Tag: Technology

Facebook Lost Me

I’m sorry to say, that I have to quit Facebook and Instagram. I can no longer cling to my ability to stay connected to my very small and scattered family, nor my wonderful friends, through these platforms.

But why? I mean, we know they are shady, and use our data against us, but we’ve always known that. Why now? What was the straw that broke the camel’s back, for me? This is why:

Facebook Fired An Employee Who Collected Evidence Of Right-Wing Pages Getting Preferential Treatment

I am ½ Jewish and ½ Catholic, by birth. As far as I know, my Jewish family came to the US before the Holocaust, and I did not lose part of my family tree in that genocide. As a white person, I cannot allow my privilege to dismiss what white supremacy has done and continues to do, to oppress Black and Brown people around the world. It may seem like this is not tangential, but this is how white supremacy seeps in, and we are all made to believe it’s not that big of a deal. It is.

If you are close family or friends, I will have messaged you to make sure you can contact me by phone and/or email. For everyone, I hope you’ll connect with me here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/misscrf
Medium: https://medium.com/@misscrf
My Blog: https://imagerotated.com/

I know I’m just one speck in Facebook and IG’s likely zettabytes of data specks, but I have to cut that off now. I have to cut off their ability to profit from my participation of their platform. Every click I make, every quiz I take, every post, every like, every comment, gives them data. They sell it to every bidder. Not just the highest bidder, but all of them. They are double-dealing, as they court the GOP who are intrinsically aligned with white supremacy. Comment on this post, if you would like me to detail that alignment, in another post. It is extensive.

Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook/IG will do anything they can, to ensure the US government doesn’t attempt to regulate them. They are using their massive power, to make sure we stay powerless. To make sure we don’t own our data. To make sure they own us.

I know Twitter has many of the same risks, as does YouTube, and Amazon, and so much of the internet. For now, I will do this as best I can. One step at a time. This is a big one, and one that doesn’t come lightly. It’s not just seeing what everyone is up to, and posting a portrait pic of that amazing culinary creation we just made. It’s a mechanism for being able to connect with the people we care about, readily.

It’s insidious, in that way. It latches on to that emotional connection, so it can be digitally leveraged against us.

I look forward to the day that we can own our data, and share it safely, with who we choose, without it being leveraged to help white supremacy. I hope I can come back, I really do.

I know, it’s totally uncool to announce your exit from the party. I’ve never been cool. This is a big change, and one that I don’t take lightly. These platforms take our big round world and make it digitally flat. My family is few and scattered across this country, and Facebook has been a lifeline. I will miss this mechanism for connecting with them, greatly.

For now, I would like to call on generation X, to help lead this charge for change. That is my generation. We are the generation who grew up riding in the back of the station wagon or pickup, with no seat belt. We took a beating and kept on going. We didn’t have the internet. We had cans with strings, and long walks or bike rides to see if our friends were home. We are also the generation that most people counted out. We were lost in the brutal shuffle of life, between boomers and millennials. This is what we were made for, and no one knew it, least of all us.

We can lead this charge, to disconnect from something that is making us sick. Those who have grown up with this technology may be unable to see this for what it is, but my hope is that older generations can. Generation X was the last generation, who grew up without social media and technology. We know that it’s not necessary. It’s a luxury. We can hold out for better. Being able to hold out, will make us stronger. We don’t need billions of dollars to do that. We just need to be able to take a beating and keep on going. We can make a hard choice, and all of us will be better off in the long run.

What can we do in the absence of using those platforms, in an active effort to regain control? We can vote. We can be informed about the candidates on the ballot this fall. We can vet information we read, and make sure to read the whole article. We can make sure our friends and family do the same. We can vote, and honor John Lewis, by demanding Mitch McConnell and the Senate pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4/text).

The House passed it last year. Mitch McConnell has called the Democrats’ attempts to expand access to voting, a power grab. Ensuring the will of the people is protected, is a power grab, as far as the GOP is concerned. They doesn’t want the will of the people to be heard. The GOP knows that if everyone in the country has access to vote, the GOP will lose. The Majority Leader of the US Senate is holding our voting rights, and election security hostage.

I know COVID sucks and a lot of things suck, but the reality is that we are the ones with the power. We have to fix this. We are the only ones who can. Voters. In 2016, 120 million Americans voted, but 90 million registered voters did not vote. We are 200 million strong, and growing, but we have to show up and be informed.

We have to call our reps and pressure them to make the changes we need. We have to vote out the ones who gaslight facts, voting rights, regulating the tech industry, science, and so much more. We have to show up and vote, even if our first choice isn’t on the ballot. We have to look at the 2 candidates at the top of every race and compare them not just to our wish list, but against each other. Who will do the least harm and the most good? We have to vote responsibly.

Then we must show up next year, and the year after, to make it better and better. That’s how a healthy democracy works.

This year, we must be prepared for USPS delays. Trump installed a Postmaster General (Dejoy), who is actively dismantling the USPS, and causing delays. They know that absentee and mail-in ballots must be postmarked and received by specific dates, in order to be valid. Election day is not November 3rd. It is well before that day.

We must verify our registration is active now, before any deadline passes. Most deadlines are 30 days before election, but it can take time to get a registration in, if your state doesn’t allow online registration. We need to contact our county Board of Elections now and request an absentee or mail-in ballot application.

When we get our ballots, we have to fill it out immediately and get our ballots back to our Board of Elections filled in exactly as required. Mail-in ballots are often invalidated for missing a signature on an envelope, or something seemingly innocent and simple. We can’t be afraid to ask each other for help, to make sure our vote counts.

We also need to be prepared, to not get the results of the election on November 3rd. Start having that conversation now. Many states don’t open mail-in ballots until after election day. Whether that is a good policy or not, it is the policy now. Want it to change? Keep paying attention and communicating with your state government, but I suggest lobbying for those changes after this election. The state election laws are not going to change, before November.

We have to be willing to be patient, and demand that every vote be counted. Trump will absolutely call the election rigged, when we don’t have the results immediately after the election, particularly if it looks like he is already losing. He has a well-established pattern of denigrating our institutions of democracy. Don’t be a willing participant in his anti-democratic rhetoric.

I know that spending your time getting out the vote, and talking to voters about an election, does not sound as satisfying as talking to friends and family on Facebook, or posting pics and videos on IG. I get it. I’m asking something really hard. I don’t expect many will join me, but I figure I might as well make the pitch, for why this is so important, seeing as I’m making this big change.

As for my friends and family on Facebook and IG, we can see each other again, and IRL hopefully. I will miss seeing your beautiful children grow. I will miss sending you digital support when you need it. I will miss posting all my political awareness posts, hoping everyone reads them and takes them to heart. I will miss being part of conversations with people I haven’t seen in years.

Sci-fi nerds like me, love to dream of time travel. Facebook certainly didn’t accomplish that, but memories popping up in your timeline can feel like you can almost grasp it. Revisit your past. Feel those feelings. All the while, powerful people are watching our interactions, aggregating what we do, and tracking us on and off the platform. They are using those feelings to leverage our buying of goods and services. They’re using it to manipulate our votes too.

Because I get that this is a big decision to make, I have also grappled with the preparation that needs to take place. For me, this has included downloading all my data. I wanted a copy of my photos, videos, and my friends list. I went through my friend’s list, so I could identify people I wanted to reach out to and give my contact info, so we can connect outside of these platforms. If you have interest in the process I took to make this move, please comment on this post. If there is interest, I will make a follow-up post detailing how I did this. I took print screens of the steps I took, because I’m super cool like that.

Bottom line is that Mark Zuckerberg is allowing white supremacy to leverage our data and our lives, for their gain. They are giving preferential treatment to people and outlets who are gaslighting facts, and simultaneously trying like hell to suppress our vote. I can’t be a part of that anymore. I can no longer be a willing data point, that they use against me and everyone I connect with on these platforms.

I have to be part of an effort, that encourages Americans to fulfill the promise of our democracy. That we take up our civic duty to participate in our government. I will spend my time encouraging citizens to exercise their civic right, by voting in this election and every one after.

I suggest doing so as early as possible.

If the President Can Do It, So Can I Right?

To every hacker in the world,

Will someone please do us all a favor and hack Mitch F**king McConnell? Seriously. Dude has to be the most corrupt person in Washington. Please, for the sake of everyone, just hack his corrupt, racist ass and dump that shit on a public server.

Sincerely,

A grateful citizen

P.s. I apologize for the profanity.

 

Let’s Lay out Some Facts

I don’t know about you, but I am facebook friends with lots of classmates from high school.  Recently someone I graduated with, posted something that struck me as something that could be taken as racist.  It seemed like the comments to her post were going in that direction.  This prompted me to eventually respond.  I wasn’t suggesting she was being racist, but rather her post could be taken that way.  Of course this devolved and one of her friends piled on. Both she and I tried to turn things around, add levity, and then things went off the rails, and we wound up turning to discussing Trump.  After I saw the last response from my classmate, I just felt I needed more space than a facebook comment. I needed to lay out facts with sources, so we can be clear about what is an impression someone has of someone, an unfounded conspiracy theory, vs publicly available evidence and facts.

I grabbed screenshots of the post and responses, redacting all names and profile pics, to preserve anonymity. S1 is my classmate, and the original poster.  S2 is me. S3 is a facebook friend of my classmate, and someone I have never met.  Click an image to go to a larger view and read them.

I fully acknowledge that I did not always get the best form of the argument, and I always wish I could respond to this stuff better. Nevertheless, I have to try, because silence just is not good enough.  Regardless, I need to respond to the last comment, as I haven’t yet. That’s because I cannot just ignore the willingness of people, including my fellow classmate, to dismiss all that is publicly known about Trump. It’s beyond absurd to me that people excuse everything horrible about him, when they would never give 1/10th of the same pass to Schumer, Pelosi, President Obama, Hillary Clinton, or anyone with a D next to their name.

I know there are lots of people out there, who could respond to this better than I can, but I will do my best. The first point we should lay out the facts on, are business execs in NYC think Trump is a bad businessman.  This isn’t just “people talk”. This is a common consensus, that he is really bad at business. His base will say, “then why is he so successful?”  My question back is, how do you know he is? He has towers and businesses, but he refuses to disclose his tax returns to this day, and without those, you have no idea how much money, or rather how much debt he has.  Most legitimate economic experts agree that he is likely up to his eyeballs in debt. Either way, without them, you can’t arguably say he is a good businessman, because you don’t have the proof.  This is a good primer, of his business history, and it was printed in 2016. Why Donald Trump isn’t the successful businessman he claims to be

To my classmate, and I hope friend, you are right. Actions do speak louder than words.  These are Trump’s business actions:

I could give more examples, but we only have so much time. I will say, that the idea that there is no teamwork in government is absolutely false. If you are so sure of that, I would challenge you to prove it.  In the last 20 years, Congress has become increasingly partisan and gridlocked, but there can be bipartisanship and things can get done. This is also true at the state and local level.  It’s an excuse to just write off all government as bad.  If we aren’t voting and paying attention, the ones there don’t have much incentive to make sure it works. That being said, I’ve worked at the county level of government, and people who work in military service, civil service, public service, or any type of government service, absolutely participate in team work. If they didn’t, nothing at all would get done.  People take for granted all that our government does just “keeping the lights on”.

Moving on to the next points of that last comment, I have no idea why Bloomberg is being brought up.  I am a life-long Democrat and I can’t stand him. I was never more happy, than when Senator Warren tore him to shreds.  He’s not a real Democrat. He has spent a long time attacking Democrats.  He registered as one, so he could try to buy the nomination. That wasn’t my idea, and I’m not responsible for his actions.  I don’t know why we are bringing him into this though, other than he’s another example of a greedy businessman, who thinks he can run for President to get some good press for his legacy. He has no bearing on this, as he’s not someone I’ve ever supported or ever would.

I also find it ridiculous that Biden was brought up, but no elaboration. A topic for another time? Nah, let’s discuss it now.  He was not my first, second, or third choice for the Democratic nominee, and he’s still 1,000 times better than Trump. He was instrumental in passing the Violence Against Women Act. (The Violence Against Women Act Was Signed 25 Years Ago. Here’s How the Law Changed American Culture) Since that article mentions marital rape, it’s significant to note that Ivana Trump said in sworn deposition, that Trump raped her.  There are many allegations against him, and they have a pattern that indicates these are not false allegations. (When Has Trump Been Accused of Rape or Attempted Rape? Allegations Include a Child, His Wife and a Business Associate)

Biden has worked hard in the Senate, and as VP, raising awareness on campus sexual assault.  He understands and respects the constitution. I guarantee you Trump doesn’t even know the articles, let alone the amendments. They are not on the same level. Trump is wholly uneducated on running a government and has been trying to flout laws and regulations, since becoming President.  He doesn’t respect our democratic institutions.  Putting Trump on the same level as Biden, is the same as putting him on the same level as Hillary Clinton.  Before I’m willing to go into depth on Secretary Clinton, I’ll need you to accept a challenge. Watch the four-part “Hillary” documentary on Hulu.  Really watch it, and see if you knew everything that is in it. Consider how much you’ve been told about her and how much it doesn’t actually match up with reality. Spoiler: She’s not the evil mastermind you think she is.  She is a life-long activist, and a brilliant legal and political mind. Is she perfect? Of course not. But there is not any human being who is perfect. It’s just that it seems people on the right are never willing to acknowledge criticism of their own candidates and reps. They also refuse to see anything good in anyone who is a Democrat.

Nancy Pelosi is not washed up and it’s pretty crappy to suggest someone has dementia, as a way to lob an insult.  She was the first female member of any party to lead a chamber of Congress. For more of her accomplishment, you can peruse this: Nancy Pelosi’s List Of Accomplishments As Speaker Proves She’s The Champion We Still Need.

Please don’t get me started on stocks. Pelosi’s husband exercised an option he had on stocks that were set to expire the next day. (Nancy Pelosi discloses her husband spent $5.52 million on Amazon, Facebook stock) Considering the stock dumping done by the GOP, and the fact that Trump won’t release his tax returns at all, and Jared and Ivanka have repeatedly had to amend their financial disclosures, I don’t think you really want to go down this rabbit hole. (Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner made up to $135 million while working for free)

All eyes remain on Trump, because he chose to run for President. No one forced him to do this. It is the highest position, not just of leadership but of public service, that a person can run for.  Public service is something people aspire to. It is a public trust, and that trust is made by public servants being transparent and accountable to the people. Those are two things Trump has never been. If you want to talk about people trying to profit off the pandemic, you can’t dismiss Trump. (Germany confirms that Trump tried to buy firm working on coronavirus vaccine)

I don’t know why it’s seen as a positive, the idea that he “kisses no ass” and “he tells it like it is”. I’m sure you’d like it to be that way, but that’s not the reality. The reality is that he is rude, and has no respect for other world leaders or public servants. He denigrates other elected officials and lacks all dignity in the way he speaks. He belittles the office of the Presidency.

He doesn’t tell it like it is, either. He lies constantly, and it is well documented.  These are just his lies during the pandemic: All the President’s Lies About the Coronavirus. You are welcome to google the rest. Many have laid out thousands of lies he has told. It is unprecedented, compared to other Presidents, Democratic or Republican. The way that he talks and behaves legitimately fits into the markers for narcissistic personality disorder: Narcissistic personality disorder (Mayo Clinic.

My bottom line is this. Trump is not a good guy. He’s not being attacked for nonsense. He’s being criticized for being unfit to do the job he chose to run for. He doesn’t understand or respect our democracy. He’s actively tearing it down and echoes the calls of tyrants and dictators.  If you can honestly read every article I linked to, challenge yourself to watch the Hillary documentary, and say that Trump is still a good guy, well I guess I did my best to challenge your beliefs.  I simply ask that you look at what you are using to base your beliefs on.  Are you going based on proven facts, from reputable sources, or are you listening to Fox News propaganda?

I didn’t get a chance to comment on all of the responses in that thread, but mimicking a Chinese or AAPI accent is racist. Suggesting that you like salons, sushi, and sake, but you don’t like materialism, is racist.  Chinese people, and all AAPI people, are more than just the jobs that some AAPI have, or the food and drink some of their cultures make and sell.

I got into this, because I didn’t want to let even casual racism go unchallenged.  Somehow that turned into a conversation on Trump.  While we work to correct assumptions and ensure we are agreeing on what is fact and what is not founded, let’s please consider that an entire race or culture cannot be stereotyped into a few random traits from the handful of AAPI people you have ever met.

As a Jewish person, I sat next to you in social studies in high school. I don’t know if you were aware or remember the swastikas that would be drawn on my desk and locker. I don’t know if you remember people raising their arms in a heil Hitler salute, saying “The occult’s coming out tonight, boys.” I don’t know if you recall Miss P. responding to my asking if she was going to do anything with “What do you expect me to do?”.  I don’t know if you were aware that I would get crank calls at night, from classmates telling me they were going to come kill me.

Talking about cultures and races and religions, like they are all the same people is dangerous and it is racist. We are almost 8 billion people in this world. Our materialism, our morality, and our lives are varied. They transcend our races, cultures, and religions.  I am taking this time to write this out, because I do care about you and I don’t want to just ignore what you are saying.  I know you can be better, and reject these inclinations to back a bombastic unqualified person who has never done anything but enrich himself. The movement on the right is extremely prejudice.  To support any candidate who is openly racist, is to condone and be complicit in their racism.

As I said in one of my comments, it is not enough to just not be racist. We must be actively anti-racist, which means calling it out even when it seems “casual”.  Not all white people believe one thing or act one way. The same is true for every other race on earth.  Please take some time to learn about racism more.  I recommend the documentary “I am Not Your Negro”. It appears to be on Amazon Prime, and if you have a library card, you can get it on Hoopla.

I also recommend “13th”, on Netflix, and the Netflix mini-series “When They See Us”.  Racism is a much bigger issue, than white people want to believe it is.  That is because they don’t experience it constantly.  Speaking in racist tones may not seem like it should matter, but it absolutely does. It normalizes racism and leads to violence.  This is not something I say lightly, or without proof that it is happening. (New Site Collects Reports Of Racism Against Asian Americans Amid Coronavirus Pandemic) I know that there are way better journalists and scholars who can recommend better sources to learn about this.  Maybe if any of them read this, they’ll be kind enough to add those in the comments.

I know that this was much more than a simple facebook comment, but I didn’t want to just throw back a flippant response. I wanted to respect my former classmate and friend enough to give a full response.  I know that I jumped around a bit, but I tried to hit on some points that I thought were important.  Thank you for your time, and to my former classmate and friend I wish you the best. Just as you said to me and your friend, we need people like you in the world.  We just also need to get racism out of our world too.

Virtual Spring Digital Cleaning (not really a) Ted Talk

A lot of people are quarantined or at least home a lot more, as many things have been cancelled.  This is a great time to go through your digital life and clean things up.  This post is to help people who may know they should clean up their facebook, but don’t know how or where to start.

I will go through some basic clean up steps here, to help those who don’t know where to look. This involves who can see your posts and activity, but also what companies you are giving access to your information and your friends list. To do this work, I highly recommend you do this on a computer (PC or Mac). I will be going through these steps, and including pics, based on doing this from an HP laptop, with Windows 10, and a Firefox browser.

One obvious step is going through your friends list. Personally, I keep my facebook to only people I know in real life (IRL). This is something I imposed on myself years ago. I post pictures of my family and friends’ kids, and I don’t want strangers having access to those pics.

I also figure that people I don’t know IRL can follow me on Twitter and Instagram, if they like. I consider those platforms as intentionally public ones, while facebook is set up in a way that allows us to connect with friends and family in group settings, which can be exclusively controlled by you.

Review your Friends

To check your friends list, do the following steps. On your facebook home page (your feed), click your name on the top, to the right of the search bar.

On your profile page, scroll down and on the left side under the Photos section, you will see a Friends section. Click on the Friends title/link.

You will see a series of your friends, in 2 columns.  Scroll through and review how they are set. There are a few options. Hover over the box on the right side, of any friend, for whom you want to adjust their connection with you.

  1. The default will look like a ✓, and this indicates they are a friend.  This is the mid-range connection to have with someone.
  2. A contact card means they are set as an “acquaintance”. This would be the lowest level of connection.
  3. A star means they are “close” friends. This is the highest level of connection.
  4. You can also create lists and add people to those. This allows you to share posts with just a list of people, instead of all of facebook. This is the equivalent of the permissions on your posts, where you set the post as visible to friends or public. You can create a work list, or others that are target a specific group of people.
  5. Finally, this is where you can unfriend someone.

Hover down to the choice you want, and single-click that option.  Here is more info on those different friends categories and how they can be useful in keeping your digital landscape tidy. https://www.facebook.com/help/200538509990389

My recommendation is, do a first sweep and any you are not really in contact with, who do not bring joy to your life, or you don’t know, maybe clean those up first.  Others you are not sure about, jot their names down in a note (on on your computer or on paper). Think about those, check their feed over later, and take some time to consider if you want to unfriend, or just unfollow.  If you cannot unfriend someone, you might just unfollow them, so that you don’t see their posts, but also don’t hurt any feelings, by unfriending them.

To un-follow, just click their name or search to find them and on their profile page, just click the drop down to un-follow them.  You can do this on your phone too, so no picture.  Comment below if you need more assistance with this.

Now comes the main attraction in this clean up.  Settings.  On the top of the facebook page, on the right side of the navigation bar, is an upside down triangle. Single-click this, and you will see a drop down menu.  Hover down to Settings, and single-click that option.

I am not going to go through every section here, but it is a good idea to go through this a couple of times a year, or on a schedule that is appropriate for how much you use this platform.

Settings – Privacy

 

You can allow people to find you by your email here, or not allow that. Same with your phone number. By limiting it to your friends, it means only they can see this information tied to your account.

The next section includes something a lot of people care about, which is what people see on your timeline and who can see posts or items you are tagged on, including photos.

Timeline and Tagging

Edit any you wish you adjust, by single-clicking the Edit on the right. Click View As to view your profile as the public sees your information. When you click Vew As you will be taken to a new page, that will look like your profile, but have a message for you to see first.

When you are done looking around, single-click on the back arrow in your internet browser to get back to the Settings – Privacy – Timeline and Tagging page. I will say, I am disappointed that they don’t have a drop down where the Public marker is, on the View As page. You should be able to see what close friends see, acquaintances, and each list. What if you posted something to the wrong list, but didn’t really notice, because that setting marker is small on the post, and we don’t think about it? Why not show the differences here?  Just a thought.

Now I want to jump down to one that I think many people will find is a mess with devious stuff. This is what I want people to really check out. It’s like cleaning up junk mail, but do it now, and be more careful going forward.

Apps and Websites

Every time you take a quiz, or play a game, or sign into an account using your facebook account,  you are giving a company access to your information. It varies what they have access to, and whether or not they can check for any changes/updates you have made to your info.

These apps and websites are listed in 3 categories of having authorization by you, to access your information. These are active, expired, and removed.  Active are apps or websites that have an active connection to your information. They can store it, and they can check facebook for any updates you make to the information you are allowing them to access.  This can be name, email, friends list, birthday or other info.

Expired means if they had rights previously, but now they cannot check for updates. If your recently changed your info, they may not have that change.  They are allowed to store your information still.  Removed means they must destroy your digital information, or any replication (likeness) of it.

See how many you have. Clean up ones who no longer need access to your friends lists.  You’re doing your friends a favor too.  This is how tech targets us.

On Twitter and IG, I simply suggest going through the list of people and accounts you follow. Are you following a lot of accounts that aren’t really active? Do any of the accounts not interest you any more? These accounts dictate what you see in your feed, so periodically clearing them out will clean up your feed.  If you like these tips and want more, let me know in the comments and I will work on others.

Thank you for coming to my Virtual Spring Digital Cleaning (not really a) Ted Talk.

The Newb Perspective

I joined Twitter in 2009, but I didn’t really get it.  I followed a few accounts, mostly friends, and some other accounts I can’t really recall.  In 2015, as the Presidential campaign heated up, I started to get more active.  It turns out there are are few interests that draw people to a live feed platform, like Twitter.  From my observations, twitter is meant to be a public forum, unlike Facebook, which is more where friends and families can connect, and can keep their circle closed if they want. Twitter is great for live-tweeting events (and tv shows) , and for engaging in news of the moment.

My interests on Twitter are mostly politics, activism, and news.  I also love all the kitties and following actors I like, but when it comes to politics, Twitter is great. It at least has the potential to be great.  I can follow my reps. I can follow excellent journalists covering elected officials, and I can engage with them using tools like resistbot.  In college, a senior student came to speak to one of my poli sci classes.  He said something to the effect of “This 4 years here, will be what you make of them.”  It seems the same goes for most social media platforms.

Many complain that Twitter is a cesspool, because of all the trolls, and hate that can infiltrate conversations. They aren’t wrong, and that is a problem.  It gets made worse, because foreign interests are paying for bot accounts to pop up and fuel discord and online fighting.  How can one avoid it?  I imagine it would be pretty difficult. I often get caught up in fighting with someone, before realizing I should just block them.  But that is only one part of the problem.  The entire concept of the platform is geared for people to seek having high follower accounts, lots of retweets and likes, and to get the elusive blue check mark. That’s the golden ticket to being legit on this site. All others might be bots, trolls, an account that was bought and sold, or some pathetic loser like me, who just wants to be part of the conversation.

Following a number of well-respected and verified accounts, there are often a lot of tweets reprimanding people for bad twitter etiquette. Most commonly, this is tagging someone in a reply or retweet, that the original tweeter did not tag.  I have to agree, it’s a crappy thing to do.  You open up that person to attacks that they did not sign up for. It was their decision to tag someone or not. To overrule their decision is certainly something another tweeter can do, but it’s also a bad move.  This contributes to the cesspool environment.

I have learned a lot in the last 3 years, as I have become increasingly active on Twitter.  My follower account is in no way impressive, though I feel I make up for it with the massive amount of accounts I follow. I’m a liberal Democrat, and I see a lot of people posting with a hashtag of #FBR which is for the follow back resistance.  I don’t really get this. It seems like a disingenuous way to up your follower account. People can certainly pay to promote tweets, which is most certainly disingenuous, although I would understand if it was for a political campaign or for someone selling products or services.

What baffles me, is the way some people use the platform, in what seems like a manner that doesn’t align with the values they profess.  People will like tweets from people they don’t support, and I don’t understand that.  They will retweet a post from someone hateful, which they are mostly doing to say, “Hey look. This awful person said this awful thing.” but they don’t add any context or refute the original tweet in any way.  What purpose does that serve, other than to spread the hate or misinformation? It elevates it with your account.

I consider myself a newb on the platform because I don’t use any analytical tools, or promote my tweets, and I don’t have that pretty blue check mark.  I tweet and follow people/accounts I like hearing from.  I refuse to follow people who I don’t support or like.  I will never follow Trump. I blocked him a while ago, because I think Twitter has a bad exception to their policy, by saying they will suspend and ban accounts that spread hate, but they won’t apply that standard to a world leader.  Does that mean if Hitler or Stalin were alive today, they would let them spread their hate, free from consequence?

It seems to me that we, the users of the platform, have the power and responsibility to use this tool in a way that will ensure it is one that promotes the good and bans the bad, whether the company’s admins are consistent or not. These are my self-imposed guidelines for being a good tweeter:

  1. Don’t tag someone in a reply or retweet, if they weren’t tagged in the original tweet. If you want to tag that person, write your own tweet. If they were sharing an article, bring up the article, grab the link and make your own tweet. The exception to tagging someone not tagged in an original tweet, is if the account is not a person, like a media outlet such as The Washington Post.
  2. Don’t follow people you don’t support. You up their follower account, and legitimize them. The exception is for journalists who have to follow people to report on them. I feel for them. This also applies to elected officials, who may need to follow other representatives they don’t disagree with. If it’s for your job, that makes sense. Otherwise, I don’t get doing that, as it elevates that person.
  3. Don’t like tweets that you actually do not like. It offers no context and gives the illusion that what was said is popular.
  4. If retweeting something bad, the retweet should contain context, correction of any lies/inaccuracies, or refuting what was said. Only retweet tweets without saying anything, if what was said stands as is. If someone said something and said it well, don’t feel the need to say more on top of it. Retweet it and elevate that voice.
  5. In line with 3 and 4, think of retweeting and likes as endorsements and recommendations. If you don’t agree with the original tweet, say so, or don’t like/retweet it.
  6. Make sure to tweet your own tweets, so that your entire timeline isn’t just retweets and likes. It’s important to make sure your twitter timeline has your own voice, as much as a feed that shares and elevates the voices of those you admire and agree with.
  7. Be respectful. This should be number 1, but I didn’t really go in order.  It can be hard, when firing off your passionate response to something, but keep in mind that there is a human being (generally) on the other end. I am not always good at this, but I always try. Don’t put something online, that you wouldn’t really say to someone’s face. If your argument is that you would be rude to someone’s face, I wouldn’t brag about that.
  8. Give credit where credit is due.  I’ve seen that there are accounts out there, who steal tweets from other people.  Not cool. When you find out someone you follow is stealing someone else’s words, un-follow them, and follow the original tweeter. It’s not easy being original and coming up with good content. Don’t reward accounts that steal from others.
  9. Report, report, report.  When an account is threatening or harassing someone you follow, report them and block them. It helps Twitter to weed out the bad actors.  I would say that 99% of the tweets I report come back as an account that Twitter found violated their policies. The trick is identifying what the account is doing wrong, so that you pick the right reporting option. Is it just offensive? We can’t really expect Twitter to respond to every person being offended. Are they harassing someone? Are they threatening someone? I consider that the most important to report. Are they spreading hate toward a group of people? Get that content off the site, by reporting it. Then block them, so they won’t end up in your world again.
  10. Verify if you aren’t sure. If someone tweets something, but they don’t have a source, take a minute to look it up. If you have to, bookmark the tweet, so you can go verify it later, before sharing it.  I know, how annoying. We want everything to be easy and convenient, but if we want quality, we may have to sacrifice some of the quantity. Take the time to do some searching and find a source that either proves or disproves what is being said. If it will help, include the source you find, in your retweet or reply. Make it your standard that you demand receipts be part of the conversation.

These aren’t exactly visionary guidelines, but I think if everyone followed them, we could make the platform better than it is.  Those spreading hate and being hateful, would have less visibility, and those creating good content, would be seen.

If everyone follows good guidelines we can, as a mass user base, affect how the platform works and is used.  It takes some self control and discipline, but it gets easier and easier, once you employ the standards that will make it a better place to be.

That’s at least what this newb thinks.

My Tale of a Holiday Etsy Scammer

I am sharing what happened to me, so that others might be spared this particular scam. Before I get into what happened, I want to make sure it’s clear that Etsy was not at fault, and they ensured I got a refund immediately. Just by filing a dispute, it was enough to scare the scammer into refunding the money in full.

So, my story.

I asked my sister-in-law, what to get her (and my brother’s) 3 amazing kids, for Christmas this year. They grow so fast, their interests change, and sometimes my sister-in-law would prefer I get something functional over fun, or not reward recent bad behavior (that happened one year. Story for another time, on another blog).

This year, the 14 year old is in to calligraphy, the 11 year old is in to (among other things) Pokemon, and the 10 year old is all about astronomy. I looked on Etsy, for something special, and not just a toy they would use for a couple of weeks and then forget about.

