We just updated Lemmy to 0.19.12 which should have finally fixed the issue with accumulating browser cache files slowing down the main frontend UI, and also switched to the latest beta.7 for the alternative Photon frontend.
this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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Each month, we create a post to keep you abreast of news and happenings regarding the server, discuss recent events, and to act as town square for the community.
This June, we'll be discussing Security Culture, as well as the importance of Free & Open-Source Software in building the world we want to live in. And let's give a shoutout to Pride Month of course! π³οΈβπ
π Community Highlights π
!Cooperatives@slrpnk.net - All things about democratic businesses that serve their communities first
!Zines@slrpnk.net - A place to share tiny, self-published texts (usually small printable magazines)
!Abc@slrpnk.net - News about incarcerated anarchists & resources for prisoner support.
π³οΈβπ The First Pride was a Riot β
The month of June is widely celebrated as Pride Month because of the Stonewall Inn riot on June 28, 1969. Just yesterday, videos are spreading across the internet of an ICE Raid on the Buona Forchetta restaurant was pushed back by a crowd of San Diego's South Park residents. It's important to reflect on the lasting systemic change that can be achieved through community cohesion and spontaneous revolt.
As transgender people are currently being specifically targeted by the current fascist wave, I'd like to draw attention to Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera - two prominent participants in the Stonewall Riot that created Pride. Pride has always been and must always be trans-inclusive. Attacks on transgender people are an attack on our communities, and if the attacks succeed, other sections of the queer community will soon follow.
To all our fellow solarpunks, happy Pride!
π€ Security Culture π‘οΈ
Sometimes benign seeming efforts can turn into unexpected personal data collecting traps. Like an obscure website for exchanging contact info with other students turning into a global ad-tech surveillance network (Facebook), or innocent seeming online personality tests being use to harvest character profiles. Even Etsy, Reddit, Tinder, and Duolingo are feeding information to US Government Agencies like ICE.
Security culture is commonly used to describe the general awareness of such potential traps and how it can affect groups or entire communities. This goes beyond mere individual privacy efforts, as without joint efforts these often fail to work.
Especially in activist circles, security culture is paramount. For opsec reasons not everyone in the group might be aware of what clandestine efforts others are involved in, but with a general security culture many potential data leaks can be avoided.
Movements are made by the volume of their participants, and the easier and less dangerous it is to participate, the more people will get involved. As more people get involved, individual involvement becomes even less dangerous, creating a virtuous cycle.
Perhaps you, dear Solarpunk reader, could help boost that cycle by sharing your own examples of best practices, lessons learned, or traps to watch out for online in the comments below. Security culture is a collective effort, so our best defense is sharing our knowledge with others!
We'll start it off with some
General Advice
- Mentally wall off personal uniquely identifying info from your online presence, actively build a habit of opsec so that withholding information is your default mental state
- Be careful about who you meet online
- Use different, unrelated usernames, passwords & emails for every account. And try not to connect to those accounts with your real IP address (use Tor or a VPN)
- Be mindful that anything done online leaves a trail
- agents provocateurs may seek to find patsies willing to perform an ill-advised illegal activity in order to legitimize police repression. If someone is trying to pressure you, especially if you don't have a long and proven history with them, be extremely wary.
But we're excited to see what ideas, suggestions and advice you may have for safer patterns of behavior to use online. :)
π½ Free & Open-Source Software as Praxis π₯οΈ
I think itβs safe to assume most of us grew up surrounded by proprietary software, it was simply what software was. Normal. Cozy. Familiar.
Our current reality is anything but normal, with our lives dominated by exploitative, invasive, insecure software, and much of it damned difficult to escape after dedicating years or even decades to committing it to muscle memory. But part of being a solarpunk is choosing to stare the failings of our society in the face and saying βNo more. There has to be a better way.β Despite how difficult it may be to change our current habits.
Free & Open-Source Software (FOSS) is a candle in the dark, and luckily for us has never burned brighter than today. It gives us a pure example of mutual aid in action, built with the cooperation of tens of thousands of individuals who offer their work, often for free, to all who wish to use or build upon it. We wonβt be able to achieve a solarpunk future without it, and any victory it achieves is a tangible step toward prefiguring the world toward our shared vision.
