Are there any Lemmy instances or similar platforms that don't allow memes?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    6d ago 88%

    Tildes is NOT a good website to recommend.

    I made a Tildes account many years ago when it first started up. I knew the founder was a Reddit admin, and I'd heard that it was a haven for Reddit admins & power-mods, but I hadn't spent much time there.

    I recently made a post about the problems with Reddit, and while there were intelligent people and comments on there, the majority of votes went to people who were being extremely dishonest, and even outright lying; attacking me in every way possible while urging the admin to ban me. Neutral people don't behave like that. So they couldn't have made it more obvious that Tildes is merely an extension of authority-figures-of-Reddit with a different UI. All the same problematic people & behaviors exist there.

    Based on the accusations one of them was making, and my history they were pulling up, one of them was either a Reddit admin or someone in cahoots with one of the Reddit admins that banned me. Tildes is invite-only, and the main accounts attacking me were brand new.

    The Tildes admin removed my comments debunking the lies they were telling, and deleted my account.

    14
  • How did we move from forums to Reddit, Facebook groups, and Discord?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    2w ago 100%

    I agree. When leaving reddit I weighed my choices between setting up a forum or a lemmy community/instance and ultimately chose a forum due to their software being more polished & feature-rich, and the fact that threads can have long-term discussions. I really dislike the time-based nature of reddit & lemmy for many things.

    I petitioned the forum software devs to join the fediverse though. It's nice to see some of them already joining.

    2
  • Popular gut probiotic completely craps out in randomized controlled trial
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    MaximilianKohler
    2w ago 25%

    Yes, Culturelle has been shown to be effective for certain conditions, and it's NOT "double capsule probiotic designed to survive the stomach intact and open in the small intestine". So what the previous commenter said is misinformation.

    -2
  • Popular gut probiotic completely craps out in randomized controlled trial
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    2w ago 83%

    Stomach acid is meant to kill anything, whether it’s a pathogen or beneficial probiotic. Yogurt’s probiotics shouldn’t survive the stomach if all is going well.

    This is misinformation.

    I had SIBO

    Not likely. https://humanmicrobiome.info/sibo/

    You're getting your information from poor quality sources.

    I eventually took a double capsule probiotic designed to survive the stomach intact and open in the small intestine and my symptoms were mostly resolved within a week.

    Almost certainly placebo or random luck. There are a plethora of probiotic and FMT studies that show it can have significant impacts when you take it directly orally:

    We are just starting to understand how crucial gut health is to overall health, including mental health, and basically everyone gets their gut biome carpet bombed with antibiotics on the regular.

    Agree. I've done FMT from 15+ donors and haven't yet reversed the damage from antibiotics. When I would share studies about this on reddit I would get viciously attacked by people who seemed addicted to antibiotics.

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  • https://ktla.com/news/california/new-california-law-mandates-fashion-industry-to-take-old-clothes-back-for-free/

    >The goal of the bill. SB 707, is to reduce the millions of tons of unwanted clothing that typically end up in landfills across the state, support the development of upcycling and recycling across the state and address the environmental impacts of “fast fashion.” > >“SB 707 isn’t just about recycling; it’s about transforming the way we think about textile waste,” Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), the bill’s author, said in a statement. “The framework created by SB 707 will create new opportunities for every Californian to participate in a more sustainable future.

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    Where will the internet go post-reddit and post-twitter?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    4w ago 100%

    Hopefully people will start going back to independent forums. Google just added a "forums" tab at the top of their search, so they seem to want that too. It's not good for them that so much information is private on chat programs like Discord, other big social media sites, and concentrated on Reddit.

    Lemmy never shows up in search results for me despite some instances having good domain authority, but more people should start using it when it starts showing up.

    3
  • Has Google Search gotten so much worse in the last couple of weeks?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 100%

    I use Ecosia instead of Google, but I know that Google recently added a "forums" category to the top of their search. Have you tried that? Hopefully it will help bring back to life independent forums.

