william ⁂ maggos

Advocate for #DemocracyOfReach

respect people's attention.

it's all we have and it makes us who we are.

location: Chicagoland
messaging: wjmaggos:matrix.org
site/purpose: https://democracyofreach.org

Public Key

npub1hmqpppze78n5s8du8r3zyvzn6lydah0mk2ccxpwjc7u2y38atdnqxtrlex

NIP-05 Address

wjmaggos_at_liberal.city@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqstasqss3vlre6grk7r3c3zxpfa0jx7mham9vvrqhfv0w9zgn74kespz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds0a7syw

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1hmqpppze78n5s8du8r3zyvzn6lydah0mk2ccxpwjc7u2y38atdnqxtrlex

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Last Notes

2026-05-13 12:38:51 UTC

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looks like another @npub1ynz…en3h to me. it's great to have better alternatives to Bandcamp but the future has to be a decentralized Spotify. the musicians have their own site and we listen in an app we choose and the money is transferred directly in amounts that work for both sides.

2026-05-10 03:13:08 UTC

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and maybe you don't share some of that stuff. but some stuff, you do. and some of that, your followers think is worth sharing with their followers. and we are hopefully less misled by a few people with access to the mass media version of bullhorns but moreso by the wisdom of crowds. Or those who have a social media version of a bullhorn in the form of lots of followers who they had to earn, not achieve reach by buying ads or a media outlet.
bad attention stewards will lack followers.

2026-05-10 03:00:16 UTC

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who decides it's the wrong things? the people should get to decide imo. and we won't all see everything but hopefully the best stuff can bubble up. isn't this how the world figured out fire etc, just more slowly?

2026-05-09 13:28:42 UTC

When you maximize the ability of humans to determine what info, ideas and art gets the most attention, I think you better society as fast as possible. I trust us collectively to properly manage the selfish incentives when the power is properly distributed. Fully connected while not allowing anyone to be harassed into silence, must be our goal.
#ActivityPub #SocialWeb #DemocracyOfReach

2026-04-17 15:08:07 UTC

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true but he wouldn't even have needed a party if NYC had FFV (vote for whoever in the election that replaces the primary and then use RCV among the top five vote getters in the general). getting there will be difficult if it requires getting party aligned officials to vote for it, but more likely via referendum.

2026-04-16 06:11:14 UTC

I need pictures of #boardgames in progress posted here using that hashtag regularly.

2026-04-14 15:10:49 UTC

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not all the people that you call bigots because of their opinions or posting what you consider misinfo, would intentionally bother people if given the chance. the former should be welcome here, the latter should not be.
it's hard for me to believe everyone doesn't have experience with people like this, who believe stuff that seems crazy/evil but also would never intentionally bother others. who would go out of their way to help a stranger. but they are anti trans etc.

2026-04-11 16:51:17 UTC

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2026-04-11 15:31:00 UTC

@npub1sg6…ak6d
my family is from the town of Kastri. my grandparents (both my Dad's parents, my Mom Swedish/British) came over before WW1. but when we visited, they said their problem was with the communists after WW2. possibly killing family members. Is there a good way to think about all this? thanks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Kynouria

2026-03-27 19:24:02 UTC

I wonder if the fedi struggles because it's too good to be believed.
"You're saying you're just trying to free us from advertising and corporate control? No strings? Bullshit. Everybody's got an angle."
#SocialWeb

2026-03-11 16:29:29 UTC

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I'd love to share but do you have a link?

2026-03-04 14:21:34 UTC

It's funny when you consider all the shit the US constantly does to other countries that we try to hide and say doesn't amount to war etc, and then how we try to claim that what #Iran has been doing is so very bad. We're so much worse.

2026-02-25 14:46:53 UTC

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I disagree. The only servers that should be blocked are those that fail to address their users who engage in unwanted tagging. That's harassment/abuse. It drives away users. I could support a list of servers somehow so verified.
But to go further than this is a kind of censorship of content allowed elsewhere on the web. Stuff we basically never stumble on while browsing. Without algos here, it will never be forced on us.
I can easily see posts critical of Israel called antisemitic.

