#with duplicates removed and no numbers or ratings:

[doyoulikethis-videogame-song]

-"you should really, really, REALLY not open submissions like… ever again. at this rate you are already backlogged by FOUR YEARS."

-"that's the plan… :')"

Personally I don't mind that much hearing a bunch of songs from the same game in a row, but this^^^ DOES bother me. I'm not sure there's any good solution (wiping previous submissions and starting fresh feels mean to the people who have been waiting to see theirs, posting dozens of polls a day sounds overwhelming and like too much work for the mods, etc), but it's incredibly discouraging to know I'm probably not ever going to be able to even submit the song I wanted, let alone see it posted.

I'm trying to think of the best possible way to deal with it -- but please rest assured that I'm not going anywhere and I hope everyone will have a chance to submit something as they'd like. I also haven't removed any duplicate submissions yet and I know for certain there are many, so I do expect the number to go down.

edit: from the comments :)

[laurabenanti]

Duplicate Frame Deletion: A Likely Unnecessary Tutorial

So… you updated to MacOS Sonoma, and–while it is amazing in many regards for photoshop things–it is a dang bummer and mood killer if you use MPV. However, after slamming my head into a wall trying to change the code on my own, I realized there is a much, much simpler solution to this.

In this tutorial, I will be showing you all how to delete duplicate frames from your gifs, with two options:

duplicate finder

within photoshop

Under the cut because pictures are a visual learner’s best friend!

A quick note:

MPV is odd with this. I’ve not had to do this on 4k capping, but have had to on anything under that. I don’t know the full reasoning, but it mostly looks to be something with the way it is reading frame rate. I know it’s in the code, but could not pinpoint it myself, and these were the only tricks that worked. If you find a better solution, please let me know! It has been rough, otherwise.

Step 1: Cap in MPV as normal

Now, this may be obvious, but make your caps in MPV. For a full tutorial on this, I highly recommend this one by kylos. The only difference between our software and their suggestion is going to be using the newest version of MPV (.0.36 at the time of this), and not the older. This is because there is an issue with MacOS Sonoma and older versions of MPV that prevent it from opening for… Some reason.

Step 2: Make sure you have your caps

I recommend moving your caps to whatever folder you like for your own ease of use. My biggest rec is to have it in its own folder, with no older folders within the folder. Not really a requirement, but in my mind, it makes the process faster (only true depending on number of files in other folders). You should have something like this (I am doing a scene from TWOT, as it’s one I’ve tested this method on a few times in several instances):

Once there, it’s time for the line split. I recommend option 1 the most (it’s faster, IMO), but again, this is a two option thing.

Option 1: Duplicate File Finder

So, duplicate finders are what they sound like. They are pieces of software that can be used to scan your device (or specific sections of said device), for duplicate files. It does not matter the title of the file, if the system reads it as a copy, it will find it.

There are a number of varieties for this, paid and free. I will not lie, the one I use is a paid version, because I had a huge issue with duplicate files taking up space when I moved to a new device. This also helps a lot with cloud file keeping, in my opinion. But that is beside the point.

This is Duplicate File Finder Pro, which I got for other reasons, but has been very useful since this became an issue. The free version is sufficient for removing duplicate files found in folders, and that is why I still suggest it. You only need to get the pro if you have other intentions.

Now, onto the next step…

Step 3: Drag and drop the folder

With our folder full of caps, we simply drag and drop it into the application to begin.

Step 4: Click “Find duplicates” and watch the pretty graph roll.

Step 5: Select the duplicate images

You can see here it found the duplicates.

Now, I could go through by hand and click them, but… that’s a lot of time I don’t want to waste. I let it auto select them instead (you can tweak the settings for auto-select, but this is not that tutorial).

Step 6: Select review & remove, complete!

Wham bam! You’re completely set and good to go. Gif as normal~ (all final results at bottom)

Now, of course, maybe you don’t want a duplicate remover. Understandable, so what then? Well…

Option 2: Photoshop & the Changing Frame rate

So, this one is a little more technical. I suggest basic giffing and Photoshop knowledge before attempting.

