#spamming here because i know tags show right under the post on mobile and i dont want anyone to see who doesnt want to 🤍🤍🤍🤍

[man-made-misery]

Tw for illness/death

[animelle]

how to grow your ac blog?

Sorry for taking so long with this! I wanted to gather my thoughts and give you somewhat of a solid answer. The truth is the internet is a very strange place and even if you do “all the right things” it doesn’t mean you’ll gain a massive following. Things definitely take time, and sometimes it’ll be more of a slow burn! Currently with the game being so brand new a lot of people are around so it’s definitely a good time! So some tips under the read more!

Disclaimer: I do not think I am all-knowing about this! I am just going to kindly answer the question presented to me with what I’ve found from being on tumblr since 2011 and having multiple blogs on this platform!

Proper tumblr tags are essential! On this platform tags with spaces are still read because when you use the “search” bar on here it will search through tags. So my tags for acnh are always: “animal crossing, new horizons, acnh, nintendo, ac” you can also try “acedit” which is a tag I don’t use personally but on my tv show blog the ‘edit’ tags were pretty prominent, not sure how many in this fandom check it

Set up a queue on your blog! Make sure you have content flowing at a constant rate, don’t spam people every time you get on (some people who only follow for a little bit of ac content might get annoyed and unfollow). So definitely keep your pace steady with content (yours & others)

Be interactive! If anyone on your dashboard is asking for help, or is even just making a text post, try interacting with them! Making friends is a great way to get yourself known in the community! And as you make friends, and get more followers, then people will start reblogging your posts!

Think about what you are postingl! Having really nice interior/exterior decorating and unique photos will really help put you on the map! Think about what people want to reblog, and try to post content to match! People like seeing really nice rooms, or beautifully terraformed islands!

Quality of your photos! It really pays off to try and figure out a nice way to get good quality photos! A lot of people use photoshop or other various programs to enhance their screenshots before posting them. And also the site http://waifu2x.udp.jp/ is used to enlarge and noise reduce photos if you want to play around with it!

Having a nice mobile and desktop theme is important! And having an organized tagging system. When I go to check out someone’s blog, the first thing I go to look for is “where are their original posts?” and I check their mobile/desktop themes. I like to follow people who produce new content! So being able to find your posts tagged as “mine” or some variation is very useful for finding this!

Having a nice url also does not hurt! I know that sometimes a url can be really eye-catching for people, and your icon! So it’s always nice to try and think about what someone might see when they see a post of yours that someone has reblogged, or what they might see if they stumble across your blog! You want it to always be something you think people might want to follow you for c:

I hope you find this helpful! And also remember to just have fun, this community is honestly a really good one to be in. c:

[cottoncandylesbo]

ways to make tumblr mobile smarter as a social media platform, aka: here’s how to make the site not shit

fair warning: this is a long post.

Fix notifications for mobile specifically; sort notifications by type, so that if I don’t want to be spammed with ‘no connection’ messages I can simply turn just those ones off, and not all notifications from the app.

Make sending/receiving asks way more organized; allow the search feature to sort a tag by replies to YOU, or simply put all replies to asks you’ve sent in your ask box, even if it was public. also show the sender AND replier on each ask in your inbox, because it’s very confusing as-is.

Don’t prioritize posts in the search function, especially not by popularity unless specifically requested, because the search function right now is completely broken.

Allow users to customize how publicly visible their group chats are- a group chat that only allows members to talk, but allows everyone to see, is basically a post and really doesn’t function as a group chat at all.

Let people search the site/blogs by a specific tag, not just posts that include a combination of the search terms, because as it stands the “search by tag” function is nonfunctional sitewide and blogwide, rendering it useless.

Fix the behavior of embedded tumblr links- clicking on a link in a post to another post just takes you to the blog of whatever was linked, instead of taking you directly to the post. This function used to work just fine in older versions of the app but has been broken for a while.

Fix the functionality of tumblr icons and themes; don’t force users to refresh the app’s cache to see a user’s new icon, have the app check for these things itself. many other social media apps do this with no issue, so I don’t understand how this problem has gone under the radar for so long.

Allow tumblr bios to contain links to posts or pages- possibly external sites, but for bot reasons I understand why that functionality was removed. Another layer of user personalization would add to the app’s value exponentially, though.

Allow users to see custom pages on a user’s blog- these pages could contain external links with much less risk, possible html or markdown support for custom pages, but the current text editor would work fine.

Allow users to send asks from side blogs. I have no idea why this isn’t a feature already, but it’s far overdue.

Customization options HAVE to be implemented to change the UI. It’s functional for right now, but the placement of the like and reblog buttons being, most times, RIGHT on top of the new post button is an inexcusable design flaw, which uses to be exclusive to the android version but was ported to the ios app as well. If users like this, it can stay, but at least allow the option to integrate the button with the UI bar at the bottom of the screen, possibly next to the messages or “my blog” button.

On that note, let users customize the buttons on the UI bar further. The app color changes were a great start, but users deserve the customization of, for example, having the inbox, activity, and other pages hidden within other menus in the app be more easily accessible with a single button press. Especially the inbox- asks are an extremely unique tumblr feature that shouldn’t be hidden within a different page!

Fix “read more” so that it doesn’t take you to the original poster’s blog, but can be opened on the dashboard. This is an extremely dated design flaw that has existed on the mobile app for an embarrassing amount of time.

Also let users add these breaks or paragraph elements to posts much easier- this is possible on desktop, but is missing from mobile.

Allow third party extensions. I understand the lack of support here, but dedicated software development communities already exist on this site- just look at xkit. They don’t necessarily need access to more crucial or vulnerable aspects of the app, but visual changes or UI changes created by the community are in no way threatening to the security of the app and shouldn’t be so heavily restricted.

Blog/post reporting system support. With the influx of porn bots, white supremacist and pedophilic blogs, there HAS to be a better system to report these things in a more organized manner. This could be accomplished really easily by just allowing users to report blogs/posts for specific reasons, instead of the broad “this is nsfw” or “this is hate speech” options available right now.

Tag filtering updates. Allow users to block specific words in a specific order, block words as part of a sentence/longer word, or more. Many sites allow this functionality by just adding an asterisk to the word blocked, allowing it to block tags which both contain and match the blocked term.

Let users view the app update changelog within the app itself so that updates are better understood. Many users that download and use social media apps appreciate the app itself containing a changelog and would better allow users to be aware of app versions in case of bug report needs.

DEDICATED IN-APP BUG REPORTING. With the population of the username on this app, bug testers are simply the users who use the site every single day. I’m positive that if reporting issues with the app was easier, there would be much less backlash against changes that aren’t bugfixes.

LET MOBILE POSTS BE EDITABLE WITH HTML, RICH TEXT, AND MARKDOWN AGAIN HOLY SHIT. Adding a read more to this post was a NIGHTMARE and it’s absolutely bonkers that these used to be part of editing or creating any post and we’re REMOVED!! THATS NOT OK, LET ME EDIT MY POSTS MANUALLY IF I WANT, JESUS CHRIST!

That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure there’s more changes that the app needs. Right now, if the quick reblog function wasn’t available, I would abaondon the mobile app altogether- that’s how poorly it functions. I’m positive any other mobile user would say the same as well. Please @staff , if you’re not going to fix/implement these changes, let others do it. I know tumblr doesn’t have many employees managing everything, so allowing user app extensions could help with this a lot. These are still really seriously himderances to the app’s function though, and I don’t believe the app will be used for much longer if these problems go unaddressed.

[rk800isalive]

hey, if you follow me please read my rules. I don’t have them for shits and giggles. They are there for a reason!  But you know if you can’t find them for any damn reason even though I’ve posted them like so many damn places I’ll post them under read more. 

Hey there dear! Here is all you need to know about this rper/ask blog!

updated: Aug 7,2019

 About the blog:

-I’ve wrote this a few times now on the blog but I am Semi-Selective and Mutuals only. I have a lot of anxiety or rping with to many people. I do open up to more people in time. Again, I rp for fun and as a stress release I don’t want to start making rping stressful.

-If I’m following you and you follow back. How do you know it’s me?? I send geckos and danger noodles. I’m very shy when first interacting so I send geckos on anon. It’s a way for me to 1) judge your muse and how they handle things. 2) It makes me feel better as a starter to say hello.

-This blog is a nsfw/sfw blog.

-I don’t rp with minors. I’m literally over 21+ I don’t feel personally comfortable with minors interacting or rping with me. Nothing against ya, I’m just not comfy with it. Other reasons are because I rp a lot of adult/dark themes and I don’t feel comfy with minors being around that.

-I’ll pretty much rp anything except anything NSFW with minors or anything NSFW with minor muses.

-I will unfollow if I feel like pretty wiggy about your blog. By this I mean, let’s say you post a canon call. Then you make a post complaining about people liking said canon call. I mean this like you do this a lot. I’m old and I don’t care and it comes off as wiggy to me.

-I do not accept or acknowledge hate to anyone of any kind on my blog, thank you. If I see it on my blog I’m going to delete it. This means I do not condone sending or receiving hate of any kind to others or myself.

-I also will add a side note to this because I can’t believe I have to do this. If I don’t accept of acknowledge hate that also means I will not send hate. I have not and will never do such actions.

-Muse =/= Mun. This means the Mun and Muse do not always share the same feeling or would act the same way. We are two different people.

-I do not rp with blogs that do not have at least an about and/or a rules page. I feel much more comfortable seeing those. I don’t care if your blog is fancy or if you have icons. Just these two things at least is important to me.

-I write to have fun! Rping is a hobby of mine and really helps destress me. Enjoy what you do and have fun with it! Don’t worry about replying right away, I’m chill with waiting.

-I don’t own any of the icons or art you see me use unless I have stated otherwise.

-Highly Selective to OC’s. I explain why further down in my rules.

Dos and Don’ts rules:

-Don’t take control of my character please.

-Please no GodMods.

-Do not guilt trip me into responding to you. I will block you.

-Also please be aware if you reblog rp with thislovelylady/ alannasroleplaymemes, or really any of this person’s blogs I will unfollow and block you. This is non-negotiable.

-Do not follow me if you follow any blogs connected to sinsofexcalibur/ giseinohana or really any of their blogs. If you do follow or interact with said person I will unfollow and block you. Nothing against you, I really don’t want to get into why this person makes me uncomfortable just understand this is one of my rules. This too is non-negotiable

-Don’t guilt me for calling you senpai. I say it in an I think you’re cool and want to be friends. Again I’m old. I literally remember when yaoi paddles were a thing. Not that I ever had one, but man oh man, do I remember them.

-Don’t come at me with hating on ships. You can like or dislike what you want. I just don’t want to hear it.

-If I don’t answer your threads or starters either tumblr ate it or I haven’t had time to get to it.

-Feel free to remind me to reply. Life happens and I’m also just ADHD so my attention span is crap at times. Just don’t spam me about it.

-I do not start drama, I do not like getting into drama, and as such I ask you not to tag me in drama. I like living my life as drama free as possible.

-If you are a personal blog and you reblog my threads you are not apart of I will block you. It’s rude don’t do it.

-Do not reblog ooc posts outside of posts that can say you can reblog. Or are posts like followers forever. Just…. literally think about it. If it looks like you are unsure you can message me. Just use common sense.

-Do not ask me why I have not followed you yet. Like that’s some guilt trip bull. If I haven’t followed you yet, I either a) didn’t see the notification. b) Saw you followed checked out your blog and you don’t have a muse, or rule page and didn’t follow c) felt wiggy about your blog d) I just didn’t notice you followed and haven’t seen your blog yet.

-Just because I’m not following you doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me. I’m chill if you send anons.

-I always cut my posts. Please cut yours. It’s not too hard to do there are like a million tutorials showing how to do so. If you don’t trim your posts I’m most likely going to unfollow you. There really isn’t any excuse as to why you can’t trim your posts. On mobile there is a giant X you can press. This is true on desktop as well.

-Do not reblog my threads unless you are apart of them. If you do I will block you.

-I’m not an rp meme blog, if you are not a mutual please don’t reblog the memes. Reblog it from the sources.

Triggers:

-The only triggers I have is Sharks (Realistic Images or video of them) and IV Needles. I just ask that you please tag them. It’s cool if you forget it happens.  Mostly it’s the needle bit that is the worst trigger. I have other trigger they are just very rare and very hard to hit. I’ll let ya know if you ever hit them.

-If you need something tagged just let me know.

-I will tag things if you need it tagged. I’m also an idiot and forget sometimes. Just slap me with a friendly reminder message and I’ll tag it for ya. When I tag things I always forget to tag things with ‘tw’ at the end.  Example rather then writing ‘gore tw’ I write ‘gore’. Again, I do this mostly because I forget to put ‘tw’ at the end.

Shipping / writing:

-I’ll just slide this in here too. I ship chemistry, if I feel the two muses are getting along and you wanna ship them I’m down. I don’t ship with minors. If you wanna have a family bond connection with my muse, smack dat message button and hit me up. I’m down for chatting about it and plotting it out!

-I ship Connor/Hank personally but this doesn’t mean every Hank my muse meets will want to jump their bones. Again I can’t stress enough how I ship chemistry. I won’t ship with anyone right off the bat unless you talk to me ahead of time and want to plot something out.

-If your Hank only sees Connor as a son, I’m totally cool with that too. Again I do not ship anything unless you’ve messaged me before hand. I just like chemistry between muses first.

-I will ship hate pairings, crack pairings, and just because pairings.

-If you want to ship with my Connor, hit me up. Again this is normally after we’ve been rping for a while. I’m for the most part chill about shipping.

-I have my own NTP I’m chill with talking about them. I’m also over all a very chill but weenie of new peeps person. Again I’ve been around a while.

-If you have a ship you wanna try out with my Connor slap that message button and I’m more than happy to chat it out. We can come up with an idea. But again I prefer chemistry first over shipping.

-I love to plot things out. If you have an AU you would like to try out I’m totally open for it.

-If you see mistakes in my grammar and spelling I am sorry. I tend to type fast and sometimes aren’t able to catch all my mistakes. Please bare with me on that and I’ll most likely edit my posts. Or more commonly I’ll respond with like little to no sleep in me and don’t realize I messed up spelling or used the wrong words or grammar till like the next day or when I post my reply and reread it. Again I have insomnia… most days I’m up till like 3-4 am. Not even lying there. Some days I sleep for like… 14 hours. There is little to no in between.

-I can and will rp dark themes. I love rping angst or pretty much anything. That being said, just be aware of my fear of needles. I will rp sharks just because I can’t physically see them. Writing about that doesn’t bother me just anything to do with blood work just … yeah.

-I write rather large posts when I role play. Don’t feel intimidated because you don’t have to match my post size. It’s just my thing I do. I only ask that if I reply with let’s say a paragraph I wish for at least a paragraph back. This doesn’t apply if it’s a crack thread. Those are just up in the air and fun.

-If your muse is an OC, from a different fandom, or if he never met you in the game and your  beginning message/thread/starter is acting like he knows you right from the get go and he doesn’t I might not answer the ask or thread. Just because sometimes it makes me uncomfortable unless it just fits or you have messaged me ahead of time.

-I also love the idea of my Connor viewing any of the Rk series as family. If you don’t see it that way hit me up and I’m chill with it.

-If the post is long or nsfw based I put them under read more.

Just things I didn’t really know where else to put:

-I am SUPER shy online. In person I’m a loudmouth who isn’t afraid of anything. So it takes me a good long time to message people to rp.

