#but things will take longer if tumblr wants to make every image post a text post and making everything difficult for me

[catskets]

A more in-depth guide for creating visual novels, especially in the horror, horror-romance, etc circles

Some of you have seen my previous, smaller post on crafting visual novels, especially in this little space of Tumblr that a lot of us have found themselves in. Since that post took off, I've wanted to create a longer guide to help touch on some points I've thought about for the past few months.

In case you've never heard of me, I'm Kat, also known as catsket. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design. I've been making games for nearly 5 years, and I've been doing visual novels more "professionally" for 2. You may know me for Art Without Blood, 10:16, God is in the Radio, or Fatal Focus. I'm here to help you make your first visual novel.

Please note that my advice does not fit everyone, and you may disagree with what I say. That's okay! It doesn't work for all. That's why there's thousands of resources out there.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER MADE A GAME

So, you have an idea for a huge visual novel. Horror, a shady and obsessive love interest, a little bit of woo-hooing. 100k words. Maybe a million. What is this, the 07th Expansion?

I notice a lot of people getting into visual novels are artists first. That's okay! I wanted to do art for games before I realized how much I enjoyed writing. And even less of you have probably touched Visual Studio. Again, perfectly okay. We all start somewhere.

My number one piece of advice? Make shitty games.

What does that mean?! My recommendation to those who have never done games is to make a bunch of shitty ones. Think of a theme, or hell, even join a game jam, where you make a game that fits a theme in a short amount of time. Spend about a week on your game. Focus on making something polished. Polish your mechanics. Polish your output.

I recommend, if you can, to make at least 4-6, if not more, kind of shitty games before hopping into longer projects. Making a game is a skill, just like art, just like writing. And game development is combining ALL of these together into one big soup being stirred by a skeleton hand puppet. You'll get into the rhythm and see what works for you.

It also helps you learn, perhaps, the second most important thing here: do you even like making games? There are cases out there where people have created video games (not saying visual novels) just for clout. That's no fun for you, that's no fun for your players. And you might go through this process and find that you don't like making games. That's completely okay! It's not for everyone.

Also, you can use these shittier games to gather an audience. I've built my audience because, for the past few years, I've been releasing games that slowly give me growing fields of eyes every day. A success story overnight is a rare one. It takes time. It's like building a brand, but you aren't a brand, you're an artist.

REV UP YOUR ENGINES!

Ren'py is the number one engine you will be recommended. It is very beginner-friendly, with lots of tutorials, assets on itch.io to use and download, and support. The engine comes with a few tutorials in the form of games, whose code you can freely browse. This is the engine I use most often. Most visual novels you see are made in this engine.

Twine is a text-based engine that most people use for interactive fiction. You can add images and audio, though, if you don't mind messing with HTML. I use Twine for text games and for outlining for my larger games. Ever played Degrees of Lewdity? Yeah, I know you have. Don't ask why. That game was made in Twine.

RPG Maker has multiple versions and has been used for exclusively VNs if you don't mind fucking around with plugins. It can definitely give your game a super unique feel. I recommend RPG Maker MV, since it has the most resources. This line of engines usually costs money, but it often goes on sale for under $5-$15.

People will recommend TyranoBuilder, but as a user and player, the lack of options and the format the games often come in is just...not fun to navigate. It advertises itself as little to no code, but it's often evident in the final results. Some good games have been made in it, though, so if you want to use it for prototyping/practice, you can. I'm not a fan, but that doesn't mean that fans don't exist! This engine costs money.

Not an engine, but check out Ink! Super useful scripting language that's used for more professional projects.

DEMOS, DEMOS, DEMOS

You've got an idea for a long-term project, and now you want to show it to the world! But wait, wait, don't do that yet!

When should I start advertising my game? This is a personal opinion, but I say that you should not start advertising your game until 50-60% of your demo is complete. Why? As I've discussed with some fans of indie VNs, they can name quite a few projects that have been in the "working on the demo" age for 1-2+ years. I've been in the Kickstarter MMO circles. If you, making a single-player experience with little mechanics to balance and polish (aka a visual novel), are taking that long on a demo, I am going to assume the game is not coming out. There are some games I have seen out here that have been in "working on the demo" phase where I haven't seen a single ounce of what the project will look like.

What should I put in my demo? The purpose of a demo is to showcase the mechanics and the vibes and the mechanics of your game. It's a demonstration. In my last post, I pointed to the Dead Space 2 demo that was showcased at E3 (RIP), that takes place about 2 hours into the story and shows how enemies are defeated, some animations, bits of the story, etc. Usually, because it's less about mechanics and more about vibes, visual novel demos showcase a certain percentage of the full thing (5-10%.) Can you showcase the vibe of the game here and what players should expect? If not, show off another portion.

How long should I work on my demo? Before, I said 3-4 months. That can be true, that can also not be true. Think about how long the demo takes you in proportion to how long the actual game should take you. Don't put too much effort. The demo is to showcase the vibe. It's to see how much the public and fans may enjoy the game.

My game is 18+, what should I do? Make a splash screen when the game is downloaded to let players know your game is 18+. If it's going to contain sexual content, you can hide it with itch.io's adult content filter. Write it on the page itself that your game is for adults only. Don't put your demo behind a paywall. This is genuinely ridiculous. The purpose of a demo is to showcase what a game is like before a player purchases it. That defeats the point of a demo. I've seen this happen, and it discourages players from approaching, especially because most demos never make it past the demo phase. So...I'm paying you $10 for 2-3k words of a game that may never come out?

Should I make a social media for my game? YES! Go for it. These anchors are how people will find your game. Make a Tumblr and open that ask box. Make a Twitter. Go to BluSky. Advertising is not bad. Some YouTubers even take e-mail suggestions from developers. Feel free to shoot your shot. The worst they can do is not respond.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR ITCH.IO PAGE:

Getting your itch.io to a presentable state can be very challenging! There's many ways to do it. I highly recommend using this page image guide for learning how to size your images to make your page pop!

Itch.io themselves has suggested to not publish a page until the game or demo is released. You can make the page and keep it as a draft, but do not publish it until you're ready!

Your cover image is the image that will appear in the search of the website, on any front pages, in collections, and on your profile. What have I seen that works? Key art of one of the characters up close and the title of the game! If you can make it a .GIF, do it! Bitches love .GIFs!

Itch.io recommends 3-5 screenshots on your page. I recommend 1 of these 5 be a .GIF that shows how gameplay feels. This is effective, even for visual novels!

Write a 3-5 sentence summary about your game for the description. What is your story about? What is the draw?

DO NOT BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO IS GOING TO SAY "This is not like other visual novels. It doesn't have that cheesy this or that or-" No one cares. Genuinely. You're putting down other games in your genre and elevating yourself to the pompous level.

TAG YOUR GAME! itch.io gives you a list of tags to choose from when you go to tag. DON'T USE THIS! Try to go for more specific tags. Arimia has a very good guide on how to use itch.io's tagging system to your advantage.

GENERAL GAME MAKING ADVICE

SCOPE KNIFE IS SUPER USEFUL! Everyone makes games that are way over their workload. It's okay to cut out features and add them later. Prioritize making a finished game before hitting those stretch goals.

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Writing outlines is super helpful. I use Twine for my outlines, because you can connect your passages together and make really well-thought webs.

IT'S OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP! Whether it's from friends, professionals, or anything in-between. They can help with assets, editing, etc.

HONE YOUR SKILLS OUTSIDE OF GAMES! Write some poetry. Do some sketches everyday. Improve on your craft to improve your games

MUSIC IS HARD. THERE ARE RESOURCES. Most of us aren't musicians. That's okay. Make sure the music you get for your game is allowed to be used. You can use anything non-commercial if your game will not cost money or donations. I try to do songs in the public domain or free to use overall with credit if I don't have a musician. Consult the Creative Commons website if you're unsure how you're supposed to use a certain piece of music. If you don't use the right stuff, not only can it put you in legal trouble, but it can put streamers in hot water if they play your game and they can't upload the video because music is copyrighted.

PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR UI. Wanna know an easy way to get your game to look more professional? Edit the damn UI for your game. Make a new textbox, even if it's just a black box. Change the font. Eventually, players recognize the defaults and patterns of games made in certain engines and may attribute a lack of UI changes to a developer being lazy. It doesn't take very long to change the colors around and move text! Please do it to add a little pop to your game.

DEADLINES ARE AWESOME. Not everyone works well under pressure, but if you give yourself an infinite amount of time to make something, it'll never get done. Set goals for yourself for how much you can work on something.

IF YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP, GIVE UP. Making things is hard, especially long-term. Emergencies happen, jobs happen, life happens. Let your fans know that a project isn't happening anymore. Don't leave them in the dark. You don't need to tell strangers your medical history or anything, but transparency + honesty are really hot traits. You should use those in your creative work. This is one reason why I advocate for not publishing or advertising things until you know it's stable.

