Reject Convenience Forum

Latest Videos :: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Author rejectconvenience

2025-05-01T11:52:07+00:00

Video link: https://youtu.be/iX3JT6q3AxA

Blog post (for more context): https://www.rejectconvenience.blog/blog ... ces-video/

Within the blog post, I've linked all of my research notes, as well as the script for the video, which can be accessed by anyone for free. I'm doing this to allow people who want to learn more about this topic to have a solid launching off point to dive even deeper. Didn't like the stuff about car companies? Well, it turns out that I researched several car companies that didn't even make it into the video, and with Nissian, I even tracked every change to their privacy policy to answer the question: when did it get creepy? (spoiler, it was a long time ago). The notes are a bit chaotic, as is my brain, so heads up if you plan on reading through it. I tried to organize it as much as I could while doing it, but you know how that can go sometimes.

Anyways, I learned a ton making this video, I've already updated so much of my process to account for future deep dive videos. I'm aiming to do a privacy policy live stream sometime this month, so keep your eyes peeled! Hope you have a good one!!

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by Tam

2025-05-01T15:42:00+00:00

missing hand at 15:36 https://youtu.be/iX3JT6q3AxA?t=936

Reject Convenience - What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you [iX3JT6q3AxA - 1099x824 - 15m36s].png

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Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-02T03:51:39+00:00

You should look into wifi beacons and bluetooth beacons.

When you travel around a store with your bluetooth and wifi on the could triangulate your device. Say that you wander over to the electronics aisle stay for 5 minutes then speed through groceries yet linger at the drinks section. They gives them great data on what people are interested in, if they stop at the promotions, that people who are interested in 'A' are likely interested in 'B'. Not too creepy yet. Just market analysis right? After all what they have is just a device ID.

Well you are done shopping so you go check out and enter your phone number for rewards. Well now they know who you are, what your phone number is, what you bought, and where your interests. They can also make some conjectures such as that you do not have interest in food but are interested in tech. But you are poor as you did not pick up anything so you need is a coupon. They needn't bother with food as you speed through the food aisle yet you have quite the number of items.

The fact that android and ios now rotate their device ids do not matter much as each time you check out your rewards give you away.

As for removing your information. That is up to the individual. VPN also up to the individual. Good OPSEC and Data Hygiene is always valuable. Just because one can't get all of them does not mean it does not have value. Do I think they are over priced? Yes.....

I love your videos as they are simple yet well researched. I can point new people to your videos without them feeling helplessly out of their depth and directionless. I do agree that pushing for privacy forward legislation is great but I will stay away from saying anything more on that subject as I can have strong views and privacy on the whole is highly political. Not left or right but people v corp. v gov.

Latest Videos :: Cookies are dead - long live fingerprinting :: Reply by Borgi

2025-05-02T12:04:34+00:00

Edit:

Just saw, that the issue I pointed out has already been covered in the cookies video. Sorry, that I didn't realise it earlier. Thank you very much for covering it!

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by Pearlple

2025-05-02T12:23:35+00:00

Thoughtless wrote: Fri May 02, 2025 3:51 am When you travel around a store with your bluetooth and wifi on the could triangulate your device.

Very important and valid point and it goes far beyond the use case you are describing here. I guess like many of the matters this community considers important to care about, the general public just doesn't care or doesn't want to spend the time needed to understand enough that they would care. For us there are various options to deal with this; obviously the 'simplest' way is just using a dumb phone and this issues is no more. Beyond that, there is the option of turning those functions off. It can be quite the hassle, but for example on GrapheneOS I can just set a limit so that if I am not connected to my Wifi or Bluetooth devices for a few seconds, it will turn those functions off automatically.

Though I believe this might be going off-topic for the context this video a bit and probably needs it's own in depth discussion or even a seprate video.

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by December_W_Wolf

2025-05-02T15:45:57+00:00

I left a comment on the video itself regarding my first reactions and everything, but one thing near the end of the video personally stuck out to me, and I felt it would be more appropriate to mention it here because we have additional context. As part of the member perks, a Discord server was listed, but it seems you (Anthony) were previously against a Discord server (with this being one of the motivators to create this forum website to begin with), citing reasons such as not loving Discord's privacy policy, ending up making people register to Discord and not reading it, and the closed-off nature of Discord servers and their contents.

I am now very curious about the change of heart. Is it perhaps the notion that many of your viewers have a Discord account already? A second reading of the privacy policy that changed your mind? Is it so that people can keep using the services they're already signed up to without having to register for a new one (the forum)?

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-02T20:20:26+00:00

Pearlple wrote: Fri May 02, 2025 12:23 pm
Thoughtless wrote: Fri May 02, 2025 3:51 am When you travel around a store with your bluetooth and wifi on the could triangulate your device.
Very important and valid point and it goes far beyond the use case you are describing here. I guess like many of the matters this community considers important to care about, the general public just doesn't care or doesn't want to spend the time needed to understand enough that they would care. For us there are various options to deal with this; obviously the 'simplest' way is just using a dumb phone and this issues is no more. Beyond that, there is the option of turning those functions off. It can be quite the hassle, but for example on GrapheneOS I can just set a limit so that if I am not connected to my Wifi or Bluetooth devices for a few seconds, it will turn those functions off automatically.

Though I believe this might be going off-topic for the context this video a bit and probably needs it's own in depth discussion or even a seprate video.

I may have misjudged the interest and scope of the community due to his catalog of videos. Either way his videos are informative and well researched without straying too far into the "paranoia". I do think its good to explore the deep end and learn to scale back till one find one's comfort zone but too fast and people believe its hopeless. I brought up that one scenario because it illustrate how devious companies can be yet how easy the solution is once aware.

EDIT: I just remember a time before the CCPA when doing the manual opt outs took 2 months worth of weekends filling out forms, jumping through hoops and following up only to see it back up in the second half of the year. Of course it was only a few hours each weekend but the stress and frustration has left its mark on me. Now I just let EasyOptOuts do the work and do some touch up here and there. I don't remove everything everywhere anymore. A crumb of stale data here bad data there. After all a void is quite noticeable and a mystery piques interests.

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by rejectconvenience

2025-05-03T00:02:06+00:00

December_W_Wolf wrote: Fri May 02, 2025 3:45 pm I left a comment on the video itself regarding my first reactions and everything, but one thing near the end of the video personally stuck out to me, and I felt it would be more appropriate to mention it here because we have additional context. As part of the member perks, a Discord server was listed, but it seems you (Anthony) were previously against a Discord server (with this being one of the motivators to create this forum website to begin with), citing reasons such as not loving Discord's privacy policy, ending up making people register to Discord and not reading it, and the closed-off nature of Discord servers and their contents.

I am now very curious about the change of heart. Is it perhaps the notion that many of your viewers have a Discord account already? A second reading of the privacy policy that changed your mind? Is it so that people can keep using the services they're already signed up to without having to register for a new one (the forum)?

There's a paywall, so there's already intention to be on such a platform. Also, not all Patreon members sync to their Discord, so it's still optional, which is what I care about. This community I wanted to be open to anyone without worrying about Discord's privacy policies at all. That's it!

