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eliias-bouchard · 1 year

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[18/12 version; check notes to see if theres an updated version]

quick summary:

- newt schottelkotte posts an article about RQ mismanagement & exploitation (https://medium.com/@newtschott/whos-afraid-of-alex-j-newall-ae3a67f3a5e1)

- the first version of the article didn't note that newt is a marketing director at fable and folly, another podcasting network; this has now been edited in

- they cite approximately three sources in total, mostly coming back to unverifiable anonymous RQ affiliates (ex employees, people who were offered a position, etc). the other two sources are a tweet from RQ specifically about the official discord, and a line in the beginning stating that "The information presented in this article is not only taken from interviews with my sources, but publicly available data that I was able to find and access.". there is no further clarification of what data, where it came from, etc, and the only time a source is linked or references is the aforementioned tweet from RQ.

ETA: this is false! there are multiple sources on multiple different things.

- (https://rustyquill.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Operations-Update-2020-PUBLIC-RELEASE-1.pdf) this RQ operations update was used to source two quotes on RQ's payment structure. it's worth noting that the payments listed in the article are all above both the uk minimum wage and (with the exclusion of the £11 figure) the national living wage (https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates, https://www.livingwage.org.uk/calculation)

- (https://twitter.com/TheRustyQuill/status/1438175815615791111?s=20&t=m1Z2vI0Fmpvq3gVt72gIvQ) this rq tweet was used to source a screenshot from rq's statement about the discord.

- (https://twitter.com/TheRustyQuill/status/1408001969218859008?s=20&t=ngBXzvyzl4PJY9XpOL7DjA) this rq thread was used to source a screenshot from rq about the transcripts.

- there is a relevant link to the unofficial fan transcripts, although i personally wouldn't necessarily call this a source.

- (https://medium.com/acast/how-to-go-from-0-to-millions-growth-strategies-for-fiction-podcasters-fde8d6dc0cb5) this callum dougherty interview was used to source a quote from callum dougherty about TMA's success.

- the interview is misquoted. newt's article quotes:

"Believe it or not, Magnus was something of a hit right out the gate. Comparative to I guess what would be considered a popular audio-drama podcast now. It found an audience quite quickly… To borrow a phrase from Alex Newall [Rusty Quill CEO and founder], I’d also mention that nothing at Rusty Quill — despite what it might seem — has ever happened by accident. And the factor that I would consider — and this may be my own ego — is the show began to grow really dramatically because this was the point that I came in."

- this misses out a relevant paragraph, reading

"Though what I would certainly say is that it was in 2019 that the show began to grow, and it went on what I would describe as a 10-month journey from being considered a very popular podcast, to the most popular fiction podcast in the world. That was a line of growth that looked pretty much like a straight line upwards, where we were finding month-on-month listenership doubling at a point. Every single month you could see it — there were hundreds of thousands, now there was a million this month, and it would go in that direction." (emphasis my own)

- newt's article goes on to state

"As someone who engaged in the fandom side of audio drama for a long time, including the period of Magnus’ rise to popularity to its finale, I remember things quite differently. TMA wasn’t nearly the smash hit Dougherty describes until about 2019, when the season four finale saw the consummation of Jon and Martin’s slow-burn enemies-to-lovers storyline. Until that point, I had never heard of TMA." (emphasis my own).

- it's also worth noting that newt's article didn't include the typical ellipses in square brackets to indicate missing text from a quote - it simply has an ellipses, which makes it seem that dougherty trailed off and then continued.

- at the end of the article, there are multiple links to social media accounts of people who may provide a list of laid off employees, intended for those looking to hire ex-RQ employees

- the rest of the claims made are either unsourced or from newt's anonymous sources.

- RUSTY QUILL HAVE RESPONDED: https://rustyquill.com/2022/12/13/public-response-to-an-opinion-piece/

- FABLE AND FOLLY HAVE ALSO RESPONDED: https://fableandfolly.com/2022/12/15/our-statement-on-the-article/

- rq has posted crew testimonials: https://rustyquill.com/crew-testimonials/

- tal, one of the editors, not affiliated w/ f&f, says this isn't a marketing thing, was run past two editors and multiple lawyers

- there's some truth in the article, mostly a lot of plausible but unverifiable things, and some plain misinformation / bad faith readings [i.e; article states that "there’s a very good chance that the list on Kickstarter of stretch goal guest writers may be the totality of the people in the audio fiction indie world that have still not had an experience with Rusty Quill." this is provably false; many of the guest writers have RQ podcasts or have interacted with RQ before, although it may be intended to mean bad experiences rather than simply an experience]

- ben meredith retweeted the article w/o comment; not sure what he's agreeing with. he also liked a tweet reading "Alright, read the thing. I’m terribly sorry for everyone who has been dealt with so badly by Rusty Quill - and I can only imagine the distress that must have incited this action. I hope these concerns are taken seriously, and that these issues are resolved swiftly.“ (https://twitter.com/GejWatts/status/1602420853630697475)

- ben meredith has now un-retweeted the article, although he hasn’t unliked the tweet about it

- malevolent podcast's official twitter posted

"I don't know much but I will say that if you decide to stop listening to my show; a show I work so very hard on, because of an article that presumptively and poorly attempts to speak for me, then I think you're hurting the thing you intend to be helping." (https://twitter.com/MalevolentCast/status/1602441871992782849?s=20&t=Z_86aECzgsdU9OgtfoiU6g)

- "harlan guthrie [creator of malevolent], quoted above, spoke on the topic in his discord server, invictus. i'm nor comfortable posting screencaps of his words, which were not intended as a public statement, without permission, but the highlights include: "The timing, authorship, and intent of this article doesn't sit well with me." "Overall, this isn't a watergate, neither is it an expose of a dangerous company, it's akin to a glassdoor report with half truths. My experience with RQ has been absolutely fine across the board." "The contract is in no way misleading nor manipulative the way the article would make it seem (no moreso than any other contract)"" (via orchidbreezefc on tumblr; i am not personally in this discord)

- malevolent podcast’s tumblr also posted this:

https://www.tumblr.com/malevolentcast/703493906802868224/you-probably-already-know-about-this-but-an

- the creator(? correct if wrong) of The Town Whispers and Tiny Terrors tweeted:

"What do I say here? I work day and night on @/TheTownWhispers & @/tinyterrorspod. I personally create, fund, produce, and direct my shows. What a shame to see someone speak on behalf of what I and others have built for years at our own expense dominate the conversation. No one reached out to me about "the article" ahead of time, no one asked me if I consented to be spoken for, I don't appreciate people victimizing me & weaponizing it for personal gain, & I don't appreciate that it's being passed off as a benevolent act of courage on my behalf." (https://twitter.com/ColeWeev/status/1602447361045065728?s=20&t=aAf1T5fen0FzXuAAllevLA)

- woe.begone's official twitter tweeted: "The only thing I want to say about The Article is that I am concerned that readers will believe things about my show and my relationship to my network that have not been my experience. I think this is what others mean when they describe feeling "spoken for."" (https://twitter.com/woebegonepod/status/1602453798332538881)

- the cellar letters twitter tweeted: "About the article: I am not going to attempt to invalidate anyone's thoughts or feelings... but I will say that it absolutely does not speak for me or align with my relationship and experiences with the network or anyone involved at the company. Love you all. Go create stuff." (https://twitter.com/CellarLetters/status/1602457106271330304)

- multiple people have reportedly been blocked by newt on twitter for criticising the article, or asking questions about it. (https://twitter.com/ReassessHistory/status/1602425447098228737?s=20&t=IQ9wZJuHgqX2mgfDvTizqA, https://twitter.com/ReassessHistory/status/1602455204557127681?s=20&t=j22xMz0Hxw0yvW6Oz7B8SQ)

- alexander j newall has given a statement to podnews! it reads;

"Redundancies can be a highly emotional topic but this opinion blog is full of provable factual inaccuracies and its writers include individuals that hold senior positions at competitor companies that stand to monetarily gain from a reputational attack. We were approached for comment under false pretences and were not given a copy of this piece by the author. Numerous cast, crew and contractors have notified us directly in solidary about similarly misleading approaches made to them for this blog.

Rusty Quill has already internally released its 2023 Operations Update which included factual information on these topics along with information on out 93% RQ Network creator retention rate and our independent Employee Satisfaction Survey which scored an exceptional minimum of 4.3 out of 5 in all areas. This Operations update is due for public release in the new year."

(https://podnews.net/update/audio-drama-company-drama)

- audio editor michelle snow made a thread about this: https://twitter.com/MeeshSnowDoes/status/1602717570729132035?s=20&t=mMfAO5TjNFBNWQ_aMfhsHw

- in the (unofficial) “Rusty Quill PLEBS” discord, the creator of the storage papers said “The RQN stuff - I'll just say it's not entirely accurate or, at least, it's not the full picture which means it's painted in an unnecessarily bad light. I can't comment on the RQO stuff because I'm as much in the dark about that as anyone. But, as others on RQN have said, there's at least some of that that hasn't been my experience (and, for the record, I myself am not legally obligated to not say negative things about RQ).”

