Latest news with #onlinecommunities
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
18 Unhinged, Crunchy Parents Who Held Nothing Back When Posting Online
I'm sorry, but online parenting groups are out of control, and we need to talk about it. Instead of providing parents with a positive online forum and community, these groups tend to devolve into toxic echo chambers brimming with misinformation, bad advice, and brain rot. Here are 18 screenshots to prove it: mom who wants other mom friends, but only if they're upper-middle class: absolutely shameless weirdo who proves you really can't trust anyone: person who spouted dangerous nonsense online: overstepping grandparent who needs to be kept far away from this baby: grossly judgmental parent who is going to give their child body images issues for life: parent who harshly called their first child bad simply because they developed at a slower rate than their second child: parent who is feverishly obsessed with pushing essential oils on their 16-year-old son: parent who thinks scaring the hell out of their 4-year-old is an acceptable technique: commenter who must suffer from serious brain rot because they think it's suitable to use a child's pain as an opportunity for a parent to grow: parent who really, really wants to get their 10-week-old baby's ears pierced: parent who really doesn't see how leaving their children alone in a car for half an hour is dangerous: poster who wants to skip an important doctor's appointment for their baby, and a commenter who thinks asking ChatGPT is as good as receiving medical care: anti-vax parent who wants to protect their kids from whooping not enough to vaccinate them: stepmother who was upset that their stepchild was sick and "ruined" their Mother's Day: expecting parent who spoke to a doctor and needs medical care, but rather consult randos on Facebook: person who seems more concerned with the aesthetic of their homebirth than making sure it's safe: parent who wants specialized care for their child who keeps getting kicked out of daycare, but refuses to pay fairly for such care: finally, this parent who is drinking all sorts of internet Kool-Aid: H/T: r/ShitMomGroupsSay
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
18 Unhinged, Crunchy Parents Who Held Nothing Back When Posting Online
I'm sorry, but online parenting groups are out of control, and we need to talk about it. Instead of providing parents with a positive online forum and community, these groups tend to devolve into toxic echo chambers brimming with misinformation, bad advice, and brain rot. Here are 18 screenshots to prove it: mom who wants other mom friends, but only if they're upper-middle class: absolutely shameless weirdo who proves you really can't trust anyone: person who spouted dangerous nonsense online: overstepping grandparent who needs to be kept far away from this baby: grossly judgmental parent who is going to give their child body images issues for life: parent who harshly called their first child bad simply because they developed at a slower rate than their second child: parent who is feverishly obsessed with pushing essential oils on their 16-year-old son: parent who thinks scaring the hell out of their 4-year-old is an acceptable technique: commenter who must suffer from serious brain rot because they think it's suitable to use a child's pain as an opportunity for a parent to grow: parent who really, really wants to get their 10-week-old baby's ears pierced: parent who really doesn't see how leaving their children alone in a car for half an hour is dangerous: poster who wants to skip an important doctor's appointment for their baby, and a commenter who thinks asking ChatGPT is as good as receiving medical care: anti-vax parent who wants to protect their kids from whooping not enough to vaccinate them: stepmother who was upset that their stepchild was sick and "ruined" their Mother's Day: expecting parent who spoke to a doctor and needs medical care, but rather consult randos on Facebook: person who seems more concerned with the aesthetic of their homebirth than making sure it's safe: parent who wants specialized care for their child who keeps getting kicked out of daycare, but refuses to pay fairly for such care: finally, this parent who is drinking all sorts of internet Kool-Aid: H/T: r/ShitMomGroupsSay
TechCrunch
23-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Discord seeks to solve a problem that it created
In Brief Discord is entering its second decade as a company and seeking to go public. Along the way, it's changed the way that online communities interact, turning groups that may have previously existed as forums or message boards into multi-channel instant message servers. Now, everything finds a home on Discord, whether it's an AI platform like Midjourney (Discord's largest server), an international gaming community, or a school club. But message boards still serve their purpose. Sometimes, there's value in more incremental, organized commentary in a forum, as opposed to the rapidity of real-time, casual chats on Discord, which can flood users with an overwhelming number of unread messages and potentially obscure the most useful information. According to The Verge, Discord's SVP of product, Peter Sellis, says that the company is thinking about how to solve this issue. He said that Discord wants to work on features that are 'more amicable to structured knowledge sharing, like forums, that we could probably do a better job of investing in.' Another proposed solution to this clutter is to use an LLM to summarize long streams of messages. But culture among Discord users varies so widely that the embrace of AI could simultaneously excite and enrage its audience. With LLMs, Sellis said, Discord could take a long, meandering conversation and turn it into 'something that could be more sharable and syndicated across the web.' However, he said that he and his team hadn't 'seen a solution that we feel great about yet.' With a new CEO at its helm and an imminent IPO, Discord is probably in for more than a few updates.
