#monetize your ad space

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

I just. I don’t really want to keep talking about it, but I have to get these feelings out because the more I think about Somerton’s excuses video the angrier I get, ESPECIALLY given his insistence in the video that there isn’t a real community within LGBTQ spaces—specifically this quote; “We wanted it to be a channel where every queer person could feel welcomed... And we failed at that. That is something that, in hindsight, I think is impossible to create.”*

Because wow! Aren’t you the one who called Becky Albertalli, a bisexual woman, straight ?? Aren’t you the one who has consistently stolen queer and lgbtq people’s work as your own , profiting off of their labor and research and time? Aren’t you the one who sicced your fan base on smaller creators who noticed your plagiarism??? Aren’t YOU the one who LIED blatantly about lesbians “historically having it easier” than gay men ?? That LIED about Radclyffe Hall’s book being banned and destroyed???? What was it you said?? That she got to go on with “her merry little life”???

Fuck you. How dare you.

How dare you say there is no community, no safe space for all of us, when you have literally done NOTHING but maliciously and consistently stolen from, lied to, manipulated, and put down and bullied the community.

You have done nothing but try to break apart and put down your lgbtq siblings, so of course you believe that solidarity, safety, and intersectionality within our community is not something that can exist.

There are lgbtq people who are actively working to make those spaces, where everyone feels welcomed, but you clearly see yourself as being above that, above collaboration and community, above listening to other’s experiences.

You only think that a space where all queer and lgbtq people are welcomed and feel safe is impossible because your goal was never to carve out that space. It was to make money and take advantage of the people who looked up to you.

You think it’s impossible because you never once thought about the people you were stealing from, never once cared about the community, our history, the activism of our elders and all they did, never thought about how your actions and lies would hurt the community.

Stop making excuses and lying. Be fucking better.

———————————————————————

*(Somerton, James. “A Measured Response.” YouTube, uploaded by James Somerton, 26 February 2024, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kCNByQ6WopM)

(And that’s how you cite a FUCKING source, James. It took me a minute, after two seconds of research on how to source a YouTube video. Fuckhead)

*I added the link to the video to make a point, as you need to have it in citations. The video is monetized, so please either don’t click it and watch elsewhere OR watch with ad-blockers.

[olderthannetfic]

I'm so fucking sick and tired of tech bros infiltrating fandom spaces because they see free real estate for their shitty AIs.

This shit's not fair, it's not right, and it completely shits on the authors who spend hours of their life creating.

The creator of this app has already created other AI-based apps, so, no matter what Ao3 does to try and protect their authors from having their works scraped, Miss Vulture here found the perfect way for it to happen anyways!

You can email the site to ask for your fic to not end up in this clusterfuck of a tech bro's wetdream (team@lore.fm), because if you don't specifically tell them you don't want this crap, then you're automatically opting in, but this won't grant complete exclusion: if some idiot has your fic downloaded and uploads it to the app, then the app is going to churn content out of it anyways.

Now... I sincerely doubt the cretins behind this shit know they can't monetize fics, so they'll end up inserting ads and Google will strike it down (Miss Vulture in one comment mentions that soon enough the app will also be able to churn out audiobooks for actual books, which is fucking illegal in every possible way and you must be braindead to not know it), but I'm really hating how the conversation around fandom has turned into a "small business coquette baddie girlboss side hustle" load of bullshit.

Actual writers and artists keep telling them doing this crap is extremely shitty, and yet these morons keep insisting, because for whatever reason lifting other people's works makes them deserving of money.

Sorry for the rant.

--

Sadly, the people who see an unmonetized space and think that was a mistake are not new, but they are infuriating in every era.

[pb-dot]

Some Thoughts on the Reddit Blackout

Like many new arrivals on Tumblr these days, I used to be a Redditor until recent developments encouraged me to take my business elsewhere, and I have been following the development of the story as thoroughly as I can without actually giving Reddit any more traffic. With the most recent development of the Reddit admin corps taking on a suite of strategies lifted straight from the depression-era railroad baron playbook, I figured the time has come to talk a little about the wider implications of this whole story.

The Tech sector is, to the best of my understanding, in a vulnerable place right now. After the Web 2.0 gold rush and years of consolidation and growth from the biggest actors, your Alphabets, Twitters, Metas, and so on, many of the larger sites and services are reaching the largest size they can expect to grow to. How, for instance, could Facebook or Twitter grow much more now that everyone and their mother is on Facebook and Twitter? Prior to the Musk buyout, Twitter seemingly settled on upping engagement, making sure people were on Twitter longer and invested more energy and emotion in the platform, usually by making damn sure the discourse zapping through that hellhole was as polarizing and hostile as possible. Meta, meanwhile, has been making bank on user data as advertisers, AI folks, and any number of other actors salivate over getting their hands on the self-updating contact and interest registry that is Facebook.

With the rise of what we apparently have decided to call AI, data is now more valuable than ever. I consider this to be yet another Tech Hype Bubble on the level of NFTs or Metaverses, but, like with the two above, I can imagine it's hard to explain that when you are a Tech CEO and your shareholders ask you "Hey, how do you plan on earning us money off of this AI/NFT/Metaverse thing?" This is not to say CEO Steve Huffman isn't handling this whole thing with the grace of a three-legged hippo, but merely to suggest that his less-than-laudable decisions and actions in this mess don't arise from his character alone but also is a result of wider systemic issues.

One of these issues is the complicated role user data plays in modern websites and -services. Since its inception as a publicly accessible space, the question of how to monetize the Internet has been a tricky one for site and service owners. Selling ad space on your website or service has long been the go-to, but this in itself presents its own issues, having to curate content that is considered ad-friendly, malicious or careless actors making using said service or website less attractive for customers, and finally how to convince your advertisers that they get what they pay for in the first place, ie. "how do I know people even look at our ads?" All of this is before you even stop to consider how ads massively favor large, established actors.

It's no small wonder, then, that several startups in the era of internet mass adoption chose to forgo ads, or at least massively deprioritize them and/or relaunch them as "promoted posts," in an attempt to escape the stigma around ads. Meta/Facebook is probably the biggest fish in this particular pond, but we also see other services such as Twitter and Reddit follow the same pattern.

