this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2023
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I know people prefer to complain instead of act, but what is something people don't like but has an alternative?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Dungeon and Dragon. There is a ton of TTRPG out there and things like Level up 5e are direct replacement with better content.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hell even just D&D 3.5e is better than 5e imo. Though I mostly play Pathfinder 2e nowadays (I'd be happy with Pathfinder 1e as well).

Just 5e is boring as hell to both DM and to play.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

undefined> 5e is boring as hell to both DM and to play.

My experience this is 100% the group, the system is secondary to the quality of DM and other players. A good group will have fun in any system.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (12 children)

iPhones. Love my Pixel and I don't care how much my co-workers bitch about bubble colors.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I (American) just attended a strategy meeting and one of the ice breakers was "are you a green or blue bubble?".

I had no idea what it meant, similar to others that are android users. While it was a fun and engaging session, I was kind of shocked that was a thing. I'm obviously not oblivious to Apple vs Android convos and opinions, but I had never been asked that question.

Our group, BTW, was pretty evenly split. πŸ˜…

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

As an European, I always find it funny how iMessage seems to be so prevalent in the US that the "bubble colors" issue is even a thing. Here, almost everyone uses WhatsApp. Better for communication across different device types, probably worse for privacy. But at least no artificial discrimination because apple hates open standards Β―\(ツ)/Β―

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)

apple hates open standards

What about WhatsApp is open?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah it's weird. I mean I use Google Message (RCS) and it has visual differences for conversations that are using RCS vs ones using SMS but I honestly don't care about the color. I care more about using a modern cross platform standard than falling back to ancient SMS because Apple wants to use a proprietary locked down system at the expense of their user's experience. WhatsApp might not be bad but no one I know really uses it so I would have to start convincing people to switch. That's more than a uphill battle. It's completely futile. The only thing that will change the tide is Apple either opening up iMessage or Apple incorporating RCS into iMessage. I don't see either happening anytime soon because they simply don't care about interoperability.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In the US,I phone is a social status. They're judging you because it's like you don't own a car and just have a unicycle in their minds. What amazing marketing. I'm an Android pixel owner since the beginning and still am. There's some articles written about it too

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's strange as flagship Androids are just as expensive.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah Apple people are very clickie. If you don't have one you're a freak. Lol I'm fine being a freak. I never cared much about fitting in anyway. Fuck the Joneses!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Went back to android with the first pixel. After five different phones (microphones and speakers kept breaking) I went back to iPhone.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

You can save so much money and add so many customization options by switching to android.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Broader than a brand, but I think it fits here...

Everyone hates banks. Credit Unions are better in every possible way.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Oh c'mon... nothing holds a candle to Reddit. What other public forum can harrass, downplay, and degrade its contributors while 90% of them remain ignorant/uncaring of what is happening around them?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, but what decent alternative exists?!?

/s

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Amazon, sort of. It absolutely cannot be beat for convenience. Ordering something in 15 seconds, then having it shipped within 48 hours is unmatchable.

But if you plan ahead, and aren't an impulse buyer, you can find alternatives with better products and similar prices. Most stuff on Amazon is absolute junk with clickfarm reviews.

Ironically Reddit was really good for finding niche websites for whichever product you were looking for. Hopefully Lemmy will reach that point eventually.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It's a shit company with shit morals and shit practices, but I use it... If I have to. And usually that means I've checked locally, I've checked other big retailers, and if everyone fails me I'll reluctantly buy it on Amazon.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Would be interested in a community for general purchase recommendations (any product, no specific category). Having a thread site like this where actual humans who bought the product and don't work for the company can write honest reviews/recommendations is extremely valuable

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

AliExpress is the alternate for Amazon if you can wait a month to get your crap. All the products are exactly the same except Β£2 instead of Β£20.

I wouldn't buy any electronics from AliExpress though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Cheap electronics is all I buy from Ali exp.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

alternativeto.net is great for this

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

TurboTax. I used freetaxusa this year and I'm never going back.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I've used freetaxusa for almost 20 years now. I'm always surprised more people don't know about it (granted, from the name, it does sound like a total scam).

