Been a few minutes since I made a blog post here. WARNING some graphic topics will be discussed in here, including blood, and other bodily functions.

Some of that is my disinterest in typing. In the past 5 years or so, I really have become a lot less motivated to type out long form content. Some of it is distractions. I have a game I play a lot, and a couple other online things I would rather do than post basic life updates.... I often even find it draining to do business blogs.

But this last month (February primarily, but the start of March wasnt amazing either) has made me at least get into the mood to do this specific blog. I had 1 of the worst months of my life, and possibly the worst.

Before this past month, I had 2 worst months contenders, 1 was when the only adult relationship I had ended, and it overlapped with a couple at home problems & a business hiccup. Comparatively it seems minor, but the break up really hit me hard, I still have some bitterness over it. The additional problems were just "icing on the cake" situations. The other worst contender, is the one I generally look back on as the worst. Also, a February/March time frame coincidentally. That was when my mother passed away from a heart attack on one of the coldest nights in several years, after out landlord turned off the heat, power & water in a fight with us (mainly me) over rent. I was in a legal fight with my landlord, one that we would go to rental court over just 5 days after my mothers death. The incompetent fucking loser that the government incompetently hired to hear our case refused to accept any of the records I submitted (a large portion of which my mother helped me compile) because I had the audacity to be 1 day late...... that day that I filed my papers..... was 2 days after my mothers death. The cut off for my papers to be in was literally the day after my mother had died. Because of this, I was forced to give up our dog & 3 cats, and I essentially became homeless for a few weeks. On top of all that, with no real place to sleep normally, I was physically exhausted, and after a meeting with the government to try & get help, which they denied despite notes from two different Doctors stating I was eligible for assistance, I fell asleep at the library, and had my bag stolen, with about $3000 worth of merchandise in it, including about $700 worth of items that had already been sold on eBay. This all happened in a 4-6 week span.

Fast forward to February of 2024, and the first few days of March 2024. February started off with me having a very mild pulled muscle feeling in my left pectoral area. I was using that arm a lot because I have tendinitis in the right shoulder, so I just thought I had overworked it. On February 3rd, it felt slightly worse, but still not "see a Doctor" bad. If the first few days was on a scale of 0 to 10 for pain, it was like 0.5, and now it was like a 1.5 to 2.0. I decided I would go out for a walk & get some fresh air & that would help. I couldnt have been much more wrong. Two blocks into that walk, I was very winded...... not something I ever had been before. While I am kind of lazy, and not a consumer of the best diet, I was still in my mind, in decent shape. I was already walking to a place I was going to eat before really getting into the walk, so I continued on there with the thought of "if I just eat something, I'll feel better". That didnt happen, during the meal I even felt off just eating. When I was done, I didnt feel better, and decided I need to cut my plans short. Instead of going on a big walk that would contain a live chat, I opted to cut it considerably shorter. I took the skytrain to a place that was only about 12-15 blocks away. A distance I would usually just walk. When I got there, I felt "ok", did a youtube short instead, and walked home. On the walk home I felt a bit winded, but not as bad as earlier. I got home, completely exhausted going up the 44 stair walk up to my floor...... something I only had ever experienced on days when I was carrying far too many bags of groceries, I was carrying nothing this time. I laid down, had a nap, woke up at maybe 6 PM, went on the computer & as my time on the computer wore on, I again felt tired just sitting there. I then decided I probably should go get this checked out. At first I thought about going to the walk in clinic the next day.....but as time went on, I noticed it wasnt getting better, and moved towards just going to the hospital which is only 4 blocks away & just getting it checked out. So about 8:30 PM, I headed over there, on the walk I mostly felt okay..... till I got stopped at a light & I realized I was gasping for air. I made it to the hospital & checked in.

After I told them my symptoms, I was told to go into the waiting room....which didnt shock me, and I expected to be there for 45-90 minutes, but thats not what happened. Instead a nurse called me over immediately (I sat down for maybe 20 seconds), did blood work, and she then told me to go back to the waiting area & I'd get called soon..... I didnt even get to  my seat. This time a Doctor came over, he asked a lot of questions, and told me I was going to go for some test that I forgot the name of.....but he did say to me the words I wasnt expecting, but also was not shocked to hear. He told me, without having done the test yet, he suspected I was having an active heart attack. He said it very calmly to me, but with a serious tone, and I acknowledged what he said. I never panicked over hearing it. A little surprise, but based off my families history, it wasnt a shock to hear. They did whatever the test was, then I was put in a private waiting room, with a personal nurse to keep an eye on me, till the could take me to my next stop. They rushed me in to do a procedure on my heart, where they put a stent in on 1 of my arteries that had an 80% blockage. While in there they found 3 others with partial blockages as well. When they told me about it later, and I asked about them, I was assured that where they are, most people can live long lives with those types of blockages if they are just living a safer lifestyle.

