overview for Olgratin

Sometimes the only winning move is not to play. If people hadn't federated with google's XMPP back in the day, google wouldn't have had the same level of control it had to kill XMPP as a competitor.

We need to learn from the lessons of the past, and the past has resulted in the deaths of services when federating with corporations.

The instances blocking Zuckerberg's Threads.net by Olgratin_Magmatoe in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago

And for those that don't:

https://ploum.net/2023-06-23-how-to-kill-decentralised-networks.html

Carmakers Push Forward With Plans To Make Basic Features Subscription Services, Despite Widespread Backlash by Olgratin_Magmatoe in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 63 points 2 years ago

Enshitification isn't solved by voting with your dollar. If it did, the printer market wouldn't be the shit show that it is. You can't vote for the good if all the manufacturers mutually agree to only produce shit. Only regulation will keep them in line.

(inb4 "brother is better", I am aware that brother printers are generally better, but they are far from good.)

Right to repair’s unlikely new adversary: Scientologists by Olgratin_Magmatoe in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 126 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

As to why a Scientology-owned group would care about such a matter, 404 Media suggested that it could have to do with Scientology E-meters, or electropsychometers. The Church of Scientology describes the machines as an "electronic instrument that measures mental state and change of state in individuals and assists the precision and speed of auditing" and that only a Scientology minister or training minister should use. 404 Media noted that some people collect the devices and, oddly enough, you can find E-Meters sold on eBay.

"My hunch is that the Scientologists think granting the hacking community permission to dig into their E-Meter software will expose the whole operation as snake oil. The request is like so many other anti-Right to Repair arguments: Manufacturers are afraid that access to repair materials will expose some of their other dirty secrets," Chamberlain said.

Landlords should have to pay income tax on their rental properties regardless of whether they're rented out or not. by Olgratin_Magmatoe in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 63 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Landlords don't pay for buildings to get built, the renters ultimately do. Landlords are just middlemen.