Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for January 28, 2024

Star Trek conventions?

You get for what you paid.

You want something even less social and harder to find?

Try cancelling an online account that you pay for.

anti-social media

Two things:

1: If you’re getting a service for free, then YOU are what’s being sold (usually advertising)

2: To keep overhead low when there are thousands of new users per “moment”, you have to simply never listen to the users’ complaints… certainly not one on one. Because see #1.

PS: even Amazon is like this… and THEY actually need customers who actually buy things.

PPS: I wonder if I could hire an AI to deal with their Artificial Idiocy.

In their parents basements.

They’re hiding in their huge mansions that you’re paying for with your info that they sold to spammers, scammers, and all kinds of nefarious businesses like them.

Promotes your business all for nothing? Ha ha ha. Foolish Pig, they no show yours post to your own followers unless you is posting paid advertising. Their algorithm make sure of that. It all a biiig scam see. As for personal users, all your data and soul you is sold to the devil. Free me bear foots.

TwitterX and Facebook laid them off.

Recently, I purchased an item on Amazon, I received an email stating that the item had been delivered, handed to me and I had signed for it. None of this happened!!! When I called to question it, I was told under their policy they still had a 48 hour window to produce the item! What part of DELIVERED do they not understand?!!!!

Getting in touch with the administrators on sites like Facebook is much easier than, for example, LG. I wanted to contact them once to complain about an “upgrade” to the OS, which, in my opinion, made things much worse. It took me a long time to find a contact form to send the complaint, and then two years passed before I got a response. And, after all that time, do you think they addressed the problem I was having? No. It was just a form letter saying something like “Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate your feedback.” That was about a year ago, and I haven’t heard from them since, and I don’t expect to. But they did force a new “update”, that made the same problem even worse. I’ll never buy anything from LG again.

Since they have AI helping on internet searches, it makes looking up things more difficult than before AI!

I can contact the admin of my Mastodon instance like that [clicks fingers]?

I lost my email account because I didn’t have a cell phone number I could give them. If I had a cell phone, I wouldn’t have needed the email account.

Reminds me of the Good Ol’ Days when you needed a driver’s license to rent a movie.

Check their mother’s basements.

When you do finally get someone on the phone, it’s “Freddy” from Bangalore. Over a lousy connection. With “Susie” and “Sam” also jabbering in the background.

Just fix it yourself. Or buy a new device. :-)

They are usually at a congressional hearing…

Don’t worry Pig…..They have our magnetic ink!

Behind AI…

Some people were put into this world to mess with us.

Computers are the works of the Devil. What! You don’t believe me? How many times have you seen someone sitting at a computer keyboard taking the Lord’s name in vain? All the time. Perhaps even you.

True story: My bff had found a beautiful antique headboard four hours away from me. She talked to the owner, made plans, many texts, emails, even a live call! So excited! Address and price all disclosed, agreements and arrangements made to pick up. I drive two hours to BFF, another two to the given addy at the correct time. No show/no word by owner, no message, no nothing. Well. Awrighty then! Thanks to the availability of social media, we drove thru some of the most beautiful icy scenery, winter wonderland indeed, into a thunderstorm, then more snow, a sunny patch, then rain. On and off all the way home. We laughed, cried, giggled and had a grand lunch at a fabulous little tavern we happened onto off the beaten path. Social media led us into real life for the day and I have absolutely NO regrets. No headboard, either but… whatever… my bestie and I had a fabulous day, with memouries to talk about … in real life :D

Guess social media ain’t so social after all.

The same place Pogo.com people are hiding. Amazon seems to be trying new places to hide their people, too.

Same trying to set up friend’s Starlink

Our village has 5 Facebook accounts, can’t get rid of old ones, FB ignores requests because ( insert excuse, if you get an answer)

They won’t let me into Instagram if I don’t own a cellphone to verify who I am. Apparently, a cellphone is the new ID card. (I tried to use my sister’s cell number, she’d call and tell me the verification code, but they saw it didn’t match names.) And I can’t get through to anyone at Instagram! (Correct. I don’t own a cellphone.)

Never mind social media, tried to find the office to the local hospital, there isn’t ONE!! They are virtual. This means you make a request/prayer/sacrifice to them and they may contact you if they feel like it!! With AI, I imagine all human contact will be obsolete!!

Nothing is free except ignorance.

That is sure true about Yahoo!

So true. Try to find a contact phone number for Facebook. Ain’t there.

It’s true, tried to contact facebook once, nearly impossible

Simple, using the Command Prompt (Windows), ping their web address to get their IP address and enter it to to get the Web Master then bug him till he / she gives in. Patience? Heck! Attack!

It’s not uncommon. Competent help desk personnel cost $$$. Profits are paramount.

Pay no attention to the technocrats behind the curtain. In fact, pay no attention to the curtain.

I was once upset that I accidentally deleted all the saved posts on Facebook. I decided to text Mark Sucked very and and a while late my deleted saved posts returned! True story. :)

“HERE IS HOW platforms die: First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.”

—Corey Doctorow, “The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok.” Wired Jan 23, 2023

Behind the stacks of money.

They are hiding in the same cave with the credit reporting agencies.

Pig is mistaken about two critical things:1.) Business accounts are not free. Those accounts pay to access to the product.2.) Users are the product. That’s why he can’t find anyone to help him.

If there’s no money involved: You’re not a customer, so you’re the product or the unpaid worker.

If there is money involved you still might be.

buahaahaaaaa. oh you got it so right…snicker

What’s the big deal?

Allowing contact with an employee costs money!

Everyone knows that corporations are not making enough money.

.

That’s why there is no contact allowed. Also why we have inflation.

You have to contact them through social media. A different social media. That’s where they get you.

You’re not the customer, you’re the product. Products don’t get a say.

That last panel — ROFLMAO — What a payoff!

They are busy selling your information to hackers who will then destroy your account so you’ll have to create a new one (I speak from experience).

Amazon has evolved into the same: Hard to communicate with. And if you get through the maze for a chat, most of the time that sucks.

Tech support isn’t hiding, they got laid off.

Just say it out loud, they will hear you.

I knew there was a good reason why I abandoned social media after about two weeks.

Does the slaughterhouse provide a chat support window, email or telephone number to the cows? Exactly…

You get what you pay for, Pig.

Mark Zuckerberg will be remembered as one of the most single-minded and obdurate social media promoters.