@dariusdunlap.com thanks for the kind words! Agreed that https://micro.blog/ is currently the best option for getting started with #IndieWeb / #fediverse, and for #TwitterMigration: https://indieweb.org/How_to_transition_from_Twitter
When you publish on your #IndieWeb site, you can decide afterwards where to distribute your content, and when. Figure out how you want to fit into the network of sites & instances.
We call this POSSE — for Publish on your Own Site, then Syndicate Elsewhere.^1
By prioritizing your own site, you decide whether (and when) you want to syndicate your posts (or a particular post) to a feed, to a fediverse, to a social media silo or silos, and/or to email like a newsletter.
You can make it as simple or as detailed as you want. It’s up to you.
Choose deliberately. Change your mind when things change.
You can opt out of any destination, either by not opting-in, i.e. explicitly not sending your posts to them, or blocking them if necessary.
Here are a few of the destination decisions I’ve made, and reasons why.
You can delay sending a post to an RSS or Atom feed, say 10 minutes after the time of publication, to give yourself a chance to edit your post, fix typos or links, before a classic feed reader retrieves and perhaps caches your post.
You can further delay sending to known uneditable destinations, like Twitter or email, to give yourself even longer to make further edits, corrections, updates, or improvements based on feedback to your original post.
Some destination decisions may depend on the type of post.
When you post a reply to someone else’s post, in addition to sending a webmention to that other post, it makes sense to also distribute it to where that other post was originally distributed, or a subset thereof, threading your POSSE reply with their original post POSSE copy.
https://indieweb.org/reply#POSSE_a_reply
For example, if you reply to someone’s IndieWeb note, and they’ve POSSEd that note to Twitter, you should POSSE your reply to Twitter as well, threading it with their POSSE copy, if you’re still using Twitter that is. If they did not POSSE their original note to Twitter, there may be reasons to POSSE your reply to Twitter anyway, if your reply makes sense there on its own.
https://indieweb.org/Twitter#POSSE_Replies_to_Twitter
Some destinations have content limitations^2, and you may want to take that into consideration when authoring your content, or not.
For example, you may want to more carefully copy-edit the first 256 (for now) characters of a note if you plan to POSSE to Twitter, so that the content that makes it through makes sense as an introduction, or a summary, or a hook, and perhaps has discovery features like hashtags.
https://indieweb.org/Twitter#POSSE_Notes_to_Twitter
You can use that POSSE tweet text length limitation strategically, placing content after that 256 character cut-off that you may want to edit or expand in an update, or content Twitter may mess-up, like @-domain mentions I described yesterday (day 14).
When you publish a multiphoto^3 post, if you’re POSSEing to Twitter, you may want to re-order your photos to choose which four photos show up in your POSSE tweet, e.g. if you happen to be using Bridgy Publish to cross-post your photos to Twitter. You can always re-order your original multiphoto post after POSSEing it.
If you’re POSSEing photos to Instagram, since you can only do that manually, there’s no need to edit your original to fit Instagram’s 10-photo limitation, or 2200 characters caption limit, or 30 hashtags limit, or 20 person-tags limit.
https://indieweb.org/multi-photo#How_to_POSSE
Or you can reconsider what if anything you get from syndicating to Twitter or Instagram.
Are people still seeing and interacting with your posts there? Are your friends?
If & when social media algorithms deprioritize your original posts in favor of showing more ads, you can deprioritize posting to social media.
If & when your friends quit social media silos^4, you can quit posting copies of your posts to those social media silos.
You decide what content goes where, when, why, and can change your decisions any time you want.
POSSEing to social media was always a stopgap.
As social media silos self-destruct, you can stop syndicating to them.
Thanks to Chris Aldrich (https://boffosocko.com/) for the banner image.
This is day 15 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days.
← Day 14: https://tantek.com/2023/014/t4/domain-first-federated-atmention
→ 🔮
^1 https://indieweb.org/POSSE
^2 Day 5: https://tantek.com/2023/005/t3/indieweb-simpler-approach
^3 https://indieweb.org/multi-photo
^4 https://indieweb.org/silo-quits
Previously^1 I asked “How should we @ someone [on the #IndieWeb]?” & suggested we use @-domain. With some web spelunking, the earliest such use I found was 2013-03-26 (~10y ago!) by @eschnou.com, maybe^2 the first #siteToSite #federated #atMention!
