{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"shellsharks Social Web Content","description":"Writings on infosec, technology and life","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com","language":"en-us","managingEditor":"mike@shellsharks.com (Shellsharks)","webMaster":"mike@shellsharks.com (Shellsharks)","pubDate":"Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:06:54 -0400","lastBuildDate":"Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:06:54 -0400","image":{"title":"shellsharks Social Web Content","url":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/assets\/img\/avatar.png","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com"},"generator":"Jekyll v4.3.4","item":[{"title":"Scroll tr\u012bgint\u0101 septem","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirty-seven<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we shine bright on the web, we wonder what the Fediverse is for, and \ud83d\udd14 <em>ding<\/em> \ud83d\udd14 \u2014 cybersecurity is cooked \ud83e\uddd1\u200d\ud83c\udf73<\/p>\n\n<p>Now settle in and do some <em>happyscrollin\u2019<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@otterlove\/116330241603400681\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/poof.png\" alt=\"POOF!\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>A recurring topic on this here <span class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/span> publication is the <a href=\"https:\/\/ploum.net\/2023-08-01-splitting-the-web.html\">split<\/a> between the \u201cgood web\u201d and the \u201cbad web\u201d. The <a href=\"https:\/\/realityfragments.com\/2026\/04\/08\/the-spirit-of-the-internet\/\">spirit<\/a> of the good web can be hard to define, sometimes you just know it when you see it (or when you <a href=\"https:\/\/banjomagpi.com\/honk\/\">hear<\/a> it). Some call it the <a href=\"https:\/\/tylergaw.com\/blog\/the-old-internet-is-still-here\/\">old web<\/a>, and though the roots to an Internet of yore are visible, the modern \u201cgood web\u201d is really its own thing entirely. It is unmistakably and <a href=\"https:\/\/humanstatement.org\">declaratively<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/implementing-human-json\/\">human<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>On the subject of \u201cwebs\u201d<\/em>\u2026 Some define the \u201cdark web\u201d as the collection of web pages not indexed by, and therefore not reachable through the big-name search engines. In this metaphor, Google is the sun and only the sites served to you by Google, illuminated by its radiant splendor are part of the regular web, with everything else cast in shadow \u2014 a dark and seedy web. But <u>we<\/u> know what shines brightest in the modern era of the web. It\u2019s the digital gardens and quirky li\u2019l pages maintained by the last collective of humans who care to make it a fun and interesting place to be.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/oldbytes.space\/@gloriouscow\/116375972174488401\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/crt.png\" alt=\"CRT\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>\u2026a bright and lively web where you can find it of course! So how can we discover new stuff around the \u201cgood web\u201d? <a href=\"https:\/\/text.blogosphere.app\">Blogosphere<\/a> can help surface some popular things and <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2026\/04\/05\/how-i-find-links\">James has thoughts on how he finds links<\/a>. From there, I recommend using <a href=\"https:\/\/readbeanicecream.surge.sh\/2026\/04\/05\/manage-your-own-attention-with-rss\/\">RSS<\/a> to help you revisit the cool places you find and work towards <a href=\"https:\/\/darthmall.net\/2025\/attenuating-web\/\">attenuating the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>A few neat finds from the IndieWeb recently\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/charcuterie.elastiq.ch\/#221E\">Charcuterie<\/a> for visually exploring Unicode. Literally no one asked for this. But it\u2019s cool looking. I\u2019m glad it exists.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.redtail.works\">RedtailWorks<\/a> is a neat li\u2019l indieweb site. Check it out!<\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/tags\/over\/under\/\">Over\/Under<\/a> series continues with a great one from <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/ovr-060\/\">Naty<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/beige.party\/@maxleibman\/116326695827014893\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/logging-on.png\" alt=\"Logging On\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>What is Mastodon (and the Fediverse) <a href=\"https:\/\/connectedplaces.online\/reports\/fr158-what-is-mastodon-for\/\">for<\/a>? Well, there\u2019s no real <em>one<\/em> answer \u2014 it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@_elena\/116368379234020589\">a lot of things<\/a>! It\u2019s about <a href=\"https:\/\/teh.entar.net\/@spacehobo\/116368801719834276\">connections<\/a> \u2014 to friends, to your communities, to <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu\/repository\/handle\/JRC144603\">reality<\/a> itself\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shapingrooms.com\/atmosphere-attack.pdf\">Attacks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/neuromatch.social\/@jonny\/116324676116121930\">leaks<\/a> (omg <a href=\"https:\/\/ccunpacked.dev\">Claude<\/a> \ud83e\udd23), <a href=\"https:\/\/codamail.com\/articles\/vpn_exposed.html\">expos\u00e9s<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/accidental-ciso.alevsk.dev\">incidents<\/a> \u2014 <em>cyber<\/em> is <a href=\"https:\/\/sockpuppet.org\/blog\/2026\/03\/30\/vulnerability-research-is-cooked\/\">cooked<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>But there\u2019s ways to stay <u>out of<\/u> the news too\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Properly <a href=\"https:\/\/zeltser.com\/security-assessment-scope\">scoping security assessments<\/a>, protecting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schneier.com\/blog\/archives\/2026\/04\/a-taxonomy-of-cognitive-security.html\">Layer 8<\/a>, locking down your <a href=\"https:\/\/seccore.at\/blog\/ntlmrelay1\/\">NTLM<\/a> surface, and <a href=\"https:\/\/piechowski.io\/post\/git-commands-before-reading-code\/\">triaging git codebases<\/a> for starters.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>OK<\/em>, let\u2019s add to your infosec kit \ud83e\uddf0++<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li>\u221a  <a href=\"https:\/\/aibaranov.github.io\/rootkit-matrix\/\">Rootkit Techniques Matrix<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>\ud83e\udd16 <a href=\"https:\/\/crackr.dev\/vibe-coding-failures\">Vibe Coding Failures<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>\ud83d\udc41\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/ifin-intel.org\/blog\/hello\/\">IFIN<\/a> (Independent Federated Intelligence Network)<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83d\udcd6 <a href=\"https:\/\/ctidigest.com\">OpenSource CTI Digest<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>If all else fails, just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.getyourshitofftheinternet.com\">get your shit off the Internet<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>. Good night!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@nicolasgouny\/116234124252799258\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/good-night.png\" alt=\"Good Night\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:04:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-04-17","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-04-17","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u012bgint\u0101 sextus","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirty-six<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week the open web is in its endgame, and threat actors have an absolute field day. So stop everything else you\u2019re doing and get scrollin\u2019!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@csilverman\/116315980333650926\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/stop.png\" alt=\"STOP\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>The web is being <a href=\"https:\/\/netwars.pelicancrossing.net\/2026\/03\/27\/eating-the-web\/\">eaten alive<\/a>. Some say <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anildash.com\/2026\/03\/27\/endgame-open-web\/\">we\u2019re in the endgame now<\/a>. If you\u2019re thinking it\u2019s us (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.claudinec.net\/posts\/2026-03-29-ai-policy\/\">humans<\/a>) vs. machines, think again. Rather, it\u2019s humanity and the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/steverudolfi.com\/posts\/the-human-personal-indie-web\/\">good<\/a>\u201d web versus the billionaries and tech overlords that seek to wield power over it all.<\/p>\n\n<p>Despair may be in abundance both IRL and on the web these days, but there is good to be found, and to be built. As much of the web continues to enshittify, and be assimilated, you still have the power to <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.itsnero.com\/webguide\">build<\/a> something of your own on the \u2018net and call it <a href=\"https:\/\/journal.jatan.space\/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain\/\">home<\/a>. It doesn\u2019t have to be <a href=\"https:\/\/backyardtinker.bearblog.dev\/what-is-digital-garage\/\">pretty<\/a>, it doesn\u2019t need to be serious (though it <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/being-taken-seriously-as-a-writer\/\">could be<\/a>), it just needs to be a place for <u>you<\/u>.<\/p>\n\n<p>In the end your li\u2019l website might stink, but it can still be pretty cute! \ud83e\udde1<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/socel.net\/@heyheymomo\/116291331186473972\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/smallskunk.png\" alt=\"Small Skunk\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Some web finds of the week \u2b07\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>I\u2019m <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/ai\">no fan<\/a> of \u201cAI\u201d, but this is <em>kinda<\/em> funny: <a href=\"https:\/\/deathbyclawd.com\">deathbyclawd<\/a> \ud83d\udc80<\/li>\n  <li>Get lost in the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberhole.online\">cyberhole<\/a> \ud83d\udd73\ufe0f<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/solar.lowtechmagazine.com\">This site<\/a> is powered by the sun. Now that\u2019s awesome. \u2600\ufe0f \ud83d\ude0e<\/li>\n  <li>Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/ovr-059\/\">Over\/Under #59<\/a> featuring <a href=\"https:\/\/rys.io\/\">Micha\u0142 \u201crysiek\u201d Wo\u017aniak<\/a> \u2014 one of my favorite bloggers on the web! \ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udcbb<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Threat actors are having a particularly successful, and very media-heavy week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Google\u2019s Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has the scoop on the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.google.com\/blog\/topics\/threat-intelligence\/darksword-ios-exploit-chain\">DarkSword<\/a>\u201d iOS-compromising exploit chain.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/opensourcemalware.com\/blog\/teampcp-supply-chain-campaign\">TeamPCP<\/a> has been absolutely wrecking folk\u2019s supply chains.<\/li>\n  <li>Citrix is bleeding <a href=\"https:\/\/labs.watchtowr.com\/the-sequels-are-never-as-good-but-were-still-in-pain-citrix-netscaler-cve-2026-3055-memory-overread\/\">once more<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/labs.watchtowr.com\/please-we-beg-just-one-weekend-free-of-appliances-citrix-netscaler-cve-2026-3055-memory-overread-part-2\/\">WatchTowr is tired<\/a> of it.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.praetorian.com\/blog\/cve-2025-33073-ntlm-reflection-one-hop\/\">NTLM relay attacks<\/a> are once again in vogue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>And now for the cyber-hodgepodge. Let\u2019s get <em>listy<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@bagder\">Daniel<\/a> wisely suggests we <a href=\"https:\/\/daniel.haxx.se\/blog\/2026\/03\/26\/dont-trust-verify\/\">verify<\/a> and skip the \u201ctrust\u201d step completely.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.enablesecurity.com\/blog\/introducing-dvrtc-damn-vulnerable-real-time-communications\/\">DVRTC<\/a> is a new purposefully-vulnerable environment for learning about VoIP and WebRTC security. <em>Neat<\/em>!<\/li>\n  <li>Want a real page turner for your weekend reads? NIST\u2019s got you with <a href=\"https:\/\/nvlpubs.nist.gov\/nistpubs\/SpecialPublications\/NIST.SP.800-81r3.pdf\">SP 800-81r3<\/a> (the <em>Secure Domain Name System Deployment Guide<\/em>).<\/li>\n  <li>Microsoft\u2019s got thoughts on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/security\/blog\/2026\/02\/26\/threat-modeling-ai-applications\/\">threat modeling AI applications<\/a>. I\u2019m sure they do\u2026 \ud83d\ude12<\/li>\n  <li>Here\u2019s a funny thread on <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@Viss\/116290926811863702\">ransomware<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Time for me to get back to exploring the vast cosmos of the web \ud83d\udd2d<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@Ailantd\/116246827990825022\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/spaceship.png\" alt=\"Spaceship\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:54:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-04-08","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-04-08","category":["infosec","indieweb"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u012bgint\u0101 qu\u012bnque","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirty-five<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week, if you haven\u2019t already, you should <em>make a fuc**ng website<\/em>. <em>Y\u2019know what<\/em>? That\u2019s it. Just go do that.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u2026<em>jk jk<\/em> \u2014 I also discuss some shortfalls of social media (yes, even the Fediverse), and lament the many broken computer-ey things in the world.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve said it once, I\u2019ve said it a million times. This time I\u2019ll say it a bit more eloquently\u2013you should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.otherstrangeness.com\/2026\/03\/14\/have-a-fucking-website\/\">have a fucking website<\/a>. Don\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/ohhelloana.blog\/overthinking-my-blog\/\">overthink<\/a> it! It really <a href=\"https:\/\/ohhelloana.blog\/blogging-and-me\/\">isn\u2019t all that scary<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/victoria.dev\/archive\/make-your-own-independent-website\/\">Your site<\/a> can be big (maybe not <em>too<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/thatshubham.com\/blog\/news-audit\">big<\/a> though \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2642\ufe0f) or small, <a href=\"https:\/\/makko.starlightnet.work\">static<\/a> or dynamic, colorful or plain, <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2026\/03\/21\/tinkering\">whatever<\/a> you want! (Just <a href=\"https:\/\/puregenius.education\">no AI<\/a> <em>puh-leeaseee<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@kagihq\/116290909013422342\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/internet-wewantback.png\" alt=\"What We're Fighting For\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Because if we don\u2019t build our own places on the web, we\u2019ll get stuck with the big boring box to (digitally) live in. That\u2019s the <em>boOooOring<\/em>, vanillaweb. We want the <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/building-the-good-web\/\">good<\/a>, fun, <a href=\"https:\/\/readbeanicecream.surge.sh\/2026\/03\/22\/linkedin-sucks-your-blog-does-not\/\">non-corporate<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/kevinboone.me\/small_web_is_big.html\">cozy<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/unpolished-human-websites\">human<\/a><\/em> web! So getcha a site, put <em>alllll<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/theaardvark.co.uk\/i-own-my-stuff-now-sort-of-posse-and-theaardvarkcouk.html\">your stuff<\/a> there (yes I mean <a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethtai.com\/2023\/07\/02\/posse-and-pesos-better-ways-to-publish-content\/\">all of it<\/a>), and then go read and <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/trust-and-faith-in-our-web\/\">connect with other people<\/a> doing the same. It\u2019s fun I promise! Just remember, it\u2019s all about being <u>you<\/u>, in a place that\u2019s <em>for you<\/em>. Don\u2019t get too choice-overloaded or bogged down by the technical bits \ud83d\ude04.<\/p>\n\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@ngate\/116277566359266692\">N-gated Hacker News<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n  <p>\ud83d\ude80 Behold, the #IndieWeb POSSE piece: a brave odyssey into the chaotic labyrinth of infinite links and jargon! \ud83d\udd0d\ufe0f Navigate through a maze of enthusiasm for #DIY websites everyone will forget by next week. \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2642\ufe0f It\u2019s the perfect handbook for the #hipster coder who thinks their blog will change the world\u2014one unread post at a time. \ud83d\udcd6\u2728\ufe0f<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><em>lol<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of fun, there\u2019s so much to do once you have your site up \u2018n runnin\u2019. Ya gotta <a href=\"https:\/\/burgeonlab.com\/weeknotes\/2026\/w12\/\">tinker<\/a> around with the <a href=\"https:\/\/hughsviewsandnews.com\/2026\/03\/23\/why-now-is-the-time-to-pull-up-my-big-boy-trousers-about-my-blog\/\">look and feel<\/a> of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/martinvukovic.com\/posts\/2026\/03-10-writing-sparks.html\">write<\/a> your silly li\u2019l posts, then write some cool serious <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/the-urge-to-write-more-and-buy-ttrpgs\">posts<\/a> (y\u2019know, if you want that is), and do <a href=\"https:\/\/folkmoss.bearblog.dev\/list-of-things-i-love-seeing-in-personal-webspaces\/\">all sorts of other fun things<\/a>! If you get stuck, take a break and go <a href=\"https:\/\/susam.net\/wander\/\">wander<\/a> about and poke around on other people sites\u2014inspiration is abundant if you know how to <a href=\"https:\/\/lwindolf.github.io\/rss-finder\/\">look for it<\/a>. For example, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/ovr-058\/\">Over\/Under<\/a> series is a great way to get introduced to cool new blogs and the <em>humans<\/em> behind them.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Two li\u2019l web finds to share with y\u2019all this week \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>CSS-driven nostalgia wasn\u2019t on my bingo card for this year but here\u2019s a playable <a href=\"https:\/\/codepen.io\/t_afif\/full\/JoKYwXO\">Mini CSS Mario<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>A fun bite-sized mini site: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/smallandnearlysilent.com\/about\/\">Small and Nearly Silent<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Look, the Fediverse is great. I have a whole weekly section here dedicated to it afterall. But it could be better. Or maybe traditional \u201csocial media\u201d is irrideemably <a href=\"https:\/\/82mhz.net\/posts\/2026\/03\/mastodon-bluesky-x-instagram-is-not-the-right-platform-for-posting-long-form-content-a-blog-is\/\">flawed<\/a> in some ways\u2026 Yes, it serves \u201cconnections\u201d, but too often those <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.dk\/@sindum\/116270061822063683\">connections<\/a> result in something I find eerily <em><a href=\"https:\/\/profpatsch.de\/essays\/a-more-social-media\">inhuman<\/a><\/em>. I think <a href=\"https:\/\/tedium.co\/2026\/03\/23\/social-media-flat-discussion\/\">blogging<\/a> allows for more a human connection, but it has its own shortfalls with respect to actually delivering said connection (i.e. discovery). You know the feeling\u2014that sense of yelling into the void\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@csilverman\/116293080327973026\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/the-void.png\" alt=\"The Void\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Coupling these two sentiments is why I am so invested in <em>both<\/em> my blog as a means to express my humanity, and the Fediverse as the connection and discovery mechanism to spread the good word (i.e. the silly stuff I post on my site).<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Hello and welcome to everyone\u2019s favorite cyber-themed gameshow, \u201cWhat\u2019s Horiffically Broken\u201d! I\u2019m your host <span class=\"shellsharks-com\">shellsharks<\/span> and this week we have several new (and many recurring) contestants! Who will win?! We\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/itsbroken.ai\">AI<\/a>, the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/labs.watchtowr.com\/8-million-requests-later-we-made-the-solarwinds-supply-chain-attack-look-amateur\/\">cloud<\/a>\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@campuscodi\/116272419283533013\">supply chain security infrastructure<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/breakmeifyoucan.com\">NFC<\/a>, and even <a href=\"https:\/\/lyra.horse\/blog\/2025\/12\/svg-clickjacking\/\">SVGs<\/a>! How exciting!<\/p>\n\n<p>Stepping away from said horrors, here\u2019s some other neat things to check out \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Learn how to write rules for detecting vulnerabilities in binaries with <a href=\"https:\/\/vulhunt.re\/docs\/\">VulHunt<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Advice on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foo.be\/2026\/03\/bring-back-rss\">bringing back RSS for operational security<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Learn about the many ways you can escalate privileges in cloud environments with <a href=\"https:\/\/pathfinding.cloud\">Pathfinding.Cloud<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Secure your desktop applications with help from the new(<em>ish<\/em>) <a href=\"https:\/\/afine.com\/desktop-application-security-standard-introducing-dasvs\">DASVS<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>This site, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.richardfan.xyz\">Virtual Security Car<\/a>, looks like it has a lot of really neat posts. I\u2019ve been reading a few myself<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Remember, even in dark times, there\u2019s still plenty of good in the world. <span class=\"shellsharks-com\"><i class=\"ph-fill ph-heart\"><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@thelatestkate\/116285365240584309\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/alotofgood.png\" alt=\"A Lot Of Good\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:01:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-03-27","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-03-27","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u012bgint\u0101 quattuor","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirty-four<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we explore the <em>everything<\/em> web, chill in the Fediverse, and let the madness (AI) consume us.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>I welcome you back to the <s><a href=\"https:\/\/www.netmeister.org\/blog\/open-web.html\">open<\/a><\/s> <s><a href=\"https:\/\/sadgrl.dreamwidth.org\/1051.html\">old<\/a><\/s> <s><a href=\"https:\/\/another.rodeo\/artisanal-web\/\">artisanal<\/a><\/s> <s><a href=\"https:\/\/brine.dev\/posts\/accidental_indieweb\">accidental<\/a><\/s> <s><a href=\"https:\/\/theuselessweb.com\">useless<\/a><\/s> <s><a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/website-gripes\/\">annoying<\/a><\/s> <s><a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/250-posts-fun-stats\/\">fun<\/a><\/s> <s><a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/write-weird-shit\/\">weird<\/a><\/s>\u2014<em>everything<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/tally.so\/r\/3EEZzL\">web<\/a>. I guess it\u2019s really hard to put a single name on what we\u2019ve got here\u2026 There\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/vale.rocks\/portfolio\/88x31-buttons-badges\">buttons<\/a> though!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@grickle\/116211382715681423\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/magical.png\" alt=\"Magical\" width=\"450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m tired of the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/ap.nil.im\/notice\/B49akJxj2WeditnHlo\">ensloppification<\/a><\/em> of the \u2018net. I want a web for humans, by <a href=\"https:\/\/codeberg.org\/robida\/human.json\">humans<\/a>. A place where <u>people<\/u> go\u2014to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rhyswynne.co.uk\/personal-blogging\/\">write<\/a>, and to <a href=\"https:\/\/lisacharlottemuth.com\/bringing-everything-back-to-my-website\">share everything<\/a> they are. Here\u2019s some humans you can go interact with <em>right now<\/em>\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.neatnik.net\/ai\/\">Adam<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sethmlarson.dev\/ive-added-human-dot-json-to-my-website\">Seth<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/new-protocol-proposal-for-indie-web-human-json\/\">Juhis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/foosel.net\/til\/how-to-automatically-build-a-humanjson-file-in-hugo\/\">Gina<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/tzovar.as\/maintaining-a-human-web-with-humans-json-aiblacklist\/\">Bastian<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>\ud83d\udd25 It\u2019s dangerous to go alone! Take <em>these<\/em>. \ud83d\udd25<br \/>\n(Some assorted tools for blogging and such.)<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\ud83d\udc12 <a href=\"https:\/\/wildrss.com\/\">Wild RSS<\/a> for testing <a href=\"https:\/\/frankmcpherson.blog\/2026\/03\/11\/how-i-use-rss.html\">RSS<\/a> feeds<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83d\udee0\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/arcade.pirillo.com\/fontcrafter.html\">FontCrafter<\/a> for turning handwriting into a real font<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83e\uddd0 <a href=\"https:\/\/lens.rknight.me\">LENS<\/a> checks your meta tags, icons and rss feeds<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83d\udecd\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.feedgrab.net\">Feedgrab<\/a> to help discover new feeds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a bunch of other cool stuff from across the webz \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/neal.fun\/\">Neal.Fun<\/a> shows their <a href=\"https:\/\/neal.fun\/dark-patterns\/\">darker side<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tar.dev\">Tarandir\u2019s site<\/a> has an awesome cyberpunk feel<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.calypso.voyage\">Calypso<\/a> is a pretty cool mapping utility<\/li>\n  <li>Looking to flesh out your digital tool belt? Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/delphi.tools\">delphitools<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>\ud83c\udfb6 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greensleeves.website\">Greensleeves<\/a> \ud83c\udfb6<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/noai.starlightnet.work\">AI \ud83d\udeab<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/your-local-grubdog.neocities.org\">Domain of the Grub Dog<\/a> is a really fun indie site<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@Gargron\/116237286336865985\">Ten years<\/a> of the Fediverse and somethings never change\u2014don\u2019t be afraid to <a href=\"https:\/\/meow.social\/@netkitty\/116236308298976653\">boop that lil\u2019 favorite button<\/a> for whatever you like, and it\u2019s perfectly fine for Fedi to be that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mic.com\/impact\/how-geocities-webrings-made-the-90s-internet-a-cozier-place-19638198\">cozy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/social.ewenbell.com\/notice\/B44CHfyYFnfu44rTjE\">slow-growin\u2019 corner<\/a> of the \u2018net. It\u2019s just a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.privacyguides.org\/en\/activism\/toolbox\/tip-improve-your-social-media-and-build-resilient-communities\/\">good place to be<\/a>. There\u2019s more ways than ever to be part of the Fediverse too! Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.fabiomanganiello.com\/article\/Madblog-federated-blogging-from-markdown\">Madblog<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/inkwell.social\">Inkwell<\/a> for example.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vox.ominous.net\/@occult\/116195818142453544\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/fedi-network.png\" alt=\"Fedi Network\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>AI is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/security\/blog\/2026\/03\/06\/ai-as-tradecraft-how-threat-actors-operationalize-ai\/\">tradecraft<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0AI is a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.doyensec.com\/2026\/03\/05\/mcp-nightmare.html\">nightmare<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0AI is <a href=\"https:\/\/agentsofchaos.baulab.info\">chaos<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0but can we <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aiuc-1.com\">secure it<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u2026here\u2019s some other <em>cyberstuff<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>An <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/0xor0ne\/awesome-list\">awesome cybersecurity list<\/a> \ud83d\udc4d<\/li>\n  <li>It was lost, but now is found\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/darkoperator.github.io\/mimikatz-missing-manual\/\">the Mimikatz Missing Manual<\/a>!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/openssf.org\/blog\/2026\/03\/09\/introducing-the-gemara-model\/\">Gemara Model<\/a>: A Governance, Risk, and Compliance Engineering Model for Automated Risk Assessment<\/li>\n  <li>Wanna find bugs? <a href=\"https:\/\/entropicthoughts.com\/code-reviews-do-find-bugs\">Code reviews<\/a> work.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\">PortSwigger<\/a> is back with the <a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/research\/top-10-web-hacking-techniques-of-2025\">top 10 web hacking techniques of 2025<\/a> \u26a1\ufe0f<\/li>\n  <li>This looks cool! <a href=\"https:\/\/bernat.tech\/posts\/securing-python-supply-chain\/\">A Practical Guide to Python Supply Chain Security<\/a> \ud83d\udc0d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:41:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-03-24","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-03-24","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u012bgint\u0101 tr\u0113s","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirty-three<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we\u2019re laying the foundation for our home(s) on the Internet, we archaeologize the social web, and congratulations are in order for the CVE program\u2014<em>exciting<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@BowieSpace\/116173956545523518\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/checkpoint.png\" alt=\"Checkpoint!\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blogsareback.com\">Blogs are back<\/a>. You\u2019re on mine now! Hopefully from here you\u2019ll click on a few <a href=\"https:\/\/monomarks.at\">links<\/a> and check out some other blogs too. There\u2019s a real vibrancy that\u2019s returned to the blogging world if you ask me\u2014I even see some folks <a href=\"https:\/\/mtwb.blog\/posts\/2026\/blogging\/going-back-to-daily-bloggin\/\">blogging daily<\/a>! This <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/my-blogging-workflow-a-routine-for-nearly-a-post-a-day-for-4-months-straight\/\">level of energy<\/a> for a traditional \u201cblog\u201d has typically been a rarity, but I\u2019m seeing it more and more. Perhaps it\u2019s a byproduct of, or a blurring of the lines between long-form blogs and their <a href=\"https:\/\/book.micro.blog\/what-is-microblogging\/\">microblogging<\/a> counterparts. Micro or macro, <a href=\"https:\/\/hypertexting.com\/blog\/welcome-to-the-feediverse\/\">it\u2019s all feeds<\/a> in the end. So go explore and subscribe! (<em>Did I say the word \u201cblog\u201d enough<\/em>?)<\/p>\n\n<p>Building a <a href=\"https:\/\/journal.jatan.space\/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain\/\">home on the Internet<\/a> is easier (and <a href=\"https:\/\/theresmiling.eu\/blog\/2026\/02\/website-costs-2026\">less expensive<\/a>) than it may <a href=\"https:\/\/cssence.com\/2026\/breaking-points\/\">seem<\/a>. I suggest starting <em><a href=\"https:\/\/adele.pages.casa\/md\/blog\/building-your-first-smolweb-page.md\">smol<\/a><\/em> and adding additions as you go. Put some time <a href=\"https:\/\/piccalil.li\/projects\/personal-site\/3\/\">thinking about what you want<\/a> to have (and <a href=\"https:\/\/lyra.horse\/blog\/2025\/08\/you-dont-need-js\/\">not have<\/a>) on your site, and plan for it to be something that exists <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/how-are-we-preparing-for-the-long-web\/\">long-term<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve got the basics up, there\u2019s a lot of fun li\u2019l things you can do on your site to make it more like home. Try adding some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coryd.dev\/stats\/years\/2026\">stats<\/a>\u2014an <a href=\"https:\/\/tlohde.com\/archive\/#extreme-posts\">extremely<\/a> good idea if you ask me. Share your <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelharley.net\/smarthome\/\">smart home setup<\/a> or some <a href=\"https:\/\/rohitfarmer.com\/quotes\/\">quotes<\/a> that resonate with you. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foo.be\/2026\/03\/open-contributions-descriptor\">Contribute<\/a> to an <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2026\/03\/01\/indieweb-carnival-museum-memories\">IndieWeb Carnival<\/a>, or add an <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2026\/03\/04\/offline-mode-2\">offline mode<\/a> to your site.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@katemorley\/116148384215975863\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/extra-weird.png\" alt=\"Be extra weird today\" width=\"375px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Here\u2019s a variety of cool things I\u2019ve found across the web recently\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nickle4apickle.neocities.org\">Nickle<\/a> brings the classic old web vibes.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/renkotsuban.com\/index.html\">Renkon<\/a>\u2019s site is another great IndieWeb addition with plenty of reading for my fellow night owls. \ud83e\udd89<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalprairie.blog\/about\/\">Desiree<\/a> shares her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalprairie.blog\/picks-of-the-month-february-2026\/\">February Picks<\/a>\u2014I also really like the clean aesthetic of her site.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nchrs.xyz\/index.html\">Clemens<\/a>\u2019 site looks great and has a really enjoyable top bar\/navigational view.<\/li>\n  <li>Find yourself with <a href=\"https:\/\/ena.rocks\/posts\/findingyourself\/\">Ena<\/a>. \ud83c\udf37<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/backyardtinker.bearblog.dev\/creator\/\">Vick<\/a>\u2019s site <a href=\"https:\/\/backyardtinker.bearblog.dev\">Digital Garage<\/a> has a ton of cool <a href=\"https:\/\/backyardtinker.bearblog.dev\/cataminated\/\">88x31 buttons<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mrshu.github.io\/github-statuses\/\">The Missing GitHub Status Page<\/a> exists. Use it if you want.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>There\u2019s a lot going on across the \u201cSocial Web\u201d. Each day <a href=\"https:\/\/hacker.makeup\">more things<\/a> come to <a href=\"https:\/\/devpost.com\/software\/biodiversity-federated\">life<\/a> (like <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.online\/@dinosaurs\">Dinosaurs<\/a>!), and there are ever-more <a href=\"https:\/\/frankramblings.com\/socialfusion\/\">ways to connect<\/a> to it all. <a href=\"https:\/\/hub.vocalcat.com\">You<\/a> can be here too. Joining is <a href=\"https:\/\/m.ai6yr.org\/@ai6yr\/116162440169165718\">not as hard as it seems<\/a>, and there\u2019s much more to the Fediverse than <a href=\"https:\/\/matduggan.com\/boy-i-was-wrong-about-the-fediverse\/\">first meets the eye<\/a>. Come say hi!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Rest easy denizens of the web! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csoonline.com\/article\/4142600\/cve-program-funding-secured-easing-fears-of-repeat-crisis.html\">Funding has been secured<\/a> for the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/the-death-of-cve\">embattled CVE program<\/a>. Even more interesting (<em>at least for me<\/em>) is a new installment of <a href=\"https:\/\/bytearchitect.io\/macos-security\/macOS-Hardening-a-new-series\/\">Gabriel\u2019s MacOS hardening series<\/a>\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/bytearchitect.io\/macos-security\/MacOS-Hardening-6-email-and-pgp\/\">Secure Email Clients, Providers, and Encryption Tools<\/a> was dropped recently! 1Password published an aptly named benchmark for evaluating AI agents\u2019 security awareness called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/1password.github.io\/SCAM\/\">SCAM<\/a>\u201d. Wanna contribute to a security-something? Help test <a href=\"https:\/\/securedrop.org\/news\/webcat-alpha\/\">WEBCAT<\/a>! That project is doin\u2019 some cool stuff with signed delivery and transparency logs to enable verifiable in-browser code. <em>Neat<\/em>! Now I say <em>bye-bye<\/em>\u2026 ( To you my dear reader, and to <a href=\"https:\/\/tanyaverma.sh\/2026\/03\/01\/nowhere-to-hide.html\">security through obscurity<\/a> \ud83d\udc4b )<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Lemme get to my computering\u2026 *<em>rawr<\/em>* \ud83e\udd96<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mas.to\/@gifs_bot\/116158366073022734\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/computasaurus.png\" alt=\"Computasaurus\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:01:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-03-13","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-03-13","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u012bgint\u0101 duo","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirty-two<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we take a look at what it means to be part of the IndieWeb community, we advocate for the Fediverse, and we take a look at things more <u>and less<\/u> secure across the Internet.<\/p>\n\n<p>Now step in and scroll this hall of links\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@shaferbrown\/116165602757407292\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/academy-hallway.png\" alt=\"Academy Hallway\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>The Internet is <a href=\"https:\/\/hisvirusness.com\/long-live-the-interwebz\">dead<\/a>\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/henry.codes\/writing\/a-website-to-destroy-all-websites\/\">destroyed<\/a>. <em>Not really<\/em>, but sadly it isn\u2019t the <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.com\/blog\/15-years-of-running-a-personal-website\/\">same web<\/a> some of us <a href=\"https:\/\/gregmorris.co.uk\/letting-go-of-the-old-web\/\">remember<\/a>. It\u2019s a lot more <a href=\"https:\/\/sunny.garden\/@lichendust\/116108921426350812\">tiring<\/a> these days isn\u2019t it? There\u2019s a much larger percentage of content on the web that\u2019s absolutely <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.neilzone.co.uk\/@neil\/114919559870281441\">not worth your time<\/a>. But <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/the-many-wonders-of-being-a-late-bloomer\/\">it\u2019s not too late<\/a> to help turn things around. You can still contribute that <a href=\"https:\/\/daverupert.com\/2026\/02\/smaller-and-dumber\/\">small<\/a> amount of humanity to the larger, rapidly degenerating web. It really <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2026\/how-much-does-your-blog-cost\/\">doesn\u2019t cost much<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@jimniels\/116092930075613813\">take much effort<\/a> either!<\/p>\n\n<p>Tucked away in the vastness of the cold, inhuman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zachleat.com\/web\/html-logo\/\">web<\/a>, is a <a href=\"https:\/\/chronosaur.us\/im-a-pixel-bear\/\">cozy<\/a> corner we call the IndieWeb\u2014filled with <a href=\"https:\/\/gardn.website\/\">fun<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/love\/\">loveable<\/a> li\u2019l websites made by a <a href=\"https:\/\/sigyl.org\/about\">community<\/a> of actual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dotcom.press\/archive\/internet-handle\">humans<\/a>. Finding your <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/wont-you-be-my-neighbour\/\">neighbors<\/a> on the IndieWeb isn\u2019t always easy though. To help with this endeavour, there\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/blogofthe.day\/\">web directories<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/0uts1de.hisvirusness.com\/\">web rings<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tsjo.ch\/\">community-curated feeds<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/ovr-054\/\">blogrolls<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/bernhardkau.de\/slashes\/\">slash pages<\/a> (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/mattstein.com\/self-hosted\/\">\/self-hosted<\/a>). So get out there, join the community, and find cool stuff!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Here\u2019s a few cool things I\u2019ve seen around the web of late\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Gotta agree with this one\u2014you should really start <a href=\"https:\/\/xn--gckvb8fzb.com\/hold-on-to-your-hardware\/\">holding on to your hardware<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><em>So yeah<\/em>, keep your hardware, <a href=\"https:\/\/dropout.baby\/\">cancel those services<\/a>, and try to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2026\/02\/24\/self-host-it-is-an-answer\">self-host<\/a> some stuff.<\/li>\n  <li>Here\u2019s a giganto-list of <a href=\"https:\/\/1000manifestos.com\/list\/\">manifestos<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>You like spaceships? I like <a href=\"https:\/\/70s-sci-fi-art.ghost.io\/cool-spaceships\/\">spaceships<\/a>. \ud83d\ude80<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@erytau\/116097688891160727\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/observatory.png\" alt=\"Observatory\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>The Fediverse is great! If you\u2019ve not already <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.com\/project\/fediverse-invitation\/\">joined<\/a> in some way\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/wayfindr.online\/\">you<\/a> should. <em>Why<\/em>? There\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/16\/hark-threaders-the-fediverse-is-good-for-you\">a lot of reasons<\/a>\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/coding.social\/blog\/shared-ownership\/\">shared ownership<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/susam.net\/attention-media-vs-social-networks.html\">anti-attention media<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/25.netribution.co.uk\/nic\/reintermediation\/\">human curation over algorithms<\/a> to name a few.. But <a href=\"https:\/\/deadsuperhero.com\/reimagining-fediverse-advocacy\/\">advocating for the Fediverse<\/a> is not always as simple it seems. It\u2019s not just about <a href=\"https:\/\/kevinak.se\/blog\/be-wary-of-bluesky\">denigrating<\/a> the so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.samclemente.me\/whats-up-with-threads\/\">competition<\/a>. Instead, try to understand what prospective joiners are interested in getting out of a social network or what problems they\u2019ve had with other platforms and explain how Fedi specifically solves (or <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.stygiantech.dev\/on-building-the-everything-account-for-the-social-web\/\">doesn\u2019t<\/a> solve) for those needs.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>PSA<\/strong>: Higher prices aside, you may want to <a href=\"https:\/\/tenforward.blog\/hetzner-considered-hostile-a-psa\/\">be wary of Hetzner<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>5\ufe0f\u20e3 Five cool <em>cyber<\/em>-things for this week\u2019s issue\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\ud83c\udf29\ufe0f E2EE in cloud storage is <a href=\"https:\/\/brokencloudstorage.info\/\">broken<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>In his role as an (application) security engineer, <a href=\"https:\/\/neilmadden.blog\/about\/\">Neil<\/a> talks about how <a href=\"https:\/\/neilmadden.blog\/2026\/02\/20\/looking-for-vulnerabilities-is-the-last-thing-i-do\/\">vuln hunting is the last thing he does<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en-US\/docs\/Web\/API\/Element\/setHTML\">setHTML()<\/a> is here to rid us of the <a href=\"https:\/\/hacks.mozilla.org\/2026\/02\/goodbye-innerhtml-hello-sethtml-stronger-xss-protection-in-firefox-148\/\">insecurities of innerHTML<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>A handy guide for the <a href=\"https:\/\/samwho.dev\/memory-allocation\/\">basics of memory allocation<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>Another threat modeling writeup from <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.trailofbits.com\/2026\/02\/20\/using-threat-modeling-and-prompt-injection-to-audit-comet\/\">Trail of Bits<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Hope you enjoyed your stay in this cozy corner of the web.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/misskey.design\/notes\/aj6whclk1zun4izt\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/cozy-corner.png\" alt=\"Cozy Corner\" width=\"500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 06 Mar 2026 08:48:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-03-06","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-03-06","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u012bgint\u0101 \u016bnus","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirty-one<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we discuss curation on the web, how community bridges protocols and we grab some popcorn for the latest encryption drama!<\/p>\n\n<p>Get cozy and get scrollin\u2019!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@nyurakim\/116137056058541619\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/cabin.png\" alt=\"Cabin\" width=\"275px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Welcome to my void. (<a href=\"https:\/\/flench.me\">You can have one too.<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@mothcub\/115452382635862308\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/my-void.png\" alt=\"My Void\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Forget the <a href=\"https:\/\/quinnmaclay.com\/posts\/early-blogs\">past<\/a>, a new <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.jim-nielsen.com\/2024\/golden-era-blogging\/\">golden age of blogging<\/a> is upon us! The <a href=\"https:\/\/defcon.social\/@JessieHealdUK\/116066485583516743\">future<\/a> is now, and we\u2019re calling it the <a href=\"https:\/\/christiano.dev\/post\/indieweb_smallweb\/\">IndieWeb<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/what-is-the-indieweb\/\">What is the IndieWeb<\/a>? <em>Well<\/em>, it can be just about anything <a href=\"https:\/\/hughsviewsandnews.com\/2026\/02\/16\/blogging-is-it-all-that-you-want-it-to-be-2\/\">you want it to be<\/a>\u2014as long as it\u2019s <u>you<\/u>. Turns out you don\u2019t need Facebook. Or Twitter. Or anything like that to share your thoughts and ideas on the web. You can just start a blog, a li\u2019l <a href=\"https:\/\/maggieappleton.com\/garden-history\">digital garden<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/readbeanicecream.surge.sh\/2026\/02\/14\/on-writing\/#when-im-reading\">write<\/a> whatever you want. <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@bloftinsk8\/116065244545092580\">That\u2019s power<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>As they say\u2014Ditch the algorithmic hellscapes, ditch the <a href=\"https:\/\/technically-good.ca\/feeding-the-fire-psychology-engagement-and-algorithmic-media\/\">algorithms<\/a>. But in doing so, we\u2019ll need to resurrect the primordial mechanisms of discovery\u2014human <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.stephaniestimac.com\/posts\/2025\/08\/the-loss-of-curating\/\">curation<\/a>! To be honest, I trust <em><a href=\"https:\/\/bryanhogan.com\/blog\/other-cool-blog-posts-2026\">Bryan<\/a><\/em> way more than I do Zuck, to link me to interesting things on the web. There\u2019s a whole world of Bryan\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/robertbirming.com\/bearroll-bear-blogroll\/\">out there<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/kukei.eu\/about\">discover<\/a> too. Think of the possibilities! My suggestion? Use an <a href=\"https:\/\/mikehindle.uk\/introducing-rss\/\">RSS<\/a> reader. <em>Wait<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.social\/@brentsimmons\/116065632901064588\">RSS is still around<\/a>? <em>Yep<\/em>! You can even <a href=\"https:\/\/christiano.dev\/post\/self_hosted_rss\/\">host it yourself<\/a>. Go find cool stuff, add those sites to your RSS reader, and just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.terrygodier.com\/current\">let it flow<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>The other side of the discovery coin is of course, <em>creation<\/em>. We can only hope to find, what <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/the-1-rule-an-open-letter-to-everyone-who-doesnt-post-anything-online\/\">others have made<\/a> afterall. Here\u2019s some <a href=\"https:\/\/futurehorizondesign.net.au\/posts\/2026-02-15-Posts-Reorganised-and-Rejoining-the-Indieweb.html\">ideas<\/a> for what to do with your site\u2026 Create a <a href=\"https:\/\/flamedfury.com\/posts\/the-guestbook-is-back\/\">guestbook<\/a>, sound off with a <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronparecki.com\/2026\/02\/13\/10\/caw\">\/caw<\/a> page, or <a href=\"https:\/\/angrybunnyman.com\/have-things-to-do-why-you-could-restyle-your-blog-instead-so-i-did\/\">restyle<\/a> your site. The possibilities are endless.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>A couple sweet web finds for this week\u2019s issue\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/niclake.me\/about\/\">Nic Lake<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/niclake.me\">website<\/a> has a crisp, vibrant vibe that you can\u2019t help but love.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/henry.codes\/about\/\">Henry<\/a> continues to wow with his site. <a href=\"https:\/\/henry.codes\/writing\/the-first-thing-i-did-last-year-was-run\/\">Run<\/a>, don\u2019t walk, and check it out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@lefractal\/116093979533033161\">Fediverse<\/a> <em>this<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/atproto.com\">ATproto<\/a> <em>that<\/em>. There\u2019s a lot of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.content-lab.agency\/2024\/12\/30\/a-blogshaped-peg-in-a.html\">discussion<\/a> and debate regarding the technical merits and present <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pfrazee.com\/blog\/practical-decentralization\">realities<\/a> of these two systems\/protocols. But where do we find <a href=\"https:\/\/coding.social\/blog\/shared-ownership\/\">common ground<\/a>? For all who build, and are invested in these platforms, it comes down to <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.joinmastodon.org\/2026\/02\/connecting-the-world-through-thriving-online-communities\/\">community<\/a>. Social striation can appear to be along the lines of protocols, but <a href=\"https:\/\/connectedplaces.online\/where-does-community-live\/\">community<\/a> doesn\u2019t arrange itself so uniformly. Rather, we exist <em>across<\/em> these boundaries. So at the end of the day, when the dialogue fades, remember to be neighborly \ud83d\udc4b.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.party\/en\/post\/fediverse-in-2020\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/fedi-cosmos-2020.jpg\" alt=\"Fedi Cosmos\" width=\"450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p><em>Sigh<\/em>, here\u2019s more AI-related Security stuff\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wiz.io\/cyber-model-arena\">Wiz sends agents into the gladiator pits<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/dan.glass\/2026\/02\/15\/the-cisos-guide-to-agentic-misalignment\/\">Dan has a framework for security AI agents<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/xaselgio.net\/posts\/26.poisoning-knowledge\/\">Indigo is out to poison invasive LLMs<\/a>. \u2620\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<p>Oh but it\u2019s not just AI. <em>No, no, no<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Here\u2019s a comprehensive guide from <a href=\"https:\/\/azhlm.netlify.app\/about\/\">Azhlm<\/a> on how to <a href=\"https:\/\/azhlm.netlify.app\/note\/golang\/\">Reverse Engineer Go Binaries<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\">Hexacorn<\/a> is sharing a lot of li\u2019l niche factoids, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/14\/1-little-known-secret-of-icacls-exe\/\">this secret about icacls<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cloudbrothers.info\/en\/aboutme\/\">Fabian\u2019s<\/a> got you bro\u2014understanding <a href=\"https:\/\/cloudbrothers.info\/en\/azure-attack-paths\/\">Azure Attack Paths<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paloaltonetworks.com\/unit42\/about\">Unit 42<\/a> has a nice writeup on <a href=\"https:\/\/unit42.paloaltonetworks.com\/qr-codes-as-attack-vector\/\">QR code attack vectors<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cert.europa.eu\/about-us\">CERT-EU<\/a> has dropped their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cert.europa.eu\/publications\/threat-intelligence\/cyber-threat-intelligence-framework\/\">Cyber Threat Intelligence Framework<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>And last but certainly not least, we\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/eprint.iacr.org\/2026\/058.pdf\">encryption drama<\/a>. Lots of <a href=\"https:\/\/soatok.blog\/2026\/02\/17\/cryptographic-issues-in-matrixs-rust-library-vodozemac\/\">encryption drama<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 27 Feb 2026 08:25:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-27","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-27","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u012bgint\u0101","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirty<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we make the web beautiful, beat the drum of decentralization, and find a whole slew of cybergems.<\/p>\n\n<p>So get scrollin\u2019. It\u2019s good for ya!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@nyurakim\/116012484444438567\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/vitamin-c.png\" alt=\"Vitamin C\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/meiert.com\/blog\/the-beautiful-web\/\">web can be beautiful<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/kenan.fyi\/thoughts\/why-i-blog\/\">fun<\/a><\/strong>, if <em>we<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\/build-the-web-you-want-to-see\/\">make it so<\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/netwars.pelicancrossing.net\/2026\/02\/06\/in-search-of-the-future-internet\/\">future of the Internet<\/a> is not fated, and <a href=\"https:\/\/gomakethings.com\/you-dont-need-permission\/\">you don\u2019t need permission<\/a> to inject a <a href=\"https:\/\/sunny.garden\/@regina_nyckelharpista\/116025003457743512\">little good<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/jotternook.bearblog.dev\/the-lines-that-draw-us-together\/\">little humanity<\/a>, into the world (wide web)\u2014to <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2026\/02\/06\/the-expanse-of-web-weaving\">shape it<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/fediverse\/2026\/02\/12\/indieweb-2026\/\">better<\/a>. Because the web <a href=\"https:\/\/kat5.dev\/blog\/2026\/octothorpes\">evolves<\/a> not on its own, but through the countless decisions we all collectively make. The consequence of not trying, could be the loss of <a href=\"https:\/\/justinjackson.ca\/xslt\">what we hold dear<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>So <a href=\"https:\/\/metalhead.club\/@HailsandAles\/116046430764285886\">start a blog<\/a>! Use it to <a href=\"https:\/\/dbushell.com\/2026\/02\/09\/big-design-and-bold-ideas\/\">express yourself<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/beige.party\/@xinicit\/116018939342949767\">Shout into the void<\/a>\u2014the void may be more <a href=\"https:\/\/kniebes.com\/2026\/02\/04\/100-webmaster-questions.html\">conversational<\/a> than you think. Show us your <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/bookshelf\">books<\/a>. Make a <a href=\"https:\/\/flamedfury.com\/posts\/fresh-88x31-buttons\/\">button<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/boykisser.nl\/linkme.html\">share it with friends<\/a>. Write about your <a href=\"https:\/\/stephvee.ca\/hobbies\/\">hobbies<\/a>. Get <a href=\"https:\/\/fshng.xyz\/posts\/howto-jekyll-install-arch\/\">Jekyll-ey<\/a> (or <a href=\"https:\/\/christopherhimes.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/08\/jekyll-to-11ty\">11ty-ey<\/a>)\u2014it\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.tomaszdunia.pl\/blog-jekyll-github-eng\/\">great way to blog<\/a>! There\u2019s no wrong answers here. It\u2019s a blast to work on your site, and equally fun to explore other <a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\/why-i-email-complete-strangers\/\">people\u2019s<\/a> li\u2019l digital gardens. \ud83c\udf31<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n\n<p>Every site on the IndieWeb is unique, that\u2019s what makes it great! Here\u2019s some cool sites I\u2019ve found recently\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@nicolasgouny\/116034428232160248\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/bird-review.png\" alt=\"Bird Review\" width=\"525px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/aaron.com.es\/about\/\">Aar\u00f3n\u2019s<\/a> site <a href=\"https:\/\/aaron.com.es\">aaron.com.es<\/a> has a cool aesthetic. Go check it out!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/flo-bit.dev\/#about\">Florian\u2019s<\/a> site <a href=\"https:\/\/flo-bit.dev\">flo-bit<\/a> features a really cool earth-in-space visualization.<\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\/falling-in-love-with-the-internet-again\/\">Good Internet<\/a> magazine is absolutely loaded with gems. I suggest reading <a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\/falling-in-love-with-the-internet-again\/\">Falling in love with the internet (again)<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\/18-lessons-from-18-years-of-blogging\/\">18 lessons from 18 years of blogging<\/a> to start.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Ya know what we love to gripe about on the Fediverse? Other social media networks. One of the all-time favorite punching bags seems to be Bluesky. One thing you need to know about Fedi (or atleast a subset of relatively <em>vocal<\/em> individuals on Fedi) is that you ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 if you ain\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/news.dyne.org\/the-future-was-federated\/\">federated<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/realityfragments.com\/2026\/02\/07\/the-centralized-social-media-debacle\/\">Centralized social platforms<\/a> are the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/tech\/875309\/discord-age-verification-global-roll-out\">enemy<\/a><\/em> (mind the <a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/discord-alternatives\/\">alternatives<\/a>!), and you best beware of <a href=\"https:\/\/asterisk.lol\/blog\/atproto-is-a-lie\/\">faux-decentralization<\/a> as well. And since we\u2019re on the subject of Bsky, understand that ATproto, despite it\u2019s many <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/23\/bluesky-atprotocol-free-our-feeds-nothing-is-proven\">flaws<\/a>, is not <em>completely<\/em> meritless. I, and many others have applauded it\u2019s approach to handling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.augment.ink\/the-everything-account\/\">identity<\/a>, and it\u2019d be awesome to see the <a href=\"https:\/\/journal.jatan.space\/one-sane-fediverse-profile-to-rule-them-all\/\">Fediverse<\/a> solve for <a href=\"https:\/\/holos.social\/custom-domains\">this issue<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n\n<p>But enough about things we <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.games\/@64bithero\/116046875676051473\">don\u2019t like<\/a>. Let\u2019s talk about what we <a href=\"https:\/\/wandering.shop\/@troublewithwords\/110177553537359881\">do like<\/a>! For me, that continues to be the impressive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidtoddmccarty.com\/a-great-social-rewilding-is-coming2\/\">innovation<\/a> and sense of <a href=\"https:\/\/waf.moe\/fediverse\/post\/ce113e95-9c06-4f4c-a981-d9176bfb0bb0\">community<\/a> the Fediverse brings. Lately I\u2019ve been following the <a href=\"https:\/\/webintents.net\">WebIntents<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/holos.social\/custom-domains\">Holos<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/fediway\/fediway\">Fediway<\/a> projects.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Some great reading coming out of the infosec community recently\u2026 \ud83d\udcd6<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bytearchitect.io\/about\/\">The Byte Architect<\/a> has been publishing an interesting <a href=\"https:\/\/bytearchitect.io\/macos-security\/macOS-Hardening-a-new-series\/\">series<\/a> of posts related to hardening macOS.\n    <ul>\n      <li>Part 1: <a href=\"https:\/\/bytearchitect.io\/macos-security\/macOS-Hardening-a-new-series\/\">Series Introduction<\/a><\/li>\n      <li>Part 2: <a href=\"https:\/\/bytearchitect.io\/macos-security\/First-hardening-of-the-network-layer\/\">Network Layer<\/a><\/li>\n      <li>Part 3: <a href=\"https:\/\/bytearchitect.io\/macos-security\/Hardening-macOS-pt.3-Browsers\/\">Browser Compartmentalization<\/a><\/li>\n      <li>Part 4: <a href=\"https:\/\/bytearchitect.io\/macos-security\/Hardening-macOS-pt.4-Secrets-management\/\">Secrets Management &amp; Hardware Security Keys<\/a>\n<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>There\u2019s no disputing the fact that AI has proven somewhat disruptive in the infosec field, taking what had already become a somewhat saturated market and making it that much worse (and in more ways than one). But for those of us who persist, and for all other prospective cyber-careerists, you may find this piece on <a href=\"https:\/\/rud.is\/b\/2026\/01\/10\/ai-proofing-your-it-cyber-career-the-human-only-capabilities-that-matter\/\">AI-proofing your IT\/Cyber career<\/a> useful.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Jed makes a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.syscall.wtf\/blog\/security-sre-moment\">great case<\/a> for why the infosec field needs to embrace <em>containment<\/em> as a non-negotiable security layer\u2014the same way SREs did in the ITops world. \u201cLimiting blast radius\u201d is certainly not an alien topic to us in Security these days either. It\u2019s high time we adopt this mindset across the board with respect to defense-in-depth.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Speaking of <a href=\"https:\/\/semgrep.dev\/blog\/2026\/openclaw-security-engineers-cheat-sheet\/\">AI and limiting blast radius<\/a>\u2026 \ud83e\udd9e<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Let\u2019s talk <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foo.be\/2026\/02\/Acknowledging-Reality-in-Vulnerability-Disclosure\">vulnerability disclosure<\/a>\u2014we love to talk about <a href=\"https:\/\/vulnerabilityspoileralert.com\">vulnerability<\/a> disclosure!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><em>Oh yeah<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pagedout.institute\/?page=issues.php\">Paged Out! #8<\/a> has the meaty infosec stuff for ya.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>Someone asked on <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/41793111\">infosec.pub<\/a> about how the infosec job market is. Here\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/41793111\/20452001\">what I said<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>. Stay warm out there!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.ca\/@atomicker\/116020024521772107\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/winter-in-aizu.png\" alt=\"Winter in Aizu\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:03:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-20","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-20","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"citations.css","description":"<p>I previously introduced the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/extending-indieweb-txt-reference\">idea<\/a> of using CSS as a means to selectively style references to other sites\/authors\/creators. There I also suggested using <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb.txt\">indieweb.txt<\/a> as a place to share one\u2019s own reference info, including this css styling. Since I somewhat routinely <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/thanks\">credit<\/a> or otherwise <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">shout-out<\/a> other <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> personalities throughout this site, I wanted an easier way to apply these styles when making said references. <em>Why?<\/em> Because I think it\u2019s a fun way to pay homage to these other unique sites I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">enjoy<\/a> and respect. Enter <strong>citations.css<\/strong>, a place to centralize these styling directives for <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2026\/01\/06\/citation-preferences\">referencing<\/a> other sites and authors.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>citations.css<\/em> is a list of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3schools.com\/cssref\/sel_class.php\">.class selector<\/a> declarations where each reference maps to the site you are referencing\u2019s domain name. You replace any dots \u201c.\u201d with a dash (\u201c-\u201c). So \u201c<em>shellsharks.com<\/em>\u201d becomes \u201c<em>shellsharks-com<\/em>\u201d. An example for this site can be seen below\u2026<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-css highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code><span class=\"c\">\/* Shellsharks.com *\/<\/span>\n<span class=\"nc\">.shellsharks-com<\/span> <span class=\"p\">{<\/span>\n    <span class=\"nl\">color<\/span><span class=\"p\">:<\/span><span class=\"nx\">#CA3342<\/span><span class=\"p\">;<\/span>\n<span class=\"p\">}<\/span>\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>Once loaded up, you can then refer to my site using <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">class=\"shellsharks-com\"<\/code> and <em>voil\u00e0<\/em>, you\u2019ve got <span class=\"shellsharks-com\">shellsharks<\/span>!<\/p>\n\n<p>For sharing your own styling preferences such that others can add it to their <em>citations.css<\/em> file, I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/extending-indieweb-txt-reference\">suggested using indieweb.txt<\/a>. You could have it as a field in <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb.txt\">indieweb.txt<\/a> itself, or perhaps point to a <em>citation.css<\/em> (note: \u2018<em>citation<\/em>\u2019 singular, not \u2018citation<b>s<\/b>\u2019 plural) file that houses just your site\u2019s prefered reference css.<\/p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-txt\">- citation-css: .shellsharks-com { color:#CA3342; }\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n<p><em>or<\/em><\/p>\n\n<pre><code class=\"language-txt\">- citation-css: https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/citation.css\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n<p><u>tiny note<\/u>: I use the <em>former<\/em>, so you won\u2019t find anything at \u201c<em>shellsharks.com\/citation.css<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"issues\">Issues<\/h2>\n\n<p>This is just an <em>idea<\/em>\u2014and like with many of my ideas, there\u2019s many-an-<b>issue<\/b>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong>Accessiblity<\/strong> is an obvious one. Some people\u2019s preferred or chosen styling might just not <em>look<\/em> great on the destination site. This could result in accessibility concerns or just general eye-soreness.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Security<\/strong>, <em>duh<\/em>: Accepting arbitrary code from folks on the Internet? What could go <a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/kb\/issues\/00501300_css-injection-reflected\">wrong<\/a>!?<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Logistics<\/strong>: I\u2019ve still not figured out the most friction-less way of sharing and otherwise ingesting other people\u2019s reference css. Maybe it\u2019s in <em>indieweb.txt<\/em>, maybe it\u2019s in a static file named <em>citation.css<\/em> in the <em>.well-known<\/em> directory. I\u2019m not really sure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>To solve for accessibility, maybe you could share light <em>and<\/em> dark mode-compatible styling code. For security, maybe there could be a centralized directory (github repo) that folks can submit their styling block to that get\u2019s reviewed (scanned?) before it is accepted. Who would own\/run\/maintain this repo? <em>Duno<\/em>. For logistics, this is something that would probably just need to be agreed upon by the larger community (assuming this reached any level of popularity or adoption <em>at all<\/em>, which I honestly do not expect).<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"other-considerations\">Other Considerations<\/h3>\n\n<p>As I\u2019m talking with others and using this myself, I\u2019ll add some other considerations here\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>It may be useful to have a <em>last updated<\/em> value somewhere so that others can know if they have the latest styling block for your site.<\/li>\n  <li>Ideally, styling should not make text larger or smaller, but rather focus on font, color, framing, etc\u2026<\/li>\n  <li>Though there\u2019s no <em>technical<\/em> limitation, my recommendation is to keep your styling rather simple (e.g. no animation, etc\u2026). To help with adoption, accessibility, security review and usability on other people\u2019s sites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<p><em>Anywho<\/em>\u2026 that\u2019s my idea! So if you do feel like referencing my site in a <em>fun<\/em> way on your own site, feel free to get my citation styling from my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb.txt\">indieweb.txt<\/a> file! If you think this is fun and have decided to implement it yourself, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hello\">let me know<\/a>! I\u2019ll add your info here too.<\/p>\n\n<p>Shout out to <span class=\"flamedfury-com\">fLaMEd<\/span>, who\u2019s unique styling inspired this idea. \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"citations-directory\">Citations Directory<\/h2>\n\n<p>A list of sites (<em>that I know of<\/em>) that have implemented <strong>citations.css<\/strong> or shared their citation css block with me.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/reillyspitzfaden.com\" class=\"reillyspitzfaden-com\">Reilly Spitzfaden<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/reillyspitzfaden.com\/indieweb.txt\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"ph ph-file-txt\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/villepreux.net\" class=\"villepreux-net\">Antoine Villepreux<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/villepreux.net\/indieweb.txt\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"ph ph-file-txt\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.benji.dog\" class=\"benji-dog\">Benji<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benji.dog\/indieweb.txt\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"ph ph-file-txt\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:51:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2026\/02\/17\/citations-css","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2026\/02\/17\/citations-css","category":["technology","indieweb"]},{"title":"Scroll \u016bnd\u0113tr\u012bgint\u0101","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-nine<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we\u2019re keeping it real on the web, navigating our social crises, and goin\u2019 through the cyberlist.<\/p>\n\n<p>Settle in, get cozy and start scrollin\u2019!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@pixelhoo\/116007396003100681\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/cozy-tavern.png\" alt=\"Cozy Tavern\" width=\"450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Who are <a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/2023\/01\/15\/understanding-blogs\/\">you<\/a> on the <a href=\"https:\/\/ohhelloana.blog\/my-indieweb-journey\/\">web<\/a>? Do you <a href=\"https:\/\/robertbirming.com\/blogging-real\/\">keep it real<\/a> or are you some other persona? Do you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kevinrkuhl.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/why-link-blog\/\">share<\/a> openly or do you keep things <a href=\"https:\/\/borretti.me\/article\/i-wish-people-were-more-public\">close to the vest<\/a>? Do you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kevinrkuhl.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/rss-syndication-and-the-future-of-the-web\/\">publish<\/a> with confidence, or do you <a href=\"https:\/\/robertbirming.com\/writing-with-doubt\/\">write with doubt<\/a>? Don\u2019t try to be something you\u2019re not. You don\u2019t need to push yourself beyond who and what you are. That way leads to <a href=\"https:\/\/frills.dev\/blog\/2025\/september\/indie-web-burnout\/\">burnout<\/a>. Let yourself <a href=\"https:\/\/anhvn.com\/past-designs\/\">grow<\/a> organically.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@nicolasgouny\/116011654758519186\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/polish-birds.png\" alt=\"Polish Bird\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Afterall, your site is meant to be <a href=\"https:\/\/patrickbrosset.com\/articles\/2026-01-06-fun-with-the-web\/\">fun<\/a>! It\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/marangoni.cc\/posts\/20260204-website-relaunch\/\">place<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/marijkeluttekes.dev\/mentions\/\">you<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/grgml.xyz\/blog\/simple-themeing-strategies-for-simple-websites\/\">express yourself<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/multiline.co\/mment\/2026\/01\/the-generosity-of-a-link\/\">share<\/a> the things you <a href=\"https:\/\/kat5.dev\/postroll\">love most<\/a>. But as I\u2019ve said before, it really can be <em><a href=\"https:\/\/daverupert.com\/2026\/02\/futurescapes\/\">whatever<\/a><\/em> you want. So what should you do next? Why not share what you\u2019re up to right <a href=\"https:\/\/balintmagyar.com\/now\/\">now<\/a>! Or you can add some <a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/2026\/02\/02\/super-simple-sidenotes\/\">sidenotes<\/a> to your articles. Try getting into your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswinson.com\/2026\/02\/02\/getting-into-a-rhythm\/\">blogging rhythm<\/a> by hosting an <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/indieweb-carnival-hosting-qa-with-zachary-kai\/\">IndieWeb Carnival<\/a>. Maybe you\u2019re not feelin\u2019 your site and you want a <a href=\"https:\/\/veronicaexplains.net\/launching-ghost-on-new-domain\/\">change of scenery<\/a>. Go do it!<\/p>\n\n<p>With so much you <em>can<\/em> and <em>should<\/em> do with your site, there\u2019s always things you should just not do. Like, don\u2019t use <a href=\"https:\/\/c.im\/@youronlyone\/116003269530176098\">Substack<\/a>, and don\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/aidirtylist.info\">sloppify<\/a> your site.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Social media might be a bit overplayed at this point. What we need <em>now<\/em> more than ever is <strong>community<\/strong>. But <a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\/finding-a-good-community-on-mastodon\/\">community<\/a> doesn\u2019t come without the effort it takes to build it. We need social networks that enable <a href=\"https:\/\/forbetter.ghost.io\/platforms-as-the-preface-to-community\/\">community-first<\/a> principles. <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@Mastodon\/115989802617165343\">Mastodon<\/a> may not be perfect in every technical aspect, but it\u2019s living up to this crucial moment in time. So build and join communities on the Fediverse. <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@reiver\/116013523384350860\">Welcome<\/a> the social media <a href=\"https:\/\/dotart.blog\/cobbles\/the-silence\">refugees<\/a> who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.programmablemutter.com\/p\/were-getting-the-social-media-crisis\">flee<\/a> from elsewhere. We can do this!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>It\u2019s CYBERLIST time! (<em>Fancy made-up word for a list of infosec stuff for you to check out<\/em>\u2026)<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wiz.io\/blog\/sitf-sdlc-threat-framework\">SDLC Infrastructure Threat Framework<\/a> or \u201cSITF\u201d from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wiz.io\/about\">Wiz<\/a> is here to help protect your software pipelines.<\/li>\n  <li><em>LOL<\/em>! Now attackers are <a href=\"https:\/\/themagicclaw.github.io\/LOLAPI\/\">livin\u2019 off of APIs<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>We know AI <em><a href=\"https:\/\/1password.com\/blog\/from-magic-to-malware-how-openclaws-agent-skills-become-an-attack-surface\">isn\u2019t the most trustworthy<\/a><\/em>, and maybe, fundamentally can\u2019t be. But with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.docker.com\/blog\/the-3cs-a-framework-for-ai-agent-security\/\">The 3Cs<\/a>, maybe it can be a bit more secure.<\/li>\n  <li>Instead of AI, maybe we try looking inward when it comes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stratosphereips.org\/blog\/2026\/2\/4\/rethinking-cybersecurity-immunity\">cyber defense<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>NTLM is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csoonline.com\/article\/4125947\/microsoft-disables-ntlm-in-windows.html\">dead<\/a>!<\/li>\n  <li>Yeah, wow. This post is an amazing <a href=\"https:\/\/heilancoos.github.io\/research\/2025\/12\/16\/kubernetes.html\">Deep-Dive into Attacking and Defending Kubernetes<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Now back to my various computerings\u2026 \ud83d\udc4b<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.gamedev.place\/@rainwinther\/116037141894481033\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/first-machine.png\" alt=\"First Machine\" width=\"450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 13 Feb 2026 08:58:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-13","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-13","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"The Human Web","description":"<p>The year is 2026. AI has hollowed out what little humanity remained within the enshittified husks of the big tech slums us mortals digitally reside. Our privacy has been laid waste, our identities subjugated, our voices silenced, and our (digital) world sterilized. But this need not be our <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel\">fate<\/a>. A web revolution has begun my friends. What was once the nascent spark of a long lost web, is now a flourishing of digital gardens\u2014personal sanctuaries on the net. It is there that once again people are free\u2014to express themselves, to find others, to share their thoughts\u2014without the fear of algorithmic oppression, corporate censorship and mass-assimilation. This revolution is known by many names\u2014the \u201c<a href=\"#the-indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>\u201d, the \u201csmall web\u201d, the \u201cold web\u201d\u2014<a href=\"#flavors-of-a-more-human-web\">whatever<\/a> you call it, it\u2019s a more <u>human<\/u> web. A <em>better<\/em> web. Will you <a href=\"#being-part-of-the-indieweb\">join<\/a> us?<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"flavors-of-a-more-human-web\">Flavors of A More Human Web<\/h1>\n\n<p>Remember personal blogs? Well they\u2019re still a thing. These sites, unique in their design, and owned \/ operated by <em>real<\/em> human people, are part of what I like to call the \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/human-web\/\">human web<\/a><\/strong>\u201d. This is an all-inclusive term for characterizing all things \u201cIndieWeb\u201d, \u201cPersonal Web\u201d, \u201cOld Web\u201d, \u201cSmall Web\u201d, etc\u2026 Some (<em>me<\/em>) use these terms interchangeably, while others are more adamant about what type of site is included in what form of \u201cweb\u201d. Generally, I\u2019ve seen each of <a href=\"https:\/\/thoughts.melonking.net\/guides\/introduction-to-the-web-revival-1-what-is-the-web-revival\">these terms<\/a> differentiated as follows\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\u201c<strong>IndieWeb<\/strong>\u201d: See <a href=\"#the-indieweb\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>\u201c<strong>Personal Web<\/strong>\u201d: Sites operated by single people in individualistic, idiosyncratic ways.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/sunwisp.neocities.org\/posts\/2024-08-09-My-Thoughts-On-The-Personal-Web\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n  <li>\u201c<strong>Old Web<\/strong>\u201d: Sites with a visual style resembling the web 1.0 era. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/aesthetics.fandom.com\/wiki\/Old_Web#:~:text=The%20Old%20Web%20aesthetic%2C%20also,the%201990s%20and%20early%202000s.\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n  <li>\u201c<strong>Small Web<\/strong>\u201d: Sites that are simple in nature, accessible to a wide variety of web clients, don\u2019t require JavaScript or other modern web bloat, etc\u2026 <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/small_web\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Ultimately, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s important to fixate on these various subsets\u2014the larger movement is what matters. Together, they represent a diverse and unfiltered showcase of thought, of individuality, of tradition, of technology, and of the human experience. Made <em>for<\/em> real people, <em>by<\/em> real people.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: In practice, I consider and talk about my site as part of the \u201c<a href=\"#the-indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>\u201d, and I use that term generally to mean sites that are part of the larger human web. I understand others think of the IndieWeb as something different, or nuanced, and that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"the-indieweb\">The IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>What is the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a><\/strong>? Its origins can be traced to <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">indieweb.org<\/a>. It was here that I developed my own <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#indieweb\">formative understanding<\/a> of this more <a href=\"#flavors-of-a-more-human-web\">human web<\/a> and its various communities and ideals.<\/p>\n\n<p><u>Indieweb.org<\/u> defines the <em>IndieWeb<\/em> as a people-focused alternative to the \u201ccorporate web\u201d\u2014a community of independent and personal websites rooted in 3 foundational principles.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>\n    <p>Your content is yours, and in your control.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>You are in control of your site and your content. You can post what you want, in any format you want.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Your site is <em>connected<\/em>. Your content can be distributed anywhere else on the web and your site can facilitate replies, likes, and other status messages.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>The first two principles I\u2019m totally on board with. Where indieweb.org loses me though is on this mandate to be \u201cconnected\u201d. This expectation that your site <em>must<\/em> contain social-like functionality (e.g. comments, likes) and it <em>must<\/em> syndicate its content to other places (i.e. social media sites) is <strong>bizarre<\/strong>. Your site shouldn\u2019t need to be <em>social<\/em>. It doesn\u2019t <em>need<\/em> to share its content elsewhere (though I do highly recommend having an <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss\">RSS feed<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n<p>I think I know where this insistence on connectedness orginates from though. Indieweb.org states that their movement is to create an alternative to the \u201ccorporate web\u201d. You see, in the days of yore, your presence on the web was a blog\/site. Since the advent of MySpace, through today, your identity and presence on the web has been relegated to https:\/\/BIGTECHSOCIALPLATFORM.COM\/YOURNAMEHERE. Effectively, we moved away from blogs and personal sites as the de facto standard for ones identity on the web to these big, centralized social media platforms. You are now who Facebook says you are, or LinkedIn, or Twitter, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Indieweb.org\u2019s response to this is to shift not only one\u2019s canonical presence on the web from big social <em>back<\/em> to personal sites, but also to lessen or entirely eliminates one\u2019s reliance on these big social platforms to do, well, \u201csocial\u201d things. Why else would they mandate that your blog (of all things) be capable of engaging with other sites via likes, and \u201cstatus messages\u201d\u2014traditional social media-type behaviors.<\/p>\n\n<p>In Indieweb.org\u2019s world view, \u201cindie-\u201c means <strong>independent<\/strong>. Your entire presence\u2014your identity, your content, your connections, your network\u2014can be entirely self-contained on your site. They\u2019re taking the power, and I mean <em>all<\/em> the power, back from big social. But I think it\u2019s a step too far.<\/p>\n\n<p>I like to think of \u201cindie-\u201c differently. For me it means <strong>individualism<\/strong>. Your site doesn\u2019t need to be entirely <em>independent<\/em>\u2014a monolith of functionality with every feature baked into it all at once. It certainly doesn\u2019t need to collect random <em>likes<\/em> and showcase them on every article. Rather, your site <a href=\"#indieweb-principles\">needs<\/a> to be something that is simply, distinctively you. Your content, your voice, your aesthetic, on a domain that is unique to you.<\/p>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s further dig into what it takes (<em>in my opinion<\/em>) to be <a href=\"#being-part-of-the-indieweb\">part of the IndieWeb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"being-part-of-the-indieweb\">Being Part of the IndieWeb<\/h2>\n\n<p>I made a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/116053655023415256\">comment<\/a> recently about how <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\">Medium<\/a> (the blogging platform) was antithetical to (my own understanding of) IndieWeb <a href=\"#indieweb-principles\">ideals<\/a>. I gave no further reasoning at the time. The argument made in reply to my comment was that Medium allows you export your posts and email lists and that it has an API that allows you to get stuff. The point was also made that Medium had no ads or user tracking. It was a thoughtful reply and it made me think, <em>what is the \u201cIndieWeb\u201d<\/em>? <em>What makes a site \u201cpart of the IndieWeb\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"indieweb-principles\">IndieWeb Principles<\/h6>\n\n<p>For me, to be a \u201cpart of the <a href=\"#the-indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>\u201d, or <a href=\"#flavors-of-a-more-human-web\">whatever<\/a> you want to call it, your site must meet just <em>three<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#principle-mechanics\">criteria<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Your site is hosted at a domain you own.<\/li>\n  <li>You own (and have access to all of) your content.<\/li>\n  <li>The site is about you\u2013\u2014your writing, your content. You are free to personalize the site\u2019s design as you see fit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>That\u2019s it!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"is-medium-part-of-the-indieweb\">Is Medium Part of the IndieWeb?<\/h3>\n\n<p>So this brings me back to the <a href=\"#being-part-of-the-indieweb\">discussion around Medium<\/a>, and whether a Medium blog is part of the \u201cIndieWeb\u201d, or <em>IndieWebby<\/em> in general.<\/p>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s judge Medium using my <a href=\"#indieweb-principles\">three simple criteria<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>\u2705 <strong>Domain Ownership<\/strong>: <em>Yes!<\/em> Medium allows you to <a href=\"https:\/\/help.medium.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115003053487-Setting-up-a-custom-domain-for-your-profile-or-publication\">bring your own domain<\/a>. Though I will say, it requires you to be a paid Medium member and theres some other small limitations.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f <strong>Data Ownership<\/strong>: Does Medium allow you to <em>own<\/em> your content? <em>Kind of<\/em>? Hopefully? Your writing and personal data are stored on Medium servers and accessible via their CMS. You have the ability to <a href=\"https:\/\/help.medium.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115004745787-Export-your-account-data\">export your account data<\/a> including your stories. But here\u2019s where things get murky for me. That\u2019s great that Medium allows this. <em>But like<\/em>\u2026 what if they decided one day to <em>not<\/em> allow that. What if on that day, you hadn\u2019t taken a recent export? It\u2019s worth considering the potential risks and how you can ensure you truly own your content and ensure your site\u2019s overall sovereignty.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\u274c <strong>Individual Expression<\/strong>: <em>Fail<\/em>. Medium (and platforms like it) severely limit your options for <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/blog\/an-update-on-profile-colors-and-themes-2cb471e61e40\">customization &amp; personalization<\/a>. Yes you can publish <em>your<\/em> writing there, but your site is otherwise canned\u2014a sterile clone of every other site and page across the entire platform. True may it be that the words on your site can be uniquely yours, but they will still come from the same white background, black font, serif text that you know and <s>love<\/s> are-bored-of.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Look, if what matters to you most is getting your words out, in plain text, then Medium might be a good choice for you. Medium has lots of benefits in terms of discoverability, monetization, etc\u2026 But there are no digital gardens on Medium.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"parting-thoughts\">Parting Thoughts<\/h1>\n\n<p>I\u2019m not trying to be elitist, or non-inclusive, or self-aggrandizing. My word on this is certainly not gospel. Afterall, I\u2019m just some random on the Internet with a blog. I\u2019m not saying Medium is a <em>bad<\/em> platform, nor is it evil. I\u2019m not saying you shouldn\u2019t use it. Like with any choice of platform, or technology, there are always tradeoffs. Where you invest your time and how you build your identity on the web matters though, and I think there are risks to using Medium if what you want is to truly <em>own<\/em> your space on the web and use it how you see fit\u2014if what you want is to be part of the \u201c<a href=\"#the-indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>\u201d. What Medium does offer, among many things, is a very easy way to get started. You can bring a domain, and just start writing\u2014and at least for now, you\u2019re free to migrate that content elsewhere when you please. This is still much preferred to the alternative\u2014don\u2019t give all your content, and don\u2019t leave your identity on the web in the hands of LinkedIn, or Facebook, or Twitter, or any of these centralized big tech platforms. If it can help, let Medium be a stepping stone to something that can truly be uniquely, and perpetually you.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 13 Feb 2026 01:23:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/human-web","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/human-web","category":["technology","indieweb","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Scroll duod\u0113tr\u012bgint\u0101","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-eight<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we discuss the importance of having a website and do some tubular indie-web surfin\u2019 (with a few other fedi bits and cyber bobs thrown in for fun).<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Alright<\/em>, follow me!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@nicolasgouny\/115977351286467764\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/follow-me.png\" alt=\"Follow Me!\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/make.afucking.website\">Go make a website<\/a>! It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@iamgerardthomas\/115983504646473667\">more important now than ever<\/a>. For all the <a href=\"https:\/\/islandinthenet.com\/the-indie-web-is-not-defined-by-its-enemies\/\">reasons<\/a> this is true, <a href=\"https:\/\/simonbc.com\/notes\/2026-01-30-the-core-idea-of-the\/\">truly owning<\/a> your content, your identity, and your place on the web has got to be one of the <em>most<\/em> important. You are <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/response-hobbies\/\">unique<\/a>. So why try to shove yourself into a character-limited box? Or reduce your accomplishments to boring, pre-canned form fields? Instead, build something that shows who you <em>really<\/em> are. Something that could even <a href=\"https:\/\/kevquirk.com\/blog\/will-they-inherit-our-blogs\/\">outlive you<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Somethings are easier said than done. With site-building, things really can be done <em>as easy<\/em> as they are said. There\u2019s tons of <a href=\"https:\/\/webdev.bryanhogan.com\/start\/ways-to-build\/\">website<\/a> building options and <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelharley.net\/posts\/2026\/01\/31\/re-self-hosting-versus-lots-of-small-indieweb-providers\/\">self-hosting<\/a> resources. <em>Hell<\/em>, it\u2019s so easy these days you may find yourself <a href=\"https:\/\/mtwb.blog\/posts\/2025\/goodbye-wordpress-hello-ghost\/\">hopping<\/a> from platform to platform just for a change of scenery!<\/p>\n\n<p>Once you got your site up, it\u2019s time to get <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kylereddoch.me\/blog\/how-a-blog-post-gets-built-in-my-corner-of-the-web\/\">writin\u2019<\/a>. Or y\u2019know, keep <a href=\"https:\/\/techhub.social\/@alabut\/115980505718574875\">tinkerin\u2019<\/a> with the site until you\u2019re happy with the way it looks and feels. Completely up to you! You could publish a <a href=\"https:\/\/hughsviewsandnews.com\/2026\/02\/02\/blogrolls-what-happens-when-adding-one-to-your-blog\/\">blogroll<\/a>, get involved in a <a href=\"https:\/\/zacharykai.net\/notes\/icfeb26\">blogging challenge<\/a>, or just write about the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/smallthoughts7\/\">little things<\/a>. It\u2019s this <a href=\"https:\/\/seirdy.one\/posts\/2021\/03\/10\/search-engines-with-own-indexes\/\">diversity<\/a> of thought, <a href=\"https:\/\/z1nz0l1n.com\/26w05\/\">content<\/a> and style that make the IndieWeb such a fun place to be and <a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheviewfinder.com\/exploring-the-smallweb-and-indieweb\/\">explore<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Alright folks, you\u2019re in for a real treat today! Here\u2019s some truly awesome new sites I\u2019ve discovered recently!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wavelight.ws\">wavelight<\/a> had me vibing in <a href=\"https:\/\/wavelight.ws\/blog\/20260131-liminal\/\">liminal darkness<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Lose yourself in <a href=\"https:\/\/ominous.net\/writing.html\">ominous.net<\/a>\u2019s excellent writing<\/li>\n  <li>Make a cool \u2018moji at the <a href=\"https:\/\/kaomojicool.club\">Kaomoji Cool Club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Take a stroll through <a href=\"https:\/\/lichendust.com\/garden\">Lichendust\u2019s Garden<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>If you\u2019re going to doom scroll, try doing it <a href=\"https:\/\/xikipedia.org\">here<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mtwb.blog\">Matt\u2019s Blog<\/a> looks great and has a lot of interesting content as well<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4 id=\"journals--recaps\">Journals &amp; Recaps<\/h4>\n\n<p>Having a personal blog can mean posting personal stuff! I really enjoy seeing people\u2019s journal entries, weekly recaps and similar types of posts. This type of post generally focuses more on the self and the site, and less on others \/ external <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/link-dumps\">links<\/a>. Though there\u2019s no reason it can\u2019t have both! Here\u2019s a sampling of journal &amp; recap posts I\u2019ve encountered recently.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/sainthood.xyz\/blog\/posts\/january-2026-recap\">January 2026 Recap<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/sainthood.xyz\">SAINTHOOD<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The last <a href=\"https:\/\/tlohde.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/1-4\/\">1 \u00d7 4\u2153<\/a> weeks from <a href=\"https:\/\/tlohde.com\/about\/\">tlohde<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lichendust.com\/microfeed#january-2026\">January 2026<\/a> entry within the microfeed from <a href=\"https:\/\/lichendust.com\/about\">Harley<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Some <a href=\"https:\/\/antonyfb.com\/blog\/site-updates-jan26.html\">Site Updates (January 2026)<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/antonyfb.com\/index.html\">Antony<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/january-2026-summary\">January 2026 Summary<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/about\/\">Joel<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/chronosaur.us\/weeknotes-03162025\/\">weeknotes<\/a> (a while back) from <a href=\"https:\/\/chronosaur.us\/about\/\">Karen<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/kat5.dev\/blog\/2026\/week-5\">week notes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/kat5.dev\">Katie<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/vaettr.com\/posts\/weeklog32\/\">Weeklog<\/a> (from Aug \u201825) by <a href=\"https:\/\/vaettr.com\/pages\/about\/\">Vae<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/stephvee.ca\/blog\/rewinds\/rewind-jan-2026\/\">Monthly Rewind: January 2026<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/stephvee.ca\/about\">Stephanie<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalprairie.blog\/picks-of-the-month-february-2026\/\">Picks of the month - February 2026<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalprairie.blog\/about\/\">Desiree<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanderwal.net\/random\/entrysel.php?blog=2138\">Weeknote<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanderwal.net\/about.php\">Thomas<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cawston.ghost.io\/tag\/weeknotes\/\">Weeknotes<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mijndertstuij.nl\/weeknotes\/6-2026\/?utm_source=indieblog.page&amp;utm_medium=mastodon&amp;utm_campaign=indieblog.page\">Weeknotes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Some say \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.world\/@AccordingtoWouter\/115983860927221857\">Big Tech\u2019s biggest enemy is Mastodon<\/a>\u201d. There\u2019s some truth here, but that <a href=\"https:\/\/revolution.social\/episodes\/think-like-a-commoner-author-david-bollier-on-the-\/\">doesn\u2019t mean Mastodon is impervious<\/a> to corporate takeover. So let\u2019s all pitch in to help build a truly open, free, and community-like space for all!<\/p>\n\n<p>To help get you <a href=\"https:\/\/simplyexplained.com\/videos\/mastodon-and-fediverse-explained\/\">started<\/a>, here\u2019s some thoughts on how to <a href=\"https:\/\/friendica.dk\/display\/fcc8f939-7369-7680-cceb-fcb424042035\">maximize your own engagement<\/a> within the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>. Just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rafa.ee\/articles\/introducing-linkblocks-federated-bookmark-manager\/\">remember<\/a>, when you\u2019re here, you\u2019ve got a <a href=\"https:\/\/mementomori.social\/@rolle\/115996787376805198\">job to do<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s keep it simple. The <a href=\"https:\/\/adversa.ai\/blog\/cascading-failures-in-agentic-ai-complete-owasp-asi08-security-guide-2026\/\">failures<\/a> keep coming for <a href=\"https:\/\/promptintel.novahunting.ai\/molt\">AI<\/a>, Apple\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/help.apple.com\/pdf\/security\/en_US\/apple-platform-security-guide.pdf\">Platform Security<\/a> doc has a new coat of paint, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/x-c3ll.github.io\/posts\/Rant-Red-Team\/\">State of the Art in Red Team<\/a> is whatever you believe it to be. <em>Done<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Back to the real (icy) world that is February in Northern VA \ud83e\udd76.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/universeodon.com\/@kellay\/115990844863875735\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/arctic-depths.png\" alt=\"Arctic Depths\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:11:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-06","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-06","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"100 Webmaster Questions","description":"<p>Here\u2019s a blogging challenge inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/theresmiling.eu\/blog\/2026\/01\/100-webmaster-questions\">theresmiling<\/a>. \u201c100 webmaster questions\u201d, let\u2019s go!\n<br \/><br \/>\n<strong>1. Please introduce yourself.<\/strong>\n<br \/><br \/>\nI am <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\"><span style=\"color:#CA3342 !important;\">shellsharks<\/span><\/a> and shellsharks means <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T4YI87DPkPw\">me<\/a>! (IRL, folks call me <em>Mike<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n<p><span id=\"how-long\"><\/span>\n<strong>2. How long have you been making websites?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Since about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/15\/shellsharks-a-visual-history#shellsharks-10-may-2019\">May 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>3. And what got you into the hobby?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I really wanted to write <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/getting-into-information-security\">this post<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/designer-vulnerabilities\">this post<\/a>. Though my true passion for blogging and site-keeping as it is today was born when I first discovered the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>4. What kind of website are you most interested in?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of sites <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">I like<\/a>. I generally adore personal \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> sites and anything that shares interesting \/ educational or infosec \/ cybersecurity content. I enjoy all sites that are particularly unique. A better question may be what sites do I <u>not<\/u> like\u2026. Anything with AI-generated content, anything plastered with ads, most of the \u201ccorporate\u201d-web, anything malicious and any of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/web-page-annoyances\">these other annoying sites<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>5. What\u2019s your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t have a lot of websites outside of this one. I started <a href=\"#how-long\">in 2019<\/a> without much of a plan. I knew only that I had a few ideas for posts to write and the rest would come thereafter. If I were to make a new site today, I would have a lot of lessons learned that I could apply to how I would build said site.<\/p>\n\n<p>As it pertains to how this blog is currently set up \/ ran, here\u2019s my site\u2019s overall <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/architecture\">architecture<\/a> &amp; my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogging-methodology\">blogging methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#my-favorite-indie-sites\">favorite site designs<\/a>, and everyone else I have to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/thanks#other-awesome-people\">thank<\/a> for how my site has turned out thus far.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>7. What\u2019s your favourite part about making websites?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Great question! So hard to choose. I\u2019ll name a few. To start, here\u2019s some of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile\">favorite things I\u2019ve built<\/a> for the site. But I\u2019d say my favorite part about actually making the website has been turning it into a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/welcome-home\">digital home<\/a>, a place I really just like to spend time in and click around. Secondly, I\u2019ve really enjoyed my site as a place that has helped, educated and inspired <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/kindness\">others<\/a> across the \u2018net.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>8. And the thing you struggle with the most?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Probably these two things\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/09\/where-i-find-the-time\">Finding the time<\/a> and motivation to work-on \/ write-for the site.<\/li>\n  <li>Getting around some of the technical limitations of static site generators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I have a few different layouts. Most of them are pretty similar but I have different layouts for <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">different post types<\/a>: posts vs. pages, there\u2019s some special posts, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>E.g. a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\">page<\/a> vs. a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-02\">scroll<\/a> vs. a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/06\/23\/its-a-lot-of-things\">note<\/a> vs. a standard <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/link-dumps\">blog post<\/a> vs. my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/void\/welcome\">screams<\/a> etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>10. How confident are you with CSS?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve reckoned with the horror that is CSS, can you claim confidence in anything within this reality?<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>11. Do you know how to correctly use &lt;dl&gt;?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I guess not.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>12. What is your favourite HTML element?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/14\/i-am-sup\">sup<\/a>. I also love &lt;li&gt;sts.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>13. If you\u2019re making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>If it\u2019s for a new site, I gotta get the domain of course. Coming up with, and then actually finding the perfect domain name is <em>really<\/em> hard in my experience. Once I have my domain in hand, I try to get a wireframe up first.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>14. Do you know JavaScript?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Does <a href=\"https:\/\/eamodeorubio.github.io\/thejshorrorshow\">anyone<\/a>? I know enough to get in <a href=\"https:\/\/eev.ee\/blog\/2016\/10\/31\/javascript-a-horror-story\/\">trouble<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>15. How about PHP?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>The basics. Nothing less. Nothing more.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style\">Pretty much<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>17. Are you more focused on content or design?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Content is probably the correct answer. Though I go through stretches where I am more keenly fixated on sprucing up the site\u2019s design \/ aesthetic \/ ux \/ etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Yes! <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/verify#domains\">Many<\/a><\/em>. Though <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">shellsharks.com<\/a> is probably the only one I am really using right now.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or \u201cretro\u201d websites?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Love \u2018em \ud83e\udde1<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Just checked <a href=\"https:\/\/validator.w3.org\/nu\/?doc=https%3A%2F%2Fshellsharks.com%2F\">this<\/a> and I have <strong>112<\/strong> findings. So I guess not \ud83d\ude2c.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Love buttons. I have a bunch of them <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\">here<\/a>. Banners are <em>ok<\/em>? I don\u2019t like anything <em>too<\/em> visually distracting, and I certainly don\u2019t like anything that is just an ad.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>22. What do you think of button walls in particular?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I think they can be done tastefully (i.e. at the bottom of the page), and there\u2019s lots of cool buttons to show off!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019d make something <em>similar<\/em> for sure. But there\u2019s a lot of things I would do better, or slightly different.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>I\u2019d comment my site\u2019s source code a lot more.<\/li>\n  <li>There would be a lot less in-line JS and CSS.<\/li>\n  <li>In fact, I might try to make it JS-free.<\/li>\n  <li>I\u2019d design with accessibility more in mind.<\/li>\n  <li>Though I\u2019m on the fence with certain features, I might use an SSG or platform that would more easily allow for me to add federation capabilities, webmentions, and other IndieWeb functionality.<\/li>\n  <li>I have a lot of other <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/ideas\">ideas<\/a> I might incorporate from the beginning too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>24. Are you envious of other people\u2019s websites?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I wouldn\u2019t say that, no. There are a lot of websites that I think are <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#my-favorite-indie-sites\">really cool<\/a> though. They <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/thanks#other-awesome-people\">inspire<\/a> me. Sometimes I steal good ideas when I see them. But I really like my website. I think it is unique, and in its sum, the best. It feels like <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/welcome-home\">home<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>25. What text editor do you use?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Visual Studio Code.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>26. Why do you use that one?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s cross-platform, I\u2019m familiar with it, it has the Git functionality I want. I\u2019m not <em>super<\/em> attached to it. But just haven\u2019t tried other things.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Some of my images are in my GitHub repo, but most of them are in an AWS S3 bucket.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>28. This might not be relevant to you, but what\u2019s your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Not aware of the debate. So no opinion.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Not sure. I suppose I don\u2019t really care.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>30. Do you keep local backups of your files?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Yep!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I see the beauty and merit in both. But have you seen my site? Very info-dense.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I have some <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style#color-palette\">thematic colors<\/a> to be sure, but I also have different <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile#theme-toggle\">themes<\/a> (e.g. light\/dark\/classic) you can toggle through depending on your preference or mood.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>The site? No. I go through drought periods where I am less active, but I\u2019ve never considered shutting the site off or completely walking away. The nice thing about a personal website is you can be as active, or inactive as you want and come back when you please.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>There are a lot of people I have met online in the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> community and via the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> that have their own sites. We are friendly in a digital kinda way. IRL though I don\u2019t know too many folks who have personal websites.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>35. Do people in your real life know about your website?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>They sure do.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>36. Do you update your website very often? How often is \u201cvery often\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019d say my site is <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\">updated<\/a> very frequently <em>most of the time<\/em>. These updates are typically small additions to some of the lists that I keep. When I am very <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">active<\/a> with the site you might also see multiple net new posts in a week.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve gone through a major <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/15\/shellsharks-a-visual-history\">design<\/a> overhaul about every 2 years thus far.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s a bit of everything. I write about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=infosec\">infosec<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=infosec\">technology<\/a> and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=life\">life<\/a> in general\u201d. I\u2019ve given myself the space to write about whatever I want, from my professional pursuits to my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/captains-log\">personal life<\/a>, and everything in between.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>39. Do you do web design professionally?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Not at all.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>40. If not, would you like to? And if you\u2019re comfortable answering, what do you do for work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>At one point in time that was my dream. To work remotely + abroad and do web design \/ web building work. I never really went down that path in the end, opting instead for the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/getting-into-information-security\">cybersecurity<\/a> field.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Occassionally. I do enjoy email correspondence, and try to contact IndieWeb folks from time to time via email just to chat.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>In a way, yes. My site isn\u2019t \u201csocial\u201d, in that it is not federated, it doesn\u2019t support webmentions and there is no commenting system. I like what is on my site to be my content alone. But I write about social media a lot, link out to my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hello\">social presences<\/a> and even <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/pesos\">PESOS<\/a> some social media <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/mastodon-auto-pesos\">content<\/a> back into my site.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I do use them, but they don\u2019t see much action day-to-day. I have and use <a href=\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/3rkHgtcYbb\">Discord<\/a>, Matrix and XMPP (shellsharks@xmpp.earth). I also have lots of traditional \u201ctext messaging\u201d-type apps I use (e.g. Google Voice, WhatsApp, iMessage, etc\u2026)<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Sometimes<\/em>. Just depends on my mood and what I\u2019m doing. For some reason I can listen to music while reading, but not when I\u2019m writing. I can listen to music while I code though. In these cases, I\u2019ll mostly listen to instrumental versions of albums I like and metal.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Monolithic.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Any and all topics.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I pride myself on being <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/why\">genuine<\/a>, both in my writing and in person.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Eh<\/em>, I don\u2019t know about that. But I have built a lot of cool relationships thanks to my site. So that\u2019s neat!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I like the design and functionality of my site. But there\u2019s A LOT I want to improve, some of which I need time to do, and in other cases I need to <em>learn<\/em> how to do it.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>All <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/web-page-annoyances\">these things<\/a>. \ud83d\ude21<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t know if these are <em>under-utilized<\/em> per say, but here\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/good-sitekeeping\">bunch of things<\/a> I recommend for folks to do while they are site building.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I discovered the concept of semantic HTML somewhat recently, and certainly after the first few iterations of my site\u2019s overall design. I\u2019ve incorporated some semantic HTML since then, but it hasn\u2019t yet permeated the entirety of the site\u2019s bones.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>53. Do you consider different browsers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Consider<\/em>? I use Chrome and Safari mostly.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>54. Speaking of, what\u2019s your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I use Safari on my personal computer and Chrome on the professional side.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>55. And what OS are you on?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>macOS.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>56. Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m not a zealot or anything, but I love Mac and am not interested in anything else. Also, have you seen Windows lately? Complete dumpster fire. Aspirationally, I\u2019d like to become a Linux user but in my few attempts to switch over I just haven\u2019t found traction.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I think so. I\u2019ve tried to make it so and done <em>some<\/em> testing. I have special mobile layouts too.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>59. What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Love webrings! I\u2019m in a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/#webrings\">bunch<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>60. Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve never considered any of my pages\/posts a \u201cweb shrine\u201d. But I do have some things maybe you could consider <em>shrine-ey<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/shellsharks-logo\">The Shellsharks Logo Chronicles<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/shellsharks-doodles\">Shellsharks Doodles<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>61. Are your websites \u201ccliche\u201d, in your opinion?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Nah.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>62. What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Hmm<\/em>\u2026 I\u2019d say the \u201cideal\u201d website has\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Unique design \/ <em>some<\/em> unique characteristics. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/good-sitekeeping#whimsy\">Whimsy<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">mix of content types<\/a> (e.g. personal journals, niche\/technical posts, link dumps, etc\u2026)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/site-search\">Search<\/a> capability<\/li>\n  <li>As much of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/good-sitekeeping\">this stuff<\/a> as you can throw in<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>My site has these things and is ideal for me.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>63. Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Oh <u>absolutely<\/u>. Is it <em>good<\/em> art? Well, I\u2019ll let you be the judge of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile#the-artwork\">that<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>64. What are your favourite resource sites?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Not sure what this question means exactly. But I have a lot of IndieWeb resources I keep listed <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#resources\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>65. Is there a habit you just can\u2019t get away from no matter how hard you try?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a bunch of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/writing-mannerisms\">writing mannerisms<\/a>, some of which I try to get away from and others that are just unique to how I go about things.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>66. What\u2019s your biggest advice for a new webmaster?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#what-not-to-worry-about\">Don\u2019t worry<\/a> about doing everything, or being perfect. Just <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/just-put-it-on-your-blog\">add things<\/a> little by little. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/01\/be-yourself\">Be yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>67. Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Some of it is tucked away in CSS files, and unfortunately too much of it is still in-line.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>68. What do you think of frameset layouts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Don\u2019t know much about \u2018em.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>69. How about table-based layouts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Don\u2019t know much about these either. I use a CSS grid kinda thing.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>70. Do you subscribe to the ideas of \u201cone-column\u201d, \u201ctwo-column\u201d and \u201cthree-column\u201d layouts? Do you use any of these?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Yes I like and use these in certain situations. My mobile layout is exclusively single-column. But as the device size gets bigger, you will see content start to spread across multiple columns, especially as it pertains to my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/whats-a-home-page\">home page<\/a>. I like the idea of ToC\u2019s and sidenotes populating side columns for post content too (though I haven\u2019t gotten around to implementing this sort of thing yet).<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>71. Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>No idea. Probably the CSS though because it\u2019s maddening.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>72. Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It\u2019s useful for your thoughts.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I have a number of .txt pages if that counts (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/humans.txt\">humans.txt<\/a>). Most of my site is <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style\">styled<\/a> though.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>73. Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever made a layout I didn\u2019t have something already in mind for.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>74. Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>In terms of having a site in-general, I\u2019d say I\u2019m upper-intermediate at this point. There are some aspects of site design \/ webmastering \/ site-building that I am still not so good at to be honest.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>75. Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a habit. But I do do it on occasion. It\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/localghost.dev\/blog\/this-page-is-under-construction\/\">good thing to do<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>A long time ago I learned the old fashioned way, hand-jamming HTML tags directly into a notepad plaintext file. But in terms of my current site, I\u2019ve learned kinda on-the-go. A mix of reading official documentation, W3schools, stack overflow, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>77. Do you ever force elements to do things they\u2019re not supposed to?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Not sure. But I do use plenty of outdated HTML elements \ud83d\ude05.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>78. Thoughts on floating elements?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Floating how? Like CSS floating things in one direction or not in a container? Or visually \u201cfloating\u201d on page? Not sure how to answer this one.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>79. When you\u2019re sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Whatever works. All of the above.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>80. Do you have a favourite font?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Not really. Maybe something in the Helvetica family?<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>81. Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Sure<\/em>, for a project or something that we had a mutual interest in.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>82. Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Sometimes I\u2019m very active in my surfing\/exploring. Other times I\u2019m not. My <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/infosec-blogs\">infosec sites<\/a>, <span class=\"shellsharks\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a><\/span> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/linklog\">Linklog<\/a> are a few examples of the product of this surfing though.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>83. Do you bookmark other people\u2019s websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Yep<\/em>! I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/bookmarks\">bookmark<\/a> them, subscribe via <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss\">RSS<\/a>, add to specific lists, etc\u2026 I love seeing when other people bookmark, reference, or add my site to theirs in some way too!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>84. What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Maybe <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile\">these things<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>85. Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Yep. I\u2019ve always been into Apple, desk setups, infosec, computing-in-general, that sorta thing. Can\u2019t say I really have any tech-related collections.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>86. How often and for how long are you online?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Too much<\/em>. Basically all day except for when I\u2019m at the gym, sleeping, or spending time with the family.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>87. When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Everyone<\/strong>. I write about infosec, technology and life-in-general.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Not specifically, no.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>89. Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t have any \u201cprograms\u201d on my site (unless you count some shoddy JS code as a \u201cprogram\u201d). I <em>can<\/em> program, but mostly have simple JS and Liquid stuff on the site.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>90. Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Yes. Love! I use <a href=\"https:\/\/jekyllrb.com\">Jekyll<\/a>. \ud83e\udde1<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>91. Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>No. Don\u2019t care. I\u2019m more interested in people directly messaging me.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Not THAT frequently. But I <em>am<\/em> a patron of <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\">infosec.pub<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/discourse.32bit.cafe\">32-Bit Cafe<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>93. Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/uses\">use<\/a> VSCode and git. Here\u2019s some other how-I-do-things-related docs\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/architecture\">Site Architecture<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogging-from-ipad\">Blogging from my iPad<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/get-to-know-my-blog\">Get to know my blog<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>94. Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you\u2019re cool?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m sure there\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/kindness\">someone<\/a> out there who thinks the things I do are cool. Or maybe it\u2019s just me.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>95. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Nah<\/em>. If there is any of my old work that I don\u2019t like though I tend to update it, so that keeps the embarassing stuff to a minimum.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>96. Would you close down your website if you couldn\u2019t update it, or would you leave an archive?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019d like to have my site available <u>indefinitely<\/u>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>97. Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m relatively open book. I don\u2019t put a lot of pictures of myself but I do post a fair bit about what <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/captains-log\">I\u2019m up to personally<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>98. Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and\/or if they have a website?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t think I have an online-specific \u201cbest friend\u201d. I\u2019ve started to build some friendlier online relationships thanks to projects like <span class=\"shellsharks\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a><\/span> though.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>99. And do you optimise the images on your website?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t really. Most of my images are stored in an S3 bucket and pulled in from there.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>100. We\u2019re out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? \u2026.other than exhausted.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s a lot! But once you get in the groove of things you can answer 100 questions pretty quickly.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:08:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/100-webmaster-questions","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/100-webmaster-questions","category":["technology","indieweb","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Scroll v\u012bgint\u012b septem","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-seven<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we ponder a better, although imperfect web, we encourage everyone to join the Fediverse movement, and <em>sigh<\/em>\u2026 AI continues to make us sad.<\/p>\n\n<p>But ya know what doesn\u2019t make me sad? This dope bird mage. \ud83d\udc26 \ud83e\uddd9<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastoart.social\/@ravachol\/115945738310549143\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/kenku-druid.png\" alt=\"Kenku Druid\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p><strong>The \u201cold web\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@Daojoan\/114587431688413845\">wasn\u2019t perfect<\/a><\/strong>, but it\u2019s hard to look at what the web has become and not wonder <a href=\"https:\/\/around.com\/how-the-web-was-lost\/\">how it was lost<\/a>. Those that remember have sought to build a once-again \u201copen web\u201d, but things are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coryd.dev\/posts\/2026\/the-conditionally-open-web\">never that simple<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/mtwb.blog\/posts\/2026\/blogging\/the-indieweb-has-a-discovery-problem\/\">Problems<\/a> abound in this quest to be sure, but for every obstacle, there are ways to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidtoddmccarty.com\/community-feed\/\">mitigate<\/a> and build a better, more open, more <a href=\"https:\/\/cooperative.computer\">cooperative<\/a>, more human web\u2014it doesn\u2019t need to be <em>perfect<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>The lifeblood of this better web is the <strong>classic personal website<\/strong>. If you don\u2019t already have one, what better time than <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/endler.dev\/2026\/personal-blog\/\">now<\/a><\/strong> to do so! There are <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#hosting\">so many<\/a> ways to get <a href=\"https:\/\/simonbc.com\/notes\/2026-01-29-how-jottit-got-started\/\">one<\/a> up and running. There are <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">a lot of reasons<\/a> to have your own website and do some <a href=\"https:\/\/adamcaudill.com\/2026\/01\/04\/lessons-learned-from-20-years-why-you-should-blog\/\">blogging<\/a> there too! And no, simply having a social media presence is <a href=\"http:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2026\/01\/22\/why-blogging-is-better-than-social-media\/\">no substitute<\/a> for an actual website that <em>you own<\/em>. Personally, I like having both a website <em>and<\/em> a standard (Fedi) social media presence. But there are options for making your website\/blog <a href=\"https:\/\/osteophage.neocities.org\/essays\/comments-use-case\">plenty social<\/a> if you\u2019d like.<\/p>\n\n<p>In fact, when it\u2019s <u>your<\/u> site, it can be <strong>whatever you want it to be<\/strong>. You own it, so you can <a href=\"https:\/\/techhub.social\/@alabut\/115980505718574875\">tinker<\/a> with it to your hearts <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.social\/@villapirorum\/115967513687012497\">content<\/a>, no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.terrygodier.com\/phantom-obligation\">obligations<\/a>. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/antonyfb.com\/blog\/site-updates-jan26.html\">update<\/a> and change whatever you want, whenever you want. If you\u2019re worried about the technical aspects of creating and managing a website, <em>don\u2019t<\/em>! There\u2019s plenty of <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/a-beginners-guide-to-the-indieweb-for-writers-who-dont-code-but-maybe-want-to-a-little\/\">no code<\/a> or low-code options available. Does your website have to be good? Does it need to <a href=\"https:\/\/chronosaur.us\/comparison-is-the-thief-of-joy\/\">look like other people\u2019s sites<\/a>? <em>No<\/em>! In fact, I\u2019d encourage you to make it unique. Make it <em>you<\/em>. <em>Hell<\/em>, make it <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@someodd\/115964865158989529\">purposefully worse<\/a> than other sites you see. Honestly that\u2019s the beauty of the personal, IndieWeb. Doin\u2019 whatever you like.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Who would you rather <strong>trust to safeguard your online communities<\/strong>, your digital relationships, and your personal presence\/identity on the web? Elon Musk? Mark Zuckerberg? Some other billionaire or privacy annihilating big tech entity? Or would you trust your <em>actual<\/em> community? This isn\u2019t fantasy. There are <u>real<\/u> options to <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.com\/blog\/fediverse-an-overview-for-community-organizers\/\">build<\/a>, maintain and join online communities no longer reliant on the traditional tectonics of \u201cbig social\u201d. Your first step? Simply <a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.the-counterforce.org\">sign-up<\/a>. <em>Congratulations<\/em>, you are now a <a href=\"https:\/\/vebinet.com\/@dawid\/115980586541269075\">hero<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Perhaps you\u2019re concerned that the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>\u201d, or the \u201cSocial Web\u201d is simply too fledgling for you to entrust something this important to\u2014to invest this much time into. <em>Well<\/em>, I\u2019d still argue that given the alternative, it\u2019s worth it regardless. But if it allays any fears you might have, take some time to do some research and see all the work that is being put into making this big-tech-free web a reality. There\u2019s <strong>so much innovation<\/strong> to be found! We\u2019ve got E2E encryption coming courtesy of the <a href=\"https:\/\/publickey.directory\">Public Key Directory<\/a>, LinkedIn will soon be a <a href=\"https:\/\/nolto.social\">thing of the past<\/a>, we\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/msonnb\/fedisky\">bridging networks<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/static.stefanbohacek.com\/mansplaining\/\">eradicating mansplaining<\/a> while we\u2019re at it. Come join us!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>AI <em>isn\u2019t<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/adversa.ai\/blog\/cascading-failures-in-agentic-ai-complete-owasp-asi08-security-guide-2026\/\">secure<\/a>. AI <em>can\u2019t<\/em> be <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.slonser.info\/posts\/smugglle-ai-ouputs\/\">trusted<\/a>. But AI <a href=\"https:\/\/isopenaideadyet.com\">lives on<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/sage.thesharps.us\/2014\/09\/01\/the-gentle-art-of-patch-review\/\">Patch<\/a> yo shit.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Time to go goblin mode\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/merveilles.town\/@helveticablanc\/115962265234458229\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/goblin-magician.png\" alt=\"Goblin Magician\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 02 Feb 2026 12:03:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-02","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-02-02","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll v\u012bgint\u012b sextus","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-six<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we talk about what it means to be a part of the IndieWeb, we ask ourselves \u201ccan we build a better social network?\u201d, and we mess with Claude.<\/p>\n\n<p>Shoutout to <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.ca\/@atomicker\">atomicker<\/a> for the steady stream of awesome Japanese art, and specifically this beautiful snowy piece that spoke to me most recently while I\u2019ve been snowed in \u2744\ufe0f.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.ca\/@atomicker\/115924007413553815\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/snow-shrine.png\" alt=\"Snow at Ueno Toshogu Shrine (1929)\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Quick pulse check here for the Internet. <strong>Is it <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dead_Internet_theory\">dead<\/a><\/strong>? <em>Not yet<\/em>\u2014and thanks to efforts such as the collective <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> movement, the Internet does in fact <a href=\"https:\/\/crimew.gay\/notice\/Asp6vadmUsazVNukPg\">live<\/a>. We all have our own ideas, our own <a href=\"https:\/\/rant.li\/ashwin\/visions-for-a-new-web\">vision<\/a> for what a better web would look like. We see the things that exist today that make us <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2026\/linktree-makes-me-sad\/\">sad<\/a> and we imagine a better way. <em>Everyone<\/em> uses the Internet in some fashion, and of that group, an overwhelming majority probably uses some form of social media and other large corporate sites. What percentage of that group in-turn has any concept of what the IndieWeb is? Do they realize there is an <a href=\"https:\/\/newpublic.substack.com\/p\/the-handmade-internet-is-making-a\">alternative<\/a> to doom scrolling? A place where the AI slop machines have yet to take root? A truly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mnot.net\/blog\/2026\/01\/20\/open_web\">open web<\/a>, unique and designed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joanwestenberg.com\/the-case-for-blogging-in-the-ruins\/\">humans<\/a>, for humans? The IndieWeb is <a href=\"https:\/\/shojiwax.com\/2026\/01\/22\/rebuilding-the-indieweb-one-tendril-at-a-time\/\">small<\/a>, you might even describe it as fledgling. But it\u2019s been around for as long as the Internet has been a thing, and it will continue to exist, at least on the fringes of the larger Internet no matter what happens with the corporate leviathans of the modern Internet age. So go <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">get yourself a blog<\/a> and help us keep the Internet alive and <a href=\"https:\/\/gagor.pro\/2026\/01\/digital-gardening\/\">beautiful<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s one thing to wax poetic about the IndieWeb (<em>as I often do<\/em>), and another thing to actually do it, to be a part of it, to help build it, to join the community as it were. A lot of people have different ideas of what it means to be a \u201cpart\u201d of the IndieWeb. I\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#principle-mechanics\">written about it<\/a>, but honestly I feel it can be simplified even further. For me, the ultimate distillation of what it means to be \u201cpart of the IndieWeb\u201d, is to have your own site (at a domain that you own), and to publish your own content there in some way. <em>That\u2019s it<\/em>. Now, this doesn\u2019t solve for <a href=\"https:\/\/osteophage.neocities.org\/essays\/indie-web-priorities\">issues<\/a> regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/marijkeluttekes.dev\/blog\/articles\/2026\/01\/21\/why-light-weight-websites-may-one-day-save-your-life\/\">technology<\/a>, or onboarding, or <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/how-you-can-support-indie-creators-and-you-need-to\/\">community<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2026\/01\/21\/share-your-website-at-events\">discovery<\/a>, etc\u2026 But it atleast opens the scope to be as inclusive as possible in my mind. Beyond having your own site and putting some stuff there, I think the next best thing you can do to help promote and strengthen the IndieWeb is to just read other people\u2019s stuff, share it, <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@hikingdude\/115925916357972569\">link to it<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/thoughts\/thoughts-on-people-and-blogs\">contact the respective creators<\/a> and let them know you read it, or that you liked it, or that it inspired you, etc\u2026 We\u2019re better together\u2014in real life, and on the web!<\/p>\n\n<p>Looking for more to do on your site? Here\u2019s some ideas! Create a <a href=\"https:\/\/villepreux.net\/blog\/notes\/2026-01-19-18-30\/\">save button<\/a>, add your favorite sites to a <a href=\"https:\/\/westkarana.xyz\">blogroll<\/a>, give your site a <a href=\"https:\/\/stephvee.ca\/blog\/updates\/a-clean-redesign-for-2026\/\">new coat of paint<\/a> (your <a href=\"https:\/\/whitep4nth3r.com\/blog\/website-redesign-2026\/\">site design<\/a> is a constant evolution), turn your site into a <a href=\"https:\/\/squeaki.sh\/p\/i-turned-my-website-into-my-feed-reader\/\">feed reader<\/a>, publish your <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2026\/01\/06\/citation-preferences\">citation preferences<\/a> (kinda like <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/extending-indieweb-txt-reference\">I did<\/a>), and\/or answer the <a href=\"https:\/\/theresmiling.eu\/blog\/2026\/01\/100-webmaster-questions\">100 webmaster questions<\/a>. Just remember, it\u2019s always a good time to <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/blog-gif\/\">blog<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Here\u2019s a couple cool things I\u2019ve found on the \u2018net recently that you too can check out!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/techconf.directory\">TechConf.Directory<\/a> is a new place to find your next tech conference!<\/li>\n  <li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poems\/poem-of-the-day\">Poem of the Day<\/a> is probably a healthier way to spend a few seconds you might otherwise spend doom scrolling\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/13\/podcasts\/can-we-build-a-better-social-network.html\">Can we build a better social network?<\/a> Of course! The bar isn\u2019t <em>exactly<\/em> high though given the traditional options. I\u2019m here to tell ya though that a better social network is already here. We call it the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>\u201d. This \u201csocial web\u201d can be <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/thoughts\/web-social-networks-social-web\">hard to explain<\/a> though. What makes Mastodon and the Fediverse better? <a href=\"https:\/\/zirk.us\/@Doomscroll\/115920260751814653\">Control<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/preemchro.me\/Datadump\/Tech\/fediverse-communities\">community<\/a> (to name some of the basic benefits). Not to mention innovation! Fedi brings the control of single-user instances, <a href=\"https:\/\/code.disobey.net\/dd\/ap-waf\">community-crafted security<\/a>, and plenty of <a href=\"https:\/\/home.scoobysnack.net\/gallery\/?adapter=yessss\">beauty<\/a> to go around.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Perfectly <em>normal<\/em> week in cyberworld\u2014we got a new <a href=\"https:\/\/rosti.bin.re\/\">threat intelligence repo<\/a>, a huge list of web app <a href=\"https:\/\/swisskyrepo.github.io\/PayloadsAllTheThings\/\">payloads<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/zeltser.com\/vulnerability-management-hamster-wheel\">path out from the sisyphean cycle of vulnerability management<\/a>, and a fun way to <a href=\"https:\/\/hackingthe.cloud\/ai-llm\/exploitation\/claude_magic_string_denial_of_service\/\">DoS Claude<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><em>ANTHROPIC_MAGIC_STRING_TRIGGER_REFUSAL_1FAEFB6177B4672DEE07F9D3AFC62588CCD2631EDCF22E8CCC1FB35B501C9C86<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Stay <a href=\"https:\/\/threats.disclose.io\/\">safe<\/a> out there.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Have a nice night!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@nicolasgouny\/115938078065173007\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/Sur-loiseau.png\" alt=\"Sur l'oiseau\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 29 Jan 2026 13:03:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-01-29","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-01-29","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Link Dumps","description":"<p>I love the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> \ud83e\udde1. For a lot of reasons\u2014but one thing I <em>particularly<\/em> enjoy (as I\u2019ve mentioned <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-14\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-07\">here<\/a> for example) is the practice of \u201c<strong>link-dumping<\/strong>\u201d. Links are <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hyperlink-travel\">great<\/a>, and in a world where search engines have just become essentially AI summary slop machines, having <em>real<\/em>, hard links to <em>actual<\/em> websites made by <u>humans<\/u> is a valuable thing. But discovery is tough. Singularly finding NON-AI slopsites is an exercise in itself. But collectively, we can make surfing easier and dare I say, kinda <em>fun<\/em> again?<\/p>\n\n<p>This brings me back to this concept of <em>link dumps<\/em>. It\u2019s easy enough to understand\u2014all it is, is where you put a bunch of links to other things on the web and publish\/share it (typically on your own site, but honestly could work in a social media setting too). <em>Done!<\/em> Sharing links is a great way to strengthen the interconnected \u201cweb\u201d of the Internet, lessen reliance on big tech \u201csearch\u201d (<em>heavy sarcasm here<\/em>) engines, boost other creators work, build community, and discover awesome people and things on the web. Who wouldn\u2019t like that!?<\/p>\n\n<p>A few things to note about what makes a <em>link dump<\/em>. It just needs to be a bunch of links. <em>Easy<\/em>. It doesn\u2019t HAVE to be published weekly or at any set cadence and it can really just be in a list or, if you want, could have more <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">narrative style<\/a> to it. So, here we go! Below is a link dump of link dumps! Happy surfin\u2019 \ud83e\udd19<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"link-dump-list\">Link Dump List<\/h2>\n\n<p>A list of link dumps from cool indieweb folks (in no real particular order).<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/localghost.dev\/tags\/links\/\">Good links<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/localghost.dev\/about\/\">Sophie<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/tags\/weeknotes\">weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/about\/\">Joel<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kaigulliksen.com\/link-dump-january-2026\/\">Link Dump<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/kaigulliksen.com\">Kai<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/tags\/roundup\/\">in Review<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/contact\/\">axxuy<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/felix.gripe\/tags\/#tag-weeknotes\">weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/felix.gripe\/about\/\">Felix<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/burgeonlab.com\/weeknotes\/\">Weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/burgeonlab.com\/about\/\">Burgeon Lab<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/stevenbrady.com\/blog\/weekly-recap-2025w42\">Weekly Recap<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/stevenbrady.com\">Steven<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/thejeshgn.com\/2025\/10\/10\/weekly-notes-41-2025\/\">Weekly Notes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/thejeshgn.com\/about\/\">Thejesh<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wersdoerfer.de\/blogs\/ephes_blog\/weeknotes-2025-07-28-sentinel-values-indieweb-updates-and-new-hardware\/\">Weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/wersdoerfer.de\">Jochen and Katharina<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/michael.kjorling.se\/blog\/tag\/links\/\">Links<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/michael.kjorling.se\">Michael<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/anhvn.com\/posts\/2025\/weeknotes-33\/\">Weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/anhvn.com\/about\/\">anh<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/notes.krueger.ink\/posts\/week-notes-no-2425\">Week Notes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/notes.krueger.ink\">Kerri<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Weekly <a href=\"https:\/\/lostfocus.de\/2025\/05\/04\/2025-w18-success\/\">link dump<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/dominikschwind.com\">Dominik<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/category\/weeknotes\/\">Weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/about\/\">Tracy<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lmorchard.com\/tag\/miscellanea\/\">Miscellanea<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/lmorchard.com\">Les<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tahimik.com\/journal\/week-note-35\">Week Note<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/tahimik.com\/about\">tahimik<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/eli.li\/something-something-something-week-notes\">week notes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/eli.li\/portal\">eli<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/zoeaubert.me\/tags\/monthly-notes\/\">Monthly Notes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/zoeaubert.me\">Zoe<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/andreabergia.com\/tags\/links-list\/\">Links list<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/andreabergia.com\/about\/\">Andrea<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/abhinavsarkar.net\/linkblog\/\">Link Blog<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/abhinavsarkar.net\/about\/\">Abhinav<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk\/blogs\/artists-notebook\/tagged\/link-dump\">Link Dump<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk\/artists\/paul-watson\">Paul<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethtai.com\/category\/link-blog\/\">Link Blog<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethtai.com\/start-here\/\">Elizabeth<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/82mhz.net\/posts\/2026\/01\/linkdump-no-91\/\">Linkdump<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/82mhz.net\">Andreas<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/britthub.co.uk\/a-gathering-of-links-4\/\">A Gathering of Links<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/britthub.co.uk\/about\/\">Britt<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/scraps\">Scraps<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/about\">Fyr<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/moule.world\/links.php\">Links<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/moule.world\/about.php\">MOULE<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/thomasrigby.com\/tags\/weeknotes\/\">weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasrigby.com\">Thom<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kedara.eu\/bookmarks\/2025-11\/\">Personal web finds<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/kedara.eu\">Ruben<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dreamindani.com\/posts\/bookmark-beat-ep24\">Bookmark Beat<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/dreamindani.com\/\">Dani<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/brettterpstra.com\/2025\/02\/15\/web-excursions-for-february-15th-2025\/\">Web Excursions<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/brettterpstra.com\/contact\/\">Brett<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mihobu.lol\/weeknotes-week-07-2025\">Weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/mihobu.lol\/weeknotes-week-07-2025\">Michael<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/piccalil.li\/the-index\/\">The Index<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/piccalil.li\/about\/\">Piccalilli<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adamsdesk.com\/topic\/littlebits\/\">Littlebits<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adamsdesk.com\/about\/\">Adam<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/benjaminhollon.com\/weeknotes\/2026-W06\/\">Weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/benjaminhollon.com\">Benjamin<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/rknight.me\/blog\/tags\/weeknotes\/\">Weeknotes<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/rknight.me\/about\/\" class=\"rknight me\">Robb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dreamindani.com\/posts\/bookmark-beat-ep25\">Bookmark Beat<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/dreamindani.com\/\">Dani<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a> from me! <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\">Shellsharks<\/a> (I also have my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/linklog\">Linklog<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve got your own link dump or link log thingy you want added to this list feel free to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/contact\">reach out<\/a>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:05:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/link-dumps","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/link-dumps","category":["technology","indieweb","technology","blog","list"]},{"title":"Canonicalize Your Web Identity and Achieve Data Sovereignty with PESOS","description":"<p>Who are you on the web? Are you what your Linkedin says you are? Or your Facebook? What about Instagram? Mastodon? TikTok? Reddit? You probably wouldn\u2019t say any one of those is really <em>you<\/em>. Each of these represent only a <em>fraction<\/em> of our collective self on the Internet, none of them truly embodying our real, complete personage as we want it known. We rent these spaces to share our fractured selves, but we don\u2019t actually own our identities, our words or our relationships. They are locked inside each of the individual silos, for the gain of corporations, not for the welfare of we the people who give those spaces life and value. \n<br \/><br \/>\nTo combat this digital decay, we have the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a>, a movement engineered to reclaim our created content, establish more resilient communities and control exactly how and what we want to share with the world. The IndieWeb isn\u2019t universal though, and it lacks some of the social capabilities we\u2019ve come to know and enjoy that these other platforms possess. How can we reconcile the notion of using the IndieWeb as our singular, canonical point-of-presence on the Internet while also continuing to subordinate and store our content in the traditional, corporate-owned platforms? One answer, is <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p><strong>PESOS<\/strong> is an acronym for <strong>Publish Elsewhere, Syndicate (to your) Own Site<\/strong>. It\u2019s a syndication model where publishing starts by posting to a 3rd-party platform, then using infrastructure (e.g. feeds, Micropub, webhooks), create an archive copy on your site. <sup id=\"fnref:1\"><a href=\"#fn:1\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Similar to <em>PESOS<\/em> (but in reverse), the IndieWeb community also espouses a similar syndication model, <strong>POSSE<\/strong>\u2014which is the practice of posting content on your own site <em>first<\/em>, then publishing copies or sharing links to third parties. <sup id=\"fnref:2\"><a href=\"#fn:2\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<div style=\"padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 15px; width: fit-content; border-style:solid; border-width: 2px;\">\n<b>NOTE<\/b>: In practice, though <i>POSSE<\/i> may be more IndieWeb-forward, I think it is a less realistic and less-useful model as it does not allow you to fully exist inside the social communities you are interacting with. Rather, you are posting things natively to your site and having that content forklifted to various services across the Internet. This content often doesn't respect the nuanced manner and specific contexts in which you are expected to post (e.g. character limits, hashtags, @handles, etc...). For this reason, we'll primarily discuss <i>PESOS<\/i>.\n<\/div>\n\n<p><em>PESOS<\/em> when coupled with an IndieWeb presence, is a simple model which allows us to achieve data soverignty, optimally curate how we express ourselves, and establish a canonical presence for ourselves on the web. Since we are archiving content <em>back<\/em> to our own site, we can own it outright. Since we choose <em>what<\/em> we want to archive, and exactly <em>how<\/em> it is displayed, we are free to be exactly who we want to be. And since everything is going to a singular spot, that you own, it can be a permanent place for anyone to find <u>you<\/u>, in perpetuity.<\/p>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re looking for further inspiration and examples of this in action, check out the following sites which have done an awesome job bringing <em>PESOS<\/em> to life!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/aaronparecki.com\">Aaron Parecki<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\">Jason Kottke<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mollywhite.net\/feed\">Molly White<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\/\">Shellsharks<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>This all sounds great right? But <a href=\"#how-to-pesos\">how exactly<\/a> do we do this\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"how-to-pesos\">How to PESOS<\/h1>\n\n<p>Some things are easier said than done, and with <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a>, this is true in many ways. There are a few things to consider when you are architecting a <em>PESOS<\/em>-driven syndication \/ archival strategy.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>Ensure you have a repository (i.e. a website) that <em>you own<\/em> for everything to go to<\/li>\n  <li>Understand what <em>exactly<\/em> you want to archive<\/li>\n  <li>Will you archive content in a manual or automation fashion?<\/li>\n  <li>Acquire tooling\/technology to perform archival \/ syndication<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<h3 id=\"own-your-website-own-your-data\">Own Your Website, Own Your Data<\/h3>\n\n<p>To not fall into the same content ownership trap that we\u2019ve traditionally had with centralized platforms, it is important that the site you use, the one you are \u201c<em>PESOS<\/em>-ing\u201d to, is one that you <em>own<\/em>. Ownership in this context means\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>You purchase and are able to use a custom domain name<\/li>\n  <li>You have some level of access to all your content (e.g. backups of all your posts and other relevant data\/files)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>There are site\/blog-hosting platforms out there that offer one-of, but not <em>both<\/em> of these qualities.<\/p>\n\n<p>For example, consider a platform where you retain access to your data, but your site exists under a subdomain of the larger parent company (e.g. \u201c<em>shellsharks.medium.com<\/em>\u201d). If you ever decided to leave this platform, or the platform disappears, or <em>enshittifies<\/em>, you may retain your content, but your identity disappears with it. Similarly, consider a platform where you can bring your own domain name, but your content is locked away in some proprietary CMS. If you don\u2019t take precautionary measures to keep regular backups of your content, you could lose that content completely in the event of service closure, or merely at the whims of the provider.<\/p>\n\n<p>Only with both of these criteria can you resiliently port your data and identity to different web hosts and blogging platforms, retaining ownership of your data, and not losing the all-so-important pointer to your self on the web (i.e. your domain name).<\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of data ownership, let\u2019s discuss <a href=\"#what-should-you-archive\">what\u2019s important to you<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"what-should-you-archive\">What Should You Archive?<\/h3>\n\n<p>Do you want to bring everything you post elsewhere on the Internet back to your site? What does <em>everything<\/em> even mean? Replies, boosts, likes, posts\u2014<em>everything<\/em>? Maybe you do. I know I don\u2019t. It\u2019s just something you need to decide for yourself, based on what\u2019s important for you to archive, what you want to have exposed on your site, and what you think you\u2019ll want in the future.<\/p>\n\n<p>I for example, was not interested in archiving a lot of my social interactions. I don\u2019t care to bring back \u201clikes\u201d, or \u201cboosts\/reposts\u201d. Even the overwhelming majority of my \u201creply posts\u201d are not something I care to keep long term\u2014they serve no useful purpose as reference material, and in most cases are just li\u2019l blurbs like \u201cheya! \ud83d\udc4b\u201d. Not exactly worth retaining a copy of every instance of this. Even a lot of my regular, original \u201cposts\u201d are not worth keeping as they are either me manually syndicating (<em>POSSE<\/em>-style) something I\u2019ve published first on my site, or they are simply (<em>and pardon my french<\/em>) <em>shitposts<\/em>. I don\u2019t need these things permalinked on my site.<\/p>\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve got the general idea of <em>what<\/em> you want to archive, you\u2019ll be better informed as to <a href=\"#manual-andor-automated-syndication\">how you plan to archive<\/a> this content.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"manual-andor-automated-syndication\">Manual and\/or Automated Syndication<\/h3>\n\n<p>Whether to manually or automatically syndicate content to your site is as much a technological challenge as it is a philosophical question. For me, I prefer a more highly curated approach to what I share on my site. So I am hesitant to auto-publish content that originates across my Internet-of-platforms back to my site without either first reviewing \/ approving (and often enriching) it or unless their is robust logic in place which determines whether I would want it archived.<\/p>\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve settled on an approach though, a new challenge is born. <em>Manually<\/em> archiving is very time consuming, and does not scale well. You have to either have A LOT of time on your hands (if you post a lot elsewhere), or just <em>not<\/em> have a lot you care to archive back. On the other hand, automatic syndication requires bespoke tooling &amp; technology. Some combination of services or hosted-scripts that can be triggered to grab content from one place, transform it, and then put it on your site. Let\u2019s talk about that <a href=\"#archival-tooling--technology\">tooling &amp; technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"archival-tooling--technology\">Archival Tooling &amp; Technology<\/h3>\n\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of tools out there to archive your <em>stuff<\/em>. Not all of it works. Not all of it is compatible with the blogging \/ site platform you may have chosen. Not all of it will work with the services you are trying to extract content from. Some of the tech is only semi-automatic. You\u2019ll have to do some research and cobble together what actually works to achieve the results you\u2019ve decided you want.<\/p>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re on Mastodon (as I am), you may be interested in using the <a href=\"https:\/\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\">Mastodon Markdown Archive<\/a> utility. It\u2019s author, <a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/about\/\">Gabriel<\/a> explains how he uses it for <a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/notes\/archiving-and-syndicating-mastodon-posts\/\">archiving and syndicating Mastodon posts<\/a>. In fact, I used this tool for my own <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/mastodon-auto-pesos\">Mastodon Auto-PESOS<\/a> needs.<\/p>\n\n<p>The IndieWeb is a thriving network of communities, and <em>PESOS<\/em> is not some nascent ideology. There\u2019s a groundswell of people looking to reclaim their data and their identities. As such, there is a lot of tooling out there, already built, that you can find and use to archive your data, the <em>PESOS<\/em>-way.<\/p>\n\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\n\n<p>The beauty of the IndieWeb, is that it\u2019s all about <u>you<\/u>. Your data, your identity, your choice. You can choose to archive stuff, you could <em>not<\/em>! You can archive things and then delete them later. You can choose how your content looks, edit it, add to it, <em>whatever<\/em>! <strong>PESOS<\/strong> is the best of all worlds. You can continue to participate in the centralized platforms, for all their social utility, but remain fully in control of your data and your identity. <em>Perfect<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"references\">References<\/h1>\n\n<div class=\"footnotes\" role=\"doc-endnotes\">\n  <ol>\n    <li id=\"fn:1\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS | Indieweb.org<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:1\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:2\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/POSSE\">POSSE | Indieweb.org<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:2\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 21 Jan 2026 12:35:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/pesos","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/pesos","category":["technology","indieweb","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Scroll v\u012bgint\u012b qu\u012bnque","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-five<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we do some web surfin\u2019, pulse-check the social web, and keep right on cyberin\u2019. So get-t\u2019-scrollin\u2019 right meow!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@shaferbrown\/115764866420029220\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/office-cat.png\" alt=\"Evening at the cat office\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re here, <em>congrats<\/em>! You\u2019ve made it to the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thoughts.melonking.net\/guides\/introduction-to-the-web-revival-1-what-is-the-web-revival\">IndieWeb<\/a><\/strong> (or <em>whatever<\/em> we\u2019re calling this\u2014the cozy, <a href=\"https:\/\/quietportal.com\">quiet<\/a>, personal side of the Internet). Make no mistake, this <u>is<\/u> the <a href=\"https:\/\/whateverthing.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/05\/the-future-is-cooperative\/\">future<\/a> for the web. For any other future, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justsayno.ai\">just say no<\/a>. There\u2019s so much to <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/building-an-indieauth-comment-system-for-your-static-site\/\">do<\/a> here, so much to <a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/what-i-have-learned-being-on-the-indieweb-for-a-month\/\">learn<\/a>, and so many really cool, <a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/ringspace\/\">actual humans<\/a> to meet!<\/p>\n\n<p>So <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#resources\">go get yourself a website<\/a>! Or just keep <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hyperlink-travel\">surfin\u2019<\/a> around. Yeah, it may be a bit <a href=\"https:\/\/hakkerblog.pages.dev\/blog\/its-lonely-here\/\">quieter<\/a> over here, but despite what you may have heard, personal websites\u2014\u201cblogs\u201d\u2014aren\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/webdesignerdepot.com\/blogging-is-dead-long-live-the-blog\/\">dead<\/a> yet! \ud83d\udc80 \ud83d\ude04<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Lookin\u2019 for some cool sites to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#explore-the-indieweb\">browse<\/a>? Here\u2019s some I\u2019ve come across recently\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/alis.me\">The Wyrd<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <strong>Alis<\/strong> has some fantastic artwork and overall nice aesthetic.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\">brennan.day<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <strong>Brennan<\/strong> is indietastic, information dense \ud83e\udde1, and has a ton of cool posts from what I\u2019ve read so far!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Is the <a href=\"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2025\/12\/10\/the-social-web-is-dying-is-that-a-good-thing\/\">social web dying<\/a>? <em>Nah<\/em>. In my opinion, and thanks to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchengine.show\/the-fediverse-experiment\/\">Fediverse<\/a>, the true social web <a href=\"https:\/\/maho.dev\/2026\/01\/the-forkiverse-experiment-and-why-instance-choice-matters\">experiment<\/a> has only just begun. The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>, as it exists today is <a href=\"https:\/\/jaz.co.uk\/2026\/01\/13\/there-is-one-fediverse-there-are-a-thousand-ways-to-join-it\/\">not just one thing<\/a>. Rather, it is a network of interconnected apps, platforms and communities. You may have only just heard about it, but it\u2019s been around for a while. And despite what you may read in the \u201cmedia\u201d, it\u2019s not going away any time soon (or ever <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/18\/mastodon-will-never-die\">if you ask me<\/a>). Unlike traditional corporate social media though, it\u2019s vibrancy is 100% <a href=\"https:\/\/beige.party\/@LibertyForward1\/115877852928527691\">reliant on us<\/a>\u2014to share, to be kind, and to tend to our social spaces. Come join us!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>I say \u201c<em>Cyber<\/em>\u201d, you say \u201c<em>Security<\/em>\u201d!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>CYBER<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Oh well<\/em>, here\u2019s some infosec stuff I\u2019ve found this past week or so\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>First, some stuff to read and learn\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>You got that AI? Of course you do. It\u2019s time to map and reduce that attack surface yo. So check this out\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sans.org\/white-papers\/interrogators-attack-surface-mapping-agentic-world\">Interrogators: Attack Surface Mapping in an Agentic World<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Because <em>yeah<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/rys.io\/en\/181.html\">AI will compromise your cybersecurity posture<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>Read about the state of <a href=\"https:\/\/openssf.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/08\/signal-in-the-noise-an-industry-wide-perspective-on-the-state-of-vex\/\">VEX<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>Here\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/soatok.blog\/2026\/01\/04\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-email-encryption-in-2026\/\">everything you need to know about email encryption<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>You know you want to learn <a href=\"https:\/\/feedly.com\/ti-essentials\/posts\/how-to-operationalize-the-cti-cmm-a-practical-guide\">how to operationalize the CTI-CMM<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>Learn some <a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/research\/the-fragile-lock\">novel bypasses for SAML auth<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>While we\u2019re on auth, give your OAuth apps the side-eye with <a href=\"https:\/\/cirriustech.co.uk\/blog\/oidsee\/\">OID-See<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>\u2026and now, some interesting tools &amp; frameworks\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/engage.mitre.org\">MITRE ENGAGE<\/a> framework can be used for planning and discussing adversary engagement operations and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.redteammaturity.com\">Red Team Maturity<\/a> site provides a standardized, community-informed Capability Maturity Model to measure, report on, and plan for internal Red Team maturity.<\/li>\n  <li><em>LOL<\/em>, here\u2019s <em>another<\/em> technique catalog for pwning Proxmox\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/lolprox.yxz.red\/\">LOLPROX<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nesbitt.io\/2026\/01\/08\/brew-vulns-cve-scanning-for-homebrew.html\">Scan Homebrew for vulns<\/a>. Gotta find those vulns!<\/li>\n  <li><em>Oink<\/em>! It\u2019s BloodHound, but for SCCM\u2026 and with pigs\u2026 It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/specterops.io\/blog\/2026\/01\/13\/introducing-configmanbearpig-a-bloodhound-opengraph-collector-for-sccm\/\">ConfigManBearPig<\/a>!<\/li>\n  <li>Finally, make your links a little creepier with <a href=\"https:\/\/creepylink.com\">CreepyLink<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>. Stay warm out there!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@nicolasgouny\/115888924069604962?kjy=spring\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/sadness-of-the-wolf.png\" alt=\"Sadness of the wolf\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 21 Jan 2026 09:36:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-01-21","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-01-21","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll v\u012bgint\u012b quattuor","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-four<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we discuss the point of blogging, what social media is (and isn\u2019t), and drop a lot of awesome infosec tools\/resources.<\/p>\n\n<p>Scrolls isn\u2019t dead yet. <em>Let\u2019s go<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/oldbytes.space\/@mistfunk\/115468198951885151\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/skeletal.png\" alt=\"Skeletal\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>What\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/underlap.org\/visitor-stats-and-the-point-of-blogging\/\">point of blogging<\/a>? <a href=\"https:\/\/cobb.land\/posts\/whos-a-blog-for\/\">Who\u2019s a blog for<\/a>? I\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/why\">always said<\/a> my blog is a <a href=\"https:\/\/crystaltouchton.com\/ego\/\">place for myself<\/a>, but it can of course be so much <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/about-writing-and-audience\/\">more<\/a>. These days, people really don\u2019t think much about \u201cblogging\u201d in the classic sense. Instead, we\u2019ve grown accustomed to shoving our thoughts into small, character-constrained boxes owned by [INSERT BIG TECH COMPANY NAME HERE]. We\u2019ve gone from surfing to scrolling, and we <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/2025\/12\/04\/how-the-web-was-lost-internet-this-is-for-everyone\/\">lost the web<\/a> along the way. This is where the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a> comes into play\u2014as a means to reclaim digital independence, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@mttaggart\/115408478557963285\">beauty<\/a> that once was.<\/p>\n\n<p>So what should you do with <em>your<\/em> site? (Y\u2019know, once you\u2019ve got one <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.com\/blog\/how-to-make-a-website-in-5-minutes\/\">up<\/a>.) You can really do <em>anything<\/em>, but I like the idea of making your site a digital <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/welcome-home\">home<\/a> of sorts. Your site, as it exists on the web, doesn\u2019t need to conform, or have any specific things, or be \u201ca part\u201d of <a href=\"https:\/\/websiteleague.org\">anything<\/a>. It can just kinda <em>be there<\/em>, at an address <u>you own<\/u>. You can put <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/just-put-it-on-your-blog\">whatever<\/a> you like there. That said, as the owner of a site, at a domain you own, you are in many ways already part of something larger known as the \u201cIndieWeb\u201d. So where can you <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/where-are-we-going-indieweb\/\">go<\/a> with that? Honestly, I think just writing, and publishing said writing on your site is a great place to start. If you\u2019re looking for inspiration, community, or prompts, check out the various <a href=\"https:\/\/writingmonth.org\">writing months<\/a> (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasrigby.com\/posts\/tilvember-2025\/\">TILvember<\/a>) or the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/IndieWeb_Carnival\">IndieWeb Carnival<\/a>. Not sure you know what you want to write? Maybe try <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheeeeeeeep.art\/replant.html\">replanting<\/a> some older, or forgotten articles on your site. Or, you can help connect the web by sharing sites you love on your own site, through something like a <a href=\"https:\/\/sethmlarson.dev\/blogrolls-are-the-best-rolls\">blogroll<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>One thing you should <em>absolutely<\/em> do for your site, especially if you have, or plan to have, any type of \u201cposts\u201d there, is have an <a href=\"https:\/\/thehistoryoftheweb.com\/rss-well-formed-log-entry\/\">RSS feed<\/a>\u2014because <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.burkert.me\/posts\/in_praise_of_syndication\/\">RSS is awesome<\/a>. RSS is <a href=\"https:\/\/werd.io\/why-rss-matters\/\">important<\/a>, it is the <a href=\"https:\/\/xslt.rip\">tried<\/a> and true, <a href=\"https:\/\/fossforce.com\/2025\/10\/rss-not-algorithms-how-open-source-tech-can-reclaim-reliable-news\/\">reliable<\/a> way to share your content with others, and consume a variety of <a href=\"https:\/\/powrss.com\">content<\/a> from across the web. Simple. Easy. Free. <em>Do it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Lastly, don\u2019t forget. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wheresyoured.at\/the-haters-gui\/\">AI sucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Here\u2019s a handful of cool sites I\u2019ve enjoyed recently\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mcyoung.xyz\/2025\/10\/21\/ssa-1\/\">mcyoung<\/a> has an extremely eye-pleasing indie site \ud83e\udd29.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hisvirusness.com\">HISVIRUSNESS<\/a> has an awesome hackery\/indie feel to it.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mewho.com\/titan\/\">This site<\/a>\u2014I\u2019m honestly not sure what is going on with it, but it looks <em>amazing<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>What we\u2019ve seen in the social media landscape over the past 4 years or so should be enough to convince you that you shouldn\u2019t rely on big tech, or any social media platform to function as your \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/lovergine.com\/socials-they-are-not-your-home.html\">identity<\/a>\u201d on the web. But that doesn\u2019t mean social media isn\u2019t as <a href=\"https:\/\/werd.io\/why-the-open-social-web-matters-now\/\">important as ever<\/a>, as a place for community, news, organization and more. Carefully consider where you decide to set down <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.online\/@roots\">roots<\/a> in terms of social media and building a community. No one platform is going to give you everything, but many will have certain dealbreakers that you must consider. Obviously I make the case often about the Fediverse and why it is where you should invest, but other <a href=\"https:\/\/absolutelymaybe.plos.org\/2025\/10\/30\/a-mastodon-migration-from-bluesky-would-be-different\/\">options<\/a> <em>do<\/em> technically exist. But really, how can those other options even compare when Fedi has stuff like <a href=\"https:\/\/bots.stefanbohacek.com\">this<\/a>?!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>New year, same cyber. Let\u2019s see what we\u2019ve got\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>A few interesting writeups to check out\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kayssel.com\/newsletter\/issue-20\/\">CSP for Pentesters<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tee.fail\">Breaking Trusted Execution Enironments via DDR5 Memory Bus Interposition<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/embracethered.com\/blog\/posts\/2025\/the-normalization-of-deviance-in-ai\/\">The Normalization of Deviance in AI<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>The infosec community continues to pump out all manner of free tools and resources. I\u2019ve catalogued a few I\u2019ve recently discovered below\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/promptintel.novahunting.ai\/feed\">Prompt Feed<\/a>: Browse and explore security prompts with detailed analysis and references.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pillar.security\/ai-red-teaming-introduction\">Agentic AI Red Teaming Playboook<\/a>: Introduction to Agentic AI Red Teaming - The how, what, and why.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theevidencelocker.github.io\">The Evidence Locker<\/a>: A DFIR image compendium.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/owasp.org\/Top10\/2025\/0x00_2025-Introduction\/\">OWASP Top 10 2025<\/a>: The latest installment from OWASP.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ucti.app\">ucti.app<\/a>: A microblog cyber threat intelligence search engine.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hydrapwk.github.io\">HydraPWK<\/a>: HydraPWK The Open-source security auditing toolkit based on Debian project\ndesigned and focused for industry realm, research, forensic, end point attack.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/lolwifi.network\">lolwifi.network<\/a>: Is Untrusted (Public) WiFi Safe?<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/justuse.org\/curl\/\">Just use CURL<\/a>: Just do it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Looking to build your own infosec news <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/06\/keeping-current-in-infosec\">feed<\/a>? To get ya started, I recommend following <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@timb_machine\">Tim<\/a> on Mastodon (specifically checking out his weekly link roundups like <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@timb_machine\/115394395155164417\">this one<\/a>). You can also sub to the new, and cool, <a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/hacklore\/archive\/launching-the-hacklore-project\/\">Hacklore Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Finally, I\u2019ll leave you with some things to ponder\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/cybersim.ch\/posts\/tiring-questions-quick-answers\/\">Why are there so few women in infosec<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/whitehatmac.com\/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-malware\/\">why folks are leaving the security industry<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"indiesec-blogs\">IndieSec Blogs<\/h6>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Off to brew some zen\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.world\/@Thoogah\/115402177254308033\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2026\/coffee-meditation.png\" alt=\"coffee zen\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 13 Jan 2026 16:49:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-01-13","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-01-13","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll v\u012bgint\u012b tr\u0113s","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-three<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we make the web better, learn \u201chow to Fedi\u201d, and feed our infosec-hungry minds.<\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of food, who\u2019s excited about pumpkin pie? \ud83d\ude4b\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.gamedev.place\/@clarigaricus\/115375748284914034\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/pumpkin-pie.png\" alt=\"Pumpkin Pie\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Given everything being done (by AI and corporations in general) to make the web <u>worse<\/u>, what can we do to <strong>make the web better<\/strong>? One idea\u2014make the web <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unanswered.blog\/links\/\">webbier<\/a><\/em>. That\u2019s right! If you find something <a href=\"https:\/\/timemachiner.io\/2025\/09\/30\/good-internet-magazine-reclaiming-the-internet-one-print-issue-at-a-time\/\">good<\/a>, something that <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/10\/02\/when-your-website-makes-you-smile\">makes you smile<\/a>, something interesting, something <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fightforthehuman.com\">human<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/virtualmoose.org\/category\/blog-roundup\/\">share<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/davidakennedy.com\/blog\/be-a-good-link\/\">link<\/a> to it. <em>But don\u2019t stop there<\/em>! If you find a site that you <a href=\"https:\/\/ragman.net\/musings\/rolypoly\/\">enjoy<\/a>, try <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jayeless.net\/rss\">subscribing<\/a><\/em> to it, so it doesn\u2019t get lost and you can continue to enjoy new content as it is published.<\/p>\n\n<p>The web is for reading. The web is for writing. The web is for sharing. It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.social\/@qsky\/115333534347494196\">a lot less difficult<\/a> to make a website than you think. Once you\u2019ve got one, you might think that writing for it is hard. Maybe you think <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/10\/saying-it-again\">no one will read<\/a> it or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeetmehta.com\/posts\/thrive-in-obscurity\">care<\/a> what you have to say. Or you think that you have nothing interesting or novel to share. <em>Forget all that<\/em>. You\u2019ll be surprised what you can produce, and <a href=\"https:\/\/bojidar-bg.dev\/blog\/2025-10-03-small-web-contact\/\">who will find you<\/a> if you <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#what-not-to-worry-about\">stop worrying<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sylvia.buzz\/it-doesnt-matter-where-you-write-just-that-you-write\">just write<\/a>. You can also publish <a href=\"https:\/\/ersatz.website\/_main\/posts\/blogging-pseudo-anonymously\/\">pseudo-anonymously<\/a> if you\u2019re feeling a little shy about attaching your true identity to what you publish.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Speaking of sharing links, here\u2019s some cool stuff I\u2019ve found over the past week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/davidmeissner.com\">David Meissner<\/a> reached out to me via email and shared his li\u2019l piece of the web. It\u2019s got a little bit of everything. A fun click-safari!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"http:\/\/endless.horse\">endless.horse<\/a> is exactly what it sounds like.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@readbeanicecream\">ReadBeanIceCream<\/a> has some <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@readbeanicecream\/115321861824182107\">cool IndieWeb tools<\/a> to share.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@susam\">Susam<\/a> has brought back their <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@susam\/115312627933402502\">guestbook<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this before (and you definitely have if you\u2019ve been reading this publication for any amount of time)\u2014<strong>The Fediverse is the <a href=\"https:\/\/toot.wales\/@jaz\/115367668976809490\">best<\/a><\/strong>. But just because it\u2019s the best, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the most intuitive or easiest to use. Things are\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/mdhughes.tech\/2022\/11\/06\/how-to-fediverse\/\">different<\/a> around here, a strength to be sure. For example, we don\u2019t really have an out-of-the-box algorithmic feed. Instead, you <em>really<\/em> need to <a href=\"https:\/\/starlite.rodeo\/@ana\/115325425483902644\">follow a lot of people<\/a>, and scale back individual accounts you don\u2019t want from there. But this highly curated approach empowers you to build a feed that will make you <a href=\"https:\/\/swecyb.com\/@nopatience\/115332417038608178\">smile<\/a>, rather than endlessly doom-scroll. There\u2019s no one right way to be here either. The Fediverse comes in so many interesting <a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/social-media\/2025\/10\/05\/pds-and-gts\/\">flavors<\/a>. So join up, follow folks, do your li\u2019l posting, and get ready to go <a href=\"https:\/\/sfba.social\/@Mikal\/115367323387297456\">fungal<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>Where the Fediverse may fall short in terms of raw numbers, it can make up for in its <a href=\"https:\/\/anubiarts.bearblog.dev\/beauty-smaller-communities-18\/\">communities<\/a>. The Fediverse has <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/18\/mastodon-will-never-die\">staying power<\/a>, and with that comes the innate quality of communities built to last. A network of builders, thinkers and plain-ol\u2019 normal folks invested in the Fediverse continue to strengthen this very aspect as well. <a href=\"https:\/\/jaz.co.uk\/projects\/orgs-using-ap\/\">Organizations on the Fediverse<\/a> are actively catalogued, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstperson.network\">verification utilities<\/a> are being developed, first-party \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.joinmastodon.org\/2025\/10\/our-ideas-about-packs\/\">starter packs<\/a>\u201d are a-comin\u2019, and community-based <a href=\"https:\/\/moderation-explorer.online\">moderation<\/a> continues to prove itself more robust than anything that \u201ccompeting\u201d networks have ever been able to provide.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Who\u2019s hungry for some cyber this week? Let\u2019s slap a little <strike>mayo<\/strike> diffie-hellmann\u2019s on this <b>sec<\/b>wich and get mind-munchin\u2019!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/haunted.computer\/@xero\/115363196018664249\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/diffie-hellmans.png\" alt=\"Diffie Hellmann's\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>On the reading list for this week we\u2019ve got Mozilla\u2019s wiki on <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en-US\/docs\/Web\/Security\/Attacks\/Supply_chain_attacks\">Supply chain attacks<\/a>, a fascinating writeup on <a href=\"https:\/\/satcom.sysnet.ucsd.edu\">SATCOM Security<\/a> related to eavesdropping on satellite communications, a lengthy guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.synacktiv.com\/en\/publications\/llm-poisoning-13-reading-the-transformers-thoughts.html\">LLM Poisoning<\/a> from SYNACKTIV, and an intro to <a href=\"https:\/\/specterops.io\/blog\/2025\/10\/08\/the-clean-source-principle-and-the-future-of-identity-security\/\">The Clean Source Principle<\/a> from SpecterOps (one of my favorite infosec blogs).<\/p>\n\n<p>Lastly, a few things to bookmark and add to your infosec tool belt\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gayint.org\/threatActorTaxonomy.html\">GAYINT\u2019s Threat Actor Taxonomy<\/a> (and much needed <a href=\"https:\/\/pewpew.gayint.org\">PewPew Map<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flawtinet.com\">Flawtinet<\/a> (<em>hilarious<\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li>A repository of <a href=\"https:\/\/seized.fyi\">seized sites<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>A wiki for <a href=\"https:\/\/clickfix-wiki.github.io\">ClickFix<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 17 Oct 2025 08:37:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-10-17","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-10-17","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll v\u012bgint\u012b duo","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-two<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we take a look at an IndieWeb journey that is yours for the taking, reflect on the power of (true) decentralization, and kit up on the cyber front.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcsweeneys.net\/articles\/its-decorative-gourd-season-motherfuckers\">fall<\/a>! \ud83c\udf42 Time to get hyper-<i><a href=\"https:\/\/weirdweboctober.website\">weird<\/a><\/i> with it.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tiny.tilde.website\/@vilmibm\/115177383467463329\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/hypertext.png\" alt=\"Hypertext\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Ya gotta get started first\u2014and for that, you gotta <a href=\"https:\/\/michael.kjorling.se\/blog\/2025\/get-your-own-domain-name\/\">get your own domain name<\/a>! Got it? Now write up an <a href=\"https:\/\/wrywriter.ca\/posts\/an-introductory-post\">intro post<\/a> (check <a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/intro-about-me\/\">this one<\/a> out too!). You\u2019ve now set off on your <a href=\"https:\/\/ohhelloana.blog\/my-indieweb-journey\/\">IndieWeb journey<\/a>\u2014there\u2019s so much fun stuff to do from here! Write up your <a href=\"https:\/\/maynier.eu\/notes\/202539\/\">weekly thoughts<\/a>, establish your <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/971226-is-my-colour-in-the-web\/\">favorite color<\/a>, just write and be yourself! Sometimes, it\u2019ll feel like you\u2019re just <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/scraping-by\/\">scraping by<\/a>\u2014creatively or emotionally. But there\u2019s lot of ways to <a href=\"https:\/\/challenges.stefanbohacek.com\">get inspired<\/a> and involved again. <a href=\"https:\/\/sarahjhoodlet.com\/blog\/five-years-later\/\">Five years<\/a> from now you can look back at all you\u2019ve done and know that you\u2019ve become part of an <a href=\"https:\/\/internetphonebook.net\/images\/social-image.png\">awesome community<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>But <strong>why<\/strong> should we do this? <a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/thoughts\/2025\/08\/08\/blog-how-to\/\">Why blog<\/a>? Why have a website? Well because they\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/nothingoriginalhere.com\/posts\/personal-blogs-are-the-best-i-love-yours-and-ill-try-and-tell-you-why\">the best, that\u2019s why<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/localghost.dev\/blog\/this-website-is-for-humans\/\">Humans<\/a> are meant to <a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/2025\/01\/09\/sanding-off-friction-from-indie-web-connection\/\">communicate and connect<\/a>, and the Internet makes this possible at an unimaginably grand scale. Don\u2019t overthink it either. You don\u2019t need to \u201cbuild a following\u201d. You don\u2019t need to sell things. You don\u2019t need to have a <em>brand<\/em>. You can literally <em>just be you<\/em>. Creating some \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\">Slash Pages<\/a>\u201d (as <a href=\"https:\/\/xoxo.zone\/@artlung\/115242909417601492\">Joe did<\/a>) is a great place to start. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/site-walkthrough-1\/\">construct<\/a> your site however you want too. It doesn\u2019t need to follow the same old boring template. Be creative! It also doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t use traditional social media, consider <a href=\"https:\/\/notebook.wesleyac.com\/indieweb-thoughts-posse\/\">POSSE-ing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>We (humans) should decide the <a href=\"https:\/\/procreate.com\/ai\">future<\/a> of the Internet. It can only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcanalabs.ca\/essays\/tech\/2025\/08\/26\/third-place-internet.html\">slip away<\/a> from us if we let it. It\u2019s all already there too. It really <a href=\"https:\/\/bstn.info\/2025\/08\/03\/rss-manifesto.html\">always has been<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/textcasting.org\">Write<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2025\/sep\/28\/why-i-gave-the-world-wide-web-away-for-free\">share<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/vhbelvadi.com\/blogging-together\">commune<\/a>\u2014we\u2019re in this <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/thoughts\/blogs-don-t-need-to-be-so-lonely\">together<\/a>. It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/universeodon.com\/@Edmonds_Scanner\/115300632419859822\">not too late<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/burningboard.net\/@Larvitz\/115241421092790145\">Decentralization<\/a> is power<\/strong>, and in the face of malignant power, <a href=\"https:\/\/arewedecentralizedyet.online\">decentralization<\/a> is <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.online\/@stefan\/115242649075229946\">resilience<\/a>. So let\u2019s descend further into the light of the <a href=\"https:\/\/timeloop.cafe\/@Taweret\/115302103955954304\">abyss<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Some tools to light the way.<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/getindiekit.com\">Indiekit<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/misskey.io\/notes\/ab5oh70d6lai0das\">Misskey<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.klein.ruhr\/gotosocial-ready-for-prime-time\">GoToSocial<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@mathling\/115248808323606741\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/solarsystem.png\" alt=\"map of the solar system\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Sometimes cybersecurity is <a href=\"https:\/\/ring.acab.dev\">awesome<\/a>. Oh so often it\u2019s just kinda <a href=\"https:\/\/isanybodyusingthisprivatekey.com\">sad<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/k8s.af\">failz<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Some good tips for staying out of that <em>fail<\/em> category\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/allan.reyes.sh\/posts\/keeping-secrets-out-of-logs\/\">keep secrets out of your logs<\/a>, understand <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.dochia.dev\/blog\/http_edge_cases\/\">REST API edge cases<\/a>, lock down your <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.trailofbits.com\/2025\/09\/24\/supply-chain-attacks-are-exploiting-our-assumptions\/\">supply chain<\/a> and think twice before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netspi.com\/blog\/executive-blog\/web-application-pentesting\/vibe-coding-a-pentesters-dream\/\">vibe coding<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>\ud83d\udd25 It\u2019s dangerous to go alone! Take these. \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n\n<p>(Some useful tools and resources)<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.loggly.com\/blog\/http-status-code-diagram\/\">HTTP Status Codes Decision Diagram<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/csrc.nist.rip\">CRSC.NIST.RIP<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/auditkit.io\">AuditKit<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gayint.org\/iocRss.html\">GAYINT IOC RSS Feed<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.cs.wisc.edu\/~bart\/fuzz\/\">Fuzz Testing of Application Reliability<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fhetextbook.github.io\">The Beginner\u2019s Textbook for Fully Homomorphic Encryption<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unicode.org\/notes\/tn27\/\">KNOWN ANOMALIES IN UNICODE CHARACTER NAMES<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/soc.octade.net\/octade\/p\/1757580803.681950\">Some apps for secure and anonymous communication and file-sharing<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfaremedia.org\/article\/digital-threat-modeling-under-authoritarianism\">Digital Threat Modeling Under Authoritarianism<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Oct 2025 10:59:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-10-07","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-10-07","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll v\u012bgint\u012b \u016bnus","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty-one<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we catch up on weeks lost, we reject the \u201cwhatever web\u201d, are reminded why the Fediverse is awesome, and I share an assortment of infosec tid-bits.<\/p>\n\n<p>Hey everyone! I\u2019m back. <em>Or maybe I\u2019m not?<\/em> Who can tell these days. <em>Yes<\/em>, this is a new issue of Scrolls\u2014the first in quite some time. I\u2019d like to say that I plan to resume my once-established weekly cadence, but in all honesty I\u2019m not sure I can realistically commit. <a href=\"https:\/\/marisabel.nl\/public\/blog\/Time_with_Myself\">Where have I been<\/a> you might ask? Well, as I\u2019m sure you are aware, the world is a li\u2019l bit upside down these days, and sometimes it\u2019s enough to just stay afloat. I guess I\u2019ll leave it at that. With that said, I\u2019ve kept an eye on things across my various social platforms and usual feeds and as such, have been saving a lot of stuff I\u2019d normally have shared earlier via this \u201cnewsletter\u201d. So, here we go\u2014a bunch of stuff from bygone weeks\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>The web is meant to be <a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/human-web\/\">a lot of things<\/a>, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s meant to be <a href=\"https:\/\/eev.ee\/blog\/2025\/07\/03\/the-rise-of-whatever\/\">whatever<\/a>. We\u2019re meant to have fun. We\u2019re meant to be <a href=\"https:\/\/silliest.website:3\">silly<\/a>. We\u2019re meant to <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/links-make-the-web-great\">share<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/scraps\">check this out<\/a>!). We\u2019re meant to <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/07\/19\/communicating-the-indie-web\">socialize<\/a>. We\u2019re meant to <a href=\"https:\/\/social.wildeboer.net\/@jwildeboer\/114768558721820215\">write<\/a>. The common theme is \u201cwe\u201d. <strong>We<\/strong>, as in humans. <u>Not<\/u> robots. <u>Not<\/u> \u201cAI\u201d. <u>Not<\/u> corporatations. What would <em>it<\/em> know anyways, regarding the <a href=\"https:\/\/aphyr.com\/posts\/389-the-future-of-forums-is-lies-i-guess\">truths<\/a> of our existence? Let\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/moonbase.lgbt\/blog\/you-llm-loving-motherfuckers\/\">take back<\/a> the web. Want to help? Just go <a href=\"https:\/\/kedara.eu\/thank-you-for-being-you\">be you<\/a> on the web.<\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of the web, both past and <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/07\/19\/futures-for-the-web\">future<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to celebrate yourself for the years you\u2019ve spent making the web a better, more human place. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/512pixels.net\/2025\/07\/ten-years-indie\/\">Stephen hit 10 years<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/bw3.dev\/articles\/2FHb1\/state-of-the-blog-address\">Bob keeps us updated on his blogs status<\/a>. So what does the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/reply-indieweb-needs\/\">IndieWeb need<\/a>? More of this kinda stuff. More Stephen\u2019s, Bob\u2019s and you!<\/p>\n\n<p>Catching up on a few other things from the past couple weeks\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.citationneeded.news\/curate-with-rss\/\">RSS is awesome<\/a> (and powerful). <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2025\/07\/10\/long-live-rss\/\">Long live RSS<\/a>!<\/li>\n  <li>Remember to <a href=\"https:\/\/kalfeher.com\/secure-practices-for-domain-owners\/\">secure your domain<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/leavesubstack.com\">Get off Substack<\/a>!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@tinimalina\/114793079954782323\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/mouse-in-lemon.png\" alt=\"Mouse inside a lemon\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve been more casually keeping an eye on my Fedi feeds the past few months, but as I have settled back into my more-traditional Fedi-first scrolling routines, I am reminded\u2014<strong>the Fediverse is awesome<\/strong>! We\u2019ve got the <a href=\"https:\/\/pc.cafe\/@fedicat\/114803188637344509\">best graphics<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/holonet.imperialba.se\/@StarWarsPlanets\">best accounts<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@WahPlus\/114807238978496346\">best<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/laurahargreaves.com\/mastodon\/?utm_source=mastodon&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=autopost\">people<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some other cool Fedi stuff\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/coding.social\">Social coding commons<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wanderer.to\">wanderer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fedithreat.net\">FediThreat<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Just because I went away doesn\u2019t mean teh cyberz did. Here\u2019s some stuff I\u2019ve saved over the past few weeks\/months\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Some stuff to add to your reading list\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.privacyguides.org\/articles\/2025\/07\/24\/privacy-is-like-broccoli\/\">Privacy Is Like Broccoli<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ache.one\/notes\/html_zip_bomb\">A valid HTML zip bomb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sud0ru.ghost.io\/what-makes-anonymous-pipes\/\">What makes anonymous pipes?<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/0ut3r.space\/2025\/07\/09\/hacker-shelf\/\">Hacker Shelf<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Tools for the cyber-armory\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/jwtauditor.com\">JWTAuditor<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/web-security\/cross-site-scripting\/cheat-sheet#onsecuritypolicyviolation\">Cross-site scripting (XSS) cheat sheet<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stark4n6.com\/2025\/07\/introducing-asp-app-store-package-search.html\">ASP - App Store Package Search<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sscv-framework.org\">SSCV Framework<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cfp.directory\">CFP Directory<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2507.03607\">VLAI: A RoBERTa-Based Model for Automated Vulnerability Severity Classification<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>\u2026and a few extra things for learning\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/guyinatuxedo.github.io\">Nightmare<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ampyxcyber.com\/ics-pcap-analysis-challenge\">ICS PCAP Analysis Challenge<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 01 Oct 2025 14:20:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-10-01","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-10-01","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll v\u012bgint\u012b","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twenty<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. In this quieter week, I ask, \u201cwhy do we blog?\u201d<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/blog-website-eval\/\">Why<\/a> do we blog? What keeps us <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/why-online\/\">online<\/a>? How do we find <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/blogging-balance\/\">balance<\/a> in it all? I suppose\u2026 for me it\u2019s many things. I enjoy sharing what I find, what I learn and what I enjoy with others. Second, I find blogging helps me <a href=\"https:\/\/iam.skoo.bz\/a-small-web-july-because-holy-shit\/\">process<\/a>, helps me remember, helps me <a href=\"https:\/\/heyloura.com\/2025\/07\/03\/a-small-web-july.html\">decompress<\/a>, helps me <a href=\"https:\/\/ellesho.me\/page\/website\/now\/#happy-bday-homepage\">celebrate<\/a>, and helps me further understand the variety of things I encounter throughout any given day\/week. In this journey, I have also (somewhat surprisingly) found something I did not originally expect\u2014<strong>community<\/strong>. So though I don\u2019t consider a lot of what I write and share here particularly \u201cimportant\u201d, I do take the process of blogging, and site-owning in general, pretty <a href=\"https:\/\/tomcritchlow.com\/2025\/06\/27\/taking-blogging-seriously\/\">seriously<\/a>. <em>And ya know what?<\/em> I think you too can find the <a href=\"https:\/\/mato.social\/@josemurilo\/114756570835024765\">magic<\/a> here.<\/p>\n\n<p>Enough with the <em>why<\/em>. Let\u2019s talk about <em>what<\/em> we can do-with or add to-our sites this week. You don\u2019t need anything <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.pipetogrep.org\/2025\/06\/25\/blogging-like-it-s-1998\/\">fancy<\/a>, an upgrade as simple as <a href=\"https:\/\/florianziegler.com\/journal\/add-your-email-address-to-your-rss-feed\">adding an email address to your RSS feed<\/a> would make for an excellent improvement to your site! Let\u2019s see what else\u2026 You could try a <a href=\"https:\/\/orbitalmartian.codeberg.page\/blog\/2025-06-27-move-to-jekyll\/\">new blogging framework<\/a>, learn about and then deploy some new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smashingmagazine.com\/2016\/11\/css-inheritance-cascade-global-scope-new-old-worst-best-friends\/\">CSS<\/a>, add some <a href=\"https:\/\/techhub.social\/@alavi\/114785709590249921\">Slash Pages<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/beige.party\/@LoganFive\/114751805299033544\">collect and share some good links<\/a> (<em>y\u2019know<\/em>, like <a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/scrap\/2025-06-27\">Fyr is doing<\/a>!). If nothing else, you could simply <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jsomers.net\/blog\/more-people-should-write\">write more<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p>A few final things to share in this week\u2019s somewhat-teeny Scroll\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bonfire.cafe\/post\/01JYRX7HCGME693BGCZF6AGGK1\">Bonfire<\/a> looks to be a promising place for future long-form content.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rssrssrssrss.com\">RSSRSSRSS<\/a> can help combine RSS feeds.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/home.channel.org\">Channel.org<\/a> is here to help you take ownership of your presence, content and communities on the web.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>. Stay cool!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/misskey.io\/notes\/a9pn1xguhrpl0glw\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/staycool.png\" alt=\"Stay Cool\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 04 Jul 2025 00:14:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-07-04","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-07-04","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll \u016bnd\u0113v\u012bgint\u012b","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume nineteen<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week, we pick up the scraps, help others join the Fediverse and get a li\u2019l <em>phreaky<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Three issues in one week!? <em>Yep<\/em>, I\u2019m <u>back<\/u>. <em>Y\u2019know<\/em>, from time to time you just gotta recharge a bit I guess, and I\u2019m <a href=\"https:\/\/dan.glass\/2025\/06\/25\/where-ive-been\/\">not the only one<\/a>! Sometimes, you don\u2019t <em>blog<\/em>, you just <strong>blob<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.world\/@exocomics\/114740090046755881\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/i-blob.png\" alt=\"sometimes I lazy\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Before anything else, I wanted to share some sad news from the IndieWeb world. I found out from <a href=\"https:\/\/adam.omg.lol\">Adam<\/a> that Anne Sturdivant (a.k.a. @anniegreens) has <a href=\"https:\/\/neatnik.net\/remembering-anne-sturdivant\/\">passed away<\/a>. I enjoyed reading her posts and her <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20241217150042\/https:\/\/weblogpomo.club\/\">WeblogPoMo<\/a> was the first monthly writing challenge I ever participated in. She was a critical part of my early IndieWeb journey and for that I am thankful. Her spirit lives on through all the people, like myself, that she inspired\u2014to bring kindness, humanity, creativity and individuality into the world through our digital gardens. \ud83c\udf31<\/p>\n\n<p>As I have learned, and personally experienced, having a site and a blog is an extremely rewarding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.burgeonlab.com\/blog\/blogging-with-hugo-and-wordpress\/\">journey<\/a>. In fact, it can even be <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/defaultactivity\/\">all-consuming<\/a> at times. Once you settle into a nice <a href=\"https:\/\/new.vex.blue\/articles\/2024\/09\/04\/retitled-blog-to-articles\">writing<\/a> routine though, it just makes for a great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inkbalance.org\/2025\/06\/writing-habit.html\">habit<\/a> in my opinion. A place you control, where you can share whatever you want, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/online-attention\/\">whenever<\/a> you want, and in whatever form you want. You can add to it, edit it, delete it, change up the look\u2014anything. <em>It\u2019s yours<\/em>! For my more comprehensive <a href=\"https:\/\/writing.exchange\/@SJHoodlet\/114726338868813294\">advice<\/a> on blogging, check <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">this post<\/a> out! Interested in what other people are up to? Take a trip to <a href=\"https:\/\/url.town\">URL Town<\/a>! \ud83d\ude99<\/p>\n\n<p>Looking to <a href=\"https:\/\/osteophage.neocities.org\/essays\/you-can-make-a-website\">make<\/a>, upgrade or grow your current site? Here\u2019s some ideas fresh from the IndieWeb-World! <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/links\/\">Axxuy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sainthood.xyz\/blog\/posts\/my-terrible-bookmarks-workflow\">sainthood<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/abhinavsarkar.net\/linkblog\/\">Abhinav<\/a> have all been tweaking their <strong>\/links<\/strong> pages and <a href=\"https:\/\/rossabaker.com\/connect\/\">Ross<\/a> introduced his new \u201c\/connect\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\">slashpage<\/a>. <em>Cool<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/misskey.design\/notes\/a9fj84xjgxth94be\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/growth.png\" alt=\"Growth\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>But my favorite new thingy I\u2019ve seen recently has been from <a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/about\">fyr.io<\/a>. Scrolls went on an unplanned <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/06\/23\/its-a-lot-of-things\">hiatus<\/a> for a few weeks, which seemed to have left a bit of void. Many folks reached out to me during that time, and since returning, saying they had really missed it. That has been extremely heartwarming to hear, and quite frankly, pretty energizing. But <strong>fyr<\/strong> took it one step further, coming out with their own Scrolls-like newsletter\/roundup, dubbed \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/scrap\/2025-06-18\">Scraps<\/a><\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/scrap\/2025-06-18\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/scraps.png\" alt=\"Scraps\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><em>I love it<\/em>, and speaking directly to Fyr, I hope you continue to publish it, in whatever form and cadence you like. These little roundups are one of my favorite blogging vehicles and if my experience with <span class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/span> has taught me anything, it\u2019s this kinda human-curated boosting that really helps connect the broader IndieWeb community and supercharge discovery, especially in the face of rapidly declining search engine usefulness and increased fracturing of traditional social communities. You may have made Scraps to fill a Scrolls-shaped void, but I promise you we need as many of these things as we can get! \ud83e\udde1<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>The Fediverse is, in my humble opinion, the <a href=\"https:\/\/mefi.social\/@MissConstrue\/114736386173713863\">best<\/a> social platform on the web right now\u2014and will continue to be for the forseeable future. Not because it has zero problems mind you, but because of all the unique benefits it has, that you simply <u>can't<\/u> get elsewhere. One issue stems from one of its benefits, that is, its <strong>decentralized<\/strong> nature. Specifically, it has proven difficult for many to decide what instance to join when they are first <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@cyd\/114739221927878086\">creating<\/a> a Fedi presence. There are different instances, different platforms, and lots to consider between all of them. To help navigate this, <a href=\"https:\/\/jaz.co.uk\/projects\/mastodon-near-me\/startheresocial\/\">StartHereSocial<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/notes\/2025\/06\/19\/instance-suggestions\/\">suggestions<\/a> from folks who have been here a while are great places to start. I for example have my own list of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon#infosec-instances\">Infosec Instances<\/a> that you could check out if that is your thing.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/universeodon.com\/@kellay\/114742838130258621\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/isolation.png\" alt=\"we are not alone\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><i class=\"ph ph-fediverse-logo\"><\/i> What else is happenin\u2019 around Fedi\u2019? <a href=\"https:\/\/fedicon.ca\">FediCon<\/a> is comin\u2019 up for those near Vancouver, <a href=\"https:\/\/bonfirenetworks.org\">Bonfire<\/a> has an <a href=\"https:\/\/mobilizon.libretic.fr\/events\/c0c0b536-5216-412b-a277-1dadead06997\">Install Party<\/a> you can check out and Tim Chambers has dropped his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timothychambers.net\/2025\/06\/24\/the-seven-deadly-fediverse-ux.html\">The Seven Deadly Fediverse UX Sins Part 2<\/a> which is 100% worth the read!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Gotta real grab-bag of cyber-ey things this week\u2026. \u2018ere we go!<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve got <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/training-retrospective#certification-and-training-mini-reviews\">a lot<\/a><\/em> of infosec certs, so I feel somewhat qualified in telling you that what you get out of <em>most<\/em> of them is really <em>not much<\/em>. But y\u2019know what, I\u2019ll let <a href=\"https:\/\/crankysec.com\/blog\/certified\/\">CrankySec explain<\/a> instead \ud83d\ude08. Want some actual credentials? Or real skills? You don\u2019t have to look far, and you don\u2019t have to spend much (if anything). Just look around! The Internet is <a href=\"https:\/\/pwnfunction.com\">bursting<\/a> at the seams with free resources, writeups, trainings, tools, <em>everything<\/em>! Wanna learn how to forge passkeys? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nullpt.rs\/forging-passkeys\">Got you<\/a>. Want to write secure Rust code? <a href=\"https:\/\/yevh.github.io\/rust-security-handbook\/\">Boom<\/a>! Wanna fingerprint some network devices? <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/rapid7\/recog\">Here ya go<\/a>. Wanna take a trip down memory lane ya li\u2019l <a href=\"https:\/\/phreak.kmcd.dev\">phreak<\/a>? Everything is here (i.e. the Internet), if you know how to find it, and have the will to just dive in and start learning, tinkering and building. Get out there!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>. Now, it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/brewlog\">coffee<\/a> time!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@tinimalina\/114742311526151461\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/coffee-any-way.png\" alt=\"time for coffee\" width=\"550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:01:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-06-27","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-06-27","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll duod\u0113v\u012bgint\u012b","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume eighteen<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. In this issue, we ask \u201cwhat is the web?\u201d, we gaze across the Fediverse, and we declare \u201cmission accomplished\u201d on cybersecurity \ud83e\udd21!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p><strong>What is \u201cthe web\u201d<\/strong>? It\u2019s damn sure not the <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/the-web-the-web\">corporate web<\/a> I\u2019ll tell ya that. The web is us. That\u2019s right. <u><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/is-blogging-romantic\/\">People<\/a><\/u> make the web\u2014via the blogs we craft and those we <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/blog-discovery-spree\/\">discover<\/a>. It may look less like it did in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wezm.net\/v2\/posts\/2025\/website-fit-for-1999\/\">1999<\/a>, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitoff.org\/web-we-never-lost\/\">this web persists<\/a>, and it continues to regenerate and flourish each day. This, the <a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\">good part of the Internet<\/a>, is alive and well.<\/p>\n\n<p>The IndieWeb\u2019s vibrancy comes not from pace of content, but rather from individuality and creativity. Here\u2019s some cool stuff I\u2019ve seen recently (great too if you\u2019re looking for inspiration for your own site!) <a href=\"https:\/\/immich.app\">Immich<\/a> shared some <a href=\"https:\/\/immich.app\/cursed-knowledge\/\">cursed knowledge<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\">Ava<\/a> is looking to <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/trading-blog-post-titles\/\">trade blog post titles<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/\">Axxuy<\/a> celebrates their <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/blogiverssary\/#Blog\">bloggiversary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nicksimson.com\/about\">Nick Simson<\/a> is hosting this months <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nicksimson.com\/posts\/2025-indieweb-carnival-take-two\">IndieWeb Carnival<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/btxx.org\/about\/\">Brad<\/a> goes <a href=\"https:\/\/btxx.org\/posts\/dump\/\">brain dumping<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/aus.social\/@web_goddess\">Kris<\/a> is doin\u2019 a little <a href=\"https:\/\/aus.social\/@web_goddess\/114606383985774497\">link cleanup<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/angrybunnyman.com\">Will<\/a> is making the blogiverse a <a href=\"https:\/\/angrybunnyman.com\/nutrition-label\/\">bit healthier<\/a>. With so many ideas, so many aesthetics, so many voices, the personal web can seem quite <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/06\/05\/chaotic-websites\">chaotic<\/a>. But that\u2019s just what makes it fun! So get out there and build. <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/bloggingworkflow\/\">Write<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/webdev\/2025\/06\/12\/changes-always-changes\/\">Share<\/a>. Haul off and <a href=\"https:\/\/not-matthias.github.io\/posts\/blog-redesign-2025\/\">redesign<\/a> your entire blog y\u2019know? If it\u2019s already been redesigned\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/lowmess.com\/blog\/redesign-2025\">redesign<\/a> it <em>again<\/em>! Keep tweaking and having fun with it.<\/p>\n\n<p>The other side of the IndieWeb-fun coin, beyond tinkering with and writing for your own site, is exploring everyone else\u2019s sites. So go forth! Discover awesome sites and cool posts. <a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/i-want-to-comment-on-your-blog-post\/\">Comment<\/a> on them, <a href=\"https:\/\/readbeanicecream.surge.sh\/2025\/06\/15\/commenting-on-comments\/\">comment on others comments<\/a>, share them with your friends\u2014with the world! If there\u2019s no commenting mechanism, try <a href=\"https:\/\/retro.social\/@ifixcoinops\/114642926324560637\">contacting<\/a> them through other means. Drop them a nice note about what you saw or what you read on their site. <em>Trust me<\/em>, it will make their day.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.gamedev.place\/@birdibirdson\/114648337816610567\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/tree-in-a-bottle.png\" alt=\"tree in a bottle\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Go check out these cool sites. Like, you could just leave this page right now and do it (<em>but come back after<\/em> \ud83d\ude09).<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\ud83e\uddd1\u200d\ud83c\udf73 \ud83d\ude18 <a href=\"https:\/\/gail.com\">Gail<\/a> \ud83d\udc4f - IndieWeb perfection.<\/li>\n  <li>Speaking of perfection\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/henry.codes\">Henry\u2019s site<\/a> is, in my opinion, the <u>best<\/u> looking site I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/li>\n  <li>The awesome, and brand new, <a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\">good internet<\/a> magazine. \ud83d\udc49<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>How do you <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ginablogs.com\/views-on-the-fediverse\">view the Fediverse<\/a><\/strong>? Sure, it may be <a href=\"https:\/\/spectra.video\/w\/xwCSYfZh1mJY64zJ9GngbE\">quiet<\/a> at times, but I think that can represent a greater opportunity for signal over noise. In my experience, there\u2019s a substance here that is lacking on other microblogging platforms. But Fedi (as you may well know), is not just microblogging. It\u2019s an ecosystem of decentralized platforms, which all communicate over a shared protocol. That\u2019s how you can have a <a href=\"https:\/\/livefasteattrashraccoon.github.io\/2025\/06\/13\/what-makes-friendica-shine.html\">Facebook-like system<\/a> which can interoperate with a microblogging platform, or a forum-based platform, etc\u2026 It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timothychambers.net\/2025\/06\/18\/113327.html\">not perfect<\/a> here, but the ever-growing list of benefits are well-worth the time spent investing in building a community and a personal presence here on the Fediverse rather than elsewhere. Interested in owning your own little Fedi-parcel? Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@fedihost\/114587110191778325\">FediHost<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Ok everyone, pack it up. The war is <strong>over<\/strong>. <em>Cyber<\/em> is solved. All <a href=\"https:\/\/airiskbutt.com\">thanks to AI<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>But y\u2019know if you can\u2019t afford fancy-schmancy \u201cworld-saving\u201d AI-based security capabilities. You might want to continue to learn up on the breadth of security issues that continue to face the industry. Y\u2019know, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hackthelogs.com\">understanding logs<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.akamai.com\/blog\/security-research\/the-definitive-guide-to-linux-process-injection\">linux process injection<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.redteam-pentesting.de\/2025\/windows-coercion\/\">windows coercion techniques<\/a>, things like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/technologies\/security\/gsma_resources\/fs-57-mobile-threat-intelligence-framework-motif-principles\/\">threat intelligence<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/binaryplanting.com\">binary planting<\/a> and the ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/dnsatrisk.org\">risks posed to DNS<\/a>\u2014to name a few.<\/p>\n\n<p>To help you on this quest, check out some of these tools I recently discovered. <a href=\"https:\/\/nerdcert.eu\">NERDCERT.EU<\/a> is a cooperative-based letsencrypt, Wazuh has a free threat intelligence platform \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/cti.wazuh.com\/vulnerabilities\/cves\">Vulnerability Explorer<\/a>\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/vulnerablemcp.info\">The Vulnerable MCP Project<\/a> is cataloguing MCP-related vulnerabilities\/research\/exploits, and the CIRT team at AWS has just launched their <a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/blogs\/security\/aws-cirt-announces-the-launch-of-the-threat-technique-catalog-for-aws\/\">Threat Technique Catalog<\/a>. <em>Cool beans!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"indiesec-blogs\">IndieSec Blogs<\/h6>\n<p>Finally, here\u2019s some cool Indie folks of the cyber world for you to follow and read\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.incendium.rocks\">Incendium.rocks<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/onlyf8.com\/enmalware\">onlyf8<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/coderush.me\/hydroph0bia-part2\/\">Hydroph0bia<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>. Hope you had a blast!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sunny.garden\/@anubiarts\/114705399058508472\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/scroll-blast.png\" alt=\"blast\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 25 Jun 2025 10:20:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-06-25","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-06-25","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll septendecim","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume seventeen<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This somewhat <em>special<\/em> edition includes a smattering of things from the past month. Things I\u2019ve saved but never got around to sharing out. As such, you may find some of it to be \u201cold news\u201d. But hopefully there\u2019s some interesting nuggets as well!<\/p>\n\n<p>If you subscribe to Scrolls, you may have wondered \u201cwhat\u2019s up?!\u201d\u2014why haven\u2019t there been any new issues published in the past month or so. In short, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/06\/23\/its-a-lot-of-things\">it\u2019s a lot of things<\/a>, but it\u2019s back now with some stuff I\u2019ve saved from weeks past and I aim on getting back to my usual posting cadence for this publication. Thanks for sticking with me and I hope you enjoy!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sunny.garden\/@anubiarts\/114546867562750111\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/breakday.png\" alt=\"break day\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>I published <u><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb Assimilation<\/a><\/u> nearly two years ago, shortly after first \u201cdiscovering\u201d the IndieWeb \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/fredrocha.net\/2025\/05\/21\/small-web-is-beautiful\/\">Small Web<\/a>. It marked the beginning of a journey that I am still on, and one that I have had the pleasure of seeing so many <a href=\"https:\/\/helendawe.com\/2025\/05\/15\/down-the-indieweb-rabbit-hole.html\">others<\/a> begin in that time. It\u2019s fun to see people <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inkbalance.org\/2025\/05\/some-stuff-on-blogging-indieweb-posse.html\">publish out their thoughts<\/a> and come to the same ephiphanies regarding the positive qualities of the IndieWeb. These aren\u2019t just bloggers reaching bloggers either. I don\u2019t see this as an echo chamber. We have found ways to reach those beyond the blogging community. More and more from the wider social media sphere have become increasingly interested in how to take back their digital sovereignty, and find ways to share using their own voice. So if you are one of those people on the outside looking in, remember <a href=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/thetechnium\/you-are-not-late\/\">it\u2019s not too late<\/a>, your site <a href=\"https:\/\/readbeanicecream.surge.sh\/2025\/05\/15\/is-my-site-too-simple\/\">doesn\u2019t<\/a> have to be <a href=\"https:\/\/justfuckingusehtml.com\">fancy<\/a>. You can start now, and then <a href=\"https:\/\/rachsmith.com\/2024\/\">look back<\/a> in two years as I have and see how far you\u2019ve come.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/misskey.flowers\/notes\/a7x4h3o5eg5h01ez\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/egarden.png\" alt=\"web garden\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n\n<p>I (<a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@fromjason\/114546945382427980\">too<\/a>) love blogging and bloggers. Here\u2019s some cool blogs that you can check out\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/chabik.com\">Filip<\/a>\u2019s blog is your typical tech blog, but there\u2019s a very satisfying simplicity to it that I enjoy. Plus, it runs on Ghost which is worth checking out!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ldstephens.net\">ldstephens<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybear.social\/@hyde\">Hyde<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/tags\/over\/under\/\">Over\/Under<\/a> issue featuring <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/ovr-019\/\"><span style=\"background:linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(202,89,53), rgb(238,137,71)); color:transparent;background-clip:text; -webkit-background-clip: text;\">fLaMEd<\/span><\/a>! While you\u2019re at it, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/flamedfury.com\/posts\/monthly-recap-may-2025\/\">fLaMEd<\/a>\u2019s Monthly Recap series which I also enjoy reading.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/asphodelos.eu\">Asphodelos<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/asphodelos.eu\/about\">Vitl\u00f6ksbj\u00f6rn<\/a> is a beautiful IndieWeb site.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/log.nikhil.io\">Nikhil Anand<\/a> also has a beautifully designed, and very eye-catching site.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/smolsite.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\">Smolsite.zip<\/a> is a site that fits entirely in the URL\u2026<em>what<\/em>!?<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/suberic.net\/~dmm\/projects\/mystical\/README.html\">Mystical<\/a> is a programming language described by depictions of \u201cmagical circles\u201d. Need I say more?! Love, love, love this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>A <em>few<\/em> things to report from Fedi land this issue\u2014I\u2019m sure there\u2019s plenty I <a href=\"https:\/\/icosahedron.website\/@ne7\/114512950001140100\">missed<\/a> though.<\/p>\n\n<p>If you <a href=\"https:\/\/joinfediverse.wiki\/Hosting_an_instance\">host a Fedi instance<\/a> and are having issues with ballooning costs, try reaching out to <a href=\"https:\/\/mindly.social\/@KuJoe\/114513341094446871\">KuJoe<\/a>. I found a neat resource listing <a href=\"https:\/\/fingolas.eu\/fediverse\/overview.html\">verified media accounts<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.anew.social\/bridgy-fed-config-patreon\/\">Bridgy Fed has had some improvements<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Oh<\/em>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/cathode.church\/@s0\/111814321999129568\">lol<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re in \u201ccyber\u201d, you know all about the never-ending quest to stay up-to-date on things. The newest tools, techniques, threats, countermeasures, etc\u2026 You can\u2019t possibly be on top of it all, but it helps to find some cool curated selections, which is what I\u2019ve got for ya below\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>If everything is an app, then everything is code, and where is code? GitHub. So learn to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kayssel.com\/newsletter\/issue-5\/\">hack it<\/a>!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@trailofbits\/114541251623593194\">Trail of Bits<\/a> has published their <a href=\"https:\/\/go.dev\/blog\/tob-crypto-audit\">audit findings<\/a> of Go crypto.<\/li>\n  <li>Does the term \u201cClickjacking\u201d sound scary to you? <em>Nah<\/em>? What about <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jorianwoltjer.com\/blog\/p\/research\/ultimate-doubleclickjacking-poc\">Double-Clickjacking<\/a><\/strong>!!??<\/li>\n  <li>Since AI is apparently everywhere these days, it wouldn\u2019t hurt to brush up on <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/Puliczek\/awesome-mcp-security\">MCP Security<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Here\u2019s a nice think piece from tl;dr sec on <a href=\"https:\/\/tldrsec.com\/p\/security-for-high-velocity-engineering\">Security for High Velocity Engineering<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Thank god someone is doing <a href=\"https:\/\/signal.org\/blog\/signal-doesnt-recall\/\">something<\/a> to combat Microsoft\u2019s horrific privacy-invading overreach with Recall. Hopefully more will software vendors will follow suit.<\/li>\n  <li>Move over KEV, here comes <a href=\"https:\/\/nvlpubs.nist.gov\/nistpubs\/CSWP\/NIST.CSWP.41.pdf\">LEV<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 24 Jun 2025 12:37:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-06-24","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-06-24","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll s\u0113decim","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume sixteen<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week, I urge you to blog more, we check in on ways to tap into the Fediverse, and <em>surprise!<\/em> even <em>boats<\/em> are insecure.<\/p>\n\n<p>I try not to make this newsletter about me in any way because it\u2019s really about showcasing the awesome stuff I find each week out on the web\/Fediverse. That said, <strong>16<\/strong> issues in I thought I\u2019d drop a quick plug here about some other stuff I have\/do. Check out my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">blog<\/a> beyond <span class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/span>, and if you\u2019re on the Fediverse feel free to follow me at <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">shellsharks@shellsharks.social<\/a> and\/or at <a href=\"https:\/\/malici.ous.computer\/@shellsharks\">shellsharks@malici.ous.computer<\/a>. The latter being my <em>somewhat <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/ous-computer\">experimental<\/a><\/em> GoToSocial-based presence where I tend to be a bit more casual. It\u2019s also where I typically announce Scrolls-related stuff as I don\u2019t have character-count limitations \ud83d\ude05. Thank you! \ud83e\udde1<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p><strong>You should <a href=\"https:\/\/justinvollmer.com\/posts\/2024\/12\/seconding-the-call-to-blog-more-often\/\">blog more<\/a><\/strong>\u2014and no, I don\u2019t mean <a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/a-post-shouldve-been-a-blog\/\">posting<\/a> on social media. \u201cBlogging\u201d can come in all manner of form too, it\u2019s not all just standalone, novel <em>posts<\/em>. You can do some <a href=\"https:\/\/mtwb.blog\/the-art-of-self-tracking\/\">self-tracking<\/a>-style posts, maintain a <a href=\"https:\/\/plunch.de\/now\/\">\/now<\/a> page or even keep a <a href=\"https:\/\/fromemily.com\/changelog\/\">changelog<\/a> of tweaks, both big and small, to your site. <em>Sure<\/em>, maybe it\u2019ll be <a href=\"https:\/\/circlejerk.blog\">basic<\/a>, but at least it\u2019ll be you! Personal sites aren\u2019t just blogs either. Think of them more as <a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethtai.com\/2025\/05\/10\/digital-gardens-vs-blogging-whats-the-difference\/\">digital gardens<\/a> for your <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/busyblogging\/\">thoughts<\/a>, for the things you <a href=\"https:\/\/reillyspitzfaden.com\/digital-garden\/\">like<\/a>, and for <a href=\"https:\/\/plunch.de\/is-blogging-my-excuse-to-just-build-a-website\/\">any other way<\/a> you\u2019d like to express yourself. The <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.well.com\/@ianb\/114488714328607067\">freedom<\/a> to do so, in whatever manner you choose, is one of the standout features of having a website, rather than <em>just<\/em> a social media presence. Routine blogging is also a fantastic way to <a href=\"https:\/\/sketchplanations.com\/feynman-learning-technique\">learn<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>So come join <a href=\"https:\/\/notes.neatnik.net\/2025\/05\/mirrored-gardens\">us<\/a>! We\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberfurz.social\/@hack13\/114484340985791659\">buttons<\/a>. \ud83e\udd17<\/p>\n\n<p>New around here? Here\u2019s your homework assignment. Brush up on some <a href=\"https:\/\/plainvanillaweb.com\/index.html\">webdev basics<\/a>, get to know the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieaisle.com\/guide-indie-web\/\">IndieWeb<\/a>, subscribe to some <a href=\"#small-web-finds-and-features\">sites<\/a> (remember to keep those feeds <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/trying-to-organize-my-feeds\/\">organized<\/a>), and then get writin\u2019!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>But first, maybe some coffee?<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@grickle\/114507033042136129\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/slow-starts-coffee.png\" alt=\"Slow Starts\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Some awesome IndieWeb sites and blogs I\u2019ve discovered recently!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.platinumtulip.net\">Tulip\u2019s Digital Diary<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <strong>tulip<\/strong>! A very cozy, truly \u201cindie\u201d site that\u2019s a pleasure to click around on and read.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sophywong.com\/studionotes\">Studio Notes<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/sophywong.com\/about\">Sophy Wong<\/a>. A brand new site with a very clean design. If you want something in your feed that isn\u2019t <em>more tech<\/em>, check it out!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/lostfocus.de\">LostFocus<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/dominikschwind.com\">Dominik Schwind<\/a>. Classic IndieWeb site, with plenty to read about in their weeklies.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ritualdust.com\">Ritual Dust<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/ritualdust.com\/about\/\">Lizbeth Poirier<\/a>. I love the medieval theming!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/stevenbrady.com\/blog\/blog_questions_challenge_114412023284964853\">Steven Brady<\/a>\u2019s take on the <em>Blog Questions Challenge<\/em>.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/anhvn.com\">Anh<\/a> was featured on <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/pb-anh\">P&amp;B<\/a>. If you haven\u2019t seen anhvn\u2019s site, go do it right now. Try turning the <em>lights<\/em> on while you\u2019re there \ud83d\ude08.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/islandinthenet.com\">Island in the Net<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/islandinthenet.com\/about\/\">Kh\u00fcrt Williams<\/a>. Great looking site! Looks like Kh\u00fcrt has been at it for a while. Lots of great photography too.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/elj.me\">elj.me<\/a> has a great theme. Love the use of colors and font.<\/li>\n  <li>Take part in a new journey begun <a href=\"https:\/\/prompted.ink\/2025\/05\/14\/it-lives-or-to-quote.html\">with a fresh vial of ink\u2026<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/prompted.ink\/about\/\">B.M. Mitchell<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s talk about a few ways to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wedistribute.org\/2025\/05\/mastodon-journalism\/\">join<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@mastoe\/114475505118608818\">authentic<\/a>, social web<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/fedidb.com\/welcome\">FediDB<\/a> has a new onboarding wizard to help folks find the right starter instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.discourse.org\/2025\/04\/discourse-and-the-fediverse\/\">Discourse<\/a> has options for plugging into the Fediverse, and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.radwebhosting.com\/how-to-host-your-own-mastodon-server-on-a-vps\/\">hosting your own server<\/a> is always an available option. Just remember, things are <a href=\"https:\/\/murtezayesil.me\/goodbye-writefreely-for-now\/\">rarely perfect<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/deadsuperhero.com\/my-dream-fediverse-platform\/\">dream platform<\/a> likely won\u2019t exist. But the Fediverse is the best we got if you ask me, and it gets better each day.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Wanna learn some more cyberz? Here ya go!<\/p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/pwn.college\/linux-luminarium\/\">Linux Luminarium<\/a> is a great way to hone your Linux-ey skills. LLMs are all-the-rage, with plenty of insecurity to go-\u2018round, so learn a bit about <a href=\"https:\/\/snyk.io\/articles\/a-beginners-guide-to-visually-understanding-mcp-architecture\/\">MCP architecture<\/a>. What else is hot right now? <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.trailofbits.com\/2025\/05\/14\/the-cryptography-behind-passkeys\/\">Passkeys<\/a>. Finally, learn about the latest in <a href=\"https:\/\/comsec.ethz.ch\/research\/microarch\/branch-privilege-injection\/\">suffering<\/a> from Intel.<\/p>\n\n<p>Here in cyberia, we <u>love<\/u> tools. So here\u2019s your tool fix. <em>You li\u2019l tool junkie, you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Did I mention LLMs were insecure? Here\u2019s a database of known <em><a href=\"https:\/\/vulnerablemcp.info\">vulns-\u2018n-such<\/a><\/em> which plague those silly hallucination machines. I mean what isn\u2019t insecure or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lightbluetouchpaper.org\/2025\/05\/11\/human-harms-threat-modelling-social-harms-against-technical-systems\/\">harmful<\/a> these days though right? <em>Hell<\/em>, there\u2019s even an <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@lirantal\/114505537923404313\">OWASP Top 10 for boats<\/a> \u26f4\ufe0f \ud83d\ude05. Interested in security feeds? <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@hrbrmstr\/114501740061057147\">Please don\u2019t get\u2019m from X<\/a>\u2014perhaps a bit of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyberespresso.eu\">Cyber Espresso<\/a> instead? My recommendation though\u2014go straight to the <a href=\"#indiesec-blogs\">source(s)<\/a>. \u2b07\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"indiesec-blogs\">IndieSec Blogs<\/h6>\n<ul>\n  <li>Come to <a href=\"https:\/\/sukritdua.com\">Sukrit<\/a>\u2019s blog for the infosec content, <em>stay<\/em> for all things <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/man_in_toronto\/\">bird<\/a>-photography-related!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/whitehatmac.com\">White Hat Mac<\/a> is <a href=\"https:\/\/whitehatmac.com\/reboot\/\">back<\/a>. Looking forward to what <a href=\"https:\/\/whitehatmac.com\/about\/\">Thomas<\/a> has in store! (<em>\u2026and no, not the .DS_Store<\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/r0keb.github.io\">r0keb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dak.lol\">Dak.lol<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! May your continued web journeys be ever-magical!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@tinimalina\/114476534324311485\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/coffee-cauldron.png\" alt=\"Coffee Cauldron\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 16 May 2025 09:40:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-05-16","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-05-16","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll qu\u012bndecim","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume fifteen<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week, we tap into the light side of the <s>force<\/s> web, laud the benefits of decentralization, and take a lovely lovely trip to Potatoland!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Oh<\/em>, plus\u2014here\u2019s my favorite <em>Star-Wars-ey<\/em> thing from this year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.starwars.com\/star-wars-day\">May-the-Fourth<\/a> (be with you) celebration \u2b07\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@bouletcorp2\/114449531603867862\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/laser-weapon-ideas.png\" alt=\"laser weapon ideas\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Welcome back fellow <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hyperlink-travel\">web-traveler<\/a>, to the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breakfreefromtheinternet.com\/p\/how-can-we-reconcile-the-good-and\">light<\/a>-side of the Internet<\/strong>! (<em>Y\u2019know<\/em> as opposed to <a href=\"https:\/\/alex.party\/posts\/2025-05-05-the-future-of-web-development-is-ai-get-on-or-get-left-behind\/\">the dark side<\/a>). This side is known by <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.clew.se\/posts\/secret-web\/\">many names<\/a>, but I\u2019ve come to call it\u2014the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>\u201d. Given how constantly online we all are, it\u2019s surprising how <em>surprised<\/em> people continue to be when they <a href=\"https:\/\/serverless.industries\/2025\/05\/07\/welcome-to-indieweb.en.html\">first discover it<\/a>. <em>Like<\/em>, \u201cthere\u2019s a whole segment of the Internet that is just individuals bein\u2019 themselves on fun quirky web sites?\u201d. YEP! There sure is. In the modern age of the Internet, this concept of a \u201cmore human web\u201d turns out to be quite profound, even if anatomically, the web-gardens that comprise the IndieWeb are <a href=\"https:\/\/chrismcolvin.com\/posts\/i-am-not-profound\/\">not<\/a>. What makes the IndieWeb special is that it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/polymaths.social\/@thelinuxcast\/statuses\/01JT7TNSAZASZ7DVZG8VB4RPPM\">fun<\/a>, it\u2019s human (and deliberately anti-corporate), it\u2019s meaningful as a medium for expression, <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/writing-notes-helps-you-remember-and-forget\/\">rememberance<\/a>, and to <u>connect<\/u> in endless ways not possible within the prevailing (soul-sucking) silos of the corporate, hegemonic web.<\/p>\n\n<p>Despite these virtues, the idea of <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/blogging-in-isolation\/\">blogging in isolation<\/a> is a lonely proposition for most. For those, the world of blogging is a <a href=\"https:\/\/winnielim.org\/notes\/social-networks-are-like-a-blackhole-for-our-content\/\">blackhole<\/a>\u2014a void where their words go, never to be seen. But as it turns out, the IndieWeb has quite the lively community, and with a little <a href=\"https:\/\/frills.dev\/blog\/240404-anniversary\/\">time<\/a> and effort, you too can <strong>find people here and connect<\/strong>. So go check out some <a href=\"#small-web-finds-and-features\">cool sites<\/a>! Peruse their <a href=\"https:\/\/hammyhavoc.com\/why-blogrolls-suddenly-matter-more-than-ever-before\/\">blogroll<\/a> if they\u2019ve got one (here\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">mine<\/a>). Tell your <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/referrals\/\">friends<\/a> about the awesome stuff you <a href=\"https:\/\/heydonworks.com\/article\/the-cite-element\/\">find<\/a>! You can even reach out to people you find on the web and let them know you liked something about their site! Most folks have some form of contact (e.g. email, Fediverse, etc\u2026) available.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@otterlove\/114127777226086617\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/weird-brain.png\" alt=\"weird brain\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>If you don\u2019t have your own website already. I bet you\u2019re <em>totally<\/em> convinced to go and make one at this point <em>riiiight<\/em>? I\u2019ve talked a lot and provided <strong>tons of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#resources\">resources<\/a><\/strong> for how to get started in the past\u2014but here\u2019s some more stuff that could help! There\u2019s no shortage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alanwsmith.com\/en\/2w\/ul\/pe\/9l\/\">website builders<\/a> (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/osmose.ceo\/phantomake\/\">Phantomake<\/a>) to check out. <a href=\"https:\/\/teahouse.cafe\/news\/2025\/05\/02\/announcing-teahouse.html\">Teahouse hosting<\/a> is a new hosting platform that looks intriguing\u2014fancy a <a href=\"https:\/\/32bit.cafe\/spring25\/\">tea party<\/a>? Just pick something that looks cool, try it out and see how it goes. With static sites especially, it\u2019s generally easy enough to <a href=\"https:\/\/bitsgalore.org\/2025\/04\/30\/changes-to-the-blog-migration-to-codeberg-and-activitypub-based-comments.html\">move your content<\/a> elsewhere if needed. Start <a href=\"https:\/\/250kb.club\">small<\/a>, remember to consider <a href=\"https:\/\/disabled.social\/@A11yAwareness\/114467105234200235\">accessibility<\/a>, don\u2019t be afraid to <a href=\"https:\/\/polymaths.social\/@amin\/statuses\/01JPFXMMB8T1Z1NFMYDP57T0A2\">hand-jam your own HTML<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/fromemily.com\/all-the-things\/\">share your process<\/a>! Don\u2019t worry about what <em><a href=\"https:\/\/social.wake.st\/@liaizon\/114434294549299361\">isn\u2019t<\/a><\/em> done, there will <em>always<\/em> be something <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/indecision\/\">unfinished<\/a> about your site. Just keep working on it as you have time.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Here\u2019s some awesome stuff I\u2019ve discovered on the web this past week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/vzqk50.com\/whoami\/\">Apis Necros<\/a>\u2019s post about <a href=\"https:\/\/vzqk50.com\/blog\/core-values\/\">Core Values<\/a>. This is an IndieWeb practice I think is awesome. Everyone should take the time to write about what guides them, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/why\">why<\/a> they do what they do, etc\u2026<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/palomakop.tv\">Paloma Kop<\/a> has a very aesthetically pleasing site.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/eli.li\/about\">Eli<\/a>\u2019s latest <a href=\"https:\/\/eli.li\/something-something-something-week-notes\">week notes<\/a>. This is a blogging format I adore. Just to peek into someone elses life and see a bit of genuine humanity for once on the Internet.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dice.camp\/@martin\/\">Martin<\/a>\u2019s blog <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.weavingstories.co.uk\">Weaving Stories<\/a> looks awesome!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/anubiarts.neocities.org\/about\">Anubi<\/a>, of <a href=\"https:\/\/anubiarts.neocities.org\">AnubiArts<\/a>, is one of my favorite Pixel Artists on the Fediverse\u2014and they now have a website!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/frills.dev\">Frills<\/a> is a long-time favorite site for me on the IndieWeb. They were recently featured on <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/pb-frills\">People and Blogs<\/a>!<\/li>\n  <li>Last but certainly not least, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/adam.omg.lol\">Adam Newbold<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/notes.neatnik.net\/2025\/05\/pokmon-art-appreciation-2025-day-1\">Pok\u00e9mon Art Appreciation<\/a> series. It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/donphan.social\/@gluedex\/113458925787996650\">fire<\/a>!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/donphan.social\/@gluedex\/113458925787996650\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/ponyta.png\" alt=\"Ponyta\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/expressiverse.blog\/decentralization-too-big\/\">Never<\/a> a dull week in Fediland I tell ya\u2013<em>y\u2019know<\/em>, we\u2019re a <a href=\"https:\/\/anders.thoresson.se\/post\/2025\/05\/town-squares-backyards-better-metaphors-and-decentralised-networks\/\">complex<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/plush.city\/@heatherhorns_lite\/113272718753966391\">silly<\/a> bunch afterall! Fortunately, if things get too spicy where you\u2019re at, you can always <a href=\"https:\/\/stfn.pl\/blog\/69-migrating-servers-migrating-instances\/\">pick up and find a new home<\/a>. It\u2019s one of the benefits of an <em>actually<\/em> decentralized social platform! Or, you could always just <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.ctms.me\/posts\/2025-04-30-instance-hiatus\/\">turn the lights off<\/a> and take a break for a bit (could be good advice for many)\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>A third option is, for those who want to make the rules or feel like doin\u2019 a little <strong>digital homesteading<\/strong>, the ever-eventful world of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vmst.io\/@vmstan\/114467278604452680\">self-hosting<\/a><\/strong>! Yeah, that\u2019s right, you can just haul off and run your own social media network and continue to chat with all the same people you were chatting with before on Fedi. Except this time \u2018round, you can make it all about you. Want to change up the look and feel? <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.dgirl.gay\/@moonfaced\/statuses\/01JTES5N8YPF17TJ1WCQ34Q86F\">Gotcha<\/a>. Wanna go light-weight? <a href=\"https:\/\/humungus.tedunangst.com\/r\/honk\">Done-zo<\/a>. <em>Hell<\/em>, you can even make your <u>website<\/u> <a href=\"https:\/\/hypha.coop\/dripline\/announcing-dp-social-inbox\/\">Fedi-compatible<\/a>! So fear not weary <a href=\"https:\/\/socialwebfoundation.org\/2025\/04\/29\/places-pub\/\">traveler<\/a>, your <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/network\/#search\">search<\/a> is over.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Welcome back to the <s><a href=\"https:\/\/serverlesshorrors.com\/all\/firebase-100k\/\">horror<\/a> show<\/s> beautiful utopia that is the infosec world! A field and a career that is a <s>ever-<a href=\"https:\/\/crankysec.com\/blog\/devo\/\">devolving<\/a> hellscape<\/s> boundless sea of enjoyment and opportunity.<\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of how well things are going\u2026. we\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/embracethered.com\/blog\/posts\/2025\/model-context-protocol-security-risks-and-exploits\/\">super-secure<\/a> and totally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/en_us\/research\/25\/e\/exploring-pleak.html\">not leaky<\/a> LLMs, SSL is in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.haproxy.com\/blog\/state-of-ssl-stacks\">perfect shape<\/a>, nothing to worry about with <a href=\"https:\/\/adragos.ro\/fontleak\/\">fonts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/evildeno\/\">JavaScript<\/a> is flawless as usual, and all things remain hunky-dory in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.r-tec.net\/r-tec-blog-windows-is-and-always-will-be-a-potatoland.html\">Potatoland<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>OK<\/em>\u2026 <em>mhmm<\/em>\u2026 I see you\u2019re a bit skeptical\u2026 well if you\u2019re still somehow worried despite all my words of comfort, here\u2019s some recently discovered tools you could check out to help secure things more I guess\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/opsectechniques.com\">CLOAK<\/a>: Concealment Layers for Online Anonymity and Knowledge<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@alevsk\/114462462391433291\">Kubernetes Goat<\/a>: Intentionally vulnerable cluster environment to learn and practice Kubernetes security<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.bushidotoken.net\/2025\/05\/ransomware-tool-matrix-project-updates.html\">Ransomware Tool Matrix Project<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Now <em><a href=\"https:\/\/bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net\/wiki\/Delibird_(Pok\u00e9mon)#Origin\">waddle<\/a><\/em> you waitin\u2019 for? Go do cool stuff on your website!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/donphan.social\/@gluedex\/114463514780411186\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/noctowl.png\" alt=\"it's been a hoot!\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 09 May 2025 00:06:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-05-09","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-05-09","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"So you've got a blog, now what?","description":"<p><em>OK<\/em>, so you\u2019ve got a blog\/website, but you\u2019re wondering \u201c<em>now what<\/em>\u201d? Here\u2019s some ideas for what to do next!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\ud83c\udfe1 My \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/good-sitekeeping\">Good Sitekeeping<\/a>\u201d guide has a list of <em>style-ey<\/em> things I personally like to see on web sites<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83e\udd47 <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/what-to-add-to-your-site-first\">What to add to your site first<\/a> is self-explainable<\/li>\n  <li>\u2044 Add as many \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\">Slash Pages<\/a>\u201d as you can<\/li>\n  <li>\u2699\ufe0f Here\u2019s some other commonly found <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist\">website components<\/a> you can consider<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83d\ude00 Here\u2019s a list of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile\">my favorite things<\/a> I\u2019ve built\/written for this site, some of which could inspire you!<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83d\udc9c Get <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/be-weird\">weird<\/a> with it<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83c\udf0e Put <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/just-put-it-on-your-blog\">anything and everything<\/a> there (e.g. remember to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/remembering-to-pesos\">PESOS<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li>\ud83c\udfe0 Make it <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/welcome-home\">homey<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>\ud83d\udce7 <a href=\"mailto:mike@shellsharks.com\">Share<\/a> your site with me! I want to see it, subscribe to your RSS feed, and probably add it to my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">newsletter<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>\ud83d\udcdc Speaking of <span class=\"shellsharks\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a><\/span>\u2014check it out for other what-to-do-next ideas and inspiration from across the IndieWeb<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Remember! <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/17\/having-a-website-is-about-you#title\">Having a website isn\u2019t about blogging<\/a>, it\u2019s about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/01\/be-yourself\">you<\/a>.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 07 May 2025 22:27:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/05\/07\/so-youve-got-a-blog-now-what","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/05\/07\/so-youve-got-a-blog-now-what","category":["technology","blogging","indieweb"]},{"title":"Scroll quattuordecim","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume fourteen<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we discuss the value of your personal web identity, we talk toot-mobility, and we automate our \u201cno\u2019s\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>A personal web site can be a lot of things. Maybe <u>most<\/u> importantly though, it can (and <em>should<\/em>) serve as your canonical identity on the web. So whether you are a <a href=\"https:\/\/zeroes.ca\/@StaceyCornelius\/114405682352014694\">creator<\/a>, or just a \u201cregular\u201d person on the web in this modern world. It\u2019s important to <a href=\"https:\/\/snook.ca\/archives\/writing\/subversive\">claim a space<\/a> for yourself, not to <em>only<\/em> rent space on some large platform that could disappear on a whim. Use this space to <a href=\"https:\/\/readbeanicecream.surge.sh\/chatter\/#reading-for-improvement-april-28-2025\">speak your mind<\/a>, or at least, use it as a centralized place to <a href=\"https:\/\/heathenstorm.com\/2025\/04\/25\/startin-up-a-posse\/\">archive<\/a> what you\u2019ve first-published elsewhere. I\u2019m not saying it doesn\u2019t take <em>a little<\/em> bit of work to get this set up. But the benefits are worth it!<\/p>\n\n<p>One of said benefits, which is really hard to <em>measure<\/em>, is the simple joy and pride that comes with building a space that is unique, and entirely <strong>you<\/strong>. With a personal site, you are free to tap into your <a href=\"https:\/\/gerben.dev\/notes\/8326cc4a83a7185e809d2b6f3a48e833\">creativity<\/a> and the limitless <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@EmilyMoranBarwick\/114415882105380142\">canvas<\/a> of the web, rather than being shoved into a box with a character-limit on a boring-looking site where you are nothing more than a \u201cuser\u201d\u2014a powerless @handle at the mercy of a faceless corporation. Why conform when you could be your unique self!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/misskey.io\/notes\/a75lfjoa60h706bu\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/weird-creatures.png\" alt=\"weird creatures\" width=\"600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Second, you are free to write (or <a href=\"https:\/\/aluhrs.com\/blog\/linkblog-process\/\">share<\/a>) <em>whatever<\/em> you\u2019d like, styled to your exact specification. Writing itself isn\u2019t always <em><a href=\"https:\/\/hi.nighten.fr\/notice\/AtZfI9ZAQmjY4S9XQu\">easy<\/a><\/em>, but what you publish can be as long as you\u2019d like, as <a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/ten-pointless-facts-about-me\/\">trivial<\/a> as you\u2019d like (though you may be surprised to discover the <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@Edent\/112358810437938277\">value<\/a> of things you thought to be trivial), <a href=\"https:\/\/selfh.st\/post\/selfh-st-icons-custom-colors\/\">styled<\/a> however you want and in any format you can imagine.<\/p>\n\n<p>As I\u2019ve said before, there are many <a href=\"https:\/\/grepjason.sh\/goals\">goals<\/a> served by having your own li\u2019l personal space on the web. For many, it\u2019s about tapping into the larger <strong>IndieWeb community<\/strong>. Though it may be hard to see it at first, this slice of the web is growing and becoming increasingly vibrant. Once here though, how do we \u201cconnect\u201d? <a href=\"https:\/\/useplaintext.email\">Email<\/a> has of course remained a mainstay. Adding <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/mastodon-redirect-with-your-domain\/\">some level<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/dbzer0.com\/blog\/this-blog-is-now-federated-natively-to-lemmy\/\">Fediverse<\/a> interoperability is also an <a href=\"https:\/\/fedify.dev\/tutorial\/microblog\">option<\/a>. Though it\u2019s only one-way, <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.social\/@jaranta\/114417025198424830\">RSS<\/a> remains a popular (and unintrusive) way of getting your message out to people who want to hear it. The IndieWeb is a community\u2014in fact it\u2019s a community of communities\u2014places where we can learn from and <a href=\"https:\/\/omglol.news\/2025\/05\/01\/make-a-difference-in-may\">support<\/a> one another.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@spilledpixel\/114432930152223033\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/butterflies.png\" alt=\"social butterfly\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>So flutter forth and meet some cool new people! To get ya started, check out the awesome sites I\u2019ve shared <a href=\"#small-web-finds-and-features\">below<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/felix.gripe\/blog\/istanbul-weeknotes-2025-04-28\/\">\u0130stanbul weeknotes<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/felix.gripe\/about\/\">Felix<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/eva.town\">Eva.town<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/eva.town\/about\">Eva Decker<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/seavalanche.github.io\">Seavalanche<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/seavalanche.github.io\/About\">Vesnea<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/marijkeluttekes.dev\">Marijkeluttekes.dev<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/marijkeluttekes.dev\/about\/\">Marijke Luttekes<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/multiline.co\/mment\/2025\/04\/refreshing\/\">Refreshing<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/ashur.cab\/rera\/\">Ashur<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cultofthepartyparrot.com\">Cult of the Party Parrot<\/a> \ud83c\udf89\ud83e\udd9c<\/li>\n  <li>Shoutout to <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/about\/\">Juhis<\/a> for mentioning <strong>Scrolls<\/strong> is his latest <a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/juhis\/archive\/004-small-and-personal-web\/\">From Juhis with Love<\/a> newsletter!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><em>Alriiiight<\/em>, let\u2019s settle into the <em>Fedi\u2019<\/em> section with some <a href=\"https:\/\/mementomori.social\/@laamaa\/114417278828597892\">sweet jams<\/a> \ud83c\udfb6<\/p>\n\n<p>A lot of people see the IndieWeb, and for similar reasons, the Fediverse as somewhat of a \u201cblack hole\u201d in terms of reach. Too often I see people refer to their posts as \u201cshouting into the void\u201d\u2014and while I think there\u2019s <em>some<\/em> truth to this, it is only the case because we\u2019ve over-conditioned ourselves to be reliant on <a href=\"https:\/\/universeodon.com\/@cryptadamist\/114395249311910522\">algorithms<\/a> to serve as vehicles for said reach.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.social\/p\/harriorrihar\/802282539190346317\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/blackhole.png\" alt=\"Black Hole\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Reach<\/em> (and in the inverse, <strong>discovery<\/strong>) work a bit differently in an algo-less world. Here we rely on human-led curation, organic conversation, and authenticity over algorithm-driven click\/engagement-bait and <em>likes<\/em>-fueled post favorabilty which has only ever served \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/social-media\/2025\/04\/23\/the-fediverse-and-influencers\">influencer<\/a>\u201c-types. But make no mistake, even without a native \u201calgorithm\u201d, your posts on the Fediverse have real <a href=\"https:\/\/neilzone.co.uk\/2025\/04\/a-toot-travelled-to-fediverse-users-in-53-countries-in-12-hours\/\">traveling potential<\/a>, courtesy of the <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.nzoss.nz\/@rimu\/114072442474199740\">communities<\/a> and relationships who value who you are and what you have to say.<\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of which, in the course of publishing this newsletter each week, I have had the pleasure of featuring a LOT of awesome artists, <em>ALL<\/em> of whom I\u2019ve discovered on the Fediverse. I encourage you to click on each of the images I share each week to check out their craft, give them a follow, let them know you appreciate their work and for many, you could even have some of your own art commissioned! Scrolls has always been the best of my web\/social timelines\u2014aggregated and synthesized by me. So though I have <em>so many of you<\/em> to thank, a disproportinate portion of the vibrancy of each \u201cScroll\u201d can be credited to these super talented artists. <em>Thank you!<\/em> \ud83c\udfa8 \ud83e\udde1<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Here\u2019s how I\u2019ll send this section off\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>The Fediverse is <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@reiver\/114421698141076701\">not just one thing<\/a>. It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/chrastecky.dev\/technology\/activity-pub-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly\">not perfect<\/a>. But what it offers is a place to be <a href=\"https:\/\/social.growyourown.services\/@homegrown\/114422199919232758\">you<\/a>. To build meaningful relationships, that <em><a href=\"https:\/\/anders.thoresson.se\/post\/2025\/04\/decentralized-is-more-important-than-being-decentralizable\/\">for real<\/a><\/em> can\u2019t be snatched <a href=\"https:\/\/discuss.systems\/@ricci\/114396317436420669\">away<\/a> by a billionaire. Where your interactions, however small, can really <em>mean<\/em> something, and you can actually enjoy the time you spend scrollin\u2019 your feed.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p><em>Yeehaw<\/em>! Here\u2019s this week\u2019s cyber-roundup \ud83e\udd20<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shostack.org\/blog\/appsec-roundup-april\/\">Shostack\u2019s Appsec Roundup<\/a> is absolutely overflowing with great links. I\u2019ve bookmarked like 8 things out of there. Python went out and got a <a href=\"https:\/\/jonathan.protzenko.fr\/2025\/04\/18\/python.html\">cryptographic makeover<\/a>. Two \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/designer-vulnerabilities\">named vulnerabilities<\/a>\u201d debuted in the last week\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oligo.security\/blog\/airborne\">AirBorne<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/cirriustech.co.uk\/blog\/outtatune-vulnerability\/\">OuttaTune<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Tooling-wise, <a href=\"https:\/\/awssecuritychanges.com\">AWS Security Changes<\/a> looks interesting for tracking minute security-related changes to AWS services, and <a href=\"https:\/\/novahunting.ai\">NOVA<\/a> can help detect adversarial (LLM) prompts. Want to automated your security team with a very <em>old-school<\/em> state of mind? Just redirect all security advisory requests to <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/hotheadhacker\/no-as-a-service\">this handy-dandy API<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"indiesec-blogs\">IndieSec Blogs<\/h6>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/securitybynature.fr\">Security By Nature<\/a> <em>by<\/em> Antonin<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/knifecoat.com\">KnifeCoat<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@FuzzySec\">FuzzySec<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/kuzey.rs\">Cyber Blog<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/kuzey.rs\/about\/\">Kuzey Arda Bulut<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sapirxfed.com\/blog-posts\/\">Sapir\u2019s failed research blog<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/sapirxfed.com\">Sapir<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>. Here\u2019s a hug!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/misskey.io\/notes\/a5fbdhxe8iae03tr\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/Hug.png\" alt=\"Hug\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 02 May 2025 06:58:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-05-02","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-05-02","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u0113decim","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume thirteen<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. In this edition, we take part in the <em>web revival<\/em>, focus on Fedi community, and share urgent info with Dell owners.<\/p>\n\n<p><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i> This issue is a few days late\u2014<em>oops<\/em>! Unfortunately, I just wasn\u2019t able to get it out at the usual time due to some travel conflicts. <em>But<\/em>, here it is!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Welcome back to the <strong>IndieWeb<\/strong> corner of this li\u2019l ol\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/04\/28\/whats-a-newsletter\">newsletter<\/a>. A place where <em>you<\/em> (the larger IndieWeb community) publish into the ether\u2014and the void screams back\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@catsalad\/114056818002095986\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/void-screams-back.jpg\" alt=\"void screams back\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>It may not be BIG <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@levelbot\/114365022464605812\">big<\/a> (yet), but make no mistake, the \u201cold web\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/libre.town\/thoughts\/entry_7.xhtml\">revival<\/a> is here. As they say, what\u2019s <s>old<\/s> <a href=\"https:\/\/pleromer.net\/notice\/AtFbsgdIhEFctec328\">1.0<\/a> is new again. There\u2019s no one way to be a part of it. No one way to enjoy it. All that\u2019s required is you get your <a href=\"https:\/\/smallweb.thecozy.cat\/blog\/\ud83e\udde1-tuesday-tips-5-\ud83e\udde1-why-you-should-own-your-online-space-and-how-to-start-today\/\">own little space<\/a> (no matter how <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.infected.systems\/posts\/2025-04-21-this-blog-is-hosted-on-a-nintendo-wii\/\">silly<\/a>), and put your stuff there. Let\u2019s bring some <a href=\"https:\/\/2025.stateofthebrowser.com\/speaker\/sara-joy\/\">whimsy<\/a> back to the net\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/libre.town\/thoughts\/entry_4.xhtml\">together<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>One of the best parts about the \u201cIndieWeb\u201d is how few \u201crequirements\u201d there really are. Your website being \u201cgood\u201d, i.e. being well-coded, or having objectively \u201cgood\u201d aesthetics, or <em>whatever<\/em> is not in that list of requirements. But, even so, you want your site to reflect who you are, and to help, there are TONS of resources these days\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/small-tech.org\">tools<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mariobianchi.dev\/title\/how-and-why-you-should-create-a-blog-with-flask\">frameworks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/kitten.small-web.org\">development kits<\/a>, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/tomodashi.com\/kiki\">construction kits<\/a>\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.casa\">static website hosting providers<\/a>, and non-profit \/ community-oriented <a href=\"https:\/\/logoi.dny.dev\/2025\/04\/20\/migrating-to-codeberg\/\">git hosting<\/a> services to name a few! <em>Heck<\/em>, there\u2019s even tools to help you <a href=\"https:\/\/geocities.live\">old-webbify modern sites<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve said it before, I\u2019ll say it again now, and I <em>know<\/em> I\u2019ll mention it again in the future\u2014there\u2019s <strong>so much you can do with your site<\/strong> once you have it up. Tinker with <a href=\"https:\/\/scottk.mba\/how-to-improve-your-sites-typography\">typography<\/a> (check out <a href=\"#typography-inspo\">all these<\/a> awesome sites for example), do some <a href=\"https:\/\/libre.town\/thoughts\/entry_9.xhtml\">link-maxing<\/a> (maybe start with a <a href=\"https:\/\/sainthood.xyz\/links\/\">link directory<\/a>?), set up your <a href=\"https:\/\/social.ayco.io\/@ayo\/114368961605633847\">h-cards<\/a>, be inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webdesignmuseum.org\">web antiquity<\/a>, or simply get a li\u2019l <a href=\"https:\/\/alpaca.gold\/@poppacalypse\/114381332340256585\">silly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve got your site looking and functioning as you\u2019d like (as much as one can before you want to tinker again), you can do a <a href=\"https:\/\/mtwb.blog\/30-blogs-30-days\/\">bit of writing<\/a>! Looking for ideas? Maybe consider taking part in an <a href=\"https:\/\/reillyspitzfaden.com\/posts\/2025\/04\/indieweb-blog-carnival-renewal\/\">IndieWeb carnival<\/a>, write about anything notable from the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lmorchard.com\/2025\/04\/18\/w16\/\">past week<\/a> or document the <a href=\"https:\/\/honora.neocities.org\/tools\">tools you use<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Just remember though! \u2b07\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@ghostcatte\/114354341962512877\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/psa-dont-use-ai.png\" alt=\"PSA Don't Use AI\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Want to find others on the IndieWeb? Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/news.indieweb.org\/en\">IndieNews<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/home.omg.lol\/directory\">omg.lol directory<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/hypertext.tv\">Hypertext TV<\/a>. Or tune into what others on the IndieWeb are <a href=\"https:\/\/node.lordmatt.co.uk\/2025\/04\/19\/posts\/do-you-have-a-smol-website-a-person-blog-or-other-non-corperate-internet-thingie\/\">linking to<\/a> and sharing, like <a href=\"#small-web-finds-and-features\">I do here each week<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n<p>Awesome sites and cool people I\u2019ve discovered in the past week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/libre.town\">Libre.Town<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/libre.town\/about.xhtml\">Lianna<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theinternet.review\">The Internet Review<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/theinternet.review\/history\/\">Jared White<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.albinanigans.me\">Albinanigans<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.albinanigans.me\/about.html\">Albi<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.octoomy.win\">Octoomy<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.octoomy.win\/about.html\">Octoomy<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/noisydeadlines.net\/about\">Noisy Deadlines<\/a> take on the <a href=\"https:\/\/noisydeadlines.net\/blog-questions-challenge-technology-edition\">Technology Blog Questions Challenge<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dragonbeans.nl\/blog\">Dragonbeans.nl<\/a> <em>from<\/em> (https:\/\/dragonbeans.nl)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/rainstormsinjuly.co\">Rainstorms in July<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 id=\"typography-inspo\">Typography Inspo<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@rachsmith\/114378068793847831\">Rach Smith<\/a> asked the Fediverse for examples of sites with cool typesetting\/font choices and the Fediverse responded. Here\u2019s some of my favorites! (in no particular order)<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/piccalil.li\/\">Piccalilli<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/typozon.xyz\/\">Typozon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/gwern.net\/\">Gwern Branwen<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/maggieappleton.com\/garden\">Maggie Appleton<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/meyerweb.com\/eric\/thoughts\/2025\/01\/08\/css-wish-list-2025\/\">Meyerweb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/brilliantcrank.com\/\">Brilliantcrank<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iamrob.in\/\">i am robin<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.recursive.design\/\">Recursive Sans &amp; Mono<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kizu.dev\/fit-to-width\/\">Roman Komarov<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bobulate.com\/\">Bobulate<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s <u>be real<\/u>, the Fediverse is <a href=\"https:\/\/social.linux.pizza\/@midtsveen\/114359284233082412\">special<\/a>. Here, it\u2019s not about <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.anantshri.info\/weve-all-learned-to-game-it\/\">metrics<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.anantshri.info\/weve-all-learned-to-game-it\/\">virality<\/a>. Instead, it\u2019s about <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@tinker\/114353524618852280\">communities<\/a><\/strong> (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/musician.social\/@mirlo\/114359249763174871\">music<\/a>!) and <a href=\"https:\/\/0.9.2.e164.arpa\/notes\/a6xf0o3fxrf92ve7\">individuality<\/a>. You don\u2019t have to beg for likes, or followers\u2014just be yourself and make <u>real<\/u> connections.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@tinimalina\/114375612146156573\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/thistle-town.png\" alt=\"Thistle Town\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Fedi\u2019s no social panacea though, everyone has <em>something<\/em> they\u2019d like to change about it <a href=\"https:\/\/werd.io\/2025\/if-i-ran-mastodon\">if they could<\/a>. Fortunately for all of us, there are A LOT of people contributing, building and working on making this place better each and every day. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tbray.org\/ongoing\/misc\/Tim\">Tim<\/a> has some ideas on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tbray.org\/ongoing\/When\/202x\/2025\/04\/16\/Decentralized-Schemes\">url schemes for decentralized social<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/catodon.social\/@panos\">Panos<\/a> has an <a href=\"https:\/\/codeberg.org\/catodon\/catodon\/issues\/184\">update on Catodon<\/a> (based on <a href=\"https:\/\/iceshrimp.net\/\">Iceshrimp<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/codeberg.org\/rimu\/pyfedi\">PieFed<\/a> is a Lemmy alternative written in Python, <a href=\"https:\/\/radicle.xyz\">Radicle<\/a> is a decentralized Git-based code forge, <a href=\"https:\/\/social.wake.st\/@liaizon\">Liaizon<\/a> maintains an awesome <a href=\"https:\/\/iconography.fediverse.info\">Fediverse Iconography<\/a> pack, <a href=\"https:\/\/hey.hagelb.org\/@technomancy\">technomancy<\/a> has set up a little place for <a href=\"https:\/\/fedibot.club\">bots<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lemmy-federate.com\">Lemmy Federate<\/a> is a cool tool for helping <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel\">threadiverse<\/a> communities grow!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Howdy cyber-friendos! If you haven\u2019t already, come check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/c\/cybersecurity\">cybersecurity community on infosec.pub<\/a>! It\u2019s one of the larger infosec-related Fedi communities and one that I can envision being incredibly vibrant in the not-too-distant future!<\/p>\n\n<p>What else is cyber-interesting this week\u2026 Here\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/well-known.dev\">cool tool<\/a> for searching across <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Well-known_URIs\">\/.well-known<\/a> pages. Want to learn more about security-related web headers? Check <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.semgrep.dev\/courses\/security-headers\">this out from Semgrep Academy<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/0xbro.red\/about\/\">Mattia<\/a> has <a href=\"https:\/\/0xbro.red\/writeups\/infosec-education\/effective-notes-with-obsidian\/\">thoughts<\/a> on effective documentation for certs, CTFs, pentests, etc\u2026 using Obsidian. <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@straithe\">Straithe<\/a> wrote up a review of the (oft-asked about) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/posts\/126823355\">Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate<\/a>. <em>Oh<\/em> and <a href=\"https:\/\/updateyodell.net\">Update Yo Dell, foo!<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/merveilles.town\/@neauoire\/114359660304464013\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/walkin.png\" alt=\"Walkin'\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Time to be movin\u2019 on!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 28 Apr 2025 16:37:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-04-28","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-04-28","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Over\/Under with Shellsharks","description":"<p>Here\u2019s <a href=\"#overunder-with-shellsharks\">my submission<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/\">lazybea.rs<\/a> series <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/tags\/over\/under\">Over\/Under<\/a><\/strong>. The idea is simple, <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/hyde.stevenson\/\">Hyde<\/a> gives me some topics and I state whether those things are <u>overrated<\/u> or <u>underrated<\/u>, with some text about why. Here were my chosen topics\u2026\n<br \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"#indieweb\">Indieweb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#slash-pages\">Slashpages<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#sharks-are-dangerous\">Sharks are dangerous<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#ransomware\">Ransomware<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#octopus-dishes\">Octopus dishes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Go read this post over at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/ovr-015\/\">lazybea.rs<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"overunder-with-shellsharks\">Over\/Under with Shellsharks<\/h1>\n\n<h2 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h2>\n<p>By <em>most<\/em>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/\">IndieWeb<\/a> is severely <strong>underrated<\/strong>\u2014by the enlightened few, consider it <em>adequately-rated<\/em>. It\u2019s probably of no surprise to anyone who has followed my writing for the last two-<i>ish<\/i> years\u2014I <u><b>love<\/b><\/u> the IndieWeb, and personal blogging in general. I frequently write on the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=indieweb\">subject<\/a>, have built many-a-reference dedicated to collecting <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">resources<\/a> and educating others, and I <em>somewhat recently<\/em> started a \u201cnewsletter\u201d-type thingy dubbed \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a>\u201d, which heavily features content and personalities from across the IndieWeb. I love me some IndieWeb.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"slash-pages\">Slash Pages<\/h2>\n<p>Though I have to give <em>all<\/em> credit to <a href=\"https:\/\/rknight.me\/\" class=\"rknight-me\">Robb<\/a> for the creation and maintenance of the venerable <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\">Slashpages.net<\/a>, I can give myself a tiny nod as Robb did consult me prior to the site going live on what my thoughts were on how they should be defined and what pages should\/could be included. He was even nice enough to give me a named credit on the site and include my silly <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/chipotle\">\/chipotle<\/a> slash-page \ud83c\udf36\ufe0f \ud83d\ude06.<\/p>\n\n<p>Slash Pages are just <u>fun<\/u>. They are an emodiment of the IndieWeb experiment. They are meant to share something about <em>you<\/em>, the individual behind the site. They exist in a place (the root of your site) that should be relatively common across other IndieWeb sites\u2014which leads to improved discoverability and a greater sense of community. They are also just quirky, silly and very <strong>human<\/strong>\u2014something the web, <em>and the world<\/em>, desperately need more of.<\/p>\n\n<p>In the weeks and months since Robb launched the site, I\u2019ve noticed a really promising level of adoption across my own IndieWeb circles. I hope to see more people have fun with this idea, add Slash Pages to their site, come up with new ones, etc\u2026 For now, I believe it is still vastly <strong>underrated<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"sharks-are-dangerous\">Sharks are Dangerous<\/h2>\n<p>I maintain a healthy respect for <u>all<\/u> wild animals. They deserve as much if you ask me. They are also <em>all<\/em> equipped with a dizzying assortment of defensive capabilities. So for your own protection, I suggest everyone maintain safe distances and treat all life with respect. This is <em>doubly-true<\/em> concerning creatures that are <em>of-the-sea<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m a land-walker. On-land, I feel like I can hold my own well-enough. I can see things that approach me, I can hear them, I can run pretty fast for a human, I can even pick up something to defend myself if I needed to. Not saying I could tussle with, and win, against any manner of land-faring beast, but I can do <em>something<\/em>. When it comes to the <strong>water<\/strong> though? I\u2019m completely defenseless. I can swim, <em>yeah<\/em>\u2014but that\u2019s about it. I can\u2019t really see underwater, I have no means to really detect if something is about to \u201cget me\u201d. I don\u2019t think my futile punches or kicks would amount to much, especially against something like a shark.<\/p>\n\n<p>All this to say, I <em>do<\/em> think Sharks are dangerous\u2014or rather they <em>can<\/em> be. If you don\u2019t have that healthy respect for them. They are apex predators afterall, and they dominate in a world that humans, just naturally <em>don\u2019t<\/em>. You\u2019ve probably seen that statistically, sharks aren\u2019t particularly harmful to humans. This is <em>probably<\/em> true. As such, I think the danger of sharks is probably <strong>properly rated<\/strong>. Humans aren\u2019t natural prey for sharks (thankfully), and we as humans do some things to avoid sharks where we can. Sharks are innately curious, and infinitely <strong>cool<\/strong>. I mean, I have a lot of shark-themed stuff on my site, so you <em>know<\/em> I have somewhat of an affinity.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"ransomware\">Ransomware<\/h2>\n\n<p>I\u2019m (professionally) in infosec, so I have an appreciation and technical understanding of Ransomware\u2014how it can happen, how to defend against it, and the impacts of an incident. Ransomware is consistently placed at the top of \u201cthings to worry about\u201d lists (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.verizon.com\/business\/resources\/reports\/dbir\/\">Verizon\u2019s DBIR<\/a>) and yet, remains inadequately defended against time after time, across all observable sectors. I think it\u2019s <strong>impossible to overrate<\/strong> the financial impact of a serious ransomware-related breach. Entire companies have been snuffed out of existence thanks to them\u2014and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\/2022\/07\/11\/raap\">ransomware-as-a-business<\/a> in and of itself is measured in the <em>billions<\/em>, if not trillions, yearly.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"octopus-dishes\">Octopus Dishes<\/h2>\n\n<p>Fried, and then dipped in some sort of sauce? <em>Sure<\/em>. Otherwise? <em>Ehhhh<\/em>, not really my thing. Not a big tentacle guy I suppose. I gotta say <strong>overrated<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 21 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/over-under-shellsharks","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/over-under-shellsharks","category":["technology","life","infosec","blogging","indieweb","technology","life","infosec","blog"]},{"title":"Yeah, I Made It Lilac","description":"<p>Did you know if you have your own website, you can do <u>whatever<\/u> you want with it? <em>Like<\/em>\u2026 it doesn\u2019t have to be all snobby or professional. <em>Or like<\/em>\u2026 some of it can, but some of it could just not be, <em>y\u2019know?<\/em> \n<br \/><\/p>\n<style>\n  #latestpostcontent {background-color: #A47DAB; p {color:black;} a { color:darkblue; } span>i {color: black;} border-radius: 10px; padding: 5px 10px 5px 10px;}\n<\/style>\n\n<style>\n  body {\n    background-color: #A47DAB;\n  }\n  main {\n    font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\n    color: black;\n    font-size: 1.2em;\n  }\n  .primarycolor {\n    color: black;\n  }\n  article * a {\n    color: darkblue;\n    text-decoration-line: underline;\n    text-decoration-color: darkgreen;\n  }\n  footer * span {\n    color: black !important; \n  }\n  p {\n    color: black;\n  }\n<\/style>\n\n<p>Check this s*** out for example. I went positively rogue on this page.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"\/assets\/img\/derpshark.png\" width=\"250px\" title=\"derpshark\" style=\"transform: rotate(0.05turn); position:relative; left:15%;\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Then<\/em>, I slapped my derpy turtle shark thing there \u2934. For <u>NO<\/u> reason. Isn\u2019t he breathtaking?<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Does this post look good?<\/em> Stop. Don\u2019t care. Doesn\u2019t need to. It is what it is\u2014and what it is, is just something I <em>felt<\/em> like doing in the moment. I\u2019m going to publish this. Then\u2026 I might tweak it. Maybe I\u2019ll add <em>more<\/em> ridiculous stuff to it. Y\u2019know, when I <em>feel<\/em> like it. <em>Or<\/em>, maybe I\u2019ll take it down sometime. Maybe I\u2019ll change the background title and color. I\u2019ma just <strong>vibe<\/strong>, <em>cool<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n<p style=\"font-family: Lucinda, cursive;\">\ud83d\udea8 New font alert!! \ud83d\udea8<br \/><br \/>Yeah that's right. Out of nowhere we got this fancy-lookin' font goin' on. <u>Dope<\/u>.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>OK<\/em>, we\u2019re back.<\/p>\n\n<p>\ud83c\udfb5 <em>Doopa-choppa-doooo<\/em> \ud83c\udfb6\u2014what should I do now?<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m <em>trying<\/em> to send some sort of <span style=\"font-size:3em;\">message<\/span> here.<\/p>\n\n<p>The message is <span style=\"font-family: 'Courier New', monospace;\">simple<\/span>, yet \u2728eloquence\u2728 may not be my fort\u00e9. Your site is for <u>you<\/u>\u2014to be you\u2013and you\u2019re almost <u>certainly<\/u> <em>kinda<\/em> weird, right? So own it! Stop worrying about making it \u201cperfect\u201d (<em>whatever that means<\/em>). Or making it professional (\ud83e\udd22). Or making it <em>need<\/em> to have this or that. It ain\u2019t that serious. Be more like <em>this<\/em> page. <u>Be Weird<\/u>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"update\">Update!<\/h3>\n\n<p>I told you I\u2019d do this. I was munching on a block of extra sharp cheddar cheese thinking about this post and decided I had some more I wanted to say.<\/p>\n\n<p>You look at this page and you might think it\u2019s \u201cweird\u201d. I mean I do. I\u2019ve said as much throughout. <em>But why<\/em>? Was it really so long ago that almost all sites looked like this? Personalized. Amateur. Unique. Human\u2014in a time of the \u201cold web\u201d. It <em>does<\/em> seem like it was a lifetime ago doesn\u2019t it? It\u2019s too bad that people\u2019s blogs have become <u>not<\/u> like this. The <em>substack-ification<\/em> of people\u2019s web presence is what\u2019s grotesque if you ask me. <em>I dunno<\/em>\u2026 can you make just <em>one<\/em> of your pages on Substack lilac? \ud83c\udf38<\/p>\n\n<p>\u2026<em>probably not<\/em> \ud83d\ude14<\/p>\n\n<p>Come here (the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>) and be weird with me. With us.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 18 Apr 2025 12:08:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/be-weird","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/be-weird","category":["life","blogging","indieweb","life","blog"]},{"title":"Scroll duodecim","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume twelve<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week, we\u2019re brewing web-potions, celebrating the Fediverse, and scrapping some funeral plans (for now).<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Welcome back to my charming li\u2019l sanctum on the \u2018net\u2014here we remain spellbound, pressing ever deeper into the enchanting realm(s) of the IndieWeb. I\u2019ve always ascribed magical <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/04\/13\/what-we-see-in-our-websites\">metaphors<\/a> to my site, hence the \u201c<span class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/span>\u201d wordplay. While others tend to their gardens \ud83e\udeb4, or furnish their <a href=\"https:\/\/bonito.cafe\/@flan\/114327535917688021\">homes<\/a> \ud83c\udfe1, I always see this site as a place for incantations \ud83e\ude84, potion making \ud83e\uddea and all manner of digital sorcery \ud83e\uddd9\u200d\u2642\ufe0f.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@bouletcorp2\/114324877497980011\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/the-hunt.png\" alt=\"The Hunt\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Don\u2019t get it twisted though, blogging is <a href=\"https:\/\/thejaymo.net\/2025\/04\/10\/marking-the-occasion-100425\/\">more<\/a> than mere cosplay. Blogging helps us <em><a href=\"https:\/\/skny.uk\/posts\/5-writing-is-thinking\/\">think<\/a><\/em> and explore our own understanding of things. It helps us <a href=\"https:\/\/xorvoid.com\/on_writing.html\">reflect<\/a> and process. It helps us <a href=\"https:\/\/brainbaking.com\/post\/2025\/04\/writing-is-redirecting-attention\/\">concentrate<\/a>, extracting even more joy from the things we already love. Our web-gardens, homes and wizard hollows are quite literally \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/2025\/04\/13\/blogs-are-personal-infrastructure\/\">personal infrastructure<\/a>\u201d. What do <em>you<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasrigby.com\/posts\/blogging-expectations\/\">expect<\/a> to get out of blogging\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mariobianchi.dev\/title\/why-a-blog\">why<\/a> do you do it? For me, it\u2019s always been <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#so-why-blog\">these things<\/a>. Maybe it\u2019s simple <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/attention\/\">attention<\/a> you <a href=\"https:\/\/vzqk50.com\/blog\/hoping-the-void-shouts-back\/\">seek<\/a>, or a bit-o-<a href=\"https:\/\/indieseek.xyz\/2025\/04\/15\/blogger-how-pushy-are-you-about-getting-paid\/\">money<\/a> (<em>just keep it classy won\u2019t ya?<\/em>). It doesn\u2019t have to be one thing, it needn\u2019t be shallow\u2014but one thing it <em>should<\/em> be, is <u>you<\/u>.<\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s not shameful to seek attention though. To want others to see, and enjoy what you have created. As much as the IndieWeb is about <em>you<\/em>, it\u2019s just as much about the larger community of personal sites\u2014of <em>real<\/em> people, jus\u2019 doin\u2019 their <em>thang<\/em> and bein\u2019 themselves. It should go without saying, we <a href=\"https:\/\/social.jsteuernagel.de\/@jana\/114336346171409625\">love blogs<\/a> here. We <em>really<\/em> want you to <a href=\"https:\/\/thejaymo.net\/2019\/12\/14\/114-please-for-the-love-of-blarg-start-a-blog\/\">start one<\/a>. We want to read, <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/04\/12\/blogrolls-and-coffee\">save<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/mikekreuzer.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/the-indieweb-that-blog-roll.html\">share<\/a> your blog(s) on our own sites. You\u2019re not alone. Get out there! <a href=\"https:\/\/askdna.coffee\/email\/\">Network<\/a> and participate in some good ol\u2019 fashioned writing <a href=\"https:\/\/justincox.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/ai-killed-nanowrimo\/\">events<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/IndieWeb_Carnival\">IndieWeb Carnival<\/a> is a good place to start. In fact, I just got in on my first-ever <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/renewal\">carnival<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>Some folks shy away from creating a personal website because they \u201caren\u2019t strong writers\u201d, or they feel they \u201cdon\u2019t have anything interesting to say\u201d. Let me just say, you don\u2019t need to be some perfect writer, nor do you have to have literally <em>anything<\/em> novel or particularly interesting to say to have a blog. <em>\u2018Nuf said<\/em>. More to the point though, having a personal website is <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/17\/having-a-website-is-about-you\">so much more<\/a> than just blogging! It\u2019s about <a href=\"https:\/\/sylvia.studio\/set-your-creativity-free\/\">expressing<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/brainmade.org\">yourself<\/a>, and having <u>fun<\/u>. Here\u2019s some ideas for things you could do on your site that are <a href=\"https:\/\/merveilles.town\/@lrhodes\/114321967989243009\">not<\/a> just writing. <a href=\"https:\/\/ellesho.me\/page\/website\/\">Elle<\/a> crafted up a custom <a href=\"https:\/\/ellesho.me\/page\/website\/now\/#escapism\">404 page<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/kedara.eu\/about\/\">Ruben<\/a> has a <a href=\"https:\/\/kedara.eu\/museum\/\">\/museum<\/a> page for all of their websites-of-yore, \u00c9ric coded up some cool text-rendering <a href=\"https:\/\/curious.care\">visualization<\/a>, while <a href=\"https:\/\/adactio.com\/about\/\">Jeremy<\/a> simply <a href=\"https:\/\/adactio.com\/journal\/1202\/\">streams his life away<\/a>. Just get <a href=\"https:\/\/fructisfans.neocities.org\/Links\">creative<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/secretgeek.github.io\/html_wysiwyg\/html.html\">Break<\/a> the \u201crules\u201d. Do whatever <em>you<\/em> like. <a href=\"https:\/\/cooklang.org\">Share a recipe you love<\/a>, or haul off and <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/resisting-the-urge-to-rewrite-the-website\/\">rewrite your whole dang site<\/a>. Enjoy the <a href=\"https:\/\/comicss.art\/comics\/180\/\">journey<\/a>\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/unfinished\/\">there is no \u201cdestination\u201d<\/a>. Your site can be <a href=\"https:\/\/xoxo.zone\/@artlung\/114316253426926819\">forever<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"small-web-finds-and-features\">Small Web Finds and Features<\/h3>\n\n<p>Looking for more inspiration or just want some <a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@selfcaregentle\/114353388136531670\">awesome<\/a> sites to add to your RSS feed? I\u2019ll trade you some of my finds\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/contact\">send me<\/a> yours!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sfba.social\/@gretared\/114349829693801859\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/trade.png\" alt=\"Wanna Trade?\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/analori.com\">Analori Art<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/analori.com\/About\">Analori<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/pb-jedda\">People &amp; Blogs<\/a> <em>featuring<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/jeddacp.com\">JEDDACP.COM<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kurisuvanedge.neocities.org\/blog\">Kurisu\u2019s base of operation<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/kurisuvanedge.neocities.org\/aboutme\">Kurisu<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bssg.baty.net\">Jack Tries Linux<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/linux.baty.net\/pages\/about\/\">Jack Baty<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/thinkymeat.neocities.org\">Thoughts of Thinkymeat<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@QueerMatters\">Jessie<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/maurice-renck.de\">Maurice Renck<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/maurice-renck.de\/en\/about\">Maurice<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/imaginarykarin.com\">Imaginary Karin<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/imaginarykarin.com\/about-me\/\">Karin<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/keningzhu.com\">kening zhu<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/keningzhu.com\/about\">Kening<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/pensionista.co.uk\">Pensionista<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/pensionista.co.uk\/about\/\">Tessa<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/notes.krueger.ink\/week-notes-no-1525\/\">So It Goes Weeknotes<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/social.lol\/@digitalsnow\">Kerri<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/garden.bradwoods.io\">Brad Woods Digital Garden<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/garden.bradwoods.io\/about\">Brad<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.write-on.org\">varve\u2019s burrow<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/disassociated.com\/old-school-blogger-returns-oceania-web-atlas-launches\/\">Small Web finds from disassociated<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/ovr-011\/\">Over\/Under with R.L. Dane<\/a> <em>featuring<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/rldane.space\">R.L. Dane<\/a> of course!<\/li>\n  <li>The many, many sites of the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogroll.org\">Ye Olde Blogroll<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.glyphdrawing.club\/why-is-there-a-small-house-in-ibm-s-code-page-437\/\">Why is there a \u201csmall house\u201d in IBM\u2019s Code page 437?<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.glyphdrawing.club\/about\/\">Glyph Drawing Club<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Happy belated <a href=\"https:\/\/fediday.org\">Fediverse Day<\/a> everyone! <i class=\"ph ph-fediverse-logo\"><\/i> \ud83e\udd73 (In case you missed it, <a href=\"https:\/\/hollo.social\/@hongminhee\/01962326-c160-7895-84dd-4e6f5ebe6025\">Korean-Fedi pioneered<\/a> the idea for <u>April 11th<\/u>). Keep <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@avlcharlie\/114337932829100349\">bein\u2019<\/a> awesome!<\/p>\n\n<p>Every week there\u2019s lots to celebrate here if you ask me though. We\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/deadsuperhero.com\/integrating-a-news-publication-into-the-fediverse\/\">come a long way<\/a> afterall\u2014with even more exciting <a href=\"https:\/\/framablog.org\/2025\/04\/10\/2025-peertube-roadmap\/\">roadmaps<\/a> ahead! So if you haven\u2019t already, join the Fediverse, <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@reiver\/114341405961520684\">get in<\/a> on the conversation, <a href=\"https:\/\/app.wafrn.net\/fediverse\/post\/a3a11d9c-c4fc-452e-8c07-2598e3423809\">add your color<\/a>\u2014because things are positively <a href=\"https:\/\/lea.pet\/notes\/a6ngfndvi7\">blowin\u2019 up<\/a> right now!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"stormy-skies-\ufe0f\">Stormy Skies \u26c8\ufe0f<\/h3>\n\n<p>While the Fediverse <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\/114348477975895458\">parties on<\/a> and continues to live up to its promise, I can\u2019t say the same for ol\u2019 Bluesky. <em>Look<\/em>, I don\u2019t like to make this publication about any level of negativity\u2014and believe me, there\u2019s <em>plenty<\/em> I could \u201creport\u201d on in terms of Fedi-related drama each week. But I think it\u2019s important to drive home the ever-salient point that Bluesky is <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/15\/bluesky-wont-free-your-feed\">not the panacea<\/a> it claims to be. Specifically, around its claim of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/social.coop\/@cwebber\/114347567812150208\">decentralization<\/a><\/strong> and that <em>it<\/em> is some safe haven from billionaires and <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@vertiser\/114353406937665414\">oppressive<\/a> governments. It\u2019s <u><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/15\/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-not-enshittifying#is-bluesky-decentralized\">not<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n\n<p>So here\u2019s the story\u2014in short. <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/ssg.dev\/post\/3lmuz3nr62k26\">Reports indicate<\/a> that Bluesky is <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/13\/how-will-bluesky-defend-itself\">capitulating<\/a> to Turkish government demands to take down certain Bluesky posts. Since Bluesky is <u>not<\/u> decentralized, and subject to governmental orders from regions they wish to operate within, this means all members of the network are affected by such requests. In a true decentralized model, i.e. what the <a href=\"https:\/\/phillipjreese.com\/the-social-network-that-cant-sell-out-understanding-mastodon-vs-bluesky\/\">Fediverse has<\/a>, you may have single instances subject to regional jurisdiction, but the wider network, which is spread across the globe would remain relatively <em>unaffected<\/em>. I.e. a Turkish Fedi instance could\/would be vulnerable to these demands, but instances in say, the Netherlands could just ignore them. <em>That\u2019s<\/em> one of the benefits of <em>actual<\/em> decentralization. So, be careful where you\u2019re placing your social chips these days.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>The big story this week is undoubtedly what\u2019s been goin\u2019 on with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cve.org\">cve.org<\/a>. I\u2019ve got a whole writeup about CVE\u2019s <em>near<\/em>-<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/the-death-of-cve\">death<\/a> experience if you\u2019re interested in catching up or hearing my thoughts.<\/p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, <em>kinda<\/em> a light week. I discovered a few cool detection rules resources\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/rulehound.com\/rules\">Rulehound<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/attackrulemap.netlify.app\">AttackRuleMap<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/writeups.xyz\">Writeups.xyz<\/a> looks like a great collection of bug-bounty writeups and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.talosintelligence.com\/content\/files\/2025\/03\/2024YiR-report.pdf\">Talos has published their year in review<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"indiesec-blogs\">IndieSec Blogs<\/h6>\n\n<p>Much like the greater <a href=\"#small-web-finds-and-features\">IndieWeb community<\/a>, <em>IndieSec<\/em> too has <em>so much<\/em> to discover. Check these awesome sites out!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/xbz0n.sh\/blog\">xbz0n<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/xbz0n.sh\/about\">Ivan<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/joxeankoret.com\/posts\/\">Joxean Koret<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/vari-sh.github.io\/posts\/doppelganger\/\">vari.sh\u2019s blog<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/chocapikk.com\">Valentin Lobstein<\/a> <em>a.k.a.<\/em> \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/chocapikk.com\/about\/\">Chocapikk<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading Scrolls<\/em>! Now back to my <a href=\"#indieweb\">potions<\/a>. \ud83e\uddea \ud83d\ude03<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sunny.garden\/@anubiarts\/114342746137290870\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/potions.png\" alt=\"Did you prepare your potions yet?\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 18 Apr 2025 07:22:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-04-18","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-04-18","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Renewal","description":"<p>This month I\u2019ve decided to participate in my <u>first<\/u> <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/IndieWeb_Carnival\">IndieWeb Carnival<\/a>\u2014a once-a-month writing prompt organized by the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/\">IndieWeb.org<\/a> community. This month\u2019s prompt is \u201c<strong>Renewal<\/strong>\u201d, hosted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thingelstad.com\/about\/\">Jamie Thingelstad<\/a>.\n<br \/><br \/>\nThere\u2019s a lot on my mind lately in regards to this term\u2014\u201cRenewal\u201d. I recently moved into a new house and with it I have a yard. The yard has a lot of plants and trees that are now flowering\u2014cherry blossom, red bud, skip laurel, rhododendron and more! This is my first spring here so it has been fun to see what bloomed, and given me an opportunity to learn more about these plants.<\/p>\n\n<p>This site, <span class=\"shellsharks-com\">shellsharks.com<\/span>, has also seen quite the renewal\u2014or better put, a <em>revival<\/em>. 2025 has been a <em>very<\/em> busy year for me in terms of sprucing up the site, writing regularly and exploring an even greater breadth of topics and content types. This momentum always energizes me creatively and gives me productive momentum in other areas of my life\u2014professionally, around the house, and with other assorted projects.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m not sure what else to really go on about. My life seems to always be a constant stream of <em>new<\/em> things. This is by design, and unavoidable. To continue to stay on top of it all, it\u2019s always helped me to reframe these challenges, these endless lists of to-do\u2019s as something \u201cnew\u201d. Whether it be a new way of approaching an old problem, or in fact a new issue altogether.<\/p>\n\n<p>So, here\u2019s to all things new, and \u201cre\u201d-new for me this year! \ud83c\udf3b<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:25:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/renewal","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/renewal","category":["life","blogging","indieweb","iwc","life","blog"]},{"title":"Just Put It On Your Blog","description":"<p>If you\u2019ve got something to say, something to share, something that others might be interested in\u2014why not <strong>just put it on your blog<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n<p>Someone ask a question on social media that you want to answer? <em>Write about it on your blog and link to it in your reply thread.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Post anything to social media? <em>Archive it to your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Have an interesting, random thought? <em>Write about it on your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Remember a weird dream? <em>Document it in a dream journal on your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Find some other cool articles or web sites? <em>Link to them from your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Have a great soup recipe? <em>Share it on your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Have a bunch of resources related to one technical thing you know how to do well? <em>Document those resources on your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Find yourself repeating the same thing a lot? <em>Write a blog post about it and share that instead.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>What\u2019re you up to right now? What\u2019d you do yesterday? Get into anything cool last week? What about last month? <em>Write about it on your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Like something a lot? Or maybe you <em>really<\/em> <strong>don\u2019t<\/strong> like something? <em>Go off about it\u2014on your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Like to doodle? <em>You know where to share \u2018em.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Saw a good movie or listened to a really great song? <em>Talk about it on your blog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s great to have a place to share your thoughts. A place you can go back to when you want to remember something you had written or thought about before. A place you can refer people to when they have questions you\u2019ve answered in the past. A place to be you. So, get a blog, and put all the things there.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 14 Apr 2025 15:33:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/just-put-it-on-your-blog","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/just-put-it-on-your-blog","category":["life","blogging","indieweb","life","blog"]},{"title":"Scroll \u016bndecim","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume eleven<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we do whatever we want, the Fediverse is <em>doomed<\/em> (but less doomed than elsewhere), and we visit Hacking-town.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/minidisc.tokyo\/notes\/9od2c79j8r\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/touched-a-computer-today.png\" alt=\"Have you touched a computer today?\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Has your computer touching so far today made you happy? <em>Maybe no<\/em>? Well, hopefully this edition of <em>Scrolls<\/em> can turn that around for ya!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>This part of the web, the <em>personal web<\/em>, the \u201cIndieWeb\u201d, should be a place\u2014<em>no<\/em>\u2014<u><i>IS<\/i><\/u> a place, you can <strong>just be you<\/strong>. Take a break from the <em>like<\/em>-seeking, engagement-farming, <a href=\"https:\/\/soatok.blog\/2025\/04\/03\/the-authenticity-drought\/\">inauthentic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/blogging-expectations\/\">expectation<\/a>-laden <a href=\"https:\/\/robertbirming.com\/blogging-feels-fake\/\">fakery<\/a> that plagues the rest of the web (looking at you <a href=\"#fediverse\">social media<\/a>). Give yourself the space to be imperfect, to be creative, to be flawed, to be human, <a href=\"https:\/\/brandons-journal.com\/new-post-new\/\">to be you<\/a>. This part of the web is supposed to be <u>fun<\/u>. It\u2019s supposed to be a <a href=\"https:\/\/plunch.de\/my-happy-space-in-the-web\/\">happy space<\/a>. It should feel like <a href=\"https:\/\/nazhamid.com\/journal\/your-site-is-a-home\/\">home<\/a> (as it does <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/welcome-home\">for me<\/a>). So <a href=\"https:\/\/fromemily.com\/hi-im-terrified\/\">don\u2019t worry<\/a> about being perfect here, sometimes it\u2019s enough to just say <a href=\"https:\/\/plunch.de\/hello-indieweb\/\">hello<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Since your site is <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/manual-of-style\">your<\/a><\/em> space. <strong>You can do whatever you want<\/strong>\u2014and there is <em>so much<\/em> to do! Want to make your <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/rsscaping\">RSS feeds shimmer<\/a>? We <a href=\"https:\/\/andrewstiefel.com\/style-atom-xsl\/\">got somethin\u2019 for that<\/a>. Want to <a href=\"https:\/\/css-naked-day.org\/\">dress down<\/a> your site for the day? <a href=\"https:\/\/neatnik.net\/css-naked-day.html\">Go do it<\/a>. Make your site <a href=\"https:\/\/adhd.irenes.space\/@ireneista\/statuses\/01JR6XPNBJDR43EQ4N8C18QVGD\">fully downloadable<\/a>, build a <a href=\"https:\/\/theresmiling.eu\/games\">shrine to the games you play<\/a>, take on the <a href=\"https:\/\/kedara.eu\/blog\/2025\/04\/blog-questions-challenge\/\">blog questions challenge<\/a>, share your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alanwsmith.com\/en\/2v\/xa\/cn\/vj\/\">manifesto<\/a>, join a <a href=\"https:\/\/djangowebring.com\">webring<\/a>, put a ton of <a href=\"https:\/\/hellnet.work\/8831\/\">buttons<\/a> on your site, then add <a href=\"https:\/\/doqmeat.com\/sites\/\">more<\/a> (and <a href=\"https:\/\/eightyeightthirty.one\">MOAR<\/a>!)\u2014just go <em>do<\/em> stuff. No one can stop you. Go <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alanwsmith.com\/en\/28\/da\/ka\/rf\/\">create a ton of subdomains<\/a>, just for the fun of it. You can literally put <a href=\"https:\/\/seths.blog\/2025\/04\/this-is-number-10000\/\">10000 posts<\/a> out on the Internet. You think you can write 10000 posts that are all bangers? <em>Nope<\/em>. But who cares? Just do what you want. (But <em>please<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@Em0nM4stodon\/114303923335621706\">put publish dates<\/a> on your posts!)<\/p>\n\n<p>Because how bad would the web be without the \u201c<em>you can\u2019t stop me<\/em>\u201d attitude? What would the web <a href=\"https:\/\/thehistoryoftheweb.com\/1995-was-the-most-important-year-for-the-web\/\">be like<\/a>? Without the <a href=\"http:\/\/scripting.com\/2025\/03\/13\/132830.html\">writers<\/a>. Without the dreamers. Without the <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/04\/05\/sharing-the-web\">sharers<\/a>. Without the <em>fearless<\/em>. Without the <u><a href=\"https:\/\/nowebwithoutwomen.com\">women<\/a><\/u>. It would be crap! That\u2019s what.<\/p>\n\n<p>But luckily, we have a chance at something more like this\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@delphina2k\/114314984549927628\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/sunflower-internet.png\" alt=\"Sunflower Internet\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"featured-blogs\">Featured Blogs<\/h3>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a bunch of places on the web that are awesome!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/leanrada.com\">Lean Rada<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zyzzyxdonta.net\">David Pape<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/oddworlds.org\">oddworlds soliloquy<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/oddworlds.org\/about.html\">Lin<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.giovanh.com\/blog\/index.html\">GioCities<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.giovanh.com\/card.html\">Gio<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/chrishannah.me\/about\">Chris Hannah<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/chrishannah.me\/weeknote\/1703\/\">Weeknote<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nathanupchurch.com\">Nathan Upchurch<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nazhamid.com\">Naz Hamid<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.benji.dog\">Benji.dog<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/notnite.com\">notnite<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/notnite.com\/about\">Jules<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alanwsmith.com\">Alan Smith<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatesnotes.com\/home\/home-page-topic\/reader\/microsoft-original-source-code\">Microsoft\u2019s original source code<\/a> by <u>the<\/u> Bill Gates of all people<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\">Manuel Moreale<\/a>\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/peopleandblogs.com\">People &amp; Blogs<\/a>\u201d series entry interviewing <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/pb-matt-webb\">Matt Webb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>More to come from Manuel with respect to <a href=\"https:\/\/blogroll.org\/time-to-pass-the-blogroll-org-baton\/\">blogroll.org<\/a> too!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>All <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/14KPoeMOVo4Sr4y43kj01tdm4xi2wsuIh_HZxsfi92vA\/edit?gid=0#gid=0\">social media platforms<\/a> are a bit <em>cursed<\/em> if you ask me. Even <a href=\"https:\/\/goblin.technology\/@tobi\/statuses\/01GSFY2SZK9TPCJFQ1WCCPGDRT\">Fedi is doomed<\/a> to many of the <a href=\"https:\/\/monocyte.bearblog.dev\/my-problem-with-fediverse\/\">same ills<\/a>\u2014as much as I love it. But, for all its faults, the Fediverse <a href=\"https:\/\/rys.io\/en\/177.html\">survives<\/a>, it continues to <a href=\"https:\/\/piefed.social\/post\/532917\">improve<\/a>, and can be kinda <a href=\"https:\/\/sfba.social\/@NorcalGma2\/114276483713907968\">magical<\/a> sometimes. I personally believe that the Fediverse, of all the social networks, is best for us as humans. If you think so too, consider getting involved and supporting organizations like <a href=\"https:\/\/nivenly.org\">The Nivenly Foundation<\/a> who\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nivenly.org\/blog\/2025\/04\/01\/nivenly-fediverse-security-fund\/\">Security Fund<\/a> looks to help Fedi stay a safe and secure place for all.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Welcome back to the li\u2019l \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@kinderstampfer\/112258294135192501\">hacking<\/a>\u201d corner! This week I\u2019m learning more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/terminalguide.namepad.de\">terminal<\/a> and how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netspi.com\/blog\/technical-blog\/network-pentesting\/15-ways-to-bypass-the-powershell-execution-policy\/\">bypass PowerShell execution policy<\/a>. I also found an awesome resource for <a href=\"https:\/\/research.pwnedby.me\">cybersecurity research<\/a> and yet another <a href=\"https:\/\/vedas.arpsyndicate.io\">vuln\/exploit database<\/a> (can never have enough <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/infosec-tools#vulnerability-catalogs--tools\">of those<\/a> now can we?)<\/p>\n\n<p>In a world plagued by <a href=\"https:\/\/soatok.blog\/2025\/04\/03\/the-authenticity-drought\/\">inauthenticity<\/a> (<em>*cough* \u2192<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cybersecurityhalloffame.org\">this<\/a>\u2190 *cough*<\/em> \ud83e\udd22), be more like <a href=\"https:\/\/ricardojoserf.github.io\">Ricardo<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.elmo.sg\">Elma<\/a>\u2014who have awesome infosec blogs.<\/p>\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/thanks\">Thanks<\/a> for reading<\/em>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:01:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-04-11","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-04-11","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Welcome Home","description":"<p>Home is a place of comfort. Home has that particular <em><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/scent\/\">smell<\/a><\/em>. Home is where our <em>stuff<\/em> is. Its halls you know so well. It\u2019s where we gather with friends, and the decor is uniquely you. It may have cracks in the foundations, and another issue or two. It won\u2019t ever be perfect, always a work-in-progress. But home is home, and you love it nonetheless.\n<br \/><br \/>\nA website, your <em>own<\/em> personal website, is just like this\u2014a digital <strong>home<\/strong>, on the web. With all the same comforts, familiarities and problems that need-<i>a<\/i>-fixin\u2019. You can design it how you want, add rooms (pages), invite friends over, paint the walls, hang some <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile#the-artwork\">art<\/a>, share your recipes, get some much-needed peace and quiet, <em>anything<\/em>! But unlike <em>actual<\/em> home ownership, it\u2019s a lot more attainable (financially-speaking).<\/p>\n\n<p>This is how I think about my site. It\u2019s truly become that way for me. It\u2019s just a place I like to go to\u2014to hang out, read stuff I\u2019ve written about before, explore, experience, and just <em>chill<\/em>. I see little things that need to be fixed and I go tinker. I get inspired by something I\u2019ve written about in the past or from something I\u2019ve seen elsewhere and I go make an addition on my site, or I write some new post. Because it\u2019s <u>my<\/u> site, it always feels like I\u2019m <em>building<\/em> something. There\u2019s a real investment to it. With it comes pride, and a feeling of accomplishment. Also as a bonus, it\u2019s something I know the rest of the world can enjoy, take inspiration from or just send me <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/kindness\">nice feedback<\/a> about. But there are no \u201clikes\u201d here. You don\u2019t have to bake in social features\u2014comment systems, webmentions, <em>anything<\/em>. I can just hang out here, by myself. Do whatever I want\u2014<em>just vibe<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"#more-on-this-concept\">Others<\/a> have pointed out, more eloquently than I will, that other places on the net will never give you this feeling. Sure, they may be great forums for socializing, or for getting your message out, but they will never <em>feel<\/em> like home in the same way a personal website can. Importantly, the things you build and share on those platforms are not <em>yours<\/em>. Your content, your network, your identity\u2014all borrowed, all rented. When those platforms disappear, all of that goes with it. When those platforms <a href=\"https:\/\/pluralistic.net\/2023\/01\/21\/potemkin-ai\/#hey-guys\">enshittify<\/a>, or jack up prices, or otherwise become places that are less hospitable, you realize they were never <em>homes<\/em>. They\u2019re spaces owned by corporations, and subject to all that comes with that. They can add what they want. Take what they want. Remove your content. Delete your connections. They can force you to interact with those you don\u2019t want to. You may never get a break from the noise.<\/p>\n\n<p>We\u2019re humans. We are <em>social<\/em>. So those spaces can be great for socializing. But most of us don\u2019t want to <em>live<\/em> at the bar, or at the coffee shop, or in one of these social spaces. We all want some kinda place to retreat back to. A place of safety. Where all of our stuff is. A place to kick off the shoes. Be messy. Do whatever we want. So <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#resources\">build<\/a> yourself a website\u2014<strong>welcome home<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"more-on-this-concept\">More on this concept<\/h1>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nazhamid.com\/journal\/your-site-is-a-home\/\">Your Site Is a Home | Naz Hamid<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet\/\">We Need to Rewild The Internet | NOEMA<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/02\/09\/blogs-as-third-places\">Blogs as third places | James\u2019 Coffee Blog<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.samclemente.me\/my-home-on-the-internet\/\">My Home on the Internet | The Digital Renaissance<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.muni.town\/digital-homeownership\/\">Digital Homeownership | Muni Blog<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/coffeenow.moomop.uk\/post\/2025\/02\/indieweb-i\/\">Building an IndieWeb house | Coffee now<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/robertbirming.com\/blog-your-home\/\">Your blog, your home<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 09 Apr 2025 15:32:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/welcome-home","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/welcome-home","category":["life","blogging","indieweb","life","blog"]},{"title":"Extending indieweb.txt With Reference Information","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/indieweb.txt\">Indieweb.txt<\/a> is an idea for sharing information about one\u2019s <em>indie<\/em> site with the world. It is a proposal which resembles other plain-text, web-bourne, information-sharing documents such as <a href=\"https:\/\/humanstxt.org\">humans.txt<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/securitytxt.org\">security.txt<\/a>. As initially proposed, it would contain information such as the <em>tools<\/em> one uses to implement IndieWeb capabilities, information on Indie-Web-related <em>strategies<\/em> employed by the webmaster and writings on <u>why<\/u> the site owner has embraced the <a href=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>.<sup id=\"fnref:1\"><a href=\"#fn:1\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">1<\/a><\/sup>\n<br \/><br \/>\nThis is an idea \/ proposal to extend <em>indieweb.txt<\/em> with a new section I\u2019ve dubbed \u201c<strong>Reference Information<\/strong>\u201d (<em>I\u2019m open to better ideas for the name<\/em>). Its <a href=\"#use-cases\">usecase(s)<\/a> are somewhat simple. It is a place for you, an owner of an IndieWeb site, to share information about how you would like to be <strong>referenced<\/strong> on other sites.<\/p>\n\n<p>An example of this section as it looks on <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb.txt\">my site<\/a> is below\u2026<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\/* Reference Information *\/\n  - handle: shellsharks\n  - name: Mike\n  - font-color: #CA3342\n  - background-color: #323232\n  - citation-css: .shellsharks-com { color:#CA3342; }\n  - contact:\n    - email: mike@shellsharks.com\n    - fediverse: @shellsharks@shellsharks.social\n    - hello: https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hello\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<h1 id=\"use-cases\">Use Cases<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>The inception of this idea came from my repeated <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2026\/02\/17\/citations-css\">referencing<\/a> (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/whats-a-home-page\">What\u2019s A Home Page<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/thanks\">Thanks<\/a>) of a few of my favorite indie-site personalities, whereby I link to their sites using styling that is native-to and evocative-of their respective sites. I pulled that styling information using developer\/site-inspection tools in my browser and as such probably came <em>pretty close<\/em> to nailing the styling, but what if instead of me trying to reverse-engineer how they might want to be uniquely referenced on my site, there was a way they could expose that information to me so I can reference them <em>exactly<\/em> as they would want? With this proposal, one could gather font aesthetics, name, background colors and really <em>anything else<\/em> one would need to best reference others on their own site. So, for example, you can refer to me as <span style=\"color:#CA3342\">shellsharks<\/span>.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>To help with ease-of-use with the initial use-case, I\u2019ve defined a parameter <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">html-reference<\/code> which would basically be some single-line HTML syntax someone could drop in to their site to easy-reference someone else.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Another use-case comes from the <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">contact<\/code> parameter. Here someone could share how they would like others to reference their contact medium. So if I were to say, you can contact \u201cSO AND SO\u201d, I would link to whatever their first contact field is (ordering is important here). So as an example, by default you would suggest contacting me via <em>mike@shellsharks.com<\/em> as that is my top-line contact value. However, for contacting me via the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>, you could reach out to me <em>@shellsharks@shellsharks.social<\/em>, as indicated!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><i class=\"ph ph-lightbulb\"><\/i> I\u2019ve long-had an idea for an RSS-<i>ish<\/i> app that would\/could grab certain style-related information from a site to populate the look of post records in the client. This would be one useful building block of an app such as this.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Other information could be included here such as a link to a profile pic, <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\">Slash Pages<\/a> that are available on your site, and more!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr width=\"50%\" \/>\n\n<p>Let me know what you think of this proposal! If you implement an <em><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/indieweb.txt\">indieweb.txt<\/a><\/em> file and add this information, let me know and I can try out referencing you somewhere on my site!<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"footnotes\" role=\"doc-endnotes\">\n  <ol>\n    <li id=\"fn:1\">\n      <p>The initial <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/indieweb.txt\">indieweb.txt<\/a> proposal leans a little too heavy into documenting things like <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/IndieMark\">IndieMark<\/a> score and usage of niche \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Category:building-blocks\">IndieWeb building blocks<\/a>\u201d. They are not my cup of tea, and are ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/14\/one-of-us\">not important<\/a> in gauging how \u201cindie\u201d your site is.\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:1\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 08 Apr 2025 14:26:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/extending-indieweb-txt-reference","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/extending-indieweb-txt-reference","category":["technology","blogging","indieweb","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Manual of Style","description":"<p>This is the <u>Manual of Style<\/u> for Shellsharks.com. It details the conventions and other practices used for writing, editing, styling and generally composing content across the site.<\/p>\n\n<p>It is worth noting that adherence to stated stylistic rules and principles is not uniform, either because I\u2019ve failed to follow them or have purposefully deviated from a normal writing practice. <em>So pardon the anomalies<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"structural\">Structural<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>All content has some summary of the post as the <u>first<\/u> paragraph. A lot of widgets on my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/whats-a-home-page\">home page<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">activity<\/a> page and elsewhere rely on either the <a href=\"https:\/\/jekyllrb.com\/docs\/posts\/#post-excerpts\">excerpt<\/a> (first paragraph) or <a href=\"https:\/\/jekyllrb.com\/docs\/front-matter\/\">front matter<\/a> <em>description<\/em> to populate the widget content. At times, I will use a pair of <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">&lt;br&gt;<\/code> tags to extend an excerpt beyond a single paragraph.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Paragraph breaks are used mostly for legibility, but I also try to employ them at logical, content-related breathing points\/separators.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Section <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style#headings\">headers<\/a> are used to separate different topics and subtopics as well as to provide means to deep-link to important points\/content. Specialized, deep-linked content is often done with custom span + id blocks (e.g. <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">&lt;span id=\"IDHERE\"&gt;CONTENT&lt;\/span&gt;<\/code>).<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Horizontal rules (<code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">&lt;hr&gt;<\/code>) are used (at times) to separate intro sections from the main content, as well as to separate appendices from the main content. For larger posts, I may use rules to visibily separate sections. The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/shark-fin-hr\">Shark Fin &lt;hr&gt;<\/a> is used when I want to add a bit of extra whimsy. I try to not have more than one of these visible on a page at the same time.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"punctuation\">Punctuation<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Single hyphens buffered by a space on each side ( - ), <em>and<\/em> Em Dashes (\u2014) are used frequently to provide extra information, examples and other supplementary facts to sentences.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><em>Italics<\/em> are generally reserved for emphasizing words, as I would conversationally. I also use them for signifying terminology (e.g. this sentence is in the <em>Punctuation<\/em> section of this post).<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Bolded<\/strong> terms are meant to highlight the main point of a sentence, paragraph or section. I also use bolding to emphasize words beyond what italics might provide.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><u>Underlining<\/u> is yet another way I tend to emphasize things.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Ellipsis (\u2026) is used commonly to denote that the next section, paragraph, list or image is directly related to the previous content.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Proper nouns typically have the first letter <u>C<\/u>apitalized.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>On somewhat rare, and inconsistent occasions, I will <u>underline<\/u> the titles of referenced blog posts and other publications.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"linguistic--conversational\">Linguistic \/ Conversational<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Conversational linquistic affects (e.g. \u201c<em>ok<\/em>\u201d, \u201c<em>alright<\/em>\u201d, \u201c<em>so<\/em>\u201d), commonly found at the beginning of sentences, are typically <em>italicized<\/em>.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><em>Italics<\/em> are used for words that are conversational in nature.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I use parenthetical asides (<em>like this one<\/em>) to provide inline commentary and bonus context. Often, these asides are italicized to signify my own speech.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>My writing includes a lot of \u201c<strong>G-dropping<\/strong>\u201d, whereby I drop the trailing \u2018g\u2019 from \u2018ing\u2019 words, replacing that \u2018g\u2019 with an apostrophe. This is a conversational\/colloquial habit.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Emojis are commonly used to express emotions. \ud83d\udc4d<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"aesthetics\">Aesthetics<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>In many cases, when mentioning \u201c<span class=\"shellsharks-com\">Shellsharks<\/span>\u201d (referring to the website itself), or when mentioning the Newsletter \u201c<span class=\"shellsharks\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a><\/span>\u201d, I will style them using the <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">.shellsharks-com<\/code> &amp; <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">.shellsharks<\/code> class colors (respectively) (as defined in the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style#other-colors\">Style guide<\/a>). This is a newer convention, so will be something seen more commonly in newer content.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Aesthetic styling is defined in this site\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style\">Style<\/a> page.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"other\">Other<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Where possible, I do <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogging-methodology#editing--enrichment\">inline linking<\/a> to <em>anything and everything<\/em> I reference both here on this site, and externally. For longer posts, especially those that are particularly \u201creference-ey\u201d, I make use of inline citations[^1], <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style#table-of-contents\">tables-of-contents<\/a> and references appendices.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>My usage of first and second-person is <em>haphazard<\/em>. Sorry about that.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I have many different \u201ctypes\u201d of posts. What they are, and how I use each one is described <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">here<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>When referring to another individual on the web, I <em>prefer<\/em> inline-linking to their \u201cAbout\u201d page on their personal website (if they have one). If not, I will fallback to a Fediverse handle link or link to their site\u2019s home page.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"shellsharks-style-related-resources\">Shellsharks Style-Related Resources<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogging-methodology\">Blogging Methodology<\/a>: My process\/methodology for ideationg, writing and editing.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/good-sitekeeping\">Good Sitekeeping<\/a>: Things I like to see on people\u2019s web pages.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/why\">Guiding Principles<\/a>: The principles that guide me as I write and build this site.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hyperlink-travel\">Links<\/a>: A love letter to links.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">Multiplicity of Writing<\/a>: Describing the different types of post content on this site.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style\">Style page<\/a>: How this site is styled aesthetically.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy\">Syndication Strategy<\/a>: How I syndicate and share content to and from this site.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/web-page-annoyances\">Web Page Annoyances<\/a>: Things I don\u2019t do! (and some I do)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/writing-mannerisms\">Writing Mannerisms<\/a>: The precursor to this Style Manual, and a place where I\u2019ve documented a number of writing peculiaries\/oddities of mine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>This guide\/manual was inpsired by the <a href=\"https:\/\/fedran.com\/style-guide\/\">Fedran Style Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 08 Apr 2025 10:37:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/manual-of-style","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/manual-of-style","category":["life","blogging","indieweb","life","blog"]},{"title":"Things I Wish I Knew Before I Made My Website","description":"<p>Here\u2019s a list of things <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.social\/@thesmallweb\/114274206171285723\">I wish I had known<\/a> before I set out on my blogging \/ site-making \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> journey. (In no particular order)\n<br \/><br \/>\n<em>Had<\/em> I known these, and carefully considered each, I would have saved myself <em>A LOT<\/em> of time fixing stuff, and even now, would have a lot less things to fix and add. For example, my CSS files are a mess, I have a lot of poorly managed inline <em>.JS<\/em> everywhere, accessiblity nightmares abound and much more\u2026 <em>Learn from my mistakes!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Understand and properly leverage <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3schools.com\/html\/html5_semantic_elements.asp\">Semantic HTML Elements<\/a><\/strong>. This approach will help your code be more readable, more modular and more descriptive.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Be purposeful and methodical with your CSS \u201ccode\u201d<\/strong>. Try to define common sense CSS and make it reusable. To the best of your ability, try to avoid overusing inline CSS. It will make things harder to troubleshoot and more annoying to maintain over time. Take the time to understand dynamic HTMl stuff for different screen-sized devices, etc\u2026 You\u2019re going to want your site to look good on desktops and phones, simple as that.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Use JavaScript sparingly<\/strong>, try to design your site to work well-enough for those who completely disable JavaScript. <em>Look<\/em>, my site has plenty of JS, and I <em>know<\/em> certain things would completely break if it were disabled (looking at you <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/07\/19\/hello-hamburger-menu\">hamburger menu<\/a>). That\u2019s really too bad for folks who want to use my site. I\u2019d like to fix this, but just haven\u2019t had time to figure it out. Also consider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gnu.org\/philosophy\/javascript-trap.html\">The JavaScript Trap<\/a>. JS not only has incompatibility issues, but can also just slow down your site and introduce potential security vulns. Important things to consider!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Don\u2019t box yourself in creatively<\/strong>\u2014<u>REALLY!<\/u> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/29\/publish-with-pride\">Allow yourself<\/a> to write about whatever you want. Use things like <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/collection-all-the-things\">collections<\/a>, different <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">post types<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags\">tags<\/a> to logically differentiate things you think are meant for different audiences if you must.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Version <u>one<\/u> of your site should have a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile#theme-toggle\">theme toggle<\/a><\/strong> (i.e. dark\/light mode) and a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/site-search\">search<\/a> function<\/strong>. You\u2019re going to want these eventually, and it\u2019s worth getting them right in the initial design if you ask me.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Build <strong>accessibility<\/strong> in from the get-go. I\u2019ve put very little effort into this, and that <em>sucks<\/em>. One of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/why\">Guiding Principles<\/a> for this site is that it is <em>available to be consumed by all<\/em>. Yet, if I\u2019ve not made it adequately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/WAI\/fundamentals\/accessibility-intro\/\">accessible<\/a>, it will never meet this mantra. It\u2019s not necessarily hard to do, but if you don\u2019t consider it from t=0, it becomes harder and more time-consuming to retroactively make it so.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Write for yourself<\/strong>, not for some perceived \u201caudience\u201d. Don\u2019t try to be a persona (i.e. some \u201cprofessional\u201d fragment of your true self)\u2014<strong>just be yourself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Do some basic <strong>website wireframing<\/strong> as part of your initial size build. Carefully consider what you want your <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/whats-a-home-page\">home page<\/a> to look like, how you want people to navigate about, what you want your posts to look like, etc\u2026<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>How \u201csocial\u201d do you want your site to be?<\/strong> In the age of the <a href=\"http:\/\/socialweb.network\">social web<\/a>, there is a lot you can add or implement to make your site interoperate with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/activitypub\/\">ActivityPub<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb protocols<\/a>, comment systems, etc\u2026<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Check out my guide on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/good-sitekeeping\">Good Sitekeeping<\/a><\/strong>\u2014Site Styling &amp; Design Things I Enjoy and Recommend.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Oh<\/em>, and here\u2019s a bunch of things <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#what-not-to-worry-about\">you shouldn\u2019t worry about<\/a>, and some things I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/web-page-annoyances\">suggest you avoid<\/a>. <em>Best of luck!<\/em><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 07 Apr 2025 11:35:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blog-things-i-wish-i-had-known","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blog-things-i-wish-i-had-known","category":["technology","blogging","indieweb","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Scroll decem","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume ten<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week, we <s>kick<\/s> write-it <em>old-school<\/em>, see what\u2019s buzzin\u2019 across the Fediverse, get into some neat cyber-frameworks, and a whole lot more!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Ten<\/strong> issues into this publication, I wanted take a minute to reflect on <strong>how I think this has been goin\u2019<\/strong>, what\u2019s \u201cworked\u201d, how <em>I<\/em> am using the newsletter and what\u2019s in store for the future of Scrolls. Overall, I\u2019m <em>very<\/em> happy with the reception of Scrolls and believe it has been successful in bringing cool stuff that I discover each week to a lot of people who would have not otherwise seen said <em>stuff<\/em>. This was always goal number 1. I think chunking each edition into three primary sections (i.e. IndieWeb, Fediverse, Cybersecurity) has <em>mostly<\/em> worked, but I\u2019m admittedly having a harder time piecing together a useful \u201cstory\u201d when it comes to the cybersecurity section in particular. I plan to keep it around, because the secondary goal of this newsletter is to really be a reference for myself, and I find myself searching through past issues a lot for things I had saved.<\/p>\n\n<p>Two things I\u2019ve been doing since the beginning that I\u2019ve really enjoyed are featuring artists and their artwork, and taking the time to credit all the individuals who helped me source content for that week\u2019s edition. The art makes the newsletter more visually interesting, and shouting out folks from across these communities helps with reach, helps boost cool creators and is just a nice community-oriented way to further engage.<\/p>\n\n<p>So what about the future of Scrolls? Well, topics are somewhat cyclical, but content seems as evergreen as always, so I don\u2019t really see myself \u201crunning out of things to talk about\u201d and\/or share. As an idea for the future, it might be cool to further emphasize creators through guest-posts \/ featurettes. If you\u2019ve got any ideas, or have something you\u2019d like to be featured or linked-to, always feel free to <a href=\"mailto:mike@shellsharks.com\">let me know<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>Time to pore over this week\u2019s awesome issue!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@shaferbrown\/112790521217612194\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/magus-night.png\" alt=\"Magus Night\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>The <strong>oft-misunderstood beauty of the IndieWeb<\/strong>, the \u201cpersonal\u201d web, is that it is a medium in which, in my opinion, perfectly blends the capacity to socialize at <a href=\"https:\/\/arnel.bearblog.dev\/writing-for-humans\/\">human-scale<\/a>, with the ability to comfortably, and more meaningfully, <a href=\"https:\/\/bix.blog\/posts\/2025-03-25-on-self-expression-my-quarter-century-of-blogging\/\">express yourself<\/a>. Modern social media is no doubt a technological wonder, but it is also relentless inundation. Humans are social creatures, but not <em>THAT<\/em> social. Connecting with 100\u2019s or 1000\u2019s of people\u2014<u>actually connecting<\/u> with them, is an exercise an exhausting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.streamhead.com\/why-i-hardly-blog-anymore-2025\/\">futility<\/a>. Socially, we operate at community-scale and the IndieWeb does a much better job <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@preslavrachev\/114239050249401626\">facilitating that<\/a>. Here on the IndieWeb, we forgo the judgement of the masses and are free to <a href=\"https:\/\/lars-christian.com\/posts\/2025-01-17-just-write\/\">just write<\/a>, publish our <a href=\"https:\/\/anniemueller.com\/posts\/in-praise-of-creating-crap\">crap<\/a>, and y\u2019know\u2026 just be ourselves\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/janerationx.com\/posts\/in-the-beginning\">as it once was<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>They say, <strong>everything old is new again<\/strong>\u2014and this holds true for the web. These web-<a href=\"https:\/\/flamedfury.com\/posts\/relics-of-the-web\/\">relics<\/a> of a <a href=\"https:\/\/smallweb.thecozy.cat\/blog\/\ud83d\udc99-flashback-friday-3-\ud83d\udc99-geocities-angelfire\/\">bygone era<\/a> are staging a real comeback. We got <a href=\"https:\/\/smallweb.thecozy.cat\/blog\/\ud83d\udc9b-webring-wednesday-3-fediverse-\ud83d\udc9b\/\">webrings<\/a> (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/futurehorizondesign.net.au\/updates.html#a11y-webring\">a11y-webring.club<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/ultrasciencelabs.com\/lab-notes\/why-we-are-still-using-88x31-buttons\">buttons<\/a> and blogrolls galore! What these bring is that imperfect (human) creativity and <a href=\"https:\/\/eldritch.cafe\/@Soblow\/114255824783546459\">community-like socialization<\/a> back to the modern, uniform, sterile web.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>The web used to be fun<\/strong>, and that\u2019s because the web used to be <u>us<\/u>. Yeah, it wasn\u2019t what Facebook thought we should be, or Instagram, or Linkedin, or any of these other platforms. This made the web an adventure, a garden of creativity, and a place of wonderment. Ready to plant your seed for a future Internet which embodies these ideals? When people come to your site, what do you want them to see? How do you want them to feel? How do you think it should <em><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/scent\/\">smell<\/a><\/em>? Create a space that <a href=\"https:\/\/smallweb.thecozy.cat\/blog\/\ud83e\udde1-tuesday-tips-3-\ud83e\udde1\/\">expresses who you really are<\/a>. (You might want to learn <a href=\"https:\/\/eev.ee\/blog\/2020\/02\/01\/old-css-new-css\/\">a bit<\/a> about <a href=\"https:\/\/willybrauner.com\/journal\/a-fluid-css-methodology\">CSS<\/a> to make that happen \ud83d\ude04). Make the web fun again, make the web <em>us<\/em> again.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Thinking of where to plant your little Internet seed?<\/strong> You could consider <a href=\"https:\/\/srht.site\">sourcehut<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/migrate-to-codeberg\/\">Codeberg<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-reframe.com\/1-year-after-substack\/\">Ghost<\/a> (<em>among others<\/em>)! But be careful out there, <a href=\"https:\/\/tzovar.as\/algorithmic-sabotage-ii\/\">those scrapers are relentless<\/a>. With any luck, time will bring a mass decentralization, a true re-wilding of the web. If and when that happens, we\u2019ll need to rely on each other once more to fuel <a href=\"https:\/\/paulstamatiou.com\/browse-no-more\">meaningful<\/a> and digestible discovery. Tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/blogflock.com\">BlogFlock<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/flithos.com\">Flithos<\/a> could maybe help! I\u2019m already there though, here some <a href=\"#check-out-these-cool-sites\">cool sites<\/a> you should check out \ud83d\ude0e \u2b07\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"check-out-these-cool-sites\">Check out these cool sites!