage in other hobbies, connect with people in real life, go for a walk or just get outside if you can. When you start connecting with the reality on your side of the screen more, it puts how pointless and absurd so much of this discourse really is into perspective. Moderation is key.

I'm sorry that all of the negativity has got you down. No one wants to acknowledge how much this sort of thing can affect our well being, but I know first hand how bad it can get. None of it is fair. The feelings you're having are valid and aren't anything to be ashamed about. If you have friends or family you can rely on for support, reach out to them when you need it. If you're in a place where you think the help you need is a bit more specialized, you have my support and encouragement in making the call or doing the research to get started. Therapy isn't accessible and doesn't always work for everyone, but it's not the only option. Before I could afford it, I micro-dosed by reading self-help books and following therapists on Instagram, lol.

I'm not sure what else I can say, and have said more than I meant to anyway. But hang in there, you're not alone, and take care of yourself, okay?💕🫂

[tavyliasin]

Tagging, Censorship and Consent in Fandom

Hello darlings~ I'm back at it again with the essayposting - blame the creative block for that, but as always I'm neck deep in Fandom which is exactly where I wish to be anyway~ Now, today's essay is going to mention potentially triggering topics by name, however will not be going into great detail on any of them. If you feel you are in a place within yourself where you might not be comfortable encountering some terms and topics, please feel free to turn back now and I hope to see you next time instead. For the rest of us...

How To Tag Your Content and Engage With Creative Fandom Safely - A Serious Essay Again with TavyliaSin (And how to respect your readers/viewers) ((Consent is important and this is how we do it)) (((And it's always good to keep learning every day to keep each other safe)))

So again, there will be heavier topic mentions from here, and I welcome all points of view to the table. We're going to cover boundaries, safety, and this will be all ADULT CONTENT so 18+ ONLY please and thank you darlings~ Subheaders follow of course~

--- ---

What Are Tags And Why Should We Care?

This is the easy one here. Tags are the markers on the map, the signposts on the gate, the labels that tell us what is in the tin. Perhaps it is best to think of them like food labels - sometimes people have allergies or intolerances to ingredients. Often, a dish is clearly not going to be suitable - one doesn't order the Nut Roast with a nut allergy, after all - but other times there are unexpected ingredients that might cause an unintended reaction. The exact same applies to content, whether it is angst, dead dove, kink, or really any number of topics that can be difficult for some to handle. We all have our own "food allergies" - there may be some we can never "eat", and others that we can stomach if we prepare first. In both cases we need those labels to know before we dive in. And just to be clear here, I'm not talking about just mild discomfort. Encountering certain topics can put people into severe PTSD episodes that can take days or even weeks to fully recover from. A huge number of us unfortunately live through life events that could be described as traumatic, and whilst we should not place the responsibility of handling our problems on the shoulders of others, we should also be respectful of how content we create and share can affect those with life experiences different to our own.

Boundaries And Safety

We need to extend this to our online interactions with other creators and fandom friends too - express your own boundaries when you need to, seek help if they are crossed with poor intention, and take care to listen to the boundaries of those around you. And whilst I shan't be touching on the topic heavily, this also extends to those in the more public eye. Send and tag only content that is explicitly welcomed, respect boundaries, and help to keep all of our communities happier for it. Additionally, the obvious one too - under 18s should not be interacting with NSFW content, nor should NSFW creators be knowingly interacting with under 18s. This is for the safety not only of the underage people, but the adult creators too. Whilst we can rationalise that most of us encountered inappropriate content for our age, if we are found to be knowingly allowing or sharing it towards those who are underage then we are at a very real risk of landing on offender registers. Use a reasonable amount of care, and seriously any minors still here, first you should not be, and secondly if you have any respect for the NSFW creators please never interact with us until you are over 18.

Alright, So What Should Be Tagged and How?

There are a lot of content types and tags out there. Largely you can put them into 3 Categories: 1. Violence 2. Sexual/Kink 3. Misc Yes I know misc is a bit of a catch-all, but the first two are the most common at least.

The lists I use in the House of Hopeful Sinners Discord Server are as follows - though it should be noted I am adding to and refining these as we go along, either with things that are requested or those that I realise I have missed. There are likely far more comprehensive lists, and AO3 has a lot of suggested tags to use too. My rule on Discord is that all of these topics are permitted but must be spoiler covered and tagged appropriately (I'll cover a section on Discord specifically later). For some of these topics, we have threads that allow people to discuss them in a creative context in a space separated from the main conversation channels, so people can engage and indulge in the content without those who are uncomfortable being exposed to it.

Violent Content

NonCon

Trauma

Death

Severe Injury

Injury Detail

Blood

Torture

Manipulation

Choking

Dead Dove

Needles

Knives

Guns

Ascended Astarion (positive context/romantic)

Sexual Content

DubCon

CNC (Consensual NonCon)

Spanking

Somnophilia (One person is asleep at the start or throughout)

Breeding

BDSM

Wax Play

Pain Play

Breath Control

Bondage

Pet Play

Urine Fetish

Scat

Omegaverse

Knotting

Wild Shape

Ascended Astarion (sexual)

Age Difference

Size Difference

Predator/Prey

Others

Pregnancy/Fertility

Traumatic Pasts

Medical Procedures

Sickness/Emetophobia

Animal Death

Grief/Loss

PTSD/Trauma

That's A Lot Of Tags - Won't It Put People Off?

Well, loves, this is the key. By having the tags there, people can choose to engage or not. For every item on that list, there will be some people who want to avoid that content - and that's fine, you shouldn't want to expose them to it against their will! But there will also be those people who love that content! For example, Breeding is something I'd always want to avoid. I don't want to encounter it in fic or art. But there are lots of people who love that kink, which is great! When it's tagged, I can skip the content, and those who enjoy it can flock to it - everyone wins here!

Should Some Kinks Always Be Censored Or Banned

Time for the tricky nuance part, darlings, but it does need to be said. I do not believe that there are many topics that should be censored or banned entirely in art and fiction for one very simple reason, which I will cover in a lot more detail in a future essay:

Everyone deals with their own traumatic experiences in different ways. Whilst some people may need to avoid anything close to certain topics, others are able to process their pain and heal from it by creating or engaging with fictional versions of that topic.