Step 3: Import folder as you normally would

I believe this works as it would for import video, but I don’t want to say that and be wrong. But load your files in and you’ll be here:

Now create video timeline, make frames from layers, yada yada (kylos’ guide is very good with this if you need help, it’s the same that was linked at the beginning of this). You’ll now be here:

And the actual part of the tutorial you all came here for...

Step 4: Change the frame rate

So, in the bottom, next to the mountains for zooming in on the timeline, you’ll see it reads “30.00 fps.” We need to change this to 60. How? Easy! Click the three lines circled here:

Then click “Set Timeline Frame Rate…”

A little box will pop up, change the 30 to 15 (dropdown or typing, it works the same) and click “OK.”

Your timeline will now be cut in half for length. That’s OKAY. DO NOT PANIC.

(Optional) Step 5: Double Checking

Click play on your gif, and you’ll notice it is no longer duplicate framed! To verify, let’s convert back to frames, just to see…

And it did, success! So make the rest of your gif as normal.

Your final results for the gif will be the following, with the gifs all labeled on what option was taken (or not). These were cropped for uploading and sharpened because of how I am. No coloring applied.

If anything was confusing, please don't hesitate to reach out! I'm happy to help in any way I can on this. My ask is always open. Happy Giffing!

[diana-fortyseven]

Yuletide Reading Bingo

The 2024 Yuletide collection is about to be revealed, and many of us love to read more than just our own gifts and treats.

If gamification is your thing, why not enhance your Yuletide reading experience with a fun challenge?

Yuletide Reading Bingo Yuletide Reading Bingo 2024 (permanent link to the 2024 version) Yuletide Reading Bingo 2023 (permanent link to the 2023 version)

With this bingo card generator, you can generate your own Yuletide Reading Bingo Card and try to finish it over a timespan of your choice. If you like, you can challenge yourself to not only reading the fics, but also commenting on them. Last year, I saw people making reclists based on their bingo cards, which is such a cool idea to keep track of the fics they read for each square.

There are no fanfic/fandom/Yuletide-negative or bashing items in the lists. This bingo card is meant to be a positive experience and celebrate fanfiction and fanworks in general and Yuletide in specific.

Details and screenshot of the mobile version under the cut!

Have a lovely Yuletide and a happy Hanukkah or merry Christmas if you celebrate. <3

How to Play

Generate a new bingo card until you're (mostly) happy with the results. If some fields are duplicates or contain items you don't want to have in your card, you can then re-roll every single bingo field separately by clicking/tapping on it. Once you have a card that fits your reading habits (or that takes you out of your comfort zone, if you want to challenge yourself), take a screenshot of the card to keep it.

Closing the page and reloading it will reset the card.

Cross off the bingo fields on your screenshot as you read (or read and comment on) fics that you think count for a field.

Items like "Fandom with over 500 works" mean works in the fandom tag, not in the collection. There are specific versions for the number of works in the collection. Items like "Fandom with over 1,000 works" doesn't mean qualifying works. There are specific versions for the number of qualifying works. Items like "Highest number of hits in fandom" or similar however mean in this collection, not in the fandom tag.

If a work you read has a tag that's similar but not identical to a tag on your card, let it count. There were some almost-duplicates that I trimmed.

The Lists

Canon (options like canon released this year, book fandom, etc)

Category (the AO3 categories and their platonic versions: F/F, F & F Gen, etc)

Challenge (the unofficial mini-challenges like Yuleporn, Crueltide, Wrapping Paper, etc)

Creator (only if you checked the "After Reveals" box; options like favourite author, mutuals, etc)

Discovery (various ways you could've found a fic)

Fandom (options like previously ineligible fandom, uncategorised fandom)

Length (wordcounts from drabble to 30k)

Meta (a fic's front-end and stats, also "citrus scale for rating" xD)

Reader (your relationship with the fic; is it your comfort fic, or your first fic in a fandom?)

Style (chatfic, iambic pentameter, custom workskin, stuff like that)

Tag (roughly 1,800 tags from the 2024 main collection; Madness tags to be added)

Trope (roughly 100 tropes)

What do the Checkboxes Mean?

NSFW is basically what it says on the tin. If you tick this box, the NSFW tropes will be added to the mix. If you also ticked the Tags box, NSFW tags will be added.

