For the #IndieWeb ideals of independence from intermediaries, not requiring corporate platforms or other organizational intermediaries¹, the best systems we have still depend on organizations. However they are all swappable, at will, by the individual:
1. domain names, depend on registrars, which you can switch
2. web hosts, depend on hosting providers, which you can switch
3. internet access, depends on internet service providers, which you can switch
4. web browsing, depends on browsers, which you can switch
5. personal devices, that have choice of web browser and internet access, which you can switch, upgrade, and use multiples of simultaneously
When you can migrate from one provider to another, one device to another, without disruption, without breaking your people-to-people connections, the providers and devices serve you, instead of gatekeeping you.
This freedom to swap, freedom to choose, depends on practical #interoperability across multiple implementations, multiple services. Open standards are the means to encouraging, testing, and verifying this user-feature interoperability across implementations and services.
This is post 6 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts
← https://tantek.com/2024/026/t3/indieweb-for-everyone-internet-of-people
→ 🔮
Post glossary:
domain name
https://indieweb.org/personal-domain
interoperability
https://www.w3.org/wiki/Interoperable
web host
https://indieweb.org/web_host
¹ https://tantek.com/2024/026/t3/indieweb-for-everyone-internet-of-people
1. domain names, depend on registrars, which you can switch
2. web hosts, depend on hosting providers, which you can switch
3. internet access, depends on internet service providers, which you can switch
4. web browsing, depends on browsers, which you can switch
5. personal devices, that have choice of web browser and internet access, which you can switch, upgrade, and use multiples of simultaneously
When you can migrate from one provider to another, one device to another, without disruption, without breaking your people-to-people connections, the providers and devices serve you, instead of gatekeeping you.
This freedom to swap, freedom to choose, depends on practical #interoperability across multiple implementations, multiple services. Open standards are the means to encouraging, testing, and verifying this user-feature interoperability across implementations and services.
This is post 6 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts
← https://tantek.com/2024/026/t3/indieweb-for-everyone-internet-of-people
→ 🔮
Post glossary:
domain name
https://indieweb.org/personal-domain
interoperability
https://www.w3.org/wiki/Interoperable
web host
https://indieweb.org/web_host
¹ https://tantek.com/2024/026/t3/indieweb-for-everyone-internet-of-people
The #IndieWeb is for everyone, everyone who wants to be part of the world-wide-web of interconnected people. The social internet of people, a network of networks of people, connected peer-to-peer in human-scale groups, communities of locality and affinity.
These peer-to-peer links should not require corporate platforms or other organizational intermediaries, nor should they require depending on developer intermediaries, nor server administrator intermediaries.
This is the "indie" in IndieWeb, independence from intermediaries, not independence from people. Because the "web" in IndieWeb, is yes the Web of the World Wide Web, and it is also the Web of people.
The "indie" in IndieWeb is also the independent agency to opt-into human-scale groups, opt-into peer-to-peer connections, opt-into communities, opt-into publics. As the POSSE page says: “Figure out how you want to fit into the network”.
The "web" in IndieWeb is also an open acknowledgment and acceptance that regardless of what groups, connections, communities, and publics you opt-into, that they are all interconnected in a larger web, that even without connecting, you can accept and respect from a distance.
The IndieWeb is for everyone, everyone who wants independence from organizations, independence of agency to associate, and who embraces the web of humans that want to interconnect, to communicate, to value and respect each other, whether one degree apart or thirty.¹
This is post 5 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts
← https://tantek.com/2024/023/t1/should-public-posts-flow-across-sites
→ https://tantek.com/2024/027/t1/indieweb-ideals-systems-swappable
Post glossary:
IndieWeb
https://indieweb.org/
POSSE
https://indieweb.org/POSSE
publics
https://indieweb.org/publics
¹ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/aug/03/internet.email
These peer-to-peer links should not require corporate platforms or other organizational intermediaries, nor should they require depending on developer intermediaries, nor server administrator intermediaries.
This is the "indie" in IndieWeb, independence from intermediaries, not independence from people. Because the "web" in IndieWeb, is yes the Web of the World Wide Web, and it is also the Web of people.
