In the battle between the Online Safety Act and GDPR, who will win? FIGHT! I'll start by saying that I'm moderately positive on Online Safety. If services don't want to provide moderation then they shouldn't let their younger users be exposed to harm. The social network BlueSky has taken a pragmatic approach to this. If you don't want to verify your age, you can still use its services - but it…
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What is a hashtag? Fifteen years ago (fuck, I'm old) I started documenting what Twitter's nascent hashtags could and couldn't do. Back in 2010, this is how the official Twitter site linked hashtags. Notably, punctuation symbols didn't "count" as part of a tag. How does modern social media handle something like #Fish&Chips? Mastodon links directly to #Fish&Chips BlueSky links directly to…
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Hot new social networking site BlueSky has an interesting approach to usernames. Rather than just being @example you can verify your domain name and be @example.com! Isn't that exciting? Some people are @whatever.tld and others are @cool.subdomain.funny.lol.fwd.boring.tld I wanted to know what the distribution is of these domain names. For example, are there more .uk users than .org users? …
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Both Mastodon and BlueSky have the concept of "self-verification". Rather than trust a central authority to assess your notability and then bless your account (as Twitter used to do), they let anyone self-attest using Domain Verification. What does that mean? You tell the service what your website is. The service gives you a secret code. You upload that secret code onto your website. The…
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The new Twitter-Wannabe BlueSky has an interesting approach to verifying accounts. Rather than you sending in your passport, or paying a 3rd party, or bribing an employee - you can self-verify for free! This opens up verification to small organisations, individuals, and anyone who wants to prove who they are. Brilliant! Verification means that your @username will change to @Your.Website.com -…
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If you've found this page, it's because you are me in the future and want to remember these instructions! Create an account on the Fediverse using a domain you control For example @user@bots.example.com Follow the Fediverse-ATProto bridge @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy Your account will need to be over 2 weeks old and have a name, profile picture, etc. You now have an account on BSky! Its…
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What does it mean to block someone on a social media site? Way back in the mists of time, we dealt with trolls on Usenet with the almighty PLONK - PLaced On Newsgroup Killfile. It meant your newsreader never downloaded their posts. They could rant at you all day long, and you'd never hear from them. It's what we would nowadays call "Mute". But, whether you're on Usenet or a modern social…
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