Notices by Randahl Fink (randahl@mastodon.social)

Mark Zuckerberg is turning Threads into a copy of Musk's X, by removing content restrictions, firing moderation teams and preventing what he now calls "censoring".

At the same time he is already anticipating legal action from the EU, and wants to solve this by "[Working] with President Trump to push back against foreign governments".

Mastodon is the last inclusive platform standing.

In my backyard I have a koi pond. Apart from being a fun pastime, it is also an interesting microcosm of the climate change on planet Earth.

I built it in 1999, and for many years I stopped the pumped water circulation in mid October to avoid pipe damage from the frost. But year by year, I have delayed turning off the pump, as it has gotten warmer and warmer.

This year, my pump is still running, and the fish are swimming around like its spring. They clearly enjoy it, but I am deeply worried.

@aral Thank you. Added.

I love how all the politicians are now celebrating Jimmy Carter.

They should read his book.

Canadian troops have died to honour article 5 for the US, and now Trump threatens an unprecedented 25 percent import tax, that would cripple the Canadian economy.

Trump sees nothing but personal gain, no matter how much he destroys. The democratic world must unite in an all for one, one for all strategy against Trump. If he is allowed to bully one country at a time, he will win. If we unite, he will lose.

Wake up EU, UK, Norway, Australia, Japan. It is time to put a leash on the mad dog.

Does your country have a fireworks problem?

In Denmark, it used to sound like a war zone from fireworks exploding constantly throughout December. But we finally made a law, that you can only use your fireworks from December 31 to January 1, and I am so relieved — and owners of dogs, horses, etc. are grateful.

Elon Musk just confessed to tampering with the X content algorithm so people will not read the news, effectively creating a platform where unsourced claims get prioritized, and statements with links to documentation gets pushed aside.

X really is the platform of dumb.

@aral Rudy Giuliani next?

The first clown leaves the bus:

Matt Gaetz withdraws and will therefore not become attorney general in Trump's government, in what will likely be the first of an endlessly long list of defeats for Trump.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/matt-gaetz-withdrawing-attorney-general/index.html

While Trump's trials are evaporating like dew in the morning sun, a billionaire from Trump's inner circle now promises “The hammer of justice” against those who tried to hold Trump accountable.

It reminds me of this famous quote from the Peruvian dictator Óscar R. Benavides:

"For my friends everything. For my enemies the law.”

I tested Threads. In my experience, this is how Threads compares to Mastodon:

— The algorithm decides if your content is visible to others. Some content gets zero exposure for reasons which are not transparent.

— Sharing links to other platforms makes the algorithm suppress your content's visibility.

— Slower to use.

— Only one app allowed, and it does not support iPads and other tablets.

— Ads are coming in early 2025.

— You cannot run your own server.

— Your data is mined by Zuckerberg.

@aral I am open to alternative suggestions.

@aral subscribe on YouTube for the next update. 😀

Elon Musk spent 44 billion dollars on buying Twitter, only to change everything which made Twitter brilliant. And now, as Twitter is on the verge of failure, Musk claims it is all the advertisers’ fault.
But is it?
Watch my deep dive into Elon’s business decisions and see how even a professional company can be killed by amateur leadership.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1STT9_XdUw

#elonmusk #elon #twitter #business #uspol #uspolitics

Nothing scares me more than the fact, that European politicians have sleepwalked into the largest security problem in European history.

The entire European security architecture is based on the premise, that the US is lead by someone trustworthy.

The internet monitoring is run by the NSA. All operating systems are American. Most military equipment, the F-35's — even the EU nukes are made in the USA.

And now this entire security foundation is ultimately controlled by the gangster president.

#Mastodon, we have a troll problem.

Increasingly I discover Russian sympathisers and trolls who reply to my posts with content I cannot see. I only discover these replies because other users react to them.

Attached is an example where @Gurre replies to a troll (pic 1), but I cannot scroll upwards and see the troll's post.

This seems to allow an attacker to attach content to my posts, without me being able to see it and block him.

I have seen this exploit a number of times.

@Gargron.

Has Mastodon ever explained why it allows Threads posts to be seen on Mastodon, when Threads does not allow Mastodon posts to be seen on Threads?

This effectively means we have Threads posts showing up in our feed which we can reply to, but the replies are not visible to the original poster on Threads.

To me, that seems to be a confusing user experience — one that punishes users for using Mastodon.

Apple is revealing their iPhone 16 on Monday. It could be a big thing. The last one had USB-C, so maybe this one could feature a company that pays taxes.

#hoping🤞

In a fascist cult it is all about conformance.

And yes, these are real pictures from the Republican National Convention.

All over the world, voters should beware, that whenever politicians talk about immigrants, it is because they have no solutions to the problems that matter most.

Healthcare crisis in the UK? Talk about immigrants.

Children getting shot because of idiotic gun laws in the US? Talk about immigrants.

"Look over there! Someone is coming to eat your cake!", is the oldest trick in the book, and politicians use it for the sole purpose of moving attention away from their own political incompetence.