Luis Villa

Programmer turned lawyer and community guy.

Current: Sonarsource, Creative Commons, OpenET, California HDF, 415/94110, dad.

Previously: Tidelift, Wikimedia, Mozilla, Open Source Initiative, GNOME, LegOS, Duke, 305/MIA, more.

Public Key

npub1szcpjn5y4mlh7vzeythwanuatypw60dzjky4jyulydnpz606ntpsy35ale

NIP-05 Address

luis_in_brief@social-coop.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgpvqef6z2almlxpvj9mhwe7w4jqhd8k3ftz2ezw0jxes3d8af4scpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qrvcgdw

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Author Public Key

npub1szcpjn5y4mlh7vzeythwanuatypw60dzjky4jyulydnpz606ntpsy35ale

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Last Notes

2026-04-19 04:40:23 UTC

Am looking at a lot of graphs of Wikipedia readership tonight and this is the only good one.
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/116/429/528/860/516/973/original/4c9c91cc5c09e8a7.jpeg

2026-04-16 17:33:39 UTC

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@nprofile…nvaq this originally started as “what would LLM-aided decision-making modeled after coop-y structures look like” and then spiraled very quickly and badly from there

2026-04-16 17:02:36 UTC

“Tyranny of Agent Structurelessness”
Is this a thing? I am afraid that by thinking it it will manifest somehow

2026-04-12 16:46:21 UTC

Wellll boy that escalated quickly.
Ironically, the subject of my lightning talk at this event was that long-time wikipedians feel intimidated to talk about how they think we can use LLMs to advance the values and goals of the movement, which is bad for the movement because we're fighting bad-faith AI with one hand tied behind our backs.
The in-person response was positive and constructive, including many new demos of useful LLM-based or LLM-built tools. It also included "literally devoted their entire adult lives to Wikipedia" folks saying "yup, I built useful LLM tool X at a hackathon but haven't talked about it online because I know I'll get attacked".
Thanks for proving my point, I guess. :thonking:

2026-04-06 17:36:28 UTC

Today in experiments in legal drafting with LLMs: I gave a policy draft to an LLM, and asked it to review for IETF RFC 2119 compliance. It identified several ambiguities and errors in “should/must” and similar usages. Excellent outcome; recommend as a safety check for policy drafters.

2026-03-27 18:21:42 UTC

“Women of Afrofuturism” exhibit at @nprofile…tjye is so, so good. What a delightful use of the flexibility and creativity SFO’s spaces can yield.

2026-03-26 03:37:58 UTC

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@nprofile…uxt4 (also to mock Sora for lasting only half a Wave… doesn’t really say much one way or the other about the future of AI-generated video.)

2026-03-26 03:31:27 UTC

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@nprofile…uxt4 I agree. And so to mock Wave for only lasting a year is funny, and also almost entirely misses the point of a really important advancement.

2026-03-25 16:49:22 UTC

I cackled loudly.
Also: Google Docs is both the technical and spiritual successor to Google Wave and is incredibly widely used. 🤷🏽

2026-03-22 20:36:54 UTC

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@nprofile…fz9l I knew he’d gotten the brain worms but I missed that one?

2026-03-22 20:36:41 UTC

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@nprofile…fz9l I uh what

2026-03-22 18:57:12 UTC

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@nprofile…6hfk I have bad news for you about what people are willing to tolerate for useful new technology

2026-03-21 20:41:07 UTC

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@nprofile…kwc9 “the tragedy of the commons is when Commons” would have been more efficient

2026-03-21 20:34:45 UTC

Unsubscribed from Stratechery after… probably since he initially started offering subscriptions? Learned a lot over the years, but like every pundit there is a shelf life and it is passed.

