I wasn't born my parents just put 2 quarters in one of those capsule machines and ended up with me
Hello! I recently had an experience that left me with a lot of questions! This ask also might be triggering for some people who identify as ace or pan! I have always been confused slightly but this experience in particular left me feeling vaguely icky and almost distressed lol basically I ran across a blog I wanted to follow but their dni page included “dni pan and ace inclusion” so I asked them about it to be sure that’s what they meant, as I don’t want to cross boundaries. They answered and said ace identity is valid but not inherently lgbtq+ so one would have to identify with another lgbtq+ label in order to be included (cishet aces are not lgbtq+ in their mind, which I disagree with passionately). The other statement was what caught me off guard: they said pansexuality (and by extension omnisexuality and other micro labels) is inherently biphobic. They also never used the word queer, only lgbt+ so I was wondering how exclusionary this person was/if they think queer is a slur that shouldn’t be used by anybody (i understand this only as terf rhetoric). I also very much disagree with this sentiment but I don’t want to erase bi people’s experience/pain, so my question is does that exclusionary rhetoric line up with TERF logic or is it it’s own exculsionary? Does it have any real basis? I looked through your #answered tag and couldn’t find anything (besides validating ace identity so thank you for that!). I just have always thought that bisexuality is a sort of umbrella term, and have used it interchangeably with pan/queer/gay for myself. I also recently learned that bisexuality used to mean nonbinary in a sense (used to as in before the 80s, idk when it was meant as such) so the claims that bisexuality is the only term used historically makes me feel like people don’t actually know what they are talking about. This is a long ask that still doesn’t quite encompass all my questions but it certainly is a start, and I hope there’s an easy-ish way for you to pick this apart to answer what you can! Thank you so much for all the tremendous resources you include on this blog! I’m very excited to learn more about queer history!
A long ask deserves a long answer, so buckle in!
I want to start out with the quickest answer I can give you, using bisexual, gay, pansexual, and queer interchangeably for yourself is totally okay! I would not suggest the use of them as synonyms for other people's experiences but it doesn't look like you are doing that. The most important thing to keep in mind in these kinds of situations is to use the words that work for you and fuck any exclusionist who tries to police you.
This point leads pretty easily into the next part of the question I wanted to address, namely, is this TERF rhetoric? Yes, and no. It is TERF rhetoric insofar as TERFs generally disapprove of labels outside of the big three (Lesbian Gay Bisexual), which is partially why they love the acronym so much. The fewer words we have to describe our feelings around gender and sexuality, the easier it will be to dismiss our experiences.
It is TERF rhetoric in that TERFs divide and conquer, in that TERFs prefer the queer community as flat as possible so as to make it easily digestible, in that TERFs really don't seem to like queer solidarity.
It is not TERF rhetoric explicitly though, the connection comes in the shared desire between TERFs and exclusionists, to make the queer community as small as possible so that maybe we can impress cisgender heterosexual people one day.
Then there is the question, is pansexuality inherently biphobic? No. This isn't the Thunderdome, two parties can enter without one destroying the other. The implication that pansexuality and bisexuality are even at odds with each other is putting them in an incredibly unnecessary binary. They can exist within, without, together, and apart, they do not need to be at odds, and most of the pansexual and bisexual people I have met in my life, don't see them to be at odds. The basis for the exclusion of pansexual people from the queer community is the exact same as the basis for excluding asexual people, they are expanding the definition of queerness, which makes people who see this community as a battlefield uncomfortable.
If you, like me, are curious and excited by the new discussions people who are identifying as asexual or pansexual are bringing to the table, there is not much to worry about.
There is a fantastic quote from a book I just read, The Tragedy of Heterosexuality by Jane Ward, that puts this concept into words better than I ever could:
"One of my favourite features of queer subculture, our love of elaborate sexual and gender typologies. Having come up as a queer dyke, shaped by a convergence of lesbian feminist ethics, the HIV/AIDS movement, and queer kink BDSM subculture, it seemed to me that the guiding sexual ethos of queer feminist life was to ask how intimate, creative, debauched and caretaking we can get with one another? What names can we give to these new forms of relating? What rules do we need to put in place to make sure we enact them safely, sanely, and consensually.
[...]
Of course in queer life, gender and sexual identities themselves continually proliferate; sometimes to the chagrin of straight people who complain about our swelling acronym. As many of my queer students will tell you: people are not simply straight, gay or bisexual, we can also be pansexual, polysexual, monosexual, asexual, demisexual, graysexual, androsexual, gynesexual, skoliosexual, panromantic, demiromantic, and questioning/curious. This increasingly precise sexual vocabulary attempts to give a fuller picture of the variability of sexual desire. Differences that straight culture renders unimaginable by refusing to give name to them."
Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers
There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.
How they begin
Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.
What to look out for:
- Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.
- Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know.
- They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.
- They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD. They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.
Where the scam actually happens
If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible.
Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.
A few things can happen here:
- They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again.
- They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.
- The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions.
- You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account.
Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.
What to do when you encounter a scammer:
- Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.
- Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance.
- Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.
- Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info.
- Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn.
Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it.
Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!
Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.
“Saying i love you every minute lessens the meaning” um to YOU….freak.
Listen to your elders
So last week I posted abut the importance of downloading your fic. And then three days later AO3 went down for 24 hours. No one was more weirded out by this than I was. But while y’all were acting like the library at Alexandria was on fire I was reading my download fic and editing chapter eight of Buck, Rogers, and the 21st Century. And also thinking about what I could do to be helpful when the crisis was actually over.
So first off, I’m going to repeat that if you’re going to bookmark a fic, you really need to also download the fic and back it up in a safe place. I just do it automatically now and it’s a good habit to get into.
