@nixCraft@mastodon.socialSo let me get this straight: First, it was Elon. Now, it is Mark. Two guys are removing all moderation rules on social media. And are people asking another billionaire to build alternative social media? Do you even hear yourself? That is not going to fix anything. Maybe we should go back to the days of blogs, mailing lists, individual forums, and RSS feeds and end this madness of centralized social media apart from the federation. I’m just saying
@nixCraft yes, we should. But the majority isn’t going to. We really have to realise that this is reality now.
@jarno sad reality
@nixCraft yes and I don’t know what we should do with that realisation. But we should stop acting like things are going to get better because people will wake up or something. That is just not going to happen anytime soon.
(I think people in general will have to find out the hard way)
@wonka @jarno @nixCraft well of course they are. What else should they do? Have you seen idiocracy? Thats not science fiction or comedy. Thats the US of A, today. That and „dont look up“ should be mandatory for every person in the US to watch, hell in the world, until the situation improves.
My suggestion: inform and organize yourselves with local groups and start legal proceedings as well as protests against these knuckleheads.
@jarno @wonka @nixCraft yeah, I can relate. But thats not how the world works. I live in the place were people frenetically screamed for a fascist to save them who then turned and kicked off a genocide of biblical proportions. Some of us still acted and we will too. I know I will. Who cares. We even have a law that allows us to make an end of this. ;)
There are 1000s of local Indivisible groups across the country, 100s more being formed by new members & new people joining existing groups.
We're all angry and scared, but we're coming together to #ProtectOurFreedoms and #DefendDemocracy.
People can look for a group near them at https://Indivisible.org.
I also recommend bookmarking https://bit.ly/FreedomOverFascism. It's updated regularly with additional messaging advice for countering the dog-whistles and scapegoating.
@joeinwynnewood @jarno @wonka @nixCraft looks neat. I‘m not in your core area but the issue remains the same worldwide so I‘ll definitely try to check it out.
@haui @jarno @nixCraft imo, if any science can save us, it won't be the 'hard' sciences that the people who are doing these things are self-professed fans of
it will be humanities and empirical sciences like sociology, psychology
the problems are in our heads and the sociotechnical systems we have created (and I think they interact to our disadvantage)
hard agree.
When people "get" how much we are indoctrinated into our values and priorities via socialization…it's a game changer. my favorite example is how millions of US soldiers went to "fight against fascism" in WWII, and came home and continued to oppress certain groups…without any self awareness.
to paraphrase: it's the social hierarchies, stupid.
Hint: all cultures touched by colonization will have lots of sick values baked right into them.
@mmby @haui @jarno @nixCraft i detest this western concept of hard and soft sciences. This is an inherently faulty framework which turns into an invisible force preventing engineers from thinking about the impact they're making and "humanity" oriented people from making any impact.
I implore everyone to be well rounded people who train themselves in a plethora of subjects without such arbitrary constrictions.
@Xtrems876 @mmby @haui @jarno @nixCraft It's probably also a tool of sexism, people trying to say that women's brains aren't for the "hard sciences" or some bullshit. Which even within the sexist framework is wrong, because medicine is a hard science and nurses are a huge thing.
@mmby @haui @jarno @nixCraft They certainly interact to somebody's disadvantage, that being marginalized groups of all stripes. If you aren't a wealthy, cishet, able-bodied, Christian white male the deck is stacked against you. The more qualifiers beyond that you get, the further it's stacked. And eugenics is still real, and not only in the recent GOP. You know those laws that penalize disabled people getting married? That's eugenics. No other explanation for it, don't marry so don't breed so don't have more disabled people. As a blind person I'm legitimately worried about my future in trying to get work because you absolutely know one of the things the "efficiency department" is going to strip is the EEOC, and gut social security for disabled people at minimum, they'll go back for the regular old people later, and medicaid letting me have healthcare...
@haui @jarno @nixCraft I've concluded people just aren't all that interested and will always use whatever is the lowest effort regardless of side-effects. They just don't care about these things. Over my ~30 years in the Internet there as been alternative after alternative . . . there's no mass market for an alternative. Not if it requires even a single additional click of a mouse. And reading even the simplest documentation? Forget about it.
