#leverage + Tumblr text post

[my-beloved-lakes]

Leverage + text post: favorite side character addition

[independent-fics]

The Leverage OT3 in Every Episode

Leverage: 01x07 The Two-Horse Job

[fixyourwritinghabits]

How to Tell If That Post of Advice Is AI Bullshit

Right, I wasn't going to write more on this, but every time I block an obvious AI-driven blog, five more clutter up the tags. So this is my current (April 2024) advice on how to spot AI posts passing themselves off as useful writing advice.

No Personality - Look up a long-running writing blog, you'll notice most people try to make their posts engaging and coming from a personal perspective. We do this because we're writers and, well, we want to convey a sense of ourselves to our readers. A lot of AI posts are straight-forward - no sense of an actual person writing them, no variation in tone or text.

No Examples - No attempts to show how pieces of advice would work in a story, or cite a work where you could see it in action. An AI post might tell you to describe a person by highlighting two or three features, and that's great, but it's hard to figure out how that works without an example.

Short, Unhelpful Definitions - A lot of what I've seen amount to two or three-sentence listicles. 'When you want to write foreshadowing, include a hint of what you want foreshadowed in an earlier chapter.' Cool beans, could've figured that out myself.

SEO/AI Prompt Language Included - I've seen way too many posts start with "this post is about..." or "now we will discuss..." or "in this post we will..." in every single blog. This language is meant to catch a search engine or is ChatGPT reframing the prompt question. It's not a natural way of writing a post for the average tumblr user.

Oddly Clinical Language - Right, I'm calling out that post that tried to give advice on writing gay characters that called us "homosexuals" the entire time. That's a generative machine trying to stay within certain parameters, not an actual person who knows that's not a word you'd use unless you were trying to be insulting or dunking on your own gay ass in the funniest way possible.

Too Perfect - Most generative AI does not make mistakes (this is how many a student gets caught trying to use it to cheat). You can find ways to make it sound more natural and have it make mistakes, but that takes time and effort, and neither of those are really a factor in these posts. They also tend to have really polished graphics and use the same format every time.

Maximized Tags (That Are Pointless) - Anyone who uses more than 10 one-word tags is a cop. Okay, fine, I'm joking, but there's a minimal amount of tags that are actually useful when promoting a post. More tags are not going to get a post noticed by the algorithm, there is no algorithm. Not everyone has to use their tags to make snarky comments, but if your tags look like a spambot, I'm gonna assume you're a spambot.

No Reblogs From The Rest of Writblr - I'm always finding new Writblr folks who have been around for awhile, but every real person I've seen reblogs posts from other people. We've all got other stuff to do, I'm writing this blog to help others and so are they, the whole point of tumblr is to pass along something you think is great.

While you'll probably see some variation in the future - as people get wise to obviously generated text, they'll try to make it look less generated - but overall, there's still going to be tells to when something is fake.

I don't have any real advice for what to do about this (other than block those blogs, which is what I do). Like most AI bullshit, I suspect most of these blogs are just another grift, attempting to build large follower counts to leverage or sell something to in the future. They may progress past these tattletale features, but I'm still going to block them when I see them. I don't see any value in writing advice compiled from the work of better writers who put the effort in when I can just go find those writers myself.

[that-ari-blogger]

They Who Carry The Torch (The Missing Months)

When writing this post, it struck me how close together the second and third seasons of The Owl House were. As in, I have described them as the missing years and it is not uncommon for them to be implied as being at least a year or two apart. But King’s Tide aired on May 28, 2022, and Thanks To Them aired on October 15 of that same year. That’s less than five months.

For context, the gap between seasons one and two was just under ten months. It really wasn’t that much time at all.

But a lot can happen in five months, especially in the realms of fanfiction. The Owl House’s ending was purposely unsatisfying. We didn’t know we would get a conclusion.

This is a post about one comic artist who stepped up to the plate to try and bridge that gap. The one, the only, @moringmark.

Let me explain.

I think the first question I need to ask is why I am doing this?

Moringmark’s comics are not expressly cannon to The Owl House. They are, by definition, fanart, and I haven’t covered fanart as a full post in any of my other series. So why make the exception?

My answer here is kind of twofold and kind of not.

Firstly, canon is not really a thing. Like all definitions, the word exists to allow for common ground between people, but this one is especially dubious. What is cannon?

You may say that the text itself is the canon, and that is a perfectly fine distinction. But it doesn’t take into account retcons and plotholes and alternate futures. Luckily, The Owl House doesn’t have many of these, but areas where canon is more important, such as comic books, tend to feature them more heavily.

This isn’t a coincidence. There is a direct line between having multiple possibilities and the need to clarify that one is canon.

My hot take is this: Canon is just what the general audience accepts as having happened. The main material is the thing that everyone agrees on, and everything else is fuzzy with increasing or decreasing clarity depending on the media and the audience.

For one example, Harold Pots and the Child that was Maybe a bit Bad is a stage play that was written by the author of its parent series. It is technically canon. But due to a number of factors including the author making a fool of herself online and alienating a significant chunk of her audience and the story not satisfying a general audience, it is not treated as fitting the canon.

Flipping the script, The Owl House fandom exists in a really large capacity online, most notably in this case, on Tumblr. A significant chunk of the fanbase has at least come into contact with Moringmark’s art, and it is not uncommon for the comics to be believed canon unless proven otherwise, which is not an honour ascribed to many fanartists.

In addition, we didn’t know we were getting a season three, so for several months, these comics were the The Owl House.

My other reason is this: I do not run a review blog. I do not have to weigh the worth of a fan artist alongside its inspiration because that is a) not fair considering the size of the teams working on the two and b) not my job.

Instead, I run an analysis blog. I discuss what a text is about and comment on how I got to that conclusion. This is a series about The Owl House, and Moringmark’s comics were The Owl House for a few months, it is important to me that their contributions to the themes of the series be understood.

