Tilderinos
Hi Tildenauts,
There's a custom at Tildes, that sort of grew organically out of "what should we call ourselves?" threads, to refer to fellow Tilderians in ever changing ways. This happened because there was no obvious, non-cringy answer and anyway who cares? That's my read on it anyway, I didn't follow closely. Plus the idea of online in-groups is kinda cringy itself, but also inevitable because we're humans. The whole concept begs for ironic resignation.
Anyway, fellow Tildinites, it occured to me that I've been coming here on and off for a long time. Since not too long after it launched I think. And it's been great. I consider Tildes a huge success in its mission, or my interpretation of it: be a comparitively intimate forum where people are thoughtful and less reactionary than elsewhere online. Throw in a (just) large enough userbase to include a wide variety of life experience and perspectives and you've got an oasis in an ever more polarized and reactionary internet.
Tildes reminds me of earlier internet forums, when the tone, pace and motivations for online communication were less capitalized, in various senses of the word. Niche subreddits during Reddit's golden era are another example. It's a better vibe. I'm guessing that, during the various Reddit exodii, a fair amount of people who share that nostalgia ended up here.
I even have some nostalgia for the early days of the platforms. MySpace! Early instagram was gorgeous. Even Facebook had its moments. My social media participation has always been below average, unless you count the years where any online socializing was unusual in the general population, but it's been a semi-consistent part of essentially my whole adult life both personally and professionally. Thinking about online socializing, it's funny how it's sort of its own thing. Kind of in its own social category, a new one that we recently invented. Maybe, in part, it's because the internet is a sort of buffer, and in those buffered interactions we're all a little different. In both good and bad ways. Lately it feels unbalanced towards bad, but perhaps it will swing back.
It feels like the Tildian moderation strategy, and guidelines, have successfully created a culture that's now self sustaining to some degree. And I think that culture is pretty great. It's not perfect, in the way that nothing people do can ever be perfect, especially where communication is concerned, but it's beautiful and I'm grateful it exists.
So, cheers to Tildes! I'd love to hear what other Tilderianites think about Tildes.
It's been a few years (???) since I moved here from the other place. I've visited Bluesky, used discord, didn't care for fediverse, wish I could delete Facebook, still evading ig snap pinstress, and occasionally browse dumb memes on discuit, but Tildes is home. You guys are so smart and have such a variety of viewpoints and experiences
I do, however, wonder about some familiar names I don't see any more. I hope folks are doing well and that they would come back and say hi. One of them outright said they didn't like me, but I'm still sad they're gone. Another I never learned why. And another said their goodbyes over pm. Some others I don't see their comments very frequently anymore. It makes me very nostalgic for highschool days where we had year books and we would have all that time together all day every (school) day.
Ending on a happier note, I'm glad there's still a lot of very interesting in depth posts and insightful comments, right alongside some sillier fun threads and some personal sharing ones. I'm only this chatty over text, not in real life (deeply introverted), so I'm happy to have been invited here. (Thanks forever @cfabbro)
The greatest demonym is "tilderen".
I think this is one of the coziest corners of the Internet and I'm grateful for it. I agree with you that it feels like an Internet throwback, and I enjoy the mostly drama free online existence we share here together. It's mostly kind and thoughtful way to spend time online, and it course a very large part of that is the people that are here.
I like
turtlestildes.I'm in my early 30s but I grew up with 5 older siblings so I had a lot of introduction to the Internet in the 90s.
Tildes feels like a weird (in a good way) space to me in that it seems like one of the last places I can find genuine interaction that feels sincere and isn't needlessly polarized or monetized.
I've gotten similar function out of local astronomy group forums or the likes, but it's just not the same as the group is singularly focused on the topic of astronomy (obviously) and (no offense to those guys) the hobby is comprised of like 95% men over the age of 60. I can't really relate all that much.
There's a concept of "Men's Shed" I've heard about, where other countries will build a space for men to just gather, and be. Tildes feels like what I would imagine that concept would be like, but just more inclusive.
I really appreciate you folks.
Yeah, I quite like Tildes myself. I guess I've kinda settled in and more or less know what to expect. It's good to see a few more usernames around that I don't immediately recognize, and sometimes I feel that I've seen a slight shift in the tenor of discussion as a result, but it still feels like a small community and I'm encouraged to remember the human. No offense intended to anyone, it's just a minor hipster clique sentiment kinda like @chocobean mentioned.
Funny enough, I was actually thinking of posting to ~tildes last night to ask @Deimos for a status update (I always feel like I should preface his mention with "our lord and savior"). I wondered how he feels about the sites current point in its trajectory, what he has in mind moving forward (not so much in terms of growing the userbase, but maybe outstanding features, backlogged issues, philosophical changes/advances, etc.), and his overall satisfaction with his baby and the community he's fostered. In these kinds of scenarios, I don't know how much time one ends up having to enjoy what one builds, but I imagine it's not a whole lot. For whatever little it's worth, I'm glad that Tildes is here and try my best not to take it for granted.
I am slowly coming around to @cfabbro's Tildoes...