Writing and art are both things where the viewer/reader has control over the situation. Not in that they can change it, but they can step away at any time. They can stop reading/looking and never go back to it. The situation is, in that way, safe if they are prepared before going in to it. Although a trauma trigger might cause some similar feelings in some people to the traumatic memory/experience, this is not universal. It is not for any one person to dictate the ways in which any other heals or copes with their own scars. It may be similar for a writer or artist, being able to explore and process their feelings. So no, I do not condone censoring anything but the most extreme/obvious illegal topics, which I'd prefer not to mention for my own peace of mind.

As long as works are tagged, and spoiler covers used to hide the content from people until/unless they choose to engage with it, everyone should be allowed to create and consume the media they choose. (The obvious caveat of course being "so long as none are harmed in the making of it", but I should think all of you would know that by this point in the essay)

What Do I Do If Something Isn't Tagged?

Chances are that writers miss tags sometimes, and not intentionally either. Try to let them know in a comment, or if you are uncomfortable engaging then ask someone to speak on your behalf (I will happily provide this service just DM me the link). In cases of Discord or other moderated spaces, speak with those moderators about anything that's troubling you.

If you've been alerted to a missed tag in your own work, add it in right away. It might help to ask Beta Readers to list any tags independently of the ones you have in mind before posting, so you can cross check things over.

How Can I Hide Tagged Content?

AO3 - You can't hide tagged content on AO3, but the tags are listed with every work. You might want to use the summary or pre-work notes if there is particular content you feel needs to be added. As you can see here, I put more in the summary as well as in the tags.

--- Tumblr - List your CWs in the top of your post, and then use the "Read More" marker to hide the cut content.

So you can see the actual content is below the line, in each case, which is also helpful to prevent post previews from being too long and gives you more control over Tumblr formatting anyway. For images, you may well need to make use of the community labels too, though I have been informed writing is less important for this as it doesn't show in post previews.

Discord - Spoiler Tagging is your real friend in Discord. Super easy to use, and hides text and images until clicked.

For text, using the || either side of the text will hide it, and for images you can click the eye symbol to spoiler it. You can also do this from mobile by long pressing the image preview to bring up the menu to spoiler. Twitter - Click on the edit then select the flag menu.

Unfortunately you can't hide text on Twitter, so use caution there, or use threads potentially to nest the warned content in the replies. You may also wish to have a separate account for 18+ content if you have SFW content on your account too, or use things like the protected feature so only people who you allow can see your posts.

Is That All?

For now, darlings, I believe we have covered almost everything, but the floor is open in comments to add anything else you feel is important to discuss.

At the end of the day, engaging in fiction and art that contains potentially sensitive subject matter is all about that informed consent. The creator can make something and ask if someone wishes to see it, the viewer/reader then makes their decision if they wish to or not. Our job as creators is to tag our works so people know what is safe for them to engage with. Our job as consumers is to appreciate the work and know that not every work will cater to our specific tastes.

So really loves I'm telling you to go out and revel in how we have so much variety that we really can filter by what we do and don't want to see, and that we will also likely have readers/viewers for everything we are inspired to create.

Let's not have fandom in-fighting or dictating who should be allowed to create what - there are precious few cases in which those fights are worth starting. Be passionate about what you love, skip the things you don't~ Oh and if you do appreciate my philosophies and guidelines on these topics, it is my pleasure to inform you that my personal server is open and welcoming to likeminded people who are 18+. You'll find more details in This Tumblr Post Here

[velvetvexations]

Hi Velvet, hope you’re well!

I’ve just spent the past several days going on a mass blocking spree of every transradfem I can find, and I gotta say I’m starting to think that as a community this might be the better approach to take going forward. While I very much understand why people leave these bigoted accounts unblocked and continue to try engaging with them and documenting them, as someone who has been keeping a close eye on this discourse for over a year now, 99% of the time these people have no desire to engage in good faith and are completely unwilling to listen to any opinion they don’t already agree with. I think we have reached a point where continuing to platform these people - even if it’s only to call them out on their BS - is doing more harm than good. I’m not saying we shouldn’t continue to speak out about the issues of radfem ideology in the trans community or pretend like it’s not happening, but I’m tired of seeing every single discussion of transandrophobia get derailed by bigots. I’m tired of community infighting taking center stage, I’m tired of posts needing a million disclaimers, I’m tired of discussion revolving around “proving” that transandrophobia even exists in the first place when that should just be a given, I’m tired of seeing an increase in actual transmisogynistic behavior from a handful of transmascs that comes as a reaction to being constantly exposed to so much transandrophobia from transfems, which just adds fuel to the flames on both sides.

I know this is tumblr discourse and not really an actual united community so maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I do believe if we could start collectively being more aggressive about just blocking all these people who are only here to stir shit, maybe we can actually start making our voices heard by a wider audience. There are still so many people out there who have no idea what transandrophobia is, or are only vaguely aware that it’s some current discourse-related term, and I think our efforts would be better focused on educating and informing those groups as opposed to arguing with people who have already decided we’re evil. Again, I totally get where everyone is coming from and I don’t think the folks trying to engage with bigots are doing anything wrong (in fact I admire their courage and patience), I just think it’s proven to be largely ineffective and maybe it’s time we make a collective effort to change our approach if we ever want to move on from these circular discussions that go nowhere. I think people who are genuinely just ignorant about transandrophobia would be far more likely to engage with the topic if the replies and reblogs weren’t full of arguments, and I think a mass-blocking effort would be the best way to kick TRFs out of the discussion and stop letting them control the narrative.

