#also they technically aren’t banning it yet

[aizenat]

Anyway, glad our government got something right and is working to ban tik tok.

[cassandracain52]

Reverse trope

where instead of the Bats forgetting that they’re adopted (something actual adoptees do on occasion and is hilarious) they forget that some of them *cough Damian cough* aren’t

_______

Jason in the heat of a probably ridiculous argument: Yeah well YOU’RE adopted!

Tim just as invested in said argument: So are YOU! We all are!

Damian who had previously been quietly watching this unfold while he drank his tea: Actually I’m not

Tim and Jason who didn’t realize he was there but are already DoneTM: …… Damian continuing to sip his tea entirely unbothered: :)

Damian: Because I’m not an orphan-

Jason: ok, yoU KNOW WHAT-

____

or like in their group texts (that we know they have thanks to Nightwing (2016) #79)

*Steph changed the group chat name to “Bruce Wayne’s Personal Orpanage”*

Jason: Really?

Steph: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Steph: It’s the truth Damian: Both my parents are very much alive

Steph: Shhh you don’t count

Cass: Mine too Duke: Technically so are mine

Barbara: I still have a dad so there’s that

Steph: YOU GUYS ARE RUINING THE JOKE

Tim: Stephanie aren’t BOTH of your parents alive???

Steph: KNOW WHAT? FINE

*Steph changed the group chat name to “The Technicality Police”*

Tim: well that’s more accurate at least

Steph: :)

_____

Damian in his 10th argument with Tim of the day: That’s- this is-

Tim in full Antagonizing Big Brother mode: I’m listening

Damian -a Gen Z and best friend to Jon Kent- extremely frustrated: This is such Motherless behavior!

Tim taken aback: [voice cracking] W-what-?

Damian who didn’t mean to say that but doubling down anyway because his bloodline doesn’t believe in admitting mistakes: THIS! This is such Motherless behavior!

The rest of the family who is also motherless: :O

Cass whose been spending way too much time with Meme Queen Stephanie Brown and not involved in the argument but finding it entertaining regardless: [nodding along seriously] Facts

Tim: [visibly betrayed] CASS WHAT-

A video copy of the interaction gets sent out anonymously to the entire family. Barbara is the prime suspect but there is no proof as of yet (and they will never find any)

Steph, Cass, and Duke continue to respond “Motherless behavior” everytime one of the bats does something they deem questionable/insane. It is said often

It only stops when one night in the middle of patrol. Batman is in full Dark Knight mode (possibly in the middle of threatening someone) and descends from the ceiling into the middle of a warehouse drug deal, dark cape billowing out behind him-

and Steph just automatically whispers “Motherless behavior” forgetting her com was still very much on

She immediately realizes what she said and frantically apologizes but it’s too late.

Bruce just- Blue Screens. Completely stunned into silence

Dick -who was unfortunate enough to be the one teamed up with Batman tonight- is fighting for his life to choke back his laughter

Jason doesn’t even try to stop his and has collapsed to his knees from lack of air from how hard he’s laughing. Cass try’s half heartedly patting his back to help to no avail

The criminals are terrified into surrender from The Red Hood just laughing hysterically at seemingly nothing while Batman just Stands There

Damian ends up being the only one still functioning enough to continue arresting everyone, though he is privately amused and strangely proud

Tim and Barbara have saved both the com recordings and cowl footage to at least three different servers and sent it to absolutely everyone before Batman even recovers

Duke finds out second hand the next morning and is furious he missed the chance to see it in person. He declares he is moving to the nightshift so it doesn’t happen again. (He is all talk and goes to bed by 9 pm)

Bruce bans the phrase for life and promises swift and server punishment to anyone who dares to use it again

[collapsedsquid]

In its simplest and most elemental form, check kiting is the simple practice of stealing money or valuable goods by paying for them with a check that you know (or ought to know) will be rejected because there aren’t sufficient funds in the bank account to honor it. In this form it is known to the specialists as “paper hanging,” and it’s often a crime of desperation or one carried out with stolen checkbooks rather than a calculated commercial decision—there are obvious disadvantages to a method of stealing that requires you to give the victim your name and address. It is possible to make paper hanging into both a systematic fraud and a lifestyle, as Frank Abagnale did (and wrote about in his autobiography, Catch Me If You Can, later made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio). Abagnale got over the main drawback by adopting a nomadic lifestyle and impersonating an airline pilot, something that also allowed him to travel for free, to date flight attendants during the high period of Pan Am recruitment sexism, and to have a plausible excuse for needing to cash checks all the time and not having a permanent local address. But as a commercial fraud carried out by businesspeople, check kiting is a little bit more sophisticated and takes advantage of a peculiarity of the American banking system. [...] The important technical detail here is that because paper checks are particularly common in America, and because the check-clearing cycle is so long, American banks have—unusually in a global context—historically been very generous when it comes to allowing their business customers to make payments out of “uncleared funds,” that is to say checks that have been deposited into their account but that have not yet been endorsed by the bank that they are drawn on. Effectively, when you deposit a check, you get access to a short-term interest-free loan, lasting for the duration of the check-clearing cycle. This raises the possibility of a form of fraud that is the equivalent of NFL football and pumpkin pie—something that Europeans would no doubt enjoy greatly if they tried it, but that is so deeply embedded into the overall American way of doing things that it doesn’t really travel.

What you do (in the simplest form) is that you open accounts in two banks. Call them Bank A (from which you get a checkbook with pictures of trees in it) and Bank B (which gives you a checkbook full of pictures of sports cars). Pretend for the time being that you put a token hundred bucks into each account. But now you write a check for $500,000 from your “trees” checkbook and deposit it in your Bank B account. That check is going to bounce, for certain. Except… it will only bounce when the check gets presented, and in the meantime, thinking that you have $500,000 in the bank, Bank B will not mind if you write a sports-car check and deposit it in Bank A. If Bank A sees the sports-car check, they will not mind honoring the trees check for the time being, while they are waiting for the sports-car check to clear. If they honor that check, then you can write another check to Bank B, and so on…

Of course, this looks like a bit of a closed system—you can make the checks going back and forth look as big as you like, but if you ever take the money out in cash or spend it on something, the checks will actually bounce and turn you into just another paper hanger. But creating the illusion of having two bank accounts with half a million dollars in each can be profitable in itself because as well as allowing customers to make payments out of uncleared funds, American banks used to be quite generous about paying interest on deposits as soon as they were made. In the heyday of check kiting in the early 1980s when interest rates were in the midteens and bank computer systems in their infancy, you could have earned quite a lot out of the simple kiting scheme described above, unless someone happened to notice. And although even a dull bank clerk might spot a kite based on two banks and checks going back and forth every few days, if you bring more banks into the scheme (“chaining”) and intermingle the kite with the ordinary back-and-forth cash flow of a large operating business, it becomes very difficult to detect.

Interest rates are back baby, guess it is time to bring back kiting

[tea-and-secrets]

I’ve got some tea for you mates! (Also like half vent lol)

There’s a girl at work who was stalking me! She’s been barred from working the previous events we have that I work due to having restraining orders on her from some of the performers but this event there aren’t any of those performers and she was following me around work and has tried to follow me out into the parking lot but I’ve managed to avoid that by making up excuses to not leave work yet like waiting for a friend or oops! Forgot something! So she hasn’t seen my car as far as I know. I’ve reported her behavior to my managers and they are doing everything in their power to keep her away from me and even spoke to her. There was a situation where we were both assigned to the same task but I got another co-worker to assist with it so I’m not alone with her and since then it’s been fine.

Part of me feels like I’m overreacting and overthinking but following and staring at me with a past like that plus the fact she’s banned from my jobs competitors for assaulting a employee after a laundry list of other creepy behavior tells me I’d rather not take that chance and would rather start shit at work then risk being followed home lmao

I also feel bad cause it’s clearly some kind of mental thing cause no sane person would do these things and think it’s okay, seems she has many other reports about her at work to the point most of us avoid her and wonder how she’s still employed but sadly our managers don’t have the power to fire her and she technically “hasn’t done anything” yet so the people with the power to fire her aren’t doing it likely until someone gets hurt

.

[stardust-sunset]

sheila rant under the cut (also, this kinda has some talk about judaism so if any of what i say is wrong or misguided please let me know. the last thing i wanna do is accidentally be saying something that’s incorrect/bad, so if you could just let me know in the notes, i’ll delete/fix it)

so!

i’ve honestly been rewatching sheila/kyle/broflovski centric episodes (because my blog has basically become a broflovski blog at this point) and yes, this is yet another rant about how horribly the fandom portrays her.

