Jeremiah Lee @jeremiahlee@librem.one

since a lot of folks are becoming newly interested in escaping corporate silos and moving to community-based services, are you aware of @matrix?

Matrix is to Slack and Discord, what Mastodon is to Twitter: a decentralized, federated network based on open standards/specs. It also supports full end-to-end encryption, just like Signal, so you can exchange messages privately!

If you find the fediverse interesting/inspiring, I recommend giving matrix a whirl. The quickest way to get started is to head over to https://app.element.io/ and make a (free!) account (although you can also join any number of other home servers, or host your own--they all talk to each other!).

If you _do_ end up checking it out, please do say hi! I'm @zkat:zkat.tech over there. I also manage a "space" (a group of channels, kinda like a Discord server) that you can join by clicking here: https://matrix.to/#/!tKdDSgQTxQzcOuTXqV:matrix.org?via=zkat.tech&via=matrix.org&via=envs.net

I hope this sparks your interest! I'd love to see you over there, too!

The lesson to take from the big layoffs at Twitter and Facebook is this: "The job will never love you back." No matter how much effort you put in, no matter how clever you are, no matter how long you've committed yourself to $COMPANY, when push comes to shove, you're just a replaceable part in the machine.

Keep your weekends and your evenings. Leave your bugs at work. Your time is for you, and your boss won't send you flowers.

Very good post “Twitter, When the Wall Came Down” by @bcantrill

http://dtrace.org/blogs/bmc/2022/11/05/twitter-when-the-wall-came-down/

It's WAY worse than you already think it is on Twitter. Please read this thread. Be safe.

https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1590746170438975488?s=20&t=I_d9Q7em6KleID8FqhPjhA

For years I had such a hard time explaining to *anyone* why this ActivityPub spec we were working so hard on mattered

When you think about it Elon paid 44 billion just to advertise the importance of the fediverse, gotta give that guy some credit, real generous of him

New to Mastodon and staring at an empty timeline? I've made ready-to-import follow lists based on a couple of opt-in public directory of semi-/self-vetted Mastodon users. They are #Fedified by @DataDrivenMD and #JournalistsonMastodon by @tchambers.

Just grab the CSV (imported text-only tables) files here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1knpxwT05WtBxs7a8aPnOUw_2WXyCyxFf?usp=share_link

Then, in your Mastondon instance, go to:
Settings > Import and Export > Import > Following List + Merge

And upload the CSV file(s). Voila, instant tootstream!

Initial impression of Mastodon…

Mastodon will update to 4.0 soon! Here are the most exciting new features (in addition to fixes & changes):

- ability to follow hashtags
- ability to filter by language
- ability to translate posts
- ability to post HEIC files (i.e. your iPhone’s native photo format)
- define user roles (big deal for admins)
- define sign-up process on your Instance (admins again)

See all changes here: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.0.0rc1

Thanks, @Gargron and @Mastodon Team. #Mastodon4

Federated social media isn't weird or too hard for a layperson. Email is federated, with hundreds of possible client softwares and thousands of possible servers, if not more! All these manage to interface together with dozens of strange arcane protocols. And yet, it is wildly successful and used by both the most technical people and the least technical people alike.

Elon Musk achieved the impossible: he encouraged competition in microblogging when none existed! Of course that wasn’t his intention but I personally will take competition any way it comes!

✨ The first release candidate of Mastodon 4.0 is now officially available for testing! Find out what's new on the changelog:

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.0.0rc1

To Twitter migrants complaining about learning how to use the Fediverse—do you forget what it was like to first join Twitter?

Questions that arose back in 2008:

1. What can I possibly say in 140 characters?
2. What is a hashtag, and why does it even exist?
3. How does anyone find anything?
4. Who do I follow?
5. What's a feed?

Twitter came with a learning curve.

Why should #developers be interested in the #Fediverse? I spoke to @darius, who (y'all probably know!) runs a Mastodon instance called Friend Camp, about why developers should experiment with open protocols like ActivityPub & how becoming a hosting provider is a way in. https://thenewstack.io/why-developers-should-experiment-with-the-fediverse/

How to verify your account to an existing website, and it not cost even $8 bucks a month.

https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/108245858984927046

The @eff's Cory Doctorow has prepared some excellent examples for how #interoperability between social media platforms could look like in practice. #UX #UI

Full report here: https://www.eff.org/interoperablefacebook