Is there a FOOSS self-hosted version of discord?
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@futurebird I have some ideas in my head about writing a self-hosted Discord equivalent. It’s just ideas at the moment, though; 0 lines of code.
It's to tickle those kinds of ideas that I keep bringing this kind of thing up.
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That is so civilized. Meanwhile in the US they just eliminated the free electronic way to do your taxes.
Not to save money. So that you either have to do the form by hand OR pay one of the many "services" to do your taxes.
Why doesn't that make more people as angry as it makes me? I suppose most people still use the services. And it's just $100 bucks or so, going to whoever and NOT the government.
@futurebird @silvermoon82 @billiglarper not to upset you more but here in za for the last 3 years i haven't even done my returns. i get a notice from the tax man they're ready for review, i have a quick look, and then do nothing. a few days later the refund is in my bank account
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@futurebird @silvermoon82 @billiglarper not to upset you more but here in za for the last 3 years i haven't even done my returns. i get a notice from the tax man they're ready for review, i have a quick look, and then do nothing. a few days later the refund is in my bank account
@mensrea @silvermoon82 @billiglarper
There is *no reason* why it couldn't work this way in the US. Or rather there is no rational reason other than a deliberate ongoing pressure to make all government services and interactions terrible lest the people start liking anything about the process.
And the people who say "we need to privatize* it" are often behind the poor service, and deliberate Obfuscation.
*Think of the last time you were on hold. Are private companies "better"? No.
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But if we don't think about money all of these FOSS tools will remain toys for middle class people who don't mind spending a few of their own dimes on keeping them running. It's a barrier to entry. Can it be lowered or knocked down?
I have thought GNU Taler could be interesting for payment handling.
GNU Taler - Taxable Anonymous Libre Electronic Resources
A payment system that makes privacy-friendly online transactions fast and easy.
(www.taler.net)
It's a system designed to provide a digital cash like protocol, in use it might actually be kind of like poker chips. It using a form of cryptography to implement it, but it's not a proof of work system like the right wing cryptocurrencies.
Customers would buy tokens from an issuer with some currency, be able to anonymously purchase items from vendors using those tokens, who then can deposit the tokens with a transaction log, and be able to redeem them for the original currency.
The developers have done some test deployments at an EU university and they've got some prototype django websites and android apps available.
I suspect the next actions are doing security review of the code, find a pool of people interested, and figure out governance and business organization issues.
I think doing modest purchases like the prices for I see for quick art commissions or donations (<$40) to a stream probably could be set up with a small business
But to really roll it out my guess would be to found a credit union, and then that could offer issuing taler tokens to it's community
Here's the NCUA documentation on founding a credit union, and they recommended figuring out your community and raising about $500,000 USD to be able to start.
Phase 1: Establishing a Proof of Concept
COMPLETE THESE ACTIVITIES FIRST The purpose of the Proof of Concept is to demonstrate that your concept for the new credit union is well thought-out and contains four elements that are critical to the success of the credit union. These areas are usually the greatest challenge for organizing groups to overcome. You should use the research you perform and the information you have gathered to define your PFCU as a basis for completing your Proof of Concept, demonstrating to the NCUA that your proposal is well thought-out and contains the four major elements crucial to success:
NCUA (ncua.gov)
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I have thought GNU Taler could be interesting for payment handling.
GNU Taler - Taxable Anonymous Libre Electronic Resources
A payment system that makes privacy-friendly online transactions fast and easy.
(www.taler.net)
It's a system designed to provide a digital cash like protocol, in use it might actually be kind of like poker chips. It using a form of cryptography to implement it, but it's not a proof of work system like the right wing cryptocurrencies.
Customers would buy tokens from an issuer with some currency, be able to anonymously purchase items from vendors using those tokens, who then can deposit the tokens with a transaction log, and be able to redeem them for the original currency.
The developers have done some test deployments at an EU university and they've got some prototype django websites and android apps available.
I suspect the next actions are doing security review of the code, find a pool of people interested, and figure out governance and business organization issues.
I think doing modest purchases like the prices for I see for quick art commissions or donations (<$40) to a stream probably could be set up with a small business
But to really roll it out my guess would be to found a credit union, and then that could offer issuing taler tokens to it's community
Here's the NCUA documentation on founding a credit union, and they recommended figuring out your community and raising about $500,000 USD to be able to start.
Phase 1: Establishing a Proof of Concept
COMPLETE THESE ACTIVITIES FIRST The purpose of the Proof of Concept is to demonstrate that your concept for the new credit union is well thought-out and contains four elements that are critical to the success of the credit union. These areas are usually the greatest challenge for organizing groups to overcome. You should use the research you perform and the information you have gathered to define your PFCU as a basis for completing your Proof of Concept, demonstrating to the NCUA that your proposal is well thought-out and contains the four major elements crucial to success:
NCUA (ncua.gov)
This is so cool! I've never even considered the concept of a local non-profit credit union ... you know not for old people. The focus should be digital payment independence.
I assume if you try to do this someone from Mastercard comes to your house and beats you up. But I just found my old bike lock and it is very heavy.
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This is so cool! I've never even considered the concept of a local non-profit credit union ... you know not for old people. The focus should be digital payment independence.
I assume if you try to do this someone from Mastercard comes to your house and beats you up. But I just found my old bike lock and it is very heavy.
I think key to making this work would be having many limits on size of accounts and to keep it local so you know who is in it.
And never lend any money.
hmmm
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I think key to making this work would be having many limits on size of accounts and to keep it local so you know who is in it.
And never lend any money.
hmmm
I absolutely think something like my work campus's stored value card would be a great use case for Taler.
For a while we could deposit money on our ID cards and then spend it at stuff like the coffee shop or the library photocopiers.
I think that's a good low risk situation to experiment with Taler.
Also one their, demos included issuing a fictitious currency "Kudos" which you could spend on FOSS projects.
So I bet one could also make up an ARG game that uses fake currency issued via Taler as digital playing pieces, for a really low risk way of experimenting.
