Highlights from the conference room where they nominated contenders for Word of the Year 2023:

• They put Skibidi Toilet on the projector to explain what “skibidi” means.

• Baby Gronk was mentioned.

• We discussed the Rizzler.

• “Cunty” was nominated.

• “Enshittification” was suggested for EVERY category.

• “Blue Check” (like from Twitter) was briefly defined as “Someone who will not Shut The Fuck Up”

• The person writing notes briefly defined babygirl as “referencing [The Speaker]”. He is now being called babygirl in the linguist groupchats.

• MULTIPLE people raised their hand to say “I cannot stress this enough: ‘Babygirl’ refers to a GROWN MAN”

When technical issues occurred while voting on “kenaissance”, everyone had to reassure the speaker, Ben Zimmer, that he was “benough”

In a stunning upset, the last-minute nomination “(derogatory)” DEFEATS “cunty” as the most useful/most likely to succeed word of 2023.

Someone renominates “babygirl” for word of the year, saying that they have spent the past year trying to figure out if people are “little meow meows, blorbos, or babygirls”. This is in front of a room of hundreds of people.

ENSHITTIFICATION WINS WORD OF THE YEAR 2023

While verifying this was true (it is) I discovered that there is a wikipedia article on enshittification

Even though this means I'm going to end up with a poop emoji on my headstone, I'm ok with it.

UM.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW

@mostlysignssomeportents IS THE PERSON WHO COINED THE TERM "ENSHITTIFICATION"

And we are so proud of our babygirl.

My roommate pacing the floor, talking to their partner on the phone: "NEIL GAIMAN called COREY DOCTOROW a BABYGIRL on MY POST"

why taking commissions for fanfics can KILL Archive of Our Own and fanfic culture as a whole

• okay, so thing is, fanfics are allowed — as in they’re not banned — because nobody is supposed to be profiting off of copyrighted characters.
• this is why popular site like Archive of Our Own is allowed to be up and running, because no one is supposed to be making money from fanfics.
• the fact AO3 is allowed to be up and running, unfortunately, can and will most likely change if people start normalizing commissioning fanfics and making profit off of them.
• because the second those big companies learn people are profiting off of their copyrighted characters, the target they will attack after you (in terms of legal action) is a platform like Archive of Our Own, which will likely ruin it all for everybody and every fandom.
• imagine Archive of Our Own getting shut down because fanfics were banned because people were profiting off of them. (I know AO3 isn’t only about fanfics, but since it’s mostly known for fanfics, it will most likely get targeted and that will most likely mean it’ll get shut down if worst comes to worst.)
• honestly. most people write fanfics in their free time for free out of passion and love they have for their favorite characters.
• people read fanfics for free because that’s their source of happiness.
• I’m not saying there will be no fanfics left in this world if they really are banned, because people will always find a way. but it WILL be so much harder having to sneak around and find a way to post fanfics without them getting removed at best, the authors getting sued at worst. and it WILL be harder for readers to find your works if we have to censor key words and character names in order to avoid getting caught.
• it’s so much easier like this, we can freely post fanfics without having to hide and censor key words or worrying about anything.
• no, I’m not making this post for the sake of those big companies. this post isn’t about “hey, don’t profit off of their characters”. it’s about “hey, don’t risk ruining fanfics culture as a whole for everybody by profiting off of them and putting a platform like Archive of Our Own in jeopardy.”

if you don’t want to live in a fandom without AO3, keep fanfics free.

Some of you didn’t live through the stress of the Anne Rice era, and it shows. Fanfic isn’t a profit thing. You want to profit, file off the serial numbers or actually write something original and self-publish. Also, readers, please quit encouraging this BS by offering or agreeing to pay, even for sneak peeks. Writers are much less likely to get away with Patreon than visual artists are. It sucks, but it is what it is.

(As a note, AO3 rules, written by competent lawyers, DO allow for charity works. I’d suggest looking into the rules before participating to make sure the charity drive is complying, though.)

Biology fun fact! This PC has actually evolved camouflage against gamers, their primary predators! Gamers' vision is primarily based on bright colored LEDs, so without RGB lighting, this PC is effectively invisible! Nature is incredible :)

ALT

and you don’t even get to nut :/

I must not start shit online. Starting shit online is the peace-killer. Starting shit online is the little death that brings total obliteration.

I will stay in my fucking lane and let the urge to start shit pass over and through me. And when the urge has passed, I will quietly seethe in Discord chat with my friends and rejoice when karma inevitably gets their asses.

the fact that chickens, who produce eggs for families and are fairly low-cost pets after initial expenses, are not allowed in many areas due to noise but dogs, who are considerably noisier and considerably more a risk to people are, is kind of ridiculous

The banning of chickens in cities has definitely helped contribute to the creation of food deserts in said cities.

HOAs disallowing people to grow their own food is another example.

I recently read an article that argued against allowing chicken ownership in cities due to the fact that urban chicken owners might be more “ignorant of husbandry needs of chickens” and anyone could decide “on a whim” to purchase chickens 🙄

This is an absurd argument considering the VAST collection of extremely high-maintenance and fragile species that are freely available as pets without any concern for their husbandry requirements. It is incredibly easy to purchase a sugar glider or a chameleon on a whim, and both of these animals are far more difficult to keep happy than the sturdy chickens that humans literally domesticated thousands of years ago. Chickens are useful and personable animals that make great pets, and if you’re worried people won’t know how to care for them the solution is to improve education rather than thoughtlessly banning an animal that is actually a great option as a pet for low-income families. I would much prefer to see people choosing chickens as a pet over the dozens of high-maintenance and non-domesticated animals available at the corner pet shop.

there’s nothing barring you from bringing an endangered parrot into your home or even apartment that yells at <100db all day every day

However we had to convince my town that our 6 hens weren’t going to ruin our well (???) lmao. don’t worry you can dump pesticides on the same lawn and they won’t care.

Some more plussize practice but fantasy creatures 😌💕

Why is no one capable of being normal about Ascended!Astarion...

One corner of the fandom shouts "you yourself are an evil person if you choose to have Astarion ascend in your game! We must protect our sweet innocent baby boy from your decisions!"

Another shouts "Ascended!Astarion isn't actually the morally wrong choice at all, who cares if you murder 7000 people? Obviously it's the correct thing to do because he wants it and players should always give him whatever he wants!"

Another shouts "Anyone who writes fanfic featuring a nasty Ascended!Astarion must all be freaks no better than abuse apologists! Write him as a nice person or don't write him at all!"

Another shouts "Ascended!Astarion is an irredeemable monster and incapable of ever at any point displaying any kind of niceness, no matter how far into the future you imagine it is!"

You can't win.