#why am I doing every Twitter meme in existence

[skylandart]

what are they doing tho＼(;´□｀)/ (x)

[freeuselandonorris]

this has been sitting in my drafts for a day or so and an ask game is the perfect excuse to send it in

☉ SHARK TANK

I've been thinking many thoughts about Oscar and his usually quite well hidden exhibitionism. like he's not as much of an attention whore as Lando is (or at least not nearly as obnoxiously) but he still definitely IS. my source? old prema videos: him on a cliff in monaco talking about the view and then pointing at himself and saying "nice view". talking about how he's fine "becoming a meme on twitter" as long as it gets him attention. being well aware that there's a camera on him while he's getting undressed (the one singular clip that exists of him with his shirt off that is in like every edit ever made) but not making any effort to get said camera turned off or just turning away from it, not even bothering to look at least a little bashful after. like you ain't slick bitch I see you. I've not really seen that characterisation of him in fics but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the matter

YEAAAH love this!! i think you're so right actually - i think a lot of this is that athletes are just very comfortable with their bodies in the sense that they're used to seeing them as a tool and a thing to be honed and manipulated, so they're constantly being touched, adjusted, assessed (i also have a theory that this is why they're all so grabby with each other) and they're also used to just being on display. but ALSO this is about oscar's quiet confidence - like, lando's an exhibitionist in the sense that he's constantly putting himself on display for approval and because he wants the validation, whereas oscar's just like. yep. here i am. i know i'm worth it.

lil snippet because i love this idea!

The wild thing is, Oscar’s not even bothering to hide it. He’s standing as cool as anything in front of the mirror in his hotel room, dressed in only his boxer shorts, flexing. As if Lando’s not there.

“Damn,” Lando says from his vantage point on the bed, feeling hot and strange. He’d barged into Oscar’s room to get ready for the stupid sponsor event, needs the company to stop him getting all up in his head about it. “Really feeling yourself there, bro.”

He lets his voice tilt a bit scathing as he says it. Not like Oscar’s got nothing to be proud of – his upper body strength’s better than Lando’s now, the last bits of teenage softness melting away into solid muscle as the season’s progressed. But still. Man needs some modesty.

Anyway, he needn’t have bothered, because Oscar just blinks back at him in the mirror, face unreadable. 

“Yeah,” he says simply, and presses a hand to his sternum, twisting to flare his lats. Lando, for some stupid reason, feels his face going pink. “Pretty stoked with my progress recently.”

He doesn’t make an inappropriate joke of it like Lando would, or blush and get awkward. Just turns, angling himself subtly towards Lando instead of the mirror. Slim fingers resting in the channel between his abs, pinkie finger just dipping into his navel. 

Lando swallows. There’s something about the way Oscar’s acting, like it’s perfectly normal for him to be displaying himself like this, that makes Lando want to look. Like, really look. It must be okay, if Oscar's letting him do it. Encouraging him to do it.

He’s kinda flushed, colour high up on his cheeks and across the pale skin of his neck, but it’s not like he’s embarrassed. It’s like he’s excited. Like his heart’s hammering in his chest, sending all the blood rocketing around his body.

“Yeah. You’re looking good, Osc,” Lando says, dry-mouthed, and settles back into the pillows as Oscar’s hand creeps down, down. “Why don’t you show me the rest?”

[wildskissed]

GET TO KNOW ME MEME ! !

NAME — pyro, but some of you know me by my name/name PRONOUNS — she/her SEXUALITY — demisexual, which is admittedly why a few of my more popular muses are as well, because it's easy to write, lol SINGLE / TAKEN — taken

THREE FACTS

— I used to teach preschool — I’m a published author — My ideas were used for a few episodes of a very popular cult phenomenon show that ran for 15 years...

EXPERIENCE

HOW LONG — Have I been writing? Since 6th grade. My teacher added an extra credit part to our weekly homework packets for me because I was always writing random short stories in class in my free time and she thought it would be fun if we all had a chance to do that. RPing? Since 2006, and it was on a Star Trek forum that no longer exists. It was also fully comprised of OCs only, so it boggled my mind--still does--that when I came to Tumblr that was so frowned upon, because that was all I knew. WHAT PLATFORMS — A couple of forums, one for Start Trek and one that was a world that my sister and I created that took off with our friends and some other people we never met in real life, lol. We also did Twitter RP for a while for FanFic characters, and then I ended up on Tumblr, and very rarely do a I sometimes do Discord RP. BEST EXPERIENCE — I love Tumblr most days, but those forums were hands down the best. We all collaborated on ideas, and we all gushed about each other's OC's, and we genuinely wanted everyone to have a good time. We also got really into editing and manips, which was why when I was involved in said cult phenomenon, I used to make fan videos too by meshing different shows and movies together. I still do that occasionally, but mostly I just work on my own novels, lol. Honestly, probably why Eve has taken off as she has with the group of you that I've surrounded myself with because we all do the same--we collaborate and gush and protect each other.

MUSE TYPE

FEMALE OR MALE — I heavily lean towards female muses. I don't know why that is, because I do have male muses that I have used in the past, and I love writing male characters, but I have never been able to stick with one that I RPed. Because of that, I absolutely RP females constantly. FLUFF , ANGST OR SMUT — I love them all! Angst is my niche though. I've been known for it in every serious writing group I have ever been in, but I still love fluff and I do love smut if I'm in the mood for it. I try not to turn cute threads into angst too, but I know that I'm guilty of that sometimes, haha. PLOTS OR MEMES — ALL OF THE ABOVE LONG OR SHORT REPLIES — I prefer longer replies, but I understand that those can take a toll, and sometimes, I'm more in the mood for a shorter quippy thread, you know? So, it really depends on the mood, and how my partner is feeling. BEST TIME TO WRITE — When I have the muse to. That's such a response, but, it's just true. I have such limited time because of my work schedule, so I'm mostly on in the mornings or on Sundays, but honestly, you can't force writing to happen. You really gotta go with the flow. ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S) — I mean...yes and no? I have muses that I have absolutely nothing in common with, but I also feel like, most of us pick muses that we at least see one trait in common with them? Easier to write what you know? Like I write L.ove Q.uinn, but I wouldn't say I am like her. I have a mothering streak like Eve does, and I can be a bit of an arrogant brat like Y.ennefer, but I don't know that I'd ever compare myself to my muses, lol.

TAGGED BY STOLEN FROM: the dash and i can't remember from whom TAGGING: @illithidploy, @arcanecast, @shadovan, @miidnighters, @dxnse-macabre, @fereldensheroes, @altrxisme, @luposcainus, @championsofthegate, @alittlebitofmuse, @wolf-eyes-wolf-soul, and you ! !

[babyspacebatclone]

So, I’ve been thinking of this one meme tweeted by Elon Musk re: people’s reactions to the changes he wants to make to Twitter.

(see second post for discussion re: creation of meme)

And I can’t help but be continually shocked by how, on every level I can conceive, it just completely shows how clueless Musk is.

