#monetizing articles

[lowdown0]

6 Ways to Make Money from Articles/Content

Original content with your byline. Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash There are 6 basic ways to make money from your content. I will call the content articles, but it can also be videos, photos, podcasts, and artwork. Affiliates Writers can market affiliates on their websites or add links to their articles or posts on writing platforms or social media. Affiliate marketing isn’t as easy as it…

[thoughtportal]

Canada’s explosive wildfires have damaged a forest carbon offset project

Scientists argue that it is a 'risky bet' to count on trees – temporary stores of carbon – to compensate for the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels that stays in the atmosphere for centuries.

Canada’s explosive wildfire season has already pumped millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Some of that carbon is coming from vegetation burned at a carbon offset project, highlighting the fragility of a tool the world is relying on to fight catastrophic climate change.

With Canada facing what’s on track to be its worst wildfire season on record – and climate change fueling ever more destructive blazes – climate experts and offset developers are concerned it could be a harbinger of what’s to come.

On June 3, British Columbia fire officials spotted a blaze that has impacted the BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative project, according to Domenico Iannidinardo, senior vice president for forests and climate at Mosaic Forest Management Corporation, which runs the project.

“About 100 hectares of our 40,000 hectare project was involved in this fire,” or about 0.25% of the project, Iannidinardo told Bloomberg Green. That’s an area equivalent to roughly 140 football pitches worth of forest.

So far, little is known about how the fire will impact BigCoast’s carbon removal capacity or how much carbon has been released. Werner Kurz, senior research scientist in the Canadian Forest Service, said its emissions could be up to 32,250 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, depending on the fire’s severity. The impact is “clearly not trivial” for BigCoast or the local area, he said, but it’s a “rounding error” in terms of the climate impact of the wildfires that have ravaged the province.

As of June 23, crews had suppressed the fire so it was no longer spreading. Mosaic said that assessing the emissions from the area that was burned “will take some time.” They will be incorporated into future carbon accounting and be independently verified. Still, Iannidinardo described the “disturbance” as “negligible.”

Companies and countries are increasingly relying on carbon offsets to reach their emissions targets, a tool used in an attempt to compensate for their climate pollution by investing in projects that reduce or remove emissions elsewhere. But climate scientists and activists say the instruments, including those based on forests, aren’t generally effective at mitigating climate change, despite decades of experimentation and improvement. They point to forest fires – which are increasing in severity partly due to climate change – as a big reason. Grayson Badgley, research scientist at CarbonPlan, a U.S.-based nonprofit​, said it’s a “risky bet” to count on trees – temporary stores of carbon – to compensate for the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels that stays in the atmosphere for centuries.

In 2018, Mosaic, a logging company, and its partners committed to stop cutting down trees in the project area and instead protect them for 30 years. The company is measuring the tons of additional CO2 stored and the forestry-related emissions avoided, and packaging each of those as a carbon credit for sale to companies or individuals looking to offset their carbon footprint. Each credit represents one ton of CO2 removed or not added to the atmosphere.

The project has already issued 1.4 million credits, an amount equivalent to the total emissions of Sierra Leone in 2021. They’ve been bought by U.K.-based AI company Dataiku, global insurance firm Aspen and the American Institute for Foreign Study, a travel and insurance company, among others, according to Bloomberg Green analysis of public data. There’s currently no information to indicate any of those companies’ credits have been impacted by this year’s fire.

Under the rules of the offset registry Verra, whose standard Mosaic uses, the company has 30 days to report any damage to its forests and up to two years to submit a “loss report” detailing its impact. As a type of insurance mechanism against wildfires and other risks, project developers must contribute a portion of their credits to what’s known as a buffer pool. If disaster strikes and impacts a project’s carbon inventory, the standard states that an equivalent number of credits are taken out of the pool.

BigCoast’s buffer pool is 15.5% of its issued credits, Mosaic said. But none of these are earmarked for natural risks like extreme weather, pest outbreaks and fire, according to project documentation. That’s because the company evaluates that risk – calculated according to a matrix of significance and likelihood – to be zero.

That assessment is “mind-boggling,” said William Anderegg, director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy at the University of Utah. Fires are a “really dramatic risk” that forest offset projects face, he said, along with other risks such as drought stress and insect outbreaks.

Mosaic said its risk assessment is based on the fact that “the project is geographically and ecologically diverse and distributed,” meaning the likelihood of widespread damage due to fires or something else measures as “insignificant.”

Under Verra’s rules, credits allocated against other risks can backstop a fire incident, but in the long run this could have a serious impact on the insurance efficacy, Anderegg said. If wildfires eat up more than was budgeted, that has “very real impacts on whether these projects are likely to succeed over a century,” he said.

A team of researchers led by Barbara Haya at the University of California at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy recently identified a set of shortcomings in carbon offset registry methods, like those used by BigCoast, that could “critically undermine” their buffer pool policies. None take into account how climate change may increase fire risk, for example. In the U.S., CarbonPlan’s Badgley and a team of researchers found California’s buffer pool to be “severely undercapitalized.”

Verra relies on “the historical likelihood of an event occurring” to guide its buffer pool policies, said company spokesperson Joel Finkelstein. The company is set to update its insurance tool later in the summer to better account for changing risks due to climate change.

Canadian offset developers across the country are nervous about the rest of the fire season. “This is a wake-up call,” said André Gravel, chief executive of Société de gestion d’actifs forestiers (Solifor), which runs the Monet Forest Conservation Project. “The frequency of fires is increasing,” he said.

“Everyone is very concerned and on high alert,” said Adrian Leslie, manager of a Nature Conservancy of Canada forestry offsets project called Darkwoods in British Columbia. The group said approximately 4,485 hectares of the project burned in 2021, or less than 10% of the total area. That equates to about 36,700 tonnes of CO2 being released, according to a preliminary estimate shared by Leslie.

