For Google Plus users only: A Walk Down Memory Lane.
Five years ago today, Google commenced the shutdown of Google Plus. The process took several hours as different geographic regions of the world went dark, one after another.
Here is a blog post with screen shots of what our beloved social networking platform used to look like.
The weekend is here!
Maybe wet in some places - like here 🎯 NYC is set for a 'monsoon'-like Saturday morning, like a few weeks ago.
Thinking of deluges, one of the more memorable for me was on Plaza Mayor, in Trinidad, Cuba. (#myphoto)
Plaza Mayor is an historical treasure (from Colonial days), and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But outside the tourist attractions, life, as most places on the island, is far less luxurious.
Here is a back-street in Trinidad, not far from the plaza, where water flowed rapidly down the cobblestone, into a nether-land.
Once living comfortably on #GooglePlus (collection), there is a good-sized collection of images - and a few videos - from Cuba, from Havana to countryside, music, and Hemingway's home in between, (Still more to post, actually) But thinking of wet days now, and...
Good weekend! Stay home, New Yorkers, A great Saturday to sleep in, hopefully on a high floor. :))
#Fenfotos #Cuba #photography #Trinidad #Cuba #Cienfuegos #Kuba #rain #PlazaMayor #UNESCO
On MeWe's launching into "the social web", ostensibly in keeping with the notion of "decentralization" and now claiming it will become the world's largest decentralized social platform. [Insert sighs and face-slaps here]
There are a few problems with both #truth and practical realities of 'federation' or decentralizing, for a big walled garden like MeWe.
Disclosure: I have several good friends and some photographers/artists I 'follow' via my small (now) "followers" (nee contacts).
I've written at length about MeWe vs. pora* vs. "other" since the time my beloved #GooglePlus was decimated by #EvilGoogle.
So some of my long-time 'circles' of Google+ refugees divided up, some "here", many to MeWe &/or Facebook. #IIWII
This is what I posted just to my own small MeWe 'followers'/friends group, sharing here for those also watching or 'being there'.
As we know, MeWe has been touting changes, and has imposed a bunch on everyone, ready or not, like it or not.
Article (PR release) about the premise:
And MeWe's own press release ("liked" by about 50%) summarizes fuzzily (wonder if Elon Musk wrote this!)
"The Social Web is a collection of apps made by developers that believe in empowering individuals to control their digital experience. Unlike the current web, where big platforms control our data and digital lives, the Social Web puts people first. It provides a transparent technology infrastructure that places people and human connection at the forefront, making it possible for people to take control of how their digital world works. "
[Link: https://support.mewe.com/hc/en-us/articles/14542689640983-What-is-the-Social-Web- ]
I most notice the change to "followers" as opposed to contacts/friends/aspects etc. But their big promotional push is on "social web" with at least two deceptions here:
1) There has never been - since the first explanations/promises - a way to "publicly" post beyond the walled garden, individual posts. And since the forced changes, some are losing some contacts &/or access to groups, or other anomalies. Just know, the 'goal' is fluff.
2) Being part of the larger, "decentralized" social graph.
Again, not happening in the way others on the Web have gone to decentralized (e.g., "Federated") sites. The MeWe version, according to their statement:
The Social Web is a collection of apps made by developers that believe in empowering individuals to control their digital experience. Unlike the current web, where big platforms control our data and digital lives, the Social Web puts people first. It provides a transparent technology infrastructure that places people and human connection at the forefront, making it possible for people to take control of how their digital world works.
Apps? I don't and will never center my online experience around "apps". Just the user interface and the 'app'/software/web page to interact with others, groups, etc. is fine. IF they were to put all the groups onto separate public-facing servers (which may be the plan), that might be good for exposure to the public, photos, art, work, etc....
BUT.. there is now way this blithe bit of promotion "puts people first" is anything but (should be) embarrassing. What does MeWe put first now in the user experience? Antelope? Bots?
