MiSTer FPGA Forum

Given the increasing challenges associated with consuming content on Twitter, I believe it's time for other options. I've noticed a significant absence of references to MisterFPGA on Threads. So I invite the entire community to create and share their Threads usernames or any similar social media in this discussion. It's important to note that this isn't about categorizing companies as good or evil. Rather, it's about seeking a stable and reliable space where content creators and news enthusiasts can access real-time information, in addition to the existing forum and Discord channels which Twitter is starting to failing at pretty bad.

Please feel free to share your Threads username or any similar social media here so anyone from the community can find you easily!

Edit: Edited the message to include all alternatives

I'd much prefer Mastodon or even Bluesky* usernames. Given the utter lack of data privacy and the rampant data scraping you have to allow for Threads, hard pass.

Mastodon: @GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social
Bluesky: @greyareauk.bsky.social

• yes, I know Bluesky also has issues, but they're trivial (so far) compared to the data-harvesting nightmare of Threads.

Neocaron wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:57 am

Given the increasing challenges associated with consuming content on Twitter, I believe it's time for other options. I've noticed a significant absence of references to MisterFPGA on Threads. So I invite the entire community to create and share their Threads usernames in this discussion. It's important to note that this isn't about categorizing companies as good or evil. Rather, it's about seeking a stable and reliable space where content creators and news enthusiasts can access real-time information, in addition to the existing forum and Discord channels which Twitter is starting to failing at pretty bad.

Please feel free to share your Threads username here so anyone from the community can find you easily!

fortunately facebook's threads is not present in EU due to huge privacy concerns, so I don't really care

misterious wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 12:45 pm

Neocaron wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:57 am

Given the increasing challenges associated with consuming content on Twitter, I believe it's time for other options. I've noticed a significant absence of references to MisterFPGA on Threads. So I invite the entire community to create and share their Threads usernames in this discussion. It's important to note that this isn't about categorizing companies as good or evil. Rather, it's about seeking a stable and reliable space where content creators and news enthusiasts can access real-time information, in addition to the existing forum and Discord channels which Twitter is starting to failing at pretty bad.

Please feel free to share your Threads username here so anyone from the community can find you easily!

fortunately facebook's threads is not present in EU due to huge privacy concerns, so I don't really care

What is facebook?

who would even voluntarily offer up all their data to roby mcrobot face?

seems like some people like to get spat in the face.

To be frank, if you use a smartphone or even computer, it's inevitable that your data is being collected. We can't ignore the fact that popular platforms like Google, YouTube, Twitter, Meta and even Reddit, (which now appears to be selling its data to OpenAI), are involved in heavy data tracking.

It's important to acknowledge the reality that claiming your data is safe in any way would be deceiving yourself. Regardless, If you don't do anything illegal I don't think it makes any differences at the end of the day. If an app does the job you want it to do, I'm ok with sharing my data because my data won't get me in jail. Privacy concern in the wake of LLM and image models are also a bit cute.

It's interesting how the discussion shifted towards politics instead of focusing on the gaming aspect. My main point was to emphasize the importance of having a presence for MisterFPGA and its community on a platform that has gained 50 million users within just 48 hours.

Neocaron wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 2:48 pm

My main point was to emphasize the importance of having a presence for MisterFPGA and its community on a platform that has gained 50 million users within just 48 hours.

I agree that it would be nice for MisterFPGA to have a stronger, more central (everyone in one place) social media presence. Not essential - these forums are awesome - but nice.

I vehemently disagree that it should be Threads.

Threads will likely balloon because of auto-enroll via instagram.

There's no official-ness about this thread anyways so disagreeing is kinda moot.

I will never use anything in control of Facebook, Reddit, etc. I much prefer everyone use this board to share.

Google, YouTube, Twitter, Meta and even Reddit,

None of those companies require your REAL name, address, phone number, etc... and none of them can track you, and harvest your data like Facebook.
Facebook are THE worst of the worst companies on the planet for data mining. I would NEVER register with ANY of their services.

Mister stays HERE, where it belongs. You want to start some Mister crap on Whateveritscalled, then go ahead. Meanwhile, we'll all be over here.

Chilli_Vibes wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:44 pm

Facebook are THE worst of the worst companies on the planet for data mining. I would NEVER register with ANY of their services.

To all intents and purposes, Meta IS Facebook.

GreyAreaUK wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:47 pm

To all intents and purposes, Meta IS Facebook.

Yep, you're right. I can't keep up with how many companies Facebook have. Instagram, as well.

The reality is that, just like Twitter in the past, developers and communities will naturally seek out platforms where they can be heard and easily discovered. This is the fundamental purpose of social media platforms—to provide spaces where individuals and groups can express themselves and connect with others. I never liked Twitter, but I liked connecting and talking with devs and passionnated people. Forum have clear limitation on that social aspect to be honest.

I've been enjoying Mastodon (well, a federated server) for some time now, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a great conversation space - without the usual inconvenience of big tech.
Bluesky may be a good alternative perhaps, but I have no first hand experience there.
Full disclosure: I might be biased, though... I've never had a Meta (facebook, instagram, ...) or Twitter account, for I value way too much my privacy

I made a Mastodon account, but still not sure what app to use on Android; they seem to have different features.
For Bluesky it looks like we need an invite... if anybody wants to invite me I'll join

For Mastodon (on any platform) I can highly recommend 'elk.zone'

It's a web app and seems to work very well in both Chrome (Windows/Mac) and Safari (Mac). Don't see why it wouldn't work in Android either.

For dedicated apps, on iOS ‘Ivory’ is probably the Gold Standard. It’s a subscription app though. ‘Mona’ is a perfectly cromulent alternative that’s a one-time purchase.

One thing I have just accidentally discovered - on Mastodon you can follow a hashtag. Unsurprisingly, I found this out by accidentally following the ‘#retrocomputing’ hashtag. Nice!