Simon Woods

As I test Gutenberg, I keep coming back to one question: is it good for blogging?

– Manton Reece asks a question with which the people at Automattic may not be overly concerned

I can only imagine the modern backlash against the social media giants have fuelled this kind of development, especially with the recent news regarding Facebook’s deception with their promises about video. Modern blogging and CMS services do so much of the work for you whilst you are able to maintain varying degrees of ownership and control as compared to the silos.

As such the decision to opt for such services is a no-brainer for anybody attempting to make money from publishing in any significant way.

Meanwhile, those of us who aren’t looking to maintain particularly complex websites but prefer to focus on writing have plenty of choices of our own, not least of all Manton’s own Micro.blog.

In my thirty-five years of teaching college students, I’ve not encountered a generation as dedicated to making the nation better as yours.

– Robert Reich has a message for millenials: register and vote

• h/t John Philpin

What a damning indictement of our society, that a number of those of us on the older side feel the need to beg for help from the younger generation… that so many people get older and do one of two things: stop bothering or become nastier. We’re calling for more from the people for whom we ought to be making things better.

History will remember the consecutive string of generations for who their selfish needs were more important than making things better for others, despite the fact we had so much of just about everything.

The question is asked, then: what will you do? Will you add to the pile of shame felt by later generations? Or will you become a counter prevailing force to those who pounce upon opportunities presented to them as a result of apathy, to those who bet on people not caring?

Use these links for help:

• https://www.headcount.org/voter-info/
• https://www.usa.gov/voting

I’m kind of lonely. Initially this was largely a matter of choice; even though I am comfortable around other people, often have few issues talking to strangers, and have never gone out of my way to avoid others in a last-second panic or any such situation the truth is I enjoy my own company. Quite a lot, in fact. My preferred environment with friends does not involve a room full of people or more than just a few people at that; once I get past about five or six people the situation becomes much less enjoyable, specifically with regard to actually spending quality time with my friends. The result of all of this being I now find myself somewhat detached from what is considered regular contact with other people and frankly it has been disconcerting to suddenly realise I haven’t had a face-to-face conversation with another person outside of my family for, well, longer than I can even remember right now.

So I’m definitely lonely. It’s not as bad as it might be, all things considered, and there are certainly other people for whom this is a serious problem; I’m not going to pretend I have such a deep problem but it’s still there, tapping me at the back of my head on an increasingly regular basis as of late. I guess that’s middle age calling to say hello?

One of the big reasons as to why this has not become a serious problem and an issue I have become willing to tackle head-on is, simply, podcasts.

There are hours and hours and hours… and hours of conversations between all kinds of people, in different contexts, from years into the recent past and more available with each passing week. They are there, all thanks to podcasts – and of course, mostly thanks to RSS – just waiting to be picked up, and whichever app you choose it is one of the most friction free media consumption experiences available across the whole of the web. Podcasts are fantastic, a whole world of people’s lives into which you can lose yourself, or even simply dip your toe for a limited experience.

The breadth of shows available can feel overwhelming but once you get started it soon becomes apparent all this means is that you are going to find something you enjoy, often more than one thing and in different ways, thus offering at least a partial answer to loneliness; companionship. To be in the presence of others in a manner that is both immediate and distant is tantalising to those of us for whom “simply talking to people” is either difficult or simply not enough; no amount of small talk will make me your friend, nor you mine. Before you know it, you can see the seemingly innumerable supply of podcasts as a number of potential balms to soothe whatever aches your heart on any given day and that is a wonderful feeling to experience.

When considering this idea, this potential… this entire world all of its own there is a temptation to think of this as a bad idea; a distraction from The Real World like much of the rest of the web. Whilst there is some truth to this it is also important to consider that there have been distractions from the world available to us for a long time, much longer in fact than many who would criticise the culture of our modern day care to admit; doing so presents an obvious hole in their reasoning, if we assume the attacks are as shallow as the most popular opinions so often tend to be. As such podcasts could be considered as simply another choice for people to make, a different act to take from the ever-growing list in the modern media-driven world within which we live.

