I would say we need a vote if lemmy.world should do the same. I would be for blocking meta.

It was really weird for me to have some honest talks with my parents once I was well into adulthood. It took me way too long to realize they are people with their own problems to solve and a life and preferences, a personal history and all that. It's weird how you tend to see your parents differently from other people until they deem you old enough to open up.

I don't think that the fediverse is exclusively used by "older tech nerds", but as someone who matches all three points you mentioned... I must say, you're still a good observer. XD

But it's logical. The more experienced tech crowd is the starting point of it. They are the ones not only able to see the flaws of corporate platforms and complain about it, but also with the technical skillset to just say "Fuck this, we make our own.". If you're not into computer stuff, you simply won't be able to create and maintain an alternative. And it also takes at least a little bit of both life- and coding / web / tech experience to get to that point, so the age is also a given, at least for the initiators. Younger folks may like what's happening and be joining in. And Linux runs the web. It dominates the server space, so the people who are working with it might also use it in their private life. Some others simply enjoy their OS and software not being bloated corporate spyware for the advertisement industry. So they are attracted early as well.

Don't worry though. "Older tech nerds" are regular people, too - with other hobbies and preferences, things, pets and people in their life. So the nature of the fediverse is... community. People stuff. And that is fully compatible with other demographics. If they have enough of the likes of Reddit and Meta, they will find a compatible alternative here for their needs. But that doesn't mean the fediverse has to replace those big tech platforms. People have choice, you know. And things can coexist. I'm perfectly fine with the size of Lemmy's community. Reddit refugees are highly welcome, but I don't worry about the user count, as long as there is a reasonable amount of interaction.

Once life has given you enough lemons, you become really good at discerning shades of yellow.

There, I fixed it.

I think one can be "open" to a fault. If you cling to principles and morale for the sake of it and without exception or nuance, you set yourself up to be exploited or worse. Many things, entities, interactions in life contradict each other and it is important to set boundaries and make decisions for yourself. Because life and people are multi-faceted and aren't nice and clean and perfect, which blind, naive idealism fails to take into account. The keyword here is nuance.

Many big tech companies run on greed and inhumane, unhealthy, invasive practices for the sake of pure, blind, unsustainable growth and profit. And I would argue that this is one of the driving factors of the fediverse even existing. If you don't clearly separate yourself from these practices, then we all can simply use Reddit. But people create, maintain and use alternatives for a reason. Not taking a stance or action against what you want to escape from, even openly inviting it for the sake of being open and on a morally high horse makes simply no sense.

Idealists won't like to hear this, but it's the same with peace. Look at Ukraine to have a recent example. Most people want to live and prosper in peace. That is natural and desirable. But there are always some, who profit from war and who try to destroy things, disregarding the fate of others. Or political systems that want to expand territory and exploit / convert whole populations. When the desire for peace is only one-sided, and all attempts of talking or peaceful incentives fail, you can either protect yourself forcefully or be stolen from, raped, tortured, deported or murdered, watching your homeland be turned into ashes and those you love suffer for decades from the consequences.

In the same way, when the desire for openness, humane fairness without exploitation of users is one-sided, you have to draw a line and take a clear stance to defend that "safe space" you seeked in the first place from entities and principles that contradict it. And we have decades of clear evidence how big tech, especially Facebook / Meta operates, they are known to invade user privacy, strive for one-sided power, try everything to avoid or circumvent legal regulation. They have more than earned to be excluded from a place created to offer something better, healthier. And it's not like we hurt feelings here, it's a corporation, a virtual, soulless entity.

I can only speak for myself and do what I deem is good for me, so I'll migrate to Lemmy.ml, because at least they have the balls to stay true to a concept, even if it involves difficult or ugly decisions. And even if blocking Meta won't fully "protect" the fediverse, at least it is a clear message and limits the amount of power they can achieve and the amount of damage they can do here.

I'm new here, too! Just made the account. <3 Never liked Reddit, but open source stuff is always nice, plus, Lemmy looks way cleaner. So uhm... henlo!

GLaDOS demands to be on the list, or you won't receive cake.

It's a bit unrealistic. I mean, come on. How often do we Linux and BSD users really see the sun and outside world? ;)

Negative points are points, too!

Welcome to the new users :)

Ah, the internet. The collective treasures of the human mind.

Popcorn material.

People are different. I never really liked or used Reddit, because it was a cluttered mess to me. This here? Nice, clean, resource efficient. I like Lemmy!

First of all, thank you for your work to create or improve Spotify! I think that - as some others have pointed out - the word "force" here comes from Spotify's quasi-monopoly these days. It has gained such an important position of power that both musicians and listeners are almost "forced" to make use of it. As somebody who makes music, I think that Spotify urgently needs to realize the responsibility that comes with its success. Paying the people who create and offer the very content that makes their platform useful and successful in the first place laughable 0.003 - 0.005$ on average per stream is destroying any chance of realistic income for most artists. The amount of streams required for even a minimum wage can only be achieved with heavy and expensive marketing efforts, by abusing Spotify's systems and getting lucky by being placed on larger playlists. There's a lot of money made there, and only very few selectively benefit from it. We see entire phenomena due to this. For example that "songs" are getting shorter and shorter, in order to increase the amount of streams and thus compensating for that joke of payment. Creating longer, atmospheric pieces with a REAL structure and buildup worth exploring just isn't financially viable on Spotify. Any form of creative risk is also not helpful to earn money, so you get more and more super short bits of music that are very playlist-friendly and thus, samey. And this has a negative effect on music as an artform itself. And in the long run, it will make Spotify's catalogue less valuable, because it will degenerate into a grey, boring mass of meaningless low-effort content. Spotify offers a great service, but also devalues music as a medium and the carreers behind it. You may say that people are free to purchase physical media or directly purchase music on other services. But let's be realistic. Spotify offers an enormous, centralized catalogue of music for just a few bucks a month. If people can listen to your songs there for a cheap flatrate, they will simply not navigate other services and purchase a single album for the price of a month full of anything they like. So, if you have even the smallest amount of influence, please use it to improve Spotify on that field too, not only in terms of the app's code base. Make Spotify a healthier place for artists, which will help sustainability for everyone involved. And find ways to not only financially reward the shortest, most playlist-friendly pieces of music.

Reading this, I can't help but imagine it could have been written by a golden retriever. And that is an oddly cute thing to picture. 😀

I'm using startpage.com for a few months now, I'm surprisingly quite happy with the quality of search results.

I have no idea what I am doing \ (^ . ^) /

My gamer brain read "frag" instead of "forage". Now I imagine primitive Quake players bunnyhopping through the forest on full moon nights to hunt for food. Help.

floppy disk drive noises