#Online Site Exposure

[wild-at-mind]

If you ever see me becoming one of those transmisandry people, please fucking call me out immediately.

[pens-and-paperbacks]

So did webtoon ever start paying their artists more oooooor?

[fatehbaz]

---

For the Maya, the honey bee is more than an insect. For millennia, the tiny, stingless species Melipona beecheii -- much smaller than Apis mellifera, the European honey bee -- has been revered in the Maya homeland in what is now Central America. Honey made by the animal the Maya call Xunan kab has long been used in a sacred drink, and as medicine to treat a whole host of ailments, from fevers to animal bites. The god of bees appears in relief on the walls of the imposing seacliff fortress of Tulum, the sprawling inland complex of Cobá, and at other ancient sites.

Today, in small, open-sided, thatched-roof structures deep in the tropical forests of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, traditional beekeepers still tend to Xunan kab colonies. The bees emerge from narrow openings in their hollow log homes each morning to forage for pollen and nectar among the lush forest flowers and, increasingly, the cultivated crops beyond the forests’ shrinking borders. And that is where the sacred bee of the Maya gets into trouble.

---

In 2012, the Mexican government granted permission to Monsanto to plant genetically modified soybeans in Campeche and other states on the peninsula without first consulting local communities. The soybeans are engineered to withstand high doses of the controversial weedkiller Roundup; multiple studies have shown exposure to its main ingredient, glyphosate, negatively impacts bees, including by impairing behavior and changing the composition of the animals’ gut microbiome. Though soy is self-pollinating and doesn’t rely on insects, bees do visit the plants while foraging, collecting nectar and pollen as they go. Soon, Maya beekeepers found their bees disoriented and dying in high numbers. And Leydy Pech found her voice.

A traditional Maya beekeeper from the small Campeche city of Hopelchén, Pech had long advocated for sustainable agriculture and the integration of Indigenous knowledge into modern practice. But the new threat to her Xunan kab stirred her to action as never before. She led an assault on the Monsanto program on multiple fronts: legal, academic, and public outrage, including staging protests at ancient Maya sites. The crux of the legal argument by Pech and her allies was that the government had violated its own law by failing to consult with Indigenous communities before granting the permit to Monsanto. In 2015, Mexico’s Supreme Court unanimously agreed. Two years later, the government revoked the permit to plant the crops.

---

As Pech saw it, the fight was not simply about protecting the sacred bee. The campaign was to protect entire ecosystems, the communities that rely on them, and a way of life increasingly threatened by the rise of industrial agriculture, climate change, and deforestation.

“Bees depend on the plants in the forest to produce honey,” she told the public radio program Living on Earth in 2021. “So, less forest means less honey [...]. Struggles like these are long and generational. [...] ”

---

Headline, images, captions, and all text by: Gemma Tarlach. “The Keeper of Sacred Bees Who Took on a Giant.” Atlas Obscura. 23 March 2022. [The first image in this post was not included with Atlas Obscura’s article, but was added by me. Photo by The Goldman Environmental Prize, from “The Ladies of Honey: Protecting Bees and Preserving Tradition,” published online in May 2021. With caption added by me.]

[shiverandqueeef]

With a potential influx of users i think now is a good time to remind people

do not list your minor status on your blog

The only thing this will achieve is the creation of a big flashing advertisment to online predators.

Interaction between minors and adults on tumblr can be perfectly innocuous, and even beneficial, as exposure to a variety of age demographics can give you a fuller sense of the world

However

There are predators and groomers on this site, just like any other social media platform, and letting them now you are underage is a Bad Idea

Do not share your age. And if anyone sends you asks/messages that make you uncomfortable, block them.

[play-now-my-lord]

TLDR on that last one: if I can live with my first exposure to adults with bodies like mine being presented on freakout sites next to human corpses and explosive diarrhea, I think you can live with trannies being too weird for you online. I think your gentle little heart can take it. I believe in you

[dduane]

What are your thoughts on companies like this that offer 'coaching services' for hopeful unpublished novelists?

This smells of scam to me but maybe I'm just a cynic:

Publishing Your Book

Query Letter Coaching/Editing – $550 per book (this includes two passes)

Synopsis Coaching & Editing – $750 per book (this includes two passes)

Proposal Coaching & Editing – $1,500 per book

Traditional Publishing Coaching – $200/hour (finding an agent, crafting your proposal, etc.)

Indie Publishing – $1000 (distribution to all platforms for optimal international exposure, guidance on pricing, blurb-writing, logistics, and keywords)

ISBNs for Indie Publishing – $150 per book format. Free if publishing through [the company selling these coaching services]

Briefly: before I got involved with any such operation, I'd want to talk to (multiple) people they'd worked with previously and find out what kinds of experiences they'd had. And in line with this, I'd be extremely cautious about any operation that wasn't run by professionals with a verifiable track record, and which wouldn't offer verifiable examples of feedback from people whose reality as non-sockpuppets could also be confirmed. And whom you could contact without having to go through the company in question.