From the time I checked in, to the time I was put in my own room to recover was about 3 hours. Next couple days was full of checking my vitals, and taking blood. But after less than 3 days from the time I checked in, I was discharged, with a pile of new recommendations to follow.

The heart attack, believe it or not, was not the scariest thing the month would have to offer. After getting out, I was weaker than usual, and pretty fatigued. I was told to not exert much energy for a few days, and to use my right arm as little as possible for a while.....which was already easy for me because of the tendinitis. My time on the outside would be short lived. A day less than two weeks after getting out of the hospital, I went right back. This time, with a bleeding issue. WARNING - discussions from here on out will include topics that may make some people uncomfortable, including blood/bleeding, and bodily functions.
It started with me waking up at 4 AM feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom. I went for what i expected was going to be a regular bowel movement. After I wiped myself, I noticed the tissue had a slight reddish tinge on it. At the time I thought "I should keep an eye out on that", disposed of it in the toilet & flushed it. I then attempted to get up from the there, I instantly felt dizzy, weak in the legs, & light headed, and had the common sense to just get to the ground, so I didnt end up falling to the ground. I crawled out of the bathroom into the hallway, hoping someone would come by. I then threw up, and while I was vomiting I felt more come out the back end, so I crawled my way back to the toilet. This time it was a flood of almost entirely blood from my butt again. Now panicked, I crawled back out, hoping someone would come by, as I was afraid to stand up without someone there to keep an eye on me. Thankfully the night staff person just happened to come by while I was dealing with all this (it was 4 AM so odds of someone coming by were a bit low), and helped me get to my room to call 911, and stayed with me till the ambulance showed up. From there, I experienced my first ambulance ride since being a kid. I had the sense to ask them to get my pants & an extra shirt out of my room before we left, and had them lock my door. At the hospital, I started off in the emergency ward first for a few hours, they checked my vitals, took blood, but didnt have any theories on what made me bleed so much.

I was eventually moved to a different ward which I learned is for patients with prior heart issues. That would be my home for the next 18 days. From there, I continued with the bleeding issue for about 10-11 days. But just from my butt..... most of the time. There would be small breaks in between where there was no bleeding for a day or so, and it seemed things were going better, in fact two different times, there was talks on me being discharged in 2-3 days, only to have massive setbacks that including more full on blood discharge from below, and the addition of vomiting up blood as well. Three times I vomited there, twice with blood. First time, I went to the washroom in the room I was in, and while I was on the toilet, I realized I was very light headed, and felt like I was going to puke, so I pulled the emergency cord, and proceeded to vomit several times into the large garbage bucket that thankfully was in the washroom. Eventually the staff got me from there to my bed, and took care of me, and within an hour, I felt fine. The other time I was vomiting while I was passed out. I had used the commode they put in my room after the washroom vomiting incident, and while I was on it, I passed out, and came to in mid vomit. I dont know how long I was out, I know it wasnt long, somewhere between 5 & 20 seconds. But still a wild & scary experience when you come to mid hurl. Fortunately, a top notch team of nurses were on it immediately & got me thru the experience. All this blood loss had its toll on me. While I was in there, I had 7 blood transfusions, and even with those, my hemoglobin levels were constantly lower than the Doctors were happy with. Over the majority of the 18 days, they tested me 12 times (11 for the bleeding... 1 for a cough & fever I had contracted there right about the time the bleeding stopped being a problem), including multiple CT scans, multiple endoscopies, multiple colonoscopies, and a couple other tests I dont even know what they were called..... including 1 where I swallowed a camera & had to carry around a machine with me for the majority of a day while it photographed my stomach & colon. All of those tests brought back 0 results on where the bleed came from. It eventually went away on its own, and sure enough right from the beginning, 1 of the paramedics in the ambulance said straight up that a lot of times these things go away on their own, and theres never any answer on where it came from. Over the first few days, I was told that 2 or 3 more times, almost as if they knew their efforts would be futile.....but they still tried. Funny enough, they also did about 40 blood pulls from me..... which had to also have some overall impact on those low hemoglobin stats, as thats combined over a bag of blood....maybe 2? Those in itself were a challenge, as finding veins on me turned into an unfun challenge. On the first 4 to 5 days, the success rate was like 30-40%, almost every single person failed the first try, as they kept going to the same arm & in the elbow crease area, even when I told them everyone failed before them there. Eventually I just started telling them to try my hand, and they did, and for a little while that went okay....until it didnt. For the 40ish times they drew blood from me, I was probably poked 60+ times to get it. It was infuriating, because about 1/2 the time I'd tell them what wasnt working for others & what was, and they stubbornly ignored my advice & failed..... thus causing me more unneeded discomfort.

