Veronica Explains via Mastodon

https://linuxmom.net/@vkc

I've moved over to Ghost (@[email protected]) for long form posts, and GoToSocial (Veronica Explains (npub1ud3…08sa)) for most other posting. Please check the links and the pinned post for more details.

I'm mostly signed out of this account. My old posts should delete after three months. DMs here not currently welcome or read.

Web: https://veronicaexplains.net
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Last Notes

2026-02-06 17:15:09 CET

I've disabled new follows to this account. If you want to follow me on Mastodon/etc, please go here instead: [@veronica](https://veronicaexplains.net/ )
Thank you!

2026-02-05 18:12:19 CET

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I may reply to blog comments using the Ghost account, and we'll see how I like it as a gateway to ActivityPub. If it does well, I'll consider migrating away from Mastodon and to it.
So if you're interested in that experiment, go follow [@veronica](https://veronicaexplains.net/ ).
Beyond that, my plan is to spend a few months only using this account to boost my work elsewhere.
Thanks all.

2026-02-05 18:09:15 CET

I'm taking a break from using Mastodon. The experience here has been less-than-great the past few weeks, and I am tired of this cycle repeating.
In an effort to stay in touch, I've launched a newsletter at veronicaexplains.net. Future blog posts will go there as well.
I explain more in the inaugural post: https://veronicaexplains.net/launching-ghost-on-new-domain/
I have also turned on ActivityPub for this blog, you can follow it at [@veronica](https://veronicaexplains.net/ ).

2026-02-04 22:59:52 CET

Big mood today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgAvGT28lqc

2026-02-04 22:34:23 CET

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oh no, that explains a few things, lol. Sorry Fediverse.

2026-02-04 22:29:16 CET

I've instructed my server to start deleting old toots, and it's been consistently running at 90% utilization ever since.
I don't know why this is so computationally heavy for Mastodon? Particularly for a single user instance?

2026-02-04 22:01:22 CET

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it's not my job to be the standard bearer for this situation though, and I need to take the steps needed to protect my safety and the safety of folks around me.

2026-02-04 16:46:28 CET

I deleted most posts from yesterday. I got some DMs overnight that folks are harassing people from my replies (via DMs).
I'm so sorry.

2026-02-04 07:06:35 CET

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I was there for about a year and deleted my account, the list of accounts you block is 100% public and folks were harassing me over it.

2026-02-04 06:46:52 CET

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I cannot block at the scale this would take. I can quit though!

2026-02-04 06:40:00 CET

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I'm very sorry if I misunderstood your post. I've been talking about the misogyny in comments today, and how telling women to "just block them" isn't useful advice. Your post coincided with some others, and I fully admit I may have misread the situation based on that.

2026-02-04 05:16:50 CET

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thanks Gardiner. I know you've seen some stuff too.

2026-02-04 04:40:19 CET

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I think a big problem is that folks see "Fediverse" as "big Mastodon instances" and not all of the little actors out there who can ruin a day with hate speech, terrifying images, etc. A big part of that is the (often great) job of moderation, where dark corners are quickly cut off, but not from everyone.

2026-02-04 04:28:05 CET

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OK Matt, I'm going to assume a good faith misunderstanding of what happened today, and offer that if you'd like to discuss it, my DMs are open.

2026-02-04 04:15:12 CET

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really? You're doing this?

2026-02-04 03:18:37 CET

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Oh jeeze, there were plenty lol

2026-02-04 03:13:23 CET

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report as well if you see anything worth reporting, this is not behavior others should be subjected to

2026-02-04 00:51:56 CET

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I can turn off the features and watch my Patreon/Ko-Fi decrease, or turn on the features and get harassed. Victory

2026-02-04 00:51:25 CET

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In the case above, it was just text posts. I'm quite confident the load is from server requests from external actors getting information to see what's "trending."

2026-02-04 00:50:00 CET

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I share blocklists with dozens of other mods. I can assure you it's not as simple as "block the baddies" and defederation.
This problem goes much deeper than that, is cultural, and will require men to stand up to other men.

2026-02-04 00:34:56 CET

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I believe that means it's running above spec. It's a vCPU, not a dedicated CPU, so the alloted number is more of a suggestion than a physical property.

2026-02-04 00:32:53 CET

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it's just a standard Linode* CPU plan, nothing fancy.
*not sponsored but I've consulted with them in the past

2026-02-04 00:24:33 CET

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don't know. I'm not the biggest expert at Rails but I looked at the database once and I was doing something like 10K-50K hits every few minutes after going "trending" on .social et al.

2026-02-04 00:22:07 CET

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I don't think they are all Mastodon specific. The settings are called "Feature profile and posts in discovery algorithms", "Automatically accept new followers", and "Include public posts in search results".
My suspicion is that the load is coming from the first setting, pushing my posts out to the "trending" features of various instances.

2026-02-04 00:02:14 CET

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I think we have a table? I'm not totally sure the details just yet but I'm 80% sure we'll have a table.

2026-02-03 23:58:54 CET

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Oh my goodness are you going to be there?
I'm planning on it, the band was asked to perform!

2026-02-03 23:56:50 CET

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STOP TELLING ME HOW TO BE ON THE INTERNET
For gods sakes, I wasn't fucking asking for advice

2026-02-03 23:53:07 CET

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I can't do that. I make PeerTube for a living. This is part of my job. I might as well walk away from Fedi entirely if I defederate from the largest instances.

2026-02-03 23:48:23 CET

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yeah but when my job involves connecting with folks over there, that's a bit hard to do.

2026-02-03 21:15:01 CET

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oh that's fantastic!!

2026-02-03 21:08:46 CET

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YES! It always was. I was there... a kid but I was there and seeing it. It was creepy!

2026-02-03 21:00:42 CET

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you're quite confident I somehow gendered you in my sentence. I've read it again, I don't see it. Regardless of your own gender, what I said was that you have agency. You do!
You came in saying "what can you do" and I pushed back on that. Because we need to push back on that.
That's what I can do. That's *my* agency. You're free to disregard, lol

2026-02-03 20:12:23 CET

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when did I say that, lol

2026-02-03 20:08:14 CET

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I get things that are illegal if I retransmit them

2026-02-03 20:07:52 CET

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I don't *have* to deal with this. Men can stand up to other men who harass women.
And I know that "blocking is your friend", that's what I said in the damn post, lol

2026-02-03 20:06:48 CET

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I've yet to try it on Wine, I wish I didn't have to open up an old Mac to use it!

2026-02-03 20:05:45 CET

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this isn't helping.
You asked "what can you realistically do about it". What you should be asking is "what can *I* realistically do about it?"
You have agency. Expecting women on the internet to handle it? No.

2026-02-03 19:40:15 CET

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almost every time

2026-02-03 19:37:47 CET

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make sure to share it with your mods

2026-02-03 19:35:40 CET

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it's super disorienting once you get to a certain threshold of followers and your notifications don't match anyone else's experience in the slightest.

2026-02-03 19:33:00 CET

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I think they're saying I'm "nice" but not "hot" lol

2026-02-03 19:31:09 CET

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oh my god you missed the point 10000%

2026-02-03 19:30:51 CET

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I think it's unique to decentralization. If your instance blocked a baddie before they post in my replies, you don't see it and I do. In centralized social media, a mass of reports is enough to ban an account and get their posts mass-deleted. That just can't happen here.

2026-02-03 19:06:43 CET

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lolol

2026-02-03 19:06:05 CET

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Patsy's always right, lol

2026-02-03 19:00:05 CET

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I WAS LITERALLY POSTING ABOUT BLOCKING

2026-02-03 18:58:15 CET

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was I looking for a reason to block? Did I look like I was unsure about it? Was I asking for advice?

2026-02-03 18:41:48 CET

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always

2026-02-03 18:40:48 CET

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explain to me how *literally any of this* "started well."