What makes this work is that the data these platforms collect from their users isn't all that valuable on a person-to-person basis, knowing that so-and-so is 32 years old, lives in a traditionally conservative part of the city, goes to Starbucks a lot, and listens to Radiohead isn't particularly useful information for anyone but a dedicated but lazy stalker; When viewed as an aggregate, however, large collections of data on a large population becomes quite valuable. This is especially true if you're working with, say, targeted ads or political campaigns. Look no further than the Cambridge Analytica data scandal for an example.

Now, all this is to illustrate the strange position the user occupies in Web 2.0. We tend to think of ourselves as the customer of Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, and so on, but it isn't the case. After all, we don't pay for these services, and if we do it's to buy freedom from ads or other minor service modifications. It is more correct to say that we make up the product itself. This is true in two respects, first, an active social community is vital for social media to not be entirely pointless, and second, we generate the data that the platform holder seeks to monetize. This hybrid product/participant role doesn't map cleanly to traditional understandings of "worker," but I argue it is a closer fit than "customer."

All of this is to say that it is immensely gratifying to see the Reddit Blackout taking the shape of a strike rather than the more typical boycott model we've seen in the internet-based protests of yesteryear. Much of this, I think, we can thank the participating Reddit moderators. While the regular platform user can be *argued* to be a worker, the moderator inarguably is one, and the fact that they aren't paid for their efforts is more a credit to the prosocial nature of humans than to the corporate acumen of the platform holders. Either way, moderating a subreddit is work, if the subreddit is large, it's quite a lot of work, and moderators keeping malicious actors, scammers, and hatemongers out of everyone's hair is a must for any decently sized social space to not be an objectively terrible experience. So, if you were to, for example, withhold your labor (moderating for free) which you as a worker can do, it would be plain irresponsible to leave the place open for said bad apples to ruin everyone's bunches, thus the shutdowns.

I don't think it's a controversial take to claim that the Reddit admins also view this more as a strike than a boycott, given their use of scabs, intimidation, and other strikebreaking tactics in an attempt to break the thing up. This is nothing new, and the fact that Reddit admins are willing to stoop to these scumbag tactics tells us that their bluster about the shutdown not affecting their bottom line is nothing more than shareholder-placating hot air.

As this entire screed has perhaps demonstrated, I believe the Reddit Blackout is important. My stay at Tumblr so far has been excellent and will probably continue past this strike no matter what outcome it has, but for others in my situation, or perhaps entirely alien to the Reddit biome, I ask you to consider: If we do not stop this level of consumer and user-unfriendly bullshit Reddit have been pulling on the API change, where will it pop up next? Who's to say the next bright idea in corpo-hell isn't "Hey boss, how about we charge these nerd losers a dollar per reblog? And maybe a fiver for a Golden Reblog (TM)?"

This is perhaps getting into grandstanding, but I believe we are way past due for a renegotiation of what it means to be a platform holder and -user on this hot mess of an internet. If we as users do not take an active, strong stance on the matter, the Steve Huffmans, Elon Musks, and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world will decide without us. One does not have to be a fortune teller to see that the digital world this would create would not have our best interests in mind any more than the current one does.

So, in closing, I wish to extend my wholehearted support to the participating Moderators of Reddit and everyone who has decided to take their business elsewhere for the duration of the shutdown. Even without getting into the nitty-gritty of the API situation, this is a fight worth having, and may we through it make a world that's just a little bit less shitty.

Become Ungovernable

Become Unprofitable

Stay that way.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

I'm so done with this, you guys are all such rubes, I am unfollowing anyone who posts this asinine nonsense and you should too. (Edit: these are screenshots from a reply to another post, my text is the stuff that isn't an image)

None of you know how AI works. Fuck, none of you have a consistent model for how writing works. When a human produces fiction based on a text they have read they have "learned" from that text and are producing "original work", when an AI does it it just copying (even when the output text is a completely new passage that isn't replicated even partially in the initial work).

Why? Because humans are special and are truly alive and have souls and the things they do are numinous actions that can't be explained by the cold machinations of the physical world 😊. But not this is totally a cold facts common sense non-mystical argument guys!!!

Ah yes, because the only way to learn about the characters and plot beats from a book is to have access to the original text, which is why I after reading a wikipedia summary of ASoIaF absolutely cannot tell you anything about what happens in it. This is therefore legal PROOF that the evil computer STOLE the characters and concepts and writing style from Georgio Double-R (a thing that it is possible to do).

No for serious guyyys for real these multi-multi-millionaire/billionaire authors and their corporate publishing houses only care about derivative works because it's being theoretically two-steps removed monetized, it's totally not about having a monopoly on entertainment and iron-clad control on how characters and stories are able to exist in public spaces. It's totally not ever possible to argue that fanworks posted on ad-supported social media sites are also being indirectly monetized....

Noooo guys trust the corporations it's good for us because they are taking down the evil AI boogeymen trust them trust George RR Martin and next generation Anne Rice wannabes promissssse they totally aren't coming for your fanwork next, what is good and evil is dictated by what you personally find fun and compelling and this lawsuit will only affec t the bad stuff I s wear

You guys need to get over yourselves real fucking quick before the boot is so far up your ass you find yourselves shitting rubber.

[shuttershocky]

hi shutters. im gonna start arknights. do you have any guide/tips for new players? what to do, what to not do, what to save, what to discard, where to find community resources(if they exist). stuff like that. thanks in advance!

Most new player guides will tell you all you need to know about getting started in the game, so I'll list down 5 things about the experience of /learning/ the game instead.

You don't have to play - Before we start, it must be said that Arknights is still a gacha game, an inherently predatory monetization scheme no matter how generous the in-game system is. If you feel like you may be vulnerable to FOMO and spending real money, I don't recommend you play at all. If you're here for the world and characters, Arknights has excellent comics available for free on their website, while players upload most event stories on Youtube for you to read through without having to touch the game. With that said, let's continue.

Take your time - Raising units and generally progressing in Arknights takes a lot longer than in other mobage. Don't worry about things like "catching up". Limited time events that have already had their rerun get added as a part of the main menu permanently, and eventually they even include the free units you get per event. You're generally not going to be missing out on any content (except for 3rd party collabs like the upcoming Monster Hunter event, but that's because they don't own Monster Hunter), so don't feel like you have to rush through the game. It won't work, and you'll get easily frustrated. Think of it more like a puzzle game with updates. You don't rush through puzzle games, the point is to enjoy the puzzle.

