Yeah, most online stores don’t accept gift cards, unfortunately. 🙁 Especially Amazon…tried to order some much needed products with Amazon cards, and they require a bank card.

IME, (on Amazon at least…and a few others I’ve tried) masked cards are usually accepted as bank cards. Gift cards are not.

I’d love to build myself a privacy-respecting online store that accepts everything from Monero to cash to Apple pay (for the general populous that doesn’t care), but I sort of lack the capital. 😅

I mean, yeah, it would be great if Amazon took Monero, but I don’t see them ever even considering that.

They also make filling up your gas tank an even more unbearable experience.

Years ago I think I would have been in the same boat about not being a fan of something like this being paid, but I think the main reason why big tech platforms have become enshittified is because we haven’t demanded value and instead demanded free. And because we’ve demanded free we have two camps: big tech that can yank our chain, and free/libre solutions that may survive just barely on donations and the good will of people (and wanting it to be free as in $ IMO is devaluing the importance of the fediverse). I think a good solution to promote software freedom and the fediverse is for some paid instances to be part of it.

True, and thanks.

Ah, I see. Yeah, I keep forgetting that a lot of people use LinkedIn for job-searching (I mean, I kinda do too, but been active on it like 7 years without a single follow-through). I see it as a networking tool. Job-searching may be part of it, but business leaders and ultra wealthy use it to make connections and support each other (theoretically). Businesses/creators would be the target market. Maybe some job-search aspect to it at some point.

Haha, this is true. Hence why I was looking for a way to serve people.

Yeah, that’s why I was kinda wondering.

Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for. I’m a believer that money = value. If something or someone is valuable, it should be paid for and there’s nothing wrong with that.

I’m also a believer that you can operate in FOSS/Fedi-mode and still make money.

Yup, an instance would be paid, but if someone wanted to launch a service of their own they totally could…they just won’t have the upstream features and the primary support from the paid instance.

Job-seeker/employer is only a drop in the ocean of what professional networking (and LinkedIn) is about. It’s a community of businesses that all help each other collaborate and build…a way to share ideas and make new connections…at least, I think that’s what everyone wants it to be.

Nope, no verification system…complete opposite…you’d just need to pay an I don’t care who you are (I’d even take crypto like Monero). I think being on week 4 of wrestling with LinkedIn’s verification system (being in LI jail for the 3rd time!) has made me sick of it.

One thing I like about the fediverse is it’s very community-driven. If I come across a spam message on Mastodon, I’ll start to report it to the community but find 10 others who are saying the same thing and within 5 minutes the dude is out. Meanwhile LinkedIn has a draconian verification system that treats its users like toddlers, while every other week I have someone asking to take over my UpWork account (and LI doesn’t ban them).

Was it ever for jobs?

Been an active user for well over 5 years and not one interaction has resulted in a job.

A bunch of people acting like they were hiring, sure.

They basically want more data points on people to sell to advertisers.

It’s big tech. That’s how big tech works.

Exactly.

“I’m ready to start Monday. Just need to restart my health insurance with–”

“Oh, we already chose that for you.”

“Um…okay…well, at least I can go back to my gym on Tues–”

“No worries, through our wellness plan we’ve already selected a gym for you. We even pre-signed you up to a spin class.”

“I’m more of a bench-press person any–”

“We’ve started your retirement account, too.”

“Um…thanks?”

I had a hero of a physics professor who figured out that new editions of textbooks just mixed up the number of the exercises, so he advised students that they could just order previous versions of the textbooks and he’d provide the “key” for how the questions were shuffled.

Toilets.

I just use your neighbor’s garden and blame it on my cat.

Probably gonna anger both sides here, but I see both private insurance and single-payer healthcare as equally-evil scams. Why not focus on driving down costs of healthcare (i.e. EVERYTHING) so that you throw a couple bucks at the receptionist to cover your surgery then check to see if you have enough for a post-surgery soda?

Yup, BandCamp all the way. Once you buy a song you own it, you can play it anywhere you darn well please. Even if BandCamp goes under, no worries, still got my music.

Same with DVDs. Yeah, I’ve definitely gotten movies I regret purchasing, but I think long-term it’s more economical.

Workplace benefits.

Really? What’s the benefit? You’re taking money out of my paycheck to restrict my choices?

And aren’t you a business anyway–you know, an organization whose purpose is to MAKE MONEY, not coddle people.