blairsanne

[blairsanne]

can we send up a quick thank you to pdf uploaders, torrent seeders, copy sharers, scanlators, fansubbers, digitizers, paywall dodgers, and various other internet archivers for making niche art and information more accessible in a media landscape where all but the most profitable mainstream are often tossed aside and left to rot

[blairsanne]

Do you think Clark Kent's first few major articles were about the continued presence of lead pipes in parts of Metropolis' water system

[blairsanne]

[blairsanne]

"I sort fics by kudos and only kudos on stories with high kudos counts, why aren't there more stories with high kudos, I ran out of things to read." You're part of the problem.

"Authors artificially inflate comment counts by thanking people, I can't find anything with a real comment count to read." No they fucking are not, they're grateful for engagement.

"I can't read anything under 100k." That's the majority of fics you're ignoring, most novels aren't even that long.

"I don't have time to look for the incredibly rare diamond in the rough, so I won't read anything below a certain amount of kudos, comments, and hits." Those fics are popular because people gave them a chance and then snobs like you found them.

"I won't read anthing with a single typos." You made typos in that sentence, get off your high horse.

"One singular author didn't thank me for commenting, I'm never commenting on any fic again so I don't get burned." You're punishing people because someone didn't give you engagement they don't owe you that they might not have seen.

"This fic is three months old, it's so old, it doesn't matter if I comment or kudos, it's old." Fics do not have expiration dates, comment and kudos.

You're killing your fandoms with your snobbish behaviors.

[blairsanne]

I don't care about Dungeon Meshi otherwise but "Tallmen" is SUCH an elegant solution to placing humans in a fantasy setting that it's still blowing my mind. Just the term itself is enough to instantly recontextualize humans. They're no longer the default race. They're those big goobers with long legs, striding about all the time. I can so easily envision much more interesting relationships between humans and non-humans because of it. Like perhaps "tallmen" are stereotyped as shepherds by other races because they can watch over their flocks better, or as vagabonds because they are better suited to long travel on foot. And of course, they don't *literally* have to be taller than everybody else, they were just the tallest around whenever the label became the norm, or something like that. I just feel like it's so much better than what I've seen in settings like D&D that go "and humans are the... adaptable, generalist people :)!"

[blairsanne]

[blairsanne]

a heem heem………………………………sshasagjkrhf………… ouhg……..

[blairsanne]

imagination (1963) - harold ordway rugg

"chekhovs cat / schrödingers razor / occams gun"

[blairsanne]

Anders Johnson + character tropes (x)

[blairsanne]

why don't they make dumb tvs anymore???

i don't want a smart tv with alexa voice remote??? that's literally just a data-farming, ad-delivering machine. fuck that. i literally just want a regular ass tv without any bells and whistles but apparently that doesn't fucking exist anymore. what the fuck.

[blairsanne]

Someone’s probably done this before, but First Contact! AU where Jim is an astronaut who got stranded and Spock is the vulcan scientist who saved him.

Sketches and rambles under cut:

I was thinking something like The Martian where he got stranded on a planet during a mission, lost contact with the rest of his team and presumed dead, Spock is a vulcan scientist who was there on a research trip when he found jim's injured body and brought jim back to his ship despite vulcan's strict non-interference policy. Can be Mcspirk too with bones being jim's friend and a NASA scientist who refuses to believe jim is dead and tries to get a rescue mission to search for Jim despite everyone else thinking he's just griefing/in denial.

I've been turning this thing in my head for a few weeks like a microwave, but i'm not a good writer lol, so if anyone wants to make something of it feel free, please tag me so i can see it!!

[blairsanne]

[blairsanne]

you ever realize how able bodied people just are not expected to do things that cause them excruciating physical pain? like they’re just. not

if i shouldn’t use my cane because i can sometimes technically walk without it, it would just hurt like a motherfucker then abled people should no longer be allowed to use potholders to take things out of the oven because i mean

well they could technically pick up a hot pan with their bare hands. it would just hurt like a motherfucker

[blairsanne]

There is no substantial difference between "mental" health and "physical" health. And you cannot affect one without affecting the other.

Additionally, emotions themselves are physical. All of the biochemical processes of the central nervous system are literally physical phenomena

The idea that "mental" health is somehow less substantive than "physical" health is an observably pseudoscientific belief.

[blairsanne]

People act like I'm just being an asshole but man the whole reason I'm so anal about hating gambling mechanics is because I've been down that road and lost a ton of money on games I just stopped playing eventually anyway and it SUCKS and the more you learn about dark pattern design the more you realize that this entire corner of the game industry is just fully focused on screwing vulnerable people out of their money and it's just evil, plain and simple. What do you want from me?? To promote this shit like every other streamer after knowing all that??? I will NOT be complicit in this shit. I'm gonna talk about how bad it is!!! You think that makes me an asshole?????

[blairsanne]

Dark Pattern mechanics are not like going to a casino to do regular gambling. A lot of folks seem to think that the issue here is just "gambling" in and of itself but it's not.

Like ok, so imagine a casino is a big pit in the forest filled with bear traps, with a little plank running across the top.

Some people find it thrilling to walk across this plank. That in and of itself is not unethical.

Casinos do add some unethical elements, like creating an atmosphere that encourages overconsumption of alcohol to make you more likely to fall into the pit. And if you demonstrate too much talent for not falling in the pit, they just kick you out. If they find out you're a gymnast and you have special training to walk across planks they just ban you for life.

They also know that some people will definitely fall into the pit and they're ok facilitating that, in fact their business model depends on some people falling into the pit sometimes.

So I'm not saying they're totally upstanding establishments, but for the most part, building a bear trap pit, clearly telling people where it is, and letting (adults only) walk across the plank is not really a pearl clutching situation. The risks are clearly identified and anyone who wants to take them has to physically go there to do it.

Dark Pattern mechanics for games or collectibles or literally anything (including online gambling sites sometimes) are very different.

They've built a pit, filled it with bear traps, covered it in moss, and are doing their best to convince you that it's a solid surface you can safely walk across. They knock on your door and offer to build a "moss patch" in your backyard without telling you that there is a pit filled with bear traps underneath.

Then they prod you with various compulsory, time sensitive "incentives" to walk across it over and over again trying to goad you into walking across it enough that you eventually fall in.

Their business model depends on getting as many people as possible to fall into the pit, and they are specifically targeting folks who would not have chosen to go into the woods to visit the pit on their own. And they're arranging the pit so that it's right next to you, every single day, to increase the chance that you'll fall in one day.

Yes, it's worse than regular gambling. Yes, you should be very alarmed to see these practices becoming more and more normalized.

And no, the people who fall into the pit aren't stupid. They are being intentionally manipulated based on decades of psychological research.

If you've walked across the moss pit and never fallen in, it's not because you're smarter. It's because your neurology is differently wired.

The same way lots of folks drink alcohol but only some get addicted, not everyone's brain is susceptible to these techniques. The people designing them know that, which is why they cast such a wide net, hoping to catch as many of their vulnerable targets as they possibly can.

[blairsanne]

criticism of Labubu I will accept: the blind box format encourages rampant consumerism; some people only buy them because of the trend and they will be landfill fodder in six months when that trend dies

criticism of Labubu I will not accept: hnnnnn adults playing with toys WEIRD and BAD!!!!!