The Chrome browser exists to show you ads and track where you go so that Google can show you more ads. Please stop using Chrome. Firefox is open source, and while Mozilla is not perfect, it isn’t actively fucking evil the way Google is. It has a bazillion plugins, including various (FREE!) ad block plugins (I recommend uBlock Origins, which will even block YouTube ads – you can watch videos without interruptions again!). It will also function very effectively with a lot more tabs open than Chrome. I’ve got around 800 tabs open right now (not loaded, of course, except for maybe 2 dozen; it’s been a heavy browsing day), and my wife has between 2k and 3k at any time.
We are in the New Browser Wars. This time there’s a helluva lot of money up for grabs, because a lot of it is about running those ads. Monopolies are bad for consumers.
Firefox plugins I 100% recommend if you don’t want to be tracked (and want to cost corporations money)
AdNauseam is an adblocker that generates false clicks on the ads it blocks, which costs the corporations that pay for them money.
Privacy Possum messes with the tracking data collected about you, rendering it essentially useless
TrackMeNot generates random search terms across sites, meaning that any data collected about things you actually search is buried in a sea of random bullshit. Makes it very hard for people to figure out what you’re actually doing. You can block terms in the options, which means it won’t search for anything incriminating on your behalf (I think the word bomb is blocked by default)
WhatCampaign replaces tracking analytics used in website code with data that can’t be used to track you. I’m pretty sure it replaces it with “fuck off” by default.
I’m not adding links because tumblr will not show this up if I do, but you can search these on the Firefox addons site and they’ll come up.
Since, I’m currently working on a cosplay of Sebastian Vael in Chantry robes, I had to break down the confusing layers of this costume. I thought, I might as well share with you all, in case someone else planned a similar costume. Especially since part of the chantry robes are similar with the templar uniforms in Kirkwall.
I simplified certain parts for the sake of saving Material and also, because I’m going to wear this in June, when it will be friggin hot in those layers. I also used my own bodytype for this reference-sheet. So it isn’t quite as broad-shouldered, as Sebastian himself looks in those robes. Under the cut, I put the pictures of each layer over another and explain a little bit something.
I hope it can be useful for some of you!
Likeif you found it useful. Reblog, if you want to share it with friends. ;)
I wish that ao3 had an option to filter warnings (and tbh certain authors) out like I will never ever want to read it and just seeing it puts me off so much that often I end up closing my browser because that content upsets me so much lmao
There is a way to do this but I can’t recall how to do it. it’s something you type into the box for “other filters” or something, I don’t remember. who knows??
It’s not a great option, and I don’t know if you can sort out authors that way, but it’s better than nothing if someone can reblog this with how to do it!
Alrighty friends! It takes some specificity, but you can do this. Let me show you how!
So I started with going to the Sherlock (TV) section of Ao3. On the right we find this lovely section! ((I know I’m going over things you already probably know, but I figure this post may go to new Ao3 users, so bear with me.))
Underneath this, I chose sort by Kudos, because that’s a quick way to find most popular fics, for the sake of this demonstration.
With those filters on, we end up with this being our first two results:
As you can see, we have Nature and Nurture by earlgreytea68, and The Internet Is Not Just For Porn by cyerus. So what if I am utterly sick of seeing earlgreytea68 on my list? Let’s pretend I’ve read all their fics, or that I just don’t like her, or whatever. I want this author out. I go to this section on the right:
In “Search within results” I type earlgreytea68 into the bar, with a minus sign in front. This gives me the following page, upon hitting the sort and filter button:
There goes earlgreytea68! But now I’ve decided that Crack is just not my thing, I’m sick of that, too, for heaven’s sake, I want something reasonable in my gay slash fanfiction about detectives that solve crimes about glowing dogs and irish megalomaniacs. Heaven forbid this get ridiculous.
Well, then I add this to my search:
Which gets rid of everything with that tag. My results are now:
Performance in a Leading Role is now my first result!
