Mastodawn

Scott Small 🇨🇦

@smallsco@oldbytes.space

1.5K Followers

880 Following

25.4K Posts

Just a 30something Canadian dude from #VancouverIsland who's into #RetroComputing (mainly old #Apple / #Mac stuff), #Programming, and general #Technology enthusiast. Also love to #Travel!

I wrote a Mastodon client for vintage Mac computers, #Macstodon, which you can get from here: https://github.com/smallsco/macstodon

Occasionally I’ll post about #Anime and #Gaming, especially #ZenlessZoneZero and #HonkaiStarRail.

I boost a lot. Boosts are not endorsements.

DMs from non-followers are blocked due to spam.

Pronouns	he/him
Website	https://scottsmall.org
GitHub	https://github.com/smallsco
Bluesky	https://bsky.app/profile/scottsmall.org

Scott Small 🇨🇦1h ago

Neil Brown 13h ago

Warning: fediverse scam alert

You've promised yourself that you'll sit down to just read a few toots and, two hours later, you've read 500+ toots, made six new friends, and installed Linux or BSD on your laptop.

What a scam.

Scott Small 🇨🇦1h ago

dan 💾14h ago

Remember the Tide Pod Challenge? The Co-op have decided to one-up them by making their new laundry soap look like milk. #FacePalm #yummy

Scott Small 🇨🇦1h ago

🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽16h ago

The internet is very fast.

Scott Small 🇨🇦1h ago

Snow can now emulate the Macintosh 512Ke

This model was released by Apple 3 months after the Plus as a cheaper alternative. It used the same ROM and 800K floppy drive as the Plus, but had no SCSI and only 512K of RAM. There was also an upgrade kit available, allowing 512K owners to upgrade their machine to a double-sided floppy drive which involved replacing the floppy drive and ROM chip.

Scott Small 🇨🇦2h ago

sleepy duck pond appreciator 🦆✨🏳️‍🌈18h ago

@flacs Dell Longitude

Scott Small 🇨🇦2h ago

JamesWNeal 20h ago

Well, y'know Mamdani has a point.

Scott Small 🇨🇦2h ago

DesertFOX 19h ago

Using a virtual 386SX 25 MHz and WfW 3.11, I recently tried to install StarOffice 3.1 from 1996. And while this one still has an official 16-bit version, it did feel completely out of place on that system.

Seriously! The setup process, installing from CD-ROM, took nearly an hour to complete and consumed almost 100MB of harddisk space. Opening the applications, like StarWriter or StarCalc, feels extremely sluggish and their user interfaces looks super overcrowded with multiple levels of toolbars and useless internet tools everywhere.

Useless complaints in 2025? "Yes", but also "No". It shows how the entire software industry simply forgot how to use system resources efficiently as soon as the hardware limitations were lifted. Today, even simple programs or games often require hundreds of megabytes of disk space! I still cannot be made to believe this is acceptable.

Have a great sunday everyone!

#RetroComputing #MSDOS #Windows #WfW311 #StarOffice #Software #Programming #Developer

Scott Small 🇨🇦2h ago

Matthew Garrett 1d ago

Is there anything out there other than an actual Mac motherboard that's capable of driving an old-school Mac floppy drive (including sending eject signals and managing the variable rotation rate for 800K disks?)

Scott Small 🇨🇦2h ago

stevefaeembra 1d ago

Visualising the length of Chile, by rotating it around the globe to compare with other countries and continents.

Scott Small 🇨🇦2h ago

Trey Hunner 🐍1d ago

I got 21/26 on @mitsuhiko's fstrings.wtf quiz.

I spent a lot of time creating a cheat sheet and article on f-strings, so I was kicking myself after a few of them that I should have known. There were definitely a couple surprise Python features for me though!

https://fstrings.wtf

fstrings.wtf - Python F-String Quiz

Test your knowledge of Python's f-string formatting with this interactive quiz. How well do you know Python's string formatting quirks?

fstrings.wtf

×

Randahl Fink 3d ago

Yesterday was my first bad day on Mastodon, and what happened to me could happen to you, so let me explain what went down, and how I got blocked by a lot of people.

