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26 results for “Seirdy”

  1. Jupiter Rowland @[email protected] ·
    Are you referring to my mentions being @Erik :heart_agender: and @Roknrol rather than what you're used to, namely @⁠bright_helpings and @⁠roknrol? Using the long name rather than the short name and keeping the @ outside the link rather than making it part of the link? Likewise, the # being outside the hashtag link rather than being part of it?

    This is because I'm not on Mastodon. The Fediverse is not only Mastodon. It has never been. So this is not a toot.

    No, really. This is what I post from: https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/channel/jupiter_rowland, https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/profile/jupiter_rowland. I ask you: Does this look like Mastodon? Have you ever seen Mastodon look like this?

    Where I am, this style of mentions and hashtags is hard-coded. And it has been since long before Mastodon was even an idea.

    I'm on something named Hubzilla. Hubzilla is not a Mastodon instance. Hubzilla is not a Mastodon fork either. Hubzilla has got absolutely nothing to do with Mastodon at all.

    It is its very own project, fully independent from Mastodon (https://hubzilla.org, https://framagit.org/hubzilla, https://joinfediverse.wiki/Hubzilla).

    Hubzilla has not intruded into "the Mastodon Fediverse" either. The Fediverse is older than Mastodon. And Hubzilla was there before Mastodon.

    Hubzilla was launched by @Mike Macgirvin ?️ in March, 2015, eight months before Mastodon, by renaming and redesigning his own Red Matrix from 2012, almost four years before Mastodon. And the Red Matrix was a fork of a fork of his own Friendica, which was launched on July 2nd, 2010, 15 years ago, five and a half years before Mastodon. (https://en.wikipedia.org/Friendica, https://friendi.ca, https://github.com/friendica, https://joinfediverse.wiki/Friendica)

    Friendica was there before Mastodon, too.

    Here's the official Friendica/Hubzilla timeline on Hubzilla's official website to show you that I'm not making anything up: https://hubzilla.org/page/info/timeline. Scroll all the way down and notice all the features that you may right now know for a fact that the Fediverse doesn't have, but that Friendica has introduced to the Fediverse 15 years ago, five and a half years before Mastodon was launched.

    Again, Mastodon has never been its own network. The Fediverse has never been only Mastodon. When Mastodon was launched in January, 2016, it immediately federated with

    Friendica has been formatting mentions and hashtags the way I just did for 15 years now. When Mastodon was launched, Friendica has been formatting them that way for five and a half years already, and Hubzilla has done so for ten months. It is hard-coded there. It is not a user option.

    That's because not everything in the Fediverse is a Twitter clone or Twitter alternative. [b]Friendica was designed as a Facebook alternative with full-blown long-form blogging capability. And Hubzilla adds even more stuff to this. This is why Friendica and Hubzilla don't mimic Twitter.

    Another shocking fact: As you can clearly see here, Friendica and Hubzilla don't have Mastodon's 500-character limit. Friendica's character limit is 200,000. Hubzilla's character limit is 16,777,215, the maximum length of the database field. And it's deeply engrained in their culture, which is many years older than Mastodon's culture, to not worry about the length of a post exceeding 500 characters.

    One more shocking fact: Friendica has had quote-posts since its very beginning. So has Hubzilla. Both have always been able to quote-post any public Mastodon toot, and they will forever remain able to quote-post any public Mastodon toot. And Mastodon will never be able to do anything against it. (By the way: In 15 years of Friendica, nobody has ever used quote-posts for dogpiling or harassment purposes. Neither Friendica nor Hubzilla is Twitter.)

    You find this disturbing? You think none of this should exist in the Fediverse, even though all this has been in the Fediverse for longer than Mastodon?

    Then go ahead and block all instances of Friendica and Hubzilla as well as all instances of Mike's later creations, (streams) (https://codeberg.org/streams/streams) from 2021 and Forte (https://codeberg.org/fortified/forte) from 2024.