On other issues: I'm looking kind of askance at some of those prices. (Here adding the disclaimer: I know people who do this kind of work out of a grounding of significant expertise and in good faith, and I'm not clear on what they're charging because I haven't really looked into it... not particularly needing it myself at this late stage in the game.)

At least part of the problem I'm having with the prices being charged in your example is based on the knowledge of how very much information of this kind is available free online. And yeah, there's the old chestnut about "The advice is worth what you've paid for it"... but that has sort of an unspoken negative corollary: "Except when you've paid for it and it nonetheless turns out not to have been worth much."

The trouble with the non-independent-publishing suggestions is that all of them deal with imponderables. Even if all the advice you purchase from those people at all those varied prices is absolutely right on the money, there's still no way to guarantee that any of it is going to lead to success in getting query letters, synopses or proposals actually looked at. Which puts this whole concept squarely in the nature of a gamble.

Not that luck doesn't have a role to play in a professional writing career. Sometimes you're just standing in the right place at the right time with a manuscript in your hands. But getting the idea that you can depend on that luck for any reason is unwise... as divine Fortuna is anciently famous for wandering all over the room, blowing on other folks' dice. (And if this makes me sound like I fall well down on the "Fortune Favors The Prepared" end of the spectrum: yeah, that.)

My advice would be to spend a good long while online, thoroughly researching all the free sites that have info to offer on all the traditional-publishing-facing topics. Then, after exhausting the available possibilities, if you still think you need to engage paid professional assistance... make inquiries among as many verifiable professionals as you can non-invasively query, before parting with any money at all.

As regards the indie-oriented fees: I'm finding those pretty steep. The prices for ISBNs in particular bother me. (Especially since in many places you can routinely buy packages of ten for about what these folks would charge you for two.) Yes, they're free if you publish with them: that sounds lovely. But publishers would normally buy many of those packages of ten. Or packages of a hundred: the more ISBNs you buy at once, the cheaper they get. And if you're paying the company for other services, who cares about the ISBNs? They're making money off you in different ways. Possibly equally overpriced ones.

So to finish: this is very much caveat emptor territory. There will inevitably be scammers out there, claiming their rates to be less than "bigger companies" are charging, but still too much. Therefore... advance only with utmost care.

...And adding this: @petermorwood glanced at the price list over my shoulder and said, "I wouldn't touch any of those with a barge pole."

At any rate: HTH!

...And now a word regarding our regrettably fickle non-sponsor, via Ol' Blue Eyes. :)

[xenosagaepisodeone]

I was reading a reddit thread about lost media you'd like to see recovered and someone mentioned a 9/11 video titled "LOL SUPERMAN". "LOL SUPERMAN" is allegedly an up amateur recording of one of the twin towers jumpers actually hitting the ground up close. it was purportedly a popular shock video in the early aughts that became increasingly difficult to find for reasons unknown. all that exists at this time is a nondescript screenshot of the buildup to the event.

Now, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this video does not exist. There is no way that footage from 9/11, let alone footage of someone dying on 9/11 that was fashioned into viral shock content, could ever go unarchived. Even the title "LOL SUPERMAN" implies a degree of well-recognized memeticism in saving and sharing the video. If this video was real there would have been an encyclopedia dramatica article about it where a low res gif of the person hitting the ground was stickied to the top of the page. There would be a gallery subsection where someone would have edited awesomeface over the face of the deceased. And a sped-up version of the gif with the caption "chocolate raaaaaaiiin". The opening of the article would be something like "LOL SUPERMAN" is a shock video of a twin towers jumper being pwned by gravity".

And yet, a Mandela effect seems to have occurred. Hundreds of people insist that they have seen this video with no detail of the circumstances beyond having a vague recollection of it being online- and despite its virality, they never happen to be any one of the ones who actually saved and sent it to someone. I can't help but wonder if this type of amnesia is induced from a combination of the post 9/11 cultural landscape, where lurid images of victims were weaved into every aspect of reality, and the rise of aughts shock sites ripping videos of people dying from the context of their own lives to induce a similar kind of unease on the internet. The camcorder footage of people waving for help in the burning buildings has the same crunchy, digital consistency of camcorder footage you'd find on liveleak. At a certain point of constant exposure, it all just becomes snuff. I can imagine someone hearing about "LOL SUPERMAN" in 2009 after viewing 2guy1hammer on ebaumsworld and thinking "well, it's gotta exist, right?".

[writing-for-life]

Considering this is a site where so many people have aspirations to become professional authors or artists, I think it’s really astounding that many (often the same) people encourage book piracy. And by that I mean: They don’t just do it behind closed doors (whatever, do what you have to do and keep it to yourself)—they actually package it as some act of immeasurable kindness in the name of “social justice”. And I’d say: If you’re not a professional author and have no experience in or with publishing, hence don’t really understand what it means to make your living as a writer, maybe just… don’t? And if you ever want to sell your books, maybe also just… don’t?

It’s not some cool subversive thing in the name of social justice you’re doing. You’re really hurting authors with it, and it’s in no way comparable to “fighting the big bad streamers.”