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by shakefistiness

2025-05-03T08:01:26+00:00

Hey, enjoyed this video a lot and don't really have a lot to add to the discussion except could I ask what the music is playing in the background of part X please? Doesn't seem to be either of the ones YouTube lists.

Thanks!

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by notDonaldJTrump

2025-05-03T11:17:07+00:00

Thoughtless wrote: Fri May 02, 2025 3:51 am You should look into wifi beacons and bluetooth beacons.

When you travel around a store with your bluetooth and wifi on the could triangulate your device. Say that you wander over to the electronics aisle stay for 5 minutes then speed through groceries yet linger at the drinks section. They gives them great data on what people are interested in, if they stop at the promotions, that people who are interested in 'A' are likely interested in 'B'. Not too creepy yet. Just market analysis right? After all what they have is just a device ID.
...
The fact that android and ios now rotate their device ids do not matter much as each time you check out your rewards give you away.

WiFi beacons, that legit actually sounds scary, I thought it was used if you were underground, and the GPS signal was too weak to be useful.

About Nissan, I watched a Louis Rossmann video once about how Nissan tracks your sexual activity... wow, that sounds crazy.

I'll try to bring something new into this discussion. After watching the video, I don't really think there is a way to get around avoiding these privacy measures. It's kind of like walking anywhere, busy or quiet. Say, if you walked in a city, you'd be surveilled by many CCTVs or something, but even if those failed, someone... someone would remember seeing you. Your phone would have told other phones where you were. It is possible to locate your device even without an active internet connection, so there's something to think about. If you were a criminal, and you were located in a desert, your footprints can be easily traced back.
If you burned paper, you release a ton of heat, smoke and end up with ash. Believe it or not, that's way too easy to catch using a thermal camera using a birds-eye view.
If you delete something on a computer, it isn't "really" deleted, even if the sector was overwritten. It may be expensive, but if the authorities want evidence of you doing something, they could xray that device somehow, and the remnants of your old data would still be visible. You could snap the ssd, but it can be easily pieced together like lego. If you grinded that ssd dead, the fine powder left behind proves you have something to hide.

As already discussed in the video, the best thing to do, really, is to avoid the data from getting back to you. I visualise this idea of data collection in 3 stages; collect, process, present.

Collection is obvious, collecting your activity and presence online. You can't really hide from it, it's kind of like touching sand, it never quite goes back to what it was previously. Though I have found a video on how to hide your presence from your ISP, which is right here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpeLclWHPPs
There is also another way of getting around this, particularly with link sharing.
When sharing links or searching something, there will be something random at the end of each link. Look at the one below
(don't click this pls)
https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?si= random stuff>
is actually an identifier that is linked with the current device you are using. I usually get into the habit of stripping this section from the end of the link, but come to think of it, it definitely tells them how YOU are related to the person who CLICKed on the link. The same happens with google search, your browser automatically submits a ton of information about the computer you are using to search, so it can better analyse your wealth, interests, everything, to better cater its information (or ads) to you.
I'll inject a disclaimer here, this method isn't bulletproof, as some information can be tokenised. With a token or cookie, it's possible to profile or trace you, even if it is less effective.

Processing is the most difficult part, but this part probably had a decade or 2 of experience in consolidating all the data to a profile, which can be linked to you. It's the process of collecting an activity, and finding who to profile it to. The speed you type in a javascript-activated field. Your scrolling heatmap. And onto the more obvious ones, the stuff you look up and what time you do it at. These can be traced back to a single "human" even across multiple devices. It doesn't matter if you do it on another person's device, it's only a small drop in the statistical bucket. This information identifies you, your interests and your wealth* to select the best content that can be successfully catered to you, for their positive outcome, such as increased watch time and a referral commission from an ad.

Present
Now comes my favourite. uBlock Origin. It's the most effective adblocker I used, and it's even better that it's free and doesn't come with a paywall. I have to be honest, I used to use the normal, traditional AdBlock because it worked well enough. But since they started begging for donations, I dumped it immediately for this thorough, effective adblocker that works on YouTube. It also works on Android as well, as Firefox natively supports extensions, something that Chrome and Safari still can't do to this day. Firefox does have promotions, but you can switch them off permanently. Even better, you can get the apks off github, making it possible to install a properly working browser on Android Wear, if you desire. (works smoothly )

Segues aside, this is the most effective thing you can do. It tells the evil spirits that whatever they do cannot get to you. You won't see the ads, you won't waste your time, and they can't get paid. In fact, ditch chrome on android if you can, because of those pesky news suggestions, and turn off the "Swipe left for discover" type stuff, it really isn't good for you. If you're on Apple, just don't use Apple News.

And I'd love to praise Reject Convenience for opting in with phpBB, because it is locally run and isn't subject to the Ad and data collection crap Reddit is obsessed with.
And it can run on my ancient iPad, which is always a plus.

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-03T22:02:04+00:00

Lets not be alarmist and fatalistic.

CCTV is a concern depending on location and local laws. Yes its a headache and not easily addressed but luckily most people with cctv and Ring cameras do not upkeep their device as they should. Others have refused to use them as they become more aware of the problem it presents. Law enforcement would first need to be aware that these resources are available. The amount of storage needed for 28 days of "workable" video for 10 camera on my NVR is about 3.2 TB. At a decent resolution about 5.5 TB. Yes companies can pay to secure their own locations but for a city to pay for workable footage @ a city wide scale for any length of time should leave a noticeable dent in city budget for whoever cares to look through hardware upkeep, bandwith, and power consumption (for both the spinning drives and camera). IMO the biggest threat with city cameras are License Plate Readers. Instead of saving the video all they need to save is your license plate in an image or a spreadsheet. Terabytes of data reduced down to just Megabytes. Once its ingested into the city database that data can be used to track any vehicle's movements throughout the city. This data is at risk of abuse, breach, or FOIA. (though due to the inclusion of PII may be redacted) ***Talk to your reps.***

Yes there are some phones out there that keep a low power beacon chip running for features like Apple's "find my" feature. There are easy ways to defeat this in the way of a Faraday bag that keeps signals from reaching said device. At the peak of my paranoia phase I had 2 phones and my center console was modded to be a faraday cage. I then chose specific land marks for when 1 phone goes in and another for when the other comes out. (Inspired by Michael Bazzel)

Yes a thermal camera can spot fires/heat but a camera would have to be set up to look. A small drone does not have the staying power to sit there and wait for an event. A long range drone is hella expensive and need flight plan filed. IR cameras have a hard time penetrating objects. Satellites with the prerequisite tech to pull off such an operation are better utilized for more important tasks and have severe limitations. Of course I am assuming that the 'we' in question are average citizens and not leaders of any organizations. I can only imagine the amount of red tape it takes to task a satellite. They are after all strategic assets that nations either want to keep secrete or know about and track.