-I am one whole weenie. If you get geckos/ danger noodles (snakes) in your anon box. -dabs- dat be me. Trying to get over being a weenie one gecko at a time. I don’t what it is I’m just very very shy online.

-I call new peeps who follow me senpais till I feel comfortable to be not nervous.

-If I follow you 99.9% I probably want to rp with you. I’m also a weenie so I’m probably intimidated to message you if you wanna thread or rp. I has the anxiety…

-I’ve been rping for 9+ years off tumblr, +6 on tumblr, and about +4 years on discord.

-I tend to update my blog a lot because I want my blog to be the best that it can be in my eyes. Your blog doesn’t have to be this detailed or fancy looking I just hold my blog to a stupid standard in my head.

-Mun is 21+ and pretty much only feels comfortable rping with 18+ muns.

-I have Major Depression, ADHD, PTSD, Anxiety, and DID. I do have a blog for my system they probably won’t interact on this blog.  Please be aware of this as there are days I just… struggle.

-I am always tired, if I’m not tired I’m hyper as fuck.

-I read the rules and about everyone’s blog I ever follow. I feel more comfortable and more likely to rp with you when I see the rules and about pages. I will read about the mun pages too. This allows me to get a peak into not only your muse but who you are.

-OCs I’m so sorry I’m a bit picky at times. If I can’t picture my muse interacting with them I sort of just… Don’t bother. It’s nothing against your oc. I promise you that. I am just a little picky after being burned a few times.

-I do not have a password system mostly because I would forget my own password. But if you are reading all this and got all the way here, thanks!!

-I’m just here to have fun. I want to rp as a way to help my own stress of life. If you like my Connor, great! Thank you for liking him! If you don’t, cool, you don’t have to. I like all sorts of ships. I don’t really care about gender mostly because I myself am pan but I just don’t care. If two characters mingle well and feelings start to arise I’m more likely to ship it. You don’t have to like the ship. It’s cool.

-I am 28. I’ve been rping for a stupid ass long time. I’ve seen shit in fandoms come and go. I don’t care about drama, I don’t want your drama, I’m just here to have some fun. Cool. That’s gonna come off as mean… Sorry.

-I have the right to follow and unfollow who I wish. I also have the right to rp with whom I wish and whom I don’t wish. ( Though if I am already following you, I’m 100% willing to rp with you.)

-It takes me a while to respond to things. Again I want to make this clear, I have a lot of mental illnesses that just make me struggle most of the time. I deal with heavy insomnia. Sometimes I’m lightning fast with threads other times it takes me a bit. Or tumblr just decided to fucking yeet my god damn drafts again. In which case hit me up on dms like if I haven’t gotten to the thread after like two weeks. Most likely tumblr fucking ate it.

If you finished reading and you would like to know more about the Mun and the muse here you are!

The mun just click here. My muse click here.

[ouranking]

I’m on mobile. Can I get a link to your rules?

Hello my dear! My Rules page is a pop up so let me go ahead and copy and paste them and put them under a read more for you. <3 

RULES AND GUIDLINES

Hey there! My name is Luna! and you have managed to find my rules page. Please take the time to read over them. Most of my rules are the basic ‘don’t be a dick’ rules, so hopefully it won’t be too hard to get through. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me.

LAST UPDATED: 09/17/2018

ABOUT

This is a Tamaki Suoh blog from Ouran High School Host Club. My interpretation of him is based on the anime and manga so please expect me to incorporate things from both! I will also be throwing in the flare of my own headcanons into the mix, so please expect that.

I am SEMI-SELECTIVE blog. What this means is that I am reserving the right to decide who I want to roleplay with at any given time. I do this for my anxiety sake, and I don’t ever want to roleplay with someone out of guilt or obligation. All I am asking is that you please respect this, I have a hard time with confrontation, but I am not about to be bullied either.

My activity often varies day to day, there are some days that I’m on all day long, and other days where I don’t touch my computer at all. I’m a stay at home mom, and sometimes my children don’t exactly make it easy to actively be online. I also have other hobbies like video games, and sometimes I’m just in the mood to binge watch a show rather than trying to do drafts.

DRAFTS & MEMES & OPENS & VERSES

When it comes to DRAFTS, and replies I want it to be known that I am not fast most days. I have my good days and my bad days when it comes to writing, and even on my good days I’ve been known to queue things if I feel like I need a chance to get caught up. I ask nicely that you don’t harass me for a reply, though if it has been over two weeks you can kindly ask me if I’ve seen your reply because sometimes tumblr can be dumb, or I can be spacey.

Anyone is allowed to send in MEMES, however I reserve the right to decide not to answer it for whatever reason. You are totally allowed to turn any meme I answer into a thread, AS LONG AS YOU MAKE IT A NEW POST.

Along with memes, anyone is allowed to reply to one of my OPENS or like one of my STARTER CALLS. The only time this changes is if I specifically tag it as 'mutuals only’, and I ask that you please respect that. Though I do try to write everyone a starter or make sure I answer everyone’s reply to an open, I’m not perfect. I may miss one or two, or I may not be able to come up with something decent.

I am a multi-ship and multi-verse blog, and what this means is that any and all interactions I have with fellow rp partners are all in their own separate verses. Unless discussed ahead of time by all parties involved. I love all forms of AUS and CROSSOVERS and most of the time am more than willing to figure out something with my rp partner if their character isn’t from the Ouran canon. Especially since Ouran isn’t exactly an active fandom, i plan on making plenty of different possible Aus for Tamaki to make him more accessible for crossovers!

SHIPPING & PLOTTING & MAINS & NSFW

When it comes to shipping, I have been often times described as a shipping hoarder. I am also someone who can see a potential ship quite easily. However, I’m still a fan of chemistry between characters. I am of course always willing to hear someone out of they think there is a chance that a ship can be formed, however this does not give anyone the right to push their muse onto me or Tamaki. Please respect this. If I think the ship feels forced in any regard there is a good chance I will drop it.

Plotting is a team effort, no one person should be expected to come up with the entirety of any plot. With that being said, if you approach me for plotting, or like a plotting call, please be prepared to actively engage with me and work with me to try and come up with something for our characters. If it seems like you are unwilling to actively help me out then there is a good chance that I will lose interest and give up altogether.

If you are an ORIGINAL CHARACTER looking to interact with me I am totally game! The only thing I ask is that you have at least some sort of about page so I can read up on your character, or be willing to answer any and all questions I may have about your character.

When it comes to nsfw content such as roleplaying out a sex scene it goes without saying that I will only write such things with someone who is 18+, even then I rarely ever write out sex scenes. This is honestly because I feel uncomfortable and am never satisfied with my writing. However I do still write it from time to time with people I know ooc and am comfortable with and those threads will be tagged.

Another added note about NSFW content is that there will be no sex scenes happening within Tamaki’s main verse because he is still a minor by U.S. Standards and since that is where I live I’m going to abide by that law. HOWEVER. I have verses where Tamaki is over 18 and am more than willing to discuss such things in those verses, though like i said before I rarely ever write sex scenes to begin with.

I rarely do exclusives, the reason being that every time I was involved exclusively with someone it went to shit and only caused problems and unneeded drama. I will however take on mains and all that means is that muse permitting those people will have priority, along with having to deal with my ass sending them songs, feels, memes and writing them random starters from time to time.My current mains can be found in the next tab over titled 'mains’.OOC DRAMA

Alright here is the dealio my friends.

I am not a fan of OOC Drama, i’ve seen my fair share of it and i’m just not a fan. With that being said, I want to be left out of it. Whatever the drama is, just leave me out of it all. I’m not a fan of callout posts in almost every capacity. I think they are beyond childish, and scream ‘high school drama bullshit’, like it’ a goddamn burn book and no one needs that shit okay? Dragging your personal beef with someone like that is just.. -deep breath- my point is, I don’t like it.

Obviously i’m not a fan of anon hate, and I won’t tolerate it on this blog at all. You can expect them to be blocked immediately. I am here to have fun writing a character that I love with all my heart, and i’m not about to let tumblr’s toxic nature ruin that for me. So please if you have a problem with the way I run my blog then just unfollow me, or even block me if you have to. I’ll do what is good for me, and you do what is good for you.

Also, don’t warn me about people. I know you probably think you are just doing something nice and looking out for people. But more often than not, you are just putting me in a really uncomfortable position that I don’t want to be in. So do yourself a favor and just.. Don’t.

MISCELLANEOUS

For the most part I am a relatively laid back person, I love to chat with my roleplay partners OOC, because a lot of time that helps me get to know them and it just helps for world building and creating something truly amazing together. With that being said, if we are writing together, especially if we have a ship.. I can be a babbler. I tend to get excited about ships and the things we plan to do and i love talking headcanons and ‘what ifs’ situations that can be created into plots. If this is something that bothers you, or you aren’t a fan of it? Tell me up front. If it’s the case then I’ll refrain to a pace that you are more comfortable with. I say this because if you say you are okay with it, and then proceed to.. give me short answers and make me feel like you aren’t interested, I will probably drop the ship because my anxiety can’t handle that.

Another thing to keep in mind, I have anxieties myself. Sometimes I don’t click with people as easily as I do others and that’s okay! However please remember that I’m occasionally busy and I may not always be around and on my computer. Sometimes I am forgetful, especially with the tumblr IMs system. However please please don’t spam me there with questions of like ‘did i do something wrong?’ or ‘ am i annoying you?’ etc. this makes me extremely uncomfortable and make me more likely to just nore reply at all as horrible as it sounds, but anxiety is a bitch and no one is perfect.

When it comes to following blogs, I do my best to look over new followers in a timely manner and a lot goes into my decision on whether or not I’ll follow a blog back. Please keep in mind that I obviously can’t follow everyone back because that would make my blog way too fast pace and I can’t have that.

[alilybit]

Steam Scam Documentation

improved readability + table of contents on my website: https://phal.io/hackers/stean (free easter egg included!)

——————————————————————————————

TLDR – What To Do

Prevention

- Never sign in using Steam anywhere unless it’s a well known site that you navigated to yourself, preferably by manually typing the URL into your browser and saving that URL as a bookmark for later, NEVER sign in on links others sent you, even your significant other whom you would trust with your life because their account could be hijacked or they don’t know they’re sharing a malicious link

- Optionally send the link to an internationally approved computer expert you trust (me?)

- When you confirm trades in the app, always double check both trade contents AND the person you’re trading with (level, friend date) because hackers can automatically replace outgoing and incoming trade offers to go to a different account with the same name and pfp as your original trade partner

When It’s Too Late

- Warn your friends not to click on any link that might be sent on your behalf, check active chats for messages you didn’t send, send/tell them this

- Change your password (if you use your Steam password elsewhere, change those as well, you should be using unique passwords and a secure open source password manager like KeePassXC)

- Log out all sessions in the Steam desktop client by clicking on your name in the top right corner next to notifications and navigating to account details -> account security - manage Steam guard -> deauthorize all other devices

- Open https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey in your browser (if you don’t trust my link, which you shouldn’t, simply find out if steamcommunity dot com is the real domain for Steam and then manually type the complete link into your browser), revoke any API key there is if you haven’t created them or don’t know what they are, if you did make them replace them

- Optionally report the link at https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/?hl=en to make all common web browsers display a warning before loading the malicious site

(Source + further info: https://forums.steamrep.com/pages/hijacking/)

When a Friend Sends You a Malicious Link or Acts Suspiciously

- Try to contact them somewhere outside of Steam and send/tell them this to save their account and to prevent the hijack from spreading further through their friends list

- Warn their friends

Pro Tip

The interwebs are full of malicious links/downloads, even/especially search engine results. To make sure you get the proper installer for programmes/the proper link to log into/purchase something, ALWAYS use the Wikipedia Technique™:

- Open wikipedia.org

- Search for the programme/site/shop/whatever

- Look for the website link either on the right in the summary box or by navigating to the external links section at the bottom

——————————————————————————————

I will now describe and show how a friend of mine had their account hijacked. I’ll also keep adding other forms of scam attempts to this post/site as I come across them so you can look at examples and be prepared for when it happens to you.

——————————————————————————————

Incident 1 – Can You Vote for My Team?

It was the night before my first vaccination. I was still doing something on my PC, I don’t remember what, even though it was past bedtime, when I got a message from a Steam friend. I’ll call them Ingeborg. My brother, Ingeborg and I had met a month earlier on a TF2 rocket jump server and we added each other. We played together a couple more times but beside that I didn’t know Ingeborg that well. You can see the chat from that day in the images below.

The first cropped message from Ingeborg at the top is “hey u free rn?” or something. I assumed they just wanted to ask about playing a game of TF2 with me, as it has happened before. When they dropped the question about voting for their team and getting keys in return, I didn’t know what to make of it. I didn’t know of any competitive team they were in and I also didn’t know Ingeborg well or that alleged tournament at all. It also didn’t seem like they could just throw expensive keys around. I took some time to process the information and to think about what I should reply, but Ingeborg didn’t leave me much time to think, following up with “?” and “u here”. So I asked, feeling stupid for not knowing what they’re talking about.

Then, they also set a time limit of less than 30 minutes and kept asking why I’m not immediately replying or “voting”. I have to admit, I nearly fell for it. I want to help people and I can’t think clearly under pressure, especially when it involves other people. And, for the Permanent Record, I of course wouldn’t have taken anything in return for helping a friend. I wanted to tell them that but they didn’t even give me the time to type that. I had already put my name and password in the form, after a lot of thinking, but something prevented me from pressing enter, it just didn’t feel right. I had even briefly searched the web for that tournament and didn’t really find anything. But what finally made me realise that there is something wrong and what made me think clearly again was the border and title bar of that alleged pop-up window. (Edit: Thanks for 1 likes. I compared genuinely signing in through Steam on scrap.tf and it did not open a pop-up window, it simply completely sent me to steamcommunity.com. I guess that means pop-up Steam sign ins are always fake.) I already tried clicking on the HTTPS information earlier which didn’t work for some reason but which still didn’t make me 100 % realise that this is a fake site. Until I noticed that the title bar is a Windows 10 default light theme title bar. I’m on Linux and I use dark themes, the title bar should look completely different. I tried moving the window around and it moved choppily and I could only move it within the Firefox window. I checked the source code and it was true: It was merely an iframe within the site that contained a fake Steam login form from a different URL that’s not steamcommunity.com. This is the site in the iframe:

As you can see, it’s the Steam login form, but the address at the top is not a Steam address. I took a look at its source code and found that it was a lot longer than the original and also contained a lot of dialogue lines about removing the Steam mobile authenticator. This apparently didn’t come up when actually putting in password and username, but you should look out for fake sites telling you to remove your authenticator, they could get complete access to your account that way.

I confronted Ingeborg with this and they stopped replying. But they didn’t immediately remove me from their friends list, like that one time I was actually scammed. I wasn’t sure what to do now. Was Ingeborg really a scammer? Was everything we did together so far just to gain my trust to scam me? Like that one time I was actually scammed? The funny thing is that out conversation before this was about scammers. Some usual random scammer put a usual comment on my profile and Ingeborg warned me. But I believe in the good in everyone and I didn’t want to just assume they were a scammer without making absolutely sure. I thought about what else I knew about Ingeborg. They gifted my brother some items because he barely has any. They invited me to their Steam group. They subscribed to me on YouTube and put my channel on their home tab. Coincidentally, earlier that same day, I also took some time to take a look at their YouTube channel and subscribed. So I thought that me subscribing to them was the sign they were waiting for, signalling that I trusted them enough to fall for the scam. I checked their channel and I was still on their home tab and subscriptions. I checked their Steam group and was still a member. This convinced me that there really is a possibility that this wasn’t actually Ingeborg trying to scam be but that they’ve also been phished and someone else is now trying to also gain access to their friends’s’s accounts.

