The only thing that surprised me about the idiotic numbers was that they weren’t overwritten by even dumber ones in sharpie.

To be fair, this isn’t quite the worst thing the US has done in those 248 years.

… nobody ever says Italy.

The writing was on the wall for this one, development had effectively ended two years ago and had already slowed down significantly before that.

It’s a bit pricey (and likely only going up in price with the upcoming licensing changes), but by far the best there is.

I was going to make a joke by posting an obviously stupid and AI generated answer, but I’m genuinely surprised by the insightfulness of Gemini’s answer:

Dealing with bots and AI-generated “slop” (low-quality, repetitive, or irrelevant content) is an ongoing challenge for any online platform, including Lemmy. Here’s a breakdown of strategies and considerations: Challenges:

• Federation Complexity:
  • Lemmy’s federated nature means content comes from various instances, making centralized control difficult.
  • Moderation efforts need to be distributed, which can lead to inconsistencies.
• AI Advancement:
  • AI-generated content is becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it harder to distinguish from human-created posts.
  • Bots can mimic human behavior, evading simple detection methods.
• Balancing Freedom and Control:
  • Lemmy values user autonomy and free speech, which can conflict with aggressive moderation.
  • Overly strict measures might stifle legitimate contributions. Strategies:
• Instance-Level Moderation:
  • Individual Lemmy instances play a crucial role in setting their own moderation policies.
  • Instance administrators can implement tools and rules to filter out unwanted content.
  • Blocking known bot-infested instances is a common practice.
• Community-Driven Moderation:
  • Empowering users to report suspicious activity and content.
  • Implementing robust reporting mechanisms and clear guidelines.
  • Utilizing community moderators to review and take action on reports.
• Technical Solutions:
  • Developing algorithms to detect patterns of bot behavior and AI-generated content.
  • Implementing CAPTCHAs or other verification methods to prevent automated accounts.
  • Enhancing Lemmy’s software to provide better moderation tools.
• User Filtering:
  • Lemmy itself has user level settings that allow for the hiding of bots. As shown in the search results, there are settings that can hide bot activity.
• Community Education:
  • Raising awareness about the dangers of bots and AI slop.
  • Educating users on how to identify and report suspicious content.
• Development of Lemmy Software:
  • As shown in the github issue, there is development discussion regarding excluding bot comments from sorting algorithms. This type of software development will be key to combating bot influence on the platform. Key Considerations:
• The fight against bots and AI slop is an ongoing process.
• A multi-faceted approach is necessary, combining technical solutions, community involvement, and responsible moderation.
• Maintaining a balance between control and freedom is essential for the long-term health of the Lemmy network.

Some parts of the world? Are you saying there are still parts of the world in 2025 where you can buy modern dumb-tvs?

He’s living proof that time travel into the past is never going to get invented … likely because he cut most science funding.

I used several Reddit apps over the years, mostly Relay, Sync, Dash (rip) and Boost. Boost and Sync were my favorites in the end, with a slight preference for Boost (per subreddit view settings and a much better gallery view being the core reasons).

I bought them all and even subscribed to Sync Ultra several times since its inception. I’ll subscribe to Sync for Lemmy as well, at least until Boost comes out - my ad-filter is preventing the ads from loading anyway and I’ll feel better subscribing.

But I will break with my rule to purchase the ad-free version of any app if it’s available on this occasion. 22€ is simply too much to gamble on an app with an uncertain future and a flaky history. ljdawson already paused work on Sync on at least one occasion and is almost certainly going to do it again if this financial gamble isn’t working out.

Wow, you weren’t kidding. That’s literally more than 10 times what I paid for the original Sync for Reddit Pro (standalone, without the ad- and tracking framework).

That’s “I want to technically offer a one-time-payment option, but don’t want people to actually use it”-pricing, especially since it doesn’t come with any of the additional subscription features.

I just went from “cool, this will probably be my new home” to “I can’t wait to see what Boost has to offer”.

As someone who bought the premium version of pretty much every single 3rd Party Reddit client (and just about every app I use that allows for ad-removal), this might be the first one I’ll skip.

Are you planning a separate “Sync Pro” app without the app-framework? Like it used to be?

Not complaining, but 15€ for ad-removal without the sync-ultra-features is a bit steeper than I expected.

I understand that the smaller user base probably requires higher prices, but that’s a number that made me reluctant to pull the trigger.

I’m subscribing to Ultra anyway, but with Sync for Reddit, I always enjoyed the option to fall back to “Pro,” if I let my subscription lapse. I was going to pounce right away on Sync for Lemmy Pro, but now I’m not so sure.