misc

misc, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to random

Yes the constant meta (and Meta) discussion here is tedious, and often much worse, but what you have to realize is that this isn’t just a social network, it’s a left/progressive political project. I don’t know how many left/progressive political orgs you’ve been involved in, but let me tell you, they are kind of known for endless, agonizing talk about process, factions, outside threats, inside threats, strategy, grievances, etc. And if you have a solution for that, you just might save the world.

misc, 9 months ago to random

"Voting with your feet" is a backstop not a first resort. The first resort should be democratic decision making. We should not accept instances where the users don't collectively have ultimate authority over policy and defederation decisions.

misc, 6 months ago to random

Massive sit in protest tonight at Grand Central led by Jewish Voice for Peace #CeasefireNow #ShutItDown https://abc7ny.com/amp/grand-central-pro-israel-rally-mta-metro-north/13982013/

misc, 10 months ago to random

Time for some game theory (but actually)

misc, 7 months ago to random

Of all the Twitter features intentionally omitted here, I have to hand it to them on one in particular: that you can't directly monitor someone's faves.

misc, 3 months ago to random

People like to say that "AI" is different from crypto in that there are actual useful applications, and that's true. But the vast majority of people you're expecting to come up with those applications are the same people who were just trying to build products on the blockchain.

misc, 11 months ago to random

This seem fishy to anyone else? We don’t know anything about the design of this AI system. It seems like it wouldn’t have been able to come up with these strategies unless it was more or less coaxed. (Key concepts/associations planted in its training set, or basically run off an LLM that includes stories like this…) https://mastodon.social/@craignewmark/110470812091221525

misc, 2 months ago to random

I have described bluesky as a "mastodon instance in denial" and I largely stand by that. If everyone on Bluesky mass migrated to a Mastodon instance there wouldn't be an issue, and I think we would all be better off. That would also be by default "opt out" for most instances here.

misc, 10 months ago to random

Volunteering to adopt new users who are lost or confused. Meaning I’ll recommend people to follow, and answer questions. I’ll delete this when I’ve reached my capacity, but feel free to boost or copy paste to your own accounts.

misc, 1 year ago to random

Hey, in the early days of Twitter we had "tweetups" where enthusiasts with nothing else in common but their geography would just ... meet up somewhere. (I actually have been reunited here with several old friends I met in those days)

Covid complicates it somewhat but I think it might be just about time to try something like that for Mastodon. We have enough people - but not quite too many - for it to make sense. I'd be down to try!

misc, 10 months ago to random

Gonna try to master 2 cups at a time with the Aeropress, and if it works, I can put off replacing the Chemex for a while.

misc, 10 months ago to random

Literally all technology is impossibly hard to use and explain to someone unfamiliar. Anything that seems easy to you is something you’re used to.

misc, 9 months ago to random

Ongoing problem with this platform is that it's so polite that, with rare exceptions, you can't vent about a big account's bad takes without standing out as an antisocial jerkwad. So you just have to seethe internally, denied the reassurance that other people are seeing this shit. *yes I've complained about this before, and yes it's also (and probably primarily) a good thing

misc, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

In your part of the world, is it HOT AS FUCK? (boosts appreciated)

misc, 4 months ago to random

Collecting anecdotes, data, and anecdata on people and orgs who’ve left Twitter and found higher engagement from ostensibly fewer followers. This is in preparation for a renewed pitch to the org I’m in, to begin the process of x-trication. Boosts appreciated!

misc, 10 months ago to random

Mastodon is for readers

misc, 9 months ago to random

A lot of people claimed that LLMs were making them 10x more productive, right? So I guess we should expect some pretty amazing things pretty soon. Can't wait to see what they all come up with.

misc, 1 year ago to random

The Esplanade beer garden, this coming Sunday 5/14, at 5 pm. The first official #boston #tootup! (unless there’s another one I don’t know about, in which case I will edit this) RSVP at https://gath.io/1k98TsuZ5ruKkNPOvy91R, or follow @1k98TsuZ5ruKkNPOvy91R (the latter is wonky with mastodon.social but should work with most instances)

misc, 9 months ago to ADHD

Are puns and "literal jokes" an #ADHD thing?

misc, 10 months ago to random

nowhereplains if you're on threats

misc, 11 months ago to random

This week in "inevitabilities that took longer than expected frankly": first AirPod lost, first Chemex smashed 😢

misc, 4 months ago to random

I keep saying we should be making clients that scrape posts from X. Same for Threads frankly. We should get comfortable with unauthorized interoperability. Interop on our terms.

misc, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

Do you boost posts that don't have alt text?

misc, 8 months ago to random

Mac users: what are you all using for ad blocking? Shocking confession: I haven’t really used one since SetApp got rid of AdGuard last year for its supposed Russian connections. As I recall, the software they offered in its place, AdLock, demanded a level of permissions that I wasn’t comfortable with. But man, I’m sick of the ads. I’ve tried subscribing to rules in LittleSnitch, but they end up blocking so many links I keep ending up turning it off and forgetting to turn it on again.

misc, 11 months ago to random

The conversation shouldn't be "do or do not defederate from Meta" it should be anticipating different ways Meta could harm what we value, and preparing accordingly.