Ingeborg’s friends list and profile comments were now set to private, so I couldn’t comment or directly message their friends to warn them. But there was the Steam group. One other member was online, one with a Pokémon profile picture and I believe I also remembered noticing them on Ingeborg’s friends list because of the Pokémon theme. So I put a comment in the group and added the Pokémon person, who unfortunately had their comments disabled as well, so I put an explanatory message into my profile to let them know why I’m adding them. I warned them and asked them to tell Ingeborg that someone has access to their account, should they know Ingeborg better than me. On YouTube, Ingeborg had their Discord name listed. I tried to add them but friend requests were disabled. There was also an Instagram name. I technically don’t have Instagram but I made a test account a while ago to test a YouTube scam comment with a link to an alleged Instagram password hacking site. I logged in with that account, changed my profile picture to my real one, added an explanation to the bio and added Ingeborg. But they didn’t react. So I wrote a comment on a YouTube video. I think it took three attempts for the comment to pass the automatic spam filter. It could of course also have been Ingeborg deleting my comments exposing them for being a scammer. But the third castle stayed up. And a while later, they actually responded. I then tried to tell them to add me on Discord, that also took many attempts and extremely careful wording to get through. Not even my Discord tag with numbers spelled out and 1447 speak, as Jeremy 900 800 500 would say, went through, but a carefully camouflaged link to my website did. By then, they also messaged me on Steam, asking for help and asking me to temporarily take their valuable items to secure them. I told them to add me on Discord so I know it’s actually them I’m chatting with. As it turned out later, it was really good that they didn’t trade me their stuff.

Apparently, Ingeborg wasn’t home at the time and only had access to their phone. And they allegedly fell for the exact same scam a day before. The obvious first thing that had to be done was changing the Steam password. But it seems that the password can’t be changed in the app itself. So I had the idea that Ingeborg could log into Steam on their phone’s web browser and change the password there, which worked. We kept chatting and I kept researching. I still wasn’t sure if this was still part of Ingeborg’s ingenious plan to regain my trust to scam me again, but I believed in them. Eventually Ingeborg got home, and I stayed awake gladly until 3:47 in the morning, I… I sang as time went off. Because as long as menly men like me are prepared to give their time, a flower grows. And that flower, that small, fragile, delicate yellow flower, shall burst forth and defeat interwebs criminals. On the “next” day, the vaccine had a side effect of making me a little tired. Strangely enough, that side effect already started before the injection itself.

I also kept thinking about what the actual purpose of this series of hijacking accounts is. Ingeborg’s Steam wallet and inventory seemed to have been untouched but there must be some way for the criminals to profit off of this, if only to pay for the costs of the website and domain. On Vaccinator day, I finally found an article on https://forums.steamrep.com/pages/hijacking/ that explains it. When you give them your password and current authenticator code, they obviously get access to your account, but you still have the authenticator, so what they can do is limited. Apparently, they use the opportunity to create an API key that allows them to keep accessing your account even after you changed your password and they use it to immediately replace incoming and outgoing trade offers with ones that go to a fake version of your original trade partner with the same name and profile picture. You might then not notice the difference when confirming the trade in the app and give them your items, unknowingly and without them having to have access to or remove your mobile authenticator. A brilliant idea. You might as well check if you have any API keys which you usually shouldn’t, the details are explained on the steamrep link and in the “when it’s too late” section at the top of this piece of medium literature.

And the moral of this story: Always be careful, educate yourself on how they trick you and on digital security in the sense of safety, never assume you won’t fall for it, don’t shame people who fell for it and don’t feel ashamed if you fell for it. And always have an internationally approved technical support character on your team.

——————————————————————————————

Incident 2 – Simply Building Trust AKA Social Engineer

We write the distant year of 2016. Two… œ… six… one. Oh, I’m an idiot, I held the pen upside down. Never mind. I don’t recall the incident in as many details, but I still know the most important things. It started on a TF2 tdm_hightower community server, rocket jumping and Market Gardenering around. I don’t remember exactly how one of the other players started conversing with me, I just remember that they, I’ll call them Wincohn, added me, chatted with me and wanted to trade one of my items that was not yet tradable. We chatted over the course of multiple days. Eventually, we also chatted about bad things that happened in our pasts, like the divorce of my parents and how their dad allegedly died when they were young. And we comforted each other. They also asked me if I was religious at some point, I guess because religious people are easier to scam. When I took a look at their inventory, I saw TF2 competitive matchmaking beta passes. I don’t remember exactly how that worked, but I was excited about matchmaking and you could only get in if you have the beta pass item, but having it also gives you some invites to give to other people. So I offered to take a beta invite in exchange for the item they wanted. My item, a festive Rocket Launcher was still not tradable though, so they offered me to temporarily give them something else and they would immediately give me a beta invite. Since the beta invite is not an item, I had to trust them they would actually invite me in return. We were on the aforementioned community server again and they agreed to make our trade public to the server members so they could witness it and report one of us, should we not keep our side of the bargain. So we opened a trade and I gave them one cosmetic drop I didn’t need, one cosmetic I used and two non-strange festive weapons so I don’t lose my stats, which were apparently in total about equal in value to the Rocket Launcher. Right before the trade went through, they left the server, which I only noticed when the trade window closed. And they removed me from their friends list. No beta invite. I told the others on the server that we traded but he left before it went through and he scammed me but nobody cared. The chat where we agreed that I would get a beta invite was also gone. I lost my items and I didn’t even have proof that it was a scam and not just a gift or tax dodge. Steam rightfully doesn’t return scammed items, because the scammers of course immediately sell them and taking them away from the buyer would be unfair for them and giving the victim a duplicate would be easily exploitable, but getting them banned would at least prevent further scams. The worst part, though, is that everything they told me was a lie and only served the purpose of gaining my trust. Fascinating.

After it happened, I was of course sad and angry. But only temporarily. I don’t hold a grudge against them, I’ve long since forgiven them. Quite on the contrary, I’m even thankful because I didn’t lose that much virtual material value (like 3 $) and it was a valuable experience. I only hope that they have changed since then and don’t do this anymore. The comments on their profile are disabled to this day, not the best sign. They also don’t have a Steam or third party ban. Either them scamming was not a common occurrence or nobody was ever able to prove it.

——————————————————————————————

Incident 3 – Wanna Join Our Tournament Team? (Incomplete)

I got another one of those friend requests on Steam from a suspicious looking profile. One of those that have TF2 comp stuff in their profile description. This time, I accepted it to see what they would do, to document more methods used by interwebs criminals.

This account had 1200 hours of TF2 playtime. So it looked like they’re an actual player, or maybe a hijacked account. Their inventory was public as well, but nearly empty, not even regular weapons or anything. They were playing TF2 the entire time and when I checked the server they were on, it always said no server. I guess that means they just have TF2 open the entire time to farm playtime that is publicly and prominently displayed on their profile to appear like a real player.

I tried to go along with their chat but it didn’t go well. I even prepared my long unused Gibus Cap Discord account that I used to use to test roles on our server. But apparently, I asked too many questions. I was too eager to get a nice phishing link into my net. After that last message, they removed me from their friends. Next time, I won’t ask questions.

[surflove808]

Fan Wars:  A New Hope.  Damnit.

I sure do hope you like reading lots of words!!

Here's the remix (Edited.  Longer.  Angrier.  Yay!):  I’m about to get all fire and brimstone up in here.  I apologize in advance.

Regarding my blog post re:  The Joke Debacle, most everyone has been so thoughtful, mature, kind and open minded about the discussion matter, even if they didn’t necessarily agree with me.  So that right there, shows me that it’s possible for all of us to be more understanding with each other regardless of our ships or faves or whatever.  And I’m an open-minded, open book, so even if you don’t agree with me, this is a safe place to vent concerns or frustrations with what I say.  We can all respectfully disagree, meet in the middle or go just back to our own corners.  Whatever.  

I'd like to encourage those of you who are taking your frustrations out on anyone who agrees with points made in my article (on Twitter or wherever) to come speak directly to me if you have an issue. I wrote it, after all.  My blog is helpfully linked right there in the article.  I don't bite. And for those of you who aren't overly familiar with what's going on, please check out the many, many comments attached to my actual blog post, and you will be able to see that there are far more people that are fed up with these bad apples, than there are bad apples.  I hope.  And if there are apples that don’t feel like they’re being given a fair shake, I’d like to hear from those apples too.

When I posted my angry rant last week, I didn’t expect it to gain so much traction.  But it did…and it showed me I wasn’t alone, and that there are a lot of fed up fans out there, and justifiably so, who are looking for an end to this ridiculous inner-fandom civil war.  I'm relatively new to Tumblr. I wasn't expecting to become the unofficial mouthpiece for this issue.  

I was approached by movietvtechgeeks.com asking if they could use my blog post in an article about the cyberbullying that’s happening in this fandom, so I said “Sure!”  I’m honored that someone would want to print my rambling.  But of course, it’s also opened up the floor on Twitter, yet again, for certain people to deliberately misconstrue the content and twist it to suit their own agenda in the comment sections.  What they fail to realize is…they’re only proving why we needed this article in the first place.  So, joke’s on them!!  However…. now I feel obligated to come on here and clarify my intent and that’s friggin irritating.

Here is the article if you want to take a looksee:  https://twitter.com/movietvtechgeek/status/927578926397952000

I NEED TO MAKE A FEW THINGS CRYSTAL CLEAR (apparently):

1.  I don’t have a ship.  I don’t dislike shippers.  (Ship away!  I just dislike pushy people with no sense of boundaries)  So please do not misconstrue anything I say as promoting or denigrating *a* ship. You do you.  Let me do me.  Well, that sounded vaguely dirty… you know what I mean.  I’m just gonna ship me with myself now.  Nobody can love me quite like me.  

2.  I don’t stan an actor, and I don’t think that because someone likes “another” actor (whomever that might be) more, that it’s a direct affront to me or them.  I tag all these "relevant to the post” actors because I think they’re all relevant to the success of this show, and sadly….also to this juvenile ridiculousness that seems to be brewing between fan factions.  

But, if I’m being honest?  Full disclosure:  I do have a favorite!  Jensen. Heyyyoooo!  I think he’s an incredibly talented actor IN MY OPINION, and I like his extraordinarily expressive face. See?  Simple as that.  Is that a problem?  And do you feel better now that it’s out in the open? 

We can all have opinions, and favorites without “throwing feces like howler monkeys” to quote a certain dickhead angel.  And as far as personalities and talent go?  They’re all amazing, and they all belong, IN MY OPINION.  The main cast, the supporting cast, new castmates, former castmates…. they all just…gel.  You know?  It’s some kind of voodoo magic.  And they’re by all accounts, really decent people doing good things out there in the world.  Without any one of them, it wouldn’t be the show we all know and love.  And if you don’t love the SHOW, well….I guess fucking go watch something else?  Right??  

Listen....Unless you’re tied to a chair Clockwork Orange-style, and being force fed this show by some evil, covert government agency… you DO have other choices.

3.  I sucked it up and joined Twitter because there seems to be an attack dog, hive-mind situation happening that seems hell bent on cowing people into submission.  That shit doesn’t fly with me.  And if I’m on there and see bullying, damaging misinformation or harassment… I’m going to get in the fray.  But I’m going to TRY to do it with honesty, integrity and a sense of humor.  I want to sit at the adults table on Turkey Day.  Not at the kids table with Weird Uncle Augustus.  Know what I mean?  Don’t be that guy.

AND ONCE MORE FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK:   To be clear - I’m not speaking to ONE specific group of people.  However, if you look into the mirror I’m holding up and see your own reflection?  I’m probably talking to you.

4.  I’m not going to choose a “side”.  I choose the show, it’s actors, crew, writers, etc, collectively.   Because they all work their asses off, both on and off the set to give us fans so much more than just entertainment.  

5.  If someone wanted to hold a mirror up to this fandom right now, via a juicy documentary on the ship wars, fighting factions, undermining, conspiracy theories, revenge tactics, harassment campaigns, etc…. I think its safe to say, we’re all gonna be pretty fucking embarrassed.  Let’s hope that never happens.  I’m cringing just thinking about it.  But we deserve it, if we keep on with this petty bullshit, ya know? 6.  My blog post was not about for J2 "stans” or about Misha “stans”, for gods sake people. This post was about how splinter groups (for lack of a better term) were being damaging and disruptive (As they do.) and how it’s bad for EVERYONE when we let warring factions steamroll over everyone else, AND each other. This post was a direct response to the organized and brutally efficient Twitter campaign that somehow found its way into the laps of a handful of online news sites in an effort to publicize an off-color joke in order to take advantage of the current climate in the entertainment industry and start a viral witch hunt.  *I just ran out of breath.  Time for a James Brown pause*

7.  My post was also aimed at the Twitter spamming campaigns that Shatner and Pellegrino, as well as J2 had to put up with in the past few weeks.  And don't feed us that horsehit about them bullying the poor fans that spoke their minds. NO.  You collectively went on, and started shit, kept coming at them, and they defended themselves.  And rather maturely, considering.  It’s about groups of people that have gotten so wrapped up and out of control, that they’re poisoning this fan family.  I genuinely feel concerned that some folks are confusing reality with fiction, here.

8.  If you look back farther on my Tumblr page (?) to the good ol days of last Thursday (?) - particularly the Silent Majority post - that post is not in reference to any fan or any actor, specifically.  It’s in reference to the majority of fans who want to do the right thing, WANT to help out, WANT to just enjoy the damn show without all this drama and hate.  But because they’re quiet, and they’re not able to speak their minds without fear of retribution…. they’re vastly under-represented.  And so, the assholes of the fandom run amok unchallenged. THAT’S the majority I’m speaking of.   9.  I abhor anyone that lurks around on social media looking for people to mess with. So, imagine my surprise and disappointment that now I’M that person, because of this fucking shit!!  I’m only getting after people who are picking on others, but still… lurking, arguing.  Utter waste of valuable time.  Yours and mine.

Saturday night I apparently pissed off the leader of one of the SPN gangs (what do you call them??)  when I called her out on her behavior and was ominously told:  “Wanna see what happens when I tell my followers what to think and do”.  To which I responded “I already have.  And it’s deplorable”  And then offered to provide her with my name, # and home address.  She didn’t want it.  I don’t know why.  I thought it was funny!  I NEVER get hate mail... and I was looking forward to some postcards.  I’m old school that way.  Don’t hate tweet me.  Send me a hate postcard featuring something cool from your state.

Jokes aside....that’s the kind of crap that mobilized me in the first place.  

I tried to have a reasonable conversation with this individual and even asked if she wanted to take it offline and talk.  I followed her lead, conversationally, did snark back when required...but just when I thought we were going to have a reasonable discussion, she pulled the rug out.  I tried.  If you’re reading this and you feel misrepresented, or misunderstood, or you’re trying to misrepresent our conversation - the door is still open if you want to talk.  But I’m not going to tolerate your bullshit, and neither should anyone else.

Who ARE these people?  And why is this happening?  That’s my question.

