Best of the fediverse

I would put it into three categories:

1. Safety

Bad privacy opens you up to several crimes, e.g.:

• Identity Theft
• Spear Phishing
• Doxxing
• https://github.com/tenacityteam/tenacity/issues/99

Yes, in an ideal world, the criminals wouldn't do these crimes and telling people to heed their privacy for this is borderline victim-blaming, but our legal systems still seem completely overwhelmed with the reality that is the internet.

2. Psychological Warfare

Advertisements have long gone past their initial purpose of informing customers, so that they can make better decisions.
They actively try to get customers to make worse decisions, i.e. buying overpriced articles and buying articles that they wouldn't otherwise buy.
Really, an advertisement that informs you of the most cost-effective product for something that you would have bought anyways, is a horrible advertisement.

And one way to make ads less effective, is to not give them personal data.

This is also particularly important with political ads, where you may be communicated a wholly different message than your neighbor.

And speaking of politics,

3. Right to Democracy

Democracy doesn't come for free. Every so often, it needs to be defended with protests.

And as such comes the question: Would you feel comfortable organizing or participating in a protest?
Would you also still, if an extremist party in your country came to power?

Ultimately, it's a deed of every citizen in a democracy to be able to defend it. And for that, you need privacy.

I personally think that the Fediverse is kind of tricky for both Boomers and the mid-to-young-ist Zoomers. But for different reasons based on the kinds of issues/questions I get when trying to help both age ranges with their computers. The TL;DR if you don’t want to read all of my rant is: It is really down to understanding how to best approach it with them. And to just be ready to teach them while starting out. Social media these days is like the Zoomer version of how Boomers love cable/satellite TV.

Boomers have just less understanding of the internet and non-office work on computers. Like they think that the MUST have Outlook in order to get emails. Or how some of their kids and grandchildren could only get them to switch from using IE to Chrome or Firefox by labeling the icons as “Internet” or even changing the icon for the shortcuts to be IE.

They are also a big factor in how crazy ads have gotten on news sites (IMO). As they are more likely to click on them and even think the ads are news stories (or at least have some belief/trust that if the ads are on a news or other reputable site that they aren’t scams). I have personally had to deal with a couple of older folks that freaked out when they got home after their PC was fixed by me. All because “stuff is missing” on whichever start page news site they visit. I had to explain that nothing of actual importance was actually “missing” and show them how uBlock Origin is actually protecting them. Just turned it off and basically A B viewed the site with and without the ads. And that the slide-show of stories has a lot of ads that are meant to look like news. They were happy about it in the end.

Mid to young-ist Zoomers on the other hand (like another commenter said) are much more used to highly centralized services. They aren’t used to how much more detached from each other the internet was back in the 80’s/90’s/00’s. For them it is about being where everyone is at and where they could be seen by the most people. Another issue for them is how they really seem to be going backwards with regards to basic computer literacy/skills.

They are super versed in iOS and Android (and maybe Chrome OS), and it shows when I need them to tell me where they might have saved something important. Since their phones really really don’t like for users to “explore” the filesystems and hide it all behind pretty apps. They have no idea where anything is unless it is in their Downloads or Desktop folders. Even just knowing to keep track of how much space is left on their HDD/SSD is a struggle. Especially since so many of them have become interested in having “gaming PCs”. They love to watch stuff like LTT or Marques Brownlee and the various Twitch streamers. But since they really only use their phones and consoles, they don’t understand how PCs require more effort because they don’t stop you from messing things up. Or that they even need to install the OS (but TBF I also have to explain this to many people of all ages since they tend to only ever buy pre-built OEM stuff or phones that the OS is actually flashed on and hard to completely remove).

