NaraVara's recent activity
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Comment on What internet discussion sites remain? in ~tech
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Comment on What internet discussion sites remain? in ~tech
NaraVara (edited )Link ParentMany such cases. Man the Internet post-Gamergate really does feel like it’s in some kind of intellectual post-apocalypse. Some kind of memetic transition happened, certain rhetorical tricks and...a culture that has grown among some users with policing language rather than intent - including assuming others are operating in bad faith if at all possible, the US centric nature of discussion (that's the English language internet, but mefi could be particularly bad at times) and constant appeals for money coupled with no transparency around where it was going.
Many such cases. Man the Internet post-Gamergate really does feel like it’s in some kind of intellectual post-apocalypse. Some kind of memetic transition happened, certain rhetorical tricks and cognitive traps just got too effective and too addictive to use and the whole ecosystem seems to have collapsed.
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Comment on What internet discussion sites remain? in ~tech
NaraVara LinkI’ve been visiting https://recleague.com/ a lot lately. It’s the only non-ad slopped place I’ve found for discussion on non-techy topics with a mostly non-tech crowd. It’s more arts and culture...I’ve been visiting https://recleague.com/ a lot lately. It’s the only non-ad slopped place I’ve found for discussion on non-techy topics with a mostly non-tech crowd. It’s more arts and culture and fashion people but without the heavy advertising focus of Instagram.
I don’t post that much, and it’s not a whole lot of discussion going on. But it does feel more like the old web. Cozy like. My favorite recs are the ones that are experiences rather than products. Things like “dunking an Klondike bar in your coffee to make a gas station affogato.”
Might be of interest to you as well @lostwax
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Comment on Games journalist Jason Schreier has started a YouTube channel in ~games
NaraVara LinkSchrier’s a good writer in addition to being a great journalist. Unfortunately both those things are a rarity in games journalism. I’m interested to see where his channel goes, but I reckon it...Schrier’s a good writer in addition to being a great journalist. Unfortunately both those things are a rarity in games journalism. I’m interested to see where his channel goes, but I reckon it will feel mostly like his presence on the TripleClick Podcast.
But as a wordcel myself, something about this makes me sad. It seems like everyone whose thoughts I’m interested in hearing is being steered towards YouTube and podcasts if they want to make a living out of it. Let’s all pour one out for the dream of writing words and posting them on the internet. It was nice while it lasted.
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Comment on What change would make you quit Tildes? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link ParentI think Yishan Wong more or less confirmed in some interview that Pao was put in place as a sin eater to make some big changes that would absorb a ton of hate so that the old guard could come back.I think Yishan Wong more or less confirmed in some interview that Pao was put in place as a sin eater to make some big changes that would absorb a ton of hate so that the old guard could come back.
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Comment on The user is visibly frustrated in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentThey really ought to just cache a set of canned responses to “thank you” statements that it pulls at random rather than having to burn too much compute on it. Just roll a die.They really ought to just cache a set of canned responses to “thank you” statements that it pulls at random rather than having to burn too much compute on it. Just roll a die.
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Comment on The user is visibly frustrated in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentAs I understand the process, they sort of A/B test responses as part of their post-training. So the “human” tone and general obsequiousness was a result of people rating those kinds of replies...As I understand the process, they sort of A/B test responses as part of their post-training. So the “human” tone and general obsequiousness was a result of people rating those kinds of replies higher. We probably should just restrict post-training to judge on content only and ignore affect. I suppose that might be where people end up going with professional, rather than commercial, tools.
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Comment on It's not just X. It's Y. in ~humanities
NaraVara Link ParentYeah, I can see this being especially useful as a “teaching aid” module in an IED to kind of teach you to code instead of vibing it out for you. Of course it could probably vibe it out for you as...Yeah, I can see this being especially useful as a “teaching aid” module in an IED to kind of teach you to code instead of vibing it out for you. Of course it could probably vibe it out for you as well, but I expect an ideal agentic coding system would need to operate on some kind of literate programming paradigm where you’re commenting in explanations in plain language of what each section of code does alongside the code itself. Given the costs of using LLM tokens, you probably want your interface conventions to steer people towards understand when and why they’ll want to burn tokens on writing something rather than doing it themselves.
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Comment on The dead economy theory in ~society
NaraVara Link ParentWe can say it doesn’t, but basically every actually existing system ends up inventing them because the structural system that can successfully pursue a violent populist revolution isn’t just going...We can say it doesn’t, but basically every actually existing system ends up inventing them because the structural system that can successfully pursue a violent populist revolution isn’t just going to get rid of all the cutthroats once it’s in charge. This even happened with the French Revolution where the revolutionary government collapsed, turned into a neo-monarchy, and then reformed into a republic after a lot of back-and-forth.
