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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.netMtoBuy it for Life@slrpnk.netBartering Apps
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    18 days ago

    With closed source apps, we can’t independently verify what is or is not being collected.

    But another, longer-term issue, is that because they are proprietary, if they became quite popular, they would very likely be sold to either a competitor to shut it down, or enshittified by adding transaction fees.

    As an older example, Paperback Swap was an incredible website where people could give away books in exchange for a credit, which could be exchanged with another user for their book. There were no fees taken by the website, the only cost was shipping the books via media mail (which was extremely affordable, as the books would be wrapped in printer paper).

    Paperback Swap was, at the time, a very popular website, with over a million books available. I used the service for many years happily exchanging books.

    Then it was purchased by Amazon, which saw Paperback Swap as a threat to their used book market. They immediately enshittified the app, adding transaction fees and requiring you to purchase exchange credits or ongoing subscriptions. Within a couple years the community was effectively killed, and now shambles on as a shell of its former self.

    Free, Libre open-source apps are the only long-term refuge from the constant churn of enshittification, as the community can always fork it to prevent bad-actors and venture capital from corrupting it.

    For those reasons, you’re likely to experience some pushback on them. We’ve been burned so many times :(

    Flohmarket could potentially be an alternative, though I’m not sure if instances can be set up to be purely barter.







  • There’s no requirement that they be unionized. Anyway, that’s unrealistic in the US.

    It helps, because unions will have strike funds to supplement worker’s income during the strike. Most American’s have no savings and are living hand to mouth, which may discourage them from participating in a general strike.

    For your second paragraph, I don’t disagree. Even with the potential for that, I consider it a mostly non-violent action, at least in comparison to a civil war.



  • For a General Strike to work, there does need to be a somewhat unified vision of what the strike is against. That means getting workers educated about the situation as much as possible.

    A boycott can sometimes work against individual corporations, but a boycott to make the government listen would require sustained participation from a massive section of the population, which seems unlikely to say the least. In contrast, a general strike only needs workers in critical unionized industries to join in to cause a virtual halt of economic activity (dock workers, train workers, truckers, etc). This lowers the numbers needed to be effective by an order of magnitude, and is thus much more feasible. History has shown it to be the most effective non-violent tool we have for over 100 years, and so far nothing else has come close.

    Prefiguration could be considered a 3rd method. Building the alternative systems we want to see and use in the world to lower our dependence on the current system facilitates the ability to enact general strikes, boycotts, and reduces the leverage they have over us to not enact resistance.

    A fourth method would be perhaps more extreme, like collectively destroying all of the world’s databases that contain financial debt records, Fightclub/Mr.Robot style. But that would require extreme coordination between established capable groups, and currently is not a feasible option.


  • That probably the realest thing that can be done without bloodshed.

    The most effective non-violent action we can take is to organize a General Strike.

    The country would be brought to its knees if suddenly deprived of profit and labor. That tactic was extremely effective in Chile in 2019, and had they not fallen for the trick of liberal reform, they would’ve had a successful revolution on their hands with virtually no bloodshed.

    If you aren’t in a union (or even if you are, it’s worth dual-carding), please consider joining the IWW to unionize your workplace (bonus: you’ll get higher wages, better benefits, and more time off if you succeed!) to strengthen a general strike if we manage to enact one.

    And for our international friends, you should join one as well, as fascism is gaining momentum globally. If your country isn’t listed below, just contact the IWW directly in the link above.

    • 🇦🇷 Argentina: FORA
    • 🇦🇺 Australia: ASF-IWA
    • 🇧🇷 Brazil: FOB
    • 🇧🇬 Bulgaria: ARS, CITUB
    • 🇩🇪 Germany: FAU
    • 🇬🇷 Greece: ESE
    • 🇮🇹 Italy: USI
    • 🇳🇱 🇧🇪 Netherlands & Belgium: Vriji Bond
    • 🇪🇸 Spain: CNT
    • 🇸🇪 Sweden: SAC
    • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: UVW













  • Mr.Do! Is quite fun.

    H.E.R.O. can become addicting if you don’t mind initially learning its tricks through trial and error (the harder path is always the correct one). It can get pretty flow-state when you get a handle on it.

    The early Space Quest games from Sierra are fun if you don’t mind using a text parser. As is Quest for Glory.

    Finally, a Mind Forever Voyaging by Infocom still holds up supremely well if you don’t mind pure text adventures. The short story included in the manual alone is worth the read.

    Edit: oh, and Street Rod is still a very fun american graffiti inspired racing game.