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1. Embed this notice
   Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 18:27:26 JST Aral Balkan

   If you don’t support alternative technology you won’t get alternative technology.

   The people who build the alternatives have to afford a roof over their heads and food on the table too.

   https://getsession.org/donate

   (On a related matter, Small Technology Foundation gets under €400/month in donations – https://small-tech.org/fund-us. Thank you to everyone who contributes but I don’t think anyone believes this is in any way enough for us to survive. Instead I’ve had to sell two family homes we had in Turkey and now Laura contracts in the mainstream while I work on getting the Small Web ready for this year. This is how little support we have. It is, quite frankly, appalling when you think that the shittiest startup ideas regularly get $5M in VC and I wouldn’t recommend doing what we do to my worst enemy, much less to a recent graduate who wants to work in ethical tech.)

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 18:38:30 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     (And no, the dude who works at Google during the day and writes his own personal blog software at night isn’t going to save you. He’s going to be too busy working at Meta next and then perhaps even Palantir, too, if the price is right, all while patting himself on the back for his contributions to “open source” and “the open web”.)

   • Embed this notice
     Russell Garner (rgarner@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 18:45:34 JST Russell Garner

     in reply to

     @aral I knew this environmentalist from Brighton once. A photographer. A good one. He started doing AI images right from the start. Now he works for Google's AI team.

     I'm not* judging.

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 18:46:17 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Russell Garner

     @rgarner Environmentalist*

     * Terms and conditions may apply.

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 18:52:49 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • sortius
     • Russell Garner

     @sortius @rgarner I’m seeing the post as deleted. What was it?

   • Embed this notice
     sortius (sortius@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 18:52:50 JST sortius

     in reply to

     • Russell Garner

     @rgarner @aral that hurt to read

   • Embed this notice
     Russell Garner (rgarner@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 18:54:23 JST Russell Garner

     in reply to

     • sortius

     @aral @sortius it was the one about the environmentalist. I realised I'd all but identified him.

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 18:54:23 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • sortius
     • Russell Garner

     @rgarner @sortius Ah, fair enough. No worries.

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 19:33:33 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Bob Mottram :debian:

     @bob Hmm, interestingly they don’t use blockchain to store messages (which would be horrible) but apparently they have a proof-of-stake token that they use to incentivise the nodes in a swarm (based on a quick skim of their FAQ).

     (I don’t use it myself but I had heard of them.)

   • Embed this notice
     Bob Mottram :debian: (bob@epicyon.libreserver.org)'s status on Sunday, 24-May-2026 19:33:34 JST Bob Mottram :debian:

     in reply to

     @aral "Session is a decentralized, end-to-end encrypted messenger. Elevate your privacy with blockchain technology."
     
     That's a nogo.

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 25-May-2026 03:53:38 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Ruarí Ødegaard

     @ruario I agree.

   • Embed this notice
     Ruarí Ødegaard (ruario@social.vivaldi.net)'s status on Monday, 25-May-2026 03:53:39 JST Ruarí Ødegaard

     in reply to

     @aral nah, that one can die in fire.

     Session Messenger is far too tightly linked to crypto because the app runs on blockchain‑based network. Also the node operators are rewarded with their cryptocurrency.

     Put another way, the network is powered by a crypto‑based incentive system in the background. We need less crypto not more things pumping it up. This was clearly some crypto bro fantasy that has not worked out.

     https://cryptosmartnews.com/session-overview-decentralized-messenger-app-and-its-role-as-depin/

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 25-May-2026 04:19:16 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     (Regarding the edit, see their web site and https://infosec.exchange/@WPalant/104489144670580454)

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 25-May-2026 06:56:46 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Lydia Conwell

     @lydiaconwell Hey, thanks for the feedback. I know, I need to find time to update it. Cobbler’s children’s shoes and all that.

     But that’s part of the problem. I’m too busy actually building the thing at the moment.

   • Embed this notice
     Lydia Conwell (lydiaconwell@todon.nl)'s status on Monday, 25-May-2026 06:56:48 JST Lydia Conwell

     in reply to

     @aral You know my super power is criticising things?

     So you know this comes from a good place ...

     But I follow your link and I don't know what I'd be donating to. Then I click 'about' and still I don't know. I have to follow more links to know what your project is about.

     In fact, I end up on a different website -- your own website -- before I get more of a clear explanation of what the project is.

     And it's a good explanation.

     I think you need to make it clear what your project is on your donation page and your about page. And a simple tagline/explanatory paragraph is no bad thing.

     This is good:

     "The Small Web is for people (not startups, enterprises, or governments). It is also made by people and small, independent organisations (not startups, enterprises, or governments).

     On the Small Web, you (and only you) own and control your own home."

     Although I think there's room from start up independent businesses on the small web, no?

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 25-May-2026 21:50:26 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • freagle

     @freagle Crypto = Ponzi scheme. Proof of crypto = Ponzi scheme that destroys the planet

     Alt-right = fascists. Whoever told you that is either a fascist or clueless.

   • Embed this notice
     freagle (freagle@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 25-May-2026 21:50:27 JST freagle

     in reply to

     @aral I'm asking genuinely here. What is wrong with crypto and alt-right?

     I've been told the alt-right isn't extreme nor Nazi.