As a software dev, I don't think there really is a better way. One thing you could do to avoid this is to install a second drive and boot to completely different OSes. You could boot to a Linux drive for personal stuff, and only use Windows for gaming.

These gaming companies are pretty aware that they go bankrupt if they either get a reputation for abusing anti-chrst data OR are full of cheaters. They have some incentive to use data ethically. But it's still a good thing to keep an eye on.

https://takeout.google.com

Download your data while you still can.

Advertise. And Geocaching is a great way to do it.

I’d recommend a post in the community encouraging people to put a url and/or QR code into some geocaches. Maybe with a sticky at the top of the community that explains what Lemmy is.

Consider the point of view of a person who finds the QR code in the geocache.

If you can open it, they can open it. There’s not much of a point if it’s something you can undo.

Yeah, this is probably the way I’d go about it. Dedicated hard drive, separate/no network access, no access to other files. Who cares if it is malware if it can’t get to anything.

The four day head start thing being bullshit was a good point. But yeah, I’m not likely to pirate an executable any time soon.

It’s worth thinking about what you’re putting out there, but you’re right. This isn’t a Threads specific thing.

You’re putting these posts on the internet. You should expect everyone to read them, including Threads and Google and Putin and Kim Jong Un. That’s kind of the idea of public posting. They don’t even need an API to do that.

If you’re using Windows, just make sure file extensions are visible and that your file isn’t named Movie.mp4.exe

I mean, in the screenshot the posts are less than ten minutes old. Saying “completely unmoderated” is a bit harsh for that kind of timeframe.

I know someone who’s pirated books and then donated directly to the author or signed up for their Patreon for a few months.

I switched this week.

Where are savings rates higher than 4%?

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/i-bonds/

Put 10k here. Make a free $1200 over those three years.

Which is kind of mandatory for how they’ve designed Lemmy. If you share upvotes between instances, then you’ve gotta provide sources. Otherwise it’s too easy for one instance to manipulate all the others.

You could not share upvotes between instances, but that would really damage small instances. Imagine going to a small instance and instead of the Reddit front page you get the Reddit new page.

Is it, though? It’s intended to be a public forum either way. As the MPAA and RIAA should have learned, you can’t really keep a public secret.

Using Discord just makes that transparent. You’re absolutely being spied on, instead of jumping through a bunch of hoops to give yourselves false confidence that you’re not being spied on.

Sure. It’s an easy gotcha. But if you consider it a bit more it makes sense.

Thanks, and good luck. The only parting thought is that if you don’t want the public to have that data (and you may have a point), I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving it to Meta or Twitter either.

Then give other admins the raw upvote/downvote data

You can’t do this part. It makes it way too easy to just say “This post, -1000. This (shill) post, +1000.” Having to put names to those thousand votes makes a difference. A hash really doesn’t, as a hash isn’t hard to fake. The other solution is like mastodon, where your votes only count on your own instance. That decision would basically kill small instances of Lemmy, so I can understand why they didn’t go that direction.

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed the difference between Reddit’s Hot and New, but it’s extremely dramatic. Votes are important, and that makes it hard to effectively not use them on smaller instances.

clearly there should be ways to do it

Your votes on Reddit are public to Reddit admins. On Lemmy anyone can be an admin.

Giving vote totals without names makes the system ripe for fraud and abuse. In real life votes the decision to make votes public or private is a major one. In a system like Lemmy, the problems with private votes are exaggerated, and the problems with public votes are much smaller. Your Lemmy name shouldn’t be tied to your real name. It’s unlikely anyone is going to coerce your vote like they might coerce your political vote.

If you’re concerned about anonymity, maybe use more than one name or a different name so that your account isn’t so easily tied back to you.

The purpose behind having votes be more public is to have some kind of reputation behind those votes. It’s still possible to shill, but it requires more depth and and effort, and the shills may still be discovered if there are too many.

then I will simply not use the site

Maybe that’s what you should do. But don’t do it as a protest. Do it because you don’t want to share that data publicly.

The entire point of social media is sharing things publicly. If you’re worried about people collecting that data, then you shouldn’t have put it in public.

There aren’t good ways to keep a public secret. That’s inherent to how information works and not a failing of ActivityPub. It’s the same reason media will never stop being pirated. If I can see/hear it, I can repeat it.

It’s a lot easier to fake a hash than a username. If I’m an instance owner and I suspect another instance of this, I can grab a random username and check their post history. Pretty easy to see rampant fraud that way.

If you’re putting something out on the internet, even upvotes or clicks, expect it to be public.