#http: prompt list

[https-furina]

i guess i better get my laptop and fix that 100 event post ;-;

[artist-ellen]

Historical Mermay 2024: Minoan Mermaid!

This one was a little bit down to the wire. I did the sketching and inking 3 different times before I was happy enough with it. Even now I still have doubts. This illustration is based on at least two Minoan murals of women, but things like the hairstyle are wildly mermaid-exaggerated because I have a theme and that theme is princess hair. XD I also tried to work within some of the mural's color-palettes but I don't think I succeeded very well. Too many texture layers? I can't tell, I can't dwell on it any more.

Like last year this Mermay challenge prompt list comes from the amazing chloe.z.arts on IG. I'm going to do my best to keep up with the prompts, wish me luck!

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

[sea-wolf-coast-to-coast]

FFxiv 30 Day Writing Challenge SEPTEMBER 1st - 30th, 2024

Welcome to YEAR 8 of our annual FFxiv 30 Day Writing Challenge, folks!

Last year we had 7,935 total entries! Which brings us to a total of 50,656 unique written entries over the last 7 years. That is just incredible! And something that I think that we should be super proud of as a creative fan community.

Whether you're new to the FFxivWrite community or a 7-year writing challenge veteran, if you'd like to give perfectionism in your creative writing process a swift kick in the butt, then this challenge was designed for you!

More info is below the cut~

Here’s the gist:

Runs from September 1st - 30th, 2024. During that timeframe:

Visit sea-wolf-coast-to-coast​ once a day at 12:00pm (noon) PDT for the prompt of the day. Convert to your timezone accordingly. All prompts will be one word or brief phrase that you can interpret however you please.

You have 24 hours to write something for that prompt.

Submit the link to your entry post via this Google Form: https://forms.gle/jDWjFKfmeaGnH3PL9

There are no length or skill requirements (short & sweet is fine!).

There will be no 24-hour deadlines for the first week, September 1st - 7th. The deadline will go into effect on September 8th at 11:59am PDT.

Makeup/extra credit days every Sunday.

Every entry posted within its 24-hour deadline will count toward a participation prize raffle at the end.

You can join any time with any prompt #! There’s no need for latecomers to start with prompt #1. Picking up with the most recent prompt is A OK.

If you’re an artist and you would like to volunteer to do a simple black & white illustration as a participation prize at the end of this challenge, you can volunteer here!

RULES & MORE INFO can be found here: https://ffxiv-write.carrd.co/

(( banner art - by @dantinmikannes ))

Rules & Info || Prompt List || #FFxivWrite2024 || kofi

[clairelutra]

hey so uhhhhh just a heads up: ao3 may or may not be in deep legal trouble. specifically for mistreatment of volunteers and lax compliance with certain laws, afaict.

i highly recommend you back up any stories you have and any favorite stories/authors you'd miss.

here's how i'm doing it:

download calibre. it's an open source ebook reader. link here.

it has a plugin called fanficfare. download that here.

open calibre and go to the dropdown next to "Settings", and then select "Get plugins to enhance calibre"

Find and install FanFicFare (sort by title and scroll down to F to find it easier)

go to the dropdown menu next to the fanficfare icon in the top bar and select "Get story URLs from Web Page"

when prompted for a URL, you can post any URL that displays a list of stories, e.g. "https://archiveofourown.org/users/[username]/bookmarks?page=7" or "https://archiveofourown.org/series/[number]" or "https://archiveofourown.org/users/[username]/pseuds/[username]/works"

click "Yes", then wait for it to gather the metadata and download the stories (you can give it another URL to grab stories from once it's done with gathering the metadata if you want)

it will give you a little popup in the lower right corner once it's done, telling you how many it was able to download (usually all of them) and how many it didn't.

if it misses one or two, you can click to see the details and find out which one didn't get downloaded, and go back to the page you got it from and download those yourself if you want.

tell it to update your library.

voila! all the stories on that page are now backed up on your computer.

notes: it will skip any fics that are locked to archive users only (the ones with a blue padlock next to the author's name in the listing), and you'll have to go back and grab those yourself. if your whole account is under archive lock, i highly recommend unlocking it for the duration of the time it takes to grab and download them (a few minutes to a few hours, depending on whether you have <20 or multiple hundreds like i do lol) before locking them again.

back up everything you love!! back up everything you moderately like!! back up anything you wouldn't like to lose!! even if the ao3 mess pans out to nothing, it's always good to have a "just in case".

EDIT: check replies and reblog comments for further information on the legal trouble they may or may not be in. if anything happens, it will likely be in the scale of months or years. i still recommend backing everything up, but it might not be as dire as this makes it sound.

[babyleostuff]

https://x.com/_zainab_khawaja/status/1785791043872456834?s=46&t=Pno0_nYlg0gSYtHkBk336g

this is so cute?? 😭😭😭 which member dyt would say this

"text me when you reach home"

ohmygod LET ME FUCKING SCREAM AAAAAA!!!! i love love love this prompt, my oldest daughter syndrome lives for this shit <33333 thank you so much for sending this in my lovely anon! <3

-> choi seungcheol

is anyone surprised??? HELL NO!!! of course daddy coups would be the type to make you promise to text him when you reach home (he'd probably send you at least twenty texts of "are you home yet" before you'd even have the chance to get into your car). not only that - he'd make you take a pic of you safely tucked under the covers OR ELSE HE'LL PANICK AND YOU DON'T WANT CHOI SEUNGCHEOL TO PANICK OVER YOUR SAFETY!!! HE WILL GO TO THE POLICE TO FILE IN A MISSING PERSON CASE JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE FIVE MINUTES TOO LATE WITH YOUR TEXT.

