It’s a word that has become popular in general in the last year-ish. But if you hear it more here. It is likely because it is a term used to describe the dynamic that pushed people from Reddit and other platforms to Lemmy. So you will here it more here, since pretty much everyone here has been personally affected by it.

Basically we are a self selecting group of people who chose to leave (or minimize use of) big tech platforms. And are therefore much more likely to be aware of the problems with those platforms.

Considering that in this analogy you’d be asking the mugger to be your protector it is still unreasonable.

Particularly considering there are plenty of reputable and privacy respecting vpn providers

Yeah voluntarily using a VPN from Google (the largest tracking and Adtech company), is like voluntarily seeking out Mob “protection”

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Sounds more like a backwards medieval society than a ‘sane society’.

Most modern and sane societies have a concept of rehabilitation and have found that we are all better off when a justice system is centered on rehabilitation and addressing the roots of crime at a deeper level, beyond just punishment, punishment is not very effective on its own.

I just wish that a free-speech-absolutist-billionaire would buy the platform so things like this wouldn’t happen anymore. He could even rename it something cool (like ‘Y’ or ‘Z’) to get some street-cred with edgy middleschoolers…

Flatpak is not designed to solve all the same problems as snap they have very different scopes and goals. It’s really only Linux hobbyists that see these as comparable technologies.

Also the Steam flatpak is unofficial just like the snap, they would be unwilling to support flatpak issues as well.

I think there is no “we” and there is no “them”

It’s an arbitrary distinction between two groupings that are too broad to meaningfully judge.

There is also no point or honor in judging on its own. If you dislike Greenpeace’s approach, find another approach and devote yourself to it, put your money where your mouth is.

Activism is in reality often a choice between choosing the least worst strategy in a context where you have limited power and control, and any decision you make will alienate someone. Particularly the armchair-sitters who believe they are “in the middle” and who’s only contribution tends to be saying empty things like “I believe in their mission just not their tactics” but don’t put forward a practical strategy of their own. This applies to most activism, particularly direct action.

Some of those alternative “YouTube” apps are not limited to YouTube as a backend/source of content. I don’t recall if it’s freetube, new pipe or both that allow using Peertube and YouTube from the same app, which helps bridge the gap in content / ease the transition from an end user perspective.

• Rattlesnake
• Sea Urchin
• Reindeer Hamburger
• Abalone
• Cricket
• Frog
• Alligator

What you are feeling is natural and relatable. You need to find a balance and define your threat model.

Privacy maximalism and/or FOSS maximalism etc is natural impulse when you first begin to grasp just how quietly exploitive, invasive, and commoditized the modern internet is. But it also leads to burnout and can be isolating if you are too rigid about it.

Define your threat model, and your priorities. Accept that perfection is not attainable and do the best you can. It’s less overwhelming.

My advice:

• pick ONE easy to use and well established/reputable messenger that is privacy respecting (Signal is the obvious choice in my eyes). Make it known that this is your preferred messenger (and have a short, not super technical and not super political explanation why you prefer it). Try to get the people you are closest with or communicate with most, and the people you think are most likely to be interested to start using it.
• Then, have a preferred fallback or two (basically the “least worst” mainstream option). Depending on your circle, iMessage, RCS, WhatsApp, or Telegram might be that fallback. None are anywhere near perfect but they also aren’t the worst and sometimes you have to meet people where they are.

I agree with your critique of both the algorithms today and the often relatively low-effort, unoriginal, self-interested, and self-absorbed people that tend to rise to the top of these systems. (While still acknowledging there is a lot of great content as well)

I try my best not to let the Algos shape/direct my viewing.

With respect to YouTube, I:

• Disable the ‘front page’ and ‘trending’ category.
• Disable ‘auto play’
• find content in two ways: directly from a list of the channels I subscribe to, or by deliberately searching for something.

It’s certainly not a perfect approach, but it does a lot to focus my attention on things I actually care about and minimize the effect the algorithm has on what I see or view.

Goood god 😮

I think you may have an unhealthy relationship with Extensions. 🙃

Remember that everytime you install an additional extension you are effectively expanding your circle of trust, giving some company or developer privileged access to your browsing. The only extensions vetted for security by Mozilla are the ones with an ‘Recommended’ badge next to the name. Each additional extension increases the risks to your privacy, your security, and just generally increases the potential for issues.

At least some of the extensions on your list are violating your privacy/exist to harvest your personal data, profile you, or sell you things.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use extensions at all. But it does mean you should be thoughtful about what you install. Should do your due diligence, look into extensions before you install them, and understand the developers motivations for giving you something for free which costs them time and sometimes money (There are legit reasons but also common malicious reasons). And it means you should be cautious and reluctant to install too many new extensions.

If I were in your shoes with this many extensions, I wouldn’t be asking which individual extensions to get rid of, I’d start with a fresh Firefox profile, configure it roughly like this, get rid of all the extensions except uBlock Origin and Bitwarden and maybe violent monkey if that is something you rely on. And then slowly reads extensions as needed, one at a time, spending time to research it a bit before installing and researching if there is a better way to accomplish it.

With no other extensions Firefox + uBO can be really powerful and flexible, you’ve just got to spend some time learning how to use them. There are a few others on your list that I use also, but I’d say start with the basics and build from there. Also if you feel you need the shopping and deals extensions at least consider putting them in their own profile that you use only for shopping.

Why do you feel this way? The examples of polygamy that I can think of were popularized through religion not in spite of it.

Examples: Islam, Mormonism,

early Judaism and to some degree Christianity permitted it as well.

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Yes… Please reread my last comment more slowly… particularly the first two paragraphs.

My impression is that Germany is considered a social democracy. Maybe it is towards the milder end of the spectrum but still fits the definition.

As an outsider I think Germany has got a lot of things right, and found a good balance. Not perfect, but good.

It is, the term for this type of system is called Social Democracy which is not a synonym for socialism, but people (Americans at least) confused and conflate the two terms to the point that they’ve become one and the same in the minds of many people who don’t really understand the terms or their origins.

That is objectively not socialism (any definition of socialism that begins by defining it as a form of capitalism is fundamentally confused)

That said, I’d agree that it is a widespread misunderstanding today. And what people mean when they say socialism is usually actually social democracy (which despite sounding like the word socialism is a mixed system based on capitalism)

Using that misunderstanding as the definition I would definitely live in many of those countries. Many have some of the highest qualities of life in the world, low rates of poverty, universal access to good healthcare and education, and good social mobility.

E.g Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Germany

Define socialism. The original and technically correct definition and the colloquial modern definition are wildly different from one another.