drdiabolical

[drdiabolical]

Hello all

Lots of love to everyone has supported me, my fics, and my silly posts over at @sirdiabolical

I'm going to be leaving this blog behind. Life is too time consuming. Without getting into it, I'm very ill and it's not going to go away.

It's been fun, but every time I look at my works and my blog I feel guilty for starting something I couldn't finish. When I started this hobby, I didn't even have a diagnosis. I had some occasional symptoms. Four surgeries later, this is no longer the case. I may post again in the future, the occasional update. But I'll make no promises, I don't want to let anyone down.

I wish you all the best and all the love. Don't worry about me, I'm doing this so that I'll be okay in the future. Trust in my disappearing that I'm doing what's best for me, and I'll be a lot better in the long run.

I won't be responding to any replies or to any DMs. Please don't reblog this post.

Live your best life.

[drdiabolical]

I’m Declaring War Against “What If” Videos: Project Copy-Knight

What Are “What If” Videos?

These videos follow a common recipe: A narrator, given a fandom (usually anime ones like My Hero Academia and Naruto), explores an alternative timeline where something is different. Maybe the main character has extra powers, maybe a key plot point goes differently. They then go on and make up a whole new story, detailing the conflicts and romance between characters, much like an ordinary fanfic.

Except, they are fanfics. Actual fanfics, pulled off AO3, FFN and Wattpad, given a different title, with random thumbnail and background images added to them, narrated by computer text-to-speech synthesizers.

They are very easy to make: pick a fanfic, copy all the text into a text-to-speech generator, mix the resulting audio file with some generic art from the fandom as the background, give it a snappy title like “What if Deku had the Power of Ten Rings”, photoshop an attention-grabbing thumbnail, dump it onto YouTube and get thousands of views.

In fact, the process is so straightforward and requires so little effort, it’s pretty clear some of these channels have automated pipelines to pump these out en-masse. They don’t bother with asking the fic authors for permission. Sometimes they don’t even bother with putting the fic’s link in the description or crediting the author. These content-farms then monetise these videos, so they get a cut from YouTube’s ads.

In short, an industry has emerged from the systematic copyright theft of fanfiction, for profit.

Project Copy-Knight

Since the adversaries almost certainly have automated systems set up for this, the only realistic countermeasure is with another automated system. Identifying fanfics manually by listening to the videos and searching them up with tags is just too slow and impractical.

And so, I came up with a simple automated pipeline to identify the original authors of “What If” videos.

It would go download these videos, run speech recognition on it, search the text through a database full of AO3 fics, and identify which work it came from. After manual confirmation, the original authors will be notified that their works have been subject to copyright theft, and instructions provided on how to DMCA-strike the channel out of existence.

I built a prototype over the weekend, and it works surprisingly well:

On a randomly-selected YouTube channel (in this case Infinite Paradox Fanfic), the toolchain was able to identify the origin of half of the content. The raw output, after manual verification, turned out to be extremely accurate. The time taken to identify the source of a video was about 5 minutes, most of those were spent running Whisper, and the actual full-text-search query and Levenshtein analysis was less than 5 seconds.

The other videos probably came from fanfiction websites other than AO3, like fanfiction.net or Wattpad. As I do not have access to archives of those websites, I cannot identify the other ones, but they are almost certainly not original.

Armed with this fantastic proof-of-concept, I’m officially declaring war against “What If” videos. The mission statement of Project Copy-Knight will be the elimination of “What If” videos based on the theft of AO3 content on YouTube.

I Need Your Help

I am acutely aware that I cannot accomplish this on my own. There are many moving parts in this system that simply cannot be completely automated – like the selection of YouTube channels to feed into the toolchain, the manual verification step to prevent false-positives being sent to authors, the reaching-out to authors who have comments disabled, etc, etc.

So, if you are interested in helping to defend fanworks, or just want to have a chat or ask about the technical details of the toolchain, please consider joining my Discord server. I could really use your help.

------

See full blog article and acknowledgements here: https://echoekhi.com/2023/11/25/project-copy-knight/

[drdiabolical]

where can i gind links to your fics ?

Hey there, here's a link to my Ao3 profile :)

Make sure to check tags though! I'm quite fond of archive warnings.

[drdiabolical]

Hellooo, hope you are doing well!

Was just wondering if you have any crumbs to give us from IR,TSWAT. I love love love that fic sm and soooo want an update 😁😁

Hi, I'm sure doing .

Just joking. Thank you for the well wishes, apologies it took me so long to get back to you. I've been inactive for a reason which I may talk about in greater length in a different post on another day. For now, however, your wish is my command.

In Retrospect, The Signs Were All There - Unreleased Chapter Nine Excerpt

"Village Spirit Team is a lame name," Kakashi said after the assembly of forgettable civilians shuffled out of the Hokage’s office. 

