#Meta you have poor texting manners

[starlytenight]

So how long has meta been away from his family? (Arthur, Drago, Fal, ect)

I've stated in my fic that it's been about a decade, so he's literally watched Fumu and Bun grow up and been really bad about texting/calling the family after running off after Jecra and Garlude died---it was a very spur of the moment thing and how he met King Dedede.

Ahhh, longevity problems; forgetting to reply to someone after a few years and not realizing it's been that long. Poor Arthur does worry about his blueberry son from time to time but knows Meta is just being himself. He's always been bad about texting unless it's mission-focused.

In the story he's only texted Noisurat for information and that was their only recent conversation. xD Noizy even gave him a little jab for only messaging him for something rather than for a hello, to which Meta totally felt was coming. xD

[bnhaobservation]

I just read your post about Enji’s atonement to Touya very well written and an interesting read but quick question - “the rest of his family wanted to forgive him way before he were to do something” when you say that the family was looking to forgive before he do something, so you mean they were looking to forgive Enji before he even started atoning?? Because I can see it with Fuyumi and maybe even Rei, but Shouto was not looking to forgive his father until Enji started to atone and looked to possibly forgive if Enji showed what type of father he would be!

Also I think Shouto also called Touya by his name after the reveal 🤔 oh actually I think if I remember correctly he slipped a little in the start but he also mostly called him by his name.

Thank you for enjoying my meta!

First of all a clarification.

When I said the family wanted to forgive him, I don't mean the family HAS FORGIVEN him. Their forgivance is conditional, they don't want to go back to how they were before but they're okay with giving him a chance.

Okay, so let's go through the timeline of Enji's atonement.

Around the end of September Enji has his talk with All Might. [Chap 165] According to chap 192 this is what kickstarts his idea he should atone... or, at least, that he should atone differently by how he was doing before.

This will lead him to try to approach Shouto in a manner that, I guess is different from before.

He reaches out, respects Shouto's refusal for it, tells him he's proud even if Shouto mainly used his ice and he's there because he failed his licence exam, there's no complaining but also no pressure on how he should have done this or that or that once Shouto gets his licence he should join his agency.

I'm not 100% sure about this but also Enji's speech to Shouto seems a step in his atonement path as he says he wants to make Shouto's proud, which, from my understanding, is not generally something Japanese fathers say. It's kids who've to make fathers proud and be grateful because the fathers gave them life, not the other way around.

By the end of November he's crowned Number 1 and then moves to Kyushu where he ends up fighting the high end.

While he's doing so, we learn he'll also started sending flowers to Rei and shows up to her hospital many times but she can't meet him yet and he respects this (I'm not sure if he started back then or he already did, poor Rei is a character HUGELY neglected so it can be that Rei is more willing to forgive Enji because actually there was more than just 2 months of flowers and visits)

Rei thinks this means Enji isn't leaving his past or his family behind.

As soon as Enji is back from Kyushu, Fuyumi throw a party for him and invites Natsuo and Shouto.

According to Natsuo, by this time, his mother and sister are willing to forgive him.

Shouto doesn't say he's willing to forgive him... but he makes clear he's willing to give him a chance, which is the first step on the path.

Fuyumi is touched and offers him more soba.

In the same month Enji sends plenty of texts to Shouto until Shouto replies he wants to learn flashfire fist.

After the Christmas Eve party at U.A. Shouto invites Midoriya and Bakugou to intern with him at Endeavor agency. Enji doesn't really want them but accepts to please Shouto.

On January 1st Shouto makes clear he will study under Enji but not because he's his father but because he's the Number 1 so doesn't want to be handled like a son. Enji accepts.

A week after Fuyumi invites them at a dinner.

At the end of it we get Shouto saying he doesn't know how to feel about Enji out of obligation due to how he hurt his mother... who however instead wants to forgive him, and Midoriya saying that Shouto is trying to get himself ready to forgive him.

Later the discussion about Touya also comes up.

I'll stop here.

A bit of cultural contest now.

Japan is pretty big about the need of harmoniously getting along. For all I searched about families who're victims of abuse (husbands abusing wife, parents abusing kids) but also other things abou bullying and so on, it seems one of the main goals wasn't so much to punish the culprit but to ripristinate the harmoniously getting along.

So I think in a way this too plays as a factor in why the family is the way it is.

Now what we have here?

Fuyumi ALWAYS wanted a family, so I think she always wanted to forgive him if he were to make an effort.

We don't exactly know where Rei stood before she decided she wanted to forgive him. Since Rei comes from a traditional family she was probably educated into Confucian values so she likely felt guilty for how things went wrong. She also might want to rebuld her family for her children's sake. So, even though she's still traumatized, she wants to forgive him and she might have always want to forgive him.

I tend to think Enji started sending her flowers when he decided to atone but don't we really know when he started so this might have had a longer build up or not.

Shouto doesn't really blame Enji for what he put him through even though it was traumatic, for him it was always what he did to his mother that was the worst sin. After the fight with the High End Shouto says he's not ready to forgive him... but, as Bakugo pointed out much later he doesn't say 'I'll never forgive him'. As Midoriya pointed out, Shouto wants to but he's not ready yet. Possibly he wants to for his mother and sister since they're willing to give this a try, maybe he wants to because, deep down, he'll also like to have a family. Hard to say.

The only one who states he'll never forgive Enji is Natsuo.

It's true, the fight with the High End is AFTER Enji decided to atone but... what exactly had he done that we know of by then beyond deciding to atone and sending Rei flowers?

Since Shouto claims he hadn't seen anything, I take for him he hasn't done anything.

Yet, Rei, Fuyumi and Shouto were all willing to give him a chance... Shouto's chance was likely more conditioned than the one Rei and Fuyumi were willing to give him (Shouto wants him to do something while probably Rei and Fuyumi would content themselves with Enji not doing anything bad) but still they were willing to give him one.

And having to deal with people who're willing to give you a chance makes things A LOT easier and since Enji did many things to atone in the end, it's easy to assume they will forgive him.

That's what I was trying to say, sorry if it didn't come out clear.

In regard to Shouto calling Touya with his name... Shouto alternates the two.

Post reveal, facing him, he goes for Touya, no 'Nī' (= "Brother") attached which is very rude and many won't do it even if their brother were to trying to kill them.

Then, once he's not facing him, when thinking about him or talking about him, he tends to call him 'Touya Nī' unless he's talking of him as a Villain ("Dabi's existence is my family crime").

When he faces Touya again, first he calls him 'Baka aniki' (馬鹿兄貴 “stupid brother”), then starts with 'Touya' (without 'Nī') but immediately switches to 'Dabi' and calls him as such through all the fight.

Okay, no, when Touya tells him he'll burn all Enji loves, Shouto calls him again 'Baka aniki' when he tells him he won't let him do it.

For the rest of the fight it's all Dabi.

Then after Shouto has frozen Touya and Touya has unfrozen himself, when he thinks about him he goes back to 'Touya Nī' and keeps on calling as such.

I think I didn't miss anything but I'm open to corrections if I did.

[handicappedbuenchico]

Name: Caitlin-Ashley

Pronouns: She/Her

Preference of communication: Tumblr IM's. Those are 10x more reliable in terms of me seeing them, in comparison to Discord, for some reason.

Most active muse: Spencer.

Experience / how many years: I've been roleplaying for about 8 years now! It's been an on-and-off thing really.

Platforms you use: I use both Tumblr and Discord!  

Best experience: Meeting @petpsycho for the very first time, roleplaying John and Carlos's first interaction based off of a meme I sent in, and having Carlos and John fuck at damn near 100 notes in. Truly the best experience because it was not only one of my first, but Mina has been an amazing person to talk to and write with.

Rp pet peeves:

Those group/town/app/appless Discord rp types, that don't even do it on Tumblr from what I can tell, spamming their promo so much in the rp tags to the point where they drown out literally anyone else's. I'm not looking to join a fucking off-platform group to rp in a generic town, I'm looking for singular people to write with ON TUMBLR. STOP SPAMMING YOUR SHIT FOR FUCK'S SAKE! That's what bumping on Disboard is for.

Personal blogs that aren't connected to roleplay ones in any way spam liking my roleplay related shit. Like, I can understand if it's like a meta or a headcanon, but personals (that aren't connected to a roleplay blog) liking my starter calls and my promos are a completely different story. PLEASE DON'T FUCKING DO THAT IF YOU ARE NOT A ROLEPLAYER IN ANY CAPACITY. That goes for reblogging too honestly, like don't reblog my roleplaying material/threads either if you aren't actively involved with it/didn't get my permission to do so.

Formatting that is hard to read. Now, I'm not talking about colored text or small text or anything like that. I'm talking about the formatting that looks like either a pure wall of text, or there are so many paragraph breaks that I have to physically drag a reply into Google Docs to "fix it" for my brain. Full disclosure, I am autistic (an Aspie to be specific), and sometimes my brain has trouble with reading comprehension on normal formatted text. Now imagine my brain when trying to read something with either NO paragraph breaks, OR paragraph breaks after every single sentence. It's not fun, and it makes me want to write with you less and less.

I apologize in advance if anyone feels called out by these, as I'm sure you didn't want to hear this from me in this manner. I am polite and nice to a fault, and I fear judgement/being reprimanded due to my own RL trauma, so I was too anxious to tell you personally.

Fluff, angst, or smut: I would like some Fluff with a side of Smut, you can also put a dash of angst on that if it will enhance the thread's flavor.

Plots or memes: Oh I am mostly a meme person, but if I find/think of a plot that our muses can do, you best believe I'm coming into your DM's and tell you about it.

Long or short replies: Depends on my muse, the time that I have at any given moment, my need to stim, and sometimes the thread itself. On a day where I have a lot of muse and a full day to myself, I can do longer replies, like a couple of long paragraphs. On days where I have little muse and or not a lot of time to spare, I tend to write smaller replies.

Best time to write: If I said any other time of day than between 8 PM - 12 AM I would be lying to you all. Writing at night right before you crash just hits different.

Are you like your muses: Y E S.

Carlos has my fear of punishment/being judged. Along with that, he and I sharing being a people-pleaser/peacemaker type of person, due to having it forced upon us by the adults around us that should fucking know how to act right. We both also grew up poor due to circumstances we couldn't control.

Now, Spencer, you wouldn't think I'd share any similarities with, but you would be very wrong. Spencer and I share a sensitivity to touch, but we both also like to touch anything/anyone we see (not in a creepy/perverted way, I'm talking like hugs and shoulder pats or something like that.) We're both also gay as fuck, and we're neuro-divergent (I'm autistic with an anxiety disorder and he has ADHD with Generalized Anxiety Disorder). We both also got daddy issues, so uh, there's that too.

Ted Lockwood is just my experiences as an autistic person incarnate LMFAO. Bro like, we're both nice to everyone, including people who probably don't deserve it. He and I both are socially awkward sometimes, and we can't read a room sometimes to save our damn lives (literally in Ted's case). We both have our own little special interests, his is engineering and space and mine is art and writing.

Crybaby as a character was someone I could relate to on an emotional level. I was saying for many years that my dysfunctional family almost fit Dollhouse to A FUCKING TEE! I also related the song Crybaby because I too was a very emotional little girl who got made fun and taken advantage of for it. I related to all of Crybaby's failed attempts at love in songs such as Carousel, Soap, and Training Wheels. Out of all my muses, Crybaby is the most like me because I already related to her long before I would even take her up as a muse.

Tagged by: @kurtzbergsiblings

Tagging: @bctclgevse @betterto-die-thanto-crawl @bamsidsuperbitch @scribedhorror @depictedblue @depictedmorada and anyone else who wants to!

[terapsina]

Fanfic writer ask game: 4, 8, 15, 16, 18

4. Do you prefer writing multi-chapter or oneshot fanfictions?

It really rather depends. Writing multi-chapter stories is certainly a lot more stressful (the sad line of my old dropped attempts rather showcase that).

But at the same time my longer stories do bring me bigger amounts of joy I guess. I get INVESTED in them.

But I also love writing short little drabbles that are like me baking a cookie, instead of a line of cakes. So I guess I like writing both, it's just about what I'm in the mood for.

8. What kind of document do you use to you write? Microsoft Word? Google Docs? Straight in the AO3 text box?

No, I'm a true savage, I write straight on Tumblr and make frequent use of 'save as draft' (I have an explanation to this, I used to write more TV show meta posts when I joined the hellsite, and I got so used to this particular font, in this particular size, on this particular background that writing anywhere else gets so distracting I might as well give up).

I do last edits in AO3 drafts though 🥺 that makes everything okay, right?

15. Are there words, phrases, mannerisms or scenes you tend to use a lot?

Ugh, the bane of my existence is how when I write and come up with a word that fits, the word somehow gets stuck in my mind and I'll find it used again two paragraphs down. And I don't notice until I do a reread aloud in editing. At which point I tend to google a bunch of synonyms.

Also: 'burst into laughter', 'choked back her tears', 'swallowed past the stone in her throat'. Also also my characters tend to raise their eyebrows and roll their eyes a lot, I think.

