#Subscriptions make companies more money over time through them

[giantsinthemist]

i just realized a huge pet peeve in the tech/cyber/digital arena: employees trying to down-sell you on device or hard drive storage because “you probably won’t even come close to using all of it” and “you will probably just use [insert various cloud servers] for the majority of your storage anyway.” For one, the processing and storage capacity for seemingly random projects, work, etc. i end up working on is unreal For the second point, i don’t think they quite grasp my instinctive drive from the “golden age” to backup things to physical objects and actually store things on the device as needed. Clouds are one method of backing up, not the god of immutable data storage

fin

[leidensygdom]

So, what is the OGL and why are DnD creators thoroughly screwed?

Tumblr has not been doing a great job at talking about this, but:

With OneDnD, Wizards of the Coast has decided to update the Open Game License (OGL). Said license is what allowed people to create homebrew DnD content and sell it, and even larger companies to use certain sorts of content. Pathfinder, for example, is built on said OGL. This also allows streamers and artists to exist and benefit from said content.

With OneDnD (sometimes called “dnd 6e”), WOTC wants to create a much more restrictive OGL, which will, amongst other things:

Make WOTC take a cut for any DnD-related work (according to Kickstarter, a whole 25% of the benefits)

Let WOTC cancel any project related to DnD up to their discretion

Let WOTC take ANY content made based on their system, and re-sell it without crediting you, or giving you a single cent

And most importantly, revoke the old OGL, which will harm any company or game system that used it as a base, such as Pathfinder. And it means they GET ownership over any homebrew content you may have done for 5e in the past!

It’s important to note that OGLs are supposedly irrevocable. They were planning to use it for OneDnD initially, but they want to apply it retroactively to 5e, somehow. Which is illegal, but lawyers have mentioned there’s a chance they may get away with it given the wording.

This means that anything you make based on DnD (A homebrew item? A character drawing? Even music, according to them?), can get taken and used as they deem appropiate.

These news come from a leak of the OGL, which have been confirmed by multiple reputable sources (including Kickstarter, which has confirmed that WOTC already talked with them about this), and was planned to be released next week.

So, what can we do?

Speak against it. Share the word. Reblog this post. Let people know. Tumblr hasn’t been talking much about this matter, but it’s VERY important to let people know about what is WOTC bringing. 

Boycott them. Do not buy their products. Do not buy games with their IP. Do not watch their movie. CANCEL your DnD Beyond subscription. (Btw, they ARE planning to release more subscription services too!). They do not care about the community, but they care about the money. Make sure to speak through it. 

And maybe consider other TTRPG systems for the time being, Pathfinder’s Paizo has been much nicer to the community, their workers are unionized and are far more healthy overall

[flanaganfilm]

Mr. Flanagan, I’d like to ask a question and I deeply hope that it does not offend or upset you. I am strongly considering canceling my Netflix subscription due to their new password sharing policy. However, Midnight Mass is one of my favorite shows of all time and I know it isn’t available on DVD, and I’m also profoundly anticipating your take on my favorite Edgar Allen Poe story. So I wanted to ask your take on people accessing your work through, uh, other means. If it’s something that’s offensive to you or will harm you or the other people who work so hard on these shows, I’ll happily keep my Netflix just so that I can keep supporting your work. I respect you far too much as an artist to do otherwise.

Again, I really hope I’m not upsetting you by asking this question. Thank you for everything, and I hope you’re having a great day!

(NOTE 6/4/2024: I'm editing this entry because, well over a year since it was posted, some journalists dug this up and used it to create click-bait headlines that are misleading, out of context and artificially combative. While I was of course disappointed over the years that Netflix opted not to release my work on physical media, I never experienced any hostility or aggression in those discussions, and I sincerely regret the manner in which this post was used in the press this week.)

Hi there - no offense taken whatsoever, in fact I think this is a very interesting and important question.

So. If you asked me this a few years ago, I would have said "I hate piracy and it is hurting creators, especially in the independent space." I used to get in Facebook arguments with fans early in my career when people would post about seeing my work on torrent sites, especially when that work was readily available for rent and purchase on VOD.

Back in 2014, my movie Before I Wake was pirated and leaked prior to any domestic release, and that was devastating to the project. It actually made it harder to find distribution for the film. By the time we were able to get distribution in the US, the film had already been so exposed online that the best we could hope for was a Netflix release. Netflix stepped in and saved that movie, and for that I will always be grateful to them.

However...

Working in streaming for the past few years has made me reconsider my position on piracy.

In the years I worked at Netflix, I tried very hard to get them to release my work on blu-ray and DVD.

It became clear very fast that their priority was subscriptions, and that they were not particularly interested in physical media releases of their originals, with a few exceptions.

While companies like Netflix pride themselves on being disruptors, and have proven that they can affect great change in the industry, they sometimes fail to see the difference between disruption and damage. So much that they can find themselves, intentionally or not, doing harm to the concept of film preservation.

The danger comes when a title is only available on one platform, and then - for whatever reason - is removed.

We have already seen this happen. And it is only going to happen more and more. Titles exclusively available on streaming services have essentially been erased from the world. If those titles existed on the marketplace on physical media, like HBO's Westworld, the loss is somewhat mitigated (though only somewhat.) But when titles do not exist elsewhere, they are potentially gone forever.

The list of titles that have been removed from streaming services is growing.

I still believe that where we put our dollars matters. Renting or buying a piece of work that you like is essential. It is casting a vote, encouraging studios - who only speak the language of money - to invest more effort into similar work. If we show up to support distinct, unique, exciting work, it encourages them to make more of it. It's as simple as that. If we don't show up, or if they can't hear our voice because we are casing our vote "silently" through torrent sites or other means - it makes it unlikely that they will take a chance to create that kind of work again.

Which is why I typically suggest that if you like a movie you've seen through - uh - other means, throw a few dollars at that title on a legitimate platform. Rent it. Purchase it. Support it.

But if some studios offer no avenue for that kind of support, and can (and will) remove content from their platform forever... frankly, I think that changes the rules.

Netflix will likely never release the work I created for them on physical media, though I'll always hold out hope.

Some of you may say "wait, aren't The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor available on blu-ray and DVD?" Yes, they are, because they were co-produced with Paramount, and I'm grateful that Paramount was able to release and protect those titles. (I'm also grateful that those releases include extended cuts, deleted scenes, and commentary tracks. There are a number of fantastic benefits to physical media releases.)

But a lot of the other work I did there are Netflix originals, without any other studio involvement. Those titles - like Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, and the upcoming Fall of the House of Usher - along with my Netflix exclusive and/or original movies Before I Wake and Gerald's Game - have no such protections. The physical media releases of those titles are entirely at Netflix's discretion, and don't appear to be priority for the studio at this time.

At the moment, Netflix seems content to leave Before I Wake, Gerald's Game, Midnight Mass, and The Midnight Club on the service, where they still draw audiences. I don't think there is a plan to remove any of them anytime soon. But plans change, the industry changes.

The point is things change, and each of those titles - should they be removed from the service for any reason - are not available anywhere else. If that day comes - if Netflix's servers are destroyed, if a meteor hits the building, if they are bought out by a competitor and their library is liquidated - I don't know what the circumstances might be, I just know that if that day comes, some of the work that means the most to me in the world would be entirely erased.

Or, what if we aren't so catastrophic in our thinking? What if it the change isn't so total? What if Netflix simply bumps into an issue with the license they paid for music (like the Neil Diamond songs that play such a crucial role in Midnight Mass), and decide to leave the show up but replace the songs?

This has happened before as well - fans of Northern Exposure can get the show on DVD and blu-ray, but the music they heard when the series aired has been replaced due to the licensing issues. And the replacements - chosen for their low cost, not for creative reasons - are not improvements. What if the shows are just changed, and not by creatives, but by business affairs executives?

All to say that physical media is critically important. Having redundancy in the marketplace is critically important. The more platforms a piece of work is available on, the more likely it is to survive and grow its audience.

As for Netflix, I hope sincerely that their thinking on this issue evolves, and that they value the content they spend so much money creating enough to protect it for posterity. That's up to them, it's their studio, it's their rules. But I like to think they may see that light eventually, and realize that exclusivity in a certain window is very cool... but exclusivity in perpetuity could potentially limit the audience and endanger the work itself.