Tags is also what it says on the tin. It's a list with currently roughly 1,800 tags from the Yuletide 2024 main collection. Around 270 of them are currently marked NSFW and can only be generated if you ticked both the NSFW box and the Tags box.

After Reveals includes items that only make sense after creator reveals, such as "work by last year's recipient" or "creator is your Tumblr mutual".

Leaving the NSFW checkbox unchecked should remove all NSFW tags and tropes, but you could still come across content you find objectionable. Leaving the Tags checkbox unchecked removes all tags, but you could still come across tropes you find objectionable.

This bingo generator can be used to generate totally safe-for-work or family-friendly bingo cards, but it was created by an adult with an adult audience in mind.

If you run into any issues or come across any bugs, please let me know.

If you find something that should be in the NSFW category, but isn't, please also let me know. It's possible that I missed a few tags when I worked through the list of over 2,000 tags in the 2024 main collection. Please don't ask me to remove content you find objectionable.

If there's anything unclear, feel free to ask! I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible, but please understand if it takes a while; it's a busy time for all of us. :D

Just FYI, the platform I'm using, Perchance, added AI options for their generators last year. This is a regrettable decision that I don't condone, and I'd like to emphasise that this generator is 100% handcrafted chaos.

This generator is based on my Fanfiction Reading Bingo I made as a little practice piece last year. It's responsive, which means it should work on desktop and mobile. The mobile layout isn't ideal yet; I'm trying my best to make it better (but I'd also still consider myself a newbie and I'm learning by doing).

The background image is an edited version of this photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash.

I hope you'll find as much fun in using this generator as I found in making it! Happy Yuletide!

[burstfoot]

AGGHH hElp it's four months into me starting Arknights and i just found out about how incredibly cool Rosmontis is... but I also, in great pain, found out what being a 'Limited Operator' entails

Hey, uh, do you have any advice/experience when it comes to saving for characters? And dare I ask, is it worth it?

Limited Operators are PAIN I'm still suffering over no Skalter... So on Limited banners, you can buy a unit from a previous anniversary/CNY/summer event if you do 300 pulls on the banner, giving you a token currency you can spend to recruit them from an event-exclusive shop. On global, our anniversary events are the CNY and Summer events because of the 6 month gap between servers, but for claritys sake in this post I'm referring to the Chinese server anniversary events or what are called 'Celebration' events on Global. The current event going on, Zwillingstrume im Herbst, is a CN Anniversary/Celebration event. Previous limited operators do appear on the pool of these banners and also have a higher rate up (5x a regular non-banner unit) on the banners, though it's still pretty unlikely to get them because the chance of non-banner operators is 35% on a Limited banner rather than 50%. As well, limiteds get their 5x rate up chance removed after a while, and Rosmontis just got hers removed on the banner for the current anniversary event (which just ended yesterday) I saved to get Specalter from the wait between Texas Alter/Penance to the Ho'olheyak/Muelsyse banners. The good news is that it is totally possible to save to spark a limited operator in the time between anniversaries entirely free to play - I bought the monthly card (5$ a month for a 10 pull worth of orundums every month + some bonus sanity potions) but you can get to 300 by saving if you make sure to pick up the headhunting tickets you can buy for approx. 250 yellow certificates in the store (buy them all at once to get the maximum number of tickets - 3 ten-roll tickets and 8 regular tickets, resets monthly), yellow (or officially called Distinction Certificates) gotten from pulls or duplicates from recruitment. The next time she'll be sparkable is the Wis'adel/Logos banner in approximately November, and we just finished the current anniversary event. The bad news is that the upcoming banners are REALLY stacked with some of the strongest operators we've ever seen in the entire game (Degenbrecher, Shu & Ela especially, the last being a True Limited collab unit who isn't available outside of that current collab), so skipping those is going to be pretty rough. Likewise, Rosmontis is a great character but she's not a particularly strong unit - one of the weakest 6 stars because her mechanics are based around multiple small damage hits and the way damage calculation works means that she very easily gets stonewalled by even mediocre defense stats (and as the game goes on, medium-high defense enemies become more and more common). Of course I'd always go for a character I like over the character that is the strongest, but it makes it hard to say 'start saving now!' for her and missing out on those characters. Also, since you're still a fairly new account, skipping out on getting new 6 stars (even old operators) outside of Top Operator tags or 6-star welfare units for 6 months can be pretty detrimental to building up a solid squad for clearing out the main story/events while waiting for Rosmontis to come. However, in the next banner she'll be sparkable in, the Wis'adel/Logos banner, Wis'adel and Logos are both almost gamebreakingly strong operators, so being practically guaranteed to get both with 300 pulls alongside picking up Rosmontis isn't a complete loss.