Anyway, I wanted to send this to you because 1. I know a lot of people involved in these discussions follow you so I thought it might be a better way to get this idea out there than posting from my own blog, and 2. I genuinely want to know what your thoughts are on this, since I know you’ve personally done a lot of work directly confronting TRFs - and again, I genuinely admire your willingness to do so, I’m just concerned that it’s not really getting us anywhere and wondered whether or not you would support a collective change in tactics.

p.s. I don’t really love the idea of public blocklists as I think it’s better for people to use their own judgement rather than relying on the word of others, so I’m not advocating for smth like that. however I’ve found that blocklists aren’t really necessary because it really is a relatively small community of TRFs who all reblog from each other, so it’s very easy to just find a couple popular posts from one of them with a larger following and use the notes as a blocklist. It’s a bit tedious, but after blocking 100 or so blogs I’ve found that the transandrophobia/transmisogyny tags have become far more usable and from there it’s easy to block any bigots that slip through, so this is what I would recommend others to do as well.

TLDR; this is a call to action to stop giving TRFs a place in the conversation and start treating them the same way we should be treating every other group of bigots: block on sight and do not engage

That's not kicking them out of the discussion, it's kicking yourself out of the discussion. You can not engage with them if you don't want to but ignoring bigots doesn't make bigots go away and unlike Christofascists engagement with TRFs actually has a better than zero chance of making a difference to either them, their followers, your followers, or anyone else that sees you deconstruct their arguments.

[thecurioustale]

Course Correction

We live and learn, and I'm a big proponent of making changes when things need changing. I've been thinking the past few days about what to do with this blog after my bad experience last week.

Social media is a dangerous place, with many riptides that can carry you away quite suddenly. On the same day last week, I had posted three different posts of consequence: My cute "Federated Cereals" post, the only artistic post of the three and the one I would have liked the most engagement on, got no interest at all. My post about blocking all the "Death to Israel" tag users on Tumblr got by far the most Likes, but generated very little real engagement. And my post about how I'm not gonna treat ex-MAGAs like members of the fam who deserve praise and back-slapping just for leaving the fascist movement in 2025 when the stink of Hitlerism is still hanging thickly about them...that one is the one that caught all the engagement, but it left a sick taste in my mouth and had me questioning why I am even on this site.

I'm here to build interest in my fiction. What I would really like to do is have conversations about that. But that's tricky, of course, because I have very little published fiction and I'm quite guarded about spoilers for the upcoming stuff. So in lieu of those kinds of interactions, I've tried to be my authentic self in general, reblogging or writing originally about topics that interest me or occupy my mind, reblogging stuff that I want to boost (mostly art), and fitting in the occasional talk about my own art where I can think of opportunities to do so.

That's a workable goal here on Tumblr, but I have realized that, if I go on with it, I need to be more selective about who I am following and what I am reblogging. And, like I said last week, I need to be mindful of my own limited mental resilience for getting into debates with people. I need to assume that no one is going to agree with anything I say; that everything is going to be challenged. That's how real life is, after all, and total agreement is no fun anyway. But whereas I can absorb many kinds of disagreements, I have been reminded that I have "weak spots" as it were when it comes to viewpoints that I find personally sickening. Even now it disgusts me just thinking about it. "Oh, we won't win elections if we don't suck up to the goddamn Nazis who put down their swastikas only because eggs are still expensive and their uncle got fired from the government." Like...really? Really? That's your great wisdom after decades living on this planet?

Let me tell you...I have been heartbroken but also immensely relieved in recent days to see that the rest of the free world is seeing straight through America's bullshit and is rightly shunning us. We deserve it. We've gaslit ourselves, and failed ourselves, but the rest of the world is holding us to account, and thank the stars for that.

Still...the question of how to move forward here un Tumblr has been floating around in the back of my mind. My three options are clear: I could just leave; we must never forget that option. I could go forward as a sanitized "brand" account that only talks about stuff which is directly or topically related to my creative work. Or I could continue on as my authentic self and try to be more selective about who I follow and what I engage with, like I mentioned.

The second option is the most tempting of the three, but represents the hardest road. The posts about my art are usually the ones that get the least traction, which is understandable since nobody knows about my art yet.

But I think I'm going to try it for a little while, and see what happens. It's what I was doing when I first made a serious effort to build a presence on this site, writing effortpost essays every couple of days. Nothing came of it, and maybe that's indicative of a dead end, or maybe I just didn't stick with it long enough. Someone on here (I don't remember whom) did write a very thoughtful message to me explaining how it had all played out for them, and "time" seemed to be the key. Most of the users on this site are very young and very ill-behaved, and aren't a stable population for building a following from. But over a long period of time, perhaps the right kinds of messaging can draw out the people who are more mature, more serious, and more thoughtful.

So! Going forward, until further notice at least, this blog will be more art-focused. That doesn't completely preclude things like contentious political writing, but I'm going to try to be disciplined and austere about putting myself into situations that have a strong chance to upset me. Mostly it's just going to be reblogs of nice pictures or stories, and occasional essays by me about my own work or in response to the work of others. And I'll take stock of in the future and see how this is working out for me.

[luneemeritus]

://

Trigger warning for chronically online cringe discourse over fictional characters I guess

I'm not even famous and there are people trying to cancel me here. For my Hellaverse mutuals and friends, if you ever see people saying that I condone harrassment against Alastor fans or people that shipp Husk/Alastor, please know it's bullshit. I never harrassed anyone over fictional characters or shipps and I don't condone it either. I admit I had a beef against Alastor fans some months ago and honestly? That was also bullshit, there's nothing wrong with liking Alastor or shipping him with anyone. Personally I don't like shipping him but that's just me.

Also. I never said Vox was a straight man. I never said his color had to do with his sexuality, it's incredible how people take things out of context without any remorse, this was my post. Calling me biphobic for things that I've never said is ridiculous. I've also been accused of acephobia, which is also not true. I'm pretty sure I said some dumb shit about "respecting aroace characters by not shipping them" in the past and I cringe a lot by remembering it lol. If anything, I'm not acephobic and I don't care about shipping Alastor. End of story. Still on the dumb accusation things, I've been accused of... *sighs* being okay with whitewashing Imps. Which, I dont even know what to respond except. Be fucking serious. Be fucking serious. No really. Be fucking serious. How can you seriously accuse someone of defending "whitewashing" (of fictional races btw) for NO REASON. No really. If you want to hate me, okay, I'm fine with that. But you dont fucking know me lol stop pretending you do.

