Vespair

Whoa, are you trying to tell me that the awful guy who actively preyed on people's fears and insecurities while furthering dangerous assumptions and stereotypes was actually a self-serving grifter this whole time and not a real champion of personal freedom?

:surprisedpikachu:

I saw René (Odo) in an off-Broadway show called "Dance of the Vampire" awhile back.

The show was kind of a weird shitshow, but René was great in it (admittedly I didn't know he was in it in advance; we went because my friend was a fan of the star, Michael Crawford).

Here's some reviews of René's performance in the show I found online so folk know I'm not just talking shit:

https://renefiles.com/facts-biography/reviews/stage/dotv-final/

Additionally, the puzzles were often trivialized because of the crafting system being too overpowered

If they offered you puzzles and you ignored those puzzles via the crafting system, that sounds like a choice not to engage with the puzzles you claim to want.

Yeah I'm hesitant to fully endorse any financial company because, frankly, they're all relatively evil, but I do genuinely believe Discover is one of the least evil of the bunch and thus would say they're worth looking at when you're ready to work on building/repairing credit.

For a lot of reasons I'm not going to offer anything resembling actual financial or other advice, but if you come across any simple questions or problems along the way feel free to shoot me a message and I'll answer if I can.

And btw for the record American Express is also their own financial institution just like Discover, but I don't recommend them for most people for a few reasons: they tend to have higher credit standards, more of their cards have complicated or confusing terms, and many people don't realize that a number of their cards are still true legitimate charge cards rather than credit cards, meaning they require repayment in full every month rather than allowing a running line of credit. And yes that last one should be avoidable by simply reading terms, but I've seen more than one person get bit by not understanding what they're getting into with Amex.

That said, Amex also has some unique advantages, and if you're a frequent international traveler those advantages may be enough to make them the superior choice.

TBH I encounter very few places these days that don't accept Discover, but yes obviously you should have a secondary means of payment for those rare cases.

As to that secondary means, honestly my recommendation depends on the person. If you are trying to build, repair, or reestablish credit, then unfortunately the fucked nature of the credit system practically requires you to secure more than one line of credit; since there is rarely coercive enough reason to double-up on a particular card company then simply making that second card non-Discover kills two birds with one stone.

If however you're somebody with perhaps less discipline or a history of credit-related struggles, I would say maintaining good standing on a single card is good focus enough until you feel confident a second card won't cause temptation struggles and would then, yes, recommend simply relying on your debit for non-Discover-accepting scenarios.

Because it's all in-house. There is no Visa bank, so when you have a Visa card, your agreement is between you, Visa, and the lending bank. That's why you have a Chase Visa, or Bank of America Visa.

Discover, however, is an actual financial institution, so their credit terms don't stipulate or involve other institutions. And that may seem like nothing, until something goes wrong. I was a Bank of America banker for a decade (it was a different lifetime, I swear) and I can tell you my personal first-hand experience with problem-solving between the two companies is no comparison. The autonomy of Discover controlling both the assets and transactions affords them much greater and simpler power in cases of dispute or problems.

As somebody formerly in the industry, Discover is actually the only credit card company I ever recommend to anyone.

Ah gotcha. Yeah I'm not tech-savvy enough for that inquiry, sorry for misinterpreting your point ✌

Having safe spaces in the public square is fine so long as nobody is trying to turn the whole of the public square into one. I see the value if an instance wants to wholesale ban all negativity so as to create a island of positivity in the ocean of discontent, for one example. My objection was only to the implication of terms pertaining to the whole of the public square.

Yeah of course, I'm not talking about "free speech absolution!" or any other Elon Musk bullshit, just freedom from the disingenuous nannying of corporations and the need to be "advertiser friendly."

I, of course, understand the point and merits of instanced federation, but I think it's still okay to speak in wide generalities when more specific language isn't needed.

My point isn't that instances shouldn't be allowed to censor however they see fit, of course they should, my point is that the "default" censorship of much of the internet has nothing to do with merit or conduct or even morality and is instead almost entirely catering to advertisers so we shouldn't embrace said "default" censorship.