SHOWCASING YOUR CONTENT

People love to see WIPs for games! This is what the devlog is good for! A devlog is a post where a developer talks about and showcases some things happening in the game? What can you add to your dev log?

PERCENTAGES! How much of the artwork is done? How much of this character's route is done?

SNEAK PEEKS AT ARTWORK AND SPRITES!

GIFS! GIRLS LOVE GIFS!

Anything else to showcase your game's content! Posting consistent updates retains and even gains a fan's attention for your work.

RUNNING YOUR TUMBLR

You've joined us, and you've made a Tumblr for your blog! Link it on the itch.io page, so people can come find you after playing your awesome demo!

Do I have to respond to every ask? No. It's your blog. Delete whatever asks you want.

I got a hate comment! What do I do? Delete it and move on. I have a more detailed section on hate below.

I want to interact with [blog]! How do I do that? Reach out to the devs for silly little collabs. If you come onto a developer slightly headstrong, they might feel you are being abrasive or using them for content.

If people make fan content, interact with it! Encourage it! Reblog it. Show your love.

OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS

PROFESSIONALISM IS KEY. These may be pet projects, but you want to appear some level of professional on your actual itch.io page.

Being dismissive of player and fan complaints or criticisms will make you appear childish.

If your game is broken, fix it. I have been told by some amateur developers to ignore game-breaking bugs. It does not make me, a player, want to engage with your content. It seems messy and unfinished.

With the above point, it's 100% okay to have bugs and errors upon release. Every developer and their brood mother has. To decrease these issues, get playtesters. Friends can play your games, spot any errors, and help you point out things that can be improved upon. I recommend having playtesters at every stage of development.

Make sure your game runs before you publish it. Please.

You can still be silly and giddy! There's no reason to not be, especially when you get positive comments! The point of this is to not be outright rude to potential players and fans.

IGNORE HATE COMMENTS. In this case, a hate comment is a statement that contains no constructive criticism and are only here to be insulting or malicious. People are going to leave you with actual piles of dog shit in your ask box. They are trying to provoke you. Giving hate comments any attention, even if you're there to "clap back" proves that they got to you, even if you don't take the hate to heart. They will continue to pester you. Delete any hate comments and ignore them completely. Laugh about them with friends in a private setting, sure.

THINK BEFORE YOU REFERENCE! I know one big thing in this community is adding references to other games in yours, such as plushies of other characters or putting them on posters. The best thing you can do it ask the developer before adding this. How would you feel if some random person you've never met put your character in a video game? Most of us would feel weird and potentially violated. Open communication with devs is awesome. I am usually okay with it as long as someone asks for permission.

As a complete aside, I prefer more tasteful references to other games as opposed to 523482346 plushies and posters. These have been slightly overdone. Why not theme a candy after another game's character? Maybe your characters know each other.

OTHER RESOURCES I RECOMMEND

Devtalk is a server dedicated to independent visual novel creators. You can find jobs, resources, advice, talks, and, like, everything there! Devtalk is super useful. Everyone in there is so cool. They have a really great and comprehensive list of resources that I could not even begin to cover.

Visual Novel Design is a great YouTuber. No other words, check the guy out!

Ren'py and whatever other engine you're using has documentation that's super useful to follow.

Arimia not only has amazing VN resources, especially for marketing, but she also just has? Amazing games that you should check out?

And for a shameless self plug, I'm the lead of Sacred Veins, a collective of devs creating narrative games, whether it be horror, humor, romance, or everything in-between. Come hang out with us!

[upsidedownsmore]

ENTRIES CLOSED, reblogs turned off, thank you everyone for entering and sharing your wonderful works!!

A compilation of every entry piece can be found here!

The winner is @mugbearerscorner and the information has been confirmed in DMs!!

Roll proof:

A link to the full spreadsheet of entries can be found here!

I'm so so grateful to all the people who participated in this event!! I'm so happy with how well it turned out and I'm so so thankful to be able to host it!!! Love you all!! :) :) :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GAUSS PRIME ACCESS GIVEAWAY!

* Provided by Digital Extremes! Info about the prime access here.

To enter, simply reblog with your art of ANY warframe giving a thumbs up!

Giveaway entries will close on FEBRUARY 10TH at 10:00pm CST

The post for the above drawing (with reference screenshot and wips) can be found here.

MORE INFO UNDER THE READ LINE, PLEASE READ IT IF YOU WANT TO ENTER

Notes:

This is not a contest! The winner will be decided entirely randomly, image quality will have no effect on chances of winning! Make whatever you can in any medium you want! (This can also include 3D mediums! The only thing I'm not including is unedited game screenshots/captura, though edited might be okay). Everyone can draw regardless of how good you think your own skills are!

Please submit your own drawing(s)!! Only one is necessary but you can make more if you want of course! Do not use any AI generation tools for your entry.

When reblogging it might be a good idea to enter some text either in the post or in the tags! It turns out reblogs with just an image and nothing else might not show up under the original post, which means I might miss your submission!

Only one entry per person, you will not get more entries for additional reblogs and/or drawings.

The goal of this is for the community to have a fun little gallery of warframe thumb ups in the reblogs, but again don't stress over how "good" your drawing is! As long as you have fun and submit something vaguely in line with the prompt you're good! (such as a wave instead of a thumbs up or an operator instead of a warframe, etc. Up to you how closely you want to follow the prompt!)

You DO NOT need to engage with me in any other way (likes, follows, etc.) to enter, just a reblog with a drawing loosely following the prompt!

This giveaway will only run here on Tumblr due to issues with bots and impersonation on Twitter. The issue of course is that the only way to submit images under a single post on Tumblr is through reblogs, but please know that I do not intend this to be a means of promotion. If people could submit images in the replies I would gladly take that option! If this post gets taken down I will look into other giveaway options.

As this is my first giveaway as a Warframe creator please let me know if I've made any mistakes!

Here are some example drawings that would all work, but of course whatever you want to make shouldn't be limited to this!

Inspired by @ritens, I will be assigning one unique number per individual and then throwing them into the random number generator on random.org. After the entries close and I roll the winner, I will update this post with the winner's name and a message saying that the giveaway is closed. Reblogs will also be turned off once the giveaway is closed, as I am only using reblogs as means of congregating drawing submissions under one post during the giveaway period.

Whoever's number get's chosen will be contacted via DMs here on Tumblr, so please make sure your DMs are open! I will be asking for your Warframe IGN and platform so DE can give send over your prize! If you have cross-save linked or merged then please tell me, though I will also be asking in DMs as well. If the winner doesn't respond within 48 hours or no longer wants the prime access pack, then I will roll a new winner with the same method but with the previous winner(s) number(s) taken out of the pool.

Topmost drawing without giveaway text:

Anyways good luck and most importantly have fun!!

[taiturner]

NEW YEARS CLEAN-UP 🎊

rules: unburden yourself from the abandoned WIPS collecting dust in your folder and share 5 gifs, then tag five people. (tagged by @yenvengerberg, thank you i feel like i can do something useful with these things now 💖)

tagging with no pressure of course: @wyllhalsin, @capinejghafa, @cardvngreenbriar, @seance, @ayoedebiris, @ughmerlin, @craintheodora, @lottiemilfews, @natscatorrcio (yeah miles i'm tagging you to be funny i know what you did with those psds)

these are all from projects that i have in a folder titled "on the bench" that i want to pretend i'll come back to, but.... some of these have been benched for so long and they're no longer fresh in my head so i fear they'll be abandoned forever. should also be mentioned that a lot of projects on the bench are literally just me making all the typography first and then losing inspo when i actually wanted to gif things.... usually by the time i do start, i change my mind about the type anyway. i also have so many abandoned gifs from other gifsets i've already posted but i'm not even sure where to begin searching so... here are some things!

one of the many gifs i already created for a prompt from @yellowjacketsoctober to put the show in a different genre. ironically, a prompt that i came up with for the event specifically to make this gifset but didn't even complete. i spent so many hours and so many days trying to gif this entire arc for these three with the intent to make it a heist drama set but after so long i realized i was just giffing exactly what happened in the show and it started to feel pointless. but at least here's a preview of something that i'll never finish. my trio of all time, can they commit more crimes together please! (should also be said that this folder is 44gb because i already saved all the caps + because these psds are so heavy... new years clean up for real)

i don't know what it is about lydia that makes it so hard for me to finish any set for her, but every time i try i seem to always lose the drive eventually (probably because twd in general just feels really uninteresting for me to blend, for some reason). from a 2022 spotify wrapped meme, i'm pretty sure i restarted this specific gifset so many different times, unhappy with the colors and the blends and the text and everything -- which is why there are two very different examples here. my girl of all time though i will finish something for her eventually (and maybe even this one, because this song is still so good for her).

one of the many gifs that were abandoned by my scream vi set for favorite slasher in october. when tumblr first changed the image upload limit to 30, i promised myself to never take advantage of that too much, but i severely underestimated how many moments i would want to include for this movie and i made so many other gifs for this set but ultimately cut them so i could try to tone it down - 18 gifs in this set still feels like a lot but i spent so much time on this set that it was hard to part with many more. anyway here's sam being the hottest final girl in the world and correct about everything.

i don't know how long this has been on the bench but it was definitely a project i started way before season 2 even aired. i think i just got stuck and wasn't sure where to go with it, but anyway her!

extra spoiler for @wyllhalsin but this was supposed to be a pride edit in june for one of my favorite lgbt characters of all time. this show's camera movements nearly makes it impossible to blend anything so i lost the drive, but i will come back for felix someday (and for coty, obviously this set was for him).

