I Was The Minimalist Computer User In The Early 2000s. Give Me More Webpage Real Estate, Please. Minimal

I was the minimalist computer user in the early 2000s. Give me more webpage real estate, please. Minimal toolbars. But my parents loaded every browser bar known to man, like they were going to actually use them or something. Such a pain visiting home from college and having 1/3 of the screen as actual usable space.

Yes, my parents' desktop was similarly cluttered.

another internet thing kids wont experience is toolbar stacking:

for real, if you see a fic that seems abandoned but you really want to see if it might be completed

i would genuinely suggest not mentioning the fact its abandoned at all. instead, just leave the most effusive comment you can. tell the author specifically what you liked. if they are in a position they might continue it, you might remind them what they liked about the story, and thus maybe revive it.

that is probably your best bet to get a story finished, much more than asking “hey is this abandoned” or asking for it to be continued.

Anagram Poetry - Hero of Ferelden

Someone on Reddit ran "The Hero of Ferelden" through an anagram solver and posted a bunch of the results. A lot of it sounded very poetic, so here's me cherry-picking the lines I liked best and turning them into actual poetry. Enjoy!

The Hero of Ferelden

Throne-offered heel Often freeholder, he. The red elf free. Oh no. There, hold off Renee.

He often fed her lore, Left horned foe here, Then offered her Leo. No elf fed her the roe.

Oh, let her offer Eden 'Fore hero-end he felt, Note led her off here.

Hereon the elder off, Done here, for he left.

How do you deal with hecklers? Do you ignore them, do you take their advice?

Brandon Sanderson: So, it depends. Hecklers, I ignore. Criticism, I don't. I am lucky in that I have a team, and I, these days, have my team watch. Like, "You read the one-star reviews. Tell me if there are things popping up that I need to pay attention to," and things like that. Reading one-star reviews is generally a bad experience, but reading three-star reviews is usually a really handy experience for you to do. That's what you're looking for, those three-stars, the people that could have loved the book-- and if you give it three stars, you liked it, but there were things that bugged you.

And if you start seeing themes like that pop up, try to address them.

But also understand that art is about taste. Every type of art. And you are going to write things that are the right piece of art, but that somebody doesn't like. Just like some people don't like my favorite food. Some people hate it. I like mac and cheese, other people hate it. I have a friend who hates ice cream. I'm like, "What? Who hates ice cream?" But he hates ice cream. It's okay.

So, learn to separate taste from things that are actually skill level problems. And as you're a new writer, in particular, focusing on craft, just practicing, is more important than the feedback, often, on your first few books. 'Cause you'll know. You'll figure it out. Your first couple books, you'll be like, "They don't have to tell me; I know what parts are not working." But you can't get better at that until you write them.

I didn't get to play video games that much during my youth/teen years (family couldn't really afford a game console, and my mom didn't want to get one anyway, so I had to mooch off of my teenage uncle's instead). But here's five anyway, dipping into my early 20s when I was able to buy my own consoles.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (youth)

Super Mario Bros. (youth)

Sonic Adventure 2 (20s)

Grandia II (20s)

Final Fantasy IX (20s)

I did most of my video game branching out in my late 20s/throughout my 30s, and honestly my favorites are mostly from that period rather than the early years, but Sonic 2 will forever be one of the more formative games I've played (it was—and still is—my first fandom).