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    7. What to do about reddit and trolls?

      ~talk Text 154 words
      So I was following this discussion on Reddit today about someone finding evidence of Russia trolls finding a safe haven on reddit and the admins not addressing it. And then also this one on Tildes...

      So I was following this discussion on Reddit today about someone finding evidence of Russia trolls finding a safe haven on reddit and the admins not addressing it.

      And then also this one on Tildes that clears up why the OP deleted his account and the Reddit admin's overall poor response.

      So I was wondering...is there any way to fix reddit? I've all but left it, but I really wish it wasn't so horrible a place to be.

      In one of the reddit threads, a user posted an idea of having many many redditors all refuse to log in to reddit for a single day as a protest against how the site is being ran. Would this be advisable or effective? What other things could be done to "wake up" the site owners to what has been going on for so long?

      EDIT: Here was the reddit admin team's response to the incident.

      22 votes

    12. Syntax highlighting for the coders, invites for everyone

      ~tildes.official Text 234 words
      Another open-source contribution has now been implemented - @Soptik wrote the code to add support for syntax highlighting, which should be great for topics like the programming challenges in...

      Another open-source contribution has now been implemented - @Soptik wrote the code to add support for syntax highlighting, which should be great for topics like the programming challenges in ~comp.

      I'll update the formatting documentation to include info about it shortly, but it's straightforward to use. You have to use a "fenced code block", which usually means that you put 3 backticks above and below the code, and include the name of the language after the 3 backticks above it. So for example, markdown like this:

      ```python
def word_count(string: str) -> int:
    """Count the number of words in the string."""
    return len(WORD_REGEX.findall(string))
```

      will render as:

      def word_count(string: str) -> int:
    """Count the number of words in the string."""
    return len(WORD_REGEX.findall(string))

      This is being done by the "Pygments" library, which supports a lot of languages: http://pygments.org/docs/lexers/

      And completely unrelated to that, it's been a while since I gave everyone some invite codes, so I've topped everyone back up to 5 (and as always, feel free to let me know if you need more). You can access them on this page: https://tildes.net/invite

      That's all for now, thanks everyone (and @Soptik in particular). There should also be more changes coming before too long, I've been working on some major updates to the comment-tagging system and hopefully should be able to implement those soon.

      78 votes

    18. Has anyone used FreeCAD, Kicad and other foss software?

      ~tech Ask (survey)
      The recent post on foss software got me thinking about viable foss alternatives, particularly non programming related. I just came across FreeCAD and am wondering if anyone has experience using...

      The recent post on foss software got me thinking about viable foss alternatives, particularly non programming related.

      I just came across FreeCAD and am wondering if anyone has experience using it, how it compares to Solidworks, Autodesk, Rhino or Catia?

      I was shown Kicad at uni by a ladtech and was very impressed, way easier and more flexible then whatever microchip software they where teaching.

      On a broader level what other professional ffos alternatives do you guys know about?

      Is anyone using this stuff on a professional level or is it more hobby at the moment?

      15 votes

    19. Voting on the main page discourages discussion

      ~tildes Text 75 words
      I realize preventing people without first reading the link or text is impossible, but the least we can do is to not encourage it. By that, I mean the vote counts on the right hand side here...

      I realize preventing people without first reading the link or text is impossible, but the least we can do is to not encourage it. By that, I mean the vote counts on the right hand side here shouldn't be clickable if discussions are the priority for Tildes.

      What do you think?

      EDIT: Just to be clear - I'm not against showing the votes on the front page (though @AllMight below has a fair argument for that).

      21 votes

    27. I find that actively trying to not sound rude is much better than saying "I don't want to sound rude", even if you get it wrong and end up sounding rude anyway

      ~talk Text 202 words
      Rhetorically speaking, "I don't want to sound rude" can have the opposite effect as the one intended by the writer (when I'm on the receiving end that's almost 100% of the time). It basically...

      Rhetorically speaking, "I don't want to sound rude" can have the opposite effect as the one intended by the writer (when I'm on the receiving end that's almost 100% of the time). It basically states, from the get-go, that the opposing argument is so deeply flawed, requiring such a strong, ruthless counter-argument, that there's a good possibility that you might offend your interlocutor's sensibilities. Even if you're so fucking right that your answer erupts from the depths of your logical mind with the power of a thousand volcanoes, that's not a good way to create rapport. At this point, no one knows your reasoning yet. You may sound like a douche bag. You may be right, but not as right as you think. You may also be very wrong, and in that case you not only promised something you couldn't deliver, but you also made it hard to take the conversation forward. Because, by belittling your interlocutor, you created an environment where getting it wrong is not admissible, and he/she will apply the same rule to yourself. Even in the case that you're right, your behavior discouraged further questions. All because you wanted to be nice! Communication is hard.

      16 votes

    37. Favorite recent fighting game that is not well known?

      ~games Ask (recommendations)
      I really like the "idea" of fighting games, as I like playing against others and outplaying them, guessing their moves and the mind games etc. But the only fighting game ive legitimately enjoyed...

      I really like the "idea" of fighting games, as I like playing against others and outplaying them, guessing their moves and the mind games etc. But the only fighting game ive legitimately enjoyed was Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and id like to play something more recent.

      It had alot of personality, each character felt different enough despite the size of the roster, and it was easy enough for a casual like me to get into while still not feeling too easy. Out of the new fighting games ive tried Fighterz, but it doesnt have enough character variety (not a dbz fan), the new MvC has a bad roster, Street fighter was too technical and idk boring? MK is very clunky, ive tried tekken but it didnt really grab me, and skullgirls hasn't either.
      I want a game I can stick with and get good at, but the mainstream titles don't really appeal to me, does anyone have a suggestion?

      10 votes

    50. ~music Listening Club 14 - Public Strain

      ~music Text 130 words
      We're at week 14, friends. Here we've got this week's user-voted record: Public Strain by Women! Taken from @Cleb's pitch: Noisy post-punk that sounds exactly like the image the cover depicts:...

      We're at week 14, friends. Here we've got this week's user-voted record: Public Strain by Women!

      Taken from @Cleb's pitch:

      Noisy post-punk that sounds exactly like the image the cover depicts: Marching your way through a cold wasteland in the middle of a blizzard. It builds a wonderfully hopeless atmosphere and comes together so well.

      Here's the place to discuss your thoughts on the record, your history with it or the artist, and basically talk about whatever you want to that goes along with Public Strain. Remember that this is intended to be a slow moving thing, feel free to take your time and comment at any point in the week!

      If you'd like to stream or buy the album, it can be found on most platforms here.

      5 votes