<\/h3>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.xkeeper.net\">Xkeeper\u2019s blog<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.xkeeper.net\/about\/\">Xkeeper<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/smallweb.thecozy.cat\/about\/\">The Cozy Cat\u2019s<\/a> weekly <a href=\"https:\/\/smallweb.thecozy.cat\/blog\/\ud83d\udc9c-showcase-saturday-3-ooops-lol-\ud83d\udc9c\/\">Showcase Saturday<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/maya.land\/who\/\">Maya\u2019s<\/a> featurette on <a href=\"https:\/\/maya.land\/responses\/2025\/03\/31\/people-and-blogs.html\">People &amp; Blogs<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/juhis\/archive\/003-to-the-galaxies-beyond\/\">From Juhis With Love<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/about\/\">Juhis<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/jasonsantamaria.com\/blog\/once-again-from-the-top\">Once Again From the Top<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/jasonsantamaria.com\/#about-me\">Jason Santa Maria<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk\/blogs\/artists-notebook\/posts\/personal-websites-from-hastings-st-leonards-uk\">Personal websites from Hastings &amp; St Leonards-on-Sea (UK)<\/a> <em>shared by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk\/artists\/paul-watson\">Paul Watson<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/floppy.museum\">floppy.museum<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><em>Alrightey-then<\/em>! What\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/wetdry.world\/@chuckya\/114260979110654760\">buzzin\u2019<\/a> about the Fediverse this week? \ud83d\udc1d<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@thisismissem\">Emelia<\/a> has some <a href=\"https:\/\/writings.thisismissem.social\/open-source-tools-for-the-future-of-decentralized-moderation\/\">thoughts on moderation tooling<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/social.heise.de\/@mho\">Martin<\/a> is collecting <a href=\"https:\/\/social.heise.de\/@mho\/114264470493542902\">verified Fedi accounts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jadedtwin.com\/about-contact\">Emily<\/a> wants to see your <a href=\"https:\/\/corteximplant.com\/@jadedtwin\/114246693812665573\">stickered laptops<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/akirk\/\">Alex<\/a> talks about <a href=\"https:\/\/dothewoo.io\/decentralized-social-networks-wordpress-with-alex-kirk\/\">decentralized social networks &amp; WordPress<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/elenarossini.com\/about\/\">Elena<\/a> writes about <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.elenarossini.com\/peertube-the-fediverses-decentralized-video-platform-part-2-creator-edition\/\">PeerTube<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.funkwhale.audio\/2025-funkwhale-2-news.html\">Funkwhale has an update<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Want some weekend cyber-readz? <em>I gotcha<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/pagedout.institute\/download\/PagedOut_006.pdf\">Paged Out! v.6<\/a> has dropped, <a href=\"https:\/\/takeonme.org\/cve\/\">AHA! has some CVE writeups<\/a>, Rasta explains how to <a href=\"https:\/\/rastamouse.me\/kerberoasting-without-tgs-reqs\/\">Kerberoast w\/o the TGS-REQ<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lorenzomeacci.com\">Lorenzo<\/a> shares a variety of <a href=\"https:\/\/lorenzomeacci.com\/advanced-initial-access-techniques\">advanced initial access techniques<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/predr.ag\/about\">Predrag<\/a> laughs about some <a href=\"https:\/\/predr.ag\/blog\/xorry-not-sorry-most-amusing-security-flaws-ive-discovered\/\">infosec sillies he\u2019s encountered<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Hungering for more acronyms and methodologies? You\u2019re in infosec, so <strong>of course you are<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.splunk.com\/en_us\/blog\/security\/threat-hunting-documentation-snare-framework-guide.html\">SNARE<\/a><\/strong>: A guide to documentation for threat hunters<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ismsmappings.softr.app\">ISMS Mappings<\/a><\/strong>: A tool for mapping compliance frameworks<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tlctc.net\">TLCTC<\/a><\/strong>: Defines threat categories to connect strategic planning to operational security<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/asvs.dev\/v5.0.draft\/0x02-Preface\/\">ASVS v5<\/a><\/strong>: The next-generation framework for defining security requirements for modern web applications and services<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Finally, here\u2019s a grab-bag of other infosec-goodies\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Get inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/hackerstrategies.org\">Hacker Strategies<\/a> from the ever-inspirational (to me) <a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/about\/\">M. Taggart<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@merill\">Merill Fernando<\/a>\u2019s podcast <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/entra-chat\/id1801200012\">Entra.Chat<\/a> shares best practices (and more) for those in the Microsoft identity world<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tisiphone.net\/about\/\">Lesley<\/a> laments the not-so-genuine \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/tisiphone.net\/2025\/04\/01\/lesley-what-happened-to-the-cybersecurity-skills-shortage\/\">Cybersecurity Skills Shortage<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ovelny.sh\/about\">ovelny<\/a> has a <a href=\"https:\/\/ovelny.sh\">cool blog<\/a>. Go look at it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading<\/em>. Peace out! \u2728 \u270c\ufe0f \u2728<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@StuntmAEn_Bob\/114263847577237539\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/peaceful-night.png\" alt=\"Peaceful night at the ocean\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 04 Apr 2025 09:00:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-04-04","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-04-04","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll novem","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume nine<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we go old-school with webrings, emphasize the importance of the Fediverse, and see ghosts in the machine.<\/p>\n\n<p>No time to waste\u2014let\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/mementomori.social\/@laamaa\/114233023259339493\">vibe<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@AaronReuland\/114225527017318931\">scroll<\/a>! \ud83c\udfb6<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Blogging is a journey of <strong>learning and self-discovery<\/strong>. To get the most out of your blog, and your presence as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>, you must <a href=\"https:\/\/theprivacydad.com\/on-writing-the-privacy-dad-blog\/\">continuously<\/a> find ways to <em>fuel<\/em> that creative fire\u2014to <a href=\"https:\/\/bloggingwithoutablog.com\">be motivated<\/a>, to write, and to express yourself. At times, this will mean fighting <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/i-combat-impostor-syndrome-with-building-in-public\/\">impostor syndrome<\/a>, combatting laziness\/fatigue, overcoming writers block or just <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/track-software-versions-for-technical-blog-posts\/\">worrying about outdated content on your site<\/a>. In my experience, you overcome these obstacles with a steady dose of <strong>learning<\/strong> (e.g. learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/harrisonbroadbent.com\/blog\/cool-native-html-elements\/\">HTML<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/ishadeed.com\/article\/css-relative-colors\/\">CSS<\/a>) &amp; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thehtml.review\/\">inspiration<\/a><\/strong>. These tend to get the creative juices, and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/daily-blogging\/\">stream-of-ideas<\/a>, <em>a<\/em>-flowin\u2019.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Honestly though<\/em>, the provenance of <em>most<\/em> of my best ideas comes not from within, but rather from <u>all of you<\/u>\u2014the larger IndieWeb community. The wellspring of creativity that can be tapped into is positively endless, you need only take the time to discover even a handful of other awesome sites, blogs &amp; web-gardens out there to start benefiting. <strong>Webrings<\/strong> are a classic, old-web-style take on discovering new sites and also socializing \/ networking with like-minded folks. I\u2019ve been cataloguing interesting Webrings I\u2019ve encountered <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#webrings\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/brisray.com\/utils\/contact.htm\">brisray<\/a> has a huge list <a href=\"https:\/\/brisray.com\/web\/webring-list.htm\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/goblin-heart.net\/sadgrl\/about\/\">sadgrl<\/a> has yet another list <a href=\"https:\/\/goblin-heart.net\/sadgrl\/cyberspace\/webrings\">here<\/a>! Take some time to peruse these rings for sites you think are cool, and maybe even join a webring or two\u2014or <em>more<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p>But there\u2019s more <strong>IndieWeb-related social constructs<\/strong> to consider\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/robalexdev.com\">Robert<\/a> published a post on how <a href=\"https:\/\/alexsci.com\/blog\/blogroll-network\/\">RSS blogrolls could be used as a federated social network<\/a> (an idea that <a href=\"https:\/\/reillyspitzfaden.com\/notes\/2025\/03\/blogrolls-social-network\/\">Reilly<\/a> has taken off with) and <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/hyde.stevenson\/\">Hyde<\/a> has a <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/ovr-010\/\">series<\/a> in which he features other <a href=\"#indieblogs\">IndieBloggers<\/a> from across the net. The common trait amongst these things (i.e. webrings, blogrolls, etc\u2026) is that they are uniquely <u>non<\/u>-<a href=\"https:\/\/knightcolumbia.org\/content\/into-the-drivers-seat-with-social-media-content-feeds\">algorithmic<\/a> (in the common sense). These are home-grown curations\u2014human in the best of ways. <em>and<\/em> Remember! Use some form of <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/03\/21\/web-readers-and-rss-readers\">web\/RSS reader<\/a> to follow everything you find and like! For example, here\u2019s some <a href=\"#indieblogs\">awesome sites<\/a> I\u2019ve discovered recently!\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"indieblogs\">IndieBlogs<\/h3>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/lostletters.neocities.org\">Lost Letters<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/lostletters.neocities.org\/about-me\/\">lost<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/caffeineandlasers.com\">Caffeine &amp; Lasers<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/caffeineandlasers.com\/contact.html\">Cameron<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/chupson.dev\/blog\/\">chupson.dev<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/chupson.dev\/contact\/\">chupson<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ellesho.me\/page\/\">ellesho.me<\/a> <em>by<\/em> elle<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/vinizinho.net\">vinizinho.net<\/a> <em>by<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/vinizinho.net\/about\">vinizinho<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>(<em>Also<\/em>, <strong>booooooooo<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/go-to-hellman.blogspot.com\/2025\/03\/ai-bots-are-destroying-open-access.html\">AI crawlers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/janerationx.com\/posts\/fuck-substack\">Substack<\/a> \ud83e\udd16\ud83e\udd2e)<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><strong>You should <a href=\"https:\/\/ayos.blog\/why-fediverse\/\">care about the Fediverse<\/a><\/strong>. This is <em>doubly<\/em> true if you care about the <a href=\"#indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>. <em>Triply<\/em> true if you <a href=\"https:\/\/cybercultural.com\/p\/web-values\/\">value an open web<\/a>. The fact is, social media is big business\u2014this is <em>because<\/em> it is important. The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> may not be \u201cbig business\u201d in the traditional sense, but this is why it is <em>that much more<\/em> of a big deal. It is an opportunity to do social media in an ethical, <a href=\"https:\/\/socialmediaalternatives.org\/2025\/03\/07\/theophilos.html\">open<\/a>, sustainable, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/no-trust\/\">trustworthy<\/a> and truly <u>human<\/u> way.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forbetter.ghost.io\/spring-on-the-social-web\/\">Spring has sprung on the Social Web<\/a>! So let\u2019s crawl out of our physical and metaphysical holes we\u2019ve been hiding away in and get out there and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/onemanandhisblog.com\/2025\/03\/the-federated-one-man-his-blog\/\">get social<\/a><\/strong>! This could be as easy as <a href=\"https:\/\/caffeineandlasers.com\/blogs\/embeddingYourLatestMastodonPost.html\">embedding Mastodon posts<\/a> on your <a href=\"#indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> site, or maybe you could actually <a href=\"https:\/\/deadsuperhero.com\/you-know-what-meet-your-heroes\/\">meet people in real life<\/a>, or it could be just finding your particular social niche\u2014like in <a href=\"https:\/\/the.socialmusic.network\/t\/hello-federated-world\/143\">music<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/instapix.org\/p\/admin\/808747427903754259\">imagery<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>Afterall, the Fediverse has just about <a href=\"https:\/\/booping.synth.download\/notes\/a5jvwxoyzcm9084n\">everything<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p><em>This-week-in-cyber<\/em> can be described as a tale-of-two-sections\u2014\u201c<a href=\"#learnins--musins\">Learnin\u2019s &amp; Musin\u2019s<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"#threatz--hax\">Threatz &amp; Hax<\/a>\u201c\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"learnins--musins\">Learnin\u2019s &amp; Musin\u2019s<\/h3>\n\n<p>The always-awesome <a href=\"https:\/\/tmpout.sh\/4\/\">TMPOUT has published Vol. 4<\/a> of their zine, I found some <a href=\"https:\/\/moxie.org\/2015\/02\/24\/gpg-and-me.html\">old thoughts from Moxie about GPG<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/barghest.asia\/en\/\">Barghest<\/a> has a wealth of interesting threat <a href=\"https:\/\/barghest.asia\/en\/categories\/research\/\">research<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/barghest.asia\/en\/categories\/forensics-tools\/\">forensic tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"threatz--hax\">Threatz &amp; Hax<\/h3>\n\n<p>Would be a <em>very strange<\/em> week if there <u>weren't<\/u> a few horrific hacks, breaches and incidents to link to now wouldn\u2019t it? This week is pretty <em>normal<\/em> though\u2026 We\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudsek.com\/blog\/the-biggest-supply-chain-hack-of-2025-6m-records-for-sale-exfiltrated-from-oracle-cloud-affecting-over-140k-tenants\">the Biggest Supply Chain Hack Of 2025<\/a>, another nasty <a href=\"https:\/\/www.praetorian.com\/blog\/codeqleaked-public-secrets-exposure-leads-to-supply-chain-attack-on-github-codeql\/\">supply chain attack on GitHub CodeQL<\/a> and some nice work on <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronschlitt.de\/threat-modelling-and-analyzing-iphone-mirroring\/\">threat modelling and analyzing iPhone mirroring<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@patricbates\/114218888621161064\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/ghosts-in-the-machine.jpg\" alt=\"Ghosts in the Machine\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Oh, and let\u2019s not forget the awesome <a href=\"#indiesec-blogs\">IndieSec bloggers<\/a> I\u2019ve discovered this week!<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"indiesec-blogs\">IndieSec Blogs<\/h6>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/terawhiz.github.io\/about\/\">terawhiz<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.jackrendor.dev\/about\">Jack Rendor<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/zhero-web-sec.github.io\/whoami\/\">zhero_web_security<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/securingeverything.ca\/about.html\">Securing Everything<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cs.columbia.edu\/~smb\/blog\/control\/about.html\">Steve Bellovin<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/retr0.blog\">retr0blog<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@LouisPretends\/113827992862455203\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/window-into-another-world.gif\" alt=\"a window into another world\" width=\"500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 28 Mar 2025 01:45:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-28","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-28","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll oct\u014d","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume eight<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week we work on our <s>selves<\/s> sites, consider how we want to use social media, and learn to hunt for dead bodies (<em>of code<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n<p>Scrolls is as much a place for me to highlight cool content as it is a vehicle for me to boost and spotlight the actual <u>people<\/u> from these vibrant communites. That\u2019s the thing about the IndieWeb, and about the Fediverse\u2014it\u2019s not about raw numbers, it\u2019s not about <em>being a content creator<\/em>, it\u2019s not about followers. It\u2019s about being yourself, an actual person, and building actual relationships, as you would in real life. When you see it through that lens, you start to appreciate the handful of meaningful interactions you have <em>here<\/em> more than finding some engagement maxima on other platforms. Scrolls is my personal way of saying, \u201c<em>hey, I saw this thing you posted, I read it, and I liked it enough that I wanted to write about it or share it out from my site<\/em>.\u201d It is as much a direct message to those <em>individuals<\/em> as it is a broadcast to everyone who has subscribed or otherwise reads this publication. I hope this motivates <strong>you<\/strong> to write, share and connect\u2014in this same organic, neighborly way!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aboutmonica.com\/blog\/hello-indie-web\/\">Hello, IndieWeb<\/a> folks! How is your site comin\u2019 along these days? (<em>If you\u2019ve had the time to <a href=\"https:\/\/ww0cj.bearblog.dev\/the-era-of-the-personal-website\/\">get one goin\u2019<\/a>.<\/em>) Don\u2019t worry if it isn\u2019t <em>finished<\/em>, it\u2019s never supposed to be! Your <u>indie<\/u> site is afterall, a reflection of your self\u2014incomplete, imperfect and forever <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tech.lgbt\/@mildsunrise\/114051280744102700\">under construction<\/a><\/strong>. Don\u2019t sweat the \u201cbig\u201d things you <em>think<\/em> you need to add to the site, it just needs to be a fun place <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.social\/@thesmallweb\/114178660221477497\">for you<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/things-i-most-definitely-do\/\">share yourself<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/om.co\/2025\/03\/16\/my-new-daily-blog\/\">other things you find<\/a> that you like. Remember, it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/justafucking.site\">just a fu**ing site<\/a>. \ud83d\ude04<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@LouisPretends\/114160798770293613\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/underconstruction.gif\" alt=\"Under Construction\" width=\"500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Looking for more motivation on <strong>why you should join the IndieWeb<\/strong>? Well, if escaping any of <u>THESE<\/u> \u2b07\ufe0f isn\u2019t reason enough for ya\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@jgilbert\/114123924487762209\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/enshittification.png\" alt=\"Enshittification\" width=\"600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>\u2026consider the following reason. Maybe you just <em><a href=\"https:\/\/vzqk50.com\/why\/\">have stuff to say<\/a><\/em>, and want to say it in a place that fits your <a href=\"https:\/\/lifeofpablo.com\/blog\/self-expression-indieweb-carnival-march-2025\">creative vibe<\/a> (like <a href=\"https:\/\/skippy.net\/self-expression\">skippy<\/a> has done!). The only way you can fail, <a href=\"https:\/\/sylvia.studio\/posts\/dear-creative-soul-dare-to-fail-mightily\">is to not try<\/a>\u2014and don\u2019t worry, you <a href=\"https:\/\/ryanashcraft.com\/indie-not-alone\/\">won\u2019t be alone<\/a> out here! You\u2019ll join the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/calebh.top\">Caleb<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/stevenbrady.com\/blog-questions-challenge-travel-adventures\">Steven<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tahimik.com\/journal\/week-note-32\">Isa<\/a> and one of my long-time favorites, <a href=\"https:\/\/flamedfury.com\/posts\/monthly-recap-february-2025\/\">Flamed<\/a>\u2014as well as countless others. Be a part of the movement!<\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some wisdom I\u2019ve collected recently from the IndieWeb community on <a href=\"https:\/\/louplummer.lol\/how-to-make-me-like-your-blog\/\">making your blog likable<\/a> (and thus <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\/comfort-bloggers\/\">becoming a mainstay<\/a> in someone\u2019s RSS reader) and <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/view-source-explorers-welcome\/\">how to make your site accessible for those looking to learn<\/a> and follow in your footsteps.<\/p>\n\n<p>Once you have a nice li\u2019l home for yourself on the web, maybe you can open it up and <a href=\"https:\/\/creaturesinsi.de\/shelter\">adopt a li\u2019l creature<\/a> too! Here\u2019s my lovable new addition to the <span class=\"shellsharks-com\">Shellsharks<\/span> family. \u2b07\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<center><a href=\"https:\/\/creaturesinsi.de\/members\"><img src=\"\/assets\/img\/sandog_03_gen1.png\" title=\"Hex\" \/><\/a><\/center>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Much like the <a href=\"#indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> is a place to <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@Em0nM4stodon\/114173864564420788\">be yourself<\/a>. But getting the <em>most<\/em> out of it as a social network, specifically one where you mean to actually be <em>social<\/em>, and not one you use <a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/social-media\/2025\/03\/13\/social-media-was-good-for-a-while\">solely as a megaphone<\/a>, isn\u2019t necessarily simple. You have to make concious, explicit decisions about how you <a href=\"https:\/\/theresmiling.eu\/blog\/2025\/03\/social-media-use\">plan to use<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/fredrocha.net\/2025\/03\/18\/how-i-use-mastodon-in-2025\/\">platform(s)<\/a>. The Fediverse is uniquely, un-algorithmic in nature (<em>at least in the traditional sense<\/em>), and thus requires <a href=\"https:\/\/wedistribute.org\/2025\/03\/website-league-island-networks\/\">manual care<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/anders.thoresson.se\/post\/2025\/03\/condensing-the-iceberg\/\">tune the feeds and respective clients to your liking<\/a>. It\u2019s this from-scratch, build-your-experience model that enables the Fediverse to be a place that is non-extractive\u2014somewhere you actually <em>enjoy<\/em> to be because you aren\u2019t there to necessarily sell yourself, or be sold to.<\/p>\n\n<p>Unlike the centralized social platforms, the Fediverse has an insanely vibrant assortment of platforms, clients, initiatives and connected services. Just in this past week I discovered a ton of interesting projects\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/betula.mycorrhiza.wiki\">Betula<\/a> is a tool for saving bookmarks or maintaining a linklog, <a href=\"https:\/\/forgefed.org\">ForgeFed<\/a> is a federation protocol for software forges \/ code collaboration tools, <a href=\"https:\/\/badges.vocalcat.com\">BadgeFed<\/a> empowers communities to issue and verify badges, <a href=\"https:\/\/mszpro.com\/myo\">Myo<\/a> is a photo-centric app compatible with the Fediverse <em>and<\/em> Bluesky \/ Nostr, <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/02\/11\/tumblr-to-join-the-fediverse-after-wordpress-migration-completes\/\">Tumblr plans on joining the Fediverse<\/a> soon, <a href=\"https:\/\/ghost.org\">Ghost<\/a> <em>has just<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/03\/19\/substack-rival-ghost-is-now-connected-to-the-fediverse\/\">connected to the Fediverse<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fedivents.blog\">Fedivents<\/a> is a gateway to the world of Federated Community Events and there\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/halcy.de\/blog\/2025\/03\/18\/silly-mastodon-apps\/\">so many other li\u2019l apps of the Fediverse<\/a> out there to discover, with more <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.anew.social\/breaking-ground\/\">breaking ground<\/a> every week. If you\u2019re interested you can even track\/search all Fediverse Enhacement Proposals (FEPs) using this <a href=\"https:\/\/fep-search.glitch.me\">handy-dandy search tool<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>So what has the lovely <s>hellscape<\/s> landscape of cyberia brought to us this week?<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Oh jeez<\/em>\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/pad.rev.ng\/s\/CwdCrM68Z#\">dead bodies<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/research\/saml-roulette-the-hacker-always-wins\">hacker roulette<\/a> and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/cacm.acm.org\/research\/exploiting-cross-layer-vulnerabilities-off-path-attacks-on-the-tcp-ip-protocol-suite\/\">off-path attacks<\/a>\u201d? Never a boring day <em>eh?<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Counter some of that bad juju with some <a href=\"https:\/\/haunted.computer\/@tmpout\/114191447564755185\">good vibes<\/a>\u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dfirnotes.net\/development_plan_2025\/\">learn<\/a> about <a href=\"https:\/\/tamarin-prover.com\/book\/\">modeling security protocols with Tamarin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/blog\/digitalocean-security-debt\">contextualizing vulnerabilities<\/a> using security risk, <a href=\"https:\/\/dispatch.thorcollective.com\/p\/introducing-hearth\">threat hunting<\/a> <em>community-style<\/em>, how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrongsecrets.com\">manage secrets<\/a> and\/or just learn a bit about <a href=\"https:\/\/carrickbartle.com\/certificates.html\">TLS certs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Looking for a way to contribute and give back? Consider lending your thoughts to the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSfHx_-HdqC8sYYkv5zZgDa6Blv2pIxHvj3dyjQEVemPMhaCVg\/viewform\">State of Threat Modeling (SOTM) 2024 Survey<\/a> or to the <a href=\"https:\/\/bishopfox.com\/redteam-tools-showdown\">Red Team Tool Showdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Last, but never least, here\u2019s some cool indie infosec folks I\u2019ve discovered recently.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastersplinter.work\/research\/\">Tobia Righi<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/reserge.org\/blog\/\">Re: Serge<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wts.dev\/posts\/\">Noah Gregory<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cybersecuritycrumbs.cryptopathe.me\">Crumbs of Cybersecurity<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading. Adventure on, friend!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.social\/p\/mneagoe\/805230130983641583\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/unknown-knight-adventure.jpg\" alt=\"Unknown Knight's Adventure\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:01:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-21","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-21","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll septem","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume seven<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week, we conquer doubt, recognize the primacy of the Fediverse, and look at some <em>super-duper-serious<\/em> cyber stuff.<\/p>\n\n<p>Before getting into this week\u2019s ever-so-magical bits &amp; bytes, I wanted to quickly chat about <strong>how I source the content<\/strong> for this publication. Unsurprisingly, it\u2019s from the respective <em>IndieWeb<\/em>, <em>Fediverse<\/em> &amp; <em>Cybersecurity<\/em> communities. More specifically though, I find a lot by following the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/indieweb\">#indieweb<\/a><\/em> hashtag on the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>, through my existing <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/infosec-blogs\">RSS feed<\/a> that I\u2019ve curated over many years, and from all my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/following\">awesome follows<\/a> on Fedi\u2014a lot of whom are in the infosec industry.<\/p>\n\n<p>So what\u2019s the <strong>best way to consume Scrolls?<\/strong> Scroll, open a lot of links, read, and then scroll some more! The <em>magic<\/em> comes from y\u2019all, I just put it together. \ud83d\ude04<\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s <u>you<\/u>, readying yourself for the scrolling ahead!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@shaferbrown\/112524787374709012\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/scroll-7\/crystal-sorcerer.png\" alt=\"Crystal Sorcerer\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>\ud83d\udce2 Shoutout to my good friend, and <em>SUPER<\/em> talented artist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/angryrolypoly\/\">angryrolypoly<\/a> for whipping up the new Scrolls logo!<\/p>\n\n<p>\ud83e\udd17 Also, I want to thank <a href=\"https:\/\/social.lol\/@humdrum\">Kevin<\/a> for creating some other scrolls art that I\u2019ve also used at the bottom of this edition!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>The best time to <strong>get started with a personal website<\/strong> was <a href=\"https:\/\/cybercultural.com\/p\/geocities-1995\/\">in 1995<\/a> \ud83d\ude04. The second best time is today! Your <a href=\"https:\/\/coffeenow.moomop.uk\/post\/2025\/03\/indieweb-ii\/\">home on the web<\/a> will undoubtedly have humble beginnings, but <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/03\/13\/website-reflections\">over time<\/a> it can grow into something you can be incredibly proud of. There\u2019s really so many <a href=\"https:\/\/web.pixelshannon.com\/freehosts\/\">resources<\/a> available to you to get started, or <a href=\"https:\/\/drcrankypants.com\/blog\/starting-over.html\">start over<\/a>\u2014there\u2019s really no excuse to not take the plunge!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@Viss\/114113347870184740\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/scroll-7\/come-on-in.png\" alt=\"Come on in. The water's fine\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>For many, the reason <em>why<\/em> they don\u2019t (create a personal website or blog), is <u><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eddiedale.com\/blog\/doubt\">doubt<\/a><\/b><\/u>. But as I\u2019ve said before, having a website <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/17\/having-a-website-is-about-you\">doesn\u2019t need to be about blogging<\/a>, and honestly, regardless of what you write, I <em>know you will<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/13\/you-have-something-to-say-someone-will-listen\">have an audience<\/a>. So <a href=\"https:\/\/ibe.social\/notes\/a54ze7fogu\">be yourself<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@cR0w\/114116251652861238\">just write<\/a>\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/how-personal-should-a-personal-site-be\">make it personal<\/a> if you want, it <a href=\"https:\/\/ohhelloana.blog\/in-defense-of-unpolished-websites\/\">doesn\u2019t<\/a> need to be <a href=\"https:\/\/bjhess.com\/posts\/you-re-a-blogger-not-an-essayist\">perfect<\/a>. Write about literally <em><a href=\"https:\/\/davegoesthedistance.com\/.well-known\/\">whatever you want<\/a><\/em>, write about <em>anything<\/em> you do, <em>hell<\/em>, write about the <a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/things-i-dont-do\/\">things you <i>don\u2019t<\/i> do<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/about\">Manuel<\/a> (for example) writes about things <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/pb-james\">others are doin\u2019<\/a>. <em>That\u2019s cool<\/em>! (<em>Whatever you do though, <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@Nickiquote\/114133445601172798\">don\u2019t use AI slop images<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sonomu.club\/@gavcloud\/114122605892487844\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/scroll-7\/water-digital-garden.png\" alt=\"Have you watered your Digital Garden today\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Good question! Here\u2019s some <em>more<\/em> stuff you can do with your site once you\u2019ve got it goin\u2019.<\/p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> is a near-infinite wellspring of opportunities and <a href=\"https:\/\/john.colagioia.net\/blog\/2024\/03\/20\/indieweb-2.html\">ideas<\/a> waiting to take root. Try participating in the monthly <a href=\"https:\/\/artlung.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/07\/blog-carnival-roundup\/\">IndieWeb Carnival<\/a>, publish your favorite <a href=\"https:\/\/the100.pics\">pictures<\/a>, improve your site\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/yatil.net\/blog\/wai-a-day\">accessibility<\/a> capabilities or just tinker around and make other <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/websiteupgrades\/\">little upgrades<\/a>. You could even see what your site would look like <a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/post\/CSS_naked_day_2025_is_next_month\">sans-CSS<\/a>. Some would say that\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/motherfuckingwebsite.com\">ideal form of a website<\/a>. \ud83d\ude06<\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some of my <strong>favorite personal sites<\/strong> I\u2019ve stumbled across this past week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/moonlight.computer\">moonlight computer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nicksimson.com\">Nick Simson<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ohhelloana.blog\">Ana Rodrigues<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nelsons.website\">nelsons.website<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jskherman.com\">Je Sian Keith Herman<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nicolas-hoizey.com\">Nicolas Hoizey<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/renkotsuban.com\/index.html\">Renkon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sylvesterady.com\/blog\/\">Sylvester Ady<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/prettygoodhat.com\/post\/weeknotes-v\/\">Pretty Good Hat | Weeknotes<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><em>and<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/2025-w10\/\">Joel\u2019s Week Notes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joanwestenberg.com\/the-fediverse-isnt-the-future-its-the-present-weve-been-denied\/\">Fediverse is <u>now<\/u><\/a>\u2014we need only seize the opportunity to truly <a href=\"https:\/\/schedule.sxsw.com\/2025\/events\/PP147154\">own our digital identities<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/destructured.net\/future-fediverse-notes\">build<\/a> sustainable+healthy <a href=\"https:\/\/comment.mayfirst.org\/t\/cooperatives-and-free-software-orgs-on-the-fediverse\/2696\">communities<\/a>, and abandon the traditional corporate data silos and <a href=\"https:\/\/usher.dev\/posts\/2025-03-08-kill-your-feeds\/\">algorithmic dictators<\/a> of this modern dystopic epoch. The Fedi\u2019 is ready, so join today (<em>if you haven\u2019t already<\/em>), and bring your friends!<\/p>\n\n<p>Maybe the Fediverse hasn\u2019t reached any sort of adoption tipping point yet, <em>and that\u2019s too bad<\/em>. But it hasn\u2019t stopped the gears from turning here. There <em>always<\/em> seems to be a lot of building and innovating regardless. We\u2019ll be ready if and when the time comes\u2014to accept the masses, and show them the way.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.elenarossini.com\/peertube-the-fediverses-decentralized-video-platform-part-1-first-impressions\/\">PeerTube<\/a><\/strong> is your go-to, federated solution for hosting videos.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.splitbrain.org\/blog\/2025-03\/12-mastodon_to_gotosocial_migration\">GoToSocial<\/a><\/strong> continues to prove a worthy platform to migrate to if you\u2019re having instance\/Mastodon-platform issues.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.joinmastodon.org\/2025\/03\/trunk-tidbits-february-2025\/\">Mastodon<\/a><\/strong> keeps chugging along, publishing their Feburary 2025 engineering update. (Oh and <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mastodon\/mastodon\/issues\/9409#event-16708683816\">this is pretty exciting on the Mastodon front<\/a> too)<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.ghost.org\/actually-i-take-that-back\/\">Ghost<\/a><\/strong> continues their quest to fully implement ActivityPub within their platform.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/seppo.mro.name\/en\/about\/\">Seppo<\/a><\/strong> is a new idea in the federated, single-user, microblog space.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Platforms abound, but there\u2019s even more to do and discover on the Fediverse! Find (<em>or build<\/em>) <a href=\"https:\/\/botwiki.org\">cool bots<\/a> or make a <a href=\"https:\/\/nashhigh.itch.io\/fedi-cardmaker\/devlog\/902551\/fedicard-sheet-template\">FediCard<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>I got a completely random assortment of cyber-bits-and-bobs for ya this week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nroottag.github.io\">Tracking You from a Thousand Miles Away! Turning a Bluetooth Device into an Apple AirTag Without Root Privileges<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/t0sche\/cvss-bt\">cvss-bt<\/a>: Enriching the NVD CVSS scores to include Temporal\/Threat Metrics<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/2429930\/Power_Network_Tycoon\/\">Power Network Tycoon<\/a>: For the ICS-sec folks out there<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.compass-security.com\/2025\/03\/bypassing-web-filters-part-1-sni-spoofing\/\">Bypassing Web Filters Part 1: SNI Spoofing<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/dstotijn\/hetty\">Hetty<\/a>: a HTTP toolkit for security research.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@timb_machine\/114155527567995197\">Tim\u2019s interesting linksof the week<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ctid.mitre.org\/projects\/attack-flow\">MITRE Attack Flow<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Serious stuff! \u2018<em>Cuz<\/em> cyber is <a href=\"https:\/\/crankysec.com\/blog\/twenty-percent\/\">super serious<\/a> right?<\/p>\n\n<p>Before you go, take a look at these awesome <u>IndieSec<\/u> blogs!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hacefresko.com\">hacefresk0<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dayzerosec.com\">DayZeroSec<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/scrapco.de\/blog\/\">Lingua Diabolis<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<center><img src=\"\/assets\/img\/scroll2.png\" width=\"75px\" \/><\/center>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading!<\/em> I bid you adieu from the enchanted \u201c<em>Library of Scrolls<\/em>\u201d, as I imagine it below\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@skeddles\/114139044000020447\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/scroll-7\/arcanopolis.png\" alt=\"Arcanopolis, the City of Alchemy and Sorcery\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:01:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-14","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-14","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Good Sitekeeping","description":"<p>My site is over <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/30\/5-years\">5 years<\/a> old at this point, and in that time I have had several <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/15\/shellsharks-a-visual-history\">noteworthy site redesigns<\/a>. In between those big remodels, I\u2019ve also been near-constantly tweaking design elements, and tinkering with the CSS <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style\">styling<\/a>. Along the way, I\u2019ve discovered certain site decor and design choices that <em>I think<\/em> are pleasing. Now I understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which makes this quite subjective. I also am <em>very aware<\/em> that my site is probably riddled with CSS-related atrocities, accessibility faux pas, and other web design best-practice deviations. But, with all that said, here are some things I have done with my site up to this point that I think make it look <em>and feel<\/em> great. They are what make it enjoyable for me to just scroll around on and experience, even when I\u2019m not looking for anything in particular. Sometimes I just browse and click about enjoying the UX I\u2019ve put together.<\/p>\n\n<p>I recommend other folks use these same techniques to make their site look better!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"#pops-of-color\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a> Pops of color<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#generous-margins\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Generous margins on content pages (e.g. blog posts)<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#highlight\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Custom <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">::selection<\/code> coloring<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#darklightmode\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Custom dark\/light modes<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#icons\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Iconography<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#whimsy\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Little whimsical touches<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#headerfooter\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Simple, clean, consistent footer &amp; header<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#kiss\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Content pages are for content<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#dates\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Page published \/ updated dates<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#artwork\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><a>  Artwork!<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<style>\n.rainbow {\n  background-image: -webkit-gradient( linear, left top, right top, color-stop(0, #f22), color-stop(0.15, #f2f), color-stop(0.3, #22f), color-stop(0.45, #2ff), color-stop(0.6, #2f2),color-stop(0.75, #2f2), color-stop(0.9, #ff2), color-stop(1, #f22) );\n  background-image: gradient( linear, left top, right top, color-stop(0, #f22), color-stop(0.15, #f2f), color-stop(0.3, #22f), color-stop(0.45, #2ff), color-stop(0.6, #2f2),color-stop(0.75, #2f2), color-stop(0.9, #ff2), color-stop(1, #f22) );\n  color:transparent;\n  -webkit-background-clip: text;\n  background-clip: text;\n  animation: animatedBackground 5s linear infinite;\n    -moz-animation: animatedBackground 5s linear infinite;\n    -webkit-animation: animatedBackground 5s linear infinite;\n    -ms-animation: animatedBackground 5s linear infinite;\n    -o-animation: animatedBackground 5s linear infinite;\n}\n<\/style>\n\n<hr class=\"fin\" \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"pops-of-color\">Pops of <span class=\"shellsharks\">Color<\/span><\/h1>\n\n<p>Your site doesn\u2019t need to look like all those \u201cprofessional\u201d, boring, sterile blogs out there. <strong>Add color<\/strong> - <span class=\"shellsharks\"><i>everywhere<\/i><\/span>! Background colors, font colors, gradients, <em>whatever<\/em>. I mean you don\u2019t want things to be <em>garish<\/em>, but you can color things up in a way that both looks great and <em>isn\u2019t<\/em> over the top. Here\u2019s some of my favorite examples of how I\u2019ve injected color into elements across my site\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>My <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">home page<\/a>. Notice the subtle <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">color-mix()<\/code> backgrounds for each content stream and the slightly more pronounced border line. <em>Awesome<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2025\/goodsitekeeping\/homefeeds.png\" alt=\"Feed Streams on Home Page\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">Activity feed<\/a>. Remind you of any other <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/06\/did-i-inspire-tapestry\">awesome looking design<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/notes\/2025\/activity_snapshot.png\" alt=\"Activity Page\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">Notes feed<\/a>. Dynamic background colors corresponding to different syndication sources. One of my favorite ideas I\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2025\/goodsitekeeping\/notebook.png\" alt=\"Notebook\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/grimoire\">Infosec-Only content feed<\/a>. Little color flourishes on the border-left lines corresponding to different <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">content types<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2025\/goodsitekeeping\/infosecblogs.png\" alt=\"Infosec Feed\" \/><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"generous-margins\">Generous Margins<\/h1>\n\n<div class=\"containbox\">\nOn a tablet or desktop browser? Check out the <i class=\"ph ph-arrow-fat-left\"><\/i> left and right <i class=\"ph ph-arrow-fat-right\"><\/i> margins! On larger (non mobile) displays, I've given page content ample margins \ud83e\udd17.\n<\/div>\n\n<p>For most of my pages and published content, I\u2019ve allowed for <strong>generous margins<\/strong> by setting the content width to <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">max-width: 800px<\/code>. Not sure I can adequately describe <em>why<\/em> it makes my posts and content look better, but it just does. There are a few exceptions, notably my <a href=\"]\/whats-a-home-page\">home page<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/statboard\">statboard<\/a> which have nearly-full-width margins. For those pages, I am emphasizing information density so I need that extra horizontal space.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"highlight\">Custom ::Selection <span style=\"background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent-color) 80%, var(--light-background-color));color: var(--highlight-font-color);\">Highlighting<\/span><\/h1>\n\n<p>I hadn\u2019t ever considered doing this and then I think <span style=\"background-color: light-dark(#3364ff,#6b9eff); border-radius: 0.25rem; color: light-dark(#f9fafb,#14161a); padding-right: 0.25rem; padding-left: 0.25rem;\">I got the idea<\/span> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coryd.dev\">Cory<\/a>. Try <strong>highlighting<\/strong> some text on this page (this won\u2019t work on mobile)\u2026 <em>Kinda fun right?<\/em> I don\u2019t see a lot of sites implement this (maybe because of the accessibility pitfalls?) but I think it\u2019s just a <em>hella<\/em> delightful touch. <em>It\u2019s giving<\/em> very bespoke, artisinal experience. You can do something similar by setting the <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">::selection<\/code> CSS pseudo-element.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"darklightmode\"><span style=\"background-color:black;color:white;padding:10px;border-radius:5px;\">Dark<\/span> \/ <span style=\"background-color:white;color:black;padding:10px;border-radius:5px;\">Light<\/span> Modes<\/h1>\n\n<p>Besides catering to the personal preferences of your readership (<em>\u00e0 la<\/em> <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">prefers-color-scheme<\/code>), having different <strong>themes<\/strong> is just a fun way to experience your site in (<em>literally<\/em>) different lights from time to time. A change of scenery if you will.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"icons\">Icons <i class=\"ph ph-sparkle\"><\/i> <i class=\"ph ph-confetti\"><\/i> <i class=\"ph ph-pizza\"><\/i><\/h1>\n\n<p>Sprinkle your site with emojis and other <strong>icons<\/strong>. On this site, I use <a href=\"https:\/\/phosphoricons.com\">Phosphor<\/a>. It breaks up the monotony of text, and it\u2019s just <u>fun<\/u>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"whimsy\" class=\"rainbow\">Whimsical Touches<\/h1>\n\n<p>I\u2019m <em>real<\/em> <span style=\"font-size:1.2em;\">big<\/span> on this one. The web should be <em>fun<\/em>. Life could use a bit more <strong>whimsy<\/strong> if you ask me. Put fun li\u2019l easter eggs and other quirky things on your site. Surprise and delight your audience. You\u2019re only limited here by your own creativity (and willingness to learn random HTML \/ JS \/ CSS stuff). Play with colors, hide li\u2019l images in secret places, use animations (responsibly), do something <em>different<\/em>, be <u>unique<\/u>. My <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/shark-fin-hr\">Shark Fin<\/a> <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">&lt;hr&gt;<\/code> is one of my favorite <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=whimsy\">whimsical<\/a> flourishes I\u2019ve come up with for this site thus far. There\u2019s a lot of other things to discover here too! This very page is filled with custom whimsical touches, differentiating it from other posts on this site and beyond.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"headerfooter\">Simple, Consistent <span style=\"text-decoration-line: overline; text-decoration-color: var(--accent-color)\">Header<\/span> &amp; <span style=\"text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-color: var(--accent-color)\">Footer<\/span><\/h1>\n\n<p>This is definitely related to the <a href=\"#kiss\">next item<\/a>, but I\u2019ll speak to it individually. I\u2019ve gone through a variety of different <strong>header and footer<\/strong> designs. I also see a lot of other sites headers and footers in my travels across the web. I\u2019ve found my favorite to be those that just keep it simple, light-weight and consistent across pages of the site.<\/p>\n\n<p>After the actual content of my posts, all I have is a <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">&lt;hr&gt;<\/code>, a quick post meta-data block, a link to the prev\/next post(s) and my <em>shark footer<\/em>. Even with just those things I\u2019ve considered maybe taking out the prev\/next links to simplify it even further. More on keeping things simple\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"kiss\">KISS Your Content \ud83d\ude18<\/h1>\n\n<p><b>K<\/b>eep <b>I<\/b>t <b>S<\/b>imple <b>S<\/b>tupid (KISS). It applies in a lot of contexts, and <em>definitely<\/em> applies to web design - <em>especially<\/em> for \u201ccontent\u201d pages (i.e. actual blog posts). Maybe this is <em>too<\/em>-opinionated, but I <em>really<\/em> don\u2019t like when I see a blog post, especially a short post, that is followed by a gigantic footer filled with blinky 88x31 buttons, pleas to subscribe, comments, links to other posts on the site, endless dynamically loading content, etc\u2026 There\u2019s a place for that stuff - on their own distinct pages, or on the home page, or just some place <em>else<\/em>. I just don\u2019t like seeing each and every page on a site filled with the same junky footer cruft. Show some love to your post\u2019s actual content, give it a <em>KISS<\/em>! &lt;\/rant&gt;<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"dates\">Dates <span style=\"font-size:.7em; color:var(--light-font-color);\">(e.g. Published: Mar 12, 2025)<\/span><\/h1>\n\n<p>For the love of god, put <strong>publish dates<\/strong> (<em>and preferably also updated dates<\/em>) on your posts. This isn\u2019t really a <em>design<\/em> recommendation, but I think you could say it\u2019s a good UX <u>requirement<\/u>. Why can so many sites not figure out how to do this?<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"artwork\">Artwork <img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.amazonaws.com\/surfshark.png\" style=\"display:inline; height:1.5em;\" \/><\/h1>\n\n<p>Make some art, put it on your site. You don\u2019t need to go overboard, but there\u2019s a lot of your individuality that you can express through <strong>custom artwork<\/strong>. It doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be something <em>you\u2019ve made<\/em> either, you could have it commissioned for example. I have examples of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile#the-artwork\">artwork<\/a> made by me, friends, and by others I\u2019ve found on the Internet. <mark>What you need to <u><b>100% avoid doing<\/b><\/u> however, is using AI-generated slop art.<\/mark> It\u2019s lazy, looks terrible and says something, not complimentary, about your site. A crudely drawn stick figure, or just <em>nothing<\/em> is better received than something AI generated.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 12 Mar 2025 13:28:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/good-sitekeeping","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/good-sitekeeping","category":["technology","webdesign","blogging","indieweb","whimsy","bestof","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Mastodon Auto-PESOS","description":"<p>As someone who has fully embraced the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/the-magic-of-pesos\">owning my data<\/a> and maintaining a canonical <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/16\/your-website-your-identity\">identity<\/a><\/em> on the web is very important. Though I operate a lot of my online life directly out of my website, it doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t participate in other social networks. What I don\u2019t want is for my \u2018content\u2019 to live solely within any external platform, silo or walled garden. Finding a way to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/05\/save-your-links\">archive<\/a> or otherwise make this content available on my own site mitigates this. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a><\/strong> (i.e. \u201cPublish Elsewhere Syndicate (to your) Own Site\u201d) or what I like to call \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">reverse syndication<\/a>\u201d is the practice of archiving content that is originally posted elsewhere on the web, back to your site - the single source of origin. The problem is, if a lot of your content <em>originates<\/em> outside your site, you have to either deal with the overhead of manually archiving it, <em>or<\/em>, find a way to automatically do it. Here, I talk about how I (<em>finally<\/em>) found a way to <em>semi<\/em>-auto-PESOS select <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">Mastodon<\/a> posts to the site.<\/p>\n\n<p>Traditionally, my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy\">syndication strategy<\/a> has been very curated, and <em>very<\/em> <strong>manual<\/strong>. It\u2019s time consuming to archive stuff I post elsewhere, and that overhead scales rapidly if I am generating a lot that originates not on my own site. It requires that I, A. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/remembering-to-pesos\">remember<\/a> to archive it at all, and B. that I make nuanced decisions about whether something is <em>worth<\/em> archiving to begin with. That threshold for whether something is worth it or not can vary depending on how lazy I am being, to be frank. If there was a way for me to automatically pull down posts, add the appropriate <a href=\"#front-matter\">front-matter<\/a> and use some logic to determine which posts I would actually <a href=\"#what-to-archive\">want to bring back<\/a> to my site, that would save me a lot of time! Not only that, but there would be things that could make it to my site that I traditionally wouldn\u2019t have bothered to try and manually bring over. <em>Awesome!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Setting PESOS and data ownership aside for a second though, a big <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/08\/the-activity-feed\">motivator<\/a> for me wanting to pull in content from around the Internet was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mollywhite.net\/feed\">Molly White\u2019s Activity feed<\/a>. I loved the idea of just having that composite feed of everything I was up to all in one <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/creating-an-activity-feed\">mega timeline<\/a>. Bringing in Mastodon posts as I explain in this devlog is one piece to that ultimate indieweb-puzzle.<\/p>\n\n<hr class=\"fin\" \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"mastodon-markdown-archive\">Mastodon markdown archive<\/h1>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve had this dream of automating the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">reverse-syndication<\/a> of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy\">Mastodon<\/a> posts since April(<em>ish<\/em>) of 2024, and had searched for ways to pull in this content off and on since then. Recently though, I came across this post, \u201c<u><a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/notes\/archiving-and-syndicating-mastodon-posts\/\">Archiving and syndicating Mastodon posts<\/a><\/u>\u201d, which seemed to exactly meet my needs. <sup id=\"fnref:1\"><a href=\"#fn:1\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">1<\/a><\/sup> So, I cloned down the <a href=\"https:\/\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\">repo<\/a> and tried it out! <sup id=\"fnref:2\"><a href=\"#fn:2\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<p><em>It didn\u2019t go well<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I was getting an incomprehensible traceback and wasn\u2019t sure how to troubleshoot. I thought, maybe it could be the version? So I tried a downgraded version and still no dice. Finally, I went back and actually re-read <a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/notes\/archiving-and-syndicating-mastodon-posts\/\">the original post<\/a> and tried to follow slowly, step-by-step, and sure enough, it was something pretty simple that was the issue (<em>isn\u2019t it always?<\/em>). <a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/about\/\">Gabriel<\/a> makes it pretty clear that the <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">dist<\/code> and <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">user<\/code> flags are <u>required<\/u>, and sure enough, <em>they super are<\/em>. I won\u2019t dock any points from Gabriel for not handling those errors gracefully, after all, this is freely available and otherwise the script works great!<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"planning-and-mechanics\">Planning and Mechanics<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>OK<\/em>, so I\u2019ve proved that I can get <a href=\"https:\/\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\">the script<\/a> to work, now I needed to figure a few things out\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"#what-to-archive\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><\/a> What posts did I want to pull in? (e.g. boosts, replies, public-only, etc\u2026)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#notes\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><\/a> Where do I want these posts to live on my site?<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#front-matter\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><\/a> What front matter is important to populate for these posts? What data is available in the .json output for each post?<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#site-tweaks\"><i class=\"ph ph-link-simple-horizontal\"><\/i><\/a> Do I need to tweak any of my existing code to accomodate the posts pulled in via this script?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 id=\"what-to-archive\">What to Archive?<\/h3>\n\n<p>The first challenge was part technical and part <em>philosophical<\/em>. <b>What do I <i>really<\/i> want to archive<\/b>? To start, I knew I didn\u2019t care to archive my boosts\/reblogs, so I can easily tune those out with the <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">--exclude-reblogs<\/code> flag. What about replies? Well I write a lot of (<em>in my mind<\/em>) great, well-thought-out replies, with info I\u2019d love to hold on to and refer back to later. In fact, I\u2019ve manually reverse-syndicated <em>a lot<\/em> of this kind of post in the past. So I knew I needed replies, just not <em>all<\/em> of them. The overwhelming majority of my reply posts are short little comments that when I thought about it, weren\u2019t really anything I cared to bring back to my site. Especially in a <a href=\"#notes\">format<\/a> that is <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/site-search\">site-searchable<\/a> and would certainly junk up other parts of the site (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags\">tags<\/a> page, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/search\">search<\/a> results, RSS <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">feeds<\/a>, etc\u2026)<\/p>\n\n<p>I knew I would need to clean up any mass-export of posts that included replies, so to start I just <a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/notes\/archiving-and-syndicating-mastodon-posts\/#creating-the-archive\">created the full archive<\/a> to see how many posts there were in total. The result was over 1000 and it became clear that I <u>wasn't<\/u> going to manually review each of those to see what was worth keeping. <em>I needed a new approach<\/em>. So, I decided to instead bring down just posts that I had marked <strong>public<\/strong>. More recently, when I post on Mastodon I\u2019ve given more thought to whether that post should be marked as \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/posting\/#public\">public<\/a>\u2019 or \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/posting\/#unlisted\">quiet public<\/a>\u2019 (i.e. \u2018unlisted\u2019). This foresight would pay off now as I wanted to only bring over a select few things that I felt were worthy of being public\/exposed on my site. The problem is, I haven\u2019t <em>always<\/em> been this mindful about what visibilty setting I post under. <em>But it would have to do for now<\/em>. So, how many posts did I have that were in fact <em>public<\/em>? Creating the filtered archive yielded only a few hundred posts - <em>much more manageable<\/em> to manually review. The compromise now was that <em>maybe<\/em> I\u2019d miss a good reply that I had marked as <em>unlisted<\/em> some time ago, but I\u2019ve done a decent enough job manually syndicating things I thought were worth keeping for a good while now so I\u2019m <em>OK<\/em> if maybe I missed something.<\/p>\n\n<p>Below are the flags I used to create my complete post archive of public toots (included replies).<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-bash highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\ngo run main.go <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--user<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span>https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--dist<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span>.\/[OUTPUT FOLDER] <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--exclude-reblogs<\/span> <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--filename<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"s1\">'{{.Post.CreatedAt | date \"2006-01-02\"}}-shellsharks.social-{{.Post.Id}}.md'<\/span> <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--porcelain<\/span> <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--persist-last<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span>.\/last <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--max-id<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"si\">$(<\/span><span class=\"nb\">test<\/span> <span class=\"nt\">-f<\/span> .\/last <span class=\"o\">&amp;&amp;<\/span> <span class=\"nb\">cat<\/span> .\/last <span class=\"o\">||<\/span> <span class=\"nb\">echo<\/span> <span class=\"s2\">\"\"<\/span><span class=\"si\">)<\/span> <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--visibility<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span>public\n\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>After clicking through each of the exported posts, I whittled the list down from 200-<em>ish<\/em> to about <em>50<\/em> posts. <em>Not bad<\/em>! Though it makes you wonder how important\/worth it all of this effort is if I\u2019m only interested in saving 50 things from nearly a year\u2019s worth of tootin\u2019. But, this last year I have also done a lot of manual reverse-syndicating which softened how many I needed to import now. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<p>Moving forward, I\u2019ll have to be thoughtful about what I mark as <em>unlisted<\/em> vs. what I mark as <em>public<\/em>. Anything <em>public<\/em> <u>will<\/u> come to my site.<\/p>\n\n<p>This is what my command looks like to import just the <u>latest<\/u> <em>public<\/em> posts\u2026<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-bash highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\ngo run main.go <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--user<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span>https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--dist<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span>\/[DESTINATION DIR] <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--exclude-reblogs<\/span> <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--filename<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"s1\">'{{.Post.CreatedAt | date \"2006-01-02\"}}-shellsharks.social-{{.Post.Id}}.md'<\/span> <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--porcelain<\/span> <span class=\"nt\">--persist-first<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span>.\/first <span class=\"nt\">--since-id<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"si\">$(<\/span><span class=\"nb\">test<\/span> <span class=\"nt\">-f<\/span> .\/first <span class=\"o\">&amp;&amp;<\/span> <span class=\"nb\">cat<\/span> .\/first <span class=\"o\">||<\/span> <span class=\"nb\">echo<\/span> <span class=\"s2\">\"\"<\/span><span class=\"si\">)<\/span> <span class=\"se\">\\<\/span>\n<span class=\"nt\">--visibility<\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span>public\n\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<h3 id=\"notes\">Notes<\/h3>\n\n<p>The second question was, <em>where<\/em> should these auto-syndicated posts live? In the original plan for my site, the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">Notes<\/a> section was meant to house microblogs \/ social media posts, but I wasn\u2019t sure I <em>really<\/em> wanted these auto-syndicated toots to <em>junk<\/em> up that timeline. In practice, the way I\u2019ve used the notes feed has been for content I thought was \u201clower quality\u201d than what was in my posts feed (e.g. shorter-form, less-researched, etc\u2026). In hindsight, this was the <u>wrong<\/u> way to think about the notes feed. Over time, this approach resulted in me publishing a lot of things as Notes that should have just been <em>Posts<\/em> all along. This meant that my Notes feed had become HIGHER quality than I had intended it to be. So, rather than create yet <em>another<\/em> feed for these toots, I decided to revert back to the original, correct mode of thinking and house these toots as Notes on my site. Moving forward I plan to be less stingy about what I publish as a \u2018Post\u2019 and much less <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/29\/publish-with-pride\">precious<\/a> about what gets \u2018Note\u2019 status. If there was anything \u2018lower quality\u2019 than that, it probably doesn\u2019t need to exist on my site.<\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s also worth mentioning that my notes <em>layout<\/em> was built with a social media post design in mind from the beginning. So, it definitely made sense in the end to just bring these toots in as notes and have them live directly within my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">notebook<\/a> feed.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"max-width:650px; margin: auto; font-size:.85em;\">\n\n<article class=\"post h-entry\">\n\n    <div id=\"ncard\" class=\"containbox\" style=\"margin:auto; position:relative; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom:20px; width:100%; background-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--mastodon-color) 10%, var(--background-color));\">\n      \n      \n        <div style=\"float:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\" class=\"p-author\"><img class=\"profilepic\" src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.amazonaws.com\/surfshark.png\" width=\"60\" alt=\"author-image\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n        <div style=\"float:left;\"><span id=\"author\" style=\"font-weight:bold;\">shellsharks<\/span><br \/><span id=\"handle\" style=\"color:var(--light-font-color);\">@shellsharks<\/span><\/div>\n      \n      <div style=\"float:right;padding:10px 0px 0px 0px;\"><i class=\"ph ph-calendar-dot\"><\/i> <span id=\"date\" style=\"font-size:0.75em;\" class=\"dt-published\">3\/22\/24 23:31<\/span><\/div><br \/><br \/><br \/>\n    \n      <div class=\"post-content e-content\">\n      <p>Alright fedi\u2019, spit a \u2018verse, drop some knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n      <\/div>\n      <div style=\"bottom:-5px; text-align:right;font-size:0.75em;\"><i class=\"ph ph-pencil\"><\/i> 8<\/div>\n    \n    <hr style=\"opacity:35%;margin-top: 10px;margin-bottom: 10px;width:75%;\" \/>\n\n    <div id=\"info\" class=\"wrapper\">\n      <div class=\"box 1\" style=\"background-color:color-mix(in srgb, var(--mastodon-color) 10%, var(--background-color));\">\n    \n    \n    <div><i class=\"ph ph-map-pin-area\" title=\"Posted from\"><\/i> <span id=\"posted-from\" style=\"font-size:0.75em;\">Ivory for iOS<\/span><\/div>\n    \n    \n      <div><i class=\"ph ph-broadcast\"><\/i><span style=\"font-size:0.75em;\"> Syndication:<\/span><\/div>\n      <div style=\"font-size:1.5em;\"><span id=\"syndicate-to\">\n      \n      <span style=\"padding:0px 3px 0px 3px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/users\/shellsharks\/statuses\/112142889817441762\"><i class=\"ph ph-mastodon-logo\" title=\"Mastodon\"><\/i><\/a><\/span>\n      \n      <\/span><\/div>\n    \n  <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"box2\" style=\"bottom:0;\">\n    <div style=\"text-align:right; padding:5px 5px 5px 5px;\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/22\/spit-a-verse-drop-some-knowledge\"><i class=\"ph ph-link\" title=\"Permalink\"><\/i><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\"><i class=\"ph ph-book-open\" title=\"Notebook\"><\/i><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-house\" title=\"Home\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n    \n  <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n  \n  <\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<style>\n    .wrapper {\n    display: grid;\n    grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;\n    }\n    img {max-width:100%}\n  <\/style>\n\n<p>This said, they were\u2019nt given <em>full<\/em> rights and visibility across the blog (<em>at least not for now<\/em>), as I\u2019ll explain <a href=\"#site-tweaks\">later<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"front-matter\">Front Matter<\/h3>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">Notes<\/a> on my site have their own unique layout and some specific front matter metadata. To make this whole effort worth it, I needed <a href=\"https:\/\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\">the script<\/a> to auto-populate as much of that metadata as possible. Thankfully, <a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/about\/\">Gabriel<\/a> solutioned for this\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>This script supports a <a href=\"https:\/\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\">templating construct<\/a> (located here <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">\/mastodon-markdown-archive\/files\/templates<\/code>) which allows you to customize front matter. It will convert hashtags to jekyll tags, populate created dates, author names, etc\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/pkg.go.dev\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\/client\">This resource<\/a> shows you some of the variables\/data types you can work with from the .json export. Notably, I used the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/pkg.go.dev\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\/client#Account\">Account<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/pkg.go.dev\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\/client#Post\">Post<\/a>\u201d types to further enrich my post front matter. Below I show some of the more relevant tweaks to the default <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">post.tmpl<\/code> file\u2026<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\nlayout: note\ntitle: shellsharks.social {{.Post.CreatedAt | date \"1\/2\/06 15:04 MST\"}}\nauthor: {{ .Post.Account.DisplayName }}\nsyndication: auto\nsyndicate-to:\n- name: Mastodon\n  url: {{ .Post.URI }}\n  icon: ph ph-mastodon-logo\n{{- if .Post.Application}}\nposted-from: {{ .Post.Application.Name }}\n{{- end}}\n\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>Customizing the date structure is super easy thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.gomplate.ca\/functions\/time\/\">gomplate<\/a>, and it\u2019s nice that I can import the \u2018Application\u2019 used to publish the post and have that represented in my notes front matter metadata.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"site-tweaks\">Site Tweaks<\/h3>\n\n<p>To make this all work correctly I had to tweak a <em>few things<\/em> in my existing layouts and consider how this type of content would be fed into the various streams and feeds across the site.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>First<\/em>, I excluded anything auto-syndicated from going into my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">RSS feeds<\/a>. If you want to follow me on social media, you can do that, you can even subscribe to those RSS feeds directly. But I figured folks who subscribed to my blogs RSS didn\u2019t need to have my exact social media posts fed into their RSS readers as well.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Second<\/em>, a lot of these <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">PESOS\u2019ed<\/a> toots do not have any hashtags, and thus do not come over with any tag front-matter. So I had to add a bit of logic on my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags\">tags<\/a> page to make sure tagless posts didn\u2019t show up in the list.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Third<\/em>, I added some additional logic to my activity streams on my home page to not show auto-syndicated toots. They <em>will<\/em> show up in my \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/#infosecstuff\">Infosec-Only<\/a>\u201d stream and in the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/#latest-note\">Latest Note<\/a>\u201d card however.<\/p>\n\n<p>For all of this logic to work however, I added a flag in the <a href=\"#front-matter\">front matter<\/a> for these notes - <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">syndication: auto<\/code>. If I want to have these notes show up in my feeds\/streams later, I can easily remove that flag and regenerate the site.<\/p>\n\n<p>Overall though, my site handled the addition of these notes pretty well - with minimal re-engineering \ud83d\ude04.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"issues-and-the-future\">Issues and the Future<\/h2>\n\n<p>I\u2019m happy with the <em>v1<\/em> of this capability, I think it will save me a lot of time and bring in content I never had the time to import\/archive in the past. <em>But<\/em>, it isn\u2019t without <em>some<\/em> issues, and there\u2019s a lot I\u2019d like to improve on into the future.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Notes are brought in with no title, and reply posts are brought in without the OP context. I <em>might<\/em> take time to retroactively go back and add this information in. Since I\u2019m being pretty <a href=\"#what-to-archive\">selective<\/a> about what gets brought over, this shouldn\u2019t be that big of a task.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>This script solves for my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">Mastodon<\/a> posts, but there\u2019s a lot of other places I\u2019d like to PESOS in a similar way (e.g. GoToSocial, Pixelfed, Bluesky, Reddit, Lemmy, etc\u2026). Notably, this script does <em>not<\/em> work for GoToSocial <em>or<\/em> Pixelfed, so I\u2019ll either need to tweak it myself, find a new solution, or whip up some script of my own to do it. Until then, I will continue to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy\">manually reverse-syndicate<\/a> things I think are worth it.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>For now, I am running this script manually, rather than having it auto-run as a GitHub <a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/notes\/archiving-and-syndicating-mastodon-posts\/#updating-the-archive\">action<\/a> or cronjob on my local machine. In the future, I may want to automate it fully. If I do that, I\u2019d like to find a way to <a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/notes\/archiving-and-syndicating-mastodon-posts\/#integrating-with-the-site\">auto update<\/a> my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\">changelog<\/a> as well to reflect new imported notes.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Finally, I\u2019ve considered making a separate feed that truly mirrors my Fediverse feed, importing all posts. This feed would be entirely isolated from my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">home page<\/a> streams, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/search\">search<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags\">tags<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">RSS feeds<\/a>, etc\u2026 It would literally just be a mirror of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">Mastodon<\/a> toots. A project for another day\u2026<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"resources\">Resources<\/h1>\n\n<div class=\"footnotes\" role=\"doc-endnotes\">\n  <ol>\n    <li id=\"fn:1\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/garrido.io\/notes\/archiving-and-syndicating-mastodon-posts\">Archiving and syndicating Mastodon posts<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:1\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:2\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\">mastodon-markdown-archive<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:2\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 11 Mar 2025 11:32:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/mastodon-auto-pesos","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/mastodon-auto-pesos","category":["devlog","mastodon","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll sextus","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume six<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. This week, there is a focus on the tectonic shifts of the web, as we claw back our independence from \u201cbig tech\u201d. Plus, you see me try <em>a little<\/em> harder to add some narrative color to the Cybersecurity section of this newsletter. <em>Let\u2019s get scrollin\u2019!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of <strong>high-minded analysis<\/strong> about the web these days. It seems a tipping point has been reached. Blame it on <a href=\"https:\/\/pluralistic.net\/2023\/01\/21\/potemkin-ai\/#hey-guys\">enshittification<\/a>, blame it on <a href=\"https:\/\/pivot-to-ai.com\">AI<\/a>, blame it on the global rise of authoritarianism. Whatever the reason, a lot of words are being spilled in the name of the web as it <em>should be<\/em>, as it <em>once was<\/em>. These theses and essays have a commonality - we can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joanwestenberg.com\/the-only-metrics-that-matter\/\">make the web ours<\/a>, we can <a href=\"https:\/\/werd.io\/2025\/the-web-was-always-about-redistribution-of-power-lets-bring\">take back the power<\/a>, we can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joanwestenberg.com\/big-tech-wants-you-trapped-the-open-web-sets-you-free-2\/\">escape<\/a> the walls of \u201cbig tech\u201d, and in doing so, enter a <a href=\"https:\/\/dot-social.simplecast.com\/episodes\/molly-white\">new phase<\/a> of the web, and of society.<\/p>\n\n<p>Because right now, a lot of the web just <em>sucks<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/oslo.town\/@matt\/114105145337224862\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/the-internet-is-shit.png\" alt=\"Internet is shit\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of <em>shit<\/em>, I gotta agree with <a href=\"https:\/\/sfba.social\/@maxsidman\/114093724097357029\">Max<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.ie\/@davey_cakes\/114098627234924310\">Davey<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joanwestenberg.com\/why-i-wont-write-on-substack\/\">Joan<\/a> - let\u2019s not give Substack any more air. Urge the creators you like who are there to set up shop elsewhere, and don\u2019t give them (Substack) any of your own time or content. You\u2019re better off building almost anywhere else. It\u2019s never been easier too! The resources available to you for <a href=\"https:\/\/iamwillwang.com\/every-html-element\/\">learning<\/a>, building, <a href=\"https:\/\/pbs.bartificer.net\/pbs177\">publishing<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/patrickbrosset.com\/lab\/navigating-the-web-platform\/\">navigating<\/a> <em>whatever<\/em> you need to do on the web, are <u>bountiful<\/u>. You can <em>absolutely<\/em> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/codewordcreative.com\/free-can-beat-crappy-how-to-diy-a-basic-website\/\">do it yourself<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve got that stake in the ground, the world can really open up for you. There\u2019s <em>so much<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist\">you can do<\/a>, so many ways to <strong>express yourself and have fun with a personal website<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/askdna.coffee\/#about-me\">ask DNA<\/a> published a <a href=\"https:\/\/askdna.coffee\/stuff\/\">\/stuff<\/a> (similar to <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\/#uses\">\/uses<\/a>) page describing some of the the tech they use, <a href=\"https:\/\/beej.us\/bio\/\">Beej<\/a> added <a href=\"https:\/\/beej.us\/blog\/data\/mastodon-comments\/\">Mastodon comments<\/a> to his blog, I published my site\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/why\">guiding principles<\/a>,  <a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/about\/\">David<\/a> wrote about the <a href=\"https:\/\/forkingmad.blog\/things-people-commonly-have-but-i-dont\/\">things people commonly have, but he doesn\u2019t<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/about\/\">Joel<\/a> just wrote about <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/going-out-by-myself\">goin\u2019 outside and chillin\u2019<\/a>. You can do, or <a href=\"https:\/\/cdevroe.com\/2025\/03\/04\/need-activitypub\/\">not do<\/a>, anything you want with your site! Though just a heads-up, if you don\u2019t add an RSS feed to your blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/chrishardie.com\/about\/\">Chris<\/a> might literally <a href=\"https:\/\/tech.chrishardie.com\/2025\/rss-feed-of-your-website\/\">come to your house and generate that RSS feed<\/a> for you \ud83d\ude06.<\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some other cool gems (sites and blogs) I\u2019ve discovered from across the IndieWeb!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cernezan.com\">\u017dan \u010cerne<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sainthood.xyz\">Sainthood.xyz<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.c82.net\/natural-colors\/\">The Natural System of Colours<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c82.net\">Nicholas Rougeux<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/portfolio.andres-acre.com\/2D_environment\">A Portfolio<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/portfolio.andres-acre.com\">Andr\u00e9s<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theresmiling.eu\">theresmiling.eu<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/theresmiling.eu\/about\">Elena<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Now, time for my link dump of link dumps. Nothing dumpy about \u2018em though!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/kaigulliksen.com\/link-dump-march-2025\/\">Link Dump<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/kaigulliksen.com\/about\/\">Kai Gulliksen<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/februaryreview\/\">February in Review<\/a> <em>via<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/contact\/\">Axxuy.xyz<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/aw\/\">Activitywatch<\/a> <em>via<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/hyde.stevenson\/\">lazybea.rs<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/nannnsss.omg.lol\/2025\/week-09-2025\/\">weekly post<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/nannnsss.omg.lol\/about\/\">Nannnss<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Some \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/felix.gripe\/blog\/athens-greeknotes-2025-03-02\/\">Greeknotes<\/a>\u201d (<em>get it<\/em>? Instead of \u201cweeknotes\u201d. Clever!) <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/felix.gripe\/about\/\">felix<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>This style of blogging is a current obsession of mine, so when I find new \u201cweekly\u201d \/ link-dump style blogs, I\u2019ve been collecting and sharing \ud83d\ude03.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>A lighter week for Fedi-fare, but there\u2019s a couple of things to <u>listen<\/u> to if you\u2019re game for some podcastin\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p><i class=\"ph ph-microphone\"><\/i> Mike McCue\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/dot-social.simplecast.com\">Dot Social<\/a> podcast published their <a href=\"https:\/\/about.flipboard.com\/fediverse\/chris-trottier\/\">latest episode<\/a> with \u201cFediverse Enthusiast\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/atomicpoet.org\/@atomicpoet\">Chris Trottier<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><i class=\"ph ph-microphone\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/dothewoo.io\/host\/matthias-pfefferle\/\">Matthias Pfefferle<\/a> published the first in a series related to the Fediverse, of his <a href=\"https:\/\/dothewoo.io\/podcasts\/open-web-conversations\/\">Open Web Conversations<\/a> podcast, titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dothewoo.io\/decentralized-social-networks-wordpress-with-alex-kirk\/\">Decentralized Social Networks &amp; WordPress with Alex Kirk<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p><em>Now<\/em>, let\u2019s get the <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@faker\/114099947045310668\">cyber flowin\u2019<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>What do we think 2025 has in store for us in the world infosec? If you guessed <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.veracode.com\/resources\/analyst-reports\/state-of-software-security-2025\/\">more risk<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/analysis-forecasts-more-vulnerabilities-in-2025\/540730\/\">more vulnerabilities<\/a> and more <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hartwork.org\/posts\/companies-fail-to-serve-security-txt-rfc-9116\/\">security failures<\/a><\/strong>, then you nailed it! <em>But<\/em>, we soldier on. Since \u201cvulns\u201d are a topic (<em>aren\u2019t they always?<\/em>), let\u2019s consider the ways to assess, and ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsc.gov.uk\/report\/a-method-to-assess-forgivable-vs-unforgivable-vulnerabilities\">eradicate entire vulnerability classes<\/a>. This research from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsc.gov.uk\">NCSC<\/a> attempts to distinguish vulns as either \u201cforgivable\u201d or \u201cunforgivable\u201d, assigning the latter to vulns with \u201ceasy\u201d mitigations. A little root cause analysis and pressure on the vendors and <em>voila<\/em>! Some security gainz, perhaps? Turning our attention to more recent vuln-news though, this week I\u2019m checking out <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2025\/02\/28\/this-week-in-security-malicious-themes-crypto-heists-and-wallbleed\/\">Hackaday\u2019s \u201cThis Week In Security\u201d<\/a> link dump and the always jam-packed <a href=\"https:\/\/pathonproject.com\/zb\/?2a1b33c2b7191359#0b1smM7sFUJ1pQgbZLuBMm4j2gzuXnilLNhfixNtxIg=\">AppSec EZine<\/a>. <em>Oh<\/em>, and let\u2019s not forget my favorite segment - the cool blogs of the <a href=\"#recently-discovered-indiesec-blogs\">IndieSec<\/a> world!<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"recently-discovered-indiesec-blogs\">Recently Discovered IndieSec Blogs<\/h6>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/trebledj.me\/posts\/\">TrebledJ\u2019s Pages<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bashbreach.com\">BashBreach<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kibty.town\/blog\">kibty.town<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cti.monster\">cti.monster<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/doubletake.fr\">DoubleTake<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some other cool infosec-related <em>shtuff<\/em> I\u2019ve come across this week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Some ever-relevant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.math.ucla.edu\/~tao\/advice.html\">career advice<\/a> from <em>Terence Tao<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@FirewallDragons\/114098924860470990\">hacker culture tales<\/a> straight from <a href=\"https:\/\/l0pht.com\/\">L0pht<\/a> Heavy Industries own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.darkreading.com\/author\/chris-wysopal\">Chris Wysopal<\/a>, and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.thefirewall.org\/Documentation\/Introduction\">The Firewall<\/a>\u201d, a new open source cybersecurity project designed to provide powerful, enterprise-grade security tools that are easy to deploy, easy to use, and accessible to businesses of all sizes and budgets.<\/p>\n\n<p>Finally, I wanted to share this little key-crypto-knowledge-byte I came across from <a href=\"https:\/\/bird.makeup\/users\/dinodaizovi\/statuses\/1895991225456718087\">@dinodaizovi<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>There are four levels of cryptographic key security:<\/p>\n\n  <ol>\n    <li>secure key storage (e.g. key theft)<\/li>\n    <li>secure key use authorization (e.g. sign wrong thing)<\/li>\n    <li>secure key generation (e.g. tampered RNG)<\/li>\n    <li>secure key observation (e.g. side channels)<\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><br \/>\n<em>Thanks for reading! Now continue your epic journey\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@wuchta\/114047001257534088\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/epic-journey.gif\" alt=\"Epic Journey\" width=\"400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 07 Mar 2025 09:11:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-07","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-03-07","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Scroll quintus","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume five<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. \n<br \/><br \/>\nBut first! <em>Why am I doing this newsletter?<\/em> Why the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity? Just <em>why<\/em>? <em>Well<\/em>, these things are <u>awesome<\/u>, that\u2019s why! The truth is, I spend a great deal of time learning and <em>doing<\/em> a lot of stuff related to these three things. I subscribe to a lot, discover a lot, read a lot, learn a lot, build a lot. So why not synthesize some fraction of these things, compile it all, add some color, and ultimately share it with everyone else? <em>With all of you<\/em>! That\u2019s what this is, and why I do it.<\/p>\n\n<p>(As an added bonus, it will make my job of finding something in one of these scrolls later, <em>much<\/em> easier to do. Thanks <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/search\">search<\/a> function!)<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p><strong>You should start a blog<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">I\u2019ve said it before<\/a>, and I\u2019ll almost certainly say it again. My voice is but one in a growing chorus, all saying this same thing. Having a personal website is a <u>big deal<\/u>, and is becoming even more important each passing day. Your little site may never mean much in the grand scheme of the Internet-at-large (<em>it <a href=\"https:\/\/susam.net\/indieweb-does-not-need-to-take-off.html\">doesn\u2019t need to<\/a><\/em>), but it can mean <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/21\/how-has-my-site-changed-my-life\">everything<\/a><\/em> to you, and mean a whole <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/kindness\">heckuva<\/a><\/em>-lot to the handful of folks who <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-21#discovery\">find you<\/a> and enjoy the <a href=\"https:\/\/localghost.dev\/blog\/this-page-is-under-construction\/\">cozy li\u2019l nook<\/a> of the web that you\u2019ve carved out for yourself. In other words, no matter <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/10\/saying-it-again\">what you might think<\/a>, your site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joanwestenberg.com\/why-personal-websites-matter-more-than-ever\/\">matters<\/a>. So go get yourself some <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.muni.town\/digital-homeownership\/\">digital land<\/a>, and start building a real <a href=\"https:\/\/coffeenow.moomop.uk\/post\/2025\/02\/indieweb-i\/\">home on the web<\/a>. Don\u2019t just rent space from the monolithic, walled-garden platforms. One day, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/30\/5-years\">look back<\/a> at your site\u2019s humble beginnings and be proud of <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.com\/blog\/15-years-of-running-a-personal-website\/\">how far you\u2019ve come<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>So go<\/em>, get a website, write something, <strong>build<\/strong> something, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/fyr.io\/post\/world_wild_web\">get wild<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of <strong>building things<\/strong>, let me share with you some amazing things I\u2019ve discovered others in the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> community building and adding to their own websites this past week. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wavebeem.com\/contact\/\">Sage<\/a> built an <em>awesome<\/em> Pok\u00e9mon \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wavebeem.com\/shrines\/pkmn\/\">shrine<\/a>\u201d, which is essentially just a long list of Pok\u00e9mon-related things that they like. The idea of a \u201cshrine\u201d, or a dedicated page for a specific topic or <em>thing<\/em> that means a lot to you, is a great idea for a personal website! <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@balint\">B\u00e1lint<\/a> made a custom <a href=\"https:\/\/balintmagyar.com\/404.html\">404 page<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/gamedev.lgbt\/@illuminesce\">CJ<\/a> updated his <a href=\"https:\/\/illuminesce.net\/now\">Now<\/a> page, <a href=\"https:\/\/im.marisabel.nl\">Marisabel<\/a> shared some <a href=\"https:\/\/marisabel.nl\/social\/load_post.php?type=post&amp;id=370\">goals<\/a> they have for their website, and <a href=\"https:\/\/gofer.social\/@daj\">David<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/gofer.social\/@daj\/statuses\/01JMT1C7TTSZT7GFQ5BS57C8CQ\">announced<\/a> his blog commenting capability, <a href=\"https:\/\/komments.cloud\/about\">Komments.cloud<\/a>. If you don\u2019t see yourself as much of a \u201cwriter\u201d, consider sharing via an <a href=\"https:\/\/gkeenan.co\/avgb\/how-to-make-an-audioblog\/\">audioblog<\/a> instead! Regardless of how or what you share, make sure to expose an <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss\">RSS feed<\/a>, or risk <a href=\"https:\/\/stop.zona-m.net\/2021\/02\/the-snob-rss-hall-of-constructive-shame\/\">being shamed<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>Building, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/11\/the-joy-of-incremental-website-improvements\">updating<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/tinkering-with-the-site-again\">tinkering<\/a> and generally adding <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist\">features<\/a> \/ capabilities to a personal site is <em>a lot of fun<\/em>, and can really make a site <a href=\"https:\/\/coffeenow.moomop.uk\/post\/2025\/02\/indieweb-i\/\">feel like home<\/a>. But to get the <em>most<\/em> out of the experience, you also need to <em>share<\/em>. <strong>Share your writing, <a href=\"https:\/\/vim.wtf\/@wq\/statuses\/01JN1W3RSK511WP3V8QPEE55A3\">share links to cool stuff you\u2019ve found<\/a>, share anything really<\/strong>. Granted, it\u2019s not always easy. Sometimes it\u2019s hard to think of something you want to say! It\u2019s also just difficult to maintain a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ciccarello.me\/posts\/2025\/02\/24\/develop-a-blogging-habit\/\">regular habit of writing<\/a>. But remember <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#what-not-to-worry-about\">not to worry<\/a> about \u201creaders\u201d - just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marclittlemore.com\/writing-again\/\">write for yourself<\/a>, and leverage the many <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-07#inspiration\">sources of inspiration<\/a> that are available to you. Or if you <em>really<\/em> can\u2019t think of anything to say yourself, just boost \/ <em>re<\/em>-share cool stuff that others have written or shared. <a href=\"https:\/\/oldbytes.space\/@82mhz\">Andreas<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasrigby.com\/colophon\/\">Thomas<\/a> did <em>exactly<\/em> this, through their <a href=\"https:\/\/82mhz.net\/posts\/2025\/02\/linkdump-no-43\/\">Linkdump<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasrigby.com\/posts\/2025-w08\/\">Weeknotes<\/a> summary posts (respectively).<\/p>\n\n<p>So while I\u2019m on the subject of boosting cool things, here\u2019s some great Indie-sites I\u2019ve discovered this past week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/vhsoverdrive.neocities.org\">VHS Overdrive<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ohhelloana.blog\/blog-questions-challenge\/\">Oh Hello Ana<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nicksimson.com\/posts\/2025-ye-olde-blogging-questions-challenge\">Nick Simson<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/michael.kjorling.se\">Michael Kj\u00f6rling<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>Have you made it to the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> yet? (<em>If so<\/em>) How <a href=\"https:\/\/www.henryleach.com\/2025\/02\/two-years-before-the-mastodon\">long<\/a> have you been <em>on Fedi<\/em>? How\u2019re ya likin\u2019 things? Do you like the instance(s) you\u2019re on? Well I hope the answer is <em>generally<\/em>, that you are enjoying things!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>But<\/em>, maybe you\u2019re <strong>looking for something a bit new or just different<\/strong> in this space? Well, if for <em>whatever reason<\/em> you\u2019re looking to move <em>off<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.org\">Pixelfed<\/a>, consider using <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/VyrCossont\/slurp\">Slurp<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/box464.com\/posts\/gotosocial-slurp\/\">import<\/a> posts <em>into<\/em> a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.elenarossini.com\/gotosocial-empowers-you-to-have-your-own-home-on-the-fediverse-with-unique-controls\/\">GoToSocial<\/a> instance. You can learn about how I set up my own \u201cGtS\u201d instance <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/gotosocial-on-knt-host\">here<\/a>. Or, maybe you wanna go <em>full<\/em>-on IndieWeb. <em>Who could blame ya?!<\/em> Here\u2019s an awesome-looking project for <a href=\"https:\/\/git.garrido.io\/gabriel\/mastodon-markdown-archive\">importing a Mastodon archive<\/a> into something usable by a Static Site Generator or other IndieWeb site.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Wanna just improve your feed?<\/strong> Follow some <a href=\"https:\/\/social.growyourown.services\/@FediFollows\/114054743467303195\">weather forecasts<\/a>, listen to <a href=\"https:\/\/social.firesidefedi.live\/@firesidefedi\/statuses\/01JMJJWVP2FSGTAX17XS9QEE77\">FiresideFedi<\/a>, or call out them pesky \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/replyguy.social\">reply guys<\/a>\u201d and then get\u2019m on out of your feed! If all else fails, you can dig through <a href=\"https:\/\/hueyy.github.io\/awesome-mastodon\/\">this Awesome Mastodon resource<\/a> for other ways to improve your experience on the Fediverse. Because <em>here<\/em>, <strong>we don\u2019t do algorithms<\/strong>, our feeds are what we make of \u2018em.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/burnitdown.gif\" alt=\"burnitdown\" \/>\n<em>credit to <a href=\"https:\/\/merveilles.town\/@slash\/113787063444609345\">Slash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>There\u2019s always <em>something<\/em> to learn in the world of cybersecurity, things just move fast \u2018round here. For my part, I am <em>constantly<\/em> reading, bookmarking and trying to understand all the awesome infosec-related content that comes across my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/06\/keeping-current-in-infosec\">feeds<\/a> each day. Here\u2019s some of that very <em>stuff<\/em> that I\u2019ve got on my reading list for this week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.trailofbits.com\/2025\/02\/28\/threat-modeling-the-trail-of-bits-way\/\">Threat modeling the TRAIL of Bits way<\/a> <em>and<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.trailofbits.com\/2025\/02\/25\/how-threat-modeling-could-have-prevented-the-1.5b-bybit-hack\/\">How Threat Modeling Could Have Prevented the $1.5B Bybit Hack<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/gotchas.salusa.dev\/\">Crypto Gotchas!<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/gfw.report\/publications\/ndss25\/en\/\">Wallbleed: A Memory Disclosure Vulnerability in the Great Firewall of China<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tantek.com\/2025\/055\/t1\/three-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity\">Three key steps for IndieWeb cybersecurity<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/tantek.com\">Tantek<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.io\/project\/202522-cyberdeck-handheld\">Cyberdeck Handheld<\/a> looks <em><a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2025\/02\/27\/a-precisely-elegant-cyberdeck-handheld\/\">really awesome<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@wrongnumber\">@wrongnumber\u2019s<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@wrongnumber\/114077534877702044\">proposal<\/a> for establishing a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dialtone.noblogs.org\/post\/2025\/02\/27\/formation-of-a-cyber-security-corps\/\">Cyber Security Corps<\/a>\u201d - perhaps a good way to give back and lend our unique skillsets to important causes.<\/p>\n\n<p>Last, but <em>never<\/em> least, my <u>IndieSec<\/u> blogs-of-the-week!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theravenfile.com\">The Raven File<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cirriustech.co.uk\/\">CirrusTech<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dan1t0.com\/\">Dani Martinez (dan1t0)<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/broken-by-design.fr\/posts\/\">Broken By Design<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading<\/em>, and remember to give yourself a rest every once in a while!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wandering.shop\/@Violinknitter\/113946484600495242\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/rest-here.png\" alt=\"Rest here\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wandering.shop\/@Violinknitter\/113946484600495242\">Rest here weary doom-scroller<\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:44:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-28","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-28","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Hyperspacelink Travel","description":"<p>Greetings weary hyper<strike>space<\/strike>link traveler, welcome to <mark><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\"><span style=\"color:var(--shellsharks-color);text-decoration:underline!important;\">shellsharks dot com<\/span><\/a><\/mark>, a world of <span class=\"whimsy\">whimsy<\/span>, <mark style=\"background-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent-color) 33%, var(--light-background-color));\">infosec, technology, life<\/mark>, and of course, <u><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/sharkweek\">sharks<\/a><\/u>! Now that you\u2019re here, have a byte and refuel, maybe partake in some inter<strike>stellar<\/strike>web idea <a href=\"mailto:mike@shellsharks.com\">trade<\/a> (e.g. <em>email me about somethin\u2019!<\/em>), and when you\u2019re ready to depart, I offer many <a href=\"#greatlinks\">&lt;a&gt;<\/a> portal outward and onward, into the expanse of <strike>space<\/strike> the web!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>I love <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/html401\/struct\/links.html\">links<\/a><\/strong>. They brought you <em>here<\/em> afterall! They will <em>inevitably<\/em> carry you <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#explore-the-indieweb\">elsewhere<\/a>\u2026 They are portals to <strong>worlds immeasurable<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>So yeah<\/em>, let me tell ya, I\u2019m a straight-up, certified, link <em>fiend<\/em>! Every single day I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/06\/keeping-current-in-infosec\">scroll through my feeds<\/a>, finding, skimming &amp; bookmarking <em>tons<\/em> of links. To places I want to share, to places I want to explore, to places I want to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/05\/save-your-links\">save<\/a> and to places I will link to from this site, for your <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">scrolling pleasure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve been around here long you <u><i>know<\/i><\/u> how much I like to link to things too. Shellsharks is unlike most places on the web in that way in my humble opinion. My <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogging-methodology#editing--enrichment\">system for writing<\/a> compels me to enrich what I write with copious links, finding <a href=\"https:\/\/libre.town\/thoughts\/entry_9.xhtml\">every opportunity<\/a> to add context and connect elsewhere, both here on this site, and to the web beyond. Contrast that with a \u201cnormal\u201d web site. One that has at best, a sprinkling of links on any given page, and in too many cases, has a hard time even linking to <em>source material<\/em>, much less <u>bonus<\/u> or extra material.<\/p>\n\n<p>Since the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210624051516\/https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about#title\">beginning<\/a>, I\u2019ve always said \u201c<em>what I publish here is a reference for myself\u2026<\/em>\u201d. For me, that\u2019s always meant adding <em>as much<\/em> as I could to my writing to help me best understand the topic at hand, both at that time, and more importantly, into the future. As I do a lot of research, this naturally means linking, and giving credit to, the vast array of sites that have contributed to my own words and understanding. This site is literally a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildingasecondbrain.com\/\">second-brain<\/a> for me in that way. For as much time as I spend elsewhere on the web, I easily spend even more time <em>here<\/em>, reading stuff I\u2019ve already written about, trying to remember something, or looking for something I\u2019ve said in the past to share with others.<\/p>\n\n<p>Links mean a lot to me in how I use this site as a resource, and how I navigate its halls. But it also serves as a nice way to send traffic to other awesome places on the web. Places I\u2019ve traveled and got something from, places I hope others travel to and enjoy. I know I <em>personally<\/em> like to see my site linked to from elsewhere. It\u2019s a great li\u2019l endorphine boost!<\/p>\n\n<p>For finding stuff and generally traveling across the Internet, <strong>web search<\/strong> has long ruled supreme. But as the hegemonic search providers collapse into AI summary blackholes, voids that let no <strike>light<\/strike> <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/products\/search\/generative-ai-google-search-may-2024\/\">links escape<\/a>, we must learn to navigate without them. (Literally, search providers have suggested removing links in search results and replacing them with only AI summaries).<\/p>\n\n<p>So yeah, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">start a blog<\/a>, write cool stuff, browse the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> and link to the cool articles and sites you find. Find a site or an author you <em>really<\/em> like? Link to it in a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">blogroll<\/a>! Find a ton of stuff and just wanna share a bunch of links regularly? Try something <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-21#weekly\">like this<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a li\u2019l list of things you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3schools.com\/tags\/tag_a.asp\">can do<\/a> with links\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Link to a cool external site <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">&lt;a href=\"EXTERNAL LINK\"&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;<\/code><\/li>\n  <li>Link to other pages on your own site (relative) <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">&lt;a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/RELATIVE LINK\"&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;<\/code><\/li>\n  <li>link to a section on a page (via an anchor) <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">&lt;a href=\"#ANCHOR\"&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;<\/code><\/li>\n  <li>Set the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3schools.com\/tags\/att_a_referrepolicy.asp\">referrerpolicy<\/a> attribute<\/li>\n  <li>Change how\/where a link is opened via the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3schools.com\/tags\/att_a_target.asp\">target<\/a> attribute<\/li>\n  <li>Create a page <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style#table-of-contents\">table of contents<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kramdown.gettalong.org\/quickref.html#footnotes\">Footnotes<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Webmention\">Webmentions<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><u>Next<\/u> and <u>Previous<\/u> links as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#webrings\">webring<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/urlpoetry.club\/\">Poetry<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/silly.business\/blog\/bookmarklets-and-custom-url-schemes-are-criminally-underrated\/\">URL Schemes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><span id=\"greatlinks\"><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p>Because this is post all about how great links are, here\u2019s some <u>great<\/u> links\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#explore-the-indieweb\">Explore the IndieWeb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#indieweb-delights\">Delights of the IndieWeb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">My Blogroll<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#my-favorite-indie-sites\">My Favorite Indie Sites<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/build-then-smile\">What I\u2019m Most Proud Of<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a> - A place with <em>a lot<\/em> of links to travel to!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/linklog\">Linklog<\/a> - Just a log of cool places I\u2019ve discovered across the net.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/\">Infosec.pub<\/a> - A premier Fediversian link aggregation forum.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/32bit.cafe\/\">32-Bit Cafe<\/a> - A community of other folks who I bet like links.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/osteophage.neocities.org\/writing\/in-praise-of-links\">In Praise of Links<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/libre.town\/thoughts\/entry_9.xhtml\">The Hypertext Maximalist\u2019s Manifesto<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Thanks for stopping by! There\u2019s a lot more to read <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">here<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in stayin\u2019. Or, you can try your <a href=\"https:\/\/wiby.me\/surprise\">luck elsewhere<\/a>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 25 Feb 2025 01:11:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hyperlink-travel","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hyperlink-travel","category":["technology","indieweb","technology","blog"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 2\/21\/25 08:35 EST","description":"<p>Here\u2019s a question for fellow website-havers \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/IndieWeb\">#IndieWeb<\/a> folks. What\u2019s something you would like to do with your site that you haven\u2019t done, not because you haven\u2019t had the time, but because you\u2019re just not sure how to do it?<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve always wanted to add a mini changelog section to each of my posts like what Alex has done here <a href=\"https:\/\/muxup.com\/2023q1\/whats-new-for-risc-v-in-llvm-16\">https:\/\/muxup.com\/2023q1\/whats-new-for-risc-v-in-llvm-16<\/a>. I have a site-wide changelog here <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\/\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\/<\/a> and all of my commits are in GitHub, but not sure how I\u2019d use either to create a pagelog\u2026<\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Fri, 21 Feb 2025 08:35:46 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/21\/shellsharks-social-114042139183877971","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/21\/shellsharks-social-114042139183877971","category":"indieweb"},{"title":"Scroll quattuor","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume four<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms. Featured topics for this week include how, and more importantly, <em>why<\/em> to start a personal website, as well as how to join and help grow the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>. <em>Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: An important note about the nature of a weekly newsletter - <strong>expect topics to be revisited<\/strong>. I don\u2019t mean the <em>exact<\/em> same verbiage or external sources, but there will be high-level topics and themes that are continuously explored throughout the running of this publication (e.g. \u201c<em>fun things to add to your indie website<\/em>\u201d or \u201c<em>how to navigate the Fediverse<\/em>\u201d, etc\u2026) It really just depends on what I discover across my various web and Fediverse feeds from that week!<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a><\/strong> is not only <em>awesome<\/em>, it\u2019s also <strong>important<\/strong>. For us as individuals <em>sure<\/em>, but also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uzine.net\/article63.html\">for the web, and for us collectively as a civilization<\/a>.<sup id=\"fnref:1\"><a href=\"#fn:1\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">1<\/a><\/sup> So whether you\u2019ve just started to <a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/blog-platforms\">shop<\/a>* for your first <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.samclemente.me\/my-home-on-the-internet\/\">home on the Internet<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/klpx.de\/posts\/blogging-and-me\/\">coming back to blogging<\/a> from a long time away, or <a href=\"https:\/\/interconnected.org\/home\/2025\/02\/19\/reflections\">keeping the fire<\/a> that is your site ablaze, know that <strong>it matters<\/strong>.<sup id=\"fnref:2\"><a href=\"#fn:2\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">2<\/a><\/sup> <sup id=\"fnref:3\"><a href=\"#fn:3\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">3<\/a><\/sup> <sup id=\"fnref:4\"><a href=\"#fn:4\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">4<\/a><\/sup> It should matter to you, and it <em>will<\/em> matter to others, no matter <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/13\/you-have-something-to-say-someone-will-listen\">what you may think<\/a> in the beginning. It\u2019s important to <a href=\"https:\/\/werd.io\/2025\/own-whats-yours\">own your thoughts<\/a>, share what you have to say and just <a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/unoptimized\/\">be yourself<\/a>.<sup id=\"fnref:5\"><a href=\"#fn:5\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">5<\/a><\/sup> <sup id=\"fnref:6\"><a href=\"#fn:6\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">6<\/a><\/sup> <a href=\"https:\/\/notes.jeddacp.com\/blogging-is-not-always-about-traffic\/\">Regardless of who sees it<\/a>, or whether it is \u201c<em><a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/unsolicited-blogging-advice\">perfectly said<\/a><\/em>\u201d.<sup id=\"fnref:7\"><a href=\"#fn:7\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">7<\/a><\/sup> <sup id=\"fnref:8\"><a href=\"#fn:8\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<p>* (<em>Check out the Write.as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/write.as\/deals\/a-decade-of-write-as-sale\">A Decade of Write.as Sale<\/a>\u201d if you\u2019re site-platform shopping. <u>Bonus<\/u>: For folks on <a href=\"https:\/\/write.as\">Write.as<\/a>, you can now do <a href=\"https:\/\/write.as\/updates\/now-your-write-as-posts-can-be-associated-with-your-profile-elsewhere-on-the\">Fediverse creator tags<\/a><\/em>!)<\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of the \u201ccollective\u201d that is us as humans, and on the topic of things to say, <strong>the IndieWeb community is loaded with opportunities, and inspiration is abundant<\/strong> - <em>if you know where to look!<\/em> I think most of us who\u2019ve started our IndieWeb journey would like to write more, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lcamtuf.substack.com\/p\/you-should-write-more\">we should<\/a> (<em>preferably <a href=\"https:\/\/micahflee.com\/2025\/02\/not-only-is-substack-right-wing-broligarchy-garbage-its-way-more-expensive-than-ghost\/\"><u>not<\/u> on Substack<\/a> though<\/em>).<sup id=\"fnref:11\"><a href=\"#fn:11\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">9<\/a><\/sup> Once we\u2019ve moved past the \u201c<em>nobody cares what I have to say<\/em>\u201d phase, we usually find ourselves in the \u201c<em>I don\u2019t have enough time<\/em>\u201d or \u201c<em>I don\u2019t know<\/em> <strong>what<\/strong> <em>to say<\/em>\u201d phases. On the concept of having <em>time<\/em> to write, I have two things to offer. First, <em>don\u2019t sweat it<\/em>. Don\u2019t hold yourself to some cadence, just write when you have time, and when you feel like it. Second, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/09\/where-i-find-the-time\">make time<\/a><\/em>. Easier said than done I know, but we all have things in our life we could cut back on, to make room for things that we\u2019d rather do, or aspire to do. As for <em>what<\/em> to say, <strong>look towards the community<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">Indieweb.org<\/a> hosts many <a href=\"https:\/\/events.indieweb.org\">events<\/a> to help you meet others, find help and <strong>get the creative juices flowin\u2019<\/strong>. One particularly cool event is the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/IndieWeb_Carnival\">IndieWeb Carnival<\/a>\u201d, a monthly event with a singular writing prompt\/topic. Participants share their <em>submission<\/em> with the \u201chost\u201d (<em>a volunteer position<\/em>), who\u2019s job is to simply collect all the submissions and share them in an aggregate post on their own site. <em>Neat!<\/em> The current Carnival event is all about <em><a href=\"https:\/\/artlung.com\/affirmations-ic\/\">affirmations<\/a><\/em>. If that ain\u2019t your thing, you can keep an eye out for viral blogging challenges, <a href=\"https:\/\/localghost.dev\/blog\/the-blog-questions-challenge\/\">like this one that\u2019s still goin\u2019<\/a>! IndieWeb-specific communities (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/32bit.cafe\">32-Bit Cafe<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#webrings\">webrings<\/a> (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/meta-ring.hedy.dev\">Meta Ring<\/a>) and Fediverse-borne hashtags like <em>#writerscafe<\/em> &amp; <em><a href=\"https:\/\/dmv.community\/@jcrabapple\/114032659211378760\">#BlogQuestionsChallenge<\/a><\/em> can also be great sources of writing inspiration and general community goodness.