Can definitely relate - generally consider myself to be a positive/optimistic person over the past couple years, but this week has been super duper tough. It's such a scary feeling to have my "well of positivity" run dry,. I've been getting nasty with my housemates, sour at work, and generally unproductive. Hopefully I can start filling back up, but gotta take it slow

Have fun at the vacation home, sounds perfect!

Yeah @kantos, user-inactive is any user who has ever deactivated or w/e.

And toward the headscratcher - agree with @ButterflyEffect's second point there - my cursory guess was that the core group of users were more tightly knit/more talkative in the early days. But it is a good question about overall user base, would be great to see that data as well!

So lately I've been trying to get more serious about blogging about digital communities. One of the first series of posts I decided to tackle was about Pubski. It's not quite done, part 3 - where I break down a lot of the academic and personal significance - is still incomplete. However, I thought I'd share part 2, where I break down a bunch of data gathering and processing I did around Pubski as a network over time - there are a lot of interesting graphs & happy to answer questions / receive feedback!

Here is a little sample:

Some friends of mine have also been speaking fairly highly of the FDA lately. Mostly with regards to 3D printing materials (face-shields, replacement parts, etc) being allowed into medical settings. They've been saying that in normal circumstances, some of these processes could've taken months or years. There is something to be said for safety and process, but I'm glad the maker-community mindset of rapid prototyping is playing nicely with the FDA for a change (and in such trying times nonetheless)!

That lego haul sounds amazing, if you don't mind me asking, where'd ya come across such a great deal? Always looking for cheaper ways to expand the collection! Also, if you build anything cool share to #lego or something, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see it.

Hey Pubski, long time no see! With all this time at home I've been getting back into blogging, and my most recent series of posts is something about Hubski (& Pubski in particular). So I thought I'd share part 2 of 3 and see what ya'll think / get some feedback as I work on the next one. However, I guess after periods of inactivity, I'm treated as a new user, so I can't post the link yet here. Maybe next week then lol!

I think you have a good point - our identity will work itself out (and almost certainly won't be what we imagine now - the concepts of "open" or "online" will change).

There was a recent medium article about what the technology needed for this type of transition to an open identity might look like. This kind of tech faces an uphill battle, but...

I think we are lucky to have a healthy technological and more recently entrepreneurial community. As this group starts to interact more directly with the socially minded, hopefully we see positive changes pick up the pace.

P.S. There is a movie called 8th Wonderland that (I think) discusses some the ideas talked about here. However I say "I think" because I've been unable to find a version with english subs or translation. Would be eternally grateful if anyone could find a version I could understand or if anyone has seen it and could tell me about it..

@steve - CC is center city - which is centered around city hall, so you're in the right place :) I live more towards West Philly over the Schuylkill river, and old city is East along the Delaware river.

@refugee - I am a Penn student, and 21+ idk about you guys though, but if we are having an old people party I'd bet ya'll are of age.

I know a lot of the bars around Penn/Drexel and have access to a lot of penn buildings, I also know more tourist-y stuff in center city, up to you guys - preference/ages etc?

Despite the fact that I have a midterm on the 5th, I'd love to have a drink/meetup for an hour or two. Maybe somewhere in CC/Old City?

Hey Cedar!

Thanks coffeesp00ns, wasn't quite sure if there already was a tag for this sort of thing or not!

And hey FuzzyWords!

My go-to is Jameson, for some reason its easier to drink when you're with other people. I fell in love when I met Red Breast 15 in a rural pub in Ireland, it was an experience.

Eh, stabby sticks may prove useful when the tourists start getting rowdy, but yeah, all kinds of tools like sharpeners as well! And thanks, yeah everyone is in the 'get a job' or 'decide what to do with your life' phase, but I hope the relaxing will start soon. What do you study in grad school?

How long are ya gonna be gone? And nope, not weird (at least to me). I felt really bad leaving my cats when I went to college, but makes me really happy whenever I see them again.

Haven't been here in a while, just trying to get a grip on life most of the time. Anyways, I'm in the process of applying for Venture for America, and just generally finding a job.

Preparing myself for Popaggedon here in Philly, seriously, shit is crazy, will try and get some pictures for ya'll.

Btw, are we still doing those "introduce yourself" posts? I've been an on-and-off lurker for just about a year now, kinda wanna get to know ya'll better.

Hey, I'm a bit late to this thread, but the title reminded me of a great video I saw a while ago: How to be Alone

And as weird as it sounds, when I was kinda lonely in middle school, I found a lot of comfort in online communities - find somewhere online that fits your interests and participate there.

More recently, I would say find a nearby pub (if 21), cafe, public space and just hang there - being 'invovled' in public can help with loneliness.

And never feel bad for thinking/talking about and taking care of yourself!

This is awesome! Fuseback (like the comments said) is pretty sweet, and I love some of the more 'stable' cards. Wizards should take heed of this craziness and use it to their advantage!

r/listentothis is a great music discovery machine when paired with an rss reader. I'd also recommend The Atlantic and local news places (of your own choosing).

Sometimes technology can sometimes be considered witchcraft.

The average person has no idea, I mean no idea how most technology works. When our gadgets don't connect to wifi or our cars/appliances stop working, people kick, curse and threaten their tech. Misunderstanding/fear of the unknown is a powerful emotional force.

Wrote a blog post about this a while back.

I'm with you on rss, particularly feedly. Besides sites like hackernews/reddit/hubski, all the blogs, news sites, announcements, etc I get via rss feeds from various places. And yeah, it does take a little upkeep (trimming shitty sources and finding new ones) but I find that it is worth it (at least for me). Keeps a good, controllable stream of info coming at me.

Age of Empires 2 is the game that got me into gaming. So many hours playing, tons of memories. Solid list!

Just started with Heroes of the Storm, I think Dota might be more for me, Heroes is a bit.... simplified....

Love the strokes as well, Is This It is one of my all-time favorite albums and brings back many memories. Angles took a while to grow on me, and still haven't reached that point with Comedown Machine...

Got the summer-classes-finals-blues today.

But on the positive side of things, getting better at working on side projects more consistently.

Last note - how many of yall lurk around r/redditalternatives?

So how can one know when the market will be lower - where can I see the numbers?

Hey Corvus, thanks for sharing, a lot of this really resonated with me. You mentioned a bit about how you feel now (not as lost, feeling better, etc). I'm wondering, if you don't mind, if you could expand on that.

I think living with mental health issues for a long time can make it feel like this crazy state of mind is 'normal' or that it is the only possible state of mind/feeling. I'm struggling to understand how we know when the worst is over/what getting better feels like. For anyone reading, how do you know when you are 'better'? Do mental health issues still chase you down? What does the light at the end of the tunnel look/feel like?

And I don't even know if I have anxiety/depression, but I relate a ton when others talk about their experiences. I know people shouldn't self diagnose, but is it okay to just check if what I'm feeling/thinking is 'better' or 'worse' on the spectrum? ... I'm getting incoherent, maybe someone can pick it up from here...

Just a heads up, there are "stick" and "save" buttons right under the post title that can help you remember to check back! Good luck!