Replying to on social.coop
@cwebber@social.coop I don't think it's unfair to say that anyone who thinks it's acceptable to have a vested financial interest in there being a nuclear war is a complete monster.
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@j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk
mastodon 4.6.8Person. Admin gonk. Nerd. 80s synthpop idiot. Semi-talented iOS app dev. Norwich dweller. Tesco Value satirical poster. Lidl croissant enthusiast. It’s always David Cameron’s fault.
40 Followers
100 Following
50 Posts
Joined January 31, 2026
pixelfed:
bookwyrm:
Replying to
@lina@vt.social I think half the problem really is that a lot of the Internet has got addicted to being angry at the state of the world, so they're actively looking for things to be angry about so they can portray that righteous anger.
This interacts *extremely poorly* with the fact that (as you say) on Bluesky and *ESPECIALLY* on Mastodon the "discourse" is *extremely* receptive to anti-AI stuff so "I hate AI, share if you agree!" stuff gets boosted more. There is a very narrow band of "acceptable" opinions on here and if you post stuff that validates them you get attention. Given how difficult it is to get attention on Mastodon to begin with, it's a vicious circle.
Honestly I echo what the post you quoted said, and it's part of why I reactivated my Bluesky, because at least I get the impression that people on Bluesky care about *something else in the entire world* other than tech sucking and the world being doomed.
@ilias@discuss.systems @lina@vt.social There's absolutely a Mastodon Party Line and more broadly a List Of Acceptable Subjects To Get Engagement On Mastodon, and it's part of the reason that this place both frustrates me and bores me to tears.
Honestly Lina's post is a breath of fresh air because it very rarely actually gets talked about just how isolating and dull it can be having your entire feed be a bunch of Linux users patting themselves on the back for hating AI, Microsoft and modern tech in general.
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@lina@vt.social It just gets incredibly dull coming on here and seeing a feed that's just "I love open source!" and "AI is horrible, being creative is good!" Like cool, yeah, I don't like AI either, but they're obviously only posting that for clout because that shit's like catnip for Mastodon's natural user base, and Mastodon has basically *nothing outside* that natural user base.
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Just got back from the gym, whoever said exercise is a cure for depression can go ride whatever hamster wheel they think I should be running on right up their own arse
Replying to
@dvshkn@social.treehouse.systems @lina@vt.social One of the epiphanies I had relatively recently was the thing that annoyed me most is that it was essentially just clout chasing, but the people who post it probably object to "clout chasing" in the abstract because they define it as "people posting about popular things that I don't care about"
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@jannem@fosstodon.org @lina@vt.social @kissane@mas.to Realistically I think a *lot* of people want that but the project is so ideologically against anything perceived as “an algorithm”, and proposing them tends to get you so many people intent on ruining your life, that it will just never happen
Just think a lot of people fail to realise that network effects intrinsically mean that every person who bounces off or never joins your network, because it misses key features or is hard to use or is full of boring stuff etc, reduces its utility to *everyone* even if they don’t feel like it
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@jannem@fosstodon.org @lina@vt.social I’m not sure anyone at the Mastodon product team, or its various evangelists, have really ever understood (or even really cared to find out) why half the network just stopped posting the moment Bluesky invites started proliferating - or in some cases they seem to actively welcome it for weeding out the unbelievers. @kissane@mas.to’s piece from 2023 still rings extremely true today: https://erinkissane.com/mastodon-is-easy-and-fun-except-when-it-isnt
Replying to on circumstances.run
@davidgerard@circumstances.run If you're looking for something budget, can heartily recommend Anker Soundcore Space Q45 (or the earlier Q30).
I'd say I'd love to meet someone who thinks that somehow "business" and "world events" are things that don't interact and knowledge about one is optional to understand the other, but I actually really don't
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Still can’t quite believe there’s an official Mastodon merch shirt that reads “I use alt text”. I don’t think I could write a parody that on-the-nose
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For a social network that’s supposedly anti-clout chasing you all sure do seem to be chasing clout
Replying to on mastodonapp.uk
@m000gletje It had appeal to both sweaty gamers and more casual ones. Also a massive impact on online culture because of stuff like Garry’s Mod/SFM and some of the insane shit you could do with it.
Replying to on bsky.brid.gy
Imagine putting out transphobic agitprop and you only get made to take it down because of a complaint from Ian fucking Huntley
Replying to on bsky.brid.gy
@valoisdubins.bsky.social It’s like, at the point someone considers it to be woke purity politics to object to someone having tattoos of Nazi insignia, when is it ever going to be worth listening to them?
Replying to
@laurenshof@indieweb.social People complain about "clout chasing" but there's no more reliable way to get boosts and favs than to just post some oh-so-brave statement about how you think AI is ruining the world. Like what is that if not chasing clout, they're not articulating anything new or helping anyone understand anything, it's just "look at me, I hate AI, aren't I such a good and cool person?"
