to 🐝 or not to 🐝

I did some digging.

@unashamedly-enthusiastic

freddy’s is gross and sticky and grimy. they leave food lying out at room temperature for hours only to microwave it and sell it as fresh.

Like worstie, I can barely promote my own published book without wanting to curl up and die.

They’re just not disclosing it as ads, which they are supposed to do, and instead it's marketed in a very Tumblr-esque way which can be summed up as “omg guys look how CUTE this is” followed by a different account underneath going “omg found it!!” and it links to a drop ship site with the item(s).

And the link usually has an affiliate tracker in it, which you may or may not be able to spot unless you’re familiar with them, which is also something you are legally supposed to disclose.

I used to get a lot of offers from around 2016-2020 to sell “moon lamps” on here, y’know those orb lights that look like a moon? Yeah. I was offered a higher kickback to make it look like I wasnt posting an add because these sellers know Tumblrites don’t like ads.

They wanted it to look as organic and hyped up as possible and then I’d just so happen to be like “omg you guys it's on sale” and post a link. Which is skeevy as shit and also illegal af in the US.

It’s like the insta/tiktok girlies saying “link in bio” to get around saying “here’s a product I make money on if you buy it” because they want to sound like your friend because people are more likely to impulse buy stuff if a “friend” is recommending something.

They’re also trusting that everyone knows “link in bio” means “affiliate link” which is technically not enough of a disclosure but whatever.

This is why I tag all my own book promos with “affiliate links” because depending on which storefront you buy Hunger Pangs from, I may get a kickback from the vender which I do to help mediate the fees I lose from distribution. It’s not much—literal pennies in some cases—but I’m still legally required to state it.

It’s also why when I do post products I use or like, I make a point of letting people know I’m not an affiliate and not sponsored because despite the legal ramifications these people are flirting with by not disclosing their affiliate status, I want to be fully transparent with my followers when it comes to me trying to sell them things.

Y’all keep my lights on by reading my work and through my ko-fi and patreon. I am not about to risk that trust for the sake of some shitty vibrator sales from a sketch-ass drop shipper who wants me to pretend I’m not selling you things.

So, yeah. People do successfully sell stuff on here. A lot of us small indie creators sell our own work all the time.

These type of undeclared sellers are relying on you believing that Tumblr is different from other social media platforms where the advertising is usually more blatant. They are also relying on your trust in your community not to put undisclosed ads onto your dash.

After all, everyone knows Tumblr is a sinkhole where profit goes to die and everyone hates ads. Why would anyone waste time doing that here… unless they can adapt what they’re doing to make you think you’re not being marketed to, because Tumblr as a user base would never allow that kind of thing. Right?

Turns out, not so much.

Some people might say, “well that’s just obvious! You’d have to be really silly not to realize it!”

And maybe it was obvious to them.

I know it was obvious to me. But I also know I have enough online experience to play “spot the affiliate link” and enough knowledge as a indie author about how those links are supposed to be disclosed by law, to know when someone is being dishonest and trying to make a post seem organic and not like an ad.

But not everyone has the same knowledge or life experiences to put the context clues together, and that’s why I wrote the above post because many, many, many people on here are unaware they are reblogging ads—usually while talking about how much they hate ads!

here's Asgore wearing it as an example

so look at the cool presentation I sent them with all the design details to try be professional

I'll be using the term transmisogyny as it seems more relevant to the specific issue I'm talking about.

I think the rise in transmisogyny in queer spaces and the hate train on transmascs are deeply connected.

There seems to be an unspoken rule inside queer spaces that many people, no matter how passionate of lesbian activists they are, nor how much they preach about cultural queers and even some transfems; they abide by.

The most feminine of females should have the loudest voice and everyone else is an extension.

But of course, that's a difficult standard to meet; so instead people invent the traditional masculinity (=predation) and traditional femininity (=victimhood) dichotomy to force queer people inside.

Whoever wins the debate of the most proximity to the unspoken rule, they're the victim. It's not surprising how negatively this impacts transfems and trans women; it's also not surprising how some afab trans individuals feel like slipping into this role to win arguments; however transmascs who refuse to partake in this bullshit gender essentialist debate are also labeled as perverted and dangers to the "most feminine females"

A lot of queer people know transphobia is bad, but if you wrap it in a neutral or nice enough language, you may manipulate a fool or two into thinking they're not transphobic. Some of the ways this is manifested include:

1. Constantly center femininity and womanhood in lesbianism

2. Hold trans individuals who don't fit your standards to higher moral standards than you hold others

3. Accusing people of predation and "thinking like cishet males" for no reason

4. Instead of straight up misgendering people, you say "like a man"

5. You constantly and actively put effort into excluding and alienating the trans people who deviate from your standards.