Shannon Clark

What is the best site(s) covering the modern, best of breed, technology stacks broken down by industry/size/stage of company? Both for product development and to just run the business (whether online or retail, B2B or B2C)

@susanthesquark It’s only taxable if the payments were for services or for a side hustle of reselling items (and there you could deduct costs like the costs of the items etc). All of which was true before this change but people often don’t report it. For many this will simplify tax paperwork

@susanthesquark You won’t be taxed - it will be reported but if all the transactions are as you described bill splitting etc those aren’t taxable. Neither are sales of personal belongings at a loss (as the article you linked to shows a couch you paid $600 for sold for $200 via FB etc)

@winnig More Unix than Linux but yes and so far haven’t used any of that with Mastodon (not running my own instance yet - but likely will set one up in a few days - considering some business opportunities around it)

@rycaut Yeah, but didn’t you run Linux? (And I apparently already signed up for wandering.shop two weeks ago but forgot because it’s all been a blur.) 🤠

Mastodon has real “Put Linux on your PC instead of Windows” energy.

@goofrider @mmasnick Yes though what’s automated & what’s outsourced to underpaid (usually) workers reviewing endless often horrific content is not always clear esp if things like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk are used - my point was not to forget that those moderators are human even if largely anonymous

@rycaut @mmasnick The first-line moderation mechanism is mainly automated. Moderation decisions usually don't even get human review until you appeal it. And even if you do, often you don't get to talk to them directly.

@goofrider @mmasnick Worth remembering that the moderators on “big” sites are, in fact, also real people - but they are typically contractors working for a 3rd party, often in rather bad working conditions, and likely prevented from discussing their work by terms of their contract

@mmasnick I think ppl overly romanticize Mastodon's moderation regime. There's always gonna be trade-offs. There's no miracle cure, if it's better in some ways it's gonna be worse in others. But the most important difference is Mastodon admins/mods are real ppl u can talk to.

@textfiles @gmail perhaps trying putting the domain into toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/checkmx/ and see what suggestions they have? (that's Google/gsuite's own tool)

@gmail Account can send e-mail, just can't receive it.

OK, got a stumper here. Maybe someone can help. E-mail has been running fine to this gmail workplace/g-suite account for 11 years. About 4 days ago, stopped dead. Mail to this domain gets this message. ANYONE recognize this or have ideas? @gmail ?

@tonyzeoli It really isn’t too complicated. Most exciting tech I’ve seen in probably a decade. Also Wordpress is part of the Fedisphere (ActivityPub instances) that Mastodon is example of. I’m shifting most of my time there now

Mastodon, to me, sounds complicated and who needs yet another social media account? That name too. It’s just, err, really bad. (Me says to woman) “Come follow my Mastadon.” (She replies) “Leave me alone creep!”

@digiphile @MIT Let’s just say I’m exploring some ideas - haven’t been this excited about a tech in years and am seeing a lot of different opportunities

@rycaut @MIT Those are extremely specific predictions :) I bet you're right & that will bear out, over time, in parallel ways to how Drupal and Wordpress have been adopted & maintained.

I corresponded with @thelindsayist about what governments should be doing given the changes at @Twitter, which she's incorporated into an excellent article. I published my full set of answers, plus a big idea for @POTUS. e-pluribusunum.org/2022/11/19/how… (HHGTTG fans may appreciate this.)

@digiphile @MIT Sure. I think there will be a reasonably good business (or service of an agency) in managing hosted instances of ActivityPub servers perhaps with government specific additional features (like formal, permanent archives; integration to identity management systems etc)

@rycaut @MIT Great point! That may make sense, particularly for those with tens of thousands of staff. It might not be the right fit for state or local agencies. I expect we're going to see a riotous combination of approaches if there isn't clear leadership.

@digiphile @MIT I would think that potentially specific agencies might want their own instance of Mastodon (or similar ActivityPub platform) so like email all users/accounts there would be clear which agency so perhaps name at agency dot social dot is dot gov or similar?

Finally, explore establish institutional presences on Mastodon, in coordination with local, state, & federal leadership. It may make sense for one agency to create an instance to host other .gov accounts on, like the German government & @MIT has stood up: @bfdi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">social.bund.de/@bfdi

@EricaJoy Their local food banks (or food banks in other areas as well) sadly they always need more funds as usage has gone way up during the Pandemic. Here in Silicon Valley (one of the richest areas of the US) Second Harvest feeds 450,000 people a month (an 80% increase over pre pandemic

@jowyang It’s clueless on a lot of levels. I would never work for him (or any firm that took this approach). Twitter (and indeed most companies) is not a software and servers business - social media, advertising, communications is a human business that tech facilitates but does not lead

Your thoughts on this leadership letter?

Small tactic I’m using these days on Twitter - instead of clicking on a link in ad here I take a screenshot and if actually interested I go direct to the business (after researching further) - fewer and fewer ads being shown are even marginally targeted but…

The need for stories like this as rebuttals to bad pieces in the NYTimes makes me rethink my (digital) subscription. One I keep because alas there are too few news options left. Sad that such rebuttals are needed and indeed furious

every. vote. counts.

@winnig Heh I may have bought the last sale one the. Literally just ordered it a minute ago

Annnnnnnnnnd it’s back up to $18.

For those who use Amazon, an excellent anthology I’m in with some awesome writers is on sale for just over $5 in paperback. (It’s normally $18.) These sales tend to end very quickly. @ChazBrenchley @DeborahJRoss @AndreaGStewart @gabrielle_h @TheEdVerse amazon.com/dp/1897492715

The Twitter debacle is at least partly explained by Karl Popper's 'Clouds and Clocks' theory. I wish it was more widely understood, so here's more. thread...

@blaine @harper Eh not next. Been seeing those already for a while now

@harper No trade like a wash trade. Next will be ads for vacationing in the Middle East.

@wes_chu It was designed to make it easy for wealthier, white male voters (and later their wives) as well as older retired voters to vote while making it harder for the working poor, minorities and younger voters to vote (who less often can take time off from work or school to vote)

@wes_chu It is a relic that is considered important in part because it makes voting difficult so weeds out the number of voters (which allows motivated blocks ie parties to have a greater influence than their actual numbers) ie part of the sad history in this country of barriers to voting

I don't understand allure of antiquated in-person voting. What is actual benefit of forcing people take day off work, go to place, stand in line for hours-time better spent w/ family-just to vote. It's not more secure & is way more expensive. We should switch to mail-only voting