Discussion Ethically Online

[Le Pertti]

Honestly nothing beats language courses done by professionals. I don't think these language apps really help.

I mean of course, but for me the app is more how it fits into my life, its more about me being able to do 20 minutes everyday at random times, rather than 2 hours once per week.

 

[Nebulys]

I feel like learning a language can’t be like convenience food, no matter what Silicon Valley tech bros tell you. Even before the AI slop Armageddon, Duolingo’s success rates were in the pits.

You’d be better off buying a book and doing 20 minutes a day from that. Not everything needs to be a digital tech solution.

 

[Le Pertti]

I feel like learning a language can’t be like convenience food, no matter what Silicon Valley tech bros tell you. Even before the AI slop Armageddon, Duolingo’s success rates were in the pits.

You’d be better off buying a book and doing 20 minutes a day from that. Not everything needs to be a digital tech solution.

I actually tried that, tried to use actual language books daily but yeah I just couldnt learn the same way I did with duolingo. Its not like didnt try other ways before I started thinking about duolingo again, it sucks but it was what worked the best for me.:/

 

[lashman]

 

[Le Pertti]

Its a shame about bluesky, because the potential of ATProto seemed better than ActivityPub, best would be like a marriage between the two, or at least for AP to have more data portability.

 

[Nebulys]

Well, Proton Docs has already failed its reliability test for me.

I have very few spreadsheets. I rarely access them. Maybe a couple of times a month, when I'm dipping into the estate savings account so I can pay for things to tie up my mum's affairs. I document the outgoings on a spreadsheet just in case HMRC or the courts audit me because they think I'm embezzling funds.

I had to pay an outstanding tax bill of mum's today, wanted to access this spreadsheet today for the first time in a few weeks, and Proton Docs is just Not Working.

This really isn't good enough. I wouldn't consider this work mission critical, and I can come back to it tomorrow or in a few days, but it's a real bad look. It's pretty much convinced me I need to self-host.

 

[NarohDethan]

Well, Proton Docs has already failed its reliability test for me.

I have very few spreadsheets. I rarely access them. Maybe a couple of times a month, when I'm dipping into the estate savings account so I can pay for things to tie up my mum's affairs. I document the outgoings on a spreadsheet just in case HMRC or the courts audit me because they think I'm embezzling funds.

I had to pay an outstanding tax bill of mum's today, wanted to access this spreadsheet today for the first time in a few weeks, and Proton Docs is just Not Working.

This really isn't good enough. I wouldn't consider this work mission critical, and I can come back to it tomorrow or in a few days, but it's a real bad look. It's pretty much convinced me I need to self-host.

Yeah I'd never trust my docs 100% on the cloud, because you'll eventually get screwed.

 

[Nebulys]

Yeah I'd never trust my docs 100% on the cloud, because you'll eventually get screwed.

For me, the appeal of Proton is it's in Europe and isn't Big Tech.

But I cannot, and I stress absolutely cannot, use a browser only for my work.

Centralisation is great until it topples over. Proton isn't immune from that.

 

[NarohDethan]

For me, the appeal of Proton is it's in Europe and isn't Big Tech.

But I cannot, and I stress absolutely cannot, use a browser only for my work.

Centralisation is great until it topples over. Proton isn't immune from that.

Agreed, I'm not sure if they're working on a desktop solution though

 

[lashman]

 

[NarohDethan]

Modern day Gestapo is verified on Bsky

No words.

 

[Parsnip]

I mean, would someone stop ICE from registering and verifying themselves on one of bigger mastodon instances? Genuinely, would mastodon social or mastodon online (for example) block them from registering at all?

 

[lashman]

I mean, would someone stop ICE from registering and verifying themselves on one of bigger mastodon instances? Genuinely, would mastodon social or mastodon online (for example) block them from registering at all?

they both in the EU, so ... yes, absolutely

 

[Parsnip]

they both in the EU, so ... yes, absolutely

You sure? I mean, are they breaking mastodon rules by registering? Are there any examples of shitbag organizations, US or otherwise, trying to register on said instances and getting blocked from doing so?

The only way i could see them joining the fediverse would be to make their own instance and then everybody would block them.

Which is specifically why I mentioned the bigger instances as an example.

 

[lashman]

You sure?

100%

I mean, are they breaking mastodon rules by registering?

at least 3 if not more they don't do the "only stuff you do on our platform counts" bullshit

 

[NarohDethan]

You sure? I mean, are they breaking mastodon rules by registering? Are there any examples of shitbag organizations, US or otherwise, trying to register on said instances and getting blocked from doing so?

if they join, say, Mastodon social and they don't do anything, you can just grab your account and send it to another instance.

if they set up their own instance, any other instances can block them from federating them.

social already blocks nazi / far right instances.

 

[Parsnip]

100%

at least 3 if not more they don't do the "only stuff you do on our platform counts" bullshit

I don't know man, feels like you might have a bit too rosy and optimistic view of this.

Maybe it's just me but the fact that in the year 2026 mastodon development still hasn't moved away from Microsoft owned github is more than enough to make me doubt how they would handle ICE hypothetically registering.

if they join, say, Mastodon social and they don't do anything, you can just grab your account and send it to another instance.

if they set up their own instance, any other instances can block them from federating them.

social already blocks nazi / far right instances.

