Who reads my blog?
By @edent
· blogging meta · 142 comments · 300 words · read ~422 times.
Hello! Thank you for reading what I write. Sorry to ask, but… who are you?
I was chatting to a friend about what it is like running a blog, finding new topics, keeping up with a daily schedule, moderating comments, etc. And they asked, quite reasonably, "who are your readers?"
And, honestly, I have very little idea! The only analytics I have on here is basic WordPress JetPack statistics. I can see which posts are popular. I get a sense of which countries you are in. If you leave a comment, I know the name you choose to give. If you link back to my posts, I know what your website is.
But, that's pretty much it. I don't know your age, height, gender, dietary needs, or the date of your last colonoscopy. Frankly, that's the way I like it! I write, you read. You don't have to pay me in fiat, crypto, or your personal data.
It is nice if you subscribe and/or share my posts. But there's never going to be a big pop-up asking for your email address, or trying to make you sign in with a social network. I don't need to know anything about you.
And yet… I'm curious!
About 500 of you subscribe by email. A few thousand of you subscribe by RSS. Even more come via links from social media.
If you're comfortable, I would love it if you dropped a note in the comments of this post.
You can either just say "hello", or you can tell me why you read, or what you like, or what you'd like to see more of. Leave a link to your blog, if you have one. Or just say what part of the world you're from.
So, who are you?
Mastodon
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
HackerNews
Lobsters
Pocket
WhatsApp
Telegram
That one off mastodon here 🙂 - am a near-40 largely British woman with 2 kids living in Germany.
I don't know really what specifically I like, or what I'd like to see more of - but I like the voice you have in your blogging, I often find out something new to me, or you post about a side interest I already have.
I do like that your posts generally aren't super long, that I have to put aside time for, and take a run up!
I don't recall whether we'd met before this, but you made the final donation I needed (£10, I think) to cover the cost of printing the leaflets for my one free mailout when I ran for Parliament as an independent candidate in 2010.
Iirc you disagreed with the system of government I was proposing (direct digital democracy) but felt like the campaign was an interesting idea nonetheless. Which I thought was a pretty cool reason for donating.
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2010/03/direct-digital-democracy-a-disaster/
I remember it well! And I'm sorry you didn't get elected. It has been great knowing you (mostly virtually) over the years.
Howdy! It's me, Dan. I've got a draft post on my blog that looks a bit like this, too.
In my case, I probably know even less about my "audience" because I actively sabotage any chance I have of meaningful analytics: no tracking JS, access logs rotated fortnightly, etc. (there's a draft blog post about the hows and whys of that somewhere too, but I just need to find the right words to sensitively explain that yes, I've written code to undermine Jetpack's tracking, but I don't want my choice to do that to reflect on my employer... who makes Jetpack 😅).
I subscribe by RSS and have for years: I'm a huge fan of RSS. I can't remember how I first came across your blog. You'll also find me on OpenBenches (the geocacher/geohasher/OpenStreetMap contributor in me approves) and represent, I think, 50% of the project sponsors on Github. 😂
In the rest of my life I write WooCommerce-related code for Automattic, break into badly-secured computer systems and then tell the owners how I did it, use military satellite networks to find lost tupperware in forests, and susprise myself every time a magic trick I try to learn works first time (which is almost never). I live in West Oxfordshire in a polyamorous triad that friends-of-friends like to use as the counter-example to oft-heard claims that nonmonogamous relationships aren't stable on decade-plus timescales (they can be, and ours is as we approach the end of our second decade), along with our two children.
Cheers mate - and I thoroughly enjoy reading your blogging tips.
Hey 👋 I’m Charlie from just south of London! Have been reading via the emails for a while now, love how they are as well formatted as the website and works great as a reading list when stuck on a train with no internet! Enjoy most of the posts, and think it’s interesting to see way different people find and use new technologies.
That's great to know - I'm glad WordPress doesn't mangle the emails too much.
IIRC I first followed you on (in?) the Fediverse (I'm max@toet.dnzm.nl there), and either got the link from your profile, or one of your posts. Probably the latter.
No real preference for any specific subject, for me the fun in blogs is the wide range of subjects one can cover!
I blog as well, too sporadically, I'm afraid, have done so for some 20 years.
A sporadic blog is better than no blog!
