then one day, a miracle occurred. an exhausted physics teacher, instead of punching in 12 for the number of copies she wanted of the 30-page booklet she had made for her A-level physics class, punched in 1200.

and that printer came to life. this print job was its moment, its magnum opus! it WOULD NOT be parted from it, no matter what we did, until we physically unplugged it from the wall, by which time it had printed almost 200 copies.

step 1.

Go to skins tab

step 2.

create site skin (not work skin!! Site skin)

step 3.

This is where the magic happens.

you’re only interested in that big box (though you will have to give your skin an unique title)

in there, you paste this:

(This just an example, obviously)

.blurb:has(a:is( [href*="*s*reader" i], [href*="*s*you" i], [href*="goncharov" i], [href*="goncharov*s*katya" i], [href*="goncharov%20dies" i], [href*="top%20goncharov" i])) {   display: none !important; }

in my method, if I want to filter something new, I'll duplicate a line of this code like such (comma at the end is important)

[href*="goncharov" i],

temporarily, it'll look like this:

.blurb:has(a:is( [href*="*s*reader" i], [href*="*s*you" i], [href*="goncharov" i], [href*="goncharov" i], [href*="goncharov*s*katya" i], [href*="goncharov%20dies" i], [href*="top%20goncharov" i])) {   display: none !important; }

and now I replace that duplicate with whatever tag I want to mute, replacing only what is inside quotation marks, like so:

[href*="piss" i],

and now it looks like this

.blurb:has(a:is( [href*="*s*reader" i], [href*="*s*you" i], [href*="piss" i], [href*="goncharov" i], [href*="goncharov*s*katya" i], [href*="goncharov%20dies" i], [href*="top%20goncharov" i])) {   display: none !important; }

Mind that you replace spaces with %20 and slash with *s*. For example, "coffeshop au" won't filter it; "coffeeshop%20au" will. Similarly "/reader" won't work, and "*s*reader" will. Remember, only write inside the quotation marks. You can also copy the tags you want to filter directly from your browser’s search bar, then they’re already formatted correctly, like:

And presto, save your site skin, use it, and you will forever filter anything you want. You can add more tags to filter any time you want.

This, as an enabled site skin, will work across all your devices. Mind that the filtered works are hidden, but still count into the 20 fics per page that ao3 offers. Therefore if you're, like me, terminally picky about fic, you might end up with 3 works per page.

Is this nice, clean coding? Probably not. But it works!

I know it doesn't help with tumblr experience, but you can make ao3 way smoother!

Bonus reading:

very good ao3 writeup on all the skin filtering possibilities

This and more, on reddit

Before and after photos of the renovated façade of the barn with newly-exposed stones ♡ I repainted the shutters too, though I tried to find the same shade of bright pink because I really like it...

And I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk about the business project I've alluded to a few times in previous years—I've been superstitiously avoiding to talk about it until I was sure it could really happen, because it was quite a large project, but it’s nearly done now— I've been having the old barn building next to my house renovated to create a guesthouse 😊

It has two 2-bedroom flats upstairs, and a common room downstairs with a big fireplace and library. I've recently moved the chicken coop a bit closer to the house so guests can more easily get eggs in the morning, and I've planted quite a few fruit trees nearby :) It's a nice place for a holiday if you like the French countryside, books, woods, opinionated animals, unhurried mornings and unreliable phone reception.

(I will work on my pitch.)

In terms of entertainment, well there is no internet in the guesthouse (yet) but llamas can be observed in their pasture from the south-facing windows, except when they have escaped in which case they can sometimes be observed in the woods from the north-facing windows.

Everything isn't quite finished yet, I will need to make a website, and I'm still missing a few pieces of furniture and still in the process of unboxing all my books for the common room library, but all the major stuff is done— I should be able to open next year I think, though in the meantime I will have some relatives and acquaintances staying over as test-clients...

It's pretty amazing to see this renovation project almost done when I look at the pictures of the barn from a few years ago, when there were no proper ceilings or walls, rubble everywhere... Here are before/after pictures of a corner of the 1st floor:

And here's what the ground floor and the fireplace looked like when I first moved here - and now...

somebody ought to put that bastard in his place