Something that i’ve seen happening in my notifications this week is a new kind of porn blog interacting with my posts, and i want to explain WHY its so important to block them.
In the past all that would happen if a porn blog would follow you is just that, they’d follow you. It was all to do with google algorithyms where if a porn blog was shown as ‘linked’ or following a legitimate site/blog then it increased the place they came in the google searches. Great if you are one of those scam websites that gets people to click on links that either plant malware or are just shady as fuck. Porn blogs were also sometimes shut down without warning so all the scammers hard work was over and gone. Good for us, not good for them. Most of these blogs were just stolen gifs/videos from other porn blogs anyway. If you thought gif stealing was bad/rife in the geek/nerd fandoms, just have a peep at the porn blogs.
Well a lot of the search engines etc caught onto this and built controls into their software, so they found a new way of getting (or at least trying to get) people to click on links to take them off of the tumblr site. This is by finding a random post from a legitimate blogger, which could be about anything, and either deleting the entire content of the post and adding in some ridiculous comment like ‘For more fun follow this link’ with a hyperlink off of tumblr, or if its a photo that in any way is either fun/a meme/or a little nsfw, they keep that in place and just add their link like above. Scroll down their blog and literally every single post will be a reblog and have exactly the same comment on, getting you to click and take you off site.
What does this matter i hear you ask? Well, when it comes to reporting a post, it helps to confuse the tumblr bots/staff as to what’s being reported… the comment or the original post? This means that when a bunch of posts are reported, they are all coming from different originators, this will make tumblr staff’s life even harder, and legitimate blogs are at risk of someone hitting ‘deactivate blog’ in the admin settings, meaning YOU COULD LOOSE YOUR ENTIRE BLOG BECAUSE SOME ASSHOLE PORN BOT REBLOGGED FROM YOU.
So don’t ignore this kind of thing, if you see one of these stupid reblogs (the bots very rarely actually follow you anymore), BLOCK THEM RIGHT THERE AND THEN.
What I’ve been doing now is checking the notes of my posts and clicking on the porn blogs, like this fella… click on the dude at the top, report….
Then flag for spam and block:
You can do it on mobile, either clicking the pic of the note, or going to the reblog and reporting the blog itself.
DO NOT REPORT THE POSTS or the OP could get blocked instead of the bot!
Concept: a robot who is very, very obviously a powerful wizard, but always has some complicated explanation for why what they just did wasn’t magic, and frankly they’re shocked that you would be so credulously superstitious as to believe that it was.
Off the top of my head, there are at least two routes here.
First is “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. Our robot wizard isn’t using magic, they’re using advanced nanotechnology, energy field manipulation, or some other utterly fantastic technology and scientific knowledge to perform feats that are nigh magical to the rest of the party. Either this is the result of advanced technology performing feats that are very similar to magic spells but are fundamentally different (manipulation of natural phenomena instead of supernatural forces), or superscience and magic ultimately do the same thing but approach it from a different angle. The natural philosopher class from the Northern Crown campaign setting of 3rd edition D&D is an example of this.
The other route is “any sufficiently studied magic is indistinguishable from science”. In this scenario, magic is not supernatural but just another type of natural phenomena. It has rules and laws that can be observed, understood, replicated, and harnessed. This is where you will find mass-produced magitech. In such a scenario, discussions of what is science and what is mere magic and superstition quickly becomes an exercise in pedantry.
Of course, this is more of a spectrum. The robot wizard insisting that they are using science and not superstitious nonsense might be just as close-mindedly stubborn regarding the true nature of the world as the character they are arguing with who is convinced that they’re using supernatural magic.
Two other possibilities you’ve overlooked:
1. The robot is using perfectly explicable technological tricks; they merely like to wave a wooden staff and chant in Latin while they’re at it for the Aesthetic.
2. The robot really is an old school bell-book-and-candle wizard, no “sufficiently advanced magic” about it, and they’re just insisting that there’s a perfectly mundane explanation for everything they do in order to screw with people, like:
“Okay, I’m pretty sure you just summoned a demon there.”
“Nonsense – it was clearly a trained animal in a fanciful costume. I’m surprised you didn’t know that I dabble in exotic animal husbandry, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before.“
“And the part where it popped out of a spontaneously manifesting ring of green fire?“
“Aurora borealis.”
“Wait. You just turned that person into a newt. Don’t tell me that wasn’t magic.”
“Indeed it wasn’t. It was retrograde evolution, induced by a simple dose of reverse RNA transcriptase surreptitiously administered via hypodermic dart – any schoolchild could explain the underlying mechanism.”
“That’s… that’s not. How evolution. Works.”
“Well, listen to Mister Science Guy here! Which one of us is a walking marvel of modern technology, again? I think I know a thing or two about your primitive meatbag biology!”
“I… you…“
Option 4: it’s magic and he’s incredibly embarrassed about it because he’s a robot and it feels like he’s letting down the team. This is closely related to 3, but he does not in ANY way try to explain it, and in fact desperately avoids any discussion about it. “It’s science, very scientific,” he insists as Prince Vassago fistbumps him and helps him find his keys.
The facade of unerring confidence Cassian had shown the others had slipped from him in the quiet of the cockpit. He played over the plan in his mind and could not stop the pragmatist inside him from recognizing all the ways it could go wrong. Instead of letting himself get lost in it he looked to Bodhi, who seemed calmer at the ship’s controls now than Cassian had ever had fortune to see him. When he first saw the pilot in the catacombs he was a means to an end but now he was here with more resolve than people who had built the Alliance itself. He was broken out of his thoughts when Bodhi spoke to flight control with final confirmation of their cargo numbers. All that was left to do was await their landing assignment. He couldn’t seem to stand the dead of calm, turning to Cassian to break the silence.
(Diego Luna on the dynamic between Jyn and Cassian) It’s interesting because there are so many differences between these two characters. If you ask Cassian who he wouldn’t like to go on a mission with, he probably would’ve described Jyn and probably the other way around.
Cassian sees a lot of himself in Jyn. And that hurts. The mirror hurts.
But when you get used to that, it’s the opposite. The connection can be very strong.
Most shows I’ve seen that mention fan fiction readers/writers portray them as kinda oddball super-geeks with no lives or social skills.
So I wanna take a moment to appreciate the fact that in Parks & Recreation, the character who writes fan fiction is the intelligent, successful, and good-looking primary love interest of the main character.
Also I want to read the full fic he wrote.
It’s only unrealistic because he said he finished it.
He’s obviously lying, so it’s very realistic.
if he had finished it, he’d be ignoring her while frantically refreshing the page, waiting for comments
Rebellions are built on hope 