LewsTherinTelescope's recent activity
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Comment on Pay what you want for every Wheel of Time book (supporting the ACLU) in ~books
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Comment on Firefox now supports native vertical tabs in 136.0 release in ~tech
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentI did as well, I kinda just had to use them until I was used to it.I did as well, I kinda just had to use them until I was used to it.
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Comment on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 | Official teaser in ~movies
LewsTherinTelescope LinkI'm not super in love tonally yet, but a) it's just the teaser rather than full trailer, and b) the first movie's trailers had me a bit worried for the same reasons only for the actual film to be...- I'm not super in love tonally yet, but a) it's just the teaser rather than full trailer, and b) the first movie's trailers had me a bit worried for the same reasons only for the actual film to be very different in a way I was pleased by, so I'm not too fussed.
- Animatronics continue to look pretty much exactly like the game come to life, stellar work there.
- Is that Lillard over the speakers? I can't quite tell and other reactions seem to go back and forth too.
- Unsurprisingly a sequel following Mike, Abby, and Vanessa instead of a prequel like the game, but I can't fault them for that. Wonder if we'll get nods to the game's story having happened in the past at least.
Overall decently interested in more, so I'd say it did its job as a teaser.
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Comment on What if we made advertising illegal? in ~tech
LewsTherinTelescope LinkOn top of the "how do you define that?" and "how do you get information out about products?" questions other comments bring up, you're gonna need to either find an alternative way to sustain the...On top of the "how do you define that?" and "how do you get information out about products?" questions other comments bring up, you're gonna need to either find an alternative way to sustain the vast majority of the Web or lock it off from anyone who can't pay directly for every page they read/video they watch/game they play.
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Comment on What's an atypical thing you do that you'd recommend to others? in ~talk
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentThat was helpful, thanks! Still confusing, but, well, sounds like there's a reason for that lol. The "internal sense of self" interpretation sounds like the root of what I've been having a hard...That was helpful, thanks! Still confusing, but, well, sounds like there's a reason for that lol. The "internal sense of self" interpretation sounds like the root of what I've been having a hard time grasping, I think, but I suppose that's probably hard to describe in the same way describing "happiness" or "sadness" is.
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Comment on Bash-it: a collection of community Bash commands and scripts (and a shameless ripoff of oh-my-zsh) in ~comp
LewsTherinTelescope LinkI've been using oh-my-bash, I'll need to look into the differences at some point.I've been using oh-my-bash, I'll need to look into the differences at some point.
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Comment on What's an atypical thing you do that you'd recommend to others? in ~talk
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentHeh, that does make things tricky! I'm pretty fine with the ambiguity for myself, but gender's a topic I've been trying to understand for a while because of its importance to trans friends and...Heh, that does make things tricky!
I'm pretty fine with the ambiguity for myself, but gender's a topic I've been trying to understand for a while because of its importance to trans friends and acquaintances, yet have never quite been able to grasp despite talking with them (those conversations being where a lot of the "who knows haha" responses have come from). 'Course if someone tells me to refer to them a specific way I'll respect that regardless, but I like to try and see where people are coming from, especially if I'm close to them. And especially given the current state of things in the US.
I've heard of agender, yeah. I use it as a descriptor when relevant, though I'm always a little hesitant to "claim" it because for some others I know it's an important part of their identity that they're not gendered, while for me it's more like "I haven't heard of that song you're referencing, sorry". (For that reason I'll sometimes oversimplify and just call myself a cis guy because it paints a more accurate picture of my life experiences; depends on what the person seems to be trying to get at and how much detail they expect.)
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Comment on What's an atypical thing you do that you'd recommend to others? in ~talk
LewsTherinTelescope (edited )Link ParentI've thought about the pronouns question and been referred to in a variety of ways before (long hair will do that to ya), but it always felt like putting the cart before the horse. That is, if for...I've thought about the pronouns question and been referred to in a variety of ways before (long hair will do that to ya), but it always felt like putting the cart before the horse. That is, if for example someone calls me "straight" or "gay" I know what those mean and thus can answer if the word is accurate or inaccurate, but if someone calls me "he" or "she" I have no basis by which to judge it (excluding the physical definitions, which evidently many whose judgments I trust find to be inadequate) and thus I feel nothing about it. I've never cared much for labels of any kind beyond their utility for communication, so questions that center around choosing them without conveying any kind of commonly-understood meaning befuddle me.
Sorry, I appreciate the advice and this isn't meant to argue, just me kind of thinking aloud about the topic.
