MyMulligan

The thing is that Meta and Reddit are masters of social manipulation through their algorithms. They know what low common denominators get the most engagement. I blame FB for a big number of echo Chambers and that just fed people their own negativity right back, made them spiral into a bad place mentally.

If they have any ability to post to the Fediverse or to track things they'll do it all over again.

It's the halcyon days of the Fediverse. Negativity on my feed is nonexistent. There's discussion. There's respect for differences. I know things will change with time but it's important that the big instances never work as proxies for big tech. It's important that big tech doesn't get a seat at the table. Voices should remain individual and not some mouthpiece to an industry that wants centralized control.

I just read a good article about big tech is never a friend to decentralized stuff. You can find it here.

An excellent read. My synopsis is that if any big corporations joined the Fediverse they would fracture it, and that no matter what Meta, Reddit, Google, etc. would never want to see a decentralized platform succeed.

Pretty much the Fediverse needs to never let a big company tie into it. Our group needs to work at growing but at a sustainable rate.

I would argue that the only low level post that would be worthwhile is the social variety. For those in the Fediverse who want this to be a place to visit everyday there needs to be posts that create a dialog of sharing life events. Some of the best posts on reddit were the ones where the comment thread was better than the post. The post sparked something to share and people dog piled and created something fun and entertaining.

Maybe the Fediverse isn't big enough for that to happen spontaneously right now. But I do like when my communities/magazines ask the general low level question. It allows me to participate and not wait for a post where I have some expertise to share.

BTW, good observations and good ideas in your post.

A big shout out to Lemmy.one. I signed up not knowing but love the fact now. Down votes don't add to the discussion. And posts and comments that are in poor taste should just be reported. Ignoring poorly made comments and posts is the best way to extinguish them. It forces the writer to improve their input if they care about the up votes. Down votes just make the user give up in wanting to contribute at all. Lemmy is about contribution. For now it is anyway.

Magic can McGuffin any answer you need but it sounds like you want a non magic means to keep people away.

Have a guarded door, be it creature or armed guards. The room that is guarded is not the real room, just a place to hold private meetings. It's used on the regular to keep the focus on the guarded room.

The real room is in the town's bizarre. It's passed by all of the time and is curated by the most hated man. No one likes going to his shop. He's rude and his wares are over priced. Within his shop is the real room that is visited by the few who know.

The recipe is actually known. I came across a long article on the web about it. The true secret was that he used pressure cookers in the early years that no one else did.

Here's what Bing AI found and it might be from the article I read:

Here is an article I found on the KFC secret recipe. According to Joe Ledington, Colonel Sanders' nephew, the recipe consists of the following 11 herbs and spices: 2/3 tablespoon salt, 3 tablespoons white pepper, 1/2 tablespoon thyme, 1/2 tablespoon basil, 1/3 tablespoon oregano, 1 tablespoon celery salt, 1 tablespoon dried mustard, 4 tablespoons paprika, 1 tablespoon garlic salt and 1 tablespoon ground ginger¹.

The recipe is one of the most valuable fast food formulas and is considered one of the biggest trade secrets in the world³. The original handwritten recipe is housed in a 770-pound safe encased in two feet of concrete and guarded by video cameras and motion detectors³.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 6/23/2023 (1) What is the KFC secret recipe? Top 11 herbs and spices 'revealed'. https://twistedfood.co.uk/articles/features/kfc-secret-recipe-colonel-herbs-spices. (2) Is This the Top-Secret KFC Recipe? - The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/dining/is-this-the-top-secret-kfc-recipe.html. (3) KFC Original Recipe - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC_Original_Recipe. (4) Here's KFC's Secret Recipe to Extra Crispy Fried Chicken - Taste of Home. https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/kfcs-secret-recipe-crispy-fried-chicken/. (5) What Are KFC's 11 Herbs and Spices? - Allrecipes. https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-are-kfcs-11-herbs-and-spices/.

The whole super guarded recipe part I believe to be pure marketing pablum, a ruse to generate conversation.

My wife is a teacher at a small district. She's watched student's abilities drop over the past twenty years and the time of covid left them severely lacking. Yes. Their writing skills are practically not there. It's truly sad.

The negativity is definitely less. Sure, out of say fifty comments to a post there's maybe two disgruntled souls. Overall it's conducive to discussion.

Over on reddit I kept to just hobby subreddits for the most part to make comments. Only way to not come across the trolls.

Yes, the clean UI is wonderful. It's good to have something simple. It's also fun to watch something grow.

I got back into day hikes. I'll bring back bicycle riding as well. The tires are all aired up and it's ready to go.

Bots and paid actors are all over social media. It didn't strike me until I noticed how professional the photography was for a majority of posts. EDC, and Wicked Edge had some well designed still photos. Others too. And they all had links for buying the products.

You make excellent points.