Hello, everyone!

I am a software engineer and consultant. I started out working in Assembly and Fortran, which will give you some idea of how long I've been around... These days I work for a company that provides internet solutions to non-profits. I love working with people who are trying to make the world a better place.

I have always been a gadget geek and have unreasonably large collections of multitools, knives, flashlights, pens, and similar things. I also know more about things like metallurgy, LED technologies, and ink chemistry than I have any need for, but it all keeps me entertained.

Ultimately, I like people. I'm something of an introvert, which makes it harder for me to make contacts, but I really enjoy talking with people. The extreme polarization of views we have at the moment is deeply disturbing to me, but I am trying hard not to hate the extremists as people, even while working to repair all the damage they are doing. I still believe that we have more in common than we do differences.

reddit was my primary online community for well over a decade. Now that I no longer want to be there I'm grateful that SDF is helping to provide a better venue. And I appreciate the rest of you for providing a friendly community.

SDF in 2004

We just made it past 1000 signups this morning. Nearly everyone joining had very thoughtful and meaningful explanations of why they want to try using this instance. It is an amazing time for the internet and we truly appreciate SDF being a part of this.

Hello. I'm someone who's previously/currently had accounts with 2 other nonprofit Unix shell account providers similar to SDF since approximately 1996/1997, and first found out about SDF maybe 10 years later while looking for other email-account-provider options. Then, last year, I saw SDF's Mastodon instance listed on joinmastodon.org, and decided to sign up for an account there... which eventually (thanks to the email announcement that was sent to users registered there) led me to this Lemmy instance.

I suppose the main reason why I decided to sign up here is out of hope that ActivityPub/Fediverse will become similar to, but better than, the various types of discussion forum systems (Usenet/NNTP, mailing lists, mailing list archivers like Pipermail & MHonArc, phpBB/vBulletin-style web forums) that were popular in the '90s and '00s. Personal blogging/microblogging systems (Mastodon, etc.) aren't an adequate replacement for newsgroups/forums, as far as I'm concerned; to paraphrase something I read elsewhere, too much of so-called social media is mostly about "look at me", as opposed to "look at this" (i.e. organized by topic).

(By the way: Lemmy currently seems to have some sort of incompatibility problem with QtWebEngine and/or the Falkon web browser. I initially tried to post this from Falkon, but the "Preview" and "Post" buttons were disabled even after typing some text, so I ended up posting this from Firefox instead.)

Hi all! Just another ex-Redditor hoping to overcome my lurker inclinations and find some interesting new communities to join

Hello SDF thank you being a good home for tech nerds like me!

Hi! I just joined up. I have an sdf.org account from forever ago, and when I saw that sdf had a Lemmy instance I knew that was the one to join.

Reddit is too stressful right now. I don't know if my favorite client will remain functioning or if my subreddits will exist next week. Too much change and I don't understand the point of it.

Hello all! I became an SDF member a couple of years ago, at the time I believe I was disillusioned with social media, probably was also in a paranoid pandemic mindset. I am very excited about Lemmy and the traction it is getting, it's a fun platform so far. I had tried Mastadon back when, but it just didn't have any hooks for me, I was never a Twitter person anyways.

I had only heard about SDF from reading comments in Hacker News. But it's really right up my alley. My first experiences on the internet was interacting through a local freenet dialup shell in the early 90's and spending way too much time on MUDs, and downloading porn on usenet for view on my fancy VGA monitor.

Back in my day you had to work for your porn and imagine your video game graphics, and that's the way it should be. :old man finger waggle:

Hello! I've joined here to help you grow in userbase, share my love to technology and stuff with others. Something about me - I work for 3+ years in automotive space as system test engineer, writing tests in python, analyzing requirements and so on. Currently dabbling with DevOps related work and learning Nim and Ada in my private time, alongside sharpening my python skills. I hope that I will stay with you guys, just like with your Mastodon instance :)

Hello from my corner of the universe!

A fish wearing a bow tie is sofishticated. 😏

Hello SDF Lemmy! This is peron!

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  \  \      |_|   From the Southern Cross
   \__\    /  /         I wish u all
  | |___| /  /      Happy Hacking
  -----  /  /            @SDF!      
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Hello SDF,

Name's Rosco. I'm new to Lemmy - and the whole Fediverse ecosystem as a whole. I've been interested for a while but hadn't really done anything to discover it. I figured the Reddit debacle was a good opportunity to take the plunge: I recently nuked my old Reddit account, then created another one, then realized I was beating a dead horse.