2026-02-20 17:11:56 UTC

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and there are alternative search engines to Google too. that doesn't change the power they have in spaces built on open protocols. bluesky might be yahoo. but we can already see how being the default app view matters re AT in a way that isn't true with AP.

2026-02-18 17:16:30 UTC

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can you explain this process to me? if I understand correctly, they are more careful with providing users of their app view access to PDSes they don't own?

2026-01-22 07:12:50 UTC

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that sounds great but just like people have different interests based on experience and who we are, nations do too. democracy works because while we're pulling in different directions, nobody has more power than another. and overwhelming force is rested in a power above any of us.
the problem at the international level is we haven't done this yet. the US talks about respecting everyone (usually) but can mostly act as it wishes. same with other local big powers.

2025-12-28 17:36:20 UTC

Maybe we need a better term, but all media should be decentralized. Like a website. Anybody can put it up and anybody can access it, nobody in between. Podcasts are like that. #Castopod helps. #Peertube does it for on demand video. #Owncast does it for live video. #Azuracast for radio. #Ghost for articles. There are others.
But our biggest need at the moment is in consumption. Better tools for those who want to access this stuff, manage it and handle recommendations. Great app developers.

2025-12-25 07:03:14 UTC

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https://liberal.city/@wjmaggos/115775098014706496

2025-12-25 06:49:48 UTC

Imagine that independent musicians and FOSS developers could come together to build decentralized Spotify. What should we hashtag such a project?
#IndieMusic #ccmusic #FOSS #decentralization

2025-12-14 16:37:16 UTC

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I want them to merge more. or perhaps I want everybody to have the best features. the tricky part is how threadiverse seems more about private groups vs mastodon etc being public and about journalism going organically viral.
we've gotta talk more about this difference. big vs small fedi. social media vs social networking. they require different moderation.

2025-11-25 21:24:31 UTC

Eventually we'll all be paying for our media via a donation amount we set up to be auto distributed to creators based on the percentage of our time spent with their work, out of all the time we consumed media for that month. It will liberate creators from advertiser and business concerns and put independents on the same level as big media corporations.
But to get there, we need a fiat transfer protocol. Maybe somebody who will benefit could give them some press.
#interledger #PublicPatron

2025-09-23 19:19:53 UTC

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gotcha. I don't see that yet on android.

2025-09-20 23:52:28 UTC

There must be a good explanation for Doritos and Taco Bell not merging yet.

2025-09-15 18:41:53 UTC

Somehow [@mmasnick.bsky.social](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/mmasnick.bsky.social ) wrote this today and while prefacing it with "this article isn’t really about Bluesky", he argued that people should leave X because of Elon's abuse of his control over reach and only offered #bluesky as the alternative, but never mentioned the widespread complaints about the company's suspending accounts that said the wrong things about #CharlieKirk.
A better fix to this real problem exists.
#SocialWeb #DemocracyOfReach
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/09/15/stop-begging-start-building/

2025-08-15 23:51:47 UTC

A #DemocracyOfReach would be so much better. Where at least in the world of digital media, money didn't get you more attention. You couldn't get a boost by paying somebody or playing to the algos.
It's gonna take a fiat transfer protocol to get there.

2025-08-04 04:11:37 UTC

@npub1ety…5krm
did friday's show get published?

2025-07-28 03:52:06 UTC

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#faircamp vs #bandwagon vs #mirlo
right. so which one can give the musician everything they want to allow for having their singular but independent "home on the web"?
I think bandwagon is thinking ahead by also providing a fedi account. the next step imo would be all the sites together sharing some protocol that allows for a decentralized spotify. everybody using whatever they want, but with money flowing to artists. my dream.

2025-07-16 14:05:09 UTC

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I think there's a critical mass for indie music developing around NHAM and I wonder if we all couldn't support a more open version of RadiOMG if you've got time and interest in working on it.
I just found out that this existed the other day:
https://www.radio-browser.info/
@npub1qj3…nha4

2025-05-30 10:44:33 UTC

"Doing your own research" could mean greatly increasing the amount of well-done scientific research when you're the richest guy on the planet or one of his billionaire friends. Instead, he boosts contrarian posts from people he doesn't know to drive controversy on his website. #interesting

2025-05-23 13:03:25 UTC

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you have to let media outlets say what they want, but what we can change is the media structure that defaults to giving them so much attention and money. broadcast and cable TV replaced with #owncast and #peertube.