You can do this as many times as you want; the biggest problem I have is trying to filter out multi-worded tags. For example, “Secret Relationship” is hard to filter. Better to go with authors you dislike or with words like “DubCon”.
I hope this helps! Also remember that googling site:archiveofourown.org and then adding search terms will mean google searches Ao3 for you, and sometimes that works far better.
Good luck!
An excellent in-depth guide! Thank you!!
omg changed my whole ao3 rarepair game
An excellent guide to filtering on AO3!
You can filter out phrases by enclosing them in quotes. For example, if ABO and Hydra Trash Party are not your things, try:
-“alpha/beta/omega dynamics” -”hydra trash party”
I have more advice!
Say, you’re in your random fandom- I went with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since I’ve been reading Iron Man stuff recently. Tony Stark is awesome.
But anyway, you’re on the page, and you see that there are 174,774 works! That is way too many for a casual afternoon’s browsing.
And you see that the first one is Peter Parker/Tony Stark and that is not your jam. It doesn’t work for you, or it squicks you, whatever. Wouldn’t life be easier if you could browse without seeing that pairing (or whatever pairing you don’t like)? You can!
First, click on that pairing tag(You may want to open this in another tab, actually.):
and it’ll take you to the page for that pairing tag. Click this button:
and then look at the address bar! The actual page is unimportant. Copy the numbers located here:
and go back to the original search page! Down on the side, in the same place you can get rid of other tags, type -relationship_ids:”the number you just copied”
Then hit ‘sort and filter’ annnd… magic!
The fics with that pairing are gone! You can also do multiple pairings, get rid of any tags you don’t like, and sort it by date or length or kudos, or whatever.
Enjoy.
I’d just like to add that these sorts of search modifiers ALSO WORK IN GOOGLE AND MOST RESEARCH DATABASES.
The more you know.
Just a quick reminder that AO3 uses Luceneas a search and index engine.
That means you can pretty much use all the Lucene Query Syntax in the “Seach within result” field.
I don’t think AO3 indexes the whole fic for searching but definitely it’s meta data. Combined with Lucenes awesome query syntax you can do pretty much every search you heart desires.
Addtional Lucene Query Syntax that has not been mentioned yet and you might find useful:
Wildcard Searches
You can use wildcard searches within single terms. For a single character wildcard search use the “?” symbol. For a multiple character wildcard search use the “*” symbol.
AND/OR
Lucene allows you to combin terms through logic operators. You’re looking for fics that are either “reunion” or“enemies to lovers”?
Just put in >“reunion” OR “enemies to lovers”< into the field
and you end up with all the stories that are either or but not both.
But wait, now you’re looking for fics that are both “reunion” and“enemies to lovers” at the same time? Now worries Lucene got you covered.
Just change it into >“"reunion” AND “enemies to lovers”“<
and you’ll get all the fics that mention both “reunion” and “enemies to lovers” somewhere in their meta data (note: it’s not just tags. It’s also title, summary …)
Boosting
You can also boost specific terms when doing a multi term search.
You can use the “^” Operator followed by a number to boost a specific term.
Say you’re interested in fics that are either “first kiss” or “bed sharing” but you’re much more interested in “bed sharing” fics and feel they are more relevant.
You can use the search >“first kiss” “bed sharing”^5<
to manipulate the order of your results in a matter that the score of every fic that contains beg sharing is multiplied by 5. Therefore all fics containing that term are given priority and shown at the top of the list.
You can also combine all of the above, target specifc fields (that’s what you did with the “relationsship_id:xxx”) and many more things.
^ sharing this because we all love fanfics and @itsmajel is a freaking nerd
Some of these searches can also be achieved via the “exclude” function in the search bar - this offers you for each section (ratings, category, relationships, tags, etc.) the most commonly used metadata for these fics, to check or uncheck (and thus exclude or not) as you please!
I will also note that if you’re like me and you start looking for fics using this page:
rather than starting at browsing everything in a fandom, unlike some AO3 guides, you are not SOL.
