All in all Ok. There still some toxicity, not enough types of people to dilute some of the fringe or hardcore groups at times. Things like circlejerks seem to have more power outside of their own realm at times, anecdotally at least. Having to swap instances because DDoS or federation policy or the like and then having to reblock the same furry or anime or trans or random niche comic porn sites is a bit tiresome too. I get that the makeup of the users skews towards these groups and their supporters more, it’s just taking more curation I guess.edit: and duplicate posts from multiple instances. Another thing I imagine will be resolved in future.

Those negatives aside it’s been an interesting experience. I feel that I’m getting a broader sense of what’s going on, things that would have been drowned out before now appear to get at least a decent chance if not equal billing in my feed. The new forums have been really good, a very wide range of topics and articles from all around and some properly interesting discussions going on.

It definitely feels more like the earlier internet days at times which can be good as well as bad. I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops

Needs more Craig Charles but otherwise I like what I see.

That’s a lot of beige!

My excitement is tempered by two things, the ultra cost being a subscription (I get the “why” I just hate more subscriptions) and also the pretty crappy targeted adverts “consent” whereby you have to scroll through page after page of third party vendors to turn off the “legitimate” interest which is, let’s be honest their way around consent by just ignoring what you want. That’s put me right off in all honesty sorry.

It seems like the SNP has lost a lot of it’s support recently from two issues. Losing Nicola Sturgeon due to party irregularities with regards to funding and being replaced with Humza Yousaf has been divisive. Sturgeon was more respected even by people who didn’t agree with her view of Independence especially with her handling of COVID. Yousaf doesn’t have that kind of appeal and has had a few instances where he’s made himself look petty. Add to that he was a staunch supporter of a couple of controversial bills and also doesn’t have the personality or the appearance of ability as his predecessor and you have a loss of the less independence minded.

On the other end you have the hardcore independence supporters who don’t think the SNP is pushing hard enough and think they should just annex Scotland out of the UK and to hell with the consequences.

That leaves the middle ground. Labour might mop up the less independence inclined but they and the middle ground supporters of the SNP could be swayed by the Greens who appear to be gaining slow and steady support.

My take would be the SNP will still be the biggest party with some moving back to labour, more probably to the libdems and greens and some to the conservatives but they have their own issues both with their party in Scotland and their association with the wider conservative party.

I don’t think that independence has been killed off and I see it being a continual slow burn issue for many years to come with a steady increase towards pro-independce if the younger voters continue as they areunless Westminster does something radical such as federation or devo-max. The parties in Westminster as a whole aren’t generally viewed positively, it’s what helped get the SNP their support over the years after all and they seem disinclined to change that view.

I want to be excited and for some bits I genuinely am, the size of the maps for example. The thing is the first had DLC galore and the core game didn’t get much content updates. Fine. Developers want to continue revenue post launch and the excuse is that this lets them support the game longer. Plus we all know that this constant DLC packs is a Paradox staple.

CS:2 however is brand new, not yet released but already has two DLCs as per the ultimate version. That’s content already made but purposefully not included in the game that’s not even out yet. I just can’t get behind that and it’s dampened my enthusiasm quite a lot sadly.