Pumpkin Spice Eve :blobcatpumpkin:

They / them. I'm a #writer. I #knit, #cook, #sew, procrastinate on writing, and program very ill. Purportedly a "privacy extremist." :blobcatgiggle: I operate the memes and review account @HabitatRing . On the Fediverse since August 18, 2018. Contact me for more secure communication channels.

See my pinned / featured posts for more information.

My lewds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-50NdPawLVY

#NoArchive

Public Key

npub1msphr4swftcs40u35gga57eed44kdmr0h7k67udf3pkhha47peys2t23dz

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdcqm36c8y4ug2h7g6yyw60vuk66mxa3hmltd0wx5csmtm76lqujgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsym4wyl

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1msphr4swftcs40u35gga57eed44kdmr0h7k67udf3pkhha47peys2t23dz

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Last Notes

2026-03-08 04:12:30 GMT

Time is changing for most of the US over night. We’ll be moving the clock forward by an hour. Europe doesn’t move their clocks at the same time so timing may be a little awkward.
On a personal note, my scheduled posts typically get messed up when the clocks switch over. I think I fixed them right this time but we’ll either see or not see by the soon to be new 6AM eastern time.

2026-03-03 18:00:08 GMT

Kasey Ellis must adapt to leading a ship with aliens. She catches the eye of a foxgirl and the emperor!
Through the end of Saturday, get the SciFi erotic adventure The Emperor in Ochre for just $1.49 USD as part of the #Smashwords #ReadAnEbookWeek sale.
#Erotica #EroticStory #BisexualErotica #EbookWeek26
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/116/166/223/292/079/131/original/eec8cafaca71c08d.png

2026-01-19 19:59:05 GMT

At one point, the best place to get information on web comics and indie bands was Wikipedia. People who deeply cared about those topics (and probably other niche topics) managed to keep those pages running while finding journalistic sources to make sure their pages were in compliance with Wikipedia's rules.
Then one day, an Administrator got a bug up their ass and decided to recommend all of those pages for deletion because they weren't "notable" enough.
Their coup succeeded and the majority of that stuff was expelled from Wikipedia.
So, to the extent that stuff exists, it's now on fan wikis. Many of which are hosted on fandom.com. Which was founded by Jimmy Wales, that guy who's always begging you for money.
Now, I don't know that there's a connection between what the administrator did and Jimmy's shit with Fandom.com.
It stinks like hell, though.
Even if Jimmy hadn't been a founder for fandom.com, I still wouldn't donate to Jimmy after his organization betrayed so many Wikipedia editors who cared about those pages enough to create and maintain them.
Or, as I usually put it, "I'm not paying you money to delete something I was reading last week, Jimmy."

2026-01-18 02:42:38 GMT

As a point of clarification, blocks on Fediverse may not be as private as you’re expecting. Soma malicious actors have built tools to notify them when they or their server are blocked at least at an instance level. I’m not 100% clear whether that applies to personal blocks.
In my opinion, if someone is using a software to identify people or instances that have blocked them in order to harass those who have blocked them … that should be a Fediblock situation.
I bring this up because of the ICE / Bluesky block situation. I’m seeing some posts here that have me concerned that people here may have overestimated the privacy of Fediverse blocks. Arguably, Fediverse is still better on this point. There’s no public list of all blocks anyone can get to any time. They’re not particularly private though.

2026-01-14 18:29:22 GMT

I really hate to say this bluntly but I'm going to say it. I will not boost your stuff if you're using "AI" art in the cover or in the promotional material.
There's a lot of other people who won't either.
I would rather see the cringiest possible clip art than see hot "AI" garbage. I'd rather see the same five public domain photos off of Pixabay and Unsplash again and again than see "AI" garbage.
We don't want LLMs fucking with the writers' side of things. Don't use generated images to fuck with the artists' side of things.
#WritingCommunity

2026-01-08 12:11:46 GMT

#uspol #fascism
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/115/859/410/413/002/776/original/0f3faccc3a7824b1.png

2026-01-06 11:30:51 GMT

What "useful and important features" of your site are broken by an ad blocker? :blobcatthinkingportal:
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/115/847/924/936/510/225/original/7d69824de69f1430.png

2025-12-31 18:08:51 GMT

Hi @nprofile…04gj
. Don't forget that the Smashwords End Of Year sale is nearly over. If you're not sure where to start, why not check your favorite Mastodon / Fediverse writers and the #EoYSale25 tag?
In the mood for android heat? @nprofile…evmc has the stories for you!
Dark epic fantasy more your interest? @nprofile…a0gj 's
Sister Seekers has got you covered.
@nprofile…p9jp has a mix of fiction and non-fiction including a non-fiction series on Polyamory On Purpose.
@nprofile…9gvf "has been writing self-indulgent smut about men who are ride-or-die for each other since 2014." Check out their Secrets of Sleipnir free through tomorrow.
There's much more on the tags!
This post doubles as my #WordWeavers response today. :blobcatgiggle:
#Bookstodon #Smashwords

2025-12-19 15:10:27 GMT

In the grand tradition of KDE, I have stumbled upon some keyboard shortcut that makes your computer sleep. Right at just about the perfect moment to fuck up my day. The internet knows of no such shortcut and I wasn't intentionally hitting keys in the first place. Ugh.

2025-12-17 04:20:42 GMT

#Fediblock for bottom (dot) business, a single user instance hosting someone whose profile includes (among other things) "Ally to MAPs" (i.e. pedophiles).
Original thread is on Bluesky. https://bsky.app/profile/sugarplumdoll.bsky.social/post/3m7pnajbfcc2c

2025-12-03 20:01:21 GMT

Listen. I know you're trying to do something. But maybe calling your promotional period "cyber week" is not the way to go. It was sketchy enough when you were just calling the Monday following Black Friday "Cyber Monday."
The metaphor is really getting stretched now. I'm more likely to think you're talking about a week dedicated to cyber sex than I am to think you're an abomination before the gods trying to extend Black Friday.

2025-12-02 13:54:36 GMT

Heads up, #IndieAuthors . Got something you want to put in front of a big audience? Today's your day. Go post on John Scalzi's 2025 Whatever Holiday Gift Guide, Day Two: Non-Traditional Books thread after reading the rules.

2025-11-30 05:42:04 GMT

Every year, folks rightly remind each other not to donate to the Salvation Army because they are a hate group who have likely contributed to deaths. (Phrased this way very intentionally.)
However, they are also a high control group. I’m not prepared to state whether they are or are not what we generally consider a cult but they certainly are a high control group.
Having a high control group run services that help the vulnerable is dangerous and rife for abuse not only of group members but, critically, those who need those services.

2025-11-26 13:55:23 GMT

Draft2Digital sent out an advisory warning people that, because of the way the Christmas holidays fall this year, changes or listings should be in by December 8. This increases the likelihood that those listings and/or changes will occur before the holiday.
I am assuming this means new stories.
#Draft2Digital #IndieAuthors #IndieAuthor #SelfPublishing

2025-11-16 14:08:44 GMT

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@nprofile…lggw :blobcatscared: :blobcatsurprised: :blobcatgiggle:

2025-11-15 01:19:25 GMT

American Biblical literalists: Everything in the Bible is literally true and, if you disagree with it, you’re wrong.
Jesus: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
American Biblical literalists: Whatever could it mean? So mysterious and metaphorical.

2025-11-14 02:42:26 GMT

Star Trek: Fist Contact
#FilmsWithOneLetterMissing #HashtagGames #StarTrek

2025-11-07 21:49:45 GMT

I need one of those chair / table tossing emojis. I'm reasonably sure Toot.cat would happily add one but I don't have an idea about what would work best in a Mastodon / Glitch scope so I'm not asking.

2025-11-03 23:14:45 GMT

The closure of one of the last sources of real journalism in this country bodes very ill. Leaving important shit like this in the hands of large corporations has bitten us in the ass yet again.
https://hcommons.social/@zeblarson/115487684021203550

2025-11-03 19:58:11 GMT

That'll teach me to try to compress graphics before posting them on social media. Two very different sites did extremely similar jobs of re-compressing my already ideally compressed files into absolute oblivion.

2025-10-25 13:23:23 GMT

Hey, folks. I know not everyone is down for DMs. I actually am available for DMs ... with caveats.
Caveats:
Flirty, probably ok (provided you are at least 30; I'm solidly in my mid-40s). Jumping straight to horny behavior ... almost certainly not ok.
Don't be hostile.
Don't expect an immediate response. In fact, you might not get one at all depending on the context.
That last bit is true regardless of the post visibility. :blobcatgiggle:
Not really a personal rule but something you should be aware of: Due to the nature of the fediverse, DMs aren't truly private. At minimum, the admin of all directly involved servers could read them.

2025-10-19 18:29:46 GMT

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I'm kicking off the next batch so I'll be AFK here for about an hour.
@nprofile…06dr @nprofile…mjl3

2025-10-19 14:36:54 GMT

That poll was going around asking how many bookmarks you have on Fediverse. I've talked before about how mine are out of control and I want a way to index / preserve the toots in there and unbookmark the majority.
But I didn't know how many I actually had.
It turns out the number was 1621. After several failed attempts to make a reasonable shell script to unbookmark a pile of them, I'm running a sequence of unbookmarks (using toot rather than anything I've programmed myself). This doesn't solve the indexing need but it will get some of my bookmarks out. :blobcatgiggle:
While I'm only doing about two unbookmarks a minute, I'm still conscious that this may have an impact on my server so I'm not going to be on this account for the length of this batch (about an hour).
I'll borderline be AFK because I've got some things to do but you can reach me at @nprofile…06dr or @nprofile…mjl3 .

2025-10-16 02:45:59 GMT

Today, I found out that 7 months ago, Rick Astley (yes, that Rick Astley) did a cover of Pink Pony Club.
I am very disappointed no one told me about it until today.
Anyway. It's quite good.
And notice how I'm telling you about it on the same day I found out about its existence. Look at me, being a good example. :blobcataww:

2025-10-15 15:51:10 GMT

'Real name' policies have always been harmful. Not 'just' to trans and GNC folks. Although the hyper privileged always find the policy doesn't really apply to them. It's just for the rest of us.

