The trade body called it “illegal circumvention technology”, said 12ft.io has been locked by its web host, and promised to take similar action against other paywall bypassing technologies.
Just because you send bits to my network does not oblige me to render them. That's like saying I broke the law back when I had cable and changed channels during ad breaks. Falls flat on its face.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills whenever I hear them say things like this! These things belong to me, I should be able to control them. My perception, my LITERAL GATEWAY FROM MY MIND TO REALITY is mine and I have a right to control what I see.
So this confirms that people have a negative reaction to ads, which every actual internet user knows in their bones already. This means they ALSO are not even doing their one job of persuading people to buy shit. Of course this won't lead to companies reducing investment for ad carrying or finding ways to make them more appealing, that costs money, instead they will use AI generators to produce WORSE ads and leverage their capital to have governments capitulate and force users to watch by banning blockers, probably VPNs too. Bill Hicks was the most correct about advertising, and remains undefeated.
gasp you mean to tell me you DON'T like 20 million videos playing over the top of the recipe that you're trying to read while trying not to burn dinner? unbelievable.
Looks like it hasn't been updated in a few years, but its open source so you could just fork the repo and add more. There are also quite a few forks already.
I tried to give my mom a pihole, she made me get rid of it because it broke the NY times and some rando mobile game she plays. Some people can't be helped.
Not even a linux guy, but I had a Pi from a decade ago that I never opened, decided to set it up and use it for something useful, friends suggested Pihole. pained myself for 2 days getting everything working (most of my trouble had to do with peripherals and IP addresses not the device itself) but after the grief, got it working and it was well worth it.
I even printed a sticker for it that said "where ads go to die"
I don't mind the old system of one or two ads on a page or a 10-second ad at the start of a YouTube video if they don't track their users. But these days it is growing out of proportions, we are almost at American television with the amount of ad breaks in a YouTube video, and it's absurd.
Before I used Firefox on Android, any search about a game I'm playing would result in a half page video ad in the top half of the screen, accompanied by the bottom half being a request to share your data with 1496 trusted data partners.
Now I use Firefox with add ons, and I get the results I requested. The modern web is basically unusable in it's raw form.
I am used to rejecting the cookies if they are not automatically blocked by Vivaldi or Firefox, but on my phone I use Safari, which still has a decent add blocker by default so most of the time it is just a cookie banner where I have to reject them. Or put the site in reader mode
There are also market effects on what type of content is produced / profitable to advertise on.
And mostly unknown psychological effects of advertising on the human mind. Maybe advertising has altered your mind so much that you "don't even mind" it any more. It is a brainwashing technique after all haha. Maybe all those youtube ads made about 5% of the people's brain soft enough to vote for MAGA. Maybe the effect of advertising is as bad as lead in gasoline.
You either have to directly pay for something or indirectly pay for it by selling your time or data.
Companies need to get their name out there and in the past you did that with a banner on your building, a space in the phone book and maybe your name on the side of the vans. Now we live in the digital world and we use digital advertisement. Heck a lot of companies sponsor certain event including charity events.
If we would totally remove advertisement, your local mom-and-pop shops will get more traffic, but in a lot of countries they would have basically a monopoly unless another competitor exists in the same region.
I don't really mind watching a bit of advertisement on something like a YouTube video or a banner ad on a site. Heck, buildings or vans with logos etc are fine as well in my opinion. My issue is more with the tracking and some forced advertisement (putting your logo on my clothing, vehicle etc).
Ok, it's obviously a complicated task, and banning advertising will make things more complex. But that is what progress often is.
But before the internet we used to even have TV shows reviewing things, under the mandate they don't get paid to do so. People do have an interest in learning about new cool things or improvements to old, and comparative reviews. There is no reason this wouldn't serve the legitimate need for information better. Now we have ratings and that could be improved as well, through better technology to gather independent reviews.
And yeah, there are not free lunches from corporations, but there are from people or from the government. We pay collectively for things and distribute them for free all the time. Public broadcasting could be extended to youtube or even news papers, to make them more independent from profit driven behavior or owners. You can't have democracy without free press, and currently we don't have that. We have corporate press and every single youtube channel has to serve corporate news. And as you point out, in capitalism there is no free lunch. But we can make it free so we can stop the insanity of neoliberal and fascist propaganda currently destroying our civilization globally.
Another thing I forgot to mention, advertising is the main vector to increase consumerism. Which is killing our planet.
Independent reviews are a good thing yes and they shouldn't be sponsored by a related company to keep their integrity, that doesn't mean they can't get paid from a different form of advertising. Heck you can even check on the integrity of professionals differently. In the accountancy, we are paid by the clients who we need to audit or need to advice etc. Using things like third party audits and a high accountability for professionals.
Ratings aren't that great especially on platforms like Amazon/AliExpress and other crap offering dropshipping platforms from corrupt countries.
Corporations generally don't do anything for free, but a lot of companies do, but that is generally to get their name out there or because the owner wants to decuct his private life from his company profit ... Even governments can't spend money or personal all they want, in the end it is money from the people. People here in NL are pissed that the government spend money on things like getting the NATO here for the last meeting or for the royal family. The public broadcasting is also something that is under heat and not just here.
In most countries you have some kind of government funded press heck I think most press aren't even corporations, but more companies except some of the larger once maybe.
Almost nobody is going to work for free for the majority of their life. It would be better if all of us did more work for society, but most people aren't in the position I am in that they just can take an extra week off to do that.
I agree consumerism is killing our planet, but there is a huge difference between the crap a companies like Google are doing and your local plummer who has advertisement on the local radio on their van and make a slightly SEO optimised website. Advertising is often the only way to get your company visable if you are competing with a well established company. Same reason as that there is nuance between companies and corporations.
Yes we need to promote repairing, reusing, recycling and the circular economy I agree, but somebody like iFixit wouldn't really thrive without their advertisement. We also need more financial transparency by the company we buy from and just skip on companies from China, the US and other obvious corrupt countries.
Yeah public broadcasting is under attack because of advertising. Advertising fuels private broadcasting and it's in their owner's interest to push anti public broadcasting propaganda.
Any system humans design to serve us as a society will over time become "min maxed" by people or institutions seeking to maximize their profit or gain more power or maintain power in the face of changes. Advertising is a primary vector how those with the most economic power can influence society without people even realizing it. And everything is political.
For example take the ratings and something like yellow pages and announcements for new businesses like a plumber - needing to invest additional capital in advertising has an effect too. It makes it so new businesses are more indentures, more like wage slavery, than if no advertising existed at all. Obviously no advertising at all would favor seniority. But we have advanced in technology since we designed our government systems - there should be an independent "forth estate" or fifth or something for economics and regulation. They could be independently voted on to the executive or legislative. And their job would be to deal with regulation in the public's interest, and sponsor things like an independent ratings portal that is moderated, and force shops like amazon to use the independent ratings for the products and the vendors. It will stay a struggle to stay ahead of people trying to abuse the system for gain, but right now we pretend the tools we have right now are somehow god given. We Europeans are far more conservative than we like to think.
If we want to have any resiliency against what is coming (because we destroyed our planet and let wealth inequality spiral and social media is nearly completely controlled by plutocrats) we need to push for better tools to govern democratically. And advertising is a major obstacle because it allows unmitigated influence of those who own the world.
TLDR: We don't *have to * screw over new plumbers, but we should do it if we had to because stopping the brainwashing is more important.
Well I agree we need a better structure to keep people in check I agree with that. Things like social media and a companies like RTL having a massive stake in private television will help to destroy the planet and keep the difference between the lower class, the middle class and the rich.
But I disagree that we should just get rid of all advertisement completely. Again there is nothing wrong with banner ads, websites, vans with logo's and other low stakes form of advertisement.
If governments would start to pay YouTubers instead of YouTubers earning money from adverts and sponsors it would not only allow the government to control the narrative, but people will still abuse the system. Same way as that social security or subsidies are abused currently.
Consdering I work in an accounting firm I do see the amount of cost some companies have with advertisment, but most of them with a lot of costs do it to get more customers. Some of them need to do it to keep their profit rising or the same.
There is an issue with misleading adverts including misleading prices (excluding tax), there is an issue with hidden ads (like logo's). But personally I think social media (including Lemmy) is just the bane of our existence. Yes a lot of that is funded by adverts, but also by selling your data and the like. Personally I believe that they are brainwashing people more with that, than with a lot of the advertisement. Ow and the people who keep on defending companies like they are their family are also a big part, people saying they are going to get Domino's instead of pizza f.e.
The web has almost always been unusable without an adblocker. Ads today are less malicious, but more insidious. Clicking the wrong ad in 2003 would brick your computer. Clicking the wrong ad today means you'll have to cancel a credit card after your personal data is compiled and sold on the black market.
Nothing new. Ads don't fuel a free internet. They fuel a business model. The free internet is fueled by the time and donations of kind, dedicated people.
I disagree, ads today are way more malicious than they used to be, ads are the biggest vector for malware today, they are used to stalk users to an insane level and most ads are porn, gambling, drugs or fascist propaganda.
At least back in the day you would only get sketchy ads on sketchy websites.
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I use a degoogled CalyxOS phone so all those apps that load ads via Google services don't even work, or they work and the ads don't load haha. One caveat is that I can't use paid apps either though, I'm not against those.
But yeah system wide blocking is definitely the most thorough method!
Maybe if they didn’t use very intrusive ads people would not install ad-blockers so much
Many websites put a video playing in later in top of the text, with another layer of ads and tiny space to read… the website would be unreadable without ad-blocks
Tangentially related but britta filters actually suck as far as I know; they're like the worst water filter for removing materials. Did a test myself with a fresh filter - 105 ppm tap to around 72 ppm vs 0 ppm for zero water pitchers and around 30ish for epic, it's been a bit so the numbers are rough for the britta and epic but I test my tap and ZW pitcher routinely.
Almost 70. Spent way too many years watching cable shit tv. I hate ads. I fucking hate ads with a nuclear passion. I have ad blockers, pirated shit and some services that do not show ads so far. If there are ads I find an alternative or read a book. Our teen son screams ad every time he sees one that sneaks through ad just to get me going.
i know this may go against the general attitude here but i gotta say this does make me a little sad when i think about it. and i use adblockers as well, but i never knew what the numbers were. when it's put into context like this it's hard not to be discouraged by the fact that this is still probably a minority of users. i mean what the hell, how are people still using the internet with ads turned on.
I'm starting to notice that a lot of people don't even notice what are ads or not. When i installed pihole and enabled it for all devices at home. My gf was complaining why suddenly a loy of pages wouldn't work anymore. Yeah, so she always clicked the ad/sponsored link everywhere and didn't have the slightest clue. And let's not start about social media and how basically 75% of it is (hidden) ads.
Personally I'm of the mentality if some company force feeds me their ads while i was not actively searching out their product type, I'll think 3 times before ever considering their products. Thankfully, i see basically no ads (online) anymore these days.
i guess it's true that technology has been getting too easy to use. the barrier to entry being too low means people aren't really ready to use them safely.
The use of the term "Dark traffic" here is to paint the use of ad-blockers as something nefarious. Don't use it, fuck these people right in their stupid mouths.
I propose using the terms "clean traffic", for ad-blocked website traffic, and "dogshit traffic" for everything else.
depending on your household's browsing habits, it can be downright insane how much traffic goes through ones network (and the web at large), that is just nothing but dog shit.
I monitored my pihole at my place and my own traffic is usually no more than 15% garbage with about 750,000 domains blocked, but the second grandma or grandpa starts doomscrolling boomer things on their phones and ipads. I saw the network traffic at 60% blocked one time and I had to confront them and flatly ask them "what the fuck are you doing on your phone?"
also set up a Region exemption or whatever, blocking russian, chinese, and a whole bunch of other untrustworthy TLDs and im literally showing my grandmother the repeated attempts to communicate with something in fucking China in real time whilst she's playing some solitare game she downloaded.
both of them shield, coddle, and enable a 53 year old man who is an overt Nazi and purge/mass death obsessed eugenicist freak, (my uncle), a lot more needs to be said to them honestly.
Well, "dark traffic" sounds SCARY. You wouldn't want to do anything scary, would you? Like, use the computer you paid for to control the content you want to see? /s
Advertisers do not have the right to demand my attention, or to brainwash me. I have every right to deny them and decide what to allow inside my head. This is war.
"We paid for the right to show you this!"
You paid for the opportunity not the right, but you didn't pay me, motherfucker -- and my price is everything you have or fuck off and die.
Edit: You know what? This is how I really feel about ads.
This is a consent issue, and I will not allow advertisers inside me. They hire psychologists in order to exploit humans' most vulnerable mental blind spots. They don't just brainwash us. They mindfuck the entire human species, and they do not recognize consent. We need to treat advertising as the collective mindr*pe that it is, otherwise they will never stop exploiting us, and we will never be able to build a bright future for humanity and this world. They are manipulating the trajectory of an entire species with zero regard to any future well-being. The butterfly effects are inconceivable. Our minds are sacred. The advertising industry is committing a crime against humanity that we have failed to recognize as such, because money is all that matters today. They must be stopped before Big Tech perfects brain-computer interfaces.
