Reject Convenience Forum

Latest Videos :: Re: What if you can't reject convenience? :: Reply by MusicalMoth

2025-05-04T06:58:07+00:00

The most useful thing I've found when it comes to protecting your privacy is to start small. It would have been incredibly frustrating for me to go from signing into Google & Discord all the time on Windows to using Linux with an RSS feed, a hardened fork of Firefox, and Element Messenger. Even now, I'm still in the process of migrating to Element, and it's been years at this point.
But despite how long it's taken, and the inconvenience I went through, I'm genuinely much happier with how my computer works now. I don't have to deal with my computer advertising "Candy Crush" or whatever else to me. I waste less time watching pointless videos on Youtube since I almost never look at the home page. It's frustrating when I see people around me claim that it's "pointless" to try to protect their privacy, because I know that many of them could do it easily if they just didn't try to do it all at once.
I wouldn't tell someone who's just dipping their toes into protecting their privacy to install Gentoo & live in the windowless basement of a hut in the woods. It's about taking making the easiest changes you can at the moment. If you can do that, you might look back a few years later and realize that you've done a lot more than you initially planned.

Latest Videos :: Re: What if you can't reject convenience? :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-04T17:37:59+00:00

I agree up to a point. There are hurdles that are impossible to jump through self effort. There are solutions to some that are obscenely expensive, There are some that should not be possible.

A few examples:
>Sarbanes Oxley
>Company Policies
>Health
>Police Reports
>International Travel
>High Risk Individuals
>Political figures
>sex offenders
>family members (ie. 23andMe, Facebook with you in pictures, etc.
>guardian of a child with special needs.

Not that there aren't things they can do in other areas. The first step IMO is to define what privacy means to them. What is important.What is possible, What they are willing to do, What they can tolerate. I find myself in a comfortable spot in an 8 year long journey. There are those who would consider me paranoid and there are those who do consider me quite naive. There are things that I wish I could do better but they come at a cost that I cannot and will not pay. (ie. family, friends, etc). In pursuit of privacy I have seen those who have traded away their social lives, mental health, and/or physical health. I have found myself on the extreme end and had to scale back several times and more than once in one area. I agree with taking it slow, but also doing periodic sanity checks.

Introductions :: Re: Howdy! :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-04T14:52:38+00:00

Welcome, you are certainly in the right Place for Discussions over Data Privacy. I hope you enjoy your stay!

Introductions :: Bonjour, mes amis ! :: Author foxx-doxx

2025-05-05T01:10:01+00:00

Hello World!

Introductions :: Hi! Pawpaw here. :: Author pawpaw

2025-05-15T02:43:01+00:00

Heyo, you can call me pawpaw! I live in Michigan!
I'm a musician, my main instrument is a 6 string fretless bass. I like fishing n tech n whatnot, I even have my GMRS radio license, and would one day like to have an amateur radio license. I'm not really used to forums, this is the first one i've ever meaningfully participated in, or skimmed through for fun, as opposed to in search of something, and it's quite refreshing and cool ^^. I'm excited to chat with the folks here and discuss stuff n things and whatnot!!

Introductions :: Re: Hi! Pawpaw here. :: Reply by zonk

2025-05-15T12:05:49+00:00

There's no time like the present to start working toward that ham radio license! Seek out some local clubs, meet the folks, ask questions, and you'll be on the air in no time.

Introductions :: Re: Hi! Pawpaw here. :: Reply by pawpaw

2025-05-16T18:55:40+00:00

zonk wrote: Thu May 15, 2025 12:05 pm There's no time like the present to start working toward that ham radio license! Seek out some local clubs, meet the folks, ask questions, and you'll be on the air in no time.

Fair nuff! I'll look around for radio clubs, it seems like that's the advice that everyone gives. After all, the whole point of radio is communicating haha. Ty!!

Introductions :: I am a privacy guy who suffers from privacy paranoia :: Author Deleted User 616

2025-05-18T01:49:03+00:00

Hello, I am a privacy guy who suffers from privacy paranoia. I joined this forum since I cut all my friends on popular social media platforms claiming that it isn't secure enough. I gave them an alternative but they wouldn't agree. I am scared that someone from the services I currently use might be watching me, hearing me and seeing what I type. I gave up on my samsung phone since it is loaded bloatware and bought a nokia 130. However, I feel I need those old nokia phones which have green lcd just with phone,text and maybe snake. I also stopped using google chrome as my browser and turned to librewolf since using tor is overkill and extremely slow, then I changed my search engine to startpage. I stopped using reddit, instagram, youtube, twitter and whatever social media platform there is. I might delete this account. Since I am scared someone might be stealing my data.

Introductions :: Re: I am a privacy guy who suffers from privacy paranoia :: Reply by Deleted User 616

2025-05-18T01:51:35+00:00

Also I stopped listening to any form of music. You might think I am a troll but I am serious abt this post

Introductions :: Re: I am a privacy guy who suffers from privacy paranoia :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-18T05:49:56+00:00

If you are still reading this, it is highly Unlikely that one of the Services is going to the effort to use Camera or Microphone, to see you. But to ease your mind many Computers have Hardware Switches to disable the Camera and Mic. If yours don't you may also set your OS to disable them. With looking at your Screen, it's hard to say. While it is incredibly unlikely they have screen Access they can see what you are doing inside their Service. But only their Service.

When it comes to the Forum the Date it collects is listed on the Main Page. But boils down to, your Forum Post's, email you use, password you used (Hashed) and username you used. And all other Information you add to your user Profile. Else there are the 3 Cookies that are used you can read about on the Main Page.

Introductions :: Re: I am a privacy guy who suffers from privacy paranoia :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-28T01:15:36+00:00

It can be hard to know when you're going too far with the techniques and systems you put in place to protect your privacy. One of the most important steps you can taken is to develop your threat model. Basically, you need to understand who are the threats to you, what are they threatening, and how likely is it that they will be successful in doing what they want to do. From there you can gauge what are reasonable sacrifices you can make, what absolutely needs to be protected, and what goes too far for you.

Privacy Guides as a good starting point for threat modeling: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/basics ... -modeling/

Introductions :: I love the early Internet’s heritage :: Author Mæstro

2025-05-20T13:44:33+00:00

I grew up with the best of the 2000s Internet. I have still got my plush Aisha twenty years later. Most of my interests since early childhood have been academic; Tim and Moby were among my earliest teachers. Windows 2000 was my first OS, and I generally used XP until 2010 and again for a time in 2012 before moving to Windows 7. I could witness in real time as the Web began to decay into the brew of flat design it now is. Neither I nor it took to each other; it instantly looked ugly to me. I grew up in a remote place, where we had gone without internet at all for a time in 2009–10 and had kept dial-up until 2016; websites which assumed that one could download megabytes of script were nightmarish to use. (Even now, I prefer to watch Invidious films in 240p and anime in 360p.) When smartphones abandoned physical keyboards and the ability to use landscape mode, I rejected them as too awkward. At present, I do not even use a mobile phone at all, but have used the Kyocera DuraXV in the US and Nokia 105 in Germany to good results before. When I tried using Windows 10 for the first time, in 2016 after discovering mobile tethering, and it outright ignored the fact that my connexion was metered in running automatic updates, I returned at once to my old computer, made in late 2012 and one of the last to release with Windows 7. I am still using that computer now to write this, having installed Linux on it in 2020. I never took to SNS, and over the late 2010s, I abandoned sites like YouTube and any form of DRM. Absolutely none of my online experience is algorithmically driven; I keep browsing like the good, old days.

Much of my online attention goes to preserving what I love from my childhood. I am somewhat active on the Pale Moon forum and have identified bugs in that browser before; my tastes in UI design have brought me to hold it dear. Saved on my hard drive are hundreds of archived BrainPOP reels from the 2000s which are, to my knowledge, no longer available online even through the Internet Archive, as well as files preserved from other childhood websites just before their announced closures. I think that this community will be a good place to discover more remnants of the first half of the Web’s existence as well as to plan alternatives to assure those in my personal life who would rather I get a smartphone. Thank you for having me here!

Introductions :: Re: I love the early Internet’s heritage :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-28T01:28:38+00:00

Thanks for joining this community! I love the vibe you bring by wanting to remain intentional with a time in the internet that was special and valid. I think one of the coolest things is that, despite some challenges, we can have spaces that work just like it used to in the 2000s.

It's interesting that, before, these spaces would have been safe harbors from the outside world for some. Today they are probably also safe harbors from the mainstream internet.

Introductions :: Re: Introduce yourself! :: Reply by AlexCnC1095

2025-05-12T01:02:38+00:00

Hello, you can call me Alex, i'm 17
I live in Russia, i also like to cook, i know both english and russian languages
I'm am a fan of My little pony, tho the series is about frendship i don't have IRL friends
I like to listen to music, mainly metal, all kinds of it. A list of RYM metal subgenres i like:
Atmospheric/Symphonic/Melodic Black metal, Melodic death metal, Power metal, Progressive metal, Folk metal, Atmospheric Sludge metal, Doom metal, sometimes Technical Death metal, Post-metal, Doom metal.
I also like dubstep (Not to confuse with Brostep, i don't like it), I don't mind DnB/Jungle, Ambient, IDM but i'm not activly listening to them.
I also have an acoustic guatar, and want to learn how to play it, as well as to lern how to make music.
I play some PC games sometimes. Here are the main ones: Mindustry (900+ hours full complition of V7) osu! (900+ hours)
Omori (I finished it on the "good" ending) Stardew Valley (heven't finished it yet) Ultrakill, tho i don't play it much nowdays because it's laggy.
I also like hugs, cats (Tho i don't have one), and i have long hairs.

Introductions :: Re: Introduce yourself! :: Reply by makemper

2025-05-21T00:39:11+00:00

Not really much to say - was already online before the Internet was widely available. Really worried about our dependence on tech nowadays and the implications of AI. Send me cheesecake! Ahoy!

Introductions :: Re: Introduce yourself! :: Reply by Rain

2025-05-29T00:52:17+00:00

Rain here, I'm a recent STEM graduate slowly getting used to life after school. I've known about Reject Convenience for a while now and started lurking here after the recent data brokers video blew up. Having spent a decent amount of time in online privacy/security circles I feel like those often rely on overcomplicated technical solutions so I really appreciate the approach this community is building. Aside from that I'm a long time Linux user so I'm always willing to help with that, and I also like to try to reject convenience in other areas of my life like walking or biking wherever I can, making all sorts of food from scratch, and just keeping a simple life philosophy in general. It's good to meet you all ^^

Introductions :: Re: Introduce yourself! :: Reply by fitsoab

2025-06-02T03:33:18+00:00

Hi! I'm Fifi! I'm a passionate artist and daydreamer and I'm very passionate about two things. I love everything about the art and fundamentals of video games, and I absolutely adore fish because I think they're cute. That is essentially the extent of my personality.
Really, I've always been huge on opening myself up to new topics of discussion, and Reject Everything really opened my eyes to tech privacy and the like. Plus, my cat likes this silly guy's voice, and comes into the room to sleep whenever I put a video on. I decided I'd come engage more directly in hopes of being a little more social, in ways I'm more comfortable with.
I'm a 3-year partner of someone with severe mental health issues, I love to draw, design, talk, write, and think, and I believe in you all.

I've been a very small and very unprofessional and admittedly very bad game designer for a while. It's not GOOD work, but it's fun, and I enjoy doing it, and I'm always improving. I also REALLY love horror and have always been super fascinated by its ins and outs. Even if I could never play scary games consistently.

If you're reading this... play The Upturned! It's good!

Introductions :: Privacy Guy who suffers from Privacy Paranoia returns. :: Author Privacy_guy79

2025-06-03T04:14:02+00:00

Hello, I am back. I have improved my security slightly. I have seen all mental outlaw and the hated one yt videos however, I am not able to go that far for OPSEC, I still need google for a few purposes. I have stopped using any big evil corp websites and apps. I currently use a nokia 130(the new hmd one).

Volunteering :: Help for a Computer Fundemantals Course :: Author Crazyroostereye

2025-05-17T11:51:57+00:00

So I volunteer for an Organization, which focuses on Educating Children in the Fields of STEM (ger.: MINT), ranging from the ages of 8 and 14. We in particular have a focus on Mechanics and IT. And for a while now, we see more and more Children coming to our Entry Class Offerings with little to no experience on a Computer. Not being able to Type on a Keyboard at all or use a Mouse. Even in our more Advance Offerings we get children which struggle with the Keyboard and mouse.
And therefore I have been Tasked to Design a Computer Entry Course. Which should Teach Children to learn the Basics.
I struggle a bit of what I can fit into it, as I have a max Time constraint of 3 Hours, but I can make it a full Workshop with multiple sessions if need be. But I am trying to avoid that.

The Current Idea is that the Course starts with Turning on the Computer, and logging in. Then it goes over to accessing the File Explorer and Navigating to the Documents folder to create txt file for a writing from which we then begin to Learn to write a Text that will be on the Board. Then saving the Document. Deleting it. And permanently Deleting it. (Maybe building an aspect in for Printing the Document). Maybe Add a Segment in using a Word Processors like LibreOffice or ONLYOFFICE. And maybe the Fundamentals of the Settings will come up.

But as you can see I am very early Stages of designing and Planning the Course. My Question is for any Software and advice you lot can give me to implement and Work around the Course.