10.  I'm not here to listen to arguments that a 6-year old might find compelling in a court of law, such as:  Well, Jensen told that joke a year ago, or Misha said thisthatandtheotherthing back in the day...so why are you only talking about Jareds joke?  

Well...because this is not a tit-for-tat thing.  I'm talking about the issue that is relevant RIGHT NOW.  And this is far from a "blame it on Jared" thing.  I feel awful for the guy.  For both of them for even being looped into this insanity.  The intent of my blog post was to address very current events that have been demonstrative of the current, toxic climate brewing in the SPN fandom.  I’m NOT here to write the Unabridged History of SPN Actors and Their Fondness for Off-Color Jokes.  

11.  If you're all wound up and offended by what I wrote?  It's probably because I wrote this blog post not for you, but about you.  OR, you've not been provided with context, content or clarity, and you got swept up in this manufactured hysteria and reacted.  OR, you think I’m a total asshole, and that’s ok.  I get it!  And I understand how my post could make some of you defensive and prickly.  But hey, as the saying goes... don't start none, won't BE none.  On the flip side, as someone eloquently stated (ahem, CarolHansson) "It's ok to be offended....it's also ok to not be offended"

12.  I am not a rape apologist.  And neither are the actors.  And to even insinuate that any of us, by extension of supporting Jared or Jensen in this situation, are pro "rape culture", is appropriating a term and using it so irresponsibly that you're negating the real suffering of sexual abuse survivors.  The more you trivialize it, the more you take away its power. Stop using manufactured concern for survivors as your jumping-off point for harassment, and START asking yourself what's really motivating you to use that argument as an excuse for your behavior. BTW,  #Metoo, and you sure as hell don't represent ME.

If you want to see a record of this casts achievements for mental health awareness, LGBTQ rights, anti-bullying and womens issues, to name a few - it's a simple Google search away.  That's on your time.  Not mine.  Again....not here to write their autobiography.  This piece is an opinion piece.  I try to be balanced, but that’s as far as it goes.  I'm not CNN.  

13.  MISHA:  Misha was not mentioned in my post because Misha was not under fire last week or the week before over this stupid bullshit.  If I SEE that happening, I’ll write about THAT.  But HE was not the focus of this mess.  So I left HIM out of it.  Does that make sense?  And also?  I'm not here to equally represent all actors at all times.  That's not how this works in the context of the subject matter at hand.  If you want to see more adequate representation for your favorite actor  - write your own op ed. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.  

And Misha as well as J2, are probably more than a little appalled that some of their biggest fans (?) are committing to some shady behavior in their honor and in their names.  Just a guess.  They’re good guys and this is probably not sanctioned behavior.  If you think it is?  Show me the receipts.  Let’s do this honestly, using facts.  Not conjecture.

14.  No, I do not excuse anyone's behavior because of their physical attractiveness.  Neither do most people.  I am not a child (Thank you, Uma Thurman), and I don't rationalize like a child.

15.  No, I am not doing this to seek approval from the actors, and neither is anyone else with the #istandwithJ2 hashtag.  As previously stated, this is an equal and opposite reaction to the bullshit that brought us all here today.  You’re grasping at straws at this point, if that’s the argument you’re going with.  Speaking on my own behalf, I have nothing to gain here, except some new Tumblr friends with a side of troll.

16.  To reiterate on previous posts - I’m hoping that all of us will collectively start sticking up for each other when we see someone harassing a fellow fan online. Even if you don’t want to comment….maybe give the person being flamed those little heart thingys (likes?).  Direct message them if liking their post doesn’t feel safe.  Show them your support in some way, so that they don’t feel alone and so that they don’t feel quite so vulnerable to attacks from online bullies.   We Have Got To Start Backing Up People who are just trying to express their opinions respectfully and are being slammed with responses that are belligerent, demeaning, threatening, obnoxious, etc.  Otherwise - these jerks will just keep steamrolling right over the more gentle viewers out there.  And a lot of them, are just kids.  And this goes both ways.  It has to, in order to be effective.

If you see something - say something.  That’s my 2 cents anyway.

The world’s going to Hell in a handbasket, 26 innocent people were gunned down yesterday in a place they held sacred and felt safe in, and it just keeps happening.

Mother Nature has decided she’s sick of our shit and has been upending thousands of lives.  There are actual sexual predators in some of our pasts and sadly, in some of our futures.  And this “joke” has no relevancy or bearing on that sad fact.

Women, people of color, LGBTQ people, economically fragile people, physically fragile people, etc...are seeing their protections, rights and livelihoods eroded away in an alarmingly short period of time, and the list goes on and on… and THIS is what we’re dedicating our mental and emotional resources to?

This show is supposed to be an escape from reality, guys.  Not actual reality.

Why are we harassing the actors and fellow fans of a television show that brought us all together in the first place?  This is entertainment, people.  I know how important this show is to all of us.  And I know how impactful the message of this show has been.  And I know that without this show, some of us might not be here today.  We are some passionate sumbitches.  I GET THAT.  

The question still remains.... what in the actual fuck are we really fighting for and about, here?  If someone can quantify and explain that to me in a way that makes sense, I’m all ears. 

Has it really come to:�� “Maybe we need to devise a more sophisticated tagging situation so that people don’t keep dipping their chocolate in other peoples peanut butter.”  I don’t know.  But this is Nth level ridiculousness, and we need to figure it out before it gets even worse.

For now, I’m going to get back to enjoying this show for what it is, and putting my beautiful brain back to work on more important matters.  I’ve spent a week in this muck, and it’s been... enlightening.  I’ll say that.

And even though I don’t agree with some of you - I can see by the CSI-level attention to detail that a lot of us have applied to all things SPN... that we could actually be mobilized into an almost unstoppable force for real good and real change.  If we wanted that.  

We could probably figure out who ordered JFK’s assassination.  Figure out where Jimmy Hoffa’s buried.  Solve the mysteries of the pyramids.... help reunite missing kids with their families...Get Trump impeached... ahem.  You get it.

Or we could just keep wasting our pent-up aggression on other fans, and the actors of our favorite show.  Because that’s easy.  Choices.  

But wait!  There’s more!  Because I keep getting valid messages and concerns, this ridiculously long piece just got longer.  

Posting these blogs has opened the door to a lot of private communication from both sides of the fence in the fandom, and I'm going to include some of my recent responses to an SPN fan who felt that her group of fans were not getting a fair shake and felt my blog targeted them.  We had a long discussion and she was very cool and had a lot of valid concerns and examples of other bad fan behavior dating wayyyy back, so I wanted to add this in.

I'm just going to paraphrase my own replies and print them here, so that people who may feel misrepresented or angry can see that, there are other ways to discuss these issues and for everyone to see that there's a better way than Twitter Wars.

(Paraphrased conversation subject matter in italics)

What's amazing is that J2 fans AND Misha fans have private messaged me with the exact same concerns.  And you have one very important thing in common:  You ALL feel victimized.  And you have been.   Know why?  It's because you've been victimizing each other.

(Slaps own face.  HARD.)  Not because of her.  But because of this whole enchilada.

If both groups are concerned about the same issues and both want the harassment to stop, whyyyy are you still at each others throats?

Well, I think it's because good people are capable of behaving very badly, especially online.  And all they’re doing is making themselves look ridiculous.  And they do not merit support.

A lot of people have been using me as a mediator, or prism, so to speak, with regards to this issue.  But you don't need me, when you all essentially want the same damn thing.

It's time to stop participating.  All you have to do is take a step back and say to yourself (or others if you’re feeling up to it) I'm not going to support harassment, hate or damaging misinformation.  And you can do that by unfollowing abusive accounts, by not "liking" or reblogging abusive content...and/or by not contributing to it yourself.  And if enough of us did that, BOOM, on our way to a solved problem.

These are only a few suggestions.  There's no cure or quick fix for this.  

Only alternatives to current behaviors.

And I know there's a lot of bad blood between these groups as evidenced by the mountains of grievances I've been getting.  Can’t un-say or undo any of it.  But we can stop doing it going forward, can’t we?

As long as people want to keep concentrating on past transgressions and dwelling on past arguments, no one can move on.  

And continuing to keep score with hopes to "win" something on here isn’t working either.  I’ve got bad news:  There's no "winning" here.  No grand prize.  Just more of the same bullshit.  And if you’re happy to sit in this pile of crap and continue to marinate?  That’s your prerogative.  By “your” I mean WHOMEVER fits the bill.

It's not my responsibility to make you play nice with each other.  Or mediate your arguments.  Though, it sounds like mediation is exactly what ya'll might need.  I'm just here, publicly stating how this all looks to me: Like a never-ending playground slapfight.

I think that there will always be "haters".  That's the nature of fandom, and life in general.  But if we stop promoting that kind of behavior with our support, and if these individuals have to lurk in the back channels, as opposed to being allowed to thrive and build fiefdoms all over social media.  That sounds like a good compromise to me.

And if you have a lot to express on this matter from your own perspective, there are better alternatives to spamming people on Twitter.  For example... 

Write a blog!  If you’d like to provide an objective viewpoint, and also defend your stance but you’re afraid people will see that you support actor A, B, or C and automatically discount what you have to say?  Start a side blog.  Compile a list of wrongs that you’ve seen committed by both sides and be the mirror, and show people what they’ve become.

Create your own, blank slate and start fresh.

There, now I can drop the mic.  

[sharkiegorath]

On Elias

[this is the third (3rd) time I’ve tried posting this since Tumblr’s mobile search/tag search keeps eating the post. because it’s perfectly fine with showing untagged personal posts and spam whenever you search for something, but randomly decides when to show Actual Content]

ok look I know people don’t always read the OP’s tags but I keep getting “I’M SURE HE’S EVIL” comments on a pair of gifsets with fairly obviously positive parallels and reblogging something just to definitively say “that mysterious character is eviiiiiiil” is Not Cool, even if it’s in the tags.

Yes, recent commentator, Elias definitely broke into the house. It's probably why he suggested that the Johnsons go out in the first place! But the common assumption is A) that he planted the books and B) that he did so for a malicious reason. It seems as obvious as it could possibly be while remaining unconfirmed. It seems so obvious in such a twisty show that I think it isn’t that straightforward.

Gosh, where to begin? Firstly, names and etymology are pretty good theory fodder and Easter eggs, e.g., ‘Hap’=haphephobia and all its ‘hap’-prefixed variants; ‘Khatun’ is both an old title of nobility and a modern word referring to any woman. 'Rahim' means ‘merciful’ or 'servant of the merciful'. 'Elias' is a cognate of 'Elijah'. Elijah was the Abrahamic prophet who sort of had a special connection with women and children; who was cared for by an angel; who resurrected the dead; who entered Heaven without dying at the end of his earthly life; who is sometimes believed to have become an angel. All of this information is available on Wikipedia! So even if Elias did plant the books, I don’t automatically assume he’s malicious.

There’s this interesting bit in an interview with The Atlantic:

Marling: [...] I think one of the original stories that was influential actually comes from Jewish mysticism. Do you know it?

Kornhaber: Is this leaving the door open for Elijah at Passover?

Marling: Yeah. It’s so beautiful. I think it’s amazing to try and use that as a reminder of trying to stay open. I struggle with that all the time. You get scared and you close the door. But I think The OA, she’s inviting them to let a new thing in.

(Principal Gilchrist's first name is another cognate of Elijah - 'Ellis' - and his surname means 'servant of Christ'. People have made the connection between Ellis and his "water under the bridge" comment to Ellis Island and the nearby Statue of Liberty, plus he has a snow globe of the latter.)

Elias’ potential connection with an ‘evil’ Rachel was probably debunked early by Zal Batmanglij on Twitter: the plants in her cell died because she refuses to water them as an act of rebellion. I'm too lazy to go through the whole thing about why her name being on the office wall in large Braille doesn't automatically mean she works there in the first place. I think she and Elias are connected (because of his car crash analogy and the “[My brother] never got to hear it”/”I’m a listener” lines), but I doubt it’s as evil agents.

Elias is shocked and defensive when he bumps into French in the house - but the scene follows French, so of course we aren't shocked and suspicious about French’s presence. Basically, the audience has had the same reaction to Elias breaking in as Elias initially has to French breaking in. Part of what makes Elias seem suspicious is his reaction. IMO Elias doesn't even imply or confirm that the OA was lying  - he just doesn't correct French. The other 'suspicious' thing he does is...move his eyes while hugging French, which isn’t incriminating on its own since the emotion is ambiguous.

There's confusing reasoning behind why Elias would place the books in the first place. The books seem tailored to match major aspects of the OA's story. The immediate assumption is that if someone planted the books, they meant for the Crestwood Five to find them and conclude that she based lies upon them. But if that's the case, Elias likely had no way of knowing that French would break in, go to her room, thoroughly search her room, and look where he did. There was no guarantee that any of the Five would find the books, jump to the conclusion that OA was lying, then share the discovery with the others.

Alternatively, you could argue that Elias planted the books intending for someone else to find them during an investigation and use it as proof that OA was making up stories, and the Five would fall for it in the process. But in that case, why did he let French leave with all of the books? And remember, Buck kept one and the rest let him. It’s possible that they submitted the other books to the FBI offscreen, or that Elias replaced the books. But I’ve never seen the theory cover what happened to the books after the reveal, so I won’t play with that hypothetical situation here.

Maybe Elias planted the books for someone else to find and didn’t know French took them. After all, we don't know what happened after the hug. But that introduces a new set of logical problems. How would French sneak a big, heavy box out of the house? He could take it if Elias had already left or wasn’t watching him...but why would Elias leave French unsupervised? Does anyone think that Elias ensured French left, then French broke in again not long afterwards and took the books, all offscreen? And couldn’t his presumably nearby car be a potential giveaway?

So, the books don't make much sense as an attempt to disillusion the Five. Some people think French's reaction stretches audience suspension of disbelief, right - I think it's an even bigger stretch that the FBI would predict a break-in and his reaction. To a lesser extent, the books also don't make sense as an attempt to frame OA, because they end up with the boys and don’t seem to play a role beyond breaking their faith. As for how French took the books while Elias was there, Elias advocates strategic passivity and avoids direct persuasion; I don't find it outlandish that French would say something like "I need to show proof to the others" then take the box, and Elias wouldn’t protest because it's not part of his agenda either way.

The next most obvious explanation for the books is if they really are OA’s. They weren’t necessarily used to construct a lie.  

In the previous episode, OA had a conversation with BBA about how cultures that suffer more loss tend to have more totems. OA knew this because of an exhibit that she loved so much as a child that she made her parents take her back twice. It made a lasting impact on her, as evidenced by the wolf hoodie that reminds her of Homer’s. BBA is not with the boys when French reveals the books, so she doesn't even have the chance to recall that conversation. We don’t know if BBA learned about the books after the boys did. And the books were specifically stored beneath the wolf hoodie. The Five may not be aware of the hoodie’s significance; Elias wouldn’t know the hoodie’s significance unless OA wore it to a session and he asked why she has a hoodie with a wolf on it, or she spontaneously told him, both of which seem a bit far-fetched. (Onscreen, at least, she never wore it to a therapy session.)

Ehh, miscellaneous notes:

It’s uncertain that OA can read English text. But the conversation with BBA says that the Thing Itself isn't as important as what it symbolises. (“Objects carry meaning in difficult times.”) She doesn't need to be able to read the books in order for them to mean something. Anyway, she might’ve been bilingual from a young age; she was 7 or 8 when she went blind and she seems fluent in English by the time we see her in the American boarding school. (There might be proof that she can write in English, since she signed the bottom of the note she left for her parents? It’s been interpreted both ways so idk.)