“The IPCC has made it very clear that every ton matters, every year matters, every degree matters,” Kurz said. Wildfire risk is increasing and project developers must recognize and address this: “We have to bend the curve.”

Bloomberg’s Demetrios Pogkas contributed to this report.

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Practical Tips to Create and Configure a Patreon Account and Start Creating

You can do this in less than an hour with my practical tips. Bonus: importance of building a community on Patreon. When I published my Substack Mastery book, I got in touch with some readers to obtain feedback on their first impressions.. One of the questions was which chapter was the most useful for them. It varied among readers, but one pattern emerged when I analyzed the data.  Readers from…

[floyx]

Which social media platform is known for professional networking?

Which social media platform is known for professional networking? The digital world we live in is driven by two main factors: SEO and backlinks, and it is how you open the door to internet success and win the online battle. Welcome to Floyx – not like your typical social platform, but it is the most revolutionary form of digital marketing nowadays. 

Floyx team provides tool sets that are modern and customized to offer both SEO and backlink promotion to the next level. What is the reason Floyx is outshining its competitors? The Floyx is not just another social network, a platform fueled by Web3 technology, which stands for free words aired without any speculations of censorship. 

Get ready to explore in-depth instruction into Floyx, the most decentralized social media platform on the market, which will help you rethink your online representation while powering up all your link-building activities. This guide will explain in detail what Floyx is and how it changes online presence by boosting your link-building efforts organically. 

Profile Submission:

It is unbelievable because Floyx's incredible profile submission feature enables you to create amazingly detailed profiles. They are like your business cards online, but adding a whole of personalities will be your characteristic. Don't forget, that you should introduce those keywords that are related to the topic. They are similar to breadcrumbs, used as the beacons leading the audience to your hastily established online doorstep. 

However, it is not only about adding keywords to your resume. It is about more than this. Put your best foot forward and show off your talents, services, and offerings. The more you showcase, the more people will come and detour their eyeballs. And guess what? It latter encompasses generating more links from other websites to such highly trusted sources you form. 

Now, let's stiffen up your profile a little. Upload some photos or short video clips or, you can even make a description for your bio. It's essential to leave your contact information so that people can reach you. You never know when someone may want to get in touch.

The Floyx wizardry is not limited to that. It is not about community engagement but being part of a Decentralized social media. It is about being in the loop and empowering yourself not to be tamed by others, whether good or bad. 

Now, the best part – Floyx is on web3 technology. It may be said to be the spine that supports the entire sentiment of decentralization. Consequently, while building your online persona, you are also a part of the movement changing the digital world. What are you still doing here? Join Floyx and be a part of the new age of the internet. This is where collectiveness comes in. 

Image Submission:

The increasing influence of pictures as visual content demonstrated its ability to catch and engage people on the internet through new innovative ways. Floxy offers an image submission platform that allows users to upload amazing visuals with which they can identify a brand and content strategy.

By applying strategic optimization techniques such as descriptive alt text, titles, and captions with keywords related to decentralization, users can improve their SEO efforts and increase the chances of their content being discovered and shared across the internet.

Not only this, these photos may constitute a source of backlinks from websites looking for visual content for the enhancement of their pages or articles on the use of the Web3 social media platform.

Video Submission:

With the rise of video content, it comes as no surprise that Floyx, a web3 social media platform, holds an understanding of how essential multimedia is for SEO strategies. Knowing the main idea of decentralization, Floyx is a decentralized social media platform that provides users with a safe and transparent environment.

With the video submission feature, members can post stories that have the power to affect and pass the message on to the audience. Videos can be optimized in Google by using relevant metadata such as titles, descriptions, and tags with keywords associated with the decentralized social media platform. It will increase the visibility of users on video-sharing platforms and attract backlinks from websites embedding or linking to video content.

In addition, videos are inherently shareable, which makes them a powerful tool for acquiring organic backlinks and expanding the reach across digital channels that operate on Web3technology.

Blog and Article Submission:

Content is the soul of SEO, the basis of competitive and effective digital marketing strategies. Floyx allows users to make informative and interesting blog posts and articles, which makes them experts in their fields.

Through regular publishing of relevant content that includes keywords covering web3 social media platform, attractive headlines, and structured formatting, users should have an upper hand in search results and attract some backlinks from other sites searching for valuable resources and ideas.

Additionally, sharing blog posts and articles using social media (across different platforms) and industry forums increases their reach and attracts more traffic with inbound links from many other websites interested in the decentralization topic.

Long Podcast Videos:

Podcasts are essential players in digital media because they offer people a simple, enjoyable way to absorb information and entertainment. Floyx completely understands this. Therefore, they enable you to share long podcast videos. It is now easy to bond with your audience through great audio content.

Integrating podcast video descriptions that are comprehensive and include transcripts and niche keywords, as a web3 social media platform, can be used to enhance your ranking on search engines and get backlinks from podcast directories and other related websites. Besides, podcast content creates audience loyalty and engagement, which leads to repeat visits and social sharing, which improves SEO performance and generates valuable backlinks.  

Monetization for Premium Content Writers:

Floyx recognizes the valuable content from the rest. That is a gift to those writers who pursue high-quality work. Their focus is on quality, initially including subjects like decentralization and Web3. Floyx enhances its authority and offers an opportunity to earn while it shares its knowledge. It is a win-win: valuable content for users, the creator's reward, and the entire community for decentralized social platforms like Floyx, which capitalizes on the philosophies of decentralization itself.

Uncensored Digital Space:

Floyx is incredible in times of censorship being the root problem. Here, you can say whatever you want without fearing a thing. In this case, you can post anything on decentralization, which inspires creativity and genuine conversations. This openness attracts people looking for something new and makes people interested in the decentralized social media platform. Floyx promotes ideas to flow freely; this helps it to build a lively community. Thus, engagement and SEO strengthen through shares and links on this web3 social media platform.

