There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

kbin.life

kent_eh , to asklemmy in What are the worst names you could give a baby boy?

Robert’); DROP TABLE Students;–

Spaghetti_Hitchens ,

Little Bobby Tables as we call him.

Pons_Aelius ,
squaresinger , to nostupidquestions in Where did the abbreviation "w/" for "with" come from?

All in all, the / is just one style of abbreviation used in English. It’s not only used for “with”, but also a few other words (w/o = without, N/A = not applicable).

In German we abbreviate using a dot (e.g. “m.” = “mit” = "with). That’s not more or less intuitive, it’s just what you are used to.

What’s kinda special with English is that there are multiple abbreviation styles. Off the top of my head I can think of six styles:

  • Abbreviate random parts of words using a slash: “N/A”, “w/”, "w/o"
  • Abbreviate keeping only the first letter of a word using a dot: "e.g."
  • Abbreviate keeping the first and some random later consonants (and sometimes consonants that aren’t in the word at all) without using punctuation: Dr, Mr, Ms, Mrs
  • Abbreviate using acronyms and no punctuation: BBC
  • Abbreviate using acronyms and dots: B.C.
  • Abbreviate by substituting parts of the word with a single letter: Xmas (Christmas), Xing (Crossing)
seitanic ,
@seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Those are initialisms, not acronyms.

Klear ,

Wikipedia at least sees initialisms as a type of acronyms. But even if it didn’t, your comment would still be unhelpful pedantry.

ijeff ,
@ijeff@lemdro.id avatar

I’m not the person you were replying to, but the source linked on the wiki for that statement actually refers to them as being distinct.

seitanic ,
@seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

K.

(That’s an initialism for “OK”.)

Izzgo ,

And OK is initialism for okay.

seitanic ,
@seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

It’s actually an initialism for “Oll Korrect”. I’m not kidding.

Kase ,

Is that why people sometimes say “O.K.”? I always assumed it was just a grammar mistake. The more you know lol

seitanic ,
@seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Yeah, “O.K.” came first, “okay” was later. It has a weird history. According to the American Heritage Dictionary:

During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren’s 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans.

muyessir ,

Initialisms are acronyms

Welt ,

Similes are metaphors, too

candybrie ,

I’m used to Dr., Mr., Mrs. all needing the dot.

I’d also add the medical ones which all use x, and most use the first letter of the word, but not all, so it’s kinda point 3, kinda not:

  • Prescription: rx
  • Symptoms: sx
  • Diagnosis: dx
  • History: hx
squaresinger ,

Both are possible: Dr and Dr.

Never heard of the x version. Very interresting.

railsdev ,

I think the lack of period is British-style while keeping it is more US-centric.

I’m American but I think the British style looks a lot cleaner, Ms Smith. 🤤

squaresinger ,

Might be. I’m neither Brit nor American, so I learned both.

Izzgo ,

I learned similar shorthand from an accountant, who wrote transfer (money transfer between accounts) as tx.

Also, it used to be obligatory to put the dot on Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc. I'm old, I remember how it was taught. And we called those dots "periods". I haven't been in school in decades, but I've been noticing those dots disappearing.

GrayBackgroundMusic ,

Prescription: rx

I work in radio electronics and RX is receive. TX is transmit.

sarchar ,

In programmer lingo we’ll sometimes shorten words with the number of letters in between:

i18n (internationalization) and L10n (localization). I just learned of g11n (globalization), too.

rikudou ,

Also k8s for Kubernetes.

AA5B ,

Wait until you learn about k8s

gianni ,
@gianni@lemmy.ca avatar

No thanks!

squaresinger ,

True, forgot about that one. I really hat this style of abbreviation^^

user134450 , (edited )

you h2e it?

Rentlar ,

T2e, f4t a3t t2t o1e. I r4y h2e t2s s3e o0f a10n^^

F3d i0t f1r y1u.

squaresinger ,

Aaarg!!

ActionHank ,

You’ll be a hero at work when your coworkers see how efficient your commit messages have become.

Rentlar ,

Clearly the next step in evolution will be this…

Y77e.

The information you see is only the identifier and metadata, the main content will be transferred directly via the neural transceiver.

Atemu ,
@Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

r13y (reproducibility)

deranger ,

This one is terrible IMO. A11y is ironically very inaccessible unless you’re aware of this unintuitive system.

Mouselemming ,

Now that I know it though, it’s a good way to distinguish between similar common abbreviations. For instance I know you don’t mean “Actually” even though I’m not sure what you do mean by A11y.

sanguinepar ,
@sanguinepar@lemmy.world avatar

Accessibility I think :-)

Mouselemming ,

Oh, really!? That’s a good one for me to learn! (Spouse is a quad who uses a lot of computer A11y aids)

ipha ,

Wait. That is why it’s called i18n!? Never knew that.

FooBarrington ,

d4s (dingus)

railsdev ,

I’m a programmer but fuck I hate this so much.

Skwerls ,

Just start using it for everything and confuse everyone… I mean E6E

ValiantDust ,

Abbreviate keeping the first and some random later consonants (and sometimes consonants that aren’t in the word at all) without using punctuation: Dr, Mr, Ms, Mrs

I think it’s usually the first letter(s) and the last letter(s). In older English handwritings I’ve come across M.ʳ etc. So I think that’s were those came from.

uniqueid198x ,

In the Speedwriting shorthand system, developed in 1924 for use with typewriter, / Is used to denote omitted sylables, so ‘with’ becomes w/ and ‘without’ becomes w/o. Here is a pretty deep guide on the precepts of Speedwriting:

www.reddit.com/r/Classic_Speedwriting/…/list108/

squaresinger ,

But shouldn’t “w/o” then be written as “w/o/”?

And “N/A” omits more than one sylable in “applicable”.

I guess it’s a grown system.

uniqueid198x ,

Yeah. I have no evidence that this system invented those shortcuts, they may predate it by quite a bit

squaresinger ,

Yeah, it’s really hard to pinpoint such simple inventions.

deranger ,

Don’t forget re: which means regarding or in reference to, not reply.

Taniwha420 ,

… I think it’s actually a Latin word, “re,”, meaning, “the matter (subject)” not an abbreviation at all.

user134450 ,

yeah this is a real pet peeve of mine.

In German many people, web mailers and also sometimes even email software use “AW:” (short for AntWort) instead of “Re:” and then some of them don’t even recognize the existence of a previous “AW:” or “Re:” giving you such wondrous email subjects as: “AW: Re: AW: Re: AW: AW: Re: AW: Re: really important subject” 🤦

squaresinger ,

Oh, that totally works with a single language too: “Re: Re: Re:…” or “AW: AW: AW:…” seen both of that often enough.

user134450 , (edited )

yes indeed. i keep being confused how email can still suck so much sometimes when it had decades to mature.

squaresinger ,

Massive amounts of federation ;)

It’s really hard to get thousands of software development companies, hundreds of thousands of hosters and billions of users to unitedly go for a new thing.

railsdev ,

It would make much more sense these days to simply leave the subject line intact then have the mail client display the “reply” or “forwarded” lingo on its own.

It’s a computer so it should be smart enough to know what’s happening by looking at the headers. I never understand when we make computers do stupid things instead of actually programming them to be smart. Otherwise what’s the point of using them?