In March, I wrote a post critical of Musk (picture 1). I then asked another Mastodon user (Harriett) whom I have found friendly, if she would help me translate a Danish phrase to English, and linked to the Musk post where the phrase would be relevant.

But yesterday — 4 months later — that blew up in my face. Here is how…

1/7

Randahl Fink 3d ago

You see, yesterday someone discovered that my old post requesting translation help had been mirrored onto Bluesky by the so-called bridge system. And that system had made the VERY unfortunate error of removing my link to the context about Elon Musk, and instead now linked to Harriett's profile page.

So it now looked as if I was not talking about Elon Musk, but talking about Harriett (see picture) — as if I was making fun of this Mastodon user behind her back on Bluesky.

2/7

Randahl Fink 3d ago

A person saw this unfortunate mishap on Bluesky and rightly found it suspicious looking, so that person then warned Harriett about it. She then got upset thinking I was making posts ridiculing her on Bluesky, blocked me, and then wrote about this to all of us here on Mastodon.

I have no hard feelings about that, because the technical glitch really made it seem like I was a bad person.

But then more people got upset, and a whole thread formed where people agreed I should be blocked.

3/7

Randahl Fink 3d ago

And while all of this went down, I was not even here. Because yesterday I hosted a party and was preparing dinner and entertaining guests here in Denmark.

Then late in the evening when the guests went home, I sat down to check in on Mastodon, and all of hell had broken loose.

Because everyone was thinking the Bluesky post came from me, the famous profile Gottalaff now entered the discussion which amplified it to her 33,000 users, and even more people blocked me, called me out etc.

4/7

Randahl Fink 3d ago

The only person who stopped to check if all of this was really true was @Gargron. And he wrote a very helpful post explaining that the bad post on Bluesky was created by the bridge system, which had linked to Harriett's profile and thereby changed the meaning of my original post.

But Gargron's post was very technical, and I am not sure everyone understood it, and I was still getting angry responses, and more people blocked me.

So I was very sad to discover all this late last night.

5/7

Randahl Fink 3d ago

But here is the lesson we can all learn from this: If you see something strange where someone suddenly seems to change their behaviour and do something malicious, it is important to ask questions before concluding what is going on.

In this case, a post which seemed like it was written by me was actually altered by an IT system that I have never given permission to do so — and it now seemed like I was spreading hatred.

In conclusion: I blame no one for this incident. I fully understand…

6/7

Randahl Fink 3d ago

… why someone saw the Bluesky post and wanted to warn Harriett. I fully understand how Harriett could feel shocked that it looked like I was talking about her on another platform. And I fully understand how Gottalaff would amplify that and try to stop me from harassing Harriett.

So please, do not send any negativity their way. Let us just all learn from this:

Never jump to conclusions about other people. If you see sudden strange behaviour from someone, ask questions before concluding.

7/7

@randahl So sorry to hear this, how upsetting for you (and others). An important reminder to think critically, always, especially when there's something weird

Randahl Fink 3d ago

@teadrinker fortunately these situations are VERY rare. I have been active here for two and a half years now, and this is my first "shitstorm”.

@randahl Agree that it's an overwhelmingly positive place!

Jennifer 2d ago

@teadrinker @randahl I just read through all this, it is very unfortunate. Especially the people on Bluesky who amplified it without understanding what happened. I don't understand this bridging stuff either but it's something for everyone on the Fediverse to be aware of.

mirabilos 1d ago

@randahl @Jennifer @teadrinker bridging considered harmful; I’ve done all I know about to avoid ny account being bridged, but who knows if there are still bridges around I don’t know about (to actively defederate) that don’t honour the #nobridge tag and things…

@randahl at least you can check off „Getting a shitstorm“ from your list. But I‘m not sure if that is something anybody would like to have on their list. 😬

Sorry to read about this.

𝔼k 𝓋ℴ𝓃 𝕂𝔫ä𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔟𝔢𝔯g 2d ago

@randahl @teadrinker some people legitimately believe that the way to make a better world by cultivating moralistic outrage and by enforcing a unity of perspective --> to them, this is okay as long as it is done passive-aggressively thru victimhood and not directly

Troed Sångberg 3d ago

@randahl fyi - some of the people in the discussion aren't actually angry over the misinterpretation/changing of the original post, but the fact that the post appears on Bluesky with photo and bio of the user in question ("doxxing").

... others are angry because they believe you don't care about the fact that her details appeared there but only worry about your follower count - while I think it's obvious that what upsets you is being presented publicly as a bad actor.

The awesome @Em0nM4stodon is PSAing about the first case here: https://infosec.exchange/@Em0nM4stodon/114870842797314328

... as for the second I think it's just fallout. Once people get the "bad actor" impression everything else will be interpreted that way as well.

Em :official_verified: (@Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange)

ALERT for Bluesky Bridge Users 🚨 🦋 If you are using a Bluesky bridge on Mastodon, DO NOT TAG Mastodon accounts in your posts without prior informed consent from this person. This could end up showing a preview of this person's profile picture and bio on Bluesky without their consent. Additionally, be careful about how the upcoming Quote Post feature could behave with Bluesky bridges. Some of us don't want our information shared with commercial platforms like Bluesky, and have not consented to this bridge. This practice can even **endanger** some Fediverse users. If you have chosen to share your own data with commercial platforms, make sure you leave the same choice to others. This is important. #Privacy #Mastodon #Bluesky #BlueskyBridge #Fediverse #Consent

Infosec Exchange

Randahl Fink 3d ago

@troed stigma applies easily, but is hard to wash off.

Dionne (Greenseer) 🩷🐈‍⬛🏳️‍⚧️3d ago

@troed @Em0nM4stodon I really don't want to interfere in this situation and won't beyond making the following point, which I hope is helpful to Harriett who I care about and for the general good. My interpretation was that the doxing element caused the greatest distress.. something which I fear may have unfortunately been repeated in the explanation thread above. Perhaps don't repost that screenshot @randahl ?

Peace ✌️

Miha Markič 3d ago

@randahl @Gargron People blocking you immediately without a chance of explaining are not really, ehm, wise.

Elena Rossini ⁂2d ago

@mihamarkic absolutely! 🙌

and it's really heartening to see that @Gargron got in on the case and wanted to help ❤️

Sorry you went through this unnecessary drama @randahl. Anyone who has been following you here knows you are not a bully! You couldn't be further from it. This behavior would have been so out of character and worthy of further verification/research. It's depressing to see how people are so ready to grab their (metaphorical) pitchforks without pausing first to analyze a situation

Chris Hartgerink (they/them)2d ago

@_elena @mihamarkic @Gargron @randahl as instance admin i've been lurking, considering what to learn from this. Despite the bridged post loses context as an unintended consequence, calling it "unnecessary drama" for Randahl invalidates the consequences. It is an unnecessary burden for the person on the receiving end.

Randahl chose to bridge to bluesky. Will you, Randahl, remove the bridge knowing this unintended consequence now or continue using it?

Elena Rossini ⁂2d ago

@chartgerink what happened to @randahl is really serious and I did not mean to invalidate his experience with the words "unnecessary drama". What I meant is that something happened that was totally unnecessary and unintended - who could have predicted such a thing?

I bridged my GoToSocial account for about 2 weeks in January, but ultimately severed that tie. I did not think such a thing could have happened.

Randahl has all my solidarity and support in this.

@mihamarkic @Gargron

Randahl Fink 2d ago

@chartgerink @_elena I opted out of the Bluesky bridge today.

I do not recall ever having opted in. But nevertheless it should now be sorted out.

emmatonkin 2d ago

@randahl @chartgerink @_elena

Can you share where one see the status of said Bluesky bridge and whether one is opted into it? Hope you don't mind the silly question - today I am a bear of little brain, and until now I thought bridging was something one had to set up on purpose...

Edit: oops, I found the link later in the thread - https://fed.brid.gy/docs#fediverse-get-started
Leaving it here for completeness.
I hope things calm down soon.