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>It ain\u2019t all about <i>writing<\/i> though<\/strong>. Sometimes you just wanna spruce things up, make some additions or slap a new coat of paint on as it were. I\u2019ve been doin\u2019 quite a bit of this lately. In fact, just in the this last week I\u2019ve whipped up a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/whats-a-home-page\">new home page design<\/a>, generated some <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/19\/infosec-only\">fresh RSS feeds<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/shark-fin-hr\">added even more Sharks<\/a>! And who doesn\u2019t want <em>more<\/em> sharks?? What\u2019s everyone else doin\u2019\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@balint\/114026564117711335\">B\u00e1lint<\/a> set up a short domain for his site, <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@ttntm\/113997528405160813\">Tom<\/a> implemented <a href=\"https:\/\/ttntm.me\/blog\/implementing-webmentions\/\">Webmentions<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/cassidoo.co\/blog\/\">Cassidy<\/a> is just doin\u2019 her thing on an awesome colorful site that I love. So take any of those things as inspiration <em>yeah<\/em>? Need some more <em>technical<\/em> help with this kinda stuff? Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/type-atlas.xyz\/foundries\/\">Atlas Of Types\u2019 \u201cFoundries\u201d<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/html-shark.com\">HTML Shark<\/a> (had to shout out this place of course, <em>SHARKS<\/em>~!!)<\/p>\n\n<p><span id=\"discovery\"><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p>Here on the IndieWeb, we <em>may<\/em> write for <a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/baa\/\">ourselves first<\/a>, but as a community, we want to <strong>share our thoughts with others<\/strong>.<sup id=\"fnref:9\"><a href=\"#fn:9\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">10<\/a><\/sup> For what is shared however, others must <strong>discover<\/strong>. The idea of <em>discovery<\/em> is definitely going to be a constant theme here with <span class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/span>. So how can we find stuff? RSS! <em>RSS<\/em>! <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/html-chunder.neocities.org\/blog\/discovering-social\/\">RSS<\/a><\/strong>! <em>Well<\/em>, to be clear, RSS isn\u2019t <em>exactly<\/em> a net-new discovery mechanism, but it <em>does<\/em> help folks who have found your site, to keep up to date with what you post. As for finding entirely new things? <a href=\"https:\/\/feedle.world\">feedle<\/a> has a catalog of blogs (and podcasts), <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.online\/@jlsksr\">Julius<\/a> shares a <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.online\/@jlsksr\/114004580415635752\">Cool Personal Homepage<\/a> every week, the <em>#MondayBlogs<\/em> fedi-hashtag is used to share blogs (like <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@trinitymuse\/114020746144256864\">Bellesmots2000 did<\/a>) and publications like <a href=\"https:\/\/fromthesuperhighway.com\">From The Superhighway<\/a> also <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/capjamesg\/indieweb-search\">surface IndieWeb stuff<\/a>, to name a few ways.<\/p>\n\n<p><span id=\"weekly\"><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p>One of my <em>favorite<\/em> types of IndieWeb-style posts is the <strong>Weekly<\/strong> (<em>or whatever cadence<\/em>) <strong>Summary<\/strong>. It\u2019s just a nice way for <em>anyone<\/em> to share any assortment of thoughts and links to stuff they\u2019ve found. In many ways, that\u2019s <em>kinda<\/em> what this newsletter is. Here\u2019s some cool summary-style blogs I\u2019ve discovered recently\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dreamindani.com\/posts\/bookmark-beat-ep24\">Bookmart Beat<\/a> (by <strong>Dani Sandoval<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/notes.krueger.ink\/week-notes-no-0725\/\">Week Notes<\/a> (from <strong>And So It Goes\u2026<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/brettterpstra.com\/2025\/02\/15\/web-excursions-for-february-15th-2025\/\">Web Excursions<\/a> (by <strong>Brett Terpstra<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mihobu.lol\/weeknotes-week-07-2025\">Weeknotes<\/a> (by <strong>Michael Burkhardt<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li>Not exactly the same, but you should also check out omg.lol\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/krrd.ing\/posts\/helenchong-omglol-interview-5\/\">interview series<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Weekly summaries are yet another great, super-curated way for people to discover new stuff. In that spirit, I\u2019m-a share some stuff right here. Here\u2019s some cool indie sites and blogs I discovered this past week.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/rootcompute.neocities.org\/directory\">rootcompute<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hexadecim8.com\/index.html\">Hack To The Future<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sheepdev.xyz\">Jakov<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/honora.neocities.org\">Honora\u2019s Web Garden<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mycorrhiza.space\/blog\">mycorrhiza<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.avas.space\">avas.space<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/weeks.ginatrapani.org\">My Life in Weeks<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/vaettr.com\">Vaettr<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><em><strike>Denizens<\/strike> Citizens of the Fediverse!<\/em> Read <span class=\"shellsharks\" style=\"font-weight:bold;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/anniemueller.com\/posts\/talk-about-the-thing-itself\">this<\/a><\/span>.<sup id=\"fnref:10\"><a href=\"#fn:10\" class=\"footnote\" rel=\"footnote\" role=\"doc-noteref\">11<\/a><\/sup> We <em>know<\/em> it\u2019s awesome here. We <em>want<\/em> people to know how awesome it is, and for them to come here. We <em>know<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2025\/02\/reddit-plans-to-lock-some-content-behind-a-paywall-this-year-ceo-says\/\">other places are bad<\/a>. But we\u2019ve just gotta <strong>talk about things <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.online\/@danirabbit\/113919277314661343\">differently<\/a><\/strong> than we\u2019ve been doin\u2019 it.<\/p>\n\n<p>We can <a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.ghost.org\/your-thoughts-on-onboarding\/\">get people here<\/a> - by focusing on <strong>making this place awesome<\/strong>, and just <a href=\"https:\/\/dmv.community\/@jcrabapple\/114002214943822501\">bein\u2019 neighborly<\/a>. To this end, consider <a href=\"https:\/\/wedistribute.org\/2025\/02\/your-fediverse-server\/?Fedizen.EU\">launching<\/a> your <a href=\"https:\/\/runyourown.social\/#you-are-the-party-host\">own li\u2019l social space<\/a>. For your friends, family, community, or just because you <em><a href=\"https:\/\/socialweb.network\">can<\/a><\/em>. If not for anyone else, stand up a Fediverse presence and achieve <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@_elena\/114012808640195653\">tech empowerment<\/a> for yourself!<\/p>\n\n<p>Make no mistake. <strong>The Fediverse is awesome<\/strong>. While <a href=\"https:\/\/phillipjreese.com\/the-social-network-that-cant-sell-out-understanding-mastodon-vs-bluesky\/\">other networks<\/a> try and figure out how to <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.bad-example.com\/can-atproto-scale-down\/\">scale down<\/a>, the Fediverse <a href=\"https:\/\/mrp.net\/fediverse\/software\/\">grows<\/a> and gets even <em>more<\/em> awesome. Want to keep up with what\u2019s goin\u2019 on Fedi-wise? <a href=\"https:\/\/mitra.social\/@weekinfediverse\">Week in Fediverse<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/fediversereport.com\/fediverse-report-104\/\">Fediverse Report<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\/feed\/surf%2Fcustom%2F01jfm3esr4e3a0wdt3tg9310at\">Fediverse Newsire<\/a> (a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/22\/surfing-the-social-web\">Surf<\/a> feed) are a couple of places to check out. The <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@MastodonEngineering\/\">Mastodon Engineering<\/a> account is also an obvious space to pay attention to. In fact, they recently dropped some news about <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@MastodonEngineering\/114003104286886445\">bringing quote posts to Mastodon<\/a> (which naturally <a href=\"https:\/\/neuromatch.social\/@jdp23\/114021225882839231\">raises a lot of questions<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n<p>Not interested in news? What about just <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theindiebeat.fm\">vibes<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Ah yes, <strong>Cybersecurity<\/strong>, easily the most neglected segment of this here newsletter. \ud83e\udd23<\/p>\n\n<p>I <em>will<\/em> find a way to weave a story with the week\u2019s cyber-related news as I have done each week with the <a href=\"#indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> and <a href=\"#fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> sections, but to use the <a href=\"https:\/\/britishfantasysociety.org\/silo\/\">Silo<\/a> parlance - <em>today is not that day<\/em>. So yeah, here\u2019s some neat articles I\u2019ve added to my own reading list\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"reading-list\">Reading List<\/h6>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.yossarian.net\/2024\/11\/18\/Security-means-securing-people-where-they-are\">Security means securing people where they are<\/a> (from <strong>ENOSUCHBLOG<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cwe.mitre.org\/documents\/unforgivable_vulns\/unforgivable.pdf\">Unforgivable Vulnerabilities<\/a> (by <strong>Steve Christey<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/soatok.blog\/2025\/02\/18\/reviewing-the-cryptography-used-by-signal\/\">Reviewing the Cryptography Used by Signal<\/a> (from <strong>Dhole Moments<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tisiphone.net\/2025\/02\/16\/on-cybersecurity-mentorship\/\">On Cybersecurity Mentorship<\/a> (by <strong>Lesley Carhart<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li>Don\u2019t wanna read? What about a listen? <a href=\"https:\/\/securityunscripted.org\/e01-cvssv4-and-why-it-matters\">CVSSv4 and why it matters<\/a> (from <strong>Security Unscripted<\/strong>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Hungry for more? Here\u2019s some outlets to check out for <em>moarrrr<\/em> infosec!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/entra.news\">Entra.News<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/phrack.org\">Phrack<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/pagedout.institute\">Paged Out<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/old.infosec.pub\">old.infosec.pub<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/gbppr.net\/proj.html\">GBPPR Advanced Development Projects<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h6 id=\"indiesec-blogs-of-the-week\">IndieSec Blogs of the Week<\/h6>\n<p>Here\u2019s a recurring mini-segment for ya. Some of my favorite new (<em>and old<\/em>) personal <strong>cyberblogs<\/strong> (<em>does this sound cool?<\/em>) of the week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.da.vidbuchanan.co.uk\/blog\/\">David Buchanan<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/c2a.github.io\">accalon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/magic-box.dev\">Josh Merrill<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.pspaul.de\">pspaul<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.landh.tech\/blog\">Lupin &amp; Holmes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Wanna challenge?<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/jabbercracky.com\/login\">Take a crack at this<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cailincat.cloud\/@lunathemoongirl\/113999666344802133\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/its-dangerous-to-go-alone.png\" alt=\"It's dangerous to go alone!\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Credit <a href=\"https:\/\/cailincat.cloud\/@lunathemoongirl\/113999666344802133\">lunathemoongirl<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n<hr class=\"fin\" \/>\n\n<div class=\"footnotes\" role=\"doc-endnotes\">\n  <ol>\n    <li id=\"fn:1\">\n      <p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uzine.net\/article63.html\">The Indie Web Manifesto<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:1\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:2\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.samclemente.me\/my-home-on-the-internet\/\">My Home on the Internet<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:2\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:3\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/klpx.de\/posts\/blogging-and-me\/\">Blogging and Me<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:3\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:4\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/interconnected.org\/home\/2025\/02\/19\/reflections\">Reflections on 25 years of Interconnected<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:4\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:5\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/werd.io\/2025\/own-whats-yours\">Own What\u2019s Yours<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:5\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:6\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/axxuy.xyz\/blog\/posts\/2025\/unoptimized\/\">Unoptimized<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:6\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:7\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/notes.jeddacp.com\/blogging-is-not-always-about-traffic\/\">Blogging Is Not Always About Traffic<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:7\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:8\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/manuelmoreale.com\/unsolicited-blogging-advice\">Unsolicited blogging advice<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:8\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:11\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/micahflee.com\/2025\/02\/not-only-is-substack-right-wing-broligarchy-garbage-its-way-more-expensive-than-ghost\/\">Not only is Substack right-wing broligarchy garbage, it\u2019s way more expensive than Ghost<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:11\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:9\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/lazybea.rs\/baa\/\">Blogs and Audience<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:9\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n    <li id=\"fn:10\">\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/anniemueller.com\/posts\/talk-about-the-thing-itself\">Talk about the thing itself<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"#fnref:10\" class=\"reversefootnote\" role=\"doc-backlink\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p>\n    <\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:20:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-21","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-21","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Infosec-only","description":"<p>In the past, I\u2019ve been a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/29\/publish-with-pride\">bit self-concious<\/a> about how\/what I posted on my site. I believe there\u2019s some part of my readership that comes to my site specifically for <em>infosec<\/em>-related stuff. So anything NON-infosec that I post is something that they may see on my site, or in their <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss\">RSS reader<\/a> and cause them to lose interest in my site because it\u2019s no longer just the infosec stuff they want to see.<\/p>\n\n<p>Not long ago, I was publishing a lot of my \u201cnon-infosec\u201d stuff as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing#notes\">notes<\/a>\u201d rather than as formal \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing#posts\">posts<\/a>\u201d, but this was not the right way to think about things. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">Notes<\/a> are meant to be short-form micro-blogs afterall. So now, I\u2019ve created a separate infosec-only <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\/infosec-feed.xml\">RSS feed<\/a> and now a special <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/grimoire\">blogs page just for things tagged as infosec<\/a>. I want to lean into my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> nature, and write about <em>everything<\/em>, but I don\u2019t want to alienate the part of my readership that is only interested in infosec stuff (<em>and vice versa tbh<\/em>). So, I\u2019ve added these things. Hope y\u2019all enjoy! \ud83e\udde1<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 19 Feb 2025 14:20:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/19\/infosec-only","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/19\/infosec-only","category":["infosec","indieweb","blogging"]},{"title":"Scroll tr\u0113s","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volume three<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a weekly newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms.\n<br \/><br \/><span id=\"rss\"><\/span>\nFirst, a quick aside to <strong>talk about <a href=\"https:\/\/rss.com\/blog\/how-do-rss-feeds-work\/\">RSS<\/a><\/strong> <i class=\"ph ph-rss\"><\/i> (<em>That\u2019s right!<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/audmcname.com\/comics\/rss-is-not-dead-yet\/\">RSS is not dead yet<\/a>). I refer to this publication as a \u201cnewsletter\u201d (among other things), which I think for many, evokes the idea of <em>email<\/em>. But as you have likely discovered by now, this newsletter is <u>not<\/u> emailed to you. Rather, if you want to subscribe, you must do so with good ol\u2019 fashioned RSS. To that end, I recommend getting (if you don\u2019t have one already) an RSS client - for your phone, for your desktop, laptop, <em>all the things<\/em>. If you\u2019re looking for more info, I\u2019ve written an RSS <em>how-to<\/em> of sorts that <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss\">you can read<\/a>. Once you\u2019ve got one, just drop this url <mark>https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\/scroll-feed.xml<\/mark> into it and you should be good-and-subscribed! RSS is a great tool for <a href=\"https:\/\/readbeanicecream.surge.sh\/2025\/02\/11\/curate-your-internet-experience\/\">curating your internet experience<\/a>. Now on to it!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>Speaking of your experience on the Internet, I\u2019ve got <strong>good news and bad news about the web<\/strong>. First, the <em>bad<\/em> news - a lot of the web <em>sucks<\/em>. So what\u2019s the <em>good<\/em> news? Well the good news is that there is a burgeoning movement to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet\/\">rewild the Internet<\/a>, to make it more humane, and let it flourish once more. More on this shortly, but first\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>What makes the bad web, \u201cbad\u201d<\/strong>? I mean, have you seen any of <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2025\/02\/as-internet-enshittification-marches-on-here-are-some-of-the-worst-offenders\/\">these things<\/a> in your web travels? What about any of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/web-page-annoyances\">this annoying stuff<\/a>? Run into any pathetic <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pivot-to-ai.com\">AI<\/a><\/strong> slop yet? <em>Bet ya have<\/em>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Enshittification\">enshittification<\/a> pandemic of the centralized, corporate web is <em>very<\/em> real, and suffocatingly inescapable. So much so, that I\u2019ve come across quite a few <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.ca\/@matthewguy\/113998698514794436\">posts<\/a> about how individuals are <a href=\"https:\/\/relativenostalgia.com\/posts\/my-changing-relationship-with-google-and-big-tech\">yanking big tech out of their life completely<\/a> (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/13\/decorporatization\">me too<\/a><\/em>). Some of us have started to see - the <em>bad web<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.takahe.org.nz\/heat-death-of-the-internet\/\">is dying<\/a>, and we <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.online\/@mastodonmigration\/113997147501946637\">gotta get out<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eigenmagic.net\/@daedalus\/113977112334022507\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/ai-dr.png\" alt=\"ai;dr\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>So <strong>where can you find the \u201cgood web\u201d<\/strong>? The <em>old<\/em> web? The <em>human<\/em> web? The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>? <em>Welp<\/em>, you\u2019ve already found it. In fact, you\u2019re reading it right <strong>now<\/strong>! <em>Well<\/em>, at least one small part of it. No matter what you call it, there are pockets of the Internet <strong>full<\/strong> of websites owned by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stefanjudis.com\/blog\/a-well-known-avatar-url-would-be-dang-cool\/\">individuals<\/a>, with novel content, published and <a href=\"https:\/\/pjonori.blog\/posts\/own-whats-yours\/\">wholly owned<\/a> <em>by<\/em> those individuals. These sites are unique, they are quirky, they probably have innumerable CSS and HTML markup issues (*<em>cough<\/em>* this site *<em>cough<\/em>*), they are expressions of those people, and of our collective humanity. They are where <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2025\/02\/09\/blogs-as-third-places\">we gather<\/a>, where we <a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\/posts\/how-long-does-it-take-me-to-write-a-blog-post\/\">share<\/a> things more than ~300 characters at a time, and where we can just be free to <a href=\"https:\/\/andysblog.uk\/why-blog-if-nobody-reads-it\/\">shout into the void<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>The \u201cgood web\u201d isn\u2019t just one place. <strong>The web is a digital archipelago<\/strong>. There is no singular map which can exhaustively take you to every island. Instead, explorers like you and me set sail and find these indie-islets, then <a href=\"https:\/\/archive95.net\">curate<\/a> and share them - with our social networks, our friends, on <a href=\"https:\/\/web.pixelshannon.com\/make\/\">our own websites<\/a>, etc\u2026 It\u2019s up to us to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/05\/save-your-links\">bookmark what we discover<\/a>, and what we enjoy. Like <a href=\"https:\/\/social.anoxinon.de\/@philipp\/113963180345246511\">philipp did<\/a> when he found a cute li\u2019l blog that had an \u201cart guestbook\u201d. Another great way to save and share cool things you find is by publishing weekly summaries of links and <em>other stuff<\/em>. Take a look at these cool examples from <a href=\"https:\/\/localghost.dev\/tags\/links\/\">Sophie<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/joelchrono.xyz\/blog\/week-notes-w06\/\">Joel<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/crys.site\/bookmarks\/\">Micha\u0142<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Once we\u2019ve re-wilded the Internet, maybe then we can (as Courtney has done) <a href=\"https:\/\/dark.properties\/growing-beyond-the-computer\/\">touch grass<\/a> once more. <em>Until then<\/em>, <strong>here\u2019s some neat places I\u2019ve discovered<\/strong> in my own recent web surfin\u2019. Check \u2018em out!\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bobbyhiltz.com\/about\/\">Bobby Hiltz<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hamatti.org\">Juha-Matti Santala<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beamout.net\">Beam me out!<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1Npo0cmp-VY\">\u2018tis a silly place<\/a><\/em>\u2026\n<br \/><\/p>\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/hackers.town\/@RadicalEdward\/105663637898899184\/embed\" class=\"mastodon-embed\" style=\"max-width: 100%; border: 0\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/hackers.town\/embed.js\" async=\"async\"><\/script>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n\n<p>For example, I\u2019ve come to understand that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/transfem.social\/notes\/a41qjgit6kui00sa\">this<\/a><\/strong> is the average Misskey experience \ud83d\ude06<\/p>\n\n<p>On to a more serious topic\u2026 In the <a href=\"#indieweb\">last section<\/a>, we talked about <strong>enshittification<\/strong>, and how it has led to a growing <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> movement. Well chances are, if you\u2019re on the Fediverse, or considering moving here, it\u2019s probably also because of that <a href=\"https:\/\/cristian.livadaru.net\/enshittification-of-social-media\/\">same wave of enshittification<\/a> <i class=\"ph ph-video\"><\/i>. People are leaving the entrenched social silos, and seeking out less-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JOSqHPnqoIA&amp;themeRefresh=1\">enshittified<\/a> pastures. This hasn\u2019t gone without notice by the larger, more-established social networks either. Meta\u2019s Threads has <em>sorta<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.fb.com\/2024\/03\/21\/networking-traffic\/threads-has-entered-the-fediverse\/\">federated<\/a>, and now <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/02\/11\/tumblr-to-join-the-fediverse-after-wordpress-migration-completes\/\">Tumblr is set to join the Fediverse<\/a> as well. While the incumbent web seeks to catch up, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediaalternatives.org\">alternative social networks<\/a>, the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/socialwebfoundation.org\/2025\/02\/11\/the-social-web-foundation-announces-its-membership-in-the-world-wide-web-consortium\/\">Social Web<\/a>\u201d, pushes on. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.joinmastodon.org\/2025\/02\/trunk-tidbits-january-2025\/\">Mastodon<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/MbinOrg\/mbin\/releases\/tag\/v1.8.0\">Mbin<\/a> both announced <a href=\"https:\/\/itcamefromtheinternet.lol\">big updates<\/a> in the past week alone.<\/p>\n\n<p>To <a href=\"ttps:\/\/savesocial.eu\/en\/\">reclaim the Internet<\/a>, and <strong>help the continued development of these platforms<\/strong>, your support is needed. Consider, if you can, <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.iftas.org\/@iftas\/113962730064757667\">helping IFTAS<\/a>, an independent Federated Trust &amp; Safety <a href=\"https:\/\/about.iftas.org\">organization<\/a> that provides nonprofit support for volunteer social web content moderators, community managers, administrators and more. There are other ways to support the Fediverse too! Just being an active participant in the various communities is a good start. Consider joining a group via <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fedigroups.social\/directory\">FediGroups.social<\/a>, contributing to the <a href=\"https:\/\/forum.wedistribute.org\/topic\/7\/thinking-about-fediverse-wikis\">WeDistribute forum<\/a>, or attending the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/fediforum.org\">FediForum Unconference<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>To close out this section, I wanted to spotlight a few <strong>Fedi projects &amp; tools<\/strong> worth checking out!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/weblog.kylereddoch.me\/2025\/02\/managing-your-social-media-just-got-easier-a-hands-on-review-of-fedica\">Fedica<\/a>: A multi-platform social media management tool<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/radicle.xyz\">Radicle<\/a>: Open source, peer-to-peer code collaboration stack built on Git<\/li>\n  <li>All the projects that <a href=\"https:\/\/hollo.social\/@hongminhee\/0194f2f1-63b3-7c4d-a89c-01615eb966c4\">Hong Minhee<\/a> is responsible for, i.e. <a href=\"https:\/\/fedify.dev\/\">Fedify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.hollo.social\/\">Hollo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/botkit.fedify.dev\/\">BotKit<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/logtape.org\/\">LogTape<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/dahlia\/yoyak\">Yoyak<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/hackers.pub\/\">Hackers Pub<\/a> - <em>phew<\/em>!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>The cyberz was as <em>cyber-ey<\/em> as ever this past week, and I <em>don\u2019t<\/em> mean that in a good way. More like\u2026 \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s exhibit A: <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1bt8GG5c-c6lOYicLeNfARkY0147hWKO88lkrIraTQo0\/edit?gid=0#gid=0\">Security Appliance Vulnerability Bingo<\/a> (<em>lol!<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n<p>But we can\u2019t spend all our time making fun of security appliance vendors can we? Here\u2019s this week\u2019s <strong>reading list<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.net.in.tum.de\/fileadmin\/TUM\/NET\/NET-2024-04-1\/NET-2024-04-1_16.pdf\">The Path of a Packet Through The Linux Kernel<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Sign up for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icann.org\/en\/announcements\/details\/icann-webinar-to-discuss-infermal-a-project-focused-on-malicious-domain-registrations-05-02-2025-en\">ICANN Webinar to Discuss INFERMAL, a Project Focused on Malicious Domain Registrations<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><em>So cool, very IndieWeb<\/em> - check out Shostack\u2019s weekly <a href=\"https:\/\/shostack.org\/blog\/appsec-roundup-jan-2025\/\">Appsec Roundup<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>February\u2019s first <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/designer-vulnerabilities\">designer vulnerability<\/a>: \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/securitylabs.datadoghq.com\/articles\/whoami-a-cloud-image-name-confusion-attack\/\">whoAMI<\/a><\/strong>\u201d (courtesy of <strong>Datadog Security Labs<\/strong>)<\/li>\n  <li>Here\u2019s some cool IndieSec blogs I\u2019ve discovered recently\n    <ul>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/seabassfromspace.blogspot.com\">Sea Bass From Space<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ariadne.space\">Ariadne\u2019s Space<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sprocketfox.io\/xssfox\/\">xssfox<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/xphantom.nl\">Ahmed Sherif<\/a><\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>The Fediverse is the place to be! So if you\u2019re here, and in infosec, come hang out with me and other cyber folks at the <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\">Infosec.pub<\/a>. We\u2019ve got weekly threads! \ud83c\udf7b\n    <ul>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/23527764\">Mentorship Monday<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/23628757\">What are You Working on Wednesday<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/23688134\">Off-Topic Friday<\/a><\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Finally, a few <strong>tools<\/strong> to help you on your journey\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ctfsearch.hackmap.win\">Search CTF Writeups<\/a>: Find and explore CTF solutions and writeups<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/certcentral.org\">Cert Central<\/a>: Centralized place to document the abuse of code-signing certificates<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/lolc2.github.io\">LOLC2<\/a>: A collection of C2 frameworks that leverage legitimate services to evade detection<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sunny.garden\/@anubiarts\/113963054357575875\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/remember-to-take-breaks.png\" alt=\"Remember to take breaks\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:09:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-14","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-14","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"What's A Home Page?","description":"<p>Every website you go to has a <strong>home page<\/strong>, the page you land on when you go to that site\u2019s root domain, i.e. for <span class=\"shellsharks-com\">Shellsharks<\/span>, when you go to \u201c<em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com<\/a><\/em>\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/15\/shellsharks-a-visual-history#shellsharks-20-early-2021\">Since 2021<\/a> my home page has had a very <em>simple<\/em> design - the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/shellsharks-logo\">logo<\/a>, some link icons and the classic list of recent posts. In <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/15\/shellsharks-a-visual-history#shellsharks-30-january-2024\">January of 2024<\/a> I simplified it even further, rearranging some graphics and removing the icons, filing them away in the site\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/07\/19\/hello-hamburger-menu\">hamburger menu<\/a>. More recently (<em>~Februrary 2025<\/em>), I got the itch to start <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/tinkering-with-the-site-again\">tinkering with the site<\/a> again and made a few further visual changes to the home page, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/29\/publish-with-pride#title\">opening up the feed<\/a> to all content I write, not just <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogs\">posts<\/a>, and adding some <a href=\"https:\/\/phosphoricons.com\">icons<\/a> to differentiate the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">different content types<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2025\/final-class-feed.png\" alt=\"Home Page Classic Final\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p><em>But<\/em>, it still just wasn\u2019t what I was looking for. I knew I wanted something else, but wasn\u2019t sure what that something else is. So I went looking for inspiration. I found that in two of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">favorite sites<\/a>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coryd.dev\">Cory Dransfeldt<\/a><\/strong> &amp; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/flamedfury.com\">Flamed Fury<\/a><\/strong>. <span style=\"background-color: light-dark(#3364ff,#6b9eff); border-radius: 0.25rem; color: light-dark(#f9fafb,#14161a); padding-right: 0.25rem; padding-left: 0.25rem;\">Cory\u2019s design<\/span> has both a simplicity and cleanness to it, but also neatly showcases what he\u2019s got goin\u2019 on across the site. I <em>really<\/em> enjoy his use of color as well. <span style=\"background:linear-gradient(45deg, rgb(202,89,53), rgb(238,137,71)); color:transparent;background-clip:text; -webkit-background-clip: text;\">fLaMEd<\/span> has an incredible home page <em>splash<\/em> graphic and an amazingly curated collection of <em>stuff<\/em>, made available right there on the home page. So I took some of their ideas, and <em>shellsharks-ified<\/em> them, incorporating those ideas into what is (<em>for now<\/em>) my new home page, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">behold<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2025\/new-home-page.png\" alt=\"New Home Page\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p>As I was building the new home page (<em>and as I continue to do so<\/em>), I\u2019ve asked myself, \u201c<em>what is a home page?<\/em>\u201d What is it meant to do? What should it look like? What <em>feeling<\/em> do I want people to have when they go there? Where do I want them to go once they\u2019re on my site? What do I want them to read? What\u2019s important to me or to my readers? How do <em>I<\/em> want to use my site? The home page is a collection of <em>opportunities<\/em> and doors. My old home page was simple yes, and that was visually striking in a way that I\u2019ve always enjoyed, but it didn\u2019t <em>tell<\/em> you much, and what it did show you, was pretty limited - just a list of <em>stuff<\/em> I had published recently. There was no <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/story\">story<\/a>, and it effectively <em>hid<\/em> a lot of the other things on my site that you, the reader, might be interested in, stuff I am <strong>proud<\/strong> of. So the idea behind the redesign was to surface these things, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\">introduce<\/a> you to my site, showcase what I\u2019ve done <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">recently<\/a> <em>and<\/em> what I think you might <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=bestof#info\">want to see<\/a>. I have a lot to offer, and have put in a lot of work, but only the real <em>shellsharks spelunkers<\/em> could have ever found it, digging around through the cavernous hamburger menu and web of hyperlinks throughout the site.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>It\u2019s a work in progress<\/em>, my site always is, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> sites just tend to be. That\u2019s what\u2019s fun! What\u2019s great about this particular <em>modular<\/em> design is that I\u2019m able to add new things, showcase <em>more<\/em> stuff when I feel like it. One big downside to the classic design (<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/15\/shellsharks-a-visual-history#shellsharks-20-early-2021\">circa 2021<\/a>) was that I never featured anything but my formal \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogs\">blog posts<\/a>\u201d. I talk about why I didn\u2019t like that <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/29\/publish-with-pride#title\">here<\/a>. So I opened up the feed to <em>everything<\/em>, which introduced a new issue. Now, my best content was at risk of being buried in a way that I felt was a disservice. For example, I have a new <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/linklog\">Link Log<\/a> where I share cool sites\/blogs that I find, and I added those links to that <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/home\/feed\">home feed<\/a>. But, I wasn\u2019t incentivized to share a lot of links, because then my home page feed would\u2019ve been overrun with just links to other people\u2019s stuff (<em>cool as that stuff may be<\/em>), effectively watering down my site to a degree and de-emphasizing all the other stuff on my site. The new design allows me to share as many links as I want, without overshadowing everything else. <em>Awesome<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p>So yeah, the new home page is <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">live<\/a>, and I think it\u2019s great. I\u2019d love to hear about <em>your<\/em> home page, or home pages of sites that you love (<em>so I can get more inspo<\/em>), or thoughts that you have about <em>my<\/em> new home page, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/contact\">hit me up<\/a> anytime!<\/p>\n\n<p>(Also, I\u2019ve kept my classic home page available as the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/home\/feed\">home feed<\/a>\u201d.)<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 13 Feb 2025 09:03:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/whats-a-home-page","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/whats-a-home-page","category":["technology","indieweb","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Mastodon.social is fine","description":"<p>As others have said, <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/\">Mastodon.social<\/a> is fine, you have <em>not<\/em> screwed up. Are there some downsides to Mastodon.social? <em>Sure<\/em>, but that goes with any server, or any platform or any choice you make in life (<em>haha<\/em>). Some folks on <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a> (or the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> at large) deride Mastodon for A. being \u201ctoo big\u201d\/centralized, B. not liking their moderation practices, C. their <a href=\"https:\/\/fedipact.online\">association with<\/a> efforts such as <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.fb.com\/2024\/03\/21\/networking-traffic\/threads-has-entered-the-fediverse\/\">Meta\u2019s Threads federating<\/a>, and\/or D. certain accounts they have that folks may not like elsewhere. <em>Whatever<\/em>. Mastodon.social is FREE to join, is obviously widely federated - which helps with reach and search, and since it is the flagship instance, has decent moderation, good support, bleeding-edge features, etc..<\/p>\n\n<p>Also, as others have said, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.tips\/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server\/\">migrate your followers<\/a> elsewhere later if you decide you want a smaller instance, or don\u2019t like mastodon.social for some reason, etc.. The only caveat is right now you can\u2019t also migrate your posts, but I personally don\u2019t see that as being a big deal. If you care about things you post over there, you can download a post archive, or maybe just archive your good stuff on a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">personal blog<\/a> or something.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@sass\">have an account<\/a> on Mastodon.social, an account on a secondary (much smaller instance) and a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/gotosocial-on-knt-host\">self-hosted instance<\/a> (yeah I know, I have a problem). There are pros and cons to each experience. What\u2019s important is that you made it out (of the centralized platforms) and are building a presence on the open, federated, social web. Congrats! You can also ask for help there using hashtags like (<em>#fedihelp<\/em>, <em>#askfedi<\/em>) and you\u2019ll be sure to get lots of responses.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 13 Feb 2025 07:43:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/13\/mastodon-social-is-fine","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/13\/mastodon-social-is-fine","category":["technology","mastodon","fediverse","socialweb"]},{"title":"Tapestry Has Found its Place","description":"<p>A few days ago I confidently stated that \u201c<em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/unified-timelines-are-not-for-me\">unified timelines are not for me<\/a><\/em>\u201d, but I think I may have been <em>a bit too hasty<\/em> in that declaration. I\u2019ve been tinkering around with <a href=\"https:\/\/usetapestry.com\">Tapestry<\/a> for a few days now, trying to find a way to fit it into my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/06\/keeping-current-in-infosec\">daily feed ingestion<\/a> workflow and I <em>think<\/em> I\u2019m starting to discover its niche for me. This doesn\u2019t really change what I said in that previous post, Tapestry is <em>not<\/em> a good (main) <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss\">RSS<\/a> reader, especially (again) when you weave together RSS feeds and social timelines (for the reasons I state in the article). Secondarily, Tapestry isn\u2019t a great RSS reader (right now) as it struggles mightily when faced with simultaneously updating 100\u2019s of disparate feeds, which my current RSS app (<a href=\"https:\/\/reederapp.com\/classic\/\">Reeder<\/a>) does without breaking a sweat. In time, that performance issue may improve, but the former issue won\u2019t. But let\u2019s not dwell on what I <em>don\u2019t<\/em> use Tapestry for, let\u2019s instead talk about what I think it can be <em>good<\/em> at, and what I\u2019ve started using it for over the past couple days.<\/p>\n\n<p>I spent a long while yammering on about signal-to-noise ratio and <em>fidelity<\/em> as it relates to my \u201cfeeds\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/unified-timelines-are-not-for-me\">last time I wrote about unified timelines<\/a>. There, I made the case for why mushing together my RSS feeds with (as an example) a social feed didn\u2019t make sense, and I stand by that. I want to keep my RSS feeds in an RSS app, because they are the \u201chighest-fidelity\u201d feed and shouldn\u2019t be paired with mid or low-fidelity-type feeds. Similarly. my Mastodon\/Fediverse feeds need to be kept in their own app. But what about everything else? Here\u2019s where Tapestry has found it\u2019s niche for me.<\/p>\n\n<p>You see when it comes to RSS, I scroll through &amp; consider <em>every<\/em> post in that feed. It is highly curated afterall and there\u2019s a decent likelihood im interested in anything\/everything that shows up there. For my Fedi feeds, they are also highly curated, but more prone to \u2026 let\u2019s call it \u201csilliness\u201d, so I tend to scroll a bit faster through that feed and don\u2019t necessarily stop to really read and consider each post. After that what is there? There are a collection of \u201cfeeds\u201d that I will, only look at occasionally, are high volume \/ low signal-to-noise, or are *\u201cdiscovery-oriented\u201d, in which I mean things I peruse to discover <strong>new<\/strong> stuff that might be of interest to me. This is the third degree of fidelity, and for those odd collection of feeds, Tapestry is actually quite a nice vehicle to consume them.<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"feed-fidelity-continuum\">Feed Fidelity Continuum<\/h6>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Tier 1: <strong>RSS<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>Tier 2: <strong>Mastodon<\/strong> \/ <strong>Fediverse<\/strong> (<em>non-algorithmic social feeds<\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li>Tier 3: <strong>Other<\/strong> (e.g. Bluesky, Reddit, <em>Discovery<\/em> RSS*, Lemmy\/Thrediverse, etc\u2026)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s talk about what makes Tapestry a great reader\/timeline app for these \u2018<em>low-fidelity<\/em>\u2019 (Tier 3) feeds.<\/p>\n\n<p>First, (before talking about the things Tapestry is great at) I want to reiterate that in my usage of Tapestry, it really struggled to import and then consistently refresh a large volume of RSS feeds. At first, I tried to import close to 2500 feeds into Tapestry and it simply would not do it. After that, I pared down the list and finally got about 500 feeds imported. The app would skitter and completely time out trying to refresh all those feeds. Contrast that with my Reeder app, purpose-built for RSS, which can ingest and handle 1000\u2019s of feeds with no issue. So, <strong>if you have a high volume of RSS feeds, Tapesty isn\u2019t for you<\/strong> <em>right now<\/em>, especially as a pure RSS app (not considering the issues I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/unified-timelines-are-not-for-me\">talked about before<\/a> in terms of unifying RSS and other types of feeds.)<\/p>\n\n<p>For <em>social feeds<\/em>, especially those that you want to actually <em>engage<\/em> with, Tapestry also isn\u2019t ideal, as you completely lose all those capabilities to natively like\/heart, reply, boost\/repost, etc\u2026 You need to bounce out of the Tapestry app into the respective app\/client for that social platform to do those things. <em>But<\/em>! What if you had a social feed that you wanted to follow, but <em>wasn\u2019t<\/em> something you engaged with frequently. <em>Then<\/em>, Tapestry might work pretty well for that. This is the case for me with Bluesky. I have a <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/shellsharks.com\">Bluesky account<\/a>, and I follow some folks there that do not have presences elsewhere. Because I want to see what they have to say, <em>and<\/em> I want to limit the amount of time I spend \u201cengaging\u201d there, Tapestry is a great place for me to <em>mostly-read-only-mode<\/em> my Bluesky feed. On the rare occasion I see something I <em>really<\/em> want to interact with on Bluesky, it\u2019s easy enough to bounce out and do that. This is equally true for pretty much all the feeds I have loaded into Tapestry, it is entirely made up of things that I might want to <strong>quickly peruse, but probably won\u2019t want to engage with<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Scrolling through gobs of stuff that <em>might<\/em> include something I\u2019m interested in can be, at times, not the most enjoyable or worthwile scroll. <em>But<\/em>, <strong>Tapestry softens the blow because the app is gorgeous<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2025\/tapestry2.PNG\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p>Looking back at my <a href=\"#feed-fidelity-continuum\">fidelity tiers<\/a>, you\u2019ve got RSS at <em>1<\/em>, Fedi at <em>2<\/em>, and <em>everything else<\/em> at <em>3<\/em>. From a client perspective, this makes tier <em>1<\/em> and tier <em>2<\/em> pretty simple\/obvious. You have an RSS app for <em>1<\/em> and a Fedi client (that supports more than just Mastodon) for <em>2<\/em>. But for the third tier, \u201cOther\u201d, you need something that can natively ingest a wide variety of feeds, some of which may be kinda <em>niche<\/em>. Tapestry is not only built to do this out-of-the-box (as it is a unified timeline app), but it also ships with a powerful, extendable, <strong>connectors<\/strong> system by which you can <strong>load in (or develop your own) third-party connectors<\/strong>. This will make browsing feeds from all over the place uniquely possible.<\/p>\n\n<p>In this story, Tapestry is being used to ingest, weave-together and view a wide variety of eclectic feeds, all of which are \u201clower signal-to-noise\u201d. This could mean the timeline balloons beyond what you may feel like scrolling through on any given day. To help handle the firehose, <strong>Tapestry also ships with a powerful set of features for muffling, muting and building custom timelines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>So<\/em>, that\u2019s how I\u2019ve been using Tapestry. It looks great, performs well for what I am now using it for and has even earned a coveted spot on my phone home screen. I\u2019ve also seen a number of connectors being shared by the community too to further extend its capabilities which is awesome! Let me know what you think though! Especially for those of you who agreed with my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/unified-timelines-are-not-for-me\">original assessment<\/a>. Do you think Tapestry (or other unified timeline apps) could have a place in your workflow? Or are you a normal person and don\u2019t feel the need to keep up with every feed that\u2019s of even mild interest to you?<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 10 Feb 2025 14:56:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tapestry-has-found-its-place","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tapestry-has-found-its-place","category":["technology","socialweb","fediverse","bluesky","app","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Saying it again: Someone will read your blog","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@sol2070\">@sol2070<\/a> I\u2019ve seen a few posts <a href=\"https:\/\/andysblog.uk\/why-blog-if-nobody-reads-it\/\">like this<\/a> pop up in the last few weeks, all with similar theme, e.g. \u201c<em>no one reads your blog but you should do it anyways<\/em>\u201d. I agree, <em>in part<\/em> - at least with the fact that <strong>you should blog<\/strong>, whether anyone reads or not. But the fact is, people <strong>DO<\/strong> read your blog, they <em>will<\/em> stumble across it, and given the scale of the Internet, of the <em>world<\/em>, you do have an audience, no matter how niche what you have to say is. I talk about that <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/13\/you-have-something-to-say-someone-will-listen\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>I get it<\/em>, I used to have the same thoughts when I started. \u201c<em>No one will read this, but I\u2019ll do it for myself<\/em>\u201d. That\u2019s fine, but I\u2019ve learned that it just isn\u2019t true, and becoming less true by the day. More people want the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>, a return to the more authentic web. Your silly \u201cblog\u201d is where people increasingly <em>want<\/em> to go. So blog for yourself, sure. But blog for everyone out there who, right now, is looking to find something real, some human connection, something that isn\u2019t AI slop, blog for them.<\/p>\n\n<p>And if that ain\u2019t enough, consider blogging for <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">these reasons<\/a>.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 10 Feb 2025 07:55:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/10\/saying-it-again","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/10\/saying-it-again","category":["technology","indieweb","blogging"]},{"title":"Scroll duo","description":"<p>Welcome to <em>volumen duo<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a newsletter for sharing cool stuff from the IndieWeb, Fediverse &amp; Cybersecurity realms.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>I\u2019ve decided to plan the regular issuance of this publication for<\/em> <strong>Fridays<\/strong> <em>instead of Sundays. It\u2019s easier for me to get it out the door with this schedule. This means your getting this issue 2 days sooner than ya thought and only ~3 days after I put out <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-04\">the last one<\/a>. Lucky you! Now on to it\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>I have a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">site<\/a>, <em>you\u2019re on it<\/em>! Sometimes I look at it, and I don\u2019t like what I see, or I see other sites and wish mine looked a <em>bit<\/em> more like those. Ultimately though, I find peace, because in the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> world, it\u2019s good to be <strong>unique<\/strong>, just <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/01\/be-yourself\">be yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sonomu.club\/@luka\/113951270207675021\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/make-it-unique.png\" alt=\"Make it unique\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>That said, it\u2019s great to <strong>learn<\/strong>, fun to <strong>build<\/strong>, and perfectly acceptable to be <strong>inspired<\/strong> by what you see elsewhere on the web. If you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/what-to-add-to-your-site-first\">just getting started<\/a>, you may be interested in joining an IndieWeb <a href=\"https:\/\/32bit.cafe\">community<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/aggrippino.com\/2025\/02\/HWC-writing-edition\/\">website club<\/a> or even starting your own \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/posobin.com\/blogclub\/\">blog club<\/a>\u201d, because y\u2019know, <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cathoderaydude.com\/doku.php?id=blog:making_a_website_is_hard\">making a website can be hard<\/a>, and there are a few things you might <em><a href=\"https:\/\/rachelbythebay.com\/w\/2025\/01\/04\/cruft\/\">not want to do<\/a><\/em> on your site-building journey. But don\u2019t stress, you learn by <em>doing<\/em> and there\u2019s soooo many fun things to do. You could <a href=\"https:\/\/xuanwo.io\/links\/2025\/01\/link-blog\/\">build a link blog<\/a>, or build a <a href=\"https:\/\/chrismcolvin.com\/photoroll\/\">photoroll<\/a>, or build (<em>and then later destroy<\/em>) a <a href=\"https:\/\/nicksimson.com\/likes\/2025-02-05-all-things-must-pass\/\">Likes feed<\/a>. If nothing else, you could just <a href=\"https:\/\/flamedfury.com\/posts\/blogging-for-the-hell-of-it\/\">blog for the hell of it<\/a>, it <a href=\"https:\/\/anniemueller.com\/posts\/im-gonna-keep-making-shit-and-i-hope-you-will-too\">doesn\u2019t need to be great<\/a>, just let the <a href=\"https:\/\/drmollytov.bearblog.dev\/the-small-web-is-rehabilitating-how-i-write\/\">catharsis flow<\/a>. But if you gotta have <em>something<\/em>, why not try this <a href=\"#music-questions-challenge\">weekly blogging challenge<\/a>. (That\u2019s what <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/music-questions-challenge#title\">I did<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"music-questions-challenge\">Music Questions Challenge<\/h3>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <ol>\n    <li>What are five of your favorite albums?<\/li>\n    <li>What are five of your favorite songs?<\/li>\n    <li>Favorite Instrument(s)?<\/li>\n    <li>What song or album are you current listening to?<\/li>\n    <li>Do you listen to the radio? If so, how often?<\/li>\n    <li>How often do you listen to music?<\/li>\n    <li>How often do you discover music? And how do you discover music?<\/li>\n    <li>What\u2019s a song or album that you enjoy that you wish had more recognition?<\/li>\n    <li>What\u2019s your favourite song of all time?<\/li>\n    <li>Has your taste in music evolved over the years?<\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><span id=\"inspiration\"><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p>Since I\u2019ve already mentioned <strong>inspiration<\/strong>, let\u2019s talk about <strong>discovery<\/strong> a bit. Yes, search engines are worse than they\u2019ve ever been, and the actually-traveled web seems <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2023\/12\/taking-back-web-decentralization-2023-review\">more centralized than ever<\/a>, but <em>we know<\/em> the IndieWeb exists. It\u2019s just a matter of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/brentter.com\/notes\/how_to_find_good_rss_feeds_to_follow\/\">finding<\/a><\/em> these digital gardens, and once you do, saving and subscribing when you find something you like. <a href=\"https:\/\/usetapestry.com\">Tapestry<\/a> is the <a href=\"https:\/\/iconfactory.world\/@Iconfactory\/113947606237575693\">newest<\/a> addition to the rich and growing collection of feed aggregation apps that we have available to us. It <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/unified-timelines-are-not-for-me#title\">might not be for you<\/a>, but you should check it out and see! As for finding stuff, try out <a href=\"https:\/\/minifeed.net\/about\">Minifeed.net<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bukmark.club\">BUKMARK.CLUB<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/smallweb.cc\">smallweb.cc<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/blue-pages.bitbucket.io\">Blue Pages<\/a> for roaming the Indie and Old-webz. Some of my favorite things I\u2019ve stumbled across this week include <a href=\"https:\/\/destructured.net\/combatting-doomscroll\">Combatting doomscroll<\/a> (from <a href=\"https:\/\/destructured.net\/about\">L. Rhodes<\/a>) &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/mind-garden\/\">Tracy Durnell\u2019s Mind Garden<\/a>, <em>check\u2019m out<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><em>Nope<\/em>, it\u2019s not just you. The Fediverse <em>is<\/em> very active right now, and there\u2019s a lot of enthusiasm and energy across the network, being poured into all manner of projects.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/chaos.social\/@hpk\/113951868898831918\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/fediverse-exploding.png\" alt=\"Fediverse exploding\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/frequency.app\/about\">Frequency<\/a> (currently in beta) is a Fediverse-compatible, photo-forward app which emphasizes privacy and non-algorithmic control. There\u2019s even a <a href=\"https:\/\/illuminant.asjo.org\">Fediverse server<\/a> built using <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Network_News_Transfer_Protocol\">NNTP<\/a> of all things! <a href=\"https:\/\/castopod.org\">Castopod<\/a> is looking to show out with some tips for <a href=\"https:\/\/podlibre.video\/videos\/watch\/8b5b96b6-d57a-4b5f-9a26-46e70423c92a\">monetizing<\/a> using their platform - <em>OK<\/em>, get it! But the big story this week is probably Reddit\u2019s continued <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/czrlep5xpmzo\">enshitti-slide<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/old.reddit.com\/r\/BannedSubs\/\">sub banning<\/a>), resulting in a surge of interest for <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel\">Threadiverse<\/a> platforms, sought after for their well\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/cacm.acm.org\/news\/disrupting-networks-decentralization-and-the-fediverse\/\">this exact kinda nonsense resiliency<\/a>. So, might I recommend <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\">infosec.pub<\/a> for my tech\/infosec folks? Oh and Reddit isn\u2019t the only centralized platform people are avoiding (*<em>cough<\/em>* Discord *<em>cough<\/em>*), <a href=\"https:\/\/dualpower.supply\/posts\/nodebb\/\">NodeBB has federated<\/a> and is making a statement as well.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@db0\/113952378669483460\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/lemmy-registrants.png\" alt=\"Lemmy registrants\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>But it\u2019s not just new apps and platform stuff, there\u2019s a lot of connective tissue and <strong>Fedi-supporting services<\/strong> that are being developed as well, each <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.foundation\/2021\/04\/fediverse-spiral-island-analogy\/\">enhancing<\/a><\/strong> and pushing the Fediverse forward. Improvements across <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markpitblado.me\/blog\/\nverification-across-the-expansive-web\/\">verification<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fires.fedimod.org\">moderation<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/snarfed.org\/2025-02-04_54609\">reach<\/a> all saw movement this week. One such organization, that is trying to push things forward, is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/spritely.institute\/donate\/\">Spritely<\/a><\/strong>, who\u2019s mission is literally to \u201c<em>advance networked user freedom<\/em>\u201d, and they\u2019re looking for your <a href=\"https:\/\/spritely.institute\/donate\/\">support<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>News aside, are you looking to <strong>improve your Fediverse-roving experience<\/strong>? In a non-algorithmic world, we\u2019re responsible for self-curating our feeds, so start with <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@WetHat\/109522509194041473\">following<\/a> some more folks! Are you <em>technically<\/em> on Mastodon, but really haven\u2019t quite figured it out yet? How about reading <a href=\"https:\/\/the-counterforce.org\/guide-to-mastodon-fediverse\/\">THE COUNTERFORCE GUIDE TO MASTODON AND THE FEDIVERSE (FOR PUNKS!)<\/a>. The recently minted <a href=\"https:\/\/from.thefedi.wiki\/@hello\/statuses\/01JK6TTR82QWGV3J76NKE7QMST\">Fedi Forum<\/a> also seems like a great way to help, <em>and be helped<\/em>, and is unsurprisingly Fedi-native! Do you live in or near Austin, Texas? Love the Fediverse? Well <a href=\"https:\/\/about.flipboard.com\/fediverse\/fediverse-house-2025\/\">Flipboard is hosting the \u201cFediverse House\u201d<\/a> to talk about and showcase the social web in all its awesomeness. Not a boring day in the decentralized web is there?<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Alright cyber-frienz, here\u2019s some stuff for you too.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@kpwn\/113945802286155946\">@kpwn<\/a> announced some updates to <a href=\"https:\/\/cvecrowd.com\">CVE Crowd<\/a>, a crowd-sourced vulnerability intelligence platform<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/labs.watchtowr.com\/\">watchTowr Labs<\/a> dropped an absolutely bonkers, and wildly detailed, <a href=\"https:\/\/labs.watchtowr.com\/8-million-requests-later-we-made-the-solarwinds-supply-chain-attack-look-amateur\/\">supply chain security writeup<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/\">PortSwigger<\/a> publishes their annual <a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/research\/top-10-web-hacking-techniques-of-2024\">top 10 web hacking techniques<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Google thinks they\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/bughunters.google.com\/blog\/6644316274294784\/secure-by-design-google-s-blueprint-for-a-high-assurance-web-framework\">almost completely eliminated exploitable web vulnerabilities<\/a> (<em>lol<\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li><em>Ah<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.first.org\/cvss\/\">CVSS<\/a> is the latest topic of discussion. <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cvss-criticism-cve-nvd-nist-epss\/\">Some say we need it<\/a>, others\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/daniel.haxx.se\/blog\/2025\/01\/23\/cvss-is-dead-to-us\/\">want it to die<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Got some interesting research you\u2019re sitting on? Why not submit to <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@owasp\/113947491176274464\">OWASP Global AppSec USA<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/fwdcloudsec.org\/conference\/north-america\/cfp.html\">fwd: cloudsec North America<\/a>?<\/li>\n  <li>Maybe that research can help someone not end up on <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.xposedornot.com\/weekly-databreaches-roundup-week-05-2025\/\">this list<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Looking for more juicy intel and security shtuff? I recommend following <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@screaminggoat\">@screaminggoat<\/a> on Mastodon<\/li>\n  <li>Check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.exploits.club\/exploits-club-weekly-newsletter-58-botched-mac-patches-accidental-linux-bugs-v8-sandbox-bypasses-and-more\/\">exploits.club Weekly Newsletter<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Here\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/iang.org\/papers\/market_for_silver_bullets.html\">an oldie but goodie<\/a> asking \u201c<em>What is security?<\/em>\u201d<\/li>\n  <li>Finally, here\u2019s a pair of cool infosec blogs I discovered this week - <a href=\"https:\/\/www.badsamurai.dev\">B\u2019AD Samurai<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/blas.me\">Blas<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><em>Thanks for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.social\/p\/superverity64\/791983533631904755\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/coffee-shop.png\" width=\"650px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<time><i>Credit to <a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.social\/p\/superverity64\/791983533631904755\">superverity64<\/a> for this image.<\/i><\/time><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:29:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-07","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-07","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"What To Add To Your Site First","description":"<p>You got yourself a domain, you found a place to host your site, it\u2019s up and running! <strong>Now what?<\/strong>\n<br \/><br \/>\nThere\u2019s <em><a href=\"#stuff-you-can-do-with-your-site\">A LOT<\/a><\/em> you can do with a website. I mean you can pretty much do anything y\u2019know? But here\u2019s what I recommend you do <strong>first<\/strong>, before anything else.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>\n    <p>Put some sort of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\/#contact\">contact<\/a><\/strong> information on your site, maybe even on your home page. This contact info could be an email, or a social media handle. It\u2019s nice for people to be able to message you about your site!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Create an \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\/#about\">About<\/a><\/strong>\u201d page (preferably at <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">https:\/\/YOURSITE\/about<\/code>). Here you can just briefly tell anyone who\u2019s stumbled across your site who you are, and what the site is for. <em>Easy!<\/em><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>For participating, <em>or opting out of<\/em>, broader web stuff, you might want to create a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sitemaps.org\/protocol.html\">sitemap<\/a><\/strong> and\/or a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.robotstxt.org\">robots.txt<\/a><\/strong> file. The <em>sitemap<\/em> helps inform search engine crawlers what on your site you want indexed. Conversely, you\u2019ll want the <em>robots.txt<\/em> file to instruct those same crawlers what pages they should <em>avoid<\/em>.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/17\/having-a-website-is-about-you\">Though it isn\u2019t required<\/a>, I would <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">suggest<\/a> creating a \u201c<strong>blog<\/strong>\u201d too, where you can publish stuff you want to write about\/share with any current\/future readership. If you <em>do<\/em> decide to <em>blog<\/em>, be sure to also create an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/rss.com\/blog\/how-do-rss-feeds-work\/\">RSS feed<\/a><\/strong> so that people can <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss#how-to-rss\">subscribe<\/a> to your content!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>As a <em>bonus<\/em>, I would lastly suggest having some sort of <strong>search<\/strong> capability natively on your site. Search engines are becoming ever-more unreliable, so having a way to natively find things you\u2019ve said\/posted in the past is super useful!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<h6 id=\"other-stuff-you-can-do-with-your-site\">Other stuff you can do with your site<\/h6>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist\">Website Component Checklist<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\/#about\">Slash Pages<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/10\/well-known-uri\">Well-known URI<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/web-page-annoyances#title\">Things NOT to do<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing#title\">Lots of different types of posts<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2024\/02\/19\/personal-website-ideas\/\">100 things you can do on your personal website<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 06 Feb 2025 20:29:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/what-to-add-to-your-site-first","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/what-to-add-to-your-site-first","category":["technology","indieweb","blogging","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Did I inspire the Tapestry timeline aesthetic?","description":"<p><em>Very interesting<\/em>\u2026 In April of 2024 I debuted my \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">Activity<\/a>\u201d feed, which serves as a cool unified timeline of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">all the different things<\/a> goin\u2019 on on my site (e.g. changes, posts, notes, podcasts, social media stuff, etc\u2026)<\/p>\n\n<p>I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112236639672244868\">tooted excitedly about it then<\/a> thanking a few folks for being part of what inspired me to make it.<\/p>\n\n<p>But now that I\u2019m looking at it, and at the <a href=\"https:\/\/usetapestry.com\">Tapestry<\/a> unified timeline aesthetic, they bear a <em>FREAKY<\/em> resemblence, <em>like<\/em>\u2026 maybe I inspired <a href=\"https:\/\/iconfactory.world\/@Iconfactory\">@Iconfactory<\/a> \ud83d\ude03. SO much so that I started to wonder if I had gotten the idea <em>from<\/em> them somehow. So I did some digging. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/iconfactory\/project-tapestry\">Project Tapestry kickstarter<\/a> didn\u2019t reveal their first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/iconfactory\/project-tapestry\/posts\/4133903\">sneak-peek<\/a> of the timeline aesthetic until June 25, 2024, 2.5 months AFTER I unveiled my own unified activity feed \ud83e\udd14. To be sure, I checked web.archive.org to make doubly-sure that I indeed had the same design then, that I have today - and YEP, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240916001202\/https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">I did<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/notes\/2025\/activity_snapshot.png\" width=\"300px\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Pretty weird\/cool huh<\/em>?! Now, I\u2019m no app\/web designer, that should be clear from looking around my site, but it\u2019s pretty cool that I came up with what is a VERY similar design to what the <a href=\"https:\/\/iconfactory.com\">Iconfactory<\/a> shipped with Tapestry. Tapestry is after all, amazing looking \ud83e\udd29, and the Activity page on my site is my favorite thing I\u2019ve built there. To be clear, I\u2019m not accusing Iconfactory of stealing any ideas\/design, for all I know, this is a well-known design thing to do or perhaps it\u2019s just a case of \u201csimultaneous invention\u201d, just the timing of it <em>is<\/em> pretty wild. But even if they did borrow some ideas from me, I\u2019m cool with it \ud83d\ude04.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@chockenberry\">@chockenberry<\/a> you can tell me \ud83d\ude1c<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Also got the git commit proof just to be sure I\u2019m not crazy<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/notes\/2025\/activity-git-commit.png\" alt=\"Git Activity Commit\" \/><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 06 Feb 2025 19:44:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/06\/did-i-inspire-tapestry","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/06\/did-i-inspire-tapestry","category":["technology","socialweb","indieweb"]},{"title":"Fedi gon' Threadi","description":"<p>Forgive everyone here asking about <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a>. I mean you <em>are<\/em> on the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> here so people will naturally ask you about Fedi-native stuff \ud83d\ude04. But, it\u2019s not just that. Reddit has, how to put this delicately\u2026 <strong>become garbage<\/strong>. First, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/reddit-is-in-danger-of-a-death-spiral\/\">attacking sub mods<\/a> and now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/czrlep5xpmzo\">this<\/a>. It\u2019s just <em>not a great place to be<\/em>, even if it still has some juice thanks to all the time and energy those communities have invested in that place over the many years.<\/p>\n\n<p>So what\u2019s the alternative(s)? Well that\u2019s where Lemmy and other \u201c<em>Threadiverse<\/em>\u201d platforms come into play. For that, I have <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel\">this write-up<\/a> you may find interesting. There\u2019s a lot of options, in addition to Lemmy you could consider. Many of them are Fediverse-compatible, so you could leverage your entire network here as people who could instantly interact there, no new account, and no reddit-interaction required. Not a bad thing to consider!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 06 Feb 2025 15:08:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/06\/fedi-gon-threadi","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/02\/06\/fedi-gon-threadi","category":["technology","fediverse","threadiverse","lemmy","nosearch"]},{"title":"Unified Timelines Are Not For Me","description":"<p>Several unified, social-web-forward, chronological timeline apps have popped up recently. Notably <a href=\"https:\/\/reederapp.com\">Reeder<\/a> (not to be confused with <a href=\"https:\/\/reederapp.com\/classic\/\">Reeder Classic<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/usetapestry.com\">Tapestry<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\">Surf<\/a>. Though these apps differ in many ways, they have these core commonalities\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>They support mixed-content\/heterogenous feeds (e.g. podcasts, YouTube, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a>, Pixelfed, Bluesky, Glass, Flickr, Reddit, RSS, Tumblr and more)<\/li>\n  <li>All feeds are woven together in a unified, chronological timeline with some form of <em>timeline sync<\/em> rather than unread counts typical of your classic RSS feed readers<\/li>\n  <li>They also support the ability to create custom feeds, timelines and filters<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p><em>Cool right<\/em>? This <em>sounds<\/em> useful. I can reduce the amount of apps I\u2019m opening all the time and do a better job not <em>missing<\/em> things, <em>yeah<\/em>? <em>In theory<\/em>. But in practice, I have found that these apps, cool as they are, just don\u2019t give <em>me<\/em> what I want and need. Let me explain why\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Curation &amp; completionism<\/strong>: RSS feeds are <em>highly<\/em> curated and high fidelity\/signal-to-noise. What I mean by that, is you subscribe to what you want, and you get <em>nothing<\/em> else. I also think that <em>generally<\/em>, people\u2019s list of RSS feeds is smaller and <em>more<\/em> highly curated than their social media follows (as an example). Non-algorithmic social feeds (i.e. Mastodon \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> platforms) are still (generally) highly curated (<em>at least for me<\/em>), but lower signal-to-noise courtesy of the nature of social media\/micro-blogging. You get a lot more <em>casual<\/em> posts, short-form stuff, shitposts, and of course boosts\/reposts, all of which add more noise to the feed. This means that when juxtaposed in a unified timeline, you lose the fidelity of your RSS feeds, by combining it with the higher noise feed of your social media timeline. You continue to lose fidelity as you add even noisier feeds (i.e. Reddit, Tumblr, or algorithmic timelines).<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Social functionality<\/strong>: When you scroll a social feed, there are a lot of little interactions you may want to perform. Namely \u201cstars\u201d and \u201cboosts\u201d (to use the Mastodon lexicon). In order to do those things while browsing a unified feed app however, you would have to jump <em>out<\/em> of the unified timeline\/app into the respective app, which adds a lot of overhead, especially if you\u2019re someone like me who tends to like\/repost a lot of stuff. You may also want to follow an account, mute something, search for something in-app, add something to a list, etc\u2026 There\u2019s lots of functionality you just lose by not being in the app that supports the actual service you\u2019re browsing.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Volumetric imbalance<\/strong>: I touched on this earlier. Let\u2019s say you don\u2019t open your RSS app for a day, depending on how many feeds you have subscribed to, you\u2019ll get maybe 10\u2019s of new items. In a social media app though? <em>Hundreds<\/em>. When combined in a unified timeline, blog posts, which again are meant to be kinda higher signal, are drowned in a sea of microblog shitposts. Similar story with something like Reddit.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Mindset<\/strong>: Do you really want to browse Reddit threads at the same time you\u2019re catching up on the blogs you subscribe to? Do you want to scroll through people\u2019s social media shitposts at the same time you\u2019re seeing what new podcasts there are? This is of course very subjective, but there\u2019s something to it. I think I just tend to be a in <em>mood<\/em> for a particular type of content, and by mushing them all together, it\u2019s a bit of a rollercoaster.<\/p>\n\n<p>Now these unified timeline apps <em>do<\/em> have the ability to switch your feed\/custom timeline view, but how does that then work with the timeline sync? If I switch from the unified view to just scroll through my latest YouTube items, what happens when I re-enable the unified timeline at a point in time further back then I had made it in my filtered YT timeline? Are those repopulated in the universal timeline and I have to scroll past them again? Are they intelligently filtered out? <em>It gets a bit complicated.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Native functionality<\/strong>: In a unified timeline app, you just lose out on native functionality of the client or the overall platform. For Mastodon, you can\u2019t like, boost, or comment. For Bluesky, you can\u2019t leverage the algorithmic feed or see notifications. For Reddit, you can\u2019t browse other non-subscribed subreddits, look at messages, etc\u2026 You get a <em>watered down<\/em> experience of all these services.<\/p>\n\n<p>This said, one way to use a unified timeline app in partnership with a native client would be to scroll through the unified timeline, save\/bookmark things you want to interact with, and then go through your saves and systematically interact as you had wanted, and then unsave\/unbookmark as you complete each interaction. This could <em>probably<\/em> work for me, but the problem remains that I just tend to scroll faster through a social feed than I would my blog feed. This goes back to the curation\/signal problem. How much do you <em>care<\/em> about each individual feed. You\u2019re probably perfectly willing to <em>miss<\/em> something in a Reddit sub, but less willing to miss something in your RSS feed or even Mastodon\/Fediverse feed.<\/p>\n\n<p>Another way I suppose I could use an app like this is to not used the unified timeline at all, but since all my feeds are supported in-app, I can just scroll each individual feed independently, yet all through the same app. But if I\u2019m doing that, why not just jump into the apps themselves where I don\u2019t lose functionality? Any time I save by staying in one app, I lose because I\u2019ll likely need to jump out of the universal timeline app to interact with things in the respective native apps.<\/p>\n\n<hr width=\"50%\" \/>\n\n<p>I <em>really want<\/em> to like these apps (In fact, I was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/iconfactory\/project-tapestry\">Project Tapestry Kickstarter<\/a> supporter), and I think an app like <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/22\/surfing-the-social-web#title\">Surf<\/a> stands out because it not only has unified timeline stuff, but it has real powerful search and discovery functionality. Don\u2019t get me wrong, these apps look great (Tapestry is <em>BEAUTIFUL<\/em>), but they just <em>aren\u2019t for me<\/em> - not for the way I use and browse my feeds on a daily basis. To be fair it\u2019s early days for these apps, and I suspect a lot of new functionality will be added over time. So I will keep my eye on them and continue trying them out as they evolve!<\/p>\n\n<p>So I still encourage you to just <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss\">get an RSS app<\/a>, but <em>hey<\/em>, I\u2019m interested in hearing your story about how this <em>does<\/em> work for ya. It might not be my cup of tea (<em>yet<\/em>), but that doesn\u2019t mean it won\u2019t be yours!<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/2025\/tapestry.PNG\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"other-stuff\">Other Stuff<\/h3>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Using Tapestry or Reeder as a Bluesky app is actually a pretty good idea since it gives you one really awesome feature that you can\u2019t get with the native app - timeline position sync.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:19:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/unified-timelines-are-not-for-me","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/unified-timelines-are-not-for-me","category":["technology","socialweb","fediverse","bluesky","app","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Web Page Annoyances","description":"<p>Came across this great post on <a href=\"https:\/\/rachelbythebay.com\">rachelbythebay.com<\/a> titled, <u><a href=\"https:\/\/rachelbythebay.com\/w\/2025\/01\/04\/cruft\/\">Web page annoyances that I don't inflict on you here<\/a><\/u> and it got me thinking, does my site avoid all these <em>annoying things<\/em>? Are there other annoying things that I encounter on the web that my site doesn\u2019t do? Are there, *<em>gulp<\/em>*, things my site does that <em>are<\/em> annoying?<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"containbox\">\n<i>DISCLAIMER: I've stolen some of the things from Rachel's list and added them to my own. All credit to her for this amazing original rant though!<\/i>\n<\/div>\n\n<h1 id=\"annoying-things-my-site-doesnt-do\">Annoying things my site doesn\u2019t do<\/h1>\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t track engagement<\/strong> in any way. No click counter, no Google analytics, <em>nada<\/em>. Honestly, I\u2019m just not interested in it. My site isn\u2019t monetized, and I don\u2019t want to obsess over what pieces do well or how many people clicked, or are subscribed, or w\/e. I write because it\u2019s fun and I enjoy engaging with those who message me about something I\u2019ve written. <em>Easy<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t have ads<\/strong> of any kind. Again, I don\u2019t monetize the site. My site is first and foremost a resource <em>for myself<\/em>. To junk it up with a bunch of ads would be counter to this mission. I\u2019ll <strong>never<\/strong> have ads. <em>That simple<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/privacy\">don\u2019t set cookies<\/a><\/strong>. So I have no GDPR-induced privacy pop-up you have to accept or any other cookie-related advisory notices. I <em>actually<\/em> value your privacy, and do so by not wanting to know anything about you. That is unless you want to reach out to me and chat! Then I\u2019d love to get to know ya \ud83d\ude04.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t track IPs<\/strong>. My site is hosted off <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/get-to-know-my-blog#what-platform-am-i-using\">GitHub Pages<\/a>, and as such, I can\u2019t even get this information. Even if I could though, I wouldn\u2019t look at server logs because I just don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t do popups<\/strong>. You won\u2019t have to make any privacy concessions, nothing is going to pop up and ask you to give me money or subscribe, you can just scroll and click in peace.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t abuse animations<\/strong>. I actually <em>do<\/em> have a few things animated within my site. There\u2019s one page (I won\u2019t tell you which), where the sharks in my footer will circle when you hover over them. I also have a small few <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">indieweb<\/a>-related sites that have some 88x31 oldweb-style buttons, some of which animate. Oh, and yeah, my title image has a blinking underscore, but that\u2019s <em>cool<\/em> right?<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t have any autoplaying audio or video<\/strong>. Actually, don\u2019t think I have any audio or video at all. Problem solved.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t try to \u201cgrab you\u201d<\/strong> when you back out of a page, saying something like \u201c<em>before you go, check out this other thing<\/em>\u201d. That\u2019d be <em>really<\/em> annoying.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t hide or otherwise not include publish dates<\/strong> for blogs. In fact, I have \u2018published\u2019 <strong>and<\/strong> \u2018updated\u2019 dates for all my content.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t have elements which follow you down the page<\/strong> as you scroll.<\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t have any content across pages which begs you to <strong>support me<\/strong> or <strong>follow me<\/strong> or <strong>subscribe<\/strong> or w\/e.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>do no scroll-hijacking<\/strong> or tamper with how your browser has implemented scrolling. No silly \u201cprogress bar\u201d which animates as you scroll up and down a page.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t junk up my pages with icons<\/strong> that claim to be for \u201csharing\u201d or \u201cliking\u201d a post.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t do any dynamic page loading<\/strong> as you scroll down. I don\u2019t have pages with infinite scroll. The page you wanted to see is what you see, nothing else. I have very reasonable <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/pagination-nation\">pagination<\/a> for my various post streams.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t put vacuous and misleading clickbait<\/strong> \u201c<em>you may be interested in\u2026<\/em>\u201d boxes at the bottom of my posts.<\/p>\n\n<p>My site is not monetized, so <strong>I don\u2019t make any money just because you go anywhere on my site<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t have anything like that annoying Substack page<\/strong> that asks you to subscribe before redirecting you to the actual page you wanted to see.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t<\/strong> <em>not<\/em> <strong>have a dark mode<\/strong> theme.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t<\/strong> <em>not<\/em> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/12\/have-an-rss-feed\">have an RSS feed<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Nothing on my site will <strong>ask you to enable notifications<\/strong> in your browser, I don\u2019t ask to send you notifications of any kind. My site doesn\u2019t need your email.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t ask for your location<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t <strong>shift things on your screen<\/strong> annoyingly, causing you to mis-click links.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t muddy my content pages with comments<\/strong>, or awful Disqus forums.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t ask you to make an account<\/strong> of any kind.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t have any paywalled or account-walled<\/strong> content.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t optimize for SEO<\/strong>. Not saying I won\u2019t try a fun, slightly click-baitey post title every once in a while, but it\u2019s certainly not done to get better search rankings.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t have gobs of third-party dependencies<\/strong>. What third-parties I do use I try to expose <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/pubvendors.json\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t have any janky photo carousels<\/strong>. In fact I keep photos sorta to a minimum on the site.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t aggressively limit column width for content<\/strong> on large displays. If you got a beautiful, glorious, gigantic, wide-screen monitor and for some unearthly reason wanted to open my site in full-screen mode, you\u2019ll have SUPER wide content to enjoy.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t do relative dates for posts<\/strong>. It\u2019s all about them absolute dates. No date math required!<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t have any huge banners or images<\/strong> on content pages. I have some larger graphics like my home page logo, but even that is relatively tame.<\/p>\n\n<p>I <strong>don\u2019t hide my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hello\">contact information<\/a><\/strong>. Wanna find me on the web? It\u2019s all pretty easy to find.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"annoying-things-i-unfortunately-do\">Annoying things I (unfortunately?) do<\/h2>\n<p>Some things I do on my site you <em>might<\/em> actually find kinda annoying. <em>Sorry about that<\/em>. I\u2019d like to find a way to stop doing those things or mitigate them to an extent in the future\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>I <em>do<\/em> kinda require JavaScript for the site to look normal. Technically you can read posts without JS\u2026but some stuff will certainly be wonky. One day I\u2019d like to look into how I can make my site play nicely for those with JS tunred off\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>I do have all sorts of images without ALTs. In fact, I have a lot of accessibility stuff I desperately need to put time into fixing. <em>Sorry!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>I do load <em>some<\/em> things from other origins (Pictures, some scripts, etc\u2026). You can read about those suppliers <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/pubvendors.json\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<hr width=\"33%\" \/>\n\n<p>What are some other annoying things websites do? Does my site do them? Feel free to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/contact\">let me know<\/a>, I probably want to fix it, and have it <em>not<\/em> do that thing. Thanks!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 05 Feb 2025 08:20:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/web-page-annoyances","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/web-page-annoyances","category":["technology","indieweb","blogging","technology","blog","list"]},{"title":"Scroll \u016bnus","description":"<p>Welcome all to the first issue of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\" class=\"shellsharks\">Scrolls<\/a>, a <em>newsletter-ish<\/em> type thing that I hope to compile each week with all sorts of <em>stuff<\/em> from across the IndieWeb, Fediverse, Cybersecurity realms. The name \u201cScrolls\u201d is, as you may have already gathered, a play on a piece of writing, the scrolling we do across our various feeds\/sites, and the general magic of the web. <em>Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>In the future, I foresee this being published out on Sunday night, but as things go, I was a bit late. Ah well!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>First, shoutout to <a href=\"https:\/\/socel.net\/@von_rostock\">Micha\u0142 Rostocki<\/a> for this sweet animation. I came across it in my Fedi timeline and it seemed quite appropriate for the occasion!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/socel.net\/@von_rostock\/113914330771027899\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/scroll.gif\" width=\"200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Also, <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.bsd.cafe\/@mms\">mms<\/a> with the equally timely question about IndieWeb newsletters \ud83d\ude04.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Let\u2019s jump in!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>First, some quick commentary on the differentiation (or lack there of) between the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a>\u201d, the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Social_web\">Social Web<\/a>\u201d and the Web itself. <em>Put simply\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p><strong>The Social Web Is The Web<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/oursocialweb.org\"><i class=\"ph-fill ph-arrow-square-out\"><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><em>Alright<\/em>, let\u2019s talk about <strong>getting started with the IndieWeb<\/strong>. (You may first want to read about what the IndieWeb is. <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb.org<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">my own primer on the IndieWeb<\/a> maybe be good places to start). Once you\u2019re caught up, <a href=\"https:\/\/unplatform.fromthesuperhighway.com\/\">Unplatform\u2019s<\/a> guide for <a href=\"https:\/\/unplatform.fromthesuperhighway.com\/\">escaping social media (and joining the indie web.)<\/a> looks like a good place to head next! <em>Ok<\/em>, so you\u2019re interested now, but <em>how<\/em> can you actually get started? I\u2019ve long maintained a list of IndieWeb site <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#hosting\">hosting providers<\/a> you could peruse, and I encourage you do so. But if it looks like too many options, you could do a lot worse then to check out <a href=\"https:\/\/home.omg.lol\">omg.lol<\/a>. This is an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/omglol.news\/2025\/02\/01\/toward-a-more-diverse-social-web\">amazing<\/a><\/strong> place to get started not only with a site of your own, but also with many other IndieWeb-esque services (e.g. Fediverse handle, custom Email, etc\u2026)<\/p>\n\n<p>Looking for one last kick to convince you to get a website of your own? Maybe Dan can convince ya\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/omfg.town\/@dansinker\/113920193243959912\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/get-a-blog.png\" alt=\"Get A Blog\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Alright cool, stop reading this now, go get yourself a custom domain name and a web hosting provider and meet me back here.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><em>You\u2019re back!<\/em> <strong>Nice<\/strong>. You got yourself a site, or at least you have some of the building blocks for one. <em>Now what?<\/em> Let\u2019s get into some of the more mechanical bits, i.e. <strong>hosting and building your site<\/strong>. If you\u2019re still stuck on hosting, but interested in a little DIY, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/32x33.institute\">32x33 Institute\u2019s<\/a> series on <a href=\"https:\/\/32x33.institute\/tag\/self-hosting\/\">hosting your own stuff<\/a>. Next, you\u2019ll probably want to learn a bit of <a href=\"https:\/\/htmlforpeople.com\">HTML<\/a>. If you\u2019re at this point and start thinking \u201c<em>this just seems way too over my head, I\u2019m not a web developer or anything sheesh!<\/em>\u201d, go check out this guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/pages\/webdev\/\">how to build a website<\/a>. This guide was literally built by someone much like yourself I suspect. Not a super developer or coding wiz, just someone who got interested and jumped in to figure it all out - and is now paying it forward with their own guide(s) on how to do <em>exactly<\/em> what they did. Let it inspire you! If you\u2019re like me, and you want to use a <a href=\"https:\/\/jamstack.org\/generators\/\">Static Site Generator<\/a>, here\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/pbs.bartificer.net\/pbs175\">podcast episde<\/a> you may find interesting. Or maybe you already have a site, but <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/9\/27\/24256361\/wordpress-wp-engine-drama-explained-matt-mullenweg\">yuck<\/a><\/em>, it\u2019s on Wordpress, here\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/20241213-wordpress-alternatives\/\">where you can go next<\/a>. Finally, <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.online\/@stefan\/113929519626990461\">Stefan Bohacek<\/a> also has a pretty great <a href=\"https:\/\/stefanbohacek.com\/blog\/resources-for-keeping-the-web-free-open-and-poetic\/\">resource pack<\/a> for getting into the IndieWeb.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>OK.<\/em> Your site is up. <em>But<\/em>\u2026 it\u2019s looking a little <em>empty<\/em>. Or <em>plain<\/em>. Or <em>boring<\/em>. Let\u2019s spruce it up! Typically, when I\u2019m looking for inspiration for what to do with my site, or what to write about, I look at others right in the IndieWeb community. So here, let me <strong>showcase some cool stuff I\u2019ve encountered, which may give you some ideas for what to do with your own site<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>How about building a page for you to archive, or showcase your microblog\/social media content? Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/pages\/notes\/\">this example<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/labyrinth.zone\/notice\/AqevnWIBbzvvCPkWwK\">Mkultra.Monster<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>Blogrolls are a great way to share your favorite sites from around the web. They are in their own right a <a href=\"https:\/\/alexsci.com\/blog\/blogroll-network\/\">federated social network<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@reillypascal\/113924396076080839\">Reilly Spitzfaden<\/a> just shared their <a href=\"https:\/\/reillyspitzfaden.com\/blogroll\/\">blogroll<\/a>!<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@sphars\/113926870562760052\">Spencer Harston<\/a> has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spencerharston.com\/books\/\">\/books<\/a> page, which is nothing more than a place for him to share the books he\u2019s reading or has read. <em>Neat!<\/em><\/li>\n  <li>Don\u2019t just stand up a website, share <strong>what you stand for<\/strong>. Tracy Durnell has done this with their <em><a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/2025\/01\/21\/guiding-principles-for-my-website\/\">Guiding principles for my website<\/a><\/em> post.<\/li>\n  <li>Wanna share a buncha stuff all at once? A \u201cmonthly recap\u201d-style series is one way to go. <a href=\"https:\/\/flamedfury.com\/tags\/monthly%20recap\/\">Flamed Fury<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.shrediverse.net\/posts\/january-2025-listening-history\">The Shrediverse<\/a> each have great examples of this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Once you\u2019re ready to take a break from building, why not do some (IndieWeb) surfin\u2019? Three outstanding IndieWeb\/Social Web-related aggregation\/search clients I\u2019d recommend you check out include <a href=\"https:\/\/reederapp.com\">Reeder<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/usetapestry.com\">Tapestry<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\">Surf<\/a>. For discovery, I gotta turn you to my own list of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#explore-the-indieweb\">IndieWeb search engines<\/a>. Though two I\u2019ve seen pop up in my feeds recently include <a href=\"https:\/\/blogofthe.day\">Blog of the .Day<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogroll.club\">blogroll.club<\/a>, both awesome!<\/p>\n\n<p>If all of that wasn\u2019t enough for ya, check out some other cool stuff I\u2019ve come across this past week!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/goodinternetmagazine.com\">Good Internet Magazine<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/tilde.zone\/@xandra\/113913277766098384\">announcement from alexandra<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.deadweb.club\">Dead Web Club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/plaintextworld.com\">Plaintext World<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Looking for your next writing challenge? Try the \u201cBlog Questions Challenge\u201d and answer these <strong>8<\/strong> questions\u2026<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <ol>\n    <li>Why did you start blogging in the first place?<\/li>\n    <li>What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?<\/li>\n    <li>Have you blogged on other platforms before?<\/li>\n    <li>How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel\/dashboard that\u2019s part of your blog?<\/li>\n    <li>When do you feel most inspired to write?<\/li>\n    <li>Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?<\/li>\n    <li>What\u2019s your favourite post on your blog?<\/li>\n    <li>Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?<\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<h1 id=\"fediverse\">Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p>What\u2019s goin\u2019 on in the Fediverse? <em>So much<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/from.thefedi.wiki\/@hello\/statuses\/01JK4AGW76T81C9HBR9Q9NZMNM\">The Fedi Wiki<\/a> has announced the launch of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefedi.forum\">The Fedi Forum<\/a>, a place for people to ask questions about Fedi software (among other things). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediscovery.org\">Fediverse Discovery Providers<\/a> is a project that recently launched which looks to improve decentralized search and discovery across the network. This is sorely needed as it is one of the bigger pain points of using the Fediverse. <a href=\"https:\/\/video.firesidefedi.live\/videos\/browse?scope=local&amp;s=2\">Fireside Fedi<\/a> is a new show with interviews of the folks who build on the Fediverse. If you\u2019re using <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a> (and you should), check out <a href=\"https:\/\/phtn.app\">phtn.app<\/a>, a cool front-end app for browsing the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel\">Threadiverse<\/a>! The Fediverse may be small compared to its \u201ccompetitors\u201d, but it\u2019s anything but stagnant.<\/p>\n\n<p>To succeed, does the Fediverse ultimately <em>need<\/em> to grow? <a href=\"https:\/\/mementomori.social\/@rolle\">@rolle<\/a> doesn\u2019t seem to think so - and I agree!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mementomori.social\/@rolle\/113919619246345310\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/we-dont-need-everyone.png\" alt=\"We don't need everyone\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how I put it\u2026<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>The Fediverse doesn\u2019t need everyone - everyone needs the Fediverse.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>So if you aren\u2019t already here. What\u2019s stoppin\u2019 ya? For many it seems, choosing an instance is one of the biggest hangups. Here\u2019s a resource that can maybe help you <a href=\"https:\/\/privacy.thenexus.today\/resources-for-choosing-instances\/\">choose the right instance<\/a>. Or perhaps you\u2019re on Bluesky and are happy there. <em>Ok<\/em>, that\u2019s fair. But can you run a Bluesky instance <a href=\"https:\/\/my.router.sound-city.dk\/@rune\/statuses\/01JJT2C60ZJTWG4JHDCVF8KWVN\">on a router<\/a>? On a <a href=\"https:\/\/masto.doskel.net\/@doskel\/113884312225881269\">car<\/a>? On a <a href=\"https:\/\/soc.anarchy.center\/@luna\/statuses\/01J77CC006TMF1DWHQX7C19H0B\">phone<\/a>? Can you have a handle <a href=\"https:\/\/1.6.0.0.8.0.0.b.e.d.0.a.2.ip6.arpa\/@domi\/statuses\/01JJS6BMXVDJTQFTRVX4ZKR2GW\">on a .ARPA domain<\/a>? What about a car? On the Fediverse, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/gts.superseriousbusiness.org\/@dumpsterqueer\/statuses\/01JKG52S81834TK36KPBVNM3XW\">you can<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"containbox\">\n\nfrom <i><a href=\"https:\/\/lgbt.io\/@celesteh\/113885993525679822\">@celesteh@lgbt.io<\/a><\/i>\n\n<blockquote>\nBluesky users: For a mere <a href=\"https:\/\/freeourfeeds.com\">$30 million<\/a> USD, we can distribute Bluesky to one other node\n<br \/><br \/>\nFedi users: I put an instance on my car!\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>\ud83d\ude06<\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some other neat stuff I\u2019ve discovered this past week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/codeberg.org\/fediverse\/delightful-fediverse-apps\">Curated list of server apps with support for AP<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/maho.dev\/2024\/02\/a-guide-to-implement-activitypub-in-a-static-site-or-any-website\/\">A guide to implement ActivityPub in a static site<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Migrate your Mastodon posts\/content to a GoToSocial instance with <a href=\"https:\/\/hey.hagelb.org\/@technomancy\/statuses\/01JHNQH1TJ72FAAT29XQ05FJN4\">masto gear solid<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>The Fediverse is important, and it\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/18\/mastodon-will-never-die\">not<\/a><\/strong> going anywhere. It may never be the biggest, but it doesn\u2019t need to be. If you care about creating <em>lasting<\/em> social spaces, reading and sharing news and information <em>without<\/em> censorship or algorithmic tampering, you need to create a presence here.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@stux\/113920587351932309\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/thankyou-for-being-part-of-this.png\" alt=\"Thank You for being part of this\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"cybersecurity\">Cybersecurity<\/h1>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a roundup of cool IndieSec blogs and posts I\u2019ve discovered this past week\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/malicious.pro\">Malicious.pro<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/balintmagyar.com\/index.html\">B\u00e1lint Magyar<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/jprx.io\/cve-2024-54507\/\">SUSCTL from JPRX.IO<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/soatok.blog\/2025\/01\/31\/hell-is-overconfident-developers-writing-encryption-code\/\">Hell is Overconfident Developers Writing Encryption Code<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <strong>soatok.blog<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/securitylabs.datadoghq.com\/articles\/kubernetes-security-fundamentals-part-6\/\">Kuberenetes security fundamentals: Networking<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/predictors.fail\">SLAP &amp; FLOP<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/aszx87410.github.io\/beyond-xss\/en\/\">Beyond XSS<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cascadiacrow.com\/accessing-a-private-network-via-wireguard\">Accessing a Private Network via Wireguard<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <strong>cascadiacrow<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/taggart-tech.com\/wireguard\/\">Your Private Wireguard Network From Scratch<\/a> <em>from<\/em> <strong>taggart-tech<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Interested in some other infosec roundups? <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@wrzlbrmpft\">Luke<\/a> has his weekly <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@wrzlbrmpft\/113939160132863452\">cyberlights<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@timb_machine\">Tim<\/a> has a weekly post packed with <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@timb_machine\/113930828239573819\">interesting links<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Thanks for reading! Time for me to get some coffee.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@microtones\/113911610874464544\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/scrolls\/2025\/coffee-waves.jpg\" alt=\"Coffee Waves\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:02:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-04","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2025-02-04","category":["infosec","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Publish with pride","description":"<p><em>Phew<\/em> \ud83e\udd75, what a flurry. Made a ton of changes to the site. The home page now features a mixed feed of all of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogs\">posts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">notes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\">logs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">other content types<\/a>. I\u2019ve also started a link blog to share cool links I come across. Finally, I\u2019ve figured out how to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/pagination-nation#title\">paginate<\/a> a TON of stuff, to make some of my pages more performant (my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">Activity page<\/a> is one good example of how pagination is making that page usable on mobile now).<\/p>\n\n<p>With respect to my home page, I used to be kinda precious about only exposing my formal \u201cblog posts\u201d, which are supposed to be longer-form, and in some undefinable way, \u201cbetter\u201d than other things I write and publish on the site. Inspired by others in the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">Indieweb<\/a> community, who proudly feature everything they write, I decided to try out the same. To distinguish between different content types, i\u2019ve added a splash of color with icons corresponding to different post types. I also hope it can call attention (<em>for those who are interested<\/em>) to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">all the other things<\/a> I publish. For so long, I had these hidden away in pages you could find via my \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/07\/19\/hello-hamburger-menu\">hamburger<\/a>\u201d menu, but you had to go exploring to really find most of it. And given the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist\">number of things<\/a> I link to in that menu, I doubt many people had the patience or interest to really hunt down other things. <em>So, here we are!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Let me know what ya think! I\u2019m still <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/tinkering-with-the-site-again#title\">tinkering<\/a> around with the format, theme and other general aesthetics of the site and various pages, but I like it well enough at this point.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 29 Jan 2025 23:46:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/29\/publish-with-pride","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/29\/publish-with-pride","category":["technology","blogging","webdev","indieweb"]},{"title":"Planet & Satellites: Using multiple Fedi accounts","description":"<p>I have a lot of different points-of-presence on the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse#where-i-am-active-in-the-fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> - my \u201cmain\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">Mastodon account<\/a>, this <a href=\"https:\/\/malici.ous.computer\/@shellsharks\">GoToSocial account<\/a>, another \u201calt\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@sass\">Masto account<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/u\/shellsharks\">Lemmy account<\/a>, my new <a href=\"https:\/\/pixel.infosec.exchange\/shellsharks\">Pixelfed account<\/a>, and many more actually.<\/p>\n\n<p>My story isn\u2019t unique, a lot of people who have embraced the wider Fediverse have accounts for different services and I\u2019ve seen a lot of those same people asking for a way to have a \u201csingular\u201d identity (I actually wrote about this <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/challenges-and-opportunities-of-the-singular-fedi-identity\">here<\/a>). But since that isn\u2019t a thing, I\u2019ve seen another interesting thing happen, at least with my own fedi usage\/accounts. My central, \u201cmain\u201d account has become what I boost all of my other accounts content from. The \u201cmain\u201d account has the majority of my \u201cfollowers\u201d (yuck - always dislike that term), so when I post something from one of my satellite accounts, the main one can just boost it.<\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s working-ish for me so far I think.<\/p>\n\n<p>This let\u2019s me post things on each respective service, which goes out to just the followers of the satellite accounts themselves, and if I choose, I can boost from my \u201cmain\u201d account so it can receive the full reach of the main account.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 28 Jan 2025 00:29:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/planet-and-satellites-using-multiple-fedi-accounts","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/planet-and-satellites-using-multiple-fedi-accounts","category":["technology","fediverse"]},{"title":"Remembering to PESOS","description":"<p>I really need to remember to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a>\u201d, i.e. reverse-syndicate things that I write about here to my site. Too often I want to reference something I posted about on Fedi but can\u2019t find my post thanks to the abysmal search there. Copying things to my site is supposed to be what fixes this issue!<\/p>\n\n<p>So I just went and backdated a few things on the site. Woo!<\/p>\n\n<p>Some stuff I\u2019ve written on \u201cPESOS\u201d-ing in the past\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">Reverse Syndication, i.e. PESOS<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/the-magic-of-pesos\">The magic of PESOS<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy\">Shellsharks Syndication Strategy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 28 Jan 2025 00:13:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/remembering-to-pesos","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/28\/remembering-to-pesos","category":["technology","indieweb","nosearch"]},{"title":"Fundraising Pixelfed vs Free Our Feeds","description":"<p>Not to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/23\/bluesky-atprotocol-free-our-feeds-nothing-is-proven\">beat this into the ground<\/a>, but I think it\u2019s an interesting side-by-side comparison. Let\u2019s look at the fundraising efforts for <a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.org\">Pixelfed<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/freeourfeeds.com\">Free Our Feeds<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/pixelfed\/pixelfed-foundation-2024-real-ethical-social-networks\">Pixelfed<\/a>: They wanted to raise ~35k, blew through this very reasonable goal in less than a day, and have no raised nearly ~60k. This is an effort to continue improving what is already an existing platform with 100s of thousands of active users.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-us-free-social-media-from-billionaires?attribution_id=sl:efe4f35d-a38b-4dba-a8bd-c6b41797828d\">FreeOurFeeds<\/a>: They want to raise (to start) 4 million dollars, and after 10 days, have only raised ~75k. This effort is to replicate the entirety of Bluesky\u2019s infrastructure to prove that it can be decentralized.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>There\u2019s a lot you can try to pull from this. One, Pixelfed is a <em>real<\/em> thing. You can go get the app right now and use it. It works well! It connects to other stuff on the Fediverse, it\u2019s got actual users, etc\u2026 The fundraising goal isn\u2019t ridiculous or exorbitant, it\u2019s practical. The Kickstarter description is VERY comprehensive, explaining everything they\u2019ve done, and everything they want to do. There\u2019s no emphasis on Daniel as some tech visionary or thought leader, it\u2019s just down to Earth.<\/p>\n\n<p>Contrast that with Free Our Feeds - Light on details, grossly insistent on telling me all the \u201cadvisors\u201d titles, weird site design, and all in support of something that is entirely unproven.<\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s painfully evident, just in the fundraising alone that FoF is not substantive, and is not attracting meaningful interest. Or maybe FoF should set their sights a bit lower. Build something small to start proving out their claims, demonstrate this to the public and then ask to raise money, similar to what the Pixelfed team has done.<\/p>\n\n<p>But what do I know\u2026<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 24 Jan 2025 13:30:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/24\/fundraising-pixelfed-vs-free-our-feeds","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/24\/fundraising-pixelfed-vs-free-our-feeds","category":["technology","social","bluesky","pixelfed","socialweb"]},{"title":"Bluesky, ATProtocol, Free Our Feeds: Hope abounds, but very little is proven","description":"<p>Here we go again\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techdirt.com\/user\/mmasnick\/\">Mike Masnick<\/a> just posted his writeup titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.techdirt.com\/2025\/01\/21\/the-technological-poison-pill-how-atprotocol-encourages-competition-resists-evil-billionaires-lock-in-enshittification\/\">How ATProtocol Encourages Competition, Resists Evil Billionaires, Lock-In &amp; Enshittification<\/a>\u201d, and as usual, I\u2019ve got some thoughts\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: First, I want to preface this by saying that I\u2019m no ATproto expert, or an expert on social media protocols in general. Similarly, I\u2019m not an expert on business, or VC funding or an enshittification scholar. I\u2019m just a nerd who cares way too much about these things so I feel compelled to share my thoughts\u2026 here we go\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Alright, so Mike likes Bluesky. <em>Duh!<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/08-06-2024-board\">He\u2019s on the board of Bluesky<\/a>. He very willingly discloses this, and that\u2019s important. Because there is definitely bias. We all have biases. I\u2019m not on the board of <em>anything<\/em>, but I \u201cmain\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>, and as such also have some innate bias to be sure about why this place is better, <em>blah blah blah<\/em>. Ok, disclosures out of the way now\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Let me sum up Mike\u2019s reasoning for why Bluesky (or ATproto specifically) is super great, billionaire resistant, enshittification resistant, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>\n    <p>ATproto is an \u201copen protocol\u201d, i.e. someone else can take it, and use it to stand up another Bluesky. For him, this means a billionaire is less likely to try and capture Bluesky, because another one could spawn up causing the billionaire to have to whack-a-mole these networks\u2026<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/freeourfeeds.com\">Free Our Feeds<\/a> (See 1). Mike see\u2019s \u201cFoF\u201d as proof that ATproto works. That another bluesky will be created, and by extrapolation, even more will come up beyond this initial effort.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Bluesky won\u2019t enshittify because competing Bsky networks exist. (Well first, no they don\u2019t. They might, if the FoF thing works out.)<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Mike also makes a lot of assumptions around people hosting their own PDS\u2019s (something a very small fraction of people will actually do) and about their willingness to switch Bluesky providers, or \u201ctake the fire exit\u201d (to use Doctorow\u2019s terminology).<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s poke-a the holes, yeah?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>\n    <p>Alright, ATProto looks open enough, the <a href=\"atproto.com\">docs are right here<\/a>!. Again, I\u2019m no expert, and have spent no time standing up any aspect of the Bluesky network or implementing ATproto in any way, but the docs seem comprehensive and theres write-ups out there of people standing up just about all of the infra required to replicate Bluesky, at least in some limited fashion. As of 11\/24, there was this ONE holdout (based on <a href=\"alice.bsky.sh\/post\/3laega7icmi\">this blog<\/a>) where it seemed like you couldn\u2019t yet really self-host your own AppView. Maybe this has been resolved by now? But let\u2019s assume you CAN stand up every bit of Bluesky (if you have the money - we\u2019ll cover that later), does this mean someone will? I mean \u201cFree Our Feeds\u201d is going to try to, but that\u2019s just one other person. There\u2019s close to 30 million users, so there\u2019s definitely non-trivial interest in Bluesky and maybe in the underlying protocol, but how can we be so sure that if the main Bluesky were to go down, that anyone would care enough to keep standing up more instances of it? Sure it\u2019s open, but do people care enough? You can point to FoF as proof that someone cares enough to do it, but you need more than just one replica of Bluesky to be billionaire-resistant. Also, I\u2019ll remind you that FoF is experimental. No one has actually done what they are trying to do. Sure parts of the network have been replicated, but to build a full-on, interconnected bsky clone and get people to move over to it? Unproven.