Every element of this meme is deliberately insulting to the Twitter user base, and you do not keep customers when you continually insult them.

I just - this is stupid, Musk. This is stupid, and it makes you stupid, and why can’t you accept that you’re the problem here when this is what you are trying to do???

I’m going to break this up into multiple posts, because this essay is going to be long.

Let’s start with what should be the most basic element for Musk, economics.

What this meme shows, reactions to two products/services priced at $8 usd, is a discussion of perceived value. What Musk is attempting to highlight is that a Starbucks coffee, which offers a limited time enjoyment (marked as 30 minutes for $8 usd) should not be perceived as superior to a month of Twitter account verification.

And this is just - I can’t even. There is no correlation between the perceived value of a (admittedly overpriced) coffee and account verification.

They fulfill two different needs for people. For most of the Twitter userbase, an enjoyable caffinated drink functions within the “Safety Needs” of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

And I am not exaggerating or mocking that.

These “luxury” items are less vital than the basic physiological need of “food,” but nevertheless fulfill a necessary need in relieving anxiety, pressure, and distress. They are reprieves from work, a reliable constant that helps defend against the grinding weight of everyday life.

A favored drink allows someone to reconnect with themselves and gain strength to face the world, and I repeat: this is not exaggeration. These rituals of “the daily coffee” and similar are modern versions of prayer in a society that deemphasizes the spiritual, a touchstone of peace.

Now, social media itself fulfills this exact function for many, many people - reading memes, news, and the escape of five or ten minutes of scrolling go beyond just the connection with friends. It is a ritual of stress reduction (even if in practice, much like caffeine consumption, it may end up having a net negative effect).

Relating paying a subscription for social media access to a ritual drink is, therefore, very comparable for how they function within the life of many in Twitter’s user base.

But this is where the perceived value needs to be considered: Is Twitter, in its current format, worth $8 usd a month in comparison with its competitors? When Tumblr and Facebook and multiple alternatives exist that remain free, could Twitter justify its service for this cost?

That is a question I cannot answer. But if I am uncertain how feasible a subscription for use remains valuable, I can blatantly say account verification - which is not required for Twitter use - fails to provide equal perceived value to a stress-reduction ritual drink.

Account verification is not stress reduction, not a security benefit, it even a belonging requirement.

It falls within Esteem Needs for the core population of Twitter users: an emblem of pride.

Now, this is a different matter for corporations and public personas: Verification is part of their ability to interact with customer bases (including fans) in a reliable manner.

Verification is significant for individuals such as Ryan Reynolds and Stephen King, and I shall leave the judgement of perceived value to public personalities to them and other celebrities.

But Elon Musk, by comparing Account Verification to what is often a deliberate security ritual, demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the perceived value of Twitter functions to average, non-public users.

He is proving, in a very self-defeating manner, how unsuitable he is to providing a user experience a large segment of Twitter users find valuable.

And without non-public individuals supporting the platform, professional entities have no reason to use it either.

Economically, showing this meme proves Elon Musk is incapable of keeping Twitter a relevant social media platform.

[moonsheen]

fic writer meme

1. how many works do you have on ao3? 112. And thank god that doesn't include the REAL old stuff.

2. what's your total ao3 wordcount? 552,904 ...that's...both more and less than I was expecting

3. what fandoms do you write for?

...a...lot. Most recently? MDZS/SVSSS, Trigun (er, sorry for the weird stuff), and 13 Sentinels (PLAY 13 SENTINELS). Long term oldies but goodies? Kingdom Hearts, Devil May Cry, Overwatch, Supergiant games, Evangelion

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Recovery (SVSS, Qijiu --woah, that one pulled ahead in the last few months) Husband x Husband (Hunter x Hunter -- I did this as a yuletide treat to make up for defaulting one year and it's the gift that keeps giving) Minor Delays (SVSS, Qijiu -- wait really?) The Way Back Home (SVSS, Qijiu -- ....Qijiu nation represent. This one doesn't surprise me though, Chira did an amazing comic for it) Hold the Baby (MDZS -- okay this one was just where I was dumping the old twitter threads of a VERY specific Xiyao fix-it AU but you know what, thanks everyone)

5. do you respond to comments?

I try to. If I don't succeed it's often because life kicked my ass.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably On Your Six (Reaper & Soldier 76, Overwatch)

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This is hard mostly because all of my fic tends to be some kind of fix-it in some way to give someone an obscenely happy ending. If you had to have me narrow it down based on what my most blatant fix-it to some miserable canon character ending was? I'd go with either Happiness Exists (As Long As You Believe in the Possibility) (Qijiu again!), and the Recovery-verse as a whole, or maybe Abstraction White Rose (Revolutionary Girl Utena), because by god I needed Utena and Anthy to kiss and I MADE THEM DO THAT, A LOT.

8. do you get hate on fics?

Xiyao troll hit me once or twice and I got a few cranky dudebros who got mad at me for my Eva fic on a message board once, but nothing all that bad if I'm honest.

9. do you write smut?

...well, I've tried but the plot gets in the way.

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you have written?

The first that come to mind are the MDZS/TGCF crossovers, but those are the same authors so I don't know that that counts. I DID write a very silly How The Grinch Stole Christmas/Nightmare Before Christmas short once upon an internet. It has since been lost to the great yawning of time and collapse of several social media platforms.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Someone once scraped the awful Naruto fic I wrote when I was like 15 and changed the names to make it a Samurai Champloo fic which, um. Why? But that was pretty damn funny in hindsight.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! In Russian, Chinese, and French. And I love every time it happens.

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

My dayjob these days is cowriting with people. But on the fanfic side -- well, in short, yes. With the usual suspect (that would be Chira) and with my wife, who has once or twice dictated an entire story outline to me which I write in a day.

14. what's your all time favorite ship? Internet, I am old and you cannot expect me to pick one. Utena/Anthy maybe?

15. what is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I still need to do the last story for the A Troublesome Charge series which I SWEAR will happen it's just I had a literal baby.

16. what are your writing strengths?

Character voice. I love character voice and I am told I am good at it.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Smut.

18. thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

To be honest if I don't know it I don't try. But I like bilingual writing when it's done well (see also: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once) -- but when it comes to fangirl Japanese or Chinese, I tend to leave that to the experts.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

mumblesBeastWars and thank god that was on a platform that crashed and burned. The Beast Wars fic I wrote for Yuletide was way better.

20. favorite fic you have written?

On Your Six, despite how I feel about Overwatch nowadays, I feel was probably one of the punchiest stories I've ever written. I would have absolutely used this story to audition to write for Blizzard's tie-in novellas if Blizzard hadn't...well, read the news on what happened at Blizzard.

The other one I'd probably say is Ghost Roads in my Troublesome Charge series (MDZS). I just feel like I nailed all the multiple plotlines and characters involved in that one and I'm super proud of it. I'm not tagging anyone because I have anxiety about this kind of thing, but please feel free to do this meme yourself if it crosses your dash!

