Collected Over Spread @collectedoverspread@qoto.org

"I do not mean that words can be violence, in the way some progressives have claimed for the past 15 years. I mean that if we fail to distinguish between productive and unproductive speech, we’re missing a huge part of why the internet generations are losing faith in words to begin with."

"Do not lionize debate theater" by Andrew Doris in Exasperated Alien https://exasperatedalien.substack.com/p/do-not-lionize-debate-theater

#CharlieKirk

"If I'm forced to name a silver lining, it’s that liberalism is countercultural again. Donald Trump and the populist, postliberal Right are in power. An illiberal hostility to basic liberties and a cynicism toward progress flourish, albeit in a less coordinated fashion, on the left — this is the moment to strike back."

"How do we live with each other" by Jerusalem Demsas in The Argument https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/how-do-we-live-with-each-other

This piece in Slow Boring about Denver restaurants (unsurprisingly) sparked a debate about American #tipping norms: https://www.slowboring.com/p/denver-piece

There was one tidbit raised in the comments that surprised me: Noodles & Company, a Denver-based chain, has a "no tips" policy. Well, I just happened to be in Denver and ate there (location on the 16th Street Mall downtown, for reference), and I never saw anything to that effect. The payment terminal prompted me to select a tip before providing my card, and I did leave a tip there.

I think restaurants adopting a no-tip model voluntarily is the way to go here, but if that's the way they want to go they should try to ensure that the tip option doesn't appear on the terminal.

"...a somewhat annoying habit has developed where scientists will weigh-in on questions related to Covid NPIs or climate policy that involve complicated multi-dimensional tradeoffs as if 'the science' settles rather than informs these debates. This is bad."

Not the main idea of this piece but I'm highlighting it because I remember saying essentially the exact same thing a while ago.

"Trump's war on science" by Matthew Yglesias in Slow Boring https://www.slowboring.com/p/trumps-war-on-science

"...none of these five dogmas is entirely false. The problem is that they are not entirely true either, as a result of which their widespread promulgation generates completely unnecessary suspicion and controversy."

"The Five Dogmas of DEI" by Joseph Heath in Persuasion https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-five-dogmas-of-dei

"In my view, the right lesson from 2024 is that presidential elections are not about policy in the first place. ...[I]nsofar as election outcomes can be controlled, winning probably has more to do with charisma, authenticity, relatability, and responsiveness to the national mood, all of which can be leveraged in service of almost any policy platform."

"Move past the progressive v. moderate framing" from Exasperated Alien https://exasperatedalien.substack.com/p/move-past-the-progressive-v-moderate
#USPolitics

I've noticed a few times where people reference a #Bluesky account as simply "@ example" instead of (I assume) "@ example.bsky.social". Bluesky handles are domain names, so it's important to distinguish between, say, example.bsky.social and example.com.

Also, I again encourage anyone who's using Bluesky and has their own domain name/website to look into making it their handle instead of just relying on bsky.social.

"What Went Wrong In The 2024 Election?" by Ryan Beard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPTQWEoKz_4

As Beard says, it's not the most significant factor in Trump's victory, but it's honestly refreshing to hear the left-wing infighting being called out by someone to my left. I'm reminded of Freddie deBoer's criticism of a certain section of social-justice advocates who believe they are "exempt from politics" ( https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/social-justice-advocates-dont-get ); Beard's criticism of certain online leftists seems similar.

COS's California Ballot: https://collectedoverspread.tumblr.com/post/767355442735284224/coss-california-ballot-2024

Rather late post where I talk about how I voted for ballot measures in California this past election. #CaliforniaPolitics #USPolitics

Is it just me or are some people misunderstanding the upcoming changes to #Twitter 's block function? There's certainly legitimate criticism to be made, but I think it's important to recognize what is actually changing and what isn't.

Currently, if you block someone, that means:

1. You can't see their posts
2. You can't interact with their posts
3. They can't see your posts
4. They can't interact with your posts

Only #3 is changing.

Curious about whether Mastodon automatically links bare domain names like example.com or links without schemas like example.com/some/page.html