A federated internet archive, I'm wondering whether I should build it myself. With so many journalists being banned for reporting the gaza genocide we need more ways to combat censorship.

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[–] 83 points 2 months ago (23 children)

Reviews in OpenStreetMap, so that google maps can have a real competitor.

Its not FOSS, but I use to use foursquare for years because of how good it was at finding good restaurants / things to do in a new city. Now that its shut down, there's no real alternative that comes close.

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  • [–] 28 points 2 months ago* (2 children)

    There are some people working on this and proposing some options.

    IMO, as someone who regularly edits OSM, the maps need much more info and basic editing before reviews. I had to add many of my fave restaurants. Forget about reviews when the restaurants aren't even on there. Just saying. Maybe as it gets more users.

    (Tangent: I was just in a foreign country where I didn't have much mobile data. But I had downloaded OSM maps beforehand and made edits beforehand for my trip. The only downside is that OSMand doesn't update their maps very often in some places so I almost never got to use all my edits. Overall though the offline maps were very helpful for navigation, etc.)

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    I was recently in a different country and two of us were navigating an area that had been built up over the last three years. Only OSM had the streets and buildings. Google was way behind and would have been useless.

    So for those people editing, thank you, it actually matters.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    If you have OSMand, you would be interested to know about the Live Updates feature, which lets you download newer versions of maps on top of your existing downloaded maps, kind of like a software patch. The feature states that you can download map updates as recent as one hour, but I've personally seen the "patches" reflect the changes as soon as 15-20 minutes into upload.

    To view live updates, assuming you didn't heavily customise your OSMand interface:

    1. Open the drawer through the hamburger icon button on the bottom left corner of the screen
    2. Select 'Maps & Resources' from the drawer
    3. Select 'Updates' tab from the tab list below the 'Maps & Resources' title bar on the top of the screen
    4. Select 'Live Updates' just below the 'Device Memory' graph
    5. Enable the toggle below the 'OsmAnd Live' title bar on the top of the screen
    6. Select a map of your choosing among the list displayed under 'Available Maps'
    7. Select the 'Update now' button in the bottom sheet to manually update the map and wait for a moment

    Once the steps have been followed, you show see something like this below the title of the bottom sheet:

    "Updated: Today - . Includes OSM changes made until ."

    If you see this, you can go back to the map and verify that the changes have been included without downloading the entire map of the location from scratch. The "patches" are only a few MBs at most and you can set the live updates to happen automatically on an hourly, daily or weekly basis.

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  • [–] 28 points 2 months ago (10 children)

    As an openstreetmap contributor, I wish this so much. Every time I add places in there I ask myself if I'm doing something really useful anf if it's being actually used by anyone, or if I'm just wasting my time while thinking I'm doing a relevant thing because I know absolutely no one that uses it. Actually, the main osm site doesn't even show details about businesses, but just the icon

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    I'm a sporadic/infrequent openstreetmap contributor, too - although I'm not second-guessing these contributions. Useless or not, I do use OSM all the time personally, so reason stands somebody before me did a good job and helped me a lot.

    Admittedly, some of the people who use OSM around me use it because at a certain moment I've explained them the advantages. (I live in Europe and people frequently use other modes of transport besides the car, so OSM is legit frequently the better choice.)

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I'm from Brazil, and the people around here love to swim and bathe in big tech, unfortunately. I tried talking about osm with a lot of people, but everyone keep using google no matter what :(

    But recently, I have been giving less attention to adding businesses and more into other things related to navigation, which I know are used by some

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago

    Personally, I exercise the "growth mentality" here. Meaning, I don't compare with a target value such as "I've converted 10% of the Earth population to OSM". Instead, I compare with OSM as it was 6 months ago. This approach gives peace of mind and steady progress for me personally.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago

    Just wanted to add, when I'm travelling I very much enjoy it when a town has up to date cafes/restaurants. That's why my highest priority when I contributing to OSM is adding cafe/restaurant information.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Wherever you are, your contributions are very well appreciated! I live in a very small town and use OSM. Idk who mapped this place, but having maps away from Google in such a small place makes me happy. Again, wherever you are, you are contributing to a cause that can help free people from big tech monopolies and actually advances human society forever.

