Rob

Born and raised in Wisconsin, escaped and living in Minnesota.

If I am not making Mastodon a better place, who is?

#minnesota #minneapolis #fediverse #mastodon #fedi22

Pixelfed: https://pixel.skol.social/rob

Public Key

npub160qtk4yj08v70dzxv0p0ut6cp9mdjdc7ws46fa79lheqvvfddd9qjwwfjh

NIP-05 Address

rob_at_skol.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsd8s9m2jf8nk08k3rx8sh79avqjakexu08g2ay7lzlmusxxykkkjspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds357vj4

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub160qtk4yj08v70dzxv0p0ut6cp9mdjdc7ws46fa79lheqvvfddd9qjwwfjh

Show more details

Last Notes

2025-11-23 12:55:38 UTC

- reply

I hated my iPad until I read this. Maybe it’ll influence your use of the tablet you get.
https://www.macstories.net/stories/macpad-how-i-created-the-hybrid-mac-ipad-laptop-and-tablet-that-apple-wont-make/

2025-11-23 12:53:22 UTC

- reply

Last response - this just crossed my feed.
The iPad - to me - is a frustrating accessory to another computer. It’s frustrating because the file system/sandboxing limitations (I’m struggling with an Obsidian project that would be simple on any other platform) and the difficult to learn windowing make it so.
Watch this video. If you get an iPad get a cheap mini to run headlessly. Then you get everything you need. The question is, is this what you want?
https://mas.to/@snazzyq/115590190893664587

2025-11-23 01:41:55 UTC

- reply

But don’t forget, you also get an iPad. And that’s one of the things I thought you were after.
Don’t believe the hype: iPad by itself makes a crap laptop. iPad + another computer is much better. But then you also get the iPad which is great to have. That’s why I’ll probably get another one when my 2018 iPad bites the dust. But it’s still going strong.

2025-11-23 01:40:01 UTC

- reply

There 100% will be issues. I have a love/hate relationship with my iPad. iPad (with keyboard) is really expensive, especially when compared to a MacBook. And if you really want to do laptop things, you’ll need a whole other computer (I use personally use Windows, but assume a Mac would be just as good) to do those things.
iPad comes with cellular, best battery life and RDP is rock solid. iPad + Tailscale + other computer is the best setup.

2025-11-22 18:27:13 UTC

- reply

If you took the plunge, I’ve been using Working Copy (for GIT) and there is Runestone editor. But the toolset can be limiting and when I’ve been coding I have another computer screen open because I still haven’t mastered the iPad windowing.
I use Shelly for SSH.
https://runestone.app/

2025-11-22 18:23:21 UTC

- reply

I use Remote Desktop with my 2018 iPad Pro and it works great as a Windows machine. As a laptop…I’d say that it makes a terrible laptop for most people. It’s expensive and the file system is so limited (sandboxing) that it can be hard to use locally.

2025-10-17 03:52:18 UTC

Went to one of the most unusual places in Minnesota today - the Northwest Angle. The history of the Angle goes all the way back to Benjamin Franklin. But today, it means that if you drive there, you need to go through Manitoba, check in/out at an unmanned border crossing, and drive on 20 miles of dirt road.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Angle
#minnesota #manitoba #canada #usa
https://cdn.masto.host/skolsocial/media_attachments/files/115/387/474/530/544/900/original/f1f8fe95e13c31a9.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/skolsocial/media_attachments/files/115/387/474/653/929/130/original/37a71292b8186535.jpeg

2025-10-06 16:44:59 UTC

- reply

Some of the syncing works well.
But if you edit too many files or you have too many "large" files (I have some photos and pdfs), or if you have a rogue plugin (had one of those), you'll quickly run into issues.
My vault is at 25MB right now. But my sync "storage usage" is showing 439 GB of usage. What does that mean? No on at Obsidian knows.
When they updated the encryption, that caused all kinds of bad. So many duplicate files.

2025-10-06 11:26:39 UTC

- reply

I’ve got iOS. Not sure if that is the issue or not.
I really don’t like Obsidian Sync as a product at all. The note taking part of it is great though.

2025-10-05 18:25:03 UTC

- reply

What OS is your phone? I have been having major issues with Obsidian Sync and the support team really hasn’t been helpful.

