#i only allow blaze posts by users to appear on my dash

[uniasus]

Hot take - I like the algorithms.

I'm never getting rid of the 'Following' tab, and it's my home, but after being on Tumblr for idk, at least a decade, I'm following a diverse group of people, some of whom no longer reblog the stuff I followed them for, and so when I have a ✨fandom craving✨ it doesn't often feed me. Now, I use it to check up on what people are doing and say hello to fandoms that aren't at the forefront of my brain.

I love the For You dashboard for feeding current obsessions. Tumblr noticed I reblogged a Nimona post, and now I have 10 more to enjoy! Do I think Nimona will be a forever fandom for me? No, so I'm not gonna follow a Nimona blog, but yes, please give me content for it this week!

And Your Tags is brilliant for a few reasons. If I have a fandom that I'm trying to protect - aka not letting it leave my brain in an effort to push through finishing a fanfic - I follow associated tags! (it's amazing how many more posts are tagged #yugi muto vs #viktor hargreeves, which yes, has had an impact on me not updating Grocery List Goals, and damn does that say something about the current state/evolution of fandom.) That means this dashboard is full of things to get me in the writing mood. I also have a sideblog, but I don't always want to follow blogs to feed it. It's a different topic than my main, it'd spoil my Following dash, and I really want to keep those two usernames separate, so following with my main is not the best. So once again, I follow tags!

Favs, I will admit, is usually a bit redundant - there's a lot of overlap between it and Following, especially if someone I follow doesn't use the queue, but occasionally I'll see something I missed.

My Following/chronological dashboard is soo good at giving me Tumblr culture, keeping up with people, and helping me discover new things, but the algorithms are good at giving me specific, curated content and I've used it to find new fan artists. Maybe 70% of my reblogs come from them. It does tend to prioritize recent posts, and sometimes I'd love to find older works (damn, finding a string of yugioh posts about DSOD predictions was wild and delightful, but that was via trolling older blogs and sometimes I'd love to see spiderverse art from the first movie too, you know? ) but I do get a mix of wildly popular posts and those that only have 10 notes.

I guess, in short, I like having options and enjoy using parts of tumblr in different ways for different reasons. Not that I want them to add more algorithms, these are good, and there are other features I'd love more (*cough* sideblog usability *cough*), but I also get those are for seasoned Tumblr users and not the newbies they're trying to attract.

#tumblr #rl #fingers crossed people are polite about this #internet culture #experience curation #fandom #these are tools #use them or not #but don't hate people for using them #the only algorithm I don't like is the one they use for blaze posts #I get some weird posts from that #that are SUPER ad-y #but that might be an issue with a shifting blaze culture #i only allow blaze posts by users to appear on my dash #and a lot of those posts now are sales focused and not users saying look at my frog #as I think more potentially corporate/span/affiliate accounts are formed due to migrations

[fizzingwizard]

Today on things I IMMEDIATELY turned off, lol...

But first, props to tumblr for at least making sure we all knew about the change, not just silently adding it and making some random tumblr user release a psa. And for making it customizable/easy to disable.

I get how this could be fun. I hate blaze, but if you've got cash to burn and you really think so-and-so's video of a hamster in a party hat is the funniest thing ever, sure, it's your money, waste it how you want. Better to throw some coins to tumblr for hamsters in party hats than treat us to more mainstream ad content.

Of course, out of all the blazed posts that have ended up on my dash, very few have been hamsters-in-party-hats worthy. Most have just been stuff I didn't care about or something mildly insulting. But maybe the hamsters-in-party-hats crowd just don't have money.

Biggest concern is whether you get to consent first to someone else choosing to blaze your post. Tumblr says if someone blazes our post we'll be informed, and have the option to cancel it. It's an opt out instead of opt in. That's what bugs me. I hate opt out. I'd rather that if someone wanted to blaze my post, I had to definitively say "Yes." What if someone blazes my post and I'm in the hospital and don't see it before it's live? You CAN pull it after, which is great, but why not skip that whole song and dance by requiring people to opt in before the post can go live?

Lol. I don't agree. But we'll see.

