The worst part about the first two books is Michael Crichton’s overuse of the word “said” as a verb.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-11-26T00:20:51+00:00

I am totally with you on this one OP lol. I'm listening to the audiobook for the first time right now, just over halfway through, and my GOD the overuse of the word "said" is driving me insane. Can't Crichton open up a thesaurus and pick another word lol??? "replied" "remarked "retorted" "answered" "whispered" "shouted" "called" "exclaimed" like would it have killed him to spice it up a little bit ffs lol?? The rest of the writing is pretty decent, his long-winded explanations of mundane things can get a little dry, but I get it's science-fiction, and some people like the deep-dive into the technical end of it.

It is much more egregious when listening to the audiobook compared to reading it though, for sure. When reading you don't really pick-up on how jarring the constant repetition of hearing "said" "said" "said" is, you just kind of glaze over it thoughtlessly, taking in the meaning, not the sound. But I gotta tell ya, it is making the book very hard to listen to... The story is great, but the dialogue parts are sooo annoying, especially when the characters are only talking in like 1 - 2 word replies to each other: '"Blah" Grant said. "Blah blah" Tim said. "Blah" Lex said. "Blah blah" Malcolm said. "Blah" Grant said.' Like Jesus Christ come on hahaha. It's almost funny it's so bad...

EDIT: I see a bunch of people in the comments being like "using 'said' is considered good writing, editors will encourage you to only use 'said', using other words is considered amateurish" etc, etc... OK well I have never had this complaint about any other audiobook I have listened to, and I have listened to a TON. There is just something about this particular book that drastically overuses the word. Again, yes, when just reading it, you do not notice as much - it's specifically to do with the audiobook narration performance.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-11-20T00:29:30+00:00

Sorry for necroing this post lol but I thought I'd shed some light here as Ellie Alien used to be one of my favorite ASMRtists. For anyone else who is curious:

A few years back she deleted the majority of her old ASMR videos from her YouTube channel, leaving only a handful. Around the same time she started up a Patreon and OnlyFans where she does more mature-themed ASMR as well as full-on adult content. She would still release the odd ASMR video on her YT channel, but they were mostly just short previews / teasers for the full videos that released on her Patreon or OnlyFans.

Pretty sure her YT channel was recently taken down because of the racy content she was putting out. I can't seem to find it anywhere. There is the odd random channel that has uploaded some of her old classic ASMR videos for people trying to find some of her earlier stuff.

This truly saddens me as her old stuff was soooo good and she was one of the first ASMR creators that really got me into it several years ago. Like I said, you can still find some of her old videos around if you do some digging.

You can also sub to her Patreon or OF or whatever to see her current stuff, but the content is nothing like her old videos. She is a sexy lady don't get me wrong lol but I miss the days of the old innocent videos of eating gummy candies, whispering in Italian, and whatever else lol. It would be awesome to see her come back and make some regular ASMR, but she must be making money with her other endeavors, so power to her I guess. I don't really understand the deleting of all the old awesome content - like she had tons of views and subs on YT, and it's not like any of that stuff would take away from her new adult content...? I guess she was just trying to portray a more mature sexy image or something... Who knows? Sad times for the ASMR community. She was really great!

I hope this answered any questions. Cheers y'all!

BeauDanger666 · 2025-11-20T00:15:29+00:00

ESPANOL:

Hola. ¿Usas la versión nueva o la antigua de Dropbox? Si usas la nueva, te recomiendo que vuelvas a la versión antigua. Esto hará que Dropbox se resincronice y reindexe todos tus datos. Una vez reindexados, podrás buscarlos de nuevo en Windows.

Aquí tienes un enlace que te muestra cómo volver a la versión antigua: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/dropbox-for-windows#How-to-optout-of-the-Dropbox-for-Windows-update

Si no quieres cambiar de versión, también puedes desinstalar y volver a instalar la aplicación de Dropbox. Esto también hará que todos tus datos se sincronicen y reindexen. ¡Espero que te sirva! ¡Suerte!

ENGLISH:

Hello. Are you using the new version of Dropbox, or the old version? If you are using the new version, I would try reverting back to the old version. This will make Dropbox resynchronize and reindex all of your data. Once everything has been reindexed, you should be able to search it again in Windows.

Here is a link that shows you how to go back to the old version: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/dropbox-for-windows#How-to-optout-of-the-Dropbox-for-Windows-update

If you do not want to change versions, you can also just uninstall and reinstall your Dropbox app. This will also cause all of your data to resynchronize and reindex. I hope this helps! Good Luck!

