Reblog If You Will Answer LITERALLY ANY Anon Questions.

alright let's talk about Apple and Tumblr's current predicament. If you don't know already, I used to work at Tumblr as an iOS engineer. Though I keep in touch with current staff at Tumblr (what little that are left that I know) I do not have picture of what's going on internally. The banned word list is absolutely perplexing and I can only theorize why tags like 'long post' are banned from appearing on iOS. What I can do is give you a peek into how the Apple App Store review process works, so you have an idea of the hell that Tumblr staff is dealing with right now.

Let me be clear about this from the get-go: I think Apple's censorship policies are wrong and they have no grounds to be policing adult content within apps on the app store. Apple's power to set content policy over apps is absolutely fueled first and foremost by internal policy that goes back to Steve Jobs. After that, they're beholden to payment processors wanting to distance themselves from porn. Finally, there's lawmakers and policy that influence them as well. I think these are the 3 things that shape their policy decisions, in order.

What happens when you submit an App to the App Store?

You compile an app and submit it to the app store, and it proceeds through an automated and manual process to review your app to ensure it meets Apple's standards. Apple's standards are 1) non-malicious, functioning programs, and 2) programs that adhere to the App Store's review guidelines that cannot be asserted in the same way a program can. These guidelines are judged by a human being assigned to your app during the review process. The review process used to be long, sometimes it would take weeks, but in recent years they've got it down to about 24 hours.

Now, there's a laundry list of things in those guidelines, but we're going to focus on adult content because that's the most relevant. If a reviewer runs your app and finds porn, your app is rejected and you're told to correct the problem.

What's Tumblr dealing with now?

In the case of Tumblr, this would be a reviewer going to search, typing in something like 'tits' and finding porn. Sometimes they would search something more innocuous like 'socks' (yeah, i know) and find porn. Sometimes they would search something completely innocent and find porn anyways. Tumblr would get rejected.

This happened regularly. I'd say once every 5 updates (every time Tumblr updates the iOS app, they have to re-submit the app for review). A reviewer would find porn, and respond by sending us the steps they followed to find it and a screenshot of the content. Tumblr staff would remove the porn, resubmit, the reviewer would find nothing, then approve the app. Once in a while Tumblr would get a really persistent reviewer. It would take a handful of porn scrubs and re-submissions before they'd finally green-light an update.

Sometimes, however, Tumblr would get a reviewer who flags tumblr for porn, and when Tumblr opened the rejection notice, the screenshot would be something completely not porn. I'm talking stuff like a woman in a bikini. Not even posing in a porny way. Something you'd see in like, a laser hair removal ad. In these cases, Tumblr would appeal the rejection, saying the content doesn't violate our policies (and to the best of our knowledge, Apple's) so we won't remove it.

In this case, the appeal gets bumped up to a developer support contact that would manage the appeal. Usually when it got there, the contact would look at the report and say "oh, yeah, that's not porn" and tell us to re-submit the app again. It then would usually be approved.

This process, I believe, is where the problem lies. Of course, the bigger picture is Apple's adult content policies, but the relationship between reviewer, developer support, and policymakers is completely fucking discordant. Since the review process is human, some reviewers interpret the guidelines more strict that others. Since the review process chooses a random reviewer, the review experience is random every time.

The developer support contact is not in direct contact with the reviewer and does not communicate with them in any way, other than the report they receive from the review (that Tumblr has too). The dev support contact also cannot tell Tumblr whether they'll pass review if they were to propose hypothetical changes to Tumblr.

Here's the kicker: your developer support contact will also, like the reviewer, not be consistent from case to case. They stick with you until your appeal is complete, but when you have to open a new case for a subsequent rejection, it's someone new. And every one of them had different answers to the same questions about policies regarding adult content.

I really don't think the people enforcing Apple's app store guidelines have a clear answer on what's porn and what's not, and they're left to decide on a case-by case basis. Apple is fucking massive, and it's a waterfall organization where orders come from the top down. If Tumblr gets rejected because a reviewer decided a woman in a bikini is pornographic, no one in Apple gives a shit. I bet no more than a handful of people in Apple right now are even aware of the situation with Tumblr, and just one person (the dev support contact) is deciding what Tumblr must do to resolve it and stay on the App store.

