nottoolateforthegame

[nottoolateforthegame]

always thinking about eddie inviting buck over and over again to his basketball games. do you think on some days, when he asked and buck said sorry, still not my thing, you know that, eddie was so close to tell him yeah, i know, so don't play, just be there, take a book, listen to some music, and just be there, but he stopped himself because asking your best friend for a basketball game to spend more time with him is one thing, but telling your best friend that you just love to have him in your line of sight at all time is something else entirely

[nottoolateforthegame]

😭😭😭😭😭😭

Really thought you, of all people, would understand.

[nottoolateforthegame]

hi everybody please reblog this and tell me your go-to coffee order right now and if you don't like coffee feel free to include your go-to tea order instead

[nottoolateforthegame]

there are many things tumblr as a whole has to learn but one of them is “someone can reblog a post without them endorsing every action the op has ever taken, we are not beholden to do background checks on the producers of every shitpost on the internet”

[nottoolateforthegame]

gentle reminder that “gay panic” is not a cutesy way of describing a gay character freaking out over another character or their sexuality. gay panic is a legal defense tactic used in the US until very recently to get homophobes out of facing consequences for killing or assaulting queer people. it is neither cute nor funny.

if you didn’t know this, that’s ok, now you do! proceed accordingly.

[nottoolateforthegame]

open a new window somewhere in the world. 

[nottoolateforthegame]

Title: The Totally Awesome Kidnapping of Chris Diaz

Pairing: Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz

Word: 29,089

Status: Completed

Rating: Teen

Summary:

Buck didn’t wake up on a random Tuesday morning in sunny Los Angeles and think to himself, “Today I’d like to kidnap a child.” Unfortunately, sometimes these things just happen.

Or:

Set right after season one, in which Buck is already aware he's bisexual, he accidentally kidnaps a child and makes a new BFF while trying very hard not to be arrested for something that is totally, 100% not his fault, he swears. Hijinks ensue.

[nottoolateforthegame]

Full disclosure: life has been hard lately, and my head space has not been great. That's why what I'm about to share has me livid.

It's been a while since I checked my comments on AO3, and oh gosh, look there's a new one! I open it up to see this...

Now, I've been around for a while. I know spam/bot when I see one, so I took this screen shot, marked it as spam, and almost just moved on with my day. But then I got to thinking...

I'm NOT in a great head space. If I hadn't been aware of this sort of garbage comment, this would have DESTROYED me. Heck, if I had gotten this comment on one of my first posted fics, back when life wasn't quite so hard, it would've seriously made me consider shutting myself off and never posting again.

And that made me so unbelievably angry.

Because I just know there are other authors and artists out there who are getting these same comments. People who are young and just getting started, and easily swayed by the opinions of others. Or individuals who are struggling, for whatever reason, and every word or brush stroke is a hard won fight, and need even just the tiniest validation that their effort is worth continuing. And broken ones who are looking for any reason at all to either get up or quit. (Don't quit. Please don't quit.)

I know this type of post has been written before; I have shared it multiple times, but the authors and artists out there, just know, your voice matters, your view of the world is unique and beautiful and necessary. Don't let who you are be swayed by the opinions of others, most especially soulless spam/bots who don't know you, don't see the heart and creativity you've poured into your work, and most importantly, HAVE NOT EVEN READ/VIEWED WHAT IT COMMENTED ON.

You want proof that these vile comments are unfounded, meaningless, steaming piles of putrid sewage? The above comment was posted on chapter 27 of my Inktober 2024 collection on AO3. This is a screen shot of that entire chapter:

There are no cliffhangers, no dramatics, nothing. Just 27 chapters of fan art. Drawings. It's not in any way a cohesive story, rather an eclectic collection of prompt fills featuring multiple and varying fandoms.

The hate fueled spam/bot is just that. Not worth my time, effort, or even the brain capacity I have given it. It doesn't care who I am, it's job is to post venom and destroy. The thing is, I learned long ago to not care about it either. My main reason for this post is to try to reach the authors and artists out there who have maybe fallen victim to these types of comments, and to let them know that they aren't alone in receiving these messages. Don't fall for it. Don't let the words take up any space in your creative mind and lovely heart.

And just in case you aren't sure what you're looking at when it comes to spam/bot comments, here are a few clear clues...

1. These comments can be positive too, but look for context. Does any of what the comment says actually apply to your work? Does it address specific details? Or are the 'details' it addresses details that actually appear in your story? (I.e. - cliffhangers in my collection of drawings).

2. Is the commenter a 'guest' profile? Now, not all guest profiles are bots, there are lovely people out there who, for their own personal reasons, have opted not to create user profiles, but still love fandom. But, a lot of (though not all) spam/bot profiles are guest profiles. And you can usually tell the difference just by the content of the comment. The below comment was a guest profile also left on Inktober 2024. It's simple, specific, and greatly appreciated.

3. The spam/bot comments are usually of a longer nature, extremely vague in regards to addressing what it is that is likeable or hateful about the post, and they go overboard with the language (excessive adjectives) used to prove their point. If you want to see other specific examples to look out for, I recommend doing a Tumblr search of "ao3 spam."