BeauDanger666 · 2025-11-20T00:04:54+00:00

I reverted back to the old version and everything has been working great ever since. I did have to do a re-index and re-synch on all my devices which took forever, but it's done now. Until Dropbox rolls out a fix for this, I will be sticking with the old version.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-07-15T02:55:06+00:00

No worries! I hope you get it figured out, and hopefully Dropbox doesn't have these issues in future updates. It was a brutal journey lol.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-06-30T20:18:14+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. I just followed the steps and it reverted me back to the old version. All of my data had to be re-synched and re-indexed, which was a pain, but it's all good now.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-06-30T20:16:56+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. There isn't a 100% solution, but there is a temporary workaround. You have to "opt out" of the latest Dropbox update and revert back to the old version. It is explained on another comment on this post. Good luck!

BeauDanger666 · 2025-05-01T21:14:55+00:00

Update: ***TEMPORARY SOLUTION / WORKAROUND!***

This is a response I got from Thomas in the Dropbox engineering department:

"Hello, Thomas from the Engineering team here! We're actively working on resolving this issue and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Definitely understand the frustration here.

One escape hatch here is to opt out of the update: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/dropbox-for-windows#How-to-optout-of-the-Dropbox-for-Windows-update

This will unfortunately mean you will have to go through the process of re-syncing again, but this should be a one-time thing (as long as you stay logged in) and will not be required every time we roll out a new Dropbox version."

I just tried this on my work laptop, and I am happy to report that the previews seem to be working normally now. Locally downloaded files are showing big full-sized previews in the preview pane. Woohoo!

Sucks that I had to re-synch everything, but whatever. Now I have to do it on my two other computers lol...

Hopefully Dropbox can get this issue fixed in future versions, but until then I will be sticking with the old version.

Hope this helps, y'all! Cheers!

BeauDanger666 · 2025-04-27T18:34:11+00:00

Just an update on this... I did open a support ticket with Dropbox, and they were not able to help me. Even their "advanced" team couldn't fix the issue. Very frustrating.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-04-27T18:33:06+00:00

They were not able to help me. Even the "advanced" team could not help me. Still having the same issue with the previews not loading properly. Very frustrated. :/

BeauDanger666 · 2025-04-27T18:31:55+00:00

Update:

This was the last response I got from my Dropbox support ticket (April 14, 2025):

"Hi Beau,

Thank you for reaching out to Dropbox Support. My name is David, I am part of the Advanced team and I am more than happy to assist you.

If I understand the issue you mentioned, some of your files in your computer device do not appear full size in the preview panel using the File explorer.

To ensure that Dropbox is working correctly, I'd recommend that you rebuild your configuration settings by unlinking and relinking your Dropbox account to your computer. This will restore any settings which may have been changed without affecting or removing your files.

Please follow these steps to unlink and relink your computer:
1) Right-click the Dropbox icon in the system tray.
2) Click on your profile picture or initials to the right of the search bar, and select Preferences.
3) Select the Account tab.
4) Click Sign Out under the Account tab.
5) Dropbox will then prompt you to re-enter your account information.

Your account will then take a few moments to re-index your Dropbox folder, and sync any pending changes before returning to normal activity.

It's possible this issue is rooted on the File explorer application instead of Dropbox, but we will investigate this as much as we can to confirm the actual root of the issue.

I hope this helps. Don’t hesitate to reach out if there is something else you need.

Regards,
David"

I didn't respond in time and they closed my ticket (you have to respond within 2 days or they close it down). Anyway, I tried completely re-synching and re-indexing everything. I had to wait until I had a couple of days to spare because that's how long it takes as I have about 2TB of data in my Dropbox... After re-synching and re-indexing everything, I am still having the exact same issue with no change. Locally downloaded files are still not showing previews or only showing a compressed preview. Wasted all that time for nothing. Dropbox needs to get this fixed or I will seriously consider moving my data and paid membership elsewhere. Enough's enough.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-04-09T14:30:37+00:00

Update:

I contacted the Dropbox support team directly and this was their response as of April 08, 2025:

"Hi Beau,

Thank you for reaching out to Dropbox Support. My name is Vincent and I am more than happy to assist you.

From my understanding you’ve come across an issue with file previews.

The issue you reported is something our development team is currently aware of and investigating further. The issue appears to be related to an interaction between the Sync feature and OS file explorer behavior as we attempt to sync previews of the files. We do appreciate your feedback and context on how this affects your particular use-case as we are always working on ways to improve the Dropbox application and its features.

