Today's threads (a thread)
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Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: The online community trilemma; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/16/fast-good-cheap/
1/
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Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: The online community trilemma; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/16/fast-good-cheap/
1/
The online community trilemma: Reach, community and information, pick two.
Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic@mamot.fr)
Attached: 1 image The digital humanities are a true delight of this era. Anthropologists are counting things like sociologists, sociologists are grappling with qualitative data like ethnographers, computational linguists are scraping and making sense of vast corpora of informal speech: https://memex.craphound.com/2019/07/24/because-internet-the-new-linguistics-of-informal-english/ -- If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/16/fast-good-cheap/#getting-up 1/
Mamot - Le Mastodon de La Quadrature du Net (mamot.fr)
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The online community trilemma: Reach, community and information, pick two.
Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic@mamot.fr)
Attached: 1 image The digital humanities are a true delight of this era. Anthropologists are counting things like sociologists, sociologists are grappling with qualitative data like ethnographers, computational linguists are scraping and making sense of vast corpora of informal speech: https://memex.craphound.com/2019/07/24/because-internet-the-new-linguistics-of-informal-english/ -- If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/16/fast-good-cheap/#getting-up 1/
Mamot - Le Mastodon de La Quadrature du Net (mamot.fr)
2/
Hey look at this
* A year in, it’s official: Americans, not foreigners, are paying for Trump’s tariffs https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/12/business/trump-tariffs-consumers-nightcap
* How a Planned Disney World Vacation Turned Into Four Months in Immigration Detention https://www.propublica.org/article/ice-dilley-maria-antonia-guerra-story
* In 1984 An Unemployed Ice Cream Truck Driver Memorized A Game Show's Secret Winning Formula. He Then Went On The Show… https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/in-1984-a-man-memorized-a-game-shows-secret-formula-and-won-a-fortune/
* Editor’s Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations https://arstechnica.com/staff/2026/02/editors-note-retraction-of-article-containing-fabricated-quotations/
3/
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Hey look at this
* A year in, it’s official: Americans, not foreigners, are paying for Trump’s tariffs https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/12/business/trump-tariffs-consumers-nightcap
* How a Planned Disney World Vacation Turned Into Four Months in Immigration Detention https://www.propublica.org/article/ice-dilley-maria-antonia-guerra-story
* In 1984 An Unemployed Ice Cream Truck Driver Memorized A Game Show's Secret Winning Formula. He Then Went On The Show… https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/in-1984-a-man-memorized-a-game-shows-secret-formula-and-won-a-fortune/
* Editor’s Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations https://arstechnica.com/staff/2026/02/editors-note-retraction-of-article-containing-fabricated-quotations/
3/
#25yrsago O'Reilly P2P Conference https://web.archive.org/web/20010401001205/https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,41850,00.html
#20yrsago Sony DRM Debacle roundup Part VI https://memex.craphound.com/2006/02/14/sony-drm-debacle-roundup-part-vi/
#20yrsago Bruce Sterling on Sony DRM debacle https://web.archive.org/web/20060316133726/https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/posts.html?pg=5
#20yrsago ENIAC co-inventor dishes dirt, debunks myths https://web.archive.org/web/20060218064519/https://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2006/0,4814,108568,00.html
#20yrsago HBO targets PVRs https://thomashawk.com/2006/02/hbos-harrasment-of-pvr-owners.html
#20yrsago Princeton DRM researchers release Sony debacle paper https://web.archive.org/web/20060222235419/https://itpolicy.princeton.edu/pub/sonydrm-ext.pdf
4/
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#25yrsago O'Reilly P2P Conference https://web.archive.org/web/20010401001205/https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,41850,00.html
#20yrsago Sony DRM Debacle roundup Part VI https://memex.craphound.com/2006/02/14/sony-drm-debacle-roundup-part-vi/
#20yrsago Bruce Sterling on Sony DRM debacle https://web.archive.org/web/20060316133726/https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/posts.html?pg=5
#20yrsago ENIAC co-inventor dishes dirt, debunks myths https://web.archive.org/web/20060218064519/https://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2006/0,4814,108568,00.html
#20yrsago HBO targets PVRs https://thomashawk.com/2006/02/hbos-harrasment-of-pvr-owners.html