Also disagree. Blazing is not the same as reblogging. I can't control what other people reblog which ends up on my dash, but I CAN choose who I follow, and if their content becomes something I'm not interested in, I can unfollow them. Only way out of Blaze is to cough up money for ad-free browsing. A while ago I tried blocking blogs that put blazed posts on my dash, but the blazed posts continued to appear. Maybe that has been fixed, I don't know.

The sticking point really is a matter of consent. I've been on tumblr for ten years. I don't freaking remember most of what I posted back then. There's probably something embarrassing someone who really disliked me could dig up if they wanted to. If this option MUST be opt-out, then I wish at least all posts made before the change were opt-in only. If the approval process before someone is allowed to blaze your post is more robust than I anticipate, I won't mind as much though. Basically just let people have the MAIN say in whether or not their post gets blazed, instead of treating the informing of the OP like it's a courtesy.

Tumblr should keep in mind that a lot of original content here is diary-like, personal, meant for a small group of followers who feel comfortable with each other. It's not a site many people use to make their BRAND. That's ALSO one of the good things about tumblr - I don't sit around worrying about how fake everyone is like I do almost anywhere else. That's why I'm not interested in this feature. I can see it being used for good - blazing a gofundme for someone in need, for example - but I just don't want to wade through even more cringe I didn't ask for on my dash. Sigh.

Anyway, hopefully everyone who doesn't want this opts out without a hitch (for side blogs too).

#tumblr

[thedarknessrpg-blog1]

The Beginning

Posted:  02/08/2017

James March has spoken to his new fiance about getting rid of his ex wife who is dead in Hotel Cortez for some time now. With the young woman studying black magic. She's able to make it happen. Along side March and Tristan, Torili takes her first visit to this haunted hotel, and comes face to face with the evil that has been haunting it's walls since long before she even died.

OPEN RP: With the group just opening up, this is a good place to get started.

CHARACTERS: Torili Hunter The Countess James March/Jason Shield Tristan Duffy Kai Parker

Dying Fantasy

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Posted:  02/08/2017

The Hotel Cortez, built by a king who wished to please his queen, had now become a haunted blaze of Hell fire filled glory, and that, was putting a colorful spin on it. This place once owned and run by the somewhat living James March, now was consumed within the hatred of his late wife, The Countess. A nasty woman, and not just because she was a blood thirsty vampire either. Elizabeth had a dark soul, a lust for power, and control. Something she didn't get as much in life as she did now, in death.

Then on the flip side of the very same coin, was sweet little Torili Hunter, soon to be Torili Shields. A gentle heart with a long, dark history. A woman who put the joy and happiness of all above herself, but while she didn't indulge herself in creating darkness, she found herself surprisingly drawn to it. The pure morbid nature of those who were around her, as if she could see into their insides, and find just who and what they were.

Two very different woman, two very different creatures, drawn together by one common interest, well, a lack of an interest was more like it in the terms of The Countess. For years James did everything in his power to please her, nothing however caused a stir, not really, and now, now he was going to ruffle her feathers a little bit more. Meeting Tristan, and speaking to James March, otherwise Jason Shields, her future husband, Torili had decided that it was time to visit this morbid hotel, and end things once and for all.

Torili studied the art of black magic, though she didn't use it as much as one would figure she should. This however, was a special occasion. The Countess had no idea that her days were in fact numbered, or that there was a rebellion being plotted against her. The woman was dead, what more damage could they possibly do to her? She sat in the room of her suite, sipping from her usual champagne glass of blood while she watched out the window, indulging herself in the fight that went on in the room next door.

Though she was merely human in this after life, she felt the need to remind herself what she once was, not wishing to forget her love of the blood, her love of the death. Something stirred her however, deep in the pit of her stomach as the front doors to the hotel opened. She could sense his presence, her husband, and she grit her teeth. This was not the only thing she found discomforting being brought to her abode however, a young woman seemed to entertain him, and this, would not do, not for her, not, in her home.

