Potato - potatoe, tomato - tomatoe.

You see 196 as

queer and especially trans friendly

I see it as a garden of shitposting delights.

I would like to know more.

I rather like the shitpost bombardment. It's the type of thing that creates a party vibe, and it could attract more than a few eyeballs to peek and linger. As the content can be somewhat dry in a community that's just starting out, this helps to normalize the place, make it more familiar to visiting eyes.

This current shitposting challenge sure as hell beats a barrage of anti-reddit, anti-musk, anti-zuckerberg posts, as well as "how does this [Fediverse/instances/posting/etc] work?" dominating the All page.

"Live on, survive, for the Earth gives forth wonders. It may swallow your heart, but the wonders keep on coming. You stand before them bareheaded, shriven. What is expected of you is attention."

Salman Rushdie, from The Ground Beneath Her Feet.

A more recent one, meditation-related, short and simple and I have no idea who said it, I just happened to catch it a couple of years ago on a website-that-shall-not-be-named:

"I am not my thoughts."

I have never, ever posted a picture of my kids online. I've sent a handful to family and friends via messaging apps, but only ones that are naturally flattering, and that is as far as it goes.

As it turns out, my overwhelming hunch that this is the only decent, respectful course of action in the mindless social media age, seems to be correct.
I love my kids, and I respect them as people, as individuals with a right to privacy at any age.

The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

Even if you don't mind the insidious invasions of privacy that these companies have undertaken with relentless determination:

Because everything these companies touch, they sooner or later enshittify.
Because the past decade has shown that Facebook's intentions cannot be trusted.

they will at first lure you in with cooking, travel, and credit card tips

Holy crap. I had no idea. We've heard of a slippery slope, but this is a slippery sheer vertical cliff.
Like that toxic meathead rogan luring the curious in with DMT stories and the like, and this sounds like that particular spore has burst and spread.

I think it's an important reminder.

You watch this one thing out of curiosity, morbid curiosity, or by accident, and at the slightest poke the goddamned mindless algorithm starts throwing this shit at you.

The algorithm is "weaponized" for who screams the loudest, and I truly believe it started due to myopic incompetence/greed, not political malice. Which doesn't make it any better, as people don't know how to take care of themselves from this bombardment, but the corporations like to pretend that ~~they~~ people can, so they wash their hands for as long as they are able.

Then on top of this, the algorithm has been further weaponized by even more malicious actors who have figured out how to game the system.
That's how toxic meatheads like infowars and joe rogan get a huge bullhorn that reaches millions. "Huh... DMT experiences... sounds interesting", the format is entertaining... and before you know it, you are listening to anti-vax and qanon excrement, your mind starts to normalize the most outlandish things.

EDIT: a word, for clarity

You know what's controversial? Bombing hospitals, schools and residential buildings.

You know what's controversial? Blowing up a dam that destroys an entire region of the country.

You know what's controversial? Keeping a nuclear power plant as hostage.

You know what's controversial? Abducting children and taking them against their will to another country.

You know what's controversial? Torture and mutilation of soldiers defending their home land.

Whoever says or implies at this late stage of russian atrocities that cluster bombs for Ukraine are "controversial" - fuck yourself gently with a rusted chainsaw.

EDIT: typo (half the time I try and type "of", it comes out as "if")

Reddit looking like Tik Tok, which is looking more like Facebook, which wants to look like Instagram... and what's that over there? Oh look, it's Twitter, spooning glue with its' hand and putting it in its' mouth.