#if only they had. a tagging system this app doesn't have one at all

[yume-fanfare]

people i want to meet someday: the guys who did the spanish translation of suito-to

[neechees]

I'm putting out a warning for the user @jenniferpss/jenniferpzsss for likely being a scam and likely being run by notorious scammer Laura Deramas for the following reasons & proof:

Their blog has only existed since December 16th 2023, which is when they started asking for money.

They claim they live in the U.S but are "European" and are recieving healthcare in the U.S, while also asking for donations in American dollars. We've seen this with various other scams like nevermindblog where they claimed to be European but had their paypal currency set to U.S dollars. It's also weird to me that a European would go to a country with one of the most expensive healthcare costs in the world when there's several other, closer, much less expensive options that are equal (if not higher) in quality to the U.S to recieve healthcare within Europe. (Proof of that below)

On the note of calling themselves "European", they never specify what their Nationality or ethnicity is. Of course not all Europeans are the same, but that's precisely it, a lot of Europeans don't just call themselves "European", they'll happily list where they're from, and say something like "I'm Breton from France", or "I'm German" or "I'm from England", not just "I'm European". This allegedly European user doesn't and hasn't ever listed their country of origin, so they're likely faking an ethnicity

They claim they want to recieve donations via PayPal and Facebook pay, but to use facebook pay you have to have an active facebook account, which they refuse to give to people.

Below they also claim fbpay & paypal is "the only way I can recieve donations" despite the fact that cashapp & venmo, two of the most popular money transfer apps in the U.S, are available to Americans with an American address. If theyve been living long enough in America to be well incorporated into the American healthcare system, including having American insurance, an American specialist doctor, and a homecare nurse that they say they have in their donation post, then why can they not just use venmo or cashapp, which is available to anyone with an American address, which if they're telling the truth, they would definitely have? I find it hard to believe that someone who's been living in America for a while doesn't know about venmo or cashapp when asking for donations.

They claim in their donation post that they want to be "truly as transparent and honest as possible!", but then when someone asked jenniferpss to clear up some allegations against them & to be transparent, instead of doing what they said they'd do, they redirected, said the person asking questions was "attacking" them, and then didn't answer ANY of the questions. This would be suspicious enough on its own, but we've also seen such behavior from Laura in previous scams where, instead of answering reasonable, legitimate questions people had, she victimized herself and claimed ANY questions were a personal "attack" on her, regardless of how nicely worded.

They started spam messaging/asking people to reblog their donation posts, including sending these messages specifically to people who say they don't reblog donation posts bc they received an ask to.

Suddenly changed their url after being asked to address their suspicious behavior, which is a common scammer tactic. (Used to be @jenniferpss, now changed to @/jenniferpzsss, which you can see the difference & dates in the above and below screenshots)

In one of their posts, they specifically tagged two previous victims of Laura Deramas asking them to reblog their post, but ONLY them. If they're truly new to tumblr then why specifically tag those two users? How did they know about those users when they previously never interacted with either of them? Why did they ONLY tag those two users? We know Laura would often re-target other people who had donated to her or that she'd manipulated in the past for her newer scams where she pretended to be someone else, so this is typical Laura behavior. Note that the replies on their donation post are also restricted, which is ALSO typical scammer behavior

[theprismyyy]

Honestly, I read on several different platforms, both here on Tumblr, and on Wattpad, ao3 and others... and so, in general, they are all great apps with great stories to read, but there is one thing that bothers me about all of them, mainly and especially on Ao3, and the amount of disgusting content involving serious subjects like incest, rape and others that I won't bother mentioning here; What irritates me most about this is the lack of filter in the app.I'm only saying all this because the following happened, I was simply reading some stories about Gwen Stacy on the said app (ao3) when I came across atrocities like a fanfic whose plot was literally an incestuous relationship between Gwen and her father....man , I just wanted to read some fluffy fluff and not come across unnecessary and unsolicited material, I didn't bother opening this (obviously) and I didn't even want to, I was honestly disgusted... Also, I came across another whose plot idea was even more horrible... I don't know, it all just made me think that maybe these apps need more serious and firm rules and punishments in the face of these things; such serious and criminal topics being written in a sick manner to normalize and entertain more disgusting and sick people is still dark, it's even darker how little we talk about it and how little the developers seem to care, I imagine dealing with demands so big ones must be extremely difficult but we don't even see a movement to deal with these things...IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S JUST A CHARACTER, IT DOESN'T MATTER HE OR SHE DOESN'T EXIST, FUCK YOU AND YOUR SICK SHIT THAT USES THIS AS AN "ARGUMENT" TO WRITE CRIMINAL THINGS AND FEED YOUR FANTASIES DISGUSTING!!!! WHAT WE WRITE AND CONSUME SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE TYPE OF PEOPLE WE ARE AND IF YOU CONSUME IT AND DON'T SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS TYPE OF CONTENT THEN PLEASE FUCK YOU

Anyway, this was just me venting because honestly I was extremely uncomfortable, I just wanted to read some nonsense and I had to come across something so sickening.

Edit: Apparently this is necessary as I may not have been as specific on some points and some people don't seem to understand (or don't want to understand)

It wasn't a personal "attack" on the Ao3 platform, I just used it as an example because that's usually where this type of work ends up appearing more.

2. Yes, I know and use the filtering system, Still, I think they are very often very flawed... besides, many of the people who write this type of content use tags that have nothing to do with the plot of the story to achieve greater visibility.

3. Yes... teenagers have sex 😱 wow what an incredible discovery!!! I know a lot of movies, shows, etc. portray this openly, I personally don't feel comfortable writing smut in general and everyone has their own opinion about it, but I understand there are a lot of writers who do this normalization and trivialization of a CRIME!

4. I know that many people use writing as a coping mechanism, but I think it is very unlikely that a person who has been through a situation, such as rape, for example, You'll write about it like it's something sexy or the best experience you've ever had in your life, like a lot of these types of writers do.

5. Yes, one of the joys of writing is that we can explore the deepest, most complex aspects of humanity without directly hurting anyone, and I love that, but we need to take responsibility for that.

6. There was a guy here who literally said that it's because of people like me that you can't have porn on Tumblr anymore...but why would there need to be porn here? Why just not open on an adult site like pornhub or xvideos?

7. I was indirectly called a facist through a Hashtag.... not supporting the normalization of rape, incest, etc. apparently makes me a facist😍

(I really am completely willing to hear opinions and comments, but I will not tolerate disrespect in the comments. That's it and thank you)

[femslashfeb]

HELLO ALL

TLDR

No reblogging from the blog this year - posting prompts tomorrow the 31st

For the past few years I've very much struggled with reblogging everyone's activity in the tag. So this year I will not be doing so.

(OR maybe I will? I just don't want to commit)

Even if I knew how to make a bot that reblogs - a lot of people still use the unique tag to tag outside challenges. So I've always had to hand submit. However it became too stressful for me and for the past few years I ended up avoiding it until later weeks or even months.

If you noticed I didn't finish reblogging last year so- I've just given up on that.

Honestly I've struggled a lot with depression for the last 7 years or so. It's been harder and harder to find my way back to tumblr. It doesn't help that my phone can barely handle the amount of apps it already has.

My main account @puff-pink hardly ever updates because of my big sad. And I don't know if I'll ever get back on the horse in the same way I did before.

Some of you know me as an artist, and tho I still churn out subpar art for my day-job I've struggled a lot to make art for myself during my depression. Partially because one year I overworked my hand - and still deal in continual wrist aches. Even the weeks I don't pick up a drawing tool.

I intended this challenge for myself and maybe the small fandoms I was in at the time. But it took off among writers and creators of all types across all fandoms.

One year I even tried to tally the most popular fandoms but there were honestly too many to keep track of- and I stopped after the first three pages of submissions.

I don't claim to have invented the concept of FemSlash February. Before I started the prompts I swear I had heard the phrase somewhere. Tho not sure where. Perhaps it had been amongst my friends on Skype. Back when I had online friends and Skype(I'm still not sold on Discord🤷‍♀️).

However that January I thought it would be fun to partake in a challenge of some kind. But scouring tumblr and the general internet. I could only find half hearted efforts on fanfiction sites from years past.

I'm so proud of all my Sapphic creators on here that have partaken every year. Even if I've never shown favoritism or awarded anyone. I do notice those that actually complete the challenge AND those that keep coming back each year(looking at you H20 writer(I don't remember your username but there's a mermaid writer that's a writing machine)). I truly am proud of you especially in my shriveled state of creativity. Thank you for your efforts. For your hype. And for your love of women of all kinds across all the universes.

Each year I'm surprised to find even more categories I never thought to include. From mood boards, to doll photography, to ofc the classic art and writing. May your pencils forever be in union with your sister mediums.

On that note. There is a strict NO AI GENERATED ART or writing this year.

Not that I could physically stop anyone who does use AI. But I do not want that sort of thing associated with this challenge. It's become scarily good in 2023 to the point it can't always be identified. So I simply ask for the honor system when it comes to AI generated creations.

That being said. If you've made it to the end of this post:

Prompts will be posted tomorrow.

I usually prefer to give yall more of a buffer, but I've been busy. Both with Big Sad, rescuing some feral cats, my own life, errands, chores and work.

If you're still here- here is a preview of the first three days.

FEB 1 - black

FEB 2 - spring

FEB 3 - cake

The 14th as usual will be some sort of Valentine romance type theme(haven't decided specifically yet) and as always there will be a Rest Day.

Expect some repeat prompts. In the past I tried to avoid them but idc anymore.