Torili was surprisingly calm as she entered the doors of the hotel, James March and his trusted right hand Tristan Duffy not far behind her. The two men had spent years trapped in one way or another behind these walls, so they were in no hurry to enter, Torili however? She had to know. This place held such darkness, such mystery, so many hate filled moments, blood splattered nights. She had to feel it for herself.

The young woman was a kid in a candy store, a vision seen quite clearly within her eyes as she looked around in complete awe at what stood before her. "It's beautiful" Tor breathed out in a soft tone. The place was absolutely enchanting, not just the sight either, she could feel all the negative energy that surrounded her and it seemed to feed her thoughts, her emotions. The lobby was still active with people. People who knew the hotel was haunted and wanted to see it, people who didn't know the hotel was haunted and were enjoying their stay and, the dead.

The dead, right out here in the open among everyone else, and nobody seemed to even notice. It was magnificent. Tor's heart was a flutter with joy as she moved further into the main lobby of the hotel. The man behind the desk attempting to grab her attention, but failing as her attention was other places. Moving to one of the sitting areas she brushed her hand over the back of one of the chairs. "Miss, uh miss?" Being said behind her, only to be muffled as the man took sight of James.

For Torili this place was beyond alive, however, everything was cut short as a cold chill ran down Torili's spine. She swallowed hard as her gaze lifted to the stairs. Standing there, against the banister was a tall, slender woman, hair white as the snow, wearing a long flowing red gown. Torili took a step back from the chair as she practically forced herself to begin breathing again. Watching as the woman descended the stairs. In her research she'd seen the woman before her in pictures, but seeing her now, in the flesh.

Well, flesh obviously being a relative term, it was entirely different. "You fear me child?" The woman questioned in a low, devious tone as she eyed Torili who simply shook her head in a slow manner. Words unable to escape her lips. "Well you should." She warned as she approached March and Tri, for a brief moment her gaze moved to Tristan, a slight shake of her head before she looked to March. A smile slowly forming on her face as she spoke, gesturing back to Tor.

"Midlife crisis, James dear? Feeling so, beyond your years you bring a child into your presence to regain your youth?" The Countess questioned before she turned her attention sharply back to Torili, causing the young woman to jump slightly. "It's to late for you, James, you're old, just like the rest of us, and, you can do so much better." Elizabeth rang out as she reached a hand out and took a hold of a bit of Torili's hair, running her fingers through it. Pєяfect Iℓℓυsion

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Posted:  02/08/2017

In the beginning, there had always been darkness. Nothing but death surrounded the figures within the hotel. Yet most of the deaths were either caused by that sack of shit addict, or the tremors of the master behind the mask. Hotel Cortez was brilliantly lit. The red carpeting, and golden banisters left it as a dazzling ruby, in a ring setting. Dusted over with the souls of yesterday, and the souls of today. March wore his blue most handsome suit. A red tie, and his favorite cane to his hip. His new body was darted with the scars his preacher father had left him. It was told, that you'd be shamed, further. For not abiding by his rules.

A dart of his tongue dashing over his lips. While gazing at everyone. The entrance was beyond intriguing. With Tor on his arm, he watched as people began to take notice of him. John, a detective that had died just outside the hotel. Had been brought back in by March. When Jason returned, he did plenty of dark art magic. Having gained all the appeasing pleasures of magic. From the young black witch that had thought she was going to be his challenge. When he killed her, he'd absorb her power.

Though with the bitch in his sight. James walked even taller. Funny how the blonde once gorgeous to him, Sickened him. "Now now darling, I am dead. No midlife Crisis for me. So sorry our dinner is about years late. I've had others to attend to. "I'd like you to meet my wife, well shes about to become my wife. We are here to set up the beauty of our wedding. Tristian, was just bringing us here." He eyed Tris, to play along.

Fingers tightened around his cane as he raised it, pushing the countess out of the way.

"Please dear, you are making a mockery out of yourself. In front of our guests." He hissed. Standing in the lobby, he looked to Tor.

