Hey that’s really helpful, thank you for taking the time to share! I really appreciate it. :) I really should take another crack at it.

Why is modern webdev such a clusterfuck?

Not a webdev.

Have tried multiple times to “finally figure out how this web stuff works because I’d like a nice website that isn’t a huge chonky slowpoke WordPress install with ad-infested plugins.”

I can’t do it. Gamedev is hard, but makes 1000x more sense than whatever cargo-cult bubblegum-and-hope the modern web runs on.

I probably should learn JS, but I’m very hesitant to even bother with it because it feels like an insane time commitment. Like getting a doctorate from scratch in something you’re not SUPER jazzed about or starting OnePiece from Ep 1.

“Oh cool, you learned that thing everyone complains about! But you know nothing until you get good at ~30 out of 400 different highly opinionated frameworks.”

The input to result ratio just doesn’t seem like it’s there. O.o Maybe I’m just a noob but this is my experience lol.

And don’t even get me started on RAM-munchy Electron apps.

“Why yes, I WOULD love a separate instance of Chrome running for every messenger app I use! And I love when Discord is the only support resource! :D”

–Nob’dy Ev’r, 2025 A.D

They wouldn’t want you to know it all depends on a Frankensteined chunk of spaghetti’d COBOL that hasn’t been updated since a guy they forgot about set it up before he retired in like 1996. And they’re just betting that, if they don’t look at it too hard, it won’t oopsie a cascade of critical failures.

Ha! Similar story, but Capoeira here. We’re all in formation and called to do “armada”, some arts might call it a “spinning back crescent”.

I whipped around and threw that leg and spun so hard that I caught just enough air to take my anchored foot out from under me and land on my butt. Oooow. Lol

I imagine some funny cartoonish “woopidy woop!” sounds would’ve completed the moment. XD

Dang, looking into Revolt seems like it’d be more in your use case yet. I wonder if it also has separate voice chat rooms?

I’d love to be able to get people to switch to something like this.

Sidenote: Lol I’m getting downvotes for mocking streaming giants and ads on Lemmy. That’s different 🤔.

Honestly, I hear you. Media isn’t easy to make and takes a ton of talented people a lot of hours to accomplish. I also drop off of subscribing to stuff if it was really nice but “enshittified” into forcing ads into every interaction.

Something needs to change fundamentally though, because we’re once again on the cable-TV slope of “20 minutes of entertainment extended to 45 minutes by interrupting it with the exact same ad of a mega corporation pretending to be an underdog influencer.”

My personal take is that if your average person were paid fairly, they’d have the money to spend on entertainment where ad-pollution wouldn’t be necessary, and if the entertainment distributors/platforms/whatevs asked the fair amount required to pay everyone involved fairly, everyone would be happy.

Lol a guy can dream.

"Ah, yes I see I see, and that’s very understandable. Thank you for paying us by the way.

Now, since you’ve been so loyal for all these years…what about [slides agreement across the table] you pay for it…AND you watch ads?"

– Basically every streaming service hopping on the bandwagon at this point

This year I haven’t worked any traditional employment, but have done various projects for friends in exchange for money.

When I just had a typical job, taxes were almost fire-and-forget easy…but I’m a little worried about that whole process this year to be honest.

A lot of times the free one only covers that “I have a typical job” case…but anything different and they’re like “OH YOU NEED BUSINESS-OWNER PREMIUM PLUS” or something.

(I haven’t started a business and earned maybe 4 figures this year…) 😅

I’m a chemical (aka process) engineer.

Well now I’ve got this song stuck in my head again, which probably accurately describes life with particularly bad peoject management.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whdzP0GHuc4

Surplus clothes.

In highschool I liked having a lot of storage. So I liked things with pockets. Cargo pants were my jam! Turns out, military surplus BDU pants are somewhat cheap and VERY durable for around $30-$45 a pair. They can survive a tumble or two, can be repaired, wash easy, and breathe well depending on the blend.

Outdated or impractical camo is a fun aesthetic (can be punk as heck) and olive drab is a lovely color. (Thankfully I was never cringey enough to strut around in actively deployed uniform patterns unless it was on an airsoft field haha.)

Oh yeah, I have one of those funny tall-lanky bodies that you can’t department shop for pants for. Tac-pants come in a huge variety of fits.

I also hated shoe shopping. So a sturdy pair of combat boots lasted me ages without falling apart, were all-terrain, and supported the ankles! These boots were made for wear, so I never had to be upset over scuffs.