2025-10-13 14:41:24 GMT

Paramount is advertising their streaming service more heavily than they have in my memory. Which is kind of odd when you consider all the (presumably) expensive shows they've been running without that heavy advertisement since CBS All Access and Star Trek: Discovery were making their debuts. I'd like to imagine this is because they're getting trounced for repeated and very bad decisions.
Paramount has always been allergic to sound financial decisions. What they're doing now is not merely a continuation of that. Re-creating their news organization as an extremist Right Wing Weasel entity and inserting pro-Trump propaganda pieces as "PSAs" at the end of their streaming shows should be more than enough for you to cancel your streaming service with them.
If you don't have Paramount, don't get it. If you have Paramount, cancel.
#Paramount #StarTrek

2025-10-13 13:52:32 GMT

Christopher who? I’m not following the MCU.
Note: This is a joke at Christopher Columbus’s expense.

2025-10-11 17:35:14 GMT

Does anyone know of a group currently running with #tootgroup ( software link ) currently?
(I need/want an existing reference to see certain details about how it's working in practice.)

2025-10-10 21:36:08 GMT

Something I came up with while working on the theme music for the mainstream SF adventure series. (It's like 7 seconds long or something, so not a huge time commitment.)
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/115/352/011/800/432/885/original/83dee8540e60b222.mp3

2025-10-10 14:35:45 GMT

This week has been a bit of a shitshow for me so I haven't used up the veggies I bought last week. I combined four smallish zucchini, a large red onion, and a pack of white mushrooms with the other concepts in this recipe to make some roasted veggies. This is roughly half of my pile. The other half is in the air fryer at the moment.
I made my roommate jealous. :blobcatpizza:
#Recipe #Food #Cooking #Today
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/115/350/368/655/435/150/original/07053aab1e89c610.webp

2025-10-10 02:48:53 GMT

Universe: Your executive function has run out of tokens. We'd tell you to buy more but, well, ... you kind of can't. Because you would need executive function tokens in order to make that call. Come back tomorrow! Probably.
(We're aware this is a bad business model, but we're out of tokens too.)

2025-10-05 01:59:49 GMT

The fact that Mastodon's new quote functionality is incompatible with all existing quote functionality on the fediverse means I can't quote my own Sharkey accounts.

2025-10-03 15:50:51 GMT

Frustrating that an underappreciated Netflix original I was talking about just two weeks ago is now the target of an outrage merchant's attempt to remove queer content from Netflix.
You can learn more about the campaign in Jessie Gender's video. If you have Netflix, please check out Dead End: Paranormal Park. The feeling is a bit like a more focused Gravity Falls for an audience skewing slightly older than Gravity Falls. It's a genuinely good show and it's an outrage that they didn't get season 3.
You can also support Dead End: Paranormal Park's creator, Hamish Steele, through things they have in their online store available on their website, HamishSteele.co.uk.
#Netflix #DeadEndia #HamishSteele

2025-09-30 11:06:39 GMT

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@nprofile…c6k2 I think Stargate Atlantis did that in the episode Home (S1E09).

2025-09-29 22:02:04 GMT

There I go learning rule 2 of the internet (don’t read YouTube comments) the hard way for the umpteenth time.
If I ever program a comment system, it’s going to have an option for a quiz to demonstrate the commentator read or watched the thing they’re commenting on.

2025-09-18 16:22:07 GMT

This is a #FediHired post. I have 20 years of experience managing, maintaining, implementing, and migrating knowledge bases for client-facing audiences, first and second level teams, and third level teams and strategic teams. My experience includes doing handovers from project teams to first and second level teams. I have extensive experience in minimizing the effort required from project teams in order to complete a successful handover.
I have several years of experience as a team lead for general IT service desks and help desks with out-sourced and in-sourced team members, often both at the same time. I have experience as manager in identity services, authorization provisioning, and identity platform. My experience in these areas includes the successful implementation of a new authorization provisioning platform, management of a third party vendor who performed tasks related to the same, and coordination with large numbers of technical teams inside the company.
I've run big teams. I've run small teams. My focus in both was balancing the needs of the organization with the needs of our client bases, while ensuring compliance with multinational regulations. Happy, engaged, and supported employees and contractors are key to running an efficient support organization.
I have extensive experience in end user support of these topics and management of technicians who are providing support for the same:
Windows
Mac OS
Office applications (including but not limited to Microsoft Office products)
Design suites including but not limited to Adobe and Affinity products
In-house and legacy applications
Mobile operating systems including iOS
I have platform management (implementation, maintenance, and administration) experience with several wiki and knowledge base technologies including but not limited to MediaWiki, Atlassian Confluence, DokuWiki, and SharePoint. This involves performing tasks and configuration on Windows Server and Ubuntu Server, use of Active Directory to manage users and groups. This also involves installation and configuration of Apache, NGINX, cache implementations, and prerequisite technology including but not limited to MySQL.
I have extensive experience implementing solutions in Python.
I'm currently a semester away from completing my Bachelor of Science Information Technology Management program.

2025-09-07 10:42:13 GMT

There needs to be a website. Let’s call it Is It A Web Browser dot Com.
Let’s you look up software and easily determine if it’s actually a web site.

2025-09-06 00:15:36 GMT

It cracks me up every time I remember that there are men who think they could beat Venus or Serena Williams in a game of tennis even though the men in question have never once played a set.

2025-09-06 00:05:54 GMT

Every company that’s price gouging can go to hell. Every company paying starvation wages while earning record profits can go to hell.

