So, I’ve mentioned before that I’ve kinda bailed on most social media platforms (though recently, I’ve discovered BlueSky and I’m semi-obsessed). You might remember me ranting about the endless scrolling, the algorithm doom spiral, and the fact that I was basically stalking people I haven’t seen since middle school. But Roger, you might be thinking, isn’t Reddit social media? And honestly, maybe? Or maybe not? It’s like Schrödinger’s cat of internet platforms. Reddit’s technically a massive collection of forums, and really, that feels more like chilling in a library with a bunch of different club meetings happening around you than anything else.

I think the best part is that there’s a forum (or subreddit, if we wanna be fancy about it) for literally any interest you might have. Seriously, if you love Labradors, there’s a subreddit full of people posting pics of chonky lab pups living their best lives. Into playing cards? Yup, you got your r/playingcards subreddit ready with people discussing rare decks like they’re sports cars. Obsessed with credit card rewards? You bet there’s a group of folks in r/creditcards, plotting how to max out those sweet cashback points. It’s a little wild how niche it gets. Like the other day, I stumbled upon a subreddit all about sharpening knives. Knives! (Apparently, it’s a whole vibe.) And beyond that, you can even find local communities—cities like Milwaukee or Chicago have their own subreddits, and heck, even whole states do. It’s like the internet’s equivalent of a community potluck; everyone brings something to the table, even if it’s just memes.

So, I’m not hanging out on r/pics waiting for someone to “like” my selfie (because, shockingly, I’m way past my selfie phase—I think). No, I’m over here searching things like, “Kobo ereader Reddit” or “Best post-shave balm Reddit” because seriously, when Google throws up nothing but sponsored reviewers trying to sell me stuff, Reddit is like a breath of fresh, unsponsored air. I just want to know if that Kobo is gonna feel like holding a tiny paperback in my hands or if it’s gonna make me long for the smell of bookshop dust. Is that too much to ask? And I’ll tell you what: Reddit doesn’t try to sell me $1,000 headphones I didn’t ask for, so it’s already earned major points with me.

It’s wild how Reddit has actually become part of how I search for things. Try it. Google anything—anything at all—and slap “Reddit” at the end of your search. Boom. You’ve unlocked a portal to real people’s real experiences, with zero immediate pop-ups asking you to subscribe to insert tech blog that you’ve never heard of. Honestly, it’s kinda refreshing not having an algorithm shove carefully curated (and sometimes suspiciously sponsored) content down your throat. You just wade into whatever topic you’re curious about and see what other folks have to say. Does it require an occasional grain of salt? Sure. But hey, Reddit’s kinda like scouring the world’s most eccentric public library—some days you find treasure, other days… well, let’s just say r/conspiracy theories exists for better or worse.

But okay, disclaimer: I get dangerously sucked in sometimes. Like, you’ll think you’re just dipping your toe in on a quick search, and suddenly it’s three hours later, and you’re on page 7 of a thread about whatever niche thing you’d never even thought about till now. One moment you’re reading honest reviews of an e-reader, next you’re 60 comments deep in some dude’s account of how his Roomba staged an uprising. Time? What is time on Reddit? So yeah, just saying, proceed with caution—Reddit is both the savior of your Google searches and the black hole you never see coming until it’s already eaten your afternoon. Yup, sounds fun, right?

I guess the “secret sauce” is that Reddit is this mishmash of education and entertainment. You’re learning stuff (the other day I learned that sloths actually poop only once a week, and admittedly that’s a weird thing to know), but it’s also, let’s be real—like super binge-able. One second you’re the responsible adult, researching real estate advice, then wham, you’re laughing at a meme about capybaras in hats. Seriously… capybaras! Why are they so chill all the time?

This whole “subscription” thing is genius, too. Not in the money-sucking, algorithm-feeding, soul-draining way that other platforms do. Nope. On Reddit, you subscribe to forums—or subreddits—that actually interest you, and suddenly your feed is filled with discussions, links, memes, and rants all tailored to whatever niche you’re vibing with at the moment. Checking out a new city? There are subreddits for that. I’m not even kidding, r/Milwaukee is a legit community where locals talk about my fair city’s best spots or complain about the weather (classic, right?). Add in a subreddit for Chicago, Wisconsin as a whole, heck even Lasagna probably has its own corner. There’s legit space for everything here.

Anyway, if you haven’t tried appending “Reddit” to your searches, I low-key challenge you to give it a go. It changes the game! Plus, there’s something unique about knowing you’re digging into thoughts from fellow internet adventurers, rather than getting spoon-fed by SEO-optimized, commercially-driven content. I’m forever grateful to those random humans typing away on long threads, especially at 3 AM when I’m deciding between two air fryers.

And hey, maybe the next time you get “lost” in Reddit-land, you’ll discover something that’s unexpectedly useful! Or at least get hot takes on the latest mediocre Netflix show. We can dream.

Until next time (maybe tomorrow?)…safe scrolling… and, uh, don’t blame me when the hours disappear.

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Spam, Spam, Endless Spam….

It is just me, or is email spam getting worse? Last week, I noticed that I received a couple of hundred spam messages every day. It might have been especially bad because of Christmas, with vendors desperately trying to part you from your money. Of course, a few recent data breaches may also be to blame. But regardless of the cause, it seems to be getting out of hand.

