Alex Vranas @Alex@vran.as

@james "Serverless" doesn't really mean "without using servers", it just means being able to create and run applications without managing the backend. Nostr definitely meets that definition. A bunch of different relays running different flavors of relay software connecting a bunch of different applications together.

You are right that there is a scaling issue, since relays aren't especially elastic. Relays can share with each other, so you don't have to subscribe to all of them, but still.

@thehill if we're going to be in the business of using honest language, then yes, we can call Hamas "Terrorists" because of their deliberate "murder of defenseless women and children". It's accurate language; I have no disagreement.

But we're not calling the atrocities Israel is committing against Gazans "regrettable collateral civilian deaths in a conflict". This is just as dishonest as calling Hamas "Fighters". The correct term is "War Crimes".

More on this: Jack Dorsey donates money to White Nationalist groups.

@jeffjarvis I guess I just don't get your defense of Microsoft here. They didn't make the tool, OpenAI did. Microsoft basically run the studio.

And while I'm not against the Generative AI, there are clearly some misuse issues, and I don't see any issue at all in criticizing a hosted corporate platform for operating without sufficient guardrails.

@jeffjarvis I guess I just don't see the harm in pointing out when a corporation is doing something potentially harmful. The argument that the tool is doing what it's supposed to do isn't a great argument either, because it's doing things worthy of criticism.

@jeffjarvis If someone were handing out chainsaws to people for free, and people started battling to the death in the streets with them, you might at least point out that the guy handing them out was a key part of the problem.

The more I explore the various Twitter alternatives, the more I realize that they're all horribly flawed. Threads is just an Instagram feature with inconclusive usership. Bluesky is an undermoderated Twitter clone with unclear motives, questionable "federation" aspirations, and dubious marketing. Nostr is messy and filled to the brim with toxic dudes.

The Fediverse does alright though. It's not a perfect place, but it's the only place where I don't have to compromise on my principles.

@NEW1_ What do you mean by that?

So the #Substack moderation decision doesn't make any sense. Two quotes from their statement:

"we don’t think that censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away"

"censoring or demonetizing the publications would not make the problem of hateful rhetoric go away"

Cool, so it's not censorship. You admit (twice) that you don't have the power to silence Nazis with your actions.

So this isn't an anti-censorship stance. This is a pro-Nazi stance.

Welp, Jack Dorsey is defending TERFs and Nazis now...

@jamie I'm using these Relays:

https://bigrelay.social/inbox
https://relay.infosec.exchange/inbox
https://relay.intahnet.co.uk/inbox
https://relay.toot.io/inbox

I'll check out FediFetcher. That sounds interesting!

lmao, I just realized that this is not a feature, I just never added any relays to my server.

Clearly I've been having a fine time for years without a relay, but I just added the three largest public relays to my list and now my instance is drinking from a firehose.

We'll see how much I like the additional content, exposure, and S3 costs of doing this. Might go back to the bubble I was enjoying.

Bitcoin is baked into the protocol in a really annoying way. It's not mandatory to hold any crypto at all to use the network, so you could theoretically develop a client that cuts out all the crypto features, but it's clearly designed to facilitate lightning network transactions between users.

The decentralized end-to-end encrypted DMs are at least a feature of their own, if you didn't want anything else from a client.

I've been playing with #Nostr. Despite the cryptobro user base the underlying tech is, in fact, not Blockchain based, which is nice. I like the idea of a serverless social network that stays afloat with volunteer-run relays. Very cool model.

Still, the user base is a hard sell. Here's the best description I've heard of Nostr internally, and it's not a motivator...

@halcy Absolutely! Would be fun to meet up and grab a beer.

I'm actually prepared, I think, to start planning a trip to Europe next year, and my plan is to work the #RevisionParty2024 into it. Hoping to contribute something if I'm going to be there.

I have no idea what I'm doing as far as visiting Saarbrücken, but it sounds like it could be a fun first stop in a ~2 week trip.