jadero

joined 2 years ago
[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

For anyone not sure what this is all about, CBC has a pretty good podcast covering the descent into medieval nonsense.

I had relatives living just a few miles away in one of the hotspots.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago

I recently retired from the local volunteer fire and rescue service. Several years ago the 911 dispatch service wanted to drop paging for notifications and move to SMS. I wrote a nice little technical critique of that plan. In addition to the basic issues regarding coverage (many members have no cell service in their yards, never mind in the fields, yet pagers basically just work), I learned from my technical contacts at the telco that there were a number of service guarantee problems. In addition to the lost and delayed message problem you discovered, things only get worse when crossing providers. As he put it, it's not so much that it works so good most of the time, it's that it works at all.

Dispatch did go with SMS notifications, but as an add-on to pagers and "robocalls" to registered phone numbers. We tracked notification channels for several months and found that with every callout, at least one member would report getting the SMS at least 20 minutes later than the page or phone call. Note that most members can get to the hall in 20 minutes or less. A couple of times over the years, we got a flurry of SMS notifications after we were on scene.

Friends don't let friends use SMS for urgent or critical communications.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 2 years ago

I agree. I have no idea what it takes to run publicly accessible services over the long haul. Hell, I can barely keep my sorry-ass website up!

I know that lemmy itself is pretty new, but I have to assume that the people who've been keeping SDF alive and functional for over 35 years know what they're doing.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Could it be that Stacer and file manager are somehow reporting usable space instead of "absolute" space.

I recall from the early days that there was overhead in the process, so that useable space was always less than formatted space. Perhaps that is still the case.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago

Did you try logging in anyway? Maybe their email notification glitched. I've signed up a few places without providing an email, then come back a day or two later to find an active account.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 years ago

I mostly agree, but I've seen elsewhere that the fediverse (or some corners of it) were set up with the explicit intent to be ad-free and privacy respecting.

My opinion is that it all comes down to two things:

  1. Will Threads respect that intent?
  2. Given the difficulty of moderating content, can we handle the expected volume?

The answers to those questions can guide the admins (and us, I guess) in the decision.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Edit: this comment changed my mind. In a nutshell, if we can't keep a large instance controlled by "the enemy" from destroying what we've got, then we just have to do better next time.

Yes, I would. Even if they are administered by people that have the best interests everyone at heart, sheer size means that they must be taken into account as the tools and clients evolve over time.

It's not that the system itself should be unable to cope with large instances, it's that the only reason for the system itself to gain that capability is in response to the rise or introduction of large instances. Some of what I've seen discussed is the need to change the development roadmap to accommodate the seemingly unexpected rise and possible introduction of very large instances. In other words, those instances are already controlling the direction taken.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Edit: this comment changed my mind. In a nutshell, if we can't keep a large instance controlled by "the enemy" from destroying what we've got, then we just have to do better next time.

I have been making a related point that we should be concerned about any instance capturing too large a fraction of the space. I'm less concerned about the fact that it's Meta than I am about any one instance having a critical mass that gives them a controlling interest.

History has shown that those with a controlling interest eventually use that control for their own benefit.

That's why I joined a small collection of focused instances and try to subscribe to communities that are hosted in their "natural homes" instead of those on generic instances.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 years ago

If you'll accept early 20s as childhood (I do!) then me too! :)

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think it was 300 baud. I couldn't afford it, so followed the schematics to figure out how to connect a military surplus acoustic coupler modem at 110 baud. I didn't know any better, so I thought it was fantastic. Still, a few months later I got a good job and upgraded to an Apple//c clone and a 1200 baud modem.

[–] jadero@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago

My first modem was 110 baud acoustic coupler modem that I got from military surplus. I couldn't afford the modem Commodore sold for the VIC-20, so I figured out how to wire this thing in.

I didn't really do all that much with it, because not too much later I got a better job so upgraded to a Laser whatever clone of the Apple//c and a 1200 baud modem.

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