the hacking saga
Added 2024-09-01 12:50:16 +0000 UTCThe thrilling story of how I was MALICIOUSLY HACKED!!! Also a bit of anti-intellectualism discourse.
Programming note
In this video I also re-announce something I’ve already mentioned, which is that I’m gonna start doing a once-a-month social media digest for y’all instead of posting to Patreon every single time I make a TikTok. So much less noise that way. Expect that around the middle of the month!
Media referenced
Yana’s videos have been deleted, but her profile’s here: https://www.tiktok.com/@yannareads
Celine’s initial anti-intellectualism video: https://www.tiktok.com/@bookishwithb/video/7406051105794182433?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7409299138204239390
Comments
Ahhh hello I'm so glad you're here!!!! 🥰
Mel Thomas
2024-09-12 00:04:50 +0000 UTCHello! I’m so excited you’re on patreon! I have followed your tt videos for years now and you are one of two creators on the platform whose content I will open the app on purpose to look for. Being able to engage with your content here makes me feel less incentivized to use tt and I’m really happy to have a direct line to your posts that can’t get buried by an algorithm (as your tt content often does for me, unfortunately - I hadn’t seen anything from you in months and only just learned you have this patreon!). Just wanted to say thanks for being such a thoughtful contributor to the internet.
Char
2024-09-11 13:02:41 +0000 UTCPs- I agree, books and video games do scratch similar itches! I've never considered that but when I'm playing a story intense game I read less and vice versa.
Jennifer Marten
2024-09-10 22:32:03 +0000 UTCListening to this I realized that I do think books are a more intellectual experience than other forms of art... And I think I need to examine that feeling. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! (Also sorry about the phishing, I didn't realize the bad guy could be activally reeling you in!)
Jennifer Marten
2024-09-10 22:20:33 +0000 UTCAlso, very glad you got your account back!
Kate
2024-09-10 12:58:26 +0000 UTCWow the reaction I just had to the suggestion that readers shouldn’t read something “beyond them” or whatever! You responded to that very gracefully. Similar to what you said about getting the experience of being a creator, as you weee saying that I was thinking maybe more people the experience of language learning, too. (But I’m a linguist so I’m biased.)
Kate
2024-09-10 12:58:11 +0000 UTC😉
Mel Thomas
2024-09-08 00:05:51 +0000 UTCSome very good KY specific Easter eggs in this vid. I got spear fished once (at my job oof), and it really is something that it’s hard to really prepare for until it has happened to you. Such a bummer!
Rachel Wigginton
2024-09-07 23:25:14 +0000 UTC(Ah crap, I think Patreon deleted my response? So sorry if this is a dupe!) Woof, yeah. I get that not everybody can be a critic, and people are really called to categorize things and sort things in ways that make sense to them, and I suspect that’s what’s happening here, so I don’t want to be to harsh… but I hate this, personally, lol. Like if I forced myself to follow a rubric like this for every review I think it would seriously degrade the way I experience art. And I think you’re right. I think it can come from a place of just fundamentally not wanting to be challenged by art, which in turn I think comes from viewing books as consumer products ahead of thinking of them as art objects.
Mel Thomas
2024-09-03 17:24:49 +0000 UTCyou and me both!!!
Mel Thomas
2024-09-03 16:54:15 +0000 UTCoh my god this is awful, i'm so sorry this happened!! and yeah you're right—we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves for not intuitively thinking like a scammer! it's a pretty rotten way to navigate the world, so i think we win in the long run
Mel Thomas
2024-09-03 16:54:00 +0000 UTCthey're so important and also so misunderstood, i love them 😭😭
Mel Thomas
2024-09-03 16:51:24 +0000 UTCI'm fascinated by anti-intellectualism, with books specifically. I'd love your thoughts on book reviews that looks like this (a copy-paste from goodreads): WHAT TO EXPECT: ✨ dark/stalker/mafia romance ✨ he's unhinged, possessive, & obsessed ✨ she's shy & gentle with a past that haunts her ✨ insta-lust ✨ age gap (13 years) ✨ virgin FMC ✨ 4/5 🌶️ ✨ smut: loss of virginity, praise, degradation, public sex, spanking, anal, dub-con, knife play ✨ he takes care of her ✨ 'touch her and die' ✨ OW drama ✨ HEA ✨ curvy rep ✨ Minneapolis setting ✨ TW: murder, violence, child abuse, trafficking (mentioned) To me this points towards the prioritization of tropes obviously, but also the prioritization of comfort - like we have to know what we're getting into lest we be disappointed, have to engage with art we dislike/disagree with/challenges our worldview. And to an extent I get that - the world is a dumpster fire, and comfort can be really nice. But also...it kind of freaks me out that this seems to be a lot of the literary "discourse."
Laura DeSantis
2024-09-03 16:51:11 +0000 UTCOh i LOVE this way of thinking about it
Mel Thomas
2024-09-03 16:50:42 +0000 UTCWOOF, yeah, this is relatable!!
