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Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
Jimmy Wales says his new social network, WT:Social, now has more than 160,000 members.
The platform says it will never sell user data and relies on "the generosity of individual donors" rather than ads.
Those who do sign up are added to a waiting list and asked to invite others, or choose a subscription payment.
It is positioning itself as a "news focused" place, and says members will be able to edit "misleading" headlines.
They will see the articles shared by their network in a timeline format, appearing with the newest first rather than algorithmically to try to appeal to their interests.
The subscription is £10 per month or £80 per year in the UK (€12 / €90 in Europe, $13 / $100 in the US).
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50460243
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Wednesday November 20 2019, @12:29PM (4 children)
What did you think about the Fram incident?
Do you trust Jimmy Wales, really, to choose an admin team that is not comprimised?
If philip cross is still allowed to auto propaganda post, last I checked, that doesn't give me much faith.
You cannot be 'oh just a little' propaganda, or just these people are allowed to, propaganda, itself, is always dangerous and the enemy of the human intellectual effort.
You tell me a lot by how much bullshit you tolerate, and whose.
(Score: 4, Informative) by ikanreed on Wednesday November 20 2019, @03:34PM (3 children)
I was completely unaware of the incident in question, because I don't usually follow internet drama.
But upon reviewing it, what I find is an as transparent as possible documentation of a relatively lightweight ban with a open appeals process.
You get nothing like that on any of the main social media sites. Twitter will permaban you based on a totally unstated basis with no meaningful appeal options. So will facebook. You're at the mercy of underpaid staffers following a guidebook written without your input, if not a totally uncaring algorithm looking for fucking swear words.
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Thursday November 21 2019, @11:20AM (2 children)
That is a difference, he seems at least to be trying.
I am more concerned about phillip cross, everyone knows this is a state actor and nothing is done.
And then, yeah, long term, I am not sure anyone can deliver what he is promising.
Could it be that computers are actually a-social? That there is no real way to form human bonds?
That transitioning to internet society is just the end of society?
We are trying to replace the real thing with a fake, and will go to any lengths to believe lead can be turned to gold?
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday November 21 2019, @06:47PM (1 child)
I mean yeah, that's all true. But it's also not the first time in human history the structure of social interaction has been turned completely upside down by technology.
Imagine being the first people to live in cities and build your entire survival off barter and trade, while living immediately next to people you're not related to.
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Friday November 22 2019, @02:28PM
Hmmm there seem to be some patterns that track even way back, cities don't work without trust any more than a software platform.
A car based system does not work without trust either, everyone 'trusts' that no one slashes tires or scratches their lambo. Or that no government agency remotely destroys their car computer because they don't like your politics, but this happened to me in the united states.
I saw this issue headed our way when I graduated in 2000, I wrote a book about it, for like 3 years I was obsessed with warning people that without some other basis of trust than the corporation or government, we were just building a prison. I have buy in to working on this problem, and a written record of being predictive on the subject.
For my own sanity I had to stop talking about it though until recently, but it sure is odd for me to hear this conversation now and all of the people who overlooked these obvious foundational design flaws back then are wringing their hands, whining how did we get here.
You cannot get out of a problem the say way you got in, and when you find yourself in a hole and want to get out, first you have to stop digging.
And they are not quite there yet, so down we go.
They are the ones who got rich so they should solve it, but Mr. Wales no matter how good of an attempt it is, appears to me to be using the same tools that got us here.