New tarot card smell. ｡◕‿◕｡
Big, big changes.
There have been big changes. Truly, a great many of them. I’m actually so exhausted that I’m having a hard time doing this. I didn’t sleep properly for several days because of anxiety taking over my life, but it took over in the background, meaning that I didn’t know a damn thing about why I was stuck awake, trying to sleep but not being able to and instead spending an…if I’m being honest, kind…
cyggiestardust reblogged
Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP
(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)
An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:
(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)
I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:
IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.
You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:
HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:
First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.
- Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.
- Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.
- In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.
- In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:
I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.
- In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.
- Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.
Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!
NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!
UPDATE: Plush Books still exists on Amazon and on Goodreads under the pseudonym "J.D. Geraghty" where the fanfics are also listed. They also have a list of cookbooks that are without a doubt AI written (the descriptions for the books are repetitive nonsense so god forbid what exists inside).
From what I can see on Amazon, most of the stolen fanfics have become "Unavailable." This entity likely operates under more than one name, so it isn't safe to assume crisis averted. Numerous bad actors are posting AI written works to Amazon, which just means plagiarism slurry with a side of potential danger (like the autogenerated mushroom identification books).
oh ffs. shared.
cyggiestardust reblogged
Cystolepiota fungus! The most babygirl of all mushrooms. Just a coquette tumblrina trying to find her way in this cruel world🎀
cyggiestardust reblogged
Fact: The earliest reliably dated use of the phrase “fucked up” appears in the court records of a US Navy court-martial case from 1863; the way the phrase is used suggests that its meaning was already well known at the time, but this is the first known printed record of it that we can confidently put a date to.
Additional fact: Bram Stoker’s Dracula is set in 1897.
Conclusion: It would not anachronistic for your Dracula fanfic to have a character describe the Count as a fucked up old man.
official linguistics post
cyggiestardust reblogged
Lilac coral fungus but make it a magical girl. For day 2 of Funguary!
cyggiestardust reblogged
Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs performing Fast Car at the Grammys
From the notes:
"so Luke Combs (the dude, country singer) released a cover of it this past year, and it became a hit. He didn't change the pronouns either. So a white guy covering a black woman's song, it becoming a hit and actually giving her the credit is nice. B/c of the song's popularity it won Song of the Year at the Country Music Awards. That award goes to the songwriter, Tracy, the first Black queer woman to win."
He didn't change the pronouns or the gendered words which refer to the singer. He sings, "I work at the market as a checkout girl," which gives the entire thing a deep "closeted transmasc" vibe that I love so much.
There was a lot of fuss when the song first came out and then Chapman spoke up and said, essentially, "I really like this version, actually, and it's making me an awful lot of money, which is nice, so please leave him alone."
I think it's also important to note that at one point, the camera cuts to Brandi Carlisle, a lesbian folk singer, who is holding on to her wife. I'm quite sure that was intentional.
(Speaking of watching people who are so happy to be where they are, the way that Brandi can't stop staring at Joni Mitchell and smiling when they performed together later that night... you can basically see that her entire train of thought is I AM ON STAGE AT THE GRAMMYS WITH JONI MITCHELL!! MY LIFE IS SO COOL!! and that's pretty fucking great.)
cyggiestardust reblogged
We really do need to bring back the word "trolling" and warning ppl not to feed the trolls
That TikTok of ppl pouring tomato sauce directly on the counter, adding spaghetti & mixing it with their hands while commenting how great of an idea it is? Yeah, we used to call that trolling, it's pathetic & bc all they want from it is attention, the best thing is not to give them any. Block & move on.
I keep seeing it on here too. Someone comments something outrageous on a post & gets dozens of ppl to respond, filling the entire comment section & making it unusable. And on Instagram, a comment saying "I hate colors" on a post of someone showing off colorful art gets 100 replies while positive comments get none. Congrats, you've fed the troll. Now stop doing it.
Trolling used to get you banned from forums. Now they call you an influencer and give you brand deals & ad revenue. That's why it's more important than ever not to feed the trolls, especially in spaces where any attention is good attention and getting yelled at by 10k ppl in the comments counts as "engagement", boosting your troll post in the algorithm.
cyggiestardust reblogged
#funguary day 1, Mycena subcyanocephala! Or Blue Bonnet mushroom. A newly discovered mushroom from Taiwan - it’s only been seen about 8 times.
I need y’all to understand just how SMALL this mushroom is
It's a baby!
