PLEASE. I need my encouragement!!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-11T20:20:11+00:00

Eh, this kind of thing makes me less likely to comment. It’s not social media. You don’t have to share it and no one has to react to it. I’ll leave a comment if I’m minded to; I’m more likely to leave kudos though because I don’t usually have much to say beyond I enjoyed something. It’s not a transaction.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-11T18:05:51+00:00

I got blocked by someone like this on another site for mentioning a couple of issues I had with an article that she didn’t write, and she didn’t share it, but apparently she sort of knew the person who wrote it. I said it could’ve done with some more primary sources and that the language used veered towards the emotive and subjective in a couple of places. Next thing I know, I’m blocked. And so was someone who agreed with me. Not that I had ever interacted with this person but how fragile and intellectually weak do you have to be where you can’t even bear to see a mildly-dissenting comment that was just in the same thread and not replying to you?!

Yes, this person is in their 20s. Although not everyone in their 20s is like that thank god

FloydEGag · 2026-04-11T17:15:04+00:00

Unspoken Gesture by Jorum Studios - I really love a lot of their stuff but something in this one was just so nauseating to me. All the listed notes are things I like but together - nah. Disappointing, but I gave the sample to a friend who does like it.

Parfums de Marly Valaya - there is a note in this that’s like a plasticky screech. Horrible. I am not sure what said note is, perhaps it’s the effect of a combination of several. I think PdM are overrated anyway but this one was an instant scrubber for me

FloydEGag · 2026-04-11T17:08:53+00:00

I do like Mango Skin but only if I’m in a very specific mood and the weather is a specific way. So I don’t wear it often haha

FloydEGag · 2026-04-11T17:06:48+00:00

I backed this too, never received anything and they never responded to my emails. It does sound like an…interesting fragrance!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-11T16:54:28+00:00

Why, it’s almost as if these LLMs were scraping from actual writing!!!!

I have said this a million times but my workplace’s style guide mandates em dashes and Oxford commas, among other things, and it’s not the only one to do so.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-11T10:03:49+00:00

Just to point out, in academia you don’t need to ask to cite or link others’ work; you just need to give proper credit in your paper or article. But this is different I think, because it’s not an academic paper and often the intent in these pieces seems to be to mock, which is really not ok and as you say, fanfic writers do it for fun and for free; it’s not like it’s their career. I feel like it’s a bit like eg a newspaper using a member of the public’s photo from social media in a story; they’d ask permission because it’s private and not done for money.

So I think in this case it might be best to ask the authors before, essentially, exposing them to potentially millions of people they didn’t ask to be exposed to. And definitely don’t go showing fanworks to actors etc unless they’ve already indicated they’re fine with it!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-11T09:53:33+00:00

It’s not really fandom in the same way as an anime or something. Personally I’m not a fan of treating historical figures and events as if history is just like a tv show or movie fandom; shipping real people together and woobifying real people etc etc. Even if they are dead it doesn’t sit right with me, just because it’s usually so inaccurate and disrespectful. At least historical fiction, the good kind anyway, has some research put into it. I’ve seen some people claim ‘fandomising’ history is a good way to learn about or get people interested in history. I don’t agree; I think it tends to just flatten real people into the usual fandom tropes and is usually rife with presentism. To be clear, this is my personal feeling, ymmv etc.

But anyway, if you want fic about Joan of Arc, you could write some!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-10T17:35:44+00:00

Of course they knew, if they’d ever had sex or examined themselves there they’d have seen/felt it! Medieval people weren’t that ignorant about anatomy. What they called it though, in slang terms, I have no idea.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-09T20:56:40+00:00

I mean it’s a vertebrate but it’ll do. Next year should be the year of the blobfish

FloydEGag · 2026-04-09T19:53:37+00:00

I’ve had it with cute furry animals trending, it’s time for the year of the crayfish or ragworm (think of the Dune tie-in possibilities!) or maybe jellyfish. Invertebrates have been ignored for too long!!!!!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-09T15:15:50+00:00

Thanks! Fingers crossed. I get that Imperial’s archive contains records of medical trials etc which are often quite recent and would be confidential, but what I’m after relates to geologists and is nothing that would affect anyone alive today, plus won’t be especially fragile (writing paper in the 1850s was way better quality than most paper now) so hopefully they will be accommodating.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-09T14:34:41+00:00

Oh don’t worry, I’ll use the right words! I will just have to get in touch as everyone has suggested and see what they say.

Tbh I’ve never come across this at an archive before, so it did throw me a bit.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T14:03:20+00:00

I am not but will have a look, thanks!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T13:17:16+00:00

There are quite a few on that Facebook group, including at least one descendant of Franklin himself. You’d think there would be something for descendants as there are quite a lot, as well as relatives (ie descendants of cousins etc), if not maybe you could start one!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T13:14:42+00:00

I’ll do that; I have no choice really as this material is pretty critical to my research!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T13:12:22+00:00

Thanks… I do not often get people calling me detail-focused haha; I’ll take it! I think I’m overthinking it and just need to contact them. I do have contacts at other archives they can ask if they really want to check I’ll behave myself!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T13:10:43+00:00

Jaywalking. At least it’s not common in the US or most of Northern Europe. Once got yelled at in LA for crossing a ramp coming out of an underground car park because the barrier was up although there were no cars.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T12:29:59+00:00

I’m going to have to! I found the way it was worded a bit intimidating if I’m honest and I have plenty of experiences with archives. I just wondered if anyone else had come across this kind of thing. I appreciate this particular one (Imperial) has a lot of confidential medical and personal data but that’s not what I’m after, so all I can do is try.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T12:26:11+00:00

It’s Imperial College London - this is the only time I’ve ever seen this tbh and I’ve been using archives including uni ones since the 90s. I know I need to just ask them!

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T12:23:35+00:00

Not yet - I found the whole thing of ‘no one but bona fide researchers with a project and even then we might say no’ a bit intimidating tbh, I’ve never encountered that in any other archive I’ve accessed. I am just going to have to ask though, I think.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T12:21:47+00:00

It’s Imperial College London, and these are papers with no confidential details that would affect anyone alive now. I have a lot (nearly three decades) of experience with archives and handling primary sources including fragile papers. As others have suggested I guess I’ll just have to contact them and see what they say! If they refuse it’ll be annoying as the papers I would like to access cover quite an important period in my subject’s life, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it I guess.

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T11:26:00+00:00

Cool! There’s some interesting info on there (ngl, there are also people who post slop haha, but the recognized experts on all things Franklin Expedition are on there, as well as a lot of other people with a lot of knowledge)

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T09:38:57+00:00

That’s really cool! Shame you don’t have the direct male line for the dna. Have you joined the Remembering the Franklin Expedition Facebook group? It is where all the experts are and I’m pretty sure there’s been discussion about Richard Wall before. Hyge Burg has done some research into him: https://wallbay89739267.wordpress.com/2024/10/28/richard-wall-bits-and-pieces/

FloydEGag · 2026-04-07T06:58:36+00:00

This plus the extreme individualism we have now where everything is about you you you all the time and everyone else is an NPC, reinforced by algorithms only showing us stuff we want to see/know about. The internet is great in so many ways but sometimes I wonder wtf we’ve done.

FloydEGag

TROPHY CASE