Notices by FediThing (fedithing@tech.lgbt)

If you're writing an "About" page, please say what your site/thing is actually about 🙏

So many About pages now are marketing-speak devoid of meaningful info. They'll say things like "ABOUT: We are all about commitment, passion and a sense of duty to our field.".... well, that's nice but it doesn't tell me what the f you do! 😱

One of the many great things about Wikipedia is it tells you what things actually are instead of trying to promote them. But if you're not on Wikipedia, then it is even more important that your About page says what you do.

Arghh, sorry to people waiting for more @FediFollows, had a bit of a tiring couple of days due to real life stuff. Normal service will be resumed soon.

There's always a delay on FediFollows because I need to check with the accounts being listed, which takes time.

@thomasfuchs

That's a flaw though? If you make the largest server the default, you are centralising the network, raising risk of bad governance.

@thomasfuchs

I just think we shouldn't be prioritising speed of sign-up over good governance and user empowerment.

@thomasfuchs

I mean... with a centralised system there is never going to be a step where you choose a server.

With decentralised systems there's always going to be server choice in some way or other. It's always going to be an additional step or option.

If someone joins a platform because they can sign up in seconds, they are going to end up paying for it over the years with a network that suffers from bad governance. We've seen the horrible stuff Facebook has done.

It's like microwaveable meals are inherently quicker to prepare than fresh food, but they carry a significant health cost in the long run.

@thomasfuchs

Threads is centralised, that's inherently quicker to sign up on but inherently more dangerous for the user.

Fediverse advice needed:

Does activating authorised fetch / secure mode on Mastodon cause connections with non-Mastodon platforms to break?

Are there other drawbacks of secure mode apart from the increased resources it uses?

#AskFedi #Fediverse #Mastodon

@TimWardCam @petersuber

Unless I'm missing something, this only concerns research that has already been publicly funded anyway?

@TimWardCam @petersuber

Is the cost of publication significant any more?

@TimWardCam @petersuber

But is a for-profit publisher needed in this situation?

@rysiek

It's got to be stopped, and it will only get worse the more it grows.

I've been keeping an eye on the meter at https://instances.social/mastodon.social and it currently shows mastodon.social as 13.8% of all Fedi users.

I know it will be painful for people to defederate from 1 in 7 users, but it will be a lot less painful than 1 in 4, or 1 in 2, or wherever it is heading for on the current course.

@simon @rysiek @mrbitterness

At least on Mastodon, you can block mastodon.social so that you never see mastoon.social accounts and it automatically removes any follows you have from people on m.s

I don't know how calckey handles this, I'd imagine there's some similar option?

@stardust @owncast

I'm not sure how captions would work on livestreaming, but Owncast has a Twitch-style text chat window at the side which the livestreamers can type or paste text into?

@killyourfm @thelinuxEXP

Ooh nice! 👍

I wasn't trying to criticise you, but great that you've upped it :)

@killyourfm @thelinuxEXP

You can also watch it on the Fediverse at @thelinuxexperiment@tilvids.com

https://tilvids.com/w/mgJ2R4gfQ3XqZPZFHtWDPE

(sigh)

Just spent evening going through posts claiming that only nerds care about federation.

These are not nerdy issues, these are societal issues. I am not a developer, I joined the Fediverse because I was worried about the behaviour of Facebook, Twitter etc.

I get that centralised networks are easier to sign up on, but they are harder to leave. You're giving them control over your online social life.

It's like that XKCD cartoon about file standards, it's sometimes difficult to get across to people that it's not about technical standards per se, but the shift in power that tech standards represent.

That's why centralised tech companies put so much effort into controlling tech standards, not because they're nerds but because they are power-hungry and greedy.

Linux Mint is on the Fediverse, by the way:

:mint_linux_logo: @linuxmint

It's definitely official, they link to it from their website at https://linuxmint.com

They signed up some time ago, but have started posting since November 22.

#LinuxMint #Linux

@Mrfunkedude @brandkopf

Oh no :(

If it's any consolation, PeerTube mention they will be fixing bugs on the chat plugin on their official roadmap (right at the end):

https://joinpeertube.org/news/roadmap-v6

@Mrfunkedude

There is a peertube chat plugin, @brandkopf used to use it on livestreams.

Maybe you can ask your peertube server admin about the plugin?

@Mrfunkedude

Could try OwnCast at some point? That might be a bit more demanding to set up technically though...