#heres to 2024 and another year on this webbed site ^_^

[butchdykekondraki]

2024 yippie

[fine-nephrit]

🥏 Where to find good XF fanfics

👽 On Tumblr

@lilydalexf has an encyclopedic knowledge of fics and continues to be an invaluable resource. You'll find a boatload of themed fic lists, individual rec posts and helpful answers to anon asks.

@txf-fic-chicks-blog seven years of almost daily recs, with well-written blurbs and a lot of fun, run by @kateyes224 and @piecesofscully. Look out for their themed days: "Casefile Monday", "Tumblr Tuesday", "Editor's Pick Wednesday", "Post-Ep/Missing Scene Thursday", "Novel Length Friday", "Smut Sunday", and the very cool "Because You Watched"

@msrlibrary a well-tagged library of MSR fics; each entry includes a short excerpt and a nicely chosen image from the show.

@201daysofxfiles a rewatch blog by fandom veteran @wendelah. Each episode in season 1-7 is paired with its own fic rec post.

@enigmaticxbee an aesthetically pleasing and neatly organized rewatch blog that is packed with great content, including excellent fic rec lists categorized by season, story type, trope, and more. Each episode guide sometimes features related fic recs.

@thatfragilecapricorn30 posts one fic rec every Friday, accompanied by a nice writeup.

@randomfoggytiger curates many fic rec lists sorted by often fun and creative categories.

@cecilysass has a google doc titled "fics I love", which is a fantastic fic list categorized by story type, complete with thoughtful blurbs. She's also shared two episode-related fic rec lists on Tumblr: here and here.

@pookie-mulder writes a monthly fic journal with good recs.

**self-promo plug** I post fic recs on my Tumblr blog @fine-nephrit under #nephrit's fic rec. Plus, I reblog others' fic recs that I come across!

👽 Rec Communities

XF Book Club: the best thing ever, an absolute gem that deserves to be preserved for posterity. During its run, 270 fics were recced and discussed in depth here. The community's intelligent and insightful comments on this blog are sometimes even more enjoyable to read than the fics themselves.

The Fic Filter (xf tag): well-curated selections with short blurbs.

Multifandom Het Recs (xf tag): a major rec site's xf section that offers nice "why this must be read" writeups. @het-reccers

Crack Van (xf tag): another major rec site with a big xf section, featuring endless recs and blurbs

Fancake (xf tag): another major rec community's xf section boasting an extensive thematic tagging system

👽 Personal Blogs

Emily Shore aka Naraht: meta essays, fanvid recs, fic recs—great stuff aplenty

Bad for the Fish aka Scarlet Baldy: fantastic fic list paired with highly enjoyable reviews and analyses of the fics she's read. @badforthefish

Ramblings of a Mind Untamed: reviews of a dozen or so classic fics

xxSKSxx XF Fanfic Recs: still active in 2024! @xxsksxxx

X-Libris: more of a fic library, this is the best place to download nicely-formatted ebooks of pre-AO3 oldies. What I love most is the incredibly detailed and extensive tagging system.

👽 Individual Rec Lists with good writeup

Character Manifesto - Dana Scully: a character analysis and 10 Scully-centric fic recs, categorized by "best of .." selections. Amazing format and choices!

Character Manifesto - Fox Mulder: same format as above for Spooky

bachlava's awesome fic rec essays, covering classic fics and slash fics

ShipRecced blog's classic MSR fics and newer MSR fics recs

luminary's 16-fic rec post

RivkaT recs fics and writers @rivkat

Anna Otto's favorite stories

Syntax6's rec list on her site, great rec list on Tumblr and FTF rec list @syntax6

👽 90s Old School Rec Sites

The Basement Office - Musea: a treasure trove of extensive fic lists with lovely written blurbs, recced by a group of talented writers from back in the day

The Other Side - Fanfic Recs from Beyond the Grave: a large collection of 'scary' or 'spooky' story recs with nice blurbs. Beautiful web design.

the Rookery - Favorite Authors: nice commentary on a list of classic fic writers

X-Files Fanfiction 101: an intro guide to fic categories and what to read for each

The Primal Screamers: a fun site run by a mailing list that hosts fic recs with blurbs, and a 'Coffee Talk' section full of delightful discussions of canon

Idealists Haven - Elemental Fanfic Archive: an archive with rec blurbs

Chronicle X: a large, well-organized archive with blurbs, plus a 'Can We Talk' discussion section of novel-length fics, plus a total of 46 author interviews. Simply incredible!

👽 Special Mention

The X-Files Lost and Found: a fic finder message board that is miraculously still very active today—How wonderful! Its FAQ page hosts a huge collection of well-categorized themed fic lists (not recs), including "Classics (or, Your Fanfic Education is Not Complete Until You've Read ...)".

Where do you find your next read? What did I miss? Reblog and share your favorites!

[covid-safer-hotties]

The US Government Is Shutting Down A Key Covid Website

Tomorrow the US government agency responsible for biomedical and public health research, The National Institutes of Health, will shut down its Covid-19 ‘special populations’ website.

This site hosts a huge amount of information about how to treat covid and long covid in the immunocompromised and in people with HIV, cancer and similar immune supressing conditions - so-called ‘special populations.’

The site is going totally offline.

It’s a shameful dereliction of duty by the NIH which, behind Harvard, is the second largest publisher of biomedical research papers in the world. Doctors and clinicians all over the world use the NIH site for advice and treatment ideas.

And it’s going offline during a massive summer surge of covid infections in the US, a surge that is now topping 1.3 million infections per day. (One of whom was Anthony Fauci, who was infected for the third time last week). A surge killing 750 people a week in the US. Many of whom will be precisely the type of people this website is intended to help clinicians treat.

It’s a scandal.

The message it sends to vulnerable people could hardly be clearer - when it comes to covid, there’s nothing else we can do for you. Sorry. That’s it. We’re done.

It’s so terrifying.

It also sends a terrible signal to the medical community about where we are with covid

and will be materially damaging in efforts to treat vulnerable people, both in the acute stage of the disease and those with long covid.

The move to shut the page down is premised on an entirely false assumption: that we already know everything we’ll ever know about how to manage covid so there’s no point keeping a live web resource because they’ll never be anything to update it with ever again.

This is simply not true. While we know a lot about treating covid four years in, we absolutely do not know everything, not by a long stretch. As evidenced by the hundreds still dying every week in summer 2024. And as for long covid, we know very little about how to treat it. For a start, there is no agreed treatment plan. Absolutely none. But apparently we also know so much about this disease we can start shutting down online resources dedicated to it.

Please imagine for a second if a Trump administration rather than a Biden-Harris administration was doing this.

There would be an outcry.

But this move has so far been greeted by media silence.

It is left to a few disability activists and the covid aware to shout into the social media void.

Not that this is a surprise. This is how it has been for the last two years at least, guided by the business as usual, vax-and-forget strategy. More people have died of covid under the Biden-Harris administration than died under Trump. Despite having vaccines since 2021. You’d never know it by mainstream media coverage.

Some people have written to the director of the NIH, Monica Bertagnolli, and asked them to keep the advice live and up-to-date. If you want to do this her email address is:

monica.bertagnolli@nih.gov

Long Covid Action has archived the site here

Maybe if enough people write to her and enough noise is made the decision will be reversed. Worth a try.

Overall it’s just another grim episode in the handling of the pandemic by the current US administration, an administration who, we should never forget, won power in large part due to the outrage at Trump’s handling of the first nine months of covid.

Solidarity to everyone still trying to protect themselves and their communities from covid against all the odds.

At least we can keep fighting for each other.

[fruitcoops]

Mending

Prompt D5: “Bandaid” for the 7th (and final 🥺) day of @oknutzy-week-2024 . Kudos to @lumosinlove for the characters, and so much love to all of you for reading and writing and being wonderful <3 This week is always a highlight of my year!

TW for minor injury and blood (splinters)

“You are a total and complete disaster.”

“Just pull it out.” Logan’s gaze darted over, then immediately away. His throat bobbed like he was swallowing a heave. “Just get it out, get it out, get it out.”

Leo knew bemusement was probably not the right reaction to a lover in any sort of pain. Unfortunately for Logan, you had to be a special brand of crazy to be a goalie, and Leo’s sense of humor had always been a bit without regard for personal safety. “Would a popsicle make you feel better?”

He had also been getting splinters out of himself since he was old enough to hold tweezers, and here Logan was, at his grown age of 25, trembling like his name.

Logan snuck another peek and did a double-take when he saw Leo’s bitten-back smile. “Don’t make fun of me,” he complained, a little pale in the cheeks.

“I’m sorry, cher.” Leo shook his head, leveling his hand near Logan’s finger again. “Remind me how many fights you’ve been in?”

“You’re mean.”

“Forty-seven.”

“It’s different!”

“In three years,” Leo added.

“It’s not the same.” Logan’s voiced edged on a whine. “They’re not—inside me.”

Leo blinked up at him, sitting back on his heels. “I seem to remember you like it a whole lot when hockey players are inside you.”

The anxious pale of Logan’s face flushed red. “And see if you ever get to know that again,” he bit out.

Leo kept his opinions on that to himself. Something told him a firm, fact-based disagreement would not bode well for making Logan keep still while he worked. A tiny bead of blood welled up near the site of the wound; he smudged it away with a gentle pass of his paper towel. Logan’s flinch made his belly pang. “Sorry, love,” he murmured. “Almost there.”

“This is so embarrassing,” Logan muttered, eyes fixed in the opposite direction. The hair by his forehead and neck was damp with nervous sweat. Why he couldn’t reserve this fear for fighting two-ton behemoths on the ice, Leo would never understand.

“You’re doing great,” he offered helpfully.

