VPNs are Misunderstood by Many

VPN services are being shilled everywhere, on privacy sites, in just about every techtuber channel and by the masses on forums. It has gotten so loud that even the boomers in my life are openly inquiring whether a VPN is worth thier effort. I think it often gets missed that VPNs are just a tool which can in only bring benefit in some applicable situations. It seems that those who have just begun exploring internet privacy and security treat VPN services as a magical cloak, and when your only tool is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail.
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What I Learned From Running Minecraft and Minetest Servers

Starting in 2010, I began running my own Minecraft servers haphazardly until about 2015. Between 2015 and 2018, I also dabbled in hosting Minetest servers. It imparted some insights about people as well as the technicalities of running such a service. Things may be different now but I wanted to share some findings. These are in no particular order. 1. Don’t waste your time vetting players If you put new users through some kind of purity test, it is only going to bottleneck active user growth.
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My Own Journey to Free Technology

Despite the staunch views I now hold, I have not always been immersed in libre technology. In fact, I grew up in a family with IT roots under parents and grandparents who worked, in some capacity, in tech. The home of course was placed entirely on Macrosuck products which, in the course of this journey, I had to work to break away from. And perhaps that is why today I have such an intense perception to platform lock-in.
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