[genericpuff]

completely off topic but regarding something that i saw pop up in my FB feed and i need to rant about

please do not fall for this shit

nintendo is NOT anti-AI.

it's really easy for them to say they're not going to use generative AI to create their games, because this statement has nothing to do with the very real issues with AI art such as the blatant theft of artists' work, environmental impact, replacement of humans in the industry, and just flat out unethical shit that AI has been designed around

it has EVERYTHING to do with their intellectual property rights, which Nintendo is NOTORIOUS for protecting with an iron fist even at their own expense. and i'm not talking the usual sensible argument shit like "ofc Nintendo wants to protect their IP's, they're a business!" i'm talking about the fact that this is the same company that just recently did a major takedown of the vast majority of Nintendo-licensed games on Vimm's Lair which aren't even being sold legitimately anywhere anymore-

i have so many fucking bones to pick with the flaccid bootlicking anti-piracy arguments out there but basically it comes down to this:

Nintendo is not a small indie company. They are literally one of the biggest, richest, most powerful gaming companies on the planet, rivalling Disney in just how many major franchises they own and profit off of. Many of their games are cultural classics, not just through the sentimentality and nostalgia of our childhoods, but also for all the innovations they made through games like Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and many others that we, within the world of gaming, owe a lot to and should be able to access and play. It's not a matter of "wanting these games for free", it's a matter of wanting to be able to access these games, period, and Nintendo is deadset on making it as difficult as possible, even when it doesn't necessarily profit from them (need I remind you that many of the games that were taken down from Vimm's Lair are NOT available through their shitty, poorly-ported emulation subscription service - plus that subscription service can be altered and/or removed at any time, regardless of what you paid for, just like the Wii Virtual Console was, meaning you do not own any of the games you're paying to play on there.)

This isn't about being "cheap" or "not wanting to pay for games". This is about media preservation and the virtue of actually owning the things we pay for. If these games were resold at official outlets for reduced prices or made more accessible through e-shops that don't close down in between console generations or drip feed the odd legacy title every few months or release crappy ports on their outdated af tech for only a few months at a time for three times the price of their original value, people would gladly pay. It's the fact that people are having to put up with all of the hoops that Nintendo has put in place to prevent them from even handing them money to play their favorite titles that even drives them to piracy to begin with, and Nintendo will gladly shut those sites down to protect their IP even when it's an IP they're no longer profiting from and aren't making active efforts to sell.

Like, I would gladly hand over a reasonable amount of money (i.e. not the cost of a brand new triple A title in 2024 which is like $80-$100 here in Canada) for Diddy Kong Racing on the Switch, but ofc it's not on the fucking online play store and even if it was, I'd have to deal with paying an overpriced subscription fee for a port of the game that would undoubtedly run WORSE than it does on my PC, and that subscription service can be taken down at any time. But Nintendo wants me to not pirate the game that's not available on their shitty subscription service because... just don't do it, pretty please??

Nintendo is not anti-AI. They would gladly use AI in place of manual labor to scour the internet and dish out DMCA's to every emulation site, archived ROM hub, fan game, and artist alley creator if they could... oh wait, they already are.

Do not fall for the virtues of anti-AI when it comes to companies like Nintendo. They are not anti-AI. They're anti-ownership. They're anti-preservation.

[fourohfourlifenotfound]

Okay so hi I'm not super in any of your fandoms (watcher + try guys + dropout, hello welcome) but I'm a software developer and BOTH try guys and watcher announcing a custom streaming platform so close together had me suspicious.

So with just one, I'd assume that maybe they scraped together the money and resources to hire enough devs to make a well-designed secure platform (you want security for your login info and payment info). But two? Seems a bit odd.

So I actually looked a bit closer, at their privacy policies:

So it looks like Vimeo has decided to up their game and partner with existing yt content creation outlets to make streaming platforms.

Wait, what about Dropout? Dropout uses it too!

What does this mean, exactly?

Well, it means that Vimeo is providing a base software that gets customized for use by the companies (watcher, 2nd try). It means that Vimeo has a hand in your data associated with these platforms (account info, payment info, watch info, etc...). Is that a bad thing? Idk yet. Read through the streaming platform's privacy policy and Vimeo's privacy policy and make your own decision about what you feel comfortable sharing. But realistically the only additional info collected compared to your average youtube use is the financial info, and that seems to go through another third party (4th party?) (like Stripe or something like that. very common, most of your financial transactions online use things like that). It also likely means that Vimeo is taking some kind of cut of the profits made from these subscriptions (and lets be real, in this day and age, they're not just demanding a flat fee. It's likely some percentage of your subscription cost). The companies switching over (watcher and 2nd try) are making the gamble that the money made on subscriptions after cost taken is more than their adsense from yt, which isn't a wild idea considering how much we know yt loves demonetizing videos and paying their creators poorly.

It also means that Vimeo seems to be on some sort of marketing push, and that more of your favorite channels may swap over to streaming services in the near future.

Vimeo???? Yes, vimeo, that bootleg youtube that's been around for like as long as I can remember being on the internet. I guess they finally found a way to usurp yt's market control and good for them ig. Maybe this will be the thing that finally forces yt to fix their creator relationships? time will tell Why are you posting this in my favorite media company's tag?? I wanted fanart! Sorry to intrude, I just think this is neat and would love to hear opinions from other people on this knowledge.

[distracted-and-diffused]

On streaming and cancellation

Wanted to get a bit off my chest about the Dead Boy Detectives cancellation and the state of television today, so this is going to be a bit of a ramble/rant.

I know that Dead Boy Detectives cannot have been the cheapest or least challenging show to film in the Netflix Originals lineup. I am very grateful that Netflix picked it up in the first place, because the alternative seems to have been that it would have quietly moldered after having been dropped by HBO.

And I know that the realities and financials of the business of television are very different now than they have been in the past. I’m pretty sure they’re a black box to most people now, because Netflix sure isn’t sharing the fine details of how they are making those financial decisions, and their only real important metric seems to be “subscription number goes up.”

But I’m so exhausted by this current model, which seems to launch fans into the “bargaining” mode of grieving by default, even before the show gets cancelled.

As a fan, I should not be worried about whether I found and started watching the show quickly enough, or whether I should have watched more of it sooner. (I think my first watch-through ended just within that first month).

As a fan, I should not be worried about whether I posted enough, or did enough to evangelize about the show. (I like talking about stuff that I like, but I am personally uncomfortable with evangelizing about anything.)

As a fan, it is not my job to be an influencer, or the unpaid wing of Netflix’s marketing department. (And if I was going to be, oh, I have so many ideas about improvements they could make… but those improvements would probably exceed their modest in-house marketing budget. And again, not my job.)

As a fan, my only job is to love the show, and I do, and I did. So, so much. (I made it through nearly six complete rewatches; I was halfway through episode six again when I heard the news — and that’s not me putting on the show in the background, that’s actively watching each time — and they should know that from the number of times I rewound certain scenes. I had to stop putting it on while I was cooking because I kept missing parts I wanted to see more closely.)

And I know that as much as I loved this show, there are so many other fans out there who loved it that much more.

---

So it’s disheartening to hear that the show supposedly didn’t have the numbers or the engagement, but it’s also disheartening to see fans feel like this is something we could have prevented. Because I’m pretty sure we couldn’t.

Netflix doesn’t want to see that the show is critically acclaimed (it is!), or that people who like it really like it (they do!). The fact that it’s really good is great, but at the end of the day they’re not that interested.

They want to know that it’s something that will gain them subscribers. They want to see that it’s a sure thing that will make them back their money. (And this sentiment is not exclusive to Netflix, of course; any streamer, any studio has the same concerns at this point.)

And Season Two would probably cost more than Season One. Honestly, if we had gotten a Season Two I would have wanted them to give a bit more time and money to Season Two than Season One, because as great as it was, I feel like I could see places where the show was held back from being even better.

---

There’s nothing that I can do, as a fan, to let Netflix know that Dead Boy Detectives Season Two would have been a sure thing that would absolutely make them back their money. All I could have done is to go on loving the show, and telling other people about how much I love the show, and I think in time it absolutely would have found a wider audience of people who loved it.

Netflix used to be one of those companies that thrived (or at least, claimed to thrive) on the long tail, on people discovering the things that they loved and spoke specifically to them (maybe long after they were made), over and over and over again. It’s not that anymore. And I’m not even sure that the execs have ever thought of the Netflix Originals in that context.

And that’s sad for us, but it’s also sad for them, because here’s the thing:

We’re now in a climate where all of the major streamers are raising rates while also trying to maintain their user base. And that makes sense, from a certain point of view — content, licensed or in-house — is ultimately expensive. At the same time, everyone wants subscriber counts to go up, even as they start to reach saturation.

So then we start hearing streamers bemoaning churn — people signing up for a few months and then cancelling, and then coming back months or a year later to sign up for a few months again. That’s not steady or reliable income. And every time you lose someone to a cancellation, there’s a chance that they might find something else to occupy their time (could be another streaming service, could be their DVD collection, or woodworking), and they might take longer the next time to come back. Or they might not come back at all.