Yes, Neil Gaiman will be okay, but if you’re saying it’s okay to do it to him, you’re also saying by extension it’s okay to do it to lesser known authors. And those authors make up the vast (and I mean vast!) majority of authors. But maybe you’re one of those people who think that all artists are minted and picture them in La La Land, entirely possible. If that’s the case, maybe educate yourself what the median income of authors is, be very surprised and wake up. Sometimes, it really helps to think before hitting post. And if rants are not your thing, this is the exit sign because I’m not going to mince my words…

Here are a couple of really good comments from *that* post that people should maybe inwardly digest before they prioritise being oh-so-understanding and supportive of every Tom, Dick & Harry who “can’t afford the book” via piracy (how about buying them one instead if you care so much. No? Thought so) over supporting authors, artists and, yes, libraries:

(Re the last comment: Or use online libraries—they’re also free. That was also part of above post btw. Libby, Hoopla etc exist for a reason.)

If that’s all too hard, then let’s at least stop pretending on here that we care about supporting authors and artists while vocally supporting book piracy. Because really, it’s the same in all arts, even if the symptoms are slightly different—take it from one who is both a published author and used to be a stage performer.

And to say it quite frankly: These “ideas” are probably held by the same people who were tearfully blabbering about the arts being what kept them going during the pandemic and then forgot about it all when lockdown was over. Or maybe they are the same people who think that art is a “jolly pastime”, and that everyone should just be content to “do it for the love of it and give their art away for free because awwwww, so amazing, here, buy food with my exposure bucks.” Go on then, write and consume fanfics and create fanart, problem solved. Just don’t ever ask for the pro art that inspires it again. Ah no, I forgot, it’s all made for money and soulless anyway, innit? Why oh why then do you want to consume and pirate it though?

You’re not progressive and/or supportive of artists. You just have no clue how making a living in the arts works and think your comfort (= “I have to have all the things even if I can’t afford them”) matters more than someone’s livelihood (namely that of the people who devoted their lives to creating that art for you), and it really shows.

I don’t care about anyone’s Google history and even said so several times on here when people asked (this is the latest one, and yes, I see the people who had a “reaction” to this one or the reblog above, but I bet that’s “coincidence”). Do whatever you want to do, it’s your choice, keep it to yourself. But stop pretending that piracy means “caring about the noble cause”, because repackaging entitlement as social activism is performative crap…

[pyrovverse]

THE DAMNED .

CW: Gore/death, CSA, animal abuse, general dark themes. Dead Dove.

Nina Ramirez was a bizarre girl. At 9 years old she witnessed her father, Hector Ramirez, be shot to death by Phoenix PD. She’s hated authority ever since. The sole inheritance that Hector left his daughter was a cruel exposure to death that began to feel nearly paternal for the young girl.

As she grew up, the vision of her dear old dad collapsing to the ground with his brains splattered on the floor followed her around like a rabid dog. It nipped and bit at her until she was nothing but scar. She lived her teenage years missing a layer of emotional skin and every small touch felt like catastrophe.

A gaping hole in her chest formed, and it had teeth that bit hard. These feral teeth would snap words of war at Ninas mother. The two never got along, they were far too similar for that. Nina was always a daddy’s girl.

She found refuge in internet sites such as MySpace and online forums, giving herself off to older men for any ounce of attention that she lacked at home. She was first introduced to the world of true crime through a forum discussing a young girl named Sally Williams in the 60s who was raped and murdered by her own uncle. It wasn’t long after which that she began falling into a morbid trap of manic obsession with all things dark.

Nina would skip class to smoke and webcam with strangers online, doing things such as watching people self-harm, hurt animals, and humiliate themselves on camera. Often she found herself researching different serial killers for hours on end. The lonely girl was consumed by the desire to be loved, wanted, needed. She spent her teenage years trying so desperately to feed that hole in her chest and never had anyone to guide her. Nina grew up to be an attention-seeker with very a questionable moral compass.

On April 7th, 2003, Nina joined a forum where people were discussing a possible new serial killer in Phoenix, Arizona. The city where she lived. For a moment, as she read through the official police report, Nina felt electricity shoot through her body. This was love. This was love.

Soon her time was dedicated to researching the strange man who had taken the life of a girl named Millie Houghton, and she was Ninas age. She must be his type. And being his type was all that mattered. Her mother would often argue with her about this dark fascination, but Nina was enveloped in the fantasy of being this killers one true love, his exception. She could pull him from the dark, and he could save her.

[tgmsunmontue]

Online & Anonymous 1/16

Hangster. Explicit. (2.5k chapter) Years before they meet in person Bradley and Jake strike up a friends-with-benefits relationship online. And then something more like an actual relationship.

A predominantly epistolary fic set in a world where papers were pulled and events of TGM will take place and DADT exists until it is repealed at the end of 2011.

The website they begin chatting on is called 'Jake', which was a site that existed back in the early 2000s. (It was too good an opportunity to miss).

