Posts tagged "social-media":

Fediverse

Yesterday I signed up for yet another server, this time KNThost, because they have a managed service for Hubzilla (also Streams). At this stage I really think I need to have some help with running Hubzilla instances. The one that I hosted on an unmanaged VPS has gone bad, and no longer shares posts. It's a one way hub, with a growing queue and database problem.

Diary

There's something about social media that it's both a time-suck and an energy-suck. I've been so busy with it lately that I have not found the time or the energy for my blog. Not that I have been active on social media: that would not be true. It's more that I have been either reading timelines, or evaluating and playing with its possibilities. Or installing, or reinstalling, and not getting very far with anything.

Hubzilla, links

On Hubzilla, I have now created a channel in order to reconnect with the people over there. Epicyon does not federate well with the Zot networks. For now, it's on https://zotum.net/@hosh

fediverse thoughts again

I've been thinking that from a practical point of view, there is probably something wrong with my conception that decentralization should be as fine-grained as a universe of individual servers in communication with one-another. I've had this conception for the last twenty years at least, so it's hard to shake. But recent posts I've seen about the Fediverse seem to demonstrate that this conception is expensive in terms of resources: at least, with regard to the way that federation of instances works: the more instances, it seems, the more expense.

A film, thoughts about Epicyon and federation, links

Went with Y and D to see Cinema Sabaya, which is amazing. I didn't feel like making the effort to see it and D almost had to drag me along - it would have been insulting as Y had already bought us the tickets. But I was immediately caught up in the film, because it's simply so well done. A mixed group of Arab and Jewish women take part in a video-photography course. From class to class and exercise to exercise they learn about each other and themselves; where they can relate to one another as sisters and where they cannot agree; where they can support one another and where they shouldn't press too hard. There are layers on layers of complexity. The film is utterly engaging and unfailingly authentic.

Diary

I made a new fedi personal instance using epicyon. It took hours, and wasn't even my first choice. I rented the new server under the assumption I'd be using Streams. See the post I wrote on epicyon itself here. It's actually a temptation to continue using epicyon's blogging feature. But org-static-blog gives me better possibilities for presentation.

Journal

I have picked up a slight cold, as often I do when cooler weather sets in. "Cool" may be a bit misleading for folks north of here. We haven't need to turn on the heating so far, but also haven't turned on the A/C for a month at least. Since we don't need either for several months of the year, perhaps our carbon foot print is a bit lower than the results given by those websites that try to estimate one's carbon emissions. On the other hand, most Europeans don't use A/C in the summer as we do.

Pleroma and Streams

Maybe my last post was a little harsh. I modified it slightly afterwards. Anyway, I felt an urge not to be directly on the social network that everyone's currently talking about. Disroot's instance runs on Pleroma. (Update: or rather "Soapbox". Is Soapbox still a front-end for Pleroma or a fork of it? - it isn't so clear). Anyway, for now, I'm squatting there. Yesterday I also read about Mike McGirvin's new effort, Streams, about which he says

Instance blocking; the open web

After so many years in the Fediverse, I thought that I understood it well by now. But looking lately at the landscape, through the portal of Mastodon, I'm not so sure. What I see there is a culture where blocking becomes the solution for whatever you don't like, particularly instance blocking.

Diary

I was making Earl Grey with the quantity needed for milk tea, so it came out too bitter. Just a flat teaspoon, then three or four minutes brewing time, is enough. I still add half a teaspoon of sugar. But I'm happy to get rid of the milk (anyway it's always milk substitute in our case).

Diary; thoughts of the day

Spent some time reading through my fediverse stream and catching up on various kinds of terminology, gender relationships, human relationships… Sometimes it seems like I've been hiding in a cave all these years… words like swerf and terf were new to me, and what's harder, understanding them often requires going more deeply into what people say about them, and then trying to make an evaluation. Then I learned, also from my stream, about Glenn Greenwald's mutual embrace with right-wing media, and the acrimony between him and Micah lee and others. Again, hiding in a cave.

Diary

At the office, I saw Avigail was back at her desk.

Journal

I am gradually picking up many of the connections I previously had, just because someone ends up boosting posts by one of them, here and there. As a result, my timeline is growing more interesting by the day.

New fediverse instance

I decided to take the plunge and launch a new fediverse instance, using the services of mastohost.com. The new instance is at social.vikshepa.com/@hosh.

Social media keeps putting people in jail

Links

2022-07-03

In the course of my search for a good Activity Pub server, I found that there are a number of options in development. Here's a curated list. I was specifically looking for an option that expressed the KISS principle (was simple to install, use, maintain) and geared towards single users.

Seen This

I’ve joined a French microblog community called SeenThis with an active community of bloggers who share interesting articles. It’s on quite a high level. Unlike my French. But it does include a translation engine for when I get stuck, and I’m strictly trawling, rather than actively participating.

Authoring

Social media and news site talkbacks have ushered in an age where everyone feels a need to comment, discuss, and venture their opinions. A few years ago, one had to be quite upset or sure of one’s authority to go to the trouble of writing “a letter to the editor”, and till today, when we read a book, it’s very unlikely that we will be able to enter into a discussion with the writer. Well-known authors often cherish anonymity, writing under pen-names. Many refuse all public appearances. In any case, the most we can expect is to learn about them through the intermediary of a journalist, who, we hope, will ask the same questions that we have.