Seaside2

The broken links and weirdly unfinished stuff does sound like a hallucinating genAI output...

I haven't dug into genAI code generation at all, nor have I had to read any, so I can't say from my experience *but* from what I've been reading about it on Fedi, programmers have had a hard time telling "genAI garbage" from "human-made garbage" and combing through genAI-generated code that has been submitted to them has been a huge cognitive load.

Maybe it can be easier if the task is "tell if this is genAI or not" vs "this patch got submitted and I need to figure out how to fix it"

OH GOSH! So I haven't watched Serial Experiments Lain yet, and it's been on my "to watch" list for.... far too long (totally not decades ;>_>)

I will definitely have to watch it now.

What I do know about Lain is that it also has a VERY obscure programming reference Lisp nerd love to get excited about--the scene where a character uses a PDA like device and is programming something in Common Lisp. (I had a false memory this was supposed to be an Apple Newton in the show, but I just confirmed it was a custom in-universe device. I'm guessing then the discussion I read at the time was suppositioning this is likely a *reference* to the Apple Newton which used a Lisp-dialect for programming).

I didn't allude to it in this post when I made it here and elsewhere, but I've been trying to wrangle this feeling I've been having around UX and computing lately and been trying to confirm and research it.

A Diinki video I watched finally hit the nail on the head for me, where they talk about retro computing devices being more free and experimental as a "norm" hadn't been settled on yet.

And I think that's what I miss--I feel like most Anime and other media I watch, especially in modern/current day settings, have been more often showing a UX that more resembles what we have now (Windows/Mac/iOS/Android/etc).

It's kinda instilling 2 desires in me

1. Go back to using really weird and really custom Linux Windowing environments, and this time get really *weird* with it
2. ...start researching depictions of computing interfaces in media and doing an essay about it :sweat:

But as much as I'm *convinced* this is a thing....I couldn't recall more than those two examples??? I need some more places to start (and search on the internet is garbage these days, so gotta do things the old fashioned way *rolls up sleeves* )

Edit: and OH YEAH, seeing Picotron is *not helping* I'm really tempted to buy it and start messing around with it

Okay I will say looking at his YouTube channel he loves to use genAI imagery which annoys me...but I'm willing to forgive it for now if there's no AI focus on the platform itself.

EDIT: Ugh, okay but the site explaining Valour is also so unfinished. I tried clicking on all of the links in the footer and some flat out don't lead anywhere. The documentation link even loads a page that goes no where. Now I have to wonder if the site was made with AI, and if that means so is the platform. It's open source so someone with coding knowledge should be able to tell, at least.

Okay well I just took the time to watch the video of the guy who started it and honestly I'm sold. He seems solid, the way he talks is logical, he seems kind, he knows what he wants, he has a community he's running on it. I don't see any reason not to at least try it. And I'm very excited by the kinds of things it's capable of doing. I think it could be a worthwhile addition to the forums as a community space, at least.

I made an account and didn't even set up a site, LOL! I'll probably have time next week, though. I need to manage my time better between all my projects...hmm...

Ironically I remembered the one from Serial Experiments Lain but it was so strangely advanced... And I don't recall the show actually showing much of the UI, either. Now I have to think about it...

Been thinking wistfully of anime/media where depictions of computing interfaces were more speculative and more...free? Less bound by established norms around UX/UI and design philosophies and taste and who were not just trying to reproduce something familiar.

Thinking things like dotHack's ALTIMIT OS or SE's PlayOnline interface for FFXI (haha yes this one was real, but still).

But also, does anyone have others that stick out to them?

Someone I follow has been highlighting Movim lately.

Basically, as far as I can tell, it's a Discord-like interface for XMPP (aka Jabber, aka the open-protocol and federated instant messaging protocol from back in the google talk days).

Which, being federated and XMPP-based, means you wouldn't be tied to Mov.im if it happened to go poof (and because federated, the load would be distributed amongst the different instances).

I've been curious but hesitant. The upside is it's something we could use right-now/soon that could be GoodEnough, but the problem with XMPP is it doesn't have strong end-to-end encryption (E2EE), and the way the protocol is designed we can expect it to never happen.

The discourse right now is *how* much do we need E2EE? And I'm hesitating because I agree we should really have it, but also everyone seems to be doing it wrong and we're floundering waiting for "perfect" when I think we just need "good enough"

...but I think I convinced myself we need something, so maybe I'll stand up an XMPP server some point soon? :3c

I'm curious how it's going! I recall you mentioning it was getting overloaded with new users, and wonder if that's stabilizing out?

HI IT'S BEEN A WHILE, I burnt out on trying to write up a full summary of the setting and its locations, but I still have the WIP document open so it'll happen eventually.
There's been some development! I might actually get to start running a game in this world soon! I have a couple of players making characters, and those characters have informed parts of the setting I haven't given a great deal of thought as yet. It's also given me an excuse to write up some new Gifts, as every character should start play with a unique Personal Gift.