If you’re still using Proton mail:
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@slothrop not surprising. And I’ll add to the list of why Proton is a horrible choice because of their CEO:
https://mas.to/@markwyner/116184563372403595
Folks who use Proton are gonna find out. Because holding an account with a fascist boot-licker is the fucking around part.
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Relatedly, it occurred to me that a more valuable thing I could do than offering email hosting is to put together some software which makes it easier to self-host and to be an email provider.
So that's now on my list of tasks (the other end of which is still visible with a good telescope).
@woozle @benroyce @draNgNon @alice @slothrop That's a fantastic idea, yes! My only caution there is that if it sets stuff up rather than just suggesting configs and then vetting them, it's worth having it generate before-and-after records of what it found and how it changed things. I'm thinking that either it's a complete hands-off appliance *or* they're going to have to be comfortable sysadminning it.
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@slothrop Proton is not sponsoring this Vincent. They have a program that if you bring a new client you get a small amount. https://proton.me/partners
And the personal page this Vincent is referring to has been taken down. Check yourself https://proton.me/VincentLapierre
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@ratfactor @tempusfelix @slothrop
Thank you for the mention, we appreciate it! Thank you for being part of the Runbox Community.We are committed to operating ethically, and we are private and sustainable by design. Hosted in Norway and protected by some of the strongest privacy laws in the world, and running on 100% renewable energy.
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@runbox @ratfactor @tempusfelix
I've hosted my email with Runbox for 5 years now. It does what it says on the tin, simply and reliably. No drama, quite boring (in the best way possible!)

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@alice @slothrop Yeah, unfortunately they had some bullshit around vocally supporting Trump and the christofascist GOP early last year. They got butthurt for getting called out on it and decided to "refocus [their] social media efforts" which meant slumbering their fediverse account.
I canceled my Proton Founder's subscription and moved over to @fastmail specifically because they supported more private domains. I've been very happy with the service.
The other recommendation I always see floating around is @Tutanota but they only documented 10 private domains when I was looking

"they had some bullshit around vocally supporting Trump and the christofascist GOP"
No, that's not at all what happened - but the truth isn't as juicy as hate campaigns.
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@solonovamax @nileane @gotofritz sure. But the reputational risk remains with the company - Proton, in this case.
Managing your brand image has costs. So does not managing your brand image.
@slothrop @nileane @gotofritz I am not saying they shouldn't terminate any agreement and come out with a post saying they don't support this or anything
just attempting to explain how it could have happened in the first place
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RE: https://nileane.fr/@nileane/116704285750838861
If you’re still using Proton mail:
The company is sponsoring the videos of French far-right / fascist YouTuber Vincent Lapierre.
If encryption is part of your vision for a better society, find a better service provider.
UPDATE 2026-06-08: Response from Proton. This comes after mods apparently deleted lots of critical posts in r/ProtonMail.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1u05xs2/comment/oqgihvq/
I was already suspicious of Proton being far-right with their support for Republicans, this proves it further. -
@woozle @benroyce @draNgNon @alice @slothrop That's a fantastic idea, yes! My only caution there is that if it sets stuff up rather than just suggesting configs and then vetting them, it's worth having it generate before-and-after records of what it found and how it changed things. I'm thinking that either it's a complete hands-off appliance *or* they're going to have to be comfortable sysadminning it.
@mason @benroyce @draNgNon @alice @slothrop
My preferred style is "here are all the options, but you don't have to change anything if you're fine with the defaults" -- kind of like MediaWiki's web-based setup.
...and then a UI which makes it easier to do changes later, once you know more about what you want.
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"they had some bullshit around vocally supporting Trump and the christofascist GOP"
No, that's not at all what happened - but the truth isn't as juicy as hate campaigns.
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RE: https://nileane.fr/@nileane/116704285750838861
If you’re still using Proton mail:
The company is sponsoring the videos of French far-right / fascist YouTuber Vincent Lapierre.
If encryption is part of your vision for a better society, find a better service provider.
UPDATE 2026-06-08: Response from Proton. This comes after mods apparently deleted lots of critical posts in r/ProtonMail.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1u05xs2/comment/oqgihvq/
@slothrop
Companies like Proton sponsor creators across the political spectrum not because they agree with those creators, but because they're businesses and they're trying to get more customers. I saw Matt Walsh shilling for NordVPN. Does that mean I shouldn't use NordVPN? This insistence on absolute ideological purity that some people on the left engage in is just silly and counter-productive. And for the record, I'm pretty far left myself. -
"you've also probably got some bullshit around vocally supporting Trump and the christofascist GOP,"
You seem to be quite unwell. I hope you get better.
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Andy was, literally, commenting on that a specific person had previously been a proponent for small tech vs big tech which he saw as a good thing.
That's all. That's all it was.
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@slothrop Lol. I went to Proton cos of how bad Google are (Swiss, developed by CERN, etc). Who is a decent email provider these days, or do they start out with good intentions and get corrupted?
Proton is that decent provider. The hate campaign you're seeing here is mostly just people who seem to have issues with reading comprehension in general.
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RE: https://nileane.fr/@nileane/116704285750838861
If you’re still using Proton mail:
The company is sponsoring the videos of French far-right / fascist YouTuber Vincent Lapierre.
If encryption is part of your vision for a better society, find a better service provider.
UPDATE 2026-06-08: Response from Proton. This comes after mods apparently deleted lots of critical posts in r/ProtonMail.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1u05xs2/comment/oqgihvq/
@slothrop ah fuck we wanted to drop them a while ago but still haven't moved everything from it
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Your fallacy is believing that your culture is the only one in the world. '88' is a nazi dogwhistle in the west since a few decades back - but it means "double fortune" and is part of asian numerology for thousands of years.
Don't be stupid on the Internet.
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He's asian.
Since you didn't read it the last time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_numerology#Eight
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Now you're just making stuff up. It's your choice to act like an idiot but people like you are why great organisations _don't_ want to keep a presence on Mastodon.
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@slothrop ah fuck we wanted to drop them a while ago but still haven't moved everything from it
@slothrop well this is our cue to get this done ASAP
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Your inability to understand other cultures only says something about you - not them.
Here - have a Swedish icecream: https://handla.ica.se/produkt/1466620