Reddit certainly had issues prior to the 2023 API change, but that really was a pivotal moment for sure. Overnight we lost apps we loved and people who made the platform what it is abandoned it or worse - were forced out. Good content creators fled, resulting in a lot less quality content.

And we all know how the mods Reddit appointed handled things. Now, I’m not saying they’re ALL nazi’s, but there’s folks running the show who would fit in perfectly with the ‘just following orders’ mindset…

The platform needs to die, the stock needs to tank and the people involved need to be drummed out of the business entirely.

While that’s what I feel in my heart too - every dead invader is a joyful event - you generally don’t want to do that.

You WANT opposition troops to surrender. In fact, you want to make that the most preferred option for them. If Russian troops would know that surrender only results in death, they basically HAVE to keep fighting. Which is what you don’t want.

That’s also why Russian soldiers were told that ‘Ukrainians are nazi’s who will kill you if you surrender’: it’s a lie to make surrender unattractive.

As much as it pains me to say this, it really is the best option to keep them alive.

Exactly that. Even though within scientific circles, they’ll still refer to it as monkeypox since that’s the name everyone knows and is referenced in scientific data.

Basically, it’s not really a ‘real’ name change, more something that the media is kind of going along with so nobody gets offended by their use of it. 🤷‍♂️

The Olympic Village is packed with young, attractive athletes in peak physical shape. They are notorious fuckfests.

Personally though, I say: ban condoms. Let’s see what freakishly fit and capable superhuman Olympic babies we can get out of it. There’s bound to be some future potential gold medallists that end up in a condom…

I miss forums as well, and I’m actually moving back to them. Back in the early 2000’s, I visited like a dozen forums each day. I was a member of like three watch forums, a camera forum, a Star Trek forum, some gaming forums and others. Just ‘doing the rounds’ kept you busy for a while. People also were insanely knowledgeable on those niche forums, and they all had their own specific culture and flavor to them.

Places like a niche subreddit are… OK at best. They are convenient and easy to visit, but don’t tend to have the level of knowledge and discourse that I generally enjoy. You also run the risk of your sub getting ruined by people who are into the wrong aspects of your particular hobby. For example, on a watch FORUM, the discussions are about design, mechanical features, history, photography, how to repair, etc. etc. On the subreddit, a lot of posts tended to be drive-by posters who ‘found a watch and wanted to know what it’s worth’. or ‘is this fake’. The subreddit didn’t curb that, so eventually I and many others just stopped going there. It was basically too easy for people to post there just because, well, they could. Whereas on an actual watch forum, you can do a bit stricter moderation and the registration requirement weeds out low effort posting.

Some consider that ‘gatekeeping’, but I see it as a valid way of protecting one’s chosen community.

I don’t think I’ve met any Brazilians back in those days; (online) gaming is really expensive there from what I heard, right?

One fun thing in the old COD lobbies was always to teach others slurs and general cursing in your language. I learned how to curse folks out in like 50 languages. Each country also has its own unique style of cursing. We Dutch really like to incorporate diseases for example.

I’m certainly not going to say you’re wrong on that first part. I’ve been online since 1996. At that time, the internet was the domain of white, heterosexual, nerdy, generally well educated guys. And me being a white, heterosexual, nerdy, well educated guy… well… going online felt like coming home. Those were my people. I still really miss those days.

But I also know that the experience of someone not like me would’ve been wildly different. I learned a bajillion slurs on COD lobbies after all. It’s a good thing that more people now feel welcome online, as it led to platform growth and functionality that we otherwise wouldn’t have had if it was just ‘my kind of people’.

The current safe, sanitised, gentrified gaming sphere also has benefits: COD lobbies these days are very pleasant by comparison. You even have to sign a code of conduct to get on multiplayer. It feels more welcoming, less hostile. Of course, companies certainly have been financially incentivized to attract as wide an audience as possible. For example, the very first GTA game sold about 6 million copies. GTA V has sold 200 million. And with ever-increasing development budgets, you can’t afford to cater to a niche, you want to cast as wide a net as possible to recoup those costs.

I miss that era. Companies didn’t mind a bit of edginess and weren’t afraid to market to adults. The console culture itself also isn’t what it used to be.

