Trobador's recent activity

  1. Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech

    Trobador
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    That, I did not know, that's cool! Props for that.

    That, I did not know, that's cool! Props for that.

  2. Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech

    Trobador
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    But does my request go through an LLM anyway, even if I don't use that 'quick answer' thing? Whether it's visible in the end result or not, I don't want one to be involved at all.

    But does my request go through an LLM anyway, even if I don't use that 'quick answer' thing? Whether it's visible in the end result or not, I don't want one to be involved at all.

  3. Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech

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    I used DDG for a while and I tried using bangs but did not see the point of them. It seemed much easier to just add the sites you used frequently to my browser's search engine list, after which it...

    I used DDG for a while and I tried using bangs but did not see the point of them. It seemed much easier to just add the sites you used frequently to my browser's search engine list, after which it would autocomplete to the search I want instantly, as opposed to trying to remember the bang, waiting for the request to go through DDG and then maybe getting the right site.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech

    Trobador
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    Of course. Though I don't like that piece much. It points out the fact that abuse of SEO is detrimental and sometimes harmful to users, but Kagi doesn't actually seem to do much about that; it...

    Of course. Though I don't like that piece much. It points out the fact that abuse of SEO is detrimental and sometimes harmful to users, but Kagi doesn't actually seem to do much about that; it still seems vulnerable to SEO abuse. I still see SEO farming sites on Kagi. AI-generated how-tos with 20 sections paraphrasing each other, sites meant to imitate others, frickin' Fandom. It's there. Less than Google, but not less than other search engines.

    I recognize why paid services like these exist, and support their efforts to change things, but my ideal is not just an Internet that's not a privacy hellhole, but also one that is freely and fully accessible to all. That arguably matters more to me. I don't want a future where these services are the norm and we end up with a constantly paywalled Internet.

    I'm not arrogant enough to claim I have a better solution (maybe federated search engines?), but I don't think I want to support this one.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech

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    It seems to be a good search engine and the translation seems great, but I have no intent to pay for a search engine, especially not 10 bucks a month. I understand I'm the product when using free...

    It seems to be a good search engine and the translation seems great, but I have no intent to pay for a search engine, especially not 10 bucks a month. I understand I'm the product when using free services, but searching is a basic thing that shoumd not be locked behind payment, so I do not see it as an improvement. I think unfavourably of it like I think of any paid software in general.

    So long as my data isn't being collected, I'm okay with some sponsored links, so long as they're not obtrusive. Kagi also doesn't seem to solve the main problem I have with search these days: AI-generated SEO farming articles. Startpage does slighty better than the rest in that regard. Kagi is about the same. So, I prefer to stick with Startpage, since it treats me well.

  6. Comment on Who else is as excited as I am for the Backrooms movie tomorrow? in ~movies

    Trobador
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    The Backrooms started out as a creepypasta on 4chan, based on a picture that had a particularly odd vibe. It's an off shoot of the 'liminal spaces' trend. People built a little universe around it,...

    The Backrooms started out as a creepypasta on 4chan, based on a picture that had a particularly odd vibe. It's an off shoot of the 'liminal spaces' trend. People built a little universe around it, which eventually turned into the Backrooms Wiki, something fairly similar to the SCP Wiki, documenting the different 'levels' of the Backrooms.

    Kane Pixels is the guy who made it as popular as it is now through an excellent analog horror/found footage series, based on his own interpretation of the myth. It defined the common aesthetic of the Backrooms that you see today. Then he struck a deal with A24 for a film a year or two ago, and this is what this is.

    The myth itself is the idea that if you walk into the wrong place, you can 'noclip' out of the world and end up in the Backrooms, a seemingly infinite space of dimly lit yellow rooms with carpeted floors. And then you're trapped there. Sometimes that's all there is, sometimes there's different levels with different environments, sometimes there's even a monster that lures people by calling for help in a human voice. But the consistent aspect is infinite liminal spaces that look man-made and empty, that feel like places you're not meant to be in. Like reality broke and you fell through a crack not knowing how to climb back up.

