If you use browser extensions like Ghostery and AdNauseam it’ll click on blocked ads in the background, essentially giving Google fake info. After I started using extensions like that my survey questions have been all over the place, and I’ll answer them in a way that feels potentially accurate but is actually 100% false and irrelevant to me lol. So I get money, falsify their info, and block ads and trackers all at the same time, it’s perfect!

goddamn you 😂

I love that, Zabes has such cool girl energy lol

bitcrushed wilhelm scream

StartAllBack is good but I personally use and prefer Start11

Using Sync, which just released, you can filter instances you don’t wanna see. I did the same with lemmynsfw lol

I used Nova for years, but it felt increasingly outdated so I switched to Action Launcher. Then it too started to feel outdated after a few years so I switched to Smart Launcher, which I’ve been loving. I miss AL’s side drawer but SL has a lot to offer if you want something slick and simple, with custom widgets and layouts. I recommend you check it out!

The main rule was that if you visited the sub you had to post a meme before you left, (obviously unenforceable) but that’s why all the posts have “rule” in the title. It ended up being a very queer friendly and fairly horny subreddit, somewhat notoriously so lol

Ah okay that makes sense

how the hell did you and the person you’re replying to get your names to look like that

It does kinda feel like a porn site! Dirty and guilty almost, useful in the moment and then you realize you don’t really wanna spend any more time there than you have to haha. It makes me a little sad though because I feel like I’ve learned so many interesting things there, found so many niche hobbies and communities over the years. But like you said it’s just a website and at the end of the day it’s the humans who make the communities. Doesn’t matter who’s hosting it, I think we’ll always find a way to gather and share cool things with each other. I’m hopeful in that way for the future of the fediverse.

And yeah, finding something better to do with my time other than feeding my addiction to information via infinite scrolling is definitely a good thing. Data paralysis, info stasis, whatever you wanna call it, is numbing and and I think so many people use it as a crutch and vice because life is hard and inaction is easier.

I don’t think Reddit is very niche, it’s one of the most trafficked websites in the world. Do I think all of those users will move to Lemmy? Not at all, especially since most of those people are using it to augment their Google searches. But as the higher quality content moves, I can see Lemmy (or a different fediverse alternative) being “the place to go” instead. I think discoverabilty and moderation tools are going to be key to bringing people over. I think it will foster the kind of place that draws in more people.

As for Mastodon idk. BlueSky seems interesting, but I don’t trust Jack Dorsey to not cave to venture capital and shareholder interests and enshittify the website like every other social media has. I give it five years lol.

The apps I’ve been using have been glitchy, or at least lemmy.world’s performance is, so I keep going back to Boost just because it’s such a great app experience. I haven’t been going to it as much though, it feels a bit ruined for me. Like there are still great people and communities, but I feel like I can’t engage now because it gives data to the admins. And the quality of content overall has gone down between some subs still being dark, other subs protesting by pivoting to joke and NSFW content, and a lot of high quality users moving to Lemmy.

For the most part I avoid negative content, but I was on a lot of subs that had to engage with it (r/LGBT, trans subs, etc) Plus I like to be kept aware about what’s going on with legislation regarding human rights in the US so that can be a bummer I guess but I don’t blame the platform for being the messenger. So I haven’t really noticed a mental health shift but I have been trying to move away from reddit and do other things I enjoy, so I guess that counts? I’ve been reading and playing video games a bit more which is really nice.

This is the first I’m hearing of this, interesting

TIL

I just used PowerDeleteSuite to overwrite and delete my messages. I’ve also been using reddit for about 11 years. It feels sad in a way, like I’m losing a friend. The communities could be really great sometimes, and it’ll take a while for the fediverse to truly catch up in terms of growth and features. I left my account active so I don’t lose my saved posts but it might as well be dead, the app is garbage and the site is dying.

Lemmy has a hardcoded profanity/vulgarity filter?

RealDebrid? It costs and it’s not exactly what you’re looking for but RealDebrid + Stremio / Syncler / Kodi works pretty well for the most part. There’s still a bunch of stuff that isn’t cached though unfortunately