MacDolanFarms's recent activity

  1. Comment on What git commands do you use frequently that you think more people should use? in ~comp

    MacDolanFarms
    Link Parent
    Another way to squash commits without using rebase: git reset --soft HEAD~4 git commit git reset --soft resets to the specified commit, but leaves the changes staged, so you can just commit then...

    Another way to squash commits without using rebase:

    git reset --soft HEAD~4
git commit

    git reset --soft resets to the specified commit, but leaves the changes staged, so you can just commit then as a single commit.

    5 votes

  2. Comment on Absence of certain features in IRC considered a feature in ~tech

    MacDolanFarms
    Link Parent
    Note that there are people who do think IRC needs to improve (myself included), and many of these issues are being worked on by the IRCv3 folks. Scrollback is being added with the CHATHISTORY...

    Telling them they shouldn't be using them and instead use a protocol that requires running a 24/7 to even get absolutely basic features like "search what people said yesterday" (and even then, if the connection drops you still loose messages) is absolutely unacceptable.

    Note that there are people who do think IRC needs to improve (myself included), and many of these issues are being worked on by the IRCv3 folks.

    • Scrollback is being added with the CHATHISTORY extension. I think there's already a server (Oragono) supporting the draft.
    • "if the connection drops you still loose messages": The resume extension adds a graceful way for clients to recover a dropped connection and fill in any missing history.

    From the "What We're Working On" section of their site:

    • Standardised account registration and verification, allowing clients to provide better interfaces for end users.
    • Giving clients a standardised way to recognise, access and view chat history (provided by bouncers or servers).
    • Providing a mechanism to allow clients to automatically detect, move to, and keep using secure connections.
    • Allowing Unicode nicknames and channel names, improving the chat experience for international users.
    • Client avatars for display in graphical clients.

    They have buy-in from a lot of different networks, servers, and clients, so I have high hopes.

    I don't 100% agree with his conclusion here either. On one hand I do really like the impermanence of everything, but there are definitely cases where scrollback is a pretty important feature to have.

    14 votes

  4. Comment on Kohli vehemently defends under-fire MS Dhoni, says the dressing room will always back him in ~sports

    MacDolanFarms
    Link
    Is it really necessary to post your own articles four times in a few minutes?

    Is it really necessary to post your own articles four times in a few minutes?

  7. Comment on Running an IRC Network in 2019: Challenges and Opportunities in ~comp

    MacDolanFarms
    Link Parent
    History, to me, is the single most important thing that IRC lacks. Sure bouncers exist, but that's not really a good solution for casual users, or anyone who doesn't have the dedicated hardware...

    History, to me, is the single most important thing that IRC lacks. Sure bouncers exist, but that's not really a good solution for casual users, or anyone who doesn't have the dedicated hardware and reliable connection to host one, or the money to host it on a VPS, and the technical know-how.

    Fortunately, the IRCv3 Working Group has been working on adding server-side history support through the work-in-progress CHATHISTORY where the client can request that the server send logs from certain times, which could potentially function client-side exactly like it does in "modern" chat services. Oragono v1.0.0 added support for the CHATHISTORY draft, though I don't know that there is any client implementation yet.

    The account situation is improving too, with SASL (a standardized mechanism of authenticating to the server) has pretty wide client support and is supported by a lot of networks. IRCv3's account-notify, account-tag, and extended-join extensions are standard ways for the client to know the account people are logged into and actually present that information to the user in a meaningful way (not a message from NickServ!), and a standard account registration mechanism is being worked on.

    The problem, to me, is that I think most of IRC's existing userbase, including server operators, are fine with the way IRC is right now and are largely uninterested in non-trivial changes to the way it works. Some have left for Matrix, Discord, Slack, and others, and those who haven't I think you will have an increasingly hard time convincing that these features are needed (after all, they've stuck with IRC over these shiny new chat solutions for all these years).

