Welcome to the Linux community. :)

You will probably never understand everything about Linux and all of its included and associated systems. That’s completely fine, no one does! That’s why we are many, and it’s what asking for advice or help is for. You can just learn whatever interests you at your own pace, and know that there will always be interesting things you haven’t seen yet.

I really like the idea of creating a decentralized network that has a fair monetization model built right in, instead of relying on donations like the Fediverse. Crypto got a very bad rep, but this kind of stuff is exactly what it’s good for imo.

It also has some core features that are missing from other similar messengers, like multi-device sync. And lastly, the devs seem pretty capable and open as well. They are very transparent with their work and seem to have the right ideas about where things should go and making good trade-offs. E.g. their reasoning for not using the Signal protocol seems solid to me.

So I’m hopeful, but time will tell if it all works out.

The thing is, Reddit also has money and lawyers. LW doesn’t, so it’s understandable that they play it safe imo.

Fedora, I usually wait 1-2 weeks for the last bugs to be found+fixed and extensions to catch up, and then just upgrade in-place. Haven’t had a major upgrade problem for years now, it’s mostly as smooth as any other offline update. And I don’t feel like I have to reinstall the OS every few years on Linux either.

Because that’s what creating an all-powerful government leads to. Imo the key is splitting up and balancing the power, not concentrating it in one easily corruptable entity.

One of us One of us One of us! :)

Idk when you checked, but they work pretty well now. Not quite on par with Google Docs, but the closest thing I know.

No! I prefer ______, and you are WRONG for thinking otherwise!

I can’t recommend Synology enough! They make it as easy and painless as possible to own your data again.

On Usenet altHUB and abook.link.

Can’t talk for the free tier, but my Usenet account comes bundled with a paid Privado account, and that’s working ok so far. The connections have been reliable, fast, and low latency.

My main issue has been that it doesn’t support port forwarding. Also, some GeoIP services locate many of their servers in the Netherlands, instead of where Privado says they are. Idk who’s right, but it’s definitely a problem if you want to pick a specific location.

Why stop half way? All you need is a benevolent dictator, shouldn’t be too hard to find, right?

Some of these points are good, some are just absurd. Letting “the state” handle everything and hold all the cards, and then actually believing that it won’t be coerced and corrupted or that there won’t be strong disagreements about how to handle things is just delusional and wishful thinking on a grand scale imo.

I agree that most modern countries need to strenghen the public sector, but you still need checks and balances between powers, individual responsibilities and freedoms, real-world economic feedback and incentives, and so on.

If you have an always-on-and-connected device then you can self-host their bridges. It preserves e2ee because messages are de- and reencrypted on your device, and it’s relatively easy to set up.

It can be a bit annoying sometimes, but there are solutions for almost anything, like alternative clients and frontends. But I also think it’s important to remember that this is not an all-or-nothing situation. Every little bit of privacy you can preserve helps, even if you still have to use their services sometimes.

If your example is mostly about chat then Beeper might be a good option for you. The messages on FB and IG would still go through Meta, but at least you don’t have to install their apps.

How about some JavaScript p+=[]**[]?

It’s hard to overstate what a nothing-burger this article really is! Let me break it down:

• Signal got $3 million from the Open Technology Fund at some point in its development
• Some anonymous source alleges that the OTF’s ultimate goal is to promote US foreign interests
• The current chairman of the board Katherine Maher worked at the National Democratic Institute and Wikipedia before
• The same anonymous source says she was recruited because of connections to the OTF
• She has at some point voiced the opinion that a completely free internet without regulation just reproduces existing power structures, and that balancing regulation and 1st amendment rights is a tough problem
• Signal doesn’t have reproducible builds on iOS (it absolutely does on Android btw)
• Some people feel like Signal chats come up more often than they should in court cases and media reports

That’s it, that’s the whole story. That the reason why the Telegram guy of all people thinks you should be careful, and better use his chat service instead. And the Twitter guy agrees.

I mean, reproducible builds on iOS would be nice, but that platform has much bigger problems from a privacy/security/sovereignty/freedom standpoint anyway. And the rest is just nothing turned up to 11.

I think some of the arguments are quite flawed. Bitcoin itself has most of the properties it is said to have, but it lives in a world that doesn’t and so some only really apply if you manage stay inside the system. Like, your Signal chats are private as long as you don’t copy-paste them to Facebook.

Regarding self-custody/decentralization and using custodial services: The problem here is not that those properties don’t apply to Bitcoin, but that some people just choose to give away control over their wallets or not use Bitcoin itself for certain transactions. Can’t blame that on the currency, unless you think it can’t be done any other way.

Regarding privacy: I don’t think any serious “Bitcoiner” advertises Bitcoin as private. The message has always been that it’s “pseudonymous”, that you have to take extra steps in order to make it anonymous, and that it’s transparent instead of private by design.

Regarding transparency: The paragraph actually argues about privacy again, trying to spin the existing transparency into a negative. I mean, I think it’s a valid option, but it’ not something “Bitcoiners” are wrong about.

Regarding inclusion: This one talks about censorship-resistance instead. The fact is that Bitcoin transactions are inclusive, but ofc you can still get into trouble if you have to fear external repercussions and can’t stay anonymous.

Debrid services are usually cheaper (as low as $2.5/month), but you’re limited to public trackers with them.

Cause it’s one big part of why the Fediverse and Lemmy exist in the first place.

We wouldn’t need all this decentralization overhead if centralized sites were trustworthy and focussed on serving their users. The fact that they are not is what leads to privacy violations and enshittification, hence why people created the Fediverse and why we are here (at least most of us I presume).

Best tip I can give is to use a tool that’s made for this task, like Tdarr/FileFlows/Unmanic. They take care of all the complicated issues like encoders, ffmpeg parameters and parallel processing on multiple nodes, so you only have to handle the things you actually care about.