For the 14 year old, I wanted to find a nice calligraphy set, and a sketchbook. I compared a few different sets, and settled on this one. Handcrafted Calligraphy Kit Pen Set Feather Quill Writing Antique Dip With 5 Nibs, Ink, Luxury Case For Beginners 

It looked so nice.

It had a feather calligraphy pen, tips, an ink well and some other stuff. I thought it would be special, and it was reasonably priced ($34).

Well, it was supposed to be delivered by Tuesday, December 18th. Since it’s the holiday season, I gave a couple of extra days, but got nervous, by Thursday, December 20th. I looked in the original Etsy order email which said it was “Shipped with AMZL, With the following message:

As you can see, they say there is a tracking number, but there isn’t one. So, I went to the order, on Etsy, and contacted the seller “Ali” A.K.A.    7bayhmaj

Below is the conversation, between me and “7bayhmaj”:

Please give me a tracking number:

 

No tracking number, claims it was delivered:

A pic of what looks like a tracking history with some sort of tracking ID

Here is a close up of that:

Now, I’m getting a bit annoyed. I really want the freaking tracking number. Why won’t they give it to me?

Little known fact. If you google “tracking number” Google will pop up a tracking input. You can put any type of tracking number. It determines the carrier, by the format (amount of and sequence of letters and numbers).

when I put in  “TBA542868879000” (what was in the image) no carrier was found. It’s not a valid tracking number for any carrier.  IT’S A FAKE TRACKING NUMBER!!!

 

This douche nozzle has the audacity to try to blame the many delivery PEOPLE (not just men, you asshat), for the problem, and porch thieves.  Thanks “Ali”, we know who the thief is.

More bullshit, including some crap about using a “different logistics service”.

I again re-iterate that they have yet to tell me which carrier they used, and a legitimate tracking number.

They claim they can refund, but since I opened a dispute their hands are totally tied. It’s now my fault, for want this shit dealt with.

I’m done. Give me the damn tracking number you horrible garbage human.

You offered to get me off your back. You play the odds, that I’m the 10% that won’t let you scam them. How many others have you scammed? How many did you convince the item was delivered, and got them to just let you keep their hard earned money? (They sell other stuff. I don’t think there’s a massive market for calligraphy sets).

Now I lost my composure, and swore. I’m not fucking proud of it, but they really pissed me off. A senior citizen might not think to verify the fake tracking number. They might believe what they are told.

WHY WON’T YOU GIVE ME A TRACKING NUMBER, YOU HORRIBLE SCAMMER????

 

Now, they are insisting on their purity. They are magnanimous, and I dared to be an unpleasant person, to a scammer. I’m the horrible garbage human, but they are so wonderful, they apologize, paid their 10% gambling loss back to me, and wish me the best of holidays. Oh, and the item was totally delivered to my place of work.

Side note, I’ve been at my job 14 years. I only sent the package here, instead of home, because of the ink well. I didn’t want it to get ruined in the cold weather. I have never had a package delivered to my work, and had it “mysteriously” not get to me. This was just getting pathetic.

 

 

Last message, I promise. I acknowledged that I lost my cool with the swearing but took one last opportunity to point out that if they weren’t a scammer, then they should “show me the [tracking number].” They have not responded, since this last message.

 

It’s not about the gift. My niece is not a materialistic kid. She’s awesome and would be happy with 100 hugs. It’s about the principle of the thing. It’s taking advantage of someone spending the money they earned, and instead of earning it by selling a legitimate good or service, this person is scamming people.  I would love for this person to get caught an prosecuted, but I’m not holding my breath.

I’d like the uzystore on Etsy to get shut down too. But mostly, I want to warn other shoppers.

I love sites like Etsy. My sister-in-law has a shop CathyCreatesStuff, and she’s not a scammer. I am guessing most are not. From my experience, most are like her. Talented, thoughtful people, who create something beautiful and share it with people who might appreciate a handmade gift.

But this asshat is not cool, and I’m just not ok with them gambling on the 10% demanding a refund and keeping 90% of the money, from people they convinced, that the package was delivered, and “oh well”.

When you buy, from any site like Etsy, it’s important to be skeptical. I should have paid more attention to not just the store’s rating (4 1/2 stars!) but how many people rated it. There are only 28 ratings, which could be from all bogus accounts. When there are more like 200 or 2,000, you are likely to get a real sense of the store’s legitimate rating.

When you order from a vendor, on Etsy, Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, always insist on getting a tracking number, once the item has shipped. Test it out in the Google tracking number input, and make sure it’s a valid tracking number, particularly if they claim it was delivered.  Don’t let them blame the hard working delivery people, who work for FedEx, UPS, DHL, and USPS. The problem is rarely on their end.

And, don’t give in to spending money, without getting what you paid for. If they can’t get it to you, get your full amount refunded, and find a better seller. If they won’t fix the problem in a timely manner, open a ticket, on the order in question, with the site. When I opened a ticket on this order, with Etsy, Etsy didn’t even have to do anything. The seller got notified, and it scared them into refunding the money. Let the site handle a bad seller, if they are giving you the run around, and don’t let them spin their wheels. Give them a time limit, and if they claim it’s not enough, tell them you will ask the site (ie Etsy) to handle it if they won’t.

Good luck an safe shopping!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go hit a brick and mortar store to get some cool ass calligraphy pens, for my amazing niece.

Paypal It’s Not Me It’s You

Let me tell you a little story and you tell me if I’m off base. See, I’m thinking of breaking up with Paypal.  I’ve had Paypal since the early 2000’s.  It’s always been a great way to send someone money by email. Then, I got screwed.  I relied on Paypal to do what I asked them to do, and instead they drained my funds.

I had about $500 in my Paypal account, and was keeping it there, for a specific purpose. I have my Paypal account set to use my checking account as my default payment method. I have that set for all payees that I have authorized.  Unfortunately, Paypal decided to override this, against my wishes.

Today I saw that I only had a balance of $34.  What the $#%#$^$%^!?!?!?!?! I was so careful! What happened?  I sign onto my account, and sure enough all these transactions went against my balance and not my damn checking account!

Well, I better contact support, right?  So I go to Help – Contact Support, on their site.  It keeps re-routing me to search their knowledgebase.  This isn’t a how-do-I-do something type of issue. This is a I-need-to-talk-to-someone-about-my-specific-account type of issue.  I get frustrated and tweet at them.

Crickets. I see they have another twitter handle, just for support.  I reply to my original tweet, asking them if they can hear me.

Again, crickets.

I go to their site, this time NOT signed in (typical IT type troubleshooting at how to get through to a human). I see you can email or call.  I email.  It will take 24 hours. No thanks. I’d like to understand this now.  I call.  I keep getting asked what my issues is, and I’m done with automated shuffling of my patronage, to the right tube of let’s get rid of you and your concerns. I keep saying “operator” and “I give up” until is just puts me into a queue.

I finally get to talk to someone, and we go over what happened.  The rep (who was nice and trying to help) informed me that while I can have a default method for my payment, from Paypal, I may have a different default, with approved vendors (payees).  He asks me to sign on to my account, so he can show me where.

This is where Paypal customer service could use the adage that attorneys know.  Never ask a question. you don’t know the answer to.  ie. don’t lead someone down a path, if you don’t know where it leads.

First, I say, ‘OK I signed on to the app’. He tells me, no you need to sign on to the web browser (desktop). I comment that limiting functionality in the app is so stupid and short-sighted.  He directs me to the appropriate section, of going to my profile — payments manage pre-approved payments.

It looks like this:

Notice the small print under the chosen payment method. It says “We’ll use your balance first”.  Who in the actual #$%$# decided to make that happen?  If you edit the payment method there is no way to turn that off, which is what the rep found when we got there. I pointed that out, and he was like, “Oh, I see that. I guess you can’t change that.”  So you’re saying my issue is legit, there is nothing Paypal can do to rectify the issue, and oh well?