"I think the lobby would be appealing you darling?" It was destined to gain much attraction. As the hotel guests, had missed, or either craved that darkness to return. And the moment he had stepped through the door. She, The Hotel Cortez had come back to life. "Also, I'd like to see my son, as he will no longer be kept in a room locked away." Jame's dark eyes met his ex wife's. For she had tried to abort him, now kept him locked away in the room upstairs third floor room 33. тαιnte∂ ℓσve

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Posted:  02/08/2017

Tristan held back as he followed March and his new fiance into the hotel. He was on high alert, of anything that could possibly go wrong, and knowing the bitch was here, that was everything. As she appeared he grit his teeth together, avoiding saying or doing anything that could cause a stir. While he wanted the bitch gone, he didn't want to increase his suffering on her way out the door.

As The Countess' attention went to her, he gave a smirk. One of his, signature smirks as he simply allowed the ex couple to interact. When he was mentioned, he nodded his head. "A dying man deserves a last request, doesn't he?" Tristan questioned the countess with his usual cocky tone. All a mask, to hide what was really going on. When Elizabeth moved to touch Torili, Tristan looked to March, but only briefly as to not raise any signals.

Elizabeth was not a fan of betrayal. He'd already learned that once or twice, and he could only hope at this point, with her no longer being an immortal bitch, that she couldn't smell it like she claimed she could in her life. The man remained silent during the remaining duration of the conversation, simply nodding to the desk clerk to check them in and moving to the counter to speak to the man, as to avoid being drawn into something he wanted nothing to do with. The ∂aякиeѕs RPG

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Posted:  02/08/2017

KAI POST

It wasn't like I was looking for trouble.

... Alright fine, I'm always looking for a bit of trouble. But it wasn't until I stepped foot into the Cortez, that its power radiated underneath my feet. God, it was intoxicating. I could sense something was going down, as I watched the woman, cross over to the other three individuals.

"Now we have action." Kai spoke softly settled back against the chair. Watching the woman and the pretty young one talk. She didn't like Kai, and her boyfriend, well... that was another thing. He seemed to own the place as if; he lit the place on fire with his energy.

Tempting, I wanted that cane, oh and the hotel. But only if they'd allow it. Seemed like the god damn place had some type of magic barrier on it. At least for Kai as it seemed. He slipped is fingers in another jar of olives. Slipping one on the tip of his fingers, he'd continue to do that; until all of his fingers were tipped with the strange black color olive. He'd suck one off slowly each finger. He was eyeing, the pretty witch, the new one. Oh and the blonde, she wasn't bad. But pretty boy was even more interesting. Who knew that darkness like this could be played with, right here.

"Oh I like them." His gaze went to the strange patron whom passed. Giving Kai a look of disgust.

"Could you be anymore obvious? Gees, I like me." He rolled his eyes, sucking off the last olive off his finger.

"Show time." Kai watched as they all greeted within the lobby, and he took amusement, by settling against the railing, watching like a kid watching his first circus. Dying Fantasy

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Posted:  02/08/2017

The Countess drew her left arm in front of her chest, resting her right elbow on it as she placed her chin in her right hand, lightly tapping her index finger upon her cheek. A smirk crossing her face as March spoke. "Witty as always, I see." She responded simply, before her gaze turned to Torili as James spoke of their monthly dinners being a few years late. "I'm sure you'll make it up to me." She responded in a low, dry tone, examining Torili as James spoke of her being his future wife.

Torili smiled as March spoke of her, her gaze being more often on James than on Elizabeth, as she didn't really wish to look at the woman, considering the tension within the conversation. When Elizabeth finally looked away from Torili, she let out a sigh of relief, while the woman's gaze moved to Tristan. "A dying man, died years ago, babe." She spoke in retort as Tristan made his response. The statement of course responding to one of two things. Marriage killed, or that she would destroy him.

The Countess liked to think of the second possibility being more admirable, and as a result that was where her main focus went, as she took hold of a few strands of the woman's hair. When James pushed her out of the way, the Countess instantly turned her attention to Tristan who was at the desk. "Tristan, see to the bags of our.-" pausing she turned her gaze back to Torili. "Guest." The words slithered from her lips as if the woman were in fact a poisonous serpent underneath it all.