Logan just scowled. “If you pull a needle out to help, I’ll scream.”

“Finn took this a lot better than you did.”

“Finn could get stabbed with a greatsword and say he’s fine—ow.”

Leo released Logan’s wrist at the first reflex-jerk and held the tweezers between them with a triumphant grin. “Got it!”

“—calisse de crisse—I fucking hope so!” Logan stuck his wounded fingertip into his mouth and squinted down between them. “Merde, that’s huge.”

Leo leveled him with a disbelieving look. “Want a bandaid?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“It’ll make me feel better.”

Logan stared at him for a few seconds, finger still in his mouth. “You just want to see me walking around with SpiderMan on my hand.”

Leo grinned. “Good doctors deserve compensation.”

“You made two million dollars last year,” Logan argued, already holding his hand out.

“Consider it overtime.” Leo shuffled through the small box he had dug from his mother’s linen closet just that morning, when Finn went jogging and decided walking barefoot on the dock was a great idea. He had, of course, immediately been stabbed in the foot by a nasty splinter. Logan had (of course) grabbed the exact same obviously-fraying spot five minutes ago while pushing himself to his feet.

He decided on a butterfly bandage, peeling the wax backing away while he held Logan’s finger still between the sides of his palms and placed the gauze down. The red looked nice against his sun-warm skin.

Leo looked up as he kissed the web-patterned top of Logan’s finger. “You were very brave.”

Unbearable softness narrowed into playful offense. “Your bedside manner needs work.”

[pillowfort-social]

Happy New Year! We’re kicking off 2024 with a Community Update after a very eventful end of 2023. We’ll give you a look at what Staff have been doing behind the scenes, an update from our Developer Team, and a preview of what’s in store for the platform. Community Stats: 

As of January 19, 2024 Pillowfort currently has over 170,467 registered users and over 9,928 Communities. The rest of this post is under the cut.

In 2023 we have…

Avoided shutdown thanks to your generous support.

Launched Pillowfort Premium

Tested and launched Drafts 

Added new premium frames. 

Updated our Terms of Service.

Updated our Business Plan.

Continued work on the PWA & Queue.

Blocked ChatGPT Bots our platform.

Announced our upcoming policy on Generative AI.

Increased weekly invitations keys to from 10 to 50. 

Continued patching bugs. 

Welcome New Users!

Welcome to Pillowfort. We are so glad you are part of our community. If you haven’t yet, check out the Pillowfort101 Getting Started Guide.

Thank you for keeping Pillowfort Alive! 

Your support during the End of Year Fundraiser helped us avoid ending contracts with our Staff and averted the end of our platform for another six months (July 2024). We can not express our gratitude enough to you. This has been an extremely challenging and stressful time for each member of the team. We are going to work hard to keep Pillowfort online. You have motivated us to continue the fight to be a viable platform. You may have noticed that our donation bar has reset to $5,000 at the beginning of January. This number is our monthly operating costs going forward.  Each month in 2024 that we meet our funding goal it will extend Pillowfort’s life past July 2024. 

Generative AI Ban Policy Update

We will be implementing our updated policy regarding Generative AI in the next site update. Prior to when the policy will be implemented we will share with the community what our definition of Generative AI is and our moderation process. 

We're aware that there are concerns about how moderation systems surrounding generative AI have been abused and used for harassment on other sites: we have consulted with experts on how to avoid those issues, and the suite of moderation methods from international universities also assist with identifying harassment. Abuse of reporting systems will be taken seriously by Staff.

End of Year Fundraiser Limited Edition Badge Gift Form

The form for gifting the Limited Edition Badge to other users who couldn’t donate is now live! Click Here to Fill Out the Form. (Note: We’ll be also making a separate Staff Alert with the link as well.)

Updated Business Plan

The Pillowfort Premium subscription model remains our primary answer to generate the necessary funds needed to cover the costs of running our platform. We will continue to offer optional premium features which can be purchased by users a la carte. However, we will be working on completing the following major projects / updates as an expansion of our revenue strategy in the first half of 2024:

Release of the Progressive Web App w/ Push Notifications - The data is very clear that the lack of a mobile app is hindering our overall growth. A PWA will allow our mobile users to experience all the functionality of a native mobile app and will be much easier for our Developer Team to build & maintain than a native app. We also won't have to worry about App Store content restrictions.

Post Promotions & User-Submitted Advertisement Opt-Ins - Users will be able to promote their posts (as advertisements) by paying a fee. No subscription is required to promote a post. By default, this promoted content will only be displayed on a page specifically for viewing promoted content. While this will mean potentially less revenue, it is important to our philosophy to respect our user’s experience and not force advertising on everyone. However, users can opt into viewing promoted content in their home feed, and will receive a discount on premium features for doing so.

Subscription Gifting - Users will be able to purchase subscriptions that can be gifted to other users. Subscriptions can be gifted to a specific other user, or can be added to a communal pool for any unsubscribed users to take from. We will provide special badges for users who gift subscriptions.

Pillowfort Premium Price Increase - We will be adjusting prices to help us fund our overall operating costs. We will notify the community before any price increase is final.

Mobile Pillowfort Premium Frames - Add an option for mobile users to view Pillowfort Premium Avatar Frames in their feeds.

Other Goals for Completion in 2024 (Goals are subject to change)

Release Queue & Scheduling

Rebuild the post image uploader widget.

Rebuild the way notifications are logged & retrieved in the back-end to be more efficient & reduce errors.

Release an Onboarding Guide for new users.

Release Multi-account management/linking.

Add 2-Factor Authentication.

Enable Community Membership Applications.

Release Community Topics/Organization Options.

Help Us Keep the Lights On!

At Pillowfort we do not receive any funding from venture capital or other outside investors because we are committed to keeping our user experience a priority, and not being beholden to outside interests. While this approach allows us to stay true to our ideals and content guidelines, it also presents many challenges to our team in the form of limited resources, personnel, etc.

Our continued survival depends on the generosity of our community. If you are able to, please consider supporting us with a one-time or recurring monthly donation to help keep Pillowfort online. Any money donated to us now will be applied as a credit to your account when we release paid features & benefits in the future.

Bug Bounty Reminder

We are still offering a Bug Bounty. If you find a bug on the site, particularly one that could pose a threat to the security or functionality of the site, contact Staff through our Contact form or directly at info@pillowfort.social. If you are unsure if we received your report, you can send us a DM to the Staff account here, or DM one of our social media channels to check on the status. 

We sometimes do not receive all notifications from users on other social media. DMing the Staff account on Pillowfort to check on the status is the preferred method. 

The first individual to notify us of a certain issue will be eligible for monetary compensation, depending on the severity of the issue found and the information provided.

Abandoned / Modless Communities Transfer 

We are taking Ownership Transfer requests for Abandoned and/or Modless Communities. The form is available here. 

Pillowfort Dev Blog

Follow our very own Developer Blog for the latest updates from Lead Architect & Founder Julia Baritz.

Follow Us on Social Media

Interact with Pillowfort Staff, ask questions, plus learn about upcoming features and more on social media. 

Pillowfort: Staff Pillowfort Dev: PF_dev_blog Bluesky: pillowfortsoc.bsky.social Tiktok: pillowfort.social Instagram: pillowfort.social Facebook: Pillowfortsocial X/Twitter: @pillowfort_soc Tumblr: pillowfort-social Reddit: pillowfort_social Threads: @pillowfort.social

Best,

Pillowfort Staff

[cindylouwho-2]

Etsy Deletes the Reselling and Gift Baskets Legal Policies In Favour of New "Creativity Standards"

This morning (July 9, 2024) Etsy released several announcements regarding what can be sold on Etsy, new categorizations for items sold on Etsy, and a new ad campaign. You can read my early thoughts on that here.

As part of this overhaul, they abolished 2 longstanding site policies, namely the ban on reselling in the handmade category, and the ban on almost all gift baskets containing commercial goods. Since they deleted those pages and didn't even mention those rules in any of their announcements, I have preserved those now-dead policies below. Thanks to Bing for still having caches of deleted pages!

First , the Reselling policy (text follows the screenshot)

text of screenshot:

"You have reached the cached page for https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/reselling/239324376512

Below is a snapshot of the Web page as it appeared on 2024-07-08 

Reselling

“Reselling” is selling an item that you, the seller, did not make or design. Etsy's marketplace includes handmade items, vintage items, and craft supplies. Reselling is only allowed in the vintage and craft supplies categories.

Everything listed in our Handmade category must be made or designed by you, the seller. Reselling is not allowed in Handmade. Read more in our Handmade Policy.

Examples of prohibited reselling include the following:

Creatively repackaging commercial items (for example a gift basket consisting of non-handmade items)

Curating a collection of others’ handmade goods that you did not design or make

Selling items made or designed by another seller who is not part of your shop

Selling traditional handicrafts or fair trade items that you did not design or make

Offering personalization as optional, or featured as a separate item (i.e. an add-on card, gift tag or written note), without altering or changing the commercial item.

Etsy reserves the right to remove listings that do not follow our policies. Sellers remain obligated to pay any fees incurred in listing such items.

Last updated on Jul 25, 2023"

And finally, the policy Etsy outright ignored for many years, the Gift Baskets policy:

"You have reached the cached page for https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/gift-baskets/239976666926

Below is a snapshot of the Web page as it appeared on 2024-07-07 (the last time our crawler visited it).

Gift Baskets

Repackaging or creatively curating commercial items for resale as a gift basket or set is not allowed in the Handmade category, unless it is part of a new structure (see below).

You may not group new items you did not make into a basket or set even when based on a theme, idea, or life event.

