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mariacallous · 7 days

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In 2022 I wrote an op-ed for NBC News Think about leg hair, of all things. The piece detailed a monthlong experiment during which I stopped shaving. Aside from one paragraph about bodily autonomy and Roe v. Wade, I thought it was a mild article. Boring, even.

The internet disagreed. Within an hour of publication, I started getting angry, all-caps emails. Then it started on Twitter. I was called everything from stupid and self-absorbed to a Sasquatch. I was accused of hating men and pressuring women.

The deluge lasted nearly two weeks. By the end of it, I had dozens of nasty emails, nearly a thousand social media notifications, and zero idea how to handle what I’d experienced.

Unfortunately, these instances of online harassment are becoming more common. In 2021, the Pew Research Center reported that 41 percent of US adults had experienced online harassment; the Anti-Defamation League reported an increase to 52 percent in 2023. Public and semipublic figures are especially at risk, as noted by recent studies on American journalists, Zimbabwean journalists, and female members of parliament in Sweden.

But the truth is, on social media anyone with an account can experience harassment. Here’s what to do if it happens to you.

Document Everything

Knee-deep in hate mail, I reached out to a former thesis adviser who’d written op-eds. How had he handled the trolls?

His reply: Document everything. If you have to report the harassment to a social platform or to law enforcement, you will need a body of evidence that proves the harassment.

Save the nasty emails in a special folder, either manually or by using keywords to filter and route all of the relevant mail automatically.

On social media, screenshot what people say. Doing this gives you lasting digital proof, which is important if the trolling comments disappear later on, either because the trolls deleted them or because someone reported the comments, which led to them being removed. Save all of these screenshots in a folder that can easily be shared with anyone investigating your harassment.

Documenting harassment is common advice, featured in resources ranging from writing-specific organizations like PEN America to wider organizations like the University of Chicago and the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Don’t Respond

Another common piece of advice is “don’t feed the trolls.” In theory, if you don’t react to harassment, the trolls get bored and leave. Some have argued that this advice has failed us, as it puts the onus on the victim to stop the cyberbullying; it suggests that it’s not the trolls who need to stop but rather the victim who needs to turn the other cheek.

This is a fair critique; social media platforms should build better moderation systems and restrict users who breach standards on harassment. Ideally, events like the 2024 child safety hearing before US Congress will lead to changes that make the internet safer for everyone. In a perfect world, the onus is on Big Tech.

But internet safety is a work in progress, and in the meantime it’s on us to decide how we want to respond. Many of the accounts spamming me were obvious trolls. They had incendiary usernames and profile pictures. Looking at their comments, which were antagonistic at best, I knew I wouldn’t change their minds by responding. Nothing I could write would make them consider my point of view.

So I followed the American Psychological Association’s advice and let the storm pass. I logged off social media and routed the nasty emails into a special folder, out of sight. I spent my energy on things I enjoyed instead, no trolls involved.

Or Maybe Do Respond

Walking away isn’t the best option for everyone. If you choose to respond, there are both indirect and direct ways to address harassment. The former could include muting threads or blocking accounts. You could also report comments or users for behaviors that breach community standards, such as hate speech, threats, and bullying (which most platforms claim to prohibit). These options may prevent the same trolls from harassing you, or another user, in the future.

If you feel safe and want to respond directly, consider counterspeech, a strategy that addresses and undermines hate by redirecting the conversation in a constructive way. Some choose to reclaim hashtags, such as the K-pop stans who in 2020 flooded the #WhiteLivesMatter hashtag with K-pop videos.

Others create larger discussions around hateful posts, typically focusing not on the troll but on the content of their argument (so, not “You’re sexist” but “Saying XYZ is problematic because …”). This is exactly what I did, some six months after my experience, when I wrote about hate mail for HuffPost, focusing on sexism and the importance of dismantling it. Reframing the conversation helped me feel less powerless.

Though organizations like the United Nations recommend counterspeech, some research has suggested that it may be ineffective: While a 2021 study on anti-Asian hate found that counterspeech discouraged hate, another study on racism and homophobia saw mixed results.

Do Something You Enjoy

Whether or not you respond, give yourself time to work through your feelings. Do something you enjoy, like going to the gym, meditating, or playing your favorite video game. Anything goes!

Social support, in particular, is important for processing your experiences. This is because one of the goals of online harassment is to make you feel isolated; intentionally enjoying time with loved ones can combat this. An older 2014 study noted that social support can come from anyone in your life, ranging from your peers to your family. More recently, a 2020 study listed the myriad benefits of social support for those experiencing bullying, including increased confidence and decreased anxiety.

So text your friends and coworkers. Make dinner plans with family. Rant to your partner—or ask for a distraction. Any and all of these can help you feel less alone. You can also seek professional advice via a therapist or a cyberbullying hotline.

If you decide to take an extended break from the internet, ask a friend you trust to keep an eye on your social accounts. They can continue to take screenshots of new harassment and notify you if the frequency of incidents increases.

If the Harassment Escalates

If rude comments turn into stalking, hacking, doxing, or death threats, it’s time to contact the authorities and get legal assistance. Continue to document everything; you’ll want a body of proof to ensure you’re taken seriously. If you’re in immediate danger, call emergency services.

Practicing good cyber hygiene can help you protect your information. To deter hackers, use strong passwords, which are longer than 16 characters and include numbers and special characters. Don’t reuse passwords, and set up multifactor authentication to ensure that you’re notified if someone tries to log in to your account.

To deter doxing, stalking, and further harassment, adjust your privacy settings on social media. If possible, set your accounts to private until the storm passes. Also, depending on the platform, you should be able to limit the ability to reply to your posts so that only people you follow can republish your posts or leave comments. You can also just disallow comments entirely. If you have both professional and personal accounts, keep them separate so that work-related harassment is less likely to follow you home.

You may want to limit who can see your location data on social media, since many platforms tag every post with geolocation data unless you opt out. This is usually something you can turn off in your profiles’ privacy settings. Additionally, browser extensions like Privacy Party can help you keep your privacy settings on social media up to date automatically, so you don't have to think about it.

If things get so bad that you feel it's safest to minimize or erase your digital footprint, paid services like Delete Me can remove identifying information like your address, phone number, and social media activity from hundreds of online databases and data brokers. This makes it much harder for people to uncover this information in web searches. Services like Tweet Delete can automatically delete years worth of social media posts, replies, and likes—either wholesale or within a specific range—from your accounts.

Online harassment can be isolating and terrifying, but with a plan, you’ll be prepared to respond—and to mitigate its impacts on your life.