Torili's attention moved from Elizabeth moments after she said the word guest and stepped in beside March, looking over the place. Torili was a bit intimidated by the woman, and it was clear that she wasn't liked, each of these things however she was going to use to her advantage. She would play the scared mouse, and when the time was right, she could take Elizabeth down without much of a fight. As the woman would only laugh at her, seeing no reason to fear her, what so ever.

"I love it." Torili spoke in an excited tone as she looked up at March. "This place, it's absolutely perfect, every bit of it." She spoke in an honest tone. Not even paying attention to Elizabeth still standing, close by. After a few moments, The Countess began to walk from the lobby, making her way back up towards the stairs, stopping as she was addressed. "Is that so?" She questioned with a devious laugh before turning and placing her hand on the rail.

"You may think you still rule this kingdom, James." Turning slowly she looked to the man once more. "But you don't, you left it, for a sweet, little, tart." The woman laughed once more causing Torili to shiver slightly, the dead woman's words not really phasing her in the slightest. "If you wish to speak on the matter, you know where to find me, later. Mr. Duffy." She called for Tristan as she turned once halfway up the stairs. "See that the, happy couple are given proper accommodations." The woman spoke with a dark smile before she turned and continued up the stairs once more.

Once The Countess had finished speaking to Tristan, Torili let out a low sigh. "If the Devil wore a dress, bet he'd fit in hers." Tor stated with a soft laugh and shook her head, looking up to March with a smile. "I want to stay, I want to do what we came here to do." She continued, leaning up and kissing James' cheek. "And, I have a room request. I, I want yours. The one you died in, the one, my mother died in." As she spoke of wishing to stay in the room, her eyes never left those of her future husband. She was serious, dead serious, for her that room was very important, and allowed for things to truly move full circle. Pєяfect Iℓℓυsion

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Posted:  02/08/2017

March's gaze remained calm. He was not one to make a scene. "Witty darling?" He'd release Tor's arm to approach, the blonde bitch. To whom he was no longer in love with. "Hurts don't it darling. To feel the rage of jealousy. To taste disgust, under your tongue. He tucked a strand of her hair back into place. Stepping forward, look at you. Falling apart at the seams. Since I was terribly saddened by your death. I escaped, while your poor dull fate, has you locked in hell. Of the castle. I built for my Queen. Yet, I do believe the queen has finally arrived."

March would take a step back, grasping his fiance' Tor close. Lips meeting her cheek. While watching the bitch escape her rage.

"No need to think you are captain of this ship. Mrs March, Your bound to your hell, my hotel." His voice echoed a soft purr. One that grasped any in ear shot. "Deadly, for you shall you destroy, my soon to be wife's wedding planning. I suggest. You take up your disgusting, lifestyle elsewhere. Now do make yourself scarce." He shooed her away. His hands rolled across his loves jawline. In deep gaze of her beauty. "Now you, can have anything you please. As you are now queen of this castle...and oh darling. She welcomes you." James purred against Tor's ear. тαιnte∂ ℓσve

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Posted:  02/08/2017

Tristan stood completely unmoved as he was addressed to get the bags. He was there on business, and it wasn't hers. He was there for his boss, for March. True while when March was away, The Countess did run things, but he believed March still had full power here, especially having a new bride to be who could banish to she-devil once and for all, something that everyone, or at least most everyone within the hotel would applaud her for.

Watching her was interesting however. Torili's body showed such calm, even when uncertainty and concern showed in her eyes. As if she had prepared for this her entire life. James speaking of the queen finally arriving of course set his thoughts in stone. She had, something within her was preparing her to reclaim James March's kingdom from the devil woman who had taken control over it.

"Certainly." Tristan spoke out with a salute, ending in the middle finger as the woman turned her back to him. Momentarily the male turned to Torili as she made her request, then moved to have some bell hops see to the bags, before sending them on their way. The room in question was not usually used. Fate took Tor's mother into there that night, just as fate had allowed the room to be vacant for the request of the new queen of the castle. "Time to break out the champagne boss?" Tristan questioned with his signature dark smirk He was enjoying the show, and knew it was just getting started. The ∂aякиeѕs RPG

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Posted:  02/08/2017

KAI POST:

Kai had his front row seat. Speaking to himself a he propped his feet upon the gold bar in front of him. Leaning on the banister still looking down from the parrot lounge. "...Oh so dramatic."Kai hissed, amused by his own words. Speaking to himself. While the bar tender tended to the tables gazing at him as if he was a crazy fool.

