Replies on Micro.blog

A reply to the ongoing discussion about replies

Going back to at least earlier this year it seemed like the limit on replies was going to be shortened, or at least that was the plan, and if that does happen at any point then all of a sudden the whole “let’s start a conversation” dynamic is much different; perhaps people would be more inclined to take such conversations elsewhere (messaging services, email, physical space, etc) and so the value of the short-reply conversation (micro-convo if you will) stands alone.

There’s a chance with only short replies allowed that replies themselves will take on more of their own identity, and a core part of that will be the shorter replies themselves. Then they would be not just something that is so easily considered clutter. However, I do agree with Smokey that these issues could be better solved via timeline filtering, of which there is already a foundation (filtering out mentions to people you do not follow) and as compared to introducing a “like” system is much less likely to fundamentally alter the entire platform.

I also like John’s idea of “disappearing likes." It reminds me of how Snapchat first became popular due to disappearing posts, except this could serve as less destructive version of “likes” in general.

Overall when it comes to cluttered timelines I’m not at all convinced that introducing a reply-wide change to the system is the best way to go, since it feels too much like shoving something on everybody because some people think of short replies as clutter. For those who do think this way, have you considered using RSS in conjunction with Micro.blog? I find it’s easier to get at the exact posts you want this way, rather than looking to turn the conversation host (Micro.blog) into something fundamentally different.

Right now replies definitely need some updates and I think this is one of the issues that ought to be addressed. Personally, as somebody outside of the Apple ecosystem I feel there are bigger problems; even short replies are hard work when it comes to just using the web but I think updates to the replies feature across all systems would be a great upgrade for Micro.blog as a whole.

Bad Reading on the Broken Web

I’ve just been reading twitter in my browser – it’s a bad procrastination habit but now I at least try to read good, creative, often positive things as a way to make it a good habit – and I prefer scrolling via the keyboard. The cursor is in the address bar and it is very difficult to get it out of there, maybe even impossible… this is a terrible design and surely only made to encourage people into just getting the app and, more importantly, only really using it on your phone/iPad.

It is utterly frustrating to see “everybody” (read: lots of mostly active people) using these silos, these services, and just going along with it like cattle. It is a wave of lazy living, lazy thinking, and fear-lead decision making that has brought us to a point wherein good stories on the web are now largely trapped within ecosystems that are increasingly designed to be prisons and little more.

The question is: just give up and go with the crowd, or continue to hold what you think is the better idea – in this instance: the open web, open standards, websites made to good standards, accessible postings, and the slow and steady growth of the technologies therein – in the hope that eventually our stories and ideas will become less trapped?

Language and the New Social Web

(Note: I originally wrote this on Slack, as part of a thread about Micro.blog as a name.)

I know naming isn’t easy but I think I find it hard because M.b gets used for the company, individual blogs, the app and the timeline respectively in the following sentence (although arguably the second “Micro.blog” should be “microblog”):

“When I post to my Micro.blog hosted Micro.blog using Micro.blog it gets cross-posted to Micro.blog”

– Matthew Lindfield Seager (@matt17r), in the Indie Microblogging Slack

I think part of the issue here, especially if you’re going to compare to social media silos, is that they are not interested in differentiating these things… whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, whatever… they are simply interested in people not ever thinking about the technical side of things.

Meanwhile, Micro.blog fully embraces the technical side of things yet is also driven by a desire to make things as simple as possible.

As such, tbh, things aren’t cleanly and easily tucked into a nice little marketable pocket of jargon. If people don’t like the inevitable downsides of social media silos then they’re going to have to at least become aware of things like “blogs”, “posts”, “microblogs”, and so on.

That doesn’t mean people have to become experts or even especially comfortable with these concepts but they will need to acknowledge that there is no easy, one-size-fits-all answer for posting and sharing things on the web. Maybe over time the language will get easier but I don’t think it’s going to be because the marketing improves; rather, it’s time for people on the web to become better citizens.

