I’m sure it’s not lack of technical skill it’s a mental block, I’ve helped so many people set up software that is literally clicking ok a dozen times then they’re like ‘oh let me print this, hang on I need to compile a firmware update and flash it using a telegraph key…’ big brands have the shittiest software, but people feel they should be able to understand because it’s professional but something like an open source federated social network is nerd stuff so they feel the the shouldn’t be able to.

Case in point, I installed MPV on a friends laptop because VLC wouldn’t play the file without crashing, the install process is super simple but they have green on black hacker terminal output instead of a process bar and you type Y when prompted instead of clicking yes – it gave her anxiety just watching me do it, said maybe we should try uninstalling VLC and reinstalling instead… Of course mpv played the video flawlessly and used less CPU and ram doing so which warmed her to it. There’s no way she couldn’t have understood everything and done it herself but the fact it’s not as corporate as VLC would have written it off (and wow that’s a crazy thing to say, I love that there’s so much great open source software that VLC is middle of the road)

That’s true, only Canadian instances would have to block Canadian news sites

We might have to ban it too if Canada is going to charge the instance owners for every Canadian news story posted

Oh now there’s a game I could really play on a long journey, is it on play store?

Yeah exactly, most the people I communicate with using accounts linked to my real name are people I know in real life. I’m not ashamed of my opinions or hobbies, it’s not like I’m posting gay furry oc - that’s what alt accounts are for…

My controversial opinion is that candy crush is actually brilliant, yeah they want you to buy gold but it’s more fun not to. The same goes for a lot of advert funded / in app purchase games - they’re fantastic mobile games if you ignore the money option.

Morrowind ports and similar aren’t great mobile games, they’re great games but candy crush I can pull out my pocket when I’m waiting for a bus and get totally drawn into a few rounds. Airport control is another example, draw lines to direct landing planes and avoid a crash - super simple and repetitive but its complexity grows, cut the rope likewise is a true game in my definition because you learn skills and develop your personal ability beyond just learning game mechanics. They’re engaging and enjoyable with a complexity ramp and nice easy to understand ui and graphics - they’re everything a mobile game should be.

There are some great horror and story games too, especially the Indy ones

That’s how a lot of open source works tbh, often devs have jobs to make money and work on their project in free time then if the project gains traction they start making enough off donations or whatever to drop their other work.

Yeah this information has always been available up spez and co

Bit crypto does that by publicly recording all transactions on the Blockchain, this is kinda the same thing in that it’ll not just about being told ‘in total sixteen people agree’ and having to belive spez that he hasn’t just invented the number, it’s seeing who voted and how.

You can of course have more than one account and keep your identity private similar to crypto where your transactions are public but the owner of the walker can be private

yeah, though a better analogy would maybe be it’s all the people of the world working together to progress society so that we have the tools required to allow everyone to live fulfilling and comfortable lives but certain people in comfortable positions don’t care about the billions of people in poverty who would hugely benefit from access to advanced AI able to give medical advice, education, and lifestyle benefits so they obstinately try and stand in the way of progress refusing to help and selfishly guarding their worthless ‘intellectual property’ out of a weird sense of self-importance and greed.

The in long run they’ll make no difference but it’s still distressing that they would act like this.