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| Seems like someone is testing the newsfeed and moderator watches here. Two days ago a suspicious "pron/social engineering" account posted searching for "someone to roleplay with" and now an AI account or someone managing it tags anyone who hates AI. Yeah- I did block it. I think the moderators need to do a bit more screening on free accounts. And yes, I still hate AI. |
Annette  - Thanks for responding. I work in cyber security and the "role-playing" comment just seemed eerily similar to a lot of the spam/sextortion campaigns we get- a quasi-benign phrasing at first which often times leads to less benign interactions and campaigns afterwards. Due to my job, I'm more cautious/pessimistic to something like that than perhaps others. Wasn't aware that the 2nd in a title indicates a paid membership and an ASA. Thanks for letting me know. |
Aiva Raine  - I understand your concern and where it comes from. I have worked in the role of gatekeeper before content got published to the internet on other sites. Writing.Com Moderators are not the same. We are not paid employees. Rather, we are volunteers. Every Moderator and Senior Moderator (purple cases) pays for their own membership here. We have no editing access to your writing. We have no access to any parts of your private information. The only thing Moderators can do is change the rating of a written piece. For example if someone writes a gory horror piece and gives it an E for Everyone rating, I can make the rating higher. That is all. It's up to the readers to be mindful before opening an item that is rated GC or XGC. If someone tries to use the Newsfeed to trap others into fishing scams, then that is on the involved parties. As the assumption is that everything here is about writing craft and the development of fiction, people who choose to interact with others beyond that have to use their own best judgement and protect themselves and their emotional and financial safety. This is not meant to be callous. I put this here to explain why you will see certain things and it appears that "nothing gets done about it." Your callout on the Newsfeed was a good conversation starter. The site members are all smart people, but a reminder to stay vigilant is always good. |
| First article in my Cyber/Online Safety and Security recommendations posted. "Top Security Tips- Physical"  |
Damon Nomad  - Thanks. It's sad how much the every day person is tracked now and I haven't even addressed most web based stuff yet. |
Thanks, Aiva Raine ! I noticed you liked one of the comments about my post the other day re: adverts popping up in apps related to something just spoken aloud. I'm so happy to see you return to WDC.    Thank you for sharing your expertise!  |
| So, after I laughed when watching this for the first time; I can't decide whether this is somehow faked or this squirrel somehow has a level of self-awareness and cunning that would make an average teenager look dumb. What are your thoughts? Was this something the owner trained the animal to do or is it really how it appears? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f75Vet_sJNo |
| Requesting laughs today. Funny little jokes or things that make you smile? |
| A few from the Scottish comedian Chic Murray: After I told my wife that black underwear turned me on, she didn’t wash my Y-fronts for a month. I rang the bell of this small bed-and breakfast place, whereupon a lady appeared at an outside window. “What do you want?”, she asked. “I want to stay here”, I replied. “Well, stay there then”, she said and closed the window. When staying at a Rothesay hotel, there were the usual toast and marmalade (in little round pots) on the breakfast table in the morning. When the landlady came into the room, I lifted a tiny pot of honey and said "I see you keep a bee." I had a tragic childhood. My parents never understood me. They were Japanese. I got up this morning. I like to get up in the morning; it gives me the rest of the day to myself. We’ve got stained glass windows in our house; it’s those damned pigeons. So there I was lying in the gutter. A man stopped and asked ‘”What’s the matter? Did you fall over?” So I said “No. I’ve a bar of toffee in my back pocket and I was just trying to break it.” This chap said to me, "If you look over there, you'll see Dumbarton Rock". Well, I looked for 20 minutes and the thing never moved an inch. I knocked and the woman opened the door in her night dress. I thought to myself at the time what a strange place to have a door. |
| And a few by the English comedian Les Dawson: I saw six men kicking and punching the mother-in-law. My neighbour said 'Are you going to help?' I said 'No, Six should be enough." We were so poor we couldn't afford a bidet. We had to do handstands in the shower. I went to my doctor and asked for something for persistent wind. He gave me a kite. The mother-in-law came round last week. It was absolutely pouring down. So I opened the door and I saw her there and I said, 'Mother, don't just stand there in the rain. Go home.' There is a remote tribe that worships the number zero. Is nothing sacred? My mother-in-law fell down a wishing well. I was amazed; I never knew they worked. My mother-in-law has come round to our house at Christmas seven years running. This year we're having a change. We're going to let her in. |
| Thanks again for the wonderful laughs. I've reread the jokes a few times now to get some smiles. Much appreciated for the awesome and quick response. |
| Meeting with editor on Friday to go over the book. Simultaneously excited and terrified. LOL |
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Happy Writing.Com account anniversary. 
The safety, etc., training always seemed obvious to me and to most people. But I still saw people getting fired or written up over violating the simple rules.
And once you finally finish that "square" on the main test page- you get to repeat this process another 11 times until all 12 squares are finally finished. AND THEN once all 12 squares are finished- you then get to acknowledge the FINAL recap.
That's why I'm griping about it. There's training and then there's beating a dead horse with a stick made from another dead horse that was also made from a dead horse.