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Veronica Explains why she doesn't stream (from Netflix etc) #algorithmic_helplessness_sucks
(tinkerbetter.tube)
this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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Open source/selfhost projects 100% keep track of how many people star a repo, what MRs are submitted, and even usage/install data. And many of them are specifically designed to fulfill a role that industry standard tools aren't (or are too expensive for) and... guess where the data on that comes from?
The reality is that you cannot escape consumerism in the modern world. You can pretend you are but... you aren't. What you CAN do is focus on supporting tools and media that you want/approve of and making your own life better as a result.
And a big chunk of that involves actually thinking through consequences.
I feel it is important to make a distinction here, though:
GitHub, the for-profit, non-FOSS, Microsoft-owned platform keeps track of the ‘stars of a repo’, not the open-source self-host projects themselves. Somebody hosts their repo forge on Codeberg, sr.ht, their own infrastructure or even GitLab? There’s generally very little to no algorithmic number-crunching involved. Same for MR/PRs.
Additionally - from my knowledge - very few fully FOSS programs have extensive usage/install telemetry, and even fewer opt-out versions. Tracking which couldn’t be disabled I’ve essentially never heard of in that space, because every time someone does go in that direction the public reaction is usually very strong (see e.g. Audacity).
That is a distinction without difference. It doesn't matter what mechanism is used to collect those metrics. The fact is they are there
And, at a glance: Forgejo/Codeberg definitely has stars and watches and fork tracking as well
Which is all fundamentally the supply and demand aspects of consumerism. It is the idea that people can identify what there is a high demand for and work to provide a supply. Which is not at all a bad thing and extends far beyond capitalism.
But it goes back to the previous poster's comments about how they don't like that netflix analyzes everything they do and greenlights projects based on that. That extends FAR beyond netflix and well into even open source projects.
Didn't downvote you but, I guess what I was leaning heavily on was 'striving to be as self sufficient as humanly possible'. Sure, even though I grow my own food, garden crops, beef, chickens, goats, et al, I still have to buy things. I didn't mean it like I had transcended commercial consuming. But, do I really need a iPhone 17 pro max as much as AT&T says I do? Do I really need the cutting edge computer when the 14 year old one I built serves me just fine for what I do? That kind of stuff that people just seem to be compelled to purchase.