#20yrsago Princeton DRM researchers release Sony debacle paper https://web.archive.org/web/20060222235419/https://itpolicy.princeton.edu/pub/sonydrm-ext.pdf
4/
#20yrsago HOWTO run Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion https://web.archive.org/web/20060208213048/http://tinselman.typepad.com/tinselman/2005/08/_latest_populat.html
#20yrsago RIAA: CD ripping isn’t fair use https://web.archive.org/web/20060216233008/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004409.php
#15yrsago “Psychic” cancels show due to “unforeseen circumstances” https://web.archive.org/web/20110217050619/https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/02/irony.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss
#15yrsago CBS sends a YouTube takedown to itself https://web.archive.org/web/20110218201102/https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/flktg/cbs_files_a_copyright_claim_against_themselves_o_o/
#15yrsago Lost luxury: the Boeing 314 flying boat https://web.archive.org/web/20110217144300/http://www.asb.tv/blog/2011/02/boeing-314-flying-boat/
5/
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#20yrsago HOWTO run Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion https://web.archive.org/web/20060208213048/http://tinselman.typepad.com/tinselman/2005/08/_latest_populat.html
#20yrsago RIAA: CD ripping isn’t fair use https://web.archive.org/web/20060216233008/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004409.php
#15yrsago “Psychic” cancels show due to “unforeseen circumstances” https://web.archive.org/web/20110217050619/https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/02/irony.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss
#15yrsago CBS sends a YouTube takedown to itself https://web.archive.org/web/20110218201102/https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/flktg/cbs_files_a_copyright_claim_against_themselves_o_o/
#15yrsago Lost luxury: the Boeing 314 flying boat https://web.archive.org/web/20110217144300/http://www.asb.tv/blog/2011/02/boeing-314-flying-boat/
5/
#15yrsago Brazilian telcoms regulator raids, confiscates and fines over open WiFi https://globalvoices.org/2011/02/14/brazil-criminalization-sharing-internet-wifi/
#15yrsago Blatant disinformation about Scientology critic https://memex.craphound.com/2011/02/14/bald-disinformation-about-scientology-critic/
#15yrsago 3D printer that prints itself gets closer to reality https://web.archive.org/web/20110217072944/http://i.materialise.com/blog/entry/cloning-the-reprap-prusa-in-under-30-minutes
#15yrsago Damselflies’ curious mating posture https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photo-of-the-day/photo/damselflies-heart-shape
#15yrsago Simpsons house as a Quake III level https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LtrnnXQTc
6/
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#15yrsago Brazilian telcoms regulator raids, confiscates and fines over open WiFi https://globalvoices.org/2011/02/14/brazil-criminalization-sharing-internet-wifi/
#15yrsago Blatant disinformation about Scientology critic https://memex.craphound.com/2011/02/14/bald-disinformation-about-scientology-critic/
#15yrsago 3D printer that prints itself gets closer to reality https://web.archive.org/web/20110217072944/http://i.materialise.com/blog/entry/cloning-the-reprap-prusa-in-under-30-minutes
#15yrsago Damselflies’ curious mating posture https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photo-of-the-day/photo/damselflies-heart-shape
#15yrsago Simpsons house as a Quake III level https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LtrnnXQTc
6/
#15yrsago Dapper Day at Disneyland: the well-dressed go to the fun-park https://web.archive.org/web/20110219162834/http://thedisneyblog.com/2011/02/16/dapper-day-at-disney-parks-this-sunday/
#15yrsago Horror/exploitation comic recounts the secret founding of the Comics Code Authority https://web.archive.org/web/20110218230149/http://comicsmakekidsevil.com/?p=88
#10yrsago After 3d grade complaint, Florida school district bans award-winning “This One Summer” from high-school library https://ncac.org/incident/florida-high-school-libraries-restrict-access-to-award-winning-graphic-novel
#10yrsago Watch: Claude Shannon, Jerome Wiesner and Oliver Selfridge in a 1960s AI documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aygSMgK3BEM
7/
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#15yrsago Dapper Day at Disneyland: the well-dressed go to the fun-park https://web.archive.org/web/20110219162834/http://thedisneyblog.com/2011/02/16/dapper-day-at-disney-parks-this-sunday/
#15yrsago Horror/exploitation comic recounts the secret founding of the Comics Code Authority https://web.archive.org/web/20110218230149/http://comicsmakekidsevil.com/?p=88
#10yrsago After 3d grade complaint, Florida school district bans award-winning “This One Summer” from high-school library https://ncac.org/incident/florida-high-school-libraries-restrict-access-to-award-winning-graphic-novel
#10yrsago Watch: Claude Shannon, Jerome Wiesner and Oliver Selfridge in a 1960s AI documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aygSMgK3BEM
