@[email protected] True, but they also have geographic restrictions on many of them.

@[email protected] Are there any good models for distributed search functions out there?

@hanktank61 I’m really fascinated by how local folk legends form a “supernatural landscape” - real world places you can visit that have supernatural associations.

@[email protected] @[email protected]

Unfortunately, “reach” can be pretty important.

Let’s say you are a user in, for example, #Pakistan. How many Pakistani Mastodon instances are there? One? Two? For a country of 240 million people?

When almost no one in your country uses the #Fediverse , using Mastodon exclusively means you have effectively isolated yourself from your community.

I was able to do a clean break from Twitter when it got bought by Elon Musk, but that was because I was in a relatively privileged position. There are plenty of people around here who are interested in folklore and table-top RPGs, and share similar backgrounds. I miss some people from Twitter, but not enough to remain active there.

Others do not have this privilege, and we should acknowledge that.

2/ As an addendum, I want to make clear that I have absolutely zero sympathies for the social media platforms and their owners themselves. In fact, I consider them to be a dire threat to civilization, as their algorithms and owners promote hatred and bigotry of all kinds.

What I want to stress is empathy for many of the users on these platforms. Most of them stay there for reasons that make sense to them, after all.

And “empathy” does not mean “agreement”. But if you don’t take the time to understand their points of view, you are unlikely to convince them to give the #Fediverse a try.

@[email protected]

I absolutely agree that X must be destroyed. I just don’t think that berating X users for staying there is going to accomplish that.

We must make it easier for others to leave, and for that we must understand why they still stay there - and offer a welcoming off-ramp.

@[email protected] They do have some locations that OpenStreetMap has not (and vice versa), and they are more friendly for finding places with alternate spelling. There is a reason I check both.

Also, their linked images are useful for visualizing these locations. Though I think I saw an OpenStreetMap version with geotagged images once, but I can’t find it again.

@[email protected] Depends a bit on the neighborhood.

While romance novels predominate in all of the six or so little free libraries within easy bicycling distance, only two are filled with them entirely.

The very best (for my purposes) is the one next to our local city theater - it almost always has books on history, culture, or travel.

@[email protected] Hmmm. Hannover is my usual layover city when I travel by train to visit my father. Is the store you are referring to the one at the Limburgstraße 1?

If so, I might be able to check it out.

@[email protected] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderland_Kalkar

@[email protected] If you remember the name, I might check it put!