ChrisMar 6
Trevor "Dust Mouth" Flowers

The best advice I have for new nerds: Refuse to pay rent.

Don't subscribe. Don't lease. Don't use their cloud. Don't slip down the freemium slope. Don't create accounts on their services.

Buy it once. Run it local. Avoid commercial software.

It'll be a huge pain and you'll be an outsider but it'll be endless, interesting, and hard fun that'll pay you back with a curious mind and an understanding of the fabric of our intellectual infrastructure that will make you light-years more capable, useful, and healthy than the "AI" zombies.

Feb 22 at 1:41amWeb
Show threadTrevor "Dust Mouth" FlowersFeb 22

I understand, many reasons exist that make paying rent seem better and you're not wrong, exactly. You are, however, missing my point.

The situations that make us want to pay rent *are* what make us zombies. 🧟 Working the hard fun in order to own our stack *is* what makes us capable and curious.

Notice the reasons why paying rent makes sense and then ask yourself, "Who made that situation? Why is that the convenient path? Does a different choice, no matter how inconvenient, even exist?"

Look around for people living a different way and then modify it for yourself, day after day.

You'll get there. I believe in you.

Show threadqurlyjoeFeb 22
@trevorflowers
Sage advice, I’d say. As Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying, It is harder to get out [of trouble] than to stay out.
Show threadYRabbitFeb 22
@trevorflowers (Gloomily) they (whoever it may be in each specific case) will always find a way to compensate for lost income, whether it be a fee for using personal solar panels or rent for living in your own home (eigenwoningforfait).
Show threadmichaelFeb 22
@trevorflowers Its so nice to own instead of rent.
Show threadGemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Feb 22
@trevorflowers It sort of reminds of the rush in the late 1990s for so many people to hitch their wagon to an MCSE certification, when they had no previous interest in computers. Every decent Systems Engineer I've ever known loathed Microslop with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.
Show threadDFX4509B (Joshua Mason)Feb 22
@trevorflowers If you refuse to pay rent as far as your home goes, you're eventually going to be evicted, though, or worse, you could get taken to court by the landlord over it.
Show threadSzabó Em, Enigma He-Art Director Feb 22
@dfx4509b @trevorflowers I don't think OP was talking about housing
Show threadLeelooFeb 22

@dfx4509b @trevorflowers
If you read more than the headline, you would know that the point was to buy, not rent. If you buy a house, there is no landlord.

That being said, if you work a job where you don't expect to stay for decades, and jobs can be far between and commuting is not how you wish to spend a large chunk of your life, moving from one apartment to another is way easier than selling a house and buying one in a different city.

And that's without even getting into the price of buying your home.

Show threadpunIssuerFeb 23
@dfx4509b @trevorflowers that's why we have to coordinate and have *everyone* stop paying rent at the same time 😎
Show threadfluffydotorgFeb 22
@trevorflowers I'm freaking really annoyed with myself for buying into the "streaming services for music" thing but also it exposes me to so much stuff and I still buy physical media with mp3 downloads or bandcamp so there's also stuff I own. I'm ok with "cloud storage" for files but do have a local physical backup for safety.
Show threadJoe BrockmeierFeb 22

@fluffydotorg @trevorflowers streaming for discovery purposes is fine - beats the old model of “I liked this song, I’ll buy the CD” and then find out the one song was the only good one after you’re out $15.

But if you like an artist, buy the album. Get a physical copy that will be yours permanently.

Show threadin ♥️ with PDA (and 🐧)Feb 22
@trevorflowers good words. It is a huge pain, when you finally quit. I always knew, but never realized, that I don't own a single movie I "bought" in iTunes. I have to keep my apple account to watch them.
Show threadAmbulocetusFeb 22
@inlovewithpda @trevorflowers A wise man said, "if buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't theft."
Show threadMax LeeFeb 22
@trevorflowers I'm not sure my land lord is going to like that advice 😅
Show threadKevin Neely Feb 22
@the_moep @trevorflowers there's nothing your Spotify landlord can do about you buying music and cancelling your subscription except cry over the lost revenue.
Show threadMax LeeFeb 23
@ktneely I don't have (and never had) spotify. Bandcamp is bae <3
Show threadSheaFeb 22
@trevorflowers 100% except if you dont have a good internet connection, then a vps is warranted, I’ve spent too many hours fighting my isp
Show threadPhil Dennis-JordanFeb 22
@nu @trevorflowers The thing with renting a VPS or a bare-metal machine in a data centre somewhere is that it's not difficult to move it to a different hosting provider. Or even to move it to a different country.
The harm isn't so much the fact that you're paying monthly. The danger of SaaS is that your data is entirely beholden to the SaaS operator; if you can export it, it's usually in a form you can't immediately continue using elsewhere. And there is no transparency in how they process it.
Show threadBolet modo Sombrero de paja 🏴‍☠️  Feb 22
When AI zombies are your bosses and colleagues at work it paints a really grim and dark picture. Lately people want to make you believe that if you do not hop in you will be lost and forgotten forever. Out of job. Moved, even more, to the margins of society. The fearmongering keeps increasing. I always prided myself in my capacity for curiosity and understanding but I'm starting to be a little bit afraid and a lot more angry and I find myself wondering how much can I keep going
Show threadVenya (he/him/dude) 🇺🇦Feb 22

@trevorflowers

Cosign in musician

Show threadShae ErissonFeb 22
@trevorflowers landlord free! Cage free!
Show threadQuincy ⁂Feb 22

@trevorflowers

I genuinely don't understand those who'll happily sell their soul despite being under no real, direct pressure to do so.

I have co-workers who do all the things you describe. Happily.

I ask them why. Half of the things they subscribe to are actively trying to harm them (and those close to them). Or have free replacements of better quality.

And - the root cause seems to be mere conformism. Not doing the "normal" thing is simply unthinkable.

Conformism sells :(

Show threadhappyborgFeb 22
@trevorflowers I second this. It will also be a good filter, selecting for those with a good mix of curiosity and love of problem solving, attention to detail and ability to focus, that is being selected against. Qualities which need nurturing and exercise, and which will only grow in value, and in usefulness against life's challenges.
Show threadAlbert CardonaFeb 22

@trevorflowers

Forever confused why such an approach isn’t the default. Why would anyone pay rent for short-term convenience at the expense of long-term critical dependencies?

Show threadJanet FraserFeb 22
@trevorflowers Thanks for the supportive message. As someone on the margins of nerd culture, the challenge is huge and daunting. Thankfully there are those like you who call us in with resources and encouragement. So far, I'm in the process of switching to LibreOffice on my desktop and have an idea of a tiny Linux distro that will fit on my old Asus notebook (my stars, I love that little machine). Once I figure that out, I hope to be able to convert my desktop machine too. Take heart, nerds everywhere, we're trying.
Show threadMs. Rachel Andry (Isn't Real)Feb 22

@trevorflowers "The best advice I have for new nerds: Don't be poor"

waow

Show threadSteve Karsch 🤘🏻Feb 22
@trevorflowers "hard fun" is a great phrase. Fun is not easy just like work is not easy. The only difference is: it's fun!
Show threadRisotto BiasFeb 23

@trevorflowers I hope that nerds make things /easier to run/ locally.

So many things seem "fine" for a sysadmin who likes the hobby of undocumented software constantly breaking or not being configured securely out of the gate.

a dentist in a rural town does not have time to set this stuff up. it needs to be simpler, safer, and quicker than the /commercial competition/, because time is money

Show threadSheldonFeb 23

@risottobias I think that's why he said it was advice for nerds.

But there needs to be an addendum. PAY RENT ANYWAY, just not to the corporations who want to own everything you do. Pay it to FOSS non-profits, pay the admins for their server costs, support the people who make it all possible however you can.

@trevorflowers

Show threadOctavia Con Amore  Succubard's LibraryFeb 23
@sysop408 @risottobias @trevorflowers so... is this exclusively aimed at computer nerds? 
Show threadSheldonFeb 23

@OctaviaConAmore well, it looks like "new nerds" as Trevor put it.

I think I get what he's saying but people might be getting hung up on the word "rent" and its triggering people to think he means it purely in a monetary way.

@risottobias @trevorflowers

Show threadYer FeffFeb 23

@OctaviaConAmore @sysop408 @risottobias @trevorflowers

Given the term "new nerds", my assumption is that it's for people who are aspiring to be nerds/more-techy but with the ultra-convenience of apps and cloud-based platforms, might not realise that self-hosting can be a very good option for picking up nerdtech skills (quickly)

Show threadOleg Shanyuk 🇺🇦Feb 23

@trevorflowers sarcastically, it does make sense — as if your toilet will move to another part of the house once in a while, also kitchen leaving service and stays with us till the next week… — not like if we told the apartment is yours as long as you pay, but like something that resembles the apartment you have applied once long time ago, contract changed unilaterally, you know.

You can accept or move out.

Show threadNuwagaba GiftFeb 25
@trevorflowers
What's your advice to those who depend on it for survival?
Show threadKevin Karhan Feb 26

@trevorflowers +9001%

Never stopped doing so, was laughed at it but now folks realize that I was right all the time...

Show threadDavid's Alias Feb 27
@trevorflowers It's a bit more difficult to homelab this day and age, arguably; something like a raspberry pi however should match up for those on tighter budgets, as it provides a very low barrier to entry and sizes up to the challenge; you can even host a Mastodon instance on it.
Show threadx0Mar 6
@trevorflowers Or, it will cost you your life's savings and leave you with nothing but overwhelm.
Show threadIl Fiore del ParmigianoMar 6
@trevorflowers And remember libraries might be an option!
Show threadperspectivet5d ago

@trevorflowers I was personally responsible for a 4 person team that developed and operated a small 24/7 SaaS system on bare metal coloc infra back in the 2010 timeframe.

It was successful and I learned a ton. Everyone should try it for the experience.

When I became responsible for a larger SaaS system hosted on AWS in 2019 I estimated at what point AWS would cost more than it provided. For us it didn't start to make sense until we were around 3-5M EUR/USD in annual AWS spend.

YMMV