“And my first ever #indieweb pingback goes to @tantek.com, @aaronparecki.com and @waterpigs.co.uk ! Yes, I can now federate... well.. if I can manage to get it to interop :-)”
Though the original post disappeared in a site update (and was unarchived), you can see it on the Internet Archive of @eschnou.com’s #IndieWeb tag page: https://web.archive.org/web/20130609045145/http://eschnou.com/tag/indieweb#2013Mar26
At the time, Barnaby (@waterpigs.co.uk) did confirm receiving that @-mention on his site via Pingback (this was before Webmention was a thing^3): https://waterpigs.co.uk/notes/1199/ (https://twitter.com/BarnabyWalters/status/316664943820812289)
@eschnou.com also asked in the IndieWeb chat if @aaronparecki.com had gotten his @-domain mention: https://chat.indieweb.org/2013-03-26#t1364333721000000
You can see at the bottom of that chat log that he did.
I myself started using @-domain in my posts ~4 years later in a 2017 reply: https://tantek.com/2017/345/t1/aaronpk-paid-thanks (https://twitter.com/t/status/940382393097228288) though only when the same person controlled the domain and the Twitter @-name of the first part of the domain name before the "." (which was/is not many people. Workaround: use other @-domain mentions in posts after the POSSE tweet cut-off).
I think that was my earliest use because two days after that post I added @-domain auto-linking to the https://tantek.com/github/cassis (@cassisjs) "auto_link" function https://github.com/tantek/cassis/commit/0e8e6270c0a3b600423c283f59b5d22c3648d59a (https://twitter.com/cassisjs/status/941107922318381057), likely having already tested it in production on my own site with that post.
I’m still #testingInProduction the updates noted in ^3, notably "https:" for all @-mentions (@-name @-domain @-@) and hope to merge them into the repo soon. Aside: both that and the #testInProduction hashtag have hilarious Twitter results^4.
Does anyone know of any other auto-linkers that support linking @-domain in plain text to an https URL of that domain? Extra internet points if they also support @-@ auto-linking.
This is day 14 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days.
← Day 13: https://tantek.com/2023/013/t1/indieweb-home-internet
→ Day 15: https://tantek.com/2023/015/t1/publish-indieweb-decide-distribute
^1 Day 11: https://tantek.com/2023/011/t1/indieweb-evolving-at-mention
^2 I’m curious if StatusNet, OStatus, or OpenMicroBlogging had an explicit syntax for site-to-site @-mentions, whether any of them resembled @-domain, and is there evidence of their earliest @-mention usage (if any) still visible on the web (or Internet Archive) cc: @evanp.me (@evan@prodromou.pub)
^3 Day 12: https://tantek.com/2023/012/t1/six-years-webmention-w3c
^4 Navigating to Twitter hashtag results left as an exercise to the reader, to provide a deliberate soft barrier to a potential doomscrolling trap.
👍
👍
likes martymcguire’s podcast
@daviddelven@pkm.social self-hosting^1 is plumbing^2, does not impact key user functionality, and thus not required for an #IndieWeb site.
You can switch your site from self-hosted to service-hosted & back and it won’t affect your domain, permalinks, content, readers, peer-to-peer comments, or any other IndieWeb user features.
Lastly, “self-hosting” means different things to different people. Some insist it means you have personal physical control of hardware, like a server in your home or garage, some are ok with a physical server in a personal colo cage under lock & key, or a shared colo cage, or a virtual “cloud” server without a physical location.
Per the IndieWeb plurality^3 principle, people can use a self-hosted (under any of those definitions) site or a service-hosted site to publish & interact with each other.
^1 https://indieweb.org/self_hosting
^2 https://indieweb.org/plumbing
^3 https://indieweb.org/plurality
Your #IndieWeb site can be the home you’ve always wanted on the internet.
While posting on a personal site has many^1 advantages^2 over only posting to #socialMedia, maybe you already quit social media silos^3.
There are lots of reasons to get a domain name^4 and setup your own homepage on the web.
If you’re a web professional, a personal site with your name on it (perhaps also in its domain) can make it easier for potential employers to find you and read your description in your own words.
If you’re a web developer, a personal home page is also an opportunity to demonstrate your craft.^5
If you’re a writer, you can organize your words, essays, and longer form articles in a form that’s easier for readers to browse, and style them to both be easier to read, and express your style better than any silo.
Similarly if you’re an artist, photographer, or any other kind of content creator.
See https://indieweb.org/homepage for more reasons why, and what other kinds of things you can put on your home page.
Thanks to Chris Aldrich (https://boffosocko.com/) for the banner image.
This is day 13 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days.
← Day 12: https://tantek.com/2023/012/t1/six-years-webmention-w3c
→ Day 14: https://tantek.com/2023/014/t4/domain-first-federated-atmention
^1 https://tantek.com/2023/001/t1/own-your-notes
^2 https://tantek.com/2023/005/t3/indieweb-simpler-approach
^3 https://indieweb.org/silo-quits
^4 https://tantek.com/2023/004/t1/choosing-domain-name-indieweb
^5 https://indieweb.org/creator
🎉 Six years ago today, the #IndieWeb Webmention protocol was published as a W3C REC https://www.w3.org/TR/webmention/
A key social web building block, Webmention enabled peer-to-peer comments, likes, and other responses to be created, updated, and deleted across the web, by both dynamic & static websites.
It was accompanied by a report of over a dozen implementations that demonstrated interoperability: https://webmention.net/implementation-reports/summary/ using an open test suite: https://webmention.rocks/ that is still up and running and used by developers today.
Many many more implementations have been developed, open sourced, shipped, launched since. The specification itself has a webmention endpoint and accepts webmentions.
Exactly a year before that, Webmention was published as a First Public Working Draft by the W3C Social Web Working Group: https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/WD-webmention-20160112/
It took the best parts of the prior Pingback protocol, simplified it (ditched XML-RPC), made it more secure, separated presentation from plumbing, and added update & delete semantics.
It was in many ways a model for how open web standards should be developed.
See the wiki page for an overview and numerous screenshots of implementations: https://indieweb.org/Webmention
If you want to implement Webmention yourself, there are now numerous developer resources to do so.
Start here: https://indieweb.org/Webmention-developer and come say hi at the IndieWeb development chat channel: https://chat.indieweb.org/dev
Previously, previously, previously:
* https://tantek.com/2020/012/t1/happy-birthday-webmention
* https://tantek.com/2018/012/t1/anniversary-million-webmentions
* https://tantek.com/2017/012/t1/webmntion-first-w3c-recommendation-high-bar
This is day 12 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days.
← Day 11: https://tantek.com/2023/011/t1/indieweb-evolving-at-mention
→ Day 13: https://tantek.com/2023/013/t1/indieweb-home-internet
One of the fun things about #IndieWeb notes & replies is that how we post is actively evolving! Like how should we @ someone?
#socialMedia aliases (e.g. @Twitter) were obvious, with prior @-name usage on Flickr etc.
Now, some have a domain, or an @-@ (pronounced at-at, yes, just like the abbreviation for Imperial All Terrain Armored Transport^1), or some have both.
We can ask questions like why do we @-someone? What are the use-cases?
* In a reply to a public post, clearly express that you’re speaking to that person
* In a reply to a reply, that you’re speaking to everyone upthread (AKA a https://indieweb.org/canoe)
* When attributing something to someone (photo/post/cool thing by so-and-so), giving credit
* Distinguish a person (or something that can be followed) from “just” a site
* For all the above, notifying someone accordingly
Some ideas:
1. Ideally, if/when everyone has their own domain (where they receive Webmention notifications, and a feed you can follow), we can @-name their domain, which your auto-linker^2 should hyperlink accordingly, e.g.
* @aaronparecki.com @anomalily.net @Martymcgui.re @david.shanske.com @voxpelli.com @adactio.com @marcthiele.com @mxb.dev
These all look close enough to social media aliases/names that they’re immediately recognizable as readable @-names, a good consideration when choosing a domain name.^3
2. As a fallback (e.g. for non-@-domain-auto-linking destinations) we can use someone’s plain domain (explicitly with https:), especially if their home page still has a stream or feed you can follow, or maybe if they don’t receive homepage Webmentions (yet), e.g.:
* https://jacky.wtf/ https://tmichellemoore.com/ https://crowdersoup.com/
3. Some folks with personal sites have (for now) created separate Mastodon accounts (or installed an instance on a subdomain), and for them, we can reference their @-@ parenthetically after their domain, like:
* https://kevinmarks.com/ (@kevinmarks@xoxo.zone), https://dangillmor.com/ (@dangillmor@mastodon.social), https://simonwillison.net/ (@simon@simonwillison.net)
Rather than using social media silo @-names (except when explicitly replying to a silo), I’m now experimenting with all three of these (1-3) instead, both to elevate people’s IndieWeb identities, and for Mastodon viewers, provide a convenient way to follow @-@ addresses.
If someone’s homepage receives Webmentions, they will get notified when I @-mention them by domain.
I recently implemented syntactic auto-linking of @-@ addresses like this:
* @user@example.com --> https://example.com/@user
with a special case for @-domain@-domain to just link to the domain, e.g.:
* @tantek.com@tantek.com --> https://tantek.com/
I also made a recent policy decision to auto-link all @-@ (and @-domain) mentions to https:, the reasoning being that identities on the web should be using https.
* Testing in production here: https://tantek.com/cassis.js, search for "auto_link("
Some questions:
* Does/do Mastodon (or other ActivityPub servers) notify people when you @-@ mention them in a post? How? Who’s responsible for that?
* Will Bridgy Fed notify the servers (deliver to AP inboxes) of folks I merely @-@ mention (rather than explicit replies, reposts)? Should it?
So many people are switching to using their personal domains to post (or at least a Mastodon account) that I no longer feel compelled to @-mention people’s Twitter handles in posts, which feels refreshing.
Now the fun part is experimenting and figuring out what combination of @-domain, plain domain, or @-@ mentions looks good, makes sense to people, and sends notifications to people the way they want to receive them.
This is day 11 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days.
← Day 10: https://tantek.com/2023/010/t2/build-use-services
→ Day 12: https://tantek.com/2023/012/t1/six-years-webmention-w3c
^1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT-AT
^2 My https://tantek.com/github/cassis/blob/master/cassis.js auto_link() function supports @example.com auto-linking, yours should too.
^3 https://tantek.com/2023/004/t1/choosing-domain-name-indieweb
Once you have a domain^1, and connect it to an #IndieWeb service like https://micro.blog, or a https://indieweb.org/CMS on https://indieweb.org/web_hosting, you can focus^2 on your writing.
Or if you enjoy #webDevelopment and want to build (option three^3), use developer services to more rapidly add IndieWeb building blocks^4 to your site so you too can focus on creating & owning your content^5.
Here are some of the most common and popular developer services:
1. Webmention sending: https://webmention.app/ by https://remysharp.com/ (@rem@front-end.social), or https://mention.tech/ by https://kevinmarks.com/ (@kevinmarks@xoxo.zone)
2. Webmention receiving: https://webmention.io/ (I use this) by https://aaronparecki.com/ or https://webmention.herokuapp.com/ by https://voxpelli.com/ (@voxpelli@mastodon.social)
3. POSSE & backfeed: https://brid.gy/ by Ryan of https://snarfed.org/ (@schnarfed)
4. ActivityPub federating: https://fed.brid.gy/ also by Ryan. More on Bridgy & Bridgy Fed^6.
Using a developer service to support IndieWeb protocols saves you time. You can also contribute to the community by filing suggestions for improvements, or participating on their GitHub repositories.
If you prefer that your site not depend on any external services, you can do that too.
Most of the above services are also open source that you can install and fully manage yourself. For example:
* Webmention installable services: https://indieweb.org/Webmention#Publisher_Services
Another option is to use one of many open source libraries to more rapidly implement support for IndieWeb standards^7. The wiki pages for each standard list libraries in a variety of programming languages, e.g.:
* https://indieweb.org/Webmention-developer#Libraries
If you choose the path of installing or building something new with libraries or by directly implementing an IndieWeb standard, be sure to test your implementation with its test suite, e.g.:
* https://webmention.rocks/
As a web developer, you can choose how much of your #IndieWeb support you want to implement yourself (and time to invest) vs build on the services, libraries, and other open source that the community has produced and is actively supporting.
This is day 10 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days.
← Day 9: https://tantek.com/2023/009/t2/edit-reply-comment-update
→ Day 11: https://tantek.com/2023/011/t1/indieweb-evolving-at-mention
^1 https://tantek.com/2023/004/t1/choosing-domain-name-indieweb
^2 https://tantek.com/2023/005/t3/indieweb-simpler-approach
^3 https://tantek.com/2023/003/t1/indieweb-path-chosen-why
^4 https://indieweb.org/building_blocks
^5 https://tantek.com/2023/001/t1/own-your-notes
^6 https://tantek.com/2023/008/t7/bridgy-indieweb-posse-backfeed
^7 https://spec.indieweb.org/
https://kevinmarks.com/ good catch and thanks. Fixed the typos and resent a Webmention to #BridgyFed using https://mention.tech/ — we’ll see if the cache of my post on your instance is updated.
Sometimes it’s the little things, like editing a post. Edit a reply, see a comment update on another post.
From day 5 (https://tantek.com/2023/005/t3/indieweb-simpler-approach)
* Can I edit my post after publishing?
Whether a tweet or Instagram photo, the answer is no.^1
Blogs and websites have had editing capabilities since the start.