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bobgasm · 4 months

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kingpin ⦾ seven

pairing: robert “bob” floyd x ofc!emery young word count: 2654 warnings: suspicions, apartment hunting, meantions of dodgy seafood,

summary: in which she does some snooping and they agree on an apartment

author’s note: merry christmas from new zealand! i’m going on a small hiatus until february, but i’ll still be around! just felt like posting one last update to tide you all over 🤭

six | kingpin | eight

Desperation makes a person do stupid things, like get in bed with the mob. Emery was convinced she’d discovered a payment made to a fake account, but without any solid proof, all she had was her gut feeling.

After Bob had told her he’d attempted to pay overdue bills the other day, she’d gone home and started digging. She’d managed to pair up overdue invoices to about 80% of the bills, so she filed those emails into a specific folder. She stayed up late attempting to make sense of the mess the previous accountant had left. Checking to see if there were any recurring bills to companies that didn’t have invoices.

Of course, some of the bills were donations to charities, so she ruled those out. There was one recurring bill for five grand that was scheduled to be paid to an account with an abbreviation she didn’t know, FBY. So she’d Google’d it. Unsurprisingly, her results turned up nothing.

She knew snooping was bad. She knew that if the Floyd’s were working for the mob then she was in deep shit. She knew there was barely any chance of her being able to back out now that she’d been given access to their accounts and system.

She also knew that the chances were high that the laptop she’d been given was bugged, so any research for the suspected fake company had been done from her phone. She didn’t want to take any chances getting in any deeper, so she’d logged out of the system and shut the laptop down for the night.

And hadn’t touched it until Monday morning when she made the drive to LA.

All weekend, she and Nat had done virtual tours of apartments with Penny, the realtor Bob had enlisted help from. They’d loved a couple of them, and the prices didn’t seem too daunting, so they’d booked a time to come and check them out in person. That just so happened to be Monday, while Nat had taken a personal day, and Emery had officially finished working as a cleaner.

She’d called and told Bob that she had a couple of apartment viewings in the morning, but that she’d spend the rest of the day in the office. He thanked her for the update and told her he’d taken a personal day. Something about some dodgy seafood – Emery didn’t pry. She didn’t care if he was lying or telling the truth. It meant she could keep snooping without being closely watched.

“Good morning,” a woman greeted Nat and Emery. “I’m Penny, it’s good to properly meet you both.”

“I’m Nat and this is Emery,” Natasha replied, matching Penny’s friendly tone.

Penny led them into the building and up in the elevator. She explained how this wasn’t one of the places she’d been able to host a virtual tour for, but it was one that was about to go on the market. It was a newer build, so it had modern amenities but was still within their price range. The tenants were looking to vacate as soon as possible, so having potential new occupants securing an early viewing was very fortunate.

Emery wasn’t all that bothered, but as Natasha explained the ways they could make the place their own, she slowly came around. She saw the vision, slowly allowing herself to imagine actually living in a place like this. Natasha wandered off, knowing she needed time to accept that good things were finally on their way. She’d never been one to own brand new things, always living frugally. Never knowing if her next paycheque was guaranteed.

The next apartment they viewed was one a few blocks away. In the virtual tour, this had been the place Emery had liked the look of most. It was more modest and homey, and much more her scene.

When the viewings were over, Nat drove Emery to the office building. It wasn’t too far from the apartments they’d viewed, and they chatted honestly about what they’d thought.

“Penny really sold me on that first apartment,” Nat confessed. “I liked the modern amenities and I feel like we can definitely make it our own.”

Emery hummed. “It felt too sterile to me. It was hard for me to imagine living there, and before you say it, I know. I’m not used to living in a nice place. I’m not used to having nice things. To go from what I know to something that seems so extravagant and a waste of money is hard for me to wrap my head around.”

“Living in the city is going to be a big change,” Nat agreed. From where they’d grown up, Emery could list ten immediate differences off the top of her head. “We want to be comfortable, without rent killing us every month. It won’t be too bad with it split between us, but I also don’t want to have to spend an exorbitant amount of my pay on gas just to get to work.”

Nat had been offered a position at Fitch’s Boxing Gym as a personal trainer. The location was relatively close to where Emery now worked, so they’d heavily considered how far away the apartments were. The closest place was in need of some TLC, and Penny had told them that the landlord couldn’t care less, so they’d immediately ruled it out. The first place which was a little further away, but significantly nicer, had them in agreement about travel.

Even though Emery had been provided a car for both work and personal use, she hadn’t wanted to assume that her gas would be included. While the apartment was on the pricier side, it was significantly better than the other three apartments they’d seen. The photos and video tours hadn’t shown all the imperfections that they’d subsequently discovered during the walk-through. Now Nat was on a mission to get Emery to accept the facts – modern living was inevitable.

“I don’t want to make you live in a place that makes you feel uncomfortable, but any of the other apartments, for me, would be uncomfortable,” Nat said. “We deserve a nice place to live for a change, Em.”

Emery pursed her lips together in thought. She knew they’d both be comfortable, eventually, in a nicer place. She knew Nat would bitch and moan about settling for less than they were worth, but Emery struggled to accept that she’d reached a point where she could afford nice things. She’d landed a once in a lifetime job that could help her finances exponentially. She’d be able to build a nice savings and still be able to pay her bills. She knew she should be happy, but she felt uncomfortable.

“I need some more time to think about it,” Emery told her. “I get my final pay on Thursday, so that will go towards covering my part of a bond. Until I get paid from my new job, it’s going to be tight.”

“We’ll make it work,” Nat assured her. “We always do.” Emery gave her a small smile as she stopped outside the office building. “I’ll see you later tonight, yeah? You can park your fancy new car in the garage so it doesn’t get trashed.”

Emery laughed as she reached for the door handle. “Thanks, Nat. I’ll see you later.”

She hopped out and closed the door behind her, waving as Nat pulled away before heading to the front door. Bob had told her that her key fob would get her into the building, so she raised the little black disk to the pad outside and waited for it to beep. When it did, it also flashed a little green light, letting her open the door without issue.

“Good morning, Emery,” Halo greeted warmly. “How was your weekend?”

“Morning, Halo,” Emery replied with a smile. “It was good, thank you. Spent most of it looking for apartments, but I viewed a few this morning.”

“Bob mentioned you’d been in contact with Penny,” she said knowingly. “How’s it going?”

“Slowly.” Emery chuckled, slightly miffed that Halo knew her business. She tried not to dwell on it. “My sister and I have different tastes, is all. I’m sure we’ll agree on one soon. Do you know if there’s anything important I need to focus on first?”

“Not that I’m aware,” she replied with a shake of her head. “Did you want me to bring you a coffee? I’m about to make myself one.”

“Yes please,” Emery responded, telling her she takes her coffee black with half a teaspoon of sugar. Halo got up to start making it while Emery walked down the hall to her office and pushed the door open. Deciding to leave it open, she sat down at her desk and booted up the system.

