So, if one of you kind souls could let people on Facebook know... 

I've picked up a 24 hour ban on Facebook for a ridiculous, arbitrary reason. I used the figure of speech, "I wanted to strangle her," about a stranger on an airline over 4 weeks ago - which of course Facebook's zero tolerance policy interprets as a "threat of violence". 

So, I've logged out of Facebook on all of my devices and uninstalled it from all of my devices - and they're on a 30 day ban from getting my free content and the traffic it drives to their site. 

Let everyone know I'll see them December 1st. 

Brutal truths

Makes you wonder how BBSes generated traffic in the old days. 


I guess part of it was - eventually the reason I turned off the original TSBBS was because traffic had died down to only a few callers a week, if that - and that is really when I stopped going to other Cits - same thing was happening there. 

I wonder what had come along that had made so many of the content producers back then lose interest. I don't think it was that they were TIRED of Citadel... 


They had found something new. Maybe - and I ran across some 916 Cit users from time to time there back in the day - it was Usenet. The weird thing is, even though I had interacted with those folks I came across daily in Citadelphia, we had eaten pizza at the same MUPTs and knew each other face to face... on Usenet - it was like we were strangers - folks crossing paths on a busy downtown street. 

The Internet promise of "creating communities" has never been like Citadel was about creating community. Uncensored has a community, albeit a small community. There is really only space, it seems, for one Citadel, globally, in today's world. But it still has a sense of community that doesn't exist on Twitter, or Reddit, or Facebook. But it is the last one. 

Welcome back. The place is something of a ghost town these days. I'd love for people to rediscover it - it is faster than it has ever been, more reliable than it has ever been, better operating than it has ever been... 

And less used than when it was running on a Pi 3B+

:D 

Invite friends you think might enjoy it here. 

Ironic last message is ironic. 

Tue Nov 29 2022 20:06:04 MST from ParanoidDelusions <paranoiddelusions@wallofhate.com>

Welcome back. The place is something of a ghost town these days. I'd love for people to rediscover it - it is faster than it has ever been, more reliable than it has ever been, better operating than it has ever been... 

And less used than when it was running on a Pi 3B+

:D 

Invite friends you think might enjoy it here. 

 

Sorry, time isn't real for me at all and it's super easy for me to come back to something as though I'd never left it without any realization at all that it's been months.  I just spent the last 3 days play Metroid Dread again.  No regrets.

/wave

Glad to have you back. Encourage Wangis and Thanny to revisit, too. I'll probably leave this up indefinitely even if it has zero traffic. I'm hesitant to advertise it - though... we'll see how the Twitter thing rolls out and what direction our Government goes with its current authoritarian bent before I decide to promote my Pirate Radio website. 

Mon Jan 16 2023 11:28:59 MST from TheDave

Sorry, time isn't real for me at all and it's super easy for me to come back to something as though I'd never left it without any realization at all that it's been months.  I just spent the last 3 days play Metroid Dread again.  No regrets.

 

/wave

I used ChatGPT to write a stupid article for a client who doesn't pay me. It is an EXCELLENT stupid article. The SEO is soooo good. I hope it makes her some money so she buys more AI-written articles from me. Maybe I'll share the article if she approves it. It's in the publication approval queue.

I have a meeting with her business manager tomorrow morning. My first guess is that they don't have a clue what kind of value I'm giving them because I don't communicate it well. But what's more to say than "I made it so your website displays a beautiful, functional site instead of a piece of trash that goes whitescreen if someone clicks the browser's back button"?

My second guess is they're dying to have me turn on Google Ads. When you search for "luxury yellow bikini" on a search engine, their website is a perfect match. But they don't show up! Too much competition, plus it's a Shopify site, and Shopify SEO is tough no matter how well I execute. It's swimming upstream. I can do it, but yuch. So if I set up Google Ads for them, boom, they'll get all the traffic for "survivalist women's swimwear" and other rare terms with high conversion rates.

This is the site, if you're curious: shedoesofficial.com

This is the work I'm reduced to, gents. Selling hundred dollar lilac one-pieces. Swimwear that doubles as eveningwear. One has a cowl. So weird.

But hopefully my MUCH BETTER client, Andymation.com, will keep paying me $80/hour to fiddle around with their Google Tags and run their ads for "flipbook kit" and change their product images and such.

I love the variety of freelancing, but it's not steady. This morning when I was picking my kids up from seminary my wife called groggily on the phone to let me know the Public Utility District was there to turn off the power. My last employer owes me over $4,000. I should have quit earlier but I stuck it out hoping they'd get the checks their clients were promising. Newp.

Rant over!

That sucks, I mean, some of it sounds fun and awesome, but the not getting paid and not being appreciated and not um... doing something that rewards you emotionally as far as your clients go... that part sucks. 

Everyone I know who used Google Adwords said, "It costs more than I ever make in sales, and conversions are difficult too." I turned it off at the chain place I worked at. They wouldn't stop bothering me. 

So, the job I'm doing is WFH and I like the company, but they're not paying enough for the work they expect - and so they've got a problem filling the positions. Easier call center WFH jobs are paying more, bottom line. 

The training is driving me nuts. It is on an AS/400 system - and I see things happening, and I'm trying to explain it to my trainer, but she is just a call-center support person, y'know? She doesn't understand what an AS/400 system is. She doesn't understand why it looks like a telnet session (because it IS a telnet terminal session)... 

