FundMECFSResearch

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/28363968

French regional daily Ouest-France, the top-selling paper in the country, is the latest in a string of European publications to suspend posts on X, formerly Twitter. The social media platform is accused of enabling the spread of disinformation under its owner Elon Musk, an ally of US president-elect Donald Trump.

No matter which sort you use (except for new), content is recommended to you by activity. Depending on the sort (active, hot, top) it uses a slightly different mixture of votes/comments/time since post to determine the order.

The only exception is scaled, which boosts a little bit midsized communities, but still doesn’t manage to improve visibility of niche ones.

If lemmy is to truly start having active hobbyist communities instead of being 95% lefty US politics, Shitposts, and some tech stuff, it needs a sort that takes into account the user’s engagement.

For example, if I upvote / comment often in a community, there should be an option to have posts from the community be boosted in my feed, even if it’s a tiny community. 

Let’s say I’m subscribed to !world@lemmy.world and !news@lemmy.world because I want to occasionally see news. However, I’m also subscribed to a couple hundred other communities, some of them who don’t manage to get more than a couple upvotes on their biggest posts. And whenever I see them I’m replying/upvoting because I’m passionate about that topic. 

My feed shouldn’t be 95% c/news and c/world because those are the most upvoted and commented. I shouldn’t have to scroll down hundreds of posts to find “big” posts in small communities I interact with at any opportunity I get. 

That’s why I think it would be beneficial to lemmy if the sort/algorithm took into account your engagement in a way.

It doesn’t have to be complicated, you can have a single number “engagement score” for every community calculated with a basic formula, and that number is used as a boost to the community. 

I’m aware that there are some examples of successful niche communities on lemmy. But that’s mainly because either a significant chunk of the lemmy userbase is into that niche (let’s face it the lemmy community is not a representative sample of the world population, we tend to be very similar people), or because the posts on it are simplified image/video type posts which appeal to people who don’t know much about the subject.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4853884

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4853256

To whom it may concern.

Hi, I’m not self hosting, but I’ve realised I’ve spent a decent amount of time on this social media, and written a few things I may want to revisit in the future.

I was wondering if there was a way to “back up” my account, so if something happened to my host instance, I would still be able to have a copy of the comments and posts I made :).

I’m not expecting to be able to “transfer” my account to a new one, but have a backup of posts and comments for personal storage, having a copy on my harddrive.

I’ve not been banned myself, I’m just curious.

Is it akin to getting banned from every community on the instance, but the users profile is still visible from accounts on that instance?

Or is it akin to the user getting entirely “defederated” from the instance they were banned from?

It made me so thankful for piracy. What an abysmal experience. First of all, I’m on mobile and they make you use the app. There is literally no way to get around it except TOR, no using browser, even on desktop mode, as somone like me who is deaf, it means I can’t have my special accessibility extensions which sucks.

So I get to the app ready to watch my show. Bam Adds! Worse than youtube! It’s like an add every 5-10min that lasts from 5-40s. Who the hell can actually enjoy a movie or a TV show in these conditions?

I was like fine, I’ll download it to watch offline then. Nope, that’s blocked now. So I figured I’d tinker with DNS and see if I could manage to block those adds. That didn’t work.

I’m so glad piracy exists. I see streming services have gone full circle. No better than paying an absurd amount for a TV channel plastered with adds. Urgh. I’ll make sure to stay away from disney restaurants now so they can’t legally kill me since I watched an episode of futurama on their platform.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/17033468

"Ratapoil doing propaganda" Caricature mocking political opportunists, by anti-Bonapartist (Napoléon) author Daumier. France. 1848.

This image is a satirical lithograph by Honoré Daumier featuring Ratapoil, a recurring character in Daumier's work, who represents the cynical and manipulative supporters of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. The caption reads: "RATAPOIL FESANT DE LA PROPAGANDE" ("Ratapoil making propaganda"). The text below it translates to: "If you love your wife, your house, your field, your heifer [young female cow], and your calf, sign, you don’t have a minute to lose!" In this context, Ratapoil is seen trying to convince a skeptical, working-class man to take political action, likely under false pretenses or through manipulation.

Created in 1848, this lithograph reflects the political turmoil of the time, following the February Revolution, which led to the establishment of the French Second Republic. The character of Ratapoil symbolizes the unscrupulous agents of Bonapartist propaganda, who exploited the fears and concerns of the common people to advance Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's political ambitions. Ratapoil is portrayed as a smooth-talking figure using exaggerated promises and fearmongering to push his agenda. This caricature is a critique of the manipulative tactics used by political operatives who sought to manipulate the public for personal or political gain during this volatile period in French history.

(Unsourced Analysis and Partially Self-Analysed, although facts have been cross-checked with archives).

Archive Source: Gallica, French National Library

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20282663

It looks like a family holiday card except that the woman and children posing with Republican Derrick Anderson are not his wife or his offspring. 

Anderson, who running in a close race for Virginia’s seventh congressional district, was seen in another image seated around the dining table with the same woman and three girls.

The images came to light in an article by The New York Times, headlined “G.O.P. Candidates, Looking to Soften Their Image, Turn to Their Wives,” which reported how “male Republicans struggling to appeal to female voters concerned about their records on reproductive rights are unleashing their spouses to make the pitch on their behalf.”

However Anderson, who is childless, engaged to be married and lives alone with his dog, sought to borrow the wife and children from a longtime friend in an apparent effort to appear as a family man.

🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/16162455

How Russia is Influencing US Voters. Russian Intelligence Document "Guerrilla Media Campaign in the US" [Translated] Page 5

Rest of the document is visible here:

https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/exhibits_9a_and_9b.pdf

I know !findacommunity@lemmy.ml exists, but I’ve blocked lemmy.ml…

Are there any alternatives?

Edit: !lemmy411@lemmy.ca exists, lol, I should have searched better.

Anyways I guess I’ll keep this post up if anyone needs in future.