• 2 Posts
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: September 21st, 2023

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  • Boy, I’m real hesitant to go to HR. May as well ask to be fired.

    It really depends on the business, culture, climate. The better places I’ve worked, this kind of interest is genuine, an attempt to foster better relationships at work. Of course, some people are just nosey Nellies…

    Without knowing the environment and culture (and the questions), it’s hard to say what to do.

    Best I can say is to make it clear you like to keep your work and private life well separated.

    Also OP, if someone else feels insulted, that’s on them. They’ve chosen to feel insulted. Besides, how do you know she feels insulted? If she’s communicating that, then she’s being manipulative, using “emotional blackmail”. Look, I’m not responsible for how you choose to feel, that’s on you.

    One trick I’ve used with people who continue with questions is to respond with a non-sequiter, something jarring, and use it all the time, repeatedly. Something like “how about the weather”, or “how about those <insert local sports team>”. Make it your catch phrase for when people continue to pry, and don’t be afraid to repeat it. Keep in mind tone matters, so say it like you mean it, like you walked in on Monday after a team did well, or got their asses beat. You don’t even have to like the sport or the team, in fact it’s kind of funny if you don’t like them.

    It’s a bit of re-framing the conversation, while also communicating you aren’t interested in the subject, without being an ass. And if anyone complains, well, you were just talking about a sports team.


  • Circling back around, I do feel like not all hope is currently lost.

    My own contradiction: I feel pretty cynical about it, and yet I’m working on my own solutions for my family and friends. Part of me thinks it’s pointless, but I refuse to give in completely.

    I already try to use better comms, minimize the data my phone shares (setting up a de-googled pixel now), and have always avoided most social media (never been on FB/Twitter, etc, as in never even gone to the websites).



  • Be the change you want to see.

    Since people won’t (for example) switch to privacy-respecting comm apps just because I ask them too, I’m building my own self-hosted box that I can duplicate for my family and friends.

    My goal is to provide them with a single box solution for DNS filtering (PiHole), media server (including auto disc conversion and sharing between boxes), local backup (which will replicate encrypted backups to the other boxes similar to what Crashplan Personal did), phone backup and management (MDM and file management from PC), image and file sharing (something like Facebook for family only), instant messaging (most likely XMPP), etc, etc.

    Yes, it’s a pretty bold plan, but my family and friends are tech illiterate, so if I want to see an improvement in privacy for myself and them, it’s on me to do it, and make it attractive for them.