So I think that the Fediverse is currently mostly something Gen X, Millennials, and older Zoomers are able to take to the easiest. Due to either being online before what we know as “social media” and having to hunt down stuff. Or from being around while social media was just forming and while stuff like web forums were more of a thing. I think that it is more of an education thing more than any specific Fediverse program/server/instance. The “Mastodon is more like email” description is the best way to get Boomers to view it while also “feeling” like how they can see updates similar to their Facebook feed. Zoomers are tricky due to being so super connected to chat and social media. But the stuff they know is major sites/services that have so much money and resources to basically provide unlimited space for uploads and/or being able to be on everything at all times. So the need to be aware of any limits or restrictions/limitations of any service they use can be a deal breaker. But if they can focus long enough to learn, then they could reverse the trend of treating computers in the same way that Boomers treat cable/satellite services. So much expectation of little to zero effort on their part is going to be what could lead to us just having AI just tell them what they can and can’t do.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/555981

cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/555950

A small update of the community browser:

• Display of the community description (by clicking on the title)
• Easily copy the community URLs
• Accepts query parameters for the search (e.g.: https://browse.feddit.de/?search=fediverse)
• Minor optimizations

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.perthchat.org/post/83219

First of its class?

I am much much more visible than what you are trying to do. But I wear a reproduction oldschool PLA hat (aka Mao hat), and even a hammer and sickle pin on my work uniform (sometimes also a Marx pin). I had a lot of fun with cloth facemasks (got stuff like antifascist action, left unity, hammer and sickle, YPG, pro-Palestine). Even just wearing the hat, I get a pretty good amount of random leftists making a point to get my attention or outright start talking with me.

All of this really doesn't help you, but it is fun to have those moments and know they know. One that I think would work for you is the anarcho-communist/antifascist/CNT-FAI flag. Most people don't seem to notice that one unless it has the "Antifascist Action" words. I think some folks that aren't aware of it might just think it is some kind of nautical thing. The "Three Arrows" might also work, but it does rub some folks the wrong way (given that one of the arrows originally was against communists). But I personally replace its meaning with capitalism given how it isn't used by any political party in the US and is just seen as another antifascist symbol. Or something ACAB might work, I have seen shirts that have it seem like it stands for "All Cats Are Beautiful".

We most certainly aren't union (though I do wish we were, and I do very openly talk pro-worker/anti-capitalist). I would sign a card the second one were to be presented. I have actually been perma-banned from multiple un-official subreddits that are about the company for saying the "forbidden" word. If we were to try and do it, we would need to have multiple locations also be down. As the main fear is about how they "will shut our store down fast as fuck".

I started with the pins and face-masks during all of the protests in 2020. Just initially figured I'd just keep wearing stuff until someone finally stopped me. But aside from corp banning hats for some reason that literally isn't related to me (I am for real about that too). I only ever got told I couldn't wear my mask that said "Antifa" and another that was left unity (mostly because it had an AK).

It would probably surprise you how I haven't had any customers/clients go out of their way to attack me or even send shit to my bosses (especially given I live in the middle of NC). I even had a guy that I have helped here and there over the past 4 or 5 years and is/was very right-wing be concerned if any of my co-workers have come at me for my openness. He has over time become more apolitical because I have shown him how to better use the internet. Still a very strange guy, but he truly respected how I firmly stand for real-ass working people and that I went waaay above and beyond to work with him when we first met. He was even a big fan of my "Mao hat", and said it looked good on me. lol. I had one older black couple be super jazzed to see it too. The husband was a Vietnam vet (which I was thinking would go badly when I saw his vet hat), and he just kept going on about how great it looked. His wife also said that it made me give off very proud vibes (kind of like how some folks talk about liking a man in uniform).

We also have a wall in the back of my area that we at some point started putting up stickers we had found laying around. I have covered most of it in leftist shit (including some fuck cops type shit just without profanity). After three different direct bosses and a GM, no one even tries to stop me at this point. Though I am sure if a much higher up person were to see me and the wall, it would be a firm ban on my nonsense. Until then, I openly try to answer good-faith questions other folks have. Which seems to really soften their stance on socialism and see how little they actually know about it (outside of the constant shit being said in our media and from politicians).

https://lemmy.perthchat.org/u/[email protected]