And to finish the chronically online bullshit, proshipping discourse aaaaah Goddess help me. Just to be clear. I'm not against shipping/pro shipping, and again, I dont condone harrassment, but I have "creepy proshippers dni" in my profile, specifically about pedo and incest apologists, like real apologists (not people that understood the difference between ficton and reality, actual apologists), some creepy ones that I've encountered on Twitter and I dont to engage with them because I'M uncomfortable with their content. Simple. I don't hate people that are proshippers and I know actual proshipping means shipp and let shipp (no problem with that). This is why I specifically putted pedo and incest APOLOGISTS. Not people that like media and are okay with shipping, I'm talking about APOLOGISTS that genuinely defend real life crimes disguised as "proshipping" (if you never encountered one of those, good for you, but unfortunately I've seen some). And also SA (example = Valangel, ok if you like it, I dont, I dont want to see it, this is why the tags are filtired and I always block❤️ I love to block❤️) because it just crosses my limit. It's a topic I don't wanna see being shipped even in fiction. If you think I'm not allowed to have limits, then I'm afraid that's not my problem. I will repeat again because it seems that people cant understand, I DON'T CONDONE HARRASSMENT. I'm not anti shipping, I dont care about proshippers following me. And to be clear: when I say I love monsters, I mean literal monsters. Monsterfucker. Eldritch creature. Ever heard of that? Yeah I like it. That's me. Being a monsterfucker doesnt mean I want to see pedo/incest shit or that I don't have fucking boundaries. Ugh 🙄

And now some serious stuff that crosses the chronically online bullshit and comes to real life problems: I never falsely accused people of being SWERFS. I listen to what sex workers are saying, unlike some other people (x, x, x, x). I literally NEVER said Angel Dust shouldn't leave SW, wtf, aknowledging there are other ways to represent sex workers (ex: showing Angel's work before Valentino on a compassonate light, or showing other sex workers with different experiences, like Ozzie's employees for example) isnt accusing anyone of being a SWERF. Just for you know, there are different types of SW that arent prostitution or porn. Just saying. Angel is a fictional character, many narratives can be written with him. And as we know he is a sexual person that likes naughty stuff, if he ever tried different types of SW that were safer and good for him, great. If he doesnt and just wants to leave, great too. I don't control what the show writters will do to him and I don't want to. I literally NEVER, EVER, accused someone of being a SWERF for wanting Angel to leave Val and his industry. What a ridiculous thing to claim, seriously. I have also matured a lot about this topic and I'm more careful with the things I say, I think some of you should do the same before making shit up about me. Saying some takes about Angel and his relationship with his own sexuality and SW can be rooted in swerf rhetoric if you're uneducated about the topic isn't saying "if you want Angel to leave his work duel to his TRAUMA you're a mean swerf". Fucking christ. That's like. Basic interpretation. No, Viv isnt a fucking swerf and I never accused her of being one. I literally defended her when she was accused of hating sex workers. Please be fucking serious 🙄

I'm only making this because private DMs were leaked with intention of shaming me. I'm not doing anything wrong to anyone, I'm literally chilling on my own. If you don't have a single true thing to say about me, shut the fuck up I guess, how about that. Funny how I'm being accused of "condoning harrassment" by people that were leaking private messages, lying about me and making shit up about me to be mad at. I'm not even relevant wtf is wrong with you guys, chill. Imagine being so angry for harmless cringe shit you disagree with that you accuse someone you dont know of terrible things in public. I don't condone harrassment, I'm not biphobic or acephobic, I dont hate proshippers, and I never accused people of being swerfs because of either Angel should or shouldnt leave his work. Leave me alone ❤️

I'm typing this trembling of anxiety because I've been working all day and could only write this to defend myself now. Holy shit.

[mimikusu]

Hi! Thank you for your message, and welcome back ^^ 😊. I'm sorry if a post I made made you uncomfortable. I did not post much about that discourse drama, but felt like I had to at least clarify my opinion as I post about contagion scenarios pretty often. I will tag posts concerning this topic as "snzblr discourse" in the future should I post more about it (which I don'tplan at this point), in case that would help to make my blog a safer space for you.

Also, feel free to reach out via DM as well if you like. To just chat or for example if you wish to block a certain topic, I'm open to adding tags so it's easier for people to just block those.

Plus: I have kind of a fangirl moment right now, because I adore your work 💕

Have a nice day and thanks for reaching out 😊

Even though we already exchanged dms, I'll answer this publicly. Maybe it also concerns others, if not, well... it's still a super sweet and considerate message and I'm very happy you've been so kind about it. First of all, I very much respect when ppl state their boundaries and I think this is a very important thing in any community. However, I very much struggle with anxiety when ppl voice conflicting opinions on ethic matters. This is a me problem, which is why I usually don't engage and maybe whenever something like this comes up, it would be wise for me to just shut off tumblr for a few days or weeks until it's over. Somehow, I just can't... maybe it's the adhd... so I end up causing myself a panic attack and because unfortunately I can not remove certain posts without unfollowing ppl, this time I snapped and I unfollowed a few accounts to minimize the damage. I now started refollowing ppl that I removed due to this, so just don't mind me. 😅

It's super super sweet of you that you first of all didn't mind, but also offered tagging discourses in a way that I could block them! Thank you so much for this!!! I already blacklisted a few word associated with these kind of discussions and I managed to clean my dash enough to feel comfortable again. So maybe next time I don't have to rely on impulsive panic reactions! 💕

And thank you SO much for your super nice tags on the piece I posted yesterday. They made me feel especially guilty about snapping and unfollowing you. 👉👈

Also, I can hardly describe what I felt when I first read your message in my inbox! I'm so so flattered that you'd not even be mad with me (which thanks to paranoia I was certain you would be) but also feeling flattered somehow that I reached out to you about this, even though I've been the one who wronged you in a way by removing you from my dash just because you stated your opinion on something you thought important to say!

