Questions for You and Minor Summer Update

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Being adult-only does not guarantee that there would be no immature or uncivil people in a community, as immature adults definitely exist. However, an 18+ rule, especially in a well-moderated community, helps with setting the expectations for community members to have mature conversations.

I firmly believe that having adults with healthy relationships with is beneficial for children’s growth, which is something I talked about in a separate thread about online safety education for children, and an all-age online spaces where adults and children have healthy interactions are a good thing, but as a grown adult, there are moments where I want to socialise with fellow adults only.

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We already have forum rules (in particular 7 and 8) that say to engage in respectful discussion. The 18+ rule means you also have to literally be an adult, so that nobody sues us for discussing e.g. LGBT topics.

If 18+ has some coded meaning, like “be mature,” rather than what it says on the tin, then that kind of undermines the integrity of all the other rules. Now I have to second guess if the other words have some double meaning, too.

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this is a minor thing, but I usually use incognito windows on my phone to browse the site (meaning i’m not logged in), and light mode being the default right now is pretty annoying since it’s been dark this entire time

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Generally speaking, adults tend to be more mature than children. This implication does not undermine the other rules.

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no coded meaning, as others have said. agreeing with @effigies above:

there isn’t an implication that we must have mature conversations at all times. (i make too many dumb jokes for that.) but there is an expectation that, since folks here are above 18, we have more life experience than children who often view issues and people through the lens of people who have not encountered a lot of people, or even people different from them. by 18, most people have experienced an understanding that people are not tropes; there are shades of grey in life; that people are not just Good or Evil. this difference helps guide the culture, frankly.

our community was born out of an all-ages community–one that folks genuinely felt like they needed a “break” from because conversations trying to teach the above is exhausting, especially in social settings where folks are just trying to have a bit of levity.

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I will just throw hat in and say I ‘m very happy this community is 18+ because many web communities are dominated by minors and it is a bit exhausting.

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I’m seconding this feedback, since I set my browser to clear all cookies when I close the browser, so I’m not always logged in when I visit this forum. I’m a dark mode user, and before the most recent 32-Bit Cafe Discourse update, the forum was able to detect my dark mode setting, and automatically switch the theme to dark mode, but now it simply defaults to light mode even when I set my browser and operating system to dark mode.

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its cause they have so much free time :sob:

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@cheedle @Leilukin the default theme should now detect dark mode settings when not signed in.

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Nice. It works now. Thank you!

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I’ve been looking into Elixir! It’s been quite a while and it still has a seemingly very happy web dev following so I’m quite interested to see what it looks like — what exactly it is that’s been so good to work with!

I’ve also been exploring SVGs with Josh W. Comeau’s amazing article series about them.

I love the community that is being created here, as well as all the events and happenings! Even if they are outside events being talked about on our forums, I still find it quite invigorating! ^^

I can’t think of anything I explicitly dislike.

Edit:

Show Us The Fish!!

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I like that we have a forum (it’s so much more chill than social media), and that our community is moderated really well. I guess I don’t have any complaints. :)

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Am in a similar boat as @convexer on discussions around AI, but really I only like discussions about in on this forum lol. I’ve accepted that angrily shaking my fist at the general concept of AI isn’t going to make the problem go away, and when discussed critically and with specificity, it can actually be a super interesting topic. You’d think as a visual artist I’d have a bigger gripe against it, and I do, but I can’t help but be curious about the actual potential benefits, and even the further implications on consuming art and the artmaking process (my thoughts alone could be it’s own thread lol).

But again, I only like reading about AI when it’s on this forum. Like what @Melvian mentioned, most other discussion of it online (especially on socmed) is too vague and basically boils down to “New technology is good!” or doom posting about how society will collapse in a tweet quoting an AI generated video of 10 cats in a tree or something.

(psst, I particularly like reading Nicky Case’s explanations and research on AI, they’re made for laymen like me and check the boxes for bring critical and specific!)

Casually using this to segway into what I like about what the 32-bit cafe’s doing. I don’t use any other forum tbf (unless you count the forums on Pixel Cat’s End…), but I like the way the community fosters productive discussion. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to any other social media I’ve used, …but maybe I just need to use more forums. Not sure how much the 18+ rule contributes to this (and as a former adult space infiltrating kid I’m inclined to think it’s not really that effective LOL) but I like that there is at least the expectation of being civil and open-minded.

Can’t really answer the other questions since I’m not particularly active in webdev and the “personal web community” ig, but this was fun to think about!

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Nicky Case is awesome.

