#FACEBOOK CHATROOMS

[mega-delicatelysuperbcollector]

ALL I WANTED WAS...!

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Since appearing on a local-to-me platform, NEXTDOOR, i’ve really had to watch what I write, which is a good thing for me. It forces a little more discernment into play on my part, which for me, is a good thing. I had a Health Care Aide who awakened my desire for physical closeness—something i think we all crave in one form or another. it wasn’t really possible in my marriage and…

[mileydna]

not being on websites is something i should be doing more of anyways but i keep thinking abt how there isn't a reliable form of telecommunication to socialize through that doesn't depend on the whims of a likely shitty company. not to mention how none of them are remotely compatible. should we think about learning IRC/RSS on a larger scale or

[sighed-the-snake]

At what age does it become intolerable to participate in online fandom?

At what age do you start telling people they're too old to be in a public fandom space because it skews young?

I have been online since the literal beginning of the internet. I've been in chatrooms in one form or another for my entire life, without issue, without anyone telling me I don't belong there. It has been my primary mode of socialization since I was 14. Some of the most important people in my life are people I met online.

But then I turned 40 and suddenly, my presence in a chatroom is creepy.

It wasn't creepy when I was 35 and I was the admin for a huge Discord server full of mostly teens and 20-somethings. Nobody complained when I was 35. They called me their server mom.

But 40 is apparently the limit. I tried to join a few public Discord servers last year and was politely shooed away each time because I was honest about my age.

The obvious solution would be to find spaces with people my own age, right? Except those don't really exist. If it's a fandom space, the overwhelming majority of people are going to be teens, 20-somethings, and a small population of younger 30-somethings. Those are the people who are talking about the things I also would like to talk about.

Even the people I follow here on Tumblr are mostly in their 20s.

There is not much of an online peer group for older Millennials and Gen X. I found and tried some non-fandom, general servers, and they were desolate and stale. A lot of us grew up without computers at home, barely even had computers at school, so the internet never really became a big part of our lives beyond things like Facebook, or Twitter, or discussion boards. Things you spend a few minutes looking over before bed.

But I don't want those things. Tumblr has been great, the Good Omens fandom has been amazing, but I don't want to check throughout the day if someone has replied to something I said hours or days or weeks ago, I want to talk to people, but those places are populated by an age group who tells me it's not appropriate for me to be there anymore.

It's so damn frustrating and lonely. I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not doing anything wrong. I just got older.

I'm just a married gay woman with a kid in school who wants to giggle over an angel and a demon and how in love and stupid they are. I feel like it shouldn't be this hard.

[radkindoffeminist]

I am 13 years old. I have boobs bigger than any other girl in my year and I stopped growing in height a year ago. People tell me I could pass for 16-18 easily. Girls ask what size I am. Boys mock me for having tits. Men hit on me. Most people think I am a lot older than I actually am. I am confused by everything.

I am 14 years old. I begin turning to online chatrooms and camsex for attention because I am so lonely and horny. I don't speak about them to anyone in my life because it's never spoken about. Women and girls don't have sexual desires. I start speaking to a guy, Glenn. He's 28-years-old and knows how old I am. I speak to him for years and he's the first guy I camsex with. He speaks to me like a person and not a child and I love him for that. One day, he doesn't respond and I never hear from him again, but spend weeks hoping that I will see another message from him (he had a habit of disappearing for weeks only to come back). He doesn't message again. My heart is broken.

I am 15 years old, just about. I continue using these online chatrooms because I am such a lonely teenager and need some sort of attention and this is the only place I can find it. I meet a guy, David, who I ask to be my boyfriend. He was 21 years old. We speak every day for a month and have camsex all the time. He is sweet and mature and has his own car! Our plans to meet fall through and then he suddenly stops talking to me one day. Two months after that day, he messaged me again. His grandmother died so he couldn't deal with life. I feel empathic towards him but feel forced to take him back. When I realise that he won't take responsibility for the fact that cutting me off for months hurt me because he says that he was hurt, I break up with him. He insists on staying friends. I agree because I still feel bad for him.

I am 16 years old. I start college and I'm still speaking to my ex David, but then I see how possessive he is of me. He wants to meet up with me but will only do so on his terms, when he can kiss me all he wants because he still sees me as his. I try and speak to him about the guys at my college and he gets jealous. I stop speaking to him. I begin to realise just how toxic him and these chatrooms and camsex all is. I make a vow to stop it for my mental health, but it is hard to stop something when what draws you there is the fact that you're incredibly lonely.

