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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 20th, 2023

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  • 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.




  • 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.


  • Yeah the fact that OP calls systemd “new” or even knows what systemd is makes me doubt the authenticity of the original post (or more likely I just misinterpreted the top post).

    I read it as an excited new Linux user who “Doesn’t know how to use Debian” and is enthusiastic about MX Linux. But there is no way in hell someone who doesn’t know how to use Debian would have a preference for alternative unit systems and definitely wouldn’t be calling systemd new



  • Debian is far from difficult but it is certainly not as easy and beginner friendly to install as Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mint or any other mainstream distro (unless I’m using the wrong iso or something). Debian is a great intermediate distro, but I can’t feel comfortable recommending it to newbies until there is a proper beginner friendly guided install process.

    I understand and respect the choice of some distros to not go the guided installer route and go with approaches that are more traditional, flexible, and better suited for more advanced users. And I don’t want to see these options go away. But I don’t recommend these distros to beginners unless they express interest in learning/DIY


  • If it works for you go for it. I don’t hear much about it, and haven’t encountered anyone using it. I know it is one of few Debian based distros that is based on Debian itself and not Ubuntu, that is about all I know about it.

    What attracts you to it? What are its selling points and what makes it different from Debian? Do you know anything about the developers.


  • 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.







  • 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