Add blog posts
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Helen Chong
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articleTitle: Leilukin's Hub Now has a Blog!
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desc: I have finally set up a blog on my own website.
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date: 2023-01-28
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updated: 2024-04-16
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categories: ["site updates"]
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---
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I finally built a blog on my own website!
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After launching this site in September 2022, I had been considering setting up a blog here, as I want a blog that is hosted on my own site, but it was not until I discovered [Zonelets](https://zonelets.net/), a HTML blogging engine created with Neocities in mind, and it was exactly what I was looking for to build a blog on my own Neocities site: it is simple enough for beginners to use, yet also open for more customisation and flexibility for users who have enough knowledge about HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
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My site does have an [articles](/articles) section, but what makes this blog different from the articles is that the articles are meant to be timeless, sort of like my public statements for certain topics, while posts from this blog are more like journals or reactions to a timely subject.
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Welcome to my blog! Hope you enjoy your stay on this blog and my website!
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**UPDATE on 16 April 2024:**
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After discovering the static site generator [Eleventy](https://www.11ty.dev/), I decided to rebuild my entire website, including this blog, with Eleventy. THerefore, I no longer use Zonelets, and now this blog is powered by Eleventy.
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articleTitle: Onboard the Dracula Daily Hype Train
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desc: I have signed up to join the Dracula Daily hype.
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date: 2023-05-09
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categories: ["dracula daily"]
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---
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[Dracula Daily](https://draculadaily.com/), the free subscription newsletter that sends Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula to subscribers via email, became an internet sensation, especially on Tumblr. Some of my Tumblr mutuals were also on the hype train, though I missed it.
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Fortunately, Dracula Daily returns in 2023, so I decided to sign up to subscribe to the newsletter and join the hype. This year, [Re: Dracula](https://redracula.live/), the audio drama podcast adaptation of Dracula, also debuts. Like Dracula Daily, Re: Dracula releases new entries in as close to real time as it happens, meaning you can now enjoy Dracula Daily in audio form as well, with excellent voice acting and sound design to enhance the experience.
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Confession: This is actually my first time reading Dracula, so I am looking forward to this serialised way of reading the novel!
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articleTitle: My First Birthday After the Launch of Leilukin's Hub
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desc: 28th July 2023 marks my first birthday after the launch of this personal website.
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date: 2023-07-28
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categories: ["my birthday", "cassette beasts"]
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---
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28 July is my birthday, and in 2023, it also marks my first birthday after the launch of this personal website. I have had a nice birthday this year.
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I spent the moments counting down to my birthday by playing Cassette Beasts, which has become one of my all-time favourite video games, to the extent that I am planning to make a shrine for it on this site. I defeated [Lamento Mori](https://wiki.cassettebeasts.com/wiki/Lamento_Mori), who in the lore of Cassette Beasts is an [Archangel](https://wiki.cassettebeasts.com/wiki/Archangel), one of the eldritch entities in the game's settings, that specifically embodies humanity's fear of death. It is both amusing and poetic that I celebrated the countdown to my birthday by defeating a boss in a video game that represents death.
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Since I have been playing and loving Cassette Beasts, and I want to support indie developers of indie games I love, I decided to purchase the Deluxe Edition on Steam, which includes the soundtrack, the art book and the Cosplay Pack as a birthday gift for myself. I received the base game as a Steam gift from a friend, and now I chose to use my money to support the developers myself as well. Not to mention, the music of Cassette Beasts is amazing. "Same Old Story", the battle theme of the Archangels, in particular, has become one of my all-time favourite battle themes in video games.
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I had my birthday celebration with my family and received birthday wishes from friends.
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Happy Birthday to me!
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---
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articleTitle: Happy 1st Anniversary to Leilukin's Hub
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desc: Celebrating the first anniversary of Leilukin's Hub and reflecting on the evolution of my website throughout past year.
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date: 2023-09-11
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categories: ["site updates", "site anniversary"]
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---
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11 September 2023 marks the first anniversary of Leilukin's Hub, my personal website, hosted on Neocities. I am proud to be able to succeed in not only building my own website, but also updating, improving and maintaining my website to achieve my vision for my own personal hub on the internet outside social media platforms.
