At some point if you decide you want a significantly newer or more powerful CPU or GPU (for example), there's a solid chance you'll need to replace the motherboard or the power supply. At that point, we're playing Theseus.
Then again, mine was a 10 year old budget build and my hobbies changed significantly, so you might not actually need to upgrade at all if your computing needs aren't hungry.
Words and symbols cannot be divorced from context. Like @SineSwiper@discuss.tchncs.de hinted at, putting a date of birth in a username is common and there are so many other meanings for these numbers so it would be ridiculous to jump down someone's throat for simply using them, or using common gestures. Unless that friend in the story was also saying some reactionary things in their comments, I think it's silly and careless that someone challenged them on their name.
I been told by some international friends that one of the political flags over in Australia, the Eureka flag, has a similar situation where both trade unions and white nationalists try to claim its legacy, so it's common to see in both the pro and anti immigration rallies. Context is what makes it either a potential nationalist/racist dogwhistle or a symbol of workers' rights.
To take this a step further, wolf-whistles (neo-Nazi dog-whistles) are often intentionally vague, and spotting them is important in recognizing cryptofascists because they will try and claim plausible deniability, "oh leftists call everyone a nazi" is something open nazis say to downplay themselves to other reactionaries. They know that their beliefs are still unspeakably disgusting to most societies, they tend to disguise it, downplay it and rationalize it.
Sometimes it's language and phrases itself, you can often see cryptofascists use the same phrases, euphemisms or odd terms as famous fascist speeches or texts, whether as an intentional subtle allusion or just unwittingly echoing what they've read. And that's where they'll chuck in terms like "Final solution" in memes.
Other times, it's more direct coded language and symbols. It's probably less unknown these days, but some common examples of codes are the sonnenrad 'Black Sun' symbol, Nazi-era pseudo-runes (not to be confused with legitimate historical Germanic runes!), the numbers 14 and 88, and more.
A few people are saying "streaming services", I go further and rarely-if-ever buy entertainment media. Music, videos, games, websites.
Not even pirating most of the time, there's a whole world of good Creative Commons music, FOSS games and actual creative communities (not just parasocial fan communities) for me to be entertained for lifetimes. It's just healthier to be outside the world of profit and addiction machines. (It amazes me that people can think 'influencer' is not a creepy ominous title)
Adding to this, anything where I'd be paying a publisher middleman. Avoid whenever possible, pay directly if you're in a position to support the creator/s of smaller projects.
This also applies to other things, like food ordering and travel accommodation. Some places offer a significant discount if you go directly to them - both of you get a bigger cut.
"In 2024, Palestine became the most dangerous country in the world for journalists. Close to 200 reporters were killed by the Israeli army in Gaza in the first 18 months of war, including at least 42 slain while doing their job, and dozens more detained in Israeli prisons. Trapped in the enclave, journalists in Gaza have no shelter and lack everything, including food and water. In the West Bank, journalists are routinely harassed and attacked by both settlers and Israeli forces, but repression reached new heights with a wave of arrests after 7 October, when impunity for crimes committed against journalists became a new rule. "
Since you mentioned them, I respect that some have been life sentenced and a couple put to death for serious crimes. There is a billionaire problem but at least they're more controlled by the government than the Western ones controlling their governments.
Socialist criticism of liberalist parties isn't a recent thing.
Here's a short newspaper article by Lenin in 1913 writing about the left-wing Labour Party in Australia, a few years after it became the world's first social democratic government at a national level (well, it was socdem at the time, it's since drifted rightward): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/jun/13.htm
I recall a conference talk mentioning that the speaker (from a nordic country) told their friend to look at their online banking account, and then transferred them $-10. Either they were spotted or they disclosed it, I forget which, and luckily they were hired instead of jailed.
Yep. And also for bonus points, learn the basics of asking for help. Even simple things like writing a useful subject for a post, being respectful and how to share useful error codes or logs.
Some people on Reddit were talking about how only dictators would want to disarm people
"I don't know why any individual should ever have a right to have a revolver in his house [...] people should not have handguns."
• Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan and the NRA advocated for gun control once the Black Panthers started arming black communities. See: Mulford Act
Banning weapons is a problem if the government needs to be overthrown by its people. In places like the USA, this is increasingly obvious that traditional systems of government regulation are rapidly dissolving.
I think another important point to add is, I assume that your pro-socialism economic position is not independent of all those social positions. For an example, our economic structure affects whether we can fight climate change, or whether wealthy industries (including oil, mining, dairy) can maintain disproportionate political power and continue driving politics.
If you're censoring because it's a horrible company name, I just say "searching".