CosmicGiraffe

Changing DNS isn't the same thing as a VPN. Your traffic isn't "tunneled" over DNS, it just changes which server your devices use to look up IP addresses. Your ISP can still see quite a lot, particularly if you're using plain DNS rather than DNS over HTTPS or DNS over TLS.

I've always got them from eBay.

The T and X series are the high-end ones. Between those it mostly depends on what size of laptop you're looking for. Its worth checking a guide for how you replace the SSD/RAM/battery - some of the newer ones have these soldered in place, which means you're stuck with whatever it originally came with.

Personally, I think the sweet spot is around 4 years old. By that point they're pretty cheap (maybe 10% of the original RRP), and going for older ones doesn't save you much more money. I recently got an X390 and it's doing everything I need from a laptop

DNS = Domain Name System. This is used to lookup an IP address (e.g. 123.234.54.32) from a domain name (e.g. lemmy.ml). A DNS query is one of the first things your computer does when you visit a site.

Plain DNS is unencrypted, which means that anyone with the ability to read your requests (e.g. your ISP) can see the names of sites that you're visiting.

TLS = Transport Layer Security. This is a protocol that's used to create an encrypted connection between your device and another one, in this case the DNS server. When this is used, the content of your DNS requests is hidden. Your ISP can still see that you're talking to the DNS server, but not what you're saying to it.

TLS also allows your device to cryptographically verify the identity of the DNS server. Without it, someone with the ability to modify your connection could change the responses from the DNS server. That would allow them to send you back the IP address of a server they control, rather than the real servers IP.

It might mean that of all the eligible voters, 67% voted and everyone who voted voted in favor. So 67% voted for, 0% voted against and 33% didn't vote at all.

The problem is that in my country those drawings are legally the same thing as child porn. As I said in the OP, I'm not making a moral judgement here, but as a purely practical matter that content is concerning to me.

Thats good to hear, will edit the OP to add it. I do think my post is a fair representation of the original update though.

In my mind there's a big difference between NSFW and child porn, and where I am, that content is considered to be child porn. I'm happy to deal with filtering NSFW content for myself, but I don't want to risk CP.

The reason I phrased the OP as a question was that I suspect most users here will have a similar view to me and be in favor of blocking servers hosting CP. If that isn't the case I'll happily go find another instance, I don't want to enforce my boundaries on everyone else.

The problem with that approach is that it puts users here in legal jeopardy. Right now if I browse "All" rather than "Local" I'm risking jail time

I've been browsing through new as a way of finding communities to join. The NSFW stuff in that feed is unideal but easy enough to ignore, whereas content that could send me to jail is a whole different ballgame.

I see this behaviour too, without a URL checker app

I wouldn't bother with the concept of de-federation in a beginners guide. One of the most confusing bits of the fediverse to new users is picking a server. For most users, the one they pick doesn't really matter, but talking about defederation makes it sound like a really important choice.