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Now, this is my first time really indulging in a fandom that involves a real person (Richard Harmon fandom), so I might be out of line here but why are we so comfortable naming ourselves shit like "richardsharmon'struelove"

Like?? That's a real person with a girlfriend that also has no clue who you are??

Outside of meet and greets, most of this fandom hasn't even spoken to the guy, for all we know he could be lying about everything he does- not that I think that tbh, he seems pretty down to earth- but we wouldn't really know because we aren't his friend.

But to public ally refer to yourself as "actorsbf" or "actorsgf" or god forbid "actorscumshot/anything explicit" just comes off as incredibly parasocial and weird to me.

For fictional characters it's fine, obviously. Fiction isn't real and doesn't effect people all too much. Of course we have to be mindful of what we consume and how we go about it, especially when dealing with heavy material and topics, but at the end of the day, that person isn't real and won't be effected.

Navigating gender dysphoria? Be heard and be counted in the science.

[pt: DO NOT TAKE THIS SURVEY]

The AYAGDOS “study” is headed by multiple hack “researchers” who have close ties to anti-trans movements, including Lisa Littmann of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” infamy and conversion therapy advocate Kenneth Zucker who has been accused of sexually abusing transgender children under the guise of his clinical practice.

The results of this “study” WILL be skewed to further pathologize trans identity and push for conversion therapy and the banning of gender-affirming treatments. Any story you share to this study about your dysphoria will be twisted and weaponized to justify the eradication of trans folks.

Navigating gender dysphoria? Be heard and be counted in the science.

[pt: DO NOT TAKE THIS SURVEY]

Navigating gender dysphoria? Be heard and be counted in the science.

[pt: DO NOT TAKE THIS SURVEY]

"Just quit/uninstall/ect" is not helpful advice. Like any other addiction, it is not that easy and many may not be in a safe, stable, or good place to take that step.

"You're part of the problem/killing the environment/your creativity/your mental health/ect" is not helpful OR advice. Like any other addiction, most know it's not good and feel shame. Attacking them for being open about their struggles not only discourages others from seeking support, but may push them further into addiction.

"But it was easy for me!" Your experience is not universal. Congratulations on breaking away, but many aren't able to as easily, especially those it was designed to prey on.

If all you do towards beings who have fallen victim to a predatory and manipulative new Era of technology and algorithm is be hateful, blameful, and gloatful, you are actively making things worse.

There's an unavoidable monetary incentive to keep an already isolated generation of consumers angry and alienated. These bots provide the passivity that very unstable, very lonely men want in a flesh and blood partner.

I've read article after article of how these services give and withold features to keep users hooked enough to buy premium subscriptions or unlimited chats.

Using the addictions they know, they are causing, for profit.

The Firefox "AI kill switch" is here.

Go to Settings > AI controls. There, you can toggle the "master kill switch" on to fully block all the features, which means two things:

you won't see them,

you can't even be asked about them.

The default state is, like before, "available". This means the features are NOT on by default (they never were), but Firefox will let you know about them where they exist (e.g. when you create your first tab group) so that you can choose to opt in.

Please note that Firefox for Android or iOS have never included AI features, so you won't see these settings on your smartphones or tablets.

I post on Reddit. “AI slop,” they comment. “and if it isn’t, it’s bad, mediocre writing.”

“No, I am not a bad writer.” I have the audacity to say. “Writing is part of what I do professionally. I get paid to do this.”

Someone else posts on Reddit. A chat from Bumble, where a man has the gall to use the unnatural em-dash. “No one uses the em-dash,” they say. It’s a trope at this point, I know. “The hypen is much more common. I don’t know where to even find the em-dash. Plus, he said you were “elite”. No one would say that.”

“The hypen isn’t grammatically correct.” I tell them, looking over the chat log. It’s a real person on the other side, their personality obfuscated by the nerves that come with reaching out on a dating app. There’s subtle humor, missing punctuation. Still, 100 people condemn it as AI. It’s more feasible to them that someone would edit those human elements back in manually than type it themselves.

I post on Reddit. I tell them my writing keeps being called AI slop. They say it is, it is. Use fewer periods. Capitalize less. Ignore the rules. A real person wouldn’t write like that. A real person wouldn’t use those words, or say it like that. I’m a real person. I can’t prove it to them.

Someone, finally, says that the tone of my post matches how some books are written. That maybe it would be good for those who doubt that the writing is man-made to read more man-made books.

“You think we don’t read?” They ask. Then something more incendiary: “You think you’re better than us?”

And, hey? Bad news, babes. This isn’t hyperbole. This is all real shit that has happened in the last week.