In the fandom, Sheila is portrayed as abusive. Manipulative. A horrible parent. Someone Kyle lives in fear of when in reality, she’s none of those things!

At the beginning of the show, she was mainly portrayed as the “Karen™” of the show. She’s always trying to get certain things shut down (i.e. Terrence and Phillip, A Nativuty Scene, Toilet Humor…) but was she doing it out of personal spite? No! She was doing it to (in her own way) protect her son. Because she didn’t want him to be exposed to things that may have altered the way he perceived reality. And honestly? My parents did the same thing, albeit not to that extreme. Me and my brothers had strict rules on what we couldn’t watch. Like we couldn’t watch Spongebob, Disney Channel, Total Drama, stuff like that. We werent allowed to watch anime unless our parents did extensive research to make sure it wasn’t inappropriate, and honestly? For me personally, looking back at it, I liked it like that. Like the only shows we were allowed to watch taught good morals and were usually educational. It really set me up as a kid to not be a mouthy twat to my parents and it did help me learn. So I can see where Sheila is coming from. (This is for her trying to ban her kids from seeing Terrence and Phillip)

But as for Mr. Hankey? The only thing she wanted to do was have a play that wasn’t a nativity. The rest of the shit in that episode (banning christmas lights, having a school play starring chef, even kyle being put in an insane asylum) was really the town blowing what she wanted out of proportion. Like she technically didn’t even do anything wrong in that instance. She was just tying to get the town to be more inclusive when it came to winter holidays

Even in the trolling episodes (well, season, more like) her main priority was protecting her family. The reason she grounded Ike, the reason she went nuts, the reason she did all that was to protect her family. She was actually really nice to Gerald in Weiner’s Out (at least in the beginning, haven’t finished this ep yet) she bought him a new iPad! She was telling him how nice it was he was actually able to come to bed with her! If anything, Gerald is the one who blows ass.

Also, just thought I would mention this, but I’ve seen SO many fanfics with a self insert/OC who is shipped with Kyle (nothing wrong with that! You do you, I’m not saying you’re not allowed to do that) and is also someone of a different religion, though I’ve mainly seen the character who’s being shipped with Kyle as a Christian/Catholic. (I haven’t seen any other religions, so I’m rolling with those). This isn’t a problem, interfaith relationships are perfectly fine. But what isn’t fine is when the writer like-makes sheila ban kyle from going out with/is an asshole to that person just because they aren’t Jewish. I feel like Sheila wouldn’t really care about that, as long as the person made her kid happy. Like, (correct me if I’m wrong) but based off the research I’ve done, I dunno if this id in only a general sect of Judaism or Judaism as a whole (I believe it’s just Orthodox but I dunno) but i’ve read that if the mother isn’t Jewish, then the child technically isn’t considered Jewish? I could be wrong, I’ve only done research and such to try and make this as accurate as possible. And I suppose you could back it up with “Oh Sheila just doesn’t want her family name to end with Kyle/Ike!” but like…she wouldn’t ban Kyle from dating a person of a different religion, be it Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist…I dunno, this one just really bothers me, because she would be the furthest thing from an asshole. She would probably ask a lot of questions but she wouldn’t be like “Kyle you’re banned from seeing Y/N because she’s a Muslim!” like I dunno. It really fuckin’ bothers me.

Also when people make Sheila out to be some abusive nut who Kyle fears, y’all just gotta remember he’s eight. (Nine/ten now) At that age, one of the biggest fears of a child is making their parents disappointed/angry. No child seeks out making a parent angry, so when people use the justification of “oh kyle is constantly apologizes to his mom!’ like ok, is he NOT supposed to apologize to his mom? Also, if Kyle hated his mom/fears her so much, why does he defend her from Cartman? Why does he get so mad when Cartman calls her a bitch? Why would he defend someone he hates? Especially if it’s his own parent. Honestly, I can see him beefing with Gerald moreso than Sheila.

Bottom line is, stop making Sheila out to be the bad guy. This doesn’t happen to any of the other parents EXCEPT Sheila and it’s so infuriating. She’s a mama bear. She wants to make sure her family is safe, and sometimes makes the wrong choices, but they’re for the right reasons. She is flawed, as are all the parents. Everyone in the show is flawed, and Sheila is no exception. But you all make her out to be some monster who deserves to die like if you GENUINELY think Sheila is a bad person/bad character, just block me. I don’t fuck with that

[insaneillusionist]

Hello, darlings! I finally finished that fic! For anyone who doesn’t know, here’s the post this was inspired by!

Basically, Kiki wants to get rid of King, but accidentally gets him a permanent stay.

Thank you so much to @stormy-space-jellyfish for beta reading!

Tag list: @gayfrogcoven​

(Side note: Extremely tired and have no idea how to format anything. Sorry. There might be forgotten notes in there, just let me know where they are.)

Congratulations! It’s A Titan!

Kikimora was hiding behind the pipes. No, hiding wasn’t the proper word. She was allowed to be there, technically. Belos didn’t dismiss her. It was implied, but unspoken, so she wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Besides, she was helping. Even if eavesdropping was impolite, she was doing this for the greater good. For Belos’s good. 

By watching their conversations she could gather information on what the emperor was doing. She could make sure that The Collector wasn’t planning on betraying him. She could find further information to aid Belos. She might even nab a promotion in the process. 

The lump in her hair moved, and she tightened her grip on it. She was supposed to be watching the creature. Never mind that she didn’t like it. Never mind that she hated having to hold it, which was why it was in her hair where it couldn’t get in the way. It was small with grubby paws, and was quite the chaos-maker, even when it wasn’t doing anything. Its only redeeming quality was that it was quiet, although that was bound to change with all the scouts who were trying to teach it words.

The creature had been found with a runaway scout. Scouts running away was uncommon, but wasn’t entirely unexpected. Finding others while running away also wasn’t new.

However, scouts actually taking in someone taken by a runaway was new.

A good deal of the scouts had a penchant for cute things, and the creature wasn’t an exception. The creature in question was around a fourth of her height, had a skull as its head, black fur, and two horns. 

It wasn’t hideous, but she personally couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. It was just a creature. But no. The scouts would battle over who got to hold it. Over who would name it what. They would set fires around the castle and break things because of it. They would toss it around and yell at each other for throwing it. They would look up names and species and try to buy it toys and teach it new words. The scouts would get into fights about what it was. 

As far as she was concerned, it was a nuisance. But the scouts would get annoyed at her for referring to it as such, or as ‘Creature’. She failed to see the problem. The scouts couldn’t classify it as anything and it wouldn’t stick around for long, so the fights would stop soon.

The creature had only been here for two and a half weeks, and it had already caused more fires than there had been in the past three months. That wasn’t taking into account property damage, flooding, witches duels, wasted time, and injuries. The ache in her right temple had been there for a week. She prayed to the Titan that Belos would finally take action and ban the creature from the premises. She couldn’t wait for it to get out of her hair, both literally and figuratively.

She wasn’t supposed to be thinking about this. She was supposed to be paying attention to the conversation. She tuned back into the conversation, hanging onto the fake blond’s every word.

“I do know what I’m doing,” Belos argued, fists clenched at his sides. “I’m not an idiot. I came up with quite a bit of this plan, if you recall.”

“And I taught you how to do the plan . And you still aren’t done yet. You will free me, right? We pinky swore!” The Collector’s high, whiny voice bounced around the room, creating strange sounding echoes. “You’re going to free me and then we’re going to play some games! Right?” The Collector drifted around the room, changing shape and eventually taking the form of a pipe close to Kiki, somehow looking like he was casually leaning against it. 

Kikimora shrunk back as much as she could, hoping to avoid detection. Her eyes trained on The Collector, praying that they wouldn’t see her. She had never liked him, and for good reason. They were very annoying, always talking about games and moving constantly, making shapes as if they were playing charades, but decided that rules didn’t apply to them, and spoke while doing it. She found his movements to be slightly disturbing, as while they were fluid, they seemed to be chaotic and bursting with the energy of a child. 