It's also a Leap Year this year so expect one extra prompt to throw off the symmetry of what's normally 28 days.

Thanks for coming back this year. And thank you to those that still check on this blog.

❤️🧡🤍💜🩷

Keep loving girls

-PuffPink

[cuecrynsleep]

Sometimes Things Just Click

Uber Driver! Amanda x Angela

Angela, who's getting herself back into the dating world, has a chance encounter with her Uber driver, Amanda.  After her date doesn't go as planned she finds herself enjoying Amanda's company.

Tags: Alternate Universe, Gay Disaster! Angela Giarratana, Mentioned Original Character, Light Banter

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a representation of those in Smosh, rather a fan made perspective on the characters they portray online. Remain respectful.

Word count: 3,638

Angela clicked on the Uber app for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past five minutes. She watched as the small car on her phone slowly followed the route to her apartment. She shifted from one foot to another, glancing at the sign that displayed “Circa Luxury Apartments'' in big bold navy blue letters. She looked back down at her phone, noticing her Uber driver was a mile away.

The blue dot on the phone is a bit off on the agreed meeting spot. She wasn’t used to using Uber, having only used it for today because her date had told her the restaurant was known for their alcoholic drinks. Plus, if Angela was going to be stepping back into the dating world after a few years she'd most likely need a few drinks in her system. Without them she could only imagine at some point her nerves would get the best of her in some way. 

Especially given the fact her and her date weren't exactly entirely into each other just yet. It was mainly a thing both were down to try and see what happens. Though Angela could do without the restaurant being a bit far away. 

Angela's phone sprung to life, a loud and familiar ringtone being heard. She haphazardly lowered the volume of her ringtone, accepting the call as she stepped farther out the sidewalk.

"Hey, Angela?" A pleasant and friendly sounding voice asked. 

"Uh, yeah," Angela replied. She looked at the Uber driver's name, briefly thankful for a common name she wouldn't accidentally butcher. "Amanda, right?"

"Yeah," she paused. Angela could hear the wind in the background as Amanda drove. "Just checking, are you in the parking lot or near the front sign?" 

"Front sign." 

"Cool," she said. "I'll be there in a second, once this light turns green." Before Angela could reply and thank her the call ended.

She shifted from one foot to another, the nerves regarding her date starting to rise up on her. With every passing second she was getting closer and closer to the date itself and she couldn't help but be nervous. She had only talked to her tinder date for almost 3 weeks, albeit there weren't many texts in the first place. Past memories of various crime documentaries she watched that all started with online dating rushed through her mind, making Angela anxiously tap her foot. Angela knew the basics about her and they had called way more than they texted. Maybe, she shouldn't have listened to Chanse's advice and put herself out there. She had always preferred meeting someone in real life anyway, starting as friends and seeing how something goes from there.

The sight of a silver honda brought her out of her thoughts as her Uber driver pulled up on the side of the road. She could see her from the window, her Uber driver evidently very pretty. Angela glanced at the front seat, momentarily, noticing a small bag resting there. She walked towards the back, opening the door and immediately noticing how clean the car was. It was definitely cleaner, and smelt nicer than her own car.

Amanda turned, glancing at Angela and smiled. "You got a date?" She asked as she put her car out of park, and Angela put on her seatbelt. "The dress is nice. You look pretty." 

Angela gulped, ignoring the part of her brain that was reeling over the fact her Uber driver looked effortlessly gorgeous without even trying. "Yeah, thanks," she said, pausing as she made an effort to continue the conversation. It'd be nice to talk to someone anyway, perhaps it'd help her get over her nerves before her date. "It's honestly my first date in like forever. I don't really try out online dating much but my friend told me I should put myself out there." 

"Oh, this is a first date," Amanda mused, as she made a u-turn. "Well you definitely dressed for it. What made you get back into dating? If you don't mind me asking of course." She quickly added as an afterthought.

"I've been single for too long," Angela mumbled just loud enough for Amanda to hear. "I took a pause on dating in the first place to focus on acting." 

Angela sighed as the words left her mouth, a part of her scared at the reaction. From her experience it either ranged from apprehension at a career that didn't promise much, or shock that she was going into the field in the first place. For people who knew her it was easier since they knew what she was like.

Amanda lightly chuckled. "What a small world," she said. "I'm doing acting too. I actually had an audition a few hours ago."

In an instant, as if a switch was flipped Angela visibly brightened smiling as she leaned closer. "How did it go?" She asked excitedly. 

"I'm onto the next stage," Amanda grinned. "I think it's me up against like fifteen other girls."

"Good luck," Angela smiled. "I hope you get the part." 

"Thank you," she said. "I'm looking forward to a more proper role. I've mainly just been doing commercials nowadays." 

"Hey, still something." Angela commented. She looked out the window, watching as they stopped once again due to the traffic. Maybe she should've gone out earlier to catch an Uber ride. "So, do you just work as an Uber driver or is there another side hustle you have going on?" 

"Bartending. I mainly just do this on the side when I don't have a shift."

Somehow, she found that hot. Angela wasn't sure if her date was making her have a lot more borderline-lewd thoughts or if she genuinely just thought this.

Bringing Angela back to reality, Amanda spoke again. Her car started up again as she continued driving. "Hey, what time is your date? I hope you're not late." Her eyes briefly glanced over to her car's console, the time displayed in a blue glow. "It's almost 6:30. God, I'd hate for you to miss your date. Especially, when it's your first time back in the dating world.”

Angela smiled at her concern. It felt nice to have even a stranger care for something pertaining to her life. "Yeah, my date starts at 6:30." She pulled out her phone, turning on her data, as she pulled up the most recent text conversation. Like the others it was short and brief, always showing a past call instead. "It's okay, I'll just text her that I'm going to be a bit late. I should be fine."

The fact she said 'her' completely slipped Angela's mind, the sentence coming out almost naturally. It wasn't as if Angela was closeted, rather she just never went out of her way to tell people. She always preferred to keep that part of her life private, and have that part of her more open to her closest friends.

A second of silence passed between the two. "If you say so," Amanda commented. "We have about 5 minutes left, so you shouldn't be too late. Oh! Real quick, I've been to that restaurant before,  you want some recommendations?" 

"Yeah sure," Angela shrugged. "I've never been to Mastro's Ocean Club anyway." 

"Try the Japanese Wagyu steak if you can," she briefly glanced at Angela, winking. "You won't regret it." 

Angela gulped. "Got it. I'll see once I see the rest of the menu."

A nice and natural conversation followed, soothing Angela's pre-date nerves with everything Amanda said. She felt easy to talk to, though conversation topics didn't come easily since they were strangers, it still felt natural. It felt nice. Though she hadn't been on many Uber rides, it always seemed extremely easy for the rest of the ride to be followed in silence until she reached her destination. 

With a smooth stop Amanda pulled up to the restaurant, Angela not even realising she had arrived until the car fully stopped. "Finally here." Amanda said, her voice almost a pitch louder. "Christ, traffic was a bitch today." 

Angela double checked her small bag, before exiting the car, as she waved Amanda off. She saw as Amanda smiled, pausing before she rolled down her car's window. "Enjoy your date, Angela." Amanda smiled. "It was nice meeting you.”

Angela turned, to meet Amanda's gaze. "You too. Thanks for the ride." 

As she drove off a small part of her couldn't help but think about Amanda. She would've been a nice friend to have, she thought offhandedly. As the thought crossed her mind she sighed, burying the fleeting thought. She was just an Uber driver who was making conversation. That was it. She had a date to focus on anyway. 

Angela entered the restaurant, she let out a shaky breath. Her hand fished into her pocket, frowning as she was left on read. She groaned, glancing past the front desk, attempting to spot her date. 

She stepped to the side, away from the line of people waiting at the front desk, and called her date. 

“Oh, hey,” she said. “Sorry I forgot to tell you earlier. Are you at the restaurant?” 

“Yeah,” Angela paused. “Gwen, where are you?” 

“Sorry, uh I actually meant to cancel our date,” Gwen said as she stumbled over her words, seeming incredibly awkward at that moment. 

“What?” Angela repeated incredulously. “I'm literally at the restaurant. Could you not have told me this before?”

“I got distracted.”

Angela pressed further, ignoring the couple that looked at her weirdly. “By what? What in the world distracted you long enough that you couldn't even text me a few simple words?” Angela sighed, determined to remain calm in that moment. “You even left me on read when I told you I'd be showing up a bit late to the restaurant.” 

“You know I'm bad at texting,” Gwen sighed. “That's literally why we had a date in the first place, is it not?” 

“That doesn't matter,” Angela argued. “You still could've called me.” 

“Fine, I'm sorry, you're right,” she said. “I'm just going to be honest with you.” Angela hummed lowly, telling Gwen to continue. “There was this other girl I was chatting with. She was the one I was more interested in and she was suddenly available today.”

Before Gwen could even continue explaining herself Angela hung up. She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she resisted the urge to just scream. She looked ahead at the restaurant, noticing she was the last one waiting to be seated.

“Might as well get a meal out of this shitty development,” Angela mumbled to herself, approaching the front desk and forcing herself to smile as she spoke. 

As the words left the worker's mouth Angela was so close to just calling Chanse and rant to him. 

“I'm so sorry, Gwen called earlier to cancel her reservation. We can squeeze you in tomorrow at nine, if you're interested.” 