We Need to Talk About the Larger Scope

No one is forcing these game developers to take these jobs

– @frostedechoes, on the effects felt by developers when creating violent video games.

Whilst I understand this isn’t the core of Robert’s point, I will note that I see this kind of qualifier quite a lot across different issues, and I think it’s important for all of us to also make note of the fact that there is an agent influencing the decisions of, well, everybody. That agent is the socio-economic system, the culture we prop up with our many decisions, for which there is no current alternative. If we had a better alternative then things could be different; for example, introducing both universal healthcare and universal basic income would create significant foundations upon which we could all make better decisions.

To put it bluntly, in many cases these developers are in the USA and these terrible jobs are still preferable to having no job, almost entirely due to the punitive treatment of unemployment in said country.

Also, looking at what Jason has said, he ends with the idea of questioning whether to support certain art or not. Again, an easy thing, Jason is taking the much easier route of looking at this small insignificant piece… those pieces do nothing when compared to the foundational issues here, even if they are much easier to talk about.

Blog a Lot

I think people neglect to write blog posts because the feedback loop is not as tangible as the onslaught of (sometimes mechanical) likes or faves that you can receive on a social network.

– Daniel Jalkut, Blog a Little

It’s a shame people believe what those at Facebook, Twitter, and such like would prefer them to believe; specifically, just because the audience seems to be all on those closed networks that it is therefore the best option to just post everything there and never have an independent, self-owned option as the core of whatever you are posting.

Instead, it’ll be great even if people just change how they think about the whole system, to realise that the closed networks can be useful for specific types of broadcasting but that’s about it. Even then, with regard to messaging not only do we have feed technology but also email and the unbelievable flexibility of open web software as a whole.

It has been encouraging to see the influential voices of the web become louder about these issues in the past few years. It might not be obvious at first but the truth is that we can only build a better world if we learn from our history, identify the good in what we have done, and then attempt to build on that. I truly believe that we can maintain the internet as a force for good, specifically with the web, so long as we hold close to the values of independence, generous spirit, and free thinking; all of which are possible with a web that itself is as open and independent as possible.

#LongLiveTheOpenWeb is another good piece in a movement well worth your time, doubtless there will be more to come and we will all be here, ready to blog a lot.

Apple User Documentation or the Lack Thereof

There’s an interesting conversation here regarding Apple and support documentation, specifically with regard to what is missing.

This is embarrassing. “It Just Works” should more than cover documentation. I don’t know how many people I’ve read and heard in revered tone about “The Most Holy HIG” and so on… seriously, they are a trillion dollar company and don’t have the resources to make comprehensive guidance across ALL formats? That is utter bullshit and completely user hostile.

Oh, also, don’t forget that “you’re doing it wrong” will make an appearance from time-to-time whenever the executives have been lowered to our level in response to something on which the company has fucked up.

I see a lot of “they’re premium” whenever somebody brings up Apple being expensive. Irrespective of the realities of premium or not, Apple certainly screams premium with everything they do but the deep holes in their user documentation, whatever the format, is terrible and counter to even the slightest notion of a premium experience.

On the Wisdom of Ents

Don’t be hasty!

I was getting ahead of myself. Today I Learned is not going to stop – to be fair, that seemed unlikely anyway – but I did need to take a break, to take a few steps back and think about why it was that I felt the way I did; I was tired and in pain, generally feeling down, and none of it had anything to do with a need for TIL to stop.

Rather, I need to do two things;

  • be patient with myself;
  • be kinder to myself.

I may or may not elaborate further on this in some form or another but I think that’s enough for now. The core of this post is to say that TIL is very much back on track, with updates and all, and I am committed to it – barring any major life-altering events – for at least another 12 months.

The ten days that were my unplanned break were illuminating to say the least. It feels good to be back.

Goodbye, Internet.

I am no longer maintaining Today I Learned.

Having given the project a lot of thought, specifically within the context of my life the fact is that I do not have the resources with which to make this work. This is actually a realisation on a larger scale for me personally; insofar as I do not have room for any such project in my life.

