u/rrredditor

I recently moved to a much faster provider. 1Gb up and down. I was kind of excited to see people get the much faster speeds from me but in that time (about 1.5 months) I haven't seen an upload speed over 3,000Kbs

I don't have my speeds limited, either up or down.

I'm sure that for most users, it's just slow on their end, but I get 50-100 uploads a day, generally, and I thought at least some of them should be on fast internet.

For downloads, I've seen over 20,000Kbs and my speedtest numbers match my 1Gig service.

I'm also curious whether the "Kbs" column in the Transfers tab is truly Kilobits per second, or if the "b" is supposed to be capitalized which would make it KiloBytes per second and thus the speeds would be 8 times faster than I think they are.

Just trying to be as helpful to everyone as possible.

Anyone got any ideas?

What is it that makes you enjoy or root for this couple so deeply (or even just Zane)?

I promise, I'm not throwing shade. At All. You do you! I'm just curious. I'd love to stop wondering about it.

I know there have been a lot of posts recently bashing Zane and while I think that the character deserves that criticism, I'm more curious about the love for Zikki as a pairing, though I'd also love to hear about why you might like Zane as a standalone character.

Some theories/questions:

1. Is it just the "enemies to lovers" trope? I know people love that, and I get it, but is that the main driver?
2. Is it just the possibility of the reform of the "bad boy"? I get that also. I also love a good redemption arc.
3. Do you think he's cute and just want to see him paired up?
4. Is it just that it was the first romantic pairing you were interested in at a formative point of your life so they're a bit imprinted on you?
5. Do you strongly want Rikki to be paired up and don't see a better choice?
6. Or do some of you not think he had the flaws that I think he had and thus don't care that much about what I think should have been deal breakers?
7. Perhaps it's some combination of all of the above?

Maybe I completely misunderstand and it's not a Zane thing at all but a Rikki thing? Maybe, in relation to question number 5 above, you just like Rikki so much that you want to see her happily in a relationship, regardless of how she gets there. I know Rikki is a favorite character for a very large number of fans and maybe they want something/anything for her romantically and there aren't any other choices.

I've had arguments in this sub about this before, as well as in other fandom parts of the internet, and my eventual response (to myself) has always been "But why? Why are people so invested in them and in what looks to me like a toxic relationship?"

I get that the enemies to lovers trope is beloved. I understand why people like it, and it certainly applies here, but what I never saw was the character growth in Zane that justified the relationship continuing. And as far as Rikki's motivations, I can't see her getting past Zane's actions with Cleo and the Zodiac in the very first episode, much less throwing Cleo in the pool, Ms. Chatham's boat/supposed treasure, teaming up with Denman, getting Rikki knocked out trying to recover treasure, or any number of other smaller actions. I feel like Rikki, of all people, wouldn't tolerate that behaviour. If any character would have let a boyfriend get away with that sort of thing, it would have been Cleo who started out as a bit of a doormat.

In my mind, Zane was the proverbial tiger who never changed his stripes. He demonstrated again and again that he was willing to put his relationships aside for short-term personal gain. To me, his actions in season three were right in line with what Zane had been doing from the start. Some of this was just overly-convenient and lazy writing. I don't really think anyone would have hired Sophie to manage the café, for example, that's just a weird choice for the writers to make, but so many of his actions should have been deal breakers. To me, Sophie was the perfect partner for Zane, a supervillain power-couple in the making.

As someone who initially saw the show after having my first romantic relationship, and having gone through the divorce of my parents as well as the divorces of several of my friends' parents, the eventual incompatibility of their personalities in regards to being in a relationship seemed obvious (at least to me) even in the early stages of attraction. On first viewing, I thought it was going to be a short lived plot device towards some other end, and it sort of was at the end of season 1, but expanding on it beyond the conclusion of the Denman story line at the end of season 1 and into season 2 didn't make sense to me.

I'm laying out my thoughts so that you have an idea of where some of us come from and why we would be confused about the popularity of the pairing. I don't think I ever hear anything in support of them that isn't "I just love them together so much" and I'd enjoy a more complete explanation. Though if "I just love them together so much" is really the answer, and you don't want to justify it, then I won't learn anything and I'll still wonder why.

This is all personal preference, so there's obviously no wrong answer, one way or the other. People like what they like. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum. I'm just genuinely curious as to why some of us feel so completely different about Zane and his relationship with Rikki. If Zikki is the hill you're willing to die on, I salute you. That said, I'd be happy to know why and stop wondering about it. The curiosity is just too strong for me not to ask.

What is it that makes you enjoy or root for this couple so deeply (or even just Zane)?

I promise, I'm not throwing shade. At All. You do you! I'm just curious. I'd love to stop wondering about it.

I know there have been a lot of posts recently bashing Zane and while I think that the character deserves that criticism, I'm more curious about the love for Zikki as a pairing, though I'd also love to hear about why you might like Zane as a standalone character.

Some theories/questions:

1. Is it just the "enemies to lovers" trope? I know people love that, and I get it, but is that the main driver?
2. Is it just the possibility of the reform of the "bad boy"? I get that also. I also love a good redemption arc.
3. Do you think he's cute and just want to see him paired up?
4. Is it just that it was the first romantic pairing you were interested in at a formative point of your life so they're a bit imprinted on you?
5. Do you strongly want Rikki to be paired up and don't see a better choice?
6. Or do some of you not think he had the flaws that I think he had and thus don't care that much about what I think should have been deal breakers?
7. Perhaps it's some combination of all of the above?

Maybe I completely misunderstand and it's not a Zane thing at all but a Rikki thing? Maybe, in relation to question number 5 above, you just like Rikki so much that you want to see her happily in a relationship, regardless of how she gets there. I know Rikki is a favorite character for a very large number of fans and maybe they want something/anything for her romantically and there aren't any other choices.

