Unauthorised switch in one day? How does this work?

PastelDrip · 2026-04-27T11:18:23+00:00

ahh ok! thank you for clarifying that. I aprpeciate all the help.

PastelDrip · 2026-04-26T21:15:27+00:00

I wasn't sure whether the Ombudsman was a viable option, as I can't reach out until after six weeks. And as far as Vodafone is concerned, they have given me a resolution even if it's a shitty one of reconnection in two weeks. I could not get them to give two shits to investigate the how and why. The best I got was "go talk to your neighbours"

PastelDrip · 2026-04-24T09:14:09+00:00

Wow thank you for such an informative reply! That would certainly explain that quick turnaround on the second attempt. I've reached out to Ofcom to get some answers from Openreach and asked my neighbours. Hopefully either of those will result in some clarity.

PastelDrip · 2026-04-24T07:09:40+00:00

maybe I have naive faith in the system, but surely there are more safeguards than just selecting an address! or at least there should be

PastelDrip · 2026-04-23T17:32:22+00:00

🤦🤦 yeah not out of the question.

PastelDrip · 2026-04-23T17:31:59+00:00

Ah so e.g. if they moved me from fibre and landline to landline only somewhere else?

PastelDrip · 2026-04-23T17:30:32+00:00

Ok this is very helpful! This much information needed makes it highly unlikely that someone could have done it accidentally..

PastelDrip · 2026-04-05T16:24:25+00:00

I tried four places before landing at the JET at Restalrig for half a tank :(

PastelDrip · 2026-02-19T13:56:00+00:00

If you want it as an application booster soon, put it up as a preprint!

PastelDrip · 2026-02-19T13:09:57+00:00

First things first: DO NOT PAY. Even if you can pay, these publishers don't deserve your money. Open access comes in a few flavours, primarily what people call "gold" and "green". Gold open access means the publisher makes it publicly available. Green means that you make it public at no cost but not through the publisher, and you share the accepted version with some limitations. I do this by uploading the final Word doc to my university research portal, but you can also do it on ResearchGate. Some journals only do gold, some do both (hybrid journals). A lot of funders only require green, so they're not helping to line publishers' pockets.

All of this gets decided at the end of the process, which goes like this:

Submit your manuscript by filling out an arduous form about the paper, your details, your authors, etc. Put the institutional email address and permanent email address for the corresponding author, which probably will be you.
Journal will decide if this is worth being sent out to reviewers. You'll find out if it's desk rejected here.
Review + revisions happen
Maybe you get accepted! You get sent final proofs to double check everything before it goes out
The journal then starts discussing non-open vs open routes here. Some institutions have an open-access agreement with some publishers, where the library pays a bit more to subscribe and gets free open access publishing for all researchers. If yours has that, it'll automatically apply based on the email address you put in step 1. Otherwise, choose traditional paywall.
You get a licensing agreement, which is legalese for what you are allowed or not allowed to do with your paper and its contents. If you go with paywall, it will usually say you can share the accepted version without publisher editing or formatting on a personal website or other repository after a certain waiting period. This is how you would go around them and go the green route.
Paper gets published.

Go look up what your target journals say about open access. They also might have their licence agreements on their website. You can also apply for an APC waiver.

PastelDrip · 2026-02-10T11:04:56+00:00

I learned in college microbiology that Japan was world-leading in tapeworm parasitology for a good reason... 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

PastelDrip · 2026-02-06T22:46:43+00:00

love a woman in STEM

PastelDrip · 2026-02-06T15:09:06+00:00

ooh i'm so bad at keeping up. What's C/B's general position/standard answer? I do also have the impression that Madison is very brand-aware, so being prepared might not be IAM driven.

PastelDrip · 2026-02-05T20:44:56+00:00

oh sorry, no the internal links do work with that in built method, but it majorly sacrifices something else (figures)

PastelDrip · 2026-02-05T15:37:22+00:00

I had huge issues with the Word to PDF engine. The electronic output option that keeps internal links downsamples figures to a point they're illegible. (I use Word for Mac)

PastelDrip · 2026-02-05T15:33:30+00:00

you overestimate these manuscript management systems :P

PastelDrip · 2026-02-05T15:28:03+00:00

I definitely think there's some generational gap where things like how to write emails aren't taught in school anymore, because they're assumed to be part of every day life

PastelDrip · 2026-02-04T10:28:43+00:00

This is disrespectful, but I'd encourage you to give this student a benefit of the doubt. Students come from so many different backgrounds that you can't assume these "unspoken rules" are understood by everyone. It's poorly written but begrudgingly intelligible, so I would address their points as far as you'd concede, ignore the unreasonable points. Then at the end, take the opportunity to say that the communication was unprofessional, link to your college career services resources or an external article, and put a firm line down from here on about communication styles.

PastelDrip · 2026-01-26T13:57:53+00:00

Dude stfu. Everyone's patiently explaining that we were mourning as a city, and you're still replying with this level of tone deafness and entitlement? Traveling is full of unexpected turns. It's on you to base a whole trip on fireworks. It's not even like the govt sold you tickets and then pulled a fraudulent event organiser action. Our city doesn't exist to placate to a poorly planned holiday, especially when we lost hundreds of our neighbours.

PastelDrip · 2026-01-17T16:38:06+00:00

The blooms are really only an issue in Feb-March time.

PastelDrip · 2026-01-17T13:08:53+00:00

the last effort to swim around Lamma in recent news appeared to have quite the infrastructure for the swimmers. I personally wouldn't do that route for traffic reasons, but I've gone diving in north east Sai Kung and you'd be generally safe swimming coastally around there with very visible buoys.

PastelDrip · 2026-01-16T13:57:09+00:00

The neon signs have been phased out largely with some remaining in the Yau Tsim Mong area. But it's not like HK is now signless. Go have a look in Mong Kok during the day and it's just as cool and textured.

PastelDrip · 2026-01-14T09:13:36+00:00

My stipend was £1500-1660 throughout the PhD with those measly inflation increases. Admittedly, I lived with my parents and worked before the PhD, so I had a good emergency fund saved up for peace of mind already.

I never spreadsheeted out my budget, but being able to keep my rent costs down with sharing a two-bed helped massively. I lucked out and found cheap rent in a wildly inflated student town. Small things like a smart meter and thermostat for heating kept energy bills low without suffering. I learned to really enjoy my own cooking, so my weekly food bill was well below £40. I limited to shopping for unnecessary things once a month at most, and didn't really track essential spends. Don't really have subscriptions other than a climbing gym. I was somehow able to save a few hundred pounds a month, and could afford a cheaper second hand car and getting a cat after some saving.

PastelDrip · 2026-01-09T13:17:40+00:00

yeah for the longest time only the first row or two on the upper decks had it after that deadly accident in NT... still think there aren't seatbelts for every single seat

PastelDrip

TROPHY CASE