⍟✪ Drew ⧗𖤍

"I'm really sorry that lockdown and the ongoing pandemic interrupted pivotal educational and social/emotional development moments for you. You have an uphill battle towards adjusting to a lot of community based efforts because you experienced a mass trauma during an incredibly important time in your life where you should have physically been around your peers learning to engage in shared community. There is no "but" here, I'm genuinely really sorry. Something many of us consider key points in our interpersonal growth as youths was taken from you, not without reason but without care for its impact on you. I hope you know we are eternally allies in our struggles and if that is something you struggle to know I hope you can learn it someday."

Because so many of the angriest, most disenfranchised people I see on this website are under 24 and I often try to put younger people's behavior in the context of where they might have been 2020. I've seen the impact on my siblings and their peers+friends first hand, all ages 18-24. We've talked about how its impacted them, the isolation, the attachment to the internet, the anxieties and phobias and fears it developed in them due to the pandemic, the political unrest, and the responses to both that we've seen since. I know they're not the only ones and I know how much being marginalized also influences that impact too.

Hit the “thumbs down.” It’s like, what’s wrong??? Was our summary wrong? Were there offensive words? Thank you for helping us improve our AI tools :)

I selected “other.”

Text box popped up. Please elaborate!

Wrote in “I can fucking read” submit comment

Then had to spend several minutes torching all my settings with a flamethrower. Let me be clear: I’m (a lawyer) notoriously picky with my words FOR GOOD REASON (lawyering) so I overwhelmingly reject Gmail’s “helpful” little assistance. My privacy settings were set to “full paranoia” a little less than a year ago when I saw the writing on the wall and knew public defenders could become a target in the future. Better to lock it all down now.

Gemini had crept in there and turned ALL that shit back on. And showed itself by saying “Jane Doe says she’s so sorry for your loss and offers to reschedule for Thursday at 3” over an email from Jane Doe saying “I’m so sorry for your loss. We could reschedule for Thursday at 3?”

Why would I possibly need this. In what universe would I need this. I have eyes and a brain and a reading speed that twenty years ago was measured at 1500 wpm with full comprehension on dense scientific text. Furthermore! If I read a summary, I’m not reading what they actually wrote. If I’m not reading what they actually wrote, I’m not using my own judgment on the words and phrases that they used.

I literally don’t understand why this is helpful at all. This is just avoidance. Using LLMs to write is specifically Not Writing. Using LLMs to summarize is Not Reading. Using them to make art is Avoiding Making Art. Just READ! Just WRITE! I was not put on this fucking planet to not read and not write and not make art! Avoidance is an anxiety symptom and indulging it gives it more power.

If I had an AI to do my most dreaded task, answer the phone for clients, I wouldn’t use it. Because an AI cannot help them. An AI cannot hear the facts of their case, make appropriate noises, be thoughtful and insightful, and then give them a realistic estimate of what could happen in court. I am unique. I cannot be replaced by machine learning. I have style. I have expertise. I don’t hallucinate unless I’m having a really great Friday night and I’m off the clock.

When I need to outsource tasks from my own brain, I give them to people I know can do them and that I trust to do them right.

Had a mandatory work ‘team day’ on using AI in the business. Listing all the useful things it could do (most of which changed a 3 min task into a 1 min task, and really that’s not much of a saving). They then asked us to work in groups to make a prompt for some gen ai and I had a full blown panic attack. Because in all these discussions about AI could do, there was nothing about the environmental, economic and moral implications of using it. Was I the only one who knew them? Or worse, was I the only one who cared?

Got sent home because I was so upset, but will have to chat to my manager tomorrow who 1) knows my stance on Gen AI, but 2) was the person who set the task…

Your characters are allowed to be bad people. Your story is allowed to have no moral lesson.yyour ending is allowed to be sad. The villain can win. The good person can do something unforgivable. The lovers can destroy each other. You are allowed to write the thing that no one asked for and everything that everyone told you doesn’t work and you are allowed to not explain yourself.

One- as OP said, your characters can be bad people, they can do bad things. There doesn't have to be a reason or a moral. You can make them bad if you want to. No other reason needed.

