I figured they meant that as well. I’m just saying their rules may not be as hard and fast as they seem to be presenting them.

Just concepts of a plan.

Agreed. Getting something second-hand is almost always better.

While I completely appreciate your perspective, I do have to ask: what with how interconnected, not to mention fucked up, the world is today, wouldn’t pretty much everything violate at least two or three of those rules?

IIRC Temu makes its business from super cheaply priced items.

Super cheaply priced generally means either super cheap quality or some really iffy labor rights violations* in third-world countries (I know that term isn’t the term to use nowadays since it’s a cold war relic but I can’t think of a better term—lemme know if you know of one), usually both.

*Up to and including slave labor. (Yay capitalism!)

I wonder how these people sleep at night

With stacks of hundreds under the pillow.

May the gigabits be plentiful and lag-free this year! Amen!

A bit better-quality version, found via TinEye. :3

Well, the bottoms of cleets are friction-inducing surfaces, but unless you pour a LOT of soda onto them, they ain’t gonna be sticky.

It’s as simple as that.

Fair enough. We all have our preferences. :)

Oh yay. :)

Okay then.

“QB”?

ProtonVPN also has port-forwarding.

That being said, last time I tried it, their Linux GUI was abysmal, though I hear they recently did a revamp. I haven’t used it yet though so I can’t speak on it beyond that.

Just something to keep mind.

Edit: Syntax.

My reasons for pirating varies by the context, however. Sometimes, I’m pirating something for morals & freedom, while other times it is because I would rather pay money for it but the only option is a DRMed one (and yes Steam is a form of DRM if it requires Steam to play), whilst other times I just pirate it because I don’t wanna pay for it.

So, yes, depending on the context, someone can be a pirate for reasons other than “pirate”.

Bottom-line is that while I agree with you that people shouldn’t kid themselves if they’re just being a pirate for pirating’s sake, I think you also shouldn’t ridicule others who are pirating for less-selfish motivations, at least during instances when that is their sole, or at least primary, motivation.

Tl;dr – Shit’s complex yo.

Well, if you’re typing on a computer as opposed to a phone, for instance, it’s typically a lot easier to type out an emoticon as opposed to an emoji. Therefore, emoticons would likely be objectively better.

Likewise, if you’re typing on a smartphone, most people have an emoji drawer they can pop open in a jiffy and choose what they want.

Then again, even in both of these situations, it also depends on what crowd you’re in: some people honestly just prefer emoticons because it’s what they grew up with, like me; others prefer emoji, for varying reasons.

Most instances where one is objectively better suited than the other are based on subjective criteria.

Lol, I like that. xD

They are not objectively better or worse overall, though one or the other may be objectively better in individual contexts.

Individual people may prefer one over the other, though. I am one of them.