For example, a care package for new parents, a college student, or somebody experiencing an illness containing any new items you did not make is not allowed, no matter how caringly curated it otherwise is.

DO: Include only qualifying handmade, vintage, or crafting supply items. DON’T: Include any mass produced item in a gift basket, unless it is part of a new structure.

If you wish to sell an item that contains some commercial components, this may be possible only if the commercial items 1) have been used as components that form a new structure or sculpture and 2) are physically attached to one another.

For example, a diaper cake is an item where components are creatively attached to each other to create a new item.

DO: Creatively use mass-produced items to form a new structure where the items are physically attached to one another. DON’T: Include newly-made, mass-produced items in a gift basket unless they are part of a qualifying structure.

Last updated on May 3, 2022"

I will have more thoughts on this on my main website blog soon, but yes, this means that many commercial items are now officially allowed to be sold on Etsy, as long as they are listed correctly.

[topitservices]

Best E-commerce SSL Certificate 2024

Introduction to SSL Certificates

SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, certificates are small data files that encrypt data transmitted between a web server and a browser. When installed on a web server, they activate the padlock and the HTTPS protocol, ensuring that all data passed between the web server and browser remains private and secure.

Why SSL Certificates are Essential for E-commerce

Why do you need an SSL certificate for your e-commerce website? Imagine walking into a store and feeling unsafe about handing over your credit card. You’d probably leave, right? The same goes for online shopping. SSL certificates build trust, protect sensitive information, and are crucial for PCI compliance, which is necessary if you accept credit card payments.

Types of SSL Certificates

There are several types of SSL certificates, each serving different purposes:

Domain Validated (DV) SSL

DV SSL certificates are the most basic type. They verify the domain name, ensuring the website belongs to who it says it does. They’re quick to obtain and ideal for blogs or informational sites.

Organization Validated (OV) SSL

OV SSL certificates offer a higher level of security. They not only verify domain ownership but also the organization behind it. These are suitable for businesses and e-commerce sites.

Extended Validation (EV) SSL

EV SSL certificates provide the highest level of security and trust. They require thorough vetting of the business and activate the green address bar in browsers, showing users that the site is highly secure. This is perfect for high-profile e- sites.

How to Choose the Right SSL Certificate

Choosing the right SSL certificate depends on several factors, such as the type of website development services in India you have, the level of trust you want to convey, and your budget. Ask yourself these questions: Do you need a single-domain, multi-domain, or wildcard certificate? What level of validation is necessary? How much are you willing to spend?

Top SSL Certificate Providers

Several companies provide SSL certificates, but some stand out for their reliability and customer service:

Symantec

Symantec (now part of DigiCert) is renowned for its robust security solutions. They offer a range of SSL certificates suitable for all types of websites.

Comodo

Comodo provides affordable SSL certificates with various validation levels, making them a popular choice for small to medium-sized businesses.

GlobalSign

GlobalSign is another top provider, known for its high-quality SSL certificates and excellent customer support.

Customer Reviews of SSL Certificates

Customer reviews can be incredibly helpful when choosing an SSL certificate. Look for feedback on ease of installation, customer support, and overall satisfaction. Websites like Trustpilot and G2 are great places to start. Remember, a product that works well for one person may not be ideal for another, so consider multiple reviews before making a decision.

GoDaddy SSL Certificates

GoDaddy is a well-known name in the domain and hosting industry, and they also offer SSL certificates. They provide a range of options, from DV to EV certificates, with competitive pricing and robust customer support. Many users appreciate the convenience of managing all their website needs under one provider.

SSL Certificate Prices

SSL certificate prices can vary widely based on the type and provider. Here’s a general breakdown:

DV SSL Certificates: These are usually the cheapest, ranging from free (e.g., Let’s Encrypt) to around $50 per year.

OV SSL Certificates: These typically cost between $50 and $200 per year.

EV SSL Certificates: These are the most expensive, often ranging from $200 to $1000 per year.

While it might be tempting to go for the cheapest option, consider the level of trust and security you need for your ecommerce site.

GoDaddy SSL Prices

GoDaddy’s SSL certificate prices are competitive:

DV SSL Certificates: Starting at $63.99 per year.

OV SSL Certificates: Starting at $159.99 per year.

EV SSL Certificates: Starting at $299.99 per year.

Installing Your SSL Certificate

Installing an SSL certificate can seem daunting, but most providers offer detailed guides and customer support to help you through the process. Generally, you’ll need to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) from your server, submit it to your SSL provider, and then install the issued certificate on your server.

Maintaining SSL Certificate Security

Once your SSL certificate is installed, maintaining its security is crucial. Regularly update your server software, use strong passwords, and monitor your certificate’s expiration date to ensure it doesn’t lapse. Renewing your certificate before it expires helps maintain continuous security.

Common SSL Certificate Issues

Even with the best SSL certificate, you might encounter issues such as:

Mixed Content Errors: Occur when secure and non-secure content is loaded on the same page.

Certificate Mismatch: Happens when the domain name in the certificate does not match the URL.

Expired Certificate: An expired certificate can lead to security warnings for visitors.

Most issues can be resolved by following troubleshooting guides provided by your SSL certificate provider or seeking help from their customer support.

Conclusion

Choosing the best SSL certificate for your e-commerce site is a critical decision that impacts your site’s security and your customers’ trust. By understanding the different types of SSL certificates, reviewing customer feedback, and considering your specific needs and budget, you can make an informed choice. Whether you opt for a GoDaddy SSL certificate or another reputable provider, ensuring your website is secure is a step in the right direction.

FAQs

1. What is an SSL certificate and why do I need it? An SSL certificate encrypts data between your website and visitors, ensuring secure transactions and building trust.

2. How much does an SSL certificate cost? Prices vary: DV certificates range from free to $50/year, OV certificates from $50 to $200/year, and EV certificates from $200 to $1000/year.

3. What is the difference between DV, OV, and EV SSL certificates? DV verifies domain ownership, OV verifies the organization, and EV provides the highest security with thorough vetting and a green address bar.

4. Can I get an SSL certificate for free? Yes, providers like Let’s Encrypt offer free DV SSL certificates, suitable for basic websites and blogs.

5. How do I install an SSL certificate on my website? Installation involves generating a CSR, submitting it to your provider, and installing the issued certificate on your server. Most providers offer detailed guides to help you through the process.

By taking the time to secure your e-commerce site with the right SSL certificate, you not only protect your customers but also enhance your site’s credibility and trustworthiness.

[folliesandfolderols]

Writing prompts day 49, 50

From this prompt list. If you've read this far, I'm not sure you need any explanation, but the short version is I hadn't written any fiction since 2019, I set a goal to write at least 150 words/day in 2024, and this list was my way to restart. Also I abruptly decided on day 2 I would write an entire Tim/Damian story connecting all the prompts, because I am Good at Judging My Limits. /sarcasm Anyway, I finished the rough draft a while ago and am now unlocking the old entries as I edit. Buckle in because this one is long.

Read from the beginning here, or on ao3 here

Day 48 here

***

14. A whispered “Please” slipping out of kiss bitten lips.

27. Soft whines and whimpers; held back noises because they don’t want anyone else hearing them; a plea for more without the use of words.

94. Whispered praises against the other’s lips, which are met with soft whimpers and moans.

***

Tim didn’t see Damian again for a full week. He threw himself into casework and patrol, going out every night to, as he told himself and everyone else, "make up for all the coverage you took the slack for while I was gone." He could tell no one believed him, but they also didn't question him so he took it as a win. Jason bitched a little about never being able to get the two of them in the same place at the same time for their case, but he didn't really have a leg to stand on given the different ways they could collaborate.

Cass mentioned that Damian had headed for Metropolis to testify in some criminal trial he'd worked on with Jon in his civilian capacity over a year ago. She said it casually to Stephanie, just at the edges of Tim's hearing, and didn't look at him at all. Clearly she suspected something. He resolved never to bring up Damian in her presence.

He was just curling into bed on the seventh morning, staring at the light bleeding in around the curtains and once again remembering Damian telling him he should get shutters installed, when a text from Jason came through. Got a lead.

Tim didn't regret the distraction at all.

tell me

Why do you insist on not using punctuation like a normal human? Okay. There's a connection in Metropolis, believe it or not. They're the second-to-last stop on the northbound route and where the main arteries to the northern Midwest branch out.

so damian's there right now—can he check it out????

He's too busy; has to be in court every day for eight hours a day and Jon has other stuff he's doing. My sources are saying there's a connection with a couple of wealthy Metropolis dudes with ties to organized crime: Rufus Waters and Terrence Galloway. They're the ones taking the hottest girls and putting them to work as escorts etc. so they can get dirt on other rich dudes through them. Tale as old as time.

don't u start singing for me now

Timbo, you don't deserve my dulcet tones. Anyway. These guys love to see and be seen at bougie shit so they can throw their money around. The Metropolis Opera has something called the Aria After Party tonight for "young patrons," which I'm guessing means anyone under the age of sixty. You should go. Bruce keeps a box in Metropolis for when he needs another excuse to go there publicly.

Tim groaned. Opera was a definite acquired taste for him. He pulled up the Metropolis Opera's web site.

ah fuck they're doing the abduction from the seraglio

Is that a hotel? Are they keeping a lot of victims there? How do you even know?

no i mean that's the opera they're performing

Well, shit, Timothy, are you gonna survive a night of caterwauling that's not your fave genre just so dozens of young boys and girls don't get sex trafficked? Because I'd hate to fucking inconvenience you.

no need to get bitchy i'm going it's just i saw it awhile ago and it's kind of racist and not mozart's best work. so will some of the trafficking victims be there with waters and galloway or what?

