The Unofficial Minds Newsletter Issue #5
Bit of a quiet month save for a bit of drama here and there and some events, and I gotta keep this one short and sweet because of irl things, but we've got some fun stuff to look forward to, and some not to fun stuff to raise an eyebrow at. Here we goooooo!
Goings-On of Yestermonth
Comment Spam increase
GOOD GRAVY MARIE.
While there has been a drop off in image spam and “nice” comment bots, probably as a result of low token value forcing them to meander off to greener pastures, the comment phishing link spam has been getting worse.
Be it snake oil, making money at home, or the telegram chats, these annoying clowns are only becoming more obnoxious. But interestingly enough, some of our very own Bot Hunters may have stumbled on the mastermind behind a lot of them…
Meeting of the Minds
I’m pretty sure most of you have been harassed by that festival banner to have at least some idea as to what this is. The Minds team hosted a big get-together in New York that hosted a bunch of high profile speakers, from Tim Pool to Tulsi Gabbard, and they were all gonna have a big ol talk about… things and stuff! They even had a raffle for free tickets!
And it was all met with a resounding “meh” from the Minds userbase.
Wow. So… what went wrong, there? Well, I can only speculate, but I have some thoughts. First of all, the majority of the speakers were not regular Minds users. They have accounts, but they’re Twitter crossposters. Meaning, they post on twitter and it also gets posted to Minds. A lot of people have caught onto this and there’s increasing disdain for the practice. Sure, it may put big names on the platform, which in theory would bring more users… But in reality what is actually happening is we’re being given a cardboard cutout of the person and told to be happy about it while they’re over on birdsite partying it up, forgetting that Minds even exists most of the time. Naturally, a good amount of people aren’t gonna be too thrilled about a Minds event filled with Twitter users.
Second, New York City. Nuff said.
Third, $15 for a LIVE STREAM TICKET. Yeah, no. Watching the live stream should’ve been free, full stop. For an event hosted by a platform that’s already pretty niche, and booked full of crossposters, this comes across more as adding insult to injury.
Now look, I get that the whole thing is a “festival of ideas” and whatnot, which leaves it open and unrestricted as to who gets that golden ticket. But to not invite a single one of the most prolific and dedicated users, and instead just opt for all the usual popular kids? Not really the greatest look.
Here’s hoping for some improvement on this front next time.
Homemade Challenge
This was the first month for @magnolliapilled ‘s Homemade Challenge! This month’s theme was Brine. What’s brine, you ask? It’s basically salt water. It might sound boring, but there’s a lot you can do with it. Fermenting, cooking, marinating, preserving… and it’s surprisingly easy to do.
The theme for July is due to be posted soon, so keep your eyes peeled!
What’s Coming
Multi-Image Post Progress
It’s finally happening! There’s still a long road ahead before we actually see it, but it seems that the design decisions have been made and it’s up to the programmers now. The team has settled on a model similar to Twitter, a simple grid of 4 images, with a possibility of increasing this cap at a later time if needed.
There’s also evidence that they’ve been working to clean up the site’s foundational code, which was a big necessary step towards making this long requested feature a reality. It’s finally looking like there’s light at the end of this tunnel!
Chat Getting Fixed?
Remember the old DM system Minds had? The one before the days of needing a whole separate app to message people? Well, it might be making a comeback. It appears that the devs have realized that having a whole different chat program splintered from the main site/app is a big pain in the butt for a lot of reasons.
At some point in the future, the old chat system may be getting a much needed facelift and brought back from retirement.
Community Happenings
Summer Reading Challenge
Considering the lively community of authors we have on Minds, we’re gonna have ourselves a Summer Reading Challenge! Starting TODAY! From now until July 31st, we’ll be spotlighting our published authors and taking the opportunity to read their work. I know I said I was planning on having token prizes, buuut the devs are leaving me on read, so I can’t make promises there. I will update if they do eventually give the okay, but in the meantime, You can join this group to sign up for the event and also find a reading list here: https://www.minds.com/groups/profile/1383539046663327763/feed
Timo Has Another Vella Thing
Speaking of reading, Timo Burnham has a new Vella story in the works. This time, a sci-fi horror spoopy skary story in the vein of Dead Space, Alien, and Event Horizon. If that’s your thing, you can find some more info about it here: https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1378837662462382083
Undersubbed Artist Discovered; Minds Community Responds By Sub Bombardment
Not too long ago while I was browsing around the site, I happened across @animextremex , a tiny art channel with 18 subs, almost zero interaction, and some very good artwork that also did 3D modeling and some gaming videos. I quickly RM’d a gif that caught my eye and shouted to the world that the page was way undersubbed… and holy crap did that call catch on like wildfire. Only a couple days later, the channel exploded up to over 100 subs, and now sits over 200.
Good work, soldiers.
FridayMemeWar Spam
In a very surprising turn of events, there was very little spam to report from July 24th’s #FridayMemeWar. It’s been a persistent problem with the tag for a very long time now. Spam accounts and politiboomers have a nasty habit of hashtag bandwagoning to force their garbage-tier content in people’s faces in hopes of upvote farming or that someone will hear them shouting at clouds. While there have been some, it was oddly light this time around. That’s not to say we can declare victory yet, but it was a nice change of pace.
Why is Jae Not Getting Paid for This
Seriously