zagaberoo

joined 2 years ago
[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 12 points 1 week ago

'Toy' feels strange to me here. It's more of a just-works vs power-tool distinction. Sometimes people like tools that require you to RTFM because the deeper understanding has concrete benefits; it's not just fun. User-friendliness is not all upside, it is still a tradeoff.

You're absolutely right about hurting new users by not making the destinction, whatever label is used.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 3 points 1 week ago

This is one of the little things I love about Gentoo. It's rolling, but not bleeding edge.

Plus, you can opt into bleeding edge either per package or for all packages. It's honestly a flexibility that doesn't even require a source-based distro, so Arch could do it too.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 4 points 3 weeks ago

Plus you can plug the mac into itself for free charging.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 1 points 2 months ago (3 children)

What reputable VPNs these days offer port forwarding? That's a big part of what keeps me on a seedbox.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 2 points 7 months ago

There's no mention of anything like zero-days in that article. They only mention that it can target all major OSes, with no mention of cutting edge versions also being vulnerable.

Hilariously, the article directly supports my position as well:

The good news for some, at least: it likely poses a minimal threat to most people, considering the multi-million-dollar price tag and other requirements for developing a surveillance campaign using Sherlock

That's a big part of my whole point. People who don't do even a modicum of actual thought about a practical threat model for themselves love pretending that ad blocking isn't primarily just about not wanting to see ads.

If Israel or some other highly capable attacker is coming after you, then fine, you really do need ad blocking. In that case malware in ads is going to be the least of your concerns.

Attacks that cast such a wide net as to be the concern of all web users are necessarily less dangerous because exploits need to be kept secret to avoid being patched.

There's nothing wrong with taking extra precautions; I'm certainly not saying blocking ads is a bad idea. It's the apparent confusion that an informed, tech-savvy person might choose not to block ads that makes me laugh.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago

Huh? The point of this discussion is that I don't need to block them to keep myself safe in sketchy corners of the web.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

You say with such confidence. Is it so hard to imagine people can defend themselves with means other than ad blocking?

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org -1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Drive-by malware tends not to be zero-days though. I've stayed safe for decades just by keeping my software up to date.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 3 points 7 months ago

Of course; I'm just a lot more worried about the systemic problems of mass surveillance than any practical risk to me individially.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 8 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Nope and yep. It's an incredible tool, but it's got a vim-sized learning curve to really leverage it plus other significant drawbacks. Still my beloved one-and-only when I can get away with it, but its a bit of a masochistic acquired taste for sure.

Template tweaking, as I imagine academia heavily relies on, is really the closest to practical it gets. You do still get beautiful results, it's just hard to express yourself arbitrarily without really committing to the bit.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Who's barring cannabis users? Red Cross at least only has a problem if your decision-making appears impaired. They don't even ask you to wait between smoking and donating as long as you're thinking clearly enough.

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