Based on some quick testing, anything you would use in the “search within” function described above will work in the “Any field” section. But “-” to exclude does not work in individual sections like author, pairing, etc.
Hi! You may have noticed recently that blog archives look a little different. Spruced up a bit: smoother, faster, fancier. Squarer! You can mix and match filters in a way you never could before. Go ahead! Pick a month anda post type. You deserve it!
If possible, temporarily remove yourself from any immediate sources of stress and re-engage the positive aspects of the dominant function, and activate the auxiliary function to balance the mind. (see the Type Development section & #how functions work for more detail)
inf Si grip: zoom out from your head to examine the bigger picture and think about whether your decisions big/small are producing good progress
inf Ni grip: realize that brooding or being uptight doesn’t help anything, get out of yourself with a fun/productive/social activity that will boost confidence
inf Ti grip: check if your beliefs/assumptions about people are really true and consider whether your attitude is helpful for relationship health
inf Fi grip: acknowledge your weaknesses/failures and think on how to make up for them and/or work out the steps to doing better next time
inf Se grip: pause and get in touch with your aspirations/potential and reflect on whether your thinking/actions actually serve your greater purpose
inf Ne grip: breathe, break a problem up into smaller more manageable steps and then carry out your tasks patiently and methodically
inf Te grip: acknowledge and process negative emotions with self-empathy, get in touch with your authentic self and care for your well-being
inf Fe grip: step back to clear your head, slowly think through the problem and whether you need to change your idea/approach (for next time)
“How can I be substantial if I fail to cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole; and inasmuch as I become conscious of my shadow I also remember that I am a human being like any other.” - Jung
Hi friends, I still need to post up something about my recent Iceland trip (which I forgot to let you know about! I went to Iceland! The photo above is of Haystack, a little needle-felted friend who came with me for the journey) but since I got back there’s been a lot on my mind about art practice, and I’ve been trying to think of how we make and especially when you make art for a living there’s some weird things you have to navigate as you get deeper into it. Such as making work for yourself versus for a client and letting it not ‘be’ for anything but for making it, learning when and where you need to switch things up to keep it stimulating for yourself, how to go back and shake yourself out of the bad habits you’ve built up over years, how to keep patient when you just want to move onto the next thing, how to stoke excitement when art feels like work, and the like.
I’ve been doing some sleuthing online and a lot of the advice given is geared towards beginners and is a little more technically dry than I’d like. But I do think there’s some good things to mine from it; lately I’ve been trying to think of art practice like a sport or like exercise– you build up skills like muscles as you create work, but sometimes you let other muscles work to cover up weaknesses and get lazy. So drills and exercises (something I think we often think are boring/simple or for beginners) are useful to help break those habits and become a little more well rounded, as well as help you regain some excitement when things feel routine, or feel more patient when you’re hitting a wall.
I solicited responses on Twitter last night and got a good slew of ideas to practice no matter what stage you’re in! I wanted to share them with you (if you have others feel free to message me and I’ll add to this list!)
completing a sketchbook where you work with ink or paint only- no pencil underdrawings!
thumbnails of existing compositions/movie stills/etc to gain better color/tonal/composition sense.
do warmup paintings in a found or altered book- working with type on a page gives you a compositional challenge, but is also less intimidating than a blank page.
do morning warm up drawings, such as doing a small lettering warm-up.
figure drawing sessions or drawing at a coffeeshop/public space.
make a list of the things you get specific about and make them iconic and simpler. Make a list of things you use visual shorthand for (a t-shirt, car, bar of soap) and get specific.
create a list of words/phrases and randomly pull from them, then illustrate something fusing those ideas. (magnetic poetry style!)
do 100 20-minute sketches from life.
draw with kids to find spontaneity and focus– learn from their fearlessness!
also, have kids as art directors giving you assignments.
take bad, rejected, or old sketches and spend time to fix them into a finished piece.
take something you’ve made/designed and translate it into the spirit of another style/time period/art movement/voice. Or try and draw it from a different perspective or viewpoint, or try and draw what happened before or after it, or draw the opposite of it.