So, I have collected a few of Moringmark’s posts that were published between the end of season two and the start of season three, and I have some thoughts.

Starting with this one, published Sep 16, 2022.

Moringmark had two main takes on the show that were remarkably accurate, even if their aesthetics were different (I will get to that in a moment).

The first and the one most obvious in this post is the slice of life story of the Hex Squad moving in with the Nocedas for a while.

Moringmark is an incredibly funny writer, so a lot of the time this was leveraged for humour, and that shines through here, but this is more than that.

The designs are different to the original show. Everyone’s hair has grown out a bit with two exceptions to show that time has passed, although not much. And Vee’s human design is tweaked slightly to allow for a visible difference between her and Luz. They still look like sisters, but she is a lot simpler and looks slightly younger, reflecting their dynamic.

I also appreciate her shirt design. “Me.” She is more self actualized here than in her series incarnation. She is no longer playing a part and is fully her own person.

Notably, the Hex Squad all have similar clothing designs. It’s the same shirt in different colours with an emblem on the front. Notably, Willow’s is slightly smaller on her and Gus’ is slightly bigger on him, while Hunter doesn’t wear one at all. They are all Luz’ clothes because none of the squad had their own. The group hasn’t been able of felt the need to get clothes that fit everyone yet.

Subtle storytelling.

Speaking of which, the only two who’s hair hasn’t grown since the series finale are Gus, who’s style has stayed the same, and Hunter’s, who’s decidedly has not.

Hunter is missing his iconic curl thingo that hangs over his face, and judging by his expression in the first panel, it was removed extremely recently. He too is a different person, symbolically ready to move past his trauma.

But then news of Belos is brought up, and his expression changes, and stays that way. Hunter becomes set and focused and determined. Even when in Camila’s car at the end, his eyes are glued to the mirror. He is constantly on the lookout, constantly ready. I’ve seen this trauma response in real life.

I recently watched Xena Warrior Princess, a show that is goofy as all hell, and probably the most nineties television series that ever graced our screens. I mean that both as a compliment and as an… oh boy.

The series is notable in this context for the following exchange:

“See how calm the surface of the water is? That was me once. And then…” (Throws rock in water) “The water ripples and churns. That’s what I became.”

“But if we sit here long enough, it will go back to being still again. It will go back to being calm.”

“But the stone’s still under there. It’s now part of the lake. It might look as it did before, but it’s forever changed.”

Hunter thinks that he can just cut out that part of his life and move on. That’s why he cuts his hair, but its also why he is so focused on getting to Belos. But the events that shaped him are still there, under the surface.

The reason I selected this comic for analysis was its relation to the series’ theme of family. I.e. bad family will leave a mark that you can’t get away from, you can just try to hide it. But good family will try to help you and comfort you and offer you guidance and protection. To make that point, in comes Camila and her car.

Going back a bit to the subtle storytelling. The kids’ reactions to the news of Belos are the centerpieces of the fourth panel. It’s slightly smaller than its predecessor, which has a tiny zooming effect, but everyone has a distinct emotion. Luz and Amity look to each other, Vee gives a worried expression, and Gus and Willow immediately clock Hunter’s tone shift.

But Camila also responds. Not much, just a glance and an eyebrow raise, but enough to show she noticed.

Thematically, the fact that Camila’s offer to help the crew take on Belos happens off screen infers that it wasn’t up for debate. She was fully ready to throw hands with this man from the minute she saw his impact on the children she had taken under her wing.

Which leaves an opportunity for humour. The Owl House is a satirical comedy, and Moringmark gets that. He undercuts the cool moment of the crew walking down the road, but then makes it clear that the catharsis of this isn’t going away.

That’s really it. Catharsis. Moringmark writes comedy and drama in remarkably similar ways, and while the above post is a clear example of it, I need to bring up this comic, which delves into that parental theme for a different kind of emotion.

Notice what I said earlier about Vee and her self-actualization. It doesn’t get as much of a spotlight as Hunter, but this is also someone deeply scarred by Belos, and yet she seems a lot more healthy than him. Maybe because she has had time and exposure to a better parent figure than Belos. Maybe because she has had time to sit by the lake and watch the ripples die down.

Look how Moringmark achieves pacing here. You know the tense situation; you don't need words to hear the bounce and ring of that amulet. Even the cut to the two's faces amplifies this mood. Its shape heightens the perspective while the blank background cuts away from everything else, so you don't get distracted.

Next up, we have the story back on the Boiling Isles. Moringmark went for a Mad-Max style road trip story type of thing, and there is so much here to choose from.

I was tempted to go with this comic because it has the bus in it, and I love the bus. But I think the most emblematic of this part of the story was this:

Published on July 19, 2022, this comic is notable for a few things.

The little details in this comic stand out to me on a storytelling level. How the trappers are the Collector’s henchmen, and how the renegades are using necklaces similar to King’s to avoid notice from the Collector. That’s a really cool idea.

But I had to include this comic for its portrayal of the Collector and of Boscha.

You would think that this isn’t too different from how the Collector is usually characterized. They are doing the exact same thing as they did in King’s Tide.

Obviously, this is different by dint of how Skara’s reaction to hitting a solid surface at the speed of sound will probably be different to Belos’. But it’s also important to note that this version of the Collector works by the rules of the game.

This is a cosmic entity that has rules, and therefore is something that can be worked around. They have a soft spot for those who try to follow the rules, balanced out by an utter disregard for mortal life. This version of the Collector is terrifying specifically because we have seen him try this before and succeed. We know how this ends, the Collector’s character is a twist.

Speaking of which, we also know how Boscha will act. She is mean, as has been established by the comic in its first few panels. We learn that she doesn’t seem to care that Skara is injured. This is not someone we expect a character arc out of.

