Greg Spradlin @spradlig@qoto.org

To invite your friends onto #Mastodon, there's a built-in system for this:

1. Log in on your server’s website
2. Go to Preferences > Invite people
3. Choose the settings you want for your invitation links, then click "Generate"

This often works even if your server has closed to new sign-ups, as admins may optionally allow invitations to still work.

Alternatively, just ask friends to sign up on any server and then exchange account addresses.

Both methods are covered at https://fedi.tips/inviting-people-onto-mastodon-and-the-fediverse/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/opinion/starbucks-union-strikes-labor-movement.html?unlocked_article_code=OaPytJklrgGRJfp6PXDzx1N_KnxdP94_g4ScIRWf_KjRCfW9PL696_VtiUjtTzoXg4qmi_aMMc1dp90YpZWQbF6z0nRRh64Of7HNlYBtiQ_dl5d7pY8_D6KWdcoggiCrPgFDv0NCaODH-U_C0v2lQggD2NP61uab8n6y24I2BYQevNgwq4o-_tT-sLviGl5zdBBYGAjZLDEHQZGpJTZIFOVMmDV857BuWgEEIVcOILffQ7OLGZ6wofTEi5kbPK70jvzEa6Zi66S7FNSuzEp_APmC10TvFt-V5fkjwVSXfeebIXHCx-rvcHdVcj1aonak91Z9pnZjXCzEiiQ9IAHFtNYcJSy_w0gV0jRCklStHo-E&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

No paywall. #boycottstarbucks #unionbusting

Our Thursday, July 6 meeting will be at 4662 S. Clyde Morris Blvd. Doors open 6:30 p.m., and the meeting begins at 7:00. Our invited speaker is Susan McNamee, of the Volusia County Environmental Caucus and Third Act Florida. We will also write postcards to support Sarah Jones's campaign for Port Orange City Council.

#voteblue #floridadems #gotv #vbm #votebymail

It’s Getting Hard to Stage a School Play Without Harassment by Bigoted Book Burners.

I feel like we overstate the impact of Facebook on destroying The Web That Was, and understate the impact of HTML5.

HTML4 was incredibly easy to work with for anybody.

It's hard to make a webpage now.

http://stevenedwards.ca/

Why the internet is getting worse

"There’s a growing sense that the internet – or at least the big sites we use all the time like Amazon, Facebook and Google – is becoming worse. Instead of seeing what’s best for us at the top of our searches, we’re seeing more and more of what makes the tech giant the most money pop to the top. Cory Doctorow calls it ‘Enshittification.’ He explains how it works."

(free CBC podcast)

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/209-front-burner/episode/15992083-why-the-internet-is-getting-worse

#CBC #podcast #Enshittification

I'm always going to use the term Facebook as I do not accept the company name for various reasons.

Zuckerberg isn't some tech who sold out and Facebook "accidentally" became the data mining nightmare that it is. Zuckerberg ALWAYS reduced us to objects to be measured. She showed us exactly who he was all those years ago with facesmash.

Don't fall for the bullshit. #fedipact

https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a19746346/mark-zuckerberg-testifying-congress-facesmash-facebook/

I think it's pretty obvious why #meta wants in on the platform. They want to bring in their recommendation algorithms in. People want recommendations, and they'll take them from meta. They'll start out useful. And then because they control the algorithms, they get to slide ads in. A trickle, then a flood.

It's all about eyeballs on ads. Everything is about eyeballs on ads.

After Reddit's beyond-arrogant CEO dismissed the subreddit blackout as just posturing, moderators of discussions extended the blackout. This is the only sensible response to the company's contempt.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/13/23759674/reddit-mods-blackout-protest-extended-indefinitely

Please stay the course.

For my part, I'm canceling my Reddit account and looking at decentralized alternatives.

Whoa. This has to be Reddit users moving over. https://mastodon.social/@mastodonusercount/110545051620392418

2/2
.... Trust was gone, and business dwindled to almost nothing. The new owner tried desperately to reclaim it, but he had neglected the customers, violated their trust, and lost the asset of customer loyalty. There was no more goose to produce the golden egg."

7 Habits of Effective People
Stephen Covey

Google engaging in reputational self-harm at the behest of their investor's political agenda

Surveillance capitalism
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/07/heres-a-look-at-who.html

https://observer.com/2023/06/google-saudi-arabia-data-center-protest/

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudi-arabia/2023/04/14/Saudi-Arabia-s-Crown-Prince-launches-four-new-economic-zones-with-special-benefits

Spare me the pompous hypocrisy about how the law applies equally to all. (Talking to you, MSNBC, NYT and others.) If so, Donnie would be frog-marched to the paddy wagon the instant they found the docs. Like Reality Winner. He'd immediately get his passport canceled. Like Edward Snowden. He'd be stripped naked pre-trial and put in a bare cell under "suicide watch." Like Chelsea Manning. So stop.

An astonishing fact about the present moment in technology:

Google—which began by doing one thing, and did it better than anyone else, and used that one thing to become a giant company, richer and more powerful than almost any other entity on earth—has lost its ability to do that one thing.

#Google https://hachyderm.io/@confluency/110491848831123193

Musk's Saudi-government-funded Twitter is getting more and more toxic. Latest: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/09/viral-hoax-pentagon-twitter/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjMzOTQ3MjciLCJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjg2MjgzMjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjg3NTc5MTk5LCJpYXQiOjE2ODYyODMyMDAsImp0aSI6ImVjNjRmYzBjLTNhNzgtNGVkMi1hMDZhLWVjNTU0NDE2NmRjMiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5LzIwMjMvMDYvMDkvdmlyYWwtaG9heC1wZW50YWdvbi10d2l0dGVyLyJ9.gBL_JWm2mghsBIy6WZazPuT8Z2XvJ26qhqHMfoBFS0w

Yet journalists continue to pour their work into the site, which means they are actively supporting it whether they want to admit this or not.

“This indictment must now play out through the legal process, without any outside political or ideological interference. We encourage Mr. Trump's supporters and critics alike to let this case proceed peacefully in court.”

In a normal universe, this is the joint statement issued by leaders of both parties. In our universe, it’s Democrats only.