<p>This week I read about the web becoming more miserable, and dysfunction in D.C. over tech issues.</p>
<h2 id="in-depth">In Depth</h2>
<p>&lt;InDepthNotes
    source=&quot;Elizabeth Lopatto&quot;
    title=&quot;I don&#39;t want to log in to your website&quot;
    url=&quot;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/28/23618804/google-facebook-login-ads-web-design-hell&quot;">https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/28/23618804/google-facebook-login-ads-web-design-hell&quot;</a></p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre><code>The title says it all. If I need to login or enter my email to read your article, I&#39;m not going to. I&#39;ll simply close the tab and move on.

&lt;blockquote className=&quot;small&quot;&gt;The web is becoming a miserable experience because some salesbro who is trying to meet his KPIs is doing stuff to marginally increase the number of paying customers.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

I get that websites need to make money and that ads don&#39;t always cut it…especially when there are so many like myself that block ads. But if I&#39;m just reading a single article, cut me a break.

And Elizabeth talks about that too.

&lt;blockquote className=&quot;small&quot;&gt;I understand that. Shit, if I&#39;m reading more than 10 of your articles a month, I probably *should* subscribe. Fair&#39;s fair, and writers have to eat just like everyone else.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

I do subscribe to some sites to support their journalism, but sadly I don&#39;t have the money, nor time to subscribe to everything. I&#39;d like to, but I, and many others can&#39;t.
</code></pre>
</InDepthNotes>

<p>&lt;InDepthNotes
    source=&quot;Ashley Belanger&quot;
    title=&quot;Biden helped draft bipartisan bill that could ban TikTok nationwide&quot;
    url=&quot;<a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/03/biden-helped-draft-bipartisan-bill-that-could-ban-tiktok-nationwide/&quot;">https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/03/biden-helped-draft-bipartisan-bill-that-could-ban-tiktok-nationwide/&quot;</a></p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre><code>I&#39;m not really a fan of TikTok. I don&#39;t have an account and I can&#39;t see any reason that would make me create an account. That said, if the government or other entities are worried about China slurping up all our data, I got news for you…banning TikTok isn&#39;t going to stop them, it&#39;ll just drive them to other sources, like the unregulated data broker industry.

If the concern is China, the best defense is to pass laws and regulations that target the data brokers. The laws and regulations can have the added benefit of protecting U.S. consumers from those gathering all our data, both foreign and domestic.
</code></pre>
</InDepthNotes>

