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what do ya call HN, @manawyddan?
I've always considered it a forum more than social media.
I hardly ever use them, but sometimes it comes in handy.
For example, at least twice I found someone's wallet or ID and was able to contact them quickly using Facebook, because their name was the same.
I only have Facebook (Messenger) because my larger family use it for instant messaging but we are willing to move on. What's a good alternative that has a web client at least when you are on desktop + you can video call too?
You can pay $10/month for your own Modular.im Matrix server host and use that with your family (it also funds the devs).
They have Jitsi support for video (you can also just use Jitsi stand alone).
I think signal also has video calling, but not sure about group call support.
Both have mobile and desktop apps. Both are encrypted and ad free. Matrix is federated, but modular.im makes setup easy.
I lived in Spain for 5 years and then I returned to my country 13 years ago. Some 8 years ago, Facebook was something that I really enjoyed using. I left way too many friends, close friends, and well, lovers behind. Facebook allowed me to have a healthy relationship with them, even if at a distance. I went back to Spain on 2010 for the wedding of a close friend, and it was like I've been out of the country for 2 mont…
Bail. Find an alternative from Europe or Canada instead. Or simply let it go.
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I've always considered it a forum more than social media.
What's the distinction? They both have a community and social features. Commenting, upvotes/liking, posting links, user profiles. HN mainly lacks private messaging and groups.
Very insightful blogpost and good for the author. It shows its possible to get away from Facebook's social network drug store which they purposefully make it hard for you to quit or delete your profile(s). With Facebook, there's no such thing as 'privacy' and 'account deletion'. I hope that everyone else isn't addicted to another drug that is called 'Twitter' which one of its side-effects is 'getting the worst out of…
I am afraid the drug is called society. It is a "folie à deux" except with two replaced with N. It is also absolutely great in bringing out the worst in people and rewarding them for it and the worst part is that attempts to replace it manage to wind up even worse!
For one simple reason: bots.
One of my Raspberry Pi projects is a bot to delete from the family group any post containing the name of politicians. This wiped out political flame-wars and fake news.
It is very easy to make Telegram bots. You basically create a website, register it in a dynamic dns, add an ssh certificate (letsencrypt or your own) and add it to your group.
But, similar to the author, I'm having more difficulty getting rid of WhatsApp. This is my primary means of communicating with friends and family all over the world. And for some of them I know it's just not an option to try get them to switch to another platform, especially since I'm not sure which is the better platform. In my opinion, WhatsApp strikes the perfect balance of security and usability. Telegram makes me nervous due to the Russian roots and the numerous security concerns I've read online. Signal is overly secure to the point that usability for regular folk suffers (I've personally had terrible experience with their support after losing a bunch of SMS messages.) Matrix, Riot, MatterMost, and many other opensource apps all look good but not overly user-friendly for novices.
What else is there?
I got rid of the timeline by unfollowing _everyone_. Timeline is completely empty. It's bliss
> Telegram is by far a superior product to WhatsApp. For one simple reason: bots. One of my Raspberry Pi projects is a bot to delete from the family group any post containing the name of politicians. This wiped out political flame-wars and fake news. It is very easy to make Telegram bots. You basically create a website, register it in a dynamic dns, add an ssh certificate (letsencrypt or your own) and add it to your…