But let’s talk about some other scenarios. Last October I lost power for over a week after hurricane Ian. Apart from not having internet or A/C I did find plenty to do, I collect books so I had plenty to read, but maybe, unlike me, your favorite comfort reads aren’t sitting on a bookshelf. So let’s do something about that, shall we?
In olden times many long years ago around 1995 we printed off a lot of fic. It was mostly SOP to print a fic you planned to reread and stick it in a three ring binder. And that’s totally valid today too, but you can also make a very nice paperback with a minimum amount of skill and materials.
Let’s start with the download; Go to Ao3 and select your fic, we’ll be working with one of mine. This method works best with one shots, long fic tends to need a more complicated approach. Get yourself an HTML download
Open up the HTML download and select all then copy paste into any word processor. Set the page to landscape and two columns, then change the font to something you find easy to read, this is your book, no judgement. This is all you have to do for layout but I like to play a little bit. I move all the meta, summary, notes to the end and pick out a fun font for the title:
No time like the present to do a quick proofread. Congratulations, you’ve just created your first typeset. On to the fun part.
Now you’re going to need some materials: 8.5x11in paper ruler one sheet of 12x12 medium card stock (60-80lb) scissors pencil pen or fine tip marker sheet of wax paper white glue two binder clips 2 heavy books or 1 brick butter knife
You’ll also need a printer, if you’re in the US there is almost a 100% chance your local library has a printer you can use if you don’t have your own. None of these materials are expensive and you can literally use cheap copy paper and Elmers glue.
Print your text block, one page per side. Fold the first page in half so that the blank side is inside and the printed side out:
use the butter knife to crease the edge. Repeat on all the sheets. When you’ve finished, stack them up with the raw edge on the left and the folded edge on the right. I used standard copy paper, because you’re only printing on one side there’s no bleed to worry about. Take the text block and line everything up. Use the binder clips to hold the raw edge in place.
Wrap the text block in the wax paper so that the raw edge and binder clips are facing out. I’m going to use my home built book press but you don’t need one, a brick or a couple of books or anything else heavy will work fine.
Once the text block is anchored down, take off he binder clips and get out the glue.
You can use a brush but you don’t need one, smear some glue on that raw edge.
Go make a margarita, watch The Mandalorian, call your mother. Don’t come back for at least an hour
In an hour smear some more glue on there and shift your brick forward so that the whole book is covered. This keeps the paper from warping. While glue part 2 is drying we’ll do the cover. Get out your 12x12 cardstock
Mark the cardstock off at 8.5 inches and cut it. Measure in 5.5 inches from the left and put in a score line with the butter knife (the back edge not the sharp edge)
Carefully fold the score line, this is your front cover. You have some options for the cover title, you can use a cutting machine like a cricut if you have one, you can print out a title on the computer and use carbon paper to transfer the text to the cardstock. I was in a mood so I just freehanded that beoch. Pencil first then in pen.
Take your text block out from under your brick. Line it up against the score mark and mark the second score on the other side of the spine
Fold the score and glue the textblock into the cover at the spine. Once the glue dries up mark the back cover with the pencil and then trim the back cover to fit with your scissors.
Voila:
I’m going to put this baby on the shelf next to the Silmarillion.
The whole process, not counting drying time, took less than an hour.
If you want to make a book of a longer fic, I recommend Renegade Publishing, they have a ton of resources for fan-binders.
what to do with spam comments on AO3
First, let's identify the comment as spam. Some things to look for:
- The comment is left by a guest user. You can tell they are a guest because the username isn't a link. In most site skins, links are indicated by text that is underlined.
- The comment is trying to get you to do something - visit a webpage, sign up for a service, join a discord server.
- The comment doesn't make any sense for the work that it's on.
Here's a comment I've received. The username is a keysmash and I can tell they're a guest because the name doesn't link back to an AO3 user profile page. The comment is formatted more like an email, and it asks me to join a discord server. Also, the comment references that I'm writing for Marvel and while this is true, it's specifically Agents of SHIELD and not a crossover with other Marvel franchises so from the first sentence, I was already suspicious.
If you receive a spam comment like this one, all you need to do is hit the button marked Spam. This button appears in your fic comments, but you won't see it in your AO3 inbox. If you're in your inbox, you can go directly to the comment on your fic by clicking on the fic title (see below).
Selecting the Spam button reports the comment as spam to AO3's spam detection system and removes the comment from your work. It also teaches that system that comments like this one are spam and should not be posted on works.
You can also simply delete the comment, if you prefer. These comments aren't anything that you need to worry about, although I advise you not to actually follow any links or visit any sites that they might direct you to.
There is no need to write in to Support or the Policy & Abuse team, either. They are aware that spam bots exist, and they do what they can to train the system to spot them.
You can avoid receiving spam guest comments by editing the Privacy settings on your works to only allow comments from registered users. That means only people who are logged into their AO3 account will be able to comment.
Shamelessly poaching someone elses idea, social media poll but the options arent solely geared 2wards 15 year olds
Reblog 4 a bigger sample size dadada you know how it is w polls
a pony with a cutie mark shaped like the elephant's foot has just clocked in for the first time at equestria's nuclear power plant
every time I see LGBTQ discourse I think about that post that said masc cis lesbians get kicked out of bathrooms as cruelly as trans people do so why the fuck are some lesbians transphobic , and I think about how homophobes won’t check for your sexuality before calling us slurs and I think about how my local dyke March considers anyone who identifies as a dyke a dyke because fuck rainbow capitalism we are here to fight for our lives and I think about how my best friends are bisexual and I think about how lesbians have been loving each other in ways that the gender binary has never been able to understand(and never will) and I think about that post that says the worst thing the right did was convince queer people other queer people were the enemy