Hello,
I'm one of your RSS feed subscribers. I read your blog because of the broad digital and tech things you write about. In my feeds you're categorised as 'General' because I can't put you in any other category.
Thanks - I particularly enjoy reading your weeknotes. Always something interesting in them.
dad
Thanks dad!
Oh, hello 👋
A Belarusian living in Slovakia, doing open source for a living, selling Dutch bicycles and parts for fun 🙂
You know me.
I mostly hang around here to see how desperately you'll hustle for comments 😉
Did you exchange a walk on part in this blog, for the lead role in Wikipedia?
I follow you on mastodon and added you to my rss feed.
US based. IT management.
Hello! First heard about this blog from some site linking to a post about what would happen if your house got struck by lightning and your electronics got fried (or something to that effect). You thought through something that’s been nagging at me …
Anyway, I kept reading because I enjoy the blog and the randomness of the posts.
Ciao from the SF Bay Area!
Howdy, howdy! I mostly consume your blog through RSS! You've written enough about HTML to pique my interest (your "Making Time More Accessible" article was an early find for me!)
Hello!
I'm a 40-ish I.T. admin from U.S.A.
I subscribe to your blog over RSS, because that's how I get all my updates.
I like the way you post. Sort of conversational. Not too long, but with the right amount of information and story-telling.
I read every post from your blog, and I feel like I'm gaining something from all of them (even if I'm not likely to see The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, or dine at the Savoy).
I can't recall how I found your blog, or what made me subscribe, but I've currently dog-eared several of your book reviews to follow-up on and some of the SQFMI Watchy smartwatch information.
You mentioned rigidity issues, have you considered doubling the cost of Watchy by buying the CNC aluminum case?
At any rate, if you keep posting, I'll keep reading. Thank you.
Fly over to London - the restaurants and theatres are great 🙂
I might pick up another case for the SQFMI watch. But it is on a long list of other half abandoned projects.
Thanks for reading.
Someone else mentioned your post "I've Locked Myself Out of My Digital Life" about losing access to all your accounts if your house burned down. That's the one! I'm sure I saw it on Hacker News or some other aggregator and decided to follow your blog directly.
We have attended the same Barcamps and other events over the years.
I follow your blog posts via the daily email and tend to read all of them all of the ways through. They are always informative, interesting, and exceptionally well written.
Most of your programming posts are above my pay grade 😉 but I enjoy your book, beer, and gadget reviews.
Thank you!
I'll keep reading more books and buying more daft gadgets then 🙂
Please do 🙂 I often buy books (especially sci-fi) based upon your reviews.
Here for the solar blogging, gadget reviews, and the occasional political take. I come via Mastodon and probably click through to 1/3 of your links. Knowing my read ratio, I don’t subscribe to the feed, since I treat my feed reader more like an inbox. Appreciate and applaud your frequent blogging. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights.
Hi, i am Fred, 49y old, French living in the US. Like your writing style, honest, tech-savvy, on spot, and never too long to read. Interested by your journey with solar panel, your test of some goodies, your opiniated view on technology. Keep doing it!
I'm a retired software engineer, who specialized in system software, particularly operating systems. I'm Canadian, but live in California; I moved here for a better selection of work available, not to mention somewhat more money for the same work than in Canada.
I don't recall exactly how I came to subscribe to your blog, but my usual route is that someone else signal-boosted posts of yours, which I liked enough that I decided to subscribe for myself. Most likely the signal booster was on Dreamwidth.
I subscribed to your RSS feed about 2-3 months ago. I don’t remember where I found it, but I enjoy it. My favorite post since I subscribed was the one about Shakespeare Serif.
I’m Belgian and American and grew up in Germany. Currently located near Chicago, USA. Middle aged, married, one child, work as a programmer. Big fan of open source and non-corporate/federated networks. RSS is my favorite means of consuming online content.
I have an online journal (https://www.esgeroth.org/log/) that is approaching the quarter century mark, but it’s mostly just personal ramblings.
I do enjoy a good ramble. Thanks for reading.
Yours is one of quite a few (usually) tech-oriented blogs I follow via RSS — in my case, through NetNewsWire.
No advice re content, other than to keep doin’ what you’re doin’. 🙂
I'm Jim Grey, from central Indiana, USA. I don't remember anymore how I found your blog, but I keep reading it because what you write is consistently interesting. I follow a lot of blogs and they're all in my feed reader.