Conclusion:

Floyx is a one-of-a-kind platform for SEO and comes with features to help you create relevant backlinks for decentralized social media platform and the decentralization movement. Besides abilities like profile submission, posting images and videos, blogging, and making money, Floyx offers the chance to be a star in the Web3 world and get many visitors and links from reputable sources on Web3 technology interested in you. Furthermore, Floyx is about letting you express your opinion freely, which leads to conversations, and people start sharing and linking naturally, thus building a lively community of people passionate about decentralization. Are you a marketer, content creator, or biz owner? If so, Floyx has everything you need to do great SEO, expand your audience, and grow in the Web3-dominated world of decentralized social platform and web technologies.

[captainrazzzledazzle]

@mr-kench

Wow you uh… you ok there ? Not sure what you were trying to do here but I’ll give you points for creativity, and hey at least you portrayed the conversation accurately, I asked questions and you kept telling me you gave me proof when all you did was continue to make vague claims.. 

I did say I was done but now I’m perplexed, you genuinely don’t seem to understand why I have no reason to believe what you say because you haven’t provided anything concrete, like you just don’t understand the concept of evidence. I’ll try to explainone last time myself as best as I can and why your arguments don't stand as is.

You said that in the leaks an unnamed consultant company was mentioned, however by your own accord the leaks are nowhere to be found now, so you can’t even see them yourself. You didn’t quote anything from the leaks or told me where to find archives or screenshots and you didn’t offer any precision on what exactly was said about the consultant company. You just implied that it was named as a reason why Spiderman 2 had to make rewrites in the leaks. That is not proof, your source here is literally just “trust me bro” tell me why I should take what you said at face value here ?

You said you “noticed patterns” and that you had a list of games that were negatively affected by SBI implying that SBI was the cause for games having to scrap content and make rewrites, yet you only listed spiderman 2 (you can’t make a list with only one thing ?!) and even then as I said above, there is no real evidence that spiderman 2’s cut content was because of SBI, and even how exactly it affected the game. So far you had only provided speculations. If you were to make a constructed argument here, you’d give me some of the names of games in that list and links to articles saying they had to make rewrites or to cut content. GIVE ME THAT DAMN LIST DINGUS >:(

Also most games have to cut content or make rewrites for a plethora of reasons, Elden Ring had to cut huge chunks of content for example because it was too ambitious, Overwatch 2 cut the whole PVE campaign and only released what are really just half-assed archive missions. Half-life 2 had to scrap 2 years of work because it wasn’t up to par with the rest of the game and SBI didn’t have anything to do with any of these games. The quality of the games I cited above vary a lot despite making cuts. Cut contents and rewrites aren't an indicator of quality just of setbacks in the developpment.

When I asked what you meant by corrupt, you said that the people working at SBI’s main goal was social justice, how is that being corrupt ? You then said that “they also make it clear in that same space the ultimate goal is to control how people think”, again, how do they make it clear, do you have any quote or link ?

Your main "proof" of SBI being bad and biggoted was you vaguely gesturing at twitter and telling me to go look at SBI’s employees posts, if you truly had something you could’ve given me ANYTHING, a twitter handle, a screenshot, an article. I am not going to scour twitter looking for proof for your argument. And from what I did see there was only one employee who asked people to report a steam group because they were getting harassed in mass because of said group.

You seem convinced that Miles being the "ambassador of his culture" as you put it is the fault of SBI, and not the original decision of the studio. Changing characters, and any big creative decisions are not what SBI do when they work with studios, they don't go around telling devs to completely change their characters. That wouldn't be feasible anyway because the edevs would have to redo pretty much everything if the main character was fundamentally changed. Go look at the links at the bottom of this post to find articles talking about what SBI really do.

Tl;dr : At any point in the conversation instead of getting increasingly angrier you could have just shut me up with solid proof If you had any. You weren’t even able to point to one of those videos peddling misinformation and ragebaiting. You gave no screenshot, no article, no link, no name or twitter handle, not even a quote. Nothing concrete, simply nothing at all. When you make wild claims like you did, the burden falls on YOU to substantiate it with evidence and proof. Claims alone aren’t arguments and they aren’t proof. People don’t live in your head; you need to actually build up an argument to convince others. I can't just take you at your words when you make insane claims.

But I know why you provided nothing. You didn’t notice patterns. You didn’t make lists. You didn’t do any research. All these ideas in your head aren’t yours, you watched a video, or read an inflammatory post that told you what to think, and what to be mad about. And you didn’t need convincing, you were already mad and wanted a target so you just went along with it because it was so easy to swallow. Do you even know why your claims are so vague ? It’s because the guy you got them from who made the steam group “SBI detected”, also had opinions based solely on vague feelings. He never even fucking played the games he claims are “different” and that "show a pattern" ! And here, some real fucking juicy PROOF (start at 2:19, he states he didn't play the game at 2:28).

Is there tokenization in media and video games ? Yes of course, and it sucks ! Is Sweet Baby Inc. the big bad that is surgically taking out all the fun from your favorite games ? Absolutely the fuck not ! There is no easy answer, no single target to remove that will magically solve everything. So launching a whole harassment campaign against them won’t make your games better, you’re just punishing people for nothing. Executives that want minorities’ money and who don’t care about art or storytelling are the ones making horrible decisions that make games worse as a result.

If after all of this you still don't want to buy games that SBI worked on at some point, great that's your choice, as long as you're not spreading lies and participating in harassment.

Here are three articles that provide proof of research on the subject and infos on what Sweet Baby Inc. actually does, and one explaining that the cut content and the rewrites in Spiderman 2 was because of Sony.

Kotaku Game Developer Wired Tech 4 Gamers

Bisous je m’envole.

[seokmn]

GOOD FATHER ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆

pairing: mingyu x fem!reader wc: 0.7k words warnings: mention of mingyu shirtless

"daddy's here to hold ya through the night"

The sight of you holding your newborn daughter, rocking her while having a smile on your face that shows to the world how happy you are made Mingyu tear up from how overwhelmed he felt. His love for you and your little daughter was undeniable.

