I think you've hit on a good point - you want enough users for there to be engagement, but you also don't want so many users that people feel like they're a face in a sea of people that gets crowded out. What the appropriate number of people is depends on the culture and aim of the site more than being a static number to reach. Beehaw, for example, is trying to focus on creating a sense of community and connection rather than growth at all costs. That means Beehaw's "critical mass" is going to be lower than something like Reddit, where it's more of a free-for-all that seems to be trying to appeal by being a "loud" public square type space. Meanwhile, the tiny forum in the corner of the internet about a niche subject is going to have an even smaller goal because it's safe for users to assume that there won't be as many people and, if they're seeking out a forum for a niche subject, it's also safe to assume there won't be as many lurkers.
DarbyDear
My understanding is that there's a single setting for "allow downvotes" and, if that's set to false, it disallows down voting everywhere for users that are a part of that instance. Incidentally, that also means that users from other instances can down vote stuff on Beehaw, but it has no visible effect for Beehaw members (mentioning this because it was a source of confusion in a separate post where down votes were discussed).
I can't speak for the admins about if this will change if the option becomes available, but at least for now, there are a lot of things where there just isn't a way to fine-tune settings at the moment in Lemmy and this is one of them unfortunately.
As an Army vet that read through this series not too long ago, the stuff happening at Elan school was absolutely worse than what happened to us at basic training. That on top of the fact that at least we were all (nominally, at least) adults that chose to go.
I like this one quite a lot more, thank you for sharing it! I think it also helped me realize what it was about version 1 that put me off: It wasn't what I'm going to call the "ping pong note bending," because that was still pretty clearly present here, it was the way it was used for what felt like every sustained note instead of as an accent like it is in version 2. Rather than being the majority of the notes, those bends feel more like they're being used to wrap up musical phrases in version 2, so it flows together more cleanly to my ear.
Massively impressive and talented cover! I'm personally not a fan of the way the bends "bounce" (I don't know the right term - the way the bends repeatedly go up and down in pitch), but that's entirely a matter of personal preference since it's a fundamental technique when playing this instrument. I do think it's really neat how the bends were kind of used to replace the shredding from the original song though; super creative and not something I would have ever thought of. I may not put this in my personal playlist, but I loved seeing it and respect the concept and execution. Thanks for sharing!
This is my thought as well. I signed up for Beehaw specifically because I loved the idea of a chill place where I don't have to worry about the typical Internet joys of bots and trolls, and where people can have actual discussions. If I want to see other Reddit-like content like low-effort memes, that's where federation comes in, because I can go elsewhere to see it. Meanwhile, others are free to hang out in my home instance if they like the vibes (also due to federation) as long as they don't try making a mess of the place. If they do... Well, they get kicked out the only way available for now.
I don't know why people can't be bothered to click the "register" button to see for themselves. I've spent more time writing each individual post I've made on Beehaw than I did the questions for registration. Granted, I also read all of the literature discussing the philosophy and goals of Beehaw beforehand and had the answers in my mind by the time I saw the questions, but it was really just a line or two per prompt. Basically the bare minimum of user vetting. Imagine my surprise when I see people talk about it like we were asked for an in-depth literary analysis of the themes behind "Great Expectations" and how they can be translated to the modern world.
What's really funny about this image is that the implication is that Beehaw mods are trying to keep us from seeing content from other instances, when they've said in multiple ways that 1) if you don't agree with the decision, you can go elsewhere, and 2) it's about keeping trolls from spamming up Beehaw, not preventing Beehaw members from venturing outside of the instance. I don't even know why people think Beehaw's admin/mod team cares at all about where it's users go beyond making sure they're not trolls trying to infiltrate. They're providing a free service where they're trying to build a community, not create an Orwellian dystopia where all thought is policed. If anything, mods here have been way more tolerant of dissenting voices than I've seen elsewhere as long as those voices are civil and not actively promoting bigotry/harm.
Yeah, I've been there. It's just so aggravating, but I try to find comfort in knowing that at least I wasted a small bit of their precious bandwidth!
I hadn't even considered the quantity of ads on those sites... Any time I accidentally find one, it's a long column of text that starts off with a bunch of filler roughly related to whatever I was searching for, maybe a couple of lines with an answer (right or wrong is a different matter), then breaks down into a bunch of self-contradicting nonsense. I just don't see the ads because of uBlock Origin, so I never see how bad they are. AI generated sites are completely aggravating.
Just letting you know that, even if you weren't looking for it, you're seen and felt. Some of the things you talk about really hit close to home for me - I'm stuck working to support the life I actually want. I bought a house not long ago in the middle of the country, which is exactly what I want now even though I wanted a swanky place in the city when I was younger. No time or energy for the things I love, and not enough money to drop out of my job and just enjoy life with my family and animals. I wish I had a secret to tell, but if I ever figure it out I'll try to remember to pass it on to you. For now, I'm going to keep grinding.
On a tangentially-related note, do you have any of your music available online that you can link to? I love music, just never kept up with learning to play and create it, so I just try to appreciate it wherever I can find it until things change enough that I can settle a bit and pick up making it.
I did a small write-up off my understanding here, but that's coming from someone that's only dabbled in both and I may have missed some stuff.