#i shouldn't be allowed an internet connection

[misculenica]

Solas; the petulant child

"You have waylaid all his other plans. Now, as a petulant child, he will destroy the game board rather than admit defeat. Be ready for anything. He still believes himself a god, and gods do not fall gracefully."

We all presume (likely correctly) that Solas is referring to the Evanuris when he talks about Corytheus after you prompt him; how they acted, and how their actions would have destroyed the world.

What if he was actually referring to himself as the petulant child who destroyed the board instead of admitting defeat, not the Evanuris?

Solas himself described his 'younger self' as a hotblooded and cocky know-it-all. (And given he -presumably- got drunk and pissed magic in his past, that only adds to the not-so-great/immature former self). He wasn't really that great a person.

And then, take into account;

Elgar'nan, Falon'Din, Dirthamen, Andruil, Ghilan'nain, Sylaise, June.

7 Evanuris (the most powerful beings -at the time- in existence), all working against Fen'Harel. What chance did he really have against all 7 of them, especially after they killed Mythal?

Solas was losing the war/rebellion. And we assume he created the veil as a 'last resort' to seal the gods away to protect the world. What if he wasn't motivated by a sense of 'must protect people/the world' and it was more 'if I can't win, neither can you'? I don't think he really intended to survive severing the world's ties to the Fade.

We know from the story about Falon'Din that he spread war to garner more followers, to the point where all the other Evanuris had to step in, and 'bloodied him in his own temple' to get him to stop. It's not so far of a stretch to say they would do the same to Fen'Harel, given he's taking their slaves/giving them freedom and has been a general pain in their asses for ages.

They beat him in all of his plans, backed him into a corner. But he still had one last thing he could do; create the veil, and destroy their world (everything in the time of Arlathan ran on magic, and without that... It crumbled, it died - the board was destroyed).

And Fen'Harel was forever remembered as the god of betrayal, the reason the elves became enslaved and impoverished and mortal. The Dread Wolf fell disgracefully, remembered not for his wisdom, but for his petulance and his trickery.

And Solas had to deal with the consequences for thousands of years "in dark and dreaming sleep", unable to do anything to impact the 'real' world outside the Fade, except speak to dreamers/spirits and experience only memories of what's going on 'outside', knowing that everything he accomplished was torn down, and his people are now going extinct, all while he sleeps with nothing but whispers and his own thoughts - for thousands of years.

Imagine how much that would kill you inside, knowing that all of it was your fault, and those thousands of years of suffering and contemplation were your own doing? You can't even be mad about it, not at anybody but yourself.

But you can undo it.

[sexyzuka]

I wanted to make a motivational poster for my office, but an hour later it turned into this.

Kiba believes in you, don't give up!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for telling my friends I want to use they/them pronouns for a bad reason?

I (19F) am 100% a cis girl, but never really felt like I was "allowed" to be girly or feminine because of a lot of internal and external sexism and misogyny in my house growing up. No one ever really acknowledged the fact that I was a girl, unless it was in a negative sense. I was also homeschooled, so that made things worse because limited social interaction and stuff.

Now that I'm older and have a lot more connection with people through the internet, I'm a lot more comfortable with my identity and genuinely love being perceived as a girl. I understand the gender euphoria trans people feel when someone uses she/her pronouns for me. I also feel a hint of disappointment when people I don't know use they/them for me online (e.g. "prev knows their stuff").

With context out of the way, what actually happened was a few weeks ago. I went through a depressive episode, which came with the usual feelings of not ever deserving good things in life or happiness of any kind, and that no one cared/should care about me. As part of that, I withdrew from my friends for a couple days, leaving our discord server and blocking all of them (I know I shouldn't have done that, we worked it out). When I finally returned, I told them in vague terms that things were rough, I was a mess, and I wanted to start using they/them. I'm the only cis person in the group of 8 people so no one batted an eye about my request and just went along with it.

Here's where I might be the ah: the only reason I asked that is because I thought I didn't deserve to feel good about myself in any way, including my gender. My friends don't know I was asking them for help in basically punishing myself. I know if they'd known they would never go along with it. I also feel like an ah for using my privilege of being cis and having accepting friends to punish myself when there's real people in the world suffering because people refuse to gender them correctly.

Additional details that might be relevant: my friends are great, we met online about two years ago in a bigger server and grew closer and made our own small server not too long after. They know about my mental health issues and have helped me a lot. Almost everyone I know irl is transphobic and homophobic, so my reference for what is offensive and what isn't is kinda off. I still live with my family and they're by no means bad people. I'm also in the process of finding a therapist.

What are these acronyms?

[ms-demeanor]

sex work is work, no problem with that, but spamming sex work absolutely everywhere now is not okay. bot or not, it is not okay to shove your probably fake/stolen tits or ass into everyone's face even where kids are. it is absolutely the lowest, cheapest trash doing that. are these people showing their barely covered up pussy to school kids on the street to maybe get a customer? because they are doing exactly that on the internet. if you cant find customers and need to lower yourself to std ridden junkey trash standards who missed the way and entitled themselves to begging for money outside trash town, zero support from me!

Yeah you really sound like someone who supports sex workers. That's what I always think when I hear people using words like "disease-ridden" and "junkie" - 'wow, that person must be SUCH an ally. braver than any US marine, thank you for your service, person who believes sex work is work but thinks STIs or drug addiction are 'trash'.'

So, point by point:

It's not absolutely everywhere. You don't see people trying to link their onlyfans on facebook most of the time (i've actually never seen it but i could believe it is happening, though it's not common because FB has real-name policies that are unfriendly to sex workers). You're unlikely to see fansly links as sidebar ads on cspan. People aren't linking their pages in the amazon reviews. You're seeing it "everywhere" because you're not going anywhere. Tell me you spend all your time on two to three platforms without telling me you spend all your time on two to three platforms. Instagram, tiktok, twitter, and tumblr are full of people who are promoting all kinds of brands and one of those kinds of brands is sex work.

Those are also all platforms that have age restrictions and behavior standards, and of all of them tumblr is the one that has the history of being the most openly sexual and the least connected to legal identities. People are linking to their diy porn because of the culture of these websites both currently and historically. I once posted a video on this website of me bringing myself to orgasm in a public bathroom stall then inserting a dildo into my vagina before I went on stage and performed a set with my band. I did it for free and for fun five years ago, the week before the porn ban hit.

What I'm saying here is that the culture of this website has a much longer history of openness about sex and sexuality and the visual presentation of sex than it does of being full of people who think teens shouldn't see nipples. This is an *extremely* reasonable place to post information linking to porn that you make and to use cute pictures of yourself to do so.

It's also really easy to tell that these people aren't bots or using stolen images because the whole point of the live platform is that you can click through and go talk to them. Strange Aeons did just that and you can see what happened. (click on that video for a fun cameo at 6:04) Turns out live users are just a bunch of people (not networks stealing images the way that actual porn *bots* on tumblr do) and the ones who are trying to do sex work on the live platform itself get banned.

