#social media is a great tool for them

[dany36]

i'm watching a podcast talking about one of the most famous missing persons cases and they have the sister of this missing person as a guest. at the beginning she was talking about how, after 20 years of her sister's disappearance, she made a podcast with the help of another true crime victim in hopes of getting people to keep talking about her sister's case and also to like see if any new leads will pop up (and also to dispel a lot of the false information that has been spread throughout the years). and she said that yes, thanks to her putting out this podcast, they've had at least two new reliable leads come because of it. and she seemed so pleasantly surprised when she said this, because why wouldn't she be happy that at least something new has come out of it!

like yes, there are A LOT of scummy and terrible true crime youtubers/podcasters AND consumers out there but there's also some that do try to help the victims and spread awareness in the most respectful possible way and idk i just keep thinking about that one post i saw on tumblr a while back dissing on people that consume this type of content. i've heard of at least two other cases of people doing podcasts on missing people that have actually helped solve cases or bring new information to light, so while you DO have to be careful on which youtuber/podcaster you do listen that just doesn't treat it as some sick source of entertainment and YES those types of people are absolutely disgusting and shouldn't be supported and should actually be denounced for it, there are also podcasters out there who are trying to make a difference in these cases and help in any way they can.

[darcylindbergh]

Can't vote for Biden and his vicious and cruel destruction of title ix. Really embarrassing that Dems have mainly left it to the right to try to defend it, and it's not like I can vote for them because they also hate women just in different ways. Shat on by the left, shat on by the right, women are in an awful situation

i'm posting this so we can all deconstruct what a far right psyop ask looks like.

on first read, this looks like someone who wishes they could be confident in voting blue but they're bummed by the democrats in office. targets title ix for their ire but doesn't really explain, perhaps assuming i'm out of touch and will just react instead of doing my due diligence (bad bet: i'm an attorney). uses over the top dramatic language like "vicious." they equate the left and right as being identical and indicates they won't be voting for either, with the implication that i shouldn't either, but goes on to blame the dems specifically for...something.

look at the very specific way they've couched this sentence:

Really embarrassing that Dems have mainly left it to the right to try to defend it,

i'm not meant to fight them on this. i'm meant to be embarrassed to be voting blue in november, i'm meant to blame democrats for abandoning some law, and i'm meant to recognize the right as upholding it.

title ix, if you didn't know, bans sex-based discrimination in schools and education. when someone tells you about democrats destroying title ix, that someone is a TERF.

and TERFs largely have aligned with the conservative hard right. I'll link a few articles at the bottom with detailed explainers, but for right here it's enough to say that TERFs want the far right to win because the far right is voting with them on their single issue, which is the destruction of trans rights and the ouster of trans and gnc women from public spaces. TERFs have marched with the Proud Boys. TERFs have partnered with anti-lgbtq groups to advance their anti-trans agenda. they will throw every other issue under the bus repeatedly if their anti-trans agenda wins.

and, importantly, the far right recognizes that TERFs are a tool they can use to destablize the left. the far right knows that as long as they will align with TERFs on this single issue, which they will because they too want to enforce the gender binary and traditional gender roles, TERFs will vote for and with them regardless of every single other issue. not only that, but the far right knows TERFs are a modern movement that's gained traction in social media spaces over the last several years, and they are relying on TERFs to send asks like this one to infiltrate spaces like tumblr and twitter and tiktok to encourage would-be blue voters not to vote because they want the far right to win.

this is a psyop. this is, whether formalized or not, a psychological operation intended to discourage voting in and among the left.

don't fall prey. vote blue in november.

I like this one because they have this great graph that specifically points out the link between TERFism, the far right, and disinformation attempts like the ask above.

[noellevanious]

its beyond fucking sad like. tumblr as a site. as a function. is great. it arguably still holds a pre-internet 3.0 concept up and keeps it alive (blogs as a community tool). It functions completely uniquely from other social media. parts that haven't been eroded away by idiot companies playing hot potato are still great (i can still look through all of my posts with my archive tool, or make a new blog theme entirely).

All that had to be done was Not Dip Their Toes into the Transphobic Pool. Which isn't a hard request. It's literally just "respect the people that want to be trans and be happy and tell people that are slinging harassment at them to Fuck off".

Sure, they also need to not let the site erode more and more into this ugly little amalgam of a barely functioning ad-ridden Twitter wannabe that requires at least 2 different mobile add-ons to even function properly. But like. I'd happily support them monetarily if they weren't the most cartoonishly Scummy site.

Like I'm still on twitter and it's a cesspool. But there at least it's funny that "Cis" is considered a word that Musk wants censored for "Spreading hate speech".

Here I have to confront the fact, every few days, that whoever moderates the site will happily either Delete Trans/POC blogs without hesitation, or, if we wanna be generous, nobody moderating the site Gives a Shit and just lets Transphobe/racist hategroups run rampant on the report system.

And don't fucking forget what happened to Avery/Rita! I don't want to spread word about her without her approval, but I will say, people have no fucking clue how bad things got for her after what happened, and the fact that she's put up such a strong face when she was literally in the "Public's" Eye as a Trans Woman the CEO of a website stalked and harassed even after he personally demanded all of her blogs be Permanently erased, is beyond the pale of what should be asked for her, or any trans or poc person.

[astrocafecoffee]

