George Mari @GeorgeMari@social.cleverlibre.org

🎉 I'm now open to new opportunities involving #Microsoft #dotNET & #Azure! Bonus: @msftorleans

I bring 20+ years of hands-on .NET experience, 10+ years experience in #remote leading and building, and a keen interest in *your* technology challenges.

Are you looking for someone like me to:

✅ Uplevel your software development capabilities?
✅ Make those capabilities scalable and sustainable?
✅ Identify, reduce & prevent unnecessary complexity (e.g. #microservices)?

(1/2)

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.

Tampere University is seeking an Assistant/Associate/full Professor (Tenure Track) in Information Studies, specializing on Open Science. Deadline for applications is on August 11, with the contract starting in January 2024. Skill in Finnish appreciated, but not mandatory. More information here: https://tuni.rekrytointi.com/paikat/?o=A_RJ&jgid=1&jid=1933

Hey Mastodon, looking for someone who’s be willing to help with something…

I have a Windows game where I’m reverse engineering the script format via Ghidra. Unfortunately while I’ve found some relevant functions, digging in deeper looks hard. I could really use someone who’d be willing to talk it through with me - not do the work for me, but point me in the right direction when I get stuck and offer tips. Anyone up for helping?

Anyone in the Bay Area need an extremely cute kitten? A couple of Dougie's littermates, including this amazing little 3 1/2 month old Siamese, still need good homes. In good health (FIV etc negative), litter trained, very affectionate & loves people. Hit me up.

DirecTV might owe you $400.

The company settled a class action lawsuit for $16.84 million after Ohio-based DirecTV dealer AC1 called 113,997 people whose numbers are on the National Do Not Call Registry. Individual payments will average over $464.

You can find out if your number is on the list using the link below. It’s in a box labeled “Phone Number Check.”

https://www.directvclassactionsettlement.com/

Read everything in the "Ugly Truth" series — from the inside story of how the "We Buy Ugly Houses" business operates, to the company's plan to "bury" our reporting, to the CEO's decision to step down — here:

https://www.propublica.org/series/the-ugly-truth

#Twitter going rogue has much deeper implications than the Musk saga with all of its daily bullshit.

Let's not forget that, before the billionaire fascist buffoon took over, Twitter used to be a place where government and scientific entities used to post (and they still post) information that may be crucial for the population. Twitter used to be the primary place for announcements about earthquakes, eruptions, pandemics or weather alerts.

How does that cope with a reality where external APIs are basically shut down, their unofficial frontend API is no longer working either, viewing is only possible through registered accounts, and even those accounts have a cap on the number of posts that they can consume?

How can a service with such heavy constraints around monetization still be considered a viable way of delivering messages that matter for the whole population?

As an example, one of the few Twitter accounts that I still follow (mirrored on the Fedi) is the one of INGV - the Italian Institute for geology and vulcanology.

I've got my good reasons, as I was born in a city (Naples) that may soon blown up by the eruption of the largest European supervolcano (Campi Flegrei).

As my parents and relatives are now sitting just 1-2 km above several square km of magma, I obviously follow any updates that the INGV Twitter account posts about earthquakes in the area, with an automated system of alerts in place.

How does that cope with the world of a service that lets users see only a few hundreds of tweets per day, and where you need bullshit like being registered, verified etc. to reliably access the content?

Can you imagine a tsunami alert system in Japan that alerts only those who paid for a platinum alert subscription?

Twitter must be abandoned RIGHT NOW by any institutional accounts that post stuff that can make the difference between life and death of people.

Many people, including those who use Mastodon, have told me they don’t care about decentralization. But they should. Decentralization – or the “asshole limiter”, as I like to put it – is the killer feature of the #Fediverse. Here’s why:

Mitigation of Rogue Administrators: In centralized platforms like Twitter, if an admin (such as Elon Musk) chooses to act unfairly or disruptively - essentially being an “asshole” - their actions can affect the entire user base. In a decentralized platform like Mastodon, each instance or server is managed independently. If a user finds an admin to be behaving badly, they have the freedom to switch to a different server where the administrators align more with their values. This effectively limits the potential damage any single rogue admin can cause.

