A quick update on one of our priorities right now: Getting rid of spammy followers.
We’ve recently made a lot of headway, including shutting down several large spam rings that were responsible for most of these spammy follows.
We’re always improving our algorithms to catch these annoying bots, but one of the best tools we have are your reports. If you ever catch someone spammy following you, you can use this icon to report them:
Not only will you stop that bot from bothering anyone else, you’ll help our team catch thousands of stupid bots just like it. (Easier reporting is coming soon to our mobile apps too.)
you want to help stop tumblr from murdering itself? here's how!
click this link and go to the support page, then click "contact support"
click on the category list and click on feedback
now you need to tell staff WHY putting in an algorithm will cause the site to fucking die, and be sure to be detailed and not a dick in it. theyre not gonna listen to feedback calling them assholes
i encourage you to reblog this so we can get as many people leaving feedback as humanly possible. we need to let staff know this is an utterly terrible idea
Don’t forget y’all that there’s a much better way for us to let Tumblr know what we think about specific changes, rather than @ ing staff or wip, and it’s sending in a support ticket and choosing feedback!
Tumblr reverted some of the asinine app decisions they made after a concerted feedback effort! So make sure to use this form! It’s what it’s for, but it’s not well advertised!
obligatory disclaimer that Terry Pratchett was a white cishet man and it often shows in his work. Not saying this to scare people off from reading the books, but he's talked up so much for his progressive messaging that it may give people some innaccurate expectations of moral infallibility and that's... not what they're gonna get.
I've been thinking about this comment a lot, and I do agree that it's super fair and true.
But it also makes me think of just how far class solidarity, versatile metaphors, and the idea that satire should "punch up" can get you.
The City Watch books are maybe the best example of this. Sam Vimes is a grump who is very set in his ways, and he often finds himself exasperated by change and the new diversity in his city. Yet the villains of his books are never the immigrants or the foreign- it's the wealthy and the powerful and the cruel. He consistently places himself on the side of the minorities, even if he grumbles a bit about how things weren't like this back in his day.
No author or book series should be deemed morally infallible. There are no doubt bits that didn't age well or can fall apart if applied too closely to real life situations, and your milage may vary on how well any one plot point or another resonates with you; but I think the heart of the books, the themes and values they explore, hold up very well over all.
Ok, but if you’re an independent contractor in the US and this happens? Find a lawyer, because you might have just gotten a huge payday.
Your position was just referred to as employment. Independent contractors do not have employers; they do not have employment. Congrats, your contact at this company just provided evidence that you were illegally missclassified.
This contact is claiming that you have set hours you’re obligated to fulfill. Unless a work task can only be done at a set time for practical reasons (i.e. you’re an audio freelancer paid to support a live event that occurs at a particular time and requires a certain amount of pre-show setup), a company cannot set an independent contractor’s work hours. This is further evidence that you were missclassified.
The whole exchange establishes that the company is interpreting an employer-employee relationship rather than expecting a service. Discipline and potential for firing (you cannot fire an independent contractor; no longer purchasing their service is not equivalent) establish that this person views themselves as a manager. Independent contractors cannot have managers.
This one text exchange could:
Get you back pay for the full duration you’ve worked there, to bring you up to the compensation that an employee would have gotten
Get you back compensation for lost benefits that an employee would have gotten
Get you back pay for the additional self-employment taxes the company should have covered
Get the company to pay back taxes to the government
Get the company to hire everyone who performed a similar role, or face further penalties and fines
A win would encourage the rest of their missclassified workers to sue for the same, or give them leverage to demand a better deal
If the company is going to screw you over like that, may as well make them pay for it.
You can also file a form with the IRS to force the company to correct your classification (assuming you meet the criteria), without necessarily having to sue:
Keep in mind that this is just federal. Most states also prohibit missclassification as an independent contractor; and even if states have more lenient rules, companies still have to comply with this federal law. The rules have largely been bipartisan and existed for decades, so they’re common.
States also have an interest in having regulations about missclassification: it’s a significant loss of tax revenue. Your self employment tax does not fully equal what a company would have paid for you in payroll taxes.
A lawyer can help point you in the right direction if a company is currently missclassifying you.
[image ID: first image is a screenshot from the WGA Garage Sale Auction page. Item is listed as Package 8 with a starting bid of $100 and titled, "Bidding begins July 27 -- Personalized Video from the Office Ladies." Attached is a photo of actresses Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer, aka Angela and Pam from The Office.
second image is a screenshot from the WGA Garage Sale Auction page. Item is listed as Package 14 with a starting bid of $100 and titled, "Bidding begins July 27: Elementary props from Robert Wolfe. @writergeekrhw Image is of a man holding props.
third image is a screenshot from the WGA Garage Sale Auction page. Item is listed as Package 18 with a starting bid of $100 and titled "Enigma Machine prop from Bones." Image is of the Enigma Machine from the TV show Bones.
fourth image is a screenshot from the WGA Garage Sale Auction page. Item is listed as Package 24 with a starting bid of $50 and titled, "Lisa Hanawalt Handpainted Bojack Horseman strike sign." Attached is an image of Bojack Horseman with the text "Give us a fair deal or suck a dick dumbshits!"
fifth image is a screenshot from the WGA Garage Sale Auction page. Item is listed as Package 37 with a starting bid of $100 and titled, "Better Call Saul Crew Gifts." Attached is an image of BCS logo beer steins, a bag, and a mug.
sixth image is a screenshot from the WGA Garage Sale Auction page. Item is listed as Package 42 with a starting bid of $100 and titled, "What We Do In The Shadows - Colin Robinson's notebook." Image is of a composition book prop from WWDITS.
seventh image is a screenshot from the WGA Garage Sale Auction page. Item is listed as Package 41 with a starting bid of $50 and titled, "What We Do In The Shadows signed poster (1 of 12 printed)." Attached is the WWDITS poster.
eighth image is a screenshot from the WGA Garage Sale Auction page. Item is listed as Package 46 with a starting bid of $50 and titled, "Connor Roy For President Hat." Image is of a baseball cap from the show Succession that says Connor Roy For President. end ID.]
Support the WGA strike and bid on some cool items from your favorite writers, creators, and film/TV shows! Link to auction site here.
Lots more stuff on the website, with more auction items added frequently!