7/
#10yrsago NSA and GCHQ’s crappy Big Data techniques may be killing thousands of innocents https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/the-nsas-skynet-program-may-be-killing-thousands-of-innocent-people/
#10yrsago Hackers steal a hospital in Hollywood https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/fbi-lapd-investigating-hollywood-hospital-cyber-attack/88301/
#10yrsago Watch: a home machinist makes a clock from scratch, right down to the screws and washers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXzyCM23WPI
#10yrsago Matt Ruff’s “Lovecraft Country,” where the horror is racism (not racist) https://memex.craphound.com/2016/02/16/matt-ruffs-lovecraft-country-where-the-horror-is-racism-not-racist/
8/
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#10yrsago NSA and GCHQ’s crappy Big Data techniques may be killing thousands of innocents https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/the-nsas-skynet-program-may-be-killing-thousands-of-innocent-people/
#10yrsago Hackers steal a hospital in Hollywood https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/fbi-lapd-investigating-hollywood-hospital-cyber-attack/88301/
#10yrsago Watch: a home machinist makes a clock from scratch, right down to the screws and washers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXzyCM23WPI
#10yrsago Matt Ruff’s “Lovecraft Country,” where the horror is racism (not racist) https://memex.craphound.com/2016/02/16/matt-ruffs-lovecraft-country-where-the-horror-is-racism-not-racist/
8/
#10yrsago NYPD wants to make “resisting arrest” into a felony https://web.archive.org/web/20160205061338/http://justice.gawker.com/nypd-has-a-plan-to-magically-turn-anyone-it-wants-into-1684017767
#10yrsago Best wine-pairings for Girl Scout Cookies https://www.vivino.com/en/wine-news/girl-scout-cookies-and-wine--we-paired-them-and-the-results-are-amazing
#10yrsago John Oliver on states’ voter ID laws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHFOwlMCdto
#10yrsago Morbid and risque Valentines of yesteryear https://memex.craphound.com/2016/02/15/morbid-and-risque-valentines-of-yesteryear/
#10yrsago App Stores: winner-take-all markets dominated by rich countries https://www.cariboudigital.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Caribou-Digital-Winners-and-Losers-in-the-Global-App-Economy-2016.pdf
#10yrsago Skulls carved from vegetable matter https://dimitritsykalov.com/#intro
9/
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#10yrsago NYPD wants to make “resisting arrest” into a felony https://web.archive.org/web/20160205061338/http://justice.gawker.com/nypd-has-a-plan-to-magically-turn-anyone-it-wants-into-1684017767
#10yrsago Best wine-pairings for Girl Scout Cookies https://www.vivino.com/en/wine-news/girl-scout-cookies-and-wine--we-paired-them-and-the-results-are-amazing
#10yrsago John Oliver on states’ voter ID laws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHFOwlMCdto
#10yrsago Morbid and risque Valentines of yesteryear https://memex.craphound.com/2016/02/15/morbid-and-risque-valentines-of-yesteryear/
#10yrsago App Stores: winner-take-all markets dominated by rich countries https://www.cariboudigital.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Caribou-Digital-Winners-and-Losers-in-the-Global-App-Economy-2016.pdf
#10yrsago Skulls carved from vegetable matter https://dimitritsykalov.com/#intro
9/
#5yrsago Privacy Without Monopoly (podcast) https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/15/ulysses-pacts/#paternalism-denied
#5yrsago Billionaires think VR stops guillotines https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/15/ulysses-pacts/#motivated-reasoning
#5yrsago ADT insider threat https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/15/ulysses-pacts/#temptations-way
#5yrsago Big Pharma will claim opioid fines as tax-deductions https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/14/a-fine-is-a-price/#deductible
10/
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#5yrsago Privacy Without Monopoly (podcast) https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/15/ulysses-pacts/#paternalism-denied
#5yrsago Billionaires think VR stops guillotines https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/15/ulysses-pacts/#motivated-reasoning
#5yrsago ADT insider threat https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/15/ulysses-pacts/#temptations-way
#5yrsago Big Pharma will claim opioid fines as tax-deductions https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/14/a-fine-is-a-price/#deductible
10/
Friday's threads: Trump antitrust is dead; and more!
Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic@mamot.fr)
Attached: 1 image Today's threads (a thread) Inside: Trump antitrust is dead; and more! Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/13/khanservatives/ #Pluralistic 1/
Mamot - Le Mastodon de La Quadrature du Net (mamot.fr)
11/
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Friday's threads: Trump antitrust is dead; and more!
Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic@mamot.fr)
Attached: 1 image Today's threads (a thread) Inside: Trump antitrust is dead; and more! Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/13/khanservatives/ #Pluralistic 1/
Mamot - Le Mastodon de La Quadrature du Net (mamot.fr)
11/
My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:
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My latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
12/
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My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:
--
My latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
12/
My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:
13/
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My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:
13/
My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
14/
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My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
14/
Upcoming appearances:
* #SaltLakeCity: Enshittification at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Tanner Humanities Center), Feb 18
https://tanner.utah.edu/center-events/cory-doctorow/* #Montreal (remote): Fedimtl, Feb 24
https://fedimtl.ca/* #Oslo (remote): Seminar og lansering av rapport om «enshittification»
https://www.forbrukerradet.no/siste-nytt/digital/seminar-og-lansering-av-rapport-om-enshittification/* #Victoria: 28th Annual Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit, Mar 3-5
https://www.rebootcommunications.com/event/vipss2026/15/
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Upcoming appearances:
* #SaltLakeCity: Enshittification at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Tanner Humanities Center), Feb 18
https://tanner.utah.edu/center-events/cory-doctorow/* #Montreal (remote): Fedimtl, Feb 24
https://fedimtl.ca/* #Oslo (remote): Seminar og lansering av rapport om «enshittification»
https://www.forbrukerradet.no/siste-nytt/digital/seminar-og-lansering-av-rapport-om-enshittification/* #Victoria: 28th Annual Victoria International Privacy & Security Summit, Mar 3-5
https://www.rebootcommunications.com/event/vipss2026/15/
Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #Victoria: Enshittification at Russell Books, Mar 4
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cory-doctorow-is-coming-to-victoria-tickets-1982091125914* #Barcelona: Enshittification w Simona Levi (Llibreria Finestres), Mar 20
https://www.llibreriafinestres.com/evento/cory-doctorow/* #Berkeley: Bioneers keynote, Mar 27
https://conference.bioneers.org/* #Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20
https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow* #Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19
https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html* #HayOnWye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25
https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-216/
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Upcoming appearances (cont'd):
* #Victoria: Enshittification at Russell Books, Mar 4
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cory-doctorow-is-coming-to-victoria-tickets-1982091125914* #Barcelona: Enshittification w Simona Levi (Llibreria Finestres), Mar 20
https://www.llibreriafinestres.com/evento/cory-doctorow/* #Berkeley: Bioneers keynote, Mar 27
https://conference.bioneers.org/* #Berlin: Re:publica, May 18-20
https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp26-sprecher-cory-doctorow* #Berlin: Enshittification at Otherland Books, May 19
https://www.otherland-berlin.de/de/event-details/cory-doctorow.html* #HayOnWye: HowTheLightGetsIn, May 22-25
https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay/big-ideas-216/
Recent appearances:
* Panopticon :3 (Trashfuture)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/panopticon-3-150395435* America's Enshittification is Canada's Opportunity (Do Not Pass Go)
https://www.donotpassgo.ca/p/americas-enshittification-is-canadas* Everything Wrong With the Internet and How to Fix It, with Tim Wu (Ezra Klein)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-doctorow-wu.html* How the Internet Got Worse (Masters in Business)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXlkuVhxMo* Enshittification (Jon Favreau/Offline):
https://crooked.com/podcast/the-enshittification-of-the-internet-with-cory-doctorow/17/
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Recent appearances:
* Panopticon :3 (Trashfuture)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/panopticon-3-150395435* America's Enshittification is Canada's Opportunity (Do Not Pass Go)
https://www.donotpassgo.ca/p/americas-enshittification-is-canadas* Everything Wrong With the Internet and How to Fix It, with Tim Wu (Ezra Klein)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-doctorow-wu.html* How the Internet Got Worse (Masters in Business)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXlkuVhxMo* Enshittification (Jon Favreau/Offline):
https://crooked.com/podcast/the-enshittification-of-the-internet-with-cory-doctorow/17/
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#10yrsago NSA and GCHQ’s crappy Big Data techniques may be killing thousands of innocents https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/the-nsas-skynet-program-may-be-killing-thousands-of-innocent-people/
#10yrsago Hackers steal a hospital in Hollywood https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/fbi-lapd-investigating-hollywood-hospital-cyber-attack/88301/
#10yrsago Watch: a home machinist makes a clock from scratch, right down to the screws and washers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXzyCM23WPI
#10yrsago Matt Ruff’s “Lovecraft Country,” where the horror is racism (not racist) https://memex.craphound.com/2016/02/16/matt-ruffs-lovecraft-country-where-the-horror-is-racism-not-racist/
8/
@pluralistic wait, this guy re-did the Antikythera Mechanism step-by-step in video? Welp, here goes my morning.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0to4RXv4_jDU2
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Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: The online community trilemma; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/16/fast-good-cheap/
1/
@pluralistic small correction: the paper is from 2022 already, but Mako blogged about it just now
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R relay@relay.publicsquare.global shared this topicR relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