[silent-sanctum]

i usually dont post unformatted stuff like this on the regular, but based on the amount of "jokes" ive seen in twitter and in tumblr about jotaro's character, i got some pet peeves that i may or may not be taking too seriously since he's my fave

but at the same time, a portion of the community is also taking these memes seriously as if it's the gospel and im kinda sick of it tbh so might as well treat this as a "in defense of" segment-

im sure there are others who feel the same way, but im letting everyone know that i feel the same sentiments:

Choosing Koichi over Jolyne

This is one that i don't feel that strongly about compared to the rest, but i feel like ive seen enough of these comments pop up in a youtube video and it makes me want to ask: "yeah? man literally let his emotions surface and sacrifices himself just to let his daughter know that he loves her over anything else".

And why? Because he stayed in Morioh and so happened to end up as a mentor-figure to Koichi (and, you know, to Josuke and Okuyasu too )? But why is it Koichi is singled out as "joot's preferred child" and not the rest? Cause he's child-sized?

Nothing much else to say but do stop treating jotaro like he fully abandoned his family just for shits and giggles.

Ocean Man x Dolphins

NOW. I have things to say.

What is up with these comments? Wherever I go (youtube, reddit, twitter etc.), i would see shit similar to this where he has a fetish for dolphins? Uhm, tf?

I get it if it's done for the memes, but istg, i see these in every reply in a thread as if araki wrote that in canon and people exaggerate this to an extent where "his lover is a sea mammal", "jolyne's mom is a dolphin", "he screws with dolphins", "make dolphin sounds to attract him" etc.

first off... how dumb and really stupid? Just because one of his P4 outfits had an abundance of dolphin pins doesnt mean he has an extreme liking to them. He wore that fit for one arc and thats pretty much it.

And to keep repeating that "i left my family to fuck with them" joke in every comment is just very subpar in terms of humor. It's not even funny to more it's used.

Need i remind these people that other than the clothes, he shows ABSOLUTELY no liking to dolphins at all in the show. If anything, he prefers starfishes over dolphins- he wrote a whole thesis about them and his office has an entire portion of a wall with framed starfishes.

don't know how the whole shtick blew up into this but omg it's annoying

I am Cold-Hearted Misogynist Giga Chad

Imma need everyone to stop mischaracterizing him as nothing but an "always angry" hates females person.

To address the misogynist topic, he talks regularly with the school nurse about cutting his pants, he emphasizes that he's deeply insulted when an innocent woman is hurt and that he considers that as true evil, protects and helps Anne when she's on screen, goes on a whole ass journey to help his mom recover, got married and had a kid with a woman, and offered a brief condolence to Tomoko about her dad's death.

also put in mind that he only barks up and become "misogynistic" (which not really) toward the females that obsess over him. I mean it's borderline sexual harassment if you ask me with the way the female students won't leave him alone and continue to be noisy around him or when adult women fawn over a MINOR.

AND EVEN THEN, when he goes to school with his fangirls flocking around him, he doesn't push them off. Why? Because it's unnecessary. He lets one of them cling to his arm and he just ignores them. After falling the stairs and they swarm around him, he doesn't become violent toward the girls and continues to ignore them. (sure he pushed those flight attendants away and punched his daughter to get out, but then again they were blocking his path and they needed to get out the room so he found it necessary to do those things)

again, him being annoyed with loud girls is reasonable but he isn't annoyed with every female in existence. That doesn't make him a misogynist.

Mr. Blank Slate

As an introvert myself, i find it sad and lowkey insulting that when it comes to watching introverted characters, the audience find them as boring and bears no personality. And i can tell...because the audience finds jotaro and giorno, the 2 introverted Jojos, as characters who are dull and bland.

maybe that's why i kin with joot, because we just quiet and vibing, and somehow people misinterpreting that vibes as "we hate everything don't talk to us"

We aren't openly dynamic and spontaneous but that doesnt mean we don't have personality.

But I think that's because viewers are well-acquainted with "out there" characters who show an explosive and emotive reaction to stuff like Joseph or Josuke. Much like a typical Shonen protag.

jotaro is a stoic, reserved man with a kickass no bullshit personality who wants things done as soon as possible, but holds a soft golden heart deep down who wants his friends and family safe and happy. He's a dork who makes corny one-liners, watches detective shows and documentaries, does party tricks for his friends, very keen on maintaining his sense of style (his uniform, 20k yen pants, expensive ass watch), literally smiles in ^_^ (and yes... he does emote in the anime yall are just too stuck up in the notion of him being angry 24/7 for yall to notice), etc.

idk much about giorno yet im sorry but all i know is that the kid's got a dream so I guess you could say he's ambitious and driven to secure his goal of being a gang-star mafia leader.

all i can say is that, the quiet ones have some quirks to them too and it's not always the loud ones.

Are these controversial? Maybe, but I've seen some express their frustrations so why not as well. Am i being a killjoy and taking this too seriously? Debatable, but there are some of you who also take your jokes seriously so don't come at me.

Will i have more peeves in the future? Likely. Let's wait and see :>

[kwiyoshi]

彡✎ Is Blogging Still a Thing, or Did It Get Lost in MySpace? ("Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagram?")

Every time I go on social media platforms like Twitter or Tumblr, I can post the most trauma-dumping content to ever exist, or even post the funniest memes. This image is all I could think about in regard to that.

In a world where cat videos go viral and memes have become a form of communication, it's high time we ask: Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikTok and Instagram?

Blogging? Whats that

A blog is defined as an online journal or informational website that displays content in reverse chronological order, with the most recent posts appearing first. It serves as a sort of forum for writers to express their opinions on specific topics (Minaev 2023). Over the years, the relevancy of blog sites such as Tumblr and even Blogspot (now known as Blogger) seems to be declining.

Tumblr, tumbled away

For Tumblr specifically, I noticed that not a lot of people are talking about or even using Tumblr after they banned explicit content on the platform. Honestly, even before they banned adult content, I still never heard anything about Tumblr. However, it was reported that the website experienced its most significant drop in the number of blogs following the ban on adult-oriented content in December 2018, plummeting from 521 million to less than 370 million in just two months (Eira 2023).

To make matters worse, Tumblr does not even appear on any of the social media usage rankings anymore. Most people nowadays would prefer using social media platform giants such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. In short, Tumblr fell off. From that, it seems that Tumblr isn't "the vibe™" anymore with Gen-Zs.

Despite Tumblr not seeing the light of day in today's generation, I do think that blogging in general is still relevant on platforms such as Twitter and its newest competitor, Threads (from Meta). I do think that some, if not, most of the community from Tumblr has migrated to Twitter due to the similarities that the two platforms have.

