Ash McAllan shared 16 hours ago
Spicy take:
Normal people shouldn't self host.
From an energy use perspective, the users per watt are WAY higher in a data center.
People are already awful at running patches and doing security updates.
OMG are people awful at doing backups.
From an ewaste POV, consumer electronics just don't have a very long lifespan, fail more frequently, are rarely upgradable, and easily broken. Enterprise grade servers in a data center are better.
Hosted services actually have a SOC to monitor what the fuck is going on and investigate unusual things. An individual normal user would never notice their self hosted server being popped for forever, and we already have far too many zombies.
Sure, megacorps aren't trustworthy stewards of key internet services like email either. But telling everyone they need yet another home appliance, but one you're going to have to fuck with several hours per month to keep running.
Dynamic DNS suck balls, IPv4 is running out, hosting shit being a NAT and reverse proxies and shch is its own thing, and lots and lots of people don't have very good home internet links.
Up front cost - yes, I know people "pay" for their social media and email with their privacy and advertising. But that means that saying they need to spend several hundred on a whole new computer and find a place to put it or rent a VPS or ...
Fact of the matter is, some sort of SaaS setup for web services IS the right solution for 97% of users. Scolding people for being abused by unregulated tech companies isn't solving anything. The right solution is to make people become more aware of the intentional and malicious enshittified bullshit techbros are cramming down their throat, and lobby the government to strengthen regulations.
Finally got around to painting Ursula today. Having female models and an older woman as a hero model of the Imperial Guard was honestly the thing that made me feel actually keen to restart my Guard army after immigrating and leaving all my old models back in Australia. #wh40k
Since finding out I'm being laid off last week, so many wonderful people have reached out to me with offers of support. Often people ask "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help." Because I know there are other folks in similar situations getting similar offers for support but feeling too overwhelmed to actually take anyone up on those offers, I made a #zine . It's called:
**Things You Can Do To Help Your Depressed ADHD / Autistic Friend While She Looks For Work **
It's 8 a5 pages of detailed practical suggestions on ways you can support someone going through a rough time, especially if they struggle with neurodivergence or depression. I've written it for my friends as a guide for helping me specifically but I think most of the advice is broad enough that it can help a lot of folks in a lot of situations.
You can grab the pdf here: https://acegiak.net/etc/Things%20You%20Can%20Do%20For%20Your%20Depressed%20ADHD%20-%20Autistic%20Friend%20While%20She%20Looks%20For%20Work.pdf or I've put it up for $0 on itch.io so that you can find it more easily later if you misplace it and want to find it again: https://acegiak.itch.io/things-you-can-do-for-your-depressed-adhd-autistic-friend-while-she-looks-for-wo
So I'm one of the casualties of last week's Stockholm Gamedev Bloodbath, losing my position at Avalanche. I've had an amazing time there but it's time to work out what happens next.
If your team or a team you know needs "an unstoppable force of creation", "the best team leader I've had", or someone who is "inventive, patient, expressed herself with clarity, & is deft at design"* then I'm available for creative leadership, game design, narrative, and good-trouble-making roles. Reach out here, on linkedin, @acegiak.bsky.social on bluesky, or email at acegiak@gmail.com.
*quotes from, in order, a friend, a member of my team, and a colleague
New personal best: 100kg deadlift x 2 
You know what's actually a really cool linguistic technology/innovation I've seen emerge in my lifetime and solve an actual problem I struggled with?
The rise of the word "Verdance".
I remember being in school and being a fantasy nerd trying to write, GM, design games and always struggling to find a word for the elemental force of plants, growth, green things, and then at some point I encountered the word Verdance and I was like "of course! That's perfect and seems so obvious in retrospect!"
And you can see it's rise in the Ngrams. I think it might have been discussing Sunless Skies things with the lovely folks at Failbetter where I first encountered it in this kind of form but there's clearly some jumps after 2010 and then 2016 and I'm curious what caused those.
Ash McAllan shared 13 days ago
For 15 years, F-Droid has been the antidote to Google Play: no trackers, no ads, just open source apps. Now, Google wants to kill it.
