A LETTER TO ALT-TECH COMMUNITIES (Ver-3.0)

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 the 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 is reading this article on an Alt-Tech Platform like LBRY/Odysee & are on other Alt-Tech Platforms like PeerTube, Kick or even Rumble right off the bat without needing to be convinced.

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]
& three; 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 innately, whether it be through feedbacks ACTUALLY mattering or just the overall "FORK-ability" of the project [Fork = Copying the project & doing things YOUR WAY] if things go south; 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 remember it's existence] since the can be forked & a single entity can't 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 a good safeguard, I hope you folks understand how vital our support is to Alt-Tech in general, without it they'll wither & worse get assimilated by Big-Tech & adding more control over various platforms is something WE NEED TO AVOID.
In order for the Alt-Tech to stand a chance against Big-Tech censorship, you need to put your full weight behind it & NETWORK/COLLABORATE with other Alt-Tech Services/Tools [Better if it's 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 [Unlike you lovely folks of the Alt-Tech 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 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 !!