#yes I'm on bluesky

[gxlden-angels]

[charlesoberonn]

[markscherz]

a person who named a genus, on tumblr

Actually, three genera, but Anilany and Nanohyla are not as catchy as Mini. A full list of the taxa I have described is available on my website. :)

[piritos03]

Arctober Day9 - (Sibling) Rivalry

[leupagus]

I know I'm doing better than I was 5 years ago because my self-destructive impulses now run more along the lines of "I bet you could TOTALLY rewrite this whole Game of Thrones mega-fic outline to include Lady Stoneheart"

[elllteo]

Creators I love you but it's time to wake up

Among rumors about our tumblr user data being sold off to Midjourney/Generative AI, recent Extremely transphobic events (that have been ongoing) coming to a head, another extremely concerning internet censorship bill being pushed in upper levels of government, and a general air of frustration over how the site belongs to and is operated by perhaps the second stupidest CEO (second only to twitters own) of our age, I'm very done with the last few vestiges of what the old internet held for artists.

And if you're reading this, you probably are too.

I know we're tired. We are all tired. It is not always viable to pack up shop and move, again and again and again.

From tumblr to twitter to anywhere else we've ever grown up posting, things no longer work. Our audiences are kneecapped by aggressive and hostile algorithms, our reach is abysmal - if we aren't shadow-banned or silenced for one (transphobic) reason or another, we're thrust into an ever growing pit of hostility where the only thing that drives clicks is fighting and contention.

We're tired. We're so fucking tired. We aren't businesses, we aren't content mills, we cannot keep this pace that modern social media has set for us, to wring every ounce of creativity out of us to profit from and leave us rotting.

The key to staying afloat here, and I cannot stress this enough, is to stay connected to your peers.

Pack up and move as units if you must. Exodus from the sites that are killing us. Push your entire friend group of artists to move from one site to the next that promises you a kinder experience.

Art drives movements, it drives change, it is all that encompasses being human. If you take that away from the shitty places, they will be left with nothing but a cesspit of inhumanity and the people who follow you will be more incentivized than ever to move with you.

Yes, this is terrifying. There are no guarantees. There never was, and never are, and never will be.

But stay connected. Stay human.

Support each other and be willing to hold hands and jump when we all - as a group - need to jump from the flames we're all trying to convince ourselves wont kill us before rescue comes.

Rescue isn't coming, rescue will be found hand in hand with each other. I'm offering you my hand, please take it. There's always a new start, there are always helping hands reaching for you. You have to look up from the doom-scroll long enough to see and take them.

[lesbianneopolitan]

Heh funny that you said that about my pfp because this was my older one when i was forced to come back to tumblr (which i didnt like because i felt my blog was such a mess and lost contact with many of my online friends) because of Twitter being temporary banned from my country (Brazil).

That's it, heres a bit of my story. ;D

okay, that's one more horrifying in comparison LMAO

in the way I would think you're dead inside, but I'm sure all of us are, at least a little

[meirimerens]

heyyy i just wanted to let you know that your dedication to your studies and the way you incorporate that interest in other things you enjoy (like pathologic) is truly so inspiring and i am always so glad to see it whenever your posts appear in my dash. i genuinely wish the best for you because that level of enamoredness is something i can only aspire to mimic for the time being and it's so refreshing to witness even on another person.

THANK YOU SO MEWCH.....!!!! i'm honestly having so much fun it's not even funny (even if after like 6years of not needingt to actually study i'm rusty as fuck bro and i have to train my brain into Remembering Stuff again) i'm forever #glad so far i've worked my ass off to get back to uni and into this field specifically... each day a #blessing.... at this point even if i barely pass my classes (which so far Oh I Got Planny Off Room To Maneuver) i'm so happy to be there. me smiling due to my joy etc. you know how they say "Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life."..... find a field of study you like and you will never have to study a day in your life. actually you do have to study. but it's cool because you learn stuff. you will moan and groan about waking up at 6:30 for an 8am class and you will feel like that one orange cat unblinking when you get 4hrs of sleep. but you will ball the whole time through. THANK YOU..... AND GOOD LUCK SOLDIER.

[yukipri]

I joined Threads! Unfortunately my reach on Insta is still the most limited of all of my socials, and that’s the account Threads is directly attached to.

If you’re on either Insta or Threads, would love if you could stop by🙏

Direct linking to Threads doesn't seem to work...so here's

my Instagram

through which you can find my Threads account!

Edit: You actually can link to Threads, ironically through the icon at the top of individual Instagram account pages on desktop. Though Desktop viewing is currently limited to individual pages, and you can't necessarily scroll the feed. So here's my Threads page!

~~

Next, some initial thoughts on the platform for those who are kinda curious what this new thing is. Not at all an expert, just some info I've gathered myself, that I'd personally have liked to know before joining:

On Threads

・It launched July 5~6, 2023. Rollout varies by country.