GrayBackgroundMusic ,

“AW: Re: AW: Re: AW: AW: Re: AW: Re:

Ah, yes, you get forwards from my boomer-aged father, too!

Taniwha420 ,

The Foreword? Or is that answer? Forward in English would be the author’s message at the beginning of a book.

Mouselemming , (edited )

Dr., Mrs., Ms. etc. are traditionally abbreviated with periods/dots but it does raise issues typing on one’s phone because autocorrect thinks it’s the end of a sentence, so sans dots is becoming more common. And there’s other examples which have never had dots, like nvm and af

X is a little special, it stands for Cross and therefore also for Christ. When illiterate medieval people had to sign documents they were told to make the sign of the Cross, since they were usually swearing

Edit: anyone else always pronounce PED XING as pedexing instead of pedestrian crossing?

Rouxibeau ,

When you type Dr., et al., you normally follow it with a proper noun. Why is the auto caps an issue?

edgemaster72 ,
@edgemaster72@lemmy.world avatar

For instance, if you want to text someone “I have an appointment with the Dr. at 11 on Tuesday”. Depending on the dr’s name it might be more to type than someone cares to, especially if it isn’t the most pertinent piece of information.

Rouxibeau ,

If you are gonna put Dr then odds are you’ll follow with @ and it’s a non-issue.

Mouselemming ,

Because, as you probably just noticed, it’s sometimes part of a sentence, used without the name. Maybe I’m texting “Dr says it’s not a tumor, I’m pregnant” or something.

In addition, Dr (w/ or w/o .) sometimes means Drive, and USPS sorting machines prefer no dots, so that might also drive autotype to choose dotless, or at least offer it.

railsdev ,

I don’t think writing “the Dr told me X” is normal because it’s in the middle of the sentence. Especially if it’s capitalized because that signifies that it’s a title, but you’re not using the title (unless we’re talking about German which we’re not).

You should just type out “the doctor said X.”

Mouselemming ,

In formal communication I would type it out, but not, for instance, texting my kids with updates on the cat or their dad or whatevs

squaresinger ,

Both Dr and Dr. are possible.

Dark_Arc ,
@Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg avatar

As a non-Christian, I never made that Xmas connection. It sounds cool, but I was never sure why anyone started calling that (and evidently never curious enough to go looking for an answer or even really ask, I just kinda took it as one of those things that is how it is because people are going to people).

Akuchimoya ,

As a non-Christian, I never made that Xmas connection.

Well, as a Christian, I wouldn’t feel bad about it because the poster is not correct. The X in Xmas does not stand for a cross, it comes from the Greek spelling of Christ which is Χριστός. The chi-rho symbol (☧) is an imposition of the first two letters (Χ and ρ) and is still commonly used to refer to Christ in some denominations.

As a bonus: if you’ve ever wondered (or not wondered) why some Christian symbolism uses a fish, ἸΧΘΥΣ (or ICTHYS) is an acronym for Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ, “which translates into English as ‘Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior’.” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys) This has been used since the first century.

Dark_Arc ,
@Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg avatar

if you’ve ever wondered (or not wondered) why some Christian symbolism uses a fish, ἸΧΘΥΣ (or ICTHYS) is an acronym for Ἰησοῦς Χρῑστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ

And that presumably is drawn as a fish in some language?

user134450 ,

“ἰχθύς” is the ancient greek word for “fish” en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ΙΧΘΥΣ

Dark_Arc ,
@Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg avatar

I don’t see that word used in their comment?

user134450 , (edited )

click on the link pls

Dark_Arc ,
@Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg avatar

Oh… I see, so it’s the word for fish.

It would be like if we had an acronym F.I.S.H. and some people got cute and drew a 🐟 instead of writing F.I.S.H.

Mouselemming ,

Oddly enough, people who didn’t know that part of the history got angry “they took Christ out of Christmas!” So then people who liked the holiday but not the religion used it to do exactly that. As you say, people people.

CoggyMcFee ,

Using the period with titles is standard in the US and leaving out the period is standard in the UK.

GrayBackgroundMusic ,

Edit: anyone else always pronounce PED XING as pedexing instead of pedestrian crossing?

Yes, that’s how I pronounce it.

Rentlar ,

don’t forget using contractions on single words, like cont’d, pop’n (sometimes written pop^n^)

Retiring ,
@Retiring@lemmy.ml avatar

m. is not a German abbreviation for mit, afaik. I never once read that. Where did you get that from?

squaresinger ,

As an Austrian, I have often seen it on food packaging with limited space. Something like “Rotkraut m. Apfel”.

Retiring ,
@Retiring@lemmy.ml avatar

That is interesting. Thanks.

Mouselemming ,

Abbreviate using the first and then any choice of following letter that differentiates it from the other possibilities in a specific group: AL, AR, AK, AZ… MA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT… WA, WI, WV, WY!

Wifimuffins ,

Well tbf those are post codes designed by the postal service to represent states. I wouldn’t really count it as a naturally developed abbreviation like the ones above, it’s no different from .fr, .es, .co.uk, etc.

The abbreviations for states used before the two-letter ones, however, are much weirder! E.g. Penna. for Pennsylvania

Mouselemming ,

Tbf iirc the USPS had to make sure they didn’t conflict with other previously existing abbreviations. Although as someone living in LA, CA* they didn’t quite succeed

(Not Louisiana, Canada but the other one)

TimewornTraveler ,

don’t forget x in medical settings. eg, dx is diagnose, tx is treatment, etc

Etterra ,

Except Dr., Mr., ie., etc. use a period.

squaresinger ,

Both versions exist: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_(title))

Trex202 ,

What about acronyms and initialization?

setsneedtofeed , to asklemmy in Which is the best cat breed to afford ?
@setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world avatar

You go to a shelter and pick one that wants your attention.

runner_g ,

That’s how I got my kitty! He climbed out of the kennel onto my shoulder and sat there like a parrot.

darq , to fediverse in Now that we're finally out of reddit, can we finally get different tag for NSFW and NSFL?
@darq@kbin.social avatar

I would have thought that such a feature would be completely uncontroversial. Really weird that some people seem resistant to it.

Blank ,

Some people get off on shocking others with dehumanizing gore etc. when they thought they were in for a dick pick at worst.

Chainweasel ,

Most of the resistance to it on Reddit was because NSFL content was technically not allowed on the site at all and adding a specific tag for NSFL material could be seen at legitimizing it. But they didn’t heavily moderate it either so I don’t see the point in refusing a tag for it if they’re not going to do anything about it themselves either.
What really blows my mind though is the subset of people that want a NSFW tag to mean Gore/Death and a separate PORN tag for titties and such. I mean, we already have established terms for those so why not stick with what everyone already knows them by?

GamingChairModel ,

I think the Supreme Court decided this issue in Bush v. Gore, and it’s been controversial ever since.

darq ,
@darq@kbin.social avatar

Eyyy

Blake , to asklemmy in What are some household chores people should do more often?

Hijacking your thread to advocate for my lazy ideology. Disclaimer I have pretty severe ADHD so this might be extreme for most people but for me this makes life liveable.