Kikimora had never liked children. They were so annoying and would always comment on her height for some reason. She was sure The Collector was toying with her, or at least knew she was there. They seemed like he knew, and was going to use that information to benefit themself. That was one of the many reasons she liked eavesdropping by doors instead. She could hear when people were about to leave and could avoid being caught, unlike here, where she could be easily found.

Unfortunately, the scouts would storm her the minute she left with the creature. She couldn’t believe that their interest could be captured so easily. Instead of serving the emperor and shaping the Isles how he saw fit, they were tending to some furry creature who wouldn’t even stick around!

“Of course, Collector. We made a deal, after all.” Belos said, sincerely, as if he was dealing with a coven head instead of some petulant toddler.

“You better not be fibbing.” The Collector glared as hard as they could.

Kiki’s hair started squirming. She clamped the hand holding the creature down, hoping that it would get the message. She wasn’t doing anything wrong or treacherous, absolutely not, but Belos might still take her head off for it. The furry menace stopped squirming, and Kikimora let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. 

Abruptly, she was yanked backwards, and fell hard on her back. The hand holding the creature loosened, and it quickly scampered to a corner away from the three. 

Kiki looked up and gulped as Belos snapped towards her and whipped out his staff. 

“My lord, I mean you no har-” She was interrupted as one of Belos’s flesh hands materialized dangerously close to her neck.

Belos’ voice came out cold and calculated. “It isn’t polite to spy, Kikimora. Do you know who spies? Traitors. So I will ask you once, because I am merciful. What were you doing?”

Kiki’s eyes grew wide with fear. “I-I was j-just trying to guarantee your safety - not that you need it, you’re plenty powerful of course, more powerful than someone such as I, an-” She was mercifully cut off by the Collector, saving her from digging herself into a deeper grave.

“Wha- hey, no, get back here!” A dark gray blur rushed past Kiki and the Collector followed.

Belos snapped his head back to stare at the furball before thrusting out his staff towards it. A crimson glow enveloped it and dragged it over to Belos. 

“How curious.” Belos stared at it intently, forgetting Kikimora in light of this new specimen. The creature tried to shrink back, but it had nowhere to go. It was cornered. 

Kikimora knew the feeling.

After a moment, Belos released the hold he had on it and it fell to the floor. The Collector then swooped in and surrounded King.

“Hey! You’re a Titan! I’ve been wondering where you went. Well, now you’re here! We should play!” Their face shifted into something that looked cheerful and warm. The crea- Titan shook in place, utterly terrified of the shapeshifting entity.

Wait. The creature was a Titan. Oh, it couldn’t leave now. Wait. She just carried a Titan around in her hair and called it a furball. She let the scouts toss it around and shove it into little onesies! Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no-

While Kikimora was having a crisis, the Collector was confused. “Hmm. Oh, I know!” He gave himself horns to look like a Titan and shrank down his size a little. “See! I’m like you! I’m a friend! Now how about we play some Titan games!” The Titan remained silent. The Collector shifted back to their default form and tried to poke the Titan. It scrambled back, bumping into Kikimora and climbing up to her head.

The Collector stared at her and she shivered. “He doesn’t talk much, does he? La-ame.”

Belos moved closer to her, and the Titan tried to shrink back into her hair. Belos seemed displeased.

“Well this is an interesting development. The Titan’s spawn has grown an attachment to you.”

Kiki didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“My lord, if I may be so bold as to ask, why hasn’t he been raised in the castle this whole time? Surely the Titan told you of his son.”

Belos couldn’t be lying. Right?

“I- The Titan wanted his son to grow up in hiding, because there are many who would seek to use the boy. Kikimora was a bit uncertain of that. The Emperor was the most powerful being in the Isles, and it was laughable to think that there was a threat he couldn’t protect the Isles from. “However, now that he has been found, returning him would put him in grave danger, so he will remain here.” 

The Collector laughed but Kiki could not understand why. 

“For now, you will keep watch over this new Titan. We will discuss new arrangements later. Keep him out of sight,” Belos warned. “Let no one know that he is a Titan until I make proper arrangements. I will work on breaking the news to the Isles. If all goes well, this will go smoothly and the spawn will acclimate without much difficulty.”

The Titan shimmied around her head and fell off. 

“You should probably start now.” There was an unspoken order in the Emperor’s voice, one that she chose to follow. Leave. 

She picked up the child and rushed to the double-doors before casting a spell to open them. Hurrying out, she wondered to herself aloud, “What have I gotten myself into?”

[firebatvillain]

Ways the anti OTW racism movement might succeed

We’ve all seen the posts from the anti OTW racism movement, and some people have been saying they have no chance to get anything done, or saying they should just go somewhere else. I slightly disagree! I think it’s natural for the OTW racism people to want to exert pressure on AO3, and I also think there are some ways they may succeed.

In this post, I’ll talk about my thoughts on the reasons for this movement and ways it may succeed.

Why do they care about AO3?

We’ve seen a greater centralization in the nonprofit fan archiving space in the last decade, and particularly in the last 5 years with the decline of the eFiction archiving software, which has resulted in greater difficulty for people to make alternatives to AO3. I hear that the eFiction project has a maintainer again, but I don’t know if it’s actually up to date and secure.

The OTW-Archive project hasn’t yet reached a point where it’s easy to deploy new instances. My understanding is that aside from AO3, there only other successful deployment of OTW-Archive is Squidgeworld Archive (though Ad Astra is trying to migrate to a read-only deployment of otwarchive, I think). The other ways of having group fic hosting would be using webforum software or wordpress or something, which is okay but not very good for it.

In terms of the other big fic hosting websites, they tend to have other problems. The biggest ones are FFN, Webnovel, RoyralRoad, and Wattpad, all of which are for-profit, have restrictive moderation policies, and a poor feature set. If you want a fan-run, non-profit, feature-rich website with up-to-date technology, AO3 is the only game in town.

I think if there were lots of big fan-run archives with good tech and so on, and AO3 wasn’t as central there would be less wank. But, those are the times.

What about that AI wank? Will that go anywhere?

The latest wank about AI seems unlikely to go anywhere due to not really having actionable demands that aren’t self-defeating. Banning AI-generated works from the archive, in the absence of a reliable, simple way to identify them, is basically a non-starter. People will post them untagged, and harassers will use “this is an AI fic” as a vector of harassment. The simplest and most effective policies, like stopping Common Crawl from scraping AO3, have already been done.

What about the OTW anti-racism people?

The racism drama is a more interesting one! There are some actionable policies out there that could be done, and some that already have been done. Not that it’s being requested, but we could imagine adding an Archive Warning for Slavery is an option. Though this would cause a big problem for existing works that were tagged prior to the new Archive Warning, you could totally imagine something like this gaining traction and support.

It’s not a waste of time to ask, either. There’s a history of the OTW Board doing stuff in response to fan concerns as well. The OTW Board made a series of promises in 2020 about racism and harassment, and some of those (comment moderation, and block/mute functionality) have actually been implemented. The OTW is run by fans and the donors are all fans, so if the fans all want something, assuming it’s actually feasible from a technical and volunteer time level, it can be done.

I think the OTW anti-racism movement’s requests are a bit on the vague side and may be harder to implement, but it’s certainly the kind of thing that OTW has been responsive to in the past, so it’s not completely outside the realm of possibility. Some of it probably isn’t happening, in my view, though.

Here are my thoughts on the movement’s 4 requests, and how likely they are to get filled:

ToS change banning “extremely racist and extremely bigoted” content. This is probably not going to fly with the typical OTW voter. The amount of shenanigans involved in implementing this ban would be a lot, and reports of content for being bigoted would immediately be used as a tool in stupid ship wars, and I think we all know this. This would be a lot harder to handle than something like introducing an Archive Warning tag for Slavery. Potential for abuse seems high, in a way that hasn’t been helped by what I perceive to be not-detailed-enough descriptions of what they want for this ban.

ToS change for policy against uploading fics to AO3 to use as harassment tools. I think people are definitely concerned about AO3 being used to coordinate harassment against people, and some kind of policy that allows the PAC team to evaluate whether or not fics are being used to coordinate off-site harassment campaigns seems possible. One possibility could be the introduction of some kind of public standards for whether this kind of thing counts as doxxing, or notability standards a la wikipedia or something. More likely go over well with voting OTW members than the racism ban suggestion.