I set a default payment in Paypal.  I set it again with each of the automatic payments to vendors, but for some reason Paypal decided to override my wishes, drain my account, and I’m left holding the bag of dog @$#%.

Yeah, I’m a little pissed.

Paypal,

I’m thinking we may just have to break up. I’ll try Venmo or something.  You were great, for a long time, but now you just screwed me. I have to put together this money again, and I was counting on the money I had in each account, being there.

If I do decide to close my account, and never look back, just know; it’s not me. It’s you.

Sincerely,

A customer since 2000

#TrendChangeTogether The Need to Support Each Other and Effect Real Change

We saw a lot this week, about women coming forward with stories of harassment, assault, and rape.  We also saw a lot of reactions to those who bravely came out.  They didn’t come out soon enough, no they should come out in their own time, no they should have done this or that or something else, to be more effective.

Then Rose McGowan, one of the brave women who has led this courageous move to bring sexual assault and intimidation out into the public, was blocked from Twitter.  I don’t know what her reasons were for coming out.  Her reasons are her own, and they should be.  Maybe she didn’t intend or mean to lead this move to encourage others to come forward and be brave like her.  Maybe she just needed to come forward for herself.  That’s good enough for me, and it should be for everyone else.

What’s more in the public eye, is a side-effect of her having come out about what happened to her. She was tweeting about her screenplay, and wanting to get it back from Amazon. At least I think the issue occurred within those tweets.  Apparently she tweeted a phone number.  While that’s against Twitter policy, it’s a policy that is not consistently enforced. I was tweeting with someone else, after that happened, and the woman mentioned that her personal number was tweeted, and the perpetrator was never suspended. Why did Twitter suspend Rose, and not another person, for the same violation?

Because Twitter is being political. At least, that’s what it seems to be doing.  I hate personifying a social media platform, but it’s easier to for the flow of this discussion.  Twitter is seemingly taking some people’s reports more seriously than others, or at least listening to some, and ignoring others.  Maybe it’s the amount of people who report a tweet.  Are there so many reports that they give a tweet with, say 100 reports, more credence than a tweet that gets 1 report?  I can understand that type of prioritizing, but it would be a horrible way to structure the process for reporting and getting equal treatment on the platform.  It would instead encourage a mob/bullying mentality, where bullies can get people suspended, and victims have no justice, because they oftentimes stand alone.

After Rose’s account was suspended, people started tweeting #WomenBoycottTwitter, with the idea that everyone should boycott twitter, to stand in solidarity with her, and against Twitter suspending this brave person, who was trying to speak out.  At first, I thought this was a wonderful notion as a way to stand in solidarity, and ensure she was not alone.

This morning, I saw the #WOCAffirmation, and started to read about how this attempt to boycott and stand together was somewhat shortsighted.  We thought to come together for Rose, but what about countless women of color, who have come forward and did not have such a swelling of support?  What about Anita Hill? I can’t imagine what she went through, testifying in front of the whole country.  It was incredibly brave, and the country barely noticed her.  People did not rally around her, the way they have around the brave women, who came out this week.

One thing I’ve been learning, as I follow #BlackLivesMatter, watch 13th, and read articles by Shaun King, is that we must learn to speak up for others more.  We can’t just rally around those who look like us, or who look like they are going through something that could happen to us.

We have to learn to speak up for ourselves, but also to speak up for others.  What’s just as important is learning how to speak up for others.  It starts with listening to them.  Really listening.  Whether they are people of color, Muslim faith, Jewish faith, LGBTQ, or any group of people who are different from you.  Men or women.  We all need to learn to listen to each other.  We need to acknowledge that the way we might want someone to support us in a time of need, is not necessarily what another may want or need in their time of crisis.

With that in mind, I think that instead of a boycott of twitter, as I have been seeing others suggest, we should be more vocal. Let’s not protest being silenced by being silent. I think there are times where that can be effective (#TakeAKnee, #BoycottNFL), but in this context, I wonder if we need to make some noise.  For that noise to be effective, we’ve got to be together on the message. On what we want.

So, if we are going to stage a protest, we really should have a list of “demands”, or things we want changed.  I thought of some changes I want to social media platforms (Twitter, facebook, etc).  I came up with a draft list, and I’m sure others could come up with others/better.

  1. Block all accounts tweeting hate against other people eg nazis, kkk, alt-right etc
    1. Suspend until hateful tweets removed, deactivate account if hate tweets are repeated after suspension
  2. Take away check mark for fake news
    1. If an account tweets a false story, suspend until fake post is removed, remove check mark if fake posts are posted again
  3. Treat all violation reports equally
    1. tweeting personal info of another person (user or not)
    2. tweeting hate/threats/bullying
    3. tweeting fake/false posts or links
  4. Identify “bots” or fake accounts and delete them
    1. Go after person’s or entities creating them

I’m not naive enough to think it’s that simple, but it does seem that social media platforms, and the people who run those, have an obligation to take it that seriously.  They shouldn’t be giving the same level of credibility (verified check mark) to fake news and hate groups, as they do the rest of society and the truth.  I get that no one regulates the internet, but that’s the problem and the virtue.  Having overarching control over the internet could have the impact of silencing those who would speak out or dissent. It could stifle free speech.  At the same time, having no authority, means that we have a somewhat lawless frontier when we are online. It means that bullying and fake news run rampant. It means entire countries can wage war on the elections of other nation’s, by targeting fake news at people. They can sow discord and division. They can bully people into submission.

I propose that each social media platform has a responsibility to tackle this, and the ones who can figure out how to handle it best, will set the standard for the rest.  Whatever the solution, I imagine it will be most effective, if it is transparent to the users.  That way they will have buy-in from the users, and that’s buy-in they should seek.  It is, after all, a platform they built for our use.

Streaming Apps Review

I cut the cord a couple of years ago.  Purchased a couple of Roku’s, and got subscriptions to a few streaming apps.  Those include Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and HBO Now.  On my phone, I’ve also gotten a couple of series on Apple’s TV app, so I can download them to watch when I’m offline.

The great part of this is that I pay about $40/ month for my tv services.

  1. Netflix – $9.99/mo
  2. Hulu – $7.99/mo
  3. Amazon – $99/year = $8.25/mo
  4. HBO Now – $16.19/mo

Total =  $42.42/mo

Relying on these services, I’ve come to find the many goods and bads about how these apps work.  For one, they often function differently on the Roku, then they do on mobile devices like iPhones and iPads.  I work in application development, so it baffles me when I see API bugs or a lack of basic functionality, which should be obvious to any developer working on these platforms.

Below, I will break down each app into their good, bad and ugly qualities.  To be fair, I haven’t tested every feature of each service across all devices, but I’ve definitely compiled a love/hate list of features and functionalities for the different streaming apps I’ve come to depend on for tv and movies.  Streaming isn’t going anywhere.  It’s expanding, and it’s becoming an industry trend.  Streaming will only grow and take over traditional cable and satellite services.

Some of my “review” of these services is based on content, some on the content controls. The API or interface, if you will.

Netflix

Good

Most people know why Netflix is good.  They’ve got some great content (I wish Marco Polo had been more popular, because it was visually stunning and a fantastically told story).  They’ve got great controls, good profile management, and seamless auto-play streaming.  I love when they ask me “are you still watching?” aww, Netflix. You’re cute.  Yes, I’m still watching, and no I haven’t showered yet today. Don’t judge me.

Seriously, they have a decent selection of content, some great original content, and their interface is intuitive and friendly. I’m bummed the price went up, but I had a good ride at the $7.99 tier for a long time, so I guess it was inevitable.

Bad

I know when I am on some semi-public wifi’s I can’t get on to Netflix, because they are blocked.  I haven’t tried their newer feature of being able to download content for offline viewing, but I am wondering how that would work, if the app forces a connection in order to launch.  Something to look into, I guess. (For me, you or someone. Anyone? Bueller?)

As I mention below, with Amazon, they don’t have a method to “reset” a season or series, if you want to watch it again.  Someone really should get on that.