The fact that I could move away from the instance is a bit beside the point I was making.

 

[NarohDethan]

I don't know man, feels like you might have a bit too rosy and optimistic view of this.

Maybe it's just me but the fact that in the year 2026 mastodon development still hasn't moved away from Microsoft owned github is more than enough to make me doubt how they would handle ICE hypothetically registering.


The fact that I could move away from the instance is a bit beside the point I was making.

I mean, can they register? Sure. That doesn't mean they would roll out the red carpet for them like bsky did.

bsky promoted itself as 'the twitter without nazis', a safe space for the minorities suffering unmoderated abuse from twitter users. Once the money ran out, bsky leadership threw them under the bus.

 

[Le Pertti]

The fact that I could move away from the instance is a bit beside the point I was making.

But it is an important point, thats the freedom in the fediverse, you can move away from instances you dont agree with, hell you can make your own instance and block the whole server.

Sure that sounds like more work than blocking them on bluesky but you would still be on bluesky which has made the message.

About bigger instances on the fediverse, they are run by people and not corporations, they have no obligation to allow any government agencies if they dont want to, and if they would do it then they would get pressure from rest of the fediverse because they could risk loosing members who donate and or getting defederated by other instances.

 

[Parsnip]

I mean, can they register? Sure. That doesn't mean they would roll out the red carpet for them like bsky did.

bsky promoted itself as 'the twitter without nazis', a safe space for the minorities suffering unmoderated abuse from twitter users. Once the money ran out, bsky leadership threw them under the bus.

They just verified the account like any other account, I wouldn't call it a red carpet. Seems like it got no special treatment one way or another. The verified account tracker is a third party thing.
But I don't disagree with the rest, they definitely promoted themselves as a safer alternative to twitter, but yeah everybody probably knew that that was never going to last.

But it is an important point, thats the freedom in the fediverse, you can move away from instances you dont agree with, hell you can make your own instance and block the whole server.

Sure that sounds like more work than blocking them on bluesky but you would still be on bluesky which has made the message.

About bigger instances on the fediverse, they are run by people and not corporations, they have no obligation to allow any government agencies if they dont want to, and if they would do it then they would get pressure from rest of the fediverse because they could risk loosing members who donate and or getting defederated by other instances.

I'm specifically making a point about the "main" mastodon instances and whatnot and whether they would handle it any differently. I would like to see it happen one way or another tbh.



I guess I'm just a bit tired of the garbage news news cycle as of late.
And whenever I see a "look at this shit bsky did this time, mastodon would never" it just feels a bit like people are elevating fediverse (and mastodon specifically) into this weird sainthood status, and that's certainly not going to backfire.

 

[Parsnip]

That's just them skeeting? What's your point?

 

[Le Pertti]

I guess I'm just a bit tired of the garbage news news cycle as of late.
And whenever I see a "look at this shit bsky did this time, mastodon would never" it just feels a bit like people are elevating fediverse (and mastodon specifically) into this weird sainthood status, and that's certainly not going to backfire.

Oh I agree, I have talked lots about how toxic it is when fediverse keeps talking so much shit about other to make themselves look good

 

[LEANIJA]

Truth Social, Trumps very own social media platform, runs on Mastodon.

So yeah, they can just take the software and make their own instance/version.

 

[Le Pertti]

Truth Social, Trumps very own social media platform, runs on Mastodon.

So yeah, they can just take the software and make their own instance/version.

lol I had no idea!

 

[NarohDethan]

Things that I need to pay for:

• Obsidian
• Proton Mail
• Inoreader

 

[Le Pertti]

Things that I need to pay for:

• Obsidian
• Proton Mail
• Inoreader

Why obsidian? Isnt it just for file synching, which you are open to use any cloud service you want?

Right now I only play for my webhosting and domain but me and my partner do have apple family plan and amazon and youtube family, we did cancel disney and netflix, so baby steps!

 

[Nebulys]

The only Big Tech sub I have left is Apple Music and the 50gb iCloud drive for photos. Looking to wean myself off that too.

 

[lashman]

Why obsidian? Isnt it just for file synching, which you are open to use any cloud service you want?

i'm just hosting my own sync server for Obsidian it's great

 

[Parsnip]

My only subs are for a yearly domain and yearly email.
Maybe I'll get some hosting going at some point but I don't really have anything to put on a homepage at the moment. That could change of course.