-> joshua hong

"text me when you reach home" is a very subtle, low key, and not overbearing way of showing you care about someone (unless you're choi seungcheol) which is very much joshua hong coded, and people who are the "text me when you reach home" types give me very gentlemen-y, caring, soft, chill vibes. again - joshua is all of those.

-> jeon wonwoo

IF I SEE ANY OF YALL BITCHES SAYING THAT JEON WONWOO IS "COLD" OR TALK ABOUT HIS "COLD PERSONA" EVER AGAIN - I'M GOING TO FIND YOU AND CHEW YOUR HAIR OFF! the way this bitch is a certified simp and loser and some of you decide not to see that is astonishing - he's the epitome of *cue in boba eyes* "please text me when you get home, 'k baby?" *kisses your forehead*. sure he wouldn't scream at you at the top of his lungs for you to text him, but he is so so caring and so so sweet, and it's sad how people overlook that. and if you'd be taking too long to get back (in his opinion) he'd call you to check up on you BECAUSE JEON WONWOO HAS EMOTIONS!!!

-> xu minghao

this bitch acts as if he doesn't really care, and would ask you to shoot him a text after you get home because it's what a good boyfriend should be doing but lmaoooo the way he'd be stressing before receiving that text from you. hao tries to reassure himself that it's whatever WHATEVER MY ASS - HE IS A CERTIFIED SIMP AND HE CAN ACT ALL UNBOTHERED AND "UGH I HATE ROMANCE" BUT I KNOW BETTER!!! imagine his lil smile after getting your message I CAN'T DO THIS

-> vernon chwe

i feel like he'd text you this using an emoji coded message, like - ✍🏼🚗🚶🏼🏡👍🏼 or some shit

-> lee chan

baby wouldn't be able to fall asleep or proceed with his day without getting an "i'm home ☺️" text from you. would be checking his phone every five seconds minutes with a lil pout on his face BECAUSE HE HAS TO KNOW THAT YOU'RE SAFE.

honorable mentions:

the only reason dk isn't on this list is because he'd be on a call with you the whole time you'd be on your way home.

mingyu would text you this after you'd get home.

[folkloresthings]

So glad you can write again you've been missed dearly how about Lando with the second to last one off this prompt list pretty please, don't feel pressured to do it 🥺🙏🏻

https://www.tumblr.com/novelbear/723017487168487424/kiss-me-with-your-eyes-closed-kiss-prompts?source=share

[ kiss prompts ] after a heated session, they admire their flushed partner and softly place a peck on the cheek with lando norris

✩⡱ warnings: a little smutty but only really foreplay

lando’s lips were always sweet — soft and warm and so very good at what they did. weeks apart from each other only made you appreciate his lips more so than ever before. forever thankful for the vanilla lip balm you’d gotten him last christmas, it made his kisses addictive; your very own personal drug.

since he’d stepped through the front door until now, his lips were on yours at every spare second. but he had to unpack, and you had promised him dinner. once those requirements were ticked off, he was all yours.

a leg on either side of him, strong hands keeping you in place, you happily settle into straddling his lap atop the plush couch, lips locking to yours. lando’s needy grip is tight on your waist, wandering to grab at the plush skin underneath your shirt. kisses alternate from slow to fast, soft to rough, his tongue slipping past your own sending your mind into a dizzy frenzy.

“lan…” you murmur, dreamily, words getting lost when his teeth catch your bottom lip and pull a moan from you. hot skin and desperation pulls all of the breath from your chest — but lando isn’t finished with you yet.

with too much ease, he flips your positions and is on top of you in an instant. fingers wrapped around your wrists, arms pinned in place while his lips attack your neck, surely leaving behind marks you’ll regret in the morning. before you can protest, lando presses his lips to yours again, knocking the air from you again.

hands, knowing just where they belong, pry your legs open and wrap them around his waist, letting his knee slot right between them. warm and solid, it presses against your core until your mind goes blank — glad of lando’s expertise when any sense flies from your head.

sensing your fluster, lando parts from your lips with a small smirk, taking a mental snapshot of your ruffled hair and swollen lips, like an artist looks at a finished painting. shooting you a cheeky smile, he leans down and presses a quick kiss to your flushed cheek.

“you okay?” he chuckles, head tilted down towards you, sarcasm lacing his pretty lips. glaring up at him, you softly shove his shoulder.

“finish what you started, or i’m not kissing you ever again,” you threaten, feigning annoyance, hips pushing towards his own.

“yes, ma’am,” lando murmurs, slipping down to settle between your legs — and, forever a man of his word, he certainly does finish exactly what he started.

[fictober-event]

The prompts for 2023

Fictober Event, The prompts for 2023 Here is the list for October this year. Write something short (or long) and tag it with #fictober23 in the first five tags. Let’s see your creativity!

    "It's not too late, let's go."

    "Don't worry, I got you."

    "Okay, show me."

    "Do you even know what this means?"

    "You're the smartest person I know."

    "I can't wait for you."

    "Do you recognise this?"

    "Give me that, before anything happens."

    "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

    "It's alright, I'm here now."

    "You lost it. Well, we lost it."

    "I'm not saying I didn't like it."

