General

Feeb wrote:

Amen brother.

FREEDOM!!!!

FREEDOM!!!!

I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance

- Carl Sagan ~1995

Embrace the freedom!

[segment break]

rayzor6 wrote:

Double post..

Twitter is a reflection of that Demon Haunted World quote- ironically in that it separated itself from that idea and then was bastardized by dogma and bought by idealists with an agenda. It is a magnification of credulous ignorance manipulated by those that profit from it. Sagan was 100% right- superstitious zealots are making the laws in America- and we are slipping into the dark ages. Our politicians are celebrities from tv shows that have no grasp of current issues and create alternative facts.

He had some good thoughts on how the same thing happened to Persia. It’s a nice desert now.

If you think it's only America you aren't paying attention.

The quote was about America.

If Carl Sagan thinks it's only America he isn't paying attention.

um... he's dead. And that quote was from 1995.

If Carl Sagan's ghost still thinks it's only America he wasn't paying attention.

Carl Sagan is perpetually misquoted but yes he understood that supernatural / religious / unsupported / charlatan ideas were a destructive force opposing scientific progress everywhere and forever.

bill wrote:

A few months ago I deactivated my Facebook for a few reasons. I realized how much business I lost from groups in addition to strongly missing Messenger. I went back a week later, but removed the Facebook icon from the home screen of my phone so it takes a few clicks if I ever want to pull it up without a notification. I tailored my notifications - and continue to do so, but I spend a fraction of the time I used to spend on there - and I don't miss it.

I use X for following Wario64 and that’s it.

Sun wrote:

I miss him. Wallet doesn’t.

Yeah I'm trying to get off the "well it's on sale/cheap right now so I gotta buy it right now" mentality.

Maybe I will end up paying more than I have to for some things, but maybe I will end up just buying a whole lot fewer games and save a ton more money overall.

Had to replace my car recently, and having a car payment again is helping with that whole not buying stuff thing.

Same. New vehicle. I gave up beer and caffeine recently. Giving up wario as well has felt like a new job. I’m not sure where all of this newfound discipline is coming from. I think I’ve finally grown up. 43 year old man child is finally becoming an old butterfly.

Feeb wrote:

So did some of our founding fathers, but that truth is ignored by the fantasy dwellers. Even when over two dozen quotes directly by the founding fathers prove it's true. The fantasy dwellers will completely ignore those posts and post quotes from the founding fathers who did believe in the fantasy. Progress will never be made until people stop lying and living in a world that never existed.

Unfortunately that's the reality of social media. You can't even use it to keep up for news because the big three (FB, Twitter, Youtube) will insist on shoving stuff that will make you mad in your timeline, all for engagement. It sucks.

Feeb wrote:

Oh for sure. I've definitely spent way more money than I wouldn't have if I wasn't following him.

Feeb wrote:

This is the way I finally got off of Facebook almost a year ago and it's been great. There's still a part of me that kinda misses being linked up with distant relatives, and old friends, because I'm never going to see/catch up with those people otherwise. But, it just wasn't worth it for all of the social media crap you have to put up with. I created an alternate account that's not connected to anybody, just so I can use FB marketplace, but that's all I do on it.

I've always hated Twitter and barely ever used it, except for the last couple years I've been following Wario64. The only reason I still have it on my phone is for his alerts. Occasionally, I'll make the mistake of scrolling past his post and I start to see the other random crap Twitter throws at me. Twitter is WAY worse than FB IMO, a total cesspool.

And it's only going to get worse. Elmo just said he wants to remove the block feature, so we can't even hide all the garbage. Fudging moron.

Foxhack wrote:

I have a friend who posted about accidently buying precooked shrimp and what he could do with it (with a strong tinge of foodie snobbery).

Many people posted things. When I hit the post the ONLY post that was showing was NOT the oldest, NOT the newest and NOT the one that had the most reactions. It was the ONLY one that was NOT a helpful suggestion and said "Ugh...you wouldn't believe the number of people who wouldn't consider that to be a mistake".

And I almost replied because I hate that kind of crap where someone acts like a douche on there because their opinion is clearly the only one or the best one and you are dumb if you think otherwise. But I opened up the post and there were like 12 others that had GREAT suggestions on what you could do with them for different dishes.

It really opened my eyes to the deep psychology to get you to interact and good or bad interaction doesn't matter in their eyes. I always knew that was the general mindset but to see it in action and realize how easy it was to be manipulated kinda ticked me off.

Yup, that's exactly the kind of thing I was talking about.

I just block the people who leave stupid suggestions. They're doing it on purpose, and there's no point in paying attention to them.

Foxhack wrote:

Until Elon says you can't block anymore.

He really is torpedoing the corpse of Twitter as fast as he can

Blocking is for people who don’t know how to report and get others banned properly. You gotta be a dick to beat a dick. Errr…

Foxhack wrote:
Condensed for space

Thanks for the explanation!
Digital Preservation is great! You and your friends are doing important work! I used to be active (relatively) on Mobygames, but tapered off after Windows stopped working with my flatbed scanner. Now I have a great scanner that I can't get to work simply because there are no modern drivers available for it. And I'm not tech-savvy enough to write my own drivers.

Feeb wrote:

Don't do that...

Fight with them, block them, get off the platform yourself but that is too much like grade school and is just cowardly.

Yeah I was being sarcastic. That’s what they did to me. Any comment that wrinkled feathers / was reported got me banned.

With the way it's going, soon instead of banning you they will require you to use the site more as punishment.

Feeb wrote:

That is pathetic. Sorry you had that happen. There is nothing like being banned by a weak minded person

Unfortunately there are user accounts that exist solely to ban / silence a dissenting POV. It’s pretty widespread and you’d be surprised how far some take it: sports, religion, politics, video games, food - you have an opposition opinion they may try to erase your voice. Most of them are not educated or trained in the fields they passionately and vehemently defend or espouse either.

Feeb wrote:

Heard PornHub has a great comments section

benstylus wrote:

I heard that the blocking feature is a requirement for a SM app to be available in the Google Play Store. I think the person who told me said that's also the rule for whatever it is people who have iPhones use to download apps. I wonder if that will cause him to back off.

benstylus wrote:

Good. I see no downside to it not existing. It's a cesspool.

I'd make fun of you for being addicted to social media karma farming, but I click on the, like

image

crap the comes up in the Edge landing browser page, then posting Pikachu Pissyfaces in Discord when I don't like what I read, so really we're the same. Anyways, the world would be immeasurably better tomorrow without IG and Twitter. Don't sniff fudging roosters