Notices by David Somers (omz13@mastodon.social)

@aral And now somebody is filling in some of the blanks: https://restofworld.org/2025/careless-people-book-review-facebook-global-policy/

@aral My copy should be delivered on Monday. I’m always conflicted about these kind of books: at what point do you stop turning a blind eye while taking the money and become a whistleblower?

If some technology does NOT have an #xkcd cartoon referencing it, does that make aforementioned tech irrelevent? #askfedi

@aral That’s because big company developed a solution for their specific needs not yours. If your need and their needs align, great (but probably unlikely unless you’re into homogeneity), otherwise, if you need a solution, develop it yourself (yeah, sometimes you gotta roll your own) or look elsewhere.

@aral You didn’t use sed for this?!

@evan Programmers are lazy/busy and barely have time to read the README file, let alone do due diligence on a package they’re importing. Plus, if we have connections in common, asking for any kind of reference is IRL highly dependent on personal whims and vendettas (and comes with no guarantees). For #xy it seems there were other actors “vouching” because nefarious actors will “juice” where needed: build their own network of connections to appear genuine to aid their agenda.

@evan A nefarious actor will simply juice their “verified fediverse account” with “reputation” (whatever that is). The #xy crisis seems to be a long-term play.

@aral At some stage, and if you have enough tenants to justify it, you might want to acquire your own physical server or two and build out your own VMs. Of course, that brings other issues, but is worth considering.

@aral The big problem with this modus operandi is that it is too easy for them to simply send your application straight into the bin without even looking at it. At least they should be civilized and put you on a waitlist. Meanwhile, I understand that the SOP is to get rejected from 3 different GPs then ask hse.ie to assign a GP to you.