Her emails were flooded with invoices to be entered, a product of refusing to touch her laptop for four days to keep on top of them. She sighed and scrolled to the latest unread email before opening Wiler on her second screen. She found it was much quicker being able to see the actual invoice as she entered it.

Halo dropped off her coffee and Emery thanked her with a smile, continuing to breeze through invoices like nobody’s business. She streamlined the process by copying old invoices in the system and updating the information to match the new invoice before attaching an electronic copy. Emery sipped her coffee while she worked, jotting down any urgent payments for the hotel build. It was tedious work, but she made a sizable dent.

She struck gold when she logged into the bank account system to enter and approve payments. She’d been of sane enough mind to change the password in case the previous accountant was still logging into it, and was pleased to find that the payment to the abbreviated account, FBY, she’d stumbled on was still waiting to be approved. It was a small victory but she enjoyed a small celebration anyway. It meant the previous accountant hadn’t been able to access the waiting payment to approve it, but also that if he was the man from the diner, he was less five grand.

The number was insignificant to the one the diner man had bragged about – 5 million. There was no way she’d ever be able to forget it even if she tried. If the diner man and the previous account were the same person, like she heavily expected, then he’d likely be pissed. He’d likely make a mistake.

And if Bob and his family were working for the mob, it meant they’d potentially find him faster.

Emery knew the implications of what that meant. She knew he’d wind up in pieces and scattered throughout the ocean. Her mother had been running from the mob for years, and now she was an affiliate. An accomplice.

Betty Young would ring her neck when she saw her next, and Emery hoped like hell that it wasn’t until she was old and senile.

Halo knocked on Emery’s door shortly after five. “I’m heading home, but Bob wanted me to let you know there’s a company fuel card in your car. I saw that you were dropped off, so I’m only assuming that you’ll be taking it home tonight?”

Emery smiled as she sat back in her chair. “Thanks, Halo. Yeah, that’s the plan, anyway.”

Halo laughed softly. “Have a nice drive back. Will I see you tomorrow?”

Emery hesitated. She didn’t exactly want Halo knowing she’d be in the office every day until her ‘two week’ notice was up. It had ended on Sunday, but she wanted time and space. Feeling the need to keep her distance as she did some more digging in private.

“Probably not until Wednesday,” Emery told her lightly. “I’ll be working from home tomorrow night, but if there’s anything urgent, give me a call. I’ll find some free time to get onto it.”

“Perfect, I’ll let Bob know,” she replied. Emery noted that her response was curt, thinking she simply wanted to get home without any further talk about work. “Remember to put the alarm on before you head downstairs to the garage. You have a thirty second window to leave before it’ll go off, but I find it’s more than enough time.”

“Thanks, Halo. Have a good night,” Emery farewelled.

“You too.”

Emery didn’t want to stay much longer, but she also knew that traffic would be backed up at this time. It’d make getting onto the freeway a challenge. She was hungry, so she decided to pack her things away and lock up before heading out. She set the alarm like Halo reminded her before making her way down to the garage. She hit the button on her fob that unlocked her car – still amazed she’d been given a brand new Prius. It’d been a long time since she’d driven anything other than her trusty Corolla, but she was excited.

Emery hopped in the car and started the engine with the push of a button, the car humming to life. She hit the button on the remote attached to the visor, opening the garage door before making her way out into the street and remembering to hit the button again to close the rolling door.

Emery arrived at Nat’s a little after eight. She’d enjoyed a quiet meal and took the time to do some more research. So far she was still pulling up blanks when it came to the account with an unknown abbreviation – FBY. Instead, she’d gone through the staff on file, trying to figure out which one the former accountant was.

Sure, she could ask Bob or Halo. If they questioned why she needed to know that information, she’d be able to say that it was to revoke any access they may still have. Even though the excuse was truthful, it was so she could do her own digging. If she had a name, then surely she’d be able to find a photo of them. If she had a photo of them, she’d be able to rule out if they were the man from the diner.

She was exhausted as she pulled her car into the garage at Nat’s place. It wasn’t an actual garage, but there were working security cameras she could park beneath. That way if anything happened to the car, she could apologise profusely to Bob, but at least there’d be footage.

Nat buzzed Emery in and she rode up to her apartment in the elevator. Unlike the one in Emery’s own complex, this one was always in working order. She stepped out on the right floor and made her way down the hall to where Nat’s apartment was. The door was unlocked, so Emery let herself in.

“It looks like a tornado blew through here,” Emery observed, taking in the chaos that was Nat packing. Boxes sat scattered around the living area, labeled either kitchen or bedroom. She’d made more progress than Emery would’ve thought possible.

“Penny called while you were at work,” Nat replied, blowing out a breath as she propped her hands on her hips. “I got a little carried away.”

“What did Penny want?” Emery asked, helping herself to a bottle of water from the fridge. She grabbed one for Nat, too.

Nat accepted the bottle with a smile. “She was checking in. I told her you’d be home late but that we’d be able to talk more then.”

Emery nodded as she toyed with the cap on the bottle. “I think we should do it. Sign the lease for the first apartment. It’s more convenient and newer, and they’re looking for people to move in straight away.”

“Yeah?” Nat asked. “You really think that?”

“I’ll learn to love it,” Emery replied, earning a delighted squeal in response. She laughed as Nat bounced towards her and wrapped her in a hug. “We should call Penny.”

#robert bob floyd #bob floyd #bob floyd fanfic #bob floyd fanfiction #mob!bob floyd #mob!au #bob floyd x ofc #bob floyd x oc #robert bob floyd x ofc #robert bob floyd x oc

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orionis13 · 5 months

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Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, and I have decided that to “celebrate” I will be contacting my representatives every day for the next 8 days to call for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine, and I urge you to do the same. There are countless easily accessible templates for emails, phone calls, and letters that take less than 5 minutes to complete and put pressure on our reps, who are aiding and abetting a literal genocide. If you are able, you can also donate to reputable esim providers (the Cartoonist Cooperative has really easy links, and you can get art) to keep people connected thru internet blackouts

As incentive, I am offering a fullbody colored sketch to anyone who chooses to dm me after these 8 days with proof of contact with their reps (dated screenshots of emails, dated call logs, etc. just nothing with your personal info). This is not a large scale, highly organized project; this is just an option that hopefully inspires you to take consistent action.

I think there is a horrible irony in the Zionist love of Chanukah; how can you see yourself represented in a story about standing against oppressors and still enact the same violent oppression against those you deem lesser. You are not a hero, you are not brave, you are a coward laughing as people are murdered in your name, and your memory will only bring shame

The real bravery is that of the Palestinian people, who despite the odds stacked against them continue to survive. This is far more in the spirit of a holiday about resistance than a celebration of genocide will ever be.

We will not be silent. We will not give up on the people of Palestine. They will survive and be free.

I hope this is clear enough to make sense to people, please feel free to let me know any questions/concerns you may have. Chag sameach

#idk if this makes any sense at all but yeah #hopefully everyone has already been in contact with reps but maybe this will inspire some specific action for some people #and again this isn’t wide scale it’s just me it’s not a big organized thing so just lmk if u have questions

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merl-out · 17 days

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Breaking Customer Promises and The Harms of Online Business

I ordered a laptop from BestBuy on sale. The next day, I received an email that the order was cancelled. I pulled up a chat to ask why exactly my order was cancelled.

They don't deliver to hotels.

Okay. Sure.

I asked if I could change the address to my work place and was told to fully re-order everything and I would receive a refund for the post-sale price difference. Okay. Sure.

I received the laptop, and it wouldn't turn on.

I took it to my nearest BestBuy. They swap it out easy as pie. I think to myself, "I should've just gone here from the beginning."

Ah, but no matter. I have a laptop and it works great!

I wait a week. No refund. I call them. They assure me, I'll receive an e-mail with the refund in 48-72 hours. Okay. Sure.

I wait another week, just to give them space to process the influx of end of year orders. No refund. I call them again. "The billing cycle takes a month," they tell me, "the refund will come in around 30 days."

Okay. Sure.

It's been four months, friends, and I finally reach out again. Armed with my case ID number, three BestBuy supplied chat logs of customer service agents promising me my refund, a free day and a whole lot of righteous fury. How could they deny me this? I explain all of this to John, the customer service agent. And what does he say to me?

"Sorry to hear this, it is very disappointing, however I will try to resolve your issue as soon as possible. I would like to inform you that, we do not have an option to honor the price match for the old price for canceled order."

…What? Excuse me? I explain again, "They've all told me differently. I have evidence of your company representatives promising me this refund."

"I’m truly sorry to hear about your experience and I’m sorry you are having to face this issue. Please accept our sincere apology for the inconvenience caused and incorrect information provided by previous agent. As it is canceled order we do not have an option to honor the previous sale price." John tells me, merciless.

But it wasn't just one agent, I argue. I have proof. They all told me the same thing. So, I Karen. I admit it, I tell him, "Let me speak to a supervisor."

"I can surely arrange for a supervisor, but I want to let you know that I've thoroughly investigated all potential solutions in this situation. Believe me, if there were any available options to provide you with refund, I would have already taken care of it. Getting a supervisor wouldn't have been necessary since I've already explored this option on your behalf." John tells me.

And here's the thing, friends, I do believe him. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, even though he's complicit in stealing money from me, but in the words of an anachronistic Anne Boleyn, like what was I supposed to do? What's the worst thing that can happen, John, if I ask to speak to your manager? Explain it to me.

Is it a waste of my time? Four months after the theft occurred, to chase down $430 like some cadaver dog sniffing up and down a river after the frost melted to see if I can pick up on a trail? After four months, will one more conversation, one more long shot, really be the straw that breaks my back?? At worst, what will happen, John? Will I waste more company time? Good. I hope I waste at least $430 of company time. Frankly, I hope I waste more.

A supervisor is reviewing the chat logs now before they get back to me. They're a floor supervisor, but they didn't provide a name. Pray for me, friends.

#best buy #customer service hell #customer experience #i wrote all of this while the supervisor is back reading #i don't think i'm getting a refund guys

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namor-the-sub · 4 months

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I’m about to start keeping a running log of work calls. I can’t with these people today.

So far:

Call 1: called wrong department checking on the status of an order they didn’t pay for yet.

Call 2: another person cheated by the unfair shift of RGB to CMYK who wanted us to fix it immediately and ship 25 hardcover custom printed books with a one day turn around.

(Got Nam flashbacks since I just unloaded a crazy person who complained about our commercial grade print quality after comparing it to a “superior” FedEx spiral bound book that used completely different substrates. Good luck mass producing that.)

Call 3:

Them: “I’m taking a look at my proofs and I noticed the designer used the image I asked them to use. So that means I can use it, right?”

Me: *already knows where this going* “ What do you mean?”

Them: “well I found it online when I was searching Google so I assumed it’s fine to use. Since it’s in the proof now I guess that means I can use it.”

(This happens A LOT too. People assume that because they can find it on Google, it’s free use for a self-published book cover. We have to then gently explain copy and usage rights. This is after the client specifically signed an Intellectual Property Rights disclaimer prior to check out certifying they created all of the content.)

Now onto email time and brief reprieve from today’s nonsense.

#customer service

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orphancookie69 · 2 months

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Disney Dreamlight Valley: Dreamsnaps

So, Disney Dreamlight Valley came out with something called Dreamsnaps. It is a weekly photo submission competition to earn free moonstones. This has pro's and con's, but this was-to me-one of the first unique things this game did. But, like anything else regarding this game, there was not much explained about it.

Before we even get to the ability to do a Dreamsnap, this will start with Venellope's quest. She is glitching and you take a photo and submit it to "fix" her and that starts your dreamsnap journey.

So on Week 1, Dreamsnap Wednesday's, you get a prompt. It will either be a Decoration Challenge or an Outfit Challenge. I noticed a trend where it alternates Decor one week, then Outfit the next week. There will be 2-3 Mandatory tags you have to hit, and 2 Suggested tags. You can sort furniture or clothes by the tags. Every system has a different button for this, but I myself play on Nintendo Switch. Once you are ready to go-you take a photo and click "Submit Dreamsnap". There is also a Dreamsnap Tab in the start menu.

On Week 2, you vote for the submissions you like best. There is no limit to how many votes you cast, you will look at 2 photos and click which one you like better. The minimum amount of voting will get you 50 moonstones per week.

On Week 3, you get your results from that particular challenge in your mailbox (in game). You will get a score, based on how well you hit the mark for the mandatory/suggested tags, and a ranking based on people's votes. The rewards are varying amounts of moonstones and pixel dust. The pixel dust adds up and helps you level up from level 1 to level 10. There is a reward at every level, with a big trophy at level 10. At the time of writing this, I am at Level 9.

The catch is this is ongoing with a new challenge coming weekly. So on any given week you are voting on something, while submitting something else, while receiving the results of something else entirely. So I started keeping track of what challenge was what, the scores, and my submissions. It is possible to send the photo you are planning to submit to your phone, but you need to do so after you take it but before you submit it. Once you take a photo, there is now way to look at previous photos taken to send it to your phone. You send it by way of scanning a QR code.

Now, at the time of writing this post, and since I have been playing since the beginning of the prerelease-I have done 32 dreamsnaps. One would think that by now, I might know what I am doing? If you ask my mom, who I help each week with the submissions, I am a great dreamsnap teacher. But my scores are all over the place, so I decided to look at the numbers and see what a proper analysis would tell me.

