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Github isn't a fully walled garden though (self.digi_fiefdom_required)
submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by ExtremeDullard to c/digi_fiefdom_required

I wouldn't lump Github with Facebook or Twitter because, at its core, it's just a plain jane git server. If you stick to core features, you can exfiltrate your repos at any time in seconds and move them someplace else. And you can interact with Github's git server with open-source, fully documented tools.

It's the extended features Github offers that lock you in - the social media stuff and advanced git tools. So if you want to give Microsoft the finger, use Github only for basic services.

Me, I host all my repos there, and I use them also to host videos and as Linux distro repositories (apt and rpm) for my packages: I make it my duty to use up as many Microsoft resources as possible without paying them a dime and without giving them any edge to lock me in.

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[-] evenwicht 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

The git component is the only liberated functionality on there. The most important service by GitHub is the bug tracker. That’s the trap. I will not be a serf for our lord Microsoft, so I am therefore excluded from contributing bug reports.

As a consequence, I do not report bugs on MS Github projects. And by extension, the commons does not benefit from my QA contributions due to that private walled-garden.

Github’s detriment is exposed here.

I make it my duty to use up as many Microsoft resources as possible without paying them a dime and without giving them any edge to lock me in.

MS would love you for that because they are profitting from your data without your money. I’m not sure how you can use GH without adding value to it. You could make a private project which you then use only as a git backup, but then I think MS charges for the privilege of private repos. But even then, I’m not sure the private projects don’t add value to Copilot in some way.

I think you would need to use Github as an encrypted backup of a project that lives in a liberated space. In principle.. it might be an unsurmountable effort to encrypt git contents. I suppose the fun part would be that every tiny change would result in a diff the size of the whole object you change.

[-] ExtremeDullard 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Well clearly it's not ideal. And it's not for everybody. But for the stuff I do - small, non-controversial projects that are mostly bug-free because I'm a very good programmer 😉 - as a place to stick repositories, it's fine. Most people who find bugs in my projects tend to email me anyway.

Also, when issues are opened on my GitHub repos, I fix them and them summarize them in the Changelog, in the commit comments and in the code comments too. So even if GitHub suddenly closed the bug tracker, it would be inconvenient going forward, but I wouldn't lose the history of why the code is the way it is.

Like I says, it's not ideal and you have to take extra steps to make your repos Microsoft-proof. But I really do enjoy the idea of making Microsoft pay to host my shit without getting anything of value from me in return.

MS would love you for that because they are profitting from your data without your money.

Not really. All my stuff is GPL-2, GPL-3 or MIT. They can have all my stuff for all I care, because everybody can have all my stuff. As for exploiting my usage patterns, I never hit their website, and all my commits are done at midnight every day with a cron job. So they don't even get to monetize that ☺️

this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
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Digital Fiefdom (aka walled-garden) Required

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This community collects stories, cases and situations where people are forced into a walled-garden to carry out a public transaction or essential task of some kind. As governments impose a digital transformation policy with no analog refuge, people are forced into becoming serfs in a technofeudal system that is subservient to lords (Microsoft, Cloudflare, Google, etc).

Well-known walled gardens include (but are not limited to):

(note I do not say X or Meta above because I do not recognize or promote obnoxious and detrimental trademarks)

Somewhat related communities:

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