Notices by Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Thursday, 14-Nov-2024 04:37:27 JST 
Scott M. Stolz
For those who are curious, I just wanted to give an update on what I am up to.
The Hubzilla Association Executive Council will be coming together to create a plan for Hubzilla.org and the project as a whole. This includes opening up the association to new members. Expect some announcements soon.
Federated Works is close to officially releasing our Neuhub Tab theme for Hubzilla. That will be released under the MIT License.
We are also close to completing an example addon that can be used as a model for creating your own addons. We had to do a lot of reverse engineering to create it, but it is commented code that shows multiple ways to create your own addon. Also to be released under the MIT license.
We are going to use the code from that addon to create custom websites using Hubzilla as the base. We will be redesigning all of our websites, and all of our client's websites. Expect many new hubs to show up in the statistics. Some of which may not look how you expect since they will be custom designs.
WisTex TechSero now offers Hubzilla hosting, or more specifically Hubzilla-as-a-Service. We install and update Hubzilla for you. No command line required. You just focus on being the administrator of Hubzilla itself. We manage the technical stuff.
And related to that, we will be offering Web Design and Customization Services for Hubzilla. Your website, your blog, and your decentralized social media presence can all be under the same domain name. We can even create membership areas and client login areas for your website. All the benefits of social and all the benefits of having your own custom website.
Once those are launched, then I can work on the next projects, which includes a fediverse-enabled project management system, and a public hub powered by Hubzilla that people can sign up for.
All of this stuff is a long time in the making. We have been working behind the scenes to make this happen. It is finally time to launch.
P.S. For those who are wondering what is going on, I wear many hats and lead several project teams. I am the President of the Hubzilla Association, Executive Director of Federated Works, and Founder & Manager of WisTex TechSero Ltd. Co. All of them use Hubzilla and similar technologies. I use funds from my business to support various open source projects. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Saturday, 13-Apr-2024 07:12:44 JST
Scott M. Stolz
The problem we have today is centralization of power and money. In a capitalist society, they consolidate power by creating huge mega-corporations, and by designing their school system to teach everyone how to be employees of corporations. In a communist society, they consolidate power by seizing all of the property and giving control to government bureaucrats & party leaders, and by designing their schools system to teach everyone how to be employees of state-owned enterprises.
Notice that neither of them are teaching you how to empower yourself and become financially independent. Why? Because they either want you to work for the big corporations, or they want you to work for state-owned enterprises, both of which are controlled by the people at the top. They know that they can easily control and manipulate you if you don't have financial freedom.
So, we have to be careful of how we react to this situation. We don't want the situation described in the song Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who. As the lyrics say: "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."
So commercial enterprises aren't necessarily bad. I'd rather see a person start their own business or side gig or cooperative than have to work for a giant corporation.
For example, an artist should be able to sell the art they make. A web developer should be able to sell web design services directly to customers without having to work for someone else. A group of people should be able to create a team and start a company that has a positive impact on society. People should be able to create a cooperative or association that engages in commercial activities.
So we need to be supportive of small businesses, cooperatives, employee-owned companies, public benefit corporations, associations, not-for-profits, and other smaller operations, because that is what creates wealth and gives people independence, and makes them more resistant to control and manipulation that is coming from the top.
They want to keep you poor to control you. They want you to reject wealth. That way you are poor and powerless and they can easily step on you.
So, I understand not wanting to support the mega-corporations, especially those who track you and treat people poorly. But just because someone wants to be compensated for their work, that is not a bad thing. After all, even employees expect to get paid for their work. Not all commercial activities are bad.
CC: @HistoPol @kritikaPensulo -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Tuesday, 19-Mar-2024 21:24:30 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@silverpill
DIDs are built from permanent identifiers: a public key, a URL, or an address of a record in a distributed database. I don't know if Zot and Nomad have that.
Zot and Nomad have permanent identifiers that are based on public keys. In the database, the user's identity is stored as a hash. Currently, the key pair and hash never change for an identity, but the URL and address can change. The primary URL and address tell you what server is authoritative and where to send messages.
And since Zot and Nomad allow you to have clones, as long as your message is signed with the correct keys, it is considered you, regardless of which clone (domain name) that you posted from.
If you wanted to be able to rotate or change keys, an authoritative server would have to tell you that the old key and new key are equivalent and the same identity. And then your software would need to be able to recognize that. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Tuesday, 19-Mar-2024 20:05:32 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@silverpill One way to implement key rotation would be to implement a hybrid solution, similar to how nomadic identity is handled in the Zot and Nomad protocols.
Your fediverse address is tied to a server, but your identity is not. You can change your server & address, and still keep the same identity.
You could use such a system to handle key changes for an identity. Even though the identity itself is nomadic, an authoritative server can announce a key change for an identity, similar to how an authoritative DNS server can announce changes to a domain name's IP address.
Of course, none of that uses DIDs. But you might be able to take some of the concepts and apply it to DIDs. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Monday, 04-Mar-2024 15:33:11 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@Jupiter Rowland
Mastodon was launched in 2016. Hubzilla was both launched and had its first stable point release in 2015, and it's a fork of the now-defunct Red Matrix from 2012 which is a fork of Friendica from 2010. Also, Mastodon announced ActivityPub integration in September, 2018; Hubzilla did so in July. In both cases, Hubzilla was there first. It is not an intruder. Deal with it.
My understanding is that in 2010 and 2011, it was still Friendika and still MIT Licensed. Friendica came about when they forked Friendika and made it AGPL instead of MIT License.
Free Friendika - MIT License
#^https://github.com/duthied/Free-Friendika
Friendica - AGPL License
#^https://github.com/friendica/friendica
(Even their GitHub account says it is a fork of Free Friendika.)
I am guessing that Red Matrix was a fork of Free Friendika as well. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Monday, 04-Mar-2024 15:07:50 JST
Scott M. Stolz
One thing we plan on doing with Hubzilla is redesign the website and documentation and user interface, and position Hubzilla as a viable rival to Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, and anyone else that comes along.
We have more advanced features, but people don't know about them. It is time to change that.
That won't stop everyone from complaining, but I think we can attract a significant user base if we lean into our unique feature set and make sure that people know about it. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Monday, 04-Mar-2024 15:07:06 JST
Scott M. Stolz
That is the paradox of popularity. In the beginning, people are like "why aren't more people using this; everybody should be using this; it is better than ________." And then once it gains popularity, these same people are "why are all of these outsiders ruining our little hamlet?; I didn't mean those people should use it; I liked it better when it was small."
The fact is, with growth, things change.
But because of the federated nature of the #Fedi, there is still hope because people can still start small to medium sized communities, often based on a niche or a theme, and still survive and still maintain their community's culture. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 19:02:33 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@Qazm That was sort of my point. If you want to have more control over who can see and respond to your posts, you probably should stop using Mastodon and switch to a platform that supports privacy, access control, permissions, and moderation. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 16:53:19 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol
Copy and paste is possible, anywhere, always, yes.
Difference: copy & paste will not leave a trail to your original post, a link will.
Actually, it can. I can manually type your handle and what you said and it will reference you. Just mentioning someone's handle such as @HistoPol@mastodon.social references them (i.e. @HistoPol) -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 16:35:44 JST
Scott M. Stolz
We should talk. We're doing some interesting things over at Hubzilla and Federated Works, including combining social media, forums, and publishing. We are updating the UI and working on new addons that bring in unique features.
Here is an example of a new theme we are working on, to be released soon:
#^https://federated.works/channel/collaboration
And we can even create custom web pages as well (including database driven ones):
#^https://federated.works/page/collaboration/home
If you tell us what you need, we should be able to figure out how to make it. Depending on how you want to structure your website, you can integrate articles, forums, and social media into one website.
And if you need a custom theme, I'd love to work with you on that. I know you are familiar with the framework since we used your themes as inspiration for our own.
I'd love to talk with you and @Damon if you are interested. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 09:32:18 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol
I'd say, unless you limited the post to your followers, however if one of your followers were on the #Friendica or #Hubzilla platform, they'd still be able to quote your post and then you'd still lose control,...
Not exactly accurate. Anyone can copy and paste your words into the post box and quote you. Some platforms make it easier than others though.
Also, Mastodon is rumored to be including quote posts soon, so even on Mastodon, people will be able to quote you. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 09:13:40 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol
I begin to like #bridges. #FascismProof and #AutocracyProof, so-to-speak :)
That is one of the main reasons the fediverse exists and and is structured the way it is.
There still are some concerns about trolls commenting on your posts, but that can be dealt with using the proper tools.
“The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” -- John Gilmore
This applies to the fediverse as well. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 09:13:01 JST
Scott M. Stolz
There is a reason why the fediverse is decentralized and federated. As John Gilmore once said about the internet, the same applies to the fediverse.
“The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” -- John Gilmore -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 09:11:58 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol On platforms like Hubzilla and Streams (and most other platforms that support threaded conversations), you have more control.
