Vitriol for changing a diaper and phone numbers for going to the park? If I was one of those giving out numbers I'd definitely give it to the guy changing the diapers
For items purchased online only, I try to. I tend to buy on AliExpress and the photos don't always do justice to the product. It's very helpful to see the experiences of others when making a purchase.
Interestingly I have had many experiences which resulted in products better than expected, and if I see this trend of comments on a product I'm undecided, I'll probably be swayed to purchase. The opposite is true when the reviews denounce a product or seller as a scam.
Other than that I will give my opinion on other products if someone asks. Say for example someone on Lemmy asked about vacuum cleaner recommendations, or wondering about a specific phone model I once had, I would chime in with my personal experience.
TLDR yes whenever possible, because you can't always trust the seller to be honest. You need an impartial opinion.
I can't pick a single decade either. I'm a fan of the 30's-50's cartoons, in spite of any content/stereotypes that hasn't aged well.
Fast forward a little bit I think the 90's have some of the best cartoons produced, with cartoon network and nickelodeon taking the lion's share of it.
If you consider anime a cartoon too, I would say the 80's is where it's at.
It never worked properly on my android phone that doesn't have Google services
Just properly or actually not at all? Currently, my android has Google services, but my WhatsApp isn't linked to any Google Account. It runs as expected. I wonder what your experience was, as I'd like to own a google free phone sometime but I don't think I'll be able to remove WhatsApp from my life unfortunately.
It doesn't spam your phone with photos, unless you decide to download them
It doesn't backup your conversations to your already nearly full, Google owned Drive
Dark mode by default
Not owned by Meta
No frills, I couldn't care less for "personal stories" or whatever bs Whatsapp has
Basically it is somewhat more respectful of your agency as a user.
...edit: yes you have a setting to toggle backup off. And to change background to whatever you want. And I'm sorry for you, because your deeply cynical friends (your words) probably won't care about my points either. Because in essence, all my reasons rest on personal values. Which your friends already don't care about, else they would be complaining about things such as no space on phone or being annoyed at having to change settings for things they don't want or need.
I use signal but never managed to get rid of WhatsApp. It's a default app nowadays and most people use it. I constantly deal with random customers and whatnot through it. Only family is on signal. Which is sort of nice, I see a signal notification and know it's someone important.
I haven't read this.
Curious as to the combat. What makes it good? Is this one on one combat or are we talking about troops facing each other? Or both?
It depends on what you actually enjoyed reading and why. I see you already have a lot of great suggestions. The only author I haven't yet seen mentioned is perhaps Asimov, although you said you prefer fantasy to sci fi. That's also my preference, however I find his short stories are worth reading and also low commitment for this reason.
One thing I find useful in recommendations is to know what else people have read and what they think about that. It helps me get an idea of which books I'm more likely to enjoy best or not, especially if I can compare their thoughts to mine about the same books. With that in mind, my thoughts:
Discworld is amazing. Pratchett is a great author. I like that he can write a story that on the surface is just a simple comedy/adventure, but if you are the type that also analyzes what they read you will soon see his stories go much deeper than what they appear to be. He will keep things entertaining and witty but also throw at you a piece of his mind for you to mull over and reflect on various aspects of life. Small Gods is one of my favorites.
I also really enjoyed Dungeon Crawler Karl, and I mean really really really. Hilarious. But it doesn't have the depth Pratchett has.
On a similar vein, The Witcher- loved the characters and the story is very entertaining, but t can't say I was blown away as with Pratchett.
I absolutely loved Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. Now that's some solid writing. The characters are so well fleshed out, unique, original. Somehow the world and the plot feel realistic, crazy as it sounds for a fantasy book. It may feel a bit slower in pacing than any of the three I previously mentioned, but not slower than LOTR which you have already read.
Strange photo. I can't figure out if he was on a boat, or in front of a print of the opera house and not the actual opera house. The lighting is weird, but it would be ok if he was on a ferry maybe. But the hair looks strange. I'm confused. Confused because out of all images of Harrison Ford out there, they had to pick this specific one that lhas no relation to the snake, which is endemic to Peru.
Ah, another Sumatra user! I also used RawTherapee during my student years. I'll keep in mind your other two suggestions, you sound like a reasonable person
Vitriol for changing a diaper and phone numbers for going to the park? If I was one of those giving out numbers I'd definitely give it to the guy changing the diapers