I made a video to show how Micro.blog and Mastodon work together. Hopefully this helps, but admittedly it's all still pretty confusing, and I think we could explain it better. You can watch it on YouTube here.
2022-12-12
Lately my job seems to be about making sure Mastodon doesn't turn into a denial-of-service attack on my servers. 🙂 Sorry for the flakiness today, partially caused by how we were handling a flood of messages from Mastodon.technology's impeding shutdown. Fixed the issue.
2022-12-12
"Everything that we make, we try to make the web a better place." — Matt Mullenweg in an interview on Decoder
2022-12-13
Walked to the coffee shop despite likely rain today. Can't find an umbrella. I bought one in Portland last month but then remembered that no one uses umbrellas in Portland. Accidentally left it in the rental van. ☔️
2022-12-13
Another clever Micro.blog plug-in from @sod called Bookmarks Shortcode. I'm trying this out now and it works well. I hadn't thought about sharing my bookmarks publicly before, but I like the option.
2022-12-14
Jack Dorsey wrote an interesting post (not a Twitter thread!) about a potential future for social media. I disagree with much of it, but I respect that he's being thoughtful and self-critical.
2022-12-14
I could write about rumored third-party iOS app stores but it would repeat what I've blogged about with sideloading for years. What's new: many sideloading skeptics now support it. It is inevitable because it's the only permanent fix to the exclusive distribution/payment problem.
2022-12-14
Does anyone at this coffee shop not have COVID? Maybe I'm stuck in the pandemic mindset, but if you're coughing and blowing your nose repeatedly in public, stay home please. Sitting outside now. 🙂
2022-12-14
Looks like mastodon.technology is officially no more. As part of the shutdown, the instance was sending thousands of ActivityPub "delete" messages, which I'm still not sure is correct if there's no intent to delete an account. What if a closing instance has a million users? Hmm.
2022-12-14
I'm updating book.micro.blog with Elon's impact on Twitter. Giving myself until the end of the year, then calling it done. For real this time. There will always be something new, but this is a good place to wrap it up.
2022-12-15
Good post from @dave about how blog posts without titles should be handled by feed readers. It seems so simple but doing this the right way is actually a big part of moving beyond Twitter.
2022-12-15
Loish on AI art
I haven't been able to pin down exactly what I don't like about AI-generated text and art, but I always got the sense that something wasn't right about it. I like this post from Lois van Baarle, writing about artists protesting AI:
Many have compared image generators to human artists seeking out inspiration. Those two are not the same. My art is literally being fed into these generators through the datasets, and spat back out of a program that has no inherent sense of what is respectful to artists. As long as my art is literally integrated into the system used to create the images, it is commercial use of my art without my consent.
She's an incredible artist with a very distinct style. If it was copied by a robot, you'd know. Go check out her Tumblr blog or books.
2022-12-15
We just published episode 541 of Core Intuition. Talking about marketing for Micro.blog, influencers, the holidays, and an update on MarsEdit 5.
2022-12-16
For years I've assumed Twitter won't last forever, but Elon has really accelerated that timeline. Still stunning.
2022-12-16
Finished reading: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. I love fantasy books and I love coffee shops, so how can I not love this? Fun story. 📚
2022-12-18
Twitter blocking links to Mastodon and other networks reminds me of when (10 years ago!) they also shut down Instagram's "find friends on Twitter" feature. But you know what you can always link to in your profile? Your blog.
2022-12-18
We re-watched all the Harry Potter movies over the last week or so. Thinking about putting a books re-read on my list for next year... Haven't read Deathly Hallows since it's release. 📚
2022-12-18
Thinking of folks bailing on Twitter, I spent a little time clicking through old tweets from when I signed off in 2012. What I got wrong was jumping to another silo. Later went all-in on my blog, building Micro.blog, and embracing the IndieWeb. Those are the things that last.
2022-12-19
I agree with @benwerd to stop giving Twitter attention, but as the Micro.blog founder it's kind of my job to comment. I've been wondering why Twitter anti-competitive behavior in 2012 didn't resonate like 2022. People now have a single, impulsive leader to blame for everything.
2022-12-19
No question Elon has gone way beyond our worst predictions for Twitter, but his "decisions by tweet" have added to the narrative that the company is chaotic and off course. Imagine App Store policies the same but Tim Cook firing off random edicts about side-loading or linking.
2022-12-19