Volunteering :: Re: Help for a Computer Fundemantals Course :: Reply by Speb

2025-05-21T23:30:21+00:00

Going to preface this by saying I have 0 experience with children, other than having a few young nephews and nieces and I entertain them, not teach them.

I'd say show them how they can have fun with technology, it's an important skill but supporting their learning through their interests is key, show them paint and let them draw, write a short story or something happening in their life, their interests on notepad, and then go through the steps of showing them how to create a folder to store it in the correct place and how to delete it. How to navigate the Internet, copying pictures and making a collage of things they like to print and show off, changing their desktop background, that was a favourite of mine at primary school. I remember enjoying educational multiplayer games when I was in school, but that's a thin line and wouldn't want them getting distracted in the time frame. Something like a point and click adventure game for the mouse skills (i understand the limitation of sourcing such games though) or that AI DUNGEON could be cool. Get them typing out their own adventure and playing through it with an AI to help their typing. These are things that would have appealed to me anyway. My partner has just done a module on how schools incorporate technology in the class room, I'll ask for some things they covered as it could be relevant.

Also teach safety I'd advise, that what they put online, is permanent, they should be thinking about what they type and post because even if it isn't 'real' it can still have consequences (or 'hurt people's feelings' if they're younger)

Volunteering :: Re: Help for a Computer Fundemantals Course :: Reply by compromisedanon

2025-06-01T16:33:56+00:00

Speb's suggestion of making it fun is huge. Definitely make that a core aspect of the course given the age group.

I learned how to navigate the web and use the keyboard and mouse through web games. My elementary school basically just used Dance Mat Typing (https://www.dancemattypingguide.com/dan ... 1/stage-1/) to teach us how to type, and it worked really well.

TypeRacer (https://play.typeracer.com/) is another one I remember all the kids playing in middle school. It involves a competitive aspect, which is very good at engaging most kids.

File systems and using word processors and the like seem like they'd be harder to make fun. It depends on the framing - maybe you could have them write a short letter to their parents or whoever that has to include at least X images and be Y words long.

I'm thinking that incorporating the use of word processors and file systems the two could be useful. Like having them download and move a picture to a specific directory, and then using the word processor to insert that picture through that directory.

You could also think about using a presentation software instead of a word processor. Have everyone come up with 2 or 3 slides about anything that they'd like and go through the presentations really quickly, forcing them to learn how to use the presentation software to both create and present. Also shows them how technology is really used in future classes and the professional world as well. This seems harder to fit in a good time frame though.

Volunteering :: Re: Help for a Computer Fundemantals Course :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-06-01T20:00:07+00:00

These Idea's sound great, but I do see that fitting it all in one class would be a bit hard. Maybe I split them Up or make full Workshop.

Self Promotion :: The Foundry - An Intelligent Mixed Use Development :: Author Blackbird

2025-05-04T16:25:53+00:00

I'm working on a project (the Foundry) that I believe aligns with the channel. This is an intelligent mixed use development that is engineered to empower people and combat the system. A huge part of combating the system is going to be repairing our relationship with technology. I want to make it comfortable (and possibly incentivize) for occupants to move around with no phone or a dumb phone. I expect to see things like:
- Social media that incentivizes people to get to know and join/create groups(called guilds) with their neighbors and understand the policy that is being passed
- Phone booths
- computer areas for the locals to use at their leisure.
- and much more.
I'd love to know what you guys think, books/articles I should read, content and content creators you think I'd be interested in.

Thanks guys!
PDF Link of the Foundry:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vACkx7 ... sp=sharing

Self Promotion :: Wifey Art :: Author foxx-doxx

2025-05-05T00:45:12+00:00

Wait, there's a self promotion section?
Well, check out my wife's artwork. She's the best!
inkywanderer.com

Self Promotion :: CONES :: Author zonk

2025-05-08T13:42:41+00:00

I have made a new website for curating photos of traffic cones in unusual situations: https://cones.lol/

Yes it is silly. Yes @PossiblyAxolotl I do want to join the sillyring, but I don't have an 88x31 yet. :P

Self Promotion :: Re: CONES :: Reply by zonk

2025-05-09T18:27:23+00:00

Since everyone was asking for it, I made an 88x31 badge. It's in my sig now :D

Self Promotion :: Re: CONES :: Reply by PossiblyAxolotl

2025-05-10T00:22:42+00:00

ooo nice! I was gonna get to adding some more people to the ring today so that was perfect timing

Self Promotion :: Re: CONES :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-10T08:51:54+00:00

Soo many Funny Cones, but that one cone makes me sad. Who would do that to a cone . Also since I visited your Website I seem to see cones everywhere

Self Promotion :: Take back your privacy :: Author NightFire

2025-05-12T23:00:24+00:00

I started a podcast to help everyday people take their digital privacy back into their own hands. Every week we will dive into how the government or big business is taking your digital privacy away and what you can do to take it back join us at the big brothers earpiece as we fight for digital rights.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7MKRw2 ... q-JmPfIATg
https://odysee.com/@NightFire:7/podcast-ep-12:d
All episodes are posted early on odysee so remember to follow

Self Promotion :: Re: I've created a blog :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-16T01:53:30+00:00

*adds it to my mobile browser speed dial*

Self Promotion :: Re: Dissertation Research :: Reply by Speb

2025-05-09T20:31:31+00:00

Hi everybody, I handed in the diss a few days ago. Thank you to everybody that filled in my survey, there were a few answers that were so in-depth and detailed they could have only came from here and you got a good few hundred words breaking down what you wrote, I do think those parts are going to help my grade a lot but I haven't got it back yet. So the data was essentially...

very hard to summarize, i have been trying lol. Basically Technical people are more protected, and private, I'd say its 75 25, the 75 being techies that DO make effort to protect themselves. non-techies are very concerned for their privacy and data protection but they do not take any steps to improve it, they do not go out of their way to stay informed, they use few privacy respecting technologies, they don't assess their security posture often at all, the only place they compare to technical people is that they have almost as little trust for organisations as us, and they are very aware that people overshare online, including themselves. Both demographics wanted to use less convenient technology to improve privacy, but only techies did. Weirdly both demographics are willing to give away information for a monetary reward, non-technicals more so but the gap wasnt very big between the two demographics. Few people in either demographic are willing to spend money on privacy, with only one person in the whole survey saying they do spend money, they were technical.

TLDR: most of us want privacy, but only techies have the skillset and drive to implement it (and even then few do), non-techies are concerned but they are not informed enough or aware enough on the problem or on how to improve their privacy. Both demographics really dont like large organizations and do not trust them with their data, both demographics agree we share too much online.

Very hard to summarize 8000 words into a few hundred. As a little extra supplementary bit to my diss I created a booklet. This link will take you to an anon uploads site, yes it can host malware, I promise I haven't uploaded any lol, its a PDF for my booklet. I cannot upload it any other way I dont think on this forum. I have removed everything (hopefully) that links the booklet to my real identity and thats why there are a few blank spaces.

https://anonymfile.com/Epo0K/privacy-bo ... leaned.pdf
I hope this doesnt break any rules.

Self Promotion :: Re: Dissertation Research :: Reply by Linkard

2025-05-11T10:47:35+00:00

Tagging @rejectconvenience to make sure he sees the final booklet.

It's super neat ! I use Linux Mint, Proton Pass (lifetime 1 euro a month subscription if I don't cancel) and Mullvad VPN, and I can vouch for those 3. I personally love Mullvad because it's 5 euros flat a month (your price in the booklet is different, probably because it's in pounds). No discounts, ever. No automatic renewal either, so I only pay on the months I need to use it.

But I don't see enough of these booklets on the internet, this is super useful info ! I even learned about some services that I didn't know about. Thanks for sharing it here.

Self Promotion :: Re: Dissertation Research :: Reply by Ray Karr

2025-05-12T01:50:26+00:00

OMG I'm looking over this booklet, seems like really useful info. Not just for someone like me, who has some level of knowledge. I could send this to my parents or anyone else who fits the profile of "concerned over privacy, but doesn't know or care to investigate"

Great work!

Self Promotion :: Re: Dissertation Research :: Reply by Speb

2025-05-16T09:39:07+00:00

thank you both! I presented it at a showcase thing at my university and it got some praise, glad it could be of some use :D

Self Promotion :: Re: My photography :: Reply by Chrishusk

2025-05-28T02:45:08+00:00

These photo look really nice. Good job

Phones :: Re: In Search of a Dumbphone :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-07T04:27:48+00:00

Update, I bought myself the Nokia 225 4G in a nice Hot Pink As it was 40% Cheaper than the Blue Version. It hasn't arrived yet tho. I will report back once I got it

Phones :: Smartphone required to attend a concert :: Author zonk

2025-05-10T12:36:32+00:00

So I found out The Beths are touring this year and one of their stops is reasonably close to me, so I looked into getting tickets. The ticket prices were quite reasonable, but I stopped because I noticed a little message saying that in order to get in, I'd have to present a code (presumably QR code) from the ticket broker's proprietary smartphone app.

I am beyond disappointed, and I realize that I'm probably late to realizing this state of affairs because I haven't been to a concert in over a decade. This is an absurd requirement. There should be no reason I can't just print off the QR code and show up with it. I assume all this is done in the name of preventing ticket scalping, because the ticket broker can control transfers from within their proprietary ecosystem. I don't think that's a good enough reason, personally. If people are scalping your tickets, that means your prices are too low and you're creating that incentive for scalping. I would rather pay more money than capitulate to this bullshit.

Needless to say, I'm not going to the concert.

Phones :: Re: Smartphone required to attend a concert :: Reply by Linkard

2025-05-11T10:38:24+00:00

Damn, that really sucks... Although I definitely wouldn't wish for higher concert ticket prices, there's scalpers that will nab those regardless, and concert prices have been insane in the past few years. Seems like a very complicated issue...

Phones :: Re: Dumbphone and Smart Watch? :: Reply by pawpaw

2025-05-16T19:19:54+00:00

kamp wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2024 2:44 am I’m pretty sure the official servers are down, but as always, the internet finds a way Looks like there’s a community dedicated to keeping them alive: https://rebble.io/

Not completely relevant to the topic, but, I love the communities that spring up around derelict technology. Like the spotify car thing community, and how they've managed to use it as a miniature monitor for your PC and etc.

Relevant edit: Some CASIO watched and other watches, etc have vibration functionality. Maybe that's relevant for you! Though, as a g-shock enjoyer, it can be a hassle to deal with the menus and etc. Some casio watches (one i gifted to a friend) has a heart rate monitor, and is like a miniature, barebones fitness tracker that can track very basic activities, though, for some reason it always beeped whenever your heartrate went over a certain limit. you can PROBABLY turn that off but I never cared to, nor looked into it.

I've seen ads for this product on instagram plenty, and while I don't know if this is THE watch i've been seeing, i do know that there's a company, or multiple companies trying to make a sustainable smart watch? I did a quick google search and found UNA, @ https://www.unawatch.com/ , and this seems to be what i remember seeing on the ads. I'm a little skeptical, though, I will never outright say that a company building something that's meant to be taken apart and easily replaced is a bad thing, I'm just skeptical that it will be privacy friendly. I just LOVE that theres more companies out there dedicating themselves/some of their products to being repairable and/or upgradeable. Framework laptop user here haha.

Phones :: Limiting in-app purchases (or blocking them entirely) :: Author evanillo

2025-05-17T19:07:58+00:00

I'm not sure if this is in the right category (apologies if it's not!) but I figured I might as well ask anyway.

Let me cut to the chase. I really enjoy gacha games, however my wallet does not. I made the mistake of setting up a payment system on an app/Google one time, and now it's pathetically easy for me to spend upwards of thirty euros every month (a very conservative estimate) on a single game.

It's a problem, I've gotten away from the daily spending before by just uninstalling the game entirely and that works... until I reinstall it because I miss playing so much. And the thing is, I don't really want to lose out on a game just because I (bluntly put) have a gambling addiction. I've looked around on the web, but since Google makes a cut off every purchase I make in-app, they're not helpful.

So, here I am. Does anyone have any tips? Hidden Android (or in this case ChromeOS) knowledge? Should I just give up on the game altogether? (I'd honestly prefer not to... I've spent a lot of hours on it, and I'm very pleased with what I've got. But I just can't afford keeping this up.)

Phones :: Re: Limiting in-app purchases (or blocking them entirely) :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-17T20:28:17+00:00

This is a hard one. One way I can think of is having a close Friend or Family have the key, by setting up parental settings for control over transactions. It is a bit harsh but, epically with Gambling Addictions it can be hard to ween yourself without help by others.

The other less intrusive option is transparent Finances. It makes you more aware of your spending. For a while, when I was getting Money from my Parents, I had it setup that I would Quarterly report my Financial Situation vary toughly. Which forced me to explain my spending. Which made me better to control my spending, as I first of all had to go thought all my Transactions and sort them, but also I had to explain it. Which made it easier to control spending. And also made me better at Budgeting.

Then the least intrusive but the one with the most chances to fail is Disabling Convenience Features, as you said, you enabled Google One Time. Maybe disabling it can be enough to get you to be more aware.

Phones :: Re: Limiting in-app purchases (or blocking them entirely) :: Reply by Mæstro

2025-05-20T15:48:35+00:00

What do you enjoy in these games? Although I have never played gacha games and never will, I can enjoy the characters, plot and artwork of Genshin Impact, Fate Grand Order, Girls Frontline and others through browsing the wikis and fan art, conversations and role-playing games with friends (of which only some actually play any given game) and other activities like these. None of these come with any cost whatever, and I have far more fun with the characters and world than I would ever have trapped in a Skinner box. If you know what is fun for you, you could find another way to get at it.