“The growth of dark traffic undermines the ability of publishers to fund the production of quality content, or even operate as a business. We must recognise users are not the main driver causing this.”
And Scott Messer, founder of publishing adtech consultancy Messer Media, added: “Dark traffic is unlike anything we have seen before. It’s demonetising publisher content at scale without user consent.
Are they trying to present it as if poor innocent users need to be protected from the vile ad blockers?
What's frustrating to me is the idea that law makers and advertisers believe I don't have a right to alter data that comes onto things I own. And nobody chime in with the brain dead "☝️🤓 actually you don't own it." Because even if you wanna waste time with that stupid distraction, I own my computer. I built it from parts.
Controlling my perception is my right. If I wanna use things that block ads that's my right. PERIOD. I NEED TO BLOCK ADS BECAUSE OF MY DISABILITY.
You have that right at least in Europe. The nuance is that website provinding content can choose to not serve it to you. Or something like that but maybe more complexe.
They got it the wrong way around. Visitors who use adblock are not "dark traffic", the bullshit scripts and tracking they use are dark. The adblock users are actually the only clean traffic. The adblockers aren't "brutal", the people without blockers are being brutalized.
"dark" as in "not visible". Adblock users can't be tracked (or at least not as easily), hence they are not visible to the ad companies. "Dark", in this instance, is not a derogatory term.
"Brutal" is, though. So I totally agree with you there. Ads are the brutal thing nowadays.
I used the internet for a long time before ad blockers even existed. Everybody simply ignored ads, instead. But that wasn't good enough for the advertisers. They weren't happy unless we were forced to look at the ads. Extraordinarily obtrusive ads. Popup ads. Popunder ads. That's when people started blocking ads. When you realized that your browser always ended up with 20 extra advertising windows.
Nobody really cared about blocking ads until advertisers forced us to. They made the internet annoying to use, and sometimes impossible to use.
Advertisers couldn't just be happy with people ignoring their ads, so they forced our hands and fucked themselves in the process. Now, we block them by default. I don't even know any websites that have unobtrusive ads because I never see their ads in the first place.
Now, they want to go back to the time when we would see their ads but ignore them. Fuck off. We know we can't even give them that much. If you give them an inch, they'll take a mile.
The main clencher that got me running a blocker were the few sites whose payload was 90% ad related and as long as the page was open it kept feeding me more ads until a gigabyte of RAM and 5% of my CPU were dedicated to something I wasn't even looking at.
I know surgeons who can’t start a zoom call. Being uneducated in a particular area is not stupidity. If you avoid dating someone over their lack of adtech knowledge, I would assume they are the one that dodged a bullet.
adtech is nothing new or exotic. We have been dealing with this shit for years. if they still do not have a very basic knowledge of it by now, that's not a great sign.
Unix and lawnmowers are nothing new or exotic either. I’m not stupid for not knowing how to repair a lawnmower, and I wouldn’t presume you’re stupid just because I can run circles around you at the command line.
I would, however, question your intelligence if you lack the ability to perceive the reasons behind different people knowing different things. It’s not that complicated.
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.
Oh I’m fully aware people can specialize their intelligence, focusing so much on some areas they neglect others and fall behind. However, that’s also a choice they made. That unbalanced tech tree was their own doing.
Okay I checked out Gemini. I love the vibes, but the amount of dead links just in the quick start guide makes it hard for me to even try to get into it
When a midair collision and a series of radar outages captured attention in the United States this year, some air traffic controllers thought it might finally lead to solutions for a nationwide staffing shortage and other longstanding problems at the country's air traffic facilities.
Lol after watching the Mehndi Jubilee debate I can't help but feel this is the next big bullshit push from Republicans masked as a lefty cause.
What I noticed with that debate is how many right wing people were 100% on board with getting rid of the constitution. They fucking hated it. Maybe it's a coincidence but I find it funny I'm now seeing posts like this. I suspect there will be more coming and the conversation will be pushing towards actually ripping up the constitution (except for the 2nd)
We all know that groups like Cambridge analytical, heritage foundation, TPUSA and others are relentless with their online social media presence and actively work to shape pop culture with their views. Including making the left either look insane or distracting them enough too give their right wing views more access to the general public.
You'd be crazy to not consider that the fringes are not targets. You should absolutely be critical of the fringes. Given that this and a few other posts here on Lemmy were posts that I originally saw on right wing spaces, I do believe it is suspect.
Advertisers build profiles on demographics to better manipulate them. You better believe these groups have the left figured out. You can't directly prove it but you sute as fuck can see the results with how much ground and engagement the left have lost in the past 10 years. They've went from having a very strong presence to people believing they're putting cat litter in classrooms. You can believe it's due to idiots on the right. But it's as much the fault of idiots on the left.
Just calling everyone to your left a conservative without actually engaging with the ideas presented isn't a very effective strategy for accomplishing whatever it is you want to.
Nobody has presented anything other than calling me a bot. The .ml instance is corrupted by something that stinks. I think most other instances rightly call it out for this. It's clear just from the tone and rhetoric when the instance is a .ml just like when dealing with a trump supporter.
This is clearly a leftist meme advocating people read Marx, and you're here acting like communists are right-wingers. It's bad-faith, and is what is getting you called out.
Yea? Give it time. This will be the next hill. Use the fringe left and far right to burn the constitution so trump can get whatever he wants even another term.
If the fringe left is really "fringe," then even if we wanted to do whatever it is your conspiracy theory thinks leftists want to do, then we don't have the power or influence to do so. The left wants revolution, the right wants to maintain the status quo. The constitution already isn't stopping Trump from doing what he wants, it isn't a magic document.
Why don't you decide to productively engage with leftists, rather than just insult us with conspiracy theories?
Because I'm done with leftist bullshit. I can't watch them continuing to shit the bed and not realizing they're the problem.
You're right they don't have power or influence. But that isn't the fault of the right. It's the choices and actions of everyone on the left. The left need to wake up and see how potentially they direction was influenced by powerful people who herded them towards actions and ideas that were toxic pills
Leftists have heard your conspiracy theories, the ones you've failed to materialize any evidence for, and rejected it. Right-wingers such as yourself would do well by reading leftist theory and engaging with the ideas that have existed for hundreds of years, growing and expanding over time, rather than just assuming this is a new thing where the far-right is telling people to read Marx. You're incoherent and insulting towards those to your left without base.
No. I want the left to be united and successful. But I'm done with how oblivious so many of you are to how ineffective and useless you all are. I'm tired of watching so many opportunities go by year after year while you all waste it by trying to be the next PETA. I'm blaming the left for the reason the right have succeeded. The left have made themselves so aggressive and abrasive to the general public that it's alienated then further and further from pop culture. I've watched the left to form a dominant position to the weakest and it was from our own actions. I'm done fucking sugar coating it. The left is cooked until they wake up
Probably shouldn't accuse everyone who disagrees with you of being a shill then. Especially if you're going to cry and moan when you get it back at you in return.
The left have made themselves so aggressive and abrasive
You mean like coming in and accusing everyone of being secret right wingers?
I’ve watched the left to form a dominant position to the weakest
What? Are you hundred years old? No you fucking didn't.
The left dominated media and culture as a result of that. They had Hollywood and literature. Science wasn't some taboo subject. The left dominated the Internet. They were early adopters of technology and creators of many things. Right wing people really were getting phased out. It wasn't acceptable to publicly be a racist or even sexist or want to end social programs or destroy democracy.
Then the left turned. They started succeeding these areas and allowing the right to control the space. I watched every comment section get filled with Lefty's telling others to not roll with pigs and just let the right spew their bullshit. I watched Lefty's take massive momentum and channel it into a public street so that momentum could get their shit kicked in by police. I watched people take over cities and end up arguing if they should click or clap what consensus really involved rather than getting shit done. I watched as climate conscious people told others to deflate tires of random people going to work and then wonder why their cause is alienated from the general public. I've watched the left turn into hostile, toxic, uninformed, ineffective luddites.
The right took over and used basic common sense Media and public relations concepts to become more and more palatable while the left lost it all. And they still don't realize this. Forming a mob and blocking traffic or yelling at people at cafes or burning small business is not a good look especially when the goal is not clear. We all know there's agent provocateurs amongst these protests. Has anyone thought about countering or exposing them before organizing this stuff? No right, they just show up and go to town then act surprised every time. It's nuts.
Remember that feeling when Democrats showed up with those cardboard signs. When you saw that were you like "aww they're trying their best maybe next time guys" or were you like "I'm fucking done with these people"
Because that's where I am with much of the left. Until the left wakes up, we're getting what we deserve for becoming complacent and ineffective.
The left dominated media and culture as a result of that.
Do you even know what “the left” is? It’s not liberals; it’s not Democrats; it’s socialists, who want to abolish private ownership of the means of production. And we have never dominated the media, because the media are owned by the bourgeoisie. We won’t dominate the media until after a socialist revolution, when the proletariat own the media.
They’re both pro-capitalist/anti-socialist parties.
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Most Liberals are left. Democrats are not. Socialist are further left. Socialist, especially .ml try to say they're the only left. Not arguing about this beyond this. It's just facts.
Quite a few changes were made to the manifesto, especially after the Paris Commune, but it's also more of a propaganda leaflet to advertise the party platform, not a work of legal code nor an extensive exposition on Marxism. There's also been numerous updates on Marxism over the years, most notably but not exclusively from Lenin, and socialist states have gone through numerous revisions in their legal code over the years as well.
I don’t know a single IRL American who would say this.
Some would have nasty things to say about the Manifesto, sure, but it’s not something they’d bring up, and not because it’s old. And trust me… The Bible or Adam Smith is the constitution as far as some are concerned. There is either no issue with old documents, or cynicism/worry over the ones we have.
Again. Lemmy at large, and the loudest parts of the internet, do not represent how Americans see stuff. The political influencers in particular are just in an alternate reality.
That's a weird strawman. I've never heard anyone use that argument to justify dismissing the Communist Manifesto. Like ever. Nothing close to it in fact.
I've been told several times to stop "wasting time" with Marxism-Leninism because the foundational writing is old, and that instead we need "new theory," as though we can't carry what's useful from the old while adapting to new conditions (which is core to Marxism-Leninism anyways).
The US and its European NATO allies are working on new arrangements to keep the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine going for as long as possible. Here's why the outcome will be the same no matter how much additional support is delivered.
Ooof the cope is hard here. I imagine it has to be for Russia to throw away the lives of its soldiers at such a high rate without causing internal uproar even in an authoritarian society.
Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, the empire supported Nazi regime of Ukraine is going to lose hard. Well they already lost months ago, but now they will not even be able to continue "weekend at bernieing" it 😁😁
I see the whip has cracked at the Russian bot farms after Trump decided to go on a bender again. Relax, he's just trying to distract from the Epstein stuff again. He'll be back buddying up in a week or so then you can go back to throwing soldiers in the grinder to try and reform the Soviet Union.
Sorry for the spoiler, yes, most of the plutocrats did manage to take their money with them. No, raping a bunch more countries won't stop your people from starving.
Should we ban BBC and NPR as well? How about any newspaper that has been shown to be infiltrated or complicit with state propaganda operations like the NYT?
State media in practice just means they disclose who owns them, instead of hiding their connections to government agencies through many layers of fake independent organizations.
Most local news stations are owned by media conglomerates, most newspapers too. If anyone ‘owns’ them in any other sense, it’s through financially motivated means.
Learn about the first whole genome from Ancient Egypt, which has shed light on the life and ancestry of a potter who lived during a period of great change.
Did you know broadcom uses excess capacity in its semiconductor fabs to make the raspberry pi stuff? They sell it to the """ nonprofit """ Rπ foundation at cost to manufacture. This is not some charitable arrangement at all. Lower end hardware has expired patents and is capable of scaling into the computing space and growing from there. The path of least resistance created by the Rπ ecosystem suppresses grassroots adoption of any newcomers in the space. The unprofitable business structure for broadcom prevents scalable business investment by any competitors in low level compute. The actual Rπ chip is for TV tuners in particular. It is proprietary with only a partial datasheet for documentation. Three quarters of the actual die in the π is completely unused junk from the TV tuner stuff. In reality, if Rockchip could complete in a market without a monopoly and only compete on meritocratic value, broadcom would go out of business. The actual Rπ is barely good enough to suppress far newer and better spec hardware. All American businesses are anticompetitive crap of similar scope. The companies do not innovate and try to milk the lowest end ancient crap at a price point that makes large scale investments impossible, suppressing progress and innovation. Nvidia absolutely does this too. Buying a current GPU as a consumer is a joke of no value. They have produced the same tiers of VRAM for 3 generations. The 3090 series had firmware options all the way up to 32GB that only required the right chips and a configuration resistor to enable. Nvidia refused to let OEMs create models with more VRAM. If Nvidia was an honest business, a 5090 would likely be either 96 or 128 GB of VRAM and a notable value and progress. They do not do this because then their monopoly would be regulated. They are catfishing everyone, both consumers and competitors alike. Cutting them off from a market instantly makes domestic scalable competition possible.