I work in the software industry and am currently Director of Engineering at a smallish company. I am a writer and photographer in my spare time -- it's more than a hobby but not quite a side hustle or business venture. I'm also married and my wife and I have seven children between us, all adults.
I understand the curiosity about one's readers! I've blogged for almost 17 years and the curiosity finally got to me enough that I created a survey and asked my readers to complete it. 231 did (out of about 10,000 followers). I just published the results today.
https://blog.jimgrey.net/2023/09/10/results-of-the-2023-down-the-road-reader-survey/
Scientific software engineer (ex-physicist) at a UK national lab. Read most by RSS, but recently joined mastodon. Here for the insight on FOSS, accessibility, standards, solarpunk. Interesting to hear tech stuff from a UK and public sector point of view. Also enjoy the side projects.
Hi, I'm a sysadmin and Linux user from Puerto Rico. I use "Liferea" to follow your RSS feed. Your topics resonate with me, personally and professionally. While I don't expect to like every post on a personal blog, I truly enjoy most of what you share!
I follow your posts after we “met”, probably via Home Assistant or Solar posts, on Mastodon.
I'm an older Brit from up north. I work as a maths teacher. Originally, I stumbled upon your blog when looking for ideas for a smart home when I investigated a specific problem. Can't remember what it was. I am into techie things and love making things better or more efficient or more user attainable and so on so some of your ideas about user interfaces occasionally pique my interest. Some things are way out of my comfort zone and I usually stop reading after the first line in all honesty. At a guess, I think I would have probably read about 25% of your content.
Haha! Fair enough. Not all of my content is of interest to everyone. And, TBH, sometimes it isn't even of interest to me 😉
I read your blog, follow you on Mastodon, and I can't ask anything specific: I'm amazed by the wide range of your interests and discover always new things.
Please tell me what drug you're on to be able to write so regularly and have time to investigate so many different subjects.
BTW, I'm 60 and from Switzerland
I think the "drug" is curiosity. And the dealer is a lack of responsibilities. I've got a decent job that doesn't require me to work evenings and weekends, I'm childfree, and I don't have to commute much. So I've plenty of free time.
Hi Terence
I often have read your blog pieces based on links you and others share on Mastodon. I am mostly interested in open mapping and Web standards, and of course the intersection of those. I first discovered your blog when someone, I think maybe Bruce Lawson's blog, alerted me to a post about a map element for HTML.
I appreciate your dedication to blogging and am always amazed at your apparent insatiable curiosity.
I just added your blog to feedly.
I'm the lead editor at a company that publishes email newsletters like JavaScript Weekly, Frontend Focus, Ruby Weekly, Postgres Weekly, and numerous others, so I subscribe to a lot of different feeds in order to discover things that might be interesting to readers. I know we've linked to you a handful of times over the years, but I also like to just generally keep up with what interesting people in the tech space are up to!
I am a mathematician who owns a consulting firm, but I am more focused on R+D. I also dabble in international policy development. Sometimes I like to read blogs or pages that I have saved in an HTML file (like your blog).
I've been reading this via RSS for longer than I can remember, no idea how I originally found it 🙂 50 something geek who's occasionally talked to you on Mastadon. I think the Venn diagram of our interests has a large area of intersection
Like Kai, an older Brit - not quite old enough to have two coronation mugs - but from south (now, originally north) London. Used to work in computing and a bit geeky. Can't remember how I first found your blog - probably looking for someting of interest (what3words? review of something?) - and then it seemed to be worth following - good style, eclectic mix of subjects, with enough of interest, and a take on things that I like...
Hi,
I’m a 28 year old male (175cm, no restrictions, too young for that) sysadmin/help desk/one man IT department/computer guy from Zimbabwe.
I mostly read you through RSS and I like how you write as well as your tech savvy. My blog is at https://im.farai.xyz which doesn’t have any readers at the moment.
I've added your feed to my subscriptions - so you've now got at least one reader.
I follow with rss, don't know how I found you (most likely via mastodon boost). I follow anyone tech related.
I stumbled upon one of your blog posts few months back and then went digging into your site searching for RSS link to subscribe to your posts, which I overlooked somehow. Then I DMed you on Telegram and you did the courtesy.
