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lesbianchemicalplant · 5 months

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If you're surrounded by people who call trans people by their deadnames, you're most likely in a hate group. But a possible alternate explanation is that you're in academia. And it's not because that many academics are openly transphobic -- they just don't know that the site they fully trust, Google Scholar, is telling them to do it. Google Scholar was developed in 2004 and has changed very little since then. It supplanted a lot of hard-to-use library search indices by providing a Google-style interface with a single search box. Now it's the most name-recognized site for searching for almost any paper by almost anyone. One aspect of the design was, authors are just a kind of search term. An author is a cluster of different ways to abbreviate a name, like Firstname Lastname, Firstname M. Lastname, and F Lastname, and you might see different forms in different places, but the underlying name will never change. This is because Google Scholar was built by, and for, cis men with unchanging Western-style names. The "almost anyone" who you can search for excludes trans people, among a lot of other people it represents poorly. And because Scholar will not change, it should perish.

I fought the goog, and the goog won I changed my name in research, retroactively. I broke the assumptions of Google Scholar, and Google Scholar hid my papers from search results when it couldn't model what was going on with them. It would particularly suppress search results for my new name, which were just confusing distractors for the results it really wanted to show, for my deadname. If you ask it how to cite me, it will auto-generate you a citation of my deadname. I fought hard to remove citations of my deadname, replace PDF files, take down papers I couldn't replace, take away all the evidence of my deadname that I possibly could. Not to keep it from the eyes of people, but to keep it out of the Google Scholar model. I partially succeeded in making my new name more searchable, and even got it to show up in the auto-generated citations in some circumstances. For a fleeting moment, I claimed victory. But Google Scholar countered by finding my absolute most obscure things that count as publications, ones that I can't kill because they were not really alive in the first place, and bringing them to the top of my search results, so it can use them to keep helpfully directing you to my deadname. Signing in and claiming papers on an "author page" doesn't help, because author pages are one tiny link in search results that nobody clicks through, because the papers are already right there. Most trans people quit research rather than deal with this, and even though I found myself with more energy and opportunity to fight for my name than most, I quit research too.

There! We fixed it for cis people Google knows about this. I raised the issue with them in February 2019. It became an internal bug report in July 2019, which I have never seen, but from what I've heard about it, it quickly went far astray from what I was trying to tell them. "Allies" inside Google came up with extremely dumbass theories of how to represent trans people in a way that fit Google's preconceptions. I've posted about the problem at various times on social media (mostly Twitter when that was a thing). I tweeted about how Google's name model doesn't even work for cis women, given that many women change their names at some point in their lives. This got some traction and led to an amazingly quick response, along the lines of "oh shit! We fixed it for cis women." The new feature they added allowed a person (who had claimed papers using a Google account) to link together their multiple names, as long as they were okay with all the names being shown at the top of their search results. The first trans person to try using the feature was extremely surprised and dismayed by the prominence it gave to their deadname, and asked "do you think they talked to even a single trans person about this feature?" Nobody has ever heard Anurag Acharya, the creator of Google Scholar, say anything about the problem of name changes on his platform, or really anything attributable to him at all. But I know he knows about it.

The one time we got their attention Google got banned as a sponsor of Queer in AI, partially because of Google Scholar, though if you ask most people now they'll say it's because they profit from AI weapons systems. Which is also a thing. But Google Scholar was enough of a part of the issue that an exec actually got on the phone with non-Googlers about it for the first time. The exec was Jeff Dean, head of AI, whose organization does not actually include Google Scholar. When pressed on the issue by Queer in AI, he defended Scholar's lack of name changes, saying -- I believe this to be a direct quote -- "we have to ensure accurate information". Calling trans people by their names does not fall under the category of "accurate information" to the latently transphobic Jeff Dean. In another rare instance of public communication, a couple of painfully assimilationist trans Google FTEs promoted a horrible idea where publishers would have an API for informing Google that someone's name had changed in their archives. That's right, you wouldn't control your own name, dozens of publishers would, all with their own processes ranging from gatekeepy to nonexistent, and you'd have to out yourself and beg to every one of them to press the Here's A Trans Person button. The only good thing about this proposal is that it was so obviously unworkable that they didn't do it. Aside: If you are a Google full time employee, and you are trans, you are assimilationist. I'm sorry. I know your life circumstances mean you have to be. There used to be non-assimilationists there, and they joined the union and got illegally fired in 2019, or they quit in solidarity with the people who were fired in 2019 or 2021, and that leaves you, keeping your head down and keeping your job. You're still reading this paragraph, and that's amazing, so here's what I need you to know: from your position, you cannot advocate for the needs of trans non-Googlers, unless you allow trans non-Googlers into the conversation. Contract workers, though, you're cool. You fought for a trans man, working at a Google data center, to stop having to wear his deadname on his badge, and you won.

There is a solution I know that Google would not invest a lot of development effort into fixing a pet project like Google Scholar (though, again, "we fixed it for cis women" came remarkably quickly). I know that Google is institutionally incapable of letting people control their own identity without being a gatekeeper, that it's just not in the realm of things they dream of. There is still a solution. It's so easy. It plays to Google's strengths. There's even a business argument for it. They just need to shut it down. Google Scholar can have a plot in the Google graveyard next to Hangouts, Picasa, AngularJS, Cardboard, Inbox, Orkut, Knol, and the dearly departed Reader. It will be missed, for a bit, and then real librarians and archivists can get back to doing the job that Google monopolized. They'll know how to do it better this time. The Internet Archive is already doing it, and they let trans people change their names. I made a site about all this, scholar.hasfailed.us. I haven't been raising the issue enough since the fall of Twitter, and I think it's time that I get back to it.

