#iphone spam calls

[likeabxrdinflight]

question for the masses, do iphones get more spam calls/texts than androids and if so, how do y'all live like that

because I've had a work iphone for approximately four weeks now and the number of junk calls, spam texts, and general nonsense I have received on it is astronomically higher than anything I get on my personal cell

[nancywheeeler]

do you ever think about how a ‘60s monty python sketch where a bunch of vikings chant “spam spam spam spam spam spam spam” is the reason we call junk emails and phone calls spam? because i think about it all the time.

[jypsyvloggin]

How to Block Unknown Numbers on iPhone?

How to Block Unknown Numbers on iPhone Do you ever get unwanted calls from unknown numbers? If so, you’re not alone. Spammers and telemarketers are constantly calling people, and it can be really annoying. Fortunately, there’s a way to block unknown numbers on your iPhone. Here’s how to do it: Open the Phone app. Tap on the Recents tab. Find the number you want to block and tap on it. Tap…

[slyandthefamilybook]

The Nine Houses texting styles

(I haven't included any characters from Nona the Ninth bc I Haven't Read It Yet)

Harrow: Starts every text with "Dear [name]," and ends with "Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House" like a forum signature

Gideon: Lots of keysmashes. Lots of typos. Uses txtspk liberally. Harrow spends most of their conversations correcting Gideon's grammar

Ortus: Responds every time with a video message, no matter what he's replying to. Hasn't yet figured out where the microphone on his phone is so the audio is always muffled

Judith: Will call you

Marta: Will call you on Judith's phone

Coronabeth: So many emojis. Will sometimes reply in just emojis. Ends every text with a 🌹 or "xoxo". Thoughts are broken up into multiple texts (e.g. "Oh don't" "worry about it" "it's fine")

Ianthe: Forgets to text you back for at least 12 hours every time. Screenshots every convo for drama. Refuses to save anyone's number and so always starts a convo with "who is this"

Naberius: Doesn't own a phone

Isaac: Replies exclusively in reaction images. Will not text first

Jeannemary: Will spend 20 minutes agonizing over the proper response, before finally deciding on "Sounds good"

Magnus: Will laugh out loud rather than sending "lol". Doesn't understand slang terms (will follow up a butt dial with "sorry didn't mean to booty call you)

Abigail: Uses way too many gifs, all from her favorite show that went off the air 20 years ago. Texts are signed "Sent from my iPhone"

Palamades: One word replies with periods. Frequently sends random videos (like sewage treatment techniques) with "thought this would interest you"

Camilla: Somehow has a meme for every situation. If she doesn't have one she'll make it herself with a shockingly quick turnaround.

Dulcinea: Sends one-word texts with no clarification. Criminally misuses emojis (e.g. "Movie? 🍆"). Will not clarify when asked

Protesilaus: Is dead. Hasn't figured out how to get a ghost phone yet

Silas: Sends selfies from way too low an angle with text overlayed like a Snapchat. Will spam you if you're a minute late

Colum: So many ellipses... Ends every text with them...

Mercymorn: Still has a flip-phone with a pre-paid plan. Gets mad when people send her multiple texts in a row because it costs her $0.15 to open each one

Gideon the First: Does not text. Will instead show up at your house asking you to explain yourself

Augustine: Over-relies on speech-to-text. Texts are full of "what no I said duck not duck you stupid machine no duck oh John damn it"

Cytherea: Waits for you to text first. Gets mad when you don't.

John: Long rambling voice notes where he frequently gets distracted, leaving minutes at a time of awkward silence

[mrclairdycat]

HUMAN THINGS THAT WOULD SHOCK/CONFUSE WALLY DARLING: A THREAD.

Slight gore warning, I think?

People waxing and plucking their hair.

Nail art. He would love it.

Tumblr. If you gave him tumblr he would end up scrolling all day to see art, and spam post his own. I'm sure he would also feel obliged to comment under every post to compliment the art, he's such a nice little fella

Organs. He would find them silly and interesting. You would show him pictures of organs and he would ask things like:"do you have different colored organs? Can I see yours?"

The fact that we have to go to the bathroom? Imagine being like: "Yeah whenever we consume things we need to make it go out of our bodies aswell." He would be like: "... Neat." He would then play by flushing the toilet numerous times, he would find it fun. He probably would end up clogging it up because he tries to see how many things it can flush.

Human teeth.

Iphones. He would like it since the logo is an apple. He wouldn't play with the phone he would just add it to his collection of apple things.

Videogames? He thinks that the character in the screen is real and he's controlling them. You explain how they don't exist. "How can you be sure about that?" he asks, "cause we make them, they're just codes." "But how can you be sure they just dont know they're alive since they can't tell you?" he asks again: you start rethinking the many times you tortured characters in The Sims.

Pokemon. He would think the creatures are real too. He would lose his shit to Applin. He would ask: "Can I have him?" and you'll buy him the plushie and say they don't live here cause you don't have the heart to tell him it doesn't exist.

Certain animals?? He would be confused on why don't they speak. He sees them as people, he would be like "Why did you lick me? That's weird," to a dog... and then lick him back cause he thinks its a human world thing. You say:"thats just how he communicates affection, " and he would start licking people too to show his affection in this language.

Emojis. If he started messaging he would spam emojis. Probably thinks audio messages are like calls, and you're left with a spam of audio messages that are like: "Hello? Hellooo? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Digital art. He would look in awe. "I have unlimited colors? That's fun."

Sensory videos. He would be like an ipad kid. His face is on the screen watching the videos all day. ShApeS anD CoLoRs.

Sensory toys. He would love them aswell.

Deodorant. "We spray this on our armpits," you say. "Why?" he asks. "Because we sweat and produce smelly liquids," you reply. "... Ew."

Showers. He would be like a cat, he would hate showers at first. He doesn't understand why you would want to be wet. You would then randomly find him standing in the shower with an intense fixiated look on his face as the warm/hot water pours down on him. He likes the feeling.