16. How long is your longest fic?

31'060 words as of yesterday, She's Come Undone and Set Free. Who knew how invested I'd get into letting Elena be angry; having Caroline dealing with her s1 trauma; making TVD era Rebekah get actual friends; and (most recently) giving Bonnie a properly interesting love interest *cough*Rebekah*cough*. (I already knew I could get invested in Elejah, that one wasn't a surprise).

18. Recommend someone else fic! (And tag them if they have a tumblr!)

This question is confusing but I'll take it to mean I should recommend someone else's fic to everyone who reads this.

Okay. I'm gonna narrow it down to TVD/Legacies fics because that's what I'm recently writing myself and if I don't put some kind of theme limit I'll get a headache.

We Remain by AnonymousObsesser - Elejah, starts during American Gothic and then goes a completely different way (I have read the first three chapters at least 5 times, the Elejah feelings are seriously top-notch).

A Year to Eternity? by @missnmikaelson - Elejah, Klaroline, a bit of Bonnie/Kol, a bit of Handon - Starts out during 5x12 of The Originals. But with TVD had a different ending (Elena isn't married to certain people for example and I love it). Neither Elijah, nor Klaus die because that's stupid (Caroline yells a bunch at Klaus about it, Elena's blood is always the magic cure we should all know this: "To seal the Hollow away we need the willing support of Elena Gilbert." Amusement sparkled in his eyes. "I'm asking about your knees, Nik, because you're about to grovel on them.").

plastic crown by @jennifersminds - Elejah but not as the focus, the focus is Elena runs away from the Salvatores (Rebekah gives her a car, Elena ends up in Vegas, I honestly don't know how to describe it, the story just has a very unique imagery) and tries to build herself back up. Trauma. Vengeance. Female friendship. Strip clubs and slight bit of vampiric serial killing. Oh, just read it, you'll understand.

(I think the three above mentioned fics can probably be blamed for me starting to write She's Come Undone).

tis the season for a kidnapping by @vorpalmuchness - Elejah, Elena gets kidnapped by a couple of idiots whose information is a BIT out of date (they call Elijah and expect gratitude is what I mean, those poor poor morons). And I LOVE it.

being unwanted (and wanting too much); by @natalia-dyer - Post s4 Hizzie, basically Lizzie coming to her great lesbian awakening/acceptance of self as she realizes why none of the guys were ever quite right.

Torn by the hours by @isagrimorie - (if you don't think I absolutely love that fic, you are WRONG, it lives in MY head rent free). Hizzie, with Lizzie waking up in the middle of the battlefield where Hope has pulled a full on massacre because she thought Lizzie was dead? I am RABID for this scene.

(okay, it's possible I overdid it a lil'bit).

[rahulwoncomp]

Top SEO Techniques You Need to Avoid (and Forget) in 2021

Mistakes are made.

And they are made to be rectified.

So when you are thinking of making the most out of your SEO works in 2021; you have got to make sure you are making ZERO MISTAKES.

SEO in 2021

Search Engine Optimization is probably the only technical work out there to help rank a website in Google’s Search Engine Result Page or SERP. What it means is that people or people who are looking for your website will simply find your brand at the first of the Search Engine Result Page in the swarm of your competitors. It means more visibility and yes, that means business.

But, like the other digital marketing operations; SEO techniques are also being ADVANCED WITH TIME. And you know what advancement means, it means CHANGE.  And change refers to doing something you are not supposed to do.

In 2021; SEO has taken a new route in its digital journey. For new technologies; for  this changing society and its interaction in the online world; for more complex algorithms of search engines and other similar factors; SEO has become quite advanced that you have got to educate yourself in detail about the benefits of it.

And now can you gain more of that benefit by MINIMISING MISTAKES.

Some of these mistakes can affect the quality of your work; while others have the power to even CHARGE you.

"Want to know which SEO mistakes you need to avoid in 2021?"

Well, you can read on.

1. Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Yes, keywords mean a lot to a website and the content you are posting.  But, too many of them can lead your work go in a completely wrong direction.

As it is said: “Too much of good thing isn’t essentially good.”

If you have used too many of targeted keywords in your blog; then it would be categorized as the ‘black hat SEO’ strategy by search engines.

Google identifies this problem and bans your content that has excessive keywords. This process is often called shadow banning your website.

Don’t make your content or website too keyword dense.  Avoid black hat techniques and use keywords smartly.  Proper keyword usage is a compliment for Search engine optimization techniques as it is the exact setting you need for your content.

2. Avoid Building Links in Excessive Numbers

Why would you need that?

Well, you may as well build 5000 links in a day or two (or more than that) but does it mean you’re going to get the response you have been looking for?

You may not.

Go slow. Avoid building too many links at a fast pace. You need to understand how search engine algorithm works. These algorithms in the world’s popular search engines are made in a sophisticated manner and these won’t let poor quality work just simply break through and rank the first.

Building too many links won’t work to breakthrough these algorithms.

3. Avoid Ignoring Quality of Your Content

Links give an address to your content. But, it is the content that matters at the end. Why would people even care for those links?

They want the content.

Yes, link building can be a highly effective tool for content marketing.

The thing is: “It’s essential”.

But, at the same time, you need to assure that your content is of value and is relevant.

You need to provide what people are looking for.

In that regard, just keep these flowing points in mind when you’re composing your content:

   • Your content should be relevant

   • Your content should be unique

   • Your content should be engaging

4. Avoid Using Backlinks Unwisely

Purchasing backlinks is such a business that it can either make or break your digital marketing.

The old saying is again true: “Quality is better than quantity.”

Backlinks can be one of the most essential things in SEO to get traffic. But, the thing is purchasing too many of  them with low quality or low DA only will waste your time.

According to live data; companies securing a number of backlinks below 200 has outrun companies that owns a number of 90,000 backlinks.

Can you imagine that?

It is an effective SEO off page optimization strategy you can think about (or use) in 2021.

Don’t purchase cheap backlinks. Go with the ones that are valuable and of high quality.

It’s called being wise!

5. AVOID ‘AVOIDING ANALYTICS'

This is to say that you work and you don’t know what you are doing.

If you ignore analytics for SEO, then you are making this above mentioned mistake.

Analytics show you the relationship between your content and its search engine feedback.

Not everyone is looking for the same kind of information.

What should you do then?

Well, find ‘what groups of customers’ are looking for ‘which types of content’.

That’s what you get with analytics.

Running SEO analytics; you can now understand what feedback you are getting with different types of content.

Gaining this data; you can now make more improved strategies to boost ranking that would help your SEO EVOLVE into the next level.

Use these following analytics measures

   • Proper keyword search

   • Link management

   • SEO workflow

   • Quality checking of content

   • Automation analysis

6. Avoid Ignoring Mobile Platforms

This is going to be a huge mistake and that too in 2021.

People are much more into mobile devices.

Probably you’re reading this blog in a mobile device right now.

If you’re website and content isn’t mobile-friendly, then you might get ignored by search engines. The most contemporary and the (best way to improve search engine ranking) is creating content and designing websites in a way so that they are accessible in different mobile platforms. In that way, your website wouldn’t be skipped by mobile-friendly website searching search engines.

This strategy will also keep you ahead of your competitors because all of them have mobile friendly website and content already.

7. Avoid Adding Enough Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

When you’re not using enough meta description and title tags; you’re making it difficult for a search engine to identify the specific type of content and select a website in the swarms of competitor websites.

Add more specific title tags and meta descriptions that go well with the meaning of your content. Check the new rules of search engines regarding meta descriptions and title tags.

You can do one more thing though!

Use image tags.

Yes, search engine bots do not see images. But, they can read image tags; which can again be a more specific address to your content.

Useful, right?

8. Avoid Using Text-only Content

Yes, content can be delivered in many ways.

That’s exactly what you want: MANY WAYS TO DELIVER CONTENT!

Haven’t you noticed that Google’s SERP page also detects videos; which are, of course, not text-only content.

Plus, Google has started releasing its podcasts.

By 5 years; there will be a massive increase in audio/visual content than its written counterpart.

And that’s okay because this is the digital age.

All you need to do is to upgrade your content generation and that’s it.

To Conclude

SEO is a game changer.

Make zero errors in executing its operations and it can be a superhero for your website and brand.

So, in 2021 (and in the years to come), you just need to be a little bit careful with SEO strategies.

And that’s it!

[incarnateirony]

I went off on a rant to a friend about things like Gamble Era, and miscellaneous idolized past authors, and you know what, fuck it. I'm going to say it out loud. And listen, listen this is NOT going to be my normal "Whatever you like :)" post like, this is literally an accumulation of horse shit I've seen talked about in any and all lanes for years that have been driving me fucking bananas for years. Don't just read this going HAHA I HATE GAMBLE TOO and then be shocked when I slap at inexplicably favorited authors in this fandom beyond that.

------

God how can anyone genuinely like Gamble, like, literally, legitimately and 1000%, not even about her killing Cas or whatever, what kind of pure trash TV do these people intake in mass that they think Gamble was good at her job I can not emphasize enough how cripplingly disappointing the shift from S4-5 to 6-7 was I know art is in the eye of the beholder or whatever but JESUS. FUCKING. CHRIST.

Fuck constructivist theory there's a point when things are just clearly trash Benefits S7 had: Just da bros uhhhh *flips through pages* Anything else? Are dick jokes art?

Her era was overrun by plot holes you could fly boeing jets through -- and I don’t mean shit like when fandom goddamn made up in their own damn head about an angelreaper retcon even though the reaper in the same episode they said was a retcon said the deadass opposite of what everybody fucking wound themselves up about, just deadass yawning voids -- it had unstable mechanics on previously established species shit, the villain plot was one giant monster of the week that tried desperately to go back to how they handled shit like Azazel as a threat but miserably failed, the monster had the dumbest weakness possible, the characters themselves were unstable in their characterizations and not even in that general "I don't like what the show is doing with them" but episode to episode Sam flipping from ripping Dean with laughter over gay jokes to woke-sounding sentiments

The cinematic style was gone and just vacant, it was neither the overexposed horror desaturated film nor the vivid fantasy of Carver, it just sat there like an unpolished lump

While later seasons also lost the classic rock vibe for budget reasons, that too disappeared in her era so we had no film energy, no story energy, no character energy, no villain energy, no structure energy, and we didn't even have the fucking cool tunez but we had dicks allergic to windex

It even lacked the elements that gave Kripke era value

Dusty americana died, all we had left was teenage girl fuckin emo sad boi drama And even that was miserably piss poor

I have never seen such a visionless fucking disaster successfully air an entire season on my fucking TV

I will never, EVER be able to outline what a fucking disappointment it was to go from S4-5 level show maturation into this negative embarrassment by season 7.

S6 Kripke was still around to some extent and that's the only reason I can deduce, S7 minded, there was any substance to it, even if her writing and editing crew at the time were a goddamn tire fire. And then people turn around and yell feminism if you criticise the giant fucking blazing slag heap that was her era and blame anyone and everyone but her and here you FUCKING go and she does half the shit all over again in the Magicians

(The friend replied: "The season only works in reverse, which is a crime on serialised TV (and just bad screenwriting)." )

That's just it though, it's like S7 we were suddenly back to fucking episodical TV like S1-2 because enough fuckbats yelled about Good Old Days. Only instead of ʷĤε𝕣є'𝓼 đα𝒹 or 𝐓Ħⓔ DεᗰＯᶰ 卄𝓐ｓ Ƥl𝓐𝓝Ş ℱⓞｒ Ⓜ𝔢 it was   ħ𝔞ⓗａ 𝓓ＩＣ𝐤ᔕ  🍆

I mean fucking sure this show started targeting late teenage women but Kripke had started maturing it forward and then Gamble fucking rolls along and it's like she's writing for 13 year old boys suddenly

Well I say that's what she seemed to be writing for but at the time the marketing was gross objectification going LOOK PRETTY BOYS WITH GUNS and that was it, that was the substance of what they gave a shit about and apparently the kind of demographic they thought constituted the sum of the SPN audience which, go get fucked guys, seriously. No fucking wonder the ratings got gouged in half over the course of a year. And fandom yells BUT FRIDAY DEATH SLOT but go sit and spin, S6 was friday deathslot too but before Kripke disappeared as the last thread holding SOME kind of cohesive value in the piece together in S6, that went to shitfuckhell in a handbag at light speed. People migrated to SPN Fridays S6 just fine. They LEFT season 7 and then people plug their ears if they don’t like that. And Carver had to fight all S8 to get it back, /but succeeded, and then-some./ 

oh and lemme head off fandom dumbfuck argument #72 about “well Dabb’s ratings are lower than Gamble’s were so he sucks and ruined it worse” go take your fucking ass and google “national primetime ratings decline” and enjoy exploring the last fucking 70 years of TV history. Pointing out a show crashes within a year because of massive failure is not the same as people being intentionally fucking daft sods to the TV universe’s decline over the last decade so like, don’t. Don’t be that person. Because you’re still embarrassingly wrong.