    3
  • Threads makes it easier to evangelize the open social web with a new direct link feature | TechCrunch
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 100%

    none of the major providers will deliver your email without your mail server having first built a reputation

    There are definitely major, and easily-abusable "features" being implemented by the major email providers, but I don't think your statement is correct. I have a Hetzner server, and I can receive email from it (to Gmail) just fine, as long as I have SPF, DMARC, and DKIM set up. I can also create a new server with a new IP and not have any issues. The issues may arise with shared IPs/ranges that are also being used by spammers. Otherwise, if you're planning to send bulk email you just need to warm up the IP.

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  • Are there any communities dedicated to product reviews?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 100%

    I’m wondering, is this still your opinion?

    I’ve been thinking about updating that blog post but I’m not sure where to add the updates.

    I just added a bunch of updates and info at the bottom to help people who are new to the fediverse. Thanks for the nudge.

    1
  • Looking for new search engine
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 100%

    There are public instances: https://searx.space/

    This is one someone previously suggested, and the one I tried that seems to work well: https://search.disroot.org/ - I see it's not in the list above though. Not sure why.

    4
  • Looking for new search engine
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 100%

    I've been testing other search engines, and I found that SearX/SearXNG and Mojeek both turn up results for smaller websites that Google puts in 50th place for the exact title of the website/page.

    11
  • Are there any communities dedicated to product reviews?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 66%

    About the votes, it might have been because of the opinion I quoted above.

    Na, I don't think people on lemmy are that averse to criticisms of the UI, features, etc. And by "astroturfed" I don't mean "my thread was downvoted". The thread was flooded with hostile comments making personal attacks, etc., most of which completely ignored the substance of the blog post. Virtually the entire thread was filled with comments along the lines of "How dare you attack reddit, you are [insert random ad hominem]".

    All the comments making personal attacks on me were greatly upvoted, and other reasonable and on-topic comments were downvoted. There was a delay before it occurred, and then all the comments were up/downvoted the same amount, and new ones met the same fate, so there was clearly a group of people who were notified about the thread at some point who then continually monitored it and voted on new comments.

    I guess at the time the mods removed your blog post by mistake, because they didn’t expect personal blogs here.

    I doubt that. But if that's the case, that's horrible moderation that they would allow all the personal, off-topic attacks against me and then "remove the post by mistake because they didn't expect personal blogs". They should have removed most of the comments in that thread and banned the users.

    I've had a better experience with the reddit@lemmy.ml community so far. I've seen lots of criticisms of lemmy.ml, and even attempts to [dishonestly] attack the .ml developers. I wonder how much of that is from the same group/type of people who just want to cause problems and make people leave lemmy. I wonder if the reason I experienced it less on the lemmy.ml comm is because those users are banned there, and that's why they're spreading FUD about lemmy.ml.

    1
  • Are there any communities dedicated to product reviews?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 100%

    I really dislike the bloated UI they’re all using, but it looks like there are solutions on the way.

    I’m wondering, is this still your opinion?

    I've gotten used to it and I like that many instances default to a dark mode. I used to use the old.instance UI, but I think I ran into problems with it and ended up just using the standard Lemmy UI.

    Regarding lemmy being complicated, I've mostly learned how it works and I definitely think it's the #1 reddit-alternative at the moment, and the most promising option for the future as well. Along with independent forums of course.

    I also set up a Mastodon account, but unfortunately most people are still using Twitter. I also petitioned the Xenforo developers to join the fediverse, and I like that other forum software like Discourse, etc., are joining the fediverse. I definitely think federation is the future.

    I've been thinking about updating that blog post but I'm not sure where to add the updates.

    7
  • Are there any communities dedicated to product reviews?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 100%

    I agree. The best option now is to look for specific sources of trustworthy reviews.

