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[puss_nd_boots]

So thanks to ldybastet, I found out the new Kink Bingo prompt list was out. She wasn't happy about it. I took a look at it, and I wasn't happy about it either.

My biggest problem with KB last year was there were far too many Vague Prompts Are Vague. Well, this year they just put in more of them, and took out some very specific and very write-able kinks - like Collars and Oral Fixation. (I have a Byou muse now. I kind of was hoping to get that square). But the worst thing of all is they said they took out any kinks that were "too penis-y" - like Double Penetration (another one I was hoping to get, dammit!) - and yet, they kept Pegging/Strap-Ons, which is a kink specifically geared to f/f and f/m pairings.

Too penis-y? Really? On a community that claims to be open and tolerant of all forms of sexuality and all kinks? Sounds to me like they're kink-shaming penises. Not a very good thing for those of us who write exclusively yaoi.

So, yeah, I am very strongly considering giving this thing a miss this year. I had a lot of fun with it last year - the prompts inspired me to write a lot of things I wouldn't have otherwise (like a fractured fairy tale take on Cinderella). But this year? If I have to struggle to come up with things to fit a lot of vague and "not my bag" kinks, that's not really FUN, is it?

Hopefully, some alternate kink/porn challenge community will come along that would be more along the lines of what I'm looking for.

(Also, I've started a new fic tonight, and it will be released on a specific day next week. I would have started it last night, except I kind of had a slight adware problem with my laptop. Took something like five programs to remove all the junk. Word to the wise, never download HJSplit from anywhere but its own web site).

Comments

[misumaru.livejournal.com]

I'm also bowing out kink bingo this year because I'm unhappy with the changes. Oral Fixation was one of my faves, and so versatile! Why did they take that out and leave in things like Fucking Machines and Enemas, which have a VERY specific appeal??? :( Don't get me started on the Double Penetration fiasco, I'm still incredibly angry about how they presented that. You're right that the whole sense of fun has been lost.

At least we have the kink meme? :(

[puss-nd-boots.livejournal.com]

The irony of what they take out is they keep removing things that have broad appeal and a lot of uses, and replacing them with things you have to struggle to use. I got Fucking Machines on my card last year and it was in line for a planned second bingo (which I never finished), so I couldn't avoid it. I really, really had to struggle to come up with a plotline for it, and I was never entirely satisfied with the end result. So if you're reaching to the limits to fit the prompt, and you can't take pride in what you come up with, what's the point?

They don't realize that with some of these very, very specific prompts, you have to start asking yourself, would anyone in my fandoms really be into this? If you come up with a no, you're stretching things again - either warping the prompt or warping the characters.

I love a good challenge, but there's a difference between being challenged by a prompt and struggling above and beyond to meet it.

[misumaru.livejournal.com]

I have a nasty history with the Fucking Machines square. The first two years I played, it came up on both of my cards, and I was just so... not even squicked, more scared by the thought of having to write for it that it sent me in a total tailspin and completely ruined me the second year. I think I might have got enemas on that card as well. XD I'm better with the kink now, but I was so relieved when I could start opting out of it and then actually started to manage to do bingos. It's so specific, that there's no way around it! And that's exactly the problem with a lot of the extreme categories they've introduced. I don't think they realise how much of an impact that kind of thing can have, or how much fun gets sucked out by it happening to you.

[puss-nd-boots.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the problem - when you get kinks that flat-out make you uncomfortable, it starts making the challenge stressful instead of fun. And then it defeats its own purpose, because the whole reason you're participating is to have fun!

One thing I've always throught the KB mods should do is allow you to set your kink preference level - Mild, Moderate or Extreme. Mild would include common kinks like spanking and bondage. Moderate would take it up to the level of things like whipping/flogging and double penetration. And they could put stuff like fucking machines and queening in the Extreme category. Make sure everyone can enjoy it, no matter what kink level.

[ldybastet.livejournal.com]

If they'd hadn't added double penetration being a "fairly penisy" kink as a reason for removing it, I wouldn't have commented and stated my dissatisfaction. But that did come across as "fairly penis-shaming" to me, so... Like you said, especially considering they kept pegging and added queening (albeit broadening the term to allow cocks being sucked in that position), and it seems they didn't even notice the gendered connotations of the term "queening"! They argued that in their kink circles it's gender-neutral!

I'm making a kink list of my own now, with the help of misu, so you can look forward to another kink thing hosted on my journal soon! LOL I'm pretty sure you'll like this list better! *g*

I am so happy to be a Mac user and not having to use software to put split files together! \o/ Terminal rocks!

[puss-nd-boots.livejournal.com]

I saw your comment, and I saw how the mods replied to you. They came off as pretty damn arrogant and jerky - yet another reason to give the challenge a miss.