Eventually I was discharged when the team of Doctors agreed that me staying in there was starting to  do more harm than good at that point. All they ever had for answers to give me was, 1- one of the medications I was on for the heart attack, which was absolutely vital as well for the health of the stent, caused the bleed. They took me off it for a few days, but slowly put me back on it. Of course, I'm nervous taking it, but its essential.....so I basically have to deal with the possible serious side effect. 2- Even though they never found the source, they suspect it to be whats known as a diverticuli, which is a random lump that forms on the colon, and because its basically just stretching out the skin of the colon in that spot, makes it weak enough for a tear.

Once I was discharged, it was about 10 days before I had anything close to a moderate amount of energy. The first 4 or 5 days, even getting up to grab something 3 feet away could cause me to be exhausted for a few moments. I'm finally past that.....mostly (I still get that maybe once/twice a day)... as I now can go out for several hours at a time, and only have minimal exhaustion when I finally get home. I feel a lot of that comes to eating better, as the first few days I was eating a very small amount of food compared to what I used to, at the end of the day, I just didnt have a lot of calories to draw from. It still isnt all in the clear though. I still have to pace myself on what I put my energy into, I am still tired often & nap even more than the fairly frequently amount I previously did, and watch what I eat, and still will have to take these meds for at least a year.

After getting 7 blood transfusions, it is pretty important to me now to encourage those who are eligible, to donate blood. While for me, it was a case of being horribly unwell & better, many others, it is literally life or death. So here are places to sign up to donate.
Canadian Blood Services
American Red Cross
(United Kingdom) Give Blood
Australian Red Cross
Japanese Red Cross (in English) (in Japanese)
France (in English) (in French)
Some others I looked for, became more challenging than I expected.

Lastly, to the medical staff at St. Pauls Hospital, from BOTH stays, (with the exception of 1 nurse on Day 1 of the bleeding issue stay, who I very much think should be forced to retire. She was utterly unprofessional.) a massive thank you to all the Nurses, technicians, and Doctors involved. Even when I was frustrated with things I was told, you gave 110% to doing what you felt was best for me. Especially 10Xs as much thanks to the ones to came in with no time wasted to deal with the vomiting issues.

In closing, I fucking detest February, and not much of a fan of March either.

Two years ago, I introduced my first Photo Usage Policy Here. Ever since Twitter started allowing multiple pictures to be posted in a tweet, I have noticed traffic to my site had dropped, as fan sites would post all of my content without crediting, and more importantly leaving no reason for their followers to come there to see them on my site.

Compared to 2 years ago, when I posted this in my last photo usage policy ...
“I just went thru my analytics, and the numbers really back it up. Since they implemented this 4 years ago, ONLY ONE of my top 20 blog posts of all time on my site for total traffic, comes from the last 4 years. Despite my social media reach growing.
ONLY THREE single day individual post totals in that same time frame.”
...things have rebounded. Granted, some of that rebound is because of content that was here, such as the Crisis On Infinite Earths event, and some of it is on how Google relays info to people on their smart phones now, but the numbers have been almost universally better in the past two years. FOUR of my Top 20 all time blog posts are from this past 2 years. With a 5th just outside at 21st.

Again, 2 years ago, I said this...
“This year will be the 2nd consecutive year I have had the lowest traffic totals on my site since analytics were kept. This is despite the fact that several times this year, I had major spoilers to post from popular shows that were covered by major sites that discuss these shows.”
… well, 2019 had the highest traffic on my site since 2015, and the 4th highest year total. In 2020, even with the site essentially dormant for half a year because of the pandemic, and no news to report, the site had more traffic than 2017 & 2018.