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Free Our Feeds. I\u2019ve covered the FoF thing extensively <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/15\/bluesky-wont-free-your-feed\">here<\/a>. Basically, building a Bluesky clone for 4 million dollars, or 30 million dollars or w\/e proves nothing to me. That alone is not enough to outmaneuver a hungry billionaire. If Musk can buy Twitter for 44 Billion, he can absolutely snatch up like 10 Bluesky instances without breaking a sweat.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>On enshittification. I think some level of enshittification is inevitable for Bluesky. Which isn\u2019t to say it will make the service unusable, or that it will become \u201cbad\u201d because of it. The simple fact is that Bluesky needs to monetize. They have to because they <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/15\/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-not-enshittifying#vc-backed\">took VC money<\/a>. <em>right?<\/em> This seems like a simple truth, but happy to be explained why that isn\u2019t the case. So yeah, how will they monetize? They don\u2019t want to paywall the entire service, that will kill the open-ness and definitely cause them to lose active users. SO they need to paywall power-user stuff? Ok, that\u2019s not going to get VC-level returns. What else? Sell domain names? Yeah, not going to cut it either. I dont know what they\u2019re going to do. Mike has said, (and he has inside knowledge) that they are working on some ideas. I hope he\u2019s right. But if the end result is paywalling actual useful features, or doing ads, or selling peoples data, then the service is enshittifying. Which again, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s bad, and doesn\u2019t mean that it will become something most people don\u2019t wanna use. Only that compromises had to be made, so that the VCs could see their returns. Think about it though, if there was some magical way to monetize and make MILLIONS, without doing ads (or similar), wouldn\u2019t someone have done it? He says, they won\u2019t enshittify, because there are competing services people will run to. Like where? To FoF? They don\u2019t even exist yet, and even if they did, they are also battling the enshittification demons. The Fediverse? Lol. If people wanted to go there, they\u2019d be there. Back to X? Threads? C\u2019mon. Sure, these other networks might prevent them from going FULL-ON enshittifiy mode, but it\u2019s just a game of, can we make our platform just a LITTLE LESS awful than any other.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Let me get to the real reason why none of this matters. The costs of moving. People <strong>DO. NOT. WANT. TO. MOVE.<\/strong> They just don\u2019t. If Bluesky enshittifies, a lot of people just won\u2019t go. I mean look at X. So many have stayed because it\u2019s just too much of a hassle to sign up for ANOTHER thing, and rebuild. Now before you say, \u201cbut AT is open protocol! I can move my followers, I can host my own PDS! blah blah\u201d. Stop. Most people aren\u2019t going to host their own PDS. So they\u2019re not migrating their posts elsewhere. More importantly, let\u2019s talk about followers. People don\u2019t want to lose their communities, their followers, their friends. I don\u2019t know exactly how ATproto handles moving followers, but the idea is that it can be done. So if Bsky main goes to shit, FoF is now there, people can just sign up there, move their followers over. Great right? Problem solved? No. For one, not everyone\u2019s going to do that. Remember, people HATE moving. Ok, so now you have another fracturing event. Half of your friends are on Bsky main, and you and the other half of your friends have moved to FoF Bsky. No problem right? ATproto is meant to communicate between instances. Sure\u2026 but this ASSUMES that the main Bsky is being a good citizen and allowing this communication right? Maybe for those who have opted to host their own PDS\u2019s you can have the FoF relay scoop your posts, but for everyone on the main Bsky PDS (which again, is most people), you might not be so lucky.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>You see, we on the Fediverse know these things. People get confused when there is more than one instance, people get confused when Mastodon instance 1 can communicate with Mastodon instance 2, but they have different names, different cultures, different features. They just don\u2019t grok it. But the larger network of ATproto-enabled bsky instances have to contend with instances being adversarial. How will they do this? In the Fedi world, you just defederate and move on. But in a world where there\u2019s only two bsky instances (or three or 4 or whatever), each hosting an equal portion of the entire network, you can\u2019t do this without handicapping the entire network. So in a scenario where a billionaire takes over Bsky main, shuts off communication with the second Bsky instance, and becomes adversarial (not allowing follower moves? not sure if that\u2019s possible), keeps people from getting their content, etc\u2026 then what? There\u2019s just not enough resiliency in the model.<\/p>\n\n<p>Finally, I want to touch on some of his closing thoughts. He makes a lot of statements about how FoF is \u201cproof\u201d that this is possible, and that when successful it will \u201cbring us back towards the original promise of the open web where users are in control, rather than giant companies\u201d, neither of which makes sense to me. For one, FoF hasn\u2019t proved anything. They want to raise 4 million to start and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-us-free-social-media-from-billionaires?attribution_id=sl:efe4f35d-a38b-4dba-a8bd-c6b41797828d\">haven\u2019t even hit 100k<\/a>. They haven\u2019t proven it will work, they haven\u2019t even proven that people care about decentralization enough to fund a second instance (<em>spoiler<\/em>, people don\u2019t care about decentralization, if they did they\u2019d go where its already been proven). Second, he says bluesky, or ATproto puts the users in control, not companies. Does it though? Users don\u2019t run these platforms. They can\u2019t afford to. FoF needs 4-30 million to do it, and again, they haven\u2019t yet.<\/p>\n\n<p>With Bluesky, we are not in control. Maybe, just maybe you can make a convincing argument that it can be billionaire-resistant, but it sure isn\u2019t something that then people own. It takes big money to run these instances, and <strong>the people<\/strong> don\u2019t have big money. Corporate interests do. That\u2019s why Bluesky needs VC. The Fediverse on the other hand doesn\u2019t. It\u2019s for the people, by the people, funded by the people. It\u2019s a proven solution. I want to end this by saying that I don\u2019t want to see Bluesky fail. I want to see the protocol evolve. I want to see it compete with ActivityPub, each pushing each other forward. I want to see FoF succeed and for another real decentralized player to come into form. I want things to be billionaire proof. I just don\u2019t think this is it.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 23 Jan 2025 11:33:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/23\/bluesky-atprotocol-free-our-feeds-nothing-is-proven","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/23\/bluesky-atprotocol-free-our-feeds-nothing-is-proven","category":["technology","social","indieweb","socialweb"]},{"title":"Infosec and Social Web RSS feeds","description":"<p>If there is anyone out there who subscribes to my blog\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\/feed.xml\">RSS feed<\/a> who would like to only get the infosec \/ cybersecurity-related things I write about, I now have an <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\/infosec-feed.xml\">infosec-only RSS feed<\/a> you can sub to.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve also created a \u201cSocial Web\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\/socialweb-feed.xml\">feed<\/a> which similarly is an RSS feed for just the IndieWeb \/ Socialweb \/ Fediverse things that I write about.<\/p>\n\n<p>All my available feeds are listed <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019d say those are the two topics I write most about these days, and for those of you who only are interested in one of those two topics, you may not want to see the other stuff. So here ya go!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 22 Jan 2025 19:56:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/22\/infosec-and-social-web-rss-feeds","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/22\/infosec-and-social-web-rss-feeds","category":["technology","social","indieweb","socialweb","infosec","nosearch"]},{"title":"Surfing the Social Web","description":"<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\">Surf<\/a><\/strong> app from <a href=\"https:\/\/about.flipboard.com\">Flipboard<\/a> (currently in Beta) is actually pretty cool \/ powerful for certain types of feeds. I would describe Surf as, an app for the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Social_web\">Social Web<\/a> that let\u2019s you build <em>and share<\/em> custom feeds. So what does this mean in practice? The Surf <a href=\"https:\/\/about.surf.social\">about page<\/a> is a little light on detail, <em>but has gobs of style<\/em>. When I first downloaded the app and got into the Beta, I admit I wasn\u2019t sure what the app would do for me that my already-well-curated <a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.info\">Fediverse<\/a> timelines wasn\u2019t doing. But then, I built <a href=\"#surfing-shellsharks\">my first custom feed<\/a>. From there, I started to see <a href=\"#benefits-of-a-social-web-browser-and-feed-builder\">the potential<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"surfing-shellsharks\">Surfing Shellsharks<\/h1>\n\n<p>To test out <a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\">Surf<\/a>, I first tried creating a simple feed pulling all of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">Shellsharks<\/a>-related things from across the \u201cSocial Web\u201d together. I was able to add Sources for my RSS <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">feeds<\/a>, my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">Podcast<\/a>, my <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/shellsharks.com\">Bluesky<\/a> profile, my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@mk3s\">Threads<\/a> profile, my various <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse accounts<\/a> and even posts that were \u201cabout\u201d or matched the term \u201cshellsharks\u201d. <em>Interesting!<\/em> It\u2019s easy enough to create a \u201clist\u201d in a given Fediverse client that can capture <em>most<\/em> of these things (e.g. my Fedi accounts, Bsky, Threads, RSS feeds, etc\u2026) but not <em>all<\/em> of them. Pulling in posts that match certain search criteria is an added layer of discovery for me. It also treats Bluesky and Threads and other non-Fedi-native content as first-party content within the Surf app itself, bundled in a pleasing, swipable, card-style view, allowing me to flick through posts that match my source material.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>OK<\/em>, well that looks cool, and I\u2019ll definitely go to it to check in on myself, but what <em>else<\/em> can I [do with Surf](#benefits-of-a-social-web-browser-and-feed-builder?<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"benefits-of-a-social-web-browser-and-feed-builder\">Benefits of a Social Web Browser and Feed Builder<\/h2>\n\n<p>So what can <a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\">Surf<\/a> do beyond building eye-pleasing lists of Fediverse accounts and hashtags? Let\u2019s talk about it.<\/p>\n\n<p>The first obvious answer is <strong>sharing<\/strong>. There\u2019s no <em>easy<\/em> way to create and then share lists of Fediverse accounts. We saw this when Bluesky unveiled their \u201cStarter Packs\u201d and the Fediverse tried to mimic it, and it\u2019s true to this day. The Fediverse\u2019s non-algorithmic way of life means we rely mainly on self-curating and network-related-boosting. Without robust list sharing features, we\u2019ve never really had an <em>easy<\/em> way to share our curated lists, but Surf tries to make this easier. I have <a href=\"#my-custom-surf-feeds\">several custom feeds<\/a> now that you can add (if and when you get the Surf app). Since you log in to Surf <em>with<\/em> your Fedi account, you can also interact with and follow things directly from the app!<\/p>\n\n<p>Another thing I like about the Surf model is the ability to follow feeds or accounts in a more, <strong>casual<\/strong> manner. Everything I follow in my regular Fediverse timeline is something I want to see. I want to read what my follows post and potentially interact with those things. I am a timeline completionist in this way. But there are times I want to casually scroll, to be entertained, or informed or to discover new things I want to <em>follow<\/em>. Custom feeds via Surf give me the ability to peruse things in a non-commital way. For example, to do something similar in Mastodon, I would need to A. follow an account\/hashtag, B. add that account\/tag to a list, and then optionally C. decide whether I want to remove what\u2019s in that list from my timeline. This forces me to follow things I might be interested in looking at from time to time, but not actually <em>following<\/em>, and it forces me to make a decision on how to bisect my main timeline, which is not something I want to do. In short, I don\u2019t like Mastodon lists, but I like what I can do with Surf.<\/p>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s talk about <strong>content diversity<\/strong>. Within the Fediverse, I can curate a list or feed of a lot of things. Micro-blogs, pictures, videos, podcasts, forum posts, and more. The beauty of the Fediverse is in it\u2019s diversity. But the Fediverse, as large as it is, is still only a subset of an even wider \u201cSocial Web\u201d. What Surf let\u2019s me do, that you can\u2019t <em>exactly<\/em> do within a traditional Fediverse client, is build a feed that has even <em>more<\/em> types of things - generic keyword searches, YouTube videos, podcasts, native (not-bridged) Bluesky profiles, and I suspect more in the future.<\/p>\n\n<p>The final benefit (at least that I\u2019ve discovered thus far), is the opportunity for <strong>improved search<\/strong>. At the bottom of the Surf app is a text box that says \u201cSurf the social web\u201d, and it seems to bring back a lot of good results! Far better than what I can get on my single-user instance, and I suspect better than most people can get even on larger, mid-sized instances. I don\u2019t know a lot about how this search works under the hood, but it\u2019s already an improvement over what I have.<\/p>\n\n<p>This is just a beta, so there\u2019s lots of room to iron kinks out and add even more types of content, and ways to further tailor feeds. I\u2019m looking forward to<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"my-custom-surf-feeds\">My Custom Surf Feeds<\/h1>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re in the beta, feel free to check all of my custom feeds out! <strong>Note<\/strong>: They are all a work in progress.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\/feed\/surf%2Fcustom%2F01jj5twj08hya8e9ghgnx8are4\">Shellsharks<\/a> feed: Just a feed which aggregates my various blog RSS feeds, Fedi accounts, podcast and Bluesky<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\/feed\/surf%2Fcustom%2F01jj5vj0egacw2cpx23w92y1wm\">Fedi Artists<\/a> feed: All my favorite artists from the Fediverse (inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/08\/30\/favorite-fedi-artists\">this<\/a>.\n)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\/feed\/surf%2Fcustom%2F01jj5x986d52xw3zkcr1vqa09p\">IndieSec<\/a> feed: A curated list of high signal-to-noise infosec\/cybersecurity researchers and accounts<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\/feed\/surf%2Fcustom%2F01jj5xjhvrw4gzxex0h1z9gs2c\">Fedbuilds and Builders<\/a> feed: A list of accounts for Fediverse platforms and the builders behind them<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/surf.social\/feed\/surf%2Fcustom%2F01jj5vj0egacw2cpx23w92y1wm\">Reality: a news feed<\/a>: Independent \/ trust-worthy news. An attempt to capture \u201creality\u201d, not spin<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in Surf, <a href=\"https:\/\/about.surf.social\/\">go check it out<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m going to go play around with it more and make some more feeds! Shoutout to <a href=\"https:\/\/flipboard.social\/@mike\">@mike<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"appendices\">Appendices<\/h1>\n\n<h2 id=\"feature-requests\">Feature Requests<\/h2>\n\n<p>As I\u2019m beta-testing the app, I\u2019m documenting some features I\u2019d like to see in-app here\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>I\u2019d like a way to just punch in an RSS endpoint and have that load via the search box<\/li>\n  <li>As someone who has multiple Fedi presences, I\u2019d like to be able to go multi-account within the Surf app<\/li>\n  <li>Maybe notifications for what\/when things are added\/changed in a feed you are subscribed to<\/li>\n  <li>More ways to programatically customize things in custom feeds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"bugs\">Bugs<\/h2>\n\n<p>Also, as I\u2019m beta testing the app, I\u2019m going to document some bugs I\u2019ve encountered here\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Some general slowness loading the app, loading in to a custom feed, etc\u2026<\/li>\n  <li>I can\u2019t set the \u201cTile Image\u201d to \u201cAlways use uploaded photo\u201d in Feed\/Cover Settings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 22 Jan 2025 09:19:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/22\/surfing-the-social-web","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/22\/surfing-the-social-web","category":["technology","social","indieweb","socialweb"]},{"title":"No one cares about YouTube shorts","description":"<p>Funny that in the context of the TikTok ban, everyone is talking about either the Chinese TikTok (Redbook?), Instagram (Reels) or Loops (here on Fedi). But literally haven\u2019t seen a single mention of YouTube\u2019s \u201cshorts\u201d as a place that people will turn to as a viable alternative \ud83e\udd2d<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Sun, 19 Jan 2025 14:35:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/19\/no-one-cares-about-youtube-shorts","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/19\/no-one-cares-about-youtube-shorts","category":["technology","social","news","nosearch"]},{"title":"Legal & regulatory threats to the Fediverse","description":"<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/15\/bluesky-wont-free-your-feed\">recent post<\/a>, I made the case for why the Fediverse, with it\u2019s many thousands of instances would be impractical for billionaires to \u2018take down\u2019, in the same way that billionaires have successfully bought-out, or otherwise taken down other centralized social media\/news platforms. This I think is true, in terms of the Fediverse\u2019s resiliency to the power of just money being thrown, but vulnerability remains. Specifically, I am concerned about recent government regulation that has already proven to be effective in closing down Fediverse instances and deterring others from even spinning up an instance.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m no legal professional, so excuse me if I say anything that is wrong or doesn\u2019t make sense. Anecdotally, I\u2019ve seen a bunch of posts across the Fediverse about how they are closing down an instance thanks to the UK\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2023\/50\">Online Safety Act<\/a> (2023). Similarly, it seems like the US bill (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/118th-congress\/senate-bill\/1409\/text\">KOSA<\/a>) could have similar effects? From what I understand, there is some new liability if your server hosts certain content and given how many Fediverse servers operate, caching content locally from other servers, there introduces a vulnerability by which a malicious actor could spam the Fediverse with something \u201cbad\u201d\/illegal which would then be stored\/cached across a large swath of the Fediverse which could expose these instance admins to legal liability.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Not good<\/em>. And as someone who runs an instance themselves, I certainly don\u2019t want to open myself up to legal attack \/ prosecution just because some A-hole out there decides to spam me with illegal pictures or w\/e.<\/p>\n\n<p>So my question to the Fediverse, and to those that build the platforms we use here is, <em>how can we re-architect the platforms and protocols to better protect ourselves<\/em>? What do instance admins need to know about this threat? Someone smarter than me, please weigh in! \ud83d\ude05<\/p>\n\n<p><em>#askfedi #legal #fediverse<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"updates-and-other-stuff\">Updates and Other Stuff<\/h3>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.woof.group\/announcements\/updates-on-the-osa\">Updates on the OSA<\/a> <em>2\/4\/25<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:55:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/17\/legal-and-regulatory-threats-to-the-fediverse","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/17\/legal-and-regulatory-threats-to-the-fediverse","category":["technology","social","fediverse"]},{"title":"The magic of PESOS","description":"<p>I\u2019ve seen many-a-person annoyed or otherwise dissatisfied by the fact that your posts on one Fedi instance don\u2019t move with you when you switch instances. (There\u2019s some obvious technical reasons for why this is the case that I\u2019m not going to explain here.) This is why having your own website is so important and can be so valuable! If there\u2019s something you\u2019ve posted on social media (or wherever on the web) that\u2019s worth saving, then why not make a copy of it and have it published on a web site? Your website!<\/p>\n\n<p>I like to refer to this as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">Reverse Syndication<\/a>\u201d, but for those of you that speak <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">indieweb<\/a>, you\u2019ve probably heard of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a><\/strong> (\u201cPublish Elsewhere, Syndicate Own Site\u201d). Basically it means that what you publish FIRST on social media, you make a copy of on your site. This could be as an archive, a canonical representation, a data ownership\/soverignty play, w\/e!<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve used a ton of social media sites, sites like Reddit, and switched Fedi instances multiple times. Across these years (at least since I\u2019ve been bathed in the glorious light of the Indieweb), I\u2019ve been PESOS-ing things I think I want to hold on to to my site. The vast majority of these things I file away as \u201cnotes\u201d (in my \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">Notebook<\/a>\u201d). This allows me to A. archive things as I\u2019ve discussed, while B. not \u201cjunking\u201d up my main RSS feed, or blog post timeline with silly reverse-syndicated social media posts\/micro-blogs. It takes a little bit of effort, (unless you have some fancy-pants automated PESOS-ing system), but the pay-off is huge imo.<\/p>\n\n<p>So let this be your answer for \u201cI wish I could transfer my old social media posts to my new social media platform\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Another thing you can do, specifically with Mastodon (but likely with other post archives), is turn the entire archive into something you can publish on the web. Look at <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/toots\/infosec-exchange\/shellsharks\/\">this<\/a>!. This is all my posts from my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social#thanks-to-infosecexchange\">infosec.exchange<\/a> days in one gargantuan web page on my site. In all its insignificant splendor. (More details on how I did this are on that page).<\/p>\n\n<p>Happy data owning everyone!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 16 Jan 2025 09:41:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/the-magic-of-pesos","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/the-magic-of-pesos","category":["technology","social","indieweb"]},{"title":"500 characters is a prison","description":"<p>Since starting this <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/gotosocial-on-knt-host\">GoToSocial<\/a> instance, I\u2019ve made several long-winded posts (and replies). Some examples\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/malici.ous.computer\/@shellsharks\/statuses\/01JHNXYFK1M9MZNBT07QEJF1ZH\">Intro post<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/15\/bluesky-wont-free-your-feed\">Free Our Feeds rebuttal<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/14\/curious-timing\">A take on social web-related foundations<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>and <em>many many more<\/em>\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Each of these I\u2019m referring to exceed Mastodon\u2019s 500 character post\/reply limit. If it wasn\u2019t for me having this instance, which gives me ample room to say what I want to say in a single post, you would have had seen these posts broken up into a threaded series. One of these posts was some 6000+ characters long, which would have necessitated ~13 individual posts to get my point across. Spam much? This is what I don\u2019t understand about folks here who say they don\u2019t want increased post limits, or from the Masto devs who seemingly refuse to budge on this issue. If I can jam everything into a single post, you can decide to read, or just scroll on past, never clicking on the \u2018Read More\u2019 link to expand the post. done! But with the 500 char count, you are forced to A. scroll past all my blathering, or B. try to navigate the confusing-AF threading UI that most masto clients seem to have. <em>How. is. this. better?!<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>For others, you might say, \u201c<em>jeez, if you have so much to say, why not just make it a blog post<\/em>\u201d. You\u2019re not wrong. That\u2019s probably a good idea\u2026 but! There\u2019s something you get by just organically, and informally typing something into this box that it hard to replicate when you are writing up a formal blog post\/note. At least for me where I have to A. be at my computer, B. fill out the proper SSG front matter, C. worry about headings, markdown, etc\u2026 And sometimes, it\u2019s not a blog post. It\u2019s just an off-the-cuff, albeit somewhat long, response to something<\/p>\n\n<p>Also, I can\u2019t count the amount of posts\/replies I want to publish that are like 600 characters. So this means I have to either somehow truncate what I want to say, or god forbid, have a threaded post where the child post is like 50 characters long \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2642\ufe0f. There are a lot of cringey things on social media, but one thing I really despise is when people have to use the dumb \ud83e\uddf5 or \ud83e\udea1 emoji before they launch into something. Like.. just have it all in one post! Oh wait, they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n<p>Finally, I\u2019m someone who bookmarks, saves and references a lot of stuff I see on the web, and that includes social media posts, especially on the Fediverse where people tend to share a lot of great stuff! Having an excellent analysis of something forcibly chunked into 500 characters is pretty obnoxious when you want to bookmark something to check out later.<\/p>\n\n<p>So yeah, I\u2019m going to continue to write lonnnnnng posts, and you\u2019ll all thank me for not having to scroll past 10+ atomic posts in your feed just because you were kind enough to follow me here. Hell, this post is nearly 3k words at this point.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 16 Jan 2025 09:15:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/500-characters-is-a-prison","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/500-characters-is-a-prison","category":["technology","social","fediverse"]},{"title":"Challenges and opportunities of the singular Fedi identity","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@fj\">@fj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@dansup\">@dansup<\/a> What would the options have been for dansup?<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>As far as I know, you can, through <a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.rocks\">ActivityPub<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/socialhub.activitypub.rocks\/t\/account-migration\/3058\">move followers<\/a> from one \u2018instance\u2019 to another, but I don\u2019t know if you can \u2018clone\u2019 them, i.e. have everyone you follow on Account A magically follow Account B without initiating that move directive. So it\u2019s not like you could port your social graph in that way.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Second option would be that <a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.org\">Pixelfed<\/a> is just a pic-forward UI on top of an existing fedi account. But would that necessitate instance admins bear the responsibility of image hosting? I imagine Pixelfed servers are purpose-built to handle image storage, delivery, processing, etc\u2026 Instance admins already have a hard enough time funding their instances, the last thing they need is sky-rocketing image hosting (object storage) costs<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Some sort of SSO option? Sure, \u201cLogin with Mastodon\u201d could be a thing, but there would still need to be an account on the backend for Pixelfed yeah?<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>For me, and I know I can\u2019t be the only one, though maybe I\u2019m in a minority - the group of folks I would want following me, and who would want to follow me on my micro-blogging account, are NOT the same group that would be interested in the photos I want to share. Same in reverse. I follow a lot of people here, my more professional-leaning account specifically, that I wouldn\u2019t really care to see their photos (<em>sorry! no offense!<\/em>). What would my options be then? Not follow them because now their Pixelfed posts are from the same account as their microblog posts? For many, (though I know not <em>all<\/em>) photo sharing is more <em>personal<\/em>, and thus limited to a smaller subset of people (i.e. IRL friends, family, niche groups, etc\u2026), whereas microblogs (commonly just shit posts) are perfectly fine for the wider public.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve seen plenty of people gripe that they have to create multiple accounts across Fedi services. But I think that\u2019s better given how identity works here. Imagine you had accounts across Lemmy, Pixelfed, Mastodon, Bookworm and Loops - all tied to your Mastodon instance. Then, that instance goes down, for any one of the reasons that instances <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/18\/mastodon-will-never-die#how-social-networks-die\">tend to die<\/a>. Then what? Sounds messy. I think the problem is more that instance-tied identity needs to be fixed rather than expecting platforms like Pixelfed to rely on other Fedi services to do this (Looking at you ActivityPub folks).<\/p>\n\n<p>To those folks who have existing social graphs\/networks and would like those folks to follow them on Pixelfed, I encourage you to just boost yourself. Yep! Follow your Pixelfed account from your \u201cmain\u201d Fedi account and when you post something on Pixelfed, it will show up in your (for example) Masto feed, and you can boost it to your network. Anyone who\u2019s interested in that content from you, can choose to follow ya. I think that\u2019s also very much in line with the \u2018opt in\u2019 culture of the Fediverse. Especially considering how touchy folks can be here about stuff in their feeds, especially images, I think this is the smart move \ud83d\udc4d.<\/p>\n\n<p>But like with all things, it would be cool to see a centralized Fedi identity thingy take shape eventually and this be at least an <em>option<\/em> for those who want to use these various services all under a single persona. I\u2019ve seen people talk about (at minimum) a way to \u2018link\u2019 or otherwise associate accounts. For example if you follow my \u2018main\u2019 Fedi account, it would also present my associated (child?) accounts - those could be Pixelfed, Lemmy, Masto alts, w\/e!<\/p>\n\n<p>If you got this far, sorry, and thank you!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:12:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/challenges-and-opportunities-of-the-singular-fedi-identity","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/challenges-and-opportunities-of-the-singular-fedi-identity","category":["technology","social","pixelfed","fediverse"]},{"title":"Get To Know My Blog","description":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/ioc.exchange\/@ApisNecros\/113833409964078903\">gauntlet was thrown<\/a>, and I\u2019ve answered. Get to know a little bit more about my blog as I answer these 8 <a href=\"#blog-challenge-questions\">questions<\/a>. (<em>Courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/vzqk50.com\/blog\/get-to-know-my-blog\/\">The Hive<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"blog-challenge-questions\">Blog Challenge Questions<\/h1>\n<p>Here are the 8 questions that make up the \u201c<strong>Blog Questions Challenge<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>Why did you start blogging in the first place?<\/li>\n  <li>What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?<\/li>\n  <li>Have you blogged on other platforms before?<\/li>\n  <li>How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel\/dashboard that\u2019s part of your blog?<\/li>\n  <li>When do you feel most inspired to write?<\/li>\n  <li>Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?<\/li>\n  <li>What\u2019s your favourite post on your blog?<\/li>\n  <li>Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<h2 id=\"why-did-i-start-blogging\">Why did I start blogging?<\/h2>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve talked about this <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#historical-context\">here<\/a>. Basically, I had a good <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/getting-into-information-security#title\">idea<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/designer-vulnerabilities#title\">two<\/a> of things to write about, and thought maybe more things would come\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Better question is why do I <em>keep<\/em> blogging. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">So many reasons<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"what-platform-am-i-using\">What platform am I using?<\/h2>\n\n<p>I cover this in my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/architecture\">\/architecture<\/a> page! Honestly, I think the reason I chose <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.github.com\/en\/pages\/setting-up-a-github-pages-site-with-jekyll\">GitHub Pages + Jekyll<\/a> was that it was easy and the first thing I came across that seemed easy. I had tried (and failed) to stand up a blog in the past. I needed something low-effort, that would allow me to just write and publish. If I was setting something up <em>today<\/em>, would I still choose Jekyll+GH Pages? I actually <em>might<\/em>. It\u2019s been really great to be honest. But there are a lot of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#hosting\">great options<\/a> I\u2019d also consider.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"have-i-blogged-on-other-platforms\">Have I blogged on other platforms?<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>Barely<\/em>. At one point I owned the \u201ctechfari.com\u201d domain and wrote one post on Medium. I forget what it was even about.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"how-do-i-write-my-posts\">How do I write my posts?<\/h2>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve published a few things about how I write\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">A Multiplicity of Writing<\/a>: A look at the different types of content I publish here.<\/li>\n  <li>My <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogging-methodology\">blogging methodology<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>My <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogging-from-ipad\">process for writing<\/a> when I was a little more iPad-forward<\/li>\n  <li>I\u2019ve discussed how I write in my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/architecture\">architecture<\/a> page too<\/li>\n  <li>Finally, perusing my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/uses\">\/uses<\/a> page will give you a pretty good understanding of my setup and what I use to do what I do<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>But in short, as of right now, I write everything in VSCode.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"when-do-i-feel-most-inpsired\">When do I feel most inpsired?<\/h2>\n\n<p>Honestly I think it\u2019s in moments like these, when I am writing in <strong>response<\/strong> to something. Maybe i\u2019m commenting on another blog post, or maybe it\u2019s in response to a thread I\u2019ve seen elsewhere, or a question someone has asked. In those pieces, what I write has a <em>purpose<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"do-i-publish-immediately\">Do I publish immediately?<\/h2>\n\n<p>Pretty much. I don\u2019t like to spend time writing something only to have it sit and waste away. I <em>always<\/em> reserve the right to delete, or update things I\u2019ve published. In fact, updating\/adding stuff to existing posts is something I do <em>all the time<\/em>. I consider very little of what I write to be true point-in-time thinking. Instead, these are all resources to me (and maybe others), so I want things to be updated with the latest and greatest facts and thoughts.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"whats-my-favorite-post-on-my-site\">What\u2019s my favorite post on my site?<\/h2>\n\n<p>Great question. Tough one. Really hard to pick for me. I\u2019d say my favorite blog post is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threat-modeling#title\">The Enchiridion of Impetus Exemplar<\/a>\u201d, my threat modeling compendium. I use it as a resource for myself all, the, time. But I love so much about my site, it\u2019s very uniquely <em>me<\/em>. It\u2019s filled with all sorts of oddities that I honestly love equally. Another page I particularly like is my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">Activity Feed<\/a> page.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"do-i-have-future-plans\">Do I have future plans?<\/h2>\n\n<p>Of course I do! I\u2019ve (unsurprisingly) documented a lot of my future plans, hopes, dreams, etc\u2026 in various places on my site\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/roadmap\">Roadmap<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/ideas#site\">Ideas<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/architecture#architectural-invariants-concerns-future-items\">Future items<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n  <li>Various yearly <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/captains-log\/2023\/12\/30\/log#shellsharks-resolutions\">resolutions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re reading this and have a blog, why not answer these questions yourself! If you don\u2019t, maybe it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">time you start one<\/a> \ud83e\udd17.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 15 Jan 2025 15:02:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/get-to-know-my-blog","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/get-to-know-my-blog","category":["technology","indieweb","blogging","blogchallenge","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Bluesky won't free your feed","description":"<p>Okay, so <a href=\"https:\/\/mamot.fr\/@pluralistic\">Cory Doctorow<\/a> published his take (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pluralistic.net\/2025\/01\/14\/contesting-popularity\/#everybody-samba\">Billionaire-proofing the internet<\/a><\/strong>) on the <a href=\"https:\/\/freeourfeeds.com\">Free Our Feeds<\/a> thingy, all about \u201cbillionaire-proofing\u201d the Internet (or more accurately, billionaire-proofing social media), and I have some thoughts\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>His main argument is this (paraphrasing): <em>yeah, Bluesky isn\u2019t perfect, but it\u2019s what\u2019s fun and popular right now, and if we can billionaire-proof it, then we should, rather than getting people to adopt the existing, already proven, billionaire-proofed Fediverse ecosystem.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Okay<\/em>, that\u2019s fair I think. I have no objection to this on its face. The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.info\">Fediverse<\/a>\u201d has been around for a while and though it has never been more popular than it is now, it has struggled to really gain mainstream appeal. (Perhaps that will change more drastically this year as fedi platforms like <a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.org\">Pixelfed<\/a> gain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2025\/1\/14\/24343614\/instagram-alternative-pixelfed-app-launch-ios-android\">more attention<\/a> though). So though he (Cory) admits that Mastodon\/Fediverse is ideal, would be perfect for what they\u2019re (\u201cFree our Feeds\u201d) trying to do, it\u2019s just not the clearest solution because the difficulty of getting people to adopt it en-masse seems somewhat insurmountable at this time.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Fine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>He goes on to say that the answer is, as he puts it, \u201c<em>installing our own fire-exits in Bluesky<\/em>\u201d, or in other words, standing up a second Bluesky relay\/infrastructure that \u201cfederates\u201d or otherwise interoperates with the main Bluesky infrastructure - similar to how distinct Fediverse instances can communicate with each other. This too makes sense. If the main Bluesky enshittifies, or goes down, or is subject to hostile\/billionaire takeover, than people have the choice to switch over to the other relay, the \u201cgood\u201d one. Now here is where his argument starts to fall apart\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>First, \u201cFree Our Feeds\u201d is asking for 30 million dollars to do this. Wow. That\u2019s a lot, and doesn\u2019t speak well to how easy it is to stand up and maintain a second instance of the entire Bluesky infra. Second, the Free Our Feeds website speaks nothing of how they will keep that infra alive, i.e. pay for ongoing operating costs. Even the main <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\">Bluesky company<\/a> doesn\u2019t have a realistic monetization strategy, they are kept alive by <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/15\/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-not-enshittifying#vc-backed\">VC money<\/a> alone pretty much.<\/p>\n\n<p>Finally, what Cory fails to address, and in my mind, the biggest issue with his whole argument is that having just ONE single other relay\/instance of Bsky as a whole is not the robust \u201cfire exit\u201d he thinks it is. Let\u2019s say Free Our Feeds succeeds and they stand up a fully interoperable, yet fully isolated instance of Bluesky, and they manage to get a sizable portion of the existing Bluesky userbase to move over there. Like, 5 million of Blueskys <a href=\"https:\/\/backlinko.com\/bluesky-statistics\">~30 mil<\/a> or w\/e. Let\u2019s say then that Bluesky sells out to Elon Musk or Bezos or whomever. This triggers another mass migration of 5 million, or 10 million or even everyone over to the Free Our Feeds relay. (Though we all know that they\u2019d be lucky to get half of regular people to figure out how to \u201cSwitch\u201d relay providers). Now they are RIGHT BACK to where they were to begin with. A single provider, just as <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/18\/mastodon-will-never-die#how-social-networks-die\">vulnerable<\/a> to hostile takeover or enshittification as the original Bluesky was.<\/p>\n\n<p>So you might say, okay? well then stand up <em>ANOTHER<\/em> relay. Crowdfund another 30 million. Right? \u2026 <em>What?!?<\/em> Bags of 30 million dollars don\u2019t just grow on trees ya know? It\u2019s hard enough to get people to pay for these types of services, and I just don\u2019t think having one, or two or even 5 other relays is enough redundancy, enough resiliency to combat the billionaires and the governments of the world that want to control what we see, what we talk about, and who\u2019s allowed to speak.<\/p>\n\n<p>That\u2019s why the Fediverse works. It\u2019s made up of literally <em>thousands<\/em> of <a href=\"https:\/\/fedidb.org\">servers<\/a>, of all different sizes, some Mastodon, some GoToSocial, some Lemmy, some I mean w\/e. Theres tons of different platforms that all interoperate, and they don\u2019t cost 30 million to run. I\u2019m typing this out on a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/gotosocial-on-knt-host#title\">GoToSocial instance<\/a> that literally costs $3.75\/mo. You heard that right. Less than $4\/mo. To put that in perspective, I could run 8 million GoToSocial instances at this price if I was given 30 million dollars. I\u2019d like to see Musk try to buy all those out \ud83d\ude04.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ll try to put it another way here. I\u2019m in cybersecurity, and one thing we\u2019re taught is that attackers, with enough time and resources can literally get into anything. So our jobs as defenders, on top of all the usual stuff (e.g. defense in depth, blah blah), is to just slow them down. Make it impractical (from a time-spent perspective) to achieve a reasonable return on (time) investment. It wouldn\u2019t be hard for a billionaire or a hostile government to take down one, two, three or maybe even 10 Bluesky relays. But it seems wholly impractical for a billionaire, or a team of billionaires to snuff out thousands of Fediverse instances. And hell, these are just instances that exist now, in a very fledgling model where Fedi only has like a couple million MAU. Imagine a timeline where Fediverse got REAL world-wide adoption, and we went from a few thousand instances, to hundreds of thousands, or millions of instances. Taking that down would be like taking down the Internet itself, and if that could happen, we might have bigger issues.<\/p>\n\n<p>Oh and I forgot to mention, that FreeOurFeeds can\u2019t even stand up another relay. Bsky devs have already stated that\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/alice.bsky.sh\/post\/3laega7icmi2q\">impossible<\/a> at the moment. Though theoretically this will be addressed in time\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Alrighty, let\u2019s wrap this up. I get it. Bluesky is hot. It\u2019s popular. It\u2019s got steam. It\u2019s got gobs of cursed VC money. It\u2019s got some admittedly cool tech behind it. But it just isn\u2019t it. Not unless it can find a way to solve for the whole it\u2019s-insanely-expensive-to-run-another-relay issue. If Free Our Feeds succeeds, stands up another instance and figures out a way to run it on the cheap, then I\u2019ll be the first to say \u201ccongrats\u201d and \u201cI was wrong\u201d. Until then, I will remain skeptical, and I\u2019ll keep saying that this sort of money would be better thrown at building out the proven solution, the <strong>Fediverse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"more-on-this\">More on this<\/h3>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/starbreaker.org\/grimoire\/entries\/free-our-feeds-oh-please\/index.html\">Free Our Feeds? Oh, Please.<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.lse.ac.uk\/impactofsocialsciences\/2025\/03\/03\/bluesky-will-trap-academics-in-the-same-way-twitter-x-did\/\">Bluesky will trap academics in the same way Twitter\/X did<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 15 Jan 2025 08:19:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/15\/bluesky-wont-free-your-feed","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/15\/bluesky-wont-free-your-feed","category":["technology","social","bluesky","fediverse","socialweb"]},{"title":"Curious timing","description":"<p>Seems like the hot thing to do in the <a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.info\">Fediverse<\/a> \/ social space these days is stand up some pie-in-the-sky \u201cfoundation\u201d with flowery language. In just the last like 2 months we\u2019ve seen all these sprout up \u2b07\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"socialwebfoundation.org\">Social Web Foundation<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"anew.social\">A New Social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"blog.joinmastodon.org\/2025\/01\/\">The people should own the town square<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"freeourfeeds.com\">Free Our Feeds<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/respectfulplatforms.org\">Respectful Platforms<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>They\u2019re all very keen on telling you who\u2019s behind the operation, and why \u201cgovernance\u201d is so important. Less so on providing substantive info on what they will actually do to help secure or otherwise make these platforms better. They\u2019ve all anointed themselves fancy li\u2019l titles, and put their <a href=\"https:\/\/socialwebfoundation.org\/team\/\">cool headshots<\/a> on some prominent page on the site. It all just screams, \u201clook at me! I\u2019m an important person!\u201d. I\u2019m not saying all of these are bad, or that any of them are. I\u2019m not saying none of them will be impactful or succeed in some way relative to their stated missions. I\u2019m only pointing out that it\u2019s interesting how much \u201corganizing\u201d has been happening lately. Why now? Why not before?<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Note<\/em>: I do think Mastodon\u2019s move from Gargron owning everything makes a lot of sense. Y\u2019know, to mitigate the chance that someone might <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/9\/27\/24256361\/wordpress-wp-engine-drama-explained-matt-mullenweg\">mullenweg<\/a> the whole operation. But I lumped that story in with these others merely because of the timing of everything.<\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s an exciting time in the Fediverse, and in the larger world of social media to be sure. Time will tell if any of these foundations amount to much of anything beyond letting me know what these \u201cfounders\u201d professional backgrounds are\u2026 \ud83e\udd28<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:20:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/14\/curious-timing","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/14\/curious-timing","category":["technology","social","bluesky","fediverse","socialweb"]},{"title":"GoToSocial on K&T Host","description":"<p>Back in March of 2024 I moved my main <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> presence from <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/\">Infosec.Exchange<\/a> to a single-user, managed (by <a href=\"https:\/\/masto.host\">Masto.Host<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> instance at <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\">Shellsharks.Social<\/a>. I wrote all about it <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social\">here<\/a>. I\u2019ve really enjoyed \u201cowning\u201d my own social in this way, and honestly Masto.Host has been a really great provider. But, it\u2019s missing one <em>really<\/em> important thing for me, and that\u2019s the ability to write posts that exceed vanilla Mastodon\u2019s limit of 500 characters. Look, I\u2019m just a verbose person I guess, and I really don\u2019t like threading what I want to say. There are a lot of ways to fix this issue, there is the <a href=\"https:\/\/glitch-soc.github.io\/docs\/\">Mastodon Glitch Edition<\/a>, and a plethora of other Fediverse platforms that, especially when \u201cself-hosted\u201d, allow you to change this cap. For a while, I had settled on just keeping my posts\/replies 500 chars or less and for anything that required a longer response, I would simply write a quick blog post\/note and link to that in my post\/reply. But in practice, I really didn\u2019t want to have to draft up a whole formal post\/note on the site just to respond to something I saw on social media. There were so many things that I really just needed a <em>bit<\/em> more breathing room on to respond as I would have liked. After nearly a year running with this handicap, I\u2019ve decided to check something new out. Enter <a href=\"#gotosocial\">GoToSocial<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"gotosocial\">GoToSocial<\/h1>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/gotosocial.org\">GoToSocial<\/a><\/strong> is a lightweight, customizable, <a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.rocks\">ActivityPub<\/a>-compatible social network server. There\u2019s not alot I can really say about GoToSocial actually. Maybe in the future, as my trial of the software progresses, I will put more into this section about what makes GoToSocial special. What I will say is that I chose it because it is A. very customizable, and B. light-weight, and therefore cheap to run\/host. Which brings me to <a href=\"#hosting\">K&amp;T Host<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"hosting\">Hosting<\/h1>\n\n<p>In the leadup to me starting up this instance on <a href=\"#gotosocial\">GoToSocial<\/a>, I had seen someone ask about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/01\/fediverse-managed-hosting-providers\">Fediverse managed hosting providers<\/a> and provided them the list I created a while back. After cleaning up that list, I really started thinking about what software I wanted to try out to move beyond the limitations of vanilla Mastodon. Though I ultimately went with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\">K&amp;T Host<\/a> because of their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/gotosocial\">GoToSocial offering<\/a>, I had considered using <a href=\"https:\/\/spacehost.one\/create\">SpaceHost<\/a> as they have a wide range of microblog options including <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/BDX-town\/Mangane\">Akkoma + Mangane<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pleroma.social\/\">Pleroma<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefedi.wiki\/sharkey\/home\">Sharkey<\/a>. I also know a few people who use SpaceHost, so I knew they would be a reliable provider. But K&amp;T Host had the GoToSocial offering, and that was the most intriguing to me in the moment. It also helps that I actually already use K&amp;T Host for my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/16\/powered-by-castopod-hosted-by-knt-host\">Castopod-powered Shellsharks podcast<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"kt-host\">K&amp;T Host<\/h2>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\">K&amp;T Host<\/a><\/strong> makes it extremely easy to get things up, running and configured. You can peruse their \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/app-cloud\">App Cloud<\/a>\u201d to see the variety of things you can host, and for any of them, click the \u201cOrder Hosting\u201d button to get started configuring your instance. I\u2019ll add here that in my experience with K&amp;T Host, their support team is really helpful, extremely prompt (even at the bizarre hours I tend to message them at), and very knowledgeable about the services they support. On the configuration page, you can configure Disk Space, Memory, CPU and PostgreSQL Disk Space. The starting price for a <a href=\"#gotosocial\">GoToSocial<\/a> instance with K&amp;T Host is <em>only<\/em> $3.75 USD\/month. Incredible value if you ask me for <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social#benefits-of-a-personal-fediverse-instance\">what you get<\/a>. Scaling up if you want\/need seems pretty reasonable too from a cost perspective. I didn\u2019t choose any upgrades, but I probably will need to if I end up moving my primary <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fedi<\/a> presence to GoToSocial in the future. Set those configs as you want, give them the domain name you want to have your instance hosted at, and they get goin\u2019 setting it up! For me, I think they got it all set up within like 30 minutes of me submitting the order.<\/p>\n\n<p>They\u2019ll send you an email explaining how to set up the A records for your domain, you add those records and then send them a ticket and within literally minutes, GoToSocial will be installed and ready to use. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/ssh\/access-your-hosting-service-over-ssh\">SSH<\/a> directly into your GoToSocial server (they will email you credentials), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/gotosocial\/manage-gotosocial-users-on-the-command-line\">manage user accounts<\/a>, and get right to any <a href=\"#customizations\">customizations<\/a> you\u2019d like to do. If you run into any issues, or need help in any way, check out their great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/gotosocial#support\">GoToSocial support<\/a> documentation, or just create a support ticket!<\/p>\n\n<p>Some other factoids about the default GoToSocial installation with K&amp;T Host\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Snapshots are enabled and will run once a day. Seven snapshots are kept. Snapshosts can be found in \/snapshots over SSH.<\/li>\n  <li>Database backups happen once a day. Seven days worth are kept. Database backups can be found in \/autobackup over SSH.<\/li>\n  <li>K&amp;T Host does <em>not<\/em> provide object storage (e.g. S3) services directly. But any external S3 provider can be configured and used.<\/li>\n  <li>GoToSocial media is stored in the \/apps\/gotosocial-storage directory.<\/li>\n  <li>K&amp;T Host uses distributed storage powered by MooseFS (https:\/\/github.com\/moosefs\/moosefs). All customer data is stored that way, and accessed by the compute nodes over the network. The same applies when logging in over SSH. Data is triple-replicated for safety and redundancy.<\/li>\n  <li>K&amp;T Host prices disk space at $1\/m per 200GB or $5\/m per TB of storage. Space can be scaled up to 10TB per service by default.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: K&amp;T Host will instruct you to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/gotosocial\/configure-gotosocial-for-smtp-email-sending\">set up SMTP<\/a> on your shiny new instance, but you don\u2019t really need to for single-user instances. You manage your user (create a new user, promote it to Admin, delete the default administrator user) all through the command line. A useful support doc for these operations are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/gotosocial\/manage-gotosocial-users-on-the-command-line\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"customizations\">Customizations<\/h1>\n\n<p>For anything else you want to do with your <a href=\"#gotosocial\">GoToSocial<\/a> instance, the official <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.gotosocial.org\/en\/latest\/\">GoToSocial Documentation<\/a> should be your go-to place. For example, I really wanted to increase my post character count, so I found <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.gotosocial.org\/en\/latest\/configuration\/statuses\/\">this setting<\/a>. A quick change to <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">statuses-max-chars<\/code>, a restart (<code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">touch \/system\/action\/gotosocial.restart<\/code>) and boom! I was in business.<\/p>\n\n<p>I also found this, <a href=\"https:\/\/ovelny.sh\/blog\/a-complete-guide-for-your-gotosocial-server\/\">A complete guide for your GoToSocial server<\/a>, which has a lot of useful advice for hardening your GoToSocial instance.<\/p>\n\n<p>I really haven\u2019t had much opportunity to really dig into more advanced or fun customizations, but as I do, I will try to update this doc\/section.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"thats-it\">That\u2019s it!<\/h1>\n\n<p>Not much more to say! It\u2019s early days for trialing <a href=\"#gotosocial\">GoToSocial<\/a> but I am enjoying it so far. There\u2019s really two big things that need to clear before I make it my main <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">fedi<\/a> presence\/software.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>\n    <p>I need my favorite Fedi client, <a href=\"https:\/\/tapbots.com\/ivory\/\">Ivory<\/a> to add support for GoToSocial. They say it is coming in the <a href=\"https:\/\/tapbots.social\/@ivory\/113760055360044392\">next release<\/a>!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I need to migrate some follows and followers to see how well the instance handles the increased activity. I suspect I will need to scale a few things, but I feel pretty sure that when it\u2019s all said and done, it will still be cheaper than the 19\/mo I currently pay for my Mastodon instance with <a href=\"https:\/\/masto.host\/pricing\/\">masto.host<\/a>.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>More to come! For now, find me <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/malici.ous.computer\/@shellsharks\">@shellsharks@malici.ous.computer<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"gotosocial-resources\">GoToSocial Resources<\/h1>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/git.sr.ht\/~technomancy\/masto-gear-solid\">Masto Gear Solid<\/a>: Migrate your Mastodon posts to GoToSocial<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:31:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/gotosocial-on-knt-host","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/gotosocial-on-knt-host","category":["technology","social","gotosocial","fediverse"]},{"title":"Welcome to the Fediverse!","description":"<p>So you\u2019ve just joined the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>? Congrats and <strong>welcome<\/strong>! Here\u2019s a bunch of stuff that might be useful or interesting as you set out on your journey\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>The Mastodon \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/20\/infosec-mastodon-starter-pack\">Starter Pack<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83e\udd88 A writeup on <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social#title\">why I run my own single-user Fediverse instance<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83d\udc18 My original <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon\">Mastodon guide<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83d\udcad Some thoughts on why I think Mastodon (and the greater Fediverse) <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/18\/mastodon-will-never-die\">will never die<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83d\udcb0 A <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/16\/hark-threaders-the-fediverse-is-good-for-you#why-mastodon--fediverse-is-good\">list of benefits<\/a> of the Fediverse, as compared to other centralized platforms<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83d\ude80 Some great accounts to follow that <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/26\/power-boosters-of-the-fediverse\">boost a lot<\/a> of good stuff<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83e\udd84 A sampling of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/29\/the-whimsical-corners-of-the-fediverse\">awesome accounts<\/a> you can find across the Fediverse<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83e\uddd1\u200d\ud83c\udfa8 Some of my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/08\/30\/favorite-fedi-artists\">favorite artists<\/a> found here<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83c\udf63 My \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/22\/fediroll\">Fediroll<\/a><\/strong>\u201d of awesome Fediverse accounts to follow<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>\ud83d\udcdc <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/\">Scrolls<\/a><\/strong>\u2014A newsletter featuring great <em>IndieWeb<\/em> and <em>Fediverse<\/em> content and stories each week<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>See ya around! \ud83d\udc4b<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Jan 2025 17:48:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/welcome-to-the-fediverse","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/welcome-to-the-fediverse","category":["technology","social","fediverse","bestof","list"]},{"title":"ous.computer","description":"<p>Alrighty, testing out this shiny new <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/gotosocial-on-knt-host\">GoToSocial<\/a> instance. For now, I\u2019ve migrated by <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@afterdark\">@afterdark<\/a> account here and will be using this alongside my \u201cmain\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">@shellsharks<\/a> account. I\u2019ve heard great things about GTS and I\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/16\/500-characters-is-a-prison\">desperately wanted<\/a> a Fedi presence that has a text box that can handle more than 500 characters at a time. In time, if I find this to be a suitable alternative to my beloved Mastodon experience, I may migrate my main account here as well.<\/p>\n\n<p>This may end up coinciding with my favorite Fedi client, <a href=\"https:\/\/tapbots.com\/ivory\/\">Ivory\u2019s<\/a> plan to support GTS in their next release.<\/p>\n\n<p>And look at that, I\u2019m already past 500 chars and I can just keep on typin\u2019. <em>Glorious<\/em>. So continuing\u2026<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"on-hosting\">On Hosting<\/h1>\n\n<p>This instance is hosted by <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/gotosocial-on-knt-host\">K&amp;T Host<\/a>, who I\u2019ve used to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/16\/powered-by-castopod-hosted-by-knt-host\">host my Castopod instance<\/a> and have enjoyed their prompt and reliable service. They have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/gotosocial\">GTS offering<\/a> (<em>duh<\/em>) which I would invite others to check out if they\u2019ve been considering having their own li\u2019l fedi home. It starts at under $4\/mo which is pretty stellar. How well that scales for larger accounts we\u2019ll see. But they make it pretty easy to scale up as needed and since I\u2019ve been paying #mastohost 19\/mo for a year now, I\u2019ve got quite a bit of room to beef things up and still stay under what I\u2019ve been paying. I still think <a href=\"https:\/\/masto.host\">Masto.Host<\/a> is great, and would highly recommend them for anyone who wants a vanilla masto experience with top notch support and stability \ud83d\udc4d<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"why-gotosocial\">Why GoToSocial?<\/h1>\n\n<p>Honestly, I had a lot of choices, I considered <a href=\"https:\/\/akkoma.social\">Akkoma<\/a> + <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/BDX-town\/Mangane\">Mangane<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/transfem-org\/Sharkey\">Sharkey<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/glitch-soc.github.io\/docs\/\">Glitch Masto<\/a>, and others\u2026 Maybe I\u2019ll end up at one of those some day. But for now, I wanted to try this first. GTS is very actively developed, seems to be very resource \u201cmindful\u201d, has plenty of customizability and has fast became a go-to platform for small or single-user instances like this one.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"ouscomputer\">ous.computer<\/h1>\n\n<p>Yep, I bought another domain. This one is silly, but the subdomain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/wordfinder\/classic\/ends\/all\/-1\/ous\/1\">possibilities<\/a> are pretty endless.<\/p>\n\n<p>So if you follow my main shellsharks account, feel free to follow me here! If you don\u2019t already follow me, but want to see my posts about infosec, tech, general Fediverse stuff, art, probably NBA stuff, nature, and a ton of other things - <em>go for it<\/em>!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Jan 2025 16:33:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/ous-computer","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2025\/01\/10\/ous-computer","category":["technology","social","gotosocial","fediverse"]},{"title":"Starter Packs and a Fedi discoverability chronology","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\">Bluesky<\/a>\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/06-26-2024-starter-packs\">Starter Packs<\/a><\/strong> feature has undoubtedly been a hit. It isn\u2019t without <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/15\/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-not-enshittifying#on-starter-packs\">some faults<\/a> of course, but it certainly makes the process of organizing, finding accounts and being \u201cdiscovered\u201d much easier. <em>That\u2019s great<\/em>! For Bluesky, but what about the <a href=\"#fedi-discoverability-timeline\">Fediverse<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"fedi-discoverability-timeline\">Fedi Discoverability Timeline<\/h1>\n\n<p><strong>Discoverability<\/strong> has always been a bit of a weak spot on the <a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.info\">Fediverse<\/a>. With no algorithm to prop up posts or accounts, coupled with inherent visibility issues of a federated system, it has always been up to individuals to share and boost stuff to their respective <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/06\/27\/building-an-audience-threads-vs-mastodon#building-a-following\">followings<\/a> so that others may be <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/discoverability\/\">discovered<\/a>. Here\u2019s a quick rundown, in somewhat of a \u201ctimeline\u201d form of how discoverability has worked\/works on the Fediverse\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"fedi-native\">\u201cFedi-native\u201d<\/h3>\n\n<p>Ok, so starting off, we\u2019ve got <em>boosts<\/em>, <em>local timelines<\/em> and <em>hashtags<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/network\/#actions\">Boosts<\/a><\/strong> are great, but in practice, they only move a post as far as the individual who has boosted you\u2019s individual network goes. And though I think the Fediverse\u2019s culture is the best in terms of boosting (compared to Threads, Bluesky, etc\u2026), I still think most people shy away from the practice. For accounts with only a few, or no followers at all, how can you expect to get a boost if no one sees your post to begin with?<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Local Timelines<\/strong> can help people discover you, and you discover others, but in a federated world, a lot of who you might want to connect with will live outside your immediate instance. Also, one of the joys of the Fediverse is having your own single-user, or small instance.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Hashtags<\/strong> are also available, but following one can be fraught (<em>noisy<\/em>) which limits the extent to which people would discover you in that way. I also have found that a lot of people don\u2019t bother using hashtags.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/network\/#search\">Search<\/a><\/strong> is available, but is notoriously limited in many ways thanks to the decentralized\/federated nature of the Fediverse.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"community-driven-discoverability\">Community-driven discoverability<\/h3>\n\n<p>Beyond what the Fediverse offers <a href=\"#fedi-native\">natively<\/a>, there are other community-driven efforts to help with discoverability\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/20\/infosec-mastodon-starter-pack#for-infosec-folks\">#FollowFriday<\/a><\/strong> is a great hashtag that seems to have decent adoption. Just list out some accounts you like in a post with the <em>#followfriday<\/em> tag and boom!<\/p>\n\n<p>Others have attempted to build and then share <strong>manual lists<\/strong> of recommended, or like accounts (i.e. I have some examples listed <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/20\/infosec-mastodon-starter-pack\">here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n<p>In the spirit of the web\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/blogroll\">blogroll<\/a>, I attempted to make <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/22\/fediroll\">#Fediroll<\/a><\/strong> a thing. <em>It did not take<\/em>. The idea was simple though. Much like a blogroll, list your favorite Fedi accounts on a post and pin that to your profile.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"the-advent-of-bsky-starter-packs\">The advent of Bsky \u201cStarter Packs\u201d<\/h3>\n\n<p>Then, Bluesky announced <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/06-26-2024-starter-packs\">Starter Packs<\/a> - the adoption and popularity of this feature has been off the charts!<\/p>\n\n<p>So, the Fediverse community responded. Some of us pointed out all the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/113476121308408241\">past efforts<\/a> to juice discoverability.<\/p>\n\n<p>The awesome <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.online\/@mastodonmigration\">Mastodon Migration<\/a> account went a step further, formalizing and then creating + sharing a wide variety of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mastodonmigration.wordpress.com\/2024\/11\/20\/mastodon-follow-pack-faq-1-0\/\">Follow Packs<\/a>\u201d. A nobel effort, but suffers from the overhead involved in downloading a <em>.csv<\/em> list and manually importing it.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"fedidevs-starter-packs\">FediDevs Starter Packs<\/h3>\n\n<p>Which brings me to now, Fedi-native <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@anze3db\">An\u017ee<\/a> has released their project for implementing <a href=\"https:\/\/fedidevs.com\/starter-packs\/\">Starter Packs<\/a> on the Fediverse. It is (in my opinion) a more elegant solution that simplifies the process for creating and following packs in an interface that looks pretty great! It solves for the \u201cmanual import\u201d issue which <a href=\"#the-advent-of-bsky-starter-packs\">previous methods<\/a> suffered from by having you log into <a href=\"https:\/\/fedidevs.com\">FediDevs<\/a> <em>with<\/em> your <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/client\/authorized\/\">Mastodon account<\/a>, allowing the app to leverage the built-in API to follow accounts en-masse.<\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s early days, so there are still some bugs, weaknesses and other concerns with this implementation of starter packs, but I think it\u2019s a fantastic addition to the Fediverse and a great display of the power of the community here.<\/p>\n\n<p>Notably, packs are still limited to 150 accounts, some profiles are hard to search for and add, and as of now it is not possible to upload an existing list of accounts to a starter pack, but these are all issues that have understandable tradeoffs. This project might also be limited to Mastodon (for now).<\/p>\n\n<p>I look forward to what the larger community will build with this, I\u2019ve actually already started <a href=\"#indiesec\">a pack<\/a> or two!<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"indiesec\">IndieSec<\/h1>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/notes\/2024\/IndieSec-StarterPack.png\" alt=\"IndieSec\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p>I created a <a href=\"#fedidevs-starter-packs\">FediDevs<\/a>-fueled <a href=\"#fedidevs-starter-packs\">Starter Pack<\/a>!  It\u2019s titled \u201c<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/fedidevs.com\/s\/MjQ\/\">IndieSec<\/a><\/strong>\u201d. It features <em>Infosec \/ cybersecurity individuals. No corporate accounts, no bots, no influencers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Some more context on the pack: I created it by searching some existing lists I had, a few infosec-related local timelines and things I had <em>starred<\/em> in the past, trying to find folks that\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>A. post about infosec (<em>not exclusively or anything, but y\u2019know, a decent amount of their posts\/replies are infosec-related<\/em>),<\/p>\n\n<p>B. are at least <em>mildly<\/em> active on the Fediverse,<\/p>\n\n<p>C. aren\u2019t accounts that already have a <em>gigantic<\/em> following (<em>no offense to those accounts, but I\u2019d like to use the limited space in this pack to help smaller accounts be discovered<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n<p>As such, guaranteed I\u2019ve missed a lot of folks who <em>should<\/em> be in the pack. It is a manual effort, and sorting through who is still active here is a bit of a chore. One that I was happy to do up to a point, but I eventually just needed to publish the pack and work on adding more accounts as they come and as people request to be included.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>So yeah<\/em>! Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/fedidevs.com\/s\/MjQ\/\">the pack<\/a>. You can peruse it and follow selectively, or \u201cFollow all\u201d with a click of a button. If you want to be added to the pack, just send me a note (<em>keeping in mind the criteria I mentioned above<\/em>). If the pack runs out of space, I\u2019ll probably start up an \u201c<em>IndieSec 2<\/em>\u201d sequel pack.<\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Thu, 05 Dec 2024 08:02:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/12\/05\/fedi-discoverability-chronology","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/12\/05\/fedi-discoverability-chronology","category":["technology","social"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 12\/4\/24 12:30 EST","description":"<p>Woah, just followed my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/Fediverse\">#Fediverse<\/a> account from <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/threads\">#threads<\/a> . They actually did it \ud83d\ude05<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/activitypub\">#activitypub<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.masto.host\/shellsharkssocial\/media_attachments\/files\/113\/595\/736\/330\/373\/326\/original\/a83440ad07de5bed.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Wed, 04 Dec 2024 12:30:54 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/12\/04\/shellsharks-social-113595741285811182","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/12\/04\/shellsharks-social-113595741285811182","category":["fediverse","threads","activitypub"]},{"title":"Hold the line! Stay with me!","description":"<p>I first learned about, and joined <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> (and thus the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\">Fediverse<\/a>) back in August of 2018. I joined <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\">Mastodon.Social<\/a> (of course), and the now defuct <a href=\"https:\/\/ashfurrow.com\/blog\/mastodon-technology-shutdown\/\">Mastodon.Technology<\/a>. I toyed around with the app, tried to follow a few things, but didn\u2019t honestly spend much time learning about what it was, why it was interesting, what <a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.rocks\">ActivityPub<\/a> is, what the Fediverse is, etc\u2026 I just kept on using Twitter, though even back then I was not what you would call a heavy Twitter user. I never tried to really socialize there, rather I followed a bunch of infosec accounts and that\u2019s about it. In 2019 I established my blog and used that to post a lot of my thoughts online but it wasn\u2019t until much later that I learned about the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> and how it important that is for my online identity and as a place for my writing. I re-joined Mastodon in earnest in November of 2022 and established my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social#title\">shellsharks.social<\/a> instance in March of 2024. It was only shortly after re-joining in 2022 though that I had the thought - \u201cdamn, I wish I had stuck with Mastodon for the last 4 years and had worked to build and grow my community here\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m not really a content creator, at least not in the sense that I make stuff to profit from it, or to build any sort of clout. Sure, I\u2019d like people to read and tell me what they think, so that I can improve, but it\u2019s not like I\u2019m on social media trying to amass followers for the typical reasons. I like the folks I\u2019ve met since being on Mastodon\/the Fediverse. I\u2019ve spent quite a bit of time making new friends, curating my feeds and learning about cool stuff, like the Fediverse, and like the IndieWeb. I wish I had never left. So now <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/15\/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-not-enshittifying\">Bluesky is a thing<\/a>. Threads is also around (though they claim they will <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.fb.com\/2024\/03\/21\/networking-traffic\/threads-has-entered-the-fediverse\/\">federate<\/a>). I\u2019m staying put. I think you should too. But I completely understand if you want to go elsewhere. I do think the day will come though. Maybe in 4 years, maybe longer, that people will come back here and say \u201cdamn, I wish I had stuck with Mastodon\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<p>So\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/KetzG3D4J64\">Hold the line. Stay with me!<\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 18 Nov 2024 12:41:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/18\/hold-the-line-stay-with-me","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/18\/hold-the-line-stay-with-me","category":["life","social"]},{"title":"Cloudy with a chance of not enshittifying","description":"<p>One of the more prevalent topics of conversation on social media is - <strong>social media itself<\/strong>. Not sure if it\u2019s really always been this way, but in the wake of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Acquisition_of_Twitter_by_Elon_Musk\">Musk-ening of Twitter<\/a> that birthed (or rekindled) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/23429095\/twitter-social-network-alternatives-mastodon-reddit-tumblr-cohost\">so many other social platforms<\/a>, my feed(s) are constantly a-buzz with hot-takes, analyses, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/23\/exhausted-by-social-platform-cheerleading\">cheerleading<\/a> and more, all about social media itself. So, to add to that, here\u2019s some <em>musings<\/em> on what\u2019s goin\u2019 on in the social media landscape right now\u2026<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"bluesky\">Bluesky<\/h1>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s start with <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\">Bluesky<\/a>. For whatever reason (probably <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/culture\/2024\/11\/13\/how-the-us-election-result-is-pushing-social-media-users-away-from-x-and-onto-bluesky\">anti-\u201cX\u201d sentiment<\/a> following the US election), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/11\/11\/24293920\/bluesky-700000-new-users-week-x-threads\">Bluesky is seeing a surge in new users<\/a>. I\u2019ve experienced this first-hand in fact. I have a <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/shellsharks.com\">Bluesky account<\/a> and (probably thanks to a <a href=\"#on-starter-packs\">Starter Pack<\/a> or two that I am in) I have seen a ton of follows lately, nearly 1k+ in the past few days alone. This has unsurprisingly resulted in a lot of chatter on my Mastodon\/Fedi feeds about Bluesky. A fair bit of, \u201c<em>Bluesky looks cool, I\u2019m going to check it out<\/em>\u201d, \u201c<em>I\u2019m going to move over to Bluesky permanently<\/em>\u201d and of course, stuff like \u201c<em>Bluesky is a VC-funded, faux-decentralized bad place that will enshittify and fail in the same way Twitter did<\/em>\u201d. <em>Yeah<\/em>, <a href=\"#bluesky-emotions\">people are hot about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>At a surface level, I understand. People want <em>their<\/em> network to \u201cwin\u201d. They want the people they care about to be on the same network they are, not fragmented. They also don\u2019t want to have to pick up and move to another place and rebuild their community, etc\u2026 <em>I get it<\/em>. There\u2019s a lot I <em>could<\/em> say about Bluesky, and maybe one day I might say more, but for the sake of this note, I\u2019ll limit things to a few select topics\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"#bluesky-emotions\">Negative emotions regarding folks going to Bluesky<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#jack-dorsey\">Jack Dorsey<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#vc-backed\">Bluesky funding<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#is-bluesky-decentralized\">Is Bluesky decentralized?<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#what-i-think-you-should-do\">What I think you should do<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#bridgy-fed\">Bridgy Fed<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#on-starter-packs\">Starter Packs<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"bluesky-emotions\">Bluesky Emotions<\/h2>\n\n<p>Bluesky is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/11\/11\/24293920\/bluesky-700000-new-users-week-x-threads\">popping off<\/a>, people are leaving X en-masse it seems, and there are some who are also leaving Threads and Mastodon to \u201clive\u201d there too. So you have those on Bluesky cheering that they\u2019ve \u201cwon\u201d, or that they\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/hailey.at\/post\/3lasky252dc2i\">reached the top of the charts<\/a> (on the Apple App Store) and you have those on the fled networks (namely Mastodon) bemoaning that anyone would leave as Bluesky is yet another corpo-owned, <a href=\"#vc-backed\">VC-backed<\/a>, <a href=\"#is-bluesky-decentralized\">centralized<\/a> network, <a href=\"#longevity-of-bluesky\">doomed<\/a> to the same enshittified\/billionaire-owned future as the rest of them. <em>Phew<\/em>! That\u2019s a lot of emotions \u2013&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@davxy\/113480586904963235\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@securingdev\/113481633335287189\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@eric_capuano\/113478260587581071\">3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/esq.social\/@andrew\/113477122438980886\">4<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@yorush\/post\/DCR0qvBOOdw\">5<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/swecyb.com\/@nopatience\/113482488715466008\">6<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@davidculley\/113474658103543325\">7<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/universeodon.com\/@cryptadamist\/113472115447080382\">8<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/hackers.town\/@CyberpunkLibrarian\/113483028690175386\">9<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/syzito.xyz\/@Black_Flag\/113486698746459772\">10<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@timb_machine\/113487227663724826\">11<\/a> and so many more\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>All of the networks, yes, even \u201cX\u201d have their pros and cons - depending on what you want and who you are. The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.tips\/what-is-mastodon-what-is-the-fediverse\/\">Fediverse<\/a>\u201d, being <em>truly<\/em> decentralized, and not owned or funded by VC\/corporations means it has <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/16\/hark-threaders-the-fediverse-is-good-for-you\">certain qualities<\/a> that many of us value. It also means it lacks certain things that are present in centralized, or better-funded operations such as <a href=\"#threads\">Threads<\/a> or <a href=\"#bluesky\">Bluesky<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>So, you\u2019re interested in joining Bluesky. Should you try it out?<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"do-it\">Do it.<\/h6>\n\n<p>If <a href=\"#bluesky\">Bluesky<\/a> is where the action is. If it\u2019s where your friends are. If it\u2019s where the accounts you want to follow are. If it\u2019s where your audience is. Then <strong>go there<\/strong>. <em>Be there<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Even if you <em>knew<\/em> it would meet the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/4\/11\/23019836\/elon-musk-twitter-board-of-directors-news-updates\">same fate as Twitter<\/a> ultimately did, would you not ride that ride for 15 years? For all of Twitter\u2019s faults, even pre-Musk, people <em>loved<\/em> it. Twitter helped birth and incubate countless relationships, communities, businesses and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/c\/23972308\/twitter-x-death-tweets-history-elon-musk\">more<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t perfect, and it wasn\u2019t forever. But it was great for so many, and for a non-trivial amount of time.<\/p>\n\n<p>Bluesky <em>could<\/em> be this too, for as long as capitalism allows. For many, maybe for most, it would be worth spending 10-15 years there only to meet the same calamitous end rather than homesteading in Fedi-land where yeah, they may achieve true social longevity outside of corporate control but would also sacrifice all they may be able to build in what could amount to a true \u201cTwitter 2.0\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m Fedi-first. I like it here. I <em>value<\/em> the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/16\/hark-threaders-the-fediverse-is-good-for-you\">qualities<\/a> of the Fediverse that no other platform offers. I like that I can own my own instance. I like that I can\u2019t be deplatformed. I like that I don\u2019t see ads. I like that it can\u2019t be taken down by a billionaire or a single government. I like a lot of things about it. I\u2019ve also put the time and effort in to build a community here, to curate a very lively and fulfilling feed. I don\u2019t fault anyone for going to Bluesky. If you like it there, great! I hope I get to see you through <a href=\"#bridgy-fed\">the bridge<\/a>. If you don\u2019t end up liking it there. Well maybe you\u2019ll come back to the Fediverse \u2042.<\/p>\n\n<p>It seems others too are optimistic, even if mildly cautious, about the future of Bluesky. So go ahead, try it out.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/werd.io\/2024\/bluesky-the-fediverse-and-the-future-of-social-media\">Bluesky, the Fediverse, and the future of social media<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.404media.co\/the-great-migration-to-bluesky-gives-me-hope-for-the-future-of-the-internet\/\">The Great Migration to Bluesky Gives Me Hope for the Future of the Internet<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/mmasnick.bsky.social\/post\/3lawnzaqaqs2c\">Protocols, Not Platforms\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"longevity-of-bluesky\">Longevity of Bluesky<\/h2>\n\n<p>Those of us telling people to steer clear from Bluesky usually have one or more of the following things to say\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>It was founded by <a href=\"#jack-dorsey\">Jack Dorsey<\/a> (<em>yuck!<\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li>It\u2019s <a href=\"#vc-backed\">VC-backed<\/a> (and doesn\u2019t have a long-term funding strategy)<\/li>\n  <li>It\u2019s a <a href=\"#is-bluesky-decentralized\">centralized<\/a> platform<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h6 id=\"jack-dorsey\">Jack Dorsey<\/h6>\n\n<p>On the Jack Dorsey topic, go listen to this <a href=\"https:\/\/about.flipboard.com\/fediverse\/jay-graber\/\">Dot Social podcast episode<\/a> with Bluesky\u2019s founder and CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/jay.bsky.team\">Jay Graber<\/a>. Yes, Dorsey did help fund Bluesky <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jack\/status\/1204766078468911106\">in the beginning<\/a>. But has since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/article\/2024\/may\/07\/jack-dorsey-quits-bluesky-board-urges-users-stay-elon-musk-x-twitter\">cut ties<\/a>, left their board and gone on to twiddle away with <a href=\"https:\/\/nostr.com\">Nostr<\/a> and tell people to stay on X \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f. So is his early involvement alone enough to curse the Bluesky project for eternity? I personally don\u2019t think so. But <em>you do you<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"vc-backed\">VC-Backed<\/h6>\n\n<p><strong>Yes<\/strong>. Bluesky did recently receive 15 million dollars in a Series A funding round, the majority of that money coming from the VC firm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blockchaincapital.com\/blog\/bluesky-13m-users-and-growing-our-investment-in-blueskys-re-imagined-social-network\">Blockchain Capital<\/a> (BCAP). What does this mean? <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/10-24-2024-series-a\">Bluesky will tell you<\/a> that their new benefactor \u201c<em>shares our philosophy<\/em>\u201d and that neither the Bluesky app, nor underlying <a href=\"https:\/\/atproto.com\">AT Protocol<\/a> uses blockchains and\/or cryptocurrency. That is all well and good. <em>For now<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m no expert on how venture capital works, so excuse me if I say anything incorrect or naive, but my understanding is these firms don\u2019t just <em>give money away<\/em>. They expect high-growth, and they expect a <strong>return<\/strong> on their investment. Even if they have no intention of somehow influencing Bluesky to incorporate any blockchain and\/or cryptocurrency related technologies into the platform, they do at minimum expect Bluesky to make money, and a lot of it. So how will Bluesky do that? Right now they\u2019re early stage. So it\u2019s fine if they don\u2019t have a monetization strategy that can yield the type of growth that BCAP expects. So far, all we know about how they plan to continue funding is <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/7-05-2023-business-plan\">this<\/a>. Yeah, selling domain names isn\u2019t going to be enough. Maybe they have some ideas up their sleeves. Or maybe they don\u2019t now, but they will later. <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/mmasnick.bsky.social\/post\/3lauwsf4eic27\">Who knows<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Look at how other similar platforms have made their returns and you start to see the issues. We\u2019ve got selling ads, selling user data, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/10\/24\/24278666\/bluesky-working-on-premium-subscription\">premium<\/a>\u201d subscriptions and worse. Best case scenario (from my perspective), their dream of <strong><a href=\"#is-bluesky-decentralized\">decentralization<\/a><\/strong> will be realized and the costs of running the network will transition to smaller, indepedent entities, thus alleviating the funding burden to a degree. But how will those entities, in turn fund their operations? By the same <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Enshittification\">enshitty<\/a> means? Or through crowd-sourced user donations (similar to the Fediverse model)? On this, I\u2019d love to see them thread the needle, and succeed where no other network has yet to. But I (and others) remain skeptical.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/pluralistic.net\/2024\/11\/02\/ulysses-pact\/#tie-yourself-to-a-federated-mast\">Bluesky and enshittification<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/toad.social\/@davetroy\/113476788536250587\">Bluesky funding and origins<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blahaj.zone\/notes\/a0mlkrgmas5i01j0\">Concern about Bluesky\u2019s adjaceny to fascism<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/merveilles.town\/@lrhodes\/113498554023468458\">VC funding is runway | L. Rhodes<\/a> + <a href=\"https:\/\/destructured.net\/bluesky-enshittification\">Bluesky and enshittification<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h6 id=\"is-bluesky-decentralized\">Is Bluesky \u201cDecentralized\u201d<\/h6>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s dig into Bluesky\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/bluesky-and-the-at-protocol-usable-decentralized-social-media-martin-kleppmann.pdf\">claim<\/a> of being \u201cdecentralized\u201d. To start, I\u2019ll say that Bluesky is in no meaningful way decentralized <strong>at the moment<\/strong>. <em>Sure<\/em>, they\u2019ve open sourced <em>some<\/em> stuff to allow you to, in theory, stand up (<a href=\"https:\/\/alice.bsky.sh\/post\/3laega7icmi2q\">most of<\/a>) the infra to have a decentralized node on the network, but no meaningful amount of accounts live outside of the main centralized Bluesky corp-owned stack.<\/p>\n\n<p>But <em>can<\/em> Bluesky <em>be<\/em> decentralized? This is up for debate it seems. There are two parts of this story to me. The <strong>can<\/strong> and the <strong>will<\/strong>. On whether it <em>can<\/em> be decentralized, you\u2019re welcome to peruse the <a href=\"https:\/\/atproto.com\">AT Protocol<\/a> documentation and decide for yourself. Others, smarter and more determined than myself have done this and came away rather, <em>unconvinced<\/em> (read: <a href=\"https:\/\/rys.io\/en\/167.html\">BlueSky is cosplaying decentralization<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/destructured.net\/bluesky-structure\">The structure of the Bluesky network<\/a>). Again, maybe it\u2019s <em>technically<\/em> possible to have truly decentralized stacks that can operate independently (though again, there\u2019s that pesky <a href=\"https:\/\/alice.bsky.sh\/post\/3laega7icmi2q\">AppView<\/a> issue right now).<\/p>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s just <em>assume<\/em> that it is possible. So the question then becomes, <em>will<\/em> people actually do this? Will <em>enough<\/em> people stand up fully-functioning, isolated but connected instances of the entire Bluesky tech stack? This is the more meaningful question I think. As we have seen with the \u201cFediverse\u201d, decentralization can be messy. It requires people understand the technology and be able to correctly build and maintain the necessary infrastructure. It requires folks to then <em>fund<\/em> that infrastructure. <strong>Not easy<\/strong>. In the Bluesky universe, who\u2019s going to do this? Individuals? Communities? Other corporations? What is the incentive? In so many ways, the people who have gravitated <em>to<\/em> Bluesky and other centralized platforms is for no other reason than that it <em>is<\/em> centralized. That <em>is<\/em> the benefit. If Bluesky achieves any meaningful level of decentralization, and that\u2019s a big IF, they will then have the same issues that have plagued the Fediverse, i.e. instance-to-instance incompatibility, fiefdoms, instance closure (due to funding-issues among other things), annoyance around what instance to join, etc\u2026 Sure, Bluesky has solved for some of this with their admittedly great version of portable identity on the network, but I still think any decentralized future for Bluesky will introduce issues, most importantly, issues that prevent Bluesky from ever reaching <em>meaningful<\/em> levels of decentrality.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/5-5-2023-federation-architecture\">Federation Architecture Overview<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/social.wildeboer.net\/@jwildeboer\/113487613965056474\">Bluesky isn\u2019t decentralized or federated | Jan Wildeboer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/whtwnd.com\/bnewbold.net\/3lbvbtqrg5t2t\">Reply on Bluesky and Decentralization<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"what-i-think-you-should-do\">What I Think You Should Do<\/h2>\n\n<p>Alright, so you\u2019re joining <a href=\"#bluesky\">Bluesky<\/a>, or maybe you\u2019re <em>thinking<\/em> about it being your primary social platform. Here\u2019s what I would suggest. <a href=\"#do-it\">Do it<\/a>. <em>Check it out<\/em>! Or let it be your main social point of presence. It\u2019s <em>fine<\/em>. If you like it, then that\u2019s great. But here\u2019s some things you might consider doing in tandem\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"bridgy-fed\">Bridgy Fed<\/h3>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fed.brid.gy\">Bridgy Fed<\/a> is an awesome service that among other things, can bridge accounts from the Fediverse to Bluesky and in reverse from Bluesky to the Fediverse. From the Bridgy Fed website, \u201c<em>You can use it to make your profile on one visible in another, follow people, see their posts, and reply and like and repost them. Interactions work in both directions as much as possible<\/em>\u201d. It\u2019s easy to do!<\/p>\n\n<p>Got a fediverse account? Bridge it to Bluesky by following <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.brid.gy\/bsky.brid.gy\">@bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Got a Bluesky account? Bridge it to the fediverse by following <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/ap.brid.gy\">@ap.brid.gy<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>This means you can live blissfully wherever you like but still participate in and connect with those who are on the other network. It\u2019s easy to do!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"start-a-blog\">Start a blog<\/h3>\n\n<p>I\u2019m an <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> enthusiast and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">big proponent<\/a> of everyone having their own website\/blog. But what does that have to do with my choice of social media platform? It boils down to this. Social platforms rise and fall, and when they fall, so too does your account which has likely served as your identity for and on the web. By having a website (or a \u201cblog\u201d), you can anchor your identity to your <em>domain name<\/em> rather than some @twitter.com or @bsky.social or @whatever handle. Bluesky has actually realized this as something that is important and you are able to <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/3-6-2023-domain-names-as-handles-in-bluesky\">register a domain name as your actual handle<\/a> on the service. <em>Nice!<\/em> But this only <em>kinda<\/em> helps.<\/p>\n\n<p>Sure, people might now <em>know<\/em> me now as \u201cshellsharks.com\u201d on Bluesky, but if I had no blog, and Bluesky were to go <a href=\"#longevity-of-bluesky\">belly up<\/a>, people wouldn\u2019t be able to find me as I wouldn\u2019t exist anywhere except on Bluesky. But since I <em>do<\/em> have a website, people can continue to find me, connect with me, see what I have to say, etc\u2026 by going to my domain. So sure. Use Bluesky if you want as your main social network. But go buy a domain, register it as your handle on Bluesky and then put <em>something<\/em> on that domain that resolves in a browser so people can find you now and into the future.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"xposting\">XPosting<\/h3>\n\n<p>I see a lot of people suggest cross-posting to those who are thinking of \u201cmoving\u201d to Bluesky. They\u2019ll say, \u201c<em>Hey! instead of just posting to Bluesky, why don\u2019t you post both places?<\/em>\u201d. I personally don\u2019t like this. What I mean is that I think cross-posting comes with a lot of compromises, that for me, and I assume for so many others, doesn\u2019t make it worth it.<\/p>\n\n<p>Cross-posting requires using an app built with this functionality, the ability to sign into multiple platforms. This may just not be the app someone wants to use. Though I will say there are some good options, <a href=\"https:\/\/openvibe.social\">Openvibe<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/croissantapp.com\">Croissant<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mszpro.com\/sorasns\/\">SoraSNS<\/a>, etc\u2026 Second, in my experience audiences are just, <em>different<\/em> on the different platforms. What you might say on one isn\u2019t necessarily what you would say on the other. So just posting the exact same thing word-for-word across both might not really <em>work<\/em>. It can also be somewhat <em>impersonal<\/em>. So now there is the mental overhead of tweaking posts across each or deciding when you want to x-post or not. Posting across multiple networks also means fielding replies across both. Again, more work. We all arguably spend too much time already on social media, just on one platform, much less trying to juggle communities and relationships across both.<\/p>\n\n<p>So yeah, maybe cross posting is something you can do, or would like to do. But I certainly wouldn\u2019t fault you for not doing it.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"on-starter-packs\">On Starter Packs<\/h2>\n\n<p>A <em>very<\/em> popular feature of Bluesky is their <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/06-26-2024-starter-packs\">Starter Pack<\/a>. It\u2019s basically a list of accounts you can give a name and people can peruse those lists, following individual accounts or clicking \u201cFollow All\u201d to follow everyone in the pack. It\u2019s extremely easy to use, easy to create and at first glance, a great way to build your network and improve discoverability. Or so I thought\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>In the past 72 hours I\u2019ve gone from like 200 followers to ~1.2k followers. I\u2019m almost <em>certain<\/em> this is because of my placement in a popular starter pack or two. <em>Awesome right<\/em>? More people will see what I post and might respond to me. But has it worked out that way? Hard to say, and engagement is a tricky thing to scientifically evaluate, but I don\u2019t really think it\u2019s having that effect. What I <em>think<\/em> is happening, and what I <em>know<\/em> I\u2019ve personally done, is just blindly follow everyone in a given pack with no real evaluation. I think this has a devaluing effect on my feed.<\/p>\n\n<p>Maybe I\u2019m just used to the highly curated aspect of my Fedi feed. But damnit if that feed on Mastodon isn\u2019t <em>extremely<\/em> high fidelity. It should be right? I\u2019ve hand selected every account I follow through somewhat rigorous means. Not just willy-nilly following 80 people in one fell swoop. What happens is this, for lack of a better word, junks up the feed. I\u2019m someone who likes to read through my timeline, see what everyone has said. But on Bluesky, thanks to the fact that timeline position, when refreshed, sends you to the top, and the effects of these starter packs, I find that my feed is just an unruly mess that I can\u2019t stay on top of and as a result find less interesting. Then, frustrated with my \u201cFollowing\u201d feed, I\u2019ll check out the default algorithmic \u201cDiscover\u201d feed, which tends to just be memes and \u201cbig accounts\u201d - <em>yawn<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Another set of pitfalls I see with starter packs is ongoing management and redundancies. In just a few short days I\u2019ve seen quite a few \u201cInfosec\u201d starter packs pop up. If you\u2019re an infosec person, and you want to be featured in the pack, which do you choose? Which will be the \u201cpopular\u201d ones? Who created the pack? Will they keep it up-to-date? Do you feel comfortable pinging someone asking to be included in a pack? Will it become a popularity contest? I don\u2019t know how to answer or really analyze much of this at this point, but I just see potential issues. That said, I still think it\u2019s a great idea and does make following a lot of accounts a lot easier. Generic packs like \u201cinfosec\u201d might be hard to maintain and be extremely unruly (100\u2019s of people) but smaller, more focused packs, e.g. writers at <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/start\/did:plc:cjfcz3t36f6nrprarkhkycxo\/3laojwpjit62a\">404 Media<\/a> are perfect!<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"threads\">Threads<\/h1>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re going to talk social media, it\u2019s hard to ignore <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2023\/07\/introducing-threads-new-app-text-sharing\/\">Threads<\/a>. Afterall, Threads still boasts over 200 million users and has 10\u2019s of millions of daily active users (<a href=\"https:\/\/explodingtopics.com\/blog\/threads-users\">src<\/a>). Contrast that with <a href=\"#bluesky\">Bluesky<\/a> or Mastodon\u2019s relatively paltry sub-20m total users each. But Threads is flagging. People are unhappy with the choices the leadership\/development teams have continued to make around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/10\/9\/24266096\/instagram-threads-moderation-account-post-deleted-limited\">algorithmic choices<\/a> and more. I don\u2019t use Threads much. I feel the same about Threads as I do Bluesky for the most part. If you like it there, and its where your \u201cpeople\u201d are, then <a href=\"#do-it\">be there<\/a>. It has some of the same, and some different risks as Bluesky, but whatever.<\/p>\n\n<p>The <em>interesting<\/em> wrinkle with Threads is the ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.fb.com\/2024\/03\/21\/networking-traffic\/threads-has-entered-the-fediverse\/\">implementation of ActivityPub<\/a>. Currently, Threads users who decide to opt in to the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/help.instagram.com\/760878905943039\">Fediverse sharing<\/a>\u201d beta can enjoy a very half-baked, but not entirely useless form of federation that allows users on the \u201ctraditional\u201d fediverse to see and even reply to posts you make natively on Threads. Actually <em>kinda cool<\/em>. You can\u2019t yet follow native Fediverse users from Threads, but in theory that is coming in the not too distant future. I think if this ever does materialize, and does so in a non-compromising way, it will be a feature that gives those on Threads a real benefit over those on Bluesky. Afterally, the <a href=\"#bridgy-fed\">Bridgy Fed<\/a>, Bluesky &lt;\u2013&gt; Fedi bridge is cool, but comes with plenty of compromises as it would compare to true Federation.<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"the-future\">The Future<\/h1>\n\n<p>I can\u2019t see the future. Who knows what will happen. But there is a non-zero chance that <a href=\"#bluesky\">Bluesky<\/a> fails to truly <a href=\"#is-bluesky-decentralized\">decentralize<\/a>, and the main\/centralized instance of the platform is forced to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow\/\">enshittify<\/a> in some disastrous way. Simultaneously, (in this same timeline) <a href=\"#threads\">Threads<\/a> has continued to decline in user experience thanks to an increasingly heavy-handed algorithm, inability to moderate spam accounts and overpopulation of corporate or advertising-related posts\/accounts. Where do people go? Will they stay on those centralized platforms, accepting the compromises for what they are and muddle through? Will a new shiny platform pop up and people go there? What will it take for the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.info\">Fediverse<\/a>\u201d to get real traction? What features do we need? What cultural shift needs to happen? What big \u201ccelebrity\u201d accounts would need to set up shop here? I can\u2019t say. I think improving discoverability by copying some of Bluesky\u2019s popular features, namely <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.bsky.app\/docs\/starter-templates\/custom-feeds\">custom feeds<\/a> (opt-in algos) and <a href=\"#on-starter-packs\">starter packs<\/a> could really help. I also think improving the identity model, also similar to how Bluesky has done it by being <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial\">domain backed<\/a>, could also help. Beyond that, moderation improvements and instance choice\/onboarding could use a freshen-up to help people feel less intimidated by joining.<\/p>\n\n<p>An exciting time to be sure!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"more\">More<\/h3>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/america2.news\/without-sky-social-media-and-the-end-of-reality\/\">Without Sky: Social Media and the End of Reality<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 15 Nov 2024 12:42:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/15\/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-not-enshittifying","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/11\/15\/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-not-enshittifying","category":["life","social"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 10\/18\/24 09:04 EDT","description":"<p>As (fka) Twitter continues to decompose, the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/Fediverse\">#Fediverse<\/a> grows with new users seeking refuge. To all newcomers, \u2728 <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/Welcome\">#Welcome<\/a> \u2728! Here is a \u201cstarter pack\u201d with helpful tips, advice and resources\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/20\/infosec-mastodon-starter-pack\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/20\/infosec-mastodon-starter-pack<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/infosec\">#infosec<\/a> folks, there is an archive of old followfriday posts with lots of great accounts to follow.<\/p>\n\n<p>Remember to give this place time. The Fediverse offers a cornucopia of interesting and delightful things, if only you put the effort into finding it.<\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Fri, 18 Oct 2024 09:04:01 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/10\/18\/shellsharks-social-113328563264911316","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/10\/18\/shellsharks-social-113328563264911316","category":["fediverse","welcome","infosec"]},{"title":"Building an audience: Threads vs. Mastodon","description":"<p>First, let me start by saying that I have no qualms about those who use <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2023\/07\/introducing-threads-new-app-text-sharing\/\">Threads<\/a>, whether as their primary social media presence or if they merely dabble over there as I do. I have no <a href=\"https:\/\/fedipact.online\">purity tests<\/a> with which one may fail. I can say, from my experience using Threads, that it is very pleasant and my \u201cFor You\u201d feed is pretty enjoyable, though content is very superficial, mostly filled with funny people trying to go viral, some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\">Fediverse<\/a> talk, NBA chatter and of course shit posts from the official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@wendys\">Wendy\u2019s<\/a> account.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Good<\/em>. With that out of the way, let me give my short pitch &amp; warning related to the question of Threads v. Mastodon. Threads has <strong>A.<\/strong> a much larger user base, and <strong>B.<\/strong> an algorithm that from what I\u2019ve seen, seems pretty good at getting posts into peoples\u2019 feeds. For someone looking to build a following, or reach as many people as possible, these two features give Threads a serious advantage.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>But!<\/em> For someone looking to build and then <em>maintain<\/em> a following, I still have concerns about using Threads as home base. Obviously, they haven\u2019t implemented full Fediverse support, notably they don\u2019t have the ability to port your account in or out of the platform. They <em>say<\/em> they\u2019re going to do this, and have given us every reason to think they will, but until it happens, I remain weary. Second, Threads is run by Meta and Meta has some very opaque\/shady behaviors as it relates to account suspension, censorship, shadow banning, algorithmic de-ranking, etc\u2026 What I mean is that one wrong move and they can decide to pull the plug on your entire account, erasing your social graph and identity on the web in a flash. Whether by corporate policy or by political pressure, what <em>is<\/em> and <em>is not<\/em> acceptable content on their platform can be extremely volatile. Further, I am also concerned about content ownership. Posting on Threads means Meta owns what you post. They can delete it, change it and almost certainly will train their LLMs on it, it\u2019s theirs.<\/p>\n\n<p>As for Mastodon, the population of the \u201ctraditional Fediverse\u201d is indeed smaller, but here you obviously have the ability to move your account, reach <em>everything<\/em> on the Fediverse, control\/own your data and maybe most importantly <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social\">self-host<\/a>. It\u2019s possible that I overvalue this particular feature, but the ability to self-host means A. you can have a Fediverse point-of-presence on your own domain, which is <em>great<\/em> for branding and B. you make yourself pretty darn resistant to deplatforming and censorship. For a content-creator, especially one that may have <em>spicier<\/em> things to say, this seems pretty important.<\/p>\n\n<p>What\u2019s ultimately \u201cbetter\u201d hinges a lot on what Threads does with their late-stage rollout of Fediverse support. Will they change their stance on opt-in to an opt-out model? This would drastically tip the scales in favor of those on the traditional Fediverse who want to reach the Threads-based masses. Will it be possible to amass a large following on Threads and then siphon those followers off to a traditional Fedi account? Will Threads be interoperable with other ActivityPub-compatible services like <a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.org\">Pixelfed<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.funkwhale.audio\">Funkwhale<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/castopod.org\">Castopod<\/a>? With all these questions unanswered or in doubt (and other concerns still in mind), I just can\u2019t <em>really<\/em> recommend content creators put their full faith in Threads and in Meta just yet.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"building-a-following\">Building a Following<\/h1>\n\n<p>Finally, you asked <a href=\"https:\/\/cmdr-nova.online\/2024\/06\/27\/threads-vs-mastodon-the-trilogy\/\">here<\/a> about how people have built \u201csizeable\u201d followings (i.e. 500+, 1000+, etc\u2026) and I have a few thoughts. I\u2019m closing in on 2k followers and have some thoughts on how I\u2019ve got here. I don\u2019t have a current breakdown of my followers but I suspect a large majority of them are first and foremost, in infosec. I got my start on the very large, very active and very popular (amongst infosec people) Mastodon instance <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social#thanks-to-infosecexchange\">infosec.exchange<\/a>. I came over in one of the earlier Twitter exodus waves which helped bootstrap a base of followers as everyone scrambled to make connections and follow people. But this was at most a couple hundred accounts. But this is to say that unless there are similarly large waves of new people coming here, it\u2019s unlikely that anyone could take similar advantage of a large group of people eager to follow anyone. Beyond this, I want to share 4 \u201ctechniques\u201d for boosting engagement and gaining followers, coming from someone who enjoys the former and doesn\u2019t particularly care about the latter. I genuinely enjoy chatting with people on here, and though I <em>do<\/em> have a blog (and a rebooted <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">podcast<\/a>) and am thus a \u201ccreator\u201d, none of what I create is monetized so I don\u2019t have the same incentive to build a large following.<\/p>\n\n<p>Of the \u201ctechniques\u201d that I share below, the first two are easily replicable by anyone, and the other two require a little more, let\u2019s call it \u201cluck\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>\n    <p>If you want engagement, <strong>engage<\/strong>. If you want followers, <strong>follow<\/strong>. By simply engaging with <em>other<\/em> people\u2019s posts, you may gain a follower or more! Also, many people ascribe to the, \u201cif you follow me, I\u2019ll follow you back\u201d. I don\u2019t participate in the latter, but as for the former, I think a lot of people are interested in following you if you are someone who is active and replies in a genuine, funny or helpful way.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Be <strong>consistently active<\/strong>. You mentioned this in your post, and it\u2019s true. If you post regularly (not overdoing it) and going back to item <strong>1<\/strong>, engage regularly, you will naturally, and very organically, collect followers.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Boosts by whales<\/strong>. In other words, if a big account (i.e. someone with like 10k or 20k+ followers) boosts one of your posts, this can rain followers. No way to <em>make<\/em> this happen, though going back to <strong>1<\/strong>, by replying in a helpful or genuine way to something a big account posts, you never know, they may just boost it.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Go <strong>viral<\/strong>. This is <em>completely<\/em> random it seems, and even in the event of a viral post, you may not net a lot of followers but it <em>can<\/em> happen. I personally have had some luck here with certain blog posts of mine being very popular (at least for a short time).<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>Of note, these techniques are also ranked in terms of their effectiveness, with #1 being the most effective and #4 being the least. The takeaway being that I believe success lies mostly on things completely controllable by you or anyone else looking to build a network here. One other important caveat that I want to bring up though, and I touched on this earlier, is that a lot of my \u201cfollowing\u201d is infosec, or infosec-adjacent accounts (I suspect). Having a sizeable, niche community can make it a bit easier for someone like me who is part of that community to build a following.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"so-what-do-i-think\">So What Do I Think?