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quadrium commented on Use protocols, not services   notnotp.com/notes/use-pro... · Posted by u/enz
giancarlostoro · a month ago
The whole replace Discord thing is something I've been thinking about since 2019 and building my own IM platform since 2007. I hear people pitching every platform under the sun, but the one that I think has the most potential is XMPP. I've been building a modern client, nothing worth showing yet, but eventually I'll slap it on my blog and do a Show HN, for now it supports very basic XMPP primitives, adding friends, setting statuses, messaging friends, simple stuff.

Back in the late 2000s and early 2010s Google and Facebook supported XMPP, so you could login to Facebook Chat / Google Talk via Pidgin through an XMPP gateway (if if this was the default protocol or a bridge I'm not sure, its been years).

The biggest strength I see for XMPP is that because the web and even enterprise (think banking etc) uses XML too, everyone's optimized the ever living crud out of HTML so you could get some very high performance libraries to churn through all those stanzas, but also more importantly, its an extensible protocol. There's no reason it cannot have half of the things that exist on Discord, without disrupting the protocols OOTB design, because unlike IRC and other competing protocols, its extendable by design.

quadrium · a month ago
The best part about XMPP, or rather "protocol not service" as the OP discusses, is that you can go beyond the intended use case of it.

My favorite example - Arista network switches can be clients on an XMPP server. Control plane's have to be very slim. XMPP enables someone with a network operator to apply wide, symmetrical configurations across a network, without repetition. You can add the "core" switches to a group chat, and query them for information simultaneously.

Found an example article: https://jonw.mayhem.academy/arista-switch-wrangling-with-xmp...

You would never see Discord as a control plane management option, nor a Slack, Telegram or Signal option. But if all or a group supported XMPP, there would be a low resistance avenue for that (if someone really wanted it).

As it stands, we have product lock in due to each service having it's own system, with limits on interactivity. So I won't be cross-channel quoting outage causes directly from the switch in the company Slack any time soon.

quadrium commented on I program without syntax highlighting   hakon.gylterud.net/opinio... · Posted by u/weeber
quadrium · 2 months ago
Most syntax highlighting adds too many color variations.

In light modes, I find that variations gray and bolding certain symbols, variable names, function names in definitions and method calls to be enough.

Just enough hint so the brain can skim for the matching information. My editor highlights the opening and closing brackets of my current block,but indent level indicators are usually enough for me to visually validate.

Dark modes make contrast more difficult to discern though.

quadrium commented on Dynamic pricing: would you pay more for drinks in a pub at peak times?   rte.ie/brainstorm/2025/12... · Posted by u/austinallegro
quadrium · 2 months ago
It's all about presentation. The way businesses have implemented "surge pricing" feels backwards.

"Surge pricing", when presented to a consumer, is bound to have a negative sentiment. I feel the same way about Uber and delivery apps with demand fees.

Bars used to have "happy hour". My local bars, the happy hour ended at 6. The time when most people have got off work, ran their errands and had time to get over there.

I imagine consumer sentiment is more positive when they make it to happy hour, versus when they get a surcharge.

Though, if someone had a study, I feel that "surcharges" bring in more revenue than "discounted hours", even if the pricing is ultimately the same.

quadrium commented on Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens   nytimes.com/2025/11/26/us... · Posted by u/nxobject
nxobject · 4 months ago
A note that it's easy to "overstay" a visa when waiting for a green card interview - the wait times are often in the 6-16 month range, and if you leave the country you'll be considered to have abandoned your "petition to adjust status". It's a catch-22, and it looks like the only recourse is for an immigration lawyer to file a habeas corpus petition in federal court.
quadrium · 4 months ago
It's required to overstay, and for the case of student visas, you must abandon the visa when petitioning to adjust status. The terms of the student visa are that you cannot have immigration intentions.

When this happens, you're present without a visa, but it's not illegal. You're on a "stay authorized by the attorney general".

I'm not sure if that has changed, but the " authorized stay" thing is the defense to being present without a visa.

It does make a lot of paperwork more difficult, like getting a drivers license, when as you can't prove status.

quadrium commented on Show HN: A subtly obvious e-paper room air monitor   nicolin-dora.ch/blog/en-e... · Posted by u/nomarv
quadrium · 4 months ago
You should find a friend's garage, shop or hackerspace with a brake, and metal cutting tools.

I have a similar monitor for equipment metrics, and the cardboard design is similar to the stand I made out of metal. I powder coated the metal light beige and it looks professional.

u/quadrium

KarmaCake day29November 19, 2025View Original