・Twitter's already upset about it, apparently there's a lawsuit. So I guess it considers Threads a possible threat.

・It's run by Meta, same folks as Insta and Fb.

・The accounts are directly linked to Instagram, which has its pros and cons. You need an Insta account to make a Threads account, but if you already have an Insta account, it's very easy to make a connected Threads account. However, once linked, they're linked; you can't disable your Threads account without also disabling your Insta account. You can also automatically follow all the accounts you're already following on Insta, to be activated as they make Threads accounts. You can also share Threads posts to your Insta stories.

・Currently only on mobile app, hoping the'll make it desktop accessible soon

・The current audience mostly seems to be folks who have come direct from Instagram. This means yes, a lot of official/influencer accounts, but also a lot of artists/small creators too.

Functionality

・Right now, the "feed/dashboard" is a hot mess. It's just one massive algorithmic spew, no way to curate it, no way to see just the posts by the folks you're following, not even chronological. These are things that i personally require in a social media, so yeah it sucks rn. HOWEVER, they did state that they're working on a "followers only" feed, much like the one on Instagram. If they implement a Followers Only feed like Insta, it'll at least be much better than Twitter's current "Following" feed. There has been no timeline provided on when this may launch.

・It functions much the same as Twitter, with options to create new posts, and like, retweet, quote retweet, and reply to posts made by others. (There's still a lot of floundering about the exact terminology to use, since it's not twitter so you can't "retweet" etc)

・500 Character word limit per post, which is much more than Twitter, ey!

・Up to 10 images per post, doesn't seem to cause image quality reduction either. Rather than being able to arrange the images like on Tumblr though, they're all automatically in a carousel that you can see by swiping.

・Your bio can be the exact same as what's on your insta, but currently only shows followers. In order to see who you follow, you tap "followers" and then when the menu opens, swipe to "following." Then, you can tap on the individual accounts to view their pages. This is currently the only way to ensure you see the posts from certain accounts, because there's no guarantee they'll show up on your feed, and it's a huge pain. But again, they're hopefully working on a fix for this.

My understanding is that the app rushed to launch now, since Twitter is a dumpster fire and people are fleeing. (why is it a dumpster fire? Well, Musk implemented a randomly fluctuating tweet view limitation, which is dumb af, but means it's essentially become unusable to folks who use the platform a lot)

I'm hoping that there'll be improvements to Threads and it'll become a viable Twitter alternative, but until then...yeah we'll keep an eye on it.

Now that I've probably completely turned you off from downloading the app, if you do, a nudge that again I'd appreciate if you stopped by my account, YukiPri_Art on Instagram, and/or YukiPri_Art on Threads!

[iidakki]

nothing beats walking home in dark.. listening to old anime op's too loud... i feel like i'm 14 again.... just a small glimpse into my quirky reality...

[paperclipninja]

Been getting properly settled in over at Bluesky today and feel like I've been unfaithful to my constant, my one true love (this ridiculous, wonderful place), so posting to say it's ok Tumblr bb ily first and foremost always, just nice to mix it up a little with something fresh on the side every now and then.

Also, for anyone over in the Sky, I'm here, come wave and say hi!

[breezytealy]

HEY YOU KNOW THE BIT IN DAIMA EP2 THAT WE ALSO SAW IN TRAILERS WITH BABY TRUNKS AND GOTEN?

(spoilers under cut)

In the trailer it squicked me out ngl but nvm my aversions as they were overwritten whilst watching bc DID YOU SEE?

DID YOU SEE THE KI TELEPATHY?

Yeaaaaaaaaaa BOI

(it was in the super hero manga arc too but love the doubling down on it)

[haymarketvtubestuff]

You and your buddy seem the type to thrive on rage and discourse and all I want to ask is what your liver numbers look like. I don't want to hear justifications anymore - just whether being right and pure on the Internet is worth destroying your health.

never mind

[dandelionsprout42]

An apparently common mantra in furry art communities in recent years: "Someone's art can't physically hurt you."

They're lying.

Trust me.

I've been physically ill for an hour now after coming across some of _those_ kinds of furry artpieces, and have devoured calcium carbonate, loperamide hydrochloride, and naproxen like they were candy in the hopes I wouldn't have to spend the rest of the night in the bathroom. My stomach is aching noticeably and I've been sweating a bit as well.