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I registered a Neocities account on 28 May 2022, while my own website, Leilukin's Hub, was officially launched on 11 September 2022. I set up this website because I wanted to have a personal web page outside social media platforms to gather various stuff and resources I had created or compiled on online spaces throughout the years. Furthermore, I settled for Neocities because I like the flexibility of customisation by coding my website with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Initially, I considered and tried [Carrd](https://carrd.co/) to create my web pages, but free accounts on Carrd can only add up to 100 elements on a web page, which is not enough for my purpose.
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This site's [changelog](/changelog/) and [layout archive](/changelog/layouts) document the evolution of Leilukin's Hub throughout the past year: from the humble beginning of a simple black background with white text and light brown titles, to the responsive, mobile-friendly, full-fledged personal website with its own site button, [RSS feed](/feed.xml), a [blog](https://htmltomd.com/blog/) and multiple [shrines](/shrines/).
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Coding my own website was also an excellent way to put my HTML and CSS knowledge and skills into good use. I already had basic knowledge of HTML and CSS from what I learned from my teenage years of customising my blog on Blogger.
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Working on Leilukin's Hub had ignited my interest in coding, so I took courses to learn more about HTML, CSS, JavaScript and more about coding, and in turn, I put my new coding knowledge into good use by improving and adding more features to Leilukin's Hub, which was totally worth it. Therefore, I have also [compiled resources for building websites](/resources/web-building-resources) here for those who need it.
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You may feel intimidated by the idea of building your website because you do not know how to code, but good news! There are plenty of resources for you to learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript, including free courses. Neocities also has [its own HTML course](/tutorial/html/) for you to get started. Happy coding!
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articleTitle: My Cassette Beasts Pombomb Plushie Arrived!
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desc: The official Cassette Beasts Pombomb plushie I purchased finally arrived.
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date: 2023-10-13
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categories: ["cassette beasts"]
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---
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[](https://postimg.cc/MMccL6vP)
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[](https://postimg.cc/dkDdKRS9)
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[](https://postimg.cc/47Mc4KDR)
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[](https://postimg.cc/5YZHdhzx)
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Cassette Beasts has become my favourite monster collecting game and one of my all-time favourite games since the first time I played it. In fact, I have created a [Cassette Beasts shrine](/shrines/cassettebeasts/) on my own website here. Among the monsters from Cassette Beasts, [Pombomb](https://wiki.cassettebeasts.com/wiki/Pombomb) is one of my favourites.
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I love Cassette Beasts and Pombomb so much that I am willing to spend money on not only the [official Pombomb plushie](https://www.symbiotestudios.com/online-store/Cassette-Beasts-Pombomb-p582974319) itself, but also the shipping fee to import it to my region. It took a month for this cutie to arrive at my home, but it is worth the wait!
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The plushie is very well-made; it is firm decently sized.
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Even better, when I shared my Pombomb plushie, Bytten Studio, the developer of Cassette Beasts [retweeted](https://twitter.com/ByttenStudio/status/1712191037957927126) me!
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> Look at the lil guy! Perfect! Perfection!! [https://t.co/zgMDvOQjt3](https://t.co/zgMDvOQjt3)
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>
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> — CASSETTE BEASTS 📼 OUT NOW ON PC & CONSOLES (@ByttenStudio) [October 11, 2023](https://twitter.com/ByttenStudio/status/1712191037957927126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
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articleTitle: Support for My Steam Review of A Summer's End — Hong Kong 1986
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desc: A thank-you post for the people who have supported my Steam review of A Summer's End — Hong Kong 1986.
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date: 2023-10-30
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categories: ["a summers end"]
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---
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As part of my effort to support and promote [A Summer's End — Hong Kong 1986](https://www.asummersend.com/), the sapphic visual novel and my absolute favourite piece of queer art ever, I left a [glowing review on Steam](https://steamcommunity.com/id/leilukin/recommended/1111370/) on 17 August 2023, talking about how much A Summer's End means too me as a Cantonese-speaking Chinese lesbian who grew up with Hong Kong media. I love A Summer's End so much that I had created a [shrine](/shrines/asummersend/) for it on my own website here.