For me, I treat every dreamsnap as if its both decor and outfit, hoping that will help my score. One of the problems is, one part of the "win" is objective and the other part of the "win" is subjective. I also have played this since the beginning, which means I have a fully decorated Valley-there is a limit on how many items you can have and I am under it but just barely, but its not like its a baren wasteland. Also, you can not have any "Touch of Magic" items in your photo. No custom creations can be seen or unseen, this goes for clothes or furniture. Having characters from the Valley in with you seems to help, you can also do different poses with different animals when in camera mode. The premium shop changes on Wednesday's as well, save up for the good stuff there.

The Proof is in the Numbers:

I logged my results on a note on my phone, emailed them to myself, and put them into a google sheet. Here is what I found:

For combined outfit/decor

I average a 45.47 score

I average a 56,914 ranking

I average 554 moonstones

I average 139 pixel dust

For Outfit alone,

I average a 48.12 score

I average a 54,096 ranking

I average 646 moonstones

I average 142 pixel dust

For Decor alone,

I average a 42.99 score

I average a 59,556 ranking

I average 468 moonstones

I average 137 pixel dust

My Best Dreamsnap:

My best submission is Winter's Here (#24). An outfit challenge, 77.59 score, 11,114 ranking, 2500 moonstones, and 178 pixels.

My Worst Dreamsnap:

My worst submission is Arendelle's Showcase (#25). A decoration challenge, 26.72 score, 85,353 ranking, 300 moonstones, and 127 pixel dust.

Best Decoration Dreamsnap:

My best one is actually one earlier, but I was not saving them at the time. The one I can show is Holiday Cheer (#21). Decor challenge, 56.87 score, 58,567 ranking, 600 moonstones, and 157 Pixel Dust.

Worst Decoration Dreamsnap:

The worst one is It Came From Outer Space (#27). Decor Challenge, 23.85 score, 59,242 ranking, 300 moonstones, and 124 pixel dust.

Best Outfit Dreamsnap:

While my best submission ever is already posted, I will show this one that was my higest ranking one. A Day at Disney (#22). Outfit challenge, 57.46 score, 15,289 ranking, 1500 moonstones, and 158 pixel dust.

Worst Outfit Dreamsnap:

My worst one is not saved, maybe a good thing in retrospect? But I will show you Under The Sea (#20). Outfit challenge, 32.46 score, 85,575 ranking, 300 moonstones, and 133 pixel dust.

Tips:

No touch of magic items

Make sure Decor and Outfit are on point

Bring in characters

Pose with pets

Buy clothes and furniture, you never know when you are going to need what.

Pay attention to the premium shop, you never know when you could use the stuff there.

Hoard supplies to be able to make stuff at a crafting table to be able to use for photos.

Decorate the valley, within the limit.

Use all the options in the camera: poses, shot types, filters, frames.

This was an interesting dive into whether or not the system is rigged or what I could do better. If you want to look at your own scores, take a look at your mailbox. What tips and tricks would you add to this post?

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icewindandboringhorror · 1 year

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Daily Log 4

Trying out (probably just temporarily) making short daily-ish notes about things, in an attempt to see if it helps me be more reflective or productive lol.

Activities: Woke up late because I went back to sleep with a headache briefly, then kind of struggled to focus all day ToT

Worked more on the aforementioned tapestry/painting type of thing. I've done the base layer of painting for the main image, now I'm lining in darker outlines. I wanted to finish the center art before getting into the intricate borders. Still haven't translated the text lol..

Made a small bowl and also a little box with a lid out of more avocado pits. Still just with random nail cuticle tool things and kitchen knives, as I don't have proper carving tools.

Finished editing and proofreading the new poll adventure post!! I don't have time to post it tonight because I need to get to sleep early but.. I have it Completely 100% Ready.. finally..

Also washed the clothes I got together yesterday. Called about the bloodwork. Sent an email to a doctor.

Reviewed some writing documents to get back into my game maybe?? (basically, I started working on a visual novel type game a few years ago, decided it was a huge project so kind of put it on the backburner for a while in favor of things that were more easily finishable/tangible. then later on a game website I play (similar to neopets or something, there are collectable little creatures, etc.) there was an opportunity for me to design a pet on site, so I made a smaller shorter visual novel centered around that, where people on the site have to play the game in order to earn the pet, and I have a google form for them to answer a few short questions about it. All of the feedback is quite positive (reached 200 responses a while ago! though still only like 4 comments on the itch.io page lol.. Mandatory Form vs. Optional Comments evil showdown), but sometimes I get commentary that's really enthusiastic and inspires me to start back working on the OTHER bigger game. The small game was kind of like, a proof of concept that was safe because I had a guaranteed audience, that has helped me gain more insight for the larger one.

Anyway, since I've abandoned the Main Large Game for so long, I have to re-read and review/probably rewrite A LOT of things just to pick it back up again as A Thing I'm Actively Working On, so it's another one of those tasks that I do maybe 45 minutes of and then realize it's going to take days and days and get discouraged lol..

Notable sights: Saw two cats in windows. No clovers. It rained a little today but I didn't get to go outside and see it. One of the pieces of asparagus in the fridge was like the size of a carrot, comically overgrown downright ridiculous looking asparagus. Maybe I'll get taller after eating it.

Goals moving forward: Consistent sleep schedule. Focus on social activities, finding new friends in the places I want to move, communicating with ones I have. Physical therapy exercises. Plant nasturtiums. Finish and upload videos, edit costume pictures & etc.

Notable foods: ASPARAGUS AGAIN BABEY.. yeaAAAAGHHH asparagus squad !!!!!!

#just posting these publicly since it feels more like I'm doing something or easier to hold yourself accountable if you make public #declarations of goals and progress or etc. .. perhaps.. for now..#I wonder if you can eat too much asparagus. Hopefulyl I don't get sick ghjbj #Still craving lots of savory foods and soups. Also in a big big worldbuilding mood.#Not enough to actually edit the worldbuilding slideshow videos apparently since I've barely done any of that all week #>:Y #(they are different though.. actively writing wolrdbuilding is different from like.. editing recordings of you talking about it #BUT STILL...)#In an ideal world I have a little house in scotland or canada or something and am sitting cozy by a window watching it #rain whilst I eat lasagna and like a huge buffet table of every single hearty food I am having Anemia Cravings for #and my cat is sitting near me and I am furiously sketching various designs for different worldbuilding details. I have finally found #a weird hermit platonic best friend I'm compatible enough to live with and they are up in the attic doing their own weird little hobbies #but every once in a while I can call them down and tell them about an idea so we can bounce concepts off of each other. I somehow walk away #with no heartburn or stomach upset or nausea despite eating 800 plates of craving foods. It's cold and summer #does not exist anymore but not in a Catastrophic For The Earth type of way more in a like.. I am in a magical bubble #that only affects my direct vicinity and sheilds me from the temperature ever getting above 65F #(also I have a comfortable amount of money and good doctors and reasonable health etc. etc. but that's a given in any Ideal Scenario lol)#oughh... I just want to eat hearty breakfast foods and think about elves for 5 hours.. is that so much to ask #Why must... responsibilities... capitalism... limited time and no energy to focus on 100 projects at once... why these things...#ANYWAY #daily log

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dreadofthegrave · 9 months

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augh. whinging about life events

this is something that would be in a circle in twitter dot corn but i don't have circles here so i will simply put it under a readmore and assume that anyone who doesnt care will simply scroll by as i gen hope they will <3

anyways. last week was vacation and coming back from vacation i got thrown in the metaphorical frying pan. person who was supposed to be watching the house fucked off w/o telling us thursday afternoon (we came back sat night) leaving our cats and her cats (inc. a 5 month old kitten in a separate room) alone. which the other cats would have been fine alone for a few days but the litterboxes were full which makes me suspect she did not clean up before she left. kitten was left with no water and no food (she gave him food but he scarfed it down immediately. because he's A Kitten) and she had the audacity to try to lie to us!! about when she left when we straight up had proof from the security system logs that she was gone for longer than she said she was <3333

did i mention this girl is supposed to be living with us for a few more weeks lol lmao

we spent an hour and a half cleaning the house from the misc toilet and vomit stains around after having already driven a collective 7 hours home from our vacation spot.

we grilled her pretty hard after she came back sunday nite at like 9:30 pm and she kinda gave a half hearted apology and i emphasized that. i agreed to the kitten staying over (which she had thrown on me like. night before we leave) (she adopted the kitten the weekend we left for vacation) with the agreement that she would be taking 100% care of him which she was Not.

and then she fucked off again for all of monday. i think she stayed monday night but she was gone the next morning. she also sprang on me monday nite that "oh do you mind if i stay at my friends house the days i have work because it's closer to my workplace" (by a magnitude of like. hours) and i said yeah because it was LATE and i was WORKING the next day so i didnt have the energy to have a long conversation. i shouldn't have said yes.

she was gone all tues and wed. she didn't have work today so she should have come back to my house but she didn't because she was with her mom. didn't tell us that btw.

now it is thurs night she's probably going to arrive back way too late for me to have a conversation with her because i go to bed early. because i wake up early for work. my sister called her and had a long convo and i sent her a text message saying the kitten has to be gone by the end of this weekend because my sister and i have been taking care of HER KITTEN this entire week basically. when i already gave her a warning for being negligent with the kitten.

tired of hearing the kitten yowling the whole day because my sister and i are both busy and we can't play with him. me because i have my desk job my sister because she's prepping for her job starting next week. regardless ITS THIS GIRLS KITTEN NOT OURS THAT WE DIDN'T AGREE TO TAKE CARE OF

i haven't even broached the topic of payment because i expected to charge her rent for the couple of weeks she was living with us but since she's only been here like. a grand total of 8 hours (when she wasn't watching the house the week we were gone) should i just charge her for using our house as a boarding house for her cats. lol. lmao. im getting some payment out of this even if i have to bug her for it

all that aside. getting grilled at work for things partially my fault and partially not my fault and feeling indignant about it. got told i wasn't communicating well enough when i have been responding to every single silly little email that was sent to me so idk. maybe check your inbox then? anyways i have to finish a report tomorrow i've been putting off for. a disgustingly long time so this is a situation i put myself in but im still mad and stressed about it

good thing i talk to my therapist tmmrw because im just gonna be like hi :) the shit hit the fan my dude

oh as an aside my brain has been bad enough this week that i decided to take a break from twitter since i figured spending my limited free time endlessly scrolling through a collapsing social media site wasn't helping my brain trying to self-cannibalize. tumblr is. Okay. for now. debating filling my queue and leaving for x amount of time but for now i need some outlet

what else. had an onslaught of flies in the house this week. killed about 20 or 30 tuesday and wednesday. thankfully there seemed to be a lot less today so i'm hoping it was just a freak accident and not a serious problem. clothes dryer has been broken (still turns, but no heat) for three weeks now. repairman has stopped by three times with a fourth time coming. i'm about ready to pull the plug after the next time he comes and just buy a new dryer even if that's going to be $$$$ because... it's an old dryer. maybe its time is just up

didn't mean for this post to be so long LMAO if you made it this far you get a picture of harley (my mom's cat). i just gotta make it through this week [pained smile]

NINJA EDIT BECAUSE AS I WAS TYPING THIS UP THERE WAS A NEW KITTEN DEVELOPMENT. after i texted her she got upset enough to decide to drive to our house and pick up the kitten and leave which i mean. lol. lmao. i gave you a warning and you decided to still fuck off so that's not my fault at this point. she's still an hour away so i will probably be going to bed when she comes home. don't have it in me to have another 10pm serious conversation lol lmao lol

#living dead text

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lupismaris · 9 months

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I realize that as an Admin my purpose in this office is to support others by doing grunt work and I am happy to do that grunt work (mailing, shipping, filing, calling, figuring out the logistics to do weird frustrating things that we haven't done before) but it comes with the expectation, nay, the hope that my colleagues who get paid SIGNIFICANTLY more than me will at least do the bare minimum of showing up or checking their emails in an 8 hours span and answering questions like "hey what's the FedEx log in since you're the only one who has it and refuses to let anyone else make use of it for some bizarre reason other than your imagined self importance and have now disappeared off the face of the earth for two months leaving me to make another FedEx business account in my own name so I can ship out proofs to the printers on time"

#it's not the missing work. it's the complete and utter lack of communication and disregard for the rest of us.#I missed lots of work this last year. I missed over 12 weeks of work. and everyone I mean everyone knew when I'd be out of office #I had three types of contingency plans available for when I'd be out of office and I'm just a f****** administrator #this woman is a coordinator for an entire department and she doesn't bother to update any calendars whatsoever #we're just left to guess when she might or might not show up and pick up the pieces and hope for the best #yes all I had to do was make an account with FedEx and mail a package and yet it took 3 hours because of FedEx's website #if she had answered her email or the DMs this could have been resolved in 20 minutes

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deadweight-at7am · 1 year

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Has anyone else just been having the most frustrating start to the year or... just me? I'm also laughing at how my stupid Fitbit is like "hey, you seem stressed" bc of my resting heart rate being higher than it usually is. It also seems it stopped logging my sleep at 3am last night so apparently I astral projected?

