Elfi, known bug enjoyer @elfi@pixie.town

With today being Christmas, here is your annual reminder to be nice to newbies in your spaces.

There is going to be a very sudden influx of people who are just getting into the spaces you occupy because they got a gift that acts as their gateway into that activity. Maybe you're into photography and someone just bought them their first ever camera body, or you're into music and someone bought them their first guitar, or you're an audiophile and someone bought them their first really nice headphones, or you're big into TTRPGs and someone just bought them their first ever core rulebook.

Whatever the specific activity and gift, these people are going to have no idea what they're doing, they're going to ask a lot of obvious questions, they're going to make a lot of rookie mistakes, and there's going to be a lot of them.

I cannot stress this enough: BE NICE TO THEM.

Few things will ruin someone's enjoyment of something faster than trying to join its community and getting such a rude first impression that their conclusion is "People who like this are kind of assholes. I don't think I want to do this if it's going to involve getting yelled at." Craigslist and eBay and FB Marketplace will be filled with mint condition gifts being resold to attest to this in the coming months.

You were there at the very first step once. Be the person for them that you wish you had back then. (Or if you were lucky enough, the person you did have who fostered your love of it!) Make this something they'll love just as much as you do, not something they'll want to sell and get away from as soon as possible.

Be the reason this Christmas starts a lifelong passion for them, not the reason they decide to abandon something that they would've loved because people made them feel bad for needing a helping hand.

And on that night, Ebenezer Sega, CEO of Sega, was visited by three spirits:
1. The Ghost of Christmas in America, who recommended they make the 32X
2. The Ghost of Christmas Japan, who recommended they make the Sega Saturn
3. The Ghost of Christmas Brazil, who just wanted more Master System

Happy winter festivities ☃️

#PixelArt #Art #MastoArt

Many years ago when I was a student my landlady told me she had a tradition of reading #TerryPratchett's Hogfather every Christmas, and Lords and Ladies every summer solstice. And that remains the most sensible tradition I've ever heard of, so I adopted it immediately and have been doing it ever since

When Twitter collapsed, it was great to see the flood of friends, game devs and other come to Mastodon. Over the next 9 months a lot of them vanished to Threads, BlueSky or just left. I want to thank all people who are still on Mastodon and make it a wonderful place. You know who you are.

Canadians: there's a Parliament petition requesting the government to step in to take action against anti-trans provincial legislation. Being sponsored by Don Davies. Please sign if you're eligible. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7027

#canpoli

[asking a french cat to identify a brazilian coin] chat is this real

Good news you might have missed: Researchers in South Korea have developed a new eco-friendly recycling process that recovers more than 95 percent of nickel and cobalt from old EV batteries with almost perfect purity. https://interestingengineering.com/energy/recycling-nickel-cobalt-ev-batteries

Urgent #MutualAidRequest to help a homeless disabled trans couple stay sheltered another week

Goal (due 12/23):
Goal met! Thank you!

Hello Fedi. I am here asking for help to keep my partner @LukeOrion and I sheltered for another week. We have been able to find an extended stay hotel that is currently only $360 per week right now. Our current week is until Tuesday December 23. We are looking for help raising that $360 by Tuesday to keep us inside. We are a disabled and trans couple that has been dealing with homelessness for over a year.

Please boost for us, thank you so much!

My Venmo, or Luke’s PayPal:
https://linktr.ee/magicalgrrrl

My Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/magicalgrrrl

Vehicle fundraiser:
https://chuffed.org/project/155529-betty-and-luke-need-transportation

#MutualAid #TransCrowdfund #DisabledCrowdfund #MutualAidSavesLives #QueerCrowdfund #TransMutualAid #DisabledMutualAid #QueerMutualAid

@mutualaid

https://wedistribute.org/2025/10/wafrn-chaotic-good/

I don't really make a habit of telling people what software to use, but regular reminder that if it matters to you, Gabboman who created WAFRN is an antiblack shithead who is friends with other antiblack shitheads on the fediverse.

I'll never forget when he tried to derail me while I was describing being misgendered by eris and he came into the thread with whataboutisms complaining about something a different Black person had done. Then when I banned him, he went over to an alt on another server so he could keep harassing me and complain that I banned him, all the while I was getting abused and misgendered by other people commenting on me talking about transmisogynoir. And yes, I have receipts.

I had to take a couple days break off the fediverse after that. I'll never forget how awful it was. Fuck gabboman