2026-03-20 15:22:59 UTC

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SF history nerds will enjoy this piece from local gem LisaRuth of FoundSF.org:
https://www.foundsf.org/SOMA_Side_Streets_Named_After_Ladies

2026-03-20 15:12:28 UTC

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(Maybe women get a 25-50 year grace period. Or even 175, just to be fair about it.)
But do as much as possible all at once, to help take the sting (and the controversy) out of Milk and MLK and Ferlinghetti.
Maaaaybe Castro and Haight-Ashbury get exceptions because nobody knows who any of those three dudes were and they’re international brands (and neighborhoods, so again maaaybe Fillmore also gets a pass though Fillmore was a much, much worse dude than Chavez!)

2026-03-20 15:11:58 UTC

Hot San Francisco take: rename every single street named after a person. Every single one.
Chavez? Pueblo Unido. JFK? Hope. MLK? Dream. All the various FiDi gold rush dudes? Ramaytush Ohlone words. Lincoln? Emancipation.

2026-03-19 18:09:29 UTC

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@nprofile…d4hg so cool.

2026-03-08 13:03:55 UTC

If all wedding DJ playlists now have a mandatory Bad Bunny segment, God Bless America.

2026-03-05 18:04:11 UTC

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@nprofile…px9a I am so on vacation that I forgot I hot-taked this while packing last night

2026-03-05 18:02:57 UTC

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@nprofile…px9a IANYL AIAOV
(Also I Am On Vacation)

2026-03-05 06:47:59 UTC

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@nprofile…r6lk I finally moved to a static site generator a couple weeks ago. I will see the block editor in my nightmares.

2026-03-05 06:46:55 UTC

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@nprofile…px9a hot take: the value of the copyright in code is near-zero post-SaaS anyway, and going quickly to even more near zero post-LLM. So doesn’t really matter much if it is copyrightable.

2026-03-05 04:21:48 UTC

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@nprofile…7t5c https://crookedtimber.org/2023/05/22/ban-llms-using-first-person-pronouns/

2026-03-05 04:21:11 UTC

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@nprofile…7t5c it’s originally from CT!

2026-03-04 16:11:16 UTC

New post: Lawyers, Humility, and LLMs
https://lu.is/2026/03/lawyers-humility-llms/
#law #llm #books

2026-03-03 05:16:31 UTC

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@nprofile…4krt https://astro.build/ plus some Claude-crafted bits.

2026-03-02 19:40:57 UTC

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@nprofile…4krt static site generator simply calls posting APIs for bluesky + mastodon. Also trying to publish to https://standard.site/ but not clear that's actually working yet.

2026-03-02 18:13:42 UTC

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@nprofile…fl4q new blog setup :/

2026-03-02 18:09:40 UTC

Apologies for the spam - linking my blog to fedi + atproto and went slightly awry.

2026-03-02 18:04:54 UTC

New: Science fiction and fantasy recommendations
https://lu.is/wiki/scifi-recs/

2026-03-02 18:04:54 UTC

New post: Setting new expectations for open source maintainers
https://lu.is/2021/08/setting-new-expectations-for-open-source-maintainers/
#community management

2026-03-02 18:04:54 UTC

New post: 7 questions for the OSI board candidates
https://lu.is/2023/03/7-questions-for-the-osi-board-candidates/
#licensing

2026-03-02 18:04:54 UTC

New post: 4 questions for the OSI board of directors candidates
https://lu.is/2021/03/4-questions-for-the-osi-board-of-directors-candidates/

2026-03-02 18:04:54 UTC

New post: Of Monsters, Men, and Lawyers
https://lu.is/2026/03/on-monsters-and-men/
#law #llms #ai

2026-03-02 18:04:54 UTC

New: Elsewhere
https://lu.is/wiki/elsewhere/

2026-03-02 18:04:53 UTC

New post: MPL 2.0, copyleft, and license compatibility
https://lu.is/2011/09/mpl-20-copyleft-and-license-compatibility/
#law #licensing

2026-03-02 18:04:53 UTC

New post: Younger developers reject licensing, risk chance for reform
https://lu.is/2013/02/younger-developers-reject-licensing/
#law #licensing