Speaking about warmness, he would absolutely love how warm humans are. He would just randomly hug you cause he likes how warm and comforting it feels. Probably would like sleeping with you aswell and cuddle.

Human movies and tv shows. He would think those are things happening for real. You explain that it's like theatre. "... Wow, your theatre is very realistic," he says.

Wars. He would be so confused. "Why would you hurt your neighbours? That's bad, just discuss things pacifically." Probably would make him sad. He wants everyone to be friends and an happy community.

Meat. I'm pretty sure in Welcome Home they only eat fruits and vegetables? Idk. He would ask:"Since humans are also animals, do you eat eachoth-" "No. That's illegal," you reply. "... What's an illegal?" he asks. "It's a rule: humans are prohibited from eating each other," you respond. "... Since I'm not a human can I eat one-" "NO."

People making out. He would stare at them. He finds it gross but interesting, he doesn't view it as a intimate sexual thing just a weird thing human do.

Certain social rules. Why can't you just say hi to someone and speak to them as if they're your friend? Why is it rude to stare?

An apple factory. Like the fruit. So... many... apples. He would be sad some apples get thrown away and tries to 'save' them.

Blood. You would try to explain it, he understands it as just red water circuling inside your body. He would play with blood or finger paint with it and won't understand why that is an horrifying image.

Spotify. Unlimited music?? You can save your favourites to listen to them whenever you want? Wow.

Pollution. He would go crazy and blow up. WHY WOULD YOU HARM AND LITTER YOUR HOME?? AAAARGH!!

Homeless people. You're telling me there are people who don't have a home? Everyone needs a home! Why don't they give them a home?!

Preschool. A place where you spend your entire day fingerpainting, reading books, making stuff and dancing? All of the things he loves the most. He would infiltrate into one, the teacher would probably call the police, he would get asked questions. He just wanted to have fun too....

Discovering that in grammar saying "the most" without anything else is just incorrect and doesn't make sense. He doesn't like being corrected about it. It's his thing. Don't correct him.

Cuss words. He would be shocked at how many cuss words he hears daily: watch your profanity.

Space?? People being on planets?? His mind would blow up.

Birth. You... make humans?? You create yourself? What do you mean they grow inside of you? How? Does it just randomly happen? You would rather die than teach him about sex. You say that you were kidding and a stork brings the babies for those who want one, it's their job. "Ohhh, that makes more sense," he says. Then he sees a cat or dog giving birth and just implodes.

Therapists. He would like them cause they would be the closest thing to his neighbours. He doesn't understand, however, why they demand to get paid for being friendly.

History. You're telling me there was a time when your kind didn't exist? And you know that because of just... history? How? What??

Earrings. To him it just looks like you're stabbing yourself.

[emilsgrippers]

Can we please normalize not posting fanart on the most unknown and diabolical sites ever???

Use tumblr, twitter, TikTok, fuck even deviant art bro what I’m about to say YES it’s my fault I’m an idiot but dude I’m gonna lose it

I’m on safari priv browser and I’m looking for some TD pfps and junk, I know lame shit. So I’m srolling scroll scrolly scroll and I come across some cute Gwen fanart and I’m like aw. Nothing nsfw, just some cute art..

But the quality was shitty, so I click ‘visit’ expecting it to take me to yk deviant art ((since sometimes people post undevious stuff there) or tumblr and instead it doesn’t load the page and it takes me to something like staka whatever I was kinda zoned out, and then the Www changes to like ‘sexy change’ or something and I’m like uhm I shouldn’t be here!!!!

I’m like man it’s some stupid site nobodies heard of so it’s gonna be full of nsfw and gross shit and ADS and I start spamming the back arrow because I don’t need to art that bad bro so just as the back button registers my screen fucking flashes

‘Your iPhone has been hacked! Emergency action is needed!’ But the pop up disappeared because I clicked so fast I went all the way back to safari and now I’m freaked and I’m like bro if I show my mom she’s gonna be like what were u on?! And I’m gonna have to say somehow I ended up on sexychange or something?☹️ and then I’m like there’s no way I got hacked that fast right? So I searched it up and safari called me a moron and said your phone doesn’t send shit like that and the pop up is a scam or the hack itself or whatever

But basically I’m a moron and my phone is fine but like. Stop using these dog shit porn infested sites to post your art you losers I will update u guys if anything does happen with my phone but I doubt it

[tenjikubaby]

you have one (1) new message!

s62 (+ kakucho) texting/messaging HCs

Rindou: The “whats up” guy

Fair emoji use, texting abbreviations, and slang. Can’t care less about proper capitalization or spelling words correctly unless he really wants you to leave him alone. He can be a bit dry as a texter because he prefers to tell you stuff in calls or in person. Usually takes hours or even days to reply unless you’re special to him (you only need to wait minutes if so). Being an extrovert, I think many people messaging him so sometimes your messages might get buried under everyone else’s, and he’s usually too lazy to check everything. 

Ran: The “Good morning. How are you?”  guy

He wants to sound formal and intelligent over text, so he’s got complete sentences, good grammar, proper punctuation and capitalization even if you’re close. Rare emoji use, and if he uses one it’s only the basic smiley/sad faces because he’s too lazy to check out the other emojis outside that. Would likezone you on Messenger or send you those sparkly gifs and it doesn’t mean anything! He’s just kind of a boomer. Leaves you on read often but that also doesn’t mean anything because he might have a) fallen asleep, b) started zoning out, c) just forgot to reply. 

Shion: The "WHAT" guy

WACKY. Lots of emojis (his favorites are the fire, 100, and devil emojis), abuses Caps Lock, may spam you when excited. Sometimes, you might wake up to 35+ new messages from him, a lot of them different variations of “[NAME] WAKE UP BRO CHECK THIS OUT 🔥🔥🔥” (and it’s just a screenshot of a scammy “Congratulations you won a new iPhone!!” message from a free movie website. He already put his details in.) Reply speed is FAST unless he's in a fight or meeting. Laughs at the memes you send like 'HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA' because he doesn’t believe in lol or lmao or rofl. He’s quite fun to talk to because his reactions are so enthusiastic and extra. 