While there are some out there that spitefully post my content BECAUSE of my rules (and they are often dealt with quickly by some platforms, while others are more incompetent *ahem twitter*), the general compliance I have seen over this past two years has been positive, and generally understanding. Youtubers & instagram fan pages have been generally good at understanding, and following the rules. While some pockets of twitter are also doing well. Because of these upticks in responsibility, and traffic, I am going to be revising the photo usage policy for SOME sites, as well as older content..... so pay attention to the rules below.
So, for materials posted on this site as of January 1, 2021 (until any point it is revised.. the newest version of any policy will always be in the right side of the page row.) here are the new rules for usage.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS (Twitter, instagram, facebook, tumblr etc.)

0 Total - Photos with watermarks removed on a public site (exceptions may be made if you ask me, AND get my permission. Mostly that will be for people wanting to do an avatar with it, but I will decide on a case by case basis. Any use BEFORE asking however, will be dealt with as theft. This will absolutely result in a take down notice through that platform, and perhaps legal ramifications.)
1 Total - Photos in whole or part with watermark still fully (not partially) displayed. No credit added. (This of course does NOT mean "per social media post", this means total from that blog post. I'll allow one. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for ALL of them.)
2 Total - Photos in whole or part with watermark still fully (not partially) displayed. Social media account credit given. (This of course, does NOT mean "per social media post". This means total from that specific blog post. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for ALL of them.)
4 Total – **NON-INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK SITES** Photos in whole or part with watermark still fully (not partially) displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from (aka - this sites specific blog post, NOT a social media post from me). (This of course, does NOT mean "per social media post". This means total images from that specific blog post. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them.)
6 Total - **THIS IS FOR INSTAGRAM, AND FACEBOOK ONLY (due to those sites efficiency at dealing with takedown notices, and the reduction in offenses, I will extend their usage a slight bit more)** Photos in whole or part with watermark still fully (not partially) displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from (aka - this sites specific blog post, NOT a social media post from me). (This of course, does NOT mean "per social media post". This means total images from that specific blog post. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them.)
UNLIMITED - This is ONLY for patrons to my Patreon account. You can register HERE.
Those who have completed a payment cycle (this takes place on the 1st of every month, regardless what day you register) may post any photos from the account on the social platform of their preference. DO NOT post photos that are only available from there (at least until they are also available to the public) until the 1st payment cycle has been completed.

NEWS/INFO/FAN WEBSITES
4 Total - Photos in whole or part with watermark still fully (not partially) displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from. (This means total images from that specific blog post may be used on your site ANYWHERE. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them, and perhaps legal ramifications.)

YOUTUBE VIDEO BLOGGERS

4 Total - Videos under 8 minutes in length - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from in the description & acknowledgement on screen, or verbally in the video to the site. (This means total images from that specific blog post may be used on your channel ANYWHERE. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them.)

8 Total - Videos over 8 minutes in length - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from in the description & acknowledgement on screen, or verbally in the video to the site. (This means total images from that specific blog post may be used on your channel ANYWHERE. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them.)

ANY CONTENT OLDER THAN 12 MONTHS FROM THE DATE IT WAS POSTED ON MY SITE IN MY BLOG SECTIONS – Effective January 1, 2021, if you post content older than 12 months from the release date on my site, I do not expect a Credit. There will also be no image limits. Feel free to credit if you like, but I no longer will expect it. Just dont remove the watermarks. If you are unsure when a piece of content was posted, feel free to ask. I will try & answer for you, but you can generally find that info in the top left corner of each blog post.

Of course, you may at any time ASK if you can use more for any reason.
As well, all photos are for sale, if you want them unwatermarked. I sell them for substantially less than any news agency does. When you buy photos from me, I do not put any limits on how many of the ones you buy you post, or where.

I feel some of these new loosening of restrictions will be helpful to many of you in expanding your own fan/business platforms. Thank you to the majority of you who have co-operated, and understood over these last couple years. These new extended limits, are because of you.

If you have ANY questions, as always, feel free to ask me in my contact form, or on whatever social media platform you see me on.

This is part of a series of blog posts I will be adding that were originally in my myspace blog that I saved before they deleted that portion of the site several years ago.

Original date: July 17, 2008

Current mood:pissed off

So, after just 6 (or was it 7?) months. I am no longer a customer of Virgin Mobile in Canada.
Why?

Quite simple really. They do not want customers.
Or at least that is how it comes across to me, a former one.
 
See, almost every month I have had to contact them about problems. Usually text based. Some months, it is about how the texts I send out are often not received by others. Ironically, this last week, it appears (although I will never know long term) they may have finally fixed that issue.
 
