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abbenm

@ abbenm @lemmy.ml

Posts
8
Comments
259
Joined
6 yr. ago

  • Mozilla exits the fediverse and will shutter its Mastodon server in December

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  • I've never understood the argument. It seems to have kind of been collectively hallucinated into existence by waves of internet comment sections over the years. But these aren't mutually exclusive, and nobody has made a case that the resources for these other features are compromising the ability to deliver core browser functionality.

    They also seem to assume that it's development decisions, rather than Google leveraging its search dominance and financial muscle, that are tied to changes in market share. I actually think these value-adds can be good, can punch above their weight and can, if they are smart in picking their spots, do so without necessarily compromising their ability to advance the development of Firefox.

    And nobody ever stops, breathes in and out, collects the evidence and makes the actual case. It's just kind of assumed, asserted, repeated, assumed again, repeated again ad nauseum. Because enough people have seen other people say it, so they say it too knowing it leads to upvotes.

    The ones closest to citing evidence, thankfully understanding at least how a real argument would actually work, are also the most unhinged, which probably isn't a coincidence.

  • Mozilla exits the fediverse and will shutter its Mastodon server in December

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  • I mean there's just no way around it. And I'm the most unapologetic Mozilla fanboy you will meet. What was the point of making a server if it was going to just die a few months later.

    You need to be in control of your projects and your vision at least enough to know if you can make a credible commitment to the thing you launch. And, like others here, I'm honestly kind of surprised that this, of all things, was too much for Mozilla to handle.

  • Mozilla exits the fediverse and will shutter its Mastodon server in December

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  • I see this as revisionist history. Mozilla has long been beloved for a whole host of FOSS reasons, that align with the same reasons FOSS enthusiasts like anything FOSS. I do think there are fanbases for things who think their object of adoration can do no wrong (e.g. Sneako fans probably). They are out there, but I don't see that as being true of Mozilla.

    I've seen supporters of Mozilla make nuanced points about it being an imperfect but important diversification of options that prevents Google from dominating the browser space, often in thoughtful interactions with fans of (say) the Brave browser or Opera browser over the fact that they rely on Chromium which is sustained by Google.

    Those convos have more going on than uncritical adoration, and imo it's important to let those nuances breath so that they, rather the oversimplifications, can be our primary takeaways.

    Interestingly, while talking in mournful past tense about Firefox's having lost their way, in this same thread there are people a few comments above denying that criticism of Mozilla is prevalent here. You guys should scroll up (or down) and say hello to each other.

  • Mozilla exits the fediverse and will shutter its Mastodon server in December

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  • Here's one example of a mega-upvoted post that is critical of Mozilla:

    https://lemmy.ml/post/13081759/9195853

    I think it's indicative not only of the prevalence of the view but also the quality (or lack thereof) of the arguments backing the view.

  • I got a new job. whatsapp group (20 people) is migrating to signal because I don't use it.

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  • For a second I thought you meant you don't use Signal, so they all went there on purpose to avoid you.

  • Removed

    i shall simply remain illiterate

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  • and go to collage.

    This is who I want telling me reading is bad

  • Proton is transitioning towards a non-profit structure

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  • It is a nice PR but for me I am not impressed. Rolex is also a non profit organization in Switzerland and and mostly help hiding there finance.

    Okay but Rolex is Rolex. There are uncountably many non-profits, and many (most?) do good work. I don't think Rolex is representative of your usual non profit.

  • Families of Uvalde victims sue Activision, say Call of Duty is 'the most prolific and effective marketer of assault weapons in the United States'

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  • So I did read the article, and.... I'm not understanding a word you are saying. The families are suing a video game company for a gun in their video game. Also the article is not at all making the emphasis that you are making between marketing a specific game and video games writ large (the article kind of speaks to both of those at the same time and isn't making any such distinction), so I don't know what you are talking about. As far as the article is concerned this has everything to do with the fact that the gun was in a video game, and even Activisions statement in response was to defend themselves from the idea that their video game is a thing that pushing people to violence. So even Activision understands the lawsuit as tying their video game to violence.

    I'm not saying I agree with the logic of the suit, but I literally have no idea what you think in the article separates out video games from the particular model of gun because that is just not a thing the article does at all.

  • Google Allows Creditors to Brick Your Phone

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  • Perfectly stated! The moralizing story kind of serves as cover, as a complete blank check to excuse practically any behavior of the lender, without any limiting principle.

