Jeremy Cherfas

TFW you realise your human-powered cron job hasn't been human powered for too long.

2018-05-21

1 min read

A couple of days ago, @phoneboy mentioned the fun he had deleting the spam webmentions he had received on WordPress.

Now Phoneboy replies:

Once I figure out the right settings, I’ll let you know.

And I’m not sure what that means. What right settings? Doesn’t WordPress keep a copy of all comments it receives? It would be really useful to see the contents of those “spam webmentions,” where they came from, what they contained, who sent them, simply because, as I said before, so few of these imagined evils have so far been spotted in the open. Not sure what settings that requires.

Also, the irony of this question has not escaped me:

Also, where did you post this comment? Didn’t see it in micro.blog.

I posted it here. Where else would I post it?

#indieweb

Test post from Omnibear in Firefox.

2018-05-17-02

1 min read

If you're looking for a really good introduction to the #IndieWeb and insights into how it all works, you could do a lot worse than listen to Jeena's podcast with Martijn. They do a tip-top job of explaining for people less knowledgeable than they are, and the audio quality is very acceptable.

2018-05-17

1 min read

Strangely, perhaps, given my love of tinkering with shiny, I've never been tempted by Ghost. But reading the latest birthday review surfaced this bit of wisdom.

Decentralised platforms fundamentally cannot compete on ease of setup. Nothing beats the UX of signing up for a centralised application.
But
Centralised platforms fundamentally cannot compete on power and flexibility. In the long run, nothing beats owning your technology and controlling your destiny.

2018-05-07

1 min read

I think I just need to remind myself and others of the natural progresion of things.

Everything not forbidden is permitted.
Everything not permitted is forbidden.
Everything not forbidden is compulsory

That is all. #indieweb

Replied to a post on ascraeus.org :

Data Peddling Scum is the name of my new Grunge tribute band.

We're live now on Virtual HWC https://indieweb.org/events/2018-05-02-homebrew-website-club#Virtual_European_Time - Why not join us?

If you would like to know more about the IndieWeb beyond micro.blog and WP, why not join us for the [virtual Homebrew WebsiteClub](https://indieweb.org/events/2018-05-02-homebrew-website-club#Virtual_European_Time) this evening at 17:30 CEST?

Huge congratulations to @nprDanCharles, @mgodoyh and everyone else at The Salt for their well-deserved #jbfa

2018-04-27

1 min read

Like Tom MacWright, I too have almost no need for Google these days, with one exception: Chat. I have a couple of friends with whom I enjoy messaging, and they aren't about to go anywhere else. I already use YakYak. Is there any way I could message their GTalk without having a Google account myself?

I really do not understand the nofilter tag on Instagram. Is it really that meaningful to point out that you just snapped a shot and didn't mess with it later?

Replied to a post on miklb.com :

Me neither! Came up yesterday in a MOOC I am studying. It's the little things ...

Replied to a post on twitter.com :

You could do worse than look at @WithKnown for a reasonably simple solution. It isn't quite as easy to use, but it isn't that difficult either.

Managed about an hour of "gardening" before the drizzle began. So that's good.

@rosemaryorchard Have you looked at the hibbitts design open publishing space for Gerav and Git?

Replied to a post on islandinthenet.com :

Absolutely correct. The people are eager and willing to help, and I would not have got anywhere without them. Which is why I am careful to say that I see no deliberate effort to exclude anyone. But as you say, it isn't ready for everyone either. Nor will it be, I don't think.

#indieweb

2018-04-11

1 min read

Digging into how withknown creates RSS feeds, I can see two things.

One is that for a status post, which has no title, `<title>` is a truncated version of the post content, although the level of truncation seems to vary. Not sure why.

The other is that even status posts, with a truncated `<title>`, have a full `<description>` that includes `p-name` and `e-content` and even `entry-content`.

But micro.blog does not seem to read `<description>` at least not when it is coming from my withknown RSS feed.

Puzzling.

Is there, anywhere, a definitive guide to how micro.blog truncates posts it receives via RSS?

Strange question, I know, but ... Is there any way I can restrict access to a post in WP without having to make people jump through **any** hoops to see it?

There are lots of solutions that allow only registered users to see a specific post. What I want ideally is a link I can give people that will work for them and not for anyone else. A page hidden from anyone who does not have that link.

The idea is to give email subscribers and other supporters access either exclusively or well in advance of the general public.

Just read a horrible coinage: autonomobile. Cars were never automobile without a driver. We are still waiting for a truly automobile means of transport.

This is worrying. I received a message from Fastmail saying I had reached my sending limit for the day. Impossible. I raised a ticket and 8.5 hours later got confirmation my account had been compromised. I'll say this for Fastmail; the recovery process is superb. The worrying part is that I **know** I did not reply to any phishing expedition. So how did it happen? Brute force, maybe. Pwned, maybe.

Not that he needs it, but let me offer @matigo as my Micro Monday suggestion.

As I start work on my monthly review, it occurs to me that despite having signed up for @belle's excellent roundup of reviews, and checking my spam folder, I've never received a single one.

I am **very** firmly of the opinion that cross posting original stuff from one site to another ought to be a considered decision on each occasion. Yes, that’s just me. It could be you too. Add a little friction; you know it makes things better.

Replied to a post on twitter.com :

Better download that then, pronto. Thanks for the tip-off.

Replied to a post on boonbutts.withknown.com :

Best suggestion I can offer is to ask specific questions. There are also some superb introductions, like this one https://adactio.com/journal/7698 that explain the basic ideas.

Replied to a post on seishonagon.micro.blog :

That reminds me, I should take a look at https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/putting-my-house-in-order-phase-2 and see what's changed.

#indieweb

Replied to a post on prettygoodhat.com :

Good going.

Replied to a post on twitter.com :

In fact a far better answer to the question "Why do bell peppers come in different colors" is "Because plant breeders made that happen by selecting different varieties".

Replied to a post on twitter.com :

Can't think why a respected organisation would link to this. It is wrong on so many levels. Final colour at maturity is a heritable trait. Different varieties mature to different colours.

You can get good help

1 min read

I managed to fix a long-standing niggle with my #indieweb practice this afternoon, thanks to some great help from cweiske and others. For the longest time Quill, a micropub client that I can use to publish here, wasn't showing me an option to syndicate directly to Twitter. That meant that I tended reply to tweets and stuff right there in the silo and not bring them back here. Fair enough, especially when a reply without context is like an egg without salt. But we figured it out, in part by that old standby of "switch it off and then switch it back on again". That got things working, and was enough of an impetus to upgrade WithKnown to the latest build. And so far, everything looks good.

#indieweb

This is another test

This is a test.

Upgraded Known to latest build; everything seems to be OK but if you spot anything odd, please let me know.

It is slightly odd to see the mad rush away from Facebook. Everything old is new again.

With a whole two days still to run on the trial, I plunked down good money for [Tyme-app](https://www.tyme-app.com/mac-2/). It is just so much better than one I was using before. Night and day.

Blimey! I just started another Coursera offering this morning, and this evening I get an email imploring me to look at another 24 courses. Who do they think I am?

I haven't done the Micro Monday thing before now; Mondays are often a bit busy. But today, I’m going to suggest @modernlittleme for a different perspective on life.

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that IFTTT simply isn't reliable enough to, er, rely on.

I noticed the name @Jack in the credits for The Archive, and wondered: Do you (does he) use the zettelkasten method in full, or just take notes with The Archive?

I thought I read that m.b re-polls feeds from time to time and picks up edits. In fact, I know it does. But what if a post on my connected site never actually made it here? Is there anything I can do to bring it in?

What a ghastly afternoon. Power cut 15 minutes before I was due to record an interview with someone in New Mexico. The power came on a minute later, but the iMac was moribund. Luckily I was able to use the phone to email him, and he was cool about rescheduling. But I was stuck with a dead iMac until I thought of searching support. Turns out this was a thing, and there is a procedure, and everything is alright again. But still,

Just downloaded The Archive https://zettelkasten.de/the-archive/ from Zettelkasten.de and rather hoping it plays nicely with nvALT and 1Writer (because I need iOS too)

So disappointing that @slackhq is giving up on the gateway between Slack and IRC. I wonder why. No reason given. https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/201727913-Connect-to-Slack-over-IRC-and-XMPP

People of the interwebs: I know someone famous said something about a crank being a little thing that makes revolutions, but can I find it? Can I heck. If you know better -- and I know it was not Abe Lincoln -- please let me know.

Giving tyme-app.com a try. It has to be smoother than Toggl.

I will never understand the special hell in which the people who do not understand Word styles must live.

Twofer! Adactio's Ways and means and Tim Bray's Reviewing Ethics

2 min read

Two savvy treats on one day. Jeremy Keith takes a general look at the power of internet companies in his post on Ends and means. Tim Bray focuses specifically on the utility that is Google Maps in his post Reviewing Ethics.

Jeremy: Going back to the opening examples of online blackouts, was it morally wrong for companies to use their power to influence politics? Or would it have been morally wrong for them not to have used their influence?
Tim: Call me crazy, but I’d pass legislation to keep Google from doing what they’re doing. They should be able to sell space on the maps, and they should be able to provide quality filters, and collect feedback on reviews and downgrade or upgrade them accordingly. But no damn way should they own the map and the crowdsourced value-adds on the map.

No collusion, I'm sure, just two smart people addressing their concerns about good behaviour by those who make and use the web.

I may need a new work timer, having inadvertently upgraded the old version of @Toggl. The new one is silly complex.