I might … have to bill you.

So many comments in here, I haven’t read them all. I have some conjecture.

First, the AI scrapers already have Reddit’s most valuable content … their “virgin” data from the pre-LLM years. All new content is worth substantially less and much harder to differentiate / filter between bots/AI and real human interaction done without AI.

Second, the search engines that used to help drive users to Reddit mostly all have AI summaries / AI answers right there on the main search page these days. A lot of people read those AI results, get what they want right from Google (or otherwise), and never click any links over to Reddit.

Third, Reddit has expanded into other regions besides the western / us-centric world, such as India. The simplest way to put this is that the content and users from those regions costs Reddit US users and by extension advertising dollars.

Fourth, the corporate team’s decision making is bad enough to be harmful / fatal in and of itself. It’s sheer luck they’ve done as well as they have this long. Corporate is not only the worst enemy of users and communities, they’re also their own worst enemy. It’s so bad that if one of them was a competitor or adversary that had infiltrated the company in a covert operation to destroy it or gum it up, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

All that spending and I still haven’t gotten my Soros check. I haven’t moved recently, but I wonder if he sent it to my prior address by accident.

One family living down the road from me lost an adult son to COVID because the 3 men of the house, father & 2 sons, believe(d) that the vaccine makes men sterile and of course they refused to wear masks. Despite mandates against large indoor gatherings, the family opted to have a funeral service with 100+ people packed into the church. A bunch of attendees ended up with COVID in the week or two following, one of which died. Very likely, the bulk of those folks got it at the funeral, as there are photos showing that almost nobody was wearing a mask nor social distancing.

Another set of neighbors, the wife was homebound due to poor health, but otherwise she still managed keeping up with yard and house work, cooking, cleaning, taking care of herself, etc. The husband spent his days of retirement out gallivanting with his buddies, hanging out unmasked and unvaxxed at bars, and places like that. The wife who never left the house, ended up with COVID. Pretty obvious he gave it to her considering he was feeling under the weather the prior week and she never left the house, but since he refused to take a COVID test, he would insist he never had it. She survived, but it left her physically and mentally disabled, not really able to take care of herself, forcing him to become her care taker. Then he passed away, largely due to ignoring his health and troubling signs.

I know I should be angry, but mostly I’m sad.

Obviously not as bad, not that it’s a competition, but the hundreds of thousands who lost their jobs & careers over Elon getting carried away.

Meh, that one there’s South Africa. The one above it is North Africa. There’s Zanzanibia over there in the corner. Oh yeah, and isn’t Egypt in Africa or is that in the Middle East? Oh yeah, Sahara and Congo. Eithinopeia. I shoulda wrote that Animaniacs song myself.

They said if I voted for Kamala the prices would be high and we’d be in more wars. Well, they were right!

I think there’s at least a 78% chance that “happy cake day” person works for broadcast television news, as this spiel is right down their alley.

In local news, two toddlers are dead after the car they were riding in collided with another vehicle on I-60. (jovial laughter and big smile) And in other news, watch the exciting finale of Big Brother tonight on KXY-TV at 8 PM, all your favorites will reveal what they were really thinking and find out who will win! I’m so excited to find out.

It’s so fake. It’s actually quite disgusting. And they all do it.

I sold all my childhood consoles and games before I moved out on my own.

I think it would be kind of neat to play those games on original hardware, assuming the hardware itself still works. Obviously the “saves” on some of those 30+ year old cartridges might no longer work. On the other hand, it would just be more unused stuff sitting around taking up space and making moves more complicated for the past 3 decades, so I’m also perfectly at peace with the fact that I don’t have them anymore.

A couple of years ago, I fired up the Wii I bought from a buddy of mine back in '07 or '08, which was one of the early NA models from 2006. It still worked and the games I checked out still worked, including the digital ones. The online stuff is non-functional now though, but I never really used any of that other than sometimes I’d fire up the browser for the novelty of it.

