2024 spring (summer) cleaning

Hey.

So, the website has been abandoned for a little bit.

I decided to re-visit certain aspects of it and make it, as modern companies like to say, "more streamlined and clean". I tried to make sure it looks slightly better from mobile (for no particular reason) and moved a few things around. Featured content that used to be on the main page is now in the "Gallery" section, which I think is appropriate.

I could've moved it to "Download", but I wanted the "Download" section to stay on the lighter side. I think that you expect to load lots of media and slideshows when you click on "Gallery", but not when you go to "Download".

However, you may not like the "new design", because just like all of those companies, I cut down a feature:

You can't contact me through e-mail anymore.

TLDR; I'm unhappy with the services I can choose from, run into another issue with the existing provider and made the decision that there's no reason to keep the e-mail form up. Contact me through Discord.

---- The long version:

If you've been here long enough, you know that I already changed my "contact" e-mail address two or three times (even I don't remember).

First it was because I didn't like the name I picked.

Second time - due to sanctions. I never explained in detail why, so here's it is: GoDaddy sanctioned everything russian, so I had to buy out the domain name of ddsworkshop dot net and move it to a russian provider (that takes a sh*t ton of money unlike GoDaddy every year).

I did not expect Zoho (which I used for my "contact" e-mail) to continue to work with russian users as well. I didn't have the trust; and Zoho and GoDaddy were tied together to make it worse. It was easier for me to create a new address on a different service after the domain migration.

I created the new e-mail address on Yandex, as it proved relatively stable. I made the choice with the idea of, potentially, all services except "russian" ones (we have two) being unavailable to me.

That also solved the issue of me hosting my files and backing them up (I already lost a significant amount of my data on the old hard drive, if you know you know)

However, if you ever thought Google had undergone "enshittification", you haven't seen Yandex.

I understand that everything costs money, and data = $$$, but I draw the line on my data being manipulated without my consent.

Yandex associated my payment information from ddsworkshop account with my personal banking/official services account and the info from there, for "my convenience" and even though no, I did not link them and no I didn't tell anyone nor did I agree to it. In addition, you can only request the deletion of all of your data only when deleting an account (imagine that).

There were other *things*, but they're all in the same vein: Yandex can't be trusted AT ALL. Big surprise, I know. /s

So I decided, instead of making another shitty choice, to not make it at all. The amount of e-mail I got since 2020 to today (2024) is decreasing rapidly. If making a bad choice was somewhat requested before, I did not hear any requests about it nowadays.

The majority of people prefer to contact via Nexus or through Discord. I urge you to contact me via Discord.

My Discord server's verification level is set to "unrestricted". It will not change unless Discord changes it.

You can create a throwaway account and ask me whatever you want and then nuke it. Users that have been inactive for 30+ days are removed, so the server will "forget" about you after a time.

I will not enable phone verification "because bots" because it's bullshit. I'd rather deal with an occasional bot. Please just @ me if there's spam, as people often do.

Giving your phone number to a company is NOT safe. It only serves to reveal information about yourself online. DO NOT GIVE A COMPANY YOUR PHONE NUMBER!

If you have to do that, buy a prepaid one with cash or pay for a Skype number, or Google voice (since you probably have that ability, unlike me).

When paying online, use services like privacy dot com (it's not an ad, it's an example) and throwaway digital cards that you can re-create (in digital wallets) when you need them.

These are your №1 tips for actually protecting your data. Turning a switch in your phone-verified Google (or Discord account) will NOT stop Google from collecting info about you.

Just don't give them reliable information. If you want to use modern websites and modern infostructure, you'll always have to give "something". You don't have to lie, but you don't have to provide them with something reliable.

Thank you for coming to my privacy TED Talk.

So, as you can see, I have opinions about privacy and security. Hence what Yandex did crosses my invisible line.

---- End of long version.

All that also means I will try to move away from their Yandex.Disk service and mostly storing my mods on ShareMods. ShareMods, despite being fed by ads, and me only making about ~30USD since 2017 total (yes, total), does not want my data, and offers unlimited storage.

I will change how the "download" section looks soon as well.

While I'm at it I'll fix the inconsistencies in how "credits" look, too. If it bothered your perfectionist soul, please know that I'm aware of it myself.

I'm thinking of publishing a few ancient mods (I'm not proud of them or want to support them, but for preservation's sake I'm considering) and a maybe few resources.

Have a good *time of day*.