"Here on the corner is the convenience store. We call it the Amazon Fire Store, lol. And because there is no more fertile soil it doesn't sell anything."
Is there any real benefit to deleting the account?
I will no longer be using Instagram or regularly checking it.
I think you answered part of the question there: An inactive account is just bait for you to return and be sucked back in by the network effect. That's basically what "not regular checking" implies — that you may check less often but still log in occasionally.
On the other hand, deleting the account sends a message to Meta (who don't care about you individually, but mass exodus will be noticeable on their bottom line) and more importantly spur your contacts to move as well. Also, you make up your mind instead of keeping the abusive relationship with Meta an option.
Edited to add: Orphaned, unmonitored accounts are often the source of pwned passwords, which makes them an attack vector especially if you're not using strong, individual passwords for different sites. /end edit.
Impersonation is a tiny but possible risk, I guess — depending on how valuable you would be as a mark for scammers. Most people probably wouldn't even be on their radar. It's not something I would take into account, especially as Facebook and Instagram become less trustworthy or secure platforms in and of themselves.
So yes, there are benefits, per OP's point about first movers motivating others — and showing decisive action rather than leaving a door ajar (i.e. a dormant account) in case Zuckerberg shows slightly less oligarchic tendencies next week.
Apologies if my criticism was misdirected at your comment — and thanks for elaborating 🤝
My general point stands that people seem to hype up Graphene unduly, to the disadvantage of other ROM development projects (I use LineageOS for microG BTW 😄).
Same. I think it's been 14 years since I left, and I haven't regretted it. Then I quit LinkedIn and Google in quick succession, and my quality of life went through the roof.
My first thought was, how the hell are people still on Facebook?! 🤣
I see your point, but the most repeated reason/excuse for not leaving Meta (or other big tech platforms) is "I can't, all my contacts are on there". So the longer anybody stays on that dumpster fire, the more they add to the network effect.
My suggestion would be, announce that you're leaving, posting links to where people can find you going forward, and log off for a couple of weeks' grace period. Then login only to download your data and delete the account.
That way, you've given your contacts time to find your new profiles (and maybe their first glimpse of the fediverse), and you're off the treadmill — the contacts who will miss you enough to follow you off FB are probably the ones worth keeping 😉
Edit: added a comma and closed a quotation for clarity.
I know this is a Pixel device and Graphene develops exclusively to those, but it's getting really tiresome to see any mention of custom ROMs followed up with "bUt gRaPhEnE...!" like it's the only option.
Edit: I'll take Graphene over /e/OS any day, though (provided I find a Pixel at a reasonable price).
There is probably no doubt that this at least in part has to do with the current political climate in the US, and I think there is a potential here to grow a US-centric org and try to establish instead a network of national organisations coordinating their efforts internationally.
This might — on a longer timescale than "by April we can't pay our bills" — make for a broader field of potential funding from national, regional, and other grants applicable to local organisations. Certainly, the EU would be amenable to funding an organisation like IFTAS.
On another level this decentralisation would not only chime well with the nature of the fediverse (indeed, the internet), but also add a diversity of international perspectives to the IFTAS' efforts.
This might also dispel the notion in some quarters that the internet is somehow a thing for North Americans to govern. From a European point of view — and certainly in my personal bubble, as a Scandinavian who does a lot if not most of my online communication in English — there has probably never been as much distrust in US decision making as now, and it might become IFTAS and other organisations to recognise that.
Once again, none of the above would solve IFTAS' immediate finances, but if the org struggles through the lack of funding somehow, it might benefit from the broader perspectives.
No, that sounds accurate. Basically "Advanced protection" puts security in Google's hands, and therefore is irrelevant to people worried about Google being the security risk...
Advanced protection
blocks side loading
disables installing apps from outside the Google Play Store
— so to me, running a degoogled Android device it is not just useless but actively harmful to the security of future apps that may become overreliant on this monopolist framework.
There are plenty of good responses here already, but to me the main thing in marketing Trek to new audiences would be stop the frigging nostalgia fest.
don't circle back to the TOS characters at the tip of a hat. Yes, JJ Abrams, I'm looking at you, but also every other recent attempt at new Star trek movies.
All the stories around those characters have been told already. Make something new and current within the same universe.
Don't shoehorn canon and continuity onto every new show. Having Bones make a cameo in the TNG pilot was cute. Making Burnham a previously unmentioned lynchpin in Spock's character was... unnecessary. Don't get me started on SNW.
The wealth of continuity from previous shows shouldn't be a namecheck scorecard, but a backdrop that curious current viewers can track down and explore on their own.
Twenty years ago when the BBC relaunched Doctor Who, they played down all the background stuff for most of the first season, only drip feeding lore to the audience.
The stories, the characters had to be appealing on their own
The 26 seasons worth of classic Who wasn't required watching to keep up, but it gave resonance to the new show.
Star trek needs to learn from that approach to focus on good stories and engaging characters — and to aim outside of the established but dwindling fan group by allowing the almost 60 years of canon to play second violin.
As much as I understand the drive to make Windows bearable with some better software than Microsoft supplies, I just can't muster the suspension of disbelief to grok the words "windows" and "awesome" next to each other.
So, in my understanding ActivityPub is fine for different forms of decentralised communication — what you're suggesting sounds more to me like a generalised peer-to-peer network or distributed file storage (see DAT or IPFS)?
"Here on the corner is the convenience store. We call it the Amazon Fire Store, lol. And because there is no more fertile soil it doesn't sell anything."