At some point we're going to want to make it as easy to set up a WordPress site as it is to create a new Bluesky account, because the two things will be basically the same thing. Either one will get you access to a network of bloggers.
People and blogs involved with and about the IndieWeb community, the fediverse, and/or the open web in general.
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Hiring in an era of fake candidates, real scams and AI slop
"Red flags that both job seekers and employers should watch for, in an era of AI slop and application scams."
Backseat Software – Mike Swanson’s Blog
People use “enshittification” to describe platform decay. What I’m describing here is one of the mechanisms that makes that decay feel personal. It’s the constant conversion of your attention into a KPI.
39C3 - Persist, resist, stitch - YouTube
A fascinating talk looking at the history of the intersection of knitting and stitching with wartime cryptography and resistance.
Manuel Moreale — Everything Feed
• Manuel Moreale
A follow-up on a follow-up
I already wrote a follow up to my previous post but while that was happening Bix wrote something on their site and in there there’s a perfect passage which illustrates way better the point I was attempting to make (not hard to do, considering I am not a great writer) and I’l...
IndieWeb Carnival: Host Interview
Zachary kindly invited me to answer a few questions about hosting the IndieWeb Carnival. Running for three years now, the IndieWeb Carnival has been the source of endless inspiration for me, sparking both long periods of thinking as well as writing blog posts. Even when I hav...
Kind software
At EdinburghJS this week, Colin mentioned the idea of “kind software.” This got me thinking. What would make software kind? As I write, I notice the word “kind” reminds me of the term “user friendly,” which has associations with software being simple to use in the context of ...
ArtLung
• Joe Crawford
Mission Beach today.
Machine knitting: the life and death of dishcloth chattie
I made this test-version of a chattie hat, learned some lessons, and decided I was ready to try a "real" one for producer Amy. I have this pretty-weird cotton-blend yarn that I got from Fab Scrap some months ago. It's green, it's got slubs, some kind of elastic core may...
ArtLung
• Joe Crawford
Good lord, also QOTD
Another person was killed today in Minneapolis by agents of the United States government. As an older person I have a hard time with blanket slogans. But the thing we call “ICE:” United States Immigration & Customs Enforcement not doing a good job: it kills people and kidnaps. Started in 2003. End it NOW. Tell...
More winter storm prep today. Groceries. Went to my mom’s house too to wrap pipes, drip facets, turn the heat up. 😞 I’m sure this is all a foreign concept for folks in the north… Here in central Texas our infrastructure is just not ready for crazy cold. ❄️
A new home page for the Scripting News podcast. Nice to get this one off the big todo list.
This week
This has been a busy week!
Earlier in the week, I attended my first EdinburghJS Meetup, at which I met many wonderful people. As always, I am a bit nervous before going to events. What if I can’t find the location? What will I say? Those fears usually leave my system after a...
ArtLung
• Joe Crawford
Started the day with a Balboa Park walk and later an OB session (windy)
I've been following Bluesky since inception, even tried developing for it and found it was nothing new with its 300 character limit, no links, titles, etc. Basically you can build the same apps for Bluesky that we were able to develop for Twitter. I've also been following Le...
My first rule of platforms: "People don't listen to their friends, they listen to their competitors." I thought that rule was pretty new, but it actually appears in a 1996 blog post.
Reading The Morrigan by Kim Curran.
Reading The Morrigan by Kim Curran.
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Notable links: Jan 24, 2026
What does the future of engineering look like? And more.
Own your likes and replies
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
On ICE, Verification, and Presence As Harm
"Bluesky built a verification system designed to distribute trust, and then didn't use it when it mattered."