@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social
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HarkMahlberg

@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social

Programmer and Airplane Enthusiast.

"You just don't know how AI works" earns you a block.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

HarkMahlberg,
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It's not the boeh.org link, but here is a similar timeline of events: https://research.swtch.com/xz-timeline

HarkMahlberg,
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When I started to read breakdowns about the social engineering behind the xz backdoor I was like, "Waaaaitaminute, I've seen that sort of talk before." I found it notable to point out the similarity and maybe poke around at it.

People decided to use the thread (to my excessive chagrin) to talk shit about kbin and rehash the exact same pressures I was attempting to analyze.

It's a shame, because I noticed similar patterns was looking forward to some good discussion about it here. Alas...

HarkMahlberg, (edited )
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

The nature of software development and internet communities has always been transient - frameworks and projects and websites have all come and gone. Despite how unlikely it may seem, even Facebook is not immune to becoming dust in the wind someday. God knows I've started my fair share of hobby projects and left them behind in states ranging from broken to buggy, so I should be the last person to throw stones. I know how it feels to just hit a complete motivational brick wall, or to have so many other things come up in life that my little project is the last thing on my mind.

For as long as I can remember, from the days of PHP bulletin boards to Reddit to kbin, I've never had only a single profile. So I think it's not a bad idea to prepare for the possibility that kbin doesn't last forever - literally nothing does. Nor do I think that's a foregone conclusion! But even if Ernest has moved on, or he's tied down by other matters, I think what he built is inspiring. I legitimately believe that kbin is cool tech, far far cooler than Bitcoin or VR or AI. Maybe someone else spins up a kbin instance, or mbin becomes the new de facto standard, but I don't mind running this account for as long kbin.social sticks around... no matter how many 503's I see lol.

I recognize each and every other commenter in this thread, y'all are prolific contributors. So if you are leaving, at least link your new profile in your bio.

HarkMahlberg, (edited )
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Yeah he did have a medical procedure, on top of just finishing with divorcing his wife. Guy's got plenty on his plate I'm sure.

HarkMahlberg,
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Much as I love the software, I made accounts in a few other Fedi platforms just to have some "outs." Don't put all your eggs in one basket and all.

HarkMahlberg,
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Really just the big ones. Lemmy, Mastodon, and Misskey. In my humble opinion, judging by the software alone, Misskey > Mastodon, kbin > Lemmy. Judging by the culture is a lot harder because it depends on the instance.

HarkMahlberg,
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Oh wow, what a day for the fediverse huh? Kbin's infrastructure went down, Lemmy.ml's certs expired (or so Firefox told me), and a ton of Misskey servers got hacked and started botspamming everyone.

Gina, to random
@Gina@fosstodon.org avatar

Hi friends, can I ask for another recommendation?

Meeting headsets, what are we using nowadays??

HarkMahlberg,
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

@Gina Depending on your budget and how portable you need it to be, you could look at some entry-level streaming/podcasting mics and couple it with whichever headphones feel most comfortable to you. The two below both come with their own stands while taking up minimal desk-space.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/compare/rode_nt_usb_mini_usb_microphone_vs_elgato_10mab9901_wave_3_microphone/BHitems/1540109-REG_1709826-REG

HarkMahlberg,
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Username doesn't lie. :)

A case for preemptively defederating with Threads (kbin.social)

With Meta beginning to test federation, there's a lot of discussion as to whether we should preemptively defederate with Threads. I made a post about the question, and it seems that opinions differ a lot among people on Kbin. There were a lot of arguments for and against regarding ads, privacy, and content quality, but I don't...

HarkMahlberg, (edited )
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

Reposting this discussion for posterity

Big takeaways, emphasis preserved from the original:

Threads is entering a space in the fediverse which is dominated by Mastodon, so it's Mastodon and other fediverse microblogging services (including, to some extent, /kbin) which will most heavily feel the impact of Threads.

Defederating another server means your instance will stop requesting content from that server. ... Defederation is about what data comes in, not what goes out. ... Defederation doesn't make you invisible, it doesn't block anybody else from seeing you, it doesn't protect your content, it only means you never have to see their content.

Firstly, the fediverse is a drop in the ocean compared to Threads (104 million registered users). Obviously, Meta wants everybody, but their specific goals in terms of user-poaching are far more likely to center around the ~350 million active Twitter users than the ~12 million fediverse users (~3.5 million active). The threadiverse [Lemmy, Kbin, et al] is smaller again, at something like 100,000 active users.