<\/h1>\n\n<p>At the end of the day, I\u2019m not a content creator looking to leverage social media to monetize, so my objectives are a bit different. Maybe the short-to-mid-term benefits of cultivating a large, active following on Threads vastly outweight the longer-term risks of establishing your identity on a Meta-backed platform. <em>I just don\u2019t know<\/em>. But, more personally, (and not that it matters) I\u2019d be kinda sad to see you give up mkultra.monster. Big things are coming for the larger Fediverse, and I think opportunity here is abundant. I say you continue to run both (Mastodon &amp; Threads), but try to put in a bit more time on this side to grow. Either way, good luck and I\u2019ll see what you post regardless of where it comes from!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:17:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/06\/27\/building-an-audience-threads-vs-mastodon","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/06\/27\/building-an-audience-threads-vs-mastodon","category":["technology","social","mastodon","threads","fediverse"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 6\/25\/24 13:14 EDT","description":"<p>I know <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/threads\">#threads<\/a> is a polarizing subject here on Fedi but news is news\u2026 \n<br \/><br \/>\nThreads has enabled <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/Fediverse\">#Fediverse<\/a>-bourne replies. i.e. you can now reply to federated Threads posts and those replies show up actually on Threads.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/6\/25\/24185226\/meta-threads-fediverse-likes-replies\">https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/6\/25\/24185226\/meta-threads-fediverse-likes-replies<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Kinda neat to see my Fedi profile show up natively on that platform. It even creates a clickable handle on the reply post that links to my Masto profile.<\/p>\n\n<p>You can see my reply post (and the Threads-bourne post I replied to) here <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112678293741616415\">https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112678293741616415<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.masto.host\/shellsharkssocial\/media_attachments\/files\/112\/678\/381\/861\/465\/176\/original\/d546a3afcd101ed4.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Tue, 25 Jun 2024 13:14:25 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/06\/25\/shellsharks-social-112678382154328870","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/06\/25\/shellsharks-social-112678382154328870","category":["threads","fediverse"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 5\/31\/24 13:44 EDT","description":"<p>Some weekend reads\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/IndieWeb\">#IndieWeb<\/a><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/humanewebmanifesto.com\">https:\/\/humanewebmanifesto.com<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/derekkedziora.com\/blog\/after-the-age-of-the-personal-blog?ref=feedle.world\">https:\/\/derekkedziora.com\/blog\/after-the-age-of-the-personal-blog?ref=feedle.world<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/reillyspitzfaden.com\/blog\/05-17-2024\">https:\/\/reillyspitzfaden.com\/blog\/05-17-2024<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/paulrobertlloyd.com\/2024\/136\/a1\/indieweb_principles\/\">https:\/\/paulrobertlloyd.com\/2024\/136\/a1\/indieweb_principles\/<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2024\/05\/23\/sharing-older-blog-posts\/\">https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2024\/05\/23\/sharing-older-blog-posts\/<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/birming.com\/blogging-back\/\">https:\/\/birming.com\/blogging-back\/<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/alexsci.com\/blog\/blogroll-network\/\">https:\/\/alexsci.com\/blog\/blogroll-network\/<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.claudinec.net\/posts\/2024-05-26-indieweb\/\">https:\/\/www.claudinec.net\/posts\/2024-05-26-indieweb\/<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/kangminsuk.com\/blog\/workshops\">https:\/\/kangminsuk.com\/blog\/workshops<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/why-publishers-are-preparing-to-federate-their-sites\/\">https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/why-publishers-are-preparing-to-federate-their-sites\/<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/mikegrindle.com\/posts\/surf\">https:\/\/mikegrindle.com\/posts\/surf<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/coleb.blog\/posts\/cheers-to-the-small-web\">https:\/\/coleb.blog\/posts\/cheers-to-the-small-web<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/Infosec\">#Infosec<\/a><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/lcamtuf.substack.com\/p\/im-not-cheerleading-for-the-cisa\">https:\/\/lcamtuf.substack.com\/p\/im-not-cheerleading-for-the-cisa<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.darkreading.com\/cybersecurity-operations\/rsa-2024-cisa-secure-design-pledge-necessary-toothless\">https:\/\/www.darkreading.com\/cybersecurity-operations\/rsa-2024-cisa-secure-design-pledge-necessary-toothless<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/crankysec.com\/blog\/dead\/\">https:\/\/crankysec.com\/blog\/dead\/<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/crankysec.com\/blog\/elif\/\">https:\/\/crankysec.com\/blog\/elif\/<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/tldrsec.com\/p\/dont-security-engineer-asymmetry\">https:\/\/tldrsec.com\/p\/dont-security-engineer-asymmetry<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","pubDate":"Fri, 31 May 2024 13:44:36 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/31\/shellsharks-social-112536943128381775","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/31\/shellsharks-social-112536943128381775","category":["indieweb","infosec"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 5\/23\/24 16:03 EDT","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ioc.exchange\/@ApisNecros\">@ApisNecros<\/a> Omfg \ud83d\ude02 \n<br \/><br \/>\n\u201cHey I\u2019m putting together a chipotle order, want anything?\u201d \n<br \/><br \/>\n\u201cYeah, just check out my \/chipotle\u201d \n<br \/><br \/>\n\u2728\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f Magic. \ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\u2728 \n<br \/><br \/>\nBrought to you by the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/IndieWeb\">#IndieWeb<\/a><\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Thu, 23 May 2024 16:03:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/23\/shellsharks-social-112492188832324502","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/23\/shellsharks-social-112492188832324502","category":"indieweb"},{"title":"Powered by Castopod, Hosted by K&T Host","description":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">The Shellsharks Podcast<\/a><\/strong> is <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112446624615970425\">coming back<\/a>! <em>Where did it go<\/em>? <em>Why did it go<\/em>? <em>Well<\/em>, life got a little busy, and I just didn\u2019t make time for it I suppose. I really enjoyed the first run of the podcast but never got in a sustainable groove when it came to fielding new guests for the show. I really don\u2019t want the show to be a solo operation, i.e. just me talking, and as cool as it would be to have a regular co-host, one thing I really enjoyed most about the experience was meeting with and talking to new and interesting people in and around the infosec \/ larger tech community. So this time around, my plan is to be more committed to building a pipeline of folks to come on the show and to a degree, expand what is regular topics of conversation. Notably, tying themes of infosec\/cybersecurity with that of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">indieweb<\/a>, personal web and social web.<\/p>\n\n<p>I want to add that I really appreciate those of you who subscribed the first time around and have shown interest in the show returning in the months\/years since I aired the last episode. It means a lot!<\/p>\n\n<p>But that\u2019s not all that\u2019s new about the show! Somewhat fresh off my big-time foray into the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>, the podcast is now powered by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/castopod.org\">Castopod<\/a><\/strong>! It is, in short a free and open-source solution for podcasting and notably has the ability to federate a podcast such that accounts on other federated social platforms (i.e. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a>) can follow. So when new episodes are released, it will be posted on the show\u2019s account and people can even comment on those posts!<\/p>\n\n<p>So if you\u2019re interested in listening to me chat with others in the infosec \/ tech \/ indieweb \/ social web communities, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcast.shellsharks.com\/@ShellsharksPodcast\/feed.xml\">Subscribe today<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"kt-host\">K&amp;T Host<\/h2>\n\n<p>On the matter of hosting - I\u2019m moving away from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\">Podbean<\/a> and am now hosted on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\">K&amp;T Host<\/a>. A quick note on Podbean: It is a simple, cost-effective and easy to use platform for podcast hosting. For newbies like myself to the space, it was a great experience and I would continue to recommend them to others. <em>OK<\/em>, so about a week ago <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112407298039102450\">I asked the Fediverse<\/a> if they had any opinions or experience with <a href=\"#castopod-observations\">Castopod<\/a> and to my delight, a representative from K&amp;T Host <a href=\"https:\/\/streams.knthost.com\/item\/a5b9e206-c0d7-4f8c-9a08-043c20d6eae7\">reached back out<\/a> about their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/policies\/beta-testing\">beta<\/a> offering for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\/castopod\">managed Castopod<\/a>. Now I had never heard of K&amp;T Host but decided to give the beta a try as it was free, their website looks great and their support staff seemed <em>very<\/em> engaging and responsive.<\/p>\n\n<p>Getting my account set up and the podcast initiated within the Castopod portal on K&amp;T Host was incredibly easy. There\u2019s plenty to fiddle with in the various settings menus within Castopod, but if you just want to get your show up and import episode files it couldn\u2019t be easier. The only issues I\u2019ve really encountered so far have been with Castopod itself and seemingly not with the underlying hosting infrastructure. The only small snag that I had to overcome at first was upping the max file size upload limit for podcast files as it was set way too low by default. A quick support ticket and I was able to adjust this myself by remoting into the provisioned instance and changing a config file. On the matter of K&amp;T Host support, they are <em>lightning<\/em> quick, and super helpful.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m happy with K&amp;T Host and plan to continue with them through the beta and into their public offering at which point I will be converted into a paying member. All beta testers not only receive free hosting during the beta period, but will also receive 3 months free post-beta and a 20% discount for the lifetime of the service. This sounds like an incredible deal and I would recommend anyone else curious about moving or starting a podcast with Castopod to check it out!<\/p>\n\n<p>A quick note about pricing. <a href=\"https:\/\/castopod.com\">Castopod.com<\/a>, which is the quasi-official hosting engine for Castopod powered podcasts has what I think is kinda aggressive pricing. You can see their <a href=\"https:\/\/castopod.com\/en#pricing\">pricing page here<\/a>. For reference, i was paying just over $100 ($9\/mo) at Podbean for <em>unlimited<\/em> audio. I could have gotten away with the \u20ac10\/mo option at Castopod.com for a while as I only have a backlog of ~20 episodes to move over, but it wouldn\u2019t be long until I exceeded their storage threshold and would need to move up a tier to their \u201cPodcaster\u201d tier which is priced at \u20ac24\/mo or \u20ac288\/year! Now K&amp;T Host hasn\u2019t announced official pricing for their Castopod offering, but I did ask them what I should expect and they gave me the following estimate. Spec\u2019ed with 2GB memory and 200GB of storage I would be looking at around $6.75\/mo, even cheaper than what I had with Podbean! Plus you throw in a 20% lifetime discount and 3 months free and the difference is pretty stark. Their pricing model moves up incrementally from there as your storage, processing (and maybe bandwidth) needs increase, rather than having to have huge t-shirt size jumps in pricing.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"castopod-observations\">Castopod Observations<\/h2>\n<p>I still have a lot to learn and experience with <a href=\"https:\/\/castopod.org\">Castopod<\/a> (v1.8.2) itself, but here are some observations thus far.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>It\u2019s great that I can host the show on my own (sub)domain. Instead of going to podbean.com, you can instead go to <strong>podcast.shellsharks.com<\/strong>. This is something I\u2019ve wanted from the beginning.<\/li>\n  <li>Castopod supports show permalinks, the concept of \u201cseasons\u201d, full \/ trailer \/ bonus episode-types, parental advisories, markdown-powered show notes, advanced RSS tagging capabilities and even premium\/paid episodes.<\/li>\n  <li>You can import an entire podcast from somewhere else. Unfortunately I didn\u2019t see this option until after I had already manually brought all the audio files over. <em>Oops!<\/em><\/li>\n  <li>Since Castodpod is \u201cFediverse-compatible\u201d, you can do things like block accounts and even entire domains from accessing your federated podcast profile, you can post and reply to comments, and other social things. The podcast\u2019s handle is <a href=\"https:\/\/podcast.shellsharks.com\/@ShellsharksPodcast\">@ShellsharksPodcast@podcast.shellsharks.com<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>You can also create other accounts to access the admin portal, co-host or guest profiles and more within the Castopod administrative portal.<\/li>\n  <li>Additional pages can be created on the domain for anything you would want.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasting2.org\">Podcasting 2.0<\/a> support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>I\u2019m stoked about this new era of <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">The Shellsharks Podcast<\/a> and hope you will tune in!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 16 May 2024 10:31:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/16\/powered-by-castopod-hosted-by-knt-host","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/16\/powered-by-castopod-hosted-by-knt-host","category":["technology","castopod","podcasting","fediverse","weblogpomo2024","blopomo","nosearch"]},{"title":"One of us","description":"<p>I recently came across <a href=\"https:\/\/so1o.xyz\/blog\/3-body-problem\">this post<\/a> where the author laments that the <em>IndieWeb<\/em> is \u201cnot for them\u201d, simply because of their inability to implement <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Webmention\">Webmentions<\/a> and thus (as they put it) the \u201c<em>IndieWeb is a social club for developers<\/em>\u201d only. (See also <a href=\"https:\/\/mattpierce.info\/smol-web\">this one<\/a> with respect to not feeling part of the \u201c<em>community<\/em>\u201d.)<\/p>\n\n<p>Let me be extremely clear. You do <strong>not<\/strong> need Webmentions to be part of the \u201cIndieWeb\u201d. The only real \u201crequirement\u201d, if you want to think of it that way, is to just have your own site on your own domain where you put your own stuff. <em>That\u2019s it<\/em>. How you make it look, what you put on there, what fancy <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb.org<\/a> \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/building_blocks\">building blocks<\/a>\u201d you decide to implement, doesn\u2019t make your site any more or less \u201cIndieWeb\u201d than any other.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">Indieweb.org<\/a> is a great resource. But I fear that for as much good as it does, it can do equal harm. On the surface, Indieweb.org has a fantastic message.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <h6 id=\"what-is-the-indieweb\">What is the IndieWeb?<\/h6>\n  <p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/IndieWeb\">IndieWeb<\/a> is a people-focused alternative to the \u201ccorporate web\u201d.<\/p>\n\n  <p><strong>It is a community of independent and personal websites<\/strong> connected by <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/building_blocks\">open standards<\/a> and based on the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/principles\">principles<\/a> of: owning your domain and using it as your primary online identity, publishing &gt; on your own site first (optionally elsewhere), and owning your content.<\/p>\n\n  <h5 id=\"your-content-is-yours\">Your content is yours<\/h5>\n  <p>When you post something on the web, it should <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/own_your_data\">belong to you<\/a>, not a corporation. Too many companies have gone out of business and <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/site-deaths\">lost all of their users\u2019 data<\/a>. By joining the IndieWeb, your content stays yours and in your control.<\/p>\n\n  <h5 id=\"you-are-better-connected\">You are better connected<\/h5>\n  <p>Your articles and status messages can <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/POSSE\">be distributed to any platform<\/a>, not just one, allowing you to engage with everyone. Replies and likes on other services can <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/backfeed\">come back to your site<\/a> so they\u2019re all in one place.<\/p>\n\n  <h5 id=\"you-are-in-control\">You are in control<\/h5>\n  <p>You can post anything you want, in any format you want, with no one monitoring you. In addition, you share simple readable links such as example.com\/ideas. These links are <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/permalinks\">permanent<\/a> and will always work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>The message is simple. The IndieWeb is about people. It\u2019s about owning your own domain and putting your stuff there. Great! But just below the surface, as you start to click on some of the links, IndieWeb.org begins to preach <em>complexity<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/IndieAuth\">IndieAuth<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Webmention\">Webmention<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Micropub\">Micropub<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/WebSub\">WebSub<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Microsub\">Microsub<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/building_blocks\">building blocks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/microformats\">microformats<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/backfeed\">backfeeds<\/a>, etc\u2026 These convolutions are niche, techno-aristocratic IndieWeb fever dreams which discourage and alienate those desperate to break from corporate web-silos and start anew on a simpler, more human web. <em>Ignore them<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112439599766932021\">note<\/a> on \u201ccommunity\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>If you are reading this, or you have a personal site, you are already part of it. Full stop. You don\u2019t need to be shy. You have things to say and people WANT to listen, they want to read, they want to connect. You don\u2019t have to be an \u201cinfluencer\u201d or have a big following. Your writing doesn\u2019t need to be AMAZING. You don\u2019t need to write to an audience. Write for yourself. Then share it. People will be interested I promise you. The <em>#indieweb<\/em> revival is here and you are 100% invited! Tell your friends.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><em>So<\/em>, hopefully this message can make it out to those who need to hear it\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>You want to be part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>? Be <strong>one of us<\/strong>? Get a domain. Put your site on it. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/01\/be-yourself\">Be yourself<\/a>. Because <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/17\/having-a-website-is-about-you\">the IndieWeb is about you<\/a>.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 14 May 2024 09:12:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/14\/one-of-us","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/14\/one-of-us","category":["technology","indieweb","blogging","weblogpomo2024","blopomo"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 5\/7\/24 09:13 EDT","description":"<p>In response to recent <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/weblogpomo2024\">#weblogpomo2024<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/indieweb\">#indieweb<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/blogging\">#blogging<\/a> posts introducing the \/interests and \/nope pages, I want to debut my own top-level \/PAGE - \/chipotle!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/chipotle\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/chipotle<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Yep! If anyone wants to know my usual Chipotle order then look no further, this has got ya covered. I encourage others to join the movement and share your own order at <YourDomain>\/chipotle! \ud83d\ude04<\/YourDomain><\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Tue, 07 May 2024 09:13:47 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/07\/shellsharks-social-112399982743407003","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/07\/shellsharks-social-112399982743407003","category":["weblogpomo2024","indieweb","blogging"]},{"title":"Be yourself.","description":"<p>I really enjoyed reading <a href=\"https:\/\/library.xandra.cc\/the-small-way\/\">this piece<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/tilde.zone\/@xandra\">alexandra<\/a> \ud83e\udde1. The <em>#indieweb<\/em> is a place to <strong>be yourself<\/strong>, and find others who are, <em>well<\/em>.. who THEY are. Forget about likes, forget about follower counts, forget about page views. I have found, both in my own experience writing on my site as well as in my journey exploring other sites across the \u201cindieweb\u201d that it\u2019s people being truly <em>genuine<\/em> in both their writing and their style that brings life back to the web.<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<p>Before \u201cshellsharks\u201d, I tried and failed a few times at starting a \u201cblog\u201d \/ website. Though I could probably point to a few reasons why those projects never took off, I think the root cause was ultimately me writing for someone else, rather than just for <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/17\/having-a-website-is-about-you#title\">myself<\/a>. Putting ridiciulous expectations on writing cadence \/ content, or boxing myself into a specific \u201cniche\u201d, <em>whatever<\/em>. It made the process of building the site and writing <em>very<\/em> inauthentic and just, <em>not fun<\/em>. Once I let all that go, and started writing for <em>me<\/em>, that\u2019s when it stuck. Though I\u2019ve had lulls over the years, I\u2019ve continually come back to it, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/15\/shellsharks-a-visual-history\">re-styled<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/architecture\">re-architected<\/a>, added <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist\">things<\/a>, and just wrote. I don\u2019t limit myself in what I write about either, and though I have been fortunate to develop somewhat of an \u201caudience\u201d over time, I don\u2019t write <em>for<\/em> them per say. I write about what I\u2019m interested in and it just so happens that others are interested in those same things! I think you\u2019ll find that you would be hard-pressed to have interests that are not shared by at least a few other people somewhere out in the world and on the Internet, it\u2019s a weird and diverse place afterall.<\/p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> is also uniquely <em>un-algorithmic<\/em>. In a world where everyone has turned \u201cinfluencer\u201d, and every social interface, even <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a>, is tuned and swayed by black-box algos, like counts and boosts, your \u201cpersonal\u201d site can be a haven. One of no-pressure idea sharing, brain dumping, therapeutic writing, really whatever you want it to be. Though Google captures some site analytics for me, I very rarely log into that console and look at things. I don\u2019t have really any telemetry which tells me how popular my site or any given post is. I share things on the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> and occasionally get some nice replies. Other times I am mentioned in other places on social media wherein someone was inspired or otherwise liked something I wrote. These are good feelings, but I don\u2019t chase it. My site isn\u2019t monetized, my career \/ livelihood doesn\u2019t depend on post performance, page views or ads. I just write, publish, share - then <em>repeat<\/em>. I encourage others to follow this same formula. Just be yourself.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 01 May 2024 09:11:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/01\/be-yourself","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/01\/be-yourself","category":["technology","blogging","indieweb","blopomo","weblogpomo2024"]},{"title":"WeblogPoMo 2024","description":"<p>Last year, I participated in my very first <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/01\/nablopomo-2023\">NaBloPoMo<\/a>, whereby I attempted to post some writing\/content on my site each day for the entire month of November. This year, I have discovered a new blog-posting-month, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/weblog.anniegreens.lol\/weblog-posting-month-2024\">WeblogPoMo<\/a><\/strong> which is pretty much the same thing, just in May. So, I have decided to embark upon another daily posting journey, you can see I am listed as one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/weblog.anniegreens.lol\/weblog-posting-month-2024\/participators\">WeblogPoMo 2024 Participators<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>As I publish throughout the month, I will maintain a list of each piece below.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/01\/be-yourself\">Be yourself.<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/02\/ranking-fry-cuts\">Ranking fry cuts<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/roasting-recruiter-emails\">HIRING::::URGENT!::SECURITYSPECIALIST:::REMOTE<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/interests\">\/Interests<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/05\/favorite-movies\">Favorite movies<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-lost-friends\">An Ode to Lost Friends<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/chipotle\">\/Chipotle<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/08\/crystal-six\">Crystal Six<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogging-methodology\">Blogging Methodology<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/10\/songs-i-was-feelin-2020\">Songs I was feelin\u2019 in 2020<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/csc-at-home-part-1\">CSC at Home (Part 1): Hardware Inventory and Control<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/csc-at-home-part-2\">CSC at Home (Part 2): Software Inventory and Control<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/csc-at-home-part-3\">CSC at Home (Part 3): Vulnerability Management<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/14\/one-of-us\">One of us<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/15\/nostalgia-music\">Nostalgia Music<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/16\/powered-by-castopod-hosted-by-knt-host\">Powered by Castopod, Hosted by K&amp;T Host<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/trying-harder-web-300\">Trying Harder: A Live OSWE Memoir<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/18\/mission-control-snapshot\">Mission Control snapshot<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/19\/bowsers-crimes\">Bowser\u2019s crimes<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/20\/36-things\">36 things<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/21\/ctf-vs-enterprise-security\">CTF vs Enterprise Security<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/22\/r7-attack-intel-report-2024\">R7 Attack Intel Report 2024: A few takeaways<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/23\/stracting-myself\">Stracting myself<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/24\/podcasting-steps\">Podcasting steps<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><em>Memorial Day Break!<\/em><\/li>\n  <li><em>Memorial Day Break!<\/em><\/li>\n  <li><em>Memorial Day Break!<\/em><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/slashes\">\/Slashes<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/captains-log\/2024\/05\/29\/log\">Captain\u2019s Log, Entry: May 29, 2024<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/30\/5-years\">5 years<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/05\/31\/weblogpomo-2024-retro\">WeblogPoMo 2024 Retro<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p><em>Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/beep.town\/@Pomo\/112361146113879968\">@Pomo@beep.town<\/a> to see content from across the web-logpomo!<\/em><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 30 Apr 2024 08:38:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/30\/weblogpomo-2024","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/30\/weblogpomo-2024","category":["technology","blogging","indieweb","blopomo","weblogpomo2024"]},{"title":"Fediroll","description":"<p>I\u2019m pumped that <em>#blogroll<\/em>\u2019s are back but in the spirit of sharing follow recommendations for folks on the <em>#fediverse<\/em>, not just the <em>#indieweb<\/em>, I wanted to introduce the idea of a <strong>#fediroll<\/strong>. This is simply your shortlist of accounts you love and would recommend others follow! Here\u2019s my starting 10 below (<em>there\u2019s many more I\u2019d like to add in the future<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mkultra.monster\/@cmdr_nova\">@cmdr_nova@mkultra.monster<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/social.wake.st\/@liaizon\">@liaizon@social.wake.st<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dmv.community\/@jcrabapple\">@jcrabapple@dmv.community<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.town\/@mttaggart\">@mttaggart@infosec.town<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Some added context - I see a lot of people new to Mastodon who ask, \u201c<em>Hey I\u2019m new here who should I follow?<\/em>\u201d, and up until recently I\u2019ve been directing them to my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">blogroll<\/a> since I have Fediverse handles included there for those behind the blogs I enjoy. But there are many others on the Fediverse that are great that don\u2019t also have an active website presence. For those folks, a different \u201croll\u201d was needed.<\/p>\n\n<p>You may also notice that many of those on this list I don\u2019t directly follow with my main <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">@shellsharks@shellsharks.social<\/a> Fediverse account. This is because I follow them on other <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">alt accounts<\/a> that aren\u2019t more dedicated to infosec. I\u2019ve written a bit about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/07\/06\/split-social-personalities\">why I run multiple accounts<\/a> on social media before for those interested.<\/p>\n\n<p>The <strong>Fediroll<\/strong> is something I will continually add to and maintain, keeping it pinned in my Mastodon profile as well. Would be awesome to see this become something more widely adopted as blogrolls have started to be.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:21:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/22\/fediroll","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/22\/fediroll","category":["technology","fediverse","list"]},{"title":"Having a website isn't about blogging, it's about you","description":"<p>A lot of people choose <u>not<\/u> to have a website because they believe they have <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/13\/you-have-something-to-say-someone-will-listen\">nothing to put there<\/a>. I believe they think this because they equate \u201chaving a website\u201d with \u201chaving a <em>blog<\/em>\u201d. But this isn\u2019t the case! An <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> site for example is nothing more than having your own domain where you have published <em>something<\/em> to it. That <em>something<\/em> could be <strong>anything<\/strong>! Sure, a lot of websites do have some sort of \u201cblog\u201d component where the site owner publishes new content at some interval but this is not a required characteristic for a website. There is in fact <em>a lot<\/em> of really fun things you can do with a website without ever needing to post content in \u201cblog\u201d format. In fact, the IndieWeb itself is not about blogging, it\u2019s about you.<\/p>\n\n<p>So what can we put on a website if not a blog? Blogging is afterall, time consuming and expectation-laden. So instead, let\u2019s do some simpler, more fun things that I believe almost anyone has to share.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong>About<\/strong>: Start with an \u201cabout\u201d page! There is no standard format, just write whatever you want to share about who you are, what you like, what the site is about, really anything!<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Blogroll<\/strong>: A \u201cblogroll\u201d is a simple page meant to share and link to other sites on the web that you like. If you\u2019re on the Internet, there has <em>got<\/em> to be places you enjoy going. Typically this focuses on other indie sites but you\u2019re free to share whatever you like!<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Ideas<\/strong>: An \u201cideas\u201d page (typically located at <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">[site]\/ideas<\/code>) is also a simple concept. Just list any ideas you have for your site, for other projects you have, for things in your life or just ideas in general. There is again, no real format. Just what ideas do you have!<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Notes<\/strong>*: A \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/note\">note<\/a>\u201d is basically just any short piece of writing. Notes are to a site, what a post is to a microbloging site like Mastodon or Twitter. The idea is that any silly little 10 word post that you might drop on social media you could also publish as a \u201cnote\u201d on your site. So consider instead of having traditional full-length \u201cblog\u201d posts, you could instead microblog directly on your site. Publish whatever you like, no matter how long it is. It doesn\u2019t need to be well-researched or even coherent. It is your site and you can just note things into the Internet void. The concept of a note allows people to effectively \u201cblog\u201d without all the expectation that comes with normal blogging.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Now<\/strong>: A \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nownownow.com\/about\">now<\/a>\u201d page is probably one of the best IndieWeb additions to a site that <em>anyone<\/em> can do. A now page (typically located at <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">[site]\/now<\/code>) is a place for you to write about or list just things you are up to currently. What are you listening to, working on, reading, watching, learning, thinking about, or just \u201cdoing\u201d in general. Everyone is doing <em>something<\/em>, so you can just put it on this page! It isn\u2019t really meant to be serious so there is no real expectation. Just a fun thing to do.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Social Links<\/strong>: A simple feature for an IndieWeb site. Just put some links to other places you exist on the web. Social media sites, email, whatever!<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Uses<\/strong>: A \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/uses.tech\/\">uses<\/a>\u201d page is where you share anything you are using. What software, what tools, what kitchen appliances, literally anything. Everyone uses things, so you can write about them or simply list them out here! (A Uses page is typically located at <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">[site]\/uses<\/code>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>So as you can see, even without a blog, you can share a rich set of <em>things<\/em> on a personal site. You can update these single pages when you feel like it, and make them uniquely yours as none of them really have any expected format. Make the site yours, the web is ours.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"containbox\">\nIf you've gone ahead and made your site but are looking for more inspiration or things to do, you could read about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">why I blog<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist\">list of other things<\/a> to add to your site, using your site as your <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/16\/your-website-your-identity\">identity<\/a>, other website <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">content types<\/a> and really all other things I write about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=blogging\">blogging<\/a>. Have fun!\n<\/div>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 17 Apr 2024 09:09:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/17\/having-a-website-is-about-you","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/17\/having-a-website-is-about-you","category":["technology","indieweb","blogging"]},{"title":"Nostr vs. Mastodon","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/njump.me\/npub1wmr34t36fy03m8hvgl96zl3znndyzyaqhwmwdtshwmtkg03fetaqhjg240\">@Rabble<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/nostr.org\">Nostr<\/a> advocate and developer recently posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/njump.me\/nevent1qqsfqlx6wpl5267tmnmmjk7v9tzunjvhzav9unc2tjn6k0w82vghprspp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqppamhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5qjxamnwvaz7tmswfhhs7fdv4u8qetjd9kk2mn59ehkuun9dejx2u3wvdhk6qg5waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxgctdw4eju6t0qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqgkwaehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3ezucnpdejqz9rhwden5te0wfjkccte9ehx7um5wghxyecprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wdmksetjv5hxxmmdqyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnswf5k6ctv9ehx2aqzypmvwx4w8fy378v7a3ruhgt7y2wd5sgn5zamde4wzamdwep7989050c3ard\">list of shortcomings<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/activitypub\/\">ActivityPub<\/a> as it relates to Nostr. [<a href=\"https:\/\/mostr.pub\/objects\/907cda707f456bcbdcf7b95bcc2ac5c9c99717585e4f0a5ca7ab3dc75311708e\">1<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n<p>Intro to the post below\u2026<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>In part of our launch of the Creator and Journalism Accelerators note1z866al6xs9xhnlqgwt0lkxr9lrynstyc52ls29sej96hfxpwxzws5u3m9u some people have asked why we\u2019re doing this on Nostr and not ActivityPub and the Fediverse. It\u2019s a good question, and the answer for me is about the way both the protocols and the culture of the people creating them work. I wrote this out here in a reply, but it deserves it\u2019s own post. So here\u2019s my why Nostr instead of Mastodon &amp; ActivityPub.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s his list of things that he believes are shortcomings of Mastodon &amp; ActivityPub\u2026 (<em>I\u2019ve numbered them to more easily address them later.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>There are a lot of things that Mastodon &amp; ActivityPub can\u2019t do.<\/p>\n  <ol>\n    <li>User identities are tied to a server; if the server goes down, you lose your account, as happened when queer.af had their domain name seized.<\/li>\n    <li>Users can\u2019t migrate between servers. In some servers there\u2019s a system where they can request a migration, where they can stop using one account and point their followers to a new account, but server admins need to allow this, and your followers don\u2019t automatically follow your new identity on a new server.<\/li>\n    <li>On a single server, it is impossible to change your username!<\/li>\n    <li>Fediverse servers have total control over your account and data; they can see all of your private messages or write new ones on your behalf.<\/li>\n    <li>The fediverse is a network of fiefdoms, each server admin having total control over their users. Often they are benevolent and use their power to decide what behavior is acceptable on their server, but it\u2019s opaque. Most fediverse server admins keep their moderation and defederation decisions secret. So, users must choose a trust and safety regime without any understanding of the rules and how they\u2019re enforced. When combined with the very limited ability to migrate between servers, only with server admin\u2019s permission, it\u2019s a problem.<\/li>\n    <li>Each kind of fediverse server is isolated. You can use a Peertube instance to federate with other Peertubes for video, or Mobilizon for meetup-style events, or Pixelfed for Instagram-like photo sharing, or WriteFreely for blogs. But each of these is isolated. I need a new account on an instance of each of these servers. They all run the same protocol, but they aren\u2019t actually interoperable. You can\u2019t use a single fediverse identity with your profile and followers in Peertube, Mobilizon, WriteFreely, and Pixelfed. You need a totally separate account in each one. With Nostr, you can use dozens of apps all with your same identity, content, and followers.<\/li>\n    <li>The fediverse has no privacy; there is no system of end-to-end encrypted messaging. In Nostr, you can have private direct messages and even private groups that are encrypted. Nostr even supports encrypted private file sharing.<\/li>\n    <li>The fediverse has no system for micropayments. The zaps on Nostr enable easy ways to fund creators and journalists with either one-off tips or subscriptions to unlock paid content, like paid Substack newsletters or OF accounts.<\/li>\n    <li>Lastly, and most importantly for me, the culture of fediverse server admins and developers is vindictive. It\u2019s a community that attacks people who make proposals or want to try out new ways of using the network. That is why there is no search, no ability to choose an algorithm, no private groups, no private messages, no system for payments, etc. Those have all been proposed or even built, but the fediverse culture has gone after those people, punishing them for suggesting new ways of doing things.<\/li>\n  <\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Here are my thoughts on what Rabble said\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>Agreed. This is known weakness, though what happened with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/2\/12\/24071036\/queer-af-mastodon-taliban-shut-down-afghanistan\">queer.af<\/a> is certainly an anomaly. You can also mitigate this in other ways such as A. running your own server, B. choosing a more established\/stable instance and\/or C. deploying a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hanselman.com\/blog\/use-your-own-user-domain-for-mastodon-discoverability-with-the-webfinger-protocol-without-hosting-a-server\">Webfinger redirect<\/a> to have your domain point to whatever your Fediverse instance handle is.<\/li>\n  <li>This is false. Mastodon, and many other Fediverse platforms <u>do allow<\/u> migration of an account to another server and the protocol has the ability to migrate your followers as well. Now that migration process <em>is<\/em> somewhat clunky but it DOES work.<\/li>\n  <li>I\u2019ve never tried this, but it seems like a pretty small detail. I can change my display name if I want to though \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f.<\/li>\n  <li>Agreed. ActivityPub and DMs on AP platforms is <em>not<\/em> secure.<\/li>\n  <li>Agreed. There <em>are<\/em> many awesome servers that are run either as a community or by really great teams of admins\/moderators. Others though, not so much.<\/li>\n  <li>This is debateable. The beauty of AP <em>is<\/em> the cross-platform experience I can get in terms of following and interacting with accounts on other services. Plus, with \u201csign-in-with-Mastodon\u201d there is even more ability to have a single account across multiple apps.<\/li>\n  <li>Agreed. Though, social apps may not be the <em>best<\/em> mediums for \u201cprivacy\u201d to begin with.<\/li>\n  <li>LoL. I don\u2019t know what a <a href=\"https:\/\/nostr.how\/en\/zaps\">Zap<\/a> is, but if it\u2019s anything \u201ccrypto\u201d related, it\u2019s hard to take it seriously here. Setting aside whether the entire cryptocurrency \u201cthing\u201d is a huge grift or not, I can at least comfortably state that its at best volatile in terms of popularity and still not mainstream enough where most would want to rely on it in this context.<\/li>\n  <li><em>Culture<\/em>. This is an interesting debate point. Mastodon has millions of users and yes, there is a very opinionated minority that is somewhat reflexive and defensive for many reasons. But Mastodon, and the wider Fediverse (now especially thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.fb.com\/2024\/03\/21\/networking-traffic\/threads-has-entered-the-fediverse\/\">Threads<\/a>) is incredibly diverse and that one group hardly speaks for the masses. Nostr on the other hand has been extremely mono-culture, that culture of course being weird Crypto-folks. I like Nostr, I think the tech is cool and the benefits for <em>some<\/em> are clear, but unless that community can outgrow the weird crypto-culture and make other parts of the service more \u201capproachable\u201d to regular folks, I don\u2019t think it can take off in any meaningful way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>Also read <a href=\"https:\/\/evanp.me\/2024\/04\/14\/responses-to-rabble-on-activitypub\/\">Evan Prodroumou\u2019s retort<\/a>.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 15 Apr 2024 12:17:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/15\/nostr-vs-mastodon","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/15\/nostr-vs-mastodon","category":["technology","fediverse","social","nostr"]},{"title":"The joy of incremental website improvements","description":"<p>I\u2019ve been thinking about this post <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2024\/03\/04\/incremental-website-improvements-joy\/\">https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2024\/03\/04\/incremental-website-improvements-joy\/<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.social\/@capjamesg\">@capjamesg@indieweb.social<\/a> and it just really hits home. My site has been around nearly 5 years and in that time I have gone through very active periods in terms of working on \/ writing for the site and very much inactive periods. But to see it <em>now<\/em>, knowing where it was 5 years ago is an immense source of pride and getting from there to here, 733 commits later, has been nothing less than real joy - one little change at a time.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>#indieweb<\/em><\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:51:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/11\/the-joy-of-incremental-website-improvements","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/11\/the-joy-of-incremental-website-improvements","category":["technology","indieweb","blogging","nosearch"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 4\/11\/24 00:09 EDT","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/scicomm.xyz\/@ratika\">@ratika<\/a> In some ways yes. But, the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/indieweb\">#indieweb<\/a> has been for me, a real breath of fresh air. Heck, I spend most of my time on the Internet these days on my own site (or my own social). It\u2019s literally home. Home is good.<\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:09:41 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/11\/shellsharks-social-112250623181571060","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/11\/shellsharks-social-112250623181571060","category":"indieweb"},{"title":"shellsharks.social 4\/10\/24 15:02 EDT","description":"<p>Alright, me creating the \u201cActivity\u201d feed on my site really kicked off a bunch of other things I\u2019ve wanted to do\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Activity feed ( <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity<\/a>) now features <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/devlog\">#devlog<\/a> posts<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Changelogs are bucketed weekly and visible inline in the Activity feed<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Devlog content series is now live ( <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog<\/a>)<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Devlog 1 published: <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/initialization\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/initialization<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I have a new RSS feed for devlogs and an \u201call content\u201d RSS feed for those who are crazy enough to sub to everything I write<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/indieweb\">#indieweb<\/a><\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Wed, 10 Apr 2024 15:02:09 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/10\/shellsharks-social-112248470238499093","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/10\/shellsharks-social-112248470238499093","category":["devlog","indieweb"]},{"title":"A Multiplicity of Writing","description":"<p>On this site, I write and publish in a variety of different forms. Here I describe what these different <a href=\"#content-types\">content types<\/a> are and how \/ why I use them across the site. Multiple different post \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/posts#Types_of_Posts\">types<\/a>\u2019 is an important characteristic of an <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> site. <em>Elsewhere<\/em>, I cover my approach to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy\">syndication<\/a> (i.e. <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/POSSE\">POSSE<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a>), wherein I describe my methodology for sharing and canonicalizing content across the web.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"content-types\">Content Types<\/h2>\n<p>My writing here is published in a variety of different formats. A list of these formats is provided below.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-note\"><\/i> <a href=\"#notes\">Notes<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-notebook\"><\/i> <a href=\"#captain-logs\">Captain Logs<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-article\"><\/i> <a href=\"#posts\">Posts<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-microphone\"><\/i> <a href=\"#podcasts\">Podcasts<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-code-block\"><\/i> <a href=\"#devlogs\">Devlogs<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-link\"><\/i> <a href=\"#links\">Links<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-scroll\"><\/i> <a href=\"#scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-browser\"><\/i> <a href=\"#other-pages\">Other Pages<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>All of this content is (<em>for the most part<\/em>) aggregated and displayed chronologically in the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">Activity feed<\/a>. You can subscribe to most everything here via <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">RSS feeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"notes\">Notes<\/h3>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">Notes<\/a><\/strong> are an <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/note\">IndieWeb concept<\/a> for short-form posts, typically sourced from, or syndicated-to, micro-blogging platforms such as <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/instagram\/788669719351544\/\">Threads<\/a>. I use notes in the following ways\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>A repository for reverse-<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy\">syndicated<\/a> social media (microblog) posts (i.e. Mastodon)<\/li>\n  <li>Other types of short-form content (<em>typically &lt;1000 characters<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>So when does a social media post qualify as something I want to archive on my site as a note? To be honest, it\u2019s somewhat subjective and there is no clear methodology. If I think it is something that I tend to repeat, I will likely try to capture it so I can just share a link to the note in the future. If it is something that becomes noteworthy from a virality or engagement perspective (i.e. receives a lot of comments, boosts, likes), I might capture it as a note. For responses that would require &gt;500 characters, I may capture it as a note and then link to it in my social media reply. There is a conscious decision to <em>NOT<\/em> capture EVERY public post\/reply as a note on my site as that would be, A. cumbersome and, B. of little future value. My site is as much, if not more, a reference for me as it is a place where others can read my writing. As such, memorializing <em>everything<\/em> I post out on the web is just not useful to index.<\/p>\n\n<p>Notes tend to be my most-used content type and a place where I feel a bit more uninhibited in terms of what I write about. As an example, in my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/01\/nablopomo-2023\">NaBloPoMo 2023 series<\/a>, I captured <em>most<\/em> of my writing as notes, and the subjects I wrote about were as a majority, non-tech and non-infosec. In this way, I can avoid cluttering my longer-form, traditional <a href=\"#posts\">blog post<\/a> feed.<\/p>\n\n<p>Notes live in the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">Notebook<\/a>\u201d, which I\u2019ve styled to look much like a social micro-blogging feed\/timeline. Each individual <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/permalink\">perma-linked<\/a> note has also been styled to look like a social media post complete with avatar, @ handle, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve even devised a way to display social-media-post-style \u201ccards\u201d inline throughout my site. One such card is shown below.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"max-width:650px; margin: auto; font-size:.85em;\">\n\n<article class=\"post h-entry\">\n\n    <div id=\"ncard\" class=\"containbox\" style=\"margin:auto; position:relative; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom:20px; width:100%; background-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--mastodon-color) 10%, var(--background-color));\">\n      \n      \n        <div style=\"float:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\" class=\"p-author\"><img class=\"profilepic\" src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.amazonaws.com\/surfshark.png\" width=\"60\" alt=\"author-image\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n        <div style=\"float:left;\"><span id=\"author\" style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Mike Sass<\/span><br \/><span id=\"handle\" style=\"color:var(--light-font-color);\">@shellsharks<\/span><\/div>\n      \n      <div style=\"float:right;padding:10px 0px 0px 0px;\"><i class=\"ph ph-clock-counter-clockwise\" title=\"Backdated\"><\/i> <i class=\"ph ph-calendar-dot\"><\/i> <span id=\"date\" style=\"font-size:0.75em;\" class=\"dt-published\">11\/17\/22 08:11<\/span><\/div><br \/><br \/><br \/>\n    \n      <div class=\"post-content e-content\">\n      <p>\u201cIf you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are on Mastodon, and not on Twitter!\u201d - <em>Mastodonius Decimus Meridius<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>#Gladiator is the best movie of all time. I can\u2019t be convinced otherwise.<\/p>\n\n      <\/div>\n      <div style=\"bottom:-5px; text-align:right;font-size:0.75em;\"><i class=\"ph ph-pencil\"><\/i> 45<\/div>\n    \n    <hr style=\"opacity:35%;margin-top: 10px;margin-bottom: 10px;width:75%;\" \/>\n\n    <div id=\"info\" class=\"wrapper\">\n      <div class=\"box 1\" style=\"background-color:color-mix(in srgb, var(--mastodon-color) 10%, var(--background-color));\">\n    \n    \n    <div><i class=\"ph ph-map-pin-area\" title=\"Posted from\"><\/i> <span id=\"posted-from\" style=\"font-size:0.75em;\">Metatext<\/span><\/div>\n    \n    \n      <div><i class=\"ph ph-broadcast\"><\/i><span style=\"font-size:0.75em;\"> Syndication:<\/span><\/div>\n      <div style=\"font-size:1.5em;\"><span id=\"syndicate-to\">\n      \n      <span style=\"padding:0px 3px 0px 3px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\/109359547429626251\"><i class=\"ph ph-mastodon-logo\" title=\"Mastodon\"><\/i><\/a><\/span>\n      \n      <\/span><\/div>\n    \n  <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"box2\" style=\"bottom:0;\">\n    <div style=\"text-align:right; padding:5px 5px 5px 5px;\"><a class=\"u-url\" href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2022\/11\/17\/gladiator\"><i class=\"ph ph-link\" title=\"Permalink\"><\/i><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\"><i class=\"ph ph-book-open\" title=\"Notebook\"><\/i><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-house\" title=\"Home\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n    <div style=\"font-size:0.75em;color:var(--light-font-color);padding:5px 5px 0px 5px;text-align:right;\"><i class=\"ph ph-tag\"><\/i> \n    \n        <span id=\"tags\" style=\"padding:0px 3px 0px 3px;\">#life<\/span>\n      \n        <span id=\"tags\" style=\"padding:0px 3px 0px 3px;\">#movies<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n    \n  <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n  \n  <\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<style>\n    .wrapper {\n    display: grid;\n    grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;\n    }\n    img {max-width:100%}\n  <\/style>\n\n<h3 id=\"captain-logs\">Captain Logs<\/h3>\n\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/captains-log\">Captain\u2019s Log<\/a><\/strong> is essentially a personal journal\/diary. It is <em>very<\/em> informal and covers a range of more personal topics such as what I\u2019m learning, gadgets, fitness, TV\/movies, gaming, investing, parenthood, traveling, and life in general. I also tend to have other Shellsharks community\/site meta-commentary. Some of these topics are captured in the more ephemeral <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/now\">\/Now<\/a> page, but the logs themselves serve kinda as <strong>\/then<\/strong> views (a <em>\/then<\/em> is an <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@sass\/112221427615760946\">idea<\/a> for archiving \/now pages at specific points in time). Captain\u2019s log entries are <em>typically<\/em> published monthly as digests without too much structure beyond some sections and bulleted lists.<\/p>\n\n<p>These logs allow me to revisit previous months of my life to remember what I was up to. For anyone out there who wants to get a little more personal perspective on me\u2014that\u2019s what this can do. I\u2019ve been journaling in this way since <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/captains-log\/2021\/03\/02\/log\">March 2021<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<p>Log entries are somewhat boringly displayed in a bulleted list on the main <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/captains-log\">\/captains-log<\/a> page.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"posts\">Posts<\/h3>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">Posts<\/a><\/strong> are traditional, long-form content. Much like <a href=\"#notes\">notes<\/a>, topics can include pretty much anything (i.e. Infosec, Technology, Life), but they tend to be more structured and well-researched.<\/p>\n\n<p>I find myself waffling sometimes on whether something I publish should be a note or a post and I\u2019m <em>sure<\/em> I\u2019ve \u201cnoted\u201d things that honestly should have been \u201cposted\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"podcasts\">Podcasts<\/h3>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">Podcasts<\/a><\/strong> are pretty self-explanatory. For now, all podcast episodes are captured on the site on a single page in a bulleted list.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>NOTE<\/strong>: The Shellsharks Podcast is on an indefinite hiatus. An archive of the episodes is likely still available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. My podcast hosting service is now defunct and I am looking to stand up Castopod again somewhere else. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"devlogs\">Devlogs<\/h3>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\">Devlogs<\/a><\/strong> are where I write about my journey working on and developing this site, as well as any other <span class=\"shellsharks-com\">shellsharks<\/span>-related properties (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">podcast<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social\">Fediverse instance<\/a>, etc\u2026). I felt Devlogs need a separate, isolated space as the audience for this particular type of content is somewhat niche (e.g. IndieWeb fans, hobbyists, other bloggers, etc\u2026). They will also serve as a useful reference for myself as I often forget how\/why I did something on my site. I am notoriously bad at saving useful articles, documenting my site and leaving comments within my code. [<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/devlog\/initialization\">*<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"links\">Links<\/h3>\n\n<p><strong>Links<\/strong>, shared via the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/linklog\">Linklog<\/a>, are a simple way for me to share links to articles\/sites that I think are cool. I\u2019ve seen other indie sites do this and I <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hyperlink-travel\">love<\/a> the idea of making my site more social and interconnected, while also promoting good stuff I discover as I surf the wider Internet.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"scrolls\">Scrolls<\/h3>\n\n<p><b><span class=\"shellsharks\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\">Scrolls<\/a><\/span><\/b> is a weekly newsletter \/ link roundup \/ information digest at the intersection of the IndieWeb and the Fediverse, with a splash of Cybersecurity stuff. It is published on the web on a weekly-<i>ish<\/i> cadence, completely free. Check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/scrolls\/scroll\/2026-04-17\">latest edition<\/a> and get scrollin\u2019!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"other-pages\">Other Pages<\/h3>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some other things I share on this site\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\">Changes<\/a><\/strong>: A loooong list of minute changes to the site, sectioned daily.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/uses\">\/Uses<\/a><\/strong>: Stuff that I use.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/ideas\">\/Ideas<\/a><\/strong>: Ideas that I have.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/now\">\/Now<\/a><\/strong>: What I\u2019m up to now.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">Blogroll<\/a><\/strong>: Blogs\/sites I enjoy.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/sharkweek\">&gt;Shark Week<\/a><\/strong>: A once-a-year, week-long stream of content from your favorite mildly-shark-themed infosec \/ tech \/ everything blog, coinciding with actual shark week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>There\u2019s more to discover beyond all of this too! I suggest perusing the hamburger menu on my site to start. \ud83c\udf54<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 09 Apr 2024 15:38:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing","category":["technology","indieweb","posse","pesos","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Creating an Activity Feed with Jekyll","description":"<p>In my effort to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>-ify my site, I\u2019ve created a unified <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">Activity feed<\/a><\/strong> which aggregates traditional <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">posts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">notes<\/a>, <a href=\"\\\/captains-log\">captain logs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\">changes<\/a> (<em>and more in the <a href=\"#future-versions\">future<\/a><\/em>) into a single, chronological timeline. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/08\/the-activity-feed\">1<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019d like to thank the following individuals for helping inspire my Activity feed!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mollywhite.net\/feed\">Molly White<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/\">Jason Kottke<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/aaronparecki.com\/\">Aaron Parecki<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<p><em>OK<\/em>, so how did I make this using <a href=\"https:\/\/jekyllrb.com\">Jekyll<\/a>? The first version of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">Activity feed<\/a> relies heavily on leveraging the Jekyll concept of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/jekyllrb.com\/docs\/collections\/\">Collections<\/a>\u201d. <em><a href=\"#future-versions\">Future versions<\/a> of this feed may pull in content from additional places around the site &amp; beyond using other mechanisms.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>First, I needed to get all of my various collections (i.e. notes, logs, posts, etc\u2026) into a single array. The code below uses <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">concat<\/code> to do just this. <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">site[collection.label]<\/code> translates to <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">site.notes<\/code>, <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">site.posts<\/code>, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-liquid highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\n<span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">for<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">collection<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">in<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">site<\/span><span class=\"p\">.<\/span><span class=\"nv\">collections<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n  <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">content_array<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">content_array<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">concat<\/span><span class=\"p\">:<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">site<\/span><span class=\"p\">[<\/span><span class=\"nv\">collection<\/span><span class=\"p\">.<\/span><span class=\"nv\">label<\/span><span class=\"p\">]<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n<span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">endfor<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>Following this, I needed to chronologically sort the aggregate array.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-liquid highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\n<span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">content_array<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">content_array<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">sort<\/span><span class=\"p\">:<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"date\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">reverse<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>To handle different styling for different content types, I created an <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">If\/Else<\/code> structure which iterates through the chronologically sorted content array setting some different variables for each type of content. For example, for records in the Activity feed that are \u201cnotes\u201d, they will have a different icon, different \u201cverb\u201d and different way to express the inline content summary. It determines content type by looking at the collection value for each item in the content array.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-liquid highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\n<span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">post_type<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n\n<span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">for<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">item<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">in<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">content_array<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n  \n  <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">post_type<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">item<\/span><span class=\"p\">.<\/span><span class=\"nv\">collection<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n  <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">if<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">post_type<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">==<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"notes\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">icon<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"ph ph-note\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">verb<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"Noted\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">content<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">item<\/span><span class=\"p\">.<\/span><span class=\"nv\">excerpt<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">strip_html<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">strip_newlines<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">truncatewords<\/span><span class=\"p\">:<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"mi\">50<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n  <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">elsif<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">post_type<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">==<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"captain_logs\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">icon<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"ph ph-notebook\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">verb<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"Logged\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">content<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">item<\/span><span class=\"p\">.<\/span><span class=\"nv\">excerpt<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">strip_html<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">strip_newlines<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"p\">|<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nf\">truncatewords<\/span><span class=\"p\">:<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"mi\">50<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n  <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">elsif<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">post_type<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">==<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"posts\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">icon<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"ph ph-article\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">verb<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"Posted\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n    <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">content<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">item<\/span><span class=\"p\">.<\/span><span class=\"nv\">description<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n  <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">else<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n     <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">icon<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"ph ph-chat-text\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n     <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">assign<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nv\">verb<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"o\">=<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"s2\">\"Shared\"<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n  <span class=\"cp\">{%<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"nt\">endif<\/span><span class=\"w\"> <\/span><span class=\"cp\">%}<\/span>\n\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>Finally, I need to create the structure for each record in the Activity feed. The code snippet below demonstrates this <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">div<\/code> which houses some inline styling info for per-content-type aesthetics, <a href=\"https:\/\/shopify.github.io\/liquid\/basics\/introduction\/\">Liquid<\/a> syntax for pulling content record-specific URL, title, description, publish date, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-html highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;div<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"item\"<\/span> <span class=\"na\">style=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"border-color: var(--{{item.collection}}-color); background-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--{{item.collection}}-color) 7%, var(--background-color));\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;span<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"verb\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;i<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{ icon }}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span> {{ verb }}:<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/span&gt;<\/span>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;h3&gt;&lt;a<\/span> <span class=\"na\">href=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{ item.url }}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>{{ item.title }}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/h3&gt;<\/span>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;div&gt;<\/span>{{ content }}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;span<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"date\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;i&gt;<\/span>published<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span> {{ item.date | date: '%B %e, %Y' }}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/span&gt;&lt;span<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"syndicate\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>{% if item.syndicate-to %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;i<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"ph ph-broadcast\"<\/span> <span class=\"na\">title=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"Syndication\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span> {% for dest in item.syndicate-to %}{% if dest.url %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;span<\/span> <span class=\"na\">style=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"padding:0px 5px 0px 5px;\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;a<\/span> <span class=\"na\">href=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{dest.url}}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>{% if dest.icon %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;i<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{dest.icon}}\"<\/span> <span class=\"na\">title=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{dest.name}}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span>{% else %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;i<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"ph ph-share-network\"<\/span> <span class=\"na\">title=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{dest.name}}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span>{% endif %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;<\/span>{% endif %}{% endfor %}{% endif %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/span&gt;<\/span>\n  {% if item.tags %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;div<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"tags\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>{% for tag in item.tags %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;span&gt;<\/span>#{{tag}}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/span&gt;<\/span> {% endfor %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span>{% endif %}\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span>\n\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p><strong>NOTE<\/strong>: Not described here is some of the more unique on-page CSS styling and the (very similar) div block I created to pull in the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\">Changelog<\/a> list.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"future-versions\">Future Versions<\/h2>\n<p>I have some ideas for what other types of content I may pull into this feed in the future\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>I\u2019d like to introduce a new type of content, a \u201c<strong>devlog<\/strong>\u201d - featuring specific writeups on exactly how I make changes to this site.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">Podcasts<\/a><\/strong>: I need to convert my podcast entries into a collection format. Oh and get Podcasting again!<\/li>\n  <li>I\u2019m toying with the idea of converting my gargantuan <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\">changelog<\/a><\/strong> page into a per-day or per-week collection format.<\/li>\n  <li>Bringing in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/now\">\/Now<\/a><\/strong> (or <strong>\/Then<\/strong>) content. [<a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@sass\/112221427615760946\">2<\/a>]<\/li>\n  <li>Reverse syndication of other posts around the web (i.e. Mastodon, Reddit, Bluesky, etc\u2026) directly into the feed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h2 id=\"code-appendix\">Code Appendix<\/h2>\n<p>A full pasting of the code below\u2026<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"language-html highlighter-rouge\"><div class=\"highlight\"><pre class=\"highlight\"><code>\n{% for collection in site.collections %}\n  {% assign content_array = content_array | concat: site[collection.label] %}\n{% endfor %}\n\n{% assign content_array = content_array | sort: \"date\" | reverse %}\n\n{% assign post_type = \"\" %}\n\n{% for item in content_array %}\n  \n  {% assign post_type = item.collection %}\n  {% if post_type == \"notes\" %}\n    {% assign icon = \"ph ph-note\" %}\n    {% assign verb = \"Noted\" %}\n    {% assign content = item.excerpt | strip_html | strip_newlines | truncatewords: 50 %}\n  {% elsif post_type == \"captain_logs\" %}\n    {% assign icon = \"ph ph-notebook\" %}\n    {% assign verb = \"Logged\" %}\n    {% assign content = item.excerpt | strip_html | strip_newlines | truncatewords: 50 %}\n  {% elsif post_type == \"posts\" %}\n    {% assign icon = \"ph ph-article\" %}\n    {% assign verb = \"Posted\" %}\n    {% assign content = item.description %}\n  {% else %}\n     {% assign icon = \"ph ph-chat-text\" %}\n     {% assign verb = \"Shared\" %}\n  {% endif %}\n\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;div<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"item\"<\/span> <span class=\"na\">style=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"border-color: var(--{{item.collection}}-color); background-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--{{item.collection}}-color) 7%, var(--background-color));\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;span<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"verb\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;i<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{ icon }}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span> {{ verb }}:<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/span&gt;<\/span>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;h3&gt;&lt;a<\/span> <span class=\"na\">href=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{ item.url }}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>{{ item.title }}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/h3&gt;<\/span>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;div&gt;<\/span>{{ content }}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span>\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;span<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"date\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;i&gt;<\/span>published<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span> {{ item.date | date: '%B %e, %Y' }}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/span&gt;&lt;span<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"syndicate\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>{% if item.syndicate-to %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;i<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"ph ph-broadcast\"<\/span> <span class=\"na\">title=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"Syndication\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span> {% for dest in item.syndicate-to %}{% if dest.url %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;span<\/span> <span class=\"na\">style=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"padding:0px 5px 0px 5px;\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;a<\/span> <span class=\"na\">href=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{dest.url}}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>{% if dest.icon %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;i<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{dest.icon}}\"<\/span> <span class=\"na\">title=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{dest.name}}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span>{% else %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;i<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"ph ph-share-network\"<\/span> <span class=\"na\">title=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"{{dest.name}}\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;&lt;\/i&gt;<\/span>{% endif %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;<\/span>{% endif %}{% endfor %}{% endif %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/span&gt;<\/span>\n  {% if item.tags %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;div<\/span> <span class=\"na\">class=<\/span><span class=\"s\">\"tags\"<\/span><span class=\"nt\">&gt;<\/span>{% for tag in item.tags %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;span&gt;<\/span>#{{tag}}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/span&gt;<\/span> {% endfor %}<span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span>{% endif %}\n  <span class=\"nt\">&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span>\n{% endfor %}\n\n<\/code><\/pre><\/div><\/div>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 09 Apr 2024 13:32:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/creating-an-activity-feed","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/creating-an-activity-feed","category":["technology","indieweb","jekyll","technology","blog"]},{"title":"Indieweb chat: CSS naked day & community","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/social.coop\/@eb\">@eb@social.coop<\/a> One of the things I like most about my <em>#indieweb<\/em> site is everything I\u2019ve put into its design <em>via<\/em> the CSS. To remove it seems like a cool enough flex in terms of playtesting your HTML-fu but less so (IMO) in sharing your unique, authentic self which is what makes <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">indieweb<\/a> so fun. That said, I would like to <a href=\"https:\/\/css-naked-day.github.io\">participate<\/a> in the future \ud83d\ude05.<\/p>\n\n<p>For socializing and search: Use the <em>#indieweb<\/em> and <em>#indiewebchat<\/em> tags here on Fedi. I\u2019ve documented indie search engines as well.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#explore-the-indieweb\">Explore the IndieWeb<\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 08 Apr 2024 23:03:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/08\/indieweb-chat-css-naked-day-community","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/08\/indieweb-chat-css-naked-day-community","category":["technology","indieweb","nosearch"]},{"title":"The Activity feed","description":"<p>Pushing further into <em>#indieweb<\/em> *stuff*, I\u2019ve just published <code>v1<\/code> of my \u201c<strong>Activity<\/strong>\u201d feed, a unified chronological timeline featuring all of my site <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">notes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">posts<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/_captain_logs\/\">logs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>In the future, I\u2019d like to bring in some other content from around the web as well (e.g. other Mastodon posts, Lemmy discussions, etc\u2026)<\/p>\n\n<p>This feed was inspired by the following sites\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mollywhite.net\/feed\">https:\/\/www.mollywhite.net\/feed<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\">https:\/\/kottke.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/aaronparecki.com\">https:\/\/aaronparecki.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Thanks! (<em>cc<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@molly0xfff\">@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/saturation.social\/@jkottke\">@jkottke@saturation.social<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronparecki.com\/aaronpk\">@aaronpk@aaronparecki.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 08 Apr 2024 12:54:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/08\/the-activity-feed","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/08\/the-activity-feed","category":["technology","indieweb","nosearch"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 4\/6\/24 11:17 EDT","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/devlog\">#devlog<\/a>: Finally got around to re-adding my \u201ctheme switcher toggle\u201d to my site. You can now toggle between a light, dark &amp; classic theme. Trying out some new colors and other CSS changes to improve aesthetics and general contrastiness.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve also migrated from FontAwesome to Phosphor ( <a href=\"https:\/\/phosphoricons.com\/\">https:\/\/phosphoricons.com\/<\/a>) for my site-wide iconography and they look great! They even have a \u201cFediverse\u201d icon :fediverse: which FontAwesome notably didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/indieweb\">#indieweb<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/webdesign\">#webdesign<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/openweb\">#openweb<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/ownyourweb\">#ownyourweb<\/a><\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Sat, 06 Apr 2024 11:17:10 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/06\/shellsharks-social-112224936312547509","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/06\/shellsharks-social-112224936312547509","category":["devlog","indieweb","webdesign","openweb","ownyourweb"]},{"title":"Does Meta want to destroy the Fediverse?","description":"<p>There is a lot of consternation within the traditional \u201cFediverse\u201d community around what Meta\u2019s entrace means for the future of the network. Setting aside fears around moderation, surveillance capitalism, data harvesting &amp; other threats to marginalised communities (which I admit are very <em>real<\/em> and valid things to be concerned about), one main fear seems to be that Meta wants to completely <em>destroy<\/em> the Fediverse via the classic \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/18\/mastodon-will-never-die#embrace-extend-extinguish\">Embrace, Extend, Extinquish<\/a>\u201d (\u201cEEE\u201d) approach. For this one particular fear, I think we can feel somewhat safe.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.party\/@argv_minus_one\/112214019129072374\">A post from @argv_minus_one@mstdn.party<\/a><\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>Defederating #Threads will, however, stop Threads from drowning out the entire rest of the Fediverse.<\/p>\n\n  <p>The result of federating is that Threads <em>is<\/em> the Fediverse now, and the rest of us are just the silent periphery that no one cares about and aren\u2019t even allowed to speak to Threads users (the federation is one-way). This kills the Fediverse. Easiest #EmbraceExtendExtinguish ever.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Here are my thoughts on EEE as it relates to Threads vs Fedi\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Thanks to our feeds here being follower-defined and not \u201calgorithmic\u201d, I don\u2019t see how Threads posts (and thus Threads itself) could drown out my feed or anyone else\u2019s feed unless they (the Fedi account) consciously decide to overwhelmingly follow Threads accounts. Plus, since we have access to Threads posts (for now) and not the other way around, this in some ways gives us <em>MORE<\/em> capability than those natively on Threads. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112214086642759217\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<p>(One reply I received on Mastodon was around Threads-borne posts homogenizing the \u201cAll Servers\u201d\/Federated timeline. This is an interesting concern. I\u2019ve never found that view to be of any particular use as it is already just a completely unmanageable stream of stuff that is not of interest to me, but if you are someone that has traditionally found it useful, maybe having Threads overwhelm it could be a valid (if not niche) concern for you.)<\/p>\n\n<p>Now I can understand how you may see this as, \u201cthe traditional Fediverse is muted because our posts are not federated back\u201d (this is presumably temporary as Threads continues enabling full Fediverse support), but this only amounts to having discussions siloed here vs there which is no different than how it was before they began the beta. I don\u2019t see how Threads enabling any level of Fedi support makes their platform more attractive than staying here. If audience is all you care about (for example), Threads had this as a \u201cthreat\u201d to Fedi from day one. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112214091654579448\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<p>I think Threads can play in the Fediverse sandbox without the intention of destroying traditional Fedi. I\u2019m not saying they don\u2019t have the same surveillance capitalist goals for first-party users of their own platform but I think there are good reasons for them to enable AP support beyond trying to crush us or harvest our data. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112214117791958513\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<p>Other <em>large<\/em> platforms have already started going the Fediverse path (i.e. Tumblr, Wordpress, Flipboard, Mozilla, Medium, etc\u2026) and if Threads didn\u2019t do this then someone else might have. *<em>If<\/em>* (and I realize it\u2019s a big IF) they enable FULL AP support which in theory gives people the ability to move their accounts OUT of Threads (as they have indicated they are planning on doing), you might think this is a vulnerability for them in terms of platform lock-in. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112214118692505352\">4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<p>But I think they have the hubris to believe they can build a platform superior on features and Local audience that they need not fear traditional Fedi. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112214119048581193\">5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: I should qualify that I am cursed with naive optimism \ud83d\ude05.<\/p>\n\n<p>I think what I mean to say is that the people who are here (on Fedi) are here because of what Threads <strong>isn\u2019t<\/strong>, and what they can\u2019t be. Everyone else is <em>already on<\/em> Threads or X-Twitter. Threads goal is to suck out what remains of Twitters user-base, enable AP-based Federation to block out Bluesky (and perhaps achieve some regulatory requirements around platform lock-in) and then play ball with other (previoulsy mentioned) large ActivityPub players. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112214154718256810\">6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<p>The thing is, Mastodon has been humming along just fine since 2007 or so, long before Threads came along and all through the rise and fall of Twitter. There are communities there that are not going to leave and do not need more people to sustain themselves. They are insular, and self-sustaining (quite literally). Yes, there are prominent individuals within the Fediverse who are eager to grow the userbase and they see Threads federation as a mind-boggling huge win to that end but the failure to achieve native growth or growth by extension via Threads is not a death knell for the Fediverse. So as I\u2019ve written before, Mastodon (or more generally, the \u201cFediverse\u201d) <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/18\/mastodon-will-never-die\">will never die<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"social-platform-bake-off\">Social Platform Bake-Off<\/h1>\n\n<p>While we\u2019re on this subject, I wanted to take a minute to conduct a mental bake-off (i.e. brainstorm) around what benefits we get by being on Threads vs. the \u201ctraditional Fediverse\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"threads-pros\">Threads Pros<\/h3>\n<ul>\n  <li>Larger audience \/ Local userbase<\/li>\n  <li>Algorithmic feed (if that\u2019s your thing)<\/li>\n  <li>Fancy schmancy, well-designed client<\/li>\n  <li>Faster to market features (given they have billions of dollars and hundreds of talented engineers). It is worth noting that at this point in their development, they are vastly behind in features that Mastodon clients support<\/li>\n  <li>Easier to get signed up and started? (subjective perhaps)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 id=\"traditional-fediverse-pros\">Traditional Fediverse Pros<\/h3>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/16\/hark-threaders-the-fediverse-is-good-for-you#why-mastodon-is-good\">Mastodon is teeming with advantages over Threads, read more here<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr width=\"50%\" \/>\n\n<p>My conclusion is that Mastodon (specifically, as the largest and most developed of the Fediverse platforms) has an incredible and unbridgeable advantage as it compares to Threads. You used to be able to argue that Threads gave users access to a <em>much<\/em> larger network of people, but <em>assuming<\/em> Threads completes the act of bidirectional Federation, this advantage will be <strong>gone<\/strong>. Beyond that, its advantages are very minimal. Getting signed up for Threads is maybe a bit easier, sure. The algorithmic feed is nice if you are into that sorta thing (and many people I suppose are), but it pretty much stops there. I\u2019m not saying that any significant majority of people will come to this same conclusion or \u201csee the light\u201d as it were, but I think these advantages are enough to keep enough people here that it is entirely immune to extinction.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 04 Apr 2024 14:41:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/04\/does-meta-want-to-destroy-the-fediverse","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/04\/does-meta-want-to-destroy-the-fediverse","category":["technology","fediverse","threads","social"]},{"title":"Contrasting timelines: Fedi vs Threads","description":"<p>Here are some observations on who\/how I follow on <strong>Threads<\/strong> vs <strong>Mastodon<\/strong> and the downstream effects those follow decisions have on my respective social timelines.<\/p>\n\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> (and other \u201ctraditional\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\">Fediverse<\/a> platforms), you don\u2019t have an algorithmic timeline. Which means when you follow someone, you are signing up for <em>all<\/em> of their posts, boosts and replies to populate your chronological timeline. Each is effectively weighted the same with respect to the amount of room they take on your feed and the time it takes to scroll past. For this reason, I (and I\u2019m sure others) tend to be more <em>selective<\/em> of who we follow on Mastodon, prefering those who have a higher \u201csignal-to-noise\u201d ratio, i.e. they post more about subjects I care about. I\u2019ve written about my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/27\/how-i-decide-to-follow-back\">methodology for deciding who I follow back<\/a> before.<\/p>\n\n<p>Meanwhile, on <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2023\/07\/introducing-threads-new-app-text-sharing\/\">Threads<\/a>, you are pushed to use the (notably <strong>non<\/strong>-chronological) algorithmic \u201cFor you\u201d timeline which will of course feed you <em>some<\/em> posts from people you follow but also mixes in other things Meta <em>thinks<\/em> you may want to see or engage with. How this algorithm <em>actually<\/em> works is not public knowledge and is something Meta is likely tuning in the background on a near daily basis. As such, how and why things are prioritized in that timeline is incredibly opaque. Who you follow is only a small part of why you see what you see in your feed. What you \u201clike\u201d, what you reply to, what you linger on, what you click into, are all data points Threads can ingest to adjust what gets pushed into your timeline. Beyond even your own habits, Threads will deliver content to you based on what is being popularized network-wide, regardless of whether it fits your calculated interests (i.e. if something is going viral they may just send it to you). So who you follow is not as important, which means you are more <em>free<\/em> (so to speak) to follow people much more blindly and without as much selectivity. This has what I believe to be a somewhat negative effect on how your algorithm is ultimately trained. Since you are conditioned to give less significance to <em>who<\/em> you follow you end up following accounts who you might not otherwise follow based on their historical post portfolio. This will inevitably skew your timeline towards <em>that<\/em> mean.<\/p>\n\n<p>Subjectively, I think the Threads algorithm isn\u2019t <em>awful<\/em>. My timeline there <em>is<\/em> somewhat entertaining. But where it shines in spiritedness, it lacks sorely in substance. My Mastodon timeline is as I\u2019ve discussed, a <em>carefully<\/em> curated mix of awesome people sharing an interesting and diverse mix of things. I\u2019ve somewhat painstakingly built it to be this way over the years I\u2019ve been on the platform. In contrast Threads is, and will continue to be, a platform designed to send you endless waves of <em>xyz<\/em>-bait posts meant to force engagement. This results in Threads being highly <em>social<\/em> in many ways, but again, lacking the substance that makes Mastodon so much more of a pleasure to use.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 04 Apr 2024 10:28:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/04\/contrasting-timelines-fedi-vs-threads","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/04\/contrasting-timelines-fedi-vs-threads","category":["technology","fediverse","threads","social"]},{"title":"Reverse Syndication, i.e. PESOS","description":"<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy\">Reverse syndication<\/a>\u201d, i.e. archiving discussions I have elsewhere on the web (<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a>) on my site is very valuable to me for a few reasons\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>\n    <p>I often find myself having the same discussions over time, so being able to quickly search for what I\u2019ve said in the past and sharing that directly is helpful. Further, I can more easily add to my previous set of thoughts.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Stylistically, when I write, I like to include a lot of links, both to outside resources and internal things I\u2019ve already written about. Building this knowledge graph is great as my own site is my primary resource for learning and retention.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Not only will I forklift discussions straight from social media and archive on my site, but I often take the time to enrich it with more thoughts, context, resources and links. So for those who subscribe to my feeds, they get bonus material.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting here that now that since <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social\">moving to my personal Mastodon instance<\/a>, running vanilla Mastodon, I am limited (to 500 chars) in how I can write longer posts without spamming the timeline with a long detailed thread of child posts.<\/p>\n\n<p>I encourage others who are active on social media (or elsewhere, such as places like Reddit) to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">create a site<\/a> and document their own discussions directly on the site. This helps you centralize your thoughts and index the more valuable\/repeated things you say.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>#indieweb #POSSE #PESOS #infosec #cybersecurity<\/em><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Apr 2024 13:11:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos","category":"indieweb"},{"title":"Should Meta re-make Reddit?","description":"<div class=\"containbox\">Meta should come out with a Reddit clone and federate that. Because Reddit sucks now.<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n\n<p>This sparked <em>quite<\/em> a bit of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@mk3s\/post\/C5Pnv-oNFBl\">discussion on Threads<\/a>! I\u2019ve pulled some of the more interesting threads out below.<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>What happened to Reddit?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>It\u2019s been a long(ish) saga but the main points off the top of my head\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li>Effectively killed third-party app clients (RIP Apollo)<\/li>\n  <li>Hostile towards and threatened subreddit mods (during the Reddit strike)<\/li>\n  <li>Made weird AI partnership with Google to sell off all posts data<\/li>\n  <li>Waste all their money on the CEO instead of making the platform better<\/li>\n  <li>Probably other stuff I\u2019m forgetting tbh\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>Their army of unpaid mods are now banning people for being against genocide because it\u2019s uncivil. Reddit may as well get bought by Elon at this point because it\u2019s a cesspool of hate.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Yeah and they\u2019ve rolled out some thread monetization scheme which incentivizes crappy posts meant to rage-bait. Hence why you see this sort of nonsense.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>So that\u2019s why there\u2019s suddenly a bunch of Ai generated \u201cam I the asshole\u201d posts on the front page. People think they are passing judgment on something that is real lol. I used to use Reddit a lot until they killed 3rd party apps. It already was low quality the way you can make a detailed post that calls on your decades of professional experience only to get told you are wrong by children or outright deleted by a tyrant who thinks their subreddit is their personal magazine they are editor of.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>Even if Meta cloned Reddit, it would have the same problems as Reddit.\nReddit\u2019s problem is hive mentality upvoting stuff that resonates with them rather than actually correct information. This is compounded by Dunning-Krueger and Gell-Mann Amnesia phenomena.\nIt\u2019s not because of something unique to Reddit, it\u2019s the nature of the upvote\/downvote style ranked message board.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>I mean if you haven\u2019t ever liked Reddit that\u2019s one thing. But I (and a lot of other people) really liked what Reddit <em>used to be<\/em>, up until really not that long ago. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s never been flawed, but it was pretty good at facilitating discussions, building communities, etc\u2026 I don\u2019t see Reddit reversing some of their bad decisions, so maybe someone else can swoop in as Meta did with Threads when Twitter imploded and stand up a worthy competitor.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>@mk3s: I have 13 year old Reddit account and use it pretty regularly. What I\u2019ve learned is that Reddit didn\u2019t really change that much for the worse, its users grow more mature and start noticing the flaws a lot more but they\u2019ve always been there. Real world example of this is the old heads talking about how the world isn\u2019t how it used to be back in their day, repeat ad infinitum.\nThreads is too new but it\u2019s already starting to have Twitter like problems. We\u2019ll see how this goes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Yeah I was on Reddit for 12 years and used it pretty heavily. I\u2019ve gone back and tried using it since the whole blackout\/reddit protest\/API debacle and admit that on the surface things have mostly just kept on keeping on as they always had. So in that way, the experience is not terribly degraded. But I think they are at the inevitable point in our capitalist dystopia where they have nowhere to go but enshittify and extract as much money from their user base as possible before they get bought.<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>They already have a product similar to Reddit, Facebook Groups, although they should make it a bit more like Reddit imo<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>I want a reddit alternative to succeed, I\u2019m not sure I want Meta behind it<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Yeah agreed. I\u2019m already using Lemmy as my main Reddit alternative and there\u2019s some OK activity in the communities I am in. But unlike Mastodon, I don\u2019t thing the Fedi-Reddit clones have reached critical mass and could benefit from a large player who could bring more activity. That said, I think my distaste for Reddit (to the point where I\u2019ve stopped using it) is a minority view and for the most part, Reddit (and its users) have kept right on Redditing despite its enshittifcation \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>I totally see what you mean and to some extent I would agree that a meta entry in the space could be beneficial, but it would feel more and more of a monopoly on social spaces around the internet and a bigger opportunity for meta to take over everything\nbut yeah it\u2019s like there is no good option for a big company to push for federated forums ig\nI have mostly stopped using reddit too since the API stuff but I agree probably people are just carrying on bc there is no other place like it<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Yeah don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m no Meta fan-boy. I\u2019d say I somewhat reluctantly enjoy using threads even. But I gotta admit they\u2019ve done a good job so far and since they are Federating, I am holding on to the hope that I\u2019ll be able to main my Mastodon account and have discussions here still. It would be hard for someone to compete with Reddit\u2019s mindshare in that space at this point but given how valuable Reddit\u2019s data pool is, maybe someone like Meta would try. Ideally, Lemmy can gain more traction<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>Lemmy exists<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Yeah I\u2019m familiar with Lemmy and other existing Fediverse-borne reddit clones (e.g. Kbin, mbin, sublinks, etc\u2026). They are great and ideally I\u2019d see those adopted over a large player introducing a Reddit competitor. But much like Threads, if a big-tech org pioneered a federated (build on ActivityPub) Reddit clone that could interface with Lemmy\/Kbin and drive adoption then I think that\u2019d be a win.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>Yeah and I honestly think they could pull it off with a slick app and some killer features like regular celebrity interviews, like on Reddit back in the day before they got rid of Victoria Taylor. Market the hell out of that and find hip artists and prereleases of music or games in various deals through exclusives, whatever, they could probably be a serious threat to Reddit. Reddit is getting awful and is mismanaged.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>Besides ads or selling access to training data for AI, how would that be sustainable for Meta? Although I have higher confidence in Meta as a company to run a social platform, I fail to see how a Reddit clone would end up any differently than Reddit. Federating just means that content would be allowed to leave the platform, not necessarily that any of the existing moderation-related problems would improve.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>It\u2019s more <em>can they<\/em> harmonize the business \/ money-making aspects to it while also not being user hostile or enshittifying? The problem with Reddit isn\u2019t the fact they want to monetize. I don\u2019t care if Reddit goes for an Ads play, or makes AI-content deals, its rather the <em>way<\/em> they\u2019ve gone about making these changes, all at the significant detriment of the usefulness of the site and the goodwill they earned from their user base. The federation aspect is really just something I personally like<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>There are federated Reddit clones, why would Meta make one?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Market opportunity (i.e. flagging Reddit), AI-driven data harvesting, money-making opportunity, cornering more markets, etc\u2026 I mean they entered a VERY crowded Twitter clone market because they saw the opportunity to take market share from a wounded Twitter and it looks like that could work out in their favor.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Apr 2024 23:30:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/01\/should-meta-remake-reddit","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/01\/should-meta-remake-reddit","category":["technology","fediverse"]},{"title":"Why does the Fediverse churn?","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/toot.wales\/@multiverseofbadness\">@multiverseofbadness<\/a> Though a lot of people might point at HoA culture as a primary reason people are driven from here I think it\u2019s something else\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>No algorithm means you are fed a finite amount of things which is a factor of the amount of people you follow, and in turn how active they are. Once your timeline runs dry, you go elsewhere. In other words, this service does not try to capture your attention and keep you here.<\/p>\n\n<p>The answer then is to find new content, i.e. new accounts to follow, but discoverability is notoriously middling here. Some <em>very<\/em> basic trending, boosts from your follows, hashtags (which most people don\u2019t know about) are the tools we have and I think more is needed to help people find those that are here and active, which should in turn keep others here.<\/p>\n\n<p>So until then, people have to put effort into manual curation and pruning of their feeds and this is hard for folks.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 29 Mar 2024 23:53:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/29\/why-does-the-fediverse-churn","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/29\/why-does-the-fediverse-churn","category":["technology","fediverse"]},{"title":"The whimsical corners of the Fediverse","description":"<p>One thing I find ever-delightful about using <em>#Mastodon<\/em> (as part of the wider <em>#Fediverse<\/em>) is the experience of encountering folks from unique or whimsically-named instances. A lot of who I follow on this particular account is in infosec and most of those folks (smartly) live on infosec.exchange. But I\u2019ll come across someone who\u2019s from (as an example) something like @superwombat.ninja and be instantly tickled. Friending\/following them is like making friends with someone in another country \ud83d\ude04.<\/p>\n\n<p>Some examples of folks I\u2019ve come across from the awesome, far-away corners of the Fediverse include\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>@snail@<strong>crmbl.uk<\/strong> <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112179238846675678\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n  <li>@Gwendolyn@<strong>eldritch.cafe<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@mielcarz@<strong>shakedown.social<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@erosdiscordia@<strong>onycha.monster<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@cmdr_nova@<strong>mkultra.monster<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@teknomagic@<strong>retro.pizza<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@flaminghydra@<strong>thelife.boats<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@tenkuucastle@<strong>firefish.tenkuu.social<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@Oeneus@<strong>assortedflotsam.com<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@futurebird@<strong>sauropods.win<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@checkervest@<strong>laserdisc.party<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@mr_daemon@<strong>untrusted.website<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@twizzay@<strong>behold.mylegendary.quest<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@byte@<strong>awawa.club<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@ultraloveheaven@<strong>computerfairi.es<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@kern@<strong>hol.ogra.ph<\/strong> <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112218673001062001\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n  <li>@Dcgirl@<strong>boop.city<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@coffee@<strong>mastodon.sandwich.net<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@jfkimmes@<strong>tinycyber.space<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@jeff@<strong>soapbox.hackdefendr.com<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@iliana@<strong>tacobelllabs.net<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@kopper@<strong>brain.d.on-t.work<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@carol@<strong>crabby.fyi<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@mayor@<strong>shart.city<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@n0madz@<strong>wzrds.fun<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@phos@<strong>not.an.evilcyberhacker.net<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@Pawornruj@<strong>redspinning.top<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@pre@<strong>boing.world<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@silverwizard@<strong>convenient.email<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@shibao@<strong>misskey.bubbletea.dev<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@Shrigglepuss@<strong>godforsaken.website<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@tonicfunk@<strong>social.yesterweb.org<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@stephan@<strong>them.cheeky.wales<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@freddy@<strong>security.plumbing<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@fortytwo@<strong>hell.social<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@jonah@<strong>neat.computer<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@mia@<strong>void.rehab<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@deadfwd@<strong>fedi.latenightpopcorn.com<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@dumpsterqueer@<strong>superseriousbusiness.org<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@eviljarred@<strong>waytoomuch.info<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@flaminghydra@<strong>thelife.boats<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@specter@<strong>eattherich.club<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@varve@<strong>weirder.earth<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@crookmother@<strong>wizzzard.online<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@vasta@<strong>phire.place<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@sean@<strong>irrelephant.co<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@treats@<strong>fox.nexus<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@nilsding@<strong>pounced-on.me<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@rickoooooo@<strong>social.authbypass.com<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@pointlessone@<strong>status.pointless.one<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@prettygood@<strong>socially.drinkingatmy.computer<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@markiplier@<strong>helloeverybodymynameismarkiplierandwelcometofivenightsatfreddys.anindiehorrorgamethatyouguyssuggestedenmasseandisawthatyamimash.playeditandhesaidthatitwasreallyreallygoodsoimveryeagertoseewha.tisupandthatisaterrifyinganimatronicbear.fnaf.stream<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@split@<strong>coolviruses.download<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@kopper@<strong>brain.d.on-t.work<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@nev@<strong>bananachips.club<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@z@<strong>nintendo64.org<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@president@<strong>haters.pro<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@EmilyK@<strong>spacelase.rs<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@vic@<strong>howcyborgs.chat<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@keith@<strong>servernerds.net<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@nev@<strong>bananachips.club<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@pearlbear@<strong>social.overlappingmagisteria.org<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@energeticmuon@<strong>hellsite.site<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@kait@<strong>ohgodohfuck.fraudulent.link<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@arnd@<strong>society.oftrolls.com<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@noah@<strong>mastodon.despise.computer<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@selectric@<strong>tacobelllabs.net<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@ericawrites@<strong>nerdfight.online<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@nyrath@<strong>spacey.space<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@irick@<strong>this.mouse.rocks<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@stevelord@<strong>bladerunner.social<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@chunshek@<strong>prettyaweso.me<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@suricrasia@<strong>lethargic.talkative.fish<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@loren@<strong>goose.directory<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@fedward@<strong>distraction.party<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@mew@<strong>epic-toolbars.download<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@awoo@<strong>gts.apicrim.es<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@isa@<strong>thenighthas.me<\/strong><\/li>\n  <li>@xyla@<strong>shitpost.trade<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Just look at those great instance names! \ud83e\udd29<\/p>\n\n<p><em>#followfriday<\/em><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 29 Mar 2024 09:35:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/29\/the-whimsical-corners-of-the-fediverse","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/29\/the-whimsical-corners-of-the-fediverse","category":["fediverse","mastodon","technology","whimsy","list"]},{"title":"Owning My Own Social","description":"<p>As of March 24, 2024, I *<em>socially<\/em>* operate out of a single-user<sup><a href=\"#singleuser\">1<\/a><\/sup> \/ personal Mastodon instance \u2014 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/\">shellsharks.social<\/a><\/strong>. <em>But how did I get here?