    It makes me a little sad, because I really like IRC. It's not about to die (I think it will probably outlive a lot of these shiny alternatives), but I think it is losing relevancy.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Matrix 2018, a year in review in ~tech

    MacDolanFarms
    Link Parent
    Could you elaborate on the problems? I haven't used it much in the last year or so.

    They still have a looong way to go if they want some of that market. Right now, only privacy seeking and FOSS enthusiast users are willing to use it, despite all of its problems.

    Could you elaborate on the problems? I haven't used it much in the last year or so.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on What are some must-dos when you are setting up a new Android Phone? in ~tech

    MacDolanFarms
    Link
    Similarly to @uselessabstraction: Unlock the bootloader and install LineageOS. (I don't use Gapps/microG, or root.) Allow "Unknown Sources" and install F-Droid. With a few exceptions, all of my...

    Similarly to @uselessabstraction:

    • Unlock the bootloader and install LineageOS. (I don't use Gapps/microG, or root.)

    • Allow "Unknown Sources" and install F-Droid. With a few exceptions, all of my apps come from here. All of the apps I use are free/open source.

    • Install the apps I use for my workflow:

      • Simpletask, my favorite dead-simple todo-list manager (using the plaintext todo.txt format)
      • Recurrence for reminders
      • Markor to edit notes (it edits plaintext, Markdown, or todo.txt). I used to use Writeily Pro which is now unmaintained and was forked to Markor.
      • Syncthing, a peer-to-peer syncing app (i.e. no servers other than to locate your peers) to sync my todo list and notes between my phone, computer, and other devices

    • Install communication apps (Signal, Silence for SMS, K-9 Mail). Silence has a nice SMS import-export feature that means I have years of text backlogs. (I am aware you can use Signal for SMS too.)

    • Install media/entertainment apps:

      • AntennaPod for podcasts
      • NewPipe for YouTube, which lets you play videos in the background, use a floating player, download videos, etc.
      • Whatever RSS reader I currently fancy, along with importing my feeds from OPML.
    5 votes

  15. Comment on Swedish ISP punishes Elsevier for forcing it to block Sci-Hub by also blocking Elsevier in ~tech

    MacDolanFarms
    Link Parent
    Right. While this seems hilarious to me, it also makes me a bit uneasy about ISPs choosing to censor whatever they feel like.

    Right. While this seems hilarious to me, it also makes me a bit uneasy about ISPs choosing to censor whatever they feel like.

    1 vote

  16. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

  18. Comment on Looking for a phone that doesn't follow recent trends in ~tech

    MacDolanFarms
    Link Parent
    That seems like a near-perfect option, but I live in the US and as @Silbern points out, it may not be a good choice.

    That seems like a near-perfect option, but I live in the US and as @Silbern points out, it may not be a good choice.

  19. Comment on Hey, Tildes, what's a strong opinion you hold, but which you also feel like is the minority opinion? in ~talk

    MacDolanFarms
    Link Parent
    It would be cool to have files that just stored an AST, that your editor could display however you want. That would end need for most formatting conversation; you can represent your code however...

    It would be cool to have files that just stored an AST, that your editor could display however you want. That would end need for most formatting conversation; you can represent your code however you feel like, and it doesn't affect me. This could also lend itself to semantic diffs.

    5 votes

  20. Comment on Hey, Tildes, what's a strong opinion you hold, but which you also feel like is the minority opinion? in ~talk

    MacDolanFarms
    Link Parent
    I completely agree. Tabs seem better to me in almost every way. People often say that it might not look the same on everyone's screen, but that's the point. For some people 8 characters is way too...

    I completely agree. Tabs seem better to me in almost every way. People often say that it might not look the same on everyone's screen, but that's the point. For some people 8 characters is way too much indentation, and for some 2 is way too little. Tabs let people choose what they want to see instead of pushing your preferred amount of visual spacing on others.

    While I've found Python code style tools that let you allow tabs, I've never found any that let you enforce tabs. Do you know of any?

    This also bugs me with Lisp. I'm not really a fan of the mixed indentation-and-alignment style, and 99.9% of Lisp code is indented with spaces.

    1 vote