from rscottjones

I have a permadomain, and we just re-upped Jen’s for another decade. If you don’t already have one, you should.

I added—and then subscribed to—a weekly digest email newsletter of my own microblog (which I use as my primary “social media” account) just so I could have a nice reminder of my week. It makes for a nice additional backup too.

I came so close 🤏 to winning at Subway today (aka, getting thru an entire transaction without being asked a question). Unfortunately, just as I reached for the glass door—sub in hand—she must have realized and inexplicably asked me if there was anyone waiting outside (obviously not). Foiled again!

This week we saw the rise of the Forkiverse, a run-of-the-mill Mastodon instance spun up by some podcasters. It’s gone pretty well, and I think it speaks to a feature missing from Mastodon.

From Maho Pacheco’s post:

There is also something quietly genius about the idea itself. Podcasts and other large content creators creating their own social platforms, where their audience can interact not just with the hosts but with each other, feels like a natural evolution. This idea has been discussed for years, but rarely tested. It worked. Within 48 hours of releasing their episode, the Forkiverse had already attracted around 2.5K new accounts. That is not just excitement is some kind of proof of demand. Of course, their audience was mostly techie, and they have thousands of followers, which makes this a low digit % conversion, but still, it is interesting.

I agree, though I’d love to point out YET AGAIN that the best way to help build these communities is to offer local-only posts. It’s an obvious feature that Mastodon has not implemented. Why not? The main answer I’ve seen is that it’d be confusing because they already have some confusing post types.

The idea that I think Mastodon developers are failing to capture is that their software is uniquely positioned as the easiest way to create a small, topic-based community (the very best and most successful type in digital and analogue history) that can also engage with the larger world through federation.

That’s where the real power comes from. It’s having easy access to both worlds—posts intended only for members of your own small group, plus the ability to direct other messages out to the broader world.

Imagine if creators could easily share “members-only” content with their followers on a mastodon instance, but could also direct public posts out to the entire fediverse? Their fans can help promote their own forkiverse-style community through simply using the Mastodon instance, interacting with the creators and others in this “select group” of members, but could also interact with all the other accounts out there? That’s golden.

That’s a model that can get existing clubs to join, or maybe a group of friends, or even a sports fanbase, or any other fandom really. The model here is to bring your own existing group to the fediverse, but the best way to do that is to offer “members-only” posts.

Just posted about that time I had unexplainable hearing loss while my wife was in surgery.

🔗 Here’s a roundup listing of “Best of 2025” photo posts from a whole slew of photographers, which is a great way to spend some time this week. (h/t Alex Kunz)

Sorta fun map. I guess I’m a US Level 207, depending on how you count. The “levels” are a bit opaque. I’m using “stayed here” to mean visited for a week or more, visiting is more than a day, stopped here is a day. There’s an EU version too.

Joined a buddy for a 5k walk at Papago Park this morning. Always good to spend some time among the creosote.

It’s suddenly become a rather busy 6 weeks of travel starting next week. First trip is 10 days in Costa Rica/Nicaragua, followed by a week long work trip to Seattle, then directly on to Dallas for a week, then home for a week before heading off to El Salvador/Honduras for a week. Whew!

It’s gorgeous weather outside today, so I grabbed a couple sandwiches to go and brought Jen out for a quick picnic in the park for lunch.