Zach WeinersmithOK, this convinced me I should be here more: https://bsky.app/profile/dubikan.bsky.social/post/3mi5ncilczk23
How's it going?
Diane
Michael@ZachWeinersmith I really like that idea of a "passive barrier"
@mschfr Has to be passive and not actively judgmental.
Dubi is here 
@ZachWeinersmith @mschfr I mean we're a little bit that, too.
@ZachWeinersmith It's hard to design something like that: You are trying to exclude "those" people from your nice club without excluding other people, who might fit well into your club. The 90s internet excluded many non-techies who really enriched the net in the 2000s. But it still had a problem with trolls and idiots. Maybe not as bad as today, but that was because the spaces we met were better moderated
@mschfr I think the thing that's really impossible is you need to mostly exclude money. One of my Grand Theories is that corps took a long time to realize there was money to be made online, and then figure out how to get it. So there was this liminal period when people were just there to chat and share, no relentless branding or slot-machine-inspired algorithms.
@ZachWeinersmith @mschfr definitely money is part of it (hence mastodon), but part of it is also sheer size. 90s forums were manageable and moderatable in a way that current ones simply are not - but small size is the opposite of what money wants, so we got a push for more people in fewer spaces.
SlightlyCyberpunk@ZachWeinersmith @mschfr Federation is a huge tool there if you can maintain it. There's a reason the entire Internet is reduced to, like, five websites now. If they can't lock you into their platform, lock you into their ads, lock you into their data harvesting...they have no revenue model.
Nobody really knows how to make money on Fedi so far. All we really have is "donate to your admin!". WTF are the corpos gonna do with that?
gabriele renzi@ZachWeinersmith @mschfr I once saw someone around here suggest we should ban online advertising, and while I think that's impossible, unrealistic etc.. I've been thinking more and more often that, well, it _would_ fix most of the issues of the last decade of the web.
@ZachWeinersmith @riffraff I think that there is a difference between people doing commercial things and "normal" people just trying to have an uncommercial conversation with other humans. There is room for both - but in the main social networks, commercial content drowns out the conversation between "normal" people
@ZachWeinersmith @riffraff Yeah - if there are tens of thousands of people coming to your place to promote their stuff, you need to toughen the rules. That transforms your little community into a place where you have "users" that are being marketed at and that totally shifts the dynamic.
@mschfr @riffraff Right, and that changed sucked as an artist too. Because the thought process used to be "I made a thing, I'll share it." But once everyone is (reasonably) suspicious, you start pulling back. Like, to me this is the way in which the social internet isn't that social, because in a lot of places people are very guarded.
@ZachWeinersmith @riffraff Yeah - it sucks being dragged into a sales funnel without consent.
Legit_Spaghetti@Legit_Spaghetti I am trying to write 4 books at once and never been so stressed in my life, but they are good books!
@ZachWeinersmith That's good! The books part, not the stress part. Here, have a cat picture to de-stress a little.
arclight
Stefan
guilty indeed@ZachWeinersmith hi!
fedi certainly is the early-internet webrings of social media (complimentary).
Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸@ZachWeinersmith
I'm enjoying the photos from No Kings, and reading people's thoughts here on Mastodon with no algorithm forcing crap on me. I wish I was able to get to a protest, but I'm happy to see so many out on the streets.
And how's it going for you?
May Likes Toronto@ZachWeinersmith I still need to know: Why Steinbach, Manitoba of all places?!?!
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/steinbach
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/steinbach
@mayintoronto Haha, I don't remember but I think I just wanted a somewhat obscure city that still had a decent population?
@ZachWeinersmith I was secretly hoping that it came up in some obscure research you were digging into, and there was some cooler backstory.
Welcome back!
@ZachWeinersmith ooh! It is my honour! Hullo!
Cole Brodine@ZachWeinersmith Welcome back! I've been following you over the bridge, but it's better to see you here in person!
Luke Bergen@ZachWeinersmith ayyyy! Welcome back! Have been following your bsky bridge account for a hot minute. Psyched to be able to follow/participate with your comments more easily now.