#google #tech #tech giants #transphobia #trans #lgbt #google scholar #academia #my uploads #my uploads (unjank)

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most-tragic-character-tournament · 4 months

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So,

What a wild ride, everybody.

This tournament went live on July 13th, 3023, and concluded January 1st, 2024. For a long time before, I’d been wondering if I should try my hand at running one of these tournaments, and then I realized we hadn’t had a general tumblr-wide one for tragic characters. I knew that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I decided to bite the bullet and take the URL. The rest is history.

I didn’t have a set plan, but I figured I could take 128 entries. And then in less than a week and a half, I had ~122. And honestly, I wasn’t happy continuing with just those I’d gotten so far, and thought it’d be unfair if it closed that quickly without warning, so I decided to up it to 256 with a max 2 characters per canon after preliminaries. Only after that did I go on a mad search to find brackets that were big enough for that, and I’d almost given up before I finally found these:

Those are all the characters that made it past prelims and into the competition. Some quite unexpected results came out of these matchups, round after round, and honestly I’d consider the first round to have had the most brutal competitions, because I had tried to do the best I could to match levels of popularity with each other, as far as I could tell. (Yeah, that’s why we had c!Tommy v Jon Sims and Primrose v Jinx.). But even eclipsing all of those, as the weeks went on, we were eventually met with Antigone versus Lloyd Garmadon. Ah, those crazy kids.

At some points it was stressful, in the early rounds when I had dozens of posts, each with edited images and alt text, to prepare for every round, but I never regretted starting this. As of posting, this blog has 2,020 followers and has made over 1,000 posts. This will be the last post on this blog—any future asks I receive I will answer privately back to the asker, or cannot be answered if they are anon—but it will always remain here for posterity. The link below is to the similarly-preserved google sheet compiling every word of every submission this tournament ever received.

I’d like to take this chance to say thank you to everyone who submitted characters, supplied photos, sent in propaganda, reblogged the polls, indoctrinated their teachers into greeklitsweep, and everyone who kept good sportsmanship when their blorbos proved so tragic they couldn’t even win. Thank you to the small group of URLs whom I’ve consistently recognized in my inbox from submissions all the way to finals, thank you for letting me know when a name was messed up, and thank you for your patience in-between rounds. (Shoutout to @elemom as well for having their tiktok on the original antigone/lloyd poll blow up.)

If you’ve stumbled upon this blog weeks, months, or even years after this was posted, I would direct your attention to the tag map in the pinned post to sift through the tumblr history you’ve just uncovered. And I would also be tempted to point at the big sign next to it reciting the nuclear zone warning poem. Lastly, if anyone here or there wishes to talk to me about anything regarding the tournament, you’re welcome to DM @twilight-skies.

There were times when I said to myself this was a one-and-done thing—I was NOT dealing with this again, but….keep a look on the horizon, ya never know.

But until next time, it’s been amazing.

Sayonara you weeaboo shits.

#most tragic character tournament #most tragic tournament #tumblr polls #polls #important #gifs

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from-a-legends-pov · 2 months

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From a Legends (Legend’s) Point of View 2024

Background

From a Legends Point of View (or From a Legend’s Point of View, see what we did there?) is a Star Wars fandom fic event dedicated to celebrating the characters and stories of the Star Wars Legends continuity during and around the time of the Original Trilogy (OT).

Building from the talents of the many writers in the Star Wars fandom, we hope to develop and share a diverse collection of approximately 40 stories of pilots, smugglers, spies, scoundrels, and other characters from the original Star Wars Extended Universe in mid-September 2024.

How It Works

At signup, writers will each pitch at least three (up to five) different ideas for a fic of 5k-10k words to write for the collection. The pitches should focus on Legends characters or situations during the Original Trilogy and must fit the other story and pitch guidelines listed below.

Mods will review signups and assign one pitch from each writer to be written for the collection, with a goal of creating a collection with stories covering a variety of OT-era time periods, characters, and events.

Writers will submit their fics to a collection on Archive of Our Own (AO3), which will then be shared with the fandom.

Schedule

Sunday, April 28: Signups open

Sunday, June 2: Signups close

Saturday-Sunday, June 8-9: Writers receive their assignments

Week of July 7-13: First check-in with writers

Week of August 4-10: Second check-in with writers

Sunday, August 11: Final drop out deadline

Sunday, September 8: Assignments due

Sunday, September 15: Collection revealed

(More details under the cut…)

Story and Pitch Guidelines

All stories should be set during or within six months of the events depicted in the Star Wars Original Trilogy films (0 BBY - 4ABY), and set within the main Star Wars galaxy (aka the Galaxy Far Far Away/GFFA).

Stories should focus on characters and/or events in the Star Wars Legends continuity, which can include any characters who appear in the three Original Trilogy films as well as characters from the Legends novels, comics, video games, or other materials.

Shipping guidelines: Stories should not be focused on romance or shipping and should not include smut. References to ships among characters in the story or among other characters are fine, but please limit these to mentions (for ships that do not include the point of view character) or subtext (for ships that do include the point of view character). Within these restrictions, any ships are allowed, regardless of whether they are considered canon in the Legends continuity.

Ratings and archive warnings: Any ratings or tags are allowed, as long as stories are appropriately tagged and follow the other story guidelines (e.g., no smut).

Each writer will submit at least three and up to five pitches for stories they would be willing to write for the collection. Across all the pitches, stories should feature a minimum of at least three different characters and a minimum of at least two different time periods during the OT. To ensure that we include a wide range of characters and stories in the collection, at least two pitches should feature a point of view character who is not one of the Original Trilogy main trio (Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo), and at least one pitch should feature a point of view character who is not another prominent OT character (Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, R2D2, C3PO, Darth Vader), nor a member of the Rogue Squadron “Fab Four” (Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, Tycho Celchu, Hobbie Klivian).

Stories for this collection are intended to add to the universe of fic we have for Legends; please do not submit pitches for stories you have already written and shared elsewhere, even if they fit the other guidelines.

Signup and Submission Details

Signups will be done via a Google Form, which will have space for you to share each of your three pitches and provide contact information, including your Archive Of Our Own (AO3) username.

Once all signups have been reviewed, one of the mods will contact you via the information provided to let you know which one of your story pitches has been accepted (your assignment), and will provide instructions on how to submit your assignment to the collection.

We will also provide a signup form for people who would be willing to serve as a beta reader or cheerleader for other writers. Writers can request a beta reader when they sign up, or at any time before the beta request deadline (approximately two weeks before assignments are due). Betas may be available on a more limited basis after that deadline, but cannot be guaranteed.

Mods will check in with all writers twice over the course of the writing portion of the event to see how they are doing and connect them with a beta reader, cheerleader, or other assistance as needed. Please be sure to check your messages regularly and respond promptly to messages from the mods.

If you realize you will be unable to complete your assignment in time, please let the mods know as soon as possible, but definitely prior to the August 11 dropout deadline. That will enable us to reach out to find potential pinch hitters as needed.

Assignments are due Sunday, September 8 at any time. You will submit your fic via AO3, mods will confirm that it follows story and tagging guidelines, and it will be approved for the collection. The collection will be open for submissions a few weeks ahead of the deadline if you wish to submit early.

Because we intend to reveal these stories as a collection, please hold off on sharing or promoting your story until the full collection is released on September 15. After that time, please promote your story and others in the collection as much as possible!

Questions?

We’ll be posting more information as the event grows closer, but here are a few ways to find out more:

Check out our FAQ post HERE.

Follow @from-a-legends-pov for more updates and occasional Legends-related content

Send an ask to @from-a-legends-pov or contact Tumblr mods @ewokshootsfirst or @lajulie24

Reach out the event mods by email: [email protected]

We’re excited to share this event with you — please help us out by spreading the word!

#mod post #fromalegendspov2024 #event overview #star wars #star wars legends #star wars extended universe #star wars fanfiction #star wars fandom events

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dpxdcbigbang · 2 months

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What Is A Bang?

A Big Bang, often referred to as a Bang, is a fandom event where writers and artists collaborate. Writers will write a story and artists will create a piece of artwork to go with the story.

You can finder a deeper history on Bangs here.

How Does It Work?

Once authors sign up, they can begin writing. The minimum word count is 5000 words. There is no maximum, but please try to be realistic as the idea is for the fic to be finished before artists claim them. The author will write a short summary of their fic which the artists will read and then submit a claim. Claims are on a first come, first serve basis. If multiple people claim a fic, whoever does so first will be the artists to draw for it.

Once paired, the artist will then read the fic and begin to create art for the fic. At the end of the event, the stories and the art will be posted during the same week. This creates an influx of content for the fandom for everyone to enjoy.

When Is it?

Writer Sign Ups Open: March 15th, 2024

Writer Sign Ups Close: April 12th, 2024

Artist Sign Ups Start: June 21st, 2024

Artist Sign Ups Close: July 5th, 2024

Posting Week: September 20th, 2024 - September 27th, 2024

A more detailed timeline can be found here.

How Do I Sign Up?

There is a google sign up form. At the end of the form will be a Discord link that will take you to the Discord Server for the event. In order to participate, you must have a Discord account.

Please see the Ghouls and Gangs Guidelines Document for more information on the event. This post has our Frequent Asked Questions and this one has our Event Schedule. If you still have any questions, please send an ask to the blog.

#dpxdcbang2024 #dpxdc #danny phantom #dc #detective comics #bang event #g&gannouncements #g&g announcements #g&g24 #g&g 24 #g&g info #g&ginfo

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steve-smackdown · 9 months

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Welcome to STEVE SMACKDOWN!!!

This is the place for all your favorite characters named Steve to fight! Rules listed below the Google Form.

Rules about submitting:

1. Your character must be named Steve in some way. This includes: Steve, Steven, Stephen, Stefan, Stefano, Stevie, and Steph. Asks will be open and if anyone has any other form of Steve, they can ask if it’s okay.

2. No DreamSMP or Harry Potter characters.

3. Real people are allowed. However, they have a much lower chance of getting in, in favor of fictional characters.

4. You can submit multiple characters, just don’t send in the same character multiple times in a row.

5. Submissions will end one week from now on July 18, at 1:00 PM EST.

6. If you have any questions, send me an ask!

Quick side note: Do not submit these 4 characters as they’re already guaranteed to make it into the tournament.

