Cease Your YouTube Watch Histories At Once!

I've been alerted by a news article from my RSS Feed on a PC Gamer's article. This forum post is mostly about YouTube. Discussions about alternative streaming sites are welcomed.

Cease Your Watch Histories at Once!
Why?

* If you're an enthusiast for kid's media / animation or watch let's plays casually, you might get flagged as a minor and has to verify your age regardless of the birthday you set on your account.

* Currently on US account but likely to spread internationally.

* YouTube's A.I. is doing this. Have fun talking to their dogwater human support system through twitter if you're not verified properly!

Here's a more detailed review:

Youtube is rolling out a machine learning system in the US for now to estimate users' ages to better protect teens, much like is happening with Ofcom, requires you to provide ID to the support system if ever they flagged your account as a "minor". The A.I. assesses the type of videos viewers search for, watch, and how long their account existed.

When the A.I. identifies the viewer based on the data it gathered to be under-18, it applies age-appropriate protection such as disabling personalized ads (does not mean the A.I. ads would stop LOL), activate nanny tools such as bedtime reminders, limiting repetitive viewing of sensitive topics, and restricting access to age-restricted videos. Claiming this would ensure safer, and more suitable experience for teens.

If the AI incorrectly flags the viewer as underage, the user can verify their real age by submitting government ID, a selfie, or credit card information, allowing them to regain access to content for adults -- as if it hasn't been done already, I supposed?

But most importantly, it will access through watch and search histories of the viewer.

This is honestly disastrous for privacy conscious people, who aren't willing to give away ID or selfies to view age-restricted videos and media enthusiasts that's not remotely adult-oriented. Because I won't and will never do the humiliation shuffle just to see some age-restricted video is all about.

If you're a teen that doesn't want to be babysat by YouTube, I implore you to pause the watch and search history through your account settings.

The "Protect the Children" clause is all so tiresome man... it keeps breaching my anonymity on the Internet. 

Then what's the point of YouTube Kids????

IDK lol it's Google's failed side project ಥ‿ಥ

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Ubuntu/Debian Alternative

Moving my bulletin post to the Forums before it expires (Topic was from 10 days ago, July 15th). I'd like to thank everyone that commented and suggested distros I should try out!

My Original Bulletin Post albeit Paraphrased:

I'll be distrohopping from Debian, and I have been trying since the past years when I'm avoiding using Windows for privacy reasons. I wonder if forks or clone of Debian that I can hop onto.
I can no longer support base Ubuntu or Debian. I'm contemplating on switching to Arch, but against it because I really don't like assembling it like an ikea furniture. Anyone here can recommend a good distro I'd migrate to?

Reasons being is due to a controversy surrounding a DebConf2025 spokesperson. (Note: I tried to find an article from Fandom Pulse or whatever the name of that substack, other than that, it seems to be Lunduke was able to report this.)

Reclaiming the Internet group gave a generous recommendation on the kind of distros I'd ought to try out. Thanks btw

Users Ozzwald, ExMachina, rosezyxx suggested Arch Linux. As one explained it's stupid easy to install nowadays. Others say the assembling is part of the experience! (Oh no)

User Virtual Insanity did suggest a Debian fork, Devuan, with removed systemd and seemed to be supportive of XLibre. A Debian derivative is BunsenLabs Linux suggested by NosyCat.

I see mentions Linux Mint which I did use the Cinnamon version not too long ago! I'd give thanks for honza, val_screamz, and others for this suggestion.

Alongside Mint, Alekss, suggested Fedora KDE which a distro I have heard of but never tried it out even in a VM before (again, thanks for the suggestion!)

Random but I found this website that chooses a random Linux distro distro.moe. There are some retro themed ones, I suppose I would want to take a look at them too. I'd like everyone to share their thoughts (even to those who never used Linux before and just thought "hey, this one looked cool!")

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18 Seemingly Legitimate Browser Extensions Infected in Chrome/Edge

July 8, 2025 By Amar Ćemanović | Cyber Insider

Affected extensions include:

Color Picker, Eyedropper — Geco colorpick

Video Speed Controller — Video manager

Unlock Discord — VPN Proxy

Dark Theme — Dark Reader

Volume Max — Ultimate Sound Booster

Emoji Keyboard Online

Unblock TikTok

Unlock YouTube VPN

What does the malware do?

A major malware campaign called the RedDirection campaign has infected over 2.3 million users of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge through these 18 seemingly legitimate browser extensions.

