tmpod

tmpod, 13 days ago

If you have your own domain, I recommend Migadu. They take care of all the boring parts of hosting email, while being cheap and very reliable. All you have to do is[1] follow their guude to setup some DNS records and double check everything is right. After that, you have a working email account with unlimited addresses, inboxes and a bunch more nice features.

[1]: Besides getting a domain name, which you should get anyway, since it gives you more control over your digital identity and makes it much easier to migrate providers in the future.

tmpod, 13 days ago

I understand.
You could look into getting a domain either way, it really is pretty simple — you go to a registrar website (I like porkbun.com), choose your domain name and purchase it. To get the email stuff going, it’s just a bit of copy pasting between their guide and the domain’s control panel.

Like I said, this domain stuff is useful outside of Migadu and similar services, but for a more 0-config option, I think disroot is alright. You also have a mailbox.org and StartMail (from StartPage).

tmpod, 14 days ago

It’s not because of features, since fish has tons of stuff as well and is super snappy. Someone pointed out most of those extra features are implemented in zsh itself, rather than in C, like core features.

tmpod, 14 days ago

Last time I tried starship (a few years ago), it was pretty bad, very sloppy performance, not async, at least on fish. I ended up sticking with the simple, yet effective hydro. Maybe I can give starship another try, but honestly don’t know if I even need all those bells and whistles…

tmpod, 18 days ago

The last major update was in 2017, bots started plaguing casual mode around 2018/19, and ever since the game has seen anastonishingly tiny amount of updates outside ofhthe usual summer, Halloween and Christmas updates (which just shove community made content from the Workshop into special gamemodes and crates); apart from the recent 64-bit version and the VScript addition a while back, nothing of interest has happened in the last handful of years. F2P lost their ability to call medic and the bot crisis is completely unsolved.

It’s sad. But as another user pointed out, at least we have e community servers (and good ones).

tmpod, 17 days ago

Yeah! My current favorite is Uncletopia, which was created by the popular UncleDane TF2 youtuber but is now run by a community of dedicated people (but I think Dane still pays the bills). It has non-vanilla tweaks, such as no random crits, no random bullet spread, voting for maps and team scrambling, etc. The skill ceiling is also a tad higher than regular casual, which I like since it pushes me to improve further. I love the tweaks, the community and have never seen any bots, so it’s great!

Skial is another major network that has been around forever and is still rocking like a champ. I don’t play as much there, but I always find it a nice place as well :)

tmpod, 17 days ago

Nice! Would love to see you around :)

tmpod, 17 days ago

hehe let me know how it goes!

tmpod, 16 days ago

Nice to hear! I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it again :P
What classes were you best at?

tmpod, 18 days ago

These are some good suggestions! The most crucial one is perhaps a ditching Gmail, but using alternative apps, such as newpipe and stuff, also go a long way. Unfortunately, the system is fighting against you and you’ll have to really use a freer operating system to properly get away from Google. Still, these are good steps to take.

tmpod, 18 days ago

I meant alternative apps to Google’s in general, not to GMail specifically. Ditching GMail is an important step, as you block a relevant source of personal information, but using alternative apps, like MajorHavoc recommended, is another great step. NewPipe is one of such apps (I disagree Tubular is a better pick, but that’s something for another post).

K-9 and FairMail aren’t a good alternative to GMail. Not alone, that is. GMail is both an e-mail provider and a client, but I’d argue the first point is the most relevant. If you use a FOSS e-mail client with your Google account, nothing is really changing, they will still read all your mail. You have to change providers as well, which isn’t trivial for most people.
E-mail is an insecure means of communication, so you shouldn’t even use it for sensitive things, depending on your threat model, as usual. I personally use Migadu as my provider, for all the customisability and “vanilla” e-mail infrastructure they have, but Proton and Tuta are good alternatives as well, if you don’t mind or don’t care about the non-standard extensions.

tmpod, 18 days ago

Yes, it is a hard step, but it is perhaps the most relevant one, hence why it’s important to get started with it, unless some external factor prevents the change. If you still have other Google apps (including Google Services), then uninstalling Gmail really does very little to nothing.

tmpod, 18 days ago

While others have mentioned the great GrapheneOS, I will throw two other options:

• CalyxOS — privacy oriented Android OS. While Graphene focus on security pretty much above all else, Calyx focus on privacy (and usability) more. Both essentially only target Pixel phones and are great choices.
• LineageOS + MicroG — AOSP fork, continuation of the old CyanogenMod, with an open implementatinon of Google Services. This is perhaps the most “normal” OS, seeing as Lineage’s core is user freedom and not exactly privacy; however, with MicroG, you get a pretty private system with very few to none of the side effects of deviating a lot from standard Android.