(The friend replied: "That's why I don't get why people care about what the vocal minority have to say. They *already* got what they wanted. It crashed and burned. Nobody in their right mind in corporate world is gonna be like, let's try that again, let's throw more money into that burning pit That's just not happening. Gay angels or no, it just ain't." )

I mean that should have been obvious when 1. Carver brought back Cas and pretty much immediately promoted him to Regular 2. Misha then got promoted to lead credits in S12, no matter what circles of intentional, willful ignorance fandom argues about what the credits mean for petty piss fights

"LOL & MEANS HE'S LESS IMPORTANT" Shut the fuck up and sit down you basement dwelling shitlord, go watch the A-Team, tell me how Mr T is the least important character

Also unpopular fuckin opinion Robbie Thompson and Ben Edlund are not That Great. Compared to what they were SURROUNDED with they were exceptional but Berens and Yockey could run circles around them both. They just happened to give fandom shit they liked during dark times so it made them fun. Robbie Thompson and Ben Edlund are basically the baseline value of our current writing team on random names. Give me Robbie Thompson and give me Davy Perez and I see no fucking difference. People compare Edlund to Yockey because of certain shit he pulled off but like, no? If there WAS a comparison it’d be like, Meredith, and even then I can’t see any way Edlund is substantially better than Meredith but could list the other in reverse?

But if we're talking about being able to write pieces with more than 1 or 2 layers of impact I'm sorry, it's rose colored glasses that makes people idolize them

Like if people seriously objectively fucking sat and reviewed the methodology and substance of their past idol authors to the demonstratable level of the current crew where I am DEAD ASS HAVING DISCOURSE WITH THE EXEC PRODUCER ABOUT BAUDRILLARDIAN CONCEPTS AND DELILLO in the middle of a hypercomplex postmodern two-directional commentary piece on some scaffolding of sociopolitical representation commentary that SAILS past the level the ‘activists’ in this fandom think about, literally, what people like is Gay Shit They Got lobbed at them or shiny visuals. And you know what, whatever, sure, like what you like IDGAF but don't sit here like Thompson was some fucking Shakespeare. No, your fucking "meta" you -- you, in any lane, anyone, any ship, anywhere, ever -- wrote by COMPLETELY randomly associating whatever storyline you could staple on to try to pretend the text was doing what you want at the time -- is not the same as author intent and actual weight and merit to the cohesive structure of what they build.

YES YES I KNOW, Death of the Author, someone just popped that up in their head, like the ten thousand posts I've made over the last 209349 years addressing how people abusive the fuck out of the term and that's fine, interpret shit however you wanna make it do jumping jacks but don't sit here entering the time you attached Little Bo Peep as some sort of intrinsic value to Dean trying to find Sam in 1492 and act like that's some deep critical shit the authors thoughtfully laced into the piece, these are not the same fucking conversation.

Big hollow voids of statements doesn’t make a better author, it makes you bust your ass harder to actually give any sort of consequential meaning to the piece, and that has nothing to do with the quality of the author or text themselves, that has to do with your interpretation in a piece devoid of genuine thematic subtext so people desperately try to bobby pin some bullshit together. Which also is probably why this fandom can’t tell the difference between coding, interpretation, subtext, and text for their fucking life anymore.

Protip the entire goddamn writing room is pouring that gay shit in your cup that's been triple brewed above Robbie or Edlund’s pots and people are still complaining it isn't enough

Another point that drives me up a wall, "LAZARUS RISING IS THE BEST EPISODE EVER" okay like lmaooooo what the fuck are you smoking Was it impressive as fuck at the time yes it was. But again, fucking perspective. I literally went back and watched it like a month ago and I realized it was a fucking void of content compared to our modern writing, it just had one of the most impressive entrances, it DID have good directing (YES MANNERS WAS GOOD, NO DISRESPECT), and it introduced a character everybody loved. Dean was still a halfass caricature

You wanna know why everybody made that shit gay right away Because there was no fucking substance around it it was a wallpaper of a cool looking episode that was otherwise blank space to run around in on dialogue they should have thought to construct better if they didn't want it to be gay

And sure since then the author room has picked up the big gay ball and started actually turning it into some shit which, great, but this is yet again a matter of structure and intent versus throwing rotten pasta at the wall and seeing if the mold makes it stick. I don't care if you have a vegan recipe that converts the fucking mold on the pasta into a healthy sauce base that isn't what it was thrown at the wall like, and no amount of complimenting the original chef's moldy pasta means it was some tasty shit before you added 10,000 ingredients they never fucking thought about or at least a second chef came along and figure out what to do with the pile of goo.

Fandom would stop being this miserable fucking putrid stinkhole if people would collectively apply some goddamn perspective to the content they argue about before even bothering to engage with uwustiel/cest dot tumblr dot com in irrelevant argument #9238428934 they use to fence off whether they should enjoy the content or try to explore it for its value or not because there is NO. MORE. PERSPECTIVE.

YOU KNOW WHAT? IT’S FINE TO EVEN ADMIT YOU LIKED THINKY-FREE TV, THAT’S FINE, THAT’S YOUR RIGHT.

But don’t SIT here acting like a lot of these former train wrecks were “better authors” or somehow objectively “better content.” No like, you like not thinking about shit that much and staring at pretty boys or whatever, good on you, but you literally like, objectively, some of the shit I’ve seen go down is like genuinely trying to compare a toddler’s fridge art to a Vasarely and hold them both up in front of people who do art for a living. They ain’t gonna shit on the kid’s fridge art, but they’re gonna go “awwwww she’s gonna grow up to be a great artist!” before breaking down on Vasarely’s vector illusion shit, sorry, that’s just how it be. I’m sure the kid had some sort of vision to drawing the triangle over the square that kinda looks like a house but the hypercomplex thought processes simply aren’t there. 

Just people STUCK in weird idolization of shit that is so far past irrelevant to the current piece in play and fighting to win arguments while trying to convince themselves they're right and secretly dreading how titanically failboat wrong they are ignoring the sound of the glacier having ripped through their hulls SEASONS ago. The ice water has already leaked onto the fucking DECK and people are still arguing about completely ridiculous shit or fancying things that were 1/10th of the value of the current content they're claiming isn't good or enough or valid compared to the shallow specters that birthed them out of old aeons. 

Dead-ASS Kripke picked shit because it “sounded cool.” I’m sorry if there weren’t some model guys fandom wanted to hump everybody would be making fun of the fedora-tipping mindset that probably is where the fucking trenchcoat came from and may have debated giving Cas -- sorry, “CASS” because “COOL” -- katanas. But sure. Way, way deeper and more intricate than the Jungian intertextual post modern piece that’s so tightly knit it’s making fandom unwittingly comment on themselves.

I thought people grew out of that shit when they were like 16 unless they were incels

(My spidey senses detected someone unironically preparing to inform me about stealing borrowing the imagery from Constantine on reflex, because you know, that’s some peak intertext right there.)

Dead ASS that writing logic is that motherfucker that wanders into your freeform RP server with Spawn knockoff miasma chainsaw arms under his leather trenchcoat shooting twin Deagles with a vague story of wanting to face his demon overlord father that’s written like a looney tunes villain, in the middle of you cowriting with your lit-savvy friends trying to make a fun fantasy adaptation rendering fascism and corporate america and then he gets upset when nobody wants him to shit lightning -- /fight me/.

SERIOUSLY FOLKS. WANNA ENJOY THE SHOW AGAIN? GET SOME PERSPECTIVE. LET GO OF FETISHIZING WEIRD WARPED MEMORIES AND LINES OF ARGUMENT INSIDE YOUR OWN HEADS ISTG IT'LL HELP.

The day I find an argument that makes season 7 legit good TV rather than, at very best, “fun junk TV I had a cool ride on”, that does NOT involve evoking arguments distinctly born out of petty shipping culture arguments and/or (generally the same) attaching their own shit with a stapler to MAKE it have some sort of meaning at the time it was airing (rather than later showrunners making it add up to something), I’ll eat my fucking arm.

𝓯𝓾𝓬𝓴. Carver era had already gone through dramatic changes that deepend the scope of the show and even then, 15.09 Bobo’s The Trap held more ACTUAL commentary on this fandom than Thompson’s Fanfiction episode did as a supposed fandom-commentary episode much LESS 15.04 as an actual meta framed episode. Fanfiction was like 4 years behind and completely fucking unplugged, whereas the base of the show itself is more integrated now in these dynamics than any attempt at meta episodes back then were.

old days it took one goddamn episode of dreaming for people to 1. start talking about Freud and 2. pretend the whole everything after that was some Freudian masterpiece even when, if it were, it would have been an entire avalanche of dropped balls. But two seasons of direct citations and literal manifest avatar-bodies of Jungian psychology elements and it’s hard to pull more than a peep out of the fandom about it because they’re too busy yelling about tulpas or sirens from before most of the people around here hit puberty.

𝓕 𝓤 𝓒 𝓚

furthermore why does anyone that idolize season 7 for what they think fits their bill think season 15 is gonna end how they want when they’ve been taking the piss out of season 7 over and over and over and over again IN THE TEXT as being dumb as SHIT

𝕀ℕ 𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝔽𝕌ℂ𝕂𝕀ℕ𝔾 𝕋𝔼𝕏𝕋

WHY SET YOURSELF UP FOR DISAPPOINTMENT

TO WIN TEMPORARY ARGUMENTS? THAT YOU’RE ACTUALLY LOSING FROM START TO FINISH?

actually you know what

rolling back to the whole “empty/subtextless stuff making people bust their ass” seems to be what you miss. Saying, “I miss empty, shallow, shitty writing” doesn’t really sound as good though so we change “what I like” into “this is talentless trash” it postures better, but it seems to be the people who have objectively fucking refused core tenets the show has evolved over the last 7 years, most explicitly the last 3-4, and absolutely refused to soak them in the form they deliver in. And they’re mad. Because it isn’t hollow. They can’t run around in fucking blank space and plug absolute horse shit into the voids and then posture like they’re supreme in this noncommital wasteland. Because everything’s built out and structured in and loud as fuck and people are debating the actual installed and even dogmatically cited work of philosophers driving the ideology of the show now and they can’t get away from it, and/or actually have to pay attention to the whole show and think about it all as a picture instead of the parts they want, so it’s “bad.”

I just sensed like 50 readers shoving their foot into that shoe. Good.

Jesus christ I’m pretty sure that’s what it is in hindsight after yelling all of this. These characters can’t be used as sock puppets anymore that people can win bullshit arguments unless they literally delete the entire principle of the modern show -- and this goes for MULTIPLE lanes really, each in their own way -- so now it’s “bad.” And that’s just not how this works.

[ukinobooks]

So. Deltarune happened. (SPOILERS)

Or more specifically, the end of Deltarune happened.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love this new world and there is no doubt a deeper story to be uncovered from it (like, who is that Knight that everyone keeps talking about? Will we ever destroy that Darkness Geyser? Why was my sweet fluffy soft goat(?!) boy Ralsei in that get up the whole time? TOby pLS), but I’ll be focusing more on the more “UnderTale” side of the story.

I believe that Deltarune is set in an alternate universe. Not a different timeline, but a different universe altogether. Many of us assumed at the start of the game that Deltarune is the Post Pacifist Route world, because we’re shown to be living on the surface with Goat Mom. But a lot of stuff in the game doesn't add up according to the UT universe that we're familiar with. 

My main evidence is Asriel. When the game first mentions him I gasped out loud because how in the world is Asriel supposed to be himself and alive Post-Pacifist Run??? isn't he supposed to be Underground as Flowey? The way they talk about him in the game suggests that our character Kris, Asriel, Toriel and Asgore were a family and that us and Azzy grew up together on the surface, which shouldn't be possible Post-Pacifist run.

You could say that Deltarune was meant to be a prequel to UT rather than a sequel, but then how would Asriel be grown up and in college if that was the case? 

Furthermore, Undyne and Alphys dont even know each other (my poor Alphyne heart), which is a stark contrast to how they were Post-Pacifist, and Catty and Bratty hate each other, as opposed to their strong friendship we see in UT. There's more evidence than that of course, such as how the Underground isn't even hinted at or mentioned in the game as part of the monsters' past.

Deltarune is most certainly not set in the same universe as UnderTale, much less the same timeline.

This brings me to my next point, regarding our favourite first fallen human, Chara.

I think its safe to say that most of us assumed that Gaster was speaking to us at the start of the game, given the Gaster references and hype Toby gave us on twitter 24 hours prior to Deltarune's release. But if we were really speaking with Gaster, we would be seeing Wing Dings text, like in Entry Number 17:

However we see only see English text against a black background, which means that the one speaking to us must be Chara. No other character (other than Flowey, but his text font is different) has spoken to us directly in the manner Chara has.

Chara asks if we are connected with them, and a soul appears on screen.

This is OUR soul, not Frisk's, not Kris', but OUR, the PLAYER'S, soul. We can infer this from undertale's genocide ending:

and the fact that when we SAVE in Deltarune, it saves under the name we gave ourselves as the player.

So now chara is connected to our soul, and they want to create an in-universe "vessel" for the soul to inhabit. One that they can control in the game itself. They don't control it for majority of the game however, they only control it at the end of the game, when- well.

When they rip OUR soul out of the vessel. I can only assume that they were able to transform the vessel that we created into their old human form through determination or something like that, I'm not sure. But how were they even able to access and control our soul so freely in the first place?

We gave it to them at the end of the Genocide Run. And the reason why they are in this Deltarune alternate universe is this:

"and move on to the next.”