Brian Owen@ZachWeinersmith It’s great here. I have friendly arguments with fellow nerds about which Linux distribution we prefer.
Histoires Mythiques@ZachWeinersmith Nice you're here :)
Jeff Zugale - Z Factory@ZachWeinersmith hey dude! Doing ok here, how you been? Long time. 😊
@jeffzugale Jeff! I'm OK. Slowly transitioning from comics to books these days, but still doing the comics because that's what I do.
@ZachWeinersmith yeah we creatives all seem to be shifting our efforts to different but related creation paths. I’m doing geometric abstract fine art, 3D modeling/processing for 3d printing and fabrication, and making various physical things to sell. 😊
@jeffzugale I was just thinking about how I think David Willis is the only one I knew basically doing the same job from way back when. Everyone's gone into books, video games, graphic design, etc. Anything to avoid a real job!
@ZachWeinersmith some other time I will regale you with the saga of my last 8 years, with layoffs, divorce, destruction of industries, trials, tribbleations, discovery of AuDHD & C-PTSD, sundry weirdness and a few nice things.
But not today. 😎
@jeffzugale You ever get out to Virginia?
@ZachWeinersmith not doing much traveling these days, no
@ZachWeinersmith also David’s almost reached the point of his buffer that he built 20 years ago, and I think he’s still another 20 years ahead 😆
I have unironic adoration.
Games That I Missed@ZachWeinersmith @jeffzugale The books are good. I will continue to buy the books.
Heath Borders@ZachWeinersmith welcome back! This is where the nerds are
petes_bread_eqn_xls@ZachWeinersmith I follow you on the Bluesky bridge too. Aside from the comics, I also liked your discussions of the Wodehouse books.
@petes_bread_eqn_xls They're the inspiration for my new kids' book series. Hopefully it works :D
Greg Woods@ZachWeinersmith hello! 👋
Lew Perin@ZachWeinersmith It's *much too hard* to deal with all this technical...
Just kidding! I feel I can be myself here.
Ramiro@ZachWeinersmith pretty good, thanks for asking!
Elio Campitelli@ZachWeinersmith Wellcome back, dorkwad. 😄
2something@ZachWeinersmith Goin' pretty good here! Glad to see you back.
Luna Octavia 
@ZachWeinersmith not gonna lie, it's been ages since last time i'm using bluesky, mate
Sara@ZachWeinersmith fedi: 00s-style internet for your 20s-style hellscape
Paul Bernhardt@ZachWeinersmith I'm now PAYING for access. I joined a co-op server since it seemed like my last one (free, but I had a monthly donation) may possibly explode. I think that may be the other way to do it. I definitely think there should be easy paths on for those who can't afford it, but if the majority of the users aren't directly paying for their own upkeep costs (but not much more) you will eventually run into trouble.
Mute Dog Brewing@ZachWeinersmith welcome back!
🏳️🌈 Bri 🌞🚴🌱✨@ZachWeinersmith Hi hello! It does have that earlier internet vibe here, especially off .social I think.
DLink@ZachWeinersmith yessssss. Welcome back
DNKrupinski 🧡🏴☠️
katfeete@ZachWeinersmith Dealing with the existential stress of the ongoing Everything by planting *entirely* too many tomatoes. How are you?
@katfeete Same but fruit trees. Actually it's been a very stressful few years, mostly due to writing more books and it being harder to make money on comics. But, overall, really not bad.
@ZachWeinersmith Feels like everything small business has gotten harder and more stressful these past few years :-/
Thank god for gardens being magical stress-eaters. I haven’t done much with fruit trees yet, but I have Plans.
@katfeete For me it's been... complex? Books have been selling pretty decent and I have a bunch more book releases lined up. What I miss is the epoch where you just put stuff online and people went to your website!
@katfeete Btw, if it's any help, I switched from buying grafted trees to rootstock. Planning to learn grafting this winter. If it works it's wildly cheaper. Like, rootstock+scionwood runs you between 7 and 20 dollars, whereas full trees are like 30-100 dollars. Plus, you get to watch the whole process, pick the rootstock for your area, and access weiiiiiiird scionwood. At least, that's the theory!