Re: discourse about #FediSoWhite
I'm a white man. Was on Twitter throughout #BLM and gained an awful lot of free education from Black folks on there. That was the start of me consciously following diverse folks which is a strategy that's improved my life immensely.
Back on Twitter before the Muskening, there was a lot of diversity. Black Twitter was a thing, and not just first-world (anyone else remember "O jewa ke eng?"). When I went looking for people to follow to diversify my feed, I found them in abundance.
That's why it's so clearly false to me when people claim that the fediverse is secretly diverse, and why anyone making that claim sounds suspect to me. Sure there are a ton of great Black and other POC folks you can find on here, if you look hard. But it's nowhere near the levels of diversity and community that were on Twitter. Which you would know had you been following those people before, so now I have to assume you weren't, and wonder why you feel qualified to make statements about diversity even though you haven't made an effort to engage with diverse voices before?
Also, if you were actually following some of the excellent POC voices on here, you'd know that across different servers and interest groups, almost every group has had a discussion of #FediSoWhite at some point. If all the Black people you follow are independently talking about the lack of community and diversity here, you've either got to believe them or start putting on your clown makeup, and the later is absolutely a choice.
No one wants to build bad products. But in an industry where programmers implement features to order, it can be hard to shake that feeling.
This is how orgs see the ROI of UX: as a soothing function to tell everyone they're doing a good job. And as a scapegoat, when we finally learn otherwise.
UX cheerleading is doing the industry no favors.
#UX
I’ve spoken with my boss (he’s a bit of a dickhead but his heart’s in the right place) and confirmed that I won’t be getting fired for opposing Israel’s ongoing genocide and supporting the human rights of the Palestinian people to live with freedom and dignity like the rest of us but not everyone is as lucky.
After a coworker told someone to just deactivate IPv6 ("it only makes problems, noone needs that, it should be scrubbed completely"), we got into a heated discussion over a distance of several desks and space dividers.
Coworkers without IT-background pulled up chairs, brought snacks 🍿 , played Godzilla sounds from their phones.
They probably didn't understand most of the technical terms we shouted at each other, but they liked to watch.
Another person who I look up to falling for AI, sigh.
I think it has an allure like organized religion. Promising to free you of that pesky “having to think” part of your life and absolving you from having to make decisions or taking responsibility for your actions.
(Exactly as Weizenbaum wrote in the 1970s, read his book.)
Series C, Episode 06 - City at the Edge of the World
KERRIL: Right. What are you expecting him to do?
VILA: I'm expecting him to try and kill us.
KERRIL: What?
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/306/332 B7B4
"We don’t really think about our future – we remember it",
said Dr Hal Hershfield, who studies how humans think about time and how that influences our emotions and behaviors.
When we daydream or envision ourselves at a later point, we essentially create a memory.
We then use these memories to construct our ideas about the future.
This process is called “episodic future thinking”;
it supports our decision-making, emotional regulation and ability to p…
Trevon Diggs wants to play, unsure why he isn't on the field https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/trevon-diggs-wants-to-play-unsure-why-he-isn-t-on-the-field
Ravens owner: Lamar Jackson didn't have 'outsized' role in decision to fire John Harbaugh https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6967078/2026/01/13/ravens-owner-john-harbaugh-firing-lamar-jackson/
Trevon Diggs wants to play, unsure why he isn't on the field https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/trevon-diggs-wants-to-play-unsure-why-he-isn-t-on-the-field