ananiochita

A passive-aggressive metaphor, if you will.

No one is punching Twitter workers in the face, not even remotely close.

No, the point is that the vast, vast majority of workers in most jobs are worse off than anyone at Twitter now.

You say :

> At the end of the day, the conclusions are much the same as people would intuit. moderate drinking has little impact, may help some conidiations and exacerbate others and will depend on the individual. for the average person, the effect will be slightly negative.

You are of course free to interpret facts as you wish. However, the study from 195 countries and over 26 years, literally, and I copy word for word from its conclusion, says :

"Our results show that the safest level of drinking is none."

And in the paragraph where that phrase is, anyone interested can find what they say about the supposed and non-existent benefits of moderate drinking.

> Speaking in absolutes is rarely helpful or informative.

The study I link and from which I quote is rather informative.

There are no safe ways to consume alcohol. The only completely safe amount is zero.

https://thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2818%293...

I was not saying you were being hostile, on the contrary, your previous answer is friendly, informative, and perfect for someone who is trying to get started and knows nothing about Mastodon. It's what I try to explain to other people myself, and I have to say all I get is blank stares. No one needs to go to a specific Twitter for Javascript discussions, or a specific Twitter for weather bots for their city, or worry if this person or that person are on the same server and how that affects them, they just get a Twitter account, period, then use it for whatever it is they want to use it.

( I don't use Twitter myself. Personally I'd make an account as I have in the past at mstdn.jp -- I don't have one now, and this is also another reason behind my question, what are people doing and where in Mastodon these days, in case I should look at trying other servers. )

By hostile I meant the first friction point anybody coming to Mastodon faces : What are you looking for ? What are your interests, let's see what server fits you better, etc. That's why I compare that way to look at it to IRC; if I want to discuss film photography in English there's a specific channel for that. Or gardening in suburban Paris in French. Or whatever. Reddit comes to mind as well. That's what group chats or public forums are. Should I be thinking Mastodon is that kind of service / tool ?

Because I see Mastodon, and maybe I am wrong, as a content publishing and communication platform, not as a topic-driven group chat / forum. Or pushing it, I would even liken it to e-mail. One shouldn't have to decide if mails will be sent to an Irish programmer for work, or they will be for discussing in Japanese with grandma, when creating an e-mail account, or what servers the mails come from.

Yes, you can use a Mastodon account as you wish, provided it does not break the rules of the server, or what you want to see is not blocked, or roll your own if you can be bothered to set up and maintain your own server, or, or, etc.

And right from the start people are faced with these questions, and server rules, and whatnot, about Mastodon, when getting started should be frictionless, they shouldn't even have to worry about whether this server or that server does this or that -- "but you can transfer your data, it's yours", eh, that's not helping.

This is what I was talking about when saying I find it hostile.

As opposed to the other three, you can find a place to stay matching most if not all your requirements in literally a few hours in Tokyo -- which is not a "city" ( it's a prefecture, with a governor, and dozens of cities ), and that's a whole different conversation, but needed to understand the difference.

Housing in the West is a demented horror story at any rate.

I know how Mastodon works. I've had several accounts over the years, always ended up closing them. Mostly because : silence. I see there's a bump in engagement recently because of we all know what.

I was asking why people use a particular server, and why would they recommend it.

I have issues with two points you mention :

> If you want to discuss a specific topic...

I do not. I have many interests, and do not wish to have multiple separate accounts for each. It does not make sense. I engage with others about many unrelated and completely different topics, putting them in isolated silos is one if not the greatest of Mastodon's main problems, in my view.

> You might also want to sign up on a server that has a community that is in your region or speaks your language.

Again, I do not.

I speak several languages natively, and have roots in different countries, where I am at different times.

This attempt to put the user in a box from the start, a tight box, as defined as possible in all respects, is a real problem. I find it hostile, honestly.

Edit : Should I think of Mastodon as if it was IRC ? I never have, I don't think that's what it's supposed to be.

Edit 2 : Thank you for your answer though. I should have mentioned that I am not trying to figure out how to use Mastodon, but was looking for feedback from people using it.

A farm or a hospital.

Health. And it's increasingly harder and harder.

"We build our computer systems the way we build our cities; over time, without a plan, on top of ruins."

-- Ellen Ullman

I use teddit.net and libreddit.

While I get the general point ( and mostly agree, and practice myself ) for many people, if not most, this is not a choice or an option.

Plenty are working two or more jobs just to barely make it, if they even get to make it.

It seems clear that things are with EVs as with everything else.

The solution to smoking is not vaping, but to stop smoking.

The solution to plastic pollution is not recycling, but to stop using plastic.

The solution to all problems cars bring, is not EVs, but to stop being a car-dependent society.

At least city air will have a little less poison in it with less ICEs around, one would hope.

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, Fedora Rawhide, Arch.

People would ignore this "help", just as they ignore facts.

Was staying this month at a place where temperatures in October should hit 15/18 degrees during the day, and cool to about 8/12 at night. For pretty much the whole month it's been near 30 and down to 20 at night. ( Thank you climate change. )

And yet most people still go out with jackets, coats, and ridiculous uncomfortable outfits when it's obvious this is the new normal.

How many years until the "it's October, therefore warm clothes" mentality changes ? Probably a generation, when there are enough people for whom October is and has always been not much different than August.

Does not matter what they should do, does not matter what the facts are, people will do what they will.

Despite saying he is visiting Taiwan, he doesn't seem to know much about Taiwan itself, or the Chinese way of thinking, ( or what part Japan and other countries have to play in the area -- I don't know this person, but he seems not to know much about Asia at all ) which makes all his speculative calculations moot.

China won't even start to contemplate renouncing "reunification", not while Xi is in power and a couple other leaders after him have come and gone, at the very least, but at the same time, China does not want to destroy Taiwan. And as things are now and will be for some time yet, there's absolutely no scenario in which China, whatever it does, and whoever gets involved or not, takes Taiwan in a swift hit, without leveling the island, killing massive amounts of people, stripping it of anything that makes it valuable, and destroying also the world's economy in the process, way before WWIII even starts, which means the only invasion possible now makes no sense at all to China itself, and that's not going to change in a couple of years.

Edit : Taiwan is not Hong Kong, which is ... Obvious, for anyone in the area.

PASC happens regardless, which is freaking terrifying, and why I can't understand people in the West dropping masks and social distance and just happily justifying it with "I'm vaccinated, all's good", let's pretend it's over.

COVID has been terribly explained in the media, and emphasis now should be on how it is for way too many a chronic disease that people should avoid at all costs, a disease currently with no cure or treatment, which can turn you into a disabled person in the worst cases.

Nothing prevents you from doing what Tucci does for a few days -- stay in expensive nice places, find the good and overpriced restaurants, travel to a small village somewhere, and ignore the mess and noise around you. It won't be cheap, and you won't have a cleaning crew prettying up the scene or removing the guy peeing in public in the corner before you walk in, but hey.

I haven't been in the US in a while, but from recent news mentioned even here in HN, if you're visiting Italy from Seattle these days, you'd find the air in Northern Italy ( which is the worst in the EU ) actually an improvement, apparently ?

Same as if you come from San Francisco, looks like Rome or Naples will be safer from that perspective too. Local homeless, trash and litter, ubiquitous rude manners and insane murderous traffic be what they may.

Since you haven't been in Europe, may I also suggest to visit Spain, for actually friendly people and good food not so overpriced as the Italian, certainly not leaving without seeing at least Paris, and maybe look at some fairy tale towns and landscapes in central Europe; Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia ...

( Sorry for the harsh reality check. Think of it this way; your family migrated for a reason. )