I am 17 years old. It has been three years since I first opened a chatroom and had camsex and I actively try to stop. I have spoken to dozens, if not hundreds, of men by this point and they are all the same: they want to use me and will put on a little play to ensure they can get me. Some are just nice and upfront with me, using me and then never speaking to me again. Some put on a show, pretending that they like/love me so I become wrapped around their finger. Some are kind and caring, but then threaten me when they realise that they won't get what they want. Too many of them are angry when they hear the word no and if they aren't straight up agressive towards me, then they're making me feel guilty for having boundaries or trying to convince me to break them because they're different from the rest. I've met dozens of men who've claimed that they're different from the rest but they never are. They're all the same. After so many times of promising myself to stop, what really gets me to stop was someone threatening to share naked photos of me he'd taken while we were on a video call on my Facebook. I block him. I realise just how manipulated I'd been over the years and come to accept the fact that most, if not all, of these men had taken photos without my permission and some probably still have them saved somewhere.

I am 18 years old. I have managed to mostly stay away from the chatrooms and camsex, but I ended up speaking to one more guy. He seems so lovely and kind and caring. He is 26-years-old. We live far apart but he promises that he'll come and visit me sometime, even though he dodges the question every time I ask and never seems to be around or available when I'm available. We talked on and off for months. One day I tell him that I've decided to completely give up on camsex. It is too toxic and traumatic for me. I never want to do it again. He stops talking to me. I slowly realised how he was just nice to me because he wanted camsex and nudes. He never loved me but I loved him.

I am 19 years old. I start dating my ex-boyfriend. He is a genuinely wonderful and kind person. He does not disrespect my boundaries regarding camsex and nudes. He used to do a similar thing and understands how toxic and horrible these spaces can be. He's a good person, other than the fact that he mocks my interest in feminism and occasionally breaks some boundaries. We stay together for a year before we end up drifting apart.

I am 20 years old. I have severe depression. For the first time in my life, while I am incredibly drunk, I talk about my ex David and all the camsex stuff. I feel a weight lift off my shoulders knowing that other people agree that I was groomed. I had convinced myself for years that I was not groomed because I asked him out so everything that happened to me was my own fault. But I realise that while I was a stupid teenager, it still wasn't right for men to take advantage of me. I learn to accept that camsex and nudes will always be a point of trauma for me and something that I can never do again. I am so proud of myself for not doing it for two years.

I am 21 years old. I am the same age my ex David was when I dated him. I look at the freshers at my university and I couldn't imagine dating someone who is just out of college (high school). I had realised some years earlier that my relationship was toxic and pedophilic but it took me getting to the same age he was to realise just how horrible it was. I wish I could warn so many other women but I know I have to live with it because I was that teenage girl who dated that older man so I know that every single one thinks that they're the exception to the rule. They think that there's no way they're getting groomed by and older man because they really are that mature. I wish I could tell them but they'll just run into their groomer's arms even more.

I am 22 years old. I am off anti-depressants and glad that my sex drive is back. I decide that now, post COVID, would be the perfect time to have some fun. I sleep around, but the sex is so unsatifying for me most of the time. The women are good but the men spent five minutes inside of me and are then done. Half of them don't do anything to make me cum and never ask if I have. One of them complains that I take ages to cum after spending two minutes rubbing me off (badly). After feeling guilty for cancelling something last minute, I end up hooking up with someone who I shouldn't have. I cannot remember the last time I felt so repulsed by someone's touch. I stop hooking up with people. For the first time in years, I broke my no nudes, no camsex rule. I feel awful about myself.

I am 23 years old. I realise that my hooking-up with people phase was just a copy of my camsex stage. I realise that the men I hooked up with used the exact same tactics as the men I had camsex with: seemed like nice people so they could use me; got angry at me when I said no to them because they felt entitled to whatever they wanted for being nice to me; and thought that they could drop me for weeks at a time because I will always come running back to them. Sometimes I feel so assured in myself because I have spent years learning about all the maipulation tactics that they all use and because I can say no to them when they try to guilt me; sometimes I feel like that same 14 year old girl who ignored every red flag that she ever saw because she was so deperate for love and attention from anyone.

I am 24 years old. I am 2 years younger than my ex Sam was when I dated him and 4 years younger than Glenn was when I started talking to him. I look at the 18-20 year olds in our office and they are basically children to me. If I feel this way now, how much creepier will it feel when I actually hit 26 or 28? I tell people I have no interest in men and for the first time in my life I truly mean it. I stopped dating them years ago but all interest in them is gone now. Sometimes people tell me that I just haven't met the right man yet. I shrug it off but I want to scream at them. I have met dozens of men who have told me that they're different to the rest but they are all the same in the end. The right man doesn't exist.