I assume that with our soul that they obtained from our Genocide Run endings, they are now hopping from universe to universe, from world to world,  creating “vessels” they can control in universe to continue their genocidal agenda. 

A genocidal agenda that we enabled. We’ve been over this countless of times for the past 3 years though, so I'm not gonna talk more on that.

They have now hopped into the Deltarune alternate universe, and I cant wait to see what they do next.

 I wonder how they would react if they saw university-aged Asriel in the Deltarune universe.

A thing of interest I just thought of: there are many instances in the game where our choices are openly dismissed. The most notable instance is in the starting of the game itself, when Chara discards the characterisation and name we gave to our vessel.

which, of course, reminds me of:

We are truly facing the consequences of our actions, huh. Good on you, Toby. 

There is probably going to be more content from which we get to see more of Chara’s action and motivations (and more of their CHARActer!!111!!!!11!1! //slapped) and i eagerly look forward to it.

Anyway, this is just my two cents on the matter uwu sory if i got sometuings wrong i only got back into undertale liek... a few days ago so im probably rusty as fuck. uwu + this is my first meta theory post so its prob shitty asf lol

i cant wait the next chapter, lesgeddit 🤠🤙

thanks for reading!

[worldinnovativesolutions-blog]

Key Elements of a Responsive Website

Web Development

Web development is growing and expanding its periphery. From automating web interfaces to developing mission-critical applications, web development is turning dreams into realities.

It's an utmost requirement for a web developer to have proficiency on a wide range of platforms, development skills. They have to update and revive their skills on systematic basis.

Development lovers from all over the world are called to get services from our online platforms for Website Design and Development

Key Elements of a Responsive Website

Innovations in the technology and the advent of CSS3 and HTML5.0 have turned the dust of traditional website design and placed the red carpet for responsive website designing. Although designers use all available tools and technologies to make a robust and perfect website, there are a number of points that need quick attention. In order to execute and implement smart design decisions you need to fix these problems from approachable websites.

1. Clickable Areas

The hyperlinks on the website have a purpose to execute navigation in a proper manner. It is therefore important to make it visible on the site. You should also ensure that users face no hassles in clicking it. I have experienced it at various occasions that the visibility quotient of hyperlinks is very poor on the responsive sites that leads to ambiguous clicks on the page.

Web Design and Development Company give Service experts must understand that a large clickable area gives good space to users to hover the mouse cursor over the link. Manage your clickable area on your best website and escape a situation where you click link1 accidentally instead of link2.

2. Pagination

Pagination serves a purpose to split the content of an individual page into several pages together. Since displaying long list or service on a single page leads to serious complication. It doesn't only clutter the page but impacts the page load time adversely. On some blogs or websites, pagination is done to bifurcate the piece of content not to turn it more readable but increase the page views.

If you are developing a approachable website, perform pagination to split the pages only for better visibility.

3. Page Meta

The titles made for every page are equally important. If you prepare a generic title and use the same for all the pages across the website, pause this idea as it has more bottlenecks than benefits. A good and unique title holds the key for communication.

If users find your title unique and attractive, they will connect with you in a very particular style. These unique titles play very substantial role in getting top results in search engine results pages and more to Web Serviceability. While designing a reactive website keep the page titles in mind.

4. Content

Content placement and positioning is another aspect you must keep in the mind while delivering web designing solutions irrespective of its nature. To make sure that your approachable website is usable made sure that all the content posted on the website is useful, attention gripping and easy to scan. Your readers want to read a piece of text that help them to process transaction further.

Don't ever assume that your readers will read all the text you have posted. All they will do is a quick scan of the text if interesting. While posting then content quiz your Content Writing Services expert to place the information in order to ensure its essence.

5. Call-To-Action:

Finally comes the user engagement, an important aspect of the best website design. A user may have a number of concerns and issues with your services. A perfect responsive Web Design Methodology says there should be clearly visible approach for the user connect. Create call-to-action buttons on your web page as per user requirements so that users can connect to you easily using a mobile device.

6. User Interface

Website redesigning isn't an easy process but a complex, time consuming and costly as well. This is why I suggest you not to go into the process just for doing it. Make sure that your website needs it badly. Let me explain you in detail. You have a certain group of users who visit your website regularly in search of some content, text, graphics, image or moreover to hire a service.

They are quite conscious about a number of procedures available on your website such as primary pages, navigation theme and other vital links. Once you restructure the website, you will for sure change a few of the archives already there. It will leave your users agonized and betrayed. So, don't go for the redesigning until it becomes mandatory.

7. User Experience

This is the second step of website restructuring where we must involve the user base who use your website. This direct involvement with users helps you to understand the current look and feel of the website and any redesigning need if required. Getting feedback and suggestions from the users will always be beneficial from the website designing point of view.

To get the insight of your users you can make a few alterations in your website. Your audience will certainly respond to the changes. If they respond in the positive manner, you can go ahead with the beta version of the changes else postpone the party for some other day.

8: Usability Testing

If you are thinking to go ahead with the website redesigning process, giving a considerate thought to website maintenance and website testing is pretty mandatory. But the testing yields more results. This time not only your users but also invites the peers in the company to participate in the survey.

Keep in the mind that you are not going to redesign the website for yourself but for the end users. Allow users to send you site feedback through forms or a survey and keep track of them. It will give you an opportunity to get focused on the changes more prominently.

9. Website Update

Most social media websites follow the suite. Once they change the layout of the website, they retain the older version of the website for a considerable period of time. They do believe that users will take good time to get familiar with the website. You should also allow your end users to play with both new and older versions of the website. Facebook is probably the best example of this phenomenon.

10. User Engagement

If you have made major changes in your website layout, design, and navigation, offer users a complete and inclusive picture of the changes using a PPT presentation, slide or tutorial video. It will be highly helpful and innovative for the users. The tutorial will help them to adapt the changes with a faster pace and infuse a thought that you care for them. All the above-mentioned points are the major factors that sustain due prominence while the process of website redesigning.

We are offering best services of Development. World Innovative Solutions.com  is the most reliable source to get best development services.

[disheartenedbee]

Have Muscle Building Questions? Get Answers Here

Do you ever wish you could figure out how to make a beautiful website like some of the ones you visit on the Internet? Whether it is the design of a site or its layout, many things can make a mediocre site a great one. The tips here will teach you a few tricks about designing websites. Keep reading to find out more. Make sure the combination of colors your site uses is attractive and makes the site easy to read. If the text fades into the background due to poor contrast, the text will be hard to read. A dark color for foreground text against a light background is often more readable for most audiences. Soliciting feedback from a friend can help you determine how effective your color scheme is if you develop doubts about it. If you want to maximize the potential of your website design, ensure that your pages appear correctly on all web browsers, so any visitor can view them. Even though your website may display perfectly on Internet Explorer, this doesn't mean that it will look the same on Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. Before you website is launched, test the display of each page in all major browsers. Minimize page sizes and loading times. Users with slower Internet connections might decide that the wait isn't worth it if your site loads slowly. Don't waste their time or your own. Ensure that you save personal information that the user might need to enter again into your site. When visitors may be filling out multiple forms or information pieces, have the data fields retain their information, and auto-fill subsequent forms that are filled out. Creating "sticky"� information in this manner makes the whole process much more simple and smooth, and your visitors are sure to appreciate the time you save them as well. Despite the type of site you are going to have, you definitely want to keep the loading time under ten seconds. This will make people want to stay on your site. Many users crave webbouwer Tilburg instant gratification, so you should give it to them. To work out the visual aspects of your site design, you can use a program like Photoshop to create mockups. This software will ensure that you have all the effects and tools you need to create graphics which look like they were completed by a pro. If you don't use such a program, it can be difficult and take a lot of time to learn how to design a high-quality site in a hurry. To help you design your site website maken Tilburg to attract more visitors, you need to include good meta tags on each page. Quality meta tags will help the search engines to recognize what your site is all about. Tags that incorrectly label your site can cause visitors searching for your site's niche to not find the site, reducing the number of hits. Always use text content for links on your pages. Links that show content are clearly visible to the visitor so they know what they are clinking on. When there is no text content on the website maken Tilburg link, a keyboard shortcut could be stumbled on. If you already have several ideas for websites, you should reserve your domain as soon as possible. Come up with something inventive, something that people will remember. However, reserve it right away, because these names go fast. Even if your idea is very original, someone else could think up the same thing. We are all stimulated by the same media and social events. Now you should know more about designing a website. Gather a folder or list of all of the designs that you love and blend them to create your own unique design. Enjoy the process and remember to continue learning.

[mystlnewsonline]

How to Write a Relevant News Article?

Reporting on trending news topics has never been as relevant as it is today.  With the socio-economic climate in a state of flux, people want to hear the truth about what’s going on – but how do you write relevant news articles? According to recent reports, 64% of US citizens believe that fake news confuses even the most basic facts, such as climate change.  With 65% trusting legacy media without question, now’s the time to stand out with your writing and reporting skills.  There are several important reasons why you should strive to write more relevant news articles: - Boost your brand’s trust - Improve your website’s SEO - Attract more readers with your credibility - Improve the shareability of your news articles A news website lives and breathes by how reputable its articles are, so you should take great care to learn how to write news reports early on.  Let’s take a look at how to write more relevant, reliable news articles so that you can approach covering trending topics from a more objective standpoint in 2022. Always Check Your Sources The first step in making sure that you’re reporting on real news is to fact-check what you’re about to cover.  Whether you’re covering an ongoing conflict, the global pandemic, or the stock market, you need to provide your readers with news sources.  How exactly did you come by the information you’ve included in the article? If you have good sources but don’t have the time to write articles, you can check out the best paper writing service reviews to get some writing help.  Always start your news article writing process by fact-checking everything to maintain your brand’s credibility.  You can also include your sources in the article’s footer if you want to gain even more renown and improve your site’s SEO by including valuable links to other websites. Write Informative Metadata Most if not all of your cold leads will come from global search engines like Google and Yahoo.  You want to make sure that they’ll click on your search results and visit your website, thus adding to your organic traffic.  To do that, you’ll need to write meta titles and meta descriptions in a professional and non-inflammatory manner. Avoid clickbait titles that aim to instill shock in the reader.  Instead, write informative headlines and descriptions which people will be genuinely curious about.  This will help build your brand’s reputation as a reliable news source instead of a tabloid looking for quick traffic with little effort. Proofread your Writing Proofreading your writing is considered acting in good faith when it comes to covering trending news.  You may be in a rush to publish a news article covering a hot topic and consider proofreading a non-requirement.  However, your readers will consider bad grammar and poor formatting as “standard” for your website. To avoid that, you can either proofread your writing by hand or ask a professional to help you out.  You can pay for essay writing and editing services to make sure that anything you publish on your news website is legible and free of grammar or spelling errors.  Doing this will earn you points with your readers, as your news will not only be interesting but well written. Write Excerpts Throughout your News Article Excerpts represent short quotes that are taken out of the news report and can be used to cite your website as a source of information.  Including strong excerpts with factual data can increase your site’s value in the readers’ eyes.  This makes your news articles more shareable regardless of the topic, whether it is lifestyle, beauty, science, healthcare, or environmental issues. Once you’re finished writing a news article, you should read it yourself and find quotable sentences to use as excerpts.  Place these quotes throughout the article and use different H tags for them to enunciate them.  You can also go a step further and create visual excerpts in the form of images with a text overlay, so it’s up to you and your brand guidelines. Learning to Write Relevant News Articles Writing relevant news articles is all about doing your due diligence and conducting factual research.  If you see traveling, economy, or other types of headlines around the web, ask yourself how verifiable their information is.  In terms of choosing your topics, always keep your target audience in mind to ensure that the trends you cover are relevant to them and your brand as a whole. If you can trace it back to a reliable source, you should report on the same happenings with your unique spin on the matter.  Play the long game in establishing a trust relationship with your followers instead of relying on clickbait content.  This will help stimulate your website’s growth and earn you the trust of readers worldwide. Read the full article

[joemoshe]

5 Proven Ecommerce Marketing Strategies to Grow your Online Business

Everyone, whether they’re just starting out or have been in business for a long time, is feeling the heat of increased competition. If you’ve lately visited Facebook or Instagram, you’re well aware of the plethora of “get-rich-quick” marketing “gurus” claiming to have the best-kept marketing secret to help you finally take action with your company.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a single action that will instantly increase the value of your brand. It takes time for all of this. Marketing “tricks” are nothing more than a fad, so focus on what matters most to your company.

The correct audience will emerge naturally if you stay true to your message and your clients.

Create Your Product Pages In The Right Manner

Starting from the meta description to the title of the product, you have to nail it right. There are many components to e-commerce success, from high-quality products to a stunning landing page, but a well-designed product page is one of the most crucial. Even the trendiest things would fail to sell if something is missing.

What is the significance of product page design? In fact, only 3% of online store visits result in a purchase, while a staggering 69 percent of shopping carts are abandoned.

7 Steps to a Successful Product Page

Make use of high-resolution product photos.

Provide explicit pricing information.

Create persuasion-inducing call-to-actions.

Create detailed product descriptions.

Use social proof to your advantage.

Make precise product suggestions.