However, no site is an island, it’s a *web* site. Interlinked.
We expect edits on one site to show up when embedded or syndicated on other sites.
#Webmention provides the ability for cross-site comments, and unlike the "one-off" prior protocols of Trackbacks & Pingbacks^2, when you update a cross-site comment, by resending a Webmention, the other post updates its copy of your reply: https://www.w3.org/TR/webmention/#sending-webmentions-for-updated-posts
If you delete a reply, by resending a Webmention, the other post can delete its copy (or mark it as deleted) https://www.w3.org/TR/webmention/#sending-webmentions-for-deleted-posts
Similarly, the #ActivityPub protocol specifies update & delete capabilities, as implemented by #Mastodon and others.
#BridgyFed (https://fed.brid.gy) bridges (as the name says) these two protocols, which enables the following interactions.
#IndieWeb post -(Webmention)-> BridgyFed -(ActivityPub)-> Mastodon displays post
and then this:
IndieWeb updated post -(Webmention)-> BridgyFed -(ActivityPub)-> Mastodon displays updated post
This works for replies to toots as well:
IndieWeb reply to toot -(Webmention)-> BridgyFed -(ActivityPub)-> toot displays reply
and subsequently:
IndieWeb updated reply -(Webmention)-> BridgyFed -(ActivityPub)-> toot updates display of reply
Thanks to these update protocols in Webmention & ActivityPub, and BridgyFed connecting them, after adding “forward-in-time” links (https://tantek.com/2023/006/t1/forward-in-time-links) I was able to resend webmentions for my previous #100DaysOfIndieWeb posts, and have those forward links show up wherever my posts were already displayed on Mastodon.
Posts interlinked with replies interlinked with protocols interlinked.
This is day 9 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days.
← Day 8: https://tantek.com/2023/008/t7/bridgy-indieweb-posse-backfeed
→ Day 10: https://tantek.com/2023/010/t2/build-use-services
^1 The ability to edit tweets has literally been the most requested feature on Twitter since perhaps its launch. Last year, paid Twitter “Blue” accounts finally got the ability to edit tweets, sort of: five times within 30 minutes of posting. Too little, too late.
* https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/03/twitters-edit-button-is-rolling-out-to-blue-subscribers-in-canada-australia-and-new-zealand/
* https://blog.hootsuite.com/can-you-edit-a-tweet/
* https://www.pcmag.com/news/twitters-edit-button-is-coming-soon-for-paid-users
* https://www.macrumors.com/2022/10/06/twitter-edit-tweet-option-united-states/
* https://9to5mac.com/2022/10/06/twitter-rolling-out-edit-button/
^2 Pingbacks were originally (and for many years) only implemented as one-off cross-blog interactions. One-time, uneditable. Pingbacks (and Trackbacks before them) were notoriously ugly when they showed up on blogs, listed & displayed as a separate thing (never tie presentation to the name of a protocol) with cryptically elided summaries: https://indieweb.org/pingback#Poor_display.
Over 10 years after Pingback was specified (2002), the then nascent (founded 2011) IndieWeb community re-used pingbacks for actual comments across sites in 2013: https://tantek.com/2013/113/b1/first-federated-indieweb-comment-thread separating presentation & UI from the protocol.
This separation of concerns approach evolved into the Webmention specification, separating the protocol from the display of comments, likes, reposts, and other social web https://indieweb.org/responses.
https://jhey.dev/ (@jhey@front-end.social) hey! thanks for the kind words.
Two sides to supporting #webmentions:
1. Sending: https://webmention.app/ is excellent, by https://remysharp.com/ (@rem@front-end.social), or you can write your own Webmention sending loop using endpoint discovery libraries, and in that loop you can do other things, like also send each link to the Internet Archive (https://indieweb.org/Internet_Archive#Trigger_an_Archive, what I do on my site) to archive each link as of the time you linked to it.
2. Receiving: https://webmention.io/ (which is what I use) by https://aaronparecki.com/ as recommended by https://mxb.dev/ (@mxbck@front-end.social), or https://webmention.herokuapp.com/ by https://voxpelli.com/ (@voxpelli@mastodon.social) as recommended by https://kryogenix.org/ (@sil@mastodon.social). Similarly to sending, you could also write your own Webmention receiving code.
Then the fun part, once you’re receiving webmentions, is figuring out how you want to display them as comments, likes, reposts etc. on your post permalinks. Do you display people’s icons/avatars, at what resolution? Do you display the entirety of comments or do you elide them at 255 characters (or some other limit)? Etc. If(when) you start storing received webmentions in your own site/server’s storage, there’s a bunch more interesting considerations.