But then we get a moment of clarity. We get Boscha risking her life Skara. We get a moment of redemption for Boscha.

And I’m going to level with you. I like this far more than For the Future. Consider this foreshadowing, as I have a fanfic in the works that is based in this version of the story. That is, what might have happened had this or something similar to this been the canon.

I will remind you that this was the canon when it was written, as much as anything else. We didn’t have another option. This was The Owl House.

A lesser concept in the original series was that of redemption and relationships. Amity is redeemed through the compassion that Luz shows for her. Not even love at this point, but friendship that blossoms into romantic attraction.

Similarly, Alador is redeemed through his love for his daughter. Lilith is redeemed through her love for her sister. Mattholomule and Hunter are redeemed through their friendships with Gus and Luz respectively. Etc.

This comic just continues those themes into showing Boscha redeem herself through her friendship with Skara.

It is worth pointing out that this isn’t a full heel turn. Boscha isn’t ready to admit anything or stop being mean, but it is a start. He heart is in the right place, even if her brain is not.

This is why Moringmark is canon, at least to me. These versions are fun as AUs, but when they were released, they were as good of a continuation as we were going to get. They understood the themes and the message of the story, as well as its tone, and in a way, they carried the torch.

And they are still going. As of writing this, Moringmark has delved into future and past timelines. They have written three full series about Luz and co.’s children, Boscha and Skara’s romance during the events of the series, and an AU evil Luz.

This is what The Owl House is right now, and it’s what series like this are. I brought up Xena Warrior Princess earlier, and that story still has fanfiction and fanart made of it, a quarter of a century after it finished. Stories exist in the collective consciousness, and while we can trace the lineage of The Owlhouse through the shows that inspired it and that it will go on to inspire, Moringmark is emblematic of the fan community as a whole who keep the flame burning.

The Owl House series has finished, but its story lives on. Not just through Moringmark, but through every other fan who so much as makes a shitpost. We keep the lights on, we decide when to call it quits, we carry the torch.

Light, do not faulter.

Final Thoughts

There are so many other Moringmark comics that I could have spoken about. From the dramatic and emotional with Skara comforting Matt Tholomule to my darling, the bus. But I left it where I did for a few reasons.

It is not my intention to be sycophantic about Moringmark. I don’t want to be invasive, and if this comes across as such, I apologise and will remedy that. But also, this isn’t about Moringmark.

This is about the fan community. Moringmark has made themself the head of that community through sheer time and hard work, and has made themself as big enough part of it that I can feel comfortable writing this and it not feeling out of place alongside the original series.

But there is a lot more of this fandom than Moringmark, I can’t discuss every fanfic at length. Just know that they are out there, and you can find them. My ask box is open for recommendation requests, but you should also just go and look for them yourself. Follow artists, support them if you are able. This is a community, we should act like it.

Next week, I am diving into the final season with Thanks To Them, so stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

2024 wrapped ! fic writing year in review ! whatever you want to call it ! even though it's the beginning of december !

i was tagged by: No one! I am doing it: Anyway !

note for my post specifically: some stats have been manually adjusted to account for "collection" fics (which i've largely stopped doing, but are still part of the stats in 2024) that have different oneshots in each chapter but count as one "work" on ao3. i'm also going to focus on my trentcrimminallybeautiful pseud and ted lasso related works for 99 percent of the post.

i spent so much time on this. and why? why. i have no idea. i don't know why i did this. i don't even have spotify.

special thanks to @fade-in-the-dark, for our long, riveting conversations, and @medecineformelancholy, whose clever thoughts and kind words have fueled many a fic-writing session <3

tags/rules & links to all fics mentioned under the cut.

rules: fuck da rules. post whatever stats you want. ao3 stats recommended for ease, but anything from quantitative (top 5 most bookmarked fic, most commented fic, most kudos'd fic, etc.; how many kudos/comments/bookmarks you got this year, longest/shortest, number of user subscriptions, top fandom written for, , word count, whatever you like) to qualitative (favorite fic written, favorite comment received, best smut/angst/fluff fic written, fic that was hardest to write, etc, get creative) to a secret third thing. it doesn't even have to be fanfiction you can talk about original fiction if you want. just have fun with it man. you can do plain text or fun little graphics. then tag some people. yay

tagging: no pressure, and you absolutely do not have to do the same level as what i've done, because i don't know why i did it at all. i mean you're welcome to, but please don't feel like you have to. you don't even have to do it at all, man. just have fun if you want to. hell, if you see this and i've not tagged you but you wanna do it, this is me tagging you. tag me as if i tagged you normally by name. it's fine. do it. and if you're tagged here and you don't wanna or whatever don't worry about it. it's cool. no problem

anyway, tagging: @mvshortcut get over here you rascal. @oflightningandstars @writer-and-thrasher @plentyghosts @fade-in-the-dark @thehouseofgrey @vamplanaut

all fics mentioned:

countdown, baby!

delayed reaction

fall into you, sweet thing

hold me down

lend you my lips

lightning and roses

mea culpa

melt like this

moonlight madness

{ pair / pretty / play }

rainy days

reflections

secure

stress relief

suffer the feathers for the song

vita nova

snippets, which were largely excluded from stats because it'd be a lot of work untangling them from one work tbh:

ted lasso tumblr snippets 3 - 8 through 12 done in 2024.

ted lasso snippets 4 - all done in 2024.

e-rated ted lasso snippets - just the fourth one done in 2024.

non ted lasso fics:

Bill Cipher Calls a Temporary Truce for Girl's Night????????? and other notes that Ford will HATE to read in the Journal later - Gravity Falls

dreams of falling - House MD

key without a lock - The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Did Nate Just Kill A Guy?!?! Job - Leverage

[faorism]

this sketch is inspired by the amazing amazing gift fic lock and key; music and lyrics which canon_is_relative wrote for me during the 2022 @leverage-secret-santa-exchange, which was in turn inspired by headcanons i had posted to tumblr and then here. i was immediately so blown away by the vividness of the story's description that i knew i had to draw it. it took half a year but here it is!

for those who want to just stay for this drawing, hazel is eliot's cecropia moth, jack is parker's raccoon, and t'pris is an eastern red bat. more about the verse can be found here on ao3. [img desc in alt text]

[ravendark118]

The complete recaps of Alex Kister drama/controversies for those who constantly ask whether he is innocent or not and whether Mandela Catalogue Fetish content is or not.

