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[tech] Favicons in Amfora

Louis Brauer louis at brauer.family

Mon Feb 22 22:21:03 GMT 2021

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Am Mo, 22. Feb 2021, um 21:21, schrieb colecmac at protonmail.com:

Hello Geminauts,
I have made my decision regarding favicon support in Amfora. They are currently
opt-in, and now they will be removed.

Hi makeworld

In my opinion you made a fatal mistake and set a dangerous precedent in giving in to the pressure of a single Gemini user.

Favicons are neither part of the Gemini Spec nor do they contradict it. That is a fact for all who can read. Unfortunately, false information and misinterpretations of "the spirit of the spec" are thrown around here, so my hair stands on end.

A specification should not determine what content can be transmitted and displayed. And it doesn't. We're talking about a single text/plain resource with a single (!) UTF-8 character and emotions go high as to whether it should be allowed for client developers to implement the special display of such a file or not.

It is the task of the Gemini specification to protect against undesirable developments and it already does that very well.

You are a developer who has invested hundreds of hours or probably more and you have greatly enriched the Gemini community. You shouldn't degrade your work that way. You have a proven track record. Amfora is everywhere and so many users love it for a reason.

It makes me deeply sad that cancel culture has found its way into Gemini so quickly. It makes me even sadder that that leading contributors in the Gemini community are verbally attacked and then give in to pressure from individuals who are not officially affiliated with Gemini (if there is still such a thing anyway) whatsoever.

It is not the favicon that is against "the spirit of Gemini". It's the way this was dealt with. It's a shame that Solderpunk doesn't seem to have the time to give this community one or two clues as to what his thoughts are. All of this provides a foretaste of what is likely to come in the future.

Will Gemini become a club for a small self-proclaimed elite who see it as their personal hobby to bully and pressure developers and/or content providers instead of making the fruits of all the work of many volunteers available to everyone and embrace or at least allow for some room of experimentation.

- Louis