Hiring a Diversity Consultant in the next 3-6 months. Man, I would love for this to be possible. OTW is a huge org with hundreds of volunteers, and even in my small corner of Fanlore, if it's not a task that I can personally do individually with no help, it will never get done in under a week or even two weeks unless it's quite urgent and people are willing to drop everything in their personal life to get on it (or it's some kind of routine task with a defined hand-off process). Even arranging meetings with other people to get input takes a long time, etc. Slowness hiring an org-wide, paid professional Diversity Consultant, I would guess, is more due to OTW being slow as a whole rather than Board Members intentionally gumming up the works. This is uh, not good. But what can you do?

Future board updates on the promises from 2020 in the newsletter rather than just public Board Meeting discord chats. I think this is probably the most doable of the 4 requests, since it just requires moving content that’s already being generated from a public discord to a newsletter. That’s still going to be a pain etc but compared to making big changes to what content is allowed, or quickly hiring a consultant for this huge unwieldy org, this one seems actually quite doable and won’t step on people’s toes as much. I think people won’t be upset about this as a suggestion.

Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out!

As you can see, while I think it’s possible some of this stuff will happen, I basically think the movement is too optimistic about ways their suggestions could go wrong, the chances of OTW voting members liking those suggestions, and so on.

Nonetheless, I admire the ambition to improve the archive, regardless as to whatever disagreements I have on whether these suggestions would make things better or worse, and whether or not they’re feasible. A little wank can be good for fandom at times! And who knows, maybe this movement will lead to some conversations that help things out without causing lots of problems for AO3.

[acertainmoshke]

Hello, your w.i.p.s all sound interesting! Hope you don't mind questions! I love worldbuilding and To Die Among the Stars has really caught my attention. It sounds like a sci fi/found family type of story. Do you know why the first FTL test was a disaster? I'm hoping they tested it remotely/without humans before testing it with humans. Judging by your use of “mental wellness centers” I'm guessing this isn't a particularly nice future for some people. So probably not. Was the new crew briefed on why the first one failed, to try and avoid the same mistakes? Have they tested FTL on sentient androids yet or are they like Data from Star Trek, rare and highly experimental? Why did they choose to combine cat and human DNA to get Peppermint? (Not judging, I'd love to read something with a catgirl in space!) Have they tried merging other species with humans before? Oh noo, have they tried bringing back dinosaurs and mammoths? XD Has Space Jurassic Park happened? Sorry for all of the questions, your story blurb there just really intrigued me! I couldn't help myself.

Please please please don’t be sorry!! I love questions and talking about worldbuilding. So, in order:

1. The first test was a decade before the story and it was a huge disaster in the news because it was manned. It wasn’t technically the first test, though. They knew the technology worked and had run small scale tests around the solar system in tiny unmanned crafts. However, putting it together into a system that would work long-distance was too expensive at the time to plan for very many tests. They tested each part but not everything working together. Several trained astronauts and scientists were killed. It has been a while, so things are less expensive now and have been improved. However, this one is manned so they have the data on how people physically and psychologically react to FTL. I don’t want to be too spoilery but…it’s still not perfect.

2. The new crew did have a few weeks of training, much of it on the reports they’re expected to prepare, but also some cursory knowledge of ship upkeep and planetary life should they get that far—for liability reasons, mostly.

3. Both Void and Peppermint are dubiously legal experiments. Void is arguably the first provably sentient android and was kept quiet because they were unable to repeat their success. Also, important to note, unlike Data it doesn’t look human at all. It was like the 30th test and they were running short on funds, so it’s housed in a clunky metal body and honestly is a bit goofy looking.

4. Peppermint is…ok, meta explanation is I wanted an excuse to have a catgirl in space. But this type of genetic experimentation is banned because of eugenics (cruel, futuristic society still has some standards). So January, the scientist who designed both of them, had to keep them quiet too. Nominally, the point was to create a human enhanced with animal abilities, and they tried a bunch of different types. Peppermint was the only one to survive past infancy, and while they are basically a person with cat traits, there are downsides that make it currently unmarketable, either for military or private sector uses. January doesn’t care, she is kind of a mad scientist who does things to see if she can. Technically Void and Peppermint belong to her, so she brought them along to space. They’re the only ones who didn’t actually volunteer.

5. Ok space Jurassic Park has definitely happened NOW. I honestly didn’t consider a lot of the worldbuilding for this story outside of technology and living conditions (I did the least planning for it yet somehow I’m a third of the way through and have barely started the others). But yes this is a world where the justice system is like now but worse, same with healthcare and other factors of life for regular people. But if billionaires in real life can fund random space travel, rich people in my story have definitely funded extinct genetic experiments (which are legal because they aren’t on people). There have definitely been incidents, both with exotic extinct pets and with extinction zoo experiences, but on a less centralized scale than in Jurassic Park.

Thank you so much for this ask and feel free to send more if you have thoughts or questions! I love being made to actually think about the logic of my world!

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Well, I finally got the time to watch the new Monster High Movie. It’s a fun watch, 100% recommend.

But then again, I’m a fan of Disney Channel Original Movies like High School Musical and Descendants, so if you don’t like corny movies about the Power of Friendship and prefer more philosophical and deep movies, this is not for you.

SPOILERS

 Overall, the movie is fun, doesn’t take itself too seriously and it seems the actors were having a blast making it, which is always appreciated. There are a couple of cringe moments, but the new take on the characters is nice, as are some of the jokes that land really well.  

Draculaura: I like the original concept of her being the bubbliest and innocent of the group, sometimes it was a bit too much (as G2 Twyla can attest haha) although it always felt weird that she was the oldest in the group, yet behaved like the baby (Technically Cleo is the oldest, but most of that she was asleep and/or trapped in a cave, so a lack of maturity is not that odd). I like her new aloof personality and how she opened up to the Magic of Friendship™. The wording and behavior of Draculaura make me think she’s actually 16 in G3, but I could be wrong.  

Clawdeen: Unpopular opinion, but I like she has a different personality than the stereotypical “Sassy Black Woman”, and while I will miss her interest in fashion, she seems to be a more developed individual this time around. Her budding relationship with Deuce felt well developed and not forced like many other teen movies are. I liked their vibe together, and really wouldn’t mind seeing the Live Action of them get together, and I wouldn’t mind if they decide to be Better As Friends either.

Frankie: LOVED THEM. My favorite of all, the writers and the actor did a really good job of portraying Frankie as a “newborn” experimenting things for the first time. This limits a bit the plots they can get, but I love how they were Ride or Die immediately for Clawdeen.

Cleo: I think she’s the one who changed the least of all the characters, and I’m a bit annoyed that it took Clawdeen literally saving her life to get character development, but even that didn’t feel as forced as other instances. Her friendship with Lagoona is oddly sweet, as it seems Lagoona is no different than anyone else. And her snarky lines were some of the best lines, like calling Draculaura “Bat Girl”. Also props for mentioning Heka.

Deuce: I like that he is an actual character this time around and not just Cleo’s side piece, which started since G2. And unlike G1, it seems this time around he is not the Big Man on Campus, so even that is character development for Cleo, even if they don’t get back.

The rest: I love how unhinged and deranged Lagoona was. She’s the one who got less development in the whole movie, but outright offering to eat Deuce if Cleo was mad at him made me love her. She’s a true friend right there! Ghoulia was quirky and a bit of a jerk, and I loved how she kept popping out of nowhere, specially at the graveyard. Abbey felt like she would be also a good character to focus, as all her scenes imply that she’s as new to Monster High as Frankie and Clawdeen were, but having much less trouble fitting in. She even seems to have gotten on friendly terms with Heath rather quickly… and speaking of Heath, I thought he was going to be more of a bully jerk this time around, but other than explicitly being a jock, it seems he also retained his personality from G1, and along with everyone else named here, responded to Clawdeen’s plea of help, so he can’t be that bad.

Mr. Komos… I still simp for him, so yeah.