The BEST part? No (visible) brand names.

I still have some of those pants I wear since I graduated in the early 00’s. The ones with more cotton are a little threadbare now though. I just need some basic colors and my everday casual wardrobe is filled out. Acquiring replacements doesn’t break the bank either.

Form and function. Durability and mobility. Picking up some groceries or hiking the mountains. Incredibly versatile.

I don’t understand how the fashion industry continues to con people into expensive sweatshopped single-ply polyester that turns the wearer into a walking douchey billboard.

I think “it’s human nature” is an excuse made by the ruling class to quell challenges to the system that benefits them.

Sociopathic hoarding and anti-social manipulation is an abberation that our system artificially elevates and rewards.

If we were culturally more hostile to attempts to rent out our lives and natural resources back to us, and didn’t put zero-empathy profit hoarders on the front of magazines, things could be better.

I agree with you on group sizes though. When people are treated like hyper-specialized insects with ID numbers instead of identities, funneled into highly-specialized roles, every one a stranger to the other, something has gone horribly wrong.

Lol I see what you’re getting at, but I’d argue that those (incredibly fun!) movies seem “prophetic” only by the same quality that makes them relatable and profound:

They’re inspired by history. Just one example being how the prequel trilogy bears heavy resemblance to the governmental structure of ancient Rome, before, like Rome, collapsing from the inside from in-fighting and profiteering in an attempt to control the whole Galaxy, before becoming basically like various monarchies throughout history, that almost succeed in ruling the world (galaxy) by monolithic force.

It’s why Firefly was such a success, when it flipped and futurized the American civil / revolutionary wars concept. It gives us something familiar enough to attach to, with twists that make it unique.

Edit: I welcome historians to correct any errors in my rather generalized understanding of history. I tried to get the point across while resisting research rabbit holes. ;)

Wow, that was smooth. Points for impact!

I wish these minds could have been put in charge for arguing for and hashing out a combined sensible economic system, as they might have had differing ideas, but all clearly wanted a system that was optimal for human beings to thrive in.

Instead, these fellows are deified as proxy prophets, excuses and motivations for wars and slavery, by those who seek to enrich themselves entirely at the majority’s blood, sweat, and tears.

Trim federal spending, go into deflation, and drive the buying power of the currency up. This would allow people to pay down debts while maintaining standard of living.

My problem with this logic is the same problem I have when suited clowns claim they’ll just raise prices on everything 300% if the minimum wage goes up by $2.

Say we “trimmed federal spending” (which is kinda its job as an entity, to spend towards the people, ideally), and somehow magically our already-printed simoleons became worth more per dollar…

What, besides intense federal regulations, would prevent bosses from just spinning this as some kind of crisis, and making it an excuse to pay us less because “each dollar is worth more now so you’re making too much”?

“Entitlements” and “hand-outs” are necessary not because people are lazy, but because from a business perspective, jobs aren’t worth doing anymore , but we do them anyway because we’re forced to, if we want to participate in society at all.

TL;DR:

Basically, the solution is to tell the rent-seeking neo-gilded-age robber-barons of our day “Fuck you. Pay me.” If they actually paid a fair wage for the profits their employees generate, we’d be able to “pay down debts while maintaining standard of living, and allow for a reduction of dependency on hand outs - which would allow for a further reduction in government spending.”

That was a brilliant read.

I appreciated the nuance, and it even added a lot of perspective to the notion that Adam Smith’s “capitalism” concept was not the evil and inhuman machine we experience today.

I’ve noticed this move to “technofeudalism” everywhere but didn’t have a name for it. It’s exhausting seeing how many services, products, businesses, whatever, all simply want to coast on monthly payments and lock-ins for what amounts to merely keeping the lights on.

The PetsMart thing was insidious. This surely solidifies the definition of “human resources”: Seeking to control people as “assets” that generate profits like (proprietary) batteries.

It seems it should be a priority goal to undermine the corporate and wealthy’s dominion over “assets.” They’d be terrified of this, as they might actually have to do something besides acquire everyone else’s hard work for a change!

That’s really neat but also seems like it could be quite dangerous in a lot of use-cases!

If you’re poor, you can’t really exploit the working class.

Scammers from across the planet have entered the chat.

Dude, 2020 wasn’t that long ago!

Exactly, with things like music or pictures, there’s always that bit of doubt that makes it scary to actually delete anything…

“This one is just like the most popular one, but entirely rewritten in Rust!”