NaraVara's recent activity
-
Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
-
Comment on Fired from the White House for being trans (gifted link) in ~lgbt
NaraVara Link ParentI dunno, I’m sure that’s most of it but I’ve met enough people who were spurned and exiled by their own parents to think there’s more to it than that.I dunno, I’m sure that’s most of it but I’ve met enough people who were spurned and exiled by their own parents to think there’s more to it than that.
-
Comment on Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentYeah it’s gotten really bad. I’ve started curating specific shops for specific things and the experience is so much better when everything is tailored to the type of shopping you’re doing. You...Yeah it’s gotten really bad. I’ve started curating specific shops for specific things and the experience is so much better when everything is tailored to the type of shopping you’re doing. You basically can’t serve all needs at once. A website and data model designed to sell pens and stationary needs to make different choices from one selling electronics and camera equipment which makes different choices from one selling cables and home networking.
The examples I put up are all shopfronts that care about selling in the vertical they sell and everything makes sense for what they’re doing. The filter criteria are actually tailored to stuff you might want, the entries for each SKU are descriptive enough to let you make an informed shopping decision, and they don’t inject your queries with dodgy nonsense with brands you don’t know if you can trust.
-
Comment on We economists have done the maths: ‘growth’ is a doomed strategy – there is a better way in ~finance
NaraVara Link ParentThis is called “Market Socialism” and Proudhonism was a whole political tendency of its own in the 19th century. Marxists absolutely hated it but eventually most of the palatable market socialist...This is called “Market Socialism” and Proudhonism was a whole political tendency of its own in the 19th century. Marxists absolutely hated it but eventually most of the palatable market socialist ideas got incorporated into the New Deal and digested into mainstream liberalism/social democratic thought while the more collective ownership elements faded away.
-
Comment on We economists have done the maths: ‘growth’ is a doomed strategy – there is a better way in ~finance
NaraVara Link ParentI think before the Marxist/Critical Theory adjacent format become in vogue the thing was to assert the obvious rectitude of 1950s gender roles and racial essentialisms. The degraded pop form of...I think before the Marxist/Critical Theory adjacent format become in vogue the thing was to assert the obvious rectitude of 1950s gender roles and racial essentialisms. The degraded pop form of evolutionary psychology kept going this way too. And now we’re in the other swing of the pendulum.
-
Comment on Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentYeah I’ve give up on managing it and had to create a new email address that I give out for solely inter-personal email.Yeah I’ve give up on managing it and had to create a new email address that I give out for solely inter-personal email.
-
Comment on Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentAmazon’s data model is actually kind of terrible at categorizing stuff or helping you, as a customer, actually find stuff. They seem to rely mostly on search and fuzzy matching, but the way things...Amazon’s data model is actually kind of terrible at categorizing stuff or helping you, as a customer, actually find stuff. They seem to rely mostly on search and fuzzy matching, but the way things are categorized in the database is terrible.
-
Comment on Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentIn theory. In practice the internet is full of dropshippers that meet Amazon’s prices. And even real storefronts usually just have minimums before they’ll do free shipping.In theory. In practice the internet is full of dropshippers that meet Amazon’s prices. And even real storefronts usually just have minimums before they’ll do free shipping.
-
Comment on Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful in ~tech
NaraVara LinkThe short story (and only part of the story covered here but the answer to the headline) is that since Amazon and Google are competing, Amazon might be obscuring the details of people’s orders in...The short story (and only part of the story covered here but the answer to the headline) is that since Amazon and Google are competing, Amazon might be obscuring the details of people’s orders in email confirmations so that Gmail can’t parse them to figure out your purchase history!
We can probably expect a lot more of this sort of adversarial action taken by monopolists against each other in ways that are annoying and make life more frustrating for users. But on the plus side, it also opens up opportunities for smaller players to differentiate themselves. A smaller e-commerce retailer that doesn’t depend on surveillance and promoted search ads to make their money probably cares a lot less if Google is inferring about consumer preferences.
-
Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful
48 votes -
Comment on A list of independent internet forums in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentBrother if you really want to promote your site you’re gonna need to get into the habit of posting the link whenever you mention it publicly so interested people can check it out!Brother if you really want to promote your site you’re gonna need to get into the habit of posting the link whenever you mention it publicly so interested people can check it out!
