#web accessibility development experts

[accessiblemindstech]

Digital Accessibility Remediation Services | Fix WCAG & ADA Compliance Issues

Ensure your digital content is accessible to all users. Our Digital Accessibility Remediation Services identify and fix WCAG, ADA, and Section 508 compliance gaps across websites, apps, PDFs, and more. Inclusive. Compliant. Reliable.

[mexicangrizzlyappreciation]

The number of websites broken by something as simple as making the text larger is way too high.

If you are a developer, there are standards such as the web content accessibility guidelines (wcag) (link) available for you to reference for accessibility requirements and testing. Which set of guidelines you must follow, if any, is dictated by your local laws. I stumbled across the below video intro to screenreaders a few months ago and the channel has a lit of short intros to concepts in WCAG:

There are many other videos on YouTube from other channels and articles digging into technical details of the various accessibility standards.

A software tester walks into a bar. Runs into a bar. Crawls into a bar. Dances into a bar. Flies into a bar. Jumps into a bar. And orders: a beer. 2 beers. O beers. 99999999 beers. a lizard in a beer glass. -1 beer. "qwertyuiop" beers. Testing complete. A real customer walks into the bar and turns on a screen reader. The bar goes up in flames.

[adasitecompliance]

Create Accessible PDFs

The Ultimate Guide To PDF Accessibility: How To Make Your Documents Inclusive And Compliant

In today’s digital age, Portable Document Format (PDF) files have become an integral part of our information-sharing process. Whether educational materials, corporate reports, or government publications, PDF files with Accessibility maintain the original formatting and allow users to access information consistently across various devices. However, for PDFs to be truly effective, they must be accessible to all, including those with disabilities. Besides, as about 61 million adult Americans have some disability, you risk their not being able to access the ADA-compliant PDFs and content you create. And it’s not just those with visual impairments that are affected. Even people with a mobile or hearing disability may face problems accessing your web content or PDF.

This is why the ADA and Section 508 focus on making life for those people with disabilities much easier. They require that places of accommodation be accessible to users with disabilities. As PDFs are commonly used on the web, they also have to comply with these laws based on the criteria set by the WCAG. While web compliance is important, creating accessible web content can be challenging. PDFs are especially difficult to manage as they are complex files inaccessible out of the box. It’s only experts who know WCAG and ADA standards well who can take care of the task. We have provided some tips about PDF accessibility features in this article. However, don’t worry if the information overwhelms you. We at ADA Site Compliance can help if you don’t know how to ensure your website or PDF is accessible. Our team of accessibility experts will not only check your PDFs and website content for accessibility but also constantly monitor and update your website and PDFs based on the latest accessibility updates.

Overview of Portable Document Format (PDF)

PDFs, developed by Adobe, have transformed how we share electronic documents. The format was created to maintain document integrity while allowing easy sharing. PDFs are based on an image model that differs from the typical PostScript language commonly used. It is to improve interaction and accessibility that PDFs are structured differently.

What makes an accessible PDF?

As the name suggests, an accessible PDF is a PDF anyone with any disability can easily read and navigate through. And it can mean different things for users with different disabilities. For example, for those with visual impairments, an accessible PDF can mean any of these three. It can mean:

They can easily zoom into the texts if need be

The content has high contrast, making it easy to read

They can easily read the PDF using the help of screen readers

In the case of users with physical disabilities, it means ensuring users can easily navigate through the entire document with the help of a keyboard. These readers find managing a mouse for navigation difficult, so being able to use a keyboard is a welcome move for them. For users with hearing impairments, creating an accessible PDF will mean having captioned audio and video content. In short, the main aim of creating web-compliant PDFs is to provide them with an alternative means of accessing content. Most PDFs have some of these options as default, like zooming and keyboard navigation. However, it doesn’t mean that these PDFs are necessarily accessible. They can, however, be made accessible just by implementing some additional steps.

Characteristics of Accessible PDF Files

Accessible PDFs are a must to ensure inclusivity. Most importantly, they feature searchable text, which, in the process, makes content available to screen readers. Besides, unlike scanned images of text, accessible PDFs can be selected, copied, and edited. This can prove helpful to everyone requiring more clarity about the PDF. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology also plays a crucial role in making content searchable and thus accessible to all.

Navigating PDF Accessibility

Ensuring that your PDF documents are fully accessible can be a complex task, but it’s an essential one. This is especially required with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) having set the standards for digital accessibility. These guidelines encompass various aspects, including alternative text alternatives, navigation, and readability. Adhering to these guidelines is crucial to creating PDFs that are both legally compliant and user-friendly. Besides, ensuring that your website and the content you provide, including PDFs, are accessible is not just a legal obligation; it’s a moral imperative. By embracing accessibility, you not only comply with the law but also open doors for a more inclusive and diverse audience.

Accessible PDFs: A Key to Digital Inclusion

The importance of accessible PDFs cannot be overstated. They open up a world of information and opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Accessible PDFs offer text-to-speech capabilities, allowing screen readers to convey the content to visually impaired users. Moreover, they allow users to navigate the document efficiently, providing screen reader users with a seamless reading experience. When your documents are accessible, you broaden your reach and cater to a broader audience. This inclusivity can increase website traffic and customer engagement, benefiting your business or organization.

How to Remediate an Inaccessible PDF?

Making an inaccessible PDF accessible isn’t about perfection; it’s about improving and providing access for all. Whether you have the original source document or just a PDF, here is a rundown of the best ways to enhance existing PDF documents for accessibility with the help of the right tools and processes. Contact ADA Siite Compliance today so we can make ALL your PDF documents fully accessible.

1. Determining the Accessibility Path for Each PDF Document

As PDFs can be generated in various ways, there is no cookie-cutter accessibility solution. Each document has and needs a unique solution.  The good news is there are some tools like Adobe Acrobat Pro with multiple accessibility features, making the remediation process more manageable.

2. Starting with an Accessible Document

The journey to accessible PDFs begins with the source document. Whenever possible, it is always better to start the remediation process with the document title in native file formats. The reason is that any and all documents created in Word or desktop publishing software can be later easily exported as PDFs. This is a useful feature as it allows for adding additional text, headings, data table structures, other document structure tags, language definitions, and more.

3. Preventing Security Settings from Interfering with Screen Readers

Ensuring that screen readers can navigate your PDFs smoothly is an important step in remediating inaccessible PDFs in the form fields in the proper PDF format. It is always better to avoid copying, printing, extracting comments, or editing PDFs. The reason is that these actions can hinder accessibility. There are tools that can help you ensure that access permissions do not interfere with screen reading.

How to Make a PDF Compliant with Accessibility?

Achieving document accessibility in your PDFs is essential. It ensures that users with difficulties can at least use the help of assistive technologies like screen readers to interpret your whole document structure’s structure correctly. Besides, as mentioned earlier, compliance with ADA standards helps make your digital landscape more inclusive to reach out to more of your target audience and, in the process, generate more web traffic.

How do you make accessible PDF documents?

There are a few optimal practices to adhere to within reading order to make a PDF accessible documents, and they are to:

Make things simple; in other words, use simple language in the PDF

Ensure you include as many relevant headings and subheadings as possible

Including meaningful alt-text for all the images and graphics you have in your PDF

Ensuring the text in the PDF is not only readable but has sufficient contrast with the background for better readability

Not depending much on colors to convey information as it can be intimidating to users with color blindness

Always make more use of accessible tables and lists in PDF documents

Adding bookmarks where possible

Using a catchy and interesting title, and of course, specifying the language used in the PDF

Correctly tagging the different elements

Setting titles and metadata as and where appropriate

Adding captions to videos and other non-text content accessible

It is undoubtedly time-consuming to create accessible PDFs. However, the end result of a compliant, accessible PDF file, which increases your reach and reduces the chances of facing a legal lawsuit, makes the item invested well worth it. Besides, you can always use the help of PDF accessibility checkers for PDF document audits and verifications as per the latest accessibility standards. And if that’s too cumbersome, you can always have the experts take care of your PDF compliance while you focus on what you do the best!

Web Accessibility Provider

Ensuring web compliance is a multifaceted endeavor. It may seem to take lots of time and be confusing to many. It’s where web accessibility providers, like ADA Site Compliance, play a crucial role in ensuring your website and PDFs meet ADA standards. We have a team of accessibility experts who can help make web compliance so much easier and less time-consuming for you. With our expertise, we can ensure your site and all your PDFs are easily accessible to all, including individuals with disabilities.

In conclusion, the world of PDF accessibility and web compliance is multifaceted, but it’s a journey worth embarking on. By ensuring that your PDFs are accessible, you not only meet legal standards but also contribute to a more inclusive and diverse digital landscape. Together, we can make the Internet a place where everyone can access information and opportunities. Contact ADA Site Compliance for all your website accessibility needs today!

[exeggcute]

the great reddit API meltdown of '23, or: this was always bound to happen

there's a lot of press about what's going on with reddit right now (app shutdowns, subreddit blackouts, the CEO continually putting his foot in his mouth), but I haven't seen as much stuff talking about how reddit got into this situation to begin with. so as a certified non-expert and Context Enjoyer I thought it might be helpful to lay things out as I understand them—a high-level view, surveying the whole landscape—in the wonderful world of startups, IPOs, and extremely angry users.

disclaimer that I am not a founder or VC (lmao), have yet to work at a company with a successful IPO, and am not a reddit employee or third-party reddit developer or even a subreddit moderator. I do work at a startup, know my way around an API or two, and have spent twelve regrettable years on reddit itself. which is to say that I make no promises of infallibility, but I hope you'll at least find all this interesting.

profit now or profit later

before you can really get into reddit as reddit, it helps to know a bit about startups (of which reddit is one). and before I launch into that, let me share my Three Types Of Websites framework, which is basically just a mental model about financial incentives that's helped me contextualize some of this stuff.

(1) website/software that does not exist to make money: relatively rare, for a variety of reasons, among them that it costs money to build and maintain a website in the first place. wikipedia is the evergreen example, although even wikipedia's been subject to criticism for how the wikimedia foundation pays out its employees and all that fun nonprofit stuff. what's important here is that even when making money is not the goal, money itself is still a factor, whether it's solicited via donations or it's just one guy paying out of pocket to host a hobby site. but websites in this category do, generally, offer free, no-strings-attached experiences to their users.

