Me: I Dont Like Gangnam Style

we need more representation in media for people who are just dogshit at improvising snappy one liners. too many characters these days can come up with the smartest funniest thing to say in any given situation with zero rehearsal or hesitation and it's just not realistic. we need more guys who say shit like "yeah, well, um, how about you, uh, suck my dick?"

PSA regarding tumblr’s latest Censorship Nightmare

For those of you who haven’t seen this announcement, tumblr recently made some changes to the iOS version of the app, purportedly to comply with Apple’s content guidelines. These changes took effect on Dec 21, starting in version 22.5.1 of the iOS app. As some of you may recall, Apple’s strict guidelines were the driving force for the infamous Great Purge of 2018, which coincidentally also happened around this time of year, but it seems banning all of the female-presenting nipples wasn’t good enough for Apple.

Below is a summary of the important changes. Note that these changes technically ONLY affect those using the iOS app. If you’re accessing tumblr through a different app or operating system (Google Chrome, Android app, etc) it won’t affect you directly but it will affect your followers who use iOS so you should definitely be aware of it.

The list of banned tags has been expanded. As before, there’s no way to know which words or phrases have been banned until you try searching for them, in which case you’ll either get no search results or the following message: “This content has been hidden because of potentially suggestive or explicit content.” You may think this doesn’t concern you if you don’t post explicit material, but do not make the mistake of expecting the banned tags to be logical or reasonable. I’ve already encountered multiple completely innocuous posts (random fandom gifsets) that seem to be hidden on iOS for no discernible reason.

Blogs that have been flagged as explicit can no longer be viewed. Previously, flagged blogs just had their posts hidden from searches, but if you knew the username you could still visit it after clicking through a warning about sensitive content. Now you can’t access it at all.

Likes and reblogs from blogs that have been flagged will no longer show up in your notes. This one won’t affect most people’s user experience as much as the others, but it does mean you may be missing notes. It’s unclear if likes and reblogs from flagged blogs will still count towards the overall note total (and only be missing from the activity feed and note viewer) but I suspect that’s the case.

THE BIG ONE: ANY POST TAGGED WITH A BANNED TAG WILL NO LONGER SHOW UP ON YOUR DASHBOARD. Previously, if you tagged a post with a banned word or phrase (even if the words were used inside another tag), that post would not show up in searches, but your followers would still be able to see it on their dashboard. Now those posts are hidden from your own followers as well. This includes both original posts and reblogs. And if that wasn’t bad enough, here’s the real kicker: even if you don’t tag something with one of the banned words, if the OP used a banned tag, any reblogs of that post will not show up on anyone’s dashboard (on the iOS app). The only saving grace here, and I hate to even call it that, is that the blocked posts are still visible if you visit a blog directly or if you have post notifications turned on.

As usual, tumblr was extremely unclear and evasive about all of this in their official announcement. Not surprising, of course, since if more people were aware of these new draconian tactics I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be more of an uproar about it. Tumblr claims that these changes are somewhat temporary and that they are currently working on something that will allow for a less restricted iOS experience, but they refuse to say what that something is and when it will be implemented. And let’s just say, considering their track record, I’m not hopeful.

All of this is horrible and infuriating for many reasons, but the worst part is how insanely counterproductive it is to creating the “safe” environment tumblr (or more specifically Apple) supposedly wants.

Tags have always been used for both blog organization and filtering purposes. Tagging posts with triggers and content warnings is a common practice that gives users the ability to filter out content they may find upsetting or just don’t don’t want to see for whatever reason. By choosing to ban a bunch of unlisted “sensitive content” tags, all they’re doing is encouraging people who want to share that kind of content to come up with alternative less well-known tags or simply not tag that content at all anymore if they want it to show up on their follower’s dashboards, thereby making it more likely for someone to encounter it when they didn’t want to.

So really, with all of the alleged concern for safety and “protecting the children,” all they’ve done is make tumblr less safe for everyone. Typical.