The 2018 porn ban

I was present for the 2018 app store fiasco and boy, it was mind boggling. The removal was legit since Apple had received a user-submitted report of CSAM, and by policy they immediately yank an app that contains such content. That was 100% understandable, and if I were in Apple's shoes, I too would remove an app that has CSAM in it. But what followed was a gauntlet of rigorous reviews over adult content in general. The app was rejected repeatedly until the infamous adult content ban was fully enacted.

While Tumblr was actively working on the ban, they were asking Apple for any sort of guidance on what would meet approval, because as you know it's impossible to scrub a UGC site of adult content. The answers we got were either vague or unhelpful. Tumblr had to just keep re-submitting over and over with a half-baked porn finding algorithm until it finally looked clean enough for Apple.

During this time, we'd be searching Twitter, Instagram, etc, for the same search terms that we were being rejected for, and finding lots and lots of porn. When the rep was asked if other apps went through the same rigamarole that Tumblr was going through, and why they had porn on their apps, the answers we got were "we can't discuss other apps" (of course) and "that shouldn't happen".

Now, I do not want to get conspiratorial about this because I genuinely don't think Apple has it out for Tumblr. What I do think is it's a combination of the discordant enforcement of policy, caused by the complete separation of policymaker, support, and reviewer. It's also less of a problem for other apps like Twitter, Instagram, etc because they have many, many more staff to deal with the problem. They have more staff to build and maintain porn-removing algorithms, and more staff to put out fires caused by App Store rejections.

A little part of me also wants to be cynical and say that since Instagram and Twitter are so big, they can get away with more than Tumblr can. Combine that with Tumblr's history of blatantly allowing porn up until the end of 2018. I can't prove it, of course, but if Tumblr has a reputation at Apple, it can't be a good one.

Apple's reputation amongst developers

As I mentioned I'm an iOS engineer. I talk to other iOS engineers all the time, not only at my current job but also in other places like Slack instances for iOS development. The iOS engineers at Tumblr did not like Apple's bullshit one bit, which is unsurprising. However, my experience thus far is the vast, vast majority of iOS engineers at other places feel the same way. Apple's review process is seen as an asinine hurdle you must clear. Their policies are not viewed in good light amongst iOS devs, though you'll have a mixed bag of sympathy over being rejected for some of them like the adult content one. It really depends if you've worked on any UGC apps on the app store. If you have, you get it.

Outside of adult content, though, the two other big ones that rub iOS devs the wrong way are the 30% cut Apple gets when devs get paid, and the completely arbitrary policy that Apps submitted to the app store must have a "clear purpose". I haven't talked to a single iOS dev who's been on the side of Apple in the Epic v Apple case over the 30% cut, and most of them are hoping for Apple to loosen up their control over the App Store (either voluntarily or by court order). The "clear purpose" policy means that reviewers can reject the app if they think it's useless, which is incredibly discouraging for new developers who are just trying to get out there with something simple. It also squelches creativity and reduces the field for more single-purpose apps.

Aside from App Store review guidelines, iOS developers also have to deal with ever-shifting technical guidelines that can be unclear, with deadlines that change or are vague as well. A good example of this was a recent change that required all Apps that were available on iPad to support split-screen multitasking. Not only did I get conflicting answers on what that means from Apple themselves and devs who were in contact with other Apple reps. No one knew if their iPad app would be yanked from the store, or if there was a way to opt out. This requirement forced many companies to scramble to update their iPad experience to meet this deadline, only for the requirement to be relaxed, and the deadline to be pushed back. Fun times, great use of dev hours.

The Apple fanboy you can picture when I say "Apple fanboy" is very unlikely to be an iOS developer. They probably just love Apple products and think that the company can do no wrong. The more Apple does to piss off their developers, the worse it's going to get for anyone who just wants to use an iPhone.

Anywho, that's Apple for you. Why am I still an iOS developer? I dunno, I got bills to pay. I think I know what Tumblr is working on to appease them. Don't expect this banned word list to last too long. The timing is awful, of course, since everyone on Apple is on vacation, and Tumblr is too. Have fun with the chaos for now. As always, don't take it out on staff. They're doing what they can.

