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That's one thing Reddit doesn't somehow grasp: They outsourced their brand experience a long time ago when they were late to building an app of their own. To me and many others, reddit definitely is reddit is fun. There's no putting that genie back in the bottle.
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This is the best answer. For a long time, VCs were willing to load up all sorts of startups and growth-stage companies with cash. But that changed last year. Suddenly, some investors found it made more sense to park their money in less risky, less time-consuming opportunities. That included stuff like bonds. Higher interest rates and an economy in crunch mode made the need to make money now more important than before.
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I definitely miss Jerboa. But the past month has already brought so much chaos to my internet use. What's a little more?
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That's true. July is definitely better where I am, but the blueberry festivals are starting this weekend.
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Blueberries fresh off the bush. Tis the season.
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Lol it's seriously crazy how much less active this place felt a couple of weeks ago. I can't imagine what it's like to be someone who was here years ago.
I'm reading a book called *Vacationland,* which tells the story of Colorado's high-country tourism and leisure-focused lifestyle industries. The book is filled with ads and propaganda designed to lure tourists, attract new residents, increase political influence, and ultimately strengthen the state's coffers through its (often manipulated) landscape. I don't always think of ads as propaganda, but *Vacationland* makes it clear that the effort to get people into the Rockies was a coordinated push that went well beyond the commercial hopes of any one person or organization. It was a network of boosters looking to transform the state. One result, according to the author, was a catalog of cliches many of us still use to describe the Colorado high country and many other wild places. Things like: sparkling streams stocked with trout, snow-capped mountains, lush alpine meadows, fragrant pine forests, and so on. Another result: People bought in. Colorado's tourism numbers skyrocketed, and its population growth soon followed. I'm skeptical that the PR and marketing efforts to promote Colorado's natural resources are responsible for most of this change. (The author notes that road building and other development were vital.) It seems kind of cynical, though, to attribute the state's popularity to human actions. It really is beautiful there, and visitors' connection to the land -- our experiences in the wild -- matter, too.
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This brings up a good question: Do we really want everyone we can get?
On one hand, it'd help flesh out fledgling communities and keep threads and feeds more active.
On the other hand, the more people who come here, the more likely we are to see lower-effort, lower-value, and even counterproductive content and comments.
There's probably some magic number, an adoption level where communities thrive but are not watered down. I have no idea what that is, though.
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Don't say, "I can't wait." It's OK to be excited for something but not to wish away all the moments between then and now. Each one is precious.
I picked that up a few years ago from a Buddhist book. It helped me with so many aspects of life.
mcpheeandme
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I really hated when "maybe it's Maybelline" was popular on Reddit a few years ago. Never made sense to me that anyone would find any value in somebody repeating a dumb corporate tagline.
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Thanks for sharing your experience. It's good to hear there wasn't a lot going on because, honestly, coming here from Reddit feels a bit like participating in some sort of digital gentrification.
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Are you gonna have contraband shoved up your anus?
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OP could get constipated by doing a bunch of opioids. Obviously not recommended.
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You're right. The fediverse is definitely in a better position to ward off the suck.
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By now, we've all been around the internet long enough to know that good things never last. That's really life: Everything's impermanent. Lemmy will probably suck someday, as will much of the fediverse. But I'm grateful it's good right now and for the foreseeable future.
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That's awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. I'd love to try this out. Going on the gift list!
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Everyone in this thread crushes it compared to me. I mostly use Peak dehydrated meals, which are pricey. Good on all of you!
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Never used it, but I could see it being nice. I'll never really get used to carrying out used toilet paper in a Ziploc bag. Just feels kinda gross and weird. But the time in the wilderness is always worth the price of admission.
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That's the key thing for me. Reddit has totally lost any sense of trust and respect I had for the platform. Why bother supporting a company like that?
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I feel you completely. I spend most of my free time with my family, hiking or paddling, or reading books. It's nice to have places online to burn some time, but I'd sooner give it up than be forced into some corporate playground. The past 15-20 years have shown that it just doesn't work.
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Awesome! This has been puzzling me. Thanks!
Did a couple of days of hiking with my buddy last month. As a flatlander, I was so grateful for the chance to spend some time in the Rockies. 
The post about the melanistic groundhog promoted me to share this photo. I had no idea what piebaldism was or how rare it was to see a deer with it. I'm not sure if the stats online are correct, but they suggest about 2 percent of whitetail deer have it. Again, not sure if this is accurate, but I read somewhere that indigenous groups believed piebald deer were signs that a big change was coming. I just had my first kid before seeing this, so that definitely tracked. Anyway, really cool sighting. My wife spotted the same deer later that summer. We haven't seen any since. 
Did an overnight trip in April, camping at what the state considers a wilderness site on the tea-colored Batsto River. The New Jersey Pine Barrens is the largest wilderness on the East Coast between Boston and D.C. It's a unique environment, with a lot of cool ecosystems. No virgin forest here, as industry had its way with the land and resources for centuries. This trip was something like 20 miles through Atlantic white cedar swamps and pitch pine forests. It might not dazzle like the west at first glance, but it's a place I love more than most. 
For me, it's a few things. 1. A way to burn time that doesn't feel like a digital sugar rush. 2. Support, camaraderie, and kindness, primarily from /r/stopdrinking. 3. Niche stuff, like ideas for local hiking and backpacking trips, propaganda posters, and kayaking info.
I appreciate fiction, but I almost always read nonfiction. It's probably because I typically choose the books on topics I'm interested in, and I want to learn about them. But I also love the way a great nonfiction writer can weave a narrative so strong that it's just as much literature as it is journalism. Some of my favorite examples of nonfiction that do this well: *Soul Full of Coal Dust*, *Toms River*, *Desert Solitaire* (Abbey can be problematic, though, so be warned), *The Pine Barrens,* *This Land,* and on and on. I guess I'm kinda stuck in the environment/nature section these days!
I didn't post much on Reddit over the last few years, but I figure I ought to contribute to the communities I want to see thrive. My friend and I took our kayaks out last week and saw a bunch of beautiful sights, including egrets and great blue herons. Here's a landscape shot. 
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