<h2 id="link-blast">Link Blast</h2>
<h3 id="👨🏼💻-software-development--design">👨🏼‍💻 Software Development &amp; Design</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.planetgeek.ch/2023/03/01/myths-about-f-imperative-code-is-simpler-than-functional-code-no-not-at-all-but-you-are-more-used-to-it/">Myths about F#: Imperative code is simpler than functional code! No, not at all, but you are more used to it.</a> <em>(Urs Enzler)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://sixlabors.com/posts/announcing-imagesharp-300/">Announcing ImageSharp 3.0.0</a> <em>(Six Labors)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.joshwcomeau.com/career/clever-code-considered-harmful/">Clever Code Considered Harmful</a> <em>(Josh W. Comeau)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.ploeh.dk/2023/03/06/warnings-as-errors-friction/">Warnings-as-errors friction</a> <em>(Mark Seemann)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.claudiobernasconi.ch/2023/03/03/the-required-keyword-in-csharp-11/">The Required Keyword in C# 11</a> <em>(Claudio Bernasconi)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://geoffgraham.me/my-css-tricks-top-10/">My CSS-Tricks Top 10</a> <em>(Geoff Graham)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://begin.com/blog/posts/2023-02-28-redefining-developer-experience">Redefining Developer Experience</a> <em>(Cole Peters)</em></p>
<h3 id="🖥-technology--the-internet">🖥 Technology &amp; the Internet</h3>
<p><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/01/us-postal-service-change-of-address-fraud/">The life-upending flaw that USPS won&#39;t fix</a> <em>(Zack Whittaker)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2023/03/01/our-growing-tiktok-moral-panic-still-isnt-addressing-the-actual-problem/">Our Growing TikTok Moral Panic Still Isn&#39;t Addressing The Actual Problem</a> <em>(Karl Bode)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2023/03/06/ford-submits-a-patent-that-would-allow-cars-to-repossess-themselves/">Ford Submits A Patent That Would Allow Cars To Repossess Themselves</a> <em>(Tim Cushing)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/7/23629307/gigi-sohn-withdraws-fcc-commissioner-nomination">Gigi Sohn withdraws her nomination for President Joe Biden&#39;s FCC</a> <em>(Makena Kelly)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/24/1159286436/ai-chatbot-chatgpt-magazine-clarkesworld-artificial-intelligence">Sci-fi magazine &#39;Clarkesworld&#39; stops submissions after a rush of AI-made stories</a> <em>(Vincent Acovino, Mary Louise Kelly, &amp; Halimah Abdullah)</em></p>
<h3 id="🎮-gaming">🎮 Gaming</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/simcity-launched-a-decade-ago-and-it-was-so-disastrous-it-killed-the-series/">SimCity launched a decade ago, and it was so disastrous it killed the series</a> <em>(Callum Bains)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2023/03/06/cities-skylines-ii-annnounced-releasing-this-year">Cities: Skylines II Annnounced, Releasing This Year</a> <em>(Marcus Stewart)</em></p>
<h3 id="📈-business--finance">📈 Business &amp; Finance</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-fill-an-office-today-waive-the-rent-6ff4f9ec">How to Fill an Office Today? Waive the Rent</a> <em>(Carol Ryan)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2023/03/06/immigrants-help-fill-gaps-in-trucking-workforce/">Immigrants help fill gaps in trucking workforce</a> <em>(Elizabeth Trovall)</em></p>
<h3 id="🔬-science">🔬 Science</h3>
<p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/nasa-will-target-november-2024-to-send-astronauts-around-the-moon/">NASA studying unexpected performance of Orion&#39;s heat shield ahead of crew mission</a> <em>(Eric Berger)</em></p>
<h3 id="⚾-sports">⚾ Sports</h3>
<p><a href="https://theathletic.com/4285101/2023/03/08/flyers-prospects-artem-anisimov-ahl/">How Artem Anisimov embraced his role as a mentor to Flyers&#39; AHL prospects</a> <em>(Charlie O&#39;Connor)</em></p>
<h3 id="🎒-everything-else">🎒 Everything Else</h3>
<p><a href="https://armoxon.substack.com/p/the-case-for-shunning">The Case For Shunning</a> <em>(A.R. Moxon)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://ericwbailey.website/published/i-doubled-down-on-rss/">I doubled-down on RSS</a> <em>(Eric Bailey)</em></p>
<h3 id="🎵-a-song-to-leave-you-with">🎵 A Song to Leave You With</h3>
<h4 id="nothington---the-lies-i-need">Nothington - The Lies I Need</h4>
<p><YouTubeEmbed
    id="4sPZkQ8RPEw"
    title="Nothington - The Lies I Need"
/></p>


This week I read about the web becoming more miserable, and dysfunction in D.C. over tech issues.

Reading Log - March 10 (#21)

<p>Life&#39;s been busy lately and I didn&#39;t get around to posting my weekly reading the last 2 weeks. I&#39;ms starting back up with a slightly new format. I&#39;m going to have a few links that I go into more depth with my thoughts on and then follow it up with the normal link list.</p>
<h2 id="in-depth">In-Depth</h2>
<p>&lt;InDepthNotes
    source=&quot;Techdirt&quot;
    title=&quot;Everyone&#39;s Mad At Cloudflare; Is There Room For Principled Takes On Moderation?&quot;
    url=&quot;<a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2022/09/06/everyones-mad-at-cloudflare-is-there-room-for-principled-takes-on-moderation-when-everyone-wants-what-feels-right-to-them/&quot;">https://www.techdirt.com/2022/09/06/everyones-mad-at-cloudflare-is-there-room-for-principled-takes-on-moderation-when-everyone-wants-what-feels-right-to-them/&quot;</a></p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre><code>This all came to a head at the beginning of the month when Cloudflare stopped providing services for Kiwi Farms so it&#39;s probably several news cycles behind us at this point. I wanted to share this because it&#39;s important to think about how difficult content moderation actually is.

&lt;blockquote className=&quot;small&quot;&gt;The biggest issue with targeting infrastructure providers is that — generally speaking — they don&#39;t have any nuance on their side when it comes to remedies. They pull their services, and an entire site breaks. It does not allow for the more narrow targeting of specific content. It&#39;s very much a nuclear option.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

I think this is kind of the key point when thinking about content moderation at the infrastructure-level. When looking at services like Twitter and Facebook, if they want to kick someone off their platform, users can just go to a different service, or start their own like Trump did with Truth Social, cesspool it might be. There are even open source solutions like [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/) that would allow someone to quickly setup their own Twitter clone.