Mel Thomas
2024-09-03 16:49:39 +0000 UTCFirst, those spearfishers put a lot of effort into their scam and pushing you to act with that appeal to authority and sense of urgency. Anyone can get got like that. I recently clicked a spammy ad link for a download on my work laptop, because it was in the right spot and context 🫣 had to get my laptop wiped 😭 thank God for backups. Second, the enjoying deeply and enjoying shallowly is such a good point for video games and books. Reminds me of those videos of people who 5-star enjoyed a trendy book, because it was page turning and emotionally engaging, laughing at themselves when critical reviews point out all the flaws and then they see them. It's ok to enjoy without engaging critically if that's what you want to do with your time and money. It's only a problem when those people get mad and nasty towards the people making the videos about engaging critically.
Shelby
2024-09-03 07:08:27 +0000 UTCMy partner and I talk all the time about how similar video games and books are experientially! Also - scammers are really getting good. Thanks for sharing your experience, it’s a helpful reminder to be extra vigilant!
LG
2024-09-03 03:43:57 +0000 UTCVery glad you got back into Pagemelt original, and thanks for explaining how that scam worked I could easily see myself falling for the same trap!
Maia Kobabe
2024-09-02 20:06:03 +0000 UTCMy friend's mother once told my friend (sincerely) that she thought they'd get along much better if they had been just friends, and not mother and daughter. I think about that alot.
Evie
2024-09-02 19:56:47 +0000 UTCAlso as a videogame enjoyer, I think books (ESPECIALLY genre books) that most people write off as entertainment with nothing deeper to think about have a lot in common with the way people talk about videogames, actually...kindred spirits!
Gabie
2024-09-02 14:45:52 +0000 UTCOh lots of good thoughts in this one - I think the comparison to videogames is also pretty apt because both books and games are very skills-based, where the first hurdle is gaining the ability to literally enjoy that media (via literacy/learning the mechanics of the game) and participate in it. I think the next hurdle isn't so much a hurdle is a continuous skill of practice, where you are figuring out what the author/game makers were trying to impart and doing all the fun analysis stuff :) .
Gabie
2024-09-02 14:43:56 +0000 UTComg, I too have a small opossum plushie that I joyfully introduce as !!!America’s Only Native Marsupial!!! to anyone who will listen
stummyhort
2024-09-01 22:59:39 +0000 UTCWhen I saw the six of crowd vid, my first thought was that this is clearly someone who doesn't get on with fantasy books and ultimately who cares? I know people who read very dense non-fic easily but don't understand the high fantasy I breeze through. Some people don't like the made up names or the maps or the magic and that's fine, can we please chill about it when someone expresses that in a kind of brusk way
Ella
2024-09-01 16:00:28 +0000 UTCI had a similar experience but they got into my laptop and were able change how my bank account looked and were able to steal a load a money that thankfully I was able to get back. As someone who also can be blindly trusting it was a very shit thing to go through and made me feel like an idiot for a long time. But being able to look back on it now made me realize these scammers are clever and very good at what they do, sometimes it doesn't matter how smart you are when they can get your trust with whatever means they can.
Ella
2024-09-01 15:51:27 +0000 UTCoh my god. hackers with such an intense eye for detail could be doing SO MANY IMPORTANT AND HELPFUL THINGS that are not hacking pagemelt!!!!!!!!
mall0rie666
2024-09-01 14:56:04 +0000 UTCSo glad you got your account back. Also glad you had Patreon to lean on for support in that time. Hot sure how creators without other platforms manage in similar circumstances. It's so easy to click on something in a moment of stress, you can't think critically if you're not mindful and the adrenaline from stress can lead us to barge through things. It's interesting what you've said about natural deference leading you to be more self-critical. I was similar as a kid and likewise take in information with a lot more skepticism now. I do wonder at what point we let ourselves let go of labels that don't really fit anymore. If we've learned to practice skepticism much more than the average person can we really say we're naturally defferential anymore. I'm not sure if people being content creators themselves would help with the empathy problem, considering how many content creators make their living off of rage bait and pile ons. I think if you like commenting that kind of thing changing the format of the output might not help. A lot of people feel really entitled to their pound of flesh and it's more about fulfilling that emotional need than whatever they think they're mad about. I've been frustrated with the "who cares about theory" crowd for years now. Its very often people who don't engage in community work irl, but like using their lived experience to bully others online. They personally get something out of making themselves and only themselves the arbiter of right and wrong. Anything that takes away from that authority shouldn't be listened to. That's not to say that lived experience isn't important, it is and that's largely what informs the theory. But if we're actually looking to improve our understanding and not just performing allyship we should critically engaging with what people are saying, rather than using identity to shut down conversation. Sometimes the old, white men can be the most progressive voices in the room. I still miss when Jeremy Corbyn was the leader of the British Labour Party. I hope your account recovers followers soon, I'm sure they'll spring back up quickly.
Muireann McGlynn
2024-09-01 13:30:44 +0000 UTCI'm so glad you got your account back <3
T.X. Watson
2024-09-01 13:27:39 +0000 UTChappy you got your account back!! also have been equally frustrated by how Gmail likes to hide who an email is from.
Ayo
2024-09-01 13:10:02 +0000 UTC