My asks are open if you have any questions. I'll try to answer them.

Oh fuck me-

has this been done?

Do you guys ever feel awkward reblogging so many things from the same mutual? Like I promise I’m not creepy, I just really like your vibes🥺

You guys are valid, whatever age you may be!                          

Asked my mom for a binder for Christmas

No, mom, that’s not….

Oh I see what you did there

That last bit, Lucifer putting the disc on…

Lucifer, you are never gonna recover from listening to it, I guarantee it.

[ cw: heavy angst, mentions of physical and mental abuse, mentions of suicide and suicidal thoughts, please seek help if you experience anything like this ]

Mammon angst alert. I had this idea that I absolutely had to share. If anyone likes it enough to elaborate it, then do tag me in your wonderful works!

The brothers had been major A-grade assholes to Mammon for centuries before MC showed up, and even then they didn’t tone down on the insults. So what if…he had been contemplating suicide for a long time back then? 

Keep reading

If you're ever bored, here's a list of Studio Ghibli films you can watch for free.

Castle In The Sky (1986) Grave of the Fireflies (1988) My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) Only Yesterday (1991) Porco Rosso (1992) Pom Poko (1994) Whisper of the Heart (1995) Princess Mononoke (1997) My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) Spirited Away (2001) The Cat Returns (2002) Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) Tales from Earthsea (2006) Ponyo On A Cliff From The Sea (2008) The Secret World of Arrietty/The Borrower Arrietty (2010) From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)

If any of the links stop working, please let me know so I can fix it.

For Castle In The Sky, wait for the free user button to be clickable and it will send you to the video.

the internet is an inherently haunted place if you think about it like. it's so weird to see long abandoned discussion boards stuck in a snapshot of the past, old conversations between kids from over a decade ago who have now grown into their own lives, obituaries taking the form of half finished profiles. and the silence that fills the gaps between. there's a constant ghostly record of each generation's thoughts, fads, their sense of humour. back when the future was at their fingertips. even stranger, people you used to know exist openly in that space, and they watch you watching them. if you want, deceased musicians can play through your headphones. there's always an underlying sense of reminiscing and time escaping our ever shortening attention spans. what a fuckin graveyard

are you autistic and gay?

lesbian and autistic perhaps?

an autistic pan or bisexual?

asexual and autistic?

trans or non binary and autistic?

any autistic member of the LGBTQ+ community?

well guess what...

you're fucken great and I love you

(08-20-21)

Obey Me AU Name: Mammon’s Role

Additional Info: Mammon and Lilith’s role reversal AU, Swapped Universe AU, No MC.

Synopsis: Mammon was enjoying his life at the current moment, stealing, and gambling, and betting, the thrill of spending and using money to his heart’s content. It wasn’t until the encounter of another set of brothers, did he really begin to count his blessings while he searched for a way to bring back the old.

(The AU brothers and Original brothers have swapped universes).

The AU brothers are disoriented and confused as they look around the house and bump into each other; they’re not able to recognize the interior of the house they’re in. It’s the House of Lamentation for sure, what with all the paintings and the dark corners it held, but it’s just that it feels weird in a familiar —slightly airy cold— way. For them, seeing all the paintings, and the vases, and the carpet, yet there’s that specific scent that none of them can recall anymore. It’s that ancient familiarity that they just can’t pinpoint exactly?