But the one that finally ended the relationship is one that had also been ongoing & I had been told two months ago "its been fixed". Text messages from the company at absurd hours to remind me of stupid things like "dont forget we will be taking $5 out of your account for text messages in 2 days". Like WTF? Do you really need to send me a text for every goddamn thing? More importantly, did you guys actually think 6 AM was a reasonable time to be sending these texts out?
Thats right, 6 AM!! in case you are not comprehending that, I will put it in more understandable times for some of you. 6:00 AM. 0600 hours. Take your pick.

I complained 3 or 4 times about this in the past, the last time (before this month) the customer service rep (I feel dirty even referring to them as such a thing) suggested "why don't you just turn your phone off at night?" WHAT?? Are you telling me I should be forced to turn my phone off at night, possibly miss important calls, JUST so your company wont fuck up & annoy me again????
Needless to say, I wasn't too interested in their wonderful proposal.
 
Last month, they managed to get it right somehow (considering every month prior they had not). I received the messages in the early afternoon. Much much more acceptable. Problem solved, right? Right? Well, of course not.
 
This month, I was very frustrated again & was ready to make a stance since I had not put more money on the phone & my plan would be running out soon. The texts I usually got around the 8th or 9th to remind me of the $5 on the 10th for text messages was never sent. Ironic, since I was planning to cancel my texting anyways, since it rarely worked. HOWEVER, they didn't completely fail me. 12:50 AM on the 13th (sorry army guys, I mean 0050 hours) they texted me to tell me they would be taking $5 out on the 10th?? WTF?? You are telling me this on the 13th?? Uhhh, umm. ok?? Fine, I was irate. I phoned them up only to find out they aren't working at 1 AM, they wouldn't be open till 10 AM. I went back to sleep, stirring & simmering in bed. Probably not long after I finally got to sleep. 3:43 AM ANOTHER FUCKING TEXT!!!!! Seriously. At quarter to 4 AM they felt compelled to remind me they would also be taking the money out for my actual phone service. Well, jokes on them, I don't have any $$ in there, because I was planning to argue with them anyways. But as you can guess, being woken up at 3:43 AM after just barely getting back to sleep put me in a sour mood that morning. I phoned them around 12 PM (1200 hours). When it was all said & done, the guy on the other end goes (paraphrasing) "I understand your anger, this isn't an ordinary problem, I am putting this thru right to the top". I was told it may take 24-48 hrs for a response. That was Sunday @ 1 PM (1300 hours).
 
FOUR OR FIVE calls to them later, I have not heard back from anyone. Not even so much as a cookie cutter "we are working on it, sorry for the delay". Yesterday, I they phoned while I was in a Rogers store. I was literally minutes from buying a new phone. The woman who answers convinced me to give them 1 more day to get back to me. She deserves a raise for actually trying. But, working for Virgin Mobile, I suspect she probably will get demoted because she actually gave customer service. In the end, I told her that I expect a response, even if its a nothing special response by 1 PM today. She said that was more than acceptable considering the issue. 1 PM came, 1 PM went. NOTHING!
 
So, I phoned them one more time. More or less to say goodbye. The guy I got assured me it was being dealt with. I assured him it was not, because if it was, I would have received some sort of interaction with them by now, and I had not. He tried to tell me that I am a valued customer. He claimed they cared. Yet, they showed no signs of such things. I felt unwanted. I ended my conversation with him by going "well, you can tell the people up top, that as far as I am concerned this case is closed. I am done with you guys. Bye". As I was hanging up, he was yammering on "sorry to hear that, thank you for calling.....". End.
 
For a company that holds approximately 600,000 of the approximately 17,000,000 cell customers in Canada. You would have assumed they MIGHT actually want to keep one of them. Surely they wouldn't abandon them. If anything they would have been bending over backwards to try & keep me.
 
Now, I know I wont deal with Telus ever. I am sure they are co-owned by satan. I cant deal with Bell, since I screwed up with them many eons ago. So, its Fido or Rogers, who ironically are the same company. I actually liked some of the things Fido seemed to offer from the pamphlets I read of theirs, and to top it off, no less than 3 of my friends have them already & all fido-to-fido calls are free. An added bonus. They were also the customer service award winners for 2007 in the cell phone industry in Canada. Perhaps THEY would care to have one more customer? I know one thing, they cant possibly do any worse than Virgin Mobile did.


