Social Network Power Vacuums

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-06T06:58:44-07:00",
    "url": "https://nadreck.me/2023/07/social-network-power-vacuums/",
    "category": [
        "social-computing",
        "social-media",
        "twitter"
    ],
    "name": "Social Network Power Vacuums",
    "content": {
        "text": "The continued collapse of Twitter has lead to all sorts of folks scrambling to fill the void. They\u2019re all a bit of a shitshow in different ways (which, let\u2019s be honest, so is/was Twitter). Will Blue Sky be the next Twitter? Will Threads be the next Twitter? Will Hive be the next Twitter? Will Twitter be the next Twitter? It\u2019s all a bit laughable. \n\n\n\nFirst there were the young scrappy services that were already trying to do a thing (think Mastodon or Hive), so already existed when the exodus from Twitter first started. None of those are going to get the mass inertia (and I think that\u2019s a good thing, let them fill particular niches like they already were \u2013 hopefully enough folks stick around there that it just makes them more viable for their communities in the long run).\n\n\n\nNow you\u2019ve got the services that were either in development (Blue Sky) or fast-followed (Threads). Blue Sky might end up doing a thing \u2013 I\u2019m not on it, but it sounds like a lot of \u201cthe cool kids\u201d managed to land there. It\u2019s still a semi-closed beta, so it\u2019s got the \u201cexclusivity\u201d thing going (but folks say also means it feels more like pre-2013 Twitter). Threads is Meta\u2019s fast-follow into the Twitter-like space, it just came out, and design-wise people seem okay with it, but is a privacy nightmare, and has the sort of dark patterns and bullshittery you\u2019d expect from Meta (for instance, if you decide you don\u2019t like Threads and want to delete your Threads account, you must also delete the Instagram account you linked to it).\n\n\n\nBroderick had a good observation that\u2019s been making the rounds: \n\n\n\n\nI think hardcore Twitter users have rose-colored glasses about the site\u2019s coolness. The reason for its success, if you can argue that it was ever really successful, wasn\u2019t that it was cooler than Facebook. It was because of its proximity to power. The reason it was so popular with activists, extremists, journalists, and shitposters was because what you posted there could actually affect culture. The thing that ties together pretty much everything that\u2019s happened on Twitter since it launched in 2006 was the possibility that those who were not in power (or wanted more) could influence those who were. And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an accident that a deranged billionaire broke that, nor do I think it\u2019s accident that we\u2019re suddenly being offered smaller, insular platforms or an offshoot of a Meta app as replacements. The folks in charge clearly don\u2019t want that to happen again.\nRyan Broderick, \u201cPaying to use a site you can\u2019t use anymore\u201c\n\n\n\n\nI think he\u2019s right. I also think that will probably continue to be an anomaly. The \u201csocial media\u201d era in general I don\u2019t think has been a healthy one, both for individuals and as a culture. There have been some great benefits (rapid information dissemination in times of crisis, methods to have dialogue with folks in positions of power, etc), but it\u2019s lead to some pretty massive drawbacks as well (a rise in depression and feelings of isolation, conflation with personal identity and \u201cbrand\u201d, influencer culture in general).\n\n\n\nI don\u2019t know what shape things will go from where, what the transition will be, or if we\u2019ll not actually move on and instead just limp along with a shittier, rotted husk of an internet. I think the corporate-driven shambling zombie outcome is just as likely (or more likely) as the outcome where we move past this and figure out a healthier, better method for interacting online. The internet is pretty shit right now, but shit can make good fertilizer, so a part of me remains hopeful that there\u2019s a seed somewhere out there that will germinate and grow, and in like a year or three we start hearing about something that is surprisingly awesome. (I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be any of the services from now, though.)",
        "html": "<p>The continued collapse of Twitter has lead to all sorts of folks scrambling to fill the void. They\u2019re all a bit of a shitshow in different ways (which, let\u2019s be honest, so is/was Twitter). Will Blue Sky be the next Twitter? Will Threads be the next Twitter? Will Hive be the next Twitter? Will Twitter be the next Twitter? It\u2019s all a bit laughable. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>First there were the young scrappy services that were already trying to do a thing (think Mastodon or Hive), so already existed when the exodus from Twitter first started. None of those are going to get the mass inertia (and I think that\u2019s a good thing, let them fill particular niches like they already were \u2013 hopefully enough folks stick around there that it just makes them more viable <em>for their communities</em> in the long run).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now you\u2019ve got the services that were either in development (Blue Sky) or fast-followed (Threads). Blue Sky might end up doing a thing \u2013 I\u2019m not on it, but it sounds like a lot of \u201cthe cool kids\u201d managed to land there. It\u2019s still a semi-closed beta, so it\u2019s got the \u201cexclusivity\u201d thing going (but folks say also means it feels more like pre-2013 Twitter). Threads is Meta\u2019s fast-follow into the Twitter-like space, it just came out, and design-wise people seem okay with it, but is a privacy <em>nightmare</em>, and has the sort of dark patterns and bullshittery you\u2019d expect from Meta (for instance, if you decide you don\u2019t like Threads and want to delete your Threads account, you must also delete the Instagram account you linked to it).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://garbageday.email\">Broderick</a> had a good observation that\u2019s been making the rounds: </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote>\n<p>I think hardcore Twitter users have rose-colored glasses about the site\u2019s coolness. The reason for its success, if you can argue that it was ever really successful, wasn\u2019t that it was cooler than Facebook. It was because of its proximity to power. The reason it was so popular with activists, extremists, journalists, and shitposters was because what you posted there could actually affect culture. The thing that ties together pretty much everything that\u2019s happened on Twitter since it launched in 2006 was the possibility that those who were not in power (or wanted more) could influence those who were. And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an accident that a deranged billionaire broke that, nor do I think it\u2019s accident that we\u2019re suddenly being offered smaller, insular platforms or an offshoot of a Meta app as replacements. The folks in charge clearly don\u2019t want that to happen again.</p>\nRyan Broderick, \u201c<a href=\"https://www.garbageday.email/p/paying-to-use-a-site-you-cant-use\">Paying to use a site you can\u2019t use anymore</a>\u201c\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I think he\u2019s right. I also think that will probably continue to be an anomaly. The \u201csocial media\u201d era in general I don\u2019t think has been a healthy one, both for individuals and as a culture. There have been some great benefits (rapid information dissemination in times of crisis, methods to have dialogue with folks in positions of power, etc), but it\u2019s lead to some pretty massive drawbacks as well (a rise in depression and feelings of isolation, conflation with personal identity and \u201cbrand\u201d, influencer culture in general).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t know what shape things will go from where, what the transition will be, or if we\u2019ll not actually move on and instead just limp along with a shittier, rotted husk of an internet. I think the corporate-driven shambling zombie outcome is just as likely (or <em>more</em> likely) as the outcome where we move past this and figure out a healthier, better method for interacting online. The internet is pretty shit right now, but shit can make good fertilizer, so a part of me remains hopeful that there\u2019s a seed somewhere out there that will germinate and grow, and in like a year or three we start hearing about something that is surprisingly awesome. (I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be any of the services from now, though.)</p>"
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    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Nadreck",
        "url": "http://nadreck.me",
        "photo": null
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    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "38226778",
    "_source": "2935"
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{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-06T00:36:51-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/06/003651/",
    "category": [
        "Caturday"
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    "video": [
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    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Are y- \ud83d\ude35\u200d\ud83d\udcab ALL HAIL ETERNAL CATURDAY \ud83d\ude35\u200d\ud83d\udcab",
        "html": "<p>Are y- \ud83d\ude35\u200d\ud83d\udcab ALL HAIL ETERNAL CATURDAY \ud83d\ude35\u200d\ud83d\udcab</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
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        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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    "post-type": "video",
    "_id": "38221295",
    "_source": "175"
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{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-03 17:15-0700",
    "url": "https://gregorlove.com/2023/07/help-us-raise-the-rest/",
    "category": [
        "SanDiego",
        "MutualAid"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Help us raise the rest of the funds for Joey by coming to our bake sale! Friday, July 7 5pm-7pm @ Azalea Park in #SanDiego\n\nIf you're not able to join us, please consider donating to the GoFundMe. #MutualAid",
        "html": "<p>Help us raise the rest of the funds for Joey by coming to our bake sale! Friday, July 7 5pm-7pm @ Azalea Park in <a href=\"https://gregorlove.com/#SanDiego\">#SanDiego</a></p>\n\n<p>If you're not able to join us, please consider <a href=\"https://gofund.me/d783682b\">donating to the GoFundMe</a>. <a href=\"https://gregorlove.com/#MutualAid\">#MutualAid</a></p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "gRegor Morrill",
        "url": "https://gregorlove.com/",
        "photo": "https://gregorlove.com/site/assets/files/6268/profile-2021-square.300x0.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38218349",
    "_source": "95"
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{
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    "published": "2023-07-05T01:35:57-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/05/013557/",
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        "Caturday"
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        "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/video/upload/vc_h264/mmmgre/0b/12/76/be/e5350716eab746f4edb66bc5d08cc0a31d4b82c1c01321a22789f9da.mov"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Are you keeping the beat during eternal Caturday?",
        "html": "<p>Are you keeping the beat during eternal Caturday?</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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    "_id": "38207429",
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Happy ‘Murica Day 🇺🇸 🎆

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    "published": "2023-07-04T22:15:45+00:00",