Either this halfwit red team is using spurious sophistry to criminally benefit from those that stand to gain massive market share, or they are so chronically incompetent we should tax the air they breathe to recoup losses suffered by the planet.
Pontiff also speaks of anguish over Israeli strike on territory’s only Catholic church, which killed three people
Jennifer Rankin and agencies Sun 20 Jul 2025 12.17 EDT
[these are the strongest words yet from Pope Leo]
Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs.
“This act unfortunately adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” the Pope said on Sunday.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.”
Pope condemns Gaza war’s ‘barbarity’ as 73 reported killed while waiting for food
Pontiff also speaks of anguish over Israeli strike on territory’s only Catholic church, which killed three people
Jennifer Rankin and agencies Sun 20 Jul 2025 12.17 EDT
[these are the strongest words yet from Pope Leo]
Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs.
“This act unfortunately adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” the Pope said on Sunday.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.”
Pontiff also speaks of anguish over Israeli strike on territory’s only Catholic church, which killed three people
Jennifer Rankin and agencies Sun 20 Jul 2025 12.17 EDT
[these are the strongest words yet from Pope Leo]
Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs.
“This act unfortunately adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” the Pope said on Sunday.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.”
Pope condemns Gaza war’s ‘barbarity’ as 73 reported killed while waiting for food
Pontiff also speaks of anguish over Israeli strike on territory’s only Catholic church, which killed three people
Jennifer Rankin and agencies Sun 20 Jul 2025 12.17 EDT
[these are the strongest words yet from Pope Leo]
Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs.
“This act unfortunately adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” the Pope said on Sunday.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.”
Pontiff also speaks of anguish over Israeli strike on territory’s only Catholic church, which killed three people
Jennifer Rankin and agencies Sun 20 Jul 2025 12.17 EDT
[these are the strongest words yet from Pope Leo]
Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs.
“This act unfortunately adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” the Pope said on Sunday.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.”
The Federation of Indian Pilots has filed a legal notice against the Wall Street Journal and Reuters over their coverage of last month’s deadly Air India crash, the group’s head, Captain MR Wadia, has told RT. He called the reports “irresponsible” and said they damaged the pilots’ reputations for suggesting crew error. The UK-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a residential area in Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff on June 12, killing 241 of 242 people onboard and 19 people on the ground. A preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found that cockpit fuel switches had been switched off seconds after takeoff, which shut down both engines. The reason for the fuel switches being moved remains unclear.
With the initial report in hand I suppose the lawsuit will have to claim that shutting off the fuel supply was done intentionally, and thus was not a crew error.
They meant to crash the plane, how dare you suggest otherwise!?
Why would you ever want to route your request like this through a third party especially an ad company? To get the favicon of a site you just request www.example.com/favicon.ico.
AFAIK there's also a special file name Safari uses for bigger PNG icons. That Google thing probably just facilitates all this machinery, but I agree — I wouldn't rely on Google for such things myself.
Self-Serve Invite Link Feature — Fixes #348
This feature enables admins to generate an invite link for contractors
Admin Flow
Generate Invite Link
Navigate to the People page. Click on the Invite...
Socialist movements have provided healthcare, education, literacy programs, doubled life expectancy in Russia and China, and far more. The vast majority of those who lived in the USSR regret the fall of socialism. The vast majority of Chinese citizens approve of their system.
I'm sure north Koreans would regret the fall of the un family too, so that is hardly an argument. Russians have been brainwashed into their imperialistic superiority and think they have an innate right to lands occupied by other nations and they believe bombing their homes is justified to achieve this. That is imperialism and that is fascism.
There is something seriously wrong with people glorifying mass murderers like those.
Further, it's the Kim family, Un is half of Kim Jong-Un's given name. The fact that you have no clue how Korean names work yet feel confident in speaking about it is just chauvanism, same with your racist rant against Russians.
Finally, the Soviet Union was neither fascist nor imperialist. Fascism supports private property and the bourgeoisie, socialism supports the proletariat and collectivized property. They are opposites. Read Blackshirts and Reds.
Imperialism is the highest stage of the capitalist mode of production, in which monopolies and cartels become the prevalent economic force of society. Lenin synthesized...
Ah yes, “brainwashing doesn’t exist”, just another invention of the evil Americans to explain why people totally voluntarily adore authoritarian regimes. Let’s pretend people are just licensing themselves into blind loyalty under oppressive systems. Very empowering.
Appreciate the name correction, truly the most pressing issue here. Definitely not the labor camps, famine, or absolute control over a nation. Glad to know you’re more offended by a naming convention than, say, public executions.
And of course, the USSR wasn’t imperialist, it just "liberated" countries like Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan with tanks and secret police. It showered Chechnya with love and freedoms. You see, when the West does it, it’s imperialism. When the USSR does it, it’s “proletarian internationalism.” Totally different.
The entire project of MKUltra was the US trying and failing to prove brainwashing exists. The fact of the matter is that socialists support socialist systems because of the benefits they provide, like greater access to healthcare and education, and more democratization than capitalist systems. It isn't blind loyalty, but a genuine belief based on material improvements in their lives as compared to previous conditions that results in citizens of socialist countries defending their system. The same applies for USians that defend the genocidal imperialist US regime.
As for the name-correction, I pointed it out because anyone who has spent more than 5 seconds learning about Korea in general knows that Kim Jong-Un's father was Kim Jong-Il, and Kim Il-Sung his father. If you're trying to critique the persistence of the Kim family in the DPRK's politics yet don't even know their names, it's abundantly clear that you have no clue what you're talking about and have done no study, no reading. All you have is chauvanism. You cannot critique the DPRK based on vibes, you need to actually study it, otherwise your critique is just based on personal feelings of superiority.
Yes, the Soviet Union liberated many areas, but millitary intervention isn't imperialism. Imperialism is a method of economic extraction. The US and western Europe are imperialist becayse they use their vast financial capital to expropriate vast sums of wealth from the global south, the USSR never practiced that, nor could it, as its economy wasn't based on financial capital but public ownership and collective planning. The majority of people who lived in the Soviet Union want it back.
Please, read a book. I linked several articles and books for you to serve as a good start, right now you're just proving the meme correct with your far-right chauvanism driving all of your points. You're so far-right even Wikipedia is too "woke" for you for showing that "brainwashing" doesn't exist and was just an invention of the CIA during the Cold War.
Stalins approval rating hit a record high amongst Russians recently showing a 70 percent approval rating of Josef Stalin published by the independent Levada Center pollster. (Stalin’s Approval Rating…
That was a lot of words to say :“I read some propaganda and now I think I understand the world better than everyone else.”
“Brainwashing doesn’t exist.”
So we’re tossing out decades of psychological research, cult deprogramming, coercive reeducation tactics all because the CIA tried and failed to weaponize it? That’s like saying gravity doesn’t exist because Wile e Coyote fell off a cliff too many times. Congrats on discovering that governments lie, but somehow you skipped the part where all of them do, not just the ones with Wall Street.
“People support socialism because it brings material benefits.”
Ah yes, North Korea, the global poster child for free healthcare, happiness and freedom. People aren’t starving in silence because they love rice rations and songbun caste systems, no, they’re just really passionate about collectivism, right?
“Name correction proves you don’t know anything.”
Imagine thinking that knowing Kim Il-Sung fathered Kim Jong-Il makes you an expert on geopolitics. That’s like bragging you know Mario’s last name is also Mario and thinking it qualifies you to lecture on Italian history.
“The USSR wasn’t imperialist, it just used tanks to liberate people.”
This is peak doublespeak. When NATO intervenes, it’s imperialism. When the USSR does it, it’s “liberation.” Did the Afghans and Hungarians send thankyou cards or just more bodies to the gulag?
“Imperialism is only economic.”
Tell that to the Eastern Bloc countries whose economies were entirely dependent on Soviet central planning, political obedience, and “fraternal aid” in the form of puppet regimes. But sure, because they didn’t have a Wall Street, they were basically saints.
“Wikipedia is too woke for you.”
Right, because when your position collapses under basic scrutiny, the only move left is to call anyone who disagrees far-right. Classic tankie bingo. Sorry, but being critical of all oppressive regimes doesn’t make someone “far-right.” It makes them intellectually consistent, something you clearly struggle with.
You want people to read? Try reading beyond niche tankie pdfs. Read Solzhenitsyn. Read The Gulag Archipelago. Read defectors stories. Or maybe talk to people who actually lived under these regimes instead of roleplaying revolution.
You’re not antiimperialist. You are not even acommunist, you just like the taste of authoritarian boot from the east.
"Brainwashing" isn't gravity. I didn't think I had to explain this, but the decades of research failed to materialize any proof of "brainwashing." This is extremely stupid. Propaganda exists, and works by appealing to already felt material realities.
As for the DPRK, they do have free healthcare and education, and the period of starvation was largely in the 90s during the dissolution of the USSR, their largest trading partner. The DPRK isn't a paradise, but most of its issues are due to US sanctions, similar to Cuba. It wasn't until the mid-80s that the ROK managed to surpass the DPRK in terms of economic growth, and the DPRK lost 20% of their population and 80% of their buildings in the Korean War thanks to the US Empire's genocidal campaign. Northern Koreans support their system largely because despite the absolutely brutal conditions they find themselves in, they still manage to maintain better metrics than peer capitalist countries.
Further, my point was that brainwashing was levied at all socialist systems with popular support, from Cuba to the USSR to Vietnam to the PRC to Laos, etc. Most of these have managed better metrics than the DPRK, in fact it was originally the Chinese communists and American POWs that defected that were accused of being brainwashed.
And no, me knowing the major members of the Kim family doesn't make me an expert, at all. In fact, my point is that it's the bare minimum requirement, and you failed to meet even that. I have a lot of studying to do on Korean history, the fact that you thought it was the Un family was proof of your own failure to meet the minimum understanding necessary to have a conversation.
Imperialism is a system of economic extraction. Millitary interventionism can aid imperialism or hinder it depending on the conditions at play. It was not imperialist for the Union to invade the Confederacy. Again, the majority of people who lived in the Soviet Union want it back.
You aren't being intellectually consistent. You cling to "brainwashing" as a valid theory despite nobody believing it in the modern scientific community. You claim your own incredible lack of knowledge on the DPRK is somehow indicative of my intellectual failings. You've brought no sources, no proof, no logic, all rhetoric and no substance. If not even liberal sources like Wikipedia believe in brainwashing, and the Leftists discount it entirely, it's only the far-right that clings to it.
I absolutely love that you're recommending me the Gulag Archipelago, a work of fiction, as a valid counter to the history, facts, and statistics I've provided. You should read Russian Justice, an actual work of non-fiction. Wikipedia is not a "niche tankie PDF." Neither is the Ash Center for research, nor the New York Times. I have spoken to people that lived and live in socialism. I'm a communist, and an anti-imperialist, and you're proving the meme absolutely correct.
Stalins approval rating hit a record high amongst Russians recently showing a 70 percent approval rating of Josef Stalin published by the independent Levada Center pollster. (Stalin’s Approval Rating…
You’re not a revolutionary. You’re a cosplayer with a complex and a folder full of cherrypicked pdfs, reciting slogans like it’s still 1917 and pretending it makes you moral and intellectuall. It doesn’t.
“Brainwashing isn’t real, because the CIA couldn’t scientifically reproduce it.”
You do realize you just tried to argue that propaganda works because it reflects material conditions and in the same breath deny brainwashing, which is literally coercive propaganda. You're not making a point. You're just putting Marxist vocabulary on a merrygoround and hoping it makes you sound profound.
As for North Korea, spare me the "they have free healthcare" fairy tale. North Koreans also have free labor camps, free starvation, and free executions for watching the wrong movies. But sure US sanctions are why they have zero access to uncensored information and why three generations of a cult family rule with godlike authority. Blaming the U.S. for North Korea's failures is like blaming the fire department for how your meth lab exploded.
“Knowing the names of the Kim family is the bare minimum.”
And yet somehow, despite your encyclopedic knowledge of Kim family trivia, you can’t manage basic moral clarity. You’re passionately defending a regime that murders people for trying to leave. But hey, they have education, right? Nothing says “quality schooling” like indoctrinating 5 year olds to worship a hereditary dictator.
“Imperialism is only economic.”
Tell that to the millions crushed under tanks, starved by planned economies, or shot for disobedience. Your definition of imperialism is so narrow it wouldn’t even cover the British Empire, but I’m sure it helps you sleep at night while defending military invasions by calling them “liberations.” You could hand Stalin a bayonet and a map and you’d still find a way to claim it was worker-led peacekeeping.
“Most Soviet citizens want it back.”
Nostalgia ≠ legitimacy. People miss stability. That doesn’t mean gulags, censorship, and breadlines were good. It means capitalism also failed them. But unlike you, they’re not worshiping the boot that stepped on them they just don’t like the new one either.
“The Gulag Archipelago is fiction.”
And your source is the New York Times a capitalist propaganda outlet according to your own ideology, until it magically agrees with you. The irony is delicious. You’ll dismiss Gulag Archipelago as fiction because Solzhenitsyn wasn’t state approved, but you’ll worship Soviet press releases as gospel. Your logic is as flexible as a Stalinist show trial
You are not an anti-imperialist. You’re just angry the wrong empire won.
