Just to clarify for anyone reading. 404 does not have a paywall. They have an account wall. Some articles require you to be signed into a free account to read.

For comparison, the Wall Street Journal does have a paywall but is not a banned site.

And 404 is also not banned, right?

As a noob here on HN, that's what I gathered from your previous comment:

> In the year since, a bunch of their original reporting has hit the front page

So, a year ago, before my time, 404 media was moderated in a way that seemed like a ban, but now it no longer appears to be shadowbanned, is that what I'm learning?

If a 404media article makes it to the front page, it's because enough people happened to vouch a [dead] article, which is quite unusual and involves a lot of luck (since most people don't have showdead enabled). Nothing has changed on the mod side as far as I'm aware.

Don't forget that complaining about paywalls is actually against the rules. So how did the site get that ban in the first place?

Generally, you don't have to open settings. The the built-in share menu from a file has quick share as an option and if someone shares something with you, you'd get a notification.

Signal recently introduced cloud backups. https://signal.org/blog/introducing-secure-backups/

Only in the Beta Android app for now... Signal is around for what, a decade now? And they still can't (or rather, refuse to) do the basic "copy the SQLite DB file to a folder". Edit: and even this beta feature is some bullshit proprietary thing with their own cloud and subscription rather than simply "let me export the DB file and stick it in a cloud provider of my choice".

Last time I had to reinstall my phone I ended up finding an implementation of their phone-to-phone transfer protocol to emulate a "new" device I'm transferring to just to get a dump of the data (I'd share, but don't want them to close this option, since clearly the lack of export option is very much intentional).

Then I deleted Signal and begrudgingly moved to WhatsApp (in addition to iMessage which I've already been using).

Signal has had a backup to a file you can do any you want to for years.

Never on iOS or any other Apple platform. Signal is designed not to be able to backup to iCloud either. The only option iOS users have had over the last few years is to do a device to device transfer where both phones are expected to be in physical proximity and it takes hours to transfer the data. Lost phone has meant losing all chats.

WhatsApp, which is infamous by association with Meta, backs up to Google Drive or wherever.

Looks like the needle has moved, but reading the blog it's a recent development and only available in the beta version of the Android app.

They've probably expanded support since the initial announcement

eSIMs are nice in that you can install an app and it can activity service immediately. You don't have to go to a store or wait for a physical SIM to be mailed to you.

Also nice for people who frequent different countries, easier to switch by tapping a button in the phone than having to replace the physical SIM card each time. And no more forgetting the right SIM or not having a tiny thing to get the SIM card out in the first place (or having to borrow someone's earring).

The users are going through an OAuth flow and creating an account. Presumably they are agreeing to a ToS as part of that.

It even says in the OAuth flow that the company is requesting your profile image.

It's been 2 years https://signal.org/blog/new-features-fall-2023/

Oh wow, time flies.

> What a scam android has become.

An optional advanced security feature targeted at non-typical users doesn't seem like a good indicator of this statement.

How is blocking fdroid updates an "advanced security feature"?

The opt-in security feature is blocking all installs from outside the play store.

That's just android by default, nothing can install apks apart from the play store, without an explicit permission from the user.

Wow. Amazing that we have layers and layers of "security", but it's still not enough, we clearly need more.

WhatsApp offloads the storage to Google/Apple.

https://faq.whatsapp.com/481135090640375

Not to boast but this will surpass many an intricate topic and you should strategically delve into it before it garners meticulous attention.

You're absolutely right!

Exactly! — You're getting at the heart of the issue.

Would you like me to produce a helpful table laying out our strategic approach?

It’s a classic case of overfitting.

Look it’s AGI!

This hits different.

Browsers only implement XSLT 1

https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2025/08/22/no-google-did-...