Social Media

I'm actually seeing lots of self-hosted solutions to communications... They're supposed to work exactly like the offerings from Google/Facebook/other chat services... Some of them are even in FreeBSD's ports, I think. www/owncloud is definitely in ports. Trouble is, even if you set something up, it still means everyone else who you want to talk with - kind of has to switch to your personal server, and cut themselves off from the rest of the world. Even if there's an app to connect, that's extra setup effort on your friends' part.

The Big Tech companies like Discord, Whatsapp, Slack, etc. are already out there... it's easier to invite friends to Discord than to your own self-hosted communication solution. Well, on Discord, I think, it's not impossible to 'have your own server for your circle of friends', and move that to a self-hosted thing that is still connected to Discord. It is a lot of work to set that up, though... Unless you have a big clan or a big group that is on board with you to set up a private, self-hosted communications solution that is not necessarily a canned template, it may not be worth the effort to set it up.
 
I'm actually seeing lots of self-hosted solutions to communications... They're supposed to work exactly like the offerings from Google/Facebook/other chat services... Some of them are even in FreeBSD's ports, I think. www/owncloud is definitely in ports. Trouble is, even if you set something up, it still means everyone else who you want to talk with - kind of has to switch to your personal server, and cut themselves off from the rest of the world. Even if there's an app to connect, that's extra setup effort on your friends' part.

The Big Tech companies like Discord, Whatsapp, Slack, etc. are already out there... it's easier to invite friends to Discord than to your own self-hosted communication solution. Well, on Discord, I think, it's not impossible to 'have your own server for your circle of friends', and move that to a self-hosted thing that is still connected to Discord. It is a lot of work to set that up, though... Unless you have a big clan or a big group that is on board with you to set up a private, self-hosted communications solution that is not necessarily a canned template, it may not be worth the effort to set it up.
There are a massive amount of solutions that's true. I've made my solution targeting shared hosting for apache/nginx that literally has a drop and click next for set up. It's supposed to be super simple. But it's still a lot of work for an individual to set up a server or purchase hosting in order to communicate with others.
 
There are a massive amount of solutions that's true. I've made my solution targeting shared hosting for apache/nginx that literally has a drop and click next for set up. It's supposed to be super simple. But it's still a lot of work for an individual to set up a server or purchase hosting in order to communicate with others.
There's plenty of VPS service providers that will rent to individuals with a credit card... Renting a server to set up as you like - that's easy enough... there's also domain name registration (and it's effectively same as renting an IPv4 address and tying it to a name), or you can go to dyndns.com to get a subdomain that you then use with the VPS...

Back in early 2000s, I've seen quite a few 'business in a box' pitches that amounted to a 'roll your own linux distro', pack it into a CD/DVD, and sell it as 'ready to work'. Most workplaces were dragged, kicking and screaming, into the age of servers and databases, and away from paper. Good luck rolling the solution into a drop-in package...

If I were setting up a self-hosted comm platform that I'm running myself, I'd prioritze user authentication and onboarding over platform convenience features... Just to make sure stuff even works right. Just throwing the idea out there. ;)
 
There's plenty of VPS service providers that will rent to individuals with a credit card... Renting a server to set up as you like - that's easy enough... there's also domain name registration (and it's effectively same as renting an IPv4 address and tying it to a name), or you can go to dyndns.com to get a subdomain that you then use with the VPS...

Back in early 2000s, I've seen quite a few 'business in a box' pitches that amounted to a 'roll your own linux distro', pack it into a CD/DVD, and sell it as 'ready to work'. Most workplaces were dragged, kicking and screaming, into the age of servers and databases, and away from paper. Good luck rolling the solution into a drop-in package...

If I were setting up a self-hosted comm platform that I'm running myself, I'd prioritze user authentication and onboarding over platform convenience features... Just to make sure stuff even works right. Just throwing the idea out there. ;)
Totally agree. My aim for my project was a telegram replacement for me and my cousin. So I have been successful there as far as having the same functions. But the easy install stuff I borrowed from a previous project of mine. It's basically just a quick bit of install instructions on the backend and generating iv and encryption keys. But Ive only made it easy as in if you can drop files on a server easy. But not if you can download and install an app easy. Lol

Edit: to be clear this isn't a community project that I made. I'm just being considerate and using a permissive license and sharing the project in the spirit of free software. But to be honest if anyone wanted to contribute or modify they may be infuriated by the complete lack of documentation and the naming of functions. I've had a lot of fun making it. But I keep my projects on floppy disks 1.44mb so every bit counts so I usually don't document my code. In fact I will post the revision online when it's done but I would not recommend it as an easy to modify project. But it makes sense to me because I made it...maybe in the next one I'll follow recommended guidelines for formatting. But it's only for personal use really.
 
The public features of Facebook and friends are not all that bad, if you use them correctly. I post things there. When I do, I first think about what I want the whole world to see about me. My political views? Hardly. My preference in drinks, cars, and such things? Only if I really want to. My profession? Not at all. I do post pictures and texts about my hobbies there.
I hate that this happens--it's pretty lame. I think the idea was to encourage openness, and this seems like the opposite effect.