I like your writing as it is mostly around tech and I keep learning new things from your posts. And thanks for writing consistently.
Btw I'm from India, an undergrad majoring in CS.
Hi, I'm French living in London and I have been enjoying your blog for the last couple of years. Thanks for the effort you put in it!
Hi Terence
I've followed you on social media (first on Twitter, now on Mastodon) after we met at Tuttle c.2009 when I lived in London - I now live in Edinburgh.
I post erratically to two blogs (another is dormant!).
Heyooo, Stefan from Berlin here. I'm a frontend dev and don't remember when / why I subscribed via RSS. But I'm a huge fan of indie blogs and I'm always keen on discovering thoughts or topics I don't know much about it.
Keep it up!
/me waves
/me vaguely remembers IRC commands.
A/S/L?
Hello! RSS and Mastodon follower here. My first contact with you was the "House burned down with the YubiKeys in it" post. I've stayed because of the thoughtful variety grounded in your deep and large-scale technical background, your sense of humor, your eclectic interests, and your non-US perspective. I'm in Alaska, in the ISP/telecom security space.
Hello,
I came originally for the book recommendations! I stayed for the interesting posts about your journey with solar and your perspective on life in general. thanks!
I'm also very impressed at your continued blogging, it's impressive.
I read it! I can't remember how I first came across you - probably through a post that was shared somewhere like Hacker News or Reddit or one of the Slack/Discord/whatever servers that I'm on. I enjoy all the posts - and you're one of many blogs that I follow religiously in my feed reader (Feedly).
I'm a freelance geospatial software engineer, with interest in a wide range of tech/geek/nerd stuff.
RSS follower.
hey, packetcat here! I think I originally found your blog through someone else's blog, don't remember who. I am a big believer in the concept of personal blogs and yours brings a unique perspective to my feed reader.
@Edent I read it, mainly from links you post here. I'm impressed at how regularly you manage to post, and you manage to cover a really interesting range of things
oh hai! you may recognise me from the fediverse. Mid-40s British tech botherer :waves:
I think I found your blog this week via Mastodon. 😂 41 year old software developer making stuff online.
Better late than never, Adam 🙂
hi Terence,
read-only (now that's not entirely true 😁) gal from south of France here. 42 y.o., 1 husband, 3 cats, russian roots (so not popular now, but sorry, not sorry). freelance IT of all (mostly not that amusing) kinds, language teacher, mountain pilot. RSS via feedly, came across your blog thanks to Google several years ago when looking into some obscure enough hardware.
generally I don't agree with you on any and all subjects 🤣, and that's precisely what I like (if I need an opinion that mirrors mine, I can just look at the, well, mirror).
sometimes when I really, really, really disagree, I write an angry and rude comment and then I just erase it and continue my read-only existence (but I think one or two of those still somehow got through my internal censor over the years 🤣).
basically, I just like your writing and find you a very nice guy 🤗
never dared to contact you when coming to London, though. too socially awkward for that 😁
Thank you for your comments over the last few years. I don't mind having a dissenting opinion or two 🙂
Always happy to have a pint with random Internet strangers. As long as they promise to bring photos of their cats.
oh dear loving God, you don't even know what a terrible fate of scrolling through millions of cat photos you brought onto yourself.. 🤣
if I ever dare, of course. and thankfully I don't dash through London all that often 🤗
Hello!
I have followed via RSS for a couple of years and enjoy reading your reasonably argued and opinionated posts. Most interesting stuff for me is when you give your personal insight on the NHS or telecoms companies but really like the range of topics. I arrived from a newbie tech angle as I was trying to figure out how to get my hobby popular history book review website off the ground and something you wrote helped, not sure what! Live in South London, male, early forties, 2 smallish kids.
Hello - come here for the IT blogging and quality insight. I'm a 40 something engineer. I follow via RSS (as I remember the great days of Google Reader) and follow your blog ever since you stood for Open Rights Group. Live In Edinburgh.
Come here for two reasons - you're remarkably smart on IT and I value your insights. I love that you were a supporter of Open Rights Group so early and secondly, more recently, I deal with renewables at work and you're the only geek who puts out stats this way (that I know of, there are some from Twitter but they very much coming from electrician / plumber's sides which I grok).