Edit: For another example, if someone refers to "bad food" I have a general idea that they mean "food with a taste that gives a negative impression", even if their exact list of qualifying foods might be different from someone else's. But I have no grasp on what "manhood", "womanhood", etc mean—there's the traditional definitions around physical traits, or around cultural masculinity/femininity, but you can find feminine people with female bodies that might even use she/her pronouns yet who very strongly identify with the label "man", so evidently there's SOMETHING else I'm not grasping. I just have zero clue what it is, so the labels don't tell me anything and thus I feel no connection to them.
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Comment on What's an atypical thing you do that you'd recommend to others? in ~talk
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentI see people say this, but I never understand what that actually means, and whenever I ask I usually get a trite answer like "haha nobody knows" that doesn't seem to understand that no I'm not...I see people say this, but I never understand what that actually means, and whenever I ask I usually get a trite answer like "haha nobody knows" that doesn't seem to understand that no I'm not joking, I literally don't know what's being talked about.
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Comment on Discord in early talks about IPO in ~tech
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentVanilla Discord recently introduced channel hiding, iirc, though the minimum window size still exists and is still annoying. Lately I've been using Vencord instead of BD though, has fewer mods but...Vanilla Discord recently introduced channel hiding, iirc, though the minimum window size still exists and is still annoying. Lately I've been using Vencord instead of BD though, has fewer mods but they cover my needs and the overall experience feels smoother.
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Comment on Do you have a game that you love from “before your time?” in ~games
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentThe mobile ports are also free on the Epic Games Store until March 20th! Both support modding on Android, second does on iOS but requires a computer to transfer the files. (Caveat that most...The mobile ports are also free on the Epic Games Store until March 20th! Both support modding on Android, second does on iOS but requires a computer to transfer the files. (Caveat that most complex mods require running a Windows-native patcher, though, but the Restored Content Mod has a pre-packaged version.)
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Comment on Do you have a game that you love from “before your time?” in ~games
LewsTherinTelescope LinkLot more recent than what other people are listing but still several decades old: the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games are almost the same age as I am, and I love them. Granted, I...Lot more recent than what other people are listing but still several decades old: the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games are almost the same age as I am, and I love them. Granted, I don't know if it counts because the Android port of the first was still one of my first ""real"" video games, so I still have my own form of nostalgia there.
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Comment on App/browser extension idea if it doesn't already exist: likely bot database in ~tech
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentThat last part also makes other indicators that often get suggested like something "feeling AI" risky, because (on top of the risk of false positives) some people who aren't very fluent do use...That last part also makes other indicators that often get suggested like something "feeling AI" risky, because (on top of the risk of false positives) some people who aren't very fluent do use LLMs to fix up their grammar and such, so they'd be accurately flagged but are legitimately a real person.
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Comment on What are your favourite comfort re-reads? in ~books
LewsTherinTelescope LinkThe Host by Stephenie Meyer. It's got its share of... interesting decisions, but it just feels so warm somehow. Basic premise: body-snatching alien parasite falls in love with her host's family...The Host by Stephenie Meyer. It's got its share of... interesting decisions, but it just feels so warm somehow.
Basic premise: body-snatching alien parasite falls in love with her host's family through their memories and decides to seek out the human resistance to check up on them. This goes about as well as you would expect.
(While there are sci-fi elements, don't go in expecting that to be the focus, they're mainly there to add texture to the protagonist's backstory. It's much more a character and relationship book than a worldbuilding one.)
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Comment on What long book series is worth its page count? in ~books
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentI can't second this enough. It's a huge commitment for sure, but (if it's your jam) it's extremely worth it, "favorite series of all time" territory for me despite its flaws.I can't second this enough. It's a huge commitment for sure, but (if it's your jam) it's extremely worth it, "favorite series of all time" territory for me despite its flaws.
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Comment on Don't contribute anything relevant in web forums like Reddit in ~tech
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentBa'alzylophone, you mean?Ba'alzylophone, you mean?
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Comment on Looking for DRM-free book recommendations in ~books
LewsTherinTelescope (edited )LinkAnything published by Tor Books or related imprints is DRM-free. Note that some platforms like Amazon don't respect it and add their own anyway, though; Google Play is what I use because it's a...Anything published by Tor Books or related imprints is DRM-free. Note that some platforms like Amazon don't respect it and add their own anyway, though; Google Play is what I use because it's a big enough platform to have most books you'd want while still allowing you to directly download the file if the publisher allows it, but worth looking into whether the platform(s) you already use support it or not.
