ThatOneKirbyMain2568

Another update to my #kbin userstyle idkbin (now at 1.2.6.1)! The "new comment" marker recently added by Ernest is now stylized by idkbin (mainly to work with rounded edges), and a bug with borders has been fixed. #kbinmeta #kbinstyles

EDIT: Typo.

#kbinMeta

In the opinion portion of Kurzgesagt's most recent video, they suggest that going back to small forums, bulletin boards, etc. will help people deradicalize and become more empathetic. The idea behind this is that, just like real life, forums allow people who disagree on certain things to bond under a shared interest or identity; this makes people more receptive to those disagreeing opinions and more empathetic towards the people that hold them. I'd watch the video if you haven't, as it'll make more sense then.

My question: do you agree with this? Do you think returning to separated forums will help in the way Kurzgesagt suggests? Do you think it'd be a good idea for other reasons?

My opinion is that while I don't have an issue with individual forums, I'm very skeptical of the idea that they'll help solve extremification like the video claims. Kurzgesagt says that these forums are like real life, but I see a few issues with this claim:

• On forums, people maybe be just talking about the thing that the forum is about. For example, if you're on a forum about Minecraft or cats, you're not going to be discussing differing political opinions — in fact, such conversations are usually frowned upon. This is different from your real life community, where you're going to be talking about all sorts of different topics.
• Many forums are about the very things we don't want people extremified on. Look at lemmygrad or hexbear, which might as well be their own forums given the massive amount of defederation from them. Or, for a less extreme example, go to r/antiwork — you won't find much disagreement there (that isn't buried into obscurity by downvotes, anyway). These places can potentially create dangerous bubbles that Kurzgesagt says are rare online, and that could get even worse if, for example, political subreddits became their own forums entirely.

These are just my thoughts immediately after watching the video, so I'm curious to see what others think.

I've noticed that a lot of people on the #fediverse aren't particularly welcoming to those who don't initially get it or have trouble with it. You'd think that if multiple people say they have trouble picking an instance, it might be a genuine barrier to entry that we need to consider when introducing them to the fediverse. But no, instead of suggesting an instance to get rid of that barrier everyone gives unhelpful advice like "just pick one" or "it's not that hard." We'd have a much easier time getting people on the fediverse if there weren't so many people with this attitude of "the fediverse is simple, and the people who don't get it are lazy and should try harder."

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Right now, downvotes (reduces) don't federate to (and from?) Kbin instances. This lack of federation makes the downvote counter really inaccurate—a comment that looks like it's +10 might be -15 when you look at it from lemmy.world.

This leaves me with a few questions:

• Is downvote federation going to be implemented?
• If so, is it a priority or something that'll happen much further down the line?
• If not, will downvoting be removed?

There are a lot of varying opinions on how complex flags should be. Some prefer that flags be kept more simple and minimal, and others feel that simple flags come off as bland, corporate, and unflaglike. What do you think?

My take is that complexity on flags can be great given the following:

• Complexity is used to make a specific a focal point stand out. Flags aren't paintings and shouldn't be littered with complex designs. Instead, the complexity should be focused in the flag's device.
• Complexity is in shape, not in color. If a flag has 6 different colors in its device, it just ends up feeling cluttered imo.
• Complex images are unique and symbolic. In general, devices should be symbolic, but imo both it and distinctness is especially important if you're going to draw extra attention to it with a complex design.

One of my favorite flags, the flag of Bhutan, does all of these with its black and white dragon.

Edit: Also want to add that I don't think flags being minimal or following more modern design principles makes them soulless and corporate. Simple designs can look great, and I honestly tend to prefer them. Just because logos tend to use more simplistic designs doesn't mean flags can't either.

YouTube has been cracking down on people using ad blockers. Now, a spokesperson says that using ad blockers could lead to "suboptimal viewing."

The State Emblem Redesign Commission is set to reconvene next month to choose a new state flag and seal. The panel found six flag and five seal designs Tuesday that will move on.

When I'm romanizing my conlangs, I tend to prefer using diacritics over digraphs—e.g., I'd rather write /ʃ/ as <š> than <sh>. It gets rid of any possible ambiguity, and makes things a consistent one letter per phoneme. What do you guys think?

Whenever you use this format

in threads and comments, the image preview itself usually seems to show fine, but the text disappears.

Also, while we're on the subject, imgur previews haven't been working in general for a while.

Any idea what's causing these things and when they might be fixed?