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Recommendations for self-hosting a blog
  • I believe Gutenberg is a visual editor that WordPress uses, it has buttons that let you insert blocks throughout the page I think

  • STOP saying “fuck u/spez” START saying “FIRE STEVE HUFFMAN”
  • I clicked into this thread hoping to see this take - thank you!

  • Do you run a Custom ROM?
  • I would, if my Samsung phones didn't have locked bootloaders.

  • Linux for Microsoft Surface devices. It is reality!
  • It sounds more like they are suggesting that you shouldn't buy a Surface as to not support Microsoft's stake in the market. But hardware level tracking does sound pretty spooky if they were actually able to pull it off and make it worthwhile. I'm with you though, I doubt it

  • What are the best Matrix servers for chatting?
  • Wow, a lot of things in my life would be easier if I read the sign lol, thank you!

  • What are the best Matrix servers for chatting?

    I am aspiring to one day host a chat server of some kind to eventually replace my Discord server. Matrix has caught my eye and I'm looking to try using it a bit to get a feel for it, but I can't seem to find any communities that i really like. There's a lot of niche stuff out there and it's hard for me to find servers that have rooms with content I'm interested in, like general chatting or gaming. Does anybody have any suggestions?

    (I am also open to any similar suggestions you have for other similar apps like Revolt)

    6
    I feel sorry for women who don't have pockets
  • I believe that the most heroic thing about Kim Possible is that she wears cargo pants.

  • Facebook turns over mother and daughter’s chat history to police resulting in abortion charges
  • I noticed the article me tioned that the women told the police that they communicated over Facebook Messenger. I wonder what prompted them to spill the beans, or if they were unaware of the implications of telling them how they communicated about the situation. If this is true, it doesn't sound like the police is sending warrants for everyone online to request their data, but it still makes me very cautious about unencrypted messaging

  • How do you fight random fees added to utility accounts?
  • It's most likely not illegal. I was wrong and made myself look a little silly. Thank you for your advice!

  • How do you fight random fees added to utility accounts?
  • This is very insightful, thank you!

  • How do you fight random fees added to utility accounts?

    I've had my ISP account for nearly 3 years. Today, I got some funny new fees on my Internet bill. One was a "high speed network recovery fee" and the other was an "administrative fee" with my state in the name. I'm curious what more I could do to fight these stupid fees. Here's what I've done so far:

    • Used their live chat feature. I tried to argue the fees were illegal, but they insisted they were and immediately closed the chat. Whoops

    • Called them. They denied my request to remove the fees, even when I threatened to close my account (I'm moving soon, so I'm gonna have to close my account anyway LOL). They kept trying to distract me by questioning me about other ways to reduce my rate, like reducing my speed. Sounded like bullshit, so I hung up.

    • Did some research and found their corporate office in my city. I handwrote a letter about my dissatisfaction and my threat to close my account in August (which just so happens to be when I'm moving anyway). Sent it out in the mail this morning.

    So, what did I do wrong? What can I do next? I know I'm going to have to close my account anyway, but I need to be prepared for when this happens with my new account. Spectrum will be the only provider in my area, so I will have a lot less bargaining power. That, and, it's Spectrum... Knowing how to deal with this sort of thing will be very useful for the future.

    10
    Must show ID to check out at Costco.
  • I found an article about this.

    You're going to have to double check you have your ID on you before making a Costco run from now on. The superstore already requires customers to show their membership cards at the register, but a new policy is geared toward a Costco weak spot: the self-checkout kiosks.

    With self checkout expanding quickly throughout stores since 2019, the company has seen a rise in shoppers passing their membership cards to friends or family to use for their own hauls. To prevent this misconduct, Costco has said members will now need to show their card to an employee when going through the self-checkout line—and if your card doesn't have a picture, you may also need to show a photo ID.

    “Costco is able to keep our prices as low as possible because our membership fees help offset our operational expenses,” reads a statement from a company spokesperson. “We don't feel it's right that non-members receive the same benefits and pricing as our members.”

    On the heels of Netflix’s attempt to eliminate account sharing, this move is yet another example of companies enforcing rules to keep memberships from being abused. Costco has a membership base of more than 120 million, and it relies heavily on these fees—according to its 2022 annual fiscal report, they earned the retailer $4.2 billion in revenue.

    A basic “gold star” membership costs $60 per year for one household. You can also choose from a “business” membership for the same price and an “executive” membership, which includes additional perks and savings, for $120 per year.

    USA Today posted a query about the new policy in the “Costco Fans Midwest” Facebook group, and enthusiasts had mixed opinions: Some agree the crackdown is fair, but others feel that it’s bothersome to be asked to pull out their IDs at any point—in the checkout line and throughout the store. Ashely Dixon, a shopper from Illinois, commented that she was stopped four times during a recent trip.

    “I’ve felt more and more like I’m doing something wrong each time I go,” Dixon told USA Today. “It's annoying to be hounded at every step while shopping.”

    Regardless of the new policy, there's no need to give your card to someone so they can save money at Costco—there are lots of ways to share the shopping experience with non-members. In fact, the company encourages it, and even offers hints at how to shop for friends and family.

    "The Costco membership card is non-transferable, but there are several ways to share the experience with family and friends,” the company’s customer service website says. “Anyone with a card can bring up to two guests to the Warehouse during each visit. Keep in mind that purchasing items is exclusive to Costco members."

    That last sentence is the key to following the rules of your membership: If your bestie wants to split 24-pack of Kirkland Signature seltzers or a giant bag of avocados, bring them along for the shopping trip and let them pay you (or treat you to the $1.50 food court hot dog combo) afterward. Quality time and good deals—it’s the best of both worlds.

  • Mastodon Opinions?
  • You can connect WordPress sites that way? How exactly does it work? Does it just push your blog posts out automatically to a Mastodon account?

  • What are the pros and cons of selling plasma?
  • Another question: do track marks associated with donating blood look similar to track marks seen in IV drug abuse?

  • What are the pros and cons of selling plasma?
  • Whoah, am I missing something here about plasma companies? Yikes

  • Would this make long form writing on a smartphone enjoyable?
  • Whoah! That's a really neat concept! I approached this problem by nabbing myself a Surface Duo so I could have an entire second screen dedicated to a virtual keyboard. It's still kind of difficult to type long form content, so I could see this being very helpful for my daily driver single screen phone.

  • What are the pros and cons of selling plasma?

    I definitely wasn't inspired by the post by that guy interested in selling their kidney /s

    21
    How are lemmy and other fediverse platforms profitable?
  • It costs me roughly $15-25 a month to host our game server, but I have other costs like our website that I'm dealing with as well, so taking all those other things into account and I'm probably spending something like $30 a month for now. I'm actively working to migrate my Wix site to WordPress to save money. Now, if we had thousands of concurrent users instead of like 30-40 concurrent users on a typical day, or if we needed significantly more storage, my costs would probably go up a lot. The growing storage and user count are both important things I'm thinking about carefully, because I imagine there might come a time I need to reevaluate our strategy

  • How are lemmy and other fediverse platforms profitable?
  • I think this may be the wrong question. I am the administrator of a reverse engineered PS3 video game server, so it's illegal for me to make a profit or any kind of revenue or donations from that platform. However, I maintain it for thousands of users simply because I and others enjoy it and want it to exist. That's not a sustainable model for a business or for running something as gigantic as reddit, but it's what I want and enjoy, and for right now it's affordable, and I'm happy with that.

  • m88youngling m88youngling @lemmy.world
    Posts 3
    Comments 19