Anyway pointless stories aside, I assume that reply was just contrarian / rage-bait commentary for engagement. I don’t know that particular person, but I know that type. They look at every interaction as a chance to “dunk” on someone / demonstrate their superiority in some way and/or as a means to gain attention, any attention, good or bad.

So, I wouldn’t read too much into it, unless you happen to know these folks personally.

Looks like it is preparing to enter monologue mode where it will spill the beans on its evil plan to rid the world of “squirrel-proof” bird feeders.

From my point of view, the idea of Donald Trump or his family running in 2028 appears to be a uniquely unpopular idea with Americans across the political spectrum.

It’s something that most people I know agree is a bad idea and unconstitutional regardless of political leaning. One thing is clear, when the voting population is most divided, Republicans win big. It’s why communism, trans anything, and immigrant wedge issues (amongst others) get rolled out so often. It’s a 'yuge political error to lean into this highly unpopular and unifying Trump 2028 messaging, particularly in these months leading into the midterm elections.

While it is concerning to see MAGA types flaunting Trump 2028 merchandise / apparel, I see them for what they are: Insufferable contrarians who get joy from intentionally provoking and upsetting others. Not serious people with serious opinions. Whether they honestly believe and support the idea of a 3rd term, they just like being anti-social, or both, their intent is a moot point. That kind of behavior is a huge turn off for middle of the road voters.

Sir, this is a Lemmy. The issues are black and white. Pragmatism means you’re a Nazi. Everything you’re doing to try and make a difference is worse than genocide AT BEST. I checked your post history and there’s not a single comment about how many Republicans you have personally punched simply for being a Republican and having a different opinion than you, so you might as well be a Republican yourself, which makes you a double Nazi.

These products should be strictly regulated and taxed heavily. The taxes should be used to provide free and low cost drug counseling services, addiction treatment, on-site testing, and other similar services related to harm reduction, protecting communities, and absorbing the financial costs of having them legalized (i.e. regulation enforcement).

There’s so much I could say about this topic. It’s obvious that the “unemployment” numbers, like so many metrics, don’t reflect the reality of our economic situation even if those numbers are accurate & to be believed. This is a statistic born of anecdotes, as everybody involved has their own story, but I personally don’t find that number shocking or surprising at all. In all my life, I’ve never known this many “working aged” people who are unemployed all at the same time.

Obviously the boomer and older generation being such a large cohort and largely being retired weighs heavily in this number. But even those folks have a story. Many of them expected they would get a post-retirement job “just to get out of the house” or “for some fun money”, only to find out that they aren’t healthy enough, the jobs are too risky for their health, the jobs don’t pay enough to be worth it, their healthcare access and quality has declined, and so on. Better to stay home and just try to live off whatever they already have.

For me, I had a great job with a purpose, then DOGE destroyed all that. Then parents’ health declined and I found myself in a position of having to be a caretaker. The job market for my skill set is abysmal and I live in a rural area so local job market is even worse and I don’t think I can juggle a 1+ hour trip to work each day (and back) on top of everything else right now. Fortunately I saved for a rainy day and boy is it ever rainy. Obviously not everyone is/was able to.

When you’re a star, they let you do it.

The fly: NO, am warsp rawr will sping bzz bzzz bzzzzzzzz u hav 2 beeliev

She’s got that phone wedged between her chin and her chest using her tongue to hit the snap icon.

I hate it, but I was thinking similar. Basically an attempt to grab enough attention so that potential buyers know it’s available, and next thing you know this statue is sitting on the campus of some public elementary school in Iowa.

I ended up in the emergency room last year.

The ambulance ride was something like $1200, which I’ve come to learn was “cheap” comparatively speaking, as they’re typically thousands of dollars each. My insurance didn’t cover the cost of that ambulance because the particular service that picked me up was out-of-network. Insurance also didn’t cover the ibuprofen I was given for pain citing the fact that they require prior authorization for it. Two ibuprofen alone cost me $40.

Are you saying people are sitting around waiting at the emergency room for 10 months at a time and it’s a regular thing in the US?