(These texts you are reading come from the Fandoms Wikitubia page where there is a controversial stage by Alex Kister site. I didn't write it just so you know everything. I just copied the text and created it on a document for those who always wonder whether Alex is innocent or not. The ones that have underscore are the documents links that Ven and Alex's documents have published. I hope it helps and I hope the argument slowly stops.)

On March 12th, 2024, Twitter/X user Stirringjuice (aka Ven, an ex partner of Alex) uploaded a document against Alex Kister titled "Warning About Alex Kister". The document alleged predatory and manipulative behavior, along with accusing him of suicide baiting and abusing power dynamics with his fans. The document exposed messages of Alex's interactions with Ven, his activity in various Discord servers, and his interactions with a user who goes by the alias "DB" (another ex partner of Alex). The document heavily criticized Alex's sexual texting with Ven and DB, Alex discussing his gender with those in the servers (that included minors ranging from ages 14-17), and various interpersonal issues between Alex and his partners. Along with the initial document, various others posted statements accusing Alex of similar transgressions.

As a result of the initial document (which had gained 7 million views and 30k likes) and the other testimonies, the vast majority of the analog horror community across various platforms condemned Alex. Most of the cast and crew of the Mandela Catalogue quit and denounced Alex (with some leaking information about the show, including details about Vol. 5), various content creators spoke out against Alex, and Retro Release Video terminated their VHS release of The Mandela Catalogue whilst giving out refunds to those who ordered it. Alex, along with some of his defenders, were doxed as a result.

On March 24th, 2024, Alex Kister would post a response to the allegations on Twitter titled "My Perspective" (as well as a small response to The Mandela Catalogue being reported as "Fetish Content"). He retweeted a thread from one of his defenders alongside his statement. In the document, Alex denies the claims of being a predator and manipulator, as well of clarifying that he isn't a groomer/pedophile (accusations that were being spread around as a result of the allegations). In the document, Alex's main argument against the allegations is that his texts with Ven and DB, who are older than him, were consensual, reciprocated, and encouraged whilst also providing and respecting exits for his partners whenever they were uncomfortable. He also states that he never abused his power with fans as he never leveraged said power against them. He proved malicious intent from Ven, exposed lies and unsubstantiated claims, called out omitted context while providing additional context to the texts Ven showed, and called out hypocrisy, mismanagement, and defamation from Ven (such as accusing Alex of grooming on Tumblr despite initially saying he didn't groom anyone and later retracting that statement on Twitter). Alex also pointed out that he had no illegal or sexual activities with minors, calling Ven out for never proving said activities nor any malicious intent. In the document, despite arguing that he was not suicide baiting, as he has a history of self harm and suicidal ideation as well as the fact that his livelihood and relationships were being threatened, Alex apologizes for burdening DB and Mitcha (one of the accusers) with his suicidal ideation. He concludes by promising to not make friends with fans of his whilst also promising that The Mandela Catalogue would continue and that the story leaks were fake. He also discouraged people from harassing anyone.

The response (which has over 1 million views and 5k likes) had gained mostly positive support from those who were watching the situation unfold. Shortly after Alex posted his statement, Ven pledged to respond to the document, criticized Alex for not addressing the other accusations, thanked Alex for confirming what transpired was real, and criticized Alex for not understanding power dynamics. Ven was vastly criticized for this tweet. Some content creators issued apologies for not waiting for Alex to respond and immediately assuming he was guilty. Despite this, Alex was still criticized by some for not addressing all of the accusers and for not giving enough weight to the power dynamics between him and his fans. Alex made a follow up tweet condemning people for spreading rumors about and harassing other people. Some users had continued to dox Alex, resulting in Ven making a thread condemning the action and doxers. Alex disabled comments on his YouTube channel and deleted his Instagram posts after the doxing continued.

On April 8th, 2024, Ven issued a statement in which they said their intent was to no longer prolong the drama. They apologized for poorly wording and formatting the document, transphobic rhetoric in their document, including irrelevant and personal details about Alex, betraying him, influencing others, and turning his friends against him. They promised to delete their Twitter and did so the next day.

Many people came out in support of Alex whilst heavily criticizing Ven for false allegations. The cast and crew who had posted public statements against Alex have since deleted them, with some apologizing to Alex for their reactions. After Ven deleted their document, Alex deleted nearly all of his tweets (with the exception of his statement and a meme about The Mandela Catalogue).

[kaftan]

Some Notes on Arcs 18-20

(Long post! Here there be ramblings! Sorry)

- I forgot this was an arc 18 moment till I checked — Taylor feeling seduced (her words) by Dinah’s power, longing to hold on to her despite her mission being to free her… goosebumps. I love how the villains she hates rub off on her, worm (ha) into her.

- And then describing the act of returning her to her home as throwing away a resource… something that felt dumb to do… being proven right, in a sense, in arc 20, when it comes back to bite her… I’m reminded of some dialogue from animorphs that I’ll have to paraphrase, something about how what matters isn’t what’s right or wrong, it’s what’s expedient. Taylor isn’t all the way there yet, but feels like a matter of time.

