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rollercoasterwords · 11 months

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like. i still wouldn't want someone to copy and paste my fics into a large language model like chatgpt but it's not so much bc i'm worried abt my work being stolen (seems unlikely that an LLM would spit back out my exact words considering how it works, and even if it did, i doubt any individual would be able to like. publish and profit from those words, based on the nebulous status of copyright law when it comes to LLMs like chatgpt. and having my words fed into the LLM really isn't going to make much of a difference when it comes to corporations profiting off the tool in the first place; plus in instances of corporate exploitation i think there are more effective ways to organize than like...arguing for strengthened ip laws or trying to like make ip laws for fanfiction spaces). it's more because i'm wary of what that says about how a person is like...approaching my fic specifically + fanfiction more broadly. in two main ways:

1. i think it is just. basic respect to check with a writer before u take their work off ao3(or whatever fanfic-specific place it's been shared) and put it somewhere else. and like, this applies to lots of things outside chatgpt--reposting fics to other sites, posting them on goodreads/storygraph, printing + binding fics, etc. if u are treating fanfic writers as people who u are in community with, who are generously sharing a gift with u, then it seems like basic kindness to check in and see if they're alright with u taking that fic outside the space it was posted to do something else with it.

with chatgpt and similar LLMs specifically, a lot of people are wary because there's still so much unsettled in regards to how copyright laws might shake out, and most people (myself included) are unsure of how/whether our writing/data might be stored and used by these corporations that own the LLMs. i don't think ai itself is something that should be mythologized as like ontologically evil technology, but anytime a corporation is introducing us to new tech like this we need to be wary of where it's coming from and how it could be used--people have already pointed out a lot of very serious issues with the way this technology is being developed and how it could/likely will be/already is being used exploitatively--which, again, is more a matter of organizing against corporations than railing against ai tech itself, but is still a valid reason for writers (again, myself included) to be wary of having their work fed to LLMs without permission.

and like. sure, u don't have to care abt writers' feelings + boundaries and can just take their stories and do whatever u want with them. but to me that says u aren't treating fanfic as a community space, but rather a content farm in which fics are products that u are entitled to do whatever u want with. and i just think that's shitty! and if that's how ur treating fanfic then i'd rather not have u reading my fic at all

2. i honestly think it's a strange way to engage w storytelling by treating endings this way. like. story endings are usually v important + intentional, and can completely change the entire tone, themes, messages, etc of a story. i understand going to the writer and asking them abt what they had in mind for the story ending if ur looking for closure, and i understand imagining ur own story ending or even writing ur own ending to an unfinished story. what i don't understand is plugging a story into chatgpt and having it spit an ending out for u.

and like. maybe this is bc we've all been calling these LLMs ai, which evokes an impression of like. a sentient robot creating something. but that's not what these programs do! the first article i linked explains how they actually work really well, but essentially--chatgpt and similar LLMs cannot create new ideas. they can't take a story and synthesize its themes or pick apart its tone to then come up with an original idea for an ending. at the same time, they aren't just plagiarism machines that are ripping text directly from other writers and spitting it back out.

instead (to my understanding), what they're doing is compressing vast amounts of information by running statisical analyses to just save the most common trends, patterns, recurring info, etc, and then plugging that in to fill the gaps. it looks like it's writing something new, but it's essentially just paraphrasing already-existing information pulled from the internet. so i'd imagine that if u fed an ai a fic and said "write an ending," the ai would basically compare the fic to whatever similar stories it has saved and then spit out an ending that is most commonly found on the internet for that type of story. [not an expert here tho--this is just my best guess based on the bit of research i've done].

my point is--you won't be getting a new ending inspired directly by the story u put in. you'll be getting a paraphrased version of the most commonly recurring type of ending for similar stories on the web. and i just....don't see how that would be satisfying in any way. it seems, again, like a way in which someone would be approaching fic like a product, something that needs to be finished + complete bc ur entitled to it, rather than viewing fic as a piece of art with its own unique themes, message, and story that can't just be plugged into a one-size-fits-most ending generator. and like, i'm trying to avoid mysticizing writing as some sort of ethereal art form that would be blasphemously degraded by having someone plug in a shitty ending paraphrased from a conglomeration of various similar stories--i don't think someone creating a shitty ending for a story is like. a horrible evil thing. but i can understand where the satisfaction is coming from if you're writing your own shitty ending, where you get to come up with where u think the story would go + where u get to synthesize the themes u picked up on etc. but ai isn't even doing that--so again, i don't understand where the satisfaction is coming from aside from just going "well every story i read needs to be finished," which. makes me wary bc it just feels like a completely different way to approach stories and storytelling than i would hope to find in fanfic spaces, one that treats fic less as a creative place to explore and more as a transactional space where u are entitled to products.

anyway. feel like my thoughts + feelings abt ai keep changing the more i learn abt it + i'm sure they could change again, but rn my impression of this whole situation is like. i find the fact that some people are plugging fics into LLMs less concerning re: ip + ownership rights, and i don't think it's useful to exaggerate or mythologize abt what ai actually does (i think even calling it ai has kind of misled a lot of people, myself included). what concerns me more is that plugging fics into LLMs to write endings feels symptomatic of a broader culture in which people treat fanfic as an informal profit economy in which fics are product or content that a consumer-audience is entitled to, and i think that sort of approach leads to a whole plethora of other issues + makes fandom a more hostile space.

#hopefully this makes. sense #i am not a fan of most of the uses of ai/LLMs that i've seen #but i also am concerned that much of the backlash against it seems to be defaulting to this position of either #mysticizing writing in reactionary ways #and/or running into the arms of ip laws #which are a tool of capitalism and shouldn't be trusted any more than the corporations who profit from + exploit them!!#definitely feel like there are issues w plugging fics into LLMs without permission and would not want anyone to do that w my writing #but. moreso bc i don't want my writing being treated like content for consumption y’know #anyway the articles i linked esp the first and third r really good...highly encourage reading them #ranting and raving #txt

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hispillowprince · 9 months

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not to "um akshully..." with my first post on my shiny new blog (that is exactly what i am doing),

but ao3 (and initially tumblr to an extent) is, to its core, a "proship" website. the funny thing about this more recent distinction between pro/antis, the terminology itself and the discourse surrounding it is that it's simply rebranding and packaging topics of censorship within spaces that exist for self expression by and for fans/nerds/outcasts/what have you.

the principle of using a tagging and filtering system to AVOID broader censorship (that more often targets marginalized groups and limits freedom of expression) is a progressive one. censorship that is out of the hands of the community is not. this does NOT mean that everyone should simply subject themselves to content that makes them uncomfortable, or that people shouldn't be held responsible for, you know, basic human decency and respecting boundaries with one another...which is why tagging and filtering systems are set in place for us to have the ability at our disposal without altering the experience for others. what it DOES mean is we know that understanding that distinction between fantasy and reality is often integral to our experience in fandom.

we are not spokespeople. we are not and should not be held to a standard of wholesome, squeaky clean representation in our own free time and space we have simply to have fun and find like-minded people. this isn't the writing room for a bloody disney channel program trying to make The Gays palatable to pearl clutching parents, and frankly, when websites like tumblr, fanfiction sites etc are hit with the banhammer, things tend to only go downhill from there and lose creativity and engagement (including sfw creatives!). censorship has always and will always target those that don't fit the marketing bill, aka unsavory "fans/nerds/outcasts/what have you," whom are often - you guessed it - marginalized people that utilize fandom as an outlet.

whether people use fiction to draw inspiration for their art, process and recontextualize things in their lives (like traumatic events, introspection, humanitarian issues and so on), find community or simply have a good time, it is something that makes the human experience so fascinating. we have always and likely WILL always fantasize, dream and create (and share in those things).