Maintain your consistency!

We offer some great recommendations for designing a genuinely effective product page, whether you’re a first-time seller or want to enhance sales on your existing business.

Copywriting Is The Key

Copywriting for eCommerce sites isn’t as difficult as it may seem. In fact, overthinking eCommerce copywriting is one of the most prevalent ways to go wrong. Many websites would sell more if they just spoke to their visitors as if they were standing right in front of them.

That is, in the manner of a salesperson.

But there’s a catch: salespeople follow a script. They’ll tweak the script a little, and they’ll use a different script for different scenarios and consumers, but they have templates – formulas if you will – in place. Every time they talk to a prospect, they employ those formulas.

Ecommerce Copywriting Formulas That Can Be Used Anywhere

The basic framework defined in these time-tested eCommerce copywriting formulae can help you write a sales page or a PPC text ad.

Before you write a single word, think about who you’re writing for.

Tell us about yourself.

Write as if your audience is speaking to you.

Prioritize the advantages. Rather than Features,

More concise sentences are preferable.

Make Your First Sentence and Headline Count

Instill a sense of urgency in your audience.

Correctly used words

Call To Action Is Mandatory

Optimizing your CTAs is a challenge that is equal parts art and science; it’s not always feasible to forecast what will work (though split A/B testing will definitely help you figure it out). There are, nevertheless, some best practices that you can follow. They’ll give you a head start on CTAs and ensure you don’t waste time on poor language and images.

This is the path you should take:

Maintain brevity in your CTAs while promoting “rapid” action.

Personalization has been proven to enhance conversions time and time again.

Text, links, and images do not convert as well as buttons.

In terms of content and offers, make sure your landing pages back up your CTA.

Never cease putting your CTAs to the test.

Answer Every FAQ That You Can

Frequently asked questions, or FAQs, are a terrific method to improve your website’s user experience for your customers. FAQs allow you to respond to specific questions that your consumers may have regarding your company. They’re also a new approach to communicating with and interacting with your target audience.

As a result, it’s one of the most crucial aspects of your website strategy. An excellent FAQ section can potentially contain the most potential when it comes to driving visitors to your website through search engines.

What are the benefits of FAQs? In conclusion: They improve the user experience by addressing your customers’ needs. FAQs improve your site’s visit time and conversion rate by increasing the amount of high-quality, relevant traffic. They also bring out high-quality, incredibly relevant content that can help with better ranking.

Trust Gaining With Product Demo

Visual aids such as product demonstrations can help you improve the quality of your sales presentation. Prospects that are more visual or hands-on learners may require a demonstration of your product to properly comprehend its worth and potential. This is especially true in industries where unique design aspects are important marketing points, such as fashion or furniture.

Prospects find it more appealing to see, feel, and occasionally smell your goods than merely listening to your sales talk.

Product proof devices refer to the product, sample, film, brochures, photos, and other tools used in a demo because they provide physical evidence that backs up what you say.

Buyers want you to speak positively about the products you sell. Buyers can have a pre-existing aversion to salespeople. Demonstrating what your product can do, and even allowing the customer to try it out, is essential proof.

Product samples, for example, allow grocery buyers to judge the quality of the food for themselves.

[externlabs13]

How to audit an e-Commerce website

In this digital world, e-Commerce is the best way to keep growing your local business with a wider customer base. After the pandemic, most people get the habit of shopping online and local markets are getting less attention even after the pandemic. 

Previously eCommerce industries giants Amazon and Walmart were the only options available but these days even smaller businesses and startups are giving them competition. Technology helped small businesses and startups to come into the online store game. You can build an eCommerce website or app by yourself with some available tools and opt-ground services. 

Once you have your eCommerce platform with the infrastructure you are going to need two major things that will keep you in the business Digital Marketing and eCommerce site Audit. Digital Marketing will help you in getting new customers and eCommerce Audit will keep your online platform optimized and engaging for the user.

Today, We are going to guide you to Audit Your eCommerce Website in a few steps. Before we get started let’s know about an eCommerce Audit.

How to perform eCommerce Audit

As mentioned above, This will be a step-by-step process that needs to be done in a proper manner. Usually, Audits must need to be done by only an expert in Digital Marketing. You can use this How to guide to audit your website by yourself. 

There are many tools and ways that you try or use. This guide is made by our Digital Marketing Expert. Let’s get started - 

SEO Audit

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is mandatory to work that needs to be done for every website. Basically, SEO will help search engines to read and reach your website faster which will allow customers looking for you to get on your website faster. 

It’s very complicated than it sounds.

You have to measure these things and try to improve them as much as possible.

Website Usability

Check every single web page and look for poor quality and inappropriate and low-quality images.

Check product filters mechanism and make sure that they are working in every condition with the exact products present, and check it helps narrow down a product search or add some more options.

Check sitewide search and practice searching for different products and make sure that it presents the right products that are supposed to show in results singularly or in a category. 

Confirm users can easily access previous pages using hyperlinks and breadcrumbs.

Check meta text, alt tags, and descriptions that should be relevant to each specific product or you can use help from an expert.

Use the tools mentioned below to spot bad or broken links.

Check loading time and speed with tools and try to improve it with tools and plugins.

Try to get feedback from visitors and customers.

Website Content

Check existing keywords and improve them for specific products. Keywords are a vital way to push your site to search engines.

Review every product on-site to make sure their descriptions have described that product as you want and the text is easily understandable for the visitors.

Do traditional content marketing; Post blogs, classifieds, and in any way you want. It will help search engine crawlers to reach your website.

Make user experience as minimal as possible when placing an order or downloading information because many users sometimes leave the website after finding a long process or documentation. 

Examine core site pages to ensure the Home Page, About Us, and Services pages communicate with visitors and tell that what you are in minimal works.

Verify that calls to action and contact information are visible: Every page on the site should display your company information with multiple ways to contact you.

Report on missed search results; It is essential to review all words that were searched and returned.

Make sure you mention your work ethics like privacy policy and terms and conditions to stay transparent to the users.

Product Catalog

Make sure every product has been categorized in a proper manner and in respective categories. Hide older products and don’t short or categorize out-of-stock products. Unnecessary products in results will lead to a bad user experience.

SEO tools that you can use to test your website and work.

Google PageSpeed Insights

GTmetrix

Pingdom Tools

WebPageTest

Think With Google

Core Web Vitals in Search Console

Chrome Dev Tools

For the full article visit our original blog.

These are the steps that you should follow to make sure your eCommerce website is in its best size-n-shape and serving the users the way you want. An eCommerce Audit is not a difficult task but it has to be done responsibly and without missing any single step.

The best way to do an eCommerce Audit is to hire a Digital Marketing Expert; To help in giving your website a starter push and filter out issues and errors. Then you can keep doing it by yourself or hire a person to keep maintaining it.

[nummero123]

Google Penalties That Destroy Traffic and How to Avoid Them

Google takes its ranking system seriously, regularly changing it to give consumers the greatest search experiences possible. 

This includes penalizing pages or sites that do not follow Google's Webmaster Guidelines.

A Google penalty can be incurred intentionally through black hat SEO,

Accidentally through poor site upkeep, or simply as a result of an algorithm update. 

Google penalties, in any case, have a detrimental impact on your search rankings, 

and in some situations, your pages or entire website may be removed from results.

So, in this post, we'll go through what NOT to do (and what to do instead) to avoid a Google penalty and save your site from suffering a traffic decline. We'll go over:

Manual vs. algorithmic What to expect from Google penalties.

How to detect and repair a manual Google penalty.

Seven of the most common Google penalties and how to prevent them

By the end, you'll be able to maintain your ranks and continue to develop your website traffic.

What is a Google penalty?

When Google discovers that a website violates its Webmaster Guidelines, it imposes a penalty.

There are two forms of penalties, but both result in a decrease in ranking and traffic.

Algorithmic penalties

Google updates its algorithm every year to continue giving the best results to its searchers. 

Panda, Penguin, Pigeon, and Hummingbird are some of the most notable Google upgrades.

Some algorithm updates, such as Panda (keyword stuffing, grammatical errors, and low-quality content)

and Penguin (black hat linking tactics), is intended to lower the rank of guideline-violating pages, whereas others,

 such as Pigeon (solid local signals) and Hummingbird (newly prioritized ranking factors),

 are intended to favour pages with newly prioritized ranking factors (mobile responsiveness).

In that vein, are you aware of the page experience and mobile-first indexing updates?

A website's score may drop after an algorithm upgrade,

 either because it broke guidelines or because other sites better aligned with specific ranking parameters.

 Here's an example of traffic data from a site following the BERT update.

How to fix an algorithmic Google penalty

You can't check for algorithmic penalties because they aren't expressly specified anywhere. 

The best thing you can do is determine if your traffic decline coincides with the release of an algorithm change, 

and then learn everything you can about it so you can identify any modifications.

You need to make coming forward or any fixes you need to make to existing material.

Depending on the upgrade and the degree to which your website was out of sync with it, 

your repairs may or may not result in a restoration of ranking and traffic.

While algorithmic improvements occur regularly, they all serve to reward sites for EAT and good technical performance, 

thus they should be your primary emphasis.

Manual penalties

Manual penalties imposed by Google personnel for pages that have possibly unintentional flaws such as content quality and security, 

or for actively manipulating Google's algorithm using black hat SEO.

 Manual penalties, as opposed to algorithm penalties, are simple to discover and correct.

How to fix a manual Google penalty

There are various Google penalty checker tools accessible, but Google Search Console is also an option.

In your dashboard, navigate to the Security & Manual Actions tab and select Manual Actions.

There, you can discover which policy you violated, which pages were affected, and how to repair it.

You can submit it for review once it has got rectified. 

Employees at Google will review the request and, if it is correctly corrected, approve it and re-index your page.

What are the consequences of a Google penalty?

Any penalty results in a decrease in rank, however, the degree of the drop varies depending on the sort of penalty issued.

Penalties at the keyword level: Your ranking will decline for a certain term.

Penalties at the URL or directory level: A certain URL's ranking will suffer.

Domain-wide or site-wide penalties: Your site's ranking will decline for some URLs and keywords.

Delisting or de-indexing: This is Google's most severe penalty, in which they remove your domain from the Google index. 

As a result, none of the material on your website will displayed on Google.

How long do Google penalties last?

Google sanctions are in effect until they are removed. 

If a penalty remains unfixed for an extended length of time, 

the alert will removed from your Search Console, but the penalty's repercussions will stay in force. 

In other words, you've blown your chance to make things right with Google.

However, after the penalty is lifted, your site's traffic and rankings may or may not recover. 

Check out this page on Google penalty recovery timelines for more information.

The top reasons for Google penalties and how to prevent them

Every company aims to be on the first page of Google to improve traffic to their website and, as a result, gain more clients.

To accomplish this (through SEO), a lengthy amount of effort and patience is required. 

This is why many people, particularly those who have recently established a blog or website, are tempted to take shortcuts to boost their ranking. 

However, these strategies simply result in Google penalties.

The most common penalties are listed below, as well as what you may do to avoid and/or correct them.

1. Thin content and doorway pages

This occurs when website owners prioritize quantity above quality SEO material, believing that more content equals more visitors.

They may employ content generation software, produce short-form pieces, or scrape content from other sources.

Not only are these bad SEO methods detectable by Google, but low-quality material also reflects negatively on your company.

The Panda 4.0 algorithm upgrade in 2016 was designed to lower the exposure of low-quality material and gateway sites in search results.

How to prevent the thin content penalty:

Don't completely outsource or try to mass-produce your material. Mass-produced material is never of high quality, and outsourcing can result in off-brand and incoherent content.

If you need assistance growing your quality content, contact freelancers with whom you can collaborate closely and who specialize in your sector to create pages that add value to your readers.

Conduct thorough keyword research to ensure that you target the correct keywords and that your content corresponds to the query's intent.

Instead of doorway pages, create pillar pages or cornerstone content.

Combine short pages optimized for comparable keywords into a single long page with more information on a single topic.

2. Hidden text and links

Hide any material or links for the sake of SEO rather than user experience violates Google's Webmaster Rules. 

Text and links can concealed in a variety of ways, including:

Increasing the text size to 0

Using white text or background connecting

Putting text behind an image

Using CSS to move text off-screen

Using the same colour as the backdrop for the links

How to prevent the hidden content penalty

To begin with, never do it on purpose. 

If you have to hide something, it definitely shouldn't be on your page in the first place.

If you did not do this on purpose, 

Go to your Search Console's URL inspection tab, type the affected pages into the search box, and then click "see crawled page." 

You can look for any hidden links or CSS there.

3. User-generated spam

If you host a forum, allow guest articles, or allow comments on your blog, you may inundated with spam-bots or bad actors. 

Spam links may lead to low-quality or inappropriate pages, undermining the T in EAT.

Alternatively, actual humans will leave a comment on your blog with one or more irrelevant links solely to obtain a back-link from your site to boost their domain authority.

How to prevent the user-generated spam penalty

Here are a few methods for preventing user-generated spam on your website and forum.

Tools for comment moderation

Disqus used by us to filter, remove, and block spammy comments. 

You can also approve comments before they are made public on your site. 

