DarthYoshiBoy's recent activity

  1. Comment on Starting a community-maintained Tildes source code fork in ~tildes

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    You had me going for a second there, I'm glad I skipped to see the /s at the end before I started to lose it.

    You had me going for a second there, I'm glad I skipped to see the /s at the end before I started to lose it.

    11 votes
  2. Comment on Honey did nothing wrong in ~tech

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link
    I admit no right. I use an extension* specifically to strip affiliate trackers (and other tracking information) from links I click. Anyone can do this manually if they wish, it's not hard. 90% of...

    If we admit some right to control the user's browser's behavior on the part of affiliate marketers, why would that right stop at interference by Honey?

    I admit no right.

    I use an extension* specifically to strip affiliate trackers (and other tracking information) from links I click. Anyone can do this manually if they wish, it's not hard. 90% of the time (or more) everything past the first ? in a URL these days is junk you can drop without any loss of functionality. Affiliate marketers aren't controlling anyone's browser behavior by constructing links as they do, the option exists at any time for any user to modify that link as they wish before proceeding. The user has control at every juncture here, regardless of whether the majority will lazily opt into whatever tracking is presented to them (and crucially, the affiliates are making users aware of this behavior.)

    Honey is, without user knowledge, setting a tracking cookie and overriding the specific behavior that the user has opted for by any of 1) implicit acceptance from clicking the link unmodified, 2) utilizing a browser/extension that strips such information, or 3) cleaning links themselves. You can call that doing nothing wrong, but you are wrong to do so. Google has kicked other extensions from their marketplace in the past for modifying affiliate trackers without user knowledge, so there's a clear history of this not being okay, it's honestly shocking that Honey hasn't been immediately pulled for doing likewise.

    *I do not use and have never used the Honey extension in the interest of transparency. I always suspected that they were up to shenanigans, as I do for anyone who claims to be providing a no-strings attached free lunch.

    15 votes
  3. Comment on All main Disney animated canon films are going to be destroyed and you can save five, which five do you pick? in ~movies

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    Oliver and Company. 🤦‍♂️ That should have been in my Runner's Up. Super under appreciated.

    Oliver and Company. 🤦‍♂️ That should have been in my Runner's Up. Super under appreciated.

  4. Comment on All main Disney animated canon films are going to be destroyed and you can save five, which five do you pick? in ~movies

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link
    I'm excluding 3D computer animation, because this gets super hard if I'm considering the wealth of Pixar and some of the recent bangers. Even still, this was much harder than I thought it was...

    I'm excluding 3D computer animation, because this gets super hard if I'm considering the wealth of Pixar and some of the recent bangers. Even still, this was much harder than I thought it was going to be, there are so many more than 5 that I would want to keep, but in order my 5 would be...

    1. Emperor's New Groove
    2. A Goofy Movie
    3. Lilo & Stitch
    4. The Sword in the Stone
    5. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

    Runners Up: The Rescuers, The Great Mouse Detective, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Princess and the Frog

    7 votes
  5. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~movies

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    It's probably the same version that Rifftrax has on their platform. While It's A Wonderful Life is in the public domain, there is a portion that someone (Warner Brothers?) was able to argue was a...

    It's probably the same version that Rifftrax has on their platform. While It's A Wonderful Life is in the public domain, there is a portion that someone (Warner Brothers?) was able to argue was a separate piece from the rest of the movie and they were able to get the government to grant them copyright for that portion of the movie.

    So while Amazon claims they have the original version also on the platform, they're probably steering people towards the one that omits the portion still under copyright (the best part) so they don't have to pay anyone to steam it for you.

    15 votes
  6. Comment on Honda and Nissan announce plans to merge, creating world's third-largest automaker in ~transport

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    I own a 2016 Nissan Leaf and it has been nothing short of excellent.

    I own a 2016 Nissan Leaf and it has been nothing short of excellent.

    10 votes
  7. Comment on Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake video game review in ~games

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    I'm not OP, but I come from a similar place regarding this remake. The ability to recruit a party of adventurers of your choice, grow those characters in their classes, and eventually re-class...

    Any parts of the game in particular that stand out fondly in your memory?

    I'm not OP, but I come from a similar place regarding this remake.

    The ability to recruit a party of adventurers of your choice, grow those characters in their classes, and eventually re-class them later and create some truly wild builds is the thing that keeps me returning to DQ3 all these years later.

    I played it originally on the NES and I've replayed it every time it's gotten a port to a new system. I generally return to the Fan Translation of the SNES port every other year or so just because I love the story, the art, the mechanics, and just about everything they're putting down there. The party creation options and the job system are really what makes it a joy to play over and over again. Many games have done jobs, DQ3 set the mold and it's rarely been matched since.

    2 votes
  8. Comment on Severance | Season 2 official teaser in ~tv

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    Thank you kind stranger, that's the single piece of information I wanted and here it is without spoilers or addendums.

    Thank you kind stranger, that's the single piece of information I wanted and here it is without spoilers or addendums.

    1 vote
  9. Comment on It is time to do away with the empty recurring weekly threads in ~tildes

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link
    The one recurring thread that I think needs to be done away with is the Game Deals thread. Deals are often valid for less than a week, and as Wario64 continues to show (At least I assume, I have...

    The one recurring thread that I think needs to be done away with is the Game Deals thread. Deals are often valid for less than a week, and as Wario64 continues to show (At least I assume, I have given up the dead bird site,) they happen at all times of the day every day of the week. Forcing deals to a single thread defeats the point of even having deal posts since there's little to no visibility here when a new deal drops and for the best deals you're often going to miss out if you're not there in the first brief moments of a deal being live. Which all in turn means that the motivation for people to try and share deals here where they'll be buried in a week old thread that may disappear tomorrow is basically zero.

    I rarely see any of those threads with more than a comment or two outside of Steam Sale weeks, and those are typically just people talking about what they like in the sale that everyone and their dog already knows is happening, which I guess is fair enough since it's nice to hear what people are enjoying out there, but it's basically useless as a means of finding good deals. Hell, the whole ethos of this site where in-depth content is supposed to be king basically makes deal posts as they're intended to function a non-starter here because they're shallow AF and only intended to share one piece of timely information and maybe possibly follow that up with an indication when the deal has ended. There's nothing discussion-wise happening in 90% of posts to deals forums, that's not the point. Either allow individual deal posts with appropriate labels, or do away with the mega threads, the middle ground we're in now is basically worse than worthless because it's clutter that reminds me of better times with sites I've since given up that take deals seriously.

    4 votes
  10. Comment on Concord is estimated to have sold only 25,000 units. Here’s why analysts think it’s failing. in ~games

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link
    I wonder if they dumped their whole marketing budget into trying to pull a Massive Attack with a "sly declaration of new classic status slipped into a list of old safe ones" by getting Secret...

    I wonder if they dumped their whole marketing budget into trying to pull a Massive Attack with a "sly declaration of new classic status slipped into a list of old safe ones" by getting Secret Level to do an episode dedicated to their new IP to top off the cluster fuck outlined in this article.

    7 votes
  11. Comment on Viral hot sauce challenges have fueled a $100 million chile pepper arms race in ~food

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    I'd largely agree, but ghost peppers actually have an amazing flavor that I love and I recommend anyone who enjoys heat and pepper flavor should not sleep on ghost peppers.

    once you get pass the habanero level, the peppers don't taste very good.

    I'd largely agree, but ghost peppers actually have an amazing flavor that I love and I recommend anyone who enjoys heat and pepper flavor should not sleep on ghost peppers.

    6 votes
  12. Comment on Apple’s requirements (subscription model only) to hit creators and fans on Patreon in ~tech

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    Valve allows devs to cut their own keys for their software that the dev can sell outside of Steam at a 0% cost to the dev (Well, 0% Valve incurred costs, there are likely costs for doing your own...

    Valve allows devs to cut their own keys for their software that the dev can sell outside of Steam at a 0% cost to the dev (Well, 0% Valve incurred costs, there are likely costs for doing your own independent sales, but they're likely less than 30% all told.) The devs still get to use Steam's infrastructure for automatic patching, promotion, bandwidth, forums, user content, and everything else that comes with Steam and the only tradeoff is that they pay 30% for the purchases that happen within Steam. Hell, they allow you to sell your game directly without any Steam integration at all and still use Steam backend services (matchmaking and such) if you like so long as your game is also offered for sale on Steam. Granted that process isn't just plug and play, it takes a lot of heavy lifting on your end as a dev to integrate everything, but you can do it if you choose, it's at the very least allowed.

    It's not even remotely the same as Apple's situation. Apple doesn't allow apps outside of their walled garden and they very much don't allow you to make money on your app without them getting a cut. They won't allow you to use your own services when an Apple version exists, they won't allow you to do your own payments, they won't suffer you even suggesting that there's an alternative out there, let alone encourage someone to leverage one.

    I honestly don't think anyone can look at the competition in Steam's space and claim that what they're doing is easy. If that were the case, we'd have anything other than EGS, the UPlay store, Origin EA Desktop, or any of the other alternatives that offer far lesser experiences. Given that Steam is willing to allow devs to sell their game outside of Steam, taking a 0% cut of that sale, while still availing all the advantages of the Steam platform speaks to me that Valve are earning their 30% when they make a sale inside of their store. Given that they're subsidizing all the off-store Humble/Fanatical/GMG/IndieGala key sales that probably make the devs a decent chunk of change where Valve doesn't see a dime, the 30% in their store seems valid IMO. Apple is not providing anything near Steam value for the same 30%.

    8 votes
  13. Comment on Apple’s requirements (subscription model only) to hit creators and fans on Patreon in ~tech

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    Touché I guess it's just beyond the depths I previously imagined, but I suppose you don't become a trillion dollar company by allowing opportunities for greed and depravity to swing by unexploited.

    Touché

    I guess it's just beyond the depths I previously imagined, but I suppose you don't become a trillion dollar company by allowing opportunities for greed and depravity to swing by unexploited.

    2 votes
  14. Comment on Apple’s requirements (subscription model only) to hit creators and fans on Patreon in ~tech

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link
    Make no mistake, a bunch of small creators are going to take a substantial hit here and it's just awful that Apple is choosing to steal money from their pockets so that they can get 30% of a $2-5...

    Make no mistake, a bunch of small creators are going to take a substantial hit here and it's just awful that Apple is choosing to steal money from their pockets so that they can get 30% of a $2-5 monthly sub.

    Several of my Patreons are struggling to make it as is, this may well put them out of the business of creating art they love and as a dude who generally hates apps I just don't understand why Apple thinks they need to do this. It's just fucking greed for greed's sake when there's a website right there doing the same thing for no cost beyond the cost of running that site itself.

    12 votes
  15. Comment on ‘We’re living in a nightmare:’ Inside the health crisis of a Texas bitcoin town in ~tech

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    I call this the Kite Theory of politics. We (any democracy really) are a kite. To keep aloft we need a string holding us down. Cut the string or use a string that isn't strong enough (as...

    This is why I fully believe a balance between red and blue is necessary.

    I call this the Kite Theory of politics.

    We (any democracy really) are a kite. To keep aloft we need a string holding us down. Cut the string or use a string that isn't strong enough (as Republicans are wont to do) and the kite crashes to the ground eventually. Add too many or too heavy strings (as the right claims Democrats are wont to do, though I suspect our string is maybe not quite strong enough and may snap soon so I think Democrats are more right than wrong at the moment) and the kite is pulled down by the onerous weight of the strings.

