dredmorbius's recent activity

  1. Comment on On being a "doomer" about climate change in ~enviro

  2. Comment on Where ya from? in ~talk

  3. Comment on No vehicles in the park in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link
    As others suggest, try the quiz before reading here. And yes you are the 11%. Spoilers follow ... I've seen much discussion (here and at Hacker News) of what a vehicle is, and some of what is "in"...

    As others suggest, try the quiz before reading here.

    And yes you are the 11%.

    Spoilers follow ...

    I've seen much discussion (here and at Hacker News) of what a vehicle is, and some of what is "in" the park.

    I've not yet seen (though not yet reading all 1197 + 35 extant comments) discussion of the goal and/or purpose of the rule.

    Considering the discussion on Hacker News and my growing obsession with what makes that site tick (and occasionally sends it off the rails), contrast with HN's "real standard": "to engage one's intellectual curiosity" (http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html).

    HN's somewhat famously brief and loose guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) augmented by dang's moderation comments (viewable via search) provide much of that.

    And, in fact, reading those search results just now turned up a ... interesting, now deleted ... response by dang on this thread which explains the "intended spirit" nature of HN moderation. I'm not going to quote the full item (respecting the deletion), but this bit seems to echo my concept here:

    [H]aving the set of first principles (the site guidelines) be organized around "intended spirit" rather than formal precision is the best bulwark I know.

    In the case of laws, the purpose or intent is often explicitly stated. In US tradition, the "whereas" clauses typically preceding the main body of legislation.

    And for this game, the posted rule would benefit greatly by a clarification as to why it was enacte_d an_d what the rule is intended to accomplish. This would also clarify, even without specifically enumerating classes of vehicles or conveyances, and/or proximity to the park which specific cases might be permitted or excluded.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Any ThinkPad enthusiasts here? in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link
    I've run Thinkpads since about 2003 or so. Exclusively Linux. My next laptop will be a Framework.

    I've run Thinkpads since about 2003 or so. Exclusively Linux.

    My next laptop will be a Framework.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Best word processor for Ubuntu? in ~comp

    dredmorbius
    Link
    A text editor + the markup language that best suits your needs and complexity level. Vim, emacs, or similar, LaTeX, Markdown, possibly another lightweight markup language. The advantages are that...

    A text editor + the markup language that best suits your needs and complexity level.

    Vim, emacs, or similar, LaTeX, Markdown, possibly another lightweight markup language.

    The advantages are that these all put the writing first, which means focusing on what you want to say and how you say it, the formatting is supplied by stylesheets.

    Tools such as Lyx are one possible way into this (Lyx is used for generating LaTeX documents, but attempts to streamline some of the process.

    For myself, I tend to write virtually everything in Markdown and generate various formats from that using pandoc, which is absolutely amazeballs. It's a document conversion engine which can read in and write out in dozens of document formats. If you do enough of that you can have a Makefile-driven process to publish, say, HTML, PDF, ePub, and plain ASCII text all from the same source. Added bonus is managing your writing projects under git.

    And yes, I've used word processing software. Over the past 35 years or so, Wordperfect, Wordstar, MacWrite, MS Write, MS Word, Ami Pro, ApplixWrite (from ApplixWare), and NeoOffice since it was called StarOffice. Plain text really just suits my style, needs, and preference for durability far, far better.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    Excessive groups was a big problem. Another was that Imzy permitted (and encouraged) serial pseudonymity including different identities on each conversation. As with many exodus-based communities...

    Excessive groups was a big problem.

    Another was that Imzy permitted (and encouraged) serial pseudonymity including different identities on each conversation.

    As with many exodus-based communities (Imzy was fairly strongly anti-Reddit), there was a strong contingent with a huge anti-Reddit obsession. (Not entirely unfounded, but it fed into some highly toxic actions.)

    I made the ... probably unwise ... decision to use an avatar I'd created in part based on my own subreddit, /r/dredmorbius, a/k/a "the dreddit". (I still use that, for the time being, on my toot.cat profile, along with a hero based on an earlier Google+ bit.)

    That was apparently waving a red cape before a herd of bulls. The responses I received at Imzy were ... incomprehensibly hostile. Staff were little help. I'd documented this in part at Ello and my own subreddit (the latter is now closed in protest, as the larger thread here describes).

    My view is that a chief failure of Imzy was in trying to solve Reddit's problems of scale without first solving the how to scale problem.

    Tildes is a strong counterpoint to that, and whilst it's grown very modestly over the past seven years, has not descended into pathological behaviour as exhibited either by Imzy during its brief life, or Reddit over nearly two decades.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on What's the first thing you do when you get a new computer? in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link
    Wipe the disk and install Debian GNU/Linux. I've a set of standard first-installed packages from there, though in truth, the great thing about Debian's packaging system, APT ("a packaging tool")...

    Wipe the disk and install Debian GNU/Linux.

    I've a set of standard first-installed packages from there, though in truth, the great thing about Debian's packaging system, APT ("a packaging tool") is that it's typically trivial to install what you want, along with any dependencies, with apt install <packagename>.

    I'll generally start with a minimal base install, and add specific packages as I come to need them.