If you can't keep up with moderation, even with a plugin or tool, turn off commenting entirely.

Anti-spam tools

Spammers swarm your comment section with automated scripts.

Integrate Google re-CAPTCHA into your website to prevent spam comments.

No-follow and UGC attributes

If a guest poster or commentator adds an appropriate link but one with which you do not want to be linked, you can tag it to make it a no-follow link. 

This stops Google from following those links off your page and passing link juice from your site to the linked site.

No-index meta tag

If you allow users to write articles on your site, you can mark such pages with a noindex meta tag. 

This manner, the page will be accessible via your website but will not appear in search results or be factored into Google's ranking system.

4. Unnatural or poor links to your site

Google's Penguin algorithm upgrade in 2016 intended to detect artificial link creation.

Back-link building is an extremely efficient SEO approach for increasing page authority—

but only if the links originate naturally from high-quality sources.

How to prevent the unnatural link penalty

Of course, adopt a link-building approach that does not include:

Purchasing or selling links

Exchanges of links (Link my website and I will link to you)

Links to your forum profile and signature

Links to blog comments

Links to article directories

Building an excessive number of links in a short time

PBN hyperlinks

Perform regular back-link audits

Unintentionally, you may also receive spammy links to your website. 

Analyze your back-link profile using Google Analytics, Search Console.

5. Keyword stuffing

On-page SEO, such as including keywords in the title, headings, body, meta description, and alt text, assists 

Googlebot in determining the purpose of your website. 

However, keyword stuffing on purpose is a black hat SEO strategy that will result in a Google penalty.

You're probably aware of what keyword stuffing in the body looks like, but you can also punished for keyword stuffing in the alt text.

6. Hacked website

If hackers obtain access to your website, 

they can not only threaten the confidentiality, but also inject dangerous code, add irrelevant material, or redirect your site to malicious or spammy domains.

Your site's rating will plummet on all search queries, and Google may remove your entire website from search results as a result of this punishment.

How to prevent the hacked website penalty

There are various ways to improve the security of your website:

Maintain the integrity of your content management system.

Use strong passwords that you update regularly.

Use an SSL certificate.

Invest in good hosting.

To detect hacks, use a malware scanner tool.

Back up your website regularly.

To prevent brute force attacks, hide the login URL and limit the number of login attempts.

7. Abusing structured data mark-up

Structured data mark-up is a sort of coding that allows Google to present your site more beautifully in search results,

such as by displaying star ratings and the number of reviews.

However, if Google discovers that you are using structured data that is irrelevant to the content or users, you may be penalized manually.

How to prevent the structured data penalty

This is yet another penalty for black hat SEO. Here's what you should do:

Don't use phony reviews to boost your CTR. Follow these recommended methods for obtaining genuine Google evaluations.

Use structured data only when it makes sense for the information you're marking up.

Make certain that your mark-up material is visible to readers.

Add no schema mark-up relating to unlawful activity, violence, or any other forbidden content.

Conclusion

Google penalties, whether algorithmic or human, harm your ranking and traffic. 

You can apply remedies to remove the penalty, however you may or may not recover your traffic and ranking. 

That is why it is critical to do all possible to avoid them from happening in the first place. 

You can contact Nummero Digital Marketing Agency in Bangalore.

[trinuviel]

Crowned with Fire – True and False Lights in A Song of Ice and Fire (part 2)

In the previous installment in this series, I wrote about the tower crowned with fire – the lighthouse – as a positive image of truth and guidance. Thus, the Lighthouse is an example of a true light in GRRM’s epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.  In this post, I’ll examine the imagery of the crown of fire in relation to the notion of false light and the destructive side of fire.

WRECKERS AND DECEPTIVE LIGHTS

The lighthouse is, as noted, a positive image in ASoIaF. It guides ships into safe harbor during the darkness of the night. However, as so many things, the lighthouse and its function can be abused for nefarious purposes - such as deliberately wrecking ships on treacherous shores, a detail @lostlittlesatellites and @shinynewrevulsions made me aware of in Davos’ story.

These days the Sistermen left open piracy to Salladhor Saan and his ilk and confined themselves to wrecking. The beacons that burned along the shores of the Three Sisters were supposed to warn of shoals and reefs and rocks and lead the way to safety, but on stormy nights and foggy ones, some Sistermen would use false lights to draw unwary captains to their doom. (ADwD, Davos I)

Wreckers form a subset of smugglers and pirates. They use beacons to deliberately lure ships into dangerous waters on nights with poor visibility.

(Image from the miniseries Jamaica Inn)

In this context, the practice of wrecking subverts the positive imagery of the lighthouse and recasts the beacon as a false light that lures the unwary traveler astray. 

A BURNING CROWN

I want to return to the imagery of something/someone being crowned by fire because it is an image that recurs in the text, sometimes in different variations. One particular striking image is the one of a crown of fire, which is related to Stannis Baratheon and Daenerys Targaryen.

Stannis has a terrifying vision in the flames of a king that is consumed by a burning crown:

“Last night, gazing into that hearth, I saw things in the flames as well. I saw a king, a crown of fire on his brows, burning . . . burning, Davos. His own crown consumed his flesh and turned him into ash. – Stannis Baratheon to Davos Seaworth, (ASoS, Davos V) 

This vision is very interesting to me because it can be read both as a foreshadowing as well as an expression of Stannis’ own fears regarding the role that Melisandre cast him as: Azor Ahai come again. Stannis fears that he’ll be consumed by the path that Melisandre has set him upon – and he isn’t wrong. Melisandre is mistaken in her identification of Stannis as the saviour her religion has promised. She tries to manipulate the events circumstances to fit the prophecy, which only results in a “magical” sword that is subtly wrong (x) and (x). She desperately wants to believe that she has found the promised saviour but instead Melisandre has created a “false light” with the glowing sword that she gifts Stannis through an elaborate, fiery ceremony at Dragonstone. 

The imagery of a burning crown also appears in one of Daenerys’ chapters in a very literal manner when she has Drogon set one of the slavers of Astapor on fire: 

And Dany swept the lash down as hard as she could across the slaver's face. Kraznys screamed and staggered back, the blood running red down his cheeks into his perfumed beard. The harpy's fingers had torn his features half to pieces with one slash, but she did not pause to contemplate the ruin. "Drogon," she sang out loudly, sweetly, all her fear forgotten. "Dracarys." 

The black dragon spread his wings and roared. A lance of swirling dark flame took Kraznys full in the face. His eyes melted and ran down his cheeks, and the oil in his hair and beard burst so fiercely into fire that for an instant the slaver wore a burning crown twice as tall as his head. The sudden stench of charred meat overwhelmed even his perfume, and his wail seemed to drown all other sound. Then the Plaza of Punishment blew apart into blood and chaos.(ASoS, Daenerys III)

 This scene takes place when Daenerys buys a slave army in Astapor, only to turn them on the slavers. This is the moment where her anti-slavery crusade is born – on the Plaza of Punishment in Astapor, the slavers are punished with fire and blood. However, it is also the first real and premeditated action Dany takes towards her ambition of reclaiming her father’s throne in Westeros. She is in Astapor to acquire an army to conquer Westeros and she begins her quest for the Iron Throne by giving a man a burning crown of fire. As with Stannis, the imagery of the burning crown is a destructive one.

THE FIERY PIT

In my previous post, I mentioned that it was a particular quote from the novella The Princess and the Queen that inspired the subject of this series of metas: “Atop the Hill of Rhaenys, the Dragonpit wore a crown of yellow fire, burning so bright it seemed as if the sun was rising.” In this context, the image of the crown of fire is associated with a false light, a fire so bright that it could be mistaken for the dawn. If the tower crowned with fire – the lighthouse – is an image of a true light, then the burning Dragonpit is its opposite: the fiery pit is a false light – and this false light is closely associated with dragonfire.

The Dragonpit is a significant architectural landmark in King’s Landing. It sits atop The Hill of Rhaenys and is just as visually prominent as the Red Keep on Aegon’s High Hill and The Sept of Baelor on Visenya’s Hill.

(King’s Landing. Art by Tomasz Jedruszek)

When it comes to the history of King’s Landing, Rhaenys’ Hill has felt the devastating effects of both dragon- and wildfire several times over. The Dragonpit was not the first large building that was raised upon The Hill of Rhaenys. Originally, the hill was crowned by the Sept of Remembrance, built in memory of Queen Rhaenys Targaryen after she was killed in the First Dornish War. Maegor I Targaryen (called the Cruel) unleased the fire of Balerion the Black Dread on the Sept of Remembrance during his conflict with the Faith Militant.

(Maegor I Targaryen and Balerion burn the Sept of Remembrance. Art by Jordi Gonzalez Escamilla)

After the burning of The Sept of Remembrance, Maegor I had the Dragonpit built as a residence for the Targaryen dragons. Approximately 90 years later the Dragonpit burns down during the Dance of the Dragons when a mob of people stormed the building in order to kill the dragons.

A thousand shrieks and shouts echoed across the city, mingling with the dragon’s roar. Atop the Hill of Rhaenys, the Dragonpit wore a crown of yellow fire, burning so bright it seemed as if the sun was rising. Even the queen trembled as she watched, the tears glistening on her cheeks. Many of the queen’s companions on the rooftop fled, fearing that the fires would soon engulf the entire city, even the Red Keep atop Aegon’s High Hill. (The Princess and the Queen)

What is left is a burnt out shell of the mighty dome.

(The Dragonpit. Art by Franz Miklis)

About 70 years later, the Dragonpit is used to store the bodies of the multitudes that succumbed to the Great Spring Sickness. There, the bodies were cremated by wildfire.

" A dreadful time, ser, dreadful. Strong men would wake healthy at the break of day and be dead by evenfall. So many died so quickly there was no time to bury them. They piled them in the Dragonpit instead, and when the corpses were ten feet deep, Lord Rivers commanded the pyromancers to burn them. The light of the fires shone through the windows, as it did of yore when living dragons still nested beneath the dome. By night you could see the glow all through the city, the dark green glow of wildfire.” (The Sworn Sword) 

Corpses were piled in the ruins of the Dragonpit until they stood ten feet high and, in the end, Bloodraven had the pyromancers burn the corpses where they lay. A quarter of the city went up in flames along with them, but there was nothing else to be done. (tWoIaF) 

During Robert’s Rebellion, King Aerys II Targaryen had 300 jars of wildfire hidden beneath the Dragonpit. Those jars where found by the Guild of the Pyromancers in the periode leading up to the Battle of the Blackwater. It is unclear whether there still is wildfire hidden beneath the Dragonpit. 

I want to return to the burning of the Dragonpit in the novella The Princess and the Queen because the description of how dragons and men attacked each other shares some strong similarities with a scene that takes place in another pit: the scene in Daznak’s Pit in Meereen that ends with Daenerys Targaryen riding Drogon for the first time in A Dance with Dragons.

Let’s have a look at how the Storming of the Dragonpit is described in The Princess and the Queen:

No two chronicles agree on how many men and women died that night beneath the Dragonpit’s great dome: two hundred or two thousand, be that as it may. For every man who perished, ten suffered burns and yet survived. Trapped within the pit, hemmed in by walls and dome and bound by heavy chains, the dragons could not fly away, or use their wings to evade attacks and swoop down on their foes. Instead they fought with horns and claws and teeth, turning this way and that like bulls in a Flea Bottom rat pit … but these bulls could breathe fire. The Dragonpit was transformed into a fiery hell where burning men staggered screaming through the smoke, the flesh sloughing from their blackened bones, but for every man who died, ten more appeared, shouting that the dragons must need die. One by one, they did.

Shrykos was the first dragon to succumb, slain by a woodsman known as Hobb the Hewer, who leapt onto her neck, driving his axe down into the beast’s skull as Shrykos roared and twisted, trying to throw him off. Seven blows did Hobb deliver with his legs locked round the dragon’s neck, and each time his axe came down he roared out the name of one of the Seven. It was the seventh blow, the Stranger’s blow, that slew the dragon, crashing through scale and bones into the beast’s brain.

[…]

The last of the four pit dragons did not die so easily. Legend has it that Dreamfyre had broken free of two of her chains at Queen Helaena’s death. The remaining bonds she burst now, tearing the stanchions from the walls as the mob rushed her, then plunging into them with tooth and claw, ripping men apart and tearing off their limbs even as she loosed her terrible fires. (The Princess and the Queen)

Now, let us take a look at another dragon-on-human bloodbath in another pit.

In A Dance with Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen attends the gladiatorial combats in Daznak’s Pit in Meereen in celebration of the political marriage she made with a local nobleman, Hizdar zo Loraq. The blood and violence of the brutal games attract Drogon, the largest of Daenerys’ dragons and when he descends upon the pit to feast on the corpse of on of the fighters, all hell breaks loose.