2025-05-06 15:11:22 UTC

If you tried to not be too conservative or progressive about it, how would you reduce US debt? #uspol

2025-05-04 23:05:10 UTC

Starting with Bill Clinton, Republicans came to irrationally hate Dem presidents. It continued with Obama. full of conspiracy shit. listen to somebody in the conservative media world while it was happening. or go ahead and focus on TDS.
https://pca.st/2pvlr4eb

2025-05-04 21:14:39 UTC

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with AT (before today's announcement of fully decentralized relays I think), everything went thru the bluesky relay. as just happened in Turkiye, their govt asked and BS complied to make sure some posts were not seen by their users in that country. there's been reporting but no statement by the company.
with AP, it's only about the posting and reading servers.
and big picture long term, overall network decentralization is key. which model will more likely lead to that?

2025-05-04 21:02:04 UTC

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it's not everybody's brain connected with worldwide wireless chips we control, but AP is quite an improvement. I worry that the AT model moves us backwards.

2025-05-04 20:49:32 UTC

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@npub156x…ju5t is the example I always use. they are a news outlet running their own servers, mastodon and peertube I believe. mostly criticizing Israel, lots of pressure could come down on them, claiming they are lying or being antisemitic. it's essential imo that folks like them be fully independent and be able to have their items go viral without anybody (except our server admins I guess) being able to limit that. and relatedly, us only needing to switch servers if they do.

2025-05-04 18:44:53 UTC

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my focus is getting to "democracy of reach", the necessary addendum to "freedom of speech" vastly expanded by the web. it will mean people decide what goes viral. huge implications in culture generally, not just as a better way to do social media.
anyway, I see how AP does that, basically promising a future of no gatekeepers between a site run by a govt or news outlet with social capacity and the public.
I don't yet see the AT vision re this, esp post Turkiye censorship.

2025-05-04 17:09:08 UTC

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https://social.coop/@bnewbold/114439914596970558

2025-05-02 15:41:16 UTC

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everybody is free to do what they want but trying to protect from the abusive conservatives by trying to make all conservatives feel unwelcome just in case, means decent conservatives don't come here and so media that appeals to them also doesn't come here, and the conversation here becomes more lopsided and people lack the conservative perspectives and growth here slows.
It's not about what I get to read. I'm concerned about the public conversation being algo crap or bubbled.

2025-05-02 14:16:02 UTC

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you can have whatever rules you want for content posted on your home server. I'm talking about federation. This is like trying to limit links on the web or where you can go in your browser. We could do that but it would make for a much less interesting place and if it had started that way, there would have much less interest in building it by everybody but the left. Most might still be on AOL (like they remain on the corporate platforms today)
I don't get your last two lines.

2025-05-02 14:00:24 UTC

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if they are policed for harassment, a maga server should be federated with. like the web has shitty content and doesn't become a Nazi bar, the key is no algos. that allows us to not see stuff we didn't ask for, even though it's a link away. that's our magic power, to let everybody coexist and everybody talk to who they want, yet not bother each other. our norms here are currently not allowing this but could.

2025-05-02 00:03:05 UTC

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last point. if a conservative server showed up but nobody there harassed anybody, there would still be calls to defederate from them. there would even be calls to defederate from other servers if those servers did not defederate from them. it would be widespread. that's not a culture we should tolerate, like any other kind of bias. IMO

2025-05-01 22:49:44 UTC

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very true.
but we're not a group app that enables private communities. a fedi server is much more a portal to the larger social web than a place in itself. the norms that predominate make some feel safer than anywhere else except a private group app, but drive many others who want more of a public square away.
sorry. what I want (open to everyone w no algos, ads or assholes) is not possible anywhere else while the greater safety others want can mostly be done in any group app.

2025-05-01 21:36:49 UTC

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it is definitely progress. having no algos or ads is essential to the "democracy of reach" only we are capable of, but we basically also lack even the nicest conservatives. afaik that's a problem with moderation on lots of fedi servers. opinions or misinfo that even most people here don't want to see, shouldn't lead to any moderation if nobody was tagged. IMO.
if we want to hear a variety of voices, be inviting to everyone and become a true public square...
#SocialWeb

2025-04-29 17:47:36 UTC

Just got told #ATproto relays are cheap and easy to run. Haven't heard that before.
Again, I just want a world where every govt and journalistic outlet (at least) can afford to run a piece of social media infrastructure such that whatever they want to tell the public, can go viral without the approval of any middleman company. Just like when they post information on their website or send an email. Adding "democracy of reach" to the "freedom of speech" the web gave us.
#SocialWeb #LiberalValues

2025-04-29 00:56:35 UTC

Shouldn't TEs and RBs be interchangeable? #NFL

2025-04-16 15:04:55 UTC

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definitely not a perfect system.

2025-04-16 15:02:30 UTC

On a decentralized social network, your government has to go after every independent local server that wants to post the stuff they don't want you to see. And you can always use a foreign server accessing that content on foreign servers that they can't touch. The government has to shut down every way to try to access those servers outside the country. #SocialWeb
On #bluesky, they just have to ask/threaten the company running the relay for the entire service to block access in your country.

2025-04-16 11:41:48 UTC

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assuming it's true...
so that account could resurrect itself using #ActivityPub and then bridge and the owners/staff of #bluesky could explain that they had to follow the law to everybody and ask them to bridge so they can avoid this problem in the future, right?

2025-04-15 23:06:13 UTC

How many need to claim something causes autism or a chronic disease for #MAHA to think it's worth looking into? How big and how long does the study need to be? Why should someone or some group be trusted with making that call or doing the research?
AFAIK there are no perfect answers to any of these questions. There never have been. There have always been dissident voices. The only difference now is the power of the internet to multiply these dissident opinions into political pressure. #science

2025-04-15 21:20:29 UTC

This is really good. I love that #JayBhattacharya says that the people who pushed to censor him over his disagreement with the consensus over #COVID policy, thought they were doing the right thing. Doing good. Saving lives. I wish we were a culture that cared more about discussing this hard civic stuff than holding tight to comfortable and simple beliefs, virtue signaling and entertainment.
https://pca.st/ynddv4o2

2025-04-09 00:13:47 UTC

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we need to talk about what we're trying to do here.
I think we're mostly collectively allocating attention with comments. like a blog, it is public. there shouldn't be abuse, but there will have to be stumbling on mean stuff and misinformation. again, like the web.
those who want more privacy also tend to want it to be "safer". more like a tight knit community. what people now get in group tech. I think matrix has huge potential.
but if we confuse these goals, nobody will be happy.

2025-03-31 19:58:27 UTC

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I'm fine with this kind of govt centralization.
The US has an ACH (automatic clearing house) system where banks have a routing number and then we have account numbers. What I don't get is why we can't modernize this into something like a username/domain to make transferring money like sending an email. then let us build that into apps. also #FedNow is starting up.
do other countries have this? could we have an international system?

2025-03-31 13:06:46 UTC

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agreed. but the decentralized middlemen of banks work. like fedi servers. the centralized middlemen of PayPal, Venmo etc suck but dominate. I just want a protocol to make transferring money work more like fedi than Facebook etc. maybe we weaken the power of credit card companies in the process. and stop empowering sites like Amazon by storing our billing info with them.
crypto is like everybody keeping gold and cash under their mattress.

2025-03-31 01:27:22 UTC

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I think that's true but I also want to do it without a middleman. Transfer money easily. Like email. Someday soon hopefully with @npub1494…2xd2 perhaps. But I'd still rather use what we've already got over crypto.

2025-03-27 00:53:52 UTC

Who else has been #disappeared so far?
#KhalilMahmoud
#RumeysaOzturk

2025-03-24 23:38:08 UTC

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"This is what you get in my house when you spill paint in the garage."

2025-03-24 00:22:46 UTC

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what I've heard is that it's better for the small sites cause it prevents lawsuits from even getting going against site operators. without it, most sites might win under 1A but the cost to defend yourself would be too much for little guys. the big guys have the lawyers and money to handle those cases, so they'd eventually be the only sites left.