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Since then, as of the writing of this post on 30 October 2023, my review made to the top of the most helpful reviews in the past 90 days on the [Steam store page of A Summer's End](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1111370) with 12 votes.
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In addition, I have received multiple Steam awards, with Steam Points along with them, including:
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* Heartwarning, which awards 200 Steam Points, given by two people
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* Golden Unicorn, which awards 800 Steam Points, given by one person
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* Take My Points, which awards 1,600(!) Steam Points, given by one person
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Recently, on 22 October 2023, the [guestbook](https://leilukin.123guestbook.com/) of my website here have also received a message from someone named Rob, who expressed appreciation for my Steam review:
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> Thanks so much for your steam review of a summer's end!! So glad you have this board, so I could thank you for the heart warming review. I want to get this game for a friend of mine who is new to speaking english, and the story definitely will resonate with her.
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>
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> I am introducing her to visual novels to hopefully help aid in her learning and practice.
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I am amazed by the amount of appreciation my Steam review of A Summer's End has been given. Thank you! A Summer's End truly deserves all the love and support it can get.
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I cannot stress enough that A Summer's End is important because LGBTQ+ Hong Kong people and Cantonese speakers are criminally underrepresented in media. This is why we need to be vocal about our support for queer art made by non-white people, to signify to both the creators and every LGBTQ+ people that stories of queer non-white people deserve to be told.
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Therefore, here is your reminder to check out A Summer's End — Hong Kong 1986 if you have not already, especially you are also an Asian sapphic woman!
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articleTitle: I Can Finally Game on a Solid-State Drive
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desc: I just got the solid-state drive (SSD) of my 5-year-old gaming laptop replaced with a new onw with a larger storage capacity.
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date: 2023-11-19
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categories: ["life updates"]
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---
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The laptop I am using for doing everything on desktop — including coding and managing this very website and blog — is the first gaming laptop I ever had. I bought this laptop in 2018, meaning I have used it for 5 years by the time of this writing.
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In 2018, I was able to purchase a budget gaming laptop with a solid-state drive (SSD) as its system drive. However, the SSD only had a 258GB storage capacity, which is paltry by today's hard drive standards, especially if you are a gamer, since the installation size of mainstream video games has grown bigger over time (which is actually one of the reasons I rarely play new AAA games any more).
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This means that even though I immediately experienced the night-and-day difference in how much the speed of booting my operating system compared to all the laptops I owned previously, I was unable to enjoy the benefit of gaming on an SSD, which is faster loading of games, because I still had to install video games on my hard disk drive to preserve the space of my SSD system drive... until now.
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After using my gaming laptop for 5 years, my SSD started displaying signs of age with random shutdowns and blue screens of death, followed by a "No Bootable Device" error even after my laptop restarted. As the issue became more frequent, and none of the possible solutions I found online worked at all, I finally asked for professional help to replace my corrupted SSD system drive. I chose a 1TB SSD with Windows 11 installed as my new system drive.
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As a result, on 16 November, my 5-year-old gaming laptop was reborn with a new SSD system drive. A new SSD with much larger storage capacity means I can finally experience gaming on an SSD, and the benefit that came with it. It truly felt like I had a new computer again, since I needed to reinstall all the apps I use, but it was a small price to pay, and I have always kept lists of apps I use in case I am in situations where I needed to restart my system like this.
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articleTitle: Finally Beat A Bug's Life The Video Game — 24 Years Later
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desc: My childhood goal of beating A Bug's Life video game was finally fulfilled.
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date: 2023-11-20
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categories: ["life updates"]
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A Bug's Life was one of my favourite films in my childhood, to the extent I had lost count of how many times I rewatched it even just as a child alone by playing the CD on my house's television over and over. I was such a huge fan of A Bug's Life that I had also played its tie-in game, specifically the 3D action platformer game, and it became one of my childhood favourite video games as well.
