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• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Offers Chrome Users ‘Real Cash’ Rewards To Change Browser⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The strategy of using Windows monopoly to force other programs+services is so deeply ingrained in Microsoft that, when it fails, MS doesn’t know what to do. Specially when dealing with a bigger bully like Google.

  First MS tried to be pushy with Edge. Users remembered IE, and said “no”.

  Then MS tried to be even pushier. Except being too pushy backfires, so users were saying “no” louder.

  Now they’re offering “rewards”? This won’t change shit, except highlight that MS knows Edge to be useless to the users, and that the only way people would consider using Edge is if they’re paid for that.

  And it’s no secret that Edge is a reskinned Chromium. As in, anyone who’d avoid Google software would also avoid Edge.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lexispell is a roguelike word game where strategy meets physics⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  That sounds fun. I hope the game is moddable, so you can use other languages with it too. (Let’s say my ability to quickly remember English words is less than stellar.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I spent 18 months training generative AI – here’s what I learned⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Both letters in “AI” are bullshit. Most of us know about the “I”; the text is about the “A”.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The age verification effect: adult site traffic plummets, VPN use soars⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I wonder if that isn’t exactly the goal behind all this shit.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bluesky experiments with dislikes and 'social proximity' to improve conversations⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  #3 would probably not work in a microblog service due to the structure, but the other two could be easily ported. I could see them popping up in Mastodon, for example; but Bluesky? Not really - it doesn’t want to empower users, it wants to herd them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bluesky experiments with dislikes and 'social proximity' to improve conversations⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I should’ve made the sarcasm more obvious; my bad. (“Still a better love story than Twilight” kind of implies something is still bad or unremarkable; it’s like saying “wow, this meal tastes better than shit”.)

  Yes, the Fediverse is genuinely good. And better than both Bluesky and Twitter.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bluesky experiments with dislikes and 'social proximity' to improve conversations⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Charitably, these tweaks sound like another way Bluesky is trying to give users more control over what they see on the platform, in the same way it does with things like notifications. Less charitably, you could read the “social neighborhood” concept as a way to entrench users in their “filter bubble” rather than address larger moderation issues.

  Potentially both simultaneously.

  I think that a few key factors would be:

  • will the algo deciding who’s in your “social neighbourhood” be publicly available? Or is it a matter of “trust me = be gullible trash”?
  • which will be the rules deciding it? Poor rules can backfire really bad, encouraging mob mentality instead.
  • are they going to address the poor moderation of their own platform, regardless of the above?

  Either way the prospect is good. Still a better love story than Twitterlight.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Paradox apologise for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2's new Halloween gear initially only being a treat for fresh saves⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  As I often say: Paradox is the hipsters’ Electronic Arts. It sees you as cattle ready to be milked (through DLCs), its QA resembles used toilet paper, and it loooves some corporate apologies that sound a lot like “Who’s some gullible trash? You are! Yes, you are! Good customer!” Just like EA does, except they handle niche games.

  That said the bug doesn’t look that bad, given it’s only cosmetics.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The oldest Minecraft server, MinecraftOnline, is being shut down by Microsoft⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  While I do criticise MinecraftOnline policies regarding free speech as short-sighted, enabling hate, and making the world overall a worse place, this is the minor issue here. The major issue is that you got a corporation bossing you around on what you can/can’t do with the copy of the game you bought, including dictating which servers you’re allowed to use it with.

  Don’t get me wrong - my issue aren’t the “I wanna spam slurs lol” braindead trash being silenced, it’s that Microsoft has that power. And it will use that power to silence things you might want to say, even when moral and reasonable to do so.

  Remember: if crushing puppies is profitable, you’re bound to have corporations crushing them, and then silencing people who defend puppies as “anti-puppy-crushing terrorists”. Specially given we’re dealing with Microsoft, that is in hot beds with fascists (including Zionists).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The oldest Minecraft server, MinecraftOnline, is being shut down by Microsoft⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Disregard the binary “free speech” label. Focus on “freedom of speech” instead, since it’s easier to see what goes on with it.

  Nobody has full freedom of speech, but you can have more or less of it. It is desirable, and you want to maximise the freedom of speech of everyone.

  There’s a catch, though: sometimes enabling more freedom of speech to certain actors means you’re removing freedom of speech from other actors - by forcing the later to leave, by silencing them, by preventing them from reaching a willing audience, etc.

  With that in mind:

  It’s become really hard to tell what something like this actually means. Does free speech mean [being able to speak out against authoritarian power structures]¹? Or does it mean [throwing slurs and hatred around]²?

