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Otter

@ otter @lemmy.ca

Posts

305
Comments

742
Joined

3 yr. ago

I waddled onto the beach and stole found a computer to use.
🍁⚕️ 💽
Note: I'm moderating a handful of communities in more of a caretaker role. If you want to take one on, send me a message and I'll share more info :)

Moderating

Comic Strips lemmy.world

Space mander.xyz

Lemmy.ca's Main Community lemmy.ca

Public Health mander.xyz

Canada lemmy.ca

2mo ago

Brought to you by the same people that told you not to believe everything you read on the internet and now only read click bait headlines from Fox or Breitbart
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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago
Some sources are still better than others.

2mo ago

Rule 2 Clarifications and New Rule proposal

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

Oh I see, that makes sense :)

Maybe these communities then:

You could also post about the community in !communitypromo@lemmy.ca

2mo ago

Rule 2 Clarifications and New Rule proposal

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

This sounds good to me, thank you for putting in the time for this!

2mo ago

Rule 2 Clarifications and New Rule proposal

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

I didn't know about your project, it looks cool! I think you could share it outside of your community some more, maybe you can crosspost them to !fediverse@lemmy.world?

2mo ago

Rule 2 Clarifications and New Rule proposal

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

I feel that some further refinement is needed. I agree with the sentiment behind the latest version of the rule, but I think it still doesn't address the recent issues.

The way I see it, there is a very specific type of post that has started showing up very recently, and is getting lots of downvotes. Users here are justifiably suspicious of the pattern.

The ones that get downvotes are usually:

from new accounts
the user makes one post, and at most they only responds to comments in that one post
the software uses the help of LLMs, while the post and/or comments are also helped by LLMs
the software is made to look "professional", whether it is the UI, the demo, or the README

I'm not sure what exactly the end goal is, but I don't believe the story that they all use where they "had this problem and now want to share their solution". I'm concerned that there is some other end goal, whether it is link farming, SEO manipulation, LLM search result manipulation, or it's the setup portion of a cyber attack where questionable code will be added later (if it isn't already).

Normally I would suggest to just moderate it based off of "you know it when you see it", but in this case it's difficult since it's very similar to legitimate posts. There are real users that want to post with a new account, such keeping their professional life separate from their main account. It's also hard to differentiate it based on licenses, because those recent accounts almost always license it as FOSS. I also don't think it's fair to exclude all AI assisted code, since it's very common to have that now.

Perhaps instead of a rule, we could even try some of the following:

To reduce the risk of OpenClaw style bots creating content here: AI is ok for the code and external text (ex. the README), but the post here should be written by a human. It's not like the post needs to be that long to express why someone should look at it, and it won't go through that many edits. Translations should be done through traditional translation software.
To prevent driveby posts, we could automate a comment on new posts see if a user knows where they are posting. Asking about their favourite threadiverse community, or how long they have been a member here, or even how they learned about the community might separate bots from real users. It works pretty well for our registration applications on lemmy.ca / piefed.ca etc.

On top of being suspicious, I think it boils down to "projects that have a future" and "projects that don't have a future". People in this community want to run software that is likely to stay useful and safe over time, and that's at the core of why these recent ones are downvoted.

2mo ago

Valve Says The Companies Making RAM Give Them A Price And If They Say No, They ‘Never Talk To Us Again’

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

In the workplace, there are still a lot of domain specific programs that don't have Linux support. Companies don't have much of an incentive to port that stuff over. As for the people who just need a web browser, they probably would use Linux just fine if they could buy a computer at BestBuy that comes with Linux preinstalled

Compare that to LLM programs, where it's a matter of "download this app instead of that one, because this one is free and that one costs $25 a month"

2mo ago

Valve Says The Companies Making RAM Give Them A Price And If They Say No, They ‘Never Talk To Us Again’

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

Having an option vs not having an option

Also Linux and Windows are pretty different in use cases and capabilities. Meanwhile, local AI models have a very similar user experience. If hardware was cheaper and people could run better LLMs locally, they wouldn't pay monthly for it.

2mo ago

Laying the First Stones

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

Is ambitiousslab@feddit.uk also the author of the blog?

A blurb about the article is nice and helps to convince people to click on the article, but it isn't necessary. From what I can tell, ambitiousslab seems to be sharing things that they find interesting and doesn't follow the pattern of the usual bot spam we deal with

2mo ago

Meta Exec Admits Zuckerberg Has Crushed Workers’ Spirits

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

Thanks!

