[Video description: a person plays piano while their pet bird repeatedly walks up and down the keys, singing. The bird does not weigh enough to move the keys. End video description]

I regret to inform you that Discord's new Terms of Service includes an arbitration clause. You can find it here https://discord.com/terms/#16. This clause includes an opt-out, which I have transcribed here:

You can decline this agreement to arbitrate by emailing an opt-out notice to arbitration-opt-out@discord.com within 30 days of April 15, 2024 or when you first register your Discord account, whichever is later; otherwise, you shall be bound to arbitrate disputes in accordance with the terms of these paragraphs. If you opt out of these arbitration provisions, Discord also will not be bound by them.

These clauses are underhanded ways that corporations seek to deprive you of your right to participate in class-action lawsuits and your right to a jury trial. (This does only apply to us users ,other people still spread the word though )

#whats arbitration someone help me

Bad news, @noodelzmop. Arbitration basically means that if you want to sue Discord for whatever reason, the dispute needs to be handled in house. Specifically, in their house. If you don't get this email out, you're basically signing away your right to legal recourse if they do criminally shitty stuff to you, like with the McDonalds app.

I have been told that emailing "I am confirming that as of the date of this email, I am choosing to opt out of binding arbitration to settle disputes with Discord." With the Email you used for your discord account is enough for the notice but take this with a grain of salt as this was not said by a lawyer

reiterating that this only applies to US users

THIRTY DAY LIMIT BTW. I suggest taking sixty seconds to fire off a quick email with op’s recommended text. I have no plans to sue discord but better safe than sorry

So today I got a rather unkind comment on AO3 (one could call it hate), but I believe it to be a bot for several reasons:

I'm curious, did anyone else get comments like this? Let me know.

And to those who have gotten rude comments and are now worried/upset: Maybe it was just a bot too. Either way: You're awesome for putting your writing out there for others to enjoy and you don't deserve to get rude comments for it. If you want feel free to message me to compare cases and discuss details :)

For comparison, this is the one I received.

Here are some more examples fellow writers allowed me to share:

As you can see, these comments all the match the description above. Also they seem to be weirdly obsessed with AI and this entire operation may be an attempt to promote writing AI - which, if true, is disgusting on several levels.

(If any of the people with the AO3 usernames in question happen to see this: Don't worry, we're all sure it wasn't you, no hard feelings and sorry that a bot stole your name for hate comments. The names are only shown as proof that they are indeed stolen)

Oh I was just wondering why I got a weird comment today!

This is mine. Looking at the pattern, it is definitely a bot. Stealing usernames and posting as guests under that.

I was upset for a hot minute, replied asking what did they mean... Turns out I shouldn't have bothered.

Thank you for the addition! This certainly paints a picture - they're claiming that the work of actual human authors is subpar (the toddler comment on mine and the human comment on yours) and/or bring up AI.

Sorry this happened and I hope you're feeling better now💕 personally, I do believe this work was written by a human being and a lovely too!🫂💗

I don't think they're so much trying to get people to use AI to write fics - there seems to be some sort of a scam where the bots encourage commenters to put a fic through their 'AI scanner' to check if it was written by a robot.

They're literally trying to get readers to do the work of scraping fics for them.

I'm sure other folks have added this already in different reblog chains, but AO3 has disabled guest comments for now.

Just in case, I would recommend not going to any of the AI writing sites these comments mention since it's possible they have malware on them. Or maybe the comments are just intended to get people searching for the terms and then that might make them pop up in google search's autofill?? I have no idea 😑

Locking your fics and comments to registered users eliminates this issue-- and hopefully limits bot scraping of the works themselves.