Replying to on fosstodon.org
@jannem@fosstodon.org @lina@vt.social I know all this. But the discovery is still bad and the network is still very much awash in one specific kind of person (Linux user/nerd/open source/anti-AI/at least vaguely leftist). Which is far as fine as it goes but it just overwhelms everything else. And also, maybe sometimes I want to see pictures of birds - I do not want to follow hashtag-bird and then see every single picture of a bird everyone on Mastodon ever posts. It’s a poor alternative to an algorithmic feed or good discovery system.
Decided that the way the placebo effect works is that if I tell myself that crisps are an SSRI then they actually are
I went on a far too long rant about how #Google ruined #Fitbit with "Google Health" and especially how their AI Coach fills me with bilious rage. https://joebaldwin.me.uk/blog/google-ruins-fitbit/ #health #fitness #wearable #PixelWatch
Replying to on mastodonapp.uk
@paige@masto.canadiancivil.com @cwebber@social.coop Love the idea of giving all my personal data to a machine that can be pwned by someone literally sweet talking it
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Sure let the magical lying machine that accepts natural language instructions have all my personal data and go out on the big wide Internet with it to do anything it wants without human intervention. Why not, that can’t cause a variety of problems for me that are mine to fix
Replying to on indieweb.social
@laurenshof@indieweb.social In general it's yet another symptom of social media discourse becoming largely based on simple Manichean "Thing is bad, I don't like thing, therefore I am good"/"Thing is good, I like thing, therefore I am good" grandstanding, that isn't unique to Mastodon but honestly I find infests Mastodon more than most other places
Replying to on mastodonapp.uk
Rental e-scooter riders are just temporarily embarrassed Audi drivers
Decided to give CachyOS a go because why the fuck not eh
Replying to
@jaz@toot.wales @yadt@tech.lgbt I’m pleased you’re talking about it because it’s something that a lot of Fedi advocates seem to gloss over when they talk about how privacy-respecting it is. Probably because it’s a clear demerit of a decentralised approach
Ah well, it’s not all bad https://news.sky.com/story/soham-murderer-ian-huntley-dies-after-prison-attack-13512943
Replying to on social.coop
@cwebber@social.coop Let's be real; it's going to be a lot of crypto bros who think their magic beans are somehow going to endure if the electricity grid/Internet/civilisation in general gets vapourised
Wrote a thing about my app nobody uses except me going away, and the reasons why I wrote it - namely that the Apple Watch is awful for weight loss. https://joebaldwin.me.uk/blog/sunsetting-budgie-diet/ #iOSDev #Apple #AppleWatch
Replying to on social.quotequack.xyz
@q@social.quotequack.xyz I wouldn't say noticeably faster (without getting into the realms of the "it's so snappy!!!" stuff) but it's definitely not "slow", the installation was fantastic and it comes with various little niceties I really like, so I'm pretty sold
Replying to
Mastodon is a purgatory to which I condemned myself to atone for my sins
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Rapidly coming to the conclusion that some people’s definition of “clout chasing” is just “expressing interest in anything other than computers”
RE: https://mastodon.social/@verge/116184357708795476
Yeah I mean I wouldn't be looking to launch a loss-leader thing that depends on large amounts of memory either this year either
Replying to on mastodonapp.uk
“I don’t use anything where the developers used AI” “Coward, I don’t use anything where they even know about AI” “Basically vibe coding, I only use software written in assembly by hand” “Assembly? Where’s your CLAUDE.md? Direct machine code or nothing”
I think this is a good policy but I would suggest they include "physically" and "mid-flight" and "without a parachute" and "and they've been beaten up severely first".
People are whinging about this person's complaint being "snowflakey" or whatever, but if any organisation I was a customer of spoke to me like this, I think a polite complaint would a generous response on my part. (ht @stephenkb.bsky.social)
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/mar/07/monzo-customer-language-year-in-monzo-review
Replying to
Really says a lot that the current admin don’t even think that anyone is worth lying to, they’re more than happy to just be like “we can do this and we want to so we did it and you can just deal with it.” What a great time to be alive
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Heard you lads love alt text, here there’s not even an image, *only* alt text. I am the ultimate Mastodon poster
Replying to on bsky.brid.gy
One symptom of both Kemi and Farage being a bit too online is that they seem to not realise that most British people really, really, really do not like or appreciate the politics of Donald Trump, even if they are quite right wing.
Replying to on mastodon.social
What a searing confession, sure you’re glad you could finally get something so shameful off your chest
Replying to on bsky.brid.gy
Because the one thing that the British people, on balance, really specifically love is Tony Blair's attitudes to war in the Middle East
Replying to
Anyway I went to a funeral yesterday and that was the high point of the week
Me considering reopening my Bluesky account
Replying to
It’s like giving your ten year old son your car keys and telling him to explore the world. Nothing good can come from this