- More on Taylor and morality: it’s fascinating to see her go through the same rough trajectory for every major battle — she starts from her baseline, being disturbed at the notion of seriously hurting or killing anyone, slowly numbs that sentiment with plenty of half-hearted strands of reasoning, eventually escalates to the point of cold-blooded violence or the enablement of such… and feels nothing. “Dissociation as an integral aspect of being” moment!

- I love Jessica Yamada. Not enough to read Ward, I have my limits. Getting a better perspective on the “all Amy’s horses and all Amy’s men couldn’t put Victoria back together again” situation was a treat. I love the horror elements in Worm. I love the horror of having the face of your trauma etched into the folds of your brain.

- Met Sveta! People on tumblr namedrop her a lot, to the point where I wondered if she’d been introduced before and I forgot. She’s a darling.

- Lily’s meltdown about Skitter… you can’t even look straight at her without feeling your skin crawl ❤️ but she sounds idealistic and naive even with cockroaches and bees crawling over her face ❤️ she starts making sense ❤️

- [Trickster voice] my beautiful gamer princess with a disorder… talk to me…

- This quote here:

“I mentioned it in passing to Miss Militia,” I said, “Better that you tell the truth and say we pushed hard for it. Blame me.”

“No,” Regent said, “Blame me.”

I shot him a look, and he shrugged. “Just wanted to get in on the fun,” he said.

says so much about Alec, lmao. It flagged in my brain because it’s the second time I’ve consciously noted it: his jokes about wanting to be included speak volumes. The truth he does not dare to know, etc etc

- Taylor “we cannot rule out human sacrifice” Hebert

- Marissa: She’s my friend. / Taylor: Was. It’s a big difference. Fast forward: Emma interlude, crossing paths at Arcadia. I love storytelling.

- Speaking of the Emma interlude: reading about Taylor’s bullying always makes me feel queasy; this was bone nausea on a deep level. What happened to Taylor is like if your worst fears about other people came true. You know, the nagging worry that you’re a burden, that a late text means I don’t want to be your friend. The worry that any reasonable person will tell you to ignore. How the fuck do you come back from living that nightmare?

Reminds me of Amy, how what happened to her is like if your worst fears about yourself came true.

- Everyone always talks about Taylor’s repressed rage but holy shit her repressed rage. What a character. What a character. I love her fantasies of violence. I love how much she basks in that meager catharsis.

- There’s something beautiful about how effortless the supervillain persona is for Taylor. (Every you is the real you, you are the mask and the wearer, etc.) Her standoff against Dragon and Defiant might be one of my favorite scenes yet. The perfectly affected nonchalance, the hanging threats toward hostages (becoming a theme), the mile-a-minute plotting, the grandiose gestures, the leveraging of fear… she’s a wonder and a terror.

- When she smiles and Clockbocker says “Fuck me, it just sunk in. It’s really her.” :-)))

- “and so that Defiant could make something resembling an apology as part of his twelve step assholes anonymous process” I fucking love you Taylor I love you forever

[finchswordmesses]

Literal First Tumblr Post, baybee

So, I saw a post on Bluesky, and it was so awful I made an entire ass Tumblr blog to talk about it.

The post shows a screenshot from an ad for an AI service. To save you all the trouble of going to a whole-ass other website, I'll transcribe the relevant bits of text from the ad, here:

"A.I. isn't just another tool - It will redefine how our world works. Why memorize facts, write code, research anything - when a model can do it in seconds? The best communicator, the best analyst, the best problem solver - is now the one that knows how to ask the right question. The future won't reward effort. It will reward leverage."

This is... wrong. And bad. The corners of the internet I frequent hate every bit of this sentiment, and so do I. The problem is, the place where my brain went is so ridiculously arcane I cannot possibly convey it in anything resembling 300 characters. So, I'm talking about it here.

Let me tell you a story about scurvy.

Part One: Scurvy and the "Scientists" who Rejected it

In the early days of the age of sail, there were a lot of things that doomed voyages. Storms, pirates, mutiny, those fucked up looking dragons everyone drew in the margins of the maps... sailing was a dangerous business. But among the many, many threats to long voyages was a new disease that seemed to exclusively affect sailors.

Scurvy is a specific form of malnutrition, caused by a prolonged deficiency in Vitamin C intake. It could happen to basically anybody who didn't eat enough fruits and vegetables, but the reason it happened to sailors had entirely to do with failures in logistics. Produce did not keep well, in an era before refrigeration, and alternative methods of preserving such things usually destroyed much of the nutritional value they held. Of course, sailors did not know that. Nobody did. Up until this point in history, there had never been reason to think that people could get sick from only ever eating hardtack every day.

In this time period, science wasn't exactly the same as it is today. Most scholars and doctors of the time were little more than nerds with large and expensive libraries. The prevailing attitude at the time was that learned men should defer to those who came before, that the oldest sources of knowledge were the purest and the closest to God, and therefore the most likely to be correct.

In that vein, your average doctor in the Age of Sail was likely to be some manner of adherent to humor theory. Humor theory was a whole rigamarole invented by Greek physicians that said that every malady in the body was due to a failure to keep your various fluids topped up. Citing the "learned sages" of ages past, doctors confidently proclaimed that this new disease was the result of an imbalance of blood, a torpor that could only be cured by increasing the afflicted's workload. Given that scurvy causes a person's body to slowly disintegrate on the connective tissue level, you can imagine how well that went.

Of course, science was being done. Several people were conducting early experiments, gathering testimony from sailors. Slowly, the idea was being introduced in academic circles that the cause was based in the poor diet of sailors, not a humor imbalance. Still, for years, the community at large clung to their old theories. After all, the Greek sages never said anything about fruits and vegetables as the cause, so why should that even be considered?