I dislike the conservatism of the LGBT / trans posts but its all got very fraught and I just see it more from the TERF side. However I would never comment as I like the blog vibe. Its your blog etc etc.
More? Stay like this. Maybe reflections on what you have learnt over your career perhaps? Why you turned out the way you did? What make someone a good colleague? I dunno, don't change too much 🙂
Hi - I found you from HackerNews where your posts went through a little spell of being posted a lot. I am now a very new ML Engineer (nee iOS Developer) splitting time between Belfast and London.
Hey Terence, I’m Kev. Im in my late 30s and I live in Wales with my family and numerous animals. I work in Cyber Security. I’ve been riding you log for quite some time now. Like you, I also write stuff on my blog.
Heya! I enjoy reading your blog too. Good luck with the chickens (and the fitness).
Hi, I'm Ash. I'm a male hobby programmer in my 40s whose politics have been described as "lefty liberal". I work at a UK university as the general technical member of a research team in the Archaeology department, as they use an open source project for their database which isn't very non-programmer-friendly (to put it politely). I genuinely can't remember how I first heard of you, but I subscribe via RSS and have done for a while. Oh, and I rather like Doctor Who.
Hi I'm Roger Bamkin, and Terence and I had a great bit of collaboration quite a few years ago. I'm still a Wikipedian and an advocate foe equal rights. I recently bought an LG telly and I thought of Terence. The instructions had a whole page of QR codes - one for each language.... that was the problem we solved with QRpedia. Only one QR code for hundreds of languages. Clever bloke is Terence
Ah, we could have changed the world together. If only they'd listened!
Possibly you may have heard of me? Didn't you come and visit us?
Once or twice 😉
I saw your content either linked (or posted by you) on Mastodon, where I run an instance. I’m a 40ish engineer in the US, following via RSS.
I like your site because I love any writer who will dig in deep on a topic, no matter how narrowly-targeted (maybe archaic?) and post a recreation of their thoughts or process of approaching it.
Hi! I'm a mid-30's software development manager in Toronto, Canada, who follows your RSS feed. I don't recall exactly when or why I started, but I think that at some point I noticed I'd had your articles come up more than once when I was searching for something or other. I think in particular it may have been on the subject of digital contact books and the vCard format?
Came for the nerdy posts about HTML, stayed for the incredibly resourceful posts about policy and accessibility. It’s made me notice and appreciate so much more when good care is taken to make things as accessible as possible, and has prompted me to make more of an effort to be mindful of such things in my work and day-to-day life.
On a separate level I also really enjoy reading the musings of a cis-het man who actually gives a shit about trans people for no other reason than it being the right thing to do. I find a lot of media quite stressful to read as a trans person in this current political climate so having places of solace like this site are really nice to have 🙂
Thanks Mia, it's lovely to have you here. My aim is to make this a welcoming space.
Former space shuttle ops engineer in Houston, Texas. Don't remember how I stumbled across your blog but it's interesting and novel enough for me to keep it in my feed.
Wow! I've read some of your stories - they are incredible.
Hello! Came here for the knowledge, stayed for the personality haha. I thoroughly enjoy your daily emails, even if I don't understand half of them. You should consider writing a book. Or starting a podcast. Your ability to communicate in what is otherwise a very dry subject matter is second to none.
Also helps you married my cousin haha.
To be fair, your cousin is cute!
Hi. Middle-aged married woman in New York City, USA. I like learning what you have learned about large-scale projects in coordination with government institutions.
RSS follow here, for quite some time. Mid-30s queer dev in the US. Following for a variety of topics, though I think the first time I found your stuff was via a mutual acquaintance.
Hi! I write a little on my blog, subscribe via RSS, and work as a UX designer.
I'm apparently following your blog in Feedly and I don't remember putting it in there. The oldest post in my history is on making a mozaic of book covers, which I could have found when trying to make a simple book cover collage for a post on my own blog (landreville.blog). Or perhaps I found another post through a Mastodon boost or through a link-aggregator site.
This is why I liked the concept of webrings and having a page that links the other blogs like yours to find new indie sites.
Hello, it is me Michael!
