ctrvx.net: A Central Virtual Extension into the Network

After much procrastination, I finally deployed a snac fediverse instance today. Snac (an acronym for social networks are crap) is a lightweight fediverse server written in C, the only programming language I still use. It is fast, has few dependencies, was simple to install and works well with some solid clients like Tusky and the Phanpy web client.

I decided to use a new domain name for this instance, settling on ctrvx.net. It’s a throwback to my very first email address (username@ctrvx...edu) from 30 years ago, back when I was a freshman in high school and was lucky enough to have internet access through my local university’s central VAX mainframe thanks to my dad.

So taking inspiration from the original VAX acronym (Virtual Address eXtension), ctrvx.net now becomes a backronym for a CenTRal Virtual eXtension into the NETwork, an apt description of the instance. I am quite proud of having a domain name with such a long personal history!

For the time being, ctrvx.net will be an alternate instance to my primary instance, but I intend to eventually migrate what I can from my main account to ctrvx.net so I can wind down social.sanfranciscan.org.

ctrvx.net runs on my home server, along with this blog, so as long as I pay the domain names and my internet connection, this extension into the network is golden. One thing I am doing differently with my ctrvx.net account is that posts will disappear after about 40 days. This will (hopefully) encourage me to turn some of my longer, more in-depth threads into actual blog posts, where they can live with a bit more permanence, instead of just floating in the æther.

Another example of why I am both amused and frustrated by the “people” (mostly billionaire speculators and their acolytes) who keep talking about “building decentralized social media” when the fediverse is already a very real and very active decentralized social media. The challenge is that it cannot be monetized to their advantage and its structure is inherently anti-authoritarian, which doesn’t center their own, very personal vision of what decentralized means. So they will criticize it and sideline it, but it isn’t going anywhere.