Just a side note - I would caution about directing non-Black folks to spaces like # BlackMastodon and @ blackfedi, just because those spaces might not be intentioned for non-Black people to look at, directing us there might be encouraging our participation in spaces where it’s not necessarily invited or wanted, etc. Great spaces to direct Black folks to if they’re looking to build a community for themselves on fedi, but I would just say it’s best for non-Black people to not look/participate unless the space is specifically inviting that.

The other thing about the “just listen more to more Black people” discourse is that while it may fix representational issues of whom you’re choosing to listen to, it won’t help if there’s no intention to work on racial biases or challenge one’s own racist behaviors - so I would even implore that type of introspective work. Connected to that would be, even if a white person starts doing these things and working on this practice, that work of interrogating your own biases/behaviors never stops. I feel that white people (especially on fedi) often need reminding that just because you’re doing X, Y, Z, etc. doesn’t mean that you’re done working on your own racism or that your reasons for doing X, Y, Z, etc. are all genuine.

You might also want to mention how having some marginalized identity even as a white person doesn’t excuse you from doing this work - there’s a lot of harm done on fedi by people who use their own oppressed identities as a way to avert accountability for being racist. In your piece, you already mentioned that supporting Black people and fighting anti-Blackness means supporting all Black people - you could make that understanding of how anti-Blackness is interconnected/intertwined with other oppressions more apparent by appealing to white people who might consider themselves staunch advocates for other communities but refuse to confront racism.

This is kind of a mess of different comments but those are just my raw thoughts after reading what you wrote.

Thank you for your service, coyotino

Look, I understand where you’re coming from and what you’re saying, but please bring down the temperature in your comments, even if others seem pedantic or nitpicking to you.

You’re welcome to express your opinion and agree or disagree with others as you see fit, but when you do so please remember the human on the other end of the discussion. There’s no need for picking unnecessary fights with others or being overly antagonistic, and we’re seeing a pattern of these threads you’re involved in getting really heated.

A country born by old white men which will die by old white men. Begins with a revolution to sever ties with a monarchy, ends with a coup to bring it back. We are truly coming full circle. 🤡

Asked if anything could convince him that he was on track to lose to Trump and should step down, Biden responded with a smile: “It depends on if the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that, I might do that.”

Sir, the Lord Almighty better come down and take you back with him. Take Trump too, while he’s at it.

After that debate and all the things he’s said since, Biden’s image is at an all-time low. As ableist and ageist as it is, people think he’s a senile old man in the late stages of cognitive decline, with no business running a government. I doubt he or his campaign are going to do what they need to do to overcome that perception, and I doubt the Democratic Party will make the right calls either. “Decades of civil service” and “somewhat better than Trump” etc. are not going to be enough.

damn, who could’ve possibly seen that coming? 🫥

saddam hussein is in there twisting my bones. i should be gripping rat

finally getting more time off from work versus the 60-70 hour weeks i was pulling before, so i started participating in a game jam and trying to have a presence on fedi again.

There is no should or shouldn’t, they’ve always had and been entitled to that choice. People who develop and host those platforms can make whatever choice they want.

ActivityPub/the Fediverse is only a protocol. If you philosophically disagree with how a platform makes use of that protocol, then you can (theoretically) just use another platform.

not so hot because things are tense around my house, but i’m moving out towards the end of the week so hopefully it’ll be over soon.

Genuine question: what happened last time?

Yup! If the software supports it, instance admins can usually add relays from their control panel.

It does work that way, but Mastodon and some other microblogging software like Firefish (fka Calckey), Pleroma, etc. can also use relays to populate their federated timelines.

What’re they mad about? 🤔

What an audacious request. I hope it’ll be rejected — this just has “bad idea” written all over it.

Respectfully, how on earth did this design get cleared? 😭

The cake looks beautiful! I love how the intentional misspelling pairs with how y’all nailed just about every other aspect of the cake. Hope it tastes as good as it looks 😊

lemmy.blahaj.zone might have some of what you’re looking for. Not sure if they offer anything specifically filling the same niche as r/me_irlgbt, but I used to be subscribed to [email protected]. (Overloaded my feed though sadly so that’s why I unsubbed.)

Houseless people are suffering through some of the most dire consequences of living in our capitalist hellscape (which is itself built by wealthy people many of whose wealth is ill-gotten through lying, swindling, and other exploitation). They don’t have proper shelter, many deal with food insecurity, many are just desperate to have some kind of stable life or just have someone treat them like an equal, like a fellow human.

They shouldn’t have to jump through hoops, prove themselves to be the “good” type, perform some kind of perfect victimhood, or pose as saints for us - and, being real, many of us are only one emergency away from also becoming houseless - so that we can pass what fickle judgment we have and decide they’re worthy of aid and assistance. We don’t really have the capacity to judge them off a small, often one-time interaction, and even if we did, what kind of message is that? “I’ll give you five dollars, but only if you do a little song and dance and show me that you applied for a job”?

Frankly, people deserve housing and food, no matter their moral character; houseless people shouldn’t have to demonstrate their character to us in order to deserve even a small parcel of what we’re fortunate enough to have. It takes some arrogance and lack of compassion on our part to expect that of them, especially when many of us with housing aren’t exactly saints either. Given the messaging we get from society, I understand some of the misgivings people might have, but still. Most people in general shouldn’t have to do anything special to be worthy of our kindness.

It doesn’t feel empty to me, personally (just thought I’d be clear that this is only my opinion) but it is definitely somewhat slower than Reddit or some of the other Lemmy and Kbin instances that are out there. IMO, I think a lot of people coming to Beehaw who’re acculturated to Big Social or Big Social-ish experiences are inevitably disappointed with the amount of content because it’s not a massive stream of content being funneled into your feed anymore.

But I’ve been on the Fediverse (Mastodon, Lemmy, etc.) for about four years now and gotten used to the slower flow, that going to Reddit or some other Lemmy instances or Twitter now feels like I’m drowning or being inundated/overwhelmed with content which flows faster than I can give a due-diligence response to. Either I could say nothing, just vote, write a one-off low-effort response, get in a heated debate, or try to take the time to write something more thoughtful (and then by the time I was done with that, the moment would already have past or I’d get some smart-ass reply that would end the engagement for me). Plus there are some concessions involved in getting all that content delivered to you.

Some people like that but it’s just not really for me anymore, it doesn’t feel healthy. I like being able to slow down and actually talk to people, and I like that I can trust I’ll see them again later. I like that I can post something and no matter whether it’s popular or not, someone will engage, even if it takes time.

On the other part, I don’t really understand how no downvotes is a “weird” decision; it’s definitely not uncommon considering some of the subreddits I participated in on Reddit did the same thing. But in any event, Beehaw does have some posts/comments around explaining the reason for certain choices.

The decision is not an easy one - in large part this is due to the massive moderation overhead which federating with those two instances brought and the lack of tools available to address that. It’s an extreme maneuver, but it’s either that or nothing until Lemmy as a software improves.