Forget trying to make things look super tidy and neat like in an IKEA commercial. Make your living space functional, comfortable and easy to maintain. Reduce the amount of physical, mental and emotional effort required to maintain your environment. For example, for laundry:

  1. Don’t iron anything unless you really need/want to. (Job interview, going on a date, appearing in court, etc.)
  2. Anywhere you’re liable to undress, have a basket for dirty clothes. It should be open-topped (no lid!) and mobile, like a laundry basket, so when you need to do a load of laundry, you can pick up and use the whole basket - functioning both as the hamper and the basket. Bedroom and bathroom are the usual places for this! You want the act of tossing dirty clothes in the laundry to be just as easy as tossing it on the floor.
  3. There’s no such thing as odd socks. They’re called mix ‘n’ match socks now. Like Mashems!
  4. No neatly folded clothes or hangers or anything like that, except for very special things such as in point 1 - everything just gets dumped into big drawers based on category. I have little fabric boxes that fit into a kallax to keep this relatively neat looking but super easy.
  5. If something can’t survive going in the washing machine mixed load cycle and the tumble dryer daily load, it is not welcome in my life. (There’s a similar rule about the dishwasher!)

You get the idea. Embrace your laziness, don’t bother yourself with half a second what people might think of how you live. This is surprisingly neat and orderly and takes almost no effort to maintain. If you keep finding your basket is misplaced, buy another basket and keep it in two places. Stop fighting the current and go with your flow. Accept who you are, even if you’re a lazy bitch like me!

funkajunk ,
@funkajunk@lemm.ee avatar

You are my brother for life.

Blake ,

Thank you, but beware, as your new brother for life has some crazy hot takes and likes to argue a lot on the internet even though he probably shouldn’t. Lots of sibling responsibility! Although I don’t know which of us is the big brother / little brother.

funkajunk ,
@funkajunk@lemm.ee avatar

If you are also an adult, I don’t think big/little brother matters any more. I’m also 6’1" & 220 lbs., so I haven’t been called “little” in a very long time.

Hit me with your craziest, hottest take - I can handle it!

Blake ,

I always wanted a big brother, though! I quickly checked your profile and saw you mentioned mid 30s, which makes you a little older than me, so I guess wish granted… although I am 6’4" and closer to 250lbs, so I guess we’re both big brothers-es. :P

Hit me with your craziest, hottest take - I can handle it!

It’s probably against the rules of this community and potentially against the law, so I’ll just say that I disagree with a value which Gandhi and Martin Luther King share, and that I agree with some, but not all, of Malcolm X’s beliefs.

lunchboxhero ,
@lunchboxhero@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

So, let me get this right, you don’t fold your clothes? Rather you just crumple them up and put them in the drawer?

I never thought of this as a viable solution but I am going to try it out! Folding laundry is my #1 chore left undone. I end up “living out of the basket” and nothing is ever done.

Blake ,

You’re absolutely right. I don’t fold shit. If I need to wear a proper shirt then I’ll iron it when I need it, but usually just wear T-Shirts & polo shirts, so it doesn’t matter.

Yep, just give yourself permission to live out of the basket and put the basket on a shelf. It’s tidier and you don’t feel as bad about it.

LinkOpensChest_wav ,
@LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I like you. My husband has ADHD and he does the same thing. I fold my own clothes because it’s relaxing for me, but no one should feel like they have to.

Blake ,

Thank you, and yes, absolutely, sometimes I go beyond this as well (for example, I’ll decide to pair up some socks) but it’s always an added extra bonus, not an expectation that I’m failing to meet. Psychology matters as much as anything!

klemptor ,

But don’t your clothes get all wrinkly that way? I’m a neat freak and I can’t imagine living like that lol

CrabLord ,
@CrabLord@beehaw.org avatar

In my experience, I don’t care about wrinkles. Usually nothing is too wrinkly unless it’s been buried for a while. Once I started putting the clothes in the drawers they were significantly less wrinkly.

Blake ,

No, I mostly just wear t shirts and polo shirts and it doesn’t get wrinkly at all. It appears very neat until you open the drawer, and I’m the only one who does that anyways.

xeddyx ,

There’s no such thing as odd socks. They’re called mix ‘n’ match socks now. Like Mashems!

Or just get black socks and don’t worry about mixing and matching.

Blake ,

You can do that too, but it’s less fun! I’m just very easily amused, of course, but there’s something joyful about wearing odd socks. Especially if they’re contradictory. Like, I wonder what people think of someone wearing one bright pink sock and one yellow sock. Or one sock that says “Star Wars” on it and another sock that has dinosaurs. I have some Star Wars Han Solo socks where Han Solo looks like John Travolta. That’s not relevant to this, but every time I see those socks, they make me laugh because he looks very funny.

TheActualDevil ,

Several years ago, when I was still going into the office, I made a similar decision. I tossed all my old socks and bought like, 12 pairs of argyle socks in a variety of brighter colors and deliberately wore different colors every day. They’re the same brand so they all wear the same, just sometimes bright green and orange(or whatever) on each foot. I got a few questions at first, though never negative. People thought they were being helpful letting me know my socks didn’t match, but when I told them it was intentional they thought it was a great idea. Now it’s expected for me to have mismatched socks and no one notices. Of course, being WFH now, I almost never wear socks anymore. But on the occasion someone notices these days, they don’t really care.

Sir_Kevin ,
@Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Every ten years or so I get rid of all my socks and boxers, then buy new ones. All the same brand and at most two types. I never have to worry about finding a pair that match each other or anything like that.

SelfHigh5 ,

I’m sorry Sir Kevin did you say ten years? How many do you have that they don’t wear out well before then? This is alarming and/or amazing. We do this too but it’s more like every year or maaaaaybe two if we are stretching it. I’m stuck on ten years, it’s wild, I’m sorry.

Sir_Kevin ,
@Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Like 30+ pairs. I don’t like doing laundry often so I buy in bulk. That has the side effect that no one pair is worn too much. Maybe it’s less than ten years, I’m not exactly counting or anything. When things start wearing out or looking funky I buy new.

Anonymousllama ,

Best thing I did was throw all my old socks away and just bought a dozen of the exact same socks. Never have to worry about sorting them or getting annoyed when one inevitably goes AWOL

bradorsomething ,

When Marino wool socks go on sale at Costco, buy 10 of the same pairs.

hardcoreufo ,

Preach. This is the biggest thing I try and get everyone to get on board with. More comfy than cotton, stink less and last way longer. I’ve been using the same 12 pairs for almost 10 years with no holes, though some are starting to look threadbare. Meanwhile my coworker goes through a 10 pack of cotton socks a year.

xeddyx ,

Also

  1. Don’t bother making your bed. I don’t know why my parents ever ingrained this habit in me, but one day I was like… why am I even doing this? and so I stopped. Of course, I still change my sheets and pillow cases regularly, but I don’t see a reason for making my bed every day.
lotanis ,

I do it, because it makes a massive difference to me how tidy my bedroom feels and how welcoming the bed looks at the end of the day. I just have a duvet though, so it’s 10 seconds of pulling on each corner until it’s reasonably even - not going for perfection!

Blake ,

I have a duvet too, I usually don’t make my bed but when I do it’s all about the trick shot - grab a corner of the duvet in each hand and whip it forward fast - like reins or something - and let it fall more or less perfectly on the bed with almost zero effort. Might take a bit of practise to get used to but this is what I’ve been doing for a long time!

xeddyx ,

Sorry, but I find that really hard to relate. How would that make any difference, practically? At the end of a day, a bed is always welcoming to me - I mean, I don’t need an excuse to hit the bed lol, in fact, I need an excuse to get out of bed. On some lazy weekends I may not even bother getting out of bed lol.