---

And to me, if you want a steady user base, then you want people that want to rewatch your content. You want people to find their comfort shows. You want people to find things that they don’t just like, but love, and especially to have confidence that you can offer them those things, and that you will help them find them.

But that’s just me, and I’m feeling old and tired now. I’m one of those people who can’t afford to spend more on streaming and who doesn’t like ads, and is eyeing my subscription change at the end of the month now that Basic is going away.

[mhalachai]

some of you may have seen a notice today from a tumblr-popular youtube show, saying they're putting all their content behind a subscriber paywall. This post isn't about them per say, only bouncing off what that has brought up into the following:

When is a digital subscription something i'm willing to pay for? Rubric edition

Disclaimer - my first news job was in the early aughts at a digital stock news company, so I've been keeping an eye on this subject for over 25 years.

So you want to access an entertainment or news service that has content behind a subscriber paywall. What steps should you go through, to figure out if it's something that you should pay for?

This post will go off the caveat that artists/authors/reporters (I'm not calling them content creators, that term is garbage) should be properly compensated for the works they produce, and the current business model in our late-stage capitalist society means we all have to deal with the worst possible way of engaging with art - the subscription-model paywall. It's a terrible garbage system but there we are.

Step Zero: Do you care enough about the content to consider paying for it?

It might not be important enough to you to want to pay for, and that's okay. On the other hand, you may want to continue watching/reading/listening, either because of the content itself or because you want to support its creation.

(I'm separating the above as they are two different reasons - personally, i'm in favour of paying an annual subscriber fee to my small local news room to keep them in producing the content because I think it's important they exist.)

Step 1: Can you literally afford it?

Everything costs more and salaries aren't rising. If the answer to the question is no, can you split the cost with someone? Is it something that can be accessed through your local library (in terms of audiobooks or magazine/newspapers)? Otherwise, moving to:

Step 2: Is the cost of the subscription in line with what you're willing to pay for the content?

I still subscribe to the newspaper i used to work for - I can read all the news and get all the quotes I'm interested in, and I know i'm supporting local news. I'm willing to pay money for that.

On the other hand, back last year when Disney Plus announced it was raising its prices, I decided that I wasn't interested in paying that amount for what I was getting, so I cancelled that one. Do I miss it? Yes, somedays. Would I go back to them if the cost went down? Honestly I don't know.

Step 3: Did the company/channel do something to lose your trust?

Sometimes, all the above have been met with the affirmative, but something about how the company is doing things sets your teeth on edge. Maybe it's how their business model is evolving, or how they treat their customers (Netflix and their password sharing crackdown was that tipping point for me - i no longer wanted to support a company that sees its customer base like that). Maybe it's how they decided to move to subscriber-only. Maybe it's their take on geopolitical or social issues. Whatever it might be, you get to make that call for you.

Summation: Don't feel pressed by FOMO to pay for something when you're not comfortable doing so.

Whatever the situation is, you get to decide where you spend your money. The corollary of that is that you may not get to see the new stuff created by companies/channels that you like, but honestly? That trade-off might be better for you in the long run (and I'm saying this with too many years of regret behind me) nothing poisons the enjoyment of art more than feeling like you were forced to pay/pay more for it than you were OK with.

The tl;dr: Take a step back and see if you're really comfortable with paying for all your electronic subscription fees for news or entertainment. Don't feel pressured into paying for something you don't really want to see, or what to support. Consider where you want your money to go.

It's hard economic times - do what you need to, and spend your money where you want to.

(And check into what your local library has on offer - they may have streaming services or digital content you weren't aware of - might be enough to tide you over for a while).

[alpaca-clouds]

Democratizing Media

Alright, one thing first: When politicians speak about "democratizing media" they usually mean something else then what scientist say, when they use those words. Politicians mostly mean something along the lines of "media should say what I want instead being controlled by some coorporation, because like I am elected, right?" Meanwhile scientist mean something else.

You see, before the internet became easily accessible for most people, the only way to access media was through certain outlets. TV stations, the cinema, some publishers and some record lables.

Yes, sure. Technically self-publishing was a thing even back then, but without the ease of the internet... How were you to market your own book or comic? And self-made music usually just circulated on copied and copied again casette tapes.

Usually, if you wanted to create media that actually people would see, you had to go through a big company. And those companies could very much decide who got to make movies and tv, who got to publish music or books or comics. Not only where those decisions controlled by capitalist interest, but also by nepotism and cultural biases, given that a lot of the people making those decisions where (and still are to these days) white, cis, abled men.

But when the internet came around things changed. Because suddenly everyone had a way easier time in getting their stuff out there. Pretty early on there were websites where people could just publish their stories and comics online. Either free and hosted by some other website or paid on their own site. Which was pretty revolutionary, especially as suddenly ideas that had been ignored could reach a new audience.

Voices, that by news media and such had been ignored so far - voices of women and marginalized folks - could suddenly broadcast over all sorts of channels.

And yes, you could also just publish your music and what not online, could also do your own research and offer it to the world and could actually get heard.

Now, we all know that this came with ups and downs. Because while finally marginalized people were heard like this, it also gave a bigger platform to some fringe conspiracy groups and the like. But at least there was a chance to get your stuff out there.

Social media websites and the like played a big role in this. Especially Youtube, of course, but other sites, too........ which of course brings me to the problem. Or rather to the question: "Is media democratized right now?"

Because it isn't, of course.

Right now we have these chokepoints, where you kinda are forced to push whatever you create through a channel. Sure, you can upload your videos on your own server, but probably nobody will see them. They need to be on youtube. Just like your music now needs to be on spotify and itunes. And if you self-publish a book, it kinda needs to be available on amazon or you won't sell shit. And if you have your own little blog and do not promote it on social media (or have it not integrated on a blogging platform such as tumblr) it will not be seen.

And this brings two issues with it (well, actually three). For one, as private companies those sides are able to censor you in any way they want to. They decide you cannot say the word "queer" anymore? Welp, no more talking about queer issues for you. And because they are a private company nobody can do much against it. Like with the tumblr purge. No more "female presenting nipples" for you.

The next issue is closely related: The companies in question want to make money. This they do mostly through advertisement and maybe subscriptions. Hence their goal is to keep you interacting with their website for a long while. And thus they have algorithms that decide what content you see - and hence if the content decides that something you do is not worth it or will get the wrong kind of attention... Well, nobody will get it shown. On a lot of social media we see, for example, that the negative content gets shown to more people. So writing about positive stuff does often not get you seen. (Which is why algorithms are bad. Don't fucking build your social media websites around a fucking algorithm.)

And lastly: A lot of media additionally to all of that also uses a system of partly manual currated. This is true for Netflix, who obviously want to make sure that the front page does show the stuff they either paid a lot of money for or that they produced themselves. Like, there is an infinity of great indie movies on Netflix, but if you do not know it is there, you will not see it. Same goes for a lot of Indie Games on Steam, that just go unnoticed, because they do not appear anywhere near the front page and just happen to go overlooked by folks. And in the end the big studios obviously have the money to get their games on the front page. Same with books on amazon, where just the difference in marketing budget makes sure, that certain books will end up front.

So, why am I telling all of that?

Because we still do have the tool. We can make a free, democratic internet like that. Where we do not have censorship (please note: banning people for saying hateful shit is actually not censorship, so yeah, ban them nazis). Where we do not have fucking algorithms. And where just everything has the same chance of getting seen.

Like, does not mean that there cannot be any currated lists. Like, those currator pages on steam? Those are fucking great. Lists where everyone just can make those and you can subscribe to their lists. That is amazing. But... you know. Not for the baseline experience, but for what everyone wants their experience to be like.

Just... a thing that bothers me. Based on the stuff I spoke about yesterday.

[rockandroobuckaroll]

Returning from the crypt to give my two cents on this whole situation.

I've just been looking at the comments on YouTube and I've been seeing several videos on tiktok and the amount of people blaming Steven for everything as if it's not a group decision is ridiculous. The way people think one man in a group's company can just say yeah we're doing this now and that's final instead of having several meetings about it, everyone discussing pros and cons and all that, going through timeliness of when to set things up... that's not just one man guys. Ryan and Shane definitely have more of a say in their own company than they're trying to imply. More than anything right now I feel really bad for Steven, this is clearly something they're ALL excited about and the comments is nothing but oh well we're all here for Shane and Ryan so Steven you don't need to make your expensive food shows and drive your tesla xoxox. That to me feels more tasteless than the whole reveal.

That being said...