[authorhjk1]

IU's and Kang Seulgi's competition started, when they caught each other, having sex backstage during an award show, a couple of months ago. At first, it picked up slowly. Random challenges, send via text on the kakaoTalk app, answered by pictures as proof of the accomplished mission. Now, the two of them are tied, desperate to come up with something new. Luckily, IU and Seulgi have alot of fans, who are more than happy to help them out.

One thing idols do best is taking pictures. For Istagram for Facebook, you name it. And Jini is no exception. But this time, unbeknownst to her fans, there is a reason why she only uploaded pictures with her upper body visible. Reading the comments afterwards makes her smile. If only they knew what was going on.

Idols are always stressed, overworked and tired. On top of that, they can't even relax properly. They have to be carefull about heir food, words and actions. And one thing, that some people might neglect, is sexual satisfaction. That becomes a problem for Karina, Jihyo and Eunbi. Having bigger breasts only adds to their problems. Due to stress, their milk production starts to rise. When three of them invite you to join their pre-Christmas party, they obviously have ulterior motives.

December is always hectic for you. Luckily, you are sometimes able to blend out the real world and immerse into kpop. You are a member of a few discord channels and Reddit communities. One night, you see there is only one other person in one specific chatroom. The two of you send each other spicy pics and gifs of your favourite idols, like you usually do. Suddenly, you receive similar kind of pictures from an unknown number. Pictures of Kazuha. Asking your online friend about it, he actually is experiencing the same, but with pictures of An Yujin. What is this about? And what is the last picture you receive? A condom? What is going on?

You immediately harden at th sight of your coworker in her stage outfit. Karina looks like a holy being as the makeup artist finishes her job. She looks up at you through the mirror nervously. You are not supposed to be here. You are perfoming soon as well, your own group is getting ready in the next room. But sometimes, like today, Karina gets stressed and worried before her perfomance. The two of you sneak off, finding a closet that seems perfect for your purpose. You freeze in the door as you see Irene between Taeyeons's legs.

[glacialswordsman]

🦦 author portrait!

get to know the author behind the blog! repost, do not reblog.

basics .

name/nickname: jamey, jamby, jimjam, jambchop, jimmy, jammy, yimyam, yimmy, yammy, james, jamison, jamnelius the third age: 27 pronouns : he/him only years of writing : since i was like... 10-12... started off in like aol chatrooms before the pipeline went xat > imvu > gaiaonline > facebook > tumblr > skype > WoW > FFXIV > back to tumblr

reflection .

why did you pick up writing? idk i just remember seeing people in chatrooms roleplay so i was like "omg i wanna do that too" and so i did

do you have any writing routines? not at ALL im rawdoggin' it babeyyy

what's your favorite part about writing? it's fun! i get to write about my blorbos, whether OCs or canon characters! it makes me happy and i love making new connections and friendships!

three things you like about your writing. um. erm. yknow! i have no idea! i think i really like writing expressions characters make and their little own nuances that make them them. plus i love being able to relate to the characters i write and create meaningful relationships for them & with them! uh... i like giving them their own little quirks-- i guess that also falls into the first thing i mentioned. wow this sucks UM ASLKJFLS oh!!! i love being able to rip my friends' hearts to shreds over my emotional writing whenever we rp angst :) i think that's three things

have you ever given up on writing? nnnno i don't think so? there's been lulls where i haven't written in a while, but it wasn't necessarily a thing of me giving up, but moreso just not having the juice/drive to for a bit!

a question for the next person .

ROOK's QUESTION: What are your favorite themes to work into your writing?

i really, really, really love writing character arcs where they step away from who they've been and learn to grow into who they are. the death of their past and birth of their present. not only that but themes revolving around family/friendships really get to me. they're so meaningful and it feels good to have characters be surrounded by the people they love, yknow?

write a question for the next person to answer. once you've answered it, leave a new question for someone else to answer.

next question: What do you wish you could do more of?

tagging: @fortifice (i know u were already tagged but im yoinking you into mine too), @ofmora, @crimsonbesotted, @crimsononiarataki, @arlquin, @tartagla and whoever wants to do it, really! tagged by: @starliit

[early-byrd]

Digital Darwinism and How This Evolves

In Biology, natural selection is always determined by the “Fitness” of a species, meaning how well a species can survive to reproduce. The finches on the Galapagos Islands proved this idea well: different bird species had different traits depending on their environment. Whether they needed long, narrow beaks to hunt bugs or broad, hefty beaks to break open nuts and seeds, they evolved separately to match their conditions.