Yeah, they usually have at least one on each of their arms so they can advertise. Just go with the flow and see what you can figure out. IDK, get wild and crazy and see if you can get one of the girls to leave with you.

Tim rolled his eyes. Yeah, right, like that would be hard. i am extremely charming and all the ladies love me so no worries i've got this

Sure, sure, I'm sure even someone who's being exploited is gonna be a sucker for those baby blues.

why jason i didn't know u noticed do u wanna tell me something

Absolutely, I want to tell you to shut the fuck up and do some detecting tonight. I'll drive down too in case you need backup but I'm gonna stay at that one safehouse Bruce has near Mortimer Bridge. Comms'll be open.

got it.

Tim put his phone on do not disturb and rolled over to his stomach, determinedly squeezing his eyes shut. He was going to get some sleep before he drove across the bay tonight, dammit. Good thing he'd had his best suit pressed recently.

He zoomed down to Metropolis after he took a detour by the Manor to borrow Bruce's Chiron. After all, what was the point of being the sort-of son of one of the richest people in the world if you couldn't drive faster than everyone else even without a mask on? Even when the car was idling at a red light, he could see pedestrians turning to look behind them at the sound of its engine. He grinned at the sight—he'd never deny that he shared the Bat penchant for making an entrance.

The opera itself went as expected. He saw some of Bruce's friends who made the same rounds of charity events and backstage events, and even some of his former classmates from Brentwood. The latter made a point to come to the box during intermission and make idle queries about where he was living, what he was doing, and how his Wayne Enterprises dealings were going at the moment. He kept his best vapid smile firmly in place and kept giving the answers that would get him an invitation to the party Jason had mentioned.

Finally, just as the lights dipped in warning, Jeffrey Chung said, "Hey, dude, there's this after party thing we're going to when the show's over. It's to support the opera and raise money for new carpets or whatever. Wanna come?"

Tim shrugged, though internally he was pumping his fist in victory. "Sure, I don't have to be back in Gotham tonight."

Once the lights were down and the performance had resumed, Tim raised his opera glass and tapped on the nightvision option so he could see across the hall. Galloway had a box opposite Bruce's, but it had been empty at the start of the show. Now, though, both Galloway and Waters sat close together, whispering to each other while the four stunning women with them stared at the stage with various levels of boredom. "You seeing what I'm seeing?" he subvocalized.

Jason replied on the comm. "Yep. Good deal. Hopefully you can get an invitation to one of their homes at the after party and plant some bugs."

"Even if I can't, I can get some into the women's purses, plus Waters' and Galloway's suits." He paused, then added judiciously, "It was a good idea to come here." A complimented Jason was a happy Jason. He was a former Robin, after all.

A brief pause in which he knew Jason was trying to hide his discomfiture. "Yeah, well, only a moron wouldn't have thought of it, so."

Tim suppressed a smile.

The after party was exactly what he'd expected: sponsored by a local entertainment and society magazine at a dark cramped restaurant that was trying to become fashionable, decent drinks, and pointlessly complicated hors d'oeuvres in which figs, liver, and fish were over-represented. Plus conversation in which bemoaning the state of taxation and by-the-way bragging about recent travel played a heavy role. Tim group-hopped with Jeffrey for a few minutes before wandering off on his own to make a circuitous route toward Waters, whose two companions were looking increasingly tired behind their charming smiles.

He approached them from behind, reaching just past their little cluster of people to grab a fresh glass of sparkling wine from one of the side tables. While he was back there, he dropped a combination bug/tracker into the clutch hanging from one of the escorts' arms. By the time he'd straightened, Waters had turned to see who was there.

Up close, he looked like the douchebag he was: floppy nose-length hair parted in the middle into two carefully styled waves, stupidly expensive tie gone askew despite the gold tie clip studded with huge diamonds, the type of puffiness around the jaw that bespoke self-indulgence, ill-fitting suit that he hadn't bothered to get tailored correctly. Kind of a faux pas, son, Tim heard Brucie say with that informal intonation that was an ultra-rich person's way of taking others down a peg or two. Most of the time Tim hated that the voice lived in his own brain, but in this case he felt like the target deserved it.

Guys like this always expected to be known, so Tim fixed a delighted expression on his face and reached to shake hands. "Well, hello there, Rufus Waters! We've got quite a few friends in common but I don't think we've ever officially met. Tim Drake."

Waters gave him a supercilious look down his nose before the name clicked and he returned Tim's grip. "Oh, right, you're Bruce Wayne's, uh . . ." He floundered a bit.

Tim jumped in before he could feel awkward about it. "Right, yeah, he's like a second father to me, taught me most of what I know today, set me up at WE. And who are these lovely ladies?" He turned with his most charming smile to the escorts, who both straightened and returned the expression with a little more enthusiasm than they'd shown previously.

"This is Luz," Waters indicated the Latina on the right, "And Katarina." The white blonde gave him a tiny wave. She stood at least three inches taller than him in her heels.

"You're a lucky man to have two dates when some of us have zero," Tim laughed, clapping him on the shoulder and planting another device in his collar. "Have some pity, give a lonely person a few tips."

"You don't need game to get these girls," Waters said, sliding his hands down to cup each of their asses and pulling them closer. "Just be rich and they'll throw themselves at you. Right, ladies?"

They both laughed and patted him on the chest. "Of course," Luz agreed.

Her eyes were dead despite the sparkling expression in her voice. Tim wanted to throw up, but instead he made a wide enough gesture to drop another tracker into the open mouth of her purse. "Well, then, clearly I'm all set! Luz, Katarina, tell your friends you know someone with lots of money and time who's ready to spend both on them."

"Thought I heard you were more into boys," Waters said, with just a thread of contempt sewn in the sentence.

Tim gave him a smirk and a tiny up-and-down just to watch him squirm. "Hey, I'm an equal-opportunity type of guy."

Katarina's smile turned a bit more genuine at that, and she caressed him from his shoulder to his wrist, where her touch lingered. "I appreciate a man who doesn't set artificial limits for himself." She had a slight Russian accent, but the British inflection was stronger.

Tim couldn't stop himself from blushing a tiny bit. "Oh yeah? And what kind of limits do you set for yourself?"

She raised his hand to chest level and held it in both of her own. He could feel her breath on his knuckles. "Not many, honestly."

Someone bumped into Tim from behind, sending his drink flying onto all three of the others. The women shrieked. He spun, but the culprit had been swallowed back into the crowd and probably didn't even know what they'd done. He turned back to Waters, who was grimacing at the wine splashed across his jacket.

Tim grabbed a cloth napkin from a nearby table and dabbed at it fruitlessly. "Oh fuck, I'm so sorry."

Waters waved him off with better humor than he would've expected. "Not your fault. I've got fifty more suits just like this or better. I should probably get back home, though. Some of us were already headed there anyway for a party that isn't as boring as this one. Wanna join us?"

"Do it," Jason said, and Tim agreed.

Waters' house was tacky nouveau riche even for a tacky nouveau riche neighborhood, full of peacock accents, stark white walls broken up with haphazard black and white photographs of tigers, and neon mood lighting in alcoves that made no sense. From what Tim could tell, all the men present were either potential clients for the sex traffickers or were actually part of the profiteers. A few women wore typical black evening dresses and held conversations with the men with business-like expressions, but most of them were stunningly beautiful, in low-cut gowns, and seemed to serve the function of seductive eye candy. Bass boomed from speakers set into the walls, drowning out any conversation more than a foot away, which he had to think was purposeful.

Tim took the first opportunity to make a circuit of all the lower-level rooms and get video of the layout, then withdrew to one of the recessed areas to get a better look at faces.

"Galloway's there," Jason told him. "Just showed up. He and Waters and that woman who looks like a matron from a Romanian orphanage were all talking by the Jacuzzi, but it looks like they're moving inside, probably headed for his study via the kitchen stairs. Get up there before them and you might be able to plant some bugs in good places in time for us to hear their plans. One camera in the hall at the top of the stairs nearest you, one in the study on the bookshelf closest to the window."

Tim started up the stairs, body bent over the railing like he was calling down to someone on the ground floor to hide his face.

"Tim?" Katarina rounded the banister just as he got to the halfway point.

He used it as an excuse to keep his back to the camera as he continued ascending. "Just headed to the bathroom!" he called. "Be right back down."

She gave him a long look, but nodded without saying anything and walked away.

Tim did a backflip as he reached the landing beneath the camera’s range of sight and hit the lens askew with his heel before ricocheting off the wall and down the hallway. Hopefully the cameras were just precautionary measures and no one was watching the video feed at the moment.

"Third door on the left," Jason's voice directed him.

Tim picked the lock in a matter of seconds—what kind of idiot didn't use biometrics for sensitive stuff? Well, he supposed he should be grateful—and entered the study in a crouch, locking the door again behind him. Taking care of the remaining camera proved to be easy work, and then planting his own surveillance devices was no trouble at all.

"Shit, they were faster than I thought they'd be. Go out the window."

Tim dashed to the window facing a side yard fenced in with wrought iron and almost tugged on the sash lock before he noticed it had been painted shut.

"Tim, I'm not joking, they're almost there."

Shadows loomed in the light under the door as Waters' voice reached his ears. "—talked to the people we've got in Tulsa—"

A hot hand grabbed his upper arm and propelled him into a closet he hadn't noticed before, closing the door behind them silently just as the study door swung open with a creak. Tim had just enough time to wonder why the  hell he hadn't fought back before the faintest ghost of Oud-Al-Janaid gave him his answer. His vision adjusted to see Damian's eyes glaring down at him, green in the lamp light now slivered under the bottom of the door.

"Tim, what the fuck is happening? Gimme a report!" Jason sounded pissed, which meant he was actually concerned.