“Is she asleep already?” Mingyu whispered as he kneeled in front of you, caressing your covered knees.

“I’m trying to make her sleep, but she refuses to,” you let out a weak chuckle. Mingyu didn’t have to be a genie to know that you were incredibly tired and just wanted to rest for at least 30 minutes. “She’s just like you. She loves to stay awake when I just want to take a little nap.”

He smiled, took off his shirt and took the baby away from you, taking her in his arms and placing her small blanket over her. “I told you to not overwork yourself, honey. I don’t want to see you like this every time. I’ll take care of this little one and of you as well.” Mingyu placed a gentle kiss on your forehead and you smiled,

“Thank you, Gyu,” you let out a sigh of relief when he placed a pillow under your head and fixed your blanket with his free hand. “But what’s up with taking off your shirt? I didn’t get it.”

“This?” He looked down at his bare chest while starting to rock the little girl in his arms. “I read an article that said it’s beneficial for the baby.”

You narrowed your eyes and let out a scoff. “You saw that in Jane the Virgin when we were watching it together.”

Mingyu smirked and laughed, his chest vibrating against your daughter’s tiny body. “You got me there, but when you were pregnant I really read an article about it! It’s called skin-to-skin contact and it’s very beneficial for her and for you, I can give you a little show before you fall asleep, y’know? Everyone wins.”

You looked at his toned abs, his strong arms and large hands holding your little ball of joy and you nodded at his words, it was indeed a little show to you. Ever since you got pregnant, anything parent related that Mingyu did was a reason for you to get a little bit more attracted to him, so that sight was prettier than any Monet’s painting.

“I can’t lie, I’m quite invested in this little show, it’s very entertaining.”

He smiled and danced in a sensual yet playful way, making sure the baby was still comfortable in his arms. You laughed in response and clapped your hands, hyping him up. Mingyu mirrored your laughter before sitting on the chair in front of the bed and focusing on his angel that was in his arms, almost falling asleep.

“My little girl,” he carefully booped her tiny nose. His heart burned with love when he saw her tiny hands wrapping around his finger. “I’ll do anything to keep you safe, to keep you happy and to make sure that you never forget how much I love you. You’ll be so loved that no one will ever give you less love than you deserve.”

You watched him whispering sweet promises to your daughter with a small and tired smile on your face, your body threatening to finally give you the rest that you need to.

“Mingyu…”

He looked up at you with a soft smile on his face. “Yes, love?”

“You’ll be the best dad ever. She will love you forever and will always be grateful for having you as her father.” Your voice was quiet and slow as you started to drift off.

Mingyu felt so touched by your sleeping words that he had to hold back his tears. He looked down to the baby and saw her sleeping peacefully, he stood up and walked towards the crib, putting her in it with all the care in the world, making sure to fix her blanket.

When he got into bed beside you, he wrapped his arms around your waist, put you closer to him and hid his face in the crook of your neck. “You’ll be a good mom too, the best mom ever. Can’t wait to grow old with you and watch her growing up and becoming who she wants to be… I’m sure you’re gonna be her role model.”

Mingyu knew you weren’t listening, he knew you were in a deep sleep, a deep sleep that you deserved more than anyone else in this universe. He kissed your neck and mumbled a ‘I love you’ before closing his eyes to sleep as well.

[wordstome]

how c.ai works and why it's unethical

Okay, since the AI discourse is happening again, I want to make this very clear, because a few weeks ago I had to explain to a (well meaning) person in the community how AI works. I'm going to be addressing people who are maybe younger or aren't familiar with the latest type of "AI", not people who purposely devalue the work of creatives and/or are shills.

The name "Artificial Intelligence" is a bit misleading when it comes to things like AI chatbots. When you think of AI, you think of a robot, and you might think that by making a chatbot you're simply programming a robot to talk about something you want them to talk about, and it's similar to an rp partner. But with current technology, that's not how AI works. For a breakdown on how AI is programmed, CGP grey made a great video about this several years ago (he updated the title and thumbnail recently)

I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you watch this because CGP Grey is good at explaining, but the tl;dr for this post is this: bots are made with a metric shit-ton of data. In C.AI's case, the data is writing. Stolen writing, usually scraped fanfiction.

How do we know chatbots are stealing from fanfiction writers? It knows what omegaverse is [SOURCE] (it's a Wired article, put it in incognito mode if it won't let you read it), and when a Reddit user asked a chatbot to write a story about "Steve", it automatically wrote about characters named "Bucky" and "Tony" [SOURCE].

I also said this in the tags of a previous reblog, but when you're talking to C.AI bots, it's also taking your writing and using it in its algorithm: which seems fine until you realize 1. They're using your work uncredited 2. It's not staying private, they're using your work to make their service better, a service they're trying to make money off of.

"But Bucca," you might say. "Human writers work like that too. We read books and other fanfictions and that's how we come up with material for roleplay or fanfiction."

Well, what's the difference between plagiarism and original writing? The answer is that plagiarism is taking what someone else has made and simply editing it or mixing it up to look original. You didn't do any thinking yourself. C.AI doesn't "think" because it's not a brain, it takes all the fanfiction it was taught on, mixes it up with whatever topic you've given it, and generates a response like in old-timey mysteries where somebody cuts a bunch of letters out of magazines and pastes them together to write a letter.

(And might I remind you, people can't monetize their fanfiction the way C.AI is trying to monetize itself. Authors are very lax about fanfiction nowadays: we've come a long way since the Anne Rice days of terror. But this issue is cropping back up again with BookTok complaining that they can't pay someone else for bound copies of fanfiction. Don't do that either.)

Bottom line, here are the problems with using things like C.AI:

It is using material it doesn't have permission to use and doesn't credit anybody. Not only is it ethically wrong, but AI is already beginning to contend with copyright issues.

