frrstbrwn - Network

Public #libraries should host #Mastodon servers. I really think this could be a good thing.The county (or city/town depending on how it...

Public #libraries should host #Mastodon servers. I really think this could be a good thing.

The county (or city/town depending on how it works in your area) IT department could host it, and people would use their library card to access the server. Or, alternatively, perhaps some kind of private-public partnership could be arranged where a non-profit organization handles the hosting and library staff can administer it.

My thinking is: #fediverse platforms like Mastodon offer a high quality, ad-free social media experience, but there are barriers to entry that will keep most people from benefitting from it. It’s been discussed ad nauseam, but there are the technical barriers. I don’t see financial barriers discussed as often though. It costs money to maintain your own server, and even with many people chipping in, most people aren’t going to pay a few bucks or more a month to use a social media platform. There are of course free client apps, but the best ones cost money, at least in my opinion.

Maybe this isn’t the strongest point to make at a time when libraries are struggling to stay funded and are likely at risk of losing a significant amount of funding, but assuming that’s a problem with a solution, allocating funds to #library budgets to run a Mastodon server (I’m guessing a relatively small line item) seems doable. Content moderation is another issue to be dealt with, but again, I think one not without a solution.

Thoughts?

Spring is on the way! Our peach tree has a million blooms this year so fingers crossed we get peaches this summer 😍 #gardening #zone8a

Spring is on the way! Our peach tree has a million blooms this year so fingers crossed we get peaches this summer 😍 #gardening #zone8a

Alright I’ve tried several different Mastodon client apps now and I have to say, out of the official Mastodon app, Mammoth, and Ivory,...

Alright I’ve tried several different Mastodon client apps now and I have to say, out of the official Mastodon app, Mammoth, and Ivory, Ivory is hands-down the best and it’s not even close. Hate that it took me this long to try it!

I'm finally ditching Goodreads and moving to StoryGraph because I want as little to do with Amazon as humanly possible. Anyone else over...

I'm finally ditching Goodreads and moving to StoryGraph because I want as little to do with Amazon as humanly possible. Anyone else over there? Here's my profile: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/frrstbrwn

Idk if I’ve mentioned it here before, but PaperBackSwap is such a pure corner of the internet and I am so glad I stumbled upon it! Not an...

Idk if I’ve mentioned it here before, but PaperBackSwap is such a pure corner of the internet and I am so glad I stumbled upon it! Not an ad or paid sponsorship, just expressing my genuine love for it. https://www.paperbackswap.com

#AI folks — what’s your hot take on Nick Bostrum and his paperclip AI apocalypse thought experiment? I vaguely remember it receiving a...

#AI folks — what’s your hot take on Nick Bostrum and his paperclip AI apocalypse thought experiment? I vaguely remember it receiving a lot of criticism but I am not educated enough about AI to suss out genuine criticism from AI bros just being trolls. #philosophy

Damn this opener from @TheAtlantaObjective’s latest newsletter is powerful. Tragic story.

Damn this opener from @TheAtlantaObjective’s latest newsletter is powerful. Tragic story.

I worry about the water bottle boys in #Atlanta so much. Just talked to this kid who couldn’t have been older than 10, standing at a busy...

I worry about the water bottle boys in #Atlanta so much. Just talked to this kid who couldn’t have been older than 10, standing at a busy off-ramp of I-20 all by himself in the cold. I asked if his parents or any adults were with him and he said no, they just got off work. Ugh.

Good news: I fell for a fan-made video lol. Not a real trailer 😅RE: https://theatl.social/@frrstbrwn/113759070785269065

Good news: I fell for a fan-made video lol. Not a real trailer 😅

RE: https://theatl.social/@frrstbrwn/113759070785269065

Just had the misfortune of watching the new Harry Potter trailer and holllllyyyy shit it is unbelievably bad looking. Why on earth are the...