"Everything okay," Tim breathed out, and took the comm from his ear to drop into a pocket.

"Are you checking up on me?" Damian demanded in a whisper so quiet Tim more felt than heard it. The fury came through loud and clear, though. Tim shook his head. 

Cass had started learning ASL several years ago because her own rudimentary signs were frustrating her when she couldn't speak fluently, so the rest of them had learned as well, but they weren't conversational, more at toddler level plus a lot of finger spelling. Toddlers could communicate, though. 

He signed, With Jason. Don't know you here.

Damian replied, good I come. They catch you.

Tim shrugged. Maybe.

He strained his ears, but the closet door was made of quality wood and he couldn't hear the words being spoken outside, just tone. Whatever conversation the three were having sounded like routine business. It didn't matter since the hidden cameras would pick up everything and have it ready for review.

For the first time, he became aware of how Damian was dressed. He wore a long cut tuxedo in dark green, with gold thread embroidered in intricate vines down its front and on the sleeves. Heat climbed up Tim's cheeks at the sight. He had to work to take his next breath evenly. Opera?

Damian nodded. Not box. Already go here after other party. When see you, know you come up to this room, so I wait here.

He'd probably braced himself in a corner of the ceiling just to have the drop on Tim. He narrowed his eyes, struck by sudden suspicion. Drink?

It was Damian's turn to shrug. You mind?

Tim shook his head, clamping his thumb and first two fingers together for emphasis. No. Waters could drown in booze for all he cared, let alone give up a suit jacket to it. It didn't speak well of his powers of observation that he'd missed Damian's presence, though. It wasn't as if he didn't draw the eye.

The study door opened and closed again. They both straightened to attention. Waters and the woman's voices kept talking, but Galloway's was silent, so he must have been the one to leave.

Tim turned his eyes back to Damian and had to fight not to clear his suddenly dry throat. Fuck. Why was he so attractive? It wasn't fair.

Damian gave a tiny sigh as their gazes met. It sounded like regret. Tim didn't know how to fix it, though, so he stood on tiptoes and kissed first one cheek, then the other, then his chin. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

Damian didn't move for a long moment, and kept looking at him with an unreadable expression. Probably he'd just made the situation worse.

But then Damian tilted up his chin with one finger and kissed his forehead, his eyes, his temples. Tim shivered at each delicate brush of lips. His heart swelled in his chest with emotion too significant to define.

And Damian kept kissing him. The curve of his ear, the thin scar on his neck left by Jason a lifetime ago. Tim braced himself with both hands on Damian's hips and let his eyes fall shut. Damian shuffled toward him, closing the few inches between them, arms wrapping around his back and pulling him close to kiss the top of his head. Tim strained his head up to kiss Damian's pulse just below his jaw. Damian let out a shuddering breath at the contact and turned his face so their lips met. Tim encircled his neck with both arms and pulled him down to kiss him harder.

This was so stupid. He was so stupid.

The lump in his throat made it hard to breathe. His heart kept thudding an uneven tattoo, made clumsy with the mingled joy and pain inherent in Damian's touch. He pulled his mouth away, meaning to say something, anything that would help instead of hurt. Instead, Damian took advantage of the pause to hoist him against the wall by his thighs. Tim wrapped his legs around his waist and clung.

Unlike the last time he'd pinned Tim this way, Damian's body was strung tight with tension. He angled his hips into Tim's. Tim bit his lip against the frenzied sound that wanted to break free as their erections pressed together. Damian shoved one big hand into his hair and tilted his head back to kiss him with ardent force. Tim opened up and let him in deeper.

I'm sorry, he tried to say through his touch, through the tiny whimpers he couldn't entirely strangle, through the kisses he nipped against Damian's mouth. I'm so, so sorry. I do want you. I really do.

He wasn't sure if Damian understood what he was telling him. He wasn't sure he wanted him to.

Damian fumbled between Tim's legs, getting his suit pants open, and pulled out his cock. Tim whined feather-soft against his mouth at the relief of freedom from the confines of clothing. He yanked the sole fastened button of the tuxedo jacket free and parted the sides to reach Damian's trousers, unfastening them as well until his searching fingers found their goal.

Damian bucked into Tim's grip as Tim fitted them together in his hand. "Please," slipped out of his lips in a quavered whisper, and he gripped their lengths in one of his hands as well, moving in tandem with Tim's strokes. It was a little rough at first for Tim without lube, but Damian was leaking precome all over both of them, enough to smooth the way after a second.

They rocked against each other for long moments. Tim lost track of how much time had passed, or whether he was being quiet enough. The necessity of making Damian feel better buried every other concern. He looked up at the handsome face currently slack with arousal, begging silently for absolution. The care in Damian’s touch felt like a plea of its own.

His lips parted as he panted for air, and Damian slid his thumb between them. Tim sucked on it without thinking, and that was all it took to get Damian to stiffen from head to toe and spurt hot over his cock and fingers. His chest heaved, though his breathing stayed soundless.

Tim relaxed against the wall, letting Damian's thumb slip from his mouth, nearly as satisfied from feeling Damian's orgasm as he would've been from coming himself.

Damian clearly didn't share the sentiment. He buried his face in the crook of Tim's shoulder and inhaled against his skin, then renewed the motion of his hand around Tim's erection. Tim squirmed, almost overstimulated in the bad way, but Damian directed his legs down so he was standing again and that helped, to be able to push against something with his feet.

"There you are," Damian murmured against his mouth, practically soundless. "You're so lovely when you're like this." Tim moaned in the back of his throat at the praise and throbbed in Damian's grip. "Stunning. You'll come for me now, won't you? Let me feel it."

Helpless, Tim slapped one hand over his mouth and came so hard it almost hurt.

When his eyes and ears started working again, Damian had turned away and was listening intently at the door. His clothes were back in place. How had he managed to put himself together while Tim was still a mess? Grimacing, Tim pulled his handkerchief out and wiped himself off, then set his own pants back to rights.

With a satisfied nod, Damian said, "They're gone. We can leave." He pushed the closet door open.

Tim fought the urge to force a conversation at this exact moment and followed him down the stairs, fitting his comm back into his ear as he went. There were still plenty of guests milling around. Jeffrey caught sight of him in the foyer, and by the time Tim extricated himself from the goodbyes he had to say, Damian was long gone into the night.

“Was I hallucinating, or did I see the baby bat leave just now?” Jason asked.

Tim couldn’t keep his shoulders from slumping in defeat. “No. I saw him too. We didn't really talk, though.”

day fifty-one here

(p.s. the Brucie line in here is an affectionate shout-out to one of my favorite Superbat fics, "Sometimes, Always, Never," by liodain.)

[foxys-fantasy-tales]

hi hi! what can you share with someone who's new to your blog?

This is a VERY wide net, but I'll do my best to be thorough yet succinct as possible. -Deep Breath- I am in my 30's and self published my debut book just over two years ago. Arigale: Spite in the Spirit, and the rest of the upcoming series I'm working on, is very dear to me as these characters have followed me since college for the most part. I also have another four projects brewing with some closer to completion than others. The second of the Arigale series and the first Made to Taste book should be out this year after having to have been delayed throughout last year due to my chronic health issues. As for what I post, it's mostly about my WIPs listed above and re-blogs for other writers in the community, though I do also post about some of my interests like anime, DnD, cosplay, and gaming less frequently. I just like my page feeling personable and relaxed if I can help it. Links section! I have my own website and (usually forgotten) newsletter you can get to at ArigaleFantasy.com. Here you can find a lot of info about the Arigale series in particular, though when other WIPs get closer to release I will be putting a section for each of those up as well. You can get character art and bios, book summaries and links to purchase, and some free short stories. I also had the first five chapters of Arigale right here on Tumblr, but since the recent link debacle with this site they aren't showing. Sad. If you want any sent later just let me know and that goes to anybody who sees this really.

There is also a trailer!

Made to Taste will be getting a trailer at some point too, though it probably won't have so much nice art since my artist is having trouble with her health and a deep backlog of art. I'll likely find a way to manage something still on Canva I hope. WIP Summaries Section! Arigale: Spite in the Spirit Judith and Chit are called to the lonely tower outside their city with little explanation. The one who summoned them is an old, elven wizard named Maleth, who will send them on a quest to lower their floating city of Arigale to where it once resided. Maleth is intrigued by Judith’s strange form of necromantic magic, yet he is also certain of the anxious young man in training to be a spearman and scholar.

Judith, a bubbly yet mysterious young woman, is eager to accept. Chit remains withdrawn and cautious, a remnant of being raised by the Order that presides over their land. Soon, both discover their meeting with the wizard carried dire consequences. Can they accomplish what has been asked of them and save Arigale by exploring the land below, no matter the lengths they must go to? Arigale: Bond in the Blood (2024) Judith and Chit's journey across the seas to Galavarn was not as smooth as they had hoped for. The standard of living here is much different than what they encountered on the mainland, and the newfound bond between them will be tested. Enigmas run rampant here, along with a woman from Maleth’s past who claims to hold the key to defeating them for good. Unfortunately, this woman has an unruly and strangely apathetic nature to her, along with a profound hatred toward their distant companion on Arigale. 

Meanwhile, back on the mainland, those left behind must bear their own struggles as a stranger appears and insists on taking one of their number with him. This man with red, sunken eyes bears a sharp grudge against Stemoss and worse obligations to a certain deity. 

Secrets of the past will come to light on this desolate isle, and the friends left behind will struggle to not become a cog in a plan devised long before they were even born. Made to Taste (2024) When Lyra Morley accepted a rough and tumble new hire from her bar, she didn't think he would end up her new roommate in a week. Noel Akatash brings his own debts, and the people holding the accounts aren't to be trifled with. Magical home invasions aside, Lyra is more worried about her business serving the city nightlife any food she can handle all made to order.

