Absolutely–especially if it helps to offset server costs. I’ve donated before for that.

Curious what you’d think of a sort of roped off, “free to enter” entry community/instance that would be akin to a shallow pool. Just enough so you understand how it works and see what it would be like, but everything else would have that pay-for barrier. You’re right that there’s a good benefit to putting a wall up but at the same time we’re still small enough that actively discouraging people from joining might not* be wise. I absolutely have turned my nose up to websites and servers that have some kind of pretty splash page and then a “Okay pay to get in!” message. I don’t even know what I’m paying for.

I was looking for a good source for that (I have heard the same thing) but found this instead which is still helpful.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666956022000290

My to do list app had a wrapped and I was deeply displeased to see it.

I have a gemstone (I forget what kind, it’s a dark purple though) worry stone. It’s just the right shape to rest in my hand and let me rub my thumb over it. I don’t really use it for that often, but on occasion it’s nice to just hold a cool stone, literally and figuratively.

Fandom engages in a lot of anti-user and anti-creator practices. There are mirrors to it that privacy and content respecting, particularly Antifandom and BreezeWiki. If you are interested in making the switch, there are plugins that will automatically redirect you away from Fandom towards one of these mirrors.

A powerful statement in therapy that still hits me when I think about it. “You don’t stop being someone’s child.” (I’ll leave it without context, the context would be too painful and personal, so read that however you want.)

Had a tamer but similar hill near my home growing up. Loved speeding down. It ended in a lot filled with gravel. Fortunately the day I spun out on the gravel lot was coming from a different, slower direction. Developed an extremely bad case of road rash all over one leg. When I realized what might have happened if I’d been taking the hill instead, that I probably would have broken my legs or worse, I stopped going down that hill. Realization of mortality can be like a bucket of ice water sometimes.

In order, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), Pokemon, Digimon

Omelettes. So versatile. So good. Of all the combos I love bacon and mushrooms in my american cheese omelettes best of all.

Pancakes are a close second.

I’ve been enjoying Tidal after switching.

I’ve been complimented on my voice before, and those aren’t weird compliments. But delivery is important. I had a coworker tell me, “Your voice is great!” And of course I’m thankful. But then deadpan, she goes, “You should do ASMR so I can listen to it.”

Now that was a weird compliment.

We both hung out on a Digimon fansite in high school lol

I honestly don’t know. There are a lot of things that happened in my life that sucked. Things I did or things I didn’t do, and far more that were more or less outside my control. The thing is, is that I keep bumping into really good things in life that probably wouldn’t have happened without going through the crap first. A small example is that I worked a crap job, slowly climbed the ladder a bit, worked… okay but it stagnated. We got bought and at the same time I got a job offer elsewhere. Cool–but that job offer turned out to be an absolute nightmare. I jumped ship immediately and came crawling back to my former job.

A lot of pain, a lot of emotional turmoil, wrapped up in ALL of that. But in the end I wound up making more money than ever, and learning new skills that I’m way more passionate about. So a net win. But I did have to go through crap to get here.

This just keeps happening. Over and over, on small scales and big. So as much as I hate the bad stuff, I probably wouldn’t change a thing. I like the good stuff too much.

The narcissistic aspect really nails it. These are people who cannot, are probably literally incapable of, seeing past themselves and their own feelings and views. I love how you phrased it as “they see is young people conspiring to not even have to come visit.”

That’s super traumatic! I’m so sorry that happened to you.

Interacting with local people is definitely a good one. If there are any community events, especially recurrent ones, go there!

Your rage is justified and the phrase “It’s an attack on our personal space” absolutely nails it.

When I moved over I searched for versions of all my reddit communities. Sadly, a lot of them are inactive, but I subbed anyway just in case. Then I went onto all and looked for the top handful that had stuff I liked. Now I mostly stick to my subscribed and flip over to all if I run out.

When I was a young teen, one of my friends gave me a floppy disk of midi song files she liked a lot but they mostly had names like “ANIME 2” so I had no idea where they came from. There was one on there I was particularly obsessed with but could never find. Then one serendipitous day, I did. It was The Destruction of Laputa from Castle in the Sky.

Edit: Or it was Sora from Escaflowne. There’s been a few times I heard an instrumental or non-English song with no source to go off of.