Ah yes, cherry-picked pdfs from 1917 like the Wikipedia page for Brainwashing, a NYT article from Solzhenitsyn's ex-Wife showing that the Gulag Archipelago is folklore, a book by Dr. Michael Parenti written in the 1990s, and a mid-2010s study from the Ash Center. Incredible cognitive dissonance on display on your part.
"Brainwashing" doesn't exist. People license themselves to believe that the systems that they believe materially benefit them are good. This is how propaganda works. It isn't possible for a truly brutal system that is horribly repressive to the majority of society to truly trick them into believing its good, it requires that there be a base level of truth to the system being materially beneficial. Capitalists in the US are more likely to believe it to be morally good, same with labor aristocrats bribed with the spoils from imperialism.
As for the DPRK, you have already proven that you have no idea what you're talking about and have no sources. There's nothing to discuss, here. Their rates of starvation are lower now than peer capitalist countries, the Arduous March was in the 90s when starvation was prevalent and the US magnified it by preventing them from trading goods they produced for foodstuffs in the global economy in a time of natural disaster.
Again, you go back to claims of "brainwashing," which isn't accepted by anyone anymore. Read North Korea: Another Country by Bruce Cummings, a liberal historian that is largely anti-DPRK yet still manages to provide an objective view of the real conditions and systems in the DPRK.
There were not "millions crushed under tanks," unless you mean the millions of German Nazis killed by the Soviets when liberating the world from Hitler and the Nazis. The British Empire absolutely falls under the definition of imperialism, it used vast extractions from countries like India that ended up causing mass famines that killed millions of people, like the Bengal Famine of 1943.
People miss socialism, read the article. The safety nets provided by the socialist system worked far better than the system of rampant plunder that replaced it. 7 million excess deaths occured around the world thanks to the fall of the USSR. Poverty, sex work, wealth disparity, starvation, all skyrocketed while literacy and life expectancy fell.
Yes, I indeed used a right-wing, liberal source to debunk another right-wing work of fiction. Would you rather I use a communist source? Are only far-right sources that agree with your far-right views acceptable to you? Solzhenitsyn's own ex-wife outed it as folklore, there was no historical evidence provided, just a large memoir written by a right-winger. This is what I mean by licensing, despite no historical backing, you defend a right-wing work of fiction because it conforms to your beliefs.
I'm an anti-imperialist. You still haven't come up with a definition of imperialism that both includes the USSR while excluding the US's Union invading the Confederacy as imperialist. You just rely on sloganeering and doublespeak, again proving the meme correct.
Aw come on mods, I wanted to see what Mr. I Don’t Have a Concept of What Different Words Mean had to say. I’m sure it was something super smart and enlightening.
Ah yes, equating a working class movement that uplifted hundreds of millions from poverty and killed 85% of the Nazis in World War II with a genocidal bourgeois reaction that murdered tens of millions out of racial, sexual, ableist, and political supremacy. Gotta love historical nihilism and horseshoe theory.
So umm... Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola really hate each other's guts.
If you ask them, they're nothing alike. If you ask a Coca Cola drinker, they'll tell you Pepi is disgusting filth... Their marketing campaigns are completely different too. Pepsi says "That's what I like" and Coke says "Real Magic". And you know, what you like doesn't have absolutely anything to do with magic... Nothing at all. But if you think about what they do to people that buy their stuff and feel good about it, what they do to people's actual well being and what they actually offer, they're pretty much the same thing.
Only difference is who gets your money.
I hope you understand I don't mean to insult your beliefs or anyone else's. Just wanted to share my own thoughts. And hey, I know you won't agree and that's fine. I respect what you think and honestly wish you and the world the best.
Just don't try to convince me to buy any sodas cause I'm not a soda guy. I prefer water, tbh.
Ah yes, equating a working class movement that uplifted hundreds of millions from poverty and killed 85% of the Nazis in World War II with a genocidal bourgeois reaction that murdered tens of millions out of racial, sexual, ableist, and political supremacy. Gotta love historical nihilism and horseshoe theory.
Notice how you conveniently left out all of the horrible atrocities and war crimes the Soviet Union committed and only mentioned the good things they did, making them appear as if they're completely good. @Cowbee @BuboScandiacus
Sure, mass murder is only a problem when it isn’t committed by Stalin, Mao, or the Eternal Leader himself. That’s the first commandment of tankie logic. I'm sure Marx slipped that in somewhere between talking about class struggle and writing Capital.
Always noteworthy that western countries (the US especially) never had the equivalent of a "red-scare", but for nazis and other stripes of fascists. Instead they hired them to help in the colonial project as cops, feds, prison guards, and intelligence assets.
Anti-communism, even coming from the "left," is still deeply reactionary. It's largely a petite-bourgeois ideology, valuing individualism over inter-national prosperity for all. Not all anarchists are anti-communists, many times in history Marxists and anarchists have worked together to achieve common goals. The anarchists that are anti-communist, however, are reactionary and anti-proletarian.
Any socialist that doesn't eventually want to reach communism is either a social democrat, ie not a socialist at all but a welfare capitalist, or is someone that doesn't understand how socialism works its way towards full collectivization and internationalism.
Anti-communist "leftists" do the jobs of the imperialist bourgeoisie for them. Rather than uniting all that can be, they side with the imperialists in the conflict between imperialists and communists. Such a strategic error is thoroughly backwards, and is convenient for those who wish to endlessly critique the world without actually rolling up their sleeves to change it.
Agree, only means that calling Nazi all anti-communist is a falacy and much the cause of the force of the right wings. The left isn't often capable to agree with others because some idiologic differences, even if they all communists, but Leninists, Trotzkists, Marxists, Maoists, Stalinists, etc., while the right only need a briefcase with money to agree with the other rightwings.
The politics is to make commitments to create a common force against a powerful enemy. Important are the common goals of different points of view, not the "only my truth is the only valid", this is precisly the fascism and the danger of simplifying "anti-community = Nazi", we need commonsensism, not wiggeling red flags and Mao-Bibles, but educate and speak with the people. Still a long way to go.
Anti-communism and fascism are tied, historically. Whenever a violent reaction against communists has occured, historically, these have been thoroughly intermixed with nationalism and fascism. It's important to recognize the ties.
question: i consider myself anarchist, and i have nothing against communism itself besides the fact that i prefer anarchism and will always chose that over communism, does that make me anti-communist? or that would be it to actively boicot and actively go against communism and communists?
That's a normal anarchist, many of which have worked hand in hand with Marxists throughout the centuries. Although, I do think "preference" is a bit of an odd choice of words, the differences between Marxists and Anarchists are more of an analytical nature than a preference of outcomes, the analysis comes before the outcomes.
.ml beautifully mirrors stalinist Russia. You have to be the exact right kind of communist or you get deleted. Too little, you are a fascist and get deleted. Too much, traitor - deleted again. Only ideological purity matters even if it changes overnight. And it does change, because it has to accommodate all the mental gymnastics.
Is this some kind of cummunist propaganda? I feel like in this "meme" group is too much of pro-communist political content like this and I think I will rather leave this group soon...
Lemmy.ml has a lot of communists, the main devs of Lemmy are Marxist-Leninists. That being said, anti-communism's ties to fascism are historically documented and accepted even by liberal historians. I recommend reading Blackshirts and Reds.
For what it's worth, your instance already blocks most of the communist content on Lemmy for you, it comes pre-censored for you. This is just the stuff that slips through the cracks.
Yeah, communists and nazis doesn't like each other. But this meme is just showing that if you are anti-communist, you must be nazi... It doesn't make any sense and feels only like Russian or Chinese propaganda...
Fascism and anti-communism, as I said, are historically linked, beyond just Nazis hating communists. I again recommend reading Blackshirts and Reds. Wherever there has been a strong anti-communist movement, it has been tied to fascism in some way.
So, when you say "anti-communism", do you mean an organized front resisting and opposing communism, or just anyone who has an non-pro-communist opinion?
I imagine if I said something like "yeah capitalism has failed us, but that doesn't mean I want a planned economy" you might respond by saying I'm a wishy-washy centrist.
I might get pushback for this, but I don't think being ambivalent about communism is directly tied to fascism, mostly the usually violent anti-communism. I'd say the former can easily lead to the latter, as liberalism and fascism are the same ideology in different circumstances in my view, but that the former is generally a lack of good political education in my opinion. Most communists were not that way from birth.
I have to admit this may be a failing in my own political education. 😅 Why do you think liberalism and fascism are "the same ideology in different circumstances"? I think McCarthyism is a modern example of violent anti-communism, and I agree, that got really close to fascism. (Although I could argue that violent anti-anything would lead to fascism.)
I'm wondering if, like, Marxism-Leninism is something like "communism is what organized societies would naturally look like, and everything else is an authority asserting itself unfairly" sort of mindset.
To simplify, ideas are the results of existing material conditions. The ideas a worker has are informed by their experiences as a worker, and the same is true of capitalists. These sets of ideas, among those with similar positions, take on similar characters. Not the same, but similar enough. Workers tend to be more progressive, more unified, as an example.
Ideologies are the same way. Liberalism is the "nicer face" of capitalism. It's the part of capitalism that gets to pretend that the market helps all, that we can achieve the perfect system through carefully tweaking capitalism, etc. Fascism is the "meaner face" of capitalism. Fascism arises when capitalism is in dire conditions, and needs to violently protect itself, be it through colonizing their neighbors, murdering labor organizers, or using state planning in conjunction with the large capitalists to pivot to a more full economy, rescuing capitalism from its crisis by grinding the working class into dust.
Both are the ideological "superstructures" of capitalism. Neither is truly distinct from the other. In times of plenty, we call capitalist systems "liberal," but when those same systems turn to violent measures to retain the same conditions of production, we call it "fascist." It's the same system, different conditions.
Marxism-Leninism is neither. It's a tool for the working class, one that is informed by practice, and whose express purpose is to usher in a world that has resolved the contradictions of capitalism into the next stage in development, collectivized ownership and planning. Where humanity has become the master of production, and not slaves to the whims of profit. Marxism-Leninism is not the "natural state," it's a tool to get from this natural state to the next, more just natural state.
This is my perspective, which is certainly Marxist-Leninist, though other MLs may disagree with how I've described things and I don't dare claim that the specific analysis of fascism and liberalism as the same in different conditions is the definitive "ML stance." I'm also not taking credit for inventing it either, it's an old position as far as I know.
Oh ok. I understand better. Thank you for taking the time to explain it 😀
I see MLs talk about "liberalism" and, correctly or not, I think of the French Revolution. It seems though that that term is instead of "neoliberalism," I think (?). I can see the narrative that "liberalism" and "fascism" are like masks that capitalist structures wear, like modes of operation. But it's also confusing because those two concepts don't descend directly from fascism.
And I think I'm picking up that ML is a the revolutionary part of expanding communism, and I guess that's why it's not just Marxism? Because Marx foresaw the fundamental changes that needed to happen, and Lenin instantiated it? I haven't read Marx yet, it's on my list of shame, I suppose 😅
Since we have an open dialogue, I'm also curious of your opinion about "tankie"ism. Specifically, why not-so-pro-communist people see MLs as tankies that defend or deny authoritarian crimes against humanity.
No problem! Liberalism was popularized by the French Revolution, but is generally the umbrella for pro-capitalist ideologies that put private ownership as an inherent "good." Neoliberalism is under that umbrella, but not distinct from it.
Marxism-Leninism is the synthesis of Marx's core framework of dialectical materialism, critique of capitalism, and scientific socialism, with Lenin's organizational advancements and advanced critique of imperialism that Marx did not live to see. It isn't so much a "recipe" as it is a tool for the working class to organize, overthrow capitalism, and work towards higher developments through socialism until communism is achieved. If you want an intro to Marxism-Leninism, I actually made an introductory reading list! Check it out if you have the time, it's aimed at beginners.
As for "tankie-ism," it's just the modern version of "pinko" or "commie." It's a pejorative for practicing Marxists. The "tankie" is a ready-made construct that affirms that all of the Red-Scare allegations against communists are true, while also being someone that supports said allegations. The reality is that the anti-communist propaganda throughout the decades is usually a distortion of quantity, quality, context, or all 3. There's nobody that actually agrees with all of the claims made by anti-communists are real, but also supports them. The reality is far more nuanced, but "tankie" is a convenient thought-terminating-cliché.
It's time to read theory, comrades! As Lenin says, "Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle." Reading theory helps us identify the core contradictions within modern society, analyze their trajectories, and gives us the tools to break free. Marxism-Leninism is broken into 3 major components, as noted by Lenin in his pamphlet The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism: | Audiobook
Dialectical and Historical Materialism
Critique of Capitalism along the lines of Marx's Law of Value
Advocacy for Revolutionary and Scientific Socialism
As such, I created the following list to take you from no knowledge whatsoever of Leftist theory, and leave you with a strong understanding of the critical fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism in an order that builds up as you read. Let's get started!