1. Steve (Minecraft)

2. Steve (Wii Sports)

3. Steve (Blue’s Clues)

4. Steel Vengeance (Cedar Point) [Commonly abbreviated to SteVe by rollercoaster enthusiasts like myself]

Tags of inspiration under the cut:

@orangecharactersmackdown @obscurecharactershowdown @artificialkids-2k23-official @throat-goat-gauntlet @cut-content-contest @corrupt-officials-brawl @ultimate-poll-tournament @john-battle @best-bff-brawl @redcharacterbracket @retirement-home-rumble @best-bff-brawl @unlikely-adversaries-bracket @dwampyverse-tournaments @evil-doppelganger-duel @favcharacterpoll @ferbracket @generic-man-in-suit-battle @i-mustache-your-opinion @patheticmenscuffle @super-smash-bracket @siblingshowdown @the-worst-bracket @themiiofalltime @tournament-winners-tournament @videogamedogbracket @weird-al-song-tourney @worst-room-tournament

and also @blue-character-brawl @facial-hair-fight @jamesbracket and (the now defunct) @unluckiest-character-ever because they’re all me

#steve smackdown #competition #tournament #tumblr competition #tumblr polls #tumblr tournament

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leonistic · 1 month

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the prince's uprising (tentative title) interest check!!

if you don't know me, hi! i'm soru (also go by lei) and i'm creating a savanaclaw-centred free zine!! it is sfw, but may feature suggestive work (to be decided based on authors/artists who sign up)

details!!

anything revolving around savanaclaw! other twst characters (including the professors) are 100% allowed, but you have to make the art/story revolve around leona, ruggie, and jack!!

angst, fluff, and crack are a-okay <33

one person is more than welcome to fulfill multiple roles as per their schedule!! (mod, artist, and writer!)

have fun. t'is compulsory/hj (issues must be reported to the mod(s) asap tho)

click here for the official™️ blog, and here for the carrd for more info!! as of now, there is only one mod (me) but i'm open to collaborating with more <3 [carrd to be released later!]

estimated timeline!!

interest check: 14th march 2024 - 31st march 2024 [google form]

mod applications: 5th april 2024 - 17th april 2024 [tentative due to exam season]

artist/writer applications: 20th april 2024 - 1st may 2024 [tentative due to exam season]

discord server creation and start of writing/drawing: may 2024

first check: june 2024

second check: july 2024

third check: august 2024

final submission: mid-september 2024

compilation and publication: october 2024

tagging: @glidiaxoxo, @vauxxnm, @nemisisnemi, @puowei (the secret fanclub)

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst #twst x reader #leona kingscholar #leona kingscholar x reader #leona x reader #twst leona #ruggie bucchi #ruggie bucchi x reader #ruggie x reader #twst ruggie #jack howl #jack howl x reader #jack x reader #twst jack

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autisticswagbracket · 9 months

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AUTISM SWAG CHARACTER BRACKET!

Submit all your autistic blorbos so we can see who has the most autism swag of them all!

Submissions are: closed

Currently going through submissions to make the bracket

For archiving reasons, the rest of this post (submission rules) will remain unchanged under the read more

Submission rules:

1. They must be fictional, so no real people. I'll accept live action media.

2. No OCs (sorry)

3. No fandoms are excluded by default, but I do reserve the right to reject anything that makes me uncomfortable.

4. The character can be canonically autistic or a headcanon

5. Characters with a lot of submissions are more likely to get in but if your description is convincing you could get your character in even if you're the only submission

Submissions close on July 25th

No definitive bracket size! Please reblog so we can get as many characters as possible in!

Disclaimer just in case: this isn't a poll to see what character has "the most autism" because there is no such thing, but to see which one has more swag due to it

Edit: To clarify, swag in this tournament means:

" possessing general 'coolness' and/or being unapologetically 'cringe' "

Just in case:

Other cool tournaments (inspiration for this bracket): @meanpurplepoll @hot-take-tournament @transgenderswagcompetition @obscuredilfoff @moon-swag-tourney @generic-anime-boy-bracket

#tumblr polls #autism #bracket #tournament poll #about the tournament

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gallavich-fic-club · 3 days

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We are hosting our very first writing event ~ so stuff all your pens, notebooks, and art supplies into your favorite backpack, bring water and snacks, and join us for Gallavich Summer Writing Camp!

What is it?? Writers and artists will team up in “bunks” and write a story together, paired with accompanying art (if desired!). Stories will post the 3rd week of July - during our weeklong virtual campfire.

What kind of stories can we write? * The theme of your story is ... ☀️ SUMMER ☀️ * Story word minimum: 10K * Please make sure your stories and art are tagged properly

How do I join a bunk? * You can form one with your friends! Each team can have any combination of writers, artists, and betas - we recommend 3-4 people per group. And we'll expect a cute name for your bunk too :) * If you would like to be assigned to a bunk, we’re excited to find the right one for you!

Got my group, now what? * Once you have your bunkmates assembled, please fill out this Google Form by Friday, May 10 to let us know your plans. Just pick one representative from your bunk to complete it. * If you’re signing up solo and would like to be assigned to a team, you can indicate that on the form too + your preferred role.

The week of May 13, we’ll contact each group to let you know your assigned posting date ~ and then you can start writing and creating!

Posting Week: July 22-26; we will check in midway through to make sure you’re on your way or if you need anything as you work toward your posting deadline.

We’ll have a Collection on AO3, so at least one person in the bunk should have an account.

The Fic Club on Discord will set up a channel specific to this event where you can ask us questions and chat with fellow participants. If you’re not on the server yet, come join us!

We can’t wait to hang out by the fire, roast marshmallows, and read stories together!

#Gallavich Summer Writing Camp 2024 #gallavich fan fic #gallavich fan art

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ninjago-oc-appreciation · 4 days

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Ninjago Oc Secret Summer 2024 Sign Ups

Alrighty folks, the time has come to sign up for the 2024 Ninjago Oc Secret Summer! Please read the information provided in the description of the form; additional information will be provided upon receiving your assignment.

As of the forms being released, you will have until April 21st to fill your form out.

Expect to receive your assignments within the week after the form closes. After receiving your assignment you will have until June 23rd to June 30th to finish you piece, with a late period extending from July 1st to July 7th.

Do not post your piece until the designated posting days.

There’s no rule against signing up for both sections; however I do ask you to consider the time provided and how long it will take you to finish a piece.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out!

