Apple butter is an underrated condiment. I used to eat it on pancakes instead of syrup as a kid, and I put it in oatmeal and such as an adult. I don’t have it often nowadays, but there’s a place that produces it and other fruit butters nearby, and there’s occasionally some other brands in stores and roadside shops.

For those that haven’t had it, I guess imagine baked apples or an apple dumpling but reduced down so it is super concentrated into something spreadable.

You do a great job! It’s a lot of work to get something off the ground (and then to keep it there!) and while I may complain about it at times, I really like being a part of this with everyone!

You are actually the person here I look up to the most. You do so much for Lemmy, and some of the conversations here especially on Fedigrow have really helped me to appreciate what it is I’m doing, and dealing with feelings around being a content provider.

I’m always happy to see your name attached to things because I know they’ll be quality. You handle a lot of different roles here, and while some others may post even more volume somehow, of the mega posters of Lemmy, your stuff is the most in line with things I enjoy.

I can pretty positively say that, to me, you are one of the best things about Lemmy, and I didn’t think I’d be enjoying it the way I do if you weren’t a part of it. It makes me happy to feel you see the good in what I do, as giving myself credit is not something I do well.

So I keep being told! 😁

I really do like animals though, so the posting is the only real thing I wouldn’t do without Lemmy. The level of reading is a bit higher too since I’m the only one to answer questions active may have. Having one specific thing to focus on really helps me direct my energy.

I suppose you won’t see my reply if you’re removing all your accounts, but for the sake of anyone else reading, it’s perhaps worse because this is a more liberal platform, even if we’re not all of the same leftist groups. The increasing rise of ultra-conservative/nationalist/fascist leaders and policy will hit us harder than a more diverse group like Reddit.

While I don’t want to see gloating right wingers, it really leaves us with a lack of positive perspectives. That circles around sort of to my reason for making this post. I’m posting stuff almost purely to be positive and uplifting, and people respond really well to what I do. But then when it’s my turn, there’s no positive energy to recharge me… I feel like I’m the only one giving it. That in turn, turns up my feelings of responsiblity to you all, and leaves me even more drained some days. I don’t want to quit here or what I do here, but some days it’s tough to spend too much time here.

Quietly moving along has been the approach I’ve been doing. I try to keep in mind that I only really interact with them in a very brief sense every now and then, so I’m only getting the tiniest sliver of who they are when they interact with my posts. They’re their own people with their own thoughts, and since there’s no face-to-face interaction, I think I just project a bit too much personality on them sometimes.

I don’t think I’ve ever responded to any of them, because I enjoy the interactions they have with me that do pertain to me and what I am interested in sharing, That is a success that I have at that point, and the likeliness that I will change someone’s opinions on politics or whatnot isn’t very high, so it’s not worth it.

With some I’ve interacted with on a daily basis though, I guess I just wish they would always be smart and funny like they are in my space, which is almost purely positive, all the time. It’s unfair to expect them to be happy and rational though when they’re in a thread talking about things that make them mad though, It bothers me to see them get upset, even if we’re not friends in a traditional sense, I feel I’ve gotten to see them as good and happy people and I don’t like something making them be angry/upset/sad/etc.

I’m fine with people disagreeing with what I say though. I try not to throw around too much opinion and generally will have sources for things I share, so if they turn out to be wrong, I really do wish to know about it so I can be properly informed. I like to learn in general, so it’s important to be able to vet the facts I’m finding.

I saw my role in charge as to keep my people left alone as much as possible. I did the role for about 10 years before I was in charge, so I knew the job and what it took to get things done, and I knew the typical problems we had. I did what I could to get people what they needed to do their work with less disruption, I tried to even out some of the sexist pay discrepancy I saw, I reported people to HR for harassing my people, I got a nursing area set aside after the one had a baby, and I tried to keep the upper management from implementing idiotic changes whenever I could. I did my best to keep people from fighting with each other, and when I had to deal with somebody, I made sure I never criticized them in front of others.

