A major developer of open source social networking software has a rather public statement about his opposition to “trans ideology” on his website. I won’t link to the statement, but I want to make my stance clear.
There is no such thing as “trans ideology,” which, as a phrase, reminds me ...
November 30, 2022
I love the indieweb and what it stands for:
When you post something on the web, it should belong to you, not a corporation. Too many companies have gone out of business and lost all of their users’ data. By joining the IndieWeb, your content stays yours and in your control.
This ...
November 29, 2022
Speaking of The 19th:
The 19th is a non-profit newsroom that reports at the intersection of gender, politics, and policy. We were one of the only newsrooms to call this election correctly - because we listened to women and people of color.
Some pieces we’ve published include a dashboard exploring abortion legislation ...
November 29, 2022
I’m doing management training today with all the other managers at The 19th. We're spending a lot of time considering how to be an anti-racist leader, which I'm finding tremendously valuable. I’m very glad to be doing this, and I’m glad for techniques and tactics to actively work towards equity.
I ...
November 29, 2022
My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is the admittedly slightly hokey tradition of going around the table and saying what you’re thankful for. There’s a lot to be skeptical about - this is a holiday that celebrates colonization and the eradication of entire nations - but this one act, bringing gratitude ...
November 24, 2022
I like Substack’s emphasis on letters between publications: a way to have an in-depth conversation between two bloggers who have a different point of view on a different topic. It reminds me a little of CJR’s Galley site, which hosted some interesting conversations.
But of course, you don’t need Substack or ...
November 23, 2022
Women and people of color have had a bad experience. That's not good enough. ...
November 21, 2022
I’ve locked down my Twitter account and removed syndication to the platform. I won’t be posting there regularly. A lot would need to change for me to meaningfully return.
You can still find me in plenty of places, which are listed on my homepage. I’m actively posting to Mastodon quite a ...
November 21, 2022
A word I’ve seen used frequently by people across the political spectrum, particularly since Trump’s election in 2016, is globalism. At first, I understood it to be a kind of alternative to nationalism: thinking on a global scale rather than prioritizing your own nation first. But the more I saw ...
November 20, 2022
I’m in Austin for The 19th’s Future of the Workforce event at the South Congress Hotel tomorrow. It’s free to attend in person, and I’d love to see you there! And if you’re further afield, you can still register to watch online.
From the event page:
Are the shifting norms of the ...
November 14, 2022
I’m on an early flight to Austin for a really interesting work week: meeting The 19th’s board, attending and supporting our Future of the Workforce event, working on strategy with the leadership team, and building process with the product team. I’m hopeful that I’ll get to eat some tacos and ...
November 13, 2022
As Evan says, this is happening. The fediverse is growing much faster than any centralized social network, and you’re going to want to be involved.
I’ve been trying to explain what the fediverse actually is in a few different contexts. One thing that’s revealed to me is that there’s a whole ...
November 12, 2022
In my Twitter security post I mentioned that you should delete DMs. Ted Han pointed out to me that you can only delete them from your own inbox: the other party can still see them, and they’re consequently still available on Twitter’s infrastructure. It may still be worth deleting them, ...
November 11, 2022
Yesterday I sent a memo to all staff advising them on the situation at Twitter and how it pertains to their own security. I thought it might be useful to share a version of this information with you, too.
Twitter’s Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Privacy Officer, and Chief Compliance Officer ...
November 11, 2022
Two service updates I’m interested in:
Substack has introduced a “bestseller” badge for its top-selling newsletters, as a sign of quality. Newsletters on Substack don’t need to have paid tiers, but this badge is only given out to newsletters that have a lot of paid subscribers. The implication is that non-paid ...
November 10, 2022
Voting is not a right to take lightly ...
November 8, 2022
I’m the CTO for The 19th, a women-led newsroom reporting on politics and policy with a gender lens. I’m super-proud to be here: it’s the most empathetic team I’ve ever worked on, and the journalism it produces is vital in the current moment.
There are a few ways you can keep ...
November 7, 2022
A while back I wrote a single-page site, Get Blogging, that’s designed to be a guide to which blogging platform to pick. It doesn’t actually tell you how to blog - and perhaps inevitably, I’ve started receiving lots of emails asking how to do just that.
There isn’t really a one-size-fits-all ...
November 6, 2022
Here’s what I wrote on my Mastodon profile to (re-)introduce myself to the fediverse:
Hi! I'm Ben Werdmuller. I've been a blogger since 1998. These days I post regularly at werd.io. Writing is my first love, and I'm working on a novel.
I founded two FOSS social platforms (Elgg and Known), worked ...
November 5, 2022
If you’re an American citizen, you should vote in next week’s election. Maybe you already have: I sent in my mail-in ballot, which is by far the easiest and most convenient way to do your democratic duty, as well as the best way to vote while researching your choices. (All ...
November 5, 2022
This is my monthly roundup of the books, articles, and streaming media I found interesting. Here's my list for October, 2022.
Books
Fiction
My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite. Smartly pointed satire loosely disguised as a thriller. Witty and dark as hell. I loved it.
Chivalry, by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran. ...
November 1, 2022
Businesses designed for exponential growth are not your friends. ...
November 1, 2022