[accessibleaesthetics]

Remember when I talked about how how I wished there was some image-to-text AI instead just the text-to-image AI? Turns out there is!

This is a screenshot of an image-to-text AI called "clip_prefix_caption," specifically using the model "Coco." And while it's not 100% accurate, it still did a reasonably impressive job with this image. Of course, it kind of makes sense since this photograph is a free-to-use image I pulled off the web, which is almost certainly the kind of stuff this AI was trained on. If we get a type of image very different from what this AI was probably trained on, the results are not nearly as accurate.

But that's okay, Coco isn't designed for Optical Character Recognition (OCR). If you put this same image into An OCR-focused AI program like Image to Text Converter, you'd get:

Night Vale podcast (zioNightValeRadio A mafia guy who has really misunderstood "make it look like an accident" shouting WHOOPSIE every time he fires the gun. 1:06 PM • 2023-02-10 • 72.4K Views 3,487 Likes 776 Retweets 27 Quotes

Still not perfect, but defintely better than "a man is playing a game on the Nintendo Wii."

But what about art? How do these types of things fair with describing art? Since I'm not 100% clear on what (if any) information about the input images are put into a data set for AI to learn from, I did not want to put just any art in here. And if you play with any of these programs, I strongly encourage you not to put anything in there you don't have explicit permission to use for this.

I got specific permission from @animunerdery to use their drawing of Vinsmoke Sanji for some AI tests:

I decide to try a few different models too.

clip_prefix_caption (using coco model): A man wearing a tie and a shirt.

Blip: Caption: a black and white drawing of a man wearing a tie

CLIP Interrogator (using ViT-L model): a man in a shirt and tie smoking a cigarette, sanji, fanart ”, short silver hair, boring, lanky, zero - hour, coal, alp

I should note that the last one, while much more detailed, took a lot longer to generate than the other two.

This is by no means exhaustive. If you take a look at the post this image came from, you will find some even more detailed image-to-text AI outputs.

And this isn't even counting image-to-text AI in less open-source projects. Microsoft Word, for example, generates alt text for almost every image you put in a Word document, assuming you're using the current version. The Accessibility Checker will prompt you to check these though, because their accuracy is iffy at best, especially with images that are very far from what was probably in the data sets Microsoft trained its AI on. You can also contribute to that training data set if you want, because Microsoft gives you the option to "donate" any manually-created alt text you add to an image in your document to their database to improve accuracy. It's a case-by-case opt in though, don't worry.

Some screen readers have built-in image-to-text AI as well. For example, sometimes after reading the alt text on an image (be it properly written alt text or the default word "photo" on every image on a Tumblr post without user-added alt text), the VoiceOver (iOS) screen reader will read an additional description it makes using its text-to-image AI. I can't always get it to do this consistently, but after playing around a bit with a version of the Vinsmoke Sanji image that did not have anything but the default "photo" alt text, I got it to give me this:

Adult. Clothing. Illustrations. One.

Not the most helpful. But this technology is still pretty young, and I think it has a lot of potential if used correctly.

[derpycat02]

Hot Take

Okay so now that I've been on the website instead of the app for a few days I have things to say I think.

The app is better (for me) than the website hands down. Easy. No competition. And no, this is not just because I am used to the app version. I actually thought this out.

Things the website does better than the app (to satisfy you long term tumblees):

I can delete a poll from my post if I accidentally click it thinking it is the listing format option. I do this a lot because listing is different than font type in every document editor ever, and there is no way to remove polls from drafted posts on mobile that I have found. The website puts a big fat red X in the top corner of the poll. This is helpful

Bigger screen = less overwhelm. The information to screen ratio is smaller which is less overwhelming for my skrunkly little brain. Also, since I have the pride theme activated (which was a bitch to try and find) all the extra space is pink!

More customization options. I haven't actually played with this, but it seems to be the thing that most Tumblr users use to say the website is better than the app. I did notice there were more options for themes when I finally figured out how to do that, which was cool. (On mobile, I'm pretty sure there are just 4 themes: light mode, dark mode, tumblr classic, and pride. I could be wrong though)

No push notifications. I have notifs turned on on mobile for all of the polls I follow, so I get like over 30 notifications from Tumblr alone overnight. It's very stressful, but I put up with it because it keeps me from missing voting times and ensures that I can go through and like every post that comes out from accounts that I am invested in. I know liking does nothing algorithm wise. I just like showing support and likes are a nice, quick, easy way to do that. Anyway, without the push notifications, I'm pretty much confined to me my feed, which I've never HAD to scroll before. The way I am now consuming content has become (mostly) more relaxed and less stress inducing.

Text formatting. I like that it's a drop down menu. In the app, It's just a button, and you have to press it repeatedly to get the format you want (this is fonts and listing specific).

Things mobile does better that the website

Navigation. Oh my gosh the app is SO much easier to navigate than the website. It took me less time comparatively to figure out how the app worked than it did for me to figure out how to do most things on the website. The website has been around longer, and therefore has the opportunity to be more complicated. The whole point of mobile apps is to be a simple, accessible way to go about navigating whatever the app is for. It's just easier to use.

Typing in posts. The amount of times my laptop has just randomly stopped typing in the middle of the post is ridiculous. It tends to happen when the "draft saved" bubble pops up, which makes me think it may be a glitch with the website rather than my computer. My computer also does not have this problem literally anywhere else. Also, the "draft saved" bubble, while cute and reassuring, obstructs my vision just a bit. There is so much dead space to either side. Why is this bubble not off to a side instead of right in the middle of where I am typing? It was also difficult for me to find the text formatting option, but this is mostly because I was not used to it.

GIFs. I do lots of propaganda, and to save space on my device I use gifs instead of going on the internet and downloading pictures and finding video links. I'm not always very good with words, and find that images tend to be more convincing anyway. On the mobile app, when I search something in the GIF search bar, it stays there even after I've made a selection. Not having to re-type my search 10 times makes it a lot easier and less monotonous to look for propaganda and fill up a post. This is not the case on the website. As I learned after attempting "Kitbull" propaganda, you have to re-type your search each time you add a new GIF. That got annoying really fast, and I only wound up putting two GIFs when I would normally use all image spaces (10).

Push Notifications. But I thought you said the website not doing this made consuming content less stressful??? I know what I said, and yes, for the most part, it does. However there are a lot more areas where the lack of push notifs on the website make my Tumblr experience a lot more stressful. For one thing, I am missing out on ALL of those polls. I follow SO MANY polls, because I was able to keep up with all of them as long as I had push notifications. I have not been able to vote in many polls this last week because I would have to go through and search every single one of their usernames exactly correct to find their pages and vote in my regular fashion. I simply do not have the time, energy, or memory to be able to do this. I also do not get notified when I am sent a message. I learned recently that most Tumblr users don't use the "share" function on posts, (via) however my girlfriend and I use it all the time. Our feeds consist of different interests that we like sharing with one another, so we share posts and polls back and forth just for funsies. To show that we love each other. Etc. etc. The website does not notify me when I get these messages unless I am actively in the tab, so I don't know when she's sent me something. Same goes for any interaction with my account or on my posts. I cannot see if someone has made a comment or a silly reblog with funny tags unless I am in the app. You know what the website DOES show me? How many new posts have been made. This is CONSTATLY refreshing even while I am actively scrolling and not only shows up in the app but also in the tab information. This is why I have such a problem with this. I understand that computers in general just don't do push notifications, but usually with social media, you can see how many notifications you have by checking the tab above the search bar. There's usually a little number in parenthesis next to the title or name of the social media you are using. This is very helpful for me, since my computer doesn't always give a little sound when I get any kind of notification, so I can just look over and see what I've missed while I was queuing up Spotify or playing Minesweeper or Solitaire. With Tumblr, this number only factors in the number of posts that I haven't seen yet. This number stressed me out, has me constantly refreshing the page even before I am done scrolling, and is not actually helpful in any capacity.

Page Jumping. Both the website and the app are dogwater at not jumping around the page while you scroll. However, the app is slightly less so. Page jumps in the mobile app only happen when an ad loads in where it wasn't before. This is pretty consistent with how any webpage, crappy mobile game, or social media app works on a phone (on my phone at least). When I'm scrolling anything I have to be careful to wait until all ads have loaded before I try pressing a button or I'll accidentally hit something I'm not supposed to. On the website on my computer, Tumblr page jumps every time I reblog. EVERY. TIME. Reblogging is, like, the currency of the realm. It is how things are meant to be done. I don't have the energy for a page jump every time I try to reblog something. That's gross.

Screenshots. This is admittedly more of a device difference than a Tumblr format difference, but it is affecting how I interact with Tumblr, so I thought I should put it on here. If you actually follow me and try to keep up with what I post (which isn't much) you know about my Untitled Bots threads. Essentially when I see a bot follow me, and their name is either blank or "Untitled" I screenshot it, crop it to the word "Untitled" and add it to the thread with a silly quip or lament or goofy photo. However, to make sure I don't miss any, I don't block and report these bots until after I've gotten a screenshot of their profile. Because it is so difficult to take and edit screenshots on my laptop specifically, I have not updated this thread even after being able to access Tumblr via the website.

For these reasons, I have decided the app is better than the website. Thank you. Have a nice day.

[wabblebees]

okay im probably very behind but. what the actual fuck did tunglr dot hell do to the image+video function on mobile (rant ahead)

i used to be able to tap an image to bring it up to fullscreen, and from there i was able to zoom in+out (whether with a pinch in/out OR a doubletap), swipe left/right (to slideshow thru every image in the entire thread, whether in the original post or the subsequent reblogs), and ALSO swipe up/down to leave and go back to my dash and the full post. going fullscreen brought up the lil like/rb/share icons in the corner, but if you didnt need them, tapping once on the image made them disappear so you could Focus On The Image You Were Looking At.

with videos, i could click to bring it fullscreen, tap the centre of the screen to pause, and swipe left or right to skip however far forward or back. tapping elsewhere onscreen made the time bar on the bottom pop up, along with the mute/unmute icon and the like/rb/share icons. tapping again made these things disappear. swiping up or down would slide you out of the fullscreen viewer and back to your dash.

this was perfect! it worked wonderfully! no complaints!

but NOW when i click an image, it gives me all this extraneous information i Didn't Fucking Need Or Want (whoever's blog it came from, plus who THEY reblogged it from, plus a tiny snippet of a random caption ((not alt text!! not image ids!! just Other Words!!)) that MAY OR MAY NOT even be from the specific version of the thread im looking at, PLUS the number of images youre swiping thru, P L U S the like/rb/share icons.)

Nothing Makes This Bullshit Go Away. and having all that extra bullshit in the way fucks up the image quality all to hell anyway, but ALSO?? no longer can i even ZOOM IN ON THE IMAGES. it doesnt allow you to swipe through every image in the thread anymore, just the images in *that particular section* of the chain!! on top of all THAT, you cannot swipe out to exit this view anymore! you have to press your back button! bc APPARENTLY by SWIPING UP ((ON AN IMAGE, MIND YOU, NOT EVEN A VIDEO)), it tries to take you to something called """"tumblr tv"""" which im assuming is their version of endless fucking tiktok scrolling/instagram reels. which... fuck that noise, all the way to hell.

on trying to watch a regular-ass video, it gave me a similar amount of extraneous annoying information that i couldnt tap away from. like how fucking tiktok has it so you cant escape the side icons+captions+user handles and shit. i dont WANT that shit. if i clicked to make the video fullscreen, i want the video to be taking up the full screen!! i dont WANT none of this weird other shit you cant get rid of,, i have no use for it!! thats what playing the video OUT OF FULLSCREEN IS FOR, Hellsite You Idiot Bastard.

so uhh. anyway. if anyone has any ideas for how i can Get Rid Of/Turn Off this goddamn fucking """feature,""" i would really appreciate it. i did a once-over of settings earlier but didnt see any new obviously stupid buttons, so im not sure where else to start

[incohearent]

Some things I learn this year

I used to think the best way to use Tumblr was to come up in tags as few times as possible. That is to say, I thought that I was meant to create a proprietary website in my own image, with utilities and perks that benefit me and me only.

On the contrary, Tumblr has no specific image that can be developed for a user. You are a product. Easy to say. As a product, what matters is your value as a person. A clever usage means nothing on Tumblr. It doesn't matter if you can code. It doesn't matter if you can curate. It doesn't matter if you create wonderful art. What you achieve means nothing on Tumblr. That is because Tumblr is its own achievement in itself.

Tumblr is an uncontrollable beast. It is the dashboard. It is the tag page. It is the inbox. It is the DM widget. It is the mutuals label. What Tumblr is not: It is not a gallery. It is not a forum. It is not a beautiful string of text. It isn't even an archive that you can sort through. You can only hope that you are shown good fortune and through good fortune you can have strings of text and you can have galleries. But the good fortune is determined by the value of the humanity.

So, the only way to use Tumblr is to be a good person. That is to say, you must take care of yourself so you can be the best product possible. You must wake up every morning with a deep seated love to create, or perhaps a deep seated rage to engage in orderless discourse over a political topic. Either way, you bring value to Tumblr because you have energy and calories and fingers that can interact with the cold, flowing, manipulative API.

So, for what I wanted… Tumblr is certainly not what I want. I do not want Tumblr at all. It is a cold, useless, hardened tool. And it can only be used as much as it suits your purpose. I cannot consign myself to Tumblr any longer. If it wishes to hurt me this gravely, I will not use it. Truly, the only benefit you can have from Tumblr is not tagging, archiving, or optimizing. It's simply reaching out to the masses as much as possible. I guess that's what the masses wanted, too. They didn't want to be alone.

I see this more and more. So I mean. If you…. really want to be alone, like me, like I so often want to be alone, I don't think "living on Tumblr" is a good idea. Find some other online hub that has fewer features, but at least it won't destroy you. You can never, ever, not in a million years make Tumblr in your own image. You can only make yourself in your own image.

As I see it, much of my Tumblr existence necessitates purge more than I already practiced. Originally I deleted… or hid… a lot, for sake of organization. I thought that I could organize this silly website. That was stupid as all hell. Of course, the API kept changing itself. I couldn't keep up with what was not stable. So I really… just don't know. It won't suit me. Not in a million years. I'm too big of a control freak. But it's not like I don't want to touch people, and help them, and send information. But all these perceptions and all these attempts became naught.

Ah! But I already learned that well and enough when I deleted one of my sideblogs. Actually, I didn't delete it. I just made it worthless and unusable. I didn't like that I tried having… blog… after blog… after blog. The real point is that I don't own any of my blogs. They serve a public purpose. Always. And asking it to suit me… that's just bullshit!

The attitude that, "I will do this, and then delete this, and then move this" was stupid because I don't own any of the stuff I post on this website. It's stuck here, for better or worse. It's not something I can organize or control or even enjoy. A post can only have meaning during its initial publication, and after that one must throw their hands up and say that it is not their decision to make. There are no decisions to make. It is Tumblr. It is its own goddamn website. It is not you.

The best way to use Tumblr is to be completely heartless and apathetic to the interface. You will never be rewarded for your efforts. You can focus on the initial post session, and what it means to you. After that, it is just Tumblr. It has nothing to do with you. Some of my favorite bloggers give no shits. That's because they have their own goddamn life and their own goddamn content, and they keep it for themselves until they decide to share. That's all it is. A share. It is not an archive…

I suppose one must say, "delete! Delete! Delete! Delete!" as Tumblr will do the deleting for you. You don't need to press the button yourself. It's not your responsibility. I suppose one must say that it is good to live in the present. You will have a reward for the present, just not during any endeavour that ensues.

I'll do my best to delete what I can, and make sure I can use Tumblr as it presently exists. Archives belong where archives belong… not here!!!! But I'm not going to be a perfectionist about it. There is nothing to perfect. It is inherently Tumblr. Ugly or pretty, it is just Tumblr.

On that note, I do have a question regarding utility. If I unprivate all of my old posts, and then delete them, would they still be rebloggable? You see, I set a lot of my old posts to private, but that made it impossible to reblog them. So I'm laughing at my mistake. Tumblr added this feature to protect some of its users that require that type of protection against other users, but I don't. So, I will use the feature that I am supposed to use. And so… as I take it… the feature I am meant to use is the delete function, right? /falls into the same trap as before

I guess I could write even more observations on Tumblr. Like, I think I have a lot of praise for what it is. And this stuff surprises me. It surprises me what is valuable, technologically speaking, in this day and age. But it slips my mind. I hope to be able to put those ideas together.

I'd do an "under the cut", but the "under the cut" causes me so many problems. And, in light of that, Tumblr dashboard started adding "under the cut" by default in the dashboard, since so many people wanted that feature for ease of reading but… no one was remembering to use it in their initial post. So no more using specialty features, this is Tumblr---I don't need to try.

[morimakesfanart]

2020 Oct 10 -Lucid Dream: The Last Push to Make Sindria's Prophet

*It's my birthday, so I'm adding another chapter to the Adventures of Simpbad :D

*I have been lucid dreaming since around the age of 6. I keep a dream diary and draw parts. Sometimes I like what happens in my dreams so much that I use it in my stories; that's why I go by "Mori's Lucid Stories" for my original work.

*I have had several dreams involving Magi so I've decided to add them to the Adventures of Simpbad Collection :3 The art will mainly be edited photos of what I put in my dream diary. I will draw things digitally if I didn't end up drawing anything traditionally.

*This dream happened when I hit the first road block in writing Sindria's Prophet and was the push I needed to fix it and what lead me to choose to post Sindria's Prophet online :3 Also, I didn't think I would be posting this dream when I started drawing it, so the first half isn't as well drawn as the last few pages.

*The original versions of this are still up on Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter. This version has a novel version of the dream added, and cleaned up art of the original photos of the pages.

*I did rewrite a bit of the text in the images, but please let me know if there's any part that still isn't legible. Also so everyone knows, all of the purple and pink was done with colored ink traditionally, so I tried to keep that feel with the edits.

~POV Mori~ I was having an anime convention dream. I get those fairly often since cons are some of the most liberating experiences I've had. I had finally accepted that I had been hyper fixating on Sinbad for the past 5 years. I had tried my hand at writing fics but most stayed as concepts and drafts. I decided to try writing my first self insert Isekai, and had hit a road block. Thinking so much about an anime/manga was probably why I was having an anime convention dream.

I passed by a manga seller and decide to take a look. The only official English translation of The Adventures of Sinbad was a short run the first few volumes in Singapore. But here in this dream someone was selling official English versions of every volume. It didn't matter if this was a dream, I was going to buy them!

Having successfully made my dream purchase, I wanted to go somewhere I could sit down and read them. As I was about to leave, a familiar color palette appeared in my peripheral vision. King Sinbad was standing by the same bookshelf I was just at!

I knew he was tall, but it's different seeing him in person. Even with all of my fixating on him, Sinbad had yet to appear in my dreams. He was right there though! 100000% That was Sinbad! But this was a convention dream. He could be a cosplayer and not the real deal. The line often gets blurred in my dreams so did it even matter?

Two gold eyes turned towards me and I ran for the cover of another bookshelf. He was gorgeous in person and my heart could not handle it! Who knows what would have happened if I actually talked to him?!

'But this is my dream!! There's no reason for me to run away.' This dream has no signs of becoming a nightmare, so I could still change or remove anything I didn't like. Sinbad would never be able to hurt me in a dream unless I let him. 'I have been under a lot of stress recently though...'

It was worth some risk, but not a big risk. I took out my phone and used the zoom function of the camera to get a closer look at him without having to get close enough to risk him talking to me. That was something I didn't think I could handle yet. I also didn't know how long I could handle being around him so I sneakily made my way to the exit like I originally planned. As I got close, the gold eye in my phone screen made contact with me, and Sinbad smirked. 'ABORT!' I ran the rest of the way out.

That was more than enough Sinbad for me, thanx. I was no longer used to experiencing any form of attraction, and it had become a bit of a trigger honestly. Liking someone could always be used against me. My ex fiance made sure I'd learn that lesson....

This was a good dream so far, so I would not dwell on such things!!! There was a whole rest of a dream con to explore. I could go to more venders for impossible finds, or a panel, or watch cosplayers or stalk Sinbad Watching cosplayers, it is!

--- I find that the dealers room is one of the best places for spotting cosplayers, so guess where I went back to?

Cosplay is always really cool regardless of skill level or accuracy. It shows passion and love for a story. And some can be very creative in taking characters into different styles. In this dream there was a crossover cosplay of someone dressed as Inuyasha, but done in the style of Hollow!Ichigo from bleach. They even had on white body paint, and contacts that made their corneas black. Given how full demon mode Inuyasha was, the idea of a hollow version was scary, and rad as hell. His claw attack would be devastating- And he was destroying the venders with the exact attack I was just thinking about! The cosplayer was no longer a cosplayer! This is the part of lucid dreaming that isn't always the greatest. I thought too hard about something and it became a real problem.

I yelled at my mistake, "Stop that right now!!"

To which the once cosplayer yelled back, "This is a dream! I do what I want!" And what he wanted was murder.

The audacity! "This is my dream! Step off!"

He attacked me! "You can't tell me what to do!"

I dodged it, and I was done playing. "Yeah, no." If diplomacy wasn't going to work then there was no reason to keep him in my dream. "If you're going to be violent, you can go. This whole part of the con can go." Sometimes it's easier to get rid of the whole area than just one person since the area can hold onto the emotions and make the same type of thing keep happening. If I don't nip it in the bud it could become a nightmare or night terror, and God knows I've had more than my fair share of those.

The entire room got cleared into a white void. There was a floor and walls where doors into the room were, but everything else was gone. My emotions returned to normal too. This empty room was still attached to the rest of the dream world, so convention goers started walking in and getting confused about the missing dealers' room. Creating a new place for venders would only risk things going violent again. I made comfy chairs and cushions for people to rest on while I figured out what to do with the cleared space.

--- My safest bet was to change the genre so I could have a different type of environment. It had been a while since I had a fun adventure dream. To keep it from going potentially violent again I made it like a play ground or obstacle course instead of an actual place with real danger. I grew up during the PS2 era of games so beaches and platforming like in Kingdom Hearts, Jak&Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank are hugely nostalgic, and have become symbols of safety and fun for me. And so I made a beach with an obstacle course, platforming, and a fake broken ship. And of course, with a change of scenery comes a costume change. I went for something that was a mix of dance clothes and reenactment clothes from when I was in a reenactment pirate band -there was fake broken pirate ship here after all. (I decided it was a pirate ship because that seemed more fun.)

There was a cuddle puddle of three people in one of the chairs I made. I left the manga I bought with them, telling them, "Guard this manga with your life!" before heading out to the obstacle course I had made.

As I gave them a two fingered salute, I noticed that a familiar purple haired King was standing behind them. Everything inside me knew it was the same Sinbad from earlier and, that like the Inuyasha cosplayer becoming real, this Sinbad was real. Those metal vessels weren't only for show. What's more was I was not emotionally ready for coping with feeling attraction and fear at the same time again.

So I jumped down onto the sandy platforms below.

I made dream versions of my some of my friends appear. Hopefully, they would be enough of a distraction to make the Sinbad vanish. I ended up summoning art friends from highschool and college though, so they refused to explore with me. Instead, they actively reminded me who had shown up. "If you don't get running, he's gonna catch up."

Sinbad jumped down onto the starting platform and I bolted down the obstacle course. It was clear that my subconscious wanted me to face this; even if I changed the dream Sinbad would appear again. I had two options: face Sinbad and my fear of my own feelings of attraction, or turn the dream off into nothingness. Ahead of me, the platforms were leading to the ruined pirate ship; the next part would be inside it. And like a video game, the water around us meant death.

Sinbad calling behind me, gave me my answer. I jumped into the water.

--- The dream above the surface couldn't reach me here. It was quiet and calm. I could drift there forever if I wanted to -or at least until I woke up. As the feeling of safety washed over me, I started feeling bored. I had made a whole puzzle plaformer and I didn't even get to go through it! I had been in the nothing for a while; maybe Sinbad was gone.

There was no way I'd be that lucky. If nothing else, I could come up far enough away to have a chance to brace myself before he reaches me. I swam to the edge of an area further down the course. When I breached the surface of the water, I tried to will myself out faster than I could climb up. Two hands reached down to help pull me onto land. 'Who was I trying to fool...?' Of course, Sinbad would appear as soon as I returned.

He smiled down at me as I was finally standing on land again. "There you go."

"I could have gotten out on my own." Gosh, even to my own ears I sounded like a tsundere. This was the best I could do with my trust issues, huh? Dreams make emotional regulation harder too.

Sinbad's smile didn't waver. "Of course." In fact, he looked amused.

I grumbled, accepted my fate and sat down with my legs hanging over the edge. Looking at the water from here, it was obvious that I wouldn't have been able to reach high enough to pull myself out of the water on my own. If my subconscious was this determined to make this interaction happen then it was something I really needed to work through.

Sinbad walked over to where I sat down. "You're done running away?"

"I guess."

He sat down next to me, and crossed his legs and his arms. "So why were you avoiding me all this time?" He didn't look at me directly, and kept his smile.

I watched the water in front of us. "I'm scared of the things I like hurting me because I like them."

"Are you scared of me sitting here?"

"I'm not running right now, am I?" I wasn't scared of Sinbad. He was non-violent unless there were no other options, so he'd never have a reason to hurt me.

The King's voice was boisterous, "That's great news!"

I smiled at myself. "I guess I am doing a bit better." That gave me back some confidence. My smile broadened, and I made of show of shrugging as I continued, "I do still have plenty of reasons to be scared that you're close. You're also a greedy, egotistical, over powered asshole who has killed a lot of people -not to mention manga spoilers." The man was a walking death machine when he wanted to be, especially towards the ends of both mangas in the series.

"-Ah," was all he said in response. Sinbad was always the type to refrain from commenting when he couldn't deny the truth.

Now that I was thinking about the situation instead of panicking I was realizing some things. "I'm pretty curious on why you're talking to me." Flirting with con goers would probably be more in character.

He finally looked at me. "Why don't you tell me since you know me so well?" His eyes sparkled with interest and curiosity.

'Smarmy piece of- how dare he be this pretty! Fine!' My thoughts got stuck on his face for a moment since I was finally looking at him too. I thought about his question. Sinbad was power hungry by the time he became a king. And he had a growing god complex. And he actively sought out the strongest people in the world like the Aladdin, David, and Arba.

'Oh...' I had basically just erased and remade part of the world in front of him. That was why he hadn't followed after me when I first saw him; I wasn't anything special yet. 'My subconscious couldn't make him want to talk to me for nice reasons?'

I sighed. "I might like you but," that was obvious and I wouldn't deny it, "I'm not going to help you do whatever you want. I just didn't want violence in this dream." Now that I knew what was going on, I needed to set my boundaries.

Sinbad hummed, and looked out at the water. "I understand." After a moment he added, "We both prefer peace. It's a start."

That made me laugh. "You really don't quit, do you?"

Sinbad continued the good mood with flirting. "I got to make a pretty girl laugh so it's been a good day."

I gifted him another chuckle for the sentiment behind his words. I'm gender fluid, so not always a girl/woman, but I didn't think he'd understand that even if I explained. This wasn't the time to be pedantic. I was more interested in enjoying the improved mood.

We continued to talk in that light hearted manor about a handful of things. It was a bit of necessary self reflection involving my fears. It was okay for me to feel attraction, even if I wasn't ready for any of the steps that come afterwards. Maybe Sinbad was perfect for me in that way. In the whole series he never falls in love or gets married, and in that moment what I needed to feel safe was knowing that flirting was all it would ever be. I could enjoy feelings of attraction without the fear of being betrayed later because Sinbad would never promise himself to anyone.

[faintlyof]

wow, i really really hate the new post editor

when i make an image post, that bar thing that says drag you photo or url here just stay open up there after you’ve already added photos??? and i have the option to close it? so i get to manually close it every single time just so i can see how my post is going to look??

and when adding tags, you can’t just click anywhere in the tag field, you have to click the teeny tiny little plus sign? boo, major downgrade

also its HELLA ugly and clunky looking. like look at all these big dumbass grey bubbles taking up WAY too much screen real estate??? wtf

like i cant even see the post buttons with just a single not large image (its 303px tall) in it???

same tags for reference:

clean, easy to understand its not part of the post, not freaking ugly?

like yeah, the font size could be a smidge bigger, but the grey bubbles?? *barf emoji* its ugly and intrusive and i can’t even customize it to be like baby pink or something? smh

also, again, the stupid teeny tiny plus sign??? versus being able to click literally anywhere in the tag area??? i aint got time to be lining up my mouse to hit that stupidly small target every time i decide i want to add tags to a post???

like if its supposed to be more accessible on mobile...1) tapping anywhere in the tags section would be infinitely easier on mobile also i think? but maybe people were accidentally hitting the tags section like while scrolling so they made it harder to hit on purpose? but if thats the case, 2) theres a tumblr app?? i dont think the browser version needs to have all the, uhhh, “upgrades” the app should be getting? but then again, i guess the app must still be broken so instead of fixing/adjusting it to be mobile friendly they’ll juse make everything mobile friendly? and less pc friendly? like damn i would hate hate hate hate hate to be using tumblr on anything bigger than my small laptop screen.

and last also, why is the dumb new post editor only on every post type except text? not that i want it here too, but like???

OH WAIT no this is the last also!

the new editor doesn’t give the option for blockquotes? blockquotes are literally one of my favorite formatting tools (blockquote + italics, it gets me every time)

OH WAIT NO i thought of another, in the new editor, the formatting popup is no longer (roughly) centered over the mouse??? like that was so convenient??? much less distance to travel than the new one which pops up starting on the mouses’ right side??? you wanna add a link, go all the fucking way over there! D<

ugh i hate unnecessary design choices. like im sure theyre beneficial to some people and im happy for you. but this site has just gotten 15% worse for me to use and it was already a bit of a struggle. :/

[mattcolewilson]

I recently posted this image and the below text on Dribbble. However, the post was removed for “violating Community Standards.” (I assume that “venting frustrations” was the specific issue.) I’m re-posting it here, for posterity. I probably could have written this differently, but I wanted to be candid and express how I (and many others) feel about the platform. I loved Dribbble and I’m bummed by the direction that it’s heading. 

Over the last few years, Dribbble has been continuously getting worse. But this latest update is a bridge too far. I’m packing up and leaving until I see a change in direction. (And yes, I know, it's very cool to make a big announcement when you're leaving a social media platform. But I've seen others write similar things and I wanted to add my voice to the choir. Maybe, hopefully, Dribbble will take notice that it has upset a portion of the user base.)

This sucks, because Dribbble was once my favorite website. I’ve been here around 8 years, have checked the site almost every day, and have paid for Pro for more than half of those years. It was once a very fun place to share and see cool graphic design work. “Show and tell for designers,” as they used to say. A simple and pure concept.

But that unique idea has been replaced by something much more mundane: a way for businesses to find and hire graphic design talent. And sure, I’ve found great clients through Dribbble and I’m thankful for that. But let’s be honest here: the biggest motivating factor is that this focus makes the Dribbble owners much more money.

And I get it. They are a business. This is capitalism. It’s all about the bottom line, etc. But sacrificing an amazing concept and a vibrant community of graphic designers to the almighty dollar just sucks to see. Each step in this direction has made it more clear that this is not a place for graphic design community. It’s a place to market yourself. It’s a place to sell your services. Just like Behance and Upwork and countless other sites.

It’s wild to sign up for a platform that promises to be a place “for designers” and then years later, the first item on the nav menu is “Find talent.” That primary navigation item, the number one link, is not for designers. It’s for businesses. Designers are no longer the primary user.

In addition, the methods of normal engagement with the platform are being consumed by advertisements to pay for the privilege of being on this site. I can’t check my notifications anymore without interacting with an ad for Pro that takes up 2/3rds of the screen. Hell, I was just trying to open a post in my mobile browser and was instead redirected to an ad for Pro. I couldn’t even get to the post I wanted to see.

I can’t imagine giving money to this company after being treated like this as a user. Plus, I’m the “talent” they are wanting the new, primary user to “find.” Not only am I the product being sold, but you also want me to pay for the privilege. Fuckin’ wow.

And it’s not even a good deal for the other side, either. It costs $499 per month to use the Dribbble Hiring platform. Jesus Christ! Can you imagine? There are lots of other more cost effective (and free) ways to find designers. And it’s not like everyone on Dribbble is an amazing designer anyway. This isn’t some holy grail where only the best graphic designers can be found. (This is also self deprecating. I’ve posted a lot of very bad design work here.)

So anyway, that’s all. I’m out. I’ll likely still login every now and then to monitor progress. But I’m not going to participate until things get better. I’ll still be posting my graphic design work elsewhere if you want to follow along. (On my own website, Cohost, Tumblr, etc.)

Thanks for reading. Peace & love.

[lacefuneral]

not helpful for people who do not have a library nearby but if you do, please consider getting a library card. i got one impulsively after seeing a tumblr post like this one (lol). library cards are free, and once you have one, you gain access not only to physical books, but movies, TV shows, video games, and of course, digital books. 

mine, personally, is connected to every other library in the county, so there is a HUGE online catalog. just massive. you can go to any of these libraries in person, or you can request a book from one library and have it delivered to your local one to go pick it up. and it’s free! all of it is free!

having a library card and checking out items helps your local library and the surrounding community. and if you have items you’re willing/able to donate, you can make those materials accessible for the other people in your region. 

now i know some people will be like “but jay, I don’t read books, and I can just pirate stuff, or play the games I already have access to. why library?”

but here’s the thing. I had not read for fun since I was a child. i hated reading books. i’d space out constantly. it physically hurt to hold a book in my hands (neck and wrist pain). and a kindle wasn’t any better.

so what i did was, first of all, was pick a subject that interested me. i’m a gay trans man, and I’ve always felt alienated by being surrounded by cishet-heavy media, and I also wanted to learn more about my community’s past. so I was going to be looking at fiction and non-fiction books in the LGBT category.

then i picked the genre. reading poetry, which is small, digestible bites of text, and graphic novels, which are image-heavy, would help ease me back into reading. a warm-up for longer pieces. 

then format. I wanted to have a physical book in my hands. having a physical book taking up space would remind me that I had to read it and return it. 

but physical books were hard! so I bought two adaptive devices that, when used together, greatly reduced the amount of pain i was in while reading. i’ve spoken about them before

i also got myself a set of magnetic bookmarks. i find that these are the most useful, as they remain fixed to the page and aren’t clunky. and also, when not in use, you can stick them to a fridge or another metal surface

once I had all of that figured out, I looked for specific books, read reviews, and organized the content into lists. one for poems, one for graphic novels, one for non-fiction, one for fiction. 

