In case you can’t tell, I’m passionate about rationality and critical thinking.

However, I still appreciate a freshly-baked π.

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Joined 7 months ago
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Cake day: September 22nd, 2024

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  • I’ve mentioned this before in other threads that seek a women-centric Lemmy option, but there was at least one secret community on Reddit like that. Invitees’ post histories were vetted before an invite was sent, both to find women specifically, but also to prevent trolls.

    I don’t know exactly how they did it, all I know is that I got an invite one day and found the most open, comforting community I’d ever seen online. It was a place where we could talk about anything from silly stories that made us smile, to complaining about specific issues with bras, all without fear of trolls hijacking the thread, or turning an ordinary thing for us into something sexual.

    I miss it.



  • When search engines started putting lists of videos in response to every query, I fumed. Trying to find a solution to the game issue you’re having? Here, scan through this 10 minute video and hope you come across the part that discusses your specific issue! Oh, it didn’t actually talk about the thing you need? Lol well at least you watched some ads.

    I think next time I have a game issue, I’ll be asking about it here on Lemmy. Yeah, the audience isn’t as big as on Reddit, but we’ll never know the depth of the knowledge fellow Lemmings have to offer if we never ask.


  • The downvotes prove your point. This topic needs more discussion, but most of the times when women bring this up, their comments get downvoted to hell. It’s quite a “gotcha” for someone to ask to see “examples” when most of the examples we’ve come across or created will be buried or have since been deleted.

    Alternative question - for those that don’t believe this is an issue, when is the last time you came across a post on Lemmy that is specifically for/about women or women’s issues (especially one posted from a woman’s perspective)? Or even better, go ahead and make such a post. Watch how fast the downvotes come.

    I expect this comment to be downvoted the same way as the parent comment was, the same way that past posts I’ve made and read about women’s issues have been downvoted on Lemmy. If men want this place to be inclusive for women, they have to do their part to support us - not downvoting our concerns, simply because they don’t experience the same issues, is the absolute bare minimum. Otherwise, why would we keep posting/commenting about our issues when doing so invites a downvote cascade?




  • The door is located after you click your username in the upper-right corner, and choose “Settings” from the drop-down. Scroll to the bottom of the page. On the left, in red, is a button to delete your account.

    I’m not sure what really happens after that, though - I’ve never gone out that door. IIRC a deletion can take time, since various servers have to sync that information.

    -Takes a bong hit-

    So in a way, a recently-deleted account continues to exist across the Fediverse for a while. It is temporarily trapped to this plane of existence, until it can complete its final mission (deleting itself) across every corner of its known Fediverse. Then, and only then, can an account truly experience deletion.

    -Passes to the left-






  • In dark times of desperation, seeking help on the internet, I sometimes find myself tempted by the Reddit thread in the top of my search results.

    But I know that if I click it, the only thing that will happen is the familiar cross-armed Snoo popping up and telling me, “You’ve been blocked by network security.”

    It’s like a reality check for me: I don’t want to use Reddit, and Reddit doesn’t want me using it. So I’m going to need to either get better at searching for solutions, or try to solve problems in my own way.

    In the end, introducing more barriers to entry has simply reinforced my decision not to go to Reddit. Their blocking of VPNs has conditioned me to ignore Reddit links in search results entirely, mentally filtering them out the same way I do with ads/sponsored content.

    Nice work, Spez.

    BONUS: I just came across a Google support page where someone asks, “How do I Block Reddit and Quora results from all searches permanently”. The top answer is hilarious and sad.



  • Isn’t .world the most populous instance? Hmm…

    This is interesting. I get the impression that some admin/mods truly don’t understand how the Fediverse operates. They ban one (or a few) instance name(s), but there are so many more that they might not even recognize as Lemmy links, which get past the radar.

    At the same time, there are fears here that .world could become disproportionately powerful compared to other instances, due to its high user count.

    So in a way, Reddit blocking traffic to .world while permitting links to other instances can benefit us all. Smaller instances gain users, which is an important step toward balancing things out and keeping any one instance from becoming too powerful. Thanks, Reddit!

    (I recognize the irony of saying this while having a .world account. I wasn’t aware of its standing in Lemmy when I made it. I am also still learning the Fediverse myself and don’t know how to transfer my account to another instance yet.)





  • People do wake up from cults. It takes a lot of work on themselves to reach that point, however, and the most transformative moments (i.e. any epiphanies about their behavior or beliefs) will likely happen when they’re alone, outside of the public sphere.

    That is to say, you’re unlikely to personally witness somebody break out of a cult. Yet, it still happens.

    Does that make it worth helping them “see the light”? I can’t say. What I can say is that there are people who’ve been there, and there are resources available to help those in cult recovery. (Make no mistake, this is absolutely a cult.)

    The best hope we’ve got right now is that as more things turn to shit, more people will begin to question things. Instead of reflexively downvoting or attacking someone who admits to having once voted for Trump, we’ve got to listen to what they say happened afterward. I want to hear people share their stories of disenchantment. I want those stories to be spread far and wide, to people who might be questioning Trumpism but who’re surrounded by his supporters and scared to make a move. They’re the people who need to know that it’s okay to change their minds. They’re going to need to know that they’ll be accepted by someone if they “deflect,” and we need to be prepared to welcome them to sanity.

    We shouldn’t respond with comments like, “iT’s aBouT tiMe” or “Where have you BEEN the last 8 years?” (Both are paraphrased from comments I read elsewhere on here this morning.) I know it’s tempting to give out some sort of I told you so, but it’s not constructive and can push an ex-cult member away. We want people to turn a new leaf, and that means supporting those who admit to having been wrong.

    (I know this took a turn from the original comment. I don’t intend this personally for you, OP. But after seeing how people react so aggressively to everything lately, I felt something like this needed to be said to Lemmy.)