Honestly, their attempts at "inclusiveness" backfire on themselves. Queening is a gender-neutral term? Really? Last time I looked, "Queen" referred to something female - there's a reason the word is used for drag personas. It's like they try to be inclusive and shoot themselves in the foot by being the opposite. Kinks that have very narrow appeal are NOT inclusive. (Like I said to Misu above, if you have to struggle to fit one of your regular characters to a kink and you're not happy with the end result, what's the point?)

Their Kink Wiki has never been much help in matching characters to kinks, either, because it's very Western-oriented. Examples they give are always from things like Buffy and DC/Marvel comics - I think the only time I saw anime cited was when they discussed the climactic scene in Akira under Body Alteration.

YAY for coming up with your own kink challenge! I am most definitely going to be participating in that one instead this year! I'm sure you guys will come up with a good one, too!

How do you use the Terminal in a Mac to join files? I've been using a program called Split and Concact on that machine. (The reason I was on the laptop trying to join video files - a video I need for the fic I'm working on now - is because my Mac is a desktop machine, and we were having severe thunderstorms. I don't like using the desktop in a thunderstorm, even though it's in a surge protector).

[ldybastet.livejournal.com]

It looks a lot like they do the things they hate when others do... just in a different direction. Meh. If they present a more fun list next year, I may participate then, otherwise... Hey, we can always make our own! LOL List is checked and revised, so I'll make the post later... and we can start in July just like the other place! :D

Their kink wiki is *so* western based!!! And even with the fandoms there that I know of, it's still not very inspiring. I think it's the neutral language and word-choice they have adopted? They try to not put off anyone, so it ends up bland? Or something. obviously a lot of other people find t inspiring. LOL

Put the files to be joined on the desktop or a folder on the desktop (if you use a separate folder, make sure the name of it doesn't have spaces, and also remove any spaces in the filenames. You can use underscores instead. Terminal doesn't like spaces and weird characters like brackets etc). Open Terminal. I think you should be on Desktop by default, but you can type cd ~/Desktop and hit return to be on the safe side. If you use a folder on the desktop type cd ~/Desktop/foldername instead.

Now you are in the same place as your files to be joined. Type ls and hit return and you'll get a list of everything where you are. You can highlight the filenames and copy, so you don't have to retype them.

Type cat then put in the filenames after that with just a space between. After the last one you need to tell it what you want it to be called, so type > desiredfilname and then hit return. Now it should be joining thse files and when it's done you'll get a new prompt line. :D

I stay away from working on the desktop machine too when there are thunderstorms! I don't want to jeopardize it in any way!

[puss-nd-boots.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I always trust things within the Apple infrastructure rather than third-party shareware (other than browsers, since Safari flat-out sucks) so I'll definitely be using that method to put together files!

And I am SO looking forward to your alterna-bingo. Penises and all. (My muss are now in "excited" mode again. The original list just made them let out a collective "EEEEHHHH.???" Well, except for Ruki!Muse, who said, "What the fuck is this shit?")

The wiki is another example of their attempts at inclusiveness blowing up in their faces. It is SO generic that a lot of the time, it ends up saying NOTHING. Really, the only useful thing I ever got out of it was the descriptions of the fucking machines used in my fic for that kink (the stuff Aoi was finding online).

Ha, I can just see the KB Inclusiveness Police getting hold of my first Byou/Ruki fic. "First of all, it's too penis-y! Second, these characters are both incredibly beautiful - their existence SHAMES anyone who doesn't look like them! Third, rimming is no longer a kink! Can't you have guro or queening in here instead? The only good thing about this fic is they're chromatic! No, not Japanese - chromatic! The word Japanese EXCLUDES everyone who isn't from one country! We can't allow it!"

[ruruu.livejournal.com]

Hahahahaha too penis-y xD I have learned new vocabulary.

[puss-nd-boots.livejournal.com]

It's a bizarre piece of vocabulary to be sure! Seriously, that term was the deal-breaker for me with that community (well, that and the fact that they were pretty damn high-horse condescending to ldybastet). Um, whether they realize it or not, the vast majority of fanwriters do work with male characters - many work with males exclusively. Penises are gonna happen.

[ruruu.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha yeah. But tbh I think of fanfiction somehow as some sort of cultivated porn for women. Of cause this is not for every piece of writing (my boyfriend loves to read War Hammer fanfiction, he loves the Space Marine Solidier from that universe and apparently there are a lot of well written fanfiction in russian language (he is half-russian) that sometimes turn into books) So even fanfiction about hetero pairings, most lovestories are written for women! Even a Twighlight fanfiction will sooner or later be about Edwards Penis XDDDDDDD
And especially in this fandom I can imagine double penetration very well, cause hasn't she been torn between two boys? lol

[ayame-hadouken.livejournal.com]

augh, i was disappointed with no more dp as well; i mean, there's only so many ways to do it, but still.

i'm still participating, though, even though the cards i've gotten have been just okay. that might just have something to do with how much i did last year.