#on account of never consuming new medias mostly

[clembian]

i fear i will never stop being abnormal about dsmp

#on account of never consuming new medias mostly #also just #nothing will ever compare for me i think #like #ya that characters cool but they are NOT ctubbo #i need something else to be abnormal about man .our numbers r dwindling #i wish i could be insane and abnormal abt qsmpbut truly. i mostly lost interest after juanaflippa died #im like a passive enjoyer and i like seeing my friends talk abt it #but im not Invested and i dont really have the time or energy to get invested in streams again #ough.literally a guy who hates most shows/movies but cant watch streams anymore. #catboo.txt #i need someone 2 drag me kicking and screaming into a new media until i start getting invested

[problematicbyler]

an incomplete history of byler sexuality discourse

and how widespread fandom purity culture and homophobia created a flourishing nsfw sub-fandom

some may call me chronically online, but i call myself a fandom historian. i've been a member of some fandom or another since i was about thirteen, and i've always been interested in the rise and fall of fandom discourse. though it's annoying in the moment it's happening, i think it's very interesting and telling to look back at the overall arcs and trends.

so, let's talk about the many times the fandom has cancelled people over byler sexuality, and how each level of "hornygate" has contributed to the growth of the proship/byler smut community.

(i use the term proship in its intended definition, which is to say, not "problematic shipping," but rather being pro-fiction, anti-censorship, and anti-harassment; it is a position of believing the fiction one creates or consumes doesn't reflect a person's real life beliefs or morals.)

i have been a stranger things lover since season 1, a byler shipper since season 2, and an active part of the byler community on tumblr since season 4. i'll mostly be focusing on post-season 4 discourse because that's what i've really been most present for and that was the period that really marked a turning point in the fandom.

seasons 1-3

i wasn't as plugged into fandom discourse back in the day, but the broad strokes of early discourse was mostly thinly veiled homophobia. claiming that it was sexualization to assume will or mike could be queer despite blatant queer coding, implying that analysts were no better than will's bullies to assume his sexuality, etc etc. people were criticized for shipping byler at all because they were so young (but these people naturally had no issue with mileven, so, again, homophobia).

season 4 (may-july 2022)

now, season 4. this is where byler was brought to the attention of a lot more fans, and stranger things' viewership reached wider than ever. the byler fandom on tumblr booms from 4k to 100k over the course of season 4's release.

this brought a lot of new people who have never been in fandoms before, people who never learned don't like don't read or your kink is not my kink and that's okay or ship and let ship.

or, a lot of times, people who had only been in fandoms for celebrities and bands, which tend to have different rules when it comes to shipping and sex, because they're real people. hence a lot of young antis' conflation of character with their actors, but that's a different rant.

so with a rapidly growing fandom, a show ripe for analysis, and the art of media literacy bleeding out on the ground in front of us, the hellscape of the fandom post-season 4 in 2022 followed as such:

august 2022

jo/kendra gate where two extremely popular analysts were called out for "sexualizing" byler while being adults (early to mid 20s). they were dogpiled and harassed because one of them said that will was giving mike "bedroom eyes" (he was) and one of them said mike was checking will out (he was):

pyshiie and moogate. the proship side of byler twitter rose up and started to divide itself. i'll credit my own joining-the-dark-side to pyshiie and moo, formerly barbjeanisms, who were two popular artists called out respectively for sexualizing byler and generally being proship. similarly, people were called out and criticized for even following or interacting with those accounts after this discourse.

september 2022

hosegate is the most famous across the byler fandom, and it's when some users proposed that the scene in the pizzeria uses phallic imagery to imply mike turns will on (or vice versa) and a lot of people thought that was too sexualized, it caused a divide, and more fanpolicing, etc.

october 2022

the artist noodlesandtea was harassed for having liked arguably nsfw bakudeku art (they were shirtless, it wasn't explicit) on the same account where they draw characters who are minors. they also drew byler kissing, which was a problem for some? anyone who defended them was also called a pedo, naturally. noodles also got called out for having drawn fanart of the popular e-rated fanfiction....

the unmarked mixtape. a massively popular sequel to a massively popular fic, the red envelope. for a long time, those were the most widely recommended byler fics, but it very soon became taboo to even admit to reading them because the sequel has explicit sex and the first has them making out.

sonnet116 gate is another fic that was beloved and then rapidly turned on by byler twitter because it had implied, fade to black sex scenes. it was about them hooking up but had no smut. and even the non explicit idea of that was offensive and pedophilic of anyone who dared read it. around this time, another fic was called out for having will moaning into a kiss, because writing a teenager moaning was also offensive and pedophilic.

i'm told i (jana / troublebyler gate?) may have influenced a lot of people joining twitter for byler smut after writing illicit affairs and some other smutty oneshots in rapid succession, seeing a lot of byler shippers moving to the proship side of the fandom just to discuss and write byler smut. i also hosted a little fandom gossip column on my curiouscat where a lot of folks confessed to reading or writing smut while pretending to be "normal" in the "main" fandom. it basically revealed/implied that a large amount of popular authors, artists, and accounts were secretly pro byler smut, and that many proshippers were "undercover" in the "main" fandom.

the blocklist era. around this time the "main" fandom also created a "st twt safety" account on twitter which was basically targeted harassment and mass reporting of proshippers. the account does warn of some genuine bad actors sending gore images via dms, being racist, etc. but by far, the majority of it was simply calling out proshippers for sexualizing byler, sharing screenshots they thought were "gross," which only resulted in spreading nsfw content to unintended audiences of minors that likely never would have seen the nsfw accounts otherwise.

november 2022

practice kissing gate is where a handful of popular fic writers were criticized for writing practice kissing fics (such as undertow), and in fact, any amount of byler making out, because adults "fantasizing" about teenagers kissing was "gross."

the proship corner of st twitter continued to grow a lot thanks to so many lovely fan creators, all of whom i couldn't possibly list but who have done a lot for the community! but we continued to get bombarded with endless callout posts and block lists and witch hunting. people were unabashedly policing people's following lists and likes on twitter to call people out for engaging with any questionable users or content. (if you search byler twitter now you can still see the wreckage of so many witch hunts.)

onward through 2023

over time things have mostly calmed down, or at least enough of the folks on "opposing sides" of the fandom have mutually blocked each other to survive. this is likely also influenced by the hiatus leaving the fandom to quiet down, the collapse of twitter-turned-x having many users migrate their fandom content elsewhere, and the mass exodus of many people from the fandom for political reasons. if i had to guess, the ramp-up to season 5 will see all new conflict as more "casual" fans return to the fandom. but who's to say.

which brings us to now:

spicybylerpolls gate, wherein the byler tag on tumblr collectively had to reckon with the fact that people want byler to have sex and it doesn't make them creeps to vote in silly polls about it. people criticized the blog for being overly sexualized and pure fantasy versus more "acceptable" analysis, with many making sweeping moralizing statements about anyone who dared interact with the blog.

this has kicked off tumblr's own sort of horny revolution in encouraging folks to be more open on here, whereas previously we were confined to our corner of twitter.

so in summary:

people over and over again put fan creators on a pedestal just to turn on them when they're "betrayed" when a person's views did not one-to-one line up to theirs.

teens in the fandom especially were "betrayed" by adults in the fandom they thought were "safe" (and i would argue that self proclaimed "safe" adults in fandom are far more dangerous to real life minors than the proship fans who sexualize fictional characters but dont interact with real teens)

most everything has been fueled by widespread ageism at any fan over the age of 18, widespread homophobia and puritanism in regards to exploring queer sexuality or discussing sex at all

so much hate has been over what are essentially "thought crimes", with people watering down serious accusations like pedophilia into a petty insult over disagreements on fiction

and the cycle repeats itself endlessly until things devolve back into witch hunting and policing peoples following and likes etc

the best part to me is that every single cancellation just resulted in more people flooding to the horny side of the fandom to post more freely and without shame. every time a person on twitter posted screenshots of my account to say how "gross" it was (while simultaneously exposing my 18+ nsfw content to their audience of minors) i had a surge in followers. the more the fandom squeezes, the more people slip from its hold.

but that doesn't make the harassment campaigns okay, and it doesn't mean the fandom didn't do massive amounts of harm to real people in an attempt to protect fictional characters.

my hope going forward is that the fandom can coexist as a community where people don't have to like or agree with certain content to treat the people who create it with respect and dignity. and i hope that, while this side of the fandom might grow more on tumblr, we don't have to relive the same old discourses and go through the same cycles we went through on twitter.

and remember kids, the block button is both free and fun.

#byler #spicy byler #fandom discourse #fandom history #stranger things #proship #profiction #proshipping #anti censorship #purity culture #fandom politics

[skepticalarrie]

ALLIE!!!!

I used to follow you here when I was reallyyyy active in the fandom, always on top of everything. But being on twitter made me realise how much of my time and life I was wasting away on social media. Then suddenly life got busy last year and I took an impromptu break from all my socials and completely fell out of the circle. 2 days ago I decided to read y&b again on a whim and I realised just HOW MUCH I MISSED EVERYTHING!!!! It led me to watching an update video of larry on yt and I FOUND OUT HARRY HAS A NEW STUNT NOW?? LIKE CMON!!!!! I genuinely never thought I would fall so out of touch with the fandom. Ig there's still a part of me that really likes staying out of the drama and the pr and just wants to enjoy their music without delving too deep into anything, but I missed this too. So ofc I made a new tumblr account and followed you first haha!! I'm never (hopefully) going back on twitter now. I want to just be a tumblr larrie for life lol.

That being said,, this'll sound weird buttttt ummmm as a maybe big sister can you pretty please give me a few tips on how to stay updated on everything and not waste my life away on social media? 😭

You don't have to obviously, but I will absolutely kiss the ground you walk on if you did 🙈

Hi anon, welcome back! Fandom experiences are always so bittersweet, right? While you feel good and feel like you belong somewhere, it's also a very tricky and toxic environment. It's nothing like twitter or tiktok, but you also need to be careful with tumblr btw 🤧🤧 Anyways, I'm happy you were able to step away and now you're looking for a more "healthy" approach with social media.

