From orange site: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43200604

More orange site: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43194257

As per the recent introduction of "Terms of Use" for Firef*x which is covered by (almost) copyleft license, Mozilla now imposes following non-sense on it's users.

• Mozilla now restricts users from watching or uploading sexuality explicit content through Firef*x

• Mozilla can end anyone's access to Firef*x at any time for any reason

• Mozilla owns royalty-free, unrestricted access to your inputs processed by Firef*x (like Search, Web History etc.)

• Mozilla will submit collected data to law enforcement as per legal request (I still don't get why it has to collect the data in the first place)

• Mozilla can change these ToS anytime and however they want

These are just a few bizarre conditions imposed by Mozilla. Even sadder part is we do not have alternatives right now except maybe LibreWolf and Tor Browser. Is there any actual piece of "user agent" software out there that works for user rather than corporate overlords?

ToS: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firef*x/

Anti-Privacy Policy: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firef*x/#bookmark-how-we-use-data

Acceptable Use Policy: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/acceptable-use/

More orangesite: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43194536

reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/firef*x/comments/1izcnl9/mozillas_new_terms_of_use_are_out_of_step_with

... rdrama: https://rdrama.net/h/slackernews/post/345893/mozzarella-has-a-new-tos-marseyfirefx

Didn't see this one before pinging 500 users . Well it's been developing. This is a good post I like that github link. Wait that's the top comment in the rdrama thread.

the way i fell to my knees when i found out this was an anti IRA Song https://t.co/qlXd3xmeu6

— hayat ✯ حياة (@hayxtt) February 23, 2025

!deathtomicks

!britbongs

!hibernians

pacifist position during a time of resistance is cowardice imo, we’re all anti-war. The question you should be asking yourself is are you anti-colonial?

— hayat ✯ حياة (@hayxtt) February 23, 2025

Really? I always thought she was pro IRA 😭😭😭😭

— daniela ortiz 🇵🇸 (@danillaortiz) February 23, 2025

She explicitly criticized IRA’s actions and ignored the historical context of the WAY worse things the British did to the Irish for literal centuries.

She said in an interview explicitly that the lyrics mean she’s not IRA, her family is not IRA. wtf are you talking about?

— temperedsass (@temperedsass) February 24, 2025

I know every girl I meet loves the song and the cranberries and it fricks me off so much 😂😂

— BASED Irish Republican (@BASEDIrishRebel) February 24, 2025

So… They were trying to go against freedom in Ireland since then

Disgusting

— Baden Steel (@BadenSteel) February 24, 2025

No, it’s not

It’s anti British colonialism

— JayGordon. ☭ (@jaygordoo) February 24, 2025

I thought it was anti British occupation but haven’t looked into it that much

— Taylor Anderson (@SomeCallMeCoach) February 24, 2025

Even without this meaning It’s a lame song ngl

— RoseMedia (@RoseMediaYT) February 23, 2025

Except it isn’t at all. You’re just lying and ballon he those she was speaking for. Google Bloody Sunday and read all day.

— 📿🏴Gunpowder&Vanilla🔫☘️ (@Autumn__Fox) February 24, 2025

Killing people is bad

— TomboyCEO (@Tomboy_CEO) February 24, 2025

Technically an anti-violence song but we all know that cultivating anti-violence movements during times of revolutionary upheaval and rebellion is a tried and true strategy of occupiers and oppressors to quell support for liberation forces in the modern era.

— Feels Like A Seal 🦭🛞💨 (@DazeOfWar) February 23, 2025

WHAT I THOUGHT IT WAS ANTI-COLONIST NOOOOO 😭😭

— (|-/) 🜏 2alem 𖤐.•﹒ﾟtøp 8/5 (@knfeprtyxx) February 24, 2025

wow, what a disappointment, lets remember someone actually beautiful now, Sinéad O'Connor pic.twitter.com/66hZJV0vLj

— cabbage head 🔻 (@_cabbage_head) February 23, 2025

aggghhh… I didn’t know that 😖

— Brenton 🇵🇸 (@seizethebanks) February 24, 2025

Yeah, it kinda blew my mind why everyone liked that song. It’s catchy. Until you realize which side they are on in the lyrics.

— Egalitarian (@forEgality) February 23, 2025

>communists when you think blowing up 3 year old children is a bad thing actually

minister is cute !coomers

!asians in shambles

SINGAPORE: Singapore will consider caning scammers in certain cases, in recognition of the serious harm they cause, Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling said on Tuesday (Mar 4).

