> A year ago I surveyed the internet and noticed there was only one popular space for trans and gender-non-conforming people to meet How is that possible? On the infinite Internet, where there is online space for much smaller communities, how can there not be far more - on Reddit, Discords, FB, IG, other platforms, phpBB, etc etc.
Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
141–150 of 411 posts
Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Several US states now require age verification for adult content (I don't know how that is defined). A case challenging such laws is being considered by the US Supreme Court, but most experts believe the court will allow the age verification. That may mean users identifying themselves, which seems dangerous. (It should not at all be dangerous, but it is.) All you need is some phobic government official to sue or inve…
All the porn companies have handled this by simply blocking the sites in the states in question, just forcing people to use VPNs. If you ask for ID verification to see NSFW content they know hardly anyone would provide it, and at the same time it opens you up to a lot of liability in handling extremely sensitive PII. The whole thing is just moralistic BS anyway. I'm sure most kids can figure out how to use a VPN bett…
Yes, and that is exactly why Morality in Media (the right-wing, evangelical group behind these laws) has been proposing them. Their goal is to outlaw pornography (and other "immoral" content) on the internet by making it so difficult to access or provide legally that nobody will bother.
> I'm sure most kids can figure out how to use a VPN better than adults.
You're making the mistake of assuming their goal is to prevent kids from being able to access pornography. It is not. Their goal is to make it so financially impractical to run any service that publishes (or allows people to publish) pornography, LGBTQ content, or anything that they deem "immoral" that nobody even tries. And it's working: many services which used to allow that content before 2017 no longer do, and it is much, much more expensive (and difficult) for the remaining folks to find platforms or hosting providers to continue to do so.
Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#143it's very nice in w3m, a tui browser. but spacing between each post (none), and among posts and their metadata (one line) needs some tuning, because it clusters each timestamp footer with the user header for the next post. i would suggest avoiding `` for feed items and use more general-purpose elements.
is there a reason you're not simply hosting a mastodon instance?
Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#144Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#145I hate to ask this, but with the timing of the current US elections and presidential mandate, seeing this appear out of the blue scares me more than anything. Do you have any existing handles or presence in the community I can use to double check? Thanks.
Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
All the porn companies have handled this by simply blocking the sites in the states in question, just forcing people to use VPNs. If you ask for ID verification to see NSFW content they know hardly anyone would provide it, and at the same time it opens you up to a lot of liability in handling extremely sensitive PII. The whole thing is just moralistic BS anyway. I'm sure most kids can figure out how to use a VPN bett…
> If you ask for ID verification to see NSFW content they know hardly anyone would provide it, and at the same time it opens you up to a lot of liability in handling extremely sensitive PII. Yes, and that is exactly why Morality in Media (the right-wing, evangelical group behind these laws) has been proposing them. Their goal is to outlaw pornography (and other "immoral" content) on the internet by making it so diffi…
Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#147There are also a number of high-user trans-specific and 2SLGBTQI+ Discord servers with varying degrees of activity (although the more fun ones tend to be private and you need to get an invite from a public server) You can find some on Disboard or in Discord's recent server search facility.
I tried making a web crawler that found invite links in common crawl data to find more authentic low user count servers. There was something off about servers that self-selected by taking the time and effort in adding the Disboard bot. The crawler actually worked well. I had about 10k online servers before I stopped and a handful of low user count servers in my niches. Made a few friends in these but none of them stuck long-term.
So far I'm back to just a few private servers I'm active in. 50% from IRL connections, 50% from online friend connections. I struggle so much to find new spaces or to make my current ones work better for me
Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Answering to a person who calls topics related to trans people not safe for children is now regarded as starting a flamewar (whatever this means), nice.
No, "Minors can't learn of trans people? What other people should they be warned of, Jews?" is starting a flamewar. This is not a borderline call. I think it's pretty clear what "the flamewar style" means to anyone who's been around internet forums for a little while, but if you want a definition, it could be somewhere in the neighborhood of: conversation that's focused on aggressive/snarky/indignant expression for t…
Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#149What’s wrong with Grindr, the biggest app for queer and trans people to meet?
And you get spammed dickpicks by the hundreds. Even if you explicitly say "I DON'T WANT DICKPICKS AND I WILL REPORT YOU IF YOU SEND ME A DICKPICK" and then you receive a dickpick? And point to the report thing?
You get sent another dickpick by the same person at a different angle.
Happens to me almost daily.
Almost nothing I do works. No moderation settings, no report features, no profile texts.
Grindr is best for gay men and bi men. Trans women, trans men and non binary people are not treated as first-class citizens by the values they care for the most.
Re: Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online
#150also fwiw no way to filter location for posts without sharing your own...