- annie (an RQ editor) retweeted this (https://twitter.com/serhawke/status/1602375132579827713?s=20&t=Q3iAjLLwsdIqYShTKinvHw)

- this thread also has a useful tweet further up on how to assess the utility of a source:

"PURPOSE - what was it meant to achieve? ACCURACY - can the facts be proven or disproven? CONTENT - what does it actually tell you? LIMITATIONS - what is it NOT telling you? Why? AUTHOR - biased? DATE - was its publication date "convenient" for any reason? Firsthand or hearsay?"

[this method is from their partial study of history in uni]

edits: added crew testimonials, updated tl;dr

tldr: newt (marketing director at a different podcast network) posted an article making serious allegations of mistreatment & worker exploitation towards RQ. the article has some plain misinformation, some truth, and mainly unverifiable info from anonymous sources

multiple rq creators stated they weren’t asked about this, and that their experiences w/ rq aren’t accurate to the article and/or that it doesnt speak for them. all of the crew testimonials from rq’s post are positive.

rq have responded, saying that the allegations made in the article are false. fable & folly have responded, saying that newt made + posted the article of their own accord. i think newt’s working on a followup article, which i’ll add here when it’s released

#rusty quill

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mostlysignssomeportents · 7 months

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Intuit: “Our fraud fights racism”

Tonight (September 27), I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine. On October 2, I'll be in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab.

Today's key concept is "predatory inclusion": "a process wherein lenders and financial actors offer needed services to Black households but on exploitative terms that limit or eliminate their long-term benefits":

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2329496516686620

Perhaps you recall predatory inclusion from the Great Financial Crisis, when predatory subprime mortgages with deceptive teaser rates were foisted on Black homeowners (who were eligible for better mortgages), resulting in a wave of Black home theft in the foreclosure crisis:

https://prospect.org/justice/staggering-loss-black-wealth-due-subprime-scandal-continues-unabated/

Before these loans blew up, they were styled as a means of creating Black intergenerational wealth through housing speculation. They turned out to be a way to suck up Black families' savings before rendering them homeless and forcing them into houses owned by the Wall Street slumlords who bought all the housing stock the Great Financial Crisis put on the market:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/08/wall-street-landlords/#the-new-slumlords

That was just an update on an old con: the "home sale contract," invented by loan-sharks who capitalized on redlining to rip off Black families. Back when banks and the US government colluded to deny mortgages to Black households, sleazy lenders created the "contract loan," which worked like a mortgage, but if you were late on a single payment, the lender could seize and sell your home and not pay you a dime – even if the house was 99% paid for:

https://socialequity.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Plunder-of-Black-Wealth-in-Chicago.pdf

Usurers and con-artists love to style themselves as anti-racists, seeking to "close the racial wealth gap." The payday lending industry – whose triple-digit interest rates trap poor people in revolving debt that they can never pay off – styles itself as a force for racial justice:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/29/planned-obsolescence/#academic-fraud

Payday lenders prey on poor people, and in America, "poor" is often a euphemism for "Black." Payday lenders disproportionately harm Black families:

https://ung.edu/student-money-management-center/money-minute/racial-wealth-gap-payday-loans.php

Payday lenders are just unlicensed banks, who deploy a layer of bullshit to claim that they don't have to play by the rules that bind the rest of the finance sector. This scam is so juicy that it spawned the fintech industry, in which a bunch of unregulated banks sprung up to claim that they were too "innovative" to be regulated:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/01/usury/#tech-exceptionalism

When you hear "Fintech," think "unlicensed bank." Fintech turned predatory inclusion into a booming business, recruiting Black spokespeople to claim that being the sucker at the table in the cryptocurrency casino was actually a form of racial justice:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/business/media/cryptocurrency-seeks-the-spotlight-with-spike-lees-help.html

But not all predatory inclusion is financial. Take Facebook Basics, Meta's "poor internet for poor people" program. Facebook partnered with telcos in the Global South to rig their internet access. These "zero rating" programs charged subscribers by the byte to reach any service except Facebook and its partners. Facebook claimed that this would "bridge the digital divide," by corralling "the next billion internet users" into using its services.

The fact that this would make "Facebook" synonymous with "the internet" was just an accidental, regrettable side-effect. Naturally, this was bullshit from top to bottom, and the countries where zero-rating was permitted ended up having more expensive wireless broadband than the countries that banned it:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/02/countries-zero-rating-have-more-expensive-wireless-broadband-countries-without-it

The predatory inclusion gambit is insultingly transparent, but that doesn't stop desperate scammers from trying it. The latest chancer is Intuit, who claim that the end of its decade-long, wildly profitable "free tax prep" scam is bad for Black people:

https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-intuit-black-taxpayers-irs-free-file-marketing

Some background. In nearly every rich country on Earth, the tax authorities send every taxpayer a pre-filled tax return, based on the information submitted by employers, banks, financial planners, etc. If that looks good to you, you just sign it and send it back. Otherwise, you can amend it, or just toss it in the trash and pay a tax-prep specialist to produce your own return.

But in America, taxpayers spend billions every year to send forms to the IRS that tell it things it already knows. To make this ripoff seem fair, the hyper-concentrated tax-prep industry, led by the Intuit, creators of Turbotax, pretended to create a program to provide free tax-prep to working people.

This program was called Free File, and it was a scam. The tax-prep cartel each took a different segment of Americans who were eligible for Freefile and then created an online house of mirrors that would trick those people into spending hours working on their tax-returns until they were hit with an error message falsely claiming they were ineligible for the free service and demanding hundreds of dollars to file their returns.

Intuit were world champions at this scam. They blocked their Freefile offering from search-engine crawlers and then bought ads that showed up when searchers typed "freefile" into the query box that led them to deceptively named programs that had "free" in their names but cost a fortune to use – more than you'd pay for a local CPA to file on your behalf.

The Attorneys General of nearly every US state and territory eventually sued Intuit over this, settling for $141m:

https://www.agturbotaxsettlement.com/Home/portalid/0

The FTC is still suing them over it:

https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings/192-3119-intuit-inc-matter-turbotax

We have to rely on state AGs and the FTC to bring Intuit to justice because every Intuit user clicks through an agreement in which we permanently surrender our right to sue the company, no matter how many laws it breaks. For corporate criminals, binding arbitration waivers are the gift that keeps on giving:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/24/uber-for-arbitration/#nibbled-to-death-by-ducks

Even as the scam was running out, Intuit spent millions lobby-blitzing Congress, desperate for action that would let it continue to privately tax the nation for filling in forms that – once again – told the IRS things it already knew. They really love the idea of paying taxes on paying your taxes:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/20/turbotaxed/#counter-intuit

But they failed. The IRS has taken Freefile in-house, will send you a pre-completed tax return if you want it. This should be the end of the line for Intuit and other tax-prep profiteers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/17/free-as-in-freefile/#tell-me-something-i-dont-know

Now we're at the end of the line for the scam, Intuit is playing the predatory inclusion card. They're conning Black newspapers like the Chicago Defender into running headlines like "IRS Free Tax Service Could Further Harm Blacks,"

https://defendernetwork.com/news/opinion/irs-free-tax-service-could-further-harm-blacks/

The only named source in that article? Intuit spokesperson Derrick Plummer. The article went out on the country's Black newswire Trice Edney, whose editor-in-chief did not respond to Propublica's Paul Kiel's questions.

Then Black Enterprise got in on the game, publishing "Critics Claim The IRS Free Tax Prep Service Could Hurt Black Americans." Once again, the only named source for the article was Plummer, who was "quoted at length." Black Enterprise declined to tell Kiel where that article came from:

https://www.blackenterprise.com/critics-claim-the-irs-free-tax-prep-service-could-hurt-black-americans/

For Intuit, placing op-eds is a tried-and-true tactic for laundering its ripoffs into respectability. Leaked internal Intuit memos detail the company's strategy of "pushing back through op-eds" to neutralize critics:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6483061-Intuit-TurboTax-2014-15-Encroachment-Strategy.html

Intuit spox Derrick Plummer did respond to Kiel's queries, denying that Intuit was paying for these op-eds, saying "with an idea as bad as the Direct File scheme we don’t have to pay anyone to talk about how terrible it is."

Meanwhile, ex-NAACP director (and No Labels co-chair) Benjamin Chavis has used his position atop the National Newspaper Publishers Association to publish op-eds against the IRS Direct File program, citing the Progressive Policy Institute, a pro-business thinktank that Intuit's internal documents describe as part of its "coalition":

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6483061-Intuit-TurboTax-2014-15-Encroachment-Strategy.html

Chavis's Chicago Tribune editorial claimed that Direct File could cause Black filers to miss out on tax-credits they are entitled to. This is a particularly ironic claim given Intuit's prominent role in sabotaging the Child Tax Credit, a program that lifted more Americans out of poverty than any other in history:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/29/three-times-is-enemy-action/#ctc

It's also an argument that can be found in Intuit's own anti-Direct File blog posts:

https://www.intuit.com/blog/innovative-thinking/taxpayer-empowerment/intuit-reinforces-its-commitment-to-fighting-for-taxpayers-rights/

The claim is that because the IRS disproportionately audits Black filers (this is true), they will screw them over in other ways. But Evelyn Smith, co-author of the study that documented the bias in auditing says this is bullshit:

https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/working-paper/measuring-and-mitigating-racial-disparities-tax-audits

That's because these audits of Black households are triggered by the IRS's focus on Earned Income Tax Credits, a needlessly complicated program available to low-income (and hence disproportionately Black) workers. The paperwork burden that the IRS heaps on EITC recipients means that their returns contain errors that trigger audits.

As Smith told Propublica, "With free, assisted filing, we might expect EITC claimants to make fewer mistakes and face less intense audit scrutiny, which could help reduce disparities in audit rates between Black and non-Black taxpayers."

Meanwhile, the predatory inclusion talking points continue to proliferate. Nevada accountants and the state's former controller somehow coincidentally managed to publish op-eds with nearly identical wording. Phillip Austin, vice-chair of Arizon's East Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, claims that free IRS tax prep "would disproportionately hurt the Hispanic community." Austin declined to tell Propublica how he came to that conclusion.

Right-wing think-tanks are pumping out a torrent of anti-Direct File disinfo. This surely has nothing to do with the fact that, for example, Center Forward has HR Block's chief lobbyist on its board:

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/4125481-direct-e-file-wont-make-filing-taxes-any-easier-but-it-could-make-things-worse/

The whole thing reeks of bullshit and desperation. That doesn't mean that it won't succeed in killing Direct File. If there's one thing America loves, it's letting businesses charge us a tax just for dealing with our own government, from paying our taxes to camping in our national parks:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/30/military-industrial-park-service/#booz-allen

Interestingly, there's a MAGA version of predatory inclusion, in which corporations convince low-information right-wingers that efforts to protect them from ripoffs are "woke." These campaigns are, incredibly, even stupider than the predatory inclusion tale.

For example, there's a well-coordianted campaign to block the junk fees that the credit card cartel extracts from merchants, who then pass those charges onto us. This campaign claims that killing junk fees is woke:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#swiper-no-swiping

How does that work? Here's the logic: Target sells Pride merch. That makes them woke. Target processes a lot of credit-card transactions, so anything that reduces card-processing fees will help Target. Therefore, paying junk fees is a way to own the libs.

No, seriously.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/27/predatory-inclusion/#equal-opportunity-scammers

#pluralistic

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professionallydeadinside · 1 year

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May we please have some more Duke art? I offer this link as payment squeaksandnibbles.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/baby-rats.jpg

Re8 art?? On MY blog?? It's more likely then you think wasdfgf

#I HAVE SO MANY OLD RE8 ASKS THAT IM HOARDING BECAUSE I GENUINELY WANT TO DO THEM IM JUST NOT IN THE RIGHT FIXATION WAJHGFDF #the duke re8 #the duke #resident evil village #resident evil 8 #my art #fanart #answered #doodles

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mediamonarchy · 25 days

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https://mediamonarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/20240402_MorningMonarchy.mp3 Download MP3 Swipe-fee settlements, palm payments and apocalyptic eclipse colliders + this day in history w/Coronavirus comet drives command teams to Cheyenne Mountain and our song of the day by K-Rino on your #MorningMonarchy for April 2, 2024. Notes/Links: Fans bid farewell to giant moving Gundam in Yokohama https://japantoday.com/category/national/update1-fans-bid-farewell-to-giant-moving-gundam-in-yokohama US-59 south of Sallisaw at the Kerr Reservoir is completely shut down at this time due to a barge that has struck the bridge. Troopers are diverting traffic away from the area. The bridge is going to be shut down until inspections of the bridge can be made. https://vxtwitter.com/OHPDPS/status/1774163632303079885 Video: Another bridge struck by a barge. U.S. 59 Bridge in Sallisaw Oklahoma; Dayton Holland and her family captured this video as they were fishing near the bridge. https://vxtwitter.com/HighImpactFlix/status/1774167830792941737 Family Dollar, Dollar Tree to close about 1,000 stores https://www.fox5ny.com/news/dollar-tree-closing-stores-family-dollar-march-13-2024 Here ye here ye: SWIFT planning launch of new central bank digital currency platform in 12-24 months https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/swift-planning-launch-new-central-bank-digital-currency-platform-12-24-months-2024-03-25/ Visa and Mastercard’s swipe-fee settlement could lead to a rewards fallout https://sherwoodmedia.com/snacks/business/visa-and-mastercards-swipe-fee-settlement-could-lead-to-a-rewards-fallout/ Video: Visa, Mastercard settle swipe fee lawsuit, agree to reduce rates and halt increases until 2030 (Audio) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOMBnFcd_vU FBI agent says he hassles people ‘every day, all day long’ their Facebook posts https://reason.com/2024/03/29/fbi-agent-says-he-hassles-people-every-day-all-day-long-over-facebook-posts/ Facebook Used “Man-in-the-Middle” Approach To Snoop on Users’ Encrypted Traffic in Secret Project https://reclaimthenet.org/facebook-used-man-in-the-middle-approach-to-snoop-on-users-encrypted-traffic-in-secret-project Feds subpoena YouTube viewers for certain videos https://www.pcworld.com/article/2278729/feds-demanded-id-of-youtube-users-who-watched-certain-videos.html Elon Musk announces more changes to X – after claims user numbers have plummeted https://news.sky.com/story/elon-musk-announces-more-changes-to-x-following-claims-user-numbers-have-plummeted-13103101 AT&T Says Data From 73 Million Current and Former Account Holders Leaked on Dark Web; Data from roughly 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders were released on the dark web, AT&T said. https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/att-says-leaked-data-set-impacts-about-73-million-current-former-account-holders-5618644 AT&T is investigating a leak that put millions of customers’ data on the dark web https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/30/att-investigating-breach-that-put-customer-data-on-dark-web.html Room 641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A Updates to Discord’s Policies https://search.brave.com/news?q=Updates%20to%20Discord%E2%80%99s%20Policies Video Game Publisher Take-Two Interactive to Acquire ‘Borderlands’ Maker Gearbox for $460M https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/take-two-interactive-borderlands-maker-gearbox-deal-1235861917/ Experts Warn of ‘Digital Enslavement’ as Amazon Pushes Palm-Scan Payment Service; Amazon has rolled out tech to facilitate palm-scanning payments, drawing criticism from experts on privacy and social surveillance and control. https://www.theepochtimes.com/business/experts-warn-of-digital-enslavement-as-amazon-pushes-palm-scan-payment-service-5618084 Video: Amazon Launches Sign-Up App For Its Palm Payment Service (Audio) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XgHM6yDnNTs Image: Perspective is everything – Soyjack: Looking at the night sky makes me realize how puny and insignificant I am. // Based Chad: I am the result of 14 billion yea...

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#alternative news #cyber space war #K-Rino #media monarchy #Morning Monarchy #mp3 #podcast #Songs Of The Day #This Day In History

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just-eyris-things · 2 years

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Technology in Tyria: Waypoints (headcanons) + a little bit on other stuff.

As we all have noticed, Tyria is full of waypoints, bah, we can even help placing some in Dragonfall! We can sometimes see NPCs walking towards them and disappear in the blue light. During LWs1, at the end of Marionette battle event, we can hear Taimi and Logan talk. He tells her he will escort her and she tells him she will go only if he handles waypoint fees.

So, a question popped up in my mind: how do waypoint fees actually work?

We know, that they are asuran devices - so it would be logical for the money going straight to asuran pockets, right? I mean, they need to be maintained, and so do the asura gates. But about AG later. Now - waypoints. So, by waypointing we feed Phlunt. But how is the money collected?

And here I'm using readmore becausue this? this is LONG.

So, I have this headcanon that each waypoint has a little guy like this!

These folks ask you about your destination, they will tell you the Waypoint name and if the WP is available. STH like this:

Character approaches

Golem: Hello-adventurer. Where-would-you-like-to-go?

Character: Cragstead

Golem: There-are-no-waypoints-in-Cragstead. Do-you-want-to-choose-a-nearby-waypoint?

Character: Yes.

Golem: There-are-Dolyak-Pass-Waypoint-and-Solitude-Waypoint. Which-do-you-prefer?

Character: Dolyak Pass.

Golem: Waypoint-unavailable. Would-you-like-to-travel-to-Solitude-Waypoint-instead?

Character: Yes.