    You are part of the reason people like me who don't have time to contribute to such efforts can use these apps anyways. Part of the reason adoption is possible. Part of the reason OSM can grow beyond just whatever you're documenting.

    Thank you, really. <3

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    I work in emergency services and have been with multiple agencies that utilize OSM due to its increased accuracy and often more up to date data.

    In some of our software, it's even one of the base map options and many of us prefer it (both standard OSM layer and the humanitarian layer).

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    I don't know if there's such thing but i wish there was a foss alternative for street view too

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    I also use Mapillary, I guess it is similar to Panoramax, cause it has the app and it's well done.

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  • [–] 62 points 2 months ago (10 children)

    Wish Linux on mobile was just as mature as on desktop.

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  • [–] 27 points 2 months ago (8 children)

    To be fair, it's not much of linux's fault, but mostly due to shitty hardware restrictions and proprietary drivers

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (7 children)

    due to shitty hardware restrictions

    regulatory restrictions?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago

    Yeah, from what I understand, hardware manufacturers need to ensure that no one uses the mobile chip to send on reserved frequencies. And the way they typically do that, is with a proprietary, undocumented driver for the mobile chip. So, you basically need to reverse engineer that for each mobile chip, to be able to make calls and such...

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (3 children)

    Most isps do not support linux mobile

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    isn't mobile linux just linux but you use it on mobile devices? SIM cards have the same architecture to read, and I can use wifi on linux just fine, what do you mean?

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    ISPs need to approve mobile data antennae. Any phone they don't like is not approved. Using an existing antenna just brings the problem of propietary drivers.

    Remember, your PC does not have mobile data (even if it is a laptop).

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    can you give me some example on ISPs approving mobile antenna? For the proprietary drivers, they can reverse engineer to bring the needed functionalities of the antenna.

    like trem said, I think the problem is because of mobile chipsets not giving the documentation to the public and devs have to reverse engineer it, which they need to own a mobile that has that chip set in order to to so

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  • [–] 44 points 2 months ago (9 children)

    A foss decentralized marketplace that costed very little or nothing at all to small stores to participate, to fight back against amazon and others

    It would be nice to have the same, but for uber-like drivers

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  • [–] 23 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    Also food delivery.

    In Finland, there used to be "pizza-online" which was really just a directory and ordering system for restaurants that already did delivery themselves.

    They took a very small comission, as the site didn't really do anything except connect restaurant and customer (and provide a review platform). For a long time, they didn't even have an app.

    You'd log in, select a restaurant, browse their menu and place an order. The order goes to the restaurant, and after that the site's job was done.

    It was massively succesful. Every hole in-the-wall pizza place was on there. Finding good food was easy and cheap, and the restaurants reached more customers than ever. And the platform including reviews led to competition in not just price, but quality.

    Then pizza-online sold to foodora, and they got shut down, and participating restaurant were no longer allowed to deliver themselves, and the cut taken by the platform skyrocketed.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 months ago

    In Finland, there used to be “pizza-online” which was really just a directory and ordering system for restaurants that already did delivery themselves.

    Something like that would be very nice too!

    Then pizza-online sold to foodora, and they got shut down, and psrticipating restaurant were no longer allowed to deliver themselves, and the cut taken by the platform skyrocketed.

    Oh no...

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  • [–] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Flohmarkt is probably the closest. Basically federated ebay.

    https://codeberg.org/flohmarkt/flohmarkt

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    The software for that is relatively easy

    Getting people to use it will be next to impossible. Without a strong marketing budget, it would take decades at beat before even a small percentage of people would be using it (see Linux desktop) as its all word of mouth and initially only the nerds in the know would be using it for years

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    I think what you want is a CO OP. It would be nice if the software was FOSS of course.

    But a coop would make things like uber type services be worker owned.

    Also members can make decisoons.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    I would like to see such a thing. But I would add API for accessing it with a dedicated app. Allows for better performance and features like filtering across multiple shops at once an even allows integration in scripts.

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  • [–] 26 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    You can always check AlternativeTo for FOSS (and non-US based) software alternatives.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I've found myself using this a whole lot. It really is great for finding foss and / or non-US alternatives.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    I have started constibuting to the AlternativeTo data and added many apps (mostly foss) over the years. It is a great platform with a great team and community.