(̴̡̞̳͆̃̕Ŝ̵͙å̷̗t̴̡̲̹͑͂ä̶̢̈̔n̶̝͌͋͋ ̶̡̤̜͆͐c̵̠̳̝̋o̵̰̬̾̋ṷ̸̭̇̒l̶̢͍͓̚d̶͙̍͛ ̴̠̌͝o̷͙̲͒̔͊n̴̨̽͆l̴͖̜̦̔ÿ̸͖̰̯̋̄ ̴͈̣̍͆͝n̷̫̓̚͠a̶͕̿͗r̸̡̺̝̅̇̂r̸̺̎̒ǫ̸͔̿̽w̵͍̟̃̆ ̸̘̠͔̅̂̕h̴͖͎̬̀i̷͓̺͂͋̚ś̶̹͝ ̴̣͈̝͊e̷̯͛ͅỷ̶͙ȩ̷͑̄s̸̭̽̌ͅ ̵̙̪͆̀â̵͚̻͔͘t̸̡͎̂ ̷̥͗͊̒ť̸͓̰̼̄h̸̦̳̹̆̍͗e̶͓̋̃ ̶̛̰̿̚s̷̛͈͆i̴͓̯͠ǧ̷̢͎ͅh̶̦͙̫̆t̸̡̜̦̎͠ ̵̩̘̌o̴͓͝͝f̷̝͉̣̈́̂ ̸̨̦̠̐̾à̴͚̙̌ ̶̳͚͚̋̀͠p̴̻͔̝̒͝ę̷̣̖̄̒r̴̛̬̖f̶̗͖͈̌̈͝ǘ̶͚͛̉m̷͚̭̭͛͝e̵̤̬͖͝ ̶̮͂b̶̢̻̠͛̆̔o̶̤̣̦͗͠͝ṫ̵̨̤͐̊ͅṱ̴͚̈́͝l̶̛̝͘ȅ̷̹ ̸̠̙̺̄ó̴̥̖̞́̀n̶̺̗̉ ̵̫̫̂́t̵̡̝̲͆h̶͚͐͊̅ȩ̸̉̐ ̸͍͇̹̿̆͂c̶̡͕͙͒o̵͉͙͗͂͜r̸̙̪̓n̶̜̟̈́̊͂e̶̟̫͐ͅr̴̩͔͂͝͝ ̴̬̊o̵͇̓͝ḟ̵͙̠ ̵̩͓̪͂̆̈́ ̷̬̟̇̅t̴̝̒̊̇ȁ̶̜͂̾b̴̢͍͉̑̓l̸̝͙͗ë̷̹͎́͋̾ ̸̳̽õ̴̜̔f̷̬̞̒̏ ̸̞̻͉͆ẗ̵̳́̀h̷͇͆e̷̡̩͙͛ ̴̻͓̠̈́͝͠d̶̢͌̄í̶̮̰̻n̷̯̙̜̐̎í̸̧̦̒̾ñ̷̖g̵͉͙͐ ̸̛̝͖͗̓͜r̴͕̰̽o̸͓̪͙͒ö̸̗̝̜ṃ̴̧̈́͊,̶̗̻̈́̑̃ ̷̙͊͝a̸̲̦̱̿̈̂ ̶̢͇̈͑t̶͚̩̀̈̋ỵ̷͕̦̍p̸̛̪̐̔e̶̛͗͜ ̵̣̄̆́o̷̜̹̗̓̇͘f̵̛̟̗̬ ̶̨̲̄̔b̶̖̗͝r̴̹̲̿a̶̖̙̭͗͌̊n̸͑ͅḏ̸̡̝̎ ̶͎̳͛̆͋h̶̡̿̔́͜ě̵̞͍̃ ̶̦̰͆͜d̶̰̅̒ĭ̷̫͗̆d̵̦́̊͘ñ̷̺͔̬̋̕’̷̧͎̿̕t̶̢̘̜͒̐ ̸̼̘̊̈̈́r̶̗̺̬̊ẻ̸̝̺́͂c̷̦̯͉̓̋ǫ̴̬̪̐͝g̵̼̓̂͠n̵̝͍͐i̴͈̾̉ẕ̶̜̦͑̏́e̷̥͐ ̸̹́̇͘a̴̦̍͐ṣ̴̖́̄̓ ̷̨̪̱͗̃ő̴̫̬͛n̸̦͓͌è̸̳̲͈̊ ̷̳̠̘̉ô̴͔f̸̬̫̻̆́̓ ̵̹͊̚͝Ả̸͕͙̄ͅṡ̵͇͎̒m̴̲̩̉̔ò̷͖̦ͅ’̸͖̝͂̚͝s̶̯̏.̸̳̞́̊)̸̳̏͂͐

They all meet up, and agree that only a few are to go to scoop out where they are right now.

Right as they’re about to leave, Lilith suggests to her brothers to wear a disguise in case of people may attack them for who they are (my personal belief comes from this theory someone suggested that the demon brothers were hated for being former angels by most demon nobles, but only in the AU Universe, I’ll elaborate more on this in the actual story).

