For those of us who enjoy Micro.blog a lot (I love it tbh) but really don’t want the noise of certain discussion topics, you can use Gluon with its muting capability.

Gluon is great anyway so you can see more info on the website for the app.

The big updates to Micro.blog are brilliant. Amongst the many things I am still processing, the redesign for the web does such a good job of both putting better focus on the timeline and making it easier to access different features. So very good. 😍

One of the smaller notes of this preview for the upcoming Micro.blog updates that has me as excited as the headline features is near the end of Manton’s post:

… such as (finally!) editing replies.

🙌🙌🙌

Re-reconsidering my email situation. Going to give the rules and filters for Proton a good go before thinking about switching; I need to actually deal with my existing mail rather than hide that task with the false work of switching provider.

Time is a good decision-maker.

The Home Office has frighteningly little grasp of the impact of its activities in managing immigration.

– Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee

Our very own ICE for just £400 million per year.

CLAP

I know that I have blood on my hands by now.

– Sophie Zhang

A data scientist formerly employed by Facebook as part of its moderation efforts against corruption has spoken out. If you’re going to keep using Facebook, at least read about the cost of that decision.

An AI captain just sounds cool.

It was impossible to speak to a human at Instagram … It is like they don’t want to be contacted.

– Emma Heathcote-James, via the BBC: ‘Scammer clone my business on Instagram’

A frightening and depressingly familiar story.

BOOM

There’s a lot of value in slow thinking. You use the non-lizard side of your brain. You make more deliberate decisions. You prioritize design over instant gratification. You can “check” your gut instincts ...

… a good idea isn’t good unless it’s gonna do good.

– Hank Green, I Don’t Know What Work Is

X-Men: The Animated Series for 8 cellos by Samara Ginsberg 🎶

😍😍😍

Another reason to quit Facebook: Facebook found to actively promote Holocaust denial

For @kimberlyhirsh and all of us:

You be you.

Don’t concern yourself with work or “being productive” to the point where your health is comprimised.

Whatever you need to do to make it through these troubled times; do that.

Don’t forget to love each other. 💙

Hashtags for Micro.blog

This is a reply to @vivianlee:

You’ll have to excuse my ignorance here, but you could elaborate on the negative effects of hashtags? I’m new to the IndieWeb philosophy, and having just come from the likes of Twitter and Instagram, the lack of hashtags here has made it difficult for discovery. I’m wondering what the workaround is, and why hashtags would be a negative thing.

(original comment)

I’m not as well-informed on all of the technical aspects or any work that has been done to support this position – case studies, etc – but I do have a general view based on my experiences in the hashtag-heavy platforms vs. Micro.blog and my old days on message boards and the like.

A lot of the behaviour around hashtags for those with ill will is about tracking and campaigning at speed; using algorithms for trending to target and pile-on people and groups. It can also become easy to ruin a topic that has until that point been carefully curated by the people involved, whether through crude spambots or planned, targeted campaigns.

The flip-side of that is of course moderation, whether from the people running the platform or via account-based tools made available to each person. Whilst I’m not aware of what exactly could be done with such resources, I know for sure that either way it is likely to be a lot of work for such a small team.

There is also the question of priorities within the context of culture; are hashtags, with all of the associated work, what Micro.blog needs right now? From my experience this is the kind of mechanism that can quickly lead to significant unintended consequences and so the positive value – which is basically just discovery – needs to be carefully weighed against the costs.

As for the alternatives, on Micro.blog it’s a mix of direct-ish approaches;

and the in-direct approach that has become part of the culture of Micro.blog;

(Note: there is also a Micro.blog help page covering this subject)

These alternatives also work well with philosophies of the open web, which preclude the silos; specifcally, the idea of the open web as the great social network, where we use feeds, email, newsletters, and other such technology and platforms that are largely non-proprietary. This means greater agency, independence, control, and less manipulation for all involved; it becomes a lot less like everybody dumping their posts into a bucket of faceless, nameless content whilst parasitical entities take advantage of our ignorance and lack of ownership.

I don’t think hashtags are intrinisic to the destructive nature of the web, rather I am unaware of any way for a small team to harness their power without sacrificing the good of Micro.blog; the intention, the curation, the personal contact, the idea that we are all people sharing space with some degree of control, and choosing to take our actions no matter what they might be.

Before I get Today I Learned back up and running, I’m going to leave these links here:

Oh look, another new productivity app to distract from work. 😇

I wonder if there is a UK version of the Lawfare blog 🤔

Further to my last post:

If I was forced to use the iOS version of Firefox, Today I Learned would be a non-starter. And that’s just my tiny little speck of dust in the world, let alone all of the other ideas killed by app-store restrictions.