So many things, big and small have become enshittified and it can feel pretty overwhelming imagining doing anything about it.
So I decided to start disenshittifying (@pluralistic's term) stuff one small step at a time.
Starting with a QR code creator and a password generator. No ads, no tracking, no shit.
And I encourage anyone to join in, or make suggestions!
@johnallsopp @pluralistic Love the project, and the tools are neat and clean. But how are you thinking of maintaining and growing the project without falling into the trap of enshittification?
A cynic would say that every good, free service like this is just at step 1 of 3.
@johnallsopp @samnabi @pluralistic Not everything has to "grow." Some things just need to work.
For super solid stable projects, I feel like the key is making them accessible and available to as many people as possible, rather than seeking to aggressively accrue users (which would require metrics, which often extend beyond just the number of installs & eventually request email signups & accounts, etc). For truly privacy oriented projects, certain metrics will probably just always be a mystery.
@johnallsopp @pluralistic I don’t think you would be the person to go down that road, I just know a lot of solo-maintainer projects can end up getting abandoned or transferred to a corporate entity as time goes on.
Maybe a better question to ask is, more broadly, how do we build collectively-maintained tools for open access in the long run?
@johnallsopp @pluralistic no need to reinvent the wheel, though. For password management, Password Safe has been around for decades, and it's free open source. https://www.pwsafe.org/
Highly, highly recommended.
A quick search turns up a handful of free, open-source password managers for macOS. Before I start comparing them, any recommendations?
@patrickgillam well, I do use the Mac port of passwdsafe, though it's not as full-featured as the Windows original and Android port.
I'm primarily a Windows and Android user. I did start working at a place that uses macOS and went and got the macOS port of passwd safe, and paid for the YubiKey support (since I lock my safe files with password + YubiKey).
In my case, I keep the safe files on Dropbox, though Syncthing would be a pretty good option too.
I went with passwdsafe on macOS because that's what I was already using and wanted to be able to be able to open my passwords at work. There might be ones with better features on Mac, I don't know.
Very cool! Thank you!
You can use this link instead of the paywalled #FT one:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel
@johnallsopp @pluralistic I saw this yesterday and it seems like a kindred spirit
Built by @KirillOsenkov
@johnallsopp @pluralistic will do. might support ActivityPub but undecided. my initial design constraints include localfirst, selfhostable, federated, portable identity, not reinvent the wheel, curated crowd wisdom, trusted gossip networks, p2p, e2ee, etc. almost the inverse focus biases of LinkedIn and its ilk
I'll design it at least and share the design. I may or may not build it. for zero pay I prob wont haha. cuz thats yet another of the shitty antipatterns we should avoid, imo
Made a dumb website so I wouldn't ever have to Google "tm symbol" again. https://symbol.wtf
@johnallsopp omg this is fantastic! 😍 Such a fab idea!
Big relate to your QR code experience too!
@johnallsopp @pluralistic Absolutely beautiful. It feels and smells like the old web, the kind of site I'd save to visit when I need to. Like a handy hammer on my toolbelt, not a service I have to battle through to squeeze value out of.
No trackers, logins, ads, unnecessary speeches, intros.. X_x
I'm an ok front end dev, would be happy to pitch in if there is anything I can do to support this <3
@johnallsopp @shved @pluralistic
The F-Droid App Store generally offers a lot of non-shitty apps for Android.
It also warns explicitly if Apps have questionable elements or want certain privileges.
@esoteric_programmer @pluralistic the great thing about the web is view source (it's about as simple unobfuscated CSS/HTML/JS as I can make it! The actual QR code generator is a 12 year old OS project I link to.
But let me add a license to it all as well.
@esoteric_programmer @pluralistic it's like the parable of the two young fish and the od fish–water? what's water?
Yeah, ll out in the open, the only dependency for now is https://davidshimjs.github.io/qrcodejs/ for the QR code generation-I mean it's already there so why reinvent that wheel?
@andy_warb that is one I've been thinking about but the only way I can see it working is via a server, which was sort of expressly out of scope for this project. Though you could do it so the server just uncompasses a longer url.
But do we need link shorteners any more?
A significant use case is solved by QR codes, and then socials have their own built in/
@johnallsopp I did the same thing with a QR code generator. The ones I found online were so bad (every one wanted me to make an account) that I made my own (and then did it in 3 different frameworks since it’s a nice easy demo app).
@johnallsopp @pluralistic On a not-exactly-related note, yesterday I was thinking about the phrase "Unfuck Your Habitat" which is the title of a book and a Twitter account I used to follow (I guess technically I still do -- I wish she was on Mastodon). Now I'm thinking of hanging up a sign that says in big letters "Disenshittifying begins at home".
@cocoadog @johnallsopp @pluralistic
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