I am a carer, that is my job, and attempting to have a second job as a remote worker is an effort that is simply beyond me; I have no way of doing that with minimal effort, rather I work as hard and with as much efficiency as possible and all of this simply doesn’t work.

A combination of factors leave me very much in the wrong place to attempt to continue with this effort and it is important for me to recognise this and move on. I still think Micro.blog and similar efforts are a much healthier, more sustainable alternative to the corporate silos that have come to dominate the web and hope to see more and more people come to the same conclusion.

The sites and account will remain but there will be no new activity at all. If anybody wants to take what’s there, well, it’s all easily copied anyway so there’s nothing new about that.

I’d like to thank everybody for your support with the project, from Jean and Manton through to those who replied to posts and so on; as usual, the community on Micro.blog has proven to be pretty damn good even in these early days. You’re all brilliant.

Now I will be taking a break from blogging and generally posting on the web, and taking my time to think about what I am doing next, if anything on top of my job. I have serious doubts if anything other than volunteering will fit into my life but who knows…

That’s everything for now.

Goodbye, Internet.

Noise Reduction

Only I have the key, and only I get to decide what’s allowed inside.

– Cheri Baker, My New Internet Habits

Cheri has found the exact kind of mental discipline I had spoken about at the end of last year.

My goals, similar to her own with regard to time spent online are nowhere near closer than when I first set them out on this blog. It should be no surprised to me, then that the first two months of this year have been marked by a general downturn in my mood, my overall health really.

This stops now.

Not only have I already deactivated my personal social media accounts barring Micro.blog, I have reset my RSS feeds and am in the midst of taking a knife to the throat of any excess with regard to email, task managers (read: Gabriel Santiago’s take on Jillianne Hamilton’s Can a Productivity Nerd Live Without a To-Do List?), and so on.

I am stripping away the noise, making firm decisions about my work set-up (minimised to better focus on the most immediate tasks), and filtering the crap away to stop it from getting into my mind.

Soon I hope to also report that I am reading more books, reading higher quality news, increasing my exercise, and getting much more writing done.

Microsoft should stop trying to make apps

A question I have has been previously asked by somebody else on the Microsoft support forum thing, specifically: how can I create calendars using the Windows Calendar app.

From a “Microsoft Agent | Moderator”:

As of the moment, we’ll have to wait until there is an option for adding a new, personalized calendar to the Calendar app. This will be a great addition to the Calendar app, so we encourage you to submit your idea using the Feedback Hub app so that our developers can see it and consider adding this feature in future updates.

… in August, 2017.

I… this is seriously from the company once broken up because of its monopoly in computers.

It is breathtakingly stupid to see the fucking Calendar app not have a create calendar feature. I spend plenty of time with my iPad or Pixel and don’t have even one tenth the level of stress-induced headaches as I do with Microsoft’s software.

Now on my to-do list:

  1. Move relevant tech back to Google stuff; I have a fucking Pixel so why I am bothering with other big vendors is now beyond me.
  2. Get Dropbox set up again; they and Backblaze are the only palatable major third-party developers with whom I have been satisfied with regard to these large file-based tasks.
  3. Rip every single Microsoft thing I can from my digital life and continue to barely tolerate their shitty operating system, for now.

Micro.blog As A Social Layer

To note:

  1. Apologies to people who follow my Micro.blog feed. That was … a lot of replies.
  2. Replying felt so good. I’ve been in a bit of a funk for a few days and now I feel much better.
  3. Imagine that, a social experience on the web without abuse, corporate surveillance, terrible ads, terrible apps, or a desire to constantly check for replies like an addict.

Will wonders never cease.

Dithering About The Mac

I keep going back and forth on this but as somebody who needs a computer – even in the case of a laptop – that can be durable and capable, I’m less convinced that I should be looking at a Mac as each day passes. A Microsoft notebook might be the way to go.