[epic-the-musical-confessions]

I understand where that last anon is coming from, but speaking as a fandom elder, separate crit tags NEVER work the way the "I don't want to see crit as fandom is an escape" crowd wants it to. It will always end up in the main tags regardless. You can't just sequester critical opinions, thoughts, and discussions into a separate tag like storing an ugly shirt you don't want to wear or see. The most surefire way to ensure you don't see crit is to just unfollow and block people who post crit. Don't interact with the critics. Don't vague post about the critics. Just block and go about your business and leave the critics alone. If you don't want to do that, then you'll need to grow a slightly thicker layer of skin and understand that critical analysis and critique are also part of fandom culture. This idea of "I don't want to see crit as fandom is an escape" mindset is very much rooted in pro-censorship sentiments that has been growing in fandoms as of late. But crit has always been a part of fandom. I understand if anon wants to have a specific fandom experience, but it's their job to curate it themselves. If they can't do that, then they're not mature enough to be in fandom spaces and should reconsider why this bothers them to the point that it upsets them, but still refuse to look away.

I... see your point, and you *are* right, tags don't always work. Especially in tumblr's system. But asking for something to be tagged isn't pro censorship, it's asking for a way for them to more easily curate going through different tags. Yes it will still show up in the main tag, but (as someone who has a Ton of tags blocked myself) if tumblr doesn't fuck it up then they don't necessarily see the post.

I'm sure that anon has blocked tons of people who post crit. But you can't necessarily block everyone and it is easier to block a tag.

Also that anon wasn't saying that the crit wasn't a valid part of the fandom experience they were saying that they were looking for an escape from real life. Which is valid and fair. They aren't saying stop posting crit, they're saying it would be nice if it was *tagged properly* so they could filter it out of their experience unless they were up for it. Which is perfectly valid, and a perfectly fine complaint to have!

I think the problem you have with what that anon says is less to do with the tag and more to do with a misunderstanding. They said they like going into the fandom tags for an escape from reality. And enjoy the fact that I tag crit posts that they can then block to curate their dash. They did not say that the only part of fandom is the escape from reality and critiques are not a part of fandom.

If you are not this anon or the anon they are talking about do not engage in this conversation (this is in order to keep people from piling up on either anon.) Stating this because I know there is a lot of contention on this topic and do not need it spiraling out of control

[jheselbraum]

They lierally weren't in a relationship. It's implied by the ganon awakening memory and her own diary and other dislogue she never actually proposed by chickened out. Why would she gasp seeing Link staring at Zelda if he was actually engaged to mipha? Media literacy dead

I just want to say congratulations to the Gravity Falls fandom. After nearly twelve years on tumblr and a truly staggering amount of blocked fans and admittedly incendiary posts on my part not a single one of you verifiably went on anon to get around a block and into my ask box. Not even that time I opened up about my personal family issues and got attacked for it by dozens of people. Everyone who got blocked stayed blocked. In fact, no one from any of the circles I post in has ever done this, hence why I'm even dignifying this ask from a pathetic individual who ships like they're an adult Harry Potter fan with a response: to commemorate the occasion.

In this time of mass exodus due to racism and transphobia from staff as well as our user data being sold to an ai model which will immediately die the moment it tries to train itself with it, it's wonderful to know that there are still parts of the true tumblr experience that I too can take part in, and that despite tumblr's waning growth and popularity, despite my own waning time on this site, when I do eventually log off for the final time I'll be able to rest easy, knowing that I truly was a part of this community... And knowing that the part of the community I primarily interacted with during the bulk of my time here, despite a brief period filled with completely untagged old man incest porn in the main character tags, never pulled this shit, and never got to the point where every third post in a given ship tag was a complaint, about random bullshit that doesn't matter and isn't actually something anyone was mad at in the first place.

Truly it would cheapen the experience, to complain about a bunch of unrelated topics, characters, and ships you don't like, in the tags of a ship that you do actually like, to the point where someone going into that tag looking for shipping content of the ship they like has to deal with a bunch of annoying crap that isn't shipping content and is rude to other people for no fucking reason.

The humble vagueblog has existed as a vital part of your fandom's existence since the beginning, dear Gravity Falls fandom, and you have used and honed the practice well. Your tags have not been infested with pages of unrelated crap from a new set of people very week who think the rest of us enjoy them spamtagging their complaints, and our tags have not been infected with people who don't like what's being posted in that tag posting in the tag anyways about how much they dislike the content of the tag they're posting in. All the porn is now tagged properly and no one is freaking out about people who don't ship their ship, not even when that ship consists of two characters who are at the same developmental stage for their respective species, and are not related to each other. As the fandom of a children's show from 2010s era tumblr you have truly exceeded all expectations. Gaze upon this ask, on this shadow of a shark beneath our little rowboat and know that I thank you, and that if and when I do eventually leave this site I will leave satisfied. Know that if there ever comes a time where I begin posting zelink content full time, I will be in hell trying to block annoying assholes all over again, because every third post in the zelink tag is made by someone like this who clearly has nothing better to do with their time than complain about a naked fish lady who is dead and does not interfere with the ships they actually like because she's not real and you don't have to include her in your fic or engage with the people who like her if you don't want to.

Because obviously the zelink ship tag is the only place one can complain about a fictional teenage dolphin with boobs being in a relationship with a fictional teenage human, and obviously a fictional dolphin with boobs is the biggest problem this fandom has so someone has to say something, it'd be rude not to tag this Voltron fandom level bullshit as zelink.

[burning-sol]

Had a talk with someone about traumacore somewhat recently, and it's got me thinking about the weird backlash it got all over again. People seriously approached the subject matter with no nuance, no understanding, no want to understand, and ended up basically just telling traumatised people to go back to hiding where nobody else could see them.

People earnestly would ask, "but why do these artists have to use cute characters? they shouldn't have bad things happen to them," and not see the obvious answer bestowed upon them by they eyes. I wonder why people would be portraying innocent characters, arguably symbols of innocence in themselves, as going through bad, undeserving things. I wonder if there's any context there. At all. I wonder if the artists have any sort of experiences that they obviously blog about that could shed light on this.

