Hacker News: BlueTemplar

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Coding agents could make free software matter again"

BlueTemplar — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:58:24 +0000

> a free software license alone does not empower users to be truly free if they lack the expertise to exercise those freedoms

This is a bullshit argument, and I'm surprised that people aware enough of these issues would try to push it.

Closed (or online-only) software prevents not only the end user from modifying it, but also 'unlicensed' hackers that the end user can ask for help.

See the "right to repair" movement as a very close example. The possibility of an 'ecosystem' of middlemen like these, matters !

New comment by BlueTemplar in "TikTok will not introduce end-to-end encryption, saying it makes users less safe"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 08:00:51 +0000

The use of black boxes like neural networks is already effectively illegal in some governments for this very reason.

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona"

BlueTemplar — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:14:20 +0000

Oh yeah, plenty of that, even scientists and thinkers were tempted, we had plenty of details even before the 'files', thanks to Maxwell's phone book :

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/10/i-called-everyo...

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 14:19:06 +0000

No, I'm upset that he took money from the Kremlin and hosted a show on Russia Today. (At least it was before 2014 I guess...)

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 10:47:15 +0000

How is it far off if it's already used like this, just on the side of submitters ?

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 23:07:17 +0000

No, exposing Western corruption is all well and good, but the problem is that at some point Assange seems to have decided "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", which was a very bad idea when applied to Putin's Russia.

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 23:02:30 +0000

How is this different from flat earth / creationist papers citing other flat earth / creationist papers ?

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:19:59 +0000

But then, assuming we are fine with this state of things with LLMs :

why would it be upon them to submit in English, when instead reviewers and readers can themselves use a LLM translator to read the paper ?

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:15:56 +0000

And then, Einstein was a « citizen scientist », wasn't he ?

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:50:40 +0000

OP is talking about developing an alternative to Overleaf. But they are still trying to do it inside a browser !

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:28:40 +0000

Assange became a Russian asset *while* in a whistleblowing-related job.

(And he is also the reason why Snowden ended up in Russia. Though it's possible that the flight plan they had was still the best one in that situation.)

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:24:43 +0000

It's likely to be an age thing too. Were you in hacker-related spaces when the Snowden scandal happened ?

(I expect a much higher than average share of people in academia also part of these spaces.)

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Prism"

BlueTemplar — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 02:06:36 +0000

But what's the point ?

To end up with yet another shitty (because running inside a browser, in particular its interface) web app ?

Why not focus efforts into making a proper program (you know, with IBM menu bars and keyboard shortcuts), but with collaborative tools too ?

New comment by BlueTemplar in "CD Projekt issue DMCA takedown notice against popular Cyberpunk VR mod"

BlueTemplar — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 14:54:14 +0000

The takedown is (also ? first and foremost ??)'against' Patreon, a USA company.

New comment by BlueTemplar in "How Markdown took over the world"

BlueTemplar — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 10:48:57 +0000

So is HTML and XML and bbcode...

The question is more why Markdown is slowly but surely outcompeting them.

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Google is dead. Where do we go now?"

BlueTemplar — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:31:09 +0000

Yeah, that trend came up in search, hence my confusion. Thanks.

New comment by BlueTemplar in "I rebooted my social life"

BlueTemplar — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:39:57 +0000

That's what churches are (also) for. (A synonym of 'church' is 'gathering'.)

New comment by BlueTemplar in "I rebooted my social life"

BlueTemplar — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:25:15 +0000

IMHO online 'friendships' are dangerous in this context : they would fill part of the need for socialization, thus making you more complacent in not trying to seek out 'real' friendships.

Not to mention the time sink and addiction issues with some of the MMOs.

New comment by BlueTemplar in "GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder"

BlueTemplar — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:31:12 +0000

The End Times went legacy mode :

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/magog_a_search_engine_for_...

New comment by BlueTemplar in "Google is dead. Where do we go now?"

BlueTemplar — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 20:09:55 +0000

Could be using time links and/or commenting too much.