All that said:

Rosmontis' spark count is going to be reduced after the Wis'adel/Logos banner down to 200 pulls! So I would actually suggest pulling as normal for now and beginning to save for her AFTER that banner in November, because 200 pulls is a lot more manageable than 300. On Global, the banner that she'll gain the reduced spark cost on (the next .5 CN anniversary) will be coming in approximately one year, late-April/early May 2025. While saving pulls for her then, you should still be able to pull on a couple banners if your luck isn't terrible instead of skipping out on every banner for 6 months: and your account will most definitely be built with very strong operators by 10 months of playing's time, so events/main story won't be a struggle.

[ocexchange]

How To Nominate Tags

You are able to nominate Fandom (aka genre) and Relationship (aka subgenre) tags to be available in the tagset for signups. 

Nominate a new genre with the format “Genre - [type] - Fandom.” E.G: “Genre - Modern - Fandom” “Genre - Monsters - Fandom”

Nominate new subgenre tags with the format “[type] ([genre])” E.G: “Dungeons & Dragons (Fantasy)” “Minecraft Enderman (Fandom OC)” “Werewolf (Monsters)”

You may nominate up to 10 fandoms (genre), with up to 20 relationships (subgenres) per fandom.

Nominations will be open until January 12. We will have a week-long period of tagset cleanup after nominations close in order to remove duplicate tags, adjust wording, fix typos, etc.

TAGSET | DISCORD | COLLECTION

In this exchange, we’ve pushed the rules of what a normal exchange sign-up looks like, so we’ve created a comprehensive guide to explain what each category represents on the nominations form. An in-depth guide to signups can also be found here.

As per usual exchange sign-ups, you will opt into a number of relationship, character, and freeform tags related to your requests and offers, and you’ll be matched on these. How this exchange differs from the norm is that these tags will define the genre and traits of your original characters – imagine you’re describing your character(s) with your request tags, rather than selecting the specific character.

Categories, rating, and warning all follow Ao3 standard definitions and depict the content levels and relationship types that appear in your request. You don't have to nominate these.

In an Ao3 tagset, fandom and relationship tags allow us to group together some tags within categories. So in this exchange, fandom actually means Genre, and the relationship tags represent Subgenre tags. For example, if you nominated the fandoms Horror, Romance, and Fandom OC, you’ll then be able to put in “Cosmic Horror,” “Enemies to Lovers,” and “Minecraft OC” to get more specific about the type of character(s) you are requesting.

The mods may rearrange tags after nominations, delete duplicate or similar tags, or ask for clarifications in the Discord server. Please join to see and answer any potential questions about your nominations!

[fioras-resolve]

I wanna talk a bit about Pokemon Rumble and randomness, because I feel like its design is useful reference for a lot of genres, from looter shooters to roguelikes to gacha games. Not because I think it's the best system for all purposes, but because its design is straightforward enough to be easy to analyze.

The core of it is this: Since there is no leveling system, you instead have to power up by finding stronger Pokemon. And the way you do that is by KO'ing them in the wild and seeing if they randomly drop for pickup. Pokemon you pick up will be at varying power levels and may or may not have moves you like, but because you can't finely control your moveset, the best way to find one that DOES work for you is to just keep getting new Pokemon.

Let's first call attention to that drop system. Because new Pokemon drop off at random every time you beat one, you can't know exactly how long it will take to get one you want or need. This can be frustrating, but it also works in the game's favor. It makes it all the more tantalizing

See, there's a concept in psychology called operative conditioning, which is a kind of conditioning that influences independent volition. Compare this to classical conditioning, stuff like Pavlov's dogs, where the conditioning influences a response to a stimulus. Operant conditioning is best encapsuled by what we now call the Skinner Box Experiment. You might have heard of it before.

