Notices by Stefan Bohacek (stefan@stefanbohacek.online), page 2

Here's an idea I'm playing with: a semi-customizable fediverse invitation page.

Example: https://invite.jointhefediverse.net/?server=hachyderm.io&apps=1,2,3,5

More about the project: http://stefanbohacek.com/project/fediverse-invitation

#fediverse #FediverseInvitation

@evan Ah, I might need to add CWs to some of these polls!

"A.I. is clearly not technology that is being universally encouraged as inevitable. Corporations often report that, so far, it does not seem to do much."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/technology/ai-boom-backlash.html?unlocked_article_code=1.OVA.Ynqq.XAB-lNTc16MB&smid=url-share

#news #TechNews #technology #AI #GenAI #LLMs

Case in point: Northsky just sent out an email update about beginning their "phase two": 26% of their users have already been migrated to their new PDS, now they're moving on to creating their own app, moderation labeler, support for private data, "and more".

#bluesky #northsky #fediverse

The fascinating history of Adolphe Sax and his invention, the saxophone, which has been described as "everything from the most moving and heart gripping wind instrument to the devil's horn".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj5Z0V93XxY

#music #history #saxophone

In summary:

Oh boy. New government website has dropped.

"The site features a graphic of a ghostly horse galloping above the Earth, and the motto: “Information is power. Reclaim your human right to free expression. Get ready.”"

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/19/us-builds-website-that-will-allow-europeans-to-view-blocked-content

#USPol #FreedomGov

Every now and then people break into a fight on here over fediverse vs the Atmosphere (or Bluesky, as its main representative).

I get it. Many of us get frustrated when we see people flocking to a VC-funded fediverse competitor.

But let's focus this energy on making the fediverse a place people want to spend their time in.

#fediverse #bluesky #infighting

If you have the technical chops, join some of the conversations on https://activitypub.space, help move the protocol that powers the fediverse forward.

Not your cup of tea? You can always donate to your server's admins, or admins of servers your friends are on. Or any server, really. Pick one at random!

But above all, keep a positive attitude. Welcome new people. Encourage positive conversations. Shitpost.

And if you have to vent, go ahead, but don't drag other people down.

For me, a lot of the protocol-level stuff is a bit above my head, so I've been focusing more on advocating. My own followers may be familiar with my work on https://jointhefediverse.net, a site I see regularly shared and linked to.

I also contribute to and curate https://fediverseexplorations.org.

I've made creative bots followed by over 10,000 people.

https://bots.stefanbohacek.com

And there's even more at https://stefanbohacek.com/fediverse!

These are just some ideas, and I hope they encourage and inspire others!

Blacksky went from a "custom feed that created a sense of shared space" to being the first independent ATProto microblogging community outside of Bluesky.

This is where the focus needs to be in the fediverse as well. Creating safe and welcoming communities that people want to be part of.

https://connectedplaces.online/where-does-community-live/

#SocialMedia #community #blacksky #bluesky #fediverse

"What they don’t often tell you is how fun the resistance can be: the marches joyous and laced with adrenalized anger, people cheering the brass band that thumps its way down the block, chanting and pumping fists, belting out a ubiquitous profane call and response about ICE."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/opinion/minneapolis-ice-resistance-minivans.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NFA.wbDA.KriQ2If4X9IV&smid=url-share

#USNews #USPol #ICE #resistance

Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl at today's hearing over social media’s alleged harms to children:

"If your glasses are recording, you must take them off. It is the order of this court that there must be no facial recognition of the jury. If you have done that, you must delete it. This is very serious."

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-18/mark-zuckerberg-tesimony-la-social-media-trial

#news #USNews #technology #TechNews #meta #SocialMedia #MetaGlasses #AI

@dansup Really nice to see someone taking safety features seriously!

Do hidden comments federate? That is honestly a great feature to have, I only thought of this recently during a conversation around reply controls, as a potential way to deal with the delay caused by the roundtrips needed to verify if a reply can be posted.

(Presumably this works differently on Loops, definitely curious to learn more.)

@liaizon

@liaizon Yep, said pretty much the same thing the other day.

To me, the one key feature we need is the ability to disable replies, and maybe also control who can reply, those are top 1 and 10 requests on Mastodon's GitHub, and both have been open for several years.

The team's response: it's too hard. Which, fair enough. But putting any effort into UX/UI polishing, as needed as that is, will be wasted as so many people already left because of the constant harassment and gatekeeping.

I also pointed out that by the time Bluesky's VC money runs out, there might already be enough independent communities running the full ATProto stack, so people will just be able to migrate without needing to ever look at the fediverse again.

On this day in 1990, the Voyager 1 space probe took a photo of our planet from approximately 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) away.

"Commissioned by NASA and resulting from the advocacy of astronomer and author Carl Sagan, the photograph was interpreted in Sagan's 1994 book, Pale Blue Dot, as representing humanity's minuscule and ephemeral place amidst the cosmos."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot

Image via https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51491471

#OnThisDay #OTD #history #space #science #nasa #PaleBlueDot #humanity

Can someone fluent in Arabic help me remove this broken link to joinfirefish.org?

I don't want to mess up the text.

https://github.com/jointhefediverse-net/jointhefediverse.net/issues/171

https://github.com/jointhefediverse-net/jointhefediverse.net/blob/6c0f9a7f30973db2eee43a01bee4891acd459fd4/translations/ar/join.json#L8

#arabic

Hey, the Autumn/Winter 2025 issue of the Good Internet magazine is out?

Go read/subscribe!

https://goodinternetmagazine.com

#GoodInternet #GoodInternetMagazine #indieweb #essay

@evan Yes, perhaps I could have phrased the original question better.

My thinking was, currently, a follower can reply to a followers-only post, with a followers-only reply.

So their followers can reply back to you, without seeing the original post, potentially deducing and further exposing personal information contained in the original post.

This is a dilemma I myself have sometimes, when I see a followers-only post. Sometimes it just makes sense for me to reply directly, eg. health status updates.

If I replied with a followers-only post saying "good luck with the heart surgery", all my followers will deduce that Alice is having a heart surgery.

@evan Well the question was:

"Who do you expect to see replies from when you post a followers-only post?"

So if you only expect to hear from your followers, without reply controls, the visibility of the replies to your post would have to be limited only to you, or, potentially, to you and mutual followers of you and the person replying, but not the followers of the person replying that don't follow you directly.

I think private mentions handle this well and rather simply.