To clarify; I have not yet sprayed anything into the dial mechanism.

This used to be a light switch, but my son kept leaving it on. So I swapped it out for one of these dials about 2 years ago. Now it seems to be getting stuck around the 10-min mark and being left on all day.

I'd prefer not to replace this dial again; the house is old and the wiring in that receptacle was already pretty hard to work with. But I mean I'm not going to burn my house down in an effort to save myself 10 minutes and $10.

Is it safe to use a silicone based spray on it?

I couldn't figure out how to message the mods (or even individual users) on my app. A space to discuss the survey and your post would be nice.

Edit: Got mod approval to keep this up

There's a specific comment I'm trying to reply to in the lemmy.world/c/games community, agreeing with how much I love a game they mentioned. But after drafting the message, on mobile it just acts like I haven't pressed the button. On desktop, there's and endless loading circle.

I tried posting the comment before bed, and again this morning, same issue.

I was able to make a top-level comment in another post.

I did post something controversial so maybe they blocked me (although it doesn't look like they commented on my controversial post). But I don't even know if that limits replies.

The only other thing I can think of is they're a kbin.social user.

Does any of this explain why I can't reply? If they did block me, would I expect to see some sort of error message? Or should I expect the endless loading circle?

Hey guys. I admittedly am mostly a layman to the Fediverse as a concept. So I am coming into this post with the knowledge that I don't understand the technical intricacies of it.

I fully expect that Meta will act in as bad of faith as possible, that is something that I think we all agree on. But from what I understand about the Fediverse, I'm just having a hard time understanding how we would not be shooting ourselves in the foot unless we at least try to federate with Threads.

I am aware of Embrace, Extend and Extinguish.

Here are my understandings of the goals as a non-corporate fediverse:

1. We love decentralization
2. We love privacy
3. We love self-reliance
4. We would love to see the non-corporate federation grow

With those understandings, here are my questions:

Doesn't the fediverse have an inherent protection and/or immunity from corporate take-over?

As I mention above, I am aware of Embrace, Extend and Extinguish. But, how is that a risk for the Fediverse?

QOL features, and gimmicky capabilities can be replicated.

The only thing we may not directly be capable of are 1st party Meta acct/apps integrations.

Aren't we protected?

Threads requires effectively all personal data from its users. But only their users. We are not forfeiting any personal data by federating with Threads; we are isolated to, and protected by, our individual instances.

Is there anything currently stopping Meta from scraping the Fediverse for our content?

If even anonymized privacy is a concern, why do we think that defederating will protect us? We're all posting our content on private servers which are wide-open to the public.

Won't we grow & educate?

If we keep corporate instances in the federation, isn't is safe to assume that the non-corporate instance will grow massively? Connecting with Threads and others will allow us to proselytize the benefits of moving off of threads, and improving their digital wellbeing. If we are not connected, they will largely remain oblivious to us.

EDIT: I think this is a benefit because the people who want off of Threads and into the Fediverse are the people who strive for Freedom. This atricle claims the fediverse is not looking for growth, but we do want it to grow with people who agree with its goals, right?

Aren't we worried we're forcing an ultimatum while the Fediverse is still in its infancy?

If we disconnect now, we are telling everyone "choose the shiny new Threads, or the clunky up-and-coming Fediverse". This affects prospective users, and existing users.

What's the harm in pulling the ripcord if we try it, and it's truly not a good fit?

If we pull the ripcord now, we allow Threads to grow in their walled garden.

If we pull the ripcord later, we make an informed decision.

If we never pull the ripcord, we allow Threads to pull the ripcord if they ever so choose. That encloses them into their walled garden, which is exactly where they'd be if WE pull the ripcord now.

"What about an influx of low-quality content?"

This is a whataboutism I've heard. What's stopping individuals from blocking their disliked communities?

"What if Meta doesn't moderate well?"

This is another whataboutism I've heard. I personally think that Meta has a vested interest to moderate Threads enough to stay out of the news. As a publicly traded company, it's in their best interest to not scare off their advertisers and shareholders.

If some low-quality moderation does persist though, we still have the ability to block users & communities.

Thanks for taking the time to answer any of these. I will likely have follow-ups, and if/when I do please understand I am asking them in a good-faith effort to try and clarify/understand.

Sorting Type

On lemmy.world at the very least, posts are sorted by default to "Active". Active will decay posts based on the popularity of its most recent comments. This keeps the most discussed topic on the front of the page, and they'll stay there until people stop talking about it. This also makes it possible that a "dead" thread can get revived if enough people newly discover it & comment on it. This is a very valuable feature, but for us content junkies it may not be your desired default.

Switching to "Hot" will decay posts based only on their age & popularity (not their comment's age & popularity). When filtered to "Hot", you will see a lot newer, less-popular (but more current) content. The decay doesn't seem to be tuned to how a lot of us may be used to - it's more of a "Rising" than our typical "Hot" - but nevertheless it at least gives a constant stream of semi-popular new content.

Sorting Scope

On lemmy.world at the very least, posts are filtered by default to "Local", which only contains communities created on lemmy.world.

If you switch your default to "All", you will open up your content stream to everything within the fediverse. Warning: this does include NSFW content & communities (but if you are OK blanketly removing NSFW content, you can disable it in your settings)

If you are having trouble grasping the concept of "Local", "All", "Instances", "Fediverse", etc, if you have any experience playing an MMO, there's an analogy that may help connect some of the dots;

• Lemmy Federation = MMO Server Regions (a cluster of servers connected to each other)
• Lemmy Instances = MMO Servers/Realms (a place where each account and its content is saved on the same physical hardware)
• Lemmy Community = MMO Guild (a group of individuals with similar interests)

Searching on "All" is akin to playing an MMO with cross-realm/server features enabled.

Sources:

• https://join-lemmy.org/docs/users/03-votes-and-ranking.html
• https://join-lemmy.org/docs/contributors/07-ranking-algo.html