When going after the infrastructure-level, it&#39;s a lot harder to start your own infrastructure platform like Cloudflare.

I&#39;m not saying this to defend Kiwi Farms. That site was fucking awful and the world is better with it offline. But like Mike Masnick talks about, it get&#39;s messy.

&lt;blockquote className=&quot;small&quot;&gt;When we&#39;re talking about taking down entire sites because some content on them is objectionable, even to a horrifying level, things get really messy, really fast.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Who determines what is &quot;good&quot; content, and what is &quot;bad&quot; content. It gets complicated and I&#39;m still not convinced there&#39;s a good answer. It&#39;s often very nuanced and there really isn&#39;t a one-size-fits-all answer. It just gets a little more dangerous the farther up the tech stack you go.

Mike Masnick continues to go over the issues at stake here.

&lt;blockquote className=&quot;small&quot;&gt;The fire department analogy also got me thinking, because it kind of highlights how much of the anger directed at Cloudflare is similarly misplaced. The anger is basically saying “you need to remove your protection, so that we can burn Kiwi Farms down.” But, the larger question remains unaddressed: why does Kiwi Farms exist in the first place, and why is it left to Cloudflare to determine whether or not the public should be able to burn it down?&lt;/blockquote&gt;

And this is the crux of the issue. We in America are blessed with the First Amendment. The government is not allowed to restrict what people can and can&#39;t say. Private companies, however, through the same first amendment are allowed to determine what can and can’t be said on their platforms.

One final note, I do appreciate the response from Cloudflare. They too recognize how much power they hold at the infrastructure level and don&#39;t take their responsibility lightly. You should read their [statement on their policies and their approach](https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflares-abuse-policies-and-approach/) to all of this. They talk a great deal about how they handle sites and services that use their platform.
</code></pre>
</InDepthNotes>

<p>&lt;InDepthNotes
    source=&quot;Joël Quenneville&quot;
    title=&quot;Working Iteratively&quot;
    url=&quot;<a href="https://thoughtbot.com/blog/working-iteratively&quot;">https://thoughtbot.com/blog/working-iteratively&quot;</a></p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre><code>I thought this was a good article looking at how we as developers can improve how we write code.

&lt;blockquote className=&quot;small&quot;&gt;Before even getting into code, try to break your features into smaller chunks. What’s the smallest incremental amount of value you can ship to customers? This allows you to ship and get feedback faster while also giving you more flexibility to pause and shift focus to other priorities.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

This is definitely something I’ve done more of as I have grown as a software developer. In my early days I was very much just of the mind to “start writing code” and see where things go. Nowadays, both at work and on side projects, I try to slow things down and break up tasks into smaller chunks.

Ironically, by slowing things down up front, I’ve found it ends up speeding things up down the line while doing the actual development.
</code></pre>
</InDepthNotes>

<h2 id="link-blast">Link Blast</h2>
<h3 className="text">👨🏼‍💻 Software Development</h3>

<p><a href="https://timdeschryver.dev/blog/new-in-entity-framework-7-bulk-operations-with-executedelete-and-executeupdate?">New in Entity Framework 7: Bulk Operations with ExecuteDelete and ExecuteUpdate</a> <em>(Tim Deschryver)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://code-maze.com/any-vs-count-dotnet/">Any() vs Count() in .NET: Which One is Better?</a> <em>(Marko Hrnčić)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://textslashplain.com/2022/09/12/edges-super-res-image-enhancement/">Edge&#39;s Super-Res Image Enhancement</a> <em>(Eric Lawrence)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2022/09/12/jetbrains-rider-net-watch-run-configuration-plugin/">JetBrains Rider .NET Watch Run Configuration Plugin</a> <em>(JetBrains)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.ploeh.dk/2022/09/19/when-to-refactor/">When to refactor</a> <em>(Mark Seemann)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2022/09/15/why-the-number-input-is-the-worst-input/">Why the Number Input is the Worst Input</a> <em>(Jared Toporek)</em></p>
<p><a href="https://buttondown.email/hillelwayne/archive/i-have-complicated-feelings-about-tdd-8403/">I have complicated feelings about TDD</a> <em>(Hillel Wayne)</em></p>
<h3 className="text">🖥 Technology</h3>

<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/21/23364696/getty-images-ai-ban-generated-artwork-illustration-copyright">Getty Images bans AI-generated content over fears of legal challenges</a> <em>(The Verge)</em></p>
<h3 className="text">🎮 Gaming</h3>