Hellooooo Rhythm Doctor Community! You may know of my pal, @pokeart123 and their lovely intern Mal and their most incredible art!

Well, they just so happened to have made a wonderful post about Blue Cole that isn't showing up in the tags bc this site was mushed together with string and play dough, so I just wanted to let you all know it exists so you can go check it out for yourselves! Reblog it a bunch, add your own art to it and shh, don't tell them I sent you! It'll be our little secret >;3c

Super last second Christmas drawing with the Handtern, featuring @pokeblog123 and @lolatulips interns Mal and Marie! I wanted to draw more holiday RD stuff but unfortunately I’ve been super busy with gift art for people 😅. Hope y’all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays though!

I told myself I'd host a session on my ask blog today and finish my Joshua ref but it seems I'm filled with nothing but lies today.

Hey hey hey hoo hoo! Guess who it iiiis with a whole ‘nother Rhythm D oc! This time, I give you Crystal Winters! A world renowned figure skater who collapsed from a heart attack during a performance in Middlesea.

There is a lot written under the cut here so do be prepared if you wanna delve in!

She was known for her excellence in remaining graceful on the ice and maintaining the appearance of floating weightlessly as she glided, as well as her immense gratitude and charity with both her fans and those less fortunate than her. Overall, she is regarded very fondly by most all that know her and, despite being a world class athlete, she very much prefers not to make too big of a fuss of herself. Even when all this happened, all she could think of was how scary it must have been for the audience to witness.

As such, Crystal's time spent in Middlesea Hospital will kind of be the inverse of Lucky's. She understands that this is a serious situation and that it will take quite a while for her to get back on her feet, but the doctors are doing everything they can to help her and, with patience, she'll be back on the ice before she knows it! No need to show anything else but a smile while she's there, right? It's not the doctors’ fault that her body just decided to fail on her.

So… why then? Why is it that she cannot help but feel so… sad? Why is it that she wants to just curl in on herself and… cry… at the prospect of not being able to perform anymore? People have sent her flowers, cards, little plushes wishing her well during her recovery period, and they're all so sweet, yet…

She doesn't wish to make it anyone's problem or be too much of a burden on the people helping her to get better, but Crystal cannot help but feel exasperated, upset and disheartened about the fact that she will be left useless for months to come. That she will have narrowly few outlets to expend her energy and clear her mind of her troubles. That the possibility of her heart not being strong enough to ever allow her back on the ice looms over her like the clouds on a snowy day.

Outwardly though, Crystal shall present herself as happily as one can, taking time to listen and understand what the doctors tell her while seeming to take it as “just one of those little things that happens in life!” before then going on to bake complex gourmet desserts for five hours so she can do something energy consuming.

A real Pollyanna to contrast from Marie being such a Primadonna!

Speaking of Marie...

… She happens to know Crystal aaaall too well. Frighteningly too well, in fact. In fact, upon being told of her arrival at the hospital, Marie adamantly refused to take her on as a patient, shoving that task onto Ian and Ada while she took over their responsibilities for the day in turn. She will do absolutely everything she can to remain scarce with anything involving Crystal, though is very much unlikely to tell anyone why this is precisely. You can expect her to use her time powers a lot for the sole purpose of avoiding her at every possible turn.

Maybe some day we'll find out why that is…

ATTENTION EVERYONE, IT IS NOW

Teen and up. Gen. 3,985

Along Came A Spider (3985 words) by FieldofRoses2992

Data, the Archivist for the Middlesea Division of The Magnus Institute, comes to discover a statement made by one of his assistants, Marie Sanglante, surrounding how she ended up becoming an Avatar for The Web.

Welcome to RD TMA au! Here's one of the first things I've made for my pals to enjoy hehe. Please take caution before reading as it does have someone be stabbed and then pushed into water. They don't die, but still, be careful!

obsessed with this vid from the official smithsonian national zoo page