give yourself an alter-ego with a totally different visual voice, and try and create work for them.
create a project with parameters and a goal to explore, and a set end date and accomplish it.
if you draw fast, try to redraw it really slower and slower, find places to add specificity. Or redraw with your eyes closed. If you draw really complicatedly and slowly, find ways to redraw quicker and simpler but still keeping the essence of the subject.
blind contour drawings are really great to practice seeing without assuming. Drawing upside down, working with continuous line, or drawing negative spaces of things is also a good way to think differently.
sitting with another person who draws, draw the same thing with your eyes closed.
stream of consciousness drawing.
change scale, draw standing up (or bonus, draw with your pencil on a dowel 3 feet away from the paper).
draw something you feel very comfortable drawing. Then consider how an alien would consider that thing and what it wouldn’t know about it. Is there a way to convey more personality/information into that drawing?
try and draw things without line.
try and translate your drawing into a 3D medium and then redraw it after making it.
the biggest thing is though: build time to practice, and DON’T TALK YOURSELF OUT OF DOING A DRILL. Think of it like a musician practicing their scales and don’t worry that it’s just for you. Sow those seeds and reap ‘em later!
Whew, I gotta stop writing books instead of blog posts, but hope you find it useful! I may need to compile a pdf sometime…
These are really great advices and I’m gonna share it and make use of it right away ;)
1. Abnur Tharn is trying to convince you to help him, and as the saying goes, flattery will get you everywhere.
2. He is the highest ranking representative of the legitimate Cyrodiilic Empire, with 117 years of experience as an advisor, and is at least 163. Along the way, he studied Khajiit beauty standards at one point, in the off chance he ever was given an assignment where such a thing might be necessary (although he probably assumed that it would be some very different event, like a beauty pageant where he was called upon to act as a non-biased judge for candidates from all of Tamriel’s major races).
3. He honestly thinks you’re cute. He’s had at least sixteen children and seven wives, and a Khajiit may very well have been among that number. While it’s not completely clear if Khajiit and humans can have children, it’s not explicitly certain they can’t. However, romantic and physical relations are definitely possible between Khajiit and the other races.
Some context: Made a khajiit in ESO. The esteemed Abnur Tharn called my character pretty. I only had one question.
It’s an absolute possibility. Keep in mind that Jagar Tharn was noted to be part human (being a Tharn), part Bosmer (from his mother), part Altmer, part Dunmer (Ra'athim at that) and part “gods only know what”.
I’m sorry, but you are mistaken. The book you’re thinking of is called Notes on Racial Phylogeny, and it in fact clearly states they do not know if Argonians, Daedra, Orcs, and Khajiit can have children with other races (the passage about Orcs is the paragraph after this one, but is omitted here): “It is less clear whether the Argonians and Khajiit are interfertile with both humans and elves. Though there have been many reports throughout the Eras of children from these unions, as well as stories of unions with daedra, there have been no well documented offspring.”
I can provide you, off the top of my head, examples of three of those four producing children with other races. An Argonian and Altmer produced a child in Fall of Vitharn. A demiprince is the offspring of a Daedric Prince or Lord having a union with a being such as a mortal, with Fa-Nuit-Hen (scion of Boethiah) and the Demiprince of Pastries (her Daedric parentage is unknown, although it was probably Sheogorath) as examples. And finally Agronak gro-Malog, the result of a union between an Orcish woman and an Imperial vampire. Then let’s throw in examples like the minotaurs, which are believed to be the result of a union between the Imperial Alessia, and her consort the demigod Morihaus. Or a family tree for an Imperial family in Oblivion including Ogres in their ancestry.
While you may think the distinction of “Beast Race” implies they are very different from the other people of Tamriel, but that’s not really the case. “Beastfolk” is usually a label applied by empires to justify conquering them (it’s definitely a major reason why Orcs, who are elves, often are labeled as such). Or as a Moon Bishop described it:
“During the Reman Conquests, when the Cyrodiils were seeking justification for invasion of the Khajiiti kingdoms, we were tagged with the epithet ‘beast-men,’ and propaganda was spread emphasizing our similarities to our cousins of lesser sentience. For what could be wrong with liberating a fertile land such as ours from lowly ‘beast-men’?”
