The Ghost of ÉmilieAh, TROM is:
"Trade-Free Directory: The ones who offer, should not ask anything in return. The ones who receive, should not have to give anything in return."
@frankie @futureisfoss
Rokosun@thebiologist1117
The link on your previous post gives me an error, but I believe you're referring to this account - @[email protected]
BTW, the main account of TROM is actually @[email protected] and it has a different bio 
@frankie
@futureisfoss
Yes, I was. The other account is what got suggested to me. The main account's bio is much better:
"TROM is a project that aims to showcase in detail the root cause of most of today’s problems and proposes realistic solutions to solve those problems. But it is also about challenging people’s values, explaining in simple language how the world works, and providing free and good quality educational materials/tools for everyone."
Yes, I was. The other account is what got suggested to me. The main account's bio is much better:
"TROM is a project that aims to showcase in detail the root cause of most of today’s problems and proposes realistic solutions to solve those problems. But it is also about challenging people’s values, explaining in simple language how the world works, and providing free and good quality educational materials/tools for everyone."
@futureisfoss Because it says it's a "project" which clarifies what kind of account it is.
@futureisfoss So your account... is a personal account, and I think your current bio does tell people that.
@futureisfoss I think that's the main purpose of the bio, and yours does that. The other purpose is just to have something there at all, which makes your account look real.
@futureisfoss So a simple bio would look like this: "This is the personal account of Émilie Fecteau." However, obviously, that bio sounds "forced." It doesn't have any personality to it, and that's one of the challenges of making bios—to give it personality.
@futureisfoss Also, I notice that sometimes people's bios make me uncomfortable because they're *so* personal... So it's good to keep in mind how personal your bio is.
@futureisfoss That's something that's unique about fedi... On here, there are both personal and non-personal accounts where the expectations are different.
@futureisfoss For example, I wouldn't expect @ Mojeek to always reply to me (even though they are very good about replying to people) because it's a business account. Other accounts, like @ aral's, exist somewhere in between. They make professional posts about the projects they're working on (not personal) and they also reply to people normally.
@futureisfoss My account os a personal account, which isn't professional at all. It's informal.
@futureisfoss So the expectations are different. I wouldn't expect @ Mojeek to follow me back, either.
@futureisfoss With other personal accounts, it's a lot different. In reality, all a "follow" means is that someone saw your account, and they decided to add your posts to their feed for whatever reason (and add your account to their list of people they follow). It doesn't mean anything more than that.
@futureisfoss At the same time, socially, it does mean more than that. If I follow you, it means "I saw you and and I acknowledge you as a person, and I'm including you in my space so I might be able to interact with you."
@futureisfoss It entails a bit of "maybe we can have a chat or something."
@futureisfoss I wouldn't expect that from a business professional account, but I would expect that from another personal account... so if I'm acknowledging you and all that other stuff, I would ideally want you to do the same for me.
@futureisfoss And that's why I'm generous with the follows... I want to acknowledge other people if they're trying to do it with me.
@futureisfoss I also want to point out the differences between fedi ans RSS and "non-interactive" blogs...
@futureisfoss If you've used RSS, you'll know it's a lot different to following someone on fedi, even though functionally they do pretty much the same thing.
@futureisfoss If you subscribe to someone on RSS, they have no idea you're doing it and there is no social contract there.
@futureisfoss They're not expected to subscribe to your RSS feed because you subscribed to theirs.
@futureisfoss So fedi is more personal in that way because it tells you when someone follows you (instead of being silent and anonymous like it is with RSS).
@futureisfoss Like I was saying, though the expectations are not the same for non-personal accounts.
@futureisfoss Blogs, like my website I sent you, are also not personal. If someone reads it, it's silent and anonymous. There is no pressure for them to leave a like on my blog or "reply" to it.
@futureisfoss And that is the reality... That's the basics of it, you know? fedi is an evolution of that, and it adds that personal "chatty" and "interactive" aspect that RSS and weblogs don't have.
@futureisfoss *I mean that, in reality, we should probably treat fedi like blogs and RSS. None of it is personal, and we don't have as many expectations. Again, like I said, that's not how it is because of how fedi is made and the "social" understanding of how all this works.
@futureisfoss This thing that I've been talking about... this is also the reason you sometimes see people posting things like "F* everyone on here, everyone is ignoring me." You know those posts? It's because of the social interactive aspect that fedi adds.
@futureisfoss Did Frankie go to sleep? I bet he did.
@frankie Oops, I forgot to tag him.
@futureisfoss See, that's one of the benefits of fedi... I can post something now, and he'll see it in the morning. The fedi giveth, and the fedi taketh away.
@futureisfoss Oh, and another difference between fedi and RSS and blogs is that fedi is "live." I'm talking to you now—in real time—the same way instant messaging works. On RSS and blogs, that's more "I post something and then you might read it a week later."
@futureisfoss And that *can be* how fedi works, and that is how fedi works for some people... It's just that because you can "instant message" people on fedi, that means more people do it.
@futureisfoss And it's sort of expected... Like on Mastodon, the character limit is only 500... You can write anything that's worth waiting a whole week for in 500 characters...
@futureisfoss But you can have a live conversation with someone with lots of back and forth 500 character messages... or reply chains, like I'm doing now.
Koi@thebiologist1117 @futureisfoss I like how you got into these little convos, they're really insightful.
Tho correct me if I'm wrong, but Mastodon instances set up different character limits rather than use default, yeah?
Tho correct me if I'm wrong, but Mastodon instances set up different character limits rather than use default, yeah?
@thebiologist1117 @futureisfoss and from what I can see with Misskey, the limit here is 3000, which is enough to write a small essay