Phones :: Re: What phone are you using? :: Reply by loebas

2025-05-26T08:54:02+00:00

Crazyroostereye wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2025 7:51 pm I am currently running a Pixel 7 loaded with GrapheneOS and Pro launcher to simplify my Home Screen.

loebas wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2025 2:52 pm i want to go for a Fairphone 5 since these are highly repairable
I have seen the Fairphones around, my personal experience isn't that great. The Phones given they're Price class are usually just that much worse which is huge turndown, but I could be wrong nowadays my experience is from the Fairphone 3. Also, there were supply Issues with replacement parts when my Sister owned one.

Actually i dont need much smartphone wise. But i wanted to have a repairable phone, and a phone with a battery that is easly replacable, and isnt glued in with the worlds strongest glue.

I looked at a iPhone several times, but in the long run they dont seem a viable option for me.

Samsung is completly death for me, since their phone comes with a bucketload of bloatware.

For the fairphone, only time will tell. Will i have a phone for the coming 8 years, or will i throw it out the window.

Phones :: Re: FOMO when switching to a dumb phone :: Reply by drmollytov

2025-05-05T21:12:21+00:00

I didn't switch to a dumb phone, but I did make some changes that have really helped my relationship with my phone. I still use it about 90 minutes a day, but most of that is spent reading, listening to music, or doing useful tasks like banking or navigation. None of it is spent doomscrolling anymore.

What helped:

First: I got rid of infinite feeds. If it scrolls forever, I do not open it on my phone. Full stop. (These days, the only infinite scroll things I use are the occasional shopping site, which I do on my laptop.)

I use an RSS reader to keep up with blogs, news sites, etc. I still want to read. (You can even use RSS for Reddit! Not sure about Instagram though.)

I turned off all my notifications except text messages and phone calls/voicemails. I'm still in one private friend group on Discord; if I want to know what's happening, I have to open Discord. Same with my email apps. (In practice, I open them about once a day.)

I only have one game on my phone at a time. I allow myself as many e-books and music files as I can fit on the phone, though.

I use NewPipe, a YouTube frontend that has no tailored recommendations or auto-play feature. Now I use YouTube a lot less, because I have to go look up what I want to watch and when it ends, it's done. (I also don't know if Instagram frontends exist but I wholeheartedly recommend one if they do.)

Occasionally I'll catch myself opening my phone, staring at it, and realizing it has no new things to show me. Then I put it down and go do something else. It's very liberating.

Phones :: Re: FOMO when switching to a dumb phone :: Reply by makemper

2025-05-21T00:58:40+00:00

I guess a gradually approach is the best way. Change to a minimalist UI, deleting all apps that aren't used, no notifications... small steps. Put the phone out of reach before going to bed. Something like that. You don't have to dump your Smartphone completely. Store it in your backpack when moving outside, not easily accessible. Use a second SIM for the dumbphone and give this number only to your closest friends, so that you know that if this phone rings it is important. Someday you could buy a camera for taking photos. Hope that makes sense.

Phones :: Re: FOMO when switching to a dumb phone :: Reply by rejectconvenience

2025-05-24T14:31:59+00:00

I agree with the small steps method. I mean I had deleted Facebook, but then had Instagram for a year or two after that. Then I deleted Instagram, and then I still used Snapchat for a while. Then I switched to a dumb phone. That all took place over the course of like 3-4 years. Small steps add up over time. Being aware of your usage is a fantastic first step, even if it doesn't feel like it. You're on the right track, just do what feels right to you there's no one way to handle any of this.

Phones :: Re: FOMO when switching to a dumb phone :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-28T01:59:07+00:00

One tip I can give for staying in touch with people is to consider what other apps they are likely to be using. For my threat model, I am ok with using WhatsApp because it's end-to-end encrypted and just a messenger with some light social features. Much better than the infinite scrolling, social media machines of Facebook and Instagram. While most of my friends do use IG, I knew they were also likely to have WhatsApp installed, so I started messaging them through there. Lo and behold they responded! Now almost all of my communication is happening through WhatsApp, a messenger that works much better for me (and for them, they just don't realize it yet, lol).

Maybe there is a platform or messenger that you can switch to for staying in touch that your friends are already using. That way you can at least put distance between you and the algorithm.

Phones :: Not sure if I should switch to a dumbphone :: Author Chrishusk

2025-05-31T00:25:12+00:00

Recently I have been really considering buying a dumb phone. I don't really like using my smartphone anymore for some reason however I'm not addicted to it. Nowadays I only really use it for calls, text, gps and tracking which at most gets around 30ish mins per day. But the thing is even though I don't like my phone that much and really like the idea of getting a dumb phone I'm not actually sure wither or not to do it.

Part of me feels like it's a bit too far since I don't waste my time on it and use it for many good things like metronome and tuning for my instruments, slack messaging, discord, and mp3 music. I found how to use my phone in a good way however in spite of that another part of me really really feels that I should switch to a dumbphone.

I want some opioions on this. (please ask any questions that could help you answer better)

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Phones :: Re: Not sure if I should switch to a dumbphone :: Reply by zonk

2025-05-31T02:38:21+00:00

It's a choice for sure. I've been using mine for 2 months now, and I have had some minor inconveniences but really I didn't feel it much. I was in much the same camp as you: smartphone was basically under control already but I wanted to switch for symbolic reasons.

The real nice thing for me is that now I have an excuse not to look things up when I'm out with people.

Phones :: Re: Not sure if I should switch to a dumbphone :: Reply by Mæstro

2025-05-31T09:53:04+00:00

Consider keeping your current mobile phone for now, but making your next mobile a feature phone whenever it breaks beyond repair. Meanwhile, you can shift remaining smartphone uses onto other devices, eg a physical metronome and satellite navigator. This will make it easier to leave smartphones behind whenever the day should come.

Phones :: Re: Not sure if I should switch to a dumbphone :: Reply by zonk

2025-05-31T13:23:38+00:00

I should also say that the main reason I switched is because my phone was long out of software support, so I consider it a ticking time bomb from a security perspective. A great reason to switch to a dumb phone is to not have to worry about that. Regular calls and SMS are sent in the clear, so there's not really much to worry about revealing that you aren't already transmitting over the network.

Phones :: Re: Not sure if I should switch to a dumbphone :: Reply by Chrishusk

2025-05-31T17:22:41+00:00

Maybe I can try to switch during the summer time since Iḿ at home most of the season and that will mean I won't use my phone much and so it will be easier to switch.

Cool Websites :: Re: CellPhonesMuseum.com (guy shows off his 3026 cellphones) :: Reply by foxx-doxx

2025-05-05T00:20:47+00:00

What leads a person to having so many phones?

Cool Websites :: GUIdebook Gallery: a GUI anthology to 2006 :: Author Mæstro

2025-05-20T14:20:57+00:00

The GUIdebook Gallery is, as its name suggests, a collection of screenshots and discussions about GUI design up to the time that it was created and preserved intact since then. Which is your favourite of all time? As a child, I switched between the green and silver themes for XP fairly often, and even now, it is hard for me to decide between them and Windows 2000. I was also fascinated by contemporary Mac OS X, if I very seldom got the chance to use it.

Cool Websites :: Re: GUIdebook Gallery: a GUI anthology to 2006 :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-28T01:31:15+00:00

This website is wiiiiiiiild!

Cool Websites :: Just a QR Code :: Author Pearlple

2025-05-26T07:33:15+00:00

Through last week's end of week linkdump from Cory Doctorow I found this neat little site for generating QR codes that runs entirely in browser.

You could save it and run an offline copy, in your browser. No data collection and tracking, no ads, completely independent; Just a QR Code.

Cool Websites :: Re: Just a QR Code :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-28T02:02:12+00:00

Just piling on to share how dope this website is.

Cool Websites :: My Wife's Art Website :: Author foxx-doxx

2025-05-05T00:15:02+00:00

Hello Convenience Rejecters,

I wanted to show off my wife's beautiful artwork, so I setup a little website to do so. Check it out at inkywanderer.com!

Cool Websites :: Re: My Wife's Art Website :: Reply by HexOverride

2025-05-29T05:34:56+00:00

O: so beautiful

Cool Websites :: Re: My Wife's Art Website :: Reply by foxx-doxx

2025-05-30T18:30:50+00:00

HexOverride wrote: Thu May 29, 2025 5:34 am O: so beautiful

Thank you!

Computers :: Re: How do you manage your data? :: Reply by yallspark

2025-05-14T02:12:11+00:00

I use a NAS, I'd like to build my own some day, but I decided to get a Synology (I would not recommend them now though for a few reasons... this being the most recent one...https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-compone ... party-hdds

I have one purely connected to a VPN another that stores and serves media to Plex and one more that is basically just for archiving data, data sync to my devices and personal photo cloud hosting.

Eventually I'd like to condense these all into one bigger unit and virtualized to handle all my various tasks and such.

Additionally i need to setup an off-site backup for everything. RAID isn't enough for me.

Computers :: Re: One week using Linux :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-16T01:30:49+00:00

Glad it's working out for you (assuming it is still working out, also sorry for late response lol)

Computers :: Re: One week using Linux :: Reply by pawpaw

2025-05-16T19:09:42+00:00

My main rig still runs windows but i threw linux on a laptop of mine and it's been a really fun experience ^^. I threw ubuntu on it, just seeing that it's one of the main and big distros, and it's been super fun. After watching some cool vids, and with inspiration from watching Pewdiepie's setup, I decided to install the wayland desktop manager, and, as someone who usually has a hundred programs open in my taskbar, and many more in a web browser, organizing things into different workstations actually has been super duper cool, so much so that i installed a tiling desktop manager into my windows machine, Komorebi .

Computers :: Re: One week using Linux :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-16T20:58:50+00:00

pawpaw wrote: Fri May 16, 2025 7:09 pm My main rig still runs windows but i threw linux on a laptop of mine and it's been a really fun experience ^^. I threw ubuntu on it, just seeing that it's one of the main and big distros, and it's been super fun. After watching some cool vids, and with inspiration from watching Pewdiepie's setup, I decided to install the wayland desktop manager, and, as someone who usually has a hundred programs open in my taskbar, and many more in a web browser, organizing things into different workstations actually has been super duper cool, so much so that i installed a tiling desktop manager into my windows machine, Komorebi .

Wayland Desktop Manager? Havent heard about that one before. Are you per chance talking about Hyprland? As Wayland itself is a protocol which Hyprland is built upon.

If yes. Hyprland is cool, takes time getting used to, also time setting it up. But once you built it the way you want it. You are just so efficient. Goes for most WMs (Window Managers)

Computers :: Re: One week using Linux :: Reply by pawpaw

2025-05-17T12:51:02+00:00

Crazyroostereye wrote: Fri May 16, 2025 8:58 pm Wayland Desktop Manager? Havent heard about that one before. Are you per chance talking about Hyprland? As Wayland itself is a protocol which Hyprland is built upon.

If yes. Hyprland is cool, takes time getting used to, also time setting it up. But once you built it the way you want it. You are just so efficient. Goes for most WMs (Window Managers)

YES, my bad yes I meant hyperland.
Also, yea desktop managers are dope haha, i've only really been a windows user for a super long time, so the idea was really intriguing and practical to me. On my previous, less-invested linux endeavors i had always thought that the multiple workspaces idea was totally and super awesome, i just never knew how realized it could be.

Computers :: Small, stupid doubt about Linux Mint :: Author Deleted User 616

2025-05-18T01:59:18+00:00

I feel I should not ask this as a separate post but here I am. Do I require to use a USB drive everytime to dualboot and can I do something where I can create a permanent dual boot with all the changes being saved on the pc about linux mint

Computers :: Re: Small, stupid doubt about Linux Mint :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-18T06:02:00+00:00

Yes you can Install Linux Mint to the Disk, so in to a parallel Partition to I assume your Windows Installation.

If you boot up the Live Disk, which is the USB, you should see the Install Mint Program or similar Named. There you go through the Install Wizard and in the Disk section you should see a Parallel Installation Option.

If you don't have the Option, you might have to do it Manual by making two Partitions. One being your Boot with mount point
/mnt/boot, which I recommend the Size of 1G that it is Fat32, and second being your Root which is ext4 and mounted on / . With the rest of the Size.
Your Disk Layout should then look like this:
sda1 (ntfs) - Windows
sda2 (ntfs) - Windows
sda3 (ntfs) - Windows
sda4 (fat32) - Linux
sda5 (ext4) - Linux

Backup all your Important Data before doing this, as you can accidentally delete all your Data.

Computers :: Re: Homeserver/homelab thread :: Reply by Chaotic

2025-05-22T01:20:21+00:00

I'm just about to retire my old desktop to use as a development playground, i want to try making a full production ready setup from scratch, so OpenShift and some CI/CD stuff to handle abuse from my workflow is probably first on the menu

Computers :: Re: Homeserver/homelab thread :: Reply by reclinarka

2025-05-26T23:15:46+00:00

I have two old PCs I use as Servers, one old amd fx-6350 system as a NAS and a not so old 5900x with an rtx 4090 and an rx 7900xtx as my allrounder.

The NAS is just truenas without any modifications and a couple of HDDs

The 5900x, 4090 & 7900xtx I use for hosting several things:
> jellyfin - foss plex equivalent
> firefly III - foss financial planner
> sillytavern - a roleplaying system for LLMs for me and my friends
> lm-studio - a server with JIT loading for LLMs
> convertx - a collection of filetype conversion tools
> rustdesk relay - an open source team viewer alternative
I am looking into running an immich instance but currently don't have much free drive space.

Also switching from Google Home to Home Assistant is something I really should do, I haven't looked into it much but depending on the hardware requirements for HA I might get a retired mini-itx PC from work to run it.

Computers :: Re: I use arch, btw :: Reply by JorjeeZeAlien

2025-05-26T20:42:14+00:00

I have been using Manjaro for a few days. I started my Linux adventures with Linux Mint, then I used straight up Arch after awhile, but then the drivers broke after an update and I moved back to Windows for a few weeks before ending up on Manjaro. People say bad things about Manjaro, but it has been great for me (plus I have not been able to get Endeavouros to work no matter what I did lol, its supposed to be the better alternative but its not better if I cant use it). It is just easier Arch, though people complain about the bloat, but you can configure whats installed after booting up for the first time so you only have the applications you want. Just use what works, tbh.

Computers :: Re: I use arch, btw :: Reply by Monoki

2025-05-28T23:15:40+00:00

rejectconvenience wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2024 9:28 am That's not true, I use pop_os, but what's your favorite distro?

I just installed Mint on an 10+ year old laptop of mine. Having fun with it so far even if the computer's slightly laggy from how old it is.

Computers :: How do reduce time spent on my computer :: Author Chrishusk

2025-05-28T02:17:00+00:00

I've reduced my screen time on my phone to less than a hour however on my computer I noticed that my habits haven't changed too much. I still average 5 hours of screen time and most of it is not important/me wasting my time.
So far I have done these things: Set 1 hour timer on youtube and pc games, downloaded stayfree to track usage time.

What tips/advice can you guys offer that I can do thanks!

Computers :: Re: How do reduce time spent on my computer :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-28T10:58:26+00:00

My trick has been focusing on my actual Time wasters on the PC first. Which was in my case YouTube. I started reducing my Watching habit, with tracking what I watch. But also disable YouTube on the browser, to solely rely on RSS and MPV/YT-DLP to watch my Videos. Which remove the Feed you can be caught in. After that, you could set a Timer, at least on Linux, to lock your Computer after a certain time. Acting as an annoyance as you have to unlock it every time.

Computers :: Re: How do reduce time spent on my computer :: Reply by Mark

2025-05-31T17:34:42+00:00

Honestly, I just walk away. Take a nap, find something else to focus on. Really just being on the computer itself is not addicting, it's everything you can access through it. But, I find that if I stop using a site or service, I just end up replacing that time with something else. So instead, I walk away from the computer entirely. I'm still very bad at it, since it's most of my life and career, and how I interact with most people. But I can at least focus on what's important at home by walking away from it.

Also, leave your phone in another room too. Make it inconvenient to even touch.

Computers :: Re: How do reduce time spent on my computer :: Reply by Chrishusk

2025-05-31T17:51:21+00:00

Mark wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 5:34 pm Honestly, I just walk away. Take a nap, find something else to focus on. Really just being on the computer itself is not addicting, it's everything you can access through it. But, I find that if I stop using a site or service, I just end up replacing that time with something else. So instead, I walk away from the computer entirely. I'm still very bad at it, since it's most of my life and career, and how I interact with most people. But I can at least focus on what's important at home by walking away from it.

Also, leave your phone in another room too. Make it inconvenient to even touch.

Good idea thanks!

Gaming :: Re: RuneScape 2 (2004) preservation server :: Reply by fro2t

2025-05-11T16:08:53+00:00

there is also a version for 2009 and it's named 2009scape its free open source addes a feachure to play offline and has level multipliers if you want or play the good old grindy game it's fun if you want to try

Gaming :: Re: Nintendo Switch 2 :: Reply by yallspark

2025-05-11T19:03:32+00:00

Overall, I'm really excited for the Switch 2. Not excited for $80 games, but what I think might come from Nintendo first party games like Mario Kart, is that the $80 you spend will be for the lifetime of the game and any updates will be free after. Similar to MK8 Deluxe + the Added Courses later with DLC or NSO Subscription. Strategically, Nintendo should have probably let the other companies take that hit first with the price of games, because it feels like just yesterday games were $60.

I think Tears of the Kingdom, I believe is the first $70 title in Nintendo's library and it just had boat loads of game but no added DLC. Breath of the Wild was $60 and the added DLC was $20. I wonder if Nintendo wanted Breath of the Wild to be $70 but didn't want to ruin the launch of the Switch since the fail of the Wii U.

For me at least, Nintendo has the best library of consistent timeless hits that usually age pretty well. Ever since Xbox basically quit caring about hardware and Sony started releasing more and more games on PC (Just takes a while) my combo until something changes will be my Gaming Desktop, my Steam Deck and my Nintendo Switch (2).

Gaming :: Re: Playdate and other Dedicated Portables :: Reply by yallspark

2025-05-11T19:08:27+00:00

I'm pretty deep in the Portables Hobby, (for better or worse.) I wanted a Playdate, but I was worried I wouldn't get as much playtime out of it for the money as some other handhelds.

Right now i've been using a more classic handheld. It looks like a Game boy, but it's running Android, and It's been an absolute BLAST. The screen is also OLED and the battery life is insane. It's called a Retroid Pocket Classic.

IMG_8882.jpg

Unfortunately due to the current economic situations its not very practical to buy one until things cool off with all the tariffs, but this was my "last" handheld other than the Switch 2 right before things really blew up.

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Gaming :: games are being destroyed :: Author Praxeria

2025-05-11T19:09:06+00:00

Hello people there’s a movement going around called Stop Killing Games https://www.stopkillinggames.com/ that’s both in The Eu https://www.stopkillinggames.com/eci and UK.https://www.stopkillinggames.com/countr ... ed_kingdom . It’s targeting an issue with company’s getting away in their TOS/EULA that basically says that this license can be revoked at anytime (example Eula) this is unfair and is discussing in my opinion as basically the company is coming to my house and taking back the product. But somehow for digital that’s “legal”. This has effect Games like The Crew, Little Big planet and so on. However the Stop killing games movement isn’t asking for game servers to be forever maintained but to make sure the game is "playable". This use to be case with Quake 2 and so on but more Modern examples of this would be Knockout and Spellbreak. As the developers preserved the games, anymore questions can be answered on the QnA. https://www.stopkillinggames.com/faq
Games are are and I enjoy the art of Spellbreak and sometimes I go out play Spellbreak Community edition. Which means I’m Rejecting convinces (pun) as I got to host the servers to play a game that I enjoyed. However I find this to fine as Its better than having no access at all. Unfortunately games like black ops 6 are at risk because one day the servers could shutdown and due to access being stream into game. that means one day the game will be lost. Games are Art

Gaming :: Re: games are being destroyed :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-11T19:51:10+00:00

This is an Important movement and anyone in the EU or UK should sign their Respective Initiatives.

Gaming :: Re: games are being destroyed :: Reply by Praxeria

2025-05-11T20:30:02+00:00

agreed

Gaming :: Re: games are being destroyed :: Reply by Pearlple

2025-05-12T07:38:51+00:00

I wholly agree with the intent of what this initiative is trying to accomplish and the resaon for their cause. However the way they are going about it seems very superficial and not well thought through. I wouldn't blindly give them my signature just because what they want to achieve is great. They might be going about it the wrong way. Here is an Indie dev and streamer talking through his issues with this approach:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioqSvLqB46Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jMKeg9S-s

Gaming :: Re: games are being destroyed :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-12T13:23:03+00:00

Pearlple wrote: Mon May 12, 2025 7:38 am I wholly agree with the intent of what this initiative is trying to accomplish and the resaon for their cause. However the way they are going about it seems very superficial and not well thought through. I wouldn't blindly give them my signature just because what they want to achieve is great. They might be going about it the wrong way. Here is an Indie dev and streamer talking through his issues with this approach:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioqSvLqB46Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jMKeg9S-s

I have my Opinions about PirateSoftwares Response to it. While some are Fair. He did form his Opinion and Issues without the whole Story around it. And I also take him quite critical to speak on the behalf of the Consumer as he is part of the Industries side when it comes to games. Still he made decent Point which have been talked about all around. I really recommend Luis Rossmann response to it.

Finally, my last Issue with it is. It's an Initiative. Not a Law or Law proposal. It will go to the Commission which then Drafts actual Law, with most likely more Influence by the Industries then the Consumer, then it has to go the Parliament. Which also has to Vote on it. Where again The Industries has more leeway than the Consumer. And finally it comes to the Council of the EU where yet again the same things apply.
This is something that has to be talked about in the Legislative, and honestly this is one of the few ways we are going to achieve that.

Gaming :: Re: games are being destroyed :: Reply by Pearlple

2025-05-12T21:38:47+00:00

I agree with your concerns, however I think the picture being drawn here is generally incomplete. The whole discussion goes around the issues of consumer vs. industry/corporate interest. Obviously this is a major part of the games industry and this is what most people buying games, lobbyists and politicians will consider (it's what makes gaming economically relevant in the first place).
Video games are more than just a part of the entertainment industry though. There is lots of art and passion in this space and I think both the indie scene as well as hobbyists and modders are two completely separate interest groups. They are a vital part of the video game culture who will be heavily impacted by this and it seems like their position is at most a sidenote here. And being by far the minority groups I am concerned that if these perspectives aren't integrated from the start they might get lost entirely along the way.
I am sure people like us see this initiative and read the solution between the lines of how regulation would allow the hobbyists to DIY solutions for these issues instead of games dying. But there isn't really an actionable proposal on how that should work. The people making these decisions have absolutely no clue about this and if, as you say, from this point on they will mostly be influenced by the industry side, I don't see where this actual solution would be properly discussed and introduced. So in my eyes the technical bit of "how do we really solve this sustainably?" has to be a part of the initiative and not left to the lawmakers.

Gaming :: Re: games are being destroyed :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-13T09:52:39+00:00

I agree, there is little Representation of Indie Creators.

I dont know much of the Scene to know how much it would effect, but the most Indie and Hobbyists Games I have played wouldn't even be effected by the Initiatives suggestion at all. It's primary Focuse is to force that Games that relay on Online Component have to stay reasonable state of play after the Servers shut down (or the Server Component has to be release). Primarily focusing of future Games.

Gaming :: Re: Alternatives to D&D :: Reply by pingaspostal

2025-05-15T02:55:42+00:00

PoisonIvy wrote: Fri May 02, 2025 2:09 pm Sorry to necro, but if it's specifically goofy and light-hearted that you're after, Paranoia is a very funny time. Not D&D-related at all, but if goofy is your north star, you'll eventually wind up at Paranoia.

i don't mind "necroposting" (in fact i don't understand why it'd be a bad thing at all...?) any noteworthy differences between editions? would you mind giving me a summary of the game too? i know i could theoretically google it but i like hearing it from a human being

Gaming :: Re: Alternatives to D&D :: Reply by PoisonIvy

2025-05-15T03:48:35+00:00

pingaspostal wrote: Thu May 15, 2025 2:55 am i don't mind "necroposting" (in fact i don't understand why it'd be a bad thing at all...?) any noteworthy differences between editions? would you mind giving me a summary of the game too? i know i could theoretically google it but i like hearing it from a human being

i haven't played it in a long time myself, so i'm not familiar with the different editions. the idea is that you're playing as enforcers in a far future, comedic, dystopian setting. imagine the setting and situations of the SCP Foundation, but it's directed by Mel Brooks. lots of dying in hilarious ways, fighting mutant cyborgs, and arguing with Kafkaesque bureaucracy. a very silly game, and lots of fun if it's your jam.

Gaming :: Re: Alternatives to D&D :: Reply by pingaspostal

2025-05-15T04:06:08+00:00

PoisonIvy wrote: Thu May 15, 2025 3:48 am
pingaspostal wrote: Thu May 15, 2025 2:55 am i don't mind "necroposting" (in fact i don't understand why it'd be a bad thing at all...?) any noteworthy differences between editions? would you mind giving me a summary of the game too? i know i could theoretically google it but i like hearing it from a human being
i haven't played it in a long time myself, so i'm not familiar with the different editions. the idea is that you're playing as enforcers in a far future, comedic, dystopian setting. imagine the setting and situations of the SCP Foundation, but it's directed by Mel Brooks. lots of dying in hilarious ways, fighting mutant cyborgs, and arguing with Kafkaesque bureaucracy. a very silly game, and lots of fun if it's your jam.

mel brooks and scp are two of my absolute favorite things. i am getting this game

Gaming :: Re: Alternatives to D&D :: Reply by Offline

2025-05-18T20:43:50+00:00

I played Call of Cuthulu just yesterday. It's pretty fun. It's a lot more focused on mystery solving then combat.

Gaming :: Re: Alternatives to D&D :: Reply by Mæstro

2025-05-20T16:04:31+00:00

At last, my childhood tendency to collect generic RPG rulebooks when I could find nobody to play with me proves useful.

To date, I have refereed one RPG ruleset: Forgotten Futures. The rules are designed mostly for scenarios set in Victorian through interbellum times, whether fantasy, steampunk or mundane, but they are quite flexible in principle. The author himself has adapted the rules to suit Flatland, which is what first attracted me to them. It is designed to use only d6.

Other generic rulebooks in my collection and freely available online include FUDGE, the diceless Active Exploits and the rather silly Risus.

Gaming :: Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 :: Author fitsoab

2025-06-02T04:13:40+00:00

Hi! I've really had these two games on my mind a lot recently, but whenever I ask around about folks' opinions on the different galaxies and which ones are their favorites, I always get different results. This game has such a massive variety of different locations, and a lot of them are really, really good and memorable. Even with their flaws, these two games are really special and unique, even to this day. There really is a lot to talk about regarding them.
I want to know, for those who've played the game, which galaxies are your favorite? What do you like about them? Do you have a galaxy that's your favorite in terms of its overall gameplay, but a different favorite that you think is aesthetically much more unique or pleasing? Got a favorite between the amazing cast of bosses? Tell me something you love! I want to hear the opinions of other people! Give me your pure unfiltered thoughts and reasoning!

Gaming :: Re: Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 :: Reply by fitsoab

2025-06-02T16:08:27+00:00

I'll start: I absolutely love Melty Monster Galaxy, even if I only love the first star. I think that first star of the galaxy, The Magnificent Magma Sea, is my favorite lava level across Super Mario HISTORY. I love the volcano levels in NSMBDS and NSMBWii, don't get me wrong, but COME ON. Aesthetically AND gameplay-wise it's still my favorite star. I remember it vividly. Something about its music just gives it this atmosphere of beauty and power, and it compliments the spanning ocean of lava and hulking beasts so excellently. Unforgettable. Top tier galaxy.

Also my favorite boss is Kingfin. Because fish. I like fish.

Music Players :: the Hiby R1 :: Author pawpaw

2025-05-15T02:36:59+00:00

Hey everyone! This is my first post here. Never really participated in a proper forum before so i'm very excited!!! Sorry if I ramble on too much, or my formatting sucks, please yell at me kindly.

TL;DR: I recommend the Hiby R1 if you're in the market for a brand-new music player. Their support is kind, and their products have been invaluably faithful to me.

I'm a musician, and a bit of a novice audiophile. I had always been into music, and been musically inclined, so listening to music was always fairly regular for me. I had always been a fan of downloading everything, as, on occasion i just wouldnt have wifi, but this came at the cost of storage space on my poor old IPhone. I reluctantly accommodated the storage issue, as I valued music more than whatever crappy memes I was hogging. However, one day, I wanted to listen to an album by a band I enjoyed at the time, but most of their discography was greyed out on Apple music. This only lasted a day or two, but I was furious and felt helpless, so I decided to go to the next extreme, and decide to circumvent my IPhone, and apple music entirely. I did about a week's worth of research, and spoke to a friend who was into music players long before I was, and with some savings and birthday money, I decided to buy the Hiby R3 Pro Sabre, for some $200. Not uncharacteristic of a high school student either, in my irresponsibility I actually ended up breaking the screen around the first 3 days of me owning it, but it was still useable, and they give you some screen protectors and a case for it, which is awesome ^^. I bought a 1 TB micro-SD card on recommendation from a friend, and begun my journey of downloading everything I listened to in the highest resolution I could find it in. This went extremely well! My phone breathed a sigh of relief as the music was phased out of it, and I was overjoyed at the ~22 hours of battery life that the R3 bragged about, which, I found to be fairly accurate, much to my surprise, as I didnt really expect much from this random chineese audio gear company. Everything went great until i actually FULLY and PROPERLY broke the screen while hanging out with a friend, maybe due to irresponsibility, but I chalk it up to a general roughness and carelessness that I happen to embody. It is for this reason that I don't own many things with screens that DONT also have an accompanying, oversized/built case for them (My previous phone's case was not clipped onto itself, it was screwed on. A waterproof, aluminum case for a waterproof phone. I lost it in a lake. I suspect that if it was found, it would work).

It was here that I turned back to the great Hiby, who had done me very well. In talks with their support, they actually were fully willing and able to replace the screen, and it didnt seem like it would be too expensive to do, however you can't ship something with an old battery overseas, and as tech savy as I was I simply didnt care to remove the back case and snip the wire. Maybe I will another day. Their lineup kinda sucked at this time so I resorted to an old phone that a friend gave me for free, and despite some inconveniences, the whole process wasnt too cumbersome; swap out a micro-SD card, install VLC, that God for the 3.5mm jack, and go about my day. Eventually I found that Hiby started making the R 1. Nearly identical to the R3, under half the price of the R3, all the features that I never used on the R3 removed. It was perfect. I still daily drive it, I bought it in the orange cover. Charging it is an afterthought. The plastic case is a little disappointing, coming from a product of theirs with a more premium aluminum case, aswell as not having a glass screen protector, though, I went from a 200 dollar product to an 85 dollar product, so I couldn't be too picky. It does what I want, and it does it well. I'm super happy about it, and, if you're into big filesizes and whatnot, I highly recommend the R1. You can choose to opt for a much cheaper 512 gb micro SD card, I'm sort of wishing i did (though it's nice to have the flexibility), but if you're looking for a new product that simply plays music, this is where I would steer you.

Music Players :: Re: Finding New Music :: Reply by AlexCnC1095

2025-05-12T01:36:35+00:00

I use two methods nowadays wich are:

I ask for reccomindation my internet friends, or don't ask and they just reccomend stuff to me.
I'm in a metal fans discord server, in wich i ask for reccomendations.

I have a RYM account and rate some stuff, there is auto reccomendations, wich altho could be useful i rarely use.
Mainly i use charts and select genres i want and just go throug them and pick albums that i like for some reasons, be it a cool cover or it has genre or multiple genres that i'm insterested in. Also i sometimes go through my friends ratings to see albums they highly rated, and see if there is any that i'd like to check. (The friends are from the same discord server)

Also i have last.fm wich has reccomendations but i don't use them now, nor did i use them much in the past but that could be an option, if you are fine with sharing your listening data there.

Music Players :: Re: Finding New Music :: Reply by pawpaw

2025-05-16T19:01:41+00:00

December_W_Wolf wrote: Sat Mar 22, 2025 2:48 pm I don't particularly tend to look for new music actively so hopefully my suggestions will help, but ultimately I'm not sure. I'll chip in what I can anyway:

If your friend sends you some meme or video or... anything really, and a particular piece of music catches your fancy, look to see if it's listed in the video or description or wherever's appropriate. If not, you can search up the lyrics or use software meant for finding songs with either difficult to decipher or even absent lyrics (assuming you're comfortable with using those things). This also applies for any content you may stumble upon yourself. It should be easier in the case of films, since they often list the songs used and the composer/artist(s) in the credits, and they'll usually appear in the soundtrack of the film itself.

I second this idea, but I would also recommend a subreddit called "r/NameThatSong", where they have a bot called "Recognize Song" that can detect audio from a video, and usually give you a link to that song, often on youtube or wherever it can find it. Though, I understand if reddit isnt your cup of tea, or if you dont have an account, etc.

Music Players :: Re: Managing offline music library :: Reply by dylan.at

2025-05-17T13:18:34+00:00

I would recommend having a self-hosted Subsonic server (I host the server on hetzner but you can do it however you would like) and a Subsonic client.

Subsonic has been closed source for a while now, however, open source server software does exist such as Gonic and Airsonic. Though this may not be exactly what you were looking for (especially if you wanted something completely offline), Subsonic (and its forks) are very convenient to use as they sync music between your devices and the Subsonic server also has a WebUI where you can listen to music and manage your music.

Music Players :: Re: I Love minidisc! :: Reply by Ray Karr

2025-05-28T11:45:15+00:00

Oh nice! I didn't even know about this format!
You mentioned they haven't been officially in production since 2013. Are there people who make/rewrite their own?

Music Players :: Re: I Love minidisc! :: Reply by VashtheIntellect

2025-05-29T17:18:36+00:00

Ray Karr wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 11:45 am Are there people who make/rewrite their own?

The vast majority of discs in circulation are read-write discs, so I'd say that most discs are one's written by individuals! Honestly the read-only discs are so stupid rare I might never collect one. There's a Jamiroquai album thats like $300 on discogs

Online Privacy :: Cloudflare Web Analytics :: Author foxx-doxx

2025-05-05T01:15:03+00:00

What do the people of this forum think about Cloudflare Web Analytics?

Online Privacy :: Tech unsavvy wanting to browse more securely :: Author Avarice

2025-05-08T14:27:29+00:00

Hi all,

I'm after are some basic to intermediate ways I can make browsing online with Firefox more secure. Whether it's recommended add-ons or good habits to have, I appreciate whatever you share. Just please keep it layman-friendly, my brain is not built for for technology.

Online Privacy :: Re: Tech unsavvy wanting to browse more securely :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-08T18:40:49+00:00

There many ways to harden Firefox, here are some ways you can do it. You dont need to do all, just read what they do and think what fits you best.
An AdBlock like uBlock Origin and/or AdGuard are the best recommendation I can give you. Another thing that can be Improved for Browser Security is enabling Strict Mode under Privacy in Firefox. And lastly a Script Blocker like noscript, but this will break many sites, and can get annoying when using it.

Online Privacy :: Re: Tech unsavvy wanting to browse more securely :: Reply by Speb

2025-05-09T21:23:50+00:00

I have actually just made a booklet designed for this exact thing. It has a bunch of privacy tech you can use or learn to use based on how advanced you wanna go. I just posted it in a post before this. I hope it helps you, please give me any feedback on it if you do end up using it

My advice would be to either install Brave, or if you dont want chromium (basically a browser like google chrome), LibreWolf is a strong privacy browser out the box, similar to FireFox. Regardless, use uBlock Origin for ads and trackers, or PrivacyBadger (I find that ublock sometimes needs its filter list updating, PrivacyBadger means you can avoid doing this). If you wanna go a step further, ProtonVPN has a free tier and is fairly fast, they do store IPs but that is all, no other logging.

Online Privacy :: Re: Tech unsavvy wanting to browse more securely :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-10T09:11:48+00:00

Speb wrote: Fri May 09, 2025 9:23 pm My advice would be to either install Brave

I personally would Discourage Brave as a browser to use. While leagues better than something like Chrome. The Browser has its controversial History, not only with their CEO and Founders actions. But also in things they have done inside their Browser. Like when they replace links with Brave Affiliated links (similar to Honey) or Created a Donation Partner program where you can donate to creators, even tho the Creator aren't Affiliated with Brave at all. I cant trust a Company with having my Privacy in mind while it has a History of deceiving me.

So if you want to switch browser, there is Zen and Floorp with some more user-friendly privacy choices. Not impeding on Convenience too much, and then there is LibreWolf as a very Hardened Firefox, witch some Defaults that are a bit impeding for the user.

Online Privacy :: Patient intake company asked if they could sell my health information :: Author axolotls_

2025-05-15T00:14:41+00:00

I was filling out some preappointment forms for my doctor's office today when this popped up. I'm not the best at reading these things, but as far as I can tell, they are asking if they can use my health information, not just that I submitted to them today, but also all health information my doctor has, to advertise to me. What the fuck.

And most people are just going to sign this because they assume it's a normal part of filling out the forms, it's going to be hard for people to understand this is separate and not required of them.

Attachments

signal-2025-05-14-18-57-32-174~2(1).jpg (251.12 KiB)

Online Privacy :: Brave is not a good Private Browser :: Author Crazyroostereye

2025-05-16T20:20:20+00:00

This is going to be a bit of a rant.

I really dislike Brave as a Private Browser Recommendation. While they Implement some really good Features for Privacy, they also have a long history forgoing that Privacy for themselves, and going as far as doing sleazy and misleading things. They have done the same thing Honey did, with replacing links for some Website with their affiliate link [1]. Have misled they're User base with fake Donations Boxes for Creators, which weren't affiliated at all with Brave [2].
It is hard to trust a Browser that just misleads it's user base so easily. Even with the Benefit of the doubt, they still did actions which makes them untrustworthy.
They are still better than most Browsers, but calling them a Privacy Focused Browser is an Insult to all other Browser that actually do care.

Online Privacy :: Re: Brave is not a good Private Browser :: Reply by dylan.at

2025-05-17T12:52:26+00:00

Completely agree. Their stuff with their crypto token, which still looks to be a thing, feels weird as well. I would never ever recommend this browser to anyone (along with the Opera GX browser).

Online Privacy :: Re: Brave is not a good Private Browser :: Reply by Cobra!

2025-05-17T18:18:40+00:00

Honestly, the fact Brave is Chrome-based was enough of a red-flag for me. Using code from one of the most privacy intrusive companies in history as a basis for a private browser is a very unusual choice.
Plus they also seem to be more catering to the "freeze peach" crowd rather than privacy advocates, and from my experience, any product that boasts free speech is usually a scam.

Online Privacy :: Re: Brave is not a good Private Browser :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-17T20:09:48+00:00

dylan.at wrote: Sat May 17, 2025 12:52 pm Completely agree. Their stuff with their crypto token, which still looks to be a thing, feels weird as well. I would never ever recommend this browser to anyone (along with the Opera GX browser).

While I dislike Crypto Currency and that stuff, I do not hold it against them. The Privacy Crowd does like Crypto for Reasons that I can accept. But yeah it gives me to the sleazy and manipulative vibe.

Cobra! wrote: Sat May 17, 2025 6:18 pm Honestly, the fact Brave is Chrome-based was enough of a red-flag for me.

Honestly I don't carry much malice against Chromium, it is going the way of Android. Where more and more Features are added in Proprietary Blobs that make the Browser Functional which sucks. But my Issue lies actually more in the Monopoly in the Blink Engine and to the extent Chromium. Where there won't be any other Option then using Google's thing which is semi Open Source or Apples thing which will be equally shit. Basically what the Mobile Operating System Land Scape is looking like right now.

Online Privacy :: Re: Brave is not a good Private Browser :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-21T02:02:17+00:00

There are some negatives in Brave's history that are not great, but my view is that Brave is still the most privacy respecting browser you can comfortably daily drive out of the box. It's built in Chromium, has good defaults for digital privacy, and has settings to shut off everything else. But there is the crypto and the history that may get in the way for some.

The nice thing is that we have options! Vivaldi is good in my opinion despite not doing as much to actively protect your privacy - they mostly give you a ad/tracker blocker and leave you alone. Firefox is also good and can be hardened. And you can get Ungoogled Chromium as well.

Privacy Guides is a good resource for folks who want to dive deeper into what is out there and which browsers make sense for different use cases.
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/desktop-browsers/

Online Privacy :: Re: Brave is not a good Private Browser :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-21T16:17:17+00:00

My problem is, especially in the sector of Privacy, Trust is the most important aspect. Google or Microsoft could bring a browser that is Open Source and privacy preserving. And I wouldn't even touch that shit with a 5ft pool. Out of a Simple reason the Company behind it have a long history of doing bad things to its users. Same goes for Brave. It is such a young company with such a long track record of doing bad things, especially for Browser marketing itself to be not bad. It's just not trustworthy. And without trust how can I use the Software. I won't read the Diff every update for the Codebase, so I have to rely on them.
And some of the things they have done, are beyond incompetence. And have been deliberately misleading or Evil.

CitricScion wrote: Wed May 21, 2025 2:02 am and has settings to shut off everything

I tend to use the Default as a good measure. As you can make most Browsers really good when changing the settings. Ignoring that finding them can often be a Pain.

Online Privacy :: Switzerland abolishing anonymity online :: Author Borgi

2025-05-07T07:27:21+00:00

Hi guys,

Yes, you read right. Switzerland is abolishing anonymity online, by requiering any sevice that is used by more than 5000 people and has communication features baked into it, to register people via their passport and phone number. (I have linked some sources down below) This opens the door for companies worldwide to require user registration:

Using MS Teams at work? They know who EXACTLY you are. Wanna play Minecraft? Too sad you can chat within the game? Order something via eBay? Communicate via WhatsApp, Signal, Threema, Discord? You are registered..... Reddit? This Forum? If there are more than 5000 people registered on it and it can be accessed from Switzerland, registration would be necessary.... Not even VPNs are safe....So forget Proton... Or any other service

There are four things that are especially worrying to me, apart from any big corporation in the world being able to put a name and face to every action you take in the internet that is.

Firstly, the signaling power. Switzerland is a very prominent country. It adopting such policies, could open the door for other countries worldwide to do the same

Secondly, the safety concerns... Can you trust a small company with a couple thousand customers to keep your data safe enough?

Thirdly, how they make it even more difficult for small companies and organisations to compete with huge globe spanning corporations....

And Lastly, the way how it was implemented. Switzerland is well known for its direct democracy, that lets people prevent things like these from happening. Problem is, that not all parts of law can be voted on and they chose to put the regulations into exactly one of these parts. The way they did it might even be illegal and conflict with higher law, but as far as I know there is no institution of the judicial branch that has the power to prevent it, because of a flaw within the system (which might be something Im wrong Abo, but there definitely is no Constitutional Court in Switzerland, which would be the institution responsible to rule over this). The whole thing went completely under the radar of most media, so there was no public outcry either.

What are your thoughts on all of this?

Here are some of the source documents:

A news article in German:
https://www.republik.ch/2025/05/07/die- ... u-kopieren

A Reddit post in English, that pushed me onto the whole affair yesterday, with further links to other sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/s/GZjNAzstBN

A link to the website of the swiss government with the new law linked in a document at the bottom:
https://www.news.admin.ch/de/nsb?id=103968

Online Privacy :: Re: Switzerland abolishing anonymity online :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-07T15:00:01+00:00

Concerning but lets wait for a response before we panic. Not saying we shouldn't make plans for every eventuality. We should just keep in mind what companies will be most at risk and what they can do to fight back. Primarily the companies based in Switzerland. Companies like signal can and have pulled out of countries that they consider, according to their standards, impossible to work with.

I am extremely interested in what Andy Yen has to say.

Online Privacy :: Re: Switzerland abolishing anonymity online :: Reply by Pearlple

2025-05-08T21:35:23+00:00

The plans were rejected, looks like we can breathe easily for a moment.

Online Privacy :: Re: Switzerland abolishing anonymity online :: Reply by December_W_Wolf

2025-05-09T07:31:24+00:00

Pearlple wrote: Thu May 08, 2025 9:35 pm The plans were rejected, looks like we can breathe easily for a moment.

Not to mention a brief read of said article reveals every big party rejected the proposal, gives me hope it won't be happening at least for the next few years.

Online Privacy :: Re: Switzerland abolishing anonymity online :: Reply by TrekkerV

2025-05-26T18:03:07+00:00

Yeah I saw that come in my feed a few days ago. Very concerning.

There seems there is a big push in Western Europe against encrypted data services and anonymity at large on the web. Notably against the Signal app and VPNs, but it's far from the only targets.

This is ironic coming from Switzerland's government though.
Switzerland as a country is reputed to not give information easily for... yknow, obvious reasons (banks/finances/tax avoidance *cough*).

Plan failed for now, but apparently it's not completely abandoned yet - they want to have revisions, not toss it in the bin. Let's see if these revisions can be altered enough to make the intent of surveillance really fail.

Online Privacy :: Re: Browser comparison :: Reply by pawpaw

2025-05-15T02:54:47+00:00

Crazyroostereye wrote: Mon Mar 31, 2025 8:17 pm
DedRoll wrote: Mon Mar 31, 2025 5:03 pm Could you explain it more about LibreWolf going overboard? I plan to move to that browser or maybe i use Zen too if it's better comparison than LibreWolf
Primarily I am referring to their Data Storage Default. They dont store Cookies at all, which as my Primary Browser can be annoying (It can be changed in the Settings, as most things can). I get the Security Reasons but contrair to this forum there is some convenience that Persistent Cookies bring that I would like to keep. Also, other Privacy Changes/Features they Implement, which are good don't get me wrong, but also break websites I visit. As Private Browser it is as good as they come, but Privacy comes with the cost of Convenience. I draw my line at Persistent Cookies, meaning that LibreWolf is just a bit to Inconvenient for me.

Not here to add too much interesting commentary, just testimony. Librewolf user here. Switched after the whole firefox terms-of-service debacle, I just seen it as a step in the wrong direction, and figured that a REALLY open source browser was a way better step. I enjoy librewolf a lot ^^. I used to not have persistent cookies on, as, i occasionally dont turn my main PC off for a while, but i eventually turned it on. I enjoy librewolf ^^. i would recommend it.

Online Privacy :: Re: Browser comparison :: Reply by Mæstro

2025-05-20T17:05:40+00:00

LibreWolf rubs me the wrong way, for when I discovered it, it forbade the user even to switch the language to anything beside US English. (I know this limit no longer holds, yet I dislike the thought of discouraging making one’s browser one’s own which underlies LibreWolf’s development.) Watching from afar in the distant land of XUL, most browsers this decade look to me like Firefox, Chromium or Epiphany (ie WebKit) in assorted clothing. I have a friend who uses Waterfox, which I recommended to him in early 2019 when Waterfox Classic still existed and before I switched to Pale Moon. I would most likely have switched to Pale Moon direct from Firefox ESR years ago if I understood how tracker-blocking extensions worked better; I used to use several before being introduced to RequestPolicy.

Curiously, the chart itself lists Pale Moon as supporting ‘Goanna extensions’, whereas Basilisk is listed as supporting ordinary XUL extensions. In fact, both browsers support XUL.It also lists ‘N/A’ for disabling WebRTC in Basilisk, but this is easily possible by unticking a box in its settings.

Online Privacy :: Re: Browser comparison :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-20T20:23:05+00:00

Mæstro wrote: Tue May 20, 2025 5:05 pm LibreWolf rubs me the wrong way, for when I discovered it, it forbade the user even to switch the language to anything beside US English. (I know this limit no longer holds, yet I dislike the thought of discouraging making one’s browser one’s own which underlies LibreWolf’s development.) Watching from afar in the distant land of XUL, most browsers this decade look to me like Firefox, Chromium or Epiphany (ie WebKit) in assorted clothing.

The eternal Struggle between Privacy / Security vs Freedom / Customization. On one Hand as the Developer you have an obligation to mitigate risk for the User. On the other hand you want to give the User the freedom to decide, how they want it. And to thread the line isn't Easy. For example I would love to have Extensions that are Incredibly Powerful in Functionality and what they Can do, but also that Can be abused to create a Powerful malicious Extension. Something you can still do with basically all base Browser (Firefox, Chromium or Webkit) with the right Knowledge and Tools. It's just very very Hard. (Codding that shit yourself)

And that comes to my second point. The Homogenization of Browsers / Web Engines Is a result that the Web is developing constantly and has become so Complicated and Hard to Implement 100%. While I am all for Browser Diversity. There is the other Problem that the Web Standard is becoming so complicated you can't Document it via Text any more. And Developing you own Web Engine may not be Possible without substantial Help and Funding. That's basically why all Browsers split from One of the three Engines (Geko, Webkit and Blink). Browsers are maybe the most Complicated and Dangerous type of Software you can ever run on your Computer.

Online Privacy :: Re: Browser comparison :: Reply by Mæstro

2025-05-20T22:12:34+00:00

Crazyroostereye wrote: Tue May 20, 2025 8:23 pm There is the other Problem that the Web Standard is becoming so complicated you can't Document it via Text any more. And Developing you own Web Engine may not be Possible without substantial Help and Funding.

As the Pale Moon team is intimately aware, this is because Google has forced draft specifications onto an unsuspecting public for well over a decade in a rather successful bid to maintain its monopoly. ‘Development’ is retrogression here. HTML 4·01 was fixed from 1999 to 2008; HTML 5 early became a moving target by design. Can any of us honestly say that the Web has become truly more capable since 2007?

Online Privacy :: Re: Browser comparison :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-28T01:48:01+00:00

For the browser choice discussion, you can always use multiple browsers! Sometimes it makes sense to compartmentalize where you have a main browser, maybe another browser for work or a side project, a third browser for sessions where you don't want to keep history, and even a fourth like Tor Browser for when you want the most security. And you can achieve something similar with different browser profiles and such. Not to mention the mix of browsers and engines you can use on mobile if you're using a smartphone.

I use Vivaldi for my personal computer, Firefox on my gaming computer, Edge for work, Brave for mobile (Android), and Vivaldi for reading also on Android. By compartmentalizing my data I make sure that there's only so much being stored and potentially leaked from any given browser. Not to mention the things that are deleted regularly by using a browser that automatically deletes local browsing data.

Online Privacy :: Re: Browser comparison :: Reply by Mæstro

2025-05-30T14:11:28+00:00

Keeping a secondary browser is common in the Pale Moon community. LibreOffice requires one of Firefox, Chrome, Konqueror or Epiphany as a dependency. I have the last of these installed, but would prefer Konqueror if I knew more about its ability to block adverts. I also keep a three-year-old version of Ungoogled Chromium installed as another backup browser. While I have meant to swap Basilisk for it, I have not yet bothered to do so.

Online Privacy :: Re: A really big list of privacy policies I want to read on stream :: Reply by Praxeria

2025-05-31T15:13:09+00:00

Ubisoft or any video game companys they can destoryed a game an example would be "the crew" where even the singleplayer wasn't even safe

Other Tech :: What's something that annoys you about the modern Internet? :: Author yallspark

2025-05-18T18:46:35+00:00

I'll go first.

- You search for a "how-to" on a technical issue on your computer.
- You get a list of options, and decide to pick one.
- You get to methods 1,2,3 and they seem fine, you've seen this on other websites...then you see the 4th method...
- It says, use [Insert Tech Software here] to fix your solution right away!
- "That's.. oddly specific, weird."
- You move your mouse to hit the back arrow, but before you do.... you see it. The article was written by [Tech Software] on the [Tech Software] website...

This has happened to me so many times, and it pretty much just makes the "how-to" issue into an ad for their product.

Other Tech :: Re: What's something that annoys you about the modern Internet? :: Reply by December_W_Wolf

2025-05-19T07:23:58+00:00

yallspark wrote: Sun May 18, 2025 6:46 pm You move your mouse to hit the back arrow, but before you do.... you see it. The article was written by [Tech Software] on the [Tech Software] website...

This also annoys me to no end, to be honest. I will say I do usually spot the name of the website before I spot the product they're promoting so it becomes something more of a "oh of course they did that", but it still is grating sometimes.
In terms of actually answering the question with my own input, the first thing that came to mind was the fact that Google search, on top of Gemini taking the top spot of the search list, now has a separate tab specifically for short-form content. I do know this is very much a minor grievance, but I do worry that Google is trying to suck as many people as possible into the doomscrolling black hole like the social media titans of today.
And another, even more minor thing: you search far and wide for a functional download link to an older, discontinued program, only to find websites that say "download now" and just redirect you to the original official page for said older, discontinued program, which - big shocker - doesn't let you download this older, discontinued program.