She thanked the worker with a strained smile, bolting out of the restaurant right after. All she wanted to do was go home. Rather than being mad that she never got to go out on a date with her, she was more so annoyed by her actions. Sure, a part of Angela definitely liked talking to the girl, given the many times they called. Yet all of that feeling seemed to disappear over the anger she felt. The wasted effort in putting on makeup and finding a fancy dress, combined with the now wasted money on Uber rides was a lot testing her. 

She pulled out her phone, ordering another Uber ride, and waited. She watched as the order processed, and a few seconds passed as she got connected to the driver. 

“Meet the driver at Mastro's Ocean Club”

Right under the pickup screen was the name Amanda. A familiar profile picture of her smiling right next to her name. Realistically, Angela should've seen this coming. Of course she'd be the one closest to the restaurant. She had dropped her off not even ten minutes ago.

All Angela could do was wait and watch as the time slowly changed, giving an estimate on how long it'd be until she arrived. Angela wasn't sure how she felt about it, suddenly very unsure. A part of her wanted a different Uber driver who'd just drop her off and it'd be all over with. Whilst the other part of her wondered what'd it be like to talk to her. They had definitely gotten along to some extent. 

It didn't take long for the familiar silver car to pull up by the restaurant. Just before Angela could move herself to the backseat, Amanda rolled down her window, patting at the passenger seat right next to her.

"Hey, Angela," Amanda sadly smiled, as Angela buckled herself in. She hesitated over her words, pausing as she found the right words to say. "So what happened to your date?” She asked. Angela couldn't help herself but look away from Amanda, watching as the car started to move. "Fuck, we're you too late? I didn't think seven minutes would matter that much." Amanda said her words slightly rushed. 

"No," Angela sighed. She wasn't sure what it was, but she felt comfortable talking to Amanda. She leaned her head back  against the chair, letting herself dully list off the events. "When I called her and told her that I'm at the restaurant, she apparently forgot to tell me that she's cancelling our date,” Angela explained, her tone showing how annoyed she was. "Then when I tried to just eat by myself, because you know, at least I'll get a meal, turns out she cancelled her reservation earlier and just never told me." 

Amanda’s face scrunched up in confusion. "What the hell?! Who does that?" She ranted. “It's too bad you couldn't even get a meal out of it, geez.” Amanda continued. 

“I don't know,” Angela shrugged. “I just wish I was told before I got all dressed up.”

“Well, at the end of the day, it's her loss,” Amanda smiled. She paused as she waited to take a turn, as if she was trying to find the right words. “You look like a tall glass of wine in that dress, and she doesn't deserve to even see you in that."

Angela's eyes widened, and swore her face would appear red for Amanda to see had it not been dark. She really needed to get used to compliments. 

As Angela glanced over at Amanda, she watched as she tapped her fingers against her steering wheel. "You know,” she said, continuing what she said before. “Even though you're not that tall.” She glanced over at Angela giving her a small smile. She couldn't help but return it despite Amanda’s jab. She was trying to make her feel better. 

Amanda's mouth opened, just about to take back the teasing jab with a rushed ‘just kidding,’ but Angela interrupted her, chuckling. 

“That's not fair!” Angela started. “I'm literally average height, a lot of people just happen to be taller than me." She continued, smiling wider as Amanda seemed to brighten at the starting banter. "Also, how'd you know that you'd tower over me? I know I appear short next to your car, but still.” 

Amanda laughed. “First of all, never called you short,” she continued. “Also I'm around six feet.” 

Angela had a feeling she'd be tall anyway given how far back her chair was compared to the passenger seat, but she definitely didn't think she'd be that tall. For a second Angela was left speechless, with a huge part of her reeling over how tall she was. That definitely made her more attractive in her books. 

“That does not matter at all,” Angela said, despite her previous thoughts. 

"How come?" Amanda said, chuckling underneath her breath. The sound itself made Angela want to hear it again. It was short, and she had heard it before in their earlier conversation, but it'd be nice just to hear her laugh again. 

Angela paused as her brain worked a mile a minute to think of a comeback. "Tall people die faster!" She came up with, immediately regretting it due to how stupid that sounded. 

"What?" Amanda said in-between a laugh, making Angela lean over in her seat with a smile. "Is that even true?" 

"I don't know! But if it is, it's targeting you and my stupid supposed-to-be date." 

Amanda could only smile, rolling her eyes, as she continued to focus on the road. "You're not going on another date with  her, right?" She asked, changing the subject after a comfortable moment of silence."Because everything she did is some kind of red flag." 

"Oh hell no." Angela immediately answered. "Especially, not once she told me the reason she cancelled was because her first choice was available or something.” 

"What the hell?!" Amanda asked for the second time throughout the car ride. "Hey, let's take a detour and go to her house and kick her ass.” She joked, making Angela chortle. 

Amanda's tone straightened out as she fixed her posture. Another moment of silence took over them but never was it tense nor awkward to her. 

"In all seriousness though, are you okay?" Amanda hesitantly spoke. One of her hands reached out towards Angela's hand that was resting on the seat. She squeezed it briefly, the touch itself comforting, before darting it back to the wheel. "I'm sorry your date sucked." 

Angela wasn't even that upset about it anymore. "I'm actually doing a lot better than I was before," she honestly spoke. "You made me feel better. Thank you."

"I'm glad I was able to,” she said. "Or else this Uber ride would be a lot different."

As Amanda continued to drive Angela back to her apartment, they comfortably talked about anything. The onsurge of traffic in certain areas allowed them to talk for longer. Whether it be the types of roles they took on recently, or their other hobbies and interests. It felt nice talking to her. They even had shows they both watched which made the conversation flow easier. They talked as if they knew each other for way longer than what was roughly an hour. 

As they slowly started to approach Angela's apartment complex, now being within the neighborhood, Angela didn't want this moment to end. She opened her mouth, changing the subject as she saw the building in the distance. 

"Honestly, I think I'd end up having more fun talking to you than I ever would've on that date," Angela suddenly confessed. "We just ended up going on one anyway to see if there'd be more chemistry in real life. Overall, I don't regret how this night went at all.”

Amanda didn't say anything for one second then another. Her hands gripped at her steering wheel. "Well,” she bit her lip. “Do you think there's chemistry here?" 

Angela choked on her own spit as she processed her words. In hindsight she could definitely see how what she said could be interpreted as something. Even though Angela genuinely just meant it as being friendly, even if her heart didn't share the same sentiment. "Are you hitting on me?" 

"If you want me to,” Amanda quickly replied. "If you're not ready for anything after your whole failed date thing, I totally get it. Don't worry about it.”

"I don't look this good without the makeup and dress on." Angela said, as if she was warning Amanda, still in disbelief over everything. 

"I don't care,” Amanda chuckles. She parks her car, making Angela realise they had arrived. "You'd end up looking adorable either way."

Angela smiles. She takes off her seatbelt, but remains seated, not leaving the car just yet. "Do you flirt with all of your passengers?" She asked, jokingly. 

"Nope.”

"Then what made you so interested in me?”

"You literally made my night Angela,” Amanda admitted. "Sure our first ride was a bit awkward, but that was literally the most genuine conversation I'll ever get out of an Uber ride. I had fun talking to you and getting to know you. I don't want this to just end here. 

"Yeah, me too." Angela breathed out with an infectious grin. She ignored the way her heart beat against her chest, the feeling of butterflies in her stomach she hadn't felt in so long returning. All she wanted to do was soak herself in this moment. 

"So, how do you feel about a date?” Amanda asked, not once breaking eye contact. “I can even drive you. Free of charge.”

"Ohh a free Uber ride, how romantic," Angela joked, rolling her eyes. "How can I possibly say no to that?” 

She smiles, pulling out her phone from her pocket and hands it to Angela. "Put in your number, and I'll text you." 

“I look forward to it.” 

-

"Angela,” Chanse started, as soon as the call connected. "You can't just text me ‘my date went terribly, I'm so happy’ and expect me to connect the dots.” 

"My date pulled a dick move, okay? Like, obviously, I cared for her, and was willing to try it all out to see if we’d click, but after everything I’m just taking it as a warning sign.” Angela answers. She looks at herself in the mirror, taking off her makeup as she spoke. “But I got a date with someone else, anyway, so it doesn't bother me that much anymore.

"Well, damn, you moved on fast,” he commented. "What the heck happened?" 

"I hit it off with my Uber driver,” Angela shrugged, as if that was the most normal and natural thing. 

"What?" He asked in disbelief. "Angela, what? Your Uber driver? How? Why?” 

Angela could only explain the whole thing to him from the beginning, which of course only prompted even more questions from her best friend. 

[tipsygnostalgy]

On Grandpa/Jake Harley

you know shits about to be long as fuck when i add the keep reading line like four lines in lol

anyway anon all this is 4 u!! feel free to talk ab this by just tagging instead of rb i dont want 2k words to be posted over n over again

Grandpa Harley being some kind of pseudo-omnipotent deity figure who somehow figures out/guesses (my money's on guesses) extremely intricate details about the game and does everything he can to make things go right is something that we don't talk about enough. It's one of the only plans in Homestuck made that are orchestrated entirely by one person then ends up going right. It's that pattern of hoping that the cards fall into place in the right way (unless we're taking the Grandpa is practically God perspective, which is interesting in its own right)—but notably, he makes a lot of preparations beforehand. He's so... active. It fascinates me. I'll have to talk about this on the Jake English as Jesus Christ trope post (it's coming, I swear, brainrot's a bitch) but the sheer amount of things he does is astounding. But, lo and behold, he wasn't always like this. Cue: the Skaianet Systems Incorporated texts.