    First-installed packages are typicall vim, mutt, w3m (a terminal-mode browser), screen (a terminal multiplexer, you might want to swap in tmux, its modern successor), and a handful of other tools. Even with a windowing environment installed, those are handy, and they're surprisingly effective without.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on What wiring decisions do you wish you made when building a house? in ~hobbies

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    Wiring conduit is seriously underappreciated. Run what you like through it initially. When that's no longer sufficient / spec, pull something else. With relative ease. (Mind building and fire...

    Wiring conduit is seriously underappreciated.

    Run what you like through it initially.

    When that's no longer sufficient / spec, pull something else. With relative ease.

    (Mind building and fire codes, especially for wall / floor penetrations.)

    3 votes

  9. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    Well, /r/pics went All Sexy John Oliver after that threat was made, apparently.

    Well, /r/pics went All Sexy John Oliver after that threat was made, apparently.

  10. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

  11. Comment on What apps/plug-ins/extensions etc do you use to improve Youtube on desktop? in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link
    mpv and yt-dlp. View (or more usually, listen to videos from a terminal. Works great on an Android tablet as well, via Termux.

    mpv and yt-dlp.

    View (or more usually, listen to videos from a terminal.

    Works great on an Android tablet as well, via Termux.

    5 votes

  12. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    You're commenting on a thread addressing the specific case of single-user subreddits, in which the sole contributor and the moderator are one and the same. A not-infrequent circumstance, as it...

    You're commenting on a thread addressing the specific case of single-user subreddits, in which the sole contributor and the moderator are one and the same. A not-infrequent circumstance, as it happens.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    I've got a longstanding beef with /r/AskHistorians for deleting comments mentioning or linking to SciHub or Library Genesis. That notwithstanding, I respect what they've done with the sub, and the...

    I've got a longstanding beef with /r/AskHistorians for deleting comments mentioning or linking to SciHub or Library Genesis.

    That notwithstanding, I respect what they've done with the sub, and the difference between what it is (or was), and what it would have been without them.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    "How did you lose your faith in Reddit?" "Slowly at first, then suddenly." Apologies to Hemmingway.

    "How did you lose your faith in Reddit?"

    "Slowly at first, then suddenly."

    Apologies to Hemmingway.

    10 votes

  15. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

  16. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    I've corrected that link. I'd long since given up on Reddit as being useful or attractive. What I was hoping was that I could leave my old posts and comments up and have them remain useful,...

    I've corrected that link.

    I'd long since given up on Reddit as being useful or attractive. What I was hoping was that I could leave my old posts and comments up and have them remain useful, without risking hostile takeover of my subreddit or profile.

    Neither now seem possible.

    2 votes

  17. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    I've certainly had my own set of long-standing concerns with Reddit. Mostly discussed in /r/dredmorbius, presently set private. Amongst those was the concern of Reddit unilaterally seizing control...

    I've certainly had my own set of long-standing concerns with Reddit. Mostly discussed in /r/dredmorbius, presently set private.

    Amongst those was the concern of Reddit unilaterally seizing control of personal and private subreddits.

  18. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    I'm quite familiar with my content being downvoted. My concern is with HN silently changing the policy, without notice, and in opposition to what is literally "the first rule of HN moderation":...

    I'm quite familiar with my content being downvoted.

    My concern is with HN silently changing the policy, without notice, and in opposition to what is literally "the first rule of HN moderation":

    We moderate HN less, not more, when YC or YC startups are the story. This is a long-established practice; in fact it's literally the first rule of HN moderation. You can read many years' worth of explanations about that: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20moderate%20%22less%2C%20not%20more%22&sort=byDate&type=comment

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34320816

    2 votes

  19. Comment on First they came for /r/pics ... now Reddit are coming for the individual personal subreddits in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Not yet, and I'll try to update when there is. Update: Dang has replied here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36443314 I want to iterate that his response is, as almost always, patient, calm,...

    Not yet, and I'll try to update when there is.

    Update: Dang has replied here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36443314

    I want to iterate that his response is, as almost always, patient, calm, considered, reasoned, and largely defensible. Regarding HN moderation of YC topics, the key word is less, not none, a point well made.

    The comment covers most of what I'd addressed in my email (my comment above is adapted from that), and in email he adds the observation that my submission had triggered the flamewar detector, which I can well believe.

    Overall I'm reasonably satsified with this. I'm in the midst of composing a reply at HN over other details aspects, mostly clarifying my own understanding of the situation, which I think is reasonably strong and actually supports much of what dang has to say.

    Update: And I've now replied on that thread.

    Previously:

    I usually hear back within anything from a few minutes to a few days, but typically a few hours.

    Dang's been active commenting to HN within the past three hours. From other recent discussion, he has a large email queue to work through. (There's a multi-member mod team, but dang is the sole voice so far as I'm aware.) Occasionally more complex discussions can take longer, though in this case I pointedly did make specific suggestions to which HN may choose to apply or reject.

    There's generally a good relationship between us, and I've long respected HN's effective, and usually justified, moderation practices. I'm hoping that this is an oversight / exigent situation made with inadequate time for full reflection.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    dredmorbius
    Link Parent
    Fair enough. I am shooting for visibility, obviously. The point that a lot of small voices ... and dead voices ... are affected is a huge part of this.

    Fair enough.

    I am shooting for visibility, obviously. The point that a lot of small voices ... and dead voices ... are affected is a huge part of this.