volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
volkris
boosted
Hello fellow citizens of the free and open web, it is me, Ben Brown. You may remember me from that social network from back when social networks were cool, or maybe from that one open source project that blew up.
Hi, it is great to see you again.
First off, corporate owned social media always sucked, we always knew it. It is past time for us to have better options.I am so glad for the #Fediverse and #ActivityPub and Mastodon and other projects for breathing new life into the indie web, where it is possible for us to own what we post and use whatever tools we want. I couldn’t resist building something!
My new project is called SHUTTLECRAFT. It social media server … FOR ONE.
What does that mean?
It is very small and lightweight open source app that runs nicely on services like Glitch, but it has most of what you need to host your own personal social media account.
It’s got a microblogging tool, to make posts. You can customize the design with HTML and CSS. You can follow people on Mastodon or other services and interact with posts and send messages. People can follow you on Mastodon, or with RSS. You run it on your own server so you own and operate the data and the code and the whole service. And you can hack the code and make it weirder so that we can all be part of a better, more diverse and more interesting web.
No billionaires or mega-corps required!
I made a 3 minute video showing how it works:
https://www.loom.com/share/a6441bcebdc64f54b5010c95eae1e180
Though this a person a project and only a few weeks old and with tons of stuff still to build, you can get the code right now and run your own. The official site is also has a 3 minute walk through of setting up an instance on Glitch.
Or go straight to for the code:
https://github.com/benbrown/shuttlecraft
Thanks to everyone who has already tested this or sent feedback or contributed code. Y'all rule.
Own your posts!! Make it hard for them to monetize you!
So when I watched #Jeffries's speech as #McCarthy was elected Speaker I thought he sounded dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb, like a bad SNL character.
I've been saying he sounded unserious, especially with the amount of pride he seemed to take in finding a bunch of words that all began with the same letter. Good job, buddy.
But one of the funnier things I've seen on this platform is somebody responding to that notion saying, what do you mean he was unserious? Didn't you see how he trolled McCarthy?
Oh gosh. When we're at the point that trolling from the Speaker's chair is considered serious, well
I think we've gone full #Idiocracy.
volkris
boosted
RT twitter.com/@MuseZack: I like Twitter's view count feature because it lets you see things like how @hradzka's epic deep dive thread about a minor yet pivotal character in Conan the Barbarian is getting more eyeballs than, say, The Daily Show and the entire CW network. https://twitter.com/MuseZack/status/1611895965476323329
volkris
boosted
@matt I'm perfectly fine with Gargron making money off of Mastodon, but he should stop running it like a business, acting like everybody else is their competition. It's called the Fediverse for a reason.
One example: I read earlier today that he was considering implementing quote-posts. Problem is, there are already QP in the Fediverse, just not in Mastodon. That means there is already a standard, set by Misskey and adopted by everyone else except him. Do you think most people even know that? Of course not. For them, everything that's not Mastodon is Mordor. And do you think Gargron will implement QPs is a compatible way? Of course not. He will use his “market share” to say: “I don't have to listen to anybody else. This is, after all, _the Mastodon Network_.”
The Fediverse exists and thrives because of its diversity, but he just strives for uniformity. And don't be mistaken, he's been like that from the start. This behaviour is not new at all.
volkris
boosted
A machine that builds ATMs would be called an "ATM Machine"...
-Shock_Hazzard, Jan 2014
-Shock_Hazzard, Jan 2014
volkris
boosted
How each House member voted for speaker in 15 ballots 👇
volkris
boosted
All these people boosting stuff about #USPolitics #Speaker #SpeakerVote and none of them using hashtags so I can mute them. 😡
Some make comparisons between the #House Republicans being frustrated by a few fringe members and the #Senate #Democrats being frustrated by their two dissenters last year, but there is a HUGE difference in the circumstances:
The Senate Republicans strategically let that situation unfold because it pulled the Democrats toward them. It was in Republicans' interests.
This time the drama is pulling Republicans AWAY from Democrats' position. It was in Democrats' interests to intervene, and they are dropping the ball by letting the situation unfold in a way that makes them worse off.
It's amazing how many miss this distinction in #USPolitics
For people who've asked why the #House keeps voting, it seems that's literally all they can do AND FURTHER, it's what they **must** do, under the rules of the chamber.
If they are in session, they have to be voting.
If the members-elect choose to adjourn until noon, they are committing their future selves to vote at noon. And keep voting so long as they're in session.
At this point in the House's processes there isn't an option for working on something else. This is the one, singular next order of business, to be overseen by the Clerk without a Speaker to choose a different task.
Procedures are fun!
If Democrats were really sad as they say they are about the lack of a Speaker delaying procedures in the House, then they could have easily either voted for McCarthy or simply abstained in voting against him to allow the election and get things going.
For better or worse, Democrats' votes are complicit in the delay of getting to work.
Again, maybe that's even for the best, but let's not let them get away with pretending they're not part of this process.
There's an important detail to understand about #USPolitics : the Senate leaders don't have nearly the power we're told they do.
However, you can see the alignment of interests to promote that myth: the leader gets a feather in his cap while other senators get to duck responsibility for their (in)actions, blaming those pesky leaders.
Today's drama in the #House over #McCarthy strikes me as members of the lower chamber trying to glom onto their own version of that myth, just in a stupider way, as befitting a lower chamber.
volkris
boosted
Newly revealed internal communications show that Twitter, under government pressure, suppressed truthful speech about COVID-19 as "misinformation." https://reason.com/2023/01/02/under-government-pressure-twitter-suppressed-truthful-speech-about-covid-19/
volkris
boosted
Please. I’m begging you. Not every tutorial needs to be a video.
volkris
boosted
🇳🇱
I find it a bit concerning how mastodon talks about their software and new features as if they exist in a vaccum. They talk about implementing a QT feature and forcing people to opt-in or not... Meanwhile the rest of the fediverse has had the QT feature since forever, including modified mastodon instances. We already have a standard, no you cant force opt-in.. .either implement it or dont, you cant force other software to block a feature just because you on your server didnt "opt-in". Its literally equivelant to a link to the original post...
volkris
boosted
A friendly reminder that Mastodon is not a social network! It's one of many pieces of software that makes up this network, often called the fediverse. While Mastodon is the most used software in the network, it is far from the only one. Reducing the network to Mastodon only really misses the point and potential of this diverse network.
#fediverse #mastodon
#fediverse #mastodon
And hey @skroobler I'm #QuotePost ing this using the feature on #qoto!
Yep, instances that give users more power and more features are able to participate in #Fediverse even if other instances leave their users hamstrung by questionable software development decisions of the past.
Quote posting allows us to built on other peoples' content, giving proper credit and adding value for all.
It was a silly decision to leave it out of #Mastodon
@FinchHaven@mastodon.sdf.org @shoq@mastodon.social Definitely not a dead horse. The ability to boost with additional context is a key feature of so...
volkris
boosted
Newspeak in the #Fediverse: “Discoverability is harassment.”
One way to think about #ContentWarning tags vs filters is empowering the end user or not.
If a person doesn't want to see a topic on #Mastodon they can add keywords to their filters, helping them manage their own feeds.
This functionality empowers them.
But adding content warnings everywhere, as many people demand, instead forces such content to be wrapped regardless of whether the end user would want it to be.
So many people have such strong opinions that content should be wrapped, and I'd say we should push back on that proposal.
volkris
boosted
All Your Face.
TSA going hogwild with facial recognition is going about as well as you'd expect, "but you can opt out". YK Hong: Since folks asked what happens whenever I opt out of facial recognition, I documented it for you while going through US...
https://jwz.org/b/yj8C
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