This page from Michael Tsai is Exhibit A for my continued unease. It’s not that I’m likely to get a MacBook Pro, especially not as my first Mac but the progression, or lack thereof, in the higher end models is a sign of how well the lower end models will be treated. To be frank, the price of the new MacBook Air is not enough to put me off but the terribly negligence displayed by Apple toward the Mac in general is disconcerting.

At this point, I’m waiting to see if they’ll continue supplying regular updates (which to be fair, they have since the 2016 redesign) and revert some of the bad decisions of the past two years, and if they don’t I’ll avoid the Mac entirely and compare instead the iPad Pro to Windows laptops.

Edit: Another set of updates from Michael Tsai

Seriously, even if I wasn’t poor there is no way I will be able to tolerate this seemingly terrible keyboard. I write way too much to ever work efficiently; I barely have time enough for this work as it is!

Cutting The Cord

I no longer want to be tied up in various accounts for platforms and services, to be tied to black-box style technology with which if you have any issues it just doesn’t work and you’re left to shrug and wait for things to get better. Of course I know that it would be ridiculous to have full and total control over every piece of technology, since that would involve constant maintenance and other investments for which the vast majority of people have no room in their already full lives. However, not every possible app and service is necessary – no, this is not an advert for Marie Kondo – and whenever I think about just how much control of my life I am handing over to corporations there is an inexorable sinking feeling, bordering on despair.

That’s kinda shit. So I’m not doing it anymore. Let’s look at what I’ve got:

  • iCloud
  • Google
  • Amazon
  • Microsoft
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Those are the largest arbiters of my digital life, and I would imagine relatively common for the people who are most likely to read this, but that doesn’t mean they are the only ones in my sights; I’ll come back to the smaller platforms at a later date.

iCloud is not going anywhere; not only is Apple the only company talking about, and acting on privacy with any sort of semblance of truth but I am also working towards a goal of trying all-in with them, for which iCloud is essential.

Google is tough. To begin with it’s not going anywhere since I have a Pixel 2 and after trying a different Launcher (Microsoft’s no less) found performance and stability suffered massively when compared to the default set up; apparently Google are quickly taking Apple’s approach with regard to “controlling the experience”. It is highly unlikely that I’ll be able to change my phone for another year, so that’s Android set in place.

On top of this is YouTube, which is not as bad as it once was since I have massively cut the amount of regular series I watch but is still a gradual process; fortunately some of my favourite channels offer alternative methods for watching their videos, so I will work on moving over to those.

Beyond that I have moved my search over to a combination of DuckDuckGo and web-based resources such as directories and blogs, whilst I am happy with Fastmail for email. The only other catch is Maps, for which Apple and Bing are the best alternatives but they’re nowhere near as easy to access as Google on my phone and that is where I am likely to need a map the majority of the time.

Amazon is likely to stay. Between an ever reliable back-up for delivered shopping and Prime it is currently in a strong position. Although, the move to Apple might negate Prime whilst attaining one of our current big domestic goals, getting a car, would put a dent in Amazon’s power as a retailer. I would love to extract myself from their ecosystem entirely.

Microsoft is the current backend for my task management, such as it is, but that can change easily enough over time. Other than that is Windows 10 which is in a strange position; either it’s entirely fragile because of how much better Mac OS is or I’m not all that convinced by Mac OS and Windows becomes the unquestionable default for my desktop and laptop needs. Even if the operating system stays, there will still be options for third party software, such as they are on Windows.

Twitter has gone from the unquestionable social network for me to an entirely disposable, infected waste of space. My remaining account is used to convince people to join Micro.blog, a cost I am currently willing to pay since it is so entirely locked down and focused away from the maddening flood that is the inner-most thoughts of millions of people. Also: fuck Jack Dorsey.

Facebook stopped being my hub for anything years ago; I went from deleting my years-old account, to reactivating and maintaining it in “private mode” (LOL), to inevitably trashing it altogether. Since then Instagram, and to a lesser degree WhatsApp remained a hook into the ecosystem but they are both gone now. Much like the rest of these huge platforms, there are better alternatives for which my mental health is eternally thankful. Also: fuck Mark Zuckerberg.