"People shouldn't make trauma an aesthetic though," truly being the most mind numbing of takes as if you could, again, not just see what is being blogged and come to understand that despite being trauma'core' this art has no intention to be an aesthetic. "Well why don't they just choose a different name then," <- the words of someone who has no idea how communities or linguistics develop. Sometimes the words and labels that come to be aren't well fitted to what is being represented, but that's just how shit works. For example, I personally don't like a particular ship name in my community, I think it's confusing and ill fit, but am I going to call those people bad because of a name that has come to be integral to the community? No. The community in the time before I was even active came together to make that ship name, and has become attached to it, and it's not my right to say that nobody should use it because it doesn't fit perfectly.

"But what if people are harmed by the art." You can avoid it?? Block the tag. And if someone goes out of their way to trigger themselves by not blocking it and engaging with it, that's none of your business, and you're not at fault for someone else's issues. Mental health is fucked up and it's not your place to speak over other people and say what's good for them when everyone heals and improves in different ways at different rates. You know what's actually harmful? The fact that trauma victims are likely to be victims of trauma again, and there are people on the internet who seek them out KNOWING this. The traumatised people minding their own business and making art to comfort themselves (which can also be comforting for others to see) are not the problem here. Tired of traumatised people being talked over by others who have no clue what its like to live that life, trying to tell them what is or isn't acceptable and what they think they should do to heal. It's NOT your trauma to bear, and it's NOT your trauma to heal.

And leaving my least favourite for last, I've seen people who don't HATE traumacore, but still feel the need to make fun of it (in a not friendly way) because of the artistic choices at play. I do think traumacore can look silly, but so can a lot of art depending on your own sensibilities. Sometimes what people think are well rendered art pieces, I think are too maximalist for me to not giggle at. And I'm allowed to giggle to myself, but would I then go about saying, "how does ANYONE take this seriously???" Ideally not, because that would make me a self centered asshole. Sometimes you have to let yourself sit with art for a while rather than just glancing at it passingly and brushing it off. Look at the art and sit with it, engage with it, earnestly recognise the elements at play and the style and the intentions behind the artwork. Art can exist outside your sensibilities and that does not dimish it in any capacity, that just means it's not for you.

Also, to point out the obvious, so obvious I nearly forgot to make this point, YOU'RE MAKING FUN OF ART ABOUT A *VERY* SENSITIVE TOPIC. But let's not forget this art is not only ABOUT trauma as a general subject matter, but also a lot of the art can be tied inextricably to specific incidents the artist has experienced. These aren't just vague pieces of art that say "what if hello kitty was sad and hurt," this is art that can be horrifying recounts of what someone actually experienced. There is someone on the other end who has been hurt, and you're laughing at the work they made to express that. "But what if they aren't trauma victims like you say," I was engaged with the traumacore community for I don't know how many months and I NEVER came across art that wasn't made by someone without trauma. Even people who reposted traumacore were still people who were victims of trauma. These blogs were all run by people, ALL blogs have people behind them, and it's no surprise that every blog I came across was ran by someone who was traumatised.

Traumacore is not a silly trend people want to hop on. People who 'hop on the trend' are usually people who have recognised for the first time that they've been traumatised, because it's quite literally a symptom that trauma victims are unable to recognise or acknowledge their own traumas. And even if people WERE hopping on it as a trend, making fun of them still harms the others who are engaging with the art earnestly. You can't just trash an entire community because there are a couple of bad actors, that's just shitty behaviour.

So yeah, that's my big rant on why people who make traumacore are the coolest and I love them and their art and I think traumacore deserves to exist and be respected. For fucks sake, just think about something for more than two seconds or, idk, actually try to engage with the community and art before you just to conclusions. The answers to your questions are literally right there in the text itself, you just gotta put in the effort to read it and process it.

[squallsong-survival]

so. my buddy Pax bullied me into joining this site to promote my services? I don’t really get it but he insisted this would help “get a broader customer base” or whatever. name’s Squall, and I hunt pokémon. why you should come to me rather than some of the other chumps in the business is simple: I’m strong and they ain’t. I can use burst hearts, after all

I know most folks don’t know shit about bursting, so here’s a quick primer. you are a flimsy little human. all around you are big fuckin’ monsters that breathe fire and eat dreams and shit. bursting is how you can borrow that power. if you have a special crystal called a burst heart, you can use it to become half human, half whatever beast is in that heart, all kickass. but burst is super taxing, so you can’t just be some weak nobody. the transformation can seriously fuck you up if you stay in it for too long, and you gotta train your normal body to withstand the change or your first burst WILL straight-up kill you

so when I tell ya I’ve been bursting for decades and can successfully hunt with it, know that means I know my shit. my main hearts are Toxtricity and Kommo-o, and I’ve got a few more I’m still cultivating (they evolve just the same as any other monster and I’m not gambling a Tsareena hunt on holding my own with my Fuecoco heart. that’s a death sentence). shipping is handled by Pax and their buncha Tranquill. it’s faster than the average Pelipper service, but does have a lower max weight per bird, so keep that in mind

oh yeah and I like music. making and listening. Pax said I should share that to be more approachable, because and I quote “hon you even sound like somebody shat in your bed over text.” dick.

anyway yeah. send me your requests. I always have a good stockpile of clean bones, plus some other easy-to-keep shit, and my Zigzagoon heart gives me a decent nose to track with. if it’s in the area I’ll find it. contact info and rules below

OOC STUFF!

Oops, my self control slipped lmao

This blog is inspired in part by @zekrom-sword, and is also borrowing the concept of Burst from the Pokémon REBURST manga (see that link for a Bulbapedia page). Like Kama’s blog, this one is set in a world with much more dangerous Pokémon, and will be dealing with more serious topics such as Pokémon death, which will be tagged as “cw [trigger]�� as needed. Please don’t hesitate to ask for things to be tagged! Blue text on this blog is ooc talk, and will also be marked off in {{curly brackets}} if not under a cut. I’m not gonna outright forbid adult topics on this blog, but keep it tasteful, and if I find out you’re a minor participating in those discussions you will be blocked

Squall (he/him) is somewhere in his mid-to-late 30s, and has been hunting for nearly 2 decades. He’s not especially tech savvy, and kind of abrasive, but he’s doing his best to survive in a world with deadly monsters. The intent is that he’s largely just an asshole that sometimes disregards others’ feelings. That said, he does not understand eebydeebies and is pretty hostile to them. Please tell me if I overstep with you, because I don’t wanna create a hostile roleplaying environment

Pax (he/they) is roughly 30. He raises Pidoves for his own delivery service, and sometimes as food, but they don’t engage in any hunting of their own. I won’t be making them their own blog, but he might chime in on this one on rare occasions. That text will be pink.

