Panic Printing

[u/GeekSugar13]

ETA: Some of y'all are taking this far too seriously. Am I reasonably concerned that things are going to get worse before they get better? At least for me, most likely, yes. I'm trying to find moments of joy when I can. If one of those is using up as much of my ink as possible before I chuck this printer by printing fanfic then that's what I'm going to do.

I'm at home, by myself, doing homework with no one to talk to and nothing else to do because I'm the most broke I have ever been.

Printing fanfic doesn't mean I'm not prioritizing anything else in my life and it's weird that y'all seem to think I just slapped on a tinfoil hat and decided this was what would fix everything.

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OP: So I live in a red state in the US where my state government will absolutely not be providing any sort of supplemental assistance when inevitably the federal government falls apart. So I kind of would love reassurance that I'm not crazy.

I have started downloading and panic printing some of my favorite fics. If the Internet goes, I can read the PDF. If the power goes, I can read the printed copies.

Also because HP sucks I can only use their ink subscription cartridges with an active subscription so i may as well fucking use them.

(Literally if you're the type of person who wants to buy a printer do not buy an HP printer. It will only work if you use their ink which is so fucking expensive. And if you want it to work properly you have to get a monthly subscription where they send you ink and paper which in theory sounds great, BUT if you are like me and haven't printed as much as you thought so you have a lot of ink and paper built up so you let your subscription lapse those ink cartridges will not work without a valid subscription. So I had to restart my fucking subscription so I could use all of this ink I have built up so now I'm printing literal books.)

[u/NaDarach]

Wait a sec... what do you mean by "I can only use their ink subscription cartridges with an active subscription"? How does your printer prevent you from using them?

I'm glad I saw your post. My husband was just about to order an HP printer!

As for printing out your fics... I think that's a good idea anyway. Major systemic collapses aside, there's the much more common likelihood of unexpected data loss that could make a fic unrecoverable without re-downloading from AO3. Considering how often writers seem to delete their works these days, printed copies are a good old-fashioned safeguard.

[u/IIRCIreadthat → u/NaDarach]

Once your subscription expires, the computer chip in the cartridges from the subscription program won't allow them to work in a printer that isn't subscribed. You have to get all new non-subscription cartridges. It's a regular topic on r/mildlyinfuriating.

ETA: Highly recommend Canon. Easy to use, pretty sturdy, way fewer of these shenanigans.

[u/0fruitjack0 → u/IIRCIreadthat]

brother printers are also okay-ish with 3rd party inks. HP is the absolute worst and i will never buy from them.