Whenever I start to fall down the doubt spiral of ADHD doom (“but what if I don’t have ADHD, what if I’m actually just a terrible person who doesn’t try hard enough and who somehow accidentally managed to manipulate a specialist into thinking I have ADHD?”) I like to take ADHD “tests” to remind myself that yeah, actually, my brain is 13 trash fires masquerading as 12 feral cats in a trench coat and that actually, my ADHD is both
a) pretty severe and
b) entirely unmedicated due to my physical health being the equivalent of a meteor strike masquerading as 13 trash fires.
Anyway, this one has a cool pie chart with colors which I found quite helpful compared to the usual number scales. But also, lmao, help…
Edit:link for anyone that wants it. (This is obviously not a complete or comprehensive diagnostic tool. I just thought the way it was laid out was cool and way more accessible compared to others I’ve seen in the past.)
if you remember reading the fic on AO3 and the writer has NOT crossposted on another platform, please follow the search tips below:
there are 2 ways to search on AO3:
a) using the sitewide search b) going into a tag and using the filter sidebar
if you know the title of the fic, you should use the sitewide search. if you don’t, it doesn’t matter which one you use. there are slight differences between the two, so you can choose the one you prefer.
//
to use the sitewide search, start here:
from there you will see various search boxes. most of them are self explanatory and for the ones that aren’t there’s a blue question mark you can click on next to the different search boxes that explain what they are for. you can use every box if you have the information, but these are the most useful to us:
Any Field - keywords go here. searches for your input in the title, tags, notes, and summary. use only one word or an exact phrase, spelling must be exact (if you are having difficulty identifying keywords to search, see how we analyze your fic descriptions here)
Title - similar to Any Field but only searches for your input in the title. spelling/phrasing must be exact
Single Chapter - if you are 100% sure it’s a one shot, check this box
Fandoms - type bts in the box, give it a minute to search, and 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS will show up in the dropdown
Characters - if you don’t know the pairing but remember one of the members involved, type the name in, wait for the search dropdown, and select the name
Relationships - pairings go here. note: pairings with 3+ people may not have a set tag. even if they do, writers do not tag them all the same way. for example: if the pairing involved jungkook, reader, and jimin, it could be tagged as Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin/Reader, but the writer could also list every part of the relationship separately (Jeon Jungkook/Reader, Park Jimin/Reader, Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin) as a general rule, it’s safer to use a 2 person pairing tag in situations with 3+ people.
Additional Tags - if you remember specific AU tags, warning tags, smut tags, etc. you can put them here. note: if you have multiple keywords and know 100% that one of them is a tag, then you can put that tag in here. otherwise, it’s easier to just use Any Field since it can search tags without accidentally narrowing your search too much.
Sort By - generally you can just use Best Match but sometimes the different options can help you find it faster:
NOTE: you do not have to use the tag suggestions they provide, but it is advised since they only show up as suggestions if people use them frequently.
//
to use the filter sidebar, start in AO3′s BTS fandom tag. if you are on DESKTOP, you will see the sidebar on the right. if you are on MOBILE, you should see a button that says Filters. press it to get the sidebar.
from there you will see various filters similar to the ones you see with the sitewide search. everything is more or less the same, but here are the main differences:
Include/Exclude: most of your input should be in INCLUDE. Exclude will help you narrow your results and give you less to search through, but you don’t have to use it. Include has checkmarks and Exclude has x marks, but BE SURE NOT TO ACCIDENTALLY MIX THEM UP.
Less Search Boxes: if you don’t see the tag you’re looking for among the given options for any of the sections, you can search for it in Other tags to include. it will give you suggestions for any kind of tag you search.
Search within results: this is the same as Any Field