Golem: The-cost-of-travel-is-4-silver. Please-choose-payment-option. Option-one: The-Fast-Travel-Waypoint-Card. Option-two: Charge-Bank-Account. Option-three: coin-exchange.

The Fast Travel Waypoint Card (FTW for short) is something like a Public Transport Card. You pay a monthly fee for unlimited travel. Fee depends on the option the traveller chooses when buying/refreshing their card: a region specific (Kryta-Ascalon-Maguuma-Shiverpeaks), all regions, work days only, etc. Please note that FTW only covers CORE GAME maps. To unlock other regions one has to pay for each region, or buy a region pack. Please note that region packs concern mostly LWs3 locations, since other seasons majorly happen in single areas. IBS takes place in Ascalon and Shiverpeaks. So one can either pay for Region Pack or unlock Ascalon and Shiverpeaks separately.

"Isn't this too complicated?"

I don't know, ask some asura, it's them who get all the gold, not me. I'm just breaking down the system for you.

Charging one's bank account demands a bank card/ID - they both are very similar, it's possible to find one's bank account in the data base with ID, so that works. And coin exchange is, well, coin exchange. Golem will ask you to put some coins in the designated place and you're good to go.

Okay, so we have that covered. Remember how I said that FTW only covers core game locations? Well I HAVE A REASON FOR THAT TOO!

Why wasn't the Heart of Maguuma explorable before? I headcanon that simply the journey through the wastes was really dangerous and only some adventurers dared to go that far. There are no waypoints there, except for Tangled Depths - asura used to live there, so there are waypoints, but the technology is much older and attuned differently, just to match this old asuran tech. They had to be reattuned to work with other waypoints or exchanged to newer tech. Waypoints in Heart of Maguuma are placed strategically, post Mordremoth's defeat. In Dragon's Stand I imagine they were putting waypoints on the spot, just like you do it in Dragonfall.

Living World season 3! We are all over the place, but one out of all the maps should have the waypoints from the start - Lake Doric (code name: Lake Dorky). So why can't we access it prior? Let's note that Lake Dorky is quite isolated. You can't get there from Harathi or Queensdale (unless you're Caudecus, that is) and only way to get there is through DR. Lake Doric is quite a small area, so maybe they thought "they can just walk" and waypoints were placed, yet again, similarly to the ones in Dragonfall.

Okay, so what about Cantha? They have waypoints!

Yes, but Canthan technology is quite different from Tyrian. Let's compare the two lands - in Tyria we have FIVE angry Elder Dragons. We have civil wars, treaties, fights for territory. Each region has their own forces of authority, some people are united by the Orders and later on, the Pact brings people together. Let's please look at the lines from cinematics that you get when you enter an order.

Order of Whispers: Only the Order of Whispers stands between civilisation and ruin. [...] It doesn't matter where the dragons came from, or why they awakened. The secrets we discover will help us send them back to hell.

Durmand Priory: "Your power is only equal to the sum of your knowledge." If that's true, then we're Tyria's best hope to survive the darkness gathering on the horizon.

The Vigil: The Vigil was created to fight the dragons. To destroy them before they destroy us.

"But, Eyris, what does it have to do with Tyrian vs Canthan tech?"

I'm glad you asked! You see, Tyrian tech focused on war, survavibility. Please notice that when Mordremoth rises, Taimi starts working on a machine to save the waypoints from that one hungry boy. Ever since you start your journey - you constantly have to do things to keep the world in balance, first within your homelands, then with the order you chose, and then you fight Zhaitan.

Tyrian technology has an entirely different focus than Canthan. Tyrians focused on war and crisis. Canthans focused on changing life. Holonews. Microwaves. Decorative fish holograms. Jadebots that can fight but normally don't.

Canthans have been protected by an Elder Dragon. They have protection from corruption through all those years, when in Tyrians witness their loved ones turn into risen while holding them in their arms (it's somewhere in Sea of Sorrows novel, it's a good novel, strongly recommend).

"But Eyris, HOW DOES IT CONNECT TO WAYPOINTS?!"

Shush, I'm getting there. So, I dare say Tyrian tech is more durable and dependable than jade tech. I mean, we don't have power shortages in Rata Sum, do we? Two techs are different, so they work differently. What a shocker, I know! We couldn't just waypoint to Cantha before because the waypoints were not alligned and connected!

Needless to say, in Cantha you need a jadebot to use waypoints. Jadebot does everything. It's your friend, is it not? It takes care of your taxes, fees, schedules - I dare say it's like a phone to some extent.

And communicators? It seems not everyone in Tyria has a device like that and the commander is free to chat with everyone without any issues (we even tell Livia to go meet up with Taimi to get a com because she doesn't have one). But in Cantha? I bet people hear the commander and company talk and think "oh, a new podcast? But why on this frequency?", all because in Cantha communication divices are ordinary and it takes time for Taimi to encrypt it.

This is how I imagine waypoints work, these are some additional points that have been in my brain for a while, a big shout out to @foxholemonster and @thedreamsofgods for talking to me about Tyrian/Canthan tech some time ago, without them this post wouldn't be possible. Hope you enjoyed this long text.

#gw2 headcanons

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szalacsi · 1 year

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A 9.11 igaz tortenete - VOL.1

Vegig probalom fact checkelten tartani a sztorit. Foleg olyan forrasokat hasznalva mint a Snopes mert ugye az a Soros cege szoval ha ok leirnak valamit hogy igaz attol meg nem lesz igaz de legalab par forrast kikeresnek amibol ossze lehet rakni mi tortent.

Szoval adott egy uzletember (szarmazasanak kerdeset ratok bizom) akit Larry Silversteinnak hivnak.

Az a kedves uriember ugy dontott egyszercsak, egesz pontosan 2001ben hogy milyen jol mutatna a csaladi portfolioban a WTC.

Mit ad isten, osszekuporgatott kis vagyonkajabol meg is vasarolta, mar eleve erdekes korulmenyek kozott amirol a szuper fuggetlen WIkipedia igy nyilatkozik.

He was interested in acquiring the original World Trade Center complex, and put in a bid when the Port Authority put it up for lease in 2000. He won the bid when a deal between the initial winner and the Port Authority fell through, and he signed the lease on July 24, 2001.

Gondolta hogy ha mar megvasarolta ezt a szep epuletegyuttest nem kellene a veletlenre bizni a dolgokat es gyorsan kotott is ra egy szep biztositast. Egesz pontosan 22 darab biztosito altal biztositotta 3.55 milliard(!) USDre azaz durvan 1500 milliard forintra. Igaz hogy utana beperelte a biztositokat ennek a duplajara mert hogy szerinte a ket gep az ket kulon biztositasi eset azaz ennek a ketszereset szerette volna megkapni. Nah de ne szaladjunk elore a sztoriban.

Szoval epuletek 99 evre megvasarolta (vagyis tartos berletet kotott rajuk egesz pontosan) ~125 millio dollarert es bebiztositotta az epuleteket, erdekes modon terrorista cselekmeny ellen is. Ugye sosem lehet tudni hogy egy felhokarcolo terrorizmus aldozataul esik ami teljesen racionalis felelem manapsag. Ha lenne egy jo biztositos ismerosom megkerdeznem mennyi ennek az eselye.

Erdekes hogy az epuleteket ennyiert sem erte megvenni mert nem voltak rendesen kihasznalva. Viszont ha ugy nezed 125Mbol 3.55MRD-t csinalni nem rossz uzlet.

It's a fact that Silverstein took his insurers to court after 9/11 and asked for double the damages. It's also a fact that he did so on the grounds that there were two attacks (or, in insurance lingo, "occurrences"), not one. But this wasn't some premeditated scam based on foreknowledge that a terrorist attack involving two planes would occur. The cost of rebuilding the World Trade Center, which in 2004 was estimated at $9 billion, made Silverstein's court strategy a virtual necessity. Plus, he had obligations to lenders and co-investors, and still owed lease payments of $10 million per month to the Port Authority.

The court ultimately did grant Silverstein a payout of $4.55 billion, which amounted to about a third more than the maximum allowable for a single "occurrence" by his insurance policy, but significantly less than the $7.1 billion he had originally sought.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wtc-terrorism-insurance/

A kovetkezo lepes a sztoriban az hogy megnezzuk milyen valtozasok voltak meg amik emlitesre meltoak az epulettel kapcsolatban.

A masodik ilyen dolog pedig az hogy erdekes modon lecsereltek azt a ceget amelyik a lifteket karbantartotta (Otis Elevators) es egy masik ceg vette at az iranyitast (ACE Elevator). Az Otis ceg munkasai kozul egy csomoan segitettek a mentesben az 1993as robbantas utan, mivel sokan a liftbe szorultak. Par evvel kesobb viszont a teljes szemelyzet azonnal otthagyta az epuletet es elmenekult a helyszinrol meg mielott az osszedolt volna. Valamit tudhattak a fiuk ha nem egeszen 10 evvel a ket esemeny kozott ennyire drasztikusan mashogy viselkednek hasonlo szituban. Kulon erdekessege a sztorinak hogy a liftszerelok buszkek arra hogy embereket mentenek hasonlo szitukban, valahogy 2001ben pont maskepp gondolkodtak es inkabb elhuztak a faszba.

https://www.harmreductionohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/WTC-story-page-3.pdf

A 7es epuletrol most ne is beszeljunk.

Folyt kov

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marketingreis · 1 year

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What Is The Best Affiliate Marketing Programs For Beginners

Story Of A Young Girl “Maria” Who Earn $10,000/mo From Affiliate Marketing

There was a girl in Virginia named Maria. She was always fascinated by the world of online marketing and had always dreamed of making a living through it. However, she had no idea where to start and was intimidated by the thought of creating her own website or business.

One day, while browsing through her social media feed, she came across an ad for affiliate marketing. Intrigued, she decided to do some research and soon discovered that affiliate marketing was the perfect way for her to make money online without having to create her own products or website.

Maria decided to give it a try and signed up for an affiliate marketing program. She was assigned a mentor who taught her the basics of affiliate marketing and how to promote products and earn commissions.

At first, Maria struggled to make any money. She spent hours every day researching products and creating content, but her efforts weren’t paying off. However, she refused to give up and continued to learn and improve her skills.

Months passed and Maria’s hard work began to pay off. She had built a small but dedicated following on social media and her blog and had started to earn a steady stream of commissions. As her income grew, Maria was able to quit her day job and focus on affiliate marketing full-time.

Maria’s income continued to grow and she was soon earning more than $10,000 per month. She was thrilled and couldn’t believe that she had been able to achieve such success as a beginner affiliate marketer.

Maria’s story quickly spread across the online marketing community and she became a respected member of the affiliate marketing community. She was frequently invited to speak at marketing events and conferences and she became a sought-after mentor and coach for other aspiring affiliate marketers.

Maria’s success proved that with hard work and determination, anyone can achieve success as an affiliate marketer, even as a beginner.

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Introduction:

In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the best affiliate marketing programs for beginners. We’ll also give you some tips on how to choose the right program for you, and what you need to know to start earning money as a beginner affiliate marketer.

Types of Affiliate Marketing Programs:

First, let’s talk about the different types of affiliate marketing programs that are available. There are three main types of programs: pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, and pay-per-click.

Pay-per-sale programs pay you a commission for each sale that is made as a result of your promotion. This is the most common type of affiliate program and is often used by beginners.

Pay-per-lead programs pay you a commission for each lead that is generated as a result of your promotion. This type of program is often used by businesses that sell services, such as hosting or online courses.

Pay-per-click programs pay you a commission for each click that is generated as a result of your promotion. This type of program is often used by businesses that sell digital products, such as ebooks or online courses.

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Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners:

Now that you know the different types of programs available, let’s take a look at some popular affiliate marketing programs for beginners.

1. WP Engine

Commission: up to $200

Payment method: PayPal

Cookie: 90 days

2. ActiveCampaign

Commission: Up to $1350 per sale

Payment method: PayPal

Cookie: 90 days

3. Fiverr

Commission: 15$ to 150$

Payment method: PayPal, Payoneer, Bank account

Cookie: 30 days

High Paying Affiliate Programs

4. Elementor

Commission: up to $200

Payment method: PayPal

Cookie: 90 days

5. HubSpot

Commission: 15% recurring commission

Payment method: PayPal or Bank account.

Cookie: 90 days

6. ShareASale

Commission: $150

Payment method: Wire Transfer and Payoneer

Cookie: 30 days

High Paying Affiliate Programs

7. ClickFunnels

Commission: 40% recurring commissions

Payment method: Direct deposit, Wire

Cookie: 45 days

8. Shift4Shop

Commission: $5 to $25

Payment method: Direct deposit, Wire

Cookie: 30 to 360 days

9. IPVanish

Commission: up to $150

Payment method: PayPal

Cookie: 45 days

High Paying Affiliate Programs

10. Thinkific

Commission: Up to $1700/sale

Payment method: PayPal

Cookie: 90 days

11. GetResponse

Commission: $100 or 33% recurring commission

Payment method: PayPal, Bank Transfer

Cookie: 120 days

12. Thrive Themes

Commission: 35%

Payment method: PayPal

Cookie: 2 years

High Paying Affiliate Programs

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How to Choose the Right Program for You:

Choosing the right affiliate marketing program is crucial for your success as a beginner affiliate marketer. Here are some tips on how to choose the right program for you:

Consider your niche and audience: The products and services you choose to promote should align with your niche and interests. This will make it easier for you to create content and promote the products effectively.

Look for a reputable program: Do your research and read reviews of the program you are considering. Look for programs that have been around for a while and have a good reputation in the industry.

Compare commission: Different programs offer different commission rates and payouts. Compare the rates and payouts of different programs to find the one that offers the best earning potential for you.

Tracking and reporting capabilities: Make sure that the program you choose offers accurate tracking and reporting so you can track your progress and optimize your campaigns.

Check the support provided: Ensure the program you choose offers good support, it can be helpful to have someone to turn to when you have questions or need help.

Wide range of products: Having a variety of products to promote will give you more options, and increase your chances of finding something that resonates with your audience.

Ultimately, the most important thing is to choose a program that you feel comfortable promoting and that aligns with your niche and interests. By carefully evaluating your options and choosing the right program for you, you’ll be on your way to success as an affiliate marketer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, affiliate marketing is a great way for beginners to start earning money online. It offers a low barrier to entry and flexibility, allowing you to work from anywhere and at any time.

To recap, it is important to consider your niche and audience when choosing a program, look for a reputable program, compare commission rates and payouts, evaluate the program’s tracking and reporting capabilities, use a mix of marketing techniques, and be transparent with your audience.

We encourage you to take the first step and start your affiliate marketing journey today. Remember, with hard work and determination, anyone can achieve success as an affiliate marketer.

For further learning, consider checking out online resources such as blogs, forums, and online courses. Some popular online resources are, Marketing Reis (best website), Authority Hacker, and Income School. And consider joining affiliate marketing communities to connect with other marketers and learn from their experiences.

High Paying Affiliate Programs

#affiliatemarketing #affiliateprogram #affiliate marketing companies #graphicdesign #affiliatenetwork #make money as an affiliate #path to affiliate #affiliate marketing websites

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hassingperry05 · 1 year

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It’s easy to treat customer support as an afterthought-until you need access to your funds and your account has been frozen for seemingly no reason. Going with a third-party payment processor option over your own merchant account means you might have to wait a bit longer to get access to your funds. Below, we walk through how a third-party payment processor works, the pros and cons of using one, and how to go about choosing the best one according to your business needs. The Square platform also tracks live sales and inventory which enables a business to keep track of payment updates, inventory levels, and sales opportunities. This enables it to unify all your sales data. There is a template that will add data to the Checkout model upon a successful completion of the checkout process. Of course, a lot of the logistics of when and how your funds can be accessed will depend on the third-party processor or merchant account provider you choose.

If you are transferring funds, you should never have someone on your MID, and it should not be accessed by unauthorized persons. These reserved funds are used to prevent negative balances due to disputes and fraud on your Stripe account. Finally, risk factors differ between a third-party processor and a merchant account provider. MerchACT is a specialized high-risk payment processor with proven account experience. Take some time to learn which payment processors can do that. It’s automatically saved and prefilled next time. In most cases, it’s an instant process once you provide your business information and connect your business account. Setting up a merchant account with Stripe is easy and only takes a few minutes. Third-party processors group your funds with hundreds if not thousands of other merchant funds into a single account. Fees can differ significantly between payment processors. It’s also accepted in all major currencies and by most major mobile payment providers including Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and others. Stripe Terminal allows you to accept any major debit or credit card in any country. Entry level business owners and smaller merchants often begin with a PayFac at startup to accept credit card payments, via online shopping carts or similar. Merchants benefit when their products are easier to buy. Konbini payments are one type of asynchronous payment; they’ll be captured hours or days after the order. A merchant account is a type of business bank account that lets businesses accept and process electronic card payments. It makes it easy for startups and growing small businesses to securely manage card payments without having to wrestle with the technical backend setup to make it all work. We’re so sure that Stripe is the right choice for online businesses that we built our plugin, WP Simple Pay, to integrate your WordPress site exclusively with Stripe. Is a third-party payment processor right for your store? If you’re optimizing for convenience, low fees, and minimal hassle, a third-party payment processor is the way to go. And unfortunately, payment aggregators almost never handle chargebacks in their favor. Shopify Payments handles payment processing at industry standard rates, but it adds a customer service component and helps with credit card chargebacks. Accepting paypal business merchant account and debit cards with Stripe Terminal is simple because the payment process is based on a card reader. Online payment processing has become a popular form of transacting, giving customers the ability to easily pay with a debit or credit card. A lot of providers will advertise a blended pricing option (a combination rate that includes payment gateway fees and merchant account fees) but this is rarely the best deal for merchants. Do either of these companies have hidden fees or transaction costs that sway the balance? Keep in mind that some third-party processors might offer lower transaction fees, but might also require a higher monthly payment or offer limited customer support. As you scale, you’ll hit a point where depending on a third-party payment processor might not be the most cost-effective choice. Usually, third-party payment processor accounts are easy to open. Because there are so many merchant service providers, you will have a wide range of options to choose from. Shipping address. Delivery options. electronic merchant services ’re able to accept credit card payments as well as other popular payment options seamlessly. Every payment method used the same two APIs abstractions: a Source and a Charge. Some charge a monthly fee plus a percentage of card payments based on whether it’s an in-person or online transaction. Fees. Chase charges 2.9% plus 25¢ per transaction on each ecommerce purchase.

#reseller vs merchant account #high risk merchant account #instant approval highriskpay.com #highriskpay.com #ein only cards #high risk credit card processing #high risk merchant highriskpay.com

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wpeventmanagersblog · 8 months

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A Complete Guide to WooCommerce – Everything You Need to Know

WooCommerce is one of the leading eCommerce solutions that is exclusively designed for WordPress websites. It has more than 4 million active installs and a huge number of satisfied online store owners.

As per research, almost 28% of all eCommerce stores are based on WooCommerce. If you too are planning to take your business online through your WordPress site, you must read this article entirely to find out why WooCommerce can be a great solution for it.

Before exploring the complete guide to WooCommerce for beginners, let us first introduce you to WooCommerce in detail.

What is WooCommerce?

If you have a WordPress based business website to sell your products and services, you must be aware of the term WooCommerce. WooCommerce is nothing but an eCommerce software that simplifies the process of selling products and services online for business owners. It is one of the most popularly used eCommerce platforms that is preferred by businesses of all sizes.

WooCommerce is created as a WordPress extension which is currently holding the position of the most popularly used website builder in the market. It is used to build a full-fledged eCommerce website with the shopping cart functionality.

Being an open-source platform, it is absolutely free to download but you do need to pay for the domain name and hosting service to create your WooCommerce based ecommerce website. In this WooCommerce tutorial you will find out how you can set up your own WooCommerce based website and some of the popular WooCommerce based plugins that you can use.

Here are some of the main reasons why WooCommerce can be the best solution for your WordPress website.

Why WooCommerce is the best choice for your eCommerce Website?

WooCommerce has empowered almost 28% of total online shops which is huge. The best part about WooCommerce is that it helps you create a basic eCommerce shop without any cost and also lets you add any additional feature or functionality on your website.

WooCommerce is not only a free platform which anyone can use but it also gives the entire control of a website to its owner.

WooCommerce does not include the licensing fees in its pricing structure which signifies that you can create an unlimited number of eCommerce sites.

As it is an extension of WordPress, you can utilize the advantages of all the powerful features that WordPress offers.

Besides WooCommerce based addons, thousands of other WordPress plugins can also be added to your eCommerce site for additional features.

One of the biggest advantages of WooCommerce is that it supports multiple payment gateways which makes transactions easy for eCommerce site owners. By default it comes with Stripe and PayPal.

It offers a huge array of designs and layouts for your eCommerce sites.

It is so easy to use that even a person with little technical knowledge can also use it.

SEO friendly.

Quality support from the community.

It also ensures payment security.

For all these advantageous features, WooCommerce has become one of the most desired platforms for eCommerce website owners.

WooCommerce Payment Gateways

A payment gateway refers to a platform that helps you receive payments from your buyers. You can simply avoid the financial and legal trouble that it takes to process the money yourself by relying on a third party payment that will do everything on your behalf.

When it comes to an online store, having an efficient payment solution is crucial. Such payment solutions need to be convenient, secure and trustworthy for the customers.

WooCommerce fulfills all these criteria and offers a huge list of payment gateways to make the payment process easy for both sellers and buyers. Here we have mentioned 7 best payment gateways in 2023 that WooCommerce supports.

We have found almost 80 WooCommerce extensions in payments and handpicked 6 amongst them.

Stripe: It is one of the most popular payment gateways that supports both credit and debit cards. Stripe can be accessed by more than 45 countries and it allows transactions in 135+ currencies. Users can take the advantage of Stripe with any WordPress subscription or membership plugin.

Amazon pay: It is mainly known for its security measures. Buyers can easily make payments with the data that is already saved on their Amazon account.

PayPal: The third in our list is paypal that supports more than 100 currencies. It also offers fraud detection facility along with instant access to funds.

Square: Just like other WooCommerce payment gateways Square is suitable for all types of businesses. It supports online as well as in-person transactions and offers many other payment facilities.

Authorize.netIt offers a smooth checkout process for customers using credit cards. It can be accessed in countries that include the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe or Australia.

Alipay: It is one of the best options for those sellers who deal with international customers. Though it is mainly used by Chinese buyers, the payment gateway is available in more than 200 countries.

The above mentioned payment gateways are very popularly used but to know which is the best among them, you need to consider a few facts that include the transaction fees, user experience, recurring payments, other charges and also availability in different regions.

Taking all of these facts into account, we would tag Stripe as the best among them for woocommerce.

Now that you know about WooCommerce payment gateways, let us introduce you to the WooCommerce plugins.

WooCommerce and WP Event Manager

WP Event Manager is a WordPress event management plugin that has more than 35 premium extensions to help event business owners conduct and manage their events online with ease. It supports WooCommerce for all its transactions. In addition to that it offers plugins like:

Sell Tickets: The plugin transforms an ordinary event website into a ticket selling platform where users can receive their payments through WooCommerce from their customers.

WooCommerce paid listing: The plugin helps users by monetizing their events website.

Stripe Split Payment: The plugin helps an events website owner by distributing the event ticket revenue between the event organizer and the website owner automatically through Stripe which is one of the most popular payment gateway supported by WooCommerce.

We hope that this article will help you know WooCommerce better and why it is trusted by so many business owners for their eCommerce websites.

Frequently asked questions about WooCommerce

1. Is WooCommerce free?

Technically WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin. However to create a WooCommerce based eCommerce website, you need to pay for your website host, domain name, WooCommerce theme, designs SSL certificate and additional plugins.

2. How many products can I sell with WooCommerce?

The answer to this question is unlimited. WooCommer allows users to sell unlimited products but users need to be careful about their website speed and overall performance in case of a huge number of products.

3. How many WooCommerce plugins are there?

WooCommerce offers almost 60000 plugins but when it is about growing your eCommerce store WooCommerce, you have an endless number of opportunities.

4. Can I use multiple payment gateways on WooCommerce?

The answer is yes. WooCommerce offers the facility to use multiple gateways. It is also a healthy option for your eCommerce website because all your buyers might be using only Stripe or Paypal and that is why it is better to give them options.

5. Does WooCommerce have a default payment gateway?

Yes, WooCommerce has a default payment gateway which is named WooCommerce payments. However, it is a premium extension of WooCommerce which means you need to pay for it and it is not covered in the core plugin.

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wanderdell · 1 year

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Better the Devil You Know

Prompt response to "[WP] most people sell their soul to the devil. You, however, decided to let him rent out your soul instead."

[part 0.1]

The devil was a chain-smoking, overweight journalist in a grubby beige suit who held a battered briefcase that had likely never seen better days.

Slouched against the wall of the alleyway, face in shadow from the rim of a hat covered in unidentifiable stains, taking no notice of the woman who stood before him. The collar of his shirt, that may have once been white, was open and un-tucked, accompanied by a loosely-arranged tie that could only be called pink if one had the optimism of a used-car salesman.

Anna was not exactly surprised that the devil came in the form of a journalist past his prime. She had expected the summoning would happen in a back-alley of a disreputable neighbourhood, out the back exit of its least desirable and most whispered-about watering hole. The whirlwind of newspapers when he materialised and the waft of mixed stink of days-old unwashed man with cheap cigarettes and cheaper whiskey had simply fit the skin of the image the devil had pulled on for the night. What had surprised her, though, was the answer to her request.

"No. I can't give you that."

Anna stared. She had followed the rules. She had done the research. She had made the bargains, sacrificed the gold and jewels, burned the bridges and the buildings, traded the information, and had been swallowed up by the underworld of people who knew better and did it anyway.

"Why not?"

He coughed wetly, dropped the stub of a cigarette and stubbed it out with a boot heel that looked to be half rotted. Put down the briefcase on the oil-stained asphalt surprisingly gently. Stood back and looked at her with an assessing gaze, eyes faint glints of reflected neon sign light from the wall behind.

"Because. The repercussions are far greater than you could possibly estimate. You would need a whole network of warehouses filled with high-end servers just to hold the information, let alone process it. You have nothing to offer me that would hold equal or greater value to that information."

"My soul is not enough for you? All the power over my existence, now and forevermore?"

Nothing she had read indicated that she would need more than a soul. It had given men of ages past wealth, glory, and power beyond compare. A single soul had bought armies, nations, empires.

"The information you request is worth far more than that. The fact that you believe renting out your soul like it’s a lifetime subscription service is sufficient tells me you are not prepared to receive that information, nor prepared to deal with the outcome of having such knowledge."

Anna looked down each end of the alleyway and took a step backwards so she could feel her back press against the locked door. She had made the arrangements with the owner for this area to be clear for the night, but there were things she couldn't plan for, interference from players she couldn't guarantee would stay away.

"I gave you the contract. I've outlined the terms, indicated the plans, given you the offer of the price I am willing to pay."

He drew out a white box from the inside of the grubby suit jacket, drew out a cigarette, and she watched it light itself as he put it between his thin lips. The devil puffed away contemplatively, seeming to have all the time in the world, and Anna thought about the minutes ticking away on all the promises she had had to make to get to this moment.

"What you plan to do with the information is not my concern. My only responsibility is balancing the weight of the consideration you're going to give me in payment with the weight of the knowledge I would give you. Unless you have made bargains with powers greater than I, Ms Blackwell, I sincerely doubt there is anything you have or have access to that could be enough."

Anna had. She had hoped not to have to play that card. Made almost entirely certain in all her research and bargains and sacrifices that parcelling out her soul would be sufficient in the trade. She didn't care about her soul, her eternal damnation, the personal repercussions of the deal. It was the political; the repercussions of how the world functioned. The Earth would be unraveled. The fledglings on Mars would have their wings broken, and return to the dust from whence they came.

"In addition to the price of renting my soul in exchange for the information on all the people on Earth and Mars currently alive who have made a deal with the devil, I offer you a promise,” she told the devil. “The services of Poseidon Industries for up to and not exceeding 24 hours only, and the true name of the archangel Uriel."

"Done."

....

Here to practice writing. Any and all feedback is very welcome!

#writing #writers on tumblr #writblr #creative writing #fantasy #sell my soul #writing prompt #writing practice #better the devil you know

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simplysloved · 2 years

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PAYROLL OUTSOURCING IN THE UAE

Payroll processing is so simple to do in UAE. Can you make a mistake when choosing the right payroll outsourcing service provider to process your payroll from Dubai or Abu Dhabi? It is, unfortunately. There are a lot of payroll outsourcing companies within the UAE with varied experience and some with questionable business practices. A few services are reliable and can meet international quality standards for service.

Here are ten things you must consider during the selection of your payroll outsourcing partner procedure for the UAE:

1. Service Scope Similar to other professional services knowing and defining the scope of payroll outsourcing services is the most crucial selection process. A reputable service provider will offer a precise definition of the scope, clearly defining your and their obligations. It is a problem if the scope of their services is contained only on one page and does not include the following areas:

. Updates to the regulatory framework

a. Payments and filings for statutory filings

b. Calculations at the end of service

c. Transfers of salary and WPS

d. Payroll distribution and report distribution

e. Assistance with audit

f. Calculations made retroactively

g. Financial accruals

h. Management leave

2. In-Country presence Many service providers claim they offer payroll outsourcing solutions in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, UAE, and the Middle East but do not have offices or employees in these areas. Beware of the service providers who handle your payroll but cannot assist you when an employee of the Ministry of Labor walks into your workplace.

3. Global Payroll Network Membership Check to see if the prospective service provider is a member of a global outsourcing network. Service providers must undergo a thorough due diligence procedure before being recognized as a global network member. You’re less likely to fail when choosing a payroll outsourcing service provider who has completed this due diligence process. The company’s membership also means that you will have easy access to the world’s most extensive payroll outsourcing system if your business expands and you require payroll outsourcing outside of the UAE.

4. Service Level Agreement – Make sure that you can confirm that the provider of service is prepared to sign an agreement on service levels that binds their charges to specific performance targets that include:

. Payroll calculation errors: a large number

a. Timelines for processing and payments

b. Time to respond to questions and queries

5. Professional Indemnity Insurance Verify that the service provider has adequate professional indemnity insurance coverage. That lets you recover any damages caused by the negligence or omission of the company, which includes any fines imposed by the government for incorrect or delayed tax or payroll calculation.

6. Payroll software’s a bit amazing that many payroll outsourcing service providers use Excel or other third-party software to calculate the payroll. Most of the Big 4 accounting firms in the UAE manage their clients’ payroll manually or using third-party software. That means that their services are costly. Even the tiniest modifications or changes to payroll reports are not feasible or extremely expensive.

7. Electronic Interfaces You should determine if the service provider can connect electronically with your existing software, such as:

. Accounting Software to upload general ledger transactions

a. HR software to download HR data

b. Time and Attendance Software is used to download employee attendance records, i.e., overtime, absences, etc.

8. Employee Self-Service Ask your payroll outsourcing company if they can give your employees access to an employee self-service portal and mobile apps to update their details, including requesting leave, keeping track of overtime, checking payslips, and more.

9. Helpline Check that the service provider can access their staff members who deliver services off-hours and on weekends. Payroll is extremely sensitive to time. It is not a good idea to find yourself in a position where you have to contact the payroll outsourcing company urgently because your WPS report was rejected or the payroll calculations have to be updated. You cannot get in touch with anyone at the office of the service provider.

10. References This is a matter of saying. Check the references of the service provider.

Outsourcing your payroll functions is likely to be one of the best options that you could do within the UAE or the Middle East in general. It can save you money and let you concentrate on other essential business activities. There’s an abundance of payroll outsourcing providers across Abu Dhabi and Dubai. But, you must be extremely cautious when choosing the best payroll outsourcing company for your company. You can find the most suitable and reliable provider if you make sure you ask the right questions during selecting.

#payroll services #Payroll Solutions #payroll outsourcing services #hr payroll #hr & payroll

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year

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Biden set to appoint mass foreclosure cheerleader to the Fed

Personnel are policy, something that the Biden administration has proved again and again since the 2020 election. Biden himself is a kind of empty vessel into which different wings of the Democratic party pour their will, yielding a strange brew of appointments both great and terrible.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

On the one hand, you have progressive appointments like Jonathan Kanter at the DoJ and Lina Khan at the FTC, leaders who are determined to challenge and curb corporate power:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/10/see-you-in-the-funny-papers/#bidens-legacy

On the other hand, you have deferential leaders like Pete Buttigieg, who fill their own staff with status quo counsel, and then let those timid corporate apologists run the show, leaving the substantial enforcement powers of a powerful agency to gather dust:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

While the Democrats’ anti-corporate wing got to drive the administration’s competition agencies, the corporate wing has enjoyed near-total dominance over finance regulations (with notable exceptions, e.g. Rohit Chopra), starting with Trump’s Jerome Powell, a bloodletting monster happy to shovel workers into their bosses’ crushers all day long:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/19/creditors-vs-workers/#finance-colored-glasses

Corporate Dems continue to flex their muscle. A seat has just opened up on the Federal Reserve Board, and the WSJ is pretty sure the seat is going to Janice Eberly, a corporate ghoul who helped Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner steal Americans’ houses on behalf of the bankers who destroyed the world economy in 2008:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-considers-two-economists-for-fed-vice-chair-58f13344

A quick refresher: Obama inherited the Great Financial Crisis, a massive global asset crash that followed from a decade of real-estate and derivatives deregulation that saw the world’s largest banks issuing mortgages they knew would fail, and then placing massive bets on “collateralized debt obligations” that were supposed to offset the risk.

The banks gambled trillions, nearly destroyed the world’s economy, and then blamed it all on reckless borrowers — mortgage holders who had been mis-sold predatory mortgages that were designed to trigger defaults thanks to low “teaser rates” that later “ballooned” into monthly payments the banks knew the borrowers couldn’t afford.

Geithner was Obama’s go-to guy for the GFC. It was under his leadership that billions were handed out to the banks to bail them out and keep them solvent during the crisis — and it was also under his leadership that bank execs were able to pay themselves millions in bonuses using that public money.

When the banks were in trouble, Geithner leapt into action. When the banks’ customers faced crises, he was MIA — especially during the foreclosure epidemic that followed, as the banks stole our homes out from under us, often forging the paperwork. No bank was seriously punished for this policy.

Back to Janice Eberly, who served as Geithner’s assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy — his hatchet-woman, in other words. Now, sometimes people in senior government roles stick around because they disagree with their bosses and want to mitigate the harm of their bosses’ policies.

That’s not why Eberly took the job. In 2014, she and Arvind Krishnamurthy co-wrote a Brookings Institute paper called “Efficient Credit Policies in a Housing Debt Crisis,” that explained why Geithner had it right all along — bailing out the banks and leaving homeowners in foreclosure is “efficient”:

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/fall2014bpea_eberly_krishnamurthy.pdf

Writing in The American Prospect, Max Moran from the Revolving Door Project breaks down “Efficient Credit Policies,” explaining how Eberly’s stated views should disqualify her from sitting on the Fed board, especially as we teeter on the brink of a deep financial crisis:

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-03-06-janice-eberly-fed-nominee-mortgage-crisis/

The first thing you need to understand here is HAMP, the Home Affordable Modification Program, which received the $100b Congress allocated to help homeowners whose mortgages were “underwater” — that is, whose houses were worth less than they owed for them.

That money could have gone to “principal reduction” — that is, to paying off part of your loan. If you owned $350,000 on a house that was now worth $300,000, the Feds could give the bank $50k and you wouldn’t be underwater anymore. The FDIC proposed just this, in a plan that would have required homeowners to pay back the US government if the price of their homes rebounded.

If you want to keep Americans from losing their homes, principal reduction is a straightforward and reliable approach. But the banks hated this — and that meant Geithner wouldn’t do it. Banks don’t like principal reduction because it means that they’ll lose out on future payments: reducing your principal by $50k now means that the banks won’t get hundreds of thousands of dollars over the 30 years of your mortgage.

Using the money for principal reduction would have meant the banks’ balance sheets would have looked a little worse — which, as Moran points out, is a perfectly fair outcome for banks that had just come close to destroying the world economy, especially since many of these underwater borrowers were destined to lose their houses and would never make those payments.

But Geithner didn’t do principal reduction. Instead, he did HAMP, which was just a way to temporarily lower borrowers’ monthly payments so they could stay in their homes. Geithner sold Obama on this plan, convincing him to renege on his election promise to support a “cramdown” on the banks, which would have saved homeowners:

https://www.propublica.org/article/dems-obama-broke-pledge-to-force-banks-to-help-homeowners

HAMP was full of the kinds of complex requirements and paperwork that the professional managerial class love, rules that made it almost impossible for homeowners to invoke HAMP and improve their payments. Meanwhile, the banks got “investor incentive payments” that let them take in public money even as they foreclosed on the public:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/principal-reduction-alternative-under-the-home-affordable-modification-program

HAMP was a disaster. Almost no one managed to use it, and even among the lucky few who did manage to do so, many were tricked into foreclosure.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/30/government-program-save-homes-mortgages-failure-banks

This is the policy that Eberly and Krishnamurthy defend in their paper: rather than reducing debt, just temporarily restructure mortgage payments. One reason they defend this: it’s cheaper, and Congress didn’t allocate enough money to help everyone who needed principal reduction. But, as Moran points out, Geithner’s anemic response to the crisis caused Congress to claw back $225b of the money allocated to deal with it — enough to do $50k principal reductions for 4.5m households. Under Geithner, HAMP only spent $10b.

But of course, the US government didn’t need to pay the banks off to do principal reduction. They could simply order the banks to take a loss. That’s how lending usually works: lenders who originate bad loans have to eat them — they don’t get made whole by Uncle Sucker.

But when Eberly was working for Geithner, “federal officials convinced themselves this was impossible.” Rather than hold banks to account for their reckless speculation, Geithner announced that he was going to “foam the runway” for the banks, pureeing Americans’ homes to make the foam.

But Eberly’s tenure coincided with the banks’ rebound — by the time she went to work for Geithner, they were rolling in dough, posting massive profits. As @[email protected] put it, “If you force them to eat a bunch of foreclosure losses, maybe a few hundred billion over several years, it probably wouldn’t have been that bad.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPLbnr1mxBs

Moran nails it here: “When a bad loan is made, it is both prudent and fair for the lender to bear the most responsibility. They are supposed to be wise stewards of their own capital. Instead, ordinary homeowners who did the least of any actor to cause the financial crisis ended up eating the losses.”

Eberly and Krishnamurthy claimed that Geithner’s policy would be efficient, and that it wouldn’t lead to mass foreclosures. As neoclassical economists love to do, they “proved” this using elaborate mathematical models. And, also in the grand neoclassical tradition, they didn’t bother to check whether their model was correct.

To quote Ely Devons: “If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn’t go and look at horses. They’d sit in their studies and say to themselves, ‘What would I do if I were a horse?’”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/27/economism/#what-would-i-do-if-i-were-a-horse

Here’s what Eberly and Krishnamurthy missed: the choice to foreclose wasn’t being made by the lenders, they were being made by the mortgage servicer, a kind of consequence-free middleman who made more money by foreclosing on homeowners, even if the lenders lost more money over the long term:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228125783_Why_Servicers_Foreclose_When_They_Should_Modify_and_Other_Puzzles_of_Servicer_Behavior_Servicer_Compensation_and_its_Consequences

Eberly and Krishnamurthy barely mention the existence of servicers, but another researcher was keenly aware of them: a law prof named Katie Porter, who delved into the servicers’ role in foreclosure in a report for the California AG:

https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/mortgage_settlement/01-report-waiting-for-change.pdf

Porter identified the servicers’ “dual track” approach to distressed mortgage borrowers: on the one hand, they slow-walked HARP-based changes to payments, and on the other hand, they raced to foreclose on those borrowers who were waiting for their payments to reset.

The servicers’ hunger to throw people out of their homes knew no bounds: they set up massive robo-signing boiler-rooms where low-waged employees forged deeds to plug the paperwork holes created by the high-speed, unregulated speculation on mortgages that precipitated the Great Financial Crisis:

https://www.reuters.com/article/robosigning-plea/ex-mortgage-document-exec-pleads-guilty-in-robo-signing-case-idUSL1E8ML0C120121121

Eberly knew about robo-signing, she knew about servicers, she knew about foreclosures. It was her job to know. But she still wrote her paper defending Geithner’s runway-foaming and all those ruined lives:

Principal reduction can be helpful, but it is a less efficient use of government resources, since it back-loads payments to households that cannot borrow against these future resources to support consumption today, and also because it is most helpful in reducing strategic default, rather than payment-distress-induced default,

This is just means-testing by another name, a fetish for separating the “deserving poor” from “moochers” (AKA “strategic defaulters”). The PMC loves means-testing, but only for poor people. As Moran points out, rich people like Trump use strategic defaults all the time:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html

Elite economists and finance ghouls convinced themselves that helping people stay in their homes would enable waves of crooked “strategic defaulting” but there’s no evidence this was ever widespread — rather, it was a fairy tale that justified mass foreclosure:

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27585/w27585.pdf

Eberly helped throw millions of Americans into the street in order to reward reckless banks, already wildly profitable banks, with even more profit. And far from regretting this, she went on to write elaborate justifications for the cruel policies she helped administer.

The historian Michael Hudson describes debt and debt cancellation as a key determinant of whether a given civilization survives. In every venture, producers have to borrow capital from lenders — farmers, for example, must borrow to pay for seed and fertilizer and labor. When the ventures are successful, the borrowers pay back the lenders.

But not every venture can succeed. There will always be blights, droughts, fires and other risks that can’t be fully mitigated. When failure occurs, borrowers can’t pay back creditors. If you farm long enough, you’ll eventually lose a crop, and have to roll over your debts next year. Eventually, you’ll owe so much that you can’t even make the interest payments.

In the absence of some structured, periodic debt cancellation — such as the Bronze Age tradition of Jubilee — creditors eventually end up controlling the work of the entire productive sector. When that happens, your society stops producing what everyone needs, and instead just makes the things that rich people want:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/08/jubilant/#construire-des-passerelles

A civilization can’t survive if all of its farmers are growing ornamental flowers for rich creditors’ villas instead of staple crops. It can’t survive if every productive worker is stuck in a dead-end job or a dead-end place because of medical or student debt.

Personnel are policy. Eberly has explained, in excruciating detail, exactly what policy she favors — policy that rewards reckless speculation by incinerating the life chances of everyday Americans. Appointing her to the Federal Reserve board would be a giant Fuck You from the Biden admin to every person who got their home stolen by a bank.

Tomorrow (Mar 7), I’m doing a remote talk for TU Wien.

On Mar 9, you can catch me in person in Austin at the UT School of Design and Creative Technologies, and remotely at U Manitoba’s Ethics of Emerging Tech Lecture.

On Mar 10, Rebecca Giblin and I kick off the SXSW reading series.

Image: Medill DC (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timothy_Geithner_in_2011.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A bombed out neighborhood. Over the crumbling houses is the 'HOPE' wordmark from Shepard Fairey's Obama campaign posters. On the right is the grinning face of Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, colorized to match the Fairey posters. On the left is an ogrish, top-hatted capitalist figure, chomping a cigar and disdainfully holding aloft a single-family home between a gloved forefinger and thumb. He stands before a podium bearing the Citibank logo. The podium has a lever in the shape of a golden dollar-sign, which he is yanking with his free hand. He, too, has been colorized in the mode of the Fairey poster.]

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