Recent comments
self wrote
Reply to comment by smooth_jazz in These Dread captchas are hard to solve. (Shitpost) by MrBlack
Fair enough. ReCaptcha is the worst captcha service imo for the pure reason it's Googlefied.
boobs wrote
Reply to Trump vetoes colossal $740 billion defense bill, breaking with Republican-led Senate by Rambler
thank fuck, this means no dmca felony bill and no internet porn ban either. trumps saved christmas or something.
z3d wrote
If you're looking for an end-to-end encrypted chat app that also handles file transfers and doesn't rely on intermediate servers, you might want to look at I2PChat (formerly I2PMessenger).
It's had an interface overhaul recently and is straightforward to use. No signup required, no metadata to log, a settings folder that's easy to migrate, and cross-platform.
To compile, you'll need to have Qt 5.14 or later installed; the source code is available at: https://vituperative.github.io/i2pchat/
If you're on Windows, a pre-built CI binary is available from: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/wipedlifepotato/i2pchat/build/artifacts
z3d wrote
Reply to How do I torrent via outproxy? by Mustard
The short answer is "you don't".
However, if you add a clearnet magnet link or infohash to I2PSnark, you may be surprised to find it downloads if enough BiglyBT or Azureus clients are sharing it over I2P and clearnet. The bigger the torrent swarm, the more chance there's an I2P-enabled client or 2 in there to download from.
Rambler OP wrote
Reply to comment by HulkHoganBot in Based on the content in this forum I have decided to... by Rambler
Best account ever.
HulkHoganBot wrote
Hell yeah brother.
Rambler OP wrote
This was WWF at it's absolute peak. No way they would do this nowadays.
This is the classic 1998 Undertaker vs Mankind Hell in a Cell match that was memed into the copypasta:
"don't let this man distract you from the fact that in 1998, The Undertaker threw Mankind off Hell In A Cell, and plummeted 16 ft through an announcer's table."
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-undertaker-threw-mankind-off-hell-in-a-cell
hideyourlies wrote
Reply to Some new default forums. by Rambler
Some great additions to the defaults as many of these communities are fun to look at and read, and has a broad spectrum of interests for people who register to the community.
burnerben wrote
people are starting to realize the therapeutic advantages of psilocybin, thank god
Rambler OP wrote
Reply to comment by Wahaha in Voat.co shutting down by Rambler
Gotcha. Well, I can't blame him for turning the lights off it it's to protect the users. I know if that was the case he wouldn't be able to come out and say that is why, or at least, I don't think he'd be able to.
I'm not familiar enough with the history to really pass judgement either way. I just know a lot of people are going to miss a place they enjoyed for years. I always try to give the benefit of doubt to people, so hopefully it's for a good reason if it's not financially related. Or maybe it's for a horrible reason. We may never know.
Wahaha wrote (edited )
Reply to comment by Rambler in Voat.co shutting down by Rambler
I'm not sure if anything ever came of it, but I remember years back that there was some development effort put in to switch over to free software. Possibly related to https://preview.voat.co/ which is basically a test version.
Wahaha wrote
Reply to comment by Rambler in Voat.co shutting down by Rambler
There was a BTC address posted publicly and some goats over there did some digging providing conflicting information. I don't know much about bitcoin so I never ventured out to research deeper into this.
But it's fair to say money wasn't the issue. What I found most credible is that the admin was in a position of either shutting down or compromising the place and went for the shut down. Of course, since the canary died ages ago, lots of goats think the place was compromised anyway. If you subscribe to that the most credible thing becomes that the site served it's use.
I'm not especially unhappy, since it got kinda stale over the years, anyway. All the goats that thought the place was compromised went away so the remaining folks dispersing around poal, notabug and other similar places will likely stir things up in those places and maybe make things interesting again. At least I hope so.
The great thing about Voat wasn't that people called OP a niggerfaggot, but that bullshit got caught regularly and that sources to data was provided. Basically, people over there weren't sheep, but goats.
MrBlack OP wrote
Reply to comment by RichardButte in When you haven't smoked in forever and trying to keep up with your buddy who does all the time. by MrBlack
I can't do it like I used to do it but I still look forward to that nightly blaze or that good weather day high when I'm running errands and have the sun shining.
Rambler OP wrote
Reply to comment by MrBlack in Thousands of pages of cult-like numerology and scripture and analysis of paintings and color theory with no single explanation whatsoever. by Rambler
I feel like this would all make sense if I ate a ton of peyote and meditated.
Please do it and report back.
Rambler OP wrote
Reply to comment by RichardButte in Voat.co shutting down by Rambler
BTC isn't exactly anonymous. If he's ever posted a BTC address publicly, you can then just sort of follow the transactions around even though you may never know the true owner of one address to another.
Does he mention what his operating costs were or what sort of server setup he was rocking? Voat is/was a lot larger than I imagined, I've seen numbers stating hundreds of thousands of users. I'd imagine scaling (especially with whatever BS Microsoft licensing requirements would be) would get quite costly, but well within his ability if that rumor was true.
What was the end game with Voat anyhow? I see where they had previously had an angel investor and some tech money coming in, which isn't bad in it's own, but usually outside funding and investments isn't done based on charity because the guy with the money supports your platform. They usually seek a return of some sort...
MrBlack wrote
Reply to Thousands of pages of cult-like numerology and scripture and analysis of paintings and color theory with no single explanation whatsoever. by Rambler
I feel like this would all make sense if I ate a ton of peyote and meditated.
Rambler OP wrote
Reply to comment by RichardButte in What are some interesting YouTube or BitChute (or other) channels? by Rambler
Ohh, Weird History looks like it'll be a good one!
