Would be interesting to see if the Chinese and US communities eventually separate entirely, or if there will remain some significant cross over between them. The article implied significant cross over, but your experience so far seems less so?

2y ago

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

I even dont think its Russian bots, just plain old capitalism and a general decline in journalistic integrity. Any article that hypes up XYZ, I assume is written by a marketing firm representing XYZ. :(

2y ago

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

Definitely valid points, and I might be wrong. It definitely isnt a super glowing article, but "flocking to" part of the headline struck me as a bit hyperbolic, which is probably the root of my skepticism.

2y ago

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

My conspiracy, if you want to call it that, is that I dont think article is the product of actual journalism. I think Xiaohongshu has paid for that article to be written, to give the impression that the influencers are moving to it, and its the next tiktok. One of the listed authors has never published anything else, and the site isnt exactly a mainstream news site.

2y ago

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

I dont mean that your tone is bot like or anything, just that they would want authentic voices.

I do find it hard to beleive, because look at the reddit and twitter transitions. They either took years (bluesky is only barely starting to gain notability, and I'm not convinced that isn't also doing astroturfing) or never happened (Lemmy userbase is a rounding error). Getting people to switch social media is very difficult. And tiktok isnt even banned yet.

Also, just because there are no ads, doesn't mean that no one is propping up the business. Someone is paying to keep the servers running and lights on, and an astro turfing campaign isnt that expensive. Social media companies either grow or die.

So if your liking this new site, power to you, but I suggest you enjoy it while it lasts, because its going to have to become profitable somehow, and that is never good for the users.

2y ago

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

With all due respect, this comment is exactly what a faked "Grass roots marketing campaign" would write. But your account has an extensive post history, so thats a lot more effort than a typical astro turf account.

Also, inflating subscriber numbers and view counts wouldn't be out of the question either, remember Facebook video...

2y ago

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

Yeah, this honestly sounds like a press release with made up "users". Definitely part of a marketing campaign.

2y ago

Reviewers without Conflict of Interest?

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

Its a 3d printer, it does not need to be networked (often can't be networked, without octoprint etc), so no real potential for spyware. Safety features being turned off causing fires is about the worst that can happen.

Its worth considering if you want to do 3d printing for producing prints, or tinkering with the printer itself. A lot of the cheap kit printers are very bare bones, so you'll end up spending lots more time tinkering and upgrading. If you just want to make items, spend more on a higher end printer.

Cheap first and upgrade later is pretty reasonable though.

2y ago

Reviewers without Conflict of Interest?

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

That looks pretty convoluted, but yeah, thats kinda what you'd need to do. There are a lot of bits and pieces there, so if open source is essential, youd want to check that all are OS.

A more pragmatic approach may be to simply accept that because you can flash the firmware, that is good enough. The first party firmware will probably be good, assuming its not had safety systems turned off, and if the firmware actually becomes a problem you can always switch later?

If this is your first printer, I would stick with the stock firmware unless there is something wrong with it. Klipper/Marlin/etc dont really matter as long as it produces the correct print output.

2y ago

Behind the Curtain: Meta's make-up-with-MAGA map

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

Facebook Fact Check©: I'm not paid enough to check this, probably true

2y ago

Reviewers without Conflict of Interest?

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

Other than building the firmware and flashing it yourself not really?

Usually they will have flashing instructions somewhere, and thats a goodish sign. Even better if they have the source code published somewhere. But unless you build it and flash it yourself its impossible to know what is on there.

For a real-world example, many Anet A8 machines were shipping with "marlin", but with the runaway thermal protection disabled.

2y ago

Reviewers without Conflict of Interest?

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CameronDev @programming.dev 2y ago

but they can advertise other things that aren't a direct conflict of interest.

Advertising things that arent a direct conflict of interest just results in poorly targeted ads, which both consumers and advertisers don't like.

On the "open source" side, its not enough that the firmware is open source, the flashed binary needs to actually be unmodified. Marlin and klipper run 99% of the budget 3d printer space, and both are open source projects. There are still dozens of printers that are shipped with modified firmware with the changes kept secret. GPL is only as powerful as your lawyers are.