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Plot Designing

@plotdesigner / plotdesigner.tumblr.com

Hi, I'm Gene or Plot.  Send me a message and we can trade discords! My AO3 is magicgenetek! 

I mentioned it before but it is very striking to me that as of the last tumblr update, there are now no (0) ways to open someone's desktop blog from a dashboard post. like you can't access the url dot tumblr dot com page at all now unless you already know it exists. imo this seems like a canary that personal blog pages will be gone very shortly, which would suck, since to me that is one of the only good things this site has going for it

Correction: you can still open the top-level URL.tumblr.com link from someone's avatar on the dashboard (so, someone you follow). Actually, I should specify. Here's a post on the dashboard with seven ways to access a post:

  1. Followed blog avatar: Hyperlink, opens in new tab, to URL1.tumblr.com.
  2. Reblogger URL: Hyperlink, opens in new tab, to tumblr.com/URL1.
  3. Reblogged-from URL: Same as #2, but to tumblr.com/URL2.
  4. Uhh... hitbox?: Whatever this is can't be opened in a new tab and doesn't even look like a link, but clicking on it opens the dashboard view of tumblr.com/URL1/post.
  5. Copy link under meatball menu: Not a hyperlink, but copies to the clipboard tumblr.com/URL1/post?trackinginfo.
  6. OP URL: Same as #2 and #3, but to tumblr.com/URL3.
  7. Other... hitbox... thing: Same as #4, but to tumblr.com/URL3/post.

So you can access the custom blog, but not a post on a custom blog, despite the plethora of links. Very annoying.

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No, here’s the worst part: you can indeed get the link of the post you are clicking on and view it on the person’s custom blog!

IT’S JUST ON THE FUCKING MEATBALL MENU TIMESTAMP INSTEAD FOR SOME REASON I DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS SITE

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oh my god

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have some shitty chaotic pride flags ^^

check out the rest of the flags on my profile since tumblr has a 10 image limit lol as well as the fixed versions of a few of these cuz I’m big dumb

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oh holy shit the $20 tier of this audiobook bundle (affiliate link) includes... murderbot? all of murderbot. every murderbot novella and novel, narrated by kevin r. free (who you may know from welcome to night vale), in mp3 format and with a portion of every purchase going to the national coalition against censorship. there are other audiobooks included but. MURDERBOT.

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four days left!

Very Brief Guide to [tumblr], for Reddit refugees

Shit You Must Do Right Fucking Now:

  • Change your profile picture, blog header, and title to something other than the defaults. Do it right now. You will be mistaken for a bot otherwise, and blocked.
  • Go into Settings -> Dashboard, scroll down to Preferences, and turn off the options in the picture. This will get rid of most of the algorithmic stuff.
  • Turn off Tumblr Live. You have to snooze it once every 7 days for some stupid reason. It's hosted through another company and will steal your data if you use it.
  • Go to your blog settings (under the little person menu) and turn off these two settings:
  • Turn off infinite scroll (lags the site) and turn on timestamps on posts, in the same menu as Preferences.

Basic Features of the Site:

  • Reblogs drive the entire site. If you'd upvote something on Reddit, you'd reblog it on Tumblr. You can add text, images, or tags to a reblog, but you're not required to.
  • The dashboard is the equivalent to your Reddit feed, and contains the posts of all the people you follow, with the newest at the top
  • You can send an ask to someone, and it'll appear in their askbox for them to answer. You can receive them too, or turn off the settings if you don't want.
  • Tags aren't actually used for finding stuff (search function is dogshit), but are more for categorizing. People also talk in tags. Because Tumblr is weird, you can't use quotation marks (") or commas in them without fucking it up
  • You can filter both tags and phrases under Account Settings; doing this will put a filter over a post that contains them, which you'll have to click through to see the post itself. Useful for avoiding hate speech or blocking out annoying stuff
  • You can make polls in posts. Here's one now.
  • Likes are useless. They literally do fuck-all except send a notification to the OP.

Stuff Tumblr Does That Other Sites Don't:

  • Very old posts (I'm talking from like 2012) often circulate on this site. There's no such thing as a post being "too old" to reblog
  • Blocking is highly encouraged; you can block someone for any reason. Even for just being annoying.
  • If you and someone else are following each other, you are mutuals. Mutuals are fucking awesome and are treasured like friends. Mutuals are a thing on other sites but Tumblr treats em differently.
  • You can screenshot someone's tags if you like them and add them to a reblog. This is called "peer review"
  • Sometimes someone will find a blog and go through it and like/reblog a bunch of posts. This is totally fine and not "creepy" like it is seen as on other sites.
  • Tumblr jokes often rely on Continuing The Bit and a "yes, and?" attitude. Goncharov is probably the best example of this.
  • We are fucking infested with bots. They will either have totally blank profiles or be filled with porn. Block and report on sight.
  • Censorship is pretty lax here. I can say "I want to brutally stab Elon Musk to death and watch him bleed out in front of a crowd" and nobody gives a shit.