UPDATE (added in 2019) - I ended up going with Rogers. Been with them now almost 11 years.... and while some mild frustrations have risen over the years, I have never been as angry with them as I was with Virgin. It is a mild shock to me to see Virgin is still even in business..... granted I think I have met like 1 person in the past 5 years who uses them.

I had planned a bigger event than what this is, but between Endgame & Game Of Thrones this past week, I got a bit sidetracked and ran out of time.

Still, there will be 12 items available to win.
TEN WILL BE GIVEN OUT (five most requested, and five random)!

The options are

- Brandon T. Jackson signed Tropic Thunder photo
- Rose McIver signed iZombie photo
- Justin Hartley signed Smallville photo
- Stephen Amell signed Arrow photo
- Joshua Jackson signed Fringe photo
- Noah Wyle signed Falling Skies photo
- Floriana Lima and Chyler Leigh duo signed Supergirl photo
- Jackson Rathbone signed Twilight photo
- Grant Gustin signed The Flash photo
- Lana Parrilla signed Once Upon A Time photo
- Misha Collins signed Supernatural photo
- Caity Lotz & Jes Macallan signed Legends Of Tomorrow photo

To win ANY of these items (and you can enter for each item, but you must make a separate post below, with a separate answer for each.), all you have to do is post below with a valid email address, Which prize you want, what you come to this site for most often, and tell me the title of 1 blog post from the site that you like (or at least read)

An example would be like this

Your name (email addresses are hidden from the public, but viewable to me)

- Prize actors name
- Reason you come here (ex. -  autograph selection/blog posts/tv awards/photos)
- Blog Post Name

That's it.

- One entry per post (as stated above, you can enter for more than 1 item).
- Additional entries can be earned by
Retweeting this tweet on Twitter,
or
Like or comment on this post on Facebook,
or
Comment on this post on Youtube.

Entries close at May 1, 2019 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

Winners will be announced MAY 2, 2019
Here is a gallery of items available.

Ever since Twitter started allowing multiple pictures to be posted in a tweet, I have noticed traffic to my site has dropped.

I just went thru my analytics, and the numbers really back it up. Since they implemented this 4 years ago, ONLY ONE of my top 20 blog posts of all time on my site for total traffic, comes from the last 4 years. Despite my social media reach growing.
ONLY THREE single day individual post totals in that same time frame.

This year will be the 2nd consecutive year I have had the lowest traffic totals on my site since analytics were kept. This is despite the fact that several times this year, I had major spoilers to post from popular shows that were covered by major sites that discuss these shows.

While some of that loss of viewership does fall on the shows having dwindling audiences, and 1 show ending, there is certainly more than enough evidence of the fact that I saw several major tweets with several of my pics posted this year of MY spoilers, WITHOUT LINKING TO THE BLOG POST, had retweet/like numbers in the 1000s to support that traffic is lost on my site, by photo spammers on twitter.

Because of this overuse of materials with no linking to the source material, I am implementing new usage guidelines for my posts for 2019.

If you are a site that uses my photos frequently, and do not credit to the originating source (THE BLOG POST - not just my social media handle of that specific platform).... be advised NOW, I will be petty over handing out takedown notices. Why should I do ALL the work, and you reap all the benefits?

In the past, I had a simple policy. Credit me, and you could use them long as you dont remove watermarks. Last year, I added in the stipulation that you could not use more than 4 photos. MANY twitter spammers saw that to mean "4 photos per post" and would frequently post the entirety of my blog post to their account through 4 photo per post posts. After several conversations with some of the worst offenders, many understood the ACTUAL guidelines, and respected that. However, I still have some, despite multiple requests to stop posting everything, resisting. Their logic was "I credited you, that is enough.". Which is not in fact the case.

When you post all of the photos, even if you post my social media handle as "credit" it does almost NOTHING for me. The click through rates for a "credit" to a social media account is pretty small. So imagine how small it is for them to click through, AND follow me for future updates, then translate those new followers to viewers of the site. The impact to my business for that type of "incentive" to allow you to use all of my work, is so laughably small it SHOULD be (and is, in some cases) considered theft.

Those who post a link to my actual blog post, but still use every photo I have. Guess what, there is not very much value in that either. It is most definitely better than a social media credit, but it is not driving a whole lot of traffic to the site. The click through rates for that are still sort of weak. Better than a social media account credit, but the traffic it SHOULD generate, to the reality is smaller than it was 5 years ago.