Cooking with a halfbreed's sense of smell comes with its perks, and one of them is that she can hide her skills in the kitchen so no one is any wiser about her true nature. The night-only diner called Made to Taste is meant to be a haven for those the city would rather keep buried. Lyra, the pacifist and abstinent dhampir, would fight to keep it safe. Good thing Noel knows a thing or two about being scrappy. Dream Escape (2025?) Emma Reed, 26, has a Master of the Arts and no place to put it but in her desk drawer. Once proud of her accomplishment, the lights quickly dimmed when she ended up living back in her old childhood bedroom at her parents place and flat broke. Helping Adrien with graphics for their streaming or Sarah with banners for her pet business is all well and good, but it's not at all how she imagined scrapping by. When her newest piece is rejected from the gallery she had finally convinced to give her a chance, Emma hits a downward spiral.

When she awakens, she finds herself in a strange new world with a strange man hovering around her. He calls himself Jasper, a dream painter, and quickly proves his prowess at sculpting others' dreams. Emma was in his care, but though he's petitioned her to wake up, she can't. Neither knows how she ended up in this place, but surrounded by the dreams of others quite literally brought to life around her, Emma makes the decision to stay.

Jasper won't let her. For one, if she stays there is no telling how badly that could go for her, or for his hopes of a promotion. Emma goes along with his plan to cart her across this new place, more as a sightseeing tour than the arduous task he finds it to be. Along the way, a bit of the light comes back into her eyes, and he can't help but remember how bright they both used to shine. Dulled and muddied palettes that they both became, can they start over? Bloodlines (2025?) Blood was her first memory. Not many can recall birth, but Gwyar is a special case. Though she looks like any old elf and had once been instructed to act as such, in her heart she knows that isn't true. Elves aren't born fully formed. Elves don't have memories spanning hundreds of lifetimes or more. Elves surely don't have her terrible taste in company. Until one does. A half-elf, half- orc bard shows up in town going by a name she would choke trying to pronounce. After he follows her and she threatens him and forces a blood oath of silence about her little vigilante hobby, or perhaps because of it, he sticks to her like glue. A vicious songstress with an even more intimidating old tree in her backyard meets a half-blood who loves sweets and suppresses his own inner rage. Together perhaps they can take on the mysteries in her heritage, whether Gwyar wants to or not.

Otherly (Future Trilogy only in planning stages) Daphne Bennet has been waiting her whole twenty-two years for someone to notice the strange events that follow her must be more than just her imagination. She’s never caught a cold, can follow the wind to find lost friends, and the one time she was in a photograph only her area of the picture bore smudges in the background. Believing she may be haunted afterwards, her parents take her to the witch at the edge of their town, only to discover their daughter is not their own. 

No, Daphne is actually a fae. Shocking revelations of child exchanges aside, now Daphne is enlisted at once to upend her life and attend a prestigious magic school to learn to control her burgeoning powers before they control her. Upon initiation day, Daphne is given a bitter drought with all the new students, which will prevent any of them from wandering off school grounds. Everyone is also given a diary to record their thoughts and experiences as a daily exercise, which will magically respond to provide advice and companionship. However, Daphne’s diary seems to be more on the condescending side. As she reluctantly writes, the diary begins to sound as scared as she feels. Every teacher looks less than enthused to be there. Strict rules for curfew, magic containment, and other safety precautions often hinder learning. When her snooping leads to a thinly veiled threat from staff, Daphne resolves to uncover the school’s mysteries within the pages of her diary. Only to watch the words “I’ll help” appear.

All in all, I have a lot going on and need to be more frequent posting on here and getting the word out. I like ask and tag games, but sometimes it can take me a bit to get to them. I hope all this helps and let me know if I fudged it or if you have any other questions! <3

[goblinsstolemybrain]

My December newsletter

This is my newsletter for December. It was sent out to my mailing this morning (and you can sign up here if you want: https://sendfox.com/louyardley)

Hiya fiends,

How's it going?

You may have noticed that things look a little different since the last email (unless you're new... in which case, WELCOME!!!). I decided it was time for a change, so I've switched to SendFox to manage my mailing list. I used SendFox a few years ago, but stopped when I realised it was missing a few features I desired. Now that those features (and more) have been added, it's time to return!

One of features is a cool referral link thing. --- details on this are only available in the newsletter. Mainly because I can't work out how to make it work here.

Do I know it's Christmastime?

Well, yes. But, I don't have anything festive to share with you... What I do have is a FREE episode of my serialised web novel for you to read... and a BUNCH of free (and cheap) eBooks. Read on to get all the goodies!

Anyway, I'm gonna get on with the newsletter now. Fair warning: This one is pretty long! Next year, my resolution is to keep these newsletters short and sweet...

The Misadventures of Morga Skullsplitter

The latest issue of "The Misadventures of Morga Skullsplitter" is now available to read (FOR FREE - yes! FREE!!!) on my website. Click here to give it a read.

You can either view it on my site/Ko-fi page, or download a cute lil ePub for your favourite eReader.

Missed an episode? Find all the episodes here.

The next episode of Morga will be coming in January 2024. This is because of the thing I'm going to talk about next…

The Gathering at the Gallows

As mentioned above, the next Morga episode will be a little later than planned because I'm working on (yet another) project! This is a goblin-flavoured tale that features Glintsprock (everybody's favourite frog player), magic (well, duh!), mayhem (also, duh!), and executions! Fun, fun, fun! The plan is to have this little story ready for human consumption in January.

In the meantime, please click here to find out more about Glintsprock's Quest. You can also grab some Glintsprock stories below:

Glintsprock's Quest: Frog Licker - get it for 99p

Glintsprock's Quest: Mirror Mirror - get it for free

Smashwords End of Year Sale!!!

I'm excited to announce that several of my books will be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords through 1st January as part of their 2023 End of Year Sale! This is a chance to get my books, along with books from many other great authors, at a discount so you can get right to reading.

You will find the promo here starting on 15th December, so save the link:

Please share this promo with friends and family. You can even forward this email to the avid readers in your life!

Freebies!

"Footsteps into the Unfamiliar" - Kate Haley

"Knights of the Crescent, Knights of the Cross" - Troy Young

"Flight of the Gazebo" - Kent Silverhill

"Wedding of the Torn Rose" - Brian A. Mendonca

"Flame of Eros" - Chris Turner

Bargain Books!

"Sworn to the Shadows" - Lisa Blackwood

Happy Holidays!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time...

Stay delicious,

Lou

[glitterypaintertale]

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Use the power of Webflow CMS to easily create and change blog entries and categories. Job Board Webflow Template is a high-quality design that adheres to the most recent design trends to guarantee you get a premium appearance and feel that will endure for many years. Leveraging advanced Webflow technology, ConsultClub offers reliable performance across all devices and browsers. Here's my selection of the 14 Best Recruitment Webflow Templates in 2024 if you're searching for an appropriate template to utilise for your website. Here's my selection of the 14 Best Recruitment Webflow Templates in 2024 if you're searching for an appropriate template to utilize for your website. Browse free and paid themes in the marketplace at wix.com, some of which are suitable for staffing agencies.

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” Users know that the company can help them find multiple types of roles across disciplines. Someone might look for a recruitment agency and find your site, but forget the site’s name before they decide what’s best for them. Use a noticeable call-to-action (CTA) to encourage visitors to sign up for your newsletter. List a few bullet points with the CTA that show the benefits of subscribing, such as getting valuable tips and receiving job listings. By getting visitors to sign up, you’ll be able to stay in contact and keep them coming back to your site. Just because people are looking for a recruitment agency doesn’t mean they understand the process involved.

Many websites visually degrade over time because there are too many design options available to website editors.

Our tailored solution and in-house expertise have helped these clients grow to become the household names they are today.

In my experience as a web designer, I realized that they should be able to filter their feed about jobs they want to apply for.

Our talented and dedicated professionals are highlighted to foster client trust and demonstrate our expertise.

Recruitment Agency Website Templates

Scrolling further, subtle animations, graphics, and shapes make the website even more visually pleasing. Another notable feature of this website is the design of the call-to-action buttons. You can tell that The Talentologists are incredibly talented by looking at their beautiful website. A sheer visual pleasure is a literal burst of yellow on the home page. Your customers will want to return to the website frequently because of the sliding images and gorgeous color schemes. This website example is great to look at if you want to see what a clean recruitment website should look like.

Stay proactive, monitor performance, and adapt your strategies to achieve your business goals and meet the needs of your audience. The 5 best website builders that will help you create a website for your recruitment business and enhance your online presence. If you need a rock-solid platform for marketing your recruitment agency, then you need to work with developers who solve problems, not create them.

We thought this was a good homepage design example for staffing companies because of their successful use of hierarchy for their fonts. The alternating colors for backgrounds was a unique choice for a custom staffing website. Clarity Recruiting clearly had a focus on internet marketing when designing the simplistic template for their website. These were just a few of the numerous good qualities in this website we had to consider when putting together this list of top websites for staffing companies.

With a wide range of customizable templates and blocks available, you can showcase job listings, company information, and more in a visually appealing manner. Streamline your online presence and attract top talent with the powerful features of 'Mobirise'. Elevate your recruitment efforts today by downloading 'Mobirise' and build a standout website that truly represents your agency. Investing in a recruitment agency website design offers multifaceted advantages.

We are hosted on secure London based cloud server for performance, scale and security. Get qualified and interested candidates in your mailbox with zero effort. Learn the basics of web design, including the box model, positioning, color theory, typography and more.