One of the few times I did enjoy it was the one person I had to scold for something, and she started complaining why don’t I ever talk to so-and-so about what they do wrong, etc. I said, look around, we are in the most quiet part of the whole building. I’m not doing this to make you feel bad or embarrass you or anything, we just need to get whatever it is done. Everyone I need to talk to, I treat the same way, because I don’t get anything from making you guys feel dumb or mad or whatever it may be, we just have a set of goals we need to do.

I still filled in all the roles of the job, plus things only I could do, so nobody really ever had anything to come at me for. I looked at myself in the leader role as the head of the workers, not as one of the managers, because I honestly couldn’t stand the management there, as somewhat indicated by the unfair pay and sexual harassment mentioned earlier. I just wanted people to be left alone if they were doing what they were asked.

Did I impose my will? Sometimes, but we collaborated on most things to try to get a consensus on things that could be compromised on. I wanted us to get jobs done, not have people annoyed or fighting all the time. I left them a lot of freedom to find roles they were good at in the department, and we did a lot of experimentation to find ways to make things better.

I eventually got booted from that role and then booted from the company after 12 years because they tried to do shady stuff and I kept reporting people to HR. They fired me for not being a team player. I don’t miss them.

Ok, I think I’m starting to get why I’m enjoying talking with you. 😁

I am somewhat unique in that I am the main content provider of my community, but I am not a mod. I’m doing what I do because I wanted to see the community succeed and not die out. I didn’t know too much when I started posting. I shared a few photos I had taken on trips, and by the time I ran out, nobody was posting anything still.

Now I’ve read hundreds of hours of subject matter, talked to experts in person, traveled hours to see the things in person, spent money to get hands on time with the animals I talk about. I’ve got over 1200 posts I believe about owls now. But I’ve stressed since the beginning that I am not a mod, I’m not an expert, and I want to be corrected if I’m wrong because I’m doing it for a love of the animals and a love of knowledge and learning, and I feel a duty to the community for them being my audience to practice teaching what I’ve learned.

For most of my working career, I wanted to finally be in charge. I got the chance once and it was nothing like I had expected. I got less done than ever and most of the time was spent dealing with people’s bickering about pointless things. I felt less people listened to me or respected me than when I was just a regular employee.

I like to be efficient because I hate doing things I’m made to do any longer than necessary, but making money is sort of a requirement for survival. I find the best ways to get work done, and people end up gravitating to what I do, and if they want to learn my “tricks” I’m happy to teach them. I think it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to advance if they wish and are willing to put in the effort. But I don’t want or expect anything back. I’m happy to see them learn and grow.

I’m not concerned with being right or wrong, though of course I prefer to be correct when I talk. But if I make a mistake or misunderstand, I need to know about it so I don’t keep making the same mistakes. Tell me in a respectful way, and I will be grateful, and do the same for you. That’s how we all get better.

The things I love about learning is that the more I learn, the more I see I have to learn. I never want to stop wanting to know more, and that is self-gratifying and keeps me from worrying from outside praise.

If we have a revolution, I’ll want to lend my ability. To the lefties, to the MAGAs, to the anarchists, and to the unaffiliated. We’re just a bunch of know-nothings, and if we make it through a revolution, we’re going to need to live together. I don’t care much who you are or what you believe. I’m interested in your actions, in how you treat others and the world around you. Anyone can have “ideals” but what kind of life do you live?

I’ll have to check out AskUSA and see if there’s room for me to participate there. I also liked your video, though the comment section there looked about like what it would look like here. He summed up the Middle East situation very succinctly in much less time than I could have, and it was pretty impartial and reality based. There shouldn’t be anything in what he said to argue about, though it’s all absolutely open for reasonable debate. I think he’s stated things very respectfully and nothing was out of line. I don’t agree with it as a person, but his take in why we as a country are supporting what we are is totally plausible.

