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overzeetop, in What is the least shit online store of the shitty ones? such as: Wish, AliExpress, etc..
@overzeetop@lemmy.world avatar

Temu is the current loss leader. You have to be careful as there are some items more expense than the Amazon or Aliexpress options, but many are 1/2-2/3 of the Amazon price with free shipping. Most items are 7-10 days shipping, but Amazon (to a rural address) is barely a couple days better with prime and about on par without.

Shipping has pretty much killed Aliexpress for me. I’m not willing to buy anything expensive as it’s effectively impossible to return and most sellers have an Amazon sellers account that is the same price or less once intl shipping is added.

Donk240978,

The problem with Temu is all your data goes to , less reputable third parties.

I have never had so many scam calls, texts and emails in my life!

overzeetop,
@overzeetop@lemmy.world avatar

As if it doesn’t when you input it for other sources? I haven’t had a single issue I can trace to Temu specifically. I get my Thai slave-mill “found your number in my phone” or “are you available for dinner” scam text once every other day regardless. Xfinity has probably sold, or lost, my information to dark web resellers more times than I can count. Heck, I get an email every couple of weeks from one of the “free” credit monitoring subscriptions I’ve been given thanks to breaches at Equifax, OPM, Chase, etc. that my email - the one I’ve had for 30 years come this spring - has been “found” on the dark web. No fucking shit; I’ll bet the have my password from 1995, too. I’d worry about it but I have far more pressing things in my life - like making sure I’m not overheating the queso I just put in the microwave.

hawgietonight, in Does wind power cause visual pollution in your opinion?

You get used to them, and in a way look very cool because of their use and what they represent. Although I wouldn’t like to see them in a natural reserve.

I have another neat use for them. Since I can see some out of my window and use this sight to check wind direction and plan my bike route to have tail wind on the end of the route!

A_Very_Big_Fan,

Wait, do they rotate to face the wind or something? If so, that’s awesome and I never noticed

macaroni1556,

Not always. Some are designed for areas with a prevailing wind and deal with smaller direction changes using pitch (angle) of the blades

Sami, (edited ) in What is the least shit online store of the shitty ones? such as: Wish, AliExpress, etc..
@Sami@lemmy.zip avatar

Aliexpress is basically amazon with longer shipping time in my experience. Each seller has their own store rating similar to ebay so as long as you exercise judgement ie. Dont buy from brand new stores with 0 feedback or things that are too good to be true and avoid certain things like batteries and storage media unless you know exactly what you’re buying you should be fine. I’ve bought a lot of stuff from there (mostly electronics) and haven’t had bad experiences

punkwalrus,
@punkwalrus@lemmy.world avatar

This has been my experience as well with Aliexpress. I know there’s a huge caveat emptor going on, but it’s like you said about batteries and storage, be careful unless you know exactly what you’re buying. Like a 64TB SSD for $15.99 proooobably not the real thing. But I have gotten a lot of SBCs, some stuffed animals, and cheap costume jewelry for my wife (who knows it’s cheap, but doesn’t care). Weirdest “quality” purchase? My “gold colored” tungsten wedding ring was $10, comfort fit, and in 6 years still looks like the real thing. But didn’t dent like my original wedding ring (which is why I needed a replacement, got smashed in a door accident). I’d never buy anything that I knew might cause a fire (like batteries) or possibly poison me (like pills).

Wish and Temu ripped me off in some of my first purchases. I was only out $30, and I know it was possible, so I just deleted my account and the apps.

limonfiesta,

AliExpress is not even close to Amazon except for the fact that it does a great job at providing a wide selection of Chinese products, but cheaper and with longer lead times.

What makes Amazon, Amazon, is its customer service. Without that, it’s like eBay. But even eBay has significantly better customer service than AliExpress.

Speaking as someone who has used AliExpress a lot, it’s pretty good, but only if you understand that all sales are final. Best cast scenario, the seller makes you pay for shipping which generally costs anywhere from 50% to 250% of your original purchase price.

Their customer service always defers to sellers in my experience, and even if they approve a return, what’s the point if you lose money by shipping it back?

Hawk,

Amazon support has been terrible for me, while AliExpress has come through almost every time.

Passerby6497,

Can’t confirm, only ever had one bad order with AE and they refunded my money and didn’t take me ship my bulbs back.

punkwalrus,
@punkwalrus@lemmy.world avatar

I have had three Aliexpress orders go bad, and two of them I was refunded. One of them I was not, despite the fact their own shipping still showed it as on it’s way to New Jersey. They kept insisting I “pick it up at the local post office.” I pointed out Virginia was not near New Jersey. I was denied, but only out $8. As far as Amazon vs. Aliexpress, I will agree with you about Amazon customer service being better. But I have had “AliExpress shipping times” on some Amazon products, which led me to believe that the particular store was outside their local jurisdiction.

j4k3, in What sci-fi-esque inventions are the most plausible and could happen soonest?
@j4k3@lemmy.world avatar

AGI lead government that is written like a constitution and bill of rights. The infinite persistence factor without human needs or motivations is a major improvement over anything that has ever existed.

