orthogonal to alive @avi@computerfairi.es

[glances at pic of Steven Miller on the other social media website]

What, why the heck is John Waters in the news? And he's associating with white supremacists?!

Can't believe Tux the penguin is canceled for being "problematic"!

A gig economy transcription service not that different from one I used to work for recently slashed its already low wages, so that clients can now post tasks for as low as 30 cents:

https://gizmodo.com/transcription-platform-rev-slashes-minimum-pay-for-work-1839784941

Mastodon instances are still vulnerable to trolls account hopping, but users are at least empowered to block and mute...instead of having to wait around for a problem user to get banned.

Mastodon instances are better than web forums, because if the mods on your instance are assholes, you can go to another instance and still keep in touch with your friends fairly easily.

Whereas jumping ship from a web forum meant losing touch with people or only communicating with them privately from then on.

We have this nostalgia for web forums on here, but my first 5 years online were spent like this:

2 years on a forum being constantly harassed by a guy who would "joke" about raping me, while the mods repeatedly banned him for miscellaneous trolling, only for him to come back in a few days with a new account

Then 3 years on a private forum that slowly became more and more right-wing, with the mods perfectly content with the situation because they were the ones driving it

You just know there's some jerk screaming at the artists, "No! I want a REALISTIC Sonic!" while they beg and plead, no, they can't really make him realistic, he's not real, he's a weird rubberhose creature like Mickey Mouse, except filtered through Japanese culture and repackaged for Americans.

"See?" they said after the first trailer was released. "We told you he would look weird."

"Fine! I still want him to have HAIR!" the executive thunders. "Hedgehogs should be SHAGGY and FLUFFY!"

I guess the main issue is that Sonic's integument is very finely detailed hair and fur, which gives him a texture I don't want to think about. Sonic is probably best when he looks like he is made out of hard matte plastic, like a shell.

If only there were some pre-existing computer generated 3D models that the artists making movie Sonic could use to help them render the hedgehog in an appealing way