  It’s both. However:

  • #1 is about giving more freedom of speech to a lot of people who barely have some
  • #2 is about giving a few individuals freedom of speech and silencing the target of their slurs and hatred

  So if you want to maximise freedom of speech, you need to allow #1 and disallow #2. Or like you correctly said, it makes #1 worth defending and #2 reasonable to limit.

  The fact that they just typify it as having a free speech policy without qualifying what that means makes my skeptical.

  They qualify it in the wiki, and it includes #2:

  […] You will not be banned for anything you say, aside from spamming. This includes but is not limited to: // Swearing; // Personal attacks; // Racial or cultural insults; // Asking to be banned.

  Intentionally being insulting or offensive will be treated as an open invitation to PvP, and as such will not be protected by rules against PvP “bullying”, since you will be considered to have invited it. So long as you continue being offensive, other players are free to respond with PvP.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Civilization VII set for a big change to allow you to play as one civ continuously⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The game is unreasonably expensive, and bundled with malware (DRM). Both issues can be fixed by pirating it, but… frankly? I don’t think it’s even worth pirating it.

  Check the Steam reviews. Bad interface, the ages system undermines the premise of the game, shallow diplomacy, AI is easy to manipulate, and apparently released in a broken/incomplete state. Whoever made this game doesn’t play the series, and it shows.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨ISP tricked customers about fiber optics being used in their internet service, German court rules — 'full fiber' customers found to have 'last mile' copper connections⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  For those that aren’t sure if you have fiber, the fiber will literally run into your “modem” (your Optical Network Terminal or ONT) and it will be incredibly clear that you have fiber. The wire is incredibly thin and they will warn you about bending it too much.

  And if the connector breaks, you can’t simply fix it at home like you would do with copper. You’ll spend an internet-less weekend until the technician fixes it.

  Source: got this shit happening with me this month. On a lighter side the work piled up disappeared real fast!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Study proves being rude to AI chatbots gets better results than being nice⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m surprised the best strategy wasn’t the neutral prompt, due to removal of any fluff.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Windows 7 marketshare jumps to nearly 10% as Windows 10 enters final weeks of support⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I think I get it. For a lot of people, the situation is probably like this:

  Image

  Basically “since both W7 and W10 are now unsupported, might as well stick to W7, I like it better.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nearly a third of all gaming PCs are still running Windows 10, even as Microsoft prepare to kill it⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  This: gentle support and help works way better than soapboxing.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft moves to the uncanny valley with creepy Copilot avatars that stare at you and say your name⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Even then. I bet the first thing you see is those portraits in a weird mix of corporate “art” and realistic style.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft moves to the uncanny valley with creepy Copilot avatars that stare at you and say your name⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Making bloody Clippy the Copilot avatar would be less of a blunder - the uncanny valley is real, and it causes instinctual repulse.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nintendo Doubles Down on Palworld vs Pokémon Patent Lawsuit ‘Mods Don’t Count as Real Games’⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s such a clearly bad faith argument that I’d like to see the lawyers being called out for that in the court.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mods react as Reddit kicks some of them out again: “This will break the site”⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah. I feel like, if you aren’t powertripping, moderating lots of subs feels like a bother; and there’s a limit on how much abuse you go through before you say “fuck this, I’m out”.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mods react as Reddit kicks some of them out again: “This will break the site”⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The power matters for the sort of bootlicker still moderating Reddit because it’s what gives their lives meaning. And it matters for Reddit Inc. because it enables it to profit more from the site.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mods react as Reddit kicks some of them out again: “This will break the site”⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A few of those decisions would be sensible in another context, or if done in a different way.

  Mod limits: it would be great if it wasn’t just part of a petty power janny mods vs. “waaah we need to wrestle control of the site back from this filthy landed gentry!” admins. And the way it’s being done I expect lots and lots of meat/sock puppets.

  Also note that, while the number of mods might be relatively small, the number of subreddits affected will be way larger. We all know about the power concentration in that shithole.

  Number of visitors and contributions: the idea here is to simply cook the numbers; larger numbers = better advertisement. Specially because they could show the old metric alongside the new ones, but they didn’t.

  [Reddit] made a mountain out of a molehill. This was a combo of punishment for the few abusive mods who moderated hundreds of subreddits and would squat on them, performing no actions but lording over the users and other mods … and the few mods that took their [subreddits] private and held them hostage every so often when [Reddit] enacted an insanely boneheaded policy decision.

  Emphasis mine. If you’re too eager to accept shit from the above, and complain when people don’t do the same, you are a toilet and deserve to be treated as such.

  And no, odds are it isn’t “punishment”. Reddit Inc. doesn’t care about you enough to “punish” you. You’re simply some collateral in the power struggle, “landed gentry”.

  Gregory_K_Zhukov also questioned whether Reddit automatically deletes mod-removed comments from profiles. They argued that this makes modding harder by limiting the amount of information available, including whether or not Reddit has previously punished a user for similar behavior.

  I also criticise the decision on the same grounds this mod is doing.

  ---

  I’m glad I left that shithole.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[Gamers Nexus] YouTube's Systematic Punishment | Copyright Strikes & Defeating Bloomberg's Abuse⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This shit will go on, as long as neither platforms have a reason to change their “user assumed to be guilty” approach, nor copyright trolls have a reason to stop issuing bogus claims.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah but it’s not solved JFC.

  Of course it isn’t solved. Because Reddit does not want to solve it. It doesn’t want users to know how large the community of a subreddit is. It’s simply cooking the numbers: the bigger the better, even if bigger = less accurate. So it’s replacing an inaccurate metric with an even more inaccurate metric.

  And, again: it didn’t even need to replace it. I’m saying it should show both metrics dammit. Both are inaccurate, but with both you have better grounds to reach less inaccurate conclusions about community size than with only one of them.

  And this is bloody obvious. Specially from Lemmy:

  Image

  Could could could isn’t accomplished by their currently showing subscribers of dead accounts. JFC.

  The fact it could but it won’t matters here, even if you pretend otherwise.

  And it couldn’t be solved easily anyway. What’s a dead account? Log in once a year? That’s certainly not active in that community. But hey let’s count that anyway, right? Subscribed but all you do is browse all? Not active, but let’s count that too, right? A game is popular for a while and gets tons of subscribers, then peters off and the people don’t unsub and just browse all. Again: not active, but fuck it let’s count that too. See the problem yet?

  “Unless you can solve it perfectly right off the bat than its impassible!!! lol lmao”

  Start with an arbitrary cut-off line for activity. Then tweak it over time. Done.

  Enjoy the last word if you want it.

  I don’t care about the last word. But I do care someone is vomiting false dichotomy, eating their own vomit, and expecting me to eat it alongside them. I’m not doing it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Subscribers from dead accounts aren’t active, they aren’t part of the community, they aren’t discussing. They are dead accounts.

  I already addressed this: “note the issue of the number including dead accounts could be easily solved”.

  The people that ARE in the community are the actual users that show up on a regular basis.

  Emphasis mine. That is not what the “visitors” metric is about.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Why should they show subscribers of dead accounts?

  Because the number of subscribers gives you a better idea of the size of the community than a vague “visitors” - that includes every single clown who stumbled upon the subreddit after googling or clicking a random link.

  Also note the issue of the number including dead accounts could be easily solved.

  I think they only kept that to “prop up” numbers before the IPO.

  I think they’re actively trying to hide the number of lurkers, by conflating it with casual visitors.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It is not an “either this or that” matter; they could show both pieces of info. And they should.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft says recent Windows update didn't kill your SSD⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Sorry for the double reply. Check this video, around 8:45 - someone managed to reproduce the issue, under different conditions, with the update in question. There’s also a second problematic update.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft says recent Windows update didn't kill your SSD⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Here’s my hypothesis: from a quick websearch, a lot of people are getting error messages from this update (regardless of disk failure), it’s around 3GiB large, and classified as a security update. It’s possible that the system is trying to install it over and over and over, and this is unnecessarily stressing storage devices that would eventually fail anyway.

  If my guess is correct there is a higher amount of complains, not just reports, but Microsoft won’t find the cause.

  Of course, it’s just a guess - I don’t know if it’s correct.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft says recent Windows update didn't kill your SSD⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  and that one guy’s SSD just failed like they do

  As mentioned in the article, “others have also encountered the same issue”.

  It’s hard not to come to the conclusion that there is no issue

  This assumption would not explain the surge of complains about it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft says recent Windows update didn't kill your SSD⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Let’s put it this way. Apparently the issue:

  • affects SSDs and HDDs
  • multiple SSD models from multiple vendors
  • necessary conditions are 60%+ disk fullness and that specific security update

  …I think it’s pretty safe to say Microsoft is bullshitting. No, not even lying - bullshitting, showing complete disregard for truth value.