Bridgy Fed

@emmatonkin @randahl @chartgerink @_elena This link can be used to check if your account is bridged: https://fed.brid.gy/user-page

Bridgy Fed

emmatonkin 2d ago

@thymos @randahl @chartgerink @_elena
Thank you! Much appreciated.

Jeri Dansky 2d ago

@randahl I'm sorry this happened to you, but glad you wrote about it as a warning to others — about jumping to conclusions, and about using the bridge. Glad to hear you've opted out, which certainly seemed to be the thing to do.

Kuba Suder • @mackuba.eu on 🦋1d ago

@chartgerink @_elena @mihamarkic @randahl Funny to see @_elena agreeing that blocking without giving a chance to explain is bad, given that I'm blocked by her and I have no idea why 🫣 probably for saying something Bluesky related somewhere?… (sorry, couldn't resist)

Memento Mori📍🇪🇺🇩🇪2d ago

@_elena @mihamarkic

👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

@Gargron @randahl

[witchzard]2d ago

@_elena @cruiser @mihamarkic @Gargron @randahl "Hurt people hurt people" - I know Harriet and she's not some trigger-happy person but when you see your identity, including your photo, show up in such a situation, most of us who have been on the wrong end of what is going on in the world would panic.

So, please don't judge someone because they panicked - they may have endured too much pain already and you don't know it.

Elena Rossini ⁂2d ago

@ics ZERO judgement towards Harriet, I can understand the panic.

My sadness (not judgement) was over other people not directly involved in the situation, who immediately grabbed their metaphorical pitchforks and were ready to condemn @randahl (without analyzing the situation).

Not everyone, obviously.

I am glad that the situation has now deescalated.

@cruiser @mihamarkic @Gargron

[witchzard]2d ago

@_elena Sorry, then I had misunderstood your post. Yes, the other people's behavior was, indeed, weird-to-creepy for me.

I waited this out to see what the actual problem/situation is because I know both people involved and couldn't explain myself how something like that could ever happen.

We have blocked BlueSky-bridge on all our servers especially because we have no control over the bridge nor what happens on BlueSky - and this is proof again for me that we acted correctly there.

🙏

@randahl @cruiser @mihamarkic @Gargron

Elena Rossini ⁂2d ago

@ics no need to apologize, it's understandable. I'm really sorry about what happened - sorry for Randahl and also for Harriet. I think the block is a good move (I did it too... for Threads as well)

nickapos 2d ago

@_elena @ics I have not blocked it yet because there a couple of people I want to follow on bluesky but I never interact with them. If I need to answer I prefer connecting to bluesky and do it from there. It has never happened so far though.

MvRiederberg 3d ago

@randahl I think, this bridging is sinply bullshit.

𝗣𝗠𝗝 👽2d ago

yeah, don't use it
there were other concerns about it (which i can't remember, something about security)
i always have both tabs opened side by side and do manual copy-paste
@randahl

ItsDoctorNotMrs 2d ago

@pmj @mavori @randahl

Agreed, I don't use it and don't open posts that feature it.

Sorry to hear this happened to you, Randall. It sounds miserable for all concerned.

Sebastian Lauwers 3d ago

@randahl They removed their picture from their profile because they didn’t want it on Bsky, but this is the second or third time you’re posting it, which means third time you’re posting that picture on Bsky as well I presume (because of the bridge).

Maybe stop doing that? Maybe stop posting their bio and handle and everything over and over again?

@teotwaki @randahl
Agreed, that screenshot of the mistake should have been redacted.

It's good to provide screenshots showing what happened, but making sure it doesn't contain any personal information is important, also after you've been called out for exactly that. The first time may have been a technical glitch, this time wasn't.

Randahl Fink 3d ago

@leeloo @teotwaki I understand your concern, and I have now blurred the post to avoid triggering a repeat of the bridge problem.

https://mastodon.social/@randahl/114872946452911714

punIssuer 2d ago

@randahl as I understand it, the problem isn't that Harriet thought they you were poking fun at her, but that she very strongly preferred her profile and picture not being posted publicly on Bsky. Which obviously slipped by you as you just did it again...
@leeloo @teotwaki

William Pietri 2d ago

@teotwaki I am not following this. What I see is a screenshot of a post with the profile photo in question blurred out, and the handle in an image that the bridge will not do anything special with, like linking the profile. What is the specific harm you are seeing in this post?