She was responding to a suggestion from MP Tan Wu Meng (PAP-Jurong) in her speech laying out the Ministry of Home Affairs' (MHA) spending plans for the year ahead.

Dr Tan had earlier called for mandatory caning for scammers in egregious cases.

"We must send a clear message to scammers, the syndicates and those who abet them: If you mess with our people, make off with the life savings of Singaporeans, scam Singaporeans, we must do everything in our power to teach the scammers a lesson they won't forget," he said.

Ms Sun agreed with the need for stiff and deterrent sentences against those who facilitate scams.

After the recent introduction of new guidelines by a sentencing advisory panel, jail terms have generally been imposed for offences which facilitate scams, going as high as 19 months in one case, she noted.

GOING HARDER ON MONEY MULES

Ms Sun also announced that efforts to better detect money mule activity will be ramped up this year.

"We have been clamping down on them, because they are the main way overseas scammers launder their ill-gotten gains and transfer it out of Singapore," she said.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) will share more information with banks on known mule accounts, to improve their fraud analytics and enable them to uncover other mule accounts, she said.

"We will also work with the industry to implement cooling-off measures for certain activities which are tell-tale signs of money mule activity," she said.

Ms Sun warned that anyone seeking an easy profit by passing on their SIM cards or bank accounts to strangers, while "turning a blind eye" to what they are used for, would be breaching the law.

"Let me be clear. This is a crime and there is an imprisonment term for passing on your SIM cards or bank accounts to facilitate scams. Claiming ignorance does not get you off the hook," said Ms Sun.

Over 8,000 money mules and scammers were investigated last year, from 25 islandwide anti-scam enforcement operations by the SPF, said Ms Sun.

Of them, over 660 have been charged in court and will be jailed if found guilty, she said.

In one concluded case, a money mule had received RM1,000 (US$224) for sharing access to his internet banking account, without taking "reasonable steps to ascertain the purpose of this arrangement", said Ms Sun.

The bank account was later used to launder more than S$160,000 (US$118,989) of criminal proceeds.

"The money mule was convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment," said Ms Sun.

In her speech, Ms Sun reiterated that scams were a huge concern globally, and a scourge Singapore has been fighting for several years.

Despite efforts such as making banking apps malware-resistant and blocking calls from known scam numbers, the total amount lost to scams still hit a new high of S$1.1 billion last year, she said.

This was a 70 per cent increase from the year before, noted Ms Sun.

"Many people are rightfully very concerned about this, and so is the government. We must and we will redouble our efforts in this fight against scams," she said.

I did the original modifications on it when he got it as a birthday present and now the little guy comes to me whenever he wants upgrades.

Jasmine Crock-o-Shit beclowns herself by calling it the State of the Union.

It’s a speech to a joint session of Congress.

The “Congresswoman” can’t even get her Congressional facts straight. https://t.co/IcRfcNpjiO

— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) March 5, 2025

He's been with Trump since 2016 campaign. Is he where the nick names come from

The latest ERB video is 3:17 long. Minus intro, credits, and Civ 6th Ad it's only 1:40 long.

Snippets of /r/ERB's latest discussion thread about the episode

What's your honest opinion on Napoleon vs. Charlemagne?

What the frick was that Harlem Shake reference?

I was fine with the Harambe line in Zilla vs Kong but...

fr, theyre lagging 10+ years behind in references

I will say, "People still place my name next to God, Charlemagne" was pretty fire. Other than that..... idk it just felt so bland. It was short and nothing hit hard.

Sometimes they said stuff so plainly that it confused me. Like okay Charlemagne did create a "font" but him just saying that bewilders you. The same thing happens with Napoleon saying that years have four numbers but that line is a bit better

i can't even remember a single line from the battle

I can pretty much recite Napoleon vs Napoleon line by line (or at the very least some of the best zingers) and that was literally years and years ago.

Saw this one last week… genuinely cannot even remember the closing lines. It wasn't that I hated it while I watched it, but it just didn't evoke a single reaction from me.

(Kong vs Godzilla I know by heart now tho)

when the history rap show uses actual historical figures:

when they use japan slop affirming hyperfixation:

A little underwhelming for me personally but I also don't know the combatants that well

It's fine ig? People are right that there's too much "verbosely explain the context of the diss before saying the diss", and the flow is weird ("Holyromanempire? established it") but some lines were funny and I like Charlemagne's first verse

I think someone in the FRB Groomercord elucidated it well; ERB is still primarily about comedy, and if you want a battle that's very technical and takes itself seriously you'll usually turn to fanmade battles. So when they do a serious military pomp-and-circumstance battle (and the first joke is a reference that's, what, 10 years out of date?), it feels sort of toothless

>erb groomercord

This next one is my favorite post of the thread. Pure unbridled autism folx.