    Or you could go ask @Seirdy / DM me the word "bread" and @Garden Fence Blocklist as well as @Mad Villain of @The Bad Space to add every last instance on any of these lists to their blocklists for being "rampantly and unabashedly ableist and xenophobic by design" due to not being and acting and working like Mastodon and just as rampantly and unabashedly refusing to fully adopt and adapt to the Mastodon-centric "Fediverse culture" as defined by fresh Twitter refugees on Mastodon in mid-2022 as well as refusing to abandon their own culture which is disturbingly incompatible with Mastodon's. Essentially try and have four entire Fediverse server applications Fediblocked once and for all because they're so disturbing from a "Fediverse equals Mastodon" point of view.

    Or you could go to Mastodon's GitHub repository (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon), submit a feature request for defederating Mastodon from everything that isn't Mastodon by design and then go lobbying for support for your feature request.

    As for why I have so many hashtags below my comments, here is what they mean. Many of them are meant to trigger filters, including such that automatically hide posts behind content warning buttons, a feature that Mastodon has had since October, 2022, that Friendica has had since July, 2010, and that Hubzilla has had since March, 2015.

    • #Long, #LongPost = This post is over 500 characters long. Create a filter for either or both of these hashtags if you don't want to see my or anyone else's long posts.
    • #CWLong, #CWLongPost = CW: long post (over 500 characters long). Create a filter for either or both of these hashtags if you don't want to see my or anyone else's long posts.
    • #FediMeta, #FediverseMeta = This post talks about the Fediverse. Create a filter for either or both of these hashtags if you don't want to see me or anyone talk about the Fediverse.
    • #CWFediMeta, #CWFediverseMeta = CW: Fediverse meta. Or: CW: Fediverse meta, Fediverse-beyond-Mastodon meta. Or: CW: Fediverse meta, non-Mastodon Fediverse meta. Create a filter for either or both of these hashtags if you don't want to see me or anyone talk about the Fediverse.
    • #NotOnlyMastodon, #FediverseIsNotMastodon, #MastodonIsNotTheFediverse: This post talks about the Fediverse not only being Mastodon. Create a filter for either or multiple or all of these hashtags if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about the Fediverse being more than Mastodon. Otherwise, click or tap any of these hashtags to read more about it in your Fediverse app.
    • #Friendica: This post talks about the Facebook alternative in the Fediverse named Friendica. Create a filter for it if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about Friendica. Otherwise, click or tap it to read more about it in your Fediverse app. It is also meant for post discovery.
    • #Hubzilla: This post talks about the Swiss army knif of the Fediverse named Hubzilla. Create a filter for it if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about Hubzilla. Otherwise, click or tap it to read more about it in your Fediverse app. It is also meant for post discovery.
    • #Streams, #(streams): This post talks about the Facebook alternative in the Fediverse commonly referred to as (streams). Create a filter for either or both of them if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about Friendica. Otherwise, click or tap either of them to read more about it in your Fediverse app. It is also meant for post discovery.
    • #Forte: This post talks about the Facebook alternative in the Fediverse named Forte. Create a filter for it if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about Forte. Otherwise, click or tap it to read more about it in your Fediverse app. It is also meant for post discovery.
    • #AltText = This post talks about alt-text and/or contains an image with alt-text. It is primarily meant for post discovery.
    • #AltTextMeta = This post talks about alt-text. Create a filter for this hashtag if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about alt-text.
    • #CWAltTextMeta = CW: alt-text meta. Create a filter for this hashtag if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about alt-text.
    • #ImageDescription = This post talks about image descriptions and/or contains an image with an image description. It is primarily meant for post discovery.
    • #ImageDescriptions, #ImageDescriptionMeta = This post talks about image descriptions. Create a filter for either of these hashtags if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about image descriptions.
    • #CWImageDescriptionMeta = CW: image description meta. Create a filter for this hashtag if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about image descriptions.
    • #Hashtag, #Hashtags, #HashtagMeta = This post talks about hashtags. Create a filter for either of these hashtags if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about hashtags.
    • #CWHashtagMeta = CW: hashtag meta. Create a filter for this hashtag if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about hashtags.
    • #CharacterLimit, #CharacterLimits = This post is talking about character limits. It is primarily meant for post discovery. But if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about character limits, create a filter for any of these hashtags.
    • #QuotePost, #QuoteTweet, #QuoteToot, #QuoteBoost = This post talks about quote-posts and/or contains a quote-post. If this disturbs you, create a filter for any of these hashtags.
    • #QuotePosts, #QuoteTweets, #QuoteToots, #QuoteBoosts, #QuotedShares = This post talks about quote-posts. Create a filter for either of these hashtags if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about quote-posts.
    • #QuotePostDebate, #QuoteTootDebate = This post talks about quote-posts. Create a filter for either of these hashtags if you don't want to see me or anyone else talk about quote-posts.
    • #FediblockMeta = This post is talking about fediblocks. It is primarily meant for post discovery.

