Mariola Sirakova - New General Megathread for the 15th of August 2023
Born 1904 - Kilifarevo, Bulgaria, died May 28th 1925 - Belovo, Bulgaria.
Born in Kilifarevo, Bulgaria on 14th August 1904, the student-actress Mariola Sirakova belonged to a well-off family. She revolted from an early age against her social background and became an anarchist communist when she went to the Girls High School at Tarnovo in 1919.
She regularly took part in secret anarchist meetings.
She began a relationship with another Bulgarian anarchist, Gueorgui Cheitanov. She associated with other important anarchists like Petar Maznev, Georgi Simeonov Popov, and others. In her frre time, she acted in the Orpheus Theatre Company in Kilifarevo.
In 1922-23 she studied in Pleven. She often hid wanted anarchists like Vassil Popov and Valko Shankov
In 1923 a military coup led to the butchery of 35,000 workers and peasants. The armed resistance that followed ended with the bomb attack by the Communist Party on Sofia cathedral which was aimed at the country's elite. A massive campaign of repression was then unleashed by the fascists and military against the revolutionary movement.
Mariola was arrested by the police, and brutally beaten. In June 1924 she returned to Kilifarevo. She was arrested again, but soon released. She gave support to the Kilifarevo cheta (armed guerilla unit), bringing them food, medicine and clothes and caring for the wounded.
Special police detachments were set up to hunt Cheitanov down. All the guerrillas united into a single detachment, being forced to disperse towards the end of May. Cheitanov and Mariola Sirakova, were caught in an ambush and arrested. They were taken to Belovo railway station and shot with 12 other prisoners on May 28th June 1925.
Okay so I absolutely hate the apps - I think they're an utterly satanic totem to how thoroughly atomization/the Demiurge has won. However if they're a borderline necessity for meeting people/getting laid nowadays, anyone more knowledgeable than me got the lowdown on how to ruthlessly game the numbers as a dude who dates women and femme-presenting people? The vibe I get is that this is the only way to make them work for you in this demographic because of theΒ demographic skew.
(Plz don't take this as a "wah wah poor me I'm a widdle put upon man" post I realize women have a whole other set of issues on these things which are overall worse i.e. fending off predators & creeps)
Yeah this seems to be true. The problem is that so many of these profiles seem to be people I would actively not enjoy spending time with lmao so the incentive to always be swiping right is limited. But who knows, they could be nice people just trying to play the same game I am in a way that I personally find offputting.
Angles, fashion, camera quality, (maybe even) touched up photos, rehearsed messages, and repetition. I wouldn't try and get creative or show personality, I'd just try to have that corporate broad appeal for descriptions. Always be going for in person after 5 text volleys.
In my mind, you had to get lucky 4 times before expression is ever involved: she has to see your profile, she has to swipe, she has to be available & go on the first date, and she has to want to go out again. At that point, you get to express yourself and be human. Before that it's like being on stage for Miss America. They'll ask you, "If we all worked together, how would it make the world a better place?" but it's not as important as the talent portion or the swimsuit portion.
I only found success in that realm strictly adhering to the meta and I'm prepared to never have another relationship again instead of going back on the apps. I have never felt less listened to in my life - I'd rather talk about my day with my old boss's boss
Ugh I hate how right I know you are. And what you said about never having a relationship again rather than using these cursed objects does put things in perspective for me. Honestly my in-person connection game is historically decently strong so there's a big part of me that's just like eh fuck it, I'm gonna carve my own path and throw these dehumanizing piece of trash apps in the trash.
But on the other hand, atomization - there's vanishingly small numbers of places to even make organic connections (this ofc goes beyond romance and sex as well). And idk, people seem less open nowadays to letting a friendship organically grow into something more? Which yeah is typically where I've had the most luck and are the relationships that have felt nicest and the least forced. Though this also carries risk because the friendship can be fucked if things don't work out (something I am very painfully dealing with now).
So, I've figured out that I'm agender and pan, but when I started on the apps it was as a dude looking for women. I had good success doing the opposite of the other suggestions here. Only swipe right on people who actually look interesting, who have stuff in their bio. My bio mentions that I'm a communist, feminist, autistic, adhd, etc. I'm just open and always completely honest. I never message pickup lines or whatever, I ask questions about stuff on their bios (a good reason to only swipe right on people who actually have info on themselves). I usually end up talking to people about art, philosophy, poetry, music, video games, or DnD.
It is a numbers game. Prepare to swipe many, many times per each match, to have to message first 99% of the time, to have most messages not responded to, etc. But putting a bit of time into it I've met a lot of very cool people. I honestly have had a great time on the apps.
By FAR the most important thing is your main pic. If someone isn't into it, they're not looking at the rest of your profile, they're swiping left. So make sure it's a good one.
While I still think the apps are inherently problematic (at least in their current forms under this current system), I respect you sticking to a more authentic approach and finding value in them through that. And yeah I've tried a few different cover photos, still hardly any matches.
Oh, they're definitely problematic still. But I met nobody before I got on them, and now I meet lots of people, so I can't complain. I imagine using them varies a lot depending on where you are, how old you are, and stuff like that. You might be somewhere rough. Different apps have different pools of people and different cultures too, so depending on what you're looking for maybe trying out a different one might help.
As for photos, my best best advice would be that it should give a good view of your face, but at least your upper body should be visible too, it should be good quality, it shouldn't be a selfie, it shouldn't be a group pic (though I think having at least one in your pics is good, to show that you do have friends), you should smile if possible, but it shouldn't look like a forced "for the camera" smile, no filters.
My plan is to have a complete hand-drawn, labelled diagram of the internal reproductive system on my first photo. And not just the obvious structures like the cervix, I'm talking like the skene's gland, and the clitoris wrapping around the vagina on both sides.
Is it a good strategy? I don't know. Time will tell.