Assuming this post is real (it’s a screenshot, not a link), I wonder if Rob Pike has retired from Google?
I share these sentiments. I’m not opposed to large language models per se, but I’m growing increasingly resentful of the power that Big Tech companies have over computing and the broader economy, and how personal computing is being threatened by increased lockdowns and higher component prices. We’re beyond the days of “the computer for the rest of us,” “think different,” and “don’t be evil.” It’s now a naked grab for money and power.
I'm Assuming his Twitter is private right now, but his Mastodon does share the same event (minus the "nuclear"): https://hachyderm.io/@robpike/115782101216369455
And a screenshot just in case (archiving Mastodon seems tricky) : https://imgur.com/a/9tmo384
Seems the event was true, if nothing else.
EDIT: alternative screenshot: https://ibb.co/xS6Jw6D3
Apologies for not having a proper archive. I'm not at a computer and I wasn't able to archive the page through my phone. Not sure if that's my issue or Mastodon's
Don't use imgur, it blocks half of the Internet.
Understood, I added another host to my comment.
Thank you, you're the best.
https://bsky.app/profile/robpike.io/post/3matwg6w3ic2s
Must sign in to read? Wow bluesky has already enshittified faster than expected.
(for the record, the downvoters are the same people who would say this to someone who linked a twitter post, they just don't realize that)
It's a non-default choice by the user to require login to view. It's quite rare to find users who do that, but if I were Rob Pike I'd seriously consider doing it too.
A platform that allows hiding of text locked behind a login is, in my opinion, garbage. This is done for the same reason Threads blocks all access without a login and mostly twitter to. Its to force account creation, collection of user data and support increased monetization. Any user helping to further that is naive at best.
I have no problem with blocking interaction with a login for obvious reasons, but blocking viewing is completely childish. Whether or not I agree with what they are saying here (which, to be clear I fully agree with the post), it just seems like they only want an echochamber to see their thoughts.
Here is the raw post on the AT Protocol if you want to access it directly: https://pdsls.dev/at://robpike.io/app.bsky.feed.post/3matwg6...
>This is done for the same reason Threads blocks all access without a login and mostly twitter to. Its to force account creation, collection of user data and support increased monetization.
I worked at Bluesky when the decision to add this setting was made, and your assessment of why it was added is wrong.
The historical reason it was added is because early on the site had no public web interface at all. And by the time it was being added, there was a lot of concern from the users who misunderstood the nature of the app (despite warnings when signing up that all data is public) and who were worried that suddenly having a low-friction way to view their accounts would invite a wave of harassment. The team was very torn on this but decided to add the user-controlled ability to add this barrier, off by default.
Obviously, on a public network, this is still not a real gate (as I showed earlier, you can still see content through any alternative apps). This is why the setting is called "Discourage apps from showing my account to logged-out users" and it has a disclaimer:
>Bluesky is an open and public network. This setting only limits the visibility of your content on the Bluesky app and website, and other apps may not respect this setting. Your content may still be shown to logged-out users by other apps and websites.
Still, in practice, many users found this setting helpful to limit waves of harassment if a post of theirs escaped containment, and the setting was kept.
According to the parent, the platform gives the content creator the choice/control. So no, it's not garbage and that's the correct way to go about it.
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It's a non-default setting. So no. I am not sure what you disagree with exactly? We can call out BlueSky when they over-reach, but this is simply not it.
It's also a way to prevent LLMs to get trained on their data without their consent.
That's not correct.
The setting is mostly cosmetic and only affects the Bluesky official app and web interface. People do find this setting helpful for curbing external waves of harassment (less motivated people just won't bother making an account), but the data is public and is available on the AT protocol: https://pdsls.dev/at://robpike.io/app.bsky.feed.post/3matwg6...
So nothing is stopping LLMs from training on that data per se.
That's assuming that AI companies are gathering data in a smart way. The entire MusicBrainz database can be downloaded for free but AI scrapers are still attempting to scrape it one HTML page at a time, which often leads into the service having errors and/or slowdowns.
Yea that’s true. I’m just saying if someone wants to put in a modicum of effort, AT ecosystem is highly scrapable by design. In fact apps themselves (like Bluesky) are essentially scrapers.
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No, Bluesky is not garbage.
https://skyview.social/?url=https://bsky.app/profile/robpike...
It is a user setting and quite a reasonable one at that, in Pike's case in particular.
What do you mean? I did some quick googling and am unsure what you are implying here.
There’s an option for setting the visibility of your posts: https://bsky.app/profile/bsky.app/post/3kgbz6tc6gl24
My question is why are multiple people commenting that "Rob Pike" in particular should use this feature.
Yeah, I'm not creating an account to read a post.
Twitter/X at least allows you to read a single post.
the post is public, just depends on the viewer you're using: https://skyview.social/?url=https://bsky.app/profile/robpike...
> Assuming this post is real (it’s a screenshot, not a link)
I can see it using this site:
https://bskyviewer.github.io/
Rob Pike retired from Google a few years back.
It's real, he posted this to his bluesky account.
And here it is: https://bsky.app/profile/robpike.io/post/3matwg6w3ic2s
"You must sign in to view this post."
No.