4. If you receive a comment that is questionable, and there is actually a user profile attached, check out the profile. Almost all of these spam/bot profiles are brand new (like, same day as you publish), and/or completely blank - as in, no used details, nothing published, nothing bookmarked, nothing at all.

5. Good or bad, always report spam/bots. Sites like AO3 and Tumblr are aware of the situation, and any reports they receive can help them take steps to protect legitimate users.

6. If the spam/bot offers a money-making situation, offers to pay you for use of your creation, or asks for money in any way, shape, or form, report it immediately. AO3 has very strict guidelines about not using the site for monetization. Also, if it seems too good to be true... it is.

I don't know if anyone will even read all of this. But if you do, I want you to know that I am posting this from a place of vulnerability, knowing how much a comment such as the ugly one above, timed just right (or wrong), would have destroyed me. The only reason it didn't this time was because I was armed with knowledge. I hope this post helps you. I hope you have a peaceful day. I hope your words or your art come easy. I hope you know how brave you are for sharing pieces of you with an uncertain world. I hope you keep going. 💙

[nottoolateforthegame]

>First, we’ve discovered that about a quarter of all the internet connection in or out of the house were ad related. In a few hours, that’s about 10,000 out of 40,000 processed.

>We also discovered that every link on Twitter was blocked. This was solved by whitelisting the https://t.co domain.

>Once out browsing the Web, everything is loading pretty much instantly. It turns out most of that Page Loading malarkey we’ve been accustomed to is related to sites running auctions to sell Ad space to show you before the page loads. All gone now.

>We then found that the Samsung TV (which I really like) is very fond of yapping all about itself to Samsung HQ. All stopped now. No sign of any breakages in its function, so I’m happy enough with that.

>The primary source of distress came from the habitual Lemmings player in the house, who found they could no longer watch ads to build up their in-app gold. A workaround is being considered for this.

>The next ambition is to advance the Ad blocking so that it seamlessly removed YouTube Ads. This is the subject of ongoing research, and tinkering continues. All in all, a very successful experiment.

>Certainly this exceeds my equivalent childhood project of disassembling and assembling our rotary dial telephone. A project whose only utility was finding out how to make the phone ring when nobody was calling.

>Update: All4 on the telly appears not to have any ads any more. Goodbye Arnold Clarke!

>Lemmings problem now solved.

>Can confirm, after small tests, that RTÉ Player ads are now gone and the player on the phone is now just delivering swift, ad free streams at first click.

>Some queries along the lines of “Are you not stealing the internet?” Firstly, this is my network, so I may set it up as I please (or, you know, my son can do it and I can give him a stupid thumbs up in response). But there is a wider question, based on the ads=internet model.

>I’m afraid I passed the You Wouldn’t Download A Car point back when I first installed ad-blocking plug-ins on a browser. But consider my chatty TV. Individual consumer choice is not the method of addressing pervasive commercial surveillance.

>Should I feel morally obliged not to mute the TV when the ads come on? No, this is a standing tension- a clash of interests. But I think my interest in my family not being under intrusive or covert surveillance at home is superior to the ad company’s wish to profile them.

>Aside: 24 hours of Pi Hole stats suggests that Samsung TVs are very chatty. 14,170 chats a day.

>YouTube blocking seems difficult, as the ads usually come from the same domain as the videos. Haven’t tried it, but all of the content can also be delivered from a no-cookies version of the YouTube domain, which doesn’t have the ads. I have asked my son to poke at that idea.

[nottoolateforthegame]

sam, reading bilbo’s book: “well now, i’m sure he had a very nice voice, but that’s hardly a reason to go on an adventure with someone you just met”

sam: turns page to an illustration of thorin, with his dark hair and blue eyes

sam: “understandable, good for you mister bilbo”

[nottoolateforthegame]

Wishing you life filled with love, laughter, and all the things that make you happy.

[nottoolateforthegame]

Source: poeticalphotos

[nottoolateforthegame]

[nottoolateforthegame]

I am forever grateful to an archivist mentor I worked with in grad school for some resume advice she gave me and thought maybe others would also benefit from it.

Keep a Master Resume.

This is not the resume you send out. This is a detailed resume of every job (with dates and location, supervisor and location phone number are a bonus) and as many skills/duties/accomplishments you can possibly think of for each and every one of the jobs and education programs you can think of.

She showed me hers, it was about 25 pages long, and formatted exactly like a regular resume for ease. Every time she would learn a new program/skill, she'd add it. Change in title or duties, add it. Complete something big/special/complicated/new to her/professionally significant, she would add it. This way when she went up for a promotion or raise, she had a detailed record of highlights to pick from to show she deserved it. There was no "when was that? Did I submit that last round of reviews?"

Applying to a new job? Pick and choose items from your Master Resume to plug in to the resume or CV you will be sending based on the job posting. You don't need to rewrite it, just cut and paste relevant details.

[nottoolateforthegame]

Sometimes I wonder why fanfic doesn't employ much time manipulation in the same way novels do, and idk why I didn't think of the simplest answer until now but like... I suppose it's probs because a lot of fic is about the journey of two characters finally getting together and people probs prefer a lot of concrete time markers to gauge that.