Other Tech :: Re: What's something that annoys you about the modern Internet? :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-05-19T13:18:26+00:00

Breaking the back button. There are so many Website which route you through these god dam sites that instant redirect you, meaning you can't use the Return functionality as easily. Either spamming or going through the return History are the only way. Worst offender being Microsoft. But I absolutely hate that for research and Browsing. It absolutely pisses me off.

Other thing I dislike is that more and more Website become incredibly resource intensive for little to no benefit, with locally running scripts that do some predictive feed stuff. While it is just a simple News Website, which does not need it.

Other Tech :: Re: What's something that annoys you about the modern Internet? :: Reply by MikeGs

2025-05-20T11:42:40+00:00

The fact that it never ends. Back then I'd jump on my computer after a long day and check out what was going on. My feed was something like 20 posts long, of people that I knew, and I felt like I was keeping up to date with whatever was going on at the time.

Nowadays, something like one out of six posts are from people that I know, and even then, It's probably some random story of whatever lunch they had.

Infinite scroll and ease of access 24/7 has genuinely killed that aspect for me. Were my friends always posting stuff like that? Sure, but that's not the issue. I miss when posting required actual effort. It meant that every picture you saw online was taken with a camera/phone, someone got home, transferred that picture to their computer, and then made a post about it. That whole process alone filtered a lot of low-effort or meaningless content. You'd still see it, but much less often.

Other Tech :: Re: RSS Readers? :: Reply by Chaotic

2025-05-22T01:09:59+00:00

mimi wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2025 4:31 am I've been using Thunderbird's for some time now. It's really simple to setup and organize but I don't think it would be worth it if I wasn't also using it as an email client. I just like it better not having a whole entire app for every little thing (in some cases).

I've also been considering trying a terminal reader like Newsboat just because it looks fun but idk.

Another Thunderbird user here, migrated after Microsoft killed old Outlook with unified inbox, really enjoy having all my mails/calendars/rss stuff feed into one place.

Tech News :: Re: Cybercriminals intensify hunt for exposed Git secrets :: Reply by dylan.at

2025-05-18T14:41:33+00:00

Snooping attempts originated from all over the world, with hackers from Singapore (4933), the US (3807), Germany (473), and the UK (395) leading these activities in the last 90 days.

I wonder why Singapore was so big? Isn't Asia's networking price high compared to other countries?

Source

Art :: Character design study :: Author DedRoll

2025-05-09T10:16:08+00:00

Today i wanna share my character design study, I made Gijinka of Tragelaphus eurycerus or you could call 'em Bongo.

She's a mailgirl, ready to send your mail/package!

Art :: Re: Character design study :: Reply by Linkard

2025-05-11T10:48:53+00:00

Neat !

Art :: I drawed a lil guy :: Author zonk

2025-05-11T00:08:12+00:00

I finally get to post here because I did a pixel art:

I basically never draw anything but I will make pixel art for avatars and websites now and again.

This guy is as of yet unnamed.

Art :: Re: I drawed a lil guy :: Reply by Linkard

2025-05-11T10:35:51+00:00

I love it ! Especially in the animated button gif in your signature. What software did you use to make the gif?

Art :: Re: I drawed a lil guy :: Reply by zonk

2025-05-11T11:03:05+00:00

Linkard wrote: Sun May 11, 2025 10:35 am I love it ! Especially in the animated button gif in your signature. What software did you use to make the gif?

Krita! It's a very neat little drawing program. Some of the controls are not entirely obvious, but it's not hard to figure out how to do something (most of the time) and bump into some of the non-obvious features by accident if you just try stuff. I can see how someone could become very fast if they spent a lot of time in it.

Art :: Re: I drawed a lil guy :: Reply by rejectconvenience

2025-05-24T14:32:55+00:00

Krita is so much better than people give it credit for! Love the artwork

Art :: My Wife's Art :: Author foxx-doxx

2025-05-05T00:35:02+00:00

Hello Convenience Rejecters,

I already posted this is on the Cool Websites forum, but I figured the Art department would like it too.
I wanted to show off my wife's beautiful artwork, so I setup a little website to do so. You can find it at inkywanderer.com!

Here's a sample; this is the website mascot, "Inky." Inky is a ink-blob-birb.

Art :: Re: My Wife's Art :: Reply by DedRoll

2025-05-05T14:12:40+00:00

Oooh that's lovely!

The birb is up to some mischief again

Art :: Re: My Wife's Art :: Reply by Offline

2025-05-05T19:15:07+00:00

Cute!

Art :: Re: My Wife's Art :: Reply by foxx-doxx

2025-05-30T18:38:15+00:00

DedRoll wrote: Mon May 05, 2025 2:12 pm Oooh that's lovely!

The birb is up to some mischief again

Only the most mischievous of birbs would find their way here.

Art :: Re: My Wife's Art :: Reply by foxx-doxx

2025-05-30T18:42:35+00:00

Offline wrote: Mon May 05, 2025 7:15 pmCute!

Movies and TV :: Re: Physical Media :: Reply by JorjeeZeAlien

2025-05-26T21:44:18+00:00

I love DVDs. Whenever I go grocery shopping, I stop by the $5 movie bins at Walmart and dig for movies. You can find some real gold in there, old and new. It's a shame really, I feel like I bought a lot of movies from there that have no right to be only $5, like recent movies and collectors editions/bundles. But I guess no one really buys them anymore so they gotta be cheap. Good for me at least! But also: books

Movies and TV :: Re: Physical Media :: Reply by Mæstro

2025-05-30T11:55:33+00:00

In my earliest childhood, my nursery kept an array of educational VHS tapes. I never listened to music much as a child unless on the air, so I always associated CD with computer games. After seeing a USB drive capable of running several portable applications in late 2007 or early 2008, I believed that USB drives would someday replace CD for distributing games, rather like cartridges compatible with desktops. I was bitterly disappointed when Civ V released a few years later with a dummy disc biddng the user install Steam.

The user above me named books, and these are what I have always preferred the most from my infancy until now. My earliest memories are of when I was aged three: at this time, I was dumb, but literate. I regard the written word as more natural for me than the spoken. My personal library comprises hundreds of books, mostly non-fiction, acquired over the years from universities and libraries clearing their inventories and leaving literal boxloads of old books free for the taking, ‘book cells’ (common in Germany), antiquarians and second-hand shops, with a few new purchases here and there.

Movies and TV :: Re: A Minecraft Movie (spoilers!!) :: Reply by Chrishusk

2025-05-31T00:41:20+00:00

I actually really enjoyed the movie however I was watching it with the mindset that this is going to be a stupidly dumb movie. Even thought I liked it I honestly cant argue against the idea that this movie does not have a good story. Honestly a 7/10 movie

Music :: Spotify v. Pandora :: Author foxx-doxx

2025-05-05T01:00:01+00:00

You have to pick one: Spotify or Pandora.
Which do you choose?

Music :: Re: Wrapped 24 :: Reply by AlexCnC1095

2025-05-12T01:52:53+00:00

My last.fm 2024 playback

full-report.png

link to my last.fm playback If you want to check it yourself

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Music :: Re: Wrapped 24 :: Reply by Linkard

2025-05-12T05:22:18+00:00

AlexCnC1095 wrote: Mon May 12, 2025 1:52 am My last.fm 2024 playback
full-report.png
link to my last.fm playback If you want to check it yourself

Bezos I ! I love that song. I've seen Inside maybe over a dozen times

Music :: Re: Wrapped 24 :: Reply by AlexCnC1095

2025-05-12T07:25:01+00:00

Linkard wrote: Mon May 12, 2025 5:22 am

Bezos I ! I love that song. I've seen Inside maybe over a dozen times

I listened to it this much to troll a friend who got me into listening to Bo's music. I watched inside only once

Music :: Re: What album is on repeat for you? :: Reply by Asaklair

2025-05-11T22:37:14+00:00

I always seem to make my way back to some boards of canada
https://youtu.be/yJj24t6nOn4

Music :: Re: What album is on repeat for you? :: Reply by AlexCnC1095

2025-05-12T01:18:04+00:00

I don't listen to albums on repeat much, i prefer to listen to differen ones for most times, tho i can think of some that i played on repeat, those being: Gallowobraid - Ashen edelion, wich i listened few times in a row, but not as much as Kardashev - Alunea wich came out on April 25th and i listened to it 22 times for about a week.

And Those aren't albums but but artist that i listned multiple albums in a row for a lot, those artist being: Daft Punk, Keygen Church (I listened to whole discography) and Heaven Pierce Her (I listened to all of Ultrakill soundtrack).

Also probably not as much of on repeat but a lot, and maybe somitimes two, maybe three times i a row i did listened to Burial - Untrue and Kardashev - Liminal Rite.

And also i did listen for 10 hours (with breaks) to Bad Piggies Theme

Music :: Re: What album is on repeat for you? :: Reply by Chrishusk

2025-05-31T00:44:47+00:00

I have a couple of ones that I listen to multiple times per week
Alexander Lasrenko's (the guy who made the Disney channel theme) Albums: Noir and Orchestra Groves.
There's this really good big band jazz album called "Music of Pat Metheny & Lyles Mays" which I would highly recommend hearing. If you want you can just listen to Third Circle and Mineuno since those are the best songs.

Music :: EDM and its many variants :: Author Asaklair

2025-05-13T17:21:44+00:00

What edm music has stood out to you over the years? It could be whole albums or just a single track, I would just love to get some discussion going of probably one of the most diverse music categories.

For me, I just sat and listened to Vegyn's incredible remix of the whole Moon Safari album by Air
https://youtu.be/uivz46Qg3nA?list=OLAK5 ... iHVNm9F_wc

Music :: Re: EDM and its many variants :: Reply by dylan.at

2025-05-18T14:59:01+00:00

Lola's theme 100%

Regular Version - Radio Edit

Music :: Re: EDM and its many variants :: Reply by Asaklair

2025-05-22T22:25:19+00:00

dylan.at wrote: Sun May 18, 2025 2:59 pm Lola's theme 100%

Regular Version - Radio Edit

this is a certified jam my man

Music :: Re: EDM and its many variants :: Reply by CitricScion

2025-05-28T01:52:55+00:00

I forget how I got exposed to EDM, but I think it was through Aphex Twin. The video I saw mentioned something about how he used a chair squeaking on the floor as an instrument, and I thought that was dope. From there I've come across Boards of Canada and Squarepusher. I like them, but I also get the feeling these are well known artists in this space.

Music :: Re: EDM and its many variants :: Reply by Asaklair

2025-05-28T22:18:23+00:00

CitricScion wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 1:52 am I forget how I got exposed to EDM, but I think it was through Aphex Twin. The video I saw mentioned something about how he used a chair squeaking on the floor as an instrument, and I thought that was dope. From there I've come across Boards of Canada and Squarepusher. I like them, but I also get the feeling these are well known artists in this space.

Those are all fantastic choices though! Boards of Canada has a special place in my heart. Aphex has this whole album that is pretty unique on how he uses acoustic sounds https://youtu.be/xIzrGPfIUo0

Music :: Re: EDM and its many variants :: Reply by December_W_Wolf

2025-05-29T07:09:13+00:00

I went through a Geometry Dash phase when I was maybe 10-12. I think you know where this is going coughcough F-777 coughcough

Music :: Re: EDM and its many variants :: Reply by Rain

2025-05-30T18:18:56+00:00

The Minecraft soundtracks, oddly enough. I was never a huge Minecraft player or anything, I was initially into Boards of Canada and eventually discovered C418 since they both have a similar ambient-ish vibe. Volume Beta is still one of my favorite albums to this day.

Music :: Re: EDM and its many variants :: Reply by Asaklair

2025-05-31T14:14:09+00:00

Rain wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 6:18 pm The Minecraft soundtracks, oddly enough. I was never a huge Minecraft player or anything, I was initially into Boards of Canada and eventually discovered C418 since they both have a similar ambient-ish vibe. Volume Beta is still one of my favorite albums to this day.

C418 recently made the music for the game Wanderstop, https://youtu.be/zKBgeJziLsU
Still has that ambient charm! VA-11 Hall-A has some amazing songs as well so it is dope seeing your profile picture, hopefully they make N1RV Ann-A in the next few years

Music :: Re: EDM and its many variants :: Reply by Rain

2025-05-31T18:25:57+00:00

Asaklair wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 2:14 pm
Rain wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 6:18 pm The Minecraft soundtracks, oddly enough. I was never a huge Minecraft player or anything, I was initially into Boards of Canada and eventually discovered C418 since they both have a similar ambient-ish vibe. Volume Beta is still one of my favorite albums to this day.
C418 recently made the music for the game Wanderstop, https://youtu.be/zKBgeJziLsU
Still has that ambient charm! VA-11 Hall-A has some amazing songs as well so it is dope seeing your profile picture, hopefully they make N1RV Ann-A in the next few years

Absolutely. I hope so too, I love this game to bits.

Animals :: Re: Frog :: Reply by CoolCrescent186

2025-05-05T00:09:10+00:00

Indeed a light frog. It sang a while, and then flew on.