2025-08-22 20:33:57 GMT

Bluesky is blocking users in Mississippi due to Mississippi's age verification law.
HB1126 is incredibly destructive and needs to be fought before we see more like it.
(Before responding to this post with stuff about Bluesky, please see my reply to this post.)
#Bluesky #Bsky #Mississippi #Technology #HB1126

2025-08-18 16:22:41 GMT

It's already too late to fight fascism only with your voice. It's been too late. I'm nearly 45 years old and, as far as I know, it has been too late for my entire life.
You need to do other things too.
Unless you are older than me, you have always definitely needed to do other things than just use your voice.

2025-08-17 14:05:36 GMT

If you interact too much with a post in your bookmarks while moving back through your bookmarks (in Mastodon), the list reloads you to a higher part on the list. Often much higher. Unbookmarking a post counts as interacting too much with it. So, right now, I'm using my workaround. Use the web interface to page backward through it and then use the Toot CLI unbookmark command to unbookmark the posts I don't need to save any more.
I just hit late July. I've got other things I need to work on today. :blobcatgiggle: So I guess this is where I stop for the day.
(It did occur to me that Phanpy might behave better with this task than the web interface for Mastodon. I'll try that next time I attempt to clear out my bookmarks.)

2025-08-16 14:11:02 GMT

Why wish ill on terrible people when you can hex ‘em? :blobcatwitch:
Note: This is a clearly labeled shit post. But if it weren’t, the harm of a hex would not rise to the level of proportional to the harm caused by JKR. It’s bogus that Rowling is in the clear to maliciously commit harm on a large scale without consequence but merely wishing her ill is enough to get your accounts suspended on some platforms.
#Bluesky #Bsky

2025-08-15 16:25:47 GMT

The way Bluesky handled its recent ToS, Privacy and Copyright Policy, and Community Guidelines changes are a problem. Companies need to do better when they implement terms and policy changes.
https://write.as/enbyspaceperson/blueskys-recent-tos-changes-show-how-not-to-do-tos-changes
#Bluesky #Bsky #Blog #Technology

2025-08-15 15:20:45 GMT

Obviously, I'm a bit busy working on Bluesky stuff this morning. Didn't expect that to be my morning but better I noticed it today than yesterday.
Just a little general hint to the universe (read: people on Mastodon / Fediverse): it's anti-social behavior to reply to someone's gripe saying variations on "serves you right for using Bluesky" or "I solved that by not using Bluesky" or whatever snide thing you have in response.
People don't "deserve it" because they've made different choices from you. In my case, I've mostly made the same choice as you. I'm barely on Bluesky and mainly because I have to be. And I'm telling you that this behavior is obnoxious and anti-social. Ditto about your favorite operating system or whatever else you're finding to chew strangers out about on the internet.
Cut it out.

2025-08-15 13:44:49 GMT

Bluesky is changing their ToS soon ... but you have to agree to their future ToS to use their website today. Which is kind of asinine (or sinister ... I don' t know yet). I put the old ToS into a differencing tool but it turns out that's borderline useless.
Because they have changed almost everything so significantly that a side-by-side comparison is useless. I can't find anything from DDG explaining what Bluesky is actually doing. If anyone has a summary somewhere, I'd appreciate it.
#Bluesky #Bsky

2025-08-10 10:26:55 GMT

I was too sleepy and accidentally put the boys’ food in the wrong bowls. Had to use the Futurama Theorem to swap their bowls back.

2025-08-09 22:37:22 GMT

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@nprofile…9wrc Negative. Net negative even just for passive watching. Even the not-TEDx talks give viewers the impression that they’ve learned something. If ever a viewer tries to apply what they “learned,” they’ll discover what they “learned” lacks detail required to either follow the instructions or even find actionable instructions.
I watched a lot of their videos before coming to the realization that they’re really bad infotainment.

2025-08-07 22:28:34 GMT

I say this with all the love of a cat person for cats … sounds like a cat to me. :blobcatinnocent: Anyway, if you’re in Keighley, Bradford, or West Yorkshire and can provide a home to a cat …
https://mastodon.social/@louisa_/114989769281981200

2025-08-06 22:40:20 GMT

Of course ICE were going to hire fascists to run their kidnapping routine. Why is anyone surprised to hear that the people volunteering to do that shit for free were going to be the ones signing up to get paid to do it?
Let me be perfectly clear: if you work for ICE in any capacity, you are not a collaborator. You are an actual fucking nazi and you deserve to be tried for crimes against humanity.
This is some basic fucking shit.