    Regarding rtings, the two monitors I purchased myself had completely different results from the monitor RTINGS showed. What does that say? RTINGS is totally unreliable? I got ridiculously unlucky? https://hardforum.com/threads/why-are-ips-monitors-popular-the-ips-glow-ruins-a-third-of-the-screen-along-with-any-color-advantage-it-may-have.2032852/post-1045814690

    2
  • Are there any communities dedicated to product reviews?
  • "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearMA
    MaximilianKohler
    1mo ago 100%

    I agree about reddit, but unfortunately, I don't think lemmy is free from astroturfing. Myself and others have noticed that there are many users on lemmy who seem to be purposefully antagonistic towards other lemmy users. The possible reason may be to drive people away from lemmy and hinder its growth.

    I've experienced pro-reddit astroturfing on lemmy. I posted this criticism of reddit on the reddit@lemmy.world comm, and it was heavily astroturfed and then deleted by the mod for a bogus reason.

    A year later, someone used that post to attack me while insinuating purely from the title that I was at fault because the reddit admins would never do something like that (despite all the public information to the contrary).

    6
  • cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17779430 > A large percentage of threads I've created or participated in have been deleted. Worse is that when visiting the URL everything is completely gone. > > This is much more drastic when compared with Reddit thread deletions, where the thread is there and so is the discussion. And the creator of the thread has access to their content. > > The Lemmy method discourages people from participating in threads and creating high-quality content, much more so than the Reddit method. > > A bunch of lively and useful discussions on Lemmy have completely disappeared. And it makes it seem like a waste of time to even contribute content here. > > --- > > EDIT: I see that the "fediverse" link for posts has been removed. I posted this to lemmy.ml from a lemmy.world account and there's no way for me to get the lemmy.ml link now. And when I crosspost it it shows a lemmy.world link instead of the lemmy.ml one. I think this should be changed [back].

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    A large percentage of threads I've created or participated in have been deleted. Worse is that when visiting the URL everything is completely gone. This is much more drastic when compared with Reddit thread deletions, where the thread is there and so is the discussion. And the creator of the thread has access to their content. The Lemmy method discourages people from participating in threads and creating high-quality content, much more so than the Reddit method. A bunch of lively and useful discussions on Lemmy have completely disappeared. And it makes it seem like a waste of time to even contribute content here. --- EDIT: I see that the "fediverse" link for posts has been removed. I posted this to lemmy.ml from a lemmy.world account and there's no way for me to get the lemmy.ml link now. And when I crosspost it it shows a lemmy.world link instead of the lemmy.ml one. I think this should be changed [back].

