#ON TUMBLR.COM (step 1

[sweagen]

it's hapeneningigngn!!!!!!!

[staff]

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[frankencanon]

I have finally figured out how to Evil Boop using your phone...

Step 1 - Open your Internet Browser App of choice (ex. Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc)

Step 2 - Pull up the blog of the user that you want to boop (as in "tumblr.com/frankencanon", NOT "frankencanon.tumblr.com")

Step 3 - Change it to Desktop mode

Step 4 - Hold on the Paw button 3x in a row for at least three seconds each

Step 5 - Click the Paw button

Step 7 - Hold on the Boop button

Step 8 - EVIL BOOP

I think on an actual desktop you would just have to hover your mouse over the paw button rather than actually holding it, but I don't know.

[dulc3vida]

bunny!reader

only daughter of a ranch owner who is always away on business and may or may not be a narco. moved to the obx when she was really young. she misses home a lot, mostly because she had a pet tiger. dad taught her how to use a gun and she even has a couple of her own porque una nunca sabe. was called "conejita" or "little bunny" growing up bc she was always hanging out with the bunnies.

best paired with rafe because she's such a niña fresa. her dad's a narco (ALLEGEDLY) so it's safe to say that she has been spoiled her whole life. has never heard the word no and immediately fell in love with the luxury and class of figure 8. bunny is preppy, high maintenance and expensive. her dad has always showered her in money and expensive things to makeup for his absence so when rafe is giving her that AND his undivided attention, she's in love. is it freudian as fuck? maybe. is it real as fuck? yes.

rafe does step into the dad role a lot for bunny, especially once he moves her into tannyhill. its definitely freudian for him as well bc it makes him feel important and needed especially in season 3. season 1&2 she's like a trophy to him and she doesn't know where she stands because he's beating up all the guys she likes but he doesn't want to be her boyfriend (subconsciously knows he isn't good enough for her). season 3 is when he looks at her and decides that that's his girl, forever. whatever means necessary.

bunny lets rafe take the lead most of the time, but she's very calculating. friendship is transactional, which is why she's not really friends with the kooky girls. she has a few friends but she's very cautious and curious about everyone she encounters. they want something from her (some of the attention she recieves) while they offer nothing in return. bunny is shy and timid but people misunderstand her and think she's a bitch. she's not mean, but she can be. she's possessive and especially hates when rafe, or anyone for that matter, touches/moves her things around.

she and rafe both first fall in love with the idea of each other (rafe sees her as the divine feminine and bunny sees him as the american dream) which is why when they both display "unsavory" characteristics (i.e. rafes actual insanity vs. bunny's temper) it catches them off guard. they keep each other on their toes. like when rafe finds one of her guns in between his couch cushions.

she's upstairs doing her makeup and he's looking for his vape, damn near tearing the couch apart. then his hand hits familiar, cold metal. he calls for her once and she bounces down the stairs, a pout on her face.

"you made me mess my eyeliner up."

"what the fuck is this, hm?" rafe sets the gun on the coffee table between them.

"it's called a gun rafe."

"hey, hey. don't get smart with me, where did this come from?"

"it's mine." bunny takes it from him and shoves it back between the couch. "don't worry, the safety's on."

rafe studies her for a second. "where are the other ones?" she rocks on her heels and glances to the side before shaking her head.

"just that one." she plays with her fingers and he knows she's lying.

"okay." rafe chuckles, wiping his mouth with one hand before swiftly grabbing the back of her hair, tugging her through the house to collect all the guns bc he doesn't want his bunny to get hurt.

another moodboard inspired by @princessbrunette and @starfxkr (aka two of the sexiest blogs on tumblr.com)

[violetganache42]

Hate the new desktop layout that the staff is experimenting with? Dreading the idea/possibility of reblog chains going away via collapsible reblogs? Any other features or changes that you do not like? Send them your feedback with a Support form!

1. Go to https://tumblr.com/support.

2. Choose the "Feedback" category.

3. Fill out the big "The more details, the better" box below your chosen category with whatever feedback or criticisms you want to share. Please keep in mind that you should NOT use this as an excuse to be rude or condescending towards the staff, no matter how annoyed you are at them at making these meaningless changes.