C.AI sucks at its job anyway. It's not good at basic story structure like building tension, and can't even remember things you've told it. I've also seen many instances of bots saying triggering or disgusting things that deeply upset the user. You don't get that with properly trigger tagged fanworks.

Your work and your time put into the app can be taken away from you at any moment and used to make money for someone else. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people who use AI panic about accidentally deleting a bot that they spent hours conversing with. Your time and effort is so much more stable and well-preserved if you wrote a fanfiction or roleplayed with someone and saved the chatlogs. The company that owns and runs C.AI can not only use whatever you've written as they see fit, they can take your shit away on a whim, either on purpose or by accident due to the nature of the Internet.

DON'T USE C.AI, OR AT THE VERY BARE MINIMUM DO NOT DO THE AI'S WORK FOR IT BY STEALING OTHER PEOPLES' WORK TO PUT INTO IT. Writing fanfiction is a communal labor of love. We share it with each other for free for the love of the original work and ideas we share. Not only can AI not replicate this, but it shouldn't.

(also, this goes without saying, but this entire post also applies to ai art)

[msmargaretmurry]

if one of my fics ever gets linked in a mainstream media outlet i WILL remove the text from ao3 and replace it with "this has been removed because [name of journalist] linked it without permission in an article they got paid to write and i refuse to let them monetize my fanfiction"

[munchkinmarauder]

It's interesting cause Orlando brought Pietro's relationship with Monet up in an interview on Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver and an interesting tidbit he dropped was that they are each others new love interests but neither of them exactly is sure of what the terms of their relationship is. So I guess the writers don't either at this moment? It was a very interesting tidbit to drop in response to a question that was about Pietro and Crystal and if Orlando did have to mention Monet a little - a he's currently with Monet would do.

Now does that guarantee we'll get something more with them for a while? No, it could have just been Orlando's own headcannon for them and really nothing is guaranteed with the comics and in general it's not advisable to get too attached, cause well look at its track record... Wanda/Jericho and Pietro/Emily both great relationships were dropped with little explanation (and these were generally liked couples as well - though we can blame MCU synergy in both counts for the relationshios being dropped). But the fact that we've got a few glimpses here and there of them as small as they are mean this relationship has technically lasted past it's initial run which not many modern marvel couples can say and potentially makes this the second longest running relationship either of these characters have had so far (though it will take a long time to beat the 20 plus real life years Pietro was in his dumpsterfire marriage with Crystal).

Sometimes it takes one writer though and Orlando at least does seem to like this couple and included little nods to them when he didn't have to in a packed mini series. He does write Pietro running past and checking up on Monet alongside his daughter and nephew in the first issue (placing her as someone important to him), along with the panel in the last issue showing the aftermath of them "celebrating" Pietro living another day together (the first time Orlando's scarlet witch series has implied sex in any sense) - Wanda also seems to know about Monet so the relationship is significant or worthy of note enough to Pietro for him to mention it to his sister. I'm not sure if the Maximoffs twins are chronically overshare with each other (cause she seems to fully know what he and Monet got up to) but usually telling your family member about a new relationship is kind of a big step in my mind at least.

There is also ofc the cameo of the two of them together at Destiny and Mistiques wedding which is a small thing but something to note seeing as they deliberately included Monet when a preview had a character that looked and was coloured like Laura (but with blue on the costume) sitting next to Pietro.

From my reading of what we've gotten in comics so far this started as a sitationship, definitely predicated on physical attraction and enjoying having someone who could keep up with their sharp wits and tounges rather than a deep emotional bond (with Monet in particular taking as many opportunities to get her hands on him - which girl relatable) and you can interpret Orlando's comment as meaning the relationship is casual or friends with benefits in nature and might still mostly be that but is starting to develop enough that Wanda knows about her, Pietro runs off to spend time with Monet rather than his sister after all the Wizard's attempt to kill the twins and they attend a wedding together (in which the rest of his family is also in attendance).

Gail Simone at one point teased in twitter that she enjoyed both characters and she'd be interested in addressing the relationship but it may be "some time" - I have heard some not great things about Simone"s handling of PoC characters so as great as it would be to have them in as many books as possible I'm apprehensive.

Ofc it's still not loads, it doesn't mean we'll definitely see more of this relationship but I hope we do. Amongst all the reasons given by the above posters, which I agree with, I think it could be a lot of fun letting these two characters bounce off each other (and we have seen it), the dramatic and comedic potential of the dysfunctional Magnet family and the Gothic horror St Croixs mixing is off the charts, they could have fun interactions with each others sisters (and Lorna and Monet have been contentious teammates in the past), they both have similar responses to deal with their trauma and deal with their abusers but come from very different families and backgrounds in life. With Pietro having joint custody of his daughter and Monet seemingly being the one raising her sisters we could have a very interesting blended family which I don't think marvel ever really shows.

so yeah I was really taken by surprise by how much I liked this couple and think it should be explored. Sure right now it's two hot powerful people banging but with the right writer I think it could become one of those iconic couples it marvel let's them.

Also Quick Money is just a fun ship name

What are your thoughts on the Pietro and Monet pairing? Admitted we haven't gotten loads of them but it feels like there is a lot of potential there especially in how despite coming from opposite ends of the wealth brackets they are both extremely loving people, protective of their sisters and families but ones that refuse to forgive their abusers and developed more acerbic personalities as a defence for what they've ensured.