    But it still is a business and for now I'm fine with it being that.

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  • [–] [S] 25 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    A federated internet archive, I'm wondering whether I should build it myself. With so many journalists being banned for reporting the gaza genocide we need more ways to combat censorship.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 months ago*

    I know lots of people are crypto-reactionaries... But there are like dozens of these projects in the (primarily open source) crypto space. The basic idea seems to be that a crypto-archive uses a blockchain for hosting and a cryptocurrency to fund it. I don't know how successful these projects have been. Here are a few quick examples from a search:

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    My main concern would be how to prevent tampering with archived pages - the owner of the second most popular site after Wayback Machine, archive.is, has been known to modify the content of archived pages for petty personal reasons. And without the sanctity of archives, the whole exercise loses its value as proof of records of the past.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    An open source 2D animation suite that can compete with Toon Boom Harmony. I bought an (expensive) perpetual license for Toon Boom Harmony years ago, and then they moved to a ridiculously overpriced monthly subscription model and deactivated my license, essentially ripping me off for hundreds of dollars. So ever since then I've wanted something to come along and put them out of business.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    What about OpenToonz? AFAIK Studio Ghibli used it

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  • [–] 16 points 2 months ago

    GarageBand. It's literally the only proprietary software that I prefer over open source DAWs.

    Shouldout to LMMS, Audacity, etc. I appreciate and use these too. But GB makes things so easy...

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  • [–] 15 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    i wish cars had more of a conventional computer, more sensors, modular expansion, and completely open.

    you would see some pretty cool shit.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 months ago

    I dream of a Bottom Up Logistics software that would enable us to thoughtfully connect and eventually scale grassroots resource sharing efforts. If Farmer Bertha had unsold crops she could list them. Communities in need of certain resources would indicate this. People could commit the use of their time, equipment, etc. The software would do the work of calculating efficient routes and assignments to get everything where it was needed.

    My inspiration is the various pet rescue consortiums I’ve found in every city I’ve lived in. People crossing the country to pick up a single dog from rural alabama to bring it to a shelter in california. People pooling money to buy trucks specifically so volunteers can cart needy dogs around. They don’t use fancy logistics but they make it clear to me there’s a lot of uncaptured goodwill out there, and I think that given an organized way to engage, people would jump at the chance to participate in scaling a sharing economy based on empathy for our fellow creatures.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago

    A high-quality FOSS version of Reaper (DAW) that can use the expensive audio production plugins. Right now that's where all Linux DAWs run short - the best plugins are only for Windows, or for Cubase. Running them through some VSTi Linux wrapper never quite works correctly.

    Maybe something like After Effects with all the plugins and tools. Right now the software itself exists in Kdenlive, just not all the addons people have written for After Effects.

    But pretty much everything else I use is already FOSS.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    software with 1:1 feature parity with Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop (except genAI crap)

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

    As far as InDesign---I don't think it will probably ever have 1:1 feature parity, but LibreOffice Writer has recently gotten some new features that allow for more fine-tuned word and letter spacing as well as glyph scaling. A paragraph composer is on the horizon as well. There's also Inkscape and Krita, but I'm guessing you probably already know about those…

    EDIT: Also agitating for optical margin alignment on Writer; will see how that goes...

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (1 child)

    Hmm thanks, but yea a word editor would probably be missing a ton of layout and image features. The closest I've found was Scribus but it seems pretty rough.

    Yes, I tried Inkscape, but sadly found its UI very unintuitive. Also bc it only works with SVG files, it doesn't properly support CMYK colours.

    I know of Krita, but I mostly use Photoshop for image editing, not painting. And it's the one of the three I use the rarest and has the most alternatives, so my main pain points are the other two, as long as the three programs work well together. (Which is another weakness in FLOSS software, they don't tend to come in "suites". Not to say that Adobe apps don't have a ton of little inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies, but at least they can smoothly work with each other's files.)