There is no doubt that feeling lonely is not an illness, not always a bad thing, and certainly not a social ill endangering humanity but it certainly can make life much more difficult to live; to be within reach of the rest of the world and yet feel entirely alone is a conflict with which many people are unlikely prepared to wrangle. To ease that difficulty is no small things and I have found podcasts can greatly aide in this task to a degree that much of the rest of the web cannot come close. And for that, for giving me at least the beginnings of a path away from such strange solitude I am forever grateful to those who make this type of media possible. For that, I can only say…

Podcasts are awesome.

This is a post about updates in a number of ways.

Let’s start with the overview:

• Theme: Dark
  • The last version of this site, on WordPress, had a dark theme and I liked it a lot. Now this version of the site, on Micro.blog, has a dark theme and again I am happy with how it has turned out.
    • Core Assistance was once again an invaluable resource for this work.
• Social accounts:
  • I am relieved to settle on my usage; minimal and specific.
  • This blog remains core, with Micro.blog being my primary social network; it is the only site where I will not be motivated to move conversation elsewhere, as compared to the alternatives from the mainstream, silo parts of the web.
• Firebyrd is a new site from my fiancée and I, wherein we link out to our joint projects and provide updates about them. On Micro.blog: @firebyrd
• Snapshot is my new photoblog.
• TIL:
  • Menu;
    • Contact moved into About.
    • Updates removed as it is already in the About page.
  • About page reorganised.
  • Continued activity, with newer post types and more imminent.

Taking a break

Now for the detailed part, specifically with regard to a theme I’ve seen lately on my timeline. Namely that of time, focus, and how I can better utilise both of these things to live my life in the way I truly wish.

Daily blogging is first. I’m still writing but microblog posts will become infrequent; this has already been somewhat true so isn’t too much of a change. It could soon become even more obvious, however. This includes replies in conversations, which is the most difficult thing to step away from; I continue to read conversations on Micro.blog at least as much as anything else I read, perhaps even more.

Next is podcasts. Until recently I had over 130 subscriptions, and whilst that is a misleading number in some ways (included completed shows, infrequently posted shows, and shows in which I did not listen to every new episode) it reflected a problem that had crept upon me. Podcasts are wonderful, even more so than video on the web as far as I’m concerned but the truth is that they often carry a hefty time investment and are so very good at plugging into my mind; they had become an example of other people’s thoughts intruding upon my own in a manner that is not conducive to good focus.

I am now subscribed to my 7 favourite shows and even then the highest volume is once per week, with only one opinion-based concept that has the potential to intrude upon my own thoughts. This number may again decrease but I have already felt the benefits of this reduction.

TV and YouTube are in a similar position to podcasts; the former has been severely cut down over the past year (weekly viewing is all but non-existent) whilst the latter is centred around a handful of channel subscriptions, the majority of which have irregular schedules. I have also deleted all but one manual playlist and cut my Watch Later playlist down to a third of its previous size. There is no news-based watching happening at all, whilst opinion-based productions are carefully chosen rather than casually watched.

TV will become almost exclusively just the shows I watch with Claire.

When it comes to reading the web, I am finally choosing to organise my RSS subscriptions and will form an essential collection of feeds for daily reading. This is my primary source of web reading, the medium I have discovered to be the very best.

I am no longer reading social media from a personal account and although those few accounts still exist they are now essentially frozen for the foreseeable future. My work accounts continue to exist, used largely only for posting.

My use of technology has played a part with these changes, inevitably. The introduction of my first iPad into my set up has helped to re-affirm a more focused approach to my average day, whilst my phone software has been minimalised (as can be seen here). I’m also finally going to make a regular habit of taking my laptop to places outside of the home for writing and light tasks, the two types of work to which my Chromebook is limited.

Work has become an area of great improvement, specifically from the viewpoint of there being a much healthier integration into my life. By work I mean that which I am attempting to achieve separately from my primary job as a carer.

I am more focused than ever on completing my objectives with various projects, including blogging middle-to-long length posts which are being made in a more substantial state of mind. This is a sharp contrast to the ephemeral snack-sized efforts encouraged by the demands of The Feed.