What those Age of Sail scholars failed to take into consideration was that the ancient Greeks had never encountered scurvy. At least, not to any extent that mattered. The Greeks lived on an archipelago and never strayed too far from shore. Not compared to the globe-spanning trade empires of the Old World. The first possible mention of scurvy wasn't until Roman times, when brief mention was made of soldier illness during long marches through the relatively barren African countryside. The world, by and large, had just never experienced the problem on this scale, because the world had never had to coordinate logistics on this scale, before.

This post is about A.I. tools.

Part Two: Digital Scurvy

Going back to that advertisement mentioned in the Bluesky post, the feeling that I got from it was very much that of the 16th century doctor. It seeks to push forward the idea that all the answers to every question you could have have already been found. Your job as a "learned sage" in our modern times is not to do research or to inquire or experiment. Your job is to efficiently parrot the knowledge of those that came before, to be the best at drawing forth the wisdom of your forebears.

"The greatest analyst," it says, "is one who knows how to ask the right questions." What is meant by that is not "asking questions in service to independent research." Instead, they mean "asking an AI chatbot the questions most likely to get it to pull the relevant information from its impossibly large database." It is a man in a library who has never gone to sea, but who has just the right Greek physician on hand who can explain humor theory to you.

Because this is the problem: what happens when the ancient sages are wrong? What if their information is faulty, outdated, or rooted in outmoded thinking? What if you try to ask the database the answer to a question it has never been asked, before?

What do you do when the new scurvy arises?

Part Three: The Reality

The vision, as promised, just can't happen. The whole of humanity cannot return to a backward-looking way of thinking, any more than the world's doctors could return to humor theory. Information will still need to be synthesized. Not just recited, not just regurgitated, but actually made, whole cloth.

If the world imagined by AI startups has any chance of not imploding on itself, then the end result will be a world of systematized stolen valor. Writers will still feel the pull to tell stories. Scientists will still perform experiments and research. Artists will still create and experiment and discover new philosophies in art.

The only thing that will change is that they will do so with the understanding that they will never be credited.

Somehow, someway, all their output will find its way into the databases. There, it will be snatched up by the "digital sages," who will proudly hold up their prize as one holds up a magnificent pearl, dredged from the sea floor. They will be lauded for their ability to navigate the databases, to petition the gods in just the right way as to earn their favor.

Meanwhile, the synthesizers will continue their work, forgotten.

Part Four: The Less Fun Reality

The true reality of this world would likely be even more bleak.

Creatives all over the world quickly learn to pull their content from electronic sources. Money is hard to earn for people in the arts, and having to share space with a machine that can spit their own output back at them at a quantity beyond mortal means makes the process less than impossible. What few artists remain successful do so in controlled venues. All viewings are in-person, and recording is tightly monitored. Physical media comes back into fashion, loaded down with any subtle measures the artists can think of to foil scans.

Science, meanwhile, grinds to a halt. Funding has long since been diverted to the sages. The credits on scientific papers, once considered a prestige and an honor, now becomes nothing more than a hollow gesture of ownership known only to a select few in an ever dwindling community. What few researchers hang on do so out of bloody-minded desire to change the world for the better. Their efforts are anemic and without support.

The sages, ensconced in their server farms, see none of this. Secure in their positions as the wisest and most powerful, they assert themselves as the ones with the answers to all of life's questions. The databases become filled with the wisdom of the sages that came before, information synthesized semi-randomly from past information. Soon the life of a digital sage is to quote the lessons imparted by other digital sages, in an endless Ouroboros.

The people do not question the sages, for the sages know how to ask the right questions.

And then, one day, when humanity has charted the stars, a new problem arises. Astronauts on the extremely long voyages in space are suffering from a new affliction, one that has never been encountered, before. Dutifully, the people turn to the sages. Dutifully, the sages make their pleas to the databases.

The databases speak.

"This new affliction is caused by a lack of Vitamin C."

[my-beloved-lakes]

[3liza]

Tumblr protest action is incredibly difficult to conceptualize for a lot of complex reasons but the real hell money of this website is the Good Posts. the screenshottable posts that not only keep the reblogs churning (let's imagine how we could begin to calculate the pageviews and ad exposures generated by a single six-digit text post from 2013 that has been screenshot to reddit, iFunny, twitter and Pinterest. how many conversions is "randy your sticks" directly responsible for? i would love to know) but hold the entire reputation and social influence of the site in their cupped palms. that's the lightning that Tumblr owners actually want to put in a bottle, even if they're too dumb to realize it. those would be the people i would ask to go on "strike", by using a script to shut off reblogs on every original post they could still edit and stop posting for several months. other sites with a "talent" class and a huge disparity in content generators vs content consumers turns that talent into site partners. i don't think Tumblr realizes it but this site is a lot more like twitch than it is facebook

thinking out loud here though. it's impossible to predict what would change, if anything, if the Tumblr Big Accounts took their ball and went home. nothing, is a strong possibility. i think it would surface other talented people and cause some sort of a slight change in site culture which would be interesting, but I'm not sure Tumblr users have enough control over our own content to have any sort of leverage against management at all.

[quocanhh55]

WEEK 3: HOW DOES TUMBLR FUNCTION AS A DIGITAL COMMUNITY?

1. Tumblr - a social media platform with surprising statistics

These days, social media users may be very familiar with platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok with huge numbers of users and interactions. However, there is another digital community that not every one of those users already knows, which is Tumblr. Tumblr is a microblogging and social networking platform that allows users to post and share multimedia content. Founded by David Karp in 2007, it gained popularity for its unique blend of blogging and social features.

Compared with the popularity of other competitors such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, many people may think that Tumblr will need more competent growth. However, the statistics of this social media site may surprise: Tumblr is ranked the number 10 social media site in Australia. According to Civic and Social Media News 2023, the platform acquires 3.7 million users, which outrages a few competitors such as TikTok 1.1 million and Reddit 110,000 users, thanks to the platform’s unique affordances.

