the only reason i have never been groomed online is because when i was 10 i befriended 17 year olds who taught me how to interact with older people online safely.

yall have got to stop being scared of children online and start actually teaching them the ropes. because if you are not up there with them then they're going to be completely alone with the creeps and have 0 metric for what is and is not an appropriate relationship. this also applies offline.

when i was in my first internet community-- which was a well-moderated space-- my parents were concerned i was Talking to Adults. what they meant by this was that lifetime channel had recently done a couple movies in a row about internet grooming and murder, where isolated young girls were lured to meet much older men (who had lied about their own age) in person.

despite being a child of the 80s whose parents, understandably, had no experiential basis for teaching internet safety, i knew internet safety. no real name, no real location, don't share your age more than a rough range if at all, etc. why did i know those things? because adults in my first fandom communities taught me and other kids who showed up in those forum and chat spaces. they moderated or deleted messages that shared too much, laid ground rules, shepherded us. i knew those people in community, not in isolation (another tip the forum babies were given).

when my parents tried to ban me from all fandom internet-- a thing that was 80% of my social experience, as a rural, autistic, homeschooled teenager-- i posted a farewell in the forum (after a whole day of angry crying and arguing). one sweet member of the forum was a 20-something mom with two toddlers, and she wrote a lovely letter for me to print for my parents explaining how the community was moderated and what a benefit it could be and offered her own email and phone number if they wanted to chat.

they didn't reach out to her, but that letter is why i was allowed to stay online. just having the offer and the explanation was enough to reassure my parents. i wasn't besties with this woman, just a casual friend in the same space, but we stayed in touch. i respected her and the advice she and other adults in that community gave and it kept me safe in other interactions going forward

i'm friends with many of the people from that community on facebook now. they're still friends with each other. that kind woman? i watched via internet as her kids graduated. she watched me get married and have my own kids.

one of my older friends in another fandom was in her thirties when i got my driver's license as a teen. she celebrated with me. she sent my oldest kids a baby shower box that contained blankets that became their special blankies they still have saved somewhere as teens.

those relationships have been some of the most important ones of my teen years. they were people who enjoyed fandom chats with me, but also invested in me as a PERSON and not just as a kid they were tolerating. in the right context of healthy friendship, their advice and perspective kept me safe and helped me grow.

of course there are red flags kids should be taught for any relationship, but to stigmatize friendships across generational gaps harms kids more than it helps them. kids NEED friends that cross those spaces.

#he does really good backflips

oh okay that clears it up. thanks

One of the funniest quotes early on in the AI bubble was an executive saying he was replacing workers with AI because "AI will never demand higher wages or else they'll go on strike" and it was so fucking clear that he hadn't thought through how anything worked, because of course the AI companies can raise their rates and if you don't pay then they don't let you use their software.

“I don’t know if I will ever see peace in my lifetime. I am so scared for the future and so angry at the present. I weep for humanity- 2 TONS? OF SQUID?”

This is why I get all my news from Tumblr, The Daily Show, and John Oliver.

Don’t. I have been spreading misinformation. It was actually 20 tons of squid. Not 2 tons. 40,000 pounds of squid. Astronomical unfathomable amount of squid.

they also make special GIANT 66lb zizzona

so rest easy tonight knowing they have hummina hummina aWOOGAH iyiyiyiyi GAZONGA cheese in italy

there are three notable magical wrestlers to have gotten wins via magic:

1. The Undertaker. he's a zombie cowboy undertaker biker wizard. he has lightning powers, can turn people evil, and can teleport
2. Bray Wyatt and The Fiend. Bray Wyatt stole The Undertaker's lightning powers and had the power to summon insects and bugs, but otherwise didn't win very often. however, when he was possessed by The Fiend, he went on to be unbeaten for ages
3. Finn Balor and The Demon. The Demon is a guy that possesses Finn Balor. most of the time, when The Demon is wrestling, he's impossible to beat

so the way to be successful as a magical wrestler is to make friends with some kind of demon or devil and let them possess you, or to get really into Limp Bizkit