I am now actively seeking out either non-account or non-services software for the bare essentials I need. We are in the era of Noise when it comes to software evolution for the masses and I no longer want to be weighed down by the mammoth task of moving the whole world to be plugged into one space.

Whilst I still believe it is true that these monopoly-abusing companies host the platforms upon which “everybody lives” to some extent, I simply no longer wish to bear the cost of it; I refuse to live my life by the compromised standards of other people.

• • •

I’ll be posting a follow-up to this, looking more into the future in a similar manner as I have written before now. I agree with Jack Baty with regard to where we ought to be putting our energy; great, I got rid of the thing that is bad, so what is next? Let’s all try to talk about that.

A number of other people have recently created work with which they reflect similar thoughts and approaches mentioned herein. To those people I am grateful for their contributions to these issues:

TIL Returns

Today I Learned is back for 2019, including:

  • A new page; The Phrasebook.
  • A new tip.
  • A variety of Page updates.
  • Twitter account fully active again.
  • More to come this week!

For those who aren’t familiar, @til is an unofficial resource for help with Micro.blog. It includes hints, tips, links, and much more to come over the next few weeks.

You can follow via the @-mention above on Micro.blog or using feeds:

Now is a good time to follow TIL, whilst this is also a great time for all of us to get Back To Blogging.

For The Weekend: Fourteen

A few things for you:

Enjoy your weekend!

My Micro.blog Non-Wishlist List

Last month I posted my wishlist for Micro.blog, outlining a number of items should they be implemented I feel would make significant contributions to the effort of making substantial improvements across the platform.

I built this list over time and that included removing items either implemented in that time or those that, upon reflection became less fitting for my list. Below is a list of some of these items, along with some quick thoughts:

  • Android

    • Perhaps the most forcefully requested feature for Micro.blog at all, at least publicly. More than a few people have disregarded the platform altogether when it becomes obvious just how Apple-centric it is as far as apps are concerned.
    • Whilst I do think the platform will grow for the better with official Android support, I continue to believe it is unlikely to such an extent to be irrelevant, at least for now; if a significant portion of my list is implemented the lack of Android will soon become something of a highly visible flaw, especially for a platform founded on the principles of the open, inclusive web.

  • Windows

    • Similar to the above issue with Android, although to a much lesser extent; aside from anything else, the web app is likely to be easier to access in a desktop-class browser. However, an app through which you are given a smooth and clean interface, even with just basic functionality, would be rather impressive on Windows; I say this as a lifetime user of Windows who has rarely seen third-party software worth talking about.
    • I wonder if a browser extension – at least for Firefox and Chrome, as well as Safari – would help a decent number of people for whom a Windows app would be appealing, at least in the short term.

  • Replies on hosted blog posts.

    • This has been requested on more than a few occasions, especially from those for who the stated goals of Micro.blog are particularly attractive – for people to blog more/get back to blogging, something of a return to the old pre-social behemoth web, etc. Whilst I agree this would be a great feature, I do not believe it is important at a fundamental level for enough people to justify its theoretical status as a priority.

  • Metrics.

    • This includes direct access to your Following list in a way with which most people are familiar thanks to the increasingly homogenic design of mainstream social media, the very presence of public Likes and/or Reactions, and through to the likes of built-in stats for posts. Not only do I think this would muddle the main message through which Micro.blog is promoted, I have yet to be convinced that the presence of such features ever contribute to the net positive of platforms through which people seek to discuss ideas and matters at hand.

  • Search.

    • Global search built right into Micro.blog. This will immediately solve “Discovery” or so it would seem when people react with shock at the lack of conventional search. Not only does the hosted search feature provide a practical option for those who are aligned with the philosophy behind Micro.blog (i.e. bloggers, including those who are more concerned with writing and posting than they are fiddling with technical toys) but the search available via Discover provides search within a focused context. For the moment that is more than enough.

  • ‘Show More’ everywhere (replies especially).

