Welcome! Feel free to introduce yourself here in the c/main channel if you’d like.

  • @milltertime_3227790
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    11 months ago

    From Chicago. I made the plunge to Mastodon (and here) after the Reddit shenanigans and just seeing the repeated bad-faith policies by Twitter. I have been using redirector and libredirect for the last month or two to actively decide who I give my data to just as a fun experiment into best practices.

    I think it’s slowly starting to be clear that this type of setup will be the way forward for the more tech-savvy, privacy-focused users, and hopefully/eventually it hits the mainstream as well, but otherwise, it’s just self-selecting into the type of people I want to be around, which will probably be better for my mental health anyways.

    I’m into cycling, trading, sci-fi and FOSS. Currently reading The Expanse and taking a sabbatical year from work

    Edit: Just want to encourage people to engage w/ and create content over the next few weeks. Activity and friendly faces are probably the most determining factor in whether someone becomes an active user or just browses for a few minutes

    • @WolfmanOfDelRio
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      1011 months ago

      I’m also reading the expanse. I’m just on book 2 though…my reading time is limited.

    • @FrancesTheMute
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      710 months ago

      Thank you for your edit to your post. I agree, engagement is key. I never posted on read, just consumed. Your edit encouraged me to be different this time. I want lemmy to succeed and grow. Liking what I see so far!

      I have been meaning to get into the expanse. I’ve heard such great things about the show, and the books were often recommended on the various books subreddits when searching for sci-fi books. Will have to start that series.

    • @HATEFISH
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      17 months ago

      What kind of cycling? I’m in the market for a mountain bike at the moment but I’m hemming and hawing since the market seems shitty (and I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing)

    • Inevitable Waffles [Ohio]A
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      16 months ago

      I just started Leviathan Wakes on Libby. It feels like a slow start… I cant tell if thats actually the case or I am just too burnt out.

  • @miah
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    1711 months ago

    Sup nerds. I’m Miah, I’m from Western Michigan. I’m a UNIX/Linux nerd, Right to Repair advocate, and transgender woman. I’ve been working on our cars by myself and would love to make some car nerd friends. My wife and I have 24 chickens, and a budding garden.

    • robin
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      310 months ago

      trans, married, AND you have 24 chickens? you’re winning at life

      • @miah
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        310 months ago

        I’m certainly trying =)

    • @wheresbicki
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      110 months ago

      Hi Miah! What did you think of this year’s pride events? Ottawa County had some really strong turnouts despite the commission being the worst.

  • wicked82 [ Ohio ]A
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    1511 months ago

    Hi!

    Ohioan here… I too am a recent reddit refugee… anyone else having digg deja vu?..

    Likes: Nerdy things, Video Games, Animals, Ohio sports teams, Music, Traveling

    Been on Mastodon for a few months (suck it twitter) and with Reddit’s recent money grab figured I’d check out other parts of the fediverse.

    • @FrancesTheMute
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      410 months ago

      Was not around for the Digg exodus, but I’m hoping this will be the historic Reddit exodus. I had felt this would be coming, especially after hearing about the Reddit IPO. Unfortunately these things always turn products to shit. And here we are. Hoping we can all reclaim the internet. Feel I’m living the cyberpunk dystopian future when I jump online nowadays. Reddit was my last internet refuge. But I had to leave. I was a dedicated Apollo user and have to take a principled stand after what they did to Selig. Reddit account deleted and excited for what the future holds for Lemmy.

    • @oatscoop
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      210 months ago

      I was also a Digg user that fled to Reddit. Hopefully the decentralized nature of this places keeps it from getting ruined by greed.

  • chase
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    1511 months ago

    Hi, all! I signed up for Lemmy the other day using another instance, but thought this would be a better fit. I’m a 39 year old male who grew up in Ohio and currently resides in Michigan. By day, I’m a Technology & Strategic Project Manager at the University of Michigan. By night, I’m a technology-obsessed, music-loving vegan. I’ve been active on Reddit since 2010 and am disappointed to see the direction it’s going. I’m quite active on Mastodon, so feel free to connect with me there, as well!

  • methodicalaspect
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    1310 months ago

    Morning everyone. Chicago suburb native of 42 years who doesn’t really feel like leaving. Working at one of the many data centers in the Chicago area, if you can call it work, because I enjoy technology in general. I joined because I’ve been migrating from legacy social media to the Fediverse; Reddit’s API nonsense helped that process along.

    Contrary to what my parents and sisters drilled into my head as I was growing up, I’ve been leaning more and more left as I age. At some point, someone decided that giving our children a better life meant making them suffer. Seems like teaching my kids to be grateful for the opportunities they have, respect others’ beliefs, accept people from all walks of life, stand up for marginalized groups, foster positive mental health outcomes, not expect anything to be handed to them, and just be good people in general makes me a communist in the eyes of many, including my own parents. I’m gonna have to pass on whatever ideology came up with that and work toward dismantling it.

    Beyond that … I’m pretty low key most of the time. I like PC (Linux) gaming, physical computing, 3D printing, video editing, analog media preservation, listening to open source-related podcasts, road trips, dogs, glamping, grilling, beer, grilling while glamping and drinking beer and hanging out with my dogs, etc. I listen to metal but have been on a Sleep Token kick since the newest album was released.

    I don’t speak up often because someone else typically said what I want to say first, posting responses like “This” is annoying, and upvotes are silent. At any rate, nice to meet everyone, hope to be able to contribute something useful at some point.

