Notices by Johanna, CanCon variant (johannab@cosocial.ca)

CoSocial hasn't been around that long, but dang, I missed that this past week was my Fediversary!

Joined mastodon.social, then quickly, wandering.shop, on Nov 14 then 15th, respectively, 2017.

@evan congrats on the book premiere!

@evan OMG. Get well soon, that's awful!

Also don't be stubborn - do what the docs and OT and PT tell you and take the pain meds! It wasn't for an accident, but that was the #1 most important advice when I was hospitalized.

@evan Did you bring enough for everyone? because really, that's just taunting! 😆

Looks delicious.

Happy #feditips Friday!

I just in the past few minutes stumbled upon https://fediwall.social , a configurable social media wall that lets you configure and display selected public content in a rotating panel based on server, accounts, or hashtags.

You can do this on the fly, or customize and save a link, or install and run your own, by the look of it.

@evan 'Bout damn time.

Canada's total abandonment of any effort to continue peacekeeping operations has similarly frustrated me. Time was, OUR troops would've been the first in to a UN mission like that.

Hi CoSocial! Today we have a Fediverse #pledgeDrive going on! CoSocial operates a bit differently, we don’t have a public donation link. I asked if we could be included (we’ll see) for member-interest-raising.

That said - please visit the hashtag and posts. Get to know your Fediverse neighbours, and if there’s another node out there providing a community or vibe you appreciate, consider if you can chip in some coffee money.

The whole point of #fediverse is we don’t stand alone.

@evan I need a right in the middle option of either “sometimes” or “it depends”.

Because whether I like it or not about whether I want to answer about my ink and more about the intention or agenda behind being asked.

Holy crap I got into grad school.

WITH a “scholarship” offer?

BRB, having an imposter syndrome panic attack for a bit.

@evan I picked “qualified” only because the answer is “so long at robots.txt remains the relevant and respected way to do this”.
I fear it might not really be adequate and we can do better, nowadays.

@evan Thanks. It’s long past, but my wished-for return to university studies has really brought up for re-examination some of the reasons that it’s taken me so long to get back to it.

I keep almost talking myself out of it before I’ve given it another go. There are lots of reasons around it, but the fact that we still hear about stuff like this pushes all the wrong buttons.

@evan I possibly take shit like this a bit personally. I almost said a bit TOO personally, but no, to do so is dismissive of my own experiences as an undergraduate, in an engineering school, with professors or grad students who got waaaaayyyy out of their lane with students. I don’t even mean as sexual predators, just in abusing their positions to control and manipulate undergrad lives in ways that had nothing to do with their academic areas or courses.

Wow. This situation is something else, and totally skeeves me out as the “academic” involved was a lecturer where I am currently enroled, and apparently still IS at my alma mater.

Sorry for the paywall. I debated posting the “paper” that led to this but ended up feeling like that kindof elevates the Petersoneseque incelery instead of the academic/campus safety issues. Feel free to ask if you want to go digging, or look up @dfisman.bsky.social ’s posts.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/engineering-lecturer-dropped-by-waterloo-but-not-guelph-in-wake-of-paper-suggesting-professors-should/article_7303417c-e24e-11ee-a6b3-138e0b191d04.html

@evan Wow. Glad to know it wasn’t “last photo seen on Evan’s camera”. Nice shot.

@evan No kidding, I bet Syria would like a word, also. 😩

The news firehose this morning has been … something.

This is not an easy thing to read, even from a distant and privileged place of personal safety. Don’t click through if the content warning or this preamble give you pause. But I don’t think the fact that it happened should be hidden away. It is well-written, thoughtful and compassionate, if horrific.

https://crimethinc.com/2024/02/26/this-is-what-our-ruling-class-has-decided-will-be-normal-on-aaron-bushnells-action-in-solidarity-with-gaza

@evan @Archnemysis Oh, definitely.

I really want to emphasize, to truly have the ability for everyone to run their Friends&Family instance, and actually have enough reach to even participate in federation, they need better support (tools and education) to be available.

I hope I didn’t seem to be excusing the bad attitude some small instances get thrown at them, but I really do think it is mishapprehension and misattribution of where the problem really lies.

@Archnemysis @evan

SOME of that sentiment, at least in the past week or so, is coming from the finding that poorly managed AP servers are vulnerable to abuse and create problems for the broader network.

Mastodon is scrambling to mitigate some of that. but there are a lot of “friends and family” servers out there that need more support than just Dad or Aunt Liz are able to put in.

Unfortunately most folks are not careful enough in expressing their reasoned objections and just seem hostile.

@evan I could have selected either “Qualified” option, frankly.

I’d like to see the default able to be set by the Admin tools, THEN I’d like to see an automated onboarding process that walks a new user through several of the more significant privacy-vs-exposure options and how to set them as they are joining their instance.

@shiri Shiri that’s the most apt analogy I’ve found so far! May I appropriate that? I find myself sometimes trying to explain fediverse concepts to outsiders.

I usually resort to the villages-of-many-small-unique-buildngs vs. one-single-monolithic-high-rise allegory.