Using RSS to replace social media • Hacker News Board

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#41

Post by fascistusa » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

Kaze404 wrote: post #30

kkoncevicius wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have some examples of his alt-right political opinions? I've watched a few videos of his that were recommended and don't remember anything there.

I think the FAQ ( https://web.archive.org/web/20180523034252/http://old.lukesm... ) says it all really, especially the section where he talks about "the SJWs".

It does still blow my mind that so much absurd rhetoric is coming out of the left over the past decade. The absurdity blows my mind and it definitely doesn't promote a conversation.

You want a war.

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#42

Post by cxr » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

Zash wrote: post #28

Forgotten OStatus have we? That was essentially RSS feeds + optional extras like ActivityStreams and push, all gracefully degrading into plain ol' RSS / Atom feeds.

Along with Atom, RSS is simple enough (it's in the name) that you can add RSS support even for static sites. ActivityPub, the most popular carrier for ActivityStreams, is "designed around the concept of an inbox and outbox" https://lwn.net/Articles/741218/>, requiring that the server itself provide support. If you know of a realistic demonstration of ActivityStreams-without-ActivityPub that establishes a pattern that can be appropriated for re-use elsewhere (e.g. on static sites), then ActivityStreams is worth discussing, but otherwise probably not.

It's my claim that for all the work that goes into Mastodon, Solid, etc, none of them will truly succeed without the ability for programmers themselves to effectively put them into practice on static sites, especially those associated with their GitHub profile using GitHub Pages. (I despise GitHub, FWIW, and really hate that so much of the world of development has settled there, but I can know what I know from seeing what I see.) When it's simple enough to do that, that's the point where non-niche productized services for non-programmers to do the same will start popping up and off-Twitter chatter will take off. Despite the inroads that Mastodon has made, I don't consider in non-niche; it's being held back by the same factors described here.

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#43

Post by mkr-hn » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 1:52 PM UTC

the_third_wave wrote: post #10

Kaze404 wrote: post #5

It's fascinating to me that even in a post for something as simple and mundane as RSS feeds somehow Luke Smith still manages to sprinkle in some of his disgusting alt-right vocabulary. I have to respect the grift.

I read the page and did not find anything worth labelling " disgusting alt-right vocabulary ". Either put up or shut up with the " disgusting alt-right vocabulary " nonsense. This type of accusation without examples and explanations just why it is " disgusting " and " alt-right " only serves to poison the well from which ideas are drawn, it serves no good purpose. So, show us some examples of that disgusting vocabula…

I had a look at one of his Peertube feeds and I see that "soy[noun]" is something he uses often enough that it's probably not a typo. Example: "climate soyence," "OBS is major soyware." All with the soyboy meme guy overlaid. The "soy" thing is very much an alt-right dogwhistle, but those have a way of leaking out, so it's not always a red flag in isolation. I don't think such a charitable read is warranted in this case: he's all in on the meme. Put it together with all the pepes and whatnot, and it's clear he's at least well into the pipeline.

This is why I'm usually against making such accusations without extra context. There's no way a casual reader could have seen this. If you don't have that context, it's clearly just a typo! So Kaze404 looks like a goofball, unless you have context.

edit: more context that removes all doubt https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28653868

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#44

Post by pixxel » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

Kaze404 wrote: post #27

jetstreamSam wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would completely agree on that, if his general blog would be what was posted. But this is an unrelated informative article, which is why I don't think discrediting critique of the person is valid. Especially since the 'offenses' seem impressively minor in this case.

I agree that this is an unrelated article, but he opened this can of worms himself by inserting dogwhistles in it. Which is unfortunate, because the information in there is actually useful and something I would gladly link in the "Library" section of my blog. But I can't do that now, otherwise I'd be platforming speech that wants me dead.

Perhaps you’re over sensitive or you get a kick out of derailing. Either way, time here has been lost to the topic.