HenriVolney,

Asimov wrote a story about super machines that governed the world out of environmental collapse and human extinction.

fung,

Do you remember the name of the story?

Kiernian,

After looking through a bunch of synopses of Asimov’s stuff, I wonder if it might be this one:

en.wikipedia.org/…/All_the_Troubles_of_the_World?…

HenriVolney,

It’s one of the Multivac stories, can’t remember which one though.

TehBamski,
@TehBamski@lemmy.world avatar

The idea of AGI lead government sounds quite interesting. However, there are many concerns that would need to be addressed and prevented in the structuring of such a system. Safeguards of physical assets, hardware, and software entry points. Does the AGI have any access to the internet or networks of any kind? How do we interact with such a system by state/providence? What do you do when bad actors get a hold of it or are feeding it incorrect information?

j4k3,
@j4k3@lemmy.world avatar

AGI is orders of magnitude more advanced than what we currently have available. It is a self aware system. Most of the issues must be addressed internally, but ultimately it is self regulating in every respect. There would be redundancy, and an element of design trust built in. It would not be corruptible like humans where we must be skeptical of our governments. In some respects, it is the hacker, it is the internet, and it is Orwellian in scope, but it is not authoritarian, or ideological. It would be direct and openly available for everyone to consult at any time. It would be capable of explaining anything in easily understood language according to the capabilities of the end user. The primary way it shapes policy and changes for the betterment of the majority is through rewards and amenable compromise. Ultimately, I think this is the only way to manage a real post scarcity society.

afraid_of_zombies,

Honestly I would vote for chatgpt now if it ran. It can’t be any worse.

anton,

Apart from the alignment problem*, having unchangeable laws can be really bad. The bill of rights shows that for tye US constitution, now what if a ‘new’ need arises for the law shows it self.

  • the alignment problem is the still unsolved problem of getting even simple machine learning models/AIs to do what we want.
brygphilomena, in Have you ever failed at something? How did you get back up after that?

I flunked out of college. I was undiagnosed ADHD and my major was something that I genuinely have a passion for. But wasn’t able to discipline myself to go to classes regularly. I don’t think I would have done well in that field anyway.

It didn’t really hurt me though, I ended up in a job that underpaid for too long until I got proper medical treatment for my ADHD and depression. Now I make a decent salary in a field that works well for me.

I love what I learned and would love to learn more, but the structure of college was something that was extremely tough to work through.

Krejall,

Hey, this is my exact story, including the undiagnosed ADHD, dropping out of college, the dead-end wage slavery for way too long, and now having a decent paying job that isn’t what I went to school for, but that also doesn’t kill my soul.

Except: I have an epilogue!

I still don’t have a degree, but I never stopped practicing my art because I am simply incapable of stopping. It’s what I do. I recently got a side gig that was my absolute unrealistic pie-in-the-sky dream job when I was in college, working for the very creators that inspired me to choose my major in the first place. College wasn’t what got me there. It was passion for the artform, introspection/therapy to develop a more forgiving and accepting attitude toward myself, and sheer perseverance. I spent the first 18 years of my adult life thinking failure and dead ends were all the universe had to offer, but I kept trying anyway (mostly to spite that hostile universe in a ‘fuck you, kill me yourself’ kind of way).

It’s not over until it’s over. You don’t know how your story ends. Keep trying. If someone says you missed your chance, fuck 'em. They can’t see the future any more clearly than you.

Mandy, in Your greatest weakness becomes your greatest strength. How is your life different?

My love care and empathy for other people has made me the most lovable woman in my country and the most suitable spokesperson for humankind

Reality: I dont like people and my interactions with them , especially when I was young (partys.and stuff) only bolstered that feeling

TheDoctorDonna,

I feel like I’m reading a description of myself.

Mandy,

maybe i shouldn’t have tried to hard to “fit in” and be a socialite back i the day, maybe i wouldnt have such a big dislike of people as i have today

TIMMAY, in Does wind power cause visual pollution in your opinion?

Im not sure I even agree that visual pollution should be a real thing. People like to pretend that there is a divide between man-made structures and “nature” but humans are animals and we construct our environment out of natural materials. Humans ARE natural and the things we make are not separate from nature. Obviously that doesn’t remove our responsibility to avoid causing overall harm with toxic chemicals that pollute or structures that destabilize equilibriums, but that being said I dont think we should have this mentality about our structures being an inherent detriment to the area we make them in, and wind farms seem like a good example of good structures in a good environment to me. End rant.

jpreston2005,
TIMMAY,

okay yeah that is totally fair, societal pollution

corsicanguppy, in Why are there so many apps that could be websites?

