I would love to see less America doom and gloom on lemmy. Why should we be the center of everything? More European- and Canada-centric posts, please.

It seems like these news stories only get written when the victim is a cis person mistaken for being trans.

These will do nicely! Thank you, razorcandy.

Conservatives spent at least two decades saying that queer acceptance is a slippery slope would lead to the normalization of incest, then bestiality, then pedophila, in that order. And then it turns out that being conservative was the thing that led to pedophila all along. So I’m left feeling like every accusation is a confession, and that homophobia is their way of covering their tracks.

Everyone seems to be telling me that there’s still new releases, but seemingly not for anything I’m interested in. The last Blu-Ray I’ve been able to pick up was WandaVision. There was a time where basically 100% of movies got physical releases and, acknowledging confirmation bias, it does feel like those times are gone.

Region zones do indeed suck, but I installed custom firmware on my PS3 to remove the DVD/Blu-Ray region lock, and now it’s a non-issue.

And I use disc binders for most of my collection, unless it’s something I really want to display. Long-term, once my collection is complete, I do plan to rip everything.

It’s just a shame that DVDs and Blu-Rays for new movies aren’t really made anymore. They’re just leaving money on the table at this point that bootleggers in Malaysia are getting instead.

But still, absolutely. DVD all the way. I fixed the cord I cut back in 2015 and I’m much better off for it.

Same thing with the idea of “use a monopoly growth model”. What is the alternative? Actively making a product worse because everyone else is? Because that is collusion.

This question really highlights the danger of the growth-at-all-costs model in forcing every company to race to the bottom when one company does. The future of the human race may one day depend on killing technological progress and emphasizing stability over profits.

A huge problem with America’s and many other economic systems is that companies are incentivized to undercut the competition, use a monopoly growth model, acquire or push out competitors, and then screw the customer when the competitors are either gone or irrelevant.

Without guardrails, the bubble will burst and some other “affordable solution” will just show up to replace streaming, and then we’ll start all over again before it enshittifies too. But there won’t be guardrails anytime soon, and most refuse or are unable to vote with their wallets, so we’re just screwed.

I don’t know what the solution is, but as a consumer, I’m exhausted. I wish there were options to just buy products, sometimes more expensive ones to keep a steady, sustainable business model, for piece of mind that the company won’t stab me in the back someday.

Instead of trying to get Google money, I actually wish they would offer a monthly/annual/lifetime membership as the cost of not enshittifying to stay in business. And then severing ties with Google as a company.

A lot of tech companies are holding onto unsustainable business models from 10 years ago to make their products at a loss or “free,” and it’s forcing them into AI, oligarchy, or being beholden to oligarchs. End users paying a fair price to own the products they use is a better alternative than this because it puts the power back in our hands as opposed to tech bros and shareholders.

I showed this to my girlfriend and she told me it’s fate that doomed girls find each other. 💀

I’m sorry. I suppose I should have said “I don’t need the internet outside of work.”

No one needs the internet outside of work. The moment I’m forced to show my ID or get my face scanned, I’m done for good.

Physical these days is mostly dead, so long-term I’ve been going for DRM-free digital. GOG, 7digital or ripping via Foobar2000 for music, ebooks.com plus Calibre, and MakeMKV for DVDs. Steam’s DRM, when not paired with other DRM, is lenient enough where I’m okay with using that when no other options are available.

I do still like physical for some things. I prefer physical for PS3 games versus digital because most games read straight from the disc, and install sizes a significantly smaller if you go that route. That generation of gaming really respected your hard drive. I don’t like buying a disc and then still having to install 100 GB to my hard drive – at that point, why bother?

And I like getting consoles and flashcarts physical, but not the games themselves. There’s nothing as cozy and nostalgic as playing 3DS games on the original hardware, but I don’t need all the cartriges. Everdrive with the Genesis Model 1 is also my preferred way of playing that console so I can experience the original music through the built-in headphone jack.

The exception to that is I’m a sucker for physical game media that has connectivity with other media. So I have a physical copy of Pokemon HeartGold with the Poke Walker, and too many DDR dance pads. I really want that GBA game Kojima made where the cart has a solar panel and you build up energy to defeat vampires by going outside.

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Can people please stop using the genocide poem to talk about businesses indpendently choosing to moderate porn games on their platforms? The first time that poem was used, over six million people died. Whereas you just can’t goon on itch anymore.

I get why people are unhappy, but no one will die from this. There is no government mandate. This is tone-deaf and offensive for anyone who has or is currently experiencing genocide. People in my country are being rounded up and disappeared. This is in no way comparable and that poem should not be invoked.

There was a few years where I pretty much only used Flatpaks because I was scared of the terminal. But now that I’ve learned how to use the terminal, it’s so much more convenient because I can quickly update all my applications all in one place without having to open a separate app. Plus, some Flatpaks can fall really behind on software updates.

There might be a Linux userbase someday where no one other than developers actually knows how to use the terminal, because users can run everything they want without a command line, but maybe that’s actually a good thing because it’ll drive up how many people use a Linux distro.

With Windows and Mac, there’s a shareholder incentive to enshittify. With Linux, if a distro goes bad and gets commercialized, there’s always another distro people can move to, not to mention there’s no financial incentive. The more people get on Linux, the less power these tech companies have. Personally, that and privacy are what drew me to Linux much more so than being able to tinker or fine-tune my experience.

I think that refers to the White Anglo Saxon Protestants who are often the parents of incels and who likely won’t have grandkids.