-
Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link ParentReddit is less hateful and bigoted yeah, but it’s gotten really REALLY stupid. The average comment is just much dumber and there’s a general sense that it seems like everyone is fishing for...Reddit is less hateful and bigoted yeah, but it’s gotten really REALLY stupid. The average comment is just much dumber and there’s a general sense that it seems like everyone is fishing for engagement. Everything feels a lot less sincere and more affected. I think basically every testimonial post these days is basically lying.
-
Comment on Waving goodbye, carrying my bundle on a stick in ~talk
NaraVara Link ParentBut does a conversation in a largely closed internet community do that? I was moderating a politics and current events forum during the peak of the gay marriage debate. We had a dedicated thread...Think of the original debates around gay marriage, I don't think we finally got that win because experts informed our governments and they changed the laws based on empirical facts, it was that the public's opinion on gay marriage changed over time, and a lot of that was probably due to being directly exposed to healthy gay relationships and discussion among the populous.
But does a conversation in a largely closed internet community do that? I was moderating a politics and current events forum during the peak of the gay marriage debate. We had a dedicated thread for debating the topic and everyone in it was well armed and armored for battle. But if there was a post where someone from a country where it was legal popped in to share that they got married, someone showing up to say “that shouldn’t be legal!” would have been told to cut it out. That’s just yucking someone’s yum.
Modern social media has a tendency to collapse social contexts so everything is personal “I’m happy for you” and also THUNDERDOME at the same time. So the burden of being tactful requires more sensitivity.
-
Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link ParentYeah I used to moderate a fairly large forum back in the aughts. There were days where I had to log on at 3 in the morning to block and delete people who went through every thread and spammed a...Yeah I used to moderate a fairly large forum back in the aughts. There were days where I had to log on at 3 in the morning to block and delete people who went through every thread and spammed a (probably not, but certainly appeared to be) CSAM gif all over the place. It’s not something I, a 19 year old at the time, should have been on the front line of dealing with.
I think at least that sort of thing doesn’t happen as much anymore due to technical approaches to auto-detect anything that crosses those sorts of lines. But there’s still just a lot of seedy underbelly stuff out there that ends up being way more socially dangerous now that the internet lives in your pockets instead of being through a portal in a room in your house. Lots more kids are on it unsupervised, there’s lots of people with mental health issues, eating disorders, etc. just sort of floating around with way more sophisticated tools and infrastructure out there capable of exploiting them.
Like even on a more prosaic note, WallStreetBets and assorted communities based on stoking degenerate gambling tendencies have almost certainly ruined many lives, flushed lots of inheritances down the toilet, and destroyed families.
-
Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link ParentYou must submit to the reality of the shitpost or be destroyedYou must submit to the reality of the shitpost or be destroyed
-
Comment on Waving goodbye, carrying my bundle on a stick in ~talk
NaraVara Link ParentDo we though? Are we a committee charged to establish baseline rules on a competitive sport? Are we engaged in that sport or with the community around it? Are we specifically informed about the...That is what I think is a problem, those are the kind of topics we NEED to debate in a respectful manner.
Do we though? Are we a committee charged to establish baseline rules on a competitive sport? Are we engaged in that sport or with the community around it? Are we specifically informed about the nuances of athletic performance in those sports and the impacts, if any, of various medical procedures? Are we people who undergo those medical procedures and might have some information and input about what the likely effects would be?
In most cases many of us are spectators to these things looking from outside. It might be interesting or satisfy some morbid curiosity to understand the contours of the discussion for those impacted, but ultimately it’s not like the world needs to hear the opinion of Random Joe nor does Random Joe need to endure the burden of assuming responsibility over other peoples’ lives. Were we legislators we’d have that responsibility, and we’d be obligated to bring in experts with the relevant information and listen to testimonials from those affected and decide on what trade-offs we ought to make.
But does a comment thread on the internet do any of that? And if having that argument is just engendering bad blood and sowing discord within the community, is it worth it to persist?
