Mastodawn

samir, a terminally deprecated method

I am playing with deploying this to Hetzner. Just getting familiar with it right now by migrating existing stuff from DigitalOcean, but it’s going well so far.

Looks like nixos-infect works pretty well for replacing Debian with NixOS, so I’ll be going with that.

@samir I really try deploying NixOS to a VM on my Promxox machine. Tried twice already and failed miserably. There is something I am obviously missing.

@rysiek What failed, do you remember?

@samir I used a NixOS minimal ISO and this guide:
https://nixos.wiki/wiki/NixOS_Installation_Guide

Installation finished fine I think, but the VM is not booting, stuck on "Booting from Hard Disk..." message from BIOS.

NixOS Installation Guide - NixOS Wiki

@rysiek Ah, classic Linux-on-VM problems.

I haven’t used Proxmox, so I am not sure what the problem could be, but I do hope you figure it out.

@samir thanks. Each time I try to dive into this I end up in some Reddit thread with five solutions that don't work, half of them from a year ago but marked as "deprecated". 🤷‍♀️

Kinda wild that official docs don't provide a reliable procedure of installing NixOS on a VM.

@rysiek The official NixOS docs are… something.

@samir @rysiek they're an excellent example of that old thing about the architecture of a software system mirroring the structure of the organization that produced it, is what they are

@ireneista @samir

@ireneista @samir yeah, I really want to like NixOS, and I really want to play with it, but it doesn't make sense for me until there is a path for me to use it in my work. And the state of documentation means that path is still not there.

Sigh. Oh well.

@rysiek @samir despite the multiple serious critiques of it we have, we're huge fans of it as a technology

it's just every technology is also a community, and, well, we had a very close-up view that whole political debacle there a while back. so our focus is on what comes next. alas.

@ireneista @samir I get it and I really hope stuff gets sorted out. The basic premise of NixOS is really compelling.

@rysiek @samir yeah. well. there's this interesting thing about human communities, when they're young and still forming sometimes they can actually learn stuff, but eventually they get too set in their ways to change....

@rysiek @samir ... except by fracturing. what often happens at that point is things break into new communities that figure out their own paths, trying their best to carry forward the good stuff and respond to the bad stuff. it sucks starting over, and it's not that it works great, but it's been an important backstop for all recorded history, you know?

@ireneista @rysiek @samir

🫧 socialcoding..1d ago

"Community" is this interesting notion. A word that is all too often too easily and hand-wavingly applied, without a clear conception of what it entails and the different expectations people have wrt their own role, commitments, and level of participation.

A group of people must give meaning to the word explicitly, to be able to form the community they want and need, and can subsequently uphold, sustain, and evolve it. This is almost never addressed properly, and where due attention to governance is given, the nature of the (usually top-down) governance model is such, that they only work up to a certain scale without getting serious issues around power dynamics. You see large-scale orgs getting into drama's or move into very formal governance, adopting models from the corporate world.

https://coding.social focuses on formation of overarching chaordic organization that fits smaller organizational structures, like communities, at healthy sustainable scales.

Joyful creation for the Social web

We reimagine the social web and cocreate a peopleverse.

Social coding commons

@smallcircles @rysiek @samir well said. yes, it properly refers only to a group of people who are invested in each other, who have put in that effort

@ireneista @rysiek @samir

🫧 socialcoding..1d ago

Yes, that is a nice way of phrasing it, which aligns with Social experience design (SX) and Hedonic peer production.

The underlying philosophy is based on the acknowledgement of the importance of self-interest in collaborative arrangements. The the notion that it is okay to pursue self-interested motives when participating with others, because this leads to the highest *intrinsic* motivation to participate.

Participation is literally a value investment then, in hopes of getting even more value in return.

Another important aspect is stating to others what ones self-interests are, so that reciprocal participation becomes easier, and also - most crucially, I suppose - there's clarity on commitments and mutual expectations.

I think lack of 'expectation management' is a big flaw that keeps FOSS from becoming more sustainable, for instance. FOSS is just software + software freedoms. SX places SOSS as its sustainable delivery pipeline:

https://coding.social/blog/reimagine-social/#sustainable-open-social-systems

How We Reimagine the Social Web

We find novel ways to collaborate and create value together.

Social coding commons

@smallcircles @rysiek @samir we were raised by objectivists and had to grapple with that entire pile of bullshit as adults, so we honestly try pretty hard to avoid the "self-interest" framing, we've seen how dark it gets and how rapidly it can get there. we think we agree with what you're actually trying to say though, more or less

@ireneista @rysiek @samir

🫧 socialcoding..1d ago

I see. You talk about a particular framing. I refer to a generic philosophy concept. It forms a core principle of SX methodology: the Mindfulness principle. Mindful of own needs and relations to others.

In FOSS circles we are often so frustrated at the sudden splintering of a community, or a huge drama break out, or just a burnt out volunteer suddenly and silently disappearing from the scene. Even mundane friction between 'users' (a word to avoid) and devs, where one finds the other privileged, or overly demanding. All examples of expectation mismatches.

Self-interests are indicative of Needs.
Self-interested participants are Stakeholders.

Or they may be, and that is up to a good approach to figure out. Best done timely, before any issues arise.

For example in FOSS, the devs usually don't see themself as a stakeholder. They often only talk about 'users'. But did they start a project as hobby, or to earn a living? What do they want? Where do they wanna go?

@smallcircles @rysiek @samir this deserves a thoughtful answer, we'll do our best to give it one in the morning. thank you for sharing your thoughts!

@samir @rysiek from a casual glance you might think there's three groups that don't really talk to each other or care about each others' work, and we're pretty sure that's exactly right