I wasn’t going to say anything here, because I’ve been trying to self promote less now that we’re a big enough group, but that so many upvoted this without any kind of promoting felt really nice.

Especially from someone like you who has stuck around a long time now without even being super interested in the subject matter tells me I’m doing something right.

I have a hard time thinking I ever accomplish much of anything important, but a number of you have said some really nice things the last week or so and it’s meant a lot to me. I try my best to show that appreciation back, and I hope I do that.

And I’ll always argue that even though I provide most of the posts, it wouldn’t be a fun place without all of you that do come and comment or just keep the place active and a generally good place to be. It encourages me to keep giving it my best efforts even if I’m not typically a super social person. You’re a really great group and I feel fortunate you share your time with me.

PS. Chicuahtli forever!

I’m always glad to see you all get enjoyment out of it. I’m glad I found a place where I can contribute something positive.

I feel you’re always trying and promoting new things, and you’ve supported the things I’ve tried to do for a long time. Whenever I see your name show up, I know it’s going to be something positive.

You do a good bit more than maybe people and you and the other people that regularly interact with my content keep me doing what I do.

I’ve been thinking lately how any revolution would even be possible. I grew up in the 80s with things like Red Dawn, but nowadays we have satellites, thermal imaging, photo recognition, license plate scanning, gps tagged personal communication devices, and every doorbell is part of a photographic spy network. The Wolverines wouldn’t last a weekend.

Again, I don’t want to crap on anyone’s ideas necessarily, I just don’t find too much of it useful to me outside of some unique case studies and philosophy. Which is fine is we’re intending to talk about that. But I’d rather the political subs be about what candidates we do like, what bills we can support, etc. Yes, we have deep institutional problems, like any country, but tell me what we can achieve. We’re all fallible people, and we’re not going to get some messiah candidate to just appear. All politics is compromise. I don’t need to love my dear leader, but I want to see them do more good than harm, which I feel is something that is still achievable.

Well, I thank you for your pretty rational to me opinions, but I don’t want to go on here forever. The initial post was about not alienating more people than necessary, and I try to limit my political preaching to stuff about the environment. Thank you for the conversation though. I’ve enjoyed it, and your post history is pretty calm and regular talk, so you seem like a legit decent person. I’m glad you are here.

I’ve been open to most of the ideologies, but nobody ever presents a practical way to implement them. No one is up for mundane things like general strikes or labor collectives, so it’s hard to convince me we’ll see a Communist resurgence or horizontal power structure implemented at large scale anytime soon. I’ve no objection to the ideas behind those things, but praising ideas on social media and taking power are very different levels of involvement. Even the successes of Communism or Anarchism don’t seem to have ever been that successful on a large scale or long term. I need something that is going to work in the near term, and if you have no idea, you shouldn’t be afraid to say so. Being disingenuous isn’t doing anyone any good. I want to be hopeful for the future too, but lies and pipe dreams aren’t going to achieve it. It’s not foolish to want those things, but without a roadmap to get there, it’s not going to just happen.

I’ve only ever seen you be très chouette! You do a lot of great community building and watching you do your thing still makes me happy!

We’d all probably prefer quick answers to our problems, and an authoritarian will offer that. I suppose it’s all well and good when an individual’s opinions and goals are in line with the authoritarian, but what about everyone else? My extended family largely believes things very much the opposite of what I do. They’re not what I’d consider bad people, I think they just got sold lies. In some type of civil war situation, we’d be on different sides, and why would I want that? I want them to learn and improve, not to die. You can have people wanting to make some type of utopian auth-left state like House from Fallout or Tony Stark in Age of Ultron, but when you turn over that much power and control to one person or a small group of people, what happens when your vision and theirs no longer line up?