    7 votes

  7. Comment on Patagonia sues drag queen Pattie Gonia for trademark infringement in ~lgbt

    Trobador
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    It's a normal thing to say. Common LLM phrases are common LLM phrases because they're common people (or more accurately, writer) phrases. I still say 'it's not X, it's Y' because it's a nice...

    I could be wrong here, but Wiley's statement to the Guardian tastes like AI: 'This is not a brand conflict. This is a corporation trying to erase an activist.'

    It's a normal thing to say. Common LLM phrases are common LLM phrases because they're common people (or more accurately, writer) phrases. I still say 'it's not X, it's Y' because it's a nice phrase, dammit!

    It's still a dumb statement to make, though. As far as I can tell, Patagonia has done the bare minimum to threaten her. Patty can say the legal fees will cost her a lot, but the point stands that Patagonia is suing for the smallest amount they possibly can.

    14 votes

  8. Comment on Mina the Hollower | Out now! in ~games

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    It's finally here! Any impressions yet from launch players? I'm going to wait because my backlog's too big, but I loved Shovel Knight and the Next Fest demo for this, so I am hoping to play it...

    It's finally here! Any impressions yet from launch players? I'm going to wait because my backlog's too big, but I loved Shovel Knight and the Next Fest demo for this, so I am hoping to play it eventually.

    4 votes

  9. Comment on If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you in ~tech

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    No, of course, I'm not saying you're wrong for using a tool that works for your purpose. I'm saying it's weird we're now going to LLMs with things tacked on to them to solve tasks outside the...

    No, of course, I'm not saying you're wrong for using a tool that works for your purpose. I'm saying it's weird we're now going to LLMs with things tacked on to them to solve tasks outside the technology's initial purpose that could be solved with a simpler, more specialized tool that won't try to do more than it's supposed to.

    I doubt there's zero services out there that let you show an image to a computer vision model and have it tell you what it represents, without having to pointlessly interface with an LLM. But I couldn't name a single one, and I imagine few people can, which is weird considering there's clearly a demand. Instead, that demand is fulfilled by over-responsibilised chatbots. I think that's weird.

  10. Comment on If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you in ~tech

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    I would argue this is a misuse of an LLM. I don't mean that as a defense of the chatbot itself : I just mean that LLM chatbots are being forcefully developed, in an effort to meet perceived user...

    I would argue this is a misuse of an LLM. I don't mean that as a defense of the chatbot itself : I just mean that LLM chatbots are being forcefully developed, in an effort to meet perceived user demand, to do tasks that it is inherently not fit for. This isn't an attack towards you, but why would it make sense for what's primarily a text generator to have recognizing fruits in pictures as a feature? And why is it that users like you go to it for that anyway, without questioning it?

    The pattern's existed since the start, from the moment we started using ChatGPT as a replacement for a search engine, ignoring the actual purpose of a search engine (procuring sources of information, rather than procuring information). Perhaps part of it is our growing tendency to centralize absolutely everything we use. I don't really know how to untangle it all. But I hate it. And I hate that I sometimes fall into the same pitfall.

    1 vote

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

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    One thing I'd say: I think you need to play harder turn-based games and/or at higher difficulties! There's most definitely turn-based games where the systems matter, you just need to up the dials...

    One thing I'd say: I think you need to play harder turn-based games and/or at higher difficulties! There's most definitely turn-based games where the systems matter, you just need to up the dials a bit!

    Play a Bravely game on Hard. It's not all that hard but it's enough to make you think about your team composition and skills, use items, and make use of the awesome Brave/Default system.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Minecraft: Java Edition finally adds free peer-to-peer multiplayer and friends list in ~games

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    It's a closed source mod, so you have to fully trust the company making it with your safety, and it collects an uncomfortable amount of data for unwarranted purposes. They also sell paid...

    It's a closed source mod, so you have to fully trust the company making it with your safety, and it collects an uncomfortable amount of data for unwarranted purposes. They also sell paid cosmetics, which I believe is a violation of ToS, even if Mojang hasn't done anything about it.

    They also do this weird thing where their website, instead of directing you to Curseforge or Modrinth, first tries to have you download a nebulous .exe installer. That's generally a red flag.

