Notices by Scotsbear 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🐻 (uraael@kitty.social)

@weeble@fedi.bungle.online @coolboymew@shitposter.world @koimoa@binky.fish @sun@shitposter.world @mischievoustomato@tsundere.love

Yep, and Linux can absolutely be that simple for them.

But speaking for myself I'm glad I learned computers when I did (the 80s) because it's helping me learn the more complicated parts of Linux now, which is proving immensely enjoyable.

@p@fsebugoutzone.org @koimoa@binky.fish @coolboymew@shitposter.world @sun@shitposter.world @weeble@fedi.bungle.online @mischievoustomato@tsundere.love

In your kitchen example you've just said that there is a choice between what tools can be used. A Chef would make different choices than an ordinary cook.

The Chef isn't out there demanding that ordinary cooks use their tools.

That's the point I'm making. You don't need to force people to use complicated tools, just because you find them better for your tasks. Plain, simple tools are fine for those that want them. I'm not saying complicated software is bad - I routinely choose more complex software in my personal life, KDE over Gnome, Vivaldi over Chrome and so on. All I'm saying is there's nothing wrong with software being ABC simple. I hate Gnome's simplicity but Gnome suits people other than me, and that's brilliant.

@sun@shitposter.world @ageha@tomo.airen-no-jikken.icu @coolboymew@shitposter.world @koimoa@binky.fish @mischievoustomato@tsundere.love @weeble@fedi.bungle.online Not heated at all this side; enthusiastic, is all. This is a great conversation and I'm enjoying it. Sorry if I'm coming across in any way hostile.

@ageha@tomo.airen-no-jikken.icu @sun@shitposter.world @koimoa@binky.fish @weeble@fedi.bungle.online @coolboymew@shitposter.world @mischievoustomato@tsundere.love

Oh, exactly 100% this, yes.

The people who want others to become better computer users are hypocrites.

They accept a metric-shit-tonne of conveniences in their own lives, other people doing things for them, but when it comes to computers they think they have the right to withhold skills and demand better proficiency.

These people aren't hunting or cooking their own food, growing their own textiles to make their own clothes, building their own cars or tools...they stand uplifted on a mountain of other people's skills and labour and think they get to look down on others asking for software and computers to be easy to use.

We teach people to drive cars because you don't kill someone using a computer inexpertly.

@sun@shitposter.world @coolboymew@shitposter.world @koimoa@binky.fish @mischievoustomato@tsundere.love @weeble@fedi.bungle.online

But why? Why force people to learn if we don't have to? That's as obnoxious as the OP tweets.

@sun@shitposter.world @koimoa@binky.fish @coolboymew@shitposter.world @weeble@fedi.bungle.online @mischievoustomato@tsundere.love

Disagree. There's nothing inherently noble or valuable about tool-complexity. Believing so is an ideological bias.

The whole foundational principle of software is that it makes work easier, allows us to do more than we can do by ourselves. If you're building it with the intent to aggravate users into becoming more capable software users, you're doing it wrong.

@sun@shitposter.world @weeble@fedi.bungle.online @koimoa@binky.fish @coolboymew@shitposter.world @mischievoustomato@tsundere.love

That sounds super-exhausting. My god, no. I appreciate a challenge, grit makes pearls, but I wouldn't want all challenge all the time. Sometimes it is vital that things just work easily and with the absolute minimum of fuss, and sometimes I just need to relax, you know?

Look. Some of the comments here are veering off into kind of abusive/derogatory/judgemental regarding device-usage, and I just want to be clear that wanting a box with one big shiny button on it is, by itself, not any kind of failing. You don't know what that person does in their lives that might mean they don't have the resource to sit and troubleshoot bugged code for four hours a day. Other people just aren't that way inclined, and that is perfectly valid. Computer illiteracy isn't a crime, or some societal death-knell. [#Relax]. What bugs me personally is when that becomes obnoxious crowd-pleasing mockery; those people can fuck off. But perhaps if we weren't calling them "retards" and making them feel stupid they'd be less inclined to be like that?

But for your basic 'I just want email that works' person I have no beef with them whatsoever. I have a colleague at work who finds IT use really really hard and it shocked me how little she understood basic concepts, but from her I learned that people with IT skills need to have tolerance for and patience with those that it doesn't come easy to, and not try to berate/guilt them into becoming sysadmins.

@sun@shitposter.world @mischievoustomato@tsundere.love @koimoa@binky.fish @weeble@fedi.bungle.online @coolboymew@shitposter.world Yep. Drives me nuts. Folks used to be this exact form of mocking dicks about Mastodon too, because of course using that takes PHD-level rocket surgery. (In fact ths attitude can still be found over on Bluesky).

