For those people who need to hear it, there is nothing wrong with going back into the closet for your own safety. You aren't less queer because you can't be queer publicly. You aren't less trans because you have to act like you're not trans.
If you need to start going by your old pronouns or quietly go back into the closet to be safe - you are allowed to do that. Please do that if it means you're alive.
Your safety is important.
You are important.
And if you know someone who has to do this, don't push them. Don't out them. Follow their lead. People's safety is more important that grandstanding.
Everyone should mod a DS this is magical and I don't have to pay $800 for it
I don't know I'm not done talking about it. It's insane that I can't just uninstall Edge or Copilot. That websites require my phone number to sign up. That people share their contacts to find their friends on social media.
I wouldn't use an adblocker if ads were just banners on the side funding a website I enjoy using and want to support. Ads pop up invasively and fill my whole screen, I misclick and get warped away to another page just for trying to read an article or get a recipe.
Every app shouldn't be like every other app. Instagram didn't need reels and a shop. TikTok doesn't need a store. Instagram doesn't need to be connected to Facebook. I don't want my apps to do everything, I want a hub for a specific thing, and I'll go to that place accordingly.
I love discord, but so much information gets lost to it. I don't want to join to view things. I want to lurk on forums. I want to be a user who can log in and join a conversation by replying to a thread, even if that conversation was two days ago. I know discord has threads, it's not the same. I don't want to have to verify my account with a phone number. I understand safety and digital concerns, but I'm concerned about information like that with leaks everywhere, even with password managers.
I shouldn't have to pay subscriptions to use services and get locked out of old versions. My old disk copy of photoshop should work. I should want to upgrade eventually because I like photoshop and supporting the business. Adobe is a whole other can of worms here.
Streaming is so splintered across everything. Shows release so fast. Things don't get physical releases. I can't stream a movie I own digitally to friends because the share-screen blocks it, even though I own two digital copies, even though I own a physical copy.
I have an iPod, and I had to install a third party OS to easily put my music on it without having to tangle with iTunes. Spotify bricked hardware I purchased because they were unwillingly to upkeep it. They don't pay their artists. iTunes isn't even iTunes anymore and Apple struggles to upkeep it.
My TV shows me ads on the home screen. My dad lost access to eBook he purchased because they were digital and got revoked by the company distributing them. Hitman 1-3 only runs online most of the time. Flash died and is staying alive because people love it and made efforts to keep it up.
I have to click "not now" and can't click "no". I don't just get emails, they want to text me to purchase things online too. My windows start search bar searches online, not just my computer. Everything is blindly called an app now. Everything wants me to upload to the cloud. These are good tools! But why am I forced to use them! Why am I not allowed to own or control them?
No more!!!!! I love my iPod with so much storage and FLAC files. I love having all my fics on my harddrive. I love having USBs and backups. I love running scripts to gut suck stuff out of my Windows computer I don't want that spies on me. I love having forums. I love sending letters. I love neocities and webpages and webrings. I will not be scanning QR codes. Please hand me a physical menu. If I didn't need a smartphone for work I'd get a "dumb" phone so fast. I want things to have buttons. I want to use a mouse. I want replaceable batteries. I want the right to repair. I grew up online and I won't forget how it was!
As the year is ending soon... this is your friendly reminder that you didn’t waste your year. any moments of happiness or comfort, any small accomplishments, they all matter. this has been a really hard year, and simply surviving is something to be proud of. 🤎
national suicide prevention
national domestic violence hotline
national sexual abuse hotline
trans lifeline and resources
list of suicide hotlines by country
domestic violence hotlines and resources by country
sexual (+ domestic) abuse agencies by country
international trans resources
edit: taking this opportunity whilst this gets traction!
Palestine Children Relief Fund
"guys we're so cooked" "it's wraps" "the end is near" shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up. i say that with love because you are probably saying it out of distress and hopelessness, but for your own well-being and for everyone else's, please stop saying this shit.
no we are not "cooked." and by saying that, by the way, you are giving more power to the neo-nazi oligarchy in charge.
they want you to abandon all hope of a better life. they want you to believe "oh well, it's over, we might as well stop trying to fight back and just resign ourselves to despair forever."
every time you get on tiktok and comment "guys we're so cooked haha it's over," you are feeding into the mindset of hopeless compliance. you are, unknowingly, spreading this infectious idea that just because we've lost one battle, we've lost the entire war.
your words matter. i am saying this out of love and concern for our future, but please stop choosing words of defeat.
"what if a dangerous man pretends to be trans to-" what if we actually dealt with the underlying causes of dangerous men. what if predators faced real consequences more often. what if you stopped using trans women as a proxy for your grievances with liberal feminism's individualist denial of the need to fight systemic issues.
what if you stopped assigning blame for patriarchy's evils to one of its more vulnerable victim groups.
I think it's important to remember, as a rule of thumb, if you take advantage of a social service, it actually makes it easier for other people who need that service to access it. Most of the time, when these services get cut, it's because politicians will look at usage and say "see, no one is really using this thing, we can afford to trim the budget for food stamps by at least half". Whereas if you decide to step up and use these programs, even if you feel like you "don't really need it", at bare minimum it's another data point advocates can use to say "hey, look, people are using this thing, this is an important service we are providing, do not cut our funding".
He'll yeah mate
I dont care if it's "barley August" NO! It's halloween time
🎃spooky bitch time🎃
The council has decided, that is enough.
bluesky is honestly so nice and wholesome. the communities there reminds me a lot of tumblrs, i’ve really felt at home 🥹 my bluesky
some of the unique things i’ve liked:
- moderation lists: massive human made blocklists. they have lists for MAGAs, Nazis, genAI users/posters, NFT bros, spammers bots etc. truly amazing.
- starter packs: again human made lists of people they recommend to follow. there’s so many starter packs, from artist to follow, musicians, writers, even shitposters lmao.
- feeds: customizable, public timelines. you can create your own or join one of the thousands of feeds out there. you can also create a feed just for your art, so if you have a messy media tab, it keeps your art posts clean and organized!!
- blocking/muting: they have an amazing blocking system. when you block they can’t see your posts or even search you o. the site. they also allow you to mute people, delete specific replies, and even let you detach your post from a quote reblog if they’re trying to cause drama. honestly the best for a drama free environment. they also have very nice post filters so you can mute or completely block posts containing specific words or phrase!
- community: after blocking all the moderation lists it really just seems like a nice oasis for artists, creatives and others to connect with each other and get new followings. i’ve had a lot of people discover my art there and immediate support. it was super sweet.
- NSFW: not really something i like but i know a lot of others will; they allow NSFW content, art and otherwise. They have GREAT moderation so if you’re not interested in seeing those types of post be sure to turn on your content moderation settings.
Idk how "when interacting with ancient texts, it is important to understand the cultural norms and practices at the time, while still being able to interrogate the ways in which these perpetuate a system of violence and oppression, or the ways in which it gives you a glimpse of what they believed during that time period and how it's affected their stories and narratives. Context is important but not justification. Interest is not endorsement." is such a hot take