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    "name": "Happy \u2018Murica Day \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\udf86",
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/profile/cleverdevil",
        "photo": "https://cleverdevil.io/file/e37c3982acf4f0a8421d085b9971cd71/thumb.jpg"
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    "post-type": "photo",
    "_id": "38204312",
    "_source": "10"
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{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-03 17:15-0700",
    "url": "https://gregorlove.com/2023/06/help-us-raise-the-rest/",
    "category": [
        "SanDiego",
        "MutualAid"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Help us raise the rest of the funds for Joey by coming to our bake sale! Friday, July 7 5pm-7pm @ Azalea Park in #SanDiego\n\nIf you're not able to join us, please consider donating to the GoFundMe. #MutualAid",
        "html": "<p>Help us raise the rest of the funds for Joey by coming to our bake sale! Friday, July 7 5pm-7pm @ Azalea Park in <a href=\"https://gregorlove.com/#SanDiego\">#SanDiego</a></p>\n\n<p>If you're not able to join us, please consider <a href=\"https://gofund.me/d783682b\">donating to the GoFundMe</a>. <a href=\"https://gregorlove.com/#MutualAid\">#MutualAid</a></p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "gRegor Morrill",
        "url": "https://gregorlove.com/",
        "photo": "https://gregorlove.com/site/assets/files/6268/profile-2021-square.300x0.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "38192696",
    "_source": "95"
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-04T00:29:35-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/04/002935/",
    "category": [
        "Caturday"
    ],
    "video": [
        "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/video/upload/vc_h264/mmmgre/9d/cb/79/30/f65da9168d9fdd52d0b6c1f1856dc72909d9e459a3951fad1d536bb3.mov"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Is it time to tear up the place during eternal Caturday?",
        "html": "<p>Is it time to tear up the place during eternal Caturday?</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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    "_id": "38192394",
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{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-03T07:03:17-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/03/070317/",
    "category": [
        "Caturday"
    ],
    "video": [
        "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/video/upload/vc_h264/mmmgre/6f/39/f6/48/965e8301a0d9cae9a1b3e308bb9fbdaad44ebddaac8e42958835a014.mov"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Are you exploring or hiding away during eternal Caturday?",
        "html": "<p>Are you exploring or hiding away during eternal Caturday?</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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    "_id": "38182123",
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{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-02T11:57:16-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/02/115716/",
    "category": [
        "Caturday"
    ],
    "video": [
        "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/video/upload/vc_h264/mmmgre/74/9e/30/98/48e1a1e4c8d15f1bd174883b28634869440d86ee11f2eb69cf998e1a.mov"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "What\u2019s happening across the divide during eternal Caturday?",
        "html": "<p>What\u2019s happening across the divide during eternal Caturday?</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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    "post-type": "video",
    "_id": "38172195",
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{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-01T13:34:06-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/01/133406/",
    "syndication": [
        "https://fed.brid.gy/"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Community gardening for pop-ups and Pythons. It\u2019s your < 10min update on the #IndieWeb community!\nThis Week in the IndieWeb audio edition for June 24th - 30th, 2023.\nhttps://martymcgui.re/2023/07/01/this-week-in-the-indieweb-audio-edition--june-24th---30th-2023/",
        "html": "<p>Community gardening for pop-ups and Pythons. It\u2019s your &lt; 10min update on the #IndieWeb community!</p>\n<p>This Week in the IndieWeb audio edition for June 24th - 30th, 2023.\n<a href=\"https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/01/this-week-in-the-indieweb-audio-edition--june-24th---30th-2023/\">https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/01/this-week-in-the-indieweb-audio-edition--june-24th---30th-2023/</a></p>"
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    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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This Week in the IndieWeb Audio Edition • June 24th - 30th, 2023

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    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/01/this-week-in-the-indieweb-audio-edition--june-24th---30th-2023/",
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    "name": "This Week in the IndieWeb Audio Edition \u2022 June 24th - 30th, 2023",
    "content": {
        "text": "Show/Hide Transcript\n    \n  Community gardening for pop-ups and Pythons. It\u2019s the audio edition for This Week in the IndieWeb for June 24th - 30th, 2023.\nYou can find all of my audio editions and subscribe with your favorite podcast app here: martymcgui.re/podcasts/indieweb/.\nMusic from Aaron Parecki\u2019s 100DaysOfMusic project: Day 85 - Suit, Day 48 - Glitch, Day 49 - Floating, Day 9, and Day 11\nThanks to everyone in the IndieWeb chat for their feedback and suggestions. Please drop me a note if there are any changes you\u2019d like to see for this audio edition!",
