Counting Sheep

Reblog is this is a safe space for the identities theses flags represent pls follow too

20 people have been killed in total (between fires and shot by troops/cops) And there’s evidence of torture and violations of humans rights.

A concept I did for my 3-D modeling class last semester. A fantasy faun character in a medieval setting. I’ve been refining her. I think it would be fun for her to be a medieval postal worker. I’m going to be trying to refine her concept and creating the 3-D model between classes this semester.

You may have heard about the efforts in Europe to reform copyright law. The debate has been ongoing in the European Parliament for months. If approved next week, these new regulations would require us to automatically filter and block content that you upload without meaningful consideration of your right to free expression. 

We respect the copyrights and trademarks of others, and we take all reports seriously to ensure that your creative expression is protected. We make this clear in our Community Guidelines. There’s already a legal framework that works and is fair: Today we take down posts and media that contain allegedly infringing content when we receive a valid DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown request. We also provide clear-cut ways for people to fight back if they believe their removed content was not a true violation. These instances are monitored and reported and live in our biannual transparency report. 

The suggestion to use automated filters for issues of copyright is short-sighted at best and harmful at worst. Automated filters are unable to determine whether a use should be considered “fair use” under the law and are unable to determine whether a use is authorized by a license agreement. They are unable to distinguish legitimate parody, satire, or even your own personal pictures that could be matched with similar photographs that have been protected by someone else. We don’t believe that technology should replace human judgment. Tumblr is and always has been a place for creative expression, and these new regulations would only make it harder for you to express yourself with the freedom and clarity you do so now. 

Rude comments are not a new thing, content creators get them all the time.  Whether it’s a backhanded compliment, something overly creepy, unsolicited critique, or someone just being a straight up troll.  I do my best to mitigate those comments within my power to do so, but in the end it’s out of my control.  The responsibility is on the commenter, not the content creator.  For me, that sometimes discourages me from putting out certain kinds of content.  I deleted a piece off of tumblr recently because of one such comment, and because I was subsequently chastised for saying I didn’t want those kinds of comments.  I won’t upload personal memorial artwork because of a particularly vicious troll who commented on a portrait I did of my grandmother shortly after she passed away.  I currently don’t host auctions online because of the venomous reaction people have when bidding gets high.

So what SHOULD a content creators do when faced with comments they don’t want?  Should we let people say things that make us feel bad to avoid upsetting others?  Should we block that person?  Should we say “hey please don’t speak to me that way”?  It can be hard because some of those behaviors from watchers are hurtful and angering.  It’s tough to avoid responding from a place of anger.  The best thing I’ve learned is to wait before responding, and bounce my wording off a friend or two to make sure I’m being fair. 

But we are allowed to put up boundaries.  And how we choose to put up our boundaries is entirely up to us.  I’m perfectly allowed to ignore you if you speak to me in a harmful way.  I’m also allowed to tell you what you said is rude or unwanted.  I’m allowed to block you if you have a clear history of saying harmful things to others. Content creators pages are NOT public forums.  When we put up our personal boundaries in our spaces, we are not infringing on your rights in any way.  We are managing our spaces in the way we see fit. I originally wrote this a few weeks ago when I witnessed an artist whose work I enjoy defend their choice to call out a transphobic comment on their work. They made that choice because that comment was harmful, and they are putting up a boundary.  It doesn’t matter of the person “meant well” when commenting, or included a compliment with their statement.  I’m posting it now because I am seeing a friend and admired artist get chastised for being “aggressive”, aka putting up a boundary for themselves on their page.  At least in my sphere, I see this happening a lot more frequently, and it’s not ok.