Section I: Getting Started
What the heck is Communism, anyways? For that matter, what is fascism?
Breaks down fascism and its mortal enemy, Communism, as well as their antagonistic relationship. Understanding what fascism is, where and when it rises, why it does so, and how to banish it forever is critical. Parenti also helps debunk common anti-Communist myths, from both the "left" and the right, in a quick-witted writing style. This is also an excellent time to watch the famous speech.
Section II: Historical and Dialectical Materialism
By far my favorite primer on Marxist philosophy. By understanding Dialectical and Historical Materialism first, you make it easier to understand the rest of Marxism-Leninism. Don't be intimidated!
Further reading on Dialectical and Historical Materialism, but crucially introduces the why of Scientific Socialism, explaining how Capitalism itself prepares the conditions for public ownership and planning by centralizing itself into monopolist syndicates. This is also where Engels talks about the failures of previous "Utopian" Socialists.
Section III: Political Economy
That's right, it's time for the Law of Value and a deep-dive into Imperialism. If we are to defeat Capitalism, we must learn it's mechanisms, tendencies, contradictions, and laws.
Best taken as a pair, these essays simplify the most important parts of the Law of Value. Marx is targetting those not trained in economics here, but you might want to keep a pen and some paper to follow along if you are a visual person.
Absolutely crucial and the most important work for understanding the modern era and its primary contradictions. Marxist-Leninists understand that Imperialism is the greatest contradiction in the modern era, which cascades downward into all manner of related contradictions. Knowing what dying Capitalism looks like, and how it behaves, means we can kill it.
Section IV: Revolutionary and Scientific Socialism
Can we defeat Capitalism at the ballot box? What about just defeating fascism? What about the role of the state?
If Marxists believed reforming Capitalist society was possible, we would be the first in line for it. Sadly, it isn't possible, which Luxemburg proves in this monumental writing.
Excellent refutation of revisionists and Social Democrats who think the State can be reformed, without needing to be replaced with one that is run by the workers, in their own interests.
Section V: Intersectionality and Solidarity
The revolution will not be fought by atomized individuals, but by an intersectional, international working class movement. Intersectionality is critical, because it allows different marginalized groups to work together in collective interest, unifying into a broad movement.
Critical reading on understanding misogyny, transphobia, enbyphobia, pluralphobia, and homophobia, as well as how to move beyond the base subject of "gender." Uses the foundations built up in the previous works to analyze gender theory from a Historical Materialist perspective.
De-colonialism is essential to Marxism. Without having a strong, de-colonial, internationalist stance, we have no path to victory nor a path to justice. Fanon analyzes Colonialism's dehumanizing effects, and lays out how to form a de-colonial movement, as well as its necessity.
Solidarity and intersectionality are the key to any social movement. When different social groups fight for liberation together along intersectional lines, the movements are emboldened and empowered ever-further.
Section VI: Putting it into Practice!
It's not enough to endlessly read, you must put theory to practice. That is how you can improve yourself and the movements you support. Touch grass!
Mao wrote simply and directly, targeting peasant soldiers during the Revolutionary War in China. This pair of essays equip the reader with the ability to apply the analytical tools of Dialectical Materialism to their every day practice, and better understand problems.
Congratulations, you completed your introductory reading course!
With your new understanding and knowledge of Marxism-Leninism, here is a mini What is to be Done? of your own to follow, and take with you as practical advice.
Get organized. Join a Leftist org, find solidarity with fellow comrades, and protect each other. The Dems will not save you, it is up to us to protect ourselves. The Party for Socialism and Liberation and Freedom Road Socialist Organization both organize year round, every year, because the battle for progress is a constant struggle, not a single election. See if there is a chapter near you, or start one! Or, see if there's an org you like more near you and join it.
Read theory. Don't think that you are done now! Just because you have the basics, doesn't mean you know more than you do. If you have not investigated a subject, don't speak on it! Don't speak nonsense, but listen!
Aggressively combat white supremacy, misogyny, queerphobia, and other attacks on marginalized communities. Cede no ground, let nobody be forgotten or left behind. There is strength in numbers, when one marginalized group is targeted, many more are sure to follow.
Be industrious, and self-sufficient. Take up gardening, home repair, tinkering. It is through practice that you elevate your problem-solving capabilities. Not only will you improve your skill at one subject, but your general problem-solving muscles get strengthened as well.
Learn self-defense. Get armed, if practical. Be ready to protect yourself and others. Liberals will not save us, we must save each other.
Be persistent. If you feel like a single water droplet against a mountain, think of canyons and valleys. Oh, how our efforts pile up! With consistency, every rock, boulder, even mountain, can be drilled through with nothing but steady and persistent water droplets.
"Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent."
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is a national organization of revolutionaries fighting for socialism in the United States. Our home is in the working class.
"Capitalism has failed us, instead of the only scientific ideology that is based in materialism, I am going to pick some vibes based bullshit I learnt on a Yogurt commercial"
Typical libshit
This inert attitude to politics is why our planet is fucked
Just got mine set up this weekend, really works a treat! Utterly painless. Even put the client on the Roku I apparently don't own, hope the pricks somehow notice lol
You'd be surprised how many people nowadays just leave random shows or movies on in the background while they're on their phones.
Even my Dad does it, I ask what he's watching on Netflix, etc and half the time he has to check even tho he was the one who clicked on it in the first place...
If I put on something with video I want to absorb it. There's more video content in existence than I could ever watch, I always want to watch something worth watching. If it's something I've seen before them I'm rewatching because it was entertaining enough that I want to watch it again. Even if I try to ignore it, it's good enough that it'll rope me in.
Put something on and not watch it? Is it boring enough that it's not pulling you in? It's just background noise? Then why isn't it a podcast or something?
If you're ignoring it then why turn it on? Do you turn on lights in rooms you're not in? It feels... like something just above brainrot. Like it's not rotting you, but either it's not engaging or it's just background noise (with an unused visual component)
There are at least three VHS copies on ebay right now that I found pretty easily. Radarr found it on rutracker for me as well (though it looks like it might be dubbed).
But it needs fixing. It's split in 2 almost 1 hour parts, the part 2 ends around minute 38, then loops around back to start after credits. The image is mirrored (flipped), but the 2 parts seem continuous (nothing missing).
But I haven't watched all of it.
I don't think I can directly link pirated stuff here, so the titles are "Operation Sandman 2000 TVRip avi Pt 01" and "Operation Sandman 2000 TVRip avi Pt 02" uploaded in 2018.
Wow, you are my absolute hero. Thank you so much for this, and for the perfect explanation. I can’t believe I didn’t find this earlier and I’ve been trying for more than a decade! Some safe copies live with me now. I really can’t thank you enough!
For me it was Not4Sale - TV Sheriff and the Trailbuddies. I actually bought the DVD from OtherCinema, maybe the only movie I’ve ever bought. I don’t think you can even buy it anymore.
I never use a vpn with torrents. Private trackers in my experience have been enough to be fine. The only times in 20 years of torrenting tons of shit I’ve gotten isp letters were once I downloaded a Pokémon rom from a pubic tracker, which was stupid, and once I had a roommate that downloaded some shitty movie from a public tracker
Yup, same. Your options are usually either “pay for fake ratio bonuses” or “seed dead torrents for six months in order to get enough time credit to convert into ratio.” If you’re trying to chase the freeleech tags, then you’ll never hit decent ratios because now you’re seeding a torrent that has 1000 other seeds and only 5 leeches.
And if you have to pay for fake ratio to get started, just fucking pay for Usenet and skip the hassle instead.
Cross-seed is a big part of being able to sustain on mediocre upload. Download a torrent on one site but get credit on 7 different sites.
Alternatively many sites offer infinite download if you have a certain total size of torrents available. (Sometimes together with a account age requirement too). So get a permanently online torrent client (mini pc, seedbox, vps, etc) and you're set on those sites.
Go buy a garage sale DVD of something that is semi-popular and doesn't already exist on the private tracker, rip it, and post the torrent yourself.
'S what I did back when Underground Gamer still existed; I had a version of Mechwarrior 2 that didn't already have a torrent, so I spent some time making a nice summary and uploaded it myself. Worked a treat; I had enough ratio to get me through my rough early weeks and never looked back. Until the site shut down, of course.
IPtorrents is the best. You should try to keep a 1:1, but you just have to seed for 2 weeks, and you get points for 15 torrents to use as upload credit, even if you don’t upload a single byte. I’ve never had to think about my ratio.
At this point, I can say I've literally waited decades for movies to show up on streaming. I remember Office Space and They Live not being anywhere for years. Those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.
yep. I no longer pay for prime, but in the last few months of having it, I just torrented it anyways. whoever designed that app for the Apple TV should be forced to use it for 2 years straight
Yes, that's the point being made. One could already paying for a Prime membership, yet still needs to pay more money for shows that should already be included in said Prime membership.
Except they aren’t because rights don’t work like that. Not all rights holders want to enable streaming following those guidelines, but might wanted a fixed price per view
Technically its illegal in New Zealand (after the great John Key and The Hobbit saga) but the ISPs don't give a shit. Never used a VPN and only got one letter just after the law took effect. Nothing since. So many people here do it it's unenforceable.
I think it's also technically illegal in Australia but because the rights holders can only come after you for the retail cost of whatever was pirated it's functionally legal. the MPAA would rather sue a kid in the US for hundreds of millions than one in Aus for $14.95.
Even here in the heart of Europe, Denmark, there's not many that really care enough unless you run your own tracker. Back in the day with CD's and DVD's it was a lot worse though, because it's obviously easier to catch someone when there's physical media involved.
But I've been having much better luck finding Spanish content on streaming sites, instead of torrent sites, and then downloading. See Guides for downloading streams.
Download The Stream Detector for Firefox. This addon provides an easy way to keep track of manifests and subtitles used by various streaming protocols. Also allows for detecting custom file types and downloading media files.
The usual suspects for modern stuff is easy to find in Germany. What becomes difficult is getting older or obscure stuff (like the Pokémon show) in a decent enough quality.
Recently ordered the first season dvd box to trial the ripping process as most of the stuff I found is either incomplete (missing entries) or not up to quality (mixing audio segments between english/german or leaving out the intro/outro)
firstly, in the comic, none of the streaming service has the movie, so a site telling him this doesn't change that point.
second, even if one streaming service has that movie, it might not be the one you are subscribed to. so instead of "just watch"ing, you have to make a new subscription on that service and pay for all their content although you just want one movie
thirdly, often it's not a matter of whether or not someone wants to pay, but how much someone is willing to pay. This depends on many factors, which boil down to how much they want to watch the movie and how much they can afford. imo there are two acceptable ways to charge for entertainment: paying once for that particular piece and you get to enjoy it as often/long as you want forever, or you pay a monthly fee and get access to everything for as long as you pay. unfortunately, thanks to the fragmentation of streaming services, option b has become quite expensive and not a lot of people are not willing to spend that much, but they would be willing for a lower price.
firstly, in the comic, none of the streaming service has the movie
This is based on what?
even if one streaming service has that movie, it might not be the one you are subscribed to. so instead of "just watch"ing, you have to make a new subscription on that service and pay for all their content although you just want one movie
Which is a different issue entirely than it not being available at all.
it's not a matter of whether or not someone wants to pay, but how much someone is willing to pay
Same thing.
unfortunately, thanks to the fragmentation of streaming services, option b has become quite expensive
The services have not become fragmented. There was never one streaming service that had all content available. They've just added more options.
I don't want to pay (I don't think anyone wants to pay). All of what you said (well more said I said) was never mentioned by me. Really where did I (or anyone here really) spout anything about totally going to pay or sign up for anything?
And your logic of ease goes as much against your position as for it, as you can literally go to a site and type in the name of the show and that's it (in this case download/stream the show for free). Hell your logic falls even farther apart when you factor in the next step of finding the listed legal service, signing up (if you can in your area), putting in your payment and then typing the show into the service (and in amazon's case maybe paying again).
The issue with piracy being a service issue has not changed, I was more then happy to pay netflix $10 for the ease of the service back in the day. But now? I will pay an amount just to stick it to netflix, fuck them.
Once again, just say that. There's no need to fabricate some nonsense justification for it.
All of what you said (well more said I said) was never mentioned by me
You replied to me. Not the other way around. I was replying to OP. If your reply was not in reference to the OP then I don't understand why you replied to me.
Really where did I (or anyone here really) spout anything about totally going to pay or sign up for anything?
There are only handful of words in the OP and you couldn't read them all? What exactly do you think "Cant say I didn't try" means? Try to what? Go on, take a minute.
your logic of ease goes as much against your position as for it
Only when you intentionally misrepresent my logic. My logic was that it was easy to find where to stream shows, not to stream them. Because that is the logic OP is using for not paying.
I was more then happy to pay netflix $10 for the ease of the service back in the day
The "ease of service" hasn't changed. What happened to just not wanting to pay? Your logic is all over the place.
Once again, just say that. There’s no need to fabricate some nonsense justification for it.
Where Once again did we fabricate or justify anything?
You replied to me. Not the other way around. I was replying to OP. If your reply was not in reference to the OP then I don’t understand why you replied to me.