Info Post

Ninjago Oc Discord Server

Important Info Regarding the Forms: I am using google forms for this event; unfortunately, in order to allow documents to be submitted, the forms have to require participants to sign in with an email.

The forms are still entirely anonymous however; they are not permitted to collect your email (meaning: I can't see it! It is still entirely private).

I’ll be tagging some people who showed interest; if for whatever reason you are unable to sign up or no longer have an interest in signing up that is fine.

Tagging (under the cut because tumblr was being weird and I needed to make a bunch of awkward spaces that made the post way to long)

@ninjago-events, @kitkatmonsterfox, @swampythesweetsketch, @cherri-dash,

@starshineandbooks, @gravyhoney, @triangular-dude, @juniperjellyfish, @sobri-k-eyt,

@pan-annigans,

@rainofthetwilight, @penofwildfire, @stfu-im-thinking-abt-blorbo, @ririthu, @weekend-whip,

@summertide-treehouse , @marmaleye, @ekacucumber, @lavandaray, @destinymanticor,

@an-oddlyfluffycarpet, @roselock22, @numberonepartyboy, @senseiwu,

@kriti-the-creator

#Ninjago #Ninjago oc #Ninjago ocs #Ninjago events #NOSS2024 #ninjago secret santa #ninjago secret summer #SecretNinja2024 #Ninjagoocsecretsummer2024 #Aries posts #Aries Talks #I dont remember my talking tag

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sleepanonymous · 5 months

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im trying to get into sleeptoken - one of my friends is dragging me into it and i love it - can you just give me like a huge timeline and lore overlook? im looking around your feed, and im SO confused but also SO intrigued !! would love to hear from you :)

Hi! New fans always make me so happy! I’m glad you’ve been shown Sleep Token and you like what you’ve heard so far! I always recommend this video and this article regarding Sleep Token lore, but… yeah, I will take a stab at a complete timeline for you. I’ll be honest: I never was very into the lore of “Sleep” as much as I was curious about the band itself (which is typically why I recommend the two above sources for lore purposes). I know that much of the lore is from fans’ deep analyses of Sleep Token’s lyrics and not anything official from the band or Vessel. Almost everything is fan-made, so there are a lot of differing opinions—anything official or stated by Vessel and the band in interviews I included. If anyone is interested in my take on the lore, I might make a separate post about that.

This ended up becoming a massive post. Take what you think is massive and then double or even triple it. Fun fact: I aggressively fact-checked this and actually learned some new things about the band myself. I have marked any unverifiable statements and opinions in this post with an asterisk. Due to the band’s secrecy, the sentences with an asterisk are either heavily opinion-based or my best guess at what might have happened during a specific time period. Take them with a grain of salt.

Anyway! I have a problem; below the cut, I am making it everybody else’s problem.

In September of 2016, a video was posted to YouTube. The video was a black-and-white depiction, through short clips and flashing images, of what appeared to be a lone masked man, Vessel, performing a ritual by candlelight. The music over the video, a hauntingly beautiful mixture of indie pop and prog metal, was met with heavy praise from commenters. The description had three links to a new band’s social media and a Bandcamp account. Below the links was the following description:

Sleep Token are a masked, anonymous collective of musicians; united by their worship of an ancient deity crudely dubbed “Sleep”, since no modern tongue can properly express it’s name. This being once held great power, bestowing ancient civilisations with the gift of dreams, and the curse of nightmares. Even today, though faded from prominence, ‘Sleep’ yet lurks in the subconscious minds of man, woman, and child alike. Fragments of beauty, horror, anguish, pain, happiness, joy, anger, disgust, and fear coalesce to create expansive, emotionally textured music that simultaneously embodies the darkest, and the brightest abstract thoughts. He has seen them. He has felt them. He is everywhere. Sleep Token, led by the perpetually tormented, supremely talented Vessel, creates music that brings to the fore our most submerged thoughts and feelings, coaxing them from the desolate, terrifying caves of our subconscious mind.

The band officially formed in April 2016 (The YouTube channel, for reference, was created on April 14, 2016), but things had already been in the works for nearly a year before the uploaded Thread the Needle music video. In July 2015, Vessel came into contact with a talent scout/independent project manager by the name of Tom (I won’t provide his full name since Googling him brings up biased, embellished, and most likely false information about the band and its members).* In 2015, Vessel was already a skilled, trained, and experienced musician with the ability to play several instruments, including the piano, guitar, and bass, and the knowledge to compose and produce his own music. That being the case, Tom introduced Vessel to a drummer, dubbed II, as well as a skilled producer by the name of George Lever.*

On November 10, 2016, a second video was posted to Sleep Token’s YouTube channel, a music video for the masked collective’s second release, Fields of Elation. Much like Thread the Needle, Fields of Elation was met with enthusiasm and praise by Sleep Token’s growing fanbase.

Finally, on December 2, 2016, Sleep Token independently released their first EP, aptly titled “One”, on their Bandcamp page. The EP included Thread the Needle, Fields of Elation, and a new song: When the Bough Breaks. Accompanying the three songs, the band also included piano renditions of all three songs, performed solely by Vessel.

On the last day of February 2017, Sleep Token posted another video to their YouTube channel, a sombre piano cover of Outkast’s Hey Ya. Following the release of “One” and the cover of Hey Ya, Tom, now acting as Sleep Token’s manager, got the band signed to a label called Basick Records.* By May 2017, the band had another three-song EP, dubbed “Two”, already written and set to release that summer. This was announced via the release of Sleep Token’s third music video, Calcutta. By this time, Sleep Token’s manager had gotten a stand-in bassist and guitarist, dubbed III and IV, respectively, for the band’s first live Ritual. This was mentioned at the end of Sleep Token’s first-ever published interview with Louder. You can read it and the accompanying short article here.

