Three things, you know the drill.

[firecat]

"Tumblr's Displaced Porn Bloggers Test Their New Platforms" by Emily Dreyfuss

I think it's more like "tumblr's porn bloggers and a ton of people who don't care that much about porn but do care about having some degree of freedom of expression, especially given that disallowing sexual content disproportionately harms women and queers."

"Dance of the Line Riders" video on the DoodleChaos YouTube channel.

A delightful animated music video that incidentally helps you understand the music better.

The Republic of Užupis as described by Katie Matthews and its excellent Constitution, an English translation of which I reproduce here:

Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnelė, while the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by everyone.
Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled roof.
Everyone has the right to die, but it is not a duty.
Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
Everyone has the right to individuality.
Everyone has the right to love.
Everyone has the right to be not loved, but not necessarily.
Everyone has the right not to be distinguished and famous.
Everyone has the right to be idle.
Everyone has the right to love and take care of a cat.
Everyone has the right to look after a dog till one or the other dies.
A dog has the right to be a dog.
A cat is not obliged to love its master, but it must help him in difficult times.
Everyone has the right to sometimes be unaware of his duties.
Everyone has the right to be in doubt, but this is not a duty.
Everyone has the right to be happy.
Everyone has the right to be unhappy.
Everyone has the right to be silent.
Everyone has the right to have faith.
No one has the right to violence.
Everyone has the right to realize his negligibility and magnificence.
Everyone has the right to encroach upon eternity.
Everyone has the right to understand.
Everyone has the right to understand nothing.
Everyone has the right to be of various nationalities.
Everyone has the right to celebrate or not to celebrate his birthday.
Everyone shall remember his name.
Everyone may share what he possesses.
No-one can share what he does not possess.
Everyone has the right to have brothers, sisters and parents.
Everyone is capable of independence.
Everyone is responsible for his freedom.
Everyone has the right to cry.
Everyone has the right to be misunderstood.
No-one has the right to make another person guilty.
Everyone has the right to be personal.
Everyone has the right to have no rights.
Everyone has the right to not be afraid.
Do not defeat.
Do not fight back.
Do not surrender.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I have been to the Republic of Užupis. It was delightful. They have a cat ambassador, who is working on a translation of the Constitution into cat but is also a lazy fucker who likes to sleep, so it isn't going very quickly.

[firecat]

Oh my gosh, a cat ambassador too!

[sabotabby]

Here is my post about it. Specifically, here is a picture of the feline ambassador sleeping on the job.

[firecat]

Wonderful post and photos, especially of Their Excellency the Ambassador!

[sabotabby]

The Ambassador is very soft and good. More Ambassadors should be like that.

[firecat]

They sure should.

[cjsmith]

It will be interesting to see what happens to social media in the wake of Tumblr. Ever so gradually, more and more people have been starting to realize that a site "beholden only to the users" is what will serve the users' needs best. I hope this gives Dreamwidth a real boost. I should also check out Pillowfort - I had seen a recommendation for it and hadn't acted on that, and now mildly regret it.

Fingers crossed for the Dreamwidth boost, at least.

[firecat]

Part of the problem is Apple—I gather Tumblr wouldn't have banned sexually explicit content if Apple hadn't forced their hand. So many people exclusively use phones and tablets to access the Internet these days. So that makes it a little more complicated to settle on a site that isn't Tumblr or Facebook or another place dependent on advertising.

Ditto on Pillowfort. I'll wait until they've sorted out their bandwidth issues.

[jesse_the_k]

...altho the longterm response to the app-store censorship is don't make an app! Make a truly responsive web site instead.

Thanks for introducing me to the Republic of Užupis

[firecat]

I guess a web site could be as useful as an app? I don't do everything on my phone, so I'm not in a position to judge.

[cjsmith]

Agreed completely. A truly good mobile site is probably the best end-run around Apple.

[cjsmith]

Yes, Apple helped trigger this. Sigh. I am now nearly exclusively mobile-only due to the My Job Is Not Tech effect, so I'm feeling none too thrilled with this development.

I too will wait on Pillowfort. I hope they can sort it out soon. It's a challenge, to be sure.

[hitchhiker]

from what i hear, sesta/fosta are far more to blame than apple.

[kore]

Oh wow, that constitution is amazing.

[geeksdoitbetter]

i'd half seriously asked my sweet pea what it would take for me to open a bank exclusively for sex workers. like, a credit union

[firecat]

That would be awesome!

[geeksdoitbetter]

right?!

we talked it out quite a bit

and, if i recall, there were 2 main issues

first, cicely super does not want to go to jail. ever.

second, many things are for real illegal. but many things are grey area and cicely might not have enough fortitude to endure the investigation/intimidation coz see issue 1

oh, and third, it's not so much a sex positive bank that we'd need. it's a credit card company that's willing to process those grey area charges

and, while starting a credit union/bank seemed totes doable (really, past me?), some how reckoning with creating a credit card company was a step too far

[geeksdoitbetter]

woah

https://www.profitableventure.com/starting-a-credit-card-issuing-company/

[firecat]

you rock for doing the research!

I don't want cicely to go to jail either. or have to endure tons of investigation/intimidation. and wow, the link you found about starting a cc company makes it sound really complicated.

[geeksdoitbetter]

ha! my reaction was: omg! there's an entire page of directions! that's automatically so much less complicated now!

i skimmed down and didn't find a stopping point (other than, have much cash on hand before you start), until ... getting a bank to stand as a cover for your cards

which means, i'm back to trying to learn how to be a bank!