Though it seems like a losing battle, there are some things you can do to minimize the amount of spam that you receive. One thing I do is have a fake “throwaway” email address that I use for those sites that require registration. It’s an address I never check and only use it in those instances where I don’t want to give out my actual email. I believe Apple’s iCloud mail now has an option to generate fake email addresses as well. If your provider doesn’t, then consider creating a new email address with one of the free services, such as Google.

Another thing you want to do is never respond to a spam message, and that includes unsubscribing (according to “spam experts”). All this does is let the spammer know that they’re sending to a valid email address, resulting in only more spam. As an alternative, add the user’s address/domain to your email client’s spam filter list. Most email programs offer the ability to add addresses of spammers to a spam list which then automatically moves any messages received from that address to the spam folder. That means you never see them — unless you check your spam folder.

My favorite method for eliminating spam — or at least my exposure to it — is using mail filters. What this does, is performs an action on a message that meets specific criteria. For instance, if a message subject contains a particular word or phrase, you can have your email program automatically delete the message or move it into your spam folder for you to verify later. I have a bunch of words and phrases that I use to filter my messages. Whenever an incoming message contains any of these phrases, it’s moved to my spam folder, and I never see it. Here are a few that I use (and I’m constantly adding to the list):

Sale
Bargain
Free
Last Chance
One Day Left
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
Time’s Running Out
Hurry
Deals

You can also use filters to automatically delete messages from specific senders so that they never show up in your inbox. Using filters, spam lists, and fake email addresses, I actually never see the majority of spam sent to me.

So though you’ll probably never eliminate spam entirely (I get a couple every day that manage to sneak in), using a few methods, you can significantly reduce the number of sales/phishing messages you receive.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was reevaluating all of my monthly subscriptions, including my cloud services. I’ve been meaning to combine my cloud accounts for some time now, as it was becoming challenging finding my files as I often could not remember on which cloud drive they were located. It was getting to the point where I was spending way too much time trying to find my stuff. It was time to make some changes.

The Dilemma

Once I sat down and took a look at my infrastructure, I realized how out of control it had gotten. For example, I had files scattered over the following services:

• iCloud Drive – This is Apple’s cloud service which I used for those apps which sync with iCloud such as Ulysses. I also use this for files I create using Apple’s work apps (Numbers, Pages, and Keynote. Cost: $1.99/month
• OneDrive – I receive 1 TB of free space on OneDrive because I’m a Microsoft Office 365 subscriber. On here, I only store files that I access with the iOS versions of Microsoft Office. This has proven the most unreliable (and most annoying) of all services. Cost: Free with Office 365
• Google Drive – I have a family account on which I share space with my spouse. This is used to sync our Google Photos. I also stored files that I didn’t need to access all that often. Cost: $99/year
• Sync.com – I used this as my main cloud service, on which I stored the majority of my files. I loved how secure they are and the fact that they’re located in Canada. Unfortunately, some of my favorite iOS apps were unable to sync with them. Cost: $129/year (for 3TB).
• Dropbox: I had the free account, which I only used to sync those apps which didn’t work with other services. For instance, Scrivener only syncs with Dropbox — well, to be truthful, it does sync with others, but the author of Scrivener strongly advises against it). Likewise, the iOS version of Scrivener only syncs with Dropbox (and does it quite clunkily, I might add). I left Dropbox several years back because I wasn’t too happy about certain privacy-averse members of their board of directors. I wasn’t sure if I trusted their privacy policies.

The Result

With all that being said, you might be surprised that I decided to go with Dropbox at the end of the day. I was kind of surprised too. One of the main reasons for this was that I use the iOS Scrivener app almost daily (it’s my main long-form writing app that I use to write my novels), and the only service that Scrivener safely syncs with is Dropbox. Additionally, I have some other iOS apps that will only sync properly with Dropbox, so there’s that as well. Thus, Dropbox seems to be the service that most apps use as their preferential syncing service.

As for my other services, I downsized my Google Drive subscription to 200 gigs for $29 per year, which is more than enough space for my and my spouse’s photos. Any other non-photo files were moved to Dropbox. Then, I completely got rid of Sync.com and moved all those cloud files to Dropbox. Even though I was paying for 3 TB of space on Sync.com, I was using way less than 1 TB, which worked perfectly with a Dropbox subscription. I kept the iCloud Drive service active, given that I use it to sync all of my Apple photos, and it’s relatively inexpensive. Given that OneDrive is free with my Microsoft 365 account, I didn’t make any changes there — I don’t really use that account for much anyway.

But…what about security?

I mentioned that I wasn’t too keen on Dropbox’s privacy record, which is still true. I’m not sure that I completely trust them with my data. However, most people I’ve talked to seem happy with them and trust them. But I took the extra step in encrypting most of the files I’ve stored on Dropbox — the sensitive ones anyway. While I have a wickedly long and difficult password as well as two-factor authentication enabled, I feel confident that with the extra step of encrypting my files, my data is as safe as it can be. That’s not to say that I won’t reevaluate down the road, but I’m content with my decisions for now.