Everyone should read their own fanfics recreationally tbh this shit fucking rules. It's like the author knows exactly what I like.
why doesn’t that bitch ever update 😭
striptease for me baby, pt II
Gavin: I’m short and small, which combined with how I used to shave, means I looked younger than I actually was. My biggest fear when I was 25 was a kidnapper making an honest mistake.
So I think the best strat here is for the users who did get the new layout to just stop using the desktop version of the site for a while, like a week or a month or however long their 'experiment' is supposed to last, while the users who didn't get the new layout should keep using the desktop version like normal or, perhaps, use it even more than usual.
My guess is that they're doing basic A/B testing on the new layout to see if it would boost engagement: the userbase is split roughly 50/50 between the 2 versions and they are going to be comparing the engagement data between the 2 groups of users to see if it's worth it switching everyone to the new layout or not.
Basically, if you got the new layout and don't like it - don't use it. If engagement metrics of group B (new layout) are lower than those of group A (no change), the experiment will be considered a failure and they will have to reverse the change.
If your tumblr suddenly looks like twitter - it's a sign to log off and go touch some grass! (or just use the mobile app since that engagement data isn't relevant to this particular experiment)
Don't just not use it, send feedback too!
There's a "contact us" option to send feedback about features being launched. GIVE FEEDBACK IN THE APPROPRIATE SPACE!
Not to "As a professional UX researcher" on this thread, but yeah, as a professional UX researcher, now is the exact time to provide clear (but kind!! the poor UX team is usually not responsible for these decisions) feedback on what your thoughts are in regards to this change.
In my job, if I were doing an AB test on a site layout and every person I interviewed said "I hate it, it looks like knockoff twitter, please put the old one back" then I would be very excited to include a nice little bullet point in my report that says "[x] number of participants disliked the new layout :)"
Gentle reminder that very little fandom labor is automated, because I think people forget that a lot.
That blog with a tagging system you love? A person curates those tags by hand.
That rec blog with a great organization scheme and pretty graphics? Someone designed and implemented that organization scheme and made those graphics.
That network that posts a cool variety of stuff? People track down all that variety and queue it by hand, and other people made all the individual pieces.
That post with umpteen links to helpful resources, and information about them? Someone gathered those links, researched the sources, wrote up the information about them.
That graphic about fandom statistics? Someone compiled those statistics, analyzed them, organized them, figured out a useful way to convey the information to others, and made the post.
That event that you think looks neat? Someone wrote the rules, created the blogs and Discords, designed the graphics, did their best to promo the event so it'd succeed.
None of this was done automatically. None of it just appears whole out of the internet ether.
I think everyone realizes that fic writing and fanart creation are work, and at least some folks have got it through their heads that gif creation and graphics and moodboards take effort, and meta is usually respected for the effort that goes into it, at least as far as I've seen, but I feel like a lot of people don't really get how much labor goes into curation, too.
If people are creating resources, curating content, organizing the creations of others, gathering information, and doing other fandom activities that aren't necessarily the direct action of creation, they're doing a lot of fandom labor, and it's often largely unrecognized.
Celebrate fan work!
To folks doing this kind of labor: I see you, and I thank you. You are the backbones of our fandoms and I love you.
“Hey Chris, do you want to look at some fat bears with me?” Connor calls across the bullpen.
Gavin flinches. The loud voice is not doing him any favors this late at–oh god, no it’s morning. He’s been here so long it’s looped back around to become morning again.
Or at least, he’s pretty sure that’s what the desktop clock says. The little numbers keep shaking. Everything is shaking. He’s shaking. Need more coffee to make it better.
“Fat … bears?” Chris asks slowly.
“Oh! I’m not making fun of them or anything,” Connor reassures him. “Most of the bears hit their weight classes due to muscle, actually. The brackets are determined by weight, and you can bet on which bear will gain the most–”
“OK, can you PLEASE,” Gavin stands up at his desk and shouts. “Not talk about your disgusting kinks in public?”
Connor’s LED blinks yellow. “What?”
“I don’t care if you didn’t technically say anything sexual, that’s fucking disgusting, and if you say one word about Hank competing in this–”
Connor turns his monitor around to show real, actual bears. The furry animals–like, literally. There are, in fact, brackets based on how much the bears weigh. They all have funny names.
The precinct is silent.
“Yeah, I think Chunk fifty-two can really win it,” Gavin says casually.
Chris raises his eyebrows. “Oh, so we’re not going to acknowledge–”
“Nope.”
“–what YOU and your ass was thinking about–”
“No.”
“–Hank and–”
“CHRIS.”
Chris sips his coffee. Connor raises his hand to say something like a good little boot-licker.
“Please don’t concern yourself, detective,” he says. “Hank is not a part of the gay bear scene.”
Gavin glares at him. “Yeah, I’m not phcking concerned!”
“Good.” Connor smiles back. “I have, however, convinced him to participate with me in amateur, home-made p–”
Gavin sees his lips press together to say “pornography” and rushes across the bullpen, jumps over his desk, (knocks the computer to the floor), and tackles him. This technically doesn’t do nothing, as Connor’s wheel-y desk chair slides back until they both crash into the wall, but Connor says seated upright with perfect posture and doesn’t even stutter.
“Pastry-making.”
Gavin loses a brain cell, also known as his entire mind. He spends several minutes frantically trying to unseat Connor from the chair, wrestle him, and/or knock him to the ground. Mostly he just succeeds in climbing all over the android like an absolutely furious squirrel.
“WHY! WON’T! YOU! GO! DOWN?!”
“Hank isn’t here.”
It takes a few seconds for Gavin to get the joke, due to the aforementioned brain cell loss, but when he does, he stumbles back, wailing in disgust.
“Stop, stop, I’m gonna pee,” Ben gasps out in between bouts of laughter.
Chris swings his cellphone over to videotape that now instead. Spurred by the knowledge his latest failed attempt to fight Connor has been caught on video and that there is no possible way to recover his pride in this moment, Gavin takes advantage of the momentary respite in mockery to slip away and run for the stairs leading down to the archived room.
Chris agrees to stop recording and push Ben to the bathroom, legs still clamped tightly shut in his desk chair. Connor has a giggle about the whole thing and sends a recording directly from his optical units to Hank’s cellphone.
Across the bullpen, Nines stands up. “I suppose I have to go mercy kill him then? I always have to do everything myself around here.”
Gavin: *appears in Nines’ line of vision*
Nines, internally: My favorite human has arrived! They are cute and smart and my favorite. I must greet them in a manner indicative of my appreciation for their existence.
Nines, externally: Hey nerd
Nines: Greetings, inefficient flesh vessel.
Gavin: whatever you overhyped tamogatchi
*both of them then turn away blushing fiercely and wondering if the other one loves them back*
Gavin: what’s good, Easy Bake Oven??
Nines:
My old entries for the #RK17cember event
I know it’s prompts but I choose to believe they met and Nines sent that message the very next day