Quick note about all that. A very large portion of the things Hussie wrote for SSI is 1) dubiously canon, and 2) a bunch of anti-semitic bullshit that he probably never should have fucking released to the public, at least not like that. Like, holy shit, keep that and your weird comments about sexual slavery in your Notes app dude, we don't need to hear it. For this reason I suggest reading the actual material with extreme caution. Cool? Cool. On with it. Here's a lil' review of Jake Harley before the session.

Funny enough, Jake had always been kind of pathetic in the Beta session as well.

So Skaianet was actually established by HIC as a front for laundering technology from Alternia and Sburbian ruins. The key of SN was not to actually develop tech, but make it look like it so that people will believe you when your company just re-defined gravity for the hundredth time. Jake has to play the "famous genius shtick," but he doesn't do so well. When he fully inherits SN at 21 he runs it hands-on, and "believes" his success is due to hard work and diligence. He also "believes SN is now a considerably more distinct entity from Crocker Corp, and his leadership of the company is a result of his hard work and competence. Neither is true." He's manipulated by his at-the-time boyfriend (Charlie Chaplin, somehow) into letting a rebel force into the Crocker manor, though the effort is ultimately thwarted by HIC.

He also has a disastrous love life. His relationship at sixteen with Chaplin consists of Chaplin finding him "obnoxious and thoughtless" though he "can't seem to quit him," and Jake ultimately "[toys] with his heart, and [abandons] him." This later (much later, think decades) manifests into something way worse when Chaplin appears in an outing Jake has with one of his families (he's had many, though not at once) and tries to kill Jake for not just his involvement with SN/HIC, but for breaking his heart as well. Notably, in this scene, upon having a gun aimed at him Jake reflexively hides behind his wife, who ends up being shot in his stead. He's out-strifed so badly that he'd have died in the jungle (oh yeah he takes his wife and 5yo son to a jungle btw) if Chaplin didn't have a divine intervention moment afterwards.

At 32 he also abandons his post at SN for fucking around Europe. "[H]e's out exploring and adventuring, completely oblivious to whatever's going on in Europe. He hops from site to site, looking for Sburbian ruins to plunder." One, the "whatever's going on" is WW2, again, somehow. Two, he has a daughter there that he "takes custody of, apprentices as an adventurer, and takes all over the place on his adventures." When he takes her to Hawaii she ditches him because she's sick of her "douchebag dad." And there's that Jude family too, obviously.

Oh, and all the Beta guardians are also meteor babies. It's how Jake ends up finding Dirk and Roxy to begin with—he sets them up with trust funds in Texas and New York so that they can be of use to SN later, though whether he knew their importance in the larger context of SBURB is unclear.

All caught up? Great.

The exact details of how every event goes down aren't as important as the lessons you can draw from it, namely: Jake Harley is an absolute fucking mess of a human being. He continuously creates families—notice how he keeps having children with his wive—then is bereaved of them. A few times he abandons them, a few times they abandon him, and sometimes they get killed by your ex-boyfriend. It's a neat little insight into just how neck-deep these commitment issues lie, but it's also fun to consider that he seeks it so desperately. This man has on record has had:

one wife be shot dead in front of him

a son who was technically kidnapped from him by the man who almost beat him to death (his ex-boyfriend)

a daughter ditch him in the middle of hawaii for being a shitty dad

a daughter (joey claire) be teleported by portal to alternia, who hated jake so much she took her dead mom's last name

said dead mom/wife whom upon her death leaves her children "Semi Orphans" because he just straight up ditches his kids to go work on hellmurder island

probably more

And he still considers himself a grandfather to Jade. TBF, I guess the easier way of explaining it is that it's simply the natural explanation—they are sort of related after all. But considering that he once sired an illegitimate daughter and not only took her into custody but tried to raise her as his liege, I still find it the fact that he tries over and over again to the point of rending the family meaningless interesting. I think it's viable that Jake wanted a family—not one where he and Jane were raised by HIC and poorly—but a real one. His attempt to raise that first daughter to mirror his habits reflects the way HIC raised Beta Jane to mirror her. Yet after relationship after relationship goes horribly wrong, this desire fades into a kind of apathetic unsureness to the point where this is what he says about his last "full" family, the Harley-Claires:

He's been making good headway on his quest for the mysterious island in the pacific. Once everything is taken care of here, he'll leave this family behind and set up shop on that island permanently. That's when the real work begins. The discoveries on that island will finally unite him with the destiny he's been in search of his whole life.

Two things of note. One, his first recorded instance of permanently setting up jackshit anywhere is at first with SkaiaNet then at Hellmurder island. Both locations share that theme of "destiny" in common—notice how he considers SN divorced from Crockercorp because of his efforts and tries to make the place overall less HIC-controlled, but ultimately fails. And sure, he later achieves this kind of destiny by having his Sburb plan go "right" but before this not a single "plan" he established went correctly. Jake in either timeline isn't a guy who regularly makes plans for multiple efforts—they zero in on one goal that appears as part of their calling and makes it happen, damn it. To him, that's a success. Whether he "actually does" is up for interpretation.

See, HIC actually wanted the Beta kids to play the game. She'd been using the Beta session as a "testing" timeline, knowing which events and people to avoid and keep in mind so that she can play everything out exactly the way she wants it to. Part of the reason why Crockertier Jane was so firmly for marrying Jake and having children was because that had been HIC's idea of what Beta Jake's purpose was once he landed on a Meteor (after B!Jane). So he saw the "big picture" in a bigger way than quite literally anyone else, but it still isn't enough, at least not in the way he thought it might be at first.

Prior to his discoveries on the island, Jake has no idea this will result in some kids using the software he's unearthing, which will destroy all life on Earth. Nor does he have any idea that those kids will be using this same software to reboot the universe with different starting conditions, thus ending this "trial run" timeline for HIC, and giving her a fresh start. Exactly as she planned.

This implies there is some moment that Grandpa Harley realized that everything he was doing would end up playing into the HIC's hands anyway. This also implies that he carried out those actions regardless, Hoping that Jade would someday win the game in the process. Are you seeing the parallel for my interpretation of Ult. Jake yet? Fuck.

What was the moment he realized? Did he power through anyway, hoping there was a bright light for Jade at the end of this all?

He's also a hoarder. He keeps items and objects instead of people. He hangs onto the past to the point where he's seemingly unable to let go of it—trophies, guns, artifacts—but throughout the entire Harley Manor there is not a single picture of his families. And that's where his dolls come in—dolls are just human enough but not too human, you can control them however you'd like yet delude yourself they are company. I'm not saying all doll-enjoyers are this way, but the specifics in which Grandpa (and Bro to an extent, for that matter) interacts with his dolls makes me believe he's turning them into pseudo-human entities because at the end of the day he again craves company. But, unlike Jake, Grandpa Harley's had a lifetime of experience reinforcing over and over again that this will never happen with a real person. And fuck, don't even get me started on the taxidermy—it's the very act of taking something, bereaving it of life and subjectivity, then keeping it for yourself. You can see how this has even affected Jade in the sense that she thinks about her taxidermied dead Grandpa (who she taxidermied himself, by the way) like a living, breathing person. And Jadebot? A robotic, perfect replica of his granddaughter, designed to monitor her at all times instead of him? And the parallels that has to Brobot. Ughghgh.

Also, quick digression. You know how Beta Dad & Mom were on the Battlefield? And how Grandpa landed just to recover Jade's dead dream body, then left Dad and Mom behind. Sorry, I'm just not normal about that at all. How did we collectively miss the sheer tragedy of that situation, God, I wonder what Roxy was thinking. Digression over.

All in all, what these files tell me is that the way Jake was written was no way accidental. Yeah he got fucked over in the Alpha session, yeah he's tragic, but he's tragic for a reason that I ultimately appreciate even as I clutch my heart and dramatically fall over from pain. He knows just enough about the meta-reality to cause feelings of absurdity but powers through it; he's supposed to be put in seemingly insurmountable situations and emerge, through one way or the other, victorious. He's supposed to have the strangest relationship known to man regarding other people and, as a result, try to find compromise between the two halves of "complete fuck-all isolation" and "the company of any developed adult human ever." He's goal-oriented only when it presents a clear-cut destiny to him, when he can see the significance of it, and otherwise floats around doing fuck-all in this world. This goal is, most of the time, people: Dirk for LE Jake, and Jade for Harley. It's also fun insight into where Jake could potentially end up going—as this post by Cooper already pointed out, Ult. Dirk's actions mirror Bro's need to micromanage and control everything in his life to the point where he, much alike Bro, secludes himself in an apartment while running his inner machinations unknown to most others. I wouldn't be surprised if Jake ends up in a similar way to Grandpa, giving his all to a dreary situation and maintaining Hope through it with the desire that it'll eventually succeed.

It would also be fun if his Hopes only came true after his death.

Alright, analysis over, everyone clock out. Good work, people. [Vaguely gestures to the reader.]

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

IQIYI is a Chinese streaming app so of course they would label anything with LGBTQ content as restricted even when it’s not warranted. Nothing I’ve seen from We Are suggests that it will go any higher than pg-13. So everyone needs to lower their expectations for that PhumPeem scene. It will be the usual Gmmtv ‘spicy’ scene: AWKWARD! featuring light closed mouth kissing, hands interlocking, shirts come off and then the camera pans away. Only Friends was not the norm for them, and it even that show never hit DMD, MMY or BOC levels of spice. To be honest I don’t think a show like We Are needs it anyways, considering it’s been mostly fluffy and friendship vibes.

