Internet Addict. Reddit refugee. Motorsports Enthusiast. Gamer. Traveler. Napper.

He/Him.

Also @JCPhoenix@lemmy.world. @jcphoenix@mastodo.neoliber.al

  • 49 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 1st, 2023

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  • Ah fair point. Yeah, I rarely look at political content on YouTube, Instagram, and even Bluesky. Mainly because I use my real name on these platforms.

    I reserve that for reddit, Lemmy, Tildes, and Mastodon, where I use screennames. And Mastodon doesn’t have an algorithm.

    On Twitter, I did engage in political content, even with my real name, but I largely stopped using Twitter daily years ago. I went from tweeting regularly, to only lurking, and just maybe once or twice a week at that. By the end, I was checking maybe once a month. The Twitter algorithm probably didn’t have enough info on me, given my weak activity levels.


  • Same. And I am a racial minority (though not black, so that may color things…excuse the unintentional pun). That said, on Mastodon, I mainly interact with the people on my instance. And it’s small. There’s probably only a core group of like 50 active individuals, and I’m one of them. So there I’m not surprised I don’t see racism.

    Interestingly, I have the same experience on even the proprietary social media sites. I was on Twitter from 2009 to 2023. I can’t say I was ever served up far-right content by the algorithms. I’m still on YouTube; same experience. Same on Instagram. Same on Bluesky.

    I’m not trying to discount other people’s experiences, and I’ve seen the horrible tweets referenced in news articles and reddit comments and such. So I know it exists, but why am I not being served this content, while so many others apparently are? I mean, I’m OK with not getting far right wing content, lol. Leave me out of it! Makes my online life easier and more enjoyable. But it’s just odd.








  • I don’t even know what that liberal nation would be anymore. Sure, for example, Europe is still largely pretty good, but even some of those countries are facing the rise of the right. And they have same objectives as the right here in the US has. Just because it’s not as bad as the US right now, doesn’t mean it can’t be in the future, or even near future. Look at what’s going on in Germany or France with the right or even far-right parties making large gains in recent elections and polls.

    Feel like it’s fucked in much of the world right now.




  • This is normal shit in Missouri. The state voted for medicinal and eventually recreational marijuana. But then they sent people to state legislature and offices who vehemently opposed it. Can’t remember which type it was, but IIRC, the courts had to step in to force the state to license dispensaries and grow ops and such.

    They voted lobbying and redistricting reform. But then they sent pols who absolutely didn’t want it. This time, the pols got their way and lobbying and redistricting reform went away before it ever got put into practice.

    Every so often, the GOP-controlled legislature sends RTW legislation to the people. The people reject it time and time again, but they don’t reject the people in the legislature who keep bringing it up time and time again.

    So I was super confident that Amendment 3 in MO would pass, based on past results. But I was also super confident Trump, Hawley (fuck Josh Hawley), and a multitude of other GOPers would be voted in. Based on past results.

    Because Missouri makes no fucking sense.



  • I think Mastodon is better since it’s not algorithmic. I could create a bubble of negativity (or positivity) if I wanted to on Mastodon, but I’d have to go out there and search for it and then build it, right? It’s different from maybe, on Twitter, tweeting something negative, then the algorithm serving me up similar negative content, which I consume, which gives me more, so and so forth.

    In addition, I definitely don’t spend as much time on Mastodon as I do on, say, Instagram or YouTube, which is serving me content algorithmically. That’s probably a positive, too.

    Though given that IG and YT are more unidirectional – content creator serves content to viewer with little in the opposite direction, other than comments – whereas Twitter and Mastodon are more multidirectional, with conversation happening between people in the threads, that it’s more of a “true” communications platform, the lack of the algorithm on Mastodon does make it more difficult to have those spontaneous interactions. Whether that’s a good thing or not probably depends on the person. Some people just want to consume content, while others want to participate in the content. I guess that’s kinda tangential to your question!



  • Over on another reddit/beehaw-like site, there’s a “Backlog Burner” event. Basically playing games in one’s games backlog during the month on November. And boy do I have a backlog.

    I started with This War of Mine. I didn’t play very long, nearly 1.5hrs. It wasn’t bad. I think I just got bored. I might go back to it at some point? We’ll see. It’s just slow to start and not a lot of direction. I’m kinda the type that at least in the beginning of a game, I’m gonna need a little direction and a push.

    For the second game I’ve played so far, I tried Signalis. Now THAT is an awesome game. So far anyway; only about 3hrs in. I will say, I don’t normally like playing horror/suspense games like this. I’m too much of a wuss. But Signalis has kept me hooked. I’ll only play for like 20-30min at a time, before my nerves start getting to me (lol), but I do keep going back.

    Otherwise, just playing FFXIV as usual. And also finishing up Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice. Finally on the last case, “Turnabout Time Traveler.”



  • Not sure. And not sure I ever thought about it that way. I get the point of decentralization. Ideally, it allows us to avoid what’s happened to Twitter and reddit and other platforms. Plus there’re are safety considerations (like Beehaw defederating from some less-moderated instances, even if they are larger). Basically, enshittification, in various ways.

    But that’s not why I’m on the Fediverse. In fact, I’m still using proprietary platforms like reddit and Instagram. I may have come over here in the last year, after reddit’s APIgate, but I didn’t stay because of the FOSS/decentralized principles. It’s mainly because these communities and the people are cool. I don’t mind spending my times in these different communities, because they’re offering something different from each other.

    I guess to me, these are all just tools. Tools to connect people with each other. And so long as I find a tool useful and isn’t too awful – looking at you, Twitter…deleted my 14yo account last year) – I’ll keep using it.

    I don’t know if that’s answers your question, lol.




  • Some folks from my last job were in town on Wednesday, so they invited me out to dinner. I say “last job,” but I’m now a contractor/consultant for them; no longer a FTE. So I guess they’re still my coworkers. It was nice to see them in person. My boss was there, so of course he asked how my new job was going. From my previous post, I’m not sure I’m enjoying it. But I couldn’t tell him that.

    But I started with, “It’s interesting…” And his eyes widened and he got a gleam in his eyes, lol. He thinks that anyone who leaves the company is crazy. And there’s some truth to that as I’ve worked for the company twice. The first time I left…I don’t want to say it was a mistake, but it wasn’t everything I hoped for. I eventually came back a year and half later. Which he loves rubbing in my face and anyone who contemplates leaving. So I fudged it a bit. And he deflated, lol.

    Either way, I’m glad I got to see them, and just spend a fun evening catching up over drinks and dinner. Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen is excellent.

    This weekend, just watching F1 and League of Legends Worlds. Let’s go Red Bull and T1!





















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