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    7

    cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16659287 > First, you need to understand the factors that contribute to one person being low functioning and another high functioning. > > Human health, development, and function are multifactorial: [Genetics, epigenetics, microbiome, diet, environmental/industrial pollution, socioeconomic influences, etc](https://maximiliankohler.medium.com/eugenics-past-present-and-future-74d0ea5998b4). > > I have a two-step proposal. > > 1. The first step is to **limit the impact of low-functioning individuals**. [https://www.highiqpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IQ-Bell-Curve.png](https://web.archive.org/web/20230513140945/https://www.highiqpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IQ-Bell-Curve.png). Right now society is set up so that society is run by the wealthy and the low functioning majority. This results in these people voting for, and implementing policies that exacerbate the problems instead of fixing them. > 2. The second step is to take action to **raise the level of functioning of the human population**. This second part probably takes the most learning for the average person. Most people seem to have a very very poor understanding of [human health, development, and function](https://maximiliankohler.medium.com/a-critical-look-at-the-current-and-longstanding-ethos-of-childbearing-the-repercussions-its-been-6e37f7f7b13f). But I tried to condense it into that one article. > > My suggestion for tackling the first step is to implement a cognitive (IQ, EQ, etc.) test for city, state, and federal representatives. > > Having an IQ test to vote seems problematic. Firstly because of how things like that were used in the past to disenfranchise certain populations. Secondly, [the problem right now is that not enough people vote, and that results in the wealthy controlling the government and laws](https://archive.ph/KEg0T#selection-1737.99-1737.100). > > I think a better solution is (at minimum) a cognitive test for anyone running for a government position so that can be factored into people's assessment of them. But possibly that won't be enough and it will be necessary to set some minimum requirements for test results. > > This way you don't give the option for dumb people to vote for other dumb people. They only get to choose between two intelligent ones. > > Some smart people may be corrupt or sociopathic, so this test should be a full psychological evaluation. > > I'm curious if it would be possible to get people like Ibram X. Kendi *(who [gives an interview here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oQXki0hG9w&t=414)* *on antiracism, anticapitalism and the eugenicist origins of IQ and SAT tests*) to agree on both implementation of this solution and an appropriate IQ/psych test for it. I would base my argument to people like him on this type of data [[1](https://archive.fo/nlFMg#selection-2507.0-2511.0)][[2](https://github.com/MaximilianKohler/Archive/wiki/Politics)]. > > My position is also based on polling data from Australia which showed that a political group that is in the vast minority in most countries is the most intelligent, and largest (percentage-wise) supporters of evidence-based policy and holders of evidence-based beliefs. This coincides with the IQ graph I linked earlier. A cognitive test requirement like this should boost the influence of that party and its supporters. > > --- > > My suggestions for tackling the second step by **making people smarter** are in [this document](https://www.dropbox.com/s/tdxb9ro5oaliwmc/Constituent%20Bill%20Proposal%20Form%20-%20for%20reddit.doc?dl=0) _(which I haven't updated for years)_. It's doable via a variety of biological and societal interventions. > > The problem again is that it's low-functioning people preventing us from implementing these fixes. Possibly if enough intelligent people understand and agree on these fixes and be vocal enough about implementing them we could get it done. > > In my opinion, [Fecal Microbiota Transplants (FMT)](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01510/full) are one of the most promising aspects of this second step. One problem is [the people who qualify to be stool donors appear to be extremely rare](https://www.humanmicrobes.org/blog/stool-donors-one-in-a-million-ai-funding-potential). You can read more about [the current status of FMT in this blog](https://www.humanmicrobes.org/blog/fda-fmt-regulation). If you have the ability to influence or fund clinical trials, read [this](https://maximiliankohler.blogspot.com/2019/12/fmt-roadmap-proposal.html). > > As is, [with the health of the population rapidly declining](https://forum.humanmicrobiome.info/threads/chronic-disease-and-general-poor-health-have-been-drastically-increasi.44/), I feel like I'm living in [Idiocracy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/), and surely collapse will be inevitable if nothing is changed.

    -7
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    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nmo.14817

    This is important because "[SIBO](https://humanmicrobiome.info/sibo/)" has become a really popular "internet diagnosis", and the primary intervention is an antibiotic with potentially severe side effects. >Key points > > - The SIBO-IBS hypothesis has stimulated significant research into the role of the microbiota in symptoms of DBGI but **remains unproven**. > - **This hypothesis has resulted in serious unintended consequences**, namely the use of poorly validated breath tests to diagnose SIBO and the resulting injudicious use of antibiotics. > - The lactulose breath test (LBT) is primarily a measure of intestinal transit and has very low sensitivity and specificity to diagnose SIBO. > - The glucose breath test (GBT) has better performance characteristics if the pre-test probability is high, as found in conditions underlying classical SIBO, but also has a high false-positive rate in DGBI. > - Future studies in DGBI are needed to better understand the impact of bacterial communities, their metabolites, and diet-host interactions in the small and large intestine on DGBI symptoms and move away from the sole focus on absolute numbers of bacteria. >In this review, we examine why the SIBO hypothesis remains unproven and, given the unintended consequences, discuss **why it is time to reject this hypothesis** and its reliance on breath testing. [More info & discussion](https://forum.humanmicrobiome.info/threads/critical-appraisal-of-the-sibo-hypothesis-and-breath-testing-a-clinica.408/).

