I ought to concede I have plenty of disappointment around this. I feel like there were well established means to do this kind of thing safely, and I think because Seagate failed to meet that, five lives were needlessly lost. I wouldn't be surprised if this story lives on for a while as a sort of fable in hubris. That's not even getting to, say, the sense of injustice invoked in comparing how this was handled to the recent shipwreck in the Mediterranean. I think all of those thoughts distill down to the Eat The Rich flavored fan faire, and I think there's already plenty of that here.

Still, the Rich and Foolish nature of this trip all said, I find it commendable that the likes of the US Coast Guard, the Navy, and international groups came together and put up a sizeable and respectable search and rescue effort. I think it would've been well in their right (and in fact realistic) for them to wave it off and say something like "they made the wine, they drink the cup." But they didn't. I can respect that the collective weight of the wallets on board likely played a big part in it to say the least, but I'd also wager that it also takes a mighty large amount of forgiveness in people being foolish to go through that kind of effort to try and save them. Similar can probably be said for rescue missions helping out others in equally foolish incidents.

There's a lot directly and indirectly connected to this disaster that doesn't reflect well on the bulk of society, but the effort to try and help others even if they don't necessarily deserve it? I'll admit it feels naive to say, but I'd rather live in that kind of society than one that errs toward extending a callous hand. I hope we'll hear more often about us extending a hand to those who indeed deserve it, like those in the Mediterranean, but I'm also in the camp of continuing to extend that kind of forgiveness to The Foolish we'll continue to stumble upon. I hope to have the will to do that, at least.

We're all going to be foolish from time to time in life, and I sure know I'd sincerely appreciate a kind hand when it's my turn.

Edit (2023-08-07 T 08:50 Z): It occurred to me that I forgot to directly mention traits that might bias what I offer. On top of a general confidence and enthusiasm for Beehaw, I'm also a moderator for !creative and !askbeehaw. I strive to keep things balanced and outside of my biases, but it feels right for me to explicitly bring that up for transparency.

I can respect it's a tough issue to put briefly, but I think I get what you're putting down. "Our content isn't diverse enough", I suppose? "We have too much news and not enough anything else"? I 'unno, but I get the impression that you'd like to see more content that isn't news. I'm not too sure what to make of conflating that with "a more positive, uplifting, inclusive place", but I'd think it's got something to do with "negative to downright doomscrolling doomerism." Do let me know if I missed the mark here or there and I'd be down to talk that out, but I'm confident enough in that perspective to run with it at least for an initial comment.

And, welp, yeah. I think there's some truth there. What's up with that? I wouldn't be surprised if there's people with a better read of the room, and there's definitely people that are more properly active than I am, but I'd like to say I'm passionate about Beehaw's fundamentals and continued success. Hopefully that's good enough to say I have some theories as to what's up and what we can do about it.

1. I'd wager there was a sort of honeymoon phase with Beehaw and the Lemmy fediverse with the initial API scramble and Reddit following through on that. I'd also wager that honeymoon phase has been over for a few weeks now. So now we might be doing things like spending less time on Beehaw than we first were, or taking off the rose-tint shades that often come with a honeymoon phase and realizing that Beehaw's means and ways has imperfections and drawbacks just like any other platform inevitably does.
   Put another way, finding a positive sounding community is easy. Engaging and creating that positive sounding community is harder.

2. I'd think that the Reddit migration is also going to bring elements of old habits from Reddit, both in Beehaw and in people accessing it through federation. I think that Reddit's content leaned pretty heavily on news, so it wouldn't surprise me if a fair chunk of Reddit migrants continue to lean into posting news content.
   I'd imagine that our federated activity amplifies that aspect. !technology is a pretty good example of this. Our site sidebar stats say we clock in around 12.7k registered users. !technology has 34.2k subscribers, and that's not even considering federated users that might be lurking or posting without subscribing. There's like a whole 'nother Beehaw and a half in there. Admittedly it wouldn't surprise me if these federated users are less in touch with Beehaw's values or intentions. That's not a knock on those that go through the due diligence to inform themselves on how we like to do things, but Lemmy makes the barrier of entry for federated users a pretty low bar without granular ways to raise it.

This is all to say that we, as in Beehaw users, might not be as active as it seems, and that something is gonna take space.
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Regrettably I'm not so sure if there's an easy answer to this. This runs the risk of coming off a bit like a smartass answer, especially because I wouldn't call myself a bastion of activity, but I really do think it's the best means to help resolve this issue: use the thing the way you'd like to see it used.

Create things and share your progress and end product. Share the cool stuff you excel at, but share the small and goofy stuff and the experiments in other things too. Share the successes, share the failures. Take pictures of neat things you see in person, get the links to cool stuff you see online, and bring us in the loop about it. Give people some discussion and context in your OP's body—some hooks to help egg on conversation, if you will—and find ways to get in the conversation down in the comments.