Ok first I want to say thank you for the ask and I do agree that it would be weird to have one spicy scene when their other sex scenes have been very mild. And the show overall doesn't really need it.

A couple of the BLs there did have 13+ and like I said in my post a lot of their dramas are legitamately rated 18+ and it does seem that @poetry-protest-pornography might have been correct with saying that anything with more then a couple of simple smooches might get the 18+ rating that said I do not know what their criteria is for Het shows I don't know if they have similar standars for those as well they might just have a different rating system.

I am not super comfortable with any type of blanket statements not just in this instance but at all.

Also I don't actually agree that GMMTV has only awkward sex scenes. Yes not every drama needs explicit sex scenes and yes I do think different standars might be at play here, but plenty of their shows have conveyed a lot with simple pan away scenes:

Moonlight Chicken and Bad Buddy for exemple.

Even Wandee Goodday right now which has made strides in term of sex rep, with references to Lube and 69ing and explicity asking for a partner to pay attention to their dick, and while it might not have been as high heat as other shows it certantely conveyed a lot about their sex life.

Not to mention the Warp Effect and 3 Will Be Free --- I also want to point out that I have been weirded out before that their het shows - or at at least non bl shows - can have open kink but none of their male relationship have ever had, if the puppy play in The Warp Effect had been gay that wouldn't have been allowed on YouTube no matter who owns what even with no nudity. The world is very cruel and hypocritical about queer media and obviously it isn't the creators fault.

Only Friends was higher heat for GMMTV but not the only thing there, even if you are correct nothing is as high heat as the other companies you mentioned.

That said obviously GMMTV being the disney of BLs like @bengiyo (I hope you don't mind the tag - it honestly a great way to describe what GMMTV has become) has refer to them probably will always tend more to pan away sex scenes in their bls.

Obviously you are not wrong for feeling that away about GMMTV sex scenes I just think there is plenty of good in there as well I personally liked the AouBoom scenes even without being super into the drama. Sometimes you don't vibe with specific type of chemestry I have been there. I think PondPhuwin were pretty amazing in Never Let Me Go chemestry and intimacy wise and their sex scene in NLMG was amazing.

[aangarchy]

Tbh it's just Tumblr tag culture to tag all sorts of spoilers? Because we can't just assume everyone had the previlege and luxury to have had access to the internet and to consume fiction media as it came out..... Like my case may be extreme but my family was literally too busy squatting and living as ~illegals~ so we could never have an internet or cable connection for like 8 years. So I've got A LOT of catching up to do on pop culture etc and maybe one of my followers was in the same or a similar situation? Anyway that's how Tumblr works, we just tag spoilers because it doesn't cost anything and it doesn't ruin the experience of people who were too living too unstably, people who lived in rehabilitation centers, people who weren't allowed to consume certain media because of their parents, people who've put off watching a show because of a particular trauma or squick but who still want to watch it eventually etc

Okay now you're just being fucking annoying. Why are you tying your personal sobstory/trauma to something as stupid as TAGGING A POST. It's not even a tw tag either (bc if it was then i would understand) it's literally just my POV on when spoiler tags should and shouldn't be used.

Let me simplify this One more time. Tagging for spoilers on tumblr only works if everyone collectively does it. That way people can block said spoiler tag for a set amount of time, so everything tagged with #(content) spoilers will not show up on their TL. Example: new season of sex education dropped. People are tagging their posts about S4 with #sex education s4 spoilers, or just #sex education s4 because most people who don't want to get spoiled will have those tags blocked. That's how the tag system works. Everyone needs to do it, otherwise spoilers will still show up. People especially did this when avengers infinity war and endgame dropped respectively, bc those fandoms are very serious abt spoilers.

For atla there is NO USE in tagging spoilers because NOBODY DOES IT ANYMORE. This show is older than a lot of you on this fucking app. If you decide to go through the atla tag on tumblr, or follow atla blogs, you WILL get spoiled even if you have the spoiler tag blocked because i can't think of a single atla blog i follow that tags their fucking spoilers nowadays.

I'm not saying you're not allowed to tag spoilers. In fact i have never once said the words "don't tag atla spoilers". What i am saying, is that it's redundant to do so and it kind of makes you look stupid because, again, fucking DUH!

Once again you people are pretending like the internet needs to follow YOUR rules. "Oh people might not watch now bc of a trauma and might still want to enjoy the show later" ok and? Don't go following or reblogging atla blogs before you've even watched then, bc you WILL GET SPOILED. You're responsible for creating your own internet experience. I haven't watched sex ed s4 yet so i blocked the spoiler tags and for good measure i'm not scrolling the main tag either, because i don't rely on other internet users to do the work for me (even though i don't rlly care that much abt spoilers for that show). When heartstopper s2 came out i couldn't watch for two days bc of work, so i avoided everything to do with that show until i watched. That way i didn't accidentally get spoiled by someone who forgot to tag or just doesn't tag.

(Like i said this is different for tw tags, like tw flashing or tw gore or tw sexual assault. Those are things everyone absolutely must tag for the safety of everyone online. I would not want to be responsible for someone having a seizure bc i didn't tag a gifset with tw flashing)

This is my opinion on spoiler tags. It leans into my opinion on spoiler culture as a whole tbh but i digress. Once again: you can tag whatever you want. I just personally find it redundant and i'm allowed to make fun of it. I'm not making fun of YOU, i'm making fun of the concept of tagging spoilers for something that's nearly 20 yrs old. Hence the star wars spoiler joke i made, or when someone in the tags said someone got mad for spoiling fucking titanic (which is hilarious bc that's a historical event lmao).

This is the last i'll say about it bc honestly you're just pissing me off now. I'm allowed to enjoy posting about my show without having to pay mind to people who haven't watched yet but might in the future.

[cyle]

Hi, in regards to the public api, will 3rd party apps be affected in any way by upcoming changes ? The one I use - multitab Tumblr - is primarily for mass media browsing, so when I click on the "via" blog username attached to a post , it takes me straight to the blog, instead of the previous reblog.

This is obviously unrelated to what anyone is saying about viewing parent reblogs, since that's for conversations, reading previous tags and removed comments. My use case is just for the sake of finding blogs that act as human driven curated collections of media interconnected by this "via" feature. So empty reblogs are incredibly useful to me. But I'm worried they'll get pushed under the rug if this whole system gets redesigned and plastered across the public api.

To make it clear, the user being able to traverse the entire stretch of the via chain isn't important for this particular use case. Simply one via per post - the blog which this post was reblogged from, the blog directly before. So the entire via chain still needs to exist for any via to exist - but it doesn't need to be readily available to traverse by tapping the via. Essentially, if the via acts as it currently does in multitab Tumblr, and the android app I believe - ie tapping it takes me to the via blog of the post I'm viewing, as opposed to the via reblog of the post I'm viewing - that would be perfect.

Maybe I'm asking all this a little too early since I'm still not fully sure how this new post redesign will work. But multitab Tumblr seems to have adopted all the new post and reblog interface redesigns that the default Tumblr app has employed so far. Reblogs are no longer displayed as stacked and indented username lists with lines like they used to be in the old school tumblr textpost screenshots that float around the internet. So the posts have already had a redesign from their original design. and I'm not sure if this new design will be steamrolled over the current one over there too, through API changes. I'm not sure if the multitab Tumblr developers chose to change it, or if they had no choice because the api changed.

Closing thoughts: if Tumblr does end up looking and acting like twitter, that's fine because I like twitter and its many clones, I think it's kinda nicely coded and I like the modularity of posts and threads and how everything links together to facilitate conversation. And it's intuitive, which is why it's popular. However, Tumblr is and always has been the best site for human driven content curation in my opinion, because of the via blog being easily accessible in every post that is a reblog. So by all means , make it flashy and modern and twitter-like, but please don't remove the via blog, at least keep it in the public api.

Tumblr has a media focus, an archive view, pagination by date and post count through the API.... All these things which separate it from twitter in that its focus isn't entirely on conversations, but also media and curation and mass browsing. Essentially Tumblr = twitter + are.na + magic (the via). Please keep it that way. It's such a sweetspot between all these things. And this new post redesign could make it even better if only the via stays.

I suppose it's a niche ask? But a lot of people I'm sure find new blogs they like through clicking on the via instead of the source. I really think it makes tumblr what it is for people. Some blogs are so interconnected and I can see that they've clearly used the via to find a new blog to reblog from, again and again. It just makes everything so interconnected. Thank you times a million. I hope everything is as clear as possible hence the lengthy ask.

hey, yeah, there are no planned changes with the public API. if anything, myself and others on staff are continuously campaigning to open it up more and more, it's just difficult to prioritize that among the many things we have to do. i agree with basically everything you've said here!

"Tumblr = twitter + are.na + magic" is a fun way to put it.

[lefluoritesys]

Hi! Random question but what's the funniest/most awkward situation you have ever been in with a headmate/headmates? Also, I love your Tumblr. It helps us through a lot of system denial :)

Thank you so much!! We're glad to hear that, we try our best to make it a safe and positive space!!

I don't think we have stories that people would count as incredibly funny, however, we have a few that stand out to us as at least amusing, lmao. And awkward... don't even get me started.

I (co-host) keep texting people trying to make friends, and don't ask nor tell anybody. And then I just dip. I think it's a pretty effective strategy. :D

The amount of times somebody told us something that we know we would have memorized by hard. Like when we're supposed to have our lessons. And then we'd switch, be asked about it, and don't know the answer as to what that thing was. It puts us in such awkward situations IRL cause of our parents.-

Today, remember the couple that went on a date? One of them had to front to take our sibling to their classes, and they were sulking, so our co-host & persecutor-caretaker had to keep their composure when their partner, from the inner world, said our sibling looks like an offended ostrich.