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Comment on The dead economy theory in ~society
NaraVara (edited )Link ParentThat’s just property ownership though, because even the people who steal the property initially benefit from a legal framework to protect their own stuff from theft. Absent that you just have...That’s just property ownership though, because even the people who steal the property initially benefit from a legal framework to protect their own stuff from theft. Absent that you just have warlordism where the violence has to be managed by the holders themselves.
I don’t really see how America’s carceral problem is a “capitalist” thing being as how the US isn’t the only capitalist country and others don’t have the problem. Moreover basically ALL of it is drug offenses, enforcement of which are—if anything—anti-capitalist.
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Comment on The dead economy theory in ~society
NaraVara Link ParentMaybe not as an explicit tenet but you can see how it follows naturally from the premises. 1.) Property should be held in common and managed collectively 2.) That property is currently held by...There's not a tenet of Marxism that requires gulags.
Maybe not as an explicit tenet but you can see how it follows naturally from the premises.
1.) Property should be held in common and managed collectively
2.) That property is currently held by private owners
3.) People tend to feel protective of things they own and will resist attempts to take it from them, necessitating forceTherefore force must be applied to seize said property.
Furthermore, some level of “acquisitive” nature seems inevitable where people are concerned, we will need to continuously apply coercive measures to maintain the material equality of people under the system.
Maybe we don’t need gulags as such, but it’s very hard to imagine how we go from not-communism to communism without cracking some skulls.
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Comment on What change would make you quit Tildes? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link ParentI think drama tends to become really toxic when people continue visiting after the point where they’re enjoying themselves. The design patterns many sites use to keep the place “sticky” to keep...I think drama tends to become really toxic when people continue visiting after the point where they’re enjoying themselves. The design patterns many sites use to keep the place “sticky” to keep you coming back probably contribute to it in a big way. But I basically only ever visit Tildes to see if there’s something interesting to read. And I never really feel compelled to interact unless something is interesting enough to interact with.
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Comment on What do you think about Destiny 2’s imminent death and games as a service? in ~games
NaraVara LinkWhen Destiny was first announced it was announced as a “10-year project.” This was actually part of the complaint people had about Taken King being a paid expansion. It also cropped up from time...When Destiny was first announced it was announced as a “10-year project.” This was actually part of the complaint people had about Taken King being a paid expansion. It also cropped up from time to time as a generic complaint about the apparent lack of a plan. So it really just seems like their partnership with Activision expired and probably enough of the team turned over that they weren’t interested in maintaining it anymore. I reckon they were probably pretty keen on not having to work through Activision for their signature product line as well. Any opportunity to NOT have to rely on Activision to publish seems like a perk to me.
I mostly stopped playing during Taken King because the friend I usually played with unexpectedly died of the flu and it sort of stopped being fun without him. I tried Destiny 2 when it first came out but just couldn’t get into it. Running a game for 10 years and winding it down when it’s still well regarded seems, to me, to be preferable to just trying to pull a Simpsons and run it forever long after the point where anyone cares about it and it ceases to be culturally relevant. It is far better to sail into the West, bear your fond memories to the Undying Lands where they can remain ever green.
As for my opinion, I think that the real problem is that (probably) most managers, CEOs, investors, and shareholders involved in live service games aren’t gamers. They don’t care about the quality of the games. A majority of them probably don’t even play what they publish.
I know a few people in the industry and I just don’t think this is true. Basically everyone who works in the industry is a huge gamer, and if they recede from gaming as a hobby it’s generally because they’re too busy with work, family, and personal stuff rather than because they dislike gaming. As far as engineering jobs go it’s a very stressful, risky, and mostly poorly paid industry to be in. The only place where it’s maybe not as true is when you get to the very top of the C-Suites where you’re dealing with a lot more finance and law people. But it might be a news flash to some here, but there’s actually a LOT of people with MBAs or other professions in the business world and they are also pretty prolific gamers. This is a cognitive habit I wish people here and elsewhere would let go of, to assume that things not going how you would prefer is a result of everyone else with different preference mixes being either stupid or evil. I think what’s actually responsible for the disconnect is that the “gaming audience” that posts online is a fraction of the actual market of gamers, and they’re developing games to sell on the market rather than to the most online (and often irascible) fans. The priorities of people who buy games and the priorities of people who complain about the industry online are largely orthogonal to each other. Like it or not, the way the landscape looks is because this is what people voting with their wallets looks like.
It may well be that AAA titles—as we’ve gotten used to recognizing them—just don’t hold people’s attention anymore in the same way. I think that’s probably true and is driven by secular forces beyond the design decisions companies are making. Partly it’s market saturation and partly it’s greater demands on people’s time from streaming and brainrot apps, as well as a general cultural turn away from screen time in many of its forms. But if you’re funneling that kind of money into a project you’re obviously going to play it safe. Smaller, unproven concepts are riskier bets, so you bet smaller amounts of money to try them out and see if they catch. That’s what AAA initially meant, it’s a term that comes from bond markets where an investment that is rated AAA is considered to be extremely safe and stable. Riskier stuff that’s still probably an okay bet gets rated like A+ or Baa or something like that.
