Mastodon feels like the future the 1980s promised us. "Oh look, a post from my friend at hacker.space, and what a funny comment from some guy on gaysex.cloud, perhaps I should follow them, they seem witty."

It feels like you could turn a corner and wind up in a tearoom filled with furries discussing existentialism. Across the street are anarchists arguing loudly with socialists about how best to stick it to the capitalists.

Just down the way is a photographer who only takes pictures of bees.

@Longwing this and the town square “criticism“ that actually highlights how well Mastodon fires the definition of a town square are precisely the vibes I like about the fediverse (or at least the bits I see; I am aware there are back alleys of various unsavory bigotries, whole Nazi bars behind the holographic filter of moderation that hides them from me, and private harassment campaigns— to say nothing of the Anglo-centrism that I personally find so familiar it is nearly imperceptible).
@Longwing all of which is to say, I like it here. It’s not perfect; it can’t be perfect because nothing can. It can be made better, but we (for some value of “we”) need to recognize that this is community building and policing and that’s not a purely technical problem with purely technical solutions (a thing we all wish to see and solve one day), but a personal, interrelational problem that requires continuing effort and engagement: a social problem.
@Longwing I need to find that town square article or screenshot for a “these are the vibes you’re looking for” post…
@c0dec0dec0de @Longwing WISH I COULD FUCKING READ IT
@buncube @Longwing archive.is and archive.org are truly the ones to love for avoiding paywalls
@c0dec0dec0de @Longwing what a fucking QUOTE
@buncube @c0dec0dec0de @Longwing
"Who will create the chore chart" feels like a surprisingly deep insight to me, despite its glib framing.
@bogosity @c0dec0dec0de @Longwing of polyamory or of the fediverse LMAO

@buncube @c0dec0dec0de @bogosity

It's a legitimate issue in all human endeavour. "We want to do a THING. It gives COOL STUFF but takes lots of WORK."

Everyone wants the cool stuff. They want to participate in the cool stuff and talk about the cool stuff, but the cool stuff doesn't exist without the work.

Who's doing the work? Is it divided fairly? If not, then how is someone compensated for their uneven share?

Relationships, companies, sci-fi cons, RPGs. The dynamic remains.

@c0dec0dec0de @buncube @Longwing
Thank YOU c0dec0dec0de for the archived link to Paul Ford's engaging and droll article about the marketplace -- or Tower of Babel -- of ideas and the Fediverse's place therein!
Remove Paywalls — Read full articles behind a paywall, for free

Bypass the paywall and read full articles for free. Works on NYTimes, Bloomberg, the Atlantic, the Economist

@c0dec0dec0de No, that IS a town square. That's what a town square should be. Let's all meet up and make sandwiches and fix commuter bikes and be annoyingly hard to monetize because we're too low drama.
@Longwing yeah, they’re hitting all the “selling points” for fedi as far as I’m concerned and then just turning aside and coming to a very different conclusion. I’ve noted this before.
@Longwing @c0dec0dec0de fedi is the kind of town square that banned motor vehicles so we can move freely
@Vorsos @c0dec0dec0de Yes! Sacrificing efficiency for the sake of people.
@Longwing @c0dec0dec0de also there are people who can source new screens and replace you cracked one (Hi it me)
@c0dec0dec0de @Longwing
Also, too, small groups of happy people are notoriously bad at creating economic bubbles inflated by hedge funds, edge lords, and greedy billionaires.
0xC0DEC0DE07EA (@[email protected])

Attached: 3 images These are the vibes I’m looking for(!): https://www.wired.com/story/god-did-us-a-favor-by-destroying-twitter/ https://wandering.shop/@Longwing/115352240515901756 https://bitbang.social/@NanoRaptor/115280474092247001

Hachyderm.io
@c0dec0dec0de @Longwing Yup, and buy all our trendy clothes on consignment, cook our own food and hike for fun.
@wendinoakland @Longwing billionaires: “wdym you enjoy the day—for free—at a state-maintained park area? There’s blueberries at the peak? What’s the margin—they’re wild blueberries and you can just eat a few if you want? But who loses? Who suffers!?”
@wendinoakland @Longwing me. Because I barely remember such simple things exist; that for a little drive time I could go hike up the gentle slope of a mountain with family or friends (I vaguely recall those). What the fuck have I been doing?
@wendinoakland @Longwing actually, my lovely spouse has at least tentatively planned for us to take a hike tomorrow.

@c0dec0dec0de That's the thing really. A town square is not (and cannot) be a lawless space. The barrier for entry is necessarily lower (anyone can walk up and stand on a soapbox), but the idea that some maniac can stand in the town square shouting bigoted nonsense is ridiculous.

He'd be quite literally run out of town.

@c0dec0dec0de @Longwing If hopp over to the German speaking part of Mastodon this feeling could evaporate. 😉