We got berated for eating the host's chips. We now have a policy about eating chips. Because people ate their bag of chips...

One of the funniest stories were probably with one of our alters who went mostly inner now, though. They once purchased a premium on an app we use a lot without telling anybody, and at the time, we could buy a whole McDonald's meal for that amount of money. Then, we put them in charge of English classes, and they were definitely working, but their way of working was roasting everything and cracking some of the most hilarious jokes we've ever heard. That same alter then offered our mother cyanide.

Some of the things we say are so fucking funny that we made a quote book. For ourselves. And our partner systems. There, we not only have hilarious quotes, but some of the funniest roasts we've ever seen, one of our favorites being:

Host: It's kinda funny how I can do everything alone at front, and y'all have to do it collectively when I'm not around.

Co-host: Nah, we're just healthy.

Our co-host sprained our foot. And called the bandage on it "foot prison." I am not elaborating on their behalf. /laughing

In the inner world, we have this thing where we can track people and where they are at that point in time (especially our robots can do that), and sometimes people decide to play tag. And since our inner world is our inner world, what we basically see is a dot (that represents a person you're watching) telelporting from point A to point B to point E in a matter of seconds. Which doesn't sound funny, but picture it, lmao.

The number of posts we made that were purely targeting each other is insane. And you will never know that they are targeted unless we say something, we are sneaky like that.

At some point some people in the inner world discussed fucking Jesus?? And I mean doing the deed, not the "fucking Jesus." We still have no idea who or why.

And then another two people, whose names we know, discussed our partner system's semi-sentient hotel and what its type would be. In detail. And who they could pair it up with.

Our host is still salty at one of our prosecutors because they bought them cocoa instead of coffee, didn't tell them, and our host couldn't figure our why the coffee was sweet but tasted well, considering we hate coffee with sugar. And then they realized.

Our host address purple so much that now all of us gotta keep up with the idea what "we, a singlet, definitely a singlet (/s), love purple so much" because explaining to our bio family that we don't like it anymore but we also do but also don't would be too difficult for a number of reasons.

One of us can just decide that it's chicken nuggets day, and we will have chicken nuggets for lunch. Not because we don't want to upset this somebody by refusing but because we'd literally switch on the streets halfway to chicken nuggets, stare at the distance for a couple of seconds, and accept our fate.

We generally talk to ourselves in public constantly, we have no shame about that, especially since it's mostly in English, which is not our first language. That got us a lot of looks. We also do that in VCs with our partner system, and we openly switch in front of them and talk about inner world shit.

Hope that gave you a few laughs. /g /pos

-host, co-host & persecutor-caretaker, sexual persecutor

[suppuration]

I've been seeing a lot of talk about the Community Labels debacle, and I figured I really need to make a post about why it's particularly fucked up that it's happening.

First things first: some definitions. Explicit content and mature content are two different categories, for the intents and purposes of Tumblr's ToS.

Explicit content filtering

Implemented in 2018, as a direct result of the porn ban.

Algorithmic. One filter checks at time of post. A second checks once the post is complete. At any time after a post is made, any user can flag a post as explicit.

Allegedly, flagged posts/blogs are reviewed by a real human, as posts/blogs that get reported aren't yanked instantly.

Both blogs and posts can be flagged as explicit.

If a blog is flagged for explicit content, its avatar and header are censored, it's removed from search results, cannot be viewed at blog level on PC, and its posts can generally only be viewed by appearing on the dash of a user who already follows it.

The only way a user can toggle whether they see explicit content on their dash is to simply not follow explicit blogs.

Explicit content doesn't abide by Tumblr's ToS. As such, having too many posts flagged as explicit can get the blog and/or entire account banned.

Community labels (AKA "Mature Content")

Implemented in 2023, part of "bringing back the tiddy"

Not algorithmic. OP can mark the post themselves to benefit other users. At any time, literally any user can flag a post as "missing a community label."

Besides being broadly labeled "Mature," OP can additionally mark a post as specifically containing sexual, violent, or drug themed. To label a post as mature, OP doesn't have to specify. If a user that is not OP flags a post as missing a community label, that user cannot specify what mature theme(s) they believe the post contains.

Allegedly, the flagging system is algorithmic. If any user flags a post as missing a label, the system will automatically mark that post as mature.

Only posts can have community labels. If you're viewing a blog on PC and receive a "This blog may contain mature content" warning, that means that one or more posts loading on page 1 of the blog have a community label. Both original posts and reblogs will trigger this message.

Most users can change the visibility of mature content in their settings, and can change these settings to make certain types of mature content visible but hide others. On Android, users can do so in the app, and all users who are not minors can change these settings in a browser. iOS users cannot change the visibility of mature content in the app at this time. Mature content is hidden by default to new users, and cannot be toggled on for users who are minors.

Mature content abides by Tumblr's ToS. At this time, I'm not sure whether a user can get banned for consistently neglecting to apply community labels to their posts, but I do know that as long as it follows all other community guidelines, mature content will not get a user banned.

The explicit content algorithm has been notoriously buggy and inconsistent from the beginning. For example, I personally had a toy duck marked as explicit without appeal. This algorithm has always been heavily skewed to flagging LGBT posts--including text posts, and including posts that didn't even contain "Mature Content"--to the point that Tumblr recently settled a lawsuit for discrimination allegations. Entire tags were hidden from searchability, and just adding certain tags to a post could get it flagged. I'm not sure whether it's gotten all that much better.

Now, the current issue is with the Community Labels. Transwomen in particular seem to be disproportionately getting swaths of posts marked Mature, and appeals aren't removing erroneous labeling. The posts can be about literally anything, and be any type of post, but most commonly it's transwomen's selfies.

The only algorithmic way for a post to become flagged as "missing a community label" is if a user adds "NSFW" to the post's tags, either when OP makes or edits it, or when any user reblogs it. Every other way a post will gain a Mature Content label is user driven.

I believe this can only mean one of two things: 1. Transphobes are abusing the "missing a community label" button to purposely hide transwomen's posts from minors and people who've opted out of mature content. If appeals are in fact handled by human review, that means staff is either just as prejudiced and/or is siding with the transphobes. 2. Or, staff is testing a feature which will eventually algorithmically determine whether a post contains mature themes automatically, and their current algorithm is just as prejudiced as the one that dictates explicit content. If so, that means the company learned nothing from the discrimination lawsuit.

It could be both, but I'm inclined to believe this is the work of some particularly nasty transphobes, just based on how many screenshots I've seen of people's activity feeds where they suddenly get dozens of Community Label flag notifications for posts of ANY age. (Really, if it's people doing this, I'd say they're being rather immature, hm?)

If anyone has more information about the situation, please don't hesitate to add onto this post.

If this has been happening to you, you have my deepest sympathies, and I really hope that @staff fixes the issue with utmost priority. I know that the staff blog made a post recently that mentions that they know there's a serious problem with Community Labels right now, so hopefully that means they're actually working on a fix.

[stedipace]

"What if?" My Pitch for the Dreamcast 2

So after the bird app got bought by a rich moron, I got to thinking: what company would I impulsively buy if I had more money than common sense? I mean I wouldn't, I'd probably try and end world hunger or something but if there was anything left I'd just buy SEGA.

Like, for a laugh.

This started out as a design exercise for coming up with a launch title library but I got carried away...

So here's my plan:

The Actual Console

I think I'd like to honour VMU of the original Dreamcast and seeing Sony's recent announcements, we wouldn't be the only ones hopping on the Nintendo Switch Bandwagon.

The Actual console could stand to be a bit more powerful than the Switch but it doesn't have to be a top of the line behemoth. focus on making it fun, rather than powerful, thats how Nintendo sold a buttload this generation.

Launch Titles

Sonic Adventure 3

Ok, so right off the bat this one is a bit tricky.

Let me be clear: I LOVED Sonic The Hedgehog when I was a kid, but I'm sorry, I'm beginning to think there has never actually been a good Sonic game. Even my favourite ones haven't aged gracefully. Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 are a bit crap, I think we can all agree there. I love them games but the lack of polish on display, considering its SEGA's flagship title, is inexcusable. And since a SEGA console needs to ship with a "mainline" Sonic game (we've seen what happens when it doesn't), I say we go with Sonic Adventure 3 but maybe, like... good?

The idea of a 3D, momentum-based mascot platformer isn't a bad one. In fact, it's kind of a resurging genre in certain indie dev circles.

Twitter user @Cornf_Blue has been developing what looks like the best Sonic Adventure game Sonic Team never made. Actually, let's just hire this dude to run the project.

I'd also refer you to Spark The Electric Jester.

IT CAN BE DONE.

I'm not going to go into too much detail about my idea for SA3 cause I might do another "What If?" post specifically about that at some point but basically, here's the gist of it:

3 Playable Characters are Sonic, Tails & Knuckles

Stages connected by a hub world the player can explore as they like in SA1 but make it bigger and more open to exploration like Sonic Frontiers

3 Kinds of stages: Sonic "speedy" stages, Tails shooty mech stages and Knuckles treasure hunting stages like in SA2 (but keeping it to 3 characters instead of 6 so the team isn't spread itself thin and can focus on delivering quality over quantity).

Special challenge modes like Boss Rush, Speedrun mode etc..

In fact, just put in a bunch of speedrun-friendly features and modes.