2026-03-02 18:04:53 UTC

New post: Why make a new open source software license? MPL 2.0 (part 3)
https://lu.is/2011/09/why-make-a-new-open-source-software-license-mpl-20-part-3/
#law #licensing

2026-03-02 18:04:53 UTC

New post: 6 questions for the OSI board of directors candidates
https://lu.is/2020/03/6-questions-for-the-osi-board-of-directors-candidates/

2026-03-02 18:04:53 UTC

New post: What to know before jumping into a career as an open source lawyer
https://lu.is/2017/02/what-to-know-before-jumping-into-a-career-as-an-open-source-lawyer/
#careers

2026-03-02 18:04:53 UTC

New post: Exploring the legal issues around open data and open hardware
https://lu.is/2014/05/exploring-the-legal-issues-around-open-data-and-open-hardware/
#3d printing #open hardware #law #open data #hardware #licensing

2026-03-02 18:04:52 UTC

New post: The Mozilla Public License - almost 2.0 (part 1)
https://lu.is/2011/08/the-mozilla-public-license-almost-20-part-1/
#licensing

2026-03-01 21:47:53 UTC

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@nprofile…5raw if we talk enough about paperclip maximizers, we can ignore the profit maximizers behind the curtain

2026-03-01 02:46:27 UTC

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@nprofile…asy0 @nprofile…hjuj I had meant the corporate “you” but uh I suppose the singular Dolan-you also applies 😂

2026-02-28 21:03:46 UTC

Good: I get to wear shorts for my birthday party because the weather is glorious. 🎂
Bad: the weather should not be glorious in February in SF. 🥵
If you want to celebrate(?) for me, make a donation of any size to https://welldonefoundation.org who close old wells to stop methane leaks.

2026-02-26 21:35:27 UTC

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@nprofile…x9w4 that whole exchange is some yikes

2026-02-26 21:25:28 UTC

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@nprofile…nhan Oh, that’s an interesting point.

2026-02-26 19:47:08 UTC

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@nprofile…hjuj ugh. Figured it would be painful in general but something you had worked through regularly enough to make it tolerable. Not good if it counts as painful even for you.
@nprofile…w9sg @nprofile…xtch @nprofile…asy0

2026-02-26 01:08:52 UTC

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@nprofile…w9sg I’m not aware of any offhand. But some LF orgs must have jumped through the hoops at some point? @nprofile…hjuj @nprofile…xtch @nprofile…asy0 ?

2026-02-26 01:07:35 UTC

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@nprofile…8ca9 but yeah, that’s the pretty plain reading of that statute. I’m sure SFPD traffic enforcement will be on this any moment, as soon as they come back from their decade-long blue flu.

2026-02-26 01:06:44 UTC

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@nprofile…8ca9 huh, they’re very widespread around the big tech conferences. Not that the industry is particularly law-abiding, but surprised the owners of the trucks would bring them in en masse if they’re illegal.

2026-02-26 01:00:53 UTC

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@nprofile…cx89 yupppppp

2026-02-25 22:35:13 UTC

I can’t believe it’s been a decade. Anyway here’s a post that’s not about this but it’s not not about this: https://lu.is/2021/04/values-centered-npos-with-kmaher/

2026-02-25 22:31:41 UTC

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@nprofile…lpcm CW: too-accurate LinkedIn parody

2026-02-25 16:02:51 UTC

And weirdly when someone turns gigantic and blue Wonka shoves them in your face repeatedly

2026-02-25 05:18:38 UTC

attn @nprofile…089a

2026-02-25 05:09:32 UTC

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@nprofile…a6hr “neuroscientist” guy says his grade at Harvard was “A+++” on his LinkedIn and this research was first published by noted journal (right wing rag)… The Free Press.
There’s reasons for concerns here but don’t launder Free Press bullshit.

2026-02-24 06:08:35 UTC

It’s a small detail in this thread, but it’s utterly bonkers that we’ve elevated cars over *freedom of assembly*, a right literally in the Constitution. One of the ultimate symbols of car-brained America.

2026-02-23 01:42:20 UTC

This is a hilarious #aifail

2026-02-20 19:15:37 UTC

These are so good. Besides being delightful mysteries, the female characters are quite well-drawn for the time, and they’re a very interesting picture into the world after the Great War, before it was renamed World War I.

2026-02-20 16:12:50 UTC

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@nprofile…x9w4 here’s an unroll: https://skyview.social/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbsky.app%2Fprofile%2Fjslaker.bsky.social%2Fpost%2F3mfaq7ryoms2s&viewtype=unroll

2026-02-20 16:09:50 UTC

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@nprofile…x9w4 yes, Bluesky users can choose to have their posts shown only to logged-in users.
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/116/103/825/902/190/202/original/09ed345446722364.png

2026-02-20 03:34:15 UTC

Love to see it: my coding agent fetching arxiv+SSRN pdfs to help ground planning, and then extracting useful protocols from the literature.
But I need to find my people on this project soon. It is very easy to let (good!) curiosity run wild with LLMs and lose touch with humans.

2026-02-19 23:26:36 UTC

This will be of interest to #Wikidata folks.
Original post: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bltbqwpj4wlcbcqr4vfiz6hr/post/3mfaoxe6x5s2l
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/116/099/881/042/121/274/original/c9f2396c5bfc2a23.jpeg

2026-02-19 18:13:12 UTC

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@nprofile…f2ay I have threatened for years to write a one-pager on “explaining open source to your therapist” but I guess like everything else that is now obsolete

2026-02-19 14:35:54 UTC

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@nprofile…7dhr 🎶 the neckbones connected to the spine bone 🎶

2026-02-12 19:13:12 UTC

I'm basically pro-LLM at this point, but absolutely this - the more precision we can have about this, the better. And genuinely still think it should be illegal for bot chats to use first-person human pronouns.

2026-02-10 03:00:34 UTC

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@nprofile…ytv2 software was a glorious mistake

2026-02-09 21:21:46 UTC

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@nprofile…a6hr that... can't be real?
I figured most Americans would miss the point because they aren't aware of the power crisis (often not their own fault, not like American media takes PR seriously). But being aware and missing the point is a kind of stupid I wasn't ready for.

2026-02-09 18:30:00 UTC

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“the actual tech is not as impressive as it looks” <shrug> I’m writing code that is making my life better and has improved the quality of the encyclopedia, after not writing code for two decades. And I’ve prototyped stuff that I’m fairly confident could make a significant dent in the human-centuries of Wikidata backlog, more reliably than humans currently do on Wikidata.
If that’s not impressive to you, it’s going to be hard to have a reasonable conversation on this. Have a great day!

2026-02-09 18:11:25 UTC

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Come back to me after you have servers that are sustainable after Sun’s stock collapses. Come back to me after you have compilers that are sustainable after AT&T and IBM’s stock collapses. Come back to me after you have mobile browsers that are sustainable after BlackBerry’s stock collapses. etc. etc. etc. etc.
C’mon, dude, you’ve been around for a while—you’re right there will absolutely be a collapse, but it won’t end the world or the tech.

2026-02-09 18:01:53 UTC

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@nprofile…khlw I think it’s a mistake to assume that collaboration can’t occur in meaningful ways post-LLM, but I realize the proof is in the pudding on that one, and given all the scams (and wannabe-monopolists) in the space, the burden of proof absolutely needs to be on anyone who is pro-LLM.
I have some ideas though.

2026-02-09 15:51:42 UTC

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@nprofile…uy53 add to that that to get books in a timely manner from your favorite author, you're either paying for a hardcover (a much worse format in most ways!) or paying less for an ebook.

2026-02-07 23:36:17 UTC

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@nprofile…8ca9 wtaf

2026-02-07 18:14:32 UTC

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@nprofile…h2kk I might have to pick your brain a bit. I am feeling a very bad itch around it.