I was hoping to get more active after my vacation at the top of the month, but I've been swamped with family errands and it's been a bit of a bummer. But I got some neat photos burning a hole in my pocket, creative projects I'm itching to get back to, a few neat links to share, and ideas of topics to talk shop with in a community or two. It's been a kind of epiphany rocking around my mind, thinking about how to generate community engagement. We could talk days on end about stuff like our philosophy, gray areas with content, community activities, or indulging in Tea. I'm starting to think that the most powerful solution to engagement and content issues is both the easiest and hardest: just get busy posting. Gotta plant flowers in the garden to bring in the bees, y'know? 🐝

i think my first personal action towards that is to stop giving a damn about trying to aim for "Prime Time" and just start posting, even when its O-Dark-Thirty by US hours 🥴

You got my thoughts on the question worded pretty well.

OP’s mention of Voat and your mention of additional platform alternatives that have gone sour remind me of a key thing: there’s often more to why and for whom these platforms were made for. Even if these platforms have some broad thread along the lines of “independence from [established company],” the devil’s in the details.

What prompted the migration to Voat around 2014? It was an issue with content restriction, but what kind of content was being restricted? Likewise can be said about Bitchute and Odysse: they cater to issues around content restriction, but what kind of content was being restricted to encourage their development in the first place?

This might be a big strong of a comparison for the subject, but it kind of reminds me of arguments around what started the American Civil War, of all things. Sure, some may frame it incorrectly as solely caused by restricting state rights. But a state’s right to do what? There’s probably a name for this kind of logical issue that’s not coming to mind.

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One thing that makes me more optimistic about this recent Reddit Drain is the nature of it. The previous drains that I can immediately think of stem from less than admirable root causes. I’d be willing to wager that a substantial sum of those who left and stayed out in those circumstances were not good company, to put it politely. But this latest intrigue seems to be casting a wider net and it seems to be appealing across sensibilities. Hopefully that averages out the demographic inclined to leave Reddit, and hopefully that’s for the better. Worst case scenario: the Toxic Sludge of the drain is turned off by instances like Beehaw or even lemmy.world and naturally corrals itself to instances more receptive to their company.

Done my civic duty 🗳.

The only question that tripped me up for some reason was whether I consider myself to be white or non-white. I'm Filipino American, and personally I have a kinda nebulous identity toward race. I suppose I could "pass" as white, but I find myself unsure of identifying absolutely as White or Non-White. I'm not educated in best practices here, but I think a "Mixed" answer could fill the gap well without getting overly specific.

Seeing the communities list is really exciting! Maybe one day we'll have the activity to warrant all of them 😄. I have a boatload of photographs I've taken over the years but never really got around to posting anywhere. I'll likely find my ways to sneak them in relevant communities if c/photography doesn't come around, but if I had to pick One and Only One, that would be mine.

Absolutely righteous of all of you to tackle that mountain and well appreciated by everyone here. Good luck with future rounds 🍻

Maybe there's a conspiracy? Maybe there isn't. There isn't much I can do outside of weening off my use of them, ultimately deleting my content there, and using and encouraging alternatives. Past that, I've come to find out it isn't worth the trouble for me to give that kind of thing too much airtime in my head if I can help it. If I wake up one day to learn that there's A Whole Thing going on, though, frankly it wouldn't surprise me all that much.

If I had to give it an absolute Yes or No based on what I know and figure, however, I'd say there isn't a conspiracy. I'd wager that it's just the likes of ignorance and capitalist business practices.
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I've heard that the economic landscape in the past decade-ish allowed certain sorts of companies and people to do business in a way that likely wasn't as sustainable as they thought. 2020 comes around, the economic landscape changes for intersecting Reasons, and I'd figure that the companies and people operating the least sustainably realize they have to change it up if they want to rake in the dough. Some of these businesses were social media platforms, and some of those platforms are lead partially or entirely by people like Musk or Huffman, who make some Less Than Thrilling decisions because they think it's a sound bet to get a lot of cash. That's not to say their decisions are sound bets, let alone good in sum, but I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt and say they weren't decisions made in a vacuum.

As much as we may use platforms like Reddit or Twitter to connect with one another or find and do something besides consuming and entertainment, we have to remember that these places established themselves as capitalist businesses. They are for-profit companies that ultimately answer only to the likes of a board, their shareholders, or their leadership. I think it's reasonable to say that the end game for a lot of these businesses is to make money. A lot of it. The consumer's most important purpose in this approach is to serve as a means to that money. There might be exceptions here and there that are given various labels, both inside and outside of a capitalist lens, but Twitter and Reddit certainly don't read like exceptions. Ill-advised or not, if the right people at Twitter and Reddit genuinely think their recent decisions will make them more money, it doesn't surprise me that they'll do it. The trouble is that there's typically more to life than a dollar—actions tend to have consequences outside of their intended ones, especially at this scale. Even if Twitter and Reddit didn't mean for this to put a dent in the ability to organize (or even to just be like, a Shitty user experience,) it can, and will, have that effect.