On June 17, 2017, less than one month after the release of the Calcutta music video, Sleep Token took the stage for their first Ritual at The Black Heart in London. The band played seven songs live, including the three songs from “One”, Calcutta, two unreleased songs, Nazareth and Jericho from their upcoming EP “Two”, and their cover of Hey Ya. Very little is known about this Ritual. Most online sources seem to not know of its existence at all. The only concrete facts known about Ritual I are that doors opened at 7 pm, it was 18+, and tickets were £8.00 each. It is unclear how many people attended the Ritual; no footage or pictures have surfaced from that evening.

Sleep Token’s second and third rituals were performed in London in October and November 2017. The band opened for Motorpsycho and Perturbator, respectively. Because they were openers, any visual or audio documentation is nearly non-existent, but the band did appear in a few online articles reviewing the concerts.

In this article, author Roger Trenwith wrote the following about Sleep Token’s Ritual II:

“The support act Sleep Token was an odd mix of metal and pure pop, played by a band in horror masks and cloaks. Musically they were somewhat formulaic, in the tried and trusted quiet-loud-quiet-F’KIN LOUD nature of most of the songs, and accompanying theatrics by rote. When they diverted from the formula, they showed some promise, mostly down to the singer, whose extraordinary range made them just about bearable.”

Ritual III was met with similar criticism. This article, written by a much more helpful and open-minded Chris Keith-Wright, stated the following*:

“Remarkably, by the time Sleep Token take to the stage to start the evening off, there’s a very respectable amount of people front and centre to check them out. Perhaps this is due to the up-swell of media attention on the band since their signing to Basick Records and the release of their second EP, cleverly titled Two, that landed this summer. [...] The conceit surrounding the group is that the band are representatives of an ancient deity known only as “Sleep”, and that their frontman is an appointed-one dubbed ‘Vessel’. Whatever one makes of that, the fact is that Sleep Token’s Vessel has a most extraordinary set of pipes. [...] With a lighting show in time with their music and Vessel’s strong, soulful melodic voice featuring some impressive falsetto, they quickly engaged the audience. With the amount of vocal harmonies and extra musical depth that came over the sound system, I have to admit that it felt throughout their set that they were missing a band member, someone who could control and wield the keyboards, samples and electronics in a live setting. Donned with the obligatory cloaks the band produce a strong performance with their points of difference, clearly thought out prior to their live debut only a few weeks before. Their odd masks obscure their faces and during the quiet, vocal-led passages the guitar and bass players stood stock still. It’s simple, understated, but effective, producing quite the spectacle. Sleep Token’s transition between soulful, repetitive vocal melodies and brutal Meshuggah-esque riffery, and after a few songs this formula felt well-trodden. This is unfortunate as on record these transitions between the two disparate styles are far better executed – live there was far too much juxtaposition. Despite this, I and the majority of the growing crowd were transfixed by their performance.”

In March 2018, Sleep Token opened for two Holding Absence/Loathe shows, two bands with which Vessel would later collaborate. By April 2018, Sleep Token had parted ways with their manager and the Basick Records label.* It is unclear if both of these departures were related or amicable. As a once again independent artist, Sleep Token released the single, Jaws, on June 3, 2018, using footage filmed for their Nazareth music video that their previous label did not utilise. Through the spring and summer of 2018, Sleep Token performed their rituals at UK music festivals, further growing their fanbase.

In August of 2018, Vessel gave his second interview to Kerrang! UK. Interestingly, the article refers to the frontman not as Vessel but simply as Him. The main focus is on Sleep Token’s music and the single Jaws, released two months prior. A transcribed version of the article can be found in my Google Drive

Following these successful rituals and the Jaws interview, the band released another single, The Way That You Were, on October 8, 2018, along with its music video on YouTube.

This release preceded the last Ritual the band would perform that year. On October 11, 2018, Ritual XI was held at St Pancras Old Church in London, dubbed the band’s Inaugural Headline Ritual. It’s rumoured that all 120 tickets to the Ritual sold out in seconds. The band performed ten songs in total, including the live debut of the song Blood Sport. It is also worth noting that this is the first ritual Sleep Token performed with an opener being a band called Exploring Birdsong, which would become a staple opener for later ritual dates. Several members of Exploring Birdsong would also later become touring members of Sleep Token as the Choir.

At an unknown date in 2019, Sleep Token signed with a new label, Spinefarm Records. Together, the band and label began releasing music from Sleep Token’s first full-length album, “Sundowning.” Starting with The Night Does Not Belong to God on June 20, 2019, the band methodically released a new song bi-weekly at sundown BST until the record’s full release on November 21, 2019.

Interestingly, Sleep Token’s biography on Spinefarm differs from what the band had previously had in the description of their first two music videos. It is as follows:

Beneath the Sleep Token banner, lies the unique, broad-based vision of one individual – anonymous, silent, masked, armed with a staggering vocal range, a deft touch on the keyboards, plus a live approach that is never less than fully engaged.

While all factual statements to Vessel’s capabilities and talents, it appears that the band and their new label had retconned the lore surrounding them, granting the creation credits solely to Vessel himself. This is further evident by the Kerrang! Interview Vessel had previously given, which was removed from the internet, as well as the band’s Facebook page getting scrubbed of all posts prior to April 2019. Replacing them is a video of Vessel sitting at a piano and removing his mask, reminiscent of what would later happen at The Room Below Ritual in 2022.