Don't spend - This goes for all mobile games in general, but especially Arknights. The money to in-game currency conversion rate is godawful, but the actual flow of the gacha currency (called Orundrum) given to you by just playing the game normally is rather generous. Combined with a few other features that don't need to be discussed here and even a F2P player's account looks like a whale after enough time, because you eventually just get most of the units from how often you're given free rolls. Take it from me, you don't need to buy anything to get gigastacked, it will happen to you over time.

Ask for Help - Arknights is a puzzle game, and that means even with some of the best units in the game, you can find yourself stuck on stages if you have no idea how to approach strategy. If you're ever stuck, Youtube is filled with various clear guides made by the community, targeting everything from lazy clears (often called AFK) by super strong Doctors that don't want to think, to low rarity clears targeted towards new players who are mostly using the 3 star characters (as they are much quicker to raise). Just take a look at the codename of the stage you are stuck on (for example: "WD-EX-8"), and type that into the Youtube search bar. You'll find a ton of different guides from various creators. You can even shoot an Ask to this blog if you want more personalized help, though of course I can only answer those in my free time.

Take reviews with a grain of salt - Probably the biggest source of FOMO pressure in Arknights is the community itself, what with how much content creators love to use clickbait videos telling you a certain unit is a godtier must-have and if you don't have them you WILL be unable to keep up so roll for them NOW or a certain unit is fucking dogshit unusable and if you have them they're a waste of space. No in-betweens. Of course, when you actually get to try these characters for yourself you're going to realize even the absurdly powerful units aren't going to be autowinning stages by themselves (usually), nor are even the most despised, godawful units completely worthless strategically. It's a puzzle game, ultimately a lot more is going to depend on your ability to problem solve. My general rule of thumb when it comes to seeing community reactions to new operators is if everyone says they're good, they're almost certainly very good, but if everyone says a new unit is trash, it's a cointoss as to how bad they actually are. Probably the best recent example is the 6 star Mystic Caster Ebenholz, who was derided as being awkward to use and generally awful in most stages. His stock eventually rose and rose as people discovered that while Ebenholz struggled in most stages, he was incredibly good at taking on stages with very difficult, powerful enemies, flattening most of these elite enemies and bosses in an instant and trivializing the stages meant to be challenging. If you look up Ebenholz online you're mostly going to find people reacting to his initial appearance and calling him bad, but you're not going to see how he's carved out an extremely valuable strategic niche for himself. You never know who's going to end up useful, so don't be afraid to play around with your favorite units.

[bitchesgetriches]

So this isn't surprising, but I wanted to share. I kept getting ads for Dow Janes, which is supposed to help you with financial literacy, especially for women. I figured why not and watched a free webinar knowing a sales pitch was coming at the end, but I left early when I found out their self guided course is TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS. And read a bunch of horror stories online about them pushing even more expensive stuff or not giving refunds. I just think it's so awful and predatory and wanted to vent to my trusted Bitches 😤

TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS??? 😟 Does it include free Apple stock?!?! This is so fucking disappointing.

We ALSO get their ads (because we follow our competition on social media). We've never communicated with them so I know nothing about them as people. But I do want to go on a bit of a mini rant here. Forgive me, darling child!

When we started Bitches Get Riches, monetization in this space was kind of limited to affiliate marketing. We saw ourselves as bloggers, not salespeople. When we started our Patreon and PayPal, the goal was to cover our expenses. When we started the podcast, the goal was to spread the word to folks more comfortable listening than reading. I just filed BGR's taxes for 2023, and between traveling to public appearances, charity, paying our producer/assistant, making merch, etc... we operated at a loss.

This month we're releasing our first big course (don't worry, we'll market it obnoxiously here). It's a 75-page workbook and 2 hours of videos. We're pricing it at $129... and our producer had to scream at us not to give it away for free.

I cannot imagine selling something similar for $2k. That's... so much money. Especially when your target audience is folks who need money help.

[omg-snakes]

Thoughts on Crab Day

I support this idea and I'll be participating on July 29th.

I see a lot of folks saying things to the effect of, "don't reward Tumblr for making things worse/not listening to their userbase/not adding features I need-want-like." I also see a lot of posts saying that the organizers of Crab Day are TERFs, neo-Nazis, and/or ultraconservatives.

While I agree that TERFs and Nazis (neo and paleo) need to be yote into the sun, whoever started this idea was not wrong about the site needing money to continue operating. Tumblr is a business. That's how businesses work.

Now, they can get money from advertisers and monetization partners, or they can get it from users. If they get it from advertisers/investors, those parties have the opportunity to weigh in on features they think will generate more revenue... like Tumblr Live... which is objectively trash. Tumblr Live is powered by LiveBox, an add-on service provider that enables sites to host live streaming content to generate revenue. Tumblr is also trying to attract users from the X-Twitter exodus by making the interface more familiar to these users. Was this a bad idea? Yes. It's a desperate attempt to attract more users so as to increase ad views and generate more revenue. But, remember, Tumblr is a business. That's how businesses work.

For YOU (and me!), Tumblr is a community. It's a platform for our art. It's a meeting place for friends and like-minded individuals. It's a safe space for self-expression. It's the last mostly-unmonetized bastion of social media in a landscape dominated by influencers, hustlers, and data-miners. For TUMBLR STAFF, Tumblr is a service that they are trying to sell so that they can obtain money that they can then exchange for food, housing, repayment of student loans, etc. If they can't afford those things by selling you their services, then they will literally go do something else. Yes, Tumblr is indeed a business and not just a passion project. That's how businesses work.

So by buying things directly from Tumblr, like a $3 crab-summoning gift, and especially as part of a coordinated effort like Crab Day and/or Crab Week, you are telling Tumblr Staff that YOU are a CUSTOMER, not just a monetizable data point. We are, in a very distant sense, establishing ourselves as a body of influence. If Tumblr sees that we can and will do this en masse, they are more likely to treat us as contributors and potentially shareholders who need to be kept happy. We each have a vested interest in the continuation of this site, and we have a rare opportunity to show the specific value of that interest.