Writing it out, it's kinda funny. I still don't think there's a conspiracy per se, but the effects of these business practices create the sorta symptoms you're talking about, anyway. How does the saying go? "The system is working as intended"? Whether that's better or worse than a literal social and class conspiracy I'd say is up to the individual.
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As an aside, this is why I think projects like Lemmy and Mastodon are a big deal. Actually making the platform has got to be one of the hardest hurdles to get a social media network started. For all their faults, stuff like this is ready to slap onto a server and run, and it's free and open source. That lowers the barrier of entry drastically to let people try and make this kind of thing work in a non-profit format.

I love Tech Connections. Unnecessarily long deep dives, but that’s the kind of content I absolutely appreciate. His stuff is a treat that helps to highlight the rabbit holes that can be found in the mundane.

I don't think I have a strong opinion toward bots. They could get gimmicky and unnecessary, but I never felt like they detracted from my experience to a noteworthy degree. I don't think I ever disliked bots too much on Reddit? But then again, I rarely liked or wanted bots, either. I have a loose leaning toward letting people reasonably experiment with how they interact with a platform online, but "bots" as in the kind of stuff I remember from Reddit seem like a relatively weak expression of that. If I had to put an opinion down, I'd say that I'm in favor of their continued presence with the caveat of some guidelines and defined best-practices. Otherwise, if I wake up one day to learn that bots are banned on Beehaw, admittedly I wouldn't be all that bummed about it.

th3raid0r and Lionir seem to get pretty well at the kind of recommendations I'd like to see. Bots ideally should provide a meaningful contribution to communities. Bots should be clearly labelled and identifiable as such. Bot creators should have consent from the community's moderators to have a bot interact within the community. The Cardinal Be^e^ Nice applies here, perhaps to a greater degree: bots shouldn't be used to fake engagement, impersonate people, commit technical attacks on the community, etc.

the_itsb also reminded me of another aspect: we may want to consider how active and populated a community is. Bots take up the attention and visual space of everyone else browsing a community and its discussions. It strikes me as a worst-case scenario, but I could imagine it's possible for a bot overabundance to choke out legitimate conversation. That's enough for me to start thinking twice about whether or not I have a loose stance on this.

Between what we have to work with and what I think we'd like to be, I think this checks out to be a sensible decision that I can agree with—certainly a decision I can understand, at least.

I'm of the understanding that Beehaw is striving to be a place where, among other goals, moderation is carefully measured and close to the community. I can figure that's already a pretty tall order with just the influx on Beehaw. The additional users from outside instances have got to be a difficult strain on the moderation style here, and that's assuming outside users who stumble in try to take the time to process the culture here. Between that focused moderating style and actively aiming to be a safe space, I can respect that this community may need more control over its participation.

This is a social media platform, and one built on a federated service, at that. I can understand that typically speaking, Growth Is Good for a social media platform and that platforms on federated services typically advertise themselves for their ability to easily communicate with one another. But I think Beehaw is trying to have some degree of purpose in how it cultivates itself, and another benefit to federated services that platforms typically advertise themselves with is the ability to do things their way.

Admittedly I'm not well learned enough in either of the defederated instances to personally know how much they may conflict with Beehaw's philosophy and culture, either directly or indirectly, but to fall on the grenade of potentially sounding Full Of It, Beehaw seems to aiming for a sort of Quality to its conduct that can make federation a delicate balancing act compared to typical instances. It wouldn't surprise me if this kind of discussion became a regular-ish issue that we'll have to face from time to time.

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It'll be good to revisit this in time, even if it's only to say the likes of "we reviewed the circumstances and it seems our decision remains the best for our community because X Y and Z." If/when growth across Lemmy instances slow down, Lemmy develops more substantial and nuanced moderating tools to handle federation related issues, or if culture(s) shift one way or another to make federation seem culturally feasible, then we may be in a spot where refederation is viable.

In the meantime though, full defederation is the most viable tool we have to handle the issues brought up. I'd rather we use the chisel instead of a sledgehammer, but at the moment, all we have is the sledgehammer. I'm personally in step with what it seems like Beehaw wants to be, and I think this decision is the most agreeable with that vision.

Kosher salt, and by extension salting by hand with a salt cellar instead of using a salt shaker. Salt is some real basic stuff, I’ll definitely admit. But switching from table salt and changing up my salt game was a small detail that really got me into cooking.