to me, the fundamentals of an anti-harassment or proship stance is not that fiction has NO bearing on people or their experience, but that without the ability to make our own decisions and boundaries for ourselves, we are inhibited from learning, progressing and breaking the barriers of what confines us. this includes - but is not limited to - sexuality and sexual content.

sexuality. sex. infamously a natural form of expression/communication that has been weaponized and stolen from people in a sickeningly long game of "if we can't sell it or use it to manipulate and instill fear into you, then we don't talk about it at all." this game is effective in its continued tired controversy over whether or not people are allowed to discuss icky, gross sex in ways that can sometimes challenge our relationship with it and how we've been socialized to approach it. WHY open discussion about these things is healthy and helps set a precedence for being safe and mindful with it.

how does this tie in with proshipping? it's an alignment of values with censorship in this way. it's symbolic, really. we reclaim power for ourselves, making our queer coded villains and monsters something to play with than to shut us out. giving our little faves toxicity as a treat because we know how harmful it is to navigate a world without anyone to guide us through the steps or understand our own history/ies. or, you know, just be horny and silly online and find people who want to do the same.

anyone who claims they're pro/anti and makes it solely about what they deem okay to harass others with earns them my opinion that they're an asshole. anyone who simply does not want to engage with/discuss something that may or may not be considered problematic or controversial is simply a person. we all have lines we draw for ourselves. much like how someone playing d&d or video games doesn't spawn evil cultists or violent criminals, exploring sexual themes through fiction does not a predator make.

so, on that note - the end, lol. i hope this drabble of not entirely coherent figurative fist shaking at the sky serves you, or doesn't. either way, you know what to do when you don't like something! it's called blocking, babeeey. gold star if you made it to the end of this fat essay lmao

drinking water is really important though fr like it's not just a memefied thing it's-

#proship #fandom discourse #proship discourse #queer lens #good lord do i ever shut up #the answer is no once i get going #ily fandom friends so so much #mwah #censorship #sexuality

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fulfillingbineeds · 2 years

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Some Cannon/Hinted Facts About Simon Bellamy From E4′s Misfits Part Two

Collecting info for future fanfics and thought I might as well share.

- All info is collected from episodes, extra video content, the official book, the scripts, Simon’s Twitter, YouTube, Flicker, and the E4 Official site. -

→Part One Here←

•Likes Twix. In a tweet, he says, “Makes me worried about buying my Twix from there.” which hints that it’s his go-to sweet selection. →Tweet←

•Had a girlfriend when he was nine. In 1x5, with a conversation between him and Sally, she asks him if he’s ever had a girlfriend. Simon replies that he did and that they met on holiday when he was nine.

Simon: What?

Sally: Have you ever had a girlfriend?

He nods in response

Sally: Who was she?

Simon: I met her on holiday.

Sally: Really?... Did you ever... -She smiles- Did you ever have sex?

Simon: -He shakes his head- We just held hands. -He smiles- We were only nine.

•Owns Battle Royale Manga Series. In a tweet, he says he owns the entire series, which is 15 volumes. The series itself is a gory psychological science fiction thriller, which falls under the categories of media he is known to consume. It makes sense that watching/reading a ton of gore could be why Simon seemed desensitized to the whole death, bodies, and murder during the first few episodes. But there could also be many different reasons why he reacted that way. I’d go more into it, but it’s more of an analysis of his character and not canon fact, which this post isn’t meant to be. →Tweet←

So it’s confirmed that he reads manga... but I wonder if he’s ever watched anime too. (≖_≖ ) If he does, Nathan definitely makes jokes about him watching hentai lmao.

(I’ll be going into further detail on the different media types he consumes later in this post thread.)

•Arson/Arrest. We discover why Simon’s in community service through his first real interaction with Nathan in 1x1.

Of course, Nathan is riling him up, trying to get a reaction out of him. (Which he does.)

Nathan: What about you, weird kid? Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like a panty sniffer.

Simon: I’m not a panty sniffer. I’m not a pervert.

Nathan begins to mime, pleasuring himself, groaning and leering toward Simon.

Simon: I tried to burn someone’s house down!

This is all the information the audience is given within the episode about Simon’s crime. We learn the details of Kelly’s, Curtis’s and Alisha’s arrests and that Nathan “Got done for eating some Pick’N’Mix.” in 1x1.

In 1x4, when Curtis travels back in time to the night of his arrest, it’s revealed how Curtis and Nathan got arrested. However, in Simon’s case, we only see the prelude to his crime.

His ex-friend Matt sent a text asking him to come to some club. So, thinking that Matt would apologize for the stuff he put Simon through in school, he goes to the club. He buys two beers and approaches Matt and his friends, only to find out Matt texted the wrong Simon. The interaction humiliated him.

Simon: Hi.

Matt: Simon…?

Simon: I bought you a beer.

Matt doesn’t take the beer.

Simon: I got your text.

Matt: What text?

Simon: You sent me a text telling me to meet you here.

Matt: I was texting my mates. I meant a different Simon.

Simon sets the beers down and flees the situation.

In the show, the scene is played differently from the scripts. Matt is much crueller and annoyed with Simon versus in the scripts where he feels more uncomfortable and guilty. There is also a cut line from one of Matt’s mates calling Simon a freak. →Scripts←

A few scenes later, he is shown SA’ing an unconscious Kelly. (He is unaware that the girl is Kelly due to her face being covered.) He peaks up her skirt and goes to touch her but stops and flees after Kelly makes a noise. In the script, it’s shown that Simon feels incredibly guilty afterwards. It’s also mentioned again that he feels very guilty about what he did to Kelly in 1x5, but it isn’t translated well into the actual episode.

He’s shown multiple times in the first season committing acts of voyeurism, especially after being treated poorly by other men. For example, in 1x2, when Nathan rejects Simon for the second time, he turns invisible and creeps on the girls in the locker room.

(This has a lot to do with Simon initially being a villain. I’ll have points about VillianSimon and Voyeurism later in this post thread. I’ll be going into more detail then.)

We finally discover what happened through his dialogue with Sally in 1x5. The two are at a drink bar. Simon notices Matt entering. Matt makes eye contact with him, and Sally asks who he is. Simon then explains what happened the night of his arrest.

Sally: Who’s that?

Simon: I went to school with him.

Sally: Is it a friend?

Simon: He lives next door to me. He stopped speaking to me when we started secondary school.

Sally: Did he give you a hard time?

Simon nods

Simon: Every morning when I woke up, I felt sick just thinking about it. I told my parents and the teachers. They knew it was happening. No one did anything.

Sally: Was it his house you tried to burn down?

Simon nods, looking ashamed

Simon: A few months ago. He sent me a text, inviting me to this club. I thought he wanted to apologize. I get to the club. I walk up to him and his mates. He texted me by mistake. It was so humiliating.

Sally: Simon…

Simon: I was so angry I… I got drunk. I started thinking about everything he did to me at school. I lost it. I went round to his house. I made sure his family were out. I soaked some tissues in lighter fluid. I lit them and dropped them through the letterbox… There was a cat.

Sally: A cat?

Simon: Inside the house. I thought, the cat didn’t bully me at school. He hasn’t done anything. The carpet was just starting to catch light. The cat was freaking out.

Sally: What did you do?

Simon: I put the fire out.

Sally: How?

Simon: I pissed through the letterbox… This is when his mum comes home. She starts screaming. You know what’s it like once you start; it’s hard to stop.

Sally is trying to hold back her laughter

Simon: It’s not funny.

Sally: Sorry… Sorry

The two laugh together

(Simon does this little giggle, and it’s honestly so cute.)