But also kids too young to see the occasional boob shouldn't be on tumblr! (like, seriously, define kids. what age is too young to see the kinds of images allowed by the tumblr live tos? how about the ones banned by the tumblr live tos? How old should you have to be before someone shows you an ahegao face on a hoodie in public? What should the punishment be for the ahegao fashionistas for exposing six year olds to anime tongues? What should the minimum age be to go on the beach and see men in speedos? Fifteen, or is that still abusive to children? Maybe we should make it twenty to be safe, or better yet why don't we make it twenty AND ban speedos? this is what you sound like, you fucking asshole). Tumblr has age limits and people under that age limit shouldn't be looking at most things on this website. A smiling woman in a bikini top or a dude with his abs out are fucking nothing compared to the kind of damage you personally and specifically are trying to inflict with your shitty ideas.

Posting t&a on tumblr is not at all comparable to doing street level work and soliciting children for a number of reasons, but I'd just like to really take the time to point out that you just compared the profile pics on tumblr live to sexually soliciting a child. You literally did the "x group i hate are pedophiles" thing, which is exactly why it's such a huge problem that any and all types of nudity have been stigmatized online. We have created an entirely new paradigm of "pedophile" that means "existed around a child while wearing tight pants." You are such a fucking clueless, sanctimonious pile of shit that you can't even see that that's what you're doing. This is literally, exactly kink at pride discourse.

And that's even if I grant you that these people are posting t&a! Go look at the live leaderboards, you don't have to accept the ToS to see the leaderboards! We are talking about *at most* saucy pin-up levels of eroticism. I have seen fucking holiday cards with more visible cleavage than any of the top 200 tumblr live streamers right now.

The only thing in your final sentence that makes any sense is that you are positioning tumblr as trash town.

Yeah. I'm actually not at all impressed by tumblr recently and that has a lot more to do with the influx or resurgence of nuance-allergic, anti-sex, whiny shits like you than it does with a banner that i can scroll past in a quarter of a second.

I want people reading this to really, really sit down and think about what they're calling assault or hypersexualiztion or whatever. We are talking about profile pictures. You are so offended by a bar of 4 profile pictures at the top of your dash that you're comparing regular ass humans (some of whom are sex workers and some of whom are just streamers who took thirst trap selfies) to the real life solicitation and abuse of children.

TOUCHING GRASS IS NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU PLEASE GO INTERACT WITH ACTUAL REAL HUMANS WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT DASHCON OR MILKSHAKE DUCK ARE. YOU ARE CRITICALLY INTERNET POISONED AND IF YOU TALKED TO SOMEONE AT THE DMV AND DESCRIBED IT AS ASSAULTING CHILDREN TO HAVE SOMEONE IN A BIKINI ON A BILLBOARD THEY WOULD IMMEDIATELY BEGIN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET AWAY FROM YOU. THINK OF THIS POST AS THE CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR TELLING YOU THAT THE SHADOWS YOU'RE SEEING AREN'T ACTUALLY DEMONS BUT THAT YOU ARE GOING TO REALLY REGRET IT IF YOU DON'T GO OUTSIDE.

[triviallytrue]

you're probably asserting some generalities recently (most do). drop some hot examps instantiating a generality or two you recently asserted. if you desire to do so.

i've been frustrated with a tendency i've noticed lately around hostility toward spaces that are... insufficiently moderated, or all-inclusive, or whatnot

like the most recent example is this grindr discourse - people who go onto an app designed specifically for men to have sex and are scandalized when men very forwardly want to have sex with them. and it's like, if you use some other dating app this won't happen! or at least not with the same frequency.

and this plays off something actually important, right, like the commons need to be maximally inclusive. you shouldn't have to put up with getting dick pics to get a job or get housing or whatever (and, inshallah, the vast majority of people don't). but if you want to be on the hookup-with-men app you do, because that isn't the goddamn commons - it's a separate space with specific goals in mind. a lot of people on there want dick pics!

most absurd example of this is ao3 discourse, because ao3 even has an elaborate tagging system that allows people to tailor their experience to the things they actually want, but we still get yearly discourse about how ao3 must be destroyed because it hosts noncon or incest or racism or whatever.

kind of a related phenomenon going on with the recent shutdown of omeagle, where it got nuked because a predator was connected with someone on there that they otherwise wouldn't have been. and i understand why people are deeply uncomfortable about that, this isn't like grindr or ao3, you shouldn't *expect* to have that experience on omeagle.

but i do think people will really only understand the incredible value provided by these places once they're gone. having any kind of space, whether in person or on the internet, can and will lead to some form of harm that otherwise wouldn't have happened. this is a side effect of living in a society! but there are immense upsides too, and a lot of people don't even seem to be aware that a tradeoff exists.

[maryellencarter]

YouTube Downloads through VLC: Step by Step

So this guide to easily downloading off YouTube is super helpful, but there's enough important information hidden in the reblogs that (with the permission of OP @queriesntheories ) I'm doing a more step-by-step version.

Please note: these downloads will be in YouTube quality. My test video download is coming through at 360p, even though the video I'm starting from is set to 720p. They're legible, but they won't look great on a TV. For high visual quality, you'll want to seek out other methods.

This guide is written for Windows 10, since that's what I can test on. It's been tested on Firefox, Chrome, and Edge (which is a Chromium browser, so the method should work in other Chromium browsers too). So far, I haven't tracked down a way to use this download method on mobile.

BASIC KNOWLEDGE:

I'll try to make this pretty beginner-friendly, but I am going to assume that you know how to right-click, double-click, navigate right-click menus, click-and-drag, use keyboard shortcuts that are given to you (for example, how to use Ctrl+A), and get the URL for any YouTube video you want to download.

You'll also need to download and install one or more programs off the internet using .exe files, if you don't have these programs already. Please make sure you know how to use your firewall and antivirus to keep your computer safe, and google any names you don't recognize before allowing permission for each file. You can also hover your mouse over each link in this post to make sure it goes where I'm saying it will go.

YOU WILL NEED:

A computer where you have admin permissions. This is usually a computer you own or have the main login on. Sadly, a shared computer like the ones at universities and libraries will not work for this.

Enough space on your computer to install the programs listed below, if you don't have them already, and some space to save your downloaded files to. The files are pretty small because of the low video quality.

A simple text editing program. Notepad is the one that usually comes with Windows. If it lets you change fonts, it's too fancy. A notepad designed specifically to edit program code without messing it up is Notepad++, which you can download here.

A web browser. I use Firefox, which you can get here. Chrome or other Chrome-based browsers should also work. I haven't tested in Safari.

An Internet connection fast enough to load YouTube. A little buffering is fine. The downloads will happen much faster than streaming the entire video, unless your internet is very slow.

VLC Media Player, which you can get here. It's a free player for music and videos, available on Windows, Android, and iOS, and it can play almost any format of video or audio file that exists. We'll be using it for one of the central steps in this process.

If you want just the audio from a YouTube video, you'll need to download the video and then use a different program to copy the audio into its own file. At the end of this post, I'll have instructions for that, using a free sound editor called Audacity.