I do agree with how people are saying the timing and presentation is a little tasteless. We're literally in a recession right now. People are broke. The points people make about not giving money to big corporations like Netflix and Aprime and just give it to the smaller creators are missing the point. People don't want to pay for content that was previously free regardless of who's making it, end of story. Especially given the nature of 'just pirate Netflix' and all that vibe they give off, they can't expect the audience they've built with that mindset to be chill about yet another subscription to add to the pile. (Though people saying eat the rich are hilarious to me as if these three men combined have even 1% of Bezos' wealth come on now folks)

I've been on their patreon since literally day one and I'm not going to lie earlier this month before all this was even announced I cancelled my subscription purely cos I can't afford to keep supporting them at the moment given I'm barely affording to live as it is and my workplace decided to screw us over completely (people in the UK look up GAME and what frasers are doing to us managers it's soooooooo funny :))))))) ) so to now find out all but the first ep of each series they put out is going to be behind a paywall just felt like a massive kick in the teeth.

I want to support them and HAVE supported them with money from my own wallet but can't afford that anymore so how are they expecting people who weren't willing/unable to pay before all this to suddenly start paying now?

I really just hope they know what they're getting themselves in to because the last thing I want is for them to stop making content all together.

[jaemified]

sunshine - kwon soonyoung

“you’ll always be my sunshine in the rain”

pairing; kwon soonyoung x fem!reader

genre; fluff, drama, unrequited love

warnings; minimal mention of drinking, soonyoung and reader get rained on in the middle

wordcount; 1.6k

synopsis; the one who stayed by your side no matter how many times you got fired from different jobs, tells you no matter the outcome, you’ll always be his sunshine in the rain.

read below the cut !

you had just been fired from your third job within a span of 7 months. not that you really did anything, you were always a competent employee, just the fact your overly.. energetic (to say the least) friend group would always seem to forget they are in public when they visit you. and once your boss found out they were yours, you paid the price no matter how much you tried.

“im sorry. i know it’s not you whos personally at fault, but we’ve been getting to many noise complaints from both owners next door. so we have to let you go, im really sorry again.” your boss, minnie, had told you before firing you from the bakery.

i mean, it made some sense that there would be noise complaints as the people next door were a tutoring company and a book store, but why would you have to be the one to take the blame?

at the end of the day, they were still your best friends, so you tried to see past it. but you really needed the money with rent due soon, not to mention the bills on top of all that. ‘i really might need to cancel my netflix and hulu subscription..’

you do have a roommate, sana, who you of course are close with, but with her being in law school, she was barely home.

of course she paid her share as she was pretty financially stable not to mention she still slept there (sorta) often, yet you never could ask her for money. though you went to high school and finished college together, it still felt weird asking for money.

so you sucked it up and went job hunting online, texting some of your (other) friends if they knew any available positions in the retail industry.

after 3 hours, you gave up. it was about 5pm now, and you had been rejected by around 15 different stores.

you decided to take a break to eat, and made a quick sandwich.

you scrolled through your phone mindlessly, before you received a notification from the one and only tiger lover (you really cringed when he told you to make that his contact name), soonyoung.

hoshi; r u ok

hoshi; srry me and kyeom got u fired

hoshi; picking u up

hoshi; dress nice

hoshi; jk u always do

hoshi; be there in 25

you sighed at his sad attempt to cheer you up. of course, him and seokmin were your best friends (among other things) yet you seriously had no idea how to move forward career wise.

you thought of just not telling them where you worked but they always found out one way or another.

even so, despite the desperate need for money you appreciated all soonyoung did for you. if he wasnt able to support you financially, he definitely always would mentally/emotionally.

with a heavy groan, you drag yourself off the couch to get dressed as you realized the minimal time you had left before he’d arrive.

you put on a yellow dress with yellow frill short sleeves, as well as a random pair of white sneakers before grabbing your bag and phone just as soonyoung texted he was parked outside.

“is that the dress i bought for you a while back?” he questioned while he backed out the parking lot.

“yeah. just never really had the chance to wear it since i was always working.”

“im sorry about that, again. i know you aren’t exactly the most financially stable but just know you can always come to me if you need-”

“soonyoung- weve been over this, i cant just ask you for money. i could never impose on you like that.”

“its not imposing if im the one offering it to you. but really, i don’t mind. im more then comfortable money wise right now.”

“only cause you live in cheols basement.”

“its not a basement- its a bedroom below the main floor. and josh literally has his own room on the same level as me! you know what thats besides the point. but you get what i mean!”

“yeah- you’re a group of 5 grown men living in a small technically one story plus a loft house with a.. not-basement because none of you wanna pay bills on your own.” you chuckled, rolling your eyes as you let the wind blow in your face through the crack in the window.

“hey! you’re saying that like we all don’t pay our own fair share.”

“whatever. where are we going anyway.”

“somewhere.”

“no way. are you kidnapping me?” you dramatically gasped, putting a hand over your chest.

“stop talking or im dropping you off at the nearest insane asylum.”

—

after a good 15 minutes of driving, you realized soonyoung had taken you to the old park you used to always visit together, recalling all the fond memories while the rushed back to you when you first stepped out onto the grass.

you noticed soonyoung taking a smallish basket out the trunk before you connected the dots it your head — he had taken you onto a picnic.

“you coming? this basket isnt getting any lighter.”

soonyoung had brought all sorts of your favorite comfort foods, ranging from strawberry shortcake, to tteokbokki, and even spam musubi.

as you took a bite out of your slice of cake, you let out a little gasp as a bee danced around your fork, before eventually flying to crawl over your dress.

you immediately stood up to shake it off you, sighing in relief as you saw it fly away (thanks to soonyoung swatting it but youre an independent person)

“you’re that freaked out over a small bug?”

“it was a bee! i dont want it to sting me or get in my cake.”

“it only stings you if you attack it first.”

“you’re lucky i didn’t attack you. why are all the bees coming towards me and not you anyway?”

“guess the bees know who the real flower is.” he smiled, before digging back into his own food like it was nothing.

your heart melted at the little comment, but it was expected from soonyoung. you shouldn’t get all worked up from something so usual/normalized, you told yourself.

but if it was so normal, why was your heart beating so fast?

“that was a little sudden. what was that all about?”

“oh that? yeah i like you.” he shrugged like it was nothing, the words rolling off his tongue so naturally as if he was responding to the most obvious question in the world. like, what color is the sky, or, how the hell do you respond to your super cute best friend that you find attractive, saying he likes you but he just got you fired thrice??

you felt the air being knocked out your lungs, absolutely speechless.

“i only said it so naturally cause i know you don’t feel the same, you know,” soonyoung mumbled, seemingly reading your mind. “just kinda needed to get it off my chest.”

“soonyoung..”

“no i get it. i mean i can’t expect you to love me especially ive been such a bad friend. i knew you were struggling and yet i still got you fired. from three different jobs.”

“im really sorry.”

“no need, if anything i should be sorry.”

“you know i still really care about you, right.”

“course you do, its only natural, anyway”. he forced a smile, though he wasn’t quite sure what else he expected.

though, he supposed a small part of him was holding onto something, wishing maybe you could’ve been a little more.

coincidentally, you began to feel small raindrops against your finger tips. you looked up to see the once bright blue sky had turned gray and gloomy.

“that’s weird.. I don’t remember seeing any rain in the forecast..”

soonyoung immediately packed up everything as soon as he could the moment he felt the rainfall coming down harder and faster.

by the time he was done, you both were pretty drenched.

he dug through the neatly packed basket to grab his black denim jacket to wrap around your shoulders as he guided the two of you to the car through the rapidly shifting winds.

soonyoung was meant to drop you off, but you invited him in. despite all his personal protests, he still went in anyway.

you poured yourselves some red wine, sitting on the floor by the warm fireplace after the cold rain soaked you both.

“i dont know if it’s the wine talking but you are really attractive, even if i don’t see you the way you see me.” you slightly slurred.

“well. you know what they say, drunk words are sober thoughts.” he awkwardly chuckled.

“im sorry.” you drunkenly mumbled, your head tipping over to fall onto soonyoungs shoulder.

he quickly took your wine glass to put onto the coffee table behind you in order to avoid staining the fluffy white carpet.

“what for?”

“i still really care about you.”

“well. you’ll always be my sunshine in the rain, even if it’s only ever just as friends.” soonyoung whispered to you, pulling his jacket tighter over your shoulders while you let yourself be absorbed by your own dreamland.

[tomorrowusa]

Corporations pay their CEOs extravagantly while trying to cheat on taxes.

