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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: November 2nd, 2024

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  • If a device relies on any kind of external service to initially set up or function thereafter, do not buy. Regardless of brand.

    Or accept that it has a finite lifespan that you cannot control. It’s not a matter of if the rug will get pulled, but when.

    There is a grey area for things that can be reflashed or rebrained, but I prefer to not rely on this. Local access methods like ZigBee, Z-Wave and 433Mhz are immune to this kind of enshittification by design. Even WiFi devices can fit in here, with appropriate restrictions in place.

    An acceptable middle-ground would be for EOL devices to be offered (with a big disclaimer) a final update that removes the reliance on the service but retains the core function. That’s a pipe dream though.


  • Sorry, should have been clear. Lethal allergen tour = bad. Banning completely = also bad.

    My main point was that there is a line between discomfort and danger. That line can move based on the situation, so it is awkward to abstract without getting down to specifics.

    If say 5% of the population suddenly developed a tendency to go into anaphylactic shock on exposure to vanilla, then you could easily see it disappearing from fragrances altogether and becoming a non-problem in that regard. Yet it would still have culinary use and join many friends on the bolded ingredient lists on food.

    There is a turnover point (that I cannot explicitly define) where the onus is on the afflicted to ensure their own safety, rather than the population at large going out of their way to ensure it.

    I am fortunate to have no issues like this. In 5% Vanilla-Death-Land, the smell of the stuff would still give me pause, as I probably know someone who could well die from the idiot that just walked in the door honking of it.

    If the same person instead just brought in a vanilla milkshake, I probably wouldn’t bat an eye.