So how can we help it along its way? The first step is to use it! Letβs give some examples of alternatives to popular software you may use or even rely upon (click the spoiler below to expand it):
π½ FOSS Alternatives π½
| π« Proprietary | β FOSS | π Links |
|---|---|---|
| WIndows & MacOS | Linux - Perhaps the most essential piece of software to switch to to avoid extreme surveillance with the addition of Recall in Windows, making it a huge liability if you're an activist of any kind, or even anyone you talk to who also uses Windows 11, as it'll be recording on their end as well. Linux Mint is the most beginner friendly version of Linux, and it's what I'll be recommending and link to. | Linux Mint Website & Installation Tutorial |
| Google Android | GrapheneOS & LineageOS - GrapheneOS is only available for Google Pixel Phones, but it's the most secure option. LineageOS is available to a much wider variety of phones. | GrapheneOS Website & LineageOS Website & Tutorial |
| Google Maps | CoMaps - Currently in the process of forking from Organic Maps, but should become the premier alternative soon, so keep an eye out for its release | CoMaps Website |
| Google Chrome | LibreWolf - A security and privacy focused version of Firefox. Can sometimes break websites, so have an install of Firefox too! | LibreWolf Website |
| Adobe Photoshop | Krita - with the recent addition of the Gβmic Toolset which adds powerful features like Content Aware Fill and Crop Assist, it can serve admirably as a Photoshop replacement, especially if you enable the Photoshop shortcuts! | Krita Website & Tutorial |
| Adobe Premiere | Kdenlive - not quite 1-to-1 in a professional sense, but with the use of Proxy Clips, should cover most people's needs. | Kdenlive Website & Tutorial |
| Adobe Illustrator | Inkscape - Excellent vector art editor that even does things Adobe Illustrator can't. | Inkscape Website & Tutorial |
| Paint.NET | Pinta | Pinta Website |
| Obsidian Notes | TrilliumNext Notes | TrilliumNext Github & Brief Overview |
| Scrivener | NovelWriter - A bit different since it uses Markdown instead of being a WYSIWYG editor, but mimics most of the functionality of Scrivener in other ways. Very stable and well made app. | NovelWriter Website & Tutorial |
Alright, so now we're using some sweet FOSS stuff, but if we want the whole ecosystem to improve or gain more adoption even faster, here's what else we can do to help:
- If you're financially able to, seriously consider donating to the projects you use! Most are almost entirely reliant on user contributions to support themselves, meaning you'd have a big impact even with a small donation!
- Contribute to projects directly with your fancy skills: Most projects would be elated by volunteers capable of translating documentation or apps into different languages, contributing code, or even just providing good bug reports.
- Spread the word! Show your circle how well these alternatives work, make cool stuff with it, and mention what you used if you share it around to help prove that it's a viable alternative.
We're likely at a critical crossroads in history as we tackle the polycrisis that's encroaching into our lives more each year. If we're to successfully tackle them and free ourselves from the grip that is our current system of exploitation and domination, we'll need to preconfigure as much of the world as we can, as quickly as we can. FOSS is a foundational component of that preparation, without which we expose ourselves to the likely possibility of our tools betraying us, derailing our attempts before they have a chance to gain a foothold.
If you're able to set aside an afternoon, I implore you to try out these alternatives with the hopes of switching over. There is nothing they fear more.
π£οΈ Open Discussion πͺ
Now itβs your turn to share whatever youβd like down below; your thoughts, ideas, concerns, hopes, or anything related to the server. If you have a new community youβd like to shine a spotlight, shine away! If youβre a new user wanting to say hi, feel free to post an introduction :)
SLRPNK Community Resources:
Community Wiki - Moderators: you can create your own Wiki here for your communities!
Movim Chat - Open to all members (use your SLRPNK login credentials)
Etherpad - Collaborative document editor
Are you still in the works to move to Piefed?
It is still planned for later this year, but there are some potential blockers on the Piefed side with password hashing and now it seems less urgent to be honest.
For what it's worth, I don't like change, whether it's in the climate or in the software that I use.
Yeah I just discovered slrpnk is back online, how wonderful! Thanks for restoring it so quickly!
Welcome back Schmorp! ^^
So glad the instance is back up and running. Was a pleasant surprise today.
It's a Pride miracle! Welcome back SLRPNK...? πππ
Yes! We're unexpectedly, but joyfully fully back up and running! π
poVoq will have a more detailed writeup on what happened at some point.
But it's so, so damn nice to be back! ^^
I will have some time on the weekend to write about how a friend of mine solved the issue and what the way forward is. But definitly some lessons learned and plans how to avoid this in the future.
Ok, sorry, didn't get around writing something on the weekend, and I will need to keep it short now as well.
The issue was primarily caused by a recent change in IP assignment by our ISP in addition to what looks like an very recent bug in our firewall software (IPfire) in combination with some odd errors in the fallbacks that I can't fully explain.
So basically our ISP is not assigning a completely fixed IP (it would cost 20 euro a month extra and we would need to switch to a business contract for it), but during the first 3 years of operation the IP they assigned only changed 3 times or so. Recently however they started to reassign a new IP more often, and annoyingly they assign a temporary IP first and a few weeks later apparently switch it again to a more permanent one in a different subnet.
We had this issue a few times in the last months, but the dynamic DNS of IPfire always caught it within a few minutes and thus is wasn't a major issue. But before I left on the work trip I updated the Firewall software, which caused the IP to switch to the temporarily assigned one, but again the dynDNS updated everthing within minutes, so I assumed everything was working fine.
However when the ISP randomly switched the subnet again, some still unkown bug caused the dynDNS to fail and the few failsaves I had in place to inform me about IP changes also didn't work, which led me to assume there was a hardware failure in the firewall and thus no way to fix it remotely.
But a few days after, I recieved an automated email from one of the services we host, which made it clear that outgoing connections were still working and thus we started to investigate how to find an alternative way to get the true IP of the server. Ultimatly my friend resorted to port-scan approximately 500k IPs in the subnet we knew the new IP should be at and we found 20 or so IPs that had ports open for a XMPP server and thus were potential candidates for our server. Luckily it was among them and thus we were able to manually update the DNS entries and restore service.