It would be one thing if, alongside the exorbitant executive pay, the quality of American CEO-ing was going up. But these executives are making off with bigger bags of boodle despite their persistent incompetence: Media executives keep running their businesses into the ground, tech firms are laying people off because of vibes, the planes keep nearly crashing, and examples of insane eye-popping greed—like Rite-Aid’s decision to claw back severance paid out to laid-off workers on the same day they handed their CEO a $20 million bonus—keep on coming. So it may come as no surprise that there’s a robust connection between the overindulged CEOs and the firms that are most flagrantly dodging their fair share of taxes. For a report released Wednesday, the Institute for Policy Studies teamed up with Americans for Tax Fairness to spelunk into the balance sheets at some of America’s best-known tax scofflaws between 2018 and 2022. What they found was pretty consistent: The firms took home high profits and lavished their top executives with exorbitant pay, all while stiffing Uncle Sam. The excess is stunning. “For over half (35) of these corporations,” the study reports, “their payouts to top corporate brass over that entire span exceeded their net tax payments.” An additional 29 firms managed this feat for “at least two of the five years in the study period.” Eighteen firms paid a grand total of zero dollars during that five-year span, 17 of which were given tax refunds. All in all, the 64 companies in the report “posted cumulative pre-tax domestic profits of $657 billion” during the study period, but “paid an average effective federal tax rate of just 2.8 percent (the statutory rate is 21 percent) while paying their executives over $15 billion.” Which firms are the worst of the worst? You can probably guess the company that tops the list because it’s the one run by The New Republic’s 2023 Scoundrel of the Year. During the five years of the study, Tesla took home $4.4 billion in profits as CEO Elon Musk carted off $2.28 billion in stock options, which, since his 2018 payday, have ballooned to nearly $56 billion—a compensation plan so outlandish that the Delaware Court of Chancery canceled it. Tesla has, during that same period of time, paid an effective tax rate of zero percent through a combination of carrying forward losses from unprofitable years and good old-fashioned offshore tax dodging.

Elon Musk is either the world's richest or second richest person. But he still wants more. Give him credit for pathological greed.

In all fairness, Musk is not alone when it comes to enriching himself while screwing workers.

What sort of innovations have these CEOs wrought from this well-remunerated period? T-Mobile’s Mike Sievert presided over the Sprint merger that led to $23.6 million in stock buybacks and 5,000 layoffs. Netflix’s Reed Hastings poured $15 billion in profit into jacking up subscription rates. Nextera Energy has devoted $10 million in dark money in a “ghost candidate scheme” to thwart climate change candidates. Darden Restaurants has been fighting efforts to raise the minimum wage. Metlife has been diverting government money meant to fund low-cost housing into other, unrelated buckraking ventures. And some First Energy executives from the study period are embroiled in a corruption scandal that’s so massive that even Musk might find it to be beyond the pale.

These oligarchs are going to spend lavishly to elect Republicans who would give them even bigger tax breaks.

Fortunately, they can't literally buy votes. If we return to old school grassroots precinct work then we can thwart the MAGA Republican puppets of billionaire oligarchs.

One to one contact is a more important factor than TV or online ads in convincing people to vote your way. It takes more effort, but democracy was not built by slacktivism in the first place.

[dervampireprince]

hi! have you ever thought/considered posting your stuff on spotify/tiktok? /gen

thank you and have a nice day/night/whatever

for a while i posted small clips to tiktok however i soon stopped doing that. i would want my dervampireprince tiktok to be 18+ only and it's just too hard to curate that on tiktok, and the comments i was getting on my tiktoks and youtube shorts are the most vile comments i've ever received and so i don't want to go back to posting there. i don't understand why anyone would want my audios on tiktok anyway? you wouldn't be able to listen to them with your phone screen off. and if i posted them on tiktok more and they did get nice attention it's only a matter of time before people ignore my no-resposting rule. i've seen too many other asmrists/va's work reposted on spotify with no credit, often instead credited the official voice actor for the character a fan is doing an impression off instead of the fan.

as for spotify, i have no idea how the rules with copyright work there but i presume any fanworks wouldn't be allowed (character's name have trademarks on them and i wouldn't be able to use them, i've noticed that gibi asmr on spotify only posts her original asmr over there and none of her fandom roleplays). so the only thing i'd be able to put on spotify would be my original audios. and i have no idea how spotify works for posting. it's not a social media, even though some people seem to think it is and just respost any song or audio that isn't there's as a podcast (i have already had my audios stolen and reposted as podcasts to spotify multiple times). but again it's not a social media where anyone can just upload anything, think of it more akin to netflix than youtube, where only official stuff is meant to be posted. it's not just as simple as uploading my audios as an album, splitting them up into tracks of 5 minutes because...

it costs money to put your music (or in this case asmr) onto spotify. i would have to pay a distributor to do it and i'm not okay with doing that, i'm not okay with giving the license to my audios to any other person of company for them to potentially do things with it i don't want. yes there's services that most use who you just pay a yearly fee too, but it's less about the money and more about me wanting to retain all rights including distribution rights to my audios. and i wouldn't even make back on royalties what it would cost to distribute them.

now that's for uploading them as music, as albums. the reason why there's too many people reposting others asmr onto spotify as podcasts is you don't have to pay to make a podcast. so the only way i'd be able to upload my asmr onto spotify would be as a podcast. currently there is no way to monetise spotify podcasts (listener support donation are only available in the usa and ads are in closed beta). and then people would be able to listen to them offline through spotify premium instead of having to pay me a little money on patreon. am i fully against uploading my original audios on spotify as a podcast? no. but i don't see any benefit of it. and i don't mean no benefits for me (though i can't make any money off it and i don't see how it could increase my audience when people go searching for asmr on youtube far more than spotify), i mean i don't understand the benefit for you. anything spotify could give you, soundgasm already does and it does it without having to pay for a premium subscription to avoid ads.

i don't see the need for you guys to have my audios on spotify. if you want to listen to them with your phone screen off you can listen to them on soundgasm for free with no ads (you can turn off your phone screen and it will still keep playing the audio), or pay £5 to be able to download ALL of them off patreon and then you could cancel and never pay for another month and you still have all your downloads on your pc/phone. i don't think £5 for downloads you get to keep forever of 200+ audios is too much to ask. or £10 if you want access to all my n-sfw audios.

if anyone has any reasons they think putting my audios on spotify as a podcast would be a good idea or would be helpful for either myself or my listeners i would be open to hearing them. i just really don't understand the point of managing another website of uploads and keeping on top of that when whatever i think you could want from spotify is already available on either soundgasm or patreon.

[skullinahat]

some long-ass thoughts on watcher and dropout

for the record, i've enjoyed both of their work. i won't talk abt it much in this post, but it's very interesting how people kind of view shane's performative anti-capitalism making their consumption of ghost files a reflection of their own politics. then, a business making a business decision feels much more personal, because an aspect of your morals has just betrayed you. instead of just losing access to media you enjoyed, you just lost a reference point for your identity. Dropout is very mildly more aware of their function in capitalist society when they make anti-capitalist jokes, but the effect is still the same. the concept of supporting small business being an effective political action has obviously fed into, or perhaps came from, consumer culture. there's been a lot of "disappointment" in shane specifically, which is why i bring this up.

this post is a mess and i definitely used some of the wrong words, but i hope it makes some sense.

Watcher and Dropout have been compared alot as of late, of course both being attempted independent subscription based streaming services with a small host of content. dropout is cast as the good guy, the thing that watcher is striving for and failed at. I've seen several people joke about subscribing to dropout instead as a little fuck you to watcher.

A lot of people have genuinely asked what the difference is. Why is watcher bad and dropout good?

The most common answer i've seen is that dropout was pitched as a last effort to save a dying company, instead of the greedy money grab that watchertv feels like. dropout also offers a much larger cast, and many more shows, releasing new episodes monday through friday. Both of these things, however, are only true of dropout as of now.

Dropout was started two years before collegehumor's death, and it was only able to release as many shows as it is now very recently. It also didn't originally advertise itself as a final resort, rather "netflix- but worse!"

It didnt begin as a hail mary for a dying platform, just a new branch of an old one with no ads and more freedom. (Though it was a final resort later.) i think the biggest material difference between the two is that dropout always felt like an addon rather than an ambush paywall. later when it did become an ambush paywall, it felt justified. there was complete clarity over what would be on dropout and what would remain free on youtube.

this clarity was never present in watcher's announcement. I personally don't think watcher was ever planning on removing their free content from youtube, and they just worded it really poorly in their original video, but keeping new episodes behind a paywall is still enough to alienate their fanbase. the concept of them removing everything from youtube has stuck around despite their assurances against it.

the rest of the reasons why watcher went over so poorly is audience trust, yearly context, and marketing.