4. If you are able to, provide them with an image to help give the staff and support team a better idea of what you're talking about. The support form only allows one image, so if you have more than multiple images that you want to include, compile them all into a single, organized image file to share.

5. Choose whether or not it's relevant to your blog. I leave it as "None selected" because every feedback I share and issue/bug I report is typically regarding what's affecting the Tumblr userbase as a whole.

6. Not providing a screencap for this step for obvious privacy reasons, but make sure your account email listed in the form is the same one you use to log into your account with.

7. Prove to reCAPTCHA that you're not a robot and send your support form.

(Make sure to double check by seeing if your email inbox received an automated message from the support team.)

And that's it! It is that easy to share your feedback to the staff. Remember the various instances the staff rolling back on some of the questionable changes made to the mobile apps? It was because of these feedback forms; sending them has a larger change of them getting noticed by them instead of tagging staff and support in posts and reblogs.

[litriu]

Hi artists coming here from twitter! Tumblr doesn’t have a gallery function like twitter, so here’s a step by process of what you can do to make sure people can actually find your art! (Me, I’m people, I want to see your art, please god)

More under the cut!

1. MAKE AN ART TAG

Just make a specific tag to tag all of your art with, it can be “my art”, “art”, “homoerotic bible passages”, anything you want as long as you’ll remember it.

If you have a lot of posts already, you can edit a bunch at once through your ARCHIVE page, reachable through [your_url].tumblr.com/archive

2a. FEATURED TAGS

Go into your blog settings and scroll down a bit, you’ll find a section labeled “featured tags”

Input your art tag into that

now when people go to your blog in dashboard view it will be the very first suggested search!

2b. CUSTOM DIRECTORY

Go into your blog settings

Look for the “Custom Theme” section, and click “Enable Custom Theme”

Go to your tumblr page (the one that goes [your_url].tumblr.com) and click the paint palette icon.

Find a tumblr theme with a CUSTOMIZEABLE LINK DIRECTORY with the “FIND THEMES” button! It might be called “sidebar links” or just “links” in different themes.

You can find an assortment of free themes with this functionality, try them out and play with them.

Make one of those customizable links your art tag by using the link [your_url].tumblr.com/[your art tag]

You can also do this with other social media links, a link to your commission info, your portfolio, etc.!

Congrats, you’ve made your art accessible on both the dashboard and your custom blog! If you want to be extra though:

3. MAKE AN ABOUT PAGE (optional)

Scroll to the very bottom of your theme customizing options (the paint palette icon we clicked earlier) and find the “Add A Page” button.

Give that a click, and it will let you make another custom page!

Make sure you click the “Show a link to this page” switch.

In the text box next to that switch, put whatever you’d like the page to show up listed as in your blog directory. In this case, I’d title it “about” or “about me” Most themes will automatically add this page to the sidebar directory under this name, and it should show up in dashboard view too.

There will be an option for a custom URL for the page under that! In this case, you can just do [your_url].tumblr.com/about for example.

Below that will be a box for the Page Title/Header. This is optional, but put whatever you want there.

Finally is the text box! Put whatever you want in there, but I add my art tag (+specific fandom or warning tags, textpost/reblog tab, etc.), my TOS, and things like my pronouns!

Once you’re done, click save and you’re good to go!

All finished! You have now made your art super easy to find! Great job. :]

[pureasthedrivensn0w]

Forever is the Sweetest Con // Part 1

omgomgomg this is my first time ever posting to tumblr.com and i am nervoussss. i’ve been a lurker for years (literally like since i was 12) and i’ve always wanted to share my writing but i’ve been too scared!!! but i decided to say fuck it and post some of my stuff. i’m obsessed w the hunger games, so that’s what this first post is based on! it’s totally self indulgent, but it’s probably going to turn into a series, so suggestions and feedback is super welcome and appreciated! i prob wont get any readers but that’s ok i just want to get my work out there and continue this hobby! anyway if you’re reading this i love you!!!

TW: Death, slight descriptions of gore, sadness

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ .　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

The capitol says the dark days are behind us now. We have entered a new era, an era of peace. Any trace of an uprising was squandered. Any small act of defiance, intentional or not, is met with cruel and unusual punishment. We are lucky the capitol hasn’t done more to punish us, given the harm we did. The world could have ended. We should be grateful.

Anyone who steps foot in any of the districts will see that that is not true. Mention peace to a citizen of district eleven and he will laugh in your face. Talk about gratitude to a district eight worker and she will avoid you at all costs. In the districts, there is no such thing as gratitude, peace, tranquility, happiness. There is only survival.

When you think of survival to it’s core, the barren bones, the tired eyes, the heavy limbs, you are picturing the citizens of district twelve. The twelfth district in Panem specialized in coal mining, which is not only an incredibly dangerous industry, but incredibly taxing as well. The men go to the mines from 6 in the morning to 7 at night. Monday through friday. No breaks, no exceptions, the only time you are excused is if you are actively dying.

Roslyn Sage grew up in this environment. But she also grew up in a different world. The world of the covey. She looks back at her early days with fondness, remembering the times she would hold hands with her older sister and cousin and harmonize to the songs their elders taught them. Or braiding grass baskets with her mother. Or sitting on her fathers shoulders while they traveled from district to district.

“Papa, I’m hungry.” She remembers saying, playing with his long hair as he walked with the rest of the band. They didn’t know where they were going, they never did, and they liked it that way. “I know, sweet thing.” he said softly, keeping his eyes trained on the stretch of land in front of them. The covey never looks back, that’s what her papa said.

They were nearing four days of travel. They had just left district 8, spending two months there. They had a few injured, with the war going on all around them. They needed time to reciprocate, recharge. But they were always safest in the trees. That’s what papa said. So they left. Her uncle still needed a walking stick, and her grandfather couldn’t hear out of his left ear, but they needed to leave.

Roslyn Sage didn’t understand the complete reasoning. Her papa said it wasn’t safe, and that was all. They needed to get somewhere where they could sing. And sing they did. As they walked, she could hear her older sister sing one of the band’s favorite songs to pass the time. “Well there’s a dark and a troubled side of life,” Lucy Gray sang, as she held hands with four year old Maude Ivory, “There’s a bright and a sunny side too.”

Roslyn Sage grinned as her papa started to sing along, and then mama. Her uncle joined, then nana. “Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side. Keep on the sunny side of life! It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way if we keep on the sunny-“

Papa stopped so suddenly that Roslyn Sage swore she could’ve fallen off his shoulders. He reached forward and grabbed Lucy Gray’s arm, a silent way to get her to stop singing. “Papa, why’d we-“ “Quiet.” Papa whispered back harshly, as all the grownups looked ahead. When Roslyn Sage finally looked up to see what they were staring at, she felt her heart sink into her stomach. Even at seven years old, she knew this wasn’t good.

Peacekeepers. Sure- just a group of five, not a whole team, but enough. Big, strong, grown men who could take them easily. Everyone in the group knew this. Papa’s hand tightened around Lucy Gray’s arm and mama quickly scooped up Maude Ivory. “Wasn’t expecting to see anyone out here.” One peacekeeper said, a small frown on his face. He couldn’t have been older than 18. In fact- they all looked that young. One stepped forward, deciding to take the lead in the situation. “You’re past boundaries.” He said, his hand resting on the gun in his holster. “That’s against the law now.”

“We don’t want any trouble.” Papa said, his back straight even though Roslyn Sage could feel his heart pounding from here. “We’re traveling folk- we must’ve been away when that law was passed.” But they weren���t, she knew they weren’t. She had been half-asleep one day, cuddled in between Maude Ivory and Lucy Gray, when she heard the grown ups whispering about it. But she knew better than to say that. “Lead us to the nearest district and then-“

A twig snapped and the entire group looked up to see uncle Sam Flint running as fast as he could. He was only 14, he was foolish. Papa almost ran for it, screaming his youngest brothers name, but it was too late. The youngest peacekeeper had already gotten his gun, aimed, and shot. Sam Flint hit the floor in an instant. Even from here, Roslyn Sage could see the blood pouring out of his head.

“Now don’t take that-“ Papa was right back in defense mode, pulling Lucy Gray behind him. They already lost one, they couldn’t lose another. The peacekeeper who had shot Sam Flint looked shaken up but the tragedy only made the one in charge more upset. He held up his gun, and when he did, so did the rest. All five peacekeepers had their fully loaded rifles aimed at the group. “One step and you’re-“ her aunt let out a broken sob, holding her baby to her chest.

It all happened so fast. If you were to ask the covey children about what really happened that day, you wouldn’t get anywhere near a real answer. All Roslyn Sage could really remember was her aunts face as the bullet hit her chest, how her papa tried to catch the baby, mama’s scream as she reached for Lucy Gray before being dragged away, papa’s eyes as he laid in her lap, holding her hand until his last breath.

Lucy Gray tells her that the peacekeepers weren’t willing to kill the children. In a twisted way, they thought they were victims of the covey and not the captiol. After papa was gone, the one who killed Sam Flint picked her up. She was kicking and screaming, too young to comprehend that her father was gone regardless of if she was next to him or not. The punched his back, kicked his stomach, even tried to bite. The boy carrying her had tears streaming down his cheeks. Roslyn had never had any desire to hurt someone in her life, until now.

[peeco]

i absolutely adore the color pallets in all of your pieces, they all look very coherent and nice together, but how exactly do you create/choose these color pallets and make all the color look nice together :0??? whenever i try to draw in a more dramatic color pallet everything looks slightly off- it’s either very muddy or jarring.

two of your drawings which i really love (that i would like to learn how to color like) are these two

tumblr.com/peeco/733079114338222080

tumblr.com/peeco/734346308699209728

1. Think of what atmosphere you wanna create for your art, which kind of color palette can express your feelings/ideas (like red is for dangerous/tension/desire, blue is for sorrow/calmness…)

2. But don’t get into the color palette part too soon! Please make sure the contrast (hue, saturation, brightnes+) of the original color blocks clear and diverse (it’s like, you can tell all the color blocks of your art and see them clearly, and they don’t stick with each other?), til this your art may seems a little bit plain or even boring, but this is the basic before you getting into the next step!

3. I’m a procreate user so im giving examples based on it. Use the color in step 1 that you choose to express the feelings of your art, and make a new layer. Fill all the art blocks you’ve made in step 2 on the new layer, lower the opacity to 20%~60% (depending on the result you wanna see) and choose the blend modes that you want, I’m always using the multiply mode at first, this makes your color blocks set in a generally matching color tone :).

4. While you are drawing and adjusting your work, sometimes you need to do the mentioned steps again (mostly 2 or 3, just do the new steps on what you’ve adjusted by far) to make sure your color palette goes on well with your work! Cause sometimes when you are focusing on the details you might lost the whole view of your art work, and the colors would fell into uncorrelated pieces, so you need to check them and, adjust them on time!

[bunnysbrainrot]

Can you make a tutorial on how you made your masterlist? I finally got a laptop and wanna make one!

Hi love! i’m happy to share what i did for mine!

Making A Masterlist:

1) open two separate tabs of tumblr on your web browser (this is tricky to do on mobile - not impossible, but much easier on PC)

2) on one tab, start a new post! set it up however you’d like it to read, the whole nine yards. if it helps, save it as a draft so you can take time to set it up, it can take a while!

3) as i type the titles of my works, i go to the second tumblr tab i opened, and pull up my own profile/blog

4) on your blog page (in web browsers, it’s your username, followed by “.tumblr.com”). find the post you want to link, and there should be three little dots at the top corner - click on those!

5) choose the ‘copy link’ option, and go back to the first tab

6) in your masterlist draft, highlight the title of the post you’re linking, and click the ‘link’ icon (it’s on the far right in the photo below)

7) paste the link to your post in the text bubble and add it! REPEAT STEPS 3 - 7 FOR EACH POST, and be careful that everything in linked correctly

TA-DA ✨

this works for any sort of link, as well. there are also ways to code links into your bio, which i’m happy to show how i did!

