#internet communities

[helloyellow17]

Idk man I might get torn to shreds for saying this, but I simply cannot understand the new trend, particularly among younger internet users, where people write a laundry list of their triggers in their bio and then expect everyone to read and cater to said list on a PUBLIC PLATFORM.

This is the same mentality that drives people to attack appropriately tagged fics on AO3 for having x y or z content because “How dare you post this when I have trauma about this???” Obviously if someone is going to write a super heavy and highly sensitive fic and NOT tag it properly, they ought to be called out on it. But this isn’t about that, it’s about the people who don’t curate their own content, it’s about the people who enter public spaces and demand that the general public cater to THEM specifically.

Additionally: Listing out your triggers for everyone to see is just ASKING for trolls to come into your inbox and flood you with triggering content. (Unfortunately, as much as we would like to believe otherwise, the internet is full of selfish jerks who don’t give a crap about anybody’s trauma.) Not only this, but the algorithm does not read your bio. The algorithm does not care about your triggers unless YOU make sure to block specific tags and content.

YOU are responsible for curating your own content, and nobody else.

Obviously this is not to say people shouldn’t try to tag their posts for common triggers, because that’s the common courtesy thing to do. But if Becky has a phobia of bees, it is on her to block that tag and curate her feed around it, and she does not get the exclusive right to suddenly demand that nobody talk about bees within a ten mile radius of her. If Alec has a phobia of dogs, then it is well within his right to avoid contact with them, but he doesn’t get to go to a public park and yell at anybody who brings their dog there. It is his responsibility to know his own limits and seek out parks that are dog-free. (If someone brings a dog to a dog-free area, that’s a whole different issue that I won’t be getting into rn but yes, the person who does that is in the wrong there.)

The internet is widely a public space. If you want to create a safe space completely and utterly free of your specific triggers, you have to put the work in to make that space for yourself. You don’t get to ask other internet strangers to do it for you.

I’m saying this out of genuine concern (and admittedly, frustration) because there are so many young teens in fandom nowadays who don’t understand this, and they end up putting themselves in extremely vulnerable and even downright dangerous situations because they don’t understand that putting your well-being in the hands of a stranger is a terrible idea.

Please be safe, and for the love of all that is holy, be reasonable. Curating your content yourself is just as much a protection for you as it is a vital key that allows public communities to function.

[tnlnyc]

Your Fake Online Friends Have a 2,000-Year-Old History

Impersonation has a long history. “Internet Sock Puppets” are the latest version of such deceptive behavior.   Impersonation before the Internet In 181 BC, a “discovered” chest contained Latin and Greek books allegedly written by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. The books covered religious and philosophical subjects. The Roman Senate worried the texts undermined established Roman…

[ni-uh]

In my brief time here, particularly in the online world, I’ve noticed some pretty interesting dynamics around how we act, interact, and generally just dance with the complexities of authenticity (ugh, this word) and belonging—especially when it comes to real people and their subcultures. Subcultures tend to have pretty clear definitions, with distinct beginnings and endings that make them easy to spot, i think.

When we go looking for community, we don’t always stop to think that we might not exactly fit into a particular group or aesthetic. Our personal beliefs, tastes, and moral compasses shape how we see ourselves. In the online world, which is probably the most accessible space for self-expression and global connection, our digital persona goes through this unspoken verification process. Before we can truly connect with people who might share similar interests, we have to prove we belong.

The desire to connect with others who think or feel the same way is totally natural, but the process of actually breaking into these tight-knit subgroups is, i think, often blocked by these subtle forms of exclusion. There’s this quiet, almost invisible gatekeeping happening. You want to connect with people because you just know you’d understand each other and feel understood, but something about your online persona—your “portfolio,” for lack of a better word—just doesn’t quite fit the mold of what’s expected in that subculture. And because of that, you end up kind of stuck on the outside, on the surface, not necessarily rejected for who you really are, but for how you’re seen.

This whole online verification system, even though it might seem trivial, actually holds a lot more weight than we realize. I feel like it dictates how we’re perceived and, by extension, who we’re allowed to connect with. And sometimes, it prevents us from forming those real, meaningful bonds we are after, even as it promises a sense of community. It’s intersting, because in trying to bring people together, the internet sometimes ends up doing the opposite, where it enforces a kind of conformity that makes it harder to show up as our authentic (ughh this word again) selves.

But this all points to a bigger tension between our individual identities and the sense of belonging we’re trying to find in digital spaces. The internet opens up this amazing world of potential connection, but at the same time, it creates these rigid structures around what’s considered “authentic,” which can make it harder to really connect on a deeper level.

