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Yan Basque

@yanbasque.com

260 followers 680 following 1.4K posts

Writer, artist and musician. Queer. Critic of technology. Grad student (Information Studies at McGill). (He/him) https://linktr.ee/yanbasque

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Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 6h

Shapiro had 2 whole years to be embarrassed about asking that question and now it's all happening again.

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 6h

So weird that David Simon quote is from 2023 but it's making the rounds now for some reason.

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 6h

It must be so embarrassing to be Ari Shapiro.

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 9h

Good jokes youtu.be/mZHoHaAYHq8?...

UHF Conan The Librarian

YouTube video by sirstrongbad

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 10h

I am watching UHF, starring Weird Al Yankovic.

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 10h

I kinda wonder if maybe I've outgrown video games? That sounds like a silly thing to say, but I can't remember the last time I finished a game. I cancelled my Game Pass because of the insane price hike, but the truth is I wasn't really using it anyway. Maybe it's just not a thing I do anymore.

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

Diversity of tactics. Diversity of platforms. Always assume someone's listening. Always assume there's a cop in the chat. Which is why it's important to make connections and get to know people and form smaller, more intimate groups, too. Find your people. Fuck shit up. Resist. 9/9

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

Better to expose the flaws and the cracks in the system than to get cozy with a false sense of safety.

That said, it's not a binary. Of course we can do both. But I really think we need to get used to dealing with imperfect solutions and not let that stop us from moving forward. 8/🧵

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

I think my position is that it's better to be aware of the risks and limitations of the platforms/systems we're using than to look for a perfect solution. Because there is no perfect solution. And sometimes moving to another platform because it's more secure might lead to less secure behaviour. 7/🧵

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

At the same time I feel like we spend so much time talking about the platforms on which we're having these conversations. It can get in the way of the more important stuff. Sometimes it even kills the momentum. How do we get past that? 6/🧵

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

I want to be clear: I'm not saying these conversations are not worth having. They're probably inevitable among tech savvy people with a conscience. And there are very legit security issues and some people are more vulnerable than others. And then there's neurodiversity to consider. 5/🧵

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

Is Signal the best platform for this? What about security? How can we vouch for every member who joins the chat? The conversations are moving to fast. We should move to Discord.

Meanwhile, I open Bluesky every day and my feed is filled with posts about why Bluesky is bad. 4/🧵

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

In the end, we stayed on Discord by default, because no other proposed solution seemed to answer all the concerns, and it was easier to just stay where we were.

Last week I joined a Signal discussion group for a similar/overlapping community. A few days in, guess what people are talking about? 3/🧵

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

Many legitimate reasons to question Discord. Sketchy data and privacy issues. Some people just weren't that familiar with the platform and didn't like it. Others thought it lacked structure. People wanted to be able to vouch for new members. They wanted to send email digests of conversation. 2/🧵

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 13h

A while ago I started a discord server to host a community that was forming spontaneously in the chat of an online event. I think 90 people joined right away and a few more over time. Almost right away, the conversation turned to the platform. Was Discord the right space? 1/🧵

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 20h

People just use words and have no idea what they mean. Citing your own work is common and normal when you are building on previous work you’ve done. Research doesn’t happen in a vacuum. What a clown.

Brett Buttliere @brettbuttliere.bsk... • 3h she is citing her own work in the top 3 citations... most people would call that a conflict of interest and even malpractice

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 23h

Also I didn't like Dylan, Simon or Springsteen then lol

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 23h

This is so absurd. Even as a teenager in the 90s, when I hated country music, I was aware that Johnny Cash was cool in a way that transcends genre. The first thing you learn about him is that he recorded live albums in prisons!

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 1d

Good thread

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 1d

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 2d

Yeah why does turning on my Xbox risk blowing up my speakers if I forget to mute the tv?

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 2d

“Watch the tone, bro” - flawless impersonation

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 2d

It's a struggle

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 2d

I think 1200 words is about the maximum I can write in a day. My brain is fried.

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 2d

I am once again begging journalists to have the basic minimum level of internet literacy if they're going to report on this sort of thing and expect to be taken seriously.

But also, the fact that librarians are somehow the ones in charge of fixing this mess is so dumb.

Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 2d

These URLs aren't hijacked by "porn sites" — they're hijacked by scam artists who mass purchase expired domains to either rout traffic to a page crammed with gambling/sex/penis pill/dating ads or to embarrass someone enough that they'll pay a ransom to kill it.

UK libraries urged to remove children’s books with URL hijacked by porn site

Puffin issues alert to schools and local authorities over books in popular Spy Dog series by Andrew Cope

www.theguardian.com

Yan Basque @yanbasque.com · 2d

That’s funny!

"Moral policing and leftist ideology are destroying America's Al industry. l've cancelled my OpenAl PLUS subscription, another replied, implying that copyright law is leftist.