(even though on mobile the links look distorted but on pc they look fine >:/ )

i really hope this helps anyone who finds it useful!

xoxo,

bunny

[satorisoup]

LENE’S FAQ’S .ᐟ

Q - “how do you make your gradient texts?”

i use two different websites for my gradient texts!

color hex picker

gradient coding

gradient text step by step .ᐟ

1 - open the color hex picker and choose two colors (starting color & finishing color)

2 - scroll down to where the hex value is shown. copy both hex values for later.

3 - open the gradient coding website. (don’t be intimidated by how much is on there! its rather easy)

4 - under the “HTML” tab, scroll until you find ‘3 <input id “first”’.

5 - paste the starting color code you saved earlier into the quotation marks ‘value = “#codehere”’

6 - do the same on ‘4 <input id “last”’, instead with your finishing color into the quotation marks ‘value = “#codehere”’.

6 - in the left corner of your screen, click the “run” button.

7 - scroll down until you find the white box with both of your colors, two text boxes, and a “run” button.

8 - in the first text box, type whatever words you want to have a gradient (make sure it’s completely correct!).

9 - click the run button.

10 - copy the code your given in the second text box.

11 - open tumblr.com on the web (you cant code it on the app!)

12 - click edit on the draft that has the words.

13 - click the small settings symbol and scroll until you find “text editor”.

14 - click the small box, then click the “HTML” option.

15 - scroll through all of the coding until you find the words you are wanting to have a gradient.

16 - select only the words, then paste the code you copied earlier.

17 - save the draft and you’re done!

results (varys in color)!!

super pretty gradient text! :3

for solid color text, follow all the same steps, but instead use the same color hex value for both the starting and finishing color code (<input id “first” & “last”)

there’s endless options when it comes to color. usually it looks more noticeable when the text is bolded!

not bold -> bold

if you want to start over with a gradient/solid you didn’t like, simply delete the text from your draft on the app (or on the web), save it, and it will delete the coding!! <3

[tvboy-kanti]

Step by step guide:

1) ask your supervisor if they have an oc

2) draw it in an absurd pose

3) steal the scan they made of it off the work computer

4) post it on tumblr.com

5)

[ask-de-writer]

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to CLASSICAL FANTASIES

THE FISHERMAN'S LEG (Part 11 of 20)

A sequel to Dee 1/2 Demon

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

13269 words (work in progress)

© 2023 by Glen Ten-Eyck

All rights reserved. This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

TUMBLR EXEMPTION

Blog holding members of Tumblr.com may freely reblog this story provided that the title, author and copyright information remain intact, unaltered, and are displayed at the head of the story.

Fan art, stories, music, cosplay and other fan activity is actively encouraged.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

New to the story? Read from the beginning HERE.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Tanira came back from the Tribunal before noon. Her steps were dragging and her whole demeanor was downcast. Minara put aside the shop's accounts and her abacus to take Tanira in her arms and let her sob.

Brokenly, she got out, “The Magistrate refused to listen to any idea that Minami should have any share in the house. He stated that Minami's actions regarding the Ice House showed what he might do to our home. He removed the house from joint property, awarding it to me, and has arranged for Minami's eviction, guarded by constables.

Minami is ordered not to come closer to either the house or Fish Market than the width of the street.

“At least he can no longer try to snare me into paying any part of his debits. Magistrate Lim made a civil separation of our assets and debits. The Good Magistrate has removed all of the Fish Market's debits that Minami caused by his bad management and has added them to Minami for payment.

“My husband is most upset! He became so unruly in the Tribunal that he had to be put into a cell!”

While Minara was holding the sobbing woman, who was beginning to settle down, Takahara asked gently, “What of the Sea Lion? I saw Narutsu san going up to the Tribunal.”

“That should have been a bright spot for Minami san. They are taking the next few of days to scrape the hull and replace a few boards that have gone questionable. When they go out again, they do not want him along but will still pay his full share of the catch to him.