Kai, was more than that. He was fucking god damn psychotic, and half the time. No one, knew what they were going to get. Whether he'd be half charming, or complete cruel. The power of the Hotel was driving him further. A darker soul, entering a place of pure dark magic. Demon's roamed these halls. Kai was just another flicker in the dark.

He'd been sitting there admiring the blonde, the tussle between the two. It was like watching his own god damn soap opera. Like when he fell for Bonnie, and she killed him. Deadly little witch bitch she was. Funny, how he was easily resurrected. With his own spells in his hand. He'd walk without a hesitated glimpse to the male that lurked behind them.

He drew in a sharp breath, examining the handsome man fully. He stood like a model, awaiting to be approached by a god. Kai could be a god. But all in good time, all in good time. He'd already been checked in, and settled in one of the room's on the third floor, room 35 to be exact. Kai wasn't a big sleeper, ... well only if it was Damon and Bonnie. they were mighty boring and he'd needed a new place to play. This Hotel seemed to be just what he was looking for. Dying Fantasy

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Posted:  02/08/2017

"Jealousy?" She questioned in a soft tone. She was not one to even entertain the thought. Nor one to admit to it. Elizabeth did not love James, now or even ever. This was not unknown to anyone within the walls of the hotel. However, she did love the attention that being queen of the castle gave her. The power to have men at her every beck and call. So was she jealous? Of course, but never would she admit to it. Never would she allow it to show in her words, her stride or anything else.

James, he could sense it because he knew the woman well, as he did love her, once upon a time. He knew her better than anyone could, his, gift of being a reaper helped a great deal with that as well. She closed her eyes as he spoke of his sorrow for her death. Something that was not unknown to her as a true fact, as the man did in fact love and care for her. Then the mention of his queen finally arriving, causing the woman to open her eyes, instantly meeting them with March's.

Torili just smiled between her fiance as she once more began to look around. Never in a million years did she imagine being in a place like this. The Murder House was extravogant, but this place, this place was what her wildest dreams and then some were made of. As March moved to kiss her cheek she smiled more brightly, her eyes instantly moving to meet with his. She had every chance to get under Elizabeth's skin, but she felt no need to.

She had everything her heart desired, and she had to take it from no one. March's words about Elizabeth's hell caused a soft giggle to escape Torili's lips, pressing them firmly together in hopes that no one would take notice. While Elizabeth's eyes merely narrowed on her ex husband's. "I've no interest in troubling myself with your affairs, James, long as you do well to not trouble yourself, with mine."

She knew that the talk of their son was not yet finished, and for her that would be more than enough insentive to attempt to get back into the thrown that she had grown so accustom to. After speaking she rolled her head as she was dismissed, dismissed as any of the staff within the hotel had been so many times by the both of them. Once she was gone, Torili's eyes lit up again a soft purr escaping her lips as March's hand brushed along her jaw.

Looking to the man she started to speak, only instead turning her head, to match her lips to his hand, before she made her request for their room. Closing her eyes she melted into March's touch as he spoke of her getting whatever she pleased, and now being queen of the castle. Her eyes then opened as he purred out that it welcomed her. Unlike Elizabeth, Torili didn't have high demands, she wanted him, to bare his last name, to have everyone know that she belonged to him, and he to her.

Little things, like giving herself completely to the man she loved in the very room he died in, in the very room he killed her mother in. A place that she could be welcome, feel safe, and without her even really needing to ask he gave it all to her. Without a second thought she moved to cup his face between her hands as her lips met instantly with his. Not caring who saw, or what they thought. The Countess was a distant memory in March's heart, and there was no doubt in her mind about it, and no one had ever held hers in the way that the man who stood before her did.

#THEDARKNESSBEGINNING