One, the bad shit was always there, but now the service is tuned to amplify and reward it, so it became that way by choice.
Two, if you can get out you should. Not everyone feels they can, and I'm not going to argue with them. But as a former power user (200k followers), I don't miss it and I haven't incurred a professional penalty for leaving.
Morning peeps.
Just a post to tell everyone of you who has supported the #XeroLinux project by either getting the ISO or some merch, how much your simple act of kindness means to me. I cannot put it into words. So all am gonna say is God bless you all. I hope your kindness is reciprocated 🙏❤️ #FOSS #Linux #OpenSource
Scientists may have developed a faster, better way to diagnose the infection, which was just as good as the current approach after comparative testing. The findings have been reported in Nat. Communications.
"A lot of folks find out they have Lyme disease well after the point at which they could have been treated very easily," noted UCLA Prof Dino Di Carlo.
#Lyme #LymeDisease #outdoors #environment #health #disease #medicine #ticks #research #science
"Horse-race coverage is substance-free journalism that simply recounts which candidate is up and which one is down. That means that in addition to a lack of investigative and accountability journalism, there is also a dearth of in-depth stories on policies and issues. "
theintercept.com/2024/08/28/tr…
This is all the election coverage dished up by the mainstream for-profit news.
For what it is worth, I would kill for a boss who actually read the reports I wrote.
#uspol #politics #management #wtf #areyoukiddingme
"Lover of Men" finally explores just how gay Abraham Lincoln actually was - LGBTQ Nation
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/09/lover-of-men-finally-explores-just-how-gay-abraham-lincoln-actually-was/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into LGBTQ Nation @lgbtq-nation-LGBTQNation
A new issue of #ThisWeekInGNOME is now online!
#164 Updated Translations
thisweek.gnome.org/posts/2024/…
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For #BandcampFriday if you like Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Clive Barker, Squarepusher, or Aphex Twin, you might like my #music?
Week in Fediverse 2024-09-06
Servers
- snac v2.58
- tootik v0.12.2
- Mitra v3.4.0
Clients
- PleromaFE v2.7.1
- Pachli v2.8.1
- Fedicat 9-5-24
- Dhaaga v0.9.0
- Jerboa v0.0.72
- Phanpy changelog
Tools and Plugins
- Peertube livechat plugin v11.0.0
- Fedinesia v3.2.3
- FediFetcher v7.1.7
Articles
- You Can't Join Mastodon
- A Brief History of the Fediverse Symbol
-----
#WeekInFediverse #Fediverse #ActivityPub
Previous edition: mitra.social/objects/0191a523-…
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Lemmy wouldn't really takeoff to replace Reddit until it's content is search indexable
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/19004972
Let’s be honest, the real reason Lemmy build most of its traffic is because of Reddit users. But the thing is, outside of the mass exodus in the west that too from the PC era.. people discover and join Reddit not because it’s another social media like Facebook or Twitter that people need to reserve their usernames on like a brand or celebrity but because Google Search is kinda… actually absolute trash by SEO and machine learning crawlers.
Most of the world (I am from India btw, hello~) join or even discover reddit because they’re trying to search for actual solutions, recommendations, advice or even reviews by actual experienced people without having to go through another YouTuber which can stem from troubleshooting a router, finding an actual FOSS option or seeking immediate solutions to the recent CrowdStrike fiasco for example. After having to visit reddit every time whenever using a search engine including for education to career advice, I ended up directly signing up with reddit a decade ago.
Recently, Reddit even restricted its search results to Google only in a business partnership meaning those using Bing, DuckDuckGo to Ecosia or even SearchGPT wouldn’t be able to access Reddit answers anymore. Say, if someone searches for how to block ads on chrome as example - Solutions like uBlock Origin come into existence and continue to exist because of the combined community in Reddit that Lemmy is trying to preserve.
Unlike others, am not saying Lemmy would be dead but it would be pretty much like Discord-Telegram or Tumblr instead of wiping Reddit or correcting Facebook. Reddit is not something you discover from word-of-mouth or join from peer pressure unlike other social media which is even truer for Lemmy but because it actually helps and is useful to people.
Lemmy can’t be taking the path of 𝕏 (Alone Mask’s Twitter) but any of the good platforms were before the Enshittification with Facebook’s way~
There's no objection here https://www.google.com/search?q=Lemmy+wouldn’t+really+takeoff+to+replace+Reddit+until+it’s+content+is+search+indexable
An example fix from over a year ago github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-ui/i…
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Exactly and for the same reason Lemmy won't become as big as it has the potential to become. "Join Lemmy!" "How?" "Go to one of hundreds of websites and join and you'll have access to the Lemmy content the admin decided you could have access to... Oh and people logging in from those other sites might not have access to the content on your site so you might not be able to interact with a big chunk of users unless it's on a website that is connected to both your site and the site your site isn't connected to so choose the site you create your account on wisely! Makes sense?"
Also, even if you find results through searching, it sucks that it probably brings you to an instance that isn't yours so you have to figure out a way to open the link from your own instance in order to post in the discussion... That is, if you actually can from the instance you're signing in from!
it probably brings you to an instance that isn't yours so you have to figure out a way to open the link from your own instance
This is a pretty much a solved problem, the solution just needs to be promoted more, perhaps even on the join-lemmy page.
Do any of the apps do better with search?
something on your end? my top result is from lemmy.world
maybe try opening the link in Private Mode or Incognito
It’s not really about the name, people are just too lazy to switch app and they don’t care about the greedy Reddit’s CEO trying to make money in every possible way. Last thing I read about him was his idea to put some subreddits behind a paywall.
I was still using the Reddit app but with some tweaks installed on iOS to block ads, otherwise every app that it’s full of ads it’s just unusable.
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Even taking only English speakers into account, it isn't a bad name. It's a simple word, it sounds like "let me" (good association - unlike... GIMP), at most it might evoke you Lemmings.
And once considering other languages it's actually better than plenty brands out there, including Reddit, Facebook or Twitter. By sticking to CV syllables there's less room to butcher it into unrecognisability.
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That's good, I didn't know about that. Although the problem does still seem to exist with
different software
and different frontends
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There are MANY reasons that Lemmy won't replace Reddit.....the list is almost endless, with each individual reason not being a hurdle on its own that can't be solved. However the combined number of problems is just mind blowing.
There is one chief problem that sums up all the little problems quite nicely. It's the Fediverse culture. It's somehow a platform that is designed to be open and free, but because of the userbase comes off as a walled garden. If you're not a programmer, or a linux user, or have techie interests, it's not the platform for you. And in order to even be comparible to reddit, it has to be a platform for everyone.
As it stands though, Lfmmy is a disjointed, unorganized mess that if you aren't part of their clique, you're not welcome. If you say anything bad about linux, or star trek, or github, you get downvoted to hell. Ask me how I know.
Oh, and for the record, linux is ALSO a confusing hot mess for the average person. But until linux developers accept this, and make a linux distro that is as easy to understand as windows, it's userbase will remain something akin to a rounding error for windows userbase numbers. And I'm saying that as someone who's remaining on Windows 7, because everything since has been hot garbage.
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No. My post got 40% down votes. One particular user insisted that I was using Samsung flaws as an excuse to like the iPhone. That I should admit that I just wanted an iPhone and my criticism towards Android were invalid.
I felt like talking to cultists. But I don't think mods needed to involve. Lemmy is what it is.
Sad to hear.
But I don’t think mods needed to involve.
I think they should to an extend, especially if the topic is Apple, being Apple to like Apple products seems like an evidence.
That's a cool idea. There have been somewhat related discussions, but I can't find any exactly like that. Maybe you should file an issue on GitHub for them?
I've seen your post. Ouch - you stumbled upon some nasty circlejerking there. On multiple levels.
Plenty people here expect you to treat their "vision" as above everything else. Including your agency ("free will"), issues that you might want to solve, etc. That makes them unable to tell the difference between "criticising Apple" (a fair thing to do) versus "treating someone who bought an iPhone as an emissary of Satan" (what they're doing against you).
To make things worse plenty muppets there are putting words in your mouth, regarding Samsung vs. Apple.
If it's any consolation, it isn't just Lemmy. The whole internet of the 20s feels like this nowadays.
TL;DR: I know that feel, bro.
If you say anything bad about linux, or star trek, or github, you get downvoted to hell
If not simply moderated out of the community because 'fostering dialogue is an important goal'.
If you’re not a programmer, or a linux user, or have techie interests, it’s not the platform for you.
There is a group of people who created a community here because their sub got banned. They cannot be more far from linux or tech, still they do well, their community is active and they are able to discuss.
Sometimes I feel like the complexity of Lemmy is exaggerated. People ask you about it, "go to Lemm.ee, use it the same way as Reddit. And as Reddit, don't hesitate to block political communities"
People said the exact same thing about reddit being only good for technology enthusiasts and porn in the early days.
In my experience that is just how it goes on the internet. Nerds, furries, and porn collectors, are the early adopters for most places. The normies follow along years later.
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Oh, and for the record, linux is ALSO a confusing hot mess for the average person. But until linux developers accept this,
I've heard the same kind of stuff about lots... lots of things that "will never catch on". Every one of those doomsayers were wrong. Some of them unfortunately, but still, they were all wrong.
I’m from Connecticut and once had a serious problem with a person my company insured from North Carolina. He was talking to me about what caused his accident and I kept hearing “tar” instead of “tire.” We were equally qualified as native speakers.
If you’re concerned, you can listen to more Indian English, because familiarity should ease any understanding difficulties in the future.
I had already spent years doing occasional side work with around a dozen if not more folks originally from India. Most, except the oldest of the elders spoke good if not excellent English. But there's pretty much always gonna be at least a subtle accent, if not a heavy accent with secondary languages.
I thought I understood the fella clearly, but it was both a combination of his accent plus the strange sentence structure context that threw me totally off.
He said he was 'updating his tiles', but I misunderstood his vowels, so I heard 'updating his towels'
And why the hell would he use the word updating, he was literally having all the carpet removed in 44+ rooms and having tiles installed, not 'updated'.
So even the context clues didn't add up, I never guessed he was talking about the tile work he had been planning for months.
Twitter has been turned into a dumpster fire and people are still using it because of convenience, the same applies to Reddit.
I left Reddit not just because of the CEO but also because of the awful app they forced their users to use full of ads.
Spez (or one of their admin monkeys) perma-banned me from Reddit after like 7 years, for of all stupid things, posting actual facts about Elon Musk and his Boring Company's "Not A Flamethrower" contraption.
Wasn't any hate speech. Wasn't misinformation, I even posted reference links. Wasn't anything inappropriate or gory. Just straight up facts.
That was not all that long before Elon bought Xhitter.
Gotta love the irony huh? Fuck Spez and Musk.
Even if it's indexed, there's no single website to search for so even if I add "Lemmy" to help, it won't look for content where Lemmy isn't mentioned.
The mistake that was made was making the decentralization something that affects the front end. If the backend was decentralized and the front end was a single default website with people being able to create alternatives (but everyone being guaranteed access to all the content), that wouldn't be an issue. We could tell new users "Sign up on Lemmy.com and if you decide you don't like the UI just choose an alternative and use the same credentials to sign in." No one would know you're using a different UI, all content would be searchable by adding site:lemmy.com to your query.
That's why you make the backend available to all to develop a front end, but there's a default option just called Lemmy that helps solve the indexing and getting people started issue. If the Lemmy default option becomes shit the data is still available and something else becomes the default option.
A bit like Jerboa is the official app, but everyone can develop an alternative... Get rid of the instances and make all content available no matter where you sign up from and let the users curate their feed, you get rid of the admins completely, only moderators continue to exist.
I agree it gets complex for users. But pushing back a bit, wouldn’t we instead say:
We could tell new users "Sign up on Lemmy.com and if you decide you ~~don't like the UI~~ aren’t a pedophile just ~~choose an alternative and use the same credentials to sign in~~ make sure you start blocking."
I have in mind that the top blocked instances are pedo oriented. Also seems like it would create a liability issue for servers mirroring that content.
Although it’s not a perfect solution to choose a default instance for new users, I do think it’s a powerful question to eliminate.
Lemmy won't catch on until there are groups of communities you can ban at once. Sports, Linux, German, pervy anime... It's a very rare user who will put up with the absolute dreck of the initial feed and manually block communities until they have a feed that's marginally personalized.
Then there's the fact that any communities that are specific to peoples interests are completely empty.
Then there’s the fact that any communities that are specific to peoples interests are completely empty.
Those should be locked, and redirect to more generic active communities for the time being.
Any example in mind?
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Very true. But that's what we can create whole instances for: to be the site you think will attract the users you want. With curated feeds, less pervy content, whatever.
There's nothing stopping anyone from starting a whole new world they want to see in the fediverse. Lemmy and other fedi apps are built like this for that very purpose.
That level of feed curation will appeal more to the masses, yeah. Just no one has started an instance like that yet. Although you seem like the perfect person, based on your analysis and responses. 😉
Bluesky is closer to what you're describing. The platform is more centralized and the feeds are more curated for the masses.
I mean it predates a lot of the pervy anime, but Usenet looked the same at the start with lots of Unix/computer boards and an alt.
Computer enthusiasts gonna enthusiastically talk about computers. People who pick up and move to a new platform are likely to be united around being technically competent enough to get there first, and everything else second.
Why rely on google which is going down on reliability so quickly.
What we need is a GOOD lemmy based search engine. Which I think is entirely possible with current lemmy implementation.
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And how exactly do you plan to reach this high quality elite content without search engines?
"[search term] reddit" has been a top search since OpenAI decided to open the SEO bot floodgates.
I mostly agree with the OP, it would be great if Lemmy had more sources of newbies than just "pissed off redditors". (I have further reasons for that, but they don't matter here.) As such I'll focus on specific tidbits here and there.
The content is indexable (by Google), but your point stands as it sucks. It's hard to reliably find Lemmy content by it.
Do you - or anyone here - have a good idea on how to solve that? Someone suggested a Lemmy-based engine; it's tempting but it wouldn't help if the person doesn't know about Lemmy already.
Reddit is not something you discover from word-of-mouth or join from peer pressure
It used to be like this. "Stumbling" upon the site was only a thing later, as it had already enough content to become a source of info.
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type site:lemmy.world in front of your search if using google. You can combine multiple instances with the OR operator ie site:lemmy.world OR site:programming.dev this will force google to give you content only from your desired domains but lemmy.world posts will likely trample the other instances for a lot of stuff.
We're becoming a little centralized (which I personally don't find to be such a bad thing yet).
I'm aware of the site:example.com google feature. And, while useful for users who already know about Lemmy, it doesn't help to recruit new users, and that's a main point of the OP.
About centralisation: that "yet" is key. Putting all your eggs in the same basket is not a bad thing... until someone drops the basket, you know?
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Yeah clerk.
What’s the point on commenting on something when you know you’re gonna be the only one doing it.
So I guess a few more people would be nice on Lemmy.
Are you here for political discussions?
- if yes, find communities that align with your views. !worldnews@lemmy.world is very different from !worldnews@lemmy.ml and !globalnews@lemmy.zip
- if not, block them
On Reddit there are plenty of examples of subs with "eat the rich" content: reddit.com/r/trolleyproblem/co…
For the vegan thing, the vegans went to another instance, what would you have preferred to happen?
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_…
Oh, that's a throwback. The internet and "nerd culture" used to be somewhat more exclusionary now that I reminisce a bit.
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •CelloDad has a whole different view of the world than I do. This is not about who we are as people: we broadly agree on a large number of things. (Good thing. I mean, we're married).
I've come to the conclusion it's about where we get the news: he reads mostly "mainstream" news, I read a lot outside that box.
And I have found that if you only get the mainstream, for-profit news, you miss out on a lot. A lot of pretty important things.
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •Sometimes when we talk about current events he will say things that make me go, "Where have you BEEN?"
One glaring example is the way Biden has been portrayed in the for-profit news, the incessant aggressive scrutiny, while Trump gets a free pass on similar things.
And #Project2025. The for-profit news only started covering it after Taraji P. Henson talked about #Project2025 at the BET awards, in July 2024, and it went viral.
The 900-page manifesto was published in April 2023.
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •Greg Sargent calls it:
If you're going to harp on Biden's mental fitness for office, a true both-sides approach would treat Trump in a similar way. It's just not happening.
Sargent sketches out the ways the press coverage is lacking.
newrepublic.com/article/185622…
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •Rebecca Solnit makes a clear case for urgent improvement:
People don't need horse-race coverage, we need to hear what a second Trump term would look like.
"They pursue the appearance of fairness and balance by treating the true and the false, the normal and the outrageous, as equally valid and by normalizing Republicans, especially Donald Trump, whose gibberish gets translated into English and whose past crimes and present-day lies and threats get glossed over."
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •With only two months before the US elections, you can't wait for the for-profit news to re-invent itself.
So the question is: WHO will give us the news the way we need and deserve to get it?
Veracity alone is not enough here. While the Media Bias & Fact Check chart has been a useful guide to ferret out things like outright climate or covid denial, the problems with election coverage right now are less about the facts covered, more about WHAT is covered: the framing.
mediabiasfactcheck.com/
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •The big question: WHO to trust?
Who will give us the facts and the framing right?
There are lots of writers with worthwhile things to say on Substack, Medium or Daily Kos, but what is their provenance? Whom can you trust?
If you read enough, you learn whom to trust. I've started to pay attention to individual writers. But it's an exhausting path, how many of us have got time and energy for that?
Next best thing: See who is recommended by someone you trust, then read with a critical eye.
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •Solnit highlights a few larger publications, saying
"the non-profit investigative outfit ProPublica and progressive magazines such as the New Republic and Mother Jones, are doing a lot of the best reporting and commentary."
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
There must be equivalent pubs on the conservative side of the spectrum too. But even the high quality Bloomberg and Financial Times never mention Trump's increasing incoherence.
Nobody prints his word salads verbatim.
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •If you had a food allergy you become an avid reader of ingredients lists. In this election season you need to be allergic to lies, distortions, and unhelpful framing.
Caveat lector.
That said, here is a short list of where I read:
Pubs:
Pro Publica
The New Republic
The Guardian
The Conversation (scientists writing in plain English)
Heatmap.news (climate focused, has election coverage)
Commenters:
Heather Cox Richardson
Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer (non-profit)
Rebecca Solnit
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •Here is a good example of journalism that focuses on what's AT STAKE in this election.
McKibben quotes Trump at length on climate (not sure if it's verbatim but it's certainly gibberish).
"But it’s gibberish in the service of something very important and very dangerous: doing all that he can to block the energy transition, in America and around the world."
theguardian.com/us-news/ng-int…
We need to see the stakes spelled out like this, a lot more often.
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •Here is Heather Digby Parton in Salon (not the mainstream media), using, besides "gibberish", also:
"verbal incontinence"
"blather"
"incomprehensible babble"
- and -
"sounded like a 4th grader giving a book report of a book he didn't read."
But you wouldn't know it if you only read the for-profit mainstream news.
"He has the whole press corps acting as his ghostwriter, sanitizing his babble for the public. "
salon.com/2024/09/06/donald-in…
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •Okay this has now made the mainstream news --
in Britain, that is.
‘Desperate’ Trump is ‘hyper-aware’ that he is slipping mentally and making less sense, his biographer says
‘What we’re seeing now is a reflection of someone who’s very troubled and very desperate,’ says Timothy O’Brien, author of TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald
independent.co.uk/news/world/a…
Who's next.
CelloMom On Cars
in reply to CelloMom On Cars • • •Heather Cox Richardson:
"Trump’s behavior today merits a marker because it feels like a dramatic escalation of the themes we’ve seen for years.
...
Whatever has caused it, Trump seems utterly off his pins, embracing wild conspiracy theories and, as his hopes of winning the election appear to be crumbling, threatening vengeance with a dogged fury that he used to be able to hide. "
heathercoxrichardson.substack.…