#squidgiepdx

[sl-walker]

As one of the two people who managed to get otw-archive running on the open internet who is not OTW, I'd like you -- the public, the number of people recently saying 'make your own using their software' -- to sit down and try it.

While I strongly appreciate that message, being a firm believer in independent archives and a decentralized fandom umbrella, I can guarantee the people typing that as a 'gotcha' to the antis -- who are reprehensible at the best of times -- are not one of the people who got otw-archive running on a server with actual humans using it because there are only two of us. And again, I'm one of them. @squidgiepdx is the other.

There are only two of us because it's a viciously badly optimized disaster of software involving so many running processes in so many different languages that it took me fifty hours of work just to get it marginally functional and many more dedicated hours since then maintaining it. It constantly runs at 95% RAM usage on our server. I have a beautiful single-fandom archive for the effort, but by god, I am so, so tired of people who know jack shit of what they're talking about pretending like it's as easy as unzipping a package and making it run.

SquidgeWorld took so fucking much work. Walter did that. Ad Astra took so fucking much work. I did that. And we are both willing to help other people do that! We are both incredibly happy to offer our time and expertise to anyone else who wants to help us become more than TWO PEOPLE OUT OF SEVERAL BILLION to make that software run for archives that don't belong to OTW.

But stop pretending it's easy. That casual dismissal diminishes the amount of time, effort, frustration, tears and dedication that Walter and I gave to make our archives happen. I can't stand antis either, but boy, the amount of entitlement in fandom isn't gonna get better by ignoring how hard it is to make and build and maintain communities, especially in this world where you can't even get people go type 'Extra kudos' into a fucking comment box.

#otw-archive #ad astra #squidgeworld

[kitkatt0430]

So big shout out to SquidgeWorld for the news update acknowledging and encouraging the use of the tilde relationship identifier for queerplatonic ships!!!

I actually had a bit of a hand in how this one came about, which is pretty fun. (Story time!)

So a few years ago the Character A ~ Character B format was introduced over here on tumblr to represent QPRs. There is a post I know I rebloged a few times buried on my main somewhere about this and I'll have to try to remember to dig that up later. And there was bit of a push to try and get Ao3 to officially acknowledge the tilde or at least for those of us who write fic there start using it in tagging regardless of official acknowledgement and see what happened. And, well, what largely seems to have happened is that the tag wranglers have let us use the tilde, but there's been no official acknowledgement as the Tag Wrangling page for relationships on Ao3 still only discusses the '&' and '/' identifiers. (If there was anything official said about it elsewhere, sadly I must have missed it.)

I started using the tilde... two years ago? I think? And went back to update some of my existing fics to add in ship tags with the tilde. I still made sure to keep the Queerplatonic Relationship tags because those are still the best way to find fics that have QPRs included in them. And I've seen a few others using the '~' out in the wild, but discussion about it kind of faded again. If you knew, you knew. And if you didn't... there was always that Queerplatonic Relationship tag.

Then, about a year ago, I signed up for SquidgeWorld. I'd never heard of it before (which is likely because I'm just not super active in fandom outside the niche I've carved for myself; I admit, I am a bit under a rock at times...) but Squidge been around in one form or another since 1994. One of the fanfic authors I followed was moving their works there and so I followed and did what I always do on new sites I'm curious about - I lurked.

Fast forward to more recently. Fanfiction.net that I've been loyally using as my backup fic location for years after leaving it as my main fanfic archive... it's getting buggier and more unstable by the year. I don't intend to pull my fanfiction off it - I will leave what's on there up until the site collapses in on itself - but the day is coming ever nearer that the bugs and lack of tagging updates will finally make cross-posting there entirely too much of a hassle. And much as I love Ao3, I don't like the idea of only having all my fanfic in one place. I've seen enough archives big and small get destroyed over the years that no matter how stable or permanent Ao3 feels... I'm more comfortable knowing my fic can be found in multiple places. (Of course, the biggest hurdle for getting my fics cross-posted in multiple places is... executive dysfunction.)