(I do want push back against the retrospective nostalgia of "everything on the internet used to be this way" because I don't think that was ever really true—look at AOL, the dotcom boom, the rise of banner ads. I distinctly remember that neopets had multiple corporate sponsors, including a cookie crisp-themed flash game. yahoo bought geocities for $3.6 billion; money's always been trading hands, obvious or not. it's indisputable that the internet is simply different now than it was ten or twenty years ago, and that monetization models themselves have largely changed as well (I have thoughts about this as it relates to web 1.0 vs web 2.0 and their associated costs/scale/etc.), but I think the only time people weren't trying to squeeze the internet for all the dimes it can offer was when the internet was first conceived as a tool for national defense.)

(2) website/software that exists to make money now: the type that requires the least explanation. mostly non-startup apps and services, including any random ecommerce storefront, mobile apps that cost three bucks to download, an MMO with a recurring subscription, or even a news website that runs banner ads and/or offers paid subscriptions. in most (but not all) cases, the "make money now" part is obvious, so these things don't feel free to us as users, even to the extent that they might have watered-down free versions or limited access free trials. no one's shocked when WoW offers another paid expansion packs because WoW's been around for two decades and has explicitly been trying to make money that whole time.

(3) website/software that exists to make money later: this is the fun one, and more common than you'd think. "make money later" is more or less the entire startup business model—I'll get into that in the next section—and is deployed with the expectation that you will make money at some point, but not always by means as obvious as "selling WoW expansions for forty bucks a pop."

companies in this category tend to have two closely entwined characteristics: they prioritize growth above all else, regardless of whether this growth is profitable in any way (now, or sometimes, ever), and they do this by offering users really cool and awesome shit at little to no cost (or, if not for free, then at least at a significant loss to the company).

so from a user perspective, these things either seem free or far cheaper than their competitors. but of course websites and software and apps and [blank]-as-a-service tools cost money to build and maintain, and that money has to come from somewhere, and the people supplying that money, generally, expect to get it back...

just not immediately.

startups, VCs, IPOs, and you

here's the extremely condensed "did NOT go to harvard business school" version of how a startup works:

(1) you have a cool idea.

(2) you convince some venture capitalists (also known as VCs) that your idea is cool. if they see the potential in what you're pitching, they'll give you money in exchange for partial ownership of your company—which means that if/when the company starts trading its stock publicly, these investors will own X numbers of shares that they can sell at any time. in other words, you get free money now (and you'll likely seek multiple "rounds" of investors over the years to sustain your company), but with the explicit expectations that these investors will get their payoff later, assuming you don't crash and burn before that happens.

during this phase, you want to do anything in your power to make your company appealing to investors so you can attract more of them and raise funds as needed. because you are definitely not bringing in the necessary revenue to offset operating costs by yourself.

it's also worth nothing that this is less about projecting the long-term profitability of your company than it's about its perceived profitability—i.e., VCs want to put their money behind a company that other people will also have confidence in, because that's what makes stock valuable, and VCs are in it for stock prices.

(3) there are two non-exclusive win conditions for your startup: you can get acquired, and you can have an IPO (also referred to as "going public"). these are often called "exit scenarios" and they benefit VCs and founders, as well as some employees. it's also possible for a company to get acquired, possibly even more than once, and then later go public.

acquisition: sell the whole damn thing to someone else. there are a million ways this can happen, some better than others, but in many cases this means anyone with ownership of the company (which includes both investors and employees who hold stock options) get their stock bought out by the acquiring company and end up with cash in hand. in varying amounts, of course. sometimes the founders walk away, sometimes the employees get laid off, but not always.

IPO: short for "initial public offering," this is when the company starts trading its stocks publicly, which means anyone who wants to can start buying that company's stock, which really means that VCs (and employees with stock options) can turn that hypothetical money into real money by selling their company stock to interested buyers.

drawing from that, companies don't go for an IPO until they think their stock will actually be worth something (or else what's the point?)—specifically, worth more than the amount of money that investors poured into it. The Powers That Be will speculate about a company's IPO potential way ahead of time, which is where you'll hear stuff about companies who have an estimated IPO evaluation of (to pull a completely random example) $10B. actually I lied, that was not a random example, that was reddit's valuation back in 2021 lol. but a valuation is basically just "how much will people be interested in our stock?"

as such, in the time leading up to an IPO, it's really really important to do everything you can to make your company seem like a good investment (which is how you get stock prices up), usually by making the company's numbers look good. but! if you plan on cashing out, the long-term effects of your decisions aren't top of mind here. remember, the industry lingo is "exit scenario."

if all of this seems like a good short-term strategy for companies and their VCs, but an unsustainable model for anyone who's buying those stocks during the IPO, that's because it often is.

also worth noting that it's possible for a company to be technically unprofitable as a business (meaning their costs outstrip their revenue) and still trade enormously well on the stock market; uber is the perennial example of this. to the people who make money solely off of buying and selling stock, it literally does not matter that the actual rideshare model isn't netting any income—people think the stock is valuable, so it's valuable.

this is also why, for example, elon musk is richer than god: if he were only the CEO of tesla, the money he'd make from selling mediocre cars would be (comparatively, lol) minimal. but he's also one of tesla's angel investors, which means he holds a shitload of tesla stock, and tesla's stock has performed well since their IPO a decade ago (despite recent dips)—even if tesla itself has never been a huge moneymaker, public faith in the company's eventual success has kept them trading at high levels. granted, this also means most of musk's wealth is hypothetical and not liquid; if TSLA dropped to nothing, so would the value of all the stock he holds (and his net work with it).

what's an API, anyway?

to move in an entirely different direction: we can't get into reddit's API debacle without understanding what an API itself is.

an API (short for "application programming interface," not that it really matters) is a series of code instructions that independent developers can use to plug their shit into someone else's shit. like a series of tin cans on strings between two kids' treehouses, but for sending and receiving data.

APIs work by yoinking data directly from a company's servers instead of displaying anything visually to users. so I could use reddit's API to build my own app that takes the day's top r/AITA post and transcribes it into pig latin: my app is a bunch of lines of code, and some of those lines of code fetch data from reddit (and then transcribe that data into pig latin), and then my app displays the content to anyone who wants to see it, not reddit itself. as far as reddit is concerned, no additional human beings laid eyeballs on that r/AITA post, and reddit never had a chance to serve ads alongside the pig-latinized content in my app. (put a pin in this part—it'll be relevant later.)

but at its core, an API is really a type of protocol, which encompasses a broad category of formats and business models and so on. some APIs are completely free to use, like how anyone can build a discord bot (but you still have to host it yourself). some companies offer free APIs to third-party developers can build their own plugins, and then the company and the third-party dev split the profit on those plugins. some APIs have a free tier for hobbyists and a paid tier for big professional projects (like every weather API ever, lol). some APIs are strictly paid services because the API itself is the company's core offering.

reddit's financial foundations

okay thanks for sticking with me. I promise we're almost ready to be almost ready to talk about the current backlash.

reddit has always been a startup's startup from day one: its founders created the site after attending a startup incubator (which is basically a summer camp run by VCs) with the successful goal of creating a financially successful site. backed by that delicious y combinator money, reddit got acquired by conde nast only a year or two after its creation, which netted its founders a couple million each. this was back in like, 2006 by the way. in the time since that acquisition, reddit's gone through a bunch of additional funding rounds, including from big-name investors like a16z, peter thiel (yes, that guy), sam altman (yes, also that guy), sequoia, fidelity, and tencent. crunchbase says that they've raised a total of $1.3B in investor backing.

in all this time, reddit has never been a public company, or, strictly speaking, profitable.

APIs and third-party apps

reddit has offered free API access for basically as long as it's had a public API—remember, as a "make money later" company, their primary goal is growth, which means attracting as many users as possible to the platform. so letting anyone build an app or widget is (or really, was) in line with that goal.

as such, third-party reddit apps have been around forever. by third-party apps, I mean apps that use the reddit API to display actual reddit content in an unofficial wrapper. iirc reddit didn't even have an official mobile app until semi-recently, so many of these third-party mobile apps in particular just sprung up to meet an unmet need, and they've kept a small but dedicated userbase ever since. some people also prefer the user experience of the unofficial apps, especially since they offer extra settings to customize what you're seeing and few to no ads (and any ads these apps do display are to the benefit of the third-party developers, not reddit itself.)

(let me add this preemptively: one solution I've seen proposed to the paid API backlash is that reddit should have third-party developers display reddit's ads in those third-party apps, but this isn't really possible or advisable due to boring adtech reasons I won't inflict on you here. source: just trust me bro)

in addition to mobile apps, there are also third-party tools that don’t replace the Official Reddit Viewing Experience but do offer auxiliary features like being able to mass-delete your post history, tools that make the site more accessible to people who use screen readers, and tools that help moderators of subreddits moderate more easily. not to mention a small army of reddit bots like u/AutoWikibot or u/RemindMebot (and then the bots that tally the number of people who reply to bot comments with “good bot” or “bad bot).

the number of people who use third-party apps is relatively small, but they arguably comprise some of reddit’s most dedicated users, which means that third-party apps are important to the people who keep reddit running and the people who supply reddit with high-quality content.

unpaid moderators and user-generated content

so reddit is sort of two things: reddit is a platform, but it’s also a community.

the platform is all the unsexy (or, if you like python, sexy) stuff under the hood that actually makes the damn thing work. this is what the company spends money building and maintaining and "owns." the community is all the stuff that happens on the platform: posts, people, petty squabbles. so the platform is where the content lives, but ultimately the content is the reason people use reddit—no one’s like “yeah, I spend time on here because the backend framework really impressed me."

and all of this content is supplied by users, which is not unique among social media platforms, but the content is also managed by users, which is. paid employees do not govern subreddits; unpaid volunteers do. and moderation is the only thing that keeps reddit even remotely tolerable—without someone to remove spam, ban annoying users, and (god willing) enforce rules against abuse and hate speech, a subreddit loses its appeal and therefore its users. not dissimilar to the situation we’re seeing play out at twitter, except at twitter it was the loss of paid moderators;  reddit is arguably in a more precarious position because they could lose this unpaid labor at any moment, and as an already-unprofitable company they absolutely cannot afford to implement paid labor as a substitute.

oh yeah? spell "IPO" backwards

so here we are, June 2023, and reddit is licking its lips in anticipation of a long-fabled IPO. which means it’s time to start fluffing themselves up for investors by cutting costs (yay, layoffs!) and seeking new avenues of profit, however small.

this brings us to the current controversy: reddit announced a new API pricing plan that more or less prevents anyone from using it for free.

from reddit's perspective, the ostensible benefits of charging for API access are twofold: first, there's direct profit to be made off of the developers who (may or may not) pay several thousand dollars a month to use it, and second, cutting off unsanctioned third-party mobile apps (possibly) funnels those apps' users back into the official reddit mobile app. and since users on third-party apps reap the benefit of reddit's site architecture (and hosting, and development, and all the other expenses the site itself incurs) without “earning” money for reddit by generating ad impressions, there’s a financial incentive at work here: even if only a small percentage of people use third-party apps, getting them to use the official app instead translates to increased ad revenue, however marginal.

(also worth mentioning that chatGPT and other LLMs were trained via tools that used reddit's API to scrape post and content data, and now that openAI is reaping the profits of that training without giving reddit any kickbacks, reddit probably wants to prevent repeats of this from happening in the future. if you want to train the next LLM, it's gonna cost you.)

of course, these changes only benefit reddit if they actually increase the company’s revenue and perceived value/growth—which is hard to do when your users (who are also the people who supply the content for other users to engage with, who are also the people who moderate your communities and make them fun to participate in) get really fucking pissed and threaten to walk.

pricing shenanigans

under the new API pricing plan, third-party developers are suddenly facing steep costs to maintain the apps and tools they’ve built.

most paid APIs are priced by volume: basically, the more data you send and receive, the more money it costs. so if your third-party app has a lot of users, you’ll have to make more API requests to fetch content for those users, and your app becomes more expensive to maintain. (this isn’t an issue if the tool you’re building also turns a profit, but most third-party reddit apps make little, if any, money.)

which is why, even though third-party apps capture a relatively small portion of reddit’s users, the developer of a popular third-party app called apollo recently learned that it would cost them about $20 million a year to keep the app running. and apollo actually offers some paid features (for extra in-app features independent of what reddit offers), but nowhere near enough to break even on those API costs.

so apollo, any many apps like it, were suddenly unable to keep their doors open under the new API pricing model and announced that they'd be forced to shut down.

backlash, blackout

plenty has been said already about the current subreddit blackouts—in like, official news outlets and everything—so this might be the least interesting section of my whole post lol. the short version is that enough redditors got pissed enough that they collectively decided to take subreddits “offline” in protest, either by making them read-only or making them completely inaccessible. their goal was to send a message, and that message was "if you piss us off and we bail, here's what reddit's gonna be like: a ghost town."

but, you may ask, if third-party apps only captured a small number of users in the first place, how was the backlash strong enough to result in a near-sitewide blackout? well, two reasons:

first and foremost, since moderators in particular are fond of third-party tools, and since moderators wield outsized power (as both the people who keep your site more or less civil, and as the people who can take a subreddit offline if they feel like it), it’s in your best interests to keep them happy. especially since they don’t get paid to do this job in the first place, won’t keep doing it if it gets too hard, and essentially have nothing to lose by stepping down.

then, to a lesser extent, the non-moderator users on third-party apps tend to be Power Users who’ve been on reddit since its inception, and as such likely supply a disproportionate amount of the high-quality content for other users to see (and for ads to be served alongside). if you drive away those users, you’re effectively kneecapping your overall site traffic (which is bad for Growth) and reducing the number/value of any ad impressions you can serve (which is bad for revenue).

also a secret third reason, which is that even people who use the official apps have no stake in a potential IPO, can smell the general unfairness of this whole situation, and would enjoy the schadenfreude of investors getting fucked over. not to mention that reddit’s current CEO has made a complete ass of himself and now everyone hates him and wants to see him suffer personally.

(granted, it seems like reddit may acquiesce slightly and grant free API access to a select set of moderation/accessibility tools, but at this point it comes across as an empty gesture.)

"later" is now "now"

TL;DR: this whole thing is a combination of many factors, specifically reddit being intensely user-driven and self-governed, but also a high-traffic site that costs a lot of money to run (why they willingly decided to start hosting video a few years back is beyond me...), while also being angled as a public stock market offering in the very near future. to some extent I understand why reddit’s CEO doubled down on the changes—he wants to look strong for investors—but he’s also made a fool of himself and cast a shadow of uncertainty onto reddit’s future, not to mention the PR nightmare surrounding all of this. and since arguably the most important thing in an IPO is how much faith people have in your company, I honestly think reddit would’ve fared better if they hadn’t gone nuclear with the API changes in the first place.

that said, I also think it’s a mistake to assume that reddit care (or needs to care) about its users in any meaningful way, or at least not as more than means to an end. if reddit shuts down in three years, but all of the people sitting on stock options right now cashed out at $120/share and escaped unscathed... that’s a success story! you got your money! VCs want to recoup their investment—they don’t care about longevity (at least not after they’re gone), user experience, or even sustained profit. those were never the forces driving them, because these were never the ultimate metrics of their success.

and to be clear: this isn’t unique to reddit. this is how pretty much all startups operate.

I talked about the difference between “make money now” companies and “make money later” companies, and what we’re experiencing is the painful transition from “later” to “now.” as users, this change is almost invisible until it’s already happened—it’s like a rug we didn’t even know existed gets pulled out from under us.

the pre-IPO honeymoon phase is awesome as a user, because companies have no expectation of profit, only growth. if you can rely on VC money to stay afloat, your only concern is building a user base, not squeezing a profit out of them. and to do that, you offer cool shit at a loss: everything’s chocolate and flowers and quarterly reports about the number of signups you’re getting!

...until you reach a critical mass of users, VCs want to cash in, and to prepare for that IPO leadership starts thinking of ways to make the website (appear) profitable and implements a bunch of shit that makes users go “wait, what?”

I also touched on this earlier, but I want to reiterate a bit here: I think the myth of the benign non-monetized internet of yore is exactly that—a myth. what has changed are the specific market factors behind these websites, and their scale, and the means by which they attempt to monetize their services and/or make their services look attractive to investors, and so from a user perspective things feel worse because the specific ways we’re getting squeezed have evolved. maybe they are even worse, at least in the ways that matter. but I’m also increasingly less surprised when this occurs, because making money is and has always been the goal for all of these ventures, regardless of how they try to do so.

[mariacallous]

In early 2020, deepfake expert Henry Ajder uncovered one of the first Telegram bots built to “undress” photos of women using artificial intelligence. At the time, Ajder recalls, the bot had been used to generate more than 100,000 explicit photos—including those of children—and its development marked a “watershed” moment for the horrors deepfakes could create. Since then, deepfakes have become more prevalent, more damaging, and easier to produce.

Now, a WIRED review of Telegram communities involved with the explicit nonconsensual content has identified at least 50 bots that claim to create explicit photos or videos of people with only a couple of clicks. The bots vary in capabilities, with many suggesting they can “remove clothes” from photos while others claim to create images depicting people in various sexual acts.

The 50 bots list more than 4 million “monthly users” combined, according to WIRED's review of the statistics presented by each bot. Two bots listed more than 400,000 monthly users each, while another 14 listed more than 100,000 members each. The findings illustrate how widespread explicit deepfake creation tools have become and reinforce Telegram’s place as one of the most prominent locations where they can be found. However, the snapshot, which largely encompasses English-language bots, is likely a small portion of the overall deepfake bots on Telegram.

“We’re talking about a significant, orders-of-magnitude increase in the number of people who are clearly actively using and creating this kind of content,” Ajder says of the Telegram bots. “It is really concerning that these tools—which are really ruining lives and creating a very nightmarish scenario primarily for young girls and for women—are still so easy to access and to find on the surface web, on one of the biggest apps in the world.”

Explicit nonconsensual deepfake content, which is often referred to as nonconsensual intimate image abuse (NCII), has exploded since it first emerged at the end of 2017, with generative AI advancements helping fuel recent growth. Across the internet, a slurry of “nudify” and “undress” websites sit alongside more sophisticated tools and Telegram bots, and are being used to target thousands of women and girls around the world—from Italy’s prime minister to school girls in South Korea. In one recent survey, a reported 40 percent of US students were aware of deepfakes linked to their K-12 schools in the last year.

The Telegram bots identified by WIRED are supported by at least 25 associated Telegram channels—where people can subscribe to newsfeed-style updates—that have more than 3 million combined members. The Telegram channels alert people about new features provided by the bots and special offers on “tokens” that can be purchased to operate them, and often act as places where people using the bots can find links to new ones if they are removed by Telegram.

After WIRED contacted Telegram with questions about whether it allows explicit deepfake content creation on its platform, the company deleted the 75 bots and channels WIRED identified. The company did not respond to a series of questions or comment on why it had removed the channels.

Additional nonconsensual deepfake Telegram channels and bots later identified by WIRED show the scale of the problem. Several channel owners posted that their bots had been taken down, with one saying, “We will make another bot tomorrow.” Those accounts were also later deleted.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Telegram bots are, essentially, small apps that run inside of Telegram. They sit alongside the app’s channels, which can broadcast messages to an unlimited number of subscribers; groups where up to 200,000 people can interact; and one-to-one messages. Developers have created bots where people take trivia quizzes, translate messages, create alerts, or start Zoom meetings. They’ve also been co-opted for creating abusive deepfakes.

Due to the harmful nature of the deepfake tools, WIRED did not test the Telegram bots and is not naming specific bots or channels. While the bots had millions of monthly users, according to Telegram’s statistics, it is unclear how many images the bots may have been used to create. Some users, who could be in multiple channels and bots, may have created zero images; others could have created hundreds.

Many of the deepfake bots viewed by WIRED are clear about what they have been created to do. The bots’ names and descriptions refer to nudity and removing women’s clothes. “I can do anything you want about the face or clothes of the photo you give me,” the creators’ of one bot wrote. “Experience the shock brought by AI,” another says. Telegram can also show “similar channels” in its recommendation tool, helping potential users bounce between channels and bots.

Almost all of the bots require people to buy “tokens” to create images, and it is unclear if they operate in the ways they claim. As the ecosystem around deepfake generation has flourished in recent years, it has become a potentially lucrative source of income for those who create websites, apps, and bots. So many people are trying to use “nudify” websites that Russian cybercriminals, as reported by 404Media, have started creating fake websites to infect people with malware.

While the first Telegram bots, identified several years ago, were relatively rudimentary, the technology needed to create more realistic AI-generated images has improved—and some of the bots are hiding in plain sight.

One bot with more than 300,000 monthly users did not reference any explicit material in its name or landing page. However, once a user clicks to use the bot, it claims it has more than 40 options for images, many of which are highly sexual in nature. That same bot has a user guide, hosted on the web outside of Telegram, describing how to create the highest-quality images. Bot developers can require users to accept terms of service, which may forbid users from uploading images without the consent of the person depicted or images of children, but there appears to be little or no enforcement of these rules.

Another bot, which had more than 38,000 users, claimed people could send six images of the same man or woman—it is one of a small number that claims to create images of men—to “train” an AI model, which could then create new deepfake images of that individual. Once users joined one bot, it would present a menu of 11 “other bots” from the creators, likely to keep systems online and try to avoid removals.

“These types of fake images can harm a person’s health and well-being by causing psychological trauma and feelings of humiliation, fear, embarrassment, and shame,” says Emma Pickering, the head of technology-facilitated abuse and economic empowerment at Refuge, the UK’s largest domestic abuse organization. “While this form of abuse is common, perpetrators are rarely held to account, and we know this type of abuse is becoming increasingly common in intimate partner relationships.”

As explicit deepfakes have become easier to create and more prevalent, lawmakers and tech companies have been slow to stem the tide. Across the US, 23 states have passed laws to address nonconsensual deepfakes, and tech companies have bolstered some policies. However, apps that can create explicit deepfakes have been found in Apple and Google’s app stores, explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift were widely shared on X in January, and Big Tech sign-in infrastructure has allowed people to easily create accounts on deepfake websites.

Kate Ruane, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s free expression project, says most major technology platforms now have policies prohibiting nonconsensual distribution of intimate images, with many of the biggest agreeing to principles to tackle deepfakes. “I would say that it’s actually not clear whether nonconsensual intimate image creation or distribution is prohibited on the platform,” Ruane says of Telegram’s terms of service, which are less detailed than other major tech platforms.

Telegram’s approach to removing harmful content has long been criticized by civil society groups, with the platform historically hosting scammers, extreme right-wing groups, and terrorism-related content. Since Telegram CEO and founder Pavel Durov was arrested and charged in France in August relating to a range of potential offenses, Telegram has started to make some changes to its terms of service and provide data to law enforcement agencies. The company did not respond to WIRED’s questions about whether it specifically prohibits explicit deepfakes.

Execute the Harm

Ajder, the researcher who discovered deepfake Telegram bots four years ago, says the app is almost uniquely positioned for deepfake abuse. “Telegram provides you with the search functionality, so it allows you to identify communities, chats, and bots,” Ajder says. “It provides the bot-hosting functionality, so it's somewhere that provides the tooling in effect. Then it’s also the place where you can share it and actually execute the harm in terms of the end result.”

In late September, several deepfake channels started posting that Telegram had removed their bots. It is unclear what prompted the removals. On September 30, a channel with 295,000 subscribers posted that Telegram had “banned” its bots, but it posted a new bot link for users to use. (The channel was removed after WIRED sent questions to Telegram.)

“One of the things that’s really concerning about apps like Telegram is that it is so difficult to track and monitor, particularly from the perspective of survivors,” says Elena Michael, the cofounder and director of #NotYourPorn, a campaign group working to protect people from image-based sexual abuse.

Michael says Telegram has been “notoriously difficult” to discuss safety issues with, but notes there has been some progress from the company in recent years. However, she says the company should be more proactive in moderating and filtering out content itself.

“Imagine if you were a survivor who’s having to do that themselves, surely the burden shouldn't be on an individual,” Michael says. “Surely the burden should be on the company to put something in place that's proactive rather than reactive.”

[webfarmhouses-blog]

Web designer in Jodhpur

Creative Web Design

We are a web designing company that has a team of skilled and experienced web designers and developers who can create stunning and functional websites for any type of business or domain. We offer a variety of web designing services, such as custom web design, web development, web hosting, SEO, and maintenance. We also provide you with a free web design consultation, where we can discuss your goals, needs, and preferences, and provide you with a web design proposal that suits your requirements and expectations.

What we do in Web Design

Our web designing services are the services that provide web designing solutions for clients who want to create or improve their online presence. It involves the use of various elements such as colours, fonts, images, graphics, animations, and interactions to convey the message and purpose of the website to visitors. Web designing services can help clients with various aspects of web designing, such as Consultation: Our web designing services can help clients understand their goals, needs, and preferences, and provide them with expert advice and guidance on how to achieve them . Strategy: Our services can help clients develop a clear and effective web design strategy that aligns with their brand identity, target audience, and business objectives.Design: We help clients create a unique and attractive web design that reflects their vision and personality, and that engages and impresses their visitors.Launch: Our services can help clients launch their website to the public, and provide them with web hosting, domain registration, and security services.

Our Design Technology

At Web Farm House, we understand that web design is not just about making a website look good. It is also about making it work well, communicate effectively, and provide value to the users. That is why we use the latest web design technology to create websites that are:

Visually appealing: We use web graphic design to create stunning and consistent visual elements for your website, such as colours, fonts, images, icons, and animations.

Easy to use: We use user interface design to create intuitive and interactive elements for your website, such as buttons, menus, forms, and navigation.

Functional and reliable: We use web development to code and program your website, using languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and others. We follow the principles of web standards, web accessibility, web performance, and web security, to ensure the quality and reliability of your website.

Our Work Process

At Web Farm House, we follow a systematic and collaborative work process to create your website. Our work process consists of four main phases: Discovery, Design, Development, and Delivery:

Discovery: This is the phase where we get to know you and your project. We will ask you some questions about your goals, needs, preferences, budget, and timeline. We will also conduct some research on your industry, competitors, and target audience. Based on the information we gather, we will create a project proposal and a contract for you to review and approve.

Design: This is the phase where we create the visual and interactive elements of your website. We will start by creating a sitemap and a wireframe, which are the blueprints of your website’s structure and layout. We will then create a mockup, which is a prototype of your website’s appearance and functionality. We will present the mockup to you and ask for your feedback and approval. We will make any revisions as needed until you are satisfied with the design.

Development: This is the phase where we code and program your website. We will use the latest web development technology to create a website that is functional, reliable, and compatible with different devices and browsers. We will also test and debug your website to ensure its quality and performance. We will show you the progress of the development and ask for your feedback and approval.

Delivery: This is the final phase where we launch and maintain your website. We will upload your website to your chosen hosting service and domain name. We will also provide you with a user manual and a training session on how to use and update your website. We will also offer you ongoing support and maintenance services to keep your website running smoothly and securely.

We will also listen to your feedback and suggestions and make any changes as needed. We will work with you as a partner and a friend, not just as a client and a vendor. we value your input and satisfaction throughout the work process. We will communicate with you regularly and keep you updated on the status of your project.

Our Web Designing Services

Our is provides web design services for clients who want to create or improve their online presence. We help clients with various aspects of web designing, such as consultation, strategy, design, development, testing, launch, and maintenance:

Static web design

Liquid web design.

Adaptive web design.

Dynamic web design.

Responsive web design.

Single-page web design.

Why Choose Us?

We are a One-Stop Solution for delivering the best web design and development services. We render customized and affordable web design facilities to suit your requirements. Choose the best plans for building a responsive web design according to your needs:

Excellent technical support

Core PHP &Codeigniter + MySQL.

Secure and Reliable coding.

Satisfactory Customer Support.

SEO-friendly web development.

[beardedmrbean]

Apple is warning its iPhone users to delete a common app, claiming it’s a danger to digital privacy.

Without mentioning the company by name, Apple issued a video warning for users to stop using Google Chrome.

In a video titled “Privacy on iPhone | Flock,” parodies Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film “The Birds” to demonstrate how browser information isn’t really hidden from trackers.

“Flock” is likely a play on Google’s initial tracking cookie replacement plan called FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), which “is a new way for advertisers and sites to show relevant ads without tracking individuals across the web.”

In the video, iPhone users are being followed by surveillance cameras when browsing the internet, and the cameras finally explode and leave the user alone when they decide to use Safari as their browser.

The video from Apple is gaining traction after Google announced Tuesday that it won’t remove third-party cookies in Chrome after promising to do so.

The controversy has led Apple to promote its browser, Safari, as a “browser that’s actually private.”

Chrome allows websites and advertisers to track users’ activity in order to serve personalized ads, which also brings in a multi-billion-dollar revenue stream for Google.

The 36-year-old didn't respond to reporters' shouted questions as he walked into a Long Island courthouse, but he told The Associated Press on Thursday that he’s resigned to his fate.

“I’m doing as well as any human being would be doing given the circumstances,” Santos wrote in a text message on Thursday, adding that he was “ready to face the music.”

Prosecutors are seeking seven years in federal prison for Santos, arguing in recent court filings that he “remains unrepentant” and has not shown genuine remorse, despite what he claims.

Google initially planned to get rid of third-party cookies and develop a new way to issue targeted ads while still preserving user privacy, but the plan fell apart and the company has chosen to “maintain our current approach to offering users third-party cookie choice in Chrome.”

Tracking cookies aren’t inherently bad themselves, but they can open the door to privacy risks and sometime increase the likelihood of your data and sensitive information being leaked or stolen — meaning if you have an iPhone and use Chrome, you likely will continue to be tracked unless you use Incognito Mode or clear cookies manually.

Apple’s argument that Safari is safer has been backed up by experts, too.

“When it comes down to your security, Safari is probably your best bet,” Elly Hancock from Private Internet Access said in a blog post.

“Safari is more secure and privacy-friendly than Chrome, but Chrome is faster and offers enhanced performance.”

[bliow]

AGARTHA Aİ - DEVASA+ (2)

In today’s digital landscape, a captivating and functional website is crucial for any business looking to thrive online. Full service web design encompasses a comprehensive approach, ensuring every aspect of your site is tailored to meet your unique needs. From the initial concept to the final launch, this service provides an array of offerings, including website service, responsive web design, and custom design services. Whether you’re a startup seeking to establish your brand or an established enterprise aiming to enhance your online presence, understanding the elements of full service web design is essential. 

Full service web design

Full service web design encompasses all aspects of creating a website, from initial conceptualization to ongoing maintenance. This approach ensures that every detail is carefully considered to meet the specific needs of a business or individual. With a team of experienced designers and developers, full service web design offers a seamless experience that integrates aesthetics, functionality, and user experience.

One of the key advantages of opting for a full service web design is the cohesion of the website elements. Since all parts of the project are managed by a single team, there is less chance for miscommunication or inconsistency in design. This results in a more polished final product that reflects the brand’s identity while providing an engaging experience for visitors.

Additionally, full service web design allows for customized solutions tailored to unique requirements. Whether you need an e-commerce platform, a portfolio site, or a blog, a full service provider will offer dedicated support and expert advice throughout the entire process, ensuring your vision comes to life exactly as you imagined.

Website service

In today's digital landscape, website service is essential for businesses to thrive and maintain an online presence. A well-structured website serves as a powerful tool that encourages customer engagement and drives sales. By investing in a comprehensive website service, businesses can ensure that their website not only looks great but also functions seamlessly across all devices.

A key aspect of website service is the ability to optimize for search engines. By implementing SEO best practices, businesses can enhance their visibility and attract more organic traffic. This is where a reliable website service provider plays a crucial role, as they possess the expertise and techniques necessary to elevate your search engine rankings.

Furthermore, ongoing support and maintenance are vital components of a reliable website service. As technology evolves and user needs change, having a team that can promptly address issues or updates will keep your website relevant and effective in reaching target audiences. This ongoing relationship is instrumental in achieving long-term success in the digital realm.

Responsive web design

Responsive web design is an essential aspect of modern web development that ensures a seamless user experience across a variety of devices. With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, having a website that adapts to different screen sizes is not just a luxury but a necessity.

The core principle of responsive web design is fluidity. This means that the layout of your website adjusts dynamically based on the screen width, ensuring that content remains accessible and visually appealing regardless of the device used. This approach improves usability and can significantly boost conversion rates.

Incorporating responsive web design techniques involves using flexible grids, images, and CSS media queries. These elements work together to create a layout that responds gracefully to changes in screen size, making your website not only functional but also competitive in the digital marketplace.

Custom design services

In today's digital landscape, custom design services have emerged as a vital component of creating a strong online presence. Businesses understand that a one-size-fits-all approach does not cater to their unique needs and branding. Therefore, opting for custom design services allows them to differentiate themselves in a crowded market.

These services offer tailored solutions that resonate with a company's specifics, from colors to typography and layout. By leveraging custom design services, businesses can ensure that their websites not only reflect their brand identity but also provide an intuitive user experience. This is crucial for keeping visitors engaged and encouraging them to take the desired actions.

Investing in custom design services ultimately contributes to better customer satisfaction and improved conversion rates. With a website designed specifically for their target audience, businesses can more effectively communicate their message and achieve their goals. This bespoke approach is invaluable in today's competitive environment.

[bigprofitpulse]

BigProfitPulse.io Reviews Explore the Best Trading Conditions

The online trading world is dynamic and ever-evolving making it crucial to choose a reliable and efficient platform that provides traders with the best opportunities. BigProfitPulse.io reviews showcase why this platform stands out as a leader in the financial industry offering a combination of innovative tools competitive trading conditions and high-speed execution. With a diverse range of financial instruments and a user-friendly interface traders can seamlessly engage in trading without unnecessary hurdles. The ability to access real-time market prices and leverage personalized support ensures that every trader from beginners to professionals can optimize their strategies and achieve financial success.

BigProfitPulse.io Reviews Why Traders Choose Us

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One of the most discussed features in BigProfitPulse.io reviews is its cutting-edge trading platform which is designed to cater to traders of all levels. The web-based terminal allows users to analyze financial markets track real-time price movements and execute trades effortlessly from their browsers. There is no need for additional software installations or complicated setup procedures making it easier than ever to engage in global trading. Whether you are trading stocks foreign currencies or precious metals BigProfitPulse.io provides an advanced yet accessible trading environment. The platform is equipped with the latest tools for technical analysis ensuring that traders can make data-driven decisions with confidence.

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BigProfitPulse.io Reviews Your Path to Financial Success

Finding the right trading platform is essential for achieving success in the financial markets. BigProfitPulse.io reviews highlight how this platform combines advanced technology expert guidance and superior trading conditions to create an unparalleled trading experience. Whether you are an aspiring trader or a seasoned professional looking for a reliable partner BigProfitPulse.io provides all the tools and resources necessary for success. By choosing BigProfitPulse.io traders gain access to a secure transparent and innovative trading environment that empowers them to reach their financial goals.

[inlovewithquestionablecharacters]

Milo X Reader: Eternal

This was a request @davrosfan23

Warnings: stealing, drinking blood, description of puncture wounds, death, dead people, blood.

Word Count: 2,2K

You feared a lot of things but death frightened you the most. You dealt with death on a daily basis. It was an unfortunate consequence of your profession. Nurses helped save lives but they also had to witness a lot of deaths during their careers. Your fear had been the reason you’d started researching vampirism in the first place. It had started out as a joke, something to help you pass the time. Something to give you hope. But soon enough it turned into a hobby. And then it became an obsession. You’d read every single literature that had been published. You’d exhausted every single web source and had even published some papers about the subject. It was safe to say you’d become an expert on vampirism. So when you flipped on the news and heard the words “the bodies were drained of their blood” you knew exactly what was going on. 

You’d stumbled into work that day, your body shaking in excitement while your mind tried to compute that this was actually real. You managed to sneak into the morgue of the hospital and find the body of the victim.

“Sorry about this.”

The corpse hardly seemed to mind your presence but you still felt like you should apologize for the intrusion. You leaned down, eyes glancing at the puncture wounds on the victims neck. There were two small holes, just like you’d imagined there would be. You placed the body back to its original position and went back to work like nothing had happened. That night you poured over the news, searching for every smidge of information you would find on the culprit. If there was really a vampire on the loose you needed to find them. 

Days passed and you heard nothing about any new victims. The people who arrived at the hospital were all suffering from normal injuries. Well, as normal as you could expect at a hospital. You had started to think your vampire had gone into hiding or perhaps they’d gotten control of their hunger. Both of those options didn’t benefit you in any manner. It would be much easier to get a starved monster to turn you than it would be to convince one who had already developed some sort of control. You were about to give up when there was another attack. You cursed yourself for having the day shift on the day it happened. But despite not being there when it occurred the attack had given you a clue about the culprit. They had access to the lower levels of the hospital. Which didn’t narrow it down all that much but it helped. You also knew that Dr. Micheal had been on the ship where the first bodies had been found and despite people thinking he was responsible for this more recent attack, something told you he wasn’t guilty. 

You’b been analyzing possible culprits for hours now. Your brain was starting to hurt and your eyes were growing tired.

“Okay break time.”

You walked to the nearest bar deciding that maybe getting some alcohol in your system might help you relax and get your brain back up and running. You were sitting on a stool of the bar, sipping your beverage absentmindedly, when the commotion started. You heard the raised voices to your left causing you to turn your head in that direction. There was a group of men surrounding a young woman. You observed the men, not recognizing them until your eyes fell on a particular one. You recognized Milo due to his visits to Micheals lab from time to time. You remembered him walking past the nurses station. Your eyes trailed down to where you were used to seeing his cane but it wasn’t there. You glanced up again, your eyes finally focusing on the way Milo looked. He seemed much stronger than the last time you’d seen him. You continued to watch the conversation, eyes glued to Milo's features. And boy were you glad you’d decided to focus on his face because the moment his features shifted before your eyes you knew you were looking at your vampire. You nearly fell out of your chair as the realization hit you. Once you'd managed to climb off the stool and make your way through the crowd you’d already lost sight of him. You let out a defeated sigh returning to the bar and ordering another drink. 

You spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how you’d get Milo to come to you. Eventually you got sick of the bar and decided to call it a night. You almost made it to your apartment when a scream cut through the silent street. Your body perked up at the noise. Before you could even realize what you were doing your feet were already on the move. You raced in the direction of the sound, eyes moving to look up at the sky in search of any movement. You wouldn’t have noticed the bodies if it weren’t for the smell of blood. You stared at the three corpses slumped in front of the bar you had just been at. A sudden gust of wind made you look up just in time to see Milo jump from one roof to the other. This was it. This was your moment.

You raced back to your apartment fumbling with the keys in desperation as you tried to open the door. You went directly to the small fridge hidden in the closet. You grabbed two bags of blood before rushing back out into the street. For the last few days you’d started stealing blood bags from the hospital. You never took too much, not wanting to draw attention to yourself. You just grabbed enough to have in case your plan worked. You didn’t want to be caught unprepared if you somehow managed to get yourself turned. You’d never been more glad for your overthinking. 

Climbing up the fire escape proved to be more complicated than you had anticipated. For some reason the landlord of the building had never taken care of the stairs which meant they cracked and clanged with every move. Still you managed to get to the roof in one piece and without spilling any of the blood. You stood in the middle of the roof, your eyes searching for any movement before grabbing the switchblade you’d put into your pocket. You cut open one of the bags, dipping your hand in the substance and smearing it against your neck. You applied a generous amount of blood to your body before spreading the rest in a circle around you.  