SETUP TO DOWNLOAD:

The first time you do this, you'll need to set VLC up so it can do what you want. This is where we need Notepad and admin permissions. You shouldn't need to repeat this process unless you're reinstalling VLC.

If VLC is open, close it.

In your computer's file system (File Explorer on Windows), go to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\playlist

If you're not familiar with File Explorer, you'll start by clicking where the left side shows (C:). Then in the big main window, you'll double-click each folder that you see in the file path, in order - so in this case, when you're in C: you need to look for Program Files. (There will be two of them. You want the one without the x86 at the end.) Then inside Program Files you're looking for VideoLAN, and so forth through the whole path.

Once you're inside the "playlist" folder, you'll see a lot of files ending in .luac - they're in alphabetical order. The one you want to edit is youtube.luac which is probably at the bottom.

You can't edit youtube.luac while it's in this folder. Click and drag it out of the playlist folder to somewhere else you can find it - your desktop, for instance. Your computer will ask for admin permission to move the file. Click the "Continue" button with the blue and yellow shield.

Now that the file is moved, double-click on it. The Microsoft Store will want you to search for a program to open the .luac file type with. Don't go to the Microsoft Store, just click on the blue "More apps" below that option, and you'll get a list that should include your notepad program. Click on it and click OK.

The file that opens up will be absolutely full of gibberish-looking code. That's fine. Use Ctrl+A to select everything inside the file, then Backspace or Delete to delete it. Don't close the file yet.

In your web browser, go to https://github.com/videolan/vlc/blob/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua

Click in the part of the Github page that has a bunch of mostly blue code in it. Use Ctrl+A to select all of that code, Ctrl+C to copy it, then come back into your empty youtube.luac file and use Ctrl+P to paste the whole chunk of code into the file.

Save the youtube.luac file (Ctrl+S or File > Save in the upper left corner of the notepad program), then close the notepad program.

Drag youtube.luac back into the folder it came from. The computer will ask for admin permission again. Give it permission.

Now you can close Github and Notepad. You're ready to start downloading!

HOW TO DOWNLOAD:

First, get your YouTube link. It should look something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123DEF45 If it's longer, you can delete any extra stuff after that first set of letters and numbers, but you don't have to.

Now open VLC. Go to Media > Open Network Stream and paste your YouTube link into the box that comes up. Click Play. Wait until the video starts to play, then you can pause it if you want so it's not distracting you during the next part.

(If nothing happens, you probably forgot to put youtube.luac back. coughs)

In VLC, go to Tools > Codec Information. At the bottom of the pop-up box you'll see a long string of gibberish in a box labeled Location. Click in the Location box. It won't look like it clicked properly, but when you press Ctrl+A, it should select all. Use Ctrl+C to copy it.

In your web browser, paste the entire string of gibberish and hit Enter. Your same YouTube video should come up, but without any of the YouTube interface around it. This is where the video actually lives on YouTube's servers. YouTube really, really doesn't like to show this address to humans, which is why we needed VLC to be like "hi I'm just a little video player" and get it for us.

Because, if you're looking at the place where the video actually lives, you can just right-click-download it, and YouTube can't stop you.

Right-click on your video. Choose "Save Video As". Choose where to save it to - I use my computer's built-in Music or Videos folders.

Give it a name other than "videoplayback" so you can tell it apart from your other downloads.

The "Save As Type" dropdown under the Name field will probably default to MP4. This is a good versatile video format that most video players can read. If you need a different format, you can convert the download later. (That's a whole other post topic.)

Click Save, and your video will start downloading! It may take a few minutes to fully download, depending on your video length and internet speed. Once the download finishes, congratulations! You have successfully downloaded a YouTube video!

If you'd like to convert your video into a (usually smaller) audio file, so you can put it on a music player, it's time to install and set up Audacity.

INSTALLING AUDACITY (first time setup for audio file conversion):

You can get Audacity here. If you're following along on Windows 10, choose the "64-bit installer (recommended)". Run the installer, but don't open Audacity at the end, or if it does open, close it again.

On that same Audacity download page, scroll down past the installers to the "Additional resources". You'll see a box with a "Link to FFmpeg library". This is where you'll get the add-on program that will let Audacity open your downloaded YouTube video, so you can tell it to make an audio-only file. The link will take you to this page on the Audacity support wiki, which will always have the most up-to-date information on how to install the file you need here.

From that wiki page, follow the link to the actual FFmpeg library. If you're not using an adblocker, be careful not to click on any of the ads showing you download buttons. The link you want is bold blue text under "FFmpeg Installer for Audacity 3.2 and later", and looks something like this: "FFmpeg_5.0.0_for_Audacity_on_Windows_x86.exe". Download and install it. Without this, Audacity won't be able to open MP4 files downloaded from YouTube.

CONVERTING TO AUDIO:

Make sure you know where to find your downloaded MP4 video file. This file won't go away when you "convert" it - you'll just be copying the audio into a different file.

Open up Audacity.

Go to File > Open and choose your video file.

You'll get one of those soundwave file displays you see in recording booths and so forth. Audacity is a good solid choice if you want to teach yourself to edit soundwave files, but that's not what we're here for right now.

Go to File > Export Audio. The File Name will populate to match the video's filename, but you can edit it if you want.

Click the Browse button next to the Folder box, and choose where to save your new audio file to. I use my computer's Music folder.

You can click on the Format dropdown and choose an audio file type. If you're not sure which one you want, MP3 is the most common and versatile.

If you'd like your music player to know the artist, album, and so forth for your audio track, you can edit that later in File Manager, or you can put the information in with the Edit Metadata button here. You can leave any of the slots blank, for instance if you don't have a track number because it's a YouTube video.

Once everything is set up, click Export, and your new audio file will be created. Go forth and listen!

[awalkonthelightside]

are you alright with artists using your photos as references?

Generally speaking I have no issue with anyone using my art as reference or as inspiration for their own art - I think it's an important part of what art is all about, so long as others aren't using my creativity for their own personal gain (financial or otherwise, without explicit permission)

This shouldn't really need saying (but people have claimed this in the past), but this doesn't mean I think it's OK to just download my picture, convert it to black and white and then post it on your blog as your own. Just reblog - that's what the function is there for, and not only does it allow other people to discover what I create but it keeps going the link between the artist and the audience, which is the main reason I create in the first place.

Generally I think there's a fairly strong distinction between being inspired by/being used for reference, and just plain copying, and that goes with there being a fair balance between the creative, and artistic input that goes into both the original and the derivative. These things are never completely black and white, so if in doubt just check with me, and credit (and by credit link back to the original source material - just saying "found on the internet", or mentioning someone's name really breaks that connection.

Sorry for hijacking your ask with a bit of a rant, but I've had a lot of people stealing my work recently and it get's frustrating at times.

