pies @pies@qoto.org

From: @pluralistic:

"To understand the future of Mastodon, we have to understand network effects...a product or service that gets more valuable as it attracts new users.

The people who stay...make it a busier, more exciting place...the next surge will find an even higher equilibrium as users who try Mastodon find more fully acclimated users who can hold their hands as they get settled in, and also provide the vibrant community that presents a good reason for doing so."

https://doctorow.medium.com/of-course-mastodon-lost-users-c48ef8102891

You're not stupid for using a framework, and nobody has pulled a fast one on you. https://seldo.com/posts/the_case_for_frameworks

So, Google gained 6% stock value when they fired 12000 people for no obvious reasons, and has now lost 7% after a mediocre AI demo, so I guess all the invisible hand of the free market does these days is make vague jerking-off motions.

Overheard: “Not all heroes wear capes. Or tops, it seems.”

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!
I'm Furious That It's Not Butter!
I'd Give You Anything If You Could Please Give Me Butter!
I'm Sad Because It's Not Butter!
I've Come to Terms with the Fact That It's Not Butter.

- The stages of margarine grief

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Canada's privatised shadow civil service; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/31/mckinsey-and-canada/

#Pluralistic

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Pluralistic: Tiktok’s enshittification (21 Jan 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow - https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

Today is a sad day JetNet bought ADSBExchange. The data source for ElonJet/bots not to worry as other networks will be coming up. If you feed ADSBexchange we encourage you to stop feeding. ADSBExchange was founded on the principles of hobbyists community not for profit PE firms. https://www.jetnet.com/news/jetnet-acquires-ads-b-exchange.html

If I have to prove I'm not a computer by identifying traffic lights and busses, perhaps we're not quite ready for self-driving cars.

German police protecting a bucket-wheel excavator from anti-coal climate activists near the former village of Lützerath. (source @marius_mich on twitter)

The Inigo Montoya method of greeting people.
Step 1: Polite greeting.
Step 2: Your name.
Step 3: Relevant personal link.
Step 4: Manage Expectations.

I used to be married to an active, vibrant, happy young woman who decided one day to hang a bird feeder in the back yard, and now I’m married to a glassy-eyed, unwashed maniac that stands at the kitchen window all day screaming at squirrels.