Welcome! Feel free to introduce yourself here in the c/main channel if you’d like.

  • milltertime_3227790@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    From Chicago. I made the plunge to Mastodon (and here) after the Reddit shenanigans and just seeing the repeated bad-faith policies by Twitter. I have been using redirector and libredirect for the last month or two to actively decide who I give my data to just as a fun experiment into best practices.

    I think it’s slowly starting to be clear that this type of setup will be the way forward for the more tech-savvy, privacy-focused users, and hopefully/eventually it hits the mainstream as well, but otherwise, it’s just self-selecting into the type of people I want to be around, which will probably be better for my mental health anyways.

    I’m into cycling, trading, sci-fi and FOSS. Currently reading The Expanse and taking a sabbatical year from work

    Edit: Just want to encourage people to engage w/ and create content over the next few weeks. Activity and friendly faces are probably the most determining factor in whether someone becomes an active user or just browses for a few minutes

    • HATEFISH@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      What kind of cycling? I’m in the market for a mountain bike at the moment but I’m hemming and hawing since the market seems shitty (and I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing)

    • FrancesTheMute@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      Thank you for your edit to your post. I agree, engagement is key. I never posted on read, just consumed. Your edit encouraged me to be different this time. I want lemmy to succeed and grow. Liking what I see so far!

      I have been meaning to get into the expanse. I’ve heard such great things about the show, and the books were often recommended on the various books subreddits when searching for sci-fi books. Will have to start that series.

  • Juice@midwest.social
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    6 months ago

    Good morning, midwestern Lemmites! Actually a Hexbear refugee, I got banned when they found out I organize with Trotskyists. Don’t worry though, my IRL organizing work creates enough personal irritation that I don’t need to harass people who disagree with me in order to get it. I’m just here cuz its a leftish space of localish people, who post memes and stories I can comment on. I like Music, art, videogames, tech, books (history, social theory, sci fi)…well I actually have too many hobbies and interests to list. Thanks for letting me in your little instance!

  • Saint_La_Croix_Crosse@midwest.social
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    5 months ago

    From a Wisconsin Exurb of the Twin Cities. I am an astronomer and instrumentation physicist, most of my day job is debugging software and electronics. But sometimes it is looking at galaxies and exoplanets. I am getting back into running after an injury and am currently reading about political economics.

  • Matt@midwest.social
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    11 months ago

    Greetings! My name is Matt and I live in Indianapolis. I’m migrating over from a single-user instance. You can also find me over at @leopardboy@netmonkey.xyz. Thanks!

  • nick@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    Hi everyone. I showed up here because I saw Seahorse at the Akron pride fest with his awesome flag, told some of my likeminded friends about it, and they found his post. I showed up to applaud him, and decided to just stick around.

    I used to use Reddit, with a very carefully curated list of subreddits, which I used replace my Twitter constant stimulation requirement. I had to ditch Reddit the day they killed Apollo and won’t be returning unless they reverse that decision.

    I’m happy to have found this place, it’s nice.

    I’m from Akron Ohio, work (remotely) in tech (job based in San Francisco), and do not like cops, landlords, or the ruling class really.

    I feel like I’d fit in here pretty well.

  • st3ph3n@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    Hi everyone, another Chicagolander here, this time from the western suburbs. I just moved over here from kbin.social, which has been broken quite a lot lately. Prior to that I was on reddit for an embarrassingly long time, bailing on it when the shit hit the fan last summer.

    I’m also on Mastodon where I post very infrequently - I prefer the link aggregator with comments style services such as Lemmy over microblog things.

    I’m a middle-aged immigrant dude who is into a lot of nerd shit like scifi, books, video games, electric vehicles, as well as photography and motorcycles. I also ride bicycles for fun and exercise when the weather doesn’t suck.

  • biovoid@midwest.social
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    11 months ago

    Hello, I’m void. Lifelong Michigander; catch me weekly dancing at R1 GLC. Other interests include free software, metal and industrial concerts, bio implants, and fermented foods—both homebrew and vegan goodies.

  • emptybamboo@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    Hi everyone!

    I live in Chicago on the North Side and work in higher education. Been in the city on and off for about 10 years with a gap in the middle when I lived in Asia. I came to Chicago for grad school and really liked the city and the Midwest more generally.

    I have been pretty active in the Fediverse for the past year on Mastodon, Pixelfed, and Bookwyrm and decided to give this a try! I’m also trying Kbin as well but really am not understanding the whole Threads + Microblogging. Feels kind of like a having a phone taped to a toaster. Am I the only one who feels that way?

    Any good, active communities you might recommend? Any tips to make the most out of Lemmy?

    I like reading a lot. I’m into fantasy, sci-fi, philosophy, and religion. I’m really interested in environment, ecology, and climate issues. Always looking for new things to explore in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

  • Thisiswritteningerman@midwest.social
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    3 months ago

    Hello 30 year old central Missourian. Had a Reddit and Imgur account, left Reddit at the last purge of subs and users. Have been using Imgur exclusively since then. Not quite the same, except for it also slowly getting worse as they monetize it. I enjoyed woodworking, blacksmithing, leatherworking, ren-faires (shocker given those previous two), and cooking. Past tense as I now have a 1 year old and there’s no time for anything besides work and parenting a baby/toddler with my spouse. Wasn’t planning to interact much, as agreeing to a popular opinion isn’t helpful and I don’t have time for arguing something pointless, however a post below reminded me that I should, as engagement does help grow this new platform. An attempt will be made.

    • Inevitable Waffles [Ohio]@midwest.social
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      3 months ago

      Hey! Welcome. I understand the first year struggle since I have one of my own. Glad you decided to join and engage. If you want, join us on the Matrix channel. We have a lot of great fun talking there. Also, take we have a fatherverse community that might be fun for you as we all recount things about parenting.

  • Manalith@midwest.social
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    9 months ago

    Hello all, I’m a network engineer currently living in Grand Forks, ND, but from Sioux Falls, SD, and planning to move to Minneapolis in a few months.

    I’ve been off Reddit since they killed 3rd party apps and figured I should finally replace it with something else.