Its easy to read an "erased" hard drive as the information itself was not erased or changed but the pointers that tell the computer where and what that data is the only thing that got "deleted". A HDD with its information "over written" can still have its data recovered this is true to an extent. If an HDD of 1TB that was "properly" over written with 1 pass the cost to recover that data is in the deep hundreds with a minimum of 8 hours. (given the average 7200 RPM drive with the best commercial software available). A a single read, without processing, would take over 1.5 hour. Processing that data into something useful would take days. Processing an encrypted hard drive without the key.... Good luck!! Or if you degauss a drive then that is 100% unrecoverable. Encrypt your drives.

There are solutions to keeping identifiers of your device from revealing too much about you. I do so through the liberal use of VMs,VPNs, and sandboxes. Download brave and go to https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ . They attempt to keep you from being identified by spoofing little things here and there. The browser in TailsOS, like a VPN, tries to hide by throwing you into a crowd all wearing the same hoodie + mask. **If using Tails do not change the size of your browser, it is a data point for fingerprinting**

There are solutions. It is hard and tiring, but its not hopeless. Defense in depth is key, but don't go overboard. Take a step back and do a sanity check. If you defense puts too much friction in your way.... you will likely give up or become the vulnerability. Is the juice worth the squeeze.

Latest Videos :: Re: What DeleteMe and Incogni aren't telling you :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-04T03:20:07+00:00

In response to the video. Yes with caveats.
1. ISP cannot see your browser's DNS queries if you are using DoH or DoT. aka. secure DNS (your dns queries are encrypted)
-with the exception of course if you use the ISP's own DNS. (a reason they like to push their own router, failing that they would like to help set up your router)(use your own router &/ firewall)
2. The Pad lock does indicated that your traffic is encrypted but not with who. Someone at an internet cafe can deauth your wifi connection. Replace that connection with themself acting as the router and intercept your requests from there. They poison your DNS request to a site they control so your browser requests the public key that they have the private key to decrypt and performs the proper handshake for an encrypted connection. At the same time they initiate a HTTPS connection with your intended server. You are now encrypted to him, and he is encrypted with the server. The MITM can see everything you do as if it was in the clear while your browser certifies that it has established an encrypted connection.
(use a VPN)
3. Changeing your browser's DNS does not change your system's DNS. Torrenting with a client uses the systems DNS and not the browsers DNS.
--If your computer is not using encrypted DNS then your ISP can see not just your torrent clients request in the clear but every request. (i suggest YogaDNS though a VPN would curate their own DNS)(use a VPN)
--Programs that do not encrypt their traffic once the connection is made can also have their traffic observed by the ISP. (use a VPN)

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: Hello There! :: Reply by QueriesNTheories

2025-04-25T12:12:56+00:00

Hey welcome!! Sounds like there a lot of cool things you do, what projects have you been working on?

Introductions :: Re: Hello There! :: Reply by Monoki

2025-04-25T16:23:34+00:00

Crazyroostereye wrote: Tue Apr 22, 2025 8:58 pm Welcome to the Forum!

Keep us posted on the fun things you do. Would absolutely love to see any animation and game dev you do. And I wish you good luck with learning web dev, if you have any question feel free to ask

I’ll be sure to ask if I have any questions.

QueriesNTheories wrote: Fri Apr 25, 2025 12:12 pm Hey welcome!! Sounds like there a lot of cool things you do, what projects have you been working on?

Gosh where to begin with that one.

Well one of my older projects can be found here.
It’s mostly a story that my wife and I started when we were dating. We wanted to make an animated series when we started with it. Then thought of doing a comic instead. Right now it’s just a perpetual work in progress media Frankenstein.

My main website centers around a character I mostly made as a mascot for my music. But I’ve been wanting to make a story for the little dude. So far I’ve made a couple false starts with that one.

I have a horror story project I’ve been kinda working on. I have a few vids on my YouTube and a page on my website that needs updating.

There’s this newer project I started playing with here.

Then there’s my YouTube lol. It’s mostly just music and animations.

Introductions :: Re: Hello There! :: Reply by MikeGs

2025-04-26T02:16:43+00:00

Welcome! ^^

Introductions :: Re: Hello There! :: Reply by rejectconvenience

2025-04-27T11:26:43+00:00

I love the website and channel! That pirate one was very good, reminded me of classic YouTube haha. Welcome to the forum

Introductions :: Re: Hello There! :: Reply by Monoki

2025-04-27T16:19:17+00:00

rejectconvenience wrote: Sun Apr 27, 2025 11:26 am I love the website and channel! That pirate one was very good, reminded me of classic YouTube haha. Welcome to the forum

lol thanks man. That one was a nod to this video.

Introductions :: Howdy! :: Author Avarice

2025-05-03T06:55:03+00:00

My name is Avarice and it's a pleasure to be here. I have to say it's been a few years since I joined a web forum, but it's a good nostalgic feeling to do so again.

There's not much for me to say about myself. I'm not particularly tech savvy, but I enjoy finding reliable and informative sources on the topic so that I better protect myself and my data, hence how I found Reject Convenience on YouTube. My personal interests lay in amateur social science studies, enjoying metalcore and related genres, and nature in general.

I can't wait to see what conversations are happening here!

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 :: 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: Introduce yourself! :: Reply by Nova

2025-04-26T22:12:34+00:00

Uh hi I'm Nova, I'm a 33yo cat from space who has started their own website because I got tired of social media (granted I still have social media platforms but mostly active on Bluesky). I am an artist who likes to draw things and am an advocate for Glaze/AI-poisoning filters (yes even ibisPaint's too), and doing what I can to keep my privacy, well, private!

Introductions :: Re: Introduce yourself! :: Reply by Ray Karr

2025-04-30T11:56:47+00:00

Nova wrote: Sat Apr 26, 2025 10:12 pm Uh hi I'm Nova, I'm a 33yo cat from space who has started their own website because I got tired of social media (granted I still have social media platforms but mostly active on Bluesky). I am an artist who likes to draw things and am an advocate for Glaze/AI-poisoning filters (yes even ibisPaint's too), and doing what I can to keep my privacy, well, private!

hello!! omg lovely website

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!

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)

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 :: I've created a blog :: Author rejectconvenience

2025-04-27T21:59:40+00:00

https://www.rejectconvenience.blog/

Main reason is I wanted to start posting my research notes, as I think some people could find value in exploring the resources and the train of thought that goes into videos. It's a little tricky to do it with previous videos, so I plan on doing this moving forward. I'll also continue to tweak things and make it my own, but for now, it's a decent start. I was excited to see that you could do this (mostly) from Obsidian! Yay!

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

2025-04-27T23:07:37+00:00

Obsidian is great. Use it a lot myself.
I’ll check out the blog when I get the chance.

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

2025-04-28T06:16:05+00:00

I'll be looking forward to our future blog posts. And congrats in advance on the 50k!

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

Phones :: Re: Endless scroll creep of smartphone apps really killed the smartphone for me. :: Reply by drmollytov

2025-04-26T23:23:28+00:00

Honestly, the only thing that saved the smartphone for me was leaving social media entirely, downloading NewPipe, and using an RSS feed reader for any news and blogs I still wanted to access.