More information is also given in one of the extra video content, ‘Girl Talk’, uploaded to Simon’s YT channel. The video shows Simon breaking into the probation worker's office to look at his file. In addition, he shows his psychological assessment. It says his offence is arson, not attempted as many fans believe. His assessment reads:

"Simon appears withdrawn. He spends the majority of his time alone and appears alienated. He is not good in social situations, preferring to be on his own. he is, however a highly intelligent young man. He appears methodical and interested in the way things work.

I would recommend further assessments in this particular case."

There is also a photograph of the damage the fire must have done to the house.

→Girl Talk←

In 2x1, we learn about Lucy. A girl that Simon knew when he was in the psych ward. In dialogue, it’s revealed that he was sent to the unit after being arrested for assessment.

Curtis: So what the story with you and this girl?

Simon: After I tried to burn that boy's house down. They sent me to a psychiatric unit for assessment.

Nathan: Really? Can’t Imagine why.

Simon: Lucy was a patient in the unit. I think she’s obsessed with me.

It’s implied that he was sent to the ward right after being questioned by the police. (This is what realistically would happen anyways.)

He was probably nursing a hangover his first night/day there, which sounds awful.

Simon would have been 18 during his arrest and time in the unit. In his conversation with Sally, he refers to his arrest as a few months ago. Their community service started on November 12, 2009. (The same date as when the first episode aired.) This is confirmed on Simon’s Twitter. Episode five’s events occur during the second week of December, making it clear he was presumably arrested around September. It’s unclear how long his stay at the unit was, but most likely, it was around a few days to a week. Two weeks maximum. This information makes it clear that he would have gotten out of the unit before his 19th birthday. (October 25th.) →Tweet 1 | Tweet 2 ←

(Honestly, doing this little analysis/deep dive on information about Simon makes me realize how traumatized he is... I haven’t even gone on about his family/home life yet.)

Anyways this is all for now! I’ll be back with part 3 soon :)

-BTW, I occasionally updated my posts after I realized that I made a mistake every so often.-

#misfits #misfits e4 #Misfits tv #Simon Bellamy #simon misfits #meta #my posts #character information

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dumbdomb · 22 days

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i'm just feeling like... idk, not quite bored. i guess despondent with much of the conent i'm seeing and the frequency with which adults rb from the iv> conservatives signaling with ∆⊝ and emojis like 🎧🤍🌿🎀 whilst not even feigning concern over the possibility they're rbing from actual kids and sfw blogs. all the while teens or blogs in disguise interact as pedo bait and having 18+ mdni in blog is now a signal for maps etc... and the trans community is tearing each other apart just like all the reddit r/196 gamergate twitter people have been instigating here all along, and still nobody can even bother to be aware of who they are sharing content from - as if we're all just content producing bots on your own personal algorithm (which doesn't event exist on this site in the way it does on other social media) and every one of us here can just stop and treat each other like people and use tagged searches like the old days. changing our settings to opt out of all the recommended bs and interact like a natural community, being more social and using tags and commenting (respectfully) on posts etc. i just don't get why so many people here are like set on playing into the status quo of negative people who are only here to harass people for fun and hate watch and hate any media or ideas or anything really... like it doesn't have to be this way. plur on planet fucking earth

edit: i forgot to include the 🦢 emoji. seeing that one more frequently now, too. and while i don't see it as much at the moment, or from who is interacting with my blog specifically, i still have seen people using 🐇 by itself instead of in the form of 🤍🐇 which implies the term "snow bunny" which is often used by White Women.

#domb brain

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admatazz · 3 months

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Top Linkedin Marketing Tips That You Can Use to Scale Your Brand/business

LinkedIn is the most professional of the major social media websites, used by over 450 million working professionals throughout the world. It is accountable for more than 80% of a business’s social media leads. It is majorly focussed on B2B connections, LinkedIn should definitely be a large part of your social media strategy.

It's one of the best ways to grow your business, by making connections, generating leads, establishing partnerships, and creating brand awareness. It makes up for an invaluable addition to the digital marketing strategy.

What is LinkedIn mainly used for?

At the core, LinkedIn is a professional social network. It's related to career development, professional connections, industry discussions and other business related activities. It's not like the other social networks where businesses have direct access to consumers by sharing updates.

LinkedIn requires a completely different approach when it comes to getting the results you expect. It is not like other social networks where brand followers are aware that companies use the platform to sell their product or service. This is not the case with LinkedIn because hard selling is a big no no.

All of us often question whether LinkedIn marketing is really effective? Well, the answer is yes! In fact there are some facts which I would like to throw light on: 1. 51% of companies acquired a B2C customer through LinkedIn 2. 93% of the B2B marketers consider LinkedIn to be the most effective site for lead generation 3. LinkedIn generates more B2B leads for companies than Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, etc individually 4. LinkedIn is responsible for 64% of all visits from social media platforms to the websites 5. 50% of LinkedIn members report that they are more likely to buy from a company that they engage on LinkedIn 6. 80% of LinkedIn members wants to connect with companies to enhance their decision making All of the above are a lead generation magnet itself!

Beef up your LinkedIn profile:

Treat your LinkedIn profile as an interactive resume on steroids. It allows you to enhance your profile with interactive capabilities that showcase your experi ence instead of just listing your work experience and education. You can fill in the following details to improve your LinkedIn profile in 2019 a) Status Updates b) Articles c) Videos and Presentations d) Recommendations e) Projects f) Skills and Expertise h) Publications i) Volunteering and Causes j) Courses, Awards, Certifications

2. Create a Company Page:

A company page will tell your company’s story by showcasing your products and services, share updates with followers, and recruit new employees. The following points can help improve your LinkedIn company page a) Banner Image b) Products and services c) Status updates d) Career opportunities

3. Post actionable content:

Multiple, spread out posts everyday will be of great help to engage and reach with your audience. There are three post types available on LinkedIn and all three should be used effectively! Creating content that will stand out from the crowd and cater to the needs of your audience is the key to winning! LinkedIn themselves claim that it takes ten pieces of content to get one conversion.

4.Use the matched audience feature:

LinkedIn has stepped up their game! They’ve come out with new features that lets you now create custom audiences. They are now part of a well-oiled tool that you can use to put your business in front of a highly selective and very profitable audience. You can design sponsored content, regular text ads, or even send targeted messages with a sponsored InMail. With LinkedIn’s Matched Audience tool, you can now retarget visitors that are already in your sales funnel. According to a study, 98% of your website visitors aren’t going to convert on their first visit. With retargeting, it’s a useful way of reaching those 98%, since LinkedIn’s audience is all professional and they are more likely to buy.

5. Take advantage of LinkedIn community feature and search for individuals:

Apart from company and profile page, LinkedIn provides a number of community features that allows you to communicate and collaborate with other LinkedIn users. Sometimes, all you need is one connection with a company to make inroads that leads to sale. You can communicate via groups or influencers and also connect with an individual.

6. Start your own groups:

Another way of lead generation on LinkedIn is to create groups. If you are unable to find a community for your industry, then creating your own group is a good option for you. Let your group be exclusive and have a invite only community.

7. Use InMail:

There is only one downside to InMail, that it is a paid feature. But, it is definitely worth your money! Once InMail is activated, you can directly contact anyone on LinkedIn. It gives you a leverage to build relationships in a more personal format with individuals you have met through groups. Response of InMail is three times more than that of traditional mailing.

8. Follow the LinkedIn Marketing Blog:

LinkedIn Marketing is a curation of selected articles designed to help you improve your LinkedIn marketing. You can be up to date with their new releases and features. You can implement these ideas for your lead generation and boost your growth!

