That's one thing Reddit doesn't somehow grasp: They outsourced their brand experience a long time ago when they were late to building an app of their own. To me and many others, reddit definitely is reddit is fun. There's no putting that genie back in the bottle.
I definitely miss Jerboa. But the past month has already brought so much chaos to my internet use. What's a little more?
Lol it's seriously crazy how much less active this place felt a couple of weeks ago. I can't imagine what it's like to be someone who was here years ago.
This brings up a good question: Do we really want everyone we can get?
On one hand, it'd help flesh out fledgling communities and keep threads and feeds more active.
On the other hand, the more people who come here, the more likely we are to see lower-effort, lower-value, and even counterproductive content and comments.
There's probably some magic number, an adoption level where communities thrive but are not watered down. I have no idea what that is, though.
Don't say, "I can't wait." It's OK to be excited for something but not to wish away all the moments between then and now. Each one is precious.
I picked that up a few years ago from a Buddhist book. It helped me with so many aspects of life.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It's good to hear there wasn't a lot going on because, honestly, coming here from Reddit feels a bit like participating in some sort of digital gentrification.
OP could get constipated by doing a bunch of opioids. Obviously not recommended.
You're right. The fediverse is definitely in a better position to ward off the suck.
By now, we've all been around the internet long enough to know that good things never last. That's really life: Everything's impermanent. Lemmy will probably suck someday, as will much of the fediverse. But I'm grateful it's good right now and for the foreseeable future.
I feel you completely. I spend most of my free time with my family, hiking or paddling, or reading books. It's nice to have places online to burn some time, but I'd sooner give it up than be forced into some corporate playground. The past 15-20 years have shown that it just doesn't work.
I really don't know. I definitely recall Spez saying it's safe. But it seems like we'd be wise to not trust a word he says.
I also intensified existing hobbies.
Hiking went from a vacation or quarterly activity to several times per week. (Less now because of fatherhood.)
I returned to music and really doubled down on reading.
I picked up a couple of new hobbies: kayaking and spin bike.
And I started a business that's been doing well for a few years and became a dad.
None of it would have happened without sobriety.
Damn. You described it so well.
Fridays in autumn, right at the time the setting sun is lighting up the night sky, is such a trigger for me. This time of year, it's more like Fridays around 3, when the sun is shining and the trees are super green and robust. Idk -- there's something about the time and scenery associated with the pre-drinking routine that's difficult.
But I'm starting to feel really settled into sobriety. It only took six years of stumbling!
Wrote some songs with my sober friends yesterday afternoon and evening. Then came home and hung out with my wife while our baby slept peacefully upstairs.
That's a way better Friday than I ever had in the drinking days.
Welcome! I'm super stoked to be here, too. And each day this community seems to grow stronger.
I agree that reddit's future looks weak. The API change was horrible. Spez's approach to the whole thing was even worse: condescending, disingenuous, and hostile.
And the more I think about it, the less I see any hope for reddit as a place I want to spend time. This isn't just one bad episode. Once the company goes public, there's going to be more shit like this. The site will slowly gut itself for perceived short-term gains, over and over again.
No thanks.
New England is so cool! I've spent brief bursts of time there, mostly in urban areas, over the years, but didn't start hiking up your way until last year. Fell in love with the White Mountains last September and heading back in a couple of weeks. Also spent a few days hiking Acadia this spring. You guys have such an amazing place up there!
Wow -- I had no idea there were two sundews in the pines. I totally agree with you: This is exactly what I used to get from Reddit. So thank you. And I love a good bladderwort! I saw a bunch when I was canoeing with my wife and daughter last weekend.
So cool that you're gonna make the trip here. If you want to know about any cool spots to visit, I'm happy to share!
Off the top of my head, there's an easily accessible bog with a boardwalk called Webb's Mill (Google Maps has it by name -- it's in Forked River). I've seen a ton of pitcher plants and sundews there. Sometimes the entrance is flooded out because of a beaver dam.
Wharton State Forest has the Mullica and Batsto rivers, along with a bunch of wetlands. If you wanna take kayaks or canoes down them, Pinelands Adventures runs trips through mid-October.
Going off the beaten path is easy in the Pines, too. I have some bushwhacking spots that I love and am happy to share privately. The only problem is, I typically go when no carnivorous plants are out because the ticks and chiggers are brutal off trail this time of year.
Ah sorry for the novel. I grew up in what once was pine barrens but escaped the political designation and thus got super overdeveloped. And the culture escaped us, too -- almost no one I know has spent much time in the Pines, even though we're 20 minutes away. So I get excited when I meet a fellow traveler!
Amazing! I spent some time in Silverton in summer 2021. Everything about the area blew me away. Incredible to hike and just exist there.
Haha! Makes total sense. I appreciate your precision.
My knowledge of plants is mostly limited to stuff in the New Jersey Pine Barrens because I hike and paddle there often and read about it just as much. So when I think of a sundew, I'm thinking of the one I know that lives there.
(The Pines also has a cactus -- the prickly pear -- but now I'm questioning whether it's actually a cactus!)
Thanks so much. Next time I come across a cool plant that I can't identify, I'll post and tag you.
The post about the melanistic groundhog promoted me to share this photo.
I had no idea what piebaldism was or how rare it was to see a deer with it. I'm not sure if the stats online are correct, but they suggest about 2 percent of whitetail deer have it.
Again, not sure if this is accurate, but I read somewhere that indigenous groups believed piebald deer were signs that a big change was coming. I just had my first kid before seeing this, so that definitely tracked.
Anyway, really cool sighting. My wife spotted the same deer later that summer. We haven't seen any since.
Did an overnight trip in April, camping at what the state considers a wilderness site on the tea-colored Batsto River.
The New Jersey Pine Barrens is the largest wilderness on the East Coast between Boston and D.C. It's a unique environment, with a lot of cool ecosystems. No virgin forest here, as industry had its way with the land and resources for centuries.
This trip was something like 20 miles through Atlantic white cedar swamps and pitch pine forests.
It might not dazzle like the west at first glance, but it's a place I love more than most.
For me, it's a few things.
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A way to burn time that doesn't feel like a digital sugar rush.
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Support, camaraderie, and kindness, primarily from /r/stopdrinking.
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Niche stuff, like ideas for local hiking and backpacking trips, propaganda posters, and kayaking info.
I appreciate fiction, but I almost always read nonfiction. It's probably because I typically choose the books on topics I'm interested in, and I want to learn about them. But I also love the way a great nonfiction writer can weave a narrative so strong that it's just as much literature as it is journalism.
Some of my favorite examples of nonfiction that do this well: Soul Full of Coal Dust, Toms River, Desert Solitaire (Abbey can be problematic, though, so be warned), The Pine Barrens, This Land, and on and on.
I guess I'm kinda stuck in the environment/nature section these days!