Izana: The “yes? 🤯” guy

Heavy emoji user. Uses emojis that sometimes mismatch the tone of his message so he can be confusing to talk to. It’s just one of his quirks though. You’ll know immediately if he likes or dislikes you because if he doesn’t like you, he just sends something like “shut the fuck up 😄”. Doesn’t abbreviate too much, but adheres to proper punctuation and types complete sentences. The type of person to respond to you with pictures instead of typing. (Like, if you ask “Where are you?” he sends you a close-up of his face and just above it you can see the sign of the restaurant he’s about to enter). Likes to send memes and reaction pics as well.  Reply speed is quite slow but doesn't exceed a day. 

Kakucho: The "hello :)" guy

Refuses to use emojis, prefers to just type out his smileys/sad faces. No caps. Abbreviates a lot of words but still uses proper punctuation because he doesn’t want to sound monotone. His texting is quite informal but still very much polite unless you’re close friends (he’ll be less polite then). He apologizes if he took too long to reply to you, which happens every time because Kaku isn’t on his phone much. If it’s really urgent, you’re better off calling him. If you send him a meme, he might not get it because he’s also not much of an internet person (unless you sent something that’s universally funny, to which he’ll reply “haha :D”). 

Mocchi: The "sup" guy

It’s really much better and easier to talk to him in person or just call. This guy’s phone is almost always dead. He plays lots of mobile games and spends so much time on YouTube, then forgets to charge his phone. When he does reply, he sounds so lazy: 1-3 words and little-to-no-effort in continuing the conversation at all. You see abbreviated words and no emojis, punctuations and caps. This is not because he doesn’t like you, but it’s because he prefers to talk to people face-to-face. 

Mucho: The plain "Hi" guy

Sounds way too serious in text. He’s not one for perfect grammar and punctuations in text, but you still feel his seriousness. Another slow replyer—barely on his phone because he actually touches grass. He prefers to talk through call, but when you do call, make sure it’s really important or you’d hear a deep sigh on the other end before he says goodbye and hangs up. Would likezone you just like Ran because these two are boomers deep down. Leaves people on read if he thinks the message is not worth replying to. 

[manybcdthings]

HUNTER CROSS — HEADCANONS

QUIRKS, HABITS AND MEMORIES

Hunter is a whistler. Mostly to himself but also when he's meandering around, hands behind his back like an old man. He whistles parts and sections of confederate songs. This one.

Doesn't fair too well in New York with how crowded everything is, so even a simple walk somewhere along the street turns into a confrontation with strangers.

Somehow within months of living in New York, he's managed to stumble upon an illegal gambling circuit at the back of some clubs and he's usually there playing poker with them on weekends.

Still remembers Spanish from the cursed vase because his brain is analytical and focused, so without him even realizing it, he is now bilingual.

Since the Benny Saint and Elliot dating rumor, Hunter has actually lost a few followers and is unaware he was even name-dropped in any articles. He's also unaware he's actually been locked out of his Instagram because of the influx of spam on his confederate flag posts.

He's had the same stolen iPhone for years and the screen is barely usable. He still gets texts from friends etc of the previous owner and he replies to them. Has a vague friendship with someone called Ron, despite Ron thinking he's keeping in touch with the previous owner.

The rings he wears are purely for punching purposes and are made from lightweight and light traces of silver so when he takes them off he has faint scars around his fingers. The constant discomfort from them doesn't bother him, they're in case they need to be used on another wolf.

Says that he's bad at math but isn't at all, but his math skills usually become noticed when dealing with money or if he's doing something that requires measurements etc he's always insanely accurate.

Something's fucky. It usually always is, even if he can't say what's fucky at the time.

Suffers from reoccurring nightmares about having three sets of twin boys with someone called Kat. Wakes up in cold sweats and doesn't speak for half a day after he has them.

When it's time to replace old clothes, he manages to find identical items to what he's replacing. Technically hasn't had a wardrobe refresh for decades.

Within moments of entering a space, he's already figured out the fastest and most efficient exit route. In the same token, within moments of speaking to someone, he's already calculated how they're standing and their position to said exit routes in case he needs to punch them and leave.

Weirdly, he's an attentive listener and his eyes are constantly scanning the other person's face. Probably looks like he's staring at their mouth a lot too, but this is also because he doesn't always understand what the fuck anyone is saying to him.

Even if his demeanor seems otherwise, if someone genuinely came to him for help (especially if it required a physical involvement) he will help them. Also generous with money and food, because of Elliot.

Has a picture of Brandy holding a baby Elliot in his wallet. The man in the photo has been ripped out.

Is good at anything that requires manual labor, so fixing things up or making new things is his hidden talent. Along with the useless hidden talent of card tricks and shuffling them.

He enjoys taking things apart just to put them back together again, would've loved lego sets as a kid if he knew what they were.

For some reason, Hunter is prone to just seamlessly joining groups of men but usually foreign men and speaks old-man silent language with them. He's made a bunch of weird friends this way, so always has someone he knows who can get something, do something or is helpful to a situation. Doesn't say more than 3 words to them when they arrive, though.

Refuses to Uber or get a cab anywhere in the city because he doesn't want to be in the bitch seat or the back. Also avoids the subway, but when he does use it, he usually gets in a fight.

[mochiimiiki]

| Vanderwood Route |

Summary: The sirens echoed around you, drowning out the now muffled screams of pain, fear and anger. A part of you was unsure if any of the sounds were coming from you as you dragged yourself across the floor, inexplicably burning up. Everything around you was fiery hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. Just how did you get yourself into this predicament? 

A/N: Okay! Hi guys, so sorry for not posting but here have the first chapter for this Vanderwood fic, that will have 11 Chapters (maybe a bonus too) in total! Enjoy my crappy fic :)

Spoilers for Another Story etc.