Speaking of which, I have never felt less comfortable with the closed silo, short-term, empty information based web; not only do I disagree on a wider philosophical front but it is personally offensive for this to be considered “normal” and “the standard”. That we take this idea, this construct built around sterile ideas and shallow thinking and we call it good is a damning indictment of this point in time, this version of society as we know it.

The other deciding factor in my decision is that I am both needed and wanted more than ever in the physical world, for which I am grateful but also aware of the tangible reality here; to function well is to be focused and clear, deliberate and without a constant stream of small distractions – I will remember this time in my life and it won’t be because of the latest viral video, tweetstorm, or latest round of Lighting The Dumpster Aflame.

Inspirations for this post include Patrick Rhone, CGP Grey, and many of the fine folks in my Micro.blog timeline.

There’s a lot of good spirit in this conversation but so far I’ve only seen a suggestion to give Manton and Jean more work that is not the user-side platform itself; now instead they would spend time on better organising the feedback system for users. I think this is a good idea but should not be a priority at the moment, since there are still a few good things Manton and Jean are more than capable of implementing without the attached better organised feedback system.

Whilst things take longer or might frustrate certain people, this is the reality of a smaller operation (as I’m sure Josh knows much better than I do, what with his and Belle’s company) and at this point I don’t think it would be good for Micro.blog to move closer to, say, the whole federated system where lots of people easily have lots of input – Mastodon is the well-known example of this and it’s just a mess as compared to Micro.blog.

There’s an assumption in Josh’s post that I have seen elsewhere; Micro.blog is presented as a viable alternative social network. I understand where this assumption comes from but it is just not true and so at a fundamental level a lot of these ideas are coming from a false position. The whole point, in so far as I have understood it is for individual ownership of your content to be the relevant point of difference (from social media) and then Micro.blog is a social layer to help connect those blogs upon which you have ownership, should you wish to do so.

And, frankly, I like that. Not least because it has been built and maintained in a way that does not involve Manton and Jean coming out with big statements about how “everybody can be involved” without evidence of that actually working, but rather it is a focused effort, transparently maintained on the most appropriate front; where people can find it usable before anything else.

Whilst I appreciate the spirit of “super ease of input from the community will solve lots of things!” I think this only has tangible worth if the platform is in a better condition than it currently is, both from a user perspective and from the developer perspective. I do not think it will work if it comes from a tiny team and a platform still in need of usability upgrades, especially because the strength of the endeavour is in its patient, calm approach; opening the floodgates should not happen, at least not yet.

In reply to: Why I hate Advertisements by @vishae

Here’s a thing I think is important; now we can actually ask these questions. Back in the day before the web and ideas centred around mainstream social networks, what did you have? Vote with your money? Well that excluded a hell of a lot of people. Now people can voice opposition and it can actually be heard.

For all of the bad of modern advertising, there is also good advertising out there and the bad stuff can now be voted against in ways that are much more inclusive; for example, boycotting a social media site’s most valuable accounts, just to pick an example out of the air.

We need to be realistic about a lot of the noise being made regarding advertising, privacy, social media and so on; much of it comes from people who previously were unaware of such issues, and in past generations many people lived in ignorant bliss. Again, I am thankful this has changed, it is great to see people asking questions and being heard and actually taking part in such important discussions.

Things are bad, sure. But they used to be so much worse.

A lot of the ideas in this thread are almost identical to what the closed web monoliths have been doing for some time, and continue to do so today. As such I think they’re best mostly left to third parties (via apps available on various vendors), whilst the first party MB experience should tread carefully – I’m not saying it should lack features but I believe avoiding bloat ought to be one of the top priorities to maintain it as the core of the platform.

I truly believe the best version of the first-party Micro.blog experience is as the Naked Robotic Core. Either that or we’ll one day be met with Micro.blog Moments and Faves From Somebody You Follow filling up our timelines, rendering this entire enterprise a big waste of time.

(Image: man appreciating his onions, with captions about twitter; “me” “bad tweets” “Thousands of books, journals and articles I could ever want to read about.")