    "Come with me, hurry."

    "If you don't stop now —"

    "Fine, explain it to me."

    "Do you know a way out of here?"

    "I never said it would be easy."

    "We can't do this on our own."

    "What if we're wrong?"

    "This better be good."

    "Just in case this doesn't work."

    "Who takes care of you?"

    "No, you won't understand, ever."

    "Is it over? Is it really over?"

    "Do I look like I knew that?"

    "Honestly, why would I care?"

    "I don't know if they will accept this."

    "I may not get another chance to say this."

    "That's all? Easy."

    "Are you with me?"

    "It's not your fault."

This event is open to all fanfiction and original fiction.

Start October the First. You do not have to do the prompts in order. Tag your posts with #fictober23. Please state if your entry is original fiction or fanfiction and what fandom at the top. State common warnings and triggers at the top and tag accordingly. I reserve the right to not reblog fics that I find inappropriate. I will reblog things here on @fictober-event, follow this blog to see all the entries.

Check the rules for any questions.

Here's the AO3 collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Fictober23

Have fun!

[the-august-axolotl]

Welcome to the third annual Nightmarch!

This is an UNOFFICIAL event, I do not own Nightmare or Dreamtale. Anyone is free to participate, and all ships and AU’s/variations are welcome as long as Nightmare is part of the focus! Art and writing are welcome, as well as any other mediums.

Feel free to tag any entrees #Nightmarch2024

You ARE ALLOWED to repost this prompt list to other websites if you wish, however please credit me. You may not repost any of my other work.

Again this is unofficial, Nightmare and Dreamtale belong to Jokublog

Previously asked questions under the cut

Do you have to do the prompts in order? - You can do any of the prompts in any order you want! No rules y’all.

Is NSFW content allowed? - Yes. Feel free to make whatever you want and use the Nightmarch tag freely. Everything is welcome. I do ask however to please not @ my blog in anything explicitly NSFW.

Do you reblog entrees? - I will try to reblog as much as I can! I love seeing everyone’s work. I do warn you however that I am quite forgetful, so apologies if I miss anything.

How/why was Nightmarch created? - For more info on the events creation look at this post: https://www.tumblr.com/the-anxious-axolotl/677367715212771328/introducing-nightmarch-a-whole-month-for-the

Should we be concerned over your apparent Nightmare obsession? - Yes. It is growing exponentially.

[sfemonster]

A little section of a project i've been posting over on my Patreon! Every week i'm drawing a rabbit based on a list of randomly selected prompts. Here's four of my favourites thus far: new, tentacle, glitch, and cold.

You can see all rabbits thus-far (plus a new one every week!) by subscribing to my Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/sfemonster

sfé • instagram | patreon | tumblr | twitter ♥︎

[dancinglikebutterflywings]

500 Followers = 500 Words Event: Hongjoong

Let Them Look | Kim Hongjoong

-> Pairing: Kim Hongjoong x Photographer!Reader -> Requested by: @staytiny2000 -> Prompt:  Prompt 19: “People are looking at us.” “Let them look.”  -> Warnings: a little anxiousness and self-doubt. Hongjoong being readers no.1 fan and supporter. Kisses. -> Word Count: 543 -> Request: Closed.

500 followers = 500 words Masterlist | Main Masterlist

©️ 2024 dancinglikebutterflywings - do not copy/modify/repost anywhere. reblog instead

Feeling Hongjoong’s presence nearby calms the nerves in Y/N's stomach as she anxiously adjusts the settings on her camera. She takes a deep breath, focusing on the rhythmic click of her camera as she fine-tunes the aperture and shutter speed, trying to find the perfect balance for the lighting outside. Her assistants are all around her ensuring that everything else is running smoothly, arranging props, and coordinating with the stylists and ATEEZ’s managers and staff.  

The lively chatter and laughter create an energetic atmosphere, yet Y/N remains in her own focused bubble, navigating her anxious thoughts. This is her first time photographing idols. It’s an opportunity she never expected to have but is eternally grateful for. 

She glances over at Hongjoong, who is talking with one of his managers. She lifts her camera and takes a quick snapshot of her boyfriend. 

As if he can sense her attention on him, he excuses himself from the conversation he's having and makes his way over to her. 

“Hey,” he says, his voice warm, his eyes showing concern knowing how nervous she’s been leading up to today, “how’s it going?” 

She flashes him a smile, trying to mask her anxiety, but she knows he can see right through her. He knows her better than anyone else. “It’s going well, just trying to get everything set up before they stylists finish doing what they need to do.”  

Hongjoong leans in slightly, his presence grounding her amidst the whirlwind of activity around them. “You’ve got this,” he encourages, his confidence in her and her abilities shining through. 

“Thanks, baby,” she says, her voice softening. “I just want to do a good job.” 

He steps even closer, resting his hands on her waist, “They love your work. They wouldn’t have picked you if they didn’t believe you could do an amazing job,” he assures her. “You’re an incredible photographer, my love.” 

“You’re just saying that because you’re my boyfriend,” she says, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. 

“Maybe,” he chuckles, his eyes sparkling with mischief, “but I’m also saying it because it’s true.” 

His reassurance washes over her like a warm wave, calming her racing heart. She takes a deep breath, letting his words sink in. “You always know what to say to make me feel better,” she admits, her smile growing more genuine.  