Basically, it involved putting birds into boxes, each of which contained a button to push, which would occasionally reward them with food. There were two types of boxes. One gave a fixed ratio, meaning the rate of food relative to pushes was constant. The other gave an intermettent variable ratio, meaning that the number of pushes needed to spill out food was semi-randomized. And it turned out that the latter was more effective at getting the birds to keep pushing. This kind of conditioning is omnipresent in video games, from lootboxes to random drops to, yes, randomized Pokemon.

It brings up an interesting question of like, do we actually want a game to be more fair and honest to us? Would a drop system be more compelling to us if, instead of having a 2% chance to drop, you had to kill exactly 50 enemies for it? Or would that clarity actually put light to the tedium of it? We've been talking on occasion in this server about mobile games that "removed the gacha," and the various ways devs have both failed and succeeded to make that compelling. In a sense, randomness plays a trick on us, and sometmes we like that trick. But this does raise another question of "Is the best game the one that keeps people playing the longest? Or is there value in knowing when to let go?" Maybe, just because a game is good at keeping us hooked, doesn't mean it's the best experience or something we really want out of games.

Back to Rumble, though, this game is very good at keeping me engaged. A thing I wanna note is, even though the game gives about 250 different creatures to play as, I don't find myself getting attached to individual Pokemon in the same way I do in the main series, or that people do to characters in Genshin or FE Heroes. These Pokemon are broadly disposable, because what you really need is high power and good moves.

And I just wanna say, the amount of move diversity is really cool. Even duplicates of the same Pokemon will feel extremely different to play because they have different moves. A Pokemon with a fast attack and a ranged attack will feel different from one with a self-buff and an area-of-effect. Additionally, there's a small chance for a Pokemon you recruit to have an ability, something like a type resistance, high movement speed, health regen, etc. It does a really good job of not flattening all the Pokemon you get, but it does also mean that the usability level varies dramatically.

This brings me to the next component. What if a Pokemon has the stats you want, but not the moves. This brings me to the Move Tutor, which is an incredibly odd facility. Basically, you pay some in-game currency, then the game randomly picks one move from the Pokemon's entire learnset, and asks if you want to replace one of your two moves with it. A lot of these will be duds just by the nature of the game. It might have a bad power level, it might have a hitbox you don't like, or it might be a status move that you hate to use. I mentioned that I get more attached to moves than Pokemon in this game? Well, this is the game exploiting that fact by tying it to a gacha. And while sometimes it lets me customize a favorite Pokemon as I like, especially useful with an ability, I feel like I have better luck pulling an entirely new Pokemon with the Recruit Point. It costs way more, but at least there's a new possibility.

So, this next bit is something that comes up for me every once in a while. You know, if you play a game with random drops like this, you're gonna get a lot of shit you don't use. So most games of this variety let you burn your trash, as in, remove the stuff you don't use in exchange for something you can use. Every gacha has some system for handling duplicates, "Get In The Car, Loser!" has you burn items to upgrade your weapons, and Pokemon Rumble has a Release Point, where you can let go of obtained Pokemon for a cash reward.

This means that even the pickups you don't care about can be spent on something you do, either rolling for a new move or for a new Pokemon all together. Additionally, it has a very clever feature where if you release five of the same unevolved Pokemon, you get its evolved form, which comes with better stats all around. It's a cool feature that rewards collection, but I wish it was better implemented? You can only hold one Recruit Ticket at a time, and only one pops out from a bulk release. Meaning if you want the best outcome, you have to release each group one-by-one. But it's a big payout either way, and you can afford a lot more by releasing your excess. There's also a cool system where you get a legendary Pokemon if you release a specific combination, but that's a whole other thing.

I think it's really important to keep in mind how rewards play into your game's core loop, pacing, and economy. It can be hard to manage, but it's worth looking at case studies like this to deconstruct what the system is doing. Maybe keep this stuff in mind when you play a game with random rewards, and especially consider it when you're making one. I lay this all out not to seem superior for analyzing, but to give you a framework by which you can analyze and understand the games you play every day.