<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/7/23340667/destiny-2-eruption-iron-banner-mode-explained-review">Destiny 2&#39;s new Eruption mode is the best thing to happen to its PvP in years</a> <em>(The Verge)</em></p>
<h3 className="text">📈 Business and Finance</h3>

<p>💰 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/technology/recruiters-tech-layoffs.html">From Boom to Gloom: Tech Recruiters Struggle to Find Work</a> <em>(New York Times)</em></p>
<h3 className="text">🔬 Science</h3>

<p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/webb-telescope-captures-dazzling-views-of-neptune-and-its-moons/">New JWST image reveals full glory of Neptune, its moons, and rings</a> <em>(Ars Technica)</em></p>
<h3 className="text">🎧 Podcasts</h3>

<p><a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2022/09/06/techdirt-podcast-episode-328-the-problems-with-the-california-kids-code/">Techdirt Podcast Episode 328: The Problems With The California Kids&#39; Code</a></p>
<h3 className="text">🎵 A Song to Leave You With</h3>

<h4 id="tim---high-hopes">TIM - High Hopes</h4>
<p><YouTubeEmbed
    id="pw0kJMh9SfM"
    title="TIM - High Hopes"
/></p>


Reading List: September 3 - 23

<p>This week we&#39;re a little heavy reading about freedom of speech and content moderation.</p>
<p><a href="https://meedan.com/blog/how-to-write-longform-git-commits-for-better-software-development"><strong>How to write longform Git commits for better software development</strong></a> - I&#39;ve been trying to do a better job of providing more details for my PRs and commits at work. This could be helpful. <span className="domain-name">(meedan.com)</span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2022/05/16/did-twitch-violate-texas-social-media-law-by-removing-mass-murderers-live-stream-of-his-killing-spree/"><strong>Did Twitch Violate Texas&#39; Social Media Law By Removing Mass Murderer&#39;s Live Stream Of His Killing Spree?</strong></a> - Content moderation is hard...especially when politicians want to get involved. And in the end, people are hurt. <span className="domain-name">(techdirt.com)</span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2022/05/17/industrial-standards-help-explain-russias-economic-motives-invading-ukraine/"><strong>How industrial standards help explain Russia&#39;s economic motives for invading Ukraine</strong></a> - This is an interesting story talking about how a country&#39;s standards can help or hurt economies. <span className="domain-name">(marketplace.org)</span></p>
<p><a href="https://chriscoyier.net/2022/05/17/need-a-quick-diff/"><strong>Need a Quick Diff</strong></a> - 2 Handy tools to quickly diff text or code files <span className="domain-name">(chriscoyier.net)</span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220517-the-death-of-mandatory-fun-in-the-office"><strong>The death of &#39;mandatory fun&#39; in the office</strong></a> - I&#39;m generally not a fan of forced socialization. Team building activities certainly have their place, but forcing people to stay late on a Friday to avoid being called &quot;not a team player” isn&#39;t the way to go about doing it. <span className="domain-name">(bbc.com)</span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2022/05/20/if-you-think-free-speech-is-defined-by-your-ability-to-be-an-asshole-without-consequence-you-dont-understand-free-speech-but-you-remain-an-asshole/"><strong>If You Think Free Speech Is Defined By Your Ability To Be An Asshole Without Consequence, You Don&#39;t Understand Free Speech (But You Remain An Asshole)</strong></a> - Too many people thing freedom of speech means freedom from consequences. <span className="domain-name">(techdirt.com)</span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/free-speech-ought-to-mean-more-than-mocking-trans-people/"><strong>&quot;Free Speech&quot; Ought to Mean More than Mocking Trans People</strong></a> - Another good article talking out what free speech really is and why content moderation can be hard. It&#39;s always far more nuanced than can be easily described in a tweet. <span className="domain-name">(thebulwark.com)</span></p>


RSS Feeds

All Posts

Blog Posts

Reading Logs

Photo Blog

Colors

Font

Posts Tagged
Free Speech

Reading Log - March 10 (#21)

Reading List: September 3 - 23

Reading List: May 14 - May 20

RSS Feeds

All Posts

Blog Posts

Reading Logs

Photo Blog

Colors

Font

Posts TaggedFree Speech

Reading Log - March 10 (#21)

Reading List: September 3 - 23

Reading List: May 14 - May 20

Posts Tagged
Free Speech