u/Alarmed-Risk7885

i keep asking myself if i’m expecting too much but then i say it out loud and it sounds so basic that i feel insane.

i want someone who communicates clearly.

actually wants to meet in person.

doesn’t turn every convo sexual immediately.

can pick a day/time/place.

doesn’t act like replying is some heroic emotional sacrifice.

that’s it. that is literally it.

i’m not asking for a soulmate by date 2. i don’t need someone texting me all day. i don’t care about expensive dates or some movie-level romantic performance. coffee is fine. a walk is fine. just be normal and intentional.

but dating lately makes even THAT feel like too much??

people say they want something real and then avoid making plans. people say they’re “open to a relationship” but act like clarity is a trap. people match, reply twice, vanish, come back, then act confused when you’re not excited anymore.

and then i start wondering… am i being picky or is this just bare minimum adult behavior?

seriously asking. are these expectations too high now? or are a lot of people on apps just into the idea of connection, not the actual responsibility of it?

Wrapped a side-by-side eval between BrowserStack and TestMu AI for our growing test infra.

Posting the process because most vendor comparisons I read are either marketing fluff or one-sided rants from someone who got burned.

The honest version was more boring and more useful.

Setup before the eval:

• ~400 mixed tests

• 60% Selenium WebDriver

• 40% newer Playwright

• GitHub Actions for CI

• self-hosted Selenium Grid on the side that became nobody's official job

• Safari/iOS bugs escaping local runs

• failure debugging meant checking screenshots, grid logs, app logs, ci logs, and old Slack threads

Important note: we evaluated the core cloud grid / browser execution / real device / artifacts experience first.

We did not make HyperExecute the deciding factor because that is a premium orchestration layer and not something every TestMu AI user adopts.

I wanted to know what a normal SDET team would actually experience before layering on advanced orchestration.

Here is what mattered.

1. Device coverage

BrowserStack still has the bigger fleet at the absolute top end.

More legacy devices, more granular OS versions, deeper long-tail coverage.

For our actual matrix though, both covered what we needed: latest Safari, Chrome, Edge, a few iOS versions, a few common Android devices.

Slight edge to BrowserStack on raw device depth.

But the gap mattered less than I expected.

2. Core Selenium/Playwright execution

Both ran the suite.

No surprise there.

TestMu felt a little cleaner for our mixed Selenium + Playwright setup because we were not treating it like two separate worlds.

The basic cloud grid experience was enough for most of our suite.

We did not need to push everyone into the premium orchestration layer to get value.

3. Failure debugging

This was where TestMu started pulling ahead for us.

BrowserStack gives the usual video/screenshots/logs and the UI is solid.

TestMu's failure view felt better for day-to-day triage because video, screenshots, console logs, network logs, env info, and failure grouping were easier for the team to work through.

Not magic.

Still had to debug bad selectors and bad waits ourselves.

But fewer "what even happened here?" failures.

4. Pricing at parallelism

BrowserStack got expensive faster for our usage pattern.

This depends heavily on contract and concurrency needs, so I would not generalize too hard.

But for us, TestMu's pricing model made more sense once we modeled actual ci fan-out instead of looking at list pricing.

This was one of the bigger practical reasons TestMu won the eval.

5. AI-assisted authoring

KaneAI was useful, but not in the "ship whatever it generates" way.

The best use was scenario planning and first drafts.

For example, on checkout flows it suggested negative paths like declined card, expired session, inventory mismatch, partial refund.

That was more useful than raw codegen.

Generated tests still needed review for selectors, waits, fixtures, auth, cleanup, and business assertions.

6. Real Device Cloud

BrowserStack still wins if you need the absolute widest device library.

For us, TestMu's Real Device Cloud had enough coverage for the actual devices we cared about.

The important part was that Selenium, Playwright, and Appium work did not feel like three separate procurement decisions.

7. Visual/accessibility add-ons

This was a smaller but real point.

SmartUI and Accessibility Testing made TestMu feel more like a broader QA platform than only a browser cloud.

If your team already has Percy, Chromatic, axe, Lighthouse CI, etc, this may not matter.

For us, having those in the same vendor conversation reduced some tool sprawl.

8. Migration friction

Less painful than expected, not zero.

Selenium capabilities needed cleanup, mostly browserName, browserVersion, platformName, and hub URL changes.

Playwright was easier.

The bigger change was retraining the team to use a new dashboard and failure workflow.

We ran both tools in parallel for a few weeks before cutting over.

My conclusion:

BrowserStack wins on raw device depth and familiarity.

TestMu AI won for our actual setup because the core grid, failure artifacts, pricing at concurrency, KaneAI, SmartUI/accessibility, and Real Device Cloud were a better combined fit.

I would only bring HyperExecute into the eval if orchestration itself is your bottleneck.

