walden

I'm on my computer now, so I'll type out some more detail if you're interested. To reiterate, I'm just going off memory and it was two weeks ago so I could very well be making stuff up...

The pre-filled input box asked for each blocked instance to go on a new line, so:

lemmy.world  
lemmy.ml  
lemmygrad.ml  
hexbear.net  
lemmy.zip  
piefed.social  
etc...  

I deleted all of the defaults and that was it. I'll put a screenshot of the settings page that's available to admins below:

August 29th, 2025

• Brush: Wolf Whiskers - "Gianmaria" w/Maggard 26mm Synthetic
• Razor: Gold Dollar Straight Razor (9)
• Lather: Wholly Kaw - Cuero Oscuro - Soap
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts - Incorporeal - Toner
• Post Shave: Dove - Men+Care Ultra-Hydra - Cream
• Fragrance: Fanzine Saponifications - Caravaggio - EdP

I haven't used this soap sample in a really long time. It's old and getting hard, but I was able to spread it around on the inside of a tub lid and load it no problem.

I enjoyed the lather, but I got some mild frag burn which took away from an otherwise enjoyable shave. Oh well!

If I remember correctly, I was presented with a text box pre-populated with the list of bad guys. I just selected them all with Ctrl-A and hit delete.

Sheffield, indeed. "Cutlers to their majesties. No. 6 Norfolk Street Sheffield"

After my experiment today, I'd say it probably depends on the razor :-)

August 28th, 2025: Much better

• Brush: Zenith - 508A XL/Bristle (B35) (MOAR BOAR) 31mm Boar
• Razor: Joseph Rogers & Sons Near Wedge (8)
• Lather: House of Mammoth - Mood Indigo - Soap
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - I, Rich Moose - Aftershave
• Post Shave: Declaration Grooming, House of Mammoth - Cerberus - Liniment

Same brush, soap, and razor as yesterday, but this time I stropped. I didn't even strop all that much - about 15 on linen and 30ish on leather. The difference was very noticeable! The shave is closer and more comfortable. It also just plain felt better during the shave.

I can't definitively say it was 100% the stropping that improved the shave, but I do think it had a lot to do with it. I've always thought this razor felt "soft", as in the metal has a certain soft feel to it compared to the Koraat Moarteen, for example. I've had poor shaves and superb shaves from both razors, and this being my 65th straight razor shave I'm starting to have more of the latter from both!

On a different note, welcome @putneycj@sub.wetshaving.social!

A lot of folks think their decentralized internet forum of choice should be a free for all, but that's not realistic.

Moderation and censorship are easy to get confused. Moderation includes reviewing content and sources for quality and safety, while censorship aims to control or manipulate a narrative. (general words taken from this page)

A PieFed instance defederating from a historically nasty fediverse server or 12 is just a form of moderation, and is up to whoever runs the server. The reason for blocking hexbear/lemmy.ml/lemmygrad could just be to cut down on the amount of manual moderation that's required by having their stuff federate to your server -- not trying to control a narrative or suppress any opinions -- just historically lots of wrong, inaccurate, inflammatory stuff that adds to a moderator's workload. Easier to avoid it.

Lemmy.ml removing comments and banning people for having opinions that differ from theirs is censorship, because 1) they are very consistent about it and 2) it drives their narrative.

I might propose instead a step in setup, or on demand, to select major instances to allow/deny federation from

This is exactly how it works. I started a PieFed instance and made the decision (during setup) to trim the defederation list down to none. Users can block on the account level.

That's not at all what the above comment says.

Last year was a stainless steel razor, right?

Wow, that's a lot of time listening. Some headphones can be fatiguing, but these must not be!

Do you listen to music mostly?

August 27th, 2025

• Brush: Zenith - 508A XL/Bristle (B35) (MOAR BOAR) 31mm Boar
• Razor: Joseph Rogers & Sons Near Wedge (7)
• Lather: House of Mammoth - Mood Indigo - Soap
• Post Shave: Brut - Brut - Splash On
• Fragrance: Noble Otter - Hamami - EdP

Very nice! I didn't strop, but I do wonder if stropping would have improved the feel. The end result is really good, but I think overall it could have been better. I think this razor is made of relatively "soft" steel, so in theory I'd think stropping would help. Maybe I'll try it again tomorrow.