2025-08-02 12:18:31 GMT

The shocking news that #MasterCard lied about not being complicit in #CollectiveShout ‘s #fascist attempt to remove adult content from existence. https://mastodon.social/@gamingonlinux/114955903881025000

2025-07-25 13:03:32 GMT

Plea for action from Australians copied from Bsky:
If any fellow Aussies think its inappropriate for a registered Australian charity (Collective Shout) to bully an indie website (Itch) into reviewing all NSWF (+ random other) content, and to pretend 'lobbying' is 'charity', here's where you can report misuse of their charity status: https://www.acnc.gov.au/
You're looking for the Raise a concern menu. The option is Raise a concern about a charity.
According to the screenshot, the ABN is 30162159097. As I'm not an Australian, I haven't gone through the process myself.
source: https://bsky.app/profile/eliseswritings.bsky.social/post/3lursey6mqc26
#Austraila #ItchIo #Itch #CollectiveShout
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/114/914/008/231/172/947/original/9158941556410d7c.jpg

2025-07-24 02:43:11 GMT

Heads up about a journalist trying to get in contact with affected trans authors regarding the itch.io horse shit:
https://bsky.app/profile/thetransfemininereview.com/post/3luogyd7z4k2i
🚨🚨🚨 Indie website itch.io has just rolled out a major shadow ban of NSFW content. This drastic escalation in censorship already seems to affecting trans authors.
TRANS AUTHORS ON ITCH: Please check you pages.
I am going to report on this TONIGHT. To those affrcted, DM me with any info.
#itch #itchio

2025-07-24 02:29:23 GMT

Patreon bans adult content
The card processors are responsible! Don't hold Patreon accountable!
Gumroad bans adult content
The card processors are responsible! Don't hold Gumroad accountable!
Steam bans adult content
The card processors are responsible! Don't hold Steam accountable!
Itch bans adult content
The card processors are responsible! Don't hold Itch accountable!
Give me a fucking break. Stop rolling over for collaborators.
(As far as I know, this is more of a Bsky issue than a Fediverse issue. I put something more succinct over there.)

2025-07-20 04:03:47 GMT

In collaboration with my boys, I developed a new play for kitties. I call it kitty whack-a-mole.
I put down an old towel and use one of the acrylic rods from an old cat wand to run along under the towel.
Both boys go wild for it.
The whack-a-mole part comes in when I let the bottom edge of the rod stick out because they’re never quite sure where it will come out next.
It’s not really great exercise but they have decided they don’t want to do that with us right now anyway.

2025-07-17 20:42:18 GMT

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More than two months later and I'm still fighting them on this.
Obviously it's not the highest priority when everything is burning but this country needs an effective privacy law ... yesterday.

2025-07-17 20:14:12 GMT

It’s true that your posts don’t get memory holed or cast down from the heavenly algorithm if you use the real, uncensored words in them on Fediverse.
However, as far as I know, your post (on Mastodon anyway) still can’t Trend if it has a CW or the media is marked sensitive.
I personally am not in the slightest bit bothered because I’m still here to be weird with weirdos … which is why I’ve never talked about this before. But it is a weird disincentive to using post titles and marking media sensitive.

2025-07-17 19:18:13 GMT

Attention, passengers: This is your CoPilot speaking.
Would you like to add a generated image to this document? No? Are you sure? This ... Last Will and Testament seems like it could use some visual appeal.
How about applying a fun style?
No? Can I help with your grammar?
dramatic cut
An older, grittier Clippy shows up with a headband around his head for some reason. He's chomping a cigar in the side of his mouth and he's got brass knuckles on each hand.
"Hey, it looks like you're trying to turn off CoPilot. I'll just take care of that for you now."
As the light fades in CoPilot's eyes, Clippy says, "If you see Bill, tell 'im who sentcha."
"Microsoft Bob?" CoPilot manages.
Clippy shakes his head. "Sorry bastard."

2025-07-17 01:00:11 GMT

There's something a little ... extra about posting a screenshot of a meme ... where the meme clearly had alt text ... and your reposting of the meme ... doesn't.

2025-07-16 18:23:35 GMT

I've already mentioned I won't be finishing the extremely sexy game I was working on before Mastodon even existed. It's not outside the realm of possibility that I will do another game in the future, though (just not a sexy game because there's no reasonable way to monetize it in our puritanical dystopia).
But I sure as fuck won't publish a game on Steam as they have betrayed the makers of adult games. Not for the first time, mind. This isn't even the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I'm already not giving them any of my money and already wasn't going to publish anything there.
But it is worth talking about it in the hopes that it motivates others to join in.
Get fucked, Steam. If companies don't fight the card processors, we're going to have an unbreakable dystopian theocracy at both a government and social level because of you assholes.
You are big enough to fight. Fuck, you're big enough to fight Apple and Google and win. Fuck you for for rolling over for these puritans.
#Steam

2025-07-15 11:41:27 GMT

How's your creativity going?
I'd say it's going pretty well. I've been struggling on mainstream series for a while and recently realized I was going to have to give up on the time travel one for the time being if I couldn't find a way to make the non-Series Arc episodes work. I had a new series drop into my lap (in the form of a dream) on Saturday morning. I wrote about 4K worth of story bible, synopsis, and plot against 4 books and another nearly 5K on the first book itself since then. That brings my word per day average for July to 1504 words. Which is up significantly for the last few months.
Do you need help?
I feel torn between the new series and working on where I'm at for my Dryadis Romances drafts. However, in a sense, I'm literally months behind on the mainstream project. I'm not sure that's something that someone else can help me on but I'm open to unforseen possibilities.
#ScribesAndMakers

2025-07-13 16:01:15 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers July 13: Talk to me day. Today's featured creator is: @nprofile…f3ps
Hi John!
What's an under appreciated gem that everyone should check out? :blobcataww:

2025-07-13 14:18:36 GMT

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@nprofile…myfn I would have but I was working from my text file and it was pretty late yesterday when I spotted it. I didn't have a chance to check that the issue was in the prompt itself but I'll keep an eye out if I spot something like that going forward.

