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

## To my friends and followers

...at my qoto account, **@design_RG** :

Good afternoon, I would like to inform you that, for personal reasons, I have submitted my resignation from my moderation position here at the mastodon instance, effective today.

I have been on a sabbatical for a period since late June from my work here at Qoto, but trust that my contribution has helped make it a better place.

I also use various other accounts and some of you might have seen posts originating from them, or blog announcements with my signature indicating my Publishing account at @rgx@muensterland.social .

That has been my main account since late June, 2020 -- as I felt I needed a smaller instance that allowed more time to focus and concentrate on Writing, which is currently my main personal interest and expression.

Since mastodon currently does not offer user data portability, my 7,200 posts at this instance will remain. And I might login occasionally, to check for personal messages or retrieve past posts. Anyone wishing to contact me can do so at the address referred above, which is likely to receive prompter attention.

### Thank you!

#Pleroma -- my Blog post yesterday on Pleroma as an Alternative to Mastodon was surprisingly well received.

I have received messages from various people, asking for recommendations of good Pleroma instances to join.

And i am working on it. Serious. As I write here, I am logged in and chatting with friends I just met, all in various Pleroma nodes, that responded to my #introductions post there, thanking the admin for the service.

I will prepare a detailed Blog post, with more suggestions and reasons, but for now, kudos and a mention are appropriate.

Highly Recommended -- FAB

Also known as the German instance with the impossible to remember name, which is *completely accurate*.

Thank you to @absturztaube

#Instance #recommendation #Pleroma for FAB

https://fedi.absturztau.be/

#InstanceAdminDay #rgxJournal #FediReporter

Don't like CATS or all those cat photos that some of us keep plastering all over the #Fediverse?

Fear not, as Mastodon has built in FILTERS -- and all it takes is to configure one or more to get rid of pesky posts.

As a local moderator, I feel compelled to explain and share this with you - so you can hide all these pesky photos which I am particularly fond of, as are many, but maybe not everyone.

So, what to Do?

1. Click on the Gear icon, to visit the "Preferences" area of Mastodon.

2. Navigate down to the "Filters" menu item (see it on screenshot, on the left side).

3. And here you can configure *ANY filters you like*, based on a piece of Text to search for in fediverse posts.

To hide all the Cat maniac photos, I would suggest using something similar to the hash tags I normally use: #cats #mastocats #catsofMastodon #meow #xp

Enter that, or any other expression to search for in the proper line, see screenshot #1.

4. Hit the Save button and the filter will be saved and in effect from now on. See screenshot #2.

You have the options of "Delete" or "Edit" the filter later, if you change your mind, or if the poster changes their offending post routine.

** GREAT way to get rid of mindless Twitter reposts which some people hate -- I recommended that at another instance that had some Really BAD cases like that, and got many thanks from relieved users. 😜

Any questions, please ask.

Love Cats? Post some, boost some, thank you! 😺

#newusers #help #declutter

* Memories, a visit to the Archeology Museum *

It started this morning, the thread. And over short posts, someone told a story. Of a Greek man, who lived in antiquity, by the Mediterranean side; in a city whose name is still preserved, and today is written "Marseille".

This series of posts was interesting, liked it and went to the top to find the rest.

Enjoying his post, I remembered similar thoughts, of History, and how things worked, how small bits and pieces came to me as I visited an exposition, at the Archeological Museum, in Lisbon.

Now the story is on my blog: https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/memories-a-visit-to-the-archeology-museum

"The Web We Have to Save
The rich, diverse, free web that I loved — and spent years in an Iranian jail for — is dying.

Why is nobody stopping it?"

https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-have-to-save-2eb1fe15a426

Amazing art on the post header. See the FULL SIZE image here, lots of detail: https://miro.medium.com/max/2999/1*DLIqBteIIJchIhaiUfCFdQ.jpeg

## To my friends and followers

...at my qoto account, **@design_RG** :

Good afternoon, I would like to inform you that, for personal reasons, I have submitted my resignation from my moderation position here at the mastodon instance, effective today.

I have been on a sabbatical for a period since late June from my work here at Qoto, but trust that my contribution has helped make it a better place.

I also use various other accounts and some of you might have seen posts originating from them, or blog announcements with my signature indicating my Publishing account at @rgx@muensterland.social .

That has been my main account since late June, 2020 -- as I felt I needed a smaller instance that allowed more time to focus and concentrate on Writing, which is currently my main personal interest and expression.

Since mastodon currently does not offer user data portability, my 7,200 posts at this instance will remain. And I might login occasionally, to check for personal messages or retrieve past posts. Anyone wishing to contact me can do so at the address referred above, which is likely to receive prompter attention.