Yamayo ,

It seems that you are lazy on more than just weekends. Not everyone is like that and needs a “practical difference” to do things.

xeddyx ,

You’re not wrong that I’m lazy, but I also do things that actually need to be done. Like, I’m lazy about say, getting my haircut and will put it off, but I’m not lazy about say vacuuming the house, or waking up and getting ready for work - because those things need doing. I just don’t see the value in making the bed.

lotanis ,

It’s just psychologically nicer. It’s a bit like it being nicer to get on with work when my desk is tidy (not that I tidy it that often)

klemptor ,

For me, I hate getting into a bed where the sheets are all bunched up and the pillows are still smushed from the night before. Making my bed means I have straightened sheets and fluffed pillows waiting for me when I’m ready to turn in, which feels welcoming.

munderzi ,

I enjoy having a tidy bed, it makes me feel more relaxed. Also got drilled to it from my parents and in the military, it promotes discipline and you start your day by accomplishing a task (gives a positive mindset).

u202307011927 ,
@u202307011927@feddit.de avatar

When this asklemmy question pops up the next time again, asking What are your saved posts and comments here on lemmy, this one is the one I’m sharing then

grabyourmotherskeys , (edited )

Laundry: I use “laundry bags”, they cost about the same as hampers. I keep them in my bathroom and office (work from home) because I have to start work much earlier than my family so get dressed there in the morning. They are portable, don’t look that messy (just a black bag) and easy to tote around when full.

Edit - forgot to mention (of course) that a big bonus for having one of these in my office which is near our kitchen and living area is I throw all the socks people take off and hoodies, dish cloths, etc into it which keeps the dog from stealing them and keeps the main area tidier.

Rhynoplaz , to nostupidquestions in Why aren't advertisers (Microsoft, Facebook, Google) held responsible for allowing scammy adverts?

I’ve always hated advertising, but I hated it even more once I worked in advertising.

That being said, it’s unfair to advertisers. (ugh, I hate saying that, because it’s a slimy business, but this is the reality) Nobody has the time to thoroughly research EVERY business that wants to buy advertising. Also, there’s a fine line between scams and completely legal yet manipulative business.

Bill might be starting a legitimate small business and wants to advertise to get his first clients. There’s very little information available online and no reviews because he’s just starting out, but that could look like a fly by night scammer.

Joe owns a similar small business. He charges too much and he doesn’t do very good work. That’s not illegal, but people who use his services might feel like they got scammed.

Bob’s a piece of shit. He wants to take your money and give you nothing in return. He knows what an advertiser would look for to verify his legitimacy, and he makes a fake website full of fake reviews.

In this instance, the advertiser might refuse to sell to Bill, get sued for selling to Joe and spend money and time proving that he’s technically legit, and perhaps not even know that Bob’s a scammer until months after he’s taken the money and run.

ante ,
@ante@lemmy.world avatar

Uhhh maybe they should find the time to do that then? How is “we don’t have the time” a valid excuse? Either hire more staff to do so, or sell fewer ads.

GiantRobotTRex ,

Unfortunately that would disproportionately impact small local businesses far more than large corporations.

blazera ,
@blazera@kbin.social avatar

How?

captainlezbian ,

Because you know who General Electric is and it’s easy to verify they’re actually advertising with you and that they’re a legitimate company, Jim-Bob’s Auto Repair, not so much.

blazera ,
@blazera@kbin.social avatar

Oh yeah i see auto repair scam adverts all the time...?

Wait no, im seeing goddamn miracle cures for aging on youtube. Old guy literally saying itll make you 20 years old again.

AstralJaeger ,
@AstralJaeger@lemmy.world avatar

Woudl you like to buy Doctor Binsemanns Bevertail extract? It cures cancer, aids, std’s, headaches, stupid and much much more! Its even cheaper than insulin! Only $59.99 per 50ml

You mean like that? Been there, seen that, I know why I pay for kagi and YT Premium and have adblockers everywhere else.

scarabic ,

“Knowing who General Electric is” is not how verification is done. Small businesses can authorize a credit card, provide an official ID, submit their LLC info… these aren’t rocket science and scammers won’t do any of them. Do you know how many fields operate with licensing in place? Do you think inly GE-sized companies do plumbing, for example?

gravitas_deficiency ,

That’s… not how due diligence works.

ProvokedGamer ,
@ProvokedGamer@lemmy.ca avatar

Spending more money on more staff for checking the validity of advertisements can affect small businesses more because they have less money.

blazera ,
@blazera@kbin.social avatar

You got turned around somewhere, we're talking about small businesses advertising through major platforms like google. Theres no "small business" online advertising platforms

ProvokedGamer ,
@ProvokedGamer@lemmy.ca avatar

Ahh ok. I guess I kinda got lost in the thread somewhere. Thanks for letting me know. Ignore my previous comment.

jbrains ,

Businesses exist to make profit, not to take care of you. Corporations will only care about your welfare to the extent that that creates profit for them or the laws require them to.

giffybiss ,

And then they complain when we tell them that we want to overthrow capitalism.

It’s giving „you have to accept being harmed because otherwise my business can’t turn a profit“

Fuk yo business then, don give a shit about it.

blazera ,
@blazera@kbin.social avatar

or the laws require them to.

I believe thats whats being suggested

jbrains ,

Yes, I know. I also agree.

The comment I replied to, however, was not that. It asked why the corporations’ reason is valid. It’s valid because that’s what the economic system is designed to promote.

Z3k3 ,

While also complaining its not fair when we protect ourselves from the business they won’t protect us from e.g. ad blockers.

Google going so far to invent “Web drm” to ensure we have no choice but allow them to serve us malicious ads that the won’t filer themselves

Rhynoplaz ,

It’s not just time and resources, they too are being lied to. If the scam is good enough that people will fall for it, some advertisers will as well.

Right now there are no regulations, so many don’t care at all. That sucks, but the scammers are the problem here. They are the ones trying to rip you off. The ad companies might not care if you get screwed or not, but it’s unrealistic for us to expect them to know EXACTLY what every client’s intentions are. A business could run legitimately for years and then start running a scam. How long would we give the advertisers to realize that the client has started scamming people? Do they get in trouble because they ran ads for someone who would LATER start scamming people?

I’m all for discussing other ways to control advertising, but shooting the messenger isn’t it.

ante ,
@ante@lemmy.world avatar

I haven’t and likely can’t think of a good solution to handling the scenarios you’re talking about. They are good questions that someone smarter than me should address. However, to use those scenarios to completely admonish advertising platforms for blatantly obvious scams is asinine. “Well, what if a legitimate business starts scamming people?” should have little relevancy to the question of “Should we accept this ad from a user advertising that they’re going to double your money if you give them access to your financial accounts?”

I’m not saying it’s simple or quick to solve, but there is very obvious low-hanging fruit that could be dealt with but is somehow not because these platforms aren’t held accountable whatsoever. It has to start somewhere.

Rhynoplaz ,

I agree completely. I just wanted to point out some of the difficulties in doing what was posted.

sadreality ,

Well, it hurts the holy profit... also, you sound like a fucking communist!

AdverseAffects ,

Did you take the seconds to read the comment you’re replying to?

ante ,
@ante@lemmy.world avatar

What the fuck are you talking about?

dQw4w9WgXcQ ,

Absolutely. There is an exchange of money involved in the advertising services, so it would be natural to expect a small fee for sanity-checking the advertisement. Facebook are mostly able to check for nudity, porn or gore in the advertisement, so with some additional inspection, it should be possible to weed out a lot of scams.

ICastFist OP ,
@ICastFist@programming.dev avatar

Makes sense when you’re dealing with actual services or products, but I’ve yet to see a single “earn 200 per hour” ad that isn’t a scam or “legal” pyramid, those should be easy enough to block and ban, no?

Rhynoplaz ,

Who decides which legal businesses are allowed to run ads?

I completely agree that MLMs are a “scam” but they are legitimate businesses in the eyes of the law. You suggested we ban them, so what defines who is allowed to advertise and who isn’t? I’m not comfortable with leaving it as “anything somebody in charge doesn’t like”.

ICastFist OP ,
@ICastFist@programming.dev avatar

Some extra regulation on advertising might at least help somewhat, “Any adverts promising financial gains must clearly demonstrate how said gain is to be achieved”

Rhynoplaz ,

Yes. That would be a great start.

skulblaka ,
@skulblaka@kbin.social avatar

I completely agree that MLMs are a “scam” but they are legitimate businesses in the eyes of the law.

Then they shouldn't be. Problem solved, next question?

BolexForSoup , (edited )
@BolexForSoup@kbin.social avatar

I really try to caution people from accepting these "it's too much to hold us accountable for" answers. If it's too much, then cut back. Simple as that. If I am a real estate mogul and my building collapses like in Miami, do you think the local/state/federal agencies involved will shrug it off when I go "Now now now, I have far too many properties. I can't possibly be expected to be in compliance all the time. A collapse and some deaths once in a while is inevitable"? Of course not, that would be ridiculous. Yet when youtube goes "we simply have too many uploads to screen it all," we do just that!

Same goes here. If you're juggling too many advertisers, why is that our problem? Hire more people, scale back, or figure out some third option. Instead we all just internalized this concept that "there's nothing that can be done."

gravitas_deficiency ,

Yeah. This is why we have things called regulations.

When seatbelts and crumple zones and airbags and crash safety ratings became a thing, car manufacturers didn’t want to add any of that crap in, because, you know, it would cut into their profit margins. And then the government said “do it or you’re not allowed to sell cars”. And then all the manufacturers did it.

Something similar can theoretically be done for advertising. But it probably won’t, because regulatory capture has been normalized.

Treczoks , (edited )

Nobody has the time to thoroughly research EVERY business that wants to buy advertising.

Wrong. Nobody wants to spend the money to do that, because they know they will not be held responsible for aiding and abetting fraud.

Change the responsibility factor, and the money will be there.

Rhynoplaz ,

Or, instead of finding that money, they find another way to avoid spending it.

It wouldn’t be long before you only see advertising from large corporations. Love them or hate them, we all know that Walmart is a legit business. A potential, morally superior competitor, that we’ve never heard of may not even get the chance to advertise. The newspaper or TV station doesn’t want to risk getting sued for a scam, so they just refuse service. Walmart keeps playing ads, and nobody ever hears about the store that we never knew we wanted.

JokeDeity ,

In the one hand though, if only the big corporations can afford ads, blocking them becomes even easier.

scarabic ,

Nobody has the time

This is a dumb excuse for a profitable business. If you’re making money on it you should be able to subsidize controls. If you can’t operate a business safely and still make a profit, you shouldn’t be in business. It’s that simple.

GreenMario ,

nobody has time

Maybe be a good JOB CREATOR and create some motherfucking jobs to handle it. Oh no our bottom line… 😭

psud , (edited )

It’d be a terrible shame if advertising became more expensive (because they needed to employ content checkers), and companies could no longer afford to advertise as much

Neve8028 ,

As much as I don’t love advertising, it’s mainly just the big corporations that wouldn’t care about a bit of a price lift. Small businesses will be hit disproportionately.

Lettuceeatlettuce , to asklemmy in what is the correct term for an intentional "Freudian slip"
@Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml avatar

Wouldn’t that just be an innuendo?

Ocelot ,

An Incinuendo?

Taco2112 , (edited )

In your endo.

-The Todd

ptz ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

Pretty sure that’s the first Scrubs reference I’ve seen on Lemmy. Well done.

BartsBigBugBag ,

My Nintendo.

Fried_out_Kombi , to memes in Genzedong get mad when people don't like the CCP
@Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world avatar

One of my roommates in undergrad was from China, and whenever he went back to China to visit his family, we literally couldn’t contact him because all the messaging apps/services we use are blocked in China.

Another family friend of mine lived and taught in Macau as a professor for a while, and he explained how he had to get a VPN just to access the regular internet.

Any government that locks down access like that is not one worthy of admiration. It’s insane that people defend the CCP.

520 ,

It’s insane that people defend the CCP.

You have to understand that there are a lot of people that genuinely like the CCP because under them, there are a lot of people that went from the likes of farmers and factory workers to a serious middle class, with all the improvements to the quality of life that entails. You'd be surprised what people are willing to forgive in exchange for this.

The CCP monitoring program also extends far beyond the country borders as well, and while they would not dare do an extraordinary rendition for pissing off the CCP, many expats still have family within Chinese borders that are completely fair game for the CCP to do as they please with. So many expats won't risk it. The CCP are already known for fucking with families just because some of its members have expatriated. And they don't have a limit to how far they'll go. Concentration camps are nothing new there.

Redhotkurt ,
@Redhotkurt@kbin.social avatar

It’s insane that people defend the CCP.

They're already here, in this thread. Guess what instance they're from.

Gormadt ,
@Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Judging by how empty I see this comment section I’m going to guess Hexbear.

I’m so happy we’re no longer federated with them.

Whisp ,

deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • Gormadt ,
    @Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    I’m over on lemmy.blahaj.zone

    It’s a really nice queer friendly space, also home to the apartment of awesome 196

    WtfEvenIsExistence ,

    Its quite insane actually. I was the second child my mother gave birth to during the one child policy. They would’ve tried to force her to get an abortion if they knew. But she hid the pregnancy until she gave birth to me. They couldn’t justify killing a child that has already been born, so I lived, but they still made my parents pay tens of thousands of RMB (¥) to get legal documents like birth certificates.

    My mother still have pro-ccp views. Like wtf. But everytime she start spewing shit like that, I’ll just tell her “If you support the communist party, do you agree that I shouldn’t have been born?” That usually shut her up.

    Also, this community has one of those “Marxist-Leninist” as a moderator so I’ll make an archive of this.

    mexicancartel ,

    I’m confused. Why the heck marxism = China? Isnt that a different ideology?

    SeaJ ,

    Tankies are under the delusion that China is communist.

    LarkinDePark ,

    Nobody thinks China is communist. You haven’t a breeze what you’re talking about. Stop commenting.