But jokes aside, I think it’s a bit unfair how he was treated by the narrative and all of that. His father was not only expelled of Monster High, but outright banned from Monster Society, for the crime of being part human, and then outright murdered by humans. We don’t get more of his backstory, but I don’t think his childhood was all peaches, and we aren’t even sure if he was abandoned or raised by his human mom… but even if he was raised by his mom… where? It’s pretty obvious his horns are natural, so he wouldn’t have fit with humans, and he didn’t attend Monster High, so he probably has been hiding his whole life. I hope he get a redemption arc in the future (We know Deuce stoning isn’t permanent, as he himself was cured)

And… like… Monsters kind of sucks for that one. Even if his story is biased, we see that both Dracula and Headmistress Bloodgood were part of the team that expelled Mr. Hyde. And it’s also heavily implied that he was friends with Dracula and Clawdeen’s mom (I think?). And none of them even try to help him. A parallel could be made that Clawdeen would have gone the same way (Hunted by human) if Frankie and Draculaura were as shitty friends as the previous generation, but they are actually decent individuals and went looking for her. I hope this is addressed in a future movie (There was a sequel hook, se it’s highly likely we’ll get a second one) because the Headmistress and Dracula getting off as being the “Good Guys” without any consequence on their part of this crisis really left me with a bad feeling, and makes me wonder if the “war with witches” and ban on witchcraft is not some more of their bullshitty bullshit.

PLUS, the fact that Frankie’s brain has the knowledge than monster-human hybrids can have changes while they’re teenagers and become more human means than monsters-humans hybrids used to be more common at a time, enough that one of Frankie’s brain parts retained the knowledge.

Anyway, the music is also a total banger. “True Monster Heart” and “I Can Trust You” are my favorites.

[mushroommushy]

So you said OCs fellow tumblr user. Plural. Please share more of them with the public. The people are waiting

The others aren’t developed fully but okkkk

But I will share concepts I’ve been playing around with!!

Charlie Moore! She’s a Nutritional Specialist who prepares food for anomalies, and often closely works with SCP-5031 (Just another murder monster) to gain ideas for dishes! She also helps out with humanoid’s when there’s a shortage of staff. Sometimes gets in a wee bit of trouble for sneaking snacks to anomalies who definitely aren’t supposed to have said snacks (ahem, TJ because he deserves it and fuck his article he needs a new one)

Agent Rosary! She was part of a foundation experiment to raise children in a secluded town, where they were trained to be staff starting at childhood. Her parents were always distant, extremely loyal to their jobs and she grew up the same. Cold, calculating and struggles processing and showing her emotions due to being raised as a hardened tool for the foundation. Her specialization is one I haven’t picked quite yet.

Avery Simmons. A young, 13 year old girl who is technically an E-Class but has free roam of the facility. (For those who don’t know. E-Class personnel are people who were exposed to anomalies! Usually they’re..pretty dead, at least most of the time). Her parents brought her in during an event that is now banned. It was bring your child into work day. Of course, this was only available for kids whose parents were both personnel. But through an incident that I haven’t worked out yet, she was significantly injured. Damaged several organs and lost some flesh to her bones, but was repaired by SCP-2295, and is now affectionately nicknamed ‘The Patchwork child’ by personnel.

[dzthenerd490]

GoI: Cult of M’rohoj

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Original Creator: @4.n0m4ly_

Go Support their YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@4.n0m4ly_

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Description: The Cult of M’rohoj is yet another cult that worships a god that resides within the Abyss. Like many others, the deity known as M’rohoj cares only for warping all of reality into its own nightmarish hellscape. Unfortunately, those who follow the religion are more often than not brainwashed into following the religion. Those who are not, are given the false hope of great power and fortune though in reality they just become vessels of M’rohoj’s horrific experiments. 

Organization: M’rohoj much like the Scarlet King relies heavily on brainwashing through cursed artifacts. As such it's not uncommon for there to be many iterations of the religion. 

Cult of M’rohoj - Technically a nameless cult but the first iteration to exist and was found in Thailand. Tried to create M’rohoj’s army by mutating themselves into spider-like monstrosities. Most are now dead because of the failed experiments, but it is suspected a few still exist and have switched to preaching the great word of M’rohoj.

Children of M’rohoj - exists in the [data expunged] mountains within [data expunged], Europe. Seems like a traditional cult with all its members wearing traditional clothing with little to no colors to destroy individuality. Seems friendly and kind but often trick tourists, reporters, and journalists to stay over and perform rituals on them while they sleep. Turning them into giant moths that are under the control of M’rohoj. Possess a great number of these moths and other anomalous artifacts that make targeting them difficult and often impossible.

Church of M’rohoj - newest and possibly most powerful iteration of M’rohoj. Not just a cult but also an activist group determined to reveal the anomalous world. Think the world is rotten and that M’rohoj is the one who will free the anomalous and save everyone. Possibly the only iteration where a majority of the members aren’t brainwashed but instead genuinely believe what they are doing is good. A majority of this iteration exists in America thought they are suspected to have members all over the world.

M’rohoj’s army - an online group of scientists, philosophers, young researchers, and witches who are interested in M’rohoj and want to use its powers to see how far science and magic can go. Have created several monsters with M’rohoj’s power to keep themselves safe from hostels and Foundation forces. The absolute dangerous iteration of them all despite their size. Nothing for them is off the table as they are willing to perform all sorts of experiments to see the limits of science and thaumaturgy.

There are hundreds of other iterations but most either die out due to poor management, too much sacrifice, or being destroyed by the Foundation and its allies. 

Purpose and Goals: Each iteration of M’rohoj has its own goal though it all either leads back to giving M’rohoj more power or getting power from the deity. Though the deity’s end goal, as stated earlier, is to mutate our world and possibly the rest of our reality into its own image. This for obvious reasons makes the Cult of M’rohoj a K Class Apocalyptic threat. 

Affiliation with the Foundation: There is no way the Cult of M’rohoj can be considered an ally, it must be destroyed at all costs and all Foundation staff are to meet members with extreme prejudice. All allies within the ACPA are of the same opinion.

There is a rumor that there are records of M’rohoj within the libraries of Alexylva University though nothing has been confirmed. Ambrose Restaurants actually worked with the Church of M’rohoj to make delicious dishes that would further their goals, with various degrees of success and failure. Most members of the church are now banned from several restaurant locations. Marshall, Carter, and Dark Ltd has recently banned any creatures or artifacts associated with M’rohoj.

Arcadia has made a few video games relating to M’rohoj while Dr. Wondertainment has made cute plush toys of M’rohoj. Members of the Church of M’rohoj have been seen at shows of Herman Fuller's Circus of the Disquieting and even supporting the circus. An interaction of M’rohoj has been enslaved by TotleighSoft leading to an increase in dangerous products from the company. Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory has recently started selling a line of candy that seems like normal chocolate bits but really grants the consumer immunity to M’rohoj’s brainwashing. 

Gamers Against Weed have unfortunately been tricked by the Church of M’rohoj into thinking they are an antifascist group. As such GAW often makes art displays and anomalous tools that help the church. An iteration of the Oneiroi Collective seems to be at a constant war against several iterations of the Cult of M’rohoj within the dream scape and other mental realities. 

Zealots on Crack unfortunately consider M’rohoj another piece of inspiration and like to create anomalous totems and churches to parody the cult. SAPPHIRE has used M’rohoj as propaganda to further show their right to want to abolish all religions by any means necessary. 

The Chicago Spirit fought against immigrants who were possessed by M’rohoj back during their golden age. The Chicago Spectre continues their work by hunting down and killing members of the cult within their turf. The Dark Dragons actively purge all M’rohoj influence they come across, not even willing to take or modify their anomalous artifacts. The White Bloods foolishly use M’rohoj’s power to purge minorities; thankfully, they are often unable to control the beasts or artifacts they have. 

GRU Division "P" is suspected to have researched M’rohoj during its active period thought nothing is confirmed. The FBI: Unusual Incidents Unit have had great success in arresting quite a few members of the Church of M’rohoj. The Silver Legion considers M’rohoj’s one of their lifelong enemies, many members dream of being the one to finally abolish the entire cult. 

The Children of the Scarlet King see M’rohoj as just a bug that will be squashed when they manage to summon the Scarlet King. Church of the Second Hytoth refer to M’rohoj as one of the great destroyers and often hunt iterations of the cult and destroy artifacts. The Fifth Church shockingly has made peace with the Church of M’rohoj and even do collaborations with members to boost the reputation of both religions. Children of the Corn seem to fear M’rohoj and often try to avoid members of the religion, why this is the case is unknown. The Order of the Eye despise M’rohoj thinking it is a rampaging child that doesn’t even know what it wants. The Darwinian Theocracy has declared war on many European iterations of the Cult of M’rohoj. The Order of the Black Cog enjoy sacrificing members of the cult to their machines thinking M’rohoj’s blood is the best food for Mekhane’s children. 