"The campaign was uncovered by Koi Security during an investigation into a single extension, “Color Picker, Eyedropper — Geco colorpick.” Researchers discovered that although the tool functioned as advertised, it secretly hijacked browser activity, tracked visited websites, and communicated with remote command-and-control (C2) servers. [...]"

"[...] The core functionality of the malware revolves around browser hijacking triggered during tab updates. Embedded scripts in the extensions’ background service workers intercept page visits, send the URLs to remote servers such as admitclick.net, and redirect users based on attacker instructions. This allows for phishing, credential theft, and malware delivery."

What to do if you suspect your extension is a malware?

Well, you gotta uninstall the extensions immediately! Here's the steps:

Remove the Malicious Extensions

Open Chrome or Edge, go to Settings > Extensions.

Enable Developer Mode to see extension IDs if needed.

Locate and remove any suspicious or known malicious extensions such as those listed in the RedDirection campaign

Clear Browsing Data

Scan Your System for Malware

Remove Forced Extension Installations (If Applicable)

Some malware sets registry keys to force-install extensions that cannot be removed normally. To fix this:

Create a system restore point first.

Open Registry Editor (press Win+R, type regedit).

Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionInstallForcelist for Edge

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExtensionInstallForcelist for Chrome. Delete the ExtensionInstallForcelist key or any suspicious entries within it.

Reboot Your Computer

Monitor Your Accounts

How's My May In Spacehey

Sympathy for the Few

Splash text reads: "Over 1 Million Users Yet 3 Mods"

Wow! Early Retrospect blog! What a treat!

May Retrospect

Today's Rib-Eye Black Dragon's theatre of blogging about random things, here is what I've experienced browsing Spacehey as it begun to be my favorite social media I've ever used.

Review from the previous month blog

I'm not going to echo what has been said from the previous review of my time here in Spacehey, but rather, somethin to add with my 5th month of staying here as my main social media.

Block Feature - I've seen it, not really using it for anything yet. I've seen others encourage using this feature for anyone ranging from being an awful human being towards them to... looking at them weird. Mods have stated they could use this feature even without being the last resort. If users want to culminate the kind of circle where their only likeness can enter, I don't see the problem in them. It's a shame if whatever case I've been blocked by a user and I can't input my thoughts into their interesting Topics on Forums or Bulletins. Not really the end of the world, although this feels like a temporary solution to a bigger problem;

Report Feature - It still works, the most effective the mods been doing are users doing ban evasion... a topic that I would delve into later in this post.

Instant Message (IM) - I used to have a slight indifference towards this feature, although now I have the problem with it being... lackluster. In my browser, it doesn't have a notification. It fizzles out excitement of chatting with other users IMO. I might dive into other alternative like escargot.chat. I'm just not a chatter and prefer replies than direct messages for small talks UNLESS it's absolutely needed in privacy.

Forum - I have the impression that when a topic is closed, no one else would be able to reply. Not that I have a problem with anyone pitching in and sharing their thoughts on a dead topic. It happens to be from a spam account posting a reply with a dubious hyperlink. geez.

Blogs - No problem whatsoever. Same with Bulletins.

Rapid Growth with Little Resources

You'd imagine how flabbergasted I am to learn there's a whopping... 3? Moderators keeping an eye on this site. The entirety of this site, mind you. I wouldn't blame An, he's a college student and has no time to entertain this amount of people signed into his personal project. It has been repeated time and time again by users, encouraging the admin to hire more volunteers. It's understandable that An is cautious and hand picks his mod team... However, I personally see it as pretty negligible of keeping the site as is, with little team to keep things in check, while vulnerable users make up a large portion of its userbase.

There are some testimonies on oldheads stating the improvement from its beta days towards the present is night and day. I can believe it. It is still rather a clunky side with features MUCH NEEDED to be improved upon.

Suggestions:

Recent certain categories of blogs - I've been yearning for this feature for my 5 months of staying here. I treated it as a quality of life feature. Please.

Give unban permission to certain mods - According to Gray, mods don't even have the permission to unban users. And, lemme tell you that ban appeals are basically nonexistent. No suspensions either. You'll get your account inaccessible for good unless An suddenly remembered his account password and, perhaps, listen to your request. This deeply concerns me. Which, I would later discuss...

