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Comment by xab9 | Hacker News Reader

I just love how github ends up being blog, forum, wiki, disqus-clone etc. for us tech people.

As for the stand I used this cheap ikea-hack: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c7/c9/a0/c7c9a072c328a3596186e1b71... (can't find the original post sry)

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I actually dislike that fact very much. Oh, I don't disagree that github is that for so many users...and i can not disagree with the convenience of what github provides...I simply dislike that it is all controlled/owned by github...a single point of technical/infrastructure failure, and a single corporate entity where so much content (content beyond raw code, that is) is hosted...not unlike the facebook effect. I wish people hosted their content in a more decentralized fashion.

Well, at least you can easily get your and other people's data out of GitHub (unlike e.g. YouTube and Facebook).

It would be easy to create a giant mirror of GitHub, for example (once you have a distributed storage system).

Also, GitHub doesn't control what users are viewing (unlike YouTube and Facebook), which makes the platform less of a threat to internet freedom.

> easily

So they added a button to dump all issues and PRs without messing with the API?

We’re programmers... working with APIs is what most of us do day to day, they’re not holding it hostage behind complicated and metered usage APIs.

GitHub API is decidedly metered. https://developer.github.com/v3/rate_limit/

When I say metered, I meant "pay per query", not rate limits meant to keep the service online.

I'd consider Youtube to be one of the top easiest sites to get one's data (or someone else's!) out of. Why do you think it's not?

Do you mean downloading using unsupported 3rd party tools? Because those have to be regularly updated to ensure they even work and could some day stop working entirely if Google decided to care about blocking such tools.

In comparison, GitHub offers a simple clone button (among ways) which gives you everything.

No, I mean Google.com/takeout

That only helps you backup your own data. Github (or rather Git) facilitates distributed backup.

I just did a complete takeout - it doesn't download videos, only history, comments, playlists and subscriptions (in various formats: json, html, etc).

Then you did something wrong or didn't pick the right export options. I do a download of mine every 3 months, and it works fine.

Youtube-dl?

I mean I get your argument but op isn’t wrong. YouTube is reallly easy to rip content from.

And the point of that argument is that youtube-dl only works because Google doesn't care, and the need to patch it regularly is only caused by the incidental changes in the service. When Google starts caring for some reason, it'll be a difficult battle.

I haven’t updated mine in ages and it still works...

I have to update every time I use it.

I've had to update several times in the last couple years due to some YT links not working. Updating always helps.

it could be easy to rip, but exact word "rip" is indicating that you are going against service provider's SLA. Meanwhile GitHub is providing tools (git) to get, share content which fits in their SLA.

1. It's not legal (see ToS).

2. Google can block it any moment, or inject ads.

3. You don't get the original data, but a transcoded version. And/or a watermarked version.

In contrast, GitHub is intended to download data from, so above points will never apply.

1 and 3 are incorrect. I'm talking about Google.com/takeout not YouTube-dl.

You said:

> to get one's data (or someone else's!) out

Google/takeout does not apply to someone else's data.

Everyone says that people want a decentralized set of repositories for open source. I have never seen it happen and instead we just get better and better iterations on sourceforge.

I think Gitlab does very well as a decentralized set of repos.

Is there a github clone people can host on their personal site that handles git, wiki, issues, and pages? Not talking about gitlab either. Only for hosting at the project level to keep things simple.

https://github.com/gitbucket/gitbucket

I don't know if I love that, but it has turned into all of those things indeed.

As long as GitHub doesn't abuse its control of the portal, it's okay.

GitHub is basically DeviantArt for programmers. When you look at it that way it all makes sense.

While both are filled with low quality content, personal experiments without public importance, etc. I think github has some high quality, community relevant content that DeviantArt lacks. I see it like both DeviantArt and something like ArtStation.

I have tons of silly projects on GitHub. The same thing for DeviantArt too, I would think the 1-hour programmer hackjob is probably just as bad as a 1-hour caricature.

Source for the Ikea stand: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/making-a-laptopbook-stand-o...

100 years from now maybe github will be the new geosites. Or maybe my great great grandkids can review that PR I made today.

Wow, great thought. Maybe I had better write better commit messages then.

Recent commits with profanity: http://www.commitlogsfromlastnight.com/

Wall of shame? :-)

Reminds me of how increasingly online everything has become, which is being documented in perfect detail. Would be interesting how sociology would change a couple decades from now.

> which is being documented in perfect detail

I wouldn't go as far as to say that…websites are lost every day without an archive of them being taken.

The difference being that you can clone the exact contents of a repo with one press of a button. That's just the code though, I wish Github also stored wiki, issues, images, and all other "meta" data into the repository as well.

That way, it would be easy for archive.org and other parties to build a scraper that just takes snapshots of all repos every once in a while, for posterity.

That's so true. I helped a friend who is hosting his freaking school research symposium website on there. It's easy to set up and collaborate on there. Love that.

Just needs swipe left/swipe right on the Issues tab...

What is that ikea thingy?

Looks like a shelving frame* with a door handle to hold the laptop.

The handle seems to be a Lansa: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60138759/

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/making-a-laptopbook-stand-o...

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