I never joined any social media to begin with

Story: I’m finally free of all social media servicesTotal Replies: 10
Author Content
cmost

Jan 11, 2016
4:31 PM EDT
I couldn't agree with the author of this article more! The only difference between he and I is that I saw these social networking services for the time wasting, mind numbing, garbage spewing, personal information sucking pieces of vapidware that they are from the very beginning. That the general public is so addicted to these sites is astounding and they are breeding new generations of narcissistic "look at me me me me" idiots who have no social skills to speak of. I can only hope that more and more people wake up to the fact that these services are not for their benefit and pull the plug.
vainrveenr

Jan 11, 2016
7:16 PM EDT
Quoting:That the general public is so addicted to these sites is astounding and they are breeding new generations of narcissistic "look at me me me me" idiots who have no social skills to speak of. I can only hope that more and more people wake up to the fact that these services are not for their benefit and pull the plug.


While not necessarily intended for the general public, the diaspora* Project is still around and may still be of use to some.

Here is the main excerpt from Diaspora's introductory Welcome page:
Quoting:Welcome to diaspora*

The online social world where you are in control

diaspora* is based on three key philosophies:

Decentralization Freedom Privacy


Before Diaspora founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy's untimely death back in November of 2011 (as posted here at LXer), perhaps some longtime LXer readers may recall the following Diaspora-related posts:

Diaspora: Freedom in the Cloud?, Diaspora, The Open Facebook Alternative, Soars Past $50,000 In Micro-Funding (incidentally, posted by this very commentator) , Diaspora: The Future of Free Software Funding?, Diaspora coming, Diaspora Open Sources Social Networking, Source code released for Diaspora, an open source, distributed alternative to Facebook, Installing Diaspora preview on Ubuntu 10.04, Open social networking: A look at the Diaspora pre-alpha code, Diaspora Contributor Agreement Troubling, Hands-on: a first look at Diaspora's private alpha test, Diaspora in Pictures: A Candid Walkthrough in Alpha, and A First Look At Diaspora – The Open Social Network.

Since the Diaspora founder's untimely demise over four years ago, here are the majority of Diaspora-related LXer posts: Distributed Social Network for Everyone ?, Occupy Diaspora, Diaspora slowly becoming a community-run project, but is it too late?, Learning from Diaspora, and Why Not Diaspora?.



One might wonder how many LXer readers are still using Diaspora, assuming they haven't altogether completely abandoned social media sites ??



dotmatrix

Jan 11, 2016
8:53 PM EDT
@vainrveenr:

There's also GNU Social:

http://gnu.io/social/
kikinovak

Jan 12, 2016
5:10 AM EDT
Social media are just tools. It depends on what you do with it. As far as I'm concerned, I've found long lost friends and even the odd job via social media.
dotmatrix

Jan 12, 2016
10:25 AM EDT
@kikinovak:

>Social media are just tools.

I disagree. Social media platforms are run by organizations. These organizations extract cash from the information stream. So, social media are tools that are paid for with personal information. They are not 'just tools', nor are they free.

The article author asks in a prior post*:

"Why can't I just pay for the access up front rather than with PII?" I think this is a great question.

LXer is social media. I'm here because I support LXer. Although it would be good if they chose a non-Google ad provider.

*prior: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/224208/index.html
bob

Jan 12, 2016
11:30 AM EDT
@dotmatrix:

Actually, I've also become disillusioned with Google AdSense. We placed a single Google ad on LXer with the hope that it might "pay the electric bill". In fact, the amount of revenue it brings in is only a tiny fraction of what it costs to run LXer. And that one ad brings with it an objectionable amount of tracking links which people like you and me must deal with.

So, as of today, LXer no longer carries a Google AdSense ad. We will in the days/weeks ahead look for an alternative, but for now LXer is ad free.

Bob Whitinger

Publisher, LXer
jimlynch

Jan 12, 2016
11:35 AM EDT
Bob, I did the same thing on my blog as as far as Google Adsense ads go. See my post here: http://jimlynch.com/internet/why-i-removed-googles-adsense-a...

It just ended up being not worth having Adsense on my blog. Like you said, too many trackers and not enough money being generated by the ad. Plus the other reasons I listed.

I've been using Amazon affiliate links, and that might be worth trying. Perhaps the native ad related products widgets at the end of each post might for Lxer? Plus a text link at the top where the adsense ad was?
dotmatrix

Jan 12, 2016
12:50 PM EDT
>So, as of today, LXer no longer carries a Google AdSense ad. We will in the days/weeks ahead look for an alternative, but for now LXer is ad free.

I don't have much to give, but I'll be happy to contribute a few dollars between ad providers.

Many GNU websites are starting to include a bitcoin address for donations and paypal isn't a terrible option. If either of these two are posted, it may make contributing cash donations fairly painless for those of us who may be willing to do so in order to keep LXer up and running.
skelband

Jan 12, 2016
1:16 PM EDT
Me also
jdixon

Jan 12, 2016
1:36 PM EDT
> I've been using Amazon affiliate links, and that might be worth trying

Definitely worth considering. It's a shame O'Reilly doesn't have a similar option.

I doubt anyone would mind a reasonably sized and placed tip jar either.
jimlynch

Jan 12, 2016
1:39 PM EDT
O'Reilly has an Amazon store page set up that could be used as an affiliate link:

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_359977582_3?ie=UTF8&nod...

Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]

Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!