People had already followed ryan and shane from buzzfeed to watcher, so their trust had been tested before, resulting in them being more loyal, but still. I've seen a lot of people discussing their disappointment with watcher's content compared to buzzfeeds, which, everyone hates change so on and so forth, but most people are pointing specifically to the overproduction and the awkwardness. I had the same expeirence. I specifically remember watching an episode of too many spirits and realizing i was forcing myself to continue. It just felt like lipstick on a pig, hours of animation work on top of an awkward joke. I think there's been frustration with watcher's content building for a long time, and this poorly worded announcement is the straw that broke the camels back. i also don't think there was as much streaming service fatigue back when dropout was started as there is now.

It is entirely possible, given that they were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on post-production per video, that watcher needs more money to continue. I, as many do, would attribute this to poor financial decisions. However, i think they could've framed watchertv as a last resort for a company that fiscally couldnt continue on youtube and gotten away with it. they still would have gotten some flack for steven's tesla and gold-leaf pizza, but it wouldnt be the total takedown it is now.

Instead, in the video they simply talk about being to big for youtube. No stressing about money. It feels entitled. even in the apology, where they claim that watcher couldn't continue on youtube, the overt focus is not placed on money. Wether this was a decision to try and not sound too whiny and pandering, or it's that they genuinely could continue to work on youtube but want more freedom on watchertv, i'm not sure. either way, it worked out horribly for them.

[utilitycaster]

FYI, I'm away for the weekend and shall have very limited availability once I reach my destination but here is WoTC's first official statement re the OGL. It is short and in fairly simple language, and I recommend under the strongest terms you read it for yourself and draw your own conclusions from it rather than relying on others.

Takeaways I have are:

They will be clarifying that this is specifically about the creation of TTRPGs. Livestreams, cosplay, etc. were always unaffected but given the response from the community I think this is a useful statement to make. They have also stated that this is not intended to touch on VTTs. I will admit, I feel like the conversation surrounding VTTs has been by far the most poisoned by unfounded speculation, and I also have not liked VTTs when I've used them, so I'll wait for the final OGL 1.1 to have any conclusions, but at the very least this is what they are saying now.

It appears the royalty structure is not being pursued, which was one of the biggest legitimate concerns.

The OGL 1.0 will not be invalidated for existing content. I would presume that this does imply it will not be permissible for future content the moment that 1.1a is released.

The registration system has not been mentioned, and I am keeping an eye on that. It seems that if royalties aren't going to go forward this would not make any sense to have and would almost certainly cost them money to pursue, but I'm waiting for 1.1a to make that clear.

The language surrounding content that uses the SRD as being something that can be used by WoTC at any time for free will be clarified to indicate that this is a provision to prevent lawsuits over unintentional coincidences rather than as a means for WoTC to use commercially available unofficial content for free. (This is part of what was widely stated by people more familiar with IP law to be boilerplate. Basically: let's say a third party publisher came up with the idea of a fire-based druid class shortly before the Circle of Wildfire came out but after it had legitimately already been in development at WoTC. This would basically say "hey, we did not steal your IP; both of us came up with fire-based druid subclasses independently and neither of us will sue each other and both of us can continue to sell our material.")

Obviously this went through PR for a large company, and, you know, sounds like it. The responsible thing to do is to wait for the final document. With that said I do not think it's unreasonable to consider things with a measure of good faith, which is to say: the leak was a draft, it was not intended to be released as it was, and there was intended to be a (far more controlled) comment period for creators once a public-facing draft version was ready.

For what it's worth: More generally, I do recommend being very thoughtful about what subscriptions you maintain, which is why I use D&D Beyond in a fairly limited fashion and only because a DM of mine requested it - I do not use it for DM planning nor did I use it for previous characters. Part of that is because, as you can see in the film/TV industry and music industry, your favorite show or song can be taken off a streaming service on the whim of said service or at the behest of the artist or for many other reasons, but content you actually own will still exist. I think it's worth criticizing this as an ongoing business practice, and I do suspect WoTC will be pushing it for D&D Beyond.

I also think a lot of opportunistic people preyed on people's fears regarding games or shows they have deep emotional attachments to, and that multiple parties in all of this ongoing mess (one of which, to be clear, is WoTC/Hasbro) can all be wrong at once. Also more generally, I do not think this kind of fearmongering is productive, and I do think it's outright harmful to genuinely pragmatic anticapitalist efforts. Lies or even the not necessarily malicious wide dissemination of misinformation are far more dangerous when they validate what you already believe, because you're far more likely to fall for them.

[secularbakedgoods]

Runners

(science fiction, 1100 words)

It’s the end of the fiscal year. Hunting season has begun.

Ultimately, it all kicked off with the invention of the “workplace transparency plan.” As ad revenue stagnated, social platforms instead offered corporate clients access to their employees’ private messages. For a small subscription fee, employers could learn who their workers were communicating with and retaliate as they saw fit.

Within months, an entire industry of talent recruiters found themselves stonewalled by a terrified workforce. With electronic communication lost to them, the recruiters — far behind on their quotas — resorted to more drastic methods.

Strive Solutions is a midsize software company on the third floor of a converted building in the old warehouse district. Its two vintage elevators are too old to support ID card readers, so a pair of security doors flanking the reception area are all that stand between potential intruders and Strive’s inner sanctum.

A few minutes past 3:00 in the afternoon, both elevators open and the mob piles out.

Runners always raid in force, the better to overwhelm any on-site security. Where once the typical recruiter was a bland, nonthreatening thirtysomething in business-casual pastels, now they trend toward linebackers’ builds and stab vests. Those who aren’t the general size and shape of a refrigerator are the most dangerous of all — quick, clever, and vicious.

Not one of them is over the age of 30. Running is a youngster’s game.

The security doors are RFID-locked, but made of glass. Somebody puts a boot through one of them, and the runners barely slow as they stampede through.

The bulk of Strive’s employees work in an open-plan area referred to as “the Pit” whenever management isn’t around. The runners swarm through it with ease, unhindered by hallways or doors, vaulting over desks and chairs when they need to.

Certain pieces of equipment are standard. Every runner carries a tablet, ruggedized to withstand all sorts of abuse and equipped with a fingerprint scanner. A simple swipe of a new recruit’s thumb and the contract is sealed, filed instantly with their new employer. Signatures were once the preferred endorsement, before someone realized a fingerprint was valid even if the owner of said finger was unconscious.

Most of the runners also carry weapons, usually truncheons or collapsible batons. Those who don’t are about to learn that Strive’s CEO has a blacksmithing hobby and an office full of medieval weapons.

The rest of a runner’s arsenal varies with personal preference.

Barry Duboc, like most of his colleagues, goes for the easy money: junior employees who are easily seduced by playground offices and extravagant launch parties, and are easily intimidated into signing anything put in front of them. Clients don’t pay much for cannon fodder like this, but Barry makes up the difference in volume.

Inside a military surplus document holder, its metal edges filed razor sharp, Barry carries photos of his client’s break lounge — stuffed wall-to-wall with vintage arcade games — and a laminated copy of their dense recreational calendar. Before long he’s herded a sizable number of impressionable young programmers away from the safety of their fellows.

A few yards away, a 6’7” runner with tattooed sclera and brass knuckles on both hands sinks his teeth into the earlobe of a production intern.

Seasoned runners like Tom Saunders know where the real money is: senior developers, not so easily swayed by treats, parties, or threats.

Tom never goes on a run without a copy of his client’s benefits package, a breakdown of their flexible working policy, and a stun gun. This time, though, Tom’s got a secret weapon: his client operates out of a refurbished boutique hotel and offers private offices to its senior employees. The promise of working behind a door that can close attracts two senior web developers, one production manager, and an automation engineer.

Shelly Fleming is a virtuoso; she glides through the bedlam of the Pit like a shark through a school of fish. Painstaking research, careful maneuvering, and perfect timing have brought her here, today, for one target alone.

Over the weekend, Strive’s lead software architect posted anonymously online about her struggles at work since transitioning. Unfortunately, the post went viral and a characteristic turn of phrase gave her away. She was summoned to Strive’s HR department ten minutes ago for a lecture on “undermining the company’s public image.”

Shelly bursts into the room with a six-figure contract and her client’s novel-length Diversity & Inclusion policy. If the architect took the time to actually read the policy, she’d quickly realize it was crafted with great care to serve as a flawless legal and political shield while entitling the company’s employees to no actual protection or recourse from discrimination. But time isn’t a luxury she has anymore.

She winds up at the center of a tug of war between Shelly and the HR manager, whose brightly painted nails carve deep lines into the architect’s arm as Shelly drags her from the room.

Of course, Strive has invested in countermeasures. An expensive renovation over the holidays transformed the entire office into a Faraday cage, ensuring no wireless signals can go in or out. The runners’ contracts are all hosted on a remote web service; they must get their prizes out of the building.

Barry ushers his pack of recruits back through reception, but the elevators take precious seconds to arrive and more to depart. Strive’s two security guards beat several of the defecting juniors unconscious before they can escape, and a particularly zealous manager drags another from the elevator as the doors close.

Tom knows better, and heads for the stairs; unfortunately, the route to the stairwell leads past Strive’s executive suite. He loses one of his recruits to a flying tackle from the COO, who adorns his desk with high school football trophies.

Shelly cased the office in advance. She leads the architect to an old fire escape at the far end of the floor, near the server room. The windows are locked, but a quick blow from Shelly’s collapsible baton and they’re both home free, clambering down the side of the building.

As quickly as it started, it’s all over.

Of the dozens of workstations arrayed throughout the Pit, almost half now sit empty. Broken glass and loose papers lie scattered across the floor, alongside a few office chairs knocked over in the chaos. Strive’s remaining workers peer uncertainly from beneath their desks.

A light breeze wafts through the shattered window.

Strive’s CEO storms and rages for an hour, cursing the disloyalty of his former employees. Then, shutting himself in his office, he places a call to his own recruiter.

(my ko-fi)

[harryconcepts]

part 85

being in a newer relationship with harry and you try to hide it but you're actually really struggling with money 😔 with all your school work it's hard enough to get enough hours in at your job so you're just barely making enough to have your appartment and buy food every week 😔 but you feel embarrassed so you never mention anything to harry esp bc he clearly doesn't have money troubles at all 😔 then one evening he's staying over at your place and you're just laying in bed, he's reading a book and youre on your phone and you're both just enjoying each other's company quietly 😔 you end up checking your bank account and you freak out a little bit when it's way lower than it should have been and you gasp when you realize a monthly subscription that you forgot about went through and now you're way short for the month 😔 right away he looks up and asks you whats wrong and you're trying to play it off like it's nothing, but he can tell you're really upset so he gently pushes and reminds you that you can tell him anything 😔 finally you say "money! it's money, I never have enough for what I need and I don't have time to work any more hours and this stupid subscription just went through so now I have nothing and I don't get paid this week and-" and he just leans over to wrap his arms around you 😔 he lets you cry on his chest for as long as you need 😔 finally he says "I'm sorry baby, I didn't know you were having trouble like this" and you sniffle saying "it's embarrassing I didn't want you to know" so he's all "hey, it's not embarrassing... I didn't grow up with money, I understand more than you know" and you just kind of nod 😔

then he says "i want to help you" and right away you're all "no, I don't want you to just be giving me things when I can't pay you back-" but he cuts you off saying "i don't want you to pay me back, i want to help you... you work so hard and you're so stressed all the time, let me help where I can" and he knows you hate it but you also know you need something to change 😔 he says "what if i helped with rent? I'm here almost all the time anyways, I feel like i should be paying so you don't get sick of me" and you smile a little at that 😔 you say "are you sure?" and he nods right away saying of course he's sure 😔 he says "you shouldn't have to take care of everything by yourself, I'm here and i want to help you any way i can" and finally you come to an agreement that he'll pay half the rent and get groceries sometimes (but he's already planning to get them every time so you don't have to 😌) and he's so happy he can make your life a little easier 😔 and he never mentions it bc he knows you think it's embarrassing to have trouble with money but he'll always try to help in little ways like paying when you go out to eat or getting you things you need (like a new sweater for work) as gifts so you don't have to get them yourself 😔 and ofc you know what he's doing bc he's not very sneaky with it but you don't bring it up and neither does he 😔 and after a while you ask him what he thinks about you working one or two less days a week and he's all for it and so happy youre able to do that now 😔

being so nervous the first time you and harry hook up 😋 he's so reassuring saying "we don't have to do anything you don't want to" and you're like "I know, I want to i'm just- I'm nervous so can we go slow?" and he nods, leaning in to kiss your cheek 😋 he says "we'll go slow, I just want to make my sweet girl feel good" and you're so turned on already 😋 the whole time he moves so slow, making sure you're okay with everything and only feeling good 😋 afterwards he orders some food and you lay around together for the rest of the night 😋

harry loves his sleepy gf 😔 he comes home from work and you're napping in his bed or on the couch 😔 if you're in bed he feels your forehead and back to make sure you're not too warm under all the blankets and he adjusts it so you'll be comfortable 😔 if you're on the couch he picks you up and brings you to bed 😔he knows you always fall asleep during late night movies so when it's late he picks something you probably don't care that much about so you won't miss anything 😔 he knows when you're doing schoolwork you ignore the fact that you're tired and you'll get so grumpy so after a few hours he comes to give you a hug and he murmurs "come lay down with me?" bc he can tell you're ready for a nap 😔 he promises to wake you up after a few hours so you can get back to it and he always has a snack ready for you when you get up 😔

bestie harry coming home to find you napping in his bed wearing his clothes 😔 it's dinner time so he's climbing in next to you and pulling you close to wake you up gently 😔 he's whispering your name and rubbing your back 😔 when you blink your eyes open and cuddle closer he asks what you want for dinner and then he orders it, letting you stay laying on him the whole time 😔 he kisses your forehead and says "go back to sleep, I'll wake you when it's here" 😔

him holding you still when hes going down on you 💔💔💔 he knows you get a little overwhelmed and sometimes try to squirm away but he doesn't let that happen 💔 he keeps you still and spread open so he can keep doing his thing 💔 he doesn't care if you want to wiggle around he has no problem keeping you still 💔

anyways touching yourself in bestierry's bed and when you finally get together a few weeks later you're kissing and he brings you to his room and puts you on the bed, you lay back on the pillows and smile saying "ive touched myself in your bed before" and his eyes go wide and he's like "you're kidding" and you just shake your head so he's scrambling to get in next to you and he says "show me" and he's so desperate 🤭

harry would be so good dealing with your morning sickness 😔 it's really bad the first few weeks and you're so miserable all the time but he always wakes up early with you to hold your hair and bring you crackers and ginger ale and sit in the bathroom with you until you can move again 😔 one time you apologize for waking him up since it's like 5 in the morning but he's shutting that down right away saying he doesn't mind one bit he just wants to make sure you're okay 😔

I can never stop thinking about bestierry being your first everything like there's a guy you've kind of been seeing and you want to have sex with him but you've never done it before so you're nervous and you ask if harry will help you out 😌and he's like yes ofc 😌 100% goes down on you to show you how you deserve to be treated by any guy you get with and by the end of the night you're like.... maybe I won't go out with him after all I'll just stay here with you 🤭 and he's like "works for me 😌"

hookuprry the morning after, he made breakfast in your kitchen and you're at the table eating wearing only his hoodie. he's gathering his things and leaning over to kiss you on the forehead 😌 you say "oh I can give this back-" and start to take the hoodie off but he says "keep it, I'll get it next time" and he takes a swig of orange juice straight from the carton before he's out the door. don't lie and say that's not 100% him

anyways having a little bit of a power struggle in bed 😋 you tell him you like to be on top and he goes along with it for a while bc duh but then

malibu harry is really such a good husband huh 🤕 always making sure his wife is happy and has all the pretty clothes and shoes she could ever want 🤕 always makes her cum so hard even when he's tired after a long day at work bc he cares so much about her 🤕 when she's not feeling well he stays home and takes care of everything so she doesn't have to lift a finger all day 🤕 he loves to gossip with her about the neighborhood ladies and their husbands🤕 he is fr the husband of the century 🤕

anyways harry loves edging so much 😋 telling you to be a good girl and stay still for him while he teases you until you lose your mind 😋finally you start begging "please I can't wait any more i just need- please just make me cum harry i can't-" and he's shushing you gently, kissing at your neck saying "I think you can give me a few more can't you? been such a sweet girl for me and I like it when you cry" 😋 you're still so desperate saying "I don't know how long i can-" but he whispers against your skin "don't worry about it, just a few more then I promise I'll make you cum so hard, hm? how's that sound baby? you know it feels better when I play with you a little bit first" and he's right so you nod 😋 he gives you a few more minutes to calm down, nosing at your skin and kissing everywhere before he wipes the stray tears off your cheeks and gets back to it 😋

hookuprry being the best sex you've ever had 🥰then after you're kind of getting ready to leave not wanting to overstay your welcome but he's all "no no, you should stay I'm not going anything tomorrow" and he looks so honest so you agree 🥰 the next morning you wake up to him all cuddled around you and you can feel he's a little hard 🥰 you both wake up slowly and you push back against him a little bit, he groans and hugs you closer and you say "want me to help you out with that?" 🥰 he smiles and says "you don't have to" but you move so you can touch him and say "i want to" 🥰 and reach down to palm him 🥰 his head falls back on the pillow and he's very clearly enjoying himself 🥰 after a few minutes he says "wait stop" and moves to flip you over 🥰 he starts kissing down your tummy and you say "wait- i want you to feel good too-" and he just smiles saying "don't worry about that baby" snd he gets right too it, then you see his arm moving and you know he's getting himself off while he's eating you out and that's enough to make you cum so much faster 🥰 afterwards he has to head to work for a few hours but he gives you a kiss on the forehead and says "I'll be back soon, don't go anywhere" and he's out the door before you can protest 🥰 a little later there's a knock on the door no he had breakfast delivered for you 🥰 he texts you saying "enjoy the food, I'll be back soon and then we can go get lunch" 🥰🥰🥰

harry having to cover your mouth bc you're being a little too loud 🤭 he's just making you feel so good you can't help it so he just puts his hand over your mouth leaning closer to whisper "gotta keep it down, don't want to have to stop do you?" and you shake your head so fast and he's all "that's right, my good girl, just let me take care of everything and make you feel good" 🤭

anyways harry finding out you like girls but haven't had a lot of experience with that 😋 one night you're kissing and he murmurs "wanna watch something?" and he always picks the perfect filthy video to set the mood so you nod and lay back while he does his thing with the tv😋 usually it's a guy and a girl so he can copy the guys movements while you watch the screen but this time when you look up it's two girls 😋 and you're a little surprised but also so turned on already so you just go with it 😋 and he goes down on you telling you to watch the screen 😋 when you're getting close he's talking so dirty saying "you like that don't you? you'd love having a girl between your thighs to make you cum" and you can't handle it so you grab his hair and push him back down 😋 then a few days later he brings it up saying "you know, I have a few friends who'd be more than happy to join us sometime... let you see what it's really like" and you blush so hard but he can tell you're into it 😋 when you two agree on someone and invite her over it's just filthy the whole time 😋 they get you laid down on the bed and you're a tiny bit nervous saying "I've never... i haven't done this before-" but she shushes you gently saying "don't worry about that okay? me and harry just want to make you feel so good, that's all" and you melt 😋 Harry's sitting behind you to support your weight and she starts kissing down your legs 😋 she says "harry says you're always such a good girl for him... are you gonna be a good girl for me too?" and you nod so fast 😋 they're both smirking at how desperate you are and harry grabs your chin to turn your head and give you a kiss at the same time she uses her fingers to spread you open 😋 you moan into his mouth and right away he has to hold you tighter to keep you still but neither of you mind 😋 soon you can't even kiss back you just have your head thrown onto his shoulder while you whine so he's leaned forward to watch her eat you out 😋 he kisses anywhere he can reach and he says "look at you, doing such a good job for us... you're always such a good girl for me aren't you baby? sound so pretty... gonna be nice to our guest and cum for her?" and you're going feral with how good everything feels so all you can do is dig your nails into his arm and cum like he's been asking you to 😋

bestie harry being protective over you 😋 when you're going out on a date he's all "with who 🤨 what's his name 🤨 do i know him 🤨 what's he like 🤨 where are you guys going🤨" he needs all the details 😋 when you it ends badly and you come to his place at 11 that night he's letting you in right away saying "I knew you shouldn't have been with him" and he's handing you clothes to change into 😋 then he's making you a snack bc he knows you probably didn't eat well on your date since you were probably a little nervous 😋 then he's filling up the water bottle you keep at his place and he's turning on your favorite show and getting your spot on the couch ready 😋 then you come out in his clothes with your makeup all taken off and he opens his arms for you to come sit 😔

don't think about harry getting home from his flight at like 10 in the morning 😔 he comes in quietly knowing you're probably still asleep and he gets all his laundry put in the hamper and changed in to his jammies before he comes to bed 😔it's morning but he just wants to sleep for at least a few hours 😔 so he gently wakes you up kissing your forehead and saying "good morning baby... I'm home sweet girl" you wake up slowly and don't even say anything you just wrap your arms around him and pull him into bed 😔 you cuddle up to him wrapping your arms and legs around him just fully on him 😔after a few moments he says "I got you some coffee, its in the fridge" and you just say "mm I'm gonna sleep some more" and he knew that would be your response even tho it's getting late but he just smiles and pulls the covers up to your chin 😔

the first few times with him he's putting on a front and being so dominant doing everything to please you 😋 then when you guys have been together for a little bit and you start to really trust each other you can kind of tell he's really performing when you're in bed and ofc it's great but you worry he's just trying to please you and he's not focused at all on what he wants :( so you bring it up afterwards one time, you're laying on his chest tracing his tattoos and you say "you know... we don't always have to be so intense like that... I mean it's good, it's really good, but if you wanted to take things slower sometimes i would be okay with that" and he's a little shy but he says "okay, if that's what you want then of course" and you say "well it's not that, i want to do what you want sometimes, I feel like you never do anything for yourself and it makes me feel bad" and he realizes you're right 😔 so the next time youre kissing he makes a point to take things a little slower and just explore your body bc that's something he enjoys 😔 and when he goes down on you it's a little more passionate and you can tell he's less focused on pleasing you and more focused on enjoying himself which honestly makes it better 🤭 then when he's ready to fuck you youre pushing him gently to get on his back since usually you like to ride him but he doesn't budge,he just looks at you and says "I want to be on top" and you're like okay 🤭🤭🤭 and it's just as good and filthy as usual but this time he's a little more vocal 🤭 whining in your ear and telling you how good you feel and how you're gonna make him cum 🤭 and you can tell he's holding back wanting you to cum first but you whisper to him "you already got me there earlier, i want you to cum in me right now" and he would not have let that happen before but after your little conversation earlier he doesn't even try to stop himself after hearing you say that 🤭 he's holding you close the whole time and shaking in your arms while he moans 🤭 then after a few minutes he says "i still want you to cum again" so he's moving to go down on you again 🤭🤭🤭🤭

harry is soooo obsessed with his chubby gf 😁 he loves coming up behind you when you're doing your makeup in the morning, squeezing your hips and kissing your neck 😁 you know he's just trying to convince you to stay home so you're all "harry..." but he says "I'm just saying good morning 😁😚😚" and he's always all over you, touching and kissing and telling you how much he loves you and your body 😁😁😁

okay so the song nasty by Russ is all over tktok rn and it makes me so horny im not even gonna lie like "ain't nothing like that moan when the tip's in good god look at you you're doing such a good job" ARE WE SERIOUS? ARE WE FR? that is so Harry coded 🫨 you're newer to physical stuff but you want to suck him off and make him feel good like he always does for you and he promises he'll help you and tell you just what to do 🫨🫨🫨 and he's praising you so hard the whole time even tho he can barely hold back his moans 🫨 but he pulls you off before he cums bc he wants to finish in you 🫨 and still he's praising you the whooooole time, you both moan when he first pushes in and he's smirking knowing he's the only one who gets to see you like this 🫨 then he's moving a little faster and saying "doing such a good job for me, such a sweet girl i love you so much" and all you can do is moan into his neck 🫨 he's just talking so filthy the whole time bc he can tell it gets you off 🫨 telling me how good you're being for him and that he's gonna make you cum so hard 🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨

sex with harry is always a marathon 😁 he's definitely in it for the long game and sometimes it's fun to do things fast and cum right away but moooost of the time he's all about dragging things out and teasing you until you're desperate for it 😁 he loves to hear you whine and beg and he loves to get you so close and let you think he's about to make you cum but then he pulls away just to make things take a little longer 😁

I can't stop thinking about that praise kink ask from this morning, him throwing his head back and letting out a little gasped moan, tangling his fingers in your hair and saying "fuck, that's good baby, doing such a good job" and later when he's fucking you into the mattress and you're doing absolutely everything you can to keep your eyes open and looking at him bc you know that's what he likes, he's holding hands with you and keeping your arms above your head 😵‍💫 he says "look at you, my pretty little thing, taking me so well... feel how deep i am? all the way inside you? my best girl, want you to be good and cum for me" and be leans down to give you a filthy kiss so he feels you moan into his mouth when you cum😵‍💫

harry would love sleeping on your tiny little bed with you 😁 you always say "why don't we just go to your house you have such a big beg-" and he's all "no I like being close to you" and he pulls you right up against him 😁

harry is just obsessed with seeing you cum 😋 after he makes you cum on his tongue he's coming up to kiss you and he mumbles "i want to see that again" and he's about to head back down but you're like "ah no I need a minute" and he's like "okay just a minute though 😋" kissing at your tummy and hips so you can't quite calm down 😋