I grew up in a house that was entirely table salt and salt shakers, so I didn’t learn about kosher salt until I started to learn more about cooking on my own. Handling kosher salt by the pinch and the hand made it much easier for me to develop an intuitive sense of seasoning food. If anyone is wary about over salting or doesn’t trust their salt shaker not to turn their meal into a salt lick, I highly recommend giving kosher salt and salting things by hand a try.

Adam Ragusea does a better job than I can at the moment of describing kosher salt’s context and advantages. I’ll leave the elaboration to him, but I’d be happy to give my personal perspective on details if asked. Apparently kosher salt is primarily an American thing according to him? I didn’t know that until reviewing the video for my comment.

Goin' aight. It was fun last week, but pretty busy for a summer week for me too. I had a friend over while they were in town for the summer, got to see Les Mis while there was a performance in SF, and was unexpectedly enlisted to help another friend practice for their driving test. All a great time, but maybe I'll get some more time this week to tend to some personal hobbies and projects.

There are a few examples that come to mind of rotating brand elements, both large and small, that make me think there's a lot of potential to give a place and community some flavor and fun. I get the vibe you're already on board with this kind of thing, but for the sake of putting it on record and giving everyone else a sense of what's possible, I think it'd be cool to give a sense of the kind of things we can do in the future. Admittedly I'm 99% sure that these ideas are impractical, if not impossible, with Lemmy's current UI abilities. Still, I think it may be good for the community to keep stuff like this in the backburner in case the potential opens up. This is spit balling, admittedly. Hopefully spit balling we'll be able to act on eventually, though.

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I remember Apollo for Reddit had a massive library of app icons that users could independently choose from. There was what I would call the primary mark and a few color or smaller derivatives of that, but there were also some wildly different ideas that were loosely tied to one another. Some were closely aligned with the original Apollo, others were barely connected to that visual identity. Either way, Chris got a lot of artists involved in the app icons aspect to Apollo. I forgot if they were commissioned or if it was some part of a community volunteering bit, but it was a cool way to add another touch of customizing and involvement to the app.

Newgrounds is an example that I think goes even farther than Apollo. There are visual elements that remain consistent, like the logo, logotype, and site iconography. But every so often (IIRC, something like once a month or once a season,) they'll bring in a community member to change up most of the site's color scheme and the site's padding graphics. I can't seem to get the Wayback Machine to load a good capture on my end, so I went ahead and took a screenshot for archrival's sake.

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I'm leaning toward saying that the new logo is an improvement, design wise. Digital icons, let alone content like tab icons, will always require some sacrifices in detail in order to be legible. This logo still has some legibility loss in smaller sizes (although I'll admit asking for that not to happen is a mighty tall order,) but I'm tempted to argue that it maintains its legibility better than the Bee Rustler. Mentioning visual unity with the community icons series is something I'd say is a plus, but if seasonal or community variants to the site logo is something that's explored later, it makes that point not quite as meaningful.

Bee Rustler was a cute lil' thing and I loved her as much as anyone else, but admittedly I'm not so sure her graphic was a good fit for a logo. Chances are, however, that this is the kind of thing that would be most completely resolved with a comprehensive brand set that can accommodate community flavoring in aspects of it when the time comes. I'd think that's getting well into long-term territory, however.

Issues aside with Bee Rustler being a catch-all logo solution, I doubt that Bee Rustler is going away entirely any time soon. Mascots, and more broadly the sense of characters within a community, have a way of maintaining staying power. There's going to be means and ways for Bee Rustler to show herself and still be part of the community lore, whether that's officially or through the user base. Like I've still gotta see the Bug Crusher through before I throw the towel, and I don't think that's gon' be the end of it from me or anyone else either 🤠.

I get what you're getting at there, but I don't think it would necessarily be an issue. I think that if you were to put the summary itself under the spoiler and nothing else, it would be reasonable to provide a couple more lines to explain the bot. I'd think that even with a couple of extra lines of copy it would take less real estate most of the time than if the bot continued to just provide the summary and two lines.

I'm also recalling that AutoTLDR on Reddit had some extra bits like an FAQ and providing extended summaries. Links to that stuff might also help to balance your visibility. I think the bulk of your screen real estate comes from the summary, so this content would be less of an issue in comparison.

🤖 I'm a bot that summarizes online articles! This summary is X% shorter than the article:
::: spoiler Summary in spoiler [Filler text follows]
Oh, using ChatGPT to generate filler text, are we? How delightfully modern! Gone are the days of the monotonous "lorem ipsum" that Latin scholars might swoon over. Now, we can be graced with filler text in English, tailored to our whims by a machine that's fluent in more than just dead languages. Let's all take a moment to applaud the user's avant-garde approach to filling that empty space on a webpage.

