SpainCo @phil@social.spainco.net

@Jennifer

If you haven’t read any CJ Cherryh, I would suggest that you do.

She does do suspense, and in her early writing even tried some scifi horror, but what she’s best known for is truly alien aliens, and human beings who are deeply different due to the circumstances/context in which they are raised. She can and does write intensely focused individual stories but also works within her own broad canvas.

There are occasional military-like ships that appear in her long running Alliance-Union novels, but it’s definitely not military sci-fi.

@bookstodon

I made a new Twitter account just to make sure my disinformation research account wasn't somehow tainted by my scrolling habits. Here is the makeup of my news feed from a brand new account:

Elon Musk - Far right troll
Spectator Index - Neutral, high quality news
OSINTdefender - Disinformation account, possibly a RU bot
Disclose.tv - Far right news outlet
Matt Wallace - Far right troll
Scott Adams - Far right troll / Conspiracy account
Illuminati Bot - Far right troll / Conspiracy account
Hurt Copain - Left Wing, I think?
Catturd - Far right troll
Tim Pool - Far right troll
Gunther Eagleman - Far right troll
Chaya Raichik - Far right troll
Ian Miles Cheong - Far right troll
Nick Sortor - Far right troll

I want to escape Twitter, but that has turned out to be harder than I thought. Mainly because of 213K followers. It took more than 8 years to achieve that.

But Mastodon has potential. I'm hoping it will be my new home.

My profile is now updated with more personal details. I don't want to do #factchecking or #debunking just via my website. Feel free to ask/tag me especially in case you see an iffy picture or video.

Note that my website doesn't have ads or tracking. https://hoaxeye.com/

"And it's important to note that the reason those firms (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) were allowed to grow as large as they have, the reason that state regulators turned such a blind eye, is because states view those firms as potential deputies for their own exercises of power."
Must read from Cory Doctorow

@pluralistic
https://www.tni.org/en/article/seizing-the-means-of-computation

We're seeing a large influx of new users, so here's some helpful Mastodon tips:

1. Liking a post does not affect its visibility. Instead, use the like button to let a user know that you find them to be irresistibly attractive and would like to become their internet soulmate.

2. Instead of saying orthodontist on here, we say mastodontist. This is important to know.

3. Tell us about yourself! Write either "pro-cannibalism" or "anti-caniballism" in your bio to avoid simple misunderstandings.

When an app asks for permissions, the OS should not only let you answer yes or no. Every category should have a "yes, but feed the app fake data" option.

Want my contacts for no reason? Have these generated fake ones! Wanna listen to my microphone? Here's random ambiance sounds! Location? I'm on a tiny 5x5m island!

Hell yeah! Put it all in your databases mfers!

Actively punishing services wins over boycotts any day. Didn't want that junk in the database? Don't ask for it!

@citizen1 @WatchingTVnFilm threads isn’t on the fediverse yet, so I suppose yes. Once they do appear on the fediverse, it gets more complicated. I have them blocked already, but will be discussing more about the long term plans in the future, since some people also want to be connected to threads, there is a lot to figure out.

That said, things you post publicly on the fediverse are, well, public.

posting to Mastodon, crossposting to Twitter and Telegram, manually reposting some stuff to Bluesky and Threads. I need an assistant.

@CyberKitsune@pawb.fun fwiw I do think that a lot of admins have somewhat valid concerns re: FB's history of moderation and data use. Blocking at the instance level is the only way to prevent scraping for instance. A lot of admins I've heard from are defedding to wait and see how it turns out, which is somewhat fair. But it's definitely a call that each individual admin team should be making, without the pressure from other instances

UPS, the shipping company, not the thing that keeps your computer running after the power goes out, is based near where I live. There is a labor dispute between the UPS drivers and UPS the company. The local news coverage is… interesting. The news visited a bunch of local stores trying to (seemingly) get them to say that a strike would hurt their business. And most did, but every one of them also said “and we think what the drivers are asking for is reasonable and we’ll find a way to get through it”

@kevinrothrock even if I didnt feel like I do about Facebook, what would be the point? I will be able to interact with people on Threads from Mastodon, with no ads or creepy privacy invasion (health data, really Facebook?).

For Putin's meeting today w/ PM Mishushtin, the Kremlin opted for this intense GoPro POV footage. I keep waiting for Putin's weapons wheel to appear. Is that R2 or one of the D-pad buttons?

Only 6 more days until Claws & Contrivances is widely published! And just look at the lovely things people are saying about it. 🐉❤️🐉

Preorder your copy now: https://books2read.com/claws

#romance #fantasy

I just read another news article about why mastodon didn’t make it and is dying. It’s very sad to hear and probably explains why I have to keep adding more server capacity to handle all the people quitting mastodon.

If you don't think Elon is dumb enough to implode Twitter remember that last week a billionaire literally imploded himself.

1/ The biggest tip I'd like to give newcomers to the Fediverse (aside from the standard stuff you like 'fill out your bio/pick an avi') is this: don't expect it to be perfect.

Yes, you will periodically run into people who are annoying/rude here too. They're everywhere. It's part of life. Yes, the way it works will sometimes frustrate you. Every platform is the same in that sense. Yes, you have to put time into getting established & learning how to use it. All communities are the same there.