Dreamwidth and privacy, Dreamwidth and apps

I got an ask about Dreamwidth that has since completely vanished from my inbox and my activity feed, but it had some important questions that I wanted to answer, so I'm going to try and address them anyway:

"How's Dreamwidth on privacy? Do they data mine?"

They only take as much information as they are legally obligated to and/or is needed to make the site actually function. You are the only one who gets to decide how much of that you share with the public, or how little.

Dreamwidth makes the money it needs to run the site entirely through its userbase. They do not sell our data and do not want to.

"Do they have a mobile app too?"

No, and they probably never will. I know this is a disappointment for a lot of Tumblr users, but it's one of the primary ways that Dreamwidth can ensure that it's free to use for all users, and that we can post as much NSFW stuff there as we want.

That said, the Dreamwidth team has done everything they can to make the site friendly to mobile browsing! IIRC there are even some layouts that are particularly friendly to mobile browsing. Install Firefox/Mozilla on your phone, or a clone of it you particularly like, and log in through that, and you should be able to use the site just as well as you could from a desktop computer.

fucked up how colors look different depending on what screen you’re looking at them on. that should be illegal I think

this fucking shit, you know

I spend so much time carefully picking and adjusting the colors in every single drawing I make that I’d probably lose my mind if I didn’t just repeatedly push this out of my memory and pretend it’s not a thing. Why am I reblogging a blank empty post that doesn’t say anything??? Weird

good news! you can’t make sure that everyone will see the correct colors on their own device, but you can make sure your monitor is as accurate as possible for printing and sharing by calibrating it! 

there are a bunch of free monitor tests, but here’s an easy one you can use. the passmark and eizo tests are also pretty good, though passmark doesn’t work in your browser. be warned that some tests may cause eye strain.

you can either use the settings built into your monitor itself or use the display color calibration settings in your operating system to adjust the settings until everything looks correct, and then enjoy your accurate colors.

REBLOG TO SAVE A LIFE

Tumblr interaction and entitlement

Recently, I didn’t reply to someone who had messaged me on Tumblr and this person reacted by blocking me, so that when I found time to answer the message, I had typed up my reply, and, obviously, couldn’t send it. I thought, well, that’s kind of a petty response to someone not answering right away (never mind that it would be sometimes days or weeks before I answer people’s messages on other forums, and they would be cool with it). I thought about this, and I thought about mentioning it, and the reason I’ve decided to talk about it is because it goes back to perceptions about interaction with others that we all need to be mindful of.

If someone sends me a message that I don’t answer right away or don’t answer at all it’s because:

But, what all this really comes down to is this: no one is entitled to my attention. Message me by all means, but no one has an automatic right to my time or my emotional reassurance, even if I’ve provided it before. I’m a nice person: I like to talk to people and be reassuring and positive, but I am not a bottomless well of understanding and reassurance. I’m someone who needs time to process my own feelings and replenish my own stock of positivity, particularly when I’m upset about something. We are all entitled to make ourselves available to anyone or no one as we see fit.

So, anyone who feels like they’re entitled to my time or yours, and who gets petty or upset when they don’t get it, is not someone I or you need in our lives anyway. Respect yourself and your emotions and your time, and forget about anyone who can’t accept that.

Anyway I’m not sure what Xtian (by which I mean any of y'all who believe that Jesus is God) needs to hear this, but the concept that “no means no” absolutely applies to proselytizing.

If your religion is so good, if you are so obviously different and special and #blessed, if you are clearly so more spiritually enlightened, then people will find their way to YOU. If you can’t lead by example and in fact have to resort to going door to door like an Amway salesman, then why would anyone want to join your weird group anyway?

Oh, and the inverse of the right to be free from religiously based harassment in the form of proselytizing isn’t proselytizing itself; it’s the right to SEEK information for yourself about any religious group.