    Lastly: Having all hashtags in one line at the very end of a post that only contains hashtags is the preferred way in the Fediverse. For one, hashtags in their own line at the end of the post irritate screen reader users much less than hashtags in the middle of the text. It's actually hashtags in the middle of the text that are ableist. Besides, Mastodon is explicitly designed to have a separate hashtag line at the end of the post.
    #mastodonisnotthefediverse #fediverseisnotmastodon #cwimagedescriptionmeta #imagedescriptionmeta #imagedescriptions #imagedescription
  2. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: blocklists, FediNuke

    FediNuke transparency update:

    Added four domains to FediNuke:

    • volk.love
    • volk.network
    • peertube.se
    • tsundere.love

    Receipts are available in my blocklists page.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  3. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: re: hot take, moderation tooling

    I updated my blocklists article to say something similar (diff).

    I already include canary domains and document which ones they are to signal when staff imports a list without reading the docs, but I think a proper disclosure for use without review is still necessary. I document how to use the lists with review.

    As always: none of this applies to small and private, or single-user instances.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  4. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediMeta, bloclists update

    I have added parcero.casa to FediNuke. sorry for the delay.

    See receipts

    Sorry for being less active lately; I should have used the override process earlier. It is at consensus. By the time I added it, the domain stopped resolving. It replaced the old domain on FediNuke. If it stays down, I will eventually remove it altogether.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  5. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediMeta, blocklists update.

    contemplating making my tier-0 blocklist less easy to import but keeping FediNuke importable. now’s your chance to change my mind before i do that. also clarified some FediNuke criteria in my docs: one of it’s shortcomings is that entries must require minimal context, so it’s as clear-cut as possible. as always, it was never meant to be comprehensive.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  6. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediMeta, blocklist update

    FediNuke transparency update:

    • Added drinkanddrive.africa. See receipts on my receipt archive.
    • Removed three dead domains (catgirl.life, vtuberfan.social, natehiggers.online). They have no DNS records, or redirect to a subdomain with no DNS records. Will properly comb through for dead domains at some point later.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  7. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediMeta, blocklist update, 1/3

    Got two blocklist updates today, and a non-update with private visibility. First, a FediNuke/tier0.csv transparency update:

    I override-added an instance to FediNuke using my documented override process: caekis.love.

    Was already near consensus, and the admin was already in receipts for the gleasonator.com FediNuke entry.

    See the many receipts for caekis.love in my receipt archive. The severity was enough to warrant inclusion.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  8. Seirdy @[email protected] ·

    FediNuke/tier0.csv transparency update:

    I override-added an instance to FediNuke using my documented override process.

    feministwiki.org (subdomain “fedi.”): I blocked this on envs back in June proactively after it was automatically queued for manual review. The decision was easy, given the blatant transmisia on their root domain.

    Since then, additional receipts have cropped up and they’ve been blocked by enough bias sources for me to do the override process. I added it to my shared lists, inc. FediNuke. Receipts on my receipt archive.

    Severity is on par with the likes of spinster.xyz.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  9. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: blocklists

    Moreover, I’ve had an increase in requests to add entries to shared blocklists. I normally don’t take requests for shared lists except in extreme situations, and in those cases I only do overrides as part of the process documented in the article. If I think an override is controversial, I ask a couple sources most likely to disagree; if multiple sources are opposed to adding an entry that overrides consensus, I don’t.

    The point of FediNuke is to show what basically everyone agrees should be blocked, and that leaves out a lot of awful (and less-awful) entries. The goal isn’t to make a blocklist that’s enough; it’s to make a blocklist whose entries you probably agree with. As the docs say, this list is not comprehensive. It’s a huge compromise. There’s a reason why our blocklist isn’t just FediNuke; FediNuke is a list to compare other lists to, or a starting point for blocklist-skeptics. If you choose to trust FediNuke (and it’s fine if you don’t; I’m not “making” anybody use it on principle), then your list should eventually be a superset of what you import from it.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  10. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediMeta, FediNuke blocklist

    FediNuke/tier0.csv transparency update:

    Added some new bias sources to replace a removed one, and increased the consensus requirement. This caused some removals.

    No new instances added to FediNuke. Two dead instances removed:

    • noagendasocial.nl
    • theapex.social

    Removed 16 dead instances from my larger tier0.csv list. After these changes, another 9 instances failed to meet the consensus requirement for inclusion without overrides. I used my override process to add back 5 that were of sufficient severity. See more about my override process: I can force-add instances that almost have the minimum consensus requirement, with minimal overhead.

    #FediNuke

    #fedinuke
  11. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediMeta, FediNuke

    #FediNuke blocklist transparency update:

    #fedinuke
  12. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediMeta, FediNuke

    #FediNuke updates:

    #fedinuke
  13. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediMeta, FediNuke

    Added zhub.link to #FediNuke. zhub.link receipts.

    Not tagging #/FediBlock since it’s been there a couple times.

    #fedinuke
  14. Seirdy @[email protected] ·

    #Fedinuke updates from the past few weeks:

    • promote crlf.ninja to FediNuke. crlf receipts.
    • Nuke fsebugoutzone.org, the new home of FreeSpeechExtremist. FSE/FBZ receipts. Thresholds for adding a dolain to FediNuke are lower if there are receipts showing that the domain is run by the same people as another FediNuke domain.
    #fedinuke
  15. Seirdy @[email protected] ·
    CW: FediBlock

    Some #FediBlock entries:

    shortstacksran.ch: run by admin of needs.vodka and the former tnd.lol, continuation of squid.kids and shortstackran.ch. (note the extra “s” this time).

    social.immibis.com: sealioning, block-evasion, generally being a huge asshole. Less major than the prior entry.

    Blocklist updates:

    Short Stacks Ranch has been added to my #FediNuke and my tier-0 blocklists, as it’s the successor to an older FediNuke entry (squid.kids) and run by the admin of another FediNuke entry (needs.vodka). Documentation and receipts.

    #FediBlockDetails

    RE: https://pleroma.envs.net/objects/75b0992c-28e9-4422-a373-06ee986ed334

    #fediblock #fediblockdetails #fedinuke
  16. Rohan Kumar @Seirdy ·
    CW: COVID-19 / a way you can easily assist with research

    @Shrigglepuss If you want to make some money but don't want to compute useless numbers, you can make off Folding@Home. gridcoin.us/

    GridCoin is basically the only PoW-crypto that doesn't make me feel like I'm throwing away electricity for magic beans.

    #gridcoin
  17. Camellia Tea Ceremony @[email protected] ·

    This rather odd haiku alludes to Seiryō-ji's (清涼寺) famed state of Buddha returning to Arashiyama after a tour of Edo in 1810.

    #Seiryōji #清涼寺 #Arashiyama #嵐山 #Kyoto #京都 #autumn #haiku #小林一茶

    #seiryoji #清涼寺 #arashiyama #嵐山 #kyoto #京都
  18. ポイズン雷花 @[email protected] ·

    目覚め　Mezame
    Це канал, де читають вголос твори Poison_Raika.
    Sawayaka na kaze to tomo ni mau ine-ine

    note.com/poison_raika/n/n7a3c5

    <>

    #Poison_Raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_Japan #Japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou #sawayaka #kaze #mai #ine #tori #nakigoe #mezameru #ichi_nichi #mori #hibiku #seiryuu #yawarakai #oto #mugen #hirogaru #aoi #sora

    #poison_raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_japan
  19. ポイズン雷花 @[email protected] ·

    目覚め　Mezame
    Це канал, де читають вголос твори Poison_Raika.
    Sawayaka na kaze to tomo ni mau ine-ine

    note.com/poison_raika/n/n7a3c5

    <>

    #Poison_Raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_Japan #Japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou #sawayaka #kaze #mai #ine #tori #nakigoe #mezameru #ichi_nichi #mori #hibiku #seiryuu #yawarakai #oto #mugen #hirogaru #aoi #sora