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    www.nytimes.com

    >Because they’re near the bottom of the food chain, shrimp don’t generally tend to accumulate the environmental toxins, like mercury or dioxins, found in big predators such as tuna or swordfish. >Mercury and arsenic can build up in the sludge under shrimp ponds. However, even the highest levels of heavy metals Dr. Martín has found in Ecuadorean farmed shrimp were half of what one sees in the least contaminated tuna. >Frozen shrimp may contain preservatives like sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium bisulfite, which people with sulfite or phosphate sensitivities may want to avoid. >In many countries, shrimp farms also use large amounts of antibiotics to keep the animals healthy. [...] has found banned antibiotics in imported shrimp, as well as unlabeled preservatives. >Wild-caught shrimp are more expensive but also tastier and less likely to be contaminated with environmental toxins. >When it comes to the health of the oceans, many experts say shrimp is among the most damaging foods you can eat. >In 2015, The Associated Press revealed the wide use of slave labor in the Thai shrimp industry. The U.S. Department of Labor has also called out shrimp production in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia for using child or forced labor. More recently, investigative reporting from The Outlaw Ocean Project offered a damning look at shrimp farming in India, the biggest shrimp importer to the United States, that raised concerns not just about labor practices, but also banned antibiotics and environmental damage. >Fishing practices in the United States and Canada again tend to be less harmful to ocean life than they are elsewhere. Otherwise, look for shrimp certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. >But experts said the most important thing you can do is simply ask about sustainable options. That signifies that there is a desire for sustainable seafood.

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    www.humanmicrobes.org

    It was probably largely what the episode was based on. Eg: this blog post discussing searching for top athletes https://www.humanmicrobes.org/blog/the-evidence-and-rationale-supporting-our-donor-criteria. I know this isn't meme format, but I saw another discussion post here and thought people would find this interesting :)

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    >Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection (Strict Mode) is known to cause issues on x.com There were no "issues"; everything was working completely fine. This is a deliberate decision to force people to turn off tracking protection. I saw a recommendation to use Firefox's container extension https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers, but it's disabled in private browsing windows, and I always use private browsing windows.

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    Submitting from a lemmy.world account to a mander.xyz community. I've tried it multiple times, and this submission to !techsupport@lemmy.world worked without issue.

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    cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12989654 > I'm a novice so I chose the most novice-friendly option I could find - Squarespace. But I've had lots of problems with them, and they keep raising their prices, and they hide features like javascript code behind even higher prices. > > I learned about SSGs https://jamstack.org/generators, which create fast and secure sites that can be hosted for free on Netlify and other similar sites. The downside is they're limited to static content -- IE: you can't have a contact form without paying a 3rd party. > > I found a novice-friendly SSG theme for wikis/documentation -- [MKDocs Material](https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/) -- but I haven't been able to find anything for a regular business site. > > This seems to be one of the most popular **Jekyll** themes https://mmistakes.github.io/minimal-mistakes/about/ but it seems to be mainly for blogs and documentation, and doesn't seem to have all the design options that Squarespace does. > > I read that healthcare.gov used **Jekyll** https://medium.com/devseed/new-healthcare-gov-is-open-cms-free-41c25249cf38 in conjunction with https://prose.io. So I looked it up and found this https://github.com/CMSgov/HealthCare.gov-Styleguide which actually seems pretty decent; but also not complete enough. Their newer version https://github.com/CMSgov/design-system seems more complete/extensive, but also quite technical. It looks like it requires too much coding for me. > > **Weebly** seems to be a slightly cheaper alternative to Squarespace but it's missing some features and Square might end it in a few years. > > I've never used **Wordpress** but now that I've hosted a few websites I'm thinking about purchasing **Oxygen** https://oxygenbuilder.com/ and hosting a Wordpress site myself. Oxygen is like a more advanced version of Squarespace with a 1-time payment equal to 1 year of Squarespace. Then you just have the monthly costs of hosting the server, which should be $5-10 *(no idea how this scales with amount of traffic, do you?)*. There is a plugin/addon to export a static site, but it might not be worth the trouble. > > According to https://servebolt.com/articles/calculate-how-many-simultaneous-website-visitors/ a 2-core server ($5) with a webpage that takes 300ms to load can serve: > > - 400/minute > - 24,000/hr > - 288,000/12 hrs > > A lot of people use Wordpress, but also seem unsatisfied with it https://jamstack.org/survey/2022/#content-management-systems. > > The **Gutenberg editor** may be new since the last time I tried Wordpress https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/gutenberg-wordpress, and it looks pretty similar to Squarespace. So maybe I don't even need Oxygen. I looked up "Gutenberg vs Oxygen" and people were saying to go with Gutenberg. > > I've been considering **Grav** https://getgrav.org/ too, but similar to the SSGs, it doesn't seem to have all the design capabilities without coding them yourself. > > I've seen people say you can get **chat GPT** to write HTML code for you but I've never used it and it seems like it would be difficult to design a website that way. I looked for a video but only found one covering writing content, not code. > > I found out about **Hostinger Website Builder** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUjjGIfjh-4 which uses AI and looks very similar to Squarespace's builder. But there's no demo so I can't see exactly what it can do. But Hostinger is much cheaper than Squarespace, and you can choose to use Wordpress with it instead of the Hostinger builder. > > I checked **GreenGeeks** and they say *"We offer drag and drop website builders like **Weebly and SitePad**"*. Sitepad is $12/yr and makes static sites, but it looks like you need one of the popular GUI web panels to use it https://sitepad.com/docs/admin/supported-control-panels/. Similar to Weebly, it's also a bit more limited -- IE: you can't open a contact form in a lightbox from a button https://sitepad.com/docs/enduser/contact-form. > > A benefit of using **Hostinger or GreenGeeks** is probably that I don't have to worry about a surge in traffic causing my site to go down. That's why I'm thinking they're a better option vs self-hosting on a VPS. > > I found this video that seems quite good and covers more options I didn't know about: > [Ultimate Website Builder Comparison 2024 | Find the BEST One for You + Why I Hated Squarespace](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW2nBnJDXGs) > > > Anyone know of better places/forums to discuss this type of thing? There seems to be hundreds of thousands of people using the jamstack SSGs but I haven't found a place where people discuss them. I've tried: > > - https://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1909999 > - https://community.centminmod.com/threads/cheaper-squarespace-alternative-novice-friendly-static-site-generator-for-wikis-general-sites.24382/ > - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39216383 > >