Twitter, Oops I meant X

Twitter, or you can even call it "X" (don't call it that), has done quite an amazing job at carrying on Tumblr's legacy but through a different format. Twitter is considered as a microblogging platform that combines content creation and instant messaging. It also increases interaction with an online audience by sharing brief remarks using a microblog (Sprout Social 2023). Personally, I think that Twitter is a great platform to receive news, interact with the fandom that I am in, and also see who got canceled (again). I feel that part of the reason why Twitter seems to be more popular than Tumblr is due to the character limit that Twitter has, which is capped at 280 characters per post (without the premium subscription). As someone who suffers from mild ADHD, I would prefer Twitter to Tumblr for that reason. I find that Tumblr could be quite overwhelming to some people, especially those who have just started out. Twitter, on the other hand, is mostly short-formed content, that can also be separated out as a thread.

Here are a few examples that I took from my own Twitter page:

Hanging on by a Thread(s)

Threads (from Meta), is also really similar to Twitter in terms of everything. It is also a microblogging platform. In my honest opinion, I quickly got tired of Threads after a week of using it. I just thought it was quite boring to use and there isn't really anything new other than being able to still use your existing Instagram account to create a Threads account. It just felt really similar to Twitter and I think that might be part of the reason why it is not doing as well. I also feel like I am very comfortable with Twitter and have been a part of Twitter for a long time now (even though it got rebranded to "X"). I still hate the fact that Twitter got rebranded to X. No one can ever make me call it X.

Welcome back to my channel !

Besides Tumblr and Threads, blogging has also evolved into a video format, called vlogging. Vlogging is short for video blogging or video logging (changing the b to v from blogging, very original). Most content creators nowadays would typically post either their daily routine or the adventures they had on platforms like YouTube or TikTok. Each of their videos has a unique style that fits the aesthetic or personal preference of the creator. I find that vlogging is one of the easiest media to consume due to the fact that it is in a video format where I can see their vlogs visually and also from their own perspective.

Final thoughts and prayers

Overall, I do believe that, in some aspects, blogging is still a thing and is also relevant in the ages of TikToks and Instagram. With social media platforms such as Twitter, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, and Tumblr, blogging will remain relevant.

References:

Eira, A 2023, Number of Tumblr blogs in 2022/2023: User Demographics, growth, and revenue, Finances Online, viewed 27 September 2023, <https://financesonline.com/number-of-tumblr-blogs/#:~:text=The%20site%20suffered%20its%20biggest,the%20global%20COVID%2D19%20lockdown>.

Sprout Social 2022, Microblog, Sprout Social, viewed 27 September 2023, <https://sproutsocial.com/glossary/microblog/#:~:text=Microblogging%20is%20a%20combination%20of,offer%20popular%20platforms%20for%20microblogging>.

Minaev, A 2023, What is a blog? - definition of blog, Blogging & Blogger, First Site Guide, viewed 27 September 2023, <https://firstsiteguide.com/what-is-blog/>.

[gaypiratebrainrot]

Man. I have SO many thoughts about the secret fic. I am utterly fascinated. I read it all last night and want to reread to get my head around it. But just initial thoughts here:

I've seen in some of your responses to questions that it is partially an exploration of your own discomfort with RPF and that the backlash is part of the art and like - bravo. Yes. I can't help but see all of the outrage on Twitter and remember that these are the same people who:

•Harass and bully Rosie Darby constantly and screenshot/post her tweets to be mocked for the people in the fandom she has blocked

•Create and pass around nasty memes of Rita Ora

•Speculate about Rita and Taika's sex lives/assume he just uses her for sex

•Openly talk about the sex acts they'd like to do to these two actors

•Incorporate details about real actors into their fictional versions constantly

•Ship Anton/Viago because they're played by the same actors as Stede/Ed

•Draw graphic porn of these actors using references of their real bodies with their real faces

•The list goes on

And I don't bring this all up to play the blame game or justify RPF (although I think the shit with Rosie and Rita is insane and so embarrassing) because in my old age - I think I deep down am not comfortable with RPF even though I have not shaken the temptation yet. I bring this all up to say that the righteous outrage seems to be coming from a lack of self-awareness and just a lot of folks who are really clinging to the idea that their version of fandom is Right and Good. I guess my point is that I think all fanfiction/fanart/fandom is somewhere on the spectrum of invasiveness and most people refuse to accept that about their own art because we're all convinced we're the good guys in the story. And it doesn't help that this fandom seems particularly hellbent on finding bad guys.

ANYWAYS

Amazing job. Totally original and fascinating. Truly. Really proud you published it and are weathering the storm. If you need to talk about anything or are having a tough time w/ the backlash, feel free to message me <3

hi!! thank you so so much for this amazing message!! i'm so delighted that people besides me are able to appreciate the bonus meta built into the backlash, it's giving me insane brain vibes lol.

i did about fifty million meta levels of analysis on my own discomfort while writing this fic and am full of thoughts. i have no desire to say that fiction about real people is good or bad because i honestly just don't think about the world that way anymore. what i can say is that fiction about real people exists, has existed probably as long as language/storytelling, and will very likely always exist.

human beings talk about each other. we tell stories about each other. gossip is probably as essential to humanity as dance or music. it is an incredibly uncomfortable reality that every single person who knows you has a version of you in their head that you have no control over. that we all exist as our own embodied experience AND as all of the ways we are perceived. one of the more challenging aspects of being a human, i'd say.

to be a celebrity, or have any kind of audience, is to increase the number of heads you exist in, and as i am presently experiencing for the first time on a small scale between the last fic and this one, this comes with all sorts of uncomfortable, messy problems.

however, the other function of this fic is as a free speech tool. let's say we decide the uncomfortable mess of real person fiction is harmful enough to ban it from being published, either on Ao3, or within our legal system. would you ban this fic and why? and if you would ban this fic, how much of what parts would i have to change before it would be allowed? who would get to choose the "correct" answer to those questions, and who would be reading the fic and deciding whether or not it fits the "correct" guidelines? do you want to give someone else the ability to make that choice for you?

people would have been more pissed off if i'd used taika's kids actual names. but what if i'd named his kids sasha and malia obama? what if i'd used the trump kids? cause if you're banning real person fiction, all three gotta go.

ultimately, i think the parts of me that are really uncomfortable with what i've written feel like i've been horribly rude and disrespectful to the people i love, and honestly, i feel like there's some truth to that. it's just one truth among many, many, many other simultaneous truths, including my belief that the wrestling i did in writing this is important and worthwhile wrestling, and i'm absolutely ecstatic to see i was able to inflict that wrestling upon so many of you <3

[thekuraning]

hi! Umm, you don't have to answer this, and if you do, take your time if needed! but umm, for the choose violence meme, why not numbers 10 and 12? Have a good day!

Oh dang those are good ones!

10 — HISUI. Hisui. hisui. People are VERY WRONG about Hisui to the point where it has become fanon and the thing they are most wrong about is how long ago Legends takea place. Hisui is 200 (TWO HUNDRED) years ago and every time i open any social media i see people talking about how Hisui is ANCIENT and SO MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO and thw answer is NO you have all PSYOPPED YOURSELF this is FANON and it is WRONG thw daguerrotype EXISTED i am FROTHING AT THE MOUTH AND PEELING OFF MY FACE it is FANON and steam power CLEARLY EXISTS and i am still working on my hisui dissertation but when its ready i am going to POST IT ONLINE son.

I feel like a lot of people might worldbuild based on the idea that Hisui in Legends is a lot further in the past than it is 😖 but i also purposely avoid legends fanworks just bc of how prevalent the "hisui is ANCIENT" train of thought is on twitter and I'm scared about what I'll find lol......

12 — SHOUTOUT TO THE OTHER 5 PETREL FANS IN THE WORLD I LOVE YOU ALL AND I SEE YOU ALL!!! Petrel is my King Blorbo and I love him so much but he's definitely not very popular lmfaoooo. Even when it comes to Team Rocket, JJ&M tend to be the most popular, and even when you narrow it down to the HGSS Executives I think it's fair to say Archer, Ariana, and Proton are more popular than Petrel usually is 😬 Which makes me extra excited when I find another Petrel enjoyer! All Petrel enjoyers are welcome on this blog! Though I do wish it was easier to find Petrel-focused works lol...... I just think he's a goofy guy! He's got a fun design and I really love that his canonical team is just 5 koffing and a weezing and they all know explosion like ok this guy is not a good trainer, he's just here to cause problems, and that's why he's an executive!! Also I think a lot of people sleep on his disguise abilities lol.... use petrel more!! He's a great villain!!! And full of OURPLE!!

[doodle-pops]

I was binge watching buzzfeeds thirst tweet videos and I couldn't help but think about how our elves would react to reading thirst tweets about themselves. Ik twitter is a very modern our world thing so technically it doesn't exist there but for the sake of this let's pretend it does. So yeah, I have come to notice that there are mainly four to five type of reactions,, them going like :

Flustered asf, doesn't know half of the nsfw vocabulary, actually can't believe people think thoughts like this about them, tries to laugh their embarrassment off and probably can't finish reading too detailed tweets

Knows they are hot and loves that people are actually appreciating them finally, as they should. Reads the tweets with a smirk playing around their face, also ready to get down with whatever the people who tweeted the thirst tweets,

So fucking calm and polite, adds a thank you after reading every single tweet, a total gentleman, genuinely flattered, ready to do the stuff described only if it doesn't hurt you or isn't violent as fuck. probably will go off on tangent like Andrew garfield did about stuff like "who actually invented being sexy" either because they actually got distracted or they fact they're trying to hide their embarrassment, there's no in between lmao

(Stole both these lines from a comment on James mcavoy video lol) "kinky but I'm sure we can figure out a way to get this done" and Seemingly innocent and unaware yet so sexually suggestive at the same time while replying to the tweets.

Concerned one, screaming "oh my god no!!" "please take care of yourself," "please don't do that, it's unsafe" "I'll have to decline the request because that's way too violent." probably asking if this what people do in their free time and just mix of confused, concerned and flattered

The "why did I even agree to do this?" "I don't know what to say tbh" (this reaction probably overlaps with other ones though ig)

Who do you think will fall into which category? I'm pretty new to this fandom so I am not exactly familiar with all the characters, mainly familiar with house of feanor/elrond and lords of gondolin only so I was like why not ask you, you'd know better than me. I don't really know if this counts as a request, or just an ask. I've read your rules and masterlist and I don't think you've stated this kind of questions/reactions counts as a request so I decided to send this to you since I thought it'd be fun; I've read your replies/analysis and God I just love them so much! Although if this does count as request then please feel free to ignore this since I know your requests are closed. Have a good day/night/whatever time you're reading this at!

Thank you 💕 but I'm not taking in any reactions and this counts as one, however on my main blog, I did a bunch of those Buzzfeed tweets with random characters for the sake of memes. I've been indecisive on whether or not to continue them, they are fun 😂

Elves reading Buzzfeed Tweets | Part 2 | Part 3

[nerice]

ask meme: even numbers >:3

CATCHING UP ON ASK GAMES on this fine 1:18 am >:3

2, if you gave an in depth description of your story to someone who was not all the way paying attention, what would their takeaway be?

the takeaway is that i'd stop talking the second it seems sb is not paying attention lmao but i guess the cliffnotes is [standing in front of conspiracy board] hot evil girls (unkillable) also moons something is up with them moons

4, what would you say is the message, if there is one.

alright finally deigning this with a serious answer. there is no big msg no grand takeaway, just the mess of the struggle & trying to make it thru when life is cruel and unjust and sometimes there's light at the end of the tunnel and other times the despair wins. sometimes the despair is chosen and it's a self-righteous thing and at the end of the day it's about knowing what's best for yourself and the life you want to live, despite (all the despites) and sometimes it is about the catharsis of giving up when it's all too much ;-;

6, speaking of tv adaptations, why would yours get cancelled? (other than capitalism)

ive seen the twinks people wanna cast for holland shadesofmagic i am not letting irl casting be done so this never gets made because animation is too expensive (shoutout to hair, my ocs have a lot of it) w otherwise for all the same reasons down in #18

8, what inspired your world building, if anything?

moon emphasis is definitely a sailor moon worm + a lot of contamination from waverunners [german pirate series] eldritch ocean mare tenebrosum merged with some old recurring fever dream imagery for the invisible moon. also EXTREMELY early kyoani/key shows (air+kanon) for sponsoring how my visual imagination works & the tragedy/wings/dream thematics <3

10, if your story is titled, why did you choose that title?

ok fun anecdote time again in lieu of going thru all 2389 stories individually so. shadow revenge is the book i started out with and always had that title, and when conceptualizing the other two books for the trilogy i wanted to keep a similar naming scheme (starting with s + double noun) so originally they were

schattenrache (shadow revenge)

seelentraum (soul delusion, to grade 8 me, but lit. 'soul dream')

sanduhrmelodie (sandglass melody)

the last one is esp fun bc i was just groping in the dark for a title to fit the scheme & only from there worked out it was abt linn's melody nd all that biz lmao but u can see the influence that later made soul plot big before i switched to 'dream game' for the middle one bc i always LOATHED 'soul delusion' as a title f. (the german one fucks quite well tbh) so much of my finickiness is needing to make things work in 2 languages OTL

12, okay be honest. pick a favorite oc from this ocverse.

there is no competition like, at all. 🐇

14, whats your favorite part of this story/project?

interconnected story hell !!!!!!! i don't think i'll ever write anything else i'll never have a story that does not plug into the larger verse somehow (valiant attempts by my short story profs but vertebrae inventory / touching fire / let sleeping gods die all got folded back into side content ww) nothing gets my brain going like the layers upon layers of history and thrulines and transposing it into different settings or formats. i will never get tired of it. i was put on this earth to do exactly this and i hope i will get to do it for a long time still <(/)3

16, imagine the entire story takes place but in the meantime the characters all also have tumblr. what kind of (terrible) tumblr posts would happen?

answered! but as a bonus i am entirely sure that eliada would get the most mileage out of that setup until he gets doxxed by alissa. send tweet

18, what aspect of the story would get you #canceled on twitter?

glorifying self harm and suicide, teenagers fucking raw onscreen, every #linneacore moment. also cancelling myself over the existence of amasa i deserve it what the fuck

20, your ocverse just got a movie trilogy a la hunger games style. how have they horribly mangled your message/theme so that the movies are now a showcase of what the original was condemning?