The Five getting discovered in the abandoned house probably wasn’t set up by Elias. BBA had previously slipped and told Principal Gilchrist about it while driving to save Steve.

I don’t strongly rule it out, but I don’t think Elias spied on the Five, because he only realises who French is when he tells him his name. Unless he’s pretending.

Why were the books under OA’s bed, under the hoodie? Maybe she hid her totems in case her parents found them, since Nancy already thought she had delusions that could easily be linked to The Oligarchs and The Iliad. It’s unclear to me, but there might be a moment in the first episode where OA shoves the video camera under her bed (starts at 29:15-ish), foreshadowing that she might’ve done the same thing with the books later.

The issues I have with my own theory are:

According to the label on the Amazon box, the books were delivered in September. That's at odds with how OA's video was posted in February 2016. But the FBI (or another organisation) ordering the books also doesn't make sense: they would’ve been planning to discredit her months before she returned or assembled the Five or told her story. Even if they knew about the experiments, Hap dumping OA on the road in February seemed entirely spontaneous; that itself was the result of a seemingly random event (getting caught by the sheriff). More importantly, I’d question why the boys didn't notice the discrepancy in dates, and why the FBI didn't realise it themselves. (Like, all they had to do was remove the label or use a different box.) How can they predict a very specific chain of events yet not be smart enough to remove a label? It’s not impossible in the broader scope of the story - maybe they have reality-warping powers, maybe there’s time travel involved - but right now it’s a big stretch just to support the basic theory that Elias planted the books. So I suspect the label is a minor production oversight. Considering exactly how briefly the date is onscreen and difficult to read even when the scene is paused, I think it wasn’t meant to be read by the audience. (Compare the length of the date’s visibility and its readability to earlier in the scene, when French looks at the newspaper clippings, or whenever a phone/computer screen takes up the frame.)

How did OA order the books? The hardest part is how she went online, but she could’ve placed the order sometime in the first episode before the router was taken away. It’s possible to order things from Amazon without a credit card and have them sent to a pickup point or post office, so that’s not a big issue if she had money somewhere (or stole it from her parents, which is 100% in-character for her). Sneaking the package into the house is another problem - but, then again, she’s cunning and her room is conveniently located so things can fairly easily go in/out of her window.

Elias suggested that the Johnsons go out for a family dinner. That somewhat complicates the timeframe he would’ve had for breaking in; if the outing had gone 'normally' they would've returned home before it was very late, yet still at an unpredictable time. (Again, he probably had no way of knowing they’d choose French's workplace, that it’d go badly, etc.) He was unable to break into the Johnsons' home on the night the OA finished her story, which is why he broke in later on, when French did. I guess Nancy and Abel went home after the incident at the Olive Garden and Elias saw the house was occupied, so he waited, and luckily for him they left the next day?

I’m not sure whether Elias lies when French asks if OA told him about Homer, the mine, and Hap’s studies. She told Elias specifics about the first and third premonitions, but it’s unclear how much she explained the second, Homer wasn’t mentioned by name onscreen, and we don’t know if she talked about the movements and angels. It’s worth noting that right after their last session, Elias does lie. OA explained her dreams, including the previous night’s. Afterwards, Nancy assumes Elias knows what happened last night...but he says no, seemingly to see how Nancy explains it. He’s capable of minor lies to Learn Things for ambiguous reasons. (Does he lie to Nancy for OA’s benefit? Or is it because he doesn’t trust OA, or is it simply an effort to hear different sides? I think the tone of the scene suggests he’s trying to help OA, but you might think it’s deliberately misleading. Anyway, they’re not all mutually exclusive motives.)

If the books really were OA’s, what was her reaction when she returned home and they were missing? She probably wouldn't tell her parents. But what would she think happened? Possibly she might be able to put two and two together since she’d previously helped Steve sneak into her room. Maybe she doesn’t seem sad right before the shooting because she deduced that the Five wanted to help her, and she didn’t know that the boys concluded she was lying.

We might be able to get general sense of where The OA is headed by examining Brit and Zal's previous work. Sound of My Voice is the most similar. One of the most common (and plausible) theories for SOMV is that Maggie was telling the truth and the 'FBI agent' wasn't actually an FBI agent. But there are other reused elements that were subverted: OA is much less intimidating and more personable than Maggie; the Five are inclined to believe her without being cult-like; the agent was trying to catch Maggie without her knowledge instead of possibly pretending to help her. I kinda hope it's a meta Red Herring planted for people who've watched both.

Elias was in the house for a reason. I think the video camera and all of the tapes might be a Chekhov's Gun. Brit Marling said something along the lines of "it’s worthy to question Elias’ motives"; he doesn’t necessarily have Good intentions. However, him planting the books isn’t a sure thing and we know nothing about whatever he did in the time gap before the shooting; there’s no indication that he helped or hindered OA in any way, if they’re still in contact, etc. So I think it’s a Bit Much to leap to "ELIAS IS EVIL" Not everyone who thinks he planted the books assumes he’s evil, which is nice. But it's Tiring seeing the evil accusation treated as if it's rare or a new theory, especially considering the depth of analysis that the rest of the show receives.

[pinksfuckers]

The Best SEO to 2019

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SEOs are able to gain access to a lot more information compared to we ever could before straight from Google using Search System (like mobile friendliness of articles, and validation of structured data), and tools like the automatic assistant in the mobile Search engines Analytics app, which provides device learning insights to Google analytics data. Previously we knew that SEO- Search engine optimization is just a technique in order to drive a large number associated with organic searches to our internet sites but now its application is usually beyond the conventional content optimisation strategies. Start using mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION if you are thinking associated with keeping or raising your rates in 2018. Brian Dean, an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION expert recommends to even location your keyword at the starting of the title if probable that will have more bodyweight in search engines. This new update has been obviously a sign that SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking had become based upon content and keywords. The convergence of articles and SEO presents a substantial opportunity for brands to evangelize organic search success and rip down the silos and stigma once associated with the darkish side from the industry. Content marketing and advertising could be the new SEO. I obtained Best off-page SEO strategies through this post it helps all of us a lot to build a lot more links. But as Dan Taylor described in a comprehensive look in RankBrain and SEO, there is definitely no set way to enhance for RankBrain, although certain lookup practices are now more appropriate than ever before. A lot associated with people see SEO or Research Engine Optimization as a strange industry. Having the page on the search motors my business is a excellent helper for your local business plus is an essential portion of Regional SEO, and I think that will during 2018 it is heading to pass a value in order to the local SEO. Even though, it is touch time intensive to create the quality video, it is greater than worth it. Great for visitors and SEO as well. Technical SEO: Assuring all hyperlinks are current, performing keyword study, setting up redirects when webpages are moved, fixing errors, making use of proper markup, and so on. As there is definitely with all sorts or advertising or advertising technique, there are proven, time examined guidelines that when implemented properly will help you immensely along with your Local SEO campaign. With Google analyzing sites based on hundreds associated with ranking factors, knowing where in order to aim your SEO strategy within 2018 for your biggest bang may seem impossible. SEO, in an ever-changing technical landscape, means an ongoing procedure of re-imagining how we see search and what we are usually able to learn from this. It's not just seeing ratings as an end, but because a way of studying exactly how search engines use our articles to serve their users. Knowing that, smart SEOs are starting to optimize several of their content for tone of voice search. We have some excellent rankings, but we have already been always looking to improve plus see the actual future keeps for SEO. Rather not surprisingly, Google recently stated that content material and links remain the best two ranking factors — RankBrain is #3 — when you aren't overlooking quality content and hyperlinks — the foundation of effective SEO since the dawn associated with time — you may not really get the rankings you wish. While links are usually still important and it is incredibly hard to rank well without hyperlinks from other websites, content plus on-page SEO is becoming significantly important. Many electronic natives and marketers alike are usually using SEO to its benefit by incorporating every keyword possible into the content they compose. Now that a person understand tips on how to please your customers, how to satisfy search objective, and how to create articles, it's time to move on to Pillar #3 in this SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy. As mentioned previously, businesses could not make the bigger mistake than thinking that will best SEO techniques only rely on content, because the most recent SEO techniques you need in order to adapt depend on more than simply content. Today that you're on top associated with these 6 SEO trends plus have an arsenal of suggestions to manage your strategy, a person are well positioned for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and digital marketing in 2018. In order to obtain a featured snippet, content internet marketers must structure their articles in order to a number of factors, having SEO well beyond the existing competition to reach the number a single spot on Google.

[secretsofthemasquerade]

WoD Prelude: Vampire end-game review

World of Darkness Preludes: Vampire and Mage on steam, ios and google play store

This review is about the game in a vacuum. I will make another post about the authors, the meaning behind it, and WWP as a whole. This is, let’s say, a drama-free, spoiler-free review of the game as a game, ignoring everything else.

Thanks to @abadbadman (whom I can’t tag for some reason… thanks again so much <3) I’ve been able to play the VtM/Mage preludes. This is a spoiler-free game review now that I finished it! I also recommend this very well made, spoiler free steam review. 

I have liveblogged it and with the tag “secrets liveblogs” you can avoid spoilers. I try and put the most heavy stuff under “read more” but sometimes shit happens sorry :p

What kind of game is it?

It’s a choose your own adventure text-based game. You’re texting your contacts and have, sometimes, options to “fill in the blanks”.. So you have “some” leverage to how you “did” things as you tell them to your contacts. So your game system is just your mouse (or your finger if mobile version) to choose the options. No QTE, no skill involved. There’s no stats, you don’t know what you’re good at, or bad at, and you don’t really choose who you text or what you choose to not tell them. You cannot rewind, but you can restart any chapter.

Except there’s little to no “choose your own adventure”, and more of “pick the right choice”, which can be incredibly frustrating. I died so many times xD

So, it’s a very linear game. Which in and out of itself defeats the purpose of licensing a RPG... 

The music and sound effects, which I didn’t mention in my first review, were fine and nice. I usually play soundless, this is why I didn’t mention it previously.

The characters. Some of them are really well developed, but the protagonist (Case) is just uninteresting af, is it a self insert by Zak? And for many, my question is “why are they even here?”. They’re all insane, though, nobody texts “like a normal person”. I mean, it’s full of rambles and trips all the time, there’s only very few people who have a normal, believable text conversation (even taking into account the vampiric aspect of it). Everyone’s drugged out of their minds, how am I supposed to sympathize, feel a connection, or get into the character’s mind? Nothing anyone does is remotely rational (again, even taking into account the whole vampiric stuff). Why isn’t there a block option? Or ignore? And the “high end characters” just.. lack elegance, to say the least.

The art. the whole aesthetic of the game, I just don’t like it, I dislike modern art, I hate how sometimes the author(s) added in a “oh, I drew this” to jerk off and show off their artz. They serve no purpose, they give no clues that can be read and tbh they’re just useless for me as a player. If they were more accessible and not just a splash of ink on paper, I’d actually be able to have them be “in game” and use them. Most of them are sent from the other main character, who has “dreams”, they are supposed to be important! But I can’t even read them. Am I that dense? Am I not working hard enough to get in the artsy mood? Blah. What I really did like, was the interface of the mobile, the name, the color coding. That was really well done. So, good job on UI!!:)

The story. It’s not a terrible story; it’s just pretty nonsensical, some decisions are very out of character, or at least out of context; so you know you’re being hunted down, but you accept an invite to a random high society house for a drug-party. Why do I want to go there? Why am I not doing X or Y instead? Why didn’t I keep contact with whatever? But there are moments where your “battery is dying”, that’s nice. Too bad that’s the only thing i can really salvage. There is a hint of a Bloodlines character being there, though! And a few real names are used as well.

The writing. There’s clear research on wording, phrasing, and characterization through dialogue; I can differentiate most characters easily. There are great lines in there, but overall it’s drowned in the clusterfuck of spam that gives me no real information to make any decision, everyone uses weird non-factual wording, and you just go along with the drug-high. Maybe, again, I’m too dense to “see the vision of the author(s)”? I had a few laughs, and I really enjoyed most of what wasn’t a drug ramble of random stuff (”and this is how I’m here in the gutter dying but I wanted to say goodbye” for instance, or “but I’m weak and an idiot and now [killer] has a new shitty phone”), but there are really a bunch of misses “but he was too strong I knew it would fail” while you’re being killed is just bleh. What I absolutely cannot accept is that “hey, use voice to text to be stealthy” few aspects that happen mid-to-late-game. Do these people know who voice to text work? Also, the writing of those texts is terrible (they really look typed, instead of “computer heard and typed for you”, aka, there’s no “god damn autocorrect” moments, cuz you all know how voice to text, hushed and fast, can do shit). That’s just poor research/work, or at best, it’s plain laziness.

Mechanically speaking.

The game is sometimes broken because when you “retry”, you often have no choices in your options (like there’s only one option and it kills you), which means you need to restart the full chapter (which is long sometimes). 

Unlike Princess Makers, where you really need to restart the FULL GAME at each death (no rewind, but considering how short and easy to skip these games are, it’s only enhancing replayability), this ability to “try again and pick the right option ;)” is a bit annoying; not because I get to try again, but because of the god damn dead ends that force me one way, which is shitty for a choose your own adventure game. Being able to read back the texts and so is nice, though.

Sometimes the game goes black “you died” before you even had the time to read what happened. That’s poor coding as well.

Choices were sometimes weird; just “turning around the corner” gets you killed without any explanation, but other totally random shits nope. Why? I mean, there’s no reason. At least Ming Xiao explains you stuff and while you’re fucked, the ending feels satisfying to the player (you had it coming though lol). What about non-death end-games ? Like “And you finished as a slave of [person] while texting lobotomized shit to your friends”. That would have been fine. But no, nothing like that.

The fact that I knew almost nothing about my character and what they know of other characters is just stupid. There’s also no instance where I can choose who to text, the game forces me one way and tough luck, I fucking hate that when I’m being told it’s a game about choices and agency. I felt I had almost none. I felt railroaded to the “right choice” all along, and because the game didn’t carry on despite my failure (like a good visual novel does 95% of the time), it was a frustrating experience.

As a game, it’s a failure. As a story, it’s a failure. In terms of progressiveness and bringing something out there, it’s a failure, it’s worse than that, it’s a step back. There are far better choose your own adventure games, and apart from dropping some names, this has almost nothing to do with VtM ; many twists of the lore, way too many exceptions... Everyone’s a special snowflake and I hate that. No surprise there.

I felt I was playing Damsel (in a very, very bad way). “Fuck off” or “you’re disgusting!” isn’t a choice, you dense assholes.

You might not want to buy it because of the controversy about the authors. I say don’t buy it because it’s bad. We deserve better.

[maritzaerwin]

7 Do’s & Dont’s While Marketing Online

The world is still facing the pandemic, and we all are still trying to adapt to the “new normal” in our lives. The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown has been both financially, and emotionally hard on people. But 2020 was by no means slower in terms of updates from the field of ONLINE MARKETING. Marketing is one of the important activities of the founder’s journey.

How much budget to allocate depends upon how quickly you can move the needle. As traction will determine your next funding amount and investors flock in to get a share of your success. The traction figures take the most weightage in the investor’s pitch. Marketing figures have high influence in your search for how to pitch your business idea.

