#and make use of the filtering and blocking features

[dem0batz]

I’m so tired of seeing constant criticisms of dark romance and dark romance love interests. Just enjoy what you enjoy and let others enjoy what they enjoy. Like some of y’all are so cruel and mean for no reason to people who are just minding their own business.

[lluu50]

I caught a cold 👎👎👎👎👎

[sitten1115]

Features I think would be very beneficial on Ao3

1. The ability to block tags like how you can block tags on Tumblr

I know you can just filter the tags every time you run a search* but that is tedious when it could absolutely be something that’s an account based blanket block. This isn’t censorship, this is giving people better tools to moderate their own experience. Currently this can only be done using browser extensions (afaik).

2. The ability to block a fic from the search list

You can functionally block fics on site atm by using a custom site skin, but you need the fic id to do so and you need to go add it to the skin. An easier way to do it would be nice because not everyone even knows how to this kinda thing, I only know how because I found a link to a guide** in a tumblr posts notes. “Don’t like don’t read” doesn’t help when just seeing the tags and description are enough to cause discomfort. Just another way for users to moderate their own experience.

*I don’t think filtering tags is actually something you can do when looking at Challenges

**Guide here, it’s a locked fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29556855/chapters/72637362

[sparrow-in-the-field]

Do you think the straight girlie jack mulhern stans are bothered by the fact that he's played a gay man before? Like they see a gif of Sam and grizz kissing and it's like a jumpscare to them

"Jack would be so uncomfortable to see fics written about his character with another man!" Bestie, Jack was paid the good bucks to play pretend that exact scenario I think he's chill

[ks-caster]

Is there a button I missed to make it so I see people's content without having to clock through the "might be mature" blocks? Cause I can't see the tags on posts so idk if it's relevant to me or not until I click on it. And a lot of what's been blocked for me is just regular character gifsets and plushie photos. I don't even know what's supposed to be considered "mature" about these people's posts, but is there a way to mark my blog as "I myself am also mature; mature enough to see the mature content without having to click on it just to find out what it is"?

@staff

[ai-art-thieves]

It's Time To Investigate SevenArt.ai

sevenart.ai is a website that uses ai to generate images.

Except, that's not all it can do.

It can also overlay ai filters onto images to create the illusion that the algorithm created these images.

And its primary image source is Tumblr.

It scrapes through the site for recent images that are at least 10 days old and has some notes attached to it, as well as copying the tags to make the unsuspecting user think that the post was from a genuine user.

No image is safe. Art, photography, screenshots, you name it.

Initially I thought that these are bots that just repost images from their site as well as bastardizations of pictures across tumblr, until a user by the name of @nataliedecorsair discovered that these "bots" can also block users and restrict replies.

Not only that, but these bots do not procreate and multiply like most bots do. Or at least, they have.

The following are the list of bots that have been found on this very site. Brace yourself. It's gonna be a long one:

@giannaaziz1998blog

@kennedyvietor1978blog

@nikb0mh6bl

@z4uu8shm37

@xguniedhmn

@katherinrubino1958blog

@3neonnightlifenostalgiablog

@cyberneticcreations58blog

@neomasteinbrink1971blog

@etharetherford1958blog

@punxajfqz1

@camicranfill1967blog

@1stellarluminousechoblog

@whwsd1wrof

@bnlvi0rsmj

@steampunkstarshipsafari90blog

@surrealistictechtales17blog

@2steampunksavvysiren37blog

@krispycrowntree

@voucwjryey

@luciaaleem1961blog

@qcmpdwv9ts

@2mplexltw6

@sz1uwxthzi

@laurenesmock1972blog

@rosalinetritsch1992blog

@chereesteinkirchner1950blog

@malindamadaras1996blog

@1cyberneticdreamscapehubblog

@neomasteinbrink1971blog

@neonfuturecityblog

@olindagunner1986blog

@neonnomadnirvanablog

@digitalcyborgquestblog

@freespiritfusionblog

@piacarriveau1990blog

@3technoartisticvisionsblog

@wanderlustwineblissblog

@oyqjfwb9nz

@maryannamarkus1983blog

@lashelldowhower2000blog

@ovibigrqrw

@3neonnightlifenostalgiablog

@ywldujyr6b

@giannaaziz1998blog

@yudacquel1961blog

@neotechcreationsblog

@wildernesswonderquest87blog

@cybertroncosmicflow93blog

@emeldaplessner1996blog

@neuralnetworkgallery78blog

@dunstanrohrich1957blog

@juanitazunino1965blog

@natoshaereaux1970blog

@aienhancedaestheticsblog

@techtrendytreks48blog

@cgvlrktikf

@digitaldimensiondioramablog

@pixelpaintedpanorama91blog

@futuristiccowboyshark

@digitaldreamscapevisionsblog

@janishoppin1950blog

The oldest ones have been created in March, started scraping in June/July, and later additions to the family have been created in July.

So, I have come to the conclusion that these accounts might be run by a combination of bot and human. Cyborg, if you will.

But it still doesn't answer my main question:

Who is running the whole operation?

The site itself gave us zero answers to work with.

No copyright, no link to the engine where the site is being used on, except for the sign in thingy (which I did.)

I gave the site a fake email and a shitty password.

Turns out it doesn't function like most sites that ask for an email and password.

Didn't check the burner email, the password isn't fully dotted and available for the whole world to see, and, and this is the important thing...

My browser didn't detect that this was an email and password thingy.

And there was no log off feature.

This could mean two things.

Either we have a site that doesn't have a functioning email and password database, or that we have a bunch of gullible people throwing their email and password in for people to potentially steal.

I can't confirm or deny these facts, because, again, the site has little to work with.

The code? Generic as all hell.

Tried searching for more information about this site, like the server it's on, or who owned the site, or something. ANYTHING.

Multiple sites pulled me in different directions. One site said it originates in Iceland. Others say its in California or Canada.

Luckily, the server it used was the same. Its powered by Cloudflare.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do with any of this information.

If you have any further information about this site, let me know.

Until there is a clear answer, we need to keep doing what we are doing.

Spread the word and report about these cretins.

If they want attention, then they are gonna get the worst attention.

[dunmertwink]

.

[angelseraphines]

ೃ⁀➷ scarface ˗ˏˋ꒰ 🦢 ꒱

╰┈➤ berlin x hostage!reader imagine

a/n: i would like to give a special thank you to @lumillsie for the layout of this post and for the filter used on the header!

˚ ༘♡ “i’m afraid you comrades have become our hostages.”

˚ ༘♡ you couldn’t see the man speaking, none of you could. the blindfold pressed against your face, blocking the light that shone through the polished windows, just as the criminals had blocked every avenue of escape. you stood no different to the others lined up alongside you, all you could do was listen. the nervous shuffling of feet, muffled sobs, and the erratic breathing of strangers filled the air, feeding your already frayed nerves. the tension was suffocating, tightening around your chest like an iron grip.

˚ ༘♡ you were not supposed to be here. as an executive assistant for the korean mint, your job revolved around order, organizing reports, managing schedules, ensuring things ran smoothly. yet none of that prepared you for this chaos. the only reason you were here at this godforsaken hour was because the sleazy director had called you back after your shift ended. under the pretense of a scheduling issue, he had summoned you to his office, but his leering gaze and thinly veiled intentions made you regret not making an excuse to stay home. now, that regret burned even brighter, a pang of apprehension wretched in your stomach.

˚ ༘♡ the voice came again, stony and slicing through the panicked murmurs of the hostages. heavy footsteps echoed in the vast room, measured and unhurried, each step landing with intent. your pulse quickened. the sound grew closer, louder, more oppressive, until it felt as if it would stop directly in front of you. and to your fright, it did.

˚ ༘♡ a hand reached out, rough and sure, grasping your face. it wasn’t harsh enough to hurt, but there was no tenderness in it either, only control. your breath grew unstable as you felt the blindfold torn away, the fabric scraping against your skin. the sudden exposure to light stung your eyes, but you didn’t dare look up. fear rooted you in place, your gaze fixed on the ground as your hands trembled at your sides.

˚ ༘♡ “look up.” the voice was deep, mocking, the hint of a smirk woven into the thick north korean accent. the command wasn’t shouted, but it didn’t need to be. its weight was undeniable, pressing down on you like a hand on your throat. trembling, you hesitated, your fear begging you to keep staring at the floor.

˚ ༘♡ “i said, look up.” this time, there was steel in his tone, and the words struck like a whip. your body betrayed you before your mind could argue. slowly, reluctantly, you lifted your gaze.

˚ ༘♡ and that’s when you saw him.

˚ ༘♡ a man stood before you, perhaps in his late thirties or early forties. his features were pointed and unyielding, his sun-tanned skin stretched over high cheekbones and a jaw that clenched with latent superiority. his dark hair was slicked back, further emphasizing the austerity of his appearance. he did not wear a hahoe mask like the others. you could see his face clearly, and that fact alone sent a frigid sensation of fear through your veins. there was only one conclusion to draw from this, you would not leave here alive. no one could see a criminal’s face and live to tell the tale.

˚ ༘♡ “hmm.” his voice was quiet as he pondered what was on his mind, the sound of it drawing your breath to a halt. he leaned in, his piercing gaze narrowing as it swept over your face, studying you with disturbing focus. your chest rose and fell in rapid succession, struggling to expel the air caught in your lungs.

˚ ༘♡ “take a deep breath, would you?” his words were deceptively calm, but there was an authority in them you dared not defy.

˚ ༘♡ your hands trembled as you tried to obey, forcing an unstable inhale that did little to steady your racing heart. his eyes landed on your wool coat, where your phone protruded in the pocket. before you could react, he extended his hand.

˚ ༘♡ “give it to me.”

˚ ༘♡ hesitantly, you reached into your coat, stiff with fear, and handed the device to him. the instant it left your grasp, he tossed it to the ground. the sound of the screen shattering against the cold floor jolted you, but what came next made your stomach drop. with one swift motion, he raised his boot and brought it down, crushing the phone into a pile of broken glass and metal.

˚ ༘♡ you gasped aloud, stepping back as your limbs threatened to give out. your lips parted in shock, but he remained unfazed, standing there as if nothing had happened.

˚ ༘♡ “i’m berlin,” he introduced himself, his tone harsh and taunting. his gaze didn’t move as he continued, his voice softening into a contemplative murmur. “and you… you’re the daughter of the korean defense minister, aren’t you?”

˚ ༘♡ his words slashed through the sinister atmosphere, leaving you motionless where you stood.

˚ ༘♡ “i recognize your face now.” his lips twisted into a bemused grin. “tell me, why is the daughter of a wealthy minister working as a lackey in the mint?”

˚ ༘♡ you couldn’t answer. your voice, if it even existed, was trapped somewhere between fear and disbelief. your eyes darted down to the shattered remains of your phone, then back up to meet his unyielding gaze. the glass fragments seemed to glint like shards of your own hope scattered across the floor.

˚ ༘♡ what he said was true. you were the eldest daughter of the defense minister, a man appointed to his position after the unification of korea. your father, once a prominent figure in the south korean national assembly, had earned his power and influence through a career focused on military affairs. but none of that mattered now. the consequence of that identity, the very thing you had tried so hard to keep hidden, was now fully exposed.

˚ ༘♡ berlin turned away from you with an air of satisfaction, as though he had uncovered some magnificent treasure. “how lucky are we, huh, denver?” he said, addressing one of the masked criminals in a red jumpsuit. his tone was darkly delighted, dripping with smug arrogance. “the daughter of such a prominent figure, right here, as our hostage.”

˚ ༘♡ “sir…” you finally managed to stammer, your voice weak. every fiber of your being told you that begging or pleading would be futile, this heist was too carefully planned, too calculated for something as pitiful as that to persuade them. yet, despite the tremor in your voice, you forced the words out. “if… if i could just know the reason behind your mission.”

˚ ༘♡ he sneered at your question, his lip curling as if amused by your naïveté. “that,” he said coldly, his tone sharp enough to slice through you, “is none of your concern.” he stepped closer, and you instinctively leaned back, though there was nowhere to go. “don’t waste my time with stupid questions. it will do you no good.”

˚ ༘♡ before you could retreat further, his hand reached out, firm fingers tilting your chin upward. his dark eyes bore into yours with an intensity that made your pulse thunder in your ears. his touch was ice-cold, akin to winter frost against your skin, and it sent an involuntary shiver down your spine.

˚ ༘♡ “moscow,” he barked, not breaking his gaze from yours, “head upstairs and inform the professor of our… fortunate discovery. i think he’ll find it rather interesting.”

˚ ༘♡ a stout man, dressed identically to the rest of the criminals, gave a nod and slung his rifle over his shoulder. without a word, he ascended the staircase, his laced boots thudding against the metal steps.

˚ ༘♡ you glanced around, your fear morphing into panic as your gaze drifted over the rest of the room. your co-workers from the mint, along with the high school students from the field trip, were still lined up, trembling and blindfolded. their muffled whimpers and shaky breathing filled the space like a grim symphony.

˚ ༘♡ but berlin’s attention was locked solely on you. “you,” he said, his voice dropping to something inexplicable, perhaps intimate, yet no less dangerous, “don’t belong here with the rest of the hostages, do you? no, you’re quite special.”

˚ ༘♡ his grip constructed around your arm suddenly, rough enough to make you wince. “rio, tokyo,” he barked, not sparing a glance at the others. “get the rest of the hostages dressed and armed. i’ll handle our guest here.”

˚ ༘♡ two figures stepped forward from the line of criminals. the younger man, who you assumed was rio, removed his mask without reluctance and began moving to obey berlin’s orders. his expression was subdued, almost resigned, as though this were routine. the woman, tokyo, followed suit, her softer features contorting into a glare she didn’t bother to hide from berlin. though she clearly didn’t agree, she complied without protest.

˚ ༘♡ before you could process what was happening, berlin began dragging you toward the stairs. his grip was unrelenting, and you stumbled to keep pace. the acrid scent of cigarette smoke clung to his breath, filling your senses and heightening your unease.

˚ ༘♡ as you were pulled upstairs, you glanced over your shoulder. the rest of the hostages were being herded like sheep, their blindfolds removed and their devices confiscated. there was an air of chaos and helplessness, but the criminals operated with a cold precision that made it all the more horrifying.

˚ ༘♡ you knew he had ordered you not to speak, but the aching concern for your colleagues at the mint outweighed your better judgment. you forced the words out, your voice barely above a whisper, “sir, what will happen to the others?”

˚ ༘♡ his reaction was instant, cruel and unforgiving. “enough with the questions. are you deaf?” his tone was laced with irritation, his hand tightening on your arm as he halted at the top of the stairs. his free hand moved briskly to rest on the rifle slung across his chest, an action that sent your pulse into overdrive. “as long as they do as they’re told,” he said coldly, his eyes flicking down to meet yours, “they’ll live.”

˚ ༘♡ the intent behind his words sank solemnly in your chest, but they provided little comfort. what did doing as they’re told mean? what did that entail? you didn’t dare ask for clarification. fear had locked your throat shut.

˚ ༘♡ at the end of the hallway, he forced you into a conference room. it was meant to be a professional space, a place for meetings, discussions, plans, but now it felt like a suffocating cage. berlin shoved you forward with a careless force that sent you stumbling to the floor. the tawny carpet felt rough beneath your hands, and as you tried to gather yourself, you realized your legs wouldn’t stop shaking. you were trembling so violently that getting back up seemed impossible.

˚ ༘♡ he stood over you, shaking his head with a theatrical sigh, his expression twisted into something resembling mock pity. “get up,” he ordered, his voice ridden with feigned concern. “it’s a pathetic sight. if i wanted to kill you, don’t you think i’d have done it by now?”

