Here is a basic explanation of what the current vote on Net Neutrality is “The repeal would take away regulations that barred internet service providers (ISPs) from slowing down content, charging you more to access sites and online services, and charging users or companies for so-called “fast lanes” to some sites”. The repeal is likely to result in higher prices and fewer choices for consumers, and it will be a boon to ISPs that will enter into a new environment where they’ll be free to maximize their profits from customer’s  internet usage".
  I’ve been tuning in periodically to the live vote on CNN and I think I have a new understanding of this whole Net Neutrality issue. Basically the Republicans want things to go back to the way they were before the 2015 enactment of Net Neutrality and the Democrats want to keep it the way it is. Why does everything have to boil down to a Democrat vs Republican pissing contest? I feel like we the constituents get lost in all of the jostling between them and nothing every really gets done. They always want it "their way" and either don't want to bend and compromise or they do and it is so minute that it is barely noticeable.

  Original Post 12/13/17
The other day the subject of Net Neutrality was brought to me by a 15 year-old kid who is all about the wonderful things that can and have to be done online. At first I dismissed him, because I didn’t really understand what in the world he was trying to say and honestly, I’m not too sure he fully understood. So of course I did what I always do and I decided to do a little research. Well, well, well, did I have an eye opening experience.
 The information I found has me outraged. I learned that there are some legislators that want to make the Internet more like cable, where you basically have to pay extra for premium channels or services in this case. For the major Telecom companies that own certain services they want to charge the provider and us consumers an additional fee for using a service or getting information from their competitors, more or less. For instance if you have Comcast as your Internet Provider, you will have an additional fee in order to stream Netflix but not Hulu (because apparently Comcast has a stake in Hulu). If your company doesn't own or have a stake in Google, you will be charged $1.99 per search and $4.99 for every Netflix movie you stream. Are they serious???...

   In the month since we attended the “Brand Your Business” meeting, we have created 3 websites and joined several social media platforms. We started from ZERO knowledge about Internet businesses and social media. We actually fought against signing up for and using social media. I personally miss the good old days when you could pick up the phone and call someone to chat, or see a “help wanted” sign in a window, go in apply, and get hired right on the spot. Nowadays, before you can even get an in person interview, you have to do a video interview, the employer is going to check out your “Social Media Profile”, check to see if you're on LinkedIn, Facebook and who you’re following on Twitter.
   The implications of your associations (or lack thereof) in this day and age are staggering, and outshine any other qualifications you may have. In this situation, our lack of a social media presence has really stagnated our growth as an online business. Well, I guess technically we're not an actual business because we aren’t asking anything in return from the people that visit our site. Our goal is merely to provide information and resources from within the safety of our pages,  to our readers. 
   Over the years I have tried the various “get paid doing online surveys” and “watch videos and earn gift cards”. The problem with that was, I never knew when they were legitimate or if it was a scam. I would click the signup button and then begin to wonder “Will I wake up the next morning with 100 emails asking me to “chat with sexy Asians or Beatrix Borwn has rewarded me money” (I intentionally said rewarded and misspelled the last name Brown, the typos or grammar errors are usually good indicators that it is a scam), you just never know.
​   I have become a little more savvy now, I try to do my due diligence and research any site before actually signing up. I check out at least 3-5 other sites that review them and digest the good with the bad to come up with my own opinion, from there I decide whether or not I want to join…

Well, I held out hope a little longer than my counterpart, but in the end we both came to the same realization, People often want Something for Nothing! I have nothing bad to say about the site Offerup (other than I wish there was an option to stop people from sending messages in the middle of the night...my answer to that was, TURN OFF YOUR PHONE). 
​   It doesn't take long to figure out when something is not working for you when you go into it with a specific PLAN and PURPOSE. My Plan: to see which local selling app was a better platform, Offerup or Letgo. My Purpose: Make Money selling unused items from around the house.  
   In the beginning Letgo was leading the challenge with views and offers. After a couple  of days Offerup took the lead with completed offers. In the end we realized that the items we had for sale weren't really of buying interest to people on those sites, people must have just liked the look of the pictures because there were 100's of views but I only received 20 offers (most of which were between 25 and 50% of my posted asking price). It seems that it is more of a yard sale environment, where people expect to haggle the price down as far as they can. I guess I thought it was more of a store type platform, you post a price and people pay it. We did lower the price of our items regularly based on the number of views (if an item was receiving numerous views but no offers we lowered the prices to see if that would motivate an offer). Sometimes that worked, but more often than not the offer was downright OFFENSIVE. If I list a Nintendo 3DS for $150 bucks, someone who offers $50 is OFFENSIVE to me! That was the way it went for most items.
   The item that started the bidding frenzy previously, didn't even sell. The person whose offer was accepted, even though he couldn't get it for a couple of days, didn't actually read the title or description of the item. He didn't realize that it was a boys jacket until I confirmed the size when we were scheduling our meeting after waiting 3 whole days to complete the purchase. I was very disappointed, especially since we were willing to drive out to his job, which was over 30 minutes away because he couldn't get off early enough to meet (granted he offered a delivery fee and I accepted), but bottom line is, that deal fell through. So I tucked my tail between my legs and reached back out to the other guy to see if he was still interested...no response back (not surprised). 
    Yesterday after lowering my prices to the rock bottom lowest that I was willing to accept, I reached back out to a previous person who had made an offer on the DS and asked if they were still interested now that the price was closer to their offer... no response back.
    I guess in this medium, either you accept their offer right away or you get cut off. Either way, my experiment is complete and the results are in. If you're looking for a quick way to make cash, this may not be the medium for you. If you have time and the right products (not sure what they are for your specific area, you'll have to do a little research on your local app to see what sells frequently), this could be a great way to get rid of items that you don't use or no longer need but are in good condition. Read More to see the Pros and Cons of OfferUp 
PROS of OfferUp:
-Easy account setup (I did do the TrueU verification, which I noticed nobody else did)
-User friendly (just take the picture, type title, description, enter amount and post)
-You have the option to post from your Local area or Facebook
-Easy to edit your Post (price, title or description)
-You can easily see how many times your item has been viewed
-You are can select what category you want to place your item
CONS of Offerup:
-The only way to view items is based on "Your local area" or by "category" (I couldn't figure out how to look for specific categories in my local area. There might have been a way but there wasn't an obvious option for it)
-Updates of price drops are not available, unlike with Letgo