• Webb(3041) persona chart notes / your online presence •

✨ For entertainment purposes only, enjoy ✨

🔥 MASTERLIST

~~~~~~~~~~~~ENJOY~~~~~~~~~~~~

💅🏻 Uranus in 3rd house/ gemini indicates sudden changes in your online presence, such as a shift in your social media persona or sudden increase in online visibility. You may recieve unexpected messages , requests or opportunities through social media/ online channels.

💅🏻 Uranus in 6th house/ Virgo means you may be drawn to helping others through technology,/ social media or supporting causes that align with your values. You can gain fame through health related blogs, or showing your daily healthy routine in your social media platforms, like how you take care of your body, mind and soul.

💅🏻 I have seen many good astrologers often have Pluto/ Uranus 12th house. They inspire many peoples. Generally, it can also mean native's esoteric vibe often attract people.

💅🏻 Libra / leo/pisces mc is a great indicator of being famous for your charm and aesthetics. They naturally attracts people. They can go viral in a short amount of time. In general people see them as an "angel".

💅🏻 Gemini or 3°, 15°,27° in mc / webb conjunct mercury is great for who works in public speaking sector/ musicians/ motivational speaker.

💅🏻 juno 1st house/ 7th house/ aspecting ascendant means your spouse can have a strong online presence or your relationship in general can bring fame.

💅🏻 Groom / Briede conjunct northnode can mean your fs is some sort of influencer ( can be micro / nano / or at a large level).

💅🏻 Varuna conjunct sun can bring worldwide fame. Fame is literally is your destiny. But you have to work hard for it.

💅🏻 Vertex conjunct webb is a another strong indicator and is self explanatory.

💅🏻 Jupiter in 9th house can indicate you can influence people from all over the world. They will learn from you / you are a great teacher for them. You attracts foreign people the most.

💅🏻 mars in 8th house/ scorpio/ 1st house mars can mean people sextualise you a lot and wants to connect with you sexually. You attracts people with your strong magnetic aura and they starts fantasize about you.🔥

💅🏻 Neptune aspecting ascendant/ in 1st house/ Pisces rising means you radiates magnetic aura and looks angelic in your respective social media platforms. It can also mean people sees duality in your character.

💅🏻 Sagittarius rising peoples may be known for their direct and honest communication style. You may be enthusiastic about online learning, webinars and digital workshops. Can gain fame through travel vlogs.

💅🏻 Fama in 1st house/ in leo biggest Indicator of being famous. If you are not famous now , then I strongly recommending you to start something with your specialization area.

💅🏻Lilith conjunct descendant - people see your relationship as intense , passionate and potentially transformative. It can also mean others may find you mysterious and intriguing , drawn to your enigmatic presence.

💅🏻 1st house stellium - your online presence maybe complex , diverse, and expressive. You may posses a range of skills and talents that you showcase online , making you a versatile digital presence. Your online communication style maybe confident and engaging.

💅🏻2nd house stellium - your online presence is directly tied to your sense of self worth and value. You can have multiple streams of online income or a talent for manifesting digital abundance. You may possess a talent for digital entrepreneurship and innovation.

💅🏻3rd house stellium - you excel at connecting with others online, fostering meaningful relationships and collaborations. You quickly learn and adapt to new digital tools , platforms and software. You may have a talent for crafting compelling narratives and sharing them online. Great public speaker indicator.

💅🏻4th house stellium - you may prefer to keep your online life private and separate from public scrutiny. It can also mean being a well known healthcare specialist. Your online relationships with family members or close friends maybe incredibly strong.

💅🏻5th house stellium - you may have talent for creation of digital content, such as art music or writing. You are a natural online performer. Your digital presence inspires others , sparking creativity and joy. You may have a flair for online dating and digital flirting.

💅🏻 6th house stellium - you are a master of online time management, using tools and apps to stay organized. Your advice on maintaining a healthy work-life balance and prioritising self care resonates with many. You can start your health care blog / fitness blog, it can bring you fame.

💅🏻7th house stellium - your ability to connect with others online and build a professional network is exceptionally. You attract meaningful connections and relationships through online. It also indicates your relationship with your fs may bring some social media presence.

💅🏻 8th house stellium - your online guidance may helps others navigate life's darkest moments. Your talent for courageously adress controversial subjects online, sheding lights on sensitive topics can bring you fame. Your online presence can inspire others to embraced transformation and rebirth.

💅🏻9th house stellium - your vast knowledge in your specialized field ( higher education) can bring you strong online presence. Your digital presence can motivates others to pursue their passion and dreams. You can attract many foreigners through your strong online presence.

💅🏻10th house stellium - literally, your online presence can earn you widespread recognition and respect. Any Career field you are in , just work hard. You are skilled at maintaining a professional online image and reputation. Your online presence can offer valueable guidance and mentorship to others.

💅🏻11th house stellium - you can gain fame most easily through internet than others. Your digital expertise and adaptability can make you a leader in your own field. Your online engagement mainly focuses on making a positive impact and helping others.

💅🏻12th house stellium - 1st of all you are very creative. Your creative knowledge can literally bring you recognition through social media. Your online presence can embody higher status of consciousness. You can inspire others through your art , music or writing. People may see you as a literary "angel". Your aura is magnetic to others.

💅🏻 Europa(52) asteroid in 1st house can bring massive fame and recognition through social media.

💅🏻 populus ( 8647) in leo / 5°, 17°,29°/ in 5th house/ 1st house means so popular and well known in social media.

💅🏻 Mireille ( 594) in 10th house conjunct mc - easily gaining attention in social media platforms through your career. This asteroid can tell you in which area you will gain most attention from.

💅🏻 you can check industria asteroid (389) to check which profession/ career can bring you fame the most.

💅🏻 Glo ( 3267) in 1st house - the glo in your appearance can attract public.

💅🏻starr( 4150) in your chart can tell you where you shine the most.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~END~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading ❣️

- PIKO ❤️

[sayruq]

Gaza’s Civil Defense, in a statement released on 30 April, estimates that there are roughly 10,000 bodies of Palestinians stuck under the rubble since the beginning of Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The general director said that these missing bodies are not included in the death toll numbers issued by the Ministry of Health as their bodies have not been brought and counted in the hospitals. This brings the current number of Palestinians killed to over 44,000. According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med) numbers published on 23 April, the current death toll is at 42,510. The Euro-Med figures include those missing after being detained and forcibly disappeared by Israeli forces and those who have been trapped under rubble for over two weeks. The general directorate of Gaza’s civil defense said that it received many calls from people volunteering to remove the bodies of Palestinians from under the rubble to give them a proper burial. Al-Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif documented the efforts of civil defense crews which took on the task of recovering bodies from under the rubble. “Efforts by civil defense teams and volunteers began to recover the bodies of martyrs from under the rubble of their homes,” Sharif said in a video posted on social media from inside what remained of a building subjected to Israeli attacks late last year. “It is estimated that there are more than fifty martyrs under the rubble of the house.” Sharif continued by saying, “Civil defense personnel face great difficulties due to the lack of advanced equipment, which forces them to use primitive tools in search and recovery operations for the decomposed bodies of the martyrs.” Gaza’s civil defense said that with the methods it is forced to use to clear the debris, it will take two to three years to search through 37 tons of rubble