Now mine gets used a not-intrusive amount of time per day (about an hour and a half according to my time tracking app), and most of that is me using it in ways that help me, like reading books or having conversations with friends via Signal.

I figure if I would happily spend 90 minutes a day reading a book and/or writing letters to friends, I'm okay with doing those things digitally.

Phones :: Re: Endless scroll creep of smartphone apps really killed the smartphone for me. :: Reply by rejectconvenience

2025-04-27T01:11:41+00:00

+1 for RSS feeds. I didn't have one for a little while (I've been busy making the new video), and I just got NewsFlash up and running on my laptop and I've been trying to catch up on the forum.

I very much vibe with what y'all are saying in here. I think for me, it was notifications. That was never a thing when I was growing up, and now, it's constant. If it has a notification, I have manually turned it off, and if it dares make a peep I don't expect, that thing goes away.

My wife and I were recently reflecting on a time when there was 1 computer in the house, and everyone in the family had an account on it, and was allowed to use it for 30 minutes a day after school. I remember having a kitchen timer set when I sat down, and I'd check the forums I liked, I'd hop around on MySpace, and I'd chat with some of my school chums on AIM or Yahoo messenger. Then, that pesky ring would occur, and I'd plea for just 5 more minutes, but alas, it was time to do something else.

That restriction was really helpful, and I've caught myself recently falling into some bad habits with tech. I'm so glad I got rid of my smart phone, I can't imagine how much harder it would be to do a reset of my tech usage with all of the worlds information in my pocket. I suspect it's always going to cycle around from time to time - I mean, I make YouTube videos, it's inevitable. But, I'm not gonna beat myself up about it - I'm just gonna make the changes I know I need to make when I realize "oop! I'm a little deep right now, time to back off."

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

2025-04-30T18:08:14+00:00

I am currently using the Pixel 6XL with Graphine OS. I am currently looking at the Pixel 9a as a possible replacement. I like Graphine OS for so many reasons some of which are its ability to silo profiles.

I have a profile for :
>Work
>Daily
>Banking
>Secure
>Apps that require a sandboxed instance of Google Play
>Entertainment
***Each have their own instance of signal registered with a different voip number

Apps I use and rely on :
WireShark : Main profile VPN (Shunts all data through my server which then shunts my data through a Proton VPN)
Tutanota : Encrypted Email ( 2 separate instances)
Proton Mail : Encrypted Email (2 separate instances)
K9 Mail : Email
Bitwarden : Password manager (6 instances paired off with each half containing half the password)
Signal : Encrypted Messenger
Session : Encrypted Messenger w/ more Anonimity
Simplelogin : e-mail aliasing (3 separate instances)
MySudo : 3 different numbers for Phone calls (with a data only esim. phone does not have a number)
Jellyfin : Self hosted Netflix
Audiobookshelf : self hosted audible + podcast player
Immich : Self hosted Photo Gallery
Obsidian : Self hosted notes
Privacy.com : Generates Single use Cards, or vendor locked cards with the ability to set limits per transaction or per month or per year.
Organic Map : GPS for Traveling (Graphine OS has a option to proxy cell towers + satalites through one of their servers natively)
Discord : (through Brave Web-App)
Youtube : (through Brave Web-App)
Brave : Browser (different instances have different DNS)
FIrefox : Browser (different instances have different DNS)
Vanadium : Browser (Mostly for server stuff)
Amazon : (guilty pleasure) (through Web-APP)

Native Features I use.
>Microphone off
>Location Off
>Global DNS (set to a private DNS)
>Auto Restart (8 hour idle)
>Wifi + Bluetooth auto off after 30 min unconnected.

TLDR: A dumb phone could not scratch my paranoia itch. Most things on my phone is utilitarian and streamlined as much as possible..... but the friction limits my screen time.

Phones :: Simply Switching SIM? :: Author PoisonIvy

2025-05-01T21:13:48+00:00

I currently have some rando Android smartphone on a Verizon plan. If I want to try out the dumbphone life, the normal way would be to purchase a phone and set it up with a new line, either on my existing plan or on a new plan.

But can't I just buy the phone and plug in my current SIM card? I know that, long term, I'd be overpaying, since dumbphone lines are cheaper than smartphone ones. But it'd sure limit the hassle and make the switch easier.

Anyone know if swapping SIMs like this is possible, and/or if it poses any risk of mishap for either phones?

Thanks in advance!

Phones :: Re: Simply Switching SIM? :: Reply by zonk

2025-05-01T23:38:46+00:00

Yes, that is how it works, so long as the dumb phone you bought is not for some reason locked to a different carrier. I have been SIM swapping for at least the last 10 years and never had an issue except when my new phone used a different size card so we had to modify mine to fit (yes it is cursed). Anyway go wild!

Phones :: In Search of a Dumbphone :: Author Crazyroostereye

2025-05-03T07:32:13+00:00

I am going on holiday for a few weeks soon, and as I dont have any Cellular anyway on my Phone, I had the Idea of using a Dumbphone for the duration as trial run, to see if I can do that. Sadly I don't have any old phone lying around any more. And am searching to buy some. Sadly most ones I can find are these typical senior phone that are a bit Pricy and big for my taste.
Do you guys have any suggestions of Dumbphone that is the best case less than 50€ and not to big?

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

2025-05-03T10:20:02+00:00

Last time I looked, I was considering the Nokia 225 4G. If you can find one, they're reasonably cheap. Good luck in your search!

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 :: FOMO when switching to a dumb phone :: Author oliver

2025-05-03T11:59:04+00:00

Hey guys!

I'm a European high school student and I really like the idea of switching to a dumb phone. I'm practically addicted to my iPhone at this point and sometimes my screen time is more than 6 hours which is very obviously unhealthy, so I could really benefit from a stimulus-free phone.

The problem is that I use Instagram to communicate with my friends, I also use public transport apps on my phone for my daily commute, I take lots of pictures of things I come across daily and I use contactless Apple Pay a lot for its convenience. If I were to switch to a dumb phone all my connections would practically be cut off with my friends, I wouldn't be informed of recent news and my daily routine would be much more difficult as well.

Also, if I were to switch to a dumb phone I would just use my computer to view short-form content and my screen time would increase there instead, so I would just be addicted to a different device.

If I really think about it, my smartphone isn't the problem, social media is. But I can't delete it because of my friends. I'd get left out of everything.

Are there any alternatives to dumb phones I could try? Anyone have any tips?

Phones :: Re: FOMO when switching to a dumb phone :: Reply by 2muchcode4me

2025-05-03T19:16:03+00:00

I'm also a European struggling with the idea of switching to a dumb phone. The main obstacle for me is WhatsApp, as everyone I know uses it. I do chat with people on Instagram as well, but I can easily do that on my computer.

One piece of advice I can give is to use your bank card for transactions and enable Assistive Access on your iPhone. Keep in mind that you'll need to enable several settings, such as volume buttons, Mute switch, battery %, apps, etc. You'll also need to set a password to exit the mode. I recommend playing around with the settings first, and then ask a friend or family member to set the code for you, so you can't easily exit Assistive Access mode.

https://support.apple.com/guide/assisti ... 0/ios/18.0

Phones :: Re: FOMO when switching to a dumb phone :: Reply by 2muchcode4me

2025-05-03T19:31:37+00:00

Another option is to use Instagram in Safari. You can bookmark the "instagram.com/direct/inbox" URL for quick access to your messages.