Twitter has created this platform where people think they just can get everything there.  Twitter has certainly helped grow my site. I probably owe 40% of my sites success to twitter in the early days. NOW, it might actually be a hindrance. Twitter seems eager to try and to squeeze out the very sites who provide them the content people post. Instagram, facebook, youtube, and I am sure if anyone still uses it now, tumblr as well, have all had an impact on this too. Twitter however, has crippled smaller websites who provide any type of media.

My average 1st day blog views for posts in
2011 - I averaged 2,004 views in 1st 24 hrs per post
2013 - It was up to 3,772 in the 1st 24 hrs.
2015 - A year after twitters 4 photo per tweet policy - 1,076 in 1st 24 hrs
2017 - (A few youtubers who credit things properly helped push this up) 1,424 in the 1st 24 hrs
2018 - It limps in at a mediocre 1,000 (1,000.1 if we are being precise) in the 1st 24 hrs.

Those numbers make very little sense when you consider some of the major posts I had up this year, and the amount of my material that was referenced, or used by larger sites in the genre of material most shows here cover.

I know a few sites, and youtubers have understood this, and been quite good at respecting my wishes on properly crediting my site. Those of you who have, you are possibly the only reason I still do this, as the financial value of doing it has diminished greatly. I dont charge for my content. Some ads pay a bit of the bills (you would cry if you knew how low it really is... spoiler alert, they did not even cover 1/2 of my website fees for the year.). But mostly, it is content I give you FOR FREE, that makes me nothing back. I post it to drive traffic to the parts of my site that DO make money for me. But with less eyeballs coming in, the time & effort of each post, is not paying off. So those of you who love my posts, you really SHOULD be thanking the few who promote my site when they use my material for keeping me motivated to keep going on with this stuff. If you love a post, re-post the link on your social media platforms.

This all brings me to ... what now? One thing is simple, the status quo can not continue. To generate more traffic, more limits must be put in place. That said, I know by doing that it will push some people away. It is a calculated risk I have considered. It is also NOT an across the board cut down. It will be tiered, with some increases for material to be used. I want people to still have the option to post some free content with minimal credit given. I am not opposed to that. What I am opposed to is the blatant over indulgence of some of posting everything.

Those of you who have followed my accounts for awhile know when I say this, I WILL try to enforce takedown notices as often as possible. There will be no more "well, they apparently didnt know because they saw the photos elsewhere first" tolerance. It is 2019, not 1994. People know how the internet works, people know that if something has a large tag saying "Canadagraphs" across it, maybe it comes from that place, and maybe I dont have the right to use it.... I should check". So often I see people say "they are just excited fans". So what? Does being a fan, or being excited mean you are void of responsibility? NO. It does not. Often it is not even an "excited fan" doing it, it is some person with an account with more followers than me, focused on gaining more followers to feed their ego as some type of "super source" for a celeb. I am done being their free crutch to becoming internet famous with some people in their fandom.

So, for materials posted on this site as of January 1, 2019 (until any point it is revised) here are the new rules for usage.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS (Twitter, instagram, facebook, tumblr etc.)

0 Total - Photos with watermarks removed on a public site (exceptions may be made if you ask me, AND get my permission. Mostly that will be for people wanting to do an avatar with it, but I will decide on a case by case basis. Any use BEFORE asking however, will be dealt with as theft. This will absolutely result in a take down notice through that platform, and perhaps legal ramifications.)
1 Total - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed. No credit added. (This of course does NOT mean "per social media post", this means total from that blog post. I'll allow one. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for ALL of them.)
2 Total - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed. Social media account credit given. (This of course, does NOT mean "per social media post". This means total from that specific blog post. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for ALL of them.)
4 Total - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from (aka - this sites specific blog post, NOT a social media post from me). (This of course, does NOT mean "per social media post". This means total images from that specific blog post. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them.)

NEWS/INFO/FAN WEBSITES
4 Total - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from. (This means total images from that specific blog post may be used on your site ANYWHERE. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them, and perhaps legal ramifications.)

YOUTUBE VIDEO BLOGGERS

2 Total - Videos under 5 minutes in length - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from in the description & acknowledgement on screen, or verbally in the video to the site. (This means total images from that specific blog post may be used on your channel ANYWHERE. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them.)

4 Total - Videos under 10 minutes in length - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from in the description & acknowledgement on screen, or verbally in the video to the site. (This means total images from that specific blog post may be used on your channel ANYWHERE. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them.)