Minato hummed and shuffled his papers into a neat pile. "I think it’s endearing."

"I don't see why..." Kakashi trailed off as Minato's eyebrow rose. "It isn't... clear to me why my presence is needed at this... village... party."

Minato's eyebrow lowered, and Kakashi exhaled a quiet breath.

When Minato gave his signal, Kakashi stretched his tight muscles and put his eye to rest. The snapback was predictably awful, and he braced himself preemptively. For a moment he considered the low thrum of his drained chakra slogging through his system and wondered when it'd become a forgotten ambiance.

"It would be best we rested well, we have a long day ahead of us," Minato said and Kakashi rolled his eyes out of sight - every day was long - and then immediately cringed because what if Minato knew somehow. 

He risked a glance back. Minato's face was as serene as ever, his signature look. Phew. 

On the day of the Village Spirit Team announcement, the extensive production of the event smacked any snide comments from his slack-jawed face. Shinobi and civilians alike adjoined in a temporary cluster of gazebos destined to be replaced with a permanent structure, a building they would call the village hall. 

Ridiculously portioned canapes floated around with civilian caterers. Servers offering champagne flutes patterned and intersected their movements at equal intervals. Kakashi couldn't help but draw up mental schemes as if he were cataloguing guard rotations. 

Fairy lights entwined with the skinny wooden support beams, linked up to a generator half hidden by table cloth sewn together from doilies. A lone chūnin stood guard on the off chance an enterprising idiot blew the thing up. Besides him, the rest of the guards were far less visible and light on the body count. Likely due to the heavy presence of infamous hidden leaf shinobi mingling with the rest of the guests.

Kakashi stood in one corner of the largest gazebo, adjusting his position as needed to keep his comparatively small stature hidden behind the crowd. Minato had originally deposited him by the punch stand in full view of several bored guests fishing for conversation. The moment the fishmonger turned his eyes to him, he fled. 

The crowd quieted and rippled towards the stage. Kakashi couldn't see Minato, but he could hear his voice. He'd forgone a microphone but his audience were captivated and his words projected. 

Privy to the script, Kakashi slipped out and headed to the smallest gazebo, home to various spare supplies and, most importantly, the generator.

Read Chapters 1-8 here. Hopefully, 9 will join them soon.

[drdiabolical]

feel better 👍

Thank you, I hope I do soon :)

[drdiabolical]

Hi all. If you've been wondering where I've been - surgery. Currently recovering.

At least I have some time off. So, as soon as I can eat unassisted (among other things) I will get back on writing.

[drdiabolical]

I’m bored and nosy. Please reblog this with the book you’re currently reading.

[drdiabolical]

hello just wanted to pop by and say: i absolutely adore your fics and am always looking forward to your updates ❤️❤️ hope you're doing well!

Hello! Thank you! I'm so happy to hear that <3

I've picked up the digital pen again just recently (two days ago... yeah) so words are being written! I also have many things and people I want to address for their kindness to me, and I'll be getting around to that soon!

For now... I'm not sure if you like all of my fics or just some, but here's a safe bet. Have an extract from the next chapter of And The Moon Will Bleed Anew! Content Warnings: Body horror, gore. We're picking up where we left off, though, so if you're up to date you'll likely know what to expect.

Extract under the cut.

"Sometimes, I wonder what it must have felt like."

Rain pattered softly against the window Kakashi leant against, condensation dampening his shinobi-issue trousers. He shifted and his toes nudged the battered paperbacks on the windowsill: "The Kunoichi in the Mirror" and "A Solemn Dance on the Battlefield."

Rin sat against the wall, the crown of her head a feather's touch against his limp fingers. When he wasn't blankly staring at the blurry view of the bins behind Rin's house, he scanned the book she read from a bird's-eye view.

"And then the crow cawed once and perched on Ankoku's cold hand, pecking at his engagement ring. It wouldn't come free easily; his finger had long since stiffened.

The crow cared not."

He turned back to the rain. His and Rin's taste in literature didn't align. "What what felt like?" He said and his breath ghosted the glass, burning a fleeting impression of his voice onto its surface.

Rin snapped the book closed.

"What it felt like to be crushed."

Kakashi couldn't remember his answer. Probably something woefully inadequate. After all, he hadn't experienced then what he did now.

His dogs were barking. Maybe. Or was that the tumble of his breath, thrusting through contorted airways twisted into mazes? Or the harsh gack! of viscous blood smacking against the back of his teeth? Or the grinding of his bones as Mahito inquisitively shook his mangled arm, forcing Kakashi's eyes to roll back into his skull?

Dying to Pein hadn't felt like this.

