volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
There's an important detail to understand about #USPolitics : the Senate leaders don't have nearly the power we're told they do.
However, you can see the alignment of interests to promote that myth: the leader gets a feather in his cap while other senators get to duck responsibility for their (in)actions, blaming those pesky leaders.
Today's drama in the #House over #McCarthy strikes me as members of the lower chamber trying to glom onto their own version of that myth, just in a stupider way, as befitting a lower chamber.
volkris
boosted
Newly revealed internal communications show that Twitter, under government pressure, suppressed truthful speech about COVID-19 as "misinformation." https://reason.com/2023/01/02/under-government-pressure-twitter-suppressed-truthful-speech-about-covid-19/
volkris
boosted
Please. I’m begging you. Not every tutorial needs to be a video.
volkris
boosted
🇳🇱
I find it a bit concerning how mastodon talks about their software and new features as if they exist in a vaccum. They talk about implementing a QT feature and forcing people to opt-in or not... Meanwhile the rest of the fediverse has had the QT feature since forever, including modified mastodon instances. We already have a standard, no you cant force opt-in.. .either implement it or dont, you cant force other software to block a feature just because you on your server didnt "opt-in". Its literally equivelant to a link to the original post...
volkris
boosted
A friendly reminder that Mastodon is not a social network! It's one of many pieces of software that makes up this network, often called the fediverse. While Mastodon is the most used software in the network, it is far from the only one. Reducing the network to Mastodon only really misses the point and potential of this diverse network.
#fediverse #mastodon
#fediverse #mastodon
And hey @skroobler I'm #QuotePost ing this using the feature on #qoto!
Yep, instances that give users more power and more features are able to participate in #Fediverse even if other instances leave their users hamstrung by questionable software development decisions of the past.
Quote posting allows us to built on other peoples' content, giving proper credit and adding value for all.
It was a silly decision to leave it out of #Mastodon
@FinchHaven@mastodon.sdf.org @shoq@mastodon.social Definitely not a dead horse. The ability to boost with additional context is a key feature of so...
volkris
boosted
Newspeak in the #Fediverse: “Discoverability is harassment.”
One way to think about #ContentWarning tags vs filters is empowering the end user or not.
If a person doesn't want to see a topic on #Mastodon they can add keywords to their filters, helping them manage their own feeds.
This functionality empowers them.
But adding content warnings everywhere, as many people demand, instead forces such content to be wrapped regardless of whether the end user would want it to be.
So many people have such strong opinions that content should be wrapped, and I'd say we should push back on that proposal.
volkris
boosted
All Your Face.
TSA going hogwild with facial recognition is going about as well as you'd expect, "but you can opt out". YK Hong: Since folks asked what happens whenever I opt out of facial recognition, I documented it for you while going through US...
https://jwz.org/b/yj8C
volkris
boosted
Alternate universe where the '90s trend for calling things "bad", "sick" or "rude" never ended and now we compliment each other's shoes by calling them "catastrophic" and "fundamentally misaligned with my values"
volkris
boosted
Welcome to the #Fediverse @Tupp_ed ;)
Over here in the greater #Fediverse, of which mastodon is just a part, things like Quoted posts, virtually unlimited length posts and even things like Text Formatting (using markup) are completely normal things to use naturally.
It's sadly just mastodon who wants to do things differently. 🙁
Over here in the greater #Fediverse, of which mastodon is just a part, things like Quoted posts, virtually unlimited length posts and even things like Text Formatting (using markup) are completely normal things to use naturally.
It's sadly just mastodon who wants to do things differently. 🙁
Well this is just smart
(this being the thing I'm quote posting, for platforms that won't show it)
Hmmm, it appears that when an instance like #qoto posts a #quotepost using its custom feature for that, the quote isn't rendered on #Mastodon .
I was wondering how Mastodon would handle that.
Well, better to avoid that feature for now, I suppose.
(Or, ugh, #quotetoot I suppose. I hate the term toot.)
volkris
boosted
From the outside, Twitter's content moderation decisions look haphazard at best. From the inside, they look worse, especially because government officials play an unseemly and arguably unconstitutional role in shaping those decisions.
Read more: https://reason.pub/3uVFIga
volkris
boosted
This is a good night in the #Fediverse all thanks to #Mediaite and of course our demigod of the wind and sea #JohnMastodon
"In other words, based on what we know about fentanyl exposure, it is extremely unlikely that what we saw was Bannick overdosing from inhaling #fentanyl in a gust of wind."
Police say a Florida officer overdosed by being close to fentanyl. Local media bought it. "Something as simple as the wind could expose you and jus...
Today's headlines about #Musk banning journalists from #Twitter strike me as a great illustration of the behavior that has so many people losing faith in #journalism over the years.
Whether one agrees with the twitter policies on doxing or not, for reports to not put the alleged violations front and center is to misinform readers.
Anyone with more knowledge of the event will know those journalistic institutions are presenting a misleading story, and that's just going to reinforce distrust in journalism.
volkris
boosted
The FBI frequently flagged joke tweets, asked for moderation. #twitterfiles https://reason.com/2022/12/16/fbi-reported-jokes-tweets-twitter-files-censorship/
Not hesitating to tag @freemo , as per the about :)
One feature I don't see in the #qoto instance that I see in other instances is a quick follow button in the header of hashtag search results, to let you follow that hashtag easily.
I see the "Following hashtags" list in preferences, and I see different options for buttons in the options screen, but I don't see this one.
Am I missing that setting, or is this a feature request?
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
volkris's choices:
