JennaFur
Damon KIncredibly, Twitter has now made it impossible for public safety bulletins to be posted automatically by weather services, tsunami warnings, the MTA etc. This is consistent with Musk’s particular lack of interest in public service. But it also highlights the general problem of building networks on private property - precisely why we need Mastodon and other open source apps to take their proper place at the center of our online communities
Dannyboyguyman@dada_drummer I could argue that all of Musk's ventures exhibit hostility to the idea and provision of public goods, rather than mere lack of interest
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKpublic safety bulletins should be provided by an independent resource; if a country doesn't have public service broadcasters then setting up a Fediverse instance *and* an independent website/app is a good idea, as well as making use of regional/national alert systems that are already available with many modern mobile devices (the UK is testing the national alert system next week)
Elon Musk stick@pinsk @dada_drummer he’s never had a problem taking public funds though
Lingua Franca@masterdon @pinsk @dada_drummer Just a bullshitter, bullshiting to suit his interests as he sees it.
Pusher Of Pixels (old account)@masterdon @pinsk @dada_drummer
We need to segment the 'contracts' from the actual subsidies. I'm sure he still takes millions if not billions in subsidies, but contracts for services are not the same thing.
Of course that is also caveated with, who else is launching things into space so perhaps it somewhat qualifies. But I'd think the best simplest message is actually full on subsidies so we aren't playing word definitions later.
Edit: a similar thing, Congress ppl do not have gov't provided healthcare...they have employer provided healthcare via the exchanges. It's just that the employer happens to be the gov't.
@pixelpusher220 @masterdon @dada_drummer subsidies to a for profit venture performing some function which was formerly or more naturally should be a public service or good. Hyperloop or boring or BEV to forestall the critical development of public transit infrastructure. Solar City to compete with public utilities, SpaceX to displace NASA, Starlink to undercut terrestrial tariff subsidized telecoms. All an attack on or taking profit from public goods.
@pinsk @masterdon @dada_drummer
Definitely some gray areas. Orbital launch is a good example of something of that.
Should it be a public good? I think that's pretty debatable. It certainly has been due to economics, but SpaceX and others are bringing down launch costs.
S Bodzin, Real American 🇺🇸@dada_drummer how do we reach outfits like weather and tsunami warning systems to teach them about fedi posting
Noir Lover@dada_drummer town square!
SLCW💥@dada_drummer I wonder how different the situation would be if news outlets and journalists left Twitter, en mass. I don't really understand why they're sticking around given the absolute trainwreck the platform has become under Musk's control, and the unjustifiable attacks on journalists by Musk. The Kremlin's tweets are recommended while NPR is flagged as state propaganda. Continuing to use the platform is some weak sauce.
nickapos@dada_drummer Elon bought twitter to convert it to WeChat with payments and merchandise. He bought twitter for its user base. Even if it loses 11 million users it still has plenty of people that will happily accept whatever Elon is peddling, cars, crypt you name it. He does not view twitter as a public service,
he views it as a e-commerce platform.
he views it as a e-commerce platform.
Swagpuss McG@dada_drummer incredibly, you're still whinging about twitter in mastodon. You can always go back and stay there instead of dragging it here to our timelines where we dgaf about it
@swagpussc a very Twitter-like response!
JMaverickJacks1@dada_drummer I do worry though: What will happen when a bunch of Muskovites decide to start extremist Mastodon servers to flood social media here with lies and nonsense? The reason that authoritarians bought Twitter was not just so they could “control the platform,” but also so they could spread propaganda to folks who didn’t want it. So, does Mastodon’s decentralized leadership have a strategy to protect users from a centralized attack by hate-mongers and baloney artists?
Earthworm 🐌@JMaverickJacks1 @dada_drummer
Your lovely mods have your back.
Of course, there could be some kind of attacks, but the process is quite straightforward.
Example:
* instance X gets flooded with bot accounts
* they "attack" writing/spamming nasty stuff
* you read it, you report it (and block the account, if you like)
* your mods receive the report. When they also receive several other reports of bot accounts on instance X, they consider just blocking the entire instance.
* meanwhile, the mods of instance X also receive the reports and start weeding. Possibly they limit new accounts on their instance.
* some time later, the bot crisis is resolved and bridges are rebuilt.