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    I'm a novice so I chose the most novice-friendly option I could find - Squarespace. But I've had lots of problems with them, and they keep raising their prices, and they hide features like javascript code behind even higher prices. I learned about SSGs https://jamstack.org/generators, which create fast and secure sites that can be hosted for free on Netlify and other similar sites. The downside is they're limited to static content -- IE: you can't have a contact form without paying a 3rd party. I found a novice-friendly SSG theme for wikis/documentation -- [MKDocs Material](https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/) -- but I haven't been able to find anything for a regular business site. This seems to be one of the most popular **Jekyll** themes https://mmistakes.github.io/minimal-mistakes/about/ but it seems to be mainly for blogs and documentation, and doesn't seem to have all the design options that Squarespace does. I read that healthcare.gov used **Jekyll** https://medium.com/devseed/new-healthcare-gov-is-open-cms-free-41c25249cf38 in conjunction with https://prose.io. So I looked it up and found this https://github.com/CMSgov/HealthCare.gov-Styleguide which actually seems pretty decent; but also not complete enough. Their newer version https://github.com/CMSgov/design-system seems more complete/extensive, but also quite technical. It looks like it requires too much coding for me. **Weebly** seems to be a slightly cheaper alternative to Squarespace but it's missing some features and Square might end it in a few years. I've never used **Wordpress** but now that I've hosted a few websites I'm thinking about purchasing **Oxygen** https://oxygenbuilder.com/ and hosting a Wordpress site myself. Oxygen is like a more advanced version of Squarespace with a 1-time payment equal to 1 year of Squarespace. Then you just have the monthly costs of hosting the server, which should be $5-10 *(no idea how this scales with amount of traffic, do you?)*. There is a plugin/addon to export a static site, but it might not be worth the trouble. According to https://servebolt.com/articles/calculate-how-many-simultaneous-website-visitors/ a 2-core server ($5) with a webpage that takes 300ms to load can serve: - 400/minute - 24,000/hr - 288,000/12 hrs A lot of people use Wordpress, but also seem unsatisfied with it https://jamstack.org/survey/2022/#content-management-systems. The **Gutenberg editor** may be new since the last time I tried Wordpress https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/gutenberg-wordpress, and it looks pretty similar to Squarespace. So maybe I don't even need Oxygen. I looked up "Gutenberg vs Oxygen" and people were saying to go with Gutenberg. I've been considering **Grav** https://getgrav.org/ too, but similar to the SSGs, it doesn't seem to have all the design capabilities without coding them yourself. I've seen people say you can get **chat GPT** to write HTML code for you but I've never used it and it seems like it would be difficult to design a website that way. I looked for a video but only found one covering writing content, not code. I found out about **Hostinger Website Builder** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUjjGIfjh-4 which uses AI and looks very similar to Squarespace's builder. But there's no demo so I can't see exactly what it can do. But Hostinger is much cheaper than Squarespace, and you can choose to use Wordpress with it instead of the Hostinger builder. I checked **GreenGeeks** and they say *"We offer drag and drop website builders like **Weebly and SitePad**"*. Sitepad is $12/yr and makes static sites, but it looks like you need one of the popular GUI web panels to use it https://sitepad.com/docs/admin/supported-control-panels/. Similar to Weebly, it's also a bit more limited -- IE: you can't open a contact form in a lightbox from a button https://sitepad.com/docs/enduser/contact-form. A benefit of using **Hostinger or GreenGeeks** is probably that I don't have to worry about a surge in traffic causing my site to go down. That's why I'm thinking they're a better option vs self-hosting on a VPS. I found this video that seems quite good and covers more options I didn't know about: [Ultimate Website Builder Comparison 2024 | Find the BEST One for You + Why I Hated Squarespace](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW2nBnJDXGs) Anyone know of better places/forums to discuss this type of thing? There seems to be hundreds of thousands of people using the jamstack SSGs but I haven't found a place where people discuss them. I've tried: - https://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1909999 - https://community.centminmod.com/threads/cheaper-squarespace-alternative-novice-friendly-static-site-generator-for-wikis-general-sites.24382/ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39216383

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    detailed.com

    cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12715607 >"I didn’t notice a single new or low-post-count forum" > >"There Appears to Be No Benefit if a Forum is Hosted on a Subdomain or Which Software It Uses" The author lists many reasons why reddit should not be at the top of search results. I listed even more reasons here: [Reddit is dangerous. The admins are out of control. Humanity needs a viable alternative.](https://maximiliankohler.blogspot.com/2023/06/reddit-is-dangerous-humanity-needs-an-alternative.html)

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    "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearRE
    Reddit MaximilianKohler 8mo ago 100%
    The Discussion Forums Dominating 10,000 Product Review Search Results - Reddit's dominance and the downsides of that
    detailed.com

    >"I didn’t notice a single new or low-post-count forum" > >"There Appears to Be No Benefit if a Forum is Hosted on a Subdomain or Which Software It Uses" The author lists many reasons why reddit should not be at the top of search results. I listed even more reasons here: [Reddit is dangerous. The admins are out of control. Humanity needs a viable alternative.](https://maximiliankohler.blogspot.com/2023/06/reddit-is-dangerous-humanity-needs-an-alternative.html)

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    "Initials" by "Florian Körner", licensed under "CC0 1.0". / Remix of the original. - Created with dicebear.comInitialsFlorian Körnerhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearRE
    Reddit MaximilianKohler 9mo ago 64%
    Reddit is apparently a free-for-all for scammers and anyone with bad intentions to post libel.

    A group of scammers is retaliating against me for exposing them and the Reddit admins and legal department completely ignore it. I consulted with lawyers who told me that my only option is to spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to pursue each individual reddit account that's doing it.

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