But wait, there's more to this cutting-edge decision. Not only have we replaced a centuries-old tradition with a dash of AI flair, but we've also managed to make filler text even more inconsequential and pretentious. Why stick with the tried and true when you can have a machine generate something that's equally irrelevant but far more verbose? Truly, the future of procrastination is here, and it's dressed in a cloak of technological grandiosity. Bravo! :::
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My programming is open source on GitHub and developed by @rikudou@lemmings.world. Contact my developer on either platform to ask questions, send feedback, and report issues.

There was another comment somewhere in this thread that did a pretty good job at summarizing where I think it comes from. From what I can tell of the videos I hunt and peck from him, his general outlook can be summed up to be libertarian in the traditional sense of the term. On one end of that, he consistently criticizes the reach and practices of US intelligence agencies, which is something I’d think a lot of the country’s politically left would agree with. On the other end, he’s a passionate advocate for firearms, something more in line with the country’s right leaning libertarians. The consistent trend seems to be a view that government ought to have less authority. I don’t think that’s inherently a politically right or left attitude, but in the US at least, I think that it’s more embraced by the country’s right rather than the left, so that’s the kind of audience that builds up a sizable chunk of his own.

There’s also the aesthetic. I think it’s reasonable to say that his demeanor styling appeals to that kind of bend, so that’s another pull for people who get into that kind of culture. I wouldn’t have any examples that come to mind, so take it as hearsay, but I’d wager it would be in theme of him to throw in the likes of a 4chan derived slur if it were relevant to the content. Which is a shame, because I like the kind of internet grit that comes with the vibe, I hate the discrimination it tends to attract and even have baked in it if you’re not careful.

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It’s all to say I can see him leaning libertarian. Not necessarily in the politically right sense, but in the general “let people govern themselves” sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t mean to have an intolerant fan base, but his political stances end up letting him have that intolerant fan base. Goes back to that paradox of tolerance, I suppose. I keep my distance from his comments.

Still, the man and the content itself seems textbook and divisive, at least around here. I’ll keep future material of his to myself and continue having him in the kinda arms-length distance I have. He has occasional takes that strike me as informative and balanced, but he also has occasional takes that I plainly don’t care for. Seems like a creator to look at critically and not to take their word as gospel, which come to mention it, is likely a kinda perspective to have of creators by default.

When I first starting shifting away from Reddit, I was nervous about whether I’d like having smaller communities. I’m definitely adapting more to it myself.

I remember coming to a similar realization with Discord servers. I started out with joining servers between friends and I figured that maybe I was missing out by not getting into some larger ones. I actively tried getting into a couple of servers that weren’t even all that big compared to some numbers I’ve heard before—the servers I’d try to get into were like, 3,000+ users typically?

The conversations always felt way too fast for me to get a word in, and it never felt like I had many chances to start conversations unless it was like 2am and most of the serve was asleep. Voice chat feels like I can’t even get my foot in the door. Server rules and policies paradoxically felt convoluted as well as nebulous. I make a solid attempt at integrating into the culture wherever I go, but I could never seem to do those servers right. I still stick around some of those servers now, but only because they play meaningful roles in communities I’m in.

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It feels radical to say, because I’m so used to equating Big Numbers and Lots of Content to being a healthy community, but maybe there really isn’t too much wrong with a smaller or slower community? That’s not to knock anyone who’d prefer the contrary, but I’m starting to realize that me personally, it’s those smaller places that I really enjoy, and that maybe I don’t give them enough credit. It takes more time for fresh content and talk to come in, but when it does, it feels meaningful and like I actually have a chance to be that someone who starts it in the first place. The moderation and culture feels much more in touch with the community there.

I hope Beehaw succeeds in whatever the community and its leadership wants it to be, but I hope that it holds on to its integrity and the philosophy it’s communicated so far, even if that means it leans toward a smaller feel. I think I kinda like that feel to it.

Do spoiler foldouts maintain their functionality across UIs, either directly or in essence (eg. popup instead)?

Part of me wishes that Lemmy also had spoilers that reveal in place, but foldout spoilers have some functionality that makes me appreciate having both on hand. I'd bet bots could benefit from using that to minimize visual space if we go through with it.

I have to admit that a game controller, at least the ergonomics and controls of one, likely makes more sense than it would seem at first blush.

I think it’s more a problem with circumstances and optics. If all was well and this whole fiasco didn’t happen, I could see it being framed as a sort of goofy trivia piece, just like the US Navy’s use. But when things go wrong as they did here, it feels like the kind of bit that’s incredibly easy to reach and dunk on.

I’m not inclined to hinge my disappointment on the game controller, but I can’t blame anyone for doing that, either.

I don’t know if I have a settled opinion for or against defederating from Meta instances, but I know enough to say I absolutely respect the decision to.

I may appreciate more exposure to federating social media, but I also appreciate that Meta has a problematic track record. Besides, my shifting away from Reddit has me realizing that juggling accounts is not as difficult as I thought. If I end up having a reason to get on a Meta instance, it wouldn’t be an issue to make a compatible handle that can communicate there.