More specifically this includes several popular fantasy series like Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (more traditional epic fantasy), Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe (it varies but generally under the epic fantasy umbrella), Tamsyn Muir's The Locked Tomb (....it's complicated), and Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes (cozy fantasy). I believe they also do sci-fi—I know they published Ender's Game (very well-known military sci-fi)—but I didn't start paying attention to this until relatively recently, so I'm not too familiar with their exact catalog.
Edit: added brief genre descriptions to the examples + added one more to the list for variety
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Comment on Don't contribute anything relevant in web forums like Reddit in ~tech
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentHa, yeah, it sure can be an experience 😅 I don't tend to hang around the big places directly these days, I don't have the energy anymore. More often if I find something meaningful it's from...Ha, yeah, it sure can be an experience 😅 I don't tend to hang around the big places directly these days, I don't have the energy anymore. More often if I find something meaningful it's from searching a topic directly and then skimming until I see either a long comment or a comment with a long reply chain.
Blogs do have a lot of benefits, don't get me wrong. Raymond Chen's "The Old New Thing" is great for humorous-yet-fascinating tech stories, for example—they are the platform for truly long-form content that needs lots of formatting or that you want to present without arguing a bunch, basically the museum equivalent of social networks. But they're not very good for interactivity, and most attempts to add comment systems prove... unpopular (though it can work sometimes, depends on the software and the audience). Crossposting to a bigger platform works well for starting a discussion, but responding to a tech support post or something with "here's a link to my blog about this" is often going to trigger people's "is this a scam" senses, or just going to make it plain awkward to go back and forth between places as the chain continues.
Different softwares, different purposes.
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Comment on Don't contribute anything relevant in web forums like Reddit in ~tech
LewsTherinTelescope Link ParentI've pretty regularly had interesting discussions on Reddit, though I know that's not everyone's experience. That said, it's definitely more common for me on medium-sized subs, where there's...- Exemplary
I've pretty regularly had interesting discussions on Reddit, though I know that's not everyone's experience. That said, it's definitely more common for me on medium-sized subs, where there's enough people to get a lot of viewpoints but not enough that it becomes a YouTube comment section, but it does happen even in the bigger places too, just less often.
I'm not sure what the answer is, to be honest. In a perfect world people would move to a better platform that solves the issues the article talks about, but the infrastructure generally isn't set up for it outside the big companies, and I'm not sure what could cause a true migration—mods practically shut down the site for several days recently yet the only long-term result was it growing 1.5x in active users over the past year and becoming profitable for the first time in its history. Alternatives have gotten bigger, but they're still minuscule compared to the "big guys"—see also Twitter's stubborn refusal to die, even with smaller groups moving to places like Bluesky. And when people do move it's often to Discord, which—while pretty good as a chat app—is even worse for archival, searchability, and customizable experience than central forums are.
More specifically thinking of sites like Reddit or Tildes, part of what makes that threaded forum design great is they're a middle ground of sorts between the older more open formats. They have flexibility for long posts reminiscent of blogs, capacity for fast interaction reminiscent of instant chats, threadability reminiscent of email, and discoverability/categorization reminiscent of traditional forums. They aren't the best at any of what they do, but they're good enough at all of them in a way that makes them perfect for the sorts of discussions that (at their brightest) they draw people toward hosting on them. It's hard to truly replace that with any other style of platform, and unfortunately none of the alternatives like Lemmy or Kbin have caught much traction.
Private platforms also tend to have a more polished experience than open clones, which practically speaking is going to keep casual users on them despite the long-term issues and accessibility problems. Even as someone who I'd like to think is more open to such things, I find myself frustrated by all sorts of little conveniences I'm used to being missing like keyboard shortcuts for formatting when I just want to say something short and quick. They simply don't have access to the same development resources that a big company does unless they're something huuuge like Linux or Git, and as much as the inevitable enshittification is a major problem, many will stick to a place with too many useless features over a place with too few normalized ones. (That said the network size effect is probably the bigger blocker, this just adds extra friction to getting the ball rolling.)
I just have no idea what solution is viable, it feels like they all lead back to the same place eventually.
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Comment on Don't contribute anything relevant in web forums like Reddit in ~tech
LewsTherinTelescope LinkIt's an interesting article and I appreciate the in-depth breakdown of the issues with such places, but "just don't interact with where the vast, vast, vast majority of people are online" doesn't...It's an interesting article and I appreciate the in-depth breakdown of the issues with such places, but "just don't interact with where the vast, vast, vast majority of people are online" doesn't feel like a practical solution to the problem to me. Yes, it sucks that if you reply to someone it likely won't be archived and will eventually disappear compared to more open platforms, but simply never replying at all doesn't really seem like better distribution of information to me?
I'm a sucker for the original Tor ebook covers.