Now all you had to do was wait. 

The smell of blood was overpowering but you knew that was a good thing. If you wanted to draw Milos attention he had to be able to smell it from far away. You glanced at your watch impatiently.

“What the hell is taking him so long.”

“Well that's a first.”

Your head snapped at the sound of his voice. Goosebumps covered your body as you stared at him. You watched Milo make his way to you slowly. His features weren’t the way they normally were. There was a slightly monstrous look to them.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I can see that.”

 Milo looked you up and down letting out a small hum of approval.

“The question is why?”

Your breath caught in your throat as Milo came closer to you, his face inches from yours.  Gosh he was handsome. 

“This isn’t yours.”

You knew he was referring to the blood. 

“No it’s not.”

“You must be crazy then.”

“I consider myself more of an admirer actually.”

“Is that so?”

There was actual surprise in Milo's face. Was he not used to people wanting him?

“I’ve been searching for you.”

“Why?”

“Because…”

Why had you been searching for him? Had it only been about becoming immortal? Or was there more to it? Could it have been because the thought of spending eternity with someone excited you? You hadn’t been opposed to the idea once you realized who the vampire was. Milo was a very attractive man and something about him made butterflies appear in your stomach. 

“I’m waiting.”

“Sorry. I want to be like you.”

The hand that had wrapped itself around your arm withdrew for a moment. You almost screamed at the lack of contact. Milo looked at you in silence. You could tell there were a million thoughts running through his head.

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“It's okay. I do.”

“What are you? Some sort of fanatic?”

“I’d like to consider myself more of an enthusiast.”

Milo laughed at your words, his hand going back to where he’d placed before. 

“Well alrighty then. I’ll turn you. On one condition.”

“Anything.”

“Leave me alone.”

You gave him a puzzled look. 

“I can’t be stuck babysitting you. I’ve got my own shit to deal with.”

You felt like someone had just plunged a blade into your heart. Was he really that revolted by you? Milo watched your face change from sadness to anger then to acceptance. 

“Fine.”

“Great.”

Milo leaned down, his tongue lapping at the half dried blood that clung onto your skin. You closed your eyes, allowing him to do as he wished. Your hands found their way onto Milo's shoulders as he continued to lick at your skin. Once he seemed satisfied with his work his lips moved to the vein in your neck. You felt the tips of his fangs puncture your skin, a small groan leaving your lips. You could feel the blood leaving your body. Milo's grip on you became even harsher than it had been before. It was then that you realized you’d just given a starved lion a juicy steak.  Getting him off wasn’t going to be easy but you were up for the challenge. You let Milo drink your blood for a while before grasping his hair in your hands. Once you’d started to feel faint you tugged at Milos' hair with all your strength. Despite being much stronger than you, Milo unlatched from your neck when you tugged at his hair. You eyes met his crazed ones for a moment before leaning forward and capturing his lips in yours. You felt Milo's body stiffen. Before he managed to push you away you bit into his lip as strong as you could. You felt the metallic taste of blood fill your lips. You could only hope that it was enough. Milo pushed you off him, his hand going to the gash on his lips.

“What the hell man!”

“I’m sorry it was the only way for me to-”

“You're crazy.”

With that Milo raced to the edge of the roof and jumped.

“Milo wait!”

You went after him. Your body felt strange and your legs wobbled as you tried to run but you managed to get to the edge. You hopped up on the ledge.

“Don’t leave me!”

Your body felt as light as a feather and your vision was starting to get blurry. Before you knew it your body sagged forward. You were falling. You closed your eyes as death came to greet you. The irony of the situation didn’t go missed by you. The last thing you felt before your demise was the feeling of cold metal beneath you. And then you were gone.

Darkness surrounded you. Was this what happened after death? Just a pool of nothingness? Kind of disappointing. You glanced around, searching for something other than pitch black. You’d almost given up when you heard something. The sound was far away but you could still hear it. 

“Mister?”

You blinked your eyes as the harsh light of the street lamp came into view. You groaned, trying to get up.

“Hey mister you should probably stay still. The ambulance will be here any second.”

You glanced at the person talking to you. Your eyes widened as you realized you could hear their heartbeat. Your throat felt raw. It was like you hadn't had anything to drink in years. And your stomach. Good lord. Your stomach ached in a way you’d never felt before. You took a deep breath in as you managed to sit up.

“It’s a miracle you survived the fall.”

You could hear the person talking to you but you couldn’t focus on the words. Your nose had gotten a whiff of blood and your mouth had started to salivate. You turned to look at the person beside you.

“And don’t even worry about the car. I’m just glad you’re alright. 

You felt the muscles in your face shift as you watched the person's eyes widen. 

“What the he-”

Before they’d even managed to get the rest out you pounced. Your fangs grew as you opened your mouth. You sank your teeth into the person's neck, cutting off their scream as you finally got a taste of what your body so desperately craved.  You felt their body sag into the ground as you drank them dry. Once there wasn’t any more blood you unlatched yourself from their corpse. You looked up at the moon and grinned. Your body had never felt stronger. You felt invincible. No. You were invincible. A strangled laugh made its way out of your lips.

“Eternal at last.”

[accessiblemindstech]

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[helenrourke]

Hey there! 👋 I'm new to posting in archive of our own, so what does this "skin" mean? I didn't go through it as I feared it might change the story formatting or worse delete it lol.

Sorry if it's a lame question

I can answer that. Let's thank Grad School for teaching me the basics of how-to code.

So, when they ask you what kind of "skin" you would like, it’s typically for aesthetic reasons.  So, the selections they have offered you have been coded to achieve a certain aesthetic.  If you click here, you can see they explain how the work skins are intended for.  In the case of the two they offered they were intended for writers to utilize in those fandoms.

Skins are not just for works on AO3; they can be used for the site to change how it looks for you.  For example, the screen shot I’m showed above is one of the pre-made site skins that changes the site to a bluer based theme.  To can access this skin and more over here.

Now how do I use skins myself. I explained that I coded right. I have bad eyesight so I coded a site skin for myself that allows the text on AO3 bigger, so I am able to read. Yes that’s the great thing about coding you can do something as simple as that if you have the skills to do it.

Also did you know I use custom work skins in some of my works. I used a tutorial by C Ryan Smith (AiedailEclipsed) here to give my fic The Imperial House custom title chapters. That is how my fic has the Act One chapter title over Chapter One like most AO3 fics. Again, this wasn't too hard for me to do because I was taught basic coding skills in Grad School, and I've been taught how to code by my friends who are in field of web development and graphic design. I even have a codepen where they would teach me how to learn certain skills, but I haven't touched it in over a year.

Anyway, this was a bit of a rant, and I wouldn't call myself an expert in coding by any means. When I have issues I text my friend Luna lol Also I apologize if this doesn't make too much sense, I’m currently in home in bed because I’m feeling under the weather.

[sstechsystemofficial]

Trusted outsource software development teams - SSTech System

Outsource software development is the practice of relinquishing software-related duties to outside singularities or organizations. Outsourcing is used by firms to acquire software services and products from outside firms that do not have direct employees or employees under contract to the business entity that is outsourcing.

Infect, the outsourcing market worldwide is projected to grow by 8.28% (2025-2029) resulting in a market volume of US$812.70bn in 2029. This model is highly versatile and suits businesses of all sizes.

Start-ups often use outsourcing to develop MVPs quickly, while established companies might seek custom software development services or AI outsourcing services to address complex challenges. Outsourcing can include working with offshore development teams, global software development partners, or local experts like Australian software development experts for specific projects.

The benefits of outsourcing software development

Outsourcing has become a cornerstone for modern businesses due to its numerous advantages. Here’s a closer look at the key benefits:

1. Cost efficiency

Perhaps the biggest incentive for sourcing solutions from outsourcing service providers is the cost cutting factor. For instance, offshore software development in India provides expertise services at comparatively lower cost than that of in-house developed services in Western countries. This efficiency enable the enactments of cost savings in some other strategic sectors of the organization.

2. Access to global talent

Outsourcing can help to discover the wealth of new talents as well as the skills of professionals from other countries. No matter Whether it’s AI and machine learning integration, web application development in Australia, or outsourced healthcare software development, businesses can find experts in virtually any domain.

3. Scalability and flexibility

Outsourcing offers flexibility that is unparalleled in many organizations today. This is because; firms are able to expand and contract particular teams depending on the specific demand in projects. For example, outsourced IT solutions help business organizations prepare for different conditions while not having to employ permanent workers.

4. Faster time-to-market

With reliable software development teams in Australia or offshore development teams in India, businesses can speed up their project timelines. This helps innovations to make it through to the market early enough, which is useful for companies.

5. Focus on core activities

By delegating tasks like software maintenance and support or cloud software development in Australia to outsourcing partners, businesses can focus on their core competencies and strategic goals.

6. Reduced risk

In-house staff and trained outsourcing partners come with best practices, methods and procedures which when implemented reduce the chances of project hitch. Working with the top-rated IT outsourcing companies in Australia gives you confidence that your project is in safe hands.

Choosing the right outsourced software development partner

In the period from 2023 to 2027, the revenue of software outsourcing is forecasted to thrive at a CAGR of 7.54%. So, outsourcing partner selection is one of the most vital components since it determines the success of a given venture. Here are essential factors to consider:

1. Technical expertise

Check the partner’s competency and his knowledge of the field.  For instance, SSTech System Outsourcing offers comprehensive solutions, from AI development services in India to mobile app development outsourcing in Australia.

2. Proven track record

Look for partners with a strong portfolio and positive client testimonials. A proven track record in delivering custom software development services or managing outsourcing software development contracts is a good indicator of reliability.

3. Effective communication

Effective and open communication is extremely important if the project is to be successful. Work with people who give frequent reports and employ efficient media to overcome the differences in time areas.

4. Cultural compatibility

There has to be a cultural match or at least appreciation for each other’s customs for there to be harmony in the working relationship. As such, staffed with proficient Australia software development experts or offshore development teams, whose experience is to work on global markets can coordinate and blend well with your work culture.