  • Firefox looks so much better than Chrome

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  • Firefox is better than most, no double there, but at the same time they do have some shady finances

    So I went ahead and read that article and goodness gracious, does anybody actually read these links??? Because that link is a complete nothingburger. It's a blog post from someone who never read a 990 before (standard nonprofit disclosure form) who thinks every other line of is proof of a scandal. But it's not, it's just a big word salad that is too long to read, so nobody will bother.

    The most significant charge is (1) that the CEO makes too much and (2) the author doesn't like that they contract out work to consultants who think diversity is good. And everything after that is LESS significant.

    Every point made, so far as I can tell:

    • Have assets worth $1.1 billion as of 2021
    • Mozilla spent less on "expenses" from 2021 relative to 2020
    • Revenue went up over the same time
    • A lot of revenue was from royalties (e.g. agreements for default search)
    • They disagree with the wording on a donate form about whether Mozilla "relies" on individual donations
    • The CEO made $5.6MM
    • They pulled out one expense, which appears to have been training/education relating to social justice topics
    • They pull out a few more individual expenses and weren't sure what they were.

    This isn't secret documents being handed to Deep Throat in a dark parking lot. There's no smoking gun, no smoke, just a PDF with ordinary tables of expenses and revenue, and consultants who did diversity training. If that's shady then, get ready to be mad about every non-profit ever.

  • Yeah, well...

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  • I don't think so? The Socratic method wasn't necessarily a strategy intended to carefully persuade someone by bypassing psychological blockers. If anything, Socrates' counterparts were often antagonized and angered by his questions because he exposed contradictions.

    I think the ethos behind it was that Socrates presumed he knew nothing, other people seemed like they knew things, so he asked them what they knew, since others were so bold as to make knowledge claims.

  • Elon Musk Is Funding Ex-‘Mandalorian’ Actress’s Suit Against Disney | Gina Carano accused Disney and Lucasfilm of discrimination when they dropped her after she posted baseless conspiracy theories

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  • Echoes of Peter Theil's strategy to destroy Gawker.

  • Do U know about any AI Web Search Engine?

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  • Do EV's actually do anything beneficial for the planet?

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  • Sounds like the heydey of the Geo Metro, which got astonishing MPG for its time.

  • Do EV's actually do anything beneficial for the planet?

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  • is one where our impact as private citizens is as close to nil as it can be

    Individual choices aggregate into large scale consequences, and individual choices do matter at scale.

  • Do EV's actually do anything beneficial for the planet?

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  • When Taylor Swift’s JET ALONE produces more carbon annually than 1000 individuals driving their car daily, it doesn’t matter one iota what kind of vehicle the average joe drives.

    Amazingly, you're missing your own point. If it's not about individuals, well, even Taylor Swifts jet by itself is a rounding error when considered in the context of global emissions.

    But more importantly, it seems like you are contradicting yourself in a pretty fundamental way. You are perfectly comfortable taking Taylor Swift's emissions and holding her responsible for those due to her belonging to a class, namely folding her into membership of "corporations/billionaires". So Taylor, insofar as she represents the collective actions of that class, gets moral responsibility.

    But individual consumers are also contributing significant emissions when conceived of as a class, which is a way of conceptualizing individual actions that, by your own Taylor Swift example, you are perfectly comfortable doing.

    It doesn't mean it's the only thing we should strive to change, but it definitely is one of them, because the global collective emissions of people using internal combustion engines is in fact a significant input into CO2 levels, and we can reason about these things at those scales if we choose to.

  • Do EV's actually do anything beneficial for the planet?

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  • other than limiting exhaust, or is that it?

    Gee, when you say it like that, it makes extinction-level events sound not so bad! It is That Bad, so that would be the most direct answer.

    The important thing to note is that even though some electricity is generated from fossil fuels, EVs eliminate the path-dependency that ties transportation to fossil fuels.

  • Yeah, well...

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  • Pretty sure this meme originates from an actual, specific Twitter exchange. Which became so legendary that people just repeated it secondhand, and now the secondhand repetition of it is getting screenshotted and posted.

  • Blorbo rule

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  • And when it became clear that there were no nuclear weapons, it became a dishonest equivocation about weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, there was also loads of dishonest communication about Iraq's coordination with terrorist groups.