2. Tumblr’s abilities and affordances:

Tumblr’s blog-like function allows account-holders to use the platform to create diaries of their daily lives, to post different types of information that inspire them, as well as to live about events as they happen or about TV shows as they are aired (Jo Dixon 2024). The platform also enables users to leverage the site’s anonymity, hashtagging, and relatively public or reduced surveillance. These functions contributed largely to the experience of “Tumblrers” as they can share their diaries and emotions publicly but anonymously without the fear of being spotted.

3. Digital community - a popular term in the digital era nowadays

According to Indeed, An online community is a group of people with shared interests or a shared purpose who use the internet to connect. Groups on social media, members of online gaming platforms or support communities for software offerings all represent examples of online communities. Digital communities form around specific interests, hobbies, or goals. Members join these communities to connect with like-minded individuals, share information, seek advice, and collaborate on related projects.

4. Tumblr - a model of digital community

From the functions that Tumblr enables users to perform, it can be seen that the platform works as a digital community that allows users to connect, engage, and join groups based on common interests, identities, or artistic activities in several ways:

Blogging and Content Sharing: Tumblr allows users to build their own blogs and share a variety of content types, including text entries, photos, quotations, audio, and video. Users can share their ideas, creativity, and passions through postings, which are discoverable and interactable by the rest of the community.

Reblogging and Interaction: Reblogging is one of Tumblr's core features, allowing users to share content from other users' blogs on their own. This feature promotes content discovery and a feeling of community by allowing users to interact with and contribute to content published by others. Users may also interact with postings by leaving comments, like them, and sending direct messages, which helps encourage conversations and relationships within the community.

Personalization and Online Identity: Tumblr enables users to personalize the appearance of their blogs, which creates a distinct online identity and personal image. Users can showcase their personality through the style, layout, and content of their blogs, attracting like-minded others and adding to the community's general diversity and depth.

References:

1. Indeed Editorial Team 2022, FAQ: What Is an Online Community and Why Are They Important?, Indeed, viewed 1 February 2024, https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/online-community.

2. Jo Dixon, S 2024, Tumblr - Statistics & Facts, Statista, viewed 31 January 2024, https://www.statista.com/topics/2463/tumblr/#topicOverview.

[trivalentlinks]

Saw some posts about tumblr's new community guidelines, specifically the Harm to Minors part, which says:

.

Harm to Minors.

Don't post or solicit content that features the abuse of a minor, that includes suggestive or sexual content involving a minor or anyone that appears to be a minor, or that facilitates or promotes child sexual abuse. "Content" may include photos of real individuals, illustrations, animation, or text.

.

With many people making many good points about this policy, but a couple things I haven't seen people address are:

What does "anyone that appears to be a minor" mean? Even though I am over 30, I am still sometimes mistaken for a high schooler. I am given to understand that this is not uncommon for east Asian women in the west; several of my Asian friends encounter this more frequently than I do. However, we are not generally mistaken for minors by other east Asians or in east Asia. So I guess my question is: does this "appear to be a minor" mean as perceived by others of the same race? As perceived by people of any race? As perceived by the people around them where they live? Because who appears to be a minor can vary wildly depending. .

I think it's pretty clear what sexual/suggestive content involving a minor is, but "abuse of a minor" is listed separately, and I kind of wish they explained what that means, too. Most relevantly to me and my own fic: a. Does teaching a minor how to commit crimes count as abuse? What if you expect the minor to commit said crimes out in the wild as part of the learning process?(Assuming the minor wants to learn this.) b. Does a single parent expecting an (unpaid) teenager to help raise their younger siblings/niblings count as abuse? (Again, assuming the teenager is willing and not coerced.) (Or what if the teenager is not really willing but has been guilted into helping?) c. Is fic that refers to canon abuse of a minor (in PG 13 rated films/television) acceptable if the fic itself does not depict abuse of a minor? (If so, I feel like this would prohibit a huge fraction of Avengers (2012) fic and Leverage fic (my two main fandoms).) d. If a fic posted to AO3 includes the above types of abuse of a minor, do tumblr's guidelines prohibit advertising the fic on tumblr if the advertisement itself does not include abuse of a minor (except as a trigger warning if applicable)?

.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what other people's interpretations of the policy are, because I find it quite vague and unclear.

[asterlark]

felt like it was time to make an actual pinned about / tags post!

aster / rowan / r | late 20s | they/them | bi & nonbinary trans | autistic, chronic pain haver, holder of brain soup w various mental illnesses | white usamerican

this has been my main blog for the whole time i've been on tumblr (like... 12 or 13 years ;_;) so it's very multifandom/ has a wide range of content lol. list of common tags & read before following info under the cut!

currently i post a mixture of:

tv shows: ofmd, leverage, otgw, ted lasso, atla/ lok, abbott elementary, black sails (only on s2, still have tag blocked), & others

webcomics: check please, heartstopper, & farragone

books: general book tag, the murderbot diaries, the raven cycle, all for the game, truly devious, dungeon meshi

podcasts: the adventure zone balance (& mcelroys in general), the strange case of starship iris, wolf 359

movies: the old guard, itsv & astv, dnd honor among thieves, knives out / glass onion, pacific rim, & other ones i forgot

youtube: drawfee & drawtectives, occasionally dan and phil

basic tags: video, audio, music, asks, replies, posts with image descriptions

games: mostly stardew valley and acnh

me: #me, my posts, my writing, my fanmixes, my edits

reference: writing, drawing, useful, resource, save tag

random text posts/ things i find funny or interesting

other misc things: fanart, art, poetry, mental health reminders, mh toolkit (wip tag), autism tag, nonbinary tag / trans tag, disability tag, tag for noodle (my cat)

i do also reblog posts about leftist politics / involvement & solidarity w movements such as BLM, land back/ native sovereignty, free palestine, anti-racism, & dismantling oppressive systems such as ICE, policing, & the prison industrial complex. i don't always tag these posts bc tumblr loves to censor those who are speaking out against power, but i do try to tag big triggers. if i ever miss something/ unknowingly rb something against my values, please let me know.