It is convenient to say that online marketing is a viable process despite the circumstances. By 2023 there will be 5.3 billion (66% of the global population) users of the internet worldwide. In the digital world of people, business leaders must understand that to survive one must be familiar with the tactics of marketing their product. Here are a few steps by step tips to help you while marketing online.

Initial Phase of Planning

The first step to getting started with online marketing is to evaluate your marketing goals and make sure they are profitable. For the initial phase, you need to choose how to construct an online presence that helps you achieve that goal and create a corresponding marketing strategy.

Do- When you are thinking of marketing your product online you should have a clear answer to the simple question “what problem is your product or service solving for your potential customers?”. It is worth investing time in creating a buyer persona as you solve a problem they have! An important part of evaluating goals is to create a bio or buyer persona.

A buyer persona is a fictional character that represents a business’s potential customers, based on what you know about their behaviors, and customer acquisition. Developing a good bio or buyer persona results in stronger and more cost-effective online marketing.

 Don’t- The common mistake in the initial stage is not creating a negative persona. A negative persona is opposite to a buyer persona. A negative persona is a representation of who unfits as your potential customer. By investing time in a negative persona you have simply saved some amount of effort and valuable time by being able to segment out the non-customers from the rest of your database of potential customers.

So, the bottom line is with the help of buyers and negative persona we see higher sales productivity.

Building Website

For making sure your business can be found online the most basic step is to develop a website. A website is the center of all your marketing strategies. All online marketing activities will most likely send users to a website. 

Do- You might have the best online marketing tactics but still notice fewer sales productivity because the landing page won’t convert! And this is where you need the help of professional web developers. It is just not important to develop a good website but website developers should know the latest trends of the website’s layout and designing methods.

Don’t- The website build should be of good quality, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a quality website to the success of your overall online marketing strategy. To ensure that quality website is developed there are many other factors to work on like-

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — SEO helps make your website appear higher on a list of search engine results, you can take the help of a few website builders for SEO. SEO involves many complex steps(explained further)

Conversion Rate — Conversion rates is defined as the rate under which the percentage of visitors becomes actual paying customers. We cannot define ‘a good conversion rate’ as a good conversion rate for you will be strictly specific to your business type and also it will always be heavily influenced by your marketing campaign.

HTML Coding — Surprisingly search engines like GOOGLE or bing estimate the loading speed of your site based on your page’s HTML code. The basic sign of poor website quality is HTML error or sloppy coding of the website. Keywords used in title tags, description tags, and also in headings(H1, H2, etc) highly influence the relevancy of the website. 

In 2020 it is difficult to imagine a reason for any business not to have a website. 

Email Marketing

One shouldn’t underestimate the importance of email marketing. As experts believe in email marketing:

“Email has an ability many channels don’t- creating valuable, personal touches – at scale” – David Newman

“Out of all of the channels I tested as a marketer, email continually outperforms most of them” – Neil Patel

Do- The first step of email marketing is building an email list. Emails just not effectively drive traffic & sales, but it also protects your business. 

But the question arises here is “how to build an email list in the initial stage of marketing”

The home page has the most traffic as compared to other pages so you should make use of this traffic. Set up a homepage on a website to collect emails rather than showing your latest blog posts or any other informative detail your site offers. Another common feature is adding pop-up form filling before providing access to premium tools.

Don’t- You need to set the right balance between promotional and awareness emails. Too many special offer emails can appear as spam to your subscribers and turn potential customers away. A marketer should just not focus on the number of emails but also the quality of those emails. Adding many links to your emails can also appear as spam to many users.

The bonus tip for a marketer is he/she should keep in mind over 53% of brands spend a week producing emails that are opened on small screens like smartphones or tablets so ensure your email template is mobile-friendly.

Email marketing was, is, and will be a major part of online marketing.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is rapidly becoming one of the most significant elements of online marketing. Even in the time of the pandemic, more people are using various social media platforms regularly.

Do- Social media marketing increases your visibility to potential customers and creating profiles on various platforms is mostly free of cost. With the help of social media marketing, you can easily build brand awareness. In today’s world full of competition, social networks are one of the fastest-growing industries so it’s necessary to cope up with the latest trends.

Social media platforms ensure your business to be in trend if done efficiently. All leading businesses have adequate teams of graphic designing and content creation for social media.

 Don’t- There are countless numbers of social networking sites, all of them have unique characteristics and purpose. Let’s face it, it’s 2020 and we all have a pretty superior understanding of social media so trying to avoid social media presence is not accomplishing anything positive for your business.

 People are forced to stay inside so to stay connected people are making most out of social media platforms.

Display Advertisements

Display Advertisement is a form of advertising which conveys a message in the form of graphics, videos, creative text, and logos. Display advertisements follow some complex mechanism but in easy words, it tends to make use of cookies, which fluctuate from user to user. Display ads are the finest among other marketing methods because display ads are the most relevant form of target marketing.

Do- The most effective use of display ads is “Retargeting”. Cookies help you to track whether a user has left a page without converting so later advertisers can retarget the user with display ads. But the website which a user visit is not the only factor on which display ads depend, this process also targets people based on their age, gender, interest, or location.

 Don’t– Business owners shouldn’t invest all the marketing capital on display ads because it may have fewer conversion rates sometimes. Display ads are the most relevant form of target marketing but keeping in mind the conversion rates and amount of money involved in it, other marketing methods (especially at the initial phase of business) may prove to be more valuable sometimes. 

Often marketers come across the terms PPC(Pay-Per-Click) and CPC(Cost-Per-Click) while setting up ad campaigns. PPC and CPC are sometimes used interchangeably but a good advertiser knows the slight difference between both.

PPC refers to any form of online marketing on social media like Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, or Microsoft ads. PPC is calculated based on the keyword used, quality scores, and a few additional factors. While CPC is defined as a data point when measuring the success of those online ads.  

We may conclude that Display advertisements greatly expands the brand or business awareness around potential customers which ultimately increases the traffic of the website.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

 In the online marketing world, search engine optimization acts as an effective marketing strategy with the main focus to increase the business’ reach to potential customers. Types of SEO-

On-Page SEO: This strategy works by optimizing the individual web pages of your website for ranking higher on the organic search results. Factors on which on-page SEO depends are website content, HTML source code, meta tags, heading of the page, and many more. With a strong on-page SEO strategy, your company’s website will become associated with the keywords used to find your services.

It is a set of methods that are used to bring up the visibility of a website in the search engine results page. The importance of visibility is that users who search for a product or service are most likely to use one. We may conclude that on-page SEO helps your business to grow.  

Off-page SEO: Basically, this strategy includes all activity outside the website. The main element to focus on off-page SEO is link-building which helps to strengthen the relationship your website has with other websites and it also includes social media related activities.

Backlinks generated by off-page optimization will bring in more and consistent traffic for a longer period of time unlike the results shown by paid advertising which generate traffic in the short term rapidly.

Technical SEO: Technical SEO involves all the technical aspects of a website like a site speed, mobile-friendliness, indexing, crawlability, site architecture, and security. If a website is just performing fine on desktop or pc but not on small screens like mobile or tablet rank of the website will gradually fall.

The thing to remember here is that there is no cost needed to spend to optimize our website. You should never underestimate the importance of SEO as it can save a huge amount of money in contrast with paid advertising.

Analysis

Marketing analytics is defined as the process of analyzing, measuring, and managing your marketing efforts. The data collected from various analytic tools can help a marketer to maximize his/her effectiveness and minimize the probability of wasting marketing capital.

Do- Analysis can be hugely beneficial to any business as it can help them to understand “how their target audience thinks”. The simplest way to analyze as suggested by experts is by using the free analytical tool ‘Google Analytics’. Google Analytics just not collects data from your website but also from social media and mobile applications. The information or data collected can put a light to see where things are running smoothly and where adjustments are needed. 

 Don’t- Often a marketer puts major efforts in various online marketing strategies and also those efforts results in a good conversion rate but something it may cost more than what it’s giving you back in return, which is not a sustainable business strategy.

The process of analysis doesn’t require much of your time, we may even say that there is no need for browsing google analytics or any analytic tool daily. A marketer should use his/her valuable time in other marketing strategies. But if a business is running any ad campaign or social media ad campaign regular analyzing is required as you need to keep track of the progress of such campaigns.

 If you have an online business presence then you need to have a way of tracking your marketing efforts.

Conclusion

You have to remember that all online marketing strategies mentioned above are more of a long-term strategy. Patience is the key, what you do today may not have an immediate effect on your website but eventually, your website will rank higher.

The level of competition will probably keep on increasing in the near future and the only way to remain in the trend is with your digital marketing strategy.  The pandemic is probably the most crucial time to be visible digitally because other forms of traditional marketing are degrading.

The post 7 Do’s & Dont’s While Marketing Online appeared first on CareerMetis.com.

7 Do’s & Dont’s While Marketing Online published first on https://skillsireweb.tumblr.com/

[thelmasirby32]

10 Silent killers that affect your website speed

Time is the most valuable asset. Nothing is more frustrating than slow page loading. A slow website kills conversions and impacts search rankings. Google stated that it is important to consider website speed when determining search rankings.

Here are some interesting website load statistics:

An Akamai study showed that 47% of customers expect websites to load in a few seconds or less.

One second delay on Amazon could cost $1.6 billion on sales every year.

According to Pingdom, 78% of the top 100 retail websites take under three seconds to load.

One second delay on your page load results in a seven percent reduction in conversions.

The average load time on the desktop is 1.286 and 2.594 seconds on mobile.

Optimizing your website’s speed is not a necessity, but a must-have, especially if you want to beat out the slower competition. Once you notice that your site is loading more than three seconds, it’s time to figure out things that can slow down your website speed and improve the overall performance.

Let’s discover lesser-known causes of website slowdown and find the best solutions to deal with each one.

 1. Caching issues

Browser caching is very important for repeat visitors. Every time users come to your website for the first time, their browser stores all the files like images, CSS, and Java files for a specified period. The next time the visitors come back to the web page, browser caching allows these stored files to be served quickly upon the user’s next visit.

Reducing the number of round-trips results in faster page load times and improve user experience. Caching can definitely help you speed your website, but it’s not without its issues. If you don’t set up caching properly, it can hurt user interaction. It’s essential to develop a solid caching strategy to maintain strong user experiences.

If you don’t use WordPress, you can add the Cache-Control and Entity tags (ETags) headers to HTTP response headers. ETags are used to validate whether the client has the recent version of a record. While Cache-control is used to define browser caching policies in client and server responses. As a result, these headers help you reduce the need for visitors to download the same files from the server twice and reduce the number of HPPT requests.

If your website is running on WordPress, you can use cache plugins for better performance. WP Rocket is a great premium cache plugin that includes a lot of extra features like lazy loading, database cleanup, CDN integrations, and many more. You don’t have any technical skills to set it up to have faster websites.

2. Overloaded database

An overloaded database can be a silent killer when it comes to website performance. One of the pitfalls with WordPress websites is that your database is overloaded with multiple post revisions, deactivated plugins, saved drafts, and others. Trackbacks and pingbacks don’t have any practical use in WordPress. Ensure to disable both of them because they clog up your database and increase the number of requests.

Make sure to delete other garbage files like spam and trash folders, transients, and database tables that can also slow down your website. As I mentioned above, WP Rocket is one of the easiest ways to schedule and clean up these files every week. You can optimize your database using the ‘Database’ tab.

Source: Screenshot made by the author 

Using WP Rocket, you can also schedule an automatic database cleanup.

3. Outdated CMS

Running an outdated version of your CMS can slow down your website and cause different security vulnerabilities. Most CMS like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal let you know once any update is available. Having the latest versions of plugins and any software will result in faster load times.

In case you haven’t still updated your CMS or don’t get any notice, run a regular page speed test on different pages of your website to find out whether the latest updates or versions of the software are compatible with your web hosting or available fixes that can improve the overall performance of your website by making them faster to load.

4. Excessive usage of social media scripts

Social media has become a crucial part of every website. No matter how large your website is, you still need to connect social media to your site and make it easier for users to share your posts. The excessive usage of social media scripts and plugins can kill your site’s performance.

Limit the number of social media plugins and scripts that you don’t use at all and find alternate ways to schedule and automate your social media tasks. Zapier is a great website service that can help you automate these tasks and reduce the burden on server resources and your website.

When it comes to sharing options at the end of each post, it’s a great way to easily share your publications, but these options can add a lot of load to your website. Try not to use them at every single page of your website and include only the essentials.

5. The use of chatbots

Chatbots are great for handling customer inquiries. According to Salesforce, 69% of customers want to use chatbots to speed up their communication with a brand. But there are two sides to the coin. Chatbots can hurt your website speed in case the script isn’t implemented properly and can take your website longer to load.

It’s important to ensure that your chatbot is loading asynchronously. I mean when your chatbot performs any action on your website like initiating a conversation with a customer or sending pings, this action should be routed by external servers. So, make sure to use the right code that enables this action. Check whether there is any problem with a chatbot script using Google’s PageSpeed Tools.

For easier set-up and simple communication, you can use an out-of-the-box solution like Tidio that doesn’t require any coding skills and takes only a moment to create a chatbot. The best thing is the ability to communicate with customers in one simple dashboard. The tool also integrates with different third-party apps to provide better customer service.

Source: Screenshot by Tidio

6. Broken links

Broken links are not only a pain for website visitors but a real drain on bandwidth. I’ve recently made a detailed analysis of one of my clients and have detected a lot of 404 errors in Google Webmaster Tools. Once I’ve fixed them, the average load time per user boosted from seven seconds to two seconds, and there was a huge decrease in bounce rate.

So, if you have many broken links on your website, you are just wasting resources. Moreover, they can hurt user behavior metrics and negatively affect your rankings. To detect broken links, I would recommend getting audit reports with the SE Ranking Website Audit. The tool sorts all your web pages by status code to view which ones are 404.

Source: Screenshot by SE Ranking

One of its major benefits is the ability to go deeper than others and find out crawl errors that other tools don’t. Once you get these broken links, you can fix or remove them for good.

7. Render-blocking JavaScript

Every time your website loads in the browser, it sends out calls to every script in a queue. That queue of these scripts should be empty before the website appears in the browser. If this queue is very long, it can slow down your web pages without allowing visitors to fully view the site. These kinds of script queues are called the render-blocking JavaScript and CSS files.

To make your web pages load faster, Google recommends eliminating render-blocking scripts. Before removing them, identify which scripts cause problems using Google’s PageSpeed Insights. 

Most website owners use different traffic and conversion analytics platforms to analyze and measure any type of traffic and conversions with one click. Most of them are installed by using JavaScript code that can slow down your website. The best way to track different events is to use Finteza whose main tracking script (downloaded from the Finteza server) doesn’t impact website performance and can be embedded into the page asynchronously.

Source: Screenshot by Finteza

8. Accelerated mobile pages (AMP)

Everyone knows that Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is a Google project created to speed up web pages on mobile devices by adding an “AMP” stamp next to your mobile snippets. While the idea of having a fast mobile website with content sounds like a great idea, there are some challenges when it comes to AMP.

While creating AMP improves website performance, it removes all of the dynamic features that slow down websites. In other words, it changes the design of your website and provides less functionality for your visitors that can result in reducing conversions. According to this case study, Kinsta saw their mobile leads drop by 59% after adding AMP, so they disabled it.

So, use AMP carefully as it can lower your mobile conversions. If you still want to use them, do it properly (more instructions here). Make sure to validate AMP for Google Search and fix any possible issues.

