"But was it necessary to call some Lobsters users assholes?"
Yes, motherfucker, it was necessary.
The blog post opened by acknowledging that forums like Hacker News literally would not give a shit if I died tomorrow.
This isn't because of a lack of technical merit, it's because I'm not ashamed of being gay, or a furry.
I've spent the better part of the past 5 years encouraging other furries to start blogs.
My motive was the antonym to self-interest: The more furry bloggers exist, the less novel or special my own writing will be. If I wish to continue standing out, in such a world, I'd need to push myself harder, cover more interesting topics, or just generally be a more entertaining person.
There would be no resting on one's laurels. "Furry blogger that writes about cryptography? Which one??"
The upside for me is that there'd be more queer representation in professional spaces. Even better, the path to reach this would be bottom-up, not top-down, which almost certainly would result in a more equitable outcome for everyone involved. The true diversity of our communities would shine through.
That is what I actually care about here.
Fuck these thin-skinned tech bros.
"But Soatok, you're being an asshole right now."
Yes, good.
In the wake of assholes that want to shut others down for not having other people willing to share their work for them, which almost certainly reinforces existing societal power balances, I'm going to be an asshole.
In an era of AI-generated slop, it's almost impossible to build an audience without self-promotion. I'd rather scroll through a dozen pages of so-called "blogspam" every day than see one goddamn output from GenAI.
"What was the point?"
The point is that artists, writers, and researchers on the Fediverse should be aware that... that pressure they're used to existing under, which tells them they're not supposed to self-promote their own work for fear of being judged on places like Lobste.rs, Hacker News, Reddit, or even Slashdot?
You aren't expected to minimize yourself here.
You aren't expected to stay invisible here.
We want to see your work, but there is no algorithm to appease that will show it to us if it thinks we're interested, so you need to be willing to put yourself out there a bit more.
If me saying that offends a bunch of sensitive brats on message board, maybe it's a good thing I stopped participating there.
Me: writes an end-of-year blog post that talks about a pessimistic interpretation of the current tech industry, and the need to appeal to other bad aspects of humanity rather than an imaginary "better nature"
Lobste.rs users, apparently: "boo hoo he called some of us assholes at the end, maybe he's the real asshole"
I swear some of the dumbest motherfuckers on the planet feel the need to comment on my writing whenever someone else sees fit to submit it there.
They couldn't find a clue if I surrounded it with neon lights that say "CLUE HERE, DIPSHIT" with arrows pointing directly at it.
Yes, the people who try to selectively use the "no self-promotion" rule, especially backseat moderators, are assholes. Even moreso when they're trying to use it to gatekeep security researchers or minorities from participating in the discussion. That's textbook asshole behavior.
But it wasn't the goddamn point.
The Better Daemons Of Our Profession
I've spent the better part of 2023 and 2024 trying to imagine the specific changes we technology nerds could make to improve things somewhat. Meme remix of Matt Bors's comic and Stan Kelly's Sickos Yes comic. I've shared some of my ideas and musings throughout the past year. Briefly: Ambition, the Fediverse, and Technology Freedom Some Thoughts on the Twitter Mass Exodus…
http://soatok.blog/2024/12/18/the-better-daemons-of-our-profession/
@risottobias When consent is respected, dark patterns aren't employed, and there's a meaningful ungamified mode you can choose instead
You ever notice how gamification and enshittification are rarely separated by great distance?
I suppose the silver lining of being bad at art is people tell me it's ugly instead of asking "what prompt did you use?"
Dyne hasn't stepped back up to his previous role of funding the group's activities.
"Still unemployed," he admits when someone finally asks. "Even though I was found not guilty, I'm having to break into a new industry."
He's been head's down on that.
He's slumped over, staring into his eggnog, when you walk up to him and press Send.
His phone vibrates. He looks at the message you just sent.
scroll, scroll, scroll
He finally looks up at you. "I didn't expect you to draw my fursona so much," he smiles.
You laugh nervously as he scrolls past the #FreeDyne art you made a week after he was arrested.
"I'm still not very good," you mutter sheepishly.
He closes his messaging app and looks up at you, feeling rested.
"No, but you're better than last year. Merry Christmas," and raises his glass.
The End.
"Should we let Dyne back in?" Milo asks, shortly before the Halloween party.
"Should we vote on it?" quips Spencer.
"If we do, don't use EraTech," says another member.
Nex leaves the group after that remark.
Dyne doesn't show back up. Not immediately.
...
It's Christmas again. You're staring down the new year, wondering what went wrong.
The local group attendance has dwindled, though the group chat is more active than ever. The conversations are somehow less fun, though.
Nex, for all her flaws, brought an enthusiasm to the group that can't be replaced.
Dyne, for his alleged crimes, had been retroactively elevated to the status of a local hero.
He didn't know Nex worked for EraTech, he just wanted to gracefully excuse himself from receiving anything. He was that kind of guy.
So he found a way to manipulate the election protocol to count a vote for him as a vote for another random furry. He couldn't choose who; just make it not for him. So he did, on his own device.
His trial ends with a simple verdict: not guilty on all counts .
Though the government's evidence that he exploited their protocol was strong, he didn't violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, so that conviction didn't stick.
Furthermore, he discovered the vulnerability by himself, in his free time.
He reportedly only looked at the code because some local friends wanted to use the now-rejected EraTech software to organize a gift exchange for the Holidays. The reporters make no mention of furries.
The news headline reads: "Math prodigy not guilty of hacking foreign elections."
In the year 2031, due to years of strategic investment, software to support electronic voting has become ubiquitous. Despite an onslaught of new cryptographic attacks, the US government was poised to adopt one of these implementations--with a price tag of $100 Billion, for use in the midterm elections.
However, a last minute act of sanity spearheaded by Senator Wyden preserved tech companies from overriding the objections of security and cryptography experts. Despite the sunk cost, not all was lost: the tech became a novelty in the United States.
Last week, a few of your local furries decided to use one of these apps to coordinate a Secret Santa gift exchange. You decide to join in, perhaps not really understanding how all of that fancy tech works, but wanting to have a bit of fun.
Today, you get a notification that the enrollment window has ended, and the assignments will happen automatically.
In total, 13 of you elected to join.
@risottobias you mean besides "murry yiffmas and happy newd deer"?
OH: Stop referring to your face as a strategically placed hole
The admin of hellspawn.gay is constantly launching accusations of "admin abuse" at the tech.lgbt admins... yet the hellspawn admin boosted one of my posts days after I blocked them.
I guess it's only a violation of boundaries when someone else does something like that.
Hot take: nobody likes spam but if you don't tolerate some self-promotion, you push creative folks away
So bring on the furries promoting their own work
Don't shitpost too close to the Sun, lest you be forced to write Enterprise Java
Ideas and Execution
5 free ideas that Soatok doesn't have the time or energy to execute on.