ERB used to be fearless. They used to tear into the biggest names in history and pop culture with no mercy. They weren't afraid to take shots, to push boundaries, to make battles that actually had bite. They went after corporate machines, they went after politicians, they went after icons—and they did it with bars that actually burned. Now? They're nothing but sellouts.

Napoleon vs. Charlemagne was clean, safe, and soulless—engineered not for impact, but for sponsorship money. No real edge, no real fire, just a dull, sanitized product meant to keep advertisers happy. This wasn't made for the fans, it was made for the brand deals. The writing was soft, the beat was rushed garbage, and the performances were lifeless. It didn't feel like a rap battle—it felt like watching two actors read lines from a script they didn't believe in.

This isn't the same ERB that went toe-to-toe with corporations and spit bars that left people speechless. This is ERB: The Business, a company that prioritizes ad revenue over creativity. They don't make battles anymore—they make content. Forgettable, disposable, corporate-approved content. And the worst part? People still defend this, acting like ERB is untouchable when it's clear they stopped caring a long time ago.

Nobody will remember this battle in a week. Heck, nobody remembers their last five. And if this is all they've got left, they should just admit they're done instead of stringing us along with these weak, sponsor-friendly excuses for battles.

This video failed pretty hard, barely broke 1 million then it flatlined. They need to either quit beating this dead horse or show us they still have that grit and determination they used to have. I'm done with the games, come on ERB, STEP UP!!!

When was ERB ever this daring counter culture critique of the establishment like this guy has deluded himself into believing it is. Toe to toe with corporations? They were funded by Disney for YEARS. How anti-establishment was Lady Gaga vs. Sarah Palin or TMNT vs Artists? Was "both of these political candidates are bad (until it's against drumpf than hillary joe kamal MUST WIN!)" really that daring of a position? They're stupid rap comedy videos for nerds and geeks and if they actually are guiding you politically you're an r-slur. Simple as.

This has 8,000 updoots and has been put as FED ONLY with 450 replies, send this too all your fricking non fed FRIENDS and RELATIVES so they can help, somehow

"I read online that some people are wondering why Federal employees are making such a fuss over being asked to list 5 things they did last week. After all, it isnt difficult to type up a response and send it, right? It truly isn't. I've been trying to come up with a way non civil servants will understand the problem, so I've created this analogy.

Let's say you are a delivery driver (FedEx, UPS, Amazon, etc). From Monday to Friday, 8-5 you drive around, delivering packages. Your company tracks your truck via satellite, your deliveries via various IT programs, and they know what you are doing because they plan your route, tell you where to drive, and check your truck at the end of the day to confirm you delivered all your packages.

Now let's say after a long week of work, you are relaxing at home with your family on a Saturday night, getting ready for bed, and you get a random email at 11pm from your state's dept of labor. The email comes from [email protected] and is automatically flagged by your company's email as coming from outside your organization. The email says that within 48 hrs, you have to send them a list of 5 places you drove over the past week. Keep in mind, this didnt come from your supervisor, or the leader of your individual company, but from an organization that has nothing to do with the packages you deliver or even package delivery services in general. The email has a generic return email and no signature block identifying who actually sent the email. Your boss didn't know you were going to be asked for this information, your boss's boss didn't know, even the leader of your company didn't know about the email. And let's not forget that the Dept of Labor has no real need to know where you drove this week.

Your decide to look online and see if anyone else got the email, and end up following a link to the personal social media page of someone that works at the Dept of Labor. From this personal social media page, you learn that the email was sent to every delivery driver in the country and that if you don't respond by the deadline, you will be fired.

You don't go back to work until Monday, so you spend the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday wondering why you are receiving this email and being asked where you drove, and why you are being threatened with being fired of you dont respond to a random email that came from outside your chain of command. You worry that if you don't describe your drive/route in enough detail, you will be fired. You worry that your supervisor only gave you 10 packages to deliver one day, when another route delivered 30, so maybe you will be fired because you were given fewer packages to deliver and there can't describe an impressive route as part of your 5 bullet points of driving.

When you return to work on Monday, the deadline looming over your head, your boss tells you not to respond to the email. And hour later, your boss's boss tells you that you MUST respond. And then just before quitting time, the leader of your company sends you an email that you are NOT to respond.

