Where’s a cool place to hang out these days online and discover interesting content, and people?
Maybe it’s still IRC but I haven’t used it in a long time. Maybe a few recommendations?
Thanks!
I've been thinking about organizing a snail mail letter writing initiative. Less about fancy stationary and pens and group writing sessions, more about one on one correspondence. I'd post a reading list, or a specific topic, and we'd spend a good chunk of time going back and forth to whatever end. Maybe in time, I'd share addresses (with permission) with other writers when I notice a common thread so that the conversation can branch out. I'd like to think this would be a good way to share ideas, and to learn through the act of writing, one thought after the other. And it would be a great way to practice handwriting.
Having had the luxury of stepping away from the screen for a few months to sort out what it is technology is doing to my nervous system, I've been heads down reading Jacques Ellul, Jean Baudrillard, Lewis Mumford, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Daniel Boorstin, Carl Jung, Alan Hayakawa, C. W. Mills, Guy Debord, Wendell Berry, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, and all sorts of philosophy from Schopenhauer to Spinoza.
To be honest, I am having a hard time finding people to talk about this stuff with. That's where the idea comes from. On one hand, it seems like people don't read much these days. So there's that. And on the other hand, I haven't found many people who seem concerned about how our habits, behaviors, and thought patterns are changing in response to our digital environments.
Perhaps letter writing is too much to ask? I thought a physical note, and actually having a single person to write to, opposed to an unknown audience, would be a nice change of pace. That said, I suppose this might also take shape in a private Discourse community, or Basecamp message board, or something like that. A space where paragraphs and punctuation are required to participate.
If you are interested in letters, let me know? Or if you are interested in helping me whip up a digital space where we can hear ourselves think, let me know?
Hi man, I get you. I recently had a long vacation break and started reading lots of things that had in the 'someday' queue. I'm fascinated by all of that but have absolutely no one to talk to about it (they're related to what you wrote, like Ellul).
We should get along, drop me an email at alex@<HN-username>.com
Not Reddit. Reddit is gone, it used to be nice. Maybe some extreme niches are okay, but generally, no.
HN is okay for now, but is getting popular. We're already afraid of bots and state actors when we get posted on Chinese social media....
4Chan is 4chan, some niche boards are great, but media bias.
*chan derivatives, lean far to one side on the political spectrum. Great to compare and contrast, but who knows what the intention is.
How is IRC still nice but Reddit "gone"? Most IRC channels are a ghost town full of idlers. There are plenty of niche communities on Reddit (not just 'extreme' ones) that have high quality content. IMO Reddit is perfectly fine if you know what you're looking for.
When you curate the boards effectively, you can come across some nice generals for your interests.
Online's gotten too damned polluted. HN is somewhat holding it together, but is limited.
I have a small number of correspondants I keep in touch with through email. Have been in the process of bailing from Reddit and (re)launching a blog for ... two years. Selecting and rolling your own site is somewhat painful (particularly if you're picky), though the GitLab option is still the one I prefer.
A handful of RSS feeds, though the crap consistency of feeds (boilerplate, full/no content, tagged/not tagged) means a lot of cleanup is required. Though I've got a pretty good Phosphor X11 screensaver app feeder ;-)
I recommend searching for a relevant search term using this: http://boardreader.com/
It’s a search engine dedicated to message boards.
Slack has active channels. Finding them can be a challenge. Try: https://slofile.com/
Much better than Discord and doesn't suck you dry of your data.
IRC is where all the best programming discussion used to happen. Maybe it still does.
It has been around for decades. There are many people who still use IRC, especially those in technology. Freenode is a popular server with channels for a variety of interests like video games, C++ and Linux.
It's somewhat similar to Reddit (and was started by a former Reddit admin), but values quality content and discussion over "fluff" content. The users on there are wonderful, and I've had some very good discussions about both tech and non-tech topics. This blog post has some good info on it's philosophy and what makes it different: https://blog.tildes.net/announcing-tildes