The difference is I (the contributor of content) have the same access as anyone else to the data, and could use it for my own purposes if I wanted to.
On a platform like reddit, access to the raw data is controlled and cannot be format shifted / used in any way I wanted to.
There's nothing preventing you from forking a Lemmy client or server to prototype this. Depending on how you implement the activitypub backend, you might be able to make it transparent to a user if you present an algorithm as an array of cross posts via a /c/ of a server.
Anything more might require forking a client, which might be easier to implement but may be harder to convince a large userbase to migrate to.
I use ansible on one of my side projects; I use puppet at work. It's the same reason I use raw docker and not rancher+rke2... it's not about learning the abstractions; it's about learning the fundamentals. If I wanted a simple abstraction I'd have deployed truenas and Linuxsserver containers instead of Taco Bell programming everything myself.
Sure. I have an r630 that is configured as an NFS server and a docker host called vacuum. There is a script called install_vacuum.sh that with a single command, can build the server to my spec from a base install of Ubuntu 24.04. it has functions to install base packages from repositories, add new repositories, set up users, create config files for NFS, smb, fstab, crontab, etc... once an NFS server exists on my network, any other server could be my docker host. My docker host is set up from a script install_containers.sh. as with before, it does all the things to get me a basic docker host, firewalled, and configured for persistence via my NFS server. It also has functions to create and start docker containers for all of my workflows (Plex, webserver, CA, etc), and if those containers don't exist, it will build a docker image for said workflow based on a standardized format (you guessed it) bash build script for the containers. There is automation via cron on whatever host runs docker to build and update the containers once a week, bare-metal servers update themselves nightly, rebooting when necessary via unattended-upgrades.
Basically, you break everything down into the simplest function possible, have everything defined via variables in shared configurations that everything sources before running, and you have higher and higher level functions call other functions until you have a single function that cascades into a functioning system. Does that make sense?
Have you started collecting your notes into scripts?
Not sure if many people do what I do, but instead of taking notes I make commented functions in bash. My philosophy is: If I can't automate it; I don't understand it. After a while you build enough automation to build your workstations, your servers, all of your vms and containers, your workflows, etc, and can automate duplicating / redeploying them whenever required. One tarball and like 6 commands and I can build my entire home + homelab.
I feel the sentiment though, my daily driver is built off of ubuntu-server headless. I find it's just the right amount of "has searchable solutions for near everything" and "is properly minimal" to base my workstation off of. I run X11, pulse, awesomewm, firefox, lxterm... fairly standard stuff but without gdm, gnome/kde even installed it's pretty lightweight. The entire os uses ~780mb of ram (+23gb for firefox tabs lmao). It gets the job done, keeps my skills relevant maintaining the automation that builds it, is dead simple to troubleshoot, and has very few black boxes.
For the average user you're definitely right, but I will say for the sysadmin of headless systems, having a powerful cli editor is a godsend. While it may seem arcane and unnecessary, learning vim is easier than managing remote x or sshfs or copying files to and from a system.
I didn't learn vim to be a contrarian; I learned it because it seemed (and still seems to be) the path of least resistance for many workflows.
While I appreciate both the mathematics and logic of your pedantry, in the wise words of my best friend's dad:
A ring don't block a hole
I think you've correctly identified their self-interest over altruism, but you've misidentified the internal value of discouraging clickbait. YouTube is a treasure trove for building training datasets, and its value increases when metadata like thumbnails, descriptions, titles, and tags can be trusted.
It's the AI gold rush; notice how this coincides with options to limit or disable third-party training but not first-party training? It coincides but is definitely not a coincidence.
potential solution: minimum commitment 10% of original list price?
Why?