If you look above you will see the thing you replied to was my comment "Why go to that effort just to pay?"
There are only handful of words in the OP and you couldn’t read them all? What exactly do you think “Cant say I didn’t try” means? Try to what? Go on, take a minute.
Really? this has what to do with my statement? Did you not mean to reply to me?
And besides, If you look for a show/movie/thinger and its not available in your area does that not mean you did try? (hell of a lot more effort then I would ever go to).
Only when you intentionally misrepresent my logic. My logic was that it was easy to find where to stream shows, not to stream them. Because that is the logic OP is using for not paying.
Ah yes, knowing where I can pay (or in the case of most non us places, can not pay) is the exact same as watching the thing.
The “ease of service” hasn’t changed. What happened to just not wanting to pay? Your logic is all over the place.
Yes it has, netflix is not the same nor does it have even 1/5th the shows/movies avalible (worse so outside of the us) and costs much more ($23.99 per month now). Hell the interface alone makes me want to shoot my TV (full volume previews anyone?). There is no logic issue with not liking the changes, the only logic issue here would be thinking that people will endlessly put up with enshitification.
Where Once again did we fabricate or justify anything?
I've already explained this, multiple times at this point. I'm not repeating myself again.
Really? this has what to do with my statement? Did you not mean to reply to me?
Listen, you're obviously trying to rope me into some sort of strawman argument. I'm not interested. When you want to get back to talking about the comic in the OP, I'm ready.
I’ve already explained this, multiple times at this point. I’m not repeating myself again.
No, you have not. You keep deflecting. The comic does not fabricate or need to justify anything, it is just whats happening.
Listen, you’re obviously trying to rope me into some sort of strawman argument. I’m not interested. When you want to get back to talking about the comic in the OP, I’m ready.
Really, at this point you think I am trying to rope you into a strawman argument? After placing words and motives in my mouth? You, who comes to a piracy community trying to push some sort of pro corporate agenda and is somehow shocked that you are not taken seriously?
You keep deflecting. The comic does not fabricate or need to justify anything, it is just whats happening.
I'm not deflecting, you are. I keep telling you and you come back with "I didn't say that", but I never said you did. It's in the OP. Once again, I replied to the OP. Answer the question about what "can't say I didn't try" means if not that the character fully-intended to pay. Any further deflections will be considered bad faith and disregarded.
I keep telling you, "can't say I didn't try" holds true if the media is not available. There is no justification here, no fabricated anything. Its amazing that anyone would go so far when the high seas are easy and available, but for you its some sort of high treason.
I think you might want to look up what a threat is, because that's not what that was.
I keep telling you, "can't say I didn't try" holds true if the media is not available.
You never said that. And it doesn't hold true if you don't try, which is what you suggested ("Why go to that effort just to pay?"), regardless of whether the media is available or not.
There is no justification here, no fabricated anything
I don't understand how "Can't say I didn't try" is interpreted as anything other than justification.
but for you its some sort of high treason.
I said nothing of the sort. All I said was to stop bullshitting and own it.
JustWatch is still useful if you want to act like you watched it legitimately, e.g., if a coworker asks where they can watch it. Even if your coworker also pirates, they might not have an account on your private tracker, Usenet, etc..
I may be wrong, as I haven’t actually torrented anything substantial since Demonoid was still a thing, but it all feels less accessible than it used to be.
Even with good internet if you're watching on the wrong device (desktop/media center PC) your stream will get bitrate locked to a 720p equivalent or whatever because of DRM bullshit.
My internet is fine win any other streaming service. Prime streaming is the worst one out of all the major streaming services. Which is fucking weird considering Netflix runs on AWS.
What do you suggest? I'm just going by whats worked for me so far. I was thinking of trying some other services but if it works for me I'm kinda ambivalent.
I was thinking about trying them. I'm trying to create the best experience for my parents so anything that makes it quicker or easier for them to access content the better.
So, I don't use Kodi and use stremio instead, but with stremio, the main addon is torrentio. There are others, but idr them off the top of my head and that's the go-to.
As far as premiumizeme vs debrid, it was basically a drop-in replacement. Just had to update the "provider" and the api key in the config.
With Radarr, Sonarr, and Plex, I get a better TV and movie service than anything I could pay for. I can afford to pay, and I would, but they won't offer anything reasonable. I ditched Netflix years ago when they removed the rating system to promote their low quality schlock. They kept removing content. Content would auto-play. Discovery broke as they kept trying to make me watch things I didn't want to watch. If they make their products worse, and keep charging me more every year, they shouldn't be surprised when I leave.
Plex is still MUCH easier to share with my friends and family. I’ll be sticking with Plex until the UX on Jellyfin is comparable. Also Plexamp is the best music app I have ever used. It’s unbelievably good. Also Plex has more features like the ability to download and select new subtitles on the fly, and consistent skip intro functionality across all apps on all devices.
I know, for some features Plex is better, and for a very few features Plex will always be better because it's centralized. Jellyfin, being self-hosted, doesn't have an easy way to share and combine libraries from multiple users, and no single "login" page like Plex. This may be annoying for users, but we know all the problems that centralization comes with.
But this makes me think about the fediverse. What if Jellyfin servers could federate with each other? I wonder if anybody is working on such a project.
Edit: okay, apparently I found this feature request on the Jellyfin features tracker.
Remote viewing in Jellyfin requires significantly more work from me as the server admin, but it is just as easy for the remote viewing clients. I don’t have to do any first-time setup for them. I recommend an app or two for the media type they’re using, and all they need is URL, login, password.
On UX, Plex is more full-featured I’m sure, but the performance is so much better on Jellyfin that it quickly overrode any feature concerns I may have had.
And being FOSS, there’s some nice diversity in client apps. I use Finamp for music and really like it. There’s Plappa for audio books too. And for basic viewing there are multiple choices. I think I use Streamyfin because it supports downloads.
Remote viewing in Jellyfin requires significantly more work from me as the server admin, but it is just as easy for the remote viewing clients. I don’t have to do any first-time setup for them. I recommend an app or two for the media type they’re using, and all they need is URL, login, password.
Thanks for your suggestion. I spent some time investigating this to see how feasible it would be. I have my own domain and static IP, so setup on my end would be pretty straight forward. Users would need to enter my domain:port on first login, but I could walk them through that. I'm going to give it a shot and see how practical it is. If the performance is better, as you say, then it probably trumps those features you mention. With the exception of subtitles for me and the family. We use subs most of the time and need on-demand selection. Automated subs are very hit or miss.
It's also disappointing to hear the Jellyfin app doesn't support downloads but I guess if Streamyfin is available on all the platforms then I could just use that.
I tried Finamp and the UI is very not good on iOS. It also lacks a lot of features compared to Plexamp.
Strongly agreed, from the owner of a dust covered lifetime Plex Pass.
Even if we eliminate all the other reasons you might not want to use Plex or might want to use FOSS, just the performance and UI responsiveness alone makes it worth the switch.
And I do have some non-techy family that watches remotely on smart TVs and uses phone apps.
Jellyfin is literally all I watch not to mention the BEST alternative to all the centralized AD riddled garbage (Now in forced foreign languages) 'Tubi, Pluto, Prime Video'! Crazy cause being a "Prime" member isn't enough nowadays cause they want you to DOUBLE Pay on top of a Membership Subscription to remove ads which is sooo counterintuitive?!
Straight out of that (Black Mirror) episode called (Common People) Season 7 Episode 1... Predictive Programming at it's finest.
Same. I signed up for Netflix when they came to Canadas in 2010. Immediately had to start using proxies/vpn to access US Netflix since Canada's selection was broiled ass.
By 2013 there was news of Netflix talking of blocking non-US users from accessing US Netlix. Immediately cancelled, spun up my Plex server. 30TB later and I got 18 friends off of all their streaming services too lol
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday received Ali Larijani, senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who conveyed Tehran's assessments of the situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear program, Kremlin spokesman D…
The West views Romania as a foothold for intervention in the Ukrainian conflict, which poses threats to regional security, Russian Ambassador to Bucharest Vladimir Lipayev said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
As of mid-July 2025, the strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) is estimated at 700,000–800,000 servicemen, with average daily casualties of 1,200–1,400 killed and wounded.
The raison d'etre of video streaming, ending cable... only to reproduce cable decades later.
Segmentation, exclusives... somehow the music industry didn't go down that path. The game industry is mostly doing the same, except mostly Valve and indies.
I wonder that pattern is part of enshitification, the inexorable transformation of a delivery service to rather than facilitate the distribution of content, make it actually harder to share it while keeping reasonable (always arguable) money to all parties involved, first and foremost the actual creators.
Pretty much. Even if I didn't prefer owning the actual files and managing my own media server, streaming services are just dogshit these days anyway. Overpriced, libraries are all ass, no one service will ever have everything you want, constantly removing shit, they're awful.
A jellyfin setup backed by an *arr stack may be a lot more work than a Netflix subscription but it's legitimately better in every single way otherwise.
Me exactly. I keep a lot of the streaming services because I don't want to host a bunch of 4k stuff myself, though I do often get the 1080p stuff for when I fly on planes or haven't yet re upped my subscription for the show I want to watch. But many shows aren't on any of the sub services in my country, so those are straight to the seedbox.
Just Watch is a pretty great service for this, especially when recommending a show or movie to others. Other services integrate with it too (like Trakt, which is a nice one stop shop for discovery, scrobbling, and list management).
Try Freetube with VPN set to an uncommon location like Bulgaria or Argentina etc. This works for most videos, but still some won't load. I use invidious for those vidoes. This way, you won't overload the invidious instances.
every time they patch freetube, yt breaks it a day or two later. can't watch in yt directly because i have to prove I'm not a robot, and apparently i am since i can't pass the tests (and tried almost all ivpn locations). only one invidious instance works, but not in freetube.
Totally agree with the FreeTube recommendation. Libredirect will even open links in FreeTube. I use IVPN and use non obscure servers but every once in a while I do have to try a different one.
Try using different countries. E.g. I sometimes had luck by using Brazil, Chile or other ones. I've recently hadn't had much issues when viewing through Grayjay (on Android). But also not from FreeTube (on Ubuntu/Desktop)
This Invidious instance still works. Don't push it too hard, though: it's all we've got.
Also, if you log in to YouTube in Chromium or something (assuming you're on desktop) and then use yt-dlp with the --cookies-from-browser chromium argument, it should work. This is also possible on Android via Termux and iOS via iSH if you copy ~/.config/chromium to the app.
Cycle through VPN locations until you get a winner if you get a block. It's annoying, but the purpose of a VPN is to let you look like you're anywhere. So find a good spot to watch YT and then just settle in.
Good to know. I was using FreeTube on a Linux machine I have set up to do most of my Youtube watching, but I had to disable VPN. I got tired of trying different countries and just turned off VPN. I'll try Swedish servers...
TBH I just use youtube.com in my browser (Floorp/Firefox) with uBlock Origin. With SmartTube on my TV.
The alternative front ends or apps don't seem to support loading my watch history, playlists, or subscriptions, and they don't sync between my devices even if I manually import stuff. Making usability an absolute nightmare.
The problem is how do I get my history and everything on desktop and android TV then, does it sync with other apps or my google account or something like that?
I just sign in, it shows it all. I have to go back through and delete videos my kid watched cause it fucked up my feed. His account is age restricted, it won't let him sign in on the tablet. I need to look into it more, but the history definitely syncs from smarttube to revanced and YouTube in Firefox on my desktop
That makes sense for your use case. My use case is that I don't want my YT watching habits being scooped up if I can help it. At one point I might not have cared too much about things like YT, but under the current administration I have a lot more reservations about that.
My first hurdle is understanding that i need to add a boot sequence and navigate to the EFI file in my mounted pen drive.
second hurdle is understanding i need to disable secure boot so that the dell bios doesnt think something is wrong and always run the bios repair program.
third is understanding that i need to disable Intel rapid storage for the full install (luckily linux mint tells us this)
and honestly the hardest thing was installing fastfetch cuz theres a lot of outdated information out there on how to install it on Mint.
the process took about 4 hours, i consider it very lucky that i was able to do it so fast.
I run mint on 4 gb ram without issues. Sure, I'm careful to not open too many apps or too many tabs, but they all work fine. Only 4k video editing is undoable on such a machine. I also have a 4 gb swap partition, but I'm careful to lay off programs when I see it get hit.
My mom uses xfce on a 2 gb laptop. For her is enough, because she only knows how to open a single tab on a browser (mostly fb or yt).
I use quite a bit of old and underpowered kit. But I actually use it. The oldest laptop I use regularly is a 2009 MacBook Pro running Chimera Linux. It is only a Core 2 Duo but it has 8 GB of RAM. It runs all modern browsers and office suites. I can code on it. I can use Docker. I can do dev ops in the cloud. I can call into LLMs. Slow but capable. But I could not do much of this realistically with 4 GB (even slow).
One thing I am not doing is watching videos in 4K. The resolution is 1440x900 so it does not quite display even 1080p natively (so 1080p or even 720p for me—which is totally fine). I suspect most people who really only have 4 GB of RAM are in a similar situation.
if you go in not knowing what to do, it can seem 'difficult'. but it's mostly like on any other oem prebuilt:
optional: prep the target disk (backups, wipe or clear part table, etc), reset bios to defaults.
if necessary: switch from raid or rst to ahci sata mode, default boot mode to efi, disable secure boot. note that some distributions support secure boot but your method of creating an installer might not--you may be able to re-enable if you want after install.
note that hp systems have a hoop to jump through (a confirmation prompt to disable) after disabling secure boot on the next startup. do not use esc key to trigger boot menu, use f9 for boot menu, f10 for bios entry.. as esc will cancel the confirmation code prompt and automatically re-enable secure boot.
insert or plug-in installer, hit the magic key upon power on (f12 for dell, f9 for hp) to bring up boot menu and select installer media, boot and run installer.
I’m glad you said this, I was thinking “I just plug in the USB stick and install Linux”
In fact, the hardest but for me is remembering the special key to press upon boot up so it goes into boot selection mode and I can just select my USB stick…
Some laptops don't really let you boot from external install media so easily nowadays.
I helped a buddy get Linux Mint on their "old" laptop to try it out. But it turned out you needed some manufacturer provided code to unlock booting from anything but the main harddrive within the bios.
We contacted support but never heard back. We did find a work around when they decided to swap the existing HDD for an SSD, they used a USB to sata cable to install Mint on the SSD from their desktop then installed the SSD into their laptop in place of the original drive so it booted straight into that.
Welcome to Linux. Glad to see you're not letting the hurdles get in your way and are working through solutions. There's more to come.
You say "5 year old laptop" as if that's ancient... 10th gen Intel 😄. I don't even look at laptops newer than 5 years. Don't need much more for internet tasks and office work.
Ive got an HP Zbook g6 coming my way soon I'm excited about, and its way overkill for what I'm gonna use it for; i just need a bigger laptop because i have giant meat hooks for hands and I actually use the numpad
Tl;dr, you can get a lot of laptop at decent prices looking at "older" hardware
I don't completely agree. One party tries to fuck everything up in order to buy up everything on the cheap, while the other party is paid to keep everything exactly as it is, so their owners don't risk losing anything.
They're not the same, but the leadership in both parties are traitors to the people and deserve death.
You have to understand the backing behind these parties and how that informs how they operate. They both are largely funded by capitalists, often the same capitalists. So there are a core set of interests which they both protect. There are issues that don't fall within that space where they can be different, some issues that affect different donors differently, and they have different strategies for managing to achieve those shared interests, but when push comes to shove they are still going to do what will be good for the capitalists and the power of the state to represent those interests.
For a narrow example from this meme: Most US presidents have presided over truly awful crimes, some actually illegal, some merely morally criminal, or perhaps criminal on the world stage but not for the US. A just society based on rule of law, as the US claims to be, would prosecute these people for their crimes, whether that be for war crimes, abuses of power, corruption, etc. Ideally while they are in power in order to stop them, but at the very least you'd think that after they leave power there ought to be more political will to go after them, if not for legal or moral reasons, at least for cynical political ones.
But they basically never do this? Why not? Because those crimes help uphold the interests of capitalists and/or the state. They are mostly part of the set of things that the parties agree on. The next president would like to be able to continue to get away with those or similar crimes, so holding the previous president accountable for their actions risks setting a precedent that would come back to bite them.
There were criminal proceedings against Trump, but they were for things that are small in the grand scheme of things. Obama didn't go after Bush for lying to get us to go into an illegal war, or for using torture, or violating civil liberties, etc. because he was doing the same things. Trump didn't go after Obama for any of this because... he kept doing the same things. Going back to the most famous example of this, Nixon literally did what Trump did in terms of trying to subvert the "democratic process" and Ford pardoned him.
Basically if you're president, you can get away with whatever the hell you want as long as it's for rich people and/or the next guy wants to be able to do the same thing.
There is no change inside the DNC. It is controlled by neo-liberals who will squash any and all progressive ideals...else they would be out there fighting for them. Neo-liberals are about keeping everything the same for their corporate donors, talk about change, do nothing. This is a dead-end, zombie party.
Not really. Look how they fail to stop corruption and actively participate in it. They also do their best to tank any third party left of center. They tried to primary AOC and it really looks like they’re going to split the vote for NYC mayor bc Mamdani doesn’t toe the line.
One party is disgustingly heinous but that doesn’t mean the other is good. Do I prefer one if I only have two choices? Yes. But they should both go away and take their anti-working class bs with them.
Your party is guilty of genocide. Stop playing lucy football and pointing fingers at others. Murderers don't get pardoned because other people committed murder.
The parties are not the same. One is an openly fascist party and the other is full of meek center-right neoliberals trying to keep the status quo for their wealthy donors. However neither is trying to "fix the damage" or "make it good again", except perhaps for the top 0.001%. Most working-class people are shafted either way. If the republicans get their way, most non-whites will be deported on enslaved in prisons, women will be enslaved at home, and the remaining working-class white men will struggle to sustain themselves and their (non-working) wives and families under the christofascist dictatorship of the capital. If the democrats somehow claw back from that, there will be less abject racism and sexism but the working class will still struggle to survive in an increasingly monopolized dictatorship of the capital.
Ask yourself this question: which democrat policies from the last decade directly benefit the working class? I can name maybe 3 very compromised policies that are about 60 years behind most of the world.
To paraphrase an old meme, republicans want 100 rich white men to rule over the entire world with an iron fist; democrats want 30 of those people to be LGBTQ+ women of color.
Are democrats better? Sure, a bit better. But it's not like just electing them will save you.
Yeah, but only if it's no inconvenience to you and other westerners. You certainly don't care about them enough to remember that the Democrats are all in on their wholesale extermination.
Yup, another reminder that you literally don't consider foreigners to be human.
And how about you explain how - even if we accepted it as true - "the other choice was worse for everyone" justifies you just completely not even bothering to remember the Democrats committing genocide, or you being more concerned with the comfort of domestic Americans than with your country committing genocide?
How the fuck are you going to justify this one without straight up admitting you only care about white lives (which is the answer, of course, but I thought you'd at least try to hide your monstrous bigotry)
how about you explain how - even if we accepted it as true - “the other choice was worse for everyone” justifies you just completely not even bothering to remember the Democrats committing genocide, or you being more concerned with the comfort of domestic Americans than with your country committing genocide?
how about you explain how - even if we accepted it as true - “the other choice was worse for everyone” justifies you just completely not even bothering to remember the Democrats committing genocide, or you being more concerned with the comfort of domestic Americans than with your country committing genocide?
Republicans snarl and growl, so you're not shocked when they bite you. Democrats walk up wagging their tail and acting friendly before they bite you. In the end, you still end up bitten.
According to Stanford University, more than 30,000 top Chinese scientists left US for China last 5 years. There is absolutely no future for smart Chinese scientists in America. Non-Chinese top scie…
some_guy
in reply to 1984 • • •Just because you send bits to my network does not oblige me to render them. That's like saying I broke the law back when I had cable and changed channels during ad breaks. Falls flat on its face.
sandwich.make(bathing_in_bismuth)
in reply to some_guy • • •Ebber
in reply to some_guy • • •some_guy
in reply to Ebber • • •JackbyDev
in reply to some_guy • • •Binturong
in reply to 1984 • • •some_guy
in reply to Binturong • • •forwhomthecattolls
in reply to 1984 • • •gasp you mean to tell me you DON'T like 20 million videos playing over the top of the recipe that you're trying to read while trying not to burn dinner? unbelievable.
smh these motherfuckers are so brazen
Scolding7300
in reply to forwhomthecattolls • • •Speaking of cooking and not wanting to see 20 videos playing over the recipe:
based.cooking/
No ad blockers needed
Based Cooking
based.cookingKorhaka
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •Scolding7300
in reply to Korhaka • • •Korhaka
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •forwhomthecattolls
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •Jimmycakes
in reply to 1984 • • •teuto
in reply to Jimmycakes • • •Jimmycakes
in reply to teuto • • •DicJacobus
in reply to Jimmycakes • • •Not even a linux guy, but I had a Pi from a decade ago that I never opened, decided to set it up and use it for something useful, friends suggested Pihole. pained myself for 2 days getting everything working (most of my trouble had to do with peripherals and IP addresses not the device itself) but after the grief, got it working and it was well worth it.
I even printed a sticker for it that said "where ads go to die"
sorry doubleclick, but you're toast
NutWrench
in reply to 1984 • • •Me: "You appear to be correct."
normalexit
in reply to NutWrench • • •m3t00🌎
in reply to NutWrench • • •Jolteon
in reply to m3t00🌎 • • •m3t00🌎
in reply to Jolteon • • •J52
in reply to 1984 • • •I will rather throw it away!
Almacca
in reply to 1984 • • •Lol. Fuck off.
zerofk
in reply to Almacca • • •Almacca
in reply to zerofk • • •Itsamelemmy
in reply to Almacca • • •Almacca
in reply to Itsamelemmy • • •BrianTheeBiscuiteer
in reply to Almacca • • •Taldan
in reply to BrianTheeBiscuiteer • • •Vinstaal0
in reply to 1984 • • •Blackmist
in reply to Vinstaal0 • • •Before I used Firefox on Android, any search about a game I'm playing would result in a half page video ad in the top half of the screen, accompanied by the bottom half being a request to share your data with 1496 trusted data partners.
Now I use Firefox with add ons, and I get the results I requested. The modern web is basically unusable in it's raw form.
Vinstaal0
in reply to Blackmist • • •AlteredEgo
in reply to Vinstaal0 • • •There are also market effects on what type of content is produced / profitable to advertise on.
And mostly unknown psychological effects of advertising on the human mind. Maybe advertising has altered your mind so much that you "don't even mind" it any more. It is a brainwashing technique after all haha. Maybe all those youtube ads made about 5% of the people's brain soft enough to vote for MAGA. Maybe the effect of advertising is as bad as lead in gasoline.
Vinstaal0
in reply to AlteredEgo • • •There is nothing like a free lunch.
You either have to directly pay for something or indirectly pay for it by selling your time or data.
Companies need to get their name out there and in the past you did that with a banner on your building, a space in the phone book and maybe your name on the side of the vans. Now we live in the digital world and we use digital advertisement. Heck a lot of companies sponsor certain event including charity events.
If we would totally remove advertisement, your local mom-and-pop shops will get more traffic, but in a lot of countries they would have basically a monopoly unless another competitor exists in the same region.
I don't really mind watching a bit of advertisement on something like a YouTube video or a banner ad on a site. Heck, buildings or vans with logos etc are fine as well in my opinion. My issue is more with the tracking and some forced advertisement (putting your logo on my clothing, vehicle etc).
AlteredEgo
in reply to Vinstaal0 • • •Ok, it's obviously a complicated task, and banning advertising will make things more complex. But that is what progress often is.
But before the internet we used to even have TV shows reviewing things, under the mandate they don't get paid to do so. People do have an interest in learning about new cool things or improvements to old, and comparative reviews. There is no reason this wouldn't serve the legitimate need for information better. Now we have ratings and that could be improved as well, through better technology to gather independent reviews.
And yeah, there are not free lunches from corporations, but there are from people or from the government. We pay collectively for things and distribute them for free all the time. Public broadcasting could be extended to youtube or even news papers, to make them more independent from profit driven behavior or owners. You can't have democracy without free press, and currently we don't have that. We have corporate press and every single youtube channel has to serve corporate news. And as you point out, in capitalism there is no free lunch. But we can make it free so we can stop the insanity of neoliberal and fascist propaganda currently destroying our civilization globally.
Another thing I forgot to mention, advertising is the main vector to increase consumerism. Which is killing our planet.
Vinstaal0
in reply to AlteredEgo • • •Independent reviews are a good thing yes and they shouldn't be sponsored by a related company to keep their integrity, that doesn't mean they can't get paid from a different form of advertising.
Heck you can even check on the integrity of professionals differently. In the accountancy, we are paid by the clients who we need to audit or need to advice etc. Using things like third party audits and a high accountability for professionals.
Ratings aren't that great especially on platforms like Amazon/AliExpress and other crap offering dropshipping platforms from corrupt countries.
Corporations generally don't do anything for free, but a lot of companies do, but that is generally to get their name out there or because the owner wants to decuct his private life from his company profit ...
Even governments can't spend money or personal all they want, in the end it is money from the people. People here in NL are pissed that the government spend money on things like getting the NATO here for the last meeting or for the royal family.
The public broadcasting is also something that is under heat and not just here.
In most countries you have some kind of government funded press heck I think most press aren't even corporations, but more companies except some of the larger once maybe.
Almost nobody is going to work for free for the majority of their life. It would be better if all of us did more work for society, but most people aren't in the position I am in that they just can take an extra week off to do that.
I agree consumerism is killing our planet, but there is a huge difference between the crap a companies like Google are doing and your local plummer who has advertisement on the local radio on their van and make a slightly SEO optimised website. Advertising is often the only way to get your company visable if you are competing with a well established company.
Same reason as that there is nuance between companies and corporations.
Yes we need to promote repairing, reusing, recycling and the circular economy I agree, but somebody like iFixit wouldn't really thrive without their advertisement. We also need more financial transparency by the company we buy from and just skip on companies from China, the US and other obvious corrupt countries.
AlteredEgo
in reply to Vinstaal0 • • •Yeah public broadcasting is under attack because of advertising. Advertising fuels private broadcasting and it's in their owner's interest to push anti public broadcasting propaganda.
Any system humans design to serve us as a society will over time become "min maxed" by people or institutions seeking to maximize their profit or gain more power or maintain power in the face of changes. Advertising is a primary vector how those with the most economic power can influence society without people even realizing it. And everything is political.
For example take the ratings and something like yellow pages and announcements for new businesses like a plumber - needing to invest additional capital in advertising has an effect too. It makes it so new businesses are more indentures, more like wage slavery, than if no advertising existed at all. Obviously no advertising at all would favor seniority. But we have advanced in technology since we designed our government systems - there should be an independent "forth estate" or fifth or something for economics and regulation. They could be independently voted on to the executive or legislative. And their job would be to deal with regulation in the public's interest, and sponsor things like an independent ratings portal that is moderated, and force shops like amazon to use the independent ratings for the products and the vendors. It will stay a struggle to stay ahead of people trying to abuse the system for gain, but right now we pretend the tools we have right now are somehow god given. We Europeans are far more conservative than we like to think.
If we want to have any resiliency against what is coming (because we destroyed our planet and let wealth inequality spiral and social media is nearly completely controlled by plutocrats) we need to push for better tools to govern democratically. And advertising is a major obstacle because it allows unmitigated influence of those who own the world.
TLDR: We don't *have to * screw over new plumbers, but we should do it if we had to because stopping the brainwashing is more important.
Vinstaal0
in reply to AlteredEgo • • •Well I agree we need a better structure to keep people in check I agree with that. Things like social media and a companies like RTL having a massive stake in private television will help to destroy the planet and keep the difference between the lower class, the middle class and the rich.
But I disagree that we should just get rid of all advertisement completely. Again there is nothing wrong with banner ads, websites, vans with logo's and other low stakes form of advertisement.
If governments would start to pay YouTubers instead of YouTubers earning money from adverts and sponsors it would not only allow the government to control the narrative, but people will still abuse the system. Same way as that social security or subsidies are abused currently.
Consdering I work in an accounting firm I do see the amount of cost some companies have with advertisment, but most of them with a lot of costs do it to get more customers. Some of them need to do it to keep their profit rising or the same.
There is an issue with misleading adverts including misleading prices (excluding tax), there is an issue with hidden ads (like logo's).
But personally I think social media (including Lemmy) is just the bane of our existence. Yes a lot of that is funded by adverts, but also by selling your data and the like. Personally I believe that they are brainwashing people more with that, than with a lot of the advertisement.
Ow and the people who keep on defending companies like they are their family are also a big part, people saying they are going to get Domino's instead of pizza f.e.
pachrist
in reply to 1984 • • •The web has almost always been unusable without an adblocker. Ads today are less malicious, but more insidious. Clicking the wrong ad in 2003 would brick your computer. Clicking the wrong ad today means you'll have to cancel a credit card after your personal data is compiled and sold on the black market.
Nothing new. Ads don't fuel a free internet. They fuel a business model. The free internet is fueled by the time and donations of kind, dedicated people.
bargu
in reply to pachrist • • •I disagree, ads today are way more malicious than they used to be, ads are the biggest vector for malware today, they are used to stalk users to an insane level and most ads are porn, gambling, drugs or fascist propaganda.
At least back in the day you would only get sketchy ads on sketchy websites.
Gibibit
in reply to 1984 • • •Seeing static banner ads on 2000s websites without popups or tracking: 🤷♂️
Blocking ads on Firefox after popups and other crap started: 😀
Browsing the internet on Android before I realised the browser supports addons: 🤮
Blocking ads and tracking on Android via uBlock origin and Privacy Badger: 😀👍
My feeling of guilt when scummy megacorporations miss out on ad revenue:
BruisedMoose
in reply to Gibibit • • •lemmeBe
in reply to BruisedMoose • • •BruisedMoose
in reply to lemmeBe • • •lemmeBe
in reply to BruisedMoose • • •Rethink | Fast, secure, configurable, private DNS + Firewall for Android.
rethinkdns.comBruisedMoose
in reply to lemmeBe • • •lemmeBe
in reply to BruisedMoose • • •Gibibit
in reply to BruisedMoose • • •I use a degoogled CalyxOS phone so all those apps that load ads via Google services don't even work, or they work and the ads don't load haha. One caveat is that I can't use paid apps either though, I'm not against those.
But yeah system wide blocking is definitely the most thorough method!
DarkSideOfTheMoon
in reply to 1984 • • •Maybe if they didn’t use very intrusive ads people would not install ad-blockers so much
Many websites put a video playing in later in top of the text, with another layer of ads and tiny space to read… the website would be unreadable without ad-blocks
StarryPhoenix97
in reply to DarkSideOfTheMoon • • •DarkSideOfTheMoon
in reply to StarryPhoenix97 • • •en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts%…
predictive model of human movement
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Randelung
in reply to 1984 • • •Millenials are killing the ad industry!
Good.
StarryPhoenix97
in reply to Randelung • • •StarryPhoenix97
in reply to 1984 • • •GnuLinuxDude
in reply to StarryPhoenix97 • • •reshuffle6655
in reply to StarryPhoenix97 • • •BeBopALouie
in reply to 1984 • • •If there are ads I find an alternative or read a book. Our teen son screams ad every time he sees one that sneaks through ad just to get me going.
Vanilla_PuddinFudge
in reply to BeBopALouie • • •"Son, are those ads in my house!?"
dad, please, it's only a little marketing!
"NO SON OF MINE! GET MY BELT!"
dad, no!
"What's our DNS address!?"
dad, I don't kno-
"Count the licks, boy! I'll teach you the hard way!"
burntbacon
in reply to Vanilla_PuddinFudge • • •Jesus. How are you going to get to 8.8.8.8 belt licks?
(and please, for the love of god, don't use 8.8.8.8!)
Vanilla_PuddinFudge
in reply to burntbacon • • •AntEater
in reply to Vanilla_PuddinFudge • • •pyre
in reply to 1984 • • •Decq
in reply to pyre • • •I'm starting to notice that a lot of people don't even notice what are ads or not. When i installed pihole and enabled it for all devices at home. My gf was complaining why suddenly a loy of pages wouldn't work anymore. Yeah, so she always clicked the ad/sponsored link everywhere and didn't have the slightest clue. And let's not start about social media and how basically 75% of it is (hidden) ads.
Personally I'm of the mentality if some company force feeds me their ads while i was not actively searching out their product type, I'll think 3 times before ever considering their products. Thankfully, i see basically no ads (online) anymore these days.
pyre
in reply to Decq • • •killeronthecorner
in reply to 1984 • • •The use of the term "Dark traffic" here is to paint the use of ad-blockers as something nefarious. Don't use it, fuck these people right in their stupid mouths.
I propose using the terms "clean traffic", for ad-blocked website traffic, and "dogshit traffic" for everything else.
Oneshot
in reply to killeronthecorner • • •DicJacobus
in reply to killeronthecorner • • •depending on your household's browsing habits, it can be downright insane how much traffic goes through ones network (and the web at large), that is just nothing but dog shit.
I monitored my pihole at my place and my own traffic is usually no more than 15% garbage with about 750,000 domains blocked, but the second grandma or grandpa starts doomscrolling boomer things on their phones and ipads. I saw the network traffic at 60% blocked one time and I had to confront them and flatly ask them "what the fuck are you doing on your phone?"
also set up a Region exemption or whatever, blocking russian, chinese, and a whole bunch of other untrustworthy TLDs and im literally showing my grandmother the repeated attempts to communicate with something in fucking China in real time whilst she's playing some solitare game she downloaded.
sfbing
in reply to DicJacobus • • •DicJacobus
in reply to sfbing • • •ShaggySnacks
in reply to DicJacobus • • •Be careful of the answer. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
DicJacobus
in reply to ShaggySnacks • • •rhetorical question, I know what she's doing, clicking on random shit and then blaming other people for her problems.
every intrusive advertisement or popup. "I got hacked"
every wrong website she goes to "this is a scam"
NutWrench
in reply to killeronthecorner • • •Olhonestjim
in reply to 1984 • • •Advertisers do not have the right to demand my attention, or to brainwash me. I have every right to deny them and decide what to allow inside my head. This is war.
"We paid for the right to show you this!"
You paid for the opportunity not the right, but you didn't pay me, motherfucker -- and my price is everything you have or fuck off and die.
Edit: You know what? This is how I really feel about ads.
This is a consent issue, and I will not allow advertisers inside me. They hire psychologists in order to exploit humans' most vulnerable mental blind spots. They don't just brainwash us. They mindfuck the entire human species, and they do not recognize consent. We need to treat advertising as the collective mindr*pe that it is, otherwise they will never stop exploiting us, and we will never be able to build a bright future for humanity and this world. They are manipulating the trajectory of an entire species with zero regard to any future well-being. The butterfly effects are inconceivable. Our minds are sacred. The advertising industry is committing a crime against humanity that we have failed to recognize as such, because money is all that matters today. They must be stopped before Big Tech perfects brain-computer interfaces.
AeonFelis
in reply to 1984 • • •Are they trying to present it as if poor innocent users need to be protected from the vile ad blockers?
Olhonestjim
in reply to AeonFelis • • •JackbyDev
in reply to 1984 • • •What's frustrating to me is the idea that law makers and advertisers believe I don't have a right to alter data that comes onto things I own. And nobody chime in with the brain dead "☝️🤓 actually you don't own it." Because even if you wanna waste time with that stupid distraction, I own my computer. I built it from parts.
Controlling my perception is my right. If I wanna use things that block ads that's my right. PERIOD. I NEED TO BLOCK ADS BECAUSE OF MY DISABILITY.
bigmamoth
in reply to JackbyDev • • •The nuance is that website provinding content can choose to not serve it to you. Or something like that but maybe more complexe.
Captain Aggravated
in reply to 1984 • • •Gibibit
in reply to 1984 • • •squaresinger
in reply to Gibibit • • •"dark" as in "not visible". Adblock users can't be tracked (or at least not as easily), hence they are not visible to the ad companies. "Dark", in this instance, is not a derogatory term.
"Brutal" is, though. So I totally agree with you there. Ads are the brutal thing nowadays.
Gibibit
in reply to squaresinger • • •logicbomb
in reply to 1984 • • •I used the internet for a long time before ad blockers even existed. Everybody simply ignored ads, instead. But that wasn't good enough for the advertisers. They weren't happy unless we were forced to look at the ads. Extraordinarily obtrusive ads. Popup ads. Popunder ads. That's when people started blocking ads. When you realized that your browser always ended up with 20 extra advertising windows.
Nobody really cared about blocking ads until advertisers forced us to. They made the internet annoying to use, and sometimes impossible to use.
Advertisers couldn't just be happy with people ignoring their ads, so they forced our hands and fucked themselves in the process. Now, we block them by default. I don't even know any websites that have unobtrusive ads because I never see their ads in the first place.
Now, they want to go back to the time when we would see their ads but ignore them. Fuck off. We know we can't even give them that much. If you give them an inch, they'll take a mile.
BrianTheeBiscuiteer
in reply to logicbomb • • •shalafi
in reply to BrianTheeBiscuiteer • • •Ex was mad that my PiHole was blocking some FB stuff so I turned it off.
"The internet's slow."
Looked over her shoulder and pointed to her (still loading) screen:
"Ad, ad, ad, ad, ad, ad, ad, ad..."
"FINE! Turn it back on!"
muusemuuse
in reply to shalafi • • •418_im_a_teapot
in reply to muusemuuse • • •muusemuuse
in reply to 418_im_a_teapot • • •418_im_a_teapot
in reply to muusemuuse • • •Unix and lawnmowers are nothing new or exotic either. I’m not stupid for not knowing how to repair a lawnmower, and I wouldn’t presume you’re stupid just because I can run circles around you at the command line.
I would, however, question your intelligence if you lack the ability to perceive the reasons behind different people knowing different things. It’s not that complicated.
- YouTube
youtu.bemuusemuuse
in reply to 418_im_a_teapot • • •m3t00🌎
in reply to 1984 • • •swelter_spark
in reply to m3t00🌎 • • •ZeroOne
in reply to 1984 • • •I'm wondering if Gopher should make a comeback ?
Gemini is a thing so, well you know.....
For those who don't know, they're alternative internet protocols similar to HTTP
internet protocol
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Trainguyrom
in reply to ZeroOne • • •ZeroOne
in reply to Trainguyrom • • •How about this link ?
github.com/kr1sp1n/awesome-gem…
GitHub - kr1sp1n/awesome-gemini: A collection of awesome things regarding the gemini protocol ecosystem.
GitHubTrainguyrom
in reply to ZeroOne • • •DragonOracleIX
in reply to 1984 • • •