nasalgoat

I've been a collector since the mid-90s and it's definitely changed substantially in that time. I used to be one of maybe two or three collectors at the auctions among the operators, who would gasp when I paid $800 for a mint condition Indiana Jones (no fade!) because it didn't earn anymore.

Now, the auctions are long gone and that Indy is $12,000. I got priced out, and there's no more "beaters" to fix up and turn a small profit. Good thing I managed to ride the wave up, otherwise I wouldn't have anything!

Here in Canada I worked at a company that had free alcohol on Fridays, and it got to the point where people would invite their friends - non-employees - to come and drink. They'd all get so blackout drunk they'd pass out in the lounge and the customer service staff would have to climb over them on Saturday morning to get a coffee.

That particular perk was removed after a couple of months.

It's still dot sublimation printing versus screened artwork. It looks good but you can't get the spot colours like you can with screens.

To be fair, since the Logitech Harmony One went EOL there hasn't been a decent remote available from anyone.

Yes but they get very lonely all by yourself.

The channels I'm talking about weren't about work, they were about hobbies - biking, cars, cats. I found that interaction quite fun and actually much better than in-person chats because I could choose to interact at my pace and comfort level.

I worked at a large fully remote company and it had dedicated topic channels you could join. I thought that was an excellent solution since people could discuss their interests with other employees without it seeming like a corporately mandated chat break.

I now work for a much smaller company and I miss the chat channels.

For our app we front-loaded the list of accounts with the most "popular" users (number of likes, messages) within their criteria when people signed up. So the sort order was always "hottest" first then everything else.

This was to get people to sign up so they could chat.

People would get the most "success" with those closest to their own level but that did not result in subscriptions at the same rate as putting the hottest up front.

Just one of the many ways the apps don't work the way you expect.

I was a founding member of a dating app startup and worked there for 10 years until it filed for bankruptcy. I have some insight.

The number one reason dating apps suck is money, or the ability to make money is antithetical to the purpose of getting people together. A dating app is successful when people don't use it anymore, so that user churn is a serious impediment to earning a profit. Thus, the apps are designed to keep you paying that monthly subscription.

In that same vein, apps have to work way harder than websites to turn a profit because of app store fees. Our app would have been profitable if we didn't have to give Apple 30% of our fees, so we had to do way sketchier shit to increase profits to compensate.

Second problem is the wildly unbalanced male/female ratios in users. We had one of the better ratios in the market but it was still 70/30 male to female. Straight men and women simply do not have the same motivations around dating and trying to balance those is a hard problem. There are many videos out there about this problem, no need for me to go into detail.

Third is reach. We spent a lot of time trying to find ways to advertise or optimize for store placement and the restrictions placed on us were almost puritanical. For instance, Facebook wouldn't let us advertise because our relationship settings had "married" in the list, so we were forced to remove that option in order to place ads on Facebook. There were other compromises we had to introduce in order to qualify for other stores or advertisers.

Lastly, the Match Group is the 800lb gorilla of the industry and they buy all the good ones (OKCupid, Plenty of Fish) and grind them into maximum profitability like a hedge fund, thus removing any distinctiveness they had in favour of the Match methods.

What it comes down to is the ecosystem is gamed to make good datings apps impossible.

Sorry, when you're applying to a dozen jobs a day, it's hard to put that personal spin into it.

I know you think you're a special snowflake that's different from every other company out there, but looking for a job is a grind. A tough one. Why make people dance and sing even more?

People are TCP but Society is UDP.

"Albums" on the Photo app and the iPhone aren't the same either. That one actively irritates me - why are they different? They're both Apple!

That was never really true - I used to make plenty of cash refurbishing machines, playing for a bit, and selling them off. It can get pricey if you're trying to source unique parts for low-volume games but the vast majority of wear parts are generic and not that expensive. Mostly games are just dirty.

If you buy them brand new, you will never put enough plays on them to get them to the point they'll break. They are well made.

But that said you do need a certain level of handiness unless you plan to call the distributor to come out and fix it if it does break, because even new games will break occasionally.

There's a reason that MM has been at the top or in the top ten most popular machines since it came out in 1997.

If you'd ever talked to a pinball designer you'd know that their primary goal, without question, is making a fun game. No designer ever designed a game with coin drop in mind, except for things like appealing to a broad audience.

Fun games make money. That's all you need.

It's been a "fad" for about 15 years or so and has a long history before that. I've personally been collecting for 25 years and pinball has never been more popular except in the 1970's.

I'm in Toronto, and I get butter all the time that is four "sticks" but it's sold all as one unit. You just cut it into quarters.

Also the wrapper has measurements on it.

No, I think this is just the nature of Canadian investors - they are much more risk-adverse and don't seem to have the stomach for the "swing for the fences" angel investment that US investors have. It's cultural.

In Toronto, commercial real estate carries the largest property tax burden - single family houses are the lowest in the entire province.

Well, don't discount the fact that Canadian investors are strongly against any sort of tech investment and prefer natural resources or banking, which is the historical low-risk investments here.

Tech has always been a uphill battle in Canada.

My favourite part of the CRA website is it has operating hours! It actually closes during non-work hours! Crazy.

I mostly find childcare a burden with occasional bright spots. I wish it was restorative.

Still worth it though.

Some other ffmpeg knock-off. System admin work.

You're right, it seems totally random. For one they had the Scrum Masters interview me and they felt I didn't have enough scrum experience. For another I had to try and compile a video encoder on a three generations out of date VM and it took all day and I got $100 for my time. Madness.

I have 25 years of experience and I spent a year looking for a job, getting rejected after complex, time-wasting tests and endless voice interviews that went nowhere. At one point I had to take a cognitive test which I actually failed.

I eventually found something but it was really discouraging there for a long time.

Didn't decades of that policy at Microsoft prove that it doesn't work? People then optimize to make sure they only work on projects to keep their score up.

Most successful companies I know are constantly recruiting and trying to keep people onboard - why would they be trying to actively get rid of people?

The first iPhone was quite the sensation, but I don't blame the CEO of RIM (ne Blackberry) for being a bit incredulous. The wireless networks of the time really weren't up to the task and Apple had to make deals with specific providers to have the visual voicemail thing.

It really did change the landscape and forced wireless development in a new direction.

Absolutely nothing for me, but after reading up on Aphantasia and the link it has to a lack of autobiographical memory, it makes sense. I have a condition called Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (http://sdamstudy.weebly.com/what-is-sdam.html) which means I can barely remember anything from my life and what little I do remember is vague and fuzzy.

Intereesting correlation.