    The real discussion in politics should be around "What is the appropriate amount and strength of string to keep us flying" (maybe occasionally discussing whether a kite from 1788 with some small modifications still has a place in the modern world, but I digress) however, the discussion as of late seems to be that Republicans are insisting (absent all scientific support) that we're a jet plane and we'll be okay without any strings, while the Democrats aren't willing to point out how absurd this notion of kite flight without an engine or strings is.

    23 votes
  16. Comment on Read the US Supreme Court’s ruling on immunity in ~society

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    Exactly this.

    Exactly this.

    "Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."

    7 votes
  17. Comment on Thirty years later, FreeDOS is still keeping the dream of the command prompt alive in ~tech

  18. Comment on Read the US Supreme Court’s ruling on immunity in ~society

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    Which I completely believe is a likely outcome, but it's exactly why people like you and I don't get to shrink back. It falls to us to make certain that those fence sitters see the importance of...

    My fear is that on the fence or indifferent voters choose to just stay home, thinking that it's not going to matter.

    Which I completely believe is a likely outcome, but it's exactly why people like you and I don't get to shrink back. It falls to us to make certain that those fence sitters see the importance of getting out there, no matter what, to vote against Trump. Nothing else matters if a narcissist like that can get the office of president and has only to designate that the repulsive things he will do are "official acts" to get them outside of scrutiny. We have to help the fence sitters see the incredible danger that poses to our democracy and motivate them to support court reform in line equal to the court's complacence in supporting this absurd notion that presidents are kings in an "official act" capacity.

    It's not a great first step we have in front of us, but it's the only step forward now that doesn't cut us down entirely. Sadly my mother and brother-in-law are both in the "Well, I'll find another way because I can't support either" camp and I honestly believe it's only because they hate politics and aren't paying attention enough to see what is unfolding right now. We've got to figure out how to reach those people or we do stand a very real chance of handing our government over to a autocratic dynasty of Trump family rule which will only serve sycophantic republican enablers and the Trump family ...and honestly only the former for as long as the latter suffers them.

    14 votes
  19. Comment on Read the US Supreme Court’s ruling on immunity in ~society

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    Just to reframe this for anyone who is feeling similarly, we're not yet defeated. The options before us are not the same. The fix for this isn't to give up and let Trump have the Whitehouse in...

    Just to reframe this for anyone who is feeling similarly, we're not yet defeated. The options before us are not the same. The fix for this isn't to give up and let Trump have the Whitehouse in 2025, it's to keep him out so that the legal matters can sort out and see his ass in jail.

    Hopefully we can see some Supreme Court reform along the way that makes it possible to have this terrible ruling nullified or neutered, but it's a hope we can only entertain if we can make that first step which is only this: DON'T ALLOW TRUMP TO REGAIN OFFICE.

    I don't love Biden going for a second term, it stinks, but it's what we've got and that means I'll hold my nose and pull the lever while I encourage anyone else who still has enough of a mind left to do likewise, to do likewise. They're both old and beyond their prime, but at least Biden isn't trying to destroy everything about our system and way of life and sadly that's the best we can expect at this point, there isn't some magical third way. We need to choose the option that allows for improvement in the future, not the option that destroys the future. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

    41 votes
  20. Comment on Steam users have spent $19 billion on games they’ve never played in ~games

    DarthYoshiBoy
    Link Parent
    WHAT?!?!? WHY DID NOBODY EVER TELL ME THIS? /s Seriously though. I'm planning on it. The Steam backlist isn't as bad as it seems since some of those unplayed Steam games are actually already...

    WHAT?!?!? WHY DID NOBODY EVER TELL ME THIS? /s

    Seriously though. I'm planning on it. The Steam backlist isn't as bad as it seems since some of those unplayed Steam games are actually already played Switch/PS5 games that I just wanted to be able to send more money towards games I loved. I manage to get through a decent amount of games already raising 3 kids and holding down a full time job, so I expect that when/if those start to slow down, the games will dry up pretty quick if there aren't new ones going into the stack.

    4 votes