October 2023

There were 9 posts published in October 2023 (this is page 1 of 1).

Which way forward? Fediverse integration with WordPress.com

Several days ago WordPress.com announced that blogs on their platform could now be integrated to the Fediverse via an ActivityPub plugin. Great news!

After a few bumps it was fairly easy to get things connected, and sure enough posts end up in the Fediverse. Comments made in the Fediverse find their way back to the blog, and post tags are included in the post in the ActivityPub plugin sends as hastags.

But there’s a complication – they end up there via a new account created for the blog. The account name is not user selectable (except for folks on the more expensive WordPress.com plans) and is a bit long, but that’s not the problem.

The problem is that the account isn’t a regular Mastodon account. There’s no way to log into the account and see mentions, for example, or toot without posting in WordPress. The account can’t follow anyone. It’s an account for someone who doesn’t ever want to interact with Mastodon.

So, if I want to interact with Mastodon normally, I still need another account.

There seems to be 3 possibilities:

Have a normal Mastodon account and have the marketing connection in WordPress.com send posts there

It works fine, but no hashtags are included, which is very severe limitation for Mastodon.

Have a normal Mastodon account and the ActivityPub account created by WordPress.com for the posts

Now there are two accounts, but there’s nothing to connect them. If I’m going to publish a long piece about something, and I want to post about it in advance, I’m doing the advance posting on one account but the post is coming from another.

I can try to join the accounts via the bio on the normal account, but what’s that going to look like? If someone comes across my content via a hashtag on Mastodon (very likely) how will they find my normal account?

Have a normal Mastodon account and the ActivityPub account and post to both of them

Still two accounts, but now when a blog post comes out it is posted to both of them. One of those, the ActivityPub account, will include hashtags but the other will not. Seems like a needless waste of space, and for those that are following both accounts (which would be the desired state in this scenario) there are going be two posts.

None of these are great options. I suspect this is all in flux and features will be changing, but in the mean time, which option is the best?

I’ve decided on the middle option, and will try to modify my Bio to include it, and see how that works.

Those of you who are in the same boat, which way are you going?

A third Mastodon test…

I disconnected the marketing connection to Mastodon, and am using just the fediverse connection to see how this works.

I’m trying to figure out if I still need to have WordPress.com send posts to my original Mastodon user @SteveDuncan or just let them come out as swduncan.com@swduncan.com. Not a very graceful username, and no post-by-post control, but I don’t know when or why I wouldn’t want it to go to Mastodon.

Connected to the Fediverse

Ok, so I learned from Noelleification that WordPress.com has added a feature to “Enter the fediverse.” It’s a single switch on the Discussion Settings page.

But now I’m wondering, do I still need to have my wordpress blog connected to my Mastodon account? Is there some particular way to ensure tags in WordPress become hashtags in Mastodon?

I guess time will tell!

Ok, now I’ve added an update to see how this works when a post is updated.

What I would do if I lost all my possessions

Wow – how apropos! Back in August our neighbor’s house burnt down. Everyone got out ok, and no one was hurt, but their house was mostly if not totally gone, and what was left was damaged either by smoke or water.

Watching that happen threw me into a strong fit of minimalism as I pondered the process of making the list of belongings the insurance company would request to pay on the claim.

It really, really makes you think about how much stuff one can accumulate that doesn’t really mean much. Things we keep for no reason other than we have it, and it seems worth keeping. And we put it back in the box where it has sat untouched for years and get on with our lives.

But I digress.

What would I do? Well, I would grieve. That’s what happens when you lose something important. You know – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. That grieving.

Then I would recover and, slowly at first but then rapidly, start accumulating new possessions. Not because I would instantly need all of them, but because our society and our culture (I live in the USA) is built on the notion that we are consumers and we must consume. I expect that I would resist for a while – the love-lost-I’ll-never-love-again thing and all – but few people are strong enough to resist for long.

Now, if I happened to move to a different society and culture, then the outcome might well be different, but even then, relative to the people around me, I will be known as the guy with stuff. I like things.

Red Wing Blacksmith Boots

There’s something about the idea of very persistent objects that is attractive, and good shoes are absolutely a great embodiment of that idea.

After several years of buying cheap shoes I’ve decided to invest in quality footwear once again. Not just quality footwear, but very old-school quality footwear. Red Wing still offers boots made the way they were in the 1920’s, out of more or less the same materials. They’re tough in every sense of the word, and that toughness and ability to age gracefully is what makes them attractive to me.

They make several models, and I decided on the rather plain Blacksmith. Plain toe, simple oiled leather. I won’t dive into the details of construction except to say it’s focused on durability rather than short break in time. Breaking in boots like this is known to be unpleasant for many folks.

They said “take it easy”, I said “hold my beer. And this beer, and this beer as well.” I wore them for a few hours just sitting at my desk, and they felt good so I decided to go for a walk. A one and a half mile walk to be precise. I ended up walking back barefoot with 3 new blisters on my feet. Fortunately I stopped before any of them broke or became bloody. Boots: 1, Steve 0.

The next morning I knew the smart money was on letting my feet heal and wearing my other shoes, so I put on blister pads and the boots, this time accepted there would be very limited walking. Went out to lunch, a few stores, and then drove my oldest daughter back to college and then came home. Honestly they felt pretty good when I took them off, but I knew they were still not good for a full day of travel style use.

I’m having what would seem to be a very easy time of it – day 5 and no further injury. I have not oiled the boots (they’re oiled in the tanning process) nor have I resorted to tricks like soaking them in water to soften them. I’ve used those tricks with other boots and shoes but for some reason I’m feeling very stubborn with these and I’m determined to break them in the hard way – just wearing them.

A trick for dealing with procrastination

Sometime I have a hard time dynamiting myself off the couch and into action. Sure, I have a list of stuff to do, and I know it needs to be done. Even reviewing that list doesn’t always get me moving.

But if I instead of titling it “Things I need to do” or “Next actions” (for you GTD fans) I title it “Things I’ll be glad I did” there’s see a difference. Now instead of doing it for some unnamed reason or person, I’m doing it for me – and the point is to make me happy. It’s also more than saying “Things I need to do to make me happy” because it’s stating they will make me happy. So, the net result is that instead of doing some boring thing to satisfy some “other” I’m instead arranging for my future self to be happy. It works.

I am continuously amazed at the weird pathetically simple-minded tricks that work on me.

The skill I’d like to learn

What skill would I like to learn?

Very easy: Best-selling mystery novel writing.

Specifically, writing the kind of mystery novels that result in owning a house like the one in Knives Out, only without the squeaky floors and scads of ungrateful blood-sucking relatives, but yes to the adorable nurse (minus lie-puking though).

Now, on the other hand, the kid-drama would help eliminate boredom during the holidays. So maybe a little – no more than I can comfortably afford.

Alright, It’s decided, I’ve got some learning to do.