See my answer to your other comment below ;)

Oh, I did not get that. That’s an interesting idea. Would still need to solve the ‘where’ do I post (which for many seems to also mean ‘to what Instance do I belong’), and then how do one moderate content from various communities, from posters that may or may not adhere to one’s own rules. It won’t be obvious but I would be more than willing to see something like being experimented, even if it’s to decide it’s too complex, it seems worth at least an attempt, imho.

But how do you prevent this from happening if the content is centralized?

I have no idea and like (I think) I said, I’m not even sure that’s an option we should consider. It’s just it feels likes there is this path circling back to centralization and that makes me wonder.

Once we reach a big enough population (not a given, Discuit is still doing 210 weekly active users) , a company comes in, makes the owners an offer they can’t refuse, and they do what you criticize in your previous comment

That’s why I (want to) believe in the fediverse. If something like that were to happen and that’s also why I’m not sure centralization is a solution.

Well, merging communities means trying to reduce the number of alternative communities on the same topic, or did I miss something?

But, like I said, I’m not saying it is not doable. I’m only sharing how I felt reading the OP post.

So… Reddit?

I don’t know, I just shared agut feeling while reading the OP. And I’m not saying it’s what we should thrive for, just sharing that gut feeling about what, like I said, I consider a critical issue on Lemmy.

With the cancelled third-party apps, the visible ads, the ads hiding as posts, the powertripping mods (but unpaid as well), the algorithm trying to get the most “engagement” by showing hateful content?

That’s a whole other discussion imho. But if you want to discuss about that:

• I only talked about a centralized system (aka, a unified one) and, once again, I did not say it was the solution only that it felt like that while I was reading the post. As far as I know, centralization does not imply the obligation to rely on algorithm (and ads, paywalls, or nothing dirty like that).
• As far as mods abusing their power is an issue (it is), I think we do have a few on Lemmy too. Isn’t there a community dedicated to that issue?
• Ditto for the ‘hateful content’ (and I would add the extremely low effort posts too), it was a pain on Reddit, it’s a pain on Lemmy too there is just of it on Lemmy because there are less of us posting ;)
  I consider the Reddit default home page an insult to any half-working brain but I would not be much more sympathetic to Lemmy’s default feed either. I remember we briefly discussed that already: I’d rather see an empty feed by default, with only a short-ish selection of very broad categories the user would pick from to start seeing content that they’re interested in. And only that content, not all the crap. They would then be able to start fine tuning their selection. Something like that.
• Reducing Reddit to what you listed here would be… unfair to the great content and great discussion one can easily find over there. As an ex-Reddit user, after an adaptation time (learning how to get rid of the default crap feed and how to remove the crap ads, learning what subs were better ignored) I had a great time using Reddit (and that is despite its poor UI). I did not quit using it because of the flow of hate or the flow of moronic content, nor because of abusive mods (quite the opposite, I appreciated their work… thx to fine selection of the few subs I was subscribed to). I did not quit reddit for that, no more than I would quit Lemmy for those flaws either. I left because I hated how Reddit, the corporation, took hold of our content and started restricting access to our content in order to negotiate deals with partners. And started talking about paywalling some of it. I briefly explained it as a last post on my Reddit profile and I close the door behind me. But I do miss those interesting discussions I had, and I miss a few subs too (r/Simpleliving, would be the first one I would mention).
  If I was not admitting I miss that I would be a liar.
• I also find it difficult to motivate/encourage more people to join and participate here on Lemmy because I’m myself constantly faced with the ‘messy’ aspects of Lemmy. I’m stubborn and I decided I could live with them (happily) but I also know many people are not ok with that and it’s unlikely they ever will.

Hence me agreeing with the OP: Lemmy being as fragmented as it is is a critical issue.
Hence, the second part of my comment: it feels to me that the only easy/obvious solution is to rely on a centralized system. I’m not saying it’s what should be done (I would not be part of the fediverse if I had no desire to see an alternative to that centralization). I may be wrong in that, most probably I’m (I have no technical expertise) but it still is what I felt while reading the post. Nothing more.

