• 0 Posts
  • 9 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: July 5th, 2023

help-circle
  • Perhaps. But you realize it now, and you also have the opportunity to take things in a different direction if you want.

    Communication is important. Admitting when you did something that you think is wrong is good, we all make mistakes. Tell her that you’re sorry and why, and let it be. Either she will forgive you and you guys can move forward if it works, or she won’t want anything to do with you, and both are fine. Emotions are complicated.




  • So I will preface my comment with the fact that I hate Internet ads and do everything within my power to block and/or avoid them. Aside from being annoying they’re a blatant security and malware risk, and I avoid them for that reason alone.

    That being said, hosting websites gets pretty expensive pretty fast when lots of people come to your site, especially with the advent of much higher bandwidth media that goes along with better quality images and video.

    In my opinion the fact that the majority of people just have an expectation that everything online should be free is THE problem. I was there when the Internet was free and open and without ads. That was the culture, and the root of the issue we have today is that that culture is the foundation of the general expectation that it should continue to be so.

    But that’s not sustainable with the costs involved in hosting today. Shit costs money yo, why should other people bear that so you can search for recipes for free without it being annoying for you?

    The fact that nobody is willing to pay for content via subscriptions or paid apps is literally why the ad-based model is the overwhelming majority of the Internet, and apps, and why data collection/sales is so rampant.

    Web development and running a webpage is not easy. Even for those that are skilled enough that it’s easy for them, it takes a ton of time. Usually multiple people’s time for any site with enough visitors to make it a good site. App development is hard and takes a skill set that requires a lot of training or time investment to learn. Why should all that go for free for you?

    Until people are willing to pay for content they find valuable the Internet will be a hell hole ridden with ads. YouTube ads are awful, but do you have any idea how much it costs to run YouTube? You think someone should just absorb that out of the goodness of their hearts? Ridiculous.

    The goal of the Internet is still to share information and communicate, but all the hardware and bandwidth and time costs real dollars, and the only way for most sites to recoup that is via ads because people just won’t pay anything if given an option, they’ll just go to another site that has free content, because there’s SO MUCH stuff that you can generally find what you want, for free with ads, somewhere else.

    There’s only two possible solutions that I see:

    1. everyone starts being willing to pay for content they find valuable. I don’t see this happening. There’s too many people that share your opinion without taking into account what it costs to actually run a modern website.

    2. some complicated type of system that directly pays websites for use, based off of usage from people. I think this is almost too complicated to implement that it’s likely impossible with today’s Internet. If we want to also maintain privacy/anonymity when surfing I can’t see how this can ever work - so unless we have some future system where people are uniquely identifiable on the Internet, and then some additional system that somehow “fairly” compensates websites for traffic from users, this won’t happen. It would need to involve ISPs, their customers, and web site owners in some coordinated payment system to work.

    Not to sound too preachy but to me your comment comes off as super entitled.

    I pay for apps that I think are valuable, even ones with no cost like Signal. Because I value what they provide. I subscribe to sites that I find valuable enough to do so when it’s an option. I abhor data collection and ads and I fight them without prejudice. But even I don’t think I pay enough directly to offset how much I cost providers, I’m sure I don’t, but that’s mostly laziness because it’s a pain to pay every site directly so I donate to the ones I really appreciate and use heavily. If I could pay my ISP for my link and then have a direct credit system that throws dollars and cents directly into website coffers as I use them, that would be great - but I don’t want to give up my privacy either, so… Yeah.

    Long story short, ad-based content is going nowhere until there’s a fundamental shift in either people or how the Internet operates.





  • A few ways

    Easiest is to find a class in your area for beginners - colleges and hospitals are the best place to start (hospitals not because they teach them but because they generally know from referring newly deaf patients, or family members of newly deaf patients).

    You really only get so much from a class though - some cultural introduction, basic vocabulary/structure, facial movements. If you actually want to really learn you need to get into the local deaf community, which depending on where you live will be huge or small.

    The other way to learn is harder, but still doable. Seek out the local deaf community and go hang out at meetups (Pizza and bowling are common everywhere). Immerse yourself and self teach using online resources. Deaf people LOVE when hearing folks try to communicate so they’ll do anything they can to help you out generally.

    They’re so, so isolated in normal society. Any person that demonstrates interest in communicating will be welcomed with open arms. You’ll probably run into translators and families of deaf folks that hear and speak English just fine as well.

    Keep in mind that many people who are deaf from birth do not know English very well, if at all. Trying to write back and forth in English will have mixed results, but until you’re faster at finger spelling that is a good crutch, but try to shake it as fast as you can. When you first go to hang out with deaf folks bring a small whiteboard or notepad if you can’t finger spell.