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  • Paul Fenwickpjf@cloudisland.nz
    Oct 12, 2026, 9:30 PM

    Hey friends,

    If you have tech skills—and many of you do—look for ways to reach out to your communities and help them de-enshittify their lives, even if it's just a little.

    Help them install uBlock Origin. Introduce them to F-Droid. Consider setting up NextCloud or Immich for your family or neighbours. Show them alternatives like DuckDuckGo or Fastmail. If they're on Windows then help move them to Mint¹ or run Win11Debloat². Help them join Mastodon.

    Talk to your local library or community centre about running a free session.

    One of the impacts of enshittification is that it intentionally keeps people away from even hearing about alternatives. I genuinely feel the place to fix that is on the local level. We keep each other safe.

    —

    ¹ Or whatever Linux/BSD distro is most friendly these days.

    ² github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloa

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Replies

  • Paul Bonepbone@hachyderm.io
    Oct 12, 2026, 11:37 PM

    @pjf Hi Paul, I remember you were also vulenteering at a repair cafe, you and @shtrom inspired me to do the same. I await my first session.

    I want to start with mechanical and electrical stuff, it feels more achievable than IT. We will see.

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  • Olivier Mehanishtrom@piaille.fr
    Oct 13, 2026, 1:26 AM

    @pbone IT is, sadly, very much of a black box. I cleaned up some Windows installs and phone charging ports. The best I got so far is fixing a laptop's screen hinge, and trying to reset a powertool battery.

    I'm curious about electrical: none of us have a licence, so we stay clear of mains-powered things. Even the battery I wonder if it's taking too much liability.

    @pjf

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  • Kateredback@aus.social
    Oct 13, 2026, 9:09 AM

    @pbone @pjf @shtrom been doing it for a while. mine is on again this weekend. Never seen any IT related stuff come through. last month I fixed a record player and a toaster.

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  • RhianaHDevRhiana@ruby.social
    Oct 14, 2026, 1:44 AM

    @pjf another way people are doing now is getting the AI off peoples apple devices. I've gotta learn that one myself first.

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