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Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

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Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#121

Post by bastawhiz »

bee_rider wrote: post #116
b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #84

this is like using an "ethically produced" brick to smash your foot with; The method of manufacturing the brick isn't the problem. These formats are designed for a specific purpose; maximizing engagement to extract value. so we've remove the incentive to extract value but we leave the predatory design that maximize engagement? You working in a different milieu but you are bringing the worst parts of the previous mili…

On one hand, it seems impossible to supplant with Tik Tok without the engagement bait. On the other, replacing the additive sites with something just as addictive seems pointless. It is a tricky puzzle.

The unfortunate truth is that TikTok is just a dopamine hit machine. There's no puzzle here, this project is just "we built an open source slot machine that you can install in your own home". Replacing the casino is addressing a pointless problem.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#122

Post by gerdesj »

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #84

this is like using an "ethically produced" brick to smash your foot with; The method of manufacturing the brick isn't the problem. These formats are designed for a specific purpose; maximizing engagement to extract value. so we've remove the incentive to extract value but we leave the predatory design that maximize engagement? You working in a different milieu but you are bringing the worst parts of the previous mili…

"we need to rethink how we interact online"

I don't have a TikTok account, never have and I doubt I ever will. Am I missing anything?

I gave up fags (cigarettes) around eight years ago. Would you like some ideas for coping and abstention strategies?

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#123

Post by orhmeh09 »

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #84

this is like using an "ethically produced" brick to smash your foot with; The method of manufacturing the brick isn't the problem. These formats are designed for a specific purpose; maximizing engagement to extract value. so we've remove the incentive to extract value but we leave the predatory design that maximize engagement? You working in a different milieu but you are bringing the worst parts of the previous mili…

I enjoy watching TikTok, especially local or niche creators who have just a couple hundred followers. This is not going to be a problem as you imagine.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#124

Post by oefrha »

jatari wrote: post #57
kelipso wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that’s what memeing is. What is this, 2000s internet and we start discovering what memes are or something.

You can use youtube and never come across a "meme" like that.

I used TikTok and also never came across a meme like that. Or maybe I did once or twice, I just quickly swiped away (or if something I’m not interested in is shown repeatedly I click not interested and it’s gone at least for a long time). If you’re shown the same meme from 20 different people chances are you just kept watching them, maybe with disapproval, but your device can’t read your brainwaves yet so the service just thinks you’re super interested.

And YouTube also had those stupid challenges with everyone doing the same stupid shit before TikTok even existed.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#125

Post by GaryBluto »

riidom wrote: post #117
GaryBluto wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I'm not interested in "short form" videos I had the same curiosity regarding the userbase and wanted to check myself. The only way to look at the web view is to sign up, so I did. I completed E-Mail verification, then the account was disabled immediately with a pop up message to contact support. Not worth the effort.

I just tried exactly the same (at https://loops.video ), but I was able to watch without account, and registering afterwards also worked. Guess it's something on your side.

I can too, now. I wonder if any changes were made or if it was just a problem on my side.

Checking loops.video now, these were the first 5 videos I saw, in order:

1. Left-Wing American Politics

2. Promotion of the Fediverse and Loops

3. Left-Wing American Politics

4. A Non-English Play

5. Left-Wing American Politics

6. Stop Motion Flipbook Thing

7. Advocation for Loops Itself and Decentralization

8. Loops Promo

9. Left-Wing American Politics

So out of the first 9 videos, 4 centre around American politics, 1 I couldn't understand, 3 were promotion for the service I was currently using and only one was interesting and understandable.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#126

Post by diabllicseagull »

sieste wrote: post #107
Zak wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a study showing an immediate negative impact on prospective memory from switching context repeatedly on short-form video platforms: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/09658211.2025.252107... Unlimited skipping until a video is sufficiently stimulating had a negative impact regardless of the content, while people limited to ten skips in ten minutes did not experience a negative impact. This suggests that t…

Scrolling through a comment thread in an online forum such as this requires a lot of context switching. Does the context-switching theory of brain rot apply to text based feeds as well, or only video?

you would hope that comments in a thread would stay in context, ideally.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#127

Post by krapp »

Almondsetat wrote: post #119
krapp wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's OK to waste time. All art and entertainment is a waste of time. Most of what people do on HN is waste time. Arguably anything besides eating and procreative sex is a waste of time.

Sure, everything is just like a anything else. Rick and Morty is my favorite show too

Case in point - your comment was a waste of your time to write and a waste of my time to read, yet here we both are.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#128

Post by ageedizzle »

bee_rider wrote: post #116
b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #84

this is like using an "ethically produced" brick to smash your foot with; The method of manufacturing the brick isn't the problem. These formats are designed for a specific purpose; maximizing engagement to extract value. so we've remove the incentive to extract value but we leave the predatory design that maximize engagement? You working in a different milieu but you are bringing the worst parts of the previous mili…

On one hand, it seems impossible to supplant with Tik Tok without the engagement bait. On the other, replacing the additive sites with something just as addictive seems pointless. It is a tricky puzzle.

It's not necessarily the case that Loops is just as addictive as TikTok. Because TikTok is more than just short term videos. It's also a recommendation algorithm that slurps up as much information as it can about you to predict what you'll want to watch next. This recommendation algorithm plays a big role in making TikTok addictive. And as far as I'm aware, Loops does not have this functionality. It will just show you videos based on a much simpler algorithm that takes into account how recent a video is and how many likes/comments it has, or something like that, which will make it less addictive.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#129

Post by root_axis »

AuthAuth wrote: post #89

I do not know how to phrase this politely. I like the platform and the concept is interesting. But the people on it are just so far away from what me (and men my age) deem interesting and seem to be hostile to anything that doesnt fit their very restrictive ideals. You'll never find sports, guns, cars, comedy and a lot of other mainstream content on these platforms even though there is nothing inherently offensive ab…

> You'll never find sports, guns, cars, comedy and a lot of other mainstream content on these platforms even though there is nothing inherently offensive about it.

What are you talking about? Sports, cars, and comedy are present everywhere on the internet. Guns are more of a niche and not without controversy, and it's certainly true that the incumbent networks place restrictions on some gun related content.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#130

Post by burnt-resistor »

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #84

this is like using an "ethically produced" brick to smash your foot with; The method of manufacturing the brick isn't the problem. These formats are designed for a specific purpose; maximizing engagement to extract value. so we've remove the incentive to extract value but we leave the predatory design that maximize engagement? You working in a different milieu but you are bringing the worst parts of the previous mili…

Yep. Anything similar to what was Vine (i.e., TikTok, Youtube Shorts, Instagram Reels; e.g., very short videos with infinite scrolling) is ultimately too consuming literally a drug that robs one of the ability to concentrate and patience.

I think we need to encourage long form videos from 5 minutes to 1-2 hours and organize stuff around metadata (title, keywords/tags, lists, unique identifier) to mesh with a living, standardized ontology in a curated, sensible fashion that disallows proliferation of slop, too low quality stuff, and spam. From there, choose your own recommender and related algorithms/plugins.

The big gotcha of decentralized video platforms is content distribution that doesn't hug a self-hoster's server with barely any traffic.

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