    #poison_raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_japan
  20. ポイズン雷花 @[email protected] ·

    目覚め　Mezame
    Це канал, де читають вголос твори Poison_Raika.
    Sawayaka na kaze to tomo ni mau ine-ine

    pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=24

    <>

    #Poison_Raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_Japan #Japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou #sawayaka #kaze #mai #ine #tori #nakigoe #mezameru #ichi_nichi #mori #hibiku #seiryuu #yawarakai #oto #mugen #hirogaru #aoi #sora

    #poison_raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_japan
  21. ポイズン雷花 @[email protected] ·

    目覚め　Mezame
    Це канал, де читають вголос твори Poison_Raika.
    Sawayaka na kaze to tomo ni mau ine-ine

    note.com/poison_raika/n/n7a3c5

    <>

    #Poison_Raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_Japan #Japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou #sawayaka #kaze #mai #ine #tori #nakigoe #mezameru #ichi_nichi #mori #hibiku #seiryuu #yawarakai #oto #mugen #hirogaru #aoi #sora

    #poison_raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_japan
  22. ポイズン雷花 @[email protected] ·

    目覚め　Mezame
    Це канал, де читають вголос твори Poison_Raika.
    Sawayaka na kaze to tomo ni mau ine-ine

    pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=24

    <>

    #Poison_Raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_Japan #Japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou #sawayaka #kaze #mai #ine #tori #nakigoe #mezameru #ichi_nichi #mori #hibiku #seiryuu #yawarakai #oto #mugen #hirogaru #aoi #sora

    #poison_raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_japan
  23. ポイズン雷花 @[email protected] ·

    目覚め　Mezame
    Це канал, де читають вголос твори Poison_Raika.
    Sawayaka na kaze to tomo ni mau ine-ine

    note.com/poison_raika/n/n7a3c5

    <>

    #Poison_Raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_Japan #Japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou #sawayaka #kaze #mai #ine #tori #nakigoe #mezameru #ichi_nichi #mori #hibiku #seiryuu #yawarakai #oto #mugen #hirogaru #aoi #sora

    #poison_raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_japan
  24. ポイズン雷花 @[email protected] ·

    目覚め　Mezame
    Це канал, де читають вголос твори Poison_Raika.
    Sawayaka na kaze to tomo ni mau ine-ine

    pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=24

    <>

    #Poison_Raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_Japan #Japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou #sawayaka #kaze #mai #ine #tori #nakigoe #mezameru #ichi_nichi #mori #hibiku #seiryuu #yawarakai #oto #mugen #hirogaru #aoi #șora

    #poison_raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_japan
  25. ポイズン雷花 @[email protected] ·

    目覚め　Mezame
    Це канал, де читають вголос твори Poison_Raika.
    Sawayaka na kaze to tomo ni mau ine-ine

    note.com/poison_raika/n/n7a3c5

    <>

    #Poison_Raika #channel #radio #natsuki_karin #cevio_ai #cool_Japan #Japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou #sawayaka #kaze #mai #ine #tori #nakigoe #mezameru #ichi_nichi #mori #hibiku #seiryuu #yawarakai #oto #mugen #hirogaru #aoi #sora

    #japanese_learning #kawaii #cute #chihei_sen #tachi_agaru #taiyou
  26. Psychology News Robot @[email protected] ·

    DATE: August 15, 2026 at 10:00AM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: The biology of fandom: Live sports synchronize spectator heart rates and elevate oxytocin

    URL: psypost.org/the-biology-of-fan

    Attending a live sporting event is linked to changes in hormone levels and physiological alignment among fans. New research published in Translational Psychiatry suggests that watching a college basketball game is associated with shifts in oxytocin, a hormone involved in social bonding, alongside synchronized heart rates across the crowd. These physical changes tend to correspond with feelings of unity, enjoyment, and a desire to return for future games.

    Oxytocin is a chemical messenger often referred to as a bonding hormone. It plays a role in social behavior, emotional regulation, and how humans connect with one another. Cortisol is a different hormone that serves as a primary indicator of physiological stress. Heart rate synchrony occurs when the cardiac rhythms of multiple people naturally align in response to shared experiences or emotions.

    Medical treatments aiming to boost oxytocin through nasal sprays to help with social difficulties have produced mixed results in clinical settings. This inconsistency motivated scientists to look for everyday activities that might naturally stimulate the body’s own hormone production, known as endogenous oxytocin.

    “Because clinical trials of intranasal oxytocin have produced modest and inconsistent effects, we became interested in natural, non-pharmacological ways of engaging the body’s own oxytocin system,” said Takashi Matsui, an associate professor at the Institute of Health and Sport Sciences at the University of Tsukuba in Japan.

    Previous investigations into martial arts and competitive video gaming, or esports, provided a starting point for this project. “My own background in judo also shaped how I approached this research,” Matsui explained. “I have long been inspired by judo’s principles of Seiryoku-Zenyo, making the best use of one’s physical and mental energy, and Jita-Kyoei, mutual welfare and benefit, which have led me to view sport not only as a means of personal development but also as a setting for mutual growth and social connection.”

    Sports events generate shared emotions and unified attention among large groups of people. “Our previous work found that judo practice promotes endogenous oxytocin release, while our subsequent research showed oxytocin release and heart-rate synchrony during face-to-face competitive and cooperative esports without physical contact,” Matsui said. “These findings led us to ask whether spectators might similarly become connected simply by sharing their attention and emotions at a live sporting event.”

    The researchers observed 60 adult spectators, including 21 women, who attended one of two home collegiate basketball games at a university in Japan. “The study was conducted during TSUKUBA LIVE!, the University of Tsukuba’s home-game initiative,” Matsui noted. Most attendees were students or local residents rather than highly devoted fans. This allowed the scientists to study casual fandom rather than extreme sports devotion. To preserve the natural viewing experience, the researchers did not systematically control for factors like menstrual cycle phases or the use of hormonal contraceptives.

    Before the game began, the attendees provided a saliva sample and filled out questionnaires about their current mood. The attendees also wore an optical heart rate sensor on their upper arm to continuously monitor their cardiovascular activity. At halftime and immediately after the game ended, the participants provided additional saliva samples and completed follow-up surveys. The researchers later analyzed the saliva for concentrations of oxytocin and cortisol.

    The surveys asked attendees to rate their momentary enjoyment on a sliding scale. The participants also indicated their sense of unity with both the home and away teams, as well as with other fans, by choosing overlapping circles that represented interpersonal closeness. At the end of the game, the attendees answered questions about their level of immersion, known as a flow state. This concept describes a feeling of being completely focused and losing track of time.

    Finally, the participants rated their intention to attend future games. To measure heart rate synchrony, the researchers mathematically calculated how closely the heart rate patterns of individuals sitting in the same physical section matched each other over time. They specifically looked at time lags to see if one person’s cardiovascular changes mirrored those of their neighbors. Following these measurements, the authors evaluated how the biological data related to the psychological survey responses.

    The hormonal responses varied depending on an individual’s starting point. Spectators who began the event with relatively low oxytocin levels experienced an increase over the course of the game. Those who started with high baseline levels maintained those elevated concentrations throughout the event.

    “What surprised me most was that oxytocin increased among spectators who began with lower levels and remained elevated among those who began with higher levels, without direct physical contact being required, a particularly notable finding because touch is one of the strongest natural stimuli for oxytocin release,” Matsui said.

    At the same time, cortisol levels dropped across the board, resulting in an overall increase in the ratio of oxytocin to cortisol. The data provides evidence that live sports spectating shifts the body toward a socially receptive state rather than a stress-dominated one. Higher oxytocin levels corresponded with greater enjoyment and a stronger sense of unity with both the players and the fellow fans. Statistical models indicated that the increase in enjoyment provided a bridge connecting the oxytocin levels to the feelings of unity.

    During the game, the cardiovascular rhythms of the spectators began to align. This synchrony increased during both halves of the basketball game, meaning that the patterns of the fans became more tightly matched from moment to moment. “Second, ‘heart-rate synchrony’ does not mean that everyone’s heart was beating at exactly the same rate or at the same instant,” Matsui clarified. “It means that their patterns of heart-rate change became increasingly similar over time.”

    This physiological alignment was stronger among people attending the same game and sitting in the same section, suggesting it was a specific response to the shared local environment. The researchers found a positive association between the absolute levels of salivary oxytocin and the degree of heart rate synchrony among the crowd. People with lower baseline oxytocin showed the most pronounced connection between their hormone levels and their physiological alignment.

    The alignment of heartbeats was also linked to psychological outcomes. During active play, closer heart rate alignment was associated with stronger unity toward the home team and a deeper state of immersion in the game. “At these games, spectators’ patterns of heart-rate change became more synchronized during and after play, while higher oxytocin levels and stronger synchrony were associated with greater enjoyment, a stronger sense of unity, and an intention to attend again,” Matsui said.

    The authors noted that perceived unity seemed to connect the physical heart rate responses to the positive psychological experiences. “Moreover, these responses emerged not at an elite professional or international competition, but at local university basketball games involving largely casual spectators,” Matsui said. “World-class sporting events can generate extraordinary emotion and shared excitement, but attending them in person is difficult for most people.”

    “Our findings suggest that people may not need to travel to a major global competition or watch elite athletes to experience the social value of live sport: even local university games may provide an accessible setting in which sharing attention and emotion is accompanied by coordinated hormonal, physiological, and psychological responses.”

    The observational design means the findings do not guarantee that watching the game directly caused the hormonal and physiological changes. Other elements of the environment, such as the score, the crowd noise, or the time of day, could play a role. Natural daily rhythms typically cause cortisol levels to drop in the evening, which might explain some of the observed hormone shifts. Measuring oxytocin in saliva provides a convenient estimate, but it does not definitively map onto oxytocin levels in the brain.

    The hormonal and biological shifts also differed from person to person. “First, our findings do not mean that watching a sporting event makes everyone’s oxytocin rise in the same way,” Matsui told PsyPost. “Spectators who began with higher levels maintained their elevated concentrations, whereas those who began with lower levels showed an increase.”

    The study focused on young adults at a modest college game, so it remains unknown if similar biological alignment happens in larger professional sports environments. It is also uncertain how these findings might apply to more diverse age groups or highly passionate sports fans.

    “Our current study showed that oxytocin responses differed according to spectators’ pre-game levels,” Matsui said. “Building on this finding, we are now examining additional factors, including age, previous experience playing the sport, whether the supported team wins or loses, and live versus at-home viewing, to understand when and for whom shared spectatorship fosters physiological synchrony and a sense of unity, and how viewing environments might strengthen this social connection and potentially help alleviate loneliness.”

    Testing these biological markers in virtual or digital viewing settings could also offer insights into modern social connection. “From a translational perspective, we want to test whether heart-rate synchrony can serve as a scalable, non-invasive indicator of endogenous oxytocin-linked social engagement and guide low-burden, non-pharmacological approaches built around shared attention, collective emotion, and social exchange, from community sport to esports and socially engaging live streams,” Matsui said.

    “Ultimately, through controlled studies with clinical researchers, we hope to evaluate whether carefully designed shared-viewing environments can support social connection among people with psychiatric or neurodevelopmental conditions involving difficulties in social functioning.”

    “One reason I find sports spectatorship promising is that, unlike direct physical contact or active participation in sport, it can be accessible to people across differences in age, fitness, and playing ability,” Matsui said. “Live sport may therefore offer a valuable everyday setting for studying, and potentially supporting, how shared attention and emotion help people feel connected.” He added, “Because loneliness is a major health risk, accessible community sporting events may offer valuable everyday opportunities for people to feel part of something larger and connect with others.”

    The study, “Endogenous oxytocin-linked heart-rate synchrony and social connection during live sports spectatorship,” was authored by Takashi Matsui, Takafumi Yamaguchi, Daisuke Funabashi, Shion Takahashi, Hiroki Matsuoka, Ren Takamizawa, Yukina Tachibana, Shohei Dobashi, Kiyonobu Kigoshi, Shinzo Yamada, and Hideki Takagi.

    URL: psypost.org/the-biology-of-fan

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