I've been seeing more often (and others have posted the same) that some of the elements of "Reddit etiquette" seem to be taking over here. Luckily I can still find discussion comments but it seems the jokes and general "downvote because I disagree" are slowly taking over.

So the question becomes is it the size or the functionality of the site? The people or popularity? What's your thoughts?

edit: should I change it to Lemmy-hivemind? Exhibit A: the amount of downvotes without a single explanation (guessing it's anything to do with Reddit being talked about).

I just wanted to use my voice to let everyone know about this since it seems to be something they want to Streisand effect. I made a discussion on the stormgate steam page about how their EULA has a bad link to their privacy policy and asked why the information listed in the policy is being collected. It had to go through the review process since it contained links and then after being posted was deleted from my history after an hour (I guess when someone actually laid eyes on it)

For the full details I already made a post in the privacy community asking if this was a common occurrence. I'm attempting to reach out through other avenues for some type of explanation but just getting crickets or brick walls. Please use caution and common sense when downloading and consenting to agreements from game companies.

The highlights if you don't feel like clicking the link:

In particular, we have collected the following categories of personal information from consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver's license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers.

A name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver's license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information.

Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.

Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer's interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.

Physical location or movements.

Rather peeved about all of this. Been waiting for this game for ages and was excited about the F2P aspect then found out a lot of elements of the game are locked behind paywalls making the full game costing way over most AAA games. Ok, lets roll on anyways and see what the game has to offer. Then I get to the privacy policy and realize they're using anti-cheat services to monitor your game, I continued reading the user agreement and then had to find their actual privacy policy page because they have it listed under a different url then what they have posted. Some Highlights from the user agreement:

You may not host, provide or develop matchmaking services for the Product, or intercept, emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Frost Giant in any way, for any purpose, including without limitation unauthorized play over the internet, network play (except as expressly authorized by Frost Giant), or as part of content aggregation networks.

You may not organize, promote or participate in an esports competition for the Product which has not been licensed by Frost Giant.

You may not play on another user's Account

In order to safeguard its licensing rights, when you are using the Product, Frost Giant may monitor your hardware random access memory (RAM)

You understand that the mere presence of unauthorized cheat software on your device, whether or not you use that unauthorized software while playing the Game, may result in Frost Giant exercising its full rights under this Agreement.

Acknowledgments. You acknowledge that:

• The Game which is the object of the Alpha or Beta Test is a work in progress and may contain bugs which may cause loss of data and/or damage to your computer system;
• You have, or will, back-up your hard drive prior to installation of the Beta;
• You have the resources necessary to easily reinstall the operating system for the computer system that you will use to take part in the Alpha or Beta Test as well as to restore any and all data that may be lost;

It just goes on and on with some really sketchy stuff, then I get to the privacy policy:

Your contact information/identifiers, such as your name, your gamer id, mailing address, email address, employer, primary language, country, social media credentials. preferred games and date of birth. If you contact us by telephone, we will also retain your telephone number.

Your geolocation data, if your device settings allow us to collect such information.

Your account preference information, such as your contact, communication and marketing preferences.

Your device and browsing information, including non-personally identifiable information about your phone, tablet, computer or device and online browsing activity, which may be automatically collected. This may include IP addresses, unique identifiers, cookie identifiers, browser language, device and browser settings and broad location-based information, and internet service provider information. It may also include information about when and how you accessed and used our Sites, how you navigated to our Sites (such as the date and time of your visit), the links you clicked, the websites you visited before and after our Sites, and what you searched for while on our Sites.

Analytics & Interest-Based Ads. We partner with third parties (like sponsors, content providers, and analytics companies) to help us improve our Services and better understand how you interact with them, as well as to support our marketing initiatives and ad campaigns. These companies may collect info from you automatically in connection with your visit.

And the really scary part

In particular, we have collected the following categories of personal information from consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

• A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver's license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers.
• A name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver's license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information.
• Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
• Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer's interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.
• Physical location or movements.