Chao Garden! (but more on that later)

Power Stone 3

You need a big, fun multiplayer game in your launch titles and what's more fun than a 4 player fighting game with items and (kind of) platforming elements? It'd be fun to have a big co-op story mode and an online lobby system for multiplayer matches, but mostly, if you've got more than one kid and you're buying them a console for Christmas or whatever, this is the game you'll want to get with it.

Jet Set Radio: Legends of Tokyo-To

Another SEGA IP that started on the Dreamcast, this game was just a ton of fun. The game had a VERY distinct 1999/2000 timestamp on it and I think we're juuuust starting to see the nostalgia wave from that period swelling, so instead of going to the future like the game's sequel, it continues immediately after the plot of the first one. Get Hideki Naganuma, Cibo Matto, Guitar Vader and the rest of the gang back to do the soundtrack, keep the cool cel shading art style BUT make it an open-world game, having all of Tokyo-To available to roam around in, with different gangs controlling different territories, skating and tagging challenges, customizable art (players can make their own tags), and a faction system with rival NPCs (kind of like the nemesis system in those Lord of The Ring games but with graffiti instead of murdering). Heck, get the folks who did Bomb Rush Cyberfunk to make it.

Phantasy Star Online II

So it turns out this game already exists! And it's free to play! I didn't know that before I started making this post but honestly, that's perfect. If there's already a community of players, however small, that's already a lot of the legwork out of the way. Get some crossplay in there and you're set! Imagine getting the new console and your launch title but then, on the home menu, you see Phantasy Star Online II available to download for free! Old school players can enjoy the influx of new blood, revitalizing the game with a massive story event like new colonies being discovered or something, to explain the arrival of all the new players.

Crazy Taxi 3

YAHYAHYAHYAHYAH!

Everybody loves Crazy Taxi, there'd be something wrong with you if you didn't. Honestly, there's not much I'd do in terms of changing up the formula except maybe add a company management element to it, like you're trying to build a little taxi service where the main characters work. Upgrading cars, drumming up business and expanding to new areas. Just something to balance out the relentless fast-paced arcade gameplay. Online leaderboards for challenges and a local multiplayer with a versus mode (see who makes the most money) and a co-op mode (try to reach a set goal together) too, for good measure.

Bayonetta 4

Bayonetta isn't an OG Dreamcast title but IS currently an extremely successful franchise that would absolutely help sell some units on launch. I'm putting it in here because it's published by SEGA so I guess it's technically their IP? But it's also a Nintendo exclusive so I don't know how that would work. Platinum Games has a 4 contract deal with SEGA, but whatever, for this little exercise, pretend SEGA keeps the publishing rights to all their stuff as they move back into making consoles.

Virtua Tennis Pro

So we need a sports title in our launch library and I think it should be Vitrua Tennis. EA Sports games aren't exclusive anymore so you would eventually your FIFAs and whatnot, but it'd be nice to have a proper SEGA sports game again. For this one though, it would have a big, cinematic NBA 2K17 style where you're a rising young tennis star on your way to the top, singing deals, beating rivals etc... Get some competitive online multiplayer in there too of course.

Skies of Arcadia: Dusk

I've always loved the idea of Skies of Arcadia, a big, bright and colourful swashbuckling adventure, and you need one of those in your launch library, but I only played a little bit of the GameCube version unfortunately.

That doesn't matter cause I think I know exactly what to do with this one. Make a traditional RPG title, honouring the franchise's heritage BUT, since we now know how to make a fun pirate game thanks to Assasins's Creed IV: Black Flag, we add in the ship boarding/crew capturing mechanics from that game! So imagine you have the trusty, old-school dungeon crawling/battle systems when you get of your ship but you can get back in and sail through the skies, looting other airships and slowly building your fleet!

Chao Garden

Kinda like Nintendo Land but with Chaos!

Remember the Mii characters in Nintendo consoles? What if they were cute instead of creepy? Every console would have a Chao Garden where the player would create, customise and raise their own Chao. That Chao would also serve as the player's online avatar when connecting with friends and shopping in the SEGA store or whatever.

Players would be able to meet other Chaos, have them compete in minigames and lots more. Essentially the SA2 Chao garden but online. And of course, this would also connect to our Sonic Adventure 3 Chao Garden.

Obviously, this would extend to the console's portability function, like how the 3DS could actively search for the profiles when the user would walk around with it, letting you meet other Chaos!

Make a mobile app for it too so you can check in on your Chao.

These videos were massively helpful to me when writing this post:

[chemicalbrew]

@elendsessor listen, I love your blog and the way you curate stuff!!! that comment was honestly self-defeatist on my part, and I'm sorry if it made you doubt yourself, you're one of my absolute favorite mutuals at the moment (even though we don't talk, your blog is so awesome!), and I was genuinely worried you'd not follow me back when you remade, wahhh (mostly because I barely post fandom lately, and all I do is lazily scroll my dash and scout the katana zero tag, and I am so self-conscious about how much i love kz these days... i gotta stop with that)

ANYWAY!! back to your original inquiry, at full force

9. worst part of canon

stealth levels in games that are not otherwise about stealth tend to be quite ruinous. off the top of my head, two examples I am forever a little salty about are Ghost Trick and Katana ZERO (though it's partially optional in the latter - I always opt to kill my way through the prison on replays)

For Ghost Trick, that's legitimately the only issue I have with it. For Katana ZERO, however... the ending stretch of the plot is somewhat poorly paced\unsatisfying compared to everything else + hard mode is genuinely unbalanced to the point where I actually gave up on it last month (but god, the itch to play more has not left)

SMT4: rapid-fire complaints from someone who hasn't played other SMTs yet: most of the plot after the Tokyo reveal felt weak, the game needed to be a little more obvious early on about how your choices matter, I wish Flynn had a bit more personality, just to match his companions, the Isabeau twist in particular sucks ass, Burroughs turning out to be a goddess sucks even more, App Point costs were unbalanced, they could have afforded to use multiple asset sets for Domains, I didn't like the prospect of endgame grinding.

I said Chrono Trigger is perfect, but that's only if you ignore what follows after (especially the tie-ins attempted in CTDS). I still do not have it in myself to wholeheartedly love Chrono Cross

Pyre is a wonderful game, but the second half of it was a huge drag and could stand to be less repetitive

Hades has an ending that basically ruins the rest of the plot and it's BAD. also, endgame grind is way too tedious and the progression system can break in places

Brandish 1: the remake doesn't have speed options like the original game did, Tower is a bland-looking stage with awkward music, boss music in this game is uninspired outside of HEADLESS Brandish 2: literally nothing important to the larger narrative happens in this game when you think about it, endgame is not fun and absolutely ridiculous (I get why, but this is truly old school game design at its worst), boss music still sucks (most of the OST outside of the opening hour is honestly weak), there's a different Tower and it sucks for different reasons (backtracking yay) Brandish 3: the fact that the translation isn't out yet (serious answer: this game, iirc, has more backtracking than the others. Sanctuary was a really gimmicky stage in particular) Brandish 4: for fuck's sake, who decided the Temple stage was acceptable? it's literally an assault on the senses

Trails series: awful with ships. awful. the main ship of the first arc of the series is a case of adopted incest lol there's some other really gross tropes like this all throughout and I really don't feel like reciting them right now, so... I'll list other stuff: the games weren't intended to have multiple difficulties, so playing on anything that's not Normal will suck in some way you have to be extraordinarily meticulous to 100% or use a guide as the series went on, it became easier to break the difficulty into pieces with how ridiculous skills get despite that, superbosses and scripted losses that you have to win to 100% are a tradition of the series and can be really annoying to deal with as the series went on, it also started using more modern anime tropes to appeal to more people and it UNFORTUNATELY has been working

Ys series: modern games suffer from trying to be more like Trails, which they shouldn't <3 end of story

Xenoblade 1: battle system as a whole was unrefined and unsatisfying, worst sidequests in the series, female party members are all suffering in some way (Sharla's arc was cliche and unsatisfying, she sucks to use, her design is awkward; Fiora's situation was not explored deeply enough and she got fridged; Melia suffers in the story so much it almost turns into comedy and suspends disbelief) the only antagonist that resonated with me was Zanza.

Xenoblade 2: (DLC fixes most of this) The obvious: there needed to be less titties; The obvious again: Tora's introduction sucks ass (and he doesn't get truly better ever :() AND Tiger! Tiger! can go fuck itself; The introduction in general is slow and is why I won't replay this even though it's a GOAT; I actually like the gacha being around (I got lucky and the only real trouble I had was getting KOS-MOS imo), but it should at least become infinitely more generous in NG+. AT LEAST THAT. The infamous roadblocks to 100% like Ursula's affinity chart; The UI issues that everyone harped enough on; The maps got so much worse in this game compared to 1 like? I had so much trouble navigating here compared to other XB games.

Xenoblade 3: (DLC fixes most of this) literally the worst antagonists in the series; not a great party either (RIP Sena); Noahmio was kinda boring for half the runtime; in general the messages made by the game are not interesting to me and did not resonate like 2 did; the class system ruins every good change made to battle system; chain attacks suck, and not just their music - they're worse than 1's; weakest soundtrack (same issue as Brandish 2, where it starts strong but as a whole is eh); probably the only XB game that I do not ever intend to actually finish, because it's such a slog somehow.

The only sin Kid Icarus Uprising committed was its control scheme. Might have been justified, but it sucks.