I've had arguments in this sub about this before, as well as in other fandom parts of the internet, and my eventual response (to myself) has always been "But why? Why are people so invested in them and in what looks to me like a toxic relationship?"

I get that the enemies to lovers trope is beloved. I understand why people like it, and it certainly applies here, but what I never saw was the character growth in Zane that justified the relationship continuing. And as far as Rikki's motivations, I can't see her getting past Zane's actions with Cleo and the Zodiac in the very first episode, much less throwing Cleo in the pool, Ms. Chatham's boat/supposed treasure, teaming up with Denman, getting Rikki knocked out trying to recover treasure, or any number of other smaller actions. I feel like Rikki, of all people, wouldn't tolerate that behaviour. If any character would have let a boyfriend get away with that sort of thing, it would have been Cleo who started out as a bit of a doormat.

In my mind, Zane was the proverbial tiger who never changed his stripes. He demonstrated again and again that he was willing to put his relationships aside for short-term personal gain. To me, his actions in season three were right in line with what Zane had been doing from the start. Some of this was just overly-convenient and lazy writing. I don't really think anyone would have hired Sophie to manage the café, for example, that's just a weird choice for the writers to make, but so many of his actions should have been deal breakers. To me, Sophie was the perfect partner for Zane, a supervillain power-couple in the making.

As someone who initially saw the show after having my first romantic relationship, and having gone through the divorce of my parents as well as the divorces of several of my friends' parents, the eventual incompatibility of their personalities in regards to being in a relationship seemed obvious (at least to me) even in the early stages of attraction. On first viewing, I thought it was going to be a short lived plot device towards some other end, and it sort of was at the end of season 1, but expanding on it beyond the conclusion of the Denman story line at the end of season 1 and into season 2 didn't make sense to me.

I'm laying out my thoughts so that you have an idea of where some of us come from and why we would be confused about the popularity of the pairing. I don't think I ever hear anything in support of them that isn't "I just love them together so much" and I'd enjoy a more complete explanation. Though if "I just love them together so much" is really the answer, and you don't want to justify it, then I won't learn anything and I'll still wonder why.

This is all personal preference, so there's obviously no wrong answer, one way or the other. People like what they like. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum. I'm just genuinely curious as to why some of us feel so completely different about Zane and his relationship with Rikki. If Zikki is the hill you're willing to die on, I salute you. That said, I'd be happy to know why and stop wondering about it. The curiosity is just too strong for me not to ask.

I've got a tree that looks pretty rotten on the inside and might be dying. It's absolutely huge and I'm a little afraid of the cost. Anyone have a good tree service they've used that they'd like to recommend?

I get a little frustrated continually hearing about the change in writing between seasons two and three so I looked up who wrote which episodes.

16 different writers are credited with writing the 78 episodes:

• 11 in season one
• 11 in season two
• 8 in season three

Contrary to what you might think (or just as you might think if you see the third season as enjoyable), there is almost no significant change in who wrote the different seasons. Season three only has 1 episode that was written by someone who didn't write in seasons one or two.

In fact, the most prolific writers for seasons one and two remain the most prolific for season three.

Here is the list:

Writer	No. of S01 Ep	No. of S02 Ep	No. of S03 Ep
Anthony Morris	4	3	6
Caroline O'Meara	1	None	None
Chris Roache	None	2	2
Chriss Anastassiades	3	2	None
Deb Cox	2	None	None
Jo Watson	1	None	None
John Armstrong	1	None	None
Joss King	None	1	2
Kirsty Fisher	None	2	None
Max Dann	5	4	3
Philip Dalkin	3	4	3
Robert Armin	None	1	None
Sam Carroll	3	4	5
Samantha Strauss	None	None	1
Simon Butters	2	2	4
Susan MacGillicuddy	1	2	None

As you can see, the vast majority of episodes were written by a core group of people: Anthony Morris, Max Dann, Philip Dalkin, Sam Carroll, and Simon Butters. Between them they wrote 50 of the 78 episodes. As a group, they are responsible for 18 episodes in season one, 17 in season two, and 22 in season three.

I think it's fair to say that the writing group did not change and in fact consolidated to a core group who were most active for all three seasons.

So I went back and looked at directors thinking maybe some other aspect of the creative team changed. That ended up not being the case. Only two directors were used during the entire run of the show and each directed exactly half of each season.

If some other thing changed behind the scenes, I wouldn't know. Perhaps with Clair Holt not being able to return, and knowing that they only had Angus McClaren for half the season, they decided to change things up. Maybe the producers gave them new instructions. Who knows. But any differences weren't down to who was writing or directing.

To me, someone who really enjoyed season three, this makes sense. I didn't thing that the tone or style was very different. I think it also points to at least some intentionality as regards Zane's behaviour. I always felt that Zane's behaviour was far more of a "return to form" than anything else. I would suggest that if anyone understood the character, it would be the core group of writers who'd been involved all along.

I know this won't convince the die hard Zikki viewers to enjoy season three more, but maybe it will help some of you feel better for enjoying it now that you know that it wasn't some sort of complete retooling of the creative team.

And in case you are curious, most of the same people are responsible for the Mako Mermaids/Mako: Island Of Secrets episodes.

If anyone would like to check for themselves, here's a link to the episode guide on Wikipedia.

Go get wet everybody, see what happens!

No surprise. Sigh.

Actual brand on amazon: HFDJRWK, lol.

And a blue moon at that - second full moon within the same month. Don't get moonspelled!

And a blue moon at that - second full moon within the same month. Don't get moonspelled!