Simon Woods

This is partially in reply to Jonathan LaCour’s tagmoji suggestion and about the issue in general, since I’ve seen other people talk about it in the typically shallow way so many of us seem only capable of doing so.

Whilst it is important to avoid making it easy for people to be abused on Micro.blog, I think “improve diversity” is a rather shallow demand made with perhaps good intention but very little thought. We need to look deeper, at how our chosen web platforms work and the things we can do to substantially move away from a monoculture without falling into tokenism and other such behaviour.

First, before all else, Micro.blog needs to have a robust set of moderation tools. When even super priveleged white tech dudes are talking about how they have noticed a lack of moderation tools as compared to Twitter, then you know there is a fundamental flaw that needs to be addressed. I’m not joking here; a lot of people compliment Micro.blog with comments like “it reminds me of the early days of Twitter/Tumblr!” and guess what, it was in those early days those platforms utterly failed to prepare for the inevitable decline into savagery employed by hateful people.

We are in the early days of Micro.blog; now is when we decide the hard work of future-proofing against problems we see elsewhere is not just worth it but one of our top priorities. The platform already has issues having been founded in the white tech monoculture of the US and other white Western countries, against which Jean has already worked with manual curation of the community but it is also up to us, the community itself, to push things forward; we have the freedom of non-VC demands but also the constraints of fewer resources and so must dig in and help where possible.

Let’s talk about different things, different people, different cultures, speak with people who aren’t already a part of our lives, and never be afraid to read criticism without becoming defensive and deciding that “the world is too sensitive” or some other nonsense.

Since a part of Micro.blog’s built-in monoculture is being so Apple-heavy, let’s take their marketing seriously and actually think differently.

This is kind of an “iTunes on Windows” moment.

– Manton Reece on Apple Music coming to Alexa devices

I couldn’t agree more. iTunes on Windows + iPod = my only exposure to Apple previous to the stage in my life when I actively got involved with the Apple enthusiast community, and those two things made a lasting impression.

In fact, earlier this year I tried going all-in on Google, Android phone, the works, and that included not just dumping Apple Music but also iTunes; in the end, every other music player grated on me and that was in comparison to iTunes for Windows. Things have become bad enough overall that I have now returned to my goal of attempting to go all-in with Apple, starting with AirPods (they’re fucking awesome) and the 2018 iPad.

With moves like this Apple could build up a buffer of goodwill and for sure help themselves with future mistakes; the past few years has seen most of the heavy criticism aimed at the company come after other mistakes and missteps were made. Too much negative momentum has built up over time and making as many steps into cross-platform waters as they can will likely help negate that momentum, even if only as a starting point in the effort to do so.

In reply to:

I really think hosted Micro.blogs need an on-blog comment system so non-blogging friends can comment. If you are coming from FB, you can tell your friends about RSS readers and keeping in touch, but if they can’t converse with you it’s all for nothing.

– Brad Enslen

If it worked with webmentions and the like then sure, even still that would mean needing to prompt people to get that set up for themselves – the infrastructure for this already exists through Micro.blog accounts and IndieWeb custom domain usernames – which flies in the face of that which people have been trained; easy, frictionless, embedded, centralised.

I don’t think closed Micro.blog commenting (like WordPress comments) does much to change enough of the existing problems with commenting systems; as one of the stated goals for Micro.blog is to encourage people to own the things they post, I’m not sure ease of use is a strong enough factor to encourage such a thing. Also, if it was done similar to WordPress comments we get back to the point where it’s down to the person running the blog to manage comments – personally, I’d rather take a walk in traffic – and invariably includes the complications inherent therein; aside from anything else it often looks cluttered and unintuitive.

If the option to display comments comes to hosted sites a good first step might be the aforementioned messaging to encourage people to use their own domain or a Micro.blog account for commenting. Beyond that, I think it’s a case of waiting for other commenting systems based around similar ideals to surface; the open web, ownership, etc…

Although, if Micro.blog commenting were to become that in and of themselves I wouldn’t complain. I mean, I would be shocked to see such a thing since, seriously, there is no skeevy VC money here or soul-destroying monetisation through which Micro.blog could gain a team and work at the level required to also build a separate, complimentary commenting system.

In reply to:

so unless apple delivers something as successful as a product that repeats the success of a prior product that pretty much all in the industry agrees is unparalleled in terms of success than any other product ever produced … they are stalled?

(Did that make sense?)

– John Philpin

I’m not talking about the best they’ve ever done… I’m talking about the bottom standard:

• The relative lack of movement with regard to hardware updates.
• Further dumbing down their own software for no discernible reason…
• … whilst making clumsy changes that affect third-party developers badly.
• Ramping up prices overall.
  • Not just premium but an actual fuck you to all but the wealthy few who care.
• The utter failure in managing optics for their messes – the “PRIVACY TECH COMPANY THAT CARES” cannot be forgiven for failures in optics.
• … and the stupid book, the ridiculous fuck ups with leaks, the iPhone battery bullshit.

I mean, come on. Of course they have always fucked up, that’s to be expected since people run these companies but Jobs set a platform and Tim Cook has missed a great chance to create a cavernous difference in quality and stability between them and the competition, a true and undeniable justification for the premium label.