2025-06-16 03:33:08 UTC

- reply

This is a very odd story that seems to be getting no traction. What did Jennifer Lynee Boelter know and what was she doing 120 miles from her house with passports and money on the same day her husband assassinated 2 politicians and shot 2 others.
https://www.fox9.com/news/vance-boelters-wife-traffic-stop-onamia
#minnesota

2025-06-16 03:19:38 UTC

So many questions.
Was Vance Boelter's wife involved with the murder of Minnesota politicians? This isn't getting very much local coverage.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14814103/minnesota-shooter-vance-boelter-wife-traffic-stop-discovery.html
#minnesota

2025-06-14 14:20:56 UTC

Two Democrat Minnesota lawmakers - representative Melissa Hortman and Senator John Hoffman and their spouses were shot this morning. The assailant is still at large. Melissa was the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives until January this year.
https://www.fox9.com/news/melissa-hortman-john-hoffman-lawmakers-shot-minnesota
#minnesota #minneapolis

2025-06-07 10:43:51 UTC

- reply

Democrats need to start framing tax cuts as entitlements for rich people. Until they do that, we’ll never get out of this debt madness.

2025-04-09 11:51:10 UTC

- reply

Oh, I *KNOW* the protests are counterproductive. First of all, I live in Minneapolis a little over a mile from where George Floyd was killed. I also attended the first Women's protest with my wife and daughter during the Trump 1 term.
Outside of San Francisco, I live in one of the most liberal places in the US. Our governor was picked as VP.

2025-04-09 02:42:00 UTC

- reply

We are getting severely tested here in America and I am alarmed by what I see. The left has turned to protests that actually lose elections. The anti-Tesla movement is a huge fail destined to keep people fighting against each other.
The American political class is openly corrupt and self dealing. It's a new type of entrepreneurial activity here. And that spells trouble going forward.
Republicans have lost their minds.
And what am I doing? Hoping it all blows over.

2025-02-27 21:01:48 UTC

- reply

That’s your choice. I have a Windows machine, Amazon Prime, my kids use Instagram. I also use a web browser. So some money goes into the pocket of Mark Andreeson.
I am not a purist. Some of my money goes into the pockets of rich people.
I could think of more examples, but I’ll say this one thing: this is a gift article so none of *YOUR* money will go to Jeff Bezos. Reading it will actually cost him the tiniest bit of money. #beaware

2025-02-27 20:34:37 UTC

‘“I never thought the leopards would eat MY face’, sobs the woman who voted for the Leopards Eating Peoples Faces Party.”
I’m not sure whether to be sad or laugh at the people in this article. But one thing is for sure, stupid is what stupid is.
And these people never, ever learn their lesson. We’re stuck with them. They were stupid enough to believe it before they’ll be stupid enough to believe it again.
https://wapo.st/3CYacpv

2025-01-28 15:34:21 UTC

How could this possibly be useful to a person?
Waiting for an explanation…
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/28/elon-musk-x-visa-digital-wallet.html

2024-12-06 20:17:01 UTC

- reply

I do not know. I’m on Mastodon. That’s why I am asking.

2024-12-06 15:51:22 UTC

- reply

And some of the apps get lost in the reply paths (Elk and Phanpy). And that problem is compounded by asynchronous replies coming in.
Sometimes it’s really difficult on Mastodon to follow a thread. Are you saying Hubzilla does that better?

2024-12-06 15:49:19 UTC

- reply

But one comment in this thread caught my eye: “ none of whom has read even one other comment in the thread because Mastodon has no concept of conversations.”
What does this mean? I definitely have conversations. *However,* I have noticed the apps are *terrible* for conversations. The apps don’t refresh making real time conversations difficult.

2024-12-06 15:47:58 UTC

- reply

I’m just glad to get posts from the world and not religious about how they come in.

2024-12-06 14:32:41 UTC

- reply

More
Choice is better (we both agree). But why wouldn’t you like Mastodon if you like Gotosocial? The markdown?
I feel privileged to have this conversation. The absolute cheapest way to do that safely and easily today is Mastodon.
My experience with Mastodon makes me want to stand up another server. But I’m finding it really difficult to get it right. Maybe Mastodon is the best choice right now.

2024-12-06 13:40:46 UTC

- reply

So you can see the mix here: but choice isn’t choice if the software is too hard or expensive to host.
And also - I’m not sure about the wisdom of self-hosting from your home for most people. Once you get into broadcasting traffic from your home network and having people fiddle with default router settings that they don’t understand, you’re exposing those people to a host of security issues.

2024-12-06 04:18:28 UTC

- reply

I tried and mostly succeeded in standing up a Pixelfed instance, but couldn’t get things like search and off-instance user information to display correctly.
The Gotosocial goals sound amazing, but standing up beta software (I’m looking at you Pixelfed and Gotosocial) is not possible for the average person, let alone fun nor easy for someone semi-technical like myself.

2024-11-25 13:51:19 UTC

- reply

Question: what are your thoughts on government and school accounts joining Threads rather than Mastodon?
Threads is the elephant in the room right now. It seems that enterprise accounts trust enterprise/“standard” moderation.
If you had to measure influx, this is where you would do it.

2024-11-25 13:34:47 UTC

- reply

I am trying to think of this issue from a bottom-up perspective. I have my tiny instance and I have friends and neighbors signed up. But they don't use Mastodon. My quest is to understand the pros/cons of the Fediverse both from a technical and UX perspective, so I can better judge who would like the service.
I'd like to see my local government opening accounts (on their own instances). But to your point, maybe the Fediverse isn't there yet.

2024-11-25 13:22:48 UTC

- reply

Part of my comment came from this white paper, not just your blog post (although they are related). Both points are the same: if any instance (in your blog post) or any person (in this paper) gets too big, the problems of that person leaving has network effects that users do not consider.
To your point, a mass influx may be bad. But it appears that a minor outflow could also be bad, if a certain instance or group of instances suddenly go dark.
https://umm-csci.github.io/senior-seminar/seminars/spring2020/shaw.pdf

2024-11-24 17:15:49 UTC

This excellent blogpost talks about the dangers of one #fediverse node getting too big. If there are issues with a large instance, those problems can have outsized effects on the entire network.
But the more urgent problem outlined here are the harms of *losing* a node. That’s why losing users to #bluesky is actually very bad for the Fediverse. People leaving means that some nodes could shut down. That means lost data and lost connections.
https://rys.io/en/168.html

2024-11-22 16:09:10 UTC

- reply

Having different software experiences for different instances defeats the purpose of Mastodon.
This is a major bug and an impediment to growth and retention.

2024-11-22 15:47:10 UTC

- reply

The reasons for excusing bad use experience @npub1rjk…slfm are not thought out to their logical conclusion.

2024-11-22 15:45:34 UTC

- reply

This issue not only costs #mastodon new users, but may cause existing users to leave for other services.
Leaving will lead to instances closing down. An instance closing down actually has ripple effects, making this issue worse because it takes some of the replies with it.
This reply problem is a big deal for the #fediverse. Free software doesn't have to equate to a crap experience.
And anyway, you should give to Mastodon if you haven't.

2024-11-21 17:07:16 UTC

- reply

Sometimes it’s as important to focus on what isn’t said in these interviews. Getting angry about whether #bluesky is federated or not is not productive at this point. #bluesky users will not remember or care.
But the people who try #mastodon and give up because of some design flaws will care and remember. These users might be lost already.

2024-11-21 17:04:10 UTC

- reply

In my opinion, #mastodon has many advantages over #bluesky. True federation is the big one.
But the average user doesn’t care.
The average user wants the following:
* Make it easy to follow accounts
* Decent search
* The app should not be confusing
* The mobile experience should be the same as the desktop experience
I haven’t used #bluesky, but #mastodon does not offer these features and likely lags in all of them.

2024-11-21 16:41:01 UTC

- reply

Here is a post by @npub1m7m…2e7k that explains how #bluesky is not decentralized.
TLDR: all traffic is routed through relays. All relays are operated by #bluesky.
There is a diagram included in the post. Yes, you can operate a personal data store at great expense. It's all laid out in the blog post.
https://jan.wildeboer.net/2024/11/My-Digital-Life-After-Twitter/

2024-11-21 16:23:44 UTC

- reply

To those paying attention, her answer to the question "what is a decentralized network" is out there for everyone to see. And it wasn't good.
However, CNN and all the other outlets just chase the shiny objects and don't have incentives to push back.
And I doubt the average CNN listener even cares about "decentralization". Most people want to be on the ground floor of something new. That's it. They don't care how it works.

2024-11-21 15:28:15 UTC

- reply

Friendly reminder, if a cable is cut somewhere in the world, #mastodon will not go down.
Why? Because it is truly decentralized.
The #bluesky marketing doesn't hold up when compared to the facts.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/14/24296537/bluesky-acting-up-outage-down

2024-11-21 15:26:22 UTC

I don't want to take anything away from Jay Graber. She is an effective leader that has steered her company to massive growth,
But I feel like she needs to work on her elevator pitch for what it means for a system to be "decentralized". Note: no one says the word "federated" in this interview.
Of course, it would be nice if #bluesky was *actually* decentralized. Maybe that is why she struggles with the question?
https://youtu.be/Xa-EvA95Eqw?si=lscEM-YWb6XCFa_6
#fediverse #federation

2024-11-20 12:53:21 UTC

#RIP Thomas Kurtz, co-invetor of the BASIC programming language.
Microsoft used BASIC in their first software releases, helping create the PC industry.
I learned BASIC back in high school in the 80's, which I leveraged after getting my English degree into programming spreadsheets using Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). That lead to a career in technology.
I owe Mr. Kurtz a debt of #gratitude.
https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-thomas-e-kurtz-1928-2024/
#computer #programming

2024-11-19 01:07:30 UTC

- reply

In your opinion shouldn't people who host their own Mastodon instances be as concerned about the decimation of Section 230 as the owners people on other centralized networks?