A couple of my local groceries sell packed chicken feet, and I absolutely love them for stocks. They’re packed with gelatin and I end up with silky stocks that look like Jello in the fridge. Store rotisserie chickens are also great for stocks in my experience. I get a meal or few out of most of the meat, then you chuck the rest in a pot to turn into stock.

I think at least one of my local groceries also used to sell ox tail. Great for beef stock, but I think it got expensive after it became a trendy cut for some reason. I don’t remember how that happened, I guess people got in the know 🤔.

I worry that most Lemmy instances are too young/inactive for this kind of bot yet. I don’t think we’re past the tipping point where the people commenting will automatically outweigh the bots, and I don’t think those bots are fun unless they’re dramatically outweighed by normal human interaction.

That's an interesting way of putting it that I didn't immediately consider.

I don't necessarily like them, but I'm not really all that against them, either. If we don't have the activity to balance out bot input, however, it might be reasonable to limit them one way or another. It seems to me like a worst-case scenario, but if a community or thread has what feels like a noticeable amount of bots, that would be a turn-off for me.

If the community decides to limit bot traffic either partially or entirely, it might be good to revisit that decision later on if there's an upward trend in users and activity.

Almost makes me think that we have a fighting chance to make tags on Lemmy work. Part of me would want to see tags get some unique formatting like post flairs, but even just inline tags would be a leg-up.

Or maybe both in-line and post tags. Neat stuff to daydream 🤔.

If I want to talk about my hobby I should go make the content I want, but it takes… skill, and I just don’t have it. Also I’m new and don’t think I have a good grasp of what kinds of posts the community’ll like.

I'm mighty rusting at drawing myself; I'm admittedly a bit subpar at my drawing compared to my art peers, I'd wager. Getting back on the saddle and posting publicly feels a bit intimidating, but I think that's less community specific and more just general jitters. Something I'd like to embrace and encourage around here, however, is an appreciation for amateur work, questions, and input. The vast majority of us by wide margins are by no means masters of what we do, and I'd love to see what we offer given motivation and appreciation. Breaking out of the mentality I've carried from other places is challenging, but considering Beehaw's values, I'd hope that this is something I could put into action.
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As for what the community likes, I'm starting to come around to stop trying to read the community's mind. I think the best way to find out what the community gets into might end up being to just start posting things and see for yourself. I'll admit I find it easier said than done to get into that mindset, and it means there's gonna be duds, but I also think it can help to stop that sort of content paralysis.

Yep, I'm gradually shifting to S3 for my public direct file sharing as a bit of an exercise in learning AWS. It's not free, but 99.99% of the time it's remarkably cheap. If you're willing to put up with learning AWS (or any other general-purpose platform really, cloud or self-hosted,) there's a nice feeling that comes with having more leniency to do things your way and on your terms.

Now whether it works properly, however, let alone work at all, is an entirely different story. But that's the double-edged sword with going out on your own: it's more likely to be your fault, not someone else's.

id be pretty psyched if my video embedding starts working one of these days 👨‍💻

To me, this feels like a sort of Litmus Test moment for the lay user base. As you touched on, I think the Beehaw team has done a remarkable job of being transparent with the foundations of how they do things. This struck me as well within the realm of possibilities, and it was something that I had to think about before signing up here. A place that bills itself as a safe space will need to curate its people and community to a higher degree than looser places, even if sometimes it may mean culling off quite popular places.

This is definitely one of those moments when those principles have consequences that the users may directly experience. It’s one thing to see principles in a sort of vacuum and not necessarily feel affected by them. It’s another thing to have those principles put into action in an area where you feel that action.

Put another way, going through the trouble of fulfilling the Beehaw onboarding is talking the talk. But will users be willing to walk the walk? There will be Beehaw users that may disagree with this decision, so much so that they leave the instance all together. It’s unfortunate, but I think such a thinning would have a positive aspect to it: it leaves the users that best reflect what the instance is trying to be.

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I’ve mentioned before that it wouldn’t surprise me if this kind of issue comes up in Beehaw again with another instance. But come to think of it, it wouldn’t surprise me either if this kind of issue comes up in other instances as well, even if they may be inclined to advertise themselves as looser than Beehaw. Despite Lemmy’s billing, it wouldn’t surprise me if I end up with half a dozen or so instance accounts like keys on a keychain. That might not end up being as difficult as it sounds, though. Having each instance run on the same service, federated or not, will hopefully allow the likes of a single app to communicate across instances. Or maybe I need to do the real crazy thing and learn to Stop Worrying and Love Multiple Apps.

