Libb

I think it’s already very hard to change our own habits. I would not hope to change other people’s own habits.

I would like Lemmy to grow if only for one reason: I don’t care being part of any niche (no more than I care being part of not highly popular communities, mind you). I enjoy exchanging ideas and chatting with interesting people much more than I need to feel ‘smart’ myself because of the tools I’m using and for any chat to happen one first have to meet people. So, the bigger Lemmy, the better for me ;)

I joined Lemmy/I left reddit only because I realised I was not OK with the way reddit changed policy (the way they control our content) and because I was not happy in the way they made their website evolve. That said, I do miss the few subs I was following and participating in on Reddit. I miss them a lot, as they were/are often very interesting and rich… of their participants.

Can Lemmy become comparable? I don’t know, I have some doubts but I also have very little intention to come back to Reddit, at least not until they change a few things.

After I announced I would not be posting on those subs anymore, a few months ago, two people contacted me to tell me that would be some kind of a loss and they were sad to see me go, asking me to reconsider. As far as I know, none have created an account here on Lemmy so we could keep on discussing stuff. Of course, I can’t be sure of that but to be 100% honest the opposite would have surprised me a lot more. I had the same lack of reaction a few years ago when I quit Twitter and the likes. That’s fine.

Changing habits is hard. Even more so online, I reckon.

Taxes. They have an incredible talent to raise new taxes.

And, more seriously, like already mentioned in another comment: destroying public services. which is a real sad thing to see happening, if you ask me.

I refrain from participating in and even from looking at any community that generates anxiety and/or anger, or that encourage or don’t oppose what I consider destructive or hostile behaviors. I consider time too precious to waste mine with the kind of persons who enjoy those things.

It is not related to any specific place, though. It’s mostly a question of the persons participating and of the moderators.

100% with you.

I’m 50+, I’m not a geek and for the last 35 years or so I mostly was an happy Apple customer/user (I only used Windows for a couple games and, recently, on a PC laptop). I was happy using Apple and even earned decent money doing so but, a few years ago, I grew tired of seeing Apple acting like a dick — more and more greenwashing while at the same time making it impossible to upgrade or fix hardware, and then they released the turdiest keyboard ever created on this planet (yep, looking at you Butterfly keyboard) and insisted on using it for years, despite so many of us complaining. So, I decided it was time to try something else. Windows did not impress me much. Then, I tried Linux and was so impressed how simple it was to use (I don’t do fancy stuff on my computer, I write) and how I could (more or less simply, but quite often it’s simple) tweak it to do exactly what I wanted, and how nice it was to run even on very old hardware (making for less e-waste, which is a good thing), I was sold. Plus, I won’t lie, the whole freedom and privacy considerations, the GNU philosophy, were becoming an important factor too as I realized how we were increasingly deprived of those.

I still own a Mac today but, unless there is some kind of revolution at Apple’s HQ, I don’t see myself buying a new Mac after this one dies of old age. My main computer is now my Linux machine. I keep the Mac out of laziness and habits… Also because I would miss one specific app: Scrivener, a writing app I’ve been using probably for the last 15 years, if not more. And, yep, I’ve tried many alternatives available under Linux and they don’t cut it for me.

Setting up a new laptop - How do I get around needing a Microsoft account?

I use Linux. Not trolling, it’s just what I decided to do so I could avoid Microsoft spying craziness… and their bloatware, too.

If Linux is not an option for you, maybe an utility like Win11Debloat could help you use Windows whiled minimizing (removing?) all the spying and bloat? https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat

Intolerance.

Aka, the lack of willingness to understand one another — I mean, the ability to discuss and work together toward a common goal, even with people we (deeply) disagree with — and the hostility towards whatever dares being/liking/talking/thinking different.

This is a not only a sad dead-end, imho this is also the very end of any society and of any civilization when the only other persons we can tolerate around us are exact copies of ourselves. People behaving, dressing, talking and thinking exactly like we do — or like we want them to.

This frightens me way much than anything else because I see no way to escape it and, even more terrifying to me, I see no place anywhere where one could escape it. Intolerance is growing everywhere, and it’s growing fast.

Would also require seller to fill many tax and vat forms (one per country they sell products into). And it may very well not be worth the effort.

It’s all about choice. And choice, aka diversity, is great.

It’s like not having to eat a banana if you don’t like them and having the ability to grow the fruit you would love the most instead. That’s also why I’ve now (in the last 5 or 6 years) mostly switched from Mac to GNU/Linux. This Mac Mac Studio I’m writing on right now is the last Mac I own and I see very little chance for it to be replaced by a newer Mac when time comes to replace it. I like the freedom of choice and to do what the funk I fancy on my computer. Not just what some designer at Cupertino (or some wannabe designer, at Redmond) decided I should be permitted to do.

Also, where is the standard between incompatible different macOS versions or different versions of Windows? Or between incompatible versions of the same apps running on those systems? I’m not saying it’s wrong, nor that it’s great, just that we should not neglect all those ‘standardization issues’ that exist in every single system. Marketing should not be blindly trusted — Imho, marketing should never be trusted, and not even listened to but that’s just me deeply allergic to bullshit ;)

I was still a kid when my dad brought home a brand new Apple II. Before that computer appeared in his home office (and in my live, as I used that Apple so much more than he ever did ;)), I learned to type on my granddad’s typewriter.

100%.

The same reason I care about a working democracy. You can’t have one without the other.

Less people using public libraries (and reading books to learn stuff) around me because 'who needs to read books when there is everything on the Internet and I can Google anything’?

And, at least as saddening and frightening to me, seeing more and more people willing to censor whatever book, author, or idea, they hate or even they just don’t agree with (most often, without even reading it). It’s even worse when I see librarians supporting that — it doesn’t matter how ‘good’ their motivation is, censorship’s only success is in the promotion of stupid ideas (if not of sheer ignorance), hate and fear.

Masking tape and a pen

imagine people can’t afford to watch all the movies produced in a year — crazy supposition I know, but let’s say a ticket has become so expensive people need to pick the film they will watch — would you rather have them pay to see a movie featuring living actors (and while doing so giving those new actors an opportunity to start their career and become the next stars?) or have them pay to watch a product made out of dead actors (and greed) that will only enrich the studios?

Dying is part of the life cycle. Once you’re dead, you’ve become a legit part of the past. And you’re supposed to stay gone, so the younger people have their chance too. Sure, those young will not be a clone of Bogart or Bacall but they could become… themselves. That is, as long as Studios don’t focus their attention (and greed) on dead actors (and AI-powered scenarios, while we’re at it).

Plus, as a 50+ dude myself, imagining an instant I was an actor, I would not want anyone getting the idea that they can inherit my ‘image’ once I’m dead and use it however they fancy. Money and stuff, help yourself but let my image — my effing face — let it disappear with the body it belongs too. I’m not a product, I’m someone — even if I was an actor.

Also, it makes me wonder is their face what people really miss from dead actors? Are Bacall and Bogart just their face?

And then, I imagine neither Bogart and Bacall would smoke in their new movie? Smoking is such a bad habit, we certainly would not want to give kids such a poor example, right? So what the remastered version of Bacall and Bogart would do, instead? I know, stare at their phone screen (and rage on X or share images of their last meal on Instagram), so modern viewers can identify with them even more easily. That sure would be a much better example for kids.

Not the OP, but that’s a great idea.

Like the OP, my spouse and I have become quite tired of those (overpriced) full-plastic pseudo brands that are worth shit, and we’re also not that interested in connected robotic battery-powered vacuums either. I will check around if I can find some good old school wired vacuum, and also ask my local thrift store owner if they have any idea where I could find some around here.

I am going to quote myself here:

Allow me to quote myself too, then:

That’s not the point.

I do not disagree with your remarks (I do not use Telegram), I simply consider it’s not the point or that it should not be.

Obviously, laws should be enforced. What those laws are and how they are used to erode some stuff that were considered fundamental rights not so long ago is the sole issue, once again, im(v)ho ;)

Well, except Telegram isn’t a good tool for privacy.

That’s not the point. The hunting down on tools and their creators (and on our right to privacy) is the issue here. At least, imho.

Do you mind if I send you a DM? I have more questions

Not the slightest, I can’t promise I’ll answer them all but, at worst, you only risk receiving a ‘Sorry, I don’t know’ ;)
The best way would be to send me an email, though. Check the bottom of the About page, on my blog.

To keep YT under control: Firefox is my web browser, with the uBlock Origin extension installed. So, all Shorts/Suggestions, ‘News’ and ‘Related content’ are now automatically removed from YT '(easy to achieve with uBlock Origin when using Firefox).

😍🥰 Firefox + uBlockOrigin

And whenever Google/YT suggests me some turd content, I dislike it and ask it to not suggest the channel/content anymore.

In the end, my feed is mostly made of stuff I enjoy watching, with so little noise that it can not be considered an issue.

Although I must admit I would feel a bit embarrassed asking them as well 😂.

You, or someone else is paying for that prescription. There is nothing to be ashamed of in asking them to provide something readable.

My eye doctor is a very strange person as she uses that very novel piece of high tech called a computer and a printer, and never writes a prescription by hand. Oddly enough, nobody has difficulty reading what she writes :p