Notices by Nelson Chu Pavlosky (skyfaller@jawns.club), page 3

@feditips I'm slightly confused as to how the FediBuzz relay(s) work. I subscribed our server to the "philly" tag, and then made a post using the philly tag. My own post was then boosted into my timeline by FediBuzz.

I don't think normal relays work this way, do they? Why is FediBuzz boosting stuff? Seems a little noisy.

@christianselig Time to copy Tapbots -> Ivory and invest in the Fediverse Reddit alternatives!

Lemmy is the most mature: https://join-lemmy.org/

But there is also kbin: https://kbin.pub/en

And brutalinks: https://brutalinks.tech/

@dansup @liaizon @pixelfed The simple fix I think we're proposing is, instead of showing a list, just default to a random server from the list, instead of the one "flagship".

@evan Qualified yes: I really love the stories in the universe I choose to acknowledge. I hate the movies etc. that I choose to ignore, so I can continue loving the parts I love.

For all of its flaws (inconsistent quality), I really miss the old Expanded Universe books, at least before the Yuuzhan Vong show up. It produced some real stinkers, and it was entirely too obsessed with Death Star copies and analogues, but the same is true of the movies. At its best, it ruled.

@evan Do I know you? We met in person once, I have photographic evidence: https://www.flickr.com/gp/skyfaller/3YM5K0LF6G

@annaleen I'm really sad to see this, as I had this book on my list to read, and I had been world building to write a space opera with lots of "superintelligent" AIs, based partly on articles I read about Bostrom's ideas. May have to throw that whole universe in the trash and start over.

Oh well, at least I didn't buy the book before finding out he was a eugenics proponent.

Is it possible to write characters who are smarter than you without somehow promoting eugenics?

@annaleen Yes, thank you, you're right. The eugenics project, and "superintelligence", is all about producing beings who are "generally" "better" in every way. Acknowledging the impossibility of this and celebrating specific strengths instead of total "superiority" seems like a good approach for avoiding ending up like Bostrom.

Now that I think about it, many plot-relevant traits I gave my AIs, like immortality or having a distributed brain, don't even require sentience.

@evan Of course. But I think the symbolic power of one Greta Thunberg has the potential to be much larger than that of one donor, voter, or purchaser.

If you aren't uniquely positioned for one of the other roles, e.g. you're not a Kennedy or other political dynasty that can definitely claim an influential role in govt...

If you're in an area that is gerrymandered, or where there are no green options to purchase, etc...

Direct action or civil disobedience can be done alone.

@evan Your question is about "a person" and I interpret that as there being no guarantee anyone else will join you. The answer for what you could do with a large organization may be different.

@evan Clearly the answer is going to be different for different people.

Are you rich enough to make a difference with donations? If you are that rich, are you competent / streetwise enough to get your money to a place that matters? (The implosion of the "effective altruism" scene has convinced me almost no one is capable of effective donations.)

I voted activist because it seems like the biggest potential impact for any one person. The others tend to be a matter of numbers.

@evan Qualified yes, because I pay a significant premium to a co-op that promises 100% renewable electricity from Pennsylvania, and "renewable" methane captured from rotting waste: https://www.theenergy.coop/

But these renewables do not directly power my house. They go into a grid where all separation is lost. Some of the electrons coming out of my wall surely come from fossil fuels, my money has no direct effect.

I hope to plan renovations that would directly use renewables instead.

@evan Qualified agree: everyone should have the opportunity to learn, both in school and in free adult courses if they regain interest later. Everyone should have practical access to computers, Internet / network connectivity, and any software or accounts realistically necessary to do actual programming. There should also be types of programming that are simple enough to be accessible to dabblers, children and anyone else who doesn't have time for a degree.

Access is vital, proficiency isn't.

@evan I said qualified no because I think search could work in the future if someone with a lot of experience on fedi and goodwill was very careful about seeking consent and gathering community feedback, and most of all took it slow, rather than giving off "move fast and break things" vibes.

I think now is just a bad time to release a fedi search engine because there have been a number of poorly received search attempts released one after another, and people are short on patience.

@evan I think it's worth considering both intent and quantity here.

If a poster genuinely thinks they are being interesting then they should post. If they are intentionally broadcasting uninteresting posts then I think they should think about why they are doing that.

And as others have said, if you're producing enough quantity to actually clog the timeline and make it unusable for others, then that's a problem no matter how interesting you are.

@evan How often do you have to do something to say that you "do" it?

I've definitely made music. My band recorded music once upon a time: https://wrongsideofdawn.bandcamp.com

But if I've fallen out of the habit, and rarely play my instruments these days, is it something I'm doing, or something I have done? I have the ability to make music, but do I?

Qualified yes.

@evan I said qualified no because I haven't logged into LinkedIn for years, like since before I joined Mastodon. Apparently this should have been a strong no? I'm unclear on the definitions here.

@Richstjr @john And now I have to get specific, Alex Gleason is a TERF and he's the founder of Soapbox. I cannot recommend Soapbox to anyone, trans rights are human rights and this developer should not be welcome in any community.

@john Top reason is that Pleroma had a prominent TERF involved with development for a while, so the Pleroma community self-selected for people who are ok with transphobia. (Discussing this often attracts sea lions who claim that technology is neutral, bemoaning cancel culture.)

For people who like the technology but want a community that might enforce a code of conduct, consider the hard fork Akkoma instead: https://coffee-and-dreams.uk/development/2022/06/24/akkoma.html

Since we upgraded to Mastodon 4, there has been an annoying issue on Jawns.club where the link to our invite request form shows up in desktop view, but not on mobile: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/20840

If you're involved with Mastodon development (or work on one of the forks), I would be grateful if you could help resolve that bug.

Until that is fixed, I apologize to anyone having trouble signing up from their phone.

If you want to join Jawns.club, and can't find the link to join, please request an invite here: https://forms.jawns.club/invite

We welcome anyone from the past, present and/or future of the Philadelphia area, or anyone who just loves Philly :-) :jawn: