Staross's recent activity

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

    Staross
    Link Parent
    I did the sword saint, I played mostly blind (no guide, disabled messages) so I missed a couple of things apparently, I think I'll replay it for different endings. I though the game was a bit on...

    I did the sword saint, I played mostly blind (no guide, disabled messages) so I missed a couple of things apparently, I think I'll replay it for different endings.

    I though the game was a bit on the short side, so I wouldn't have minded a well-done DLC for sure.

    2 votes

  2. Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food

    Staross
    Link
    I've been doing sourdough, it's fun and all my breads were really good, even if a bit flawed in one way or another (I'm not chasing the super open crumb style that is popular online though). I...

    I've been doing sourdough, it's fun and all my breads were really good, even if a bit flawed in one way or another (I'm not chasing the super open crumb style that is popular online though). I recommend giving it a try if you never did any.

    2 votes

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

    Staross
    Link
    I finished Sekiro, it was the last "soul-like" from FromSoft l haven't played, it was really good, focused, with clean intentional design (unlike Elfen Ring that is a mess). The combat is top...

    I finished Sekiro, it was the last "soul-like" from FromSoft l haven't played, it was really good, focused, with clean intentional design (unlike Elfen Ring that is a mess). The combat is top notch, beating the bosses really makes you feel like the boss. The more character-driven story was great too.

    I'm a bit sad because l don't have anything really good to look forward to now, l was keeping it as a treat.

    8 votes

  4. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

  5. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    Yeah that's the idea, although I'm missing proper code highlighting, and a couple of other things. I have a hugo+github pages blog but it's a pain in the ass tbh in comparison.

    Yeah that's the idea, although I'm missing proper code highlighting, and a couple of other things. I have a hugo+github pages blog but it's a pain in the ass tbh in comparison.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    Thanks, I'll look into that.

    Thanks, I'll look into that.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    I think I've heard about it but I didn't used Slashdot at the time. I don't have much "karma" requirements for being selected as a jury at the moment (it doesn't makes much sense with 3 users),...

    I think I've heard about it but I didn't used Slashdot at the time. I don't have much "karma" requirements for being selected as a jury at the moment (it doesn't makes much sense with 3 users), but that would probably be required. In general the random element makes it harder to coordinate manipulation, since nobody can control/know who's making the decision.

    4 votes

  8. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the feedback, I've been in favor or sortition for a long time, l think one of my first post here was about the topic actually (found it https://tild.es/2tk). I actually copied a bit of...

    Thanks for the feedback, I've been in favor or sortition for a long time, l think one of my first post here was about the topic actually (found it https://tild.es/2tk).

    I actually copied a bit of tildes in the design ;) but l have to say it's hard to be very creative, specially when it needs to work on phones...

    I think attracting users in the real issue yeah, some sites have some success by being very original (cozy.talk) but they immediately become very niche as a consequence. Others rely on tech (fediverse) to attract people, which also attract a limited demographic. This is more done for fun, but also in the spirit of throwing shit at the wall and see if it sticks.

    About AI l think it's important to be transparent about it, l understand the concern but I'm very much in the "how to be anti-AI better" nowadays.

    6 votes

  9. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    To be clear the content is not AI slope and there's a reasonable anti-AI rule (l think).

    To be clear the content is not AI slope and there's a reasonable anti-AI rule (l think).

    8 votes

  10. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Sure, one of the good ones actually :) although a niche one by choice/design, so it has its limits.

    Sure, one of the good ones actually :) although a niche one by choice/design, so it has its limits.

    8 votes

  11. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    Since it's inspired by Athenian direct democracy l though a Greek word would do fine, but also common names in domains are expensive or not available so better go with something obscure.

    Since it's inspired by Athenian direct democracy l though a Greek word would do fine, but also common names in domains are expensive or not available so better go with something obscure.

    4 votes

  12. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    Yeah it mean pebble, it was used to cast votes in ancient Greece.

    Yeah it mean pebble, it was used to cast votes in ancient Greece.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    I think it's just fine with the self-promotion rule, since I'm an old member of tildes and generally do not self-promote.

    I think it's just fine with the self-promotion rule, since I'm an old member of tildes and generally do not self-promote.

    15 votes

  14. Comment on I made my own Reddit alternative in ~tech

    Staross
    Link
    There's a plethora of alternatives nowadays, but I'm never quite satisfied with how they work. So l had some fun making my own (well Claude did most of it...). The main "innovation" l have is...

    There's a plethora of alternatives nowadays, but I'm never quite satisfied with how they work. So l had some fun making my own (well Claude did most of it...).

    The main "innovation" l have is rule-based dencentralized moderation (users report, jury is randomly selected and decide on the outcome). I'm not sure it would work at scale but l think it's a fun idea.

    I also have media views, text/images/video, to allow each media type on the plateform without having one cannibalizing the others. I also added articles that are supposed to be a bit nicer and more polished posts. A couple of new sites have chats now too and l think it brings a homely vibe to them, so l experimented with an IRC based chat, which is a bit wonky but seems to work.

    If you want to give it a try don't be afraid to break things, it's mostly me on there anyway, there's not much too break. Email verification is also disabled so you don't need real email.

    For the dev l mostly let Claude do its thing, using the most boring Django+low JS stack, it worked really well for the most part. Although l think someone that doesn't know anything about webdev would still get stuck at some point (e.g. deployment was a bit tricky). I'd open sources at some point if there's any interest but would need cleaning up.

    More generally it's quite fun to be able to add almost any crazy feature you can think of. Personally I'd like more "togetherness" features like watch parties or a radio, but there's maybe more legal trouble with those... (e.g. cyberspace.online has a radio that plays youtube videos but hide them somehow).

    11 votes

  16. Comment on Smartphone recommendations? in ~tech

    Staross
    Link
    For brain rot prevention I recommend a cheap Redmi, it kinda works but it's crappy enough it doesn't make you want to use it all the time :)

    For brain rot prevention I recommend a cheap Redmi, it kinda works but it's crappy enough it doesn't make you want to use it all the time :)

  17. Comment on A Dialogue on Freedom in ~humanities

    Staross
    Link
    It seems to me freedom is just too much of an abstract concept to build anything upon ; it's not a psychological state like pleasure and pain. Why is freedom good ? presumably because it feels...

    It seems to me freedom is just too much of an abstract concept to build anything upon ; it's not a psychological state like pleasure and pain. Why is freedom good ? presumably because it feels good to be free and it feels bad to be constrained. We're back to pleasure and pain.

    3 votes

  18. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    Staross
    Link Parent
    I think that's either wrong or question begging. On the one hand if you define "mental" has what psychology, neuroscience, .. study then it's pretty clear those field produced knowledge on their...

    The problem is that we’re still using a model that was perfected through the exclusion of all the properties of the mental. It is impossible, using that model, to make sense of the phenomena of consciousness. So what you have to do instead is say that the phenomena of consciousness aren’t real. They can be reduced to mechanical processes. The more you try to do this, the more absurd it becomes.

    I think that's either wrong or question begging. On the one hand if you define "mental" has what psychology, neuroscience, .. study then it's pretty clear those field produced knowledge on their objects of study and most people in these field don't think consciousness is an illusion (even among philosophers that's an uncommon view afaik), so it's just false science doesn't work there (although I agree it might have fundamental limitations). On the other hand if you define "mental" as something fundamentally unexplainable by physical factors then it's trivially true science can't explain it...

    6 votes

  19. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    Staross
    Link Parent
    About explanation it's also important to contrast the scientific explanations (or lack thereof) with the alternatives, because they often have serious issues of their own; e.g. for consciousness...

    About explanation it's also important to contrast the scientific explanations (or lack thereof) with the alternatives, because they often have serious issues of their own; e.g. for consciousness dualism has the interaction problem (how non-causal "stuff" influences matter/causal stuff), panpsychism has the recombination problem (how small consciousnesses makes a big one), plus these theories also often have lower prior probabilities. Theists will often just assume that their explanations work when they don't.

    10 votes

  20. Comment on Interresting Reddit/Discord alternative : surikata.app in ~tech

    Staross
    Link Parent
    I was also managing a forum back in the days (15-20 years ago), and alongside some questionable php we also never kept up properly the software (Simple Machines Forum) up-to-date, so the thing is...

    I was also managing a forum back in the days (15-20 years ago), and alongside some questionable php we also never kept up properly the software (Simple Machines Forum) up-to-date, so the thing is probably full of holes. It's still up and running somehow (I guess being a small obscure helps a lot).

    1 vote