Github has made it impossible to create an account when using a VPN and a privacy browser with fully spoofed hardware identifiers. (Use Firefox or Firefox-based Privacy Browser, VPN, install Canvasblocker to test this.) I create an account with Google or Apple (both requiring hardware identifiers and numbers and birthdates) or I can use an email. When I use an email, it comes back with this horrible test, and even if I do it completely correctly, it tells me after I didn't do the test right, gaslighting me with a picture of what I chose (which I didn't choose) and showing me the correct picture (which I did choose and it claims I didn't select).

It's fucking bullshit and it's more corporate control of open source software. For people who have their discussion or issue tracker, I can't even participate without hardware identifiers likely linked to me some other way and phone numbers. It's fucking bullshit. If anyone from Microsoft is reading this, FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

I am so tired of this bullshit. I just want to post an issue about a piece of software. You don't need my fingerprint, hardware or personal, or biometric shit. This is a slippery slope. Fuck them.

I really hope more developers just get the fuck off Github. Honestly, if you are developing privacy-oriented software and using github, there's a mistmatch and it's bullshit, and I know it's time consuming and annoying to move, but please do. This is fucking bullshit and it's not like it's going to become LESS annoying over time. FUCK THIS.

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[–] 145 points 6 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    What about GitLab? When Microsoft bought GitHub, people got angry, and migrated their code to GitLab. When that happened, GitLab was all over the headlines for a while, but I haven't read much about it ever since.

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  • [–] 112 points 6 months ago* (3 children)

    If you want a cloud alternative to GitHub run by a non-profit and hosted outside of the U.S.

    If you want to get your data out of the cloud entirely, or at least under a VPS you control, self host your own git repo (Using the same software as Codeberg)

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    [–] 59 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    Playing devil's advocate, it's probably more about blocking bots from creating accounts than it is about blocking privacy minded users. You just end up being collateral damage.

    Obviously that still sucks, I'm just saying it's not that simple

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  • [–] 19 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Gitlab.com has similar problems, sadly. Meanwhile, I haven't ever heard of Codeberg doing somethign similar, but who knows I guess.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    I’m wondering if you could have any version of this—assuming best intentions and smartest people—which did not demand very similar countermeasures past a certain equivalent growth threshold.

    I unfortunately have to imagine Codeberg is like Lemmy and flies under the radar from spammers.

    …for now.

    LLMs all but guarantee a future of oppressive noise to signal ratios. I imagine IRL connections, or at least numbers saved in your phone, will become pretty important there. So then I think up in-person local-community-vibe verification schemes but they all end with dirty marketers or operators inducing members of the public to astroturf or lease their accounts…

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    [–] 51 points 6 months ago (11 children)

    Tell me how you really feel 😅

    They also own Visual Studio Code, control VSCode, and effectively control the VSCodium soft fork.

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  • [–] 14 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    This is why you use Emacs, Kate, Neovim and so on. Never understood how anyone could use a software as confusing as VSCode.

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    It feels like people are just punching themselves in the face.

    Yes, Microsoft has taken over a lot of projects which made coding easy. So either you submit to Microsoft's control or you spend the time to learn to use the alternatives.

    Emacs is basically older than computers, stable and has a huge amount of support and plug-ins. Nvim is newer, but vi/vim have existed since before electrons learned to jump bandgaps and has a similarly deep level of community expertise/support.

    If you're just starting off, your school is likely deep in Micrsoft's sphere of influence so you probably learned VS Code/Visual Studio. Moving to Emacs or Nvim is much harder than it would be if you had learned them in the first place, but believe me (a random stranger on the Internet wouldn't lie to you!) it is worth the time to learn.

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    What do you mean about VSCodium? Obviously it's just a differently compiled version of Microsoft's text editor, but what does Microsoft have to do with it, otherwise?

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    [–] 33 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    I use codeberg.org for my stuff.

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    [–] 28 points 6 months ago

    It's the same story for basically anything MS touches.

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  • [–] 27 points 6 months ago

    a coworker invited me to his company GitHub team or something recently, and I tried to join several times. each time, I got stuck with a 10 question test to "verify I was human". it was not quick. eventually, I had time to actually complete it without timing out.

    after completing it correctly twice without success, I gave up

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  • [–] 27 points 6 months ago

    CodeBerg is the way, or host your own forgejo.

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  • [–] 18 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Selfhosted git doesn't require anything

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    [–] 18 points 6 months ago

    Bro literallly posted a photo of a pile of shit, lmaoo

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    I can't figure out if Free software projects don't know or don't care that GitHub is run by Microslop.

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    [–] 14 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Agree completely, these shenanigans are a big reason I'm on a selfhosting rampage at the minute. Speaking of, does anyone have favourite self-hosted alternatives?

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  • [+] 14 points 6 months ago
    [–] 11 points 6 months ago
    [–] 10 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    What a great ad for codeberg.

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    [–] 10 points 6 months ago

    Been that way for a long time. They rejected me years ago. Much like Google, MS is in the ad business, and they want your personal details to sell to advertisers. Letting you sign up with fake account is contrary to their interests.

    It infuriates me to no end that so many FOSS devs are still using Github. No one fucking cares about privacy or sovereignty until it personally fucks them.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago

    I've wanted to for a while, but this post gave me the final nudge I needed to just buckle down and try selfhosting my own. Forgejo was incredibly easy to set up and my buddies and I are already successfully collaborating on a project that I've moved over from Github. So thanks for making your rant post, you made a difference

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago

    I downvoted for the image. If you're going to make a text post, make a text post.

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago

    Use codeberg. I stopped using github for my projects a while ago.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (12 children)

    Tangential to the main point you're going for: when you say fingerprint or biometrics I think you're referring to passkeys.
    Passkeys don't share any of your fingerprint or other biometric identifiers with anyone.

    https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/10/passkeys-and-privacy

    One of the major design criteria of their creation was to be an increase in security without sacrificing privacy. It's made them more finicky to get working but there's a very good reason they're very popular with security professionals.

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    [+] 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago*

    Btw, CanvasBlocker actually doesn't do much more than default Firefox nowadays but breaks more things.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago
    [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    My college has a Microsoft email account they just gave me but It says I need to download an unrelated app to log in. I don’t really want to do that

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