More resources:
* https://indieweb.org/Webmention-developer
That’s a good start. Drop by https://chat.indieweb.org/dev for deep dives into any of the above, and welcome to the Webmentionverse
11 years ago today, Ryan Barrett (https://snarfed.org/ @schnarfed) launched Bridgy (https://brid.gy/) to copy #socialmedia replies as comments on original blog posts.
This meant those of us building #IndieWeb sites could use a service for that functionality, instead of having to write code ourselves, for each proprietary API.
When a few of us originally started syndicating to silos (https://indieweb.org/POSSE), and sometimes reverse-syndicating replies (https://indieweb.org/backfeed), we had to write custom code to do so, calling each social media API (like Twitter) both ways.
Bridgy alleviated some of that burden, and over time added support for more silos, sometimes dropping support when they were shutdown (Google+, Buzz) or scuttled their APIs (Facebook).
While Bridgy started only with backfeed as a service, it eventually added publishing support, POSSE as a service.
Even though I already had code working to POSSE text notes to Twitter, when I added photo posting support to my site, rather than write more code to call Twitter’s API, I started conditionally using Bridgy Publish to POSSE my photo (and video) posts.
In 2017, Ryan launched Bridgy Fed (https://fed.brid.gy) which he has substantially improved in the past few months.
I and many others now use Bridgy Fed to broadcast to & interact with Mastodon (and other ActivityPub) servers, without having to write any ActivityPub, Webfinger etc. code ourselves.
https://tantek.com/2022/301/t1/twittermigration-bridgyfed-mastodon-indieweb
Every user of Bridgy Fed gets a nice dashboard for notifications and activity. Here’s mine: https://fed.brid.gy/user/tantek.com
Bridgy is a great example of a project that was started to fulfill a personal need (https://indieweb.org/make_what_you_need), growing to support broader community needs.
Read more about Bridgy & Bridgy Fed:
* https://indieweb.org/Bridgy (including Publish)
* https://indieweb.org/Bridgy_Fed
* Launch post: https://snarfed.org/2012-01-08_bridgy_launched
It’s this hybrid of encouraging personally relevant work and community contributions that makes the #IndieWeb community special.
Yes there is a focus on greater independence with your personal website. However we can all do more by working together.
We achieve more independence, more quickly, by collaborating in community.
This is day 8 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days.
← Day 7: https://tantek.com/2023/007/t2/more-100daysofindieweb-projects
→ Day 9: https://tantek.com/2023/009/t2/edit-reply-comment-update
@aaronpk @denicmarko It’s worse than that static snapshot (curious how you found it).
See: https://tantek.com/2011/238/b1/many-ways-slice-url-name-pieces#ud
And there’s ~12 years of research & updates pending since.
@jlgatewood@mastodon.cloud my notepad++ equivalent is BBEdit http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html (@bbedit@mastodon.social), which as they say “doesn’t suck”, on the contrary, it’s been a fast, solid, & reliable text editor for decades. It’s even faster & more dependable than Apple’s built-in “Notes” app which has become quirkier and *worse* in recent OS updates (e.g. weirdly linking #hashtags when I wish it would leave them alone, without a preference for turning that off).
However yes, when I post a new #100DaysofIndieWeb post, I’m “copypasta”-ing as you say the new permalink into the previous day’s post, and vice versa, using BBEdit of course.
https://nataliekraneiss.com/ (@natalie@hcommons.social) I agree with your concerns about not being “able to edit or delete the syndicated posts afterwards”.
In short, my personal site tantek.com is its own “instance” but without running Mastodon.
I use https://fed.brid.gy/ to connect my site directly to #fediverse sites like Mastodon servers, without any need for syndication, cross-posting, or publishing copies of my posts. More details here: https://tantek.com/2022/301/t1/twittermigration-bridgyfed-mastodon-indieweb
Because I use my site directly, I can edit/update/delete posts, and send a Webmention to #BridgyFed to propagate those changes to any #fediverse servers caching my post, all of which update themselves accordingly.
I’m not that familiar with the WordPress ActivityPub plugin, however, there’s a great community of folks who can help with any questions about it here: https://chat.indieweb.org/wordpress
Hope that helps and good luck!
@daviddelven@pkm.social that post is day 4 of my #100DaysOfIndieWeb project which I started on January 1st:
Day 1: https://tantek.com/2023/001/t1/own-your-notes
That and subsequent days should help provide context.
