McQuarrie Monday – Oh man, my dad is going to be so mad I was leading an attack against his base…
Tag: Uncategorized
Opt out of Dropbox’s arbitration clause
If you’re a Dropbox user, you probably got an email in the last few days about an update to their TOS that basically puts all disputes into arbitration rather than litigation.
If you’re like me, you probably glossed over this update because gah, legalese.
Allow me to summarize what it means when a company wants to handle all disputes in arbitration:
No matter what they do (delete your data, privacy breach, overcharging, whatever), you don’t get to sue. Instead, THEY get to choose the arbitrator according to whatever criteria they want, and thus any dispute is decided by someone they’re paying.
Also, you can’t join a class-action suit against them. Which sounds like no big deal, but when a company takes advantage of a bunch of people all in the same small way (incorrectly assessing a service charge, for example), class action is how companies are made to clean up their act en masse, instead of waiting for thousands of people to call them up and demand their $20 back or whatever.
I love Dropbox and use/recommend it enthusiastically. But this is a company that we entrust with some of our most important data- the kind of data we need to have access to wherever we are. Family photos, portfolios, projects representing years of work, etc. And as we’ve seen with Google buying Nest, even if we trust the management team in charge of our data right now, that’s not guaranteed in the future. Founders move on to other things. Companies with great products get acquired. Business decisions get made that change the direction of the company.
The agreement we make with Dropbox is too important to be enforced only by an arbitrator of their choosing. You have 30 days from the date of notification to opt out of the arbitration clause. Do it now.
Fellow Dropbox users, Tiffany does a wonderful job summing things up on this. Follow that link and opt out.
Harold Ramis, 69, died today in Chicago.
Ghostbusters. Animal House. Groundhog Day. Analyze This. Caddyshack. Stripes. National Lampoon’s Vacation.
I can’t. Read his obituary.
So many great comedy moments. Thanks for the laughs, Harold.
What Tom said.
Ask questions, take notes, and outline.
1. What does your protagonist want?
2. What happens if your protagonist doesn’t get what he/she wants?
3. What’s standing in his/her way?
4. How is your protagonist different at the end of the book?
5. Why does your reader care?
Just putting this here for future reference.
Downtown Dallas, on approach. on Flickr.
A Word About The Creator of Rocket Raccoon
So the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer was sweet. We all love Rocket Raccoon. He’s a raccoon that shoots a gun, after all! Who could say no to that?
But he didn’t spring, fully formed, from the ether, despite what people may think happens with artwork on Tumblr. He was…
Give.
I swear I have some Rocket Raccoon comics stashed in boxes in the storage unit. I’ll get around to those boxes some day.
What is it about physical books that keeps us coming back for more? ALL THE FEELS.
Fatbrain breaks it down, infographic style.
Yep.