Here is the raw post on the AT Protocol: https://pdsls.dev/at://robpike.io/app.bsky.feed.post/3matwg6...
The Bluesky app respects Rob's setting (which is off by default) to not show his posts to logged out users, but fundamentally the protocol is for public data, so you can access it.
I understand Twitter posts are still shared here, even though I would often (usually?) have to log in?
I failed to ever see the appeal of "like twitter but not (yet) run by a nazi" and this just confirms this for me :|
the potential future of the AT protocol is the main idea i thought made it differentiate itself... also twitter locking users out if they don't have an account, and bluesky not doing so... but i guess thats no longer true?
I just don't understand that choice for either platform, is the intent not, biggest reach possible? locking potential viewers out is such a direct contradiction of that.
edit: seems its user choice to force login to view a post, which changes my mind significantly on if its a bad platform decision.
Bluesky is not locking anyone out. This is literally a user setting to not display their account without logging in. It's off by default.
And yes, you can still inspect the post itself over the AT protocol: https://pdsls.dev/at://robpike.io/app.bsky.feed.post/3matwg6...
It's a setting on BlueSky, that the user can enable for their own account, and for people of prominence who don't feel like dealing with drive by trolls all day, I think it's very reasonable. One is a money grab, and the other is giving power to the user.
X went back on that quite some time ago. Have a bird post: https://x.com/GuGi263/status/2002306730609287628
(You won't be able to read replies, or browse to the user's post feed, but you can at least see individual tweets. I still wrap links with s/x/fxtwitter/ though since it tends to be a better preview in e.g. discord.)
For bluesky, it seems to be a user choice thing, and a step between full-public and only-followers.
You failed to see the appeal of a social network not run by a nazi...?
Yet :)
I'll (genuinely happily) change my opinion on this when it's possible to do twitter-like microblogging via ATproto without needing any infra from bluesky tye company. I hear there are independent implementations being built, so hopefully that will be soon.
The agent that generated the email didn't get another agent to proofread it? Failing to add a space between the full stop and the next letter is one of those things that triggers the proofreader chip in my skull.
This argument always felt insincere to me. What power do big tech companies have and why do you have a problem with it? They are simply providing a service you didn’t have access to.
I remember a time when users had a great deal more control over their computers. Big tech companies are the ones who used their power to take that control away. You, my friend are the insincere one.
If you’re young enough not to remember a time before forced automatic updates that break things, locked devices unable to run software other than that blessed by megacorps, etc. it would do you well to seek out a history lesson.
For some context, this is the a long time Googler who's feats include major contributions to GoLang and Co-creating UTF-8.
To call him the Oppenheimer of Gemini would be overly dramatic. But he definitely had access to the Manhattan project.
>What power do big tech companies have and why do you have a problem with
Do you want the gist of the last 20 years or so, or are you just being rhetorical? im sure there will be much literature over time that will dissect such a question to its atoms. Whether it be a cautionary tale or a retrospective of how a part is society fell? Well, we still have time to write that story.
Rob Pike is not a 'Googler' by birth or fame or identity. He was at Bell Labs and was on the team that created Unix, led the team creating Plan 9, co-created UTF-8, and did a bunch more - all long before Google existed. He was a legend before he deigned to join them and lend them his credibility.
I was gonna say! Working at Bell Labs is a LOT more prestigious (and less humiliating) than working for Google, an advertising company.
It's like the old joke from Mad Magazine:
The Beatles? Weren't they Paul McCartney's backup band before Wings?
In fairness, was Bell Labs, part of (or funded by) AT&T, a phone monopoly, any less corporate than Google's home for genius engineers?
Telephony is much more important to society than advertisement.
I know where they make money, but calling them an advertising company is just a jab. Ha ha, but that doesn't describe Google, like them or not.
I wonder where AT&T made profits and where, like any business, they broke even or had loss leaders. IIRC consumer telephone service was not profitable.
Eh, and it was arguably a mistake to let him force Go on the rest of the organisation by way of starpower.
"force" seems a bit strong, as I remember it.
Yeah, I remember it being a fourth option alongside the others but I quit just before Google lost its serifs and its soul
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-s...
Just to note: these companies control infrastructure (cloud, app stores, platforms, hardware certification, etc.). That’s a form of structural power, independent of whether the services are useful. People can disagree about how concerning that is, but it’s not accurate to say there’s no power dynamic here.
By this logic there is no corporation or entity that provides anything other than basic food, shelter and medical care that could be criticized - they're all just providing something you don't need and don't have access to without them right?
> What power do big tech companies have
Aftermarket control, for one. You buy an Android/iPhone or Mac/Windows device and get a "free" OS along with it. Then, your attention subsidizes the device through advertising, bundled services and cartel-style anti-competitive price fixing. OEMs have no motivation not to harm the market in this way, and users aren't entitled to a solution besides deluding themselves into thinking the grass really is greener on the other side.
What power did Microsoft wield against Netscape? They could alter the deal, and make Netscape pray it wasn't altered further.
Umm are you being serious? just look of the tech company titans in this photo in this trump inauguration - they are literally a stand in for putins oligarchs at this point
https://www.livenowfox.com/news/billionaires-trump-inaugurat...