  • @senatorpresident
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    1311 months ago

    Hey all. Twin Cities native here, enjoys android, books, fountain pens, and more. I’ve always meant to dig deeper into the fediverse but mastodon wasn’t calling to me. I’m glad to have the reason (reddit) to explore this one now.

    • @WithMeDoctorWu
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      11 months ago

      Welcome - I need to get up there again (from Ames IA). Been a few years since my last visit to Target Field. And Hell’s Kitchen, come to think of it.

      I used fountain pens for a little while, didn’t quite the hang of it, later settled into the Cross Selectip family. There’s a particularly heavy one here with medium-tip black gel roller that really calms my nerves and tells me I’m on top of things when I pull it out to take notes or brainstorm during a difficult work meeting.

  • @emarsh
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    1311 months ago

    Hey all. Another Reddit refugee from SE Michigan. Looking forward to discovering how this works.

  • @ffg
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    1210 months ago

    55/m from the Downriver Detroit area, Michigan. 17-year R*ddit user, been around forever (started with BBSes, moved on to Usenet). Black Guy on the Internet. a2.mi.social member.

    Used to run a freeform streaming radio station. Apple user since the ][+, love music.

  • hrimfaxi sopuli acct
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    1210 months ago

    Are folks from other instances welcome here? Still figuring out etiquette or whatever. I got impatient over the weekend and jumped into Lemmy through sopuli.xyz due to a lower barrier to entry.

    I’m a Minnesota person living in St. Paul. I coordinate graduate programs, which basically means I’m a nanny for graduate students. Movie nerd and sweet tooth haver. 1 dog and 3 cats. I used to be a forklift operator and a freight railroad conductor. Formerly UFCW, BLET, and AFSCME. Now I’m IWW IU620.

  • @heyfluxay
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    1110 months ago

    Hey everyone, started exploring Lemmy the other week and really jumped in after the Apollo news broke.

    I’m gamer/podcaster/dad/wannabe bourbon enthusiast from Michigan.

    I have a tech role in logistics and am just looking for a chill community to be a part of.

    Currently consumed with exploring Hyrule.

  • Doug [he/him]
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    1111 months ago

    I’m pretty much going to echo a lot of the same sentiments. I expect my Reddit usage will plummet when the third party apps are killed so I’ve gotta waste time somewhere.

    I’m a long time, old school nerd. Tabletop games, video games, fantasy books, enough programming know how to make lives difficult, all that kinda thing.

    Been rereading some old Spider-Man comics on Marvel unlimited lately. I’ve probably got a bit of a Tears of the Kingdom addiction going on as well. There’s plenty more about me and I’m hoping this will be a fun, new internet home for the immediate future.

  • Tink
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    10 months ago

    Hello! I live in Kalamazoo, MI and grew up in Muskegon, MI. I’m a part of the mass exodus from reddit. So far I’m enjoying the fediverse and was glad to see an instance dedicated to midwesterners. I work in mental health and enjoy cooking/baking, crafting, painting, kayaking, gardening, gaming (DnD, Zelda, board games) and spending time with my loved ones. Excited to be here!

  • @corwin
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    1110 months ago

    Hi, I’m Corwin! TL;DR: wordy nerd for MN; lotsa kids, cats, GNU vol.

    I’m yet-another-new-user bc Reddit; glad for the mass troop move toward FOSS and federated things, social especially. Over the last few years, I’ve been weaning myself off mass-media social: forgive me, hacker, it’s been (only) three days since my last reddit/twitter/FB post. RE FOSS, I volunteer with some projects like EmacsConf and GNU Savannah. If you are looking to get involved with FOSS volunteering but aren’t sure where you can get started HMU :)

    Ahem. Meanwhile, in the interest of full disclosure. About Emacs…

    Passion for Emacs has been likened (variously derisively or with found amusement) to religious fervor.

    I help with the annual conf, like I mentioned. I make official binaries for Emacs available from GNU FTP servers/mirrors. I help with ERC, one of the IRC clients that ships with Emacs. I’m making an RPG engine for Emacs called dungeon-mode. I feel that this post will be incomplete unless I tell you even more about Emacs right now:

    Emacs is a text editor built around a lisp machine. Most of it is implemented in Emacs Lisp (elisp). It can be customized using menus, like a normal program. Or using code, programs full of code, auto-generated programs, self-modifying programs, and so on… such nonsense for a text editor to be doing any of this, of course.

    Hopefully, you can see where I occasionally get myself in trouble. Every once in a while I need someone to tell me “no”. To say “Corwin. Oh, Corwin. The X forum doesn’t want to hear about how you integrated X into Emacs.” “STFU about Emacs please Corwin”, And so forth.

    TIA if that’s you.

    In conclusion, when you are ready to talk about Emacs, find me on IRC corwin@libera.chat#emacs.

    MN; 48/wm/2 partners 17y/5y, 5kids, 5cats. emacs4evah

  • downhomechunk [chicago]
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    1111 months ago

    I of course found my way here from reddit. I started lurking on mastodon occasionally when musk first took over Twitter, but I didn’t get into it. I wasn’t a Twitter user either. This looks more like my jam though.

    I’m a lifelong chicagoan (nw side). I’ve been daily driving slackware since the late 90s. I play a mean bass. I smoke meat when the mood strikes. I bought a fixer upper without the skills or budget to fix it up. I have a 4 year old daughter. I work in international logistics.