Sleep Token would return to the stage on July 2, 2019. During this Ritual, Sleep Token opened for Amaranth and headliner Babymetal. This Ritual is notable because two key stage members, the guitarist IV and the Keyboardist, were replaced. The new guitarist took on the same moniker of IV, and the Keyboardist was replaced with three women from Exploring Birdsong, forming the Choir (or, as fans have dubbed them, the Vesselettes). The Choir was not yet a ritual staple, and there were several festivals and rituals where they did not accompany the band on stage, such as Sleep Token’s first US tour from November 7 to December 15, supporting Issues on the Beautiful Oblivion tour. The replacement for IV, however, did accompany Sleep Token on this tour.

With the release of “Sundowning,” Sleep Token once again gave an interview to Kerrang! UK to accompany an article reviewing the album. The article can be found online here, but no longer has the accompanying interview section. A photo of the original magazine review + interview, and a transcription can be found in my Google Drive.

Returning to the UK, Sleep Token performed several more rituals in late January 2020. Due to COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns, they did not conduct another ritual that year. Nearly one year after the release of Sundowning, the band released a deluxe version, including new covers of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Billie Eilish’s When The Party’s Over, a piano version of Blood Sport, and a new original song titled Shelter.

Sleep Token would not perform another Ritual until the Download Pilot festival on June 18, 2021. Despite being Sleep Token’s first Ritual in over a year, this festival also had IV replaced again by another guitarist donning the same moniker. The Choir also returned to the stage with Sleep Token, completing the lineup that we know today. This festival was the same day that Sleep Token dropped their new single from their upcoming second album, Alkaline, along with a music video on YouTube.

Another reason the Download Pilot ritual was significant is that it was the first time a spoken message had been given to the attendees of a Sleep Token ritual, not by a band member but by a prerecorded, AI-generated voice. The following text was the message:

Let’s not deceive ourselves There is a reason we are here It follows us wherever we go We were in love We are in love It is what floats above us as we try to sleep It is what stands beside us as we gaze into nothingness It is drowning us It is eating us alive A million outstretched arms in complete darkness They will reach forever Remind me We’re both dying to find out what happens when we die We’re both scared of being We’re both stolen pieces of each other We’re both exploring our own frontiers of grief We’re both just strangers We’re both just particles We’re both so lost in what it means to be lost We’re both a house that remained unoccupied for too long Let’s not deceive ourselves.

Sleep Token released another music video for their upcoming album’s second single, The Love You Want, on August 6, 2021. Sleep Token played the same spoken message before taking the stage at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards on September 2, 2021. On stage, they performed several staple songs from “Sundowning” along with new singles Alkaline and The Love You Want, with the latter including the same dancers from the music video.

Two weeks later, on September 17, 2021, Sleep Token released their third and final single from their upcoming album, Fall For Me. Unlike the previous music videos for the band, this video focused on a single man, whom keen-eyed fans had identified as Vessel, though he was maskless, paintless, and in street clothing. Over the video, words will flash across the screen. When strung together, they give the following message:

The truth is I am due a harsh lesson In truth itself and how bitter it can be Will you teach me? The truth is, I am ugly, I am inadequate, I am lost, I am no god The truth is, I want to want to live And so do you I just can’t do this any longer I am afraid Are you afraid? I want to understand what it is to let go So for now let me serve as a living drama of your pain If we are to be submerged let us be submerged Together

One week later, On September 24, 2021, Sleep Token released their second full-length album with Spinefarm Records, titled “This Place Will Become Your Tomb.” This album was the first to find a spot on the UK music charts, reaching #39 for UK Albums.

That following November, Sleep Token had their first multi-date headline tour supporting their second album. They toured with another of their staple openers, AA Williams, and played eight rituals in total throughout the UK.

On November 26, 2021, an instrumental version of “This Place Will Become Your Tomb” was released, stripping all songs of Vessel’s vocals, except for Missing Limbs, which was not included. Surprising fans, just over one month later, on January 2, 2022, Sleep Token released a cover of Loathe’s song Is It Really You? The cover is listed as a collaboration between both bands but is simply (though still beautiful and enrapturing) Vessel singing alongside a piano rendition of the original song.* A year later later, the vocalist of Holding Absence, Lucas Woodland, would also announce that his band had collaborated with Vessel on an unreleased song on his Twitter.

This unofficial announcement accompanies another that was made in March of 2019 by Lucas, who stated in an interview that Vessel assisted Holding Absence with playing the piano in the song Purge.

On March 30, 2022, Sleep Token released an instrumental version of their first album, Sundowning. Nearly a month later, on April 29, 2022, Sleep Token, or rather Vessel and the Choir, performed an intimate ritual at the Lafayette in London. The Ritual was dubbed “From the Room Below.” This performance is one of the most significant rituals for two reasons. Vessel sang and played guitar for the first several songs, then removed his mask and played the rest of the set while sitting at a piano with his back to the audience. The second reason is that Vessel, once again, played an AI-generated message to the crowd of 600 people while he openly sobbed on the piano bench. His full message to the audience was this:

We are here to silently connect. To project ourselves onto one another. We are here to remember. We are here to forget. We are here to worship. Some time ago, I was given a message. It was a message that originated from one of you. Someone possessed by a strong desire to tell me something. The message read very simply: You saved me. I have thought about this message a great deal since. It left me with a feeling that I have somehow been mistaken for someone else. I did not save anyone. I do not believe I have the capacity to save anyone. All I have ever given anyone was a small window into the emotional waiting room of my mind. I do so whilst doing everything in my power to minimise my own vulnerability. In this way, I am selfish. I chose not to give what others can, and yet I am the benefactor of this thankful praise. I experience a great deal of pain in my life. However, I do not believe I have suffered as you have suffered. Perhaps that is another reason why we are here. At the very least, we have all suffered. I would also like to take this chance to tell you something. To love oneself is not the easy task we are sometimes told it is. We are all limited by something. We are all guilty of something. My own path towards a place of greater self-acceptance is paved with the art that I create. It is a path that I continue to stumble down at the expense of everything else. I am nothing without this music. I am nothing without this mask. So, in this sense, the message I received was true, but only in an inverse sense. The truth is I did not save anybody. You saved me.

After this first Ritual of 2022, Sleep Token had a busy year of touring, performing rituals in the UK, for the first time in Australia, and returning to the United States. In all, fifty-four rituals were performed, making 2022 Sleep Token’s busiest year— until 2023.

On January 4, 2023, Sleep Token dropped a new YouTube video, a visualiser for a new song, Chokehold, from their upcoming third studio album, “Take Me Back to Eden.” One day later, on January 5, Sleep Token posted another visualiser to YouTube, this time for the song The Summoning. This song is specifically responsible for Sleep Token’s sudden skyrocketing into the spotlight of modern music. To date (late November 2023), the visualiser has over 13 million views on YouTube, and the song has over 80 million streams on Spotify.

Around the same time as Chokehold and The Summoning were released, Sleep Token also added new merchandise to their store. Among the new “Take Me Back to Eden” themed shirts and pullovers was a crewneck sweater with a poem written in runes. The poem read as follows:

I am hunting something, and in turn, that same thing is hunting me. The beholder, the void beyond. I am the line between. I am the teeth of God.

Sleep Token released six singles for their third studio album: Granite on January 19, Aqua Regia on January 20, Vore on February 15, and DYWTYLM on April 19. “Take Me Back to Eden” was released on May 19. Dubbed the end to a trilogy, Sleep Token’s third album reached a peak point of #3 for UK Albums and #16 for the US Billboard 200. With this success, Sleep Token and Vessel were featured on several magazine covers, but the accompanying articles lacked an interview by the band or their servants.

Sleep Token spent the time between single releases touring Europe, the UK, and Australia. In September of 2023, the band returned to the US, for the first time with the Choir, for a headline tour, using AA Williams as their opener. At every date on this headline tour, a series of interludes were played between songs. All four interludes are below.

Interlude I Mask: They think you fake it Vessel: What do you mean? Mask: When you cry on stage, they don’t think it’s real. Vessel: That’s a reasonable assumption. Mask: Do you fake it? Vessel: No, I don’t. But it is something I do consistently, so if I was a member of the audience, I would probably assume that it wasn’t real. Mask: Do you ever see them crying? Vessel: No, I can only ever see them smiling. That’s good. I want them to smile. Mask: Do you think they want you to cry? Do you think they like it? Vessel: Not as such; I think they just want to know that I am feeling something, feeling what they are feeling, perhaps. Mask: Do you think that this amount of crying is healthy for you? Vessel: I don’t know. But at least I feel something; if I don’t feel anything, then why would I even do this?

Interlude II Mask: Why am I here? What is my purpose in all of this? Vessel: Your purpose is twofold. You protect me from them, and you also protect them from me. Mask: How is it that I serve to protect anyone from anything? That makes no sense. Vessel: In order for all of this to work, there has to be a certain boundary in place. They need to be able to project themselves onto this without anyone else’s identity getting in the way. In turn, I need to be able to show my true self to them in a way that does not compromise their ability to connect. Mask: So that’s what I am? A boundary? Vessel: Yes. Mask: I don’t believe you. I believe there is more to it than that. I believe you are afraid of something. Vessel: We are all afraid of something, are we not? Mask: What is it you are so afraid they will see? Vessel: That I am exactly like everyone else.

Interlude III Mask: Are you afraid of me? Vessel: Sometimes. Mask: Why? Vessel: I think I am afraid of becoming you. Mask: What does that even mean? Vessel: My life is becoming gradually consumed by you. Before long, all that I am will be contained within you. Then, one day, when I no longer wish to wear you, there will be nothing else left. Mask: It seems you have forgotten who you are. Before you had me, you were nothing. All of this artifice, all this pathetic conjecture about your identity, it is nothing but a manifestation of how short-sighted and solipsistic you have become. I lifted you from misery and obscurity. You would be better to become me. You are nothing without me. You always were nothing without me.

Interlude IV Vessel: You. Are. Wrong. In the end, my fractured sense of self was only another piece of fuel for the fire that burns in the eyes of these people before us. They, too, are pained. They, too, do not know who they truly are. They are each stood alone on a stage of their own. And yet, they are here. United by that sense of never truly belonging. They see something beyond their own bleak horizons. And they reach for it. Together. So let us join now. To reflect their joy and to serve as a conduit for their anguish. To swallow their fear.

Though only one month remains in 2023, Sleep Token still has a set of rituals to complete in Germany, as well as their largest venue as a headliner: OVO Wembley Arena, with a staggering 12,500 capacity—tickets sold out in ten minutes when they went on sale earlier this year in June. With the band’s continuous and foreboding statement of “nothing lasts forever,” many fans worried that this would be the last we ever saw of Sleep Token, with everything starting from “One” and culminating to a peak with “Take Me Back to Eden,” only to evaporate into nothing come the new year. Fortunately, several 2024 tour dates have already been announced for Sleep Token, including a tour in Australia where the band will be supporting Bring Me the Horizon and a festival date for the USA in April. Though all we can do is speculate what may come next for Sleep Token, one thing is for certain: This is only the beginning for our favourite band.

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