    • I totally forgot about this. It is an example of feature parity, or lack thereof and whilst I would dearly love to see it (hi from Windows and Android 👋🏻) it’s definitely not a deal-breaker nor a thing I believe would turn many people away, at least not in the short term.

I am confident there are plenty of other items I could have put here, however those are the ones I have noticed when it comes to looking at both the platform and community as a whole. It’ll be interesting to see if any of these make progress ahead of my actual wishlist.

2019

Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you think they will. Life can be full of surprises that way. Here I am, not even a week into this year and already changes are afoot that even a few days ago I would not have expected. Let’s get to those changes.

Updates:

  • Posted my CSS as a Gist.
    • I use the Marfa theme for Mumblings, with a bunch of custom CSS to twist it into the shape I prefer. The code is now on GitHub, for anybody to grab and/or leave feedback. I’ll also soon post it to this site.
  • Projects:
    • They Chose Us is a website dedicated to my cats, Kismet and Aria.
    • Firebyrd is the home of my wife and I for our collaborative work, including our blog with which we will post updates.
  • Increased contributions to Micro.blog on GitHub.
  • Snapshot has been put on indefinite hiatus.
  • Returned to Twitter and Instagram.

The future:

  • Today I Learned returns proper on Monday, the 14th of January.
    • The December edition of The Macro Report will be back before then.
  • For The Weekend returns this Friday, the 4th of January.
  • Introducing: Broken Ground, a photo-based record of the public infrastructure in Liverpool.
    • I’m going to highlight the condition of the streets and roads in my local area, within the relevant context to talk about why this is important and exactly why, as citizens, we should demand more from both those in positions of authorities and each other.
  • Introducing: Chronicles of Thedas, a fan-site hosting stories set in the Dragon Age universe.
  • Regular longer form blogging is forthcoming on Mumblings, with a reduction of shorter posts.

I briefly moved Mumblings, this site, from Micro.blog Hosted to Tumblr but now it is back again and I couldn’t be happier. I believe strongly in the work being done by the team, that Manton is right when he says the best future for the web is one made of smaller networks of higher quality rather than the current roster of social media behemoths.

I have big goals for this year and Today I Learned is a big part of that. I can’t wait to restart the project on the 14th of the month, especially with the plans I have in place for further expansion.

I hope to get my Micro.blog Hosted photoblog back up before the end of the year, along with a couple of other blog-based ideas for which I am currently in the early planning stages. In the meantime I’m going to keep blogging here and look forward to a year of even more people getting back to blogging.

Happy New Year!

– Simon

Random Thoughts: Blog, Tweet, Instagram, or otherwise?

During my downtime over Christmas I’ve been thinking a lot about the time I am spending on writing, especially with regard to how I am moving away from constant, daily blogging and toward longer form blogging whilst increasing my time on writing-based projects.

Between this and the pressing need to maintain my overall health – as a carer, there is no other choice; if I do not maintain my health then I cannot do my job – I am looking at cutting away those activities of my day-to-day life that are in fact excessive. A post from tones helped me see this ambition in the sharp reality that is text and I have never felt as driven to do my best work as I do right now.

That being said, there is no question that my decision to move away from regular shorter blogging is an important part of this focus; don’t get me wrong, the activity is brilliant and has been integral to my year-long rejuvenation thanks to which I am now well equipped to reach for my aforementioned goals. However, those goals are unlikely to be met if I continue to spend time with such regular blogging; I do not write about a specific subject or have a well established history of sharing via link blogging, or have any real access to the type of material about which I could write and thus gain traction with any sort of audience.

… and there it is. I want to make things for people. I believe the world is better when we all try to contribute to it and right now I wish to do so directly, with intention. This means posting my general, mixed blog is purely for me as a hobby, which again is great but for me unfortunately little more than excessive; a thing that has the potential to drag me down as it were.

And so my blog, this very site, will be for the longer form writing and that is fine.