        "html": "Show/Hide Transcript\n    \n  <p>Community gardening for pop-ups and Pythons. It\u2019s the audio edition for <a href=\"https://indieweb.org/this-week/2023-06-30.html\">This Week in the IndieWeb for June 24th - 30th, 2023</a>.</p>\n<p>You can find all of my audio editions and subscribe with your favorite podcast app here: <a href=\"https://martymcgui.re/podcasts/indieweb/\">martymcgui.re/podcasts/indieweb/</a>.</p>\n<p>Music from <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/\">Aaron Parecki</a>\u2019s <a href=\"https://100.aaronparecki.com/\">100DaysOfMusic project</a>: <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2017/03/15/14/day85\">Day 85 - Suit</a>, <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2017/02/06/7/day48\">Day 48 - Glitch</a>, <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2017/02/07/4/day49\">Day 49 - Floating</a>, <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2016/12/29/21/day-9\">Day 9</a>, and <a href=\"https://aaronparecki.com/2016/12/31/15/\">Day 11</a></p>\n<p>Thanks to everyone in the <a href=\"https://chat.indieweb.org/\">IndieWeb chat</a> for their feedback and suggestions. Please drop me a note if there are any changes you\u2019d like to see for this audio edition!</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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    "post-type": "audio",
    "_id": "38162214",
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{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-07-01T11:18:03-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/07/01/111803/",
    "category": [
        "Caturday"
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    "video": [
        "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/video/upload/vc_h264/mmmgre/60/68/bd/a2/9d785d40e41717f504e702d859c211ed08b01b4cfcfab1bcab5f0697.mov"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Are you enjoying your streaming services during eternal Caturday?",
        "html": "<p>Are you enjoying your streaming services during eternal Caturday?</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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    "_source": "175"
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{
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    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/06/30/234754/",
    "category": [
        "Caturday"
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    "video": [
        "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/video/upload/vc_h264/mmmgre/7a/c9/a0/28/ed18020b9916f15af7753f27e4c5661b7dda2a2a9ef4a1878a095527.mov"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Are you being consumed during eternal Caturday?",
        "html": "<p>Are you being consumed during eternal Caturday?</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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    "post-type": "video",
    "_id": "38155333",
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July 3rd

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    "published": "2018-07-07T19:30:00+00:00",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>{{ photo 41 }}</p>",
        "text": "{{ photo 41 }}"
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M.I.T. Net Neutrality Panel

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    "published": "2018-04-20T03:59:00+00:00",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>{{ photo 39 }}</p>\n<p>Tonight I had the good foturne to attend a panel on Net Netrality hosted by Massachussetts Senator Ed Markey at the Wong Auditorium in Cambridge. The panel included former FCC Chairman <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler\">Tom Wheeler</a> (the good one), Harvard Law Professor <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_P._Crawford\">Susan Crawford</a>, CEO of <a href=\"https://www.carbonite.com/\">Carbonite</a>, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mhsali\">Mohamad Ali</a>, and <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee\">Sir Tim Berners-Lee</a> (invented the internet).</p>\n<p>{{ photo:small 40 }}</p>\n<p>The panel served as the launch of Senator Markey's one month campaign to get Republicans on board with voting to overturn the current FCC's removal of net neutrality protections. He's calling this #onemorevote as currently the 49 Democratic Senators and Republican Senator Susan Collins have given their support. 51 votes are required.</p>\n<p>The discussion included comparisions from history such as when railroads used access to their networks to charge small farmers more than large agricultural companies to ship goods. As a result of electric monopolies, FDR broke up electric companies and regulated prices, increasing the number of Americans able to access electricity.</p>\n<p>It's astonishing that over three quarters of American's have only one choice when it comes to an ISP. This is clearly a situation where competition is required, not only to prevent monopolies, but to stimulate competition between ISPs.</p>\n<p>It was ironic to attend this panel when elsewhere in the country, one of the days headlines read, <a href=\"https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/04/isps-should-charge-for-fast-lanes-just-like-tsa-precheck-gop-lawmaker-says/\">ISPs should charge for fast lanes-just like TSA Precheck</a> I think this analogy mistakes the role ISPs serve. It's fair game to charge for data that is used, just like a utility bills for water or electricity used. But no one would tolerate a utility arbitrarily slowing down water pressure to a trickle unless a customer paid more for higher pressure.</p>\n<p>Surprisingly, Burger King illustrates this well:</p>\n\n\n<p>My takeaway from the evening was that people should consider internet access a fundamental right. It's what the economy runs on and it creates jobs. It needs to be protected so it can continue to allow innovation to flow freely.</p>\n<p>It's going to take lots of calls to representatives in the next month to make the repeal successful, and it's important that it succeeds.</p>",
