Notices by switching.social (switchingsocial@mastodon.at), page 42

@rwa @amal

Just to add, running your own instance isn't quite as difficult as it used to be.

There are "managed hosting" companies who handle the behind-the-scenes technical stuff while you own and run the instance itself.

@mastohost does Mastodon instances

@support does PixelFed instances

@amal @pixelfed

Well... even the big corporations are not guaranteeing to keep your data safe forever:

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252459621/MySpace-data-loss-Botched-server-migration-prompts-user-concerns-over-fate-of-lost-songs

"MySpace confirms server migration caused the loss of content uploaded to its site before 2015"

"The firm has issued a brief statement on the front page of its website confirming that any audio clips, videos or photos users uploaded to the site before 2015 may have been lost during a server migration"

@amal @drone621 @pixelfed

If I recall correctly, in the particular case in the blog post they *thought* they had backups but it turned out not to be the case.

But yes, as you say, tackling this issue is important for the growth of the Fediverse.

Hopefully as time goes on we will start to see the best-run instances have the best track records.

Maybe instance owners could be more strongly encouraged to detail their backup plans on their "about" page?

@amal @pixelfed

It's called the Mastodon Covenant, it lays out the conditions for being listed on joinmastodon.org:

https://joinmastodon.org/covenant

I don't know what (if any) monitoring there is, but presumably anyone who breaks the covenant would be removed from the recommendation list.

@amal @drone621 @pixelfed

Well, in one such case the admin did a long blog post going through all their failings in detail that led to a large data loss.

Although the data loss was a really bad sign, I think the response was a really good sign, because it showed how seriously they took the problem and how determined they were not to let it happen again.

The worst instances are the ones that just don't communicate much with their users.

@amal @pixelfed

But anything depending on someone else's computer will always ultimately come down to how much you trust them.

@amal @pixelfed

The main problems have been on the newest instances on the newest platforms, where it's more difficult to know their track records.

Pixelfed hasn't been around as long as Mastodon, and it's only been semi-federating since Christmas, so there hasn't been that much time to judge how each instance copes with problems.

@amal @pixelfed

It's a serious issue, but to some extent this is true of any service that depends on someone else's computers.

However, you can mitigate this by trying to find out more about the person running the instance, what their track record is etc.

One useful link:

fediverse.network/yourinstancehere

This gives you an idea of recent uptime, what version the software is etc.

Also, on Mastodon, the joinmastodon.org site only lists instances that have proper backup plans in place.

Woohoo! It's #FollowFriday! 🍩 🍻

🔒 @protonmail ProtonMail: Encrypted email provider

:tor: @torproject Tor Project: Makers of the Tor Browser, which aims to maximise privacy

⚙️ @kde KDE: Development community, makers of the Plasma desktop

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@Karlitschek

Dropbox messing around with their users' computers?

Might be a good moment to switch to @nextcloud or @ownclouders

Woohoo! It's #FollowFriday! 🍩 🍻

🔒 @protonmail ProtonMail: Encrypted email provider

:tor: @torproject Tor Project: Makers of the Tor Browser, which aims to maximise privacy

⚙️ @kde KDE: Development community, makers of the Plasma desktop

👕 @plusea Plusea: Textile-based wearable electronics

🍄 @NintendoLeSite NintendoLeSite: French language news about Nintendo

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@rtwx @franz @Blort @Jami

Again, if you find problems and you want it corrected, give the developers something to work with: feedback, assistance, donations etc.

Free open projects that are free of charge depend on their users doing one or more of these things. With FLOSS software, it's not just in the developers' hands, it's in all our hands.

@franz @Blort @Jami @rtwx

If you've had problems and you want them corrected, maybe you could feed details of those problems to the devs?

The more info they have about bugs, the more likely they will be able to fix them 👍

@franz @rtwx @Jami

All I can say is I use it many times a week and it works just as reliably as Skype, across several countries. That's why I recommend it, because it is one of my favourite services.

I don't know why there would be such a big difference between your experience and mine, but if you want to give your feedback to the developers they might be able to give you a better answer.

@franz @Blort @Jami @rtwx

Yes, definitely. I think developers are just forced to work with what they're given though.

It might help if people from a wider range of countries gave feedback to free open projects, and/or participated in app development?

@Blort @Jami @franz

I've used Jami regularly for a while now and for me it's been as reliable as Skype.

But your experience may vary, because you are a different person calling different people.

It's difficult to say a VOIP service is "reliable" vs "non reliable", because there seems to be a lot of variation between people's experiences.

For example, I have never, ever, been able to get Jitsi Meet to work *at all*. But I know a lot of people use it, so I still recommend people try it.

@popefucker @Jami

Jami used to be called Ring, they just changed the name.

(I think there was a totally unrelated app also called Ring which caused confusion?)

If you're looking for an easy-to-use, privacy-friendly alternative to Microsoft's Skype, you might want to try Jami:

https://jami.net/

You can also follow them on here at:

@Jami

It's free, open and distributed, and available for Android, iOS, Windows, Mac and Linux.

It has no servers, calls are connected directly peer-to-peer over an encrypted connection.

#Jami #Skype #Alternatives #VOIP #DeleteMicrosoft