I’ve given up on reading much of anything about Trump and Co, because they don’t keep their word and just do what they want anyway, so there isn’t much point to reading about what they’re “going to do” before they do it. The left media complains about it, but won’t say what they’re actually going to do about it, and I don’t see anyone promoting any new people to rally behind. What are they offering? I’m already mad at the alt-rights, so I don’t need more help being frustrated. I’m craving solutions, not more rage-bait.

I don’t feel the need to discuss the pros and cons of all things like if Nazis can be good or if climate change is real, but if people from differing stances want to discuss things while being receptive to other views, that’s the type of thing I can get behind. Nobody is going to work together starting at a place of extremism. But if we discuss the actual concern, the environment, racism, economics, social equality, immigration, what have you, we can understand each other, look for root causes of frustrations, and come up with realistic and implementable solutions. I just don’t feel that from hardly any source right now.

Though I don’t know if I’d absolutely put it how you did, there is an element of truth I think it’s hard to argue. This place was started by hard Left ideologues, and I learned quick that American far leftists aren’t near as far left as those from other places sometimes! I do feel rather centrist here compared to most places in my real life.

Everyone is fairly free here to speak their mind, whether that’s something brilliant, stupid, or somewhere in between.

I was very late to Reddit and avoided most of the drama there, but even though I don’t agree with much of the Lemmy founders’ political leanings, I do respect that they made this place viable and that the rest of us get to use it.

I also agree extremists to either direction start to look more alike the more extreme they go. The environment is one of my highest priorities, but things like eco extremism I can sympathize with, but I don’t want to see people killing each other to protect it either, and I don’t know how many laws I’d personally be willing to break to do it.

I did watch How to Blow Up a Pipeline today though, and I didn’t really feel bad about much anyone did in that… They specifically made sure they didn’t hurt anyone or the environment, though some characters debated if hurting people causing the problems was ok.

There are definitely threads I’ve seen where that would have been the only necessary response! 😂

This is very true. The majority of what I share can be appreciated at surface level, but the people that actually interact and participate I like to think are there to be open minded and to learn new things.

If I’m looking to teach people things, the audience will be coming from all different backgrounds and opinions, but my primary goal is to show them new things and to get them to think more critically about them. Even if I’m not in agreement with them on things at times, they are still taking time to show an interest in what I’m talking to them about. They deserve to be free to say what they want, but there’s no more obligation for me to have to agree with it than there is to listen to everything I have to say.

Good point about contextualizing. People are allowed to let off steam sometimes, and with only text to go by, people could be serious, but they could also just be working through frustrations.

We all have our share of bad takes, and I should only put so much weight into random things some relative strangers say. I delete a lot of posts before sharing because I decide I’m either edging into things I may not understand as much as I think, or that what I’m about to say may have me come off as confrontational. Different people just have different concepts of self control.

Happy new year!

December was a pretty good month overall for Superbowl. I should have checked subs before and after the Owl of the Year tournament, but there’s definitely a few new ones, and there’s a few people in the comments that weren’t there before.

I did some year end review items, like the top posts of the year and a list of posts I felt didn’t get as many looks as maybe they should have to try to encourage people to revisit content they may have missed.

My main goal for this year is to try and get more international content. I try to avoid being to America centric, but only speaking English limits me in finding things. I don’t know how to say my keywords like “raptor hospital” in every language, but I’m working on running various attempts at guessing what they may be on Google Translate and I am finding a few rescues around the world to try to bring in different perspectives about taking care of wildlife in all different locations with different species.

I already try to always list weights and measures in metric and imperial, and I’ve been taking feedback about things like names, as the owls don’t have the same names in different parts of the world, some users may know them under different names. I like when people chime in about when they have different names in their country as it lets us get an idea about what people there thought were good descriptions of the animals and we learn some about how other languages work.

I think it may bring in more people to the community, and even if not, we might learn more about each other anyway and I’m addition to feeling closer to animals we might never meet, we can also feel closer to the people from those places too and end up carrying a little more about them as well.