Nadya

The page is cached and your token expires after a bit. If you read a thread and then spend time typing up a post you’ve likely crossed the threshold. Copying your post and simply refreshing the page is all that’s needed - you shouldn’t have to sign back in again.

I run my own file host: kimiga.aishitei.ru. Files get uploaded from clipboard using ShareX. This allows me to have control over my own files, how long they last or if they should last forever, and I’m not dependent on a benevolent developer preventing my links from rotting 8 years from now when they close down their host due to it costing them too much or simply because they got bored of being a sysadmin/dealing with issues (or users) of their site.

I used to donate to pomf.se and used that as the image host because I was a supporter of the sysadmin - but it eventually grew too large and had to shut down. Then a bunch of pomf.se clones popped up and I used one of those - can’t remember which one but then that one shut down too after only a year. That’s when I decided to set up my own host.

I don’t allow other users on the site because I don’t feel like having to deal with what users upload, DMCA requests, morally gray areas, etc.

.ru domains are sometimes blocked so my backup is catbox.moe

Drew DeVault wrote a blog post back in 2014 that kind of covers it. Imgur seems to have broke the cycle but that doesn’t mean they haven’t gone to shit. They’ve just somehow avoided collapsing underneath themselves as they continue the enshittification of Imgur.

I am fundamentally opposed to nearly all forms of advertising at an ideological level and go to great lengths to avoid it in as many of its insidious forms as possible. So that is where Drew and I differ. The only form of advertising I appreciate are extremely dry infomercials (no not the for-TV kind) and authentic word of mouth (not to be confused with “native” advertising or sponsors). Ads are a net negative on humanity and in too many ways to list but because the effects go through a layer of indirection - similar to how secondhand smoke is harmful for non-smokers. People are more OK with ads. It took making the public aware of secondhand smoke and the harm that smoking causes - even for non-smokers - before people took a privileged stance against smoking. That same level of awareness and condemnation will never happen with ads because people are OK with getting things “for free” that they otherwise would have to pay for. So they’ll willingly turn a blind eye to the harmful effects of advertisements and “put up with them”.

Fuck ads.

I’ve been playing Runescape since grade school. I’m approaching a bit shy of 25,000 hours played (a little under 3 years). As an AFK’able “second monitor game” a good half of that is just “I’m at my computer anyway” but the other half is actual investment/more active playing.

I don’t bother playing a game if I’m not going to invest a significant amount of time into it. I aim for 100% completion or reaching the top 0.1% of players if there is a competitive ranking system. It’s extremely rare for me to play a game that I don’t dump a minimum of 500 hours into.

My play time is less now than it was when I was a teen but it’s still skewed towards the higher end due to me being fortunate enough to work from home with a FIFO queue of work. If my work is done - I can game during work hours if I want to. As long as I keep close tabs on my queue and handle anything as it comes in. This gives me 8~ hours of potential game time that I otherwise wouldn’t have. Since I need to be near my computer in case any work comes in - I’m pretty limited with activities I can do. I can lift some weights, browse the internet, cook a quick meal, or play video games. But I can’t really leave the house, go swim in the pool, etc.

Read my post in its entirety. I specifically gave a shout to Mullvad at the end there. :P

It can make such broad claims because it’s entirely based on facts. VPN’s are a trust-based system where the only evidence they don’t keep logs prior to getting a court order is “Trust us bro” and, historically, more of these services have been found to actually be storing records (or legally must store 30/60 days worth depending on their country of origin) than not.

If you would like a more in-depth and thorough explanation as a technical breakdown for non-technical people there is this blog post or even this blog if the “TL;DR” explanation didn’t cut it for you.

Regarding profit motives of VPN’s - see also:

• https://www.skadligkod.se/vpn/the-trustworthy-of-vpn-review-sites-and-how-affiliate-programs-affects-their-opinion/
• https://restoreprivacy.com/kape-technologies-owns-expressvpn-cyberghost-pia-zenmate-vpn-review-sites/

Here’s a real fun one!

This site: https://thatoneprivacysite.net/choosing-the-best-vpn-for-you/ was purchased and now redirects to this site: https://www.safetydetectives.com/best-vpns/

Safety Detectives was purchased by non-other than drum roll please. Kape Technologies. How do I know this? Well let’s take a look at the Wayback Machine for TOPS.net.

What was the original claim?

You may have started your search for a VPN by looking for “VPN Reviews” in your search engine of choice. if you had, you would have gotten page upon page of what seem to be harmless review sites, top 10 or blog style reviews of different VPN services. You may even be coming here for confirmation of what you were told on those sites. The sites making these recommendations are, in almost every case, paid by the services they review and recommend.

Who owns PIA, ExpressVPN, and CyberGhost? The “best 3 VPN’s” recommended by safetydetectives.com? Kape Technologies.

Why should this concern you?

We’ll start with PIA’s owner, Kape Technologies. Kape Technologies was formerly known as Crossrider before it was acquired by one Teddy Sagi, an Israeli billionaire that has spent time in jail for insider trading. Crossrider itself never had that great a reputation itself, what with their primary product being a development platform through which they were frequently used by third parties to invade ad platforms to serve up malware, but whatever. Once acquired, the entire leadership structure was hollowed out, and the new Kape Technologies went on an acquisition spree. All of Kape’s purchased review sites suggest Kape owned VPN’s with “some consideration” given to Nord and Proton to maintain some kind of pretense at neutrality.

In short: Sagi is shady, his business is shady, and his business moves are shady, which makes the whole thing shady from top to bottom. Kape Technologies isn’t the only company to go on an acquisition spree for VPN’s either. Ask yourself why there is interest in consolidating VPN providers and how that data might be useful.

Every single modern VPN is a honeypot until proven otherwise. Mullvad is one of the few that has been able to prove otherwise.

I disagree: https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29

For most people a VPS would be cheaper and meet their actual needs.

A small suggestion, only because using monthly prices sometimes makes things seem even cheaper than they are. Change it from $Monthly Cost to $Monthly Cost ($Annual Cost). For example instead of $11/mo for Apple Music it would be $11 ($132) and instead of $33 it would be $33 ($396).

Doing this caused me to re-evaluate a number of monthly subscriptions I had, find cheaper (sometimes even free/“good enough”) alternatives. Other times it would make me realize I should update annual charges if it was available if it was something I planned to keep around anyway and the annual price was a good enough deal. It also causes you to re-evaluate which price tier you pay for. Like for Nitro - do you really need the extra perks for $84/yr or do you only actually care about emotes and slightly larger file uploads and the $3/mo Basic package would be good enough? Often times people go “Oh it’s only $7/mo difference anyway” and get the better package but don’t actually use the extra features they’re paying for.