So you’re saying that (you think the data says) most people here are not blanket-downvoting anything that gives them marginally bad vibes, and that the damage is being done by a busy few? Interesting if true. I too basically never downvote, on the principle that it’s toxic and hostile and just not something that has a polite equivalent in person. I had assumed I was a massive outlier.

All decent advice. Here’s a thought experiment.

Start a discussion, debate, or ponder about [etc]

By the same token it would be bad to stop such a discussion, right? Right.

Make new communities if you don’t see one that fits

Therefore it would be bad to *destroy" such communities, right? Indeed.

Upvote the things you like

So, it would be bad to downvote the things you - personally, subjectively - don’t like - right? It wouldn’t? Why so?

Don’t downvote other people’s good-faith opinions. It’s petty, it’s juvenile, it’s toxic. Even if you don’t see it that way. It’s precisely what will discourage the participation we all want to see.

The five microstates (Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Vatican) are wreaking havoc in south-central Europe.

What a mess! I love defending other people’s heterodox opinions so I was rubbing my hands at the sight of yours. But… This is such a bunch of unfalsifiable generalities and tautologies that I hardly know where to start.

To be fair, English is obviously not your native language, and you do an okay job of expressing yourself nonetheless. 6/10 for that, let’s say.

The swappable-battery model is so much better in theory. It incentivizes better standardization of battery formats and connectors, it makes upgrades and recycling easier.

Of course, by that logic it would be even better to make the whole scooter swappable, i.e. leased or just outright shared. But I guess humans just need to have their own toys sometimes.

Personally what irritates me more is people whining about imperfect journalism which they haven’t paid a cent for. I mean, if someone handed me, say, an apple, and I eat it, I don’t then tell them “Yeah, a bit tangy I’ve had better, maybe get another supplier”. This magazine owes us nothing at all for its product.

As for the “clicks” trope, people need to know that display ads (when they don’t get blocked) earn these publications millicents on the dollar, they pay for basically nothing. What they really want (need) is subscriptions. And I’m guessing that none of us here has one of those.

Definitely the Achilles heel of the concept. Also: luggage weight restrictions (but if that’s an incentive to go by train, I’m calling it a win).

Hilarious!

Wait. This is actually a genuinely good idea.

13! A prime number indivisible into anything. Ugh!

An interesting demo of how much storage space you gain by making the user straddle the thing.

YSK: this is clearly entirely jurisdiction-dependent and we don’t all live in the USA.

Unfalsifiable conjecture. Contradicts everything the people involved say themselves. Including transparently good actors like some of the board members.

Assumes bad faith, basically. Which ironically is one of the founding ills of social media.

Five grand for a 16 kilo bike. Come on.

This is an excellent, well-written opinion piece with lots of thoughtful ideas. But in the feed, at a glance, it looks like just another low-effort video share (check out the domain)! I almost didn’t bother clicking. We need a new fediversal convention: if you’re posting primary original content (an article, basically), don’t do it as a link. Instead just post your article and put any links in the text.

Back to the point.

Do I think it’s a bit silly to bring a 150+ lbs “ebike” onto the ferry, or dangerous to ride along a multi-use trail on the side of a bridge when there are also pedestrians? Absolutely! But again, I think the takeaway is that the times are changing and preparations must be made in anticipation.

As owner of an 85 lb EU-regs-conforming e-bike which looks like a motorbike (because fat tires mainly), I do agree in theory, but it’s an annoying situation. I’ve got the thing on trains recently (as is my right) but it involved fighting with staff a couple of times. I’m counting down the clock until some new regulation leaves me on the platform,

The really dumb thing IMO is that (at least here in Europe) kick scooters are now mostly banned from public transport because of battery safety or something. But those things take up a tenth the space of a bike. They’re a perfect fit with public transport IMO. Seems so irrational that a solution can’t be found.

Pedaliformes, the earliest Mobilitas, are powered by their own symbiotes while Motorigneis developed with an internal combustion engine and Electro-mobiliformes developed rapidly with many different forms to include the popular Kickscutiformes.

The associated diagram is inadvertently quite useful.

stopped recognising

Of course they didn’t. But this is about an initial recognition. This one feels unseemly to me personally.

Not saying it’s wrong in principle. It certainly feels like a “sympathy recognition”, much like Kosovo and indeed Timor Leste itself. But in those cases the putative independent states were not run (even partly) by religious extremists with overtly genocidal intentions.

Still, I will agree that things are not black and white.

I assure you

Who cares what you assure me? We’re talking about definitions. Yours are not those of the people who study these things closely.

Pogrom (a Yiddish word) in the proper sense means against this particular ethnic group - so correct term. But okay, by the generic definition, that’s a fair argument.

Personally I don’t see humanity as dominators and dominated, but rather in terms of individuals. The intentions of Hamas against individual Israelis are very clear from their words and deeds. All that they lack is the means. That’s why I will not be celebrating statehood for a nation run (partly) by this group.

This seems to be your personal definition of “totalitarian”. From what I understand of the consensus of actual political scientists, North Korea has been totalitarian for decades and Russia and China both now pass the bar too (since the Ukraine invasion and Xi’s tech authoritarian ramp-up, respectively).

with friendliness, suggest you think about

Difficult to finish a sentence with condescension level at this pitch.

plenty of other governments are recognised while committing horrific acts

Citation needed. I can’t think of anything comparable, certainly not since the UN’s founding.

this is recognition of Palestine, not Gaza

Fair point.