AmadsSalvage

Society functions precisely because we have collectively agreed to acknowledge that the individual is not the highest and only form of authority. Formally, we agree to follow the laws in place. Informally, we agree to act with respect to each other. This requires some form of self sacrifice on our part. By swearing allegiance to the King, or a President, we are saying "I am willing to follow the rules which result from your exercise of power". These laws are the ones delegated through our legislative and judicial systems - the King in our case does not exercise it himself in Canada. Sure it's symbolic, but so is making a promise to a friend. Keeping our word is important to us. We could swear it to someone further down the line, like to "all police officers", but I think that would be far less self-respecting than forging that agreement with the highest level of power directly.

Don't get me wrong, I am not some rabid anti-republican, republics absolutely do work! But I think monarchies also work, and each have different benefits. A republic is more representative demographically speaking, for example, whereas a monarchy is more impartial and has a stronger line of succesion to name a few distinct traits. I don't feel like our system is broken, nor do I feel that a republic would solve any problems (and it may come with its own fresh ones).

The "In modern times" argument comes up a lot, but I'm not sure it applies. Just because something is old, even anachronistic, does not mean it is invalid. In fact, such things are more valuable precisely because they are no longer found today. However, I think you are right in that there is a disconnect between these rituals and symbols and our modern conception of society, and that is why I think Canada has poorly managed the relationship between monarch and everyday people, and let the institution decay. One solution is to rebuild everything from the ground up with a republic, and its not going to be the end of the world, but I am personally in favour of renewing our longstanding existing commitment.

I'm no expert, but I'll try to take a stab at your second paragraph! There is value in having someone there to remind the leader that they are a "Servant" and not the "Master" in a state. The King (and by extension his viceregal representatives in Canada) is the steward of the power, and lends it to whoever the people choose via democratic elections through our constitution. When a new Prime Minister is chosen through election, the transition of power is made safer in that the previous Prime Minister does not "own" that power. I know this sounds floaty, but we live in a relatively stable country where transitions of power have traditionally been without great anxiety - arguably because we have a head of state, but even assuming not, this is why we don't dwell on these kind of concerns.

Another reason is the relationship between the King with our Federal & Provincial governments as well as First Nations. With a head of state, all three are able to have a direct relationship with the head of state without being subservient to one. King Charles is the premiers' boss, not Trudeau. Indigenous people have a special relationship with the crown that similarly avoids placing them directly under the other two bodies entirely. It means all three have a certain sense (and reality) of being peers - Trudeau cannot sack Ford, and vice versa.

Sort of related to my first point, but while the King limits himself extraordinarily via the binds of a constitution, the relationship works both ways. It is his duty to make sure that the elected leaders are fulfilling their duties to form government and not violate the law just because they are the ones on top.

In theory, the head of state is also meant to represent the nation outside of party lines - someone that left, right, and everyone else can support. It would be impossible for a staunch conservative to truly count Trudeau as "his" Prime Minister, or a liberal to count on Harper as a leader he could possibly respect. Not everyone has to like the head of state, but everyone has the option without betraying their other beliefs. I think Canada has sadly in recent years done this poorly - while loved, the Queen has been largely seen as a novelty, a nice decoration on a shelf.

I hope this helps somewhat. It's a weird nebulous subject that deals with questions that often settled long before our time and so arent intuitive at times after living under them so long. Happy to elaborate further - I'm a boring plain-old constitutional monarchist, but I know I'm in the minority these days :)

This and some other comments definitely are reminiscent of the effect of the "Cahiers de doléances"[1][2], aka "Books of Grievances". Ahead of the outbreak of Revolution, King Louis XVI of France sent out a call for feedback from his people of all levels of society. He genuinely meant well, but largely it just got the people thinking about all the things that were wrong with society, which only fueled public anger in the face of the looming crisis and made thing worse! Eventually this anger would see the nation abandon the Ancien Regime in a similar manner - it was a "broken service" and they metaphorically "cancelled their subscription" to the system.

