DeltaAro

Generally this board is based on Invison, which uses FontAwesome icons (sadly only a small subset - the full FontAwesome also has some frog icons). But there weren't really different badges, it was the exact same rocket icon for all members. And yeah, FontAwesome icons are very plain, but that's kind of the point. They're supposed to be usable for a wide variety of websites.

So... who? Didn't this turn into an ironic term 100 years ago?

I don't think the intention is simply to get this bill passed, though that might happen. Because there's way too much dangerous 3D chess going on. Still, if it only stokes up enough fear, conspiratorial thinking and intolerance and fractures alliances, this proposal has done its job. PS: if European politics is crazy, the US version is positively insane. So I generally avoid commenting about it, because even stating bare facts enrages people.

Aro Stellaris, addendum: I used the human portraits for the Arocratic Star Empire of Quiver, but how could I forget about this species portrait: looks like our

So now I tried Asesprite. Yeah, it's pretty nice. But there's an open-source version called LibreSprite which superficially seems rather similar. 😐 And I found an IMHO even better and open-source pixel-art editor, Pixelorama, which you can use offline and as a web-app. PS: paid vs. free of charge isn't really such an issue for me (except for really expensive stuff like Adobe Creative Cloud). I just prefer open-source software when possible because of the freedom / community aspect.

Thanks! I also like how it turned out with @Nix's idea. While originally the tongue was just there to use up the empty space, with it the badge also got a funny metaphorical meaning: The fly is a bad post which the frog lord moderator casually removes.

If you wonder: Yes, I liked this 11 minutes after you posted it, though the video is 18 minutes long. But just the YouTube thumbnail alone was simply too good.😀

I'd say it's an inconvenient bag. 😉

Oh yes, you're right. I remember "vrijgezel" = "single person".... 😑 The dictionary says "virgin" = "maagd". Quite archaic, always this weird connection between virginity and being a domestic servant... Dutch is very perplexing for me, kind of like Low German. But worse. 🤪 I once watched Dutch news and confused "overlijden" with "overleven"... 😯

I'd categorize this as a slur. Also, doesn't mean "vrijster" virgin? Always those assumptions about aro/ace people. Good "old spinster" still seems popular, though. 😕 A slightly less disparaging word in German: "Hagestolz", meaning roughly "confirmed (male) bachelor". A word play on "Hagestalt": a small parcel of land, too small to provide for a family. And "Stolz" meaning "pride". Yes, you're aro because you're poor and prideful, whatever...

"Engagement cups" - cups with interlocking handles. A backpack without straps.

LOL, now I learned about the formerly existing State of Deseret. Founded by Mormon settlers and named after the word for "honeybee" in the Book of Mormon - from which the state of Utah developed. So the flag of Utah becomes kind of funny since it still shows a beehive. I guess that was a concession to the Mormons. But then above stands "INDUSTRY". Probably so the non-Mormon inhabitants don't get nervous: "The beehive has nothing to do with Mormons, nothing at all. It's purely secular! We all know that Utahns are the most industrious Americans, don't we!? So don't ask such silly questions and get back to work!"

Can the font / icon size of the GUI be increased? On 4K resolution it's really tiny. So right now, I just changed the color of the orb to purple for the admin frog. Maybe I'll give admin frog overlord a coat? Also if you notice, I improved the anti-aliasing on the other edges. For the text I used the Aquaphonic Font. Invision is programmed a bit weirdly: The rank icons correctly have an 1.4 em scaling, so you can use a high resolution image and it looks sharp while keeping the size. The badge icons have none of that, just a bare <img> element. So we're restricted to a small 30 x 90 px image that won't really look that good, no matter what.

We have a Frog Lord ... what might a Frog Overlord look like? 🤔 I guess to keep this small blue hand for newbies is not so bad. I mean it's only temporary, so. Anyway, it's not a very important information (contrary to moderator / administrator) since the post count is shown right on the left of all our posts.

And we still need an "Administrator" bade and a "Newbie" bade. 🙂

Yes, thanks for the effort, this looks great! What software did you use? I tried to do it with GIMP. Either I cannot use it properly or it's not suited for the job. I don't know how to use a pixel-precise pencil with a semi-transparent color. It seems only the brush tool can do transparency, but it's not precise. At least I did a bit of manual anti-aliasing on the inside. Yeah... it's my first foray into pixel art... 🙃 Maybe @EGGHEAD can help us a bit. He seems to be an expert.

Frog Lord 30 x 90 px (see gallery for the 100% original PNG).

When I see those, I just think "VLC player"... 🤪

mmh... so first I suppose when we get to such a low resolution, this is pixel art level. We gonna need that precision, because it honestly does not look good anymore when you create it as vector and let Inkscape render it. Even with highest quality anti-aliasing. If you like the overall idea / design of the frog lord, I can try that. Though I'm also for removing "MODERATOR" from the badge and instead keep "Moderator" as plain text, since the white space looks weird. And maybe I can come up with some idea to make the badge a bit longer. What do you think would a good max pixel height be? 50 px seems too high, probably 30 px? On the Invision board the badges are 20 x 90 px.

Yeah... or not, I sadly reached something of a creative roadblock. Honestly, I don't think the shield works or is even recognizable; gonna try the turtle shield again perhaps. But first I was tempted to create one with a frog: So this is 50 x 250 pixels. Now Invision seems to upscale this in posts. But you can't get much smaller or you won't recognize anything. The font uses is the heavy version of Inter, the main font on this website. Here the hi-res version:

Of course I do not deny that there are unfair advantages in society, that certain minorities are genuinely oppressed and constitute genuine victims in some way (even in cases when they're largely well-off). But "privilege" (in the social justice sense) feels like a term deliberately designed to get confused and conflated with other concepts. That's why it is regarded as so offensive, and why it is so easily weaponized (it triggers defensiveness and denial, which is then interpreted as fragility, a type of bigotry itself). Traditionally "privilege" had two meanings: a clear-cut, special legal entitlement or immunity granted by the state. Such privileges are not bad per se, but (at least in modern democracies) mostly good, necessary and/or earned. a state of having lots of advantages, like wealth and connections, which other people usually do not have (typically conferred by birth). We all know that you can be very powerless and suffering yet still have legal privileges (e. g. a homeless defendant has testimonial privilege). This is relatively uncontroversial. But "privilege" (in the social justice sense) takes this idea and applies it to social issues, which makes people think of privilege in the sense of definition 2. That's why the word becomes so offensive to most people. Especially when being simply free of some abuse or oppression counts as "privilege". The original 1989 article by Peggy McIntosh acknowledges this problem but dismisses it with a sleight of hand. So IMHO even after all this time, we know how this works out: A very socio-economically disadvantaged straight person will likely be offended when they hear about "straight privilege". Because they hear: "You as a straight person are privileged [in the sense of definition 2]".

Is this the most active thread in all of Arocalypse's history? I feel so old. 😕 Please remember to crack some pun when you reach the 666th post here.

... and also complain-bragging (which is even worse and more common): "Give me hugs, I ruined my new $2000 dress while replacing a tire on my Lamborghini 😔". Now everyone and their dog is doing it. It's everywhere. It became so pervasive that even I started doing it, though I'm generally considered very wise and mature and usually stand above such silly games. Ooops... Seriously, I can't imagine that there was another era where humble-bragging was a thing. It started around ten years ago. Nobody likes it. We know it's totally unconvincing. But we still keep doing it. Why?? Also dating is full of it, of course. Romantic humble-brags OMG. 🤢

I try to create something this weekend!