4/4

The rejection probably hurts a lot because in this new life, I feel like I have finally found my people and I am now looking forward to each edition of FOSDEM, like a homecoming 🥹

Maybe the silver lining in this is that I can turn the disappointment into a new creative project? Maybe a photo + short interview series celebrating underrepresented people in tech, who are brilliant trailblazers?

We really appreciate all your supportive messages today! Thanks! 🥲❤️

3/4

My child is at that age (5 almost 6) when girls start experiencing a confidence gap. I would have been a proud mamma to show her the incredible diversity of presenters in our devroom at FOSDEM.

I’ve been showing her examples of other kinds of excellence (than stereotypical cis white men - sorry no offense) since she was an infant.

But it’s so much more powerful when you discuss people you know IRL and can show actual examples...

2/4

I LOVED tinkering with computers in my childhood and teenage years and it never even occurred to me I could have gotten into computer science or engineering. I didn’t have any examples of that. I chose Mass Communication instead.

It’s only now, many many years later, that I have discovered the world of FOSS (thanks to the Fediverse) and self-hosting. I’m having so much fun and I almost wish I could turn back the clock and study to become a sysadmin (my heroes!)

Not to sound overdramatic but with each passing hour I’m getting more and more saddened by the rejection of the DEIB devroom that we proposed at #FOSDEM (an initiative driven by @RosannaSibora and @Gina)

It would have been so powerful to have a DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) track - to promote the visibility of a different kind of folks in tech AND celebrate them at Europe’s largest open source gathering.

A mini 🧵🥲

Heads-up! The amazing @samvie is going live in 2 minutes at #MatrixConf to speak about "Open protocols unite: Common goals in advocating?"

🔗 : https://conference.matrix.org/watch/peter/

RE: https://fosstodon.org/@RosannaSibora/117475238625142335

I'm sooo disappointed by this news. I was absolutely convinced the devroom would be accepted: there is always such a lack of diversity at #FOSDEM and this track would have brought a breath of fresh air 🥲

Huge thanks to @RosannaSibora and @Gina for spearheading the initiative. Let's try again in 2028!

Onwards and upwards 🌈

Maybe #WSocial is a secret project by Big Tech to stop me and other activists from promoting the open social web... distracting us with daily rage bait instead.

Incredibly, the W Social folks are boasting that they received an innovation award at a glitzy ceremony (the award was just created, its website went live last week).

If you didn't know, W Social grabbed the ATproto codebase (developed by Bluesky PBC) and quietly went closed-source, à la Truth Social.

Enough with these 🤡 for today

When I started writing deep dives on #WSocial and their problematic ways back in May I was a lone dissenting voice; mainstream media just rehashed PR talking points.

I can't begin to tell you how GOOD it feels to see others doing deep dives:

1️⃣ "Just 18 unverified VIP accounts produce more than half of all W Social content"

🔗 : https://wdonthavetime.offprint.app/a/3my2tecrxkk23-top-25

2️⃣ “European public voices choosing W” —But are they?"

🔗 : https://aiueo-en.leaflet.pub/3mxzaemhlik2c

Alas these awesome folks are only on the Atmosphere 🥲

I've just arrived in Italy to spend a week at my parents' and today at lunchtime my super non-techie mom asked me: "Come va il Fediverso?" (How is the Fediverse doing?)... and I nearly melted 🥰

If you're curious, I replied "tutto bene" (all is good) ❤️

And apologies dear Fedi friends if I continue to write about #WSocial, but I have my reasons:

1) The platform is fully endorsed by the European Commission!!! With von der Leyen taking time away from G7 meetings to do a video ad for their launch (!!!)

2) The #openweb #privacy destroying #EUKidsAct has been discussed between W and the EC during a meeting in early September. If W Identity is the thing implementing it in Europe, we're all in trouble as they publish personal details to the open web

Sunday October 18th – 8:40am

15 minute firehose comparison between #WSocial (48.2k accounts) and #Eurosky (36.9k accounts). W has 151 events (likes, posts, follows, re-posts) whereas Eurosky has over 5 THOUSAND events.

Please DO NOT call W a "ghost town", it really triggers their leaders and MEGA fans, ok? They plan to monetize their platform in 2027, ok? Ok?!?

Hilariously, their co-founder even came up with the hashtag #NOGhostTown 👻

#EUBigTech #OpenData

#3GoodThings

🐶 my in-laws have adopted a super sweet rescue dog. I met him yesterday for the first time and he adorably follows me everywhere

📸 I took some gorgeous family photos of everyone posing with the dog; one Christmas present checked off the list (framed portraits!) 😅

👫 I'm meeting up with @tommi today!

#ThreeGoodThings

I just published a blog post that explains the latest #WSocial controversy:

W Social is publishing as a permanent record on the open web the full names, nationalities and approximate birthdays of their verified users... who may be unaware all this information is available for anyone to see, outside of the social network.

🔗 : https://blog.elenarossini.com/public-by-design-how-w-social-makes-their-verified-users-personal-details-visible-on-the-open-web/

#privacy #GDPR #EUBigTech

Sascha @pallenberg just published a powerful exposé about the #WSocial "it's not a leak if we intentionally publish it" ID data controversy.

I highly recommend you read it. It's in German, but you could use your browser's translation tool:

🔗 : https://www.metacheles.de/w-social-datenskandal/

Sascha did a PHENOMENAL job explaining the GDPR implications.

I wish the @EUCommission would reconsider their support of #WIdentity and W Social - people's private data is not safe with them.

#privacy #EUBigTech #OpenData

RE: https://ohai.social/@dcoderlt/117420992135195411

Good morning to everyone except #WSocial people who are forcing me to work on a Sunday.

New article about their latest scandal coming soon (tomorrow or Tue morning at the latest). There is SO MUCH more to unpack that hasn't been revealed yet - and I've got plenty of evidence to share.

The W Social people had a meltdown about this yesterday on the Atmosphere, asking critics "who is funding you?"

This reporting is entirely self-funded, with childcare help from my in-laws and my husband 💁‍♀️

Dear Fedi friends,

My heart is full after spending two inspiring days in Luxembourg at #OSCL26.

I'd love to thank @paolo for giving me and @Gina the fantastic opportunity to co-organize the "decentralized technologies for digital sovereignty" track. It was an incredible experience.

And HUGE thanks to all our phenomenal speakers: @laurenshof
@YRAR
@samvie
@ivan of @Bonfire
@manfredzielinski @jonassmith @imacrea
plus Fabrice, Bartosz, Penar and Rafael.

This community is amazing ❤️

Hello from Belval, Luxembourg!

Excited to be here for #OSCL26 - tomorrow there will be an entire track dedicated to decentralized technologies for #DigitalSovereignty - YAY!

Special thanks to @paolo and @Gina for your work putting this together. I can't wait!

🔗 : https://conference.opensource.lu/agenda/

I'm absolutely delighted to see familiar faces from #TheForkiverse popping up in my mentions, with a different server name. You made it!!!! 🥹

Grateful that you're here... and I promise I will try to ping / offer help to those who have not migrated yet... right after #OSCL26 (currently prepping my speech).

I love the agency that the Fediverse gives you and that you can just migrate to another server if things go awry... and take your followers with you ❤️🚀

I heard that the server #theForkiverse may shut down soon. No surprise, its admins have stopped communicating on it MONTHS ago.

A moment of gratitude to the #Forkiverse for bringing 10k new people to the Fediverse... and with 750+ sticking around 🥳

(Please backup your account and move to a new server ASAP)

I'm especially grateful for @jonassmith who tried out the Forkiverse, loved it so much that he brought the place where he works - the National Gallery of Denmark! - on the Fediverse: @smk 🚀

I'm feeling IMMENSE gratitude towards you, the people of the Fediverse, today and every day.

Thank you for caring about:

💜 privacy
❤️ alt text / accessibility
🧡 digital sovereignty / self-hosting
💛 the indie web
💚 human creativity
🩵 the environment

and also for:
💙 rebelling against Big Tech

Here I feel like I found a community of like-minded people... Thank you for making me feel part of a great mission.

#GratefulForYou