6 Total - Videos over 10 minutes in length - Photos in whole or part with watermark still displayed with proper link to the original post the material is from in the description & acknowledgement on screen, or verbally in the video to the site. (This means total images from that specific blog post may be used on your channel ANYWHERE. Any attempt to circumvent that total will result in a take down notice for SOME or ALL of them.)

Of course, you may at any time ASK if you can use more for any reason.
As well, all photos are for sale, if you want them unwatermarked. I sell them for substantially less than any news agency does. When you buy photos from me, I do not put any limits on how many of the ones you buy you post, or where.

Hopefully these changes will not have to be enforced often. But my 25 odd years of experience with the internet has taught me, usually its users are resistant to change. Just know, if you are one of those unable, or more likely UNWILLING to change, I will simply enforce the change on you thru legal options.

Throughout my adult life, I have noticed many times, I can be pretty hypocritical. For anyone reading this who isnt a regular to my site, or my twitter, you might think "okay, why is this news?" It kind of is, because I do, very often, point out others hypocrisy. So I am even hypocritical about being a hypocrite. For those who DO follow me, and come to this site often, you surely have seen it in my 80 thousand plus tweets, or posts on this very site, where I might applaud someone, or something, only to weeks/months or later, oppose someone or something.

I am hypocritical on a lot of things. Some, like I said, it would be pretty easy for me to not be, others, I'd like to not be, but its a bit tougher, and other times I am, and not even apologetic for it, because I see valid reasons to be so.

Someone recently called me out in person for being so within minutes of me having a very different stance on the same subject.  They werent wrong. I conveniently cherry picked details for 1 argument that opposed something I arguing that directly opposed a differing viewpoint I had said at a different point in the discussion. What the matter is actually irrelevant. It wasnt a life or death issue. It was a TV show.

For a while now, I have been more self aware of my sometimes convenient changes on an issue. While I do TRY to stop, or at least minimize the frequency of doing so, I still do sometimes, occasionally knowingly, and more often unknowingly.

I still eat a substantial amount of beef, even though I know not just what health issues it can cause, but environmental issues it causes. While I do make more of an effort to eat chicken as an alternative to it, I still eat probably 3-6 beef related dishes a week. This is 1 I COULD change, but my lack of self control deems it moderately improbable to happen immediately. 

I constantly tell fans of entertainers/shows that what they want from an entertainer is wrong, idiotic, unhealthy & many more things. Yet, I too criticize entertainers when they dont meet minimum efforts that I feel are expectant of someone who decided to get into that field of employment. While I do feel justified in what I state on both sides of that issue, I do also acknowledge its hypocritical of me to tell others their expectations are illogical while I have expectations too.

I get angry at drivers all the time for breaking laws, or at the very least not being as safe as possible, when they are in an area pedestrians could be in.  Yet I cant recall a single time I have ever yelled at a pedestrian for casually jaywalking despite traffic having the right of way, or even if they dont have the right of way, just not making an effort to get out of a turning lane cross walk in enough time to let a car make its turn before traffic from other directions come. While I consider myself very efficient in crossing, I see many who do not give a FUCK how long they talk, and I am talking fully able bodied people, and yet, if a car were to do something that is inconveniencing pedestrians, I am on top of it.

I have, and surely still do on some level, objectified women. While I never (knowingly) do it to their faces, the fact is, I still see one that I deem attractive & break her down to her physical aspects more often than society as an average would probably deem appropriate. On the other hand, I am always outraged when I hear of men, especially those of positions of power, blatantly, or not so blatantly at times, doing the same. While the Me Too Movement has crushed that a lot, it hasnt eradicated it. I am aware I do it now, more than I was even a year ago. I also know its wrong.  Yet I still do it, I just also do it KNOWING I shouldnt. This is 1 of those instances of,

I constantly look for & use loopholes or flaws in a rule/law to help me get an advantage in a situation, even when I fully know, its intended meaning is to stop what I am trying to do. Yet, you guessed it, if someone does that to me, I am right there claiming thats not what that rule/law is about. While I think everyone does this often, I do think I do it MORE. 

I consume entertainment materials that are not officially licensed by the distributing platform I get it from. Of course, you guessed it, when someone uses photos or videos of mine without proper consent, I am right there making them take it down, or having the platform allowing it to be posted, remove it.

I have made people feel bad for no practical reason other than I disagreed with what they said. I would even go as far as to say, it could be labeled as bullied. Of course, you guessed it, when I see it happening to someone else (not so much me) that I dont feel deserves it, I am right there, calling the person(s) doing it out for doing similar things to what I do.