For example, I noticed you have your own personal domain daviddelgado.cat, yet it seems to redirect to a Linktree. One way to make your web presence more #IndieWeb would be to use a static page served directly on your domain for that, instead of redirecting to a 3rd party service.
If you feel comfortable with HTML+CSS, you could follow the instructions at https://indieweb.org/GitHub_Pages to setup a free static GitHub page to serve at your domain, and add all the same links you have on your Linktree.
@nomdeb@mstdn.social that’s good to know. Yes, I’ve seen these “follower collectors” as well. Hard to believe that such a high percentage of Twitter followers are dormant, or perhaps just bots or brands. I think you’re right that Twitter algorithms are pushing down our real person/connection posts, “in favor of engagement types of tweets”.
Since a month ago, the differences have grown on my recent posts:
Now ~6.3x (up from 2x) more #fediverse responses per post than Twitter, ~900:1 (up from ~500:1) difference per follower (having ~142x more Twitter followers).
https://crowdersoup.com/ (@CrowderSoup@hachyderm.io) glad to hear it and congrats on starting your #100DaysOfIndieWeb project!
I added you to the list on the #IndieWeb wiki:
* https://indieweb.org/100_days#2023
Keep up the good work!
There are more 2023 #100DaysOfIndieWeb projects, you should check them out:
* https://tmichellemoore.com/blog/tag/100daysofindieweb/ (@tmichellemoore@mastodon.social)
* https://crowdersoup.com/tags/100days (@CrowderSoup@hachyderm.io)
Got one? Reply and I’ll add it.
You can (re)start a #100Days project any day. While continuity is nice, you can take breaks. As https://kevinmarks.com/ (@kevinmarks) said in #IndieWeb chat:
* https://indieweb.org/life_happens and should take priority over artificial deadlines.
It all started back in 2017 when https://aaronparecki.com/ did the first #100DaysOfIndieWeb project:
* https://aaronparecki.com/tag/100daysofindieweb
* @100daysindieweb
Want to start one of your own? See past & present IndieWeb related 100 days projects for ideas & inspiration:
* https://indieweb.org/100_days
This is day 7 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb.
← Day 6: https://tantek.com/2023/006/t1/forward-in-time-links
→ Day 8: https://tantek.com/2023/008/t7/bridgy-indieweb-posse-backfeed
https://dangillmor.com/ I found a way: https://tantek.com/2023/006/t1/forward-in-time-links
https://dangillmor.com/ wishes for “forward-in-time links so we could read … his 2023 #100Days project, #100DaysOfIndieWeb … more easily from the beginning” https://mastodon.social/@dangillmor/109646621709452885
Great suggestion Dan. Wish granted.
On my #IndieWeb site, I control the user experience.
Since 2010^1, I’ve had previous/next ( ← → ) temporal^2 navigation links on the top right of my post permalinks, across all posts (something I always wanted on my notes, and Twitter lacked)
In 2018^3, I added similar ( ← → ) links on day archive pages, for previous/next days.
Ideally I’d build similar automatic ( ← → ) links for each hashtag in a post, for the previous/next post with that same hashtag.
OR for now I could manually add forward-in-time links to the bottom of my five previous #100DaysOfIndieWeb posts, and with each subsequent post, remember to update the previous one.
So that’s what I did, am doing, per https://indieweb.org/manual_until_it_hurts.
Previous #100DaysOfIndieWeb posts updated.
This is day 6 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days, which is now a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubly_linked_list
← Day 5: https://tantek.com/2023/005/t3/indieweb-simpler-approach
→ Day 7: https://tantek.com/2023/007/t2/more-100daysofindieweb-projects
Previously, previously, previously:
^1 https://tantek.com/2010/032/t7/inventions-to-tweet-from-site
^2 https://tantek.com/2011/102/t2/navigation-arrows-back-past-forward-future-ui-pattern
^3 https://tantek.com/2018/308/t2/indiewebcamp-archive-navigation-day-archives
The #IndieWeb approach *is* the simpler day-to-day approach.
Once you setup your domain & provider (or host/CMS), you always know where to post.
Your own site.
Write first, defer “destination decisions”.
Create first, edit for audience(s) second.
It’s refreshing & liberating.
Whether text, photos, videos, podcasts, brief thoughts, thinking out loud, a considered essay or “thought piece”, or replies to any of the above, start with your own site.
Why burden yourself with having to decide what to post based on:
* Will this fit in 140^H^H^H 280 characters?
* Or 500?
* Does it need a title?
* Will my photos/videos fit their aspect ratio limits?
