I am CyclopsFox an Internet Fox, a digital nomad, and this is where you will find my rambling from the Den. This Internet Fox will engage you in #Discussion and #Conversation on a wide range of topics
Beware of the Internet Fox for they are very sarcastic!
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This is a space for my thoughts rants and ramblings about News, Security and Privacy Risks to your Rights and Internet Freedoms.
The internet is becoming more and more a toxic space being controlled by mega-corporations owned and controlled by a few people. If you are wanting to engage on the internet you are having to deal with these people.
One of these places is Twitter. We have all seen in the news that one billionaire has brought the social network and within the space of two weeks has caused chaos. This billionaire has fired a large portion of the workforce including those who manage the servers and security of the service. This means it’s only a matter of time before we start to see issues with the security and reliability of Twitter. This in turn is going to put your personal information at risk. We have already seen a failure in a part of the 2FA ( Two Factor Authentication ) systems. Microservices are being turned off which are used to maintain and run features on the service. You may ask how this affects me. This puts you at risk of exposing your direct messages, personal information, preferences, passwords and the metadata they have been collecting on you over the years.
There are spaces, services and groups out there that are fighting against this to create safe spaces which are not locked in or controlled by algorithms. Services that don’t silence voices in an echo chamber. This is why I have left the Big Social media sites. I want to highlight and show you alternatives. One of these places is Mastodon.
Mastodon is not a replacement for Twitter despite its recent influx of Twitter Refugees as they call themselves.
Mastodon is its own place with its own communities, rules, and culture. Like all changes it is a culture shock this is because of how Mastodon is designed and run. Mastodon was built and designed by people who wanted to change how social media works, who found the algorithm overwhelming or too controlling or who were harassed or who identified with or were part of niche groups not accepted by the majority.
Mastodon isn’t a place but an internet protocol built on a standard called ActivityPub. It’s made up of a collection of decentralised servers. This means it’s a collection of small servers which can all communicate with each other to make a network. Each one of these servers is called an instance. This means that Mastodon can not be taken down or controlled by one person. You can even install and run your own instance of Mastodon.
When you sign up for Mastodon you are asked to join a server or instance. My advice is it doesn’t matter which server you join can you can communicate with anyone on any instance/server. There are many different instances/servers out there some are specialised groups about a particular topic or theme whereas others are general. However, I would recommend joining a small instance/server which is populated with like-minded people, but do not get to stressed out because if you find that you do not like the instance/server you are on you can move to a different instance/server. Some instances are restricting signups due to the large influx of people and are trying to protect the servers for the good of everybody.
Mastodon instances each have their own rules and guidelines and are run and moderated by volunteers. They are not afraid to bring out the ban hammer for those people who do not follow the rules. This is one of the reasons Mastodon is such a nice place. Abuse and trolls are dealt with and not tolerated. You are asked to take people’s sensitivities into account by placing sensitive posts behind Content Warnings (CW) and to describe any images you post so people using screen readers or who have disabilities can understand your images.
What is also different is there’s no algorithm suggesting you content to consume. You are encouraged to engage in the community and follow people this is how you are going to find more interesting people and develop a community of like-minded people. There is no text searching on the platform but use hashtags to find toots on interesting subjects. A post on Mastodon is called a Toot.
There is so much more to this social space which is connected to so many other things in a universe called the Fediverse. If you would like to find out more follow me here or on Mastodon at:
https://nerdculture.de/@CyclopsFox
CyclopsFox 