[nickgerlich]

Ghost In The Machine

Leave it to human ingenuity. Or perhaps I should say corporate genius. It seems that for every process, law, or method, there is a hack to work around it. Never mind that things were probably good enough the way they were. It’s just that, in our zeal to have an edge over others, we look for the loopholes.

Like all of the ghost kitchens and virtual brands we have discussed earlier this term. While I lauded them early—and correctly so—for leveraging their physical locations so they could test out new concepts and menu items on Uber Eats, DoorDash, and others, it has now become apparent that some of these players have simply duplicated their menus and slapped on a different brand name just so it could grab another line on the list of restaurants we see on our phones.

And now Uber Eats is fighting back, saying that in order to get those multiple listings, the virtual brand must have at least a 60% different menu. Who would have thought it would all come down to this?

But it is a good response from Uber Eats, because they have been taken advantage of in all this by those restaurants and ghost kitchens—which we define as an establishment with no indoor seating, and often located in an industrial park or even parking lot—who are trying to simply boost their odds of making online sales.

Whoa. That may very well qualify as the longest sentence I have written this semester. But I digress.

It is fair conclusion jumping to agree that the kitchens being accused of such chicanery are just being smart. They can try different price points, names, and a slew of other marketing variables, without having to actually create new products. And they are betting that most consumers will never notice. Just imagine, though, a Little Caesars—for example—also selling Bigga Pizza Pies, but they all come out of the same oven with the same crust, sauce, mozzarella, and toppings. Could you tell? And would you even care?


Uber Eats, et al., all want to make money, to be fair, but they do not want their service to be scammed like this. Getting two listings is little different form somehow managing to wrangle two display ads in a newspaper when you bought one, or any number of other of duplicative examples.

But wait, there’s more! Uber is also raising the bar on those it does list, requiring each establishment to have at least a 4.3 out of 5 rating on their app, have fewer than five-percent of orders canceled, and have fewer than five-percent delivery and order errors.

Thus far, Uber has removed more than 5000 entities it attests are simply clones of their parent, finding, in one instance, that a New York deli had 14 such clones under its umbrella. Can you imagine submitting 14 resumes for a job, each with a different name, but the person were the same? Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but that doesn’t work so well in job hunting or restaurant listings.

Uber says, though, it counts 40,000 virtual listings. Its internal police department is going to have its hands full enforcing its latest policy decision.

I know. You’ve probably already started thinking of a new hack in the wake of Uber clamping down. Why not simply give different names and/or plating variations so that the items are still pretty much the same, but look different on your screen? That would likely be easy. Imagine a meal of the Monster Burger and French Fries also being listed under a different brand as the Hamburger Monstre and pomme frites. Pretty much the same thing, but one sounds so cosmopolitan and worldly.

I’m pretty sure the ghost kitchens are already preparing their workarounds, because that’s the way we all roll. The spoils go to those who can hack the best. Meanwhile, just be careful placing your food orders. You might just be a victim as well. I can see that international burger fetching a higher price tag if only because it uses French words.

And I can imagine you looking like a ghost when you find out you’ve been duped, too.

Dr “Or You Could Just Cook At Home“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nekasu]

Kitsune Neka as a Weekly Boss Fight

Premise: After his failed efforts to purify Inazuma during the calamity, he ended up absorbing many curses and misfortunes that he still hasn't fully purged yet despite making progress for 500 years. Rather than endure centuries longer having them continue to erode his essence, he solicits the Traveler's aid to help him do it more directly. Instead of it being the same as the method used to cure Durin's poison, the best way to do it is to let it out and have it burn itself out.

Lead-up: Neka leads the Traveler to an isolated domain so removing the curses won't just disperse them to the surrounding area. Finding a large open area, he slowly binds himself with crafted chains, rooting him in place and preventing him from using his arms. Wishing the Traveler luck, he purposefully lets the remaining curses take over his body, which they might note feels similar to the Abyss in how the aura feels. His hair and fur turn black and his eyes become blood red. The resulting being is known as Neka: Black Sun Kitsune.