Basically, a threaded conversation is a container, and the person who started the conversation controls what goes into that container. If you, as the person who started the conversation, don't like what someone said, you can delete their post. Since it is part of your container, a delete notification goes out to everyone participating on your thread and the post gets deleted for them too. The person who originally posted it would still have their copy, and their followers might still see it, but it would no longer be distributed via your thread to people following the thread. You can also prevent someone from commenting on your post at all, which in that case, their comment gets rejected and is not distributed to anyone.
It works similar with forum topics, except the forum owns the initial conversation. The administrator or moderator can delete posts and restrict commenting.
The threaded conversation model gives you more control over the conversation than non-threaded platforms based on pre-X Twitter. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 08:41:49 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@Qazm There are other options, like using a platform that has privacy, access lists, permissions, and better moderation tools. Mastodon only has block lists, which limits user's control over their own posts.
For example, on Mastodon you can block someone so you can't see their posts, but you can't stop them from replying to posts they have already seen. On Hubzilla, you can actually turn off commenting on your posts so no one can reply or so that specific people can't reply, and can even delete other people's replies to your thread. You control the conversation in your thread. You can't do that on platforms like Mastodon.
Also, on Hubzilla, it is all about user choice. So if Hubzilla implements the Bluesky protocol, both the admin AND the user would have to opt-in. Users would have to actively turn on the Bluesky addon to federate with Bluesky. Otherwise none of their posts will ever be sent to Bluesky. I am pretty sure Friendica will work the same way.
So Hubzilla and Friendica would actually do a better job at blocking Bluesky than the bridge does. And the bridge actually has a lot of options for blocking Bluesky.
So instead of blocking Hubzilla and Friendica, you probably want to start using it instead, since it gives you better protection against Threads and Bluesky than Mastodon does. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 08:41:26 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol It is my understanding that boosts won't be passed on if you block the bridge or add #nobridge to your profile because the boost still has you as the original author. This would be true no matter which software a person is using.
But if someone quotes you (on any platform, not just the ones mentioned) or takes a screenshot of your post, that would not be blocked. And people can do that now without the bridge. Windows comes with software that allows people to take screenshots. So do phones. And most other fediverse platforms other than Mastodon allow quoting.
The fediverse has over 100 different projects and multiple protocols already connected to it. If you are concerned that people will quote you or boost you on other networks, you might want to consider a whitelist servers where you only allow approved Mastodon instances.
With or without the Bluesky bridge, you are about to be outnumbered by Threads, WordPress, and other projects coming online. ActivityPub is an open network, after all. Always has been.
But the nice thing is that you can control who you connect with by blocking or whitelisting. In your case, being on a whitelist server would probably address your concerns. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 08:04:47 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol
I am a political commentator, as well as an activist. This is why I cannot remain silent:
For someone like you, you would probably want to post publicly, to as many platforms and protocols as you can, so you reach a wider audience. But you would need to choose a platform with better permissions and moderation tools.
For example, you would want to control who can comment on your posts and be able to delete comments that are toxic. Mastodon does not have this capability, but most platforms that have threaded conversations give you that ability. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 07:59:02 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol I didn't think you hated anyone. I was just commenting on how there were many people who were reacting this way. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 07:33:21 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol I fully support people's right to block whoever they want to block, and for any reason. It is called freedom of association.
I personally don't think blocking millions of random people because of one person changes things, but I respect people's right to do so.
A better reason to block Threads and Bluesky is that you object to their policies and practices. I think that is a better stance than "I hate [insert person here]."
And I do understand that for some people, their hatred towards an individual is because of what that person has done. But hate is toxic. And it is better to take actions because of careful thought and consideration, rather than deep emotional rage.
I am not saying any of this applies to you, personally, but I have seen individuals who do act as described. I get the impression that you are upset with Elon because of his actions. That is better than the unchained emotional rage some people have been showing. -
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Scott M. Stolz (scott@authorship.studio)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 05:48:23 JST
Scott M. Stolz
@HistoPol
I know what #whitelisting is general, but how would I go about this on #Mastodon?
The whitelist, if I don't want to do everything manually (no-go,) would need to be "intelligent" and able to discern the platform s.o. is using for his handle...
I don't use Mastodon, so I don't know for sure. Some people have mentioned that there is a whitelist mode that is called "limited federation mode" or something like that. The admin would have to turn that on since it is for the whole instance.
If you don't want to use whitelist mode, people have been talking about blocklists that can be imported into Mastodon. I am not familiar with how they work. Maybe someone who uses Mastodon could answer this one?
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