Bonum Certa Men Certa

Social Control Media is Bad for Freedom and Its Net Benefit -- If Any Exists -- is Only Traffic, Not Information

These things are designed to be addictive and difficult to abandon

A smoker's mess



Summary: A smoker's mess is what social control media became in recent years; 2020 will see only further deterioration as random people join in, adding to the noise (mental pollution)

THE likelihood of successfully establishing decent signal-to-noise ratio (s/n) in social control media is very low. Really, really low. I should know. I've been on those things since the identi.ca days, and prior to it Digg.com (if that count as social control media). Prior to that I used to habitually access USENET and I communicated there quite a lot (I had published almost 100,000 messages/posts there). But to actually get one's news from open forums such as these (Reddit included) is a bad idea. I've quit reading "timelines" as a source of information because of low accuracy rates, cruft, self-promotion (the whole "selfie"-type thing) and I've come to realise, based on occasionally agonising experiences, that it doesn't matter so much if it's centralised or not and even whether proprietary or not, free speech still won't be respected and the entropy ratios (e.g. s/n) will still remain low. Self-hosting may sound alluring and seductive an alternative, but pods or instances still need to connect to one another (and that can be denied, depending on the taste of obstructionist, protectionist, over-sensitive peers).



RSS feeds of actual news sites are still vastly better. Almost everything we post in Techrights is found through RSS feeds.

"What I always say to people who ask me about social control media sites is similar to what I'd tell smokers or potential smokers..."Mr. Lunduke said he'd quit social control media altogether this year -- his new year's resolution -- citing even Richard Stallman with the whole "Stallman was right" spiel.

Stallman has long had his own notes in his own site with his own RSS feed. Anyone can subscribe to these, even anonymously (no man in the middle), and Stallman is in complete control. Well, sort of. No 'deplatforming' anyway.

"The tobacco industry has begun faking novelty, calling cigarettes (consumption medium for the drug) "electronic" and the drug "e-liquid" (as if the drugs are a technology and chemicals are somehow "smart")."I can recognise the reality that many people do like social control media and appreciate so-called 'timelines' on a so-called 'phone' (spying devices that can also make phonecalls; Mr. Lunduke has decided to quit those too this year). So I carry on posting in social control media; I don't pick news from there (not anymore), but I use some platforms to disseminate posts we've published.

We've already explained why Techrights itself totally lacks presence in social control media and why social control media ought to be treated as merely a vast pool of hearsay. What I always say to people who ask me about social control media sites is similar to what I'd tell smokers or potential smokers; "not a user? Good! Don't ever bother! Never start."

"...last month Twitter bombarded the news with claims that it was exploring decentralisation and "Open Source" (that's just vapourware; they'd never shift their platform to such a topology)."The tobacco industry has begun faking novelty, calling cigarettes (consumption medium for the drug) "electronic" and the drug "e-liquid" (as if the drugs are a technology and chemicals are somehow "smart"). It helps skirt regulations/bans. Similarly, the 'incumbent' social control media giants have begun openwashing; the Linux Foundation (LF) is helping -- as recently as this week -- Facebook et al (LF sponsors) paint mass surveillance as "confidential computing" (euphemism with inverted meaning!) and last month Twitter bombarded the news with claims that it was exploring decentralisation and "Open Source" (that's just vapourware; they'd never shift their platform to such a topology). These are the real electronic or digital tobacco giants.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Twitter (X) is Dying, Now It's Just Like a Mafia-Type Operation of the Man Who Does Nazi Salutes in Public
a form of extortion
The Price of Exposing Corruption in Poland (and Elsewhere)
It's easier to participate in corruption than to merely do the right thing and oppose it
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IX: Minimum Wages For You (Experienced Scientist), Alicante/EU Paydays For Me (Unproductive, Corrupt Official)
Does UPRP maladministration extend to the false belief that qualified and experienced scientists can play the role of circus clowns?
"The Liberating Power of Simply Telling People the Truth."
'polite' bullying
Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
 
Links 13/06/2025: US Reduces Nonessential Staff at Baghdad Embassy Ahead of Strikes in Iran, Invasion of California Debated
Links for the day
X11 is Free Software
Whether you agree (e.g. on politics) with the person/s forking it doesn't matter
The More Time Passes, the Better Our Advice on Social Control Media Seems
At the end of the day, any platform you do not control yourself is working for someone else
UK High Court Blasts Brett Wilson LLP for Misusing "GDPR" After Failed Efforts to Censor Critics Using 'Libel' Claims
No wonder this firm is rapidly shrinking
Recent Blunders in Microsoft GitHub (e.g. Slop-Generated Bug Reports or GPL Violations 'as a Service') Taking Their Toll?
Put bluntly, if you still use Microsoft GitHub, then you're slave to Microsoft
American Imperialism and Microsoft Plagiarism
Techrights will therefore do what Microsoft does not want it to do: it'll write even more about Microsoft
When They Have Nothing Left to Help Advance Abusive Litigation for Microsoft People... Other Than Throwing ~500 Pages of Someone Else's Work Into a PDF
Microsoft is having a very tough year
Slopwatch and Yet More Holes in 'Secure Boot' (as Usual!), Promoted Inside Linux by the Man We Are Suing
Today's Slopwatch will be short
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: People You've Left Behind, Life Update and OS Changes
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 12, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 12, 2025
Links 12/06/2025: Portland Homeless Deaths Quadruple, COVID Cases Surge in Asia
Links for the day
EPO's Gareth Lord Asked About "Quality and Productivity" or, Put Another Way, Why the EPO Keeps Granting So Many Invalid/Illegal Patents
letter to Lord
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) Scrutinises the Man Who Illegally Grants (and Forces Others to Illegally Participate in Granting) Software Patents in Europe
EPO compels examiners to break the law in the name of obeying illegal "rules" or "orders"
The Latest Rumour Says The Next (as Correctly Predicted Before) Wave of Layoffs at Microsoft is 3 Weeks Away, "Larger Than the First Wave"
Step 2
TV Licensing Used to SPAM Your Postbox, Now It Does the Same to E-mail
First they ask for your E-mail address; then they start nagging you via E-mail
The Toxic Playbook
Either you support Prince Mohammed bin Salman or you're a nazi
It's Possible That BetaNews Got Cracked, But Nobody Talks About It, The Site Contains an Outdated Old Image, No Activity
It's possible that they will never explain what happened to the site and users' accounts
Links 12/06/2025: Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/06/2025: Video Game Diegesis and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Why the Militants Have Lost Every Battle Since 2022 (When Attacking My Wife and I in Various Ways, Even Attacking Our Employers)
This takes patience, sure, but at the end most evildoers face the consequences for their actions
Our Priority is Still Tackling Software Patents and Corruption in Patent Offices
Meanwhile we got compliments on our recent articles, which means that they are effective
Politics Will Impact Software Choices
Will those systems respect users' freedom?
EPO: Neglecting Children to Promote American Monopolies by Shielding Them From European Competition
Yesterday the Central Staff Committee at the EPO spoke about another "reform" at the Office
Slopwatch: Another Day, Another Slopfest, LLM Slop Scrapers Slow Down Our Site
We too have some slop issues; this past day this site and the sister site had to answer about 2.5 million requests (not counting Gemini Protocol) and it's slowing things down for everybody
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 11, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Links 11/06/2025: More Vulnerabilities Found in 'Smart' Phones, China Extends Reach in the Pacific
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/06/2025: Grain and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Links 11/06/2025: "Quantum" Hype From IBM, US Closer to Martial Law, and “The Nation” Celebrates Milestone
Links for the day
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025