    AdlachGyfiawn ,
    @AdlachGyfiawn@lemmygrad.ml avatar

    It’s very first-world of you that access to garbage like Reddit or Twitter is apparently more important than the single greatest reduction of poverty in human history—and even more typical that you are either ignorant of or deliberately ignoring the hundred years of precedent that says China is utterly correct in believing the West would abuse the lowering of the Great Firewall to try and foment reactionary revolt.

    aport ,

    deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • LarkinDePark ,

    They’re pointing out how weird the focus on internet access is. It’s a child’s view of the world.

    LarkinDePark ,

    It’s a far cry from running the world’s largest network of slave camps like the US does. But you go off about internet access.

    PrettyBlackDress , to asklemmy in What job do people take way too seriously?
    @PrettyBlackDress@lemdit.com avatar

    Being a general manager at any retail outlet

    regalia ,

    it’s actually a blue collar job where they do quite a bit of physical labor, at least the good ones. I have more respect for that then a lot of white collar jobs.

    Blake ,

    You probably shouldn’t decide how much to respect someone for what job they do. Unless they do like a really sketchy or immoral “job”, like a hitman or a scammer or something.

    essellburns ,

    I think the only reason to respect someone is for what they do.

    What better measure is there, even if job is only part of that? better to form my opinion of people for what they do rather than the traditional historical measures.

    Blake ,

    A persons actions are important, but so are personality and motivations. A job isn’t “what someone does because that’s who they are as a person”, it’s the thing that they do because they need to pay their bills. It’s one thing that you know for sure that they have ulterior motives for - money.

    I respect people for how they act towards me and others. Are they generous, or selfish? Do they admit when they’re wrong, or do they double down on it? When they have power over others, are they cruel, or are they kind?

    This is way more important than what job someone has. Often, what job someone has only gives you a guesstimate as to how wealthy their parents were, and little beyond that.

    barrage4u ,

    Disagree, I think that the way someone decides to spend their time says a lot about them. Sometimes you just need to work for money, I get that, but often times people just do whatever they fell into because they’re too lazy to chase their dreams or do something actually beneficial for society

    tehmics ,

    Dogshit take tbh

    barrage4u ,

    Clearly touched a nerve

    Viking_Hippie ,

    Yes, gaslighting idiocy tends to touch a nerve when people are trying to have a good faith discussion 🤷

    barrage4u ,

    I think I’m being pretty reasonable. If anything, I stated my opinion and I’m being attacked for it. I’m not trying to play victim, but all the feedback I’ve gotten from this comment is hostile

    Viking_Hippie ,

    I think I’m being pretty reasonable

    Really? You think THIS is being reasonable?

    because they’re too lazy to chase their dreams or do something actually beneficial for society

    let me clue you in: it isn’t. It’s judgmental and makes unfair victim-blaming assumptions. It’s no wonder that people react with hostility to such a presumptuous and scornful take on people just doing their best to get by.

    barrage4u ,

    I clearly state that sometimes people gotta work just to get by and I respect that. But for many of us, especially here on lemmy who tend to be older, this isn’t the case. I get that it’s a touchy subject, no-one wants to be told they are lazy or that they’re living their life wrong, but I believe that there’s some truth to it. I don’t know what the sollution is, but I think admitting to it a society is the first step.

    theshatterstone54 ,

    Because they need money to survive, and their parents can’t help them financially sp they cant get a degree in whatever field, even though every position in the field requires it?

    barrage4u ,

    I mention that sometimes this is the case and there’s nothing wrong with that. But you don’t necessarily need a degree to do meaningful work or to chase your dreams, just effort.

    FullOfBallooons ,
    @FullOfBallooons@leminal.space avatar

    Oh god 100%.

    This isn’t a matter of life or death, Nicole. This is a Disney Store in a mid-tier mall.

    PrettyBlackDress ,
    @PrettyBlackDress@lemdit.com avatar

    🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

    jtk ,
    @jtk@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    Assistant General Managers are even more serious so the sales people pick on them all the time.

    DJDarren ,

    Assistant to the General Manager.

    Viking_Hippie ,

    Don’t you mean assistants TO the general manager? 😉

    tempest , to asklemmy in When restaurants shut down, why isn't it more common for them to publish their recipes?

    Half the time it would just be a Sysco product list.

    Potatos_are_not_friends ,

    Biggest surprise in when I worked in restaurants in college was how all three “fancy restaurants” ordered the same type of soups from Sysco. Chefs did spice it up differently.

    bjorney ,

    Or the units of measurement would be “half of big pot”

    clearedtoland , to showerthoughts in Big Tech companies are finally getting the names we thought dystopian megacorps would have

    I’m just waiting for Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to open in Detroit.

    Actaeon ,

    Or Allied Commercial-Media Enterprises

    clearedtoland ,

    Or E-Corp

    Xariphon ,

    Or Wayland-Yutani

    intensely_human ,

    DaVinci Crater

    drbluefall ,

    Union Aerospace Corporation

    steakmeout ,

    *Areospacy

    ObviouslyNotBanana ,
    @ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

    Exxon Mobile

    ObviouslyNotBanana ,
    @ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

    Omni is actually a Swedish news aggregator. They just need to expand and change a bit.

    KIM_JONG_JUICEBOX ,
    @KIM_JONG_JUICEBOX@lemmy.ml avatar

    Corporate Consumer Products already makes everything in China… hmm

    Schneemensch , to asklemmy in Five years ago (20.08.2018) Greta Thunberg demonstrated the first time for more climate protection. What has she achieved so far?

    Speaking from a German perspective I feel like the Fridays for future movement has significantly affected (parts of) her generation. I have many colleagues whose kids are focusing on a diet with less environmental impact and also asking their parents to change.

    It is impressive that it has been such a long running and wide spreading movement and I am sure that there will be many politicians, activists and entrepreneurs coming out of this movement in the future.

    It is hard to expect anything more from a child who has been belittled constantly. I wish I would be standing up for my believes as strongly as she does.

    PowerCrazy ,

    If your parents were multimillionaires and hired publicists and boat crews and built a brand around those beliefs, I’m sure you would have too.

    circularkaratechop ,

    A lot of rich kids just become spoiled and rich. What Greta did was special.

    StunningGoggles ,

    Both can be true.

    Jumi ,

    Yeah, I would have but I’m not rich or have the time so I couldn’t. Good thing she’s doing it.

    PowerCrazy ,

    Meanwhile I’m not rich, but I haven’t commuted by car in almost 15 years. I also haven’t flown a sailing crew to New York to sail a boat built by a Rothschild back across the Atlantic ocean after I finished my instagram post. So I’d say I’ve done less damage to the environment then she has.

    Jumi ,

    But tell me what movement did you help to gain traction? Or who listens to what you have to say?

    PowerCrazy ,

    Ah good point. I should have been born to millionaire parents who hired a publicist for me that would tell everyone I was going to take a gap year when I was 16 and fly around the world going to climate conferences. You win this one, congrats.

    Jumi ,

    So everything someone says because they’re wealthier than you is invalid or what? Just stfu.

    pepperonisalami ,

    IMO her argument is that we need to rework the system, providing more people with better access to public transport so everyone can reduce their damage without needing to sacrifice their day to day function, so it’s really irrelevant whether our damage is more or less in comparison to hers.

    JGrffn ,

    Hey, wonderful! This guy over here has done less gamage to the environment than a child climate activist with money! He has single handedly averted the climate apocalypse in doing so!

