That article reads like it was AI written.

Being paranoid is quite helpful when hardening a system.

I’m using Librewolf for everything except for what I need to be logged in. The reason is that Librewolf pretends to be in UTC timezone. This is for privacy reasons, but when I load my calendar I need to see it in my timezone. There are manuals of how to turn that off, but the changes I made following their own workaround (https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/#what-are-the-most-common-downsides-of-rfp-resist-fingerprinting) never changed that behavior.

So what I do is using Epiphany for tool sites I need to login and a correct timezone, and everything else I use Librewolf.

Sure, here are a number of sources that explain what happened and why:

• ITSFOSS: Organic Maps Forked Over Governance Concerns

• Wikibooks: MAPS.ME to Organic Maps/OM Crisis

• Openletter: Open Letter to Organic Maps Shareholders

I did move last week and it’s such a difference. A clean refreshing interface without all the clutter, also much snappier, maps don’t take time to refresh.

You can download maps while having WiFi connection and, for a start, focus on the maps of the country you are staying in at the moment.

CoMaps has optional 3D view of buildings and surprised me with how few features it has, yet exactly the features one needs. That way the interface is clean while I’m not missing anything.

It even has quick access to Wikipedia articles built in so you get directly information of points you click on.

Object information is down to what you need, like floor level, pbone number, opening times.

Import/Export for all location data.

OrganicMaps refused to rule out selling to venture capitalists in the future. They expect volunteers to contribute while keeping the option of capitalizing on free work later.

That’s why it has been forked to what is called CoMaps. So CoMaps is the true, reliable FOSS project now.

You can escape from chat control by using a decentralized protocol like XMPP though.

Any centralized chat protocol is prone to centralized control. This is why Signal Messenger is also affected.

Opting-out of this threat is only possible by using a decentralized protocoll that can also be easily setup by individuals.

Matrix is practically centralized as the majority of its users is on one server, probably due to the setup being not so easy.

There are decentralized protocols that are also practically decentralized. First coming to my mind: XMPP. Many servers offer sign-up for free. If someone wants to setup their own server instead, it takes an hour with Prosody including all configuration. They made it particularly easy as decentralization is their selling point.

You are right. I’ve updated the naming. Thanks for your feedback, very much appreciated.

I changed the naming to “engagement poisening”, after you and several other commenters correctly noted that while over-optimization for engagement metrics is a component of “enshittification,” it is not sufficient on its own to be called as “enshittification”. I have updated the naming accordingly.

You are making a good point here with the strict definition of “Enshittification”. But in your opinion, what is it then? OpenAI is diluting the quality of its answers with unnecessary clutter, prioritizing feel-good style over clarity to cater to user’s ego. What would you call the stage where usefulness is sacrificed for ease of consumption, like when Reddit’s layout started favoring meme-style content to boost engagement?

So, just to be clear, you modified the system instructions with the mentioned “Absolute Mode” prompt, and ChatGPT was still so wordy on your account?

Can you tell one or two of those questions to counter-check?

Just to give an impression of how the tone will change after applying the above mentioned custom instructions:

OpenAI aims to let users feel better, catering the user’s ego, on the costs of reducing the usefulness of the service, rather than getting the message across directly. Their objective is to keep more users on the cost of reducing the utility for the user. It is enshittification in a way, from my point of view.

I agree that the change in tone is only a slight improvement. The content is mostly the same. The way information is presented does affect how it is perceived though. If the content is buried under a pile of praise and nice-worded sentences, even though the content is negative, it is more likely I’ll misunderstand or take some advice less serious, so not to the degree as it was meant to be, just to let me as a user feel comfortable. If an AI is too positive in its expression just to make me as a user prefer it over another AI, even though it would be better to tell me the facts straight forward, it’s only for the benefit of OpenAI (as in this case), and not for the user. I gotta say that is what Grok is better at, it feels more direct and not talking around the facts, it gives clearer statements despite its wordiness. It’s the old story of “letting feel somenone good” versus “being good, even when it hurts”, by being more direct when it needs to be to get the message across. The content might be the same, but how it is taken by the listener and what he will do with it also depends on how it is presented.

I appreciate your comment that corrects the impression of the tone being the only or most important part, highlighting the content will mostly be the same. Just adding to it that the tone of the message also has an influence that is not to be underestimated.

It turns ChatGPT to an emotionless yet very on-point AI, so be aware it won’t pet your feelings in any way no matter what you write. I added the instructions to the original post above.

Sure, I added it to the original post above.

In Taiwanese cities you have public bathrooms within a radius of a 10 minutes walk, and they are as clean as hotel bathrooms, and for free. People in Taiwan leave bathrooms clean as they found it, and there is no vandalism in Taiwan. It works if the society is healthy, teenagers and adults of all social classes following common sense of being nice to others and keeping things intact.

You linked “Mental Disorder”, which can be a whole bunch of things including mental illnesses, but I’m talking about “Personality Disorder” specifically, which can almost never be cured.

The question is who we should try to protect. You can tell a narcisist to seek help for sure, but also tell others to stay away from that narcisist until he/she has changed to an empathetic being (which rarely happens). Narcisists don’t see a reason to change, as they feel entiled to see other people in their lives as resources. Each of them is hurting many people through manipulation and explotation. If you meet a psycopath/sociotpath/narcisist, there’s only one advice: run!