Parawatch unfortunately has branded the Church of M’rohoj as heroes who expose the truths and the faults of the shadow government. Vikander-Kneed Technical Media love presenting the joys and harmony of being a member of a M’rohoj’s religion. Wilson's Wildlife Solutions is determined to find a way to stop M’rohoj’s influence though all their previous attempts have led to casualties. 

Agents of "Nobody" have been seen filming attacks and incidents involving M’rohoj but never doing anything to interfere directly. The Serpents Hand is unfortunately suffering a civil war with some members believing that M’rohoj is a messiah of the truth while a majority rightfully see the deity as a monster. The Shark Punching Center once helped by punching a shark infected by M’rohoj’s influence… that was it. The Central Bureau of Control has been working around the clock to regulate a majority of M’rohoj’s influence in our reality. 

The Black Queen’s Insurgency, as always, is trying to bend M’rohoj to their will, though how they could do this is unknown. The Creed of Ealaqat Jayiea and the Cult of M’rohoj get along surprisingly well together, both even think their gods can help one another ascend. The Factory has taken great interest into M’rohoj, where this will lead is unknown though undoubtedly nothing good.

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Involved with:

SCP-AIJ

[data expunged]

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SCP: HMF Groups of Interest Hub

[soc449blog]

Sugar Babies, Why Don’t They Claim the Suga ?!

My blog is about sex work, specifically Sugar Babies. Sugar babies are women or men, but primarily women, who have sexual relations with older men for money. Being a sugar baby has various criterias to it and is not always sexual, it just depends on the agreement that the client and the consumer come to. 

Sex work itself has a long history and various jobs and roles that fall under the umbrella. Sex work is criminalized in a majority of places. In our Teacher Assistant (TA) Victoria’s lecture titled Sex Work 101 she talks about how many sex workers do not have access to financial services. Victoria says “banks are well known for discriminating against sex workers and will arbitrarily shut down accounts, services like Paypal ban the sale of anything sexual on the platform, even sex toys and crypto currencies were thought to be a saving grace for sex workers, but over time crypto wallets have also started excluding sex workers” (Victoria 2023). This is one reason why sugar babies are technically considered sex workers, many do not claim this title.  They are excluded from the working class community in many different ways and financially is the biggest one. Sugar Babies tend to have large sums of money coming in often consistently and if they are not able to obtain secure financial services then how are they supposed to keep their money secure ? While this is a main concern for me, many people do not think being a Sugar Baby is a legitimate form of work. This is supposed to be the land of the free where one is able to do what they want with their body whether for money or not yet folks are being discriminated against. 

A primary question that comes up when discussing this topic is “does sex work reinforce the modern heterosexual orthodoxy?” I say that even though there aren’t many male strippers or sugar babies out there, because they definitely do exist, when you think sex work you think women. This idea is reinforced strongly by these two positions of sex work. With these jobs most of the time it is younger women using their bodies and sexuality as a way to earn money from usually older men. This is further backed up by the Mann Act of 1910 which “criminalizes the transportation of “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose” (Victoria 2023). This law literally states that it is for women which is a direct reflection of my point. With reference to our lovely guest speaker, Katerina spoke about how the mens and womens brothels in Prague are separated and not mixed. Men come into the women's brothels and the other brothels are male and for gay men. Whether or not there may be brothels for straight men to work where women can indulge she did not mention. With these companies being split in this way it perpetuates the heterosexual society we live in because when asked if women often come into these brothels to have sex with other women I was told no. These brothels seem to be strictly heterosexual, not by anyone's ill intent, but by the nature of the society around them. 

Gale Hawkes in her book titled A Sociology of Sex and Sexuality says  “This new conceptualization of behavior can be read as one index of the emergence of the notion of the “social individual” as we understand and experience it in the Modern era” (Hawkes pg 19). This chapter is about the concept of civilite which in short, means “manners”. In this time manners determined your place in the social hierarchy and a civilite encourages your self worth not based on tradition, but based on self control and managing your own individual behavior. Bodily functions such as sex, are seen as less civilized in this time which in correlation means you aren’t well mannered. The outcome of all of this increased the lines between public/private and mind/body, placing sex and other bodily functions at the bottom of the hierarchy, meaning you are not considered less than/lower class for partaking in such actions. With all of this being said, this shows Hawkes standpoint on sex workers such as Sugar Babies. By partaking in this line of work, you are not upholding your self worth and are making yourself seem less than for not living up to the respectable standards and social norms of society. 

[seoforsm]

Technical SEO Services

How would you describe technical SEO? Is it something that only experts should handle or does anyone who has basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc., qualify?

Technical SEO refers to optimizing websites using coding techniques such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This type of optimization helps improve user experience and increase conversion rates.

While some webmasters consider themselves technically savvy enough to perform technical SEO, they often lack the skills necessary to optimize their sites effectively. In other words, even though they might be able to write code, they don’t necessarily know how to properly implement it.

The most important thing to remember when doing any kind of SEO work is that search engines will never reward you for manipulating your site content. They want to see natural results from real users, not artificial ones. If you try to trick Google into thinking your website is better than it really is, you could end up getting banned by the search engine giant.

The Benefits of Technical SEO Optimization

It’s important to note that technical SEO isn’t just about making sure your site loads fast; it’s also about ensuring your content is accessible, crawlable, and indexed by search engines. This means taking care of things like page speed, mobile friendliness, responsive design, and accessibility. If you want to see what Google thinks about your website, check out its PageSpeed Insights tool. This free online service will tell you where your pages could improve, based on user experience metrics including load times, errors, and usability.

In addition to improving performance, technical SEO helps ensure that your content gets seen by people who might not otherwise visit your site. For example, if you publish articles on topics that aren’t popular among readers, they won’t show up in search results. But if you optimize your content for keywords related to those topics, your posts may appear higher in search results and attract new visitors.

How Would You Describe Technical SEO?

Technical SEO is all about making sure your website has everything it needs to rank well in search engines. This includes things like having a fast-loading site, being mobile-friendly, using relevant keywords throughout the content, etc.

The first stage is to optimize images by reducing file size and optimizing compression settings. This will reduce the load on the server and improve page loading speed. The next step is to remove all unnecessary image tags. These include any text overlays, logos, watermarks, copyright notices, etc. If your site has a lot of images, then this may take some time. It's best to start with the most important images and work down the list. Once you've removed all unnecessary tags, save the new version of the image. Then go back to the original image and add the necessary tags. Save the new version again. Repeat until all images are optimized.

In addition to image optimization, we also recommend using responsive design techniques. Responsive web design (RWD) allows your website to adapt to different screen sizes so users don't need to scroll horizontally to see all the content. It's important to note that RWD isn't just about making websites look good on mobile devices; it's about creating sites that work well across multiple platforms.  The next step is to identify competitors who might be using this same keyword phrase. This will help you understand what they’re doing well and where they may be struggling. It’s important to note that not all keywords are created equal. Some terms will generate higher volumes of traffic than others. 

Once you know which phrases are working best, it’s time to start creating content around them. If you don’t yet have any pages optimized for those specific keywords, now is the perfect time to build some new ones.

Technical Site Audits

A technical site audit (TSA) is a process where experts from outside your organization review your website and provide feedback on its design, content, usability, accessibility, security, and overall performance. The goal of this type of assessment is to help you improve your website so it better serves your customers. This is a great way to find out what people think about your company and products before they invest any money in them. It will give you valuable insight into whether your target audience likes what you do and whether they want to hear from you again.

A technical site audit is a process where experts outside your organization review your web page and provide feedback on its layout, content, usability, accessibility, security, and overall functionality. The goal of this kind of assessment is to help your business improve its website so it better serves its clients.

Consistent URL Structure

The first thing I do when I start working on a new site is to look at its URL structure. If it has a lot of unnecessary words (like “index.php?pagehome&id1″), then I know I’m going to have a hard time getting Google to understand what the page is all about. It will take longer to load, and people will leave before they find out what the page is about. A good URL should tell visitors exactly where they want to go. This makes it easier for them to navigate your website. And it also gives search engines more clues as to what the page is about so they can index it properly.

A consistent URL structure makes your site easier to navigate and more user-friendly. It also allows search engines to index all pages within your website easily. If you want to make sure your URLs remain consistent throughout your entire website, create a single page with links to each section of your site. This way, when someone clicks one of those links, they'll land on the same page as everyone else.

Why hire a Technical SEO Freelancer on Upwork?