Also, for those who want more accessibility tools, this is a great way to get those implemented. Accessibility for web applications is a big, big business and toolkits and training for accessibility standards tend to cost quite a lot. Training for a single accessibility plug-in toolkit can cost around $2000 per user*. That's about 667 crabs. By participating in Crab Day, even just a little bit or even just spreading the word about it or even just allowing others to participate as they please without pitching a ragequit tanty about it, you can tell Tumblr staff that you're here as a customer, your voice needs to be heard, and your needs are important.

If this doesn't work, and Tumblr doesn't take their userbase seriously after we make a concerted effort to support them, then please by all means go back to whatever version of complaining makes you feel most satisfied. But just for now, let's try something new!

*based on actual costs of a web accessibility training program offered by the agency for which I work

[inventors-fair]

Updates: AI Art and Credit

Good afternoon, folks. This is an official update regarding submissions:

From this moment forward, if you would like to add art to your submission, please DO NOT use AI-generated art of any kind. Submissions that use AI-generated art may not be accepted.

In the world of custom cards, many designers have found themselves trawling sites like Artstation and Deviantart for the perfect fantasy submission to use for their piece. One of Magic's appeals, after all, lies in the quality of its art and the work of its hundreds of incredible artists. Adding art to a card may make it appear more professional, or add to the intended atmosphere.

With art, one of the most important principles within this sphere of game design is properly attributing artists. In the past, some generators (Deep Dream comes to mind) have created more abstract pieces that were accepted in part due to their abstract nature. As AI has gotten more complex and as algorithms have been more ruthless in their plagiarism and misattribution, there is unfortunately no ethical way to credit the artists whose works are being used for said algorithms—often without permission.

The decision to ben AI-generated art is the answer to the question of whether or not an artist can be properly attributed; at this point in time, the answer is a definitive no, and as such, it is only sensible that AI-generated work has no place in custom Magic design.

If you would like to add art to your work and are not an artist yourself, you may act on your own judgement to use art, ONLY if that art has been properly attributed, and only with the understanding that this contest is a non-monetized casual space that does not and will not profit off of artists' hard work. Even if you aren't an artist, picking up a pencil or sketching something in a free drawing program are totally fine alternatives, as long as you credit yourself! Putting in a simple art description is also more than reasonable.

Thank you, and happy designing. —@abelzumi and the @inventors-fair team

[writer-and-lover]

Pro-Wrestling Novice

Kinktober day 5: Collaring | Sweat

Also contains handjobs, a kind of submissive Hugo Vega and brief mentions of other characters.

After that first time Hugo and you had play-fought in his little wrestling themed room, you’d made it a habit. Once a week, you’d go out to trivia night and order a charcuterie board for the both of you. Then you’d split the winnings with each other (splitting the discount for fixing your respective cars) and head to Hugo’s house. You’d spend most of the evening talking about anything and everything. You’ve pretty much told him the whole history of the elephantidae evolution tree and the different branches. And you’re sure he’s damn near memorised every single literature book detailing the most famous or underrated artists in each art era. He’d fallen in love with Asian elephants, calling them sweet old buddies so he could watch you smile. You’d fallen in love with Monet’s paintings and how Hugo seemed to be able to analyse every single paint stroke.

As the night went on and Ernest went over to Lucien’s house, you both made your way over into the beloved room. The biggest opening to Hugo’s heart. It was stunning, so much effort and dedication placed into such a dear thing. It brought wonder into your eyes every single time. There was enough space in the middle of the room for you both to play and wrestle as long as you both wanted. Both of you would always end up breathless in laughter, the joy of acting and getting to be so carefree with each other addicting. And it was great to learn so much about the sport, the history of it, the moves. Especially the moves.

Maybe you were just a pervert. Maybe what you felt for Hugo was more than just romance. You’re pretty sure he wouldn’t mind it either, you were both grown men, God’s sake!

But sometimes, just being close to Hugo made you feel hot. Dizzy. It made you feel gross in a way. And these little play sessions- You hate to admit it, but more often than not, you’d hope that you were a braver man. That you could ask Hugo for something more than just these cute dates and more on the lines of bend you over in half. Not that it would be safe. You’re sure your back would snap in half. You’d felt the strength in that man, especially during that one trivia night. The effortless way he’d picked you up from the pure joy of seeing those wrestling tickets.

So maybe when tonight you chose to wear something different with the excuse of having accompanied Matt’s young friend to a concert beforehand, you actually had less innocent intentions in mind. You’d asked Mary, rather shyly, what the best way to hint at a man into having… “relations” would be. Her suggestion, pretty crude if you may say so yourself, was essentially to throw yourself naked at him to finally “get a good fuck.” You then went to find Matt, and beg for his more sane advice. His good advice.

Which led you to tonight. Dressed up in tight, glossy, black leather pants and a black muscle hoodie. And a collar around your neck. It had been a very last minute addition, a sudden find that Matt had insisted you wore. Something about having known Hugo for long enough to know he’d like the look of it. You didn’t understand what would be so appealing about a collar, but you trusted Matt’s judgement. With a simple ring in the middle and about eight evenly placed d-rings, the collar seemed to you to be pretty basic. Something simple you’d bought when you were younger and stupider. The buckles and spikes were a plus, adding to your obvious punk/ska aesthetic. Cute. The whole outfit was simple enough to seem legit. Plus, you had promised to take Pablo. So it wasn’t an actual lie. But there had been no need for it.

With excited encouragement from Mary, Matt and Pablo, you made your way with Matt to the trivia night. To Hugo.

Hugo’s reaction had sent nerves through you at first. His wide eyes had been the first thing you’d noticed. The second being the way his back straightened more than it already had. It had felt almost like that first date you’d both gone to. His eyes never strayed from you, even as you both answered questions where you could. But every time you looked back at him, he looked away in such a cute, bashful way. He didn’t seem to eat a lot either, nearly half of the board being eaten by you. You’d have eaten more if it hadn’t been due to your nerves.

The walk back to his house had been fun, at least. Hugo’s nervous rushed speaking made you less anxious, ironically. You loved teasing him, playfully.

But when you got to the house, everything seemed to ease slowly. Maybe it was the familiar environment, or the many number of distractions. But Hugo eased considerably. Just like always, you both talked and talked and talked. Of silly little nothings, of the compositions of stars and how music could be translated into it. Until Ernest bravely stomped down the stairs and out the front door, with a simple goodbye wave.