2026-02-07 17:43:40 UTC

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@nprofile…h2kk @nprofile…v6s2 OMG that's perfect. Are you looking at this problem, or just happened to have that in hand for other reasons?

2026-02-07 16:56:30 UTC

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@nprofile…v6s2 (and to blend in your previous post, what does it mean to start that with extremely trusted sources, like World Factbook, as the root of a new knowledge graph.)

2026-02-07 16:54:36 UTC

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@nprofile…v6s2 this is fascinating, thanks for sharing. I keep wondering what something like this + https://yago-knowledge.org/ would look like for knowledge graphs.

2026-02-06 22:19:28 UTC

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@nprofile…hvmm at least Discord doesn't actively cooperate with a dictator who has actively squashed a once-fairly-vibrant Wikipedia.

2026-02-06 21:56:36 UTC

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@nprofile…g30v or rural India?

2026-02-06 21:28:35 UTC

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@nprofile…et9v @nprofile…zaru signal has pretty bad UX (nearly non-existent UX?) for groups doing multi-channel chat.

2026-02-06 21:22:11 UTC

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It isn’t just that it is proprietary, though it is that. It’s that we spent a decade fighting to keep Wikipedia safe from the US government, often getting lectured for not doing *enough*, and the community just says “sure we’ll use the platform obviously compromised by Vladimir Putin”. Just embarrassing.

2026-02-06 21:11:56 UTC

After all these years, it still makes me so sad that the Wikimedia community, that will roast the Foundation at the drop of a hat for doing anything proprietary, does most community chat on *Telegram*. Just gross.

2026-02-06 20:49:41 UTC

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@nprofile…4d2v (looks at all my claude code tabs) ohno.jpg

2026-02-04 18:05:07 UTC

Cool! Looks like one last feature to take advantage of before I get off Wordpress:
https://mastodon.archive.org/@internetarchive/116013627018529791

2026-02-04 01:49:28 UTC

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@nprofile…7dhr I thought Wikimania was this summer

2026-02-03 04:09:22 UTC

OH: “that’s why they needed community to become so meaningless”

2026-02-01 23:38:54 UTC

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@nprofile…9npa ooooh. It’s used by ad networks to find your IP address for fingerprinting.

2026-02-01 23:37:43 UTC

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@nprofile…9npa all kinds of things ask for this; I heard someone say that it is actually necessary for something much more mundane, and blamed Apple for the confusing dialog, but I have lost the memory of what it was.

2026-02-01 00:21:20 UTC

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@nprofile…3gx9 yeah, lots of levels of fascinating in there.

2026-01-29 18:13:36 UTC

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@nprofile…6r0t bet someone could date it pretty narrowly based on the skyscrapers in the background. But that would have to be someone with more time on their hands than I have :)

2026-01-29 17:44:43 UTC

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@nprofile…asy0 cite posner at them https://lawreview.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/Goodbye%20to%20the%20Bluebook.pdf

2026-01-29 17:33:46 UTC

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@nprofile…asy0 free your mind, fuck bluebook

2026-01-29 17:31:38 UTC

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@nprofile…tp2x @nprofile…lp9k that’s amazing! Best of luck!

2026-01-29 17:18:16 UTC

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@nprofile…lp9k @nprofile…tp2x oh man. (searches memory) I don’t think we ever had more than one running at once in the class I did. When we did competitions it was usually timed. But that was a loooooong time ago.

2026-01-29 15:55:18 UTC

Who says trademark law has to be boring. https://electrek.co/2026/01/29/tesla-panic-files-cybercar-cybervehicle-trademarks-moments-after-musk-says-them/

2026-01-27 23:30:04 UTC

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(I don’t usually work-post here, but… c’mon, apply some rigor.)

2026-01-27 23:29:18 UTC

Scanning this before release with SonarQube would have flagged these TODOs as code smells.

2026-01-27 21:15:53 UTC

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@nprofile…hakc amazing