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Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

infosec.exchange

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Re: Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

#151
post #39

I'm exactly in the target demographic that desperately wants a a return to the old, decentralized, protocol-based internet. We need working alternatives to Twitter to prevent a single mentally unstable billionaire from having this kind of power. But everything about Mastodon seems badly designed and engineered. The focus on "servers" seems technologically anachronistic, but worse, fragments the community and creates…

I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, but I’ve switched off my Twitter and I’m going to really try and make Mastodon work because I think all issues except the network effect are surmountable here

Re: Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

#152
post #71
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comedy is now legal on Twitter.

Only if it doesn't include parody or bruise Elon's fragile ego.

The real comedy is the jokes that dont bruise his ego, the jokes he doesnt get. The emperor believed he was wearing clothes for most of the story. Only at the end did he realize everyone was laughing. Ironic flattering cuts deepest.

Re: Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musk's behavior in this whole thing seems far from competent.

He's the CEO of five companies and he just landed in Qatar to party at the world cup. His worth ethic is suspect and the stuff of myths. Supposedly he never stops working but he's an expert at Elden Ring.

Musk being CEO is not really like a startup founder being CEO. For example at SpaceX the company is basically run by Gwynne Shotwell, with Elon being the visionary and face of the company, with the clout and authority to dive deep into any part of the company he thinks is important right now and help facilitate or micro-manage stuff. But when he is occupied elsewhere for a couple months the gears keep turning without him just fine. I imagine his other companies (with the notable exception of Twitter) work the same.

Re: Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

#154
post #10

The pivot from “I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law”[1] to “I get to use censorship to kneecap a competitor because it’s my site now” was almost comically quick. [1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519036983137509376

I actually think this is quite a long way away from funny. We've been able to watch Elon Musk get radicalized in real time. That's quite worrying when you consider the amount of resources he has available to him. During the Trump years there was a lot of talk about how Trump is bad, but fundamentally incompetent. Well now we're going to see what extremism looks like when a far more competent person is orchestrating i…

Yes. However, I would argue that is a good thing. Musk has become a poster child one can easily point to and ask a question along the lines of 'is it reasonable for society to allow a person with resources near some nation-state levels to exist and not limit their ability to gather that amount of resources?'

While in general I am very permissive and I hate imposition on my individual freedoms, I am increasingly convinced that leveling of playing field is necessary. You reach an upper limit of say 'five small islands' and you start seeing major increase in tax burden. As you can undoubtedly tell, I am no tax expert, but I am tired of this prince equivalent of our times. Wait, not princes ( princes had some structures that kept them somewhat in check ). Maybe robber barons is a better comparison. US managed to get them under control once, but that required a world war II. I am honestly not sure we can repeat that approach this time.

I would hesitate to characterize Trump as incompetent. He and Musk share some qualities and note that both of them managed to use the existing system to their advantage better than an average person ( leaving for a moment the above average starting point for both ). Still, fool and his money is soon parted and notice that both of them manage to screw everyone they interact with ( but themselves ), which indicates some level of competency. Unfortunately, that competency is focused only one thing.

In short, I disagree. Twitter saga is just better documented. WH by necessity is harder to properly scrutinize ( despite all the leaks and media attention ).

Re: Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musk's behavior in this whole thing seems far from competent.

He's the CEO of five companies and he just landed in Qatar to party at the world cup. His worth ethic is suspect and the stuff of myths. Supposedly he never stops working but he's an expert at Elden Ring.

He doesnt stop working. Thats the great thing about being boss: you get to define what "working" means. In his mind, what he is doing in Quatar qualifies as work. He probably deducts expenses, those he doesnt just charge to whatever company he thinks most benefits from his travels on a given day.

Re: Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

#157
post #39

I'm exactly in the target demographic that desperately wants a a return to the old, decentralized, protocol-based internet. We need working alternatives to Twitter to prevent a single mentally unstable billionaire from having this kind of power. But everything about Mastodon seems badly designed and engineered. The focus on "servers" seems technologically anachronistic, but worse, fragments the community and creates…

Quoted post unavailable.

Wait, I was under the impression that Germans are good at engineering.

Re: Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you but when they start fighting you, you know you've won.

It has to first get a little more extreem. They have to not just fight but start killing. Look at Napster. Napster was attacked and eventually died. But napster also won. CD sales are dead and we all download/stream music online. Mastadon will soon be attacked directly. It will also probably die as napster: a first cassualty of a revolution. What matters are the long-term changes that survive.

Mastodon will not die in the same way Napster did; it’s decentralized and there’s no way it can be completely shut down since anyone can run an instance.

Re: Twitter's anti-Mastodon filter evasion

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if I understood you correctly, but I don't think this is true. I have not tried it but as long as you have your data you can always setup your own instance with it. Ideally you have a server backup but if not there is a script that can convert the ordinary Mastodon export (the one you can do as a regular user in the UI of any instance) into a form suitable to import into the database of your instance.

You can't migrate your followers that way, can you? Which is (arguably) for many people more important than the content of their posts.

You don’t own your followers. When you move they get a notification you moved and their following lists are adjusted accordingly.
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