I started finally cross-posting to SquidgeWorld recently and honestly just didn't really think too much about it when bringing over fics tagged with the QPR identifier. I just copied over the Character A ~ Character B tags and hit post. :D

But admin-squidgie over there - who I believe is found here on tumblr using @squidgiepdx (hi! Thanks a bunch for the news post!) - asked me about the tilde usage and what that was being used to represent. So I responded with an explanation about how it was a relatively new identifier used because queerplatonic relationships aren't really well represented by romantic or platonic identifiers. And then admin-squidgie got back to me to let me know there'd be a news post soon about this new identifier type. Which was so awesome.

While the wrangling guidelines haven't been updated on SquidgeWorld to note the use of the tilde yet (and could take a while, I know official docs always wind up being the last thing updated), the news post really is a very big deal for those of us who like to write and read queerplatonic ships.

For those of you interested in cross-posting or moving your fanfic to SquidgeWorld, I do recommend the archive. I've lurked long enough to see that the community there is pretty friendly, the interface is a clone of Ao3's so it should be familiar to a lot of you and is easily customized to make it more accessible (or covered in rainbows if you prefer ^_^ ), and (as seen here) the admin over there is open to helping make the archive an inclusive place for all of us.

And with at least one fanfic archive both acknowledging and encouraging the use of the queerplatonic relationship identifier, it'd be nice to see information on that making the rounds here on tumblr again. I bet there are a lot of aspecs who don't know about the identifier but who would be glad to know it exists and start using it themselves.

#kitkatt0430 rambles #fandom news #queerplatonic relationship #relationship identifiers #queerplatonic relationship identifier #using the tilde for QPR tagging

[olderthannetfic]

I've seen a few people mention moving their works to squidgeworld.org as an alternative to ao3 now that the ai policy has been made clear, and was wondering if you have any info on it?

--

A delightfully venerable site!

Squidgeworld is the latest incarnation of the Wonderful World of Makebelieve, which has been running since 1999 (1994 for the overall site). It's where all the oldschool slashers used to post.

It's an old-fashioned archive run by one dude, @squidgiepdx.

And by that, I don't mean the coding is old but that it's a site run by someone whose actual personal account you can find and interact with and that has a moderate audience of a size where individual site culture is still possible.

Though, actually, it looks like the whole site (which includes hosting for more than just this one archive) is now a nonprofit, so that's nice for longevity.

I don't crosspost because I am lazy, but I have fond memories of all the fic I've read there, and I appreciate that he's still doing his thing in this era when lots of people abandon running a site themselves to cluster on ever fewer behemoths.

If you're looking for maximum kudos from randos, AO3's larger audience is what you want, but I think it could be excellent to take your buddies and all decamp to Squidgeworld together.

[the-bar-sinister]

Hi there!

I wanted to ask something about ao3

I wanted to post some fanarts and drawings in general, however, i've heard that it's needed a hosting site to host the images there apparently

So, if you could, can you tell me an advice or provide a site to host the images there?

Your very best bet is to pay for your own hosting (buy a website and storage space of your own) and upload your art to that. We pay under $100 a year for a domain and personal hosting.

However, your second best bet is https://images.squidge.org/ which is a fannish image hosting site that is a sister site to https://squidgeworld.org/ a fanfiction archive alternative to AO3. @squidgiepdx runs it!

Once you upload an image to squidge you should be able to link it anywhere, including to AO3!

#fandom #fanart #fan art #ao3 #archive of our own #squidgeworld #ask answers #friend mail #♦️🌺

[copperbadge]

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Just a periodic reminder: I know not everyone has the energy or money to volunteer or give, but I wanted to remind folks that even reblogging helps -- reblogging RFM, yes, but also (or, really, instead) taking a moment to go to a tumblr post and reblog the post helps too. You are also always welcome to crosspost to your social media of choice or post a link from there to here.