There are some lessons lerned from that, especially that the dynDNS of IPfire seems unreliable and I already have some plans to switch to another software for that, as well as add additional out of band notifications on IP change.
In addition we will try to find a cheap KVM to install on the main firewall that is connected on a seperate IP to be able to connect to it directly and reboot / troubleshoot it more easily even if the main connection is lost.
Last but not least we are experimenting with a Wireguard tunnel on a rented VPS which might allow more stable connection and the same VPS could be used to host some vital services like the XMPP server that thus would remain accessible even if the main server goes down (however since accounts are linked to the Lemmy database, this is a bit tricky and likely needs some partial database replication on the VPS or so, as otherwise there is no way to log in when the main server is down).
Most of these improvements will only happen once I have physical access to the server again end of July, but for now the service seems stable and hopefully we will not run into other issues until then.
I will once again offer my services as a seasoned CTO in the hopes that I can help you plan around some things ;)
Happy cake day!
Great work bringing it back up. Being unexpectedly down is kind of Solarpunk, and so is getting help from a friend ;)
it's so great that it's back up and running! I lurk more than anything but this is my lemmy home. muito obrigado.
Friends really do make the world go 'round.
Well done!
Glad to hear slrpnk.net is up again
I wonder what @poVoq@slrpnk.net did to get it back up again... π€
Ended up being a software and not hardware issue and a friend of mine helped a lot with finding a solution.
Nice to see the status lights back on green!
Yay! Thank you poVoq and friend!
Good to hear. :)
Rofl, yes!! π³οΈβπ I don't know how we're back up, but so glad to have my real home on lemmy up again. :D
Whee! γγγγ π
Happy Pride!
Be Crime. Do Gay.
Just be sure not to talk to them >.>
How I feel whenever I go over to my friend's house who has a smart speaker, though not nearly so wholesome and a lot more sardonically.
and plant some fruit trees while you're at it.
Is it possible to grow a really small citrus tree in a pot and get fruit from it? I live in an apartment
It will depend on the exact conditions (temperature, sunlight) and how well you manage soil fertility and watering, but yes, it should be possible. Owari satsuma and Fukushu kumquat come to mind as options. Get a large pot though.
Do you (or anyone else) know if we have a guide somewhere on apartment gardening? I'm really interested in growing some stuff to save money and y'know avoid eating imported fruits and vegetables if possible
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I had no idea Duolingo was assisting ICE, what a shame, theres ** LanguageTransfer ** which is opensource if anyone is interested
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always love any post by our admins
Waking up this morning to find slrpnk back up was a special treat. A big thank you to everyone who helped make it happen behind the scenes :)
Glad to see things are back, thank you for communicating during the downtime and running a good instances.
Glad to be back home! Thank you guys for the effort to bring it back and for keeping us informed, you're great!
Maybe I am pointing out the obvious but I want to share 2 experiences considering opsec and alternative software.
First, what helps me most to establish a healthier and safer relation to tech and to the online world is approaching communities offline. Connecting to a local hackerspace/hacklab and sharing experiences with people there is not only a lovely way to learn about alternatives but also to create the potential of sharing them with others. Building Infrastruktur together, organizing workshops, sharing tools, you name it. Establishing connections and contributing in such spaces even if you dont consider yourself a hacker can go a long way. check out hackerspaces.org to find something in your neighborhood.
Second, whenever I use an online tool, i am asking myself: is there any legitimeate reason why i need to do this online?And if i cant think of anything, i invest a couple of minutes to research how i can do the task offline. For example: I need to invert the colors of a black and white image. plenty of search results point to websites which can do this for you. "just upload your picture here". But you can do this locally as well with free (and open source) tools like gimp. examples like gimp or libreoffice are a great start. But how do I find alternatives that are open source for concrete issues that i want to solve? I often use alternativeto.org. I type in the name of the website that offers a service or the name of a commercial product and it usually provides plenty of open source options. By learning how to do things locally, I built a broad set of skills over time and i learn a lot about the free Software ecosystem. The example i gave is of course very simple, but you can take this approach to services that are less intuitive, for example: how to split or merge a pdf. the less you do online and the less you need to trust third parties to provide you a service, the easier it becomes to pay attention to opsec when you really need it in the online world.
thanks for the update! happy pride month and happy hacking! βΆ
Those are excellent pieces of advice, thank you for sharing them with us! :D
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(missed making a βWe are currently clean on OPSEC.β joke)
Nice new communities. Just subbed.
I try and stick to FOSS whenever I can. I think that just about anyone could have an old PC running Linux even if they still need a windows box for gaming or whatever. Endof10 is a great resource for soon to be arbitrarily obsolete computers
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Oh, welcome back! I am eagerly awaiting the posts downtime report!
If you didn't yet, you should probably update the post you made on that other lemmy server, with the information that slrpnk.net is up again!
I edited the post on lemmy.world, otherwise I think there was no official post.
...That Markdown table really rendered nicely.
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