There's also an app called Beeper that consolidates all your chats from different apps into one feed. I have some privacy concerns about it, so I stopped using it, but I've used Beeper to access my WhatsApp chats on an iPad and also had Instagram linked, and it worked back then.

Hope this helps!

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

2025-05-04T00:09:54+00:00

So what do you wish to give up?

Social Media = the problem.
Social Media = the connection to your friends.

There are plenty of options but they all require effort.
1. Delete social media and ask your friends to reach you on a specific messenger.
>May miss out on things that they do not know to include you in.
>Will not spend time looking for those nuggets of things you do not wish to miss out on.
>Most do not wish to switch to a specific messengers to humor 1/handful of individual(s). Momentum in this area requires a critical mass.

2. Turn off notifications from social media and live the pull life-style. (can turn off notification on an app by app basis)
>May miss out on things while they are relevant.
>There may be anxiety of missing out on something during eventful periods.

3. Set a quiet time. (with something like nextdns.io)
-Dedicate a time when you cannot access certain apps.
-or inversely dedicate a recreation time for when you can access certain apps.
>May miss out on events during times you set aside for obligations.
>Can set aside a messenger that is out of band for important messages.
>Great for enforcing a schedule. (ie. sleep, work, study)

These methods do not affect your Apple pay or your commuting apps. A change will be difficult for your daily routine regardless. Humans, like water, seek the past of least resistance. Following the crowd is easier then cutting your way through.

Another thing is to grayscale your screen/apps/etc. Apps are colourful because it helps entice the mind and draws the eye.

What are you willing to give up. What are you willing to do.

Bonus : You can set up NextDNS.io on your computer too.
Bonus + : You can use it to block (ads, malicious sites, sites you just don't want your devices to touch)

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.

Cool Websites :: Re: Cool website game I found :: Reply by amily22

2025-04-28T06:06:07+00:00

Whoa, thanks for sharing this, Ray! I just clicked through and the vibe is so cool — super surreal but really immersive.
Definitely bookmarking it to explore more later. Love finding weird little web gems like this!

Cool Websites :: Re: Two Helpful Privacy Websites :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-01T19:26:56+00:00

I am not sure about privacytools.io today but I personally distrust it.

If interested please read here:
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/about/ ... ing-events

Cool Websites :: Some helpful links :: Author Thoughtless

2025-05-02T01:36:21+00:00

Free Scan
>https://www.grc.com/freepopular.htm
>https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2
>https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/
>https://www.iplocation.net/

Resource
>https://inteltechniques.com/tools/Search.html
>https://www.privacyguides.org/en/
>https://fleet.linuxserver.io/

News
>https://research.mozilla.org/
>https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/
>https://www.techdirt.com/
>https://news.ycombinator.com/

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: 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.

Computers :: Re: Installed Linux Mint… now what? (recommendations) :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-04-30T16:23:35+00:00

1. Update your system (sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade)
2. Snapshot

From there you should answer yourself what do you want out of your system. I agree with zonk + Queries. The more things you put on your system the greater your attack surface. I would suggest that you look into both VirtualBox + QEMU. Virtual Machines are a great place for you to familiarize yourself with a new OS. If you break it you can rebuild it. Or create a template that you just clone every time you want a fresh start.

Edit : You can also run VirtualBox on a Windows Machine.

Computers :: Re: Backups :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-04-30T22:12:27+00:00

All my devices (that store data I wish to retain) runs a one way sync w/ versioning to my nas via syncthing. The NAS runs a smb raid 5(4x8TB) and a raid 1(2x24TB). Raid 5 replicates to the Raid 1 once a month. Siblings NAS across the pond is in same config. Buddy Backup 1 to 1 and 5 to 5. The raid 1 also syncs to nextcloud.

Computers :: Re: Backups :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-01T23:17:18+00:00

mimi wrote: Mon Mar 10, 2025 6:35 pm do you guys have any tips for someone who can't afford a complex backup system atm? :p

Before covid my backup system was nothing more then a 2TB external plugged into my router and letting my router handle our "cloud". Most modern routers will allow for this. This method is insecure and is only 1 copy.

To secure it I encrypt on device with Veracrypt before uploading it to that external.

This method you have 2 copies on 2 mediums but on the same network. A proper backup is as stated earlier is 3 copies in 2 mediums with 1 off site.

THE cloud is a good place to put your off site copy and a cheap way to do that, for small but important files/documents, is to email it from one account to another. Ideally from 1 encrypted email to another within the same ecosystem OR again encrypting it yourself before sending it.

What I have now maybe over the top but this is about where I started.

EDIT: RAID is not a backup. It just gives that 1 copy more resilience.

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

2025-05-01T23:43:30+00:00

rejectconvenience wrote: Fri Aug 09, 2024 9:07 pm Okay Garuda has wobbly windows on by default, so I have switched and will be trying it out for a couple weeks. I love wobbly windows.

Without reading further so it may have been addressed but gnome does have wobbly windows, burning windows, and other compiz fusion eye candies. Search in the "Pop shop??" , I think thats what its called, for "Extension Manager"

EDIT:

rejectconvenience wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2024 5:05 am I so badly want to know if a steam deck would work as a portable animation tool for my Blender workflow (but I also know that I should just get a laptop). But it would be really interesting to know. I don't play games often, so it'd be a basic Blender computer lol.

You should check out sunshine/moonlight. It allows for a more powerful machine to act like a server and do the heavy lifting while using another weaker device like a steamdeck as a thinclient. The technology started off as geforce now but the community picked it up when it was abandoned.

Edit 4:
Or you could build a editing server and throw blender in a docker.
(https://fleet.linuxserver.io/image?name ... er/blender)

EDIT 2:

rejectconvenience wrote: Sun Nov 10, 2024 2:11 am Firstly, welcome, @rejectsocietynorms! Also, I know it's a meme, but I had a realization the other day - why does arch have such a devout fanbase? It is more stable? Is it more customizable? Like what's the big catch? I'm really curious as I've never actually thought about it before.

To my knowledge its because its an achievement. Just like the attachment of those who built their computers or built their own server or built a kitchen table. It may not be the best, most shiny, most glamorous OS out there.... but its has a charm all its own.

EDIT 3:

Crazyroostereye wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 8:25 am
rejectconvenience wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 4:29 pm Ubuntu is underrated.
While all the Statements about Ubuntu are True, Ubuntu is still not underrated.
It is quite Literally the King of the Linux Desktop. It is the most Commonly used Linux Distro.

I love Ubuntu. When I build out a home lab/server for friends I would default to Ubuntu. Canonical on the other hand.....

