Ian Macdonald @ianmacd@qoto.org

Nice chatting with you.

I'll close by thanking you for providing this instance.

It's great that there's a place that a) allows unfettered access to the entire Fediverse; b) hasn't descended into complete chaos because of it; and c) most surprisingly of all, hasn't been widely blocked due to it.

It seems to me that by far the most important thing about Mastodon is now sadly overlooked in this age of censorship and general intolerance of open discussion; and that ironically even includes the network's creator.

Thanks for providing a safe haven for the open exchange of ideas. Only in such an environment can ideas flourish and the human race truly progress.

For that reason, I feel very strongly about free speech, and I consider the worst excesses of free speech a very small price to pay for its benefits. The alternative is unthinkable. This seems to be an unpopular opinion nowadays.

Have a good day and thanks for the crossposting tip.

@freemo I can identify with your sentiments.

I moved to Amsterdam 30 years ago from the UK, spent 5 years working in Silicon Valley, and my wife is American.

So, I understand better than most what is great about the Netherlands, what is often annoying about Americans, and which American things are great (e.g. the bold, can-do attitude of tech start-up culture, and the affordable National Park system, to name a couple).

I assume your house here is rented out at the moment. I hope you can make it back here soon.

@freemo Ah, OK; a good thing I didn't just switch straight to Dutch, then.

Where are you actually from, or where do you live now?

@freemo Thanks. I'll try that.

I've only just noticed the flag next to your name. Nederlander, toevallig?

@freemo I was trying https://crossposter.masto.donte.com.br

It seems to be the de facto crossposting site, but I'm open to other suggestions.

Is the Mastodon crossposter not allowed on #qoto?

If not, fair enough, but I can't actually find a statement to that effect anywhere on the site, hence the question.

@freemo