But I don't know how I can help you, I think just following the right people around here who also match your vibe. Like people that you know that they will be posting updates without making a big drama out of it, and with a quick scroll you can take everything in. People usually don't like following "discussion blogs" like mine because of that sometimes, which is very understandable. Now I've been mostly inactive for the past 6 months, but I always talked about stunts and stuff like that on my blog, and that can be super draining and time-consuming for myself and for others reading it. So it was very good for me to step away and completely ignore stunts and any other stupidities that were happening, and I plan to stay like this for a while because for me is not worth it. I didn't exactly feel like I was "wasting my time" here or on social media in general, but I definitely felt like I was worried about stuff that simply didn't matter and I could use that time better. I hope that helps, anon, it wasn't the best answer LOL sorry!!!

#ask #I don't know the first thing about hussel and honestly that's the best thing I ever did during my time in the fandom lmaooo

[the9mm]

The Ever-Increasing Hostility of Social Media to Artists

Originally posted on my blog!

Have you noticed? There’s a chill in the air. With rising systems in place like “AI art” and image generation that seems to be creating a hostile environment for artists on the internet, as well as social media platforms that prioritize and reward creating “content” to game algorithms and have your posts be seen by the very people who have already chosen to follow you, there’s also a rising sense of hostility in general towards artists.

What do I mean? There is seldom a week that passes where I am doing my best to work with what’s available to me, and I am treated poorly by other users, or even moderators/administrators of social media circles. How many times have you posted something and heard the following?

“Pay for your ad!”

“#ad”

“This is just an ad.”

“Self-promotion is not allowed here.”

“Advertising is not allowed here.”

“You can’t mention that you made this/you sell it/it’s available to buy. You can’t include links back to any of your social media accounts or your website. You should not even have your username in your watermark.”

No credit, only content!!

Original comic by @cupcakelogic

I find this absolutely wild. Social media, built on the backs of artists – now turned “content creators” because people only stop to look at works you’ve spent hours making for mere seconds – has turned into such an impossible minefield of where you can’t hope to make any sort of headway in your efforts to grow your following or find new clients/buyers for your works. Social media as a whole, including groups, subs, etc will take your works, of course, as long as you never mention anything offsite, anything that could indicate that the work could be used for anything except a three second dopamine hit as people scroll their mindless feeds. You must constantly and consistently be playing a game of cutting your own marketing efforts off at the knees (or gaming the system and toeing the line for getting your links back out there) for the barest of scraps when they do come.

A post goes most viral on Imgur after posting consistently for months, or possibly even years? Well, you’ve only got about 24 hours to make the most of it. Edit your post and drop a link to where someone could support you. And then watch the comments roll in about how it’s an ad, and how you shouldn’t be doing that. A post gets upvoted a bunch on Reddit and lots of commenters are asking where they can support you? Sorry, against the rules to say it. You’ll get banned if you mention at all where people can send money for your cool thing.

Want to add a link to your crowdfunding campaign, Patreon, shop, or something else on one of the big social medias like Facebook/Instagram? Better make sure you turn it into a Zodiac killer-esque puzzle when you mention it by name that your followers then have to decode in order to find out where to support you easily, because if you post a link to anything outside of that social network – sometimes even just any link at all – you’ve guaranteed no one will see your post.

Censoring everything

On top of all of these hoops, there’s also the hoop of censorship. If the automated moderators at Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, or Bluesky decide there’s a penis in your artwork, well guess what. There’s a penis in it. Somewhere! The algorithm says so. Banned, banned for life. People have had posts taken down, been shadow banned, and even been suspended for posting things that are not even vaguely sexually suggestive in any manner and appealing or getting reinstated can be extremely difficult, time consuming, and sometimes outright impossible.

But that doesn’t even begin to even broach the topic of the way art is being systematically nice-ified for an audience it’s probably not ever going to reach: “what if my child sees this?”

Nipples (mostly just female), genitals, buttocks, and even too-much skin are swiftly slapped with filter labels (if the social media platform is generous) and hidden from view, or immediately taken down, despite the fact that every single human owns these body parts. What if my child sees this? Well, you should probably explain to them that other humans have butts too instead of forcing people to censor asscracks with smiley faces and stickers.

Moving the goalposts

I recently watched a friend battle with moderators on Reddit. She had been posting her artwork there for years. Her artwork also includes other artist’s work in the final piece, and she always credits those pieces as any good artist should. Well, a subreddit said no, she cannot mention those people and give due credit, as that’s advertising/promotion (to them). She asked if she could put their name on the watermark to give them credit, and was told no. To continue posting without giving credit to the other people responsible for parts of your work would obviously not be right or ideal, but what choice has she been given? New moderators/administrators come in and change their minds on a whim about when and where credit can be posted. The moderators/admins of this subreddit simply answered “no” and gave no other alternatives. How helpful is that?

A special place in hell

Even worse are the people who slice off artist’s signatures and watermarks, then share/repost the work without the artist’s credit (and do not tag or credit the artist in any way in any other form). If there’s a hell, I hope people who do this land directly in it. Right beside the people who simply must share an artwork, but can’t take the five seconds to TinEye or reverse Google Image Search it, and simply say “credit to the artist!” While we’re at it, people who think crediting an artist in the comments of a post because it looks “cleaner” or whatever reason they have can also get on the express hell elevator too (if you don’t know, comments don’t follow along with shares, so the credit being there is meaningless).

Oh, and make sure your stuff doesn’t look too professional, because if it does, it’s no longer artwork – it’s merch. And anything mentioning merch is now advertising. I have consistently discovered that by “downgrading” the presentation of my works (such as photoshopping them onto less-than-ideal photos where I’m holding it in hand, or it’s amidst a mess, something like that) I can reliably garner more likes, more comments, more shares, more upvotes, more engagement. The less polished I make it, even though I need those polished works for my website or my shop, the better it performs, because if it’s too nice looking, it’s merch, and an artist shouldn’t be making merch.

What’s next?

So what do we do here? Social media wants our art. Social media needs our art. Visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok were built on all of our hard work, propagating it with cool and interesting things constantly and consistently. Take away all of the interesting things, and what’s left on social media? Nothing. Nothing but “AI art” vomit and screenshots from Bluesky, Twitter, and Tumblr extorting people way funnier than us, that is.

For myself, I have begun starving the social media machine. I know it’s not good for growth, or connecting with new people, or whatever, but I’ve done my time in the trenches trying to chase after the newest trend, latest thing, and pleasing the capitalist social media overlords. I’ve tried to be the jester in the Meta court, and I know plenty of other artist friends who are doing the same. Why expend effort when there’s no reward? There’s not even any clicks anymore.

Many artist friends are going back to in-person events to bolster their audience instead of trying to capture a sliver of attention on a mobile phone or computer, and honestly I’m right there beside them. This year is the first year I’ve considered starting to purchase items for a professional table set up and trialing it at some smaller, local events. I’ve also been sending a lot of applications for zines, group art shows, and other projects, as well as preparing for another crowdfunding campaign at the end of March amongst over a hundred other artists. Social media just isn’t cutting it anymore.

I am having a nice time on Bluesky and Mastodon, though. Well, until someone comes in and slathers either of them in ads, I’m sure. But for now, I guess I’ll enjoy as much of it as I can. Good things never last. Let the enshittification begin.

#art #rant #social media #enshittification #artist #artists #rants #ranting #blog post

[1americanconservative]

Victor Davis Hanson

@VDHanson

Who Are the Real Insurrectionaries? Part One Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows just ordered Trump’s name removed from the primary ballot in May. She claimed he is guilty in her view of “insurrection”—a crime Trump has never been charged with, much less convicted of. Her evidence, mostly gleaned from popular news accounts and video reports, would not stand up in a court of law. Bellows has no law degree. She was appointed by a majority vote of the Democratic-controlled Maine legislature, not through a popular ballot. Her legal expertise seems to be derived from years of political activism with the ACLU. We can see where the ultimate trajectory of this usurpation is going—once a single official decides to remove the leading primary and general election candidate of the opposition from the ballot by fiat. Tit-for-tat will likely follow and would unwind the republic. Take Bellows’ action and then apply it to any future candidacy of Hillary Clinton. And by these new rules she surely would fail to qualify to have her name on a state ballot. Remember, in 2016 Hillary Clinton illegally hired a foreign national (by law forbidden to work in presidential campaigns), Christopher Steele, to create a “dossier” of smears and fake-news accounts, aimed at destroying her presidential opponent Donald Trump by extra-legal means. Clinton hid her illicit payments to Steele behind the paywalls of the DNC, the Perkins-Coie law firm, and Fusion GPS. Her leftwing associates and partisans in the waning Obama administration, the DOJ, State Department, FBI, and CIA worked hard to brand the slurs as credible, as they variously passed them off and leaked to the media on the eve of the election. They and Democrats in congress later engineered the appointment of a special counsel, whose investigations consumed two years of the Trump administration’s term, before finding no “collusion”. Even three years after the election in 2019 and the special counsel’s findings, Clinton could still persist that Trump was an “illegitimate” president: “He knows he’s an illegitimate president”. She also declared that year that the 2016 election had been “stolen”: “I think it’s also critical to understand that, as I’ve been telling candidates who have come to see me, you can run the best campaign, you can even become the nominee, and you can have the election stolen from you”—de facto asserting the balloting was fraudulent. She was prepping the battlefield for 2020. So Clinton continued her denialism right up to the eve of the 2020 election, further claiming the 2016 election was rigged, “There was a widespread understanding that this election [in 2016] was not on the level.” To be continued…

[unquietspiritao3]

Interrupting Your Irregularly-Scheduled Fic-Related Content with An Extremely Long Note on The Situation in British Comedy

Hi there. If you don’t want to read about my thoughts on everything happening in the British comedy scene at the moment, feel free to give this a skip. I totally understand needing to take a step away from such things. But I felt it was important to address, given some of the characters in my stories are based on the people involved/being criticized. I’m also going to link this post in the author’s note of my next chapter update, but feel free to share it before then with those who might not be on Tumblr.

CW: non-detailed mentions of transphobia, sexual assault, and childhood sexual abuse

Okay. I think to start, I need to explain a few of things about me.

First, as I alluded to in the opening author’s note for Should’ve been obvious, I am just an American with a moderate obsession with British panel shows and not enough time to keep up with the entire British comedy world. I jumped into writing in this fandom with huge gaps in my knowledge, which was possibly not wise.

Second, as a way to protect my own mental health and under the advice of my therapist, I’m what you might call ‘terminally offline.’ Before I reactivated this blog for the purpose of sharing fic inspo, I had not been on social media for over a year. I still don’t use it outside of Tumblr, where I follow a very narrow selection of blogs that mostly post Taskmaster gifs (love you all, btw). I don’t watch or read the news. I have systems in place with my friends and family to keep me informed when something really big happens, but outside of that, I am purposefully oblivious. The consequence of this is that I did not know about the two situations I’ll be discussing until I saw some stray posts this past weekend, and that’s why I didn’t address it before.

Third, I always (to a fault, my friends would say) give absolutely everyone the benefit of the doubt and see the best in people until they prove otherwise—and even then, even while holding them accountable and removing them from my life if need be, I try to be compassionate. That’s not going to change; it’s just who I am.

Now for the two situations, my thoughts on them, and their impact on my writing.

The Richard Ayoade Thing

I’ve said before that I’m genderqueer (she/they, equally happy with both, btw). I’m not down with transphobia. But I’ve read that Richard is a separate-the-art-from-the-artist kind of guy, so his personal views aren’t entirely clear to me. That said, the blurb he gave makes me uncomfortable because to me it seems to imply he does agree with the views in the book. I don’t know much about Richard and haven’t consumed much content with him other than Big Fat Quiz and some random clips of various shows, so please point me to anything that would confirm or refute this. For now, I’ll leave it there. In terms of my writing, this isn’t as big of a deal, since the Richard character isn’t central to anything and could be easily retconned out if I wanted to, but I’ll talk more about the writing at the end.

The Noel Fielding Thing re: Russell Brand

Like most Americans, I was introduced to Noel through GBBO. (Well, to be fully honest, I watched the Buzzcocks spanking clips long before then, because those get passed around in spanko circles, but I didn’t know, or care, who the guy in both of them was at the time. It took awhile for my crush on him to develop.) I’ve actually never seen The Mighty Boosh or much of Noel’s standup; he’s just a bit too surreal and nonsensical for me to enjoy when he’s in complete creative control. I’ve watched interviews going back to the time he was promoting Luxury Comedy, all his episodes of Big Fat Quiz, and some episodes of Buzzcocks, in addition to GBBO. I knew he and Russell Brand and had good on-screen chemistry, but I had no idea they were off-screen friends to some degree (at least, they were in the past; more on that below) until this weekend. I also didn’t know that Noel was ever accused of being in a relationship with a 16-year-old when he was in his 30s. I experienced sexual abuse throughout my childhood. Obviously, if that accusation is true, it’s completely unacceptable regardless of the legality in the UK and I will no longer be a fan of Noel.

But rather than try to break down all my complicated feelings on this situation regarding Noel, I’m just going to link to this post, which I agree with 100%, including the part about respecting people who feel differently. The two follow-up posts on the same blog give some good additional info/thoughts. I’m working on doing my own digging, trying to find anything relevant, including the source of the claim that the then-girl in the supposed relationship denied it too. No luck there so far, [EDIT: shared what I found here and it’s in Noel’s favor!] though I have discovered that she (now a woman in her 30s) and Noel currently follow each other on Instagram, and that Noel doesn’t follow Russell Brand (nor can I find a time Noel mentioned him after 2020, right about when it seems like Brand’s right-wing conspiracy-theory crap started). Make of that what you will. Personally, it makes me give Noel the benefit of the doubt unless and until further info is revealed.

Somewhat of a side note: It seems like people are most upset about the lack of a public statement from Noel, specifically. However, what I find odd overall is how there hasn’t been a real statement from any big-name British comic. Lou Sanders was basically strong-armed into saying some stuff in an interview that was supposed to be about her book. Katherine Ryan is very clear she doesn’t want to speak about it despite being the one that called him a predator on Roast Battle years ago. There’s this article about the problem in comedy more generally which several female comics are quoted in, and this one from 2020 including Fern Brady (highly recommend you read both if you can stomach it) but no specific quotes on Brand from names I recognize even there. Radio silence. UK people, can you tell me, is this normal because of the libel laws you all have? From what I understand, it’s much, much easier to be sued for defamation against a public figure and lose over there than over here. Should we expect to wait for an arrest or conviction (if that happens) before people feel safe commenting? Or what is going on?

Impact on My Writing and Final Thoughts

I’ve been having a hard time mental-health-wise, these past few days, reconciling the human need to connect to art with the fact that all art is created by imperfect humans and you simply cannot know what is in someone else’s head or past. That includes my own art. I want it to be an escape for you all, for you to feel safe reading it, but like everyone else, I’m imperfect, and part of that imperfection is not knowing what to do.

At least for now, I’m going to be focused on More than that, and Noel and Richard have never been in the plan to appear in this fic. As for the future, I’m undecided. I feel like I need more info, but I also recognize that we might not ever get real answers.

The sad truth is that writing fanfic always comes with the risk that the thing you’ve been inspired by is later revealed to be problematic. Even if not with these two, something could come to light at any time about any of these people we base our characters on. That last Guardian article I linked should give everyone chills.

I think the best I can do with the info I have today is to say I’m writing about a fictional universe populated with fictional characters, and my use of real people to inspire those characters does not mean I endorse their actions or beliefs; past, present, or future; known or unknown to me at this time. I also want to say, though, that I respect anyone who feels they can’t engage with certain fandoms or fics. Trust me, I do understand.

Take care of yourselves. I care about you so much, internet strangers. 💜

edit: linked the wrong article quoting fern, so added that

[yukarinuniversaltraveler]

An extremely long life update

Copy-pasted from a news post on my Newgrounds page: https://yukarinladyboss495.newgrounds.com/news/post/1381639

Hey, so I just kinda disappeared out of nowhere with only a vague comment about going on a hiatus but never making any "official announcement" about it. So here I am, just tryna get y'all up to speed with what's been going through my life. Nothin' much, but still quite a lot, so when I make a comeback to all art places, I'm gonna have to do some heavy rework of all my social media to make sure everything's up to date, since many things are very outdated.

So first off, the reason why I went on this hiatus was because of the heavy burnout and a lot of pressure that I was putting on myself, on top of being very emotionally unstable due to gruesome things happening in my life (cutting ties with "friends" that manipulated me, feeling awful about myself, my art, and everything I do, added to having an overall bad luck strike for some months, where it seemed like I could not do a single thing right without messing up five in the process), so I was forcing myself to draw to exhaustion just to keep doing something, so I wouldn't have an anxiety attack. But I just couldn't keep on doing that, which is why I decided to stop producing art for most of this year.

The emphasis is on the word "producing". I'm still making and creating new art, but putting less and less effort into it, and just drawing anything I felt like at the moment, mostly just pencil sketches that I posted on my Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, and refraining from creating digital art.

It's worked wonders on my psyche, and with every week that went by, I began to "fall in love" again with drawing. I still do not plan to return to making art "seriously", but when I do, I definitely will change the way I produce art, so I can still find the art process enjoyable without putting too much "unnecesarily pointless" effort into it. Some of the sketches I made got a lot of likes and attention, easily putting the rest of my artworks to shame! So yeah, there's that.

The second reason is that since I am a person who just-so happens to be and live in Venezuela, my Paypal account got terminated when I received a very much needed donation, and now I cannot accept support from anyone until I can find a suitable replacement to use that is not Paypal. This means that I am no longer taking commissions(not that I ever got any commissions to begin with), and my Ko-Fi account has donations turned off, essentially locking away all the exclusive content that was uploaded there. Then I watched that Duchess Celestia video where she talked about Ko-Fi's lack of security and how she lost a lot of money, so it's safe to say that I will quit using Ko-Fi altogether. I'm planning to migrate all my content to Patreon so my content is still available for, idk, some lost wandering soul that sends me money probably by mistake, but till then, all of my more recent artworks are banished to the Shadow Realm.

The third reason is that my ol' dinosaur PC is finally gonna get upgraded to 64 bits, so I had to do the tiresome task of making backups of everything I had on it, using only one 23 GB USB drive. Because of that, I couldn't make any digital art even if I wanted to, because I do not have the program to do it, so yeah, if anything, I'd call that a win. That said, once my PC is fully functional again, THAT is when I will be able to produce digital art normally again, so my hiatus will go on a little longer after I feel fully "recovered".

That, in a nutshell, is why I went on this massive hiatus, and let me tell ya, hiatuses are underrated! I know y'all who live off of art have your brains consumed by hustle culture and wouldn't take a break even if your working hand fell off your arm, but as someone who never had art as a career option, taking this time off was the best thing I could ever do. I feel rejuvenated! I'm starting to enjoy things again! I'm happier! I'm exploring new things and rediscovering things that I'd forgotten about or left behind!

I am much better now!

So yeah what I'm trying to say, is that this perception of taking a break as something bad that has to be avoided, and more like a positive thing, seriously! People gotta stop focusing on those silly Twitter numbers and start focusing more on their health and well-being!

"Yeah but it's not that simple, some of us need to make art for a living", brother, I am not looking for a debate, please do not try to reply with this, because I will ignore you. I am in the right, and so are you. Let's just agree to disagree, and move on with our lives, okay?

And that would be it! Just dropping by to let y'all know that I'm still breathing, that I haven't given up on Newgrounds, and that hopefully soon I will return with more art and better than ever!

As my favorite FNaF character would say, I always come back. ;)

Be seein' ya!

#text post #long post #status update #life update #newgrounds #news post

[wickedsrest-rp]

Name: Quinlan Delgado Species: Vampire Occupation: Accountant Age: 26 Years Old Played By: Red Face Claim: Alba Baptista

"Quick to words but not necessarily quick to wit, but would you like a cookie."

TW: Abortion (mention), medical blood (piercing)

Being an only child to parents who never intended to be anything more than a one night stand let alone married, gave way to an…interesting upbringing for Quin. Her father named her for his best friend through his youth, and her mother named her after herself. From early on Maria Iolanda Delgado shuttled her daughter around the state of North Carolina chasing every pageant she could wriggle her daughter into, all while Quin’s father worked job after job to keep up with his wife’s spending. 

By Quin’s teenage years her father had managed to work his way into a CFO position for a local company. Nothing to gawk at, but it meant he was home for dinner and was able to tag along on road trips without risking financial ruin for the family. Those pageants were the only one’s Quin really enjoyed. Playing car games with her dad instead of being drilled by her mother about potential questions and answers or critiques on her posture or figure. Where her dad was warmth and comfort and security, her mother was just…scary. When she was sixteen Quin went into a tattoo parlor with her father for her first ever piercing, a sparkly monroe that she had been aching for for months. Every time Mama Delgado caught Quin gazing wistfully at ear or body jewelry there was at minimum a twenty minute lecture about the beauty of flawless skin, unmarred by alterations. A load of crap on a cracker from a woman who got weekly botox as soon as her husband could foot the bill. 

The piercer referred to her as “a bleeder” as the needle broke through the layers of tissue in her face so the jewelry could be anchored in. Their tone was light, there was no alarm in their eyes, nor in the eyes of Quin’s father. Yet as the adults chatted about aftercare and healing time all Quin could focus on was the blood they hadn’t seen, the very stuff that was coating her mouth and trickling down her throat. How long had gone by, she wasn't sure, but one thing she did know was that she was going to puke then and there. So she did. And upon seeing the blood she had almost consumed, Quin passed the hell out. 

That was the most exciting part of her adolescence. Maybe even her life. Aside from her mother’s reaction hours later to her daughter’s marred flesh. All in all, it felt like a triumph. Starting then, Quin made small changes to irritate and get back at her mother. Though all further “body modifications” were extremely temporary in that no skin was broken to achieve them. And by small, they were very spaced out and gradual as, again, Mama Delgado was scary. It wasn’t until Quin’s twenty sixth birthday when she announced that she was moving to Maine, that she was finally brave enough to fully be her own person. 

Nine days she had been in Wicked’s Rest, mostly just moving into her new apartment and googling absolutely everything, when her dad called asking her to meet him in Boston. The roads weren’t bad, she could technically make it there and back again in time to start her new job. So she packed an overnight bag and made her way down the winding road. Damn it sure was pretty in Maine. All of the trees and wildlife…WILDLIFE! Before Quin could mentally process the moose staring her down in the road she swerved. Unfortunately for her that swerve took her off of the road and down the mountainside. After that was excruciating pain, the smell of gas, some lovely red eyes, the taste of blood, and then, nothing.

Character Facts:

Personality: Organized, kind, reserved, anxious, romantic, sympathetic, gullible, cowardly, sharp-tongued

A sucker for bodice ripper romance novels but more partial to the fluffy stuff for other forms of media.

Depending on the amount of blood she will either gag, puke, or pass out. 

Yes that applies to movies and television. Even the piercings on her earlobes are clip-ons.

Moved to town for a CPA position.

Refuses to start puzzles with the edges.

Is particularly ruthless in a game of spoons.

Has a pale yellow comfort cardigan that is about 3x too big that she wraps herself up in after a bad day.

Has a crystal collection that started off as a way to piss off her mom but just kind of became a hobby after a while.

#retired

[catonator]

Lol, internet

The largest imageboard in Finland, Ylilauta and its offshoot Northpole (rip in peace) had a major faux pas this week. Threads older than 2 weeks are now placed behind a paywall. Imagine if Discord set message history behind a Nitro subscription, and you have the gist of it. The latter board was just flatout killed off due to legal issues.

This majorly pissed off the users, and as a result my fringe alt-imageboard (won’t name the one, rules of the internet 1 & 2) got a surge of new users. However, the results weren’t as I feared! While Ylilauta isn’t really representative of smaller corners of the internet like it once used to be and nowadays is closer to a modern social media platform, the users who showed up were still willing to play along the rules of the smaller board, even if they ended up mostly asking stupid questions. Watching the entire thing unfold was quite fun, actually, and really reminded me of the kind of stupid shit I used to do online about 15 years ago.

The noob raid ended up reminding me of how you actually learn to be a fun part of the communities you happen to stumble upon. Observation. Lurking. You learn new things by reading the old users and seeing what this place is just about. It’s an image board, you don’t even have accounts! You can just stick around and watch!

Search engines and the internet didn’t die because of corporate greed and SEO. Well, just because of corporate greed and SEO. The internet died, because we, the users, collectively all jumped to places like Twitter, Tumblr and Discord. Especially Discord. The internet has always been a haven of user-generated stuff (for better or worse…), but sometime in the past 10 or so years we all decided to stop making it available. Twitter is a collection of barely coherent thoughts in posts that can barely encompass a full sentence. Many good posts are spread across dozens of tweets, usually out of which one at most is indexable, but often the entire thread is missing. Tumblr is a blogging site where the users stopped blogging, and the blogs aren’t visible to outsiders because fuck you. Discord is an instant messaging application meant to compete with fucking TeamSpeak that through sheer user laziness and insane overreach managed to overtake forums, and the message history is completely inaccessible unless you have an account and an invitation to the server.

The result is that all of human knowledge is now contained on like 5 sites, most of which are never going to be accessible to outsiders. For the past decade, we have unknowingly waged a war on lurkers, and in the process driven them all into extinction.

The issue is, lurkers are mostly those who aren’t newcomers. They’re the ones who have learned to keep their mouth shut and try finding a solution first and foremost. The questions they do eventually ask are also the ones that are going to be the most specialised, and also useful to other lurkers. They share personal experience and anecdotes, ideas they tried out but didn’t work for their purposes. They share abstract, multilayered concepts that simply aren’t something that can be demonstrated or proven algorithmically.

The sites that exist and rule the landscape today are practically fraud. What they sell is not funded by them, nor is it created by them. They sell the writings, media, humour, anecdotes and other forms of bizarre interactions that we, the consumers create. Without any user activity, these media megastructures would simply shrivel up and die, as there’d be nobody driving eyes onto the site. They don’t really deserve anything besides maybe being paid for the server costs, which still constitute a fraction of a fraction of the total revenue generated.

But nothing prevents you from just leaving. The internet doesn’t suddenly end when you walk out of YouTube or Instagram. Sure, you can’t just upload your data onto The Internet itself, but the way the web was constructed means that you haven’t lost your rights to obtain a small webhost and an address and setting up your own ramshackle site. You’ll just pay in discoverability.

Internet users need to be reminded that the concept of the internet isn’t just a technology that transmits data to a small number of applications, it’s an interconnected series of servers, clients, more servers and more clients. A server can be any computer you can find with a little tweaking, and as long as you have a router and an internet connection, that’s all you need. You can forward the computer’s IP address and make it behave like a website. The internet was created by users, for users, and so far there’s nothing that can take that away from you.

The change isn’t going to manifest itself overnight, and I also wouldn’t recommend jumping out headfirst into the abyss, leaving everything else behind. It’s just good to know the possibilities anyone can have at their fingertips, as I’ve seen more and more people wallow in misery over the state of current and future internet. Maybe if enough people create wacko self-hosted sites as side projects, we may one day not need sites like the one I’m publishing this text on right now. And if you’re you’re interested and are willing to dive through some tech jargon, this talk by Mr. Cory Doctorow was an incredibly fascinating listen, and provides some solutions to fixing the issues from the perspective of a higher-level operation. It still contains some tidbits of info for you, if you’re concerned about how you’ll move your userbase from one platform to another with as little compromise as possible.

Now, I’ve had enough of this wistful nostalgic hopes bullshit. Next time I’ll just write a story.

#monthly blog #internet #enshittification

[euphoricfilter]

Fuck I had other thoughts in the past few days. But my head went blank esp after seeing the bulge pics again omg... Ok new thought. Mostly soft and a lil horny lol. (the duality to the last ask omg lol) How would Yoongi act in a situation where he falls in love with a friend with benefits mc? Maybe make it idol Yoongi or not. I'm imagining more of idol Yoongi thought. I guess they'd meet at a bar. Maybe she's a rapper performing at a smaller club. i feel like he'd prefer quiet bars. but would go to loud clubs to drown out his thoughts. or be dragged along by jimin or hobi maybe. Oh, it could be kinda cute if she was singing on the street. And he dms her on a private acc. They talk and become friends. Phone and video calls. Then, they hang out irl. Imagine she doesn't know he's a famous idol. Eventually they'd be friends with benefits somehow. omg what if mc or both of them are virgins?? i imagine he'd go to her place for hookups. Would he be soft or not in bed before he fell in love? Maybe they have late night talks for a while before he leaves. Maybe he'd start staying the night after he falls in love with her. What would make him fall in love with her? And then he'd make her breakfast in the morning. Just him being his cute, acts of service self more. And letting himself be more vulnerable with her. But he would be too shy and scared to confess until much later. Maybe mc has to confess first. I imagine either could accidentally confess while drunk or jealous. Pretend there's no angst and they easily get into a relationship. Would he bring her to his place for comfy dates before or after they get into a relationship?