[makingqueerhistory]

Invitation: Making Queer History in 2024

The urgency around learning and uncovering queer history feels more present than ever. Queer stories are being suppressed globally, and much of that includes the queer community's long legacy. It is easier to erase a group of people when they are unaware of their roots. That's why in 2024, we are inviting everyone to make an active choice to learn more about queer history. That can look different for different people, but here are some suggestions:

Read queer books, there is a reason queer books are being banned. They are powerful tools to connect community, use them. Read them, request them from your library, support queer authors in these uncertain times. (The masterlist linked is an affiliate link)

Follow queer accounts on social media, if possible, social media is a regularity in many of our lives, and it's a great way to keep queerness and queer history present in your mind. Our social media are here on Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Sign up for newsletters about queer history, email newsletters are a lot harder to suppress with algorithms. https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/ https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/ https://www.glbthistory.org/newsletter https://arquives.ca/

Look for and record queer history in your local community, there are lots of city-specific queer history projects around the world, and they would love your stories. If you don't have stories, see if you can find some. Queering the Map is a great alternative if there is no queer center in your city.

Learn and share queer history with your friends, talking about queerness in history does more than spread awareness it builds a legacy for often forgotten figures.

Support queer history projects, queer history costs a lot of money to research. With academic paywalls, language differences, and active erasure, this job is not easy. Help queer history projects continue by supporting them financially.

As the year ends, most people start thinking about their goals, and many will be discarded as 2024 goes on, which is why I put a lot of options, both long-term and short-term ones, on this list. Almost all of them are immediately actionable, though. You can do them right now on your phone, and I encourage you to. A lot of people talk about the importance of queer history, but the active choice to preserve and uplift history is much rarer. Don't let queer history slip through the cracks, not when so many people are trying to sweep it out of the narrative entirely.

[mediaevalmusereads]

Baking Yesteryear. By B. Dylan Hollis. DK, 2023.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: cookbook

Series: N/A

Summary: A decade-by-decade cookbook that highlights the best (and a few of the worst) baking recipes from the 20th century

Friends of baking, are you sick and tired of making the same recipes again and again? Then look no further than this baking blast from the past, as B. Dylan Hollis highlights the most unique tasty treats of yesteryear.

Travel back in time on a delicious decade-by-decade jaunt as Dylan shows you how to bake vintage forgotten greats. With a big pinch of fun and a full cup of humor, you’ll be baking everything from Chocolate Potato Cake from the 1910s to Avocado Pie from the 1960s.

Dylan has baked hundreds of recipes from countless antique cookbooks and selected only the best for this bakebook, sharing the shining stars from each decade. And because some of the recipes Dylan shares on his wildly popular social media channels are spectacular failures, he’s thrown in a few of the most disastrously strange recipes for you to try if you dare.

***Full review below.***

Since this book is non-fiction, my review will be structured a little different from normal.

I've had this book for a while, but I didn't want to post a review before making a few of the recipes myself. I was already a fan of Hollis from his TikToks, so that might introduce some bias into my review - just so you're all aware.

Overall, I found this book to be quirky, easy to follow, and fun. I loved the bright colors and retro-feel to the photo shoots, and I appreciated that almost all of the recipes were accompanied by a picture of the thing you're supposed to be making. I also liked the blurbs written by Hollis himself; they very much felt like his voice, with his characteristic sense of humor balanced by his genuine love for baking and "old things."

Perhaps the most valuable part of this book, however, was the emphasis on lowering barriers to entry. I've read my fair share of baking guides that call for special ingredients or equipment, and there are a lot of recipes out there that are finicky and sure ton dissuade new bakers. Hollis's book, however, emphasizes that most (if not all) of these recipes can be done with basic tools - one does not even need an electric mixer (though it does make some recipes easier). There also aren't many fancy ingredients that aren't readily available at most grocery stores, so that also helps.

I do, however, have some minor criticisms which relate to the usability of this book. For one, the organization makes it rather difficult to find a specific recipe (or even category), particularly if you're like me and don't recall what decade it came from. While organizing the recipes by decade makes sense given the book's premise, it does make it more functionally difficult - you can't flip to the cake section, for example, and browse or put yourself within the general vicinity of the recipe you're looking for. Thus, readers will have to rely on either the TOC or the index a lot more, but this is a minor inconvenience rather than a huge drawback.

I also don't think the majority of the recipes are blow-your-mind good, but honestly, given this book's premise, I don't think that's the worst thing. The recipes are largely taken from sources aimed at home bakers, so you're not going to get professional-level pastries out of them. You will, however, get things that are fun and relatively simple to make, and they taste good enough to me that I'd consider making them multiple times.

TL;DR: Baking Yesteryear is a fine book for fans of Hollis's TikTok, but it goes beyond being mere merch. It not only provides historical recipes that are easy to replicate, but it also does a good job of lowering barriers to entry for new bakers. Experienced bakers might not be overly impressed by the recipes, but engaging with food history is a treat in and of itself, and it's delightful to see someone like Hollis engaging with the past with such enthusiasm and adoration.

[zvaigzdelasas]

A few years ago, I noticed that a number of factories in China had started opening TikTok accounts and posting footage from their assembly lines. The videos offered a rare glimpse into global supply chains, and millions of Western TikTok users marveled at teddy bears being stuffed with polyester fiberfill, machines dipping gardening gloves into hot liquified nitrile rubber, and quality assurance testers seeing whether cheap cigarette lighters worked. (My friend and former colleague Andrew Deck wrote a great story about factory TikTok for Rest of World in 2021.)

Since then, hundreds of other Chinese factories have joined TikTok. Some of them produce industrial equipment that would never be bought by normal people, like dump trucks or bottle labeling machines. And while the older factory accounts were often created by marketing agencies, these newer ones seem to largely be the work of earnest salespeople trying to find new customers. Many of them are relying on AI translation and text-to-speech tools, making the videos unintentionally sound very funny.

One of these manufacturers is a company called Donghua Jinlong, which is headquartered in Hebei province about 200 miles from Beijing. It sells “high quality industrial grade glycine,” a type of nutritional additive that evidently sounds silly and abstract to people who never need to think about how processed food is made. Donghua Jinglong and its glycine have become a relatively big meme on TikTok, Instagram, and X over the last few days, and some of the company’s videos are getting over 100,000 views (even though its official account only has roughly 4,400 followers).

Donghua Jinlong itself, however, doesn’t seem to have any idea what’s going on. People in the comments keep begging it to make official merch, but the company doesn’t understand why anyone would want a sweatshirt or t-shirt with the name of an industrial manufacturer on it. Shitposters have also started referencing the Donghua Jinlong meme in the comments of videos from other Chinese factories.

A company called HengYuan, for example, posted a video of what can only be described as a machine for filling Tide Pods, and one of the top comments is someone asking “Could you pack food grade glycine in this?”

Clearly baffled, HengYuan responded, “No. This is used to pack detergent in PVA Film.”

The Donghua Jinlong meme is a great microcosm of what’s actually happening on TikTok when it comes to content from China. Some people might argue that Chinese manufacturers are choosing to post on the app because its parent company, ByteDance, is also from China. In other words, these factories could be held up as an example of TikTok allowing Chinese influence to grow in the US (albeit a bizarre one).

But Donghua Jinlong also has a Facebook page with even more followers, it’s just that no one is engaging with its posts there. That’s because there are likely very few people searching social media for a new glycine supplier at any given time. TikTok, however, doesn’t rely on users to actively seek out content, it serves videos to them via an algorithm. So now tons of random people are coming across glycine manufacturers and Tide Pod machines by accident, and they’re happily turning the whole thing into a joke.

I personally find these videos to be fascinating, both because It’s cool to learn how things are made, and because they provide the opportunity to watch in real time what happens when random Chinese companies come into contact with American social media users. I don’t think this is the type of Chinese influence lawmakers are imagining when they worry about TikTok, but it’s arguably much more interesting and human.

[bob-artist]

Just found you via your funny dream comic. Good stuff 😆. Definitely gonna read the rest, and I was surprised you had your own website. Looks good on mobile too. I’ve got a comic that some friends keep trying to build me a site for but I’ve been telling them no because it seems like between webtoon and social media nobody is interested in personal sites anymore.

Have you noticed an uptick in engagement from your site? Would you recommend going that route? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

I’m also interested in how you decided to build/host it, if that question isn’t too lame.

Anyway, glad I found your comics!

Ah thank you for checking out Into the Smoke's website!!

Oh, I have SO many thoughts about independent webcomic sites and why people should have them. I have so many thoughts, and I'm so so sorry.

Why did I decide to have my own webcomic site?

First of all, this is not a lame question and I wish we could all have this conversation more often, so I could maybe write just a paragraph instead of this whole dissertation!

1. Because I lived through webcomics history.

I launched my first webcomic in 2011. I watched the webcomics scene shift over the years from self-hosted sites to third party sites, and I saw what it meant for independent creators. We lost vital infrastructure, relationships, habits, and control over our own work. I think self-hosted sites are an important backbone for creators, even if/when their largest *numbers* come from a third party site.

We’re all supposed to be helping each other, not fighting each other to satisfy the algorithm. Our early tools (webrings, link trades, comic databases, sharing each other’s posts) were small but meaningful, and they also helped us maintain a community mindset in a long and sometimes lonely line of work. When we started leaning on hosting sites, we let a lot of those tools and relationships decay. And now a lot of people are locked into imbalanced relationships with hosting sites that leave them with very little agency and control over their work and how it’s shared (or isn’t shared).

Hosting sites are great for removing barriers to entry (cost/time to build a site). And a lot of them have large built-in audiences. But the big ones aren’t run by people who care about creators. They’re designed to extract the maximum value from your work while giving you the least they can get away with. Use them if you want (I do), but don't be dependent on them.

2. Comics are the main thing I do for a living, and a website gives me the tools to promote my work and build relationships with my readers.

Most apps and third party sites actively prevent or suppress these things. On your own site, you can share all the info you want about your upcoming Kickstarter, your tradpub book release, your merch, etc. You can collect email addresses for your newsletter. You can literally just talk about your weekend, and you’re not gonna have a 150-character limit.

Yeah, not everyone wants to read a wall of text (ha ha...), but acting like a person reminds readers to treat you like a person. This is one of my main gripes with the apps and social media - they suppress human connection and present you like a cog in their machine that only exists to churn out free content.

3. I have a consistent home base and full control over how my work is displayed.

I don’t have to fight against an app that’s trying to direct my readers toward whichever content is most profitable for them. On an app, the readers “belong” to them, not you. (Who has their email addresses?) So if I'm putting effort into promoting my comic, I'm promoting my own site. (oh look, I just did it.)

Hosting sites/apps aren't designed to showcase your work. They showcase the app’s collection, and they're designed to keep readers on the app, jumping from creator to creator. This can help readers find you, but it also devalues your work and dilutes its impact.

And the app might not show your work to anyone anyway. Tapas is a great example; they recently redesigned their site to prioritize their Originals, and independent creators are hidden away in a “community” tab with barely any discoverability anymore. This is always the struggle on a third party site.

4. I hate censorship.

Into the Smoke is Teen 16/17+ and Demon of the Underground is R/18+. My comics aren’t even explicit, but I still can’t post my true, uncensored vision for either story on third party apps governed by Apple’s App Store and Visa/Mastercard’s tight content restrictions.

If webcomics exist exclusively on apps with heavy censorship, we’ll never have the diversity of storytelling and freedom of expression that’s necessary for groundbreaking or subversive art to happen. And that’s bad for everyone.

Adult brains need to engage with adult concepts. Difficult and triggering topics need to be explored in creative spaces. Artists need freedom to stretch their creative muscles without falling into the damaging patterns of self-censorship that come from having to tiptoe around arbitrary platform rules.

We can’t let the rules of like 3 American companies dictate what every webcomic reader around the world is allowed to read.

5. An independent website can’t easily be taken away from you.

Just make regular backups! You can always move to a new web host and redirect URLs if needed, and you won't lose your readers. On the other hand, you can easily lose the bulk of your audience on a third party site based on circumstances outside your control.

Let’s talk about Smack Jeeves, a formerly popular webcomic hosting site that was bought out and then shut down, leaving lots of cartoonists homeless. Or we can talk about the Tumblr NSFW purge of 2018, where I lost a huge chunk of my first webcomic’s following and most of my webcomic mutuals, even though my own account stayed within the rules. Or Musk buying Twitter, the platform where I once found my literary agent through a publishing event but now get no traction at all.

Have I noticed an uptick in engagement from my site?

I don’t have analytics on my site yet. But, up until a few days ago, that's where people were reading, thanks to my own efforts and the support of my comics friends and all of y’all who shared my ITS posts. (THANK YOU ALL!) I didn't have any discoverability on Webtoon or Tapas yet.

I got 10-15 new patrons between May 25 and June 5. Up until a few days ago, I even had more ITS newsletter subscribers than Webtoon subscribers.

What happened a few days ago is my Webtoon mirror suddenly blew up with 100+ new subs a day. I don’t know where I’m being featured, but I know I’m only getting those readers because Webtoon suddenly chose to grant me visibility. That can end just as instantly with an algorithm tweak or them deciding not to show my comic anymore. (When my first webcomic was in one of their pay programs in 2018, I went from $300 or $400/month to $0 overnight due to a policy change.) So I’ll enjoy it while it lasts, but I won't de-prioritize my website.

The new Webtoon readers are awesome and supportive, and I’m 100% thrilled to have them. But the Webtoon influx isn't resulting in a Patreon influx like my website launch did. I wouldn't expect it to, this early in the story. But it's consistent with my past experience polling my patrons: even when 50% of my readers came from the apps, 90% of patrons read on my website. (Your audience may vary.) And since I depend on crowdfunding for my comic, that's important to me.

Would I recommend going the route of having your own site?

For anyone who’s just testing the waters with webcomics, it might be overkill.