And I'm uh... I've been working since the 30th... so... I figure I put in 6 months, maybe 8 months, and I'll move up to something better in the company. But maybe I'll fix this department first... or at least improve it. It isn't bad - it is just... like... there is a lot going on. 

I'm having my doubts - but I always do during training, then 3 weeks in I'm going, "this is a piece of cake." 

Mon Feb 06 2023 22:07:25 MST from Wangiss <wangiss@wallofhate.com>

I used ChatGPT to write a stupid article for a client who doesn't pay me. It is an EXCELLENT stupid article. The SEO is soooo good. I hope it makes her some money so she buys more AI-written articles from me. Maybe I'll share the article if she approves it. It's in the publication approval queue.

I have a meeting with her business manager tomorrow morning. My first guess is that they don't have a clue what kind of value I'm giving them because I don't communicate it well. But what's more to say than "I made it so your website displays a beautiful, functional site instead of a piece of trash that goes whitescreen if someone clicks the browser's back button"?

My second guess is they're dying to have me turn on Google Ads. When you search for "luxury yellow bikini" on a search engine, their website is a perfect match. But they don't show up! Too much competition, plus it's a Shopify site, and Shopify SEO is tough no matter how well I execute. It's swimming upstream. I can do it, but yuch. So if I set up Google Ads for them, boom, they'll get all the traffic for "survivalist women's swimwear" and other rare terms with high conversion rates.

This is the site, if you're curious: shedoesofficial.com

This is the work I'm reduced to, gents. Selling hundred dollar lilac one-pieces. Swimwear that doubles as eveningwear. One has a cowl. So weird.

But hopefully my MUCH BETTER client, Andymation.com, will keep paying me $80/hour to fiddle around with their Google Tags and run their ads for "flipbook kit" and change their product images and such.

I love the variety of freelancing, but it's not steady. This morning when I was picking my kids up from seminary my wife called groggily on the phone to let me know the Public Utility District was there to turn off the power. My last employer owes me over $4,000. I should have quit earlier but I stuck it out hoping they'd get the checks their clients were promising. Newp.

Rant over!

Yeah I'm willing to work for less in exchange for more freedom, but I'm hoping people realize they're paying less than fast food and raise the rates.

Working for Pace is fun but not profitable.  He's gotta learn to either collect his invoices or hire someone to do it.  I offered to be his collections for a small percentage but he passed.

Maybe I should just start an invoice collection agency.

Have you interviewed? What we need to do is get in there and kick ass - and show them that there are employees that can murder the job, but not at less than fast food wages. 

Thu Feb 09 2023 23:39:35 MST from TheDave

Yeah I'm willing to work for less in exchange for more freedom, but I'm hoping people realize they're paying less than fast food and raise the rates.

 

Working for Pace is fun but not profitable.  He's gotta learn to either collect his invoices or hire someone to do it.  I offered to be his collections for a small percentage but he passed.

 

Maybe I should just start an invoice collection agency.

I had a very rare power failure one day, and was working - it wasn't until after my shift that I got on and actually restarted the VM - I've got to remember to figure out how to make the VM start automatically when the server comes up after an outage - or, maybe just get a UPS for it. 

Good to know that some people miss this thing when it isn't there, though! :D 

Thu Mar 09 2023 14:35:33 MST from fandarel

It lives! Last time I tried to connect here it wasn't answering. I can't remember when that was.

This BBS is abandonware. 

That's my convention team! TheDave is the Convention Master, and he has two sidekicks. They KILLED IT with Thursday sales today, so they went out for sushi. I hope we make enough that I can (1) pay for the next convention or two, (2) pay down my debts so I can get a great company credit card so TheDave can use it to ACTUALLY FUNCTION instead of relying on my distracted self, and (3) get the prototype of the game printed so I can gear up to fulfill the Kickstarters that are outstanding and clear the brand of its lingering negative image.

If we can do that this year, it will be a huge step in my redemption arc. And maybe by the end of the year I'll be making decent money off of it and won't have to sell my digital marketing skills to other people but instead use them for the purpose for which I built them: taking over the Japanese linguistic pedagogy market.

Nice! I hope you continue to enjoy success - and I think it is awesome that you're doing this as a family operation. 

The picture didn't show up for some reason. Just copying and pasting a random image here to see if it works for me. 

I think the missing .help summary page is a known feature of this version of Citadel. The developer of Citadel is working furiously on a very new, modern version. I have been remiss about maintaining or updating this one - as it gets very little traffic despite the time and finances I've put into it. Also, because it is Linux based, I become a Linux power user every time I'm setting it up, then it runs so reliably I forget all my Linux skills the next time I have to fix something here. :) 

The SSH should work. I'll check it out - as SSH is preferred because of the security for YOU inherent in it. 

The web interface is more powerful, but I understand you don't get the Citadel nostalgia from experiencing it via w3. If you're not on Uncensored.citadel.org, check it out, it is the homebase for Citadel development. 


I hope you come around and make some posts. This place is a ghost town and could use the traffic. If you have friends who might be interested, invite them. It is a blank slate for a group of people to make their home community at this point. 

Tue Apr 11 2023 00:22:39 MST from papa

Greetings! I've just discovered Citatel and am exploring the servers listed on the Wikipedia page.
I'm currently connecting by telnet. I tried ssh, but couldn't log-in using the password indicated on http://secure.wallofhate.com
It also looks like the BBS is missing the .Help SUMMARY page.
Thanks for keeping this system running and available.