Is there anything you would like to see explored with them?

i have to be honest: i haven't moved on from emily/pietro yet and i doubt i will, but ignoring that, i feel like pietro and monet dating was a GREAT idea. just like you said, they have many things in common but different life experiences, which opens door for a really interesting dynamic.

now, when it comes to plans for the future i think they are absolutely perfect, but considering what we have at the moment i fear that getting attached to them would be a terrible idea 😭 marvel doesn't act like they really plan to do anything with them other than add a few jokes and nice moments here and there, and tbh that's really frustrating. they could have such a nice development, like both of their past relationships, but instead of that we are getting veeeery small crumbs.

about things to get explored: it can sound a bit silly but i think a run with them as leads learning how to get used to each other's habits and having to fight each other's battles/problems would be really funny. like having monet dealing with pavane(avengers v1 #377) or a character similar to him and teasing pietro about the fact his enemies are either children or just random people 😭 or having pietro dealing with victor without knowing about his relationship with monet and being flabbergasted when finding out about it. long answer made short: i think they could have MANY funnny, complex and interesting stories together and they really need more chance to be developed.

(i have to confess that i was kind of confused about their relationship status? are they dating or just hooking up? 😥 I hope they are dating...)

[traumasurvivors]

I am finally putting together a FAQ for easy access for people new to my blog since a lot of these posts I think are helpful are buried. Some of these links link to posts on my blog, but some link to my personal website. My website is not monetized in any way, so there should be no ads or anything intrusive.

About Coping

How can I make a self-care box?

Here's some instructions I wrote!

How can I make a safe space?

Here are some ideas!

What are some ways I can ground myself?

Here is an article with a bunch of examples, but there are so many more that aren't listed here!

I'm struggling with trauma around the holidays and/or a traumaversary.

Here's an article I wrote on trauma around the holidays!

Here's an article I wrote with advice for traumaversaries.

General Trauma FAQ

Do I have to forgive them in order to heal?

The short answer is "no." What everyone needs differs. While someone may need to forgive as a part of their healing journey, this isn't necessarily true for everyone. Here's a post I wrote about this.

What about myself? Should I forgive myself?

That's up to you. For some of us, healing is realizing we never needed forgiveness all along. And for others, it can mean that we can't get to a place where we feel we did nothing wrong, and therefore, forgiving ourselves is the best way to move forward. Here's an article I wrote on self-forgiveness.

What is trauma bonding?

This term is often used in a colloquial sense when two people who have suffered trauma bond together over their trauma. This article talks about the technical definition and is about how someone going through trauma forms an emotional bond with the one who is traumatizing or abusing them.

Was it bad enough?

The short answer is yes. But you can read a longer blog post for why here.

I'm struggling with anger after trauma.

That's a really valid way to feel. Here is some more info on it.

What is hypersexuality and/or sex repulsion?

See this article here.

What is Trauma Imposter Syndrome?

This is when a survivor invalidates themselves by saying something like “my trauma isn’t so bad, other people have it worse than me.” Here's my post on it.

How do I talk about my trauma?

First, remember that you do not have to talk about anything you don't want to. But if you do, here are some tips I have.

How do I listen to someone talk about their trauma?

The first thing I want you to remember, when someone tells you that they want to talk to you about their trauma, is that their needs do not negate your own needs. Here's my post on it.

Is Healing Linear?

No. Healing is a rollercoaster. Here's a post on it.

About Abuse and Specific Forms of Trauma

What are some different types of abuse?

Physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, cultural abuse. You can read more about these here.

What is Medical Trauma?

It is a vast term that includes many different things, mostly linked to major emotional distress that occurs as a result of hospital stays, illness, or treatment (so yes, therapy trauma is valid.) You can see my longer article here.

What is Parentification?

Parentification is a form of abuse where a child is forced to take on the role of a parent. You can see my longer article here.

Why do I love and/or miss my abuser?

Nothing is wrong with you if you love and/or miss your abuser. There are any number of reasons why you could be feeling this way, and I will share some examples with you. You can see my article on this here!

Other

Are they trying to manipulate me?

While there isn't a clear cut guide, some of the points in this article might help you in getting more information about one of your relationships.

What is consent?

Consent is a freely-given yes. See this post here.

How can I be prepared for sex?

See this post here.

I also wrote this article that covers the same points as the first post, but focuses from a trauma perspective. A lot of the info is the same.

Why is it important to validate my feelings?

See this post here.

I'm struggling with self-harm/What is self-harm?

Here's a post on this.

[rannadylin]

How not to fanfic. (See also: What the "no monetizing" policies on AO3 are there to protect us from.)

Don't publish your fanfic on Amazon for monetary gain.

Definitely don't then send a print copy of your published fanfic to the copyright holder, thus making them aware of its existence.

Especially don't then sue a licensee of the copyright holder for infringing on your...copyright?

(Note: the link above is a gift article link so you should be able to read it without a paywall.)

[syllvarin]

Non-traumagenic plurality: How could it be possible?

First off, let's start with what some anti-endo folk mean versus what they don't mean with traumagenic plurality

They mean systems caused by/as a response to trauma and traumatic events, and those who are still affetced by them, aka systems who are disordered, DID/OSDD/UDD.

What they don't mean is systems who have trauma in their origin along with other causes. They do not believe a system can very well be traumagenic but function smoothlessly due to recovering, or have multiple origins.

Note: We are a diagnosed DID system with mixed (trauma/ramcoa/neuro/para) origins. Yes, we know what we are talking about. No, that doesn't mean we can't do mistakes, but we will try our best to be as accurate as possible. We will include scientific articles, DSM-5 DID checklist, and many more in this post.

How can that be possible?

1st: Brains are quite complicated. Research on brain functions is far from being complete, it is a long road that we are still at the very beginning of. We still don't know how brain exactly works let alone how it can form seperate conscious identities and work them together. We do know headmates exist based on brain MRI's ( link here ) That proves us that systems indeed, exist.

2nd point i want to make is that science is not done in a linear fashion. We are studying to be neuroscientists ourselves and the very core of what makes science doable is MONEY. Yes, in this capitalist system even the most seemingly basic research requires funding, money, and a goal that can be monetized to get done. Reseaches on female autonomy, rare disorders and "demonized" disorders such as DID is therefore not often as it is not easily capitalized and funded.

Therefore we do not have enough research to prove or disprove that the only way of becoming a system is through childhood.