Ugly

Not much to say here.  I wish they had some content sooner than right before the next season is coming out, but if that keeps prices down, I can wait.

Hulu

Good
The most obvious leg up, that Hulu has, is their next day availability.  I don’t have to wait until the season is over, or the next season is about to start.  I can see it the next day.  That is fine with me, because I don’t care if I see something live.  Cutting the cord can take some getting use to, but it is incredibly freeing to not feel like you have to stay up late to catch the show, or you’ll miss out.

They also have a good selection of content. I would like to see them fill out a complete contract with FX shows, but they are starting to get their content, so here’s hoping. (add current seasons of AHS and Taboo!, eh?)

Bad

If you are on the Roku app, and you go into movies, you will see a scroll-able list of about 250 movie titles, with poster art.  Start scrolling to the left or right, and if you scroll a page’s worth at a time, at some point it will jump back to the beginning. It’s the most annoying bug, and I can’t believe they haven’t fixed it yet.  I say that, while knowing I haven’t specifically reported it.  That being said, their developers should be testing the front end use, at least enough to have caught a bug like that by now. I’ve had Hulu for over 3 years, and I’ve always known that bug was there.

Ugly

They used to have a formal watch list, where you could intentionally subscribe to a series.  Now whenever you watch one thing, it automatically adds that show/series into your watchlist.  It’s more like a touch list, because it tracks anything you even click on by accident and watch only 1 second of.  My mom comes to visit, and she watches E! content, which I don’t tend to watch.  Now I’ve got her stuff littered in my watch list, and it was never her intent to add that stuff.  I set up a separate profile for her. but apparently it is impossible to allow apps backwards compatibility with “relatively” older tech.

I have a roku LT, which was the first I ever got.  I keep it updated, and use it in my yoga room.  I move it into guest room when she stays.  The app won’t update to the most recent version with profiles, which I believe is a limitation of the version hulu has made compatible with that version of the Roku. I get that versioning between tech and hardware can be messy and difficult to manage, but this is why it gets categorized under ugly.  It’s ugly for the customer. Yeah, that’s me.

Another ugly feature is that when a show is done, we move on to something else, from the Roku.  Whenever we go back, if we didn’t watch all the way through the credits, it still shows as a new episode available.  They used to have a feature where you could remove the episode from your watch list, as an intermediary step from removing an entire series from your watch list.  I don’t know why they stopped including that feature, but I wish they would add that back in.  That, or some way to mark a show as watched, so it doesn’t list as new anymore.  

Amazon

Good

Their mobile app for the iPhone is great.  The play button is in the center of the screen, and away from the progress bar.  This means you won’t accidentally jump to a different position in the program you are watching.  On either side they have jumps to jump forward or backwards 10 seconds.  Not something you’ll use often, but nice to have in an accessible way.

As a bonus, while watching your program, there is a bevy of information available on the screen, that you can click on.  It won’t interrupt your viewing, to see this info, as it’s semi-transparent, and they fit a lot on there.

The obvious info/features there, include the progress bar, and aforementioned play/pause and jump controls.  Also out of the way, but available is a function to send/beam the playback to another device/audio, as well as closed-captioning controls.

The coolest feature, is one that most apps don’t have.  That’s their X-Ray feature.  It shows a listing of the main cast, and you can view more to see the whole cast and crew.  Clicking the “view more” will pause your playback, but sometimes you may want that.  If you click on an cast or crew member, you are taken to their embedded imdb like dossier of that person’s professional work.  Their bio, known for, credits.  It’s pretty great for film and tv enthusiasts who might be watching something and think “Where do I know them from? Oh, that’s right!!!”

Bad

There is one feature that no streaming app seems to have, and it baffles me that no one has come out with it yet.  For many enthusiasts of a tv series, we may re-watch the series at some point.  For a service like Amazon, which has no profile switching, this can become an even trickier thing to manage.  There is no way to reset a season or a series.  Once you watch an episode, the progress is bookmarked to the end, and so you can’t start the series over.

I went onto the Amazon Prime forums, years ago, to look for any way to reset all episodes in a series.  I ended up joining a thread, and despite over 100 posts in 4 years, this feature has not been added.  Either Amazon isn’t scrubbing/sampling or checking their own forum, or they really aren’t that interested in the features their customers want.  I could be wrong about that, but just sayin’.  This is the thread, if you’re curious to see it: “Is there a way to reset a watch list?”

Ugly

Despite their fantastic original programming, like Transparent, Catastrophe,  Goliath, One Mississippi, Mr. Robot, and Betas, they gave up on the incredible Good Girls Revolt after one season.  There must have been a reason that wasn’t made public.  From what I read, they had a good and respectable level of viewership, certainly enough to give it a couple more seasons.

The character depth was great, and they were on the verge of doing what not many shows are even trying to do.  They had women as the primary main cast, and telling the stories of women, when they were fighting for a place in journalism, in the work place, and in the legal system.  Toward the end of the season, they had begun to develop the character of a minority black woman attorney.  Imagine that.  A black woman character, who isn’t a maid, a slave or a servant. What a novel idea.  It was transformative.  It was the telling of hidden figures, and they let it go.  Such a disappointing loss.  They could have pivoted the show to make her the central character, and keep introducing the hidden figures who fought for minority and womens’ rights during the civil rights era of the 60’s and 70’s.

The only other complaint that I have is the odd schedule they have for releasing prime content.  Not everything, on Amazon Prime, comes with the Amazon Prime subscription.  Some of it you have to purchase à la carte.  Sorry to tell Amazon the bad news, but I pay enough in the yearly subscription, and am not likely to pay for single episodes or to buy movies all that often.  I have here and there, but it’s not something I would do on a regular basis.

This means that when I get into a show, I get stuck waiting for the new season to “become” prime.  For instance,  I watched season 1 of Mr Robot, and now I’m stuck waiting for season 2.  I can’t afford to pay for every season of each show I watch.  It’s not a feasible cost structure.  So I have to wait for season 2 to be prime.  This gets somewhat “ugly”, because there is no schedule.  I understand why.  Why would Amazon let us know when they plan to provide this content to their yearly subscribers, for free? Their à la carte sales would plummet.  But for the many of us who will wait it out, it kind of sucks that we see that offering, with only purchase/rent options exist.

Another example, of a show that is not an Amazon Original show, is Vikings.  Great show.  Seasons 1 – 401 are available and free to Prime members.  Season 402 is only available for rent/purchase. I have no idea when it will be made “prime” meaning free to annual subscribers.  I will wait it out, but in the mean time I’m just frustrated that I have to look through the glass window, because my budget is for the Prime membership, not for paying for each episode of each show, which would be a massive expense and luxury. That’s to say, I get that none of this is a necessity, but that is why these type of expenses are discretionary and must be able to be mitigated.  A budget has to be able to be set, and per episode pricing is too much to fit into a realistic budget.

HBO Now

Good
Content, content content.  When I was growing up, we lived in a small town, outside a small city.  The owner of the cable company in our town didn’t believe in music television, so our cable programming didn’t include MTV.  I was seriously under-educated as a result.  My parents, either in defiance of that, or just because they knew what was good, got HBO instead.  I could never thank them enough.  Despite having the shit scared out of me, with the nazi documentaries, I also learned a lot from docudramas like And The Band Played On.  After seeing that, when it first came out in 93, I realized that fighting for transparency, education, funding of AIDS and HIV research was so incredibly important.  The human side was so well portrayed. I based school reports on the subject, because of that film.

I also loved Live From Baghdad, which chronicled the beginning of CNN’s ascent to become the first 24 hr news channel, covering live in the middle of a war.

Now we have some of the best series you can find.  Game of Thrones, Westworld, Big Little Lies, Silicone Valley, the list goes on.  There are so many, now completed series, which were so well done you’d be hard pressed to find any other network on the same level.  They push the envelope in a grand manner, that I just love.

