b6 @b6hydra@social.cleverlibre.org

@realcaseyrollins

@realcaseyrollins
The Big Govt vs Small Govt debate in the US hasn't really been relevant since Reagan and friends realized voters don't care about balanced budgets. It gets paid a lot of lip service by conservative politicians but that's generally where things end. The modern question, whether we like it our not, is 'how' each party will spend our money, not 'if.'

@namark
So your point is that these services are all just poorly implemented fads conjured from pop culture via marketing? If that's the case then why bother at all?

It's an interesting existential thought experiment, in a defeatist sort of way, but it has nothing to do with my question.

@namark
I get what you're saying about marketing but doesn't federation make the number of early adopters on a particular service irrelevant? The fact that diaspora has a lot more users doesn't really have much practical effect when I can interact with it's users via other software.

@zleap
Funny how duckduckgo warns you about something we know google has been doing for years, but all of their video search results seem to be solely youtube. I don't know what kind of weird contract ddg got themselves stuck in, but including other domains in video search would be step 1...

RIP Barinsta, it was an open source Instagram client but they've received a cease & desist from Facebook.

https://github.com/austinhuang0131/austinhuang0131/issues/2

@freemo
Makes sense. That's how I ended up on qoto so I guess I'll play around and see what I like. Thanks 👍

@freemo
I don't really have anything too specific I need. I don't create specific content or accumulate tons of followers in general. The mainstream platforms, except maybe for reddit, never really strongly appealed to me. I view content on them but I don't interact, so clone or not isn't a huge factor. Also god forbid I feed the algorithm just because I have interests and opinions... So I initially came to mastodon to be, well, social.

Trying out #diaspora and I'm wondering what the people in the #ActivityPub corner of the #fediverse currently think of it.

Personally I'm struggling to see what niche it would fill for me. The current features don't seem all that different from #mastodon and if I wanted something less birdsite-like wouldn't #friendica be the obvious choice since it federates with both? What am I missing?

@fristi
Because nothing soothes the mind like a crudely drawn banner asking for your blood

@galena
No worries, at least we aren't on twitter or reddit. Our only recourse then would be a fight to the death 🤣
@freemo @trinsec @skells

@galena @freemo @trinsec @skells
Sorry for going full meta, that's all I meant though. Sorry if it seemed like I was going after you.

@galena
I get that. It wasn't my intention to attack you personally but to point out that style of arguing doesn't accomplish anything. Where I disagreed with you is that I don't think killing the discussion in such a way was the correct course, despite the aggravation or back and forth it might have saved.
@freemo @trinsec @skells

@galena
Using slippery slope logic and straw men only proves that you can't defend your position, not that the discussion was pointless. It's like saying someone is "like Hitler." You haven't proven anything other than your willingness to rely on the absurd to shut people up and pretend you've won.
@freemo @trinsec @skells

@icedquinn @skells @trinsec Point of order, the term "pro-abortionist" is a red herring. Do you also call pro-life folks "anti-choice?" I think not.

@freemo @trinsec @skells I disagree. It's not that bodily autonomy goes out the window - it's a question of how much autonomy we should be forced to sacrifice. I am 100% for mask mandates, distancing, and so on, but I am 100% against forced injections.

@skells That's fair. I did say I was on the no side early on, but my statement was deliberately qualified.

I will also admit I'm someone who likes to ramble and discuss. Even if you had asked a year ago there's no guarantee I wouldn't have delved into ethical and political theory...

@skells Well my non-theoretical answer is still "no," you shouldn't be forced to get it.

As for government arm-twisting, that's the only tool a nation state has at it's core, and from where all other powers are derived. The monopoly on the use of force is what keeps governments in power, and policing is merely the government's use of that force against it's own citizens.

That sounds really theoretical again but it does have real world implications. Should we allow governments the power to police what we do with our own bodies? No, I think that's a terrible idea.