(which makes filter bubbles and detachment from reality almost a given
feedback loops
Why does a feedback loop or some type of detachment have to be considered unhealthy or undesirable? Much has been writen, spoken, and sang over the delights of de-personalization, enlightenment, and such.

There's social media that's harmless or informative, then there's exploitative and (to various degrees) time wasting social media.
Sometimes it is difficult to stop scrolling through a seemingly endless list of nonsenses.

I read Twitter, and I don't see it like Facebook. Twitter is straightforward in its purpose and policies, has useful purposes, but it's not truly anonymous.
Anonymity doesn't exist in the capacity that everyone complains about--if you have an address your not anonymous. What we're all (men) really worried about is some type of (very fucking lame) blackmail and/or being caught with our pants down at the wrong time (which isn't all so bad as it turns out). This tells me that many feel trapped, I guess? (not a divorce dig).

Can you imagine people sending in their DNA to a website. Upload your whole genealogy.
"For Free" they said. Wow what a great deal.
This made me laugh out loud. Seriously, though, once they collect enough skin flakes and hair samples (if the length is sufficient), you could wake up at the center of a murder you didn't even commit, or WORSE.

Facebook's web UI is awful too.
The first UI is the best UI.

The mentality keeps the individuals in the population isolated from each other, actually.
I'm really sorry to hear this. As someone who's spent most of his life feeling like a nuisance, I found it refreshing to be able to check in on others without getting in their collective ways.🧐
 
Well, 1984 was a warning. NOT a bleeping instruction manual.
You would be surprised what a little unexpected, all-seeing sexy of sauron does to a guy when he cant escape its purview--it doesn't HAVE to be a prison (unless that's your thing). In fact, it might be a good reason to start wearing that outfit I never thought I would have a chance to wear because it really isn't my color but who cares maybe it works. What a delight!

Innocent until proven guilty?
What we have, so far, is still better than some goddamn kangaroo court, but it's still too lame in my opinion.
 
I only participate in Twitter and anonymously. …

Twitter might have been at its most toxic during the early months of the pandemic, when disinformation reigned in some areas. I allowed my time to be stolen in battles against disinformation. The highlight/lowlight might have been in 2020, when a ridulous attorney threatened to set his infamously aggressive right-wing nut-job lawyer on me:


I did not back down. The dreg of conversation that remains visible to the public was the attorney's failed attempt to twist things; if you find it, please don't be misled.

Anyone who wants the more complete record can contact me in private. (IIRC, opinionated discussion of COVID-19 was, probably still is, too contentious for the public side of these forums.)

Rewind to whenever it was: I probably joined during the Jan Moir incident. Fast-forward to the end: I chose to delete my account … I don't know when, maybe eighteen months later, for reasons unrelated to the threat of litigation. Mostly because too much of Twitter was a gleefully toxic brain dump with a stupidity plughole too wide enough for any group of people to fit.


To those of you who remain with X for good, non-toxic reasons: no offence :)

… FreeBSD Discord, … the kind of crowd where I can actually have a conversation, …

+1

… The last to possibly go is FB. … I am weighing the cost/benefit ratio … theft of time. …

I allow my time to be stolen, if I'm honest. Recently it's The FreeBSD Forums, in the future it might be something else.

Facebook has become a rarity for me. I stick with it only for occasional contact with distant friends, not for the face of it.
 

Fediverses, including Mastodon​

Recently from vermaden:


No comment (here) on the linked article (from 2022).

Re: the medium, it's a good example of social media engagement from an expert. In this case:

Solaris Engineer at Sun^H^H^HOracle (Release management, Security, X11, GNOME); former board member of X.Org Foundation & OpenSolaris.

Orientation, for anyone who's interested in the subject of the toot above:




The subject of people abandoning X is not new, but here's a very recent, high profile example of an expert organisation switching its activities to Mastodon:

 
… the level of lowest common denominator, "social media" style drivel …

It's easy enough to tune out from styles of writing.

From 2023 in Review: Advocacy – FreeBSD Foundation:

❝This year we continued to expand our presence on social media, increasing the number of articles and technical content that we shared. We also created a Mastodon profile to reach a new audience. As an advocacy tool, social networks are key in building awareness for the project, as well as connecting with our most valuable resource, the community. Continuing to build a dialog with the community remained a focus in 2023.

❝The expanded social media presence led to nearly 1 million post impressions in 2023, growing global awareness of FreeBSD. Engagement on these posts also increased by 38% from 2022. Not only did we promote more FreeBSD content, but the community was more engaged with the content we shared. Even with multiple social networks losing large portions of their user base in 2023, we continued to steadily grow our followers, more than doubling our new follower rate from 2022.

❝We’re excited to continue improving our social media presence in 2024, focusing on promoting technical content. We hope that social media can continue to provide a glimpse into our work to support the community. In order to better serve the project, offering high-quality content to the global FreeBSD community remains one of our main priorities. Follow us on social media to keep up with the latest in FreeBSD and our work to support the project.❞
 

Opinion

The FreeBSD Project and The FreeBSD Foundation should properly switch away from X: …

Cc gtewallace | @gtewallace@mastodon.social
 
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