    To top it off, on a practical level, the mod is bloated and causes a heap of compatibility issues with other mods. Popularity aside, there's little reason to use it over the many open source alternatives. There are lists of them online, but e2mc is the common one.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Minecraft: Java Edition finally adds free peer-to-peer multiplayer and friends list in ~games

    Trobador
    (edited )
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    Java has had modded solutions for this for a while, actually: e2mc allows you to expose a LAN server to the Web, and Essential is a complete 'modern multiplayer' package with a friends list and...

    Java has had modded solutions for this for a while, actually: e2mc allows you to expose a LAN server to the Web, and Essential is a complete 'modern multiplayer' package with a friends list and cosmetics and whatever (but it's a bit shady).

    2 votes

  14. Comment on Steam Controller 2 sold out in ~games

  15. Comment on It's Bandcamp Friday, what Indie albums are you picking up‽ in ~music

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    I waited eagerly for the day and picked up my newest obsession, Philosophie du Soi by PAON! YouTube brought this all-new duo's EP to me when it had less than 4k views and I can't stop listening....

    I waited eagerly for the day and picked up my newest obsession, Philosophie du Soi by PAON! YouTube brought this all-new duo's EP to me when it had less than 4k views and I can't stop listening. This is French singer Pernelle and Japanese producer Lemm ; they've both done music for games.

    I also grabbed Crash Test by Jam2go! I'm a huge fan of the guy. His game Kitten Burst hit me hard in places media rarely does, and his musical style is varied and incredibly pleasant. This is his first time using voice synthesis and he put out a series of MVs for some of these songs, each using different unusual 3D graphics techniques which is his trademark as a creator.

    Aside from that, I bought heart of android by Camellia, U S A by Anamanaguchi and 3 by tricot, older albums which I've listened to a lot and wanted to own. Not entirely indie, I think, but worth mentioning!

    4 votes

  16. Comment on PAON - Philosophie du Soi (2026) in ~music

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    This is a newly formed duo with French video game singer and lyricist Pernelle and Japanese video game composer Lemm, and I am obsessed with it. The algorithm brought this EP to me two days after...

    This is a newly formed duo with French video game singer and lyricist Pernelle and Japanese video game composer Lemm, and I am obsessed with it. The algorithm brought this EP to me two days after its release and its view count is too low for my liking. I wanna change that.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on I worked as a professional video editor until 2014. How much has changed since then? in ~tech

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    I just read some of the comments below... you were on Nolife?! Thanks for being a part of my childhood!

    I just read some of the comments below... you were on Nolife?!

    Thanks for being a part of my childhood!

  19. Comment on Which Linux distro do you use, and why? in ~tech

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    EndeavourOS has been my daily driver for a few years. When I first started out, I chose to go for an Arch derivative on a recommendation because I didn't like the apt package manager on Ubuntu &...

    EndeavourOS has been my daily driver for a few years. When I first started out, I chose to go for an Arch derivative on a recommendation because I didn't like the apt package manager on Ubuntu & co., so I went for Manjaro. Manjaro is Manjaro, so I eventually switched to EndeavourOS.

    I'm happy with it at the moment but I won't lie, I'm a little bit interested in CachyOS's promises of better performance. If I had to switch, I'd either go for CachyOS, pure Arch or try Fedora. I'm happy so long as KDE is there.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on 'Bloodborne' video game getting R-rated animated movie adaptation in ~movies

    Trobador
    Link Parent
    Call this blasphemous, but isn't it enough? As you said, they've put one out every 1 to 3 years for a decade, despite the fact that they used to make other things than this. Surely the creatives...

    Call this blasphemous, but isn't it enough? As you said, they've put one out every 1 to 3 years for a decade, despite the fact that they used to make other things than this. Surely the creatives must be getting a bit tired with the formula at some point?

    I for one care little about Souls but I really enjoy Armored Core. I'd rather see them put out an expansion for AC6 over a soulslike, or really, anything else. Someone at the company must want it, right? FromSoft used to make so much weird interesting stuff.

    1 vote