[sanctus-ingenium]

answering your asks vol 3

Full context for the Inprnt issue can be found here on this post , tl;dr my shop is closed until I receive my payments from inprnt in a timely manner and essentially won't reopen unless they clean up their act. Regarding the money they owe me outlined in that post, I still have not received it and on Friday I sent a support ticket in to inprnt demanding they send it soon. Haven't heard back since. I think where Inprnt is concerned, it's worth mentioning that they no longer send promotional emails (which used to be a regular occurrence) and there seems to be a complete lack of communication and the only thing about the site that regularly updates is the sale banner (ending soon!!! 🙄)

So honestly I'm of the opinion that the print on demand bubble has burst and that this method of selling art was a very short-lived feature of an internet that doesn't exist anymore. Think about it - I make money on a sale after having spent nothing on promotion, on materials, on postage fees, etc. It's so easy to game the system using bots or stolen art to essentially print free money that I'm shocked it even lasted as long as it did. Maybe I'm wrong but I won't tie myself to another print on demand service that's just going to pull the same old shit redbubble and inprnt have done this year, or one that requires me to constantly promo it like some kind of influencer on instagram or tiktok or whatever.

Will prints come back? I hope so. I am looking into local printing shops and considering the feasibility of handling the process myself but you must understand that if I do that, the price will rise. I won't have the ability to run constant discounts or eat a loss if I order 20 prints and only 7 sell. It is what it is.

And the actual worldbuilding asks below the cut lol:

(referring to this post)

Only if you want to! I've had a few people send me cool sketches and stuff via dms and it's always nice to see but you really shouldn't feel pressured to. After all it's not like I post my rough practice here lol (that goes on patreon ;)

-

I'm going to be SO real with you right now - I did not consider that at all. However I do know that tinting flames with various chemical compounds was a huge part of alchemy, part of the whole flashy show of it to impress the layperson. So sure, I bet they do throw in copper sulfate or various other chemicals to produce the coloured flames - these make a huge impression on witnesses who might not even have imagined such a thing possible, and also help identify a holy beast at a distance on a battlefield choked with smoke and dive-bombing serpents.

Fun fact, the flames come from the furnace wells, right. Each well is connected to specific systems, where it can most efficiently deliver fuel to the heart and onwards. So it is possible to 'read' the pattern of flame bursts from the furnace slits - they are not constant, but there'll be one every few seconds based on when the furnace tenders excite each well. You can tell at a distance, for example, that Leun is readying an acid spray, or rerouting power to the rear legs for a leap, or even what direction he's turning. It all runs at a slight delay, which is why the crew inside has to be SO closely coordinated.

-

@absolutely-flabbergasted Knights are allowed to reproduce but not marry, because it's sort of accepted theory that blood relatives of a knight will be 'accepted' by the knight's beast when the time comes. This is not true but it means that sometimes the knight's apprentices are their own children. The other parent is mostly another member of the church and usually not identified or considered important (unless they're a smith...). There are usually a decent number of known knight bastards running about.

Smiths are not allowed to have families or marry, because their first devotion should be to their art or their beast if they are assigned to one. If one tries, the kids are taken away, anonymised with new names, and put into the pool of potential novices in some other stable. Now, in reality some stables or churches are just not that strict and have a slightly different culture, so there's often an Open Secret about some master smith's illegitimate family or a priest's secret mistress. This is tolerated by the authorities to a certain degree but if it becomes too rampant there'll usually be a change of management and some sort of crackdown.

Families who give up their second born cannot stay in contact, but if the child becomes successful in some way (say, if the child becomes a knight) the families are sent tokens symbolising this which can be placed in the family/village shrine. This can be a huge point of pride, with some people faking the tokens just so that they can show off about their successful kids that are totally knight apprentices.

The reason they don't get to stay in touch with their children is due to the secretive nature of the church and its arts. The church has been at war with the neighbouring nations for a long time and only its mastery of engine work has kept it afloat, and nobody wants these secrets to fall into enemy hands. Particularly if your kid goes on to become a scribe, which is if anything an even more closely guarded profession than that of a knight (those engine diagrams don't draw themselves). The laity are usually quite devout and understanding of this. If they aren't, they might attempt to find their child, often without success.

If you want your church kid back: it depends. If you can prove to the church authorities that you need your child's labour to stay afloat or to carry on the family line, they might take that into consideration. Of course, the only children that return are the likes of sweepers, cleaners, altar boys, pages, etc. Nobody who might have witnessed any Secrets. The church is best understood as being in the middle of a cold war for the past few centuries (and sometimes just regular war) so it's far more closely guarded.

-

@kicks-tiktaalik-back-into-water

It's not likely. Even if the ventilation system worked perfectly, he is still from an older generation of holy beasts and no longer represents the pinnacle of the technology. Leun might have a less sophisticated ventilation system but everything else about him is head and shoulders more advanced - including the crew number he can take on. Leun only requires a single enginesmith in the heart, for example. This is because there's more automation of his systems, and he can actually manage to walk home from battle without anybody inside at all, just based on the knight's input (because the throne chamber is open to the air the knights are technically not inside the beasts). It's not preferable (it can damage the systems) but it is a huge bonus.

Think about how in the early days of commercial aviation, there could be as many as eight people working on the flight deck. In the 60s, a 3-person crew was standard; captain, first officer, and flight engineer. Today there are only two pilots needed. This is down to increased automation, and it means that it is cheaper to fly the plane - the airline has to hire fewer pilots, 'flight engineer' is a nonexistent role these days, and that means you need to train fewer people, have fewer people on call, feed fewer people etc etc. It is cheaper for the church to run Leun than it is to run Krokodilos and even though the church is wealthy, the money and resources are not infinite. Especially now, in times of plague. Leun, for all everybody sings his praises, is basically a reskinned Pantera with better systems - again, cutting costs, because now we can get all of Pantera's old enginesmiths to work on him instead of having to train up new ones on a brand new and wholly unique platform. It's as much a matter of logistics as it is innovation and technology.

[litgarchive]

It's at least December 12 everywhere in the world. Now what?

An LITG Archive Update

To preface, the original seasons are still playable at the moment if your auto-update is turned off. (I can confirm; I can still play on my Android phone.) I've heard (but have not tried) it's possible to play using older mods as well. Overall, this is good news!

However, no one is sure how long this would be viable, given that you do still need to connect to the Internet to play them. And, how long would Fusebox allow that from their end?

Well, I'm not putting this project on hold. And the fact that the seasons are still playable? A good time to collect more records. (IIRC, I don't have a Season 3 playthrough with Seb as the best friend yet. Please hook your girl up with any link whatsoever.)

What I'm doing and what are the goalposts moving forward, all under the cut!

Originally, I was going to do Season 3 first (as you might have seen from the demo), but I did realize that we'd likely lose more content from Season 2, given it's the longest and has most extensive branching compared to the other two seasons.

So, what am I doing now?

I've mapped out all the choices for Season 2 Day 1 Part 1. I will start transcription. If there are any missing choices, I will create a separate post requesting assistance (like I did before).

Season 3 transcription of a recorded Harry route is being continued by lovely people on their free time. They are currently doing Day 4 Part 1.