But for anyone who’s committed to their webcomic, I recommend having your own site AND mirroring on every third party site you can, provided you’re cool with their terms of service. It's important to meet readers where they are. Let those hosting sites lend you their readers. Some readers will even want to visit your home site where they can read ahead, read the uncensored version of your comic, get more info, or sign up for your newsletter.

Just remember, no one will discover your independent website all on their own. They’ll only find it through the work you put into promotion. But the reader that cares enough to come to your home site is a special type of reader.

So how do you get readers to visit an independent webcomic site?

Find your allies

These are people who work in similar areas as you who want to help you succeed, and whom you want to help succeed. Chat with each other, help each other, promote each other, boost each other, link to each other (psst, my links page just went live!), be there for each other - behind the scenes and in public.

God, I am SO bad at approaching people, but this is important, and not just for comics.

Be part of a community

Really, this is an extension of the above point. It's easier to find your allies if you're part of a community.

I’m a member of the Cartoonist Cooperative, and they’re a GREAT group of talented people all across the comics industry. The mission of @cartoonistcoop is to help create better conditions for comic workers through cooperation and collective action, and I’ve found so much help from them with Into the Smoke and comics as a whole. (JOIN! They're great!!)

The goal of the co-op isn't to drive traffic to your website. But being part of it has helped me at every level of crafting my comic, including promoting it and making it good enough that I can take pride in promoting it. And it's helped me ground myself as part of a community after I lost so much of mine in past years of burnout and platform enshittification.

Another option: @spiderforestcomics is a great webcomic collective full of supportive creators, and I believe they’re open to submissions till the end of June! They also have an awesome collaborative community mindset, and I've known some of their members for years.

Direct readers to your RSS feed and newsletter

Getting readers to your website is great, but they need to keep coming back for future updates, and it’s hard to remind them without an app notification. You may need to teach younger readers what RSS feeds are. Inoreader is a great RSS reader for the 2024 era.

The dreaded SEO

That’s Search Engine Optimization - optimizing your website so that people can easily find your comic via search engines. That’s a topic for another day, but feel free to research it!

Paid promo

This can be tricky, and I really only recommend spending promo money if you’re making a comic on a professional basis, because then it’s an investment you'll make back.

That said, Comicad.net is a great independent site where you can buy banner slots on other creators’ sites. I just ran small campaign myself. (And no, I won’t ever be offended if you outbid me!)

I haven’t bought any Tumblr Blaze slots, but I got BOPPed (blaze other people’s posts; apparently that’s what it’s called, lol) once on this account and once on a side blog, and both were highly impactful. (Thanks, friend!!) So I consider it a solid option, and it looks really cheap compared to other social media sites. (Never trust Meta.)

And where can you learn more about building a webcomic site?

I know you didn't ask, but if I'm gonna share all this, I might as well give folks a starting place to actually do the thing.

Now, I’m *bad* at offering cheap and easy web solutions. My specialty is hard and expensive. But my one piece of advice: PLEASE make your webcomic site mobile friendly for the current generation of readers! When we talk about barriers to entry, remember that more people have phones than computers, and many can't afford computers.

Anyway, here's some webcomic website resources from OTHER people!

The Cartoonist Co-op has LOTS of great resources on building webcomic sites! Several of them! Check them all out!

@screentonescast has a podcast episode on webcomic web design and one on RSS feeds!

@jeypawlik also has a great comic about how RSS feeds work.

So, congrats if you made it this far. Go make a website, y'all! And if you read any indie comics, go visit the creator's website!

[anneapocalypse]

I do actually think it's important to separate criticism of Bioware and EA's labor practices from speculative criticism of a game itself based on its promotional material. I think this because I believe the layoffs and insufficient compensation would still be morally wrong and worthy of criticism regardless of the game's quality. Dragon Age: The Veilguard could be the greatest video game ever made, a critical and commercial smash hit, and the layoffs would still be worthy of criticism and the workers entitled to fair compensation.

I don't think it's productive to conflate the two, or to suggest that the game will be bad because of unfair labor practices. You see the problem with that line of reasoning? If the game turns out to be great, then that whole argument is refuted. The quality of the game should have no bearing on our solidarity with workers.

So far as I am aware, the laid-off workers have not at this time called for an organized boycott. (Boycotts are one tool in the toolkit of labor activism, but not the only tool.) If you nonetheless believe you should not personally buy the game because of the layoffs, then I believe the quality of the game should not enter into that decision. If that's your conviction and you're sticking to it, I do respect that choice (with the caveat that playing a pirated copy and discussing it on social media is still a form of promotion of the game).

Given that a boycott has not been called for, I do think that it's valid to both plan to buy the game and expect to like it, and to voice criticism of the company's labor practices and express solidarity with the workers who made it.

If what you believe is that you won't enjoy the game when it comes out, and are making a decision not to buy it for that reason, that's also fine and a decision I respect. It's just a different decision than choosing not to buy the game as a form of labor protest.

If you believe that you will not enjoy the game, and you fully intend to buy it anyway, that's also a choice you're fully entitled to make, I just think it's a choice that you should own. Criticizing a product that you paid for is completely valid; we do it all the time in fandom. It's just not the same thing as labor activism. It's media criticism. These two things can have overlap, but they're fundamentally different activities driven by different motivations. I just think it's good to distinguish between them.

[sibelin]

How to find new goth music that you'll love : a silly tutorial for people wanting to find new dark songs to obsess about.

Okay so following my last post, I'm going to do a tiny tutorial on how I find new goth/post-punk/darkwave/etc music and bands with only two tools : Internet and a bit of free time. I can guarantee it's worth it, especially if you want to invest yourself more into the subculture. Supporting new and active bands is a must if you want to see the goth genre flourish.

(Sorry in advance, most the screenshots will be in french. And if there's typos, my bad. I did my best but english is not my native language!)

the "Similar Artists" feature.

Probably one of the easiest way to find bands similar to the one you already like is using a website that will give you similar artists. This feature is a common one on listening plateforms like Spotify (left) or Last.fm (right). I tend to prefer the Last.fm one because you can see what genres the artists are tagged with. This gives you way more informations about the band, its influences and why it's in the similar artist section in the first place. You can also click on these tags to find other bands or, even better, repeat the process with the newer bands you find to delve deeper down the rabbit hole!

Both these exemples are "similar bands" found on the Boy Harsher page.

2. Playlists and sets

This one sounds obvious but it's one of the most efficient method to find new music without putting too much work into it. The only thing you have to keep in mind is to be precise with your keywords. For exemple, if you want to find new goth music but don't like EBM, you'll have to type your research with keywords like "gothrock", "deathrock" or "synthpop" "darkwave", etc....

Personally, there is two plateforms that I use fairly often for this purpose but I'm pretty sure it exists on every listening plateforms, so feel free to use the one you prefer. For me, it's Youtube and Spotify. I tend to prefer Youtube because it's more like a DJ set, with someone picking a limited amount of songs and new releases and sharing them like every few months. There are several accounts that do this, you just have to keep an eye out for them.