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Comment on Xteink X4 Developer Edition in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentOh I didn’t mean the weight of the magnets, I meant the weight of the phone it’s attached to.Oh I didn’t mean the weight of the magnets, I meant the weight of the phone it’s attached to.
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Comment on 100 years of television design in ~design
NaraVara Link ParentTell me about it! For 100 years we got 3 examples! Not even one per decade. :-(Tell me about it! For 100 years we got 3 examples! Not even one per decade. :-(
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Comment on Xteink X4 Developer Edition in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentI’ve debated one but I’m curious how useful the magnetic attachment actually is. Like, that’s adding a lot of weight to the device itself, would it survive the drop-force if it’s falling with the...I’ve debated one but I’m curious how useful the magnetic attachment actually is. Like, that’s adding a lot of weight to the device itself, would it survive the drop-force if it’s falling with the force of a phone versus just falling down on its own? I feel like the main advantage is just to keep it from clanking into each other in the pocket, but I’d really like to be able to take them out of my pockets separately.
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Comment on 100 years of television design in ~design
NaraVara LinkThat Philco Predicta looks really neat! It actually reminds me of my favorite iMac design, the “sunflower” or “table lamp” G4 one. There is something a little annoying about trying to do interior...That Philco Predicta looks really neat! It actually reminds me of my favorite iMac design, the “sunflower” or “table lamp” G4 one.
There is something a little annoying about trying to do interior design with modern flat screens. They’re just so big you can’t help but have to build an entire room around them. Older house living rooms can’t even easily accommodate them.
I’ve often contemplated a concept of a rear projection TV where it’s normally kind of small and a piece of furniture, but when you want to have a home cinema experience you flick a switch and it, instead, projects back to a big screen when you feel like reconfiguring your whole living room to watch a movie.
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Comment on It's not just X. It's Y. in ~humanities
NaraVara (edited )Link ParentSort of an aside, I kind of wish people would design proofreading tools for people who actually know how to write rather than for people who read/write at an 8th grade level. I actually(!) know...It's true that pangram and grammerly are imperfect, the latter especially. It doesn't make sense to trust their output. Pangram is good enough to be considered a signal, but it's not good enough to be considered definitive proof.
Sort of an aside, I kind of wish people would design proofreading tools for people who actually know how to write rather than for people who read/write at an 8th grade level. I actually(!) know one of my chronic weaknesses as a writer is a tendency to lean too heavily on pointless qualifiers like “actually,” “just,” “simply,” etc. I write down “just” and “actually” way too much when I write stream-of-consciousness and I really (GAH! I did it again!) only notice it when I go back and see my post later. In the moment I don’t even notice it, it’s like a tic.
I’d love if I could have a simple model with proofreading parameters that I could define for myself running in the background to catch this sort of thing. When I proofread for myself I always catch it and edit it, but if I’m rattling off a post on Tildes or something I will rarely bother to do that extra step. This is a general tendency I notice with how technology is pitched. The narrative is that I am ignorant or insecure or whatever and the enlightened technology will bring the vaster intelligence of crowds and experts to make self-optimize. Fuck that! I know my own voice and how I want to write. I have bad habits, I don’t need a virtual ‘coach’ to tell me how my voice ought to be, I need to break the habits that I’ve identified for myself.
I can see this being especially useful for professional writers who work with professional editors. When you have a close working relationship with someone you do start to learn their tics as well as which edits are uncontroversial habits they have and don’t want. You can literally program a customized proofreader to pre-proof their manuscript before they send it to you so you can speed up the whole review process.
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Comment on What change would make you quit Tildes? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link ParentThe central problem is communities trying to moderate like they’re a formal legal system rather than just a community in charge of maintaining good vibes. The principle of free speech should be...The central problem is communities trying to moderate like they’re a formal legal system rather than just a community in charge of maintaining good vibes.
The principle of free speech should be sort of there just to keep the place interesting, but ultimately if the arguments are just engendering a bad vibe people need a stern talking to. Ultimately people should enjoy checking in here.
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Comment on What change would make you quit Tildes? in ~tildes
NaraVara Link ParentI basically have a rule now where I just stop engaging after 2-3 volleys unless it’s genuinely interesting. If it’s just me trying to clarify a point that someone is insistent on refusing to...I basically have a rule now where I just stop engaging after 2-3 volleys unless it’s genuinely interesting. If it’s just me trying to clarify a point that someone is insistent on refusing to understand or who is just trying to use my posts to find things to tee off on it’s not worth the trouble.
I mean it is mostly recommendations for tangible stuff you can buy, people just keep it interesting with personal experiences interspersed in. Otherwise you kind of follow people, the parenting and DIY tags tend to be more experience oriented. But the general experience is supposed to be akin to paging through a newsstand magazine which are mostly glossy ad spreads.