@jarno @nixCraft a new conciesness is arising within people we can each find it all around us. Sadly I do wonder at the speed of transformation and "finding out the hard way" is a likely trajectory. That said I am an optimistic realist and occasional dreamer, I hold onto the belief that this evolution. Transformation is happening, change is not enough. When two things end, and they are as we speak dying, that is #patriarchalcapitalism & national #sovereignty. A new civilisation will arise, hopefully not from the ashes.
@nixCraft if there only was some decent kind of decentralised social media.
@nixCraft agree. Decentralize....
Maybe we should go back to the days of blogs, mailing lists, individual forums, and RSS feedsThe golden age of the Internet. Good thing many people still use all those things, all you need to do is join them to enjoy a better life.
@tyil 
@BartV@mastodon.social Not using Mastodon 
Most Fediverse software allows some form of Markup, usually Markdown. I'm using MissKey, but Pleroma also allows markup to be used. You can find more at https://joinfediverse.wiki/Fediverse_projects, but I don't know all of them.
@nixCraft the fediverse holds us back from the descent into madness each day
@nixCraft or possibly even Usenet newsgroups?
@nixCraft "Maybe THIS billionaire won't be a libertarian whackjob huffing his own farts and he'll act in MY best interests..."
I mean, the rust belt voted for Trump a second term, hoping he'll help them out THIS time...
@nixCraft I like having the freedom to lie... Just make up crazy statements and no need to put any disclaimer like" satire" - Donald Trump wears orange face paint to hide the AIDS spots...
@nixCraft Cohost tried, bless them for their efforts. But monetization raised its ugly head.
@nixCraft usenet and BBS's
@nixCraft And Australia is looking to have another crack with the eSafety Commissioner in court against the social media companies and has not ruled out legislating against them.
@nixCraft not just fact checking and moderation, but also throwing diversity rules to the side.
What we need to do is generate a culture where those sites and apps are seen as a culture of stupidity, unreliable for even basic information, we could even flood it with shitposts that make them unusable. (Though the latter seems pointless)
@nixCraft 
One major problem for blogs and other sites now is discoverability. I run a fairly large open source news site, and Google's most recent algorithm update decimated my traffic. The search monopoly is definitely part of the problem too.
@nixCraft
Come into the Fediverse!
Mastodon and Others are waiting for you
@nixCraft The rich will always be the first to lick the boot of tyrants.
To fall from the top is the longest fall.
Not necessary
Just send everyone who doesnt want to be a willing victim this,
@nixCraft neocities is a thing. Most of us won't go back to the way it was, but I think there might be a way forward. There has to be some sort of a community driven alternative to this corporate trash.
@leshy_and_his_oak@mastodon.social @nixCraft@mastodon.social yeah sadly most of the internet population has their heads so far up the corporate assholes they don't want something UNLESS it is owned by a corporation while still having the right to say, "Corporations are utter bullshit and evil and we need to do away with billion dollar corporations" it is ridiculous and embarrassing that they aren't willing to stand by their words and practice what they preach.
@nixCraft I am right there with you. I'm back to blogs and RSS (including for podcasts) and it's great. That plus Mastodon has improved my online life tremendously!
All these tools can and need to be open source and in the regulated public domain. We need to stop the grifting and the manipulation… it is getting out of hand.
Book recommendation on this topic:
Doctorow, Cory (2023) - Internet Con. How to Seize the means of computation
@nixCraft yes, they are removing moderation because of "free speech", and then start censoring the crap out of it.
Mention on FB or Instagram that you are leaving and then add a link to your pixelfed or mastodon account, apparently results in an instant ban.
@nixCraft i never left the blogs, forums and rss feeds :) much healthier, and it makes me a happier person too inthink!
@nixCraft yeah, I intend to get rid of FB because that statement. Need to get all the pictures, pass details for Mastodon and I'm out. Still pondering on Reddit and Discord.
@nixCraft install Apache and the LAMP stack on a system. Connect it to the web. Use DDNS to keep the address public.
Become a server and host sites for the resistance.
Hint: they aren't very smart and can't think outside the box. Don't use IO port 80.
@nixCraft I’ve been saying this for a while. But convenience freedom, decency, accurate information, etc. beats it all. No one wants to think, they want instant gratification.
@nixCraft We shouldn't go back. But we should get inspired by them and build something for today.