Hey now that would only be 15ish cents of 2020 money. Better spend that now before it’s only worth 50% of what it’s worth currently.

I started my reasons for thinking you are wrong but I’ll clarify: It’s illogical and baseless.

I’ll expand.

While neither of our assessments of the unfortunate ends these people had are based in hard fact - one of them is far more probable:

Option A: multiple people tied up in whistleblowing cases involving large profit driven corporations both lied and got ‘caught’ in the lie (despite not giving testimony yet in many of these cases) … and elect to independently off themselves. Each time.

Option B: A whistleblower threatens exposing said companies to considerable losses or penalties (which would likely result in losses.) It is decided by the company or an individual in the company (who probably has something to lose or gain) that the whistleblower needs to go. Whistleblower commits suicide by dubious means.

Option C: Basically option B but whistleblower is racked with guilt for being part of whatever occurred and opts to take their life as a means of atonement (misguided as that can be.)

Two of these options rely on simple logical human behavior well known to tie into death: greed and corruption - and guilt and sorrow. Your option suggests broadly that, under minimal pressure, all/most of these people are just sprinting to the most extreme exit under scrutiny. The odds of that being the case, repeatedly, are infinitesimally small. Corruption and corporations go hand in hand and you don’t have to look hard to find a case of it.

So I’ll reiterate: it is my opinion that your opinion is based in a world of pure fantasy… and only an idiot or a troll would actually believe it.

I’d wager that baseless claims such as these are statistically likely to be backed by click farms and corporations looking to control a narrative or, at the very least, create enough noise to muddy the signal.

I could go on- but the point is made.

On the off chance you actually have that thought rattling around in that cavern between your ears… I think you need to possibly exercise more critical thought and familiarize yourself with concepts like Occam’s razor.

Everyone is absolutely entitled to their opinion… Including you. With that said: it is my opinion that you are either a paid actor, an idiot, or a troll.

I am speaking from a position with a fair bit of inside knowledge within the industry. Executive decisions do not mirror the whole workplace. Frequently there are engineers and employees who, despite the position they put themselves in, speak up for the end users cause. This is shown time and again through leaks, inquiries, and whistleblowing. It is an exhausting position to take and in most cases a thankless job. Seeing someone applaud your efforts, regardless of outcome, can be a meaningful morale boost.

Speaking directly to this topic: tags exist and already are being used. Recall that it is not just Google who provides these… apple and other platforms do as well. They have their use which arguably was the intent originally… but as with all tools they can be abused. Apple and Google have acknowledged this but it is difficult to put the genie back in the bottle… so solutions must be provided. This is one of those solutions. It’s a start- and will likely result in some people being protected where they otherwise would not have been. That is praiseworthy in my opinion. It is in its own way a check against unregulated tracking that is user controlled. That is good. Does it change the company or its mandate? No. But these are two different things.

So I’ll pose a question: by your mind everyone working for Google is evil? Every department. Every engineer. There is no saving the ship- so why bother? I have more to expand on this but I’d be curious as to your perspective.

CTF Face Instagib

IYKYK. Fond memories.

While yes: Google has over time become almost pure evil in a lot of aspects - that doesn’t mean they are incapable of doing a good thing. We should look to applaud the good the same as we condemn the bad. This isn’t perfect but is definitely a welcome step in the right direction.

Early adopters? Were they held at gunpoint? Even if you were a team blue fan you’d still just buy the older more performant generation… for a better price and not even think twice.

Not immediately. Gotta give that teaser trial to hook you…

And while you’d be right to do so- make no mistake that there are posts on every social media platform with the same exact goal in mind. This one is no different.

We are entering into an era informational noise. The signal is still there but it is fucking faint in the storm of misinformation and ai/seo bullshit it is being transmitted into.

You are 100% correct. The problem is most of the public has lost the ability to discern the difference between truth and fiction. Not their fault specifically: most of even the most technically literate would struggle to fact check what our news media and feeds dump on us.

The lizard brains always existed. Inbred, maladjusted, loud angry hateful fucks. We used to be able to suppress them. We ceded the helm of this nation to a bunch of corporations and their puppets in congress. We’ve been trying like hell to fight this multi front battle and are just taking Ls across the board.

We are burning books. Banning knowledge.

We are entering an environment where many do not have the luxury of having an opinion.

Speaking for all of those who were still trying: We’re sorry. We’re still here. We still care. But we’re fighting a losing battle.

Speaking for myself… I’m fucking tired man. I’m not the only one. People I’ve spoken to all are effectively the same: resigned to what comes next. There isn’t enough unity in this mess to right the ship. That unity will come with desperation… and we’re not there yet. 4-6 years. Maybe then. It’s got to get a lot worse before we unify over the collective mess we’re all stuck in.

Turns out clippy can’t replace all the people they laid off after all.

Amazon.

Your response is a common one I have seen time and again when they are trying to bow out while saving face. It’s not subtle.

Simple question: can you listen to music on YouTube? Followup question: is it still a video if the content is only the song? What would you call it?

I sincerely hope you learned something today and will be less of a pedant online. Cheers.

You are clearly missing the point of the statement.

If I, a developer, stepped away from a project because I wanted to protect myself: the bridge could be mended from my side regardless of if I was willing to do so (…why hello secret police!) The termination of the bridge from the opposite side means I have lost my strategic value.

As I implied: putting personal feelings aside here- this was a net positive for those in Russia presently given the political climate.

If it’s not, maybe you can tell me what a podcast is, and how it’s different from a YouTube video?

If I can listen to the YouTube video without needing it for visual aid… that’s just it: they’re the same thing. This wraps nicely into the video podcast thing you were whinging about earlier.

…why would I do that?

Considering your stance on this topic… why wouldn’t you? It’d be on brand.

This is not “language adaptation”, this is a complete erosion of the meaning of the word.

I really was hoping you’d say this. Semantics. Again. Language isn’t some dead unchanging thing. It morphs and adjusts with culture and technological changes.

By your logic you must surely lament the death of ancient ‘proper’ English circa 5th century before all those awful changes came about.

We have words for videos, they’re called “videos”, which are fundamentally different from a “podcast”.

Synonyms exist. Whether or not you choose to acknowledge them might be your business… however the fact you understood the medium being spoken about suggests quite plainly that language has succeeded here.

Podcast are not necessarily offline. You can stream them.

Ah, but initially - one name was for a live stream and the other for a recording. Streaming is ambiguous: are you streaming live or a recording? Thankfully: we do not make such a differentiation any more. I find it somewhat interesting your stance allows for such a difference to be ignored, though. Perhaps, given time, you will moderate on the remainder of this terminology. After all it’s a rather silly hill to die upon.

Again semantics. You are attempting to split hairs based on distribution opposed to type. This is like being a pedant over someone referring to tissues as a Kleenex despite it not being that particular brand. Podcasts were ambiguous back when they were still new, too.

Shoutcast servers were/hosted digital broadcasts. Podcasts were containerized (aka offline) recordings of these. You could argue that calling a live show a podcast is technically incorrect: but thanks to language continuing to adapt to its environment… You’d actually just be out of date or misinformed.

Semantics. A podcast is and was something that was typically long format akin to a talk show - that was something that could be listened to without requiring you to watch it. It is not audio exclusive. Many radio shows may and do have video feeds but that does not prevent them from being called radio shows.