The paradox—where the very desire for inclusivity leads to exclusion—shows just how complicated (online) communities really are.

It’s a reminder that as much as we’re trying to find recognition and connection, we’re constantly balancing how much of our true selves we can reveal and how much of our online selves needs to conform to what others expect. And ultimately, it speaks to the need for a more flexible understanding of belonging—one that lets individuality coexist with the collective, and that can handle the messiness and contradictions of digital identity. Grrrrr

What do you guys think? ੈ✩‧₊˚

[iri-desky]

GET KOSA TRENDING.

STOP SCROLLING NOW!

AS OF FEBRUARY 21ST, 2024, WE GOT FIVE DAYS UNTIL THE DAY OF DECISION OF THE KOSA BILL, WHICH WILL CAUSE MASS CENSORSHIP ROUND THE INTERNET IF PASSED. WE NEED EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS AND CONTRIBUTE. I'M NOT GIVING UP ON YOU ALL.

(IMPORTANT UPDATE: Kosa will not necessarily pass on the 26th. It only has the support to pass in Senate, and we STILL HAVE TIME. That being said, time is of the essence.)

WE'RE DOWN TO THE WIRE BUT WE CAN'T GIVE UP YET. IF WE GIVE UP, EVERYTHING IS OVER. IF WE DON'T, AT LEAST WE HAVE A CHANCE.

I'M THE ONE WHO SOUNDED THE ALARM, AND I'M NOT GOING TO CURL UP AND DIE YET.

Reblog this post in every LEGAL way you can under the Tumblr guidelines with the appropriate tags. TELL AND TAG EVERYONE YOU KNOW, then add the tags to see below... and more if you can think of any complying.

Visit badinternetbills.com if you want to find a way to defeat KOSA. It WILL NOT take much of your time. Reblog with any other information or sources, too-- but make sure to reblog if you can.

Reblog if you support lgbtq+ content.

Reblog if you support questioning queer youth and/or abused youth getting the information they need.

Reblog if you support Ao3 and/or other sites that wholeheartedly preserve talentedly made media.

Reblog if you're going to repost this on other sites than Tumblr and spread the word across Twitter, Tik Tok, Pinterest, or elsewhere, alongside the link to badinternetbills.com.

Reblog if you think KOSA is unfair and shouldn't be anyone's problem -- including the adults ALL OVER THE DAMN EARTH forced to face the mass censorship it causes because "think of the American Children!".

Reblog if you support internet activism and Palestine.

Reblog if you hate fascism or censorship, and don't want actually serious and helpful conversations censored on the internet.

Reblog if you value the internet in any way at all whatsoever.

CHECK THIS PETITION, TOO! https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-kosa?recruiter=1331807538&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf&recruited_by_id=57368c40-d0fd-11ee-98f7-2175430f819f&share_bandit_exp=initial-36809664-en-US

(Also, please reblog with at least "stop kosa" as a tag and not "kosa". I made the mistake of not adding just "kosa" as a tag...)

We won't let this stand any longer. Let's start a riot and get this trending.

(Update: this is outdated, but we should still talk about it. Get Kosa trending.)

[destielmemenews]

source 1

source 2

[squidfreak]

DON'T PUT YOUR TRIGGERS AND/OR PHOBIAS IN YOUR WEBSITES/PINNED POSTS/BIOS/ETC. FOR EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET TO SEE. ONLY TRUSTED PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT INFORMATION, NOT THE WHOLE INTERNET. YOU WILL GET HURT!!! MEAN PEOPLE WILL USE IT AGAINST YOU!!!

[charlottemadison42]

Hey guess what? Firefox's creator, Mozilla, is considering whether to integrate an AI button/feature into their browser. If you, like me, use Firefox and wish to offer feedback, here is the thread: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/share-your-feedback-on-the-ai-services-experiment-in-nightly/td-p/60519

Pass it on.

[prokopetz]

Honestly, I don't mind the proliferation of emojis in casual online communication because it makes my favourite sort of bit much easier to pull off. Saying patently absurd shit in a perfect deadpan used to be hard to convey in pure text, and now all I have to do is punctuate and avoid using little cartoons.

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Republicans nuked KOSA. Its considered DOA and wont be showing up at the house. This is good news certanly but its not entirely over. This bill got bipartisan support back in the senate, dickheads from both sides thought the idea behind kosa was worth doing, its just that the republican party decided to nuke it for reasons im trying to figure out? To try to deny a win for democrats similar to how they stopped a cancer research bill?