9. Use the paid LinkedIn Sales solution:

When you’ve got 500 million professionals on your site, it’s only natural that you would eventually create an exhaustive database that makes it easier than ever to connect. This is what LinkedIn has done with their Sales Solutions platform. It allows you to target, research, and engage with new prospects in one seamless motion. When anticipating needs is paramount, it’s hard to undervalue a tool that gives an insight like this. It is flexible enough to accommodate any sized sales team too.

10. Avoid hard selling:

The best way to get attention by users on LinkedIn is by being discovered. Treat this as any other platform and get clued to the latest trends.

11. Enable your best advocates; your employees:

We as humans would trust peoples reaction on anything over what the company/brand will say! So, empower your employees to share your company’s content and updates with their own connections so as to expand reach and increase credibility of the brand.

12. Reshare your top content:

Due to sophisticated social media algorithms, its likely that a very small percentage of audience (2-6%) have seen your posts on LinkedIn feed. If there is a backlog of successful social media content, it is likely that the content will perform well again in the future. In the coming years, LinkedIn will become an integral part of online lead generation strategy as the platform will continue to grow. If you wish to learn more about linkedin marketing and it’s various benefits, contact us

#Linkedin Marketing Tips #digital marketing

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drivenbycheese · 13 years

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Google Reader Gets an Update, Kinda Sucks

Note from 2022 Rachel: STOP COMPLAINING THEY WILL TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU

---

So listen, Google Reader:

I know you want to stay current with the times, and make sure you look like all the other Google sites, and a whole bunch of other “good ideas”; but if you’re going to do an update, there are some important things you have to remember. I’ve written them out for you, in handy list form, so you know for next time.

Your update has to be functional and beneficial to the user, as well as look nice. We all like white-space, and big buttons, and I actually am a fan of the new black/grey/red/blue Google colour scheme. But when I can’t see clear separation between content items, or between my content and the side column, my brain gets frustrated. I know that when you click on the item you’re currently reading, a handy little box forms around it. I want that box all the time. I want complete borders around every article, so that each item is separate and defined_,_ not frolicking free in white-space land. Why did you think I wanted these borders to go away? Making the borders impermanent makes my eyes jump from item to item in a distracting, attention-deficit kind of way, if I should happen to forget to click before reading. (Yes, there is a foot-bar that separates each article, but its soft lines and gradients-of-grey shading do not help my eyes stick to what I’m trying to read; I still end up distracted by the wasteland of border-less white-space. And while we’re on the subject, why did you make my post titles this bland, grey colour? Why would you think it would be easier to read something if the title of the article didn’t stand out?)

Your update has to add desired features, or fix broken ones, not take well-liked features away. I can understand replacing your “like” smiley-face button with the +1. “Like” is now nearly synonymous with “Facebook”, and you’re trying to make the +1 as ubiquitous as that blue thumbs-up. Believe me, I get it; we all want to conquer the Internet. But why would you take away a well liked, oft-used feature with a strong community? Ditching your “share/shared items” feature has alienated your core audience: the original users of Google Reader, people who have spent time and effort cultivating a small but interested group of like-minded content-hunters. People who look forward to being exposed to articles and feeds they wouldn’t see otherwise. People who don’t want to rely on the overly social environments of Facebook or Twitter to find new and interesting items to read. This was your biggest misstep, Google Reader. We don’t want you to integrate with Google Plus because we don’t want to use Google Plus, at least not for this purpose. We don’t want to share things to our “walls”, or “profiles”, or what have you. We don’t want to pass that nerdyQuantum Levitation article on to everyone we know. We want to quietly click “share” at the bottom of that article and have it unobtrusively offer itself to the five, or ten, or fifty people we know who have shown express interest in reading the things we read, in the medium that we read them. We want our friends’ shared articles to appear as unread content in our sidebars, so that they’re there, like a treat, on the site we’re already using. We do not want to be forced to use another site to share content, Google Reader. There are already multiple external sites that we use when we want to reach a wide audience. We liked the exclusivity, the closeness, the convenience, the built in ease of our Google Reader Shared Community. If we didn’t, we’d browse the web like the rest of the Internet, and post our articles to Facebook or Tumblr or Blogger or Twitter or Wordpress or… you get the picture. Which brings me to my final point:

No one uses Google Plus. As a documented fan of the idea, it pains me to admit it, but it’s just not working. Even though it’s cleverly built right into sites I use every day, I can go weeks without looking at my Google Plus profile, or checking in with my “circles”. I have never had a “hangout”, and I don’t want to. Frankly, the only reason I even remember I have a Google Plus profile is because of those little notifications in the Google TopBar*, telling me that more people I don’t know have added me to their “Circles”. Clicking “ignore all” on those notifications is literally the only interaction I’ve had with Google Plus for the past two weeks, and ostensibly I’m your target market. No one likes failure, and I understand the huge desire Google must have to see Plus succeed. But forcing people to use your service is never the road to success, especially when you’re forcing people to use your service by taking away something they actually like and use. Removing a social service that people enjoy in order to force them to use something they hate seems, frankly, ass-backwards.

As a devoted fan and long time user, Google Reader, I urge you to keep these three simple facts in mind before any and all future redesigns. I also urge you to take a good hard look at how people use your service, and why, before you go making changes. And if you really want to get rid of a feature, ditch “sort by magic”. No one uses that.

Ed. Note: It has been brought to my attention that the Google TopBar is actually called the “OneGoogle Bar”. What’s more, there is apparently a way to share your Google Reader items with your Google Plus circles from the OneGoogle bar. File this under “knowledge I didn’t have, and will not use”.

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gb-patch · 3 years

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Ask Answers: August 8th

Well, doing big posts all together worked for a while but lately I’ve been putting it off because it takes a long time to get them done. I think I’m gonna try switching back to answering asks whenever I can fit it in and posting them one at a time instead of waiting until I’ve filled out one of these major collections.

But for now, here’s more ask answers! Thank you for the questions and for all the kind words along with them ^^.

Hello!! I'm here to ask if its possible to get the game and its dlcs on steam and play it on android?

I’m afraid not. Steam doesn’t have Android builds on their own site and Steam is not cool with keys for other sites being given out for Steam purchases, so you don’t get the Itch version from buying on Steam.

Hello! Sorry to bother you but, I had a question, if we buy the Game on itchio do we get steam keys or would we need to purchase it twice?

You would have to buy it twice if you want it in both places, I’m sorry. To repeat myself a little, Steam doesn’t like the key trading thing. Itch may support giving keys for another site, but the reverse isn’t doable with Steam and Steam doesn’t even really want you to get a Steam key for buying somewhere else either. So we just don’t mess around with that.

hey, sorry if this is frequently asked, but is step 4 free dlc or paid for? some of your sources are contradicting each other.

It’s free! There’s a paid wedding DLC, but Step 4 itself is entirely unpaid.

Hello! I just had a quick question, for the Baxter and Derek DLC's will we be able to confess our feelings to them or let them confess to MC? or will it only be one way? (they confess to MC)

Both type of options will be available!

Hey there! I wanted to ask whether or not the Derek DLC is still on track to be released in August since on the steam discussion board it says it will be released mid 2021. I totally understand if it isn't, I'm just really looking forward to it! If you answer then ty! And keep up the amazing work :D

It’s not, aha. Unfortunately, 2021 wasn’t easier than 2020 as we hoped so things are still slower than planned. It’ll come out late 2021 or early 2022.

Hi! Firstly I just want to say that I LOVE Our Life. I have played a bit of similar games but this one instantly wins for the best one! Everything about it is amazing! I just wanted to ask if Derek would ever lose feelings for MC, like if they make the deal and then MC gets with Cove would he move on? and even if you don't, after "losing contact" would his feeling fade or would he still like MC?

If you don’t really keep in touch with him and clearly move on with your life, Derek will too and he’ll be over it. But if you are still close as best as you can be, he’ll still think the MC is special. Though, he’ll always support your relationship with someone else if that’s what’ll make you happy.

Hello! Sorry if you've answered this before but: 'How's Lee related to us? Though which momma? And does she share our player-chosen last names? Also, do you know if Noelani took Pam's last name or did it happen the other way round?

She’s related to Pamela and Pamela’s last name is the one they use, so the MC has the same last name as Lee.

Will we be able to choose which (they or he) we tend to call Qiu by more often, or will it randomly change depending on the moment?

Qiu knows which pronoun they’re comfortable with at a time and you’ll call them what they’re happy with. And it doesn’t change between lines, it takes multiple scenes or even full Steps for it to switch. So for extended periods Qiu will be totally a guy or fully agender.

Will Step 4 of OL2 have moments?

It’ll be an epilogue like it is in OL1, so it won’t have a bunch of different Moments.

Hello! Just a quick question, is Sunset bird from OL1 based on a real location? If so what's it called? I wanna visit it +_+

ps i love your games so much <3

It isn’t based on one specific town you can go to, but there are a lot of little coastal towns in Cali that have a similar vibe!

Heyaaa ( I hope you're all well ), umm… it might seem kinda stupid to ask but did Patreon members can have a key for the dlc's ( all the steps-released dlc ) even if they became a member this month or later ? (me? saying this cuz it's my case? maybe ;-;), and once again thanks for absolutely all the amazing works on all the games ! u-u

You wouldn’t get the DLCs for backing there. The Patreon is for extra bonus content/early access, rather than being a storefront to purchase the normal DLCs. Rarely we give them out as a side gift, but it hardly happens and if what you want is the DLCs it’s best to ignore the Patreon and buy keys for those directly from Itch or Steam. I’m sorry for the confusion.

Hey y'all, love what youre doing w/Terry. Trans rep outside of player customization is so rare and important to see more of so thank you so much. I do have a question and its that does he have a canon sexuality? I know Miranda was said to be straight ace but I dont believe anything was stated for Terry probably because he wasnt revealed to be a guy which changes things. Im also curious if well get answers on how long hes liked Miranda since he may have liked her in step 3 before she liked him

Terry likes women and Randy likes men! And he did like Miranda back in Step 3.

Will the Wedding Dlc release at the same time as Step 4?

They’ll come out separately with Step 4 releasing first.

I really love Our Life so much! I've spent over 20hours playing it even though I only got it a week ago! I was wondering if I could make a fangame for Our Life with a different love interest but same plot. Next-door neighbors romance, multiple steps, etc? I'll probably make it on Google Slides though-

Sure! I hope you have fun with it and I’m glad you love the game.

How does Cove feel about poly relationships?

He’s got nothing against them for the people they work for, but he’s 100% monogamous and would only be comfortable with a partner who was willing to be monogamous with him.

Idk if this has been answered before but will Step 4 include the option to advance your feelings towards Cove?

Yep, you’ll be able to determine your feelings and what your relationship is.

In step 4 will there be a chosen to say we live with Cove even as just friends?

Yeah, you can choose to live with Cove and that can be done when you’re friends.

I just played the game with the MC and Cove being best friends and omg it’s still so damn cute like the wholesomeness of it all is too much for my heart I swear ^.^ Now with that all said I was wondering can we still marry Cove? if we only love him as a friend like let’s say we’ve made deal with him similar to the one we can make with Derek because let’s real no one could compete with what the MC and Cove have even if they aren’t in love.

It’s great to hear you enjoyed the friendship story! You can live with Cove, but you can’t marry him platonically. Cove has familial affection for the MC if they’re best-est friends. He wouldn’t think to marry someone he loves like family and even grew up with as though they truly were siblings.

Are you still going to be making a DLC for XOBD? :]

Yes! We’re slowing adding voiced lines and fixing errors.

It makes me laugh that Shiloh's last name is Fields because that's what I put as my last name! So in Our Life when he talked about "Ms. Fields" picking him up I was extremely confused, lol. That dude mimics personalities so much that he stole my surname!

Oh, wow, that’s a very funny coincidence, haha.

hi !! i cant seem to be able to get the scene where mc is able to propose to cove despite being at the 'love' stage and telling him i'd want to get married, are there any other details that im missing out on? the options just dont appear at the end...

Maybe you missed telling Cove you were in love with him even if you mentioned wanting to get married or you might’ve accidentally said earlier in the game that you don’t want to progress your relationship further with Cove. We haven’t removed them, so you can get the scene again. It’s just kind of easy to miss since there’s multiple requirements. You can read a little guide in the FAQ.

wait what di you need to do to be able to propose to cove? I've been trying but haven't had much luck

You can check out the FAQ linked above!

does cove only develop a crush on the mc if the mc is also at crush/in love with him?

Technically, yes. We treat the non-romantic relationship options as truly non-romantic since we don’t want to bait and switch people. But there’s nothing wrong with headcanoning that Cove does have feelings developing for the MC even before the MC has.

Is there a way to make/allow Lee and Baxter to date?

No, they just don’t have enough time together.

We also got a group of asks related to Tamarack in OL2, but I’m afraid the way they talked about people with larger bodies made me not want to post their words, even if the person didn’t say they’re trying to be hurtful. I will separate out the core question and answer it though, so people can know that info.

Does Tamarack lose weight in later Steps?

No, she doesn’t. As for the other questions included, to be honest, I don’t have to explain/defend having romance options of different sizes. I’m sorry if you’re dealing with unhappiness that’s connected to body image, if that’s where the negative emotions are coming from, but even so I can’t meet you on that level and pretend it’s a problem that needs an answer. A girl who simply isn’t thin being a main love interest is just not an unreasonable concept. Also, Tamarack isn’t a lesbian. Yes, she can date a female MC, but that doesn’t undo her actual sexuality, so I’m not sure where that one part at the end was coming from.

I wonder... can we "fight" with Qiu over leader status? 👀

Not really, haha. No matter how cool your MC is, they’re never gonna replace Qiu for the other kids around. So you can either partner up with him, follow him too, or not be a part of all that group politics stuff.

So when I play the game, sometimes I mentally call Cove “Covie/Covey” and that made me wonder, how does Cove feel about being nicknamed? Not like Romeo/Space Cadet/etc. but like pet names relating to his actual name

It’d depend on his age, personality, and your relationship with him! When he’s younger he’d probably be embarrassed, when he was grown he’d probably be more casual or happy about it.

will you be able to date baxter in step 3 while at crush with cove (but not dating him ofc) sorry if this has been asked already. i really love baxters step 4 design btw!!

Yeah, you can be crushing on Cove and date Baxter if you weren’t already dating Cove. You just can’t be truly in love with Cove and then switch to Baxter.

I just got my friend into our life, and they adore shiloh and derek sooo will there be more of them in the second game?

I’m afraid not. But you can see plenty more of Shiloh in XOXO Droplets/XOXO Blood Droplets, haha.

I see you haven't gotten any xoxo droplets asks recently but I'm still obsessed with these boys!! I was just wondering if Nate would curse under any circumstance?

Yeah, Nate does use certain swear words (damn, hell, bastard) on very rare occasions.

Hi there! I have a question about the wedding dlc. Will we be able to plan a honeymoon during the planning stages of it or would it be something that Cove and the mc would rather plan later on? Thank you! Absolutly love the game by the way, definitely one of my favorite games!

The focus will be on the wedding day itself. The topic of the honeymoon might come up a bit, but there won’t be any choosing of the exact location and such.

Hi! I have two questions and it's completely understandable if you only answer one/neither and I'm sorry if you've already answered either before! First, is there a set year in which OL:B&A takes place (ex: Step 1 being set in 2010 & Step 2 being set in 2016, etc.) or is it simply up to interpretation? Second, have you guys thought about doing a coming-of-age game where the MC has a tough home life or upbringing? (like one of their parents is an addict, a parent being transphobic whilst the player has the option to be trans, or having friends that are influencing them to do drugs, etc.) That's all! Thanks for making beautiful games. <3

There is a set timeline!

Step 1: 2006 Step 2: 2011 Step 3: 2016 Step 4: 2021

And we don’t currently plan on making a game like that. The Our Life series exists to be a safer environment for people to play around in and if we did do a brand new series that was harsher edged it’d be something more fantastical and/or plot-driven instead of a different type of modern day slice-of-life growing up story. I’m sorry.

i don’t know if you’ve already answered this, but do you have a guess on when phase 4 will come out? as well as ol2? i’m so excited for both of them, the inclusivity in this game is amazing, you guys should be really proud of it!

Step 4 will be coming out very soon! OL2 is gonna take until 2023 to be anywhere near completion. But we might episodically release the Steps one at a time as they get done instead of waiting for three to be finished before launch like we did with the first game.

Hello, I was curious if there was an official or unofficial discord server for the game?

We do have a discord! You can join by clicking this link HERE.

how long do you plan to keep ol's patreon running?

Hopefully for at least a few more years.

Are you considering ever making merch?

Yeah, but I don’t know when it’ll happen or what exactly we’ll make, aha. It’s something we want do, just nothing is set.

hi! i just found out about your game a couple of days ago on tiktok (so sorry if you’ve already answered this question) and i was wondering if y’all are ever planning to release it on iOS?

I have no idea. It’s hard for a small group to get Apple approval and I honestly can’t say if it’ll ever happen or not. Maybe someday, though!

Hi, I love the art style of Our life and I would like to know if the artist has a Twitter? Also, could it be possible to fund more CGs for the game from him/her? So many times, I wish there was one like when the cutscene of the sunshower.

That’s nice of you to offer. He doesn’t have a Twitter, at least not one that’s public enough to be shared with me. And I’m afraid not. The issue is that the CGs take huge amounts of time rather than there not being a budget for it. He’s gotta make CGs for Step 4, the DLCs, and new character sprites, too. There isn’t space in the schedule for even more. Sorry for that.

Hi, how are you?!

Are you planning on accepting new writers or is it always the same people who write your stories??

Thanks!!

Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t be getting new writers, but we will be hiring a new team of writers for Our Life: Now & Forever eventually!

perhaps this counts as nsfw and I'm sure it has been answered before but what does Cove prefer, chests/boobs or butts? or perhaps both :3c thank you for this wonderful game (and the patreon bonus moment, it was worth all the waiting and more ♥)

He’s a “chests of all shapes and sizes” kind of guy, haha.

i was wondering- did any of the writers actually grow up by the beach? as someone who's lived in a beach town all their life it really did feel nostalgic to play through our life 1

I was born and raised in Cali! Though, not right by the beach. We still had to make trips out, but the setting is based on my own childhood memories of small beach towns we went through.

In Derek’s upcoming DLC, will we be able to reference the pact we made as teens? (love olba and xod/xobd so much btw you’re literally amazing)

Yep, you will be able to talk about that!

Oh, sorry about the Cole being secretly L ask, then!

If you wanted context: Death Note is about this one guy who finds a notebook that kills anyone who you write the name of in there. The guy eventually develops a God Complex and starts mass killing criminals and stuff. L is the one trying to find out who is killing all these people.

Me and my sister first joked about it because I couldn't remember how to translate a word about the way Cove was sitting, so I just did the pose, and it looked a lot like how L himself sits! Then we just snowballed from there, with more and more nonsense connections.

That’s okay! Thanks for explaining. I’m sorry I didn’t know what you meant.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games

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buckbanner · 3 years

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𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 -- 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞.

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Bucky wants you to stay in bed with him.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: soft sex, oral- woman receiving.

𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: if you see this floating around, i posted it many different times with many different characters but it was originally written for bucky. this will now be it’s forever home. i’m a new marvel blog, so follow for more content and we can be pals! <3

The bright flash of lightning from the window hit his face perfectly. His bangs were pressed to his forehead, eyes fluttered closed and soft snores leaving his mouth. You moved your hand towards his face, pushing the hair out of the way to get a good look at him. Work days were the hardest, leaving the boy you loved for a shitty paying job. You pressed a soft kiss to his nose, sighing softly and placing an elbow down on the mattress to pick yourself up and get ready for the work day.

A squeal left your lips immediately, a strong pair of arms pulling you back into warmth, “Bucky, I thought you were sleeping!”

“‘m.” was all he could muster at first, getting his thoughts together before speaking, “I was, could sense you leaving. You have a calm aura, and you know it’s difficult to sleep without my Mrs.”

Bucky had terrible sleeping habits. Constant tossing and turnings, staying awake until the early morning. It was difficult for him to get to sleep, but as soon as he did, the cuddliest bug he was.

He hid himself in the crook of your neck, planting small kisses on your sweet spot to reel you back into him. You sighed softly, falling into his grasp, the both of you knowing who was going to win this round. “Please, darling? It’s my day off y’know? Why don’t you stay here with your favorite boy?”

Your eyes glided to the window, a gloomy rainy day. The ride to work wouldn’t be a quick one and it’s not like your colleagues would miss you too much anyway. The more you thought, the better of an idea it sounded.

“The only problem is, I don’t want to make my way to the phone.” you hummed, interlocking your fingers with his.

His thumb traced the back of your hand, and his soft smile soon turned into a smirk, a dark chuckle falling from his lips. This caused you to cock an eyebrow, turning to look at Bucky who’s eyes were still screwed shut, “What’s so funny?”

Bucky licked his lips, opening his eyes for the first time to take a good look at you, “What would you say if I already called in for you?”

A gasp fell from your lips, your tired hand smacking him lightly on the chest, “James!”

“Oh c’mon, doll.” He laughed at the sound of his first name, catching your hand and placing a soft kiss to it, “It’s pouring outside! Were you really gonna leave me here alone?”

The pout evident in his voice and placed upon his lips, you couldn’t be angry. A part of you remembers feeling an empty spot leaving your bed but an hour ago, thinking he went to get a drink from the kitchen, only now realizing that’s when he’d slipped in and played your boss for a fool. “If he asks, you have food poisoning.”

“Is that the only idea your little brain could come up with?”

“Actually,” He purred, hand trailing down your body causing you to shiver, “This little brain of mine couldn’t be bothered to come up with anything better, was too focused on my girl.”

You tried your best to ignore the daring look in his eyes, yours closing abruptly, head falling back into the pillow. Bucky’s hands fiddled with the hem of one of his old t-shirts that was hanging loosely off your figure. He couldn’t get enough of you. Most guys would drool over their girls in the sexiest lingerie, lace barely covering their bits. Bucky, however, thought the most beautiful site was you, laying here in one of the shirts you stole and a pair of panties begging to be ripped from your legs.

His intentions were extremely clear, slender fingers now making their way up your upper half, giving your boobs a little squeeze, “so gorgeous.” he mumbled, pressing a soft kiss to your belly.

“Baby, not right now.” You whine, trying not too terribly hard to push him away, “‘m sleepy. Don’t think I have the energy.”

Taking a good look at him, you could feel the heat already forming between your thighs. Bed head still present, eyes glossed over, tongue darting out to lick his lips; the only thing you could think about was how he'd look even better in between your thighs, putting that mouth to better use.

“Don’t worry, darling. Don’t expect you to do a damn thing but sit here and look pretty for me, think you can do that?”

You stared at your boyfriend in awe, biting down on your own lips and giving him a reassuring nod, “I’ll be so good for you, promise.”

“That’s my girl.”

His fingers hooked around the front of your panties in an instant, taking his time to pull them off you. You tangled his hands in your hair, brushing it back with your fingers as you watched him in awe. Bucky’s mouth was all but hovering over you, even half asleep, the teasing was present.

Whining never did anything, but you couldn’t help it, a small one escaping you, lightly bucking your hips up to try and catch a feel of him. You were too slow. He pressed his left hand on your stomach, pushing you back down, a smile on those beautiful lips of his.

“Ah ah ah, what happened to just sitting there and being pretty for me?”

If it were any other time he would have slapped your clit, making you get off by that and that alone. He would make you count each and every one to see just how long it took you to get off without him putting in any work.

Due to the tone in his voice you could tell he wasn’t too keen on punishing, wanting nothing more than to take his time with you. He pressed a soft kiss to your thigh, giving a small suck before moving to the other, forming tiny love bites as he moved his way up.

You were throbbing at this point, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Once he dipped his tongue into your core you swear you felt fireworks fly, your head throwing itself back into the pillow once again.

A hiccup of moans were caught in your throat, your legs shaking at how good he was treating you. He was a god at this, eating you out like you were his last meal. He stopped for a moment, taking a hand of yours from his scalp. In one quick movement he takes his rings off, placing them on your fingers and continuing on with his task, this time adding a finger to the mix.

The sounds of the rain pattering against the window and your chorus of moans bouncing through your shared bedroom was music to his ears. You were so close to coming undone and he knew it. Maybe it was selfish of him, but all he desperately wanted was to feel you around him.

He pulled both his mouth and his fingers from you, causing you to cry out at the loss of contact. “‘s close.”

“I know darling, couldn’t help myself.”

Tugging down his own underwear, he put a hand on the pillow next to you to hold himself up. Your eyes connected for the first time that morning, hearts beating in sync with each other. A tired smile was on his lips, reaching down to give you a kiss.

“James,” You moaned against his lips, a hand wrapped over the back of his neck to bring him closer to you, “Please make love to me.”

His heart swelled, feeling nothing more in that moment than the love you radiated, all just for him. Once he lined himself to your entrance, he placed his hand in yours, interlocking his fingers with yours, the same ones that held his rings from moments earlier.

Kisses and small I love you’s filled the air, the utter bliss taking over your bodies. You wouldn’t tell anyone, but as the both of you hit your release you felt a small tear hit the side of a cheek, a pair of lips kissing it away.

“I love you, doll. More than anything.”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x fem!reader #bucky x reader

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vurbubera · 4 years

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What happened with i-am-a-fish? A compilation:

A lot of people are confused about what happened with Tumblr user i-am-a-fish (who I'll refer to as Fish from here on out for the sake of readability), and a lot of rumor, misinformation and hyperbole is circulating. With this post I hope to compile the claims and evidence against him, examine their validity, and hopefully bring everyone up to speed.

Let's get the main thing out of the way first:

Veggiefact is a Twitter account with over 270k followers.

The callout post it references is this one: https://ratsofftoya.tumblr.com/post/189087352976/this-is-a-repost-since-just-making-an-addition-to. A second call-out is making the rounds too, from bubblegumlopunny, and it’s a Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gv0ixX_jw9geWxFc07b9En--AGHcTqVBO1E6TLGLhHI/edit

Both callouts share about 90% of the same information. Bubblegum’s callout includes accusations of racism and lesbophobia as well, and more incendiary language and questionable charges than the Tumblr post, but in this post I’ll only focus on the accusations that Fish is a pedophile.

The child porn accounts on Twitter

The “child porn accounts” it refers to are @krskiii, @Karbuitt and @kamawanu__. The last one is actually safe for work, provided you work at a place that’s cool with you being on Twitter, and the second-to-last one sort-of is, depending how your boss feels about suggestive pin-ups and sex jokes.

Kamawanu posts fanart of various fandoms, but mostly fanart of Rick & Morty and Into the Spider-Verse. Kamawanu is an incest shipper, although they keep that content to a separate, adult-only and locked account. Karbuitt posts artwork of various Nintendo characters, but in particular Viridi from Kid Icarus. Neither of these accounts can be argued to be "dedicated to child porn" in any capacity.

Although some Tumblr users would argue in earnest this is child porn as well.

Krskiii is the only account to have posted questionable content. While the vast majority of their feed is cute, safe for work anime art, they posted lolicon back in januari this year. Both callouts include a second screenshot from a tweet made in 2016 as well.

Was this something Fish reasonably could’ve known about? According to the callout in the Google doc:

This is straight-up untrue.

Not only is it perfectly possible to follow Twitters without checking them first (and many follow-for-follow Twitters operate this way) but even if you do vet accounts, there is no archive or tags like Tumblr has to conveniently show you what kind of content you can expect. You have to manually scroll through a person’s timeline or media tab to see what they post.

You’d only see their most recent tweets, not ones they made almost a damn year ago.

Fish followed this account in a follow-spree that had him hit the follow limit for the day on November 12th, almost a whole year after it was made. Fish's claim that he didn't know about these pictures is not only perfectly believable; it’s unlikely that he would’ve even known about it unles he'd dug through this person's media tab quite far.

This is not the behaviour of someone who curated their following list and carefully vetted everyone on it.

Was this irresponsible behaviour of him, towards both himself and his followers? Sure, you can make that argument. But it’s not evidence for anything more sinister than that.

The Pornhub joke

If you’re still on Tumblr in 2019, you were probably around for the porn purge of 2018, the one that had everyone scrambling for a new online home. With how few alternatives there are of social media sites that allow NSFW content, people started discussing, mostly as a joke, the possibility of moving to Pornhub. It was enough of a Thing that Pornhub's social media department caught wind of it.

I-am-a-fish decided to get in on the joke and created a Pornhub account and posted about “relocating” on Twitter and Tumblr:

How zany! A goldfish on a porn site!

People voiced discomfort over it, so Fish deleted the links from Tumblr and the Twitter bio, but didn't delete the tweet. The Pornhub account itself seems to have never been used.

The sex joke

Part of the callout post is the claim Fish “deliberately exposes minors to porn”, this + the Pornhub thing is what they're referring to.

At some point in late 2018 or early 2019 Fish decided this wasn't the direction he wanted to take his blog into, changed the original post, deleted the reblogs, and hasn't posted nsfw content since.

Also this happened a year ago.

The Discord server

Fish briefly ran a Discord server with a strict no-bullying policy that applied to everyone. This is not a political stance, but it was turned into one. This counts as “believing in reverse oppression”:

Most of the mods were adults, which is supposedly creepy:

One of them thought shipping characters who have been aged-up into adulthood isn't paedophilia:

Someone on the server thought “pedophilia” is a sexuality:

One thing to note here is that none of these actually involve Fish's own thoughts or actions, just those of people he's vaguely associated with (is Mother Allspite a close friend? An acquintance? Someone who volunteered to help moderate the chat?), as well as complete strangers. He's being associated with statements people have made who have no connection to him whatsoever.

Here are the claims I’ve seen making the rounds about the Discord server of which I’ve seen no evidence:

That the mods supported pedophilia

That the mods themselves were pedophiles

That pedophilia was treated as a sexuality you could tag yourself with

That the server was full of pedophiles

The claim that the server mixed minors with adults and didn’t section off nsfw content/discussion is at least a believable one, so I’m not including it here. It’s not proof of anyone being a pedophile, however. It just means the Discord server was poorly managed.

