I would try to remember that we are in fact trying to form a safe space here which does include a number of cis men. I don’t want to invalidate your experiences at all, because some people are shitty people and as humans we tend to notice patterns, but your initial comment was rather callous toward people who haven’t done anything wrong.

That said, I appreciate this elaboration and clarification of your intent. When it’s always the same kind of people knocking you down, it can be hard not to make an immediate judgment of someone who has similar qualities and I can understand where you’re coming from even if I don’t agree. If every cat I ever met scratched me, the friendliest cat in the world is going to be viewed with suspicion. Just please try to remember that generalizations like that aren’t really nice to those they are directed at.

That’s amazing, she’s going to be glorious

This post from a few days ago has a few suggestions you could check out: https://beehaw.org/post/573948

Let’s contain reddit/spez memes within the megathread please. This isn’t inviting discussion that wouldn’t be better had there. Thanks!

https://beehaw.org/post/576904

I’m pretty sure most of us are still learning the platform, and the defederation is certainly adding to the list of things to figure out as a user. I’d rather people ask than just silently wonder. :)

While it’s not the easiest to sort through, the Instances list at the bottom of the page shows every instance we’re federated with and those that are blocked. This will always show what you do and don’t have access to through your Beehaw account (or through your account on another instance should you sign up elsewhere). Direct link if it’s easier: https://beehaw.org/instances

Yes, new instances usually automatically federate with everything. From what I’ve heard, there are “default” blocklists being maintained as far as what you might choose to block by default (so you don’t have to go through the growing pains yourself if you don’t want) or they could decide to whitelist instances which would then affect federation. And, as seen here, they can also defederate from any instance at any time if they feel the need.

If you’re running your own instance, of course, you’re the one calling the shots so you make those decisions and can federate with everything if that’s what you want.

I highly recommend reviewing this post from Gaywallet: https://beehaw.org/post/107014 Specifically, the Spirit of Beehaw and What is (and isn’t) Beehaw. These sections go into what I paraphrased above at length, if you want the admin’s full thoughts.

The admins have taken a stance where this should be a safe space and those being insulted/harassed/discriminated against are welcome to respond in kind. The most important part is to report it so the mods/admins can review and take action as needed.

While it may not be nice to tell nazi punks to fuck off, it will ultimately make for a nicer community if they do - we don’t mind community members saying “hey, this isn’t cool” in whatever manner they feel necessary.

I’m in complete agreement. When I joined Beehaw, I didn’t think much of the lack of downvotes - “oh, cool, sounds good.” It’s definitely made it easier to want to interact with the community (as someone partial to lurking) and I’ve come to appreciate that they’re disabled on this instance. Glad to see others are in agreement.

Oh man, MLIA and FML were staples of my internet browsing once upon a time.

I mostly still listen to the same stuff I used to. Most of my favorite bands are still coming out with albums, so every time something new drops I get to add that into the mix. Occasionally I’ll add in a new song, whether I hear it in a videogame (my husband loves videogame music, so I’ve added some great tracks as a result) or the radio or with a friend, but I haven’t had a new artist grab me the way my favorites did once upon a time. In that way, I might just be resistant to change.

I definitely don’t necessarily have the time to look for new stuff, so I usually stumble upon it. I don’t agree that all music today sounds the same - at least, not anymore “the same” than what was coming out ten years ago. Sure, some things within a genre might be similar, but I don’t think it’s any more “same-y” now than it used to be. If you’re finding new stuff you enjoy, past or present, I think that’s awesome.

Another suggestion is to check out some writing prompts and see if anything jumps at you. I don’t write much, but when I do it’s because an idea just… sticks to me. @morgiedama mentions dreams, which sometimes inspire me as well.

Unfortunately my favorite source of writing prompts is r/WritingPrompts (currently in the process of saving the ones I’ve marked over the years) but hopefully there are other sources around as well that might jump start the creative juices a little.

My best friend and I used to play SubTerra when we hung out every weekend. Company that originally made it is sketchy for a number of reasons, but they’re also gone now and another company owns the games. It’s a tile based game where you are trying to escape a cave system with monsters in it and you create the board as you play. Each character has abilities to help this and there’s a turn limit you have to escape in. It can be really addicting.

I also really enjoy Campy Creatures and Space Park - they’re pretty simple games (same creators) that a great for a group of 3-5. Campy Creatures is a little bit like War, where each player gets a hand of monsters and the highest number wins. There are “people” cards laid out and winning lets you pick who you take, with the people having point values assigned (which is what ultimately determines the winner). Hopefully I explained it okay. Space Park is very different - the goal is to get 20 victory points, which are mostly earned by completing tasks. There are 6 “locations” you travel to which give you various resources to help you complete the tasks.

I also love playing Quiddler - it’s a fun word game, nothing super complex about it unless you play with people who make up words (we have a rule that half the table has to agree that it’s a word).

These come out a lot at my game nights, hopefully I did them justice with my descriptions.

Anything featuring writing prompts is something I like. I don’t write as often as I’d like, but that would be the most likely to grab me and, even when I don’t contribute, I like to save prompts I like to reference when I am in a writing mood.