The images featured are the first playlists that pop up when I type "goth 2024" and "post-punk 2024" in the mentionned plateforms.

Keep in mind that you won't like everything and that you can skip the songs until you find one that makes you bop your head dracula style.

3. Music labels and samplers

We're entering a more niche category with this one. So, you really like a band and want to find something similar or, at least, something with the same qualities (be it the level of production, the subgenres explored, etc). Well, labels can help you! A music label is a production or publishing company that usually have several bands to manage. Some bands, of course, do everything by themselves but for the others, it's a GREAT way to find new similar music.

You can find the labels by looking at a band's website, social media or, even more efficiently, by looking at the records themselves. Usually, the label name/logo is somewhere on the cover. When you find it, you can simply type the name of the label and find the artists that are associated with it.

A lot of labels have a strong presence on Bandcamp and do "samplers". These are basically playlists featuring the artists they publish. If you don't want to click on every artists one at a time, you can simply listen to a sampler and see if anything is interesting you before going further.

The images I have used are both labels that are producing goth, darkwave and ebm music. The first one is Artoffact records (ACTORS, Cevin Key's solo work, etc...) and the second is AVANT! records (Buzz Kull, Blind Seagull, etc...)

4. Touring bands and opening acts

GREAT! One of your favourite band is touring. Maybe it's a big band, a classic goth staple, or maybe it's a tinier band you already enjoy. Either way, it will probably have an opening act, maybe several depending on the dates. When I see a band I like announcing gigs, I usually check the other bands that are following them in the tour. They can be less famous or they can even be local bands sometimes. No matter if you can attend the event or not, this is a good way to stay in touch with the scene and what's being played in venues. You can also just check the scheduled dates in goth or post-punk venues, nearby or far away.

The big plus of doing this is seeing the amazing art some tour posters feature (illustraded here by Buzzkull/Kontravoid and Rue Oberkampf). If you follow bands or venues on Instagram (and other social media where bands actually post), they are seen fairly often in tour and dates announcements. You can also check tour dates on several websites like Songkick, Bandsintown, etc.... I always prefer following the bands and venues themselves, though.

5. Webzines (and other internet tools) We're going even more niche with webzines, something that will probably disappear in a couple of years but that thankfully still exist nowadays. Basically, a webzine is just like a magazine/fanzine but online. By looking up the right keywords, or even looking at webzines focused on alternative music in your area, you might find a great ressource not only to find new music but also to find gigs and events related to the subculture. I'd advise everyone to broaden their horizons when looking for webzines : as an exemple, the one i use fairly often to find gigs in my area is not only goth related. it's more of an underground culture thing which leads me to find non-goth events that I could enjoy too!

Of course, Webzines are only a little part of the iceberg. I am sure there are plenty of facebook groups, blogs, forums and newsletter that basically lead you to find the same kind of informations. On this side, you have to be ressourceful depending on where you live, what is the culture around you and also how safe it is for you to navigate in these spaces.

6. Word-to-Mouth, mutuals, etc... At last, we are lucky enough to be on a website that allows everyone to share links like Spotify, Bandcamp and so on. There are several accounts dedicated to share goth music. For exemple, there is @nugothrhythms who share modern and newer goth sounds or the more recent @gothlisteningclub which is a great way to discover and listen to goth albums you've never heard of. I won't plug my own sideblog but you know, do your research, find mutuals that actually put a bit of work into sharing music! And, of course, feel free to do the same! I hope this little tutorial can help some people to find new music. The internet is a fabulous tool to keep subcultures alive. If you put a little work into it, you'll soon discover great bands and maybe even find a few gigs to attend. Remember, stay curious, don't limit yourself and always expend your horizons with art! Feel free to add anything that can help people finding new goth or post-punk music : blogs, playlists, etc!

[northgazaupdates]

Journalist Hossam Shabat responds to a problematic article about journalists in the west being unable to reach Gaza. Hossam writes,

The biggest problem is not Western journalists being unable to enter, but the fact that Western media doesn't respect and value Palestinian journalists. My colleagues and I risk our lives every day to report on this genocide. No one knows Gaza like we do, and no one understands the complexity of the situation like we do. If you care about what's happening in Gaza, you should amplify Palestinian voices. We don't need Western journalists to tell our stories; we are capable of telling and reporting on our own stories.

Context under the cut:

From the very beginning, Western journalists have neglected the people of Gaza. They focused on how resistance actions have impacted settlers, and mentioned Gaza in only the most reductive of terms. But now, as the scale of atrocities by the IOF finally becomes too great for them to ignore, these same journalists are crafting a new narrative: ‘We didn’t ignore Gaza because we don’t care, or because it was politically convenient to do so. We just couldn’t get there to report on it.’

This is a lie concocted under the weight of ever-fickle Western guilt. They deflect their accountability for creating IOF propaganda by claiming they were kept from reaching the area. However, even more than a lie, it is an insult to Gazan journalists—those still living and those murdered by the occupation.

Gazan journalists often have contacts outside of Gaza who could help them evacuate, but they chose to stay. They chose to stay and document the genocide against their people, and did so at immense personal cost. Montaser Al-Sawaf was injured and lost 50+ family members in a bombing attack, before he was bombed again by the occupation and left to slowly die in the street. Mahmoud Ziad Aliwa and Mohammed Saber Arab are still missing after being kidnapped by the IOF while reporting from Al-Shifa Hospital during the latest siege. Eshak Daour lost his brother just a few days ago.

But as they tried to share their footage and words with the world, they were ignored, in north Gaza especially. The world had no interest in the words of Gazans, but especially if they were Arabic-speaking. Rather than undertake the relatively simple task of finding a translation for Gazan sources, or contacting Gazan journalists directly in English (of which many of them speak at least a little), they were flat-out ignored. Only English-speaking journalists with massive social media followings received any acknowledgment, and even then it was extremely minimal.

The journalists of Gaza have always been there, they have always been speaking out and asking others to simply share their words. The implication that only western journalism counts as “real” journalism is insulting, degrading, imperialistic, unprofessional, dishonest, and cruel.

This blog was created due to uplift the words of north Gazans, which were not and often still are not reaching the rest of the world. We will continue sharing from people in north Gaza, but we ask that you, reader, do so as well. Do what western journalists have refused, and uplift the voices of people fighting for their survival in all of the Gaza Strip.

Many journalists post partly in English, but for those that don’t, Arabic speakers will often leave English translations in comment sections. You can also ask for someone to do a translation in the comment section, and often someone will reply. If they don’t, you can copy and paste Arabic text, or take screenshots and upload them into Google Translate. These are not perfect tools, but they give you some idea of what is being said. It’s better than simply not listening.

[earl-grey-teacake]

so how are we feeling after that news.

I am not sure how I feel about everything since I just keep finding out more stuff and it makes me feel worse and worse. I’m sad, and upset, and it feels like a tinge of grief. Not for my own dreams or aspirations but for Logan’s. That being said, I will continues writing my Baby!Loscar AU and I will continue/ start my other Loscar fics. I feel like it is a tough time and I hope to make it a little bit lighter.