        "text": "{{ photo 39 }}\nTonight I had the good foturne to attend a panel on Net Netrality hosted by Massachussetts Senator Ed Markey at the Wong Auditorium in Cambridge. The panel included former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (the good one), Harvard Law Professor Susan Crawford, CEO of Carbonite, Mohamad Ali, and Sir Tim Berners-Lee (invented the internet).\n{{ photo:small 40 }}\nThe panel served as the launch of Senator Markey's one month campaign to get Republicans on board with voting to overturn the current FCC's removal of net neutrality protections. He's calling this #onemorevote as currently the 49 Democratic Senators and Republican Senator Susan Collins have given their support. 51 votes are required.\nThe discussion included comparisions from history such as when railroads used access to their networks to charge small farmers more than large agricultural companies to ship goods. As a result of electric monopolies, FDR broke up electric companies and regulated prices, increasing the number of Americans able to access electricity.\nIt's astonishing that over three quarters of American's have only one choice when it comes to an ISP. This is clearly a situation where competition is required, not only to prevent monopolies, but to stimulate competition between ISPs.\nIt was ironic to attend this panel when elsewhere in the country, one of the days headlines read, ISPs should charge for fast lanes-just like TSA Precheck I think this analogy mistakes the role ISPs serve. It's fair game to charge for data that is used, just like a utility bills for water or electricity used. But no one would tolerate a utility arbitrarily slowing down water pressure to a trickle unless a customer paid more for higher pressure.\nSurprisingly, Burger King illustrates this well:\n\n\nMy takeaway from the evening was that people should consider internet access a fundamental right. It's what the economy runs on and it creates jobs. It needs to be protected so it can continue to allow innovation to flow freely.\nIt's going to take lots of calls to representatives in the next month to make the repeal successful, and it's important that it succeeds."
    },
    "name": "M.I.T. Net Neutrality Panel",
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "38153880",
    "_source": "2780"
}

Electronics Recycling

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": null,
        "url": "https://benjaminturner.me/blog/",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://benjaminturner.me/blog/electronics-recycling/",
    "published": "2017-07-26T03:00:00+00:00",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>This morning I discovered a partially disassembled iMac abandoned in my building's dumpster. <a href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/the-global-cost-of-electronic-waste/502019/\">It should come as no surprise that E-waste is an increasingly important issue, and is terrible for the environment</a>. The individual who left this computer for trash acted extremely irresponsibly. What's even more frustrating is that Apple makes it trivially simple to recycle their products.</p>\n<p>You can drop off your old product at any Apple store, or if that's inconvenient, they will ship you a box for free that you can then ship back to them. If you have a newer product, they'll give you a gift card for the current value of your old product. Details are here: <a href=\"https://www.apple.com/recycling/\">https://www.apple.com/recycling/</a></p>\n<p>{{ photo:small 38 align=right }}</p>\n<p>It pains me to think of all the components of a computer leaching into a landfill, not to mention the parts that can be recycled, so I took it upon myself to remove the iMac from the garbage (thankfully it wasn't full). The nearest Apple store is only a 15 minute drive, so I gathered the disassembled pieces and carried it into the store. When I was greeted by the Apple Genius at the front of the store, I coyly asked whether they thought they could fix my computer. After a brief pause, he smiled. Several employees came over to inspect the mangled specimen I had retrieved. We posed theories as to why the owner may have bent and torn into the case when the only missing components were the RAM sticks which are easily accessible. I was thanked for rescuing the computer from the trash and we made a few jokes at the unknown owner's expense.</p>\n<p>My good deed done for the day was done, and at least one less computer went to a landfill.</p>",
        "text": "This morning I discovered a partially disassembled iMac abandoned in my building's dumpster. It should come as no surprise that E-waste is an increasingly important issue, and is terrible for the environment. The individual who left this computer for trash acted extremely irresponsibly. What's even more frustrating is that Apple makes it trivially simple to recycle their products.\nYou can drop off your old product at any Apple store, or if that's inconvenient, they will ship you a box for free that you can then ship back to them. If you have a newer product, they'll give you a gift card for the current value of your old product. Details are here: https://www.apple.com/recycling/\n{{ photo:small 38 align=right }}\nIt pains me to think of all the components of a computer leaching into a landfill, not to mention the parts that can be recycled, so I took it upon myself to remove the iMac from the garbage (thankfully it wasn't full). The nearest Apple store is only a 15 minute drive, so I gathered the disassembled pieces and carried it into the store. When I was greeted by the Apple Genius at the front of the store, I coyly asked whether they thought they could fix my computer. After a brief pause, he smiled. Several employees came over to inspect the mangled specimen I had retrieved. We posed theories as to why the owner may have bent and torn into the case when the only missing components were the RAM sticks which are easily accessible. I was thanked for rescuing the computer from the trash and we made a few jokes at the unknown owner's expense.\nMy good deed done for the day was done, and at least one less computer went to a landfill."
    },
    "name": "Electronics Recycling",
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "38153881",
    "_source": "2780"
}

Upgrading postgres using pg_dumpall on macOS

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": null,
        "url": "https://benjaminturner.me/blog/",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://benjaminturner.me/blog/upgrading-postgres-using-pg_dumpall-on-macos/",
    "published": "2017-05-28T18:29:00+00:00",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Recently, I decided to update the dependencies in my local development environment. I develop on macOS and use homebrew for package management. One of the packages I tend to neglect keeping up to date is postgresql because of the data juggling required to make the upgrade (It's actually not too difficult of a process). I've been using 9.4 and the current major version is 9.6 so it seemed like a good time to upgrade before falling even further behind. I followed the instructions on this <a href=\"https://keita.blog/2016/01/09/homebrew-and-postgresql-9-5/\">helpful blog post</a> to upgrade from 9.4 to 9.5, and everything worked exactly as outlined. However, when I tried to follow the procedure for upgrading from 9.5 to 9.6, I was met with this error:</p>\n<pre><code>$ FATAL:  could not open directory \"/usr/local/share/postgresql95/timezonesets\": No such file or directory\nHINT:  This may indicate an incomplete PostgreSQL installation, or that the file \"/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql95/9.5.5/bin/postgres\" has been moved away from its proper location.\n</code></pre>\n<p>The issue appears to be related to having upgraded to a newer version of postgresql before running the <code>pg_upgrade</code> command which attempts to start up the previous version of the server and fails. I tried lots of different methods switching back to the previous version of postgresql and following the procedure, but that just broke the process in a different place.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.6/static/upgrading.html\">After a fair amount of googling I found a different method of upgrading using <code>pg_dumpall</code></a> which did the trick, allowing me to bypass having to start up the older version of the server. Using this process you simply create a dump file of your data, upgrade postgres and initialize a new database, then import your dump file into the new database.</p>\n<p>Create the dump file:</p>\n<pre><code>$ pg_dumpall &gt; /path/to/file\nC&amp;#35;when performing this step it's recommended to use the latest version of the `pg_dumpall` binary. If you haven't switched versions using `brew link` yet, you can use the absolute path:\nC&amp;#35;$ /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.6.1/bin/pg_dumpall &gt; /path/to/file\n</code></pre>\n<p>Shut down the current server:</p>\n<pre><code>$ brew services stop postgresql95\n</code></pre>\n<p>Move the current data directory:</p>\n<pre><code>$ mv /usr/local/var/postgres /usr/local/var/postgresql95\n</code></pre>\n<p>Make a new data directory using the upgraded binary and start the server:</p>\n<pre><code>$ initdb /usr/local/var/postgres -E utf8\n$ brew services start postgresql\n</code></pre>\n<p>Restore from the dump file:</p>\n<pre><code>$ psql -d postgres -f /path/to/file\n</code></pre>",
        "text": "Recently, I decided to update the dependencies in my local development environment. I develop on macOS and use homebrew for package management. One of the packages I tend to neglect keeping up to date is postgresql because of the data juggling required to make the upgrade (It's actually not too difficult of a process). I've been using 9.4 and the current major version is 9.6 so it seemed like a good time to upgrade before falling even further behind. I followed the instructions on this helpful blog post to upgrade from 9.4 to 9.5, and everything worked exactly as outlined. However, when I tried to follow the procedure for upgrading from 9.5 to 9.6, I was met with this error:\n$ FATAL:  could not open directory \"/usr/local/share/postgresql95/timezonesets\": No such file or directory\nHINT:  This may indicate an incomplete PostgreSQL installation, or that the file \"/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql95/9.5.5/bin/postgres\" has been moved away from its proper location.\n\nThe issue appears to be related to having upgraded to a newer version of postgresql before running the pg_upgrade command which attempts to start up the previous version of the server and fails. I tried lots of different methods switching back to the previous version of postgresql and following the procedure, but that just broke the process in a different place.\nAfter a fair amount of googling I found a different method of upgrading using pg_dumpall which did the trick, allowing me to bypass having to start up the older version of the server. Using this process you simply create a dump file of your data, upgrade postgres and initialize a new database, then import your dump file into the new database.