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

2025-05-02T00:53:42+00:00

So me personally I'm a bit all over the place.

daily driver : Qubes
gaming : Windows
retro gaming : Batocera
HTPC on a N100 Nuc : LibreELEC
NAS : HexOS
Media Server : ZimaOS
AI Server/VMs/Kasm : Proxmox

I am currently playing with cosmic

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 Thoughtless

2025-05-02T23:25:31+00:00

I have a Zimacube Pro w/ A2000 - an over tuned Media Server
>Syncthing
>PhotoPrism : A Photo Gallery w/ AI features
>Immich : Another Photo Gallery w/ AI features
>Jellyfin : Think Plex but without pinging a distant server
>Audiobookshelf : Think Audible but with local media
>Swing Music : Think Spotify but with local media
>MeTube : Downloads videos/playlists from Youtube
>Emulatorjs : Play retro games in a browser
>Tandoor : Recipe book.
>Link Stack : Link sharing/management solution
>GemDigest Bot : Summarizes articles
>Homarr : A Dashboard
>Arr Stack : IYKYK
>Tailscale : Connects to a Headscale server hosted on VPS.
>Obsidian : Note taking
>OctoPrint : 3d Printer
>Draw.io

A Proxmox Server with a 4090
>Kasm : This service creates disposable containers. Think an immutable VM with a time limit.
-ie: With a Thunderbird extension on my desktop any link I click on will launch in VM with a custom image of Brave on my proxmox server. So even if I accidentally click on a link I need not go into panic mode.
***images in kasm***
>>Brave (for thunderbird)
>>Brave (for checking sketchy links)
>>Firefox (For reasons)
>>Ubuntu
>>Kali
>>Parrot
>>Fedora
>>CentOS
>>Discord (Personal)
>>Discord (Random Public channels w/pseudonim)
>>Discord (Gaming Channels w/pseudonim)
>>Discord (Tech/Security channels)
>>Discord (Woodworking)
>>Discord (Leather Crafting)
>>Signal #1
>>Signal #2
>>Signal #3
>Syncthing
>Open WebUI - self hosted chat bot
>Stable Diffusion - self hosted image generator
>ComfyUI - self hosted image generator
>Netboot.xyz - for booting off an image without having to plug in a USB with a desired ISO
>LibreOffce - open source office suite
>Gluetun - VPN for specific VMs
>Acunetix - scanner
>Webmap - nmap dashboard
>Web-Check - website analysis
>NPS - another dashboard

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

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 Alexandr08

2025-04-27T21:21:38+00:00

In Mexico, the console will cost $760 and the new mario kart $100, lol (saquenme de latinoamerica)

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

2025-04-29T17:05:05+00:00

IMO I'm gonna wait a few years for myself to be more financially stable before buying the Switch 2 (aka wait for my cost of living increase to go up in my bank account).

However I'm definitely gonna prioritize having a Steam Deck in doing so, seeing how well it works and my friends' experience with it, I say that's a better deal.

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

2025-04-29T20:07:22+00:00

Unless the new smash is coming on the switch 2 I don't think I can justify dropping that much on it especially considering money is a bit tight for me right now. Honestly even if the new smash does come out on this I'll probably still wait a bit before getting it

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.

Attachments

IMG_8882.jpg (4661.63 KiB)

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 PoisonIvy

2025-05-02T14:09:18+00:00

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.

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.

Music Players :: I Love minidisc! :: Author VashtheIntellect

2025-05-02T19:40:28+00:00

For those who don't know, Minidisc is a Magneto-optical disc technology made by Sony in the later era of the format wars, and one of the only non-CD survivors. Minidisc production officially ended in 2013 unfortunately but there's enough in circulation for everyone!

In pop culture, the minidisc is probably most well known from ~~Kanye's~~ Yahndi album cover art. But as far as art goes, I hope the Angel Project becomes more well known.

Minidiscs hold CD quality audio on a smaller, protected disc, and can be played on smaller players. Mine fit in my pocket!74-80mins with default recording settings but can be quadrupled with compressed recording modes, theoretically, one can save 5 hours of music on a single disc, but I like having multiple for the tactility and just because they look neat. It's by far my favorite way to listen to my own music collection!

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

2025-05-02T19:53:44+00:00

Minidisc is a pretty popular physical in the Vaporwave community, to which I have a fairly decent collection of, Here's some pics.

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 Thoughtless

2025-04-30T18:55:30+00:00

\root\Artist\Release\## - Track

I personally run Swing Music on my NAS. This allows me to access all the music on my nas through a browser on any device on my LAN. Then with Twin Gate I can access the music through just about anywhere through browser. Plex + Jellyfin are to Netflix like Swing Music is to Spotify.

It is pretty much OS agnostic. I can access my music through this on my QubesOS, Windows 10, Graphine Phone, AppleTV, PopOS and Occulus Quest all at the the same time.

for more information:
https://github.com/swingmx/swingmusic

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.

Online Privacy :: Re: Circumventing MS account requirement :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-04-30T19:55:14+00:00

I just section off my Windows machine on its own V-Lan. I use it primarily for games that require a TPM like Valorant. That said If one wants to use bitlocker an account is required. One could simply create a single use Microsoft account and delete the account afterwards with the understanding once the account is deleted there is no recovery of the encrypted drive should it fail or password lost. I do suggest a pro account for the reasons listed above (the iam + data collection part) and the fact that you can get access to a Windows VM that is quite fancy.... at least from a security perspective. Its basically a docker VM that gets updated as the primary OS gets updated and is a snapshot of base windows as the machine boots up. I prefer firefox with both uBlockOrigin + Privacy Badger + Temporary Firefox Container. For an additional layer of security I get sandboxie-plus and force Firefox to boot into the sandbox every time it launches and deletes all content of the sandbox when it closes. I also have a script that feeds firefox random fingerprint data by altering the values. While idk how effective it is. It scratches my paranoia itch and when I go to coveryourtracks.eff.org the results compels paranoid inner imp to do a jig.

***This got longer the expected.
EDIT: OH I forgot. O&OShutUp10++
EDIT+: Oh and Windows is no require to be my super secure machine anyway + I prefer using ventoy.... though I plan to paly with netboot.xyz

Online Privacy :: Re: Circumventing MS account requirement :: Reply by Pearlple

2025-05-02T12:15:11+00:00

Well I would say we are now well beyond the original "Tech News" I wanted to share, but this is an interesting topic in general.
I am not sure if I got right what you were trying to say, but I have been using Bitlocker on various machines for a long time and I never even made a MS account. I am using a "Pro" account in the sense that I have a local user account on a "Pro" Version of Windows, but I never had any further requirements for using Bitlocker. Recovery is a different matter, with domain added devices it's easy, I can just get the keys out of AD. For other cases I find a solution depending on requirements know-how of the user (personal, customer, family/friends).

Online Privacy :: Re: Circumventing MS account requirement :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-02T19:58:05+00:00

You are correct in understanding what I said. It was me that got my words twisted up. I was trying to compose this message while fiddling with my 3D printer that was binding up. I will have to amend my recommendation to use windows native VM though. I recently learned that it can be a target for malware to hide an attack on a windows system.

source : https://windowsforum.com/threads/how-mi ... es.362666/

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 :: 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 :: 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 :: 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 :: 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.