Phase 1: BSK is bound by chains, so to compensate, he creates a protective barrier that cannot be broken. Instead, the Traveler faces off with waves of shikigami duplicates of himself that do high damage and can suddenly appear anywhere, but being formed of paper, they're relatively fragile. However, they explode with medium-radius AoE curses when destroyed.

The more curse stacks on the target character, the more their chance-based effects are reduced (crit rate, and weapon effects like the Favonius and Sacrificial ones), and similar to the Withering, too many will result in the current character being OHKO'd. Unlike the Withering, curse stacks are unique to each character, and they'll slowly reduce over time if no new stacks are added, faster if they're off the field.

While still restrained and behind the barrier, BSK will occasionally still launch powerful and large AoE of curses, granting several curse stacks if they connect. If any character falls due to curse stacks, BSK will gain slightly increased stats and will heal for a portion of his missing HP.

Phase 1.5: After enough shikigami are destroyed, BSK breaks through the chains binding him while also removing the barrier. Lacking any actual weapons, he summons Neka's signature pen 'sword', leading to phase 2.

Phase 2: Now freed, BSK takes a much more active role in the fight, fighting the Traveler directly. His movements are erratic but quick. The curses become stronger, slightly reducing other stats the more stacks there are on the target as well, and each hit from his attacks applies another curse stack. The large AoE attacks are much more frequent and applied stacks dissipate slightly slower than in phase 1. Shikigami also have increased stats but are fewer in number.

End: Once BSK's energy has been fully depleted, he does not disappear; instead, similarly to the Dendro Hypostasis, he reverts to Neka's previous appearance, injured and exhausted, but well-off and thanks the Traveler for their help, offering them his support.

[businesstiramisu]

Some specific responses the OP Pitch (I know staff probably doesn’t read reblogs but I’d like to list things out for myself):

1) “Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up”

Yeah, people hate this. I’m frequently not logged in, but I want to share a quick link  with friends through messaging apps (mostly Discord). Your changes to force logins are making this HARDER, and it’s not convincing me to sign up (again?) or my friends to sign up, it just makes them less likely to engage with content on Tumblr in any capacity.

2) “Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds.”

Sure, manipulate the tags or the “explore” window, none of us are using it. But does “all feeds” include the chronological dashboard? Because large numbers of current tumblr users keep telling you that we don’t want algorithmic adjustments to that. We want chronological. Leave it alone!

3) Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

okay I’m not sure I understand the specific features proposed in this one. Well, some of it isn’t very specific (” Address the confusion within replies and reblogs”??? I don’t think you’re gonna fix people’s reading comprehension, Staff). Some of it we already have (”collapsing reblog threads”). And Some of it i might even be in favor of (”removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed.“) if i’m understanding it right. But the vague ones Have Me Concerned

4) Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Okay, this is more out of my wheelhouse, I only barely count as a “creator” on here I think. I will say that I see people complaining about uploading problems (image resizing, overcompression, files getting lost) a fair amount, and I think fixing that will have a bigger effect than whatever skinner box rewards you might come up with. I do like “ Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral. “ -- thing like bunching similar notifications together (e.g. when 30 people like the same post); and ability to mute notifications on posts.

5) Push notifications and emails

To be honest I don’t use the phone app and have all your emails going to a spam folder anyways, so I won’t notice any changes Tumblr makes here.

6) Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

Again, seems mostly like stuff for the app, I have no insight/opinions there. I will say the browser experience on my laptop has been pretty reliable, maybe even getting faster (or possibly other websites are just getting worse faster). Either way, I’m pretty happy with the recent performance of the nonmobile browser experience. The mobile browser experience is basically unusable b/c it pushes you to login and download the app, but that was covered under point 1.

Conclusion: Not all of these changes are bad. But please keep in mind the parts of the UX that are already working well  for your paying customers, and don’t sacrifice them to convert non-users who are very unlikely to become paying users.

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[diana-fortyseven]

Yuletide Reading Bingo

The 2023 Yuletide collection is about to be revealed, and many of us love to read more than just our own gifts and treats.

If gamification is your thing, why not enhance your Yuletide reading experience with a fun challenge?