But what the hell does this have to do with TikTok and the internet as a whole?

In the early days of online content, the popularity of something, a video, a picture, a song, you name it, was based on how sharable it was. In the early 2000s, memes like the ROFLCOPTER or Hamster Dance were insanely popular, because they thrived on online chatrooms and through email. Similarly, in the later 2000s, platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook were in their infancy. Focusing on YouTube, the site was based entirely on view count. The more views your video got, the longer it stayed on the front page. Creators like Smosh, Ryan Higa, and Ray William Johnson flourished in this time because their content was easily rewatchable, sharable, and most importantly garnered thousands of views. 

But by the early 2010s, YouTube and Google made a tactical decision: Changing the algorithm to promote videos based on watch time instead of view count. The reason behind this was simple, if people could stay on the website longer, Google could show more ads to the viewers and make more money. But by extension, YouTube and Google put pressure on the creators to survive on their platforms, and thus, evolution followed.

Longer form content began to spread like wildfire. Let’s Plays took over the platform because they fit the evolutionary pressure: they were easily producible and were 10, 20, or sometimes even 30 minutes long.

Diagram Credit: Turek, Rasty. “What Content Dominates on YouTube?” Pex, 4 June 2019, pex.com/blog/what-content-dominates-youtube/. 

But this doesn’t just stop at YouTube.

Platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and nowadays TikTok and Instagram have introduced their pressures to push creators in whatever direction they need. Engagement is the new fuel for the fire, and what gets people to engage with content? Hatred and controversy. People like Andrew Tate, Elon Musk, or Joe Rogan aren’t famous because of what they do, (that is still a part of it, of course,) they’re famous because they drive people to talk about them, to argue, to voice their opinions on whatever dumb shit they said or did this time.

Pictured above: Google Trends data for Elon Musk. From April 3rd, 2021 to May 5th, 2023. The peaks from left to right are on May 9th, 2021 when Space X’s Starship completed its first flight, and on April 24th, 2022 when Musk purchased a majority stake in Twitter.

And even this isn’t new! MTV and TMZ thrived off of celebrity drama and controversy. Reality TV is an entire genre of television built on trashy arguments and punches being thrown. Ever since media, of all forms, has been around, people and companies have been trying to sway the success condition further and further to what they want.

What I want you to take away from this is that, as with many things on the internet,  evolution is happening faster and faster than ever before. Even 200 years after Darwin published his research on what he called “descent with modification”, the content we consume and the creators, including myself, are all fighting to evolve with their platform's pressures. Everyone, from your local news station to the largest companies and governments in the world, is trying to steer the ship of what’s popular and what people pay attention to. Your attention is valuable and every company wants a piece of it.

[starberry-cupcake]

One of the things that bothers me the most about the current state of the social media/community platform landscape is that instead of each platform focusing on a different feature, to allow people to have different spaces for different needs (as it was before), they are now all trying to out-do each other on the same exact features.

Throughout history you'd have chatrooms, yahoo groups, forums, livejournal, myspace, blogspot, later facebook, tumblr, twitter, etc. for different types of things and different types of content. Now, everyone's doing videos, especially short videos. Youtube shorts, instagram reels, tiktok are all for the same exact format.

So instead of platforms adapting to the needs of users, users have to adapt their content to the one format mandated by the platforms, especially if you need them for work, business exposure or professional reasons and you have to use the ones where the most amount of people could find it. And it sucks even more if your preferred form of content creating is writing.

[mega-delicatelysuperbcollector]

FEEDING FRENZY

Chased one, now chased by three, Looking for security…. A spawning pool Both rich and cruel With all sincerity! – Once caught in its tangled web, The feeders put on a bib… ‘Tween pleasure and gain Assaulting the brain, Have you tried the barbequed rib? – Jonathan Caswell

[silvermaplealder]

Modern Day Head Cannons

I like to imagine the lost boys characters having modern day quirks since I like to write in the present time. So I compiled a list of random head cannons for each of the characters from the vamps to gramps, on random quirks they would have in the modern day.

David:

Is quite awful with technology. Like he has a phone but cannot change the wallpaper for it. So the other vamps are constantly changing his wallpaper to stupid little things

Though, he would be great with slang. He would know all the up-to-date slang just from reading people's minds and listening to them talk. The vamps would see some new slang or abbreviation and David would know exactly what it meant

His only social media would be a facebook profile he made in like 2010 that has 0 updates since the day he made it. Also it has his real birthdate on it.