“He was outraged instead of grateful! They should be out instead of being lazy on land! He blamed all the bottom fouling and soft boards on Dee san of all people! He would not listen to fisherman Narutsu san saying that it was due to his keeping the Sea LION in the water at the dock for too long and not pulling her out for cleaning and drying like all the other boats do.

“Mimami claimed that only his ridding the boat of Dee's vile iron work had prevented her from sinking the Sea Lion, as she caused the deadly sinking of the Chrysanthemum of the Sea!”

“Magistrat Lim stopped him there! The men that Patsu san rescued were in that morning earlier to complain of their being billed for the saving of their lives.

“He had the story from them. Minami had spoken to them several times of the rich fishery that those girls and a few others were hogging to themselves. It should be safe enough if one but used a pole to feel ahead and go slowly so that they could find their way among the rocks. That was working well and they were taking some good fish with lines and hooks.

“Then the tide changed and suddenly there was a strong current called a tidal bore pushing them swiftly! It rammed them sideways onto a reef of lava rocks and their boat was overset. Three of the men could not swim and the sea took them. The others made their way to a rocky beach on Dry Island.

“To make things as bad as they could be for Patsu san, who found and recovered all three of the drowned men, Minami belittled their rescue, saying that she should have used a large boat that all could ride to safety in comfort rather than being towed in ignominiously clinging to floats. That led them to complain to a Constable. That so angered Patsu san that she filed a bill of costs against them for their ingratitude at having their lives saved.”

Takahara shook her head in bemused amazement. “HE caused all of that? Tricked good fishermen into deadly waters and then befouled their rescue that should have been hailed as heroic? And blames it all on Dee san somehow?”

Tanira san took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she replied, “He is mad. I am sure of it after today in the Tribunal. He blames everything that has happened to him since he was wounded in the War to Unite Corutsu on Dee san and the others of the Shop of repairs. Even where he has been caught in the act of crimes against them, he claims that it is somehow their fault.”

Minara asked solicitously, “Should we close the shop for today, Tanira san? You are most upset.”

Tanira smiled at the genuine caring that she heard and replied, “No, Minara san. I think that work will help to steady me. Besides, I can't imagine that waiting a day will improve our fish!”

While they were setting out several of the small sharks that were now being called sand sharks to be skinned and cleaned, an elderly lady entered the shade of the shop. Her face was a wrinkled map of a smile but her eyes held worry too.

“I have heard already about the terrible row in the Tribunal, yet! I am so sorry for you.

“If you are able, I should like to buy two of those fine crabs and that large sand shark fillet.”

Takahara busily wrapped the lady's purchases and the cheerful tinkle of good cash in the money box concluded the sale.

The day became a busy one. Tanira got quietly thoughtful as she was examining their sales stock. Turning to one of her helpers, she asked, “Takahara san, I am truly grateful for these fine crabs that we are selling but we did not buy any at the dock. Where did they come from?”

“Minara san and I rented one of the Shop of Repairs' small boats last night. We had good fortune and caught seventeen crabs. Miko san only took four as our rental, so these cost you nothing.” She smiled and paused to take a happy customer's cash for a crab and gave Tanira a small hug. “They are yours because we know that you value us and our help.”

Little Ichuru was tugging mightily on skinning tongs to remove the hide from another sand shark. Before Tanira could go to help, Minara gently stopped her. “We made sure that he knew how to prepare one. He wants to do it himself.”

Tanira watched her son as he struggled to pull the skin free of the fish. He had neatly removed the fins and tail, setting them aside. Triumphant, he held up the removed hide, nearly as long as he was tall. He hung it on a stretcher to dry and neatly finished the cleaning and rinsing before taking a sharp knife and neatly cutting fish steaks first. As the fish tapered towards the tail, he changed knives and cut two neat fillets, lifting out the cartilanginous back bone.

Tanira san hugged him, complimenting, “That was a big fish but you did it perfectly! Thank you, Ichuru san. You are a big help here.”

Towards evening closing, they saw Minami accompanied by three constables passing along the far side of the street. He was clearly preparing to yell something but an alert constable tapped him firmly with a cudgel!

“No outburst, Minami san. No unruly behavior at all or you will go back to the cell.”