One man took it on himself to be a hero. He was one of the spearmen sent out to drive the boar back to his pen. Perhaps he was drunk, or mad. Perhaps he had loved Barsena Blackhair from afar or had heard some whisper of the girl Hazzea. Perhaps he was just some common man who wanted bards to sing of him. He darted forward, his boar spear in his hands. Red sand kicked up beneath his heels, and shouts rang out from the seats. Drogon raised his head, blood dripping from his teeth. The hero leapt onto his back and drove the iron spearpoint down at the base of the dragon's long scaled neck. Dany and Drogon screamed as one. (ADwD, Daenerys IX)

The hero leaned into his spear, using his weight to twist the point in deeper. Drogon arched upward with a hiss of pain. His tail lashed sideways. She watched his head crane around at the end of that long serpentine neck, saw his black wings unfold. The dragonslayer lost his footing and went tumbling to the sand. He was trying to struggle back to his feet when the dragon's teeth closed hard around his forearm. "No" was all the man had time to shout. Drogon wrenched his arm from his shoulder and tossed it aside as a dog might toss a rodent in a rat pit. (ADwD, Daenerys IX)

The spearmen were running too. Some were rushing toward the dragon, spears in hand. Others were rushing away, throwing down their weapons as they fled. The hero was jerking on the sand, the bright blood pouring from the ragged stump of his shoulder. His spear remained in Drogon's back, wobbling as the dragon beat his wings. Smoke rose from the wound. As the other spears closed in, the dragon spat fire, bathing two men in black flame. His tail lashed sideways and caught the pitmaster creeping up behind him, breaking him in two. Another attacker stabbed at his eyes until the dragon caught him in his jaws and tore his belly out. (ADwD, Daenerys IX)

There are several points of comparison between the scenes from The Princess and the Queen and A Dance with Dragons:

Dragons burning people and tearing them limb from limb.

A man leaps onto the neck of a dragon and injures it with an axe and a spear respectively.

The phrase RAT PIT is used in both scenes, which binds them together through associative logic.

Furthermore, both scenes makes an associative connection between dragons – fire – hell. The Dragonpit is described as a “fiery hell” in The Princess and the Queen whereas Daenerys places hell in Drogon’s molten eyes:

Drogon roared. The sound filled the pit. A furnace wind engulfed her. The dragon's long scaled neck stretched toward her. When his mouth opened, she could see bits of broken bone and charred flesh between his black teeth. His eyes were molten. I am looking into hell, but I dare not look away. She had never been so certain of anything. If I run from him, he will burn me and devour me. (ADwD, Daenerys IX)

FALSE LIGHTS: PROPHECIES AND DRAGONFIRE

I find it noteworthy that both Stannis and Daenerys have the burning crown as a negative image in their chapters, especially since they are both associated with the prophecies of Azor Ahai come again and The Prince that was Promised. I have written about that here and here. Maester Aemon correctly identifies Stannis’ glowing sword, which looks like the sun made steel, as a false light – an empty glamour that will only lead into darkness. Thus, the misinterpretation of a prophecy is a dangerous thing and prophecy itself can function as a false light, which I’d argue that it does in the case of AA come again.

In the same manner, I’d argue that dragonfire constitutes another false light. If the tower crowned with fire (the Lighthouse) represents a true light, then its inversion, the fiery pit as exemplified in the Dragonpit wearing a crown of fire represents another false light. I’ve demonstrated that the Storming of the Dragonpit and Drogon’s attack on Daznak’s Pit in Meereen are connected through an associative logic based on similarities in the way these events are described – so I’d argue that you could make a case for dragonfire as another representation of a false light.

I’ve come to believe that Daenerys’ dragons won’t be the solution to the threat of the Others (see my metas here, here and here). Stannis, his false Lightbringer and the burning crown that devours the wearer from his vision represents the false light that leads Melisandre astray. Daenerys and her dragons represent another false light that lead the readers astray because the text itself introduces the possibility of the dragons as an easy solution to the problem through one of Daenerys’ dreams:

That night she dreamt that she was Rhaegar, riding to the Trident. But she was mounted on a dragon, not a horse. When she saw the Usurper's rebel host across the river they were armored all in ice, but she bathed them in dragonfire and they melted away like dew and turned the Trident into a torrent. Some small part of her knew that she was dreaming, but another part exulted. This is how it was meant to be. The other was a nightmare, and I have only now awakened. (ASoS, Daenerys III)

Now it is established that Daenerys may have prophetic dreams like her ancestor Daenys the Dreamer. However, I cannot help but be suspicious of the ease with which the warriors armed in ice are defeated by the dragons in Dany’s dream. They simply melt away like dew after she bathes them in dragonfire. Then there’s the part of her that knows she’s dreaming but wishes that the dream is the reality. If we look at this passage in a Doylist context, the same conclusions can be applied to audience expectation. We want the dragons to be the solution to the problem of the Others because it seems straightforward and easy – but GRRM has said something that indicates that the dragons may be more of a threat than a salvation to Westeros:

Well, of course, the two outlying ones — the things going on north of the Wall, and then there is Targaryen on the other continent with her dragons — are of course the ice and fire of the title, “A Song of Ice and Fire.” The central stuff — the stuff that’s happening in the middle, in King’s Landing, the capital of the seven kingdoms […]You know, one of the dynamics I started with, there was the sense of people being so consumed by their petty struggles for power within the seven kingdoms, within King’s Landing — who’s going to be king? Who’s going to be on the Small Council? Who’s going to determine the policies? — that they’re blind to the much greater and more dangerous threats that are happening far away on the periphery of their kingdoms. (GRRM)

In this quote, GRRM explicitly states that the Fire of Dany and her dragons is one of two great, dangerous threats against Westeros that people are blind to – that blindness can be applied to bot a Watsonian and a Doylist perspective. The political players in Westeros as well as the audience are blind to the threat that Dany’s dragons present. It is very likely that she isn’t the promised saviour but rather a Destroyer on a scale that is almost equal to the others, which is something that I’ve written about previously. 

Interestingly enough, Dany has this dream the night before she has Drogon give the slaver Kraznys a burning crown that kills him. It is also noteworthy that Drogon’s flame is dark. Dragons have different coloured flames and Drogon’s flame is black fire shot with red. (Viserion’s flame is a pale golden fire shot with red and orange and Rhaegal’s flame is orange-yellow fire shot through with green). Drogon is Dany’s mount, the dragon she bonds with and his fire is black – hardly a flame that illuminates the darkness.

“THE LIGHT THAT BRINGS THE DAWN” – THE NIGHT’S WATCH

I have written several metas that touches upon the threat of the Others in relation to the symbolism employed as well as the prophecies about a chosen saviour: the series Azor Ahai, The Prince that was Promised and the Red Sword of Heroes 1-6, The Ice and the Fire of the Song 1-3 and others. They can be found here.

When pondering these issues, I keep coming back to the Night’s Watch in a way that has continued to surprise me. The legend of Lightbringer is quite possibly inspired by the obsidian blades that kills White Walkers with ease and the Night’s Watch is connected to the strongest defense against the Others: the Wall – an edifice built of ice and infused with a magic rooted in the living land.

As the story stands, the Night’s Watch is in no condition to counter this magical threat against the kingdom. The institution has dwindled in numbers as well as in reputation – and it is crippled by neglect. It has become the repository of criminals, traitors and minor nobles with nowhere else to go. They are in no way equipped to handle the threat of the Others.

Yet the symbolism of the Lighthouse is connected to the NW. The Last Hero is quite possibly Brandon the Builder who also is the likely founder of the NW as well as the builder of the Wall (and the Hightower = Lighthouse). These elements point to the NW as part of the solution and therefore I think it can be illuminating to take a closer look at the institution and its ideology. 

An important aspect of the NW is their role as apolitical protectors of the entire realm. They are The Shield that Guards the Realms of Men! They quite literally represent the ideal of people banding together against a common enemy regardless of politics, etc. This is a common trope in fantasy fiction – and GRRM uses the NW to examine this trope, subvert it and very likely reconstruct it. In my opinion, this is why the Lighthouse/Beacon as a representation of a true light that guides people through the darkness/night is connected to the Night’s Watch on a symbolic level as well as through an associative logic within the text itself.

[michaelandy101-blog]

three Very important Click on-Based mostly Alerts for search engine optimisation: First, Lengthy, & Final

New Post has been published on http://tiptopreview.com/3-vital-click-based-signals-for-seo-first-long-last/

three Very important Click on-Based mostly Alerts for search engine optimisation: First, Lengthy, & Final

The creator’s views are totally his or her personal (excluding the unlikely occasion of hypnosis) and should not all the time replicate the views of Moz.

Does Google use engagement indicators to rank net pages?

Definitely sure. Google even says so of their official How Search Works paperwork:

Source (emphasis added)

Precisely how Google makes use of engagement indicators (i.e. clicks and interplay knowledge) is topic to countless search engine optimisation debate. The passage above suggests Google makes use of engagement metrics to coach their machine studying fashions. Google has additionally admitted to utilizing click on indicators for each search personalization and evaluating new algorithms.

When pressed for specifics although, Google usually responds with both pressured denials (“We’re not using such metrics“) to carefully-worded deflections (“clicks are noisy.”)

Whereas many Googlers little question work exhausting to be useful to the search engine optimisation group, they’re additionally beneath strain “not to reveal too much detail” about their algorithms out of warning that SEOs will recreation search outcomes. In actuality, Google isn’t going to inform search engine optimisation precisely how they use engagement metrics, irrespective of what number of instances we ask.

Most search engine optimisation debate focuses on if Google makes use of natural Click on-through Charges (CTR) in its rating algorithms. If you’re , AJ Kohn’s piece is especially excellent in addition to Rand Fishkin’s Whiteboard Friday on protecting this subject. For a nuanced counter-view, I would suggest studying this excellent post by Dan Taylor.

To be honest, I imagine many of the debate round CTR up so far has doubtless been far too easy. No matter manner SEOs suppose Google makes use of click on knowledge, how Google really makes use of clicks is assured to be much more refined than something we might conceive. This complexity hole offers Google straightforward deniability, and justification for calling in any other case cheap search engine optimisation theories “made up crap.” (Google might very properly say one thing comparable about this text, which is okay.)

Not one other CTR debate

At this level, chances are you’ll suppose that is one other submit including to the CTR debate, however in actual fact, it is not. THIS SIMPLY ISN’T THAT POST.

Arguing “if” Google makes use of click on indicators leads us down the mistaken path. We all know Google does, we merely do not know the way. For instance, are they direct indicators, or used for machine studying coaching solely? Are click on indicators used within the broader algorithm, or just for personalization?

As a substitute, lets suggest one thing much more radical, and sure much more useful to your search engine optimisation:

Why you need to assume Google makes use of clicks for rating

Not too way back, Google patent guru Bill Slawski posted his discovery of a newish Google patent that described “Modifying search result ranking based on implicit user feedback.”

The patent is fascinating from an search engine optimisation perspective as a result of it explains how utilizing click on indicators may be very “noisy” (as Google usually says) however describes a course of for calculating “long click” and “last click” metrics to chop by means of the noise and higher rank search outcomes.

To be honest, we now have no proof Google makes use of the processes described on this patent, and even when they did, it could doubtless be much more refined/nuanced than the method described right here.

That stated, the patent is riveting as a result of it helps most of the identical greatest search engine optimisation practices we have advocated for years. A lot in order that, if you happen to optimized for these metrics, you’d nearly definitely enhance your search engine optimisation visitors and rankings, regardless if Google makes use of these precise processes or not. Particularly:

Extra Clicks (“High CTR”): earns you extra visitors irrespective of your rank, and preliminary clicks type the idea of all subsequent click on metrics.

Improved Engagement (“Long Clicks”): nearly all the time a constructive signal out of your customers, and infrequently an indicator of high quality in addition to being correlated with future visits.

Person Satisfaction (“Last Click”): the holy grail of search engine optimisation, and finally the expertise Google strives to ship in its search outcomes.

We will summarize these rules into three tenets of click-based engagement metrics for search engine optimisation: First, Lengthy, and Final.

Let’s discover every of those in flip.

1. Be the primary click on: incomes excessive CTRs

As acknowledged earlier, this is not a debate if Google makes use of CTR. There’s loads of proof that they monitor and contemplate clicks in a wide range of methods. (And to be honest, there’s proof that they do not use CTR as extensively as many SEOs imagine.)

Because the Google patent US8661029B1 states:

Source (emphasis added)

Even when CTR is not a rating sign, having the next CTR is nearly all the time good for search engine optimisation, as a result of it means getting extra clicks and extra eyeballs in your content material.

Moreover the inherent worth of incomes a excessive CTR, clicks additionally type the idea of subsequent click-based metrics, together with lengthy clicks and final clicks. So incomes that first click on is a necessary step.

Tips on how to earn increased click-through charges

Your potential to earn the next CTR is nearly totally contained with optimizing your look in Google search outcomes. How your snippet stands out and will get seen for being a probable useful, related reply—in a sea of different competing outcomes—is the secret.

It’s possible you’ll suppose your choices at influencing CTR on this manner are fairly restricted, however in actual fact, you could have many, many surprisingly highly effective levers to drag in your favor, together with:

Compelling, related Title Tags (My Grasp Class, undoubtedly price a watch)

Compelling, keyword-rich Meta Descriptions

Structured Information & Rich Snippet Markup

Successful Featured Snippets

Key phrases-rich URLs, which Google might use as breadcrumbs

Favicon optimization

Improve model search

What about artificially manipulating your CTR, both utilizing bots or one of many many blackhat click on companies you could find on the net? As a rule, these ways result in disappointing outcomes. One potential purpose why is that Google may be very expert at sniffing out “unnatural” shopping habits.