They don’t use a lot of copywritings to convince potential clients; they use great web design to push their visitors to the right customer journey. An attractive website design intrigues viewers and makes them want to explore your website more. However, you can see how established brands do it by checking the list below. Take notes and comfortably build an epic business website for your recruitment agency. Each website showcased a unique feature that makes it stand out, from personalized job matching to building a community of job seekers and employers. Recruitment websites help connect talented people with job opportunities.

We landed on JBCconnect.com and stuck around for the recruiter website design images and slide shows. Their clean design elements, textured photography and bold statements made us want to click through just to see what their landing pages looked like. After your website is launched you will receive ongoing support, updates and maintenance to ensure it continues to perform perfectly. The design of your website will be led by your brand guidelines as well as the personality you want to inject into it.

From the outset, your website must be designed to generate effective output with minimal input or manual intervention. The Recruiting Crowd website is innovative, with vibrant color bursts scattered throughout that draw users in. They have five large CTAs that are all different for either clients or companies. They also provide testimonials that show how happy their customers are with their services using text and stars. The service model of the Passionate Design Agency offers a compelling alternative. Their unlimited premium design, video, and website development services embody flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency.

With our new fast-tracked, pre-built Client Microsites, your agency can attract new clients, build long-standing relationships, and increase revenue. Instead of account managers, we give you direct access to our team of recruitment marketing specialists. Cutting out the middle man ensures transparency and continuity as you embark on your web design journey with Venn. While we understand recruitment websites, you know your sector and business better than we ever could. By getting under your skin, we can work together, play to our strengths and help you build strategies that deliver a return on investment.

[cubicdesignzdm]

Trends: What to Expect from Digital Marketing and SEO Agencies This Year

SEO Trends to Watch in 2024:

Search Intent Will Be King:

Search intent—the true purpose behind a user’s search—will continue to guide organic marketers. Understanding what users are really looking for is crucial. Are they seeking quick answers, transactional information, or in-depth knowledge? Meeting search intent requires finesse and a nuanced understanding of your audience’s needs. Keep an eye on how Google responds to this trend—it’s like following the North Star in the SEO galaxy!

AI-Generated Content and Quality:

Brace yourself for the AI revolution! As artificial intelligence generates more content, the challenge lies in creating high-quality material. Some marketers might churn out AI-generated drafts, but those who elevate their game will rise to the top. Think of it as a content quality showdown: AI vs. human creativity. Who will win?

Regular Content Updates:

The days of “set it and forget it” are over. Google loves fresh content. Regular updates signal that your website is alive, kicking, and relevant. So, dust off those old blog posts, give them a makeover, and let them shine anew!

Brand Signals and Authority:

Remember when backlinks and brand signals ruled the SEO kingdom? Well, they’re making a comeback! Google craves trusted, authoritative sources. So, build your brand, earn those backlinks, and let your authority shine like a beacon in the digital fog.

Mobile Page Performance Matters:

Mobile-first indexing isn’t going anywhere. Google’s still peeking at your mobile site before your desktop one. So, optimize for speed, responsiveness, and mobile-friendliness. Your users (and Google’s bots) will thank you! 📱

Page Experience Updates:

Google’s all about user happiness. Expect more emphasis on page experience metrics—like Core Web Vitals. Fast-loading pages, smooth interactions, and delightful designs will be the golden ticket to higher rankings.

Digital Marketing Trends in 2024:

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

AI isn’t just for sci-fi movies. It’s here, and it’s transforming marketing. From personalized recommendations to chatbots, AI enhances user experiences. Imagine an AI assistant whispering, “Psst, this user loves cat videos—show them more!”

E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness):

Google’s still obsessed with E-A-T. Prove your expertise, be authoritative, and ooze trustworthiness. It’s like building a digital reputation that screams, “I’m legit!”

Helpful Content Creation:

Content isn’t just about keywords; it’s about helping users. Solve their problems, answer their questions, and be their digital superhero.

Multimedia Magic:

Words are cool, but visuals are cooler. Embrace multimedia—videos, infographics, podcasts. It’s like adding sprinkles to your content cupcake!

Voice Search:

Hey Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant—are you listening? Voice search is booming. Optimize for voice queries, and your brand might just become the voice of reason!

Local SEO Love:

Local businesses, rejoice! Google’s smitten with local search. Nail your Google My Business profile, gather reviews, and be the neighborhood hero.

Remember, trends are like waves—ride them, adapt, and stay afloat. Whether you’re an SEO wizard or a digital marketing sorcerer, 2024 holds exciting spells and enchantments.

So, my fellow digital voyager, which trend intrigues you the most? Or perhaps you have another magical topic you’d like to explore?

If you’re looking for a partner to elevate your brand online, Cubic Designz might be a great fit!

I’ve summoned the trends from the digital realm! Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to unravel.  Learn more about these trends and dive deeper into the magic!

[theoldhempfarmer]

Tennessee's Hemp Derived Cannabinoid law gets bumped until October...

Dateline: 7-1-24

The deep heat here in Middle Tennessee continues to be quite fierce. So The Old Hemp Farmer is continuing to go with the Iced Indonesian coffee and frozen Costa Rican Cacao laced with Tennessee homegrown Cannabis extract which seems to take the edge off of the high temperatures. This morning, as we ease into the World of Cannabis, there are a couple things to pontificate on, first, we got our FBI reports (evidently Lee Crabtree and I aren’t criminals, which is nice to know) and so yours truly filled out our Tennessee Department of Agriculture Hemp license application and with a check sent out our application for yet another Hemp license. It’s hard to believe this Hemp license application is my 10th and Lee’s 9th. Speaking of which, this year’s Tennessee homegrown Cannabis crop is in the ground, with 95% of the work was done by the Cannabis Professional known as Lee Crabtree and he was generous enough to let The Old Hemp Farmer’s Wife to transplant as small group of Tennessee Volunteer aka Readyville God Bud that she can use for her topicals and a few batches of Hemp Pesto. TOHFW didn’t get to plant any Cannabis last year and she missed it, so did I. One of the reasons The Old Hemp Farmer got into Cannabis was to grow it. Reluctantly, I got bumped into marketing and sales, which was more important to Tennessee homegrown than yours truly working in the field. Also after 2021, quite frankly we no longer needed to grow hundreds and hundreds of pounds of high CBD Cannabis Flower. Ultimately though it doesn’t really matter much Cannabis we grow, we just love to grow the plant.

Which leaves me to the main topic at hand, today, July 1st 2024, was suppose to be when all aspects of Tennessee’s Hemp Derived Cannabinoid law - HB0403 were to be implemented and enforced. Well a funny thing happened, as the clock was starting to run out, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and Department of Revenue decided to push back implementation and enforcement to October 1, 2024. There weren’t any concrete reasons given for this delay but one can imagine. As The Old Hemp Farmer has said from the get-go that trying to ride herd on over 2,500 Cannabis businesses (half of which are off the TDA grid) in the state of Tennessee was going to be like pushing a boulder up the side of mountain. And finally when October 1st does arrive, how will enforcement proceed? When will the TDA start testing products and how long will it take? Will there be roving groups of agents from Tennessee Department of Agricultural Cannabis division that will “en masse” start raiding stores that sell Cannabis products? And once Cannabis the TDA folks do start checking out stores, how will that work? Will they simply take stock of inventory or will there be in store judgements on products and if deemed illegal will that warrant the TDA or TBI to execute an on the spot confiscation of a stores inventory? If so, what recourse will Cannabis business owners have to challenge any rulings? Realistically, if the testing lab at the TDA has to do literally hundreds and hundreds of tests, what will be the reliability of those tests? It would be brutal to find out that your Cannabis products were confiscated and destroyed because of a misplaced decimal point. Trust me, it happens, after 10 years of reading COAs, labs occasionally make mistakes. Meanwhile until October 1st, the Cannabis professionals in Tennessee are in a kind of limbo, not knowing what exactly is going on and wondering if the implementation of HB0403 will be pushed back again? Anyway as always, Hemp Dawgs and Hemp Puppies keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the market.

Visit our Tennessee homegrown web site to try our great products: https://www.tnhomegrown.com

The Wife's web site: https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com

Our Podcast - Full Contact Cannabis: https://fullcontactcannabis.podbean.com

#theoldhempfarmer#tennesseehomegrown#fullcontactcannabis#cannabisbusiness#cannabisindustry#theoldhempfarmerswife

[web-design-seabeck]

Why Seabeck is the New Hub for Cutting-Edge Web Design

Exploring the Rise of Web Design Seabeck: A New Epicenter of Innovation

In recent years, Seabeck has emerged as an unexpected powerhouse in the realm of web design. Known for its scenic beauty and serene environment, this small town is rapidly gaining a reputation for its cutting-edge web design scene. But what exactly makes web design Seabeck so remarkable? Let’s explore why Seabeck is the new hub for cutting-edge web design, blending creativity, technology, and community spirit.

The Talent Pool in Seabeck

One of the primary reasons for the rise of web design Seabeck is the concentration of talented designers in the area. Seabeck has attracted a diverse group of creatives who bring a wealth of experience and fresh perspectives to the field. This influx of talent has fostered a collaborative and innovative atmosphere where designers can thrive and push the boundaries of what’s possible in web design.

Community and Collaboration

The community spirit in Seabeck plays a crucial role in its web design success. Unlike larger cities where competition can be fierce, Seabeck’s web designers prioritize collaboration over rivalry. This supportive environment encourages knowledge sharing and collective problem-solving, which leads to more innovative and refined web design solutions. The community-driven approach is a hallmark of the web design Seabeck scene, making it a nurturing ground for new ideas.

