Honestly, I wonder if that even matters. I’ll be the first to admit that I have no deep insight on that matter and that I would simply want to see Meta blocked because it’s a privacy-invading, manipulative entity that sucks up all data it can get in order to force-feed people ads and products. Products that contain algorithms that are extremely unhealthy for mental health, as the only thing they care about is “user engagement”, which is driven by drama and conflict. You get nothing but information bubbles and prioritized bullshit content that stirrs you up. There is no value in that, it’s mostly just harmful. The fediverse apps are being created to offer an alternative to exactly that stuff, and I am here because I want to get away from big tech. If lemmy.world doesn’t take a clear stance to separate itself from the likes of Meta, then there is simply no point in using it over any corporate alternative. I honestly expect lemmy.world to follow lemmy.ml in this clear approach, or I’ll switch instances. I’m just giiving it some time to come to the right conclusion. But if Meta is being allowed to freely interact here and scoop up everything for their purposes, I’ll be on lemmy.ml in about 2 weeks. That’s a reasonable time frame to see a discussion unfold and wait for an outcome. Even if blocking Meta won’t completely stop them from grabbing data here, it’s the right thing to make it harder for them and to send the message that their approach is not wanted here.

GLaDOS demands to be on the list, or you won’t receive cake.

I would say we need a vote if lemmy.world should do the same. I would be for blocking meta.

I’m super torn on desktop environments. There simply are too many great choices! I like XFCE, KDE Plasma and the most recent Gnome versions - for different reasons. KDE is the perfect choice when you want the full shiny, modern, bling desktop and if you love to customize it in all kinds of ways that are possible out of the box. When I spend time with KDE, over the course of weeks, I keep constantly changing my wallpapers, themes, cursors, icons, colors, etc. - just for the sake of variety. With KDE, the desktop never gets boring.

BUT… I also love minimalism (to a tasteful, practical extent) and classic retro computing, as well as efficiency. That’s why XFCE is very comfy to me. It only has the features you need, but still to the extent of a nice and fully featured desktop environment. Doesn’t eat too many system resources, still can look very pretty with themes, does what it’s supposed to. Very stable, too. There are times when KDE just feels cluttered and … too much for me, then I retreat to XFCE.

I’m running Fedora Silverblue for quite a while now and although I always had my gripes about modern Gnome… after using it for a while, it really grew on me. Since version 42, modern Gnome really is going the right direction. It’s nicely clean and readable, modern, performant, and once you get used to it, its different approach to the workflow really makes sense. The apps are lovely, they do one thing and do it well, and they’re beautifully integrated in the same design language. There’s a wonderful collection of apps called Gnome Circle, these are not developed directly by the Gnome team, but endorsed by them, as they’re useful and integrate perfectly into the UI design language. There’s some amazing tools in there! It all feels very unified, and with the Blur-my-shell extension, you don’t need much else for a pretty look. The only downside is that this clean look sometimes is achieved by cutting poweruser features, which can be frustrating when you bump into something you need to do, but the UI doesn’t account for. For example, I have multiple bluetooth adapters in this PC and can’t select which one to use. Still, great desktop.