Source

So excessive CTR generally is a good factor, however the reality stays—as Google has instructed us numerous instances—CTR is a “noisy” sign to make use of for rating. Ought to a consequence with a flashy title be rewarded just because customers click on on it, even when the precise web page gives a lackluster expertise?

In fact, whereas incomes clicks is among the main objectives of search engine optimisation, the “noise” of the sign might be why Google avoids utilizing CTR as a direct rating sign itself.

In reality, incomes a excessive CTR in case your content material results in a poor consumer expertise may very well harm you in the long run. Extra on this under.

So first, we have to determine if our clicks create a superb consumer expertise. Learn on…

2. Earn lengthy clicks

So what if you happen to trick folks into clicking your URL, however your web page really does not ship what you promised, and even adequately reply the question.

This is not good for customers, or for Google. And it undoubtedly is not good for you.

One measure of content material relevancy search engines can use is weighted viewing time, primarily based on the idea that customers usually spend a bit longer time on a website they discover related, versus a web page they discover not useful. Inside this framework, “long clicks” can carry extra weight than “short clicks.”

The patent explains it like this:

Source (emphasis added)

“But Cyrus,” good SEOs protest, “not every query needs a long click. Many searches, like the weather or the “highest mountains in Europe,” can be answered very quickly, often in seconds. It doesn’t make sense for these pages to have long clicks.”

These SEOs are proper, after all. Luckily, Google engineers understood not each question is similar and devised a intelligent resolution: click on scores may be weighted on a per-query foundation, together with language and country-specific click on knowledge.

“Observe that such classes can also be damaged down into sub-categories as properly, akin to informational-quick and informational-slow: an individual might solely want a small period of time on a web page to collect the knowledge they search when the question is “George Washington’s Birthday”, however that very same consumer may have a superb deal extra time to evaluate a consequence when the question is “Hilbert transform tutorial”

— US Patent 8,661,029 B1

To dive a little bit deeper, it is not a lot how lengthy guests keep in your web page, however your ratio of lengthy clicks (LC) to general clicks (C), weighted on a per-query foundation. This LC|C ratio may very well be used to re-rank queries primarily based on user-engagement.

Take this a step additional: outcomes with good long-click ratios might rank increased, whereas outcomes with poor long-click ratios might rank decrease.

So contemplate a state of affairs the place you “hacked” your CTR to earn extra clicks, however the web page itself does not ship, leading to extra brief clicks. In principle, this might really harm your rankings, though you began with the next CTR!

So remember to again up your increased CTRs with nice consumer experiences, e.g. lengthy clicks.

Tips on how to optimize for lengthy clicks

Many SEOs consult with lengthy clicks as analogous to bettering your “dwell time”, or simply the amount of time a user spends on your site. The signals associated with improving dwell time are often known as “UX” (Person Expertise) indicators.

The golden rule of getting extra lengthy clicks is solely this: present probably the most helpful, full, and fascinating reply to a consumer search question, in probably the most engaging and efficient format potential.

A notice of distinction: as a result of most pages rank for a number of key phrases, and a number of key phrase variations, all with probably various search intent, it is usually useful to focus on for these numerous search intents all on the identical web page.

For instance, a consumer trying to find details about meta descriptions can also be keen on “meta description size”, “meta description format” and “methods to write meta descriptions.” Optimizing extra fully for these various search intents can enhance your lengthy click on metrics.

Professional Tip: You needn’t optimize for each consumer intent on the identical web page. Linking to different assets in your website is okay, and even inspired! Guests haven’t got to remain on the identical web page for a search click on to depend as “lengthy.”

Apart from the standard of the content material itself, there are a variety of UX components you may make use of to encourage your guests to have interaction along with your content material at a deeper stage. Whereas not an exhaustive listing, just a few examples might embody:

Have a clear, easy-to-use navigation

Make your website straightforward to search

Place necessary content material above the fold, the place it is simple to seek out

Leverage high-quality movies (Moz’s Whiteboard Friday pages have a median view time of practically 10 minutes!)

Attempt for 10x Content material

Use engaging, fashionable design

Prominently hyperlink to carefully associated subjects to cowl a number of searcher intents. These may be inside hyperlinks, and even exterior hyperlinks.

Admittedly, there aren’t a ton of fine wonderful assets revealed on rising engagement and bettering lengthy clicks. That stated, I imagine Brian Dean of Backlinko does a superb job with this, and his useful resource on improving dwell time is price trying out.

three. Be the final click on

Sure, being the final click on will be the holy grail of search engine optimisation.

A consumer clicks their manner by means of a web page of search outcomes, not discovering what they’re in search of. Lastly, they click on in your URL and behold!…. You will have the reply they sought.

It means you’ve got happy the consumer question.

Source (emphasis added)

Put merely, being the final click on means searchers do not return to Google to pick one other consequence (e.g. pogo sticking.)

Even when Google does not use this as a rating issue, you may see the way it would possibly profit your search engine optimisation to be the consumer’s final click on as a lot as potential. Satisfying the consumer question means customers usually tend to browse and share your content material, in addition to search you out once more sooner or later.

Tips on how to be the final click on

In my very own search engine optimisation, there are fewer issues I’ve seen related to larger success than bettering customer satisfaction, and that is precisely what Google seeks to reward.

It is also rattling troublesome to attain.

Sadly, a typical course of in search engine optimisation is to present a content material temporary to a copywriter, count on them to cowl all of the salient factors, hit publish, and hope for the very best. However most of the time, do you imagine this content material really deserves to rank #1? Is that this the primary, final, and solely consequence a consumer must click on?

Years in the past when working in a profitable restaurant, a supervisor gave me recommendation about delivering 100% buyer satisfaction that I’ll always remember: “No matter occurs, ensure that they wish to come again.”

That is how you need to deal with search engine optimisation: ensure that each customer to your website needs to return again.

Precisely how to ensure your customer needs to return again goes to range primarily based on each question, however usually, it means going the additional mile, answering questions extra fully, and providing the consumer extra assets and a greater expertise.

In brief, ship an expertise superior to each considered one of your rivals.

Past this, I like to recommend these three assets when bettering your content material (all amazingly from Rand Fishkin):

How Google Offers Us Perception into Searcher Intent By means of the Outcomes

121 Examples of 10X Content

Optimizing for Searcher Intent Defined in 7 Visuals

Metrics for click-based engagement indicators

To be sincere, it is practically unimaginable to precisely measure click-based indicators, as Google holds all the info.

(Even if you happen to may precisely measure your lengthy click on/click on ratio, or final click on metrics, calculating their precise worth can be meaningless with out an correct account of each different Google search consequence, not to mention on a per-query foundation.)

That stated, there are metrics that may assist you to directionally measure any progress you would possibly make. These are all out there both by means of Search Console or Google Analytics:

Click-through Rate (CTR)

Average Session Duration

Bounce Fee

Goal Conversion Rate

Remember the fact that there isn’t a such factor as a “good” rating for these numbers, as the whole lot is relative to the precise question it appeared for, in addition to each single considered one of your rivals.

Regardless, these metrics may be directionally helpful indicators when bettering your content material. For instance, if you happen to see a drop in bounce price and enhance in session length after a serious content material replace, you may take this as an indicator that issues are shifting in the best course. And in reality, it is commonplace to see a rise in rankings/visitors after such a change accompanied by a constructive shift in metrics.

Whereas we won’t instantly see what Google would possibly measure when it comes to advanced click on metrics, we will usually make educated guesses.

And even when Google is not utilizing these metrics precisely the way in which we speculate, we will nonetheless enhance our search engine optimisation by being attentive to the consumer click on behaviors we now have affect over.

Thanks for making it this far. Bear in mind:

Be First

Be Lengthy

Be Final

Get these clicks, and earn them!

Appendix A: Proof of Google utilizing click-based rating indicators (incomplete listing)

Google Posts That Local Results Are Influenced By Clicks, Then Deletes That

How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results

Evidence Mounts that Click-through Rates Affect Ranking

User Behavior and Local Search – Dallas State of Search 2014

Is CTR A Ranking Factor In Organic Results? (Unfavourable consequence)

Mad Science Experiments in SEO & Social Media

Queries & Clicks May Influence Google’s Results More Directly Than Previously Suspected

Yes, The Click-Through Rate Is A Ranking Signal, But…

Test points to likely influence of click-through rate on search rankings

Google Brain Canada: Google Search Uses Click Data For Rankings?

Rank Fishkin: Yes, Google uses “user signals, like clicks.”

Appendix B: Partial listing of Google-owned patents that describe utilizing clicks as a rating enter

Propagating query classifications – US8838587B1

Modifying ranking data based on document change – US9002867B1

Modifying search result ranking based on implicit user feedback – US8661029B1

Determining reachability – US8838649B1

Identification of implicitly local queries – US8200694B1

Locally Significant Search Queries – US20140172843A1

Modifying search result ranking based on implicit user feedback and a model of presentation bias – US8938463B1

Source link

[badsithnocookie]

anyway that post about the force as the sea (and the dark side as the depths) is doing the rounds again and... meh

i hate these ideas and metas that keep inevitably floating around that inevitably coo over how the dark side of the Force is more ~powerful~ than the light, or that the light is somehow not just as dangerous - both to those who wield it, and those who have it wielded against them, in turn. i've written before about the easy/narrow path dichotomy that exists in the narrative - i'm also aggressively meh about that, but it's not just canon but movie canon, so i have to live with it - but truthfully, it's also a dichotomy that itself only truly exists to those starting out on their journey. the dark side seems easy, but isn't; the light seems hard, but not necessarily is.

i've also stated before that my relationship with the star wars EU can be best summed up as 'brexit', not least because so much of it is unrepentantly stupid, and dichotomies about the Force and the EU's shitty interpretations of it is one of the bigger, shittier sticking points. the jedi, in canon (movie canon), are agents not of the light, but of balance in the Force - of which the darkness is just as much a part. death and pain are as much as part of life as life itself - even without getting into high-minded philosophy, life is cyclical. all things that are born, die; all things that are hurt, feel pain. all things are, inevitably, hurt - whether through their own actions, those of others, or sheer poor luck. anakin, don't forget, was believed to be one to bring balance, even if events (and sith) conspired to upset that rather much.

the sith, in movie canon, are not merely dark-aligned - they are a corruption of the Force, creating and feeding on despair and suffering. plagueis the dumbass attempts to bring life into being not through anything even remotely approaching a natural method, but by manipulating the Force itself to create something entirely unnatural . palpatine tempts anakin with the secret to defying death - of bucking the natural order of things and forcing life into a body that should have died, not in the manner of a close-call cpr administration but of something that causes affront to the cycle of life and death itself.

the reblog chain in question cites sion and nihilus as examples of the mastery of the dark side of the Force required to exist in its depths, to use the chain's tortured analogy, but that doesn't really work. for one thing, nihilus has lost himself entirely - becoming entropy itself, a wandering miasma of decay, a sucking void that would swallow the galaxy whole if allowed to grow. he is utterly out of balance, having tipped himself past some event horizon and collapsed in on himself, unable to feed from others while maintaining himself and ultimately becoming a vicious, sucking whirlpool that, left unchecked, could destroy the entire universe. he is, in short, not simply dark-aligned - he is a corruption of the darkness, of death and entropy, natural forces warped into an unnatural state by nihlus's concentration of power and only warped ever further the more he accumulates.

as for sion, though, sion is very much his opposite. sion has not lost himself, or his sense of self- indeed, it is that strong sense of self that allows him to continue the way he does, and it is only in destroying the same that the jedi exile is able to bring him to an end. if nihilus is death and entropy running wild, then sion is death and entropy refused - he is stagnant, never changing, never growing, never evolving, never moving on. if the light side of the force is life and growth, then sion is not a corruption of the darkness, but of the light - a refusal to accept nonexistence, to go peacefully back into the force and begin anew. (ofc, the argument can be made both ways, but... i refer you back to my opinion that the split is largely mind-numbingly stupid to begin with)

(incidentally, as a person who lives with chronic pain, i eyeroll hard enough to dislocate something every time sion - or anyway else written by an edgelord who's never done anything more painful than stub their toe - starts on about how their pain sustains them. pain does not sustain you - it drains you, grinding you down each day and each moment of that day, nagging at your every step and every breath. if there is any way in which i relate to sion, if there is any way in which his character rings true to me, it's his stubborn refusal to let that pain get in his way - the grim determination he has not to be defined by it, and the way that it still nips at his heel in every moment all the same)

of course, this is a reading and re-interpretation; i don't recall if sion is explictly labelled as a ds user by the text of k2 and i don't have the time or spoons to check (though iirc he is explicitly labelled as sith). and, well. as part of the EU, k2 was created in the dichotomy and model of the ls/ds moral split and factional alignment - the same model i reject as phenomenally stupid, even if i'm stuck with it for much of my fic. for all that k2 deconstructs its genre, it's perfectly comfortable with many of its tropes, too. if it's any deconstruction, truthfully, it's not so much of star wars as of bioware-model rpgs, but that's another ramble for another time.