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    I hear ya. I have never had good luck with Scribus despite several dedicated tries. Still kind of learning Inkscape; I mentioned Krita instead of GIMP because it has full CMYK support. Depends on what your needs are I guess! 🙂

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    I want FOSS camera firmware so bad. imagine what we could do with them then! obviously that why it’s not foss…

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    In case of your are looking for a cinema camera there's cinepi . I use cinemate for my camera, but there are multiple projects using cinepi

    There is also magic Lantern for some Cannon cameras

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    magic lantern sounds awesome, though very finicky. I‘m playing around with CHDK which is similar in its functionality, but targeting a different set of canon cameras, and it’s far less capable. I’d just love to be able to reuse my awesome canon RF lenses for other things, but that‘ll require a reverse engineering effort. I know that some people did that for canon EF, and mby one could build off that, but it’s probably a lot of effort still. I’ve seen the cinepi, and i find it very intriguing, but i don’t wanna have to spend lots of money on new lenses, because those i got already were too expensive, and if i go cheap (if thats possible at all), i might be loosing features i like. Still, awesome concept. I’ll have to try it eventually!

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago*

    An application that would make donating to FOSS projects, especially GPL-licensed works (or at least: those not trying to cater to corporations) in desperate need of support, effortless. In that: a periodic budget can be determined, time spent actively using applications is tracked, an application's userbase is taken into consideration (as their cumulative income may eat too much into budgets: possibly better spent supporting smaller projects), and personal preference can be given (including an option to filter license types); as to rank the applications based on perceived value, and fraction the budget accordingly.

    I would be happy to support projects that I actively, or to a lesser degree, rely on. But the process of taking all steps required to support a project is simply too manual, and outright unmanageable, when trying to take into account all system components. I really want the incentives to shift from MIT to GPL, so that maintainers don't effectively end up being controlled by corporate paychecks; and are rather supported by individual end users. This should in theory make FOSS more resilient to any future restrictions to source access, which could hamper the long-term parity of forks, seeking to strip anti-features.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    I wish there was an actually decent CRM that's very lightweight and doesn't limit on number of users when selfhosting. I didn't dig super deep into it myself but some folks I know where trying to help a non-profit get setup with something like this for the people the non-profit serves. The options were pretty sparse. Civicrm seemed ok but doesn't work like at all on mobile (it does have an ugly app).

    I think they ultimately just built something basic on top of pocketbase but that's not something non-techy people could do easily.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    Something that could view and edit org files and connect to any/most cloud services

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    A better jelu that actually works for me. It won't import my Goodreads file AND it's ugly af. If I had the skills I'd fork it myself, but alas.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago* (3 children)
  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    i have one but it's not what i want

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    Fair enough! What features are ya looking for?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    Basically goodreads or bookwyrm without the social features, and portable like calibre. Importing from goodreads is a must, and a DNF shelf that doesn't count books on it toward books read that year. Space for lengthy reviews, star ratings, book metadata and summary. Maybe a links or notes section for relevant extras like author socials or articles.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    A self-hosted media tracker that automatically curates all media (tags, descriptions, etc)

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)
    1. reverse image search, upload an image, find a matching image online.
    2. a broken link checker/scanner with email notifications.
    3. a domain name helper that uses combines two words using synonyms.
    4. a link saver like pocket but simpler (mobile version)
    5. a pixabay alternative that doesn’t allow AI or let it train AI
    6. A job listing website that is Anti-AI (No AI jobs)
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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    self hosted web archive that's flexible/robust enough (loading from multiple sources, auto scraping some site, search etc)

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    first came a not of federated services to mind, not that's really necessary foss. but what would be cool is foss firmware or really open api for any hardware you buy... Home "smart" appliances, printers, cars infotainment system, etc, etc

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    A good competitor to SimuLink for graphic system oriented coding and for MATLAB's code generation, all with a modern UX

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    foss nas software that isn't corporate controlled or vibe coded (looking at you true nas and open media vault)

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    Not about software, but I wish more people focus on developing open source hardware, it makes both software and hardware development easier

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    An open BIOS/UEFI for arm systems, shit just a standard way to boot an iso would be enough.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    ASCOM wireless bridge. There are proprietary and source available solutions but no true open source one.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    unfortunately the max length of comments is to limited to answer this question... ;)

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago

    a booru image categorizer

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