I randomly tried using Jellyfin today instead of Plex, but Jellyfin kept crashing my browser and logging me out, so I wasn’t in the mood to troubleshoot, so I just gave up and went back to Plex.

In the past, I’ve been annoyed that Jellyfin didn’t seem to have an option to sort media by “Last Episode Date Added”, nor did it seem to have a way to build a queue of episodes from multiple different shows. I think I was also having trouble figuring out how to add multiple sources… I have my “long term” library on a local hard drive, plus anything “new” on a seedbox.

I theoretically want to fully switch over eventually, but so far, Plex is still good enough for my use case.

That’s so weird. I’ve been using Plex for years and had never heard of “Passout Protection” until looking it up just now, nor does it ever stop playback on its own for me unless it reaches the end of the queue. I’m using the free version via web browser on my computer. Maybe it’s a setting that only affects apps? Continuous playback on Plex is one of the reasons why I’ve always preferred it over Netflix, etc.

Yeah, I used to want to text a lot before meeting face to face, but have learned that almost always means I start to “fill in the blanks” and the person I meet never matches up with my expectations. By meeting face to face quickly, I don’t have a chance to build those expectations and am unlikely to feel “catfished” by anything other than blantant lies on their profile.

I think the bigger problem is that the apps really amplify the sense of “there’s always more fish in the sea.” So if that first date wasn’t full of sparks, people often prefer to see what other options are out there, rather than going on second dates to see if anything develops.

With the online approach, I know I’m very guilty of focusing on the other person’s “flaws”, and deciding they’re deal breakers. With people I meet via offline methods, we generally get to know each other a bit more organically and end up having multiple unofficial “dates” before the first official date.

My last actual date was over a year ago, with someone I met offline through mutual friends. There was definitely an initial spark, but it fizzled almost as quickly (mostly my own discomfort with emotional intimacy). We’re actually still friends though, and hang out with each other more often than I hang out with the friend who introduced us. If we had met via dating apps, I highly doubt we would still be friends because we just wouldn’t have any reason to cross paths organically.

Well shit. I just wrote up a long ass comment about why it probably sucks, but then decided I might as well try it out first. I created an account, but it won’t let me log in. I enter my email and password, then it makes me do a captcha, then it just says, “An error occured. Please try again.” I’ve tried multiple times and I guess I give up now.

I never really had trouble getting dates on Tinder, etc., but very few of those led to second dates. Of the people I’ve dated that I met without the help of apps, I probably would’ve “swiped left” on most of them. As another user said, general human interaction is my current route, focusing my energy on social interactions where I can meet people the old fashioned way: mostly friends of friends. That can range from get togethers at someone’s house, happy hours, general meetup groups, volunteering, hobbies and/or classes.

Isn’t Venmo owned by PayPal?

Edit: Oh shit, duh. Totally forgot what thread I was commenting on.

I never actually used Twitter, but recently made accounts on Mastodon, Bluesky, and Pixelfed.

Pixelfed has been my favorite of the three so far… I’m finding that the image-based focus means my feed is mostly fun stuff, that leaves me feeling happy, not gloom and doom of news, snark, etc.

I’m not sure how long I’ll use Mastodon, but I’ve been finding hashtags and users that I’m interested in following and interacting with, and the keyword filters have allowed me to limit (but not eliminate) the depressing stuff.

Bluesky pissed me the fuck off since I couldn’t find a way to follow hashtags, only users, and the Lists thing was just not what I wanted either. Bluesky’s filter is disappointing compares to Mastodon’s too, since Mastodon allows you to hide filtered words behind a content warning or hide them completely, while Bluesky seems to only hide them completely.

About 10 years ago, I signed up for a seedbox for torrenting purposes. USD 15/month, which was roughly the same as Netflix at the time. Since then, Netflix has repeatedly raised prices, dropped content, and added ads. On the other hand, I’m still paying $15/month for that seedbox, and they’ve upgraded my storage capacity and bandwidth allotment multiple times.