Meanwhile, you know full well that all of your deliveries were appropriately tracked to confirm delivery, and your entire route along (with every stop) can be verified by reviewing the GPS records on your delievry truck.

This is why the 5 bullet email is concerning to federal employees."

https://old.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1j1fhd6/5_bullet_impact_explained_to_non_feds/mfjd0rv/?context=8

YOU HAVE BEEN CONDITIONED NOT TO REPLY

https://old.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1j1fhd6/5_bullet_impact_explained_to_non_feds/mfj8j8n/?context=8

"But I already send status emails" whined the future wal mart greeter

https://old.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1j1fhd6/5_bullet_impact_explained_to_non_feds/mfjc7dk/?context=8

"Doing fricking nothing involves a lot of status reports pal! It's hard work not doing any work!"

https://old.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1j1fhd6/5_bullet_impact_explained_to_non_feds/mfj8z91/?context=8

Wouldn't that make it easier to respond to?

https://old.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1j1fhd6/5_bullet_impact_explained_to_non_feds/mfk1ehy/?context=8

The president of the united states of america knowing what the government employees in the united states of america do on a weekly basis is in fact a SECURITY RISK

https://old.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1j1fhd6/5_bullet_impact_explained_to_non_feds/mfj9yl7/?context=8

"The executive asking for weekly updated is a VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER like the Pantera album"

Some claim that femcels can't exist because women can always get s*x/ dates. But why does the term femcel need to mean the exact same as incel? They are different words for a reason. If women had the exact same experience as male incels, we could just call ourselves incels.

It is true that getting s*x is easy as a woman, but quality/ good s*x is pretty hard. Ive had a couple of hookups and they were all terrible. At best it's not enjoyable at worse its somewhat traumatic. Feeling used by a guy you just met who doesn't care about you, isn't exactly a nice feeling.

I tried dating through apps as well. Never ended in a relationship. They just feel extremely forced, almost like an arranged marriage. I've been approach a few times by good looking guys ("chads"), but the problem is that I'm so socially awkward I always fumble it.

I would say that the experience of a femcel is quite different from that of a male incel. And I do feel for them esp when they're really short, but I don't see the harm in the term femcel or why they should mean the exact same thing as.

Edit

Some are saying I cant be a femcel because I had hookups. The cel in incel/ femcel stands for celibate, you don't have to be a virgin to be celibate. My last hookup was 4 years ago

🚨 BREAKING: U.S. NUCLEAR SUB FORCED TO TURN BACK AFTER FUEL SNUB

The USS Delaware (SSN-791), a Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine, found itself stranded off Norway’s coast after Haltbakk Bunkers (HB), one of the country’s largest marine fuel suppliers, refused to refuel… pic.twitter.com/ZVQxHWHo98

— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) March 1, 2025

do NOT look up what a nuclear sub is especially not a virginia class nuclear sub just accept this very real thing that very really happened and europe is back on top baby

SHIT IS GOING DOWN TURN ON YOUR TV

The irony is you know it'll trigger the MAGATS. They do the trolling, not the other way around.

"Heh, this'll trigger the MAGATs" jerks off to gay porn

/u/Neren1138

https://old.reddit.com/r/HolUp/comments/185cycf/being_yellow_doesnt_matter/

https://old.reddit.com/user/DVDN27/?sort=controversial This neighbors r-slurred

https://old.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/1j1yq86/_/

https://old.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/1j20pzx/bbburned/

https://old.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/1j28xk2/dot/

https://old.reddit.com/r/BiMenGoneWild/comments/1ivkh0y/27_second_time_posting_hope_everyone_is_doing/

https://old.reddit.com/r/BreadTube/comments/a6181k/comment/ebwcwrm/?context=8

don't worry I'm gonna cut this shit down

my (F28) wife's (F25) sister (my sister-in-law) is trans (22)

"Lesbian" and a in one family, what are the odds

I walk upstairs and I noticed the door to the master bedroom. I open it and see my sister-in-law standing in my wife's closet trying on her lingerie.

22 year old man puts on his sister's underwear, very valid behaviour

I didn't say anything out loud because I am a pretty intimidating person

Ever since then, sister-in-law has been texting, apologizing, saying how she's been having a hard time passing and this was her "last resort option."

I had no other choice. I HAD to put my sister's lingerie on. Literally nothing else could be done.

