#online payment problems

[rightnewshindi]

UPI डाउन: 26 मार्च को क्यों ठप हुईं डिजिटल पेमेंट सेवाएं, अब क्या है ताजा अपडेट? #News #BreakingNews #LatestNews #CurrentNews #HindiNews

[aceteling]

the problem that makes you think 'i don't want to work' isn't that you're a woman! it's capitalism!

[seumyo]

good evening, eumy army..

[professorspork]

idk how to word this properly but wrt the fanfic thing you reblogged earlier. Why do fanfic writers have such different expectations than any other content hosting platform?

Like lets take youtube as a point of comparison, Engagement like comments and likes largely exists to boost the works place in algorithm, thats why youtubers put in calls to action and other engament bait. Few with decent reach even read the comments and the audience shouldnt try to develop any weird parasocial relationship with the youtuber. Fanfic authors ask for likes (kudos, because the websites gotta use nonstandard language for some reason) and comments despite them not having any impact on an algorithm, and seem to want the audience to try and develop a relationship with the author based on tumblr posts like that one.

Why the radical difference in behaviour away from the norm? And honestly with all the (usually) metaphorical blood spilled online about parasociality why are authors really surprised that the audience tries to keep their distance as is best practice with any other content producer?

okay I am going to answer this as kindly and as calmly as I can and try to assume that you are asking this in good faith. because my friend, the fact that you feel the need to ask is, to me, The Problem.

[this is, for the record, in response to this post]

fanfiction writers are not *posting content.* (I also have reservations about engaging with the term "content producer" or "content creator" but let's put that aside for now, I'll circle back to it.) you say "they seem to want the audience to try and develop a relationship with the author" as though it is strange, off-putting, and incomprehensible to you, when in fact that is the point of writing fanfiction. it is a way of participating in fandom. it is a way of building community and exchanging ideas and becoming closer with people.

if authors wanted to solely ~generate content~ that would get them attention (?? to what end, the dynamic you have described seems to equate algorithmic supremacy as winning for winning's sake, as though all anyone wants to do is BUILD an audience without ENGAGING with them, which I cannot fathom but let's pretend for a moment that is, in fact, true) then like. if that were the case why on earth would they choose a medium in which they categorically cannot succeed and profit, because it isn't their IP?

you are equating two things that are not at all the same thing. to the degree that parasocial relationships are to be avoided, and "that person is not trying to be your friend they are trying to entertain you, please respect their boundaries" is a real dynamic -- which it is!! -- like. you have to understand that the reason that is true for the people of whom it is true is because it is their JOB. they are storytellers by profession, and they are either through direct payment, or sponsorship, or advertising, or through some other means, profiting off of your attention. i don't say this to be dismissive, many wonderful artists and actors and comedians and any number of a thousand things that i enjoy very much go this route but they do so as a *career choice.* and so when you violate the public/private boundary with them, you are presuming to know a Person rather than their Worksona. the people who work at Dropout or who stream their actual play tabletop games or who broadcast on TikTok or YouTube are inviting me to feel like i know them to the degree to which that helps them succeed in their medium and at their craft, but there MUST be a mutual understanding that that's a feeling, not a fact.

however.

a fanfiction writer is not an influencer, not a professional, and is not looking to garner "success." there is no share of audience we are trying to gain for gain's sake, because we are not competition with one another, because there is nothing to win other than the pleasure of each other's company. we are doing this for no other reason than the love of the game; because we have things we want desperately to say about these worlds, these characters, these dynamics, and because we *want more than anything to know we are not alone in our thoughts and feelings.* fanfiction is a bid for interaction, engagement, attention, and consideration. it is not meant to be consumed and then moved on from because we are NOT paid for our work, nor do we want to be. the reward we seek is "attention," but attention as in CONVERSATION, not attention as in clicks. we are not IN this for profit, or for number-go-up. there is no such thing: legally there cannot be. we are in this because we want to be seen and known.

like. please understand. i am now married to someone i met because of mutual comments on fanfiction. our close friend and roommate, with whom i have cohabitated for over a decade now, is someone I met because of mutual comments on fanfiction and livejournal posts. that is my household. beyond my household, the vast majority of my closest personal friends are people with whom I built relationships in this way.