2024-11-18 13:19:32 UTC

- reply

This is an honest question.
Do you prefer Bluesky because of starter packs? Do you continue to rely on starter packs after you’ve been using the service for a while?
Is it the starter packs or the people/interactions?

2024-11-15 15:23:52 UTC

- reply

Is it that BlueSky *REQUIRES* a relay and Mastodon does not?

2024-11-15 15:22:55 UTC

- reply

I understand that. But what is the architectural difference?
You highlighted the Relay in your post. And I am saying, "I don't have access to Mastodon relays." So why is Mastodon better?
Trying to understand your objection.

2024-11-15 15:19:50 UTC

- reply

This is a question from someone who uses a host service for my Mastodon node.
I tried setting up a relay on my tiny instance and the server instantly had issues. So, in practice, Mastodon relays don't work for me. To that end, I believe my Mastodon setup is close to this diagram. No?

2024-11-14 15:54:42 UTC

No joke. The Onion now owns Alex Jones' Infowars.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/business/media/alex-jones-infowars-the-onion.html
#assclown #nytimes #theonion

2024-10-16 11:48:02 UTC

- reply

Have you heard of October 7th?

2024-09-29 23:40:09 UTC

- reply

The hard truth is that any Canadian or American who say they are “anti genocide” needs to take a hard look in the mirror. Because if he does, he’ll see a liar looking back.

2024-09-29 23:38:34 UTC

- reply

My position is that 100% of American Palestinians live on stolen land. They - along with many, many young people in my country - have shockingly bad understanding of American history.
And I have been told a couple of times here, “Well, I am against genocide.” And my answer is, “That’s easy for you to say since most of the genocide has passed and you have reaped all the rewards.”

2024-09-28 12:19:39 UTC

- reply

I don’t see Feditext in the App Store. I’ve tried Metatext, but the UI isn’t very good.
Ice Cubes is a little ugly (garish?), but it seems to do much of what I want. I’m having issues with notifications not showing up in iOS.
@npub1qx2…gpnw @npub1sfq…cxv5

2024-09-27 19:07:57 UTC

- reply

I've been having issues with Ivory. They don't support audio files. The share sheet doesn't serve up other users, which makes it hard to share links directly without opening the app. And the *BIGGEST* annoyance, when I am in a conversation, the app doesn't update. So I cannot see my replies without refreshing the feed.
Also, I don't have a Mac and so Ivory's integration with other platforms isn't important to me.
Thanks for the Ice Cubes recommendation. I am downloading now.

2024-09-27 16:13:02 UTC

There is a big opportunity to make a better Mastodon iPhone app right now.
The one I’m using has a lot of bugs and weird decisions built into it. At the same time, I acknowledge it’s the best one I know of.
I wish the official app was better, but it isn’t.
#mastodon #mastodonapps

2024-09-16 12:27:30 UTC

This hilariously written, but serious piece educated me about the evils of the American penny. Things I learned here:
* Moving the penny around America is expensive and uses a lot of fossil fuels.
* Minnesota (my home state) is the worst state for Coinstar because our banks are inexplicably friendly towards the penny.
* Canadians have a better penny policy than Americans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/01/magazine/worthless-pennies-united-states-economy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LE4.9kzP.YWrDjrw0l1X5&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

2024-09-08 14:59:26 UTC

Walking the dog this morning and saw a man wearing a Skol hat where the 'o' was replaced with a picture of Minnesota.
https://cdn.masto.host/skolsocial/media_attachments/files/113/102/521/158/513/270/original/5a4350f47bc032f4.png

2024-08-17 18:41:33 UTC

- reply

People who talk about one thing are called influencers.

2024-08-16 15:52:49 UTC

- reply

I see the harm in Schmidt’s statements.
I do not see the harm in anything that @npub10zv…ga0j said. In fact, I took the meaning to call out the harm.

2024-08-16 14:07:16 UTC

- reply

I didn’t think that @npub10zv…ga0j was defending the remarks, but more commenting on what has worked for tech in the internet age.
Telling the truth, no matter how despicable, is still the truth.

2024-08-04 23:01:31 UTC

- reply

my worst tech idea ever was to give Yubikeys to my family for Christmas. I have a zero percent adoption rate and everyone hates them.