I can’t stop thinking about this image. It feels like a great representation of why I’m generally done with both the closed web and social media in general, specifically with regard to personal use.

Anyway, I’m with Matt Haughey, Daniel Jalkut, Simon Willison, Marco Arment, and all of the people already using Micro.blog.

Let’s get back to blogging.

(sources: Pat’s tweet; Medwyn’s tweet)

… because why else do I have a blog.

I replied to Cheri Baker’s excellent post and inevitably wrote far too much for a comment:

Sure you find out about other people online, even get to know them to varying degrees but the most substantial, most humane connections do not occur via proxy.

As such my question is: is it worth constantly trying these variations on an idea and throwing them out, if one is already doing the best version of the limited task for which it is needed? I’m not sure leaving Twitter entirely makes much of a difference if you just throw your whole lot in with something else, assuming you’re looking to make at least some part of yourself available to the wider world; rather, keep something like Twitter in its place, compartmentalised and use something else for the most substantial effort with your online contributions… say, a blog, or even simply using a platform offering something different.

At some point soon I need to make some firm decisions about all of this stuff, not least because it is such a drain of energy and time neither of which I have much of to begin with. As time passes I believe pragmatism will win out:

• First, and always first, what do you want from your time on the web.
  • Whilst peer pressue is a fun thing, this is your life to maintain no matter how much you choose to share it with others.
• To what degree do your most idealistic thoughts do more damage to your goals if you follow them strictly to the letter.
  • Let’s not forget that it is both OK and entirely healthy to actually change your thinking on, well, most issues.

Let’s look at that second one in particular, since so much of Twitter is often guided by people’s different contributions to the collective culture and that is at least influenced by how we feel about the world and how it works.

Even if you stay in the same general area (ideologically speaking), your thoughts can change to something no longer befitting of those upon which you chose to take your particular stand. And all of this time, and this energy, to decide about the thing… the trappings of the things… without truly actually doing the thing!

There is no doubting the influence of these closed networks, obviously, but if they become more than just the means to your goals I am not confident we are using them as the tool they ought to be. The approach feels so confused; the tool, Twitter, ought not be the focus of our efforts especially when the worst actors within our communities simply could not care less about this angle – they are too busy using it to their ends!

Perhaps it is time to simply step back, take a deep breath, put Twitter into the compartment within which we can maintain its usefulness as tool – rather than, say, as public consciousness – and turn our most intense efforts towards the issues underlying that which many people currently agree to be the most urgent problem.

Sometimes I end up creating a thread using the Micro.blog Conversation view and I actually did so intentionally.

There is great flexibility within this system, and even though it would be great if everything was easily explained let’s not forget the idea that Facebook/Twitter are “simple and easy” is in fact a big pile of bullshit. As such, when it comes to comparisons I would say there is more to it than feature vs. feature; there is in fact a larger conversation to be had about how we use the web, how we live on it, and what it is we should expect from other people.

I know such large topics are not normally covered on a “social media site”, with all of the nuance inherit therein, but maybe it is time to reconsider this idea and just choose a better platform.

Maybe it is time to make yourself uncomfortable, place greater value on your time spent on the web, and find that thinking differently is possible outside of the corporate social web.

Three days ago I posted about my return to blogging. Today I have returned to Micro.blog in a substantial way; I’m back on my hosted blog and more than that, this blog is now in fact my website. I do not currently have my domain name – that’ll happen later, since the tight budget continues to exist – but this is now my personal full site on the web. I’ll talk more about this soon but for now, here are the changes:

• Considered Haste – the previous version of my website – has now merged into this site.
  • The name Mumblings remains.
• Now page is updated.
• Feeds page has been added.
• Considered Haste archive imported.
  • sorry for any duplicate posts; they should be far back, though.
• Most recent Mumblings' posts imported from WordPress.
• Uh… that’s it!
  • honestly, the Now pages covers some stuff

I’m looking forward to posting some more about what’s happening here within the context of Micro.blog in general. Despite not having access to regular posting, I have very much been reading and seeing the continued progress of Micro.blog and, uh, latest events in the Closed Web.

It’s good to be back. ✌️