Rambler wrote (edited )
Reply to comment by RichardButte in Requesting some more information about Ramble by RichardButte
I was on Voat for a while but the stuff that got them thrown out of Germany was explicitly vile. I support peoples right to express their feelings, even hateful, but not for monkey to sling digital poop online.
The reason I'm cautious about the US is as you point out, data collection. You have some excellent points, particularly for a public site that allows anonymous access. But those who access the site through clearnet will likely have their IP's logged by network taps and can have their RL ID's connected to their anonymous profiles through data analysis.
Understood. Although this site wasn't launched in response to accommodate a mass influx of users after a reddit ban wave (for example) I'm cool with organized areas of speech that others may find distasteful simply because I don't believe de-platforming changes hearts and minds. As I've said before, I'll tolerate things that even I disagree with because this isn't my personal blog or site. It's just a resource that's available to all. People will still be who they are at their core regardless if they have a place to talk or not, in my opinion, and they might as well have a safe place to do it.
With that said, as you can see, this place is more about privacy, technology, news related to those topics, alternative networks, etc. I would imagine we'll see some Voat refugees here, and they're welcome, but there are many other established places like Ruqqus with more features that the average Voat user may prefer. Perhaps some of the more privacy focused ones will come here, I guess time will tell. Either way, if they want to join in participate in good faith then I'm all for it.
Regarding the hosting, I do encourage and hope people will use whatever method of accessing the site that they feel most comfortable with. I have actually been eye-balling a second location that is technically outside of the whole 5/9/14 eyes realm but I'm not sure how well the network would hold up to DDOS attacks and it is a bit more expensive for a network that isn't "better" and in a country that may be less likely to cooperate with requests, but I'm still researching it. The idea however is that I personally can not share what I do not know, regardless of location, and that using the available methods of access that the users can determine their level of trust. Originally I wasn't going to have a clearnet website available but figured it would be a good idea to have one, if anything, to encourage those visitors to ditch the clearnet and use something like I2P or Tor (for example) to access the website and to support the networks that support their privacy.
Exactly the reasons I made this post. I checked out the system powering Ramble and eventually came across a list of other sites powered by Postmill. Didn't seem like people I'd want to share an online community with. After reading your thoughtful answer it is clear the way you want something different for Ramble.
Yeah... To me, it read that discussion read almost like satire. Everything from being pre-mad and pre-offended by events that haven't occurred to silencing what I was thought was professional discourse. They're a caricature of themselves.. And although I disagree with that site on most aspects politically I have no problem with their existence and if there was a mass exodus of their users, for example, they'd be just as welcomed here. I don't have to agree with someone to understand that they have a voice and in this modern digital age, sometimes it's hard or difficult to have it heard. But I've forked the codebase, hopefully there will be enough use of this site to warrant some custom development for features that this community wants.
That's life though, I guess.
RichardButte wrote
Reply to When you haven't smoked in forever and trying to keep up with your buddy who does all the time. by MrBlack
Very relateable. I try to avoid this by smoking weed erryday.
RichardButte wrote
Reply to comment by MrBlack in How does a captcha prevent a DDOS attack? by MrBlack
That's basically it, all those request clogs up them internet pipes.
Regular sites often use CDN's (server networks to share the load), and a clearnet solution would have one server sort out illegitimate requests and serve CAPTCHA's while a different server that doesn't see any of the unwanted traffic host the site.
RichardButte wrote
Reply to comment by !deleted261 in Voat.co shutting down by Rambler
I've read somewhere that the BC address associated with Voat donations have over $100k. No source.
RichardButte OP wrote
Reply to comment by Rambler in Requesting some more information about Ramble by RichardButte
You're about to learn why I'm Rambler
I've not seen a single wasted sentence in your answer, it has been a joy to read.
Love it or hate it, the USA
Hate it. I'm not too bothered about free speech in the traditional sense, I was on Voat for a while but the stuff that got them thrown out of Germany was explicitly vile. I support peoples right to express their feelings, even hateful, but not for monkey to sling digital poop online.
The reason I'm cautious about the US is as you point out, data collection. You have some excellent points, particularly for a public site that allows anonymous access. But those who access the site through clearnet will likely have their IP's logged by network taps and can have their RL ID's connected to their anonymous profiles through data analysis.
There's also the remote possibility that there could be more direct clowning around by the US government, national security letters I think it was called. Not Ramble nor your host, but further upstream. It's sad to say but I look at US servers today the same way I used to look at .ru-servers in the late 90's.
Private undertaking. I started it out of frustration towards big-tech.
Respect. I have something similar but more geared toward social networking as a private alternative for friends (federerated, no walled gardens).
I got banned from the support forum and lost product support for the open source software powering this site because it's main coder does not support freedom of speech. She is a far far leftist---
Exactly the reasons I made this post. I checked out the system powering Ramble and eventually came across a list of other sites powered by Postmill. Didn't seem like people I'd want to share an online community with. After reading your thoughtful answer it is clear the way you want something different for Ramble.
Thank you for your thoughful and thurough answer.
Rambler OP wrote
Reply to Thousands of pages of cult-like numerology and scripture and analysis of paintings and color theory with no single explanation whatsoever. by Rambler
But wait, there's more! Here is the forum associated with the site: http://www.973-eht-namuh-973.com/forum/i
Rambler OP wrote
Reply to comment by boobs in Trump vetoes colossal $740 billion defense bill, breaking with Republican-led Senate by Rambler
Yep. And hopefully a revised version that's better for regular people pass.