Wait, someone's creating DIRE WOLVES???

DISBELIEVE!!!*

Also, isn't "De-extinction" a Jurassic-washing euphemism for the kind of 'never stopped to consider if they should' fuckery that Dr Iain Malcom warned us all about?

Still, though. I would definitely #PetThePuppy.

No, you have no clue what ancient pop culture reference I'll resurrect next! I'M THAT RANDOM! nanoo nanoo Klaatu barada nikto

*Editors Note: this is a joke 40 years in the making and you are all richer for having read it. You're welcome.
#ChaosTheBattleOfWizards

Today I defended the frikkin Mona Lisa from people who thought they'd seen "better" in their local art colleges, and another who thought its entire claim to any kind of fame was because it got stolen once.

This arose out of me defending Miyazaki's work against AI plagiarism. Other ob/noxious opinions included "Of course AI can make a Mona Lisa or a Miyazaki film".

Ignorance, man. Fucking epidemic these days.

That, and a third commenter decided to use me as his personal punching bag.

Sometimes I wonder why I go online at all.

/Raargh

@jacklaridian@social.horrorhub.club I generate ALL THE MEMES.

@jacklaridian@social.horrorhub.club imgflip helps me out so much omg it's a life-saver.

I wish I could Photoshop images. So many of my joke ideas are Visual, wasted on me like tears in lucozade.

#MeanGirls #MemeGirls #Bluesky

I've been frequenting RockPaperShotgun since 2009. I've drifted a away a bit in latter years, evolving and growing after the company was sold to an SEO-focused news org. But I still count myself as a solid fan of the sites, especially when as a Gaming website it has never shied away from "Political" issues, like this one today:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/video-game-publishers-are-starting-to-use-anti-dei-as-a-marketing-meme

You can normally tell a Political thread just by the count of user comments left beneath - normally in the multiple-centuries instead of in mere dozens. This one has panned out predictably; some brand new accounts swooping in to make trouble, some well-meaning but dumb comments being taken to task and a LOT of anger.

Worth a read if you've got any room spare for the ongoing "Culture War" under a microscope. Plus, it's always fun when a games publisher outs themselves as unworthy of your money.

#Gaming #RPS #DEI #Brouhaha

Some spectacularly baroque and engrossing retro gaming on offer today: the remastered editions of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 are out now from your favourite digi-stockist. If you've never encountered this series before, play it for the dimension-shifting levels, the elaborate plotting, the metroidvania progression, and three of the world's finest voice actors at the very peak of their powers plying your ears with verbal honey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5qzpSrd-ko&t=76s

#PCGaming #Linux #LegacyOfKain #MichaelBell #SimonTempleman #TonyJay

I'm sorry, random American lady: you can't tell my beloved you're a fan of Scotland and then say you have some "Scotch Plaid" at home.

BEHOLD my withering stare of Gonnae No Dae That!

#Scotland #ScotchIsADrink! #TartanNotPlaid

@killyourfm@layer8.space @thejackimonster@wehavecookies.social

Herding cats would be easier, lol.

Taking a breather (has been a long day). I will come back to this, though. Even if we can get enough of us in the Fedi talking it might spark some other ideas for broader reach.

@killyourfm@layer8.space

Choice paralysis, eh? On that one I've often thought a simple carefully structured questionnaire/website might actually work wonders. e.g.:

Command line or GUI? GUI
focuses on Distros with great UI tools

Does the thought of not having any updates to anything for six months freak you out? Yes
*filters out fixed-release Distros*

DE's. Do you like tweaking things?" No:
*narrows to Gnome-focused Distros, or Distros with Gnome spins*

Aaaand so on. There's got to be a way to do that that is easy to understand and doesn't bamboozle folks.

Perhaps we even start Grading distros according to certain criteria, so they can display a CERTIFIED AWESOME FOR NEW USERS! badge, or something.

Random thoughts. Idk. Need food.

@killyourfm@layer8.space As a recent convert to...well, no, let me change that to recent adoptee of Linux (I've always been favourable to Linux even when I wasn't using it) I think technically we're pretty much there apart from the more specialized use-cases you invariably see haunting 'Move to Linux' threads. (But muh fotoshop/vijyo editing!)

Changing people's minds will be the nut to crack. There's also a lot of crusty stereotypes and old junk information out there that needs destroyed.

But an even bigger challenge than that will be readying some Linux spaces for the influx of more casual but more demanding users. Still pockets of Elitism out there that we'll need to either abrogate or funnel folks away from.

Gonna have a think myself for some solutions to this.