Warnings: innuendos, trigger warnings of blood, death, violence, gunshots scenes, Vandy swears

If any of these make you uncomfortable then feel free to skip said scenes or to ignore this! 

{Day One}

Your eyes narrowed at the phone. It wasn’t overly old, definitely an iphone of sorts but certainly was one of the older bands. You double checked the address that flared up at you. Practically demanding you to open the door. A gut wrenching feeling of uncertainty settled in your stomach as you stared at the apartment before you. So far the only off putting thing about the scenario was the slightly creepy vibes that you got off of the ‘unknown’ guy. Having one last final debate with yourself you typed in the password and stepped inside.

The apartment was as clean as a crisp, it had the appearance of one of those set-up walk in homes that were trying to make a sell on the real estate market. For a moment you feared this might be a set up to some show. “Hello?” You called meekly, sheepishly peaking your head inside. “Uh, I have your phone?” No answer.

Suddenly, the phone in question buzzed incessantly.

You had just entered a new chat, with people (or so you presumed it was people) who were unaware of your presence. That was until the one labelled 707 started spamming the chat with a string of ‘AAAAH’s. 

707: HOWD ZOU GRT HERE!!!!!!!

yoosung ☆: typos lolol

yoosung ☆: seven wht u on- OMG STRANGER DANGER?!

Jumin Han: ?

Jaehee: ? seconded

ZEN: Seven did you let... someone in?

707: NO IDNT

ZEN: typos... again.

You watched the chaos unfold in the chat, utterly bewildered. Just who were these... people? Why did it matter you entered their chatroom, it was just a chatroom? Besides it was clear that this phone had the app on it before, so you were just using their phone surely it wasn’t such a surprise... It was the same name after all, right?

MC: Uh... hi?

yoosung ☆: EEP! It talks!!!!!!!

Jumin Han: How did you gain access to our messenger? Luciel?

707: HOLD ON CHECKING CAMERS!!!!

Cameras? You gasped and spun around to the door, searching for the cameras, surely they weren’t spying on you? That’s when your face dropped. There placed perfectly above the door was a small black camera, hidden in the corner of the hallway, unnoticeable if not pointed out. You gave the camera a sheepish wave and held up the phone before typing in the chat.

MC: Sorry to barge in! I was given the address and code to return this phone I found um... who owns this phone?

707: No way... guys she accessed Rika’s apartment. She’s standing there right now in the hallway. 

yoosung ☆: SHEWHAYT!?

*V has entered the chatroom*

Jumin Han: V? Do you know this girl?

Your mind, to say the least, was fried. You hadn’t intended on causing such a ruckus today. In fact, all you wanted to do today was search for a new apartment while you tried to escape the clutches of your crazed, lunatic of a roommate. However, looking at the situation here made you double back on your decisions and debate on retreating to the psycho you deemed your roommate.

MC: UM... look i really mean no bother I really was trying to return this, the guy on the phone told me to come here... does Rika own the phone can I give it to her?

V: MC... is it? Listen there is a cafe down the street from you, would you mind meeting me there? I’ll be there in about ten minutes.

V: Luciel.

707: ...ye?

V: Call me.

*V has left the chatroom*

You stood there dazed. What... just happened? You didn’t even get a chance to interject. The members each seemed just as dazed as you were, still debating with themselves whilst you had an internal argument on the plan to go see this mysterious guy you just met on the internet or bail this crazy scheme entirely. 

Feeling no less unnerved than you had when you arrived you decided your best bet would be to put up with this crazy half thought out plan. Nothing terrible could truly happen. You were meeting him in a public place after all. After bidding these new members a strange farewell you grabbed your bag that lay halfheartedly against the too painfully white walls and headed out in pursuit of this cafe the mysterious V had mentioned. 

You checked the address that V had forwarded to you, making sure once again that this was the place you had arranged. You sat down apprehensively, jumping in the swivel stool as each person entered. You had no idea what he looked like, and until now just realised you had been in fact guessing he was a he, the little icon from your previous chat provided little leeway for your guesses. Your thoughts disturbed when a quiet voice snapped your spiralling queries.

“Hello, I hope you’re MC?” 

Your eyes lifted from your phone taking in the person before you. Your guesses were right; he was a man, and certainly not just any man… he had the face of a model! You could’ve sworn an inaudible ‘wow’ escaped your lips as you took in his dishevelled turquoise locks that curled perfectly into his face and framed his defined cheekbones. And the way in which his eyes slanted ever so slightly, provided him a look belonging to the wise. Oh and his eyes, he had such gentle, kind eyes. Immediately you felt a tension lift from your shoulders (one you hadn’t realise had settled there), as he took away your worries with a soft hum and warm eyes. 

“May I take a seat?”

“Please.”

V ran through a bunch of things, things that left you sitting there utterly bewildered once more. The day just gradually became more and more confusing.

“I would like something to ask of you, MC?”

“Hm?” You hummed politely glancing up to meet his soft gaze from your steaming coffee. “I hope...” He began, voice akin to his kind eyes. “That you would join the R.F.A.”

At that you choked on your sip, dismissing V’s worried hands as he tried to comfort your coughing fit. You? Join them? You didn’t even know these people! It comforted you even less when he insisted you stay in the apartment. Especially after learning that it belonged to his ex-fiancee. You didn’t know how to process this information, much less relay your reluctance about the whole idea to the head of the organisation, no less. However long you took to answer V sat back with a gentle smile, patience evident through his body language. He really did appear like an angel to you. 

“Um... while I appreciate your offer... sir, I really did just want to return the phone.”

“I completely understand.” He returned, same level of confidence and patience unwavering in his words. “I just feel that because of such... unusual circumstances in which you came to find our little app it may prove to be an issue for you.”

“Issue?” You echoed, confusion written in bold letters across your furrowed brows.

“Only a hunch.” He smiled back, once again his warmth evaporating any worries that may have previously infested your mind. Your fingers itched and your knee bounced anxiously beneath the table. “Alright...” You began slowly, swallowing your coffee as you allowed his words to truly sink in. “May I at least think on it, like have a nights sleep and... uhm tell you tomorrow? Or something?” 

“I wouldn’t ask anything more of you.” He nodded contemplating your request. For a moment you feared that he wouldn’t let you go and would kidnap you to be apart of this charity organisation, as though it were a kind of cult. But you were quickly reminded that this was not in fact a movie or soap opera, or drama thing of any kind and in reality things such as cults and kidnappings didn’t happen to ordinary people such as yourself. 

V pushed the little rickety french chair away from the table, the cafe he had chosen seemed to fit him so well. It was petite and had a frenchesque style, something that seemed very befitting to a man so beautiful. “Reach out to me tomorrow, I’ll tell Luciel to grant you access. And for now I welcome you temporarily to the R.F.A, until you’ve made your decision.”

And with that the two of you departed, shaking hands like old friends do.

You slumped back in the chair allowing your brain to catch up with the speed of events. In just three hours you found yourself with a new phone, an apartment to rest in and a job of sorts.

You debated whether or not pinching yourself would bring you any kind of consolation or just a little bruise. Sipping the rest of your coffee you decided to make your way back to the pristine apartment, which to V’s request you would sleep in until you came to your decision. Maybe it was naive of you to trust his kind smile and warm-hearted words. But suddenly you felt a perk to your walk and thought that maybe life could get more sunny afterall.

- - - Vanderwood - - -

Kicking the gravel from under his foot Vanderwood stalked up the driveway with a scowl etched onto his handsome features. He was furious. How was it his job to be involved with the stupid red headed brat? It wasn’t like he was the lazy one mucking about. But alas, ever since they’d assigned him to the weird red head kid Vanderwood’s life had been utter chaos. More so than the usual.

Vanderwood banged on the door. “Yo Seven, open this damn thing.” Briefly the air went still and time froze. Raising a fist to continue pounding the gate finally clicked and slowly opened. Vanderwood scoffed. “Trust him to only let me in when he thinks I’m gonna wreck his precious creation.”

Seven spun around to face Vanderwood with a wicked grin. “Oh Mary have you come to look little ol’ me?” He blinked, feigning innocence. Vanderwood folded his arms - thoroughly unimpressed.

“No, I’ve come to tase some sense into that thick skull of yours.” Seven mumbles something unintelligible as her turned back to his screens. Vanderwood momentarily cringed. He truly thought that staring at those screens all day might one day give Seven square eyes. “Jesus, would you look at the state of this place?”

“Mary!” Seven gasped. “That is utter blasphemy.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“To think you’d use such language.” Seven tutted, shaking his red locks to and fro as his fingers stilled. Vanderwood scowled, glaring daggers into the backs of his head. “It’s shameful, Mary.”

“Not my name.” Vanderwood’s eyes lazily drawled over his screens, observing with little interest just what Seven was up to. With an audible sigh Vanderwood realised just why the red had been slacking off. “Are you shitting me? The charity shit? Seven - fuck - I told you before, I’m only letting it slide if you actually do your work.”

Seven remained quiet, his body tensed. Vanderwood knew immediately that Seven was guilty. It didn’t take a genius to read body language. Vanderwood toed a packet of filthy crisps away, he felt a headache coming on. Slipping out his cigarette packet he was determined to let off some steam, figuratively and literally.

“Oh no you don’t.” Seven cut in, spinning in his chair to face Vanderwood with a rare scowl. “If you’re going to do that, smoke it outside.”

“It’s cold.” He retorted.

“Don’t care. My house, my rules.” He waved Vanderwood off, making the latter grumble out in protest. Before the two could begin arguing Seven’s computer bleeped.

“Is that the work for your man? Is it done?” Vanderwood stuffed the cigs back into his pocket, determined to sneak one later.

Seven shook his head. “No, I’m running a background test on someone.” He rubbed his neck sheepishly, mouse clicking across the screen.

“MC…” Vanderwood read her full name aloud, eyes scanning over the rest of her features. Age details, family, job, hobbies. At first glance she appeared to be any other girl, simple and ordinary. He frowned. What did she have to do with anything? Unless she worked for a rivalry agency?

“She’s just regular.” Seven tutted, as though reading Vanderwood’s thoughts. “As suspected… but how’d she even manage to get in then?”

“In?”

“The chatroom.”

“Damn it! You’re doing personal shit? Seven-”. The screen flashed and was replaced with a black reflection. The two exchanged glances before suddenly green code sprung up with a message - I’ll Hack It All. Vanderwood stared blankly, before scoffing. “Did you go and get yourself an arch nemesis? Congrats you can be that Dames Bond you rave about.”

“Vanderwood.” Seven cut in, incredibly serious for a change of pace. Vanderwood raised a brow, debating how likely it would be the younger agent might actually kill him if he smoked in his place.

“I need a favour.”

[captain-cathers]

What’s happening to Reddit, and why should I care?

TL;DR: An unreasonable API price increase is going to kill third-party Reddit apps, destroying important moderator and accessibility tools. Many popular apps have announced they're shutting down on June 30. The admins/site leadership aren't backing down. Most of Reddit is going private on June 12-14 in protest.

Unreasonably dense explanation under the cut:

What is Reddit?

Reddit is a social news aggregation site that is made up of millions of individual boards/forums, called “subreddits.” 

Each of these subreddits has a topic (baking, Borderlands, hentai, pictures of cats wearing hats, etc.) and users can submit related posts to these subreddits (images, text, videos, links, etc.). 

Every subreddit is moderated by a team of unpaid volunteers, and can have anywhere from 10 to 10,000,000+ members. 

The current CEO of Reddit is Steve Huffman, or spez. He was one of the original co-founders in 2005, left in 2009, and returned to Reddit in 2015 following the Ellen Pao fiasco. (TL;DR: she was the scapegoat for several unpopular changes made to Reddit and site policy.)

What’s going on?

Reddit announced that they are going to start charging money for their API, when API access had previously been free, à la Twitter. Also like Twitter, they’re charging an exorbitant amount for it, which will essentially drive all of the third-party apps and tools using it out of business. 

Reddit did not have an official app for a long time, but it did have a free API, which allowed developers to access Reddit data and posts and make their own Reddit apps. Several of these third-party apps became extremely popular. (AlienBlue was the most popular iPhone Reddit client, before it was bought by Reddit in 2014 and then shut down and replaced with the official Reddit app in 2016.) To this day, millions of Reddit users use these third-party apps, accessibility tools, and moderation suites that rely on the Reddit API.

What’s an API?

An API (Application Programming Interface) is essentially a toolkit that allows different apps and websites to interact with each other. A third-party Reddit App, for example, uses Reddit’s API to allow its users to view subreddits, post comments, upvote posts, etc. For a non-technical explanation, see this comment.

The bullshit that’s happening (in no particular order)

The new API prices were announced on May 31 and are going to take effect on July 1. That gives developers 30 days to figure out what they’re going to do with their apps – nowhere near enough time to rework an entire monetization scheme and get it approved. In addition, the new API prices are completely outrageous. Everyone clowned on Twitter for setting an absurdly-high price for their API, and then Reddit went and did the exact same thing. (Keep in mind these third-party app dev teams are extremely small – Apollo, which has millions of users, is developed by one person.)

Blind people cannot use Reddit without third-party apps. (Reddit is claiming they’re going to make an exception for accessibility tools, but there has been no communication on how they define accessibility-focused apps or how they would get approved.)

Moderators cannot effectively moderate their subreddits without third-party apps. All subreddits are managed by an unpaid, volunteer mod team, who keep posts on-topic and fight spam and abuse. Many of the tools and bots they use to keep subreddits running smoothly are at risk with the new API changes, and historical promises from Reddit that new moderation tools are coming have always been fruitless. Many subs are moderated by just one or two people, and this change will be the final nail in the coffin.

The new API blocks NSFW content – while this is a bummer for NSFW content creators/viewers who use third-party apps, more significantly it makes it difficult for moderators to effectively police NSFW content and spam. (This could also point towards a future Tumblr-esque porn ban, but Reddit recently expanded desktop support for NSFW uploads so this is unlikely.)

The CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman (spez) accused the developer of Apollo of blackmailing/extorting Reddit. Good thing the Apollo dev recorded the phone call and revealed that spez was lying. (Fun fact: spez was caught editing users’ comments without their knowledge back in 2016.)

Reddit claims these changes aren’t intended to kill competing apps, but they’re also testing turning off the mobile website and directing users to their app instead. It seems like Reddit’s moving towards the official app being the only way to access Reddit on mobile.

Reddit’s trying to go public and is laying off about 5% of their workforce.

Reddit admins are inviting users to newly-created German-language subreddits full of badly-translated content stolen from English subs for… some reason? (Maybe to make their site look like it has more of a global presence ahead of a potential IPO? Or to replace old and established non-English-language subs with new ones and new mods?)

Spez is hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) tomorrow, June 9 (but no time is listed in the post…)

Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync (among others) have all announced that they will be shutting down their apps on June 30th.

(Fun side note, Apollo was actually namedropped and shown multiple times by Apple at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference this past week.)

To protest the impending API pricing changes, hundreds of subreddits are taking their subs private from June 12-14 (some indefinitely). Reddit has said they’re “open to postponing the API timeline to launch mod tooling, if [mods] agree to keep their subreddits open.” The mods aren't backing down, and as of 6/8 the protest is going forward as planned.

Why should I care?

Reddit is a mixed bag of a website, only as good as its individual subreddits. On one hand, the site is a breeding ground for hate, amplifying movements like Gamergate and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. On the other hand, Reddit is home to countless communities, works of art, hobbies, support groups, and political movements that provide both knowledge and support that can’t be found elsewhere. There’s a reason why searching anything + “reddit” is an effective search query – Reddit’s one of the few indexed and searchable places left on the Internet that hasn’t been completely enshittified yet – a place where you can get a question answered by real people.

The Internet is increasingly driving toward individual walled gardens, where genuine connection and information is harder and harder to find. (Remember when all the wikis got eaten by Fandom? Or how every website destroyed the chronological feed and added stories to become the same? Or just everything about Twitter?)

Anyway, there’s no call to action here, just general despair. At the very least, we’ll be eating well on Reddit drama for the next couple weeks.

[exitrowiron]

I always appreciate your posts and pieces of advice. I’m curious if you have any good recommendations/best practices for managing work email?

I was recently reminded of the advice, "You teach people how to treat you." I think this advice applies to the workplace and especially email.

First, a bit of history. When the Blackberry first came out it was a novelty and being able to instantly reply to email anywhere/anytime was cool and impressive but it quickly led to the habit of checking email everywhere/all the time. Our kids were little and it isn't possible to be a good Dad or husband and be constantly fixated on email so I made the intentional decision to place my Blackberry (and later my iPhone) in the basket by the door where I also place my wallet and keys whenever I came home. That simple decision quickly became a habit and firmly established my policy that email stops at the end of my workday and doesn't resume until my workday starts.

To help reinforce my habit, I turned off all email notifications (vibrations, sounds, badges, pop-ups etc.) on my phone and computer. I still cringe when I happen to see someone else's phone with a huge number of unread emails as a badge on top of their email icon.

I usually spent the first 1-2 hours in the office clearing email from the previous day and emails sent from global colleagues over night. Then calls and meetings would generally consume my attention until 3pm at which point I'd do email until I left for the day. In between I'd be responding to IMs and texts and clearing easy emails but trying not to multi-task while on calls.

My colleagues pretty quickly figured out the most appropriate way to communicate with me. I generally responded to emails within a few business hours. If the question was simple/quick then they would ask via Instant Message. If the matter was urgent or required my attention outside of work hours; call or text my cell. Importantly, I used the same methods and had the same response expectations of everyone else: superiors, peers and subordinates.

It is best to establish your boundaries and set expectations as early in the employment relationship as possible. If you're interviewing for a job, email expectations and culture should definitely by one of your questions. When you meet your new manager, explain your policies.

As a manager I explicitly communicated my expectations and boundaries and made it clear that I wasn't going to be impressed by emails (even responses to my own emails) sent outside of work hours. As a senior executive I know that employees paid attention to my email behavior and that my actions influenced the company culture.

I had 2-300 personal folders but deleted everything else (including sent mail) after six months. Over holiday breaks I would try to clean out my inbox and get it down to a reasonable level.

Even though I think I had good email 'hygiene' I still found email to be psychologically crushing, a Sisyphean task that was never done. If not for the overwhelming number of daily emails, I might have considered working longer as I enjoyed the other aspects of my job. Now I take great pleasure in maintaining a personal Gmail account with no unread emails and every day I unsubscribe to whatever new spam has found me.

[inkycherie]

I have had the most amazing summer. In July, my best friend came to visit. I brought her to Paris (her first time), showed her around my town and other neighbouring cities around Geneva, and we drove to the south of France. I made different meals for everyone to enjoy, danced to the loveliest music, and drank the best wine(s).

The third week of August, I went back to the Philippines. We had a long overdue family reunion. Our uncle from Canada also came to visit with his family, and my cousin who works for months at a cruise ship extended his vacation.

We all flew to Zamboanga del Sur to surprise my grandma and our extended family whom we haven't seen in 13 years ! We spent a week there living the simple life, eating pandesal for breakfast, and singing karaoke kahit brownout.

The first few days of September, I spent back in my hometown. I saw Bowie again. I didn't let any minute pass without cuddling him. Whenever I'm in the PH and everyone else is back home, my sisters and I stay in one bedroom with our parents (and Bowie), chatting away until we all fall asleep. These nights were even more special because we were all cooped up in one room while there was a storm outside. Felt just like the good old days when my sisters and I would spend nights holed up in our parents room trying to pass the time until electricity was back on.

I was also sooo happy to walk around the malls with Christmas music already playing in the background ! We bought surprise presents for our parents. My sisters and I chipped in to buy papa his dream TV, and mama a new iPhone. The rest of my money I spent on groceries, more presents for the fam, pasalubongs for Jon, books, Cheetos, Spicy Century Tuna, Vienna sausages, and Spam. lol

We spent my last week in Manila. Took mama, my sisters, and our aunt on a date - brunch in Wildflour and shopping at Rockwell, and then continued to shop in MOA. I wanted to make dinner for everyone, so I made sinigang na baboy which was perfect for the stormy weather. We had drinks with our cousins before bed (red horse, spicy Oishi, and isaw at bbq).

The next day, I brought my parents to IKEA so I can buy them stuff for the house. I could tell mama was so excited to drive back home so she can start using everything we got. Uncle flew back from Zamboanga later than everyone else so the day after he arrived, he went straight to the condo so we can spend more time with him. We asked him to make lola's bistek Tagalog as he is the only one who can make it exactly the way lola does. I am glad to report that I watched him closely as he was making it - even volunteered to be the sous chef - so I will make it for dinner tomorrow.

The day before my flight, the entire family celebrated my aunt and cousin's birthdays. I made some of my specialty meals, and we ordered a bunch of other food. Of course, there was cake.

I flew back to Switzerland on the 7th. I arrived on Friday at 8 in the morning, unpacked my stuff, ate pancit canton, and fell asleep at 16hr. I woke up at 3am still tired, but I managed to clean up and do all the laundry. I was hanging clothes at the balcony even before the sun was out. I found it hilarious. The rest of the day, I spent on the couch still feeling quite sluggish and brushing off the fact that I was having chills, and my nose wouldn't stop running.

Jon and I went on a quick café date and I couldn't taste the coffee nor the pastry I ordered which I found strange but thought nothing of. We did errands and bought groceries but I started feeling sicker as the hours passed. As soon as we got home, I checked to see if I had covid. The test came out positive. Dinner wasn't much fun. I was much sicker so I couldn't enjoy the food Jon prepared for me - he made me the perfect steak which I couldn't taste hahaha and some soup to make me feel better.

This morning, I woke up at 5am and called my family right away. The symptoms are getting worse, and now I have chills, body pains, and constant headache. I will rest more so I can feel better by tomorrow. I just find this to be a silly end to an incredible summer.

[dearclem]

𝑵𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑻 𝑻𝑨𝑺𝑲 𝑶𝑵𝑬

— a look at clem's mobile device & social media ( ft. kage, montez, candy, aranya, finley, dae-eun ).

THE BASICS:

brand of phone:

apple iphone 14 pro max 1TB²

color:

deep purple.

case:

phone case: plain, matte black. popsocket: a ghostface call me, visual here

locked or unlocked:

locked with both a passcode and face ID. face ID is the preferred method, of course, but her passcode is her mother's birthday in the order of DDMMYR ( so it's 230373 ).

wallpaper:

THIS piece of artwork that she finds very cute ( pastel panting of ghosts sitting on a grassy hill with a crescent moon, clouds, and rainbow in the sky ).

lockscreen:

THIS photo of dao, her cat ( siamese kitten sleeping on its back in her lap with view of adorable toe beans ).

