Lowbird

Uh, no. I tried Linux (Mint). I hated it. It doesn't even have a damn colorblind mode... The best you can hope for is a goofy workaround with some app that's meant for devs testing colorblind modes, and that may or may not even work. Colorblind mode is a rock bottom basic accessibility feature, especially in 2023, and the most highly recommended distro for people coming from Windows doesn't even have that.

And it rather shows that average or non-Linux-nerd users, and what they need from their OS, are not a priority at all, which means the system will never be friendly or appealing to them until and unless that changes.

I also personally hated the way it wanted me to install everything from a launcher, vs downloading exe's from their owners websites that have a lot more info than the generic Linux launcher does.

I hated all the crashes, the requirement for tinkering at random times when I really just needed my PC to work reliably, and the way so many people in the Linux community look down on and/or insult everyone who asks for help with anything or has any gripe about Linux (thus assuring helpful feedback from average users won't be reporter or heard, their problems won't be fixed, and confusing UI will remain confusing and bogged down in jargon).

Linus Tech did a good youtube series on what Linux is like to encounter as a newbie. He had problems. When even one of the most popular tech/PC youtubers has problems right out the gate, how can you expect it to work for everyone else?

I want it to get better and become a real conpetitor to Windows, but it just flat out isn't yet except for specific applications like servers, and pretending it is only insures it won't ever be. The culture around it is holding it back.

Tl;dr: there are actually quite a lot of people like me who are aware of Linux and choose Windows or Mac instead.

There was that kerfuffle ages ago about u/spez editing comments in r/thedonald, iirc. It's not like it would be that much of a stretch for him at least.

But it looks like from OP's edits it may be unintentional. I'll withhold my rage for now.

People who are addicted or who have given up to that degree are less likely to want help if they think real life can only be totally miserable for them (like, "the world is unbearable, there's nothing good left for me except [drug name here]"). Same reason people who are depressed turn to drinking. Making the lives of unsheltered people even worse, thus making drugs more appealing in comparison, is counterproductive. And the longer they're stuck in that, the more that'll just feel like what life is to them.

Maybe people who don't want to, or don't act like they want to, better their situation actually would if they could see any hope for it, and if the path looked more doable and less like scaling mount everest with a broken leg.

I think anybody can think of times they didn't want to do something that would benefit them - clean a house, do their homework, go to work in the morning - and other times that the situation was different and so it was much easier to do.

I wosh we had an alternative site together, so as to avoid newcomers immediately seeing a) lemmygrad and b) that one NSFW instance that bills itself as "shota/loli/cub friendly". That turns people away, understandably, especially because it's not clear from the outset how easy you can avoid interacting with those instances at all, or that the rules and culture between instances can be totally different.

I'm aggravated by all the people who said the 3DS was "dead" now, when the eshop closed. Like, no? There are no new games, sure, but there's a shitload of old ones, and nothing has actually replaced the 3DS. I'll be playing and enjoying it for a long time yet!

It feels like saying a kitten is dead just because they've finished growing - it just means they're a complete cat now. That's great. (yes, I realize this metaphor is a bit much. But even so.)

I'm actually getting impatient when a weapon lasts too long, because I want it to break already so I can use something new and interesting without feeling like I'm wasting it. :P

I think part of it is having enough weapon slots that I'm choosing different weapons in different contexts, and so they all subjectively feel like they're lasting longer than they did at the start of the game (even accounting for regular vs sturdy weapons).

Also making more use of shield fusions lately, and consumables on arrows, which again results in using the weapons less.

I keep kinda wishing I could fuse things to my bows though lol, even though I can use so many different consumables with the arrows already.

I'd be interested in one, too, provided we're careful not to let it become like some support subreddits did where people in pain ended up venting to each other in circles, nobody knowing how to help, and all just feeling worse (I don't think r/cptsd in particular had gotten this way, though. I just mention it as a potential risk to watch out for, for the neurodivergence hive too maybe.)

Anyway, I think CPTSD posts should be welcomed here in the meantime, imo.

You could play on gamepass, then just wait a while for the steam version to fall off the price cliff, then buy goty version too

I think that's only visible to people on your instance that doesn't have downvotes disabled? It doesn't show up to me as a beehaw user, at all, and I don't think it's getting calculated into the overall score I see or the position of the post.

And on comments on posts I've made on beehaw, I cannot see any downvotes, either. (Do not tell me how many you see lol).

Reddit also spreads fake news and shit, though. The communities you participate in determine whether you see it, to a degree, but nonetheless. Like, when Bernie was running for Pres, the Bernie Sanders subreddit had everything that looked good for his chances upvoted, and everything that looked critical of his opponents (including the same accusations of Biden being a pedo that the far right likes to make) upvoted, and comments or posts that were like "... Wait a minute this doesn't seem to be true" or "this over here isn't a good sign" or "Bernie isn't popular with these Black voters for xyz reasons" or whatever would get downvoted to the point people didn't see it. Voila, echo chamber. I say this as someone that voted for Bernie.

That said, I do wonder if a system that eschewed votes altogether might be better. Like old forums.

Does that really balance it out, though? A downvote or pile of downvotes won't persuade the person who made the bad argument that they're wrong, nor will it persuade any lurkers. The bad argument can stand without an explicit refutation, or without the person who made it even knowing why they were downvoted (always a frustrating experience).

Here, you can still see which argument is the most popular, because you get the initial argument A, then because there are no downvotes we're more likely to get a counter argument B, and then you can see easily which of the two has more upvotes.

And if people keep talking, there be more nuance this way, I think. It's not limited to a binary option of bad vs good, and you can maybe more "I agree with x, or think you might have a point about y, but I disagree with z because..." Vs someone with a nuance opinion instead just deciding if they think it's overall more bad or more good and voting in a way that erases the nuance.

You can't - it'll look like your downvote went through on your side, when you downvote from another instance, but it doesn't actually show up for anyone else or change the comment score.