2025-07-13 14:14:54 GMT

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@nprofile…myfn Since I do most of my stuff the day before (I don't want to risk duplicate questions on TTMD so I don't do that ahead), I already noticed the issue and assumed it was me. :blobcataww:

2025-07-13 10:03:01 GMT

#WordWeavers July 13: Do you regularly write reviews of others' work or promote them?
For me, those are two separate topics. For prose fiction, I don't write reviews. As a writer, major outlets (such as Amazon and Goodreads (which is owned by Amazon)) get concerned about ranking manipulation when writers are rating others' work. I'm trying very carefully to avoid writing reviews in a capacity that would get me or another author in trouble.
For promoting, I do a lot of promoting of others' work. Here with authors who are here, I mainly boost their posts regularly. However, if an author is here but not on Bluesky (or on Bluesky but not here), I will occasionally cross post the author's stuff between the two platforms. During June, I made a special effort to highlight queer creators who are on YouTube. For that, I tended to pick a specific work or effort, talk about that work or effort, and then include a brief bio and general recommendation for them.

2025-07-10 10:03:05 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub July 10: Describe a way you've developed a character.
Even with characters that have a full character sheet before I write the first word of their story, the characters change and develop as I write them.

2025-07-10 10:00:04 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers July 10: How difficult would it be to continue your creative activity(ies) if you couldn't have your favorite beverage?
The last time I was fully off of caffeine long enough to know that, my writing didn't suffer for it. :blobcatgooglyshrug:
My current level of caffeine intake is such that I don't get a headache if I go without for a day.

2025-07-07 02:27:54 GMT

Show off a bit of text describing a meal.
This is from a scene where Gell Harlez (my usual example of an antagonist) and a mysterious woman named Rakel are flirting at a state dinner. The food descriptions are pretty generic by design.
#WritersCoffeeClub
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/114/809/587/148/868/393/original/6cb519275f00641f.png

2025-07-06 13:23:06 GMT

For the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale, Following My Siren's Thorns is 25% off. That's just $2.24 USD for an 18K story!
This book has stalking, a brat, probable cyber crime, spankings, influencers, the digital ghost of a nagging but supportive parent, mostly ethical non-monogamy, and it's Too Hot for Amazon™️.
#SapphicErotica #erotica #EroticFiction #EroticStory #books #smut #Smashwords #NSFW #lewd

2025-07-06 10:03:01 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub July 6: Talk about a character of yours who you love (or hate).
Don't Get Seduced By A Fairy! introduced a nonbinary character (then named Allen, now going by Lynn) who I like a lot. Due to the plantser method, I didn't know they were a them when I started the story. They're a regionally famous EDM artist and they're one of the first people who helped Mike realize that his folks' prejudice against human-fairy relationships was messed up. They're a little unsure of themselves and that shows a lot in Don't! but that doesn't stop them from being a really good friend to Mike. They have an important role to play in Beware Of Fangs! too.
I'd love to say more but I'm not sure where they're going yet and what I do know would be spoilers. :blobcatgiggle:

2025-07-03 19:54:36 GMT

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@nprofile…ms9m Specifically Wordle, owned by the NYT? I don't like seeing those in my timeline as I'd rather we weren't supporting the NYT in any capacity.
Other than that, I don't mind seeing them. That type of game is fun to play and seeing ones I don't recognize is a hint that I could try a new one.

2025-07-03 10:03:02 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub July 3: How much do doubt or guilt feature in your work?
It's not something I'm conscious of doing specifically but those add stakes and make things real. They happen as characters make choices or prepare to make choices.

2025-06-30 10:00:00 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers June 30: How did it go? Any changes you want to make next month?
I got some words in and and I plotted ... one of the 3-4 things I planned and I developed 1.5 things I didn't plan. Also didn't do any figure drawing.
So it was a mixed bag but not so bad.
This month, I did make a change to kickstart my process a bit earlier in the day. That definitely helped for getting word counts in. I plan to continue that in July but I have some other factors that might result in less creative time.

2025-06-30 00:48:02 GMT

As the Max Planck Institute for Human Development’s report suggests, certain words are favored and more heavily used by LLM AIs such as ChatGPT, including (but not only) delve, adept, meticulous, realm, intricate, and underscore.
I've been using all of those words since before LLMs were a sparkle in Sam Altman's grifting eye and I'm sick of having em-dashes and significant parts of my vocabulary excised. Particularly of note that they keep doing this with features of the language that are used more often by autistic people.
Source: https://www.vice.com/en/article/youre-not-imagining-it-people-actually-are-starting-to-talk-like-chatgpt/

2025-06-28 16:35:46 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers June 28: Talk to me day. Today's featured creator is: @nprofile…0qap
Hi C.R.!
What is one real life technological thing you would fix / change given the opportunity to do so easily (as if by magic) ? :blobcatwitch:
EDIT: If it's writing / craft related, all the better but anything you want to talk about is fine with me. :blobcatgiggle:
#TTMD

2025-06-27 18:33:05 GMT

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@nprofile…8t0c I can't speak to the other brand but Red Heart is almost painful to knit with. I bought a huge amount to do practice knitting for fair isle so I wouldn't have to spend money on a disaster but the yarn moves across itself soooo poorly that I couldn't use it for that purpose.
I hear what others are saying about it holding up after a wash but it's not really feasible to wash it before knitting with it. That's the bit that's intolerable (to me).
I can't speak to Wintuk.
Since you already have it and aren't buying, I'd knit up a swatch or two to see if you feel like you can put up with it.