˚ ༘♡ yet even his attempt to rationalize your survival did nothing to soothe your frayed nerves. when you didn’t rise fast enough, he moved toward you, his impatience evident. before you could brace yourself, his hands gripped your waist, hauling you to your feet with little regard for your pitiful form.

˚ ༘♡ “relax, damn it!” he lashed out, though there was no softness in the demand. his hands lingered a second too long before he let go, stepping back. “you’ve got the easy end of this,” he continued, nodding toward the door. “out there? they’re the ones who’ll do the hard labor. you? you get to stay here, comfortably out of the way.”

˚ ༘♡ your eyes widened, the tears you’d been holding back streaking down your pallid cheeks. you couldn’t stop yourself from inquiring, the words escaping your mouth negligently. “but why… why do i need to stay here?”

˚ ༘♡ his lips curved into a faint, sardonic smile, as though your confusion entertained him. “another question,” he droned, his tone coarsely indulgent. “but i’ll allow it, i was going to tell you anyway.”

˚ ༘♡ he stepped closer, the austerity of his presence bearing down on you. “the police will come,” he began, his voice calm but charged with menace. “it’s only a matter of time. they’ll gather intel on the crisis, and they’ll try to ruin everything for us, storm the building, act recklessly.” he paused, his dark eyes boring into yours. “but they won’t. not when they know we have the minister of defense’s daughter in our grasp.”

˚ ༘♡ the reveal of the grand scheme hit you like a blow, leaving you breathless. you stared up at him, horrified, as the full reality of your situation sank in. you weren’t merely a hostage, you were leverage, a bargaining chip, a pawn in their game. and there was no escaping it.

˚ ༘♡ “i already know what you’re going to say,” berlin said, his voice deadly quiet, yet every word seemed to reverberate in the air around you. his finger grazed your cheekbone, the touch sedated and delicate, as if savoring the terror etched across your face. the lightest brush of his skin against yours was enough to send a shudder through your body. his hand continued its path, stopping just at the curve of your rosy lips, his dark eyes watching your every reaction with a formidable pleasure.

˚ ༘♡ “and if the police don’t heed your father’s words?” he murmured, tilting his head slightly as though contemplating the question himself. his finger hovered over your lips, lingering just long enough to make you careen in your stance. “then that pretty face of yours won’t see another day.”

˚ ༘♡ there was a chilling contradiction in his expression, brutality melded with a macabre thrill, as if he relished the power he held over you and everyone else. it was distressing in its intensity, and you couldn’t tear your gaze away, no matter how much you wanted to.

˚ ༘♡ he pulled back slightly, his tone shifting into something almost casual, as though he hadn’t delivered a forthcoming death threat. “if the police act accordingly, it won’t have to come to that,” he said, his tone smooth and reassuring. “you’ll leave here unscathed, so don’t worry too much.”

˚ ༘♡ he smirked then, the expression devoid of true sincerity but brimming with confidence. “i’m willing to believe your dear father will do everything in his power to ensure his precious daughter’s safety. a man like him doesn’t let something like you go to waste. he would heaven and earth for you, wouldn’t he?”

˚ ༘♡ your politician father’s influence, his position, his wealth, it had all painted a target on your back. now, you were nothing more than power in their hands, a negotiation tool that could either save or destroy you. and berlin appeared to revel in the knowledge of it.

a/n: a money heist korea fanfiction for berlin! let me know if you have anymore requests for him as well as your thoughts! 🤍

[twstowo]

Their Magicam Accounts[Twst]

♡︎How I think their Magicam Accounts would look and what they do in them.

♡︎This was been catching dust in my drafts for months now. Crazy

♡︎Includes: NRC, RSA and Rollo

⋆⋅☆Riddle: Owns two accounts on Magicam. The first one is only used to like or comment on posts from friends, Carter set up this account against Riddle’s will. He once accidentally posted a picture of the two of you and had a heart attack trying to delete it. The second account is a secret one where he only posts hedgehog pictures.

⋆⋅☆Trey: Has one account where most of his posts showcase his cakes, including pictures from unbirthday parties and moments of you cooking with him. His profile picture is him with that dog filter, you can’t change my mind.

⋆⋅☆Carter: Literally Owns Magicam, posting pictures every time he does something or is with someone. #Thevoicesarewinning. Comments on every post and totally knows that Riddle owns the hedgehog account. He also has a side account for stalking people. Changes his profile picture daily.

⋆⋅☆Ace: Initially only posted embarrassing pictures of people and would only take them down if they paid him. Got suspended quickly from Magicam. The second account is more relaxed, where he shares random content whenever he feels like it. He’s also the type to edit group pictures to make everyone look bad except himself, just to annoy everyone.

⋆⋅☆Deuce: Was the one who reported Ace’s first account since most pictures were of him. Has Shaky pictures, the best picture he has is one of him, Ace, and you together. Probably uses social media mostly for chatting with friends. Also, he, Ace, and you have one of those quirky couple profile pics.

⋆⋅☆Leona: Owns an account with no posts, profile picture, comments, or followers. Rarely uses Magicam, but he occasionally checks your posts.

⋆⋅☆Ruggie: Uses Magicam for selling stuff. Created a group for selling second-hand items and pins all his stuff to ensure faster sales than everyone else.

⋆⋅☆Jack: Gym pictures? Nah, I feel he’d be too shy for that. Probably has one image that he uses everywhere else just to identify himself.

⋆⋅☆Azul: Opened an account to promote Mostro Lounge, daily posts feature new dishes, prices, menus, and sales. He also has a personal account but doesn’t post (doesn’t think he looks nice in pictures).

⋆⋅☆Jade: Mushroom account, has so many followers who share his fascination. Their conversations are all about their mushroom hikes and can last for hours. Makes really aesthetically pleasing posts filled with detailed information about different types of mushrooms.

⋆⋅☆Floyd: For legal reasons I won’t say why, but his account got suspended after one week of its creation.

⋆⋅☆Kalim: Sends party invitations through Magicam, Jamil had to create a group to prevent Kalim from sending individual invitations constantly. Enjoys capturing pictures of the sky. Once posted a picture of Jamil, after it was deleted, he didn't post anything for a whole month, I wonder what happened.

⋆⋅☆Jamil: Similar to Leona, but he often checks Trey’s account for his cake posts. When he saw a picture of you and Trey together, he invited you over to cook with him but didn’t have the courage to ask for a picture of the two of you.

⋆⋅☆Vil: Posts frequently, sharing about himself and his daily routine, always looking impeccable. Regularly receives barking comments, he spends hours deleting all of them.

⋆⋅☆Rook: We all know he has a fan account for Neige. Likes posts of all the celebrities he adores. Writes extremely lengthy comments whenever he finds someone beautiful. He's been blocked so many times he's lost count.

⋆⋅☆Epel: Initially tried taking cute pictures following Vil’s advice but got annoyed as he looked too feminine. Instead, he started promoting stuff from his farm back home.

⋆⋅☆Idia: Uses an account with a weird name to hide his identity, posts about games and occasional activities. Engages in lengthy debates with anyone who disagrees with his new hyperfixation. Has a different notification ring for your posts.

⋆⋅☆Ortho: Shares many pictures of you and him and others doing silly things, sometimes posts gossips and causes huge scandals with them, to the point he decided to create an account with only gossip info. (Azul is literally taking notes.)

⋆⋅☆Malleus: This man owns a Nokia 3310.

⋆⋅☆Lilia: Creates posts about the Doramas he watches, managing a fan page to discuss them with others. Shares pictures of Silver, Sebek, and Malleus, although the latter two get embarrassed, leading Lilia to take down their pictures.

⋆⋅☆Silver: Posts images of nature and cute animals. There's only one picture of him – you took it while he was sleeping and posted it. He didn't have the heart to delete it, knowing it was you.

⋆⋅☆Sebek: Shaky hands #2. Takes pictures of his paintings of Malleus; if you scroll long enough, you might see an accidentally posted painting of you.

⋆⋅☆Che’nya: Shares pictures of people's scared faces, taken while invisible when the flash goes off.

⋆⋅☆Neige: Lost track of his posts; like Vil, he has many followers. Captures moments with the dwarfs and shares funny stories about his day in every picture.

⋆⋅☆Rollo: Has one account filled with pictures of Fleur City. His profile picture used to be a croissant, but he removed it since it looked dumb. He was blocked every magic user, except for you. Yet.

[wholoveseggs]

Hey lovely, I re-read the Extraordinary series the other day, and I remembered how amazing it is!!! Especially the third part. How would you feel about a story where the reader is sleeping with both brothers regularly (not necessarily at the same time). There is a constant competition between Klaus and Elijah because Elijah falls for the reader, and Klaus is teasing him about it by not letting his affair with her go. Reader is pretty oblivious when it comes to Elijah's feelings, although he is her secret favorite, and eventually things just escalate in a smutty way as Elijah has to make her his.

Drops of Affection {Part One}

18+ ---- {Masterlist} {Tag-List}

Part One

{Elijah Mikaelson x Klaus Mikaelson x f!reader} You’re sleeping with both brothers... It’s supposed to be casual. It’s supposed to be simple. But Elijah’s falling for you, and Klaus isn’t about to let that go unpunished.

♡♡ ahh @originals23, look what you made me do. This was supposed to be a short one... but now it’s two parts because apparently I was feeling dramatic and in the mood to ruin everyone’s day ~xo ♡♡

3.5k words - Warnings: smuttt {with klaus in this part}, dom/sub dynamics, riding, possessiveness, praise, mild choking, wolf!klaus cameo {not in a smutty way...}, jealousy, Klaus being a menace, Elijah kisses, established situationship{s} && a dog collar...

{Part Two}

The old café just down the block from the compound always smelled like old paper and orange peel. Light filtered in through the tall, paned windows, dusting the shelves in gold. Books were stacked in every spare corner, under tables, on windowsills, climbing toward the ceiling like ivy. Someone was playing soft piano on the overhead speakers, quiet and soothing.

Elijah sat at a small round table near the front, watching the door. He told himself he wasn’t nervous. That it was simply lunch. That he hadn’t spent twenty minutes picking out what cufflinks to wear, or five more rehearsing the way he would greet you.

And then you walked in... and everything he tried not to think about rushed forward at once.

It had been just under a week since he had touched you last, and the memory was still fresh. You showed up at his door, looking for a distraction, and Elijah was never one to deny a lady.

The way you moved, the sound of your laugh, the things you said when your mouth wasn’t busy saying anything at all. And the way you felt underneath him, warm and wicked and soft, whispering his name like it meant something more. He thought of that now as he watched you approach.

You spotted him immediately and smiled, sliding into the chair across from him. He stood, and leaned over the table to kiss you, a quick, chaste thing. Your eyes fluttered, and he noticed the way you inhaled as he pulled back, leaning toward him like you wanted to follow.

He knew the feeling.

“You’re early, again,” you teased, your gaze moving over him slowly, over his arms and briefly to his hands, before meeting his eyes. "Still using punctuality as a personality trait, I see,"

Elijah gave a small smile in return, he enjoyed your teasing words. “I consider it a courtesy,” he said, gesturing for the waiter. “I also took the liberty of ordering for you.”

Your brows lifted. “Oh? Bold of you.”

“I remember how you take your coffee,” he said simply. “Hazelnut, one sugar, no cream. Unless you're in a mood, then it's black and bitter.”

You blinked, caught off guard, and then smiled. “Okay, stalker.”

He laughed, low and warm, and something about the sound made your stomach twist pleasantly.

When the drinks arrived, you wrapped your hands around the mug, breathing in the steam. It was a habit that made Elijah smile, your eyes meeting over the rim of your cup.

He watched the sunlight play over your features, the curve of your jaw and the bow of your lips, the slope of your neck. He had to tear his eyes away, focusing on his own drink.

There was an easy, companionable silence, as you sipped and flipped through the menu, the quiet hum of the other patrons filling the gaps in conversation. It had been a few months since the two of you started sleeping together. He and Klaus had sought you out for help with a spell, only to be charmed by your sharp tongue and your even sharper mind. Klaus had flirted, shamelessly. Elijah had just watched, wondering why his own words always failed him around you.

And then you invited him to your place one night, and his tongue wasn't an issue anymore.

It was supposed to be a one-time thing. Just a mutually beneficial arrangement, two adults seeking pleasure. But there was a comfort, an ease between you. It made Elijah feel relaxed, at home. He wanted more of those simple nights, he wanted them all the time.

You set the menu down and leaned back in your chair, sipping your coffee. “By the way…I finished the book you lent me.”

Elijah raised an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised. “Already?”

You smiled, "Two nights ago. Couldn’t put it down.”

He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "And what did you think?"

You mirrored him, leaning forward, and his eyes flicked to your lips. "Well, first, I enjoyed all your little notes in the margins, the underlines, the highlights... The quotes you circled..."

"Oh, you didn't have to read those," he said, looking almost bashful. "Those were just..."

"Private thoughts? Your own interpretation?" You grinned, reaching out to rest your hand on top of his. "I loved that part. I could just imagine you, bent over a book, taking notes. It was cute."

Elijah looked at your hand, the way it felt against his own, and then at you.

"Secondly," you continued. "I liked the story. I just didn't know you were a fan of science fiction."

"Oh, I enjoy a lot of things," he said, turning his hand so he could interlace your fingers, his thumb stroking over your palm. "I especially like watching the sun play over your skin. I've spent many evenings doing so, and yet it still surprises me, just how beautiful you are."

You blinked, the breath leaving you in a rush, and a blush crawled up your neck, heating your face. But you quickly regained your composure, pulling your hand away and reaching for your mug.

"So smooth," you said, shaking your head, taking a sip. "You know your sweet words don't work on me, Mikaelson."

"Really? Because I think you're blushing."

"You wish," you muttered, looking down at your cup, “Well. It’s your book. I should give it back.”

Elijah watched you, thinking. He didn't want the book. But he wanted another excuse to see you, another reason to come back.

"You can drop it off at my place tonight, perhaps after dinner?" He suggested, hoping the invitation sounded casual, easy.

"Hmmm, that sounds a lot like a date," you said, a hint of amusement in your voice.

"No, no. If I were to take you on a date, you would know."

"And what would a date with you entail, Elijah Mikaelson?" You asked, tilting your head to the side, and the look in your eye made his blood heat.

He was considering his answer, when your phone went off. You reached for it, reading the screen, your eyes lit up and you giggled, replying to whoever it was.

"Sorry, it's Nik," you said, glancing up at him.

Elijah’s smile dimmed as you glanced back down at your phone, your thumb brushing across the screen, a soft, private smile on your lips.

“Plans with Niklaus?” he asked, his tone careful.

You looked up, caught, and gave a sheepish shrug. "Uh, yeah. He's picking me up later."

Elijah gave a small nod of his own, retreating a little behind his walls he built so well. “Of course.”

“It’s nothing serious,” you added quickly. “Just… plans.”

“I didn’t ask,” he said. But he didn’t meet your eyes.

You set your phone down slowly, “But you should come over tomorrow. I mean…for the book. If you’re free.”

That pulled his gaze back to you. He tilted his head slightly, something unreadable flickering in his eyes.

“I thought maybe we can go out for drinks?” you offered. “at that little rooftop place you like... We could… talk. Or not talk..."

There it was. Honest. Simple. Vulnerable in that soft, almost invisible way you only ever were with him.

Elijah relaxed slightly. He nodded once, the gesture small but warm. “Tomorrow, then”

You smiled, relief blooming across your face, and Elijah wished he could keep that smile for himself. Bottle it. Drink it slow.

He stood as you did, reaching to help with your coat. His fingers brushed the nape of your neck as he settled the material over your shoulders. You turned, looking up at him, the two of you standing too close.

Elijah didn't move. You could feel his breath, the scent of him. You reached up and gave him a gentle kiss, just the briefest touch of lips.

You started to pull away, but his hand cupped the back of your neck, keeping you there. He kissed you slowly, deeply. Your hands found his chest, your fingers curling into his shirt, and Elijah smiled against your lips, before pulling back.

"See you," you breathed, your eyes on his as you adjusted his tie slightly. Then you turned away and walked out, leaving him standing there, already missing the taste of you.

It was a warm, fragrant night, the kind that clung to skin and whispered of summer before spring had even ended. Music spilled from the bars in bursts of brass and laughter. The streetlamps glowed gold, casting long shadows on the cobblestone streets of the Quarter.

You walked through it all like a secret. Your heels made soft, deliberate clicks against the cobblestone streets. The dark blue dress you wore hugged every curve with unapologetic confidence, short and slinky, catching the occasional eye as you passed. The only sound beside your steps was the quiet pad of paws on concrete.

The dog beside you was massive, tall as your hip, with thick silver fur and gold eyes that gleamed in the dark like coins dropped in water. He walked at your side in perfect lockstep, calm and obedient despite his wild appearance. The collar around his neck glinted in the low light, thick leather, custom-fitted, with silver spikes that looked dangerously sharp.

One man, leaning lazily against the brick wall outside a bar, let his gaze slide up from your legs to the beast at your side.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he slurred, “Jesus! That's a big dog you got there. What breed is that? What are you feeding him?"

The dog turned his head to look at the drunkard. His eyes glittered, and his lip curled back just enough to show the edge of his teeth. The man stared back, a little stunned, until the dog looked away again.

"He feeds himself," you said without looking.

"A-ha. Good joke." He cleared his throat. "Seriously, though. That's one big fuckin' dog. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say he ain't friendly."

You stopped at a crosswalk. You and the dog turned to face him, both of you stared in silence, and the man's smile wavered. He glanced at the dog, then you, then back.

"Have a good night," you said, your smile not reaching your eyes. The beast at your side let out a low, rumbling growl.

The drunkard took the hint. "You, too," he muttered, and disappeared back inside the bar.

"Good boy," you cooed, ruffling the thick fur on the dog's head.

He let out a huff, and began pulling you towards your home the moment the crosswalk switched.

"What's the hurry, hm? Do you need a treat?"

His tail swished behind him as you stepped through the front door and the moment it closed, the dog let out a low, contented growl. The shift was seamless. One second, there was fur. Then next, there was skin.

Klaus stood upright, human again, collar hanging loose around his throat. He was completely naked, the lines of his body on full display, and your eyes traced the curve of his shoulders, his arms, abs, his-

“That man thought I was your pet,” he said, voice rich with mischief.

You turned away from him, unbothered, and locked the door behind you. “You are.”

He chuckled, stepping closer to you as you faced him once more. His eyes darkened as he looked down at you, the gold of his irises still fading into blue. “And what does my witch intend to do with her pet tonight?” he asked, dipping his head until his lips grazed your ear.

You reached out and tugged gently at the ring on his collar.

“Down,” you said with a smile, “And stay.”

He dropped to his knees without hesitation, a wide, feral grin on his face. Your breath hitched as his hands slid up your legs, under the hem of your dress, until his thumbs brushed against the bare skin of your hips. You shivered at the heat of his skin, the strength in his fingers, the hunger in his eyes.

He pushed the dress up slowly, and then suddenly pulled your hips against his face. His lips pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses to your thighs, moving higher and higher with deliberate care. You tangled your fingers in his hair, guiding his head higher and higher, until he nuzzled at your core, inhaling your scent.

You tugged hard on his curly hair, pulling his face away from you. He grinned up at you, dark veins dancing under his eyes.

"Get on the bed," you ordered, and his smile widened.

"I enjoy it when you are demanding, love." He rose to his feet. "Tell me how you want me."

You grabbed the end of the leash that was still looped around his neck and led him to your room.

"On your back," you said, and he obeyed, practically hopping onto the silk sheets.

"What if I would rather have you on your back?" He teased, propping himself up on his elbows and watching you undress with greedy eyes.

"Any girl can be under you, Nik. This is about how I use you."

His pupils dilated, his smile making his canines show. You crawled onto the bed, swinging one leg over him to straddle his waist. He let out a sharp hiss as you pressed yourself against him.

You smiled, looking down at this powerful man, his soft lips and sculpted cheekbones, his wild, golden curls. He looked like some sort of fallen angel, all hard muscle and soft curves, pain and pleasure, a collection of extremes.

"You're a pretty sight, hybrid," you said, running a finger along the ridge of the leather collar, wrapping the strap around your wrist and pulling gently. "What should I do with you?"

You let your hips roll against him, a slow, teasing grind that had him letting out a deep, satisfied hum.

"Anything you want, sweetheart." He let his hands wander up your thighs, his thumbs stroking gently over your skin.

"Oh, really?" You leaned forward, and he groaned as you rocked against him again, dragging the wet heat of your core against his cock. "Would you let me ride you right now, even if it was at my own pace? Even if I came before you? Or didn't let you come at all?"

His grip tightened. You watched his eyes change, the way his pupils shrank as the dark veins danced underneath them. You smiled, satisfied with his response and rolled your hips forward, grinding down against his cock again, enjoying how much you were getting him worked up.

"I could do whatever I wanted to you," you whispered. "Tie you down and tease you until you're begging me. Use a spell to make you come until you're begging me to stop."

He shuddered beneath you, a groan ripping from his throat.

"Would you like that?" You asked, continuing your slow rhythm, tugging hard on his leash.

His eyes flashed a dangerous gold and he pulled your hips down to meet his own, his hands squeezing your ass enthusiastically. 

"Keep talking," he whispered.

"I can feel how hard you are for me, do you want to bury yourself in me, Nik?" You asked, nipping at his ear.

He sighed, pulling your hips closer. "Yes," he breathed.

You brought your mouth close to his, a breath apart. He stared at your lips, tongue darting out to wet his own. You bent down and pressed the softest kiss to the corner of his mouth, before slowly sinking down, letting him fill you inch by inch.

He moaned at the tight, slick heat, your breath catching in your throat as you pressed your forehead to his, finally seated in his lap. He panted, hard against you, fingers digging into the flesh of your hips as he battled against his own impulse to let go, to flip you over and take what he wanted.

You giggled at his desperate expression, planting your palms on his chest, lifting your hips and bringing them back down at a slow, grinding pace.

He whimpered, a guttural, broken sound, and his hips moved on their own, pushing up harder against you, setting his own desperate pace. You let him fuck up into you, your fingers reaching between your thighs to circle your clit.

"Nik," you moaned.

"Shit," he growled, "Say it again."

"Nik," you moaned louder.

You tugged harder on his leash, pulling him upright, chest to chest. He kissed your neck and growled softly.

"My pet," you whispered, nipping at his ear as you worked yourself on his cock, feeling your own climax building in your core. “Do you like being told what to do? To be taken for walks? For me to take what I want from you?”

His arms slid up the skin of your back to knot in your hair. He pulled hard, drawing your head to the side, exposing the line of your neck.

You laughed as he began to nip at the bare skin, sucking and licking, making goosebumps erupt down your body. You pushed him back down roughly, your hands splayed on his chest, bouncing on his cock at a faster, more urgent pace, his face twisting with pleasure at the harsh treatment.

"Good boy," you moaned, his cock stretching and filling and moving just right. "Come for me, Nik."

He held back, his brow furrowed in concentration, his breaths ragged.

"Come for me," you demanded, pulling his collar tight, making him choke for a fraction of a second.

He grabbed your hips and slammed you down, before letting out a strangled groan and spilling inside you. You felt him pulse and throb, and it was all you needed to finally come yourself, spasming and shaking and clenching around him.

When you were both done, you unfastened the collar, tossing it onto the floor, then you rolled off of him, collapsing against the cool silk sheets.

You lay panting beside him for a long moment. The bed was large enough that there was a full foot of distance between you.

"That was new," he said, voice rough and warm, a smile in his words. 

"I was perhaps a little meaner than usual, I didn't hurt you, did I?" You turned your head to look at him, mock concern coloring your voice.

He chuckled, "Not at all my little hex, but if you call me a good boy outside the bedroom, I will drain you dry."

You rolled your eyes and shoved the blankets off of him, slipping out of bed with a stretch. Across the room, your robe waited where you had tossed it earlier, and you shrugged it over your shoulders without looking back.

Klaus remained sprawled across the bed like a painting... tousled, spent, entirely too pleased with himself. You didn't say a word as you padded toward the bathroom.

"Going to wash the sin off already?" he asked, voice rough with sleep and smugness.

You paused in the doorway, glancing at him over your shoulder.

“I have things to do in the morning. You won’t still be here.”

Then you closed the door.

He was still there the next morning...

You stepped out of your bedroom freshly showered and towel-wrapped, only to find Klaus leaning against your kitchen counter, shirt unbuttoned and coffee in hand like he lived there.

You raised an eyebrow. “Why are you still here?”

He grinned over the rim of the mug. “Didn’t want to leave without breakfast.”

You let out a long-suffering sigh, turning away from him. Walking over to the coffee pot to pour yourself a mug.

You felt him come up behind you. His hand skimmed along your waist, then higher, until his fingers brushed the curve of your breast through the towel.

"Nik, we’ve talked about this."

"Talked about what?" he murmured, lips brushing your damp skin.

"Don’t."

"Don’t what?”

You turned to face him, and he didn't pull his hand away, leaving his palm pressed to the swell of your breasts.

"We both know how this works. We're not dating. Don't make it weird." You grabbed his wrist and pushed him away.

"Is it weird if I ask if I can take you out for breakfast?" He asked, leaning back against the wall.

You gave him a flat look, and he laughed.

"Okay, I get it. I won't see you again for weeks, maybe months, and then the next time, it'll be in some dark alleyway or some other sordid rendezvous." He tilted his head to the side, and his hair fell across his forehead, making him look softer than usual. "It's always the same. The witch who has no problem sleeping with the big bad hybrid, but refuses to ever speak to him when she's not on his cock."

"That’s a very cute speech. You can leave now," you said, brushing past him.

He caught your wrist, pulling you back towards him. "Try not to think of me when you see Elijah later," he whispered, his tone vicious.

You yanked your arm free and pointed at the door, glaring. "Leave."

He raised his hands, backing toward the door… the picture of innocence, all smug grin and lazy charm.

“Alright, alright.” He paused in the doorway, smile sharpening. “See you around, my little spellwhore.”

Then he was gone.

{Part Two}

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Often when I post an AI-neutral or AI-positive take on an anti-AI post I get blocked, so I wanted to make my own post to share my thoughts on "Nightshade", the new adversarial data poisoning attack that the Glaze people have come out with.

I've read the paper and here are my takeaways:

Firstly, this is not necessarily or primarily a tool for artists to "coat" their images like Glaze; in fact, Nightshade works best when applied to sort of carefully selected "archetypal" images, ideally ones that were already generated using generative AI using a prompt for the generic concept to be attacked (which is what the authors did in their paper). Also, the image has to be explicitly paired with a specific text caption optimized to have the most impact, which would make it pretty annoying for individual artists to deploy.

While the intent of Nightshade is to have maximum impact with minimal data poisoning, in order to attack a large model there would have to be many thousands of samples in the training data. Obviously if you have a webpage that you created specifically to host a massive gallery poisoned images, that can be fairly easily blacklisted, so you'd have to have a lot of patience and resources in order to hide these enough so they proliferate into the training datasets of major models.

The main use case for this as suggested by the authors is to protect specific copyrights. The example they use is that of Disney specifically releasing a lot of poisoned images of Mickey Mouse to prevent people generating art of him. As a large company like Disney would be more likely to have the resources to seed Nightshade images at scale, this sounds like the most plausible large scale use case for me, even if web artists could crowdsource some sort of similar generic campaign.

Either way, the optimal use case of "large organization repeatedly using generative AI models to create images, then running through another resource heavy AI model to corrupt them, then hiding them on the open web, to protect specific concepts and copyrights" doesn't sound like the big win for freedom of expression that people are going to pretend it is. This is the case for a lot of discussion around AI and I wish people would stop flagwaving for corporate copyright protections, but whatever.

The panic about AI resource use in terms of power/water is mostly bunk (AI training is done once per large model, and in terms of industrial production processes, using a single airliner flight's worth of carbon output for an industrial model that can then be used indefinitely to do useful work seems like a small fry in comparison to all the other nonsense that humanity wastes power on). However, given that deploying this at scale would be a huge compute sink, it's ironic to see anti-AI activists for that is a talking point hyping this up so much.

In terms of actual attack effectiveness; like Glaze, this once again relies on analysis of the feature space of current public models such as Stable Diffusion. This means that effectiveness is reduced on other models with differing architectures and training sets. However, also like Glaze, it looks like the overall "world feature space" that generative models fit to is generalisable enough that this attack will work across models.

That means that if this does get deployed at scale, it could definitely fuck with a lot of current systems. That said, once again, it'd likely have a bigger effect on indie and open source generation projects than the massive corporate monoliths who are probably working to secure proprietary data sets, like I believe Adobe Firefly did. I don't like how these attacks concentrate the power up.

The generalisation of the attack doesn't mean that this can't be defended against, but it does mean that you'd likely need to invest in bespoke measures; e.g. specifically training a detector on a large dataset of Nightshade poison in order to filter them out, spending more time and labour curating your input dataset, or designing radically different architectures that don't produce a comparably similar virtual feature space. I.e. the effect of this being used at scale wouldn't eliminate "AI art", but it could potentially cause a headache for people all around and limit accessibility for hobbyists (although presumably curated datasets would trickle down eventually).

All in all a bit of a dick move that will make things harder for people in general, but I suppose that's the point, and what people who want to deploy this at scale are aiming for. I suppose with public data scraping that sort of thing is fair game I guess.

Additionally, since making my first reply I've had a look at their website:

Used responsibly, Nightshade can help deter model trainers who disregard copyrights, opt-out lists, and do-not-scrape/robots.txt directives. It does not rely on the kindness of model trainers, but instead associates a small incremental price on each piece of data scraped and trained without authorization. Nightshade's goal is not to break models, but to increase the cost of training on unlicensed data, such that licensing images from their creators becomes a viable alternative.

Once again we see that the intended impact of Nightshade is not to eliminate generative AI but to make it infeasible for models to be created and trained by without a corporate money-bag to pay licensing fees for guaranteed clean data. I generally feel that this focuses power upwards and is overall a bad move. If anything, this sort of model, where only large corporations can create and control AI tools, will do nothing to help counter the economic displacement without worker protection that is the real issue with AI systems deployment, but will exacerbate the problem of the benefits of those systems being more constrained to said large corporations.

Kinda sucks how that gets pushed through by lying to small artists about the importance of copyright law for their own small-scale works (ignoring the fact that processing derived metadata from web images is pretty damn clearly a fair use application).

[gallusrostromegalus]

What extension adds those hand buttons to the tumblr post if you don't mind me asking

It's XkitrRewritten for Firefox! I extremely recommend it for anyone using Tumblr through a browser. and that your browser should be Firefox.

Those are the "Block this post specifically from my feed" and "Block notes from this post specifically from my activity page" toggles, but it also includes features like:

A robust Tag-blocker that filters posts that even have the blocked word in the text or image descriptions

Timestamps

Acessability tools like freezing gifs until they're hovered over, highlighted links and regular-width scrollbars

An additional adblocker that blocks out Tumblr's in-house nonsense too

The old, more user-friendly search function

Open links in New Tab

Queue Management tools

Additional privacy managment tools

SO MANY dashboard management tools no for real get NewXkit and toggle it to your preferences, it's like going from a golf cart to a cadillac.