Any particular timeline when you'll be able to release a playable Season 2 (or any other season)?

What I can say is it won't be up for a while unless there will be more volunteers helping me transcribe seasons using a particular formatting and process. This is the most time-consuming part.

For a general idea, it took me almost 6 hours to transcribe the part for the demo using 2 recorded playthroughs by @queen-of-boops and by @mrsbsmooth. I broke up the scenes and added in some code/notes as I transcribed. Then I had a few more hours tweaking the transcript into ink, breaking it up a bit more so it won't flood the screen as much UI-wise, installing the UI framework, and testing it.

Granted, since I have brushed up on ink and have done base stuff for the demo, it shouldn't take me too long to code the full game once I've done all the non-coding related tasks.

Why not release it in chapters?

Honestly because I'm not a programmer, I have massive technical debt, and I could do that, but honestly I'm not very comfortable with doing that unless I at least map out all the choices first. I want to avoid missing variables which may, in turn, break everything else.

You might be surprised with the scenes we're still discovering as we repeat the playthroughs. We've got aliens, Islanders checking Bobby's reaction to Rocco possibly stealing you away from him, Ciaran being turned on by a belch, and Kassam actually considering you as a dateable prospect despite not being interested in you in the first place, etc. Honestly wild.

So, now what?

I will be posting an update once a week until all three seasons are completed. I'll post recording requests when needed. (Thank you to everyone who has shared their records so far, I could kiss you all. It's so lovely seeing our community band together like this.)

We can only hope Fusebox publishes the remastered versions soon (if at all) so people (like me) can play their comfort routes or just play some of the best seasons they had put out into the world.

So, yeah.

Much love before it's December 13 from my side of the world.

💕 Pine

[wizard-irl]

Is "Witch" Gender Neutral?

A lot of people say that the term "witch" is a gender-neutral term, and I agree. It's gender-neutral in that anyone should be able to freely identify with it, regardless of someone's sex or gender. People who don't identify as women are absolutely allowed to use the term "witch," and shouldn't have any other terms forced on them if that's what they prefer.

However.

There are a lot of witches who insist that "witch" has no gendered connotation, and that there is no reason why someone who practices witchcraft should want another term. "Witch" is purely gender neutral, isn't it?

"Witch" is not gender-neutral in that it connotes a person of any gender. Think of a witch. Do you think of a man? Do you think of someone whose masculine? Because I and many others do not.

Don't take my word for it? What does the internet define a witch to be and look like?

It's feminine connotation is further emphasised by its etymology and historical use:

Old English wicce "female magician, sorceress," in later use especially "a woman supposed to have dealings with the devil or evil spirits and to be able by their cooperation to perform supernatural acts," fem[inine form] of Old English wicca "sorcerer, wizard, man who practices witchcraft or magic[."] … [W]itchcraft was specifically singled out as a woman's craft[.] … Witch in reference to a man survived in dialect into [the 20th century], but the fem[inine] form was so dominant by 1601 that men-witches or he-witch began to be used.

"Witch" is a term with a feminine connotation. People who do not identify as women, especially those who are transgender, do not appreciate having a term like this forced upon them. I have seen multiple posts on this site from transmasculine people that say that this term is a source of dysphoria for them, that they are expected to identify as witches if they want to find community in witchcraft. It is cruel to suggest that these people should put up with tacit misgendering because "any gender can be a witch, including men!"

That's missing the point. Yes, any gender can identify with the term "witch." People who believe that “witch” is woman-exclusive often exclude other actual women from the term. However, just because they can identify with it, does not mean that they will. The reasons why they don't identify with the term are their own and they do not owe you an explanation for why they don't use it.

To everyone who doesn't identify as a woman fully or at all out there: you do not need to use the term "witch." If you feel a connection to the word, if it makes you happy to use it, by all means, use it. But if "witch" makes you feel dysphoric, if you cringe calling yourself it, or if you just don't like the way the word looks or sounds, you do not need to use it and you aren't any less of a serious practitioner for it.

Neutral/Masculine Terms

But that begs the question: what terms are out there that aren't "witch?" I've compiled a short list.

Wizard: Wizard is perhaps the most popular masculine alternative to witch, at least in fiction, and is the term I like since it communicates what it needs to. Wizard is derived from wise and -ard, an old suffix equivalent to modern -er. Initially it meant a philosopher or sage (someone who is wise, a wise-ard), and due to philosophy melding with magic in the Middle Ages, took on the meaning of "someone with magical power." Thanks it being a class in D&D, this may be applied to women, but this is a term mostly associated with men.

Warlock: This is another popular masculine term, almost exclusively associated with men. Warlock is derived from an Old English word meaning "traitor, oath-breaker," and initially applied to the Christian Satan. Over time, the word began to be used to refer to people connected with Satan, and from that, men who practice magic. I've only see women warlocks in D&D, where it is a player class.

Sorcerer: Compare with sorceress. Derived from Medieval Latin sortarius, meaning "fortune-teller." Due to a feminine term existing (sorceress), sorcerer is often only applied to men. Again, I have only seen women sorcerers in the context of D&D, where it is another class.

Mage: Mage is a gender-neutral term; a Google Image search returns roughly the same amount of men as it does women. Mage is derived from Latin magus, meaning "magician," which was in turn borrowed from a Persian word meaning the same thing. Magus is also used in magical communities, but I see it more applied to people in positions of power within magical organisations. Same meaning as above.

(Magical/Witchcraft) practitioner: This is the gender-neutral term I tend to prefer. This emphasises what we're doing more than what we are.

Occultist: Occultist seems to be a rarer term, and is defined as "someone who studies/practices the occult."

Magician: Another rarer term that I see with a lot of older ceremonial magic groups. Often not used to not be confused with stage-magicians, but can still be used to describe spiritual magic.

Specific paths: If you're referring to a group of people who follow a specific path connected to witchcraft, opt for the name of that path. If you're referring to Wiccans, use "Wiccans." If you're referring to Hellenics, use "Hellenics."

Specific practices: Again, if you're referring to a group of people who are doing a specific magical practice, use that practice. If you're talking about astrology, use "astrologer." If you're talking to people who worship demons, use "demonolater."

As with “witch,” just because a gender bias exists, does not mean that you can’t use a term. There’s no reason to stop a woman from being a warlock if they resonate with the term, just as there’s no reason to stop a man from being a witch. But if you’re looking for alternatives with a masculine or neutral gender bias, here you go.

I welcome any additions to the list, if anyone has them.

[dragonshoardofwriting]

Any quirk ideas for like a detective? I'm thinking of making a oc that's a detective

Oooo, I love detectives!

Quirk: Faint Presence Desc: Upon activation, living beings stop noticing the user. Does not work on people who were focusing on the user at the time of activation. Effect disappears if the user does something to bring attention to themself. Notes: Good for tailing people, listening in to conversations, or sneaking into places if your detective is more of a not bound by rules variety.