[breadspice19]

If yall's are interested here's my Bluesky

[aroceu]

I know we know I am an apologist of the ending of Lost and a big fan of the show-

-but I really want to complain about the fact that so many people (who avid Lost fans like myself condescendingly refer to as "casuals", aka people who started watching the show when it aired, dropped it when they didn't like something about it, but tuned in for the ending) tend to call Lost a "bad show" because it didn't answer every question they had

Like first of all. Are these people stupid. I mean that genuinely. Do you need the show to tell you the answer to every question. Do you not want to exercise your brain muscles and a little bit of curiosity. Do you need things to be told you directly, like a child. Truly what a maddening "criticism." "Why did the others take the children" WHY DO YOU THINK!!!! The Losties were survivors with minimal resources and knowledge of the Island; the Others for better or worse were natives who had both the resources and the knowledge; they also valued people's lives. No it certainly wasn't the ethical thing to do. But the Others don't really care about ethics in that way. Does that not make sense if we think about it this way for a second

And I mean people have had a LOT of questions about the show after it ended that they argue that not directly answering one or any of them makes the show bad. It's just like. Maybe watch the show again. Have you people ever tried rewatching or rereading something. You know, so you can pick up on things that you missed the first time around. Yeah it's 120 episodes. But if you care so much to know more about this show, and you want to have an informed opinion, it might help to engage with it again, critically, like people with actual critical thinking skills tend to do?

But my main point is this:

You know what makes a good story? One that doesn't tell you everything, but gives you hints. One with Themes and Motifs. One that requires you to engage with it critically in order to understand not only the writer's intention with the story, or deeper meanings of the story that writers may not have even intended (though this does not make any perceived meaning less meaningful!!!!), but also requires you to learn something about yourself.

When you have feelings about a character, or a relationship, or a sequence of events, or the way a narrative is presented to you, you are not only experiencing something new and valuable, you are also learning something about yourself through your emotions and reaction and passion for the thing. Critical thinking and critical analysis and critical approach does not just come from a need to nitpick or find flaws or even in a more generous way with the desire to make things better. Being critical comes from caring. It comes from engaging with something from a deeply personal experience, and constantly trying to find an objective meaning through the emotions you have from that experience.

This post is getting away from me, but with the point of Lost: this tv show not directly answering any or even most questions one has does not make it a bad show. People can not like it or call it bad for whatever other reason they want to present; but the lack of "answers" is not one of them. Not a rational one, anyway. I posted about this on bsky but minor plot holes does not a bad story make. Because stories are not about fucking answers. They're about a sequence of significant events happening to people who are significant in that timeline - if we want to get that broad with it. And a lot of times, in that sequence of events, it is not natural - much less good storytelling or worthwhile execution - for the story to explicitly drop random "answers" to things that irrelevant to the characters or the story, even if the audience may be curious about those things. Where is the suspension of disbelief! Where is the understanding that storytelling is about necessity! Where is the respect towards writers who don't try to pander to all of their audience's whims! Where is the understanding that if a good storyteller knows where a story is going to start and end and it's evident in the execution of the narrative, then maybe whining about minor plot holes because you didn't get the question explicitly or deliberately answered within the realm of the story is a uncritical response

This is not to be a plot hole apologist. Yes I do believe that there are bad stories with plot holes - large plot holes. A lack of answers that make no sense within the linear passage of the story to the point that they are noticeable, memorable, and bothersome. Of course evaluating this is extremely subjective and I'm sure the sort of Lost watcher who NEEDS all of their questions answered would still argue that whatever "plot hole" they complain about is noticeable or memorable or bothersome to them. But that hypothetical aside, I think it's important to take the time to look at the broader scope of a story the same way we may look at the broader scope of our lives.

Because we won't get the answers to everything. We don't know why someone mistreated us in the past. Or even treated us well! We don't know everyone's inner life - or anyone's, except our own. We often don't get closure or apologies. We don't know what everyone is doing at any given moment; many things happen "off screen" in our lives because they're not our lives, and not as relevant to our personal journeys compared to what we are experiencing at any given moment. Life is like this. Life does not have answers for most things. Life is a goddamn mystery box

And yet we still try to make sense of our lives and our existences because they are our experiences; because everything that happens to us and the choices we've made in the past continue to affect how we make choices in the future, how the rest of our lives pan out, even if it's just tomorrow. Of course there's still absurdity and randomness and coincidences and unpredictability in the world. But we are still unique individuals at any given point too; not only that, but still made up of our past experiences and choices, still aware of our own existences, and still try to seek meaning both in the rational and in the nonsensical in our own lives.

So this is what I want taken away from this: try to seek some goddamn meaning from the show. Try to find your own answers. Try to interpret your own way. Whether or not people will agree with you, I think it's more healthy for your brain (as well as being actually and reasonably critical) to try to figure out the answers yourself instead of complaining that your questions didn't get answered in the way you want them, and that because of that, it makes a story bad. I know people have short as hell attention spans these days that they don't want to take the time to actually process and understand. I know people like to engage with stories to be entertained rather than to think. But I think that if you approach every story this way, especially one that pretty implicitly wants you to think, you are not being as critical as you think you are. You're just being dumb.