General Etiquette:

  • Don't try to do epic clapbacks here, you'll probably just get laughed at or blocked. If someone is bugging you or spouting bigoted bullshit, block them.
  • Reblog art!!! Artists often struggle to gain traction on here; reblogging will give them a boost.
  • Not every reblog needs a comment or tag in it
  • You can go all out with tagging your stuff to organize it, or you can just leave it all blank. Someone might ask "hey, can you tag these posts as [x]?" and you can decide if you want to do that or not. It's generally polite to oblige, but "no" is still reasonable.
  • Avoid discourse like the plague. Filter it, block people who start it, scroll past it when you see it. Just don't get involved in it. Ever.
  • Don't put fandom tags or jokes on someone's posts about serious matters or personal shit
  • You're responsible for curating your own dashboard; if you complain about constantly seeing stuff you don't like, that's probably on you. Don't be afraid to unfollow.
  • Follower count doesn't matter much here and you don't have to make yours known if you don't want to.
  • Reblog, don't repost. Reblogging keeps the credit and doesn't "steal" engagement like Twitter retweets.
  • If someone likes something a LOT, they might reblog it like 30 times in a row. This is normal
  • Having a post blow up is actually kinda a bad thing, since it floods your notifications. There's a sort of in-joke about how having a big post is awful and people jokingly try to stop their own posts from blowing up, often in vain.

Tips:

  • Get XKit Rewritten if you're on desktop, it's a really helpful extension
  • In the little drop-down menu next to the 'Post now' button you can either save a draft, schedule a post, or add it to your queue. The queue lets you post things in order at a certain interval, which you can change. It's good for spreading stuff out over time.
  • You can use Shift+R to quickly reblog stuff and Shift+Q to queue!
  • Filter your notifications under Activity - you can also see some neat graphs
  • Find each other! If you want your old Reddit communities to stick together, seek out other refugees and follow them.

Have fun on [tumblr], everyone!

[Image one: The Preference switches from Settings. Image two: The "Share likes and/or following" switches from Settings. Image three: An example of Filtered Tags. End ID.]

Another note on Tumblr Live: You have to manually flip the switch to "on" every single week before Tumblr will register you flipping it back to "off". I'm certain this is annoying for everyone. There's at least one blog you can follow with weekly reminders for you to turn it off, but it's set for Tuesday, so you need to coordinate for that. (The good news there is that you can flip the switch again mid-week if you need to, and the timer will reset!)

Oh! One more very important thing!

Okay, under Settings again, scroll down to the bottom of the Settings options to where it says "Blogs". Select your account. This will take you to the place where you can edit your userpic, basic info, etc.

There's a toggle right under your username that says, "Enable custom theme".

Turn on this toggle.

That's it! That's all you have to do! You don't have to do anything else with your theme from there if you don't want to.

The important thing is that this will enable your blog to do the thing where it can be [username] dot tumblr dot com, instead of doing the thing where it's tumblr dot com slash [username], a thing which is much more annoying to navigate, I promise you. Your life will be better if you do this.

#the enable custom theme setting is NOT available on mobile #even if you’re mobile only it is VERY VERY worth it to use desktop once to turn it on

I will note that I'm pretty sure you can do this by going through your mobile device's browser rather than the app, but I haven't tried it, so can't guarantee.

After quite a while, I finally managed to adapt these fun shark anatomy illustrations to Redbubble products! Many asked me to make posters or art prints available for sale and it is now possible in my little store! This is my store’s profile! ✨ www.redbubble.com/people/Requinoesis/explore

I tried to adapt these arts to other products, but I think they were very ugly, so focus on looking for poster, art print or stickers options! I hope you like it and that the price offered by Redbubble is affordable! 

In the future I want to make other species of sharks! Thanks a lot for all support! ✨ If you want to follow me on instagram, this is: @AstralRequin Edit: I am very glad with the support of all of you! I really appreciate the sweet comments and tags, especially from those who said that my art helped to reduce their fears about sharks, I hope to always inspire people in that way! Thanks a lot!  ✨

The sun was shining brilliantly, and it was a long while before he could bear it. When he could, he saw all round him a sea of dark green, ruffled here and there by the breeze; and there were everywhere hundreds of butterflies. 

The Hobbit

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If you’re reading this: this is your sign that your WIP is worth writing, is worth the effort, and that you are doing great. Keep going, take breaks, reflect. But do not lose sight of how far you’ve come on this project! You can do it!

Realized I never posted this here!

It took two years, but I made the Annie's Cathedral Rose Window Afghan! First time I made a full blanket, really love it!

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literally the most normal tag i have seen on this. thank you for simply tagging #dog and not “you must answer his riddles three” or “why the long face” or “he is melting!” etc.

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from the tags.

to anyone in the areas impacted by the wildfire smoke, my #1 biggest piece of advice as someone whos been dealing with wildfire smoke in the NW united states for years, is build yourself a Corsi-Rosenthal Cube

they perform as well as expensive HEPA air cleaners, and are comparatively VERY inexpensive. all you need is a box fan, 4 air filters, a piece of cardboard, and some duct tape!!!!

i think it took us maybe a half hour to put ours together, if that, and we replace the filters every 3 months. it's really made a HUGE difference, both when the air quality is bad, but also with our allergies

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Saw these easy to read instructions on Twitter. Stay safe 💚

Good evening everyone! As I said in an answer to a previous ask, there wasn't a public call-in line to listen to the Show Cause Hearing in Mata v Avianca (the ChatGBT lawyer case) today.

However, while we are waiting for a transcript of the hearing (because there was a court reporter! yay!) and a written decision by the judge, we did get this absolutely anxiety-inducing live tweet of the hearing:

(Caveat: this thread was not an official transcript of the hearing and should not be taken as such. It is possible the actual events and statements made in the hearing differ significantly from this report - i.e., take this with a grain of salt and reserve final judgement for the actual transcript.)

I'll put the full thread with some (light) commentary below the cut.* But the overall impression I am left with is that the judge seems to feel this pair of attorneys are treating their duty of candor toward the tribunal with the same seriousness with which they are treating their duty of competence to their clients. (And in this case, that's a very bad thing.)

*The full thread except for a soon-to-follow part 2 because I ran out of space for images again.

Part 2! When we left off, Schwartz had started an apology to the Court:

I realize it’s just because they’re trying to introduce the audience to the concept of Pokemon and everything but nothing will ever be funnier to me than prof oak being like “these are creatures called Pokemon, they live in all sorts of environments!” like imagine if you met a biology professor and they were like ‘I’ve been studying these intriguing creatures called “animals’

I maintain that Pokemon starts to make a lot more sense when you stop thinking of the Professors as biologists and start thinking of them as children’s science communicators, which, in a world where children as young as 10 are expected to make their way in a world populated by superpowered fauna almost entirely alone, stands as an important and laudable career. “There are 150 animals” becomes the in-universe equivalent of “There are three states of matter.” There’s too much information in this field to dump on a grade-schooler all at once, so Professor Oak is here to mete out animal facts as they become relevant in an easy-to-understand way.

That being said, I would love to see what kind of shit the real Pokemon biologists are on. I’m just imagining some disheveled, overcaffienated researcher writing a grant proposal for their study on why certain wingull seem to evolve into pelipper faster when they hatched in the winter or something. There’s bird shit on their glasses. They haven’t left the lighthouse in months. This is their life’s work. Ash Ketchum doesn’t need to know about real Pokémon biology.

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USAmericans: This pride month, talk to the queer people who actually live in all those bad evil icky red states and find out what it's actually like, how we actually feel about it, and who here is actively fighting against it. No more telling us to "just leave" or reducing us to innocent victims who are "trapped" here. There are so many of us and we live here for so many reasons, none of which should be justified. We are resilient, we are powerful, and we are fighting against the fascist laws working to eradicate us or scare us away. Being trans in a red state right now is in and of itself an act of resistance. That being said, pay attention to the brave souls on the front lines, pushing against the laws, making good trouble, and refusing to be silenced.

I won't let myself be talked about like I'm stupid to live here.

I won't let myself be talked about like I'm a helpless victim who's trapped here.

If you can't join the fight by standing beside us, then the least you can do is empower us, amplify our voices, and pay more attention to the ones who are FIGHTING AGAINST THESE LAWS than you are to the chucklefucks trying to pass them.

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fellow appalachian, I am holding your hand

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