I think my biggest feeling is overall disdain and disgust for how Williams went about this. My biggest issue is the whole situation being portrayed as “Williams is a business, this was a business decision. No emotion here” Businesses are not faceless entities, they are teams of people. It’s why teams put a lot of effort in PR and companies invest so much in HR. They are comprised of people and we as spectators and fans also play a role in the business that is Williams. Fandoms are profitable, fan content keeps people engaged, and those who are engaged spend money. This decision has shot William’s PR and whatever goodwill they managed to achieve last year. Logan is a martyr in the eyes of fans and James Vowles has come off as a deranged man. For the past month, any comments to the media are either of him passive-aggressively calling Logan a failure or thirsting after Carlos in a way that makes me want to call HR.

This decision isn’t even a money decision either. They talk about the upgrades, and need for points but are putting their faith in a driver that is clearly being brought up from F2 too early. They are taking risks that genuinely make no sense to me and I am afraid it may damage this new rookie’s confidence on top of it.

I cannot tell if James Vowles is doing this because he wants to live a bit wild before Carlos comes, has a vendetta against Logan, or he is just off his rockers.

I am happy Logan is out of there though and wherever he goes, I go. I hope he goes to Indycar. This is not me seeing Indycar as so lesser sport where unsuccessful F1 drivers should go it. I have great admiration for Indycar and genuinely enjoy watching it more than F1. My wish for Logan to go to Indycar is for the general vibe and how friendly everyone is and for the fact that I live 3 hours away from a track and will absolutely take PTO to see Logan race.

Personal feelings are below if anyone wants to read them.

I got into F1 last year around September but really dove into it around the beginning of November. Logan was someone who never really stood out to me in the beginning but I began to notice him more and more around October and November and I couldn’t help but sympathize for him. I remember how anxious I was waiting for him to be re-signed and the relief I felt when it happened.

I wanted him to do well and succeed so desperately and as it became more and more apparent that James and Williams, were doing, I became a bigger and bigger fan of him. I know I’ve mentioned it briefly on here before but near the end of last year and the first half of this year, I was dealing with a toxic workplace and an abusive supervisor. As the months went on, the treatment towards me got worse and worse and so did Williams’s treatment of Logan. Our workplace started to mirror each other.

The remarks, the veiled threats, the passive-aggressive comments that points to the same message “you’re under-performing, you’re not good enough”. Most of all, the expectation to practically perform miracles with tools and equipment that was vastly behind the rest of the field. I know very well how heavy and oppressive the work environment must have been. I can’t imagine how awful it must have been to have to be doing it everyday, to have to perform for the public like everything is fine, and take the abuse from James, from journalists and commentators, and social media. I was already breaking under my supervisors treatment of me, I definitely would have snapped in Logan’s shoes. However, while my supervisor got kicked out of their position, Logan was the one who got kicked off the team. I do hope he takes the summer to enjoy himself and heal.

I feel so bad for him and I’m so upset at how I didn’t know this was his last race. I had Abu Dhabi planned out thinking that was going to be Logan’s last and now I’m just a bit crushed.

[arimiadev]

visual novel development guides

I compiled a list of my better articles on visual novel development & marketing to make them easier to find on my blog. I also included a few links to other people's articles and talks that are great!

This list is mainly for my own stuff and an up to date list can be seen here.

making visual novels

How to Make Visual Novels

Game Development Checklist

VNDev Wiki’s various pages on development

strategies for working with teams

How to Find Game Jam Teams

making game development backup plans

Releasing 8+ games (ft. game jams) and when to take breaks

marketing visual novels

How to Market Visual Novels

Marketing Fundamentals for indie game developers

Marketing Visual Novels FAQ

Marketing your first indie game — What we learned from releasing the same game twice. (a Scarlet Hollow devlog)

The stairstep approach to indie game marketing

marketing visual novels - social media

Social Media Marketing Plan Template + Marketing Funnel

Social Media Marketing for Indie Games – 2021 Guide

Marketing Visual Novels on TikTok

marketing visual novels - press

Visual Novel Press-Kits

crowdfunding

Underutilized Aspects of Marketing Visual Novels

Marketing your Visual Novel for Kickstarter

publishing games

How to Make Your itch.io Page Stand Out

Tagging Visual Novels on itch.io

additional resources

5 Free Tools For Indie Game Marketing + Bonus

VNDev Wiki’s various pages on development (seriously check it out)

DevTalk+ (LGBT+ friendly Discord server)

[charles-leclerc-official]

Formula 1 and Home Races - Disconnect between Marketing and Fan Expectations

Home races are a very exciting thing in Formula 1, for the fans and for the drivers. The teams make sure to capitalize on bringing attention to their driver and their home race.

But there is a problem with the way teams and fans think about home races. It leads to a big disconnect of expectations from the fans, and often leads to frustration aimed at teams or even individual drivers.

What is a Home Race?

A home race is a race taking place in the home country- sometimes even home city or region - of a driver. Not all drivers have a home race, but given the international nature of the sport there are often quite a few home races to look forward to in any given season.

For the drivers a home race is special. They get to be in front of a home crowd, show what they can do on track, make an exciting weekend for their home fans and even friends and family. These home races are usually more emotional as they are a part of a driver's journey in Formula 1. Winning your home race is often a goal of drivers who are lucky enough to have a home race on the calendar.

To the fans a home race is fun. It celebrates their favorite driver and also puts a spotlight on their country and city. Home races can really create a great sense of community between international fans and local fans. Fans also appreciate getting to see their driver have this more emotionally impactful part of their F1 journey.

To the teams a home race means two things: marketing and money. Teams do not really care about home races. Not in the emotional way they present. They use them for marketing if a driver on their team has a home race, they will take full advantage making them do more media leading up to the race, arranging special events, custom merchandise. One the surface it looks like they care, and they do, but only about the money and success than can be gained for the team. The actual race and outcome for the fans and the driver are second consideration.

The Disconnect

The final two points above are the disconnect we often see in Formula 1. Fans are very attached to the fantasy of a home race, the larger than life feeling, the emotional journey, the sense of real community. While teams are more concerned with money, they always have been and they always will be.

Teams are very good at marketing. They will make emotional videos, often filming their driver sharing their emotional journey. And fans naturally see this kind of content and believe that this emotional message from the driver to the fans is also shared by the team. When it isn't.

Teams aren't heartless, there are humans that care working behind the scenes. But the feelings are very secondary to the results and money. They are not going to do anything differently simply because of emotional impact for fans.

So what we often see is this setup of expectations from fans where a driver is “the main character” to the team for their home race weekend. And teams do a good job of making it appear that is the case on social media, they will often post more stats and pictures of the home race driver. But then teams don't give any special treatment to a home race driver on track and fans are left confused and sometimes hurt.

Because to a team it is a marketing tool. That's it. When the home race driver gets a result they lean into it more, hype of the mythology of the winning driver, the journey to winning it.

Make no mistake, regardless of the outcome teams see it as a marketing opportunity. Nothing more nothing less. Expecting more will only result in disappointment.