Something like kosa will pop up again, kosa itself may just rise from the grave and we'll have to go through this same song and dance so all i can say is stay informed on this type of shit. Inform your senators and reps not to support this shit and if they dont oppose it, vote them out in the next election they're running in.

There are bills that do in fact regulate the internet in a way that helps but also doesnt violate free speech by targeting how data is harvested. Thise bills should be pushed while censorship should die. For now, celebrate this day. KOSA atm is dead, done so in a manner so anticlimatic yet deserving. But be vigilant.

[softle0]

Mexican grandparents home will always be so cozy.

[audristarzz]

KOSA 7/25/24

GOOD NEWS! Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez does not support KOSA!! keep calling and respectfully blowing up their phone ❤️

regarding my last post, Kosa did NOT pass the Senate fully, we have some time so PLEASE call and spread and tell your reps and senators to vote NO on Kosa and I urge you to bring up the government ID which can easily be a danger hazard for hackers and doxxing.

Sen Marsha Blackburn ADMITTING the reason for KOSA is to “save” and “protect” children from the transgender. And I believe we have some lgbtq groups supporting this bill.

[werewolf-kat]

What's Matsudon like? I keep hearing about that place but there seems to be more negativity surrounding it than positive.

Oh! It probably does depend on what place you pick on Mastodon as your home. I hesitated for a while since it seemed overwhelming and unreliable, but I wanted to seek out creative communities outside of Tumblr (especially game devs who were very common on Twitter before that became a right-wing and cryptocurrency/web3 techbro hell).

I made myself at home on an invite-only server which makes it clear that it blocks viewing of servers that are home to, or owned by, anti-LGBT users as well as anyone who still thinks web3 is "cool" or contributes anything to game development.

Peoplemaking.games (where I am) is also owned by an LGBT+ person!

Here's the list of servers that the owner has blocked for great reasons (including keeping TERFs out of peoplemaking.games). It'll be found in the "About" under "Moderated Servers":

Other servers should have a list of their own you can check before you pick a main place to stay in!

I'm still learning my way around the place, but it really isn't limited to the one server like it might sound at first (that confused me too). You can still view posts from other servers in "Explore" and such. I've found people to follow from other servers too! Mainly fellow artists outside of the game dev space.

The one downside that I also found concerning is that administrators (server owners) have access to DM's between the users, and login (password) info, but there haven't been any reports of abuse that I've seen. Unfortunately, having login details and such is an important part of owning/hosting a server. Minecraft server hosts, for example, can see your IP address (but not password since that's a Mojang/Microsoft side to manage your account details). It's definitely about looking around to learn about the server hosts.

Hopefully that helps summarize some stuff on Mastodon! I'm enjoying my time on the game dev server, so I have positive views on it so far. Lots of friendly developers and artists wanting to promote each others' work, give feedback, etc. It's nice! I know Mastodon has regular art servers as well - especially as LGBT+ dominant spaces.

(EDIT to add:

The default sorting of posts is from newest to oldest too like the Tumblr dashboard, by the way! It doesn't have an algorithm shoving random popular posts down your throat. From what I'm hearing from users on there, you can also choose if your posts show in Explore/Local pages. Tagging (like #digitalartist) is what makes your post "broadcasted" if that makes sense.)

[ajxrn]

To my mutuals or followers, or just anyone who sees this:

Please reblog the kosa bill posts from me and others. This bill is EXTREMELY dangerous to the queer community and especially queer minors. As a queer and trans minor in a bad home situation, I and many others would be in so much danger if this bill is approved. Its actually so horrific. One of the senators who introduced it, Marsha Blackburn, said that "protecting minor children from the transgender in this culture" was a top priority. As a trans minor, I find this disgusting and harmful to my existence, I'm sure many others my age feel the same way. So please: REBLOG THE KOSA BILL POSTS.

EDIT: IT WILL ALSO CENSOR THE PALESTINE GENOCIDE POSTS AND MANY MORE THINGS!!! WE WILL BE BLOCKED FROM THE TRUTH!!! Also I do not know many things about the kosa bill, this is the limit of my knowlege, so I can't answer any questions. I'm sorry!

[heretherebeturtles-comic]

DID YOU KNOW THAT ANDY SURIANO TALKED ABT YOUR COMIC ON INSTA???????????

YEAH I SAW IT!

really cool!!!!!! nice things were said about my art and story!!!!!! i am so flattered!!!!!!!!!! i am still figuring out how to react to it all!!!

[thoughtportal]

making bad jokes and trying to understand each other