Other Tech :: Re: What would be a good alternative to an Email for Account Creation :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-04-30T21:34:16+00:00

What are you trying to solve? Why not email?
> It provides a great identifier.
> It provides a way to communicate
> It can be easily preserved (it can sit in your inbox until you are ready to read it and it can either be sorted manually or by a rule)

Other Tech :: Re: What would be a good alternative to an Email for Account Creation :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-04-30T22:36:26+00:00

Thoughtless wrote: Wed Apr 30, 2025 9:34 pm What are you trying to solve? Why not email?
> It provides a great identifier.
> It provides a way to communicate
> It can be easily preserved (it can sit in your inbox until you are ready to read it and it can either be sorted manually or by a rule)

Its Hypothetical Idea of is there a Better or Equivalent Solution to Email as a base of Identification and Authentication (and Communication). I got the Idea from this Feedback post on the Forum.
I personally think that email is at the moment the best Solution for this exact Requirement. But I find it Interesting thinking of Systems that can act as Alternatives, and what their Advantages and Disadvantages are.

Other Tech :: Re: Dumb-ifying TVs? :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-01T03:37:27+00:00

I do not connect my tv to the internet.

HDMI 1:
n100 nuc loaded up with LibreElec as the OS.
Kodi with Jellyfin plugin

HDMI 2:
Nintendo Switch ( no internet)

HDMI 3:
Blueray Player

HDMI 4:
Sound Bar

Proxmox server
>Jellyfin Docker
>Adguard Home Docker
>FreeTube Docker
>Disney+/Netflix in Debian VM (for when relatives visit)
>Gluten Docker

Other Tech :: Fighting facial recognition :: Author Pearlple

2025-05-02T12:40:32+00:00

Quite a while back I saw some kind of video where someone was using a hat with some sort of IR emitter built into it (might have been fiction) and since then this idea has kept coming up in the back of my head.
With facial recognition and cameras everywhere becoming more normalised and more and more companies and goverment bodies at least interested, if not investing in the 'digital panopticon', I have been thinking about this idea more and more.

So I would like to invite you to discuss how feasible something like this is to build into for example a pair of glasses (basically anti-AR glasses) and how realistic it is this might actually work.
Could a small battery powered IR emitter even be strong enough to create a blinding glare that a camera or at least the facial recognition software behind it could not handle. Are modern cameras even 'dumb' enough to not be able to filter out the IR light.
And the further considerations; just like fingerprinting this method of 'anonymising' yourself comes with the issue that if you are the only one doing it, it won't help much. It might help you avoid being automatically tagged on some social media, but for anyone looking for you it would act more as a beacon. So to make anything like this work properly it would need a sort of movement and lots of people who saw value in it to support the cause.
If I ever built anything like this, I would make how I built it publicly available and depending on how it's done, share 3D printing templates and such. But this approach would once again only help tech-interested people who are already within this sort of bubble.

These are just some of the thoughts around this that have been flying through my head for a while and I just needed to put them somewhere.

Other Tech :: Re: Fighting facial recognition :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-02T23:36:02+00:00

https://www.reflectacles.com

its been a hot minute since I heard anything concerning them.
LMK if you get a pair if the product is legit.

Other Tech :: Messaging apps to SMS and back automatic forwarding? :: Author misha

2025-05-03T11:17:41+00:00

Is there a way to forward messages from messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram etc) to my dumbphone? I’ve really enjoyed using my blackbrry for the past few months, but my job needs me to stay connected on those apps, so I’m stuck near my laptop or PC most of the time. I just wish I could reply to those messages straight from my dumbphone. I know that this is not exactly rejecting convenience, but my job (and most of them in my country) heavily relies on communicating through messaging apps. I’m just looking for a way to use those apps without actually using them. I could really use a tool that acts as a bridge between those apps and my phone.

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 :: Cybercriminals intensify hunt for exposed Git secrets :: Author 0x3b43c0

2025-04-30T13:08:51+00:00

https://www.csoonline.com/article/39749 ... crets.html

Tech News :: Re: Cybercriminals intensify hunt for exposed Git secrets :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-04-30T15:59:24+00:00

Oh yeah noticed that, on of my highest uri 404s to be called on my website is /.git/config .

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 :: 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 :: 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

Music :: Re: This is my main playlist as of today :: Reply by Monoki

2025-04-26T17:19:30+00:00

rejectconvenience wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2024 2:32 pm This is what's on my iPod playlist "iPod Jams" (dumb name, but it works) - this is the music I mostly listen to. I have other playlists and a lot of other music, but this is the go to playlist.

https://rejectconvenience.com/ipod-jams/

I'll aim to keep this updated when I add new stuff to it I'd add links to each artist but there's like almost 2,000 songs in there... so I'm not going to.

Yo that’s a pretty neat idea. I might try doing this.

Music :: Dungeon Synth 101 Reading List? :: Author PoisonIvy

2025-05-02T12:58:12+00:00

Inspired by this blog post on the Alexandrian, if you were teaching a intro-level college course on Dungeon Synth music, what albums would you assign as required reading?

Asking as a person who has a few albums downloaded to Jellyfin, but who wants to get a more comprehensive understanding of the genre.

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: 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: 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

Attachments

full-report.png (211.9 KiB)

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 :: 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

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 :: Frog :: Author SapphireFire

2025-04-27T02:26:44+00:00

Look at this frog.

IMG_0009.jpg

Attachments

IMG_0009.jpg (130.22 KiB)

Animals :: Re: Frog :: Reply by December_W_Wolf

2025-04-27T08:10:49+00:00

Very handsome frog

Animals :: Re: Frog :: Reply by rejectconvenience

2025-04-27T11:21:25+00:00

this frog looks like it's about to start stomping around!

Animals :: Re: Frog :: Reply by Offline

2025-04-28T05:16:46+00:00

Good frog

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

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

Le Blog Frog

Gardening :: Plant Request! :: Author PoisonIvy

2025-05-02T13:07:09+00:00

Hey all, I've got a spot in my garden that needs some plants and I'm not sure which ones to plant.

I've got a few square feet of relatively compacted (not concrete, but clay) soil that is adjacent to my onions, leeks, and potatoes. It's part of a garden path, and I step over (but not on) it frequently. I'm located in the American Ag. zone 5a.

I want to plant an annual, since I might change up the garden layout next year and I don't want to commit to the placement of a perennial.

I want it to be low-growing, since I step over it often. Throwing down some oregano there would be cool, but I don't want to have to pole vault from stepping stone to stepping stone.

I don't want it to spread too aggressively, since there are other plants nearby with which I don't want it competing.

And it needs to be able to handle the pretty crappy soil.

Don't suppose yall have any ideas that fit the bill?

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!

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

Journaling :: Re: Journaling Techniques :: Reply by drmollytov

2025-04-26T23:31:41+00:00

I throw everything into a single-subject college-ruled notebook. I go through about one a month.

On the back/final page, I list what's in the notebook. This list usually gets made as I'm using the notebook. This month's has entries for "to-do lists," "blog/article topics," "journal," "work stuff," and "garden plans" so far. For each of the entries, I color the edge of the page on that line.