\nCreate the dump file:\n$ pg_dumpall > /path/to/file\nC&#35;when performing this step it's recommended to use the latest version of the `pg_dumpall` binary. If you haven't switched versions using `brew link` yet, you can use the absolute path:\nC&#35;$ /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.6.1/bin/pg_dumpall > /path/to/file\n\nShut down the current server:\n$ brew services stop postgresql95\n\nMove the current data directory:\n$ mv /usr/local/var/postgres /usr/local/var/postgresql95\n\nMake a new data directory using the upgraded binary and start the server:\n$ initdb /usr/local/var/postgres -E utf8\n$ brew services start postgresql\n\nRestore from the dump file:\n$ psql -d postgres -f /path/to/file"
    },
    "name": "Upgrading postgres using pg_dumpall on macOS",
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "38153882",
    "_source": "2780"
}

Quickly add a SSL certificate using CloudFlare

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": null,
        "url": "https://benjaminturner.me/blog/",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://benjaminturner.me/blog/quickly-add-a-ssl-certificate-using-cloudflare/",
    "published": "2016-06-23T07:16:00+00:00",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>In the past adding a SSL certificate to a website has been an expensive and complicated operation, but there are many good services available today making it cheap and easy to secure a website.</p>\n<p>Using a SSL certificate with a domain allows users to access a website using an encrypted connection between the browser and a server. If you access a website from a public wifi hotspot that does not require a password, the data between your device and the wifi router can be compromised by being intercepted by someone else on the network. Accessing websites using https greatly reduces this vulneribility.</p>\n<p>A major drawback to implementing better security has unfortunately been cost. Previously on Heroku, using a certificate required the addition of a $20/mo add-on. This doesn't make a lot of sense for smaller projects or primarily static sites. In May, <a href=\"https://blog.heroku.com/archives/2016/5/18/announcing_heroku_free_ssl_beta_and_flexible_dyno_hours\">Heroku annouced a new SSL Beta</a> which makes using a certificate free. This is great news and what got me interested in figuring out how to setup a certificate on my site.</p>\n<p>Another interesting project is <a href=\"https://letsencrypt.org/\">Let's Encrypt</a> which has significantly reduced the complexity around acquiring a certificate. A command line tool is provided which distills creating a certificate down to a series of prompts asking for a little bit of information about your website. The certificate is saved to your device and you then can move it to your server or service where you're hosting your website.</p>\n<p>I set down the path of creating my own certificate using Let's Encrypt and wiring it up to my Heroku project using their SSL add-on. I hit two roadblocks, one was that while it's better than the $20/mo add-on, using the SSL Beta requires at the minimum a $7/mo Hobby account. Since I'm using this for my blog, which I try to run using free services, it felt like overkill. The other problem was that in it's current state, Let's Encrypt certificates must be renewed every three months. This means keeping everything up and running requires some vigilance or investment in automation.</p>\n<p>At this point I happend to learn about <a href=\"https://www.cloudflare.com/\">CloudFlare</a>, a free, hosted solution for SSL. Setting up your site with CloudFlare is simple, quick and easy. I was able to configure CloudFlare in several minutes without having to touch my Heroku configuration. After waiting for the DNS changes to propagate, I had a safer and more secure website.</p>\n<p>Here's what I did:</p>\n<ol><li>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.cloudflare.com/a/sign-up\">Create a free CloudFlare account</a></p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>Add a site. Here you'll enter a root domain, e.g., foo.com. CloudFlare will scan DNS records for the domain and find relevant information, in my case, I had A and CNAME records, benjaminturner.me and www.benjaminturner.me.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>When the scan is complete, CloudFlare will provide new Nameservers. These must be updated with your domain registrar, in my case I was using NameCheap. Log in to the registrars interface and update existing Nameservers to point to CloudFlare's.</p>\n</li>\n</ol><p>That's it. At this point, you'll just need to wait for all the DNS changes to propagate. For free accounts this can take up to 24 hours.</p>\n<h5>Troubleshooting</h5>\n<p>At this point, you'll have CloudFlare configured correctly, but your website may not be. One problem I had was an externally hosted image I was linking to on every page of my site. It was hosted on http, not https. All links on a site should use the https scheme, otherwise you won't see the nice \"lock\" icon in the browser's URL bar.</p>",
