Gagala News
(G-log #3)

The second smallest number of my supporters is on DeviantArt, it's the platform that costs me the most money in fees. I can't access the money I've received whenever I want; it's only available after a 7 day waiting period. DeviantArt also doesn't have their own billing and transfer system, why would they do that when they can get other companies to do it for them and take a commission, but I pay all the more fees for it.

Since begin of this year something has changed, I can no longer just ask for the money my supporters have generously given me. Now there is two-factor authentication without my consent. In other words, since I can't give my cell phone number, there's no money. A serious logical error. The problem is that I don't have a smartphone, just an old cell phone, I can't download an application and read a given QR code.

I brought this to DeviantArt's attention, which was quite a hassle because you can't find a simple email address on their support page. It seems they just don't know about cell phones anymore. I only use it for two-factor authentication for my bank, which works, but it doesn't work for DeviantArt.

I am currently waiting to hear back from DeviantArt with a solution.

Update 2024-01-31: Found the relevant eMail address and wrote to it again. Still no reply.

Update 2024-02-01: Reply from support team of DeviantArt:

You will need access to a device that can be used for the two-factor authentication process in order to withdraw earnings. Some third party apps can be used on desktop devices for two-factor authentication. Otherwise, an older phone or tablet could suffice to set up a 2FA app as well.

Judge for yourself if such an answer is at all helpful.

Update 2024-02-03: No help from DeviantArt. What bothers me the most is that I wasn't asked if I wanted two-factor authentication at all and that they want me to use any software from Microsoft or even Google:

Thanks for the clarification. We unfortunately cannot recommend a specific authenticator to use, there are 2-Factor Authentication solutions for desktop including Linux. We recommend searching online for a 2-factor authentication app for Linux that works best for your needs. You can search on the microsoft or google app store for desktop solutions.

But I have found a solution for my Linux desktop, a tiny tool called "Authenticator" and it works well, so I don't need a smartphone. Many thanks to Bilal Elmoussaoui.

Case closed.

Just in: New masterpiece by PhillipThe2! Thank you, Phil, for sharing with us!

Available in the new special 2K, 4K and 8K folders, passwords here.

Thanks to all my supporters for their support and patience.

Take always good care of yourself and stay healthy!

1,5 km (1 mile) is the short distance I walked last Friday on the photo tour to the furthest point, the same place as last time. I was hoping for better weather conditions, but it was too foggy for landscape shots, so I made another study of trees in snow again. I have to admit that I'm obsessed with snow, I have to take every chance to shoot it, especially now that it's getting rarer and rarer. Since the last photo session on December 2nd, the snow had completely disappeared and came back a week ago, but due to my tight money situation, I only allow myself to use the car once a week (the place is too far to walk to), so I drove to the supermarket and then to a forest not far from the town of Winterberg. The parking lot hadn't been cleared of snow and my all-season tires didn't make it to the edge where I was supposed to be, so I parked my car in the middle of the lot. This time I had spikes on my rubber boots, but that was not necessary, the forest path was naturally covered with snow, lots of it. But my food intolerance attacked me again, I hadn't eaten enough, so my blood pressure dropped, and with no bench in sight, I lay down in the snow, my loden coat and lama wool hat keeping me warm. After 5 minutes I felt better. Next time I will eat something before doing another photo tour. Now it's Sunday and the frost is over, it will start to rain tonight. I hope Mr. Winter will come back, I still have some snowy landscapes to photograph. If you want to know where these photos were taken, most of them have GPS data in the metadata. With a program like XnView you can see it with one click.

Thanks to all my supporters for their support.

Take always good care of yourself and stay healthy!

The main problem with such a test is that I can't point the finger at the problem, whether it's the latest version of Piwigo, or its extensions, or my web server, or again the PHP version. It was incredibly slow and I couldn't work with PDF, animated WebP and mp4 files. And before I waste my precious time trying to get it to work, I quit and wait for the next version. This damn PHP is really getting on my nerves. Better luck next time.

There have been a lot of gallery applications that I have tested to get the Secret Lair running smoothly, with a working user management and the ability to display all the necessary file formats.

Among these applications was Piwigo, but at that time it was not able to work with WebP formats. Now I have read that this application is able to work with WebP format, so I have to test it, especially if it is able to show animated WebP images. Although the name of this program is a bit unfortunate, it sounds like "pee we go" (sorry), but as long as it works, I don't mind.

So today I am going to test it and I will let you know if this is going to work. Keep your fingers crossed, please and thank you!

Freshly finished side project in two versions. I apologize that this is neither a movie poster of a new animated movie with a story I'd like to see, nor a short story I could give you (I'm not as talented as PhillipThe2), nor a comix that will follow.

Available in the new special 2K, 4K and 8K folders, passwords here.

Thanks to all my supporters for their support and patience.

Take always good care of yourself and stay healthy!

Cute Joni sits on the table and waits for the start of the show.

Available in the new special 2K, 4K and 8K folders, passwords here.

Thanks to all my supporters for their support and patience.

Take always good care of yourself and stay healthy!

Just in: If there are more than two images on a page, it can be considered a comic, and since it's pretty hawt stuff, it's a comix. Something much too rare to get from PhillipThe2. Also a great short story to go with it, all made by PhillipThe2. Thanks a lot Phil for spoiling us like this, keep it up.

Available in the new special 2K, 4K and 8K folders, short story here, passwords here.

Thanks to all my supporters for their support and patience.

Take always good care of yourself and stay healthy!

The scheduler list for current work in progress and planned new work can now be found here.

The first frame of this page will take longer because there are several Toons in it. Zack and Milo are already done, now comes Melissa (needs to be dressed as usual), next will be Joni and some other classmates.

Get it in the new special 2K, 4K and 8K folders.

Thanks to all my supporters for their support and patience.

Take always good care of yourself and stay healthy!