And for the rest, let the downvoters enjoy their very own moment of power ;)

Sure :p

I quite agree with the issue described and I 100% agree it’s a critical one but, because none of the proposed solution seem to be ideal, I’m also wondering if this doesn’t end up saying the right model, right in the sense that it will work with/feel much more simpler to most users, is a centralized system and not a federated one?

I’ll say this: I believe in a world run by corporate interests, piracy is similar to civil disobedience. If we collectively decide to create friction to the functioning of the system, it can in combination with other ways of resistance influence the situation in our favour.

I agree with that wholeheartedly. I’m just saying piracy is not such a friction, quite the opposite. And if we try to influence the situation, something we both care about, recognizing that is not of little importance. Obviously, I may be mistaken but money talk loudly how ineffective piracy seem to be.

Not everyone has the option to turn off from certain technologies.

Never discussed that. Only reacted to the ‘cultural’ issue mentioned and the idea that piracy was some kind of resistance to capitalism because in my opinion it is not. At best, it is a way for people without money to access some product or service (which I have nothing against) but it certainly does not fight capitalism, quite the contrary it still fuels it.

My employment requires me to use social media websites (but I can choose to block ads on them)

If it’s pro usage, and if the tool is costing money, my opinion is that it should be paid for, end of the discussion. Simply put, I know no business that does not get paid for doing their business (don’t tell me you’re working for free, or that your company does not send invoices to customers and does not expect to get paid?). So, since doing business is all about getting paid, it’s only fair to also pay for other’s business one’s own business relies on. Be it a license of Word or Photoshop, or pack of ink cartridges and a stack of paper.

Piracy of MS office doesn’t impact Microsoft much because Microsoft is primarily a cloud and enterprise IT company.

In what year were released Photoshop, MS Office and Windows? And in what year did MS entered the cloud business (and then in what year did it become the dominant part of their balance sheet? And for Adobe?). Piracy was heavily going on years prior to their adoption of cloud, it still never hurt them, quite the contrary it helped them grow more.

Like I already said, I’m not against piracy (people are free). I just don’t like when I see things getting all mixed up and leading to even more confusion.
Piracy is not resistance. Piracy is not paying for something that is supposed to be paid for. Resisting that model of society (capitalistic, consumerist) is a whole other thing.

Piracy isn’t mutually exclusive with supporting your favourite artists.

Like paying taxes is not exclusive to donating to charities. Still, how many among us do pay their taxes and then donate to charities? How many donate to their favorite artists?
Like reading free news online is not exclusive with paying for paid newspapers/magazines/paywalled websites. How much of us still pay for those?
Like using Free/Libre Software is not exclusive of donating to support them but how many of us do that? I would be curious to listen to devs on that matter.

Moreover, even when using Europa products and services you still perpetuate the culture of uncontrolled capitalism and enriching tech billionaires.

Then, if the issue is the existence of that ‘culture’ one should not use these apps at all, not even pirated. Because piracy of those apps still amounts to using them which make the ‘culture’ stronger.

Consume without paying and that does more damage to their bottomlines.

Can you remind me how badly piracy of MS Office and Windows Microsoft hurt their stock value? And how badly piracy of Photoshop hurt Adobe stocks? Yeah, not at all.

Additionally, pirate media as much as you can and be unapologetic about it. Favenooyis doing it, so can you. Pirate music, movies, books they’re all available. Torrents community has never been safer and better organised.

Not all artists are sponsored by some billionaire, many do need to earn a living. Lucky for you if you have enough wealth to not need to get paid for your work.

That being said, everyone is more than welcome to do whatever they want. I just prefer when one doesn’t try to make it look for what it is not. Piracy is not helping anyone but the pirate not wanting to pay and it’s not hurting corporations—it could easily kill an indie dev, though. Edit: as well as small indie artists.

:)

• I recently started using codeberg.org for the small (non code-related) stuff I share, in case anyone would be interested.
• For all my personal stuff (still not code related as it’s prose writing, for the most part) I pay for a host git install. I think I could use a GUI/pretty webpage if i really wanted to, but the command line/ssh access works so well I never asked if I could have a gui. And I’m not even a geek :p

From one chronically ill person to another, thx for sharing that. Liked it :)

100% agree, on both.