He'd also be opposed to his face being on the internet. Like, he doesn't mind pictures as long as they're not posted. He's paranoid like a parent in 2008 who's children are getting a test of the world wide web. But since he doesn't have social media nor can really work a phone, the others will still post stuff of him without him knowing

Dwayne:

Dwayne would have his own Etsy shop for oddities. He'd find and clean bones and sell them online and make a surprising amount of money. Like it started as a little fun thing back when Etsy first began, and then next thing he knew he became very popular.

He treats his little shop without a care, and never responds to messages or actively tells people to fuck off, but people keep on buying. He's a star seller (somehow without responding to messages) and has 5 star reviews.

I also feel that he would LOVE fanfiction. He would read a book and then immediately have a ship and look up fanfiction for it. Sometimes he would write fanfiction, but he never feels like his work is good enough so he doesn't post it.

Since they don't have power at the cave, he'd be the one who would bring all the electronics to a cafe to get them charged. He would love his little cafe trips and it gives him a chance to have a break from the others

Marko:

I feel like he would be experimenting with different pronouns, and the other vampires would be super supportive of him and do their best to ensure they use the proper ones.

Marko would have ALL of the social media. Everything. He'd have facebook, instagram, tiktok, tumblr, twitter, everything. You know he had a MySpace and was in the aol chatrooms. He'd have a shit ton of email addresses as well so he could have multiple accounts.

He knows every vine reference

He posts at least a couple times an hour for whatever pops in his head. He's been temporarily banned on most of his accounts for posting gore-y stuff that was flagged

He has a surprising amount of followers and he jokes about being a vampire all of the time

Paul:

Paul would love pictures on his phone. He would have so many pictures of the other vampires and anything that he sees.

He would also have all of the music apps, and the paid versions specifically. Youtube Red. Spotify Premium. He's got apps to create music, though he's really bad at it.

He and Marko definitely tried to make a youtube channel and it did not work out very well

He also loves to make memes. He and Marko have thousands of saved memes on their phones of things that happen in their day to day life

Star:

Star accidentally became very popular on tiktok for a stupid little video she never expected to get any views. She ends up as a mini influencer with little videos that she spends twenty seconds making

She's also slightly jealous about Dwayne's Etsy shop doing well as she tried jewelry making but nothing was selling. And yet she was always adamant about good customer service and Dwayne ignores most of his messages.

She also has her own bike at this point and somehow she's more scary on it than the other boys

Michael:

He loves cars. He's the kind of guy that would go to car shows and he'd drag the other vampires with him. Paul would take pictures of his favorite cars and print them out for him.

Michael would also have a part-time overnight job to be able to afford getting a nice car of his own

He's also not a fan of memes and tries very hard not to end up in one of Paul or Marko's memes, though it happens so frequently he just has no idea

Sam:

Sam would have amazing fashion. With access to the internet he'd be copying a lot of famous people's styles

He'd be obsessed with pinterest. So many ideas saved, fashion styles, etc.

He'd also have some self image issues that he'd need to work through

He really, really wants to go to a convention but with his family struggling with money he's never been able to

Laddie:

He'd want a cell phone so bad. Star and Dwayne refuse to buy him one because they're afraid of internet safety. But Marko and Paul are happy to led over their phones for Laddie to play games on

David definitely leaves his phone "unattended" for Laddie to take and use

Sometimes David leaves his phone with Laddie so Laddie can text the other vampires when they're out

Edgar:

OBSESSED with Fortnite. Like so obsessed. He's certain Donald Mustard is some sort of undead being and hypnotizing children with the video game. But yet Edgar plays it every moment of free time he has

He also is on top of every conspiracy theory. He believes anything that he reads on the internet, even if it sounds a little far fetched

He also most definitely follows Marko's social media and has zero idea that Marko's a vampire

Alan:

Alan likes Fortnite too, but is not as obsessed about it as Edgar is. He's not as quick to jump onto conspiracy theories as Edgar is, but if Edgar gives him a good reason he'll believe it.

He and Edgar most definitely send each other memes/videos of toxic family relationships and they both will give a brief laugh and look at their deadbeat parents

He's the one that makes friends and brings them to Edgar so that Edgar can have a friend. They don't have many friends, but all their friends are ride-or-die types

Max:

His video store he would have switched to be a tech store so he can still continue to get the personal information of people in the area. People come to buy big ticket items and he can collect their addresses for deliveries, or payment plans, etc.

He'd be very informational about technology in general, but you'd find that he still has a flip phone and does not own any sort of modern piece of technology

He constantly warns the younger vampires about the dangers of the internet

Lucy:

She'd be on a lot of mom blogs, trying to relate with other mothers who have sons

I feel like she'd also be the kind of mother who would have lots of pictures of her children growing up and she'd look at them a lot, or share them online.

