UPDATE: You may need to log out and log back in to the Matrix server to ensure the old channels disappear from your channel list.

After a couple months of experimenting and receiving your feedback, tonight we made a major change to the settings of the LRN.FM Matrix server . The issue was that we missed an important setting when setting it up initially. We figured out the problem when someone noticed it was impossible to create an unencrypted room on the server. Why would one want to have an unencrypted room? Simply because it makes life easier.

Encryption is a very cool feature of Matrix, there's no doubt. However the trade-off for security is inconvenience and cost. In the case of Matrix rooms, the inconvenience includes not being able to see content that was said in a room prior to joining it. This could be considered a feature from a security perspective, but for rooms that are open to the public, it's not very welcoming. Also,...

I love this kilt. I will wear it to the many conventions that FTL attends. Big Thanks to James at Sport Kilt. Go get yourself some freedom today at sportkilt.com .

As you know, we just launched a brand new, self-hosted chat server and that's been busy with new users and various official and user-created chat rooms, be sure to check it out. Don't forget you can also follow Free Talk Live on social media:

Mastodon - https://toot.freetalklive.com Twitter - https://twitter.freetalklive.com Telegram - https://telegram.freetalklive.com

Also, you can directly support us by joining AMP for as little as $5 a month at http://amp.freetalklive.com and supporting our satellite fundraiser at http://fund.lrn.fm .

Thank you for your support and for listening to and following Free Talk Live, Ian

Well, we knew this day was coming. Earlier this year the Discord admins targeted our server and claimed we'd violated their terms for "cyberbullying or targeted harassment of an individual or community" but when I asked their support division for an explanation of what specifically was claimed against us, they refused to provide it and just told me to "be vigilant of this issue going forward" and that they'd let me if if any other issues occurred. Well, no one let me know of anything and today the Discord server for LRN.FM and FTL disappeared without warning. Trying to submit a support request led me to a blank page earlier, so I have responded to the email thread I had with them from their previous warning. I suspect they won't explain what the alleged violation was, but will report to you if anything develops.

Meanwhile, you may be a Discord user who is wondering a few things, namely:

1. If you had crypto in the tip bot, how can you retrieve it? Here's how. Join...

A decade ago, about a year after its founding, I put LRN.FM on satellite over North and Central America and then in 2012 we added a satellite over Sub-Saharan Africa. It's something I was inspired to do after seeing satellite dishes being confiscated and destroyed by more-oppressive regimes. The idea was to do like RT has done for their propaganda and broadcast the ideas of liberty into the rest of the world - and in the case of Africa, the least-internet connected place on the planet.

The satellite feed would also allow pirate radio operators to pull our feed in remote places where they may want to have a transmitter but have no internet access. Satellite is a reliable audio delivery method pretty much 24/7.

However, very few people appear to share the vision. Our Patreon fundraiser that we've run since 2017 has a bunch of wonderful people donating, but under two-dozen of them total. We''re pulling in about 15% of our monthly...