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You’ve introduced to me a great AI explanation piece, which has in turn introduced me to a scientifically-proven method of remembering things in the form of “Spaced Repetition” and flash cards (and a great FOSS app called Anki to boot)! Thank you! <3

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This’ll probably be a bit of a disjointed reply because I’m not great with words without rambling, but I’ll do my best. Edited for brevity. XD;

Lately, I’ve been kind of burned out from adding to my site and making stuff in general, so I’ve mostly been roaming others’ sites for fun, resources and inspiration, and comfort. I take a lot of comfort in just being on the personal web. Even when I’m not actively participating in communities, and not actively working on my website, I’m always in the orbit of this part of the web - just often a wallflower. Other than that, I’m trying to decide how to improve my website. I still have tons of pages and things I’ve been wanting to add from the start, and the site layout has been really irking me for a while now. I’ve learned that I basically go through cycles of enthusiastic activity and then dormancy when it comes to this (most things, actually). I always think of these things like the biorhythm mechanic in Fire Emblem: PoR (ノ°▽°)

My own goal and what I’m excited about is getting more people into the personal web! To start with, I’m introducing my friends and family to alternatives to the mainstream sites and tools. I’m glad that there’s more of an awareness of this side of the internet, and that more people seem to be taking action to be more intentional about their experience. And I’m happy that the personal web is a thing to begin with, it’s been really liberating. I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot from people who really know what they’re doing, who have maybe worked professionally in web development, and have more experience with the evolution of the internet. I like hearing and learning from the experiences of my seniors! Also, I’m really excited at the prospect of finding more people to play Subeta and similar games with…I’m registering at Riverton now!! :pixelcat2:

Since I haven’t really been around, I can’t really accurately comment on what I do or don’t like about what the cafe is doing. I’ve always liked it here, I’ve pretty much always found it easy to talk to people here. I’ve been able to learn so much from others just by visiting their sites or listening to stories. I think any issues that I may have are entirely self-inflicted and not due to anything the Cafe is doing, like my struggles to make friends and socialize despite how welcoming and good-faith this community is. I’m just really happy to see how much it’s grown. :>

Regarding the AI question, I’m pretty much on the same page as a lot of people here - it’s tiring, but people shouldn’t be completely barred from discussing it. Generally I avoid it and discussions around it because it’s a sore spot for me as an artist, but I do think it’s important to remember that things aren’t always so cut-and-dry. Nuance and all that. ٩(｡•ω•｡)و

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what have you been into lately with web development?

I’ve been recontextualizing permission words have on me. I once gave language every right to every emotion - I took that responsibility back. My feelings are now for serving others, not for feeling how others feel. I feel loved and seen.

The notion of the body as a website is new to me (where it is new to you, we are the same), and I want to explore that! Taking websites apart, foraging for pieces website of my person feels like a start toward that end. I browse life.

On a practical level, this is making albums from saved images, playing solo journaling games, copying quotes to a notes app, and curating a sensory tagging system - whatever the water and light of my life want to get up to.

I have been making brushes in my walks in the world - learning about the plants around me and serving them as a form of interaction (as a website for the lived world) has been well received by people in my community.

what are you excited about right now with the indie/personal web?

All the people! There’s creatures and plants and sludge and detritus and goop. The sun morphs into a blorbo, reaches out a hand, grabs an accessibility bar, and pulls down onto the surface, forming a plant, and I’m that plant.

Like dawn, I am intimate, soft, and interested in what it is I am translates into how it is I am received. I feel fully integrated as a piece of what reality is trying things and touching itself, forming and tending sacred boundaries.

Indie web hits the same feels as a microscope video - I prepare a sample, here’s light and a slide. I look down to interact with the sliver, and up to interact with the lived world. It’s a divide that makes me a weird, mobile success story.

I am excited to be understood in ways people don’t understand. Leaving the world larger than they thought and smaller than ever all at once. Sometimes it’s cold and that’s okay. How homogeneity and boundaries produce language.

what do you like about what the 32-bit cafe’s doing? what do you dislike?

I like reading peoples thoughts here and getting to know everyone slowly by how they find their words. Every word is a little life, for me, where someone touches some interface, is recognized and available to be received. I celebrate it.

It’s neat when a first post is an introduction and contribution. I don’t treasure useful things, this moment. Use seems a tired, too-relative term to serve - “useful how,” - more number-go-up than deeper conversations or stronger connections.

Breaking things down for others, turning light to presence, being what makes here available than trying to start from scratch. Finding my home in runtime rather than content, how I am in the lived world - survivor of bleak things, mending.

The word is “photosynthesis” in the technical sense - body of water rolling an electron into where the universe can recognize itself enough to transform radiance into sweetness. I live that moment, and see it live here.

I have no website at present.

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