As a long time supporter of SaveAFox, it's hard to really even process this. I am sure being an online personality to try and fundraise isn't easy, but never did I dream that there was such a degree of hate lobbed at Mikayla that she'd decide to end her own life. Someone so kind and devoted to the lives of creatures who are constantly exploited and cannot save themselves. It's just despicable, and all I can really hope for is that Mikayla's mission continues on in spite of such significant loss.
Yeah, giving Google unfettered access to your attention span with their algorithm (or any giant corporation) is just a disaster waiting to happen. None of them are interested in your well being or helping you in any way, only to keep you engaging, and to try pushing narratives to the masses. These very same algorithms also determine how creators act and what they post, since disobeying the nebulous 'algorithm' results in having your video cratered.
As for PeerTube, I will tell you right out of the gate it won't be a major supplement to offset something like YouTube watch time. You will find some fun though, it's quite cool watching super indie stuff you end up enjoying, think like 2005 tier YT where people just kinda post stuff for fun. If you are a creative (e.g. artist, musician, maker, tech reviewer) and have the rights to your videos, MakerTube is the instance I'm on, and they would be happy to have you (my channel). If you aren't a maker, you can browse the instance list and try to pick a server you're comfortable with (all of them have an info page which shows their rules and what you can do). I know that's tedious and overwhelming though, so I spent a little bit mulling for something I'd consider acceptable as a starting point and found Peertube.wtf. They seem to be open signups, allow video uploads with a high limit, non-US, a proper no bigotry policy, looks good at a glance anyway!
Adding to say I have the same experience. Not banned, never used a TPA, but downloaded RIF Is Fun when people were writing up a storm just to see what was even going on. When the blackouts happened, I saw the more and more unhinged shit the Reddit administration was doing to stifle the protests and decided to make my blackout permanent from then onward. My exposure to the Fediverse has entirely changed how I interact with megacorps and software now. If it's not FOSS or DRM free stuff on my device, I don't want anything to do with it. Obviously getting to 100% on that is a very tall order, but I've been making a lot of headway since 2023.
Even in spite of the vast disparity in quantity of content, I would vastly prefer Lemmy to current Reddit without contest. Even aside from the massive brain drain the blackout had, and all the ad related enshittification, imagine being punished for even upvoting awesome things like Luigi Mangione? Now instead of the countless years I spent leaving my art and constant comments to boost some boneheaded corporation, I can post them here and be involved with a movement controlled by individuals. A movement made for and funded by each other, instead of lining greedy pockets.
I think we would also do well to consume less content frankly. I'm closing in on two years since I've stopped viewing YouTube videos, and watching creators on platforms like Nebula or just buying indie media has been fine enough honestly. I also donate a fair bit to a creative focused PeerTube instance for my short videos.
Don't take this as an all or nothing call though. Reducing reliance on the YouTube monopoly for your eyes, and being more adversarial to YouTube to any degree more than before is a net positive. Run ad blockers, use alternative front ends like Invidious, directly download videos with YT-DLP, and redirect your content consumption to more friendly platforms (or just reduce watch time in general). There is no true alternative to YouTube, but that doesn't mean we should throw in the towel, or refuse to reclaim any bit we can back.
Went to check again as it's been so long since I altered the setting. I remember at the time when I changed it to Android, I immediately kept it that way and it feeling better. This time around I still feel like Apple mode on my device feels a little odd, but the feeling was less stark that it was a bit over a year ago. Regardless, after testing I am still in the camp of Android default for Android devices. Unfortunately as far as reasoning goes, it just seems to be a bunch of minor UI stuff which bubbles under the surface and is difficult to really put into words. The most prominent thing to me consciously is the typeface and the cards at the bottom changing in a way which I am less fond of than the Android setting, but I'm sure it's more than just that.
I also think novice users will likely prefer an app scheme more consistent with their device of choice, even if it is less polished at the moment. I don't believe the current state is particularly clunky, especially to the point where it would offput new users trying to do basic navigation, or exploring Lemmy in general.
If you tell them what you're going to do, they'll think you're lying, thus ensuring the perfect opportunity to strike. Reverse psychology baby, it always works!
I use Krita for everything, I love it so much. I also won't act like it's perfect either, despite it being my most used software by a landslide. Personally my biggest desire now is improved workflow for text editing (e.g. editing text directly on the canvas, being able to box and justify text, vector pathing for text so you can make it bend or wave). From what I understand it is something that is being worked on, and I will be even more indebted to the wonderful folks at KDE once further progress is made on that front.
From what I understand the default behavior of NSFW communities is that remote posts are effectively treated as hidden and don't show up unless you're subscribed or directly access the community. However, Lemmynsfw explicitly altered this behavior such that their posts go into main feeds and were treated as normal (though marked as nsfw).
I was never subscribed to any lemmynsfw community but would routinely see their posts scrolling through top day, so I blocked the instance and now I don't. Very useful feature.
But how else will you hear about all the little details of their daily lives on a regular porn site? The parasocial connections to your favorite porn stars aren't gonna form all by themselves!
No matter where I leave the doll it always ends up back in my room at night. I even accidentally dropped them into a fire, and not even a single hair was singed! Amazing build quality, friend for life! 5 stars.
As a long time supporter of SaveAFox, it's hard to really even process this. I am sure being an online personality to try and fundraise isn't easy, but never did I dream that there was such a degree of hate lobbed at Mikayla that she'd decide to end her own life. Someone so kind and devoted to the lives of creatures who are constantly exploited and cannot save themselves. It's just despicable, and all I can really hope for is that Mikayla's mission continues on in spite of such significant loss.