Just had the misfortune of watching the new Harry Potter trailer and holllllyyyy shit it is unbelievably bad looking. Why on earth are the children AI generated? They look like something my grandmother would post on Facebook 😳

Happy New Year! Here’s a big takeaway of mine from this past year that I’m taking with me into 2025....

Happy New Year! Here’s a big takeaway of mine from this past year that I’m taking with me into 2025. https://stickyweather.com/2024/12/31/reject-specialization-embrace-generalization.html

Just another day in Atlanta. An entire section of Northwest Avenue is underwater so everybody just crosses the median and drives on the...

Just another day in Atlanta. An entire section of Northwest Avenue is underwater so everybody just crosses the median and drives on the wrong side of the road. I nearly just got hit head on by two cars 🙃

The whole process took two days. I had spent weeks trying to manually migrate to Jekyll! I went back and forth with myself about getting...

The whole process took two days. I had spent weeks trying to manually migrate to Jekyll! I went back and forth with myself about getting away from WP altogether, but at the end of the day I decided I’m already very comfortable using WordPress and I didn’t know how hard it would be to import a WP site to a different CMS. Plus, I’d then have to vet several different CMS platforms and find one that I actually liked. So far I’m pretty happy with the results, I just need to make some final changes to site SEO settings and then update the actual content on several pages. Ta da! https://storiesforearth.com

I exported the WordPress.com site (I think as an XML file?), downloaded WP Local, and imported the website as a locally hosted WordPress...

I exported the WordPress.com site (I think as an XML file?), downloaded WP Local, and imported the website as a locally hosted WordPress site. From there I could make all the design tweaks I needed to make and actually install and use plugins (I was on the WordPress.com personal plan, which doesn’t allow plugins). I installed the Simply Static plugin, which lets you generate a static version of your site. Uploaded that to a new GitHub repository, set up GitHub pages, and redirected my domain to the new host.

It was surprisingly easy too. I had been fiddling around with making a custom Jekyll site for longer than I’d care to admit. I still use...

It was surprisingly easy too. I had been fiddling around with making a custom Jekyll site for longer than I’d care to admit. I still use Jekyll for my personal blog, but migrating a much larger website with several years’ worth of content was proving to be extremely time consuming and manual. There’s probably a better way to do it, but I am already at the limits of my technical know-how running a Jekyll site at all.

I finally finished migrating my website away from WordPress.com (it took way too long). I now have it set up as a static website hosted for...

I finally finished migrating my website away from WordPress.com (it took way too long). I now have it set up as a static website hosted for free(!!) on GitHub pages, using WordPress as a headless CMS. So, so much better.

Alright software developers, I have a question for you. If you didn’t get a BS in computer science, how did you get into the field? Did...

Alright software developers, I have a question for you. If you didn’t get a BS in computer science, how did you get into the field? Did you do a software bootcamp? Self taught? I’m considering a career switch to become a front end developer and need some advice.

I'm very excited to announce that the essay I wrote last year about The Ministry for the Future by #KimStanleyRobinson and the social...

I'm very excited to announce that the essay I wrote last year about The Ministry for the Future by #KimStanleyRobinson and the social discount rate was selected for the inaugural issue of Pace Layers, available now from The Long Now Foundation! https://stickyweather.com/2024/12/03/pace-layers.html

Here’s a little roundup of some writing that’s been keeping me going lately, with at least one piece by @seachanger that I wouldn’t...

Here’s a little roundup of some writing that’s been keeping me going lately, with at least one piece by @seachanger that I wouldn’t have discovered were it not for Mastodon https://stickyweather.com/2024/11/22/the-horrors-persist.html

Can anyone tell me why joining a judo/aikido club in Atlanta is like the equivalent of adding a car payment to your monthly budget? I’ve...

Can anyone tell me why joining a judo/aikido club in Atlanta is like the equivalent of adding a car payment to your monthly budget? I’ve looked at a few different places now and prices range from $150-$300 per month. Insane! God it’s expensive to be alive.