Protection from Single Points of Disruption: Centralized networks can be disrupted by a single point of failure (such as Elon Musk). This could be a technical issue, a security breach, or a bad-faith actor wreaking havoc. In a decentralized network, these issues are isolated. If one server experiences problems, others remain unaffected. This design effectively limits the potential influence of any single “asshole” on the overall service.

Curtailing Unwanted Censorship: On a centralized platform, an admin (such as Elon Musk) can censor content or ban users platform-wide. In decentralized networks, no single admin has the power to enforce such sweeping control. If a user feels their content is unfairly censored by an “asshole” admin, they can simply switch to a different server where the administration is more to their liking.

Reducing Impact of Unfair Standards: In decentralized platforms, each server can set its own community standards. So, an admin (such as Elon Musk) acting as an “asshole” by imposing unfair rules on one server doesn’t affect the other servers. Users can choose a server with rules they find fair and reasonable, reducing the overall impact of one admin’s unreasonable behavior.

If you find yourself constantly battling with digital dictators on your favorite social platforms, it might be time to join the Mastodon migration. After all, who wouldn’t want to plug into a platform where the “asshole limiter” is always turned up to eleven?

Just a little note for folks making their way to Mastodon... Welcome!

It's mainly pretty cozy here once you get past the folks telling you you're doing it wrong ;)

Aaaand, if you're looking for transportation and clean energy news reported by the longest standing *and* queerest, geekiest team in the field, we're your peeps!

Follow us here, and check out this week's news round up at: https://youtu.be/tEbzAK9RVEA

#EV #Climate #transportation

As my spouse and I ran errands today, she wore a “Protect Trans Kids” t-shirt and I wore a “Trans Rights are Human Rights” ball cap. We catch people staring often, but today one cashier told us they loved our shirt and hat. While we ate lunch, someone came to our table, apologized for interrupting, and complimented our shirt and hat. Putting this out there for those overwhelmed by the ugliness and need a boost, that you have allies and advocates. Maybe more than you know. #PrideMonth #trans

I need a job please!

I am mid-level DevOps strong in security and risk management with 17 years IT experience.

London or remote.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-monteiro-a1535630

If you're new to Mastodon and are looking for a 🇨🇦 Canadian instance run in Canada by Canadians on Canada day consider moving to https://thecanadian.social
Our sign ups are open and moving is easy. We can help.
#Canada #NewToMastodon

@mastodonusercount I only discovered the #fediverse this week because I stopped being able to conveniently access reddit.

Love the concept, still adapting to the execution.

This will probably only reach the void but: is there a community for professional chemists or laboratory workers like r/chempros or r/labrats?

Welcome to all the #birdsite refugees coming into Mastodon for the first time after these most recent events. I promise you that if you give it time to get the hang of it, you will find a much more friendly, chill, and helpful community than you can find almost anywhere else when it comes to social media. The entire Fediverse as a whole has become a home for me, and I hope it does for you as well.

While it's impossible to get an accurate user count across the fediverse due to several factors like spam signups, downtime and inflated metrics, it is possible to filter out inaccurate results using std dev and other metrics.

https://fedidb.org aims to be the most accurate source of fediverse network statistics and data, and I think we're on the right path! #fediDB

Reading @christianselig's Reddit protest #ReleaseNotes is a fascinating elevation of the form.

Most people ignore release notes or have auto-updates turned on and so miss the underlying dramas that may be playing out in the apps they use every day.

If software can effect consciousness the way food can, don't you want to know what goes into your apps? 🙃

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apollo-for-reddit/id979274575

#RIPApollo

It's official. I am available for hire.

If you are looking for someone who does proficiently C, C++, JavaScript and Rust, and can do Python and other things.

https://www.figuiere.net/hub/cv/en/

#getfedihired #FediHire

DECEMBER 1994 AND HOW ARNIE KATZ CHANGED MY LIFE

Remembering a long lost friend who made things seem possible for a nerdy teenage fanboy.

#mentoring #community #fanzines #fandom #creativity

https://ndd.funkatron.com/december-1994-and-how-arnie-katz-changed-my-life/