Animals :: Re: Frog :: Reply by foxx-doxx

2025-05-05T00:57:17+00:00

Le Blog Frog

Gardening :: Re: Plant Request! :: Reply by drmollytov

2025-05-05T21:20:50+00:00

Mustard greens! Their roots are good for breaking up heavy soils, and they won't get too tall if you harvest them and/or trim them before they go to seed (which you should unless you want a billion baby mustard plants next year). Leafy greens tend to coexist nicely with alliums.

You can probably get two crops if you plant the first one now, uniess you have an unusually early frost.

Gardening :: Re: Plant Request! :: Reply by PoisonIvy

2025-05-05T21:31:32+00:00

Great idea! Thanks!

Code: Select all

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             |= |
            /-  ;.---.
      _ __.'     (____)
       `         (_____)
       _'  ._ .' (____)
        `        (___)
  jgs  --`'------'`

Gardening :: Re: Plant Request! :: Reply by VulpesFox

2025-06-02T19:55:28+00:00

Stealing this info for my garden in the next year or two! Right now I'm in an apartment, so alas, no garden to be had, but any houses around here are under pretty heavy foliage.

Journaling :: Re: Favorite Pens :: Reply by yallspark

2025-05-11T18:48:16+00:00

My favorite, is probably my Lamy safari pens... but the one I use most often is actually a Multi-pen.

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 1000 , I sometimes will journal in multiple colors and it's been the best so far. The Refills are tiny, but I like having 3 different gel inks and a mechanical pencil insert. Now I just keep that one with me at all times.

Other :: A few things that have helped me consume less over time. :: Author yallspark

2025-05-11T18:54:12+00:00

1. Use it until it breaks, the fix it, THEN replace it. - This year I've gotten a lot of satisfaction from using something until Its empty or until its broken. Then ill look for fixes that i can do to keep it going longer. Once it's beyond repair or too costly, then I'll replace it. I stopped feeling the guilt or pain, because I'm buying with intention.

2. "Patina" is a badge of honor. - I used to feel the need to replace something when its gotten too scratched up, but now I feel so much pride in using something for so long until it's either unusable or broken, and that goes back to point 1 above.

3. Clean it. - Sometimes, just simply cleaning something, wiping the dust off or putting a new case on it breathes enough life into my gear that I don't feel the need to replace it as soon. When I properly clean out my car or clean off my TV screen, it makes a world of difference.

4. Sell, THEN Upgrade. - Constantly, I would buy things without getting rid of the old stuff, when I got into photography I had a Canon, Nikon, Sony, and my Fuji, but I only used the Fuji, So I sold the others and used that money to buy a new lens and accessories for my ONE camera.

5. Get excited about saving. - Lately, Ive started getting really excited with the idea of my bank account number going up. It's almost like trying to achieve a high score or something. Sometimes I look at my account and I'm like... I like that number. lets keep it there.

6. Accept that sometimes buying is okay. - In 2023 I tried to do a hard limit on my purchases and blew that out the water, then felt guilty all year anytime I swiped my card. I basically caved and gave up. Now... after adopting those above points, I don't feel nearly as bad about my spending (when I need to actually do it).

I posted this on another site closer to the new year and it seemed to help a few folks so I decided to give it a shot here.

This has been something that has helped keep with my "Mindfulness" trend for the past year or so. It's been really helpful.

Other :: Re: A few things that have helped me consume less over time. :: Reply by zonk

2025-05-11T22:30:11+00:00

On the topic of new year resolutions, I subscribe to CGP Grey's theme system. Video explains why.

A couple of years ago, I did a Year of Less, and that was very positive for my spending habits and gear acquisition syndrome.

I also really like the minimalist philosophy (which is not the same as the aesthetic). When you are about to buy something, ask yourself: will this purchase help me become more like the person I want to be? If the answer is no, then you don't need it.

Other :: Re: A few things that have helped me consume less over time. :: Reply by Ray Karr

2025-05-12T02:08:35+00:00

Hard agree with a lot of your practices. A lot of times when I wanna buy a new version of something I have, simply asking myself "do I need this, do I want this, or do I just want something new?"

Sadly, a lot of the things we do buy are not built to last, so I would also recommend two additional points:

7. Buy higher quality if you can. - Investigate, ask around, read up and see what the best and most durable version of what you want is. It'll almost always be more expensive (unless you're talking thrifted stuff), but it'll be several years before you need to buy a replacement.

8. Learn to fix and mend. - I apply this mostly to clothes, because that's what I know. Simple stuff: I've sewed pants back together, I've applied patches to a decades old pillow to make it last a bit longer, I even learned new techniques for problems I didn't know could be solved. It will make your stuff last more, and fixing your own things is immensely satisfying.

Other :: Re: Coffee Megathread :: Reply by Deleted User 616

2025-05-18T02:09:31+00:00

The type of coffee I drink kinda reveals my country so to be short. The coffee I drink is a mix of dripover combined with milk and sugar. I usually like it really frothy and when the sugar is optimal

Other :: Re: Coffee Megathread :: Reply by loebas

2025-05-26T13:46:15+00:00

I drink filtercoffee i put into reusable nespressocups. Nothing really fancy.
And i drink regular filtercoffee at work.

In the future i might consider buying a machine that brews coffee straight from beans

Other :: Re: Coffee Megathread :: Reply by Ray Karr

2025-05-27T12:54:05+00:00

I've been a lifelong coffee hater. I never really liked the flavour or smell of it. Buuuuut, that started to change when I moved out with my partner, who's a coffee freak (in a good way!)
I still don't like the flavour of most coffees, but I think of them every time I smell it. I can actually tell the difference between different kinds of coffees now, and there's even some I like!

I like espresso tonic, and very sweet mocaccino, particularly with almond milk, double particularly when they make it for me lol

Other :: Re: Battle/Patch Jackets :: Reply by Ray Karr

2025-05-27T17:10:28+00:00

New patches! Surprise, it's all ska!

I've wanted patches of these bands for a while now, but since the bands themselves don't seem to make or sell them, I had them made for me. Picked them up on Saturday at a furry hangout, and sewed them on yesterday!

20250527_103442.jpg

The first new one is Los Intocables, one of the many many mid and late '80s Argentine ska bands. Bands like this one were all over the place at the time, but this one has a chaotic energy to their first (and best) two albums I absolutely adore. I had to move the Sumo patch to the other side of the zipper, cus I think the colours look better like this.

The next patch below it is Ska-P, a legendary ska-punk (no way!) band from Spain. I struggled to pick a song to represent them because they're extremely varied and it's all bangers all the way down; their worst songs are still pretty alright. In my humble opinion, everything they made in the early and mid '00s is pure gold. They're very energetic, and very political.

Finally, the patch to its left is WDK, another ska-punk band, this time back in Argentina. I saw these guys live in January! Their best stuff is in their 2002 album Argh!, and their 2008 album Pirata?

Sewing the patches on the pockets was pretty tough, it took me pretty much all day lol

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Other :: Ihop or Dennyś :: Author Chrishusk

2025-05-31T17:16:13+00:00

Very important question that must be answered

Other :: Re: Ihop or Dennyś :: Reply by Mark

2025-05-31T17:31:01+00:00

Perkins

Other :: Re: Ihop or Dennyś :: Reply by zonk

2025-06-01T02:43:22+00:00

waffle house

Other :: Re: Ihop or Dennyś :: Reply by December_W_Wolf

2025-06-01T10:11:15+00:00

Greggs

Other :: Re: Ihop or Dennyś :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-06-01T20:01:13+00:00

Dont have either, I would say Vinzenzmurr.

Other :: 🦀Convenience Thread🦀 :: Author Mark

2025-05-31T16:07:24+00:00

Welcome all! No action is required on your part to enjoy convenience.

CURRENT TOPIC: What are some conveniences you refuse to break away from as there is no convenient alternative?

Other :: Re: 🦀Convenience Thread🦀 :: Reply by Mark

2025-05-31T16:35:43+00:00

Mark wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 4:07 pm CURRENT TOPIC: What are some conveniences you refuse to break away from as there is no convenient alternative?

I'll start. For me, a big one is Spotify. I know @rejectconvenience is a big physical media and MP3 enjoyer, but I am big on the convenience of Spotify.

Other :: Re: 🦀Convenience Thread🦀 :: Reply by Rain

2025-05-31T18:31:25+00:00

Discord, specifically for low-latency live streaming. I still haven't found any good alternatives that let me stream my desktop audio and video in real time on Linux.

Other :: Re: 🦀Convenience Thread🦀 :: Reply by Mark

2025-05-31T18:47:55+00:00

Rain wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 6:31 pm Discord, specifically for low-latency live streaming. I still haven't found any good alternatives that let me stream my desktop audio and video in real time on Linux.

What's your usecase? Just being able to stream things to friends? Tabletop gaming?

Other :: Re: 🦀Convenience Thread🦀 :: Reply by Rain

2025-06-01T00:10:08+00:00

Mark wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 6:47 pm
Rain wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 6:31 pm Discord, specifically for low-latency live streaming. I still haven't found any good alternatives that let me stream my desktop audio and video in real time on Linux.
What's your usecase? Just being able to stream things to friends? Tabletop gaming?

Mostly streaming video games with friends. We usually talk over Signal but the screen share was choppy and the audio didn't seem to come through, same thing with other video conferencing software we tried (Jitsi, Matrix). We also considered PeerTube for general live streaming but the latency isn't ideal for games where you need to react quickly.

Other :: Re: 🦀Convenience Thread🦀 :: Reply by Mark

2025-06-01T17:56:17+00:00

Rain wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 12:10 am
Mark wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 6:47 pm
Rain wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 6:31 pm Discord, specifically for low-latency live streaming. I still haven't found any good alternatives that let me stream my desktop audio and video in real time on Linux.
What's your usecase? Just being able to stream things to friends? Tabletop gaming?
Mostly streaming video games with friends. We usually talk over Signal but the screen share was choppy and the audio didn't seem to come through, same thing with other video conferencing software we tried (Jitsi, Matrix). We also considered PeerTube for general live streaming but the latency isn't ideal for games where you need to react quickly.

Yeah one of the problems with streaming is that there's a lot of secret sauces that go into it, from encoding/decoding, choosing the right bitrates, and often in the case of Discord and other big names like Twitch in particular, you'll have transcoding which takes the stream and re-encodes it into more efficient and low-latency stream options (that's why you can choose what quality to watch when you watch a stream). When you go direct from A to C without taking a stop in the middle, the software basically has to trust that you are able to send that signal fast enough and without performance issues, and that the person receiving it can also handle receiving what you're sending. Then, if you're sending that to more than one person, you're having to take quite a performance hit to transmit that data that many times over, which is also what having infrastructure in the middle handles. It's also why streaming is actually stupid expensive (Twitch which is owned by Amazon, uses Amazon infrastructure like IVS to do it. You can actually see what it would cost if you did that yourself https://ivs.rocks/calculator ). All of that said, you have to find the right alternative that fits your needs, and that is pretty hard to do, particularly for free. Discord is an odd one out because it lets you do it for free. There might be some lower-cost options that might work but most lower-cost options aren't made for low-latency/high bit-rate that gaming typically needs to look "good" (Zoom for example probably won't do great).

You might give Teamspeak's streaming a shot, though it requires to use their servers I think, I haven't tried it at all, but it could be low-cost enough. I also don't know if Steam's own streaming works for that. But hopefully that gives some context on how annoying it is to find an alternative for streaming.

Other :: Re: 🦀Convenience Thread🦀 :: Reply by Rain

2025-06-02T00:18:28+00:00

Mark wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 5:56 pm
Rain wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 12:10 am
Mark wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 6:47 pm

What's your usecase? Just being able to stream things to friends? Tabletop gaming?
Mostly streaming video games with friends. We usually talk over Signal but the screen share was choppy and the audio didn't seem to come through, same thing with other video conferencing software we tried (Jitsi, Matrix). We also considered PeerTube for general live streaming but the latency isn't ideal for games where you need to react quickly.
Yeah one of the problems with streaming is that there's a lot of secret sauces that go into it, from encoding/decoding, choosing the right bitrates, and often in the case of Discord and other big names like Twitch in particular, you'll have transcoding which takes the stream and re-encodes it into more efficient and low-latency stream options (that's why you can choose what quality to watch when you watch a stream). When you go direct from A to C without taking a stop in the middle, the software basically has to trust that you are able to send that signal fast enough and without performance issues, and that the person receiving it can also handle receiving what you're sending. Then, if you're sending that to more than one person, you're having to take quite a performance hit to transmit that data that many times over, which is also what having infrastructure in the middle handles. It's also why streaming is actually stupid expensive (Twitch which is owned by Amazon, uses Amazon infrastructure like IVS to do it. You can actually see what it would cost if you did that yourself https://ivs.rocks/calculator ). All of that said, you have to find the right alternative that fits your needs, and that is pretty hard to do, particularly for free. Discord is an odd one out because it lets you do it for free. There might be some lower-cost options that might work but most lower-cost options aren't made for low-latency/high bit-rate that gaming typically needs to look "good" (Zoom for example probably won't do great).

You might give Teamspeak's streaming a shot, though it requires to use their servers I think, I haven't tried it at all, but it could be low-cost enough. I also don't know if Steam's own streaming works for that. But hopefully that gives some context on how annoying it is to find an alternative for streaming.

Wow, I didn't know that at all. Thanks for the info! We've considered TeamSpeak but haven't gotten around to it yet, I'll make sure to check it out.

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