recollecters: (Default)
Recollé Mods ([personal profile] recollecters) wrote in [community profile] retrospec2017-04-01 08:59 pm

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Greetings, Users. Our system may be experiencing some residual glitches from a recent network malfunction. Our technical team is working on getting these issues under control. Please direct any concerns in the meantime to the HR department at humanresources@retrospec.com.

Our staff has furthermore noticed a significant increase in tags and trends for #aprilfools and #pranks. Keep on your toes and be certain to tag your best tricks for Retrospec™!

Please feel free to use this post as a network mingle. Every toplevel can be considered a new post, and threadjacking is permitted. No NPC response will be given. Any emails sent to the HR department will be returned with a failure to send notification, and will furthermore automatically be posted to the Retrospec network. Oops?

Characters who have been in game for one month will find they can now change their profile pictures.

Glitches will be in effect until the 15th and may include:
-Usernames changing to a cat, dog, or bird pun.
-The Retrospec application being changed into a neon color + animal theme of some variety.
-Notifications going off at random and being unable to be turned off.
-Various "special effects" crossing the screens when people comment.
-Users having to beat a level of pac-man to access the application, and then being made to beat a new level every hour to keep using the application.
-Thomas the Tank Engine memes being sent to users every hour for some reason.
-Profile pictures being replaced by pictures of rabbits and easter eggs.
-New creepy pasta stories appearing upon log-in, to be forwarded to someone before the app can continue to be used
-Parental lock and auto-correct on cursing (i.e. fuck -> duck)
-A parade of pixel Chocobos or dancing fruit scrolling across the screen after each comment posted
notyourutopian: (Frightened and Surprised)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-05 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Elliecat Well, that and where everyone plays their phone games and reads their spam.
Elliecat I don't really get the value of unplugging thing.
Elliecat What do I gain exactly?
standalonehuman: (TogusaTalk2)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-05 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa It's in the learning of who you are in the absence of everyone else. The philosophy goes that the self can become better realized without the viewpoints of everyone else.
Hitori Togusa The ways that society and culture shape your world view and shape the world's view of you, it can get very overwhelming, and it's easy to get caught up in the information around you, instead of getting to know the self. Things get simpler when you're narrowing your perspective.
Hitori Togusa Which is all great and wonderful on paper. Paints a pretty picture of sitting underneath the lotus tree.
Hitori Togusa But the absence of other people also lets you fall into self-delusion if you are in isolation too long. It takes a strong spirit to be able to hold the mirror up to themselves and see something accurate. The theory is that with the absence of others, the picture is more accurate. I think those thinkers are cutting short the viewpoints of others. There is value in what others see, there is self-knowledge to be learned in how you interact with other people.
Hitori Togusa Now, I'm definitely NOT saying that someone else's perspective is necessarily a true one. But to not take into account another source of potentially valuable information? To cut yourself off and not even let it in? That's the mistake that leads to self-delusion.
notyourutopian: (Resigned)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-06 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
Elliecat It also all sounds really lonely.
Elliecat I'm not saying there isn't some merit to self-examination but.
Elliecat That seriously just sounds lonely.
standalonehuman: (TogusaHunh)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-06 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa I'll agree with you there.
Hitori Togusa ...How'd we even get on this?
Hitori Togusa Oh, right, the need for connectedness is easier to fulfill thanks to the internet, so it's hard to ignore the net entirely. Retrospec might be taking advantage of that, it's not just to do with the fact that they're irritating and shocking us into continuing the use the app.
notyourutopian: Do not take! (Distant and considering.)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-07 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
Elliecat Well, shocking us, and installing it on everything.
Elliecat There's an app on my smart tv even.
Elliecat It doesn't raelly work though, so it's not any different from the rest of my tv apps.
standalonehuman: (TogusaUghWomen)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-08 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa We're back on my question of how it's following us. As if it knows who we are and can jump to any device we're using, or even switch users when the active person switches, without a log in or fingerprint or anything.