"Threads will overwhelm the fediverse with their inferior content and culture." Like the EEE fears, this one is legitimate but once again something that will primarily be felt by microblogging providers (/kbin included). Toxic users, advertisers, etc. can push garbage into feeds all day, but they will largely not be targeting the threadiverse because there's some 100 million sets of eyes to put that crap in front of on the microblogging side and it will be difficult-to-impossible for them to push that content into Lemmy/kbin threads from their interface that was never made to interact with the threadiverse.

Is there any chance Meta has good intentions? No. But it might have intentions that are both self-serving and fediverse-neutral. The absolute best intention I can possibly ascribe to Meta is that joining the fediverse is a CYA (cover your ass) mechanism to head off regulations, especially in the EU, [e.g.] the newly-applicable Digital Markets Act ...

HarkMahlberg,
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

If Threads puts out so much more content as to effectively make other federated entities irrelevant, the character of the Fediverse changes such that it is no longer what it is today.

A fun time to bring up the concept of Eternal September.

HarkMahlberg,
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

To put my own skin in the game, I quite like the microblogging side of kbin. I like that I can swap between the thread and blog sides, I like that I can combine them into one view if I choose, and I like that I don't need a separate account to use either service. Using kbin's microblog was the first time I ever blogged, period. I'd hate to see that stream be overwhelmed by Threads users.

HarkMahlberg,
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I'm not sure how you know they are the same user

Their old account has a blurb providing the new account name. In my case I'm not dealing with a malicious user, just one whose content I don't want to see.

HarkMahlberg,
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Thanks for the detailed response!

HarkMahlberg,
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

This was a concern raised when Reddit updated the way blocking worked to make posts mutually invisible, between the blocked and the blocker. Some sort of scam had a cadre of dedicated users calling them out everywhere they went on Reddit. When blocking became mutual, i.e. the anti-scammers could no longer see the scammers' posts, it was believed the scammers would have a way easier time finding Marks.

I'm starting to see some serious downsides to being able to see who downvotes you. (kbin.social)

A few days ago I downvoted someone's comment, and the next day I happened to notice every single comment I've ever made had at least one downvote. All from the person I dared to downvote the ONE time. I straight up asked why they did it, and they seem to think I'm an "obvious" troll account that "apparently just exist to...

HarkMahlberg,
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It's... It's public info? Like that's his point lol. You can go to his user profile, find a couple of downvoted posts, and see who he's talking about.

HarkMahlberg,
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I was about to report this but you're already on top it. Thanks Ernest!

Damaskox, to kbinMeta
@Damaskox@kbin.social avatar

Would it be acceptable in kbin etiquette to add a tag in at least one thread in a magazine I created, and when talking about stuff in other places that touch the same topic, I use the same tag there as well to "promote" the existence of the magazine?

#kbinMeta

HarkMahlberg,
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

@Damaskox Ernest just added a feature that links cross-posted comment sections to a single post. I'm not fully sure how it works but yeah I think it flies as far as etiquette is concerned.

HarkMahlberg,
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This confused the fuck out of me until I realized that Mastodon instances have the option for users to allow or deny follow requests. Basically, if you click on someone's follow and nothing happens (or you get an error page), what's happened is that you've sent them a follow request that they have to approve. Kbin's interface fails here (hopefully will improve with update) and does nothing. If they do chose to let you follow them, you'll see their account update.

God this explains so much. I tried hitting the Follow button multiple times in a row and now I probably look like a crazy person spamming someone with follow requests. ;_;

Alex Jones spent over $93,000 in July. Sandy Hook families who sued him have yet to see a dime (apnews.com)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — As Alex Jones continues telling his Infowars audience about his money problems and pleads for them to buy his products, his own documents show life is not all that bad — his net worth is around $14 million and his personal spending topped $93,000 in July alone, including thousands of dollars on meals...

HarkMahlberg,
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I keep a metal paint scraper in my car for one purpose and one purpose only: to scrape InfoWars stickers off of street signs.

HarkMahlberg,
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❤️

Is there a way to report an individual user? (kbin.cafe)

There is a user who posted an irrelevant ad on a magazine I follow, so I clicked their profile to see if the rest of what they posted was spam too. It was. However, I didn’t find a report user option on their profile. Is there one anywhere? I know I can go through and report their individual posts, but I’d also like to flag...

HarkMahlberg,
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

The workaround I have is to put e.g. "See user profile, it's all spam," on the comment for an individual report.

HarkMahlberg,
@HarkMahlberg@kbin.social avatar

This seems to have been fixed in the last couple days? I used to have this problem but it seems to have been reduced or mitigated.

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