Anyway, I've not opted in, as there is no "there there", for me, anyway. I'll believe it when I see it that the "walled garden" has become public-facing with proper privacy/choice controls. I'd welcome any stories/reports about the new world of "apps for everyone" as the MeWe brand of 'open web'.
Meanwhile, I stay "here" for my usual - friends/acquaintances, interesting people and content.
I do like the groups for photography and other interests though I've slacked off in my contributions (time & space).
So... this is for anyone who cares &/or is curious about "what's going on" with all the changes to interface, notices, etc. Cheers!
From my original post of this, 9 years ago, and very fortunate for me to have a collection on Flickr even as I was building up a large collection on #DoEvilGoogle #GooglePlus.....
As a long-time fan of Tesla, and knowing his origins, I thought this was very cool. (Historic + pretty) I took the 'short cut' through this indoor mall/passageway off of Wenceslas Sq. to Národní many times. Exited by a tiny church. There's a small camera store in there too, along with Tesla and Chinese food. "Eclectic"! :-)
Reposted in 2016/updated today 'here' on Tesla's birthday - and still never added to my own large collection of images of Prague @
http://www.fenichel.com/prague
July 10, 2023
Happy 167th Birthday, Nikola Tesla ! (Born July 10, 1856)
This stained glass looms over the passage-way/arcade Pasáž Světozor in Prague, near Wenceslas Square.
This huge testament is not only to the man, but also his technology - TEchnika SLAboproudá" - which means "Low voltage technology". The state run monopoly, first "Elektra" in 1921, and then TESLA in 1946, was a huge electronics conglomerate, continuing through the years of communist control over "Czechoslovakia", until 1989. Now Tesla's legacy and vision are honored throughout the world.
Today he was celebrated at his New Jersey (USA) laboratory, which is becoming a museum. He is beloved throughout Prague, Serbia & central Europe, where he spent his early years. In 1884 he moved to the U.S. which was experiencing an explosion of inventions which changed our world forever: electricity, light, phonograph, movies, telephone, & automobiles with rubber wheels, to name a few.
.
The Tesla Science Museum is located in Wardenclyffe, N.J., not far from his competitor/nemesis Thomas Edison:
[Tesla Science Museum: http://www.teslasciencecenter.org/ ]
More from Prague "here", @ fenfotos.com and in a Flickr album. Evil Google. Viva la redundancy.
#prague #myphoto praha #praga #glass #czechia #czechrepublic #UrbanArt #Tesla #science #travel #photography #NikolaTesla
I had mentioned this arcade in Prague, in another discussion about Nikola Tesla, whose birthday (1856) was today, 10 June.
In another arcade/mall between buildings on Wenceslas Square, Prague, there is a huge stained-glass tribute to Tesla.
I finally managed to find my favorite image of that; it too had been swallowed up by the black hole of #GooglePlus.
I'll post it separately with its description 'fresh' as a new birthday tribute, rather than screenshot. In a moment. Tagged #Tesla
Meanwhile, this one here is a reminder of how riding a dead horse may get attention but probably isn't a good idea in general.
More of my pre-existing Prague collection on my own site: http://www.fenichel.com/prague +
Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fenichel/albums/72157644250984493/with/13962124582/
#MyPhoto #Fenfotos #Prague #DavidCerny #Praga #Praha #Czechia #Wenceslas #Czech #photography
It's that time again. that fateful day before April 2, 2019 when Google shut down Google Plus.
Raise a glass to the greatest social network the Internet has ever seen.
Meanwhile, in the race for #socialmedia evil-doing and disruption, after the undisputed "do evil" leader #GooglePlus ripped lives apart, and #Muskvirus rushed to spread #TrumpVirus and destroy the known world of #Twitter in favor of rant-driven #Muskville...
The King of Evil - #MarkZuckerberg and his #Meta #egomaniacal lies and data-scraping obsessions - is poised to do among the biggest evils yet... Why do people emulate the worst of worst ideas, as is the case in airlines, anything FB/Meta, now Twitter & FB... ?!!