There are plenty of wonderful Xtians out there who understand boundaries and pluralism, and this is not about you. It is entirely possible to be a dedicated and religiously-observant Xtian who is still opposed to missionizing and proselytizing.

There is an entire conceptualization of evangelism that is based on leading by example rather than on outreach, and the Xtians who actually really live their lives like this come the closest to embodying the ideals of Jesus that I’ve seen.

I’ve had to block more pornbots in the last 48 hours than I have basically the entire rest of time I’ve spent on Tumblr.

Have they become hungrier or less discerning or what? 

I’m pretty sure they’re pornbots, at least. If they’re twitter refugees still filtering into tumblr then they clearly haven’t taken ANY welcome-to-tumblr advice because it’s all empty blogs with generic underwear/swimsuit model looking headers.

they’re getting more aware of what it takes to look somewhat more likely to be a real person, but it’s still transparent they’re bots fishing for clickthrough. every single one i’ve blocked has a link for a blog description bragging about their top OF percentile. they only have two posts at most, and most are empty. they actually have been going to the trouble of making their header, avatar, and any posts they make be pictures of the same person for the first time i have ever noticed

honestly, if they didn’t all uniformly have a link in their desc that says it goes to an OF page, it would be very difficult to tell

Anyway, I’m going to take a moment to remind folks that we need to report porn bots as SPAM.

Especially with the return of the tit this year, the primary issue has never been the adult content: it’s that these accounts are fake spam. I’ve already been overjoyed and delighted to see SWers returning to Tumblr–real ones, not these mimic weirdos with fake links. Reporting the blog of a porn bot as adult only blurs the avatar and hides the account from searches, but the blog continues to exist and can still be reblogged from if bots are going through the notes on posts. Reporting as spam can fully get the account removed.

one time i told a friend “hey we cant be friends anymore if the second you learn my deadname you use it for me.” and then she shut up and never did it again.

what I’m saying is that you DONT need to take shit from cis “friends”. not respecting your pronouns? you don’t need to be treated like shit. saying you’re a special snowflake? why are you still with them. talking shit about you behind your back about your gender identity? LEAVE THEM!!!!

PLEASE dont feel obligated to stay with transphobic friends. they arent worth  it.

If a friend won’t show you basic respect, they’re not your friend.

Jewish women are the number one authorities on how Jewish men wield misogyny. It is not an issue of our religion being regressive or misogynist, it is an issue of men using whatever culture / ideology etc they can get their hands on as a lens for their misogyny. The day I let a goyische feminist come trampling into my culture and my religion, spew their unnuanced interpretations that are devoid of context and understanding, tell me how oppressed I am, spread antisemitic hate speech, and talk over me on my own experiences, is the day I die. Jewish women must and will be the foundation of our revolutionary liberation from misogyny. Jewish women will be the voices speaking up about how men do us wrong within our own religion and cultures. Not you. Us. If you really want to help us, listen to us. You are not our mouthpieces or better interpreters of our lives than we are. 

Dreamwidth and privacy, Dreamwidth and apps

I got an ask about Dreamwidth that has since completely vanished from my inbox and my activity feed, but it had some important questions that I wanted to answer, so I'm going to try and address them anyway:

"How's Dreamwidth on privacy? Do they data mine?"

They only take as much information as they are legally obligated to and/or is needed to make the site actually function. You are the only one who gets to decide how much of that you share with the public, or how little.

Dreamwidth makes the money it needs to run the site entirely through its userbase. They do not sell our data and do not want to.

"Do they have a mobile app too?"

No, and they probably never will. I know this is a disappointment for a lot of Tumblr users, but it's one of the primary ways that Dreamwidth can ensure that it's free to use for all users, and that we can post as much NSFW stuff there as we want.

That said, the Dreamwidth team has done everything they can to make the site friendly to mobile browsing! IIRC there are even some layouts that are particularly friendly to mobile browsing. Install Firefox/Mozilla on your phone, or a clone of it you particularly like, and log in through that, and you should be able to use the site just as well as you could from a desktop computer.

If you see anyone support Hamas on here, or misrepresent it as necessary revolutionary violence, or provide justification for its actions in any way:

If you want to go back to refute what they said, just make a new post with the screenshot—whether you black out their url or not is up to you; the point is a) to not expose you to their followers for your safety & b) take away the “follow” button so they can’t trap people in their echo chamber. If you make it so people have to fully type out the url to follow the pro-Hamas account, a significant percentage of people (especially the ones who are undecided or on the fence) will simply not bother.

A small PSA to all those new to dealing with the porn bots that Tumblr now has a fresh wave of – I understand that when you go to report them, you want to report them as "[containing] sexually explicit material", but don't do that. Report them as spam instead.

These are spam bots flooding tags and the website in general with spam links. They often do not have anything sexually explicit on their blog (although they often have implicit material). Plus, these two reports get very different results. Reporting explicit material gets the bot slapped behind an 18+ wall, so minors can't check if they're a bot or not. Reporting spam gets the bot taken down.

Remember, folks: when dealing with a bot, report spam, not smut!

FEMA is doing an emergency alert test on all TVs, radios, and cell phones on October 4, 2023, at approximately 2:20pm ET.

If you live in the US and you have a phone you need to keep secret for any reason, make sure that it is turned off at this time.

Yes, I'm doing this months in advance, and yes, my blog has very little reach, but I figure better to post about it more than less.

Please reblog and add better tags than mine, I'm bad at tags.

Quick reminder that saying shit like “please act normal” or “act like a human” is ableist as hell. I don’t care if you’re joking or trying to make a point or whatever, if your metric for someone’s morality is how well they fit the status quo then you’re a bigot.

May I also add calling people ‘freaks’ and 'weirdos’? yall sound like middle school kids bullying me for being neurodivergent please shut up

CDC finally fuckin' recommended the new COVID boosters for everyone in the US. letting my american followers who don't check the news know because i've been turned away for wanting to get an extra booster & now won't be anymore & it's Lovely. most americans are not going to get these and are going to grumble about them, which sucks as far as spread goes - but DOES mean u can schedule with ur local pharmacy sooner rather than later. please do so. ur immunocomprised friends and ur own body will thank u.

The updated boosters should be available in the next couple of weeks, everyone who is over six months old and everyone who has not had a booster for at least two months are eligible; it is recommended that people who are at risk or immune compromised get boosters sooner rather than later.

REMINDER: THERE IS NO CAT

If you get a new blog following you and immediately sending you an ask requesting help with vet bills for their cat, that is a scam. It is always a scam.

This time, the blog in question was created yesterday and reblogged a ton of stuff to seem legit.

Don't fall for this shit.

Declutter Tumblr

The new layout it a whole mess. Thankfully Xkit can already help with a bunch of this! I'm sure it'll give more options soon.

Vanilla Tumblr:

(I have marked in red what can be removed. The tabs can be set not to stick, so you will really only see them at the top of your dash. Empty box on the left for hidden notifications and shop sparkle, i just didn't have any. I'm EU so no Live for me).

Xkit Rewritten Tumblr:

The settings I use:

People who make edits for fandoms work hard on them, they really do. They make them for themselves and for the fans of the character, ship. show, etc. They don’t make them to please everyone. If you don’t like the thing, don’t reblog the thing. Don’t reblog it and add your theories and rude comments. Enjoy the artwork or don’t touch it. Respect other peoples hardwork whether or not you agree with it.

"To support feature film and television writers in our community as they stand for fair pay and protections in the workplace, recognizing that this action may result in financial hardship for writers and their families, Humanitas is distributing grocery store gift cards to current WGA writers in need.

"These will be dispersed while supplies last. Humanitas will be prioritizing writers who are early in their careers."

Please reblog, folka? Many thanks.