arcanicanis

arcanicanis, 2 months ago

I warned you against registering on a mega-server, meanwhile how many interruptions have you had on any of my servers? You're just using the same normie logic as registering on mastodon.social, and then concluding everything else is crap.

arcanicanis, 3 months ago

I believe there's just some tunneling built into the Telegram client, and/or some heavy DNS caching (or hardcoded fallback IPs) in the client. Thus any DNS-level blocks can be easily circumvented.

There's also the factor of: as a government, usually you can't just selectively keep people you don't like from accessing it, nor selectively keep people from accessing content you don't want them to. It's a boolean of: block [nearly] everyone indiscriminately, or block nobody. If suddenly a government goes to all extremes to properly cut access to Telegram, then usually the layperson starts to wake up a little that their government's gone pretty unhinged.

If there's active threats and motivations to make things more censorship-resistant, then things can definitely be hardened more in that direction. Just similarly as there's efforts like Nostr and such, which could be rolled into a polyglot ActivityPub server or similar, or the efforts with nomadic identity/data, etc.

Then conversely, if something is "too" censorship-resistant, then there's the crowd that complains about all the content they don't like.

I won't touch the crypto/privacy counterpoints, since others have already detailed out that subject. It is mildly ironic, because MTProto was originally mocked as the example of "why you shouldn't roll your own crypto" for the mistakes they made.

Also, what software have you written or contributed to? I only ask this when there's the pattern of rants of "omg everything is absolute trash, it's all utter garbage, wtf is this shit", and I don't see any history of someone bothering to fix any existing toolings themself, nor build anything better, but bicker as if they're someone that knows better.

arcanicanis, 3 months ago

but I do not write code under my Ulven fursona

Alright, that's a fair counterpoint.

my professional competence as a software developer is not relevant to

I'm not saying it's a matter of competence, it's more the: "all this shit sucks, I'm able-bodied to help fix it, but don't". There's already plenty enough of people that just open 'issue' reports on Github (and alike), and complain about how they want the software to work, and if not, that it's crap otherwise. While typically the core devs are doing it as a free passion project, and everyone else is just watching, and snapping their fingers at the devs, about "how it should be done instead".

I get some of the same complaints such as with XMPP. Where you've got able-bodied developers whining that they don't like the cosmetics, or menu structure of an XMPP client, while it's completely open source software that they have the freedom to help contribute back to. But much of 'open source advocacy' in recent years seems to just be people only caring about gratis ("I don't have to pay money for it") and nothing else.

arcanicanis, 3 months ago

the main XMPP maintainers have completely given up on mainstream XMPP adoption

Where? There's alternate efforts like rebranding and trying to provide a "WhatsApp-style" experience, such as with Snikket, last I'm aware of. Much of the apathy isn't about winning people over to XMPP, it's the: no matter what you do, no matter how much you pad and polish the experience, people will so trivially be herded to the next predatory VC startup that's trying to farm up another userbase to later sell off. It's just the same with all the people that herded to fedi from Twitter, were just as quick to herd from fedi to Bluesky, and then whatever else next. It's all crowdfollowing.

Meanwhile, there's absolutely plenty of large-scale use of XMPP in backend infrastructural contexts. It's just there's no "money" in the market of making XMPP clients that allow anyone to register/move to any service. You can't farm a captive userbase on a federated platform, so it doesn't get VC money. Thus the bulk of XMPP client dev is down to the devs doing it as a passion project, with some NLnet grants from time-to-time.