Odd year = Bradely's POV and Even year = Jake's POV

>>Bradley chatting (bold and italics)

>>Jake chatting (italics)

Many thanks to @celandinebergerac, @phisworld14, @redfurrycat and @nevergettingoverit for being my sounding boards as I hashed this out.

2005 – Bradley

                Bradley refuses to be grateful about his years at college. Going the ROTC route has meant he’s likely had a wider exposure to certain elements than if he’d gone to USNA but he still doesn’t understand why Pete pulled his papers, or why Tom let him, but they’re his past now. He has a new family, his fellow classmates and the online message boards he found when he was exploring. He’s got them in his corner no matter where he goes in the world now, his own private little cheering squad. Of course he’s been lonely in the holidays, but he’s made do. Usually working to earn money to see him through the next semester.

                One thing he has saved and scrimped for is a laptop. A personal laptop that he can use to keep in touch with his friends he made online and at college. Yes he could of course use the communal computer labs, and he will need to do that to actually get closer to the WiFi signal, however he doesn’t have to use a communal machine, which makes him more comfortable considering what he often uses his machine for. He’s aware of what he says and does could be used against him, but he’s aware now that he could do something else with his life if he had to. Not that he wants to, but he will if he has to.

                And it’s all been worth it. He’s made it, he’s at flight school, is a commissioned officer in the US Navy and now he just needs to be the best. He knows he’s good, flight school is highly competitive and the fact that he’s here is enough of a confidence boost that he’s actually good enough, no matter what Pete or Tom think. That it didn’t take anyone’s name to get him here. He settles into the orientation session, listening intently, taking notes, and looking around at the rest of the class. He recognizes a few faces, but most are simply a haze, although he knows that will change soon enough. A break comes and the woman beside him turns to him.

                “Hi, Natasha Trace.”

                “Bradley Bradshaw, nice to meet you.”

                “Is that actually your name?”

                “Yep,” Bradley sighs, resigned to going through the whole thing with another group of people.

                “Ouch. My condolences.”

                Bradley laughs, pretty sure he’s going to like her.

2006 – Jake

                Jake stares at the name of the site and he’s pretty sure he could use Jake as his username, and no one would believe that it’s actually his name. And he’s not actually going to use his whole first name, he remembers a few details about staying safe online. He creates an account, his hands shaking a little because he’s not ever gone looking for anything like this before, not online. Not where he might get found out.

>>Okay, if that’s the year of your birth you need to change your username. That’s not a smart thing to put on here.

                Jake stares at the message, then at his username. It needed to be eight characters or less and something he’d remember. Of course he’d gone with his initials and the year he was born. Of course that maybe wasn’t the smartest thing in the world in hindsight, but he’s new to this. What this PeteF14 thinks he knows isn’t much, because he’s fucking using a first name and the name of a fighter jet. It couldn’t be more obvious. Well, maybe he’s just a fan of fighter jets?

>>What’s wrong with JAS1986?

>>And you’re using your first name, that’s not smart either.

>>Pete is definitely not my first name. It’s not even part of my name. I hate the name Pete.

>>Oh my god, why did I use the name Pete?

>>I don’t know, you tell me.

>>Just someone from my past I’d rather forget. How about you call me Nick instead? Actually.

>>PeteF14 has changed their username to NickNick

>>Again not your name huh?

>>Nope. But it is a family name somewhere in the line of my ancestors.

                Jake snorts, because that could be father, uncle, grandparents. Hell, it could even be part of a last name, which he guesses is actually pretty smart as names go, for it to be something so generic.

>>You need to make a new username though. There are some dodgy people online.

>>But not you right?

>>I can be plenty dodgy if the circumstances require it, but just doing my civic duty. Change your username kid.

                Fucking fine. He doesn’t want to be kept calling kid by strangers on the internet. This isn’t why he signed up to this account.

>>JAS1986 has changed their username to JASTexas

>>No! Don’t put where you’re from. Or where you live. Fucking hell. Is this your first time or something?

>>Yes, if you must know.

>>What would you suggest? Considering your name was something you apparently hated and is now NickNick, which is ridiculous by the way, double-barrel names like that sound stupid.

>>This isn’t why I signed up to this site. And Texas is a fucking huge state, and even if I did still live there, it’s not where I live now.

>>Sorry. How about TJASX, or 00Austin, JASUSA maybe?

>>You suck at coming up with usernames.

>> JASTexas has changed their username to 00JASTYX

>>Hmm. Yeah. Better.

>>So glad to have your approval.

>>I can’t tell if you’re being a dick, or if you actually want my approval. Because I do like that you listened to me. If that’s something you’re into.

>>I don’t know what I’m into. First time remember?

>>First time online right?

>>No. Not just online.

                He pushes the laptop away from himself, suddenly mortified that he’s admitted that to someone. Not that it matters, not that he just can’t outright lie about it, and he shouldn’t care so much, but… well. He does. He doesn’t like not knowing, not having that life experience. Not that he can just go out and get it, hence… this.

>>You ever slept with a guy?

>>Yep. I got the whole college experience under my belt.

>>I’m jealous. None of that where I went. And not really easy now either.

>>You ever had cybersex? I can tell you what to do to yourself. Might get you off.

                Jake’s pretty sure there isn’t any might about it, is already getting hard just thinking about it, just having this tenuous connection with someone, anyone, that might in fact be like him. Fuck. He has no idea if this Pete-hating Nick guy is even a guy, or how old he is, or even where he is in the world. It’s all sorts of freeing actually, this level of anonymity that despite the fact that Nick knows he considers Texas home and is born in 1986 there is nothing else about him that can be used to identify him.

>>No, but I am very open to new experiences. You want to tell me what to do huh?

>>No, I think this time I want to tell you what I want to do to you.

>>You can touch yourself however you like.

>>Trust me, you can just read. Multi-tasking takes a while to figure out.

                Jake snorts, but Nick probably, no, definitely, has more experience than Jake in all things sex-related and if all he has to do is read words on his screen then he can manage that. Although he’s going to practice, wants to be able to jerk off and type at the same time, get good at doing it one-handed. Wants to be able to reciprocate in the future.

>>Your first time, I’d kiss you, slowly and softly to start with, and I’d hold your body close, because I want to feel it against mine, solid and warm. I’d slip a hand between our bodies, run my fingers up the length of your cock, feel how warm it is, how heavy… 

>>God I love the feeling of a cock in my hand, knowing how much pleasure it can bring.

>>We’re still fully clothed, I want to enjoy undressing you. I’m not touching your cock to get you hard, more giving you a promise of what’s to come.

                Jake’s mouth is dry, his entire body tingles at the images and ideas this is creating. These words are meant for him, and him alone and he runs his fingers down his body in a ghosting imitation of what it might feel like to finally have someone else’s hands on him. This is exactly what he was looking for when he made the account, something real but also not too risky. A little risky though, but it’s not heading out to the nearest gay bar.

>>I’m pulling your shirt out of your pants, getting my hands onto your skin, just touching for a little before I go back and undo the buttons and push your shirt off your shoulders.

                Jake groans, part of him impressed that his guy has somehow picked exactly what kind of shirt Jake is wearing, and he pulls it off, along with his singlet top, lets his hand stroke over his skin and is a little surprised at the responding shiver his body makes. He likes this even more than he thought he would. He shoves off his pants, not wanting to wait until Nick tells him he’s taking them off.

>>You’re enjoying it, enjoying my hands on you, warm fingers just tracing over your skin, making you feel desirable. I’m still kissing you, still pretty softly, I don’t want to spook you, not this first time. I run my hand down your body again and I find your cock. It’s gotten harder, pressing against the front of your pants and I can feel how thick you are. I want a closer look. A taste.

>>I kiss down your neck, along your jaw, suck at your nipples a little until I’m on my knees in front of you.

                Jake groans, imagines some guy wanting to do this with him, to him, for him. He reaches for his lube, glad he doesn’t have to try and type, squeezes a little out, he doesn’t like it too slick, grips his cock and strokes, tries to imagine what a hot mouth would feel like sucking him down.

>>I know it will be warm, I’ll inhale through my nose, learning what you smell like. I’ll exhale through my mouth, pressing it to your cock so you feel the warmth of my breath through your pants around your most sensitive skin.

>>I undo the button of your pants, carefully lower the zipper, and then pull them down, tugging your underwear down carefully as well. Then I can finally taste, get my tongue on you, let my fingers dig into the muscles of your thighs and bring you closer to me.

>>I am not in any type of rush, I love giving blowjobs, gets me off, having a guy trust me this much. Just let my face rest there and breathe for a few seconds before I lick up your length, one of my hands coming to fondle your balls. Some guys love having their balls sucked, I wonder whether you will?

                Jake bites his lip, his hand stroking harder and faster, wonders when he’ll get to find out, god he wants to find out. If this is how good the written word is he really wants to find someone he can try these things with in-person. He might have to wait a couple of years still, but fuck it’ll be worth it. God it better be worth it.

>>I lick at the head of your cock, place a light kiss and then I lick and purse my lips, making a warm slippery heat for you to press into and then I suck you into my mouth and all you can feel is sudden tight heat around your cock. I’ve moved my hand to the bottom of the shaft, stroking you there but I’m sucking the head and top half of your cock with the sole intent that I want you to come in my mouth.

                Jake whines, his hips jerking as he imagines coming in someone’s mouth, having someone wanting him to come in their mouth. For it to be sexy rather than dirty or forbidden. That idea, that he will one day get to be sexy, that he will have someone that is his, that wants to be with him, is what has him coming, his breath coming in rough pants, loud in the quiet of his room, all the tenseness in his muscles suddenly turning into hot liquid as he comes and he groans.

>>I reach for one of your hands, get you to run your hand through my hair, encourage you to pull a little as I suck you harder and faster. I want to make you noisy, want to hear your pleasure when you come. Want you to come.

                Jake quickly wipes himself clean, the tissues by his head there pretty much there solely for this purpose and he wants to go and wash his hands before typing but he types one thing before sprinting to the little bathroom and washing his hands as quickly as possible before running back to his bed and laptop.