OH FOR SURE none of the ugly parts or disk horse worthy content (see above) stay intact, sj is a romance now, gr*y actually dies and probably feels a little bad about what he has done, every suicide gets some noble circumstances attached to it esp faye who gets shafted into the typical time traveling savior role instead of coldhearted pragmatism for her own end. i am mad just thinking abt it thanks <3

22, you have been given unlimited funds to make two adaptations of some sort, however you cannot make any other adaptations of any other sort. which two formats do you choose?

(i am not handing any point of production over to anyone else but i am using the unlimited funds to devote myself to realizing these full-time) comics and animation! i am not interested in anything else

24, best scene you've written?

my writing is no doubt at its best when i'm writing soulless torture / rabbit hell but that is. premium tier locked patreon content; as far as fav scenes go my top three are probably

qs life pledges [THEY WIN !]

the original black swan masked ball piece. changed the course of history & my entire writing career

jumie/sky conversation after [redacted]s death. we cannot elaborate it's too much for my heart, agh!

[lies down both metaphorically and irl] goodnight thanks for playing!!

[rosietrace]

Oh my...is that god?! JKJK HEYA ROSIE

First, thank you for making the idol au a thing!! We all wouldn't be here without your efforts 🥺 Always take your time with your writing-

So far, all the chapters have never failed to brighten my day! The twt screenshots just make it all funnier (plus Yuuta...I love him but I hate him HDKDJS)

Keep up the great work!! There has never been a boring melodic misconceptions chapter (yes, even the fillers!) and I believe it's impossible to make it such 😈

- from your local friendly neighborhood nem

OMG HI NEM 👁️👁️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Why yes, I am god, worship me peasants /hj

You're welcome for the creation of "Melodic Misconceptions 🎹" 🥹. I'm surprised it got as popular as it did, but I'm really glad that it was able to bring all of us together! Talking to each other here and on the Discord server always brightens my day! 😊

I can't really promise taking my time with my writing 😭 There's always a part of myself that doubts my writing abilities while also worrying about meeting (non)-existent deadlines. But I'm really glad y'all like my writing 😭😭 JSJSHSHSLSLSSAKAKS

The Twitter screenshots will always be the highlight of any track of MM🎹 . It's just the most fun part of the process cus I get to make memes of our ocs 🧍‍♀️😈

And I love your love-hate relationship with Yuuta 😭 Yuuta has that effect on others, tbh. It's either you love him, you hate him, or you're just on the middle ground of loving and hating that greedy (but inspirationally confident) bitch.

I'll do my best to make every future track of MM 🎹 enjoyable, even if you do say that it's impossible to make a track boring 😅

Thanks for the ask, Nem <33

[sleepydrabbles]

I am irritating, and I’ve learned that the reason is this simple:

I am the kind of person who shrugs at most things.

Call it a defense mechanism, call it being boring, a basic bitch, whatever.

I have plenty strong opinons, and some of them stink like natto left upside down in a hot car, but genuinely most of them revolve around how fun it is to play with both sides and no strings attached. To me, the fun of fiction lies in the fact that it makes no sense. And for a shining half of my life, I thought this was normal.

Why is this not normal?

At first I thought it was just because I’m on the internet all the time, and like, people on the internet have some really strong opinions that are often thrown out there without justification, clarification, or context. I thought maybe once I got out, touched grass, and interacted with people who liked the same things I liked in the real world, that would change. Shocker of shockers, it hasn’t, and people are just as outspoken about all the things they hate in the real world as they are on the internet.

I have also learned that Instagram Reels comments are about 10x as toxic as the average twitter comment section, but that’s a story for another time.

If I had to think about it, I would propose that my total lack of frustration with creators and high levels of frustration with consumers stems from my total lack of energy and my personal background in art. Once you’ve had art block ten times, it’s no longer a funny ha-ha moment or a highly dramatic reason for a shitpost. It’s grating, like hearing the same kid’s song for the 100th time and knowing you’ll hear it again. Once you’ve come home from the umpteenth shift where you’ve worked an extra 15-30 minutes after six hours of classes and a shitton of homework and stared at your tablet, late updates are just one more mosquito buzzing outside the bashed-up sorry excuse for a screen door in your school dorm. Once you’ve used cold water to wrench yourself out of a dysphoria-induced depressive/derealization episode and sat through friends scolding you for being cruel to a body that won’t do what you fucking want, you look at other people in a different light. Once you find the hundredth amazing work dropped for the same reason and look at your own works that haven’t been updated in half a year, you stop checking for updates until they show up like magical little presents on your doorstep.

And like, I love what I have right now, for the most part. Parts of my life suck and parts of my life rock and parts of my life are just boring and endless transitional periods that I can’t explain to people outside of my own head. I just genuinely don’t have the energy anymore, and while I read posts about attitudes like mine and read a triumphant, vengeful mood from them, I can’t be bothered. I exist within my own body and recognize the fucking miracle that is, after not having had a connection with it for a solid decade. Things that bring about wild, angry posts from other people are just part of the deal for me. Every time I try to rise to the energy levels of other people they get intimidated, and that’s a pain. I can do some goddamn amazing things and some goddamn awful things, and today I sent my friend a meme so bad and out-of-touch she threatened (playfully) to end our friendship. I have a nasty hell of a temper (thank you, scottish and irish ancestors, you goddamn idiots). Two fellow students told me I seemed really aloof and intimidating at first but that I turned out to be adorable and a hell of a lot of fun to talk to, and that seems to be working in my favor.

I listen to cringey songs from tiktok, laugh at jokes that everyone’s laughed at a thousand times. I take on more than I should probably technically be able to handle and come out of the fire with my hair singed and a craving for chiffon cake, my grades are good, my art is good, I get sleep most nights, I’m looking into supports for my body, I have good teachers, I have good friends, I’m overall very lucky.

Lots of people can’t believe I’m not dissatisfied with life and looking for something higher. To be honest, watching them bicker in the clouds isn’t making those clouds look like a fun place to be. Seems kind of noisy up there.

[rinskirt]

does ami still know how to use tumblr?

i figured i could start journaling again. tbh i always liked long-form journaling a lot more than short-form blurbs and updates. twitter is more for memers, or people who like to make big, bold statements. i like to flesh things out, or think in pointless circles, which usually means 10-tweet threads no one asked for cluttering up their timelines. my posts aren't funny, or entertaining. i feel like i come off as really annoying on twitter. which for a long time has sucked and made me use of the site unpleasant. especially since it seemed like the last one left. but with twitter falling, where else is there to go?

i wish we could just bring back livejournal. i feel like the way hey separated things into communities--so you weren't forced to get annoyed over memes that aren't even for you in the first place, or diatribes about ships that are only logical and enjoyable to the people who ship them--was sincerely superior. i miss it. sadly, i don't know if it will ever come back since social media prioritizing engagement means the more people who see something, the better--even more so if it starts a fight because that will mean even MORE engagement, and even MORE clicks, and the cycle just keeps going.

tbh, for a couple years now i've been thinking it would, mentally, be so much better for me if i just quit social media. then i wouldn't have to see my friends' super exciting lives while i'm sitting home alone for the nth weekend in a row. it would mean less comparing myself to other people. more time to spend on doing things that would actually better my life. but it's a scary thought. because i'm so used to social media, so used to relying on the constant presence of others, would i still reach out to people? do i even know how to reach out to people anymore, without just screaming into the void that is twitter and hoping someone hears? will everyone forget i ever existed if they no longer see my tweets? or, worse, will they actually be glad i'm not on their feed anymore? would leaving social media just mean i'm alone from here on out?

idk. this is the dumb shit that haunts me. i grew up on the internet and on social media--was a part of the first generation to do so--so it's hard to envision my life without it. (really, social media is probably why my ability to reach out to others is so stunted...) plus, as an otaku, you kind of need social media to connect to others who share your interest. at least, you do if you're not an intensely outgoing extrovert. which i am most definitely not.

going to the genshin concert made me long so much for at least one actual flesh-and-blood friend who would want to go with me to stuff like that. i had so many feelings and thoughts that i just stewed over the entire walk back to the station, and then the hour and a half train ride home. all around me were people discussing it excitedly during every intermission, but i just kinda sat there and stared into space, listening to everyone around me talk, taking in all their thoughts and feelings and not being able to share any of my own.

i'm not someone who minds doing things alone. i think because of who i am, and the life i live, and the illness i've been dealt, i couldn't survive if i wasn't willing to do things alone. i feel like maybe that's a very lonely thing to say, and a very lonely way to think, but it's just my reality. i decided to abandon my entire life in the states where i already didn't have a ton of friends, and i came to a place where most of the people are just as shy and unwilling to reach out to strangers as i am. plus i continue in this limbo of moderately-okay-but-not-great japanese, at the level where you plateau if you don't speak much. and i don't speak much. i have a lot of trauma around speaking. it takes a very safe atmosphere to coax it out of me.

i was considering starting a journaling style that i saw recommended, where rather than writing, you record yourself speaking your thoughts and feelings. and while i know that would probably be very therapeutic and helpful for me in the long run, i haven't been able to bring myself to do it. in a book i've been reading lately, "the body keeps the score" by bessel van der kolk, he discusses how trauma freezes the part of the brain that processes language, and makes it hard to actually discuss what you're feeling. that's always been a problem for me. i don't want to talk about things. i don't want to put certain feelings and thoughts into the world. i don't even know how. not even to my phone in the privacy of my home.

but i do want to try it, if i can get myself to that point. i really do want to get better. i want so badly to stop being afraid of everyone in my life, of being abandoned by them, or being hated by them if i open up and show them the worst of me. if i admit how lost and sad and trapped i feel a lot of the time. i feel like i look like such a negative person, such a bitchy and whiny sadsack of a human, but it's because i'm afraid of everything. i'm like that annoying small dog that's so afraid you're going to kick it and so it makes itself as unpleasant to be around as possible so you just leave it be. if no one likes me, if everyone just leaves me alone, i'm safe. i can't be hurt anymore.

for how sad this journal entry comes off, though, i feel like i've been in an okay place mentally lately. the fact that i've been going out and doing stuff again is a sign of that. for a long while i remembered the first year i was in japan, how excited i was to go out and just do things, even if i had no one to do them with. but sometime around covid, that started slipping away--i stopped leaving my apartment until i was invited out, and stopped going to restaurants and shops and events unless someone would hold my hand. but i'm finally in a place where i feel like i've started to rebuild a bit.

i've been thinking a lot lately about what my priorities are, and what i can do to achieve those things, so i can have some semblance of peace and stability in my life. and right now, i feel like i want to just prioritize the idea of feeling good about myself and good about my life. i worked so hard to get to where i am now, and it feels like such a waste to be living it miserably. and while part of me can't help but feel like being miserable is just the hand i was dealt with my anxious, weird brain, i want to try to do something about it. i don't want to just continue to be sad about things and let those things fester even if they're things that can be changed.

so for now, i'll change the things that are in my power to change--my diet, my sleeping habits, getting enough exercise, doing more of the things i enjoy, cutting out more of the things that make me miserable (no matter how fun and addictive they seem in the moment...), and just being kinder to myself if i fail in any of those at any given moment. i want to feel like i am some power over my life again, however little.

anyway. now that i've made myself cry writing this, i need to run to the store. but it truly is therapeutic to actually type all this out. i enjoyed it. i missed journaling. i'll have to do this more often.

[fierytakeferdinand]

Twitter was even worse for society than Facebook

The Medium restricts the message.

You cannot have an audio-visual blockbuster spectacle in a book, and you cannot have the thrill of an online game in a movie.

Likewise, you cannot have an intelligent discussion on Twitter.

The character limit forces summarizing, and summarizing means simplifying, and while that is a good thing and brevity is the soul of wit and all, it’s not the soul of intelligence nor being correct. In fact I would argue that being any degree of correct requires verbosity, it requires detail, knowledge builds upon knowledge and referencing past knowledge as assumptions is an important detail to include in any thought-out thought to avoid unintelligent refutations that arise from the refuter’s own ignorance.

Is it any surprise then that public discourse is such a cesspit when we chose to prioritize wit over intelligence? Is it any surprise that the website which is a perfect fit for short, simple, emotional, controversial, scathing remarks that elicit equally simplistic, emotional, limited-by-design responses in people contains exactly that?

This “town square” — as Musk calls it — is a popularity contest, just like a real town square indeed, and wit wins every time, but we all lose.

It is effectively a formalization of the same kind of circlejerky model of communication that is emerged on sites like 4chan with it’s fast-moving temporary nature of content generation. It’s what you get when everything boils down to memes. And memes are fine, fun, even, but memes should not comprise public discourse.

Verbosity alone does not comprise intelligence, but it is part of what makes an intelligent point. This in itself is a simplification of course, it depends on context too, you can make a brief intelligent point when prior knowledge is assumed, such as at an expert conference targeted at a field where people are likely to already know the basic assumptions, but same cannot be said for public discourse, and that’s the context I am referring to here.

