Re: Emigration from Usenet [was: Re: PTD was the most-respected of the AUE regulars ...]

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On Thu, 25 Jul 2024, Johanne Fairchild wrote:
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Marco Moock <mm+usenet-es@dorfdsl.de> writes:
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On 25.07.2024 um 11:49 Uhr George Musk wrote:
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You may try to make them use more modern open solutions like Mastodon,

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I've tried out mastodon and I don't like it. Only usable for chit-chat,
you can't open a "thread" in a new tab by middle click, so rather
uncomfortable to use.
The content is also mostly non-interesting, like Twitter. Some people
who hate Elon Musk now moved to mastodon and post their bullshit there.

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That's what most people don't realize: most of these chat systems are no
good for conversation.  People don't realize this because they also
can't really tell a good conversation from chit-chat.  That's because a
good conversation requires thinking, but most people can't tell thinking
from brain activity.  In other words, the underlying phenomenon is more
worrying.  We've reduced thinking quality in the large.
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USENET is antiquated in some sense, but it's still the system where
people can write calmly with no distractions.  Therefore USENET is still
the most adequate because there is no other system with these most
important features.  As I'm writing this paragraph, there is nothing
flashing on my screen and nobody is waiting for me, so I can take all
the time I want.  And that increases the quality of the conversation.
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Here's an example.  Most USENET clients maximize your writing screen.
Compare that with Whatsapp or Discord.  You write your message in a
small region of the program, clearly implying that your writing is not
important.  What about all the flashing stuff?  These programs all look
like a Christmas tree.  If you read writers blogs, you will notice
sometimes they write about their tools and they talk about pens, paper,
computers and text editors.  The same applies to programmers and other
technical people such as scientists.  They all talk about not getting
distracted with nonsense.
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Good conversation is sort of the same.  If you start an oral
conversation with someone and, say, the person goes off on some tangent
all the time, that conversation doesn't get very deep.  (For most
people, perhaps, that's no problem because they don't even know what
depth is.)  Getting off on tangents is not so bad on USENET because we
can easily backtrack a thread, say.  Conversation in writing is
different from oral conversation.  But the point is that not getting
distracted is important in conversation or anything else that requires
thinking.
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Makes a lot of sense to me. I fear for the day that Microsoft and Google
will try to take away my email from me, by no longer allowing third party
email operators, or making it very hard to be one.