I hate this so much because some of the best recurrent readers and consistent commenters I've ever had have been anons.

skystar oughhhb

[ID: photo of message spelled out in colourful alphabet magnets. Message reads “be the reason someone believes in good people.” /end ID]

This machine kills AI

[image description: a black and white photo with the text “this machine kills AI” with a finger emoji pointing down at a 2B pencil above a Facebook screenshot of text. The text is from a group Artists Against Generative AI and has been posted by Danielle Sanfilippo reading: Posting this on behalf of a member who would like to remain anonymous:

I'm an art director and supervisor for a large studio. The studio heads had the bright idea before I started to hire prompters. Several bros were brought onto the film project. I absolutely hated myself for not quitting on the spot but stuck with it because it's mercenary out there. Have a family to feed etc. I decided to use this time wisely. Treat them as I would any artist I had hired. First round of pictures of a sweeping Ariel forest landscape comes through and it's not bad. They submit a ton of work and one or two of the 40 are ok. Nearly on brief. So first round feedback goes through and I tell them about the perspective mistakes, colour changes I want, layers that any matte painting would be split into. Within a day I get 5 variants. Not changes to the ones I wanted but variations.

Again. Benefit of the doubt I give them another round of feedback making it clear. Next day it's worse. I sit there and patiently paint over, even explaining the steps I would take as a painter. They don't do it, anomalies start appearing when I say I want to keep the exact image but with changes. They can't. They simply don't have the eye to see the basic mistakes so the Ai starts to over compensate. We get people starting to appear in the images. These are obviously holiday snaps.

"Remove the people"

"What would you like them changed to?"

"... grass. I just don't want them there"

They can't do it. The one that can actually use photoshop hasn't developed the eye to see his mistakes, ends up getting angry at me for not understanding he can't make specific changes. The girl whose background was a little photography has given me 40 progressively worse images with wilder mistakes every time. This is 4 days into the project.

I'm both pissed about the waste, but elated seeing ai fall at the first hurdle. It's not even that the images are unusable, the people making them have no eye for what's wrong, no thicker skin for constructive criticism and feedback, no basic artistic training in perspective and functionality in what they're making.

Yes the hype is going to pump more money into this. They won't go anywhere for a while.

But this has been such a glowing perfect moment of watching the fundamental part fail in the face of the most simple tasks. All were fired and the company no longer accepts Ai prompters as applicants. Your training as an artist will always be the most important part of this process and it is invaluable. I hope this post gives you a boost in a dark time.

End description]

He wants some bread… 🥖🥐 Twitter I Instagram

[ID: A digital drawing of the front of a bakery, a small dragon sits outside on the front steps staring up into the window. Outside it’s dark and raining, the light from the bakery is warm orange, the window full of shelves of bread. The bakery is called “Indigo’s”, and on the window reads “bakery cafe”. /End ID]

[Image description: The same dragon now lays on a pile of bread with some chunks torn out of them, fast asleep in the backroom of the bakery, near some sort of fire with the racks of different kinds of bread all around the storage area. They are safe and full. Description on post reads, “He got his bread.” End ID]

Oh thank god

classic scifi novels by men r always like. page 1 here’s a cool scifi idea i had. page 2 i hate women so much it’s unreal

ALT

ALT

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guys if one more person leaves a tag like this on my post im gonna lose my mind. There Are Science Fiction Authors Who Are Not Misogynistic Men

ok i’ve gotten one too many ‘this is why i don’t read sci-fi’ comments so here’s a rec list for the people convinced all science fiction is bad and misogynistic (with something for everyone, hopefully!):

(also, btw, the book links are to the Storygraph, which includes content warnings for each one!)

this list is long enough, but have some more authors (who are not cis men) also worth checking out: rivers solomon, yoon ha lee, charlie jane anders, aliette de bodard, xiran jay zhao, mary robinette kowal, corinne duyvis

and finally, not all older/classic scifi is written by crusty old white guys who hate women!!! some iconic authors i’d particularly recommend looking into are ursula k. le guin, octavia e. butler, samuel r. delany and vonda n. mcintyre 🥰

Also Andre Norton, a brilliant female science fiction writer that I grew up reading. Anne McCaffrey and RA McAvoy are also great.

Some more non-misogynist (mostly women) sci fi writers:

Lois McMaster Bujold - space opera with disabled and queer characters as heroes

C J Cherryh - sociological sci fi that really gets into the personal and cultural implications of technology

Connie Willis - time travel sci fi with heart

Alice Sheldon (“James Tiptree Jr.”) - One of the pioneering women sf writers, who wrote under a male pseudonym for much of her life.

I’m sure a million people have already mentioned it, but Tamsyn Muir - Lesbian necromancers in spaaaace

On the YA side I recommend Monica Hughes, an unjustly neglected author these days. Her Keeper of the Isis Light is amazing.

@eeriansadowtwopointoh

Mortal Kombat (1995)

Image description: animated gif of Raiden from Mortal Kombat. All we see of him is his arm. He tries to reach out to someone but when he does the screen glitches. Then his hand recoils in pain and pulls back, curling into a fist and trembling before the arm drops out of shot. The screen turns black and shows the words "Damn you, Elder Gods". End Description.

would you still love me if i was a worm?

[Image description: a comic titled Worm. The title letters all look like worms.

A silhouette of the torso of a person with the text, "I found myself in a bad spot, dying of thirst."

A silhouette of the full body with the text, "I didn't call out to god for help... I didn't believe."

An intricate pattern made up of lots of tiny shapes including mushrooms and love hearts with the following text above and below it, "But it came anyway. Its voice rang out incomprehensible."

A silhouette of a person with a yellow skeleton inside it that looks to be shaking and in pain. The text reads, "It shook my organs. Its touch stung my skin and I perceived a horrible taste. Its form was as complex as the earth."

The silhouette is moving through lots of different coloured lines. Text reads, "Suddenly I was thrust into a dimension I never could have imagined before. The ether rushed past me at incredible speed."

A yellow silhouette stands on a path surrounded by grass with a tree and blue sky around. The text reads, "Before I knew it I was home."

The yellow person looks down at their feet on the path. There is a little worm in front of them. The person bends down and says, "Poor thing." They pick up the worm and put it down on the grass saying, "Let's get you back where you belong."

End description]

I don't remember why I decided to make Starscream a flying fox but I cannot go back now. have you SEEN the videos where they are eating fruit??? It's SO CUTEEE

Imagine your boyfriend hanging out on your shoulder. And he's a bat. It's too cute not to do

Image description: a series of fanart sketches based on Transformers. The sketches show Skyfire as a human and Starscream as a flying fox/fruit bat. In the first picture Starscream hangs onto Skyfire's shoulder as he cuts up vegetables and fruit. The bat looks very curious about what is happening. The next picture shows them from another angle with Starscream still sitting on his shoulder. The bat has his tongue sticking out. In the final picture Starscream is tucking into a bowl of fruit and looking delighted. End description.

On the subject of the degradation of fanfic communities, you guys need to fucking start commenting and engaging with fics positively again. I've been seeing a lot of fics, 200+ kudos only 3 comments. You survived all the way until the end and you won't even give compliments to the chef?

On the flip side, I saw a popular fic just straight up deleted because most the comments they got were update requests. The author got sick of it and ollied outied for their mental health.

Then I have homies in a fandom Discord sobbing my ear off because they put 10+ hours into a chapter of their robot yaoi epic, just to get a singular sparkle heart emoji. That's not engaging with it at all that's just proof you consumed buddy. Kudos 2 Electric Boogaloo.

It's EZPZ. Just say "Nice! I liked the part where __ did __ that was so __!" Badda bing badda boom that's a bonefide comment bone appetite.

Afraid someone's gonna point and laugh at you for admitting you read a Starscream x Megatron fuck or die fic? That's what the guest comment feature was built for, you plank. Get out there and start telling those cringe authors that you appreciate the quality of the slop.

Oh huh

I have OC too