The "indie" in IndieWeb is also the independent agency to opt-into human-scale groups, opt-into peer-to-peer connections, opt-into communities, opt-into publics. As the POSSE page says: “Figure out how you want to fit into the network”.
The "web" in IndieWeb is also an open acknowledgment and acceptance that regardless of what groups, connections, communities, and publics you opt-into, that they are all interconnected in a larger web, that even without connecting, you can accept and respect from a distance.
The IndieWeb is for everyone, everyone who wants independence from organizations, independence of agency to associate, and who embraces the web of humans that want to interconnect, to communicate, to value and respect each other, whether one degree apart or thirty.¹
This is post 5 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts
← https://tantek.com/2024/023/t1/should-public-posts-flow-across-sites
→ https://tantek.com/2024/027/t1/indieweb-ideals-systems-swappable
Post glossary:
IndieWeb
https://indieweb.org/
POSSE
https://indieweb.org/POSSE
publics
https://indieweb.org/publics
¹ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/aug/03/internet.email
Bronx Brewery
Five Pines Dental
New year new dentist
@snarfed.org posted a great overview of thoughtful (and sometimes heated) discussions across blogs and the #fediverse about how freely should “public” posts & comments on the web flow across sites:
“Moderate people, not code” (https://snarfed.org/2024-01-21_moderate-people-not-code)
If you are designing or creating any kind of publishing or social features on the web, this post is for you.
It touches on topics ranging from #contextCollapse to #federation to #moderation and everything in between.
Does your choice of publishing tool set expectations about where your content might propagate, or whether it will be indexed by search engines? Should it?
Do the limitations of your server (e.g. js;dr) imply limitations of where your posts go, or whether they can be searched or archived? Should they?
When you post something publicly, are you truly posting it for a global audience for all time, or only for one or a few more limited #publics for an ephemerality?
When you reply to a post, do you expect your reply to only be visible in the context you posted it, or do you expect it to travel alongside that post to anywhere it might propagate to?
On the #IndieWeb, especially for public posts, some of these questions have easier and more obvious answers, because the intent of nearly all public IndieWeb posts is to interact across the web with other posts and sites, typically via the #Webmention protocol. However there are still questions.
Are the expectations for a blog and blogging different from a social media site, whether a silo or an instance on a network?
Is a personal website with posts still just a blog, or does it become something new when you start posting responses from your site, or receiving (e.g. via Webmention) and displaying responses from across the web to your posts on your site? Or is it now a “social website”?
If you have a social website, what is your responsibility for keeping it, well, social? Do you moderate Webmentions by default? Do you use the Vouch extension for some automatic moderation?
Are #POSSE & #backfeed different from federation or are they the same thing from a user-perspective, with merely different names hinting at different implementations?
Do you allow anyone from any site to respond or react to your posts? Or do you treat your social website like your home, and follow what I like to call a “house party protocol”, only letting in those you know, and perhaps allowing them to bring a +1 or 2?
I have many more questions. Each of these deserves thoughtful discussions, documentation of what different tools & services do today that we can try out, learn from, and use to make considered decisions when creating new things to post on and across websites.
This is post 4 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts
← https://tantek.com/2024/022/t1/indiewebcamp-brighton-planned
→ 🔮
Post glossary:
backfeed
https://indieweb.org/backfeed
blog
https://indieweb.org/blog
blogging
https://indieweb.org/blogging
comments
https://indieweb.org/comments
context collapse
https://indieweb.org/context_collapse
ephemerality
https://indieweb.org/ephemerality
js;dr
https://indieweb.org/js;dr
moderation
https://indieweb.org/moderation
POSSE
https://indieweb.org/POSSE
posts
https://indieweb.org/posts
publics
https://indieweb.org/publics
reply
https://indieweb.org/reply
Vouch
https://indieweb.org/Vouch
Webmention
https://indieweb.org/Webmention
“Moderate people, not code” (https://snarfed.org/2024-01-21_moderate-people-not-code)
If you are designing or creating any kind of publishing or social features on the web, this post is for you.
It touches on topics ranging from #contextCollapse to #federation to #moderation and everything in between.
Does your choice of publishing tool set expectations about where your content might propagate, or whether it will be indexed by search engines? Should it?
