No idea if it’s related, but I see similar behaviour (the not loading, rather than the error message) whenever Firefox requires a restart for an update. It doesn’t make it clear this is what is happening, it just stops loading web pages in existing tabs. Only if I open a new tab does it show the “Restart to keep using” message.

I’ve spent far too much time diagnosing network issues without realising I just needed a restart :)

In the North East of England, the North York Moors.

North Yorkshire, in the UK.

Yep. Even when clicking the single checkbox captchas, I try really hard to click it “just like a human would”. Which is weird, because I am a human. I think.

It can be made to work in largely the same way. You just need to install the extra plugin (and associated extra component). I have a similar number of profiles as you and I haven’t had to change how I work.

The article comments reference Multi-Account Containers, but I’m not sure I could make them work. I need different bookmarks for each profile, and I like the separation of a new window.

I recently switched from Chrome to Firefox as part of an ongoing de-Google effort… and, honestly, I found it fairly easy. The two things I missed and found solutions for were:

1. Profiles - I just use the built in profiles with the Profile Switcher extension
2. Casting to Chromecast - I use the fx_cast extension and actually find it more reliable than Chrome’s casting!

Other than those, I’ve found it to be a very comfortable, familiar experience.

I use it for work. Other than having to think for a second to find weirdly hidden menu items, it’s fine. At least for my purposes, as a .NET dev. One thing I love about it is Windows Sandbox… really wish Linux would could up something similar.

Yeah, it’s weird. I’d been trying it on and off since 1997, and always bounced off because of some annoyance or other. Now… nothing. It’s very low friction.

It’s interesting how far Linux desktop has progressed recently… I don’t hate Windows, in fact I think it’s a great OS for most purposes. But I happened to try Linux Mint a few years ago in a fit of pique about being excluded from the Win11 upgrade for spurious reasons… and it just kind of stuck.

Two years later and I am full on Linux now. Don’t even have a Windows partition (though I do keep a VM). And I’m about to buy a new laptop that I intend to buy without an OS, it will never be touched by Windows, there’s just no need.

For my purposes, Linux does everything now. OS, software, the games I want to play… I never even think about it. Also, everywhere I look, I see Linux - my Steamdeck, my MiSTer, my Pis, my Miyoo Mini. It’s everywhere…

You know, I’ve been using Mastodon for 10 months and I’d never noticed the Explore link! My interface even has the fresh, dismissable help text at the top of that column! :D

There’s a sweet spot, right? Popular enough to be viable; not so popular that the quality decreases.

I’ve been coding for 40 years, it’s both my job and my hobby, and I still feel old and out of touch when reading or taking part in coding conversations outside of my sphere :)

This is not meant to be discouraging - even the smallest amount of coding you could learn will be immensely rewarding - more to say that coding is vast arena with a breadth of complexity that can often feel overwhelming. So don’t be put off when you teach yourself some JavaScript and then still feel adrift in a conversation about C#.

I don’t have any specifics to recommend, but I would say that you should start small. Don’t aim to write the next Flappy Bird as your first project, or the next Mastodon. Just concentrate on making a web page say “Hello world!” or changing the colour of some text. Back in the 80s, most kids got their first taste of programming by having a computer shop C64 print “Dave is rad!” on an infinite loop! :)

Good luck!

On mobile, I’m using the Voyager app, which lemmy.world has installed as an alternative front end. Seems to work great.

On desktop, I’m using the amazing Alexandrite UI (https://alexandrite.app/) which solves all of my interface annoyances with the regular Lemmy UI (infinite scroll, opening posts without losing place in the feed, easily accessible communities list).

I love how flexible Lemmy is proving with its UI options… there really does seem to be something for everyone!

I’'m one of the people who sheepishly really liked “new” reddit’s interface, so Alexandrite is like catnip to me!

Infinite scroll! No more losing place in feeds!

1997, I was 22, it was m68k on an 030 Amiga 1200… for some reason.

I seem to remember I had to buy an FPU to plug into my 030 accelerator, specifically to get this to run. I have no idea what I wanted it for, other than curiosity. I got it working, played around with it for ten minutes, then deleted the partition.

I tried Linux on and off many times after that, but always bounced off it. The last time, 2021, I installed Linux Mint and it has finally stuck.

“Under The Skin” with Scarlet Johansson. It has easily the most low-key terrifying scene I’ve ever seen in a movie (the beach scene). And the whole film is the very definition of wtf.

Leaving Twitter for Mastodon barely had an impact. I was just about done with that whole place, with or without Musk in charge.

Reddit is different… I still loved using it. I had my subscriptions honed, all my interests represented. I suffered none of the toxicity that others saw. Not sure if that was just because I mostly used smaller, niche-interest subs or because I mostly lurked and seldom posted? It was all friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining, a stream of consciousness that I could dip in to whenever I wanted to.

So I’m not leaving Reddit because of the experience, but more on principal (both the API kerfuffle and a general aversion to ad-revenue models, which are clearly harmful to society). Principals sadly don’t give me something to read over breakfast…

I hope Lemmy can become that stream of consciousness in time. I’m trying to do my bit by being an active contributor rather than a lurking grazer.