Under the guise of "security", Google is forcing devs to register, pay, and surrender control. F-Droid can’t comply without betraying its principles. Thousands of apps could vanish overnight.
Fight back: demand sideloading rights, pressure regulators/Parliament, and defend one of the safe harbors for ethical tech.
https://f-droid.org/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html
Ash McAllan shared 15 days ago
Ash McAllan shared 16 days ago
i will state it again and again
i'm against puberty blockers for kids
because to even be considered for blockers, a kid almost certainly has been socially living as their gender for years and deserves to go through puberty alongside their peers
i'm pro HRT
the early effects of HRT are essentially all reversable and essentially every kid put on hormone blockers ends up put on HRT
robbing kids of having their adolescence alongside their peers is wrong
(this does mean puberty blockers for trans masc kids so they can wait a couple years to go alongside the other boys. but you get my point)
Ash McAllan shared 21 days ago
fedi: i’m looking for songs that are polyam-affirming, please share your fav songs that are explicitly or can be read in a polyamourous way? boosts appreciated!
Ash McAllan shared 25 days ago
🇬🇧👍Estonia won't be approving #ChatControl either.
👎But Germany's vote on Oct. 14th is still up in the air, risk of a dangerous coalition compromise.
💪28 days left to increase the pressure on your government and defend digital privacy and security: https://chatcontrol.eu
Ash McAllan shared 29 days ago
Another reminder that you should move to another VPN service.
https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/proton-mail-journalist-accounts-suspended/
Ash McAllan shared a month ago
The nth attempt at introducing EU mandated spyware on your devices has failed again.
See you again in six months I guess.
https://tweakers.net/nieuws/239026/eu-voorstel-voor-chatcontrole-heeft-niet-voldoende-steun.html
Ash McAllan shared a month ago
🚨Our governments are about to decide whether 450M Europeans deserve privacy - or not.
Help ensure your country says NO to Chat Control: Call you local representatives!
Privacy is not negotiable. Speak up now. ✊ #privacy
👉 More on how to stop Chat Control: https://tuta.com/blog/chat-control-criticism
Ash McAllan shared a month ago
“Even though the major factor in the decline of fertility is increased women’s agency, the real downside or obstacle is the need for husbands and fathers to reliably demonstrate their commitment.”
https://19thnews.org/2025/08/fertility-rates-traditionalism-research/
Ash McAllan shared a month ago
Hey, something that regularly bums me out is that #Lego continues to make Harry Potter products. Lego brings me a lot of comfort, but their complicity in JK Rowling's hate campaign sours that significantly.
As a trans person, it makes me feel kinda helpless and invisible.
So I'd appreciate it if y'all could help me boost this petition across the fediverse, and share it around with group chats, and other socials if you're on them!
Not necessarily because I expect Lego to listen to a change.org petition, but because it would give me a lot more hope and faith in people if the voices saying "Hey, it's really messed up that Lego is doing this" were a lot louder than they are now.
(Alt-text: a change.org petition called "LEGO: End your relationship with JK Rowling and the Harry Potter franchise.")
https://chng.it/mgvbH5qw5h
Ash McAllan shared a month ago
Some big news I’m really excited to announce:
After development for the past year thanks to Screen NSW’s support through the Digital Games Seed Development Program, my ‘90s MicroProse inspired game Deck & Conn is getting published… by none other than MicroProse itself!
The Steam page is now live - check it out and wishlist it if a turn based retro military space ship command game sounds like your jam!
Ash McAllan shared 2 months ago
📢📢📢 Urgent call for action against Chat Control!
The EU still wants to pass the infamous "Chat Control" law, that would mandate scanning of all private digital communications, including encrypted messages and photos. This threatens fundamental privacy rights and can transform EU into a digital Gulag. Currently only 3 countries oppose this law, while 15 member states support it and 9 remain indecisive.
This means, the balance can still be shifted! It is very important to influence at least those who are in doubt. For instance, you can contact a MEP (Member of the European Parliament) and demand to oppose to Chat Control.
There is a tool that automates the process of writing and sending such letters:
Please check it out and send at least one letter!
Ash McAllan shared 2 months ago
Psst... looking for a new club to join? 👀
Great news, ours is looking for new members: https://codeberg.org