AN ASKS OUTBOX I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MANY TIME

You can get the NewXkit add-on for firefox in the browser extensions, you can download Firefox and import all your bookmarks, history and other stuff from chrome HERE. The browser and extensions are totally free and will make your online experience so much better.

For those of us that already have it, Maybe spare a few bucks for the nice lady who built the best tool ever?

[iamgaygaygay]

Alright so two days ago my battery DRAINED like crazy. Like, it was almost dead by 4 pm where it usually has at LEAST 50%, but usually more than 60%. This is after the UI 7.0 update, universally hated.

Bonus Note: to turn off the stupid separate notifications/other panel thing, swipe down on the notification bar → click the edit button (the pencil) → click "panel settings" (top left) → change from "separate" to "together"

I went into my battery to see what was draining it...

Lo and behold, it's AI shit that nobody wants ✨

BUT don't panic, I figured out how to fix it! (Cut here so it doesn't clog up feeds) :)

You need to go to settings → apps and then click the filter button (see below if you don't know where it is, drawn very shakily in blue) and select "Show system apps"

To find our culprit, scroll down to the "P" apps, and click on "Personal Data Intelligence". Here's where it's draining your battery: the permissions that it automatically accesses for no reason but to (presumably) put AI stuff/options on there!

Clear the data first, I don't know if it actually did something but it made me feel better.

Now deny all of the permissions it has access to. It's going to show a pop up every time claiming that features of your device (AI features) won't work as intended and you're going to click "deny anyway" for ALL of them.

I don't know if it affected anything, but I also: blocked notifications, set default to other apps so that it wouldn't open, turned off background data usage (in the Mobile Data section)

Also, don't forget to make sure it can't change your system settings!! I don't know what it wants to change, but it might turn the permissions back on and continue draining your battery if you allow it to change system settings.

While you can't do it with this, with other apps you can change the battery usage to "restricted", meaning it will not run in the background (as much) and use less battery!

Here's the results from today, I have used it less than yesterday but it didn't even show up on the battery usage list so I think I fixed it!!

I've also done this process and/or deactivated (bolded ones are for sure AI or similar stuff) (these are my personal preference): AI Wallpaper, Android System Intelligence, Avatar Editor, Avatar Stickers, Bixby, Bixby Vision, Customization Service, Drawing Assist, Galaxy Avatar, Galaxy editing service, Galaxy Themes Service, Game Booster, Game Optimizing Service, Gaming Hub, Gemini, Google Location History, Google Play Services for AR, Hey Google Hotword, all of the "Knox" stuff, LiveEffectService, MDMApp, Meet Installer, Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager, Meta Services, MhsAiService, Modes and Routines, OK Google Hotword, Recommended Apps, Reminder, Samsung Checkout, Samsung Cloud, Samsung Cloud Assistant, Samsung Editing Assets, Samsung Intelligence Voice Services, Samsung Internet, everything with "Smart" in the beginning of the title, Video Effects, Voice Wake-Up, aaaaand WiFiAiService

Please let me know if there are any other AI apps or annoying system apps that I can turn off that I missed!

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Blocking Ads on Mobile Devices

Blocking ads on our phones is way harder than it should be so I figured I'd make some recommendations. These are not the only options out there, just the ones that I know and have used.

Please note that browser-level and system-level adblocking are complementary; you'll have the best experience if you use both of them together as they each block different things in different places. If you want a basic idea of how effective your combined adblocking setup is, you can visit this website in your mobile browser.

Lastly, there is some additional advice/info under the readmore if you're curious (EDIT: updated March 2025 to add more adblocking options for iOS and to add info about sideloading altered versions of social media apps that don't contain ads on Android and iOS).

Android

Browser-Level

uBlock Origin (for Firefox)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard

Blokada 5 (completely free version) OR Blokada 6 (has some newer features but they require a subscription)

iPhone/iPad

Browser-Level

AdGuard (Safari extension; free for basic browser-level blocking, requires a subscription or one time purchase of “lifetime” license for custom filters)

1Blocker (Safari extension from an indie developer; can enable one built-in or custom filter list for free, requires a subscription or one time purchase of “lifetime” license for enabling multiple filter lists and updating filter lists to the latest version automatically)

Wipr 2 (one time purchase from indie developer; simplest option to use, but also the least configurable. Best if you are looking for one time set and forget and don’t need any custom filters. Note that it does not have a system-level blocking option)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard (requires subscription or one time purchase of “lifetime” license for system-level blocking)

1Blocker (can activate without a subscription, but requires subscription or one time purchase of “lifetime” license to enable system-level blocking AND browser-level blocking simultaneously)

AdGuard DNS only (this is free and does not require the AdGuard app, BUT I would only recommend it for advanced users, as you can't easily turn it off like you can with the app. Credit to this Reddit thread for the DNS profile)

Some additional info: browser-level blocking is a browser addon or extension, like you might be used to from a desktop computer. This inspects the HTML code returned by websites and searches for patterns that identify the presence of an ad or other annoyance (popup videos, cookie agreements, etc.). System-level blocking is almost always DNS-based. Basically whenever an app asks your phone's OS to make a connection to a website that is known for serving ads, the system-level blocker replies "sorry, I don't know her 🤷‍♂️💅" and the ad doesn't get downloaded. This works in most places, not just a browser, but be warned that it might make your battery drain a little faster depending on the app/setup.

Each of those types of blocking has strengths and weaknesses. System-level DNS blocking blocks ads in all apps, but companies that own advertising networks AND the websites those ads are served on can combine their services into the same domain to render DNS blocking useless; you can’t block ads served by Facebook/Meta domains without also blocking all of Facebook and Instagram as well because they made sure their ads are served from the same domain as all the user posts you actually want to see. Similarly, browser-level blocking can recognize ads by appearance and content, regardless of what domain they’re served from, so it can block them on Instagram and Facebook. However, it needs to be able to inspect the content being loaded in order to look for ads, and there’s no way to do that in non-browser apps. That’s why using both together will get you the best results.

These limitations do mean that you can’t block ads in the Facebook or Instagram apps, unfortunately, only in the website versions of them visited in your browser. It also means ads served by meta’s/facebook’s ad network in other apps can’t be blocked either (unless you're one of the rare beasts who doesn't use facebook or instagram or threads, in which case feel free to blacklist all Meta/FB domains and watch your ads disappear 😍; I'm jealous and in awe of you lol).

One note: some apps may behave unpredictably when they can't download ads. For example, the Tumblr app has big black spaces where the ads are, and sometimes those spaces collapse as you scroll past them and it messes up scrolling for a few seconds (UPDATE: looks like the scrolling issue may have actually been a Tumblr bug that they have now fixed, at least on iOS). Still way less annoying than getting ads for Draco Malfoy seduction roleplay AI chatbots imo though. And honestly *most* apps handle this fairly gracefully, like a mobile game I play just throws error messages like "ad is not ready" and then continues like normal.

One final note: on Android, you may actually be able to find hacked versions of Meta’s apps that have the ad frameworks removed. In some cases they are a little janky (unsurprisingly, apps don’t always take kindly to having some of their innards ripped out by a third-party), and they are often out of date. BUT in return you get an Instagram app with no ads whatsoever, and some of them even add additional features like buttons for saving IG videos and photos to your phone. However, use these apps at your own risk, as there is functionally no way to validate the code that the third-parties have added or removed from the app. Example altered IG app (I have not vetted this altered app, it's just a popular option): link.

It is technically possible to install altered apps on iOS as well, but Apple makes it much, much harder to do (unless you are jailbroken, which is a whole different ballgame). I'm not going to cover sideloading or jailbreaking here because even I as a very techy person eventually grew tired of messing with it or having to pay for it. If you're interested you can read more about the different ways to do sideloading on iOS here.