However, there is still microblogging. Those short posts for which my favourite social media platform is named; Micro.blog. Everything about the platform is great… well, almost great. I recently posted my wishlist for the platform and have come to realise my main issue can be summed up in a word: friction. There’s just too much of it still, be it foundational issues such as the lack of cross-platform apps, cross-platform parity, or a lack clear messaging about how it is safer than mainstream social media platforms… I still wouldn’t recommend Micro.blog for the average person and so it is not quite great.

Then there is mainstream social media, specifically Twitter and Instagram. Flawed though they are, I have written previously about the reality that they are where people are; within contexts that are important for my life this is simply true and remains so to this day. There is also another thing; they are relatively free of friction, to enough of an extent to matter.

To this end, a recent post on Instagram by Federico Viticci caught my eye. He is effectively blogging on Instagram. I guess Instagram is photoblogging by another name anyway but I had never thought much about it also as a general purpose blogging tool. Yet there it is, again, relatively friction free.

It’s a similar story across mainstream social media:

Tap -> tap -> tap -> done. Boom; on with your day.

This ought to be one of the big aims for Micro.blog. Not necessarily as friction-free but much closer to that point than it is at the moment. I believe this is possible, likely to happen, and the true moment when I can thoroughly attempt to convince people I know on a day-to-day basis to give the platform a try as a replacement for whatever social media platforms they are using.

A lot of these thoughts have come in the midst of a deep desire to finally push on and maintain the momentum gained from a particularly busy year. Cutting away excess, minimising friction for hobbies and side projects, and thus making tangible contributions through my work is the path I am taking… as a result, I will continue to think about such matters as I have written about here, make the relevant decisions, and update my blog as I do so.

2018

It’s been… well, one hell of a year. There are plenty of things I can’t remember right now and that’s OK; if it’s important enough I’ll remember it and make a note. In fact, I’ve been advised by more than one person to start a diary and I’m looking forward to doing just that.

If there’s one thing I’m currently feeling it is anticipation; after taking a break, I’ll be back on my bullshit and determined to take on all kinds of projects, as well as shoring up my basic organisation of various tasks so that I can use more of my time to do actual work. The improved use of my time will also grant me the chance to rediscover some hobbies, which now feels like a thing I ought to be better at prioritising.

I don’t have much else to say, so here are some recent updates:

  • Deactivated my Now page.
    • It’s been a great writing exercise over the past year, and has helped me with regard to making decisions about exactly what I want my blog to be, the degree to which I am involved in mainstream social media, and more. I thoroughly recommend it.
  • Edited menu links.
    • This now better reflects my thinking about this site. It will change if certain features are implemented on Micro.blog but the basic structure is set.
  • Edited the About page.
    • This continues to be an ever-changing page but the rate of change has slowed over the past few months, which is good. I would prefer it to be relatively stable, mostly with changes in the future centred around additions.
  • Moved my home page to WordPress.
    • It’s almost done; just missing a single post that I’ll have up at some point in January. Tumblr is decaying as part of its life as a social media silo, whilst Micro.blog does not currently have the features I require for this kind of page/site, and I can’t afford the other options. Fortunately I won’t be blogging at this site so the recent update by Automattic won’t be a problem.
  • Started contributing to Micro.blog on GitHub.
    • I haven’t done very much yet but a start is better than none. I think this is the best place to focus the various discussions across the community about Micro.blog itself; hopefully this will help make it easier for people to get a good idea of the extent to which Micro.blog is developing and the actual influence the community has on that process.

I have also done some light work on project planning and since stopping regular work a few days ago have found it a lot easier to note down ideas and think about my exact intentions for the next few months. The various parts of my projects are moving forward together nicely and I’m looking forward to getting some hobby projects off the ground during my break.

Other than that I am winding down my usual computer-based activity as a whole and will spend more time with both my iPad (reading, video, etc) and my Chromebook (limited functionality means focusing on specific, smaller task), as part of a much more relaxed approach to each day. It’s gonna be fun!

With that in mind, this is the last post on Mumblings until next year. Have a fun, safe end to the year everybody. :)

Bye!