ALostInquirer @ ALostInquirer @lemm.ee

I like to ask a variety of questions, sometimes silly, serious, and/or stra

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2 yr. ago

Do you suppose stories like this are sometimes trying to emulate Oedipus Rex but missing part of the point?

It’s absolutely bonkers for Microsoft to even consider that paying $99 or $199 for their ad ridden software is fair and reasonable.

Have you seen their Xboxes? Somehow they get by with charging even more for those with more blatant ads and they charge you to play online multiplayer.

Usually gaming goes up when the cold weather comes around. Perhaps we will see growth then. We ought to be making sure we make communities for each new game that comes out, if an instance creators goal is to attract a lot of people.

Speaking of, wouldn't that be a good time for a general games/gaming instance to spin up then to play host to those communities?

That's fair, so as I clarified to another, suppose you have some foggy memory of your past life (as some tend to claim) that clears over time. Given those circumstances, what might you try to do for your future self?

Setting aside basics like a lil' recap journal to recover to catch yourself up on the parts you may have trouble remembering. 😅

True, but suppose it's not a complete clean slate, maybe a little more like foggy memory that clears over time which might help you connect back with what you left behind for yourself. What might ya try then?

What fun stuff would you prep for future you?

but the truth is that without the ability to sell ideas on/about/using the internet, it wouldnt have been widely adopted except in educational settings, and only for information storage/retrieval.

fwiw I don't think you're wrong given the circumstances the internet came about in, and that persist in a different form today, however the idea behind the question was to try to encourage one to try to imagine different circumstances. If the internet/the web had managed to develop and be widely adopted despite the circumstances around it and commercial pressures that have arguably warped it into something rather different than what it could have been, how might that have influenced society in turn?

It's less about looking back with rose-tinted glasses, and more about trying to re-envision how it might have developed differently. One could very much say that the whole pitch of stuff like lemmy and federated software is an attempt at doing just that, but I think it's even more interesting to consider on a broader scope.

In this context: widely adopted/used by the public.

That’s hard to answer without qualifying “commercial interests”.

That's fair, I was aiming to keep it open-ended, but may have been a little too open in this regard. To try to clarify while maintaining that spirit, I'd note that I phrased it as "compromise for commercial interests", so I don't mean to ask as if nothing commercial would be done on the internet, only that it wouldn't have been fashioned around commercial interests as much.

A basic example would be visiting a news site today that doesn't require a subscription to read articles on it, and how littered it is with ads, or how commercial social media sites actively push you to their algorithmic feed rather than giving you filters and controls to adjust your experience, both to keep you there and in turn viewing more ads.

Not sure how much that may help, but I'm not looking for any particular answers/responses other than more imaginative/speculative ideas surrounding the idea of a less commercially driven internet & its possible influence on things.

Perhaps a transition to a not-for-profit organization structure might be what folks would prefer? It seems like a potentially better alternative than going public, but I'm not sure how it might work in practice for something like a digital storefront.

In a weird way, one could almost argue that's roughly how Valve's been operating anyway, except I imagine they've been lining their pockets more than a not-for-profit organization's owners/employees do.

A religious sport?

You say you haven’t talked to many people like me, can you just concentrate on novels reading them on a screen exhausting to your eyes? Or does reading for hours on normal screens not exhaust them for you?

The second one. Reading for hours on normal screens doesn't exhaust my eyes, just a little mental fatigue depending on the type of book or how long I'm reading.

Invite only makes people think no spammers? Have they never been in any space with minimal obstacles to entry like that? Any place people are, there's going to be someone or some activity you don't care for.

Makes me think of folks thinking there will be fewer annoying people in online games with sub fees. 😂

Speaking personally, it's just that non-eInk displays are simply what I have to work with and they don't bother me to read on. I'm kind of confused, given that most displays don't use e-Ink...Do you minimize your web browsing as a result, or is it different compared to reading ebooks for you?

Disregard the question, rereading your post you address it, it just hadn't fully clicked as I've not talked to many people with your experience.

I had issues getting Okular to work well on my computer, but I’ve heard it’s good?

Which OS were you trying it with? I was pleasantly surprised when I found it was available on Windows, and a simple install had it working for me. Another option to consider if it still gives issues (and you're on Windows) may be SumatraPDF, which despite the name supports a wide range of formats.

So a fun idea might be to set up or join an invite-only Mastodon server, and spin it as the Cool Place To Be™? It sounds silly, but hey, if that's part of what's working for another social space...lol

Who is the target audience for BlueSky? BlueSky's tech isn't as open or developed as the alternatives though, is it?

Edit:
Not sure why I asked that first question, answer's obvious, so it was more out of frustration I think. Sort of in a similar way towards people moving to Threads or any other corporate social media again after getting screwed before.

I like your description, it gives me a fun image of a phablet case with a soft big butt on the back like some mousepads with wrist cushions

Idk isn't a public ledger of drug transactions kinda naff?

100% imagining this as wearing a finger extension to help