She's also definitely a facebook mom who doesn't post updates much, but she's always looking at other people's posts and commenting. She'd also low-key try to stalk her children's new friends all the time. She'd find David's facebook and she'd be like why does it say he was born in the 1800's. And we all just hope she doesn't find any of Marko's accounts

Gramps:

Gramps would LOVE the modern day taxidermy community. He'd be on a very niche online taxidermy forum (not to name names, but taxidermy. net).

He'd love the new forms for taxidermy that he could order online that make his life a lot easier and no asbestos.

He'd still know about all the different vampires in the area

[gatheringbones]

[“Sara Ruddick, in Maternal Thinking (1989)—a groundbreaking work in feminist care ethics—frames preservative love as one of the central acts of mothering, which is the relational position from which she derives an entire epistemology of care. It’s important to note, as well, that Ruddick understands “mothering” to be a practice taken up by persons of any gender; rather, anyone who commits themselves “to responding to children’s demands, and makes the work of response a considerable part of her or his life, is a mother” (xii). Preservative love is shorthand for all of those acts that keep a being alive and intact, and it is characterized by a specific response to the vulnerability of an other. It means “to see vulnerability and to respond to it with care rather than abuse, indifference, or flight”. It doesn’t require a particular affective orientation—we don’t have to be cheerful or enthusiastic about it, and we may indeed feel deeply ambivalent about such forms of care. Ruddick: “what we are pleased to call ‘mother-love’ is intermixed with hate, sorrow, impatience, resentment, and despair”.

Of course, only some trans folks are children, and not all trans people engage in mothering. But if you’re a person of trans experience and involved in trans communities, you know that intensified forms of vulnerability and exposure to violence and debility continue to inform trans lives across age groups. In addition to this, transition also scrambles normative temporalities of development. We have “second puberties” well into adulthood; we have “big brothers” or “big sisters” mentor us through transition because, though they may be younger in years, they’ve initiated transition long before us. We sometimes come from childhood homes that did not adequately provide the forms of preservative love and nurturance that form the crux practices of mothering. Alternately, we may have these forms of motherhood reduced or withheld upon the revelation of our transness. This is all to say we remain in need of mothering (in the many-gendered, expansive sense of the word) well into adulthood.

Trans historian Morgan M Page has given us a golden rule as we navigate the spaces of social media, and it is deeply informed by the ethos of preservative love. The rule is simple. “I do not shit-talk other trans people in public. If I truly have a problem that must be addressed, I speak to them directly”. She goes on to unpack what motivates the rule: the high incidence of mental health struggle in trans communities means that call-outs and online harassment sometimes translate to self-harm and suicide. In addition to this, the rising tide of antitrans organizing has made a practice of solidarity across difference increasingly crucial. We can ill afford to be locked in self-aggrandizing battle with one another. This is doubly so when we consider that the online spaces wherein we congregate—from the Yahoo groups and chatrooms of yore to the networks we inhabit on Twitter, Instagram, and all of the closed groups on Facebook that effectively operate as both support groups and skillshares—are the only trans-majority spaces to which many of us have access.”]

hil malatino, trans care, 2020

[fakeosirian]

i have period-appropriate internet socialization headcanon proposals

nina, kt: tumblr (but two different/distinct ways of being 2012 tumblr users)

fabian: reddit, hobby/topic boards (type of guy to sub to an RSS feed)

eddie: reddit (opposite of the way fabian uses it), youtube comment sections (harassing people)

amber, joy: instagram, twitter, facebook, gossip forums idk whatever makes it easiest to be nosy. also pinterest

patricia: somehow still accessing sites for emos that were dead/dying even at the time (myspace, niche boards, sketchy chatrooms etc) and also tumblr but in a THIRD 2012 way

jerome: gossip forums, image boards

alfie: (arguably weird) hobby/topic boards, newgrounds

willow: also (arguably weird) hobby/topic boards, deviantart

mara: facebook, twitter (remember this is twitter of over 10 years ago. she exclusively follows journalists, academics, and politicians and would post about hating people who post "ate toast for breakfast" on the "ate toast for breakfast" post website)

mick: facebook, instagram (amber made him)

[brighteststar707]

44, 21 and 14 with Zen 🤍

woooohooooooooo

woooohooo! I'm back to answer the last few HC asks!

14. What are they petty about?

Zen is an emotional person with a surprisingly fragile ego, so if he feels like he has been slighted by someone, he's not going to let it go.

He's not too sensitive about comments on his acting, through his years of performing he has learned how to take constructive criticism and how to brush off cruel remarks. He is both secure in his talent and driven to improve himself any way he can. He has been in the industry long enough to develop thick skin.