National Post
13-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
VerticalScope Announces First Quarter 2025 Financial Results
Article content TORONTO — VerticalScope Holdings Inc. ('VerticalScope' or the 'Company') (TSX: FORA; OTCQX: VFORF), a technology company that has built and operates a cloud-based digital platform for online enthusiast communities, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025 ('Q1' or 'the quarter'). Article content 'In Q1, we navigated some challenges, including a more uncertain macro environment, softness in video advertising rates and recent changes to Google's search algorithm which affected traffic on Fora communities. As a result, revenue was 8% lower than prior year,' said Rob Laidlaw, Founder, Chair and CEO of VerticalScope. Article content Mr. Laidlaw continued, 'Like other user-generated platforms, we're adapting to an evolving search experience, one that requires optimizing our strategy for AI Overviews, and integrating our own proprietary AI-driven enhancements to improve engagement, accessibility and monetization over time. We are better equipped to handle these algorithm changes with the Fora platform, and the integration of AI, allowing us to roll out important upgrades very quickly. Despite the traffic volatility causing MAU's to be 8% lower in the quarter, we remain confident in our business model, the strength of our communities, and the long-term opportunities ahead.' Article content Financial Highlights for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Article content Revenue decreased 8% to $13.6M. This decline was primarily driven by weaker performance in programmatic video ads and a slower start for direct advertising due to timing-related shifts in campaign launches. Article content Adjusted EBITDA decreased 30% to $3.6M, with a 27% Adjusted EBITDA Margin compared to 36% in the prior year, primarily driven by lower revenue and higher compensation and consulting costs, including strategic support for AI initiatives and SEO optimizations. Article content Operating Cash Flow was $3.0M, and Free Cash Flow was $3.1M, reflecting an 86% Free Cash Flow Conversion. During the quarter, we deployed $5.5M in capital towards acquisitions, adding 23 online communities to our platform. Article content Net loss increased by $1.4M to $2.4M, compared to a net loss of $1.0M in the prior year, resulting in a loss per share of $0.11. The increase was primarily driven by revenue declines and an $0.8M increase in share-based compensation, which included one-time performance-based incentives. Article content 'While Q1 presented challenges on the top line, our disciplined approach continues to deliver strong cash flow,' said Vince Bellissimo, CFO of VerticalScope. 'We generated $3.0M in Operating Cash Flow and $3.1M in Free Cash Flow, with a healthy conversion rate of 86%. These results reflect our ability to navigate a shifting environment while investing in growth initiatives. We remain focused on disciplined capital allocation and will deploy capital toward opportunities that we believe will drive long-term shareholder value. Year-to-date we have deployed $7.3M in capital towards M&A, and approximately $1.8M towards repurchasing 516K shares under our NCIB.' Article content 'We've completed four acquisitions so far in 2025, and the newly added communities are already seeing performance gains from our advertising technology and platform integration. With a strong balance sheet and proven playbook, we're well positioned to capitalize on market volatility and continue scaling through strategic M&A,' added Chris Goodridge, President and COO of VerticalScope. Article content Management will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the Company's financial results at 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Article content Live Call Registration and Webcast: Article content If you are unable to join live, an archived recording of the webcast will be available at: Article content Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, VerticalScope is a technology company that has built and operates a cloud-based digital platform for online enthusiast communities in high consumer spending categories. VerticalScope's mission is to enable people with common interests to connect, explore their passions, and share knowledge about the things they love. Through targeted acquisitions and development, VerticalScope has built a portfolio of over 1,200 online communities and over 100 million monthly active users. Article