A LETTER TO ALT-TECH COMMUNITIES (Ver-4.0)

This post is a request to the entire Alt-Tech Community

AKA New-Tech apparently; but I'll call it Alt-Tech for now. Whether they be pioneers on developing & managing Alt-Tech platforms [especially based-on Libre/Open-Source Software ones like LBRY/Odysee or PeerTube] or People who support Alt-Tech.
& By "People who support" I mean people like YOU who are reading this article on an Alt-Tech Platform like LBRY/Odysee or NeoCities & are also on OTHER Alt-Tech Platforms like PeerTube, Kick or even Rumble, Lemmy, Mastodon or even the XMPP-based MoVim right now without ever needing to be convinced with great deal of effort [YES, you are the smart ones].
I actually have a lot to say but I'll keep it as short as possible [& possibly put the rest on another post]

So to start it's obvious that Private Big-Tech Companies having monopolies/control on what's essentially a digital equivalent of avenues of well content/expression of opinions like Twitter [I refuse to call it "X"],YouTube, Discord, Twitch, hell even FaceBook is NEVER a good thing.
Well for one; they don't care about free-speech [even more than governments they're very gung-ho & aggressive with censorship]. For two; they're privacy-invasive [& usually they're the ones inventing new techniques; Does "surveillance capitalism" ring any bells ?] & For three; they're very anti-consumer/quality of content. [just go on TikTok or Twitch & see for yourselves]
AND even WORSE; it's very clear they collude with each other; it's like a mafia [or a vertical monopoly where they scratch each other's backs]

So what's my point here you ask ?

Well we should LEARN from them & COLLAB with OTHER Alt-Tech Projects [ESPECIALLY,if they're OPEN-SOURCE] & by "We" I mean BOTH Developers & Users. Now why did I put more emphasis on FLOSS Tools [FLOSS = Free/Libre & Open Source Software (Libre = Freedom)] well there are a myriad of reasons why:-
  1. TRANSPARENCY

    2. The SOURCE-CODE is PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE for auditing & verification if a company/organization is lying/hiding things from their users. Whether you actually audit it yourself or not doesn't matter,THE FACT THAT YOU CAN DO IT IS WORTH NOTING.

  2. PRIVACY-RESPECTING

    3. You may not believe it but the transparent nature actually helps in respecting your privacy due to you knowing what code is running in your system & the data collection being USUALLY non-sensitive & or filled with false identities [as in YOUR IDENTITY] when asked for using said Service/Tools.

  3. PRO-COMMUNITY

    4. FLOSS Projects tend to respect their communities more inately, whether it be via ACTUALLY LISTENING to feedbacks or via FORKING a project [Fork = Copying the project & developing the project YOUR WAY] if the developers go against the community's benefit; Whether it be disagreeing on how the project should be run, reviving the project or just making something new out of it etc....

  4. ANTI-MONOPOLY

    5. This is obvious, Take LBRY [The Protocol utilized by Odysee] for example, because of it's Libre/Open-Source nature it's actually impossible to kill the project [As long as people or the community remember that the project exists]. Since it can be simply forked & a single entity CANNOT have exclusive control if they end up betraying their users.

So my advice is to stick to as much viable FLOSS Alt-Tech Platforms/Tools/Services as possible & ONLY USE Proprietary ones if there are no viable FLOSS ones

It's most definitely a good safeguard, I hope you folks understand how vital our support is to Alt-Tech Platforms in general, without it they'll wither & die or worse, get assimilated by Big-Tech Conglomerates & I do not have to tell you that them adding more control over new & budding platforms is something WE NEED TO ABSOLUTELY AVOID.
In order for the Alt-Tech to stand a chance against Big-Tech censorship & control, the community needs to put it's full weight behind it & NETWORK/COLLABORATE with other Alt-Tech Services/Tools [Even Better if it is FLOSS]

At some point AGENCY HAS TO BE PLACED ON USERS; PLEASE REMEMBER that EVEN YOUTUBE was once a small & clunky platform & it was the community that helped build up Youtube into the monolithic content hosting giant it is today. Nowadays most people don't want to help build up new platforms.
They'll whine about "muh Youtube monopoly & Big-Tech censorship" & virtue-signal; But they'll never take action [They should really learn from you lovely folks of the Alt-Tech & FLOSS community :-)]
They want EVERYTHING to be built for them & then THEY WHINE AGAIN about "muh quality" or that it's not like youtube, like COME ON, it's honestly pathetic & parasitic.

Why engage in parasitism when you can engage in mutualism ?

Let me list out some Alt-Tech Services/Tools [They are links too, just click them] here ⇨⇨⇨

  1. YOUTUBE/TWITCH ALTERNATIVES
  2. REDDIT ALTERNATIVES
  3. DISCORD ALTERNATIVES
  4. GMAIL ALTERNATIVES
  5. TWITER/FACEBOOK ALTERNATIVES
  6. WHATSAPP ALTERNATIVES
  7. PATREON ALTERNATIVES
  8. ALTERNATIVE FRONT-ENDS

    9. (These are simply alternative ways of using MainStream sites & not Full Alternatives, but deserved a mention)

    • Invidious [It's simply an alternate way of using Youtube]
    • Piped [It's another alternate way of using Youtube]
    • NewPipe Use it to view Youtube]
    • FreeTube [Think of it as a desktop version of Newpipe]
    • GrayJay [This cool app is "Source-Available" & not Open-Source]
  9. GITHUB ALTERNATIVES

Well that's all I have to say about this; I would like to credit TechBore on LBRY/Odysee for helping me out. Thank you for your help !!