Notices by Shannon Clark (rycaut@mastodon.social), page 2

@BeAware no problem - one thing I'd suggest - watch some of the various live play streams of ttrpgs if you want to see various styles. When I didn't have a regular group I found (and still do) watching such live plays really fun - and sampling a bunch shows the very wide range of ways people play the same game.

and online - you can play in many groups with camera off, there are even ways to play ttrpgs online that aren't real time - look up "play by post" its very popular

@BeAware and two - it is increasingly easier (though still not simple) to find games especially online. That said if you ever want to try D&D (or Pathfinder 1e) I'm happy to run a game for you - but yes, scheduling ttrpgs is for many the hardest problem (and related finding a group and gm that all want the same type of table experience / game - even old friends sometimes want to play very different styles and tones of games) that's always been my hardest challenge as a gm.

@BeAware well two things - there are some fantastic tools online (actually a bunch of them) for the mechanical bits of most tttrpgs - various Virtual Table Tops offered shortened to VTTs also have digital tools for character sheets many of which handle all the math and rules interactions - they make a HUGE difference even if playing in person. I'm a huge fan of them especially for making it easier for new players (but even for experienced players) DnDBeyond is good but far from the only option

@BeAware as a long time GM (been running ttrpgs of various forms for 40+ years.) I don’t get how or why you think AI as a GM would be fun or a good idea. For me the whole point of rpgs is the storytelling together at the table - the cocreation of a story. Yes some of it involves mechanical bits and a tactical map sometimes but even there for me at least story comes first. But above story is getting every player involved and engaged and having the fun they want at the table on or offline

@BeAware I’m definitely not in the OSR school of tabletop games - I use random tables etc occasionally but mostly I improvise stories at the table mixed with a lot of understanding of the mechanics (mostly Pathfinder 1e or D&D 5e for me these days) I’ve run 100’s of games for 1000’s of people at game stores and conventions as well as home games. I don’t see how or when I would use AI for anything gaming related

@BeAware

School breaks. Not because many Fediverse users are students but because many are parents.

I’m serious - it has been spring break for many schools in recent weeks (the exact dates of spring break vary by school district) and thus parents likely have been less engaged. Similarly with “ski week” in February (for the parts of the country that have that break) and for the typically longer break in Dec/early Jan.

I know my use dips during family vacations

@todb initially one huge advantage Wikipedia has and most other wikis or similar crowd created content models don’t have is a widespread common shared structure for the content - ie “encyclopedia”

(Now decades on Wikipedia has evolved into more nuance and different formats and structures that were never or were less commonly part of encyclopedias - but the structure is a large reason they could get started. It helped everyone answer “does this content look right”)

Also the mess is hidden

@stevenray @anildash @whitehouse @tchambers I haven’t tested it but my understanding is that Threads users see some aggregated stats about Fediverse activity but I don’t think can see specific replies or boosts (they can see how many different servers interacted with a post but I don’t think they can see the replies.

However I hope this changes (and that threads users can follow fediverse accounts etc) but I have no unique knowledge if/when that will happen.

@anildash also the @whitehouse official account.

And I hope this is the start of many more such accounts to come as welll as organizations considering their own official instances not just via Threads (so they can have true two way discourse) and more of a range of accounts - but if just every official federal (and hopefully state and local) government official accounts use threads to join the larger fediverse that’s a win)

Is it perfection no. But it is a win.

Got sucked into the great discussions at #FediForum and didn’t live post as much as I had planned. Another fantastic event. If you see the is shortly and are in the Mountain View CA area a few of us may grab some lunch in person shortly. And one action item of many from the conference is a bunch of folks will be trying to hold some in person meetups (around the globe actually) including here in the Bay Area - looking forward to them.

I like @anildash (we've know each other for eh a lot of years) and while I too agree that the return of the weird Internet is likely (and largely a good thing)

I also really want a return to the boring Internet. An internet with reliable trusted information, searches that don't try to think for me, and sites that really are from the local businesses I'm looking for (or are actual humans with real knowledge about a topic or area talking about it)

the internet of the 1990's was this as well

@enron @tchambers one not unrelated thing I would love to see is a standard emerge for publishing payment addresses that can then be processed in an automated fashion. Ie something like a URI (there is a little used proposed payto URI) which instances as well as perhaps individuals (or organizations with fediverse accounts) might be able to publish and then others could offer automated ways of using that.

Ie to make it easy to support your instance, apps you use, creators you engage with etc

@ajgoulet @malcircuit @lisamelton I’m not a big user of it but that’s kinda exactly what @Flipboard is and @mike is very active here as is his company)

@ryanhoulihan most of @charliejane’s books are on Audible (fiction mostly but all excellent and her YA series in particular has Trans main characters)

But ugh and sorry that sucks (and Amazon/Audible’s algorithms likely keep piling on suggestions the more you browse crap)

Not going to call out any specific company for taking too long to leave X. Let’s celebrate those that are doing the right thing.

But worth noting that pulling ads the week before Black Friday is, in fact, highly meaningful. From now for another few weeks is a very high volume shopping period - so ads especially for consumer goods have a lot of spend behind them (but also B2B as budgets for next year are set and budgets spent this year)

@dansup @pixelfed book recommendation for you “How to write one song” by Jeff Tweedy. It’s really great one of the best books I’ve read in years for inspiration in creative endeavors

@Merovius yes. The double opt-in introduction is best.

That is - if someone asks for an intro my response is I will ask if the party the intro is asked for are interested and if they are I will make the introduction.

(Takes a little more effort - but usually appreciated and also confirms the best method and communication path to use - ie some people use specific email/numbers/apps for professional communications and others for personal ones)