*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@qoto.org

@zleap Try this one : https://fediverse.network/writefreely?count=users

@hansw The free accounts at Proton are very nice, I have one as well. But there are 3 countries you can use to connect to.

And the tool I mentioned can lock the gps coordinates anywhere - but that only works on some apps and games, as it's not a real tunnel. Just massaging gps readings to what we want them to be.

Location Changes – For Privacy or Any Reason
.
Our Internet Location is Important

So many reasons why. Some sites will not show you content, due to it. Others will carefully track you, even after you have long left. And mobile devices are even worse — if that's possible.

Real solutions can be had, usually for a cost. **VPN services** offer privacy, anonymity, and access to remote Geo-locations which could unlock some content.

But there are some applications that provide a simpler solution — *without creating a real 'tunnel' between you and the remote server*.

These work by allowing us to **change the device's GPS coordinates** readings. And while they *will not encrypt or deliver traffic to a far away end point*, they DO work for some games and apps. Many times **at no cost* to the user, so worth considering and testing.

That is the Topic of today's Blog -- https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/location-changes-for-privacy-or-any-reason

Nicer OP at https://muensterland.social/@rgx/104694829094530147

@jerlich The Discourse Forum is a totally separate entity, a forum and not federated like mastodon instances -- so you have to visit there to see what is new, read and respond to posts.

Advantages exist, as Forums allow postign with full text format, images inserted in the middle of text, etc. So they can produce pages that are richer and similar to a Blog page in fact.

Mastodon doesn't allow text formatting like bold, italic, unless you are in a GlitchSocial instance or on a Pleroma one; those do have MarkDown text formatting support.

I would say they complement each other -- in some cases Forums are better, while here we can distribute messages more widely and even announce posts that are hosted in other places -- like forums or blogs.

I use all those formats, and they all have their own strengths. Hope this helps! :)

@freemo @zleap @gioypi wonderful, thank you!

@zleap @gioypi @freemo Yes -- I tried loading it just now and got that 502 error also.

@zleap

I see the same error too -- a certificate security issue. :(

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/error-codes-secure-websites?as=u&utm_source=inproduct

@gioypi @freemo

@Liberonscien Very nice post, thank you, Good morning!

@cg Hello, and welcome to Qoto.

Enjoy the network and all it has to offer. If you are new to using Mastodon, there's a good guide here: https://lifehacker.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-mastodon-1828503235

We also have another new users guide, posted here : https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/suggestions-and-guidelines-for-new-users-written-by-mastodon-art-administrator

An official JoinMastodon.org "What is Mastodon ?" short video is here : https://youtu.be/IPSbNdBmWKE

@josias Welcome Josias!

@ramob

>> Is this hosted on a VPS/cloud or what? Just curios if the cost is mainly internet throughput or actual infrastructure cost.

The whole Qoto.org is hosted via https://masto.host/ services, which keeps it up and ticking with basic maintenance, backups, etc.

But at a steep cost, which depends on how much data transfers are used, the amount of RAM needed for each virtual server, etc.

Self-Hosting is a good way to cut costs down drastically, but it comes at a cost of time and labour needed to keep an eye on things frequently.

Koyu.space recently switch over to self-hosting and I imagine their costs came down a lot. Their server is described in their About pages :

https://koyu.space/about/more#technical-information

@freemo

@ramob

>> Anything we can do to help?

Thank you for the offer, but this would depend strictly on someone with Admin permissions to the Forum -- so a very restricted group. This morning excellent news is that the Forums are Back Online.

Freemo discovered the cause was one of the installed plug-ins for Discourse, so turning them all off restored service. Which is great and a lot less work than a full restore or looking for a stable version upgrade (we seem to have the latest Stable release installed, which shouldn't have such a blatant BUG in it after Beta testing).

So, now that it is alive, Everyone can help the Forums by using them -- respond and comment on existing topics, create new ones, ask Questions, learn something new.

Forums have LOTS of features that Mastodon Doesn't have, and likely never will have.

* Enhanced Text Formatting. Bold, Underline, Italicized. Heading Sizes, inline images, etc.

* Pretty Quoted text!

* Clean links to other pages without NAKED URLS like here, which is so much neater looking.

Some of those features, like the text formatting and even the proper discreet links can be done in a MarkDown capable instance -- GlitchSocial and Pleroma ones all can do it.

But even there, you cannot insert an image in-line, in the middle of a block of text where it logically belongs. Forums and Blogs can, which makes them prettier and nicer to read.

@ramob Before I start responding to this message -- some good news, as the Discourse Forums are back online. :)

https://discourse.qoto.org/

And on to these questions :

- subscription : we don't have any special system, our admin has been paying all the costs for the instance and the other services out of pocket (and this adds up substantially -- the mastodon instance alone is over 120 USD per month). User participation is appreciated, and if you want to do any more, please contact our admin, Freemo.

- gitlab : I think the one at git.qoto.org is the official instance one. I don't know about the other address, Freemo is the one who uses it most and the best person to clarify.

- Funkwhale is a music streaming service, and you can store and play your tracks from there from anywhere. It's possible to see and play other user shared tracks if permissions are given too.

@freemo @zleap

>> You are welcome to generate an invite if there is a mechanism to do so

And since the Discourse Forums are back online (Hallelujah!!) -- the Invite generating is done at a certain page in each user's account settings.

This one would work for user zleap : https://discourse.qoto.org/u/zleap/invited/pending

...or just replace "zleap" with any other username if needed.

An Invite is a personal touch, and avaiable so it could be a nice thing. Good luck!

@quasistellarspirals

Hello, and welcome to Qoto.

Enjoy the network and all it has to offer. If you are new to using Mastodon, there's a good guide here: https://lifehacker.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-mastodon-1828503235

We also have another new users guide, posted here : https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/suggestions-and-guidelines-for-new-users-written-by-mastodon-art-administrator

An official JoinMastodon.org "What is Mastodon ?" short video is here : https://youtu.be/IPSbNdBmWKE

@zleap

@ramob You are welcome. Don't worry with the Discourse account for now, as the Forums are still broken. A bad version upgrade and everything is knocked off kilter.

Content is safe, hopefully, plus there are backups. Hopefully. 😄

@hansw
>> a written name like "Banned for ...." Nobody seems to ban me

"Banned for lack of a Reason" might work ? LOL...

I have seen (can provide URL) an instance co-admin raging at the cute protest names people have been using. She called them something like "Pleroma rage" or the like.

@ramob You will need to create new accounts for the other services -- as there's no integration of user acccounts between them yet.

We suggest using the same username so it's easier to recognize people. 👍️

@khird

Wonderful work -- well done!

@dragfyre @freemo @muffinista @bahai

@Sphinx Check the Settings -- there is an option to turn off compression on their side, or to upload full quality version of photos.