Ways to Give:

alirhi linked to a fundraiser to get herself, her mother, and her sister stable housing; they are currently staying in their cars in a a dangerous parking lot. They have a friend who will let them park a camper in her yard, but the camper there currently is unlivable, and they haven't been able to find an affordable replacement. With two of the family on disability it is difficult for them to keep up with bills and also save for housing. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

Anon linked to a fundraiser for West Maui Animal Clinic, a Lahaina-based clinic where one of their vet school classmates works; the clinic burned to the ground in the fires, and many of the staff lost everything. They are raising funds to try and keep paying clinic staff while they figure out how to recover. You can read more and support the fundraiser here. (sorry to credit you as anon, but your username wasn't a tumblr handle and I wasn't confident the username without stops was the right one.)

Beck is raising funds to help cover the vet bill for their tortie cat, Lady Clytemnestra, who had to be treated for an abscess; you can read more and reblog here or support the gofundme here (as a warning, there is a photo of the injury at the fundraiser if you scroll).

Anon linked to a fundraiser for lumierew, to cover the vet bills for her cat's spinal surgery. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

squidgiepdx and squidge.org are running a fall fundraiser; they are a small fansite that provides image and podfic hosting, site hosting, and a story archive for the fannish community, which runs them about $2K per year. They are now incorporated as a 501c3 (a nonprofit) in the US, and so your donations are tax-deductible. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

News to Know:

blackestglass is running the fourth annual Chromatic Characters Podfic Anthology, which collects podfics of stories of less than 1500 words and center characters of color. This year's optional theme is "solidarity" and the due date for submissions is September 12th; they are encouraging authors who'd like to write a story for the anthology to team up with a podficcer by commenting at the info post. They are also looking for technical betas who can commit to 2 hours of beta listening the week of Sept. 13, to check for volume issues and other errors in the files and metadata. If you are a person of color who would be willing to lend their services as a contextual content beta (formerly known as cultural sensitivity listeners), they'd love to have you onboard as well. You can read more and comment here to volunteer or ask a question, DM the mods on twitter at ccpamods, or email ccpamods at gmail.com.

Buy Stuff, Help Out:

grumpycakes's coworker made a Tarot deck that they're kickstarting, but they haven't yet reached goal; the deck is "A unique tarot deck that references not only symbols and keywords, but also; flowers, crystals and more with affirmations. [...] The Symbolic Tarot not only draws from the traditional tarot structure but also includes corresponding aspects including simple answers to questions, making each card a collectible piece of resourcefulness." You can read more and reblog here or join in the kickstarter here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

#radio free monday #charity #philanthropy #fannish community

[optimistic-turpitude]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

Tagged by @ladyvaderpixetc (Thank you very much!!)

3 Ships You Like: These are my three most recent obsessions (it would be too hard to choose 3 all time favorites) - Leorio Paladiknight/Kurapika (Hunter X Hunter), Mike Ross/Harvey Specter (Suits), Haruka Tenou "Sailor Uranus"/Michiru Kaiou "Sailor Neptune" (Sailor Moon)

First Ship Ever: Kirk/Spock. I grew up watching Star Trek the original series with my dad, and even though I had no idea what shipping was, I knew Kirk and Spock were meant to be married.

Last Song You Heard: Loser, Baby from the new Hazbin Hotel series. Keith David's voice is transcendental.

Favorite Childhood Book: Unwind by Neal Shusterman. These books freaked me the fuck out, but I was addicted to that series. I also read it at way, way too young of an age. (Sorry to reveal that I'm a Gen Z kid like this)

Currently Reading: The Color of Magic by Sir Terry Pratchett

Currently Watching: The X Files. It's pretty much the only popular scifi series I had never seen before. I absolutely love it. Mulder's hyperspecific brand of neurosis makes me feel weirdly seen.

Currently Consuming: I just finished a bowl of fruity pebbles.

Currently Craving: a matcha green tea latte and gyros with tzatziki sauce

Absolutely no pressure tagging: @possumtuesdays @squidgiepdx @theo-files @wisteria-lodge @snakefell

#tagging game

[virgoscringe]

a commission done for the delightful @squidgiepdx and his fic, I Can Make You a Man! if you like Rocky Horror, NurseyDex, and wonderful writing, check his stuff out! :D

#g’s scribbles #check please #omgcp #nurseydex #charmer #chris chow #caitlin farmer #william poindexter #derek nurse #denise ford #tony tangredi #chowder #dex #nursey #foxtrot #tango #THIS WAS SUCH A FUN ONE!!