These days, gaming consoles all need to be safe enough for five year olds to play on them. And it’s caused everything to be just too bland and safe, both in marketing and the console itself. Can’t really have things like Xbox 360 Uno with the live camera feed and no moderation. Or the wholly uncensored COD lobbies.

Couple years ago, I visited a historic grand prix that featured classic F1 cars. They also had open pits, so you could walk up and ask questions and literally stand next to the cars.

I was standing next to a 70’s F1 car when they performed an engine test. I was wearing thick, professional earplugs and the biggest Peltors you’ve ever seen. When they fired that thing up, I lasted all of five seconds before I walked out. At that point, it was no longer sound but sheer pressure. You could feel it in your chest.

As for how the mechanics do it? Easy, they’re all deaf as a post. Even the best earpro can’t prevent that kind of hearing damage, especially if that’s your chosen career. If you’re worried about good earpro not being enough, best advice is to put distance between you and the object/career path involved.

Which is exactly what everyone does. At least in the US. And every side is equally wrong about it.

The loudest voices always draw the most attention. And I don’t know any other vegan voice that’s as loud as PETA’s. That’s kind of the problem.

There’s also the ‘guilt by association’. Look at organisations like PETA: they even complained about things like the treatment of entirely fictional animals in video games, like Palworld. Basically, you can’t even argue that ‘they look like real animals so it encourages real-world mistreatment’ like they usually do.

That does not make you look particularly sane. I’m sure they do good work as well, but that sort of thing isn’t helping their cause.

That place really went to shit over the past year. Which is hardly surprising seeing how many good people were pushed away from the platform.

Good mods were replaced by power tripping shitheads and good posters and commenters were driven off when they couldn’t use their desired app and the subreddits they liked went to shit or were nuked. Meanwhile, bots are ruining everything else.

And let’s not even get started on the ads, the IPO shenanigans, the AI thing…

Reddit needs to be taken out back and shot. It’s the humane thing to do; we shouldn’t let it suffer like this.

And to emphasize: it really is essential to use the proper glasses for an eclipse like this.

I experienced a total eclipse back in 1999. You’ll be looking at the sun for a few minutes. And even though it might look dark to you, it WILL do permanent damage if you stare at it for that long without the proper protection.

Back in 1999 in the Netherlands, seven people had to be treated for eye injuries because of the eclipse. Two suffered permanent damage, with only about 10 percent sight remaining.

Don’t fuck around. It’s not worth it.

I’ve had a fair few colleagues with varying levels and flavors of autism. The answer is yes.

Also, weird people are fun. Normal’s overrated. I like weird people. Which is probably why I actually prefer the autistic colleagues over the ‘normal’ ones.

Sure, not everyone will dig your particular weirdness, but the same thing is true of everyone without autism too. Just live your life and do your own thing.

Damn son, people have been tried in The Hague for less 🙀

Yep. Bunch of silly ban-happy assholes in charge these days. I never even got so much as a warning on one account when it was suddenly permabanned. The comment that got me the ban? Agreeing with OP in a thread just like this that bans were getting out of hand…

And it’s happened to many, many others as well.

After the app protests, they basically put the shittiest, power tripping toadies in charge of a lot of subs, after the decent mods left or were kicked out. Well, fuck ‘em.

Reddit became openly hostile to the people and content that made it great. It’s not exactly surprising that the good users eventually went elsewhere. You could really tell shit went downhill after they killed the third party apps.

My coworker is very sensitive to fragrances. I personally love a nice cologne, but I can’t wear the strong stuff around her without it bothering her. So I don’t.

As another poster suggested: muffins and a nice card go a long way. Especially since few students show appreciation anyway. She’ll definitely appreciate the card and gesture more than any particular gift that you might include.

And definitely don’t do perfume. It’s difficult enough to shop for yourself, much less for others. Just don’t.

Well things like motherboards can only be so large. It needs to be a certain form factor to fit in a standard case. And that motherboard needs to offer all the standard physical connections as well. So basically, there’s a finite space where everything needs to fit.

Adding ports to the case is quite nice. And technically there’s no reason why OEM’s couldn’t just add a ton more ports.

But I guess the average user doesn’t really complain about it. And us powerusers simply buy hubs.

Personally, I’d need about a dozen ports to connect everything.