you ask why fanfiction writers want THIS and not "the norm," but the idea of everything being built to cater to an algorithm to continue to build clout, as though the only method of reaching people is Distant Overlord Creator and Passive Receptive Audience being "the norm" is EXTREMELY NEW. this is not how it has always been!! please think of the writers of zines in a pre-internet fandom, using paper and glue and xerox to try and meet like-minded people in a world that was designed for you to only ever meet people in person, by happenstance, in your own hometown. imagine the writers of the early internet, building webrings from scratch to CREATE a community to find each other, despite distance. imagine livejournal groups, forums, and -- yes, indeed, of course -- comment threads IN STORIES -- as places where people go to *converse.* in the past, we had an entire Type Of Guy that everyone knew about, the BNF ("Big Name Fan") whose existence had to be described via meme because it was SO DIFFERENT THAN THE NORM. treating fellow fans like celebrities or people too cool for the regular kids to know was an OUTLIER, and one commonly understood to lead to toxicity.

in the past, I have likened writing fanfiction to echolocation. i am not screaming because I like hearing the sound of my own voice, though i can and do find my voice beautiful. i am screaming so that the vibrations can bounce back to me and show me the world. the purpose is in the feedback. otherwise it is just noise.

does this make any sense? can you see, when i describe it that way, why an ask like yours makes me feel despair, because it makes us all sound so horribly separate from one another?

perhaps I will try another metaphor:

a professional chef who runs a restaurant will not have her feelings hurt if you never fight your way into the kitchen to personally tell her how much you enjoyed the meal. that would, indeed, violate a boundary. professional kitchens are a place of work, and you have already showed her you enjoyed the meal by paying for it, or by perhaps spreading your enjoyment by word of mouth to your friends so they, too, can have good meals. you show your appreciation by continuing to come back. if a bunch of people sitting around randomly happen to have a conversation about how much they love the food, it wouldn't hurt that chef's feelings to not be included in the conversation. however: EVEN IN THIS INSTANCE, it is ADVISABLE AND APPROPRIATE to leave a good review! you might post about how much you like this restaurant on Yelp, and it would probably make the chef feel great to see those positive comments. but the chef doesn't NEED them, because the chef is, again, *also being paid to cook.* that's why she started the restaurant, to be paid to cook!

i am not being paid to cook.

i am at home in my own kitchen, making things for a community potluck where i hope everyone will bring something we can all enjoy together. some people at the potluck are better bakers, some better cooks; some can't cook at all but are great at logistics and make sure there's enough napkins for everyone; some people come just to enjoy the food, because that's what the party is for. and if I, as this enthusiast chef who made something from my heart for this reason alone, learned after the fact that a bunch of people got together in the parking lot to rave about my dish but no one of them had ever bothered to tell me while I sat alone at my table all night, occasionally seeing people come by to pick up a plate but never saying anything to me -- of course that would bother me, because I am not otherwise profiting off the labor I put in. this is not a bid to be paid, because if someone WERE to say "hey, great cake!! here's five bucks for a slice" i would say no, friend, that is not the point and give them the money back. i'm not trying to Get Mine. I am in it to see the look on your face. I'm in it so you can tell me what about it moved you, so that I can say back what moved me to make it in the first place. so we can TALK about it.

because what happened in the first place is this: one time I had a cake whose sweetness, richness, flavor, intensity, and composition moved me so much that I *taught myself to bake.* so I could see how much vanilla and sugar was too much, so I could learn how to make things rise instead of fall flat, so I could even better appreciate the original cake by seeing for myself the effort and talent and inspiration that goes into making one even half as good.

learning to do so is a satisfying accomplishment in and of itself, yes.

but I also did it because at the end of the day we should EAT the cake. and it's a lonely thing, to eat alone when a meal was always designed and intended to be shared.

so, to answer your last question: i'm not surprised, i'm just sad. because somehow two things that were never meant to be seen as the same have been labeled "content," and thus identical. and it diminishes both the things that ARE intended to be paid for AND the things that are not, because it removes any sense of intimacy or meaning from the work.

i hope you know i'm not mad at you for asking. but i'm frustrated we've come to live in a world where the question needs to be asked, because the answers are no longer intuitively obvious because we're so siloed.

[dlxxv-vetted-donations]

Tawfik needs to buy tent covers and other necessities.

My other promos

Updated: Nov 29

Member(s): @dev-tawfik (current), @devtawfik (shadowbanned), @tawfikblog, @90-tawfik (shadowbanned)

Verification: @/90-ghost

Payment methods:

Gfm for education: PayPal, Venmo, Google Pay, credit/debit (donation match $10 USD). Focus on Kofi instead until at least mid-December

Kofi for survival (mentioned here): PayPal, credit/debit. Focus on this until at least mid-December

Tawfik is a Palestinian currently taking online classes at an Egyptian university. His Kofi campaign needs to reach $3,000 to buy tent covers and other necessities for his family (see here). Any additional funds in the gfm and Kofi will go towards the next semester's payments and family care respectively.

More info:

Now he is focusing on getting his Kofi to $3,000 (fees included) to get his family tent covers and other survival needs. See here.

Nov 27: Tawfik has reached the Kofi goal to buy flu medication and a vaccine, so we are now focusing entirely on the gfm. His goal of $10,050 by Nov 28 (hard deadline) for his international student fees were also reached on the same day.

He plans to fundraise for this year's remaining academic fees (which will be significantly less than what we already raised), and hopes that the war will end by the next year so he can get a job and pay himself.

Update Nov 20: More details here. Tawfik has fallen ill with the flu and won't be online much. He needs USD $228 (fees included) for medications and a vaccine. This requires him to reach 71% of his goal on Kofi (which is specifically for non-education related needs). At the same time, he needs $10,050 in his gfm by Nov 28 to pay off his international student fees.

Update Nov 15: We reached the halfway goal for the international student fee of USD $9,050 by Nov 15. Now going for the full fee of $10,050 by Nov 28.

Update Nov 6:

Tawfik got an extension to Nov 30 to pay the international fee. New goals of USD $9,050 by Nov 15 and $10,050 by Nov 28 (to account for transfer time) were set. The final goal was reduced with some backup money. Grades will be withheld until payment is made.

Update Nov 5:

Currently, it seems impossible to raise the required funds ($10,050 - $10,150) by Nov 13. Tawfik has emailed his school to negotiate for more time.

Update Oct 29:

Now @dev-tawfik.

The next goal was $9,250 to pay off international student fees (due Nov 13, see math section below) that Tawfik just found out about.

The family urgently needed $1,000 for healthy food (Tawfik's father has health problems and needs vegetables).

Tawfik initially wanted to use the gfm money for education only as promised, but had to add the sum to the campaign goal (a total of $10,250) because the Kofi he made solely for his family wasn't receiving many donations early on.

There were some issues with the Kofi taking a few weeks to transfer funds, but that's been resolved. It is now for support of Tawfik's family and transfers money relatively quickly.

From Oct 17-27, we fundraised to $7,200 to buy some food for the family. This food money will last roughly 2 weeks.

We are focusing back on international student fees and set a short-term goal of $8,862 in the campaign by Nov 3. There will be another small goal set after this date.

We need roughly $10,050 (an estimate) in the campaign by Nov 13 (hard deadline). Again, this isn't a concrete number and involves some usage of Tawfik's backup money.

Campaign details:

Tawfik is a software engineering student in Palestine trying to continue his education by enrolling in online classes at an Egyptian university.

He already raised roughly USD $2,500 in late July through a now closed Paypal campaign and paid the school as an application and reservation fee. This is nonrefundable.

We fundraised $4,113 (5200 - 1087) and paid off his tuition for the year on Oct 7

The gfm is meant for education only. To support the family, donate to the Kofi. It no longer faces issues with long transfer times.

Tawfik has some extra leftover funds from paying off the tuition, but it isn't much and is to be used for emergencies.

Oct 17: Tawfik bought his textbooks ($800 incl fees → $6,000 in campaign) and got a small discount for being Palestinian. This money saved went into his emergency funds.

Math:

Please let me know if I screwed up the calculation somewhere.

The transfer fee is assumed to be ~$50 per $600 earned. My bad in earlier calculations where I set it after the bank fee rather than before.

Textbooks: base $600

Funds left after:

Gfm for 40 donations: 570.6

~$50 transfer fee: 520.13

12% Bank fee: 458.13

To cover the funds lost to fees, we need an extra $200 (assumed 15 donations). After fees on that, it's only $166 (enough to cover the short-term goal)

So we need 600 + 200 = $800 for the textbooks.

This is $6,000 in the campaign.

Slightly outdated: International student fees: base $2,423

900£ = USD $1,180.93

60k EGP = USD $1,241.29

Funds left after:

Gfm fees for 160 donations: 2304.74

Transfer fee, ~$200: 2,104.74

12% Bank fee: 1852.17

To cover the funds lost to fees, we need an extra $800 (assumed 55 donations). After fees on that, it's only $625 (enough to cover the short-term goal)

So we need 2423 + 800 = $3,223 for the international student fee.

This is $9,223 10,223 in the campaign, rounded up to $ 9,250 10,250

The rate of ~$100 daily is sufficient to get us to this goal before the deadline of Nov 13 (this accounts for the 2 days needed for transfers)

[bundlebrent]

My boss better not start with me today. I have a few hours before I’m going in but I’m already on the edge emotion wise already. It’s been a tough week and I just need to make it until 5 without snapping but if he starts going on about things that are not my fault yet blaming me for them I don’t think I will

[luwha]

LMAO so, recently someone tried to SCAM me, so i'll show you what happened and the telltales of it being a scam.

This one is quite obvious but i know people who are just starting their artist careers and might not have experiece.

Follow the thread:

🚩#1: They pick your most famous/Popular art as reference. They don't know what you actually sell.

🚩#2: They will pick a random popular character. They're not roleplayers or anything. They're not here for the art in any level

You ask me, what are the odds they really like Goku? Oh, well, you'll see. At this point i check their profile for anythign that might indicate it, but as you'll see you won't have to.

🚩#3: They say they saw my ToS. On it i state i only work with paypal and google forms.

🚩#4: Random issue with payment method. They might have a real problem with it, but see; they'll never ever accept any other payment method, such as Zelle, CashApp, Payoneer, Ko-fi, etc.

I already knew this drill so, let's continue.

🚩#5: I love playing dumb lmao. Anyway, this scam revolves on them either sending you "too much money" and asking it back or something like it. I won't be following through because i know it'll be annoying.

BE ADAMANT WITH YOUR METHODS. Do NOT EVER bend them for randos.

🚩#6: They're so ready with the info on how the payment works it's fucking funny.

The reason I PERSONALLY use PayPal INVOICES (no any other payment within paypal) is that they're safe for both me and my client. My rules are stated clearly.

MAKE A ToS I BEG YOU YOUNG ARTIST

🚩#7: They're not even a good scammer lmao they REFUSE to go on my PROFILE to get a link or read anything.

I use Forms because it collects the client requests and it's easier for me to read it all in one place. It ALSO makes scammers bored.

🚩#8: They're so disinterested on the art they don't care for posing, vibes, colors, nothing. Again, they're NOT here for art. That's hilarious.

🚩#8: Same as above. They don't care for posing or anything.

On my art they link me, i have a vampire almost staking himself in a state of euphoria.

IMAGINE VAMPIRE GOKU STAKING HIMSELF THAT'S SO FUCKIGN FUNNY MY BRO, THINK YOUR SCAM THROUGH MAYBE

🚩#9: They will price your own work for you. And they'll overshot what we, smaller artists, charge for it.

They'll overshot by a lot.

They want you to be impressed and showing "generosity" usually gets people who need monay into risky situations. That's just plain cruel.

🚩#9: Same as above. Over generosity and eagerness to pay.

They're not even with the sketch, this haven't been an hour, they don't have any work form me but OH GOD they're SO READY to pay you NEED TO KNOW they WANTS TO PAY YOU SO BAD

Lmao yeah it's working out ❤️

THIS ONE IS JUST HILARIOUS BRO I CAN'T EVEN.

ANYWAY let's continue

🚩#10: They don't know me. They don't follow me. They broke every rule on my ToS. They're making me go through a payment method i am unfamiliar and don't use.

They don't care for my process. They're not interested on my sketch.

BE. ADAMANT. ABOUT. YOUR. RULES. AND. PROCESS.

Now, for the beautiful closure of this:

Have a ToS. Don't bend the rules for randos.