2025-03-23 23:57:50 UTC

AFAICT #Section230 defaults the internet to small, independent websites letting people post dumb shit. And that's great cause sometimes that stuff isn't actually dumb, it was just unlikely to be thought of or said, especially by the wealthy/powerful. It was low-key genius.
Without it, everybody would have to be a lot more careful. Very similar to what we see with overly cautious moderation here on this network of small, independent websites. IMO #fediblockmeta #LiberalValues #SocialWeb

2025-03-21 18:33:50 UTC

What's worse, a govt that doesn't regulate business or one that does but is willing to be paid not to? Or willing to be paid to go after their competitors instead?
I understand the libertarian argument that the ability to regulate invites corruption, but what's the alternative if the threat of competition isn't protecting us? Just let them fuck us? They don't seem to consider that this standard argument might itself be corporate propaganda. Please think harder.
https://pca.st/wimbzee8

2025-03-18 18:35:42 UTC

The pro-natal billionaires could spend their money making #IVF free for everyone instead of launching rockets. No need to involve the government. Done.

2025-03-14 15:01:41 UTC

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of course it depends. are you a listener? since it became a good grift to do so, he has spoken all manner of bullshit about COVID and vaccines.
again and like always, I am not against people giving their outsider opinions. or even bad info if they truly think it is correct. but don't act like you're smarter than people with more knowledge and experience. if you think they are lying for some reason, explain the details. don't just say they are Dems etc. engage your critics in good faith.

2025-03-14 13:46:38 UTC

Please tell me @npub13cj…xnnm is not this dumb. To think that a genetic cause for a disease means all your kids will get it and not just one out of three etc. #NoAgenda #ITM #TYFYC #TBPITU
https://pca.st/episode/de3e3c99-a1ce-4156-870d-ff1f0005822e?t=5405

2025-03-11 14:26:03 UTC

I want a fedi client that immediately turns off boosts for any account that boosts themselves. #SocialWeb

2025-03-11 12:44:27 UTC

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AFAICT he thinks being outvoted is equivalent to having politicians gerrymander your district.

2025-03-09 19:15:53 UTC

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is there another way besides joining the beta to read this?

2025-03-07 19:00:51 UTC

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yep, he was very confused. and #bluesky but not #ActivityPub. she also seemed to blame social media for our problems instead of the corporate algos. and seemed supportive of ending Section 230. we really need to help the political pundit world understand the importance of decentralization for free speech.

2025-03-07 05:02:56 UTC

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the short version is Integrity, Curiosity and Empathy.

2025-03-03 23:07:08 UTC

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I just wanted to make you guys aware of it. It shows what people in the indie music space are doing together and demonstrates potential more than being something I'd personally like to see more people doing imo.

2025-03-03 16:08:30 UTC

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FYI @npub12r7…myay @npub1uj3…c6ph @npub1ety…5krm @npub17wn…9s6v

2025-02-27 23:33:13 UTC

This sucks but newspapers shouldn't put out editorials or have opinion pages. We need them focused on reporting and readers to not be given any reason to doubt its veracity based on other writing highlighted there. Help the pundits run their own sites. Obviously the real problem is so few newspapers and so many of them being owned by big money. We need a "quality nonprofit newspaper" template any group of people can pick up and run with.
https://pocket.co/share/a736dc2d-9931-45bb-b86b-8361cf9edee0

2025-02-26 17:49:08 UTC

Again, #bluesky can censor. They have a centralized relay that can shut down anything. Taking VC money means maximizing profit, which will mean the largest possible network with content control and the fewest possible moderators. However this happened, more of it is inevitable.
But not on fedi. Like the web, you'd just need one of thousands of servers to host it. If you value free expression, you need to support real decentralization, #ActivityPub and the #SocialWeb.
https://www.404media.co/bluesky-deletes-ai-protest-video-of-trump-sucking-musks-toes-calls-it-non-consensual-explicit-material/

2025-02-25 13:51:27 UTC

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I'm sorry you're hurt by this. I mean edge cases re the most unhinged screamers etc. To have something happen to you doesn't mean it's everywhere. I think we should separate sex from gender. Obv grandchildren can be adopted. People have always dealt with choices not to have kids, infertility and being gay. Trans isn't special in this case. My MAGA gay friend adopted.
If you don't mind me asking...
when did she decide this? One friend says it was as soon as his child could speak.

2025-02-24 23:24:33 UTC

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totally not a troll.
imo it's good that there's more acceptance of being trans, but there's also confusion over it. some of it being embraced like punk of previous eras, and some of it being about not being comfortable with gender norms (like has always existed). but we also need to work out some new laws and norms but do it compassionately. and we have the Libs of TikTok phenomenon where people can now see more edge cases and come to think that's way more prevalent than it is.

2025-02-24 23:04:42 UTC

The branding problems for both parties are that Republicans come off as real life online trolls and the Democrats are your HR department run amok. I feel like my dissident lefties who wish everybody would be both socially nicer but also more laid back, have this all figured out. But obviously I'm biased.

2025-02-24 16:02:33 UTC

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does Simon have an account here?
interesting to hear him bring up the rights issues re streaming. I love all the new efforts around indie music, but imo it's gonna need to be decentralized ala #bandcamp and embrace #ccmusic licensing. another site, no matter how cool the owners, isn't going to work. we've gotta somehow all get on more of the same page re all this. share the work.

2025-02-22 03:04:16 UTC

#ElonMusk doesn't want to admit he now works for the government because that would mean all of his decisions regarding #xitter posts would be 1A violations. somebody needs to sue ASAP.

2025-02-20 16:42:46 UTC

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the US thinks the whole world is part of its sphere of influence. Obama initially did not provide weapons to Ukraine because he said Russia will always have a greater interest there than we will.

2025-02-20 16:21:39 UTC

#Ukraine started the war like Castro started the #CubanMissileCrisis by letting the USSR put missiles near the US. They didn't. Leaders of weaker countries can say no but it's really difficult when the most powerful countries in the world tell you to do something and can manipulate your politics to have you removed if you don't. Or sanction or invade you. The US and the EU knew fucking around there on Russia's border was going to piss off Putin. #Trump should say that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis

2025-02-18 16:22:04 UTC

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awesome and congrats!
(updated here I think but not yet seeing how to do this...)

2025-02-18 14:54:41 UTC

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credit unions can be cool. we desperately need a decentralized fiat transfer protocol so we can send money as easy as email. instead of using PayPal or Venmo or a credit card, we'd use our own banking apps.
$5 FROM me@mybank.com TO you@yourbank.com
cc @npub1494…2xd2 @npub1fus…tvjp

2025-02-15 19:03:12 UTC

Elon's #xitter takeover was good for decentralized social media, but sadly got usurped by #bluesky.
The #Trump win should be good for decentralized encrypted messaging, but sadly got usurped by #signal.

2025-02-14 22:02:31 UTC

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there's a very simple strategy that your side is following to not care about accuracy and not give the other side time to respond. if NA wasn't now so committed to Trump, they would point this out.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gish_gallop

2025-02-14 21:31:01 UTC

Saying #DontBeADick is the perfect way to respond to the gish gallop "flood the zone" bullying propaganda tactics of the #MAGA crowd. Talking over you and littering the conversation with lies is intended to mislead and make you sound weak. But responding too harshly or shutting down the conversation gets spun as being anti free speech. You have to expose their strategy, not be intimidated by their edgelord trolling and prove you're the one standing up for good faith dialogue. #Trump #DOGE

2025-02-14 14:44:50 UTC

Of all the things Musk could be doing, why isn't he stopping the killing of the hens?
#MAGA told me that the high egg prices were first the result of inflation caused by Biden policy. That I was wrong to point out that inflation was inevitable post COVID, and lower here than most anywhere else. Then they said it was the killing of the chickens which was unnecessary because the bird flu was fake or not that bad, just like they said about COVID.
I need to stop asking so many questions...

2025-02-13 16:29:01 UTC

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maybe being this centralized even if the tech is good and the owners are cool is not a good idea. #matrix

2025-02-11 03:59:23 UTC

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also #matrix. decentralized signal basically.