    See, it isn’t a fucking competition about who’s fucking the world less, it’s about all of us not fucking the world up to extinction. We don’t get there by being good little green boys while nothing is done about the affluent, the powerful, and the conglomerates. And guess what, nobody is doing anything about them, and I’m not about to get angry at a child for desperately calling that out even if she can’t do anything else about it.

    PowerCrazy ,

    The affluent, powerful and conglomerates all support her, yet there has been negative action on climate change, I wonder why that is?

    roq ,

    @PowerCrazy @Jumi if she and her family have the money to enact change, good for them, and from my perspective and the other commenter's, she has done quite an impact. I don't understand why your comments attempt to bring a young and brave speaker of the cause down. Nobody's perfect, and this particular issue is so difficult that we should focus on collective action rather than trying to nitpick.

    PowerCrazy ,

    Agreed. Collective action is the only solution but becoming a figurehead so that you can fly around the world going to climate conferences and taking selfies is unhelpful.

    Odiousmachine ,

    So you’re just envious that nobody is applauding for you?

    PowerCrazy ,

    Yep. People that criticize charlatans are just jealous, you figured it out.

    Schneemensch ,

    I think if my parents were multimillionaires I would be even more busy enjoying my life than fighting a fight with uneven odds.

    Of course coming from a stable background makes it easier to be an activist, but it is still far from easy to devote your life to one cause.

    intensely_human ,

    Thunberg’s style is her best asset. She keeps making a simple point, without trying to complexify it. When people try to complexify it, she brings them back to the simple point:

    • this is a major problem
    • it will lead to death and destruction if not addressed
    • we have a tendency to ignore it that needs to be counteracted

    She uses the simplest possible language and stays on point. Which for some odd reason nobody else seems to be capable of.

    Some will say she’s just a “cheerleader” but that’s kind of what we need if we’re going to address this. Political will is the constraining factor in our climate change response.

    theneverfox , to nostupidquestions in Why is my Lemmy experience feeling so lame? **UPDATE**
    @theneverfox@pawb.social avatar

    You’re doing Lemmy wrong, and it’s not your fault. People keep saying “instance doesn’t matter” - sure, you can interact with anything all over the main lemmyverse, but the best experience is to find a home server with a community that feels right. Subscriptions and the sorting will get there, but right now ALL (or maybe even local) is a way better experience

    Here’s the servers I checked out:

    Lemmy.world

    What I signed up on. The most people, the most content, civil community. Moderation is there, but you mostly feel it by the sense of civility. They keep getting targeted and they’re experiencing a lot of hiccups, but they’re the biggest source of content right now. Feels to me at this point

    (Sh.itjust.works)[sh.itjust.works/signup] About as close as you can get to freedom of speech while keeping out the aggressive bigots. I think one of their rules is along the lines of you can drop n-bombs or argue for whatever you want, but not use slurs against actual people. That says a lot… But they’re great for shitposts and are experimenting with democracy at !agora

    (Beehaw.org)[beehaw.org/signup] I’d describe it as a safe space. Heavy moderation and curation of content. Those kinds of places feel uncomfortable and tense to me so I find it hard to give it a fair review. Not my thing, but they claim to be closest to Reddit… I’d give lemmy.world that title, but it was a big site and I was constantly searching out the medium sized subs.

    (Lemmy.nsfw)[Lemmynsfw.com/signup] A stable server that will show you plenty of sfw content, and the community is welcoming. And of course, there’s the obvious…

    (Blahaj.zone)[lemmy.blahaj.zone/signup] The flip side of why I go to sh.itjust.works, lots of queer shitposts. I like the memes, I like the people, not so sure about the admin… She’s been stirring up a lot of drama the last few days. Maybe there’s more to it, I’ve mostly just seen her posts that look a bit power-trippy from a distance. I’ve also been waiting for that to happen to see how we as a community handle it, so

    (pawbs.social)[pawbs.social/signup] This is my main home server now. A while back I came to realize furries are always big early adopters of every new tech, they’re super welcoming, and they don’t care if you’re not a furry so long as you don’t care that they are. I like the art anyways so it doesn’t bother me. A lot of tech stuff too. They are most definitely furries though, and you’ll see OwOs and all that comes with that. They’re very chill, until someone isn’t, so if you can’t handle that you’re going to have a bad time

    (Lemmy.ml)[Lemmy.ml/signup] The original devs instance. They’re going through some stuff with their domain and definitely anticapitalist, but after digging for evidence and talking to them they’re far from extremists, but the constant stream of people heading over to there to pick a fight, the site was on edge when I went there a few weeks ago. A good place if you’re into good faith debate on economic and governmental systems

    lemmygrad.ml was a more extreme version (literally someone came in to start a fight in every thread i saw) they’re understandably pretty wary. Their ideas are out there, but they’re definitely not pro genocide and don’t worship Stalin (at least as a whole).

    Lemmy.ml I wouldn’t pick until they get their domain issue shaken out, but I included them because after an afternoon trying to get to the bottom of it (the only proof of anything I found was a mastodon post about someone very vague about what was said and ending with “unfortunately the conversation was deleted”), so it seems to me they’ve been getting misrepresented. I’m very open to more concrete details though

    (Dbzer0.com)[lemmy.dbzer0.com/signup] They sail the high seas. Less content, but what was there was pretty interesting if you’re into tech, security, or digital rights

    Those are the sites I remember off the top of my head after exploring around, there’s >2k instances (although about 100 were populated by users when I went through the data dump a few weeks back)

    If you’re on Android, I’m doing bug fixes before launching my app very soon, and iPhone build is coming once I can get one to test on. I pushed back the launch to pack on features, I’ve got keyword filtering, you can explore servers without changing accounts, it saves your place, hides read posts, it offers URL replacement (I accidentally went to Twitter for possibly the last time today and YouTube yesterday, the logo change was worth it but nitter is less jarring).

    You can interact with Lemmy links, collapse comments, post with a control bar that doesn’t float around, save drafts, and it’s all in a dark material-design style (but with way less cards). There’s still a lot to be done, but after bug fixes and optimization v2 will be focused around combing feeds and accounts to get just the right mix. Eventually I’ve got eyes on pixelfed and maybe even things like friendica - the beauty of the fediverse is how amazing a foundation it is to build on

    For today, there’s still occasional bugs and jank, but at this point I can say it’s pretty stable when the servers cooperate. I’ll be covering for more and more of it through the client as time goes on, but for the last 2 weeks I’ve been using it exclusively. My friend convinced me I need to wrap it up and put it out there and get feedback, so

    Check out !flemmy if you’re interested, I just posted some screenshots (it will get prettier, but hopefully it’s good enough to not be distracting)

    Tedesche ,

    Thank you for posting this! I realize it’s just your assessments of these instances, but I’ve been interested to see summaries of what other instances are like, since I’m not completely satisfied with Lemmy.world. Having read your descriptions though, I think I’ll stick with it a while longer.

    Blaze ,

    Alternatively, lemm.ee, sopuli.xyz or reddthat.com could be interesting alternatives, pretty generalist too

    yoz ,

    Thanks. I needed this

    miles ,

    Great instance review, thank you! FYI your markdown links are broken, switch the brackets, links are [like] (this) not (like)[this]

    HankScorpio ,

    deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • ashe ,
    @ashe@lemmy.starless.one avatar

    Lemmy but twitter instead of reddit.