Use Invoices. Be sure you're safe.

Use forms if you'd like. Requests through DM and Discord ARE COMMON FOR OTHER ARTISTS. I personally don't like it, i have ADHD.

Being an artist on an online space is dangerous. If you need help, poke an artist you know, see how they operate and if it fits you. Most of them would help you.

🚩#11: goku isn't even on their icon 😭

This is the account that tried to scam me.

#art is life ❤️

[transgenderjihadist]

i hate that i had to make my insta private for my safety bc it’s negatively impacting my sibling’s fundraiser.

[studentofetherium]

the most frustrating thing is that there's not really any solution to this other than to continue using the same payment processors that are enforcing these internet-wide bans. collectively, paypal, visa, mastercard, and so on, all share a monopoly where there aren't other options except for turning to crypto (and if everyone interested in anything remotely subversive online has to turn to crypto, then that's a massive problem on its own)

[4chan]

Still standing

On the afternoon of April 14th, a hacker using a UK IP address exploited an out-of-date software package on one of 4chan's servers, via a bogus PDF upload. With this entry point, they were eventually able to gain access to one of 4chan's servers, including database access and access to our own administrative dashboard. The hacker spent several hours exfiltrating database tables and much of 4chan's source code. When they had finished downloading what they wanted, they began to vandalize 4chan at which point moderators became aware and 4chan's servers were halted, preventing further access.

Over the following days, 4chan's development team surveyed the damage, which to be frank, was catastrophic. While not all of our servers were breached, the most important one was, and it was due to simply not updating old operating systems and code in a timely fashion. Ultimately this problem was caused by having insufficient skilled man-hours available to update our code and infrastructure, and being starved of money for years by advertisers, payment providers, and service providers who had succumbed to external pressure campaigns.

We had begun a process of speccing new servers in late 2023. As many have suspected, until that time 4chan had been running on a set of servers purchased second-hand by moot a few weeks before his final Q&A, as prior to then we simply were not in a financial position to consider such a large purchase. Advertisers and payment providers willing to work with 4chan are rare, and are quickly pressured by activists into cancelling their services. Putting together the money for new equipment took nearly a decade.

In April of 2024 we had agreed on specs and began looking for possible suppliers. Money is always tight for us, and few companies were willing to sell us servers, so actually buying the hardware wasn’t a trivial problem. We managed to finalize a purchase in June, and had the new servers racked and online in July. Over the next few months we slowly moved functionality onto the new servers, but we had still been relying on the old servers for key functions. Everything about this process took much longer than intended, which is a recurring theme in this debacle. The free time that 4chan's development team had available to dedicate to 4chan was insufficient to update our software and infrastructure fast enough, and our luck ran out.

However, we have not been idle during our nearly two weeks of downtime. The server that was breached has been replaced, with the operating system and code updated to the latest versions. PDF uploads have been temporarily disabled on those boards that supported them, but they will be back in the near future. One slow but much beloved board, /f/ - Flash, will not be returning however, as there is no realistic way to prevent similar exploits using .swf files. We are bringing on additional volunteer developers to help keep up with the workload, and our team of volunteer janitors & moderators remains united despite the grievous violations some have suffered to their personal privacy.

4chan is back. No other website can replace it, or this community. No matter how hard it is, we are not giving up.

[rightnewshindi]

HRTC बस में टिकट के लिए नहीं हुई ऑनलाइन पेमेंट, लोग बोले, डिजिटलीकरण समाधान की जगह बना समस्या

Mandi News: आज हिमाचल प्रदेश सरकार भले ही डिजिटलीकरण के कितने बड़े दावे कर ले, लेकिन धरातल पर सच्चाई दावों के एकदम विपरित है। जहां आज हिमाचल पथ परिवहन निगम 50वीं वर्षगांठ बना रहा है। वही आज 50 साल बाद भी वो सुधार देखने को नहीं मिल रहा जिसकी प्रदेश का हर व्यक्ति आशा करता है। ऐसा ही मामला पिछले कल देखने को मिला। जब एचआरटीसी बस में ऑनलाइन पेमेंट के चक्कर में कई लोग परेशान होते नजर आए। जानकारी के…

[sastielsfandom]