Squall’s roster of burst hearts is as follows: Toxtricity, Kommo-o, Fuecoco, Galarian Zigzagoon. Yes, he does have a musical motif lmao

My main blog is @tlblitz, and I also run @tlblitzle, @zenith-exploration-guild, and @delta-holonfoil

[autism-shaped]

Hello! I'm Quill.

[EDITED 12/5/2023]

Greetings! I made this blog to explore certain aspects of my identity and experience, primarily around disability and atypical dysphoria, and hopefully find community. I'll also engage with fandom and other interests. Asks are encouraged!

In this house we prioritize disability liberation, equity, and pride. I aim to respect and uplift comrades with diverse disabilities. Disability rights and dignity should be a priority for everyone, regardless of ability status.

I reserve the right to block people for any reason. Disagreement is fair game, but disrespect and hate are not. If your blog is blank, I will block you, as will most of Tumblr. Put something there.

TAGGING: I plan to tag stuff thoroughly and may update this post with key tags to search (ha) or block. This post is tagged for visibility.

MORE INFO BELOW! Content warning for self harm, medical talk, and ableism. If you spot a mistake, let me know!

I originally made this blog to learn more about BIID and "transabled" identity. The aim was, and still is, to engage in open, respectful discussion with people of both experiences. Everyone is welcome to learn. That said, I am not a radqueer and do not ID as transabled.

What is BIID?

BIID stands for Body Integrity Identity Disorder, also known as Body Integrity Dysphoria (BID). People with BIID experience distress, discomfort, and/or a feeling of wrongness—dysphoria—related to their lack of a certain disability. For example, many feel that a particular limb should be gone, or that they should be paralyzed, or that they should be blind.

The distress and dysphoria can lead people to try to create the disability they feel they should have, either by finding a doctor who is willing to disable them or by harming themselves. This is deeply controversial. Some people feel that disabling oneself in this way is a form of self harm, which should be stopped; others feel that the right to bodily autonomy includes the right to modify one's body in non-normative ways, including disabling ways.

What is being "transabled"?

Some people with BIID call themselves transabled. More prominently, people ID as transabled because they...

identify as having a particular disability (without meeting the diagnostic criteria)

want a particular disability

feel that they should have a particular disability

have a particular disability, but want it to be/feel that it should be more or less severe

Some of these people may have BIID, with or without knowing it, while others do not. BIID is primarily associated with specific physical disabilities (missing limbs, paralysis, and sensory disabilities like blindness), whereas transabled people identify with a broader range, including mental illnesses, disabled neurotypes such as autism, and even just the need to use particular disability aids.

Transabled identity without BIID is highly controversial. Because disability is a lived experience with material realities for disabled people, many people find it offensive or flippant for abled people to claim disability identity or want to be disabled. Others suspect that transabled people are actually subconsciously perceiving disabilities that they really have, but misidentifying them or not realizing that their experiences are not universal.

What does predisabled mean? How about temporarily able-bodied?

Both terms acknowledge that a person can become disabled at any time in their lives.

Personally, I use them because they help to express that I am disabled while also being able-bodied. It is important to me to acknowledge both my disabled identity and my able-bodied privilege. Additionally, my family history suggests that I will probably gradually acquire a physical disability before I am elderly, so these terms help me to express that lack of a hard boundary between total able-bodiedness and clear physical disability.

Why are you, Quill, interested in this?

I have been fascinated by disability, medical topics, and mobility aids for as long as I can remember. At some point, I also developed atypical dysphoria that does not fit typical narratives of BIID. Some of this mess can be explained by my diagnosed disabilities, but some of it is a total mystery, and I'd like to find community.

I am also an adult with a degree and extensive experience with disability scholarship, so there's that.

Thank you for reading all of this! I hope you find what you're looking for here.

[starboyjinghe]

hii there! if you're coming to this page, you probably came from my tumblr info or my twitter link. whichever it is, i gladly welcome you with happy arms! c:

i go by the name sena, currently at more than 20 years of age, which makes me a legal adult in both internationally and where i am living. just in case it helps with the interaction, i am an introvert who lean more to the thinking side on mbti (though i don't really believe in those). i write fics when i feel like it, but it's just something i casually enjoy so i wouldn't consider myself a writer. and i'm currently in university still! so if you don't see me around much... yeah that should be enough of an explanation. ( u__u )

though a little tmi; i love my major and i very much enjoy studying. minus the exam stress, yeah.

if you can't already tell, i have.... quite some hyperfixations on tears of themis, especially its one of LIs, marius von hagen. i literally won't stop talking about him. the game is a whole reason why i made fan accounts, so i have a safe space to cry about marius all i want. anyone is welcome to join me, i'd be really pleased to have some company!! :3 (oh and please do note that my account is NOT spoiler free!)

other than themis, i play some other games that i will probably talk about on my page too. if we're interacting because of themis, i hope you do not mind that! i may interact with some posts about other games i understand, such as genshin impact, love and deepspace, honkai: star rail, and infinity nikki! (and some other games that i can't list one by one because if it's not marius i usually get bored easily LOL) it also may be possible that i engage with other contents, such as other 2d contents (animes, alnst, and orv), slightly some kpop, and also some real life/cyber topics. before you follow, please make sure you're okay with it! i also might randomly interact with your tweets, please let me know if i ever cause you discomfort. >_<

i kindly ask you to not interact with my page if you are either 02 supporter (iykyk), minor, homophobic, zionist, mysoginist, excessive user of jamet typing, and those looking for mutuals through #anitwt tag. i am not really strict on anything else other than those i've mentioned, but i can break mutuals anytime if anyone makes my timeline feels uncomfortable. you can do the same if you find me off-putting, i believe! as long as you let me be with my preferences, i don't usually have much issues. last... my account is FUB free for everyone as well, which means i do not mind getting unfollowed, softblocked, or hard blocked. <3

also a heads-up; i am not an english native so i occasionally write posts in my native language too, especially on my twitter page. you can reach me both here or on twitter, i have no preference but the latter probably gives faster response as it's what i check more often. thank you!