I found you via https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/09/a-floppy-disk-mp3-player-using-a-raspberry-pi/
I intend to release a no-fi version of my LP in this micro format using your post as inspiration. I'm an RSS follower because your other posts are super interesting. Reviving old hardware/software/hacky things is fun to me.
I'm a web developer (10 years professional) and a casual computer/software tinkerer. I've hacked game consoles, built computers and self-host various apps.
Thanks for the quality and considered content. And, thanks for respecting our privacy to the extend you don't know any of this already 🙂
Thanks Michael. I've now stored all your answers on the blockchain and will be auctioning it off for Beanie Babies.
Australia, Sydney. I work in mosquito research as a professional engineer ("mosquito surveillance", aka trap design & automated identification technology).
According to my backups from previous feed readers: I was reading you at least by 2016. I keep you on because of your variety of stuff, some times it's interesting. I might have also bought a book you recommended at one point? Probably 🙂
I have a picture in my mind of you holding a pair of binoculars and scribbling down observations of the mozzies you are stalking...
I'm also pretty impressed with your hardware hacking - so I've added you to my reading list.
I'm Micah. I read via RSS. I especially like the little hacks you post. I was inspired by your post on tweets as SVGs and your post on a download button for HTML to write a program to archive tweets as individual HTML pages (https://me.micahrl.com/projects/twarchive/), sadly much less useful now that API access is not available.
Hey Terence.
I read your blog via RSS. Even linked back to a couple of your posts too over the years.
I'm a Brit living in Ohio, USA. My site uses Eleventy. I too have zero analytics on my site, so my working assumption is I have a couple people who read because they know me 🙂 I don't have comments on, and have yet to show webmentions.
Been blogging since the mid-2000's I think, though most of that is now in a WordPress export that was corrupted when moving hosts. Some day I'll get around to finding a way to reinstate those posts here.
Hello! I currently follow you by RSS (Inoreader is my mobile client of choice) as I find it a great way to get news. I was trying to figure out when I found you, and while I can tell you it was around December 2020, I can't tell you exactly what led me here because your archives only seem to load the 10 most recent posts per month (a way to see older ones would be appreciated).
I'm a student studying Computer Science, and as such appreciate your assorted tech insights. Look forward to more posts!
Hi Jacob. If you scroll to the bottom of any page here there's an "Explore the Archives" link. That should let you read every single post.
Hello 🙂
Hi Terence! I picked up on your blog back in 2014 or 2015, then got to meet you when I joined GDS. Still following now because you write Good Things and Good Thoughts.
Cheers mate. And thanks for the Good Weeknotes.
I read, generally via mastodon links. I initially found you via some of my maker connections on twitter and then started following when you moved to twitter
I'm the CTO at a software company
Hi from India. I don't exactly remember the context when I found your blog. Maybe it was someone on HN who recommended one of your posts, or maybe I came across one of your posts when I was looking for practical examples of who all are using webmentions. But whatever the context, I'm glad I stumbled across your website.
Hiya. Belgian following via mastodon.
Hey Terence. I mostly follow your social media posts to check out stories that sound interesting (clue: most of them). My claim to fame is having sat in the same catering training restaurant one evening near you and Beth in Oxford, bumping into you at EMF once and you being one of the first 'digital' people I met at my first UK Gov Camp
(oh and Geek Nights in Oxford too)
Hi! I'm Alistair, a web person from up in Edinburgh, Scotland.
I mostly get to your posts from Mastodon, and really like how you re-post old and interesting ones.
I'm into web, security, privacy, open source and tech so a lot of your posts are pretty relevant to me. I also enjoy many of your other posts that aren't necessarily my interests, like your book and product reviews.
Hello.
(I'm one of the email subscribers, btw.)
Who are you and how the hell did you get inside my computer?!
Whoa. Talking about social interaction.
I'm JP, live in the Netherlands, love too much too mention in ICT-like stuff, personal growth and empowerment and adore my wife and our two daughters.
I get the emails, sometimes I read
I get the emails, sometimes I delete
Guess that has to do with the moment, time available and a choice of a bit over a zillion e-magazines fighting for my attention. I have not unsubscribed, not even felt like it so: KUDO's!
Hi Terence,
I'm Ethan Z. from the USA (Wisconsin). I found your blog through social media I think, probably during the pandemic lockdowns - maybe a retweet or a boost of the Doctor Who phone articles? Now I follow your feed and your mastodon posts.