Third party service providers. - From time to time, Frost Giant may need to transmit your personal data to vendors or service providers that enable us to market, sell, or deliver our services. These service providers may require certain personal information in order to perform specific services on our behalf, such as cloud service and data storage, beta testing, tech support to enhance game operations, chat, customer support, social login, fulfillment and shipping, email and newsletter delivery, conducting surveys, payment processing, tournament operation, anti-cheat and fraud prevention, web hosting or web analytics. Such partners include:

Steam
Epic Online Services
RallyCry
Hathora
Brevo
Eventbrite
AWS
Sentry.io 
Google
Easy Anti-Cheat 
GGWP
Untapped
Kakao Games
ModSquad

I've stopped playing previous games that use these tactics and programs because there's just too many other games that don't require these that are available. This was a game I was hoping to get back into with some RTS friends I've made along the way, Is this just the way of the world or something to avoid?

Sorry for the vague question but I'm hoping there's a lot I"m missing. I know I can edit the side bar, icon, and banner. Make the community public or private and there's a "mod posting only" option. But is that it?

Some things I'm wondering about,

• can I turn downvotes off or is that an instance only thing? (fan community, off topic would just be removed)
• Is there any other way to manipulate the community page like backgrounds etc?
• Flair's or post tags? Any community settings I looked over?
• Allowing or disallowing bots (again is this an instance thing?)

I'm fine with what it is, just wanted to make sure there wasn't more I was missing with my options in the community.

Bonus question, besides crossposting and the "new communities" community sections, is there anything else I should do with a fresh community?

I know some companies offer 90-day returns etc, but what item would you think everyone would benefit from if it was an industry standard to have a test drive like new cars?

My nitpick would be microwaves. I have tried picking out what I thought was decent microwaves in the past but it's hard to know exactly how it functions without using it. For instance, my microwave has an express button (30 seconds) or a minute plus button. You can only use one of them, if you've hit the minute button the express button doesn't let you add 30 seconds while it's active and vice versa. Also the beeping, even if you hit the stop button and open the door when it gets to 0 seconds, it still goes through it's "I'm done" beeping which is loud and repetitive making you stop it at 1 second and still having to click cancel which makes noise. So what's your choice?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/18883492

These guys have quickly become one of my new favorite creators to follow. Their dedication and creativity reminds me of Joel Haver with the depth of some of their videos (slightly different genre I would say though).

Two other videos I would recommend in order: Perfect-Timing Villian (staring Dante Basco, Rufio from "Hook") and a kinda sequel to that, A Villain's Perfect Mind Palace (this video made me realize this wasn't just a casual comedy group but seriously talented and making bits that just completely pull you in).

Starting to transfer to a spreadsheet instead of my usual paper notebook I list all my electronics in to get a grasp on all my parts (towers, laptops, memory, motherboards, videocards, etc). Lately I've been on a kick of labeling all my shelves (medicine, linen, kitchenware) and trying to sort things into random plastic bins I've had laying around waiting for a purpose.

I realize I could dive into deep rabbit holes for every category. With electronics I'm thinking of documenting every chip, board, and component along with compatibilities. Pantries and personal goods could be inventoried and auto-reordered, better tracking of my tools and materials with service reminders for equipment, etc etc.

I've gone through years where I throw everything away and get rid of anything not used recently and years where I horde everything and anything. Seems moderation in both is key and why keeping it all in mind and documented seems like the right thing to do if you have the time to kill.

tldr, what tips or tricks do you use to keep up with all your shit?

I think this is the biggest problem I see in people trying to understand deeper fields of study, a concept is just too large or out of our perceived reality to even make sense without years of knowledge. I think people fall into the "woo woo" just because it's easier to not really know versus becoming a doctorate in a field of study who has slowly built that knowledge on the fundamental principles needed.

But either way, when you start, you just have to accept that something has a cause and effect. We can't see most fields, just have to accept they are there and interacting the proposed ways because of our tiny little sensors. Sometimes, we just have to say "ok" even if it boggles the mind.

I've officially concluded I'm at a loss for how to determine if a product is worth it's cost anymore.

• Brand loyalty with local retailers is non-existent anymore, big box stores etc all seem to be switching manufacturers and I can't buy the same products that were offered before

• Online reviews are no longer reliable. On site, it's paid reviews by "special" users who are given perks to review. Off site it's paid affiliation links, all of which scream "conflict of interest" to an actual honest review.

• Ratings are no longer functional. I can view 20+ products and all 1 star reviews or even 5 star reviews just look like copy/paste from competitors or their own employees. Every product has the same reviews now.

• Quality Control is gone. It's all being mass produced with no oversight, it's a hit or miss type of ordering now. What's perfect for one person, another person will get defective products repeatedly (even auto parts, store brand tools do the same thing)

• Return windows are a joke, or you pay extra so you can return something defective after 30 days. This doesn't always mean the product is less defective, but if it does then they've just hidden their full product cost in extra "charges".

• Less often, companies quality tank when switching manufacturers or lowering production costs. I have no clue how to officially keep up with this unless it's random friends/co-workers or a forum post I stumble onto.

So, besides paying 10x-20x more for a high priced company to hold my hand and apologize for every mistake they make (and they sometimes still ship defective products), what are some effective methods you've used to purchase a decent product that will perform for the entirety of it's intended lifetime?

Currently remodeling a domicile, with the sweet and expensive ability to add anything I want within reason. I plan on modernizing the place to bring it into the 21st century because this house deserves it (just a great structure with lots of history and nearing it's centennial birthday).

Luckily, everything is built perfectly for access so nothing is off the table. I came onto this property with my own server "rack" and a mini diy setup for network debauchery, but plan on expanding that and installing a mini-server "room" (a fancy closet I might install in a "dead space" that I can pipe duct work in and out of).

I will be running all new electrical, A/C, Telecom lines, the whole works. I'm currently in the process of ripping out all the old coaxial, phone, piping, anything not ran properly or of a modern importance (probably reinstall phone and doorbell circuits but they're currently strewn everywhere from previous installers). I'm also creating up to date blueprints for the structure and including mechanical systems/engineering schematics for anything I'm doing or plan to do. All of this will be saved to a USB for the next owner and printed out for a laminated notebook to stay with the house (maybe a copy for myself for the nostalgia one day).

The only 2 things I KNOW I want to do is installing

• a monitor with a pi that will run a weather and local data program that I've been working on into the kitchen area

• a multi-camera cctv system (local and offsite backup) with a monitor in a neutral-shared living area.

I will probably leave those parts of the system installed here unless it's requested to be removed. I actually would love to leave everything here as a full system package for someone to "inherit" with the house but I'm not sure if that's a benefit or a hindrance someone wants to receive.

There's 3 different plans in the works (3/5/10 year plans, we are here for family but that will eventually not be required and we desperately want out of this area), depending on the time frame I might need to put in

• monitoring stations for renewable energy systems (solar/wind),

• a personalized-home weather monitoring system (barometric,temp,humidity) with a display and functionality to control the mechanical systems (A/C adjustment, daylight sensors for shades/lighting, etc),

and a bunch of other off the wall ideas I've been wanting to tinker with. Unfortunately most videos out there of "home setups" include someone with 10x my price bracket and their system is designed for themselves and their specific equipment in mind. I'm wanting to install something more generic that anyone would have use for (like weather and security). There are really only 2 "office areas" that I think would require a hardline besides any monitors I have to install for systems (I don't mind running wiring, but I don't think every room needs an ethernet port to be functional, or am I wrong thinking this way?). I will probably need to install repeaters in two locations though to cover the entire property in wifi because old houses gobble signals up but inside everything "just" reaches.

Everything I've done with my network so far I've gotten around needing a switch (it would've saved me a lot of hassle in the past but I usually find a way to get everything connected or just disconnect unused equipment that's ran it's course), but at this point I can't expand any further without a headache. So now I'm looking at new tech and equipment I don't have hands-on experience with and don't know it's proper use/limitations which I don't like when making action plans. I figured just trying to get a general sense of what people want or see would be a better angle to come at since I don't do this professionally and don't have the insider knowledge of the taboos of home networking infrastructure.

TLDR: What kind of wiring, connection setups are important to you and won't be obsolete after a few years? What do you consider a "modern" house to have or are decent "quality of life" improvements like lighting control, sensors, etc? What's your best case scenario of equipment when walking into a house and seeing a pre-installed setup?

edit: I'm not sure why but for some reason I'm not seeing everyone's comments (assuming de-federated instances from .ml but seeing it since I posted on .world), if I don't respond I apologize and will probably look for a new instance if this is the case.