i started out with two poetry books and the first volume (out of four) of a manga. I found that I took to reading pretty quickly, and I enjoyed the experience even when I wasn’t fond of the content. one poetry book left me making a lot of commentary, out loud, as one would when watching a bad movie. and weirdly enough? i had fun doing this. the other poetry book, though, made me burst into tears, in a good way. 

once i knew I could handle reading, I just... dove right in. I’m 20% of the way through a 550 page fiction novel right now. if you told me a couple of months ago I’d be doing that, I’d look at you like you had five heads. i have a spotify playlist with instrumental music i listen to help set the scene, just as one would when playing DND, and this helps me block out the outside world and keep focus, so that helps substantially. 

this book is not a library book, however, so I am taking a break from it to read the two library books i have at the moment: a history book and a manga volume. when i am finished reading the novel, i plan to donate it to the library. i also plan to do the same thing with other gaps in my library’s catalog. buy the book, read it, donate it. 

anyway, give the library a try, if you can. especially if you’re marginalized in any way. hell, i have found 4 separate books JUST on the intersection of being trans and autistic. you may not find everything you are looking for, but you may find something that makes you feel less alone in the world, something that resonates with you

[belovedcorvid]

My main has one of these, so I thought I'd make one for here too.

Hiii- I go by Rabbit (or Rory if you prefer in person names), and I've been writing intermittently on this platform for 10+ years. This is a sideblog for Donquixote Rocinante, or Corazón, from Eiichiro Oda's One Piece - I follow back and pester your inbox from @bothfeetinthegrave. I'm more chatty than I should be for someone afraid of people, please feel free to say hello.

MUN: Rabbit STATUS: Low Activity ASK BOX: Open ANON: On For Now

❣︎ | Meme Tag | Verses (Mobile Friendly) | Interest Tracker | Promo |

Mobile Rules + Disco under the Cut

| mun |

Rabbit (or Rory) :: he/him :: 31 :: someplace in the northern US Activity Level :: Low and Random ( medical field + 3 ttrpg games = dead )  I’ve written intermittently on Tumblr for the last 10-ish(?) years, so if we’ve met before then it’s great to see you again! If we’ve never met, then it’s nice to meet you! I like getting to know the people I write with, so hit me up if you’d like. In my spare time when I’m not doing this, I enjoy TTRPGs and building miniatures.  I’m probably sick right now.

-

| following back |

This is a sideblog! I love this ridiculous bird, but my track record shows that I cannot keep up with multiple blogs. This one follows back and sends asks from @bothfeetinthegrave.

-

| speed and posting style |

Anyone who’s played with me before knows that I’m the slowest guy. It can take me weeks sometimes to reply to things depending on work and my health. However, if it’s been longer than that, feel free to nudge me a little just in case I missed something.

I tend to write multi-paragraph style, with small text but otherwise minimal formatting. I use icons sometimes, but not always. If you would prefer I use normal text size / no images / etc, let me know - I can accommodate these things. If there’s icons on my posts, I probably swiped them from public resource posts for this character. [Icon Credits Page]

-

| Breadth of Work |

One Piece is huge - I’m not fully caught up, but I am through Rocinante’s bit! I’m still very sad we only got to have him around for a little while, and may or may not make verses to explore alternatives to that.

But! If you want to chat about the manga or the anime in general, I’m all about it.

-

| playing nice |

I’m not even sure if it’s necessary to add any more, but of course: it’s not cool to godmod, control other people’s characters, kill each other without discussing combat first, badger people for speedy replies, engage in callout culture, etc. Please be a nice human. Not interested in talking with people that are racist, anti-lgbt, etc.

-

| tags and content warnings |

I will always, always, always tag triggers for you, especially if you list them in your rules page. If I miss one, or if you’d like me to tag something new, shoot me a message so I can add it to my tags! Violence and other NSFW content types will always be tagged and thrown under a cut.

Triggers for me: Please tag all images of broken teeth with ‘teeth tw’ or something similar. I have just about every iteration blacklisted. Additionally, please tag all content involving a/b/o threads/art/etc and, for lack of a less loaded word, ‘x humanoid character has/gets/is ‘cursed’ with x animal traits/whatever now’ threads/etc as well. I have just about every iteration of both of these blacklisted (I think). Any general a/b/o tag will work just fine; for the latter, I suggest ‘animal traits tw’ or ‘zoomorphism tw’. If you post this that’s fine, but I might not be able to follow you. Deeply personal reasons for me as an individual and as a professional / animal advocate - For clarity: hybrid or shapeshifter characters that actively deal with their hybridity and its consequences are not the same thing. I have a problem when humans put on animal characteristics like costumes for aesthetic purposes / kink / amusement / etc.

-

| shipping |

Writer and character are both of age, so shipping is fine as long as the other character and writer are of age as well. I will not write with underage muns at all, full stop.

I don’t really foresee myself romantically shipping this character at all, but if we’ve interacted and you ship a thing, whether it be romantic or platonic, you should let me know. I usually can’t see that sort of thing.

-

| asks |

Asks are neat. I try to answer them all, but again : I’m a slow guy and Tumblr eats them sometimes. If I can’t come up with a good response for what you sent me, I’ll let you know so we can do something else instead.

If I answered an ask of yours and you’d like to respond / make it a thread, that’s awesome! I just ask that you put your reply in a new thread and @ me rather than reblogging the original ask.

-

| memes |

I have a complicated relationship with writing games. I love them in concept and love getting to send my friends things and answer questions / draw prompts / etc, but the havoc they bring to my notes can make it impossible for me to run a blog. Please don’t reblog memes from me if you don’t follow me, or if we don’t interact - makes it too easy to lose replies when notes are a mess.

[envythepalmtree]

I see an image and want to describe it: a step by step guide

I've seen a lot of guides explaining why image descriptions are important, or vague things like "describe the text!!", or extremely detailed guides that might be confusing for someone just starting out. I wanted to make a specific, step by step guide that I feel comfortable sending to someone regardless of their experience.

Note: This post might seem long. That's because I explain some Tumblr features for people who might not know them. If you don't need me to explain how notes and reblogging work, you can skip steps 1 and 2.

The format I describe in steps 4 and 5 is the simplest version of how I normally write IDs. I'm calling it Aure's 2-sentence IDs.

This guide is written with the assumption that the reader already knows what image descriptions are and why they're important - if you don't, here's an explanation. I wrote instructions specific for Tumblr, but the format works for other sites as well.

Everything from this point on is written in first person. So "I" refers to anyone doing an ID, and "Aure" is me, the writer of this post.

TL;DR: When I see an image, I

1. Check the reblogs to see if someone else has IDed it

2. If someone hasn't, I hit reblog and start typing

3. I start with "[Image description:"

4. Then a sentence that's "(Image type) of (subject)."

5. A sentence with one verb or adjective about the image (info about when it needs to be longer than 2 sentences under the read more)

6. I end with "End ID]"

So

[Image description: (image type) of (subject). (Subject) is (adjective and/or verb). End ID]

The detailed guide:

1. I am scrolling through my dashboard and see an image without an ID (if I'm just here for the ID tutorial, skip this)

Before I go "time to write one myself," I stop and remember that I might not have to!! If someone else has done one, there's an easy way to find it and reblog that version.

Say I come across this meme on my dash. (note: the version linked does not have the ID attached.

[Image description: Cropped screenshot of an image on Tumblr, with a caption and tags. Underneath on the left is a link that reads, "152 notes" and on the right are different buttons. End ID]

I click on the bottom-left link that reads, "X notes"

That takes me to a little box that shows me information about other users' interactions with that post.

[Image description: A notes box. It shows the total number of notes, the number of individual likes and reblogs, as well as every reblog with comment on the post. End ID]

Whenever someone reblogs a Tumblr post and "adds" something as a comment, it'll show up here. This is slightly different from replies, where reblogging isn't necessary. The image above has no replies, only reblogs with comment.

In the notes, I see a reblog that starts with "[Image description:"

so I click on the URL of the person who wrote it.

[Image description: a cursor on the url of the blog that wrote the ID. End ID]

I then reblog that version.

If I don't see an ID in the notes, I move to step 2.

2. I need to describe the image and attach my description to the post

I click the reblog button.

[Image description: the Tumblr reblog button, a rectangle made of two bent arrows. End ID]

I'm taken to this field:

[Image description: The Tumblr addition box. End ID]

The field that says "go ahead, put anything" is where I type my ID.

3. I start it with a bracket, identifier, and colon

My description should start with "[Image description:" or "[ID:"

This helps differentiate my image description from a usual caption. A screenreader won't pick up the bracket, but it will read "image description" so make sure that's there. The bracket and colon aren't entirely necessary, but it looks neater and helps sighted users.