I'm finding that a recurring theme in my life is that everything has to be an issue. Nothing is easily solved. I want it to be solved easily, without consequence, but it rarely ever goes that way. Call the police on my asshat neighbors whose large breed dog that barks excessively and escapes constantly bc their door doesn't lock. The dog was loose in the front yard, no one was home, it was barking and barking for over 45 minutes (it's 9:45pm). Police respond and animal control puts the dog back in the house, which it escaped from even though I am yelling to the guy not to do that. I have to fight them to listen to me, my neighbor comes outside and echos what I'm saying. They were expecting me to just deal with it and let them walk away. Even after they shoved the dog back in the house it was barking and barking and wouldn't stop.

My son's Spanish teacher is a being a douche and is refusing to give him any credit on an assignment he did in class that she claims he used a translator for (without proof). I've been trying to ask her politely for weeks to please provide me with reasoning why he should be penalized with a zero for something he turned in. She can not provide proof, ignores my emails. Then I escalated it to her superiors. My son told me he didn't use a translator and instead used notes from some of his friends in the class. She refuses to give him any credit despite the fact that she can offer no physical proof of his "cheating". She could also just drop the grade from his grade book entirely. Strange hill to die on, but if she wants to throw herself down on it, I can as well. I freely admit my son has earned his fair share of bad grades but penalizing someone for something they actually did do and tried on? She responded to me with some curt email initially about how he "signed a contract" in the beginning of the year and I was so annoyed by her response I told her "a minor signing a 'contract' without a guardian present to witness it is not binding & is of no consequence to me".

People truly do expect you to give up and walk away when they push back. Especially if they want to be lazy. But unfortunately, for them (AND for myself, let's be real), I have no concept of giving up on anything that I see a rightful cause so I will go to battle over it. Is it a good thing? Maybe. Maybe not. This is the way I am. It is unlikely to change any time soon.

#personal #personal post #hills to die on #I've been told I'm argumentative my entire life

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aceparagoned · 10 months

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out of uniform: sorry for not being around too much during the weekend. in regards to the post i made to explain some things, i decided to venture down memory lane, so to speak, about an incident mentioned in that post that i feel like the authors of the callout made about me thought that i was the sole person responsible for said incident when i wasn't. others also participated in the mess, so they are also at fault here. so this is my attempt to set things straight.

i'll discuss it further under the cut.

I've spent the past weekend combing through posts in relation to in 2011 where I've been accused of accusing someone of being a rapist, which turned out to be a false identification on someone else's part. Now, none of this is to absolve me of my involvement in the matter by trying to gather what information I could on the accused. It's here that I was, and I quote, a "dumbass plurk witch hunter" by participating in these two long-deleted plurks that, to my knowledge, have no archive elsewhere (Pastebin wasn't as commonly used back then to archive plurks for evidence down the line, and I have no idea how to search through that site to see if it's still archived, especially since the person could have set an expiration timer on it.) Again, this is just so that I can set things straight to where I wasn't the sole person responsible for this mess back in 2011.

This is the thread where I, and other people, were called a "dumbass plurk witch hunter" (playagame is one of my very old plurk accounts that has a lot of shit on it that I wish I never put out there) and the very last comment on the thread was from me saying that I did send him a PM to apologize. Evidence of this apology, though, was deleted by LiveJournal themselves because I know that I tend to not mass delete things, even if they're years old at this point. I also confirmed again, this time on my very old plurk account, that I had sent him an apology. (Please disregard the last comment I, as FREE☠JOKER made there since at the time, I had the emotional sympathy of a dumbass.) For even further proof that I apologized to him, here's a cap I took of my archived LJ post hosted on my Dreamwidth account. I am also still trying to log in to my Dropbox account where I at least have the conversation saved from Trillian and not LiveJournal.

This is the extent of my involvement where I tried to dig up information on him, but I was not the one who made the very false connection between him and the TC in question. This is from a private conversation I had with one of my friends that has known me since I was a cringy ass preteen who thought they knew everything about the world when, in fact, I knew nothing. If you'd like the full conversation for full context, then I don't mind providing it.

However, I did find these two posts from an account, whyljrpwhy, that is veritably not mine by a long shot. Whenever I made a new account, I tended to use keywords for my icons like these while whyljrpwhy uses keywords like these for their icons. That, and I've never had the email [email protected] before. I've normally used AOL, Yahoo, or Gmail for pretty much everything.

This originally was hosted on tumblr in the form of these PSAs: (this one has the link to the fandomsecrets post where the warning was crossposted here.) In the thread itself, you'll see where whyljrpwhy had some supremely bad takes in general for the whole situation that they were rightfully called out for, even when speaking to the TC that had been falsely accused of something as serious as this.

Once again, this post in no way absolves me of what I did back in 2011. I fully acknowledge what I did was wrong by trying to gather information on an individual that had nothing in common with the person being warned about, only that they both shared the alias TC. I've since tried, and still do try, my best to be the best person I can and learn from my mistakes.

Thank you, once again, for reading this post. Hopefully this is the last time I need to address this.

#☆ OUT OF UNIFORM → downtime is necessary even for a hero tasked with so much; remember to take a break for yourself.#☆ PSA → hey listen! this is some important stuff here!#( ASK TO TAG. )#*ooc: once again please don't reblog this -- I just wanted to set the record straight here #gonna still be kinda quiet but yeah -- just wanted to get that out there

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notebooknebula · 10 months

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deadgrantaires · 1 year

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i think i just posted breakdown lb today but to sum up my monday:

had to wake up at 7am to call DES about benefits. keep in mind i havent been sleeping for like a week i am waking up at least eveyr hour sometimes eveyr 20 minutes all night long i wake up more exhuasted than when i go to bed and BONUS my chronic pain is through the roof and staying in bed is physically painful. i have no clear solution for this until i see a physical therapist and a neurologist. so i call DES and am immediatley very sick. im on hold while i have to clean up my sick mess. im exhausted. im on hold for over an Hour despite calling them the second they open. i finally talk to someone for this """totally necessary interview""" shes asks me like 5 questions that were already answered when i called TWO WEEKS AGO to APPLY. she CLAIMSm y account is no longer spliced with my roommates but has no proof. i tell her that when i log into the portal/account ive had for SIX YEARS i cannot see the latest application. she says theres nothing she can do and thats and IT problem. great. so i cant upload any documents online. she says i have to uplaod proof through an email with each document in a seperate email so it doesnt ""overwhelm the system."" im bashing my head in the wall but sure. ask her if theres anything else. yse. she now claims that i have to CALL AGAIN anytime that i submit a documentb c if i dont THEY WILL NOT BE NOTIFIED OF THE DOCUMENT BEING RECIEVED...... WHAT??? i say ive been doing this for 6 years and have NEVER encounted this what is she talking about when did this become a thing. she says 'well during covid we couldnt do in person so you ahve to call.' i tell her ive been doing this 6 years and have alwyas doen eveyrthing online fully and completley. and remind her i called the second they opened and was on hold for OVER AN HOUR. she insists this is ""how it is."" im about to cry. i manage to thank her and hang up and try calling the number she gave me for IT. its now a little past 9am i was on the phone with her for an hour to answer 5 questions i alreayd answered previously. i call the IT number. the recording says they haev too high a call volume and to call back later and hang up. theyve been open 2 hours. i ahve to go to w0rk at 11. and act like eveyrthings fine despite having no access to see my application and getting compellte mixed messages form eveyroen i talk to on the phone and beign told to JUST CALL AGAIN when EVYER interaction with them has taken me 2-3 hours that i ahve to WAKE UP AT 7AM for.