### Thank you!

@hansw@mastodon.social

## A question for you, or anyone in the European Union, familiar with GDPR regulations.

I use an app that is based in Hong Kong, and is unique on what it offers (a pen pal application, nothing comparable out there that I know of).

Problem :

- they are a small team, and very responsive, creative and competent.
- but all of our data (the personal letters we write to penpals, in private and possibly with much personal info) is stored un-encrypted.
- PRC has some pretty strict legislation, and it's possible Intelligence agencies could demand a China based company to disclose any info in their systems.

And the question ;

- Does the GDPR regulation mandate that a user's data should be available for them to download on demand? (Facebook, and others offer this; I imagine it is probably mandated)

I would like to see if we could have a legal base, at least in some jurisdictions, to approach the team and ask them to offer the same personal data backup for download. Which currently, they don't offer.

If European legislation backs this, we would have a big start.

Ideal would be for all data to be end to end encrypted, like WhatsApp offers, for example. We don't have that yet; although it might be legitimate to ask.

Maybe @freemo might know something about this also?

## What The Netherlands would naturally look like...

...**if they hadn't built any dikes** to prevent flooding.

#Geography #Engineering

## "The Election that could break America"

A repost from my [original Toot at **Muensterland.social**](https://muensterland.social/@rgx/104920018749024139) -- an important article which got the cover for The Atlantic's November issue.

Turns out we have tension, unclear path ahead and it's a good reference. Recommended.

***Original post follows.***

Must-read, excellent in depth article at The Atlantic -- discussing the what ifs and the possible avenues for the current president to dispute a loss in the upcoming election. ***And refuse to yield to a loss***.

> There is a cohort of close observers of our presidential elections, scholars and lawyers and political strategists, who find themselves in the uneasy position of intelligence analysts in the months before 9/11. As November 3 approaches, their screens are blinking red, alight with warnings that the political system does not know how to absorb. They see the obvious signs that we all see, but they also know subtle things that most of us do not. Something dangerous has hove into view, and the nation is lurching into its path.
>
> The danger is not merely that the 2020 election will bring discord. Those who fear something worse take turbulence and controversy for granted. The coronavirus pandemic, a reckless incumbent, a deluge of mail-in ballots, a vandalized Postal Service, a resurgent effort to suppress votes, and a trainload of lawsuits are bearing down on the nation’s creaky electoral machinery."

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/

## MarkDown is simple, looks Good.

.
And here's a quick snapshot of some commonly used MD formatting commands.

Easy peasy as mentioned. See [the original page with more here too](https://www.markdownguide.org/cheat-sheet/).

#MarkDown #Reference for Content Producers. #GlitchSocial and #Pleroma, #Friendica all support it.

Now #Qoto does too. 😃

why stay in vanilla plain text Mastodon ?

## Set MarkDown as your Default Toot Format ?

* There is a place in Settings where you CAN lock in this preference.
* It will NOT do any harm - plain Text still looks normal.
* And if you use any MarkDown, it will be processed and rendered properly.

See the screenshot below for the location of this - a one time switch and done. Same as in Glitch-Social instances.

#MarkDown is rich and makes much nicer posts when wanted... 😃 ❣️

#Qoto new features.

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

#Mastodon #Annoyances.

Muting a conversation, there's a control.

Except -- it doesn't work as expected. As shown by a recurring problem, undesired notifications showing up, and their dot menu controls show an UnMute Conversation.

Signifying, it's supposedly *Muted*, already.

But. Notifications keep coming. Argh.

@rgx@nerdica.net Sadly I just had to Delete/redraft one of my posts in this thread, as there was disgusting content posted down bellow -- by a troll whose account has been deleted but the posts are still around.

We had a good reply which is now orphaned -- but can be seen here : https://pleroma.freespeech.host/objects/87f44060-ccac-484b-a454-eaa17024e890

Thank you to the Shebang!, the author and my apology for this action, sadly it was needed.

* Have you ever heard about Friendica ? *

Friendica is interesting; I have an account but used it very little. Should to a more in-depth test and report on it.

Friendica is part of the vast Fediverse Network -- mastodon is the largest group, but not all of it.

https://friendi.ca for general information.

Screenshots: https://friendi.ca/about/screenshots/

Definitely has some nice features :

- enhanced text formatting, with GUI controls on editor.
- Edit, anytime you want, any of your old posts.
- images can be attached to all posts.

** Get to Know it? -- there's a Try instance. https://tryfriendica.de/

Accounts there will auto-delete in one week, so you don't waste any space or resources. Like it? get a real instance account. Don't like it? just forget it and it goes away soon.

And it federates easily - - my account there is @rgx@nerdica.net
Nerdica is a nice node on the Friendica network.

Lots more instances listed - here : https://dir.friendica.social/servers

#Friendica #NewUsers #Instances #rgxJournal