[trainofcommand]

Flashfic written for @squidgiepdx's Pi-Day Drabble-ish-or-more-athon! (why not head on over there and leave a prompt or some flashfic?); prompt from @goddess47

A question of pie

(Lorne/McKay; T-rated)

Rodney walked into the meeting room, plate in one hand, fork in another, and a mouth full of the most delicious pie he'd had in...well, years probably. "Did you all know," he said, crumbs spilling from his mouth, and he didn't even care, "that Major Lorne makes pie? From scratch? The pastry and everything?"

"Yes, Rodney," Teyla replied, looking vaguely smug.

Well, Rodney figured she had a right to look smug if she'd known about the pie before him.

"Yep," Ronon said, nodding and leaning back against his chair, arms crossed. "Definitely."

Huh. Teyla and Ronon were in the know, apparently, and he shouldn't be surprised. They probably had their fingers in several...well, pies, as it were. People talked to Teyla. And Teyla talked to Ronon. They were their own little information sharing network.

"He makes great pie," Parrish added, maybe looking a little blissful.

What the hell was Parrish doing at this meeting? Oh well, Rodney shrugged it off. He had pie. It was amazing. Parrish had a right to look blissful. Frankly, Rodney was thinking about asking for this pie's hand in marriage or something. He would treat it right. And Major Lorne probably still had more pieces. This pie looked like it was...maybe a 6th of an average pie. It was a very generous slice. Rodney had been delighted when Lorne had handed it over, grinning, and saying, "No citrus came anywhere near it, Rodney."

Major Lorne. Rodney hadn't really ever paid him too much attention, aside from noticing a few key points: Lorne was a little sarcastic, good with a gun, kind of unobtrusive, he had nice dimples when he actually smiled. That kind of thing. Normal stuff.

But this pie. It added a new dimension to Lorne. An interesting dimension.

"Oh," Chuck said, walking into the room, datapad in hand. "Is that one of Major Lorne's pies?"

Rodney nodded, and Teyla, Ronon, and Parrish all hummed, "Mmmmhmm," in unison.

"Huh," Chuck said. "Nice. Lucky you, Rodney."

Yeah. Lucky him indeed. The pie was fantastic, better with every bite. And Lorne had said, "Hey, come by my quarters tonight, if you want some more." Boy, did he ever want some more. He couldn't wait for tonight.

And then Elizabeth and John finally - finally! - joined them in the meeting room, and it was about time, because Rodney was a busy man and he didn't have time to wait around while they futzed with dull logistical discussions or whatever. And also, he had finished his pie, and it was boring sitting around with nothing to distract him.

When the meeting ended - Parrish talked too much about some botanical nonsense, and Chuck took notes, and John kept looking at Rodney's empty plate and kind of smirk-frowning, which Rodney assumed was the way he reacted to not having his own pie - Rodney stood, said, "Not the best use of my time, thanks for that," and picked up the empty plate. He followed Ronon and Teyla out the door, said, "I am still thinking about the pie," and, "I don't even know what kind of fruit he used or what to call it." Mostly he was thinking of it as The Pie, putting it in a singular category, its own classification. It deserved it.

"Oh, Rodney," Teyla said, laughing lightly. "I believe Major Lorne called it his 'huk-up' pie, though I am uncertain what fruit it is."

Huh. He'd never heard of that kind of pie. Then again, he didn't usually bother to learn the names of the Pegasus fruits. Citrus and no-citrus was about as far as he got.

Later - much later - after a long day, and some interesting math, and a kind of boring dinner, and a visit to Major Lorne's quarters for more pie to make up for the dinner, Rodney lay flat on Lorne's bed, sweaty, wrung out, slightly stunned, a little giddy, and thought, oh, and huh, and holy shit, that really was the best pie I've ever had, and also the sex was amazing.