I want apps to be apps again.

On my desktop I have browser tabs for WhatsApp, messenger, Skype, gMailChatTalkHangouts and slack. I know slack’s app was ass but I miss the rest.

I want a discrete app that doesn’t crash with chrome and which sits in my tooltray so I don’t have to fucking search for it whenever something makes a noise (ctrl-alt-a). I want to see it from the blink in the corner and not by scanning 31 windows of 7 groups of 12 tabs each.

Often times I just give up and hope it also makes my phone spork too so I can grab it there.

FooBarrington,

Just add them as PWAs using a browser you don’t usually use (e.g. Edge), that should give you everything you’re asking for.

CancerMancer,

Progressive Web Apps were supposed to marry these schools of thought, but maybe we hoped for too much because it’s still garbage Chromium under the hood.

Just make everything for maximum interoperability I guess? I recently saw and forgot the name of a system for creating and displaying Github-like pull requests and associated discussions that are sent in via email. A very simple web interface displaying plain-text that could reasonably have been extended any way you like. I am beginning to see the appeal of the plain-text revolution.

banneryear1868,

I want apps to be programs again*

Gormadt, in What sci-fi-esque inventions are the most plausible and could happen soonest?
@Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Fusion reactors

Plentiful and reliable public transportation

Astroid mining

jpreston2005,

Had me at Fusion reactors and Asteroid mining, but reliable public transportation? What kind of pie in the sky pipe dream is that!

Gormadt,
@Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I know I know

It’s such a far fetched idea it sits in the same camp as teleporting but we all have to have dreams, and napping on the train on the way to work sounds so pleasant

56_, in What is this growth on fallen tree branches?
@56_@lemmy.ml avatar

I just saw this for the first time today, 11 days after seeing this post. A person I was with suggested it grew mostly on beech wood.

cosmicrookie,
@cosmicrookie@lemmy.world avatar

That’s amazing!

southsamurai, in Where are all the anarchists of Lemmy hiding?
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

You gotta be just having bad timing, they’re plenty present. They’re not a majority, but they’re fairly vocal.

rambling_lunatic,

Probably. Thanks, man.

PP_BOY_, in What's the best music streaming service?
@PP_BOY_@lemmy.world avatar

Plexamp

jcrabapple,
@jcrabapple@infosec.pub avatar

With Tidal hell yeah!

TK420,

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

HeavyRaptor, in Is Sync for Android worth the cost?

Highly recommend Boost

indigomirage,

Had been using Sync nonstop. Tried Boost this morning.

I no longer use Sync.

bizzle,
@bizzle@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve been using Boost for Reddit for years but I ditched it in favor of Voyager, which supports mod actions and is FOSS.

BOFH666, in What is the least shit online store of the shitty ones? such as: Wish, AliExpress, etc..

Ali got a nice escrow payment system, when you and the selling party disagree about delivery or quality, you get your money back most of the time.

Did have some issues with deliveries in the past, but always got them resolved or refunded.

No experience with the other platforms, but have done hundreds of purchases using AliExpress, from a few euros to hundred+

Valmond,

Yeah I have got tons of stuff from there, only time it didn’t work out was:

5€ watches, they are just as crappy as you’d imagine 😁

Once an item didn’t show up, and seller needed a video/photo so I just filmed my empty hand. Didn’t get refunded.

But that’s about it.

Ofc, there are obvious scammy stuff, so check out size etc and if it’s too good to be true, well then it’s probably not true.

Wizard_Pope,
@Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world avatar

If it looks too good and has no reviews avoid it like the plague. I never understood why they need video or photo proof of an item not arriving. How do you take a photo of something you do not have???

papalonian, (edited ) in What is the least shit online store of the shitty ones? such as: Wish, AliExpress, etc..

Just wanted to point out that Etsy isn’t really in the same category as the other shops you listed. Think handmade crafts and souvenir store compared to Walmart.

Edit: I’m apparently reminiscing on the Etsy of yesteryear. I guess it’s shit now.

stevestevesteve,

Sure used to be that way but modern day Etsy is flooded with drop shippers selling AliExpress stuff

papalonian,

Really? Damn, that sucks. Edited my comment.

Chobbes,

It’s egregious too. They all pretend it’s handmade crafts… that AliExpress happens to have exact copies of for a tenth of the price.

wren,
@wren@sopuli.xyz avatar

It’s such a shame really, because there are really cool independent sellers with some awesome handmade / hard to find vintage stuff, but they’re drowned out by drop shippers (who wouldn’t even be able to sell anything on there if people knew that same item was available through aliexpress without the 100x markup)

StereoTrespasser,

Yea just to pile on here, the bulk of Etsy is people simply repackaging items at a higher price. It’s a total shit show now.

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