[kotaka-kun]

another short mattfoggy fic rec list

because what the actual fuck was that

Through the Looking Glass by 94BottlesOfSnapple

39,935 words | rated T

Foggy Nelson is in love with Matt Murdock, but he knows it's not going anywhere -- Matt's straight. And that's fine! But when another Matt and Foggy pop into the middle of Foggy's apartment one night, well, things change. This older, redheaded Matt turns out to be... A lot more receptive. Apparently, he's in love with his own Foggy, and it's not going anywhere for him either. (aka: the one where 616!Matt and Netflix!Foggy already know they're bi and in love with their best friend, and 616!Foggy and Netflix!Matt figure it out along the way)

Even though I've never actually read the comics, I enjoyed this fic so much bc it's really just got everything that I love about Daredevil and mattfoggy as a ship -- humor, tension, reconciliation, yearning, (not actually) unrequited love, etc. Not to mention that I'm also a huge sucker for both the trope of two people finding their way to one another in any (and every) universe, but also I love me a crackfic!

I Decided This by patster223

5,298 words | rated T

“I’m contributing yet another lovely sign to our office,” Foggy says, brandishing the finished product with a flourish. Matt can’t see the sign, but he can probably sense the flourish, which is what matters. “It says, ‘It has been ‘0’ days since Matt made an idiotic decision.’” “Doesn’t seem like it will inspire much trust from our clients.” What the sign instead inspires: debates, understanding, a patented Murdock-level guilt trip, ice cream celebrations, a kiss, and perhaps even a way to finally move forward.

I love the idea of Foggy using the whiteboard as a means of keeping track of if Matt needs a check-in. Because Matt absolutely needs it. One of my favorite fics that touches on a way that Matt is still actually blind despite his super senses.

The Vigilantes' Boyfriend Support Group by phonecallfromgod

4,865 words | rated T

The worst part of it was, Foggy’d been having a perfectly pleasant day before he’d woken up blindfolded and tied to a chair. Or Foggy makes an unlikely friend in an unlikely place and they bond over some very specific shared life experience.

This is just a fun cute fic that also features Peter/Ned and the parallels between them and mattfoggy are just too good. Ned being so blasé about the situation they find themselves in is also fantastic and I love them all.

Look Around, It's You I Can't Replace by Fickle_Obsessions

12,123 words | rated E

Matt handles his separation from Foggy after the breakup of Nelson and Murdock a bit less well than he anticipated. As in he doesn't really handle it at all.

A fic that I honestly consider canon at this point. Matt not being able to handle the separation from Foggy is so beautifully and painfully in character, and I love it.

no single bite could satisfy by jk_rockin

5,963 words | rated E

"I can feed myself," Matt says defensively. "I'm not a child, Foggy." "And this spoon isn't really an airplane, but I'm willing to pretend if you are," says Foggy, waggling the spoon, and sighing when Matt frowns. "Okay, no airplane, but I made you soup, and you're going to eat it without getting it all over yourself. Be grateful it's not in a sippy cup." "A sippy cup wouldn't boss me around," Matt grumbles, but he opens his mouth anyway, and lets Foggy guide the spoon to his lips.

A smutty fic that's so sweet I could die. This fic satiated something in me, tbh. A hunger I didn't know I had.

Day Forty-Seven by Marchling

17,514 words | rated M

“Stop it with the heartbeat thing, Matt. Seriously, it’s creepy. And invasive. And disrespectful.” He wasn’t ever trying to be creepy about it. It wasn’t something he even paid much attention to anymore. He was always hyper-aware of Foggy’s heartbeat. He used it to ground himself, to block out the rest of the input he got and keep himself from being overwhelmed. Finding ways to filter out all the input his senses bombarded him with was vital to his sanity, to his ability to function and to any chance of sleep he had. It helped, Foggy helped, even when he didn’t know it. But now he did know and he didn’t like it. He wanted Matt to stop, so that was what he would try to do. Things were so tenuous between them, Matt knew from the way Foggy’s voice sounded when he said it that if Matt didn’t stop it would drive the rift between them impossibly and maybe even irrevocably deeper. He loved Foggy too much to let that happen – he loved Foggy too much in general.

A fun take on Matt trying to deal with the aftermath of Foggy finding out about his senses, and his desperation to do whatever he has to to make sure Foggy stays. Because of course Matt uses Foggy's sounds as an anchor, and of course he wouldn't think to try to explain it to Foggy.

Just Wanna Take Him Home by lady_ragnell

12,918 words | rated T

Foggy mostly takes little old ladies to parties doing escort jobs, which he's fine with. Getting hired to spend two hours hugging a lawyer is kind of a departure. He should have known it would all get complicated fast.

A classic prostitute!Foggy premise that I love dearly bc all Matt wants (needs) are cuddles and nice, chill, mostly-one-sided conversations. There's just something so fun about AUs where Matt and Foggy missed each other at Columbia but still find their way to each other in the end.

I'm gonna spend my weekend rereading all of these, probably.

[wip]

Please make it possible to hide users' posts without blocking them. Like, in cases where a person hasn't done anything wrong to be blocked, but you just don't like their posts.

Answer: Hello, @deithwen!

As it turns out, we’ve received this feature request a lot over the years. Usually, it comes in as wanting the ability to “mute” other blogs on Tumblr. While we would love to build it, we’ve balked at it a bit because of its technical and product complexity. Let us explain what that means:

In terms of technical complexity, our current blocking feature is closest to how “muting” would work. Our current blocking feature may seem simple, but it’s very complex because of how big Tumblr is. Every time we fetch a list of blogs for you or anyone on Tumblr, we have to also fetch the list of who you’re blocking, and who’s blocking you, and filter out anyone with that block relationship. This mapping of who’s-blocking-who is stored in a directional way right now, so the “cost” of loading that list gets higher the more people you’re blocking and the more people who are blocking you. If you’re blocking 1,000 blogs, we have to check that list a lot. If you’re being blocked by 1,000 blogs, that’s another big list to check against.

In technical terms, this is a “many-to-many” relationship, which is almost always incredibly difficult to manage while not degrading the experience of using a platform like Tumblr. The more people who are blocking, the harder it is to store those lists in a way that’s easy to check, but we’re working on making it smoother. The vast majority of people don’t block many others, if at all, so it’s never been a huge problem. But the outliers who block thousands of others (or are blocked by thousands of others) can degrade performance for everyone over enough time.

Adding muting would throw on top of that yet another list of blogs to check, increasing the complexity of something that’s already pretty complex. It helps that muting would be one-directional and not bi-directional (as in, it doesn’t matter who’s muting you), but, as that list of muted blogs grows, your experience may degrade further. So we’d need to solve for that, which is definitely doable. It would just take time—and lots of it.

And, as a product, Tumblr is already pretty confusing to people trying to figure out what “blocking” means already, as well as our other filtering options. Up until fairly recently, blocking was almost entirely one-directional, the opposite way you’d expect: blocking made it so the blocked person couldn’t see you, not that you couldn’t see them. We’ve been updating blocking to work both ways instead, which is more common on social media these days. Similarly, the options to filter tags versus content cause a lot of confusion because they don’t work the same way as each other.

So if we wanted to add another filtering option to that mix, “muting” blogs, we’d need to be conscious of how all of those options work together—and are confusing in context with each other. We should really clean up that experience to be more streamlined and simple, not more complex. And I didn’t even mention the oddity of how different settings apply to your primary blog versus your sideblogs if you have more than one blog!

Taken together, it is a great idea for us to clean all of this up, improve our existing options here, and add “muting” for even more control and granularity. Sadly, however, it just isn’t high enough on our list of priorities to tackle anytime soon. We don’t want to simply tack on muting for the sake of doing it—we want to do a better job than that. I hope that makes sense!

Thanks for your question. It was an important one to address. If anything should change here, you will get news through the usual channels: here at WIP, or at @changes.