USAGE:

time spent on device:

it depends. on the days of her uploads, she's probably on it more than usual because of engagement. otherwise, she's only on it whenever she's reaching out to someone, when she's playing her games before trying to sleep, or she's looking up something and doesn't have her ipad or computer handy.

five most used apps:

spotify. kindle. webtoon. classic words. animal restaurant.

web tabs:

none are open. whenever she's done using one, she closes it.

last thing googled:

probably when she was looking for a new story, so something like japanese urban legends.

last text message received:

an update regarding a delivery of something she ordered for monty's upcoming birthday.

last voicemail:

probably a spam call and no, her voicemail is never full. she always cleans them out after listening to them, only saving the ones that are really special.

last thing on camera reel & what image was last saved:

last picture taken: THIS selfie. last image saved: THIS photo that she emailed to herself, which was taken for a previous concept to post on her company's instagram for httpfear. ( tw: fake blood ).

extra tidbits:

this is mainly just a section i wanted to add because these were things that came to me as i was doing this, but there was no real place to put them, so you're getting them here. as is true for her regular life, she keeps her phone very tidy and there is a place & reason for everything: all of her apps are organised in folders---e.g., daily, socials, entertainment, games, shopping, etc.---and she only has four folders on each page so the majority of her background is visible; like with her voicemails, she doesn't keep texts directly on her phone unless they're special and she cleans her call history regularly; if you're in her phone, trust she has you saved under a nickname, even if she doesn't ever address you using said nickname; she always closes both web tabs and apps on her phone the second she's finished using them; she is constantly sanatising it; physically CANNOT STAND having the red notification bubbles on anything and when some apps glitch and those things don't always go away immediately when they should is when you get to see angy clem; and she uses one of those privacy screen protectors so you have to be sitting at the right angle to see what she's doing.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

handles:

personal handles: dearclem. handles where she posts all podcast related things: BLKBoxStudios

instagram, latest post:

snapchat, latest sent:

using the mini tripod she has when going on adventures, she took this photo and sent it to monty, rubbing it in that she has goodies and he doesn't 😌

dating apps:

doesn't partake in the thing, no. has no desire and people can be creepy.

spotify:

top three songs of '22: fall in lust ╱ EDEN, jiselle {xx}

❝ we should ride this wave, until the sun comes up baby kiss me harder, make me feel the rush i don't wanna be alone tonight, so why don't we just fall in lust.. ❞

boomerang ╱ the summer set {xx}

❝ let's pop champagne, fake like we're billionaires just you and me, ain't much but we don't care you look so good, i love when people stare you on my arm, tryna keep you there.. ❞

call me back ╱ chase atlantic {xx}

❝ if you get a minute, call me back i'm so lonely and you're the only one that knows me and if you're busy, then i understand it it's bad timing, and i'm probably gonna end up crying.. ❞

last listened to: killer on the drive home ╱ kaiyko {xx}

❝ stop your crying it's not the end of the world but no one listens to a quiet little girl i wanna talk about it, don't wanna shout about it left me alone made me the killer on the drive home.. ❞

tiktok:

she has the app downloaded, but that's only because she gets sent tiktoks and it's just easier to have it downloaded than not. it's never something she finds herself scrolling on.

facebook:

this is another social media app that she wants no part of. she's never had one, nor will she ever because she has no family to keep in contact with and all her friends are nearby.

others:

has youtube, pinterest, reddit, & tumblr.

youtube is where she posts the videos she creates of her two podcasts.

ADVICE PODCAST. HORROR PODCAST. ( tw: horror images, fake blood, creepy eye drawing?, knife ).

pinterest is mostly a private thing ( as in most of her boards are hidden ) because she pins things for aesthetic purposes regarding different ideas she has and may wish to explore in the future. the only boards that are public are her own personal board ( about herself and things she likes ) and a board she's created for the book series she's already published and within that board, each book has it's own section with things like how she pictures the main characters, their connection, the aesthetic of the location & mystery, etc. reddit is something she uses as a way of connecting with some of her listeners and giving them a place to post their own stories and things they may want her to read/cover because whereas she gets some of her inspiration from r/nosleep sometimes, she also likes involving her listeners and that's a wee bit easier to manage in comparison to emails, especially considering she does everything all on her own save for someone she has help her with the editing of her youtube vids. tumblr is where she posts writings, something like a diary of sorts ( think like inkskinned & sue zhao ), though it's completely anonymous and she'd likely throw herself into the void if anyone found out it was her.

[tomorrowusa]

Recent demonstrations in China may have initially been protests against severe government lockdowns. But they quickly evolved into criticisms of censorship and the dictatorial style of leader Xi Jinping.

Xi is a classic micromanager. His régime has even tried to regulate how much toilet paper people can use by putting facial recognition cameras in public bathrooms. China has a growing Orwellian-named “social credit” system which punishes or rewards people based on how worthy or untrustworthy citizens’ behavior is – according to the ruling Communist Party.

The strict COVID lockdowns in China have seemed increasingly suspicious. China isn’t using the effective mRNA vaccines which have brought down the infection rate and reduced the seriousness of infections for people in North America, Europe, Japan, and South Korea; not sure why this is except, possibly, misplaced nationalism. Outside China such lockdowns are a tool of the pre-vaccine period of the pandemic.

My own impression is that Xi is using COVID policy as an excuse to increase his personal control over the population. Control freak Xi would rather have lockdowns than import better vaccines.

People in China are generally becoming fed up with Xi’s efforts to impose an intrusive digital Stalinism on the population. And the government’s so called “Zero Covid” restrictions are having a negative impact on the Chinese economy which is spilling over into international trade. Apple has production facilities in China, and because of government policy it is falling behind in production of iPhones.

China is trying to keep the rest of the world from following the current wave of dissent.  Elon Musk’s mass firings and drastic weakening of moderation have helped China flood Twitter with spam to drown out reports about the protests.

Elon Musk Slashed Twitter's Safety Team. Then a Chinese Spam Campaign Ran Rampant

In a bizarre move, China is censoring World Cup coverage to keep people from seeing large crowds without masks.

China Appears To Be Censoring The World Cup Coverage Due To Lockdown Unrest

The Chinese Communist Party apparently doesn’t want Chinese people to see that the rest of the world is doing a better job at controlling COVID – without severely controlling people’s lives.

Like Putin’s Russia, Xi’s China is an example of what can happen when one person is allowed unlimited power. Democracy may be more messy but it does a better job in the long run.