The tension hit like a train. Hugo nervously grinned and guided you back to his wrestling room. You did your best to crack jokes once you got there, doing silly little stretches to make Hugo relax again. But Hugo seemed so distracted, gaze averted somewhere on you. But you paid it no mind. Once you deemed yourself sufficiently warmed up and stretched, you bounced on the balls of your feet.

“C’mon, J.D Slamminger. Show me some new moves!”

Hugo laughed, “you think you can handle the power of literature?”

And so the playfighting begins.

It lasts a long time, grunts and laughter filling the room at each others theatrics. But at some point, you realise that this is very quickly turning from innocent to a bit sexual. Hugo’s shirt is bunched up around his waist, the first few buttons having popped off after a particularly hard tug from you. His pants are riding low on his hips, giving you a sneaky glimpse to the edge of his underwear. You’d always noticed that Hugo seemed to have a very good amount of body hair. Now, it’s glaringly obvious. His chest and stomach are covered in the thick, dark strands. And he’s got a very unholy happy trail disappearing into the waistline of his trousers, and you really can’t help but wonder. Where else does he have this much hair? You’re both sweating gallons. But your eyes trace the way sweat drips down his neck and clings to his skin, to his chest hair-

He takes advantage of your distraction and lunges at you. It’s so damn sudden, that you can only yell as your world turns upside down in the matter of seconds. When you blink away the black spots in your vision, your breath gets stuck in your throat. Hugo’s face is right in front of yours, a crooked smile and effort squinted eyes staring at you in such pure innocent joy. His face is flushed, hair messy and matted down from the sweat pouring down his face. He’s pinning you down with all his weight, making you grunt. He’s incredibly good at this game, smart to see where you could definitely break out of the hold. You’re essentially half-pushed up against the wall, upper back resting against the cold material. His knees pin your hands to the floor, preventing you from pushing him off. But worst of all, he’s got your legs pinned right to your shoulders. Hell- you didn’t think you were still capable of bending like this, although your back is complaining. His hands are pushing up against the back of your knees, and despite how hard you try to kick off or push back Hugo is just too strong. It’s messing with your head-

“I- uh- don’t think this counts as a pin, Hugo,” you breathe out.

Hugo lights up, “you remembered! No it doesn’t, because your shoulders aren’t touching the floor.”

You tremble slightly in the hold, feeling sweat pour down your neck and gathering at the leather of your collar. Fuck, you must make a sight, your legs essentially framing the collar around your neck. You look up at him with half-lidded eyes.

“Then why- are you holding me down like this?”

His smile drops into a look of confusion, until it seems his brain catches up with him. And he seems to choke on his breath, hurriedly dropping your legs and letting you out the pin. He’s wringing his hands, so utterly nervous. Poor guy. You’d comfort him, but you’re still panting for breath on the floor. You let your face hand a bit, and your legs stretch out in front of you. Sweat drips off your face onto the floor in a disgusting puddle.

“L-look, I’m. I’m sorry, really. I hadn’t meant to put you in such an uncomfortable situation and I understand if you’re-”

“Hugo.”

“- mad at me or- or if you don’t want to come back! It was improper of me, to put you in such a weird position-”

“Hugo-”

“- I swear, it won’t happen aga-”

“Hugo!”

His mouth snaps shut, and he stares at you with the guiltiest puppy eyes. You stare back at him, unapologetic and unwavering.

“You know,” you whispered, “I’ve been wanting you to show me how to do a Rana pin.”

You were scared that maybe you’d gone a bit too far, but the look on Hugo’s face is worth the fear. You both know that he isn’t going to be teaching you any moves right now, and you know you wouldn’t be able to learn it anyways. So when comes back to kneel in front of you again, you’re expecting the tentative hands skimming over your skin. The touch is so soft, it sends subconscious shivers up your skin. He traces up your sides, rough hands wrapping around your shoulders and brushing up the curve of your neck. They pause at the edge of your collar, slipping two fingers gently under the leather and tugging. You breathe out a gasp, closing your eyes and letting your head drop backwards. His hands are restless but gentle, his right index hooked on the O-ring at the front. Hugo pulls you close by it, shyly bringing you in for a kiss. It’s pretty chaste and simple, until you playfully bite at his lower lip. He huffs, opening his mouth for you to slip your tongue in. The kiss gets deeper and more frantic. Hands clawing at each others clothes, hastily pulling them off each other.

Once you pull Hugo’s shirt off, you can’t help but sink your face into his chest. You nuzzle into it, relishing in the softness of his muscle and the scratchiness of his chest hair. He gasps, moving his hands down to squeeze at your sides. You lick at the sweat-addled skin, eyes fluttering at the taste of Hugo. You let out a sigh when Hugo’s hand moves past the waistband of your trousers and gropes at your sex. The whimper he lets out sends you dizzy with want. You’d forgone underwear all together, and you’re sure he can tell. His hand feels good despite how gentle and slow it is, so you buck your hips against it to get more friction. In exchange,, you bite and suck at his chest. Leaving marks that’ll eventually turn into bruises. Your hand sneaks down to Hugo’s formal trousers, unbuttoning them deftly and undoing the fly. You shimmy your own hand into his underwear, wrapping your hand around his dick and giving it a gentle squeeze. And God, he’s so sensitive, whining at the feeling of your dry hand around his dick. The sweat that had accumulated eases the slide a bit, but you still pull back to lick at your hand. It tastes salty, his sweat clinging to your hand. You make sure to let enough spit cover your hand, so when you wrap your hand back around Hugo’s dick it glides much more smoothly than before.

He’s desperate, rocking his hips weakly into your hand as you grind against his. You push your face further down his body, sucking at his nipples harshly and making him cry out. Although you can’t see his cock, you can feel veins wrapping around it as you pump it in the rhythm of his thrusts. It’s thick, enough to keep your fingertips away from each other. It’s a bit longer than average too. Soon, he curls up around you and spills into your hand. Shaking like a leaf ontop of you. You grind harder and harder into his hand. He kisses you, whimpering as he licks into your mouth with desperation. He pulls hard at your collar, thinning your breathing and making you come with a loud cry. You slump back against the wall and, as you stare at each other, you both begin to laugh.

