Wrapped and unwrapped?

[Darlica]

See, I've fallen for the smartphone hysteria and bought a Samsung Galaxy s2...

Lovely little thing BTW  and now I wonder how I get to the unwrapped(?) monastery site...


I'll tell you about the phone thingy later.  

[Aggie]

http://toadfishmonastery.com/forum/index.php is the unwrapped site, but I think there's a mobile site too. Anyone know?

[Sibling DavidH]

Or simply http://toadfishmonastery.com/forum is enough.  Dunno about the mobile thing - sorry.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

You can use the mobile version:

http://toadfishmonastery.com/forum/?imode

which is significantly quicker to load. The downside is no emos or pictures on that version.

[Darlica]

Thank you I'll try which version that fit me best. 

About the phone:
Well, one thing is clear, it's not first and foremost a phone, it's something else.
I for one wish answering a call was a little easier...   

I think I'll keep a dumbphone around for when I need a phone and nothing else, like vacations and such, but it will be interesting to see what this thingy can do when I get used to it and have had the time to make the adjustments I like to do.

[Aggie]

I have vowed to never own a smartphone.  I am curious to see how long I can stick to that vow.  If I wasn't leaving my job (again!) they'd be foisting an iPhone on me soon enough.  No thanks!  

I'm getting skeptical about this whole internet thing, too.  I'm firmly on the anonymous side of the whole nymwars thing, and other than keeping an email address with my real name attached to it (for 'official' purposes) I would seriously consider dropping any web services that require me to reveal my actual identity.  Google's already trying to be sneaky and get my phone number by telling me they can text me if something happens to my email account.  I now suspect they shut one down because it had a blatantly fake name attached to the profile - about a year ago.

[ivor]

There's a thing called an anonymity server that hides your access to the internet.  Why the desire to hide?

[Aggie]

 

See the rant in the Reef (I think you did already).  It sounds a bit looney, but I don't appreciate all this mucking about with my underlying data-form, and to tie an actual identity to that scares the bejeebers out of me.

I guess I'm an old-school netizen that places great value on the fact that internet allows one to interact with people all over the world based solely on the ideas you bring into that space, and not who you are in meatspace.  Forcing through the loss of anonymity seems like a good way to curtail free speech on the internet.  People will start shutting their mouths and minds to exploring anything they wouldn't discuss in a public forum, and it's all going to end up being a bunch of smalltalk and inane natter (I think they call that Facebox or something).  Everything you say here is recorded and accessible, in principle.  If your government wants to keep tabs on the flow of ideas and who is promoting them, that's a very real possibility.  In a free country, this is just paranoia and conspiracy at the moment, but if you look at the way dissenting bloggers and tweeters are handled globally, it's not so far-fetched.

I like my freedom, damnit, and if I can't have it here, I'll take it elsewhere.  

[Griffin NoName]

I'm with Aggie on this one. I hate all the intrusiveness. I don't want to be presented with ads that are targeted at me; if I want something I go look and I don't need help. I hate social networking, it is so inane. I am also resisting smart phones, I am more than happy with what my current cell phone can do. I love technology and usually make a bee line for new stuff, but I don't value recent "improvements" at all.

[Aggie]

I don't want to be presented with ads that are targeted at me; if I want something I go look and I don't need help.

Um, like this one that appeared to me on a song lyrics site, while I was surfing the net in my hotel in Oil Country? 

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Smartphones are incredibly useful, to the point of not wanting to go back to a regular phone. Ever. Thx. Don't even try. From my cold dead hands!!!! 
---
The problem with privacy is a real concern, incredibly hard to manage at the moment (and possibly will be worse in the future) but somehow I suspect that where there's a will there's a way, anonymity services have been popping out and I suspect that there will always be means to keep things private, like algorithms that can hide meaningful messages in social not-working inane babble, or other creative solutions.

[Griffin NoName]

This is real thread drfit !!

I just read an article about how energy consumption has gone up with gadgets. I decided I can't afford to run the digital photo frame my son gave me for my birthday.

[Aggie]

Smartphones are incredibly useful, to the point of not wanting to go back to a regular phone. Ever. Thx. Don't even try. From my cold dead hands!!!!  

That's why I don't want one.

I suspect that where there's a will there's a way, anonymity services have been popping out and I suspect that there will always be means to keep things private, like algorithms that can hide meaningful messages in social not-working inane babble, or other creative solutions.

Ayuh, but is is worth the effort?  Passing messages covertly between web-rebels still amounts to a practical obliteration of free speech (and if us is doing it, them is trying to bust us, undoubtedly. Of course there is no us and them but them they do not think the same ). 

I'd rather spend a few hours in the kitchen, then invite friends over for a chat around the dinner table.  All y'all are just going to have to work out a way to scam free flights from the airlines.   Bugger 'em, we are at least 20 years from the point they force us to have a verified id just to access the web*, so until then, long live the (anonymous) Toadfish Monastery.



_{*I hope I do not have to eat my words on this one...}

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

For some reason that reminded me of a support forum for victims of narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths, and the capital rule is: No real names, locations, or any hint of RL that can be traced. Turns out the buggers go to those places. 
---
Oh, and I was reminded of that because... the forum may be anonymous to the outside (or so we hope), but to us you are not anonymous. Not at all....

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I'm with Zono... I've had some form of electronic PDA since the late 80's.  My first was a simple Casio address book...

... I finally parted with an electronic dedicated PDA when I got my first smart phone, an HTC windoze machine.  I loved having but one addy book to keep up with, instead of 2 or 3 or 4 or...

... and I've never gone back; have always insisted on some form of smartphone.  My latest is an Android jobbie, with a flat $40/month unlimited data plan (1200 voice minutes-- more than sufficient).  No contract, too.