cthonctic's recent activity
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Comment on Harvard professor Avi Loeb has found fragments of a meteoroid that he believes could be from a spacecraft from another civilization or some technological gadget in ~space
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Comment on Thoughts on ISS Vanguard? in ~games.tabletop
cthonctic LinkI like it very much so far but have yet to finish the full campaign. The mechanics are a distinct upgrade to Tainted Grail and Etherfields and much less grindy. The story is well-written and it's...I like it very much so far but have yet to finish the full campaign. The mechanics are a distinct upgrade to Tainted Grail and Etherfields and much less grindy.
The story is well-written and it's an interesting sci-fi setting.Looking forward to wave two fulfillment.
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Comment on Which theme are you defaulting to? I'm loving Atom One Dark. in ~tildes
cthonctic LinkAtom One Dark on desktop (with Dark Reader active, although it doesn't change much) but Dracula on mobile. Somehow I really need more contrast on smaller screens and I generally dig blue accents....Atom One Dark on desktop (with Dark Reader active, although it doesn't change much) but Dracula on mobile.
Somehow I really need more contrast on smaller screens and I generally dig blue accents. I'm any case, dark theme everywhere for me, always!
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Comment on Invite-only is a brilliant idea and I'd like to have it for longer than planned in ~tildes
cthonctic LinkI am torn between two competing desires on this, really. On the one hand I wish for the long-form, relatively high-brow vibe with mutual respect and measured discourse to be retained for as long...I am torn between two competing desires on this, really.
On the one hand I wish for the long-form, relatively high-brow vibe with mutual respect and measured discourse to be retained for as long as at all possible. Restricting the influx of new members may help with that... or it may not have that much more traction seeing as all of the new users outnumber the old guard drastically as it is. I'm talking like I belong to the latter when I only checked in like once a year after creating my own account back then, I'm such a hypocrite.
Anyway, on the other hand what I really desire is the opportunity to discuss niche topics aside from the mainstream with mass appeal. And while strictly speaking, we might not need new tildes (sub-tildes?) for that to work since we have tags - what is absolutely required as an essential ingredient in niche discourse is a critical mass of participants.
So, I would like a bigger community but at the same time not a community of lesser value, but how to achieve that? I don't think it's the invites that manage to uphold the Tildes values and the community vibe but rather the format itself. You don't get to post brainless memes for a quick Karma-slash-dopamine hit of instant gratification here. You don't do inane "And my axe!" drive-by puns. (I hope)
The Tildes experience is particular and peculiar and it does not lend itself for fast food consumption easily. That is why I think self-selection is the most powerful catalyst by which we can have some healthy community growth without sacrificing our values or suffering drastic degradation of the level of discourse.
Typically, the healthiest communities are indeed those that grow slowly but surely. Unless other platforms shoot themselves in the foot driving users to another mass migration though I do not think we need to gatekeep at all but rather open our arms to such members that actually want to be a part of this community. The others may be curious and make an account but leave if they find the experience is not for them.
BTW did I mention I was into long-form comments? Yeah. cough
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Comment on Redditors of Tildes .. what is the thing you can live without? in ~tech
cthonctic Link ParentI really really really would love niche communities back because very often I do not care about the most mainstream aspects of any given hobby that are drowning out the smaller conversations in...I really really really would love niche communities back because very often I do not care about the most mainstream aspects of any given hobby that are drowning out the smaller conversations in the catch-all subs.
But you just mentioned the terribly trashy meme-iness that I can totally do without. The amount of "that guy's friend's butt I 3D printed" posts made me lose faith in humanity.
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Comment on Redditors of Tildes .. what is the thing you can live without? in ~tech
cthonctic LinkOh, quite a few things! Everything about the "redesign" that made everything look horrible and added half-baked features. Only old.reddit with RES made the UX bearable. So many drama-optimized...Oh, quite a few things!
Everything about the "redesign" that made everything look horrible and added half-baked features. Only old.reddit with RES made the UX bearable.
So many drama-optimized trash subreddits the spirit of which slowly infected other, originally much higher quality communities. The amount of times someone posted stuff in /r/rpg asking "AITA for telling my GM..." made me sick and narrow down which subreddits I would peruse more and more over time.
So many less-than-zero-effort memes and puns! There were like thirty puns in total on all of reddit and they were trotted out in every single thread without two grams of wit amongs all of it combined.
The combativeness on every given topic where people apparently enjoyed being contrarian or voicing "I will die on this hill" topics just for the hell of it. I blocked so many users over the years just to keep the useless noise to a minimum in order to get any valuable signal out of my time spent there.
Lastly, the shitty company behind the platform... although in hindsight this utterly atrocious and morally bancrupt behavior shown was probably just the nudge I needed to finally set off and never look back.
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Comment on Redditors of Tildes .. what is the thing you can live without? in ~tech
cthonctic Link ParentI only ever used the frontpage, or perhaps an individual subreddit like /r/boardgames when I wanted to zoom ino that topic. Never ever /r/all or /r/popular, not even once. Can't imagine what kind...I only ever used the frontpage, or perhaps an individual subreddit like /r/boardgames when I wanted to zoom ino that topic. Never ever /r/all or /r/popular, not even once.
Can't imagine what kind of terrible experience that would have been for me back when Reddit was a thing. :)
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Comment on Redditors of Tildes, which subreddits are you missing the most during the blackout? in ~tech
cthonctic Link/r/boardgames and /r/rpg are the two main ones for me. I care deeply about those interests; but not at all about D&D, MTG or Warhammer. Pretty much everywhere I've looked for these rich and.../r/boardgames and /r/rpg are the two main ones for me. I care deeply about those interests; but not at all about D&D, MTG or Warhammer.
Pretty much everywhere I've looked for these rich and diverse topics the discussion is almost drowned out by posts about one of these megaliths, and none of the smaller (and in my opinion much, much more fascinating) alternatives get enough of an audience going.
Yet, hopefully.Reddit was really terrible in many way, among them the vast proliferation of drama-optimized low-effort subreddits. But the critical mass of users also enabled tiny and very focused niche communities to form.
I'm patiently watching how things are developing here especially with Deimos' plans of allowing groups to be more independent and multifaceted. At least give me ~gloomhaven please! :)
Thank you, I was about to recommend Angela's crackpot video but am very pleased that it has already been shared.
No one should give any credence to what this guy says or writes without him providing overwhelming evidence that support his hypothesis. Which will of course never ever happen.