Deimos's recent activity

  1. The temporary sub-group for Advent of Code is back - subscribe if you're interested!

    ~comp Text 163 words
    As we did for the last two years, I've set up a temporary sub-group that we can use for this year's Advent of Code at ~comp.advent_of_code I moved all the Day 1 solutions that were posted in the...

    As we did for the last two years, I've set up a temporary sub-group that we can use for this year's Advent of Code at ~comp.advent_of_code

    I moved all the Day 1 solutions that were posted in the thread that @JRandomHacker posted into a dedicated post for the Day 1 problem, and I've set up scheduled posts to happen automatically as each day's puzzle unlocks.

    I also automatically subscribed everyone that voted on that original topic, as well as everyone that posted a comment in any of the previous years' topics, but nobody else. So if you're interested in participating in Advent of Code or discussing it, please subscribe to the sub-group. Posts from the sub-group won't be shown to logged-out users by default either, so any logged-out users that want to observe will need to visit the sub-group directly (or you're welcome to email me and request an invite so you can register and subscribe).

    24 votes

  3. Comment on Vizio’s profit on ads, subscriptions, and data is double the money it makes selling TVs in ~tech

    Deimos
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Pi-Hole is actually really turn-key, you probably shouldn't be intimidated by it. Installation is pretty much running one command and changing a setting through your router's web interface, and...

    Pi-Hole is actually really turn-key, you probably shouldn't be intimidated by it. Installation is pretty much running one command and changing a setting through your router's web interface, and then you should almost never have to touch it.

    I've had one running for years now and have only ever needed to do anything with it a handful of times, and it's never been very technical even when I do. It very, very rarely breaks a random site, and then all I ever do is open the web interface in a browser, log in, and click the thing to disable it for X minutes. I don't think I've ever done anything other than install it and temporarily disable it.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on Advent of Code 2021 in ~comp.advent_of_code

    Deimos
    Link Parent
    I'll get the sub-group set up again—I kind of forgot that it would start tonight and not tomorrow.

    I'll get the sub-group set up again—I kind of forgot that it would start tonight and not tomorrow.

    13 votes

  7. Comment on The OBS Project has accused StreamLabs of copying their name and trademark in ~games

  9. Comment on Paywalls, and the difficulty of accurately tagging them in ~tildes

    Deimos
    Link
    Personally, I've never really felt like I understood the value of the paywall tag. It seemed like some people felt pretty strongly about adding it though, and having more tags doesn't really hurt...

    Personally, I've never really felt like I understood the value of the paywall tag. It seemed like some people felt pretty strongly about adding it though, and having more tags doesn't really hurt anything other than some minor clutter in a couple of places, so I haven't worried about it. Since I never even notice if a topic has it or not, it's hard for me to suggest much, but I'd say to probably try to think about what purpose you're trying to serve with it, and see if the tag (with or without soft/hard/etc. sub-tags) accomplishes that, or if there might be some other approach.

    In general though, I feel like tags should focus more on the content itself, and not more "meta" things like characteristics of the site it's hosted on. That's kind of an infinite rabbit-hole where you could end up with people wanting to tag topics with their own pet preferences like whether the site requires Javascript, whether it has a light or dark theme, and so on. I also feel a little weird about it because (as you're talking about) the paywall status isn't even always the same for different users, locations, etc. It seems strange to me that it can change over time as well, and that a tag might need to be added or removed if the link is changed to a different copy of the exact same content (a common case is when an article is paywalled somewhere like WSJ but freely available through MSN). None of that's necessarily wrong, but it just feels off to me.

    10 votes

  12. Comment on Reddit adds "Community Points" on the Ethereum blockchain - used for purchases, memberships, tips, and reputation-weighted voting (in polls) in ~tech

    Deimos
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    It's bizarre to see so much significance being attached to those tweets. The guy graduated from university a month ago and hasn't even started at Reddit yet, where he'll be as junior of an...

    It's bizarre to see so much significance being attached to those tweets. The guy graduated from university a month ago and hasn't even started at Reddit yet, where he'll be as junior of an engineer as you can possibly be. But people are writing articles about it and making stuff like this, like he's a luminary influencing the future of social media. The cryptocurrency space is so weird.

    Overall though, most of the major tech companies have projects tinkering with blockchain/NFT stuff right now because of the hype level. Zynga even announced a "VP of Blockchain Gaming" today. Almost all of it's not going to result in anything.

    Edit: and then I ran across this thread, where an advisor for Reddit explains how NFTs will make it so that you can get hired and start working at a job 60 seconds after applying. I genuinely don't understand how people can take this kind of thing seriously.

    13 votes

  13. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Deimos
    Link Parent
    What gives you that feeling? I haven't played yet (tonight!), but the Digital Foundry tech review seemed pretty excited about the sound. Their article included: Here's the section of the video...

    I feel like the sound is less rich than Forza 4

    What gives you that feeling? I haven't played yet (tonight!), but the Digital Foundry tech review seemed pretty excited about the sound. Their article included:

    Firstly, the audio uses a form of software ray tracing to properly simulate audio collision. The developers can mark up different pieces of scenery to denote the material type - be it metal, wood or concrete - and the sound engine responds correctly. Sound bounces around the environment in such a way that these different areas will produce a different sound response. It's also possible for the game to alter the sound based on whether the sound source is occluded - so a car behind a large building will sound different than one out in the field. In theory, you should be able to hear a car turning a corner off-screen, without seeing it.

    Here's the section of the video version talking about the game's audio: https://youtu.be/fuB2MnG9sCE?t=1451

    4 votes

  14. Comment on Reddit adds "Community Points" on the Ethereum blockchain - used for purchases, memberships, tips, and reputation-weighted voting (in polls) in ~tech

  16. Comment on I am a volunteer on a project that may interest you in ~comp

    Deimos
    Link Parent
    If you don't want a tech-oriented userbase, you really shouldn't be doing early promotion of the project in ~comp, the most-technical group on Tildes. In general, by looking for users on Tildes...

    If you don't want a tech-oriented userbase, you really shouldn't be doing early promotion of the project in ~comp, the most-technical group on Tildes.

    In general, by looking for users on Tildes you're just going to inherit the same userbase biases that exist here, but even more concentrated because there's only a certain type of user that will be interested in adopting (another) unfinished platform.

    18 votes

  17. Comment on A short interview with the founder of SpaceHey (a MySpace clone) in ~tech

    Deimos
    Link Parent
    Yeah, that kind of thing can often happen with an ad containing malware coming through a bad ad network. I've removed the topic, thanks.

    Yeah, that kind of thing can often happen with an ad containing malware coming through a bad ad network. I've removed the topic, thanks.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Is Tildes considered to be an exclusive community? in ~tildes

    Deimos
    Link Parent
    You're getting weirdly and unnecessarily personal very quickly, in a kind of passive-aggressive way. You can continue your discussion about this in PMs if you want to, but it's obviously not...

    You're getting weirdly and unnecessarily personal very quickly, in a kind of passive-aggressive way. You can continue your discussion about this in PMs if you want to, but it's obviously not headed in a good direction in public.

    8 votes

  20. Comment on The new puritans in ~humanities

    Deimos
    Link
    I read an article last week by Michael Hobbes, "The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism"—it's centered around this Atlantic article and a similar one from the Economist, using them as its main...
    • Exemplary

    I read an article last week by Michael Hobbes, "The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism"—it's centered around this Atlantic article and a similar one from the Economist, using them as its main examples. It's also quite long, but I thought it was very good and would highly recommend reading it too. I think it does a good job of going through a lot of aspects that come up regularly in media, both around this specific subject and in general.

    13 votes