Bad

They don’t have all their original content available all the time, and I don’t understand why.  The aforementioned Live From Baghdad is a perfect example.  This would be an ideal time to have that available! Right now, when our POTUS is attacking journalists and journalism, we must remember why we need them, and the fights they have fought and continue to fight. The risks they take to bring us the news, from around the world.

When you are on the roku app, it doesn’t allow you to auto-play the next episode if you are watching an old season or series.  You have to go into a series, and into a season, and then into an episode and choose to play it.  When it finishes, you have to back out of the episode, go over to the next episode, and go into that one to play it.  Other apps do this better, allowing you to “binge”. Maybe they are just attempting to discourage unhealthy binging habits, but I doubt it.

Ugly

The apps are all seemingly a little different.  the iPhone app vs the iPad vs the Roku.  They all show titles differently.  I like the iPad view with the poster tiles.  I can’t stand the Roku listing of all movies.  It has the movies alphabetized, and you have to scroll through the movies in each letter, one at a time.  So you arrow down to letter B, then scroll right to view all movies that begin with B.  Then you have to go down to each letter (ie C), and scroll over.  It’s not about being intuitive.  It’s intuitive, in that it’s not hard to get how it works.  It’s about being a friendly interface.  Imagine a user doesn’t know what they want to watch.  They are looking for something that will catch their eye.  They may not even know the genre they are in the mood for watching.  Having the ability to view by release year/date could be a nice option.  No matter the sort, one continuous list is definitely easier to scroll through, as opposed to 26 (+ numeric & symbolic prefixed movies) separate lists.

iTunes TV App

Good
I don’t have much to say.  They had the West Wing series at 1/2 the price of Amazon, so I went with them, because I wanted a series I could download and have available to stream when I’m offline.  This works for that, but not much else.

Bad

I don’t have Apple TV.  I looked at it, but it is 50% more expensive than Roku, and Roku is an independent product that won’t push their content or store the way Apple will.

This app didn’t used to be bad. It used to be decent.  But in the last year, they made an update and screwed the pooch.  So West Wing is a great example.  They have all episodes/seasons in 1 long continuous list.  That’s fine.  The title of each episode is there, and you can expand it to see synopsis.  My fury has to do with how the list appears on the iPhone.  You go into the series, and you see 6 episodes. You have to scroll to the right to see another 6 episodes.  Why in all the name of all that is logical did they choose 6? Why not 5, or 7, or 10? I am baffled by this horrendous design.

I can get passed it though, until I try to interact with the list.  I can click a cloud to download an episode to my phone.  Now comes the crappy part of this.  Imagine I want to download 2 or 3 episodes, for a flight or something.  Each time I click the cloud on a episode, I can’t do anything while the download starts.  I can try, but nothing will be successful. I’ll know when it does start, though.  Want to know how? Because I get jumped back to the beginning of the damn list. EVERY. DAMN. TIME.  I can’t just click the episodes, click, click, click that I want.  I have to start a download, get jumped back to the beginning of the series, scroll back to where I was, start another download, get jumped back to the beginning, rinse and repeat.  The same thing happens when you want to remove a download from your phone.  It’s not intuitive at all.  You have to press down on the episode, and then another window pops up, with a trash, and then you can remove it.  You can guess what happens after you do that.  The screen freezes and then jumps you to the beginning of the list again! AHHHHHHH!!!!! Find a freaking bookmark, will you?

It also doesn’t auto-play to the next episode, if you have it downloaded or are on wifi that can handle streaming one in the cloud.  Either way, too bad. You have to go in and out of each episode, like you are shopping in a mall in 1992.

Ugly
See the bad, above.  I almost wish I hadn’t made the purchases I did, for use in this app, because of those issues.  I hope they fix the app soon. It sucks to make that kind of purchase and then have the delivery method made into a horrible user experience.

Should We Create A Database?

I work in database application development, which is my non-sequitur way of saying we should talk about the Trump transition team plans to create a database of immigrants from Muslim majority nations.  Honestly, I have a hard time trying to figure out where to start with this.  I thought I might as well start with NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s response to this:

He’s by far, not the first mayor to respond in this kind. It’s not a shock that mayors of large cities are standing up to say they want their cities to be a refuge and safe place for immigrants, in defiance to this announcement.  What is infuriating and terrifying, is that all of Congress isn’t rejecting this.  It’s lunacy to me that our government isn’t disqualifying him or making it known he will be impeached on day one of his trying to implement anything close to this.

I don’t wear a gold star on my clothes, and either did my grandparents.  That’s because brave soldiers from USA and around the world stood up and stopped that from happening to the millions of Jewish, Polish, Russian etc masses who were being registered into “databases”, and eventually rounded up. Yeah, I know, they didn’t have databases.  They had paper. And we see what the result was.  Families were torn apart. Communities were decimated.  Many were deported.  Many were killed.  Of course that didn’t happen over night.

It started with the idea of a “database”. Registering people from one culture, race, religion.  It started as “We need to get a handle on this.  Some of them are criminals.”  Well, there are some white American criminals too.  Some of them wear hoods.  Should we make a database of them, until we get a “handle” on it?  No, we shouldn’t.  We don’t register people according to their nationality, race or religion.  Our country is as diverse as the entire world, because we welcome people from the world to come here, from here to travel there, and for all to find opportunity TOGETHER.

We are better than this.  We have to be, or our country will not be as great as the idea we claim it to be.  I want to stop terrorism, and I have not seen any facts or reputable research ever finding that registering immigrants will help stop domestic terrorism.  In fact, while I’m not a full fledged journalist, who will find the best research, I believe the majority of our domestic “terrorist” attacks have been with guns, and done by non-Muslim American citizens. Many of them white.  We can’t make our biggest cities places of fear.  We can’t create an atmosphere where people are afraid that they, their friends or family will be rounded up and deported.  Where kids worry that they will be separated from their parents, because of what they see on the news or because they are being harassed by other kids in school.

That last part has already been happening.  So this is where we need to start.  I have a readership of like 12 people, and I think 6 of those are my parents re-clicking on the same post because they kept getting bored.  We need the media, with actual readership and viewership, to call out President-elect Trump now.  Every press conference and every question has to report on an incident of hate.  Make him respond to every damn incident.

Then make him respond to the pressure from Congress, to his appointment plans for Steve Bannon.  He is the wrong person to have anywhere near the White House, or near any strategy work for the President of the United States.  We need serious people with experience and knowledge of the jobs being filled in his Administration.  They need respect for the job, and equal respect for all Americans. Appointing someone with a record of promoting white nationalist goals, is the opposite of the resume any President of this country should be looking for in a candidate in his administration.

He may have to look outside the well of sycophants he clung to, during his disrespectful and boastful campaign of vanity and ego.  If he really wants to make good on his promises to help this country, he needs to work on making this country great, like he and his supporters say they want it to be.  If he can’t find an AG, who believes in the vital importance of the 3 branches of government, then he may just need to cross the aisle.  Real leaders can swallow their pride and do that. Can he?  The head of the EPA should believe in climate change.  Our Secretary of State shouldn’t have any conflicts of interest in their previous businesses or work, that could even potentially hurt our standing in the global community.

Good Republicans must stand up to this onslaught of unqualified candidates, who have conflicts of interest or ideology.  If their candidacy would not be in the best interest of this country, then Trump should be disqualifying them from the list.  If he is going to prop up these candidates, then the Republican led Congress and Republican party should. Everyone who voted for him, and the party he is now the head of, should care about how he staffs this Administration.  It can’t just be up to Democrats, to stand in opposition.  We need Republicans who care about not just the welfare of their party, but this country, to insist that the Trump administration be run 1) the way he promised it would be and 2) the way a good Republican administration should be run.

I mean besides, I really don’t want him impeached.  Then we would have a President Pence.  Not really wanting a database of the LGBT community, so gay conversion therapy camps can be started and HIV/AIDS can spread like wildfire across this country.

No, we’ve got to stay the course.  So does Trump.  So does the Republican party.  So does the media.  So do the citizens of this country.  It’s on all of us.