2025-02-10 18:00:55 UTC

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maybe it's an upgrade to ACH. I want to be able to do what I do with PayPal and Venmo but from my banking app instead. I don't want to have to wonder how best to take money or how somebody else is taking money. we know each other's account@bankname.com and we're cool. I want that to be able to be built into apps so that we can have decentralized spotifies and neflixes. so that I can manage all my regular payments in my banking app. so that I can pay my bills easier. etc etc. so much

2025-02-10 16:47:30 UTC

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don't most people use a site like coinbase and not their own digital wallets now? I was poorly trying to use that analogy as shorthand for all the complications of crypto vs fiat today. maybe they could all be fixed but just letting people use a banking app to send money as easily as they send emails today would solve so many of the issues we have today. it's the much shorter path imo and open up programmable opportunities.

2025-02-10 16:25:17 UTC

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crypto would be even more peer to peer but there's a reason we all don't walk around with all the money we own. the banks are peers, like servers here. having competition lets us offload the complexity while providing pressure to not fuck it up.

2025-02-10 15:04:25 UTC

Please stop calling middleman payment services peer to peer. They require both parties to have an account and will inevitably abuse that power. And if they get big enough, that dependency will become destabilizing to market competition. #xitter
We need an open protocol for payments that doesn't come with all the problems of crypto. We should be able to send money as easily as email, but from our banking apps. That would be peer to peer. Huge benefits but a difficult collective action problem.

2025-02-09 01:01:50 UTC

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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-the-courts-have-so-far-pushed-back-on-trumps-attempts-to-expand-presidential-power

2025-02-08 19:44:44 UTC

I totally understand #bluesky users promoting #signal. people trusting a service proven better than the default standard right now, without considering a future with everybody on it or how that increases the already present pressure to turn evil. I don't understand it from fedi users. #matrix #SocialWeb

2025-02-08 18:58:29 UTC

Congress can remove #Trump. I can't say we're there yet but whatever your politics, it has to be weird to be in that body and be cool with a president demonstrating that he (and future presidents) don't need to follow the laws you pass. That he can just pass EOs and have his agencies act illegally, at least until courts strike it down. Do we know if he is then following those rulings? And he always has a mostly supportive SCOTUS and pardons to get out of any possible crimes committed. #RuleOfLaw

2025-02-08 18:38:53 UTC

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ending the occupation isn't a reasonable demand?
the one thing I liked about Trump was that he might force an end to the war in Ukraine but where is that? Obama refused to give Ukraine weapons, not Trump.
It's all a shit show but I don't think withholding vote in the general is good strategy. It will never communicate the message or force changes like the left argues it can. Anti abortion single issue Republicans used other tactics.

2025-02-08 18:24:18 UTC

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nothing is ok. ending the genocide would get her the votes even if they kept supporting the occupation? is that the message we should be sending? Trump could promise to keep up the genocide AND nuke Tehran but if Harris doesn't prove she wants to end the genocide, we can't vote for her to stop Trump?
I'm sorry. We could do this forever.

2025-02-07 23:49:16 UTC

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I'm all for anything up until the point you're voting in the general (when your vote can matter etc). then it's purely strategic. nobody is too bad if they are better than the other most likely winner.

2025-02-07 23:32:02 UTC

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If you think she couldn't win and thus your vote could have no effect, I don't think you needed to vote for her. I did not vote for her because it didn't matter in Illinois.
but I thought she'd be better overall than Trump. if you thought Trump would be better, I fully support you voting for him.
my argument is simple. if it matters, vote smart.

2025-02-07 23:06:20 UTC

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you're kinda rewriting the situation. all we can do is vote based on who seems to have a chance at the time and what we think would happen with each candidate being in office. we definitely can't know either for sure.
if you honestly didn't think she had a chance, fine. if you didn't trust your own reading of what would probably happen with either one, IDK.

2025-02-07 21:53:59 UTC

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When it matters, voting is purely strategic. I'd vote for a guy who wants to kill 10 people over one who wants to kill 20 if those are the only people who can be elected. Do more beforehand so that it's not the choice we're stuck with, but don't deny that's the choice. It says nothing about us except that we faced the reality head on. We don't become party members or should feel morally worse off. it's a purely practical decision. And always be honest about how much they both suck.

2025-02-07 14:33:36 UTC

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we can do so much better here but mostly the left doesn't want to tolerate anything they disagree with and the right wants free reign to harass people.