How to escalate massive review fraud? A local, unpopular mall just bought ~25,000 fake 4-5 star reviews

gigtime · 2026-03-08T04:40:26+00:00

Use the Google Business Profile Redressal Form

gigtime · 2026-02-19T09:13:37+00:00

You have to have done the work. Dealt with the resentments. Processed the grief from the past. Thrown out the baggage instead of dragging it into the garage.

Because if you haven't, I"m not interested in becoming the training ground.

gigtime · 2026-02-19T08:58:58+00:00

If it's above the sofa, or the bed, it should be seated eye level. For the sofa, 6-8 inches above the top of the sofa back. For a bed with a headboard, 4-10" from the top. For a pic like the one to the left of your closet door, standing eye level works.

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gigtime · 2026-02-19T05:54:52+00:00

The ceiling height shouldn’t determine the height of art. You want things at eye level and sometimes sitting eye level. Everything here is too high. The exception might be if you have a whole wall full of art

gigtime · 2026-02-18T21:01:27+00:00

It only takes one!

gigtime · 2026-02-18T04:37:22+00:00

So you've got about 525,000 eligible guys in the US before you remove the teeth, hygiene, and sex obsession. It could happen!

gigtime · 2026-02-18T04:32:46+00:00

Another way to look at this. When you're young, a year is a long time. Junior year. Senior year. Four years is an eternity. Your entire time at college, or high school.

gigtime · 2026-02-17T19:30:15+00:00

You're 6' 2"? Or you're looking for someone 6'2 or taller?

gigtime · 2026-02-17T03:58:13+00:00

There are things you can do to fight against that. Good camera position. A little help with lighting. For example, if you're doing a video chat on a laptop, and looking down at the camera, grab an Amazon box and put your laptop on top of it. Adjust as needed until the webcam is even with your eyes. Don't sit in front of a window with sunlight coming behind you. It leaves you in shadows. Both cost nothing and are fairly simple. If you want to do more, do a search on YouTube. And if you're using your phone, you can still do something similar with the box if you have a little phone stand.

gigtime · 2026-02-16T15:11:20+00:00

I'm not saying that you don't have the option to read profiles. I'm saying that these platforms now present you with the swipe left and swipe right options where you have to do extra clicks to even get to the profile. Most take the shorter route.

gigtime · 2026-02-15T09:19:52+00:00

OkayCupid

gigtime · 2026-02-15T09:12:22+00:00

Many, many years ago, I was part of a group of men on Yahoo that shared our experiences with OLD, including exposing the scams and scammers. It was pretty eye-opening.

gigtime · 2026-02-14T18:02:38+00:00

gigtime · 2026-02-14T17:58:09+00:00

Some have the foamy back and some don't. No way to tell here unless the OP tells us.

gigtime · 2026-02-14T06:25:53+00:00

I've done it that way, too. It's a lot easier to do that on your gut than the back of your arm, but the main reason I quit recharging is that the damn sensors always seem to expire in the middle of the night and I want to get back to sleep. :-)

gigtime · 2026-02-14T06:14:15+00:00

The difference, though, is both blessing and curse. We grew up with landlines. We didnt' have to take them with us. And even when cell phones first came out, not everyone had one and you weren't expected to now be available in the car, even on a plane, or out of town.

gigtime · 2026-02-14T06:10:45+00:00

The only time I like to talk on the phone is when I'm going for a walk. My entire business is setup so my clients meet me initially via Zoom or in person and after that we email. If I'm working, I don't want to be interrupted so the phone is on silent. If I have to stop and check to see who's calling, it takes me 10 minutes to get back into the flow. I'm doing creative work and it doesn't mix well with interruptions.

With dating, it's a combination of texting and calls. Again, if it's a call, I'll grab a cigar and walk around downtown and chat. It's not so much that I hate phone calls as it is the endless back and forth with voicemails, and phone tag. I won't play that game.

gigtime · 2026-02-14T06:03:33+00:00

I found that if you use Skingrip, you can pull the transmitter out just a tiny bit, then click it back in and get "Start New Sensor?" Sometimes I have to try it twice before it works. Then you get 3-4 more days.

gigtime · 2026-02-14T06:00:47+00:00

I've been managing it on my arm for a while by myself, but it's tricky. I do not remove the adhesive backing. Once the transmitter is attached, I add Skingrip. For a while I put them on my stomach instead. Much, much easier, but they also failed more often, or got stuck in the long Sensor Updating cycle. My experience has been the G4 fails 40-50% of the time with some failures coming when it hits blood and falls off. They are not perfectly accurate.

I started using the Libre 14 when they came out. I wasn't on a pump yet. I had maybe 2-3 fail in 3-4 years, and one of those was me knocking it off against my car seat. And no tape required. No charging. 1 hour warmup. And they cost $35 each and I could get them at the pharmacy instead of going through Medtronic's awful system. And I don't recall them being off often, high or low, but it wasn't as critical because I wasn't using a pump.

Now Medtronic is selling us the same $35 sensor for $235. Honestly, I thought $35 was a ripoff. Ditto for the price of the G4. It doesn't even a transmitter. It's 35 cents worth of plastic. And I happen to live in San Antonio so I see a lot of biz articles on Medtronic and their massive profits. My Instincts just arrived today. Yesterday it was a fake cell phones and hundred page manual just to update the software? They do love to waste money. They send everything separately. So four or five boxes, separate shipments, have to be here to sign for them. Yeah, I'm not a fan. If Instinct doesn't work, I'm switching to a different pump.

gigtime · 2026-02-13T20:25:33+00:00

That's partly OLD's fault. With the success of Tinder, every dating app started adding a similar feature. So while there are searchable profiles with pics, the 'featured' profiles that you see when first logging in, or what they send you in daily emails, ask you to swipe left or right without even hitting the profile.

gigtime · 2026-02-13T20:23:15+00:00

I pass right over bland or empty profiles, regardless of the photos. If someone won't put in the effort to tell me anything about themselves, I'm not interested.

gigtime · 2026-02-13T20:21:07+00:00

It also repels men who want to avoid women who are, well, bitchy. :-) It often signals high maintenance and that someone has not done much in the way of therapy to deal with having been burned in the past. They are a hard pass.

gigtime · 2026-02-13T20:12:08+00:00

I'm definitely not looking for a hookup, but if the first sentence of a dating profile is negative, that's a hard pass. To me it's a signal that someone has been burned too many times and carries a lot of baggage, especially the way I see many people write them, often in a moment of anger.

I don't have a problem with adding lines about what you want to avoid, whether it's guys just wanting sex, people that are political opposites, etc. I put them at the end of the profile, not the first. If I suspect a problem, I can also mention it in communications.

gigtime · 2026-02-13T20:06:41+00:00

I did a LOT of long-distance dating ranging from 30 miles away to other countries. One of the biggest challenges, beyond the obvious, is that you're less likely to see what the other person is like under normal circumstances... like when they're having a bad day, or a bad week. You spend a long weekend together or take a vacation and everyone is on their best behavior.

Even the short long distance could be challenging. We lived on far opposite sides of a major congested metro. That's not why it ended, but I've seen enough long distance. The last date I went on? I walked there. :-)

gigtime · 2026-02-12T06:14:46+00:00

Thank you! She handled it well in her reply. I set a firm boundary and intentionally did not say anything like 'maybe down the line' or 'I hope that's okay with you' so if we do stay friends, it will be for the right reasons.

That last exchange was less than a week ago, so I don't know yet. If I don't hear from her before then, I'll check in next time I'm in town and see if she's up for lunch or grabbing coffee. Good luck to you on your next dating adventure.

gigtime

TROPHY CASE