    Tsunami45chan ,
    @Tsunami45chan@lemmy.world avatar

    👍

    CheshireSnake ,
    @CheshireSnake@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

    In my instance, we use Arch.

    Jk. We’re pretty chill although we’re too small to be anywhere popular. We like memes but not really overrun with it. The admin and the owner are nice and relaxed. Not much content since we’re just a small group, but some members are pretty active in their communities.

    pinchcramp ,
    @pinchcramp@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    Thank you for taking the time and writing out such a detailed response 🙏

    RagnarokOnline ,

    Saved this even if only you have a good description of the major instances.

    Thanks for this!

    Shardikprime ,

    Commenting for dot

    clueless_stoner , to nostupidquestions in What are tankies? What does sea-lioning mean?
    @clueless_stoner@lemmy.world avatar

    “Sealioning” here refers to a way of trolling by asking ill-intended questions, usually disguising it in innocence. When other members try to explain and help, they’d try to lure them into hours of discussion upon it, usually by knowingly misinterpreting what they heard.

    Or worse, just directly disrespect and reject all the suggestions the commenters provided. The essence is being a waste of time for everyone.

    Bingohas ,

    I like to call it JAQing off

    Azjax ,

    WhAt, I’m jUsT aSkIng QuEsTiOnS.

    Hate that.

    gravitas_deficiency ,

    confused Tucker face

    blackbelt352 ,

    Sealioning is a sort of evolution of JAQing off. It’s the JAQ coupled with feigned innocence and indignance when people actually stop putting up with BS.

    Actually after thinking a bit deeper about it, it mirrors Socratic Questioning, but with the opposite intended end goal of muddying the waters instead of gaining clarity.

    DarraignTheSane ,
    @DarraignTheSane@lemmy.world avatar

    Related - JAQing off

    abc ,

    Is this the same as “concern trolling”?

    dustyData ,

    It’s related but it differs on the form. Concern trolling is derailing online discussions and debates by simulating concern over a seemingly valid counterpoint, making all participants waste time and effort arguing a previously settled matter, or pretending to just be playing devil’s advocate. Acting as if, although you support the cause or discussion at hand, you somehow still have some valid concerns to oppose.

    givesomefucks ,

    Concern trolling is acting like you’re concerned about the consequences of something.

    Like,

    If we let people wear masks during COVID, we’ll see more bank robberies because masks are normalized!

    Sea Lioning would be if I just kept asking you questions about why masks help, often while asking you to link sources. I don’t actually want to see any sources tho. I’m just going to keep asking new questions and for more sources until you get tired and stop replying.

    Because the more time you waste on me, they less you help people who are genuinely asking for it. Plus when you stop replying, I can claim that as a victory because that must mean there aren’t any sources that agree with you.

    Snassek ,

    I have seen these types of scenarios before, just didn’t realize they had names.

    TIL

    clueless_stoner ,
    @clueless_stoner@lemmy.world avatar

    I don’t think so. As far as I’m aware, concern trolling is an act to lower morale and place distrust among the opposing side. A person who’s on side B pretends to be on side A.

    Let’s say you’re an admin on this site, and you have made a post asking for server donations.

    Then just when all was going well, another member comes to the comments, who seems to support you and praise you really well at first. The rest of their comment is then telling everyone that they “appreciate your work”, but “you can’t handle it”, because this or that. Causing some of your genuine members to question you with their “concerns”

    I’m on your side, so you should take my bullshit concerns seriously!

    blackbelt352 ,

    Concern trolling is “raising concerns” about certain issues that have little to no basis in reality and only serves to inject bigotry and bad ideas. For example, people were concerned about “the gays™” spreading their immoral gay AIDS virus all over innocent children during the 80s and into the 90s, only to learn that AIDS is spread through contact with broken mucosa membranes, which then shifted to “the gays™ are pedos” argument.

    The “concerns” are nearly always disingenuous.

    givesomefucks ,

    I dont mind most sea mammals…

    But sea lions?

    I could do without sea lions

    wondermark.com/c/1k62/

    That’s what coined the term

    Aviandelight ,

    Thank you for this I had no idea what was going on.

    TheBananaKing ,

    But y’know, if someone walks up and makes disparaging racist remarks about how they don’t like your kind, following them round and demanding they explain themselves out loud is about the most appropriate response that exists.

    givesomefucks ,

    I mean, yeah, if they’re racist.

    But just because the comic picked a sea lion doesn’t mean it’s about race… It’s just an easy way to identify a group of things.

    It could be “people who kiss their grown children on the mouth” or “people who smoke crack 5 times a day”.

    It’s any group of people.

    aaron_griffin ,
    @aaron_griffin@lemmy.world avatar

    I usually think of sealioning as also requiring some element of butting in with your pet issue when it’s not apart of the discussion.

    OH YEAH WELL WHAT ABOUT UKRAINE?!

    brandon ,
    @brandon@lemmy.ml avatar

    I usually file that under “whataboutism”

    meco03211 ,

    Biden’s gas prices are so high. Worst president ever.

    gas prices go down

    mention that Biden should be congratulated for lowering prices if he was the cause for them going up

    Yeah well… he’s still the worst for all these other reasons!

    Blamemeta ,

    Worst bit is sealioning is almost indistugishable from legitimate questions a lot of time.

    merde ,

    what do you mean by legitimate questions?

    clueless_stoner ,
    @clueless_stoner@lemmy.world avatar

    when the person asking is actually curious about finding out the answer

    merde ,

    how do you know if they’re actually curious or just seaLioning?

    clueless_stoner ,
    @clueless_stoner@lemmy.world avatar

    That would depend a lot on the context. What catches a moderator’s attention on an issue like this wouldn’t be seeing the individual post, rather seeing the reports about it. A mod usually acts on the consensus of the community and tries to determine if the members are correct in reporting things. They may be correct or wrong, but most of the time it’ll be correct. And we’d of course step back and apologize if we thought we were wrong.

    moobythegoldensock ,

    Sealioning = curiosity + harassment

    dhork ,

    Everyone points to the comic in regards to sealioning, but I have always equated it to posters who are incapable of having an actual debate and keep saying “Why? Why? Why? Why?” until they get tired and fall asleep under the pier (but then their friend wakes up and takes over).

    RagingNerdoholic ,

    But why, specifically, is the term “Sealioning”? Is it referencing some behavior exhibited by sealions? Is it an aggregate of or wordplay on other slang?

    MrZee ,

    See this comment: lemmy.world/comment/1261631

    It’s from a wondermark comic

    KurtDunniehue , (edited )
    @KurtDunniehue@ttrpg.network avatar

    I’ve seen Sealioning used quite a bit in a particular Lemmy instance that would self describe themselves as Pro-Russia & Pro-China, as a way of shutting down discourse between people who disagree with them. There are people who disagree with a particular narrative, and they’re discounted immediately for wanting to know how someone would arrive at a pro-Russian & pro-China position.

    Also they’ll just “whatabout!” and change the subject whenever unassailable critiques of these regimes come up. As if its is only possible to hold outrage in a single direction at a time.

    I’ll have you know I’m capable of disliking EVERYONE mentioned in a given conversation.

    criitz , to science_memes in Ladt book that made you cry.

    Actually Bulk Stress was moved to chapter 12 for no other reason than to make students buy a new edition.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • random
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines