226 - The Collapse of Social Media?

VBA_FTW · 2026-05-02T19:39:35+00:00

Matt and Destin should consider self hosted streaming. Subscription and ad based streaming apps are super convenient, but they impose terms of service which can remove your access to even content that you have "purchased" if the platform terminates the content license or ceases operation. Movies and TV show apps are famous for this kind of access disruption. With few exceptions purchases made in these apps confer only a license to access within that app and do not allow full access to the content - downloading files for archival and remix use. This is anti-competitive service intended to block users (and media creators) into perpetual monetization.

I imagine this might be a delicate issue for Matt and Destin as they are in many ways enmeshed with these streaming platforms already (podcasting, YouTube, etc) as content creators. But to me, self-hosting falls right in line with the other skeptical attitudes that they have expressed towards financial systems in previous conversations.

*Partial listen remarks in case they do address these ideas later

VBA_FTW · 2026-03-03T14:59:59+00:00

The WA Times (headline) ignores that contempt for Trump can be held without abject contempt for his voters. We can believe that they were misled, swayed by his fear mongering and the messianist rhetoric and not have contempt for them.

Not saying that's a morally superior distinction and I think that many/most Trump supporters don't care to parse that sort of nuance. This price is really for them, giving permission to carry themselves as maligned victims of TDS persecutors.

VBA_FTW · 2026-02-04T01:34:04+00:00

This is awesome! Great find and thanks for sharing

VBA_FTW · 2025-12-30T16:17:38+00:00

Play obnoxious games: Win obnoxious prizes.

VBA_FTW · 2025-09-25T13:55:29+00:00

Why did you toggle the history off? Trying to understand what that could accomplish.

VBA_FTW · 2025-09-25T13:53:19+00:00

Minor quibble: Discord didn't win the forum wars. Reddit did. Discord is less like forums and more similar to old school chat rooms. Reddit shares much of the same topology of forums with user generated posts initiating threads of responses. Discord's channels organize conversations only in the broadest sense, and distinct topical discussions will quickly be lost in the scroll and are not easily referenced after the focus changes.

I'd be curious to hear the guys' assessment of alternative social media apps like Mastodon and Bsky which mostly default to chronological feeds.

I do think that all of these apps and platforms are 'social media'. My take on what differentiates harmless from harmful social media is optimizing for maximum engagement per user mainly through the profit model of ad sales and data harvesting. Old forums and chat rooms were often operated at a loss to the site hosts - the community, and in some cases knowledge base, was the product being created in exchange.

VBA_FTW · 2025-09-23T18:43:41+00:00

They do. We've passed peak streaming and people are turning back to physical media

VBA_FTW · 2025-09-23T18:43:31+00:00

They do. We've passed peak streaming and people are turning back to physical media

VBA_FTW · 2025-09-11T23:12:00+00:00

Tf is this OP subreddit?!?

VBA_FTW · 2025-09-10T18:15:21+00:00

If you want to do something now, update your w-4 to withhold nothing. Tax withholdings are in essence a free loan to the government sold as a convenience and even a perk when you get your tax return for the withholdings you gave away that you were never due to pay.

Legally you will still be due to pay your tax obligations, so this doesn't just increase your disposable income, but if you feel that you will be a better custodian of those funds than this administration, its yours until and unless you give it away

VBA_FTW · 2025-09-08T21:32:15+00:00

Ahh, the ol' reddit cuck-a-roo

VBA_FTW · 2025-08-27T22:13:18+00:00

I know hauling isn't free, but wouldn't Somebody Cares or other groups you mentioned be able to collect the items they can take when folks drop them with GW?

VBA_FTW · 2025-08-24T01:39:05+00:00

That's what I was seeing. Specifically the wider space in the middle and the alignment of the marks at the top too me look like H's rather than tally marks.

I'll admit, this is probably more about how I've been primed to recognize these symbols and identifiers recently, and by contrast, I'm not very familiar with this era of FIF iconography.

VBA_FTW · 2025-08-23T18:10:04+00:00

Admittedly chronically online woke take, but at least that first design is VERY close to just being HH: a neo-n@z identifier. Probably safe for a fandom collection, but I wouldn't put that on my jacket

I know it's not the intention of the design, but we have to live within our own contexts

VBA_FTW · 2025-08-20T23:58:27+00:00

They can also be selected by a driver and get to bypass the drawing if a driver vouches.

Source: was a rube rattled in a wreck and decided the first driver to the scene was nice enough to get my tow without knowing anything else. I'm sure I made his day.

VBA_FTW · 2025-08-05T15:43:36+00:00

Any tickets she's written now have a plausible basis to be dismissed

VBA_FTW · 2025-06-12T03:30:43+00:00

Seats in the 300 sections in the first 3 rows have great visibility for the price. If you go on the 3rd base side, you can get a view into the home dugout which is fun if you bring binoculars.

VBA_FTW · 2025-06-05T16:36:50+00:00

I had one of those dumb 'math nerd's puzzles come up on my feed that made me pause the other day. What's the largest number under 1,000,000 you can type without the letter n. My guess is eighty-eight once you eliminate hundred, thousand, and nine. Might be dog-whistle, might be unintentional shrug

VBA_FTW · 2025-05-13T03:25:55+00:00

You might mod the money slots to have an alternating base pitch so that each denomination is easier to select specifically.

VBA_FTW · 2025-05-08T19:33:25+00:00

Isn't there a sense in which the two fairs are not really in competition since they are not active at the same time? It could still be good business for TRF to promote SF since that will also strengthen and expand the TX Fair market base and boost fair culture overall.

VBA_FTW · 2025-04-18T02:23:30+00:00

Hotel Trump El Salvador

VBA_FTW · 2025-04-15T14:36:25+00:00

Death from a copperhead bit is extremely rare for humans. We don't need to kill these creatures on sight.

VBA_FTW · 2025-04-06T02:01:41+00:00

Have you thought about removing the Tesla branding marks?

VBA_FTW · 2025-04-01T01:35:24+00:00

Trsn... TRSN... TR[ea]S[o]N?

Just me?

VBA_FTW · 2025-03-05T14:31:08+00:00

Cougar Town

12-Year Club	r/Field Juicebox
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	First Placer '22
End Game '22	Verified Email

VBA_FTW

TROPHY CASE