Lucifer, Lilith, Belphegor and Beelzebub all head out to check the area as Asmodeus, Leviathan, and Satan stay behind in the House of Lamentation.

As the former group walks out into the grand pavilion in the Heart of the Devildom, they see all these familiar —yet distinctly not— shops within their own realms, maybe they’re in a different universe? Lilith thinks.

After all, none of them can recall Majolish being a distinguished brand with the bill board that displays it up above them as they past it by.

They cross paths with Mephistopheles — he looks so different— nearby the bar —Midnight’s Dream— a feet away, who inquired if they were exchange students?

Naturally they’re all confused?

What exchange students? Them? Don’t be ridiculous- (Lilith elbows Lucifer in the side-)

Lilith hastily answered that they were demons living in the human realm for a long time before coming back, but were unfamiliar with the layout since it’s been millennials. She asked where was Diavolo? And if he was free in the palace, could they talk to him asap?

Mephistopheles offers to help them around, and Lilith —much to her brothers (specifically Lucifer’s and Belphie’s) dismay— agreed on their behalf.

So they all move around the stores, Akuzon, Majolish, Hell’s Kitchen, and more, all of them gradually feeling more uneasy as they stroll past sites with that same lingering scent-

Before long, they appear right before the Royal doors, which opened up to something that just shouldn’t be there, but is, how though-

H̶̡̟̤̬̖͎͈͕̊͌̔̎́̑̇́͒̎̉̐́̌̌̍̎̔͛̃̂͗͘̕ơ̷̡͔̣̦̬͈̰̟͉̝̰̖̖̼̗̬̠̪̪̿͑́̆̆̑͊͒̅̂̍͊̓̈́͛̆w̸̨̧̨̱̮̭̰͍̺̹̟̾̋̓͋͒̎͌̎͐́̊͗̓͘̚͠ ̷͎̜̟̗̭͔̝͇̟̪̗̟̭̗̐̂̽͜ì̸̧̛̱͇̺͚̟̥̣̝̹̩͎̽̈́͌̌̿͂̈͊̀͛̿̉̓̅́͑̀̄̾̈́̓̚͝ş̸̨̡̢͕̥͉̣̯̹̙̜͕̝̪̯͕̙͍͍̌̌ ̸̧̭̙͕͔̬̱͎̜͎͎̈̃̽̇́̓̽̽̃̃͗͛͛̇̈́̐̎̅͘̕͜͝ẖ̸̨̛̻̟̱͓̭̩̀͐̃̇̿͝ę̶̨̨̢̛̼̻̥̥̣͇̰̩̯̟̳̮̖̠̝̜̥̜̯̦̼́̈́̋̅̐͋̎͐͆̄̐̒́ ̴͍̺̜͔͖͓͓̭̝̣̲̉̇͛̈̾̔̽̓̀͘a̵͙͇̪̝̗͙̣̲̼͕̳̹̳͚̺̮̺̣̖̮͒̈̓̏̑̑͗̓́̊̅̈̊͐́̊͐̋̕̕͜͝͝͠ͅl̶̲̬̻̻͖̮̥͕̥͙̺̈́̿̂̃̏̀̉̍̎̾̄̍͗̈́̕͝͠͠i̵͓͉̊̈́̉̈̊́́́̀̇̀̾̒͘͝v̷̯̤̂̐͊̅̄͂̐̿͛͝è̶̡̛̛͔͈̖̱͓͕͍̼̤̭̬̘̪͛͋̀͊̾̅͐͛͊̓͂̀̐̿́͘͝?̴͍͇̔̓̾̅̌̚̚͝

Personal Notes:

Heya people! This is (might be) a long series with Mammon and Lilith switching roles because lol why not make my babies suffer am I right? Especially Mamms. 😂😭✋

ANYWAYS, I hope y’all enjoyed this little snippet of the series that’s currently in work. I hope this series is enjoyable to y’all if I really do continue it to a long time.

Mentions:

@obae-me

@ima-simp-uwu

I hope this is okay! I really want to delve into more of the lore of the Devildom and even add my own interpretations of it!

With that said, thanks again for letting me borrow portions of your ideas to help out with this series! It means a lot!