Yesteday I said #Catodon is returning, and I'd like to say a few more things.
Let me get this out of the way: I am building it with LLMs. To a big extent I don't know what I'm doing, and I am very aware of that. This will be an experiment. If any of this outrages you, please move on, this project is clearly not for you. If you are disrespectful in the comments, you will be blocked. Please don't tell me what I should or shouldn't do with my time. Thank you.
Those who have followed me for a long time, know that I used to be in #Firefish, then its lead dev moved on to different things leaving the project hanging, then we tried to start Catodon with another dev from the core team of Firefish, and I know that created great expectations and excitement to a lot of people (including me), until our lead dev also realized in the process that they couldn't dedicate the time needed for such a project. Then I was involved in Iceshrimp for a while, which was... let's say not a good fit, and since then I have been trying to find a dev who would like to work in a team effort. It has been years now, and I had no luck. But I still loved the first period of Firefish, I'm still interested in fedi, I still have a lot of ideas that I would like to bring to life. I am also still involved in a greek community server, and I want to build something for my friends and comrades there as well.
But I am not a software engineer, and this is not my calling. What I'm drawn to is design and UX. So I had more or less given up on the idea of Catodon, until I recently started experimenting with LLMs. Mind you, this whole AI craze left me cold until now - I had no use for it, so I stayed away. But for coding, in my case, it turns out to be an invaluable tool.
Would I have preferred to do this with an actual human instead? A thousand times yes. However, I know I really, really tried.
I also know it's bad for the environment. Planes are too, but we use them when needed. And anyway, I am not rich, I will be more or less as screwed as anyone by the ongoing destruction of the planet by the bourgeoisie. So I refuse to be victim blamed. The sad truth is that it's not an individual issue, it's a collective issue. No matter what they have told you, you will not stop the climate crisis if you stop using LLMs, airplanes, plastic straws or electricity altogether.
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