Quirk: Last moments Desc: Upon touching a corpse, the user relieves the last moments of the person it belongs to. Notes: Classic of supernatural detective stories. So long as your victim didn't actually see the killer as they died, it just gives clues instead of destroying the whole mystery. But! If they do see the killer, it can instead be a plot of "I know who the killer is, but I need to get the evidence/get them to confess or else they won't get convicted!"

Quirk: Enhanced senses Desc: Gives the user enhanced senses. Notes: Plain and basic, but very useful for story purposes. The detective has easier time finding clues, and might even get some regular humans couldn't (like noticing a smell that's too faint for human senses) - it also explains why the culprit didn't try to destroy said clues, they were just impossible to notice for a basic human.

Quirk: Voice Mimicry Desc: Allows the user to mimic voices and sounds they've previously heard. Notes: More so for less law-bound detectives, it's a nice plot piece where deception is key. Impersonating others by voice, tricking people with noises, a crafty person can find many uses for this ability while pursuing a case.

Quirk: Empathy Desc: Allows the user to feel what emotions other people are feeling. Notes: A rather popular quirk idea, and a good fit for a detective. They know what someone is feeling at any time, *but* they might not know why. Allows to keep the mystery while providing clues.

Quirk: Cyberlink Desc: Lets the user link with electronic devices, letting the user access anything on them while bypassing their security measures. To link with a device the user has to either touch it directly, or go through a network it's connected with via another device. Note: A very useful quirk in the age where everything is connected to the internet. Basically results in a super-hacker type of detective. They can access classified documents, personal messages and all other sorts of stuff they lawfully shouldn't have access to, but which will likely help them pursue a case.

Quirk: Spirit Board Desc: The user can summon a spirit board, which only answers yes or no questions. Notes: Allows the detective to get clues, if they can figure out the right questions to ask. However, as readers would probably notice, the detective may just go around asking "Is this person the culprit?" with every person of interest they find. For some mysteries it could be a feature, not a bug. For others, I'd personally advise adding some conditions to quirk usage that'd prevent brute-force methods like that, like only getting a set number of questions to ask a day.

Quirk: Perfect recall Desc: The user has perfect memory and doesn't forget anything. Notes: Pretty basic of a superpower, but a useful device for a detective story. Removes the unrealisticness of a character being able to remember every little detail to put together later. Also, if you give your character a backstory of reading books on many subjects to be well-versed in whatever may be needed, it accounts for them having plot-convenient knowledge (since they would remember all the book details - you just have to be sure it's realistic for them to have studied something. So, knowledge of basic medicine is more viable than, for example, knowing symbolic meanings of flowers in a culture in a time period - they just have more reasons to believe basic medicine would come up [like for examining bodies] than that flower meanings would. Not to say they can't know both, it may just feel less reasonable to readers)

Quirk: Strings of Fate Desc: Upon activation on a person, the user can see strings tying that person to people they have some relation with. The colour informs the kind of relation it is, while the thickness of the string signifies the depth of the relation. Notes: It's basically free clues. Might help with uncovering motives. Also, lends itself well to an emotionally intelligent detective, who can use those different relationships they get to know about to their advantage.

[commajade]

okay i turned off reblogs on both of those posts. multiple people felt that what i said was inappropriate and i care about that. i left them up so there is still evidence of what i said, please let me know if i should delete them.

i am very sorry that i misspoke and made inappropriate generalizations. i said things that unintentionally aligned with racist patterns in internet rhetoric and was not aware and responsible enough to word things better. i will continue to learn from this experience and i will put a lot more care in how i speak moving forward. i will also work to be be more aware of when it is best not to speak.

i do not want anyone who reads these posts and agrees with me to try to defend me or speak to other people on my behalf.

i have not sent any anonymous messages. i was not aware that my posts were being criticized until a couple hours before this post was originally posted and have been editing it as i understand the situation better. i accept the criticism of my words and how i have allowed other people's harmful behavior on my behalf.

i apologize for the length of this post but i am simply trying to clarify and i think that speaking more makes things more clear.

to clarify the post about shinee:

i am not defending taemin and key and i think what they said is shocking, disgusting, and hurtful. i did not mean to make it seem like a long essay defending them. i am not saying that they couldn't help it or that people shouldn't criticize them. they should criticize them, it was awful.

i made the post because i thought it would be irresponsible not to address it when i have publicly liked them on this blog for a long time and a lot of people follow me for posts about them. i see that i should have been more careful about how i talk about things and the post may not have been necessary in the first place.

i specifically mention antiblackness because it is the specific racial dynamic that global society today is structured around. every aspect of racism is related to it because of the history of empire and how it shapes race as we know it. colorism was present before modern concepts of race but it is perpetuated as a pillar of white supremacy to support antiblackness. however it does not target me directly and i should have a lot more care about how i talk about it, as well as knowing when to not speak at all.

i didn't make clear the connection i was drawing between shinee being more open and honest with their colorist comments. i didn't mean that their true selves are hateful and colorist. i mentioned that only because i have been posting about this pattern in their professional behavior before and it was a continuity with other posts i have made about taemin and key that are complimentary. i did not mean for people who do not follow me to see the post so i should not have allowed the post to be reblogged.

i meant that korea is deeply colorist because of historical and political reasons and colorism is the norm because we live in a racist society. and that recently focusing career-wise on having more candid moments reveals more easily the ways in which racism is normalized and manifests in people's unchallenged habits and behaviors. they should never have said that and the editors should never have left it in, but colorism is normalized in korean society because of historical and political factors.

in my ask response, i said that all people are racist. i take back the statement and edited the original version of the post. i meant that racism is the ordering logic of global society today because of white supremacy and empire. every person is shaped and affected by it. i did not mean that every person is hateful and violent. when i say ideologically indoctrinated, i mean unconscious conditioning throughout life because society is structured around racism, not that people who are conditioned to be racist should be sympathized with and exempt from consequences because of that. because of the context of the post it was asking about, it was not appropriate to generalize because the people who did harmful racist actions in this context are korean and i am also korean.

every racist action should be met with consequences. public actions should be met with public criticism. there are degrees of harm that people do to others with their actions that are shaped by racism. what taemin and key did was very harmful and should be criticized. i spoke in a way that was an inappropriate response to what was happening and was criticized.

i added this to the ask: it only takes a little thought, experience, and empathy to know to not be actively colorist and racist. it is normalized in society to be colorist because it is a part of racism. what i meant is that everyone is shaped and affected by racism. people are not born racist, being a racist is not a thing you are and can't help being. saying and doing racist things is an active choice that no one should make regardless of their background. people should always be fully criticized for these actions. i should have been more careful about my wording and i will continue to think about why i have been understood in a certain way.

i did not mean to encourage non action and say that they can't help being racist. i know that people do speak this way and i made the mistake of speaking in a way that could align with that kind of rhetoric.

again i apologize for speaking in a way that was not appropriate considering the larger conversation about what happened. i apologize for the actions of anyone who thought they were speaking on my behalf. and also for the length of this post, i don't know how else to get this across. no one has to accept my apologies and i am not expecting that, but it is important to me to apologize here as thoroughly as i can.

please let me know if i should clarify other aspects of what i said or if i should take other actions.

