In honor of Tildes' 5th birthday, presenting a preview of this app I've been working on, called:

Three Cheers for Tildes

It's not ready for an alpha release yet, but have some proof it's not vaporware:

Pre-alpha app preview: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dZ5cDZFrpUw

Q: What devices will be supported?

Android 6.0 and newer. iOS 12.4 and newer (includes iPhone 5s and iPad Air).

Q: Who is this app for?

Mainly for people who are a great fit for Tildes culture, but have found it hard to keep up, without an app.

Maybe they visited once or twice, liked what they saw, but quickly bounced off because they're more accustomed to apps than websites. They could simply have forgotten about Tildes, without that dedicated icon on their homescreen.

Maybe the lack of an app signaled to some that the site was not worth taking seriously yet.

Or maybe they had been active for a while, and over the years gradually got tired of waiting 5-10 seconds to cold-start a web browser on their phone.

I know Tildes regulars don't particularly need an app. Those who've stuck around have clearly been perfectly fine using the website for the past 5 years, after all. Tildes does have an excellent mobile site already! That said, I'd be thrilled if the regulars tried and ended up enjoying the app, but at the same time, I'm not planning to put in massive effort to change minds and habits that don't need to be changed.

Q: I'm new to Tildes. Is Tildes the Next Big Thing? Is it going to replace <mainstream social network>?

Almost certainly not, and that's more than okay! It was never designed or intended to compete head-to-head with any major social networks. Tildes is its own community with its own way of doing things. We could use some new users in 2023 to keep things fresh, in my opinion. But the goal has never been growth at the expense of quality. I believe most of us want to keep the cozy, and manageable, community feel.

Please read the Tildes Docs if you're interested in the philosophy and policies of the site.

Q: What does the app do differently than the mobile site?

Currently: It follows native UI design patterns. It comes with a homescreen icon. It loads faster than a full web browser engine.

Planned: Easier to submit stories by hitting Share from other apps. Notifications. Content and user filtering features.

Q: Will your app have ads?

No. As long as Tildes itself is ad-free, Three Cheers will remain ad-free.

Q: Will you monetize the app some other way?

I might ask for donations, with options to send money to myself or Tildes or both.

I didn't build this app as a moneymaker per se. It's been a fantastic way for me to brush up on new (to me) technologies, and I wanted to support the Tildes community at the same time. Also to be really honest, my competitive side was fired up being the first person to release a native mobile app for Tildes.

Q: Why is the app closed source?

I don't want to open this can of tildo-shaped worms, but know I have to; <details>-ed for length:

On the other hand, if anybody is inspired to prove me wrong and build an open-source app, by all means, go for it! It would be exciting to see an ecosystem of apps maintained by different developers.

Q: Will you release an open-source SDK at least?

Maybe. I'd be up for collaborating on this. It would largely depend on whether the site admin is confident enough to tackle the increased spam and abuse that may result following a public SDK release.

Thanks for reading! I'll post another topic in ~tildes when an alpha version is ready.

This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.

This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.

A few of you mentioned in comments to my previous question that changing your mind could or did affect relationships. To those who did go through such a significant perspective shift, please share your story!

Find yourself watching tons of great videos on [insert chosen video sharing platform], but also find yourself reluctant to flood the Tildes front page with them? Then this thread is for you.

It could be one quirky video that you feel deserves some eyeballs on it, or perhaps you've got a curated list of videos that you'd love to talk us through...

Share some of the best video content you've watched this past week/fortnight with us!

So far I only managed to find two online communities in which people are able to hold a productive discussion and share interesting stuff - Tildes and LessWrong. Do you know if there are any other great online spaces like this?

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

With some inspiration from the Album of the Week over in ~music I was thinking of having something similar for movies. A weekly discussion on a specific movie - we just need to find a selection format that works. We already have a fine weekly thread with free for all discussion, but I was thinking more like a movieclub type thing.