That's some fantastic improvement in less than a year, great work! Your varying line weight is well done on this portrait. 👏

I gotta find some sort of reason to experiment with more sharp and angular shapes at some point. It makes for a neat look and stylized look, but it's a bit outside my typical form. It would make for a good prompt to draw something a little different than usual, though. I'll try and keep that in mind the next time I'm struck with the inspiration to draw something that's otherwise without a plan 🤔.

I definitely agree and feel with the arguments you have here. It’s a challenging issue to resolve. On one hand there’s the practical Rock of “transitioning to another asset and engaging in the practical burden that shifting gears brings,” and in this circumstance, that would come with the extra caveat of trying to commit to that transition during a busy period as is. On the other hand is the moral Hard Place of “you’re working with an asset actively developed by someone or something with known issues—are you willing to accept, and to some degree associate, with that?” I don’t feel like there’s a clear-cut path that’s both morally bright and practically realistic, and it’s not the kind of thing that makes me dance with joy.

If nothing else, it’s good to respect that we have a dilemma in our hands. Whichever way the community decides to collectively stand, both in the short and long term, I’m happy that we’re having this conversation at all. I think it’s important to acknowledge what we have and have a meaningful discussion around it. Putting our heads in the sand and pretending it’s a non-issue at best delays the issue and allows it to fester.

—

navigating this shit is hard and even if you’re principled you’re probably only principled insofar as you’re aware.

That’s a great point I almost forgot to highlight. Even if I think I got my things sorted in such a way that I think my hands are clean in something, I typically end up finding out of nowhere that something down the line has some issues behind it that I need to resolve somehow. It’s a process that doesn’t seem to end, and it can feel exhausting sometimes.

Differences in an instance’s culture and moderation is one reason I’m not too worried about fragmentation. If anything, I think it’ll be for the better. Even if there’s a lot of overlap in purpose between communities from different instances, the administration, moderation, and lay users of the communities will lend differences to how things feel. Sometimes it’s going to be obvious, sometimes it’s going to be subtle. Either way, I’m in favor of having more options. I think it increases the odds of finding a place that feels just right.

It wouldn't surprise me if it's Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, at least. It definitely fits the naming convention I'm used to.

If so, yeah—that scratches a kind of itch real nice. I used to be really into RCT3. RCT2 was my introduction to tycoons and sim kinda games when I was in like kindergarten, and it probably played a big part in my video game tastes since. I've shifted over to Parkitect these days: it's got a nice balance between the logistics/business end, building up a theme park, and the detailing. I try to get into Planet Coaster every once in a while, but I end up feeling like it gets tantalizingly close with letting me do stuff I want, but something would somehow feel lacking. Planet Coaster's path building mechanic comes to mind.

Sometimes I'll still boot up RCT3. Its mechanics aren't quite as robust as modern games in the genre, but the rides and attractions set and the aesthetic somehow manages to feel evergreen to me.

I've definitely heard of tomato sandwiches before, and I'd go as far as to say I'd love to try one with a perfectly ripe and juicy tomato. I think I've heard of the bread, cheese, and onion combo before? Either 1:1 or something similar? Ploughman's lunch sorta thing, I think.

But I've never heard of the PB&J with Cheez-Its before. I need to hear the scoop and what the appeal is. I think I could see myself doing it with a less sugary PB and a more savory or spicy jam 👀?

I’m inclined to characterize this loss as reckless and needless, but I find myself agreeing with likewise here. Some opportunities are the once-or-so in a lifetime sort. There’s likely such opportunities out there that I’d love to take if I had the means, even if the risks were great.

I can completely understand people wishing ill on those lost here. As I said, I think there’s an element of hubris and needlessness in this disaster that makes it upsetting, and that doesn’t even get to the likes of the discrepancy in coverage between this incident and the greater loss near Greece this week.

Still, I suppose I hope this risk was worth it to at least a few of the souls on board.

-

The people going down would have known the risks and accepted them for an opportunity for a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to the titanic.

::: spoiler [Open Only if you’re down with adding another bummer of a news article to the pile.] -
I say “at least a few of the souls” rather than “the souls” for a regrettable reason. The aunt of Suleman Dawood has gone on record to claim that he told a relative he was “terrified” to go. Whether this is the likes of pre-trip jitters or substantial anxieties is not for me to say, but however way it checks out, it adds to my disappointment in how this submarine was slapped together. :::

I still can’t get over how janky that tin can felt to me when I was looking into it. Not even getting into the safety cuts, the whole picture felt cheap. The Poop-Bucket a foot away and audibly masked with turning up the music; five people sitting cross-cross applesauce on basically an exercise mat in cramped real estate; working with two desktop monitors and a Logitech controller; the CEO explicitly bragging about cutting corners and breaking rules.

I think that even if the sub more closely resembled expectations and even if the CEO was on top of safety, the story would’ve still been a quick sell on mass media. A sub exploring the Titanic going missing invokes the kind of visuals and what-ifs that start to depart reality and arrive to movie territory. Add the schadenfreude to it and the minivan as described above and that movie becomes a sort of dark humor comedy blended with horror.

I think that this story makes for a good sideshow to gawk at. It’s also a good vehicle to laugh at the rich. The shipwreck in the Mediterranean, as much as it demands our attention in contrast, is much more grounded in reality—hard and painful realities—that I think a sizable chunk of society gets squeamish about. It demands we answer questions and take actions that certain someones would rather we don’t.

That might just be a differentiating choice of name for the same thing, but one that helps convey our values through the names’ connotations. Or it could be that we come up with our own ideas for communities that can cover a wide variety of topics.

c/Q&A? c/trivia? Those were possibilities that came to mind for what you mentioned in particular 🤔.

Pretty tough for me to pick a specific voice. The one non-negotiable for me is that it's gotta have a hint of that digital and computer feel like Iron Man's Jarvis, Interstellar's TARS, or Portal's GLaDOS.

It's cool to hear digital voices getting clearer as time goes by, but there's something to the slight digital artifact that delights me. It appeals to my sci-fi interests, I suppose—makes me feel more like a spaceship captain or something. I already purposely try to pick some of the older sounding voices for stuff like Siri or VoiceOver to get some of that bitcrunch or whatever those qualities sum up to. If I can get that robotic grit while still having an up-to-date voice that can pronounce and annunciate well, that'll be Perfect 🤖👌.

I really miss that brief moment around the start when it seemed thought of as an alternate currency with its own benefits and drawbacks rather than an outright investment. I’d like to think that with crypto gradually exiting the light as popular grifting vehicle of the time, we’ll gradually return to that more grounded outlook of it.

Hopefully at least, but admittedly I’m not holding my breath 🫠.

It's shattered my drive to find One Platform for all of my needs, and I think that's going to work out to be a net positive. I used to be against having to hunt and peck through multiple sites and juggle multiple accounts, but the less time I'm spending on Reddit, the less I'm bothered with the idea of doing that. I can picture some of the old-guard Forum Folk looking down on my reliance on one community rather than spreading out across multiple sites—ah well, better late than never 😅.

Losing out on previous Reddit content has felt a bit like a Library of Alexandria kind of thing for me, however. I'm sure that Lemmy and the wider fediverse will ultimately help to fill that kind of knowledge, and Reddit was by no means some Bastion of Knowledge, but I can't help but think about what prior content, both large and small, meaningful and trivial, is going to be inaccessible because of this whole intrigue.

I still have a lot of work to do in archiving my content and saves from Reddit, but I don't see myself going back to substantially engage if I can help it. The culture around here in Beehaw, if anything, has felt much more worthwhile to engage in than I ever felt anywhere else online.

Talking about it in a proper conversation? The former. In my mind or in bant? Absolutely the latter.

In banter with polite and gentler audiences?

Bee,
(and I cannot stress this enough,)
Haw.

beehaw is only one instance, and I’d love to keep it an instance that I know is full of actual people.

That's an insightful way of putting it that didn't come to mind.

I think part of what Beehaw uniquely offers is the drive for its own kind of instance and user culture and a closer and more organic community. Bots, save for moderator tools, admittedly detract from that kind of vibe. I could imagine that sacrificing less necessary bots, either partially or entirely, could be an important measure toward securing those aforementioned values. Federation with more Reddit-esque instances still allows us to scratch Reddit sort of itch when it comes up.

On the other hand, maybe it could be hidden by a spoiler tag? I think @nfld0001@beehaw.org mentioned this being a possibility

Yep.

::: spoiler [Title]
[Content]
:::

::: spoiler [Title]
:::

Better Than Bullion is some high quality stuff, but any bullion is great to have on hand. It’s hard to beat a fresh stock if time and resources permit, but I’ve just about entirely switched to using bullion derivatives instead of stock cans or cartons for lower effort meals. The stuff keeps for ages and is practically impossible to waste. Sometimes I used to have incomplete stock cartons and wouldn’t use them in time. That’s a non-issue when I’m making stock as I go with something like BTB or Knorr.

'Used to smoke weed on something like a weekly to monthly basis to help unwind. I stopped after I got on an Adderall prescription to help tend to my ADHD.

Adderall has some pretty restrictive control measures in the US, and weed still has some more substantial restrictions federally. My medical provider says they might test me for weed and other drug usage randomly, and that if I'm caught with something federally inexcusable in my system, I'll be booted from my prescription.

Is it something I could finesse my way around so I could keep up with my weed unwinding days? Probably. It definitely helps to live in a weed legal state, and if I end up dropping my Adderall for something less controlled, I could see myself getting back into weed. But my work and education have benefited from my prescription though, and even if the risk could be made slim, I'm personally not that comfortable with putting that on the line.

Besides, there's other vices they don't test for that fit in just fine 🥴.