The biggest disconnect between the teams and fans is that there is the fan expectation a driver will get special treatment on track because it is their home race. That is not a reason to give a driver any kind of preferential treatment on track, it never has been and it never will be. The only thing that matters on track is a driver's performance, if they are fastest they will get priority, if they aren't then they won't home race or not.

Naturally this can lead to situations where a driver does not outperform their teammate during a race weekend, and fans are upset that the teammate seemingly got more support. When they didn't, teams run races the same way they always do regardless of location, the difference is the perception of fans due to the fact it's a home race.

The Press

The press also feed into this issue. They will naturally interview the home driver. They will run more thinkpieces on them, highlight their successes thus far, and naturally pull on the emotional weight of a home race. This is for entertainment. They know fans want to see the home driver so they give them that content.

And again this kind of spotlighting really skews expectations for the team's treatment of the driver on track.

All of this paints a very emotional picture that fans want to buy into, because of course they are attached to the home driver. However the fact it is all just entertainment and marketing is rarely clear.

I do not want to call fans stupid for “falling” for marketing. I do want to point out that teams never say they are going to give preferential treatment to a driver because it's their home race. The only reason they will do that is if that driver is faster. And if the home driver is faster they will say afterwards “we were happy to be able to help X win his home race that is always special” and people will think that meant special treatment was given, when again, it wasn't. The teams do what they always do.

I write all this to make people aware that this is marketing. As a fan I am emotional for my driver and their home race. I don't expect the team to care, and I try to take the content they put out for what it is, a marketing tool. It isn't a promise, it's to generate interest in the team and to sell team and driver specific merch.

Example

I want to examine the most recent example of this disconnect that has been seen with the Ferrari drivers. Both Charles and Carlos have a home race on the calendar.

In Monaco Ferrari made posts leading up to Charles' home race, he had the spotlight in the media.

On track nothing special was done for Charles. They ran the same program they intended to all weekend. Charles qualified on pole and won the race from pole. The important thing to note is that he qualified ahead of his teammate, that is the reason he got priority from the team, because he was faster, it did not have anything to do with the fact that it was his home race.

Ferrari didn't do anything different or special on track because it was Charles' home race. But because he won the perception that he got a lot more from the team is there.

Cut to Spain. Carlos' home race.

Ferrari do the same thing in the media, the attention is on Carlos.

On track nothing is different. Ferrari ran the program they had planned and no preferential treatment was given. Even the choice to upgrade Carlos' car first for a free practice session had nothing to do with it being his home race, it was about them wanting to compare data and they made the choice based on who was going to produce the best data with the older car model.

In qualifying Charles qualified ahead of Carlos. He was faster, and in the race this was also the case, Charles' pace was faster than Carlos. Ferrari did what they always do: support the faster driver. The softs they saved were for whoever was fastest. Charles was fastest. Carlos got no preferential treatment.

The only difference in these two weekends was not the way Ferrari treated either driver, they were treated the same on track. The difference was that Charles was fastest during his home race, and Carlos was not fastest during his. That's the only thing the team cares about, they do not care about the emotional impact of a home race unless the outcome is positive. If a driver wants to win their home race they have to be fastest. It's that simple.

I use Ferrari as an example here, but this applies to every single driver who has a home race. This goes beyond any one team and any given race or year.

So you can see how the media and team social marketing set up expectations for fans. They create this beautiful idea of a home race celebrating a driver. There is an implicit promise that the team care more about this driver for the home race weekend. The media draw attention to this driver, repeat over and over "how much this will mean for him" and fans believe it. Why shouldn't they? As a fan it's something people want to believe. But it is just talk. It doesn't translate to the track. And it leads to disappointment most of the time if the expectations are there.

Of course the few times a home race is won and we get that fairy tale ending the social media and press pieces feed into this idea that it's possible, that a team engineered the entire weekend to get a driver a win. When in reality the team just did what they would do any weekend to secure the faster driver the win.

It's healthy for fans to be aware of this reality. To be aware of the reason home races are valuable. And to know to temper expectations.

Conclusion

As fans have fun with a home race. Celebrate your driver's story and the country. However do not go into a weekend expecting anything special on track, that is setting yourself up for disappointment. The teams are here to win, not to fulfill narrative fairy tales. Understand that marketing does not mean anything about what a team will do on track.

[the-modern-typewriter]

helloo just wanted to know your thoughts on the recent tik tok commentary on “booktok” about how literature is being “ruined because of spicy books” and authors who cater to tropes I definitely see both sides!

Caveat: I don't have tiktok. I don't spend a lot of time on bookstagram either. So while I'm vaguely aware of the discourse, assume I spend most of my time blissfully unaware of everything, under my rock, writing my own little things.

Spicy books:

As with everything, there is nuance to be had. I don't think there is anything wrong with spicy books. There is clearly an audience for them and it's great to have books that recognise this desire! Western society can be weirdly puritan about sex and anything that challenges that get points from me. I've enjoyed the spicy scenes myself when they happen to miraculously meet the very specific vibes I personally like.

However, I also don't think every book needs to or should be pressured to be spicy and I personally get annoyed when I feel like spice replaces adequate plot or character development (which is something I've come across a few times in the last few years). I don't say this in a 'every sex scene must only be there to develop plot/character' way! I say this in a, oh my god, why has the plot stopped for sex in every chapter instead way. In a 'you guys used to have interesting conversations! why are you doing this to me!?' way.

But, you know. I'm not typically the target audience for sex scenes. So I'd just not read another book by an author who did that and let other people enjoy it, if that's what they're looking for. I still feel that there are still plenty of other books in the world I can read.

Tropes:

Tropes have and always will be a tool in writing. It's not new that writers are using them, but I think it's just a trend at the moment to be particularly upfront about them (especially in the romance genre tbh). Specifically, I think this is a marketing trend not a writing trend.

(Does trad publishing like books that are easy to market? Obviously. It's a business.)

I don't inherently mind this, because book marketing is really hard and realistically a lot of people don't stop to engage with original content or long descriptions about original content. Especially not on social media. Tropes are an excellent shorthand for conveying information/vibes, and then people can get more information and decide for themselves if they want to engage with the story.

(In a way, to me this is like when people add 'it's queer!' when they make me a recommendation. Does it make me more likely to go and look at the thing? Yes. Is it the deciding factor on if I actually read/watch/like it. Nope. It's just a quick flag for me to consider it and make my own decision.)

Maybe there are people who are specifically just writing tropes without much more to it...but I haven't really seen it in the books I personally read. At least not any more than the usual.

Some great books I've read this year so far:

The Luminous Dead By Caitlin Starling

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant

(They are all horror to some degree...I've been on a kick.)