-🖤

i had to stop writing my hobi fic because of the yoongi bulge photos they’ve consumed my thoughts

ooo interesting question, even cuter if they were actually both virgins. i think he’d be open to it, though i don’t think he initially went into being fwb with the intention of falling in love, however i don’t think he’d ignore his feelings especially if he really liked the person

if it is idol yoongi i think he’d be a little reserved, wary about his status but i think it’s cuter if he went into a small bar, very quiet during the week, maybe he’s stuck for inspiration and namjoon convinces him to get out the studio for the night so they end up in the basement where he meets indie singer m/c

and maybe that’s where he asks for her social media and messages her from a private account

maybe she isn’t on her phone all that often or doesn’t follow trends so that’s why she doesn’t know who he is but he’s okay with that. it’s refreshing that someone wants to get to know him, for him, as min yoongi and not the rapper, producer, idol that everyone else sees him as

them just being all shy and nervous because neither of them have had sex 😭 it would be so cute. maybe yoongi’s a little more experienced, handjobs in high school and making out with previous partners so naturally he takes on the leading roll and maybe that’s how their dynamic develops

i think because they’re both so inexperienced it’d be soft in the beginning but maybe as they slowly fall in love, discover each others’ bodies a little more, become a little more confident is when they would introduce new kinks/ roles in the bedroom

them just starting to live at one another’s apartments :( maybe they don’t even realize and one morning the m/c wakes up to yoongi cooking and she thinks that maybe she could get used to this sight every day but maybe she’s too shy to tell yoongi so she just asks him to stay for the night with the excuse of it getting too late

i don’t think it would be one specific thing that makes him fall in love. i think irl he’s said that he likes people based on who they are as a person, and maybe she just becomes a comfort, maybe it’s because of her passion for music, or because she’s so soft and gentle and just everything he never knew he was looking for, or maybe he just likes all those things because it’s her, no one reason the basis behind his growing love for her

yoongi would definitely be able to hold his alcohol more than her but maybe it’s around christmas time and they’ve both decided to spend the holidays together. maybe yoongi puts a piece of holly up above the door and later that evening, a little tipsy the m/c spots it and makes her move and yoongi would be a little stunned before he’s leaning back in for another light peck. and he asks the next morning what that kiss meant and she just gets all shy on him and he can’t help but smile and maybe that’s where their relationship really starts (like they hadn’t been acting like a couple for almost 2 years)

i think very soon into them meeting he would take her to his place and maybe later on his studio. maybe they’re both homebodies so neither feel the need to go out all the time and just sit and enjoy one another’s company

no angst!! this is a purely fluffy universe where they’re very much in love and that’s all there is to it

#ask #🖤 anon

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

🧵 again I agree with basically everything needle said about the Dior FW 23 collection, especially with how it jumped between high fashion and an almost working class aesthetic. That's why I called it originally an extremely Balmoral show, not only did it have a ton of highlands influences, it also felt like the ultra-wealthy play-acting at working class.

I prefer my high fashion to know what it is and where it stands.

Needle's comment about how commercialized fashion is nowadays feels like my perfect segue.

The creation of the luxury conglomerates has destroyed the high houses. I said it. LVMH is the one that seems to be talked about most in BTS adjacent spaces, but I guess this is mostly because of the LV brand deal (AND LV IS NOT THE SAME AS LVMH GOD IF I SEE ONE MORE TAKE THATS LIKE OH ITS OK HES AT CELINE THATS STILL A LVMH BRAND IM GOING TO SCREAM- ahem.)

But LVMH is not the only conglomerate. Kering is another big one. But this drive to have the houses as corporations with stocks and returns and eternal growth mean a significant stagnation in their actual creative direction. They want to sell what /sells/. You (BMT) touched on this in one of the posts, but I think it should be made clear that brands like Dior, despite being an old House with extremely revered bones, makes the vast majority of its money on things like makeup and small accessories. The marketing that they do using Idols or literally anyone is to entice people to buy the small luxury products, instead of the big ones. A $3k bag is a big ask for most people, a $50 lipstick feels like an easier pill to swallow. I can't believe how many people I've seen buying Dior after Jimin's brand announcement, explicitly for him.

But do I think that means that fashion is stagnant? This is such an interesting question to me because fashion is literally just the things that people put on their backs. I can talk forever about the high French houses or whatever, but the reality is that the world has changed. Fashion as both an art and a means of self-expression has never, EVER, been so accessible.

What I think actually happened is that the big houses (mostly these are euro houses, especially French, some Italian, a handful of British and American) have become over-commercialized. The immediate drive towards streetwear in 2015-2020 also didn't help (see: especially the absolute horror that has become the Balenciaga name). I also see a lot of weird takes about Couture as a concept, as if clothing can't be art for the sake of being art if I see one more twitter post about "I would never wear that" over some person walking a runway in a guo pei dress that weighs a thousand pounds, I'm gonna lose it.

But I also think that today, in early 2023, there are so many people designing and making clothes and putting their art out into the world. PFW just isn't the place to see that, mostly. I think if any of your readers are interested in fashion beyond the traditional houses, it's always good to check out the other major city's fashion weeks. And if PFW is what interests them- look at the brands that are maybe unfamiliar. That is where the art still lives, sorta.

I had no idea about Dior and making money mostly from small luxury goods. That's new to me. Given how it's in the lower price range, I saw it more as an entry which then leads the consumer (one who is just starting to get accustomed) to buying other, more expensive stuff. There's definitely a focus on that on social media and now with Jimin's Dior deal, a day doesn't go by in which I don't see clips on tiktok with Dior hauls and Jimin photo cards.

I actually thought about the hyper focus on streetwear for the previous ask about commercialization. I remember the time when it wasn't that big or at least it was somehow separate. Now it's sort of like a blend and trully the only thing that reaches out to the big internet audience with their IG accounts and how easy it is for anyone to curate their own fashion self. I also have issues with the sort of comments about Couture because they are unnecessary if one would have the courtesy to actually understand what it means. No one expects it to be street style and yet, they use that as a filter.

I think that, especially in this fandom space in the last few weeks and days, the interest and curiosity spiked, for better or worse. So, in the context of that, your advice is most welcome for anyone who wants to explore more.

#bmt asks #fashion anons #kpop and brand deals

[mariacallous]

TikTok has emerged as a key platform on which footage of the invasion of Ukraine is shared.

This includes footage of missile strikes and their aftermath, damaged or destroyed military equipment, as well as visual evidence of suspected war crimes and other atrocities.

Misinformation and disinformation about the invasion can also be found on the platform. This includes posts by Russian state-backed media, posts of old or unrelated videos falsely claiming to show contemporary events and misleading or false claims about the details of a video -such as the location it was recorded. 

In short, there is much for digital investigators to explore on TikTok.

But compared to other social media companies, TikTok does not currently allow researchers to access and inspect data at scale. Investigating content on TikTok is mostly a manual process that can be very time consuming. Yet there are methods, tools and shortcuts that can help. 

Bellingcat released a guide in 2020 detailing some of the basic steps to investigate TikTok. This detailed how to:

Extract user profile information, download and archive profile photos and videos

Understand the differences between using TikTok on a web browser and mobile app

Tips on privacy for users and investigators

Use the app for content and information discovery for videos, users and hashtags

Use external platforms such as search engines and other social media platforms to find TikTok content

Readers can view this guide here. 

What follows is a guide that builds on that introduction, adds new tips and techniques and shows how they can be applied to the War in Ukraine.

Among the topics covered are:

An update on the differences between the mobile app and web browser

Tips on content searches and how to find metadata on the app

Using third party tools and browser plugins to extract audio, text from images, and conduct real-time translation  

Recording your work as you go and how to get the best out of the app and web browser versions

While this article can work as a standalone guide, it is also worth reading our original intro to TikTok as a refresher. More recently, we also published this guide on the Bellingcat-built tool that lets you analyse TikTok Hashtags.

Before we begin, however, a quick word on privacy and security. If you are using TikTok for research purposes, it’s recommended you operate anonymously and disclose as few personal details as possible. In November, TikTok released an important privacy policy update for users in the UK and EU, confirming that their data can in some cases be accessed by employees outside the continent including in China. New research found that code in TikTok’s in-app web browser allows the company to track users’ keystrokes. Researchers should never share any sensitive personal information on TikTok’s in-app web browser or via the mobile app. Before beginning your research, take some time to update your privacy settings on the app. Switch off ‘suggest your account to phone contacts,’ switch off ‘people who open or send links to you,’ switch off ‘Facebook friends sync’ and switch off ‘profile view history’.

What has Changed Since 2020?

TikTok originally only supported 15-to-60-second video options, but users can now also post three-minute videos. Ten-minute videos are currently available to some users and full release is likely to follow soon. TikTok has also added a livestream option for users who are over 16-years-old and have more than 1,000 followers. User profiles still contain profile photos, biography, follower metrics, display and username, but users can now also link to other social media accounts (only Instagram and YouTube for now) in their profile. Currently, it is only possible to see if a user has linked to other social media accounts when using the TikTok mobile app. 

Similarly, users can add a URL to their biography. Many use this to link to a landing page platform such as Linktree, so be sure to click through to this if investigating a user as you might find links to their other social media accounts. Users can now also create playlists, although these are also only viewable on the app, not a web browser like Chrome or Firefox. 

Update on Mobile App vs Web Browser Experience

TikTok is designed to be a mobile application. That means the web browser version has limited functionality compared to the mobile app but you’ll probably end up using both and moving videos from your mobile to a web browser like Chrome or Firefox on your laptop/desktop during the course of an investigation. I tend to think of the process like this: use the mobile app for content/account discovery and use the browser version on a laptop for archiving or performing analysis (geolocation, etc).

A user’s followers and following lists are viewable on the app but not on the web browser, so if you find a noteworthy account and want to find more like it, use the app to click through and inspect these lists, effectively using a snowball sampling methodology, to discover similar accounts. You can use the app and web browser version to perform searches using relevant keyword(s), for example Severodonetsk/Сєвєродонeцьк. On a web browser, you can toggle between tabs for accounts and videos that feature your keyword though you can’t filter your results and the feed of videos returned is generally sorted by relevance, meaning a combination of videos posted recently or that received large views or interactions. On the app you can filter your video results by activity (whether you’ve watched or liked these videos before); the date the videos were posted (yesterday, this week, this month), or sort the results by relevance or most-liked. It’s recommended you perform your main searches on the app because of the increased search functionalities.

Conducting Smart Content Searches on TikTok and Beyond

TikTok does not offer an official API, nor does it allow boolean searches to include specific dates in your searches. Therefore conducting searches using the date filters on the app is one of the most effective ways to discover timely videos. Naturally, if you’re conducting ongoing monitoring of Ukraine, or any other topic, undertaking daily or weekly searches and filtering your video results by ‘yesterday’ or ‘this week’ will give you the best chance of gathering relevant content more regularly. 