I'm attempting to condense this as much as possible for mine and your sake. I'm asking for help with gas money, my sister doesn't make enough to last her for the two weeks she needs it. She's recently started to carpool but her expenses with her car still overtake her checks. We are dealing with my abusive father who is defaming the rest of us and withholding my sister. We are trying to prepare for my sisters arrival because we're not going to let her stay in an abusive situation. Our power was turned off due to missed payments, this was an ongoing problem with the bills before we arrived, and we were unaware of a late payment until the power was turned off. Any groceries in the fridge and freezer are no longer any good. We're making due as best as possible with food but we were already running low before this. I've explained the food situation before, big household and them being a majority of kids, it doesn't last. Whatever you can give is incredibly appreciated. I hate asking and putting such personal information online for all to see. I'm just not in a position where I can afford to do so.

If you can or want to:

Cashapp

Paypal

Venmo

[dreamscapesofimagination]

I'll Crawl Home To Her

AN: Have a super sweet Lucifer confession. I'm so proud of her. I listened to Work Song by Hozier and this happened.

TW: Fluffy, so fluffy. Very in love Lucifer, cute sleepy Luci, I cannot overstate how much he loves you.

------------------------------------

It had almost stumbled from his lips so many times. Three little words he almost said at times far better than this.

Ballroom dances in which you had been more radiant than the Celestial Palace, glowing with an air of ethereal beauty. Your hand in his, warm eyes fixed only upon him. He had imagine the words flowing smoothly from his lips, the way you would smile as you overjoyed at his confession.

The words had gotten stuck, Lucifer suddenly wondering why you would want him.

He, who had hurt you several times. Who had always treated you as less than him.

The second time had been over a glass of Demonus (wine for you) in his study. You had come to study in there, seeking its quiet solace so you could focus away from the demands of his brothers.

You had asked him a question about the subject, voice shyly apologizing for interrupting him, but you really didn't understand this sigil and its significance in the Devildom.

Some sort of superstitious inheritance to the more primitive past of demons, he had explained succinctly, watching in awe as curiosity dawned on your soft face.

He could sense them, the questions that burned in your throat. It was not the first time he had seen this curiosity, but to see it so raw, so real- he needed to hear more of your questions, if only to see how your wide-eyed gaze regarded him as if he were the most fascinating being to exist.

Questions had turned into conversation, which had led to now, you two sharing a drink while your giggles subside from a wry remark he had made ("If they had seen my father look for his shoes, they'd worship him less").

That sound. That sound was the finest he had ever heard. He could listen to it forever, his chest swelling with the knowledge that he could make you laugh.

It had almost fallen from his lips, and then he choked, wanting the moment to be just right. He wanted it to be grand- flowers, dinner, a kiss.

The third time Lucifer almost blurted out those three little words was when you stood up to him.

The week had been a particularly taxing one- dealing with missives from various members of the royalty, credit card statements from Mammon's latest gambling spree, Asmo's "much needed" shopping spree, Satan's newest bookshop binge- not to mention Levi's online orders and Beel's restaurant trip. They were wealthy, as members of Diavolo's inner court, but organizing the payments was a headache as he deducted from each demon's account. He had also heard a couple of whispered threats towards you. The culprits would never act on it (not after what Lucifer had threatened, relishing in the taste of fear as their faces went white), but now he had to organize appropriate safety measures for you. The problem? He couldn't shake the feeling that you would only be completely safe with him.

And then, Mammon had started a fire in the kitchen.

The second oldest couldn't leave you alone for five minutes while you cooked. He had bumbled in your way, causing oil to spill on the lit burner.

Sure, you had stifled it very quickly, and neither of you had been hurt, and Mammon was stammering out apologies to you, ears bright red.

Still- how could he be so careless? What if you had gotten hurt? Can't he just back off of you for a second?

After the final sentence you had stepped between him and a blustering Mammon, glaring up at him, hand on your plush hip.

The way your eyes narrowed has his brain resetting, and when you berated him for how he was speaking to Mammon, and how it was an accident.

He had nearly breathed out the words, entranced by your fierceness, your desire to protect his brother.

How a human like you was protecting a demon, and not for the first time.

Yeah, he needed to organize his confession.

And now? How he actually says it?