Ace Attorney has too many issues to count <3 I'll just mention that: The series as a whole sucks at guiding you when you get stuck Big Top sucks, we all know this AA6 ruined Athena and Apollo and has questionable setting\design choices AAI2's last case dragged on for too long even if it was hype

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim's battle system as a whole really sucks if we're being honest, and nowhere is this shown off better than the final battle.

VA-11 Hall-A often goes overboard with humor, but its worst offense is the optional bullet hell minigame they put in

[bouncybrain]

CharacterHub... One Week In!

Here's a summary of my first week on CharacterHub and what I've observed while I've been here. It would have come out earlier but as per previous posts it's been A Fucking Day! Anyway, here's the basic rundown of CharacterHub:

It's a more socially-oriented character/story storage/organization site. There are ways to pay the site through subscriptions or cosmetics and a way to highlight a character you like. You can roleplay through comments and in chatrooms in social spaces, or just talk to other users of the site. You can "react" in a variety of ways instead of just "liking" characters/posts/worlds. Also you can make posts. You can also do commissions or (free) raffles through the site.

On to the review. (Reminder I have other review posts! Check the tag/my pinned for them.)

CharacterHub's expansive character page system is easier to navigate through now that I've spent some time getting to know it. While there's an issue with resizing the window erasing everything you did without saving it, that's simple to avoid; this also isn't an issue on mobile, as going from portrait to landscape doesn't affect the layout the same way as on desktop. They are apparently working on an app, so I might update about that if I get my hands on it (info from the Discord).

Unfortunately if you don't put any images on your character, people will not interact with it. If you're going to join CharacterHub because you want to share your characters with strangers, utilize character creators just so you have at least one picture to use as an avatar (the first thing people will see about your character).

How did I figure that out? I posted Moth Mort without a single bit of art I'd done for him. Then I posted all my other characters with all their applicable art. Since I posted Mort on the first day I joined, as my first character, he has received... zero interaction. All my other characters have received at least one reaction, and one has eight. The only real difference here is that Mort had no pictures. (Shortly after I started writing this post, Mort received his first interaction. I uploaded his art just before I started writing this post.)

SO! If you're primarily a writer, go trawl through Picrew for a while or something first.

Or you can explore the story worlds. It's very expansive and that's a really good thing! The options cover all sorts of things you might have forgotten or not realized might be considered at all, and it's easy to organize the world(s) and the information you have for it. I will recommend CharacterHub just for this story world function! If you don't use it for anything else, that's fine.

For the social aspect... it's full of kids, honestly. The most active members on the site are minors. The Discord isn't currently incredibly active, despite having nearly 3.5k members. How do I know the most active members on the site are minors without looking at everyone's profiles? You can just tell. If you don't mind, then great! If you mind, then you can just... not interact, honestly. I haven't done anything on the site past putting up characters and doing a couple posts.

Accessibility! You can customize all the colors on your character pages, which can lead to low- or high-contrast text/background combinations, and I do sometimes struggle to read pages because of it. This in combination with the variety of fonts can make reading any user-made pages (characters, worlds, etc.) a gamble.

Because you can literally use any color.

Image storage can also be an issue. For free, you have 5GB of storage for your character/world pages. Posts don't count towards this, but you'll probably want somewhere else to keep the majority of your OC's art, particularly if you have a lot of them and/or they have a lot of images associated with them. I think Toyhouse is terrible for everything except image storage, so you might want to use them in tandem. (All my Art Fight defenses are kept on Toyhouse, and I won't be putting them on CharacterHub purely because of the storage limit.)

TL;DR it's good for consolidating information/lore/writing but not so great if you're just a writer. But you can't be too prolific of an artist, either, because there's not room for it for free. I'll keep using it for now to see how things progress from here.

[raunchyravenrmx]

I'm depressed

I feel like the way art (especially adult art) can be posted online has been changed forever.

Tumblr was a big hit for me as most of the art I had made was suddenly deemed unsuitable for the site. The thousands of followers I had spent years building were gone and other artists whose work I enjoyed and admired were gone, banished from the site for what is practically forever.

Then we all went to Twitter (yes I still call it Twitter because fuck Elon musk) and for a while things were fine. But then the advent of "the algorithm" came along and fucked everything up. You couldn't just post what you wanted when you wanted anymore. You had to use certain words, avoid others, post at certain times. Step out of line and no one sees your work, or worse yet, you get shadow banned.

I cannot describe how disheartening it is to work on a piece for hours and hours only for engagement to amount to nothing because the algorithm wasn't happy with me.

And then things got even worse that apartheid benefiting nepo-baby took over the place and just went in and made dumb decision after dumb decision. Can we all begin to agree that being rich doesn't automatically make you smart yet?

So then other websites start popping up and bless their hearts do they try. We got ones that try and imitate Tumblr, some that imitate twitter, but here's the thing. None of them have the mass appeal of either. We can point to these sites as much as we want (I've seen Bluesky and CoHost get some shout outs) but they just don't have the reach to really be successful.

Then Tumblr tries to back pedal; around 6 years ago the site instituted a blanket ban on adult content in an effort combat the cp that was being spammed and to stay within Apple's app guidelines. Now I get it and those bots were truly awful and needed to be gotten rid of. But man did they choose the absolute worst way to go about it; the bots are still here and all that happened was a lot of good artists had their work taken down.

After all that and seeing the mess Twitter was becoming, Tumblr decides to capitalize and loosen some of its restrictions. But again, they did so in the worst way by being too vague about what is and isn't okay to post. Posting anything spicy on here feels like walking through a mine field; is this post okay or is it too adult and get me flagged (even with the adult content warning on). Not to mention that their tagging system is all kinds of messed up; how is "nsfw" okay as a tag but "nsfw art" isn't, it doesn't make sense.

But ultimately, they destroyed people's trust in the site; how can anyone feel comfortable when at any given moment their posts, their profiles, and sometimes even their livelihoods are wiped away because it is no longer deemed profitable?

I don't know. I started drawing because it was fun and I got to share a community with people I eventually would call friends. But everything's changed and now even art work that is entirely safe is ignored.

I'm so tired.

[crossfoxbuns]

Keep a Link Garden!

The Internet is Big

Like, REALLY big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is - or how much this intro has been overused since Hitchhiker's Guide has been a thing.

But it is big. Big enough that if you don't have some kind of system for keeping things you want to remember, there's no way in hell that you can remember it. What is a "thing you want to remember" though?

For me, it's everything from interesting blogs and webcomics, to YouTube favorites, to pin on Pinterest, to random shops I'd love to buy things from if I had money, to cool examples and inspirations - that kind of thing.

Each platform kinda has a way of letting you organize your favorite stuff - but it only works on that platform.

Enter the humble bookmark. Remember those? Before revamping my system I had nearly 1000 of them. YIKES.

But bookmarks are just SO GOOD at being the one thing that always works to save stuff for later. No matter the platform, every piece of content has a unique URL - that's how it has to be. And with unique URLs, bookmarks become the best way to save stuff in one place no matter the platform.

Personally this became a problem for me a couple of months ago. Because of my work and general techie interests, I switch web browsers all the time. I've used 'em all. Most recently I was trying out Arc browser. It's generally quite nice! It took the spotlight/global search sort of approach to literally everything, which tickles my brain in the right ways.

There's still a big problem with Arc though - no way to export stuff very well. (Pro tip: before you commit to a software, make sure you can leave the thing easily!) And because Arc's philosophy doesn't really do bookmarks (I just had a space on the side with hundreds of "pinned tabs"), when I finally found a stupid, roundabout way to get my list of bookmarks out, it was just that - a plain old list. The organization was gone. It was just hundreds and hundreds of links all piled together into a bin with no sorting whatsoever.

So I decided that this was the time to really start organizing this pile of links. It's like the inside of my brain, covered head to toe in random sticky notes, half of which don't make sense anymore. To start things off, I found Raindrop.

Raindrop is a place to put my bookmarks that, first and foremost, isn't married to a particular browser. Whether I'm using Arc, Firefox, Safari, on any device, doesn't matter - I get to my bookmarks the same way.

Another benefit is that Raindrop's app lets me share links and stuff to it using the phone's built-in sharing function, which makes saving the bookmarks way easier!

The icing on the cake? You can upload files to it as well. Images, documents, whatever. This got me thinking. I have a rather large collection of images saved on Pinterest...

By the way, Pinterest also sucks when it comes to exporting things. I had to use a downloaded tool that crawls the account and downloads the resources it finds, which felt gross. But with my stuff out of Pinterest, it meant one less corpo-site I relied on, so I'll take it. Uploading all those pins back into Raindrop was nice and simple. Raindrop even has a "moodboard" view mode, which looks suspiciously like Pinterest's masonry look, but without the ads and tracking scripts.

After adding my old pins to the collection, my bookmark garden is now just shy of 2000 links and images. I've been spending the past couple of weeks going through the giant pile and deleting old ones, sorting the rest into fresh categories, and giving things meaningful tags. That's another thing, I love that Raindrop uses and encourages tagging! Regular browsers take note - when there's a lot of something that someone will want to find again - support tags. Please. Not that I'll be doing that since I have transcended browser bookmarks, but you know.

Lots of stuff yet to sort and tag - about 600 links and 1000 images left to go - but it's coming along. And I'm tagging things as I continue to find links to add to the garden as well. Once that process is done, I'll have that nigh-perfect system - never needing to forget something again. If I want to browse some shops, I won't go to Etsy, I'll go the shops section of my private link garden. Carefully and lovingly curated. :)

Bonus points - if Raindrop gets enshittified, they have a couple of great exporting options, including a good old OPML file that every other bookmark manager can use.