🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)Don't mind me; I'm just going to lie here and die of preventable causes, because the alternative requires making a phone call.
Dan Ballard@alice extrovert with phone use abilities maybe should start advertising phone-as-a-service to their friend circles
Florian 'floe' Echtler
Dave AlvaradoWhat @floe said.
@floe @dan_ballard @alice I still see the full chain back to Alice. I'm guessing either somebody in the chain blocked you, your instance blocked their instance (or vice-versa) or something has gone wonky with federation on your instance or their instance.
The two instances above you in the chain are kolektiva.social and lgbtqia.space. My money is on your instance blocking kolektiva.
https://tweaking.thebad.space/location/7d62a8a3-6742-4136-93c0-432269a81a51
@dave @floe @alice oh thanks for the link, i know there's a few different collaborative block (or mute) list tools, i... may have heard of this one before? but didn't remember, and wow it's big now, and yep, there's the instance i'm on with a rating of 62%, 2 silenced, 3 suspended. 🤷 prolly not unreasonably, it's big, and it would not surprise me at all given its particular focus that it's moderation on some topics leaves something to be desired. Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to think about this if it's worth attempting to look for a new home, or just live with it. Kinda a good but hard thing is the fediverse will always be fractured, just gotta figure out which circles you want to be in, can live with or with out, and also which ones you very much want to be outside :)
@dan_ballard @floe @alice I ended up spinning up my own instance through masto.host to avoid this sort of situation. My single-user instance lives or dies by my own behavior, which I think is the best way to fedi.
@dave @floe @alice awesome, i wish more people would, but I also have complexer feelings as I age about when and what to self host. Having run email for like 15 years before giving up, and dabbling with matrix and self hosting as my first federation experience and watching that explode catastrophically after 2 years and an update, for now mastodon for me falls in the "let someone else host it" which is some thing I'd like to see it get easier to do so maybe my personal math on it changes! More folks doing it is good and will prolly help that. Mind if I ask which stack you run? like official mastodon? or goto.social or one of the other small single host options?
@dan_ballard @floe @alice I use masto.host, they do all the hosting. I pay $9/mo for the hosting and another $20/yr for the alvarado.social domain and it's hands-off. They've had one outage in the last 2 years where I was unlucky and on the last database to be recovered, so my Mastodon was down for a day. Their customer support was awesome and communicative through the whole thing.
Highly, highly recommended.
J4ck@dan_ballard
wait... so like, I can email someone with the details and they...would call on my behalf?!
Why are we not funding this?!
Humphrey Archer@jackryder
A ton of chronic disease communities do this
Some people in the group have more experience or spoons for phoning providers, and they act as collectives.
Lou 🏳️⚧️@screwturn
Meanwhile, my contrarian mind made me call the one that then became my GP to get HRT because a friend offered to call in my stead when I hadn't done so after a few weeks 😅
Maybe that's the trick for me: I need someone that could realistically do it to offer to call for me 🤔
Emily_S@dan_ballard @alice but we'd have to contact them first and that's just another level of recursion to the problem.
eestileib (she/hers)Oh I could easily make a phone call to argue about my*friend's* insurance claim, that's not what we're talking about though. 😄
@eestileib @alice phone call swap sharing service?
Court Cantrell does not comply@dan_ballard @alice YES PLEASE!!!
Fissile@dan_ballard @alice The worst thing about phone calls is, that it is often so much easier to solve problems on the phone, compared to exchanging emails. In the sense that a conversation via phone is so so much faster, especially if you have to explain something to the other person.
Cassander
Luka Rubinjoni@alice Somebody text 911!!!
@alice I'm in this post and I don't like it 🙄
Autumn Meadow
John Maxwell@alice K. Wish you wouldn't, though.
Gender David Copperfield@alice me when I just need to call and schedule a blood test so I can put the test back in my body 😭😭😭
nyette 
cathos
stephaniepixie 🏳️🌈@alice If the medical system would actually join the 21st century and allow people to email/text instead of calling, it would solve so many issues.
It’s one of the last places that also insists on faxing documents.
And yet every medical clinic where I’ve tried to become a new patient only takes online applications. BS double-standard.