add that to the growng stress of i think i might lose my state insurance and thus wouldnt be able to afford my necessary medication let alone my continuouse doctor visits as my conditioning is worsening. so. understandably id say i had a complete breakdown on my lunch br3ak and have been internally battling my panicked suicidal ideation by trying to be kind to myself and take care of my needs so. yeah. im litterally at the end of my rope and i am. just refusing to ever call them again after the shit show ive been through for weeks on end in addition to my sharply declining health. so. well. 👍

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jozyallen · 2 years

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The Rabbit Hole of Social Media

I know I am not supposed to summarize but Emma Rathbone’s article was an allusion of what life was like before the internet. She created an environment that seemed stress free, leisurely, and peaceful. I found myself longing to exist in that space. In today’s fast paced, constantly moving world, the thought of this oasis is highly desirable. Social media is a great influence in my life. Between Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and texting, I spend 23 hours a week on social media, 25 hours total on my phone. One would call it a waste of time, but I believe that it is the way the world is today. Everything in today’s world is instantaneous. Changes to schedules, emails from professors, assignment due dates, catching a friend for lunch, things change within seconds. I am excited to participate in the social media experiment because I know I have an attachment to my phone and social medias.

When I was a sophomore in high school, I went on a 10 day trip to Europe. I reasoned that it made no sense to bring my phone across seas where the internet was questionable, and LTE had to be paid for. So for 10 days I did not have my phone or any personal internet device. I will be honest, I went days without needing it and then one of the days I logged into my Snapchat on my friend's phone and that was the rabbit hole. From there on out, I felt the constant need to check my social medias, I convinced myself that I was missing out on something even though I genuinely had no proof. I think the influence of others connecting with friends, sharing them pictures and making new friends in Europe, made me long for the same type of experience. All in all, I am grateful that I did not bring my phone, I was able to enjoy my surroundings and fully experience my trip without a screen in my face.

When it comes to being more intentional with my use of technology, I want to limit the excessiveness. I will go on my phone, open snapchat, scroll for 2 sec, and then turn off my phone, completely useless. ADHD might be a contribution; I always have to be doing something with my hands but regardless it’s a useless action. Max Stossels honed in on the fact that a lot of us do things on social media just because other individuals around us are doing it. He mentioned that we felt obligated to participate in snapchat streaks because it measured our popularity or who we were friends with. As a teenager I completely agree with this, I am not as malleable as other, I no longer participate in streaks. I think it is ridiculous when individuals freak out about the ticking emoji.

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spiralmantra · 1 day

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Why to use Prometheus and Grafana for Monitoring Microservices

If you are searching for this content I believe that you have successfully written and deployed your microservice or maybe you want to make your microservice adventure future proof. The next step is setting up monitoring. The methodical process of compiling actionable data and records is called monitoring. Software's observability is a crucial feature that is sometimes overlooked. To better comprehend a problem when it arises, you need to be able to see what your application is doing at various levels. There are numerous open-source projects and tools available to assist you in becoming more visible. Three components are taken into consideration while discussing observability: logs, traces, and metrics.

What is Prometheus and Grafana?

Monitoring sector has attained heights with the two most popular tools called Grafana and Prometheus. Prometheus is an open-source time-series database and PromQL is its primary query language that provides excellent support for bespoke query languages and data modeling. Grafana is an online visualization tool that can handle many different kinds of graphs and charts. Metrics from Prometheus are fed into Grafana, which displays them through dashboards. Additionally, importing predefined dashboards from open sources is quite simple. These are both free and simple to use tools, however in order to address Prometheus's scalability and high availability problems, you will need to employ a lot of other tools.

How Prometheus and Grafana operate?

After speaking with it about the given questions, Grafana overlays charts. Prometheus obtains metrics using a pull-based methodology, which implies that they are gathered by it from various sources specified in its configurations at predetermined intervals. With its Pushgateway, support for push-based metrics can be enabled. It will retrieve them from Pushgateway, where they can be pushed by a producer. Alert manager is a tool that is used to configure alerts, which can be sent via email, Slack, or PagerDuty. Thanos can query from the servers in the backend and therefore it can be helpful in scaling prometheus to achieve high availability. Hence, it can ease the challenging horizontal scaling

Prometheus for Collecting Metrics

Prometheus scrapes metrics from an application that are stored and displayed in a time series database and can be queried in real-time with the triggered alerts. It caters in works like counter, gauge, histogram, and summary. They can be retrieved and filtered efficiently using key-value pairs, enabling efficient querying and filtering. PromQL processes complex queries, aggregations, and transformations on collected data. A regular collection from various endpoints allows it to analyze or visualize them and trigger alerts when certain conditions are met. It's possible to set it up to create alerts based on specified threshold situations, so you'll always know when certain metrics go above predetermined bounds. After gathering metrics Grafana and other similar tools are used to publish them.

Grafana for Metrics in Publishing

The popular open-source observability platform Grafana is used to create intuitive user interfaces for data visualization and analysis from devices like Prometheus. To gain insightful insights, you can develop user-friendly dashboards with visually appealing and flexible data presentations. Grafana enables the creation of interactive dashboards for the purpose of exploring metrics through a variety of visualization options, including tables, charts, heatmaps, graphs, and more. Grafana includes several useful features, such as template variables that allow you to dynamically filter and switch between metrics, which speeds up the process of creating dashboards that you can reuse.

Conclusion

Prometheus and Grafana have several benefits, but the main ones are that they are easy to use, free, and offer good observability for your stack. On the other hand, hosting them costs money, and managing them manually takes time. In addition, scaling Prometheus beyond a certain point will require a significant investment in engineering resources. And as we all know, complexity increases with scale, increasing the likelihood of malfunctions. Here's where Spiral Mantra, a native K8s platform, comes in. It helps you monitor your whole K8s stack, spot problems, find their source, and figure out what steps to do to troubleshoot effectively and on your own.

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