I broke the site + why BlueSky

Published 2024-12-02

tag(s): #yell-at-cloud #failures #meta #blogging

I didn't feel like writing two separate posts for what individually would be shortish text. So, combo post!

Ooopss I broke the site

I cloned the site in a new directory and didn't realize I hadn't pushed changes after the last post. And because all the website tooling I have is so basic artisanal, I lost a post. In the published version only, because all content is in a repository, so nothing should ever be lost "forever".

I didn't realize until this morning, then Git got confused on how to deal with the XML merges for the feed. I ended up removing the borked markup, and re-adding them using the command for that purpose.
So I guess in the end the tooling isn't that bad. I still prefer static files from having a database and templates and whatnot.
And actually, as long as I use Fastmail to host the site, I have no way of running anything dynamic. And I am still in love with everything being plain text files. I really, really, REALLLY don't want to learn a web framework.

The BlueSky exodus

After the US election, BlueSky keeps adding users and growing. People are mad that Twitter is overrun with propaganda and Trump rhetoric and Musk owns it and moderation and......

I just don't get it.

We have seen a number of social networks come and go. We have seen the late-stage for many of them. Why does anyone think that BlueSky will be different? Or even Mastodon.
Isn't it about time we realize that the whole concept of a social network cannot prosper? The more a replacement looks like Facebook/Twitter/Reddit, the less likely they are to succeed.
They all become echo chambers, need tons of moderation, costs to run them are astronomical.

Unless whatever comes next is radically different from what we had before, I just don't see the appeal.
And maybe it is because I am old and jaded, but I am over it. I am doing my best to reduce my Instagram and Reddit usage[1]. I am definitely not opening a new account anywhere else.

I needed to vent about how ridiculous I find that people jump to BlueSky as if it were some kind of salvation from all the crap in other social networks, without seeing it as more of the same. And, like I said before, I have a site that I can use for venting now!
Yay![2]

Footnotes
  1. The former is a point of contact with family, the latter my biggest source of MLS news. I hate that I have an excuse not to drop them =/
  2. Some day I will write a setup for tag navigation on the site, and a reader will be able to see all the #yell-at-cloud posts in one go. Some day...

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