[othersystems]

per ur last post ab counterculture dying and weird not existing…do u think it can make a comeback

a big problem is just how algorithmically based all social media is now. there is also less and less social interaction on it, dwindling ability to form communities or even interact personally, less ability or desire to use search functions or explore and find things on your own. it's really nothing like the internet was even 10 years ago.

I guess its now maybe more similar now to how people used to watch tv, where people would just sit in front of a tv and watch whatever was on. and then there was always a counter culture who wanted to look beyond that and form communities and search for things in other places, for no other reason than curiosity and interest.

But I think algorithms are harder to pull away from than like, tv and print and tv ads, because of how pervasive the algorithm is. People are on their phones all day, the tv wasnt an object you could bring with you and it wasnt as insidious in certain ways; there was no targeted advertising. I think a lot of people dont even get space to think of apps as being outside of their being or have space to fully form their own thoughts or interests and because algorithms resemble things like personal taste or interests, even though what they are presenting is not actually personal. i think people have a harder time separating their own self/identity/taste/thought from what is being shown to them.

I also think a decline in basic search literacy skills hinders the ability to form a real counter culture. As younger people grow up with apps and algorithms replacing internet searches etc. i think the ability to search for things, to find things on their own, really decreases. I think people who grew up having to do research or even do things that seem simple like use search terms take it for granted that it is an innate ability, when it isnt. and I think younger generations will suffer from that.

But of course there will always be people who try and see beyond what's in front of them, who have curiosity or interest enough to have the discipline to look for things on their own and to form their own tastes and ideas. but i do think there will continue to be less than there used to because of the nature of the technological tract we are on.

(On top of this there are also less DIY spaces in person to experiment or form community, which is a whole other thing. also i do think despite how much discussion goes on now about anti-capitlist ideals there is a weird disconnect with a trend towards monetization/cultural capital being an end goal and a disregard for the idea of DIY, or doing things for the sake of doing them/forming communities . which is weird and upsetting..)

[songbird-at-the-fireside-chat]

Browsing the World Wide Web

Browsing the World Wide Web

One of my favorite passions is creating/finding ways to navigate the web that are healthy, authentic, and fun! Here are some resources I use to guide my internet usage. Some language has been slightly adapted for tone and accessibility. For more in-depth reading, follow the links! (taken with permission from https://yair.garden/browsing). Shared Ideals

MelonKing has an excellent list of shared ideals which I try to keep in mind as I browse the web. It's a great starting point!

Creativity is First: We see the ability to design, decorate, and graffiti digital spaces as essential and powerful.

The Internet is Fun: We want the Web to be a playground that's free to explore and enjoy.

Corporations are Boring: We are tired of the monetization, data abuse, and endless breaches of trust in corporate culture.

The Web is Friendly: We believe the Web should be friendly and supportive; caring is a radical act.

Right to Repair: We value the freedom to make, break, and repair our stuff - tinkering is a form of debate and protest.

One World Wide Web: We want free open knowledge and global connectivity, without paywalls, bubbles, or borders.

Chaotic Effort: We believe that value comes from the time and effort put into projects they love for no reason other than love.

No to Web3: In many (but not all) situations, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, unfairly trained AIs, and buzzword tech are unwelcome and uncool.

Manifesto for a New Web

The YesterWeb is an organization seeking to progressively transform internet culture and beyond. After two years, they created three core commitments and three social behavior guidelines to benefit everyone.

A commitment to social responsibility and partisanship.

A commitment to collective well-being and personal growth.

A commitment to rehumanizing social relations and reversing social alienation.

50 additional manifestos can be found here Social Etiquette

Engage in good faith.

Engage in constructive conflict.

Be mindful of participating in a shared, public space.

Why say no to Web 3.0?

One of the shared ideas of our community of web surfers is to push back against "Web 3.0". Here's why:

It's driven by predatory marketing tactics.

It requires complex technological and financial knowledge to fully understand.

It is actively harming the environment.

It caters to early adopters and whales.

It profits off artificial scarcity.

Investors are banking on Web3, and they really don't want to be wrong.

Personalized Web Surfing Guide

Make your web surfing personal and adventurous, away from corporate influences. Here's a simple guide for a unique browsing experience.

Configure your browser

Remove Ads and Clean up Privacy:

Ublock Origin for removing ads

ClearURLs for removing tracking elements from URLs

SponsorBlock for skipping sponsorships on YouTube

Make it a Safer Space:

ShinigamiEyes for highlighting transphobic/anti-LGBTQ sites

TriggerRemover for removing trigger-inducing content from pages

Clean up UI for Beauty and Minimalism:

CleanerReads for a muted Goodreads experience

Minimal; for a minimal and less attention-grabbing internet

Bonuses for a Cool Experience:

Library Extension: Check book availability at local libraries

Translate Web Pages: Translate pages in real-time

Return YouTube Dislike: Bring back the YouTube dislike feature

How to Browse and Surf the Web

Explore Beyond Corporate Sites: While the internet is vast, the majority of users only see a small fraction dominated by large corporate sites. These sites often prioritize shock value and extreme content, overshadowing the richness of the wider web. Explore alternative avenues to discover the internet's diversity.

Search Engines: Avoid corporate search engines like Google. Instead, consider using alternatives like Kagi, which focuses on privacy and doesn't sell your data. While it costs around $10/month, Kagi offers a diverse mix of web content, making it a worthwhile investment for varied search results. Other niche or non-commercial search engines can also provide unique content. While they may not be sustainable for daily use, they're great for discovering new sites. Find them here.

Webrings: Webrings are collections of websites united by a common theme or topic. They offer a unique way to explore sites created by real people, spanning a wide range of interests. Here are some of my favorite webrings:

Hotline Webring

Retro Webring

Low Tech Webring

Geek Webring

Soft Heart Clinic Mental Health Circle ...and here are some list of webring databases to explore!

