pleroma.debian.social

pleroma.debian.social

jlines | @jlines@pleroma.debian.social

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@fmarier I have come across this too, and find it a worrying sign. I am not sure I want to deal with an organisation which is so ignorant of the internet that they think they are helping their users by having a box to enter your username and a dropdown for whether you are (gmail.com, outlook.com, live.com ... - I think there were less than 10).
Almost as alarming to find the number of Universities - who should know better - running their email on MS Exchange.

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@Nickiquote @alwirtes @sk76 @futurebird at University (a long time ago!) some of the halls of residence were fitted with 2 amp sockets an students bought 13A extension socket blocks and fitted them with 2A plugs. You could trace the wiring in the room by the warmer patch in the wall when a kettle was in use!

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@mansr @lampsofgold @futurebird I worked on an oil rig which had both 110V and 240v sockets available, and plugged a US VT220 computer terminal into a 240V socket. The device ends of the cables were IEC 60320 C13/C14 connectors, with different mains plugs, and there were plenty of both types available. It ran for several days 😀

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@rwg @aram I find it hard to understand why journalists have not realised that Commercial Social Media is a rival, not a friend, and that by elevating someone else's platform to 'the voice of the people' they have abdicated their previously powerful position. In Britain 'The Daily Mail Reader[ was courted by politicians. They should have built their own social media presence. https://wordpress.debian.social/jlines/2021/10/17/federated-social-media-and-journalism/

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re: Olimex order arrived, safely and quickly 😃
@olimex some people (=Advertising executives) ask 'how can this Fediverse thing survive without Advertising' - but companies which provide a good service should not need to pay someone to say they are great - their customers will do it for them. Being present in places where their customers hang up will allow them to let people know about new things they are doing, with a good chance that they will be informing interested people.

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Olimex order arrived, safely and quickly 😃

My order of two Pioneer Freedombox systems, one for home, and one to lend to friends so they can try it, arrived. The order was put in yesterday, and I am in the UK, and we are in the Christmas period. Excellent service from @olimex and DHL (who don’t have a Fediverse presence.)

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@wouter @auschwitzmuseum Unfortunately when a group of people start to see members of another group not as people but as things then they no longer think of it as a crime. From their point of view this was more like the records a pest control officer would keep, an achievement, not a cause of shame. We should all be wary of the trap of simplifying and dehumanising. All (immigrants/police/jews/arabs/republicans/democrats/blacks/whites/straights/gays....) are evil/good.

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@mike @jdp23 @rwg I see one of the biggest problems with current social media is that the algorithms keep showing readers more of what they like to see, but rather like issues of highly processed foods, it is not always a good thing to be fed only what you like.

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@mike @rwg @jdp23 I see Flipboard and similar as being able to add value as content aggregators, similar to the way the BBC has ‘The Papers‘ articles on its website. Flipboard, by working with publishers, hence filtering out unreliable sources, could give access to a spectrum of views on, say Electric cars.

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@mnot @1br0wn sometimes I am so tempted to tap someone on the shoulder and say 'I am so sorry your piles are painful' or whatever personal thing they are discussing, or comment on a film or restaurant they have mentioned.

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@rwg @jdp23 @mike Very much agree on the running their own servers - while appreciating Flipboard's promotion of the Fediverse. Flipboard, and Facebook, Twitter etc flatten the name space, removing useful clues for the reader about the real source. If something appears on a monolithic site, which appears to be from something like a source you trust, you could easily be misled. The reader is expected to trust the platform, not the source.

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@Paulatics you certainly came across better, I felt slightly sorry for Marc, as it is hard to be the man on the ground stuck with defending an indefensible position. Canada would benefit from looking at the European Union @EUCommission which appears to be demonstrating world leadership in this space.

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@cwebber I have been an XMPP fan for ages, and find it really frustrating that due to networking effects (of the social kind) everyone non technical is hooked on WhatsApp and how good and useful it is (and it is, I use it, but reluctantly), when the concept of Instant Messaging is good and useful. I am very concerned about Who pays for WhatsApp . People assume the WhatsApp fairy.

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re: The problem of proving 'real' identity

I have written more on The Proof of Identity Problem on my blog

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The problem of proving 'real' identity

As the world becomes more digital increasing numbers of organisations want us to “prove” that we are who we claim to be. There is a fundamental problem there, in that, in a digital world, if I give organisation X the proof that I am some particular person, there exists the possibility that someone will use this same information to “prove” to organisation Y that they are me.

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@lcamtuf I was looking for steganographic software within Debian, and came across snowdrop, and although it did not meet my needs I appreciated the diversion into vacuum tubes and banknotes

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@stefano there are many good things about cloud technology, but clouds do not *have* to be remote and run by some external cloud provider. There are also advantages for privacy and security about putting more thought into where data should be, which need not be the same place for all data. Also a more local cache, fetched in advance from a central location would allow things to proceed in the event of a comms issue.

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@jwildeboer @EUCommission I have been following them for some time. Although I am not an EU citizen they often demonstrate understanding of areas such as software freedom and the need for social media platforms which are not controlled by giant commercial entities. I wish more government level entities had the same level of awareness.

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re: Another reason to dislike WhatsApp

@john as well as concerns about Who pays for WhatsApp

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Monitoring for mail delivery problems

After an issue where a large mail provider stopped accepting mail from my default outgoing mail server (detected by my wife, who sends more mail than I do) I decided I had better know if this happens again, and have written it up as Monitoring for email delivery problems in case it is useful to someone else.

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