My problem now is, after I tell her what happened, what do we do?

indeed what a conundrum

A chud containment breach and delusionposting ensue

The porn addicted weirdo trying on his sister lingerie as a fetish is actually

when are chuds going to get a fricking software update

Why does it feel like all of these comments are grossed out bc the sister is trans... Like ... Would y'all be this disgusted if the sister wasn't trans and was messing around in her family's closet?

I feel like this is a "trans women bad!" Bait post with how people are responding.

Like I get being annoyed at overstepped boundaries but I feel like if you just looked at this with a little sense and compassion it's pretty easy to see what's happening and it really shouldn't be That Hard to just act like a decent person about the situation.

Just be a Decent Fricking Human Being and let your brother stroke himself off in your underwear chud

I'm honestly a little surprised by the strong reactions here. From what you said there was nothing sexual or predatory about this- it's a trans woman wanting to wear something that's extra feminine to feel good about herself.

I don't have a big enough for this

It's not mandatory to tell but if you care about the SIL, you could probably sit down with them and see where they are mentally and emotionally about all of this

Suddenly you owe men emotional labour

So my family dynamic must be vastly different. Because if I walked in on that, I'd have just said, "make sure you put in the wash when you're done, and ask next time you want to come in here." Like it's just clothes. Fabric.

I think that while this is bad, she may really feel in danger in lingerie stores having her sister go with her doesnt necessarily mean shes safe from judgment.

Yeah, make sure to wear your own sister's lingerie instead while she and her "wife" are in the house, you won't get any judgement that way

On the off chance this isn't completely made up by a transphobic troll, tell your wife.

I wouldn't want anyone sharing my underwear. But why is everyone describing this as "disgusting behaviour "? This is extreme rhetoric for this problem. No, this person isn't mentally ill either.

Perfectly normal behaviour

Tell her, but also remember that this young woman is going through a lot. Trying on a sisters underwear is a pretty normal thing.

as usual:

Lutnick promises that Trump will balance the budget, then says: "Think about this -- we got $4 trillion in entitlements! And no one has ever cut it ... everybody whose grandfather died and is still getting Social Security? Give me a break." pic.twitter.com/A3VyhYtLcQ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 4, 2025

Everything below is solely my opinion and totally not meant to be taken as fact. Go away feds.

Let's talk about life, wodie. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that people do not care about you. People will exploit you for all you're worth and then kick you to the curb, all while pretending they are your friend. The pursuit of money brings out the worst in people, and folks will throw away their morals and treat others horribly just to keep a job they hate and continue to put food on the table.

I don't bring this up arbitrarily. The reason why I discuss this matter is because I'd like to discuss a workplace where there are no morals. Workers are treated horribly, are disposed of without a second thought, and are paid far below minimum wage. The company I'm talking about is Valnet. If you're lucky, you've never heard of it, but Valnet is a monster that has been steadily growing and making the internet considerably worse, wodie. I'm not even joking. This is a company actively spreading misinformation, deteriorating the quality of the internet as a whole, and utilising slave labour for the sake of profit. Valnet is an intensely immoral business, and I'd like to illustrate why.

This won't be a massively long essay, wodie. My aim is simply to stick to the most important points and prove that you should never visit Valnet sites and, no matter how desperate you are, NEVER work for this evil corporation. And yes, I am directly calling out management because they are the ones who decide to treat humans like garbage and prioritise greed over being good people. Yes, this refers specifically to CEO Ouissam Youssef, a deeply selfish human being who runs a global sweatshop that is currently facing lawsuits. He is not my wodie. Youssef and his business are responsible for monumental amounts of heartache, tears, and broken dreams, and they have profited immensely from this.

Throughout the course of this essay, I will point out the company's insatiable desire to buy up as many reputable brands as possible and milk them for all their worth. I will point out Valnet's use of AI, and the systemic use of plagiarism that keeps this hellish business afloat. Everything I point out will be backed with evidence, wodie.

I'm about to speak up. Not because it is easy or because it will help me gain money. I am speaking out because it is the right thing to do. Valnet has been getting away with its wicked ways for too long, and someone needs to put a stop to it. I may not have the resources to take on a giant like Valnet through courtrooms, but I do have the power to speak out and say NO to evil businesses that put profits over people.

The essay will go as such:

1. What is Valnet?

2. Valnet's Enshittification of the Internet

3. Working for Valnet

4. Valnet the Bully

5. Conclusion

What is Valnet

To be clear, Valnet is powered by human suffering. It is a necessary element of the company's money-making strategy. Their entire business model is contingent on grossly underpaying writers and demanding unrealistic workloads. But how did this nefarious business become the monster it is today? That's what I seek to discover.

Valnet was founded in 2012 by Ouissam Youssef. He and his wodies were interested in acquiring acquisitive businesses and making a profit from them, and through their ventures, they learned a lot about the world of investing, and they also realised there was a lot of money to be made with geek culture websites. Here's an interview in which Youssef discusses business and his career. It's important that you watch this because it offers you some insight into Youssef's mind, wodie. Valnet isn't a company that cares about video games or pop culture, it doesn't care about workers or about the readers of the sites (in my opinion). Valnet is solely interested in generating profit by any means necessary. Valnet's aim is to buy businesses and wring them for everything they're worth with no regard for the human cost. And there is an extremely high human cost.

Geek culture has exploded in the last few decades and what was a niche community has grown into a global movement that generates billions. Geek hobbies like tech, gaming, and comic books have proven to be extremely profitable as businesses like Bethesda, Marvel, and Embracer are discovering. However, many of these new businesses hoping to profit off of geek culture do not care in the slightest about their product or about their customers. They simply exist to make the most money possible, regardless of the means. The result of this is that a very small number of people benefit while the rest of us have to deal with the negative consequences. Enough, it's time to shovel all that nonsense back into Valnet's face, wodie.

Over the years, Valnet has rapidly expanded thanks to its constant acquisition of new sites centred on tech, gaming, and pop culture. Some examples of sites Valnet has snatched up:

• Comic Book Resources

Comic Book Resources is a site that covers mainly geek topics such as comic books, films, television, games, and anime. The business was founded in 1995 and was snatched up by Valnet in 2016.

• Collider

Collider is yet another popular pop culture site, this time with a focus on film and television. It was founded in 2005 and it receives a significant amount of traffic daily. As of 2020, it is under the ownership of Valnet.

• MovieWeb

MovieWeb follows the same mould as Collider, offering news on the entertainment world. As of 2021, Valnet owns MovieWeb

• Screen Rant

You've probably heard of this site before. It is the acne of Google; impossible to get rid of. Screen Rant posts clickbait articles centred on gaming, anime, television, and film. It's sister site, Game Rant, is focused on gaming, wodie.

There are plenty more sites owned by Valnet, including:

• TheThings

• The G*mer

• Fextra Life

• Dualshockers

• Hardcore G*mer

• OpenCritic

• Hot Cars

• Top Speed

• Car Buzz

• Simple Flying

• The Travel

• Give Me Sport

• Football Fancast

• Football League World

• The Sportster

• TheRichest

• Backyard Boss

• Android Police

• XDA

• Pocket-Lint

• MakeUseOf

• How-To Geek

So what happens when Valnet buys a new site? Well, Valnet gets wealthier, and Youssef gets more money in his pocket. However, for literally anyone else involved with the site, life gets significantly worse. We'll discuss that more in the next few sections, wodie.

Valnet's Enshittification of the Internet

The internet never used to be the way it is today. Once upon a time, Google was quite trusted, and you could rely on it to return useful sites providing valuable information. That is not the case any longer. Pretty much all search engines are a pain to use, and they seldom return trustworthy information from credible sites. Instead, the sites that land up at the top of search terms are the ones that follow internet trends and stuff their site with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) keywords. The higher up sites land on Google's search engine, the more views a site gets, and the more ad revenue the owners receive.

You all know how it goes. You need information on a pop-culture-related topic, and spam from Valnet's sites dominates the front page. Want to look up something about your favorite game? Well, the entire front page of Google is just Game Rant, The G*mer, and Dualshockers. To add insult to injury, the information is often incorrect or features a misleading headline that tricks you into reading vapid clickbait pieces with no substance.

Consequently, sites that wish to make a profit play the SEO game and attempt to manipulate Google's search algorithms to increase their visibility. You'll notice that most Valnet sites follow a similar format, down to the font used and the layouts of the articles, wodie. This is because the format has been expertly designed to maximize SEO, often at the cost of good writing. You see, you have to realise something, wodie. Valnet isn't selling genuine articles. They're selling SEO magnets that are vaguely pop-culture-themed. The aim isn't to provide you with information, the aim is to get you to click on their links and bring them that sweet ad revenue.

You can see this enshittification by analysing your typical article from a Game Rant site. They all use the same format, so a critique of one site basically applies to all of them. Let's start with this article titled "Pokemon Fan Shows Off Ogerpon Cosplay".

https://g*merant.com/pokemon-ogerpon-cosplay/

First and foremost, this article represents perhaps one of the most annoying trends of modern day content creators. All they do is snatch up Reddit content and post it as their own. This is lazy and completely degrades the entire industry of games journ*lism. The whole field has been corrupted into mere clickbait and vapid content with 0 substance. This article in particular is just referring to a Reddit post that was made literally less than 24 hours before the Reddit article.

https://old.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/1iywwqh/ogerpon_cosplay/

So, assuming the article was actually written by a human, we have someone who is scouring Reddit for content and reposting it as blogspam in under 24 hours. This isn't even exclusive to the /r/pokemon subreddit. Game Rant does this for all the major games, including Red Dead Redemption, Starfield, Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, and more, wodie. The users of these subreddits are sick of it, as it's not just Game Rant that does this.

In an attempt to fool sites that simply gather their content from Reddit, some subreddits have set up fake posts with fake information to fool sites. This happened with WoW which reported on Glorb, something which real sites began posting on, which was quite hilarious. This trick was repeated in the No Man's Sky subreddit where they tricked publications into reporting on a fake hidden boss in the game. This goes to show that these sites are not interested in reporting factual information. Instead, they are solely focused on getting clicks and making ad revenue.

https://old.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/1ei75wx/how_to_unlock_the_new_secret_atlas_boss_fight_a/

We move down the article and we arrive at our next problem - the use of AI. Yes, I can 100% assure you that Valnet sites routinely use AI on their articles. When you see that "summary" section, know that it was generated using AI. It's built into their CMS (content management system, essentially where folks write their articles). So don't believe Valnet when they say they don't use AI. It's literally required that writers use AI.

We can also make a couple of educated guesses regarding the use of AI to write the body of the articles. I suspect that several Valnet writers routinely use AI to write their articles. My reasoning? Well, some writers are operating at non-human levels, producing 5-6 articles a day for weeks on end. This isn't realistic, and it suggests a strong likelihood that writers are using AI to help boost their output. I don't blame them. What is required of writers is ridiculous, and the expectations make it such that it is impossible to produce quality content while still keeping up with the quotas. I'll post a random writer for example. At one point they publish 11 ARTICLES IN ONE DAY. Even if they didn't use AI, there is literally no way to possibly produce good content at this rate, wodie.

https://g*merant.com/author/josh-cotts/

If you attempt to read the aforementioned Pokemon article, you'll notice that it doesn't say anything useful, and it is barely coherent. The whole thing exists as an excuse to stuff in as many keywords as possible, along with a slew of backlinks to other Game Rant articles to keep readers on the site. These tricks are implemented to trick Google's algorithm into boosting Game Rant's article to the top. Consequently, these substanceless articles get more exposure than meaningful, well-researched articles, leading to the continued enshittification of the internet.

Over the years, video game journ*lists have lost their reputations and have become quite loathed among g*mers. Honestly, it's often not the journ*lists that are the problem, wodie. They enter the industry with big dreams of reporting on an industry they have a genuine passion for. However, the demands of companies like Valnet forces these writers to become drones produce mindless content for the sake of selling ads. When you see shitty gaming articles, don't blame the writer. They're literally just trying to put food on the table. Lay the blame with the companies that force writers to fill the internet with nonsense.

Working for Valnet

As you can probably guess, working for Valnet is a geniunely horrible, soul-crushing experience. The company takes writers, wrings them for everything they're worth, then throws them to the curb. There are some genuinely hardworking writers at Valnet who are having their talents squandered by wasting them on a company that has them writing 20+ pieces of clickbait a week.

So, there are several reasons to despise Valnet's working conditions, wodie. Let's start with the pay. Valnet pays its workers peanuts. It is absolutely disgusting. The payment system has changed drastically over the years, and it differs between websites, but they all pay about the same terrible rate. As a senior writer, I was earning $14.50 for a 600-word article in 2023. Bear in mind, writing a single article requires research, writing, gathering images for the articles, and sticking to a very strict format that requires you to completely butcher your writing to adhere to SEO regulations. Consequently, a single article can take you a whole afternoon, and that's if you're rushing and genuinely don't care about accuracy or quality. After all that, it's highly likely your article will still come back for edits from the editors who treat you as though you're actually being paid a fair wage to care about it.

So, let's say an article takes you 6 hours. That's about $2.42 an hour, with no benefits. To put that into context, in the USA the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Anyone paying workers $2.42 is being GROSSLY IMMORAL. Yes, I'm referring specifically to the CEO of Valnet, Ouissam Youssef. The business he runs is evil and exploits human beings for the sake of generating profit. Ouissam, what you're doing is deeply wrong, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Valnet is also very keen to fire writers whenever they believe it'll save them money. Take CBR for example. When the site was acquired by Valnet, they fired a lot of key workers as they turned the site into a content mill. Consequently, lots of writers on the site left in protest. Even the social media manager sabotaged the company, sick of their immoral ways.

For any Valnet workers who may be reading this - leave the company right now. Trust me, nothing good will come from continuing to support this shitty company. No, this won't be a stepping stone to a better career. Nobody takes Valnet sites seriously and if anything they will be a blight on your CV, wodie. Everyone on the internet hates you and if you try to share your articles anywhere you will be met with hostility and hatred. Nobody is impressed with your below minimum wage job, and your time would be better spent as a literal McDonald's cashier where you would have better hours and earn more.

Valnet the Bully

All the things I've described so far are pretty bad, but perhaps the worst thing Valnet does is try to silence anyone who criticises them, wodie. With that said, I am taking a significant risk writing this, and I considered posting this on Reddit first but I decided to post here instead because quite frankly I am aware that Valnet is happy to swing its weight around and use the law to try and silence anyone who says anything bad about them.

The YouTuber FireB0rn made a video criticising Valnet. The video was accurate and featured interviews from previous Valnet employees. In response, Valnet sent out copyright strikes against the YouTuber, resulting in the videos being taken down. This isn't the first time the company has done this. They also bullied Jenny Geist who dared to speak up against Valnet, sending her a physical cease and desist to her address. Twitter user Josh Tyler also tried to speak out against Valnet, and was hit with a cease and desist. Josh is not taking it lying down, fortunately.

Here's the full response, along with the original cease and desist letter issued by Valnet, at the link below. https://t.co/NIvg968IcL

— Josh Tyler (@joshtyler) December 4, 2024

There is a silver lining, and that's the fact that people are fighting back, wodie. Currently, Valnet is dealing with a big lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that the company misclassified content creators as contract workers. I hope Valnet loses this lawsuit hard and has to pay all those workers. Some writers have reported that they have received emails from Valnet offering them $100 to not pursue legal action. LOL I hope they lose tons of money. They deserve it to the fullest, wodie.

https://www.classaction.org/news/valnet-misclassified-content-creators-as-independent-contractors-class-action-claims

Conclusion

Wodie, why does it seem like the workplaces that pay the least, treat you the worst? Valnet is a horrible company that represents everything wrong with late-stage capitalism. Such a business is made possible by greed and a disregard for humanity. Think about how many people have slaved away out of desperation only to earn pennies for their work. How many writers suddenly found themselves without a job, not because of their terrible writing, but because Valnet management got a little too greedy.

When I spend a lot of time in isolation, weird things happen, wodie. I learned this trick where you close your eyes and, I guess, open yourself up to your thoughts but suppress all instincts to judge. If you do this, you'll detatch things and events from their imbued meaning and see things for what they truly are. Once I thought about jeans and I could just experience them without thinking of them as "pants" or "things to put on your legs". I hope I'm making sense. If you do this with other things in your life, it can help you to contextualise things which is useful if you've been obsessed with something and need to lower the intensity of the emotions you feel towards it.

Alright, wodie. That's all I got for today. In short, gaming journ*lism is dead and Valnet delivered the killer blow.

Böögöö girl

— doodlelotl (@doodlelotl.bsky.social) 2025-03-03T22:01:21.494Z

Redditors are even worse than chuds. Chuds can occasionally be funny. It's evidence of harm is posting that they cancelled a flight with a Canadian airline.

The Canadians can't even protest like humans. Protestors just totally fricked up VP Mountain Dew's vacation to Vermont. Had to cancel his planned ski trip because pro-ukie protestors fricked his shit up.

Why are Canadians so pathetic at everything they try?

https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/1j1u5r2/disneys_captain_america_brave_new_world_grossed/

https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/1j1tz4y/captain_america_brave_new_world_at_15m_47_leads/

They also argue about sonic 3:

https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/1j1uspp/paramounts_sonic_3_juiced_up_another_15m_overseas/

https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/1i6sj9a/sonic_4_sets_march_2027_release_date_march_19th/

Today on my train ride to work, I realized that ultimately we are simply doomed, and nothing matters. To go from a hopeful Catholic nerd to this state of mind was a long progression but I realized today that there really isn't much that I care about. We live, struggle and die.

Doom pilled and doom maxing, I wish you all well - go and die in the way that seems best to you. ☠️ 💀 ☠️