*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@qoto.org

@realcaseyrollins I remember reading a real nice story - part of the Jargon File.

This was "The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer". These date to a time when a hacker was a highly skilled MIT computer scientist, working in low level languages and squeezing the most from anemic systems.

You got to read this -- but do it when you are rested, and enjoy, It's a great piece.

http://foldoc.org/The%20story%20of%20Mel,%20a%20Real%20Programmer

The whole Jargon File is great fun. I remember another story on it called the Magic switch, also wonderful reading.

@Erenbulbul

I tend to find those hard, and told my kids that it will usually always get better in the following days. They told me later they agreed. YMMV. 😉

@togs

@realcaseyrollins I would refer you to the classic "Jargon File".

Which goes back to when hackers were computer scientists, very brilliant people working at the cutting edge, doing the best with the little power and storage that they could access at the time.

It was seen as a badge of Honour, not a negative implication as a break-in artist of somewhat shady character like the media has been implying for many years now.

"The Meaning of ‘Hack’

“The word hack doesn't really have 69 different meanings”, according to MIT hacker Phil Agre. “In fact, hack has only one meaning, an extremely subtle and profound one which defies articulation. Which connotation is implied by a given use of the word depends in similarly profound ways on the context. Similar remarks apply to a couple of other hacker words, most notably random.”

Hacking might be characterized as ‘an appropriate application of ingenuity’. Whether the result is a quick-and-dirty patchwork job or a carefully crafted work of art, you have to admire the cleverness that went into it."

A small quote from: http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html

"Netgear Nighthawk AX12 review: A high-end 802.11ax router with bags of bandwidth"

" The Nighthawk AX12 is an exceptional router. It’s one of the first wave of 802.11ax devices (also known as Wi-Fi 6), offering real-world download speeds of 60MB/sec and more when accessed from a compatible client. What’s more, it’s the first router we’ve ever seen with 8x8 MU-MIMO capability. That means it can smoothly handle up to eight simultaneous wireless connections – perfect for a modern household that’s packed with smart devices.

The catch? All 802.11ax routers are expensive and this one is pricier than most. Sure, the specs are impressive, but are they really worth £360?"

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/netgear/1410004/netgear-nighthawk-ax12-review

@W10x12_UNO@mastodon.sdf.org

Great posts, Pete, thank you!

@Shufei@mastodon.sdf.org @Optionparty

@chikara WE are all learning, the software is new to most people arriving here. And the network this server connects to is large, supports multiple protocols and different places.

I noticed your editing on the post above, at first you had two blank lines between paragraphs, now it's showing only one. Which is fine as spacing goes, that's what I always use too.

You do not need the "." period to force a new line; just hitting Enter twice will push the cursor down and skip a line.

Important Note regarding Editing posts :

The mechanism we use is not really a classic 'Edit', where the same post is touched and saved; the time stamp is the same as it was, etc.

When you use 'Delete and redraft' here, the old post is removed (and any Favourites, Boots it might had are lost forever). Any references to the post in other people's own writing are also Broken, since the old post is gone forever.

SO - I would suggest editing that way only if done immediately; otherwise you see the possible consequences above.

It is more limited than what we have in Facebook, for example. But at the same time, it's better than Twitter, where I don't think we can do that kind of thing (I don't use the site there much at all, might be wrong).

I am thinking of finding a good place to host and start a Blog, which will allow long writing, text formatting, images and links, etc.

And can be referred to here, in an announcement post for each new page you created.

We lack Bookmarks here at the moment, so things disappear soon into the mass of new, incoming posts.

Something great here is that "Search" is wonderful -- it does find content I posted in a blink, so I use it frequently to grab a link, image or locate a thread.

@_lunawinters
You are very welcome. 😺

I am really a cat person; can be friendly and opinionated, but always with a good heart. 😄

I loved Moonshine's joke about Qoto really being running on Freemo's brain, lol.... He sure responds like it did!

@freemo @moonshine@freespeechextremist.com

@somasekharAS123 Hello, Somasekhar, and welcome to Qoto.

Hope you enjoy the site and the big network we are connected to.

If you are a new user, there is a good guide to Mastodon at https://lifehacker.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-mastodon-1828503235

...which I always recommend. Any questions, just post and ask. 😉

@_lunawinters

Don't feel bad, you are seeing a dialogue and a democracy at its best.

If you understand better what this instance is all about, you can help by trying to post more along the lines that help make it an attractive place.

There are many, many instances, and lots of places for "General", one liner, micro blogging kind of posts.

Those more or less baffle me, as I had always written in Forums, longer posts, rich content was usual. Some bantering was normal, but Forums also allow different areas - so there might have been a part of the Forum where off-topic posts were acceptable.

Here, we all post and it shows in one single Location -- the Local feed, and every post anyone makes is bounced all over the planet; occupies disk space, uses network data transfers to reach the remotest corners.

Sometime in the future, Mastodon should support a purely local instance - a posting area that does NOT go out to the network at all, and would be ideal for banter, little jokes, etc.

Even when that happen, we still need to not irk the people who come here for the Science, Tech, Eng and Math content.

Don't be sorry, just adjust if you like and join the discussions. If you are friendly, a good thing is to post a welcome response to any new user making their first post.

I know it's always important, and I was at the receiving end of that welcome not long ago, indeed.

So I try to respond to their posts as soon as I see them, and this can be done by any member of the site.

I have been aroudn the Sun a few times, we all learn and grow. Carry on, little sister. Thank you.

🌄 🌠 ⭐
@freemo @moonshine@freespeechextremist.com

@_lunawinters
I have been spending many, many hours lately, Aaditi.

To the point that my sleep hours are being shortened, not a good thing.

But the reason is that I am getting so much Intellectual stimulation from all the new things there are to learn, the interesting and knowledgeable people who I have met and responded to my writings from all over the fediverse.

That is wonderful - it's late Fall, almost Winter, and always a difficult time for us here in the Northern hemisphere.

I love the outdoors, cycling, camping and traveling, backpacking, hiking, none of those work well when there's ice, rain and snow, plus shorter days of Winter.

I have gone into binges like this in the past, have been very involved in communities that I liked and had interest in; it's a volunteer opportunity for me.

(I will be applying for a moderator position on the next round, next month; got to get more experience here first, minimum one month on the site which I find perfectly reasonable)

@freemo @moonshine@freespeechextremist.com

@chikara Sorry if I was unclear, Chikara.

By an "article" I meant a Long Form write up/post, similar to the ones you have done so far in fact.

In that suggestion, was to write a text analyzing the importance and the history of these facts, the way you see it, etc.

As opposed to what we have bee seeing too much here lately -- a LOT of one line posts, little jokes, which if done occasionally won't detract from the site's tone and reputation.

But - and we already have a big discussion started this morning on exactly this topic - but can turn off users with STEM interests, educators, students, anyone who comes here to share and learn new things.

Please do not feel discouraged, we ARE noticing the wave of "general" posts, we got an influx of people who came here probably because it was prominently displayed at the top or near the top of the Joining Mastodon network pages.

You are most welcome to join us for the discussion, reading and responding to this thread : https://qoto.org/web/statuses/103181749788422818

QOTO is very unique - not only for it's STEM affinity, but for the way the instance is run by a very open minded administrator.

That's unusual, the degree to which things are opened to discussion - and in a Public post. That was never my experience, and I have been a moderator in various other networks over time, including being senior staff.

Thank you for all your posts, I liked and replied to them. It's a pity that we got so little response, but that might also be due to the massive flooding of the Local feed lately.

Again, I invite you and ANY other concerned users to please join us in finding the best way to keep the boat in due course.

@11112011 So true.

Take a break and go read some nice and reflective post, Blitz.

like : https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-have-to-save-2eb1fe15a426

@freemo
Agreed. We see a problem, and it's time to reflect and decide how to handle it.

For new users coming in the future, and for the ones already here. This part might be the harder one, as we would need to suggest, request or direct changes in the posting style.

If it is done with care, and explaining the reasons, the impact on a unique instance, maybe it can gain cooperation from them.

Acting asap is needed, though. The user and post count just posted by users bot shows the number of daily average posts tripling, from September (~300 a day) to November, after the new users spike (~900 a day, many very short, one liners, etc).

@arteteco @Surasanji @johnlitt

@freemo

It could be like the different areas on an office or school/college.

There's the lecture hall, the professor's offices, and the water cooler where everyone hangs out and chats general topics.

As long as the crowd is formed by people with interest in the instance's theme, it can work.

It's not really a good thing to have general posting by users who just needed a home in the fediverse.

Occasional banter, chit chat on a thread is ok; if that's all a user has to contribute, I am afraid we suffer from sheer dilution.

@johnlitt @arteteco @Surasanji

@johnlitt

That's what I think too, John.

We need to act to change course, before it gets out of hand.

There are many "General" instances, we could compile a list of suggestions maybe.

STEM and related content probably will come in English, I imagine. Even if in other European languages, we can easily translate them.

The non-western scripts, we can't, so it just flies by unchecked.

@freemo @arteteco @Surasanji

@_lunawinters Sorry to say, but I feel that even reading the article I linked above on a mobile phone screen is really not honouring it as it deseves - the artwork on the illustrations, the page design, the ability to see longer paragraphs on screen at once.

Serious content like that begs for a real computer screen and some quiet time to read and appreciate it.

Mobile devices and the Stream as he calls it go hand in hand. It's the Internet morphing into TV. 😞

Sadly, it's what's happening. Micro blogging, micro attention spans, likes, follows, hashtags in every word in stupid Insta, clueless.

@Bhavikchitalia As the Resident Librarian, I thank you. 😸

@_lunawinters Very little, more like minutes. Open the screen when a notification arrives.

Real work for me requires real computers - a laptop or desktop system.

Zillions of Tabs, on a good browser (Waterfox for me, Firefox based).

An image editor to crop, resize all the imagery I need for my posts, or to add to replies to others.

Text editor even, which is a good tool for concentrating and writing Long Form, which is what I really like.

Phones are hard to use, limited, and the bad data entry makes people shorten up posts to mere trickles.

Not what I would prefer on my web...

See also : https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-have-to-save-2eb1fe15a426