After a bit, while they were closing up, they saw him again, dragging his things, piled onto a futon and complaining bitterly at the lack of help.

To be Continued

<==PREVIOUS ~~ NEXT==>

Return to the Master Story Index

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[sharky-the-idiot]

A GUIDE TO CARING FOR YOUR VANILLY

1. Design a pen. This is the most important part of keeping him safe! It must be secure and protected, but with recognisable aspects so it's easier for him to adjust. For example, I like to give him vanillan tiles, white lilies & gravestones for the memories <3

2. Place him in the pen. This one can be tricky! Vanillys enjoy walking, so it can be tough to track them down. This is partially why it's so necessary to keep an eye on them in the pen! Vanillys are very light, so picking them up and gently dropping him inside the pen is typically the preferred method of transport

3. Give him Nourishment. Make sure there are jellyberries in sight, but far enough out of reach that he doesn't eat too many & you can give them to him whenever you deem appropriate :)

4. Assign a guard. Someone focused & strong, who can keep your Vanilly protected & safe. Vanillys, for all their sweetness, unfortunately tend to have lots of enemies, so it's important to keep these away from the pen

5. Give him some company! Vanillys are sociable beings, and thrive with another cookie nearby to talk to. Your guard could double as a companion, but they're typically a little too busy with their job to have time to relax. Vanillys make excellent fathers to stray parentless children, but anyone who he knows and gets on well with is always a good bet too!

In the drastic situation of a Vanilly's escape, it is vital to look over these steps and figure out which has gone wrong. Sometimes, a little tough love is necessary; further limiting contact with (or simply eliminating) those who might help him get out, switching out some of the more comfortable aspects of his pen with practical ones, changing guards due to incompetence. Installing a moat can be helpful, and higher, pointer fences prevent climbing over them. You can also remind him of the dangers the outside world poses by installing the graves of deceased loved ones nearby. Above all else, it's important to identify the problem and find the solution!

Here at Vanilly Pens, we want only what is best for your Vanilly. You can count on us to keep him safe, protected & (eventually) happy. For further information on how to care for these wonderful cookies, please contact @lilacthebooklover on tumblr.com

lilac I love you /p but I am not doing any of that.. my Vanilly is happy as is!!

[philosophicalconservatism]

Response To Post On The Greater Knowledge Within Free Societies.

Original Post

https://jb89149.tumblr.com/

"You can have a room filled with light bulbs that are all equally dim or you can a room brightly illuminated by the glow of a few bright bulbs."

Philosophicalconservatism.com

I'm going to let the economist Thomas Sowell respond to this

“Many intellectuals and their followers have been unduly impressed by the fact that highly educated elites like themselves have far more knowledge per capita—in the sense of special knowledge—than does the population at large. From this it is a short step to considering the educated elites to be superior guides to what should and should not be done in a society. They have often overlooked the crucial fact that the population at large may have vastly more total knowledge—in the mundane sense—than the elites, even if that knowledge is scattered in individually unimpressive fragments among vast numbers of people.”

Elsewhere Sowell explains that intellectuals don't even possess 1% of the "consequential knowledge" within a society; that is, the practical knowledge that allows a particular society to function. That knowledge is dispersed amongst millions of individuals. Just as important is the fact that these individuals are not presumptuously imposing some general scheme upon the society as a whole, they are merely contributing their knowledge where it fits, and allowing the laboratory of the market system to work. The elites which aspire to orchestrate the workings of society in every minute detail from the top down presume to have a breadth of knowledge which no human being can reasonably have.

[greenleaf4stuff]

Morpheus and his relationships with Lucienne and Hob - contrasts and similarities (meta rambling)

Okay, so @avelera and the tags on my previous meta rambling (https://greenleaf444stuff2.tumblr.com/post/694811407444787200/dreams-return-to-the-dreaming-vs-the-white-horse#notes) inspired me to ramble some more, this time with a focus on Hob and Lucienne, and their relationship with Morpheus. Because, in a way, both have very different approaches and are in different positions, and yet, they are also very similar in other ways. And both their approaches *work*.

On the one hand, there is Lucienne - she has been with Dream for a very, very long time, first as his raven, then as his librarian, both very influential and important positions/stations in the Dreaming, and she knows Dream very well as a result. On the other hand, Hob Gadling has ‘only’ known Dream for 700 years, and only met with him a couple of times - he has no previous relation to Dream, doesn’t work for him, holds no important position in the Dreaming, in fact we never see him interact with the Dreaming in season 1. He doesn’t even know Dream’s name, much less what he is. And yet, he too ‘knows’ Dream, but while Lucienne has years upon years of personal interaction to draw from, Hob is very instinctive and picks up clues (or so it seems) very quickly.

Lucienne is very delicate when trying to confront Dream with information and circumstances he may not wish to hear, but gently persists - maybe so he won’t get all huffy and puffy, but more likely because she may not particularly wish for him to be distressed (that is just my interpretation, though) but still wants him to see reason. Hob, on the other hand, not only tells Dream to his face what he thinks, but when Morpheus reacts negatively, he doubles down on insisting Morpheus seeks friendship, and then runs after him and confronts him *again* (or tries to, anyway).

Neither Hob nor Lucienne are never threatened by Dream; he never threatens to withdraw Lucienne’s position as librarian or to try and reverse Hob’s immortality. He has qualms threatening his own creations (Dreams and Nightmares alike) for disobedience (at least, most of the season), has no problem giving out punishment to humans he feels deserve it, but people like Lucienne and Hob (and Matthew) are never threatened, which imo shows that they hold a certain position in his life.

(He also never threatens Death, but let’s be real, apart from the fact that they genuinely like and care about each other, even Morpheus knows that would be a very bad idea.)

In turn, neither Lucienne nor Hob are ever truly frightened of him; Lucienne might be resigned, frustrated, concerned, but there is no fear, even when speaking out against Morpheus banishing Gault to the darkness. Same with Hob, he knows Morpheus is somehow ‘responsible’ for his immortality (and is immortal himself) and has seen him use his powers on Lady Constantine, yet when he confronts Dream, the only fear there might be is the fear of Dream walking away/of him being wrong about his observations, but not of Dream himself.

When Lucienne and Morpheus have a confrontation, it is her who takes a step back and retreats (though that doesn’t mean she backs down, but she gives Dream time to calm down and be reasonable); with Hob, it is Dream who walks away from Hob’s assessment. In the end, Morpheus is the one to come back to both of them, and in both cases, he is sorry and changes through both of their influence (accepting help and shared responsibility from Lucienne and accepting friendship from Hob).

And finally, as a similarity, they both waited for Dream during his imprisonment, without knowing what had happened to him, with no guarantee he would return - Lucienne had Prodigal in the back of her mind, Hob the previous fight about whether or not he and Dream were friends. They could have had every reason to feel abandoned, left behind, and yet they presevered and tried to prepare for Morpheus’ return (Lucienne tried to keep the Dreaming running, Hob bought/built the New Inn for him and Dream to meet in and pointed him towards it) - and they both were right to hold onto hope, and in both cases, it was important for Morpheus that they waited for him.

tl;dr: Lucienne and Hob have very different standings and relationships with Morpheus, and deal with his more negative character traits in different ways, yet both know him quite well, know how to read him, and both are successful in their approaches - and in both cases, their approaches influence Morpheus to (try to) be better. While Lucienne is a steady constant, Hob is a new impulse in Dream’s life. Dream needed both to try and change for the better.

I could probably write more and may or may not add to this post in the future, we’ll see. That here is just more or less stream-of-consciousness rambling. I am curious, though, if anyone else has any thoughts on this? I’d love to read them!

[namara-ashina]

Quick and easy way to get rid of Tumblr Live!

Step 1: Open your Firefox (or other web browser) app Step 2: Go to tumblr.com and log in Step 3: Tap the 3 dots in the top right and hit “Install” or “Add to Home Screen” depending on your device Step 4: Uninstall the Tumblr app and replace with your new link Step 5 (Optional, Recommended): Install the uBlock Origin extension and enjoy ad-free tumblr on your mobile device!