Skiluros
@Skiluros@sh.itjust.works
- Submitted 1 week ago to games@lemmy.world | 11 comments
- Comment on There is a federation problem on Programming.dev 3 weeks ago:
But you do take any scepticism of A16Z as an immediate sign that one is a “purity obsessed leftist”. This is not reasonable.
OK, so you are saying that I started lying in this thread, I actually believe substack is full of Nazis, but I decided to temporarily back down from this view in order to try and “win” this discussion.
You can agree that substack is not full of Nazis and it’s a viable platform, while also recognising that they are an American tech company that received money from a VC firm that is commited to authoritarianism, corruption and criminal schemes.
What’s your logic here? I am genuinely curious.
You are ranting against “left orthodoxy on purity”, yet you yourself are demanding acceptance of A16Z specifically.
- Comment on There is a federation problem on Programming.dev 4 weeks ago:
The claim that they are somehow really committed to “free speech”. I don’t believe this. Heard these sort of polemics a lot when I lived there (both on an instituinal level and from individuals).
Me not trusting their alleged commitment to “free speech” doesn’t necessarily mean I think Substuck is particularly bad or that one shouldn’t use it or read it.
It’s not circuitous nonsense to highlight that statements made by Americans companies (and many individuals for that matter) about “free speech” are often shallow, performative and unconvincing. From my perspective, this is a factual statement.
This has nothing to do with the % split between leftist or rightist bloggers.
I don’t deny VC money may be necessary evil. A16Z is not the only VC company there is.
I am just pointing out that not trusting Substack’s claims about their alleged passion for free speech and seeing more nuance than “A16Z investment is a necessary, end of story! No discussion allowed!” does not make one a purity obsessed leftists that thinks substack is full of Nazis.
The piece about Substack making nazi blogs to stir up drama was not meant to be taken seriously; I was making fun of American startup culture (and many startups do engage is super sketchy behaviour, perhaps not substack though) and the bombast with which free speech polemics are often marketed.
- Comment on There is a federation problem on Programming.dev 4 weeks ago:
I am not American (although I have lived there, and have traced extensively and have many good friends); I did not find American polemics around freedom of speech to be in the least convincing.
Absent convincing evidence to the contrary, it is reasonable to be sceptical of Substack’s claims. People in other countries get severally beaten up (or even killed) in an attempt to do real journalism - that is a commitment to free speech. Not some drama about blog hosting.
I do have some exposure to silicon valley go-to-market strategies. It is not at all “nonsense” to speculate that in theory a startup could engage in a guerrilla marketing (especially using free speech copytext, which is extremely fashionable among their target market).
Where did I make any claims about how the A16Z money was used? Sure, it likely was used to fund journalists on the platform, including people who do good work. It is a good thing that they are getting paid.
I think you misunderstand my worldview, I have nothing particularly against substack.
I just don’t buy the colourful story about “commitment to free speech” and the uncritical view of the A16Z investment.
- Comment on There is a federation problem on Programming.dev 4 weeks ago:
For me personally, the A16Z investment is a much bigger issue than the Nazi blogs. From my perspective, it means the management is comfortable working with criminals (pump and dump and pyramid schemes haven’t yet been made legal in the US, have they?).
Performative claims of support for “free speech” is pretty standard stuff, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a part of the go-to-market strategy (it would be funny if they created the Nazis blog themselves to stir things up).
- Comment on 1 month ago:
It’s funny how Americans technology oligarchs love propaganda copytext that includes terms like innovation, change and disruption, yet they are all vapid and lacking any imagination.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
In a perfect world, all media organIationa would have their own instances (tied to their domains) for each network type (threadiverse, micro logging, video, short form video) and these instances would be used for both content distribution (official NYT mastadon feed) and for validation of journalists.
The non-profit foundations that manage these networks could provide managed services to raise more money for development (beyond donations).
- Comment on what fediverse software is similar to lemmy? 2 months ago:
Piefed, Mbin.
- Comment on Pixelfed Uptick in Monthly Active Users 2 months ago:
It’s really too bad that Lemmy MAUs are once again on a decline curve. I was really hoping we would stabilize above 50K MAU.
- Comment on 3 months ago:
They can indeed federate, but IMO it’s not useful beyond simple posts.
There is no way to “sync” the text heading/URL/thumbnail.
- Comment on The fediverse has a bullying problem 4 months ago:
and don’t get me started back in the days when every fandom had a dozen sites which all hated each other for vague and extremely personal reasons.
Oh man, this brings me.
Remember the time in the late 90s and early 2000s when even a niche topics had like 3-4 large community sites with active forums. More popular topics could easily have like 10-20 communities.
And there was a lot of drama both within and between communities.
It’s kind sad that we lost this, although lemmy is solid modern alternative, just needs much more users. Enough users for even niche topics to have multiple active communities with their spin/focus on a given topics.
On the plus side, I am glad I got to experience the early pre-corporate internet. It was good times.
- Comment on What are some examples of original fediverse software, not emulating existing platforms? 6 months ago:
Maybe mbin or piefed? They don’t exactly seem to have 1:1 copies among oligarch run services.
- Comment on [deleted] 6 months ago:
Crypto is all about shilling bags or criminal activity.
- Comment on [deleted] 6 months ago:
Don’t post or engage with ML. Problem solved.
That instance is infested with scumbag tankies who white wash genocide, oppose self-determination for independent countries and support imperialismn and authoritarianism.