Notices by contrapunctus ✊🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (contrapunctus@en.osm.town)

@Suiseiseki "If you are a maintainer, why haven't you maintained any relationships?" 😉

Another #Jabber / #XMPP channel I'm deeply involved with is the #OpenStreetMap channel. It started off with ~5 people and has now grown to ~90!

If you're interested in using or editing #OSM in any capacity, please join us.

https://xmpp.link/#openstreetmap@conference.macaw.me?join

As before, if you're new to XMPP, this guide has everything you need to get started.
https://contrapunctus.codeberg.page/the-quick-and-easy-guide-to-xmpp.html

#BoostsAppreciated

@janneke @jackdaniel @tiang Probably "personal project".

@hellomiakoda In a similar vein -

Thank you for calling Spectra. We are happy to inform you that we have launched a way to troubleshoot issues yourself in the My Spectra app. This new feature allows you to find the issue and fix it yourself! Install the app today. It's available on Android Play Store and on the App Store.

I get this each time I call my ISP...and it's been this way for years. 😬

@Suiseiseki I'm sure you've noticed I prefer "freedom-respecting software" myself 😉 Was just going along with @vkc 's flow.

If proof is necessary... 😀
https://en.osm.town/@contrapunctus/114061768961150109

@vkc
Tired - FOSS is apolitical.

Wired - FOSS has always been political.

Inspired - Is FOSS anarcho-communist, authoritarian-communist, or laissez faire-/right-libertarian?

I've seen a lot of people talking about leaving #WhatsApp. Great!

Only, don't replace one WhatsApp with another.

#Signal and #Threema are centralized services, and just as vulnerable to #enshittification as Twitter or WA.

Instead, use a platform that's standardized and federated - #XMPP, a.k.a. #Jabber.

The easiest way to use it is to install #Quicksy from the Play Store, App Store, or F-Droid.

Or check out my XMPP guide for more options -
https://contrapunctus.codeberg.page/the-quick-and-easy-guide-to-xmpp.html

Another happy landing. Or - another mappy workshop 😇

I look @#₹%ing gross in the photos, but I'm really satisfied with how this workshop went 😀

https://mas.to/@fossunited/114205780662308374

Also, thanks to @prav for sponsoring the travel costs. My official role at the conference was to help with the Prav talk and table 🙂

1/

#OpenStreetMap #BiharFOSS

@HistoPol @debacle @thevril @pluralistic Both Prav and Quicksy accounts can be used with any XMPP client, and can talk to any XMPP server - no lock-in.

And those who don't like using phone numbers for registration can use other services like https://conversations.im and still talk to Quicksy and Prav users.

2/

@HistoPol @debacle @thevril @pluralistic Quicksy is a great #XMPP service (with Android and iOS clients), which is trivially easy to join. Uses phone numbers for registration.
https://quicksy.im/

Prav is a fork of Quicksy with only an Android client for now, but with a #cooperative structure and better customer support.
https://prav.app/
Why Prav is Important
https://contrapunctus.codeberg.page/blog/why-prav-is-important.html

1/

People new to #FreeSoftware assume it's "free as in free beer". #OpenSource misses the point - it's about the freedom (and for so many in India, "open source" = "free as in free beer" 😮💨🤦♀️). #Libre is unfamiliar and not self-explanatory.

That's why I call it #FreedomRespecting software. Can we all please switch to that?

@evanchaney What #privacy respecting alternatives should #Apple users move to? 🤔

Fairphone is only available in the EU, last I checked.

Android could work if you never use a Google account and stick to #FreedomRespectingSoftware such as F-Droid instead of Play Store.

AOSP ROMs (such as #LineageOS) are ideal, but that usually entails buying used, or paying top-dollar to Google for a Pixel. There are probably local #FreeSoftware communities who'd love to help with the installation process.

@alice I quite liked @inthehands 's suggestion for Tesla owners to sell their cars rather than destroy them, thereby flooding the market with used Teslas, crashing Tesla's valuation, and hurting Musk financially.

https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/113959650208949350

@SnowshadowII That's a feature made to protect you from websites tracking you by inspecting your screen size. But you can turn it off in Settings - think it's called Letterboxing.

I was today years old when I learned that Pascal Neis' famous Result Maps, which I've been using ever since I started contributing to #OpenStreetMap...are not #FreeSoftware ! 👀

@pascal_n can you please release them under a free software license? 🙏

#XMPP is not perfect, but BY FAR the biggest issue is the tech community's perception of it, and the consequently lower number of users and devs.

That's a you problem, not an XMPP problem.

3/

Over the years, I've onboarded close to 100 non-geeks to #XMPP. I ask them to install Quicksy (Android/iOS), and we're good to go.

XMPP is the only chat system I've used since 2017. I onboard family, friends, coworkers (from the arts), OSM contributors...

But the #Signal #WhatsApp #Discord and #Telegram silo-lovers (and the #DeltaChat and #Matrix NIH fanboys) have the gumption to loudly proclaim that XMPP is unusable.

It's a bit like telling a fish that swimming is impossible. 🙄

1/

@rysiek @agturcz Sounds like @snikket_im is your best bet, then. All Snikket clients have OMEMO enabled by default. And this way you actually can actually trust the operator, i.e. yourself, and control exactly what cloud services are used (including "none").

And Signal is seemingly not the perfect solution it's being made out to be, either.

https://troet.cafe/@pixelschubsi/113808514523533577

https://troet.cafe/@pixelschubsi/113808528593247949

@rysiek @agturcz Then, I confess to being confused about what you mean.

Why did you find it to be "a pain to use"?

Some clients don't have end-to-end encryption enabled by default - I hope that will change some day, but I never found that to be a dealbreaker. If someone sends cleartext, me and my friends immediately ask them to enable OMEMO.

Still, no feature or convenience is worth using a centralized silo. Reddit, Twitter, and Meta are proof enough.

@adbenitez @rysiek I was ready to boost in the first paragraph, and then I saw the #DeltaChat recommendation 😅

I haven't heard good things about DeltaChat UX. #XMPP allows you to self-host, register on public servers without even providing an email address, and ask non-geek contacts to install Quicksy or Prav (so they can register using phone numbers). It's got AV calls and other features expected in modern chat.

And XMPP is actually made for chat from the ground up.