>>Wow.

>>Mmm. I’ll take that as a compliment.

>>I hope that was an okay first time.

>>You know where to find me if you want to.

                Jake shivers, re-reads the words, because first time implies there will be more and he can only imagine the things he might get to share.

>>Thanks.

>>That was really something.

>>Was good. Amazing.

>>I enjoyed it.

>>A lot.

                Oh god, he’s babbling through the internet and the guy is probably laughing at him.

>>Good. I’m glad. Can’t vouch for your first time in real life, but at least you can always hit me up if you find the real thing lacking.

>>Actually the real thing can take some practice and experience to get right, so don’t just go with the first guy who shows interest okay? Learn from my mistakes at least.

>>Your first time wasn’t good?

>>Nope. Got better of course. Eventually. But I had years at college to figure things out. Now I’m not at college, but I’m still figuring things out. Young yet though. Got time. Not as young as you though.

>>Haha. I’m legal.

>>Yeah well, I’ll have to take your word for that.

                He signs off, feeling a little awkward and he wonders how awkward it would be if it was face-to-face. Yeah, he’s really not ready for that yet.

                The awkwardness fades though, and he chats with Nick almost weekly. They definitely get better at the sex talk, and Jake becomes adept at one-handed typing. They also talk about other stuff, and Jake can feel like he can ask him anything, be open with his worries about his career, without going into detail about what that career is exactly. Nick is non-judgemental, answers all his sex questions and when he goes looking to verify some of the answers he finds that the information he’s getting is solid. Correct. It makes him trust him. Probably more than is wise, but he doesn’t share any further information that could identify him. The risks are too high and Nick hasn’t offered up anything either.

                Then Nick says he’s going to be online less regularly, maybe not online at all, potentially for five to seven months and Jake is surprised at how disappointed he feels. Somehow, with the sex and the talking and the fact that he’s been able to be so open with Nick about being gay makes Nick feel like his best friend. He has other friends, but none of them know he’s gay. He’s far too scared to tell them.

                Maybe one day.

2007 - Bradley - Chapter 2

[apileofashandember]

Writing Prompt - DP x DC

Okay I mentioned this a while back ago in the end notes of one of my ao3 fics, and felt like why not put it here too:

idk if it’s been done before… but I got the most obscure idea for a DP x DC crossover… I’ve seen a few where Damian and Danny were twins, but what if Danny and Tim were twins, and the Drakes wanted an heir so badly they paid the Fentons for one of them, which is where the Fentons got funding from. And then years later, Tim befriends Sam at a gala, and Jazz and Danny find the birth certificate.

additional details:

danny and tim are online freinds on a forum site and have no clue

tim is most definitely a bit liminal from ectoplasm exposure in the womb but has it had chalked up to standard Gotham weirdness

tim gets mistaken as the ghost king danny by a bunch of other ghosts. Additionally, they don't look identical as kids, but the older they get, the more similar they look.

They are equally chaotic and tim convinces danny to dress as Red Robin as payback and no one realizes it

The Fentons met the Drakes through Vlad

Personally don't plan on writing this anytime soon, but if someone else wants to take a shot, please do and tag me!

[drdemonprince]

How do we undo the adverse effects of social media on our brains/culture/capacity to organize? As someone who's been online since the age of ten and in the trenches of online "social justice activism" for a decade and change, I feel like there's been little net benefit to any of it, and that the mechanisms of these terrible sites has mostly just made us more hostile and reactive without bringing us closer to the ostensible goals we're duking it out over. Like, I'm not saying that nobody online deserves to be called out ever, but after ten years of this shit I'm just not sure how funneling a majority of our energy toward reaming bigoted strangers in the name of "accountability" translates into meaningful collective action, and that's without touching the circular firing squad phenomenon I see in a lot of leftist spaces.

I dunno. I just don't feel like getting in fights online all the time is activism, and I also feel like I'm in a minority among leftists for holding that opinion.

Well, most of the leftists online don't hold that opinion. But if you go to a DSA meeting or a Food Not Bombs or a local mutual aid group or any kind of on the ground queer lefty events you'll very much find many people who are doing the work and are mostly not online and don't think that online nonsense is all that important.

As for your first question, the way we fix this kind of mentality is by getting offline (and off platforms that incentivize that kind of thinking) and start relating to people in a slower, more personalized way.

The brain is not ruined forever by exposure to this shit, humans are just very very pliable. Who we are and how we think is dramatically shaped by our daily habits and the incentive structures around us. If we wish to change how we think and behave, we leave the structures that are rewarding us for behaving in counter productive ways. We can adapt to other modes of being quite quickly when our environment changes.

This does not have to happen exclusively in person, I understand people are disabled and COVID conscious and some can't leave the house. There are a lot of groups devoted to this stuff that meet partially or exclusively online -- look up a local chapter of some of these orgs and see what their virtual meetings are like. Even like Meetup and Eventbrite have a startling ton of online meetings and events listed for marginalized groups and organizers.

so much of this annoying focus-pulling shit that can distract you and enrage you online fully does not matter. the people engaging in it are categorically not the people doing the work in person. so go find the kind of in person work that is genuinely meaningful to you -- or find ways to connect in a slow, personalized fashion online, away from the social media apps. once you start digging you'll be shocked at how much there is!!!

[sunbentshadows]

Honestly the age of fake-free technology services is ending. Sites and apps have sold all your data, tracked your every move for a literal decade and a half, and they still don't make enough money to stay afloat. Think about that: Almost every site (tumblr and a few others as notable exceptions here) has spent the past decade scraping every part of your identity to sell it to the highest bidder. Emails. Purchases. Search history. Clicks, website visits, who you have seen, what wi-fi networks you walked by, that you stayed out late last Thursday and what bookstore you stopped by. All to slice you into convenient advertising segments.

And it's still not enough. Your data, those supposedly-secret pieces of your supposedly-private life - that time you bought flowers for your mom, the time you looked up that health thing, hell, even the fucking phone number you used for multi-factor authentication - went up to sale for pennies.

Sent to dubious ad-companies to scrape whatever profit they could.

And it didn't even matter.

There is no online space that doesn't require money. Actual money, not fake ad views-money. Independent forums and Mastodon/Fediverse instances and reddit lookalikes are all put up by people's own money and volunteer time. AO3 and Wikipedia use volunteers and donation drives.

Because it isn't free. It never has been.

If you want something to exist, to continue to exist online, the only way to ensure it will stay is to give it money. Actual money. Exposure and ads just do not work, and have never worked. They sold every bit of your information to try to make it work, spent billions of dollars to bleed the internet dry, and it still hasn't.

Yes, this is a post about tumblr woes. This is also a post about Web 2.0 dying. And also a plea to literally anyone who can afford it:

Pay for sites you use. If you do not, they will not exist. You are on a sinking ship.

[genderqueerdykes]

Do you have any tips or resources for someone who wants to get into drag?

hello there!

this is a good question! i don't have any websites or anything like that handy, but i'll make sure to include things as i find them!

my biggest piece of advice is to observe what other drag artists are doing. there's not a rulebook or anything like that, a lot of artists go in a lot of different directions with their looks! i think it's best to try to get some exposure to the community on a large scale when and where possible and to just see what others are doing

you can think about any potential themes you'd like to incorporate, like bimbo, doll, lolita, ballroom, camp, alternative, gothic, nonhuman, or time period specific looks! there are lots of styles for all types of drag artists, there are lots of drag kings out there as well and the inspirations and themes for outfits can vary wildly!

it's good to think about what you think drag is for you, too. what is your statement? what are you telling the world when you dress in drag? what are you parodying? what is it a satire of? what are you making fun of? what are you expressing? is it self love? is it showing the world this is who you are inside? is it commentary on how society views you? is it how you can have fun and look pretty at the same time? is it about breaking down binaries? having to over-perform womanhood, manhood, or nonbinaryhood? feeling like a caricature? and so on and so forth

once you have an idea of what you are expressing when you do drag, it can give you some more inspiration on looks. you are never locked into one look, having one name, being one type of performer. you can switch between being a drag queen, king, artist, and thing! there's nothing stopping you from having multiple drag personas, or not having one at all. you don't have to have a name or a specific persona if that doesn't suit you

if you want to have a specific persona, a lot of folks like to make their name or title some type of pun. i'm autistic and suck at cultural references, so i'm not great at lending a hand on this one! but some folks are able to come up with some hilarious names. humor is a huge part of drag so please don't feel like you can't be funny. drag can leave you crying laughing- some performers love to do comedy in drag and it rips!

you can also be serious, sexy, mysterious, playful, animalistic, nonhuman, alien, or childlike. it's totally up to you, there's no hard set rules, it's a very play it by ear kind of thing. above all else it is an artform, meaning it is highly up to interpretation. you don't have to necessarily layer your face up in makeup if that doesn't suit you. if you can find other ways to express yourself and have fun with gender and presentation that don't involve that, show people!

many performers also include cultural aspects of their ethnicity into their drag as well! i live in a highly diverse area with a lot of latine and indigenous performers and i have met a lot of local navajo queens who have incorporated fashion from their culture into their looks as well! drag's foundation is in black & latine ballroom culture, people of color have always had a massive hand in being the pioneers of drag, so don't be afraid to incorporate those themes into your performances and outfits if it feels comfortable to you

clothes and wigs can be thrifted depending on the area you live in, and your sizes. i have found great success (i.e. all of my outfits except my vests!) from thrift stores. it can take some looking but it is worth it. however, i do understand some folks struggle to find cute clothes for drag because their local area does not have great thrift stores. it is okay to do what you have to to find cheap clothes, if you do not have access to thrift stores that have a lot of variety, you can always look for consignment shops and other types of boutiques of that variety, and i do believe there are lots of drag closets online, as well as any other sites that you personally find clothes from that suits the aesthetic you're going for! you can find clothes for drag anywhere if you develop an eye for it

