Notices by Felix Hlatky (mellifluousbox@mastodon.social)

@llamasoft_ox Have you seen the movie? I would be curious to know what you think about it :) @Gargron

@pfefferle I don't know. It feels like you're defending this practice a bit too much. I guess the question I'm probably asking is: Does a kebab shop (good or bad) even truly *need* a high-contrast, eye-popping, AI-generated sign/flyer? Or isn't an AI sign maybe somewhat of an indication that as a potential customer I'm dealing with a bottom-quartile kebab?

@thomasp

@pfefferle I guess it should not matter but psychologically it still does and I think I'm clearly not alone here. You just attribute more value to a clean Apple logo than to the cheapest AI stuff that apparently didn't even go through one review loop.

@kraftner

Who else is noticing AI-generated illustrations in the real world appearing at new hairdressers, ice-cream parlors, kebap shops, butcheries, everywhere?

Sure, there's no reason why AI slop should be confined to the online world. But as long as I will still be able to distinguish AI signs from non-AI signs, I will consider these AI stores/restaurants as inferior quality. Is that wrong?

#AI

@Gargron So happy for you!

I just created my first collection on history. Which historians or other history-related accounts in the fediverse am I missing?

#history #collection #collections

https://mastodon.social/collections/116843436442889237

I will be at the Digital Humanism Conference on Friday with @j2bryson @eSayeed @ruchowdh @schneier @jud1ths1mon @samvie @Ki7sun3 @festal

#DigHum2026 #vienna

ICYMI here is the excerpt from a powerful talk by @anneapplebaum I attended three weeks ago.

"We can fight back, not just by talking but by building. We can begin to collaborate on the construction of alternative technologies that would suit not just Europe but the entire democratic world. So instead of getting our information from platforms that are designed to divide and exploit us, we could found and fund new companies. We could change the rules that govern them."

https://www.youtube.com/live/WEnUruup9YQ?si=uApJdF6-Jza1aG5H&t=2192

RE: https://eupolicy.social/@CPDPconferences/116528281172195037

I'll be in Brussels next week. Who wants to meet?

@noybeu @Freiheitsrechte #brussels #cpdp #cpdp2026

@quattrocchi @warning @Sujiyan @Linux @haubles

A server-level announcement from @TheAdmin has been shared a couple of hours ago:

> Regarding version updates: The source code for this server has been modified from the original version, so updating may be slightly difficult. The operations team is currently evaluating the feasibility of a server version update. Please follow @TheAdmin for future updates on progress.

This is actively being worked on now with @MastodonEngineering team.

@fosstodon I'm trying to coordinate with their admin to find a solution swiftly.

I will be in Perugia again this year with @Mastodon with @bjoernsta @PaulNemitz @saskia @michael

Who wants to meet up?

https://www.journalismfestival.com/programme/2026/managing-the-open-social-web-for-media-companies

#perugia #ijf26 #IJF

RE: https://flipboard.com/@thenewsdesk/business-nbfr4cs7z/-/a-y19a10ybQXmguq_npSaO6A%3Aa%3A43591897-%2F0

Yesterday, a court in New Mexico ruled that Meta is guilty of failing to protect children from sexual exploitation and harmful content. Meta's spokesperson responded, “we respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal.”

@zuck @mosseri - I'd appeal to you to stop exploiting people to line your pockets directly, but it's clear that the empire you've built by getting people addicted to your products has left you out of touch with reality.

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The problem with Meta’s business model is that they’re beholden to shareholders, not their community. We are not publicly traded, we are publicly FUNDED.

Mastodon has no incentive to keep you addicted. Our incentive is to make you happy, and help you build friendships, because it’s the right thing to do for you, and it's the right thing to do for humanity.

If you believe in a better way forward for our digital social spaces, please help support us by donating: https://joinmastodon.org/sponsors#donate

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We're hiring for a part-time position in Finance & Operations at @Mastodon. Fluent German and English language skills are a requirement. In terms of location it's a hybrid role so we're looking for candidates in #berlin or #vienna. I believe this is a rare opportunity to learn about the organisational side of technology non-profits and open source.

https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mastodon/6c969533-e00e-468a-959c-e3c366ff10a4/

#fedihire #job #jobs

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Mastodon/116086899600949599

I want to expand on the age-verification working group plan, to avoid confusion. The goal is to create an informal group of experts in the areas of law, privacy, trust & safety, and technology. Their agenda is explicitly not to _implement_ age verification/assurance, neither in the Mastodon software nor in our own servers. The group will assess various risks for the user base, the server admins, and the project and analyse it from different perspectives to provide a balanced recommendation.

@thomasfuchs Thanks for the feedback. I'm afraid we can't afford an editor at the moment. I hope I clarified it.

Mastodon is looking for recruiting support to help us hire two exceptional backend engineers for multiple ambitious projects. More news on the specifics and the job description to follow soon.

This is a rare opportunity to work closely with our team on a non-technical project. If you might be interested in this or know someone, please get in touch. Ideally this should be fully or partially pro bono and start end of January.

#fedihired #jobs #hiring

@neil I've really liked these reminders in our collaboration so far. Thank you for the fantastic pro-bono work you did for @Mastodon this year. I'm looking forward to continue on the topics we have open and then also to meet at #FOSDEM ! Enjoy your time off :)

Thanks to everyone contributing to our community, through contributing your work, giving back financially, by providing advice, or by using Mastodon and other fedi services. Wishing you a good end of the year and see you all in 2026 :BlobhajTinyHeart: