#annoyed and will probably delete this later

[primreaperstuff]

FYI, if you're on Mac, these instructions do not work. CoPilot cannot be disabled-- probably because if you're not on Windows, Microsoft can't use means outside of Office to get your data.

However, you can disable automatic updates and then install a version of Microsoft Office that does not have Copilot. Here's how:

Disable automatic updates (method 1):

Open any Microsoft Office software application.

Click on "Help" on the Mac menu bar.

This should open a drop-down menu which has an option labeled "Check for updates." Click it.

This should launch Microsoft AutoUpdater. On the window the pops up, uncheck the option to automatically check for and install updates.

Note that the AutoUpdater will still check for updates even after you've unchecked the option. However, it will not install any updates without you giving it the go-ahead. It is still super annoying to have a software nag you about updates you don't intend to install. If you don't want to deal with that, use method 2.

Disable automatic updates (method 2):

Open Finder.

Click on "Go" on the Mac menu bar.

This should open a drop-down menu which has an option labeled "Go to folder..." Click it.

In the dialogue box that pops up, paste "/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/" and press enter.

This should take you to the place where Microsoft stores its AutoUpdater application. There should be a folder labeled "MAU", "MAU2.0", or something else along those lines there. Open it.

When you open the folder, you should see an application named Microsoft AutoUpdater. Drag it into the Trash.

Right-click on the Trash icon. This should open a drop-down menu with an option labeled "Empty Trash." Click it and press "OK" when the computer prompts you to confirm the deletion. Microsoft AutoUpdater is gone!

A note: I don't know if another Microsoft software will attempt to reinstall AutoUpdater if it detects that the "MAU" or "MAU2.0" folder is missing. Thus, it's safer to leave that folder where it is and only delete the application within it. I also would not recommend pressing "Check for updates" after this on any Microsoft software.

Installing Microsoft Office pre-Copilot:

First, you'll need to see if this is necessary. Open the Microsoft Office software that you wish to disable Copilot on. On the Mac menu bar, there should be an option with the name of the software on it-- e.g. "Word," "Excel," or "Powerpoint." Click on this option.

This should open a drop-down menu which has an option labeled "About [name of software]". Click it.

This should open a window containing information about the version of the software. The last version of Microsoft Office that does not contain Copilot is 16.88 (from August 13, 2024). If you have 16.88 or earlier, you are all set and simply need to not update anything you don't want Copilot on.

If you have a later version, go to the Applications folder in Finder. Find all the Microsoft Office software that you do not want to use Copilot on, and drag them into the Trash. As of January 24, 2025, the software that use Copilot are Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.

Right-click on the Trash icon. This should open a drop-down menu with an option labeled "Empty Trash." Click it and press "OK" when the computer prompts you to confirm the deletion.

Now, go to this webpage: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

This page is official from Microsoft and contains a log of prior versions of Microsoft Office. Scroll until you see August 13, 2024 and download the software corresponding to that date. Any installation from before August 13, 2024 will work too, but I figure you probably want the latest version possible for security reasons.

Follow the install instructions for the software. You should be all set, although you can check the version listed under the "About [name of software]" thing if you're not sure.

Now, all you need to do is not update it! You have fired Copilot!

As a final note, Microsoft has done something rather scummy with its data management policies. Everybody who installs Microsoft Office is automatically opted into something called "connected experiences." Although it's not said outright in the descriptions, opting into connected experiences also opts you into sharing your data with Microsoft-- meaning that your data will still feed Copilot even if you don't use it. Even more scummily, a few useful features, such as autosaving to OneDrive, have been lumped in with connected experiences. However, I think users can still forgo them and have a good time. So here's how you opt out:

Do not grind my bones to make your bread:

Open one of the software in Microsoft Office. Any one will do.

Click on the name of the software in the Mac menu bar.

This should open a drop-down menu with an option labeled "Preferences...". Click on it.

This will open a window containing various configurations for the software. One of the options is labeled "Privacy." Click it.

You should see a paragraph about "connected experiences." Microsoft really tries to sell it to you here by tying it to cloud services and reminding you of a few useful things that got lumped under it. Underneath the sales pitch, there is a checkbox that reads "Turn on optional connected experiences." Uncheck that box.

You should be all set! You have opted out of being fed to Microsoft's bone-grinding machine!

Hey writers!

As of January 16, 2025, Microsoft has decided to automatically enable their AI service, CoPilot, on Word - even if you've previously turned off the service. They've also changed the process to disable it.

If you want to disable it again, go to:

Options -> CoPilot -> Uncheck "Enable CoPilot"

Hope this helps!

[stynamo]

Kind of annoyed by the echo chamber on here when you can just go look at the numbers. I sat up all night and watched the numbers roll in.

The big shift to the red everywhere was not because more people were voting for Trump. There was a demographic shift in who voted for Trump, which is concerning. But Trump actually got LESS votes than in 2020. The problem was people did not get their ass off of their couch to go vote for Harris. The Dems got 15 MILLION less votes than in 2020, which translates to a big red shift EVERYWHERE. Those 15 million less votes didn’t go to Trump, they just didn’t show up.

Y’all didn’t show up. And I’m very frustrated that you’re blaming Latinos or the zoomers that can’t even vote yet. If you didn’t vote, you don’t have the right to whimper and complain about this.

YOU cannot blame men of colour for this. YOU cannot blame your dumbass twitter feed. You didn’t go vote at all. And you know that. Don’t you???