I think there's actually a lot of other lessons to be learned from this effort - anyone looking to try and gather feedback should look at how it went over in 1789 France.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahiers_de_dol%C3%A9ances [2] https://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/cahier-peasants-me... An example Cahier

The Red Line podcast has been an excellent deep-dive geopolitics podcast with some high profile guests & multiple perspectives. I always learn so much each episode, it covers a lot of my blindspots in the field. https://www.theredlinepodcast.com/

Honourable mention to Mobile Suit Breakdown podcast. The episode-by-episode analysis of the Gundam series has greatly improved my literary appreciation for a show I was otherwise only barely interested in. The hosts dig into not just the show but also the world that would have inspired the creators. A lot of background research goes into each installment. https://gundampodcast.com/

I've got the G7 15 7590 running Windows. I'll second that I'm very satisfied with power and form factor, and it's mostly a solid laptop that I'm very happy with. The biggest problem I've had is incredibly poor thermals even when playing mid range games, but this may be model specific (the 7590 was especially bad I believe) and is something you can try to address by repasting. The built-in speakers were pretty poor as well, but most people are probably using headphones.

Like most others I imagine, I just use MAL. I'm aware there are a lot of competitors out there trying to bring their own spin, but I've been a lazy consumer and not really done much researching into what they're offering that's different enough to warrant switching over.

(edit: I wrote this before hitting the form submission and so hadn't seen the kickstarter page you linked where it's pitched as an extension - I had assumed a web application competing with MAL instead.)

Here's some ideas on this space I as a casual-but-use-nearly-everyday user of MAL can offer:

1. The Dub-watching community is not supported well by MyAnimeList (which tends to favour Japanese). It is not easy to discover/filter which shows are dubbed, titles in my list are in Japanese names I don't associate with what I watched. This may be an opportunity to capture a niche away from MAL. People new to anime who aren't already entrenched from years of using MAL also (anecdotally speaking in an anglo-majority country) prefer English-first and dubbed content.

2. While MAL has community-driven reviews and scores, it does not have good systems for users to present their anime from a personal recommendation standpoint. Users will link their lists, and the only metric available is score and what they watched. User profiles are a little better at linking to favourites and reviews, but I think having a unique take on this at-a-glance splash page of information would not only be enticing to the users, but drive increased sign ups from people clicking the links and wanting to make their own. Consider a little customization, letting users feel like this is a page -they- made will increase retention as they spend time tending their garden.

3. If you're intending to support show discovery/reference: MAL doesn't do a good job of telling you where you can watch something. Directing users to streaming sites such as Funimation, Netflix or Hidive would be useful. Being able to filter to the services I already pay for would be helpful. Related, but Hidive has integration with MAL ratings currently - I am not sure if this was successful for them or not, but worth researching.

4. In terms of user engagement, you want to make hitting that "Episode Finished" button feel good for the user. As simple as it is, I already get a nice feeling of satisfaction as I tick the number up on MAL. Leaning into that encourages people to keep coming back to your website regularly. It will also produce more accurate data if checking that box off is one of the first things users do after finishing the episode. Consider making this moment lead into other experiences on your site or others. Maybe completing the episode shows you links to discussion threads for the episode. Maybe you can take a moment to write a quick comment about this particular episode. Something to make hitting the button feel good.

5. Another avenue to bring in users is stats & stat analysis. While new-to-anime users will benefit the most from seeing their "anime life journey" unfold, long-time fans have friction for their existing catalogue (they won't see a "journey" unless they really take the time to try and recall when exactly they watched a particular show). Getting them to input their data to see what sort of cool analysis and/or recommendations the site can give is a nice carrot to entice them in. I know anecdotally that the only time I tried a MAL alternative for this reason, and it provided an import tool so that friction was further reduced.

I mentioned in my form submission I'd be hesitant but not completely opposed to paying. I think you're going to have a hard time asking the users to be your direct revenue source when, as you say, there are already a lot out there on the market, including the top dog.