We are officially at the strip shirt, spritz self with water bottle, and sit under two fans stage of the fever.
I have misplaced an entire Ziploc bag of prescription medications while I was trying to do the caddies and cannot figure out how this happened. I am just…
The only reasons I'm not looking for this thing harder than I am right now are because, a ) I already have the night's pills taken for the night, and b ) I just really don't want to kick my fever into a higher triple digit number than it already is.
If I'm still spiking close to 101 tomorrow I'll see if I can get looked at. I'm beginning to think I caught one of the variants that are out there right now.
This is so annoying. I can't even game like this. My brain won't work enough steps ahead to be able to work out a strategy.
I'm going to attempt to do the sleep and see if I feel better in the morning. I actually have bone pain right now. I'm too hot. I can't focus. I might actually have a little bit of delirium here. I keep seeing like sequins but it's black and it's in front of my eyes and it's getting in the way.
I know I was in the middle of doing something and can't remember what it was anymore.
Everything hurts. This can't just be overwork or fibro.
cyggiestardust reblogged
Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP
(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)
An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:
(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)
I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:
IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.
You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:
HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:
First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.
- Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.
- Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.
- In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.
- In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:
I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.
- In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.
- Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.
Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!
NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!
UPDATE: Plush Books still exists on Amazon and on Goodreads under the pseudonym "J.D. Geraghty" where the fanfics are also listed. They also have a list of cookbooks that are without a doubt AI written (the descriptions for the books are repetitive nonsense so god forbid what exists inside).
From what I can see on Amazon, most of the stolen fanfics have become "Unavailable." This entity likely operates under more than one name, so it isn't safe to assume crisis averted. Numerous bad actors are posting AI written works to Amazon, which just means plagiarism slurry with a side of potential danger (like the autogenerated mushroom identification books).
oh ffs. shared.
cyggiestardust reblogged
Underlined PSA
Figment, the recently closed writing website, has just launched (after a long delay) their long-awaited successor to figment known as Underlined, where users can post their work and receive feedback, supposedly.
DO NOT USE UNDERLINED. DO NOT POST YOUR WORK ON UNDERLINED.
Underlined’s terms and conditions contains a clause stating that the rights to all your work that you post on their website belongs to them!!!!
Underlined belongs to Penguin Random House. This is an extremely dirty trick for them to play on writers, especially young writers and children, who come to the internet to get feedback and will lose the rights to their work. Please boost!!!
For my writing friends looking for an online writing community, DO NOT USE Underlined.
I went to confirm @greater-than-the-sword‘s post, because seriously publishers are still pulling this garbage? And yes, they are. If you want to check out the full terms and conditions, have at it. They are full of writers’ nightmares, a few of which I’ll highlight under the cut.
cyggiestardust reblogged
Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP
(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)
An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:
(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)
I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:
IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.
You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:
HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:
First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.
- Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.
- Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.
- In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.
- In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:
I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.
- In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.
- Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.
Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!
NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!
UPDATE: Plush Books still exists on Amazon and on Goodreads under the pseudonym "J.D. Geraghty" where the fanfics are also listed. They also have a list of cookbooks that are without a doubt AI written (the descriptions for the books are repetitive nonsense so god forbid what exists inside).
From what I can see on Amazon, most of the stolen fanfics have become "Unavailable." This entity likely operates under more than one name, so it isn't safe to assume crisis averted. Numerous bad actors are posting AI written works to Amazon, which just means plagiarism slurry with a side of potential danger (like the autogenerated mushroom identification books).
oh ffs. shared.
cyggiestardust reblogged
did i follow someone by accident again by scrolling too fast on the mobile app or are you a longtime mutual who has changed their url, profile pic, and entire identity in the twelve hours since i last logged on?
I mean it ain't up MUCH but it's up. I gotta work on it.
Grand Rising to everyone except Mowgli Beelzebub Momo Moogle Hawkins, Esq., Eye In the Dark (EITD) for waking me up earlier than I planned on by VIOLENTLY attacking first one altar then the other before settling in for a round of "Bodies" by Drowning Pool except it's played on the altar skibbity-baps that NOTHING could interrupt except putting on some Cat TV™
*Rodin voice* ya lil shit. Look at him. I can hear his happy trill purr from over here over the Cat TV™.
I will absolutely eavesdrop later when I get the energy for divination. I have been bouncing from one altar to the other for an hour already and that would be like casting from HP. 😅
Had to take a shower after finishing Junior's burial shroud. I had to try to wash the sad off.