If anyone has wondered why there have been so few attempts at alternatives to #Facebook #Instagram #Youtube et al the situation with #Cara illustrates why: it’s expensive AF to host a site with a shit ton of users and files. One busy week added $96,280 to their hosting bill – and that will only increase.
Arp Laszlo
More Notes & Asides
Questions regarding #webmention & #Mastodon replies: Does it only sync replies to a toot that has a link in it? In my brief testing today I noticed that of the 3 comments I made to this toot, only the 2 that were direct replies to the OP were synced back to #WordPress. Also: is it possible to alter the incoming webmentions? It would be cool if there were a way to strip hashtags that are not in a sentence (ie the ones at the ends of toots).
Have you read this? It made me wonder how I managed to adult in the minimal capacity I could in my 20s & on – which consisted, tbh, in drinking too much #alcohol (a source of #dopamine & lowered #anxiety). But I’m thinking more on how to best guide & support my kids (though without some of the punitive ideas like charging rent, the author is a dinosaur from the 60s). https://www.additudemag.com/grow-up-already-why-it-takes-so-long-to-mature/
This #Caturday, have a #cat butt. I’m also testing writing in #WordPress first & crossposting to #Mastodon; I added some #IndieWeb functionality to pull comments to posts like this into #WP. #FunFact: my #Skyrim character name was Catbutt and yes, I was #Khajiit. #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #CaturdayEverday
#Merchize’s support tries, sorta. But they suffer from the same issues that plague most #Asian nations who provide support to American customers: The last point I confirmed when working with some #Indian web devs year back. One day I asked them to change the color of text on a page to white, which they proudly did – except the background of the page was white 🤦🏽♂️ In any case: Merchize support tries but they use #Facebook or a #chatbot on their website for support. They do not have a ticketing system, and thus they repeatedly ask me questions I answered days before. It’s just half-assed. They try, but they’re going through the motions.
I’ve gotten deeply into #UrbanPlanning in the last few years, abetted by a lifelong dream of living in #Europe. I discovered #Youtube channels like @nerd4cities@mstdn.social, @notjustbikes@notjustbikes.com, & #CityBeautiful that spelled out what makes places livable & why European #cities tend to be better. It’s changed my mind on where I’d like to live, from ‘I want acres in the country’ to wanting denser populations & walkability – & where city finances aren’t held hostage by parking lots & roads. This #video highlights some good & bad things about #Valencia, Spain (aka my hopeful retirement locale), but what shocked me was the 80% home ownership figure, vs 65% in the US. Americans like me tend to associate #apartments (aka #flats) with renting, but not in Europe. There’s a better way of living, and I’d like to experience it. #CityNerd #NotJustBikes
Is there anything that #PrivateEquity has improved? #Bowling’s more expensive because of it, #housing is more expensive, stores like #Sears have been ruined by it. https://jacobin.com/2024/05/private-equity-bowlero-ruining-bowling
@ArpComics The Cloud giveth, the cloud taketh. AFAICS they are using Vercel serverless functions, which don’t scale well price wise with demand.
@ArpComics goes to show how greatly people want alternatives
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@jwildeboer I’m not familiar with Vercel but that’s definitely who they’re using. I hope that they continue with the open communication as they navigate the growing pains.
@tylerzonia Very much so, if only it weren’t so hard/expensive. Like if everyone could be on small servers and still be able to follow everyone else on other servers.
Someone should work on this 😆
@ArpComics I really wish more of my comics peeps had come to—or stayed—in the fediverse 🤓
#VentureCapital made ginormous aggregator sites like #Amazon #Facebook et al possible, allowing them to lose money until they became solvent – but I don’t believe that’s a good thing. Having so much money that an unviable business can be propped up until they corner the market is not beneficial to society and has led to clear & obvious #enshittification.
How different would the internet be now without #VC money helping create monopolies?
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