2026-02-03 18:39:00 CET

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fwiw I *absolutely* read that comment as "sorry this place isn't for you, but it's great for me." Just imagine hearing that in a real world setting: you go to a library, a woman gets catcalled incessantly, she says "that's enough" and someone replies to her saying "I'm sorry you're going through that, but I love it here."
I know I'm not welcome on Fedi.

2026-02-03 18:37:01 CET

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naw, boost away lol

2026-02-03 18:23:16 CET

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job well done. A+ no notes

2026-02-03 18:21:59 CET

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I think that was 20 years ago now. That reminds me, I have to go take a multivitamin and a nap.

2026-02-03 17:54:52 CET

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yes

2026-02-03 17:50:34 CET

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yes, but men also need to stand up to other men when this happens. They need to change culture. Online it's easy- get in the way when you see it.

2026-02-03 17:49:38 CET

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yup, I'm also pretty new and trying to navigate it. Today's outage really brings this to the surface for me!

2026-02-03 17:38:01 CET

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I'm just an NPC in a video game to these people.

2026-02-03 17:36:02 CET

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also curious, ha!

2026-02-03 17:24:20 CET

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I haven't but it's on my list to try out, actually. It looks really cool.

2026-02-03 17:21:41 CET

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yup, damn.

2026-02-03 17:20:36 CET

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it's not unavoidable. It can be avoided by men standing up to other men.

2026-02-03 17:14:18 CET

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NO. STOP THAT.
Telling me "don't share what happens" sweeps this shit under the rug. I need good people to STAND UP and GET IN THE WAY

2026-02-03 17:13:37 CET

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no, that's not funny. It's disturbing. People send me creepy things all the time- I don't need to add to it.

2026-02-03 17:12:00 CET

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most harassment is. But saying "marry me" to someone who isn't a willing participant in that discussion is also harassment.

2026-02-03 16:48:59 CET

So I just figured out that 7digital sells cheaper 320kbps MP3s, as opposed to Qobuz that sells only FLAC files.
Most of the time, I prefer the FLAC files, but for something like a cheap best-of where I just want a taste of the band before seeking out physical media, it's a pretty good deal.
(Not sponsored, just think it's neat)

2026-02-03 05:09:42 CET

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Not for nothing, but the fact that they're making this in the Twin Cities again has filled my heart with joy today. We were so proud of our cheesy little hometown show and the fact that it's back here, right now, means the world to a lot of us fans.

2026-02-03 05:08:01 CET

Rifftrax doing new episodes of MST3K just crossed over a million dollars on Kickstarter.
It's day one.
Keep circulating the tapes.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rifftrax/rifftrax-makes-mst3k

2026-02-02 20:07:05 CET

MOVIE SIGN
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rifftrax/rifftrax-makes-mst3k

2026-02-02 19:20:37 CET

Immich is amazing.

2026-01-30 15:32:41 CET

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I **absolutely** can do all of my sysadmin tasks on this thing... when I can see the screen easily.
Having two windows open side-by-side on a 13" screen? That's not exactly fun for hours on end.

2026-01-30 15:30:08 CET

My first real "wriggle" with using Asahi has nothing to do with Asahi, but the hardware:
Some things are *really* hard on a screen that's 13".

2026-01-30 06:13:15 CET

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status 420: nice

2026-01-29 16:20:55 CET

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it was adorable

2026-01-29 03:20:35 CET

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it's the worst

2026-01-29 03:12:08 CET

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we're always asking for advice every time we open our mouths, Danielle. Didntchaknow?

2026-01-28 18:56:50 CET

RE: https://linuxmom.net/@vkc/115968311616355026
Wow, I'm surprised it's so even here. When I in-person shop I almost always *want* to get an email from the store. Even if it's 90% marketing, if I go there in-person I guess I just feel more invested in it.
#note1ykc…uxe4

2026-01-28 18:51:13 CET

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"players" is a bit unclear to me: when I think of "players" I think of a standalone device with an HDMI port that you plug into your TV, those almost certainly do *not* rip anything.
I stick with the LibreDrive-friendly devices listed in MakeMKV's forums, I have several of these at my disposal.
https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=79712

2026-01-28 18:48:04 CET

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I might be outside a return window for this one.