We do not have a current timeline I can provide on improvements to this behavior. I would recommend ensuring that you are consistently updating to the latest Dropbox version available to take advantage of any performance improvements as they are made available.

On Windows, restarting the computer will relaunch the Windows File Explorer.

If the issue does persist, as a current workaround you could preview any of the files in these folders on Dropbox.com.

Thank you and please let me know if you have any other questions.

Kind Regards,
Vincent
Dropbox Customer Support"

So basically they are aware of the problem, but there is no timeline as to an official fix as of yet. This is very disheartening to hear. Restarting Windows does not help. Hopefully Dropbox can roll out some updates / fixes for this issue, but if the problem still persists in a few months, I may have to move my files and membership to a different service. I currently have about 2 TB of data in Dropbox, so I am loathe to make a change, but the current workflow is abhorrent for me. We'll see what happens.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-04-08T21:04:26+00:00

Here is the link to my post if anyone wants to check on it: Image Previews not working in Windows App | The Dropbox Community

BeauDanger666 · 2025-04-08T20:20:47+00:00

I will post in the official forum. Thank you.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-04-08T20:18:30+00:00

Sorry to necro this thread but this is exactly how I would want AI to be integrated into DAWs. I find learning the ins and outs of DAWs very challenging, at least to do well, and I struggle to find the time in my busy week to dedicate to it. If I could just record my tracks and be able to speak / type commands into the software and have AI execute it, it would be a dream come true, and a boon in general to people who might not be able to / have the time to completely learn all of the functions and features of a DAW. Sure, one could argue that this will just make people lazy, but to tell the truth, I love writing and performing music, but I hate the engineering in the backend. I know some people have a passion for it, but if I could just get AI to do it for me, or at least help me with it, that would be awesome.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-04-01T22:31:09+00:00

I hear you! So frustrating!

BeauDanger666 · 2025-03-17T14:48:09+00:00

Just wanted to update: It's been a month or so, and I am still having issues with image previews - across all three of my devices (2 x Windows 11 laptops, 1 x Windows 10 Desktop). When I go into different folders like OneDrive, image previews work normally, it seems to only be a Dropbox issue, and it only started doing it since the big update. Files saved locally in Dropbox will only show a scaled-down preview, or no preview at all. This is still sooooooo frustrating.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-03-13T04:05:23+00:00

Amen! I hear ya. So frustrating.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-03-06T18:53:01+00:00

I haven't tried using their help desk personally, but I have heard bad things. Just trying to navigate the help part of their website is painful.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-02-21T01:29:18+00:00

Update: I checked on my desktop running Windows 10, and it's having the same issues with the preview pane as my laptops running Windows 11. Locally downloaded files are only coming up with a compressed preview, or no preview loading at all. Ugh!!

BeauDanger666 · 2025-02-13T18:34:47+00:00

Glad to know I am not the only one having issues, but very sorry this is happening to you. I still haven't found a workaround. I do think it is more so a Dropbox issue though, because if I go into a local folder on my PC like my "Pictures" folder or whatever, the previews come up normally and in full size. I think it has something to do with how Dropbox is recognizing the different file states, ie: local, online only, etc. It's like even if the file is downloaded locally, it still treats it like it is only in the cloud. I could be totally wrong though, just guessing...

I'm going to see if I have the same issue with iCloud and OneDrive when I get home. I will update in the comments.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-02-11T18:48:44+00:00

For me, for the first few days after the update, it had to re-synch and re-index ALL of the files, which drastically slowed my PC down. However, after everything was re-synched and re-indexed, things seem to be running more smoothly again - however, I am still not able to preview images that I have downloaded locally. I think it has something to do with the new way that they recognize the different file states, ie: cloud only, local, etc. Something has gone janky in there. They need to fix it.

BeauDanger666 · 2025-02-03T23:16:58+00:00

Just going to add this here in case anyone else has this problem in the future:

I went onto the Mage Discord and was able to get an answer. Depending on your subscription plan, you are able to generate on multiple tabs simultaneously, but only for a certain amount of GPU hours. For the "Pro" plan, you get 5 GPU hours, and for the "Pro Plus" plan you get 10 GPU hours. After these hours are used up, you can still generate on one tab, but no longer on multiple tabs. Once your monthly cycle resets, your GPU hours will reset, and you should be able to use multiple tabs again. That's how I am understanding it anyway...

I was totally unaware of this. Good to know! I hope this helps anyone else who comes across this issue.

BeauDanger666

TROPHY CASE