will soon make changes to my microblogging routine. Probably some time next month. Here’s the alta vista of it.

“Social Control Media” is a term I coined many years ago; many people, even Wikileaks, have adopted the term since then. When I say “Social Control Media” I don’t limit myself to Twitter and Facebook; it also applies to LinkedIn (Microsoft claiming to ‘own’ your identity), GitHub (Microsoft claiming to ‘own’ your work/code), YouTube (video), and TikTok (crap). More importantly, as I’ve repeatedly pointed out in Techrights, Free software- and freedom-based sites aren’t robust to many of the same issues (volatility, misinformation) and even if they’re self-hosted, decentralised, federated etc. their existence is transient. Some sites or software will cease to be maintained within 5 years or less (in the case of self-hosting, a new version of PHP, for instance, can break the software you self-host).

Static sites with simple files are generally a good idea if you intend to keep your data, not only through the Web but whatever protocols will exist and get popularised in the future. More importantly, never rely on making “connections” online; make them “in real life” as real friends don’t need the Internet to keep in touch. I’ve hardly used the Internet at all to keep in touch with real friends.

Next Friday JoinDiaspora will go offline after more than a decade. When it comes back online it’ll be “read-only”, available temporarily only for users to be able to export their data and move it elsewhere (to another pod). All the connections will be lost, even if posts and comments are going to be preserved, according to the promises from the project’s core team.

Maybe I’ll fondly remember those 3,000+ “followers” I gained in JoinDiaspora.

What about the 2,000+ “followers” of Linux (TuxMachines)? I hardly ever knew them.

After thinking about it for over a month and having spoken to another person who has posted heavily to JoinDiaspora for over a decade (with many “followers”, too) I am pretty certain I’ll migrate both accounts to another domain, another pod. I’ve not decided which one yet, but it needs to be something that can last and keep alive for at least another decade. As I explained here a few days ago, I’ve already lost more accounts than I can remember. I don’t want to jump from one dying pod to another soon-to-die pod. As for self-hosting, it’s out of the question due to complexity (Diaspora became bloated; I tried installing it almost 8 years ago and it was already very heavy and complicated to manage).

For me, IRC provides a more reliable means of communication and it’s vastly easier — not to mention a lot cheaper — to maintain.

In a nutshell:

• Data collected until last month
• Death’s cause based on mention in the death certificate
• England only

Raw data as ODF

In a nutshell:

• Data collected until last month
• Death’s cause based on mention in the death certificate
• England only

Raw data as ODF

The misinformation (or deliberate clickbait) reaches new heights, as they provoke people into thinking there’s a fifth dose already (but that’s not what the article says). With writers and several editors involved, surely they knew it would bait people.

And of course some media still wants us to pretend it’s all (mostly) over and we need to get “back to business” for “the economy!”

Now it’s the weekend again. Almost 300 more COVID-19 deaths isn’t an improvement, but notice how BBC editors started shifting attention to another country/continent. The last thing BBC wishes to admit is the failure and the need to remask (or work from home, initiate lock-downs etc.) because “the economy” is more important than 20,000+ Brits.

Another day has passed, and yet another (almost) 100,000 Brits have been confirmed — with actual tests — as COVID-19 positive (the complete number is a lot higher). Many were hospitalised. Right now the BBC starts issuing headlines with questions in them… not statements of fact. That’s another sign of weakness, resembling COVID denial regarding deaths, belittling the lives of so many people.