I work for a co-op grocery. I'm an avid walker, reader, and hobby photographer. I recently started making small computer games and have been having quite a lot of fun (and frustration) with that.
You came to my attention on social media. I can't remember if it was the ex-bluebird hellsite, or more recently on Mastodon. I've seen links to you posting about your articles. I've seen links to your articles. I've seen you just plain commenting. You have interesting things to say. Me? I'm a privacy-loving techie with more years behind me than in front, that likes to learn or be stimulated to think, or just have a laugh, with a very intermittent home-brewed blog with no readership at all...
63 year old UK based male investment professional. Initially came to your blog because of the NHS connection and identity, have stayed because I find it refreshingly honest and entertaining. No interest in fantasy; limited interest in SciFi
Best wishes
RSS reader. Got your feed from a bud of mine, and enjoy some of your content. Europe based, works in tech, family dad. Hi 👋👋
I'm subscribed to your rss feed on my own hosted TinyTinyRss. I'm living in Italy, 38 years old, and I worked all my life in restaurants. I subscribed to your feed because in this ocean of bullshit blogs you're one of the few remaining who has interesting stuff.
I can't remember where I first came across your posts -- perhaps on HN? But I'm one of your many RSS followers, quietly lurking and only occasionally commenting. I think I came initially for some of your web work, but I also have read a couple of books after reading your reviews, and have enjoyed them as a result!
Hi! I read via RSS. I'm also UK based and tech/civic adjacent (I work for mySociety). I don't think we've ever met but I can see we have some mutual acquaintances. I generally read most of your posts. I have a blog, but I'm not very active online these days.
rss reader checking in 🫡
Pretty easy @edent. Reading in since 2019 when you posted “The future of the web, isn’t the web”. That was shortly before you added Webmentions 😀 I love your occasional reviews especially with an eye on the Linux-y side of things and your way to see the world seems to align fine with my own view.
I’m just your average 40-ish dad who works in tech and also happens to build cockpits for fun in the basement or loves swinging a sword around 🤓
…and I almost had longer hair than you once 😛
Howdy! I subscribe by RSS, and enjoy the variety. Thanks for sharing everything you do.
From NL, 31 yo, male. I landed on your blog via a post on HassIo on a PI 2 and stuck via mail updates. Not reading everything, but some security and engineering related topic I like.
I subscribe via RSS. I am a professor of Computer Science at the University of Lisbon, and I'm interested in the social aspects of computing (that's why I subscribe). I also like a couple of gadget reviews (for fun, I will almost never buy it, even though I care a lot about ergonomics).
Hi, I’m Robin. I follow your blog via RSS. I am a teenager from the Netherlands who enjoys building wacky websites and software.
👋 from Melbourne, Australia. I reckon I found you via a Hacker News post but who knows now. I subscribe to your blog via Feedbin which I believe makes one request for all Feedbin users, but it puts a subscriber count in an HTTP header or something.
I seem to enjoy the same topics that you enjoy, so keep doing that! And keep the swearing too - there should be more swearing on private websites!
A sweary Australian? Fucking hell! 😆
Hi Terence, Long time RSS reader (though behind of late) and occasional commenter (probably about ebooks).
Work for the NHS in things library / knowledge related and think I picked up on you when you were passing that way.
Always find something interesting to read in your posts. I like the range and the dismantling. Curious people who share what they know are always worth following.
I am an increasingly infrequent blogger
Hi Terence! Have been subbed for a year or two. Can’t recall how I discovered you, but enjoy your musings. Mainly reading as part of my personal newsletter feed. I’m a designer and researcher. From Philadelphia, work for a US Bank. Mostly microblogging on Farcaster now, https://warpcast.com/drw.
Hello, corporate software developer climbing the capitalist ladder. I have no idea why I'm here. I must have added you to freshrss at one point in my life.
Dutch guy here wrangling WordPress websites for SMBs. I found your blog through Hacker News! I wanted to post a link to a post of yours on HN, but then I saw you had already posted it yourself. I've got your blog bookmarked ever since and usually land on your website like 3-5 times a month I'd say.
Hello! I'm a security engineer from Philadelphia. Like most RSS feeds I subscribe to, I most likely saw a post of yours on Hacker News or some other aggregator, really vibed with it, and instantly decided to add your site to my RSS blogroll. I'm pretty aggressive in curating that list and I've been subscribed to you for a while, so keep up the good work!
Lee
I have no idea how my name got up there all alone after I wrote a 500 word essay about myself. Oh well.
I'm old, I work as a tech guy in logistics in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, I read a lot, and I'm pretty sure I started following you after I found you on Mastodon. Your interests and mine more-or-less coincide and I enjoy reading your stuff. I drive a 14 year old Prius and I'm not telling you my shoe size.
I'm a French high school student who likes tech in general, but more specifically UNIX-like systems, programming, electronics and Free software.
I discovered your blog through your Mastodon account, and I also have a blog at https://tarneo.fr .
I like the mixture of topics and the quantity of posts you have here, and so I'm subscribed with RSS.
Hi,
I've commented a few times. I'm a UK-based geek working in Retail. I can't remember how I stumbled across your blog, but I really like the blend of things that you write about, especially the deep nerdery. I have my own blog, but it's been neglected of late. I'm trying to do something about that.
Hi! It’s rather simple to tell why I read your blog. You just write about things that I’m interested in like (micro) blogging, communication and so. 🙂
Hi there. I've read your blog since this interesting post about "locking yourself out of your digital life" caught my eye on the orange site. I've subscribed via RSS (I use Miniflux) ever since.
What I enjoy about your blog is the wealth of variety on various topics. Solar, NHS , Public sector working, etc. etc. I also directly visit your blog from my RSS reader because it's one of my favourites to read, design wise.
Mark
I’m based in Germany, in my late 30s working in finance & operations at a SaaS startup. I’m not sure how I discovered you, but what I like is your stance on open source, open standards, etc. so I subscribed to your blog via RSS. I used to care more about this in the past, but have somehow been distanced and dragged more and more into closed systems. Partially out of convenience / time limitations, partially due to well done marketing (and I guess partially because my standards for UX have increased). However, I still care and value your opinion — you often have very good points and at least make me consider some of my choices more actively. I appreciate that!
Hey, I'm a 31 year old data scientist, I had this recommended to me by a friend when I used to work in government. I enjoy reading about how you take things apart and provide the nitty gritty details. Plus you seem like a pretty fun guy. Thanks!
Hi, I am an old colleague (voda), I think your posts are interesting - some make me smile and others really make me think. Great variety, and love how you can really have big visions as well as doing the detailed stuff
Hey there. Late 40s designer & digital bloke, currently an international civil servant in Paris, here. No idea where I first encountered you – it might’ve been in a BarCamp or an open source meet-up group. I’ve been aware of you on Twitter for years, but your posts only occasionally cropped up in my feed. But, after departing for Mastodon a while ago, I also got back into RSS feeds, thanks to Readwise Reader. It’s interesting to see I’m not the only one which is great to hear. For some reason I don’t understand, Reader promotes your posts to the top of my feed every morning. And I quickly warmed to the mix of subjects you post about, your commitment to providing tech advice as well as opinion and observations on a really broad range of topics. I also find your tone of voice and position on most issues is closely aligned with my own. More than any other writers I can think of, you remind me of the type of people I’ve always enjoyed hanging out with before I left the U.K. – the Open Data Institute, Cleanweb, open source software devs.
I started reading your blog after coming across the article "The unreasonable effectiveness of simple HTML". I was working in local government at the time and that article really struck a chord with me.
After reading some of your other articles and enjoying them, I decided to subscribe. And here I am still!
Thank you!
I'm Skye. You know, from the pub.
A pub? In this weather?
They have that whole covered bit with the fire pit!
Ahoy-hoy. I'm a late-30s Australian who happens to write code for a living (I don't particularly like the title Software Engineer). We had a brief email exchange about year ago regarding some of your career-related posts.
I read via RSS because it allows me to check blogs in bulk when I feel like it, rather than being prodded by notifications. I like to operate on a pull, not push, model for most technology (which also explains why I'm only commenting on this post weeks later). I probably subscribed after seeing a few of your posts linked by Bruce Lawson and/or Cooper Press. Came for the tech stuff, stayed for the reviews of books from authors I'd never heard of — the Becky Chambers books are amazing!
(Although I also stayed for the tech stuff, to be fair.)
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