automatically modify a YT link to a designated invidious instance or whatever

Surely that’s the link that should be posted, then?

using your GitHub

It’s not yours, it’s Microsoft’s.

This is a really good question. I’ve also been wondering why there seems to be no obvious go-to service for blogging, i.e. full-form authored text, in the same way there are for photos (Pixelfed), video (PeerTube), and of course microblogging and discussion forums like this one. Seems like an oversight.

Yes, there’s WordPress. But IMO WordPress is just overkill for most use cases, with its massive database backend. Text is text, the web was designed for text and it worked before databases existed. A static site generator will generate a flat text site just fine (I’ve used them) but you need to host it.

Someday I’ll try self hosting but for now, I’ll pay for decent services.

Maybe you shouldn’t even need to try?

I’ve changed my mind on this one. I used to believe in the utopian internet dream of everyone hosting their own stuff on their own domains. But managing domains and hosting are both a PITA. They require money, technical expertise (because security), and commitment (or else your site goes away). The URL of a blog article posted, say, right here is probably going to be more permanent that it would be on the average private site. And Archive.org is recording the content either way. I’ve come to the view that sites should be left to organisations, and individuals should do themselves a favor and just affiliate themselves to one of those sites. Against payment if appropriate.

Which leaves the question of which site?

There’s a lot of debate around the Bluesky relay and whether or not it’s posible to “scale down” ATProto.

Luckily, with all the attention that Bluesky and ATProto have gotten lately, there’s a lot of interest in running alternative relays just in case things go bad, and I think it may be possible that funding for a public good relay might materialize to protect from the potential failure or compromise of the Bluesky relay.

But I also want to draw attention to another non-obvious thing about ATProto: the relay is not required.

Let’s do a thought experiment. […]

Etc. But I’m certain everyone here has actually read the article so they’ll already be familiar with that thought experiment.

Fair point.

So. Nobody gonna push back? It’s quite a convincing article. Especially this bit:

This is something I want to put a bit more focus on: how important the PDS is.

Giving people their own PDS is soooo crucial to having a free ( as in freedom ) internet. This needs to be something that I can:

• Self host or have somebody else host for me
• Download all of my data from, whenever I want to, and
• Grant other apps read and write access to

That last piece is crucial to the existence of all of these different ATProto apps. We are giving people their own data store and then letting them connect that to all kinds of different tools and experiences.

It does at least seem like the protocol is more sophisticated, and so perhaps carries more potential, than (say) the one powering this site.

True in spirit but not to the letter. You can fire up your own server and federate Bluesky. The issue is that Bluesky’s centralized design means that you would be hosting a clone of literally all the data, which requires serious infrastructure and expense. But the protocol is open, so in theory an alternative provider (with resources) could do it.

If all Xitter users decamped to Bluesky, that might create incentives for more providers to step in, creating some competition and accountability. Non-profit foundations with deep pockets could do it, for example. That would definitely be an improvement compared to today’s corporate social media.

But I agree that ActivityPub is the more democratic solution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instance_(computer_science)

Same, same, and same.

I like it. The reasoning’s good.

I hate the term “instance”. It’s hopelessly geeky (it derives from object-oriented programming). It brings to mind nerds and gamers in basements.

What a mess! But an amazing map, well done to creators.

To clarify things a bit: the map shows the Horn of Africa, which contains one de-jure state, Somalia. It’s composed of the former Italian protectorate (in the south) and the British one (Somaliland, at the top). But in reality there are now three de-facto states. Somaliland wants nothing to do with Somalia and has been independent for 30 years. And last year Puntland also declared independence (and was promptly infested by terrorists it seems).

The interesting thing here is that Somalia is a classic failed state but it has the UN seat. Whereas Somaliland is unrecognized by anyone but is in fact a passably functional democracy.

So, Honduras, Haiti, Venezuela - no surprise. All semi-failed states for a while.

Ecuador is the new kid on the block. As I understand it, it’s because the money from an oil boom ran out, then the country was overrun by drug cartels pushed out of neighboring Colombia.

A shame. Ecuador has amazing natural riches, highest biodiversity in the world. They’ve been copying Costa Rica’s business model of sustainable-ish tourism. Much better than drugs and it really does bring development.

True, but it still gives the Malian government an ultimate authority over the domain, which just seems completely dumb to me. The also-semi-failed Libya has ultimate authority over ly domains (like bit.ly) and has actually used its power to shut down domains for being against Libyan law. Domain hacks are not just ugly, they’re dumb.

Firstly, the French troops were invited by Mali’s government to help it put down its jihadist insurgents. The Russian ones were invited, in turn, for the same reason, after a media-propaganda campaign by Russia that played on historic animosity dating from the colonial period. A propaganda campaign filled with angry rhetoric and sounding much like your rant.

Meanwhile, Mali is still a semi-failed state with a jihadi problem which was caused by neither France nor Russia. And on top of that it now has brutal boorish Russian mercenaries instead of generally well-behaved French regular soldiers. Mali got a terrible deal and it was their own fault.

You know why I’m not embarrassed to say that? Precisely because I’m not a colonialist. I believe that Mali is not a child, it’s an adult. It has agency, it’s not a colony of anyone, it’s a sovereign country that can make choices for itself. If anyone’s views here are colonialist, it’s yours.

Mentioning the French troops was a bit offtopic. But my point stands. Mali is a semi-failed state that seems to have exchanged one set of foreign lords for another, much worse, set.

This seems to be missing Mali, the home of .ml. It’s in West Africa and since the French soldiers left it’s been an authoritarian client state of Russia. Very appropriate.

Yeah you definitely forgot the word “leverage” in the v1 pitch

It has no ads and never will.

This sounds more like a dreaded VC pitch! (But true in substance.)

Just don’t tell 'em all that or they’ll never come.