Libb

+1 for Waterfox

Hi & welcome!

They won't do much to help you find something specifically related to what you're already subscribed to, but those might still help find interesting communities. You may also want to present you new community there ;)

• !communitypromo@lemmy.ca
• !newcommunities@lemmy.world

FYI, it's the software Parisians public libraries are suggesting for reading on a computer (FR, they also suggest Baobab for Chromebook users). I don't remember them mentioning Linux at all but Thorium works ok on my Mint install ;)

I like that. A lot :)

True that.

It's nice that both parties are discussing here.

I read all of the discussion, I think it may be useful to point out that here are two different issues at hand here:

1. The debate around the question: should we not have or not have multiple similarly-themed communities since we severely lack users to make them thrive. That's technical consideration that's easy to debate, imho.
2. The other one is more related to a question of ego (No blaming here, my own ego is the size of the Eiffel tower ;), and is about deciding if it's ok to ban someone because they're doing something you don't agree with but technically is not against the rules AND AT THE SAME TIME it's about deciding if it's ok to keep bothering the admin/mods of another and similarly-themed community once those mods made it clear to you they prefer you stop doing it but you think they're wrong?

Those two issues should be dealt with separately, if anyone is hoping to reach any agreement.

Could the two communities thrive? Maybe, maybe not. They could both die, too.
Could they merge? I think so (because I don't see large enough differences between them).
Should they merge? I think so but not if one of them doesn't want to merge, it's simple. It's called freedom and respect.
Should they discuss a merge even if they don't appreciate each other, instead of banning and/or spamming? I think so too. At least in the interest of the two communities. Failing to do so would only reflects we're not better than some of those elected clowns we call our representatives... And seeing how crass stupid some of them are, I'd rather try my hardest to never look like them :p

A few more general considerations, keep in mind they're coming from an old fart that probably doesn't understand much:

• If I go to some place and the owner tells me they don't like I what do at their place. I will either stop doing it, or stop going there depending the situation.
  If I really think they're wrong, I may ask other persons around me but if none agrees with me, well I'm back to square one and I will either stop going there or stop doing whatever I was doing.
• As a member of both communities, I find it a pain to have two similar communities even more so when both post the exact same content because it creates more noise in my feed and because it forces me to waste my time and energy deciding where I will read said duplicated content and maybe post a comment. The solution is obvious: I will unsubscribe from one (for the time being, I still follow the two communities).
• Fediverse is about networking and non-centralization. It should not be about owning and dictating what one should or should not be allowed to do... which is what Reddit turned into and why I quit using it entirely.
• I know it's somehow trendy 'to be right' and to present the other dude as being 'the bad guy' the one that is wrong and that should be punished. At best, it's naive. Simply put, no one is the asshole because we all are at one time or another—and if anyone needs help understanding that, consider the following: we all need to poop and once we've pooped we all need to wipe our dirty ass clean. So, yeah, not only we're all assholes but(t), no matter how briefly, at one time we also all have our ass dirty. What matters is not that it's dirty it's how we clean it.
• We don't own communities or their members. If we're anything special it's their janitor, trying to keep it working and clean.
• I'm old enough that I've learned to not give a crap about sensibility, be it my own or other's.
  I try to not be mean but I will also say what I have to say and I'm fine with some people not liking it (or not liking me) as I'm fine with me me not liking what they say.
• I'm not fine with people insisting on convincing me I should change my mind and I should (dis)like what or who they (dis)like. My answer to that behavior is to block them. Am I wrong or excessive in doing so? I could be, sure, but why would i want to waste my time discussing with someone that doesn't want to discuss and only want to convince me I'm wrong and they're right?

I do not write much if at all about the world and the news. My journal is about what’s going on in my life, near me and in my head not that much further. Or maybe, it was about that?

With the recent events, the last one being the shift in EU-US relationship, I’ve noticed I was writing more about that kind of events and about global news. My humble attempt to try to understand stuff better and to get my head out of the incompetent shit show most news outlets have turned into, when it's not pure dishonesty and obvious lies.

It’s still a very timid attempt of opening my journal to the world, by anyone’s standards, and it's not really enough to seriously help me understand anything that much better. But it’s still a deep change. No idea if it’s something I’ll keep on doing but for the time being, it’s there.

What about you? Have you noticed a recent change in what your journal about? After some specific event? Or have you always tried to keep on with the world fast paced news flow?

If you have a public library nearby they may have a selection of various newspaper (and not just in German, from various European countries) you can read for free that should help you decide which one(s) you would like to support. And if they don't have any, feel free to ask for help: many librarians are more than willing to help people to be better informed they may suggest some leads.

I don't know many 'European' newspapers. Or magazines, for that matter. I would be curious to see what others may suggest!

Many newspaper will have a 'Europe' section, though. But then the question becomes: what is a political Europe? Where is it?

Beside the two caricatures of what Europe was supposed to be that have prevailed for the last 50 years or so—Europe is an excuse for bankers and politicians to screw their citizens more freely; Europe is nothing but a long past that we, its citizens of today, should all feel ashamed for. Both caricatures promoted and fueled with the enthusiastic support of our press, btw, the same press that just recently started realizing there could be more to being European. Beside those, what did it mean to be European say up until the second Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Simple test anyone can do to understand the situation: ask anyone around you 'who is the President of the EU?' And see how many have no idea, how many will give you some name of a person, or maybe of one country, and how many will tell you that there is no such thing as a President of the EU. Americans may have elected the most despicable, illiterate, racist monkey ever in their history, but they still are Americans first and foremost. What are we?

My apologies for that rant. Back to your question.

I would really encourage you to read as many newspapers as you can, in as many languages as you can. You will slowly spot the newspapers/journalists that give you some real valuable EU content and so you will know which ones aren't worth your time/money.

Do it at the public library if money is an issue (press is definitely not 'free as in free beer'). Or you can do it like I do with one of my neighbor: we both purchase a few newspapers/mags and we share them ;)

FYI, E2EE is sold as an add-on and only works within one specific folder.

What do you mean by public?

When I had to pick one I hesitated between, the Swiss Infomaniak (Kdrive) and the German Filen.io. I went for Filen because it offers zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption, but the Infomaniak offer was real tempting and still is ;)

You're right. I should have mentioned it, and mentioned even though I do my best to use Free/Libre software I don't refuse proprietary ones.

Thx for the links, I will keep that in mind next time I need cables.