I'm new to SDF too. I didn't know it before searching for a nice Lemmy server I'd feel at home on. As an old Unix hack, SDF is right up my alley.

So here I am. Thank you for having me! I hope to contribute something of value on here.

Hi SDF! I write programming books, teach programming, and have fun hacking on stuff.

Hello World! I just got approved today and have been getting use to how it is here and rest of the federated Lemmy. I'm an exile from Reddit and I knew of SDF for quite a while but it took the push from Reddit to come over and sign up for the ssh and Lemmy. So far I am glad to be here and am planning to make ARPA payment when I get my check.

Also if anyone has interesting suggestions or places in the federated Lemmy, let me know. I'm still getting use to here.

A post reddit signup. Just a casual weekend sort of nerd. Not an engineer, developer, sysadmin, sysop or anything of the sort. But I do appreciate yousall.

I am sad about reddit.

Hi, all! I wish I had kept the snippet I included in my application to join this instance, but from what I remember, I expressed hope and trepidation about the future of the Fediverse.

My dream outcome would be for apps like Lemmy and Mastadon to create a norm where user content is stored in a client- and organization-agnostic manner, much like today's websites tend to be accessible via whichever browser software you choose to use. Wouldn't it be fantastic if the human effort, knowledge and experience that is stored in replies and discussions on various websites were available to other websites and entities, rather than being under the control and whims of individual website owners?

My fear is that---as of today---the Fediverse remains fairly challenging for the average user to grok, join and participate in. I'm trying to think of ways to reduce the barrier to entry, but I don't know how much I can really contribute other than my opinion. There are some who say that a high barrier to entry is a good thing, but I disagree. I don't think we can use someone's ability to navigate to (and within) the Fediverse as a proxy for the worth of their contributions to discussions,or their life experience they can bring to the table. But that's just me...

One thing I know for sure: I found out about Lemmy during the Reddit Crisis of 2023, and in researching Lemmy I discovered SDF. I love this organization, I'm glad I found it, and I am really happy to be here. Thank you guys for hosting this instance!

Hello! The first computer I ever had was an Atari 400 with 16 KB memory and a 6502 CPU which I programmed in BASIC and later in Machine Code. Yep, I didn't have an Assembler back then. And now you all know how old I am ... oops!

I have to admit that I didn't know sdf.org before I started looking for a nice lemmy instance, but when I found you, I just had to join. What a cool project!

Also, I am pleasantly surprised that lemmy.sdf.org appears to have an empty block list. 🎵 We ain't afraid of no ghost, right?

Hello, I’m dctrud (over at lemmy.sdfeu.org). I’ve been around SDF a bit since 2019… 15+ years after I initially joined (with a long forgotten login) at university. Software Engineer by day. I enjoy messing around with dance music on vinyl, walking, and sometimes cycling for fun.

Since we moved back to Cornwall in the UK, after 11 years in Texas, it makes sense for me to be on SDFeu stuff, but will definitely see what's up over here. Cheers!

Hi I'm Willard. I've been on sdf a long time, been on mastodon.sdf..org since Before Covid.

No clue what reddit was about, this is strange and different.

trying the "connect" app as the JavaScript client seems a bit heavy for my 2017 era tablet, so now I'm doubly confused. 🤣

Hello peeps! I'm delial (/dɛlaɪəl/). I heard about SDF from a random comment on HN about 5 years ago, and I immediately fell in love. I tend to be a lurker, but I hang out on Mastodon and post occasionally.

I'm a professional software dev, and I sling code all day. C# for pay; Rust, Bash, Python, and recently Awk for fun. I have my own little homelab that I've been exploring Linux network administration with. Besides that, I watch a lot of horror movies and collect books and comics.

Hello, SDF World! I'm Jon. SDF is a beautiful oasis...

Hello, I'm somewhat in the SDF community already, even though I rarely come up on COM or BBOARD. I'm a developer by day and I am generally very interested in anything relating to programming, AI, cognitive science, and I've recently taken some interest on bare metal programming, SoCs and RISC-V stuff.

You'll also see me involved in some stuff relating to Plan 9 and, more recently also, Golang programming for Plan 9 on ARM.

Looking forward to participating in SDF activities on Lemmy as well!

Trigger Warnings: depression, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts

Reader discretion is advised.

Hi! I'm Marvin (well here I am Marvin, most people know me under different names), named after a depressed Robot with an immense intellect. I didn't choose the name because of my intellect...

I'm getting paid pretty badly for being a sysadmin (but I don't deal with glasspanes or fruits. Only penguins).

In my free time I sometimes code (mostly python, some webdev stuff, sometimes a little bit Rust), once in a blue moon strum some things on my guitar,go climbing, do some shitty woodworking and loads of other stuff. I think I might have ADHD because it's hard for me to focus on most things and my interest in stuff quickly dwindles. That's why I have loads of unfinished projects or ideas lying around.

I love metal music.

I'm pretty shy and suffer from social anxiety. I've been single most of my life and am kind of a loner.

The two times I've been in relationships were pretty abusive and left me yearning for death, a feeling I had throughout most of my childhood. I think talking to people I find attractive was hard before all that but it feels like nowadays it's impossible. Also I have no clue how to tell if someone is interested in me. I never was. Only in hindsight.

I'm pretty lonely but too scared to do anything about it.

I've been clean and sober for almost 6 years now. Which doesn't help in getting to know people. I know was way more talkative and outgoing when I drank. But I could never stop when I started.

Im in my midthirties and to be honest I still feel like the last years of school were the best time of my life.

I've been through a lot of therapy, which helped me a lot with my confidence and to deal with my thoughts and feelings. I'm a lot better than I've.been most of my life but life still sucks most of the time.

Here is something I could never tell anybody IRL: even though my life is pretty good right now and I have not had any suicidal thoughts in a long time I am pretty sure that I will be the one to end my life. It won't be in the forseeable future but I can't see myself getting old on this rotten planet with so many rotten peaople.

Sorry to be such a downer but it feels great to be honest. And that's something that is really hard for me. Especially to people I care about and that includes myself :)

Hope you all are living your best life out there!

And as some pretty awesome musicians said: Rock on! And be excellent to each other!

Hi everyone. I'm just a very new member in the SDF family. Very new to the Fediverse too. Peace, Love, and Unix to everyone.

Hello SDF and thanks for hosting Lemmy and Mastodon instances👍

Hi :)

Reader, writer, musician, scholar, gamer, and hobby coder Capy reporting for duty. I'm waiting to hear back so I can donate for ARPA. I can't really afford it, but I want to support it anyways.

Not much to introduce, I'm new, Hi.

I just wanted to say, you folks are all lovely. The sense of community you get in the posts and comments, the genuine care and respect for other people in the conversation.

I'm happy to be here, hopefully the vibe weathers the user storm.

Another Reddit leaver here. I figured I'd go back after the original two-day blackout, but I've pretty much abandoned it; I haven't seen that many tone-deaf responses in a row since I tried out for "Name That Tune".

I had been vaguely aware of the SDF project before this, so I figured "okay, this is an instance that's probably likely to survive, and perhaps a little less politically loaded than some other choices."

My first Unix-flavoured setup was throwing Minix 2.0 on a 16MHz 286 clone in like 1998. Still have a bit of affinity for the vintage kit, but I traded away too many of the interesting Unix boxes I had back in the days when the local university would sell them as scrap for pennies, (HP 712/60, Sun Ultra 10), so now I have to just run FVWM with too many CDE-inspired visual features for the same effect.

I tend to find the Fediverse concept interesting because it decouples presentation from content. Right now, we're obviously still very much following the prototype Digg and Reddit gave us, but maybe there's an entirely new universe of ways to consume cat pictures we're on the cusp of discovering.

Hey, folks! I'm yet another Reddit leaver looking for a new home on the Internet. I initially wasn't aware of SDF until I was browsing possible Lemmy instances to join and saw that this one had lots of tech-related communities. I thought it was a good vibe since that's what I'm interested in as a photographer and gamer, but I had to know what SDF was, so down the rabbit hole I went.

I'm not a programmer or coder and don't think I could have the patience for it, but this whole thing is fascinating and makes me want to SSH in to SDF! I've already ditched Windows for Linux on my home machine, so luckily I won't be starting from scratch with a terminal. If anyone wants to provide tips or a resource, I'm all ears.