Two- it doesn't have to be good, it just needs to be written. On my last book i literally wrote the words "dumbest version" on the top of the page because I had seen some advice to do that. It changed everything. I stopped trying to make it perfect, I just tried to make it. Period. Full stop.

CHRIS EVANS as STEVE ROGERS

(Part one, two, three, four, five)

Steve, from the other room: hey, Buck?

Bucky, on the couch: yeah, sweetheart?

Steve: green or red-- no, uh... Maroon?

Bucky, frowning: green, I guess. Why?

Steve, walks in with a handful of green throwing knives: Knives

Bucky, excited as fuck, lost his last set in an explosion: knives!

_____

Bucky: *comes home with a deep scowl*

Steve, after 40 minutes: *sighs* okay, give me a name

Bucky: *grumbles*

Steve: Bucky.

Bucky: ...Walker

*next day in the tower*

Walker, walking in with a traumatized face: I would like to make a public apology

Steve, behind him: *beaming and waving at Bucky from behind Walker*

_____

Tony: so who's the big spoon?

Steve: I'm the shield and he's the gun

Bucky: I prefer knife

Steve, nodding with a smile: I'm the shield and he's the knife

_____

*after a field mission*

Everyone: *packing up*

*starts raining*

Bucky, doesn't like being damp: oh, no... *starts packing faster*

Steve: *holds his shield above Bucky's head like an umbrella*

Bucky: *blushes as he smiles*

_____

Steve, out of nowhere, when they were cuddling at night: Oh, by the way

Bucky, sleepy: Hm?

Steve: remember that barista from the coffee shop by the museum?

Bucky: Mhm... Cathy?

Steve: yeah

Bucky: what about her?

Steve: you liked her, right?

Bucky, mindlessly: I guess. She's really nice, and very pretty

Steve, slipping out a piece of napkin from the nightsand drawer: so, I got you her number

Bucky: WHA--- *has a coughing attack*

_____

Bucky, rubbing his hands together: It's really chilly

Steve: *grabs Bucky's hands and slips them under his own shirt*

Steve: better?

Bucky, melting like a cat in a sunny spot: Better

_____

Steve and Bucky: *have been yelling at each other fighting for 20 minutes*

Bucky, after a while: *quite, panting*

Steve, breaking into a big smile: did that help?

Bucky: *Just had a bad day and wanted to fight*

Bucky, slumping against Steve with a tiny grin: Yeah

Steve: good, good. I love you

Bucky: you're so hot when you're all authoritive and yelling at me

Steve, blushing: jerk...

Bucky, already kissing Steve's neck: punk

_____

Bucky, mockingly: oh, look at me. I'm Captain America, patriotic daddy, I speak eagle, feed on burgers and apple pie, and shit out red white and blue. Fourth of July? It's my day, baby

Steve, sad puppy eyes: I just asked if we could go see the fireworks for my birthday

Bucky: go fuck yourself, Steve

_____

Steve: has anyone ever told you how cunty you look when you do your murder-strut?

Bucky: I need to be put in the Chair again to forget I ever heard that sentence

_____

Bucky: can we call Tony?

Steve: sure, why?

Bucky: I need him to shift some of the plates in my arm, it does this---

Steve: Oh, I took care of that

Bucky: you what?

Steve: yeah, the backwards rotation problem, right? I've went to Tony for him fix it the same day you mentioned it. You were sleeping

Bucky, speechless and a little teary eyed: okay...

Thank you Steve, smiling widely: of course

_____

Steve, from the hallway: Hey, Buck!

Bucky, from the kitchen: what up?

Steve: why aren't you ready yet?

Bucky, frowning: for what?

Steve, walking in while adjusting his jacket collar: the class is in 30 minutes!

Bucky: cla-- what class?

Steve: the baking class! You said you wanted to take some classes to learn a month ago, right? So I booked us a workshop

Bucky: you booked me a class because I said I wanted to try it? Once?

Steve: yeah!

Bucky: and you're coming with me?

Steve: duh--- why are you crying?

_____

*both doing cardio on the running mills next to each other in the tower gym*

Bucky: who do you think would win in a fight, me or Nat?