i would highly suggest browsing youtube for wig styling and makeup tutorials! i just kind of view my face as a canvas and paint on whatever i think would look cool, but for some of my looks i am learning how to play with light and shadow, so i highly recommend just browsing for tutorials for people who match your skin and hair type! i would highly recommend making sure you are specifying what type of hair you are working with when searching for tutorials

you can start playlists of songs to perform to if music is your thing, and you can also look up choreography for songs on youtube as well for ideas, if music will be involved in your performing. it's definitely not necessary though, and many folks dress up and spend time in drag to socialize, not to sing and dance, which is totally fine as well! comedy, book readings and cooking tutorials are just a few other things that folks like to do while in drag! you can do a lot or nothing at all it's really up to you

i hope this helps! if we come up with anything else, we'll add it! you can also ask any more specific questions you'd like! we hope this was a good place to start off from!

[meatcatt]

Hello!! I found some of your art on Pinterest so I went searching and I found your twitter which led me here! I reallllyyyy love your art!! It's so cute. Especially how you draw Shamura- They're just a little bean!!

I also adore your Redo AU! Especially how Narinder is getting babied by his siblings haha. Makes me wonder their reaction would be to Lambert (Who I feel so bad for. They did not deserve this, the poor bby)

First off I want to say thank you for liking my art work, it means the world to me that though I have left the cult of the lamb fandom behind (mostly) that my blog and the art I’ve made can still be enjoyed by fans new and old. Redo au is my baby, and I’m glad so many people enjoy it despite its lack luster writing haha…

I have struggled to answer this ask because I want to make it clear you aren’t the problem. But I also desperately need people to know.

The reason I left the cult of the lamb fandom, and for awhile tumblr as a whole, was because my art work was constantly being stolen and re uploaded despite my wishes. Even with credit. And the main culprit was Pinterest (though YouTube and Reddit didn’t help).

I want to say again that this person, or anyone who found me through Pinterest, is absolutely not the issue. I also understand that part of having popular art in fandom is that it’s inevitably going to get stolen. I understand that. But it’s just. It hurts. Every time.

I cannot describe to you the mood killer it is to scroll looking for fandom stuff and see your own art work flashed at you. No credit and sometimes your watermark purposely removed. And the fact that it’s plastered on every page I have “please don’t repost my artwork even with credit” it feels like even more a punch to the gut. Because of those I considered even credited work stolen, because it deliberately goes against my wishes.

I know some people say “it doesn’t matter because you’re getting free exposure”. And they are right. This asker is exact proof of that. But! I post art work online for likes, comments, and reblogs. I know that might seem shallow but it’s true. I want to see people like my art, I want to see what people think about it. If I don’t I just keep it to myself or just show my friends which happens to be the majority of my work. Most of my stuff has never been posted publicly anywhere! And those likes and comments drive me, they make me want to create because people like my stuff! It makes me happy. And I can’t get that if someone steals it and takes it off site.

I left tumblr for a bit after discovering my entire tumblr had essentially been re-uploaded to Pinterest by a single user (most of the time it’s only a few of my most popular posts taken). Credit removed. I doom scrolled it for hours. I had to stop when I saw someone commented on my artwork saying “I love this art but who’s the artist, I can’t seem to find them anywhere?” I don’t know. It hurt.

I joined in stars and time fandom hesitantly, and after scrolling on YouTube got recommended a video that had my art work stolen in it. Not credit. And I’m heart broken. Maybe this shouldn’t hurt me so much. But it does.

[leatherpupcolt]

Inseparable: A tale of two Boots

Inseparable like brothers. That's what they always said they were, always by each others side since they were kids. Now here they were as adults, John at 27 and Wyatt at 22, constantly out drinking and partying and being an overall nuisance. John and I had been roommates for a little over a year and while he and I normally get along well, Wyatt brings out the worst in him.

It was when Wyatt found out I was gay when it started getting worse and worse. You see, he's from a small farm town of about 200 so he never really got much exposure to diversity. So for him I was everything he was taught to hate and despise, and he slowly convinced John of it as well.

However, I had enough one day when Wyatt had vandalized my truck and John had broken into and trashed my room, that's when I started to formulate my plan.

You see, these two completely insufferable idiots would never question free beer in the fridge. And so, with a little help from a friend I had made online, I added some extra kick to the beer for a special effect. After they finished the 6-pack, they began to feel its effects, their bodies began to shrink and compact, twisting and turning while their skin darkened into browns and blacks and their clothes deciding the coloring of the shafts of their new boot bodies.

After what must've felt like hours to them I had a fresh new pair of boots, nice tan leather with a blue shaft with a beautiful design on em, on the bottom if you looked close enough you could see their faces trapped in a look of shock, John on the left boot and Wyatt on the right. After years of walking over me, it was only fair I walked on them, and I do a lot of walking in my job at the construction site.

Thank yall for reading my first ever TF story, and a huge shout out to @inanimatetffantasies for being a very comfortable pair of boots aswell as a great inspiration