9. Gravatars

While Gravatars offer convenience and easy customization to your user base, there is one drawback, speed. This is not really visible on smaller websites, but if you have a large website with a lot of blog comments, you will notice much of a slowdown. You have some options to fix that:

Disable Gravatars in WordPress

Remove comments that don’t have value

Use caching Gravatars like Harrys or Optimum Gravatar Cache

Reduce your Gravatar image sizes

Paginate comments in WP Disable

10. Invalid HTML and CSS

If you stop using invalid HTML and CSS codes, that will increase the rendering time of web pages and the overall site performance. Make sure to create HTML and CSS that aligns with the W3C standards if you want browsers to interpret your site more consistently.

Check your HTML through the W3C HTML Validator and CSS through the W3C CSS validator. One of the options is to validate HTML with the Grunt HTML validation package and Stylelint.

Bottom line

A slow-loading website is something that will turn your customers away before they can visit your website. To keep your site running well and loading fast, you need to focus on these web performance killers and do the best to prevent these issues and make your site more efficient.

Irina Weber is Brand Manager at SE Ranking. She can be found on Twitter @irinaweber048.

The post 10 Silent killers that affect your website speed appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

from Digital Marketing News https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/03/17/10-silent-killers-that-affect-your-website-speed/

[rachelstipe]

Why the Top Agents Leverage Success Metrics in a Shifting Market

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the shifting market, and you’ve likely been hearing steps and strategies to help you be prepared for what may come in your local market. Whether it just shifts slightly to a more balanced, normalized market, or there’s a noticeable lull in home sales… the name of the game is being fully prepared at any time with a solid business model, that’s evergreen and “shockproof,” so that your profitability doesn’t suffer.

  One tactic that will help solidify your profitability (no matter the market), is clearly tracking and measuring success metrics.

  We’re still in Q1, the busy spring season is rapidly approaching so it’s the perfect time to take a step back and make sure you’re being diligent about some of the boring stuff (like these metrics and numbers), so you can ultimately enjoy the good stuff, like more closings and a higher transaction volume at the end of the year.

Response Time

Did you know that the industry average response time for a real estate lead is over 15 hours? Yikes.

  We all know how to the consumer shopping experience happens these days: you’re on the web, you’re searching for a property and you’re focused on that task for 20, maybe 30 minutes tops. But what are you up to 10, 15 hours later? You’ve moved on! You’re not interested in chatting. Or, even worse, you’ve already heard from a competitor.

  Speed-to-lead, that age-old adage that you’re sick of hearing? It exists for a reason.

  So, ask yourself. Are you measuring your own response time and are you actively trying to improve it? These are the things that are going to set apart the top-tier agents during a market shift when the flow of leads to your pipeline might not be quite as healthy.

  Take a look at your current process for engaging leads. Do you have a technology system in place, like a CRM, that notifies you the second a lead registers on your site? And if so, Is it mobile so that wherever you are you can take a minute to reach out? Maybe you have an ISA, an assistant or a virtual assistant that’s prospecting for you and engaging those new leads — well their response time is your response time! So make sure you have a system in place to track how quickly someone is getting in front of those leads.

  So once you’ve got an idea of what your average response time is, work on improving it! Try to get it under 5 minutes, and if you’re having trouble doing that, you might need to consider hiring an assistant or an ISA that can help you prospect and stay on top of new leas. Or perhaps you’re generating too many leads and you don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with them. In that case, consider scaling back so you can work with a smaller pool that will actually covert and close a deal with you. Because a large pool of leads that don’t convert really just isn’t smart business.

Here are a few questions you can answer to determine how many leads you really need

How many leads do you need to get an appointment

How many appointments does it take for you to close a deal?

What is your conversion rate?

How big is your current database?

How much time are you willing to spend prospecting?

Follow-up & Lead Nurture

Obviously, response time is just one piece of the puzzle – and the real leg work comes with follow up and effective lead nurturing. Now, more than ever, this is super important Today’s real estate industry is all about the consumer experience. You hear the words “red-carpet,” or “white-glove experience” thrown around, and that’s because we live in a digital time now where everything is instant and readily available.  

You can have Whole Foods groceries delivered to your house within 2 hours, at the click of a button!

  So to keep up with consumer demand you have to be available and you have to be communicative. You also have to be one step ahead of them, anticipating their needs, not just reacting to what they’re asking for.

  This is why you need to be smart and meticulous with follow-up & nurture plans.

  1. Organize Your Database.

It’s impossible to measure if your follow-up needs work when you don’t have a clear process in place. If you’re not using a CRM, whatever strategy for you have for organizing your leads and pushing them through the funnel – stay on top of it. (Also, consider investing in technology to automate those tasks and allow yourself to be more proactive.)

For everyone else that is using a CRM, spend the time necessary to get your lead flow organized. Clean up your categories and tags so that your database is organized into straightforward segments like:

Want to buy or sell now

They’re looking, but not ready to act

Searching a few months out

Searching a few years out

All of these leads require different follow-up approaches and nurture plans, so it’s important that they’re clearly segmented!  

2. Tailor Your Marketing Campaigns

First, focus on your follow-up plan for your hot leads. These are the critical, “act now” leads that are the most likely to engage. Maybe you use the 10-days-of-pain model. Whatever combination of texts, calls, emails you use, and however long your process is – make sure this is clearly defined within your business so that you can look through a call log and text record and say – “Did I follow this action plan step by step”? What went wrong, what went right?

  The marketing campaigns and nurture plans come into play for the rest of your leads that need nurturing. That group that you’ve labeled “looking but not quite ready to act?” Those leads should be getting emails with fresh listings and they should be getting periodic touches to gauge where they are in the process and whether or not they’re ready to start setting up appointments.

    3. Track and Measure

This is easy in BoomTown. Calls, emails, transactions, team performance: everything is tracked and logged in the system for immediate reference and simple tracking. But no matter the system, everything should be tracked to measure success, and whether or not it is working for the specific category. Maybe a certain category would respond to texting over email, or video over straight text? You’ll never know unless you A/B test and track your progress.    

Once all the main pieces of your marketing plan are in place, determine the goal behind your campaign. What actions do you want your audience to engage in? What type of influence or advocacy are you looking to draw back from them? For example, by sharing quality educational content, you showcase your authenticity and insights to build trust and loyalty with your audience. The CRM will track open rates, responses, and log each interaction automatically. This makes it easy to see what emails are working, and where you might want to improve.   If your data shows one specific email isn’t helping move leads through the funnel, or recipients are increasingly unsubscribing and/or reporting spam, it’s time to adjust your messaging schedule. Keep in mind that your prospects may be receiving emails from more than one agent, so keep content fresh and original. Look at ineffective emails as a test, not a failure. You’ll no longer be wasting time on a message that isn’t resonating with your prospects and you can focus on different subject matters that drive results. With time, you will discover what is successfully reaching different segments of your email lists.

  Lead Conversion & Close Rates

Now it’s time for a little bit of math! (Don’t panic, we’ll keep it simple.)

First, make sure you have these numbers. (Monthly)

Marketing Expenses (i.e. advertising costs, etc.)

# of leads generated

# of leads who became a client-prospect

Take the (# of leads generated) and divide by the (# of client-prospects). So, if you generated 1000 leads in January and 50 of them became clients, here’s what the equation would look like:  

50 ÷ 1000 = 0.05 (or 5%)

(# of clients) ÷ (# of leads generated)

  From here you can use your conversion rate to calculate other useful numbers that will help you with your goal-setting and business plan.  

The post Why the Top Agents Leverage Success Metrics in a Shifting Market appeared first on BoomTown!.

Why the Top Agents Leverage Success Metrics in a Shifting Market published first on https://condosingapore.tumblr.com/

[mrlylerouse]

Why the Top Agents Leverage Success Metrics in a Shifting Market

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the shifting market, and you’ve likely been hearing steps and strategies to help you be prepared for what may come in your local market. Whether it just shifts slightly to a more balanced, normalized market, or there’s a noticeable lull in home sales… the name of the game is being fully prepared at any time with a solid business model, that’s evergreen and “shockproof,” so that your profitability doesn’t suffer.

  One tactic that will help solidify your profitability (no matter the market), is clearly tracking and measuring success metrics.

  We’re still in Q1, the busy spring season is rapidly approaching so it’s the perfect time to take a step back and make sure you’re being diligent about some of the boring stuff (like these metrics and numbers), so you can ultimately enjoy the good stuff, like more closings and a higher transaction volume at the end of the year.

Response Time

Did you know that the industry average response time for a real estate lead is over 15 hours? Yikes.

  We all know how to the consumer shopping experience happens these days: you’re on the web, you’re searching for a property and you’re focused on that task for 20, maybe 30 minutes tops. But what are you up to 10, 15 hours later? You’ve moved on! You’re not interested in chatting. Or, even worse, you’ve already heard from a competitor.

  Speed-to-lead, that age-old adage that you’re sick of hearing? It exists for a reason.

  So, ask yourself. Are you measuring your own response time and are you actively trying to improve it? These are the things that are going to set apart the top-tier agents during a market shift when the flow of leads to your pipeline might not be quite as healthy.

  Take a look at your current process for engaging leads. Do you have a technology system in place, like a CRM, that notifies you the second a lead registers on your site? And if so, Is it mobile so that wherever you are you can take a minute to reach out? Maybe you have an ISA, an assistant or a virtual assistant that’s prospecting for you and engaging those new leads — well their response time is your response time! So make sure you have a system in place to track how quickly someone is getting in front of those leads.

  So once you’ve got an idea of what your average response time is, work on improving it! Try to get it under 5 minutes, and if you’re having trouble doing that, you might need to consider hiring an assistant or an ISA that can help you prospect and stay on top of new leas. Or perhaps you’re generating too many leads and you don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with them. In that case, consider scaling back so you can work with a smaller pool that will actually covert and close a deal with you. Because a large pool of leads that don’t convert really just isn’t smart business.

Here are a few questions you can answer to determine how many leads you really need

How many leads do you need to get an appointment

How many appointments does it take for you to close a deal?

What is your conversion rate?

How big is your current database?

How much time are you willing to spend prospecting?

Follow-up & Lead Nurture

Obviously, response time is just one piece of the puzzle – and the real leg work comes with follow up and effective lead nurturing. Now, more than ever, this is super important Today’s real estate industry is all about the consumer experience. You hear the words “red-carpet,” or “white-glove experience” thrown around, and that’s because we live in a digital time now where everything is instant and readily available.  

You can have Whole Foods groceries delivered to your house within 2 hours, at the click of a button!

  So to keep up with consumer demand you have to be available and you have to be communicative. You also have to be one step ahead of them, anticipating their needs, not just reacting to what they’re asking for.

  This is why you need to be smart and meticulous with follow-up & nurture plans.

  1. Organize Your Database.

It’s impossible to measure if your follow-up needs work when you don’t have a clear process in place. If you’re not using a CRM, whatever strategy for you have for organizing your leads and pushing them through the funnel – stay on top of it. (Also, consider investing in technology to automate those tasks and allow yourself to be more proactive.)

For everyone else that is using a CRM, spend the time necessary to get your lead flow organized. Clean up your categories and tags so that your database is organized into straightforward segments like:

Want to buy or sell now

They’re looking, but not ready to act

Searching a few months out

Searching a few years out

All of these leads require different follow-up approaches and nurture plans, so it’s important that they’re clearly segmented!  

2. Tailor Your Marketing Campaigns

First, focus on your follow-up plan for your hot leads. These are the critical, “act now” leads that are the most likely to engage. Maybe you use the 10-days-of-pain model. Whatever combination of texts, calls, emails you use, and however long your process is – make sure this is clearly defined within your business so that you can look through a call log and text record and say – “Did I follow this action plan step by step”? What went wrong, what went right?

  The marketing campaigns and nurture plans come into play for the rest of your leads that need nurturing. That group that you’ve labeled “looking but not quite ready to act?” Those leads should be getting emails with fresh listings and they should be getting periodic touches to gauge where they are in the process and whether or not they’re ready to start setting up appointments.

    3. Track and Measure

This is easy in BoomTown. Calls, emails, transactions, team performance: everything is tracked and logged in the system for immediate reference and simple tracking. But no matter the system, everything should be tracked to measure success, and whether or not it is working for the specific category. Maybe a certain category would respond to texting over email, or video over straight text? You’ll never know unless you A/B test and track your progress.    

Once all the main pieces of your marketing plan are in place, determine the goal behind your campaign. What actions do you want your audience to engage in? What type of influence or advocacy are you looking to draw back from them? For example, by sharing quality educational content, you showcase your authenticity and insights to build trust and loyalty with your audience. The CRM will track open rates, responses, and log each interaction automatically. This makes it easy to see what emails are working, and where you might want to improve.   If your data shows one specific email isn’t helping move leads through the funnel, or recipients are increasingly unsubscribing and/or reporting spam, it’s time to adjust your messaging schedule. Keep in mind that your prospects may be receiving emails from more than one agent, so keep content fresh and original. Look at ineffective emails as a test, not a failure. You’ll no longer be wasting time on a message that isn’t resonating with your prospects and you can focus on different subject matters that drive results. With time, you will discover what is successfully reaching different segments of your email lists.

  Lead Conversion & Close Rates

Now it’s time for a little bit of math! (Don’t panic, we’ll keep it simple.)

First, make sure you have these numbers. (Monthly)

Marketing Expenses (i.e. advertising costs, etc.)

# of leads generated

# of leads who became a client-prospect

Take the (# of leads generated) and divide by the (# of client-prospects). So, if you generated 1000 leads in January and 50 of them became clients, here’s what the equation would look like:  

50 ÷ 1000 = 0.05 (or 5%)

(# of clients) ÷ (# of leads generated)

  From here you can use your conversion rate to calculate other useful numbers that will help you with your goal-setting and business plan.  

The post Why the Top Agents Leverage Success Metrics in a Shifting Market appeared first on BoomTown!.

from BoomTown! https://ift.tt/2T30hSe

[rk800isalive]

So this might be over kill but you know. If you still can’t find my rules. For what ever reason.... Here they are!! Under read more...

Again for my mutuals I’m really sorry about this. This isn’t directed to any of you.

Hey there dear! Here is all you need to know about this rper/ask blog!

updated: Aug 7,2019

 About the blog:

-I’ve wrote this a few times now on the blog but I am Semi-Selective and Mutuals only. I have a lot of anxiety or rping with to many people. I do open up to more people in time. Again, I rp for fun and as a stress release I don’t want to start making rping stressful.

-If I’m following you and you follow back. How do you know it’s me?? I send geckos and danger noodles. I’m very shy when first interacting so I send geckos on anon. It’s a way for me to 1) judge your muse and how they handle things. 2) It makes me feel better as a starter to say hello.

-This blog is a nsfw/sfw blog.

-I don’t rp with minors. I’m literally over 21+ I don’t feel personally comfortable with minors interacting or rping with me. Nothing against ya, I’m just not comfy with it. Other reasons are because I rp a lot of adult/dark themes and I don’t feel comfy with minors being around that.

-I’ll pretty much rp anything except anything NSFW with minors or anything NSFW with minor muses.

-I will unfollow if I feel like pretty wiggy about your blog. By this I mean, let’s say you post a canon call. Then you make a post complaining about people liking said canon call. I mean this like you do this a lot. I’m old and I don’t care and it comes off as wiggy to me.

-I do not accept or acknowledge hate to anyone of any kind on my blog, thank you. If I see it on my blog I’m going to delete it. This means I do not condone sending or receiving hate of any kind to others or myself.