* Which four photos for this album? Or 10? What one aspect ratio to crop them all into?
* Will my video fit in 15, 30, 90, or 140 seconds?
* Will I upset Big Chad or be subject to selective enforcement of ever-changing policies?
* Can I edit my post after publishing?
By decoupling creating from “distribution”, or “audience”, or “reach”, or the size of someone else’s storage boxes, you are free to express your thoughts first, then optionally decide if you want to share them elsewhere and edit as necessary.
If you do want to syndicate (POSSE) your post, then you can decide:
* Where else to send your post
* Is it worth your time to edit your post for any particular destination
* … their content limits (number of characters/photos, or video length)
* … their audience expectations or terms of service sensitivities
Creating and editing are different mental tasks.
Decoupling them makes posting easier and you can do a better job at both.
You can defer destination decisions & editing to some point in the future entirely, when you feel it’s worth your time.
You decide how and when to spend time creating vs editing. You are in control.
This is day 5 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days
← Day 4: https://tantek.com/2023/004/t1/choosing-domain-name-indieweb
→ Day 6: https://tantek.com/2023/006/t1/forward-in-time-links
https://pauljacobson.me/, I setup my https://micro.blog/t to syndicate in posts from my site via its Atom feed. It’s standards-based POSSE from my site to micro.blog to make it easier for folks there to follow me / my posts.
“I need a quad over ice.”
📺 #Wednesday E1 34:17
Ah, my 2008-era coffee order, just darker (no surprise)
https://twitter.com/t/status/920915648
Feeling seen.
(Aside: 💁🏻♂️🦋 Is this a quote tweet?)
Choosing a domain name is a key step toward getting your own #IndieWeb site. Like choosing an account name (chat, email, Mastodon) but global, feels more personal, and like more of a commitment. Six tips:
1. Use some form of your name (given & family), so you have a chance of having your site and posts show up when people search for you
2. Or a made-up nickname that fits you now and into the future
3. Something easily memorable, speakable, & spellable to better tell people in-person or on the phone (i.e. avoid "cute" or "weird" spellings like dropping vowels)
4. Use https://domai.nr/ to quickly try variants
5. Try to get a .com .net or .org, which are still seen as more legitimate. A .me is ok, as is your country/region (e.g. .us .uk .eu etc. see https://indieweb.org/ccTLD for more examples)
6. Shorter is better for many reasons: https://indieweb.org/short-domains
Once you find an available name, choose a domain registrar, which is like choosing a phone company, except there are more of them. Some recommendations: https://indieweb.org/personal-domain#Domain_Registrars
Got questions, or want more tips & opinions?
Ask in https://chat.indieweb.org/ — you’ll get a lot of sympathy & support as nearly everyone there has gone through this process, and many are eager to share their experiences to make it easier for new folks.
https://indieweb.org/naming is hard, it’s ok to ask for help.
This is day 4 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days
← Day 3: https://tantek.com/2023/003/t1/indieweb-path-chosen-why
→ Day 5: https://tantek.com/2023/005/t3/indieweb-simpler-approach
Is it hard to setup & use your own #IndieWeb site?
Depends on the path chosen, and why.
1 turnkey: get a https://micro.blog/ - easier than #Mastodon, works with
2 #webdev: install a https://indieweb.org/CMS - needs tech knowhow
3 builder: assemble https://indieweb.org/building_blocks as desired, experiment, iterate, and explore how deep the rabbit hole goes
All paths share perhaps the hardest part:
Picking a domain name. Next, tips for choosing one.
This is day 3 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days
← Day 2: https://tantek.com/2023/002/t6/key-owning-notes-domain-name
→ Day 4: https://tantek.com/2023/004/t1/choosing-domain-name-indieweb
The key to owning your notes is posting them with permalinks using a domain name you control. That’s it. https://indieweb.org/permalink
There are many providers, like https://micro.blog/, that happily enable using your own domain name for everything you post.
This gives you the ability to change your provider, while preserving your post permalinks. From the web’s perspective, your posts work just as they did before.
You are in control.
This is day 2 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb #100Days #IndieWeb.
← Day 1: https://tantek.com/2023/001/t1/own-your-notes
→ Day 3: https://tantek.com/2023/003/t1/indieweb-path-chosen-why
@zeina@mstdn.ca “incredibly dev-centered” is a valid criticism, and yes we need to make POSSE work in a simple & predictable way for everyone.
The key way to use micro.blog to make things “truly yours” is to do so with your own domain. Then you own all the permalinks, and can migrate to another provider or CMS while preserving your permalinks.
