Peter Pauer

Category: quitting

  • Freedom from Adobe

    Freedom from Adobe

    Freedom from Adobe

    If you want freedom from Adobe because you have finally had enough of the all their BS

    You had to accept the latest new TOS (Terms of Service) there was no other option if you needed to keep using the applications and it included suck features like
    The use of images in the Adobe Creative Cloud for product training, which includes images that are temporarily uploaded to their cloud by using any tools that use server side generative AI features.
    Spying on what you are doing in their products.
    Wanting to act like a net-nanny, yes they have an an AI looking at all images arriving in the adobe cloud that kicks out any images it decides do not meet community standards, these are passed on to a human for verification and if deemed actually unacceptable may be passed on to authorities. All you see is a “does not meet community standards warning.
    Not to forget the constant fingers in your wallet.

    like I have and have started to actively work on moving away from Adobe products.

    I quickly discovered I am stuck until my yearly contract runs out, unless I want to pay a hefty early cancellation fee.

    00Days
    00Hours
    00Minutes
    00Seconds

    Countdown
    until I can cancel with little to no penalty and have to do it before the dam thing automatically renews for another year.

    Did you know in the Adobe fine print that the monthly subscription you signed up for is actually a yearly subscription paid monthly? AND to cancel they fine you a 50% early cancellation fee for any remaining time if you try to cancel mid term.

    Finding your subscription anniversary date

    And the location of the cancellation process

    This turns out to be a 5 step process to locate both your subscription anniversary date and the location of the cancel plan option.
    Step 1: sign in to your adobe account

    Step 2: select your icon/avatar in the upper right

    Step 3: select the Manage account link

    Step 4: select the Manage plan bubble, this will open a popup

    Step 5a: The popup will show your original subscribed date.

    Step 5b: And finally near the bottom right side of the popup page it should include a cancel plan option that triggers the cancellation process.

    On1 PhotoRaw 2025 coming in October!

    My current pick for a replacement to Adobe is getting a major update to the 2025 version in October with many new AI enhanced features.

     

  • The Social Media platform hunt

    The Social Media platform hunt

    Hunting for a set of decent Social Media platforms

    social media politician amoeba will engulf us all

    It is a new year, time to clear out the old. Over time ended up with multiple accounts on too many different social media platforms to continue wasting time on and bothering with. So I am making the decision to drastically cut down the list to only a few that I plan to actively continue using.

    Synopsis

    For this activity I looked at twenty one (Yikes!) platforms I may have had userid's on. 
Thirteen are now sanitized, purged and deleted.
Two are still being evaluated, but most likely will be flushed. 
and a potentially new one is being looked at.
Five platforms have been kept, one in each of the major functional category 
     (photo sharing, video sharing, business contacts, team messaging, blogging)

    The caveat: Nothing is actually free. On platforms owned by the likes of Meta(facebook/instagram/whatsapp), Google(youtube/blogger), Microsoft(LinkedIn), SpaceKaren(twitter), China(tiktok, 500px), you are primarily the product with your data being harvested for resale.

    Selection criteria

    • Must be “free” to use, (since you are creating the platforms content)
    • Ads and algorithms must be blockable, (As I have absolutely no interest in seeing their time wasting BS)
    • Must be “free world” owned.
    • Must be easy to use from multiple platforms and devices.

    Decision key

    Keep   = actively build on and use platform
?quit? = still evaluating exiting.
maybe  = need more information
quit   = clear/sanitize old content, abandon platform, leave a zombie placeholder
delete = wipe and delete id immediately.
n/a    = not applicable, platform unsuitable, remove any IDs.

Posts on retained platforms sanitized using a "free" schedulable post redaction tool.

    Platform table

    PlatformPurposeQuick look and Impressions.CostDecision
    VeroPhoto & media sharingLinear feed, supports still images, video, music, text as separate post categories and
    NO ADS or algorithms.    		freeKeep
    Youtube
    (Google)    		Video sharingVideo centric
    full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed    		freeKeep
    Linkedin
    (Microsoft)    		Business contactsProfessional business profile and forumsfree / paidKeep
    SlackTeam messagingBusiness level messaging and conferencing with team roomsfree / paidKeep
    (sanitized)
    Blogger
    (Google)    		Blog(s)Blogging, one userid can host multiple blogs (AKA Blogspot)freeKeep
    Facebook
    (Meta)    		bit of everythingMostly obnoxious rambling twits, conspiracy idiots, and cat pictures.
    Trying to be a bit of everything and failing monumentally.
    full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed (blockable)    		free / paid post boost?quit?
    (sanitized)
    Instagram
    (Meta)    		photo short form video garbageMoving to be short form video centric, lost its focus.
    full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed    		free / paid post boost?quit?
    (sanitized)
    youpicphoto gigging
    seller/buyer connections    		image centric, seems like a mix of instagram/twitter aimed at gigging photographers and buyers.limited free / paidmaybe
    flickr
    (SmugMug)    		photo sharingimage centric, with blogging capabilitylimited free / paidquit
    ViewBugphoto sharing & contestsimage centric, many contests,
    “likes are a stroke fest”, constant push to upgrade    		limited free / paidquit
    Vemo
    (PayPal)    		video sharingvideo centric, too limitedlimited free / paidquit
    twittermindless babblingplatform self destructing, full of conspiracy idiots,
    full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed.    		free / paidquit
    pinterestimage pinningimage (theft?) centric, peculiar
    full of ads (blockable), more suited to old folks homes    		freequit
    500px
    (China Visual Group)    		photo sharingBought by China Visual Grouppaiddelete(d)
    deviantart
    (WIX)    		art sharingunsuitable, more for artists than photographersfree / paidn/a
    WhatsApp
    (Meta)    		messagingunsuitable, messaging appfreen/a
    SnapChatmessagingunsuitable, messaging app with story capabilityfreen/a
    reddit
    (Advance Publication)    		forumsunsuitablefreen/a
    tumblr
    (Automattic)    		micro bloggingunsuitablefreen/a
    TikTok
    (ByteDance)    		short form video garbageOwned by China ByteDance, short form videos.
    Unsuitable for anyone with a functioning brain.    		freen/a
    BeRealsnapshot sharingPhoto sharing app, where you have no control over when you get to snap one image daily.
    Something stupider than TikTok, if that is even possible.    		freen/a
    Social Media Platforms examined.
  • End of Chasing the Ever Elusive Pixel?

    End of Chasing the Ever Elusive Pixel?

    glass bottle skull
    glass bottle skull

    Chasing the ever elusive pixel.

    I am at the point I don’t know why I am bothering.
    It is 2nd quarter 2019 and I have not taken a single image I was actually interested in taking this year so far.
    Yes images have been made, but all for others, nothing that I would have dragged out equipment for given a choice.
    Maybe it is finally time to hang up the cameras.

    Many of the photo cohorts I know have gone a different route.
    They run out every now and then to hunt down a few great images, while videoing their trip and process.
    Filling up a lot of time with impressive drone shots and b-roll to try to create a compelling video,
    then trying to use it to pedal their photo trips and courses.
    Basically they have become photo-tour guides who also happen to take images occasionally.
    For now it seems to pay well, one of the few remaining areas that still does.
    But nothing I currently have interest in doing.

    It is said “Never say never”, for me it seems I have reached the end of my interest in the pastime, at least for now.
    Who knows maybe I’ll find something to get me going again someday, maybe not.

    At the moment I am deciding whether to close out the social media groups, pages and accounts on Facebook/Instagram/twitter.
    Many of which seem to have taken rather obnoxious turns, with the slobs hiding behind their keyboards spewing vitriol
    at each other in many of what used to be former great groups.
    I have already deleted my memberships from the ones that have degenerated the most, now deciding on the rest and the accounts themselves.