And that brings me to my 3rd point, where we will take a look at what DSM-5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) says about diagnostic crietria of DID. We will see how it is a dissocative disorder, not a trauma disorder.

Found under dissociative disorders (not trauma disorders!), checklist for DID is as follows:

See how none of those checklist include trauma as checklist? Yes DID is commonly caused by trauma but not always. Yes it commonly is created during childhood but not always. Those arent in diagnostic criteria.

Definitive feature is not trauma, it is distinct personality states or experience of possession.

DID is associated with traumatic events, does not mean it requires it.

DID can manifest at almost any age (DSM-5 is saying that, folks)

What's more is OSDD doesnt even have a definitive checklist like DID. it is found under differential diagnosis, with other disorders. PDID (partial DID where one part is frontstuck a majority of the time) is also up to psychiatrist's evaluation rather than a concrete checklist.

4th point is : What about Structural Dissociaton Theory?

This theory is as it goes: The theory of Structural Dissociation works off of the assumption that everyone is born with different ego states that later merge in life. Those different ego states operate for different actions in life, that later integrate into one person during ages of 4-6. Trauma disrupts that integration and causes ANP (apparently normal parts) and EP (Emotional parts). EP's are stuck in the trauma while ANP's are not.

source: The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization" by Onno van der Hart, Ellert Nijenhuis, and Kathy Steele. 

Yes, theory. Theories are not concrete. They can be disapproved, they can change, they may not fit every experience. Structural dissociation only explains how DID can manifest at childhood, but we already know by now that DID can manifest at almost any age.

So I personally think basing everything on a theory about how DID might've been caused (which doesn't even perfectly explain every possible way) is not as fault-proof as one might think it is.

Point 5: experiences of "multiple identities" exist for so long into history (people who are possessed, talk to themselves, act weird at times, are very different at times, etc), way before any DID/OSDD terms were created. And actually, how can we know how many people in history have had this experience when the very society we are in is very scared of them? It is fair to say only the disruptive cases must've been noticed, and majority of them probably were either deemed as crazy or exorcised as they believed those people were possessed by spirits. Just because your experience does not fit with others and just because science hasnt done anything to back them up, doesn't mean people's lived experiences are false. Why would so many people tell that they are a system when they are not? We are not living in a place where being a system is happy or fun, we are not in a society where its profitable or anything. It literally gives a person zero + points for being plural if they arent. It would be a nonstop roleplay they have to keep up throughout every aspect of their life; and at that point, it must be either impossible or that person is already plural and not roleplaying when no one is looking at them.

Creating headmates is on the same basket. A person with DID can create headmates in blink of an eye (we know from oursleves) sometimes splitting threshold is so low you may split off multiple people at once. You cannot know what is going in a person's mind, and what mechanisms work for creating a headmate. If they claim they did, it is very much no chance they are faking being different people 24/7. It *is* a real chance that they actually did develop a headmate. If you do not believe them; ask them about their experiences. I am %100 positive that if you actually listen to them, you will see those people are only trying to live their life.

Also, if you think healthy systems cannot exist and only way to be a system is through dissociation and dysfunction; then why would DID systems try to heal anyway? Wouldn't that just be sanist and ableist to expect all of them to turn into singlets because healthy multiplicity isnt a thing?But no, it is a thing, and healthy multiplicity and recovery is possible for systems. DID and other disordered forms of plurality do indeed exist, and they are indeed, treatabe in multiple ways according to what a person feels comfortable with. That is also a system's right to heal however they please. They don't owe anyone their right to stay as plural or become a singlet.

6th point I want to make is about: Why do we even care?

If a person says they have multiple people in their head, why do we care and tell them they are faking? They are not claiming to have a diagnosis, even if they did; if their situation is causing a distress to them, then they ARE diagnosable and that therefore is none of our business, again.

Last point I want to make is how endogenic DID is possible. yes, possible. remember how trauma is not in diagnostic criteria and DID can happen at any age? If endogenic plurals can happen, they can also form DID at later in life. They can also become disordered due to an event in their life. They can lose harmony and become so dysfunctional they need professional help. That doesn't mean they are no longer endogenic or some other origin, that simply means their state is different than what it was and they need help.

End of our post. Thank you for reading.

[journeytothewestresearch]

Some asshole stole my article

Someone eager to jump on the Black Myth: Wukong train at Digital Artists League (a.k.a. Artizen) reposted my 2013 summary of Journey to the West without permission. And then they got mad at me when I made them take it down.

It just dawned on me that their website is likely monetized, so they would have made money off of my hard work. And they had the audacity to try to gaslight me.

I have to seriously ask where they get the majority of their content if they think stealing is OK.

This is a screenshot of the stolen article on their website before it was taken down.

And here are screenshots of our conversation. I really enjoyed watching their mini-meltdown towards the end.

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

On the Path to Substack Success

How I’m building my Substack newsletters one step at a time with a supportive community I love to write. I love to write about what I love. Travel, relationships, books, deep insights, AI, photography, storytelling and a whole lot of interesting, sparkly, pretty topics that catch my eye. I like to think I’m good at it, with people who follow me and a steady income on Medium. A pleasant little…

[feminist-space]

Article by Fortesa Latifi:

"Being the child of an influencer, Vanessa tells me, was the equivalent of having a full-time job—and then some. She remembers late nights in which the family recorded and rerecorded videos until her mother considered them perfect and days when creating content for the blog stretched into her homeschooling time. If she expressed her unease, she was told the family needed her. “It was like after this next campaign, maybe we could have more time to relax. And then it would never happen,” she says. She was around 10 years old when she realized her life was different from that of other children. When she went to other kids’ houses, she was surprised by how they lived. “I felt strange that they didn’t have to work on social media or blog posts, or constantly pose for pictures or videos,” she says. “I realized they didn’t have to worry about their family's financial situation or contribute to it.”