I was thinking a format where every Monday a new topic is created for a specific movie, and the first Monday of the month it will also include the titles for the rest of the month.

The big problem is how to select the movies and what considerations to availability on various streaming services should be done. Which is not easy since the catalog isn't even the same across countries for the same service. I would like there is some element of random discovery, but with some intent of finding quality titles.

I personally enjoy older classics and film festival type movies such as what is on The Criterion Channel and to an extent Mubi. They also have the benefit of being curated services with monthly selections we could simply piggyback on. But maybe that is a bit too niche. There are of course tons of various "best movies of all time"-lists to use and the 1001 movies you must see before you die would be a good candidate to get a mix of all time classics and some titles that aren't mainstream.

We could also do various thematic selections based on decade, genre, director or actors, but I really just want to get started and see how the traction is.

Feel free to chime in if you are interested and have suggestions on how we could choose the movies to watch, and hopefully I can get this thing started Monday the 30th of October.

Between "enshittification" and my general admiration for hobbyist websites, I have felt more and more pressed to learn how to make the websites I want to see and offer it at low cost. At the same time, people usually have to maintain their day jobs and development expenses. I am curious how easy or difficult it is for people to do. (Also, I guess please share your small website if you'd like)

I’m looking for realistic alternatives to flying across the Atlantic Ocean.

I write this from an airport. I utterly despise flying. I hate it. I dislike literally every step of the process. I find the security screenings degrading despite the supposed advantages of TSA Pre-Check and Global Entry. I find the inefficient, class-based boarding process to be a complete waste of time. I am offended by the ridiculous itemized charges for luggage. Flying wreaks havoc on my body—my legs do not fit in their tiny seats and my head does not rest comfortably against their poorly adjustable headrest. Breathing stale, recirculating air for eight hours next to a coughing madman is unpleasant. When landing, without fail, the change in air pressure annihilates my sinuses, causing me a non-trivial amount of pain. I do not like it.

These factors, primarily, as well as some preference for an environmentally friendly lifestyle, have led me to ask for ways to avoid using an airplane to cross the pond.

I would be willing to pay somewhat more and spend considerably more time in transit to avoid flying. If it’s to be a particularly slow voyage (more than a week, as I imagine is typical), I would need an internet connection to work my job; something that can sustain a connection to a virtual machine, or in an ideal world take video calls. I have no other particular needs.

I obviously cannot take a train. I am left with only two options as a non-working passenger (I think): a cruise, or a cargo ship. The former sounds expensive. I have heard of people doing the latter but at a glance all I see online is “service paused due to COVID-19.” Surely that cannot truly be the case in 2023, though?

Does anyone have experience doing this? Can you offer advice on where to get started, what the experience is like, and what pitfalls to avoid? I am honestly almost at a breaking point here. I am obligated to take several transatlantic flights in the next year and I really cannot bear to continue doing this. I am open to ideas even if not all my criteria can be met. I appreciate any comments.

Always a fan of Sloan here, but I was recently reminded of Pure and have been grooving to “Spiritual Pollution” and “Anna”. So make me a virtual mix tape: What were your fav Canadian bands, albums, or songs of the ‘90s?

Asking because I have been having such vivid dreams lately and sometimes they touch me so much to the point that half a day, sometimes even the entire day, will be negatively affected - although that might also be my poor mental health (decided against posting this in ~health.mental as I wasn't sure it had that much to do with it).

I definitely have more bad dreams when I'm in a bad place or going through things, like if I feel lonely I will dream about relationships. If I've been really into something, like a game or watching a lot of the same genre of tv or film, I will dream about things towards that genre. If I'm having interpersonal issues, I will dream about those and even have conflicts and fights in my dreams very much related to that person - I have so many nightmares about my father for example.

I'm not into astrology, tarot cards, witchy stuff, etc., beyond it being just for fun. And I feel like dreams are more along those lines although I don't know. I just know they can really affect me.

What's your take?