Subject: What's going on with Meta?
To: @Gargron, @ruud, @jerry, @supernovae, @stux, @trumpet, @kev and other large instance admins
Rumors are tearing this place apart out here about secret deals with #Meta. The latest is that Meta has held #NDA meetings with some of you and they will federate with large instances under contracts providing financial support (1) (2).
This is a time for leadership, not silence. Please, what's going on?
(1) https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/110598855375585873
(2) https://mastodon.social/@alexeheath/110596207691212890
"With Meta joining the Fediverse, instance administrators will need to abide by Meta's content policies, or risk being defederated"
hahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahaha
A bridge over Yellowstone River collapses, sending a freight train into the waters below https://apnews.com/article/montana-bridge-collapse-train-dbd905bac1b35a63107213db7983bafc
When it comes to open source, most of Big Tech isn't actually like 90s-era Microsoft. Most of it is more akin to what Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says here:
If an open source product gets good enough, we'll simply take it. Take [the web server software] Apache: once Apache got better than our own web server, we threw it away and took Apache. So the great thing about open source is nobody owns it - a company like Oracle is free to take it for nothing, include it in our products and charge for support, and that's what we'll do.
So it is not disruptive at all - you have to find places to add value. Once open source gets good enough, competing with it would be insane. Keep in mind it's not that good in most places yet. We're a big supporter of Linux. At some point we may embed Linux in all of our products and provide support.
Usually when Big Tech sees open source, they don't think "extinguish it". They think "take it".Since I keep seeing developers use ‘pretty’ IP addresses like ’1.2.3.4’ in example configurations; a reminder that you MUST NOT use publicly routable addresses that you do not control in your code.
Instead, use one of the available 'TEST-NET' IPv4 or IPv6 ranges documented in RFC 6890;
192.0.2.0/24
198.51.100.0/24
203.0.113.0/24
❌ 1.2.3.4
✅ 192.0.2.4
and for IPv6;
✅ 2001:db8::/32
Pass it on to all of your fellow developers, documentation writers, and so forth.
Full RFC for special purpose addresses;
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc6890/
Reserved for documentation, IPv4 and IPv6;
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc5737/
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc3849/
1/ 🧵
Twitter has suspended every single API key not belonging to a Twitter Blue subscriber.
Every. Single. Key. 9to5Mac’s? Dead. Apple’s for iMessage previews? Dead.
Every single API key has been revoked. The Twitter API is officially dead.
Open Letter to #Meta...
Hello Meta,
It has become known you are reaching out to members of our community to hold secret meetings (1), thereby roping them into a conspiracy of silence. This is not how we do things. This is an open social media network. If you have something to say, create an account and post it to all of us.
Asking you to stop this divisive tactic, and release everyone from any and all legal covenants pertaining to #P92 and the #Fediverse.
Apparently they just announced my asteroid (yes I really do have an asteroid named after me and it's one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me!!) at the #ACM2023 conference dinner, and I'm feeling even more sad that I couldn't go in person. SIGH.
But I have an asteroid named after me :) And I can watch all the talks online, which is pretty nice. And I didn't have to fly or figure out childcare or farm-sitting (or dump it all on my partner), so I guess this is fine.
One week left to sign up for my #Linux Administration Master Course! If you'd like to learn everything important about the operating system, its tools and how to use it in everyday work, this is the course for you. And it's free!
https://be.opsitive.com/linux-administration-master-course
Please boost for better reach.
It's impossible to overstate how good a job Aaron Reed has done with his book 50 Years of Text Games.
You may have seen his excellent free newsletter. The print version is even better: well-designed, easy to browse, and full of primary source material.
And a sky update: I went outside at midnight and enjoyed a firefly flitting around, super bright stars, a Milky Way so cohesive I first thought it was clouds, and faint light on the northern horizon, because it's almost Summer Solstice.
While somewhat gratifying to see the satellite brightness models we published are correct and there are indeed bright satellites visible at midnight from here, I did NOT enjoy seeing them. I've never wanted so badly for a prediction of mine to be wrong.
Do you have a friend or family member who is not on Mastodon?
And you are thinking, "love to introduce them, but the whole multiple servers thing... 🤔"
Well, you are in luck.
A new site makes joining Mastodon a snap >>> https://spreadmastodon.org/
In minutes, #newbies will be up and running on mastodon.social (other instances coming soon).
@spreadmastodon has been developed by @tchambers and his team, so you know it's safe to recommend.
Let's do this!