“Of course,” he replies, his voice sincere as he closes the gap between them. “I’m your biggest fan. I’ll always be here to cheer you on, no matter what,” he continues and plants a kiss to her cheek before moving to her lips. 

She tries to hide her smile as lips leaves hers, feeling everyone’s eyes on them. Glancing around, she notices some quickly looking away from the couple as if they got caught staring. “People are looking at us.”  

“Let them look,” he replies casually, his confidence unwavering as he gives her another kiss on the lips. This kiss ends when they hear his name being called by one of the stylists. “You’ve got this, okay?” he reminds her. “I love you.” 

She nods, now feeling encouraged, her anxiousness almost non-existent. “I love you, too,” she says pecking his lips one last time before he walks away leaving her to finish getting everything ready. 

Tag List Sign-Up

@staytiny2000 - @kpopmenace143 - @treehouse-mouse - @alexxavicry - @jedi-dreea

@rainydayteacups - @green-agent - @tinyelfperson - @yeonjunnie – @hollxe1

@laylasbunbunny – @deltamoon666 - @skz1-4-3 - @everythingboutkpop - @oddracha

@http-gyu - @skittyneos - @pinkpunkdynamite - @keshivibes - @katsukis1wife

@jjoongstar - @arki-sha - @forever-atiny

[aces-and-angels]

URGENT PSA: DELETED GFMS UPDATE- PLEASE READ

the detective hat is screwed on tight gang- i just remembered that the wayback machine exists and have been able to gather some additional information regarding the deleted gfm campaigns for omar, raina, and iman:

all the info is under the cut

---

see the info on the site yourselves by using the following links:

iman: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jhcjrv-help-imans-family-find-safety omar: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-to-evacuate-from-the-genocide ran/raina: https://www.gofundme.com/f/displaced-gaza-family-seeks-help-after-war-destroys-lives

my hunch was correct: these campaigns were not formatted in the way gfm requires in order to stay operational. i detailed the common reasons why gfm's may be terminated in a response post to @rubashabansblog but i will include it again here:

ruba- i have figured out the following info from my own research. there are several issues that can result in a gfm being suspended. the biggest issue comes from how the actual campaign is written. the key is being transparent. that means everyone that is benefiting from the campaign must be listed out by name (there may be a rule about specifying any minors/kids' ages as well) + locations. the issue also may be linked to whoever is organizing these campaigns on behalf of these families. another part that needs to be addressed fully is who will be handling the money. essentially if at any point in the transfer of funds someone is responsible for holding the money raised, they need to be listed on the account plainly and on the actual donation page as well. example: person a is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of person b. the last issue i can think of from everything i've read involves keeping an accurate account of the family's expenses. meaning that you need to write down everything that you are spending the money on. since there's no way to print actual receipts- gfm is asking people to write everything down on their notes app with their phones. these notes count as "receipts" and the total amount must always equal the amount the person/people are trying to raise. example: say i am raising $10K to evacuate, but am planning on putting aside $3K for other future living expenses like rent -> all of that needs to be documented fully. basically- as long as goal amounts match up to your expense report- the campaign should be fine. i understand that some families may need to keep raising their goals in order to cover the cost of living before they are able to evacuate. if that is the case- each time they raise/decrease the goal- i believe they need to update their gfm page to address the new total costs for their fundraiser. please forward this information to the affected families when you get the chance 🖤 perhaps this new info can help them solve the problem on their end *edit: another problem i forgot to mention- the currencies must match between the fundraiser and the bank account it is linked to. this means that if the fundraiser is in euros-- the bank tied to the account must also be in a country that uses euros as their primary currency. a US-based bank account would not work if the fundraiser is in euros.

all three campaigns have the same characteristics: not enough info is being disclosed in the fundraisers. another common theme: they are all recently made (may 2024). the decision to evacuate is a painful choice for families to make as none of want to be displaced yet again- but the situation in gaza has prompted many families to make this decision in an attempt to save themselves + their loved ones. the issue is that many of those who are now choosing to make campaigns are not aware of the ins and outs of how to properly start a gfm (+ i'm most certain there are other factors at play as to why this keeps happening to families in desperate need of aid).

this is bound to happen again and again unless this information is being spread widely. which is why i am also asking for this:

please share this w/ anyone who is fluent in arabic that can translate this in its entirety (DO NOT TRY TO USE GOOGLE TRANSLATE). i have a lot of new followers from 🇵🇸, some of them with newly made gfm pages that may be at risk of being frozen if they do not correct the issues i've addressed above. this information is vital to ensuring they are able to continue fundraising.

i have seen campaigns launched in june formatted similarly to the three that have been abruptly terminated. obtaining a stable internet connection in gaza requires people to put themselves at greater risk as they travel to locations with a working signal. people have been brutally murdered by just trying to activate the e-sims being sent over. so it makes sense that these newer campaigns made by these families would not have all the necessary info required- as these guidelines may be difficult to obtain on their end/may be worded in a way they cannot understand (you try reading the terms and policies of gfm yourself and tell me how fast your brain shuts off- and you're doing so in the comfort of your own homes. imagine what it's like to do so while facing constant bombardment).

a mutual of mine has already tried to contact gfm on behalf of omar- and they have informed me of gfm's response to their question:

Omar has already contacted them and is apparently in contact with the team according to the person i chatted with. they cannot disclose to me *why* the fundraiser was terminated they said they are working with Omar to solve the issue. if the issue cannot be solved, the money will be refunded to everyone... ^ this "contact" is likely using the same chatbox the rest of us need to use in order to even speak to a representative at gfm one-on-one. a very annoying system, but unless someone has a direct line to gfm- it is our only option.

we need to mobilize right now and put pressure on gfm to give these families the time they need to rework their campaign pages.

through the wayback machine i was able to figure out the organizers for each campaign.

omar is the organizer for his own -> says he is located in vienna but that is in direct conflict w/ the location he says he is in under the fundraiser info (displaced in rafah). i'm unsure if he has a contact in vienna that is actually the one responsible for holding/transferring the money, but this information needs to get to them so they can try to fix the issue ASAP

the other two have beneficiaries listed, but there could be additional problems with how that whole thing is currently set up.

i still do not know the emails for raina/iman's gfm's (and the wayback machine doesn't let you see the contact info on the archived pages 😓) but- we can try to mobilize right now for omar. he is absolutely devastated and has lost hope that he will be able to recuperate the money he has already raised. this is not the time for the rest of us to lose faith in his cause.

for anyone interested in helping out- i have laid out all this information so you can question gfm directly. if you come in knowing your stuff, they may be more receptive in their responses than the first initial attempts. please contact me directly if you wish to email on omar's behalf so i can forward you his email linked to the gfm account.

tagging for more reach: @appsa @palms-upturned @malcriada

[artist-ellen]

Ancient Roman Mermaid

Prompt 3 from chloe.z.arts' Historical Mermay challenge list. For this illustration I was looking mostly at statues and floor tile designs. It's crazy to me some of the mosaics that come out of Ancient Rome, they are gorgeous!

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

[mostlysignssomeportents]

It’s been twenty years since my Microsoft DRM talk

On THURSDAY (June 20) I'm live onstage in LOS ANGELES for a recording of the GO FACT YOURSELF podcast. On FRIDAY (June 21) I'm doing an ONLINE READING for the LOCUS AWARDS at 16hPT. On SATURDAY (June 22) I'll be in OAKLAND, CA for a panel and a keynote at the LOCUS AWARDS.

This week on my podcast,This week on my podcast, I read my June 17, 2004 Microsoft Research speech about DRM, a talk that went viral two decades ago, and reassess its legacy:

https://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt

It's been 20 years (and one day) since I gave that talk. It wasn't my first talk like that, but at the time, it was the most successful talk I'd ever given. I was still learning how to deliver a talk at the time, tinkering with different prose and delivery styles (to my eye, there's a lot of Bruce Sterling in that one, something that's still true today).

I learned to give talks by attending sf conventions and watching keynotes and panel presentations and taking mental notes. I was especially impressed with the oratory style of Harlan Ellison, whom I heard speak on numerous occasions, and by Judith Merril, who was a wonderful mentor to me and many other writers:

https://locusmag.com/2021/09/cory-doctorow-breaking-in/

I was also influenced by the speakers I'd heard at the many political rallies I'd attended and helped organize; from the speakers at the annual Labour Day parade to the anti-nuclear proliferation and pro-abortion rights marches I was very involved with. I also have vivid memories of the speeches that Helen Caldicott gave in Toronto when I was growing up, where I volunteered as an usher:

https://www.helencaldicott.com/

When I helped found a dotcom startup in the late 1990s, my partners and I decided that I'd do the onstage talking; we paid for a couple hours of speaker training from an expensive consultant in San Francisco. The only thing I remember from that session was the advice to look into the audience as much as possible, rather than reading from notes with my head down. Good advice, but kinda obvious.

The impetus for that training was my onstage presentation at the first O'Reilly P2P conference in 2001. I don't quite remember what I said there, but I remember that it made an impression on Tim O'Reilly, which meant a lot to me then (and now):

https://www.oreilly.com/pub/pr/844

I don't remember who invited me to give the talk at Microsoft Research that day, but I think it was probably Marc Smith, who was researching social media at the time by data-mining Usenet archives to understand social graphs. I think I timed the gig so that I could kill three birds with one stone: in addition to that talk, I attended (and maybe spoke at?) that year's Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference, and attended an early preview of the soon-to-launch Sci Fi Museum (now the Museum of Pop Culture). I got to meet Nichelle Nichols (and promptly embarrassed myself by getting tongue-tied and telling her how much I loved the vocals she did on her recording of the Star Wars theme, something I'm still hot around the ears over, though she was a pro and gently corrected me, "I think you mean Star *Trek"):

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4IiJUQSsxNw&list=OLAK5uy_lHUn58fbpceC3PrK2Xu9smBNBjR_-mAHQ

But the start of that trip was the talk at Microsoft Research; I'd been on the Microsoft campus before. That startup I did? Microsoft tried to buy us, which prompted our asshole VCs to cram the founders and steal our equity, which created so much acrimony that the Microsoft deal fell through. I was pretty bitter at the time, but in retrospect, I really dodged a bullet – for one thing, the deal involved my going to work for Microsoft as a DRM evangelist. I mean, talk about the road not taken!

This was my first time back at Microsoft as an EFF employee. There was some pre-show meet-and-greet-type stuff, and then I was shown into a packed conference room where I gave my talk and had a lively (and generally friendly) Q&A. MSR was – and is – the woolier side of Microsoft, where all kinds of interesting people did all kinds of great research.

Indeed, almost every Microsoft employee I've ever met was a good and talented person doing the best work they could. The fact that Microsoft produces such a consistent stream of garbage products and crooked business practices is an important testament to the way that a rotten organization can be so much less than the sum of its parts.

I'm a fully paid up subscriber to Ronald Coase's "Theory of the Firm" (not so much his other views):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_the_firm

Coase says the reason institutions exist is to enable people to work together with lowered "coordination costs." In other words, if you and I are going to knit a sweater together, we're going to need to figure out how to make sure that we're not both making the left sleeve. Creating an institution – the Mafia, the Catholic Church, Microsoft, a company, a co-op, a committee that puts on a regional science fiction con – is all about minimizing those costs.

As Yochai Benkler pointed out in 2002, the coolest and most transformative thing about the internet is that it let us do more complex collective work with smaller and less structured institutions:

https://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.PDF

That was the initial prompt for my novel Walkaway, which asked, "What if we could build luxury hotels and even space programs with the kind of (relatively) lightweight institutional overheads associated with Wikipedia and the Linux kernel?"

https://crookedtimber.org/2017/05/10/coases-spectre/

So the structure of institutions is really important. At the same time, I'm skeptical of the idea that there are "good companies" and "bad companies." Small businesses, family businesses, and other firms that aren't exposed to the finance sector can reflect their leaders' personalities, but it's a huge mistake to ascribe personalities to the companies themselves.

That's how you get foolish ideas like "Apple is a good company because they embrace paid service and Google is a bad company because they make money from surveillance." Apple will spy on you, too, if they can:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Disney and Fox weren't Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers making goo-goo eyes at each other across the table at MPA meetings. They were two giant public companies, and any differences between them were irrelevancies and marketing myths:

https://locusmag.com/2021/07/cory-doctorow-tech-monopolies-and-the-insufficient-necessity-of-interoperability/

I think senior management's personalities do matter (see, for example, the destruction of Boeing after it was colonized by sociopaths from McDonnell Douglas), but the influence of those personalities is much less important than the constraints that competition and regulation impose on companies. In other words, an asshole can run a company that delivers good products at fair prices under ethical conditions – provided that failing to do so will cost more in lost business and fines than they stand to make by cheating:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/24/record-scratch/#autoenshittification

Microsoft is a company founded and run by colossal assholes. Bill Gates is a monster and he surrounded himself with monsters, and they hired monsters to fill out the courts of their corporate palaces:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/14/patch-tuesday/#fool-me-twice-we-dont-get-fooled-again

To the extent that good things come out of Microsoft – some of its games products, the odd piece of hardware, important papers from MSR – it's in spite of the leadership; it's the result of constraints imposed by competition and regulation – and that's why Microsoft pursued such an aggressive program of extinguishing its competitors and capturing its regulators.

In retrospect, I think one of my goals in that talk was to convince those people doing good work for a rotten institution to go elsewhere and do other things. Certainly, that's one of the goals I pursue in the talks I give today. At the time, some of Microsoft's highest-profile technologists were publicly resigning over the company's war on free/open source software, so it wasn't an unrealistic goal:

https://web.archive.org/web/20030214215639/http://synthesist.net/writing/onleavingms.html

What I did not expect what that publishing the talk on my site and blogging it on Boing Boing would spark a wave of public interest that would get its message in front of several orders of magnitude more people than I spoke to at Microsoft that day. Partly, that was because I released the talk into the public domain, using the brand-new Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration (which was later replaced with the CC0 mark, due to legal issues withBu its drafting):

https://web.archive.org/web/20100223035835/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/

Some mix of the content of the speech, the spirit of the moment, and the novelty of that wide open license sparked a ton of interest. Jason Kottke recorded an audio version that Andy Baio hosted:

https://kottke.org/04/06/cory-drm-talk

My brutalist ASCII transcript was quickly converted to beautiful HTML by Matt Haughey and Anil Dash:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040622235333/http://www.dashes.com/anil/stuff/doctorow-drm-ms.html

For people who needed a hardcopy, there was Patrick Berry's printer-friendly stylesheet:

https://patandkat.com/pat/weblog/mirror/cory-drm/doctorow-drm-ms.html

Multiple people recorded (and sold!) audio versions, and then there were all the fan translations, into Danish, French, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (both EU and Brazilian), Spanish and Swedish. I stayed in touch with some of those translators, and they helped me translate the position papers I wrote for UN WIPO meetings. Those papers were so effective that ratfuckers from the copyright lobby started to steal them and hide them in the UN toilets (!):

https://web.archive.org/web/20041119132831/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/002117.php

Re-reading the speech for my podcast on Sunday, I expected to be struck by the anachronisms in it, and there were a few of those to be sure. But far more clear was the common thread running from this talk to other talks I gave that took on a significant life of their own, like my 2011 "War On General Purpose Computing" talk for CCC:

https://memex.craphound.com/2012/01/10/lockdown-the-coming-war-on-general-purpose-computing/

And my work on Adversarial Interoperability:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

And my most recent work, on enshittification:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/27/an-audacious-plan-to-halt-the-internets-enshittification-and-throw-it-into-reverse/

In other words, I've been saying the same thing – in different ways – for more than 20 years. That could be depressing, but I actually found it uplifting. Two decades ago, I was radicalized by a fear that the internet would be seized by corporations and governments and transformed into a system of surveillance and control. I found my way into a job at EFF, where I worked with colleagues across multiple disciplines – coders, lawyers and activists – to fight this force.

At the time, this was a fringe cause. Most of the traditional activists I'd come up with in the feminist, antiwar, antiracist, environmental and labour movement viewed digital rights as a distraction and dismissed its partisans as sad, self-obsessed nerds who mistook fights over the management of Star Trek message boards for civil rights struggles:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell

I thought I was right then, and I think history has borne me out. The point of waging these fights – both in the wide public sphere and within political movements – is to get people activated before it's too late. Every day that goes by is a day when the internet becomes more inhospitable to political organizing for a better world – more surveillant, more controlling. I believed then – and believe today – that the internet isn't more important that the other fights I waged as a young activist, but I think that the internet is fundamental to those fights.

Saving the planet, smashing patriarchy, overthrowing tyranny and freeing labor are all fights that will be coordinated – Coase style – on the internet. Without a free, fair and open internet, those fights are infinitely harder to win.

The project of getting people to understand, care about, and fight for digital rights is a marathon, not a sprint. When I joined EFF, it was already 12 years old. There were six people in the org then (I was the seventh). Today, there's more than a hundred of us, and we're stretched so thin! The 30+ year old idea that internet policy will intersect with every part of every fight has been utterly vindicated.

Back in 2004, I asked Microsoft why they were willing to fight the US government to the death over antitrust enforcement, but were such wimps when confronted with the entertainment industry's demands for DRM. 20 years later, I think I know the answer: Microsoft understood that DRM would let them usurp the relationship between creative workers, entertainment industry companies, and audiences. Their perfect instincts for seeking out and capitalizing on opportunities to seize monopoly power drove them to make deliberately defective products, in the belief that their market power would let them cram those products down our throats:

https://memex.craphound.com/2004/01/27/protect-your-investment-buy-open/

Here's a link to the podcast episode:

https://craphound.com/news/2024/06/16/my-2004-microsoft-drm-talk/

And here's direct link to the MP3 (hosting courtesy of the Internet Archive; they'll host your stuff for free forever):

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_470/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_470_-_My_2004_Microsoft_DRM_Talk.mp3

And here's the RSS feed for my podcast:

https://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/18/greetings-fellow-pirates/#arrrrrrrrrr

[sea-wolf-coast-to-coast]

Prompt #1: Steer

Submit your entry here: https://forms.gle/jDWjFKfmeaGnH3PL9

#FFxivWrite2024 is underway – a daily writing challenge presented to the Final Fantasy XIV writing community for the month of September. You can join any time throughout the challenge with any prompt number! Entries can be written on any online writing platform (tumblr, Archive of our Own, Google Docs, etc.). Submit the link and be sure that I have reading access. Reminder: The 24-hour deadline does not go into effect until September 8th at 12:00 pm PDT. Check you entries here in the Public Spreadsheet

Rules & Info || Prompt List || #FFxivWrite2024 || kofi

[aahorrorfest]

Welcome to Ace Attorney Horror Fest 2024!

Welcome, and thank you for participating in this special Halloween mini-event for Ace Attorney Fandom! We’re inviting fans to create all things spooky, scary and judiciary featuring characters from the mainline Ace Attorney Games and/or the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.

Whether you are an artist, writer or other fan creator, you are invited to submit to our AO3 collection. Works will be highlighted and promoted on the last week of October, but you can submit anytime from September 1 to November 15. There will be a suggested prompt list for each day (in the last week of october) based on different subgenres of horror.

Submit to the collection here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/AAHorrorFest24.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of work are allowed for this event?

Written works (ficlet, fic, drabble) and visual art are accepted for this event.

Is there a required length for written works in this collection?

This is a low-stakes (insert vampire joke) event, and we want people to be able to participate even if they are feeling low-energy or don’t have a ton of time to write! Any work will be accepted. Very short, bite-sized drabbles will be just as welcome as sweeping epics! Poems are also welcome.

What topics and themes can I write about?

You can write about any themes, topics, or characters you like, as long as there are some horror themes involved. Genres like horror romance and horror comedy are totally fine, but there should be some evil force/monster/existential threat/killer. An example of a work that’s allowed: Two characters have witty banter while they fight zombies. An example of a work that’s not allowed: Two characters have a normal conversation in a coffee shop. No zombies are present. In general, please make sure you are tagging your works appropriately. However, if there is some reason you want to keep an element of a fic a secret (e.g. not wanting to tag “bad ending” because you want that to be a surprise), you can use the "Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings" tag.

Can my work contain ships?

Yes, content featuring ships is allowed.

Can I submit works anonymously?

Yes!

We have a Discord server for event participants to chat, get to know each other, and share ideas and inspiration. This server is 18+ due to the mature themes inherent to horror. Please reach out if you'd like to join.

[leighsartworks216]

Hi hi! I saw your requests are open and I really love your writing. There's a scene I saw on yt from bg3 where Raphael just magics Astarion's clothes off and I was wondering if you could write something where Tav covers him up or snaps at Raphael over the invasion of his privacy. Here's the clip btw

https://youtube.com/shorts/RJyurXglAHM?si=YNBC5POkV0j2Zns4

OH MY GOD I saw this prompt and literally could not stop writing until I was finished

Warnings: non-consensual undressing (by Raphael), slight arguing, swearing, trauma

Word Count: 1,139

Masterlist

AO3

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“Now, let’s talk about you.” Raphael turns his burning attention to Astarion. “I sense there’s something you want to ask me.”

“I do. I have a… proposal for you.”

“A proposal? If you’re hoping to taste my blood, little vampling, think again. It burns hotter than Wyvern Whiskey.”

You can feel Astarion’s whole body tense beside you with agitation. “This is serious business… devil.” The anger fades into discomfort. “My old - well, a long time ago, someone carved some runes into my back. I’d like to know what they say.”

Raphael hums as he contemplates the deal before him. You turn to your companion, confused. “What are you talking about, Astarion? What scars?” It’s not as upset as the spawn expects it to be. Truly, he was fully prepared for you to round on him for hiding something from you for so long.

He never got the chance to be… intimate with you. He tried, of course, he was uncomfortably desperate for the safety it would bring him. But, somehow, you saw past him. Through him. You saw the seduction for the act it was. And, somehow, you stayed with him anyway. He just, well, forgot to tell you about them. He told you of Cazador, of course. Just, not what he did to him.

Raphael was all too pleased with your confusion, smirking. “You haven’t told them? And you’ve kept your clothes on this whole time? How unlike you.” You stare sharply at the devil. He was enjoying teasing Astarion too much. But then it really went too far. With a lilting, “Why not let them see? Don’t be shy,” he snaps his fingers and Astarion’s clothes disappear in an orange glow.

You don’t even think as you immediately unclasp your cloak and wrap it around his shoulders. He’s more surprised you covered him up than Raphael un-covering him. You act as a barrier between the two, holding Astarion’s shoulders to keep the cloak covering him and glaring venomously over your shoulder at the devil.

Before you can spit vitriol at him, he’s trying to soothe the tension. “Don’t worry - I’m motivated to help you.” His teeth show as he smirks wider. “Scars often tell such wonderful stories - I think yours might be truly exquisite. I’ll see you soon.”

And just like that, in a puff of flame and smoke, he’s gone. You turn back to Astarion.

“Are you okay?”

His eyes widen, shocked. “I’ve been keeping a secret as wide as my back - literally - from you all this time, and you’re worried about me? Aren’t you, I don’t know, angry? Betrayed? Ready to kick me out of our little group?”

You frown. “No, of course not.”

He can’t wrap his head around it. Your face says you're upset, but your eyes shine with sympathy and worry. You mean it. Why?

“But I lied to you!”

“You didn’t tell me - it’s different.”

He scoffs bitterly. “A lie of omission is still a lie, darling.”

“Did you do it out of malicious intent?”

His face scrunches up. “Why should that matter?”

“Well, did you?”

“No! Not on purpose, anyway. There may have been some… selfishness.”

“Then you were doing it to protect yourself?”

“What are you-”

“I’m not angry, Astarion.” His mouth lingers open, but the words die in his throat. You squeeze his shoulders. “You kept a secret to protect yourself, not to trick me. You had your reasons for not telling me, and that’s okay. I’m not angry.”

He’s quiet. Shadowheart and Gale had backed away some time ago, giving you as much privacy as they could while you fought. Not that it was much of a fight. You’re grateful for it, nonetheless. Astarion has a hard time being genuine when it’s just you two; he almost never lets his guard down around anyone else.

He sighs. It’s shaky and quiet, but you can feel the shudder in his shoulders. He looks down at himself. He’s in nothing but his underwear and your cloak. His stomach is still largely exposed, and he grabs the edges of the fabric to close it the rest of the way. It feels… safe. He’s terrified, of course - he’s in his skivvies out in the open. But the way you immediately covered him up. He’d never dreamed of anything like it.

“I’ll find you some clothes. I should have something tucked away.”

You’re slow to release him. You pull the cloak to wrap more evenly around him, and then you’re kneeling on the floor, rifling through your stuff. Your face is set in determination. Your eyes are keenly focused on your search. A warmth fills his chest.

When he speaks, it’s barely a whisper. “Thank you.”

You don’t turn from your task, but he can see your soft smile. It eases him even more. Soon enough, you’ve pulled out a loose shirt, some pants, and a spare pair of boots. He has no idea how or why you carry spare clothes around, but he really shouldn’t be questioning it when they’re suddenly the most important thing in the world.

“Here. They may be a bit big, but they’ll do until I can threaten Raphael to give your armor back.” He chuckles and takes the clothes you offer him. “I’ll go talk to the others and start working out a plan.”

“Wait.” He grabs your wrist before you can even start to turn away. He opens his mouth like he wants to speak. Thank you again, apologize for creating this mess, something. But he can’t find the words. You wait, ever patient. And, gods damn it all, your expression is so open and kind - he can’t help cupping your face in his hands and drawing you in for a kiss.

It’s soft at the same time it’s passionate. A quiet thank you for everything. For your kindness, your patience, your protection. You don’t know where to put your hands. You touch his shoulder hesitantly, wanting to pull him close but not wishing to touch him where he’d be uncomfortable. It makes his undead heart ache even more.

His hands leave your face to slide down your arms, guiding your hands underneath the cloak and around his back. Even with his guidance, you’re reluctant to touch him, but then your hands, warm and gentle, glide across the raised skin. You press into him, kissing him harder as thanks for his trust.

When you pull away, you press your forehead to his, breaths fanning over his face as you catch your breath. He leaves one last kiss at the corner of your mouth. “Thank you.”

You smile. He watches fascinated as your eyes become filled to the brim with fondness. You squeeze his waist and slide your arms from under the cloak, stepping back carefully. “Get dressed,” you say. “I’ll be just around the corner.”

---

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