The other key ingredient in why Twitter sucks in particular is the audience. Why does it matter if people say dumb shit online? People have done so since the beginning of the internet, witty, memetic remarks are the backbone of internet communications. It matters for one reason: the audience.

I’d like to arbitrarily and broadly divide the internet into two groups: Real Life and Online.

Real Life internet is primarily concerned with IRL matters, this is your local pizzeria or amazon or ebay.

Online internet is primarily concerned with online matters, this is your [insert game here] forum, niche tech interest stuff and simple hangout spaces like imageboards.

When it comes to social media, I would say that the majority of sites like Reddit, Tumblr and most imageboards fall into the latter category. They are sites with their own culture, their own in-jokes, things that exist only on the internet and have only ever existed on the internet.

“The Thomas Jefferson Miku Binder image” or “SHYGDDT” don’t mean much to the average person in real life, nor should they. Things like The TSUKI Project or the VRC ERP/FBT communities — as far as the exposure to average everyday people goes — should remain in the form of Vice articles where people read about the latest wacky strange thing the “weird” people are doing.

Whereas sites like Facebook and Twitter are used by The Masses™: you can complain to customer support for your local store on twitter, you can find your local real-life communities and services via Facebook. Hell, nowadays you can buy physical IRL stuff right on Instagram. Likewise celebrities and politicians also use these sites to promote and earn very real money and power in real life.

I think we can agree that discussions regarding real life matters then, things that impact people’s physical existence should probably have a tad more nuance than online shit-flinging contests about the deeper meaning of some episode of Star Trek or gushing in image macros about Skyrim’s batshit lore.

When in fact the opposite had happened. People who are not “internet people” but people primarily concerned with IRL matters were coerced into dumbing down the average level of discourse into memetic content, repeatable simplistic catchy witty bite-size chunks of thoughts that can easily be made to mean anything and adopted by communities foreign to the original by the very platforms they post on, namely one platform — Twitter.

Facebook is vile too of course, and all platforms amplify even the worst of takes to a global audience, but it’s really Twitter that put the power of the image macro in the hands of your local klandma.

Those people talk, and thus also to an extent think of real life like online people used to do with random nerdy discussions, and considering how toxic that can get — when combined with the fact that Twitter is also primarily about IRL stuff — Twitter is the most toxic website on the planet.

Stumbling upon gore as a kid is absolutely nothing — and I mean nothing — compared to the sanity hit of reading the vile insane shit of an average boomer on Twitter present in minority hate groups that don’t even exist yet and knowing that those people mean it and are going outside and voting based on those beliefs, beliefs crafted by memes in 240 characters or less.

Were Twitter just another content-sharing site for bite-sized miniblogs about what you ate this morning it would not be an issue, but clearly, this is not what it has become, and I’m not sure whether Dorsey or anyone at Twitter is to blame per se, but it’s a shitty situation is all I can say.

On the other hand, Reddit is like the alternate universe good version of Twitter — at least in some subreddits — where verbosity and being thorough is not only allowed, but even encouraged through culture of effortposts and the site’s own features of embedding links within text.

Perhaps it speaks to flaws within the human mind itself that made Twitter be the bigger site.

The best thing we can do to our corporate owned town squares of today is to destroy them all and perhaps rethink the whole idea of public discourse with real consequences before we turbo-charge it with technology.

Give the internet back to furries with magically infinite disposable income and content creators that earned nothing, and blatantly ripped each other off for the sake of cool, I say.

There is also an argument to be made for stewardship of the internet, but that’s for another time.

EDIT: Wanted to clarify that I don’t think Twitter invented shitty discourse, a point I briefly touched on in my “just like a real town square” remark but it’s worth discussing because it is in my belief one of the key web sites that undermined the internet’s potential to improve discourse.

[jonathanslms]

Here's what I missed on ! Tumblr !

It's pretty weird to return to this site after so long. (I'm not exactly a "Twitter refugee" as they seem to be called lmao, more like someone who, because of the whole Twitter stuff, realised that there are still people on Tumblr? And apparently the site stopped their weird filtering/post banning system bc they now allow porn again? Anyway,) I don't remember when I was last active on Tumblr because I deleted my old blog some years ago, but if I had to guess I was probably active from around 2013 to 2015/16 at the latest? And boy, there's so much new stuff...

Firstly, the quality and functionality of themes seems much higher? Maybe that's just because I'm older now, but there are just so many original and innovative themes and pages that, like, are so interactive?? And such a broad variety as well!!!

Adding on to that: Javascript is sort of forbidden?? The work-around is pretty fast and easy (just ask support for permission basically), but still, that sucks lol.

Then there's the whole "you can have an account but no actual blog"-thing?? Idk if I really like that. A lot of people seem to use the site like that, so it's apparently at least somewhat popular. But as a Tumblr-conservative (as in conservative about Tumblr, not a conservative on Tumblr) I must say that having a blog and customizing it was sort of the whole Unique Selling Point of the site, so... interesting choice. (As long as that's still possible I'm still happy either way, I think)

The whole Dashboard experience in general is just so different now. For one, there are ads? I'm not a fan of ads (shocking opinion, I know) and I'm sure had they done it right Tumblr could have become like Ao3 and not even needed them. Still, I don't mind them too much (haha certainly not bc I use adblock :) idk what that is, sounds very morally wrong to me) and I read somewhere that the premium version is only 40€/year, which isn't a lot a lot, but still unfortunate.

I can't even tell which features are new and which aren't most of the time (except for the replying to posts? and THE CHAT?? now that there is one I can't help but wonder why there wasn't one from the start?). I think there's a lot of stuff Tumblr implemented that used to only be possible through xkit before.

Speaking of which: xkit! There's a new version - xkit rewritten - and it's incredible. I didn't even think about re-installing xkit until I stumbled upon a post that mentioned it. Now that I am aware of its existence again, god have I missed it. Being properly on Tumblr without it just isn't the same, man...

Pretty sure the search and follow tags/trending/etcetc stuff is completely revamped as well, but I don't think I used that very often back then anyway. Once I followed a big chunk of blogs I just found new ones through snowballing.

The last thing I can think of that noticably threw me off was the slang? Like wtf is a blorbo? (I actually think I get that one now) What are those other scrinkly, scrumblo, beedy weeby words? Why do I feel several generations older all of a sudden? I can feel the immediate and visceral impulse of disgruntled rejection welling up inside me everytime I see people use any new slang word (or meme, looking at you old scorsese movie that doesn't exist) whose invention I wasn't there for. (please if you've been (back) here for a while, feel free to educate me on the new tumblr etiquette, memes and slang words, I'm curious, I wanna know)

Though that being said, the overall vibes have not changed much. It is still a site that embraces its nerdy lameness and unnecessarily deep deep-dives into ANYTHING. And after the last few months to years of seeing people attacking anyone and anything, and feeling angry/depressed every time I spent some time on my social media site of choice, I think this is a very nice change of pace.