Meanwhile, in Musk-ville....
While Elon Musk succeeded in receiving several days of ridicule after apparently sharing his "big news" of debates over Hunter Biden photos, as being (in his quirky head) some sort of new Mike (Pillow Guy) Lindell conspiracy theory, and/or his only 'big reveal' was him.
I posted this on Twitter, where I may not be welcome any more.
The story is about Mastodon, getting 10,000 new members per hour / 1/4 million new users this one day.
So that's a function of the Twitter exodus, and many celebrities, journalists, etc. are joining, quickly getting 1000's of followers, and often posting things like "I really lie it here! Bye bye bluebird..."
Not preaching anyone "here" to give it a look, as this is a nice, serene, spot, familiar people, easy to share & format, bla bla.
You now that. But I share this for those who rather like(d) Twitter, but can't be there now amid the hate, racism, disinformation etc.|
Remember the #GooglePlus Exodus? (I do for sure). Thousands fleeing Twitter on principle, or from disgust at what has happened.
#media #socialmedia #Twitter #Musk #Mastodon #Gplus #MuskVirus #TrumpVirus #ElonMusk #Fediverse
I've heard there are many people from that platform here on Diaspora. If anyone is out there who make suggest people I could follow, I'd be grateful. So far, the climate here seems very friendly and similar to those old days. Glad I fired up an instance this weekend. Probably going to keep it for kicks. Thanks to all those who have followed me back. I will try to write more in coming weeks
#WriteFreely to #Hubzilla to #Diaspora, probably will work
Top stories: US suddenly drops public transit masking; what we know about one-way masking; new subvariants are on the move; fully-vaxed healthcare worker reinfected in 20 days; Delta and United welcome back banned anti-masker customers; Coachella infections spike; how mild covid harms the brain; info on that covid breath test; US cases and hospitalizations rising; treatments out of reach for most Americans; lots of long covid news; and much more. ...
And, in other news, I discover where Violet Blue's been posting. Another author I'd once followed via #GooglePlus, dispersed to the winds when that service shut down. Actually, I recall her early days writing for local S.V. print publications.
Via jwz.
The Socialhome node https://socialhome.network/ is both widely federated AND searchable by non-members. It displays both posts AND profile pages even to non-members, which is NOT the case for Diaspora* pods.
If you're looking for specific content from a now-defunct pod, Socialhome may be able to turn that up for you.
You can search for a specific profile by the its handle, e.g., dredmorbius@diaspora.glasswings.com or dredmorbius@joindiaspora.com, for my present and now-defunct Joindiaspora profiles, using the site's Search feature.
My (now-offline at origin) Joindiaspora profile appears as:
https://socialhome.network/p/702b2f0c-0f8f-4e17-b308-24a43f9ebed9/
Note that the profile GUID is NOT the same as it would be for my Joindiaspora profle itself (d8210c0de509264f`). The Diaspora* GUID can be used to construct a URL visible from the Diaspora* Pod you have an account on and are logged in to, but not as a globally-viewable third-party-accessible URL. Socialhome solves this problem.
That is, if you are on Glasswings, this URL links to my Joindiaspora profile:
https://diaspora.glasswings.com/people/d8210c0de509264f
But if you're not, it won't. Glasswings users might try a different pod such as Diasp.org:
https://diasp.org/people/d8210c0de509264f
Instead, third-party visitors are presented with a log-in / registration page. Socialhome solves this problem specifically.
There may be additional features / API apparent at the Socialhome GitLab repo: https://git.feneas.org/socialhome/socialhome
Noting that that is a FENEAS URL, also likely to go offline in the near future, GitHub:
https://github.com/jaywink/socialhome
The downsides to Socialhome seem to be that:
.json to the end of a URL does not work, and I'm not seeing a JSON abstract in the raw HTML. There may still be an API.Photos are displayed but appear to be served from the original host, not separately federated. Once the origin host goes offline, photo links / embeds will be broken.
