mcneely @mcneely@librem.one

We have to deromanticize community. It's not some pristine untouched forest of soft moss and good vibes. The corporations count on that misconception to stripmine us for content.

Community has always been as weird and messy as humans are. It's work. It's relationships. It's hard. There isn't a magic number. They aren't inherently anticommercial. They don't all look or act the same.

That's one of the reasons I wrote this and am driven to write more: https://powazek.com/posts/3571

i’m starting to have a lot of doubts about the continued viability of a globally open fediverse.

between having to squash bigot-run instances on a daily basis, determining if new instances are run by known threat actors, and being defederated by so called “allies” because our candid conversations rubbed their white tendencies the wrong way, i just don’t see how safe participation in the fediverse for marginalized communities is sustainable.

and that’s sad. it’s sad because whiteness has ruined yet another idea with great potential.

Hello!, friends! There are lots of great resources out there about using this site, but here are 4 things about 🐘 that have made the difference for me, with details on each in my replies:
1. Finding the right server (Terms of Service crucial!) for you.
2. Following people as you would elsewhere – being curious and intentional about what you want to read in your feed.
3. Using the different feeds.
4. Patience!

fedi, for all its problems, has proven the value of the structural advantages of a decentralized system built on public standards and open source software. it is immune to capture and sabotage and monetization alike, in ways that corporate services can never achieve. we design distributed systems like this not only because it befits our values of autonomy and free association, but because it works, it scales — it fucking wins

We're hiring a Staff Frontend Engineer for Glitch — an extraordinary role, because we intend to keep innovating wildly on the frontend experience of Glitch, and because the team is deeply caring & thoughtful. The role is U.S. remote, salary is $169,000 to $245,000, I've found Fastly's benefits to be exceptional, well-managed & inclusive, and we have a warm, collaborative ethos within both the team and community. Consider joining us if you want to make something wonderful!
https://www.fastly.com/about/jobs/apply/?gh_jid=4732318

Then along came Elinor "Lin" Ostrom and her 1990 work "Governing the Commons." In it, Ostrom presented game theory approach to commonly owned resources, explaining how people as self-interested rational actors could avoid the logical trap of over exploitation. And then she did Hardin one better: she detailed the workings of actual extant commons which, according to Hardin and every neoliberal since, should not exist.

Ostrom illustrated what anthropologists and people in stateless societies have known for generations: people are perfectly capable of working out rules to sustainably manage shared resources. In her book, Ostrom detailed one common pasture in Switzerland that has been in continuous use since the 1500s. She also described shared fishing rights in Turkey, shared agricultural and forest land in Japan, and shared irrigation systems in Spain. There is no tragedy.

6/

#BlackMastodon When I started off in engineering, I told a senior colleague that I wanted to have a career a generalist instead of specializing in one area of expertise. His response was dismissive "Jack-Of-All-Trades. Master of none."

I've since come to find out that the actual full quote is:
"Jack of all trades is master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."

With respect to all the specialists, don't let anybody shame you for being a generalist.

The #RespectForMarriageAct is good and I’m glad it passed and will be relieved when it gets signed by POTUS, but let’s not forget that 169 Republicans voted against protecting gay and interracial marriage today. There is more work to be done, more battles to fight.