Vanessa, who requested anonymity to speak freely about her family dynamics, says she helped create content for huge companies like Huggies and Hasbro when her mom landed endorsement deals. When she reached puberty and began menstruating, her mother had her do sponsored posts for sanitary pads. “It was so mortifying,” she says. “I just felt like I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.”

Being part of an influencer family changed everything about her life, Vanessa says. “Sometimes I didn’t know where the separation was between what was real and what was curated for social media.” And her mother’s online presence indelibly warped their relationship. “Being an influencer kid turned my relationship with my mom into more of an employer-employee relationship than a parent-child one,” she says. “Once you cross the line from being family to being coworkers, you can’t really go back.”

...

Khanbalinov has had zero new offers since he took his kids offline. “When we were showing our kids, brands were rolling in left and right—clothing companies, apps, paper towel companies, food brands. They all wanted us to work with them,” he says. “Once we stopped, we reached out to the brands we had lined up and 99 percent of them dropped out because they wanted kids to showcase their products. And I fought back, like, you guys are a paper towel company—why do you need a kid selling your stuff?”

The law has woefully lagged behind the culture here, but there’s signs that policymakers might finally be catching up. In 2023, in addition to Illinois, three other states—New York, Washington State, and New Jersey—proposed bills to protect influencer kids. Contrast that with the flurry of legislative activity in just the first two months of 2024. Seven more states—Maryland, Georgia, Ohio, Missouri, California, Arizona, Minnesota—have introduced similar legislation. Some of the bills are going one step further to protect the privacy of the kids featured in this content. In some states, proposed legislation would include a clause that borrows from a European legal doctrine known as the “right to be forgotten”—it would allow someone who was featured in content when they were a child to request that platforms permanently delete those posts. None of the current legislation introduced, however, would outright bar the practice of featuring minors in monetized content.

...

The movement on this issue was glacial for years, but it finally feels like the ice has thawed. Much of that progress is thanks to activists like Cam Barrett (she/they), a 25-year-old creator (@softscorpio) who uses TikTok to talk about her experience of being overshared in their childhood and adolescence. Barrett doesn’t go by her legal name anymore because of the online history it’s tied to. “I love my legal name,” Barrett tells me. “I just don’t love the digital footprint attached to it.” Last year, Barrett testified in front of the Washington State legislature as a proponent of a bill to protect influencer kids. This year, they testified again—this time, in front of the Maryland legislature.

“As a former content kid myself, I know what it’s like to grow up with a digital footprint I never asked for,” Barrett told the Maryland House of Delegates Economic Matters Committee in February. “As my mom posted to the world my first-ever menstrual cycle, as she posted to the world the intimate details about me being adopted, her platform grew and I had no say in what was posted.” And yet, Cam says her activism has been healing.

For Cam and other influencer children, getting a paycheck won’t give them back what they lost—a normal childhood unobstructed by the cameras pushed into their faces. But it could be the beginning of some version of restitution. “My friends say I’m fighting for little Cam,” she tells me. “It feels very healing because I didn’t have anyone to fight for me as a kid.”"

Read the full article here: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a60125272/sharenting-parenting-influencer-cost-children/

[starwikia]

so like are we done with the idea that james is a victim of the internet harassment mob or whatever you guys like to call it when in reality no one like forced him to be part of the public eye again. he had multiple times to disengage but he threw himself head first into the spotlight with some half assed apology where he used his dead mom, illiterate dad, and like 293 mental illnesses that he was in the right to do a widdle plagiarism but it’s not his fault! it’s everyone else’s fault for not being nice to him about it!!! how dare these people bring these issues to the public not thinking how james would feel about it! like ppl are forgetting there was notable period of time james went off air entirely. and every time he’s jumped back it’s always attempts to paint himself as the victim.

like be real for a second if anyone was weaponizing the internet harassment machine it was james somerton. he knew what he was doing when he posted that note. he knew the shit his victims would get for having the crime of (checks notes) voicing out their issues with him. he knew there’s people out there who are foaming at their mouths to use anything they can get their hands on as a “gotcha!” at hbomberguy (right wing people yes, but don’t act like it’s just them i’ve seen plenty of lefties trying to prove they’re superior to harry). they don’t give a shit about james, not really. he’s the dude who hbomb did a “hit piece” (yes that’s a term i’ve seen people use) and that’s what matters.

not to mention the writing that’s also very clearly targeting nick who’s basically cut ties with him at this point. james pushed all the burden on nick by saying it’s their fault, actually. he’s one of the co-writers and everything going to shit was nick’s fault when they had the audacity to move. james is faultless! with james still trying to monetize stolen content on the blatant lie that he’s doing this for nick’s sake as a portfolio. acting as if nick isn’t an sentient human being who could upload their own content, as if nick would even want to be associated with james at this point. this isn’t a teenager being harassed for an honest mistake, this is a 35-year old con artist who’s stolen hundreds of thousands and peddled the most vile shit as actual history but realized he was in deep shit and weaponizes very serious mental health issues as a “i’m just a poor little gay baby!! my alter ego did it!!!”

for the record if you’re among the people who tried to wash down james’ crimes as “he just did plagiarism!! it wasn’t that bad of a crime!” fuck you, man. i’m not kidding.

the fact i’ve witnessed people whitewash his acts of racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, antisemitism and misogyny (in fact i’m probably still missing a few things here), and say he’s being harassed by the internet just because he stole articles makes it so clear they have no fucking idea what they’re talking about. his shit isn’t fucking erased just bc he realized that he has to handle the consequences. he’s grasping at anything he can at this point to make sure that even if he’s not coming back, he’s sure as hell trying to take anyone he fucking can down with him.

he doesn’t get a second chance to be a content creator at this point. he doesn’t get to show himself to do better. he needs to fucking leave. and if he tries to publicly make himself the victim then he better know that he’s going to get public backlash.

if anything situation proves to me that he can never be trusted with a public platform ever again because he will immediately guilt people into feeling sorry for him.