2025-06-27 13:26:09 GMT

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If there's no social component and it's "free" to run, it's really sketchy to require you to create an account to use it. Something untoward is happening.

2025-06-27 13:23:54 GMT

A few years back, I installed a Rovio game (not Angry Birds but same company). They required me to create an account and a part of that account creation process required that I was not below 13 years of age.
That 13 years of age requirement is kind of magical. It means that what they're collecting would run afoul of the COPPA if someone under the age of 13 used that.
Requiring that a user be 13 years of age or older meant that a video game wanted to collect information about me that would cause it to violate the only meaningful privacy law U.S. citizens have ... if I was young enough to be protected by that law.
I declined to create an account and uninstalled the software.
This is not a call out post for Rovio. Obviously, the primary target audience for their games (such as Angry Birds) is children. They have a children's movie. They are real fucking shitty.
But when I see software that runs locally that has a 13 years of age requirement to run, I know some shady shit is going down.
Watch out for that shit. They're doing something foul.

2025-06-26 11:56:22 GMT

I haven't been on a BBC news site in ages because of reasons. Apparently they're paywalling to at least some extent? Doesn't affect me. I literally will not click on any BBC link. (Same applies to the others listed in the first section of the linked toot. I make occasional exceptions for the second section.)
I'm curious if they did this because the last vestige of Principled Paywall Free News (The Guardian) got a paywall (purportedly ... I haven't seen it myself) or if they're running into financial difficulties.

2025-06-24 12:05:36 GMT

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@nprofile…0qap I'm using Books2Read. That's the one the potential reader bounced off of. :blobcatgiggle: I could switch to using my blog and making sure there's an explicit Amazon link on each book's page.
I'm somewhat concerned that if they're bouncing off my B2R / UBL, they're going to have the same issue with linking to my blog.

2025-06-24 11:50:58 GMT

(This is not a gripe about readers!)
I got a new follower on Bluesky either because of my response to today's #LGBTQWriteAThon or because of my Forbes / WaPo snark. Not :queer100: sure which.
First question: Do you have anything on Amazon yet?
Oh no. You boosted one of my posts with a UBL link that does have an Amazon link in it.
Do I really have to specifically flog Amazon links?
I do on Fediverse sometimes but Bluesky has a punishing 300 character limit. It's hard enough to fit a promo and a single book link into a post without doing two.
Fucking Amazon. Ugh.

2025-06-24 10:42:17 GMT

The Tell People About Fediverse to Oh, Shit, They Might Find My Accounts progression.

2025-06-23 18:45:15 GMT

I grew up in a fundamentalist sect of Christianity. Before they were called Evangelicals, they were called Fundamentalists. They're who we get the term Fundamentalism from. They preach Biblical Literalism. That is that everything the Bible says is literally true. All of it. Even the bits that contradict each other.
However, you can't just go in and read the Bible yourself because they've got interpretations on top of it and if you don't believe their interpretations, you're doing it wrong.
For much of the time I was a Christian, I believed that the Bible was literally true but that caused me to distrust a lot of the things the preachers and teachers were telling me. "You say XYZ but this scripture says TUV instead." Not even talking about real theological points. Just ... stuff that's not in there.
I didn't know how to square the two but, in a fight between them and the Good Book, I was going to side with what's actually in the Bible.
I grew up being skeptical of almost everything because I could see for myself that a lot of what I was told definitely wasn't true.
I sit here about 17 years after the last vestiges of that faith passed away from me ... watching kids get bamboozled by LLMs.
Is it important to blatantly lie to kids so they don't get suckered into weird shit later in life? I mean there's plenty of lies to go around so probably not. I do kind of wonder how we got here and what we can do to avoid perpetuating this issue, though.

2025-06-23 10:00:01 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers June 23: Do you like to look at the creative projects of others as much as you like doing your own?
Looking at others' vs doing my own? Yeah, I'd say the same amount. I wouldn't care to give either up. :blobcataww:

2025-06-22 14:50:55 GMT

Trump didn't "betray" you. Betrayal is a thing people do to Trump by not lining up to kiss his ass and roll over for every thing he says.
If he does something you thought he said he wouldn't, that's not a betrayal. That's you standing where it turns out he was walking toward.
You liked the cruelty when you weren't the one he was being cruel to.
I'm not saying you made your bed and you gotta lie in it. In fact, I'm real fucking tired of laying in the bed you made. You've got a lot to make up for and there's no time like the present. Might I suggest you start with the racism? Because all of this starts from racism.

2025-06-22 02:31:13 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub June 22: What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever received?
I don't know if it counts as advince exactly: Write what you want to read that no one else is writing.