Hitori Togusa .....How would that even work on a smart TV, though, does the TV turn itself on when you're not using the app now?
notyourutopian: Do not take! (Distant and considering.)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-09 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
Elliecat Tracking cookies only go so far. This would have to be something almost personal. Physical.
Elliecat When I turn the TV on it tries to default to the app. But the app doesn't actually work, so it just goes back to netflix.
standalonehuman: (TogusaThoughtful2)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-09 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa Are you familiar with the concept of a data ghost?
Hitori Togusa It's the idea that there's something inherent to the user that will follow you, no matter how much you try to hide your behavior or screen name, the individuality of the self that'll still come through over the net.
notyourutopian: (Haunted...)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-10 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
Elliecat ...Nope, never heard of it.
Elliecat Like...a fingerprint?
Elliecat But in a virtual space?
standalonehuman: (TogusaThoughtful)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-10 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa Closer to the soul, the way it's talked about.
Hitori Togusa But, like a fingerprint, it can be used to identify someone in digital space, when nothing else works.
Hitori Togusa Some people, they spend too much time in the net, might need it to identify themselves. Which brings us back to the idea of unplugging and self-knowledge.
notyourutopian: Do not take! (Distant and considering.)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-10 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
Elliecat A virtual soul.
Elliecat That's an awfully big stretch, don't you think?
standalonehuman: (TogusaTalk2)

Welcome to GitS

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-10 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa Yes, but if Retrospec has figured out a way to measure a construct like that?
Hitori Togusa Your smart TV can figure out that it's you in the room without you even touching it. Retrospec always knows who the user is...even if they can't get our names right.
notyourutopian: Do not take! (Just moving along.)

It's a lovely place. Very confusing.

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-10 12:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Elliecat Or there's a camera in my TV for skype that they figured out how to turn on.
standalonehuman: (TogusaPonder)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-10 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa They got tired of the video game systems spying on you, so the manufacturers just jumped straight to putting the camera in the TV?
Hitori Togusa Crossing that off my Christmas list.
Hitori Togusa Which is easier, because we know that Retrospec is spying on us through our phone cameras and microphones thanks to those videos that went up last month. If they had enough footage and voice samples to put those together?
notyourutopian: (Big Sister is Watching)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-11 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
Elliecat I think. I haven't really checked honestly. There's a camera in everything anymore.
Elliecat That's the thing though, the easiest solution is that they're just watching us through our stuff.
Elliecat Not tracking our digital soul.
standalonehuman: (TogusaConcerned)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-13 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa To be clear, your theory is far more likely and easier to prove.
Hitori Togusa We're back on the question of why, which we can't answer until we can physically find one of our overlords.
Hitori Togusa So what to do in the meantime? We've got a lovely platform for communication that we don't know why it was built, so what do we use it for, instead?
Edited (d'oh) 2017-04-13 02:47 (UTC)
notyourutopian: (Default)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-19 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Elliecat I'm not sure occam's razor applies to conspiracy theories.
Elliecat All I've been doing so far is just asking people to tell me if they figure anything out.
Elliecat Or find anything weird.
Elliecat Knowing is half the battle and all that.

[ooc: Sorry for the delay, I was on vacation.]
standalonehuman: (TogusaThoughtful)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-19 12:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa I mean, that's great and all but we can do something else with this.
Hitori Togusa However they have their network set up? This thing was still running during the blackout last month.
Hitori Togusa And we have enough other police officers on here. We've got the makings for almost a back up emergency network. Not to give preferential treatment to the people that have the app, but if everybody on here is willing to keep an eye out for people that don't have access when things are going wrong in the city?
notyourutopian: (Frustrated)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-20 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
Elliecat You could always ask if they'd do that.
Elliecat Though I'm not sure I like the idea of relying on this...
standalonehuman: (TogusaPonder2)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-20 02:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa Maybe not relying...
Hitori Togusa Hmm. This needs a better conceptualization before I can go to anybody with this.
Hitori Togusa Because the problem is the app's unreliability? Sometimes messages still don't go where they're supposed to?
notyourutopian: (Determined)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-21 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
Elliecat And for all we know it will shut off as suddenly as it turned on.
Elliecat You're probably better off just creating a phone chain.
Elliecat And getting people to install landlines.
Elliecat They work even when the power is out.
standalonehuman: (TogusaLaugh)

[personal profile] standalonehuman 2017-04-21 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Hitori Togusa There we go, there's their real plan. Force everyone to take a step back technologically.
Hitori Togusa Retrospec probably owns what's left of all the old Bell stocks. Make the cell phones too annoying to use, get us all to switch back to landlines.
notyourutopian: Do not take! (Distant and considering.)

[personal profile] notyourutopian 2017-04-21 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Elliecat It's not a bad backup plan though.
Elliecat There's copper phone wire everywhere. Those phones will work for decades.