Based.

Thank you for creating a safe space. I'm an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and am happy there's a space not for "everyone", but for those willing to accept trans folk and silence those against them (while having funny posts on it as well).

My cat was so upset/confused this morning, demanding food while my wife and I were still asleep

Yes, sporadically but usually once I year I give them a donation.

Wikipedia is an insanely valuable resource we as a society just take for granted, especially those that grew up with it. Instant access to nearly infinite information is an absurd luxury we have, and it's a resource I want to see continue without being tied to corporate interests or abusive government regulation.

It's never much mind you, but I try to contribute a little around Christmas time if I can.

My only comment is I was surprised my work - which uses Windows and has closed source software exclusively - has VLC installed on all workstations and even as the default media player as well. It's a testament to how ubiquitous and approachable VLC is to be included in such a fashion over just Windows Media Player or some other form.

When they think that they can get away with expressing hatred for the homeless, it gets so ugly so fast. You can get away with saying a lot of disgusting things about poor and homeless people, if you're just a little bit careful about it, and a lot of "reasonable people" will tolerate it or not even notice.

A homeless person was shot and murdered in British Columbia and while generally sentiment was respectful and mourning the deceased, I definitely noticed almost a general understanding and even acceptance of the motivations for the killer, almost as if to pardon them and insinuate the homeless "have it coming". Really made me disgusted at the lack of empathy some people have for those less fortunate than them.

The best thing for the Fediverse has been Musk cannibalizing twitter with ever decision he makes it seems.

Twitter imploding -> People finding Mastodon as an alternative -> People discovering federation as an alternative to walled garden social media

I had bought it outright so I have the "lifetime subscription" after the uproar when the introduced this subscription model. This rate hike has me a little worried though they may go back on that and force purchasers to pony up for the subscription as well to get short term profits up (albeit at a reduced rate for like 3 months or so, as is standard with this sort of thing).

Destiny 2.

Incredibly engaging loop, great gunplay/moment to moment gameplay, and an intriguing story that keeps me interested to see what will happen next.

Loaded with micro (and macro) transactions and time gating of reused content as the game approaches it's conclusion and Bungie prepares it's next project for launch (this project also highlighting the poor state the PvP section of the game is in.).

Again, so much of my time has been spent in Destiny 2 and a good majority of it I've personally enjoyed. But when asked this question it's my go-to answer to advise people to steer clear if possible.

A lot of people have already talked about the onboarding/installation experience, so I'll just chime in and say a lot of new users are unfamiliar with using a terminal for commands and instead favour a GUI experience solely for their tasks. Most modern and commercially appealing distros are moving in this direction (ie applications running the same terminal commands in the background with an easy to understand UI at the front) but I'd still say the community's insistence on terminal over all other forms of executing a command may be a turn off for the layman trying it for the first time after Windows and MacOS.

Almost makes me think it would be more ideal to reduce the stigma associated with executing commands in the terminal and find some way to get people more comfortable with using it, both via Linux and also CMD for Windows as well.

Jerboa. Does everything I need it to.

When Boost for Lemmy comes out however I will most likely transition to there.

I think the strength of a community shouldn't primarily be built upon content another separate community or platform produces.

Now there are givens, like major news and art which "transcends" a singular platform. But repeatedly just lifting content from somewhere else (aside from if you are the creator yourself obviously and wanting to share to different platforms) and shipping it over here isn't a good look when Lemmy wishes to be a separate aggregator from Reddit.

I've really enjoyed my time with TekSavvy. My wife - then fiance - told me about them when I moved into our new place before her when I was comparing internet prices from the "Big 3". Their front facing disdain for the monopolization and lobbying of telecom in Canada was fascinating to see and made me a big fan, alongside their competitive pricing and good service as well. Although it's only been just over a year I'm really going to miss them if they change everything/are bought out. Hoping for the best here but it is looking grim.

It'll be hard to get people to not only detach from something they're accustomed to, but also then attach to something unfamiliar.

I tried and am trying again with Mastodon, but a lack of users I wish to follow, a more confusing premise at times, and just overall more enjoyment overall (if that) with twitter as a platform makes it a challenge.

Lemmy however has checked all the boxes. It literally feels exactly like Reddit, and honestly like a fresh start to avoid the various decisions both Reddit admins and the community itself made along the way. I'm hoping more for the latter experience than forming when diving into the fediverse, but my above statement is most likely applicable for a wide sample of people out there.

I had the same thought process seeing the software repository on Linux Mint for the first time. It really is set up like a MacOS or general Appstore interface.

Happy for your brother getting comfortable with Linux so quickly! Way to go!

I heard about this new company called Linux

I thought it was funny at least, so you gave me a good laugh.

I'd say Linux Mint or Ubuntu (you're familiar with this one) would be good "Out of the Box" options. They run an environment known as "Debian" so they're super similar and are pretty similar to what Windows offers in all honesty. You just burn them to a USB, run them from your desired computer's BIOS, and the rest is through a GUI interface you can follow along with. I have no experience with a touchscreen as I'm running Linux Mint XFCE (lightest weight version) on a laptop from the early 2010's with an Intel N2820 in it, but I'm assuming some workaround can exist to implement that. You also seem somewhat familiar with the alternative programs for different purposes, but rest assured both Ubuntu and Mint come with file explorers (Mint XFCE uses one called Thunar which is pretty effective) and you can easily swap out/install a different file manager to get jobs done as needed.

Plus - any programs you used with Windows which may not have Linux alternatives or versions - can be run through Wine. I've encountered a few hiccups when doing this (like a program I needed for school which was unable to pass the initial installation and actually run the program).

I've run Linux Mint XFCE as my daily driver for work and school tasks on my laptop for about 2-3 years at this point and it's been pretty great. Full disclosure: I still run Windows 11 on my main PC at home and have Windows 10 on a HTPC/Server with docker on it (though I've been debating switching to Ubuntu for this as well) so I still know there are benefits to a Windows system (while working to remove any and all advertising and AI garbage) but if I were to recommend someone a distro it would be as I've said above.

Good luck! Hope you find one that works for you!

The Reddit fiasco.

What made me stay was the concept of federation, and how similar to Reddit Lemmy actually is. I do find that my "home" feed gets stale compared to the refreshing of content Reddit would always have every time I checked, but I find there's a different style of discussion on Lemmy compared to Reddit, allowing for a more broad perspective than what one platform can provide to me.

As that sentence implies, I still use Reddit, but I divide my time now between there and here, with more niche communities being found on Reddit, focusing on FOSS and technology via Lemmy, and larger events (politics, world news, etc) being spread between both.

Stud Finder.

Knocking can get it done, but the surety of knowing is a nice to have for sure.

lemmy.ca because it's Canadian.

It's also a smaller instance, and I wanted to avoid joining a monolithic instance like world or beehaw, in favour of a smaller community I can feel a part of.

... But primarily because it's Canadian honestly.

The big thing with any Reddit alternative is what kind of community is migrating over there. A lot of controversies Reddit has had in the past have centered around vocally discriminatory communities migrating to a new platform after Reddit has decided their content does not align with their views and goals as a company.

Fatpeoplehate, the_donald, probably jailbait I imagine (though before my time on the site thankfully).

The one exception I would say would be the uncerwmonious firing of Victoria from AMA which caused an uproar and led to AMA's never really feeling the same. I didn't think about leaving then, but I understood the anger and concept of reddit slowly losing its identity in favour of a more corporate one. Ironically Reddit's latest decision has led to AMA opening the flood gates to anyone and everyone, giving a more genuine feel to the community.

Now 3rd party apps being shut down (although revanced provides an alternative) has caused a general consensus it's time to leave, fragmenting communities into different websites and platforms. I've encountered some hostility and opinions I personally disagree with on Lemmy, but overall the generalized community here is a good replacement, over a displeased and spiteful group that would fixate on one specific person or upset over one specific group of people. Perhaps thats just the nature of the fediverse overall where - if an admin of lemmy.ca decides to make us a proudboys affiliated network - I can just go elsewhere.

TL;DR Lemmy is all I need. It's not voat, it can federate with kbin fine, and it's open allowing anyone and everyone to have their say. I like Lemmy!

Jerboa