Do the limitations of your server (e.g. js;dr) imply limitations of where your posts go, or whether they can be searched or archived? Should they?
When you post something publicly, are you truly posting it for a global audience for all time, or only for one or a few more limited #publics for an ephemerality?
When you reply to a post, do you expect your reply to only be visible in the context you posted it, or do you expect it to travel alongside that post to anywhere it might propagate to?
On the #IndieWeb, especially for public posts, some of these questions have easier and more obvious answers, because the intent of nearly all public IndieWeb posts is to interact across the web with other posts and sites, typically via the #Webmention protocol. However there are still questions.
Are the expectations for a blog and blogging different from a social media site, whether a silo or an instance on a network?
Is a personal website with posts still just a blog, or does it become something new when you start posting responses from your site, or receiving (e.g. via Webmention) and displaying responses from across the web to your posts on your site? Or is it now a “social website”?
If you have a social website, what is your responsibility for keeping it, well, social? Do you moderate Webmentions by default? Do you use the Vouch extension for some automatic moderation?
Are #POSSE & #backfeed different from federation or are they the same thing from a user-perspective, with merely different names hinting at different implementations?
Do you allow anyone from any site to respond or react to your posts? Or do you treat your social website like your home, and follow what I like to call a “house party protocol”, only letting in those you know, and perhaps allowing them to bring a +1 or 2?
I have many more questions. Each of these deserves thoughtful discussions, documentation of what different tools & services do today that we can try out, learn from, and use to make considered decisions when creating new things to post on and across websites.
This is post 4 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts
← https://tantek.com/2024/022/t1/indiewebcamp-brighton-planned
→ 🔮
Post glossary:
backfeed
https://indieweb.org/backfeed
blog
https://indieweb.org/blog
blogging
https://indieweb.org/blogging
comments
https://indieweb.org/comments
context collapse
https://indieweb.org/context_collapse
ephemerality
https://indieweb.org/ephemerality
js;dr
https://indieweb.org/js;dr
moderation
https://indieweb.org/moderation
POSSE
https://indieweb.org/POSSE
posts
https://indieweb.org/posts
publics
https://indieweb.org/publics
reply
https://indieweb.org/reply
Vouch
https://indieweb.org/Vouch
Webmention
https://indieweb.org/Webmention
It’s hard to look back fondly on the Twitter algorithm in the days when it was still considered a “cool” platform to use. I routinely saw how links to blog posts would get far less engagement than content Twitter deemed worthy of promotion like photos, topical tweets, etc. The whole “post a photo and also a link” instead of just having the link’s graph image come through hack was just that, a hack. (Same issue on Facebook as well.) Perhaps in the early days of the platform this was much less so, but…well, #enshittification.
Blogging and social media algorithms ended up on a collision course last decade, and sadly blogs lost. Thankfully we now have the rare opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past. #OpenWeb #Fediverse #writing
Are you trying to reel it in during eternal Caturday?
The first IndieWebCamp of the year has been planned!
🎪 IndieWebCamp Brighton
🗓 2024-03-09…10
🏢 The Skiff, Brighton, England
🎟 Tickets available 2024-02-01!
Event: https://events.indieweb.org/2024/03/indiewebcamp-brighton-2024-xRTP2hAZOvZd
Wiki: https://indieweb.org/2024/Brighton
Questions about #IndieWebCamp? Ask in #IndieWeb chat!
💬 https://chat.indieweb.org/
This is post 3 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts
← https://tantek.com/2024/003/t1/2023-indieweb-gift-calendar-numbers
→ 🔮
🎪 IndieWebCamp Brighton
🗓 2024-03-09…10
🏢 The Skiff, Brighton, England
🎟 Tickets available 2024-02-01!
Event: https://events.indieweb.org/2024/03/indiewebcamp-brighton-2024-xRTP2hAZOvZd
Wiki: https://indieweb.org/2024/Brighton
Questions about #IndieWebCamp? Ask in #IndieWeb chat!
💬 https://chat.indieweb.org/
This is post 3 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts
← https://tantek.com/2024/003/t1/2023-indieweb-gift-calendar-numbers
→ 🔮
Ooh, this should be good: A Stop Making Sense Tribute Album teaser. First track by Paramore.