As a general rule for any open source investigation and online search, the more unique a keyword or search term is, the less noise or irrelevant information you will get in your results. This applies for TikTok searches too. Keywords related to locations remain the most effective search terms, especially specific terms and those related to smaller, less populated locations. For this reason, you can understand why Kyiv/Київ returns so many videos in a search, even if filtering for videos posted only ‘yesterday,’ compared to a district or a smaller town or village. If searching for Kyiv content, try street names or districts instead. In the case of conducting searches about Ukraine, you should definitely include alternate English spellings of locations but, more importantly, you should also search using the Ukrainian language and Cyrillic script. It’s always smarter to search using local terms and the local alphabet. In other words, when deciding on your search terms it always helps to think like a local.

Unlike Twitter, Facebook and other platforms, TikTok does not offer users many ways to see how a video has been shared by others, unless the original video creator used their own audio for their video. You can then click through to see other videos that use that sound or audio by clicking on the track (which appears at the bottom of any post and is always named “Original Sound” followed by the creator’s username). However, if users created videos using TikTok Sounds or audio tracks (which includes many popular songs) clicking through to a feed of thousands of videos that use the same sound or song but are not related to the video you’re analysing, is practically useless.

Users also often react to and share videos from others by using the Duet or Stitch functions. Duet allows creators to record alongside existing TikTok videos, while Stitch offers creators the option to crop existing videos and add their own contribution to create a new recording that is then published on their account. You can also use these terms as keywords to include in your search. For example, if you want to see how others have shared videos from the account of RT’s Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Simonyan, try searching the username, “@simonyan.m”, with “#stitch” or “#duet” and then use date filters to refine your search. Or instead of “#duet” use the Russian/Ukrainian equivalent “#дуэт.” It’s not a perfect tool but it can often help you find supplementary content. You can also use this approach to discover content around developments in the conflict that TikTok users are sharing and posting on the platform. By combining keywords like #duet or #stitch along with terms relevant to the conflict, such as locations, alongside date filters in your video searches, this can assist you in finding the latest related content that users are sharing on the platform, as highlighted in the #Duet Kherson example included in the image below.

Unlike other platforms, TikTok allows users to easily download and share native TikTok content on other social platforms. Searching for something like “TikTok” and a relevant keyword, such as Donbass/Донбас, on other platforms can be an extremely effective way of finding relevant videos. In addition, searching generic and noisy terms in the Hashtags tab, such as “Putin”, can also reveal additional specific hashtags that might be worth investigating. 

Or, you can use the new hashtag tool Bellingcat released that allows you to collect a dataset of TikToks associated with specific hashtags over lengthier periods of time.

Metadata and View Source Shortcuts: Find Views, Upload Time, Account Creation Time

Once you find a video of note, there are some handy shortcuts to find out more information about the video or when the account was created. When viewing a user’s feed on both the app and browser, you can see the number of views for each video they have posted. When you click through to a video, you can see the upload date (in the US date format). If you want the specific number of views or the specific upload time, there are some useful shortcuts you can use. For views, open your video on your browser (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Opera) and press Control + U (for Safari, it’s Control + Alt + U) and then open View Source (or right click anywhere on the page and select View Source if your browser still allows it). When a new tab opens you should press Control + F (on Mac, this Command + F) and search for “playcount”, the term used by TikTok to label video views. The number after the colon is the number of views it has received to date. For the specific upload time, you should use the Bellingcat TikTok timestamp tool. Just input the URL of the video and the tool will display the specific upload time for you.

The Not-So-Real Zelenskyy

Let’s put all of these skills to use and look at one of several TikTok accounts that claimed to be the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The fact that the president’s website does not include any links to TikTok among the other listed social media accounts, as well as the absence of any verified TikTok accounts bearing his name, should be enough of a giveaway that there is no official Zelenskyy account on TikTok. Yet, there are opportunists, pranksters and bad actors who will try to convince users otherwise. One such account, @official.zelenskiy, described itself as the “official” account of the President of Ukraine. The account (since removed, but archived here) had a photo of Zelenskyy on its profile, featured a playlist (viewable on mobile only) of Ukraine videos and its feed was replete with videos of Zelenskyy with the account’s username watermarked on the videos. The videos were shot front-facing, speaking to a smart phone, the selfie style for which Zelenskyy has become famous since the beginning of the invasion. However, Zelenskyy and his team prefer to use other platforms like Telegram and Twitter to post these videos, not TikTok. This supposedly-official account was popular and before it was removed had over 356,400 followers; its uploaded videos had received a total 2.2 million likes.

Using the methodology described above, we can find the upload times of this TikTok account’s videos and compare them to the same videos posted on Zelenskyy’s official accounts, such as Telegram. At no point did this TikTok account post a video before they were first posted on Zelenskyy’s Telegram, suggesting whoever was running this TikTok account was simply scraping content from Zelenskyy’s official account and reposting it. There is another giveaway though. Every video posted after March 28 included the account’s username, @official.zelenskiy, as a watermark on the corners of the video. But if you examine any video posted before this date, right back to the earliest video on the account, posted on March 1, the watermark viewable on each video was @_dinim313. This was the username of the account before it changed to the more official-looking alternative. Watermarked usernames are a great way of tracking account changes and spotting potential fakes or misleading videos. 

My guess is that, seeing the large views the March 1 video received, this user decided to post only content featuring Zelenskyy and deleted any videos posted between January 25, when the account was created, and March 1, before then committing fully and changing their username around March 28 too. At the start of the invasion, it was reported that many users pretended to be based in Ukraine and broadcast fake livestreams complete with added air raid siren sound effects to garner attention and interest from others users. Crucially, users can also seek donations and gifts from livestreams, demonstrating how misinformation about Ukraine could be monetised on TikTok. In fact, in the course of writing this article, I observed this fake Zelenskyy account broadcasting a livestream featuring a slideshow of selfie photos of the president to which users were encouraged to donate and send gifts to the account.  The account has since been removed from TikTok. Following the invasion of Ukraine, TikTok said it had dedicated significant resources to “developing and enforcing new protective measures” on the platform, including improving methods to detect and take action on livestreams broadcasting recycled or misleading content.

Web Browser Third Party Tools and Useful Plug-ins: Audio Analysis, Extracting Text From Images and Archiving Shortcuts

Note: In this section, unless otherwise stated, the browser and plug-ins noted here are on Chrome.

Now that we have explored how to navigate the platform itself, let’s look at some external tools that can help with TikTok research. These include optical character recognition (image-to-text) tools and how to analyse audio on TikTok. First up: audio. If you are analysing a video on TikTok and it includes a song but it is not labelled or referenced clearly in the post and you want to know its name then you should use Shazam, a popular application that can identify songs-even from short audio clips. Two ways you can do this are: Install the Shazam plugin on your web browser, start playing the video and then click the plug-in to start Shazam or; play the video on one device, such as your browser, and start Shazam on your phone. The tool is generally very quick at identifying most songs and is also quite good at identifying remixes. It has also occasionally identified cover versions for me too.

Here’s an example (it appears TikTok geoblocked the video in some regions, an archive of the clip is viewable here). In early March many prominent Russian content creators on TikTok participated in a trend that saw them hold up “Russian Lives Matter” placards. Each video featured a remix of a song that was originally used by @Evgen_military but wasn’t listed as an official sound on TikTok, just an ‘original sound’ attributed to this user. The original video is now gone, but over 11,000 other videos have used this sound. By using Shazam, you could quickly figure out the song was a remix of the Soviet military folk song, Katyusha.

Beyond music, what do you do if you encounter a TikTok video in which you don’t understand the language that someone in the video is speaking and there are no text references or clues in the post caption? This is a challenge commonly faced by researchers conducting analysis in many conflict zones. Luckily there are numerous audio transcription and translation tools available online. A quick caveat, though. Audio transcription tools are under constant development and while the technology underpinning these tools is becoming more sophisticated and capable at audio detection, we should still temper our expectations of what’s currently possible. A video of a speech, shot in a quiet room with little background noise offers more opportunities for a helpful transcription than a video taken on a busy street, and so on. Still, these tools can be quite effective at recognising references to locations or place names and sometimes, that’s all you need to geolocate a video. A tool like Google Translate offers voice-to-text transcription functionality (via the mic icon) that can be really helpful. You can’t ask Google Translate to define the language before beginning, so you’ll need to have at least a small assumption of what the language might be. Or you’ll need to try out a few languages. If you’re working on a Ukraine investigation though, you can make an educated guess and set the language-to-be-transcribed as Ukrainian or Russian and translate it into English or whatever your working language is.

Here’s how to do it. Start the transcription on one tab and play the video on another tab of your browser or on your mobile. Or switch it around and use Google Translate on your phone and play the video on your browser. Break the video down into 15 second segments and use the tool on each segment a few times and assess what is transcribed. You can also use the Voice Typing function on Google Docs to transcribe audio in real time too, though one of the advantages of using Google Translate first is that it not only transcribes text but will immediately translate it for you too.

Extracting Text From TikTok Videos

As well as audio, you will likely encounter videos that contain text embedded on-screen that you might want to capture and translate. This can provide useful investigative clues. Unlike the text in the post caption that you can just copy and paste into a translation tool or run through a plug-in like Google Translate, embedded on-screen text can’t be copied. Instead, you will need to use optical character recognition software which is available on Yandex, Google Lens or other image-to-text tools that can extract the text for you. Plug-ins like InVID’s WeVerify are very helpful for conducting image reverse searches or extracting text from images, but these tools aren’t so flexible when you’re working with video. For that, we need a different approach. You’ll probably have to play and pause a video many times, stopping each time you want to extract text from a new frame. You could obviously pause a video, screenshot the frame and upload that frame to Yandex or similar sites, but doing so would take a long time. Instead, a quicker way to do this is to install a plug-in like Copyfish. With this, every time you pause a video, you can then use the extension to quickly take a screenshot and paste the text onto a clipboard that will then open on-screen. Reminder: Press the gear icon to change the language you want to use Copyfish to capture. It doesn’t currently support Ukrainian but does support Russian (and I am told Ukrainian is on the way, also). Once your text has been copied, you can hit the Google Translate shortcut on the clipboard and this will open a new tab and translate the text for you.

A quick example. On March 3 Russian state-controlled news organisation NTV published a video on TikTok showing Russian soldiers on the move in trucks and various armoured vehicles. The post’s caption states this was recorded somewhere in the Kyiv region. The video includes on-screen text which, using Copyfish, you can extract and translate to tell you the same. You can also use Copyfish to extract text from road signs too which, along with storefront names, can be invaluable sources of information. But where exactly in the region was this recorded? At the very start of the video there is a large yellow and blue overhead sign that reads “Ukraine,” so, since we believe this video was shot in the Kyiv region, we can then surmise this is likely Ukraine’s border in the Kyiv region with Belarus. Can we get the exact location? At 0:08, the video shows a blue road sign which, again using Copyfish, you can extract the text from to tell you this is the “Полі́ський райо́н” or Polis’kyi district in the Kyiv region. (The Polis’kyi district was abolished in 2020 and incorporated into the Vyshhorod district though it’s possible the signs at border crossings haven’t been updated.) Moving off TikTok, performing a web search for border crossings in the area will yield further information such as these photographs captured by Getty Images’ Chris McGrath who said they were taken in Vilcha, Ukraine, which is located within the Vyshhorod district. Further, in one of McGrath’s photos, you can distinctly see the road sign with “Полі́ський райо́н” in the background, meaning we can then confirm the exact location where the TikTok video was recorded.

To take it one step further, Getty Images’ states McGrath’s photos were taken on February 13. By comparing the state of buildings and the general scene in these images with the footage posted online on March 3, you can then begin to assess what may have been damaged or destroyed in the intervening period too. 

Archiving Shortcuts and Saving Your Work 

Once you’ve used the TikTok mobile app, you’ll immediately realise how quickly you can be pulled down numerous rabbit holes conducting different searches; inspecting a user’s followers, scrolling through videos on a hashtag page and so on. It’s easy to lose track of your progress or forget about a useful or interesting video you want to investigate further. As noted above, I tend to think of the TikTok discovery process like this; use the mobile app for content/account discovery and use the browser version on a laptop for archiving and performing analysis. Naturally there are many ways you can create your own workflow like this but for those of you starting out on TikTok, here’s a sample breakdown of one easy way to do it. To move videos between the mobile and laptop web browser versions, you can use a live Google/Teams spreadsheet to log video URLs as you find them via mobile. Add a short one line summary when you add them to your spreadsheet to describe the content and the relevance of the clip.

On the TikTok mobile app you can of course like relevant videos and then see them instantly in your ‘liked’ video collection on the web browser, but incorporating a live spreadsheet means you save them somewhere external to the platform, which is good practice in case you lose access to your account. On mobile, you can also bookmark videos and add them to your favourites and create specific collections, which is definitely useful, but bookmarks/collections are only accessible on mobile, not web browsers. By using a spreadsheet, you will also have a short description of the video available when needed and you can use different tabs/spreadsheets for numerous investigations instead of creating a singular clogged feed of videos on your ‘liked’ collection. For security reasons too, it may be wise to avoid liking or interacting with the content or user you’re investigating.

Once you open your videos on a web browser on your laptop, you should archive them. Tools like the Wayback Machine and Archive.Today are getting better at archiving TikTok content but they’re still not perfect. For high value videos, I prefer to save local versions of the video and download them directly. There are numerous plug-ins that do this. As well as video archives, you should also take screenshots of accounts, video pages and comments when needed too. A plug-in like Save to Google Drive is a one-click process that screenshots an entire page on a browser on your laptop. The added bonus of this tool is that you can select/create a folder on your Google Drive as the save location. Again, with many investigations in progress, having numerous, specific folders will save you time in the long run. As always, file management is the key to any good open source investigation.

Geolocation

Much of your investigation will likely involve trying to confirm the location shown in a piece of footage. Bellingcat regularly publishes guides and tutorials with tips on geolocation, including our recent article about the first steps you should consider before getting started. But since this invasion has also exposed lots of new people to online open source investigations, particularly through TikTok content, it’s also worth including a section here about what geolocation is like on TikTok. Spoiler: it’s not all that different to other platforms since you’re still working with visual footage, but there are some points to keep in mind. First of all, read the caption and hashtags of the particular post and listen to (or translate) the audio of a video in case there are any geographical references to what is shown in the video. Read (or translate) the comments too. As previously stated, it’s best not to engage with accounts you are investigating, but in some rare cases it may be beneficial to ask others in the comment section where the location is; if you need to do this, remember to be careful about protecting your own identity whilst conducting your investigations.  Inspect the TikTok user’s account in full, examine their profile for references to their general location in their biography, other videos on their account or in their linked social media accounts. Regarding the footage itself, it will be easier for you to view and analyse the video on laptop/desktop versus mobile. When examining the footage, look out for distinctive landmarks like buildings, monuments or street signs, or features on buildings. A shop name can be googled and their address could confirm the location. If you want to take it a step further, you might even want to use their phone number or social media accounts to contact them and ask them about the event that was captured in the footage. Distinctive features are your friend when it comes to geolocation. The placement of lampposts, the width of a street, the location of train tracks and much, much more can all help you to corroborate and confirm a location. You can also incorporate the placement of the sun and shadows into your analysis to work on determining the time of day that a video was recorded too. This can be incredibly important work when establishing a timeline and you should read our guide for this specific task as well. When you have an assumption, you will want to corroborate and confirm your hunch. Here, you should use satellite map imagery, including Google Maps or Yandex Maps (try out a few as each service can differ in quality depending on the location) to find and visit the location. Video or images from news organisations, government entities or local civilian or armed groups can also be extremely useful as they will often include geographical references when sharing footage online. And, of course, use Google to search images or search for locations (and use the timeline feature) on photo libraries for agencies like the Associated Press or Getty Images.

And lastly, use the crowd. There are active open source communities online, particularly on Twitter, but also on Discord, Reddit and other platforms, where you can ask questions about footage, share your findings and learn new skills. This is also where  journalists and people closest to an event tend to share information.

Things to Remember

We’ve covered a wide range of tools, tricks and tips to help you investigate the invasion of Ukraine (or any other event) like a pro! Before you start your own Ukraine investigation, here’s a quick list of things to remember:   

Conduct searches in the local language first, Ukrainian or Russian terms.

Use image-to-text or audio transcription tools to capture and translate to your working language.

Use specific search terms and keywords, especially locations and place names, in combination with the date fields on TikTok video search to get the most up-to-date results.

Follow valuable accounts, inspect their followers/following, view their accounts on mobile to access linked social accounts and search their usernames on other social platforms. Note usernames or videos in a separate spreadsheet to track your work.

Archive, catalogue and save content as you go as conflict videos often get quickly taken down. Screenshot pages using one-click tools as you work.

Remember that you are going to get things wrong, especially if you are starting out with online open source investigations or using TikTok for the first time. It’s important that you are careful and considered in your research but most of all, it’s essential that you are creative and curious and seek new and additional methods to uncover more evidence and confirm (or dismiss) your findings. Lastly, archive everything.

[loreofthegayuma]

Lore/Mira/Fritz here and this is a personal side-blog!

Last Update: Mar. 11, 2024

System, SEAsian, and bodily 26. Follows from @loreofthefritz (main/dbz blog).

About:

This is a blog of us making text posts about issues, our life, or a little bit of both. There are also a lot of media we're obsessed with and a lot of things we find interesting.

A lot of us are semiverbal/nonverbal/selectively mute and we struggle with hearing so we ask that you kindly share a caption or transcriptions of your videos especially if you're sharing it to us specifically. Thank you for understanding <3

What we mean by semiverbal/nonverbal/selectively mute is...

That most of us have a hard time verbalizing our thoughts because we don't use words on each other when we talk. Sometimes we experience a verbal shutdown; we won't be answering asks, DMs, and won't be talking in the tags. Please be patient when that happens, we will be back shortly. Even if you find us posting text-heavy content, it doesn't mean we're currently not experiencing a shutdown, sometimes we just post those that have been in the drafts a long time ago during this time.

Some of us write and we intend to post some of them here and the other things we create. However, please do enjoy our blog for the meantime!

❗️This blog may post suggestive things on extremely rare occassions but never fullblown NSFW❗️

If there's any issue or problem at all that you want any of us to address, feel free to slip an ask or DM!

We mostly no longer tag for rbs unless we want to see them again. Anything else you want to know you can find in our carrd.

@loreofthefritz - main + dragon ball blog (don't follow this one unless you really like dragon ball). 《Fritz》

Other blogs:

We usually share blogs but I'll put under here which alter is mostly using the account:

@lore-loves-animated-shows - pixar, dreamworks, and disney side-blog. 《Fritz created this but they dont use it as often as our littles》

@loreoffandoms - sideblog of random fandoms (check its pinned post to see which they are) 《no one in particular》

@thedemon-mirajane - fairy tail, naruto/boruto, undead unluck, hunter x hunter, to your eternity, zom 100: bucket list of the dead, and yu yu hakusho sideblog! 《Rein and Mira》

@soccerpunching - sports animanga + mob psycho 100, dr. stone, bakugan sideblog (mostly inazuma eleven) 《Lore》

Tags I use for my own posts:

#lores of fritz - personal experiences, thoughts, and opinions of fritz

#lore dumps - personal experiences, thoughts, and opinions of lore

#rein-y days - personal experiences, thoughts, and opinions of rein

#demon hauls - personal experiences, thoughts, and opinions of mira

#fritz in rants - just our rants

#autihd fritz - personal experience or own memes about undiagnosed autism and adhd

#fritz gets asks - me answering asks

#anon cannon - getting anon asks

Tags for reblogs:

#suggestive - we won't be reblogging much of this but we'll definitely tag it so you can mute them

#serious misc - for stuff we should take seriously

#silly misc - for funny ones

#wholesome misc - for really heart-wrenching content

#autihd misc - anything related to autism, adhd, and sometimes just generally neurodivergent things

#disabled misc - news, discussion, helpful tips, etc. about being disabled and about disabled people

#gay misc - anything related to being queer specifically

#history misc - concerning history

#science misc - science side of tumblr lol

#food - anything about food

#misc - when we don't know where to put it

#creative help - important rb of things that may help creatives

#academic help - important rb of things that will help in studies and papers

#writing help and #writing advice - rb of writing advice

#language learning - anything about languages

#writing inspiration - rb of posts abt tropes. scenarios. or dialogues that may inspire writing

#thriving consumer help - saved resources that are helpful to us common folks. also says fuck you to the capitalists

#read and recommend #read list #others writing - writing of other people I want to reread

#adulting help - adulting tips

#lores of fritz

[petite-ursus]

Like most of us, I spend a lot of time being annoyed at how many period pieces there are for lesbians. I want more comedies set in the present. I do. But. Uh... I’m currently obsessed with the specific interestionality of 50′s era queer culture.