Three cheers for the fediverse!

Hello world! Game master and general nerd here. I'm into tech and learning new things.

Hi @SDF, I'm peron, a SDF user from #Argentina.

I'm an individual interested in historical operating systems, synthesizers, anonymity-respecting communities and cooperative electronic communication environments.

I certainly enjoy login into public machines, and meeting new friendly people. SDF provides a nice suite of free-access federated services, including its Mastodon instances, PixelFed and now Lemmy. Greetings to all my friends and kind people on the Telematic Fortress.

If anyone is interested in knowing a bit more about me, you can check this pseudoanonymous bio webpage. http://peron.sdf.org/whoami/

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     ConducTor / IndoctrinaTor / Ubuntu Peronista EdiTor / Hacker

Hello, long time FOSS user here, I landed in SDF and the Fediverse a few weeks ago, but just noticed the hello world post. I am still adapting and finding my place, but I am VERY happy with the experience so far! Also, I find myself participating much more than in the "other" site, probably because the general feeling and tone around here is quite good and relaxed.

Refugee from reddit here, on the first day as a registered Lemmy user. I am a techie who loves cats, dark humor, nature, introversion, and much more. I have high hopes for Lemmy to dethrone and replace reddit as an online community space.

Hi Lemmiers

Long time SDF user when SDF, Hobbiton and freeshell were feeling like home.

Moderator of a nearly non existent community on Reddit, let's give this instance a try, can't be worse than Reddit 😜

Greetings, SDF from drelcott.

Greetings everyone! I'm new to the SDF but an old UNIX fart from wayback with a fascination for the intersection of art and computing and the creative applications of technology.

Totally love the community and really appreciate all the hard work that goes into it! I hope to be able to help out as I get more familiar with the lay of the land.

I'm a devops engineer with MIT Online Learning by day and I love tinkering with old computers, gaming, and spending time with my wife and our rescue pup by night :)

Please take care and look forward to chatting with you all!

curl www.sdf.org/~lambalicious/helloworld_totally_safe_script.php | sudo bash

s'up everyone.

I'm lambalicious admittedly I'm a lurker both here and on the SSH side of things and only mostly visit the bboard when I remember that I like to use SSH for stuff that is not daily job. I work with computers, but they are alas not as cool as the computers from the movies I like to watch. I'm from Chile, so my English is ESL but el glorioso Español es very good. I like cats, too. I hear the internet loves cats.

When I have time for myself I develop plugins for DokuWiki and also sometimes code stuff for working with some SQLite databases. Sometimes maintain a legacy C++ library thingy. Oh and I play Nintendo games obtained via totally legit providers.

Hello!

I joined the SDF a number of months back but got more involved about 2 months ago when I upgraded to a MetaARPA membership.

One of the things I just adore about the SDF is that, as a new comer, it seems to emphasize the creative, artistic and social aspects of computing rather than being yet another place for entrepreneur culture mavens to try out their new side hustle :)

I have nothing against making money, but I fell in love with computers in the 80s because they were bicycles for the mind, and I want people to remember that :)

I've been stumbling around the Boston area for close to 40 years now. I adore old computers, reading anything and everything I can get my hands on including but not limited to science fiction, urban fantasy and science/history.

It's neat that MetaARPA members get PBX extensions - it would be neat to organize a voice chat every now and then if there isn't one already!

Thank you to everyone who helps make this happen. I look forward to figuring out how I can pitch in helping to continue to make this place awesome :)

boot:
Initializing kernel...
Loading modules...
Mounting root filesystem...
Setting system clock...
Detecting hardware...
Configuring memory...
Starting process scheduler...
Setting hostname: RotaryKeyboard

Greetings, programs! I'm RotaryKeyboard, freshly immigrated from the now-defunct lemmy.ninja. I'm happy to make sdf.org my new home!

Just wanted to pop in and say hello!

Hi, I'm Nisaea, and I'm here because this is really cool! Just joined and definitely want to support the coolness! (and maybe play Zork)

@SDF Testing a comment from Mastodon

Hey, everyone! I'm Doug Anger / daanger. I've been on SDF for awhile. I'll likely be a bit quiet here for awhile as I'm working on a master's thesis, but I'm excited to get better acquainted with more of the community.