Claire Ryan Profile picture
Jul 21, 2020 8 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Feel like I need to signal boost this in solidarity, so here’s the info, writing friends.

This is a game company who just let all their writers go because said writers tried to collectively bargain for better wages.
From what I’m reading, Voltage USA (company who makes Lovestruck the app) hired their writing staff of 21 as freelance contractors under terms that are pretty blatantly disguised as employees without benefits, worked them half to death, and paid them shit wages.
Shit wages = half of industry standard, apparently, and these are mostly folks writing #ownvoices LGBTQ+ content. Looks like that was Loveswept’s niche.

Anyway the writers decided to unionize and bargain for better pay, benefits, etc, as you do. Shoutout to @VOW_Together
In response, Voltage USA decided to try to negotiate individually, which the writers refused.

Voltage USA basically said nooope and kicked all the writers to the curb because they don’t want to recognize @VOW_Together as a real union.
This is all kinds of bullshit and, far as I can tell, breaks a couple of different labour laws in the US. Voltage USA is based in SF so they might have a lawsuit in their future as well - for pretending the writers are contractors when they’re clearly treated like employees...
...and for union-busting. Doesn’t matter that they think @VOW_Together isn’t a union. Collective action is collective action.

Anyway I think all of us in Romancelandia and the Genre Empire should support our fellow game writers
The game industry is a colossal clusterfuck of this kind of thing (PS follow @JimSterling for more on c-triple-AAApitalism) and unionization IS coming no matter how much the companies squirm and flail against it.
Our support will helpfully make it happen faster and with less people getting hurt.

Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains and all that ✊ happy Tuesday everyone

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More from @aetherlev

Sep 2, 2021
I think maybe now is the time to talk about DDOS attacks, for everyone who's not techy, and how we can use them to perhaps hose the Texas anti-abortion law, a thread
So: DDOS = Distributed Denial Of Service.

Any website you visit sits on a tech stack that consists of servers, network connections, databases, that kind of thing. Each website is built with a certain level of traffic in mind.
It's best to envision this as a road leading to a business, let's say. The google.com homepage has a dedicated 20 lane highway, and a parking lot that can fit thousands of cars at the same time.

Your local pizza shop is off a side street and has maybe 3 spots.
Read 21 tweets
Sep 2, 2021
I went looking for info on the idiots who organized the anti-vax protest at VGH today. They're basically a bunch of nurses and former nurses who appear to have gone off the deep end into woo woo Gwyneth Paltrow GOOP nonsense.
We have, in turn:

- a former nurse who is now a "holistic nutritionist" and totally anti-vax, who is also against masks for no goddamn reason
- a former nurse who was fired from her job and whose license is now under investigation, who appears to think you can cure illness with positive thinking and "natural healing"
Read 9 tweets
Aug 21, 2021
PSA for this: how to poison a dataset 101

a.k.a. how to make a database admin want to murder you in your sleep, a thread
Okay so this is from my experience as a senior web dev who specializes in data processing and analysis.

I also did some anti-fraud work in online advertising back in the day
So I've seen some people enter reports for Ted Cruz or whoever and the important thing to know here is that this will not poison the dataset.

The dataset becomes worthless when the owner can't tell the difference between good and bad data.
Read 15 tweets
Aug 19, 2021
I swear, at this point I'm still on LinkedIn because the messages I get are HILARIOUS.

Case in point: some marketing guy inviting me to a seminar that will supposedly teach me about this new data analytics platform
It will apparently teach me how to create databases, run queries, and "receive actionable insights"

Whyyyy do these guys all sound the same
Like... Sir, I have written database layers for everything from MySQL to Neo4j to ElasticSearch, could you please describe how yours is different and why I should use it as opposed to any of the many, many tools I already know
Read 6 tweets
Jan 11, 2021
Right, I did some reading and here’s what likely happened with Parler. Lots of crossed wires here.
First up: someone noticed that Parler uses sequential integers in the API endpoint to get content.

An API endpoint is just a URL with a value added onto the end that tells the system what you want to get back.
Using sequential integers means that a hacker can set up an automated script to start at 1 and count up, trying API calls over and over again, to get back content from Parler.
Read 10 tweets
Jan 8, 2021
Okay something I’ve been thinking about this morning: WTF was the actual intention of the MAGAts who stormed the Capitol building?
There’s all these people on Reddit/here saying that this was an organized coup. And TBH I keep thinking that “organized” is a strong word. 90% of them had no aim other than showing up and shouting.

The other 10% are the ones that should worry everyone.
So Trump does his stupid rally, having fired up the MAGAts for actual months, then says they should march on the Capitol and of course they do, then sympathizers among the security forces let them through to the building itself.
Read 22 tweets

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