Curated List of 64 Webrings

Neocities Webrings

Curated List of Active Webrings

Comprehensive List of 210 Webrings

Cliques/Fanlistings Web Cliques/Cliques are groups which you can join usually if you fulfill a certain task such as choosing an animal or listing your astrological sign. Fanlistings do the same for fans of various topics! You can then be linked on the clique's/fan group's site for further website discovery! Here are some web clique directories:

Project Clique

Cliqued

Fanlistings Network

5. Link Directories

Many sites have smaller link directories of buttons where you can find sites that they are "mutuals" (both creators follow each other) and "friends/neighbors" — sites they follow. It's a great way to build community. There are also larger link directories of sites which someone finds cool, and it's a great way to intentionally explore the web. Here are some of my favorites:

SadGrl Links

Melonland Surf Club

Neocities Sites

Onio.Cafe

Though there are many more! 6. Random Site Generators

Finally, there are random site generators which allow you to randomly stumble upon websites. While not very practical, they are a lot of fun and offer a unique way to discover new corners of the web.

A list can be found here

What now?

The next question you have is probably how can you become an active member/contribute in this world of the underground web? I unfortunately don't have the energy to write a guide right now but it will come soon! In broad strokes, consider making a site on Neocities. If you do make a site, remember to include a robots.txt file to get AI and bots out of there and don't forget to rate your site so we can know who it's for. If you'd like to transition off social media I recommend an RSS Reader such as the one at 32bit.cafe or on Fraidycat (guide on this to come soon as well!). For your twitter-fix you can always post a status at Status Cafe and your mood at imood. There is a whole world out there full of passionate and friendly people who are ready to reclaim the web. Excited to see you there!

[olderthannetfic]

As someone who's not too knowledgeable about this stuff, can you explain to me why it's bad to advertise your ko-fi and similar things

--

I did explain, at length.

But if you want it again, it's bad to advertise your ko-fi on AO3 because AO3 is made by your fellow fans, not corporate overlords. Disobeying the tiny number of rules on AO3 is therefore extremely rude.

They didn't come from nowhere. I wrote them. (With a committee.)

If you disobey them, you are being rude to me.

If you put your ko-fi links on AO3, you are a bad community member who does not deserve to be on AO3 at all.

--

As for why the rule is there, it's two things:

Legality Selling works based on other people's stuff (yes, including art) is harder to defend under fair use than noncommercial works are. OTW has chosen to go to bat for noncommercial works. A tip jar still counts even if it's not for just one work. You can take your chances with Disney's lawyers if you want, but you cannot do it on AO3.

Site Culture

Spaces that are not full of hustle culture are more pleasant. OTW was set up to defend a specific kind of DIY culture that is not monetized. This is the historical fandom culture that the lawyers and the coders and the donors and all the others who built AO3 came from, and we built it for that.

If you want a site not for that, you will need to build it yourself.

Adding money crap to this space is like going to your friend's dinner party and then trying to sell your multilevel marketing leggings: it ruins the social space.

People act like this is the more minor of the two reasons, but it's really the bigger one.

We're in the middle of a cultural disaster where people, especially women, are being induced to cannibalize their support networks in the service of MLMs and other hustle garbage. In the end, they mostly make very little actual money, and they've burned all their bridges in the process, removing that support network they're going to need in the future. It's a problem that extends far outside of fandom, but at least here, we can put our foot down.

(The need this bad behavior is supposed to be serving is a need that would be better addressed by universal basic income, a thing we should all be working to make a political reality everywhere.)

OTW and AO3 exist to make a space that is a respite from monetized hobbies. The culture they're defending is a gift economy. It is not compatible with tip jars for actual money, only with people offering free betaing or podficcing another's work for the joy of it.

This is why AO3 does not allow any commercial activity, whether it's monetizing Disney-owned shit that will get you in legal trouble or selling original novels and fic of public domain works.

[sailor-aviator]

I’m so glad you’re calling this out! People don’t respect boundaries and were made to look like the villains.

Tbh, I deleted the post you’re talking about after some confusion. I don’t think I worded some of it correctly, so I’ll rewrite it here.

I love supporting my friends and their fics. I love chatting with the fellow content creators one on one about their fics. I love talking about new ideas about the fics they want to write. When I reblog a fic with something along the lines of “Ah!! I’m so excited you’ve finally posted this! I’ve been waiting!!” It’s not because they mentioned it once on their blog, it’s literally because I have been talking to them in private chats about the work.

When someone I don’t really talk to or have never had a conversation with apart from the occasional one sentence reblog or comment starts tagging me in things? That’s where I have an issue. My blog is not a bulletin board or ad space for people to put their fics on. I try to reblog fics that don’t have very many notes, I really do (I’ve also been going through a bit of a reader’s block lately). I remember what it was like first starting out on this site as a first time fic author and being so excited to get ten notes on my fic. Now I’m nearing a milestone! I did that by tagging my fics with the proper hashtags and interacting with people who chose to read them. I never in a million years thought so many of you would want to read my silly little stories.

So believe me when I say, I totally get feeling wanting more people to see your fics. I wish more people saw mine too, but I’m very grateful for the people who stumble upon them and take the time to read them.

I also think it’s very interesting that when authors and other content creators on here set boundaries, we get such immense flashback from readers. We’re people, y’all, and the fact that we have to keep reminding everyone about that fact is, quite frankly, worrisome. We are not machines. We do not do this for a living. I do this for fun, and when I get push back for trying to set a boundary, whatever that boundary may be, it makes this less fun.

Again, I can’t speak for the other writers on there (but believe me when I say several conversations have been had), but for me personally? It all goes back to the fact that content creators are being stripped of their humanity. I remember how fun and interactive fandom used to be before everything started being monetized. I used to get asks left and right without even having written fanfic! Fandom used to be a huge community filled with laughter and debates like “did these two characters bang?” “That character is asexual and here’s why” “I wrote a fic that I think you might like and here’s the link. No pressure to read it though!”, not “here’s another update. Here’s another update.” “You haven’t posted in a couple of days, when are we getting an update?” “Will you read this and reblog it?”

Idk, I had this conversation the other day, and maybe I just need to accept the fact that fandom as I knew it is dead and gone. In another life, I would have really loved giggling about fics and headcanons with you all.

Anyway, can we please stop making content creators out to be the villains when they ask to be treated like human beings and not soulless machines?