Sebastian Lauwers 2d ago

@williampietri @randahl He blurred it after I raised it. https://mastodon.social/@randahl/114873173562470917

William Pietri 2d ago

@teotwaki Ah, great. The later replies were not visible from my instance. Thanks for clarifying. @randahl

Kierkegaanks regretfully 3d ago

@randahl (tangentially, pride goes before the fall is from the bible)

@Kierkegaanks @randahl good to know

while being anti-theist myself surely the bible as one of the most studied works of knowledge in the world has a few things going for it.

saddest cabbage 2d ago

@saxnot @Kierkegaanks @randahl
Yep there is indeed some worthwhile stuff in the bible.
It's too bad the documents/scrolls/tablets it was all stolen from no longer exist.

@sadcabbage @saxnot @Kierkegaanks @randahl stolen? That's an odd way to put it. How are stories stolen?

🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦2d ago

@slotrak @sadcabbage @saxnot @Kierkegaanks @randahl The Great Flood was lifted straight from Gilgamesh without attribution for starters.

@ZDL @sadcabbage @saxnot @Kierkegaanks @randahl over 6,000 years. It's the same story, filtered. It's not like some Hebrew scholar snuck into a Sumerian library and stole the Original Manuscript. These stories are all the same stories told by thousands, probably millions of storytellers over thousands of years, some over tens of thousands of years.

@saxnot @Kierkegaanks @randahl the bible would would be an awesome plot for a tv series. besides faith and what not, the stories deserve an oscar

Jens Finkhäuser 2d ago

@saxnot @Kierkegaanks @randahl Not so much, because the main purpose of the Bible is to throw citations from it at other people, never to consider which might apply to you or your in-group 🤷‍♂️

saddest cabbage 2d ago

@Kierkegaanks @randahl
Maybe thats in the bible - I am not sure, but the correct "secular" quote is "Pride goeth before destruction, the haughty spirit before the fall".
Just checked and yes it is from the bible in Proverbs 16 v18

Kierkegaanks regretfully 2d ago

@sadcabbage @randahl there are so many translations that unless you quote the oldest available version in what is probably hebrew or greek, this nuance is moot

Shriram Krishnamurthi 2d ago

@Kierkegaanks @sadcabbage @randahl As the old joke (with many, many variations) goes, "If English was good enough for the apostles, it's good enough for me". The especially good variation (that drives home this issue) is "If the King James Version was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me".

Jyrgen N 2d ago

@shriramk @Kierkegaanks @sadcabbage @randahl It is old, but I will never stop feeling that ugly but oh so satisfying little bit of condescension about the people thinking English was indeed good enough for the apostles / Jesus / the Lord.

Martijn Vos 2d ago

@sadcabbage @Kierkegaanks @randahl

Interesting that it says "haughty spirit". The Dutch version (NBG) says

Hovaardij gaat vooraf aan het verderf,
en hoogmoed komt voor de val.

The famous part of that quote is the second half: "Hoogmoed komt voor de val", which in English would be "Hubris comes before the fall". "Haughty spirit" doesn't pack quite te same punch.

Martijn Vos 2d ago

@randahl @Kierkegaanks @sadcabbage

Checking this in Danish, I get

Hovmod gaar forud for Fald, Overmod forud for Snublen.

I don't know Danish, but assuming "Snublen" means "fall", this sounds to me like the Dutch "overmoed komt voor de val", which in English would be "overconfidence comes before the fall".

Matěj Cepl 🇪🇺 🇨🇿 🇺🇦2d ago

@Kierkegaanks @randahl

That was the first thing which came to me as well. „Pýcha předchází pád“ is the Biblical verse (Proverbs 16:18), which is perfectly common Czech phrase to use in such situation.

Long Shot 1d ago

@Kierkegaanks @randahl Weird, we say hubris comes before the fall.