What to make of this?

There is no proof that Fish is anything worse than a young adult (despite the callout posts all making a huge deal out of him being an adult, he's still only 19 years old) who got too popular too fast and didn’t understand the responsibility that came with that. Even for his “worst” offenses there is no proof of ill intent behind them. At worst there is poor judgment, irresponsibility, and impulsiveness. There is certainly no proof that he is attracted to children, much less that he ever acted on it.

Nevertheless,

(I have no idea where the “20+ Twitters dedicated to child porn” claim comes from and found no evidence whatsoever to support it)

#i-am-a-fish #i am a fish #fishcourse #callout post #signal boost #discourse

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talenlee · 3 years

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The Johnlock Conspiracy Conspiracy

First of all this is going to be building off a point first cast into relief for me by Sarah Z’s video on The Johnlock Conspiracy. She is both directly connected with the experience of this space and did the research into the actual history of the people involved, a sort of on-the-spot observer recounting her experiences ethnographically. If you want a longer form deep dive on what The Johnlock Conspiracy is, check out that video. I will be providing a quick summary.

I’m also going to talk about fanagement, which I wrote about last year, which is about the way that fan engagement was seen as being a thing that corporate entities could deliberately engage for commercial ends. Fanagement isn’t necessarily an inherently evil or corrupting thing, but it’s something to know about as something that exists, and knowing it exists can colour your relationship to the media created in response to fanagement.

There’s this idea of ‘The Johnlock conspiracy.’

In the agonisingly mediocre BBC mystery drama Sherlock that ran from who cares to also who cares, starring in the loosest sense of the word Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (a man ‘renowned’ for this, The Office and the Hobbit trilogy, on a scale of poisonous influence to actual outright evil), as a modern day re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson that has some interesting ideas that it absolutely does not use well, mysteries that are not interesting and a relationship tension that was making itself up as it went along. Much ink has been spilled about how this series is not very good, and that’s good, because it’s a very expensively made bad series that banks on the reliable draw of the same fistful of boring privilege.

Part of what made it popular, sort of, was the tension of the relationship between John and Sherlock. See, they were both men, you see, and what if they kissed.

Now, tumblr is, by volume, mostly connections to other parts of tumblr. If you make something popular, it becomes amplified and exploded and brought to the attention of others and curated into lists. Content that gets shared is the very sinew of what Tumblr is, which means that doing things people share around is a strange form of primacy on the site. Making content is powerful, heady, druglike. Commanding curation where you determine what does and does not get shared is even moreso. It is a space for an audience that is engaged deeply with the concept of being engaged, and in this space, fandom happened.

There’s not a lot of Sherlock. There were big gaps between the seasons. When a season came out, it did not explain itself or deliver on its promise at all. It is, as I’ve said, bad. But it was well made and used actors you’d heard of and was treated as being prestigious and so, when the show came out, and because people liked the idea of what it could be, fandom struck on a conspiracy:

What if this terrible show is secretly great?

And I understand the impulse. It’s heart to a lot of fandom. I can’t possibly have spent this time and energy on something I don’t like, it must be that the thing I like is secretly this thing I really like. And so scaffolding comes out to buttress the idea. We’re not taught that fandom is right – we’re taught that fandom is something that justifies itself by being right. If you have a story in your heart about a Dark Fuckprince and his soft bean injured Watson, that story is real and right, and doesn’t need the official endorsement of the BBC to be good.

Without that armour of love, though, instead the fandom turned into this endless oroborous of hostility centered around three people, who seem to just be total dickheads, great job you. This resulted in the blossoming of what was known as ‘the Johnlock Conspiracy,’ where through thousands of pages of well intentioned fumes, these fans huffed themselves into believing that Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis were secretly building up to exactly what they wanted, and they were the smartest people ever for noticing it. The lack of payoff of their beliefs and the active hostility Moffat had to their ideas and positions in person, that was all part of the conspiracy.

Oh, by the way, that idea – conspiracy – is when you have an unfalsifiable conjecture. If you can’t prove it false, no matter what, that’s when you’re dealing with a conspiracy theory.

The dramatic conclusion to all this was the series ended, their conspiracy was wrong, they theorycrafted themselves a few more months of content, and then most people let it drop.

But what if I told you there was a conspiracy?

Because there was. It just wasn’t the conspiracy they thought.

See, a conspiracy is a real thing: it’s a secret plan to do something harmful. And the BBC, since they published the work that Matt Hill described in Torchwoods Trans-Transmedia: Media Tie-Ins and Brand Fanagement, worked with the parameters of their experiment aggressively.

The idea, as I outlined in my article about Fanagement was that making the program so it could engage fans directly, and give fans feelings of creative ownership over the work would drive viewership and the kinds of engagement they liked (like, paying for things). Fanagement sought to make media ‘gifable’ – low saturation backgrounds with cuts of under a second so you could break a scene apart easily and conveniently. It wanted to make fan media easy to make, and to minimise hard declarative statements.

The lessons learned from this paper included things like ship teasing as a deliberate task – and I do mean teasing, with the idea that you had to do it in deniable and ambiguous ways. Making things definite wouldn’t get you as much fan engagement as keeping things ambiguous, because fans would make an inference based on what you show them, talk about it, then other fans would watch it again to make sure they could argue with you about it.

A mystery show like Sherlock was perfect for this kind of treatment. Treating the series as if there was some really deep, thoughtful question at the heart of it meant that there was always a reason to keep from ‘revealing’ the secret of the story, to string the audience along, like they’d believe or tolerate it, if it was all in service of a clever explanation. You get it, right? After all, we gave you all the clues.

The toxic fandom of Sherlock did not form as much as it was fostered.

A lesson from this experience, a lesson easily escaping notice, is that it’s not that ‘fandoms are all the same.’ They really aren’t. They are wildly varying in the terms of their problems and those problems root causes. What they tend to have in common is dynamics, but those dynamics are expressed in a lot of different ways. It’s not that ‘fandoms’ naturally become toxic and awful. There are fandoms that are generally, quite nice, and they tend to be that way because of the values of the central movers and shakers and the conscious willingness of people who perceive themselves as part of the fandom as taking care of it. The dynamic is the same – you have common nexuses of community that people interact with – and the kind of behaviour that’s acceptable and reasonable is filtered through them. If the idea of asking people to modify their behaviour or respect people’s boundaries is seen as unreasonable, then you can get a toxic space.

Also, as I talk about ‘toxic fandoms,’ understand toxicity is relative. There is, after all, a very real, very unironic Hitler Fandom, and they are probably one of the worst fandoms out there. Being a mean lawyer on the internet is bad, and I’ve no doubt the fandom curators known now as the Powerpuff Girls absolutely wrecked some teenagers’ lives – like, there are definitely people with, I am not joking or being hyperbolic, some PTSD triggers about (say) Tumblr or whatnot, based on the kind of social force these people were leveraging.

And then remember that holding that lever at the high end, right at the top with the most power over it was a company that made TV shows that was trying to make sure you watched their shows.

Also: The tools for doing this are available to all the companies that read the paper.

My advice? Exhort and uplift queer creators. Be positive about it, not negative. Don’t make your time about attacking other people’s dark fuckprince. Bring what you like to life, and bring that life into the light. Share and love each other, rather than find reasons to be mad at one another for how you’re all playing with toys a corporation wants you to treat with respect and only play properly. And as always, the standard you walk past is the standard you accept – so make sure your fandom circles aren’t putting up with some Powerpuff Girls.

Originally posted on my Blog.

#Sherlock #Johnlock #Fanagement #Conspiracy

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