-I also will add a side note to this because I can’t believe I have to do this. If I don’t accept of acknowledge hate that also means I will not send hate. I have not and will never do such actions.

-Muse =/= Mun. This means the Mun and Muse do not always share the same feeling or would act the same way. We are two different people.

-I do not rp with blogs that do not have at least an about and/or a rules page. I feel much more comfortable seeing those. I don’t care if your blog is fancy or if you have icons. Just these two things at least is important to me.

-I write to have fun! Rping is a hobby of mine and really helps destress me. Enjoy what you do and have fun with it! Don’t worry about replying right away, I’m chill with waiting.

-I don’t own any of the icons or art you see me use unless I have stated otherwise.

-Highly Selective to OC’s. I explain why further down in my rules.

Dos and Don’ts rules:

-Don’t take control of my character please.

-Please no GodMods.

-Do not guilt trip me into responding to you. I will block you.

-Also please be aware if you reblog rp with thislovelylady/ alannasroleplaymemes, or really any of this person’s blogs I will unfollow and block you. This is non-negotiable.

-Do not follow me if you follow any blogs connected to sinsofexcalibur/ giseinohana or really any of their blogs. If you do follow or interact with said person I will unfollow and block you. Nothing against you, I really don’t want to get into why this person makes me uncomfortable just understand this is one of my rules. This too is non-negotiable.

-Don’t guilt me for calling you senpai. I say it in an I think you’re cool and want to be friends. Again I’m old. I literally remember when yaoi paddles were a thing. Not that I ever had one, but man oh man, do I remember them.

-Don’t come at me with hating on ships. You can like or dislike what you want. I just don’t want to hear it.

-If I don’t answer your threads or starters either tumblr ate it or I haven’t had time to get to it.

-Feel free to remind me to reply. Life happens and I’m also just ADHD so my attention span is crap at times. Just don’t spam me about it.

-I do not start drama, I do not like getting into drama, and as such I ask you not to tag me in drama. I like living my life as drama free as possible.

-If you are a personal blog and you reblog my threads you are not apart of I will block you. It’s rude don’t do it.

-Do not reblog ooc posts outside of posts that can say you can reblog. Or are posts like followers forever. Just…. literally think about it. If it looks like you are unsure you can message me. Just use common sense.

-Do not ask me why I have not followed you yet. Like that’s some guilt trip bull. If I haven’t followed you yet, I either a) didn’t see the notification. b) Saw you followed checked out your blog and you don’t have a muse, or rule page and didn’t follow c) felt wiggy about your blog d) I just didn’t notice you followed and haven’t seen your blog yet.

-Just because I’m not following you doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me. I’m chill if you send anons.

-I always cut my posts. Please cut yours. It’s not too hard to do there are like a million tutorials showing how to do so. If you don’t trim your posts I’m most likely going to unfollow you. There really isn’t any excuse as to why you can’t trim your posts. On mobile there is a giant X you can press. This is true on desktop as well.

-Do not reblog my threads unless you are apart of them. If you do I will block you.

-I’m not an rp meme blog, if you are not a mutual please don’t reblog the memes. Reblog it from the sources.

Triggers:

-The only triggers I have is Sharks (Realistic Images or video of them) and IV Needles. I just ask that you please tag them. It’s cool if you forget it happens.  Mostly it’s the needle bit that is the worst trigger. I have other trigger they are just very rare and very hard to hit. I’ll let ya know if you ever hit them.

-If you need something tagged just let me know.

-I will tag things if you need it tagged. I’m also an idiot and forget sometimes. Just slap me with a friendly reminder message and I’ll tag it for ya. When I tag things I always forget to tag things with ‘tw’ at the end.  Example rather then writing ‘gore tw’ I write ‘gore’. Again, I do this mostly because I forget to put ‘tw’ at the end.

Shipping / writing:

-I’ll just slide this in here too. I ship chemistry, if I feel the two muses are getting along and you wanna ship them I’m down. I don’t ship with minors. If you wanna have a family bond connection with my muse, smack dat message button and hit me up. I’m down for chatting about it and plotting it out!

-I ship Connor/Hank personally but this doesn’t mean every Hank my muse meets will want to jump their bones. Again I can’t stress enough how I ship chemistry. I won’t ship with anyone right off the bat unless you talk to me ahead of time and want to plot something out.

-If your Hank only sees Connor as a son, I’m totally cool with that too. Again I do not ship anything unless you’ve messaged me before hand. I just like chemistry between muses first.

-I will ship hate pairings, crack pairings, and just because pairings.

-If you want to ship with my Connor, hit me up. Again this is normally after we’ve been rping for a while. I’m for the most part chill about shipping.

-I have my own NTP I’m chill with talking about them. I’m also over all a very chill but weenie of new peeps person. Again I’ve been around a while.

-If you have a ship you wanna try out with my Connor slap that message button and I’m more than happy to chat it out. We can come up with an idea. But again I prefer chemistry first over shipping.

-I love to plot things out. If you have an AU you would like to try out I’m totally open for it.

-If you see mistakes in my grammar and spelling I am sorry. I tend to type fast and sometimes aren’t able to catch all my mistakes. Please bare with me on that and I’ll most likely edit my posts. Or more commonly I’ll respond with like little to no sleep in me and don’t realize I messed up spelling or used the wrong words or grammar till like the next day or when I post my reply and reread it. Again I have insomnia… most days I’m up till like 3-4 am. Not even lying there. Some days I sleep for like… 14 hours. There is little to no in between.

-I can and will rp dark themes. I love rping angst or pretty much anything. That being said, just be aware of my fear of needles. I will rp sharks just because I can’t physically see them. Writing about that doesn’t bother me just anything to do with blood work just … yeah.

-I write rather large posts when I role play. Don’t feel intimidated because you don’t have to match my post size. It’s just my thing I do. I only ask that if I reply with let’s say a paragraph I wish for at least a paragraph back. This doesn’t apply if it’s a crack thread. Those are just up in the air and fun.

-If your muse is an OC, from a different fandom, or if he never met you in the game and your  beginning message/thread/starter is acting like he knows you right from the get go and he doesn’t I might not answer the ask or thread. Just because sometimes it makes me uncomfortable unless it just fits or you have messaged me ahead of time.

-I also love the idea of my Connor viewing any of the Rk series as family. If you don’t see it that way hit me up and I’m chill with it.

-If the post is long or nsfw based I put them under read more.

Just things I didn’t really know where else to put:

-I am SUPER shy online. In person I’m a loudmouth who isn’t afraid of anything. So it takes me a good long time to message people to rp.

-I am one whole weenie. If you get geckos/ danger noodles (snakes) in your anon box. -dabs- dat be me. Trying to get over being a weenie one gecko at a time. I don’t what it is I’m just very very shy online.

-I call new peeps who follow me senpais till I feel comfortable to be not nervous.

-If I follow you 99.9% I probably want to rp with you. I’m also a weenie so I’m probably intimidated to message you if you wanna thread or rp. I has the anxiety…

-I’ve been rping for 9+ years off tumblr, +6 on tumblr, and about +4 years on discord.

-I tend to update my blog a lot because I want my blog to be the best that it can be in my eyes. Your blog doesn’t have to be this detailed or fancy looking I just hold my blog to a stupid standard in my head.

-Mun is 21+ and pretty much only feels comfortable rping with 18+ muns.

-I have Major Depression, ADHD, PTSD, Anxiety, and DID. I do have a blog for my system they probably won’t interact on this blog.  Please be aware of this as there are days I just… struggle.

-I am always tired, if I’m not tired I’m hyper as fuck.

-I read the rules and about everyone’s blog I ever follow. I feel more comfortable and more likely to rp with you when I see the rules and about pages. I will read about the mun pages too. This allows me to get a peak into not only your muse but who you are.

-OCs I’m so sorry I’m a bit picky at times. If I can’t picture my muse interacting with them I sort of just… Don’t bother. It’s nothing against your oc. I promise you that. I am just a little picky after being burned a few times.

-I do not have a password system mostly because I would forget my own password. But if you are reading all this and got all the way here, thanks!!

-I’m just here to have fun. I want to rp as a way to help my own stress of life. If you like my Connor, great! Thank you for liking him! If you don’t, cool, you don’t have to. I like all sorts of ships. I don’t really care about gender mostly because I myself am pan but I just don’t care. If two characters mingle well and feelings start to arise I’m more likely to ship it. You don’t have to like the ship. It’s cool.

-I am 28. I’ve been rping for a stupid ass long time. I’ve seen shit in fandoms come and go. I don’t care about drama, I don’t want your drama, I’m just here to have some fun. Cool. That’s gonna come off as mean… Sorry.

-I have the right to follow and unfollow who I wish. I also have the right to rp with whom I wish and whom I don’t wish. ( Though if I am already following you, I’m 100% willing to rp with you.)

-It takes me a while to respond to things. Again I want to make this clear, I have a lot of mental illnesses that just make me struggle most of the time. I deal with heavy insomnia. Sometimes I’m lightning fast with threads other times it takes me a bit. Or tumblr just decided to fucking yeet my god damn drafts again. In which case hit me up on dms like if I haven’t gotten to the thread after like two weeks. Most likely tumblr fucking ate it.

If you finished reading and you would like to know more about the Mun and the muse here you are!

The mun just click here. My muse click here.

[mrdonaldclark86]

Why the Top Agents Leverage Success Metrics in a Shifting Market

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the shifting market, and you’ve likely been hearing steps and strategies to help you be prepared for what may come in your local market. Whether it just shifts slightly to a more balanced, normalized market, or there’s a noticeable lull in home sales… the name of the game is being fully prepared at any time with a solid business model, that’s evergreen and “shockproof,” so that your profitability doesn’t suffer.

  One tactic that will help solidify your profitability (no matter the market), is clearly tracking and measuring success metrics.

  We’re still in Q1, the busy spring season is rapidly approaching so it’s the perfect time to take a step back and make sure you’re being diligent about some of the boring stuff (like these metrics and numbers), so you can ultimately enjoy the good stuff, like more closings and a higher transaction volume at the end of the year.

Response Time

Did you know that the industry average response time for a real estate lead is over 15 hours? Yikes.

  We all know how to the consumer shopping experience happens these days: you’re on the web, you’re searching for a property and you’re focused on that task for 20, maybe 30 minutes tops. But what are you up to 10, 15 hours later? You’ve moved on! You’re not interested in chatting. Or, even worse, you’ve already heard from a competitor.

  Speed-to-lead, that age-old adage that you’re sick of hearing? It exists for a reason.

  So, ask yourself. Are you measuring your own response time and are you actively trying to improve it? These are the things that are going to set apart the top-tier agents during a market shift when the flow of leads to your pipeline might not be quite as healthy.

  Take a look at your current process for engaging leads. Do you have a technology system in place, like a CRM, that notifies you the second a lead registers on your site? And if so, Is it mobile so that wherever you are you can take a minute to reach out? Maybe you have an ISA, an assistant or a virtual assistant that’s prospecting for you and engaging those new leads — well their response time is your response time! So make sure you have a system in place to track how quickly someone is getting in front of those leads.

  So once you’ve got an idea of what your average response time is, work on improving it! Try to get it under 5 minutes, and if you’re having trouble doing that, you might need to consider hiring an assistant or an ISA that can help you prospect and stay on top of new leas. Or perhaps you’re generating too many leads and you don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with them. In that case, consider scaling back so you can work with a smaller pool that will actually covert and close a deal with you. Because a large pool of leads that don’t convert really just isn’t smart business.

Here are a few questions you can answer to determine how many leads you really need

How many leads do you need to get an appointment

How many appointments does it take for you to close a deal?

What is your conversion rate?

How big is your current database?

How much time are you willing to spend prospecting?

Follow-up & Lead Nurture

Obviously, response time is just one piece of the puzzle – and the real leg work comes with follow up and effective lead nurturing. Now, more than ever, this is super important Today’s real estate industry is all about the consumer experience. You hear the words “red-carpet,” or “white-glove experience” thrown around, and that’s because we live in a digital time now where everything is instant and readily available.  

You can have Whole Foods groceries delivered to your house within 2 hours, at the click of a button!

  So to keep up with consumer demand you have to be available and you have to be communicative. You also have to be one step ahead of them, anticipating their needs, not just reacting to what they’re asking for.

  This is why you need to be smart and meticulous with follow-up & nurture plans.

  1. Organize Your Database.

It’s impossible to measure if your follow-up needs work when you don’t have a clear process in place. If you’re not using a CRM, whatever strategy for you have for organizing your leads and pushing them through the funnel – stay on top of it. (Also, consider investing in technology to automate those tasks and allow yourself to be more proactive.)

For everyone else that is using a CRM, spend the time necessary to get your lead flow organized. Clean up your categories and tags so that your database is organized into straightforward segments like:

Want to buy or sell now

They’re looking, but not ready to act

Searching a few months out

Searching a few years out

All of these leads require different follow-up approaches and nurture plans, so it’s important that they’re clearly segmented!  

2. Tailor Your Marketing Campaigns

First, focus on your follow-up plan for your hot leads. These are the critical, “act now” leads that are the most likely to engage. Maybe you use the 10-days-of-pain model. Whatever combination of texts, calls, emails you use, and however long your process is – make sure this is clearly defined within your business so that you can look through a call log and text record and say – “Did I follow this action plan step by step”? What went wrong, what went right?

  The marketing campaigns and nurture plans come into play for the rest of your leads that need nurturing. That group that you’ve labeled “looking but not quite ready to act?” Those leads should be getting emails with fresh listings and they should be getting periodic touches to gauge where they are in the process and whether or not they’re ready to start setting up appointments.

    3. Track and Measure

This is easy in BoomTown. Calls, emails, transactions, team performance: everything is tracked and logged in the system for immediate reference and simple tracking. But no matter the system, everything should be tracked to measure success, and whether or not it is working for the specific category. Maybe a certain category would respond to texting over email, or video over straight text? You’ll never know unless you A/B test and track your progress.    

Once all the main pieces of your marketing plan are in place, determine the goal behind your campaign. What actions do you want your audience to engage in? What type of influence or advocacy are you looking to draw back from them? For example, by sharing quality educational content, you showcase your authenticity and insights to build trust and loyalty with your audience. The CRM will track open rates, responses, and log each interaction automatically. This makes it easy to see what emails are working, and where you might want to improve.   If your data shows one specific email isn’t helping move leads through the funnel, or recipients are increasingly unsubscribing and/or reporting spam, it’s time to adjust your messaging schedule. Keep in mind that your prospects may be receiving emails from more than one agent, so keep content fresh and original. Look at ineffective emails as a test, not a failure. You’ll no longer be wasting time on a message that isn’t resonating with your prospects and you can focus on different subject matters that drive results. With time, you will discover what is successfully reaching different segments of your email lists.

  Lead Conversion & Close Rates

Now it’s time for a little bit of math! (Don’t panic, we’ll keep it simple.)

First, make sure you have these numbers. (Monthly)

Marketing Expenses (i.e. advertising costs, etc.)

# of leads generated

# of leads who became a client-prospect

Take the (# of leads generated) and divide by the (# of client-prospects). So, if you generated 1000 leads in January and 50 of them became clients, here’s what the equation would look like:  

50 ÷ 1000 = 0.05 (or 5%)

(# of clients) ÷ (# of leads generated)

  From here you can use your conversion rate to calculate other useful numbers that will help you with your goal-setting and business plan.  

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