It's not clear how widely or deeply content is federated, though some should be better than none.
This option was brought to my attention by @Isaac Kuo in comments here.
#Diaspora #DataArchival #Federation #SocialHome #Pluspora #Joindiaspora #DataMigration #Archives #Plexodus #GooglePlus #GPlus #FENEAS
Three years ago today.... or thereabouts. Endings/beginnings. Google + (8 years and many lifetimes), Pluspora*, JoinDiaspora*...
"Context and Perspective"
Here's to you, #pluspora and #googleplus too +1
But #GoogleIsEvil Still. #StaySafe
My last post, to and on #Pluspora as a living entity. Now a fond memory, but living on with old & new friends, colleagues...
It's a state of mind, many survivors of #GooglePlus who assembled in a new land, a big community in a new world, diaspora*.
This was my trauma-relief, and stewing in the moment song for the end of G+. After 8 happy years, wound up "here". But now again:
I thought I screen-shot some images of the closing days of G+ with the #music and #signalflare and info posts. #StaySafe 🕊
For those who are still on the Pluspora Pod, final shutdown will be imminent in the next days. The planned shutdown date is 1 April 2022 so far as I'm aware.
The announcement and updates are here:
https://sites.google.com/talesfrombabylon.com/pluspora/home
Announcement on Diaspora:
"It is with a heavy heart that we come to you with this post."
Federated copies:
- https://diasp.org/posts/f09b32d07568013a3ddf005056264835
- https://diasp.eu/posts/f09b32d07568013a3ddf005056264835
- https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/f09b32d07568013a3ddf005056264835
Archives: post:
https://archive.is/cuztp https://archive.is/rHhLP https://archive.ph/h3aw4
Create a new profile elsewhere if you have not already. Diasp.org, Glasswings, and several other pods have welcomed well-behaved members. I can offer invites to Glasswings on request.
Tell others where you've gone, and where you've come from. That is, leave a FORWARDING address on your old Pluspora profile, and a PREVIOUS address on your new profile elsewhere. Posts tagged with #SIGNALFLARE will be easier for others to find as well.
If you have any thought that you might want to retain your old posts / content, archive that NOW. Note that given the passing of David Thiery, support for failed exports is unlikely, but you can at least try. Content cannot presently be imported to a Diaspora pod, but may be in the future. I've created numerous tools for working with that data described in posts below.
Federation will preserve at least some of your content on Diaspora*. This means that having followers on other Pods is highly useful. I've explored the possibilities and limits of this further elsewhere.
I've created tools and methods for archiving content, including automated submission of posts to the Internet Archive, and manual submission to Archive Today. Both rely on having a downloaded archive of your older content.
Follower / Block lists are not importable. You'll have to re-establish contact with people generally manually. Given that many Pluspora contacts were on Pluspora itself ... this may be complicated. The regular #Checkin posts are an excellent way to get back in touch with the community.
If you want your Profile Bio Page to be world-readable, you need to set that specifically at /profile/edit. Toggle "Visibility of your extended profile" to "Public".
If nothing else, you can save your Profile page at https://pluspora.com/u/<username> to the Internet Archive and Archive Today manually by visiting https://web.archive/org/save/ and https://archive.today. Do this after leaving a forwarding address to make your new profile easier to find.
Please do NOT delete your profile or posts if you wish for federated copies to remain available elsewhere. Unfortunately this is something of an unclean break. Deleting your profile will delete all your posts / comments to other pods.
There are a Pluspora Wiki and a Twitter group:
Wiki (https://sites.google.com/talesfrombabylon.com/pluspora/home)
Twitter Group: https://twitter.com/babylontales/status/1494863443043696642
The following posts offer tools and lessons learned in my own recent Pod migration.
Diaspora* Data Migration and Archival Lessons Learned
This is a summary of my discoveries and learning over the past two months or so concerning Diaspora* data archives and references as well as JSON and tools for manipulating it, specifically jq. ...
https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/fbf5b8f077f9013a6e0d448a5b29e257
Diaspora Migration Tips and Questions Thread
I’m going to be posting suggestions and questions regarding migrating between and/or preserving Diaspora* profile data....
https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/e0b4d980545c013a0103448a5b29e257
Diaspora* Migration & Data Archival: Finding your First Remote-Pod Followers
Federated content is likely to be found on remote pods from which profiles first followed you. You can find your earlierst remote-pod followers by going through your Notifications. Just note the pod.
This content may not be universally available to others, but offers some alternatives to archival in a pinch.
https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/feaae8207c8d013a5b1e448a5b29e257
As a reminder: I was not a Pluspora member, though I'd revived my Diaspora* profile with the shutdown of Google+ in 2019, so many, many, many centuries ago... I did move recently from the now-defunct #Joindiaspora pod to my new home on Glasswings.
#DataMigration #DiasporaMigration #Pluspora #GooglePlus #Diaspora #DiasporaMigration #Migration #Diaspora #Help #Tips #DataArchves #Archives #Plexodus
I'd like to fix a few of the omissions and a couple of mis-categorisations, such as the role of the description text in images.
Character entities: (c) (r) (tm) (p) give (c) (r) (tm) (p).
How to reference profiles. The difference between @Doc Edward Morbius, https://diaspora.glasswings.com/u/dredmorbius, https://diaspora.glasswings.com/people/aaf2303053e2013a00fd448a5b29e257, and {dredmorbius@diaspora.glasswings.com}, and when you'd use each.
Short vs. full references to posts. https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/978058 vs. https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/bb9efd507ee8013a5b42448a5b29e257 NB: that last long number is a GUID, but I'm not sure what the short value (978058) is, or how it is derived. Any guidance on this is appreciated. There's no mention in the Diaspora* documentation that I can find.
Host-specified vs. local-part references to posts. https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/bb9efd507ee8013a5b42448a5b29e257 vs /posts/bb9efd507ee8013a5b42448a5b29e257, and why it's necessary to enter that last as [/posts/bb9efd507ee8013a5b42448a5b29e257](/posts/bb9efd507ee8013a5b42448a5b29e257)
Reshares and various interactions with dead Pods / deleted profiles / deleted posts.
The Diaspora Foundation website, with Documentation, Github Codebase, and Discussion.
Interactions with non-Diaspora* sites / networks. These include Friendica, Hubzilla, and Socialhome, that I'm aware of.
Possibly, #jq tools for recovering source code of posts and comments.
I'm also posting this as its own post so that the revision itself can be reshared (a quirk of reshares...).
#Markdown #quickGuide #tips #googleplus #newhere #formatting #HOWTOs #Documentation #Diaspora
For the #GPlusRefugees out there:
♲ Filip H.F. "FiXato" Slagter - 2022-02-27 22:05:55 GMT
#SignalFlare: A reminder to follow me elsewhere if you want to stay in touch, as #JoinDiaspora will be going offline at the start of March:
You can follow me on:
- #Mastodon:@fixato@toot.cathttps://toot.cat/@FiXato
- #Friendica:@fixato@libranet.de@Fixato . https://libranet.de/profile/fixato/
- Overview of other profiles (which needs updating..): https://contact.fixato.org/
- My #Gemini blog: gemini://fixato.org
#GPlus #GooglePlus #PlusPora #CheckIn #PlusPoraRefugee #PlusPoraRefugees #GooglePlusRefugee #GPlusRefugee #GPlusRefugees #FiXato #Plexodus #JoinDiaspora
Yo, bitches.
#Pluspora #Signalflare #GooglePlus #newhere
With thanks to @Andrew Pam for this place to stretch my legs and @Doc Edward Morbius for the invite.