        "text": "In the past adding a SSL certificate to a website has been an expensive and complicated operation, but there are many good services available today making it cheap and easy to secure a website.\nUsing a SSL certificate with a domain allows users to access a website using an encrypted connection between the browser and a server. If you access a website from a public wifi hotspot that does not require a password, the data between your device and the wifi router can be compromised by being intercepted by someone else on the network. Accessing websites using https greatly reduces this vulneribility.\nA major drawback to implementing better security has unfortunately been cost. Previously on Heroku, using a certificate required the addition of a $20/mo add-on. This doesn't make a lot of sense for smaller projects or primarily static sites. In May, Heroku annouced a new SSL Beta which makes using a certificate free. This is great news and what got me interested in figuring out how to setup a certificate on my site.\nAnother interesting project is Let's Encrypt which has significantly reduced the complexity around acquiring a certificate. A command line tool is provided which distills creating a certificate down to a series of prompts asking for a little bit of information about your website. The certificate is saved to your device and you then can move it to your server or service where you're hosting your website.\nI set down the path of creating my own certificate using Let's Encrypt and wiring it up to my Heroku project using their SSL add-on. I hit two roadblocks, one was that while it's better than the $20/mo add-on, using the SSL Beta requires at the minimum a $7/mo Hobby account. Since I'm using this for my blog, which I try to run using free services, it felt like overkill. The other problem was that in it's current state, Let's Encrypt certificates must be renewed every three months. This means keeping everything up and running requires some vigilance or investment in automation.\nAt this point I happend to learn about CloudFlare, a free, hosted solution for SSL. Setting up your site with CloudFlare is simple, quick and easy. I was able to configure CloudFlare in several minutes without having to touch my Heroku configuration. After waiting for the DNS changes to propagate, I had a safer and more secure website.\nHere's what I did:\n\nCreate a free CloudFlare account\n\n\nAdd a site. Here you'll enter a root domain, e.g., foo.com. CloudFlare will scan DNS records for the domain and find relevant information, in my case, I had A and CNAME records, benjaminturner.me and www.benjaminturner.me.\n\n\nWhen the scan is complete, CloudFlare will provide new Nameservers. These must be updated with your domain registrar, in my case I was using NameCheap. Log in to the registrars interface and update existing Nameservers to point to CloudFlare's.\n\nThat's it. At this point, you'll just need to wait for all the DNS changes to propagate. For free accounts this can take up to 24 hours.\nTroubleshooting\nAt this point, you'll have CloudFlare configured correctly, but your website may not be. One problem I had was an externally hosted image I was linking to on every page of my site. It was hosted on http, not https. All links on a site should use the https scheme, otherwise you won't see the nice \"lock\" icon in the browser's URL bar."
    },
    "name": "Quickly add a SSL certificate using CloudFlare",
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "38153883",
    "_source": "2780"
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-06-29T10:08:25-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/06/29/100825/",
    "category": [
        "Caturday"
    ],
    "video": [
        "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/video/upload/vc_h264/mmmgre/36/53/37/ed/ae2c6074fc94dd2126e997058a9da6f9d0b9666bee39cbca3c246a9d.mov"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Has your world turned upside down during eternal Caturday?",
        "html": "<p>Has your world turned upside down during eternal Caturday?</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "video",
    "_id": "38131329",
    "_source": "175"
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2023-06-28T20:11:18-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2023/06/28/201118/",
    "category": [
        "Caturday"
    ],
    "video": [
        "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/video/upload/vc_h264/mmmgre/a7/c5/d0/1a/79d78c6e87f177725d0c3e282fb2046949a9f6a18a97ddb26b10c511.mov"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Are you feeling agreeable during eternal Caturday?",
        "html": "<p>Are you feeling agreeable during eternal Caturday?</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "video",
    "_id": "38123534",
    "_source": "175"
}