His appearance, on the other hand, is something he's extremely sensitive about. Despite all his boasting, he's very insecure. Most of the other RFA members have been on the receiving end of Zen's pettiness after not being impressed by his latest selfie or teasing him about his looks.

He's very generous to his friends, and when that isn't appreciated, he will not let that go. Think about him mother henning caring for Yoosung in Another story, and how offended he was when Yoosung ran away from the masseuse he hired. He is often called the older brother of the RFA, but I think he can go into full petty mother mode if he wants to.

21. What silly things do they fantasize about (e.g. winning arguments, doing things well, being good at social interactions)?

He absolutely has his acceptance speeches planned out for a variety of awards he dreams of winning. He has done the whole talking-to-the-mirror-while-holding-an-object thing several times, each time watching himself from a different angle to make sure he always has his good side on show.

Also, he's such a romantic, he definitely spends a lot of his free time daydreaming about having a partner. Fantasizing different meet-cute scenarios, imagining the different opening lines he'd use to make someone laugh, deciding on the best date spots in town to take his partner out to.... there isn't anyone more well-prepared to be in a relationship than Zen.

44. What kind of thing makes them laugh way too hard?

Okay, maybe this is because I just went through the chats about Zen's old tech today, but I picture him laughing really hard at old facebook type jokes. Puns, funny animal videos and outdated memes are the things that never fail to make him laugh.

Whenever Seven or Yoosung share memes in the chatroom, it's him and Jumin who are in the dark as to what the joke is. It's one of the only times he's on the same side as Jumin, to his disappointment.

[ccaptain]

🌿 Author Portrait .

get to know the author behind the blog! repost, do not reblog.

.Basics

name/nickname: sam/zack c: age: 29! pronouns: she/her/them years of writing: oh man, a LOT. i'm pretty sure that it's around 13-14 years of experience between Facebook para rp (dont ask) and Pokèmon forum chatrooms... good times. 

.Reflection

Why did you pick up writing? i was always an huge fan of reading and still am, and it came to me very naturally to the point where I had some notebook that I used to write scripts of roleplays between my OCs... it only escalated when I found out that people roleplayed with eachother. BOOM. opened an entire world to little mini me who was basically the weird kid with no friends. 

Do you have any writing routines? i settle down after lunch and dinner to start replying to stuff! i'll reblog a meme i really want my partners to send to me a couple of times to make sure that they see it (timezones SUCK), wait a bit to see who sends and then i'll get down to those first, and drafts come after i've done all memes if i still have energy c:

What's your favorite part about writing? THE CLAY-MOLDING YOU CAN DO TO A MUSE and the studying you do about them by researching stuff for their story, putting them in situations, letting yourself think about how they may react to love, affection, a possible betrayal... and its all on the tips of your fingers to write. i LOVE studying things!!!!!! i rotate them in my mind like a funky gyroscope!

.Three things you like about your writing:

i. while I don't particulary like angst, once I get in a mood or my muse is put into a particular situation, I'm gonna make it heart wrenching. i'm gonna make whoever is reading this break down on the floor crying. and i'm also gonna cry myself. i love that little stomach pain when you synchronize so much with your muse's pain that you're able to feel it. because others will be hit with a mallet with that too c: heheheheohee

ii. how my muse quite literally never goes away, and the patience that i have developed when dealing with my partners. we could literally not interact for months, and then when you come to me with ideas we're just going to pick up where we left, like, i'll open a box and take everything out. i was told often that this allows people to stress a little less about getting back to me fast so i'm happy about that! no stress while writing with me. i'm never out of muse anyway!

iii. the amount of EFFORT that i put into characterizing a muse......... a lot of research and plotting and thinking goes into that and i never run out of headcanons, as silly as those may be. i personalize them like a teenager would do with their cellphone by applying stickers to it and the stickers reflect their personality. 

.A question for the next person

write a question for the next person to answer. once you've answered it, leave a new question for someone else to answer.

new question: what do you find the most difficult to write (eg dialogue)? ( lauri )

i'm gonna have to go with dialogue, yeah,,,,,, i can be very wordy when describing paras and paras around a situation. then i get to the dialogue and there's a few lines of stuff that look kind of out of place to me. FORTUNATELY im working on it-

NEW QUESTION: Do you have a certain type of muse you enjoy writing? ( robin )

TECHNICALLY....... yes. i enjoy muses with deep inner turmoils that look a little mysterious, that have a lot of internal difficult decisions to make, that are a little complex and once somebody tries to figure them outand they get it completely wrong. part of why i'm currently so unashamedly hyperfocused on H:SR Kaeya is that i made him into a very complex concept and i rotate him in my mind like a sausage. 