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However, I had a regret relating to A Bug's Life the video game for years — I did not finish the game. I managed to reach Level 15, the final level of the game, but the reason I did not beat it was my CD-ROM of the game literally broke into pieces inside the CD-ROM drive, accompanied by a loud breaking sound, when I was playing Level 15, likely due to the CD-ROM being dislocated. It happened in 1999. Needless to say, the breaking of the CD-ROM of one of my childhood favourite video games broke my heart. My family and I had tried to look for a new copy of A Bug's Life video game, but with no success because at that time the stores in my local area no longer sold it.
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Over the years growing up, I still harbour nostalgia for A Bug's Life. While my love for the film had been tainted by the fact that [both Kevin Spacey, who voiced Hopper, and John Lasseter, the director, were accused of sexual misconduct](https://therottenappl.es/result/movie/9487/A-Bug's-Life), my wish of being able to finish the tie-in video game myself lingered from time to time. I had watched playthrough videos of A Bug's Life video game on YouTube to help to fill the void, but it was not the same as playing the game myself. The main obstacle that prevented my wish from being fulfilled was the fact that it was a very old game that its PC version is no longer officially sold, not even on online game stores such as Steam and GOG. In other words, A Bug's Life the video game had become an abandonware. As a result, I sought out [My Abandonware](https://www.myabandonware.com/), which does [provide the game to download for free](https://www.myabandonware.com/game/disney-pixar-a-bug-s-life-h0q).
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From My Abandonware, I downloaded and installed the Full-Rip with dgVoodoo by Destabilize version of A Bug's Life video game on my Windows 11. I was delighted when I successfully launched and played the old childhood favourite video game for the first time. Soon, I searched for a save file of the PC version of A Bug's Life video game that unlocked all levels, and found it on [The Tech Game](https://www.thetechgame.com/Downloads/id=62821/a-bugs-life.html). Finally, at long last, on 20 November 2023, after 24 years, I successfully beat A Bug's Life video game by myself. I did not aim for 100% completion because my main goal was to defeat Hopper, the final boss, myself.
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Given that the game was released in 1998, the graphics were obviously dated, and the camera and control were also awkward, but playing it again for the first time in decades brought back childhood memories of the game, and I still enjoy the game's soundtrack. This experience has also deepened my appreciation for internet archives, including ones that archive old video games. Thank you, My Abandonware, for allowing a childhood video game goal of mine got fulfilled decades later.
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articleTitle: I Received a Lifetime Premium Membership on Nexus Mods for Free
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desc: In light of my mods hosted on Nexus Mods reaching 30,000 unique downloads, I was rewarded a free lifetime Premium membership on Nexus Mods.
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date: 2024-03-06
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categories: ["modding"]
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---
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\[Image description: A partial email message from Nexus Mods that reads:
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> Hey leilukin,
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>
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> Congratulations! Many people are downloading your mods and your efforts have been recognised with a free Nexus Mods Premium reward.
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>
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> To see and redeem your rewards, you can visit your rewards tab on the billing page.
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>
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> Redeem now
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End desctiption.\]
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\[Image description: A notification on the Nexus Mods website that reads, "Your mods reached 30,000 UDLs! Enjoy Lifetime Premium membership on us." End description.\]
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\[Image description: The Membership tab in the Nexus Mods account setting page, showing the current membershiup being "Mod Author Reward: Lifetime Premium", starting from 6th Mar 2024 with no end date. End description.\]
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Wow, I just got informed by Nexus Mods via email and website notification that I have received a lifetime Premium membership for free on Nexus Mods as a mod author reward, since [all my mods that are hosted on Nexus Mods](https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3041255?tab=user+files) have reached 30,000 unique downloads in total!
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It was actually only through receiving this reward that I learned about Nexus Mods' [program to reward free Premium memberships to mod authors](https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14933).
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I never spent a single cent on Nexus Mods, and my mods are all passion projects, so I never expected to enjoy any extra benefits or privileges on Nexus Mods.
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That said, I cannot complain about receiving a premium membership on a website I use regularly for free, even though the unlimited mod download speed is the only benefit I am really interested in. After all, I do download a lot of mods for various video games from Nexus Mods.
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