Also Read - Top Trends in Web Design Seabeck for 2024

Technological Advancements

Seabeck’s web designers are at the forefront of technological advancements, embracing the latest tools and techniques to create cutting-edge websites. From responsive design and AI integration to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications, web design Seabeck is synonymous with innovation. Designers here are not afraid to experiment with new technologies, ensuring that their projects are both visually stunning and highly functional.

Inspiration from Nature

Seabeck’s breathtaking natural surroundings provide endless inspiration for its web designers. The town’s picturesque landscapes, with their rich colors and diverse textures, often find their way into web design elements, creating sites that are visually engaging and unique. This connection to nature helps Seabeck designers infuse their work with a sense of place and authenticity, setting their designs apart from those produced in more urban environments.

Focus on User Experience

A strong focus on user experience (UX) is another key factor in the success of web design Seabeck. Designers here understand that a website’s usability and functionality are just as important as its visual appeal. By prioritizing UX, Seabeck web designers create websites that are intuitive, easy to navigate, and responsive to user needs. This emphasis on the user experience ensures that Seabeck-designed websites not only attract visitors but also keep them engaged.

Supportive Business Environment

Seabeck offers a supportive business environment that values innovation and entrepreneurship. Local businesses recognize the importance of a strong online presence and are willing to invest in high-quality web design services. This demand drives the growth of the web design industry in Seabeck, providing designers with ample opportunities to showcase their skills and creativity.

Success Stories and Recognition

The success stories coming out of Seabeck are a testament to the town’s web design prowess. Local designers have been recognized for their exceptional work, winning awards and accolades in various design competitions. These success stories not only put web design Seabeck on the map but also attract more talent and business to the area, further fueling its growth.

Understand This

Seabeck has firmly established itself as a hub for cutting-edge web design, thanks to its talented designers, collaborative community, technological innovation, and supportive business environment. The unique blend of creativity and technology found in web design Seabeck is setting new standards in the industry, making it an exciting place to watch. As more businesses and designers recognize the potential of this burgeoning web design scene, Seabeck is poised to become a major player on the global stage. Embrace the future of web design with Seabeck’s innovative approach and see your digital presence soar.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), Early April 2024

Welcome to my coverage of all the important Etsy and other ecommerce news that microbusinesses need to know! It's been a few weeks since my last update, so there is a fair amount to report.

Want to get the news more often and in a more timely fashion? Please sign up to support my Patreon site, where among other features, I will soon be starting periodical live chats on important topics. (I promise there will be one the day Etsy announces a fee increase)

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Etsy has made changes to how processing times and estimated delivery dates work; I covered everything you need to know in this post. 

Etsy seems to be sending more Messages to the spam folder, so you may miss a real message. After reading that thread, I checked, and there was one from another seller needing help from just 5 hours ago. Etsy did say engineers are looking into it. 

UPS has won the USPS air cargo contract, currently held by FedEx. It kicks in at the end of September. “As of May 31, 2023, FedEx counted the USPS as the largest customer of its Express unit.” 

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy is rolling out a new seller pricing tool, and it is just as useless as the old version. I posted some early thoughts (with screenshots). 

Some shop owners are struggling to cancel Etsy coupons, while others are not having the same problem. Support says the company is aware of the issue. 

If you still can't access most of the Etsy forum after the changes on Tuesday March 26, post in this Technical Issues thread so that your account can be fixed.

Periodically, some shops suddenly stop getting deposits. If your shop has recently had a security warning, you may want to check to see if your bank account is still verified with Etsy. 

Looks like Etsy has an issue with misrepresenting how many items are left for each listing on the app; I wrote about it here.

Canadians getting harassed by Etsy to sign up for TurboTax should know that the company has told a seller that it doesn’t import Etsy data into your tax return for you; that is only available for Americans. [If you can’t import your info from your various platforms, my suggestion is use a free online program to file instead; I’ve used Wealthsimple for several years with no issues filing small business taxes; the T-2125 is part of the program.]

Etsy’s activist investor seems to think that the marketplace can “…add more buyers and increase the amount of money they spend on the platform”. But “monetization opportunities” were also mentioned. 

Etsy is yet again called out for allowing AI-generated porn on the site. “Several of the available listings also appear to violate existing trademarks — TheStreet identified listings that sell NSFW (not safe for work) AI-generated, suggestive images that appear to mimic Rapunzel from Disney's "Tangled," Princess Jasmine from Disney's "Aladdin" and She-Hulk from Marvel's "She-Hulk."

Etsy has been talking a lot about "image quality" lately, but doesn't really define the term anywhere. While I agree with those that say it is more than image size - Etsy would not have humans curating images to train its AI if "quality" could simply be measured by pixels - note that Google Shopping Ads describe image quality as size. “The resolution of your product images determines its quality. Google considers images with more than 1024 pixels as high-resolution images.” 

Apparently Etsy CEO Josh Silverman likes to make “unorthodox, downright risky career decisions” that often involve a ton of responsibility. [Link to podcast in article; I haven’t listened to it]

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

General

Patreon’s live chats are now accessible on the web (instead of just the app). A creator can assign moderators, and have chats for different categories of members. 

Canadians: beware that new tax rules requiring digital platform operators to report their users’ income to the Canada Revenue Agency are expected for 2025. These laws would make Canada similar to the United States and the United Kingdom, among others. 

Amazon

Amazon is struggling to verify the VAT status of many UK sellers, and the fact the company holds all funds until the process is complete means many sellers are without income. 

eBay

eBay is offering 3 free “express payouts” to select US sellers by email only, available until June 30th. Money is paid to seller debit cards and can take a half hour or more to receive. (The usual cost is 1.5%.)

If you use eBay For Charity, you may want to check to see if the charity is getting paid, as some apparently are not. 

If you advertise on eBay, or just list inconsistently, you may be interested in the marketing trends calendar for 2024. It shows you when certain types of searches peak. 

Michaels Makerplace

The landing page for Makerplace sellers doesn’t provide a lot of hard details; some of the actual policies appear once you begin to sign up. Here’s how they define handmade: 

Thanks to Bluesky user Brushfeather for the info.

Shopify

Shopify is putting more effort into large businesses these days, despite its core offerings targeting small and medium-sized businesses for years. [soft paywall; Business Insider] The company “...has made a concerted effort over the last 18 months to introduce more software solutions to win over larger merchants. It has enhanced Shopify Plus, a higher-tier subscription with more features, and launched Hydrogen, a more custom framework geared toward retailers with more complex needs...Shopify introduced Commerce Components, an offering that allows merchants to integrate parts of Shopify's software into their existing tech stack. Mattel was its first retail partner for that product, and Everlane has since adopted Shop Pay as a stand-alone component.”

CEO Tobi Lutke recently received almost $200 million CAD in Shopify stock options, “one of the largest compensation packages in Canadian history.” As company founder, he now has around $8 billion worth of Shopify stock.

CIRRO Fulfillment now integrates with Shopify. 

Squarespace

Squarespace is rolling out Squarespace Payments to sellers in the United States, and they expect to add more countries later this year. Fees are in line with other payment processors. 

All Other Marketplaces

Mercari is following Depop and is ending seller transaction fees while adding a buyer fee. There is now a seller earnings withdrawal fee of $2, however, plus the pricing only applies to items listed after the announcement on March 27th, and sellers now have to accept returns for any reason, within 72 hours of receipt.  I suppose this fee might work for buyers if many are also sellers on Mercari or elsewhere, and are buying stock. If you see a good deal you know you can flip with a good margin, you might not mind paying a buyers fee on top of the listing price. The only other way I can see being willing to pay a buyers fee is if you are so enamoured with the platform and its culture that it is worth paying more for. Or maybe I am just out of touch… The Mercari CEO basically calls out Etsy for raising seller fees too much [soft paywall; Modern Retail]: “I’m not going to mention them by name, but you have marketplaces that have a lot of makers, a lot of people that create things, and the fees around selling on those platforms have just been going up a lot very aggressively”. [my emphasis] Mercari wants fees to remain competitive while attracting better inventory. Another article on Mercari’s announcement mentions Etsy by name when discussing seller fees. 

Mercari might want to consult lawyers the next time the site makes changes, though, as many sellers were furious that their existing balances were now subject to withdrawal fees without any warning, leading some to file complaints with the FTC. That led the company to announce that “On March 27, 2024, Mercari announced that it would begin charging a $2 fee(s) (“ACH Charge”) for all ACH direct deposit requests. Effective immediately through April 3, 2024 at 11:59 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time (“Waiver Period”), Mercari will waive the ACH Charge for ACH direct deposit requests made prior to the end of the Waiver Period for all eligible account holders.” Those who already incurred withdrawal charges will get refunds.

And because apparently you can never have enough Mercari news, they’ve introduced a listing importer for eBay and Depop. It uses AI. 

AliExpress will now do livestream shopping events in the UK. 

Payment Processing

PayPal users in the US will soon have only 30 days after delivery to file a significantly not described claim in most cases. Items not delivered by 180 days will still have the full 180 days. 

Shipping 

UPS is planning on closing about 200 facilities in the United States, and hopes to save money by instead using more automated hubs. Having fewer employees and consolidating locations is expected to save the company around $3 billion by the end of 2028. 

FedEx is continuing to combine its Express and Ground pickups and deliveries, both to save money and to make pickups easier on customers. 

[graphicpolicy]

Around the Tubes

Some comic news and a review from around the web to start the day #comics #comicbooks

It’s one of two new comic book days! What are you excited for? What do you plan on getting? Sound off in the comments below. While you think about that, here’s some comic news and a review from around the web to start the day. Multiversity – Multiversity Comics: May 2009-May 2024 – A shame to see another site shut down. CBR – Japan Unearths Never-Before-Seen 100-Year-Old Anime – This is pretty…