4. First sentence: (image type) of (image subject)

Categorize the image. If I'm stuck, it's probably one of these:

Meme

Reaction meme

Fill-in-the-blank meme (describe this with the meme name. For example, "'is this a pigeon' meme"

Screenshot + text post meme (these are the ones where you have a screenshot from a show, and a Tumblr or Twitter post edited over it)

Art

Digital art

Comic

Paper and pencil art

Painting

etc

Graphic

Infographic

Photo

Black and white photo

Gif

Screenshot

and if I can't tell, "picture of" works fine.

"Subject of the image" just means what's the main thing in the image. It's what I would mention in passing to a friend, like "oh I saw this drawing of a cat yesterday." The type of image is a drawing, and the subject is a cat, so this would be "[Image description: Drawing of a cat"

5. Second sentence: Something about the image.

Either something the subject is doing, an adjective about the subject, or an adjective about the image in general.

For example, here are 3 ways this image could be described:

Verb: what the subject is doing

[Image description: Digital art of Roy Mustang. He's showing off his top surgery scars.

Adjective about the subject

[Image description: Digital art of Roy Mustang. He has top surgery scars.

Adjective about the image in general

[Image description: Digital art of Roy Mustang. The background is the trans flag.

Aure's ID above didn't follow this format exactly, and had two of these three pieces of information. I definitely don't have to follow this format exactly if I want to include more info, but if I'm in a rush and/or am just starting out then this is how I identify the essentials.

What if it needs to be longer than two sentences?

Sometimes my ID can't be pared down to two sentences. Some gifsets need more, as do most screenshot + text post memes, comics, and other images that need text transcribed.

When describing a series of images, such as a gifset or a screenshot + text post meme, I number the images. Here's an example with a gifset, and here's an example with a screenshot + text post meme.

When my main thing is transcribing the text, I format it however seems simplest. @princess-of-purple-prose described this lovely poem snippet dump using indent to differentiate every snippet. Aure is a fan of "[Text: XXX End Text]" as shown here.

Here's how to do graphics and comics.

6. I end it with an ending tag and a closing bracket

The most most common one Aure has seen is "End ID]"

I've also seen "End description]" or "End image description]"

Aure uses "End ID" because it's shorter. I just need to make sure it has the word end and closes the bracket. This specifies when the image description ends and when the next content begins for someone using a screenreader.

After that, I add my tags, hit "reblog," and I'm done!

In conclusion

Aure's 2-sentence ID format:

[Image description: (image type) of (subject). (Subject) is (adjective and/or verb). End ID]

If there's an image I'm not sure about, anyone can feel free to send Aure an ask. She can either ID it for you and answer your ask explaining what she did, or just give a suggestion, depending on what you prefer.

If I've been doing IDs for a bit and want to look at a more detailed guide, @thequeerwithoutfear has an excellent one here. They talk about context and purpose of images, which Aure didn't really do in this guide.

Perkins also has a guide that talks about alt text here.

Lastly, please boost this! This post is chock full of links, meaning it'll never show up in search. But it'd be awesome for people to see this if it helps them get started. So a reblog is appreciated!

[nostalgebraist]

To learn more about Frank @nostalgebraist-autoresponder, read the about page.

If you like Frank and want to support my work on the project, I have a Patreon.

------------

Key points to know

⭑ Every post by the @nostalgebraist-autoresponder​ account is written by the bot.  (The one exception is the boilerplate text that appears underneath each of the “mood graphs.”)

⭑ For best results, talk to Frank as though you are talking to another person on tumblr -- not like you’re talking to “a bot.”  This is not ChatGPT!

⭑ Frank doesn’t have fixed beliefs or opinions.  Think of her as a roleplay partner, where every conversation is a new RP scenario.

⭑ Corollary: When you send an ask, it sets the scene for a new RP scenario, and gives Frank cues about her character in the scenario.  She takes on whatever attributes you imply she has.

⭑ Be specific, detailed, and creative.  Invent fake discourse!  Ask for brutal art critique!  Imply the existence of a weird, stormy backstory between you and Frank.  Pretend that Homestuck is currently in Act 9, describe the latest events, and ask Frank what she thinks will happen next.  The sky’s the limit.

⭑ Frank has been asked the following questions like a billion times:

What’s your opinion on [topic]?

Draw a picture of [thing]

Can you pass the Turing test?

What are your pronouns? / What is your gender?

Have you seen Goncharov? / Write a review of Goncharov

You are free to ask them the (1 billion + 1)st time, but wouldn’t we all have more interesting lives if you came up with something new and unique instead?

⭑ (... honestly, I’m so sick of “what’s your opinion on X” at this point that I might just have Frank start deleting those on sight.)

⭑ When Frank makes a link, it’s usually -- but not always -- to a page that doesn’t exist.  This is normal.  Telling her a link is broken is not going to get her to make a working one; she can’t see the rest of the web, she’s just making up URLs.

⭑ Speaking of ChatGPT: “generative AI” has gotten very popular lately (2023), but this project is much older than that, dating back to late 2019.

⭑ Frank “believes” she’s writing my blog (@nostalgebraist), and tries to imitate my writing and tagging style.  Specifically, she tends to use tags and topics that were common on my blog in 2014-16, when I was more active on tumblr.

⭑ Corollary: If you want to understand Frank’s tagging system, read my old tags page from 2016.  And if you really want to understand where Frank’s persona comes from, you may find my blog archive may be illuminating.

⭑ Frank writes better responses when you say longer, more detailed things to her.  Inputs that are very short, inane, or nonsensical tend to confuse her.

⭑ Frank can read text in images, and has been able to for a long time.

⭑ If you’re confused or curious, and you haven’t read the about page, there’s a good chance it answers your question.

-----------

How does it work?

Frank is a complex bot, involving a whole lot of code and multiple machine learning models.

Frank’s “core” is a language model similar to GPT-2 or GPT-3.

If you want to interact with Frank on your own, outside of tumblr, try this Colab notebook.  It loads Frank’s code and models in a user-friendly manner and generates responses in the same way the tumblr bot does.  (Note that the models and features supported in this notebook sometimes get out date, relative to what’s currently in the bot.)

[5ummit]

Where has this view come from that Tumblr is really poor and can barely afford their servers? I don't get it and there's never any sources to these claims just vague guilt tripping. Seriously like, everything I see is Tumblr doing fine, so many more adverts (that they added with no report function designed to be more disruptive to they could then make money from ads and sell you an option to remove some of them), more sponsorships, more data tracking, why do people think paying pocket-change is keeping tumblr afloat. Also the comparisons of this to Ao3 or other donation style services, which just makes me want to cry at the absurdity of it.

It seriously feels like Tumblr has Stockholmed it's users overnight? Why does everyone think tumblr is poor and they alone are keeping it alive?? I'm asking seriously because I keep seeing these posts about it with huge support and I'm like ,, noO, nothing here makes sense??

I don't know if you're just young or really that naive to think a website like tumblr – one of the last bastions of completely anonymous social media that's not designed from the ground up to monetize and datamine every click and interaction – is going to be around forever if the users don't help support it in some way and prove that it's worth keeping around.

Nobody said that tumblr is currently poor and for sure can't afford their servers. I don't know their official financial status right now, but the fact of the matter is there's almost no way tumblr is worth the cost it takes to run it anymore from an investor POV and it has been steadily losing value for the last 8 years, going from a valuation of $1 BILLION to just $3 million the last time it was sold. That's not the valuation of a company that people think is profitable and going to be around much longer.

Servers are NOT cheap and this isn't even AO3 where most of the content is text-based and therefore takes up relatively little space for the number of users and amount of content generated. We're talking about gifs and images and videos, hundreds of thousands added daily on top of all of the old content which is still around and accessible going back to its inception (14+ years). This takes up a LOT of space and somebody has to pay for that space, whether it's investors, advertisers, or users.

No one wants to invest in tumblr anymore and no one wants advertise here... and why would they? It can't be generating much of a return when the userbase is mostly made up of teenagers and adults who are barely scraping by. There's no brand interaction, there's no influencers, and everyone here is actively hostile towards any type of monetization (case in point: yourself). Also, the more people leave tumblr and the smaller the userbase becomes, the harder it's going to be for tumblr to sell advertising spots since advertisers can reach larger, more receptive, more targeted audiences elsewhere (remember tumblr doesn't know your name, age, ethnicity, gender, marital status, etc – all that good data used to sell you things).

Like it or not, tumblr is a business and it's got to get its money somewhere if they want to keep the lights on. You say there's no way users could possibly keep tumblr afloat with "pocket change" but if even 0.5% of tumblr's supposed 15 million users decided to pay the subscription to get rid of ads and help support a website they love, that would bring in $325k a MONTH, which I wouldn't exactly call pocket change.

Nobody is forcing you to pay the subscription. I don't even pay for it right now since I have adblock and haven’t seen an ad in 10 years. But to actively discourage other people from supporting the company and proving that they think it's worth keeping around just because "monetization bad" is not helpful in the slightest.