[lavisenri]

pipe down girl ⸺ lewis hamilton

warning : dirty talk involved

as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden hue over the glittering cityscapes, a crescendo of anticipation began to build within the luxurious confines of a sleek glass penthouse with golden rays dancing through the expansive windows, illuminating the airy space with a warmth that embraced the soul.

lewis, ever the attentive host, navigated the rough living room, carefully arranging fresh-cut roses amidst the glistening crystal glasses. The succulent scent of simmering vegan burgers wafted through the air, mingling with the intoxicating perfume of fine French wine. 

he took a moment to admire the woman of his dreams, kiyah monet, who had just returned from a grueling day of filming with the moonlight dancing across her flawless ebony skin.

his voice trembled with anticipation as he spoke softly, "kiyah, I've missed you so much today."

she turned to face him, her expressive brown eyes shimmering with a deep affection. "lewis, I missed you more!" she said, touching his hand.

"you know what else I missed?" lewis replied, his voice low and seductive. "The way your lips feel when we kiss."

she smiled coyly, her eyes teasing him as she leaned in close. "maybe later," she whispered before sipping the rich red wine. her lips left a trail of crimson on the rim of the glass, arousing lewis even more.

as the evening progressed, the pair found themselves drawn deeper into one another's arms with their bodies swaying together, lost in the rhythm of soft jazz playing in the background.

"tell me about your day, love," lewis murmured, his fingers tracing delicate patterns up and down kiyah’s arm.

she sighed deeply, her gaze falling upon her blouse. "it was long," she confessed, "but i did get some great shots.

her eyes sparkled like polished amber against the flickering candlelight. "I got to work with some amazing people today," she added.

however, lewis reached over and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "i’m sure you were fantastic," he assured her, "just look at all these flowers," he said, gesturing towards the abundant array of blooms surrounding them. "they’re not half as beautiful as you."

she laughed softly, her shoulders shuddering with delight. "oh, stop it!" she teased, playfully swatting at lewis’s hands.

he smiled broadly, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "well, then, perhaps I should show you another side of my admiration," he suggested, his fingers brushing lightly against her cheek. she felt a heat wave wash over her body, igniting a fire that threatened to consume her entirely.

"are you serious?" she asked, her voice quivering slightly as she stared into lewis' eyes, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

a slow grin spread across lewis' face, his eyes gleaming with lust and anticipation. "more than anything," he murmured, his tone calm yet insistent. he then gently lifts her onto the plush velvet couch, positioning her comfortably before kneeling in front of her.

those strong hands of his caressing her legs, moving upward until they reached the hem of her skirt.

a soft gasp emitted from kiyah as he began to pull the material upwards, exposing her toned, tanned thighs, and revealing the lacy edge of her panties. his fingers graze along the satin fabric, tracing a path up her inner thigh. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin, and her pulse quickened in response. 

“you have no idea how sexy you look right now," lewis murmured, his voice thick with desire…

author note : late valentine special !! will be writing more now . . . !

mention . . . @yukinss @louvrepool @luvvtrent @love-bellee

[reverieaudios]

a really big creator in the bf asmr space on youtube just got his entire channel demonetized and im just confused how that can happen and i was wondering if you knew more about how youtube monetization works??? i wasnt sure who else to ask and you seem to know about this kind of thing haha

That's awful, I really feel for him because that sucks

Youtube is... not great to creators. Like I could rant for a long time about all the ways they take advantage of and screw people over, it's bad. So uh, buckle up lol

I'm not sure specifically what kinds of videos this guy makes, but youtube is notorious for being very inconsistent and subjective in what they deem "inappropriate"

Basically how it works is that if you want to monetize a video, you need to rate it yourself. Like, you need to tell youtube if you think it's appropriate for monetization based on their vague (and often contradictory) rules. Youtube also does an automated review of the video, but won't tell you what they found or let you publish the video until after you submit your own review. Like youtube literally tests you. If your review doesn't line up with their review (and again, the rules are vague) then you get dinged. If your account gets dinged too many times within like, 90 or something days (I think? Not 100% sure about that timeline though) then they'll review your entire channel (even videos that you haven't monetized because you knew they wouldn't be considered "pure and innocent" enough) and can then demonetize the whole thing if they think that your channel isn't appropriate.

The really fun thing though is that you can request an actual person to review your video if you think the automated review was wrong (then monetizing/removing the ding if they say it's appropriate), but it's extremely obvious that it's all subjective to the individual doing the review and that they have very little standardization in their reviews. So it's pretty much all up to that person's opinion.

It's also extra fun that a lot of videos that YouTube says aren't appropriate for monetization will still have ads running on them, YouTube just doesn't give any of the money from those ads to the creator. Not to mention that even on videos that are monetized, the creator of the video typically only gets about 1/3 of the money made off of it and the rest goes to YouTube.

So yeah, sorry about the long rant (and sorry to the creator who lost his monetization) I just have a lot of feelings regarding YouTube's business practices lol

[raguna-blade]

Struck with the very real, and very strange, revelation that I actually for real would be down with a fully paid gacha game. With the stamina, with the daily whatever, with the rotating banners, all of that.

But Very Specifically, Under the Conditions that there are no additional payments for anything at all, except for, functionally, Expansion packs. I could say DLC and that'd be Technically correct, but I mean Expansion Packs in the old sense of the term of what amounts to effectively a whole ass game that interfaces with the base game.

Yeah man we're just adding a whole ass game mode you could lose yourself in. Here's an extra 30 Characters Banners that'll be fitted into your rotation, and a set of rebalances for everyone to keep them in line. You can turn this off in the menu if you like, no big.

Because i sit here and think about it and like...I like the general vibe of gacha games actually, but actively hate the monetization. And while there's definitely space to say that yeah man if you took out the gacha bullshit a lot of these games would be better and I won't even argue with you because like Yes. I don't think i've encountered one that I think would be made WORSE by the removal of such bullshit, at the same time like...I am unironically enjoying myself?

Which feels weird to admit the more I think about it. I like the limited playtime saying "Hey you can play as much as you want within this period but then you gotta put it down" especially when the gameplay is actually pretty good and interesting? I like the Hey tick these boxes stuff dailies.

Which...Actually no, that's not weird in the fucking least is it? People do that shit all the time with animal crossing and company, stardew and all those, and while those allow for MUCH longer play sessions, the sentiment I think isn't so far removed as be unreasonable. I just wanna do a thing real quick and dip out, done.

Like there's an obvious thing here, I think, that if you DO do a game like this (and i'll be honest I want to kind of do it) you probably should just add a free play mode or something. Bring back cheat codes or whatever, but hey if the core game is good and people wanna play it why not right?

hm...