I adore The 19th. It's making big moves, and that's good news for everyone. #Media https://werd.io/2024/the-19th-wanted-to-normalize-women-in-power-in-2024
By secretly paying some creators to post on Threads, Meta is undermining trust in everyone's motivations. Suddenly everyone is assumed to be "engagement farming": https://werd.io/2024/threads-is-trading-trust-for-growth
@elgg That event feels like so long ago!
A surprising number of people know me as “benwerd”. Didn’t intend for that to become a brand, but here we are.
@underlap He’s posted a bunch of regressive stuff over the years, including on topics like sexism in tech, income inequality, and so on. In doing so he’s become a bit of a symbol for that sort of exclusionary thinking.
I am useless at seeing DMs on the fediverse (and I wish I had a better UI for that). It’s always better to email me at ben@benwerd.com.
"In effect there are two different ways to run a company: founder mode and manager mode." Please forgive the Paul Graham link: this is a genuinely good point about running companies. #Startups https://werd.io/2024/founder-mode
"It's a simple thing, but it's kind of a big deal. With this milestone, Ghost is for the first time exceeding the functionality of a basic RSS reader. This is 2-way interaction. You publish, and your readers can respond." #Fediverse https://werd.io/2024/i-like-the-way-you-like-it-like-that
"The EU may (or may not) be making technology policy missteps, but they are gently and patiently promoting a certain way of life which feels globally very, very special, and fundamentally counter to the hypercapitalism found elsewhere." I love Europe. This is why. #Society https://werd.io/2024/being-quietly-radicalised-by-being-on-holiday
@fifilamoura Yep. I cannot tell you how much I’m looking forward to having conversations about what is actually helpful instead of just stopping the guy who wants mass deportations.
@fifilamoura I agree, although I think there are also clauses there about curbing property investment. My comment right now though is mostly around the deportations treated as housing policy.
🤔
"But this stuff right here—adding things that never happened to a picture—that’s immoral because confusion and deception is the point of this product. There are only shady applications for it." #AI https://werd.io/2024/no-ones-ready-for-this
"After years of working with Iraqis whose relatives were killed by U.S. Marines in the 2005 Haditha massacre, American journalists finally obtained and released photos showing the grisly aftermath of the bloody rampage—whose perpetrators never spent a day behind bars." #Democracy https://werd.io/2024/this-is-what-the-us-military-was-doing-in-iraq
"On June 26th 2024, I launched a website called One Million Checkboxes (OMCB). It had one million global checkboxes on it - checking (or unchecking) a box changed it for everyone on the site, instantly." This is a lovely story. #Technology https://werd.io/2024/the-secret-inside-one-million-checkboxes
"First, there’s what I’ve referred to in the past as the “Quillette Effect.” Because we believe our own ideas are correct (or else we wouldn’t believe them), we tend to think that people who share our ideas are correct, as well." This whole piece is worth your time. #Democracy https://werd.io/2024/silicon-valleys-very-online-ideologues-are-in-model-collapse
@stanjames Thank you!
"70% of Americans said they approved of unions, per Gallup's most recent poll, conducted in August." This is a huge, positive change. #Labor https://werd.io/2024/labor-union-disapproval-hits-57-year-low-per-gallup-survey
Some things I've learned about trying to write a book. It's hard work, and I salute everyone who's attempted it, let alone all the people who have actually published something. https://werd.io/2024/what-ive-learned-about-writing-a-book-so-far #amwriting
"The following disclaimer applies to participation in discourse as it relates to my individual experience as a human being in a global online community and the collective communication occurring therein." #Media https://werd.io/2024/online-participation-disclaimer
"Amazon wants to present themselves as AI company and platform. So of course their promises of gains are always advertising for their platform and tools. Advertising might have a tendency to exaggerate. A bit. Maybe. So I heard." #AI https://werd.io/2024/productivity-gains-in-software-development-through-ai
So, so bummed I missed @xoxo this year. Hoping for a comeback event one day.
@FediverseSymbol @mjj @simonjust Makes sense! My gentle advice would be that it doesn't read that way.
This sentence --
"We also don’t believe that a large corporation that is joining in as late should be the one defining the iconography for the fediverse."
Perhaps could be rewritten to something like --
"We also believe that the iconography for the fediverse should be community-driven rather than defined by a single corporation."
"To understand how the anti-trans agenda could reshape all of our lives, The 19th set out to examine how the laws and rhetoric behind it are impacting Americans." #Democracy https://werd.io/2024/the-toll-of-americas-anti-trans-war
"[Telegram founder] Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police." #Technology https://werd.io/2024/telegram-messaging-app-ceo-durov-arrested-in-france
@jp I think our politics might differ a little ;) I'm very pro Kamala on the domestic side but wish she wasn't so militaristic internationally.
@jp ... The guy who doesn't believe in vaccines and once left a dead bear corpse in the middle of Central Park as a joke?
I want to reboot everything.
"How do you get started if you want to integrate your own software with ActivityPub? Evan Prodromou has written a new book on this very topic, and we caught up with him to explore the practicalities of linking up with the fediverse." #Fediverse https://werd.io/2024/a-developers-guide-to-activitypub-and-the-fediverse
"Y Combinator, the San Francisco start-up incubator that launched Airbnb, Reddit, Stripe and Coinbase, is backing a weapons company for the first time, entering a sector it has previously shunned." #Technology https://werd.io/2024/start-up-incubator-y-combinator-backs-its-first-weapons-firm
@thorgal I found the blogs of everyone I follow on Mastodon and subscribed to their feeds!
I love Reeder, but it's super-hard to unsubscribe from feeds. https://werd.io/2024/i-love-reeder-despite-this-persistent-niggle
Some collected thoughts on that proposed new image for the fediverse: https://werd.io/2024/thoughts-on-a-new-image-for-the-fediverse
"I want to talk about three examples I see of cracks that are starting to form which signal big challenges in the future of OSS." #Technology https://werd.io/2024/is-the-open-source-bubble-about-to-burst-tara-tarakiyee
@pabloniusmonk I've had many of those conversations. I think we also need to have a continued sober conversation about Mastodon's shortcomings and why people look elsewhere. There's a lot to fix - and we should, because I think it's obviously a better model.
I do think Meta wouldn't be joining were it not for regulation, but I also think it gives the network a sort of legitimacy that it was otherwise struggling to achieve. Ideological purity can't be the goal; we've got to grow the network.
@martin I do also think, while that infrastructure is in place, that the messaging and the example also matters. In both ways, being more progressive is a good thing.
@martin We’re in complete agreement. I think that infrastructure is fundamentally unjust. My hope is really that an America that is more progressive is more likely to see the need to do that.
@martin That feels like an enormous understatement! A more progressive American is one that is closer to catching up with everyone else. But it undoubtedly has global influence, and it matters.
@econproph I'll go find them!
@skinnylatte I did Amtrak coast to coast a few years ago and it was one of the very best things I've ever done. Enjoy! It looks beautiful.
By the way - when was the last time you saw the word “fediverse” in a job description? #getfedihired
@flossposse Not a clue. But educate me: why is that a problem?
@j12t Microsoft Start has an indie publisher syndication program - I syndicate my long-form posts and link blog there.
@mikeolson Challenge is that 83% of Mozilla's revenue (at least in 2021) came from these Google browser payments that were a big part of the case. So if those go away ...
@stephstephking How dare we want a healthcare system similar to [checks notes] every other developed nation
Or gun control similar to [checks notes] every other developed nation
Or a welfare system similar to [checks notes] every other developed nation
@mkj Added!
If you admin a Mastodon server with over ten thousand unrelated users - how much are you paying a month to run it? (eg through dedicated Mastodon hosting, AWS / GCP, etc) #Fediverse
@Karen5Lund I would imagine almost all of them. Politics etc aside, there's a feeling of belonging that's been severed. They will feel real loss in the move.