Then, as I use pages, I color the edge of the page on the line that corresponds to the line in the back of the notebook. So all the "to-dos" have the top space edge colored in, all the "blog/article" pages have the second one colored in, and so on.

If a page has something different on each side (say, a to-do on one side and a garden diagram on the back), I'll color in both line edges. So that page would have a colored edge on the first and fifth lines.

This lets me find stuff by category, both now and if I return to the notebook to look something up in the future.

Journaling :: Re: Favorite Pens :: Reply by PoisonIvy

2025-05-02T13:02:07+00:00

My father instilled in me, from a young age, a love of the Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine Rolling Ball. Best pen I've ever used, and you can get them at the grocery store.

But I've been journaling regularly for about a year now and I've used up a couple of them, so I'm thinking about taking the plunge into fountain pens so as to be able to reduce my plastic use. And for the vibes. Can't beat a nice pen and a bottle of ink for vibes.

Journaling :: Re: Favorite Pens :: Reply by zonk

2025-05-02T14:46:53+00:00

As a fountain pen enjoyer, I must say the Pilot Precise V5 is the best non-fountain pen I've ever used. I am also a fan of the Pilot Frixion erasable pens because they're the only erasable pen I've seen that actually works. Very good for things like TTRPG character sheets that need frequent erasing.

Also realizing I never gave my real response in this thread, my current favorite pen is the TWSBI Precision, which is a metal-bodied piston filler. I have the gunmetal gray one, but they recently released a very nice looking blue one that I'm stopping myself from getting because I don't need a second one.

Journaling :: Re: Favorite Pens :: Reply by PoisonIvy

2025-05-02T15:42:02+00:00

Oh wow, that is one beautiful pen. When I end up getting a cheaper fountain, if I end up really liking them, that looks like a very nice pen to upgrade to.

Journaling :: Re: Favorite Pens :: Reply by December_W_Wolf

2025-05-02T15:49:49+00:00

I know this is something of a basic answer, but I generally like to use the cheap BIC pens... I guess I just never bothered to try a really fancy one, haha!

But in terms of favourite pen of all time, I used to have a pen (Tesco Mobile perhaps?) when I was maybe 8 years old, and what I really liked about it - other than it being great for me to use at the time - was the fact that it had a mini plastic football inside, and it would jump about when I pressed on the back to either open or close the pen. Other than that, I remember nothing about it. It might be in my "nostalgia drawer" back at home where I keep trinkets and drawings from while I was growing up (including the two only plastic straws in the entire house), but I can't access it right now since I'm abroad.

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 :: How do I delete my account here? :: Author Deleted User

2025-04-27T01:56:59+00:00

Code: Select all

Post has been removed by the user's request. -rejectconvenience

Other :: Re: How do I delete my account here? :: Reply by rejectconvenience

2025-04-27T02:10:00+00:00

That is a great question, I just realized there's a missing button for that! I'll delete your account manually, and for folks in the future, I'll make sure I have a system in place to handle it. I'm sorry about that!!

Other :: Re: How do I delete my account here? :: Reply by rejectconvenience

2025-04-27T02:11:10+00:00

Just so everyone else knows, there is now an option within your profile to delete your account. This will delete your username, email, and any logs that would have been associated with your account instantly. From my testing, it will retain your posts, but no username or signature will be attached. If you want your posts deleted in addition, please email me directly, and I'll get those removed for you. I'll update the privacy policy to reflect this!

Other :: Re: test :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-04-30T22:38:23+00:00

test

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 :: Coffee Megathread :: Author December_W_Wolf

2025-04-30T20:28:01+00:00

A megathread where you can talk about coffee. What's your relationship with it? Do you like it, and if so how much? Does it even work for you at all? Favourite blend? Interesting coffee habits you have or you've seen others have throughout the day? A coffee experience worth telling about? How much sugar do you put in, if any at all? Any no-go's? Literally anything you can think about coffee, you can say it here (so long as it abides the rules of course... but then again, what about coffee is against the rules?)

Other :: Re: Coffee Megathread :: Reply by zonk

2025-04-30T20:51:11+00:00

I've been drinking coffee since I was about 3 years old. I woke up early one morning and saw my grandparents drinking it, and when they didn't want to give me any, I knew it had to be something good. First they gave me a cappuccino, but eventually I convinced them to let me try it black, and I've been hooked ever since.

Each morning for me these days begins with 2 cups of black coffee, brewed in a French press. I get my coffee from a local roasterie in whole beans and grind it myself. I prefer less acidic taste, and I tried many of the options at the roasterie before finding my favorite which was a Brazilian variety. Ethan Chlebowski on YouTube has a good video on coffee if you want to take the plunge and find your favorite.

If on the rare occasion I find myself at a coffee shop, I'll get a mocha as a treat. I have found a local coffee shop that has good coffee, but mocha is a safe option since the sugar and cream will make up for subpar coffee at places like Starbucks.

Other :: Re: Coffee Megathread :: Reply by Crazyroostereye

2025-04-30T22:30:35+00:00

When it comes to coffee I am a Utilitarian. I have a specific coffee I buy from the Grocery store, as it was the most Price Efficient coffee, while meeting my other Requirements (Strength and Ethical). The Coffee is usually prepared in a French Press, as I do not own nor have the room for a Coffee Machine. This Coffee then gets Consumed Black or with a shot of Milk depending on the Day. The Consumption can vary between 2 and 6 Cups, or on the rare occasion 0. Mostly gauged upon how many Stupid Meetings I have.

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

Feedback :: Re: Why require an email for registration? :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-01T02:37:28+00:00

I think the question is trust. I personally think email is the best fit for companies that I would consider as low trust to no trust.

Accessibility - Email allows for the most device to provide authentication without friction.

Availability - Most all reputable mail servers have been battle hardened and stood the test of time. While there may occasionally be outages, one is more likely to suffer from a localized cell outage or internet outage. For the most part its not even needed unless one has forgotten a password or set up the email as part of their MFA.

Authorization - While on its own it is a weak form of Identification paired with other factors then its strength increases. One can even retain ones own anonymity while increasing the strength of this one factor through the liberal use of an aliasing services.

Email for identity access management loses its efficacy the more often its used or shared. Especially if it is in a combo list somewhere.

Feedback :: Re: Why require an email for registration? :: Reply by Thoughtless

2025-05-01T03:12:39+00:00

zonk wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2025 1:00 pm That email address will be used for password recovery if you were to forget/lose it. I believe it is due to the forum software and not a deliberate choice.

What would stricter or manual verification even look like?

>FBI agents interviewing your references for clearance.
>Grabbing someones public key to encrypt your digital signature. That they then use their private key to decrypt.
>2 parties take their private keys to create a public key and a shared key for identifying each other.
>Browser pokes server, server defines the parameters that it supports, server sends public key, browser creates a session key then encrypts it with the pub key, browser sends encrypted packet to server, server decrypts with private key. (and it looks like a little lock next to your url)
>User link profile to url, other users signs with their profile that they trust user. (looks like a little check)

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