I have seen social media described as “microblogging”, but I don’t think that’s true. Or rather, actual blogs like on WordPress are one thing, but the more “conversation” style is something else entirely. Phrases such as “^This”, “I also choose this guy’s wife”, “and my axe” reveal that the true purpose of social media is emotional venting, rather than conveyance of information. For some people at least - and depending on moderation practices and abilities, and on communities setting up expectations, the level of discourse may be either higher or lower, but even so, foundationally, isn’t that what this place is for?

After all, Wikipedia articles are one thing, essays and poetry are another, blogs are still another (with the level of effort being put into their crafting), and finally at the lowest end, social media is found where we just blurt out whatever we are thinking about at any given moment.

Mind you, it can be done well - I have had people convince me of my privilege status & thus shepherd me into wokeness even on Facebook, which is not known for such - but even so, isn’t the true purpose of a thing what it mostly does? Like a vehicle isn’t a coffee holder, despite it being capable of that, as well as many other things.

Some people’s thoughts are just more worth listening to than others. Hence why microblogging e.g. Twitter/X & Mastodon can aim at a higher end, as too can Reddit & Lemmy/K/Mbin (+ soon: Sublinks), but it seems rarely used for its maximum purpose and far more often for its emotive vomit aka “share every single one of our uncurated thoughts”. Case in point: my message right here, which unlike a “blog post” took me <5 minutes to create.:-P

Btw, check out https://medium.com/@max.p.schlienger/the-cargo-cult-of-the-ennui-engine-890c541cebcb for an example of what I would consider a more worthwhile post. Sometimes, imho, it is okay to aim for more quality than quantity of posts, even if that seems antithetical to the goal of “social media” that aims instead to connect people together to just shoot the shit amongst ourselves.

This is when you would respond “Bitch, I said what I said” (Doja Cat, Paint the Town Red), right?! Hrmm… me neither:-P.

And clothing that lasts for more than at least one year, sheesh!

But were people allowed to say “bitch” back then? Truly we have advanced in so many ways!:-)

Instructions unclear, now have Pope following me around the woods trying to poop on me - help!?

It is, but presumably phrasing it as a question increases engagement (or was thought to) hence furthers the OP’s goal, in spite of the factual nature.

i.e. the same reason that Trump was allowed to walk all over the “moderators” at the recent Presidential advertisement “debate”.

You know, “journalism” as it seems to always be practiced these days. As in, chase the profits to the exclusion of all other considerations.

Hrm, I wonder if my time spent on social media has made me more hostile to such predatory practices overall…

Excellent breakdown imho.:-)

My highest karma item has about 200 upvotes. Let’s see, theirs… Holy crap I didn’t even know the numbers went that high!? 🤗

It seems to be really well thought out. Like the original meme is nice too:

But would be a lot of paint that would flake off easily so the above design looks like it would work much better for a shirt:-).

And since this is Chidi:

Imma ultimately decide:

Long-term: facing them and dealing with the source. e.g. I would get nervous about job interviews, but like… as I should, right!? Bc it means that I care about the outcome. Nothing will ever reduce that, except experience doing it over and over, but in the meantime that fight or flight response “helps” to go over everything, e.g. to practice and prepare in all the various ways needed.

Short-term: reading a new/old 400pg tome for an introduction to some random topic… 😜

Why u gonna out your neighbors like that?

(Bc if they aren’t “in” either, then they are likely…:-P)

This joke brought to you by my brain. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have the AI now? 😜

Cashing in to make a buck.

That’s what they want you to think! 🤔

A large part of the confusion is that dinosaurs did not emerge from birds in the same way that humans did not evolve from Chimpanzees (nor monkeys) - but rather, both groups in those pairs evolved from a common ancestor (but different ones:-).

Birds have feathers and for the most part fly, while alligators not so much. In attempting to simplify, e.g. Avians to “birds”, it causes confusion. Alligators also are not warm-blooded as birds are, not do they have beaks, all hallmarks of modern birds, but they do have four legs, long body with a tail, moveable eyelids - and don’t they have external ear openings as well? - all hallmarks of modern lizards.

Scientists use precision language like “non-Avian theropod”, but those don’t map perfectly to common words like “birds”, which everyone knows are just government drones anyway:-P.

One is The Reverse Gish Gallop and another is The Card Says Moops, though the latter is a significantly longer journey.

If you haven’t watched (or its been a minute since), I would start from the first one in the series bc it builds so nicely and foundationally:-).

Not off topic at all - when he showed up, the topic became all about him, in true business cat style - he will not allow it any other way!!! 😹

Since it is super easy, barely an inconvenience, I am going to share this link from where my statement came from:-)

https://youtu.be/_ru0pnAnq7g

(I wish Lemmy would show preview pics of YouTube videos to let people have a glimpse of what they are in for, but hopefully my hints were enough here:-)

I mean… those airport lines do be annoying though:-P.