Scheduled Sign-Up - I was thinking of verified mail accounts; but that defeats the purpose of privacy respecting sites by filtering users into using a certain type of email to join (i.e. gmail, yahoo, outlook etc...). A second idea would be scheduled sign-ups. It limits the creation of spam accounts. Examples of sites doing this are Status.Cafe and Archive of Our Own. It might turn off some users who are so giddy and excited into sigining here, but we already are big enough as is. I think it's okay if it sort of filters out spontaneous people who can't even wait a week before their accounts get verified. SMH

Mods grant Janitor status to some user - Can't really rely An to do everything right, y'know? From what I've remembered, Janitors are sort of like hall monitors in a designated subforum where their only permission is to hide post from public for the reviewing of mods. It helps deter spamming and hide illegal content quickly. Just want to lay it down to the table. Report features quickly alert Janitors so the Mods can deal with those later for a personal review.

My Fear in Spacehey

This blog really concerns me so much that I'd use an image to detail my point, fearing the possibility that I might get banned under detection of certain words. I just like being here.

Spoiler:

Spacehey has a vagueness rule problem, and there will be some point in time that I might not be ableto access my account no more.
I heard of their problem with TCC? I think they've been misconstrued, the label at least, referring to weirdos that romanticized serial killers, and being a pain in the ass for fanbase of similar interest.
This is a family-friendly site, obviously. Although, the thought of the report function being abused and false flagged me that leads to an account suspension will never not scare me.
I love my account, the content I posted out, the people that interacted with or the pussyfooted babies that can't handle my bluntness. All of it.
Because the possibility of being targeted while laying low is never 0.
And if I got booted off by mods for whatever reason, as it happens with any community regardless of my innocence. I would say it wouldn't stop me. If my acc got banned, congrats of making my faith in this site thrown to the trash bins in mere seconds. 
My paranoia because of this information, and lack of squality ban appeal, will never leave me.

My Verdict:

Spacehey has always been a comfortable social network that respected my privacy with the inclusions of the bulletins' time limit. Here's to another month I'm staying in SpaceHey. Although, I did eventually see the cracks on the wall. I'm still optimistic tho!

This is Rib-Eye Black Dragon writing. 🐲

Signing off. Peace. 🐲🐲

Anime Studios MIGHT Use A.I. in the Future

READ "MIGHT"; Toei currently doesn't use any A.I. at the moment! Toei responds

Just a preamble to say that I am sort of neutral towards of A.I. and its use, but that's just my bias towards chatbots and Text generators used for RP speaking. I am in no position or hold any opinions regarding Image generators and their use for visual art medium. With that out of the way, let's get into the article.

Toei

Just a few days ago, I found a concerning article written by Chike Nwaenie | Anime Corner Article:

"Toei Animation To Apply AI to ‘Various Processes of Animation Production’ in the Future"

As quoted:

“We will seek to co-develop new business opportunities and improve the efficiency and quality of our production, capitalizing on synergies between AI and animation production technologies.”

The company says in regards in following its investment with Preferred Networks (PFN), a company recognized for its advanced AI technology in Japan. Here's the Investment in Preferred Networks (PFN), Inc. Report

The collaboration says in the article aims to enhance the efficiency and quality of animation production by applying AI to various stages, such as generating storyboards and layouts, coloring, line drawing correction, in-between generation, and creating backgrounds from photos. 

Kadokawa

And not long after, another article published again by Chike | Anime Corner Article stating that Kadokawa CEO Takeshi Natsuno is "actively investing" in A.I. for productions, as the article eloquently phrased it.

According to the article, Mr. Natsuno stated:

“At this point, we see AI primarily as a support tool, because it still can’t be truly creative on its own. I actually come from the IT industry and still hold a university position as a professor, so I have a fairly strong understanding of this subject [...]“

“[...] That’s why, at the moment, we use AI mainly to support artists. Although it is still in the testing phase, for instance, it’s helpful in tasks like coloring animation cels after the drafts are completed. It enhances efficiency without interfering with the core creative process.“

Unlike Toei, which had backpedalled after the backlash of their announcement [Link to that Article], Kadokawa is actively sharing AI resources and technology across its seven anime studios, leveraging its internal engineering expertise to evaluate and implement AI with the company's broad vision to become a tech-driven entity, streamlining workflows while protecting creative freedom. They made examples of its application called Mantra, a manga translation tool that uses image recognition and language processing to convert Japanese to multiple languages.

Insights

I can see the impending backlash and boycott among the anime fan who are against A.I. use for art medium such as animation. With the one "A.I. Anime" airing that's mindnumbling bad, I fear for the quality of the upcoming production of anime adaptation, and more or less, translations of numerous of manga titles. Am I being pessimistic? Not really. Am I optimistic? Not quite either. Just hoping now this "A.I. tools" would lessen the work for those animators that skip sleep for achieving some fruition from their product.