Now of course, I am an outsider (I have an iPad and AirPods – both of which are brilliant) who has listened to a bunch of Apple tech podcasts and read Apple punditry for the past few years. If over the next year, as I get more Apple hardware and immerse myself further into their ecosystem, things aren’t as bad as they seem (see: the list above) then great, turns out perception does not match reality. At that point, despite the failings of the people in my position I will still lay some of the blame at Apple’s feet; too many times when they engage in any sort of PR action it is either neutral to the point of irrelevant or so clumsy you’d think they were a bunch of young idiots running their first company, and that is unacceptable.

I’ve been saying for years that the 30% cut is completely out of line with the value that Apple provides to developers.

– Manton Reece, App Store rent-seeking

Apple has already decided they can just do all of the app-focused editorial in-house. How long before they start scooping up app developers and signficantly increase the number of first-party apps?

I’m not at all confident the average iPhone buyer (i.e. Apple’s most valuable customer) could care less about third-party apps and so find it difficult to see them receiving real pushback for that kind of move.

I recently stumbled across I don’t hang out on the internet by Ryan Barrett and it hit a few marks for me, in different ways. One of the most significant effects being on the web has had on me is to ask a question: How much of this do you want?

My primary use of the web was to connect with people, much like Ryan explained, as a young adult looking for like-minded people. However, my relationship with the web has transformed to the point where I now feel as if I have both feet in different worlds; on one hand I adore the web enthusiast community – open web, IndieWeb, Micro.blog, etc – not least because without that collective behaviour it’s difficult to imagine the web would be relevant at all; on the other hand I love seeing non-web enthusiasts take part of their physical lives and share it with, well, more people than was previously possible. I connect in many ways with both sets of people and the intensity of my preference changes depending on a number of factors, not least of which is my mood.

However, the problem is the toll this can have on my energy and time, and frankly, on my mental health. Of course, “Just take a break!” is great advice and it’s always important to take a step back from any particular activity, even if only once in a while. I need more than that; my goal to work remotely requires focus, organised time, restraint; is that possible whilst investing time in a number of enthusiast activities? I’m convinced it is not.

The choice is therefore: what do I cut? Over the next couple of months I’ll be making difficult decisions with this, as the majority of middle-aged people also seem to do so.

Well… I have at least experienced all kinds of different joy in the process of indulging in a variety of interests and passions over the past several years. Things could have been much worse.

One of my reasons for feeling trepidation at giving Apple a try beyond iPhone and iPad is that there is no cheaper option to try. There is no entry-level model; this is simply not something Apple are interested in offering to people.

So if I run into similar problems to that which Kohan Ikin has experienced I’ll be pretty well screwed. After saving for a computer for months and then relying on it to get work done, they would basically have me by the balls and only create more stress of a kind that is damaging in different ways.

“Just use what you’ve got” or “Just get another computer” you might say; right, fair enough, but I am already using what I have got – which, don’t get me wrong, is quite good – and the fact is that I am talking about my livelihood here, not just something to fart around on with the browser and email and shitty games or something. The change to the Mac might not actually work; it might be the case that I prefer Windows but even then just to try the Mac there is still this potential for more stress than I am sure I have the capacity with which to deal.

Damn it. Technology needs to hurry up and become better overall and more accessible.

I still don’t get how they keep getting away with it.

– John Philpin, Facebook’s Dirty Tricks …

John is as concerned as I am with regard to the depth of vile incompetence at which both the Big Tech and political entities of our societies are allowed to operate at, and continue to thrive in the process.

The one thing that continues to surprise me is just how surprised so many online commenters are about this; as if corruption has not been at the heart of our so-called democracies for, well, ever.

If there’s one thing commenters can do, especially with the reach of Kottke and the like, is help build the alternatives and shine a light on the ways in which things can be improved. I understand that what’s in the news is what gets people’s eyeballs but at some point we all have to be accountable for improvement rather than mere observation.

I think pushback against Instagram is coming, as more people who have already left Facebook also remember that Instagram has the same leadership, and the platform is far enough off track that even the founders have left. It’s a good time to be posting photos to your own blog instead of Instagram.

– Manton Reece, Breaking up Facebook is up to us

One of the things that always keeps me away from going back to the “easy” option of just using social media is the reminder that the same people who like to brag about “indpendent thought” and “independent speech” also use Facebook heavily for promotion and the like. A platform that so readily allows this illogical behaviour to thrive, and cause so much destruction, is never a platform any actual independently motivated person ought to invest in let alone trust.

I look forward to the continued growth of a diverse, independent ecosystem of small and flexible platforms to replace mainstream social media. Now more than ever we need the people making these platforms to understand that people do use these big platforms for real, practical reasons and the only way to move power away from such deeply flawed platforms is to provide usable alternatives.

We are only at the beginning of these efforts but speed is of the essence; the mainstream platforms hold sway over enough of the right people to damage the lives of millions of people, and those of us privileged enough to be born into the ill-gotten wealth of the tech-heavy Western world must lead the charge for higher standards across the board.