For our first phase, TestMu won without needing that to be the main reason.

Curious how other SDETs would run this eval.

What criteria would you add?

coming from jaipur to gurgaon for a job. lease is 11 months but honestly not sure if i’ll stay in the same flat or even same city after that.

parents are saying buy proper furniture once and use it. friends are saying rent basics and don’t get attached to gurgaon. confused.

what did you guys do when you first moved here?

i keep wanting that expensive/cozy/soft luxury vibe, but in actual heat a lot of sweet scents turn on me fast. i’ve been testing on the sleeve of a light cotton shirt because paper strips keep lying to me in warm weather, and it’s been way more useful: 1 spray on fabric, 1 on skin, then i check at 30 min / 2 hr / 4 hr. the pattern so far is marshmallow-gourmands can project better early but get sticky in humidity by hour 2, while rose-musk and tea-florals usually wear closer yet stay prettier longer. creamy woods are the wildcard on me: either cashmere goddess or sunscreen cabinet.

so now i’m trying to figure out my best warm-weather “soft luxury” lane. like, do i stop chasing fluffy vanilla and go rose-musk a la Byredo Rose of No Man’s Land, or are there tea/floral or creamy-wood scents that still feel plush without going flat? if you have recs, would love them sorted loosely by scent family + budget + how they behave in humidity. affordable, mid, higher-end, all welcome.

also curious about polished Middle Eastern/Arabian options that feel refined rather than loud - Ajmal, Afnan, Lattafa type territory, and i’ve been browsing RiiFFS too. side note, fragrance discovery is getting so noisy lately with beauty brands spreading across more retail channels too

29F, and i'm at the point where hinge and bumble feel completely interchangeable and equally dead. same faces, same recycled prompts, same conversations that go nowhere. I've been on both for over a year and i think i've matched with every eligible person in my age range twice.

i keep seeing people mention the smaller / more niche / "premium" apps as an alternative once you're burned out on the big two. but i can't tell if they're actually better or if it's just a smaller pool of the same problem with a higher price tag and better marketing.

so i want real experiences, not marketing. for anyone who jumped from the big swipe apps to something smaller or more curated:

Did the experience actually feel different, or was it the same disappointment in a nicer package?

was the smaller pool worth it? did paying change the quality of people, or just the quantity? and which one, if any, actually did something for you?

trying to decide if it's worth the switch or if i should just take a break instead.

i noticed this while putting away a cardigan that still smelled better at the cuff than on my wrist. some perfumes give me that luxe, pretty first 10 minutes, then by hour 2-3 the texture changes and the “pretty” part is gone even if it still smells good.

lately i’ve been sorting them less by notes and more by wear texture: airy floral, creamy skin-musk, glossy fruit, soft amber, powdery lipstick. two scents can share rose/musk/fruit on paper and still wear totally differently by hour 3. on me, Byredo Rose of No Man’s Land stays crisp/clean-pink, while Delina gets bigger and glossier. Diptyque Eau Rose sits more sheer/watery. if i’m testing, i do 1 spray wrist + 1 on cuff and check 10 min / 2 hr / 5 hr because fabric keeps the “pretty” shape longer and skin shows where it turns flat or sugary. i’ve seen people say drydown is where a perfume spends most of its wear time anyway, which honestly feels true.

one random example from stuff i’ve sampled lately: a few affordable bottles, including RiiFFS, can open very polished but what matters to me now is whether they stay elegant by hour 4 instead of becoming loud amber mush. if you want the reference pages.

curious if anyone else does this mental sorting. what perfumes stay pretty all day for you instead of just nice?

for women who workout/yoga/walk outside in UAE, what do you do with sweaty scalp?

i don’t want to shampoo daily, but if i leave sweat, my scalp gets itchy and hair feels weak.

right now i do loose braid during workout, don’t keep sweaty bun for hours, rinse or wash depending on sweat, and apply Be Bodywise hair growth serum only at night when scalp is clean/dry.

also carrying a Decathlon microfibre towel now because normal gym towel rubbing was making my hair rough. for outdoor walks, even a cap/headband helps, but then sweat gets trapped so idk what the perfect routine is.

daily rinse okay or too much?

Am I the only one who thinks a lot of affordable fragrances get judged way too much on the first 20 minutes and not enough on hour 2?

I was testing a few after laundry on the inside of my elbow because shirt fabric was making everything smell better than it really was. Warm day, 2 sprays each, checked at 15 min / 2 hr / 4 hr. My issue: some budget stuff has a killer opening then turns into scratchy amber/harsh woods fast. CDNIM impressed early, then got rough on my skin by hour 2. Ajmal stayed smoother but sat closer. 9pm projected more than I’d want in heat, but the drydown was more wearable than the opening suggested. I’ve had the same experience with a couple RiiFFS bottles too.