until next time. < 3

[grugspro]

ive always been confused about why people dont understand how (social media) algorithms work. pretty much ever platform out there that has "for you" feeds has priority 1 to be continuing engagement; the longer a user spends interacting and viewing other users' posts, the more chance the platform has to push advertisers to the users, and interactions that spark other interactions are a key component to it.

knowing this, you can deduce that algorithms will primarily push content that will cause a reaction from the viewer to engage, with a high bias for some sort of reply or shared link than a like or privately saved list. replies are probably the most important feature as they give the original poster a chance to jump back into the system and have a conversation, doubling the platforms' active users.

some of the most reactionary things an algorithm can push are topics on politic, religion, gender, sexuality, and other "hot-ticket" debates as users are much more likely to argue with each other over their beliefs, as it doesn't matter whether the users are enjoying their time on the platform, just that they are spending it there.

now if users are only pushed these hot ticket topics, they will end up exhausted of the platform and dread being there. in order to prevent the userbase shrinking, the algorithm will try to push content similar to what the user has interacted with in the past and liked, as well as content that users with similar interact patterns have liked, while also taking steps back to broaden its' search for similar interests and randomly mix them in with a decrease in quantity as it broadens.

best example i can think of is say you are a fan of ethoslab, once the algorithm recommends a certain amount of his videos, you might start to get hermitcraft members and redstone tutorials in recommended feeds, then some other minecraft youtubers, then any minecraft video, then any open world, voxel, survival, or sandbox games, and then video games in general, then any kind of game, then toys and technology, finally the content with the most current interactions. smaller videos that align with certain interaction categories are also pushed before higher interaction ones (think random 3 view video that pops up) but is infrequent unless the user consistently interacts with those types of recommendations.

the best way to cultivate an algorithm to fit your personal taste (which i'd recommend trying to view content from as little as possible and instead seek out content on your own [reverse chronological following feeds, individual users' pages, personal recommendations from friends, etc.]) is to heavily interact with content you want and block content that you don't want. someone arguing against basic human rights and is not willing to change their mind? block them. arguing with the person will feed their post to the feeds of other people like you, who will join in on arguing and make it a massive cycle. if you are not using your block button liberally you are using the internet wrong. do not give the online nazis and terfs and bigots and racists of this world the time of day, interacting with them will only give you stress and them a wider audience. and this still goes in cases where the person isn't necessarily doing anything worng. some random user post too much about a fandom you hate? mute the tags of the fandom and block the person if that doesn't work. is a friend reacting to the vile posts in an attempt to sway the stubborn op? ask them to stop or you'll block their account to stop seeing those posts, you still view them as a friend but the posts popping up is taking a toll on your health.

post idea brought to you from me halfway through this technology connection video

[babyrdie]

Hey!

Basic things

You can call me Birdie.

NO AI!!!

I queue my posts, I just don't tag which ones

I'm a woman, but I don't worry about pronouns.

I'm Brazilian. If you are from a Portuguese-speaking country, feel free to speak to me in Portuguese. If you're Hispanic and prefer to speak Spanish, I can also understand some Spanish although I'm not fluent. I'm not fluent in English either and I'm better at reading than writing, that's why I still have to use online translators. So please consider that there may be a miscommunication when you find something I wrote strange.

I accept asks, including anon. You also can be an "identified" anon. But if you use anon to talk bullshit, I will block you. I accept DMs too, same "bullshit" rule applies. Feel free to tag me in tag games even if I'm not a mutual you talk to much. I usually participate, but there are cases where I don't (e.g. Spotify. I just don't have Spotify, so there's no way I can participate. Or things that involve information I don't want to give out publicly, like physical appearance).

What I post?

If that matters in your decision to interact, I'm an adult. There is some NSFW content here, specifically nudity. It's not a big deal, but if that matters to you please be aware.

I post mostly about Greek Mythology, but I reblog about a variety of things because 1) I have multiple fandoms 2) I reblog beautiful art even if I don't saw the original work. The fandons I'm currently most invested in are Dungeon Meshi and ATLA, but I have others like tgcf, kny, etc.

About my posts

Please DO NOT take everything I post seriously. Sometimes I'm just trying to enjoy being stupid and futile.

Sometimes I talk about sexual slavery and rape in general in Greek-Roman literature. If you want to avoid this topic because it is one of your triggers, please block the "tw: rape" tag. About the terms I use, please check this. If the topic isn't an immediate trigger for you, but the use of any of these terms is, then I still recommend blocking the tag. The tag about slavery (not necessaraly sexual) is "Myth Slavery".

In any post you read about mythology, consider one detail: I'm not a classicist, historian, archaeologist, etc. It's just a hobby. I occasionally read articles on the subject and share names here, but that is to present the interpretations I have seen in a way that gives credit to the author (at least, where I have read them). It's not necessarily intended to prove a point, sometimes I share opinions that I disagree with. Also, often the excerpt used is short compared to the full text, so please don't assume that these shared passages have the full context of the original academic.

If even after checking the tags you haven't found a specific post, send an ask asking about it and I'll try to find and link it.

I prefer not to engage in discourse, so sorry…but if I realize you're interested in this, I'll probably ignore you or delete your comment/ask or block you.

Blocking

In case I didn't block you because I simply didn't find you enjoyable to be around, here are other reasons you might be blocked that aren't your fault: you post a lot about a topic I have no interest in but keeps showing up in my feed (it's Tumblr's bad algorithm's fault, not yours. By the way, if you post mostly about Odysseus, that's a strong possibility. Tumblr keeps recommending me the posts regardless of whether I block the tag, so the other option is to block the blog) or you talk a lot about personal trauma (it's a sensitive topic for me. I mean, my problem. It's not your fault).

The other reasons are things like annoying behavior ("annoying" in the sense that it's not harmful but it's annoying), intolerant behavior, supports/uses AI, you are constantly in online discourses, etc, etc.