258 lines
9.8 KiB
ReStructuredText
258 lines
9.8 KiB
ReStructuredText
Getting Started
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===============
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Choosing a server
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-----------------
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You have to make one decision to get on GNU social: which server to use. If
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you're technically inclined and want to host your own then `you can do that`_.
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For everyone else there are many choices available. Many of them are listed on
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`this webpage`_.
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If you don't want to shop around, these are some popular choices, particularly
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for English speakers:
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* `Quitter.se`_
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* `LoadAverage.org`_
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* `Quitter.no`_
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For Spanish speakers, there're this choices:
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* `Quitter.es`_
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* `Gnusocial.net`_
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There is a small advantage in choosing either a local server or a server where
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you already know people. Every server has a user directory that lists all the
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accounts registered there. This can make it easier for others to stumble across
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you.
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Although there are many servers not all of them allow members of the public to
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create new accounts. The administrator of each server can turn this feature on
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or off.
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Registering an account
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----------------------
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In this example we will use `Quitter.no`_, which allows new users to register
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freely. This server looks very similar to Twitter because it is using a plugin
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called `Qvitter`_. If you don't like the appearance then you can simply pick a
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different server.
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It has a Sign Up section on the bottom-left of the home page. Enter your basic
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information and click *Sign up to Quitter.no*:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/qno_signup_small.jpg
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:alt: Sign Up section of quitter.no
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:align: center
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:target: ../_images/qno_signup.jpg
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.. |qno_signup| image:: ../../resources/user/qno_signup.jpg
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You will be prompted for extra information:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/qno_signup_details_small.png
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:alt: Sign Up Details section of quitter.no
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:align: center
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:target: ../_images/qno_signup_details.png
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.. |qno_signup_details| image:: ../../resources/user/qno_signup_details.png
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Your nickname is the main name for your account. You won't be able to change it
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so choose carefully. You can also set a "Full Name" that appears on your
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profile and alongside your notices. Don't feel obligated to use any real
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information—anonymous and pseudonymous users are very welcome on GNU social.
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A working email address is normally required for account verification. You can
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use it to receive email notifications too.
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Choose a good password. As always it is a good idea to use a password that you
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don't use anywhere else. Free software like `KeePassX`_ can help you generate
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and remember your passwords.
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Press the *Sign up to Quitter.no* button. You can start using your account
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right away but you should confirm your email address when the email comes
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through.
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Congratulations! You're on GNU social!
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Publishing a notice
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--------------------
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Depending on which server you're using you might see something different once
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you log in. Here are two examples:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/send_example_1_small.png
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:alt: Publishing a notice on a standard server
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:align: center
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:target: ../_images/send_example_1.png
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.. |send_example_1| image:: ../../resources/user/send_example_1.png
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/send_example_2_small.png
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:alt: Publishing a notice on a Qvitter server
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:align: center
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:target: ../_images/send_example_2.png
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.. |send_example_2| image:: ../../resources/user/send_example_2.png
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In both cases you have a text box to type a message. Click inside it, type a
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notice, then click *Send* to publish it to your followers.
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Favouriting, Repeating and Replying
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-----------------------------------
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After you have followed a few of your friends and interesting people on the
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network you will see their posts on your "HOME" newsfeed. Below each post are
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some icons that allow you to interact with the notice and/or the original
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poster.
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Clicking on the |reply icon| will add a post text field to the page and allow
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you to respond to the post. Your reply will then appear as a threaded notice
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underneath the original post, as in this example:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/reply_example_1.png
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:alt: Replying to a notice
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:align: center
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Clicking on the |favourite icon| will add the post to your list of favourite
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posts. This also pings the original poster alerting them that you favourited
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the post. You can see your list of favourite posts by clicking on the
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"FAVOURITES" link on the left navigation bar. If you are using `Chimo's Reverse
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Favourites`_ plugin you can see who has favourited your previous posts.
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Clicking on the |recycle icon| will repeat the notice so that it will be shared
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to your own list of followers, and as such probably implies another more
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explicit favour to the original post.
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Hashtags, Mentions and Groups
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-----------------------------
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In addition to the above methods to interact with followers network, GNU social
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also supports features you will find familiar with other social networks. You
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can mention someone else in a post by using the '@' prefix. This example shows
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how to mention someone, and how the post will look after you post it.
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/mention_example_1.png
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:alt: Mentioning a user in a post
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:align: center
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You don't have to use the full ``username@domain.tld`` format when mentioning
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someone. If you leave out the full ``@domain.tld`` part of a user you are
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mentioning then you are limiting the scope to people on your local instance and
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your followers.
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The social network hashtag '#' prefixed before a word, eg #federated makes
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keywords trend on your home feed and across the federated network as more
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people use the same hashtag.
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Groups are an optional part of GNU social. Each social instance can have one or
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more groups based on a topic. Then local users of the instance as well as
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remote social users can subscribe to the group. A group is similar to a user in
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GNU social but you refer to a group using the '!' prefix instead of the '@'
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prefix.
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When you find a group on your local GNU social instance, or a remote instance
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you can follow it in a similar way to following users, simply enter your GNU
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social username when prompted after clicking on the "Join" button.
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You can post a notice to the group by mentioning the group with a '!' prefix,
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for example:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/grouppost_example_1.png
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:alt: Making a post mentioning a group.
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:align: center
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Your post will then appear in your follower's feeds as well as anyone else
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subscribed to the group who may or may not also follow you.
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Referring to your account
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-------------------------
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For somebody else to find you on GNU social you need to give them two pieces of
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information:
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1. What server you're on — for example, *quitter.no*
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2. Your account name. That's the one starting with an @ — for example, @fred
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There are three different ways of referring to your account and they're useful
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at different times.
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Your profile URL
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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If you want someone to check out your account the easiest thing is to give them
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a link to your profile. They don't need a GNU social account of their own. If
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they have one and they want to follow you they will be able to do that easily
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from this page.
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To access your profile click on your name. On quitter.no it's in the top-left
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and looks vaguely like this:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/qno_profile_link.png
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:alt: Link to your profile on quitter.no
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:align: center
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On a more standard server you can look for something in the menu called
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*Profile*:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/taslug_profile_link.png
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:alt: Link to your profile on a standard GNU social server
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:align: center
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Either way once you get there your browser will be at a URL that looks similar
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to this:
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``https://quitter.no/fred``
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Take that URL and give it to the person who wants to see your account.
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Doing a remote follow
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Another way to describe your account is like an email address. You write your
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username, move the @ from the start to the end, then write the server without
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any https or slashes:
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``fred@quitter.no``
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This is what you need to type in if you are doing a Remote Follow—that is,
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following someone on a different server from you. More about that in a later
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section: :ref:`remote-follow`.
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Writing notices
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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If you're writing a notice and want to mention another user simply tag their
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account with an @ like this: *@fred - Have you met @sandra? She's a colleague of
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mine*.
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You might be thinking that the server part is missing. You're right! But GNU
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social is clever. If you use an @ tag in a notice it assumes you must be
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talking about someone you follow. It looks through its database to find which
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account has that name and fills out the server part behind the scenes.
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Next steps
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----------
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In this part you signed up for GNU social and sent your first notice. This will
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quickly get boring unless you find some other people to follow. The next part
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describes the different ways you can explore the GNU social network and see
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what everyone else is saying.
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.. _you can do that: https://git.gnu.io/gnu/gnu-social
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.. _this webpage: http://www.skilledtests.com/wiki/List_of_Independent_Statusnet_Instances
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.. _puedes montar tu propio servidor: https://git.gnu.io/gnu/gnu-social
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.. _esta página web: http://www.skilledtests.com/wiki/List_of_Independent_Statusnet_Instances
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.. _Quitter.se: https://quiter.se/
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.. _LoadAverage.org: https://loadaverage.org/
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.. _Quitter.no: https://quiter.no/
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.. _Quitter.es: https://quitter.es/
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.. _Gnusocial.net: https://gnusocial.net/
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.. _Qvitter: https://git.gnu.io/h2p/Qvitter
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.. _KeePassX: https://www.keepassx.org/
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.. |reply icon| image:: ../../resources/user/reply.gif
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:alt: reply icon
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.. |favourite icon| image:: ../../resources/user/favourite.gif
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:alt: favourite icon
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.. _Chimo's Reverse Favourites: https://github.com/chimo/gs-reverseFavs
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.. _Chimo de favoritos reversos: https://github.com/chimo/gs-reverseFavs
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.. |recycle icon| image:: ../../resources/user/recycle.gif
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:alt: recycle icon
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