Just a few days after the incident in the kitchen, he found himself leaning back in his chair, groaning in exhaustion.

A peak at his D.D.D revealed the time to be one forty-three in the morning.

He had long since loosened his tie, top few buttons undone, sleeves haphazardly rolled up his arms. His hair was a mess from how many times his fingers had worried through it, glasses sagging low on his nose.

His eyes burned, swimming with mind-numbing words.

He shoved his chair back, deciding that he would work through one more cup of coffee and then he would call it a night.

He padded through the house on sock-clad feet, shoes long since kicked off somewhere into his study.

He froze at the sound of clinking around the corner, the soft sound of humming in the kitchen.

The sweet, siren song within.

He krept around the corner, hesitating in the door way when he saw you.

You puttered around in the kitchen, preparing the coffee maker and placing a mug underneath the spout. You were the picture of domesticity, old pajama pants, worn from use, oversized knit cardigan obscuring the shirt you wore. You hummed some song from the human world as you worked, placing a cookie on a plate from the batch you had made with Levi earlier (you had been insisting that since you make an effort for his interests, he make an effort to participate in yours, a fair trade in Lucifer's opinion).

He cleared his throat and you squeaked at the sound, whirling around.

If he could, he would bottle the sound of your surprise, keep it hidden away to listen too when he needed a pick-me-up.

And then you choked out an explanation (you were going to surprise him, figured he was up late and might need the coffee, and definitely a snack).

The sweet innocence of your voice as he approached, looking up at him with such a genuine, warm expression-

"I- I love you." he stammered out the words, voice low and sleepy, too tired to hold back the phrase he had almost said so many times before.

Your eyes flew wide at his statement, his hands grabbing your waist, pulling you into him.

His fingers sank into the plush of your love-handles, gripping you as if he was afraid you'd vanish, like an mirage in the desert that was his life.

Your hands landed gently on his chest, looking so cute with the flustered look on your face.

And then the most epochal smile spread across your plump lips.

And you said it back.

"I love you too," falling so sweetly from your mouth.

So many times he had nearly said it, and by all there was he had wanted the moment to be grand, to give you the universe with his confession.

Yet now, while he leaned down, lips pressing carefully into yours, he knew that there would have never been a more perfect moment than this one here.

For the first time in a millennia, he found himself unsure what would happen next.

All he knew is that as long as he had you, it would be worth it.

[tired-fandom-ndn]

The simple fact is that putting pressure on individual companies like Tumblr, Steam, and itch.io to stop NSFW purges won't actually fix the problem because all these companies are being backed into a corner by something more powerful than consumers. The ONLY way to stop these purges is to change the laws so that banks and payment processers can't restrict (and ideally can't MONITOR) what people are allowed to spend their money on.

And not to be a pessimist, but these are American banks/companies and American laws that are controlling what the world is allowed to see and do online and I don't think that will change any time soon when we have a Republican controlled government. In fact, I think things are going to get much, much worse.

[karalianne]

I did not create this summary but I have permission to share it.

Act I, the background:

The video opens with a timeline of Nano's history, Kilby glazing herself, and bragging about participation numbers.

When Kilby joined the board, she "figured we must be getting five- and six-figure support from big publishers" and "big authors." But, SURPRISE! "Nanowrimo never had that level of backing."

Shows some charts (screenshots, below). Note that the charts show that right around half (give or take, depending on the year) of Nano's funding came from charitable contributions.

Immediately after showing these charts, she says the organization was "primarily funded by sponsorships and merchandies, and not by charitable contributions." This is a great sign for what's to come. *As of 2020, Nano was "six-figure[s]" in debt. Her time on the board was focused on fundraising.

Act II, the scandal:

Kilby claims that the grooming of children ONLY happened off-site, NEVER on nano itself.

Kilby claims that the board publicly shared the findings of its investigation into CF after 10 days. It is implied this was done back in MAY.

Kilby admits nobody had any relevant training or certification for dealing with children.

Kilby claims nobody at NaNo knew who CF/Mod X really was (blatant lie) because they just didn't keep those records, which prevented them from being able to work with child protection organizations.

Kilby claims she was tapped for the ED position because she "understood youth-facing organizations" and "had experience with the required state-mandated training." No evidence of this understanding or experience is supplied.

More self-glazing

"Our top priority is, and was, child safety." lol

Kilby claims they implemented staff background checks "immediately" (later in the video, she'll claim that some unspecified number of people had been "vetted" and were working with the org again).

Further claims that they "developed an advice content [sic]" aimed at teaching minors how to be safe online. ….where? who knows?

Claims they started verifying educators on YWP.

Act III, the community:

Forums: Inconsistent moderations, outdated TOS. Saw problematic, unaddressable behavior. Couldn't maintain the integrity of the space.

One of the problems was that they had "encouraged" "volunteers" to set up "unofficial" Discords and facebook groups with the Nano name. "Nobody under nanowrimo's authority was moderating those groups." Using resources to deal with issues from these "unaffiliated" groups.

"The number of people who view themselves as experts by virtue of how long they've been doing Nanowrimo… numbered in the tens of thousands." [The salt really starts here]

Act IV, the fallout:

ED job was "bigger than rebuilding after an educational crisis" [because you're so good at that, clearly]

When Kilby took over, there were more than a dozen existing labor violations.

Participation had been declining since before 2020, fell off a cliff.

Sponsor money in March 2023: $310k. Sponsor money in March 2024: $125k

2023's funding shortfall was equal to 20% of their total annual budget

"We were operating outside of our mission." Claims they became an "advocacy group that actively lobbied for authors." No further specifics of how, for who, or to whom are provided.

We COULD recover from this, except for not having money.

Act V: Conclusion (why is there still 10 minutes left in the video??)

Nano is shutting down.

Website will stay up "as long as possible, but we cannot guarantee a specific end date" [because I don't know what the host's non-payment policies are or when the check will bounce]

We were going to merge with another writing org, but they noped out when they saw our debt.

"Other potential supporters" were scared off by mean, dastardly 'ol REDDIT

"Many people who withheld their support, or supported us anonymously, told us that the tone of the community was a big issue."

The press was mean to us and inaccurate about our position on AI. (what press? Youtubers??)

Kilby claims they TURNED DOWN "a number of" AI sponsors because it "went against our mission."

"The real alternative to the organization closing, and I can't say this enough, would have been for us to been funded [sic] by the community." No kidding?

"Community funding shouldn't have been a problem."

The collapse of Nano was because of things that happened before I got here (financial mismanagement), but it absolutely wasn't because of AI or a scandal. Don't put it in the newspaper that it was because of AI or a scandal. Those were just a coincidence.

Thank you to everyone I fired, drove away, etc. etc.

[room-surprise]

Just my two cents on recent developments.

The core problems with payment processors like credit cards, banks, st*ipe and p*ypal not allowing people to use them to buy or sell things which they have labeled as NSFW are:

Their definitions of NSFW includes things which are legal in many countries.

Payment processors, which are private businesses that facilitate the exchange of money, are restricting people from buying or selling legal things.

Almost all transactions go through some kind of payment processor, unless it is an in-person exchange of physical currency. You can't mail cash. Checks have to be processed by a bank. So anything you want to buy where you can't directly hand money to someone is controlled by payment processors.

This is especially true for online commerce, which is a huge part of the global economy, and something many people rely on to make a living, especially people in marginalized groups.

There are basically three payment processors in the entire world, and almost every transaction goes through them at some point, and they all have the same base policies.

The payment processors are currently targeting what they label as "NSFW" content, and that's bad, but the truth is that they could arbitrarily target anything they want at any time because they're private businesses.

They could essentially control or destroy any country, industry, or group of people they choose to target by making it functionally impossible for them to perform financial transactions online.

This of course harms individual artists, writers, film and game makers more than anyone else. Big enough companies generally just pay fees to circumvent these policies.

There are currently no functional alternatives as far as I know. Get on a plane and fly to America to physically hand $60 to Toby Fox so he can hand you a USB stick with Undertale II on it because there's a scene where two girls kiss.*

* This would only technically be allowed by the bank's TOS because the bank doesn't know why someone gave Toby Fox that $60 because it was cash and he can lie or decline to tell them. Once the bank does know, that potentially opens a whole other can of worms.

Sorry for the rant, and sorry if there's any inaccuracies, but the whole shape of the problem is just huge and fucked up in ways I feel I rarely see anybody talking about.