you are not welcome here if you:

don't support anti-racist, decolonization, and anti-fascist efforts

don't believe in self-diagnosis & expanded rights & accommodations for disabled people

don't support sex workers' rights

are a terf/ transmedicalist/ don't believe in trans people's right to self-identify

believe that houseless folks "deserve" to be houseless/ that it's their fault, and/or that people struggling with addiction don't deserve support and rights

other links: antiracism resources, petitions, funds to donate to, & more | aesthetic blog | ao3 | pinterest | cohost

i am not afraid to use the block button <3 get lost!

please don't follow if you are under 18- i don't go through every single follower to enforce this, but i am an adult in my late 20s and i reblog nsfw / adult content that is not always appropriate for minors.

think that's about it \○^○/ welcome & enjoy ur stay!!

[image description: noodle, a brown striped tabby cat with white patches, lays on a gray couch with her front two paws bent and touching, and her back paws wrapped around rowan's arm. rowan's hand is petting noodle's exposed belly, and noodle's eyes are closed. /end ID]

[aardvaark]

i forgot image IDs 🫠 here we go:

Image 1: A still of Alec Hardison (Leverage) from the episode "The King George Job". He is standing behind a sheet of paper pegged to a washing line. The paper has writing on it and appears old - in reality, it’s a forgery made by Hardison. He is leaning his head to the right. A tumblr text post is added over the photo. Tumblr user swarnpert says "I think we should just be able to use counterfeit money. like who cares". User thyrell reblogs with, " "oh boo hoo i cant accept this" well. i worked really hard on it". End ID.

Image 2: A still from the end of "The Wedding Job". Eliot is serving people pasta at a restaurant. He is wearing a blue tank top, a red bandana around his forehead, and a white apron around his waist. A tumblr text post by jumex is added over the image, which reads, "pasta is an antidepressant". End ID.

Image 3: A still from "The Bank Shot Job". Parker and Hardison sit in the back of a van. Parker, in the foreground, is smiling as she looks at a bin of paper that she has just lit on fire. Hardison, in the background, looks on with concern. A tumblr text post by careerboyfriend over the image reads, "dont let people tell u ur attraction to fire is "abnormal" or "hazardous". prometheus doesnt have his liver eaten every day for u to ignore the allure of arson". End ID.

Image 4: A still of Sophie from "The Two Live Crew Job", the scene in which she attends her own funeral. She is wearing a black hat with a black veil that obscures the top half of her face. A tumblr text post by user metvmorqhoses added over the image reads, "forgive me father for i have sinned in all the most exquisite and aesthetically pleasing ways i was capable of". End ID.

Image 5: A still of Nate, with a slight smug grin on his face. He is wearing a suit and tie and appears to be standing in an office. A tumblr text post by user twocubes added over the image reads, "she knocked that smug look off my face but luckily i was wearing a second, smaller smug look underneath". End ID.

[note: please let me know if there’s anything i should change in these IDs. i will also add them to the original post, so future rb’s from the original will contain IDs.]

[kalpavrikshaacademy1]

Web 2.0 Submission Sites: A Powerful SEO Strategy for Better Rankings

In today’s competitive digital world, having a strong online presence is essential. If you're looking for an effective SEO strategy to build backlinks, Web 2.0 submission sites can be a game-changer. These platforms allow users to create and share content while gaining quality backlinks to their websites. But how exactly do Web 2.0 submissions work, and how can they boost your SEO? Let’s dive in!

What Are Web 2.0 Submission Sites?

Web 2.0 submission sites are platforms where users can create blogs, publish articles, and share multimedia content. These sites include popular platforms like WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Medium, and Weebly. They allow users to generate high-quality backlinks, improve domain authority, and drive organic traffic.

In simple terms, Web 2.0 sites are free-to-use content-sharing platforms that can significantly contribute to your SEO efforts when used correctly.

How Web 2.0 Submission Sites Help in SEO

Quality Backlinks: These sites allow you to add links to your website, helping improve your site's authority.

Increased Visibility: Publishing content on high-authority platforms increases your brand’s reach.

Boosts Organic Traffic: The more quality backlinks you have, the better your chances of ranking higher in search engine results.

Control Over Content: Since you own the Web 2.0 blog, you can create keyword-rich content that aligns with your SEO goals.

Brand Building: Regular posting helps establish your authority in your niche.

How to Use Web 2.0 Submission Sites Effectively?

1. Choose High-Authority Sites

Not all Web 2.0 sites provide the same SEO benefits. Focus on well-known and trusted platforms such as:

WordPress – www.wordpress.com

Blogger – www.blogger.com

Tumblr – www.tumblr.com

Weebly – www.weebly.com

Medium – www.medium.com

2. Create Unique & Valuable Content

Search engines prioritize high-quality content. Avoid copying or spinning articles. Instead, write informative and engaging blogs that add value to readers.

3. Add Keywords Naturally

Use relevant keywords, including "Web 2.0 submission sites," in a natural way within your content, title, and meta description.

4. Optimize Anchor Texts & Links

Link back to relevant pages of your website with appropriate anchor text to ensure a seamless SEO strategy.

5. Be Consistent

Posting regularly and maintaining active accounts on Web 2.0 sites enhances credibility and keeps your content visible.

Conclusion

Web 2.0 submission sites are a simple yet effective way to build backlinks and improve search rankings. If you’re looking for an affordable and easy SEO strategy, start leveraging these platforms today. Want to explore a list of the best Web 2.0 submission sites? Check out the complete guide at Kalpavriksha Academy and take your SEO to the next level!