Yuletide Reading Bingo Yuletide Reading Bingo 2023 (permanent link to this year's version)

With this bingo card generator, you can generate your own Yuletide Reading Bingo Card and try to finish it over a timespan of your choice. If you like, you can challenge yourself to not only reading the fics, but also commenting on them.

There are no fanfic/fandom/Yuletide-negative or bashing items in the lists. This bingo card is meant to be a positive experience and celebrate fanfiction and fanworks in general and Yuletide in specific.

Details and screenshot of the mobile version under the cut!

Happy Yuletide! <3

How to Play

Generate a new bingo card until you're (mostly) happy with the results. If some fields are duplicates or contain items you don't want to have in your card, you can then re-roll every single bingo field separately by clicking/tapping on it. Once you have a card that fits your reading habits (or that takes you out of your comfort zone, if you want to challenge yourself), take a screenshot of the card to keep it.

Closing the page and reloading it will reset the card.

Cross off the bingo fields on your screenshot as you read (or read and comment on) fics that you think count for a field.

Items like "Fandom with over 500 works" mean works in the fandom tag, not in the collection. There are specific versions for the number of works in the collection. Items like "Fandom with over 1,000 works" doesn't mean qualifying works. There are specific versions for the number of qualifying works. Items like "Highest number of hits in fandom" or similar however mean in this collection, not in the fandom tag.

If a work you read has a tag that's similar but not identical to a tag on your card, let it count. There were some almost-duplicates that I trimmed.

The Lists

Canon (options like canon released this year, book fandom, etc)

Category (the AO3 categories and their platonic versions: F/F, F & F Gen, etc)

Challenge (the unofficial mini-challenges like Yuleporn, Crueltide, Wrapping Paper, etc)

Creator (only if you checked the "After Reveals" box; options like favourite author, mutuals, etc)

Discovery (various ways you could've found a fic)

Fandom (options like previously ineligible fandom, uncategorised fandom)

Length (wordcounts from drabble to 30k)

Meta (a fic's front-end and stats, also "citrus scale for rating" xD)

Reader (your relationship with the fic; is it your comfort fic, or your first fic in a fandom?)

Style (chatfic, iambic pentameter, custom workskin, stuff like that)

Tag (roughly 2,000 tags from the 2023 main collection; Madness tags to be added)

Trope (roughly 100 tropes)

What do the Checkboxes Mean?

NSFW is basically what it says on the tin. If you tick this box, the NSFW tropes will be added to the mix. If you also ticked the Tags box, NSFW tags will be added.

Tags is also what it says on the tin. It's a list with currently roughly 2,000 tags from the Yuletide 2023 main collection. Around 250 of them are currently marked NSFW and can only be generated if you ticked both the NSFW box and the Tags box.

After Reveals includes items that only make sense after creator reveals, such as "work by last year's recipient" or "creator is your Tumblr mutual".

Leaving the NSFW checkbox unchecked should remove all NSFW tags and tropes, but you could still come across content you find objectionable. Leaving the Tags checkbox unchecked removes all tags, but you could still come across tropes you find objectionable.

This bingo generator can be used to generate totally safe-for-work or family-friendly bingo cards, but it was created by an adult with an adult audience in mind.

If you run into any issues or come across any bugs, please let me know.

If you find something that should be in the NSFW category, but isn't, please also let me know. It's possible that I missed a few tags when I worked through the list of over 2,000 tags in the 2023 main collection. Please don't ask me to remove content you find objectionable.

If there's anything unclear, feel free to ask! I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible, but please understand if it takes a while; it's a busy time for all of us. :D

Just FYI, the platform I'm using, Perchance, recently added AI options for their generators. This is a regrettable decision that I don't condone, and I'd like to emphasise that this generator is 100% handcrafted chaos.

This generator is based on my Fanfiction Reading Bingo I made as a little practice piece. It's responsive, which means it should work on desktop and mobile. The mobile layout isn't ideal yet; I'm trying my best to make it better (but I'd also still consider myself a newbie and I'm learning by doing).

The background image is an edited version of this photo by Berny Steiner on Unsplash.

I hope you'll find as much fun in using this generator as I found in making it! Happy Yuletide!