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#45

Post by Kaze404 » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 1:57 PM UTC

spErased wrote: post #38

Kaze404 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that this is an unrelated article, but he opened this can of worms himself by inserting dogwhistles in it. Which is unfortunate, because the information in there is actually useful and something I would gladly link in the "Library" section of my blog. But I can't do that now, otherwise I'd be platforming speech that wants me dead.

I'm not sure what to look for as evidence of Luke suggesting he would want yourself or anyone else dead. I would appreciate some quotes or the name of a particular blog entry for my reference.

Sorry, that was definitely bad wording on my part. But still, I think my hesitancy to platform people who openly use the vernacular of people who actually do want that is reasonable. I obviously don't know Luke Smith and have no idea on what he actually wants, but I know the people who use those words and what they want.

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#46

Post by debarshri » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 1:58 PM UTC

Social media tells you what you should see based on some implicit determination. Sure sometimes you can discover new things that did not interest you. You can feel serendipitous. With RSS feed, you can actually gain control, you could actually say when you see items in the feed, alert me. With current social media, I am constantly discovering things, which gives me a short high of finding new things which lasts for few minutes and then I find another new thing. I haven't been able to find what interests me for eg. In YouTube, where I get bored quickly even though I keep seeing new things, new domain I just discovered.

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#47

Post by Kaze404 » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 2:00 PM UTC

kkoncevicius wrote: post #34

Kaze404 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the FAQ ( https://web.archive.org/web/20180523034252/http://old.lukesm... ) says it all really, especially the section where he talks about "the SJWs".

After reading I think you are blowing this out of proportion by stating that "it says it all". There is a section there about his political beliefs and he says his main belief is that tech-monopolies should be broken down and society should be governed on a smaller scale. I think half of HN readers would agree with some version of that. And about "the SJWs" - he only says that people are asking him to make video abou…

There isn't much alt-right about that specifically, but it's clear wording that the alt-right has been using online for years. Talking about "SJWs" controlling the media and universities (and in the very same paragraph saying every "normal" person wants them "gone") and calling things you dislike "soy" are both plays in the years old alt-right playbook. If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck...

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#48

Post by tofukid » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 2:03 PM UTC

I think RSS is a way to read social media, it's not a replacement for social media. But that's a good thing! I just want to stay updated with blogs, forums, and social media – in one place. I built and use https://sumi.news to follow Twitter, newsletters, and RSS in a peaceful, chronological feed, and it works well for me. I still comment, reply, and interact, but I only have to check one website for updates.

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#49

Post by chrismorgan » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 2:07 PM UTC

Technical correction: YouTube, GitHub and GitLab all produce Atom feeds, not RSS. (Nitter has /rss in its URLs but I can’t confirm they’re actually RSS because the feeds seem to be broken, producing HTML “user not found” error pages.)

(If you want to know more of my beef against RSS (both as a technology and as a term for web feeds regardless of actual format): https://hn.algolia.com/?query=chrismorgan+atom+rss&type=comm.... RSS should have been killed off about fifteen years ago in favour of Atom.)

Re: Using RSS to replace social media

#50

Post by ravenstine » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 2:08 PM UTC

debarshri wrote: post #46

Social media tells you what you should see based on some implicit determination. Sure sometimes you can discover new things that did not interest you. You can feel serendipitous. With RSS feed, you can actually gain control, you could actually say when you see items in the feed, alert me. With current social media, I am constantly discovering things, which gives me a short high of finding new things which lasts for f…

YouTube is far better if you can completely bypass their algorithm.

Half the time I use YouTube through NewPipe, a FOSS Android alternative to the YouTube app. If you import your subscriptions, it shows you exactly all the videos from your subscribed channels in chronological order, not what it or YouTube thinks you want to see. The search is seemingly less algorithmically influenced and there is no autoplay. There's a "trending" tab, but that's easy to ignore and you can just set your subscription feed as the default tab. The very fact that I don't feel like what I'm seeing is what corporations and billionaires want me to see changes my usage into something that is active rather than passive. It feels different, better, to participate in the power process to not only have confidence in that I'm seeing all the updates I specified to see but that I have to seek out what I want to watch/listen to. Psychologically, it's healthier, IMO.