Wish we didn't have to file taxes at all though...we have the technology.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Google. Use Searxng for search, Firefox/Librewolf for browser, Newpipe for Youtube, Graphene instead of default Android, literally anything for calendar and notes, and FDroid for apps. Don't let Google's services destroy your privacy.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

Windows -> GNU/Linux

KDE/Gnome -> JWM

TV -> Reading books

Twitter -> Fediverse

Coke/Cola -> Tea/infusion

Amazon -> Local bookshop

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Amazon needs a bit more than bookshops to replace it. Need a whole shopping mall

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i'm an absolute cola addict and unfortunately nothing else scratches the same itch for me. i am a fan of iced tea though

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

People hate KDE? I'll check out JWM, but KDE is incredible.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They're using a window manager over a full DE, so it's likely the usual case of preferring minimalism to the very complete desktop environment (which many consider bloated). I'm a window manager person myself, but I've been giving KDE a good honest try for the past couple of weeks. It's definitely very nice if you want the full DE experience.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I went the WM route for a while. At a certain point, it was too much bother getting everything set up Just So. I wanted something that would work and had undergone thorough testing with minimal effort on my part. If I want to tinker with something, I want it to be more interesting than a WM config file.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Coke/Cola -> Tea/infusion

Wut

Nah but seriously, they're not interchangeable. A Coke replacement would be another cola.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Frozen veggies over fresh. I'm so fucking sick pf buying veggies then having a ticking clock on them. Frozen gives me all the nutrients and I can leave them in the freezer for months and not lose anything.

For me it's the watties frozen stir fry mix. Cheap and has a good range. I do however pick out the pea pods because they suck.

There was a medditarrian mix that was amazing to cook in the air fryer but after buying 8 bags in a week they took it off special and it went from $4 to $8

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you clarify - do you mean hate because it's paid for marketing and there's much better products for a similar price,(sort of BIFL maybe?) or hate because the company is anti consumer somehow and there's a better company or free version?

Like for the first, Kitchen Aid stand mixers. Way overblown because marketing and resting on laurals from 50 years ago when they're not built like that anymore. Bosch Universal Plus is a much better spend if you want robustness imho.

For the second the obvious is Microsoft, and a community driven Linux as the alternative.

I could go on I suppose.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Was explaining that to a customer how things that used to be bad ass but now are shit but expensive as hell because they are using the name and the reputation from 50 years ago to sell the shit.

Like Maytag, and Whirlpool used to be the best brands to buy. Now they are crap won't last ten years.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ten years? You’d be lucky to make it 12 months out of warranty. Our Whirlpool dishwasher was the biggest pos I’ve ever used. Switched to Bosch and can’t be happier. Hard to tell it’s even on.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (5 children)

WhatsApp for me. I hate it but in my country all people use it.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Got sick of the SEO spam from Google so I switched to Kagi. It lets me block all the blogspam and Pinterest junk when I search.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

1.5 cents per search query. hmmm... not sure if i could switch my mind to be careful about searches.

I guess I would start using local calculator and dictionary more.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

With the $10 plan, it's 1 cent per a search for the first thousand, and maybe a thousand searches a month doesn't sound like a whole lot but supposedly the average user on Google does 3 to 4 searches a day (who knows what the actual source for that is). Thought in that case the $5 plan would be better.

Google doesn't seem to provide a dashboard which summarizes how many searches one has done personally over a period of time, though it does list them all on https://myactivity.google.com/product/search if you haven't opted out.

Most browsers also provide an easy way to switch between search engines, though personally I would suggest always using Kagi if you're going to spend the money, because some of the of value comes from generally having better results, in addition to being able to filter out SEO garbage for specific search topics (like programming queries).

Also, to be fair, Kagi is not perfect. Google's calculator and unit converter are better in my experience, for example. And I still use Google at work (software dev) because I refuse to use personal accounts on work devices, but even then I find myself using my phone sometimes to search Kagi when Google is not turning anything up.

However, I've watched Google's search quality drop for a long while now, and I like what Kagi is doing, so I support them.

P.S. If you're worried about unlimited spend, Kagi provides settings to cap pay-as-you-go costs.

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