It’s one of the last places that also insists on faxing documents.
And yet every medical clinic where I’ve tried to become a new patient only takes online applications. BS double-standard.
Tobias@stephaniepixie @alice I met a psychiatrist once who told me they do not accept patients via Mail *on principle* cause they cannot decide about a patient without hearing or seeing them.
That was weird. but seems "normal" for them,
That was weird. but seems "normal" for them,
@krono @alice That’s why they have a consultation session first so both the client and psychiatrist can decide if they want to continue.
I would avoid that one if they insist on a call because they clearly don’t understand how much stress that can produce and would not offer adequate care for so many clients.
I would avoid that one if they insist on a call because they clearly don’t understand how much stress that can produce and would not offer adequate care for so many clients.
@stephaniepixie @alice I asked a few others, and they confirmed. No consultation session without call. I mean, most psychiatrists here have lead times of two years and more, so there's that.
The Orange Theme@stephaniepixie @alice I love filling out registration forms online, then again on paper when I arrive early, except they want 12 pages and an essay, and then they come out and they're like "it's fine, you don't need to finish".
You can't convince me anyone actually looks over anything beyond my name and phone number.
@theorangetheme Yes! The double form filling is infuriating.
Flipper 🐬🏳️🌈@stephaniepixie @theorangetheme tbh, I'd rather fill out a form fifty times if it'd save me from a phone call.
@flipper @theorangetheme 😄 me too, but it’s still annoying AF
@stephaniepixie @theorangetheme zero arguments from me (though I do like a good form).
Bill@theorangetheme @stephaniepixie @alice
They definitely check your insurance info
dodothedev🦤💻@stephaniepixie @alice
Funnily enough, my surgery has gone completely the other way and _only_ accepts written communication.
They have a web portal where you have to write out your request and it gets triaged by the reception team.
The downside is, if you have a question, your only option now is to go in person, or write and wait for them to get back to you (up to 48 hours later). When you're questioning where your script is, that's a pain in the arse.
JJ Celery@stephaniepixie @alice I was beyond delighted I could book my optician appointment online last year, only to discover that they don't consider it booked until they ring me to confirm on the phone, which is so, so much worse.
I can eventually combobulate to make a phone call; receiving unscheduled phonecalls is another story altogether 😖
da_kink
Alex Hyett@alice there are so many things I will try before talking to a stranger on the phone!
Szescstopni@alice I totally understand. I should have gone to the ER a couple of days ago, but it was too much of a hassle. I'm quite fine now, but I could have died :)
Irenes (many)@alice we deeply, profoundly sympathize, but please make the phone call
Andrew Deacon@alice the telephone is an invention of the Devil and no-one should have to use one.
lp0 on fire 
David Penfold 
@alice Meh, I made it through the oak beam flying headbutt incident without dying (yet)...
Twotired1. Literally a week ago today my doctor asked me “Why did you wait three weeks to come to me with this problem?” and I was like, “I kept hoping the pain would go away by itself.”
2. I can text my veterinarian’s office. It’s great! Why can’t I text my doctor’s office?
3. Please call your doctor. Afterwards you’ll be glad you did (which doesn’t make it any less intimidating, I know.)
Lee Hauser@alice My wife wanted so much to avoid calling the dentist to make an appointment she had me driver her to their office to do it in person.
Grace Vulpes Alopex (973748)I'm also procrastinating phone calls, lol >///<
Legit_Spaghetti@alice HOLY SHIT I JUST HAD THE BEST BUSINESS IDEA!
I'm GenX. I'm not afraid of making phone calls. I should start a service where people can pay us GenX freaks to take care of annoying phone calls! Like a reverse call center!
Kevin Karhan 
@Legit_Spaghetti @alice Oh yes, count me in if you want to expand to the #EU and need some #German and #English speaking #Millenial.
HP van Braam
Farticle Accelerator🇨🇦
64 Islands Aroha Cooperative@Legit_Spaghetti @alice as a gen-x with childhood phone trauma, i'll subscribe
Jessamyn@Legit_Spaghetti Would legit pay for this service. (I am GenX tho)