[vang-feraligatr]

If it helps: "this thing" is a cellular phone (a cell phone or just a phone for short). It's a small device designed to allow for communication over long range. Each cell phone has a unique number associated with it - by entering the number of any other phone, you can connect to it and speak to whoever owns the other phone (assuming they accept your call)!

That's the basic idea, at least. Modern cell phones are also tiny, portable computers - devices that can automatically solve math problems and perform a number of other functions too. They can tell the time, track appointments, play music, and much more!

Most importantly, however, modern phones can access the Internet, a worldwide (and apparently interdimensional, though it wasn't designed to be) network that connects almost any computer to any other computer. Through the Internet, humans are able to collaborate and share information on a truly staggering scale - imagine if everyone in the world could talk to everyone else, working together to solve problems, share news and information, and even just have fun and play games! That's the Internet - a town square for all of human civilization, with a nearly complete repository of all the knowledge, discoveries, and information known to anyone, anywhere.

Just remember that not everything you see on the Internet is true. Everyone can access the Internet, but they aren't required to tell the truth. Some people share information they mistakenly believe is true, and some people just lie! Ask your partner - they probably know a thing or two about navigating the Internet.

In particular, you might want to ask them to show you Wikipedia - a sort of library with basic information on almost anything humans know about - and YouTube, where you can watch and listen to recordings of just about anything. Do NOT let him show you - or look at - the news from our world. Trust me on that one.

..............................................................

That's a lotta words......................................................................................

...........................................

So... this thing's a really amazing thing, huh?

........................................

The power of science is amazing! Communication across the world! Entertainment from across the sea! Requests and missions taken right after they're posted!

Why, there wouldn't be many problems at all with this stuff, huh? With instant communication, so many problems could be solved!

And with so many different things at my claw tip too! Information galore!

But... people lie on this stuff? Why would anyone do something like that? Just... spread misinformation? That's not very nice. And if it's unintentional, people should help them understand!

And... I shouldn't look at the news? Why not? I'm sure people would be saying nice things th

[torque-witch]

Getting Back into Witchcraft - 10/30/23 - Who Can Use Witchcraft?

Literally anyone can use witchcraft. Simple as that.

But, for the sake of (me) delving back into witchcraft, let's talk about the historical and relevant point of this idea - that witchcraft has primarily been used as a tool of the oppressed, undermined, marginalized, chronically ill, mentally ill, poor, othered, etc. This includes various cultures and indigenous practice (where referred to by these groups as such).

While it is somewhat difficult as just someone on the internet to find specific examples of this, it shouldn't be a surprise that the constant onslaught of government control, societal conservatism, religious colonialism & imperialism, the wiping out of various cultures, the entirety of the feminist and lgbtqia+ movement around the world - provokes ordinary people to disconnect from the norm in order to find peace, power and to fight back in ways that money and class can't afford them, because it often isn't accessible.

One example of course is the spell that was cast by Gerald Gardner and his group of witches in an attempt to keep Adolf Hitler at bay in the 40's. Whether you believe that it actually made a difference or not, it represents a time when people were so incensed about injustice and protecting their land, that they chose to conjure a defense mechanism built out of pure will and theory.

(Barring of course the very real criticism of Gardner, this is just an example we can use)

*And important note though in regards to this story, is that Gardner also volunteered as an air raid warden and provided some weapons as a part of tangible defense. In the same way, I think it's important to recognize that -

a) Being a witch implies that you are at odds with society, and you need to participate in activism in real life, and

b) doing so only increases the likelihood of your spells to work because you've already put energy into tangible actions

We will definitely talk about that idea more under the topic of spellcrafting, but I think it's important to recognize that being a witch is inherently political and socially at odds with the mainstream. It seems like as witchcraft becomes more acceptable and watered down, people do and will tend to ignore this for the sake of false positivity, love and light etc. But if we are using witchcraft as a tool to better ourselves or to protect ourselves from negativity, we should also be using it to do that for those around us that are disadvantaged or targeted.

Another point is that especially in the 00's, as we've learned about how dangerous covens can be, especially for women, that connection within the witchcraft community is becoming harder and harder to cultivate. People are wary, weary and there is always the looming risk of white supremacy leaking into our circles. So it is even more important to be knowledgeable about politics, dog whistles, scams, cults and about what sexual abuse can entail. At the end of the day, it is more dangerous for you to be uninformed and avoiding all negativity. Knowlege is what gives you protection and power.

On a related note - although there is still a big social implication that witches can only be women and a lot of the violence has been targeted at women, it is historically incorrect and factually incorrect that only biological females (ew) can practice witchcraft. That's not even considering that most of the original texts on witchcraft were written by men because women were either not allowed to be authors or had a very hard time accessing education or support in that sense. This contributed historically to afab people having to practice in seclusion or private and being demonized while men had an easier time sharing their own ideas. *Some people tend to think that this further justifies men being barred from being welcome in witchy spaces - and there are valid concerns - but at the end of the day that's enough proof that men, women and anyone in between can participate in occult practice and study it. I think it's also fair to say that while gender isn't a true factor in being able to cast spells, it can certainly shape your practice in an individual sense, and there are lessons to be learned from anyone who practices regardless of gender, or because of it!

Then comes the great debate -

Is "witch" a gender neutral term?

And yes, I think in 2023 we have come to the conclusion that it is - that witchcraft transcends gender - but there are always alternatives for those that may not feel comfortable with the social implications of gender that come with that term, or similarly Wizard or Warlock.

For that we can use practitioner, magician, mage, sorcerer, enchanter, occultist, (insert sect here)-mancer, etc.

I'm not sure if it's still used widely, but at one time "Wix" was also introduced as a non-binary version of Witch and is totally acceptable.

So, let's end this off with another Tarot reading!

Who can practice withcraft - The Hermit, Reversed

Personally I feel like the connection here is the idea that isolating and gatekeeping the practice of witchcraft in regards to gender is limiting and harmful to the overall potential of knowledge available to us. Becoming so bent on a single idea or belief can be harmful and limits us as a community and a resource of power, and putting yourself (or your gender) above others when it comes to access doesn't gain you any favors or special privilege. We can all walk individual paths within witchcraft, but closing off the experience as a whole is harmful.

Is being a witch inherently political - 10 of Pentacles

This makes me think about the dynamic that the oppressed and underserved are constantly at odds with - the desire and fight to have the same resources as those with generational wealth, access to healthcare, access to education, even having access to community in general. A critical point of witchcraft is to put control back into our hands where society or global power has taken away that luxury. The 10 of pentacles represents all of that, and how that wealth of knowledge and even tangible wealth spreads out to our communities when we actually foster that kind of environment. To me, witchcraft is a path for a lot of people to build safe spaces and thriving communities while under a much larger pretense of control.

What gives a witch power - The Wheel of Fortune, Reversed

The Reversed Wheel represents confusion and the inability to predict the future; it is a feeling of being out of control. So consequently, what gives a witch power is the ability to flip the card and produce clarity, bold decisions and wrangling all of the ways that the world throws you off. This could be through personal inner work, breaking generational curses. This could be through building up your own confidence and trusting your intuition. This could be through calling on various other powers and taking problems head on in unconventional ways. Just because the world is spinning in a different direction doesn't mean that you cannot find and cultivate a personal balance by tapping into your own power. Witches are path makers. Where there is none, a witch's power is to make one.

It's not a competition.

There it is. There is no point in trying to put yourself higher than others when it comes to witchcraft. It is a personal tool and experience, and people unlike you practicing it doesn't make you any less able to reach your goals. It is for everyone.

Be sure to visit Death's Head Divination for Tarot readings, pagan statuary, stickers, prints and more! Subscribe to an e-mail list here at the bottom of the page Insta | Tiktok | Blog

[sophieinwonderland]

Actual Syscourse 101: Yes, anti-endos are exclusionists.

There was recently a syscourse account that popped up calling itself @syscourse101, claiming to be educational and anti-misinformation, aimed at "teaching" new systems and singlets who might be confused by syscourse.

So let's just take a look into that!

Before we start, a quick nitpick on definitions. The first definition was an adjective. If you're talking about people, you want to use the second definition which is the noun:

"a person favoring the exclusion of someone or something from a place, group, or privilege."

This isn't too relevant but this is the definition I'm going to be referring to going forward.

Now, you might have noticed a little word trick Syscourse101 uses to immediately frame the debate, referring to anti-endos keeping people out of "their" spaces. This itself is deceptive, as it suggests ownership over the communities and resources they gatekeep.

In reality, places where endogenic and pro-endogenic systems find themselves excluded from are often not explicitly dedicated to being anti-endo, but are general system spaces.

I also will point out that there is nothing wrong with selective inclusion. If a place markets itself as being for DID and OSDD systems, specifically, then it's reasonable to disallow systems without those disorders. But even at that, disordered systems will often find themselves subject to exclusion based on personal identities or syscourse stances. For example, many diagnosed DID systems who identify as mixed origins or similar genic labels find themselves excluded from DID communities despite being part of the group those communities are for.

Despite what the last sentence implies, endogenic systems, like all plural systems, ARE minority groups.

Plurality, systemhood, and voice hearing are some of the most stigmatized mental conditions in Western society, regardless of whether you have a mental disorder that causes that.

To the question they pose at the end, online exclusionism is still real exclusionism just like cyber bullying is real bullying. Much of our lives in the modern world are digitized.

And as was established in the first paragraph of the above image, there is a shortage of physical system meetups. Which isn't very surprising when you consider the discrimination most systems face (as heavily stigmatized neurodivergent minority groups) when they come out. For a majority of systems, the internet provides our only outlet to connect with other systems without endangering our relationships or livelihoods.

So yes, attempting to push us out of our only safe spaces is extremely harmful.

Excluding hate groups and exclusionists is not the same as excluding people for existing. "TERFs DNI" is not the same as "transgenders DNI." "Homophobes DNI" is not the same as "homosexuals DNI." "Nazis DNI" is not the same as "Jews DNI." "Sanists DNI" is not the same as "systems DNI." "Fatphobics DNI" is not the same as "fat people DNI."

I could go on forever...

Anti endos usually fall into two categories. One that believes in endogenic plurality but tries to gatekeep system terms, and another larger group that falsely claims endogenic plurality as a whole is scientifically impossible.

(Do remember that an exclusionist does not need to be successful in their exclusionism either. They merely need to favor exclusion. Or for the adjective's definition, they need to "act to" do this.)

Group 1, What I will call Term Exclusionists, attacks the privilege of us being able to define our own experiences. Despite words like "system" being broad and applied in numerous circumstances, they claim exclusive ownership over it. They do the same with words like "intoject," "switch," "multiple," "inner world," etc.

Some Term Exclusionists even gatekeep terms made and/or popularized by the endogenic and non-disordered community. I've seen a few say we shouldn't be allowed to use the words "plural," "headmate," "fictive," or "factive." All terms that non-disordered systems coined or popularized.

This is far from the most dangerous exclusionism but it is a form of exclusionism.

Group 2, the Plurality Exclusionists, make up the majority of anti-endos and are far more harmful.

Plurality Exclusionists spread disinformation and lies dedicated to making people disbelieve in the existence of all endogenic plurals. Plurality Exclusionists attempt to exclude us from being able to be considered to experience any form of plurality or multiplicity.

As a headmate who wasn't the original in this body, the "privilege" that Plurality Exclusionists try to rip away from me every day is my very right to be perceived and treated as a person.

Every single disinformation post or TikTok claiming endogenic plurality isn't real and fakeclaiming endogenic systems perpetuates discrimination we face. If a singlet watches an anti-endo video claiming endogenic systems can't exist, and that singlet ends up fakeclaiming the headmates of a friend who came out to them, that's a direct result of the efforts of the Plurality Exclusionist rhetoric.

And if any medical professionals hear Plurality Exclusionist rhetoric and disbelieve the experiences of endogenic systems because of that influence, then the Plurality Exclusionists caused that as well.

The goal of the Plurality Exclusionist is to create a world where nobody believes the experiences of endogenic systems. Where only they can be seen as "real plurals."

In the end, there is absolutely no reason anyone should put stock into an anti-endo propaganda blog that's to dress itself up as education for Halloween.

[melonthesprigatito]

So today is the release date of Indigo Disk, right? Yesterday I downloaded a YouTube add on to block all the YouTubers I know who release a video hours after a game comes out and put massive final boss spoilers in the thumbnails. Pokeli, BeardBear, ProfasiaGaming, several others, all who have ruined the surprise for me in previous games of various franchises.

Pokeli I hate the most from when I searched for something completely unrelated to Pokémon and got slammed with a thumbnail of Volo and Giratina labelled as POST GAME FINAL BOSS or something on the game's release date, just an hour or two before I even got the game. And he had this smug "Well you shouldn't have clicked on the video if you didn't want spoilers" attitude in the comments. Bitch I didn't click on shit, I was searching for an episode of Air Crash Investigation to watch when YouTube shoved your shitty thumbnail in my face.

Indigo Disk is one of the rare instances where I managed to make it to release day without seeing any leaks, datamines, people getting the game early and posting spoilers, etc mostly because Gamefreak was keeping this one safe. Honestly, good job, means I can go in completely blind.

EXCEPT….. I got home from college, went on YouTube to look up another episode of Air Crash Investigation to watch while I'm eating lunch, and guess fucking what. A YouTube video on my home page, titled "FINAL BOSS: TERAPAGOS" from some channel I had never heard of, meaning it missed the blocking purge from yesterday.

I've never been more thankful to have a shitty internet connection. The thumbnail didn't load. It was a grey square, a beautiful grey square allowing me to block that bastard immediately without getting spoiled.

I'm just so mad that this sort of thing is SPREADING. Now any YouTube channel is posting spoilers to get clicks and YouTube clout.