I don't know what red tape there is for XEPs, as I've seen a handful of Experimental drafts published with an assigned XEP number, by people that I don't see involved with any client/server project. After I get done with the bulk of my ActivityPub projects, I'll likely be trying to push for work/implementation on some of the sticker XEPs. I can definitely contribute to Movim, maybe Gajim, etc.

arcanicanis, 3 months ago

Really, read my article. XMPP effectively doesn't really have any stable, recommended XEPs for E2EE implementation. They're all either deprecated, or experimental

I thought I argued this before with you, but I guess it was someone else: https://were.social/notice/AerAv86jqk3DUjUWm0

And I have read and commented on the blog back here: https://were.social/notice/AdxSLrqbxDLtXlqFkm

Holy shit yeah, like, instant messaging is not exactly a difficult computer science problem. You'd think we'd have gotten the one application that can do everything perfectly and everyone loves?

But that's the problem: this isn't a technical reason. It's a user problem. You can cultivate a thriving community on IRC even, it doesn't entirely matter about protocol. It's people making up excuses, and instead using the worse of the options, and crowdfollowing to the next startup platform anyway.

We have mountains upon mountains of open source software, many of which tries to give users extensive freedom and control, but the users just keep falling for the next scam after another, always falling for the bait, always repeating this damn cycle. You could have a full open source rewrite of Discord, and then they'll just herd to the next shit startup.

arcanicanis, 3 months ago

It isn't necessarily documentation difficulties with did:plc itself, just maybe a lack of some prerequisite formats/encodings (and their justifications).

For example, with DIDs and Object Integrity Proofs in ActivityPub, I had described how/why each part fits together (all the way into Multibase, Multikey, JCS, etc), some history, etc in a primer on the concept: https://arcanican.is/primer/ap-decentralization.php (sorry for lack of responsive design, I need to finish up my CSS work on my unusual personal website). I'm sure there's probably some gaps in my overview.

Nonetheless, the details of DAG-CBOR and especially Multikey seem very scattered and difficult to find, if people don't know where to look. Also, previously from the ATProto docs, I can't remember if I could even find any section that mentioned where the did:plc spec was, or the mention of the plc.directory, unless I just overlooked it back then. I do see the "Identity" section does point to a GitHub repo on did:plc.

Part of why I've implemented much of it from scratch is partly to evaluate the totality of everything required together (as well as trust factors, as there are a lot of bad libraries out there that people put blind faith into), as technical solutions should be evaluated by the whole of all it's dependencies.

For example, in the proposal for Object Integrity Proofs in ActivityPub, just JCS (JSON Canonicalization Scheme; RFC 8785) is needed to canonicalize JSON-like data into deterministic format for sign/verify, versus bringing in a whole system of compacted binary JSON-like serialization with additional semantic tagging (to denote CIDs), mainly just for the sign/verify use. The bigger the stack is, the more burden it creates with porting things in new/uncommon languages.

Generally I hold the belief that something is only a standard when people are able to make their own implementation from the text of a standard, and not just importing a vendor's library instead. It's part of what distinguishes the crowd of XMPP vs Matrix. You typically have the kind of people that have actually tried to implement a standard themself, versus those that only participate as an end user (just importing a vendor lib, or parading about a cosmetic UI/UX). I don't believe something is a standard until there's at least two complete independent implementations (by separate development groups---e.g., not just some of the same Matrix dev team making Dendrite too).

The motivations with my projects are primarily self-contained, minimal PHP implementations that people can just toss on any conventional hosting provider (such as a typical LAMP stack), and be able to participate in the social web with very little technical knowledge (just knowing how to get hosting, a domain, and extracting some files). If something can work in constrained less-privileged environments, then it allows more opportunity for people to self-host.

In ActivityPub, the bare minimum needed for someone to participate is just a generic webserver that serves objects (that can just be plain files) served with a application/activity+json media type, and just some dynamic code at their inbox endpoint to handle inward activity. WebFinger could even be accomplished as a basic URL rewrite. Even the end user could handle delivery entirely client-side, as long as they have custody of their keys (and as long as the recipient server permits it with CORS). The rest can be incrementally built up as icing on the cake (access control, timeline generation, etc).

With periodically orbiting/skimming the ATProto docs, I don't have a clear image of what the bare minimum implementation profile is with ATProto. I don't know if I'm even able to experiment, or if I'm supposed to wait until federation is opened up (or if Bluesky even will open up federation with obscure single-user instances, and if it has to go through an approval process, etc). I don't know if someone can build their own PDS (and other components, if needed) and just start directly following anyone, without requiring any intermediate infra inbetween just to start getting a chronological timeline feed.

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

and the humoring irony is that just by working as an independent contractor, you skip all of that. I’ve done work for colleges, universities, banks without any degrees or certifications (at the time), because just being a contractor skips HR entirely.

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

Guess I can’t advance beyond a teenager by focusing on working, learning, and friends (sometimes) somehow; and I guess trying to advance in career apparently makes you dumber.

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

I’m almost itched by this now: the lack of time and health as being finite values, unless they’re just hidden. But nonetheless, each action should decrement a theoretical value of time. Meanwhile other poor choices could decrement health. Ergo, someone could die younger than the ‘finite amount of time’ (aka max lifetime) by poor health choices (stress, emptiness, etc).

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

There is developing evidence of medicinal CBD/THC improving psychiatric and behavioural presentations in general. In particular, there is emergent proof in certain key areas of influence of medicinal CBD/THC positively supporting challenging behaviour, for example in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Forget Ritalin, let’s try trialing weed on kids for the lulz, since experimenting with drugs on kids in their formative years worked out so well..

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

I assume there’s cases where things could be constructive, but I reasonably guess that if it becomes more commonplace, that it’d just end up as a “catch-all solution” just as Ritalin was the catch-all for any “problematic children” (and I know a lot of people that complain of Ritalin screwing up some of their younger years).

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

On a sidenote: did you curiously try requesting a data export of everything that they’ve cataloged on you before deletion?

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

I just do it for amusement, I did it when I closed my Facebook account like 6+ years ago, whereas it included things like: anything deleted, any like/dislike, friend/unfriend, any RSVP action on any event and any check-in, facial recognition data, etc.

Just recently deleted my Twitch account, while doing an export beforehand and: Twitch is pretty much an advertising company marketed as a streaming site. Pretty much every action is recorded, and with a [datetime, IP address, GeoIP, ASN] tuple on nearly single action, even logging things like EACH INDIVIDUAL MINUTE WATCHED of a VOD or stream, etc. Every pageview, and referrer URL, down to looking between the profile page, schedule page, and such of an account, etc.

Screenshot of data export with spreadsheets named: unfollow, unfollow_game, follow, follow_game, bits_cheered, bits_acquired, subscriptions, update_email, login_rename, update_password, two_factor_enable, two_factor_disabled, oauth_deauthorize, oauth_authorize, logout, login, connections_connect, auth_success_two_factor, auth_failure_two_factor
Screenshot of spreadsheet document 'minute_watched' detailing each logged minute of a video stream 'resoniteapp', with columns of datetime, RTMP client, user agent, and more

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

Yes, although I'd assume some of that to be summarized data, rather than a separate record for each individual minute, and for context, the columns of just this one dataset are:

time, broadcaster_software, browser, buffer_empty_count, channel, channel_id, cluster, current_bitrate, device_id, domain, flash_version, buffer_size, live, minutes_logged, os, partner, referrer_domain, referrer_host, referrer_url, stream_format, url, ip, video_buffer_size, video_height, video_width, country, city, region, hls_target_duration, asn, quality, host_channel, login, chromecast_sender, client_time, hls_latency_encoder, hls_latency_broadcaster, seconds_offset, subscriber_web, viewability_percent_viewable, viewability_client_height, viewability_client_width, percent_width, device_diagonal, app_version, backend, platform, content_mode, current_fps, app_fullscreen, app_window_width, app_window_height, chat_visible, vod_id, vod_type, vod_format, ui_version, vod_timestamp, muted, volume, mobile_connection_type, playback_mode, captions_enabled, quality_change_count, player_size_mode, is_https, transport_segments, turbo, user_id, backend_version, time_utc, player, staff, game, host_channel_id, medium, content, community_name, community_id, orientation, collection_id, vod_cdn_origin, vod_cdn_region, transcoder_type, autoplayed, language, chat_visibility_status, language_short, referrer, client_app, dropped_frames, rendered_frames, decoded_frames, content_id, customer_id, broadcaster_software_long, device_model, device_os_version, device_manufacturer, low_latency, browser_family, browser_version, os_name, os_version, hidden, auto_muted, impression_id, item_position, row_name, row_position, item_tracking_id, is_fallback_player, latency_mode_toggle, client_build_id, squad_stream_id, squad_stream_presentation_id, tag_set_long, tag_filter_set_long, tag_set, tag_filter_set, encrypted, clock_drift, low_latency_forced, vid_display_width, vid_display_height, estimated_bandwidth, chromecast_sender_long, average_bitrate, collapse_left, collapse_right, multistream_id, multistream_presentation_id, core_version, user_agent, channel_restriction_status, viewer_exemption_status, channel_restriction_type, viewer_exemption_reason, previous_tracking_id, charging, battery_percent, distinct_id, frame_variance, client_time_utc, is_mod, hls_latency_ingest, mod_view, origin_dc, location, consent_comscore_ok, protocol, video_late_count, video_late_duration, video_skip_count, video_skip_duration, airplay_active, thermal_state, sink_buffer_size, player_state, ptb, raid_id, player_framework, player_framework_version, in_background

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

Yes, not saying that broad data warehousing “can’t” be done, but the question of the relevance of it. Individualized minutes watched, at a specific time, [general] location, device screen orientation, etc and so on isn’t going to make that much of a difference to warehouse perpetually (or perhaps later summarize, but not the case in this situation) of something over 4 months ago when payouts have already been tabulated.

I can understand the scope for some degree of application telemetry for feedback, but the resolution of it and expansive timeframe of it feels like nothing more than apparatus to collect and sell data in a surveillance state.

And all of it bloats the operational expenses of a platform, unless it solely is propped up for the intent of data wholesale or ‘information sharing programs’, or just typical absurd VC startup spending.

arcanicanis, 5 months ago

Plus being that they are Japanese they are less likely to insert politics into their projects.

I think that’s likely going to be less of a case over time, as it feels like anyone across any demographic or nation, roughly 25 years old or younger, seem to fall into this pattern, if they grew up primarily on the internet, where much of the mass hysteria online has been their environment of ‘normalcy’.

There’s not much opportunity for passed down customs and culture, if they’re Terminally Online and/or hikikomori, of which many specialist developers fall into.

arcanicanis, 6 months ago

What I understand of film grain synthesis is that it’s actually sampling the frame-by-frame appearance and disappearance of film grain spots, the general size and pattern of it, filtering it out, and then encoding that output as if it were source video instead; and then trying to recreate the film grain appearance on-the-fly at playback, which can actually help obscure some underlying encoding artefacts, and also prevent it from appearing a little uncanny or ‘blurry’ if film grain was left out entirely.

In your sample, it seems like the film grain is very faint and fine, so there’s probably not a great amount to be gained from it. Meanwhile re-encoding some of the older X-Files with grain synthesis can have some pretty big filesize gains, since it’s usually heavier and larger film grain.

10-bit definitely helps rid of banding quite a bit, even if the source is 8-bit, because I believe it has more color depth to work with (rather being more constrained) for compressed representation, and weirdly may often even come out a little smaller, given most of the development focus and optimization seems to be on 10-bit encoding.

There is a bit of blocking noticeable at a few parts, but I assume that’s purely the source video, because it seems to fairly hard to see much blocking artefacts in AV1, unless it’s really potato-quality encoded.

I assume that was encoded with Intel’s SVT-AV1 then? Any specific encoding preset used?