this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
22 points (100.0% liked)

/0

1808 readers
41 users here now

Meta community. Discuss about this lemmy instance or lemmy in general.

Service Uptime view

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Recently I wanted to refer to the general populace of the divisions by zero, but it occurred to me we don't have a good shorthand for it,. I.e. like one talks about "lemmings" or "redditors". We could use something for members of lemmy.dbzer0.com.

Ideas?

all 44 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

zero dividers

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago

Maybe pirates or mates, since piracy is one of our core philosophies here. And our other ones also align with that similarly by being things that are rejected by current norm much like pirates were rejected by the current society at the time. I don't know maybe it's too obvious or boring.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Leech my seed!

... im sorry, rofl

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

If only i can add this as an instance tagline 😔

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

A division by zero is incalculable. On computers, this is sometimes represented by a special value NaN, which stands for "Not a number".

So we could be NaNs? Although a few Anglo countries use Nan to refer to a grandmother.

Another benefit: NaN implies a kind of freedom. To quote from the cult 60's show The Prisoner: "I am not a number, I am a free man"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 17 minutes ago

that would be so fucking rad

[–] [email protected] 4 points 21 hours ago

... I proposed this as well, and another thing NaN is quite close to is... Naan bread, lol.

Basically a kind of flatbread, usually associated with India, sort of kind of like pita bread.

Its pronounced like... Non, at least the way I pronounce Non, as a PNW dialect English native speaker, not like Nan, as in Nanna, or other similar words to refer to a grandmother, or sometimes mother, different vowel sound.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

One thought I had

m@tes

  • It uses the word mate which is A) Pirate-coded B) Non-gendered
  • It uses 1337speak, which fits with the domain name (dbzer0)
  • It uses a circled 'a' which, you know...
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

I like it!

Technically I think it should be M4735 or M4T35 in 1337/L33T, but that is nowhere near as readable for most folks.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

I like m@tes. I would want to stick with the pirate theme and in lots of the world, "mate" is a friend.

Love the idea of assuming we're all on the same side. Because we are.

Then the circled a is a good reminder.

This is solid stuff, db0.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Good one m@te

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Ahoy m@tey!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

How about b@ts, as in "bats" referring to many things, among them:

  • Landstreicher's translation of Stirner's "bats in the belfry" expression
  • "Bats," referring to the expression of insanity for our neurodiverse and other friends
  • Bats, the animals, live in dark caves and only come out at night (pejorative for us being internet nerds)
  • It uses the @ symbol and fits all of your criteria
  • Bats are cool
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nullheads, zeronauts, diverrs?

Dunno, not creative

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I think the first two are... well they got more flair, more pizzazz than my suggestions!

Maybe you could ... go from diverrs to like... webdivers, or some flaired up spelling of that?

More of an old school / stereotypical cyberpunk way of saying you're doing a big deep dive into the net to find useful info, webdivers or netdivers.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I did say i'm not creative :) I like db0's m@tey personally. Your suggestions aren't bad, either

[–] [email protected] 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Thanks haha.

Always remember:

Sucking at something is the first step toward being kinda good at something.

=D

[–] [email protected] 1 points 26 minutes ago

Thanks :D (i dont know if you saw my other comment, i was replying to someone else but i got confused sorry lol)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I recommend "Mathematical Criminals" for obviois reason.

I will not take questions, please deliver the prize to my home.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

You'd have to give us your address!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

These are mostly joke suggestions, but:

NaNs

nulls

voids

unhandled exceptions

... common theme here is the math/programming joke, but many of them also capture elements of anarchism, or can be interpreted as adopting a self-referential moniker which mocking the systems anarchists critique.

... probably it is a bit of a reach, but a good number of people refer to black cats as 'voids' these days, and ... pretty decent history of angry black cats as symbols of anarchism.

You could also maybe l33tsp33k them up a bit?

Use 'z' instead of 's' to pluralize?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

... common theme here is the math/programming joke, but many of them also capture elements of anarchism

first I didn't understand, but this way "unhandled exceptions" sounds very cool. maybe a bit long though

[–] [email protected] 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Depending on what programming language you are using, and precisely how you've coded a function, which exact numerical data types, and functions/methods you are using...

Actually attempting to divide something by zero will result in either NaN, Not a Number, Null, or an Unhandled Exception, as an... output value/error type.

I tried to explain 'void' a bit better, Im not personally familiar with any code language that'll have 'void' as an output/error type when you try to divide by zero... but most people use the phrase 'null and void', so, my brain associated that word in as well.

As far as how those terms refer back to an anarchist mindset?

I am 'not a number', I am a human being, so are all others.

Null or nulled out has been a cyberpunkish slang term to refer to both an individual being seen as inherently unspecial, not unique, made into just another consumer/commodity... as well referring to actually killing or otherwise neutralizing someone or something... for decades now.

It seems you get the less programmy meaning of 'unhandled exception', in the 'become ungovernable' sense, but now hopefully you also get the math/programmer meaning, and see how these all work as double entendres or at least have somewhat esoteric meanings.

... The problem is that they don't work as well in common speech as a replacement for common nouns... with at least one of the reasons why that is the case being that evidently the multifarious meanings are too esoteric, lol, which is why I said I was mostly proposing these as jokes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago

0s pirates divers arcs

idk anything else

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

For the outside the instance, something from the instance name would be intuitive.

  • Ds ("dees")

  • Divs

  • Dbs ("div/dee-bees")

  • 0s ("ohs/zees/zeros")

  • Db0s ("div/dee-bee-ohs/zees") which seems easiest for those all round.

Outside the instance, I'm not sure! I like the thinking of the mate but it still seems a bit too... something

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lmfao I kind of like db0s because if you pronounce it "oh" instead of 0 it's the default schema for all m$ databases.... Haha

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

Lol I take it back

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I’m not hosted on this instance, but I worry that named identities based on instance host may lead to tribalism, which would be unhealthy for Lemmy users and the fediverse as a whole. Using phrases like “local users” or “users of [instance name]” or “[instance name] accounts” may be a better option. We’re all in this big network to have a good time together.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Eh, i like our instance having an identity :p i don't see it as elitism, just some fun. Users of dbzer0 works just fine, too; but having a little nickname is cool

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Anarchists and elitism, can you imagine?

Doesn't lend well.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This just in: gay people are elitist because they have their own culture and in-jokes! How dare they exclude homophobic straight people by calling themselves fags and other things

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

i think they were agreeing with us :^)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sorry abt that :p they just misunderstood your reply

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Oh no, I know it's my fault. You know I have a folksy, colloquial way of speaking, and I type like I speak.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I kinda just completely misunderstood lmao oopsies

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

It's okay you're still my babe!

(Unless you dislike southern US style terms of endearment. In which case you're still my... uh, m@te.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's quite charming, though maybe an acquired taste?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago

I type like I talk, and I work with folks in a caregiving capacity who respond well to someone who doesn't sound clinical, who maybe talks like just another person in the community, and here in the southern US, that's a specific accent and affectation... So...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

"Can you imagine?" in this context usually is a scoff or an expression of disbelief.

"Doesn't lend well" here means those two things don't mesh.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I completely disagree. It's not tribalism, it's respecting coequal instance cultural differences. Each instance is self-governing, has an in group and an out group, and has culture associated with it as well as having voluntary association. If you want to erase individual instance identity and culture, good for you. Encourage that in your own instance or communities. We, as anarchists, pirates, neurodivergents and other things can decide these things for ourselves

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Also makes it easier to remember.