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God help me, fediverse, we have got to stop being so pedantic.
In university, I got a degree in English. I expected lots of reading, lots of writing, and lots... https://anniemueller.com/posts/talk-about-the-thing-itself
@hl hey thanks for reading. I want to read that post!
@annie sorry if this is being pedantic but you could have just said,
(REWARD - COST) - (VALUE - PAIN) > 0 for action to occur
In plain English,
action will occur when the net benefit of change (Reward minus Cost) exceeds the net benefit of staying (Current Value minus Pain)
@alxtrnr hey mate, I'm normally not in the business of jumping into an unrelated pedantic comment... But given the context of the piece (not being pedantic), the fact that you clearly read at some decent depth, and I assume commented with good intentions (you seem like a nice fellow from your profile) I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve by commenting on rearranging the "formula".
So there’s a formula (don’t @ me, I’m not a mathematician) that’s something like:
If VALUE - PAIN > REWARD - COST
She said both those things (emphasis mine) and communicated them very clearly "in plain English" already. Your comment neither added clarity nor invited further discussion. I'm sure this wasn't your intent but your comment comes off as mansplaining (to me, not speaking for anyone else). I would have loved to hear what you thought about the piece, any personal experience of how your conversations have gone, what other things might help people join and have a good experience, etc.
I'm not @'ing you to start an argument but genuinely providing external perspective so our little corner of the world is welcoming to everyone sharing their thoughts.
My intent is to be direct but kind, please let me know if I could do that better.
@alxtrnr cheers, no upset taken!
Have you had good experiences with bringing others onboard? Any analogies you find work particularly well?
I have had limited success in saying "it's just like email, you don't all have to have gmail addresses" but it falls short by leaving doubt you have to contact people individually or send a group email (honestly posting to followers only is a BCC group email, no dreaded reply all 
).
@shom @annie None at all but that would be down to never once having tried. Closest was having friends and family start using Signal and ProtonMail.
I just spoke about wanting to stay in touch, and explained why I would not use Google or anything Zuckerberg was involved in to do so. I did not try to convert anyone.
@shom @annie Tongue firmly in cheek...
S = Social capital (friends, connections, content)
P = Privacy benefit
L = Learning curve cost
C = Convenience loss
F = Functionality difference
Basic Conditions Preventing Switch
S > P (Social value exceeds privacy gains)
L + C > P (Transition costs exceed benefits)
F < 0 (Loss of functionality)
Combined Decision Formula
Let M = Decision to migrate platforms
where M = 1 means "switch platforms" and M = 0 means "stay"
@alxtrnr @shom@gts.shom.dev Well this was a lovely reply thread all the way through. I've interacted with @alxtrnr often enough to read his initial comment as irony (and I chuckled). @shom@fosstodon.org I really appreciate your kind and gentle calling out and providing a good perspective for consideration. CHEERS TO YOU BOTH. This is the kind of thing that makes me love the fediverse so very, very much.
@annie @shom@gts.shom.dev @shom@fosstodon.org Woo yay! Drinks all round.
@alxtrnr @annie cheers to all. Thank you for taking my comment in the spirit intended. Unfortunately there are a lot of commenters that are reply-guying/sea-lioning/what-abouting and I've taken to voicing instead of silent majoritying to make people feel more supported and welcome.
I promise I'm not devoid of humor, please see my receipts of internationally verbifying nouns while replying to an English major.
@annie I was venting to my partner about this the other day, my frustrations about people sticking around on platforms hosted by what I perceive as basically fascists, and how they're part of the problem. And she said broadly the same thing. If you want people to do something else, you don't motivate them by telling them how awful what they are doing is. You motivate them by telling them what you enjoy about the alternatives.
@bammerlaan Yes... I think what that approach does is pile on shame, makes people feel inferior. Then even if they reach a point where they're curious/ready, they have this additional resistance of feeling that way to overcome.
Shame is such a powerful social tool and sometimes imo it's an appropriate tool to use but typically not, I think, in this case.
@annie terrific piece! At first I wasn’t sure where you were going and thought it might be about genAI/LLMs, when I read “The magical thing…” part. Loved the direction it took but still feel like there might be a connection to ai
@dgodon Hm that's interesting, I'll have a think about that. Do you mean in the sense that AI is not "the thing itself" of writing (or any creative act) -- but is being used as if it could replace human creativity (with such sad sloppy results)?
@annie Yeah something like that. Your point about writing being human communication. And also the structure existing to support the thing itself, whereas AI mimics the structure, but has no notion of the thing itself. And is therefore not communicating any thing.
Not a totally formed point, but it's what came up when I read that paragraph.
@annie gold!
same thing happened on bluesky and nostr i guess, maybe a nice to have this guide while getting started.
i wonder why it's not obvious to frame things based on what's meaningful to the other
@rosano @annie maybe discussing whether a statement is formed correctly, with all proper references and important margarine words and structure ... Kind of provides an emotional safe space where the object of discussion remains solidly outside subjectivity and own agency, so that one can become unmoved and hold a position in a chaotic world? Being interested and disinterested at the same time? I don't know what I am talking about obviously but what annie describes resonates a lot :) Thanks!
@annie guilty as charged about being too tech-oriented. Will try to improve...
@annie Ah, this title is so universal. One minute, I was thinking about how often replies in random threads talk about structure and specifics diverging from the thing itself, the emotion put behind it by the author. Another, and it actually brings up the problem of nerd talk around fediverse. I guess, for one's an article of their own! 
@annie OMgod, thank you