[moodymisty]

I want to open requests again but also, I have like zero confidence to write anything at the moment.

I dunno i keep hearing people talk about how they hate when writers do this or hate that and this headcanon is the worst, everybody dunking on something, and I keep seeing it in my stuff. I just don't have much confidence in making anything that people aren't gonna find cringe and poorly made and miserable to read. Like why would I take all of your ideas when someone else can/will just do them a million times better then I ever could without all the stuff that makes my writing annoying to read.

I'm not looking for like sympathy or anything, I just wanted to give a warning if you don't really see much writing from me for a bit.

[spookygibberish]

Trying to find a way to lightly word my distaste for the moralization of Dehumanizing your Enemies (and also even just people with like... different life experiences and interests...) while still making it clear there are many people who, through their beliefs and actions, I have absolutely zero desire to interact with and Extremely Do Not Want Around Me, who I do not think should be forgiven or absolved, yet still think remain fundamentally privileged to the quality of being considered a human being

[peteytheparrot]

I get my hearing aid tomorrow heheheh, wondering how much will change…

[unrelatedsideblog]

Tbh I don't like when ppl make Sanji have heart eyes or bloody nose for dudes

It's just so not him

Let him keep his double standards and misandry pls

[annierosaart]

wish more people besides trans women drew fan art of characters as trans women lol

[voidheartkisses]

why am I already seeing stuff like "there's gonna be a shipping war between narilamb and goatxlamb!!1!!" which like?? no?? lets not do that. This is the chillest community I've ever been in and I trust that people won't be like that, we can all like what we like and that's it

[getvalentined]

God I am so fucking tired of the "introverts are quiet and that means they're nice, extroverts are annoying and loud" bullshit. Honestly. This mentality is one of the things that allowed me to spend the better part of two decades believing I was an introvert when I am actually an extrovert with extreme social anxiety.

Introverts generally use energy when interacting with other people.

Extroverts generally gain energy by interacting with other people.

That's it. That's the dichotomy. And it's not even entirely consistent from one person to the next. Extroverts are capable of social exhaustion. Introverts are capable of social excitement. Extroverts are not automatically social butterflies, introverts are not automatically antisocial homebodies. Extroverts may not like making phone calls because it doesn't feel like a "real" social interaction and just leaves them feeling drained, whereas introverts may like phone calls better than in-person interactions because it doesn't feel like a "real" social interaction and doesn't drain their emotional battery.

Introverts are not delicate misanthropes who hate people and never leave their homes. Extroverts are not "emotional sluts" (yes, I've seen this!) who spend all their free time partying or what the fuck ever.

If the thought of going out to interact with other people who you know and enjoy having in your life fills you with dread, guess what? That's not introversion, that's social anxiety. If the thought of not being able to go interact with other people makes you want to break down, guess what? That's not extroversion, that's a symptom of social starvation. Both of these are signs that there is something wrong and you need to talk to a professional, not make quippy posts on the internet about how much extroverts suck because they keep making you go outside or how introverts are so annoying because they never want to spend time with you.

It is not as cut and dry as you have been led to believe, and it never will be.

[youngerfrankenstein]

Being in a fandom while disliking the biggest fandom yaoi ship might be one of the circles of hell.

[munchboxart]

Regular sized yap session that I might come back to in the future to talk about more, especially because I'm kind of in work mode. Probably a little controversial though.

I think it's so important that Splatoon is one of the few games to have a heavy fem-centric main cast. Like what other big game out there has that? Especially in a shooter?? Especially one this diverse and has such a huge emphasis on society and culture?

I used to be in the cast of people who wanted to have a male idol for the future, but now I don't really care. Like no it wouldn't kill us but honestly, I'd rather it be a minor character role like in the story mode.

And no offense, but when Deep Cut came out and Big Man is the first male idol we got? I saw a small minority of the most annoying people and misogynists walk out of the woodwork to rep him like good god ! Not saying all Big Man fans of course but I know a couple! And I bet those same people don't even play the game anymore, if at all. Like can you imagine if a male inkfish that was under the age of 90 came out in a future game?

Despite it all, I don't think that should deter from having a male idol, but I really do appreciate the devs taking this route, especially for a major big name company like Nintendo.

[sickfreaksirkay]

my issue with writing is that i only ever write dialogue and if i want to make it into an actual readable piece of writing i have to spend ten million hours trying to find a way to write non clunky action to break up the pages upon pages of conversations

[andr0nap-wf]

got sidetracked again. spontaneous misha ref in progress 😵‍💫

[lunarharp]

sillay kitty comic (cw animal abandonment ?? but it's fine.)

[abyssalzones]

I just don't get what the point is of reblogging art that says "please don't tag as this ship it makes me uncomfortable" and then tagging it with some variation of "I won't tag it that way to respect the artist's wishes Buuuut-" like why would you even say that? I don't want to dwell on this but it's happened multiple times now and I don't know how to stress like. I Don't want you reblogging my art if you're going to act like this about it. I don't like the idea of turning reblogs off on an art post of mine because the whole point is that I want people to see it obviously, I enjoy getting to express and share parts of myself artistically that otherwise I don't have an avenue to communicate, but like. come on.

[fragmentedblade]

The "Dan Heng is Dan Feng" dogmatics annoy me a lot. It entirely brushes off one of the most interesting and prevalent questions posed by the game, incarnated by several characters and stories that give the question different hues with different potential answers, and a constant also in HI3, like a thread waving the two games together