Improved a few things with the recommendations page linked from a Micro.blog profile. Now includes an OPML download link too.
Excellent work. Raising the visibility and ease of access to OPML files strengthens web feeds as an alternative to silo feeds.
I was looking into creating OPML files for @TIL; I’m still going to do so, only now I do not need to wait until I have accomplished this to launch related features. Instead, I’ll immediately use this MB mechanism for those features.
Idea: Use the new MB Recommendations feature to make an expanded version of Micro Monday.
It’s a way to curate a list of favorite sites to link to from your blog.
— Manton, Recommendations and blogrolls on Micro.blog
One of my favourite parts of this feature is that the recommendations lists are available on a web page. Expected yet still great implementation which favours the web.
The big wigs at Apple should take a leaf out of Jen Simmons’ book.
It would be a much wiser approach as compared to “Web developers will sacrifice your children to the devil.”
I wrote a short post which I’m half-regretting and was then inspired by the ensuing conversation to waffle on a bit.
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I’ve tried to become much more careful when talking about this type of thing, not least because MB is in a bit of an odd place; plenty of people are trying to volunteer but the tools to do so are limited, whilst there is no way to know whether such efforts are going to be bolstered by fully-equipped, paid official help.
Whilst I think there is a lot we in the community can talk about regarding these issues and generally have greater interaction to help foster the best environment possible, I also believe a lot of that particular work won’t be worth much if the team isn’t able to reciprocate in the best way.
This situation might be much better than I believe it to be, and I just haven’t been involved enough with conversations that happen elsewhere — this is mostly how I see it based on the public spaces for the community.
I am looking forward to better conversations about these issues, especially beyond just text and timelines, and hope to see some of my doubts proven wrong.
I can’t pick a particular line to quote from It’s Okay to Not Write so I suggest you read the whole thing.
I think Lady Madonna is my favourite Beatles song. 🎶
Listening to Eight Days A Week 🎶
Currently listening to a 1 hour loop of the main theme from Shadow Of War. 🎶
It is soothing like a lofi ambient mix, whilst also lively enough that it helps me to settle into work, like a lighter version of Einaudi’s music (his work is my go-to for work).
Missed the latest Analog Tools meetup, which appears to have been a lot of fun.
This is why, ironically, I need to keep working on properly establishing my planning, scheduling, and note-keeping system. Progress is steady, alongside improvements to the new place so I can’t wait for the next meetup.
testing for Annie
Notes are private by default, end-to-end encrypted across all platforms, with a special companion app named Strata for iOS. (Android coming soon.)
— Manton, Introducing notes in Micro.blog
Off to a flying start with this launch 👏
Some links:
Given the excellent launch of the new Notes feature for MB, with the companion Strata app for iOS (Android soon), I think it’s a good time to take a look at Vincent’s latest post about the ways to support his work.
Vincent asked:
I am still very much of the same opinion that replacing “insert popular social network here” with something more open which behaves and looks very similar… isn’t the way. Maybe just me. Thoughts?
To me, it seems a lot of problems arise for people when they’ve confused their personal issues with systemic social structures.
tbh a lot of the hand-wringing I’ve seen from people tends to not only be inaccurate but 99% of the time just basic projecting with approximately 0 effort applied to introspection from the individual.
And I mean for all social networks. From the moment I started using the web more than 20 years ago.
Could we do better as a group? Yes, of course — this is always true, and the point of existing if we’re being honest about it. However the web changed the entire definition of that idea (“as a group”) and we’re still in the earliest stages of that process; it honestly feels like a lot of the criticism or disillusionment is way too harsh for such an early stage.
(edit: the critique I have for “hand-wringing” I also apply to myself — I am never happy when I fall into this trap and work on removing it from my life as much as I can; our new home already helps)
Getting all sorts of important tasks complete with this cosy lofi mix providing the perfect ambience. 🎶
petition to clone @jean
I’ve come to realise the main drive of what I’m doing with @TIL — beyond the mission statement — and for which I need to begin full advocacy:
People. Not technicalities.
I’m going to relentlessly maintain that focus in the work, and the message.
(h/t @JohnPhilpin and his People First initiative)
When shared outside of Glass, your friends, family, or followers will see your photos laid out in the gorgeous Glass Grid with all the details.
— The Glass team, A Look at Series
That’s pretty damned good.
Firefox now supports creating and using passkeys stored in the iCloud Keychain on macOS.
Per the awesome new feature for MB, I am immediately using this for TIL. Will be included in the next Orchid update along with another recent addition to the platform.
I love it when an idea I am going to implement becomes much easier thanks to improvements made by Manton and co.
The brand new One Page feature for Micro.blog is pretty fucking sweet.
Added an OPML export option for who you’re following, under Posts → “…” → Export. Finally! This is slightly incomplete because Micro.blog attempts to exclude feeds that look semi-private. We’ll continue to improve this. There is also a fediverse CSV export under Account → View Fediverse Details.
🙌
I’ll soon be checking the different platforms for their export capabilities, as part of research for TIL. It’ll be interesting to see which platform, if any, has a comprehensive offering of this feature.
A new feature on Micro.blog inspired a discussion over what I think of as the ongoing friction caused by the dual nature of the platform as a paid blogging host, with free(ish) social network attached.
My reply got longer than I like to see in my own timeline so here we go…
The reason I would prefer to use a different label is that it helps me maintain a sense of place, to be aware of the context. To me:
(Edit: actually, this makes sense now that I’ve written it out. Conversation works because that’s where the link goes. My question now is: why is there a link to the timeline mixed in with my blog posts?
Maybe this would be easier to understand if Conversation.js was better equipped as a commenting system.)
This tripped me up because it appears to be an ongoing issue; I regularly see lots of people struggle with these ideas and there is no apparent proof of intent from the design side of things — what’s the idea, why was it done that way, will it change over time, how much does feedback matter in these decisions, etc —and I wonder if these choices add to the uncertainty and difficulty? I’m probably over-thinking it.