 

[Baofinity]

Across Europe and beyond, systemic disinformation is eroding public trust and weakening democratic decision-making. Many see the problem. Far fewer are helping shape what comes next. We believe… | Anna Zeiter, Prof. Dr. | 157 comments

Across Europe and beyond, systemic disinformation is eroding public trust and weakening democratic decision-making. Many see the problem. Far fewer are helping shape what comes next. We believe there is an urgent need for a new social media platform built, governed and hosted in Europe. With...

www.linkedin.com

https://cybernews.com/tech/europe-social-media-w/

The new platform, W, will require identification and photo validation to ensure that its users are both humans and who they claim to be

Kindly fuck off

Also it looks like it will use ICP blockchain

 

[Le Pertti]

Across Europe and beyond, systemic disinformation is eroding public trust and weakening democratic decision-making. Many see the problem. Far fewer are helping shape what comes next. We believe… | Anna Zeiter, Prof. Dr. | 157 comments

Across Europe and beyond, systemic disinformation is eroding public trust and weakening democratic decision-making. Many see the problem. Far fewer are helping shape what comes next. We believe there is an urgent need for a new social media platform built, governed and hosted in Europe. With...

www.linkedin.com

https://cybernews.com/tech/europe-social-media-w/

Kindly fuck off

Also it looks like it will use ICP blockchain

Yeah fully tracks with the trend, real identities fully tracked and monitored. While I fully agree with their ambition, this isn't the way

 

[lashman]

Kindly fuck off

Also it looks like it will use ICP blockchain

Yeah fully tracks with the trend, real identities fully tracked and monitored. While I fully agree with their ambition, this isn't the way

Aral Balkan (@aral@mastodon.ar.al)

Amazing. W (I kid you not): A bunch of VC-funded European Big Tech assholes attempting to rewrite history by erasing the federated European alternatives that already exist to create their own centralised, surveillance-ridden X clone. Same shit, different flag. And I’m sure the usual fools will...

mastodon.ar.al

 

[Le Pertti]

I saw that there was also a new EU bluesky instance, so all in all it is nice to see a push for more EU stuff but yeah mastodon has been there all along lol

 

[NarohDethan]

Across Europe and beyond, systemic disinformation is eroding public trust and weakening democratic decision-making. Many see the problem. Far fewer are helping shape what comes next. We believe… | Anna Zeiter, Prof. Dr. | 157 comments

Across Europe and beyond, systemic disinformation is eroding public trust and weakening democratic decision-making. Many see the problem. Far fewer are helping shape what comes next. We believe there is an urgent need for a new social media platform built, governed and hosted in Europe. With...

www.linkedin.com

https://cybernews.com/tech/europe-social-media-w/

Kindly fuck off

Also it looks like it will use ICP blockchain

W for

 

[lashman]

W for

W? more like L, amiright?

 

[Le Pertti]

Seems W Social will use ATProto

 

[lashman]

Seems W Social will use ATProto

as if it couldn't possibly get any worse, lmao

 

[Baofinity]

Wow. A turd built on top of a turd.

VC circle jerk.

 

[NarohDethan]

How do you organize your personal projects? Pen and paper?

I have limited space so I'd like to have this organized electronically, however, I'd also like it to be as separate from the iOS / Android ecosystem as posible. I'm not sure if Obsidian or Bear is good enough for it.

 

[lashman]

How do you organize your personal projects? Pen and paper?

I have limited space so I'd like to have this organized electronically, however, I'd also like it to be as separate from the iOS / Android ecosystem as posible. I'm not sure if Obsidian or Bear is good enough for it.

Obisidian is good for everything - it's open-source, so it has like a gazillion plugins for every single thing imaginable

 

[LEANIJA]

Obisidian is good for everything - it's open-source, so it has like a gazillion plugins for every single thing imaginable

Obsidian isn't open source though. It's under a proprietary license

 

[lashman]

Obsidian isn't open source though. It's under a proprietary license

is it? huh, i thought it was, my bad then

 

[Le Pertti]

How do you organize your personal projects? Pen and paper?

I have limited space so I'd like to have this organized electronically, however, I'd also like it to be as separate from the iOS / Android ecosystem as posible. I'm not sure if Obsidian or Bear is good enough for it.

Another vote for Obsidian from me, that and physical notebook and a fountainpen. it doesnt take that much space!

 

[LEANIJA]

is it? huh, i thought it was, my bad then

I think, if i understood it correctly, it's source is available to look at (correct me if I'm wrong) but you couldn't fork it and market it as your own.

 

[lashman]

I think, if i understood it correctly, it's source is available to look at (correct me if I'm wrong) but you couldn't fork it and market it as your own.

i just checked and yeah, you're right!

 

[LEANIJA]

i just checked and yeah, you're right!

Oh but it seems the plug-in system is open source, that's likely why you thought the whole thing is open

Vivaldi is similar btw, not under an open source licence, but very transparent and pro-user otherwise.

 

[lashman]

Oh but it seems the plug-in system is open source, that's likely why you thought the whole thing is open

Vivaldi is similar btw, not under an open source licence, but very transparent and pro-user otherwise.

yeah, that might have been it then, haha thanks for clarifying

 

[NarohDethan]

Another vote for Obsidian from me, that and physical notebook and a fountainpen. it doesnt take that much space!

I’ll dive into it. Do you know if you can have iCloud and their cloud sync?

 

[Le Pertti]

I’ll dive into it. Do you know if you can have iCloud and their cloud sync?

Yeah that’s what I do, just store the library in iCloud. Not sure yet how to synch with my Linux.

 

[NarohDethan]

Yeah that’s what I do, just store the library in iCloud. Not sure yet how to synch with my Linux.

You gotta pay I think if not self hosted