And the herd of Mastodons grazed calmly while tooting their thoughts.
-> This is one of the arguments why the system of federation works much better with many smaller instances. The huge size of mastodon.social has some advantages (larger audience), but is also a liability 
Legion@earthworm @JMaverickJacks1 @dada_drummer What I hear them asking is what to do when bad actors set up their own server. In that case, reports to that server's moderator will presumably have no effect.
Seems to me that most ethical moderators would block the entire instance so that over time the only people using it are the people on it. That limits its reach somewhat, but not entirely.
GunChleocIf the origin server is bad, you report only to your own server and leave a note. Server moderators can announce the bad apple via the fediblock hashtag so more server admins will notice the problem.
If you're interested in some history: https://conf.tube/w/d8c8ed69-79f0-4987-bafe-84c01f38f966
Decentralized Social Networks vs. The Trolls
@gunchleoc @minervakoenig @earthworm @dada_drummer But how do I know whether I’m reporting bad actors to my own admin or to the admin of a server that has been intentionally designed to spread propaganda? I only see a “report” option, with no choice regarding to whom I report.
The report always goes to your own server. There is an option at the end to forward it to the origin server too. At least that's what it looks like in the web UI.
Clarissa
@gunchleoc @JMaverickJacks1 @earthworm @dada_drummer
OK, but I'm saying that reporting to the origin server, presuming that it was set up to be intentionally fuckery-spreading, is kind of pointless
ShadSterling@gunchleoc @minervakoenig @earthworm @JMaverickJacks1 @dada_drummer human moderators already can’t keep up, and hostile posters could create a new instance for each post; I don’t think this approach is sustainable
DoomsdaysCW@dada_drummer I have a list of some emergency alerts that are here on Mastodon. Some of them might be tied into the Twitter feeds, but some are direct. Let me go through the list, and I will post the ones that aren't connected to Twitter feeds.
@dada_drummer
Note: This is an automated bot which sends out National Weather Service issued text products, via Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM). Created by admin. Not an official NWS account.
@dada_drummer - @BakerRL75 is following a lot of NWS bots that are location specific.
Aziz Poonawalla@DoomsdaysCW @dada_drummer please also post your full list, including Twitter connected ones
@azizhp Let me go through them and make notes about ones that seem to be dormant. I noticed a few of those while going through the list, but forgot to make notations
List of all alert-type accounts I currently follow (excluding dormant ones). Many of the bot accounts were set-up by @ai6yr (hats off!)
@zoom_earth - Automated updates on the latest tropical #cyclones
@easwatch - #EAS warning bot *EXPERIMENTAL*
@nwstornado_bot - Automated bot which toots anything NWS #Tornado tweets. NOT OFFICIAL.
@earthquake - This account shares a feed with #earthquakes over 4.0 magnitude worldwide.
@emsc - Provides rapid #earthquake information. This account displays all recorded worldwide earthquakes. For significant earthquakes only, use @lastquake
@lastquake - Independent Scientific Organization and provider of real-time earthquake info.
@usgsvolcanoes_bot - Bot account which toots the content that shows up on the USGS #Volcanoes Twitter account. NOT OFFICIAL. Experimental, too.
@solarflarealert - Automated postings based on GOES 16 X-ray flux for at least M-class #SolarFlares. Currently in development.
@g7izu - #SolarStorm and aurora spotting space junkie. Alerts are informational only and are not official unless stated.
@nws_ntwc_bot - currently in testing phase. "This automated bot toots out: NWS #Tsunami Alerts (Twitter), NWS NTWC(direct), and NWS PTWC bulletins (direct) (UNOFFICIAL)."
@BakerRL75 - Normally relays emergency info, but only during certain hours.
@nwsnewyorkny_bot - Automated account which toots anything NWS #NewYork NY tweets. NOT OFFICIAL.
@nwstampabay_bot - Automated bot toots anything #NWS #TampaBay tweets. NOT OFFICIAL.
@iembot_lix #NewOrleans WX - Automated bot which sends out National Weather Service issued text products, via Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM). Not an official NWS account.
@azemergency_bot - Automated account toots any emergency bulletins from the State of #Arizona. NOT OFFICIAL.
@nwslosangelesbot - Automated bot which reposts things from the NWS #LosAngeles account on Twitter. NOT OFFICIAL.
@nwsgray_bot
- Automated account which toots anything NWS Gray #Maine tweets. NOT OFFICIAL.
That's all for now. I'm open to suggestions for this list!
HerGaiety@dada_drummer ah shit that's awful
Automated updates on the latest tropical cyclones.
@zoom_earth
@dada_drummer
EAS warning bot *EXPERIMENTAL* EXPERIMENTAL*EXPERIMENTAL* do not use for official advice.
@easwatch
EAS warning bot *EXPERIMENTAL* EXPERIMENTAL*EXPERIMENTAL* do not use for official advice.
@easwatch
@dada_drummer
This account shares a feed with earthquakes over 4.0 magnitude worldwide, the feed is from here http://www.emsc-csem.org/service/rss
@earthquake
This account shares a feed with earthquakes over 4.0 magnitude worldwide, the feed is from here http://www.emsc-csem.org/service/rss
@earthquake
Latest Earthquakes Feeds - Earthquake KML/RSS Feeds
earthquakes today - recent and latest earthquakes, earthquake map and earthquake information. Earthquake information for europe. EMSC (European Mediterranean Seismological Centre) provides real time earthquake information for seismic events with magnitude larger than 5 in the European Mediterranean area and larger than 7 in the rest of the world.
@dada_drummer But yeah, a lot of the ones on my list seem to be tied into the Twitter feeds, or inactive. Folks who can program that sort of thing should set up bots to pick up RSS feeds, and not rely on the Twitter feeds anymore.
elwyn@dada_drummer with all due respects, Social Media, and Twitter in particular, are not channels for public service broadcasts. - They are not Broadcast Channels.
David Cantrell 🏏@dada_drummer almost all Fediverse instances are private property.
Southern Leftist@dada_drummer
While liberals are socialists have yet to unite under one, common cause (I'm a liberal-socialist-progressive myself), we can all agree on the following:
Public property benefits all, be it parks, roads, transportation, and in this case - social media platforms.
toxtethogrady@dada_drummer The reason Musk is doing it (as I found out from the Weather Channel) is he's trying to get them to pay for the privilege of sending automated alerts. More evidence that Twitter is not long for this world.
#Proposal5
https://weather.com/news/weather/video/new-twitter-rule-could-limit-automated-watch-warning-and-advisory-tweets
#Proposal5
https://weather.com/news/weather/video/new-twitter-rule-could-limit-automated-watch-warning-and-advisory-tweets
Gene@dada_drummer so far so good I like this app. Time will tell how far it will go 🤞🤞
@dada_drummer Just this week Twitter suspended the account I use for testing when doing posts for WA Dept of Transportation. Apparently they want to charge us $100 a month to maintain API access for an account I use occasionally. Wondering what will happen to API access for our production accounts. Before this was considering setting a mastodon server for the agency, more so now.
@dada_drummer twitter is no longer the channel of communication.
@dada_drummer I've been replying to their Twitter announcements of this limitation to ask they move to Mastodon.
We need to be calling our federal reps to start allocating resources to have them host gov instances.
Just like the have house.gov EMAIL instances, this should be no different.
Nicole ParsonsA few days ago, I expressed the hope that emergency service alerts would exit Twitter.
Most of the emergencies experienced now are worsened by GOP billionaire donors, especially oil, except earthquakes & tsunamis.
Traffic & transit closures. Mass shootings. Wildfires. Floods. Tornadoes & hurricanes. Snow storms & torrential rains. Wind & ice storms. Landslides. Heat domes & polar vortices. Riots. Terrorism. Coups. War.
Musk doesn't want the public to know about these.
Why?
@dada_drummer I get public safety alerts automatically on my phone without going through Twitter.
CH@dada_drummer Twitter also won’t let me delete my account. 😤
tim danenberger
Laure@dada_drummer why are we acting surprised when every week there’s something like this or worse going on at #Twitter?
Paul Oldham 🏴 💛 🇺🇦@dada_drummer I don't know what Twitter has disabled but some methods still work. For example our house weather station is still posting without difficulty. See https://twitter.com/nairnlochloy
@dada_drummer we don’t just need public codebases, we need to get back to maintaining government-controlled infrastructure for public services - infrastructure than needn’t depend on any private infrastructure for public safety