[drdiabolical]

can you believe that we have fanfiction. that we have websites dedicated to fanfiction. that there is a place that you can go and read tens, hundreds, thousands and thousands of pieces of writing that strangers have made. people who are not "writers". people who come home at the end of the day and have feelings and say, i am going to put that into words. i am going to share those words. short, long, sweet, sad, horny, funny, wonderful words. we are all just human and we all love to make and remake and share that with others. can you believe that.

[drdiabolical]

I serve you guys my raw conscience tumbled through a rudimentary spell check. Myself at my most honest and unrefined. A diamond uncut, if you like my work enough for such a generous comparison. Or perhaps more accurately unsmoothed sandstone or the rough cut of a sculpture with grand aspirations.

[drdiabolical]

Apologies for this being my first real post in months but motivation is hard to come by at the moment and insults, as veiled or mild as they may appear, don't help.

So when I say I don't want unsolicited criticism of my fics... That goes for bookmarks also.

[drdiabolical]

So when I say I don't want unsolicited criticism of my fics... That goes for bookmarks also.

[drdiabolical]

What is this about the tumblr staff wanting to sell art data to midjourney?

An ex-colleague of mine mentioned yesterday that there may be contacts between Automattic and midjourney in that direction, but nothing is public yet and I don't have any more info. They probably won't have anything specific to share either, since they left the company weeks ago too. That being said:

I have no reason to doubt my ex-coworker word, they are a trustworthy person.

Tumblr's CEO has been absurdly enthusiastic (comically, even) about AI, and is a big fan of LLMs and 'AI' companies.

A deal with midjourney could solve tumblr financial issues (not the same company, but openAi is paying up to 5 million/year to news companies to use their content as training data... tumblr generates several orders of magnitude more content than any newspaper or any media company and it only would need a 20 to 30 million per year deal to be profitable)

So I don't have any extra info yet, but I'm keeping my ears open.

[drdiabolical]

Migration.

A bit hard to photograph but this was my final painting for my color for illustrators class this past semester! Excited to keep doing more gouache paintings in the future though.

[drdiabolical]

I need your issue because this is great stuff!

okay an issue has arrived I have just so much brain rot for @drdiabolical fanfiction that isn’t even a full fanfiction that I’ve done more art for it and have meny silly thoughts. So buckle up buckaroos it’s one am and I’m giving up on sanity!

first re-trying digital art!

Great!!

now silly thoughts warning I know the basics of BNHA

Kakashi would play so many video games with all of the league of villains, who has evil plots to accomplish? Not them to busy playing Mario kart

Kakashi and Dabi bonding over dad issues I know this is set post death father son bonding but whatever angst about being abandoned by your parents and utilized just for you abilities is eternal

gets into some sort of fight and cannot be bothered to stop playing his 3DS going so far as to only lose his chill when he accidentally gives one of the love interests the wrong gifts accidentally frying the poor 3DS in his frustration, que mild mental break down that makes everyone uncomfortable and stalls the fight

*epic battle with UA* superhero: why would you do this you have so much potential why become a villain hated by society??? Kakashi: well really it started when I was born the first time-two hours later-one day my boss sold me to one direction and really from there my life just dissolved even more like wet toilet paper on a public restrooms floor…. Superhero:….

now more seriously (slightly) if Kakashi actually put effort into developing his quirk it would be insane! Electrical currents are in everything it’s pretty much just the movement of charged electrons WHICH ARE EVERYWHERE It doesn’t matter if there’s no technology you’re full of electrical currents plants are heck the air is! That’s why pilotes gotta be careful in the air so the electrical currents of storms and stuff don’t mess with their controls! Dude could be insanely powerful, luckily for everyone he’s just a little to depressed for that

Just imagine Kakashi slowly slipping back into old habits; he walks lightly, no longer breaths audibly, he scans everyone he meets for a weapon, makes sure he’s in a position where he could get the drop on someone if need be so on and so forth starting with little things then becoming more and more prevalent until one day he looks in the mirror and recognizes himself. Never has that been such a bad thing before but he sees the paranoia the unrelenting hyper awareness, the fact that he had become what he desperately tried to distance himself from but inevitably came back too because it’s what he knows best is haunting

Kakashi getting petty revenge on his boss to feel more like himself, in some desperate vain act of defiance to try and show that he cares! He’s not the same as he was! Only to step back and realize he’s numb all he truly feels is the electricity under his skin that hums and crackles when called upon just like the first time

anyway

Imma go to sleep

[drdiabolical]

!! You have captured the exact vibe I was going for with Kakashi, this is so good!

reading @drdiabolical “The Minimum Effort Principle” made the brain go into overdrive so here some art for it!

Sorry for the fuzzy quality

This one was a quick sketch so it’s a little wacky still happy with it though!

[drdiabolical]

Can I draw and post fanart for your fanfiction? with siting the source of course

Of course! I'd be delighted :) please tag me, I'd love to see it