Steve: 'course it's Na--- *turns to sees Bucky's murder glare*

Steve: --naaaot her. Absolutely not her. You'd win in a fight. You're the fucking white wolf, right? She's not gonna---

Bucky: *reaches over presses the button to shut off Steve's mill*

Steve: *yelps as he falls back on his ass*

Bucky, deadpan: whoops. Should have called her over to save you

_____

Sam, walking on the street with Steve: then we could go to that burger place in main street from last time---

Steve: can't. Buck doesn't like the meat from that place

Sam: Bucky's not even coming with us

Steve: so? He's gonna be eating my leftovers at home

Sam: you don't leave leftovers. Your serum ass eats everything!

Steve: I order extra so I can leave some and bring it to him later

Sam, throwing his hands up with a scoff: you two maniacs are the perfect match for each other

Steve, smiling dopily: I know

Sam: it wasn't a compliment

Steve: it is in our book

_____

*on the quinjet for a raid*

Bucky: can I have your shield today?

Clint: what---

Steve: can I have your guns, then?

Clint: WHAT---

Bucky: sure

Steve: sweet

*the two casually switch weapons*

Steve: *buckling up the gun holsters*

Bucky: *happily buckling up the shield holder on his arms*

air travel is a mess? shortage of air traffic controllers - for some mysterious reason

logistics a mess? shortage of truck drivers - for some mysterious reason

public transit can't meet demand? shortage of bus drivers - for some mysterious reason

We even mysteriously have shortages of doctors, nurses, teachers... FOR SOME MYSTERIOUS REASON

Back then, we began building Ellipsus out of a simple belief: writers deserve a place to create, collaborate, and share their work without handing over their words, their data, or their creative process to bad actors and Big Tech—a promise that matters now, more than ever.

Nearly 600k writers and counting are writing on Ellipsus because of this promise. We see everyday how writers are rejecting Big Tech's data mining model in favor of tools that respect user privacy and reflect our values.

We’re a small full-time team building, maintaining, supporting, and improving the tool every day. And to keep doing that sustainably—without compromising the promises that brought people here—we’re introducing Ellipsus Plus.

Plus is a set of optional features on top of free Ellipsus, designed to help fund the continued development of Ellipsus for everyone, free and paid; while helping us stay independent, ad-free, and working to improve the tool well into the future.

That means the Ellipsus you know is staying free: you can keep writing with unlimited documents, drafts, collaborators, and core features. Free Ellipsus will continue to receive updates, improvements, and new features too, including major work already planned (like offline syncing and native apps).

Plus features have been designed alongside community feedback, our pricing shaped by our users around what felt fair and sustainable.

Every Plus subscription leads to ultimate ownership of the tool. Not metaphorical ownership, but real ownership, including all future updates to the Plus plan. No endless subscriptions. Once you’ve paid, it’s yours. Really.

Our introductory Plus features are designed to be fun, creative, practical, and help you get the most out of the tool! We really hope you enjoy them. Here’s a quick overview:

Custom themes

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Writing Insights

See insights into your writing process and spot patterns faster across ten AI-free metrics—like vocabulary diversity, sentence length, sentence rhythm, word frequency, and more. Writing insights are opt-in only, and run on local data, so your text never leaves the editor. 

Customizable Snippets

We all love snippets! Now you can give your words an extra personal touch. Customize your snippets with media backgrounds (GIFs, images), fonts, text colors, and custom themes—you can even add byline credits for authors and characters!

Emboss

Emboss is our AI-free proof-of-work layer for human writing. Show your readers the time, labor, and love that went into your work. Instead of relying on unreliable “AI-powered” “verifiers” that judge a piece after the fact, share your writing journey, with authorship metrics that help inspire trust. You can also show how your work evolved with snapshots of your version history. Emboss is fully opt-in.

We hope you’re as excited about Plus as we are! Try Plus free for 7 days, no payment required. You can read more (and sign up!) on our Plus page.

Again, there’s tons more to come, and we can’t wait to build it for you. Free or paid, Ellipsus is going to keep getting better. Thank you for your support.

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