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You Cannot Use Wi-Fi for Repeated Piracy

Or Alternatively, Sony Music Bullies ISP into Cutting Your Wi-Fi

According to an article written by Chike Nwaenie | Anime Corner

"The labels first brought the lawsuit against Grande [Wiki] in 2017. Per revealed emails, Grande was frequently informed of subscribers who were regularly pirating content, and, despite having previously done so, adopted a new policy of never terminating subscribers for copyright infringement. The jury for the case sided with the music labels, and Grande appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in March 2023, where it again lost. Its bid to have the entire appeals court hear the case (en banc rehearing) was also denied."

The label's position calls for DMCA requiring ISPs to have policies terminating repeating infringers. Having to cite extreme cases of alleged rampant piracy by some customers:

"The labels say that they’re not interested in the odd infringement that slips through the cracks, but rampant infringement that ISPs like Grande were found to have ignored by not having a policy to prevent it. They gave examples of 40 customers that surpassed 1,000 infringements and one that passed 14,000."

Of course, disabling customers' internet would cause as Grande argued, claiming the penalty is disproportionate.

Related article pertaining to this topic: "Never Terminate" Policy: Music Labels Slam Grande's Supreme Court Piracy Appeal

Insights

I stand by Grande's argument about said penalty would be unnecessarily harsh. What about medical devices? Children's education that uses the internet? I understand that ISP would have this policy never terminating their own customer's internet... because that's a net negative for the ISP. I find Sony becoming too big for its own good. And, what's funny is the fact that I found this article through the Anime Corner news website, assuming this has something to do with Anime piracy LOL anime fans leave and breathe piracy, that's how it got to mainstream.

Some Good News! De-Extinct Dire Wolves

"In a scientific breakthrough that could forever change how humans interact with our planet, Colossal Biosciences said it has brought back an extinct animal that last walked the Earth roughly 10,000 years ago: the dire wolf." -ABC News

The U.S.-based biotech company has announced the successful birth of three genetically engineered dire wolf pups named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi. This achievement is considered the world's first successful de-extinction of an animal species.

The process involved reconstructing the dire wolf genome from ancient DNA found in a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull. Scientists then modified the DNA of gray wolves, the closest living relatives of dire wolves, to include unique gene variants from the extinct species.

Colossal Biosciences is also working on de-extinction projects for other species, including the woolly mammoth, dodo, and Tasmanian tiger.

Reactions:

According to a couple of articles, some experts argue that these pups are not true dire wolves but rather genetically modified gray wolves. The morphological similarities among canids make it challenging to confirm the exact appearance of an extinct species like the dire wolf. While it represents a significant technological achievement, there are questions about the authenticity of the de-extinction and its implications for conservation and ethics.

TL;DR

The project has garnered attention due to its potential to revolutionize conservation efforts and our understanding of extinct species.

Modern Spongebob and the Cartoon Community

You may have outgrown your prior taste, doesn't mean you have to ruin it for anyone else

I'm one of many that has a dislike for the modern Spongebob season for the given reasons:

 - Episodes mean towards Squidward for no reason

 - Characters flanderized (???)

 - Patrick being incredibly dumb

 - Outright gross and painful to watch

 - High energy episodes

And other things I forgot to add but basically boils down to having "Rose-Tinted" biases.

Now, how did I come to this?

I had an epiphany when rewatching my DVD collection of the earlier seasons of Spongebob, the 2012 remaster if you will. The colors and lines are crisp much like the later seasons. Now, that I think about it. The humor in earlier seasons and the Modern Spongebob aren't that far off.

When people (as in the Cartoon Community mostly) say "Modern Spongebob," they refer to around seasons 7. That's already a decade old. Spongebob is still ongoing btw.

Yes, I mean the latest season of Spongebob. It's faring better than the horrendous season that is what people remember what "Modern" Spongebob was.

Episodes that were mean towards Squidward for no apparent reason? It's present in earliest of season too! Although, I admit that latest episodes are too cruel for my taste.

Patrick being dumb or rarely has a genius moment? I thought it's on character for Patrick to be dumb.

Outright Gross and Painful to Watch? My friend, you were thinking of that toenail scene when they're moving the furniture at Squidward's house. That episode is so old though. It's not really weird for Sponebob to have gross-out humor. Isn't one of the staple of a Spongebob episode are gross zoom ins?

I do admit, some of the things in later episodes are too fast paced for me to enjoy. I just accept that, maybe, I just outgrown Spongebob now as a fan.

The irreparable damage the cartoon reviewers or critics has done to cartoons like Spongebob

Time to address the elephant in the room.

There are still disputes about the quality writing of Spongebob among fans. It's universally agreed upon that pre-Movie Spongebob episodes are remembered fondly.

