this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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101
What does kbin mean? Why is kbin.social called that? (lemm.ee)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
47 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Is it just random letters arrived to by keyboard mashing like a lot of federated websites seem, or is there any thought behind it?

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[–] [email protected] 134 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Here is the answer on the Polish instance directly from @ernest, kbin's creator. For reference, he was being accused of being a gun lover based on the name of the Polish instance "karab.in" and "magazines," as well as his Monty Python profile pic with a gun in it.

https://karab.in/m/fediverse/p/217281/The-reason-for-the-strange-naming-and-uncomfortable-images-on#post-comment-311421

Here are the relevant sections from Ernest on the origins of both kbin and magazine:

Hey, I'm the admin of kbin.social. The name "kbin" comes from the Linux "/sbin" directory - I've mentioned it multiple times before. The name of the Polish instance - karab.in - does indeed reference a rifle, but it's just a play on words, and it was actually chosen through a survey among other domains. It's simply easy to remember and sounds nice in Polish. There's no place for nazi bullshit on my instances.

On the other hand, the name "magazyn" refers to the virtual edition of a late 90s gaming newspaper :D

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for providing the references. This should be at the top.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

No problem, hopefully it will make its way up there haha.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We still don’t know what the K stands for though.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The K stands for Kool, same as in KDE.

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

🀣🀣

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

Kool kool kool

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

So /sbin from Linux + k from karabin from the Polish word for rifle

But the creator doesn't want it the instance to be seen as rifle-focused or otherwise militant and violent, so it just carries the "rifle-wielding polish linux user"-name without wanting to focus on militant Polish nerds.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I found this

according to ernest it stems from /sbin. though one of the early instances was named karabin based on the karabine gun and thus shortened to kbin (or rather expanded from kbin).

(Ernest WiΕ›niewski is the creator of kbin)

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It also explains "magazines".

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ernest has actually said that the name "magazine" isn't gun related and that it's a reference "to the virtual edition of a late 90s gaming newspaper" (see this thread and my other comment for the full story)

Someone in that thread also explains that in Polish the names are different:

Polish word "magazyn" means storage or newspaper, but "magazynek " is a gun mag.

EDIT: Didn't word good.

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

This just changed my whole worldview.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

🀯

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Great. Now we gotta Google what a Karabin Gun is.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

but like... why tho?

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

Because of the rapid fire content, I guess?

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

It's such a bad domain name

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's Polish for "rifle".

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

so it's a "gun rifle"? why in the world would they name a platform after it?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It was a play on words, from /sbin. More info in the top thread.

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

Not sure, perhaps he liked the domain karab.in. But honestly, there's plenty of weirder names out there, even among the biggest brands.

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

This just happens to have the "karabin" in the name but it simply means a rifle.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

probably a big bin for k's

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (3 children)

And we're gonna need all those different k's if ever want to find out how Kenya is spelled.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So there are no countries starting with K in Africa except Kenya with starts with a K but starts with a K?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Welcome to AI powered search engines.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

The fuuuture!

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

Ah, the joys of large "language" models...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Wtf?

Just tried this for myself and got the same result. That's bizarre.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's from this discussion of the limitations of cat-I-farted.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

cat-I-farted

Only French speakers will get that one. Bonjour !

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

That's chatGPT. But be very afraid, it's totally gonna take your job!

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

ChatGPT won't be what takes your job, it's what comes after.

I seriously don't understand the people who disregard it based on the state of ChatGPT. It will only get better over time. And by over time, I mean weeks to months; this tech is maturing faster and faster. The change from GPT3 to ChatGPT to GPT4 to GPT4 that can see images, has all come in the blink of an eye.

Human labor is on borrowed time

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

Maybe historically. But the more I used or got exposed to chatGPT the more I realised how bad it still is. It certainly won't be coming for my job, even in the next 20 years, I'm sure of that. It's a bit like nuclear fusion. It's been ready for use in the next 25 years for like 75 years.

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

If you're using ChatGPT, you're using an outdated model. GPT-4 is better than it and has been out for some time.

ChatGPT is weaker and not something I'd use frequently. GPT-4 is much stronger and much more useful. And the next generation is coming soon, which will be better than GPT-4.

It's not like fusion in its current state since LLM AIs are already ready for use. The only task is making it more effective. Using the fusion example, it would be like if we'd finally developed a reactor that generates more energy than it consumed, and now only sought to make it create more power

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So kind of like K Mart?

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

Fun fact, Kbin is actually where all the big Ks from all the signs went when all the Kmarts shut down. Only, it turns out they were made of meat all along, so the refrigeration costs have been pretty significant... Kbin only runs the social media platform to earn enough money to pay for it all.

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

Kmarts blue light bin of special K

Kbinception

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'd read somewhere that there's some sort of Linux programming reference in the name, but I don't know anything about Linux so I can't quite remember. Don't quote me on that, though

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Linux has directories (folders) that contain programs. The two major conventions are /bin (short for binary which is another name for an executable program) and sbin (system/super user binaries).

Kbin seems like a play off of that, don’t know what the k implies tho.