2026-01-28 18:46:54 CET

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This was a Christmas present, too, so it's kind of a super bummer if the disc can't be brought into play. I might be outside a return window and the content might be challenging to replace in any case.

2026-01-28 18:42:44 CET

OK folks, I'm ripping a (brand new) Blu-Ray which skips a bit in my standalone player. MakeMKV errors out each time I try. The factory put a visible scratch in it, and it looks like it's deeper than the surface layer.
I have tried:
* buffing with a microfiber cloth
* buffing with toothpaste
* ripping it on a slower Blu-Ray drive
Nothing seems to help. Short of acquiring other sources for this media, is there a trick you've tried to get troublesome Blu-Ray discs ripped?

2026-01-28 00:31:57 CET

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company gets hacked, email gets loose, folks start probing for other ways to use it.

2026-01-27 19:45:58 CET

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Fastmail now offers this as a service as well right from their website, I have a whole slew of fake emails for various domains and can spin up more in minutes. I always keep a list of them on standby for this sort of occasion!

2026-01-27 19:27:19 CET

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two of my favorite neighborhood stores can't even print physical receipts, like at all.
That's less common than a place like a grocery store where they have older POS systems (my guess is due to accepting government benefits as payment). But the grocery store still wants it for coupons nowadays!

2026-01-27 19:14:47 CET

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Particularly when I have throwaway emails at the ready, it's quite trivial to give out an email that I can easily delete later on. But a lot of the time, particularly for *in-person* shopping, I actually want/need the receipt, and want/need the coupons that come from the seller.
That's just my experience though as someone who lives in a big city where this tech is essentially omnipresent.

2026-01-27 19:12:08 CET

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OK, I'm gathering from a lot of the comments that "can I get your email" isn't a common thing in a lot of the world.
I live in Minneapolis, a major metropolitan area in the United States, and it's *extremely common* for most in-person businesses to be using a point-of-sale system that requires or heavily suggests using an email or phone number to ID each patron. Many businesses are quite insistent, and I'm not going to be a jerk about it to the cashier, who didn't make that decision.

2026-01-27 19:08:11 CET

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EVERY TIME

2026-01-27 18:57:48 CET

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yeah not here in the US, even if you refuse your email they'll use their point-of-sale system to connect your credit card to a purchase history at other stores. Then they use *that* email.

2026-01-27 18:55:33 CET

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they almost always keep a skip barcode behind the counter for this sort of thing. Folks are flighty and a long line at the register is bad for the business!

2026-01-27 18:54:22 CET

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young folks didn't build this system, we built it for them. Don't blame them.

2026-01-27 18:53:10 CET

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Oh my goodness SO MANY PEOPLE telling me they don't give a damn email, read the damn directions

2026-01-27 18:51:31 CET

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receipts and coupons, mostly! And marketing of course, but it typically comes with some sort of coupon.

2026-01-27 18:49:11 CET

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not me, I generally want emails from places I go in real life (receipts, coupons, etc).

2026-01-27 18:47:43 CET

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Here comes dudes saying they don't shop in the real world, lol

2026-01-27 18:46:44 CET

POLL: ok, when you're out shopping *in the real world* and you're asked for an email address *in the real world* from a place you're *really buying something*, do you...

2026-01-27 18:34:23 CET

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coupons!

2026-01-27 18:14:33 CET

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The grocery store: "No, we need your real email address."
Me, slowly turning into Foucault: "That depends largely on what you consider 'real' vis-a-vis how email works."

2026-01-27 16:35:22 CET

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some places have started blocking the "+" icon in addresses. I use a random email generator service so I can get around that for now, but I don't doubt some places will catch on to that as well.

2026-01-27 16:33:12 CET

Don't mess with Minnesota.

2026-01-27 16:31:00 CET

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that's going to have to work if I'm ever asked!

2026-01-27 15:00:40 CET

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I wouldn't cross a border with a cell phone at this point, lol.