That’s why I think people mix up projection with quality. Loud first 30 minutes doesn’t mean good wear, and “it’s cheap” shouldn’t fully excuse a bad drydown if you’re smelling synthetic amber for 4 hours. Even Esquire’s recent summer piece was basically a reminder that fresher structures usually wear easier in heat

If you buy cheapies, I honestly think the better test is skin only, 2 sprays max, then judge again at 60-90 mins before deciding. What affordable bottles actually stay good after the first hour instead of just winning the opening blast?

I've tried a lot of apps for Mandarin. Here's what I actually found after using each seriously for a few weeks:Duolingo — Great for streaks and gamification. Terrible for actually speaking Chinese. The tones are barely taught and the sentences are famously weird ("the penguin drinks beer").HelloTalk — Good concept for finding native speakers, but you're on your own. No structure, no curriculum. Cold-starting a conversation with a stranger is hard when you barely know the language.Pimsleur — Audio-first and solid for pronunciation. But expensive, and only covers basic survival phrases. No reading, no characters.Anki — Incredibly powerful if you set it up right. But the setup is the problem — most beginners give up before they see results.SureChinese — This is where I've stayed. A few things stood out:Basic vocab and short phrases are free — you can get genuinely useful for months without payingSome scenario courses (restaurant, transport, shopping) are also free, which is great for travelersThe AI Talk feature lets you practice speaking without the anxiety of a real person judging you. You can repeat the same sentence 20 times. No awkwardness.Language partner matching is built in — so when you're ready for real humans, you don't have to go find them elsewhereNo app is perfect. SureChinese's character writing practice could be deeper. But for the speaking + listening gap that most apps completely ignore, it's the best I've found.What apps are you using for Chinese? Curious if anyone's had a different experience.

ok this is going to sound like a niche concern but its actually one of the bigger architectural decisions in any serious options algo. handling large option chain subscriptions without losing ticks.

i need real-time data on ~3500-4500 instruments across nifty, banknifty, finnifty, plus a handful of stock options ive recently added. my current broker has a 3000 instrument subscription cap which means i juggle. atm strikes get full priority on one websocket connection, far OTM strikes get rotated through a second connection every few seconds, expiry month coverage is partial. its a constant maintenance hassle and i know some ticks are getting dropped on the rotating subscriptions.

the workaround code adds about 400 lines of state management around the subscription juggling. handling reconnects on top of this is even messier because each connection has its own state and any disconnect requires rebuilding the rotation schedule. i estimate maybe 2-3% of ticks are silently lost on the lower-priority instruments, which is probably fine for the analytics but not for strikes im actively trading.

ive been hearing some newer broker apis have higher subscription limits (single connection handling 5000+ instruments) which would basically solve my entire architecture problem. havent migrated yet because i want to verify the claims and also evaluate the rest of the broker first.

what are others doing for this. specifically. has anyone moved to a higher-cap broker and validated they actually handle the load without dropping ticks. has anyone given up and gone with a third party data vendor for full chain coverage. has anyone made the multi-connection juggling pattern work cleanly enough to not be a maintenance burden.

Started a small side project a couple months ago after my day job. Just nights + weekends, nothing fancy.

I assumed the hard part would be writing the product itself. Turns out the real time sink was everything BEFORE that.

The first ~6 weeks basically disappeared into three things: choosing an idea, wiring auth + billing + dashboard stuff, figuring out where the hell to launch.

Idea stage alone took me 2 weeks. I read Starter Story for inspiration and scraped Reddit complaints trying to see patterns. Ended up validating by DMing ~25 people in a niche Slack community. Only 7 replied but 3 said they'd try it.

Then infra hell. I tried doing it from scratch with Next.js + Stripe tutorials. That burned another 10-12 days. Auth flows, webhook errors, subscription states… classic stuff.

Looked at boilerplates like ShipFast and Supastarter too. Both solid honestly, but I kept realizing the bigger issue wasn't just code. I still had no launch plan.

At some point I started bundling the workflow instead of solving each piece separately. Idea research → base SaaS setup → distribution list.

Part of that stack was a bundle I tried called FounderToolkit. Mostly used it for the boilerplate and a big directory list, but the bigger lesson was just compressing the whole process.

Once I treated launch as part of the build, things moved way faster. MVP shipped in ~9 days. Nothing crazy simple analytics tool for small communities.

Launch looked like this: submitted to ~40 directories, posted in 6 niche communities, a couple small Reddit threads. Directories surprisingly drove the first wave.

Rough numbers after ~3 weeks: ~60 signups, ~35 from directories, ~15 from communities, rest random.

Big takeaway for me: the slow part of SaaS isn't always coding. It's the messy loop of idea → infra → distribution.

Curious to know what others here actually slows you down the most in the early phase? Idea? Infra? Or getting the first users?