Technical SEO freelancers are experts in search engine optimization (SEO). They understand what makes websites rank well in Google and Bing. They also know how to make sure your website is accessible to users with disabilities. And they know how to help you build links to your site so that more people find it when they search online.

The first step in hiring a technical SEO expert is to determine whether you need one. If your site has been up for more than two months, then you probably need one. In either case, you'll need to find a good candidate. Here's what to look for when searching for a technical SEO expert.

A good technical SEO will work closely with your web developer to ensure that all pages load quickly and efficiently. They should also help you identify any issues with your code so they can be fixed before they cause problems for users. Finally, they should offer advice on how to improve your search engine rankings by making sure that your content is optimized for keywords.

Once you've found someone who meets those criteria, ask them to provide references from previous clients. This way, you'll know if they're reliable and trustworthy. Also, check out their online portfolio to see if it contains examples of similar projects they've worked on.

Upwork has become one of the most popular freelancing websites with over 1 million users. It allows people to find work online by posting projects and offering payment. There are thousands of freelance workers on Upwork, so finding quality work is easy. If you want to hire someone on Upwork, make sure to check out some tips below.

First, search through freelancers’ profiles for reviews from previous clients. This will help you see what kind of work they do well. Then, read through their profile carefully to find out if they’ve worked on similar projects before. Finally, ask them any specific questions you may have about the project.

Technical SEO freelancers offer a wide range of services including technical audits, link building, keyword research, site speed optimization, and more. They also provide ongoing support as your website grows. A good technical SEO consultant should be familiar with all aspects of search engine algorithms so they can help you improve your rankings. This includes understanding what keywords people are searching for, where those searches originate, and whether your competitors are using similar terms. They may even suggest ways to optimize your page titles and meta descriptions.

Technical SEO consultants often work closely with webmasters to ensure that their websites meet Google's guidelines for mobile-friendliness, accessibility, and performance. They might recommend changes to your HTML code or CSS stylesheets to make them easier to read and navigate. They'll also look into any issues that affect how quickly your pages load.

White Hat vs Black hat SEO techniques

In the past, SEO was all about getting links back to your site. Today, however, Google has become so sophisticated that it's more important than ever to focus on quality over quantity. This is where white-hat SEO comes into play. It involves following best practices and using ethical methods to improve search rankings. Black hat SEO, on the other hand, includes unethical tactics. These activities result in penalties against websites and may even cause them to lose traffic.

White hats don't just look for bugs; they also test the functionality of the website and its content. If something doesn't seem right, they'll report it. For example, if they notice that a page isn't loading properly, they might contact the webmaster to let him know.

White hat SEO is about getting your site found by people searching for what you sell. It's about making sure that when someone searches for your product or service online, your site comes up first. This requires testing different keywords and phrases to see which ones bring visitors to your site.

Black hat SEO attempts to game Google's system by using manipulative techniques to boost rankings. These practices could result in your site being removed from Google entirely.

The white hat technique is used by people who want to make sure that their website remains safe and secure. They try to find ways to improve the security of websites so that hackers cannot access them. This includes using strong passwords, keeping software updated, and installing anti-virus programs.

Conclusion

Technical SEO Services are services offered by some webmasters to help them improve their websites' search engine rankings. It includes things such as optimizing your website's code, adding relevant keywords to your site, and making sure your site has good page titles and descriptions. These tasks may seem simple but they're often overlooked when people think about improving their sites' search engine ranking. If you want to find out more about what I offer as an SEO expert, visit my page here. 

[americangirlstar]

why each american girl is banned from the aux cord on road trips

Kaya’aton’my: playlist will shift from “peaceful relaxing sleep music” to “heavy metal screamo” with no warning

Felicity Merriman: too many swear words for everyone but caroline (a sailor) and elizabeth (her gf)

Elizabeth Cole: playlist is only meme songs. if you complain she will pass the aux back to felicity

Caroline Abbott: only plays sea shanties

Josefina Montoya: plays fully instrumental classical piano concerts which aren’t super great for sing-a-longs

Marie-Grace Gardner: she plays like. actual opera songs.

Cécile Rey: she doesn’t play actual opera but she does play phantom of the opera which starts an intense discourse that she refuses to take responsibility for

Kirsten Larson: if she’s pissed at anyone in the fucking bus she’ll play the midsommar soundtrack and smile unnervingly

Addy Walker: if anyone talks during her favorite part(s) of a song she will start it over and keep doing that until everyone Appreciates It™

Samantha Parkington: there are so many reasons they have a whole list of them in the glove compartment in case of emergency

Nellie O’Malley: last time they let her on the aux cord she got way too interested in how it worked and when they stopped at a gas station she took apart the entire front of the bus to see how everything fit together

Rebecca Rubin: will play the most obscure-ass showtunes you’ve ever heard and get upset if you don’t know what they are

Kit Kittredge: halfway through any song (and it could be ANY song) she will start talking about a traumatic memory she associates with it and nobody knows how to make her stop 

Ruthie Smithens: exclusively plays disney soundtracks 

Nanea Mitchell: she’s one of Those vocaloid fans

Molly McIntire: her music taste is no different from ebony dark’ness dementia raven way

Emily Bennett: the songs she picks are always huge downers 

Maryellen Larkin: “okay so this musical is called zombie prom and it’s like grease if danny zuko died five minutes in and then ten minutes later came back and the rest of the show is a legal battle over whether or not he can attend prom due to the fact he is technically dead” “that sounds horrible” “i will yeet you out a window if you repeat your crime of implying this isn’t the perfect musical” and then she did

Melody Ellison: she’s not actually banned from the aux cord yet because she’s the only one who plays good mixes but she also sometimes puts on the backyardigans soundtrack just to see what people do so she’s on thin ice

Julie Albright: most of her music is #girlpower and it’s a russian roulette of whether it’ll be actually empowering or super cringe

Ivy Ling: if she gets too amped up on a song she will start to do a gymnastics routine. either in the tiny aisle of the bus, resulting in her inevitably cartwheeling into a window or someone’s luggage, or one time she climbed outside and on top the bus to do it because felicity implied she couldn’t and then everyone started screaming and it was a whole thing

Courtney Moore: she does not just play 80s songs, she plays the WORST 80s songs you have ever heard in your entire life immediately followed by sonic underground songs she ripped off youtube

[antipatriarchyaurora]

Abortion As A Medical Right

So many pro-choice arguments focus on the economics of abortion rather than the mother’s health. Without first establishing the dangers of pregnancy, all pro-choice arguments fall apart, which is why I felt so compelled to write this post. Abortion is more than just women’s rights, reproductive justice, or privacy. It’s a medical right, first and foremost.

Pro-lifers argue that abortion isn’t worth it even if that means the child ends up in foster care. If you said that a life of poverty is better than death, then I wouldn’t disagree. But this isn’t about death vs the quality of life. This is about death vs death.

I don’t know how to convey to you the gravity of pregnancy and childbirth. Most people don’t get it. Pregnancy sucks so much of your nutrients, blood, oxygen and energy out of your body. It can cause serious and irreparable physical damage, organs slipping and falling out of place, stress on the heart and cardiovascular system, tears and so much more.  

Evolutionarily speaking, during pregnancy, the mother’s body is 50/50 invested in her survival and 50/50 invested in the offspring’s survival. The offspring’s body is evolutionally 100% invested only in its own survival. It doesn’t care about the mother’s body at all and will destroy it if it needs to survive. You know who told me that? My biology professor. I used to only be lightly pro-choice, but my education only cemented my pro-choice stance even more. I studied maternal mortality. I know things that most women don’t know. It was from there that I knew that a) I never want to be pregnant and b) I’ll always be pro-choice.

Some abortion bans allow exceptions if the mother’s life is at stake, but what they don’t get is every mother’s life is at stake. To understand the danger of pregnancy, what you must understand first is that the nature of pregnancy is inherently complex and unpredictable. Anything can happen. You can be young, healthy, wealthy, have the best doctors and still your pregnancy can go wrong. That’s what happened to Lauren Bloomstein. She had everything in her favor. She was a nurse herself, knew the doctors and was in the best hospital. Her pregnancy was very smooth-sailing until the very end when she unexpectedly died. You cannot predict what happens during a pregnancy, so no woman should be forced to take on those risks and should be allowed to have an abortion as early as possible to avoid those risks.

