Post AsLs7FJCa9Ap6KS1J2 by richardfontana@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by richardfontana@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AsLrr01JelWb3FL17Y by bkuhn@floss.social
2025-03-22T07:36:15Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Meta: I wasn't on fediverse/Mastodon until the 2025 #OpenSource Initiative Board Elections.It's been a journey learning this; I haven't used microblogging (I refuse to call it “social media” , but no, I won't correct you for not using the term I prefer) since ye ol' identi.ca & status.net. (@richardfontana pointed out: many people here weren't born yet when he & I used to debate there.)Mastodon UX is surprisingly good, but, boy “DMs/privmsg is called “private mention”” is darn confusing.
(DIR) Post #AsLrvCEmAwmM6HdRCK by bkuhn@floss.social
2025-03-22T18:49:00Z
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I think some misread my first post in this thread. I meant: while it took me a while to learn the platform, UX is smooth (on all clients I have tried, in fact) that my only complaint is “DM is ‘private mention’” thing.I'm old school & still believe in the pithy adage: “if software was hard to write, it should be hard to use”, so having just one complaint for a large system like this seems like I live in a fantasy land…except the non-meta content then reminds me I live in a hellscape of course😬
(DIR) Post #AsLs7AmnOgsJ4fG5Eu by downey@floss.social
2025-03-22T18:51:48Z
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@bkuhn The whole DM/Private-Mention/Mentioned-Only stuff has been an ongoing struggle for the devs, years in the making.https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/24837#MastoAdmin
(DIR) Post #AsLs7BrROuBWPMRJ7Q by bkuhn@floss.social
2025-03-22T19:07:51Z
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@downey wow, that bug ticket thread re: “private mention” actually *is* in my beloved tradition of “hard to write, then it's hard to use”.Seems developers have a data model of microblogging & they abstract DM into that data model b/c it has that neat & clean OO feeling you get when every subclass roots (& routes!😁) back to the One True Base Class.It's mildly comforting to know every generation of programmers wants One Ring to Rule Them All…💍…But remember how that worked out for Gollum, folks!
(DIR) Post #AsLs7Cr7hZWbUfIZGK by richardfontana@mastodon.social
2025-03-22T21:01:18Z
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@bkuhn @downey in fairness to Gollum I don't think he was aware of the existence of the other Rings of Power
(DIR) Post #AsLs7DnGDQ1sOyUzse by bkuhn@floss.social
2025-03-22T21:58:23Z
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Fascinating. I lack Steven Coblert's Tolkien lore recall, but had this head-canon: since Gollum spied on Frodo & Sam so long, Gollum knew everything they did.OTOH I don't remember if Gandalf told Frodo about the other rings😬I see now my unforced error was bringing up Gollum at all, as it exposed I score poorly on Tolkien portion of Nerd Credibility test.But I got a good joke:As a frequent #OpenSource event-goer, I am annoyed most event organizers don't seem to know about Second Breakfast.
(DIR) Post #AsLs7EYlMo1imIivvE by richardfontana@mastodon.social
2025-03-23T00:40:08Z
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@bkuhn Gandalf told Frodo about the other rings, the first time in a conversation that Sam famously eavesdropped on. But at that time Gollum presumably wasn't nearby (he doesn't seem to have been in proximity to Frodo and Sam until they get to Moria). It's possible he picked info on this from them or others at later times, but it seems a little unlikely to me. Maybe lore about the Rings of Power was more widely known?Regarding Second Breakfast though, that makes me think of coffee ∀ 😀
(DIR) Post #AsLs7FJCa9Ap6KS1J2 by richardfontana@mastodon.social
2025-03-23T00:48:34Z
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@bkuhn Just skimmed "The Shadow of the Past" chapter. Gandalf seems to imply that knowledge about the Rings of Power at that point was pretty much limited to 'the Wise' (him, Saruman, and the more clued-in Elves, basically)
(DIR) Post #AsLs7GBnJAqHpdzcOm by bkuhn@floss.social
2025-03-23T07:09:41Z
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I like that all I have to do is mention a few obscure bits of lore and can cause@richardfontana to go off and research primary sources just to prove me wrong.This dynamic convinces me it's time to bring back the Fontana/Kuhn debates to a micro blogging platform near you
(DIR) Post #AsLs7HIvAA8ZI2Kp96 by zacchiro@mastodon.xyz
2025-03-23T07:43:55Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@bkuhn Oh no! (as in: "oh yes"!). Should I feel responsible for this, due to a certain FOSDEM 2025 dinner conversation about Mastodon, UX, engagement, etc.?