A big reason for me is that people can tell who the source is more easily, instead of seeing a generic Yahoo link. If someone is blocking or flagging a particular domain through their app / front-end, then it won't work for a yahoo link.

Also while I don't think Yahoo is doing something illegal, my gut says that these articles are harming the smaller news orgs. When Yahoo/MSN publishes the full article, the user likely doesn't notice who the actual news org is, likely doesn't go to the real news orgs website, the news org has a harder time building a brand / reputation, and over time they might become even more dependent on Yahoo to stay afloat. A lot of the time when I look up a story, the yahoo page ranks above the actual original source, and that feels wrong to me

2mo ago

Meta Exec Admits Zuckerberg Has Crushed Workers’ Spirits

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

@sanitation@lemmy.today, could you edit the post to use this link instead?

2mo ago

TIL if your cat purrs quietly you can use over ear headphones as an amplifier by wearing them and pressing against their chest

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

A small bowl might work too, if anyone doesn't have over ear headphones. Or a stethoscope if the cat wants to get clinical 😄

2mo ago

Does anybody know what's going on with Calibre Web Automated? [Solved]

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

They put out a LOT of updates in a row a few months ago

Hopefully the maintainers are taking a break, and they aren't burned out.

2mo ago

Fedecan.ca has been updated with a generalized threadiverse section, an updated list of alternative UIs, and an RSS feed for announcements

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

:) Thank you!

2mo ago

Fedecan.ca has been updated with a generalized threadiverse section, an updated list of alternative UIs, and an RSS feed for announcements

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

No worries at all, irl life comes first :)

Thank you for putting in the time to make it so that your new pages have a similar tone and style to the rest of the guides. We don't require it, but it helps keep things consistent for the readers

2mo ago

Commodore's Next Hardware Release Is Dumb, And Proud Of It

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

Commodore has had an interesting year. A retro-tech YouTuber got into discussions with the company and ended up buying it. I think they had plans to become a public benefit company of some kind, with a focus on openness and preserving old tech.

I'm surprised that the Wikipedia article doesn't have a lot of details on those recent developments from the past year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_International

2mo ago

Commodore's Next Hardware Release Is Dumb, And Proud Of It

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

Supposedly you can't install some things. Hopefully this is an optional parental control feature, and not baked in to every phone. They would be losing a lot of potential nostalgia sales if they only chase after the "forced distraction free" market. Some people can control their usage without needing the device to do it for them. 🤷

The phone also blocks internet browsers and social media apps at a system level, "using patent-pending technology, eliminating temptation and designed with distraction-free schools in mind." This ties in neatly with the upcoming ban on social media for the under-16s in the UK, but I can't imagine there are many teenagers who even know what Commodore is.

2mo ago

TIL: There are giant viruses and they get viruses

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

You might also enjoy learning about phages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy

2mo ago

Microsoft Teams is getting a controversial location tracking feature that users may hate

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

Hmm...

Image generated with Microsoft Copilot

2mo ago

Age-verification partner Yoti is reporting GrapheneOS users to authorities for using GrapheneOS, due to "past security concerns."

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Otter @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

I figure that the authorities will get annoyed if they keep receiving false positives from this company

3mo ago

Brave is charging $60 to remove features it added in the first place

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Otter @lemmy.ca 3mo ago

I don't use Brave, and don't recommend it to people, but it seems like the $60 is intended as a donation/"vote-with-your-wallet on how we monetize" type product rather than something that is actually worth that much.

It doesn't change all of the OTHER problems with Brave, but it might be a step in the right direction when it comes to monetization? Pay once vs. LLM/crypto/injected ads

https://account.brave.com/?intent=checkout&product=origin

Brave Origin is a paid version of the browser for users who don't need all the features that support Brave as a business, but still want the privacy that only Brave offers. Origin users will continue to benefit from our industry-leading privacy, adblock, and speed (via Shields), as well as regular software updates, Chromium patches, and security and privacy improvements. Origin is available on desktop and mobile versions 1.91.x and above.
Support our mission & open-source work
Minimalist browser UI centered on Brave Shields
Maintain core adblock, privacy, & speed
One-time purchase can be activated multiple times across all your devices