I see, thx.

They’re not exclusive.

I have a website (check my profile) and I also post here. One is my personal space, like my virtual home (like my home, I pay for it) the other is a space where I can share content and participate in open discussions when I fancy doing so.

i’m going to be honest tho, on my reddit account i just got to 1k karma!!

What is karma worth today? Ask your banker how well karma trades against dollars and see what you can you buy with 1k karma, or with 7.4K karma… yep, I just logged back into my reddit account to check how much karma I had in my reddit-bank account :p

It’s worthless. It’s just a gimmick and a trick to keep people wasting even more of their time. Like you said:

i think some of it is taking a lot of my time!!

It does. And not some of it, most of it.

Focus on what matters, which is not some virtual reward that has zero value.

I really like the Assimil method of learning. I find it is more organic than Duolingo or flashcards. It makes you more proficient in conversation early than learning a whole lot of vocabulary.

Indeed. It gives stronger fundamentals. I much prefer it to Duolingo myself which I find a bit too focused on the gamification of the learning through their system of badges, rewards and leagues. Whereas Assimil has none of that (at least last time I checked). It’s also much, much older than Duolingo something I’m afraid many of our younger people may feel awkward to be seen using the same method their (great-)great-grand-parents could have used.

That said, no matter how excellent the method, the best way to learn is still to immerse yourself in the language and live it.

Not really the same type of app as Duolingo, but here In France we have the Assimil Method (En). It has existed since 1929, using books, 33t longplays, then tapes, CDs, USB key, MP3s and online access.

BTW, if you own a free library card, at least if you’re living in Paris no idea about other cities, you have access to a few online methods for free through your Public Library portal (link in French). Also, next to these full online methods (no need to go to the library borrow anything) there are also many traditional books/physical methods one can borrow for free from the libraries.

Those online lessons are a neat feature many Parisians don’t even know it’s included with their free library card.

As a matter of fact, the city of Paris offers quite a few various online formations entirely free, in many domains ranging from cooking to writing novels, painting, playing the music, sketching, and so on. Alas, like most things public it’s kind of a mess, and one will need to do some hunting.

Like promised here is a fw more infos on my fascinating daily live and journal ;)

I did not walk on the Moon, I never sailed the 7 seas hunting for hidden treasures, did not invent a cure against cancer or to cure the world pandemic of absolute dumbfuckery that’s raging. I also did not redo the 1812 Bérézina campaign either—don’t look too far, I just read Sylvain Tesson’s Bérézina in which he retells how with a few friends, during a winter, on their motorcycles they kind of reenacted the terrible 1812 Napoleonic army retreat from Moscou to Paris, fleeing, even more so than the Russian army, the atrocious Russian winter.

My daily live is made of little routines, meeting not that many people. But I still keep a journal and have been doing so, with some pauses, for the last 40 to 45 years.

Like I said in the introductory post, what matters is what’s going in my head not the size or the bright colors of whatever I write about. I will write about Trump acting like a dick with Zelensky (where I see that coming from and what I see coming out of it), as I will write about the weather or about that odd looking brick sticking out of the wall of some house on one random street I passed through that same day. Anything. Here is a sketch I made of birds footprints in freshly poured concrete, with people passing by, last June:

And that amazing sketch, in which there is not even a hint of playful colors, with another sentence mentioning we were expecting to receive our new bed-frame, is the sole entry for that day. I don’t mind my journal being uninteresting to anyone but me. Why should I? It’s my journal.

Would it be more exciting to sketch, say, my moon boot leaving the first ever footprint left by mankind on the surface of the Moon or, I don’t know, explain in a few paragraphs how I resolved Ukraine’s war by forcing all the involved leaders to fight themselves, not by using interposed armies, fully naked save for a few feathers stuck in their ass and the diving fins they would be required to wear? Maybe ;)

You may have a point here. I used to compare them to oysters until I realized I was being unfair to them, the oysters I mean. What could I use if bricks are also unfair choice? ;)