Like, we were right on the cusp of real change and there were all these women who were there, putting their lives (often literally) on the line because they could not NOT be authentically themselves, despite the VERY REAL danger, and in doing so setting into motion the movement which allows me to publicly be myself. Like I am FEELING the gratefulness with my recent media (A League of Their Own; One Last Stop; The Last Night at the Telegraph Club; Snapdragon. I’m going to use ALotO for a lot of my examples because it is the freshest.) The fact that these books and show exist at all is because the women they describe EXISTED and LIVED as themselves!!!! Which is aaAAAH. Inspiring. Strong. I could go on!

But it’s not just the fact that they WERE out there existing that makes me feel so much. It’s the fact that they were out there every day, at risk and history... erased them to this point, not just systemically (see: the women from A League of their Own being carefully groomed and prepped not for baseball but to appear like desirable straight women) but personally (see: Maxine’s mother kicking rejecting her.) It was not safe to be different. Nationalism and racism rampant. It was literally dangerous to have a queer family member, let alone be queer. Even families who were accepting weren’t taking photos of their queer members. (I mean luckily some were, but not in NUMBERS, you get me?) So we didn’t just lose the documentation of our roles in society, in institutions, and historical events. We lost LITTLE moments of queer joy. Little snapshots of two women together at home just spending time with family, leaning on each other.

They worked so hard. They risked so much. And they were vanished. Like, as an active, intentional action. They were disappeared from history. It makes me fucking ache.

And you might say, “Erased? You are listing all this media they are in!” But it’s new media and you and I both know that the it’s media we fought tooth and nail to be allowed.

The proof of our erasure is in how normal it is for older generations to dismiss our existence. We have never been allowed to be seen and remembered. This looks like a sudden appearance. And they vocalize that all the time! “Suddenly everyone is gay!”

And you know what? I do feel some empathy to the average person who just wasn’t looking at the systems and how they hushed us up... this does look sudden. But ultimately, the truth is, it isn’t new.We’ve always been here.

Getting to see those moments on paper and on screen feels like a freaking hug. It does not always (often doesn’t) look like modern queerness, often can’t, it’s a different time. Laws and public standards were different. Our understandings of gender were different. Sometimes the reality is that the endings of these women are bittersweet or even painful. But that’s part of what makes it so fascinating. I feel like we are starved for our origins, and for our evolution as a community. Starved for the littlest details of our history. 

And I say “we” meaning the queer community, but this is something straight people are being starved of too. It is So Hard to conceive of a world you are not being allowed to see. How can we expect them to know us and accept us if we are not allowed to show ourselves?

Academic journals and accounts are great, but frankly they are not for the average person who learns through what media they consume. My girlfriend didn’t know the phrase “friend of Dorothy” because even though that’s a fairly well known one, it’s simply not in straight media. I only know it because I specifically turned to consuming mostly queer media a few years ago.

So like. I’m rethinking my opinions on period pieces... But I guess I want them done like A League of Their Own. I want the ACTUAL stories of my foremothers lost to time unearthed and told. The ones they took from me. I want phrases and styles that were used by queer people in the past to signal to each other. Not these beautiful pieces of Cinema about pining sad lesbians in a time of Bad that has been romanticized within an inch of its life. I want lesbians and what that MEANT for the time in relation to OTHER lesbians. (OR queer people, you get me.) I do not want to once again be shown women operating their lesbian indentities almost entirely with and around men. Like, I get it. That was a facet. There are other facets.

And maybe that is less possible further back than the 50s... But we were THERE, at all levels of socioeconomic statuses and those different levels of status DID have different things allowed, and things were allowed that we really just don’t talk about (See: Gentleman Jack as well as Emily Dickinson and their ACTUAL writings.) There are stories there that need told. That need remembered.

#shannon rants #personal

[thelonesomequeen]

Can this anon tell us on details how they managed to stay away? I want a way out but I cant// Me again! (I'm clearly failing at staying away from Tumblr lol but I knew people would respond to my original post so here I am) Gonna tell you how I did it. I did this in January -

I'm lucky enough to have multiple devices (phone, laptop, iPad). I deleted all social media apps from my phone and only allow myself to use them on my iPad. That changed my time spent online significantly. Especially because I don't take my iPad when I go out anywhere so I wasn't finding myself scrolling mindlessly on my phone when I was out. It helped me become more present in my life. At first it was super weird, I kept automatically unlocking my phone and scrolling to where the apps used to be. I also felt a little bit out of touch with reality for a while, I didn't feel like I knew what was going on in the world. I still have twitter on my phone because I use that for my regular news and I never spent too much time on that one anyway

I blocked websites I was using as well (LSA, Discord, Reddit, Tumblr, CDAN etc) changed my settings on my phone and iPad to "limit adult websites" (under Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content on the iPhone) and you can add "never allow" so any time I found myself habitually typing in those websites, it would come up as blocked. You can always unblock them but it at least gave me a pause to be like "wait, is this how I want to spend my time?"

Time limits on my iPad. I can't remember how I did it but you can add time limits for things. I'm not sure if it is with the apps or just websites but the websites I put a time limit on per day and when it expired, it expired (you can extend also)

I blocked anyone on IG or Twitter that wasn't serving my goal of cleansing. The trio, Lexniko, Tinx (cause I found her content was all over my page and I find what she pushes toxic). Any time I would see a post on my for you page that would be pushing Selena and Chris, I'd block them etc. I just didn't need that energy on my IG. I started following more body positive accounts and those good news account, cute animal accounts etc and steered away from celebrity stuff. I even blocked OK Magazine after they posted some fake news article cause I was like "why do I need to see this rubbish, there's enough fake news in this world." Now my for you page is baby goats mostly and it's wonderful lol.

I went extreme. And because I cut off so much, I noticed just how much of my day was being consumed by all of this. I sometimes find myself slipping back into the mindless scrolling if I've been stressed or there was nothing else to do but on the whole, the scrolling lasts for 15 mins instead of hours. And I do it and then I'm done for the day.

It's also helped me pull myself out of it and see just how ridiculous a lot of this stuff is. I'll come on and see someone post about a like or a follow and it doesn't affect me. I just have realized just how unimportant social media is in the grand scheme of things and I just roll my eyes like "come on, this isn't even logical". Which 6 months ago, I was one of the people who was like oh but it does mean something. So it helped me get back to reality a little bit.

I'm not saying you have to stop but I will say, it has really really changed my life for the BETTER. I am so much more present. I didn't realize just how much I was NOT living because I was so sucked into this stuff. And I started it because during the pandemic, I was stuck inside, like we all were, and I just needed something to do and then it spiraled. And now, I get to enjoy the content from Chris for what it is - a cute dodger pic or a cool trailer, fun interviews upcoming for the press tour and it has made consuming his content back to how it should be, you know?

I hope this helps someone! It was difficult, it really was, but I'm so glad I powered through that "withdrawal" stage. And the fact that it was so difficult to stop in the beginning made me see how toxic it was.

Thanks for coming back to share! 🦎

[devis-fixations]

Regarding requests!!

Hi hiii!!! Always dreamt of doing requests like these on tumblr but never had the guts... so here I am now!!

I'm open for requests at all times!!! (Also open for regular asks, idk) But pleaseee if you wish to request ANYTHING do take care to read the rules below ok? I will delete your request if it breaks any rules :/

(btw if you're looking for fandom friends I am open for messages I think ^^)

>FANDOMS THAT I'LL ACCEPT REQUESTS OF (will be updated with most new media I consume :3): -Kakegurui -Steven Universe -Genshin Impact -FNAF -Cookie Run Kingdom -MLP (G4) -Homestuck -Eddsworld -Star vs the forces of evil -Gravity Falls -The amazing world of gumball -Total drama (most of the series) -Danganronpa 1 and 2 (not v3) -Hazbin Hotel (maybe Helluva too but depends on the request) -The Owl House

>Please do/you can:

-SPECIFY if you want me to use/make my fanon designs, or should I keep them relatively similar (If you won't I'll do as I wish)

-USE MY ART AS A PFP OF YOUR *PERSONAL* ACCOUNT, BUT THE SIGNATURE CANNOT BE MOVED/REMOVED EVEN IF IT'S SHOWING ON THE PFP + CREDIT TO MY ACCOUNT MUST BE SOMEWHERE VISIBLE

-request me to draw your fandom ocs, including oc x canon type stuff

>Please don't/you can't:

-request me to draw your personal, non fandom ocs due to the nature of this blog

-request art featuring NSFW/ANY fetishes or kinks/heavy gore (pastel/candy gore should be fine tho)

>Additional info:

>I'm not obligated to do your requests but I'll try my best

-Pls do not rquest multiple things at a time, it could be overwhelming...

>I won't draw some ships/characters if I dislike them (tho there aren't that many I think) or if my preferred ones come up in the request/ask box

>Requesting one character, ship with two people (including oc x canon, idm) vague stuff, specific but simple stuff and rarepairs will make me want to do your request more (also if the request has my fave(s) but you'll have to figure em out yourself based on my posts :3)

>This is for anyone but mostly the MLP ppl, YOU CAN TOTALLY SEND ME YOUR FAN REDESIGNS, I LOVE THESE SO SO MUCH, I WANNA DRAW EM PLSSS!!