"Hey, Rodney," Lorne said, next to him. Rodney turned his head to the side. Lorne was grinning and he was still naked. So naked. Very, very appealingly naked. And his dimples were great. "You want more pie?"

Hell yes, he did.

#mclorne #lorne/mckay #pie #stargate atlantis #lorne/others #lorne kind of gets around i guess #pretty wholesome actually #my fic

[stargatefests]

Pi Day Challenge

@squidgiepdx is hosting a Pi/Pie day flash challenge on his Dreamwidth account here: https://squidgiepdx.dreamwidth.org/318666.html

Leave a prompt, fill a prompt, leave a story... any fandom...

Stories about pie or math welcome!

But don't let it get stale! This challenge ends whenever midnight March 14 is in your timezone.

#pi day #flash challenge #fic #art too I bet #anything #any fandom

[squidgeorg]

So I made a sideblog from my regular blog (@SquidgiePDX) specifically for Squidge.org stuff - webhosting, SquidgeWorld Archive, Squidge Images, Jinjurly podfic archive, and others.

#SquidgeWorld #squidgeworld archive #squidge.org #fandom

[bending-sickle]

Audiofic Archive:

The mission of the audiofic archive is two-fold: to mirror and preserve podfic files on the behalf of and with the permission and full knowledge of the file creators; and to provide stable access to those files in downloadable form.

Fanlore wiki (emphasis added):

In 2016, the Archive suffered a server corruption that led to a huge file loss. [...] Software was located at the end of 2021 that identified all Archive entries with missing files and in early 2022 squidgiepdx recruited several other fans to help restore the Archive. The 5,082 missing files are being relocated through a crowdsourced project with a public spreadsheet. For details on the project and to assist locating the last missing files, see the SquidgeStatus page on Dreamwidth. The Archive is also once again taking submissions for additional podfics to be added, and all restored and new entries now have a streaming link in addition to download links.

“The Jinjurly Missing Files Spreadsheet!” by squidgestatus on Jan. 23rd, 2022 09:15 am

If you go to the link below, you'll see the 5,400+ entries in the Jinjurly Audiofic Archive that are missing MP3/M4B files.   First off, the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n7sLNnTLECHHZfxpMqzWEkEOwSurqypuGDLaqFyTSpQ/edit?usp=sharing

For more details, see the entry here.

#fanfic #fandom #guys this is like if ao3 lost files #i'm going to haul out my files and see if i can help #life in fandom #fanfic ftw #try and spread the word peeps

[sl-walker]

OTW Candidate Anh P.

I had a very long and interesting discussion with OTW-board candidate Anh P.

They tracked me down because they wanted to talk about how @squidgiepdx and I got otw-a working (for SquidgeWorld Archive and Ad Astra Fanfiction) and what we might suggest to make otw-archive more easily deployable to other, independent archives.  What might make it easier to use.  It was a really productive conversation, too, enough that Walter and I have decided to start tackling the setup documentation from the outside to see if we can’t make it as easy as possible for others to deploy otw-archive, and to test a few things we think might make it more not-OTW userfriendly.  (Like changing the hard-coding of OTW/AO3 to something that can be configured from the local.yml file.)

Anh P. is Vietnamese, very aware of the situation re: racism, AI, and the consequences of PAC being overridden.  They’ve been a volunteer for both Fanlore and Open Doors and have been for long enough to be able to run for board, but not so long that they’re completely assimilated.  They also have deep connections to the pan-Asian fan communities, including those currently marginalized by OTW’s present administrative structures.

Mostly, I'm impressed as hell that they not only wanted to talk to two people who have definite Opinions on OTW, but were genuinely and actively seeking our thoughts, good or bad, about what we would suggest to make the software more easily used by others seeking to do the same as we did.

I know I don't have a real stake in the debate over racism, being white and American and unable to understand the lived experiences of those who suffer it both in everyday life and in fandom, but they made excellent points about how decentralizing fandom and otherwise helping people be able to curate their own, inclusive spaces with their own rules might help with that.

They showed me a script a Chinese user made which is frankly brilliant to translate the AO3 Work posting page, and which could easily be translated to other languages, it’s so intuitive.

The part that sent my eyebrows up was their desire to use OTW's platform to help support independent fan archives in order to keep them afloat, rather than just let them sink and import them to AO3 via Open Doors, including not-Anglosphere archives and communities.

So, take it as you will, but I was very impressed someone was doing some of the harder legwork and seeking outside opinions, especially opinions that aren’t necessarily OTW-friendly, and with an eye towards actual measurable hard action that can be taken to start addressing some of the problems OTW is having right now.

#otw board election #anh p

[squidgiepdx]

tagged by the lovely @popkin16

apple juice or orange juice | breakfast in bed or dinner in a blanket fort | peanut butter or butterscotch | rain or snow | water park or amusement park | guitar or violin | flip flops or sneakers | big cats or bears | ocean or lake | bonfire or picnic | draw or write | oak or mahogany | volleyball or tennis | key chains or post cards | queso or salsa | skate board or roller blades | porch or patio | love quotes or inspirational quotes | hearts or stars | backpack or duffle bag | orchard or garden | baby bunnies or baby ducks | pastels or earth tones | new york or los angeles | secret stairs or secret tunnel | street magician or escape artist | fairies or gnomes | comedy or mystery | purple or green | daisies or dandelions | crayon or chalk | sunglasses tinted blue or sunglasses tinted yellow | bracelets or rings | question mark or exclamation point

last song: hello by Allie X

last movie: wish dragon (2021)

currently watching: crime scene kitchen (fox)

reading: fanfiction. flavors: check, please! nursey/dex slash (editing my own yet to be posted work!)

playing: countdown letters & numbers (bbc tv show inspired)

currently craving: dark chocolate

tagging: i’m not good at this so pick this up if you want!

#squidgiepdx

[olderthannetfic]

After checking SquidgeWorld's TOS, I've found myself just slightly... Worried. But in a "I am a person who is often scared that I am doing something wrong" way.

It's specifically about their underage fic policy. It seems to, similar to AO3, follow the US law definition and so, technically, (in their paraphrased words:) underage fic is allowed due to 'artistic intent', since you (general you) are an artist creating the work. But what is confusing me is the quote immediately after: "Thus, for those pages that you have artistic intent work on, we suggest you put a disclaimer stating your artistic value of the work, and that objectors should redirect to Google.com or something."

Does the "we suggest" mean the 'artistic value disclaimer' is not mandatory? Is there a risk of a work of this type being taken down for being judged by others as not having artistic intent?

I'm sorry if this has an obvious answer that my brain isn't processing properly. But like I said, I am one to constantly worry I am doing something wrong so I wanna triple check which of my fics are actually allowed on the site (or under which requirements).

--

@squidgiepdx can better answer such questions than I.

[checkplease-fanfic]

Sorry for another request, but... So there's a fic where Jack finds out that Bitty has a big dick and ends up sleeping with him, multiple times. Jack tries to say something but is his normal "I can't express emotions" self, and Bitty ends up crying at the end when Jack finally finds his tongue. I read it once and completely lost it. Does it ring a bell?

Until it got the best of you    

jacksbits (fragilehuge) 

 It’s warm underneath his blankets, though, and Jack feels content and sort of dozy, like he could fall right back asleep. He cracks open his eyes just as Bitty pushes open the door.

 Bittle looks mostly asleep himself, shuffling his feet, hair sleep-mussed. Jack’s eyes sweep over his body, down over his tiny shorts, settling on—on his—oh fuck.

Jack lets Bitty share his bathroom. It gets more complicated than Jack anticipated.

#squidgiepdx

[wilwheaton]

I've been re-watching Eureka, and have really come to appreciate your character. When push came to shove, Dr Parrish was a good nemesis for Fargo, but when the time came, was an even better friend. Thank you for being you!

Thank you. I loved playing Doctor Parrish, and I loved being part of Eureka. I miss it all the time.

#squidgiepdx