This isn’t frivolous bodily autonomy. This isn’t like getting a tattoo or dying your hair. This isn’t for cosmetic reasons. This is for medical reasons. It’s to preserve your own health and literally, your own life. You won’t die from not getting a tattoo. But you can die from pregnancy.

“Abortion is murder!”

First of all, you sound like the vegetarians who chant “meat is murder!” And yet, even the most militant vegans aren’t asking for meat eating to be illegal. Technically speaking, eating meat is more murderous than abortion. I admit this even as a carnivore.

Abortion is less black-and-white than murder, and what makes abortion more nuanced is that there’s another life at stake: the mother’s. Letting pregnant women die is also murder! That’s why different religions have different ways of handling abortion. In Judaism, for example, the mother’s life always comes first.

I don’t want children to die either. I want to protect teen and pre-teen girls, you know, the actual child, from dying from pregnancy.

“If you don’t want to be pregnant, just close your legs!”

Forcing a woman or girl to go through all the risks of pregnancy, including death, after she’s raped is more cruel than aborting an unconscious embryo.

“But that’s rare!”

Being so dismissive of these situations shows a lack of empathy from the “pro-life” side. Rape is not rare. Lots of rapes go unreported and even then, some rapists never get convicted. The point of laws is to protect the rare and vulnerable. You can sleep soundly tonight knowing that the chance of an intruder coming into your home and murdering you is statistically low. But on the rare chance that that happens, you hope the law is on your side.

“You don’t have the right to murder!”

Actually yeah, sometimes you do, for self-defense. If an intruder comes into your home and threatens your safety, you have the right to act in self-defense. The toll of pregnancy on the body is so high that ending a pregnancy really is a form of self-defense.

“Abortion is murdering babies! That means toddlers and children can be murdered too! Where’s the line?”

First, you need to be born to be a baby. Anything before that is a fetus.

Second, birth is that line.

If you were to have a second body inside of you and this arrangement could pose a significant risk to your health and livelihood, you have the right to remove said body in the interest of your own health. You don’t have the right to kill that body once it’s been removed from you because it’s no longer affecting your body.

Abortion is the early termination of pregnancy. If a baby lives through that termination, that means that baby is born and shouldn’t be killed. That would defeat the purpose of the abortion, which is to terminate the pregnancy of the mother, not necessarily to kill the child. So the term “late-term abortion” is meaningless. Because termination of pregnancy at that stage is usually just an early birth.

You have the right to terminate your pregnancy at any time. You do not have the right to kill the baby once it’s born. Once the baby’s outside of your body, you have no right to dictate what happens to it. It’s no longer in your body. It’s no longer affecting your body in any way.

Terminating a pregnancy is a decision between the pregnant person and her doctor to determine what’s medically appropriate. Government officials with no medical knowledge sitting in a congress building should not be intruding on that decision.

While life does start at conception, that relies too much on the technical definition of life. Plants and microbes are also life but we don’t treat them the same as sentient creatures like animals. That means there’s a more meaningful indicator of life, a human meaning of life. That is, your experience as you pass through the world. That’s why we often describe life as beginning at birth and ending at death, as going from cradle to grave.

Consciousness/sentience really is an indicator of whether we regard life. In order to be conscious, you need sensory input (either from the past or present). Birth is the first moment that the baby receives sensory input from the external world and starts building their conscious experience. Birth truly is the defining moment of life.

There’s no reason why the life, safety and health of the mother, who’s undeniably a living, conscious, sentient being (and whose body is being used) should be sacrificed for a ZEF who’s not even yet conscious. The mother’s life comes first. Always. No questions asked.

That’s why the personhood argument still matters. If you think crushing an acorn is the same as cutting down an oak tree, that you’d rather save 1000 embryos than 1 newborn, then I have no words for you. 

If you can accept 1) Bodily Autonomy, and 2) Personhood that makes abortion justifiable.

“What about exceptions for the mother’s life?”

While that’s a nice idea in theory, I have serious doubts how it would play out in real life. Knowing the health care system for what it is, this would only create more administrative burden. Imagine you’re at death’s door, and now you’re required to provide burden of proof that you need an abortion to save your life.

Doctors might hesitate and hem and haw and wait while the mother’s life is in imminent danger because they’re not sure if the mother is sick enough to legally perform an abortion. Delaying care is extremely dangerous because when it comes to medical emergencies, every second counts.

This goes beyond ectopic pregnancies. Making one exception for ectopic pregnancies isn’t enough. Pregnancy is such a complex condition that there are so many rare and unique scenarios that you cannot foresee.

“But pro-life is feminist because females get to be born!”

As a woman, I find that insulting. You only care about my life up until the point I can get pregnant? After that I’ll be at mercy to be exposed to the dangers of pregnancy? How is that sanctity of life? Where is my sanctity of life to protect my life at all costs, to preserve my physical and physiological integrity from cradle to grave? All that tells me that you only got my back now before I’m even born, only for 10-20 years later, you got my back no more.

“But Margaret Sanger was racist!”

And Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner. Does that mean we should cancel the Declaration of Independence? Just because these people represented awful things doesn’t mean every thing they advocated for is bad. Despite Jefferson being a slave owner, it was things like the Declaration of Independence that paved the way for other civil rights, including the abolishment of slavery.

It’s not anymore racist than increasing the “domestic supply of infants.” The world is already overpopulated. We have 8 billion people on this planet. There's more than plenty to replace us. And there’s a very clear solution to the domestic birth rate problem and that is immigration. Rejecting that obvious solution is racist.

[slipperyskell]

FNAF SB HCs: DJ Music Man

- Literally just vibing 

- Doesn’t really talk much, but can talk 

- Has his ear out for the Plex much like Moon and Bonnie do, but since he’s p much stuck inside his designated area he doesn’t hear much 

- Didn’t actually know the wind-up versions of himself even existed, let alone wandered the vents - now that he does know they exist, however, he considers them like his kids. Or at least the closest thing you can call a kid when you’re a giant musical enemy spider. They act like his ears and eyes for areas of the Plex that he is unable to access. 

- Really good at reading a room and applying a song to it - like seriously this guy would be a great wing man to have if you’re trying to ask someone out 

- He does pick people up - humans n bots a like - sometimes. He won’t do it unless he’s asked, or if someone is being unruly in the dance area and needs to be removed 

- He’s very gentle - surprisingly so given his size 

- He and Freddy are still really good friends, though the DJ really misses him since his programming bugged out and he’s since been banned from going there until it gets fixed 

- He’s very good at listening to people, and while he doesn’t talk much, he’s pretty good at giving advice all things considered 

- If you’re an employee he’s fond of, it’s very likely he will take you aside and point out some songs he thinks you would enjoy. And should you be stationed there for a shift, it’s likely he will put songs on that you enjoy just to make you happy - as long as it’s PG during day hours ofc

- His area is reserved for the more adult-themed stuff in the evenings to draw in more customers. I would think the switch over to that sort of thing is around 7pm, maybe later. Sometimes it’s the Glamrock crew doing more mature songs, sometimes it’s dance shows or comedy shows that aren’t safe for kid’s ears. 

- I know the VIP room also exists technically (it’s a piece of cut content from the game) but I think that would be separate and VERY CLOSED OFF since there’s like... actual alcohol and stuff being served there n there’d still likely be kids running around the Plex for a while yet, even though the DJMM’s place is strictly no-kids after 7. 

- The Daycare Attendant visits DJMM rather often, actually - neither of them would consider themselves very good at conversation - especially Moon - but they do like to just hang out and vibe if they aren’t busy during the after hours 

- Unfortunately a lot of kids get kind of freaked out by DJMM because of how huge he is + his design is a little freaky, so he isn’t a very popular bot at the Plex, but part of him is kind of okay with that? He’s perfectly alright with doing his own thing in the corner - a lot of the people he works with are pretty chill with him so it’s not like he doesn’t have people to talk to/be with

- While I think the Daycare Attendant gets bothered by this because they really aren’t trying to scare anyone, DJMM is p much like “... aight, fair enough” and just goes on with his day 

- He’s a very roll with the punches guy idk 

- Like Bonnie, he’s a really hard guy to piss off but once you do? OOF MAN GOOD LUCK 

- You now have a giant enemy spider on your ass and if it weren’t for the laws of the land he would flatten you with his hand 

- and then he would just go back to DJing like nothing happened - the man simply does not give a fuck