NEW QUESTION: what kind of threads do you enjoy the most?

tagged by: @daybreakrising @duelmarks MY POOKIES tagging: @predvestnik @snowtombedstar @visionkept @chasersglow @dupliciti

[jomiddlemarch]

Good news: Tumblr is still Nowheresville!

Per, Shira Ovide in WashPo:

“Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and (sort of) Snapchat remain the only social networks that matter in most of the world. I hate saying this, but it’s the reality.

Sure, there is a flourishing of options for people to share their ideas, jokes and community with friends or strangers. You might love Mastodon, the audio chatroom app Discord, LinkedIn, Reddit or whatever new Twitter alternative is trending this week. (That’s Spill.)”

[pitbullwithawig]

As a member of Gen Z I have something I would like to say, which is a lot more serious I feel like than a lot of the things I reblog or post or whatever. But it's something that I feel like needs to be talked about, which is the mockery of Gen Alpha for rudeness and ignoring social rules and politeness and all that. And so I am going to attempt to explain my thoughts in a way that other people can understand which can be hard for me if the thought has already formed in my head and isn't spontaneous as I type. So bear with me.

So like many people I am on Instagram and Twitter and all that and I see a lot of videos and posts and everything about the "brattiness" of Gen Alpha kids and how they're rude and unsocialised. And lots of these people, calling these twelve year old children out for these issues, have placed their finger exactly on the real problem, though I don't think they really have processed that. If they did they wouldn't be making fun of it.

The reality is that these children who at this point are now twelve years old and beginning to interact with the world in a meaningful way, are the first generation of kids who were fully raised with high speed and stronger technology. These are the iPad kids in the wild. Like, even me and my younger brother who are on the lower end of Gen Z were born at a time when the Internet was in its MySpace and maybe early years of Facebook era. Nobody was giving these things to children just because they were still always considered new. New and constantly changing. But now we have the kids who were born in the twenty teens, when technology was a fact of life and yes a handy way to distract small kids. What's more, nobody was aware of the harm screen's like IPad and phone screens can do to a brain in its very important early stages of development.

So here are these kids now, entering the world. And their entire life they've had a archive of information and other people and things to do literally at their fingertips. Since birth even! And these technologies have interfered with their brain development right smack dab in the crucial years where kids learn about language and social interactions and how the bloody world works. But they learned it looking through or around the skewed filter of a phone screen. So here was the first stage of messed up brain development where they learned that the world works the way it does on chatrooms and in movies and tv shows, where people speak to eachother the way they do online, where their brain is always stimulated by something new just a few taps away. I mean, they learned this skewed version of the world as toddlers! This, for lack of a better description, human code has been embedded at the very base of their brain and everything else that comes after is just building off of that.

Then a few years later comes the pandemic. The big bad pandemic that ruined lives and fucked everyone over, especially the people who were still developing. And suddenly the order of the world has changed and their brains are developing around that strange new order. And this causes them to miss milestones in their brain development.

They're not in a classroom anymore. They can't connect with friends. They can't physically connect with people outside their bubble, in any way. No roughhousing on the playground, no visiting parks to swing around in. Their class is squares on a screen, and if they want to say something without other people hearing there's always the mute button. My point is that already limited social interaction (something essential in reaching many milestones in neural development and learning how to interact with the world) has just dropped to almost zero. Now EVERYTHING is filtered through a screen. Right smack dab in the most developmentally important years of these kids lives.

Even people my age have missed milestones! People in Grade 9 and 10 were far too grabby and overactive because we missed the developmental period where we learned how much touching is too much touching, characterized by people wrestling eachother and poking eachother excessively. AKA middle school boys. Yes, that is an essential part of development. And we missed that because of the pandemic.

So these kids' already fucked up neural pathways get wired in all the wrong ways. And we're surprised when they do not have the capacity to behave as a functioning human beings!?

Yes they are being rude. Yes they are being gross and unnecessarily mean. No I am not excusing them (or their parents) for that. But these poor human beings have the wrong base code! Their brains were built wrong, in the wrong way and the wrong order and to the wrong extents! Maybe, instead of making fun of and putting these literal children down for something they can't help (aka their literal brain development), maybe we should be putting effort into explaining why this is happening and Finding A Way To Fix It. AT THE SOURCE! Inform new parents about neural development and natural milestones. Explain why screen's are not good for literal babies. Educate, educate, educate.

And maybe we can save the disaster that is becoming the human race.