@austin@mstdn.party
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

austin

@austin@mstdn.party

Undergrad #student + #FOSS contributor, from #Shanghai to #Montreal. I made Barinsta. I quibble on #SliceOfLife, #tech, and #policies. Account speaks English and 简体中文.

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#fedi22 tfr
Previously at @austin, https://mastodon.nz/@a and @austin

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

pixelfed, to random
@pixelfed@mastodon.social avatar

Due to losing control of our Matrix channel, we are officially moving over to Discord for now.

It's a shame, but we can't properly moderate our Matrix, so we can no longer recommend it.

https://discord.gg/MHvDHaSzmc

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@sturmsucht @deadsuperhero He lost power because of room split due to spam; see https://telegra.ph/why-not-matrix-08-07 , point 16. It is actually Matrix's technical fault, albeit itself a complicated issue (since we're in a federated environment). Anyways, Josh (for matrix.org) actually contacted dansup early on to resolve tge issue, but I suppose communication broke down somewhere.

strypey, to Podcasts
@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz avatar

"The clock is ticking for Tiktok in the US with the government giving the social media giant a deadline to sell its US operations."

, 2024

https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/newsable/

The US government wants to make sure only they can use DataFarming platforms to spy on and influence US citizens. They're following the example set by the CCP, which has been blocking foreign-owned platforms for years, for similar reasons.

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@strypey I think "sovereign internet" as a policy direction is much more widespread than one'd think across many countries. (For an example in a "freer" jurisdiction, consider EU vs. big tech, which I see as more anti-American than actually helping consumers.) Eventually the internet will be once again broken into different regions...

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@strypey I don't think Biden is really following the EU approach, there's just too much corporate interest to let that happen. Ultimately, like in India, banning TikTok benefits Meta.

I think EU's end goal is a sovereign internet (esp. how they posture against big tech), it's just that they lack teeth and also incentive for alternative platforms.

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@shortwavesurfer @Blaze Were you on monero.social? I'm aware that matrix.org's Cloudflare firewall may be blocking random homeservers from directly federating with it.

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@Blaze matrix.org indeed is slow at times. You should consider moving to other homeservers: https://servers.joinmatrix.org

anthropy, to random
@anthropy@mastodon.derg.nz avatar

wouldn't it be neat if at least some percentage of people who are going to migrate away from telegram, migrate to open decentralized protocols like matrix?

like honestly I know some people like to hate on matrix's end to end encryption and it being too easy to lose your key, but I think it's honestly one of the if not the best solution to the problem, and it also allows you to keep in touch with your friends on other networks through 'bridges'; technically you only need one protocol for all IMs

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@anthropy Matrix really doesn't market to individual users. Is it called Matrix or Element? Where do you sign up? What moderation tool is there? The information is just scattered around. On the other hand, Matrix (less for the Foundation these days, but New Vector always does that) really focuses on getting corporate/government users on board because that pays their bills...

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@anthropy No, with Mastodon you have joinmastodon.org which is relatively helpful, but matrix.org looks very technical (I guess they're improving because it looked much worse before). People also don't necessarily need to know the "decentralized" part right away.

chikorita157, to random
@chikorita157@sakurajima.moe avatar

I spinned up a Mattermost server (self-hosted). I may use that for APC instead of the forums if chat is more convenient.

And I don't like using Discord, especially given how enshittified it has gotten lately. Wish there are better options.

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@chikorita157 @GouacheAirship Do you know what exactly went down there? If it's a room moderation issue, were they aware of Draupnir? Or was it a homeserver registration issue?

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@chikorita157 Okay, because tools do exist, just that they're not actively promoted (which is a problem). For moderation against federated users, there's Draupnir (a bot) + Synapse's Mjolnir module. Draupnir on its own can enforce banlists (your own or the community's) and other protections on rooms; when used in conjunction with the module, it can also hide messages & block invites for local users using the banlists. For moderation on registration though, Synapse only has an IP-based ratelimit.

austin, to workersrights
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

Some of you are aware of the ongoing TA at , and it pains me to see the administration is succeeding in actively dividing undergraduates, graduate , and alike, by pushing all three to the absolute mental limit. We - and by that I mean all three above - must NOT let the administration tear the social fabric in our to put money before people. When the says "united we bargain, divided we beg," it means not just them, but everyone. 1/

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

The has demanded the to - that is, to perform tasks usually delegated to the TAs, such as grading - despite being in a jurisdiction that explicitly prohibits scabbing. This puts every between a rock and a hard place: by scabbing, they break the law and betray the ; by not scabbing, they lose their job (most are not unionized here, and although it is wrongful dismissal, one simply cannot afford the lawsuit) and also betray the students. 2/

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

The existence of the law empowered the and many sympathizing , who are often unaware of the 's situation, to be over-passionate vigilantes for behaviour. Classes were disrupted due to perceived scabbing*, and there are increasing speculation on the technicalities regarding what does and does not constitute scabbing. This further limits the options that have and creates an atmosphere that encourages witchhunting. 3/

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

are also hurting: undergraduates lose support for succeeding in courses and become increasingly frustrated with grades, while graduates lose their income, especially since the has also suspended every striking TA from their concurrent positions. We are also in the dark, as the administration never communicates to us about the progress of the negotiation, other than to demand lines to cease. I am hearing more and more expletives on the picket line now. 4/

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

Today, as the coincides with a pro-Palestinian , more classes were reportedly disrupted. The administration condemned both picketers and protesters, painting both as the wrong, as they emphasize that "[p]olice made at least one arrest and the University has chosen to press charges." There were more complaining about why random classes were being unfairly disturbed. And that is how the student body is being torn apart. 5/

austin, to meta
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

I shall remind y'all that I was banned from all platforms since 2.5 years ago (https://github.com/austinhuang0131/austinhuang0131/issues/2), and I wouldn't sugarcoat it and say my life is now significantly better, but it actually didn't really affect anything, so dropping them is possible. And yes, I used to treat as necessary for contacting classmates (hence I made ), but are you really missing out by not following them?

jfmezei, to random
@jfmezei@mstdn.ca avatar

@chad I needed to rebot my compuer tonight and after it mastodon requred I login. And now it looks ever so different from before. (in mentioned, favourites/boosts are minimized for instance). Posting this message, I get new icons. And I can't see to find the utto at the top where system news would be announced (perhaps because I am im small wimdpw) Did you make chamges? or was my account compromised ans someone made changes to it ?

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@jfmezei Seems like your instance just got updated to v4.3.0, that's the new layout.

austin, to random
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

"Department of Geography notices Everything 👀"

austin, to ai
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

A government-run ... concerns aside (on using - article mentioned "internet browsing history"), while it could be useful for the short term (esp. in the pandemic), it bears asking why people aren't meeting each other? Maybe people don't have time beyond work to look for each other? Also, what about risk (bias etc.)? Can AI really pitch in for such an important life decision as ?

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/43d922b8c51c-feature-ai-plays-cupid-as-japanese-authorities-try-to-boost-marriage-rate.html

18+ PeterCxy, to random

I keep saying I want to get into a relationship but in reality I don't think I am ready for it. And I guess the main reason here is that I feel like you inevitability need to share a lot of very private and personal information with your other half eventually, and I am not sure what sort of distance between partners is considered "normal". My own parents basically share everything, but from my viewpoint I find this type of relationship unacceptable, however much I love the other person. I guess I have just not felt comfortable sharing this kind of information growing up, even with my immediate family...

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@PeterCxy I feel somewhat the opposite... I literally infodump on people, then in hindsight I feel that I'm being too aggressive while talking without substance... I also don't know what questions to ask others, which is why I rarely hear other people's stories despite a desire to do so...

anthropy, (edited ) to random
@anthropy@mastodon.derg.nz avatar

I'm seeing a bunch of complaints about Matrix being overengineered and there not being a good chat solution in general.

While I don't necessarily disagree with either of those statements, I'm wondering if there's just a need for a good inclusive tutorial for setting Matrix up, showing how to use it in various examples, because I do think that while complex, Matrix does deliver on the need for end to end encrypted chat, hosted on own servers.

Would you like a blog/tutorial on setting up Matrix?

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@anthropy I run https://joinmatrix.org and you're welcomed to contribute! As for hosting, personally I just use matrix-docker-ansible-deploy.

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@anthropy Unfortunately, recently they tried to pull a subsctiption model on their community users...

https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/31149

timbray, to Signal
@timbray@cosocial.ca avatar

Joined the Signal username land grab, got the usual handle. Question arises: Best practices on posting/sharing. At the moment you have to know my phone # to Signal me, but that’s very easy to figure out. So, initially inclined to just post the username. Hmmmmmm…

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@dreua @eighthave @timbray As explained in another post, you can change it at any time without repercussions, since it's just a pointer to your account.

austin, to Montreal
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

-area residents can now apply to test recharging your OPUS card on your phone, via the ARTM Chrono app.

https://www.adhoc-opinions.com/SE/1/ARTM_TEST_Chrono-Recharge_OPUS/?&urlimport=1&questlist=SOURCE&SOURCE=1

crcdng, to random
@crcdng@mstdn.party avatar

More details and roadmap on the @mozilla Hubs sunset. Hope the community picks up

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@crcdng Matrix (the federated chat protocol) also had an open source metaverse implementation called Third Room: https://thirdroom.io . Mentioned at the very end of https://matrix.org/blog/2023/09/matrix-2-0/ , Matrix.org ended its funding late last year, and no updates have been observed since... Honestly, I wish there are organizations working directly for this (so that they can have full attention) instead of just chasing fads with side projects...

shoq, to random
@shoq@mastodon.social avatar

@tchambers Help me understand something. If a BlueSky instance appears on an AP federated network via a bridge, why would this be structurally any different than any other AP-based fedi instance that could be defederated if that was an AP admins choice? Or is the main objection really just the idea that the connections are being made with a culture war nemesis?

austin,
@austin@mstdn.party avatar

@shoq @tchambers It's not. If you look at the replies of my post you can see some object to this solely because they hate Bluesky based on some external factors...

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