-
Comment on Waving goodbye, carrying my bundle on a stick in ~talk
NaraVara (edited )Link Parent“Challenged” is the key term here and points to why nobody enjoys this. In these situations nobody involved is actually being challenged. These are mostly arguments that happen over and over and...The aversion of some users here to see anything that disagrees with their world view or be challenged on anything they believe is very strange to me.
“Challenged” is the key term here and points to why nobody enjoys this. In these situations nobody involved is actually being challenged. These are mostly arguments that happen over and over and over again all over the internet all the time, largely deploying the same tropes and often the exact same references and analogies and turns of phrase. People aren’t so much engaging in a discussion as they are slotting into a recurrent pattern that unfolds like a practiced line dance routine.
You know what’s going to be said before they say it. They know what you will say before you say it. Even if you try to do something different, like trying to cha cha real smooth instead of a slide to the left, the next move will still be a slide to the right because that’s how the dance goes. You might think you’re saying something new or different or slightly more nuanced than the usual routine but it won’t matter because that’s not what anyone is getting out of your contribution. Oh did you think you were doing a little shimmy shake instead of a cha cha? Well it looks like a cha cha to me so fuck you. And get real, a shimmy shake is just a cha cha by another name.
Clearly most people don’t actually like the dance. Nobody actually likes the cha cha slide either. We just do it because it’s the thing to do. Sorry if you got your foot stomped.
-
Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link Parent#1 is as much a problem for the moderators as for the community. It not only makes the community brittle and subject to the foibles of an individual person, but it also means a volunteer moderator...#1 is as much a problem for the moderators as for the community. It not only makes the community brittle and subject to the foibles of an individual person, but it also means a volunteer moderator who takes it seriously is signing themselves up for a lot of stress and the risk of having the whole thing unravel if they’re not able to get worthy backups or successors.
-
Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link ParentThat solves problem #2, but Discord has serious issues with problems #1, 4, and 5. Problem #4 is actually bad enough that I basically don’t volunteer any personal information in any Discord server...That solves problem #2, but Discord has serious issues with problems #1, 4, and 5.
Problem #4 is actually bad enough that I basically don’t volunteer any personal information in any Discord server that isn’t 100% people I know IRL despite it being closed from the open internet. It’s rife with bad actors.
Also, I’m not in any servers like this, but I’ve heard it’s basically the incubation site for a lot of the kinds of communities that engender problem #5 too.
-
Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
NaraVara (edited )Link ParentTBH I think user-led subcommunities are basically what ruined Reddit and also the brief resurgence of Digg. There’s several anti-patterns involved. 1.) They tend to attract the sorts of users who...TBH I think user-led subcommunities are basically what ruined Reddit and also the brief resurgence of Digg. There’s several anti-patterns involved.
1.) They tend to attract the sorts of users who get off on being “power mods,” which is a psychographic profile that cannot be trusted with power.
2.) They give random people the ability to squat on what are basically trademarked terms. So, for example, if I’m an indie game developer any asshole can create the /r/NaravarasGameStudio community and suddenly that asshole functionally speaks for my studio. This happened with the new Digg where they opened the floodgates to user create communities and there was a gold rush of people coming to squat on the valuable e-Real estate.
3.) Conversations about the same thing happen concurrently across a bunch of different groups.
4.) They end up being zones for coordination where people plot about brigading other communities, creating weird forum drama and dynamics. They also create groups, like /r/TheDonald, which basically coordinate to boost their own content in site-wide propaganda campaigns.
5.) This is kind of a problem I’ve sort of newly become more cognizant of since having kids, and I call it the I want to fuck a toaster issue. Which is basically that online services ought to have a responsibility to not pull susceptible people into cogito-hazard territory. It’s touchy because it can very easily veer into censorship, but you can’t read a story like this without walking away thinking “yeah it’s kinda messed up that we have these pitfalls all over the internet where otherwise socially functioning people can completely torpedo their lives and their families after cooking their brains on some inane nonsense.” Maybe there ought to be some amount of friction involved before getting into weird shit? You don’t have to ban the weird shit, but just don’t let people marinate in it too much maybe? Have some kind of nudge to push people to take a break?
In my offense, many of us think this and just don't say it.