Graphene is a great project, but I think it may be a bit too much for someone that is just entering the privacy world, hence why I’m suggesting these two options as alternatives that are less strict and “cumbersome” to use, so to speak, while not really sacrificing privacy.

In the end, as all things privacy, it depends a lot on your threat model, your tech proficiency and willingness to make “sacrifices” and adapt.

tmpod, 18 days ago

That is interesting to hear, why do you think so?

tmpod, 18 days ago

I see, that’s a good point indeed, it can be a good learning step. From a privacy standpoint, however, it’s not that effective.

tmpod, 19 days ago

what are some proposed solutions we think Valve can implement to solve this crisis?

One of the most critical things they have to revert is the voice command mute of F2P. This kills a very important game mechanic for newcomers, while not really stopping botters, since they will just spend money and unlock the features for their accounts, as it’s evident when you join a casual match.
Another obvious thing is: improve VAC. And to reply to your next point, yes, it is a joke. No, it’s not a joke because it’s not a client-side anti-cheat. Lots of community servers operate essentially with no cheaters, because they employ better protection SourceMod plugins and empower users further. For example, Uncletopia and Skial are very much bot-free, and creators.tf was too, before it shut down some months ago (due to unrelated issues). If the community can develop these effective server-side plugins, so can Valve, and most likely do a better job at it. They have incredibly talented people working there, I’m sure they could make a way better VAC if they wanted to.

And yes, community servers are currently the salvation for people who want to play TF2 unencumbered by swaths of bots. I play mostly on Uncletopia nowadays because I agree with most tweaks they apply (it’s not 100% vanilla casual) and the skill ceiling is a bit higher as well, which pushes me further.
Some sort of federation of community servers, where bans and whatnot are shared between instances sounds like a pretty good idea.

Edit: Ultimately, however, Valve should fix the vanilla casual mode, that’s where the vast majority of players are, and where newcomers will first go to.

tmpod, 20 days ago

Depends a lot on your threat model, of course, but here’s what I do:

• use a temporary (but recoverable) email
• use smspool or similar to verify my phone for less than a dollar
• run Discord in a hardened Firefox profile (hardened browser settings + uBlock)
• turn everything relevant off in Discord settings just in case
• don’t share PII in conversation
• use a VPN (or Tor)

Using a hardened browser and not giving them your real phone are likely the most effective steps, everything else is either less relevant or overkill. As I said, depends a lot on your threat model and on your requirements (some things may be unachievable if you’re forced to use Discord by your employer, for example).

tmpod, 20 days ago

Yeah, they have upped their “paranoia” quite a bit in the past couple of years. A while back, I discovered smspool.net while trying to register for Claude (wanted to give it a shot, was disappointed) and was so satisfied by their interface and prices I’ve used it again in 3 other occasions. There may be other similar services out there, you should give one a try next time Discord prompts you for a number.

tmpod, 20 days ago

If you’re on Tor, that’s the very unfortunate reality atm. If you’re on a VPN, you may try switching providers or servers inside the same provider. I can recommend Mullvad, which works very well, even if you get some CAPTCHAs.

tmpod, 20 days ago

Interesting, my Discord profile is also very hardened, and while it prompts me for confirmation, it’s always doable in a moment

tmpod, 18 days ago

While this may be a good end goal, these comments are really more harmful than anything else. Removing your dependency on some proprietary service can be very far from trivial, or even doable, there is a wide-range of internal or external factors preventing you from ditching it.
For example, part of my work and a bunch of good online friends of mine use Discord, so I keep it around. If you do any social gaming as well, you’ll also most likely find it hard to ditch the platform, as it’s grown deep roots in the community.

Anyway, it’s better to take small steps in the right direction than trying to make a U-turn and fail miserably.

tmpod, 18 days ago

Yeah I feel you. It’s often hard to be fully alert of what you’re sharing all the time. I have slip ups but it’s usually fine, I’m only mega careful regarding things that could give away the city/town/village I live in, and where I work. If I ever really want to talk about it, I will use a different (often temporary) alias.