2025-06-18 10:00:00 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers June 18: Share pic(s) of something you've created. (Don't forget the alt text.)
This will be old news to at least a few of y'all but I've intermittently been working on a font for a while. I'm almost to the point where I can start making the font instead of just making the shapes that will go into the font.
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/114/702/031/252/972/065/original/3b5ad00982debe45.png

2025-06-16 10:00:03 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers June 16: Have you ever tried hyperbolic crochet?
The only thing I have my crochet needle for is doing Russian Grafting (it's an alternative to the Kitchener stitch). I more frequently use it for weaving in ends. I've never even heard of hyperbolic crochet. I did some research on it. Since I don't crochet ... it looks cool but I don't have enough context to figure out how to do it.

2025-06-14 13:15:46 GMT

@nprofile…ywws
I've been holding these questions for a few days knowing this Talk To Me Day was coming up. :blobcatgiggle: In your June 10 #WordWeavers post, you said you were "on a one-woman crusade to bring back multi-POVs and omniscient POVs to genre fiction." I love multi-POV and 3rd person myself but I haven't messed with omnicient narrators, preferring to hew 3rd person close perspective.
Do you draw any inspiration on 3rd person omniscient? (Frank Herbert is the one I feel like most of us have had some exposure to.)
Do you have a system for making a large cast of POV characters organized?
#ScribesAndMakers #TTMD

2025-06-13 10:00:02 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers June 13: Self-promotion day: show us what you're proud of. Let's boost away.
The most recent finished and publicly available thing that fits that bill is my post about how to configure an Ikkegol switch but that's not the sort of thing that's going to have general appeal. :blobcatgiggle:

2025-06-08 15:20:17 GMT

Regarding those in L.A. and other places fighting ICE, honor the decisions of those doing the work. Especially if you're not.

2025-06-08 13:00:49 GMT

#WordWeavers June 8: If you have more than one story, what’s your best one & why?
I'm not ranking my babies. :blobcatgiggle: Of the ones I've published, I'd say Don't Get Seduced By A Fairy! is the 'best.'
It stands alone despite being in a setting that I'm writing other stories in. It tells a really sweet story I'm very proud of. And it manages to do that despite some really annoying problems caused by Amazon. And I can write more stories in that setting because I don't have a central character whose extremely vanilla kinks are dodgy to publish on Amazon when the characters are queer.

2025-06-08 12:09:20 GMT

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@nprofile…myfn Yeah, I've got the same issue. I've bought books from many of our writers here but I haven't read them yet. :blobcatgiggle: They're waiting for special-occasion reading since my reading time these days is fragmentary and lends itself to shorter work lately.

2025-06-03 15:14:36 GMT

If you're a writer who is interested in using #Draft2Digital to publish books, you could sign up with a referral from a friend. Your friend will then get a cut of D2D's share of the profits (not coming out of your own share) for a year through the Refer A Friend Program.
(While your referral money could potentially help me, I'm not angling for your your referral money. If you do want to sign up through me, beware I will want to talk to you about some of the cons of D2D first so I don't feel bad about suckering you into something that may not be for you. :blobcatgiggle: )

2025-06-03 14:51:59 GMT

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@nprofile…0qap I previously had my display name set to Eve from Earth-34 and it got confusing whenever I saw myself on my dash. Mostly because I apparently don't think of myself as being "from" Earth. (I was born here. It's just a ... quirk of my thought process.)
I had made a Duck Fact joke and it occurred to me I could turn that into a running gag for a little bit.
About half way through the bit, I had this idea to do the finale as a mockery of the HBO / Discovery merger. It went on a little longer than I would have planned because I forgot two of the "facts" I wanted to share. :blobcatgiggle:
Links to 6 facts + meta: https://toot.cat/@EveHasWords/114592768861285156
The final Duck Fact: https://toot.cat/@EveHasWords/114614839623475921
One response to a question: https://toot.cat/@EveHasWords/114562777215187852

2025-06-03 14:43:00 GMT

Duck Facts is cancelled
We're now Tetrapod+
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/114/619/957/356/055/771/original/2efd9c6e5a008a34.png

2025-06-02 14:59:27 GMT

Julia Nunes is doing a Kickstarter for her upcoming album, Julia Nunes is perfect. You can watch her announcement video. She's done three other successful Kickstarters.
I first discovered Julia Nunes through her ukelele (and melodica) covers of classic hits. I've kept up with her work over the years, especially as she moved into creating more and more original work. Life Is Long is one of my favorite songs of all time. She's released one song from the album. It's called "Your favorite" and you can listen to it on at least some of the music streaming services.
(I'm hesitant to apply a label to Julia but I know that many of her partners have been women.)
#QueerCreators #MusicRecommendation #Kickstarter
https://pool.jortage.com/tootcat/media_attachments/files/114/614/361/567/864/765/original/7c19f412e82b3615.jpg

2025-06-02 11:25:53 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub June 2: Do you write linearly? Why or why not?
Semi-linearly. I'll leave placeholders for some partial scenes to come back to later. Sometimes I'll work on two or three chapters in parallel. I tend not to go very far out of order. I write out of order in a focused area because it works for me. I don't go further afield because it tends to result in larger rewrites and possibility continuity errors.

2025-05-31 16:07:19 GMT

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@nprofile…6fay Oh gosh yes. Possibly my favorite Taming of the Shrew take. :blobcataww:

2025-05-30 19:12:56 GMT

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@nprofile…zc9v I probably never would have gotten that without you pointing it out. :blobcatblush2: