Mark Cornick @mcornick@tilde.zone

Hi, I'm Mark. Profesionally, I'm a long-time UNIX/Linux admin and developer, currently in the DevOps space. Unprofesionally, I'm a widower and stepfather, I DJ on #tilderadio and #aNONradio, I hang out on pubnixes, I watch soccer and hockey, and I generally don't take any of this too seriously.

You are welcome to follow me; you don't need my permission. I can't promise you quality content, discourse, or anything else if you do, though.

It is my intention to respect all who don't demonstrate that they are unworthy of such respect. If I get something wrong when talking to you, please don't assume bad faith. Let me know and I'll try to do better. Thanks.

#introduction

These are a few thoughts from someone who uses Mastodon somewhat sparingly, but still finds it useful and worth checking in on. My views are likely shared by some and shunned by others. Consider them just one old dude's opinion.

First, not an opinion: The Twitter sale isn't final yet. There's a lot of hoops to jump through, including lots of stuff having to do with Twitter being a public company, meaning the SEC is going to be involved, and we all know how much Musk gets along with the SEC. Plus he could still change his mind (especially if he finds out his FrEeSpEeCh NoLiMiTs utopia isn't going to sit well with a lot of Twitter's advertisers.) I know it's a Mastodon tradition to dunk on Twitter and slam it at every opportunity, but maybe this isn't fait accompli. Maybe save the grand pronouncements and dramatic exits until it is.

If you still use Twitter, use Twitter! If you don't, don't! And don't be ashamed either way! Twitter is useful to certain people for certain things, myself included, and if you find it useful for whatever purpose, great. You have certainly considered the drawbacks and tradeoffs if you've signed up for a Mastodon. Everyone's tolerance for that sort of thing is different. Know your limits, stick to them, and don't let anyone try to force theirs on you. Mastodon, and Twitter for that matter, are different things for different people, and different people should approach them as such.

Ever since the announcement, people on Mastodon who are afraid of Twitter's worst-of-the-worst coming over have been making a lot of posts which are variations on "these are our rules and norms, if you don't like them, go away." This is understandable. People are protective of things they care about, and communities are things people care about. And a lot of people consider Mastodon a community that they want to defend and protect. All that said... while this type of attitude might discourage some of the "undesirables", it will attract others who want to sow chaos and be jerks; and while this attitude will encourage people who are thoughtful, interesting, and have no problem with the rules, it will discourage worthy individuals who are afraid of stepping on land mines. It's fine to have rules and enforce them. But consider whether a gentle "hey, we don't do that here" (adding "we do this instead" where appropriate) is more effective than "these are our rules and we will not hesitate to yeet you back to Myspace if you even think about breaking any of them." You're never going to stop all of the jerks. Let's not make our policies focus on keeping out jerks, but instead on attracting and keeping in unjerks.

That's all. Welcome to all the newcomers, and continued greetings to those who've been around a while.

Слава Україні!

"Whereof one cannot toot, thereof one must remain untooting."

DMV friends: take a drive out past IAD, around Waxpool Road and LoCo Parkway. See all those featureless, warehouse-looking buildings? They’re data centers. They’re filled with servers, network equipment, and miles and miles of cable.

That’s the “cloud.” That’s the Internet.

That’s where companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are hosting a lot of your favorite apps and websites. Heard of “AWS?” Amazon Web Services. Their “US-East-1” region is in and around Ashburn.

All those servers. All that data. All living in ugly-ass buildings in the sprawl.

And there are more going up all the time. All so we can do things like post dumb things on social media platforms, like this dumb series of posts on this dumb site.

And the “metaverse” will live there too. It won’t be a magical utopia built of code.

It will be built of more brutalist buildings, consuming electricity, generating heat, way out in the exurbs.

Anyway, enjoy your internet.

I support the idea of "the small internet", but I'm done trying to find a reason to keep Gopher and Gemini versions of my content. Gophermaps are painful. Gemtext is a little better, but not compelling to me. I have a minimal web site with no JS, no CSS, no tracking/analytics, and no links to sites with tracking that I know about. That won't be "small internet" enough for some people, but I'm OK with that. It's not like my minimal web site has a lot to say, anyway.

Had to bail a little early to make sure I didn't miss my flight, but #HOPE2022 was a lot of fun. I hope to be back next time.

Currently listening to a #HOPE2022 talk on the community of Point Roberts, Washington (state), which can only be reached over land by going through Canada. There are benefits and challenges of such a situation, especially when the border is closed by, say, a global pandemic. Interesting stuff.

Great keynote at #HOPE2022 about abuses at Facebook and what the company isn't doing to curb them. Lots of good discussion about issues of trust and how one should always be skeptical of what one reads on The Internet (not just FB.)

Slept in way, way late after spending an awesome evening with friends in Astoria/LIC so I'm starting #HOPE2022 on the stream from my hotel. Hopefully I'll make it over to SJU later.

Good, honest talk from @rolltime about the benefits, drawbacks, and challenges of the fediverse. She hit on a critical issue: that at this point, the biggest feature of the fediverse is that it is Not Facebook Or Twitter, and that’s just not a compelling sell either for people who are happy with these platforms, or for people who want something new, different, or better. Real talk #HOPE2022

(Edited to correct rolltime's address)

If you're looking for me at #HOPE2022, I will definitely stand out from the crowd. I'm the guy wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. </sarcasm>

After hours of flight delays, successfully landed in Queens. HOPE tomorrow!

I'm headed to New York for the HOPE conference, so there will be no Giant Steps show this week. Should be back next week. Enjoy the archive robut's choice of rerun!

Recording an hour of jazz for Giant Steps tomorrow night. I'll be unable to do the show live, but you'll hear an hour of protest jazz: music of struggle, anger, prayer, and hope. 0000 UTC Friday on #aNONradio

Update: my schedule conflict for tonight was resolved (by the conflicting event dropping off the agenda) so I will be able to do a live Giant Steps show after all. As always, 0000 UTC Fridays on #aNONradio and #tilderadio

There will not be a live Giant Steps show this week due to a schedule conflict. The same conflict may also occur next week. I’ll let you know. Enjoy the rerun!

No Giant Steps this week. Instead, I am closing out the SDF 35th anniversary marathon with a two-hour Very Special Episode starting at 2300 Thursday. I’ll be playing a variety of fun stuff from across the spectrum of genres. I’m also thinking of taking requests on com/IRC. Be there!

After two weeks off while I moved homes (a process that was only finished today... yeesh) live Giant Steps is back this Friday at 0000 UTC on aNONradio and tilderadio. Mixed bag this time - a little bit of a lot of styles. Maybe you'll enjoy all of it. Or some of it. Or none of it. The important thing is that it will once again be LIVE.

https://anonradio.net/
https://tilderadio.org/

Once again, I say to the lawmakers of this country the same thing I say every time a school gets shot up: take your thoughts and prayers and shove them up your fucking ass. The blood of those kids and that teacher are on your hands. *Your fucking hands.*

Doing this is really no better than the days of "Best viewed with Internet Explorer" badges.