But I'm preeeetty sure the cause of people having disputes over "Modern" Spongebob are reviewers and critics on YouTube. Infamously, Mysterious Mr. Enter.

I do not condone going after this guy or any harassment towards critics, he just happened to be among the many to create the tidal wave of Modern Spongebob hate. Not to mention he has already had mellowed out.

I'm sure some of you have counterarguments but let's not waste any breaths here. I'm not "Modern" Spongebob's greatest soldier and I'm not defending any forts here. This video can easily dismantle my flimsy arguments.

My opinion of Spongebob changed over the years and I accept the fact that I'm not a fan to catch up with the show. I, however, will never accept Kamp Koral or the Patrick Star spin-off cartoon as canon nor will I ever watch them.

This is Rib-Eye Black Dragon writing. 🐲

Signing off. Peace. 🐲

To Be A Beta Reader

My first time being a beta reader

Here's the story: Someone I knew since elementary got in touched with me, and offered to read their fics. It was an honour to be a beta reader of their first draft. Listening to them gushing about the things they read fanfictions was heart warming. To preface, they're not going to post this story online, at any time. Even if they did, they won't likely tell me their handle, but would happily lend me their drafts.

The premise

Now, what was the story all about? It's sort of a Boku No Hero Academia fic with a slight crossover with other series. Crossover, per say, as in they perfectly blend in with the anime well. The other anime's timeline aligned with being thousands of years ago in My Hero's universe. Since, they are ninjas and samurais, and whatnot.

What I've observed

It's nothing stellar. Although, that's because I'm not experienced, I just liked the pacing of the first chapter. They detailed it as first chapter other than "Prologue."

Although, their weak point is the lack of expression and describing the scene as it is visually. But, then again, once I've heard their explanation, the writing would cover the entirety of My hero storyline which means... A LOT of chapters and reading. Adding fluff would bloat the fic, it would seem.

A charitable 4000 words a chapter, the first chapter is at estimate of 2000 words. Words? I think likely characters since the first chapter feels so short.

It is riddled with rookie mistake, but I was told they're already at the 15th chapter, and the word count increases. Keeping this in mind, my feedback would be solely on the drafts they've provided and wouldn't school them about it.

Feedback as a Beta Reader on a technical level

The mistake isn't exclusively towards ESL; Native English speaker fall to the same mistakes as fanfic writers. They write paragraphs of what feels like suffocating. They did not do paragraph break -- I made a slight misstep of calling them line break since they seem the same when I write in notepad. Yes. I write in notepad like a barbarian.

There's instances where there's multiple characters talking with quotes being dropped in the middle of the paragraph and I couldn't tell whose who is talking.

This is my first feedback to them. The ones that I left out are their "quirk words." The frequent use of "Suddenly," and "and," everywhere. "Said" is a dialogue tag that I wouldn't mind popping up every now and then. There're too much commas where it should end with a full stop.

Since our exchange was pretty casual, I'll keep it as that. I did point out there are a bunch that needed some fixing with edit. Their response is it's for practice, but they keep in mind of my feedback about the "paragraph breaks".

Story criticism that I forgot to include

I did praise the first chapter to be on point, leaving out unnecessary details. It feels too simplistic. It's an obvious power fantasy for the main character Izuku Midoriya, during kindergarten where he should like, enjoy sticks and watch Cocomelon, he managed to learn ancient arts only the people of old learned but was lost in time.

Overall, I think it's still feel like an honor to have someone trust me enough to read their work. I'm sorry for being vague here. There's likelihood they'll post on AO3 or Fanfiction.Net, in Wattpad even. But, don't expect me to drop their handle for privacy reasons.

This is Rib-Eye Black Dragon writing.

Signing off. 🐲🐲

Peace. 🐲

How to Give Feedback to a Fanfiction

Critiquing a fanfiction as a beta reader involves providing constructive feedback that respects the genre and the author's creative choices while helping improve the story.

My role as a beta reader is to help the author improve their work by offering feedback on what works and what doesn't.

In this thread, we will discuss and exchange tips on how to be a better beta reader and give the needed feedback for the author.

For further context, I provided a blog on the type of fiction I've received, the initial feedback I have in my first expression, in the technical and creative level.

It's an honor to be someone else's beta reader. But, I'm not sure myself if the ones I provided are sufficient. I also made a mental note of what the author may or may not want to hear since it's a hobby and the seriousness differs from person to person. I avoid being seemingly offputting by schooling someone who trusted me with their work.

Level ranges from beginner to an advance fiction writer. Go!