content Forward-Looking Statements Article content This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation that reflects the Company's current expectations regarding future events. When used in this news release, words such as 'should', 'could', 'intended', 'expect', 'plan' or 'believe' and similar expressions indicate forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information, including the Company's plans for organic growth, deployment of capital, investments in our platform, the growth of revenue and MAU, information regarding our financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, addressable markets, budgets, operations, financial results, plans and objectives, is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Although the Company believes that its expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and no assurances can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the implementation and effectiveness of the Company's capital allocation strategy, the availability of high-quality M&A opportunities, and the factors discussed under 'Risk Factors' in the Company's Annual Information Form dated April 1, 2024, which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR Plus at Actual results could differ materially from those projected herein. VerticalScope does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required under applicable securities laws. Article content This press release references certain non-IFRS measures, including Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow, and Free Cash Flow Conversion as described below. This press release also makes reference to MAU, which is an operating metric used in our industry. These non-IFRS measures are not recognized measures under IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of the Company's results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the Company's financial information reported under IFRS. Article content The Company uses non-IFRS measures including: Article content 'EBITDA' is calculated as net income (loss) excluding interest, income tax expense (recovery), and depreciation and amortization. Article content 'Adjusted EBITDA' is calculated as EBITDA adjusted for share-based compensation, share performance related bonuses, unrealized gains or losses from changes in fair value of derivative financial instruments, severance, adjustments to contingent consideration liabilities measured at fair value through profit and loss, gain or loss on sale of assets, gain or loss on sale of investments, foreign exchange loss (gain), realized and unrealized other loss (gain), impairment and other charges that include direct and incremental business acquisition related costs. Article content 'Adjusted EBITDA Margin' measures Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue. Article content 'Free Cash Flow' means Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures and income taxes paid during the period. Article content 'Free Cash Flow Conversion' is equal to Free Cash Flow for the period divided by Adjusted EBITDA for the period. Article content 'Monthly Active Users' ('MAU') is defined as the number of individuals who have visited our communities within a calendar month, based on data as measured by Google Analytics. To calculate average MAU in a given period, we sum the total MAU for each month in that period, divided by the number of months in that period. Article content (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, (in thousands of US dollars) 2025 2024 Net loss ($2,416) ($985) Net interest and financing expense 748 1,163 Income tax recovery (454) (124) Depreciation and amortization 4,424 4,565 EBITDA 2,302 4,619 Share-based compensation 1,252 421 Share performance related bonus ⁽¹⁾ — (3) Unrealized loss (gain) from changes in derivative fair value of financial instruments (50) 56 Gain on sale of assets — (4) Gain on sale of investments — (16) Foreign exchange loss 56 27 Realized other loss 68 — Unrealized other loss 26 — Other charges ⁽ 2 ⁾ (12) 127 Adjusted EBITDA 3,641 5,227 Less capital expenditures (446) (435) Income taxes received (paid) (75) 377 Free Cash Flow $3,120 $5,169 Article content (1) Share performance related bonus is included in wages and consulting on the condensed consolidated interim statements of loss and comprehensive loss. (2) Other charges are included in general and administrative on the condensed consolidated interim statements of loss and comprehensive loss. For the three months ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2024, these charges include non-recurring legal related costs. Article content VERTICALSCOPE HOLDINGS INC. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Financial Position (In U.S. dollars) (Unaudited) March 31, December 31, 2025 2024 Assets Current assets: Cash $5,014,293 $5,189,315 Restricted cash 93,915 97,244 Trade and other receivables 11,954,451 14,874,882 Lease receivable 187,936 326,267 Income taxes receivable 442,085 784,332 Prepaid expenses 891,834 761,652 18,584,514 22,033,692 Property and equipment 417,458 482,276 Right-of-use asset 1,426,728 1,564,687 Intangible assets 39,279,536 37,597,990 Goodwill 52,635,164 52,635,164 Other assets 116,556 154,497 Deferred tax asset 18,487,560 17,937,708 Total assets $130,947,516 $132,406,014 Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $4,454,083 $6,864,256 Income taxes payable 423,025 426,778 Derivative instruments 95,417 145,068 Deferred revenue 987,415 1,125,592 Current portion of long-term debt 606,257 687,875 Lease liability 800,189 946,626 7,366,386 10,196,195 Long-term debt 41,000,000 38,000,000 Lease liability 1,031,312 1,180,878 Deferred tax liability — 315,607 Other long-term liabilities 26,612 26,612 Total liabilities 49,424,310 49,719,292 Shareholders' equity: Share capital 166,275,747 163,250,013 Contributed surplus 23,639,378 25,413,119 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (145,494) (145,494) Deficit (108,246,425) (105,830,916) 81,523,206 82,686,722 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $130,947,516 $132,406,014 Article content VERTICALSCOPE HOLDINGS INC. (In U.S. dollars, except per share amounts) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 2024 Revenue $13,565,517 $14,723,444 Operating expenses: Wages and consulting 7,162,204 6,940,033 Share-based compensation 1,251,993 421,241 Platform and technology 1,639,598 1,543,535 General and administrative 1,060,465 1,192,625 Depreciation and amortization 4,423,575 4,564,628 15,537,835 14,662,062 Operating income (loss) (1,972,318) 61,382 Other expenses (income): Gain on sale of assets (340) (3,620) Net interest and financing expense 747,818 1,162,932 Gain on sale of investments — (16,398) Foreign exchange loss 55,655 27,380 Realized other loss 67,577 — Unrealized other loss 26,453 — 897,163 1,170,294 Loss before income taxes (2,869,481) (1,108,912) Income tax expense (recovery) Current 411,484 88,618 Deferred (865,456) (212,937) (453,972) (124,319) Net loss ($2,415,509) ($984,593) Other comprehensive loss Items that may be reclassified to net loss: Foreign currency differences on translation of foreign operations — 26,245 Total comprehensive loss ($2,415,509) ($958,348) Loss per share: Basic ($0.11) ($0.05) Diluted (0.11) (0.05) Article content VERTICALSCOPE HOLDINGS INC. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Cash Flows (In U.S. dollars) (Unaudited) Three months ended March 31 2025 2024 Cash provided by (used in): Operating activities: Net loss ($2,415,509) ($984,593) Items not involving cash: Depreciation and amortization 4,423,575 4,564,628 Net interest and financing expense 747,818 1,162,932 Gain on sale of assets (340) (3,620) Gain on sale of investments — (16,398) Unrealized loss (gain) in derivative instruments (49,651) 55,668 Unrealized other loss 26,453 — Income tax recovery (453,972) (124,319) Share-based compensation 1,251,993 421,241 3,530,367 5,075,539 Change in non-cash operating assets and liabilities 235,553 1,443,964 Interest paid (724,547) (1,162,852) Income taxes received (paid) (75,030) 377,086 2,966,343 5,733,737 Financing activities: Repayment of term loan — (625,000) Proceeds from issuance of revolving loan 3,000,000 — Repayment of revolving loan — (2,375,000) Repurchase of share capital for cancellation — (233,226) Lease payments (323,279) (360,982) Proceeds from sublease 140,940 150,078 2,817,661 (3,444,130) Investing activities: Additions to property and equipment and intangible assets (5,902,344) (434,611) Proceeds from sale of assets 340 4,114 Proceeds from sale of investments — 16,398 (5,902,004) (414,099) Increase (decrease) in cash (118,000) 1,875,508 Cash, beginning of period 5,189,315 6,015,184 Change in restricted cash balances 3,329 4,266 Effect of movement of exchange rates on cash and restricted cash held (60,351) 13,078 Cash, end of period $5,014,293 $7,908,036 Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content For further information Investor and media inquiries: Article content Article content Article content