5. Security and compliance

You have to make sure that your partner complies with the standards and the policies that are in the industry. This is especially substantial for all information-sensitive projects such as outsourced healthcare software development or cloud software development in Australia.

6. Scalable infrastructure

Choose a partner capable of scaling their resources and infrastructure to meet your project’s evolving needs. This is crucial for long-term collaborations, especially with global software development partners.

AI-powered tools for outsourced development teams

According to a report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, software development ranks among the most sought-after professions. Hence, AI is at the forefront of reshaping the outsourcing industry. Therefore, the implementation of artificial intelligence will add value to business processes, make workflow easier, and boost the results of projects. Here are some examples:

1. Automated code reviews

Tools like DeepCode and SonarQube assist outsourced teams in detecting whether errors reside in the code line or not, and whether code needs to be enriched or not. This is particularly accurate concerning AI outsourcing and in-house development industries.

2. Predictive analytics

Automated analytics tools can predict such things as the time it will take to complete the project, how much money it will cost, and what risks are possible in a software development outsourcing scenario.

3. Smart project management

Tools and platforms such as Jira and Monday.com, when empowered with AI, allow the coordination of tasks and the tracking of progress and resource allocation.

4. AI collaboration tools

Communication and collaboration with internal members and offshore software development Australia partners get facilitated through applications that include, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and zoom with integrated AI functions.

5. Natural Language Processing (NLP)

AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants simplify communication and issue resolution, making them valuable for managing outsourced IT solutions.

Best practices for managing outsourced development teams

Outsourced teams should be mandated and coordinated following a number of recommendations to ensure the efficiency of the entirety of the outsourcing process.

Here are the best practices to ensure your project’s success:

1. Set clear objectives

Make it clear to your project team, stakeholders, and other relevant parties what the parameters of the project are, what it is that you expect out of it, and what you expect to get from it in return. This fostaines consistency between your team and the outsourcing partner to increase efficiency in service delivery.

2. Choose the right tools

Use project tracking and collaboration software approaches to track and evaluate progress and meet regular informality and collaboration targets.

3. Foster a collaborative environment

It is worthy of note that constant communication is key to ensuring that your outsourcing team is on the same page with you. Fresh produce and feedback mechanisms need to be provided in order for there to be trust as is needed in project management.

4. Draft comprehensive contracts

There should be a comprehensive outsourcing software development contract. It should address issues to do with confidentiality, ownership of ideas and concepts, plea structure and mode of handling disputes.

5. Focus on long-term relationships

Building a long-term partnership with trusted providers like SSTech System Solutions can lead to consistent quality and better project outcomes.

Conclusion

To keep up with technology, outsourcing software development offers businesses solutions and support that can enable the creation of complex solutions out of mere ideas. Outsourcing has the benefits of minute overhead cost and is also a rich source of globally talented employees, and it offers the advantage of early time to market. Whether you’re looking for mobile app development outsourcing in Australia or seeking offshore software development in India or opting for AI outsourcing services, the potential is huge.

Such companies can only benefit from opting for reliable outsourcing companies such as SSTech System Outsourcing and embracing industry best practices to promote the success of business project implementations while enhancing market relevance. As technologies like AI and cloud computing are still changing the face of the outsourcing market, software development outsourcing will still be important for any company that wants to survive in a digital world.

Take the first step today—partner with global software development partners and unlock the full potential of your ideas with the power of outsourcing.

[crossatlanticsoftware-blog]

Top WordPress Website Development Services: Expert Web Designers & Developers Near You

These days, your website is often the first impression people get of your business—so it needs to look good and work flawlessly. In a world where everything happens online, having a strong digital presence isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential. That’s why so many businesses turn to WordPress. It’s reliable, flexible, and built to grow with you. Whether you’re starting from scratch or giving your current site a much-needed refresh, having the right team by your side makes all the difference. At Cross Atlantic Software, we’re here to help with WordPress website development services that are designed around your goals, your brand, and your future.Why Choose WordPress?

WordPress powers over 40% of all websites on the internet—and for good reason. It’s a powerful, flexible, and scalable platform that supports everything from simple blogs to complex eCommerce sites. Its open-source nature, combined with a vast library of themes and plugins, makes it a favorite among developers and business owners alike.

However, maximizing WordPress’s potential requires more than a basic understanding. It calls for professional WordPress web design, skilled development, and ongoing optimization. That’s where Cross Atlantic Software comes in.

Our WordPress Website Development Services

At Cross Atlantic Software, our comprehensive WordPress website development services include everything from initial consultation to post-launch support. Here’s what you can expect:

1. Custom WordPress Web Design

We understand that every business is unique. Our team of experienced WordPress designers near me works closely with clients to create custom websites that reflect their brand identity, engage visitors, and convert leads. Whether you need a sleek corporate site or a visually rich portfolio, our designs are tailored to impress and perform.

2. Expert WordPress Development

Our skilled WordPress web developers specialize in creating responsive, SEO-friendly, and lightning-fast websites. From theme customization to plugin development and API integrations, we ensure your website functions seamlessly across all devices and platforms.

3. E-commerce Solutions

Want to start selling online? We integrate robust WooCommerce solutions into your WordPress site to create intuitive and secure eCommerce stores. Our WordPress website development services include product page optimization, shopping cart setup, payment gateway integration, and more.

4. Maintenance & Support

A website is not a one-time project; it requires constant updates and monitoring. We offer ongoing maintenance packages that include backups, security scans, plugin updates, and performance monitoring to keep your website running at its best.

Why Work with WordPress Experts Near You?

Searching for WordPress experts near me brings you to professionals who understand your market and can provide more personalized support. At Cross Atlantic Software, we pride ourselves on our collaborative approach and transparent communication. Being locally accessible means we’re always within reach for meetings, consultations, or urgent updates.

What Sets Cross Atlantic Software Apart?

We’re more than just WordPress web developers—we’re your digital partners. Our team combines creativity, strategy, and technical skill to deliver impactful websites that drive business results.

Client-Centric Approach: We tailor our services to your goals, not the other way around.

Proven Expertise: Our portfolio spans diverse industries and project scales.

Responsive Design: Mobile-first design ensures your site looks great on all devices.

SEO Optimization: Every project is built with SEO best practices to help you rank higher.

Local Talent: Looking for WordPress designers near me? You’ll find them here.

The Benefits of Professional WordPress Web Design

Many small businesses start with DIY templates or free website builders, but these often come with limitations. Professional WordPress web design ensures that your site is not only visually appealing but also optimized for performance, SEO, and user experience.

Benefits include:

Brand Consistency: Custom themes aligned with your branding.

Improved SEO: Faster load times and proper on-page SEO structures.

Scalability: Easily add new features or pages as your business grows.

Security: Reduced risk of hacking with the right development practices.

Case Study: A Success Story with Cross Atlantic Software

A local fitness studio approached us in search of WordPress experts near me. They needed a visually dynamic and user-friendly website to showcase their services and handle class bookings. Our team delivered a stunning custom design, integrated WooCommerce for payments, and created a seamless user experience across desktop and mobile.

The result? A 60% increase in website traffic and a 35% increase in customer sign-ups within three months.

How to Get Started

If you’re ready to elevate your online presence, don’t settle for generic solutions. Partner with Cross Atlantic Software to leverage our end-to-end WordPress website development services and achieve your business goals. Whether you're looking for WordPress web design, development, or local support from WordPress designers near me, we’ve got you covered.

Schedule a free consultation today and see how our team of dedicated WordPress web developers can transform your digital presence.

Conclusion

Your website is your most powerful digital asset. With the right design and development partner, you can create a site that not only looks good but delivers results. Cross Atlantic Software, we combine technical know-how with creative flair to offer world-class WordPress website development services that drive success.

Don’t waste time searching endlessly for WordPress experts near me or wondering if your site is up to par. Let our experienced team guide you from concept to launch—and beyond.

Contact Cross Atlantic Software today and start building your digital future.

[mariacallous]

In March 2007, Google’s then senior executive in charge of acquisitions, David Drummond, emailed the company’s board of directors a case for buying DoubleClick. It was an obscure software developer that helped websites sell ads. But it had about 60 percent market share and could accelerate Google’s growth while keeping rivals at bay. A “Microsoft-owned DoubleClick represents a major competitive threat,” court papers show Drummond writing.

Three weeks later, on Friday the 13th, Google announced the acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. The US Department of Justice and 17 states including California and Colorado now allege that the day marked the beginning of Google’s unchecked dominance in online ads—and all the trouble that comes with it.

The government contends that controlling DoubleClick enabled Google to corner websites into doing business with its other services. That has resulted in Google allegedly monopolizing three big links of a vital digital advertising supply chain, which funnels over $12 billion in annual revenue to websites and apps in the US alone.

It’s a big amount. But a government expert estimates in court filings that if Google were not allegedly destroying its competition illegally, those publishers would be receiving up to an additional hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Starved of that potential funding, “publishers are pushed to put more ads on their websites, to put more content behind costly paywalls, or to cease business altogether,” the government alleges. It all adds up to a subpar experience on the web for consumers, Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser says.

“Google is able to extract hiked-up costs, and those are passed on to consumers,” he alleges. “The overall outcome we want is for consumers to have more access to content supported by advertising revenue and for people who are seeking advertising not to have to pay inflated costs.”

Google disputes the accusations.

Starting today, both sides’ arguments will be put to the test in what’s expected to be a weekslong trial before US district judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia. The government wants her to find that Google has violated federal antitrust law and then issue orders that restore competition. In a best-case scenario, according to several Google critics and experts in online ads who spoke with WIRED, internet users could find themselves more pleasantly informed and entertained.

It could take years for the ad market to shake out, says Adam Heimlich, a longtime digital ad executive who’s extensively researched Google. But over time, fresh competition could lower supply chain fees and increase innovation. That would drive “better monetization of websites and better quality of websites,” says Heimlich, who now runs AI software developer Chalice Custom Algorithms.

Tim Vanderhook, CEO of ad-buying software developer Viant Technology, which both competes and partners with Google, believes that consumers would encounter a greater variety of ads, fewer creepy ads, and pages less cluttered with ads. “A substantially improved browsing experience,” he says.

Of course, all depends on the outcome of the case. Over the past year, Google lost its two other antitrust trials—concerning illegal search and mobile app store monopolies. Though the verdicts are under appeal, they’ve made the company’s critics optimistic about the ad tech trial.

Google argues that it faces fierce competition from Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and others. It further contends that customers benefited from each of the acquisitions, contracts, and features that the government is challenging. “Google has designed a set of products that work efficiently with each other and attract a valuable customer base,” the company’s attorneys wrote in a 359-page rebuttal.

For years, Google publicly has maintained that its ad tech projects wouldn’t harm clients or competition. “We will be able to help publishers and advertisers generate more revenue, which will fuel the creation of even more rich and diverse content on the internet,” Drummond testified in 2007 to US senators concerned about the DoubleClick deal’s impact on competition and privacy. US antitrust regulators at the time cleared the purchase. But at least one of them, in hindsight, has said he should have blocked it.

Deep Control

The Justice Department alleges that acquiring DoubleClick gave Google “a pool of captive publishers that now had fewer alternatives and faced substantial switching costs associated with changing to another publisher ad server.” The global market share of Google’s tool for publishers is now 91 percent, according to court papers. The company holds similar control over ad exchanges that broker deals (around 70 percent) and tools used by advertisers (85 percent), the court filings say.

Google’s dominance, the government argues, has “impaired the ability of publishers and advertisers to choose the ad tech tools they would prefer to use and diminished the number and quality of viable options available to them.”

The government alleges that Google staff spoke internally about how they have been earning an unfair portion of what advertisers spend on advertising, to the tune of over a third of every $1 spent in some cases.

Some of Google’s competitors want the tech giant to be broken up into multiple independent companies, so each of its advertising services competes on its own merits without the benefit of one pumping up another. The rivals also support rules that would bar Google from preferencing its own services. “What all in the industry are looking for is fair competition,” Viant’s Vanderhook says.

If Google ad tech alternatives win more business, not everyone is so sure that the users will notice a difference. “We’re talking about moving from the NYSE to Nasdaq,” Ari Paparo, a former DoubleClick and Google executive who now runs the media company Marketecture, tells WIRED. The technology behind the scenes may shift, but the experience for investors—or in this case, internet surfers—doesn’t.

Some advertising experts predict that if Google is broken up, users’ experiences would get even worse. Andrey Meshkov, chief technology officer of ad-block developer AdGuard, expects increasingly invasive tracking as competition intensifies. Products also may cost more because companies need to not only hire additional help to run ads but also buy more ads to achieve the same goals. “So the ad clutter is going to get worse,” Beth Egan, an ad executive turned Syracuse University associate professor, told reporters in a recent call arranged by a Google-funded advocacy group.

But Dina Srinivasan, a former ad executive who as an antitrust scholar wrote a Stanford Technology Law Review paper on Google’s dominance, says advertisers would end up paying lower fees, and the savings would be passed on to their customers. That future would mark an end to the spell Google allegedly cast with its DoubleClick deal. And it could happen even if Google wins in Virginia. A trial in a similar lawsuit filed by Texas, 15 other states, and Puerto Rico is scheduled for March.

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

The New York Times

By Tiffany Hsu

April 5, 2025

Soon after the new administration arrived, things began to go missing from the White House website.

They weren’t just the partisan policy platforms that typically disappear during a presidential transition. Informational pages about the Constitution and past presidents, up in various forms since President George W. Bush was in office, all vanished.

Thousands of other government web pages had also been taken down or modified, including content about vaccines, hate crimes, low-income children, opioid addiction and veterans, before a court order temporarily blocked part of the sweeping erasure. A Justice Department database tracking criminal charges and convictions linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was removed. Segments of data sets are gone, some of the experts who produced them were dismissed, and many mentions of words like “Black,” “women” and “discrimination” have evaporated.

President Trump’s team is selectively stripping away the public record, reconstructing his preferred vision of America in the negative space of purged history, archivists and historians said. As data and resources are deleted or altered, something foundational is also at risk: Americans’ ability to access and evaluate their past, and with it, their already shaky trust in facts.

“This is not a cost-cutting mechanism,” said Kenny Evans, who studies science and technology policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and runs the White House Scientists Archive at the school. “This slide toward secrecy and lack of transparency is an erosion of democratic norms.”

The casualties are not just digital. The head of the National Archives, which has been described as “the custodian of America’s collective memory,” was fired by Mr. Trump in February. A key source of federal funding for public records depositories nationwide, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, was named in an executive order calling for its elimination “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” (its acting director said he planned to “restore focus on patriotism”). As the U.S. Agency for International Development was being gutted, a senior official told employees to shred or burn classified documents and personnel files.

Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said on X that the disposal process was standard practice for old courtesy copies of paperwork that were largely backed up on classified computer systems. In an emailed statement, she did not address concerns about the removed records, but said that the president regularly communicated with news outlets and directly with the public and was “leading the most transparent administration in history.”

“He is adding transparency by exposing the vast waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government and restoring accountability to taxpayers,” she said.

The campaign of deletion does more than amplify the administration’s policy priorities — it buries evidence of the alternatives in a MAGA-branded memory hole. Several information experts said that Mr. Trump’s executive orders have authoritarian overtones, reminiscent of when Russia cloned Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, and stripped it of unflattering material. Information experts and civil rights groups fear that a historical vacuum could jeopardize accountability and breed mistrust, especially in an already hostile political environment for researchers who are trying to fight disinformation.

“There are tectonic plates that are shifting, and it’s a new version of truth that is being portrayed, and that, I think, is the most profound danger we have ever faced as a country,” said Laurence H. Tribe, a constitutional scholar and professor emeritus at Harvard Law School.

Even Utah’s Republican lieutenant governor called on Mr. Trump to “bring back our history” after the first American woman to legally vote was removed from the website for Arlington National Cemetery, along with a section on other notable women (her profileis once again available, but the women’s history section is not). References to transgender people disappeared from the National Park Service’s web page for the Stonewall National Monument.

Mr. Trump is not known as an enthusiast of document preservation: Past employees have described his penchant for ripping up documents and flushing papers down the toilet. 

But his administration has surfaced some government data. In March, the National Archives released some 64,000 documentsabout the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, including accounting records that contained the Social Security numbers of dozens of government workers from the late 1970s, some of them still living.

The restructuring effort led by Elon Musk through his Department of Government Efficiency, which had been caught in a series of high-profile errors, tried to delete or obscure the mistakes before reversing course last month and adding more details that fact-checkers could use to confirm its claims about the savings it had achieved from canceling federal grants.

In February, a federal judge ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several other health agencies to temporarily restore pages that had been scrubbed on Mr. Trump’s orders. The Defense Department said it would republish pagesabout Jackie Robinson’s military service, the Enola Gay B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo Code Talkers and others.

The historical record, however, remains under intense pressure and not just from the government.

Mr. Musk has a vendetta against Wikipedia, which the billionaire derided as “Wokepedia” last year. He called the encyclopedia, which is written and edited by volunteers from the general public, “an extension of legacy media propaganda” after an entry described a gesture he had made during Mr. Trump’s recent inauguration as being “compared to a Nazi salute.” Jimmy Wales, a founder of Wikipedia, pushed back on the social media platform X, saying “that’s fact. Every element of it.”

Data Foundation, a think tank, said in a report last month that changes in federal evidence gathering are coinciding with similar shifts in the private data sector. Those include more than 2,000 layoffs and other departures in March and several analysis firms shutting down entirely. A year ago, Google also removed links to cached pages from its search results, stripping away a longtime feature that helped researchers and others track changes on websites.

Resources from the government have become especially important as researchers find themselves limited or cut off from data reserves kept by social media companies, said Samuel Woolley, the disinformation studies chair at the University of Pittsburgh.

“The idea that suddenly we no longer need oversight or access to the information that allows us to conduct oversight is worrying,” he said. “Getting rid of public records and people who study things like influence operations amounts to a kind of censorship by omission.”

Outside the government, many archivists are now rushing to preserve endangered material.

The Data Rescue Project, which launched in February, is cataloging preservation efforts and backed up government data sets. Since 2008, the End of Term Web Archive has conducted “a comprehensive harvest” of federal government domains and chronicled changes from administration to administration. Initiatives like the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative and the Open Environmental Data Project are storing copies of government climate data.

Another key participant: The Internet Archive, a 28-year-old nonprofit library housed in a stately former Christian Science church in San Francisco. Some 140 workers, mostly engineers, archive more than a billion URLs a day with help from partners such as Cloudflare, WordPress, Reddit and Wikipedia’s parent organization, Wikimedia. The work is funded through donations and web archiving agreements with more than 1,300 schools, museums and libraries.

The Archive has collected more than 700,000 terabytes of archived web pages as one of the partners working on the End of Term project, identifying more than 150,000 government pages that have gone offline since the inauguration.

“What we’re seeing this time around is unprecedented, both in terms of the scope and the scale of the web-based resources that are being taken offline, and material on those pages that is being changed,” said Mark Graham, the director of the Wayback Machine, a digital repository operated through the Internet Archive. 

The Archive has faced difficulties in recent years, such as copyright lawsuits from record labels and book publishers seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages (the organization had a $28 million budget in 2023). It has also been targeted by cyberattacks.

The Trump administration, however, has not been an obstacle. Mr. Musk has called the archive “awesome” and “a public good that should exist,” even as he complained about “a ton of negative” content that concerned him.

In February, government lawyers argued that the removal of information from the C.D.C. website caused limited harm because the scrubbed pages could still be viewed on the Wayback Machine. A federal judge disagreed, noting that the site does not capture every page, and the ones that are archived do not appear on search engines and can only be found using their original URL.

Mr. Graham, an Air Force veteran who can rattle off URLs from memory, said he has worked seven days a week with few breaks since Mr. Trump took office.

“We’ve seen examples throughout history and all over the world where governments attempt to change culture, change the values of a population by changing and/or restricting access to information,” he said. “I think we still see that to this day.”