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Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 19th January 2025 - awful.systems (awful.systems)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/techtakes@awful.systems
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Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Semi-obligatory thanks to @dgerard for starting this.)

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[–] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

I am also in the "scream and cry" phase of this. However, I have already decided on the following replacements for non-email:

  1. Mullvad VPN
  2. Ente for photos and photo backup
    2a. their authenticator also slaps
  3. Filen for cloud storage^[1]^
  4. Bitwarden for password management
    4a. Keyguard is great if you are on Android. I am looking into^[2]^ other (non CLI) Bitwarden-compatible password managers for Desktop I should not have suggested Keyguard, since I am not aware if it has been audited. It was probably a mistake for me to use it at all. Sorry everyone.

edit: Should mention that I am also looking into a calendar replacement.

edit2: maybe mailbox.org? They are recommended on PrivacyGuides.org.

1: This is more like a stopgap for me until I confirm they are worth sticking with or find someone better. The 29.99€ 100GB lifetime storage may be worthwhile for this (though I cannot say whether I am confident they will be around in 5 years, this can at least serve as a short-term solution).
2: lassitude

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Filen does photos too, so you could consolidate 2 and 3 into one. I went and bought 500 GB lifetime storage on their Black Friday offer. Let’s see if they stick around. So far the experience has been smooth.

    And if you mention mailbox.org, let me throw Posteo.com into the mix. Basically the same offer, but where mailbox presents itself a bit more business-like, Posteo seems to market itself towards individuals. I moved my mails there and are quite happy with it, but you have to roll encryption yourself. No auto solutions like Proton or Tuta.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Last time this came up, I considered Posteo but decided to hold off (I think it was actually you who suggested it ❤). There was a concern I had about deleting an account due to inactivity, but I think I just misunderstood or misremembered something on PrivacyGuides. This might be a good choice.

    As far as Filen for photos, I am reasonably confident that Ente will stick around (they seem to take sustainability seriously). Stuff like this worries me about Filen (emphasis mine):

    What else is planned for Black Friday this year?
    As every year, we’ve planned a special surprise to give back to our loyal users this Black Friday. Just like in previous years, we won’t be revealing any details just yet. All I can suggest is to check in with us around November 18th—you won’t want to miss it!

    Are lifetime plans stackable?
    Yes, we'd like to emphasize once again that all types of our plans can be easily combined. Subscription plans only expire based on their individual purchase dates.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    This might be a good basis for a sticky post in NotAwfulTech!

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Thanks! I actually plan on putting a couple of things on Mataroa:

    1. "Here is a list of shit you can do to make your computer suck less (would contain the above)"
    2. "Here is how to make your Pixel phone less frustrating in 2024 (basically, how to use user profiles to create a dumb phone without the massive security issues or headache of 'oh, actually I do need that app occasionally')"


    (Aside: if anyone can recommend a better blogging platform, I would appreciate it. I like Mataroa for its privacy focus, minimalism, and low cost-of-leaving. The only issue I have is lack of KaTeX/MathML/however-the-fuck-omg-why-is-TeX-still-trying-to-hurt-me-in-2025 support.)

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Aside: if anyone can recommend a better blogging platform, I would appreciate it.

    so I can’t promise better, but you’re eligible for an account on the awful.systems blogging platform if you want one. it has MathML! it has jank! you can modify the frontend by PRing into a repo!

    it hasn’t seen much use yet, but I was planning on posting a short story I’m writing there when it’s done. I can also say that as much as I don’t like WriteFreely on the web, its phone app is surprisingly ok

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    I have the outline of a write-up about about category errors and measuring proxies (e.g. reported sexual orientation). I think I am a poor writer but the only critique I've ever gotten was from a "colleague" who writes like he gets paid by the word^1^. I will consider sharing the post once it is finished. ❤

    1: one rejection on a collaboration with this guy was essentially "have you nerds heard of 'brevity' or 'wit'?"

    from computer scientists 😭

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