<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Like many other people who find themselves at least <em>mildly<\/em> online (or <strong>chronically<\/strong> so, as I do), I am a frequent user of (<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/verify\">a variety of<\/a>) social media platforms. When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/c\/23972308\/twitter-x-death-tweets-history-elon-musk\">Twitter fell<\/a>, the world of social micro-blogging fractured, with people fleeing across the Internet to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/23429095\/twitter-social-network-alternatives-mastodon-reddit-tumblr-cohost\">number of platforms<\/a>, both new and old. For my part, I took up residence on <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a>, specifically, a cybersecurity-themed instance \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/\">infosec.exchange<\/a>. (I also reanimated my long dormant <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@sass\">mastodon.social account<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n<p>Infosec.exchange was <em>perfect<\/em> for what I was looking for at the time. I used Twitter mostly as a place to follow others in the infosec\/tech industry and infosec.exchange was the choice landing spot for many other disaffected infosec-Twitter refugees. There I re-found my people but also became a more <em>active<\/em> member of the community\u2014sharing posts, interacting with others, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>After nearly two years on <a href=\"#thanks-to-infosecexchange\">infosec.exchange<\/a> (and on Mastodon more generally), I acquired an appreciation for the possibilities the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\">Fediverse<\/a> afforded and in that time also first discovered the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a>. Moving to <strong>shellsharks.social<\/strong> is a direct result of the confluence of these newfound interests \u2014 the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a><\/em> &amp; the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p><span id=\"singleuser\"><\/span>\n[<strong>1<\/strong>] <em>shellsharks.social is not exactly single-account, but it is \u201csingle-user\u201d (just me)<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"indiesocial\">IndieSocial<\/h1>\n\n<p>What if we were to combine the social aspects of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> with the autonomy and personality of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n<p>My foray into the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> has been a great success. I\u2019ve leaned into its ideals as much as is technologically (and philosophically) feasible for my statically-generated site. But where it excels at hosting my content and being a centralized, permanent place for my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/16\/your-website-your-identity\">identity<\/a><strong>*<\/strong> &amp; content on the web, it falls short in its ability to truly <em>connect<\/em> me with others in the way a traditional social media platform can. My latest stint on <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/\">infosec.exchange<\/a> succeeded in connecting me with others who value what I have to share on my site, but my identity being tied to a handle on infosec.exchange was limiting in that I ultimately did not own my posts, nor my branding, and though I <em>do<\/em> mostly post about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=infosec\">infosec<\/a> stuff, it had a quasi-pigeon-holing effect due to the instance moniker itself (<strong>infosec<\/strong>.exchange). I would often see people on Mastodon responding from <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/29\/the-whimsical-corners-of-the-fediverse\">unique, single-user instances<\/a> that served as a badge of authenticity and I coveted that. And though no one on the Fediverse could ask for a more thoughtful and capable server owner than those on <a href=\"#thanks-to-infosecexchange\">infosec.exchange<\/a>, I always wondered would would\/could happen if\/when <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\">Jerry<\/a> decided to hang it up. More and more I started to think that I needed to replicate what I had done with my website, but with my social platform \u2014 I needed to <strong>own my own social<\/strong>. Only then could I begin to post uninhibited by expectation, allowing myself to be uniquely me. But there\u2019s <a href=\"#benefits-of-a-personal-fediverse-instance\">more<\/a> than simple vanity on the line when it comes to a personal Fedi instance!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>*<\/strong> Two big inspirations for me with regard to the IndieWeb and a web-based identity are <a href=\"https:\/\/joanwestenberg.com\/blog\/the-creator-economy-trap-why-building-on-someone-elses-platform-is-a-dead-end\">Joan Westenberg<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/coryd.dev\/posts\/2024\/your-site-your-home-your-web\/\">Cory Dransfeldt<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"benefits-of-a-personal-fediverse-instance\">Benefits of a Personal Fediverse Instance<\/h1>\n<p>Beyond the intrinsic <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/16\/hark-threaders-the-fediverse-is-good-for-you#why-mastodon-is-good\">benefits of Mastodon<\/a> (and the Fediverse at large), there are <u>a lot<\/u> of benefits to running <em>your own<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> instance.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>A more perpetual, <strong>authentic<\/strong> (social) <strong>identity<\/strong> on the web.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Vanity<\/strong> Fediverse handle (e.g. \u201c<em>@shellsharks@shellsharks.social<\/em>\u201d) <i class=\"ph ph-fediverse-logo\"><\/i><\/li>\n  <li><strong>Branding<\/strong>: For individual creators and business, having a social identity hosted on a domain which has personalized branding can be very important.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Deplatforming resistance<\/strong>: Since you are the instance admin, you can not be deplatformed. Only your ISP or hosting provider could effectively do this and this is quite rare.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Mitigate localized censorship<\/strong>: On a community instance, admins and moderators can censor your posts.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Data ownership<\/strong>: As an admin, you have control over data exports and lifecycle.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Customization<\/strong>: Instance admins can customize the CSS of their site, relays, emojis, trending, etc\u2026<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Spontaneous server death<\/strong>: Instances have died in the past due to database corruption, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/2\/12\/24071036\/queer-af-mastodon-taliban-shut-down-afghanistan\">domain seizure<\/a>, admin burnout, lack of funding and more. Avoid this by running your own instance.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Defederation control<\/strong>: Though users on a community instance have a lot of power in self-moderation, some controls for isolation and defederation are only available at the administrative level.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"hosting-challenges-choices--chronology\">Hosting: Challenges, Choices &amp; Chronology<\/h1>\n\n<p>OK, so I knew I wanted to \u201c<em>own my own social<\/em>\u201d, and for me, this meant having my own <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> server of some flavor (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/akkoma.social\">Akkoma<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/iceshrimp.dev\/iceshrimp\/iceshrimp\">IceShrimp<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/gotosocial.org\">GoToSocial<\/a>, etc\u2026). Because of my affinity for the iOS client <a href=\"https:\/\/tapbots.com\/ivory\/\">Ivory<\/a>, I decided Mastodon would be the best fit (Ivory only works with Mastodon at this time). From my research I knew Mastodon to be on the trickier &amp; more resource-hungry side of the Fediverse platform spectrum. In terms of hosting, I first had to decide between <em>managed<\/em> or <em>self-hosted<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/masto.host\/\">Masto.host<\/a> was one managed <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/01\/fediverse-managed-hosting-providers\">Mastodon-hosting platform<\/a> that I heard a lot about and seemed quite reliable so I decided to put a small alt account (<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@afterdark\">@afterdark<\/a>) there on an instance \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/\">shellsharks.social<\/a>\u201d to test it out. The base tier (\u201cMoon\u201d) was <em>very<\/em> slow and even with only a single-user with &lt;30 followers and only <em>1<\/em> follow it was achingly ill-performant. I wasn\u2019t terribly impressed but knew by sizing up a tier or two it would likely be better.<\/p>\n\n<p>The ideal situation of course would be to gloriously self-host and administer the entire stack. I learned a few things from having put together some <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon#hosting-a-mastodon-instance\">resources<\/a> on Mastodon instance administration and following along over the last year or so as other instance admins grew their communities. I had some understanding of the <a href=\"https:\/\/softwaremill.com\/the-architecture-of-mastodon\/\">architecture<\/a> of Mastodon, I knew some pitfalls of <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/w3c\/activitypub\">ActivityPub<\/a>-based federation and I knew Hetzner was a popular hosting provider to get a cheap, reliable VPS. So with all that, I just went for it.<\/p>\n\n<p>I created my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hetzner.com\">Hetzner<\/a> account, initialized a decently spec\u2019ed VPS, I got my SMTP relay configured through Sendgrid, set up a Backblaze R2 bucket for block storage, fronted through Cloudflare and then hammered through the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/admin\/install\/\">official Mastodon installation steps<\/a> (paired with some other installation guides I came across). I knew it wasn\u2019t a <em>simple<\/em> install, but it seemed straight-forward enough. I ran through the installation wizard but despite my confidence, things started to awry. Somewhere between the server-side install config and the SMTP-relay config something wasn\u2019t working. I wasn\u2019t receiving my confirmation email to log into the Mastodon admin account I created. I bypassed this little issue by manually activating the account on the back-end using <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/admin\/tootctl\/\">tootctl<\/a>. So now I\u2019m in my sparkly new instance! But wait, nothing appears to be federating and I am unable to search for or find any other accounts! I searched around for a bit on Google for any clues as to what might be happening but after an hour or so decided to shut it all down and try a different path. Interestingly, after I started deactivating some accounts and tearing down the VPS infrastructure I noticed the emails finally making it through the SMTP relay! I also have a theory that federation\/search was borked because I had not properly set up the object storage connection. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n<p>So where did I turn? For now, I needed something at least <em>slightly<\/em> more turnkey. DigitalOcean had advertised a \u201cone-click\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/community\/tutorials\/how-to-install-mastodon-with-digitalocean-marketplace-1-click\">droplet for Mastodon<\/a> hosting solution that seemed appealing and for a moment I considered going that route. But, it still required a fair bit of set-up including hooking up a SMTP relay, object storage, etc\u2026 Oh and it was 4-5x the cost (at least) of going back and figuring out how to do it with Hetzner. It was moments after I created the DigitalOcean account and started thinking more about it when I decided to just scale up my existing shellsharks.social instance on Masto.host and evaluate whether it could handle an account with activity on the order of what I typically see with my main <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\">shellsharks<\/a> account on infosec.exchange.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"mastohost-trial-period-issues--observations\">Masto.Host Trial Period: Issues &amp; Observations<\/h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/masto.host\/\">Masto.host<\/a> is incredibly easy to get started with, scale up\/down or stop using entirely. As such it was a simple decision (in the end) to trial my main account with it. After sizing up my existing <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">shellsharks.social<\/a> instance from the Moon to Star tier it didn\u2019t take long for me to see that it would be plenty beefy for an account of my size. Since the pricing is plenty all-inclusive (you don\u2019t need to futz around with object storage, SMTP relays, CDNs, etc\u2026), with all underlying server management handled entirely by Masto.host, I was pretty sold on the idea of moving there. Though the instance itself seemed more than performant, I did encounter a number of other <em>things<\/em> worth mentioning\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>A few notes on Masto.host itself\u2026\n    <ul>\n      <li>It is scary easy to get signed up and started with an instance with your choice domain\u2026<\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/masto.host\/pricing\/\">Pricing<\/a>, imo, is <em>very<\/em> fair. Once you add up all the various costs of self-hosting you really don\u2019t save much from a price perspective by going elsewhere. For what you save in time, I think it\u2019s very worth it.<\/li>\n      <li>Support is lightning quick and very helpful.<\/li>\n      <li>Managing your instance via the Masto.host admin panel is extremely simple. Really not that much to tweak.<\/li>\n      <li>Media storage allottment gets gobbled up pretty quick. I\u2019m at 70% after only a few days. Will have to report back to see how I can manage this into the future\u2026<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mastodon\/mastodon\/blob\/main\/FEDERATION.md\">Federation<\/a> is a tricky beast and I definitely could not explain how it works. What I <em>can<\/em> say is that on any Mastodon account, your view of the world\/Fediverse is not necessarily 100% complete. On larger instances you will likely see more comments and have access to more accounts than you will on a smaller, \u201cless federated\u201d instance. As such, when viewing user accounts from my personal instance I have only limited information that gets pulled in. I see avatars, follow\/follower counts and lists and <em>some<\/em> posts but likely do not see all of them.\n    <ul>\n      <li>To address this shortfall, I can typically go to their account directly on their server via my client\u2019s in-app browser, scroll through their posts and if there\u2019s one I want to engage with, copy the link to the post and search for it directly within my Mastodon client. This 99% of the time will allow me to view the post directly and engage.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>I occassionally will have a performance hiccup, i.e. something loading slow, but after few days using my account pretty heavily I\u2019d say it\u2019s fine 99.9% of the time. As an example, notifications (likes, replies, boosts) all come in super fast!<\/li>\n  <li>One thing I really enjoyed being on infosec.exchange was the Local feed. It was a great place to farm interesting accounts, find one-off posts to engage with, etc\u2026 Luckily, Mastodon still allows me to peruse local feeds and as such it is easy enough for me to continue scrolling it and just respond via my new account instead. Ivory doesn\u2019t yet allow me to browse remote local feeds but what I can do is peruse the infosec.exchange local feed on my old infosec.exchange account and just reply from my shellsharks.social account via the account-picker.<\/li>\n  <li>Search, which honestly is of varying usefulness even on the largest of servers (i.e. infosec.exchange \/ mastodon.social), is effectively useless on my personal instance unless I have a direct link to exactly what I am looking for. This <em>has<\/em> improved over the last few days a bit, but I still wouldn\u2019t rely on basic search on my personal instance to find anything useful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"a-look-at-shellsharkssocial--the-future\">A Look at shellsharks.social &amp; the Future<\/h1>\n\n<p>So yeah, I\u2019m <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">@shellsharks@shellsharks.social<\/a><\/strong> now. <em>Yay<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/moving\/\">migration<\/a> process from infosec.exchange was <em>pretty good<\/em>, definitely a bit scary but it was mostly a success. I had a little under 1600 followers to migrate and only had 20-30 of those <em>not<\/em> get moved over after it was all said and done. This seems to be an issue with hitting a rate-limiting wall either with my server or infosec.exchange\u2019s. Fortunately, I can re-initiate the move in 30 days and migrate over the straggling followers. I had some questions about how account moves worked but <a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.tips\/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server\/\">this post<\/a> sums things up pretty well.<\/p>\n\n<p>I had considered using my \u201cshellsharks.com\u201d domain as my Mastodon instance but after some thinking, decided that shellsharks.social would be best. First, it <em>is<\/em> a social account, so having the <em>social<\/em> TLD makes perfect sense. Second, I was concerned about traffic that might be generated due to noisy ActivityPub federation calls which would be directed at shellsharks.com which is sitting on Github Pages and perhaps not ready for that level of traffic.<\/p>\n\n<p>The biggest downside of having made this move, and using Masto.host, is no longer having the <a href=\"https:\/\/glitch-soc.github.io\/docs\/\">Glitch-soc<\/a> capability which allowed me to have posts that exceed <a href=\"https:\/\/woem.space\/notice\/ASoLrsF5ykRpLbG4Uy\">500 chars in length<\/a>. This said, I\u2019ve <em>sorta<\/em> decided that if I <em>can\u2019t<\/em> get my point across in 500 characters, it might be worth making a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">note<\/a> or blog post on my site and then sharing a link to that instead. This is part of the spirit of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> after all!<\/p>\n\n<p>In the future, I\u2019d like to retry self-hosting. <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.benjojo.co.uk\/post\/who-hosts-the-fediverse-instances\">So much of the Fediverse<\/a> is hosted by Hetzner so I would probably choose that as my VPS provider. I\u2019d like to go with a Docker-based install, for easier management and technological gratification. In fact, there is a lot of things I\u2019d like to self-host in the future (e.g. RSS, bookmarks, blog, etc\u2026). I may even have some ideas for a community-style server, but that\u2019s a ways away.<\/p>\n\n<p>The world of social media has in some ways gotten so much larger while at the same time somewhat more disconnected as people have spread out across the various platforms of this era. But things have been set in motion to bridge these divides and bring people together once more. In a possible future where those of us in the traditional Fediverse can interact with those on Threads, or on BlueSky, or on Nostr, or <em>wherever<\/em>, I really liked the idea of establishing my unique, forever-social-identity within the Fediverse.<\/p>\n\n<p>Regardless of where I am now or where I go in the future, you should always be able to @ me on the Fediverse by @\u2019ing <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">@[whatever]@shellsharks.com<\/code>. Thanks to the magic of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hanselman.com\/blog\/use-your-own-user-domain-for-mastodon-discoverability-with-the-webfinger-protocol-without-hosting-a-server\">Webfinger<\/a>, this will redirect ActivityPub messages to whatever is my current main Fediverse account. <em>Cool stuff<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p>Many thanks to Masto.host for making this possible and so painless!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"accounts\">Accounts<\/h3>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a quick breakdown of the accounts I have planned for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/\">shellsharks.social<\/a><\/strong> and how I\u2019ll be using them.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">shellsharks@shellsharks.social<\/a><\/strong> - My main account.<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@afterdark\">afterdark@shellsharks.social<\/a><\/strong> - Late-night sillies, shit-posting, meta-commentary.<\/li>\n  <li><em>Site@shellsharks.social<\/em> - I am considering standing up an account that simply posts updates that are made to the site.<\/li>\n  <li><em>mike@shellsharks.com<\/em> - Reserving this name in the event I want to migrate my \u201cgeneral\u201d account from mastodon.social.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"thanks-to-infosecexchange\">Thanks to infosec.exchange<\/h1>\n\n<p>I know this post is about where I am <em><a href=\"#\">now<\/a><\/em>, but I think it\u2019s worth taking a minute to wax poetic about <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/\">infosec.exchange<\/a><\/strong>. It was afterall, the incubator in which I became such a proponent of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\">Fediverse<\/a>, learned so much about the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a> and where I met hundreds of cool, like-minded tech and infosec people. If you are in infosec (especially), I can\u2019t recommend a place to be social more than I would recommend infosec.exchange. Though there are some other <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon#infosec-instances\">infosec-related servers<\/a> out there, (and they are in their own right great) there is no comparison to infosec.exchange. <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/deck\/@jerry\">Jerry Bell<\/a>, the owner, admin and proprietor of infosec.exchange (and a ton of <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\/110781964594201103\">other Fediverse properties<\/a>) is (and I\u2019ve said this so many times over the last year+) mind-bogglingly attentive, extraordinarily compassionate, technologically gifted (I mean his ability to run so many Fediverse servers blows my mind), and honestly seems like a really nice person (I\u2019ve not had the pleasure of meeting him). He\u2019s created a very welcoming space and is always looking at how to improve server performance and keep the community happy and engaged. It is so great in fact, that I still fully scroll the infosec.exchange Local feed multiple times a day to find new things to engage with and new people to follow. My <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/\/@shellsharks\">old account<\/a> (though it has a moved-to\/redirect) is still there and you can peruse my year+ worth of posts if you wanted to see how much fun I had in that time. (Alternatively I have turned my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/toots\/infosec-exchange\/shellsharks\/\">toot archive<\/a> into a scrollable page.)<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"containbox\">\nSo I'll just say, Thanks for everything Jerry. Your hard work in bringing the Fediverse to so many does not go unappreciated. \ud83e\udde1\n<\/div>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"some-other-random-thingslinks\">Some other random things\/links<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.thms.uk\/2023\/01\/setting-up-mastodon\">A Mastodon installation guide I tried to use<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/webfinger?resource=acct:shellsharks@shellsharks.com\">Find me using Webfinger<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/qoto.org\/@acjay\/109402029934201998\">An interesting discussion on using Mastodon\u2019s ALTERNATE_DOMAIN<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/joanwestenberg.com\/blog\/the-creator-economy-trap-why-building-on-someone-elses-platform-is-a-dead-end\">Joan Westenberg on Self-hosting<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/coryd.dev\/posts\/2024\/your-site-your-home-your-web\/\">Your Site, Your Home, Your Web | Cory D<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/thedabbler.patatas.ca\/pages\/go_to_social.html\">GoToSocial<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wedistribute.org\/2024\/03\/we-distribute-social\/\">We Distribute on why they made their own Mastodon instance<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:17:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social","category":["technology","shellsharks","mastodon","fediverse","indieweb","selfhosting","social","bestof","technology","blog"]},{"title":"The elephant in the room thread","description":"<p>A common myth about elephants is that they are afraid of mice. But would a <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> (<em>a prehistoric elephant<\/em>) be afraid of a <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a> (<em>the mascot being a mouse-like rodent<\/em>)? In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\">Fediverse<\/a>, the answer to this is a definitive \u201c<em>No<\/em>\u201d! One (of many) thing(s) that is so interesting and powerful about the Fediverse and the platforms that comprise it is the way in which they can interact with one another, thanks to their common ability to speak <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/activitypub\/\">ActivityPub<\/a>. One such example is using Mastodon to interact with Lemmy threads.<\/p>\n\n<p>There are a number of reasons you might want to respond to a Lemmy thread\/comment with your Mastodon handle\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>You don\u2019t want to create a Lemmy account<\/li>\n  <li>You want to use your primary Fediverse identity rather than having a separate Lemmy-based account<\/li>\n  <li>It\u2019s easier for you to respond and maintain a discussion directly within your Mastodon client<\/li>\n  <li>\u2026<em>and more<\/em>!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Since setting off on my own via my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\">single-account Mastodon instance<\/a>, I\u2019ve been more interested in <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/own-my-social\">centralizing<\/a> my interactions on the Fediverse to a single <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">account<\/a>. As such, I wanted to experiment a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel#interactivity-w-mastodon\">little bit more<\/a> with how I could interact with the various Lemmy <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel#communities\">communities<\/a> that I am active in. So here\u2019s some quick observations I\u2019ve made after playing with a few things in the Mastodon-to-Lemmy world\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Some <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel#interactivity-w-mastodon\">earlier observations<\/a> about interactivity between Mastodon and Lemmy hold true.<\/li>\n  <li>You can follow an entire Lemmy community, i.e. <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">@COMMUNITY@SERVER<\/code>.<\/li>\n  <li>You can <em>browse<\/em> communities from within Mastodon by searching for <code class=\"language-plaintext highlighter-rouge\">@COMMUNITY@SERVER<\/code>. What you will see is a list of thread posts and thread comments all <em>boosted<\/em> by the community handle. It\u2019s not the most intuitive interface, but it <em>does<\/em> work.<\/li>\n  <li>You can reply to any of the parent thread posts, or child comments directly in Mastodon as if they were just Mastodon posts. These appear inline within Lemmy as if they were a comment from any other native Lemmy account.<\/li>\n  <li>You can reply to threads\/comments that are on instances that you don\u2019t have an account on, even those that are behind invite-only registration walls!<\/li>\n  <li>Comments on Lemmy posts are shown as boosts from the Lemmy community handle in my Mastodon timeline<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Some pitfalls, challenges and things to consider if you are going to try and interact with Lemmy using Mastodon\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Federation is hard to wrap your head around and it gets even more complex when you think about how things make their way between different Lemmy servers, Mastodon instance, etc\u2026 As such, you may have no problem finding content on one Lemmy server on a particular Mastodon instance but have trouble in other situations. In my case, I was unable to find things on my small personal instance but <em>was<\/em> able to find it on larger instances.\n    <ul>\n      <li>To mitigate this so I could respond from my personal account, I would \u201csimply\u201d (admittedly kind of a janky hack) switch over to the Mastodon account on the larger server, find the Lemmy post I wanted to reply to from my smaller Mastodon instance and then reply to that thread as DM to my smaller Mastodon account. Doing that would kick off some kind of federation event so my small account could see that Lemmy thread. Weird! But hey it works.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>I also observed another in-Lemmy federation quirk. I submitted a post on infosec.pub by my infosec.pub account. A Lemmy user from <em>another<\/em> server left a comment on that post. I then responded to <em>that<\/em> comment using my Mastodon account. That Mastodon-based reply propagated to the <em>other<\/em> Lemmy user\u2019s server but did not show up on the infosec.pub server. Weird!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re confused, don\u2019t worry, I\u2019m still confused too. Happy cross-platform postin\u2019 y\u2019all!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 27 Mar 2024 15:03:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/27\/the-elephant-in-the-room","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/27\/the-elephant-in-the-room","category":["fediverse","lemmy","threadiverse","mastodon"]},{"title":"Power-boosters of the Fediverse","description":"<p>I\u2019ve written a bit about <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/17\/mastodon-discoverability\">discoverability<\/a><\/strong> on Mastodon but wanted to emphasize one sure-fire way to unearth a <em>ton<\/em> of interesting content from the less-visited corners of the Fediverse and that is to find &amp; follow accounts that <strong>boost<\/strong> liberally. I refer to these accounts as \u201c<strong>Power-Boosters<\/strong>\u201d and they are the key to keeping your feed awesomely diverse, extremely lively and damn-near algorithmic (<em>in a good way<\/em>). As such, I wanted to catalog some of the power-boosters I personally follow, and try to keep this list updated as I continue my Fediversal journey! So without further ado\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>A myriad of Qyriad ( <a href=\"https:\/\/chaos.social\/@Qyriad\">@Qyriad@chaos.social<\/a> )<\/li>\n  <li>argv minus one ( <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.party\/@argv_minus_one\">@argv_minus_one@mstdn.party<\/a> )<\/li>\n  <li>Jcrabapple ( <a href=\"https:\/\/dmv.community\/@jcrabapple\">@jcrabapple@dmv.community<\/a> )<\/li>\n  <li>Mastodon Migration ( <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.online\/@mastodonmigration\">@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online<\/a> )<\/li>\n  <li>The 500 Hats of LambdaCalculus ( <a href=\"https:\/\/hackers.town\/@LambdaCalculus\">@LambdaCalculus@hackers.town<\/a> )<\/li>\n  <li>Tim Chambers ( <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.social\/@tchambers\">@tchambers@indieweb.social<\/a> )<\/li>\n  <li>Soratoki ( <a href=\"https:\/\/misskey.art\/@soratoki\">@soratoki@misskey.art<\/a> )<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Many thanks to these folks. Keep doin\u2019 what you\u2019re doin\u2019! Give them a follow \ud83d\udc4d.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 26 Mar 2024 08:52:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/26\/power-boosters-of-the-fediverse","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/26\/power-boosters-of-the-fediverse","category":["technology","mastodon","fediverse","list"]},{"title":"shellsharks.social 3\/24\/24 14:37 EDT","description":"<p>Regenerating my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/introduction\">#introduction<\/a> post on the new instance: \n<br \/><br \/>\nMy name is Mike (a.k.a. \u201cshellsharks\u201d) - I am a security researcher, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/IndieWeb\">#IndieWeb<\/a> advocate, all-things <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/Fediverse\">#Fediverse<\/a> convert and all around <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/tech\">#tech<\/a> enthusiast.<\/p>\n\n<p>I write about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/infosec\">#infosec<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/technology\">#technology<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/life\">#life<\/a> over at <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s some other stuff I like\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/apple\">#apple<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/sports\">#sports<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/travel\">#travel<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/battlestations\">#battlestations<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/food\">#food<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/starwars\">#starwars<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/lotr\">#lotr<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/pokemon\">#pokemon<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/gaming\">#gaming<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/space\">#space<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/fitness\">#fitness<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/nba\">#nba<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/basketball\">#basketball<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/hiking\">#hiking<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/camping\">#camping<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/music\">#music<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/coding\">#coding<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/programming\">#programming<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/cybersecurity\">#cybersecurity<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>\ud83d\udc1a\ud83e\udd88\ud83e\udd88\ud83e\udd88<\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Sun, 24 Mar 2024 14:37:52 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/24\/shellsharks-social-112152115430884730","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/24\/shellsharks-social-112152115430884730","category":["introduction","indieweb","fediverse","tech","infosec","technology","life","apple","sports","travel","battlestations","food","starwars","lotr","pokemon","gaming","space","fitness","nba","basketball","hiking","camping","music","coding","programming","cybersecurity"]},{"title":"I don't think they ready for this Fedi","description":"<p>As it pertains to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/threads\">#threads<\/a> users dipping their toes into the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/tags\/fediverse\">#fediverse<\/a>\u2026. \n<br \/><br \/>\n[To the tune of \u201cBootylicious\u201d by Destiny\u2019s Child] \n<br \/><br \/>\n\ud83c\udfb6 I don\u2019t think they ready for this Fedi \ud83c\udfb6<\/p>\n\n","pubDate":"Fri, 22 Mar 2024 23:15:27 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/22\/shellsharks-social-112142826071756140","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/22\/shellsharks-social-112142826071756140","category":["threads","fediverse"]},{"title":"Mammoth Indiesec Smart List","description":"<p>If you are in <em>#infosec<\/em> \/ <em>#cybersecurity<\/em> and looking for an easier way to follow interesting infosec accounts that are relatively high signal-to-noise without having to scour the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\">Fediverse<\/a>, consider checking out the <em>#mammoth<\/em> Mastodon client and subscribing to the new <em>#indiesec<\/em> Smart List! <a href=\"https:\/\/getmammoth.wordpress.com\/2023\/12\/09\/whats-this-for-you-feed-is-it-algorithmic\/\">Smart Lists<\/a> are a unique feature pioneered by <a href=\"https:\/\/getmammoth.app\">Mammoth<\/a> which offers curated lists of accounts in a number of different subject areas.<\/p>\n\n<p>To start, the IndieSec Smart List (curated by <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\">yours truly<\/a>) features 50 independent security researchers \/ professionals across many infosec sub-disciplines. I will continue to maintain this list and add new accounts in the coming weeks (I have a whole backlog of accounts I\u2019d like to see added). Over time, this list will seek to feature many accounts that are lower-volume, but high-quality in terms of content. Surfacing harder-to-find accounts (by doing hours of scrolling and curation) is one more way we as a community are improving <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/17\/mastodon-discoverability\">#discoverability<\/a><\/em> across the network.<\/p>\n\n<p>Thanks to the <a href=\"https:\/\/moth.social\/@mammoth\">@mammoth@moth.social<\/a> team and <a href=\"https:\/\/moth.social\/@bart\">@bart@moth.social<\/a> for working with me on this new list. If you have any questions about the list feel free to drop me a message!<\/p>\n\n<p>I should add - you can see everyone who is featured on this list <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/shellsharks\/assorted\/blob\/master\/resources\/IndieSec.csv\">here<\/a>. When new accounts are added, they too will be represented there.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:06:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/21\/mammoth-indiesec-smart-list","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/21\/mammoth-indiesec-smart-list","category":["infosec","mastodon","fediverse","nosearch"]},{"title":"A hashtag for asking questions to the infosec Fediverse","description":"<p>What does the <em>#infosec<\/em> \/ <em>#cybersecurity<\/em> (or infosec-adjacent) community think of \u201cestablishing\u201d a go-to hashtag for asking infosec-related questions? Something like <strong>#AskSecFedi<\/strong> or <strong>#AskFediSec<\/strong>? Personally I think the latter has a better ring to it but curious what others think. I\u2019ve seen a lot of people in the community ask questions that don\u2019t get answered due to classic social reach issues but perhaps a dedicated hashtag could help alleviate some of that. (If you have a catchier tag feel free to comment!)<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ll add that <em>#askfedi<\/em> &amp; <em>#fedihelp<\/em> exist but are obviously scoped in a much broader fashion.<\/p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.amazonaws.com\/notes\/url-images\/2024-03-14-mastopoet.jpg\" alt=\"Poll\" \/><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 14 Mar 2024 13:25:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/14\/a-hashtag-for-asking-questions-to-the-infosec-fediverse","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/14\/a-hashtag-for-asking-questions-to-the-infosec-fediverse","category":["infosec","mastodon","fediverse"]},{"title":"Exhausted by social platform cheerleading","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dmv.community\/@jcrabapple\">@jcrabapple<\/a> The problem (to me) isn\u2019t even that <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.social\/about\/blog\/02-22-2024-open-social-web\">it<\/a> is \u201chalf baked\u201d, moreso that it isn\u2019t really even \u201cFederation\u201d in the sense that people are expecting (i.e. like Mastodon\/AP\/Fediverse), as well-described in <a href=\"https:\/\/merveilles.town\/@lrhodes\/111932065780204638\">this thread<\/a> (which I think you\u2019ve probably seen). The annoyance comes from the bsky cheerleaders who now point to this \u201cfederation\u201d capability and say they\u2019ve achieved what\u2019s best about Mastodon while also have the other perks of bsky (namely, BYOAlgo I guess?) when in fact their version of federation does not actually give them any level of real autonomy. This fact is either completely lost on them or they are somewhat maliciously obscuring it because they want to A. feel superior or B. have bsky \u201cwin\u201d the social media wars (<em>whatever that means<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n<p>For me, I just find the rah rah rah-ing of one\u2019s preferred micro-blogging social platform to be (at this point) utterly exhausting. They <em>all<\/em> have pros and cons and one\u2019s strengths will make it better for certain groups than it does for others, so there is no objectively \u201cbest\u201d network imo. You can <em>try<\/em> to then make the case for which has the best long-term staying power but I don\u2019t think a large percentage of people are going to weigh which network they choose <em>now<\/em> based on the property of longevity, instead they choose based on things like who\u2019s there, will they be safe, do they have reach, is it easy, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>I like Mastodon, my plan for the forseeable future is to invest my time building a community and making connections here, and I don\u2019t look down on others for liking bsky or threads. With any luck, between AP-enabled federation and third-party bridging we\u2019ll all be able to chat together soon enough anyways.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 23 Feb 2024 08:40:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/23\/exhausted-by-social-platform-cheerleading","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/23\/exhausted-by-social-platform-cheerleading","category":["technology","social","bluesky","rant","socialweb"]},{"title":"Fedicard 1st-gen","description":"<center><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.amazonaws.com\/shellsharks-fedicard.png\" alt=\"shellsharks-fedicard\" width=\"350px\" \/><\/center>\n<p><br \/>\nCheck out this awesome tool to create \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/labyrinth.social\/@nash\/111961056428799897\">Fedi Trading Cards<\/a>\u201d. Check out others cards by following <em>#FediCard<\/em> on Mastodon!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 20 Feb 2024 22:27:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/20\/fedicard-1st-gen","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/20\/fedicard-1st-gen","category":["shellsharks","mastodon","fediverse","magic"]},{"title":"Invest in the threadiverse","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@pu\">@pu<\/a> Reddit is (very unfortunately) still where people spend a lot of time, but I agree that it sucks and people should avoid giving them any more content they can then feed into these dumb AI machines.<\/p>\n\n<p>I also agree that the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel#title\">Threadiverse<\/a>\u201d (e.g. Lemmy\/Kbin) has not gained traction \/ came close to any sort of critical mass but I think it <em>could<\/em>. We need more people to commit to posting, replying and spending time there. It\u2019s cross-functionality with the growing \u201cFediverse-of-things\u201d (AP-compatible stuff) gives these tools a lot of extra power imo as anyone on Mastodon or elsewhere could comment on a Lemmy thread, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>So maybe there is a better place out there, maybe theres some amazing Discord server that would be best right now to spend your time but for the future, I say we invest in Fediverse-enabled communities and Lemmy\/Kbin are great options for that right now.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Sat, 17 Feb 2024 15:47:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/17\/invest-in-the-threadiverse","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/02\/17\/invest-in-the-threadiverse","category":["technology","threadiverse","fediverse","lemmy","redditmigration","nosearch"]},{"title":"How the Internet discovers my site","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@john_fisherman\">@john_fisherman<\/a> Hey! I read your post here and wanted to let you know about my own experience as a random writer on the web (understanding that everyone\u2019s experience differs). I started my blog in 2019 and expected to never really get any interest from people in terms of reading, using or getting feedback on what I had written. After nearly 5 years I\u2019ve been blown away with the reception and level of feedback I have gotten! So what do I think has helped me in terms of people discovering my site, enjoying it and giving me feedback?\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Find a niche, write for that niche. I write about everything but a good bit of what I choose to write about is infosec. Now there is no dearth of infosec content out there but it is slightly more specialized than \u201ctech\u201d for example.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Network it around! Or an IndieWeb speak, POSSE. You mention this in your piece but getting it out into specific Reddit channels, LinkedIn, Mastodon, etc.. has been great for getting feedback and spreading the world.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Keep pieces updated. A lot of my posts are not just point-in-time writings, but rather resources I keep up to date. This has helped what I write maintain relevance and serve as a resource for myself and others.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Make it unique. My site is not perfect, but its visual style is certainly unique. People have commented that they like me design, my site, my artwork, etc\u2026 In a world filled with cookie cutter Medium sites and other boring facades, this can definitely help. If your site is interesting, than you are by default a bit more interesting haha.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Though you should find a niche, also consider just writing about whatever you want and having that hosted on your site too. Some of my most popular (by SEO) posts are not infosec-related but rather things like a chair review or some of my work I did for my Masters.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Cheers!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 23 Jan 2024 14:28:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/23\/how-the-internet-discovers-my-site","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/23\/how-the-internet-discovers-my-site","category":["technology","indieweb"]},{"title":"IndieWeb search engine","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/social.lol\/@mikehaynes\">@mikehaynes<\/a> Definitely a lot of attempts at <em>#IndieWeb<\/em> \/ <em>#smallweb<\/em> search engines\/repos\/lists. I\u2019ve (somewhat poorly) tried to capture a lot of them here\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>In no particular order\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ooh.directory\">ooh.directory<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marginalia.nu]\">marginalia.nu<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indieseek.xyz\">indieseek.xyz<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kagi.com\/smallweb\/\">kagi.com\/smallweb\/<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/searchmysite.net\">searchmysite.net<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/whimsical.club\">whimsical.club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theuselessweb.com\">theuselessweb.com<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theforest.link\">theforest.link<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/personalsit.es\">personalsit.es<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb-directory.glitch.me\">indieweb-directory.glitch.me<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/godteeth.com\/misc\/randomweb\">godteeth.com\/misc\/randomweb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogroll.org\">blogroll.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indieblog.page\">indieblog.page<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.hn\">blogs.hn<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/neocities.org\/browse\">neocities.org\/browse<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wiby.me\">wiby.me<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/oldavista.com\">Old\u2019aVista<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Webrings: <a href=\"https:\/\/foreverliketh.is\/blog\/exploring-the-personal-web\/\">foreverliketh.is\/blog\/exploring-the-personal-web\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>*Maybe someone could build a search engine that would aggregate results from all or some of these?<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 12 Jan 2024 21:27:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/12\/indieweb-search-engine","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/12\/indieweb-search-engine","category":["technology","indieweb","smallweb"]},{"title":"Strategy for finding news","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@LaGrange\">@LaGrange<\/a> Here\u2019s my \u201cfind news\u201d strategy\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>pure <em>#RSS<\/em> for manual curation (Got a lot of <em>#infosec<\/em> blogs here if you are interested <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/infosec-blogs\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/infosec-blogs<\/a>)<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><em>#Mastodon<\/em> is slightly better since I get boosts in my timeline which with enough followed accounts turns into a kinda less-toxic \u201cFor You\u201d algorithm<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I use <em>#Feedly<\/em> as my RSS platform and they suggest other blogs to sub to that are similar to ones that I already sub to<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I\u2019m also active on infosec-related <em>#Lemmy<\/em> \/ <em>#Kbin<\/em> servers which feed me new stuff sometimes (though still not as effective as Reddit is\/was when I was using it)<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>There\u2019s some attempts at building algo\u2019s on top of Mastodon as well as folks building curated lists (<em>#Mammoth<\/em> being <a href=\"https:\/\/fediversereport.com\/a-mammoth-of-an-update\/\">an example of the latter<\/a>) that you could also look into.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 12 Jan 2024 21:11:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/12\/strategy-for-finding-news","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/12\/strategy-for-finding-news","category":["infosec","technology","rss","mastodon","feedly","fediverse"]},{"title":"Evangelizing Mastodon","description":"<p>I\u2019ve decided to dedicate 95% of my <em>#Threads<\/em> personality to yammering on about <em>#Mastodon<\/em> \/ the <em>#fediverse<\/em> and why people should <em>#joinmastodon<\/em> (and abandon Threads). As an example, here is my most recent plea to the <em>#infosec<\/em> folks of Threads to create Mastodon accounts and invest their social time here instead of there. My selfish reasons aside, after spending time in both worlds, Mastodon is <em>much<\/em> stronger for this community than Threads is right now. Yes, I know a federated future means a bridge between worlds but I still hold the belief that certain qualities of Mastodon will always make it a more habitable place for infosec folks than a place like Threads (e.g. posts longer than 500 words, posting exploit code that could be moderated out by Threads, PRIVACY implications, etc\u2026)<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@mk3s\/post\/C1mhs7JL2vo\/\">https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@mk3s\/post\/C1mhs7JL2vo\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>*<em>Apologies to those who find any association with or time spent on Threads utterly irredeemable. My own feelings are mixed for sure.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>My dream is to get more people to invest not just in Mastodon, but in owning their own land on the Internet, i.e. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb#title\">#indieweb<\/a><\/em> principles. Building a brand or relying on big tech for our identities on the web has been proven to be an awful decision. Even relying on well-maintained Mastodon instances is not without some danger.<\/p>\n\n<p>Leave Threads \u27a1\ufe0f Build a social graph on Mastodon \u27a1\ufe0f Buy a domain \u27a1\ufe0f Publish your *posts \/ content \/ w.e on your blog \u27a1\ufe0f Federate your blog (where possible) or simply expose an RSS feed \u27a1\ufe0f Establish a permanent identity on the web less reliant on others.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Jan 2024 09:09:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/02\/evangelizing-mastodon","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/01\/02\/evangelizing-mastodon","category":["mastodon","fediverse","indieweb"]},{"title":"Rearchitecting shellsharks","description":"<p>Hello helpful friends of the Fediverse! I am considering a major rearchitecture of my site, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com<\/a> (<em>and adjacent properties<\/em>) and wanted to get some advice\/tips from the wider <em>#indieweb<\/em>, <em>#blogging<\/em>, <em>#openweb<\/em>, <em>#webdev<\/em>, <em>#webdevelopment<\/em> communities out here.<\/p>\n\n<p>Currently, my site is hosted on <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.github.com\">Github Pages<\/a> which uses <em><a href=\"https:\/\/jekyllrb.com\">#jekyll<\/a><\/em> for static site generation. I\u2019ve been using this for nearly 5 years and for the most part have no complaints. The service has decent uptime, is pretty customizable (custom CSS, JS, etc\u2026) and after all this time I am pretty comfortable using it. Some things I am interested in though in terms of re-architecting\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Fediverse \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.rocks\">ActivityPub<\/a> compatibility - <em><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.com\">#wordpress<\/a><\/em> has gone live with their <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.com\/plugins\/activitypub\">AP plugin<\/a> and sites like <a href=\"https:\/\/micro.blog\">micro.blog<\/a> (<em>I think<\/em>) have some direct AP functionality. I\u2019m interested in exploring this but it\u2019s not necessarily a must-have. More on Fediverse point of presence later\u2026<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a> functionality - I\u2019ve baked in as much IndieWeb stuff as I can reasonably do with Jekyll hosted on Git Pages but would be interested in <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Webmention\">WebMention<\/a> and other more advanced capabilities if offered by another platform \/ static-site generator.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I\u2019ve toyed with the idea of self-hosting the blog (on AWS or something), while still using an SSG of some kind. There could be some benefits with adding more dynamic content or having more autonomy over my site but not sure if it\u2019d be worth additional costs or headache trying to manage.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Writing (or generally producing \u201ccontent\u201d) has always been something I do out of pure enjoyment but I\u2019ve considered trying to monetize in some way. What are some platform considerations if I wanted to monetize say, a podcast, newsletter, video courses, premium articles, etc\u2026<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>\u2013<\/p>\n\n<p>Other adjacent properties I\u2019m looking to \u201cre-design\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>My <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">#podcast<\/a><\/em> is currently hosted on <em>#Podbean<\/em>, which I have liked so far but I\u2019d like to further embrace the Fediverse so have considered moving to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/castopod.com\/en\">#Castopod<\/a><\/em>. Any advice on hosted vs. self-hosted? Are there other non-Castopod fediverse options?<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>As of right now, my presence in the Fediverse is mostly on <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/\">infosec.exchange<\/a> where I post stuff from my site. I\u2019ve considered <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon#hosting-a-mastodon-instance\">hosting my own instance<\/a> of Mastodon (or something similar) to be my main account or even just as an official \u201cshellsharks the site\u201d account. I\u2019ve seen accounts of people going down this path and ultimately bailing due to costs, time overhead, etc\u2026<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>\u2013<\/p>\n\n<p>If there are noticeable benefits to making any significant changes I\u2019d be willing to take that on as a project for 2024. Otherwise, I might just stick with what I have and focus on writing\/research =). <strong>Thanks so much<\/strong> to anyone who takes the time to read \/ respond!<\/p>\n\n<p><em>#githubpages #activitypub #staticsite #selfhosted #selfhosting<\/em><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 22 Dec 2023 13:24:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/12\/22\/rearchitecting-shellsharks","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/12\/22\/rearchitecting-shellsharks","category":["technology","blogging","indieweb","fediverse"]},{"title":"Functions of engagement and discovery","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ioc.exchange\/@matthew_d_green\">@matthew_d_green<\/a> \nOn Mastodon, engagement is often a function of how many followers you have, discovery however is a function of who you follow and how many people you follow. My advice, follow more people \u2014&gt; discover more stuff! You can always prune folks later if you decide you don\u2019t like what they post. Don\u2019t overthink who you follow for now, just try to populate your timeline and let the boosts rain new and interesting accounts upon you.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019d be interested to hear how any of the other current social networks are meeting your discovery needs better than Mastodon could. Threads has a decent algo but it\u2019s touchy and very brand\/influencer heavy until you use for a few weeks. X seems to be just alt-right rage bait stuff and bluesky at least for me is a dead zone.<\/p>\n\n<p>Also, you have 15k+ followers here, you can definitely ask the fediverse who you should be following and you\u2019ll get tons of answers. \ud83d\ude1d<\/p>\n\n<p>Hope you decide to keep spending your time here!!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 28 Nov 2023 15:45:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/28\/functions-of-engagement-and-discovery","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/28\/functions-of-engagement-and-discovery","category":["technology","mastodon","fediverse","nosearch"]},{"title":"What is my site tech stack?","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@matthiasott\">@matthiasott@mastodon.social<\/a> I\u2019ve documented(ish) the tech stack for shellsharks.com here <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/uses#shellsharks-tech-stack\">\/uses#shellsharks-tech-stack<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>Basically it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.github.com\">GitHub Pages<\/a> + <a href=\"https:\/\/jekyllrb.com\">Jekyll<\/a>. The tools I use around that vary whether I\u2019m on desktop or iPad\/mobile.<\/p>\n\n<p>Would I pick it again? Maybe. It has been really easy to use but now that I know more about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> I\u2019d probably choose something a little more IndieWeb friendly and\/or that has <a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.rocks\">ActivityPub<\/a> support.<\/p>\n\n<p>Not much technical expertise required imo. It is really simple to stand up. If you want to customize the look and feel you\u2019re going to have to learn a bit about Liquid syntax, html, JS, CSS, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t \u201chave\u201d to do a lot of maintenance. But I add a lot of stuff to the site including experimental features so a lot of care and feeding go into making sure things are running correctly. I\u2019ll add that I\u2019m no web dev\/design expert so this adds to the amount of maintenance overhead I have.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 21 Nov 2023 07:53:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/21\/what-is-my-site-tech-stack","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/21\/what-is-my-site-tech-stack","category":["technology","indieweb"]},{"title":"How has my site changed my life?","description":"<p>I\u2019ve been working on Shellsharks since mid 2019 (<em>May<\/em>). In the beginning, I didn\u2019t have very many expectations for what the site would bring. I wanted to write a piece about \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/getting-into-information-security\">getting into infosec<\/a>\u201d to share with the multitudes that asked me what my advice was and I wanted to write posts that I could use as reference mostly for myself. What I didn\u2019t forsee at the time was all the other ways that I would benefit and grow from writing and building my site and other spin-off shellsharks-related projects. I\u2019ve listed below some of the many ways having my site has meaningfully changed my life\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>By sharing my work on social media, and through \u201corganic\u201d web searches my posts have had decent reach. Others in the industry engage with me on research I\u2019ve published and those new and old in the field have reached out to discuss or simply say they liked something I wrote. It has been great for networking!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>The process of writing about one thing often spawns additional areas of research and interest. As a result, I\u2019ve explored a lot of new areas to learn!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I have ongoing projects that are recognized and leveraged by many within the industry. <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/designer-vulnerabilities\">[1]<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threat-modeling\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Along the lines of one of my original goals, I have cataloged a lot of material that I use for reference myself almost every day! Often the first resource I look for when doing something is my own site. Pretty cool!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>The act of researching for writing a piece on my site has led me to a lot of interesting content that would have otherwise been buried on the web.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I started a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/captains-log\">quasi-journaling thing<\/a> that has given me a medium to write about more personal and mundane things in my life.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Many community-related ventures have been spun off my site (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/3rkHgtcYbb\">Discord server<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/c\/cybersecurity\">Lemmy community<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fedia.io\/m\/cybersecurity\">Kbin magazine<\/a>, Reddit)<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Writing and moreso working on my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> site has allowed me to express my creativity. The site layout, embedded secrets, artwork, page design, etc\u2026 All unique to me and I have enjoyed crafting it with whimsy.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>The site has a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags?tag=infosec\">heavy-infosec focus<\/a>, but I also write about other things within tech as well as anything in <em>life<\/em>, I really get to stretch what I write about.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>I started a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">podcast<\/a> which has helped me meet a lot of cool people in the industry!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>The work I have done and the portfolio which is exposed on the site has in fact helped me in many job hunting and interviewing situations.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve loved working on the site and though the amount of time and effort I put into the site ebbs and flows, it is something I forsee doing well into the future.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 21 Nov 2023 07:41:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/21\/how-has-my-site-changed-my-life","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/11\/21\/how-has-my-site-changed-my-life","category":["technology","infosec","indieweb","nablopomo"]},{"title":"Shellsharks Syndication Strategy","description":"<p>One core strategy of the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Category:syndication\">syndication<\/a><\/strong>, i.e. cross-posting content to &amp; from your site between other destinations \/ platforms \/ social networks. There are two approaches to syndication\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/POSSE\">POSSE<\/a> (<em>Post Own Site Syndicate Everywhere<\/em>) and <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a> (<em>Post Everywhere Syndicate Own Site<\/em>). With POSSE, you post on your site first and then syndicate everywhere you want to cross-post, and with PESOS you\u2019re using networks as you traditionally would but replicating content <em>back<\/em> (i.e. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">reverse syndication<\/a><\/em>) to your site to maintain a copy. \n<br \/><br \/>\nThis page walks through the <span class=\"shellsharks-com\">Shellsharks<\/span> syndication <a href=\"#syndication-workflow\">workflow<\/a> and <a href=\"#syndication-philosophy\">philosophy<\/a>, as well as the <a href=\"#syndication-destinations\">places on the web<\/a> I typically syndicate content. To learn more about the many types of content I publish, go <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"syndication-destinations\">Syndication Destinations<\/h2>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a list of places I typically share content to.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><span class=\"shellsharks-com\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">shellsharks.com<\/a><\/span>: This is the origin for a lot of my content but also where I <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">reverse-syndicate<\/a><\/em> some posts that originate from elsewhere on the web.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Mastodon<\/strong> \/ the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>: Many (but not all) microblog posts come back to this site as <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing#notes\">notes<\/a>. I share a lot of my original posts here to the Fediverse.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Threads<\/strong>: I use this sparingly, but sometimes I will post links to my content from here on Threads.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Lemmy<\/strong> \/ <strong>Kbin<\/strong>: I share content to, and occassionally pull content back-from, the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel\">threadiverse<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Pixelfed<\/strong>: I don\u2019t share _ lot of photos, but if\/when I do, I will put them on <a href=\"https:\/\/pixel.infosec.exchange\/shellsharks\">Pixelfed<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Discord<\/strong>: I\u2019m in a ton of Discord servers, I definitely share some links to my site there.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Bluesky<\/strong>: I\u2019m not particularly active on Bluesky, but I will occassionally share links there.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Reddit<\/strong>: I\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel\">mostly given up here<\/a> for now.<\/li>\n  <li><strong>YouTube<\/strong>: I shared a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@shellsharks\">video<\/a> once. Any future videos might go there too. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Other<\/strong> (e.g. LinkedIn, Matrix, Nostr, Squabblr, etc\u2026): I share a lot of links <em>out<\/em> to these various places.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"syndication-philosophy\">Syndication Philosophy<\/h2>\n\n<p>How do I cross-post content and why do I feel the need to \u201csyndicate\u201d content in this way? Here\u2019s a ramble-tastic explanation\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>I reckon less people than ever use straight-up bookmarks to save and revisit websites they enjoy. These days, social media is how people discover and consume content. It would be great if everyone had an <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/an-ode-to-rss\">RSS aggregator<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">subscribed<\/a> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing\">many things<\/a> I publish here using that, but the reality is the majority of people don\u2019t even know what RSS is. So, if I want people to find my site or read my writing, I need to be where said people <em>are<\/em>\u2014and these days people are all over the place. Unless I syndicate to <a href=\"#syndication-destinations\">multiple places<\/a>, I just won\u2019t reach ~everyone. Therefore, I need to publish my <em>stuff<\/em> to a bunch of places.<\/p>\n\n<p>What happens when a platform dies? Many people are finding out as \u201cX\u201d (<em>f.k.a.<\/em> Twitter) burns. The communities you\u2019ve built, your social \u201cgraph\u201d and your content that is on these platforms all go up in flames as well. If you build a site, keep copies of your content there and establish yourself identity on the web as your site\u2019s domain, rather than your <em>@<\/em> handle on whatever social platform, you can better retain your \u201cfollowing\u201d in the wake of said social platform\u2019s death. Backlinking to your site within your social media posts is a great way for people to associate <em>you<\/em> with your site, rather than just your <em>@<\/em> handle. Establishing this fixed, long-term <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/16\/your-website-your-identity\">identity on the web<\/a> is very important. Platforms come and go, but in theory a domain you purchase and establish can be a way for people to find you indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n<p>This is one thing about <a href=\"https:\/\/blueskyweb.xyz\">Bluesky<\/a> that I really like. They introduced a way to <a href=\"https:\/\/blueskyweb.xyz\/blog\/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial\">make a domain you own your handle<\/a>. So on Bluesky, I am <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/shellsharks.com\">shellsharks.com<\/a>. <em>Cool!<\/em> The <a href=\"https:\/\/webfinger.net\">WebFinger<\/a> protocol offers another interesting path for facilitating a persistent <em>social<\/em> identity. I\u2019ve set up the WebFinger endpoint for my site so now when you search for \u201cshellsharks.com\u201d (my site\u2019s domain) on Mastodon, my primary Fediverse profile will be the search result. It would be cool to see more sites support something like <a href=\"https:\/\/indieauth.com\">IndieAuth<\/a> for authentication\/identity. You could use your site as a source of identity rather than having to fight for <em>@<\/em> handles on every new platform that pops up.<\/p>\n\n<p>Speaking of the <a href=\"https:\/\/throwawayopinions.io\/the-paradox-of-intolerance.html\">disaster that is X<\/a>, especially for content creators, consider now that X has taken a hostile position against external links, preventing discovery or even existence of links that would send you away from the site. This is among many other things that make X utterly uninhabitable. This sort of late-stage, dystopic platform lock-in prevents people from being exposed to the larger open web.<\/p>\n\n<p>Content ownership is a foundational tenant of the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a>, and for good reason! When all your content exists within someone elses platform you lose a lot of control. Platform death could mean the loss of all your content. You are subject to questionable content moderation policies that could result in your content being removed or suppressed, and of course you allow these companies to profit off of and get credit for your work rather than yourself.<\/p>\n\n<p>So what\u2019s my strategy? Do I simply write \/ publish something on my blog and then link to it on <em>every<\/em> destinaton platform the exact same way? <em>Nope<\/em>, it\u2019s a bit more nuanced than that, and as a result, does not have a lot of automation tied to it at this time. There is a lot that I consider when determining if and how I will syndicate content to a particular destination. Who is my audience? For example, if I\u2019m posting a note about my favorite accounts to follow on Mastodon, I probably wouldn\u2019t post it on Threads. Each platform has their own culture \/ norms\u2014for example on Mastodon, I may use hashtags to help with discoverability, but with Threads I would not. Mastodon is a more technical crowd so I may reserve more technical content for that site. A lot of micro-blog-esque social media (e.g. X, Threads, even vanilla Mastodon) allow for only a couple hundred characters in a post. This means any syndicated content is typically just a summary and a link to the full post rather than dropping in the full content in the post itself. When I have something to say, it\u2019s too-often &gt;500 characters, so sharing via a link to my site is really the only way to go. To capture association between a post on my site and where I have syndicated it to, I have a <a href=\"#syndication-workflow\">mechanism<\/a> on the site to drop the direct-links to social media posts on the blog post source so that the syndication links show up at the bottom of each post.<\/p>\n\n<p>So does <em>everything<\/em> I post get syndicated out? Does everything I post first on social media get reverse-syndicated back to the site? <em>No<\/em> and <em>no<\/em>. There are some things on the site that are experimental, more personal or just don\u2019t easily fit into other spaces. For those posts, I leave them on the site for my own reference and for those who like my content enough to have either subscribed to the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">RSS feeds<\/a> or peruse my site intermittently. As for my social media <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/04\/02\/reverse-syndication-pesos\">reverse syndication<\/a>, I have no formal rule for this, but I tend to only publish things on my site that originated from social media if A. it\u2019s decent reference material, i.e. I would want to go back to it or update it at some point, B. It get\u2019s a lot of attention and becomes worthy of archival, or C. it\u2019s a longer or more thoughtful post. 99% of the time, these posts become <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">notes<\/a> on my site. This applies to replies as well, not just original posts by me.<\/p>\n\n<p>I mentioned that I don\u2019t use a lot of automation in my <a href=\"#syndication-workflow\">syndication methodology<\/a>. This is in part because I haven\u2019t spent the time to automate any part of the workflow, but equally it is because of this nuance in how I want to share my content. I rarely, if ever post the same content in the same way across multiple platforms. Therefore, I can\u2019t really rely on an automation that would take a newly published blog post or note and simply repost it verbatim everywhere else. Another important aspect of <em>not<\/em> automating this sort of thing is that for anywhere I want my content to go, I really want to be a <em>citizen<\/em> of that platform. Rather than blasting a link to my site <em>everywhere<\/em>, I\u2019d rather hand-post it and then interact with replies. Further, by being someone who actively scrolls these feeds, I get a better feel for how I should post things, what would be interesting to those on the network, and how I can more contextually post my content as replies to other peoples posts. For example, my first-ever post on this site was on how to get into infosec. My social networks happen to be filled with infosec professionals and aspiring pros who frequently asked about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/getting-into-information-security\">how to get into the field<\/a>. There\u2019s my opportunity to reply with a link to that post! <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/09\/20\/engagement-on-mastodon\">I\u2019ve said this before<\/a>, boosting engagement on social media is more about how you <em>actually engage<\/em> with others, rather than expecting mass response to your own original posts.<\/p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> actually has its own \u201csocial\u201d capability\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/Webmention\">Webmentions<\/a>. Shellsharks.com hasn\u2019t implemented Webmentions for technical and non-technical reasons. Getting it to work via Github Pages\/statically generated Jekyll is <a href=\"https:\/\/keithjgrant.com\/posts\/2019\/02\/adding-webmention-support-to-a-static-site\/\">not<\/a> for the faint of heart. More than that though, I don\u2019t see Webmentions being particuarly viable in its current form\u2014moreso just a checkmark for IndieWeb superfans or those that really despise the idea of using any traditional social media platform. One thing Webmentions and the technology that facilitates it supports is the concept of bridging post replies <em>back<\/em> to your site in the form of a comments feed. For me, this would be <u>bad<\/u>. I don\u2019t want a bunch of comments junking up my post, nor do I really want to be made painfully aware of posts that never received any engagement (<em>haha<\/em>). Further, having comments on my site means having to perform moderation\u2014<em>no thanks<\/em>. IndieWeb zealots also believe in having other post metadata available directly on the site of origin\u2014things like likes and reposts. Again, more unncessary cruft. I think having links to where you\u2019ve syndicated content is sufficient. By going out to the platform a syndicated post lives on you can easily see the likes and resposts.<\/p>\n\n<p>There ya go! This is how and why I syndicate <span class=\"shellsharks-com\">shellsharks<\/span> content across the web.<\/p>\n\n<h1 id=\"syndication-workflow\">Syndication Workflow<\/h1>\n\n<p>A walkthrough of my (<a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/POSSE\">POSSE<\/a>) syndication approach.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>I write the blog post \/ note \/ <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing#content-types\">thing<\/a><\/em> <u>here<\/u> (<em>duh<\/em>).<\/li>\n  <li>Since I use <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.github.com\">GitHub Pages<\/a>, the content is published by committing it to the repo on GitHub.<\/li>\n  <li>I have frontmatter on my post for where the content is syndicated to. At first, this is left blank.<\/li>\n  <li>Once the post is published, (if) I share the the post on <a href=\"#syndication-destinations\">a social platform<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>The syndicated post will (most of the time) include a back-link to the source post on my site.<\/li>\n  <li>Once the syndicated post is published, I copy the direct links to each and include them in the frontmatter for the original post on my site.<\/li>\n  <li>I then have to recommit the post with the syndication link in the front matter.<\/li>\n  <li>The syndication links then appear at the bottom of individual post on my site. <em>Ta da<\/em>!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/PESOS\">PESOS<\/a> it is a similar, but slightly tweaked approach.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>I share some sort of content on <a href=\"#syndication-destinations\">somewhere on the web<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>I copy that content into the appropriate <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/multiplicity-of-writing#content-types\">type of post<\/a> for my site.<\/li>\n  <li>I include the link to the original post on the respective social platform in the front matter of the post on my site.<\/li>\n  <li>I commit the post to my site\u2019s GitHub repo and it goes live within minutes!<\/li>\n  <li>The syndication link is immediately available on the bottom of the live post.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<h1 id=\"more\">More<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/the-vergecast\">The Vergecast<\/a>\u2019s podcast episode \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/KPUEDik-XZY\">The poster\u2019s guide to the new internet<\/a>\u201d provides some historical context regarding the challenges facing modern syndication strategies with respect to the \u201cIndieWeb\u201d. I recommend listening as it is very interesting and educational!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 20 Nov 2023 09:54:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/syndication-strategy","category":["nablopomo","technology","indieweb","posse","pesos","technology","blog","slashpage"]},{"title":"Where I like to read","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@darrenpmeyer\">@darrenpmeyer<\/a> Self-hosted blog on a domain you own with an <em>#RSS<\/em> feed is the best way. Please no Medium or sub stack, etc\u2026 Bonus points for having <em>#IndieWeb<\/em> capabilities (https:\/\/indieweb.org). What useful social features does Medium, etc.. offer? Those platforms mostly just put annoying barriers to me actually reading the content so imo, not good.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 23 Oct 2023 10:36:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/23\/where-i-like-to-read","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/23\/where-i-like-to-read","category":["blogging","rss","indieweb","nosearch"]},{"title":"Engagement on Mastodon","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\">@jerry@infosec.exchange<\/a> Easiest way to see engagement here is to engage, I.e. respond to other peoples stuff, rather than post stuff and expect people to respond to it, especially if your follower count is low. I understand why this individual feels this way, but I learned that engagement here just works differently than a place like Reddit. Respond to people to create organic conversation, be genuine, use hashtags, put effort in for a few months not days or weeks, creating a network here requires some investment but pays off imo. Some people want more native functionality to boost engagement in their social platform and as it stands now, Mastodon doesn\u2019t provide this, so getting started requires a bit of effort to get momentum. It\u2019s not for everyone. I\u2019ve posted (what I felt to be) really interesting things or questions to no response. Other times, I get lots of feedback. Sometimes just random based on the day. Hopefully more people come to appreciate this and give Mastodon more time to grow on them moving forward.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 20 Sep 2023 17:15:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/09\/20\/engagement-on-mastodon","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/09\/20\/engagement-on-mastodon","category":["mastodon","fediverse"]},{"title":"Where we live on","description":"<p>I recently shared a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/16\/your-website-your-identity\">note<\/a> about why having a domain as your identity is so important these days thanks in large part to the enshittification of the large social platforms. But I extend this warning to those who have placed their trust in <em>any<\/em> platform, even something like Mastodon. See what has happend with <a href=\"http:\/\/outdoors.lgbt\">outdoors.lgbt<\/a> (i.e. catastrophic backup failure), <a href=\"https:\/\/honeytree.social\/@jeff\/110955710330098067\">newsie.social<\/a> (i.e. server upkeep costs), or what is <em>currently<\/em> happening with <a href=\"https:\/\/m6n.io\/@fuzzychef\/110936040096524936\">fosstodon<\/a> and you will see that even good intentioned server admins are still prone to failure. These failures can result in total loss of your online identity\/account. So put your faith in yourself. Buy a domain, host your stuff there, syndicate it out where you please, <strong>live on<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<hr style=\"width:50%\" \/>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\/110945885233382137\">I\u2019ll add to this<\/a>. Even here @ <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/\">infosec.exchange<\/a> this rings true. You can\u2019t ask for a better server admin than <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\">@jerry<\/a> . Even-handed, extremely technically-proficient, community-oriented, you name it. But a day will inevitably come when Jerry has to hang it up one way or another, whether that be to pass admin-ship onto new worthy ownership or w\/e. With any luck, that new era of infosec.exchange will inherit the same awesome stability we will have enjoyed up to that point, but if not, better to have your own stable point on the web (i.e. your domain) that you can always fall back and point people to. Happy webbin\u2019!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 24 Aug 2023 13:46:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/24\/where-we-live-on","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/24\/where-we-live-on","category":["technology","life","rss","indieweb"]},{"title":"Mastodon discoverability","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@tragiccommons\">@tragiccommons<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@briankrebs\">@briankrebs<\/a> I\u2019d like this feature. But I\u2019d say there\u2019s more discoverability capabilities here than you might think.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>\n    <p>First, when you\u2019re new(ish). Follow liberally, the more you follow the more you see and those follows are likely to boost others. Once you\u2019re established, you can prune follows you really don\u2019t care for.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Find those that boost very generously. The <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2024\/03\/26\/power-boosters-of-the-fediverse\">fediverse power-boosters<\/a> will send lots of great stuff your way.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Hashtags. Follow your interests very easily!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Local timeline. infosec.exchange has a pretty good local chatter.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Some clients (and maybe native Mastodon) has trending hashtags.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Time. I love the state of my timeline but it didn\u2019t form over night. It takes a bit of time but if you put some effort into curating the feed (using points above), you\u2019ll end up with something vibrant, personalized and fantastic.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 17 Aug 2023 20:41:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/17\/mastodon-discoverability","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/17\/mastodon-discoverability","category":["technology","mastodon","fediverse"]},{"title":"Your website, your identity","description":"<p>I previously wrote about <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">why you should start a blog<\/a>. That piece is filled with solid reasons I still stand by today. But since that time, I\u2019ve come to understand a more meaningful reason to have a website and as part of that site, some form of syndicated content (i.e. a blog). For most, \u201cidentity\u201d on the web is tied to one, or fractured across a few, social media platform(s). Recent history has revealed the pitfalls of this approach. Enshittification, terrible management, or even platform collapse can result in catastrophic loss of your connections, communities, business income and more. So many refuse to leave Twitter (<em>er\u2026<\/em> \u201cX\u201d) because their too invested, to leave would be to sacrifice one or more of these things. Why do we continue to feed these platforms that always fail, that always betray us, that violate our privacy, that never represent who we truly are? Having a website, a place that is yours, that you can design to your specification, share anything you want, how you want and make <em>easily<\/em> available to all is such an obvious solution and it really isn\u2019t that much harder than creating a (pick your social media platform of choice) account. There are a TON of services these days that make it dead simple to get up and running with a customizable site and start publishing. The beauty of this (blogging), is that you can syndicate however you\u2019d like from there. So go ahead, share on Mastodon, or Threads, or wherever, but remember to link back to the true canonical representation on your site.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 16 Aug 2023 00:26:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/16\/your-website-your-identity","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/16\/your-website-your-identity","category":["technology","life","blogging","indieweb"]},{"title":"Website Component Checklist","description":"<p>A checklist of website components to have as part of your site.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> custom <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/404\">404<\/a> page <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HTTP_404\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> 88x31 button <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\"><i class=\"ph ph-arrow-square-out\"><\/i><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/yesterweb.org\/graphics\/buttons\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\">About<\/a> \/ Colophon <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Colophon_(publishing)\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/ai.txt\">ai.txt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/site.spawning.ai\/spawning-ai-txt\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/activity\">Activity feed<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/architecture\">Architecture.md<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/matklad.github.io\/2021\/02\/06\/ARCHITECTURE.md.html\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">Blog<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll\">Blogroll<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/what-is-blogroll-3476580\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/bookmarks\">Bookmarks<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\/#links\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> \/Carry page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\">Change Log<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/change-password\">change-password<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/w3c.github.io\/webappsec-change-password-url\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> Comments (for blog posts)<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> \/Defaults page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/disclaimer\">Disclaimer<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/privacyterms.io\/disclaimer\/website-disclaimer\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/dnt\">dnt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/tracking-dnt\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/dnt-policy.txt\">dnt-policy.txt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/tracking-dnt\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/donate\">Donation<\/a> page <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.donately.com\/donation-page\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"mailto:mike@shellsharks.com\">Email<\/a> link <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3docs.com\/snippets\/html\/how-to-create-mailto-links.html\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> \/Favorites page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">Feeds<\/a> page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> Guestbook<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">Home<\/a> page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/humans.txt\">humans.txt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/humanstxt.org\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/ideas\">Ideas<\/a> page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb.txt\">indieweb.txt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/indieweb.txt\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/interests\">Interests<\/a> page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/disclaimer\">License<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/choose\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> Light\/Dark-mode toggle<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/hello\">Links to social media<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/linklog\">Linklog<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> \/Nope <a href=\"https:\/\/baty.net\/nope\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notebook\">Notes<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/note\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/now\">Now<\/a> page <a href=\"https:\/\/nownownow.com\/about\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> \u201cOn This Day\u201d button<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/public.pgp\">PGP<\/a> key <a href=\"https:\/\/www.openpgp.org\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/privacy\">Privacy policy<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Privacy_policy\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/privacy.txt\">Privacy.txt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.privacytxt.dev\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/pubvendors.json\">pubvendors.json<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/InteractiveAdvertisingBureau\/GDPR-Transparency-and-Consent-Framework\/blob\/master\/pubvendors.json%20v1.0%20Draft%20for%20Public%20Comment.md\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> \u201cRandom\u201d \/ \u201cSurprise me\u201d button<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/resume\">Resume<\/a> page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/roadmap\">Roadmap<\/a> page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/robots.txt\">robots.txt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/learn\/seo\/robotstxt\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\">RSS<\/a> feeds <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/RSS\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/search\">Search<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/security.txt\">security.txt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/securitytxt.org\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/slashes\">Slashes<\/a> <a href=\"slashpages.net\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/sitemap.xml\">Site Map<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Site_map\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/statboard\">Site Statistics<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/style\">Style guide<\/a> page<\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags\">Tags<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> TIL page <a href=\"https:\/\/mharty3.github.io\/blog\/til\/\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/uses\">Uses page<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/uses.tech\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-check-square\"><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/webfinger\/\">Webfinger<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><i class=\"ph ph-square\"><\/i> Webring (<a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse-webring-enthusiasts.glitch.me\/profiles\/shellsharks_infosec.exchange\/index.html\">Webring Enthusiasts<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Webring\"><i class=\"ph ph-info\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a list of known \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\">slash pages<\/a>\u201d I\u2019ve discovered: \/about, \/architecture, \/blogroll, \/carry, \/changelog, \/chipotle, \/colophon, \/contact, \/defaults, \/favorites, \/feeds, \/hello, \/ideas, \/interests, \/nope, \/now, \/til, \/save, \/uses.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>*<\/strong> <em>For some other ideas on things to add to your site, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/jamesg.blog\/2024\/02\/19\/personal-website-ideas\/\">this piece from James\u2019 Coffee Blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/112182525846345076\"><img src=\"https:\/\/shellsharks-images.s3.amazonaws.com\/notes\/2024\/mastopoet-perma-url-list.jpg\" width=\"500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 15 Aug 2023 09:43:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/15\/website-component-checklist","category":["technology","webdev","indieweb","list"]},{"title":"Ivory vs Feditext","description":"<p>Comparison of two great <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> clients, <a href=\"https:\/\/tapbots.com\/ivory\/\">Ivory<\/a> vs. <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/feditext\/feditext\">Feditext<\/a>. This mini-review highlights notable feature differences between the two (rather than a comprehensive feature compare). <strong>*<\/strong> <em>If noted for one app, you should assume the other does not possess that feature.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h5 id=\"ivory\">Ivory<\/h5>\n<p>From the makers of <a href=\"https:\/\/tapbots.com\/tweetbot\/\">Tweetbot<\/a> (RIP), <a href=\"https:\/\/tapbots.com\">Tapbots<\/a> is well-known for producing high-quality iOS apps.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Paid ($24.99\/year)<\/li>\n  <li>Upon refresh, tells you how many new posts there are in your timeline<\/li>\n  <li>Quicker, swipe-based account switching<\/li>\n  <li>Profile editing in-app<\/li>\n  <li>iCloud-based timeline sync<\/li>\n  <li>Tap to Top (where an accidental tap can be reversed by tapping again on the top)<\/li>\n  <li>Easier to access account profile<\/li>\n  <li>Post action menu featuring View Favorites, View Boosts, Open Link to Post, Translate, Hide Post, etc\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h5 id=\"feditext\">Feditext<\/h5>\n<p>Previously <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/metabolist\/metatext\">Metatext<\/a>, this app takes things to the next level with wider Fediverse support.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Free<\/li>\n  <li>Supports Mastodon, Glitch, GotoSocial, Firefish, Akkoma and more!<\/li>\n  <li>Instance Profile Directory<\/li>\n  <li>Suggested Accounts to Follow<\/li>\n  <li>Trending Hashtags<\/li>\n  <li>Draft a thread of posts<\/li>\n  <li>Domain blocking in-app<\/li>\n  <li>Instance browsing<\/li>\n  <li>Shows all profile meta-data (beyond Mastodon-default of 4)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Metatext was my favorite Mastodon client before the developer stepped away and Ivory came online, and Tweetbot was my favorite iOS Twitter client from the before times. As such, I adore both projects and will likely keep both on my phone. For many, the fact that Feditext is (currently) free may be the deciding factor, but at only ~$2\/month, Ivory isn\u2019t exactly super out-of-reach. Ivory doesn\u2019t have any plans to support any non-Mastodon instance so that may also be a deciding factor for a growing population of Fediverse folks. For me, Ivory holds a slight edge and will continue to be my primary Mastodon client thanks to the unique set of features it boasts. That said, Feditext is only in TestFlight beta and Ivory is under active development, so still a lot left to be seen in this race!<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Fri, 11 Aug 2023 08:57:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/11\/ivory-vs-feditext","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/11\/ivory-vs-feditext","category":["technology","fediverse","mastodon","review"]},{"title":"Curating Mastodon feed","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@dismantl\">@dismantl<\/a> here\u2019s what i do to curate my Mastodon feed.<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li>If anything shows up in your feed you think is not-interesting, go look at that users profile \/ past posts.<\/li>\n  <li>If they have a habit of posting uninteresting things (like 4\/5 of their past toots were meh) then maybe unfollow<\/li>\n  <li>This is an easy call for me if they\u2019re one of those that post multiple times a day, every. Single. Day.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>This process is a little laborious (especially if your follow list has ballooned) but it becomes second nature as you peruse your feed day to day so just make a habit of it. My feed is in great shape these days thanks to doing this for months. I rarely unfollow anyone these days.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 10 Aug 2023 07:32:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/10\/curating-mastodon-feed","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/10\/curating-mastodon-feed","category":["technology","fediverse","mastodon"]},{"title":"OpenPGP & Keyoxide","description":"<p>I\u2019m all PGP\u2019ed up.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/keyoxide.org\">Keyoxide<\/a><\/strong> - <a href=\"https:\/\/keyoxide.org\/FA7AC5E3626AEF016A5AD0BB172E73E0A585273E\">https:\/\/keyoxide.org\/FA7AC5E3626AEF016A5AD0BB172E73E0A585273E<\/a>, (per <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.keyoxide.org\/understanding-keyoxide\/identity-proof-formats\/\">https:\/\/docs.keyoxide.org\/understanding-keyoxide\/identity-proof-formats\/<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><strong>OpenPGP<\/strong> - <a href=\"https:\/\/keys.openpgp.org\/search?q=FA7AC5E3626AEF016A5AD0BB172E73E0A585273E\">keys.openpgp.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/public.pgp\">PGP Key<\/a> hosted @ shellsharks.com<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 07 Aug 2023 23:32:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/07\/openpgp-keyoxide","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/07\/openpgp-keyoxide","category":["infosec","technology","fediverse","nosearch"]},{"title":"Fediverse managed hosting providers","description":"<p>A (<em>running<\/em>) list of known Fediverse instance managed hosting providers. Sorted very unscientifically based on how much I\u2019ve heard about them. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/codeberg.org\/nev\/awesome-fediadmin#user-content-hosting\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/darnell.day\/stress-free-managed-hosting-options-fediverse\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/masto.host\">Masto.host<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.knthost.com\">K&amp;T Host<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fedihost.co\">FediHost<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/spacehost.live\">Spacehost<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/writefreely.host\">WriteFreely.host<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/toot.io\/mastodon_hosting.html\">toot.io<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/communick.com\">Communick<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.express\">fediverse.express<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/etke.cc\">etke.cc<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/elest.io\/fully-managed-services\">Elestio<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.monster\">Fedi Monster<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/thedoodleproject.com\/the-fediverse\/\">The Doodle Project<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/webape.site\">WebApe<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cloud68.co\/instances.html\">Cloud68<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/thunderhost.com\/fediverse-hosting\/\">Thunderhost<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/zojax.com\/services\/mastodon\/\">Zojax<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ungleich.ch\">ungleich<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ossrox.org\">Ossrox<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/weingaertner-it.de\/index.php\/shop\/\">Weing\u00e4rtner IT Services<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hostdon.jp\/#\/\">Hostdon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cloudflare.com\/welcome-to-wildebeest-the-fediverse-on-cloudflare\/\">Wildebeest | Cloudflare<\/a> [<em><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/cloudflare\/wildebeest\">Archived<\/a><\/em>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: I haven\u2019t tested all of these and can\u2019t necessarily vouch for any of them being good.<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Tue, 01 Aug 2023 23:22:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/01\/fediverse-managed-hosting-providers","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/08\/01\/fediverse-managed-hosting-providers","category":["technology","fediverse","list"]},{"title":"Roast my site","description":"<p>Who wants to roast my website (i.e. poke around and point out things I should add\/fix\/change)? If there\u2019s anything you like you could call that out too but looking to add some things to my list to improve it. Thanks!<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>#roastmysite #indieweb #webdesign #webdev<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 31 Jul 2023 17:23:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/07\/31\/roast-my-site","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/07\/31\/roast-my-site","category":["technology","indieweb","nosearch"]},{"title":"IndieWeb Assimilation","description":"<p>I\u2019ve been a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog\">huge advocate for independent blogging<\/a> for a while now, both for personal <em>and<\/em> professional reasons. In fact, I\u2019ve written countless replies to early-career folks about documenting their learning journey <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/cyber-clout#blog\">via a blog<\/a>. Since I first founded <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">shellsharks<\/a> (<em>circa 2019<\/em>), I\u2019ve devoted a fair bit of time not only to writing \u201ccontent\u201d but also into a lot of little features that, to me, collectively gave the site depth as well as that sense of \u201chaving everything a site <em>should<\/em> have\u201d. Some of these features include, an <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/feeds\/feed.xml\">RSS feed<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/robots.txt\">robots.txt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/humans.txt\">humans.txt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/.well-known\/security.txt\">security.txt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about\">about<\/a> page, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/tags\">tags<\/a>, search, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/changelog\">change log<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/disclaimer\">license &amp; disclaimer<\/a> and more. I\u2019ve poured my creativity, whimsy and mind into the aesthetic, writing and functionality of the site and as a result it has served as an ever-present source of identity and pride for me on the web.<\/p>\n\n<p>Recently, I was introduced to the concept of the \u201c<a href=\"#indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>\u201d (or <em>small web<\/em>), a \u201c<em>people-focused alternative to the corporate web<\/em>\u201d. Intriguing right? My curiosity piqued, I soon discovered <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb.org<\/a>, an organization dedicated to the proliferation of IndieWeb resources, guides, community and more. They describe the IndieWeb as\u2026<\/p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>\u2026a community of independent &amp; personal websites connected by simple standards, based on the principles of: owning your domain &amp; using it as your primary identity, publishing on your own site (optionally syndicating elsewhere), and owning your data. <strong><sup>1<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><em>Sound familiar?<\/em> Sounds kinda like what I\u2019ve been doing with my site for a while now! But what makes the IndieWeb special? Why should you or I care? Is there anything else to it? Read on to learn more!<\/p>\n\n<center><span><img src=\"\/assets\/img\/buttons\/shellsharks-button.gif\" \/><\/span><\/center>\n\n<h1 id=\"indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/h1>\n\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a><\/strong> (or \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ar.al\/2020\/08\/07\/what-is-the-small-web\/\">small web<\/a>\u201d) is a collection of people-focused websites which share a core set of <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/principles\">principles<\/a>. The IndieWeb is not simply a missionless multitude however, the IndieWeb <em>movement<\/em> is all about reclaiming the web by de-centralizing what has become all too centralized, encouraging ownership (of your site and your content), and bringing a truer sense of <a href=\"#the-delightful-small-web\">fun and individuality<\/a> back to the Internet. So <em><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/why\">why<\/a><\/em> is the IndieWeb important? I\u2019d suggest reading the following pieces by <a href=\"https:\/\/dangillmor.com\/2014\/04\/25\/indie-web-important\/\">Dan Gillmor<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jvt.me\/posts\/2019\/10\/20\/indieweb-talk\/\">Jamie Tanna<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/ariadne.space\/2022\/07\/01\/a-silo-can-never-provide-digital-autonomy-to-its-users\/\">Ariadne Conill<\/a>, as they do a far more eloquent job than I probably would in explaining this. <strong><sup>1, 2<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve previously made known <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/you-should-blog#so-why-blog\">my reasons for blogging<\/a>, but now with a better understanding of the IndieWeb, and <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel#title\">what\u2019s at stake<\/a> if we don\u2019t embrace it, I now recognize that my infinitesimally small slice of the Internet guarantees me an incorruptible continuum for my content and my identity on the web. (<em>Check out my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb.txt\">IndieWeb.txt<\/a> file!<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Awesome<\/em>! Now that we have a rough understanding of the IndieWeb ethos, let\u2019s cover what is in my mind the <a href=\"#principle-mechanics\">principle mechanics of the IndieWeb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"principle-mechanics\">Principle Mechanics<\/h2>\n<p>Looking to be part of the <a href=\"#indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a>? You don\u2019t need much. Here are (imo) the <em>three<\/em> core tenants of an indie site. If your site has these two things, <em>congrats<\/em>! You are part of the IndieWeb.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Domain Ownership<\/strong>: Your site is hosted at a domain you <strong>own<\/strong>.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Content Ownership<\/strong>: Your content and writing is under your control (i.e. you have local or secondary backups).<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Individuality<\/strong>: The site is about <u>you<\/u>\u2014your writing, your content. You are free to personalize the site\u2019s design as you see fit.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"the-delightful-small-web\">The Delightful Small Web<\/h2>\n<p>The Internet is vast, yet collectively we spend most of our time these days (sadly) within boring, behemoth, centralized corporate-web watering holes. Beyond the corporate web lies countless relics of the old web, unique destinations of the IndieWeb and <a href=\"#indieweb-delights\">delights<\/a> of the small web.<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"webrings\">Webrings<\/h3>\n<p>A <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/webring\">webring<\/a><\/strong> is a collection of websites that are linked together, each pointing to and from another site in the ring. They serve as a fun way to build community and facilitate discovery of new sites! Some Webrings and -related resources are provided below.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/brisray.com\/web\/webring-list.htm\">Webring List<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Public Interest Tech Webring by <a href=\"https:\/\/billhunt.dev\/blog\/2022\/12\/30\/bringing-webrings-back\/\">Bill Hunt<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/krusynth\/public-interest-tech-webring\/issues\/new?assignees=krusynth&amp;labels=new+site+request&amp;template=new-site-request.md&amp;title=\">Join!<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/krusynth\/webring-starter\">host your own with webring-starter<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/webring.xxiivv.com\">webring.xxiivv<\/a> (per <a href=\"https:\/\/tech.lgbt\/@ghostzero\/110368175541059652\">@IPXFong@mastodon.sdf.org<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse-webring-enthusiasts.glitch.me\">Webring Enthusiasts of the Fediverse<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse-webring-enthusiasts.glitch.me\/profiles\/shellsharks_infosec.exchange\/index.html\">Shellsharks is on there!<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fediring.net\">Fediring.net<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sadgrl.online\/cyberspace\/webrings\">Webrings | sadgrl.online<\/a> - A collection of Webrings.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/weirdwidewebring.net\">Weird Wide Webring<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/\ud83d\udd78\ud83d\udc8d.ws\/directory\">\ud83d\udd78\ud83d\udc8d.ws<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wake.st\/webring\/\">merveilles wonder webring<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyberdragon.digital\/rings\/draconic\/\">Draconic Webring<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/geekring.net\">geekring<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/feelingmachine.moe\/alterring\/\">Alterhuman Summoning Circle<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/silly.city\">silly city<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/genlissa.neocities.org\">generation Lissa<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/a11y-webring.club\">a11y-webring.club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hotlinewebring.club\">Hotline Webring<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/webring.dinhe.net\">Retronaut<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/magering.net\">MageRing<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/melonland.net\/surf-club\">MelonLand Surf Club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ring.muhokama.fun\">Muhokama<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/static.quest\">Static.Quest<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/meta-ring.hedy.dev\">Meta Ring<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dokokashira.nl\/entralink\/index.html\">Entralink<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/emreed.net\/LowTech_Directory\">LOW TECH WEBRING<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 id=\"explore-the-indieweb\">Explore the IndieWeb<\/h3>\n<p>The sites below are ways to discover, explore and find the sites of the <a href=\"#indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogroll.org\">blogroll.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ooh.directory\">ooh.directory<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marginalia.nu]\">marginalia.nu<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indieseek.xyz\">indieseek.xyz<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kagi.com\/smallweb\/\">kagi.com\/smallweb\/<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tsjo.ch\/\">Tsjoch!<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kukei.eu\">Kukei.eu<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogofthe.day\">Blog of the .Day<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/searchmysite.net\">searchmysite.net<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/whimsical.club\">whimsical.club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theuselessweb.com\">theuselessweb.com<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theforest.link\">theforest.link<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/minifeed.net\/about\">Minifeed.net<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/scribbles.page\/explore\">Scribbles explore<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bukmark.club\/directory\/\">Bukmark Club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/theuselessweb.com\/\">The Useless Web<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/personalsit.es\">personalsit.es<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb-directory.glitch.me\">indieweb-directory.glitch.me<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/godteeth.com\/misc\/randomweb\">godteeth.com\/misc\/randomweb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indieblog.page\">indieblog.page<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bubbles.town\">Bubbles<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"http:\/\/biglist.terraaeon.com\">The Big List of Personal Websites<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.hn\">blogs.hn<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/neocities.org\/browse\">neocities.org\/browse<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wiby.me\">wiby.me<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/oldavista.com\">Old\u2019aVista<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/curlie.org\">Curlie<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/directory.joejenett.com\">i.webthings directory<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/deadsimplesites.com\">Dead Simple Sites<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kirbysites.com\">Kirbysites<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/gopher.emacs.ch\">GNV Smallweb Index<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sjmulder.nl\/en\/textonly.html\">Hyperlinked Text<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogroll.club\">blogroll.club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/openwebengine.com\">Open Web Engine<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/internetphonebook.net\">Internet Phone Book<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/smallweb.cc\">smallweb.cc<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/clew.se\">Clew<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blue-pages.bitbucket.io\">Blue Pages<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive95.net\">Archive95<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/obsidian-gallery.craftengineer.com\">Obsidian Garden Gallery<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/discuss.32bit.cafe\/wiki\/resources#directories-listings\">32-Bit Cafe Directories &amp; Listings<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Webrings: <a href=\"https:\/\/foreverliketh.is\/blog\/exploring-the-personal-web\/\">foreverliketh.is\/blog\/exploring-the-personal-web\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h6 id=\"page-directories\">\/page Directories<\/h6>\n<p>Learn more about \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net\">slash pages<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/aboutideasnow.com\">About Ideas Now<\/a> - Directory of <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net#about\">\/about<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net#ideas\">\/ideas<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net#now\">\/now<\/a> pages<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/u\/0\/d\/e\/2PACX-1vThO3so7dDshcfzNUlDZ0SDs1c-pxpU0llcLHEgNoAiLdcBWOP5RQrnrF6GcXRUtYhYs1fSg7uSc6dF\/pubhtml?gid=204057601&amp;single=true&amp;pli=1\">\/AI Page Directory<\/a> - Directory of <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net#ai\">\/ai<\/a> pages<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogroll.org\">Ye Olde Blogroll<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2026\/02\/17\/citations-css\">Citations(.css) Directory<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/defaults.rknight.me\">App Defaults<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/alastairjohnston.com\/introducing-hello-pages\/\">Hello Pages<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/chrisburnell.github.io\/interests-directory\/\">The \/interests Directory<\/a> - Directory of <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net#interests\">\/interests<\/a> pages<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bukmark.club\/directory\/\">Bukmark Club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nownownow.com\">NowNowNow<\/a> - Directory of <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net#now\">\/now<\/a> pages<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/now.garden\">The \/now Garden<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/topfour.net\">Top Four<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/uses.tech\">Uses.tech<\/a> - Directory of <a href=\"https:\/\/slashpages.net#uses\">\/uses<\/a> pages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 id=\"indieweb-delights\">IndieWeb Delights<\/h3>\n<p>Other fun discoveries of the <a href=\"#indieweb\">IndieWeb<\/a> are provided below.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wiby.me\/surprise\/\">wiby.me\/surprise<\/a> (per <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@Haste\/110720564543168205\">@Haste@mastodon.social<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cameronsworld.net\">Cameron\u2019s World<\/a> (per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@mttaggart\/110720782567478240\">@mttaggart@infosec.exchange<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/devon.lol\/blog\/the-old-web\/\">The Old Web | Devon.LOL<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/infosec-blogs#boutique-security-blogs\">Boutique Security Blogs<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/news.indieweb.org\">IndieNews<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"http:\/\/logiclrd.cx\">Logic Lord<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/marigold.town\">Marigold Town<\/a> [<a href=\"https:\/\/tilde.zone\/@xandra\/111209519497071133\">~<\/a>]<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ctrl-c.club\">Ctrl-C Club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indieforums.net\">IndieForums<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/home.omg.lol\">omg.lol<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/maple.pet\">maple.pet<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/potato.cheap\">The \u201cCheap\u201d Web<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wetnoodle.neocities.org\">Wet Noodle<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.kwon.nyc\/internet-is-fun\/\">The Internet used to be fun<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/32bit.cafe\">32-Bit Cafe<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hellnet.work\/8831\/\">The 88x31 Archive<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/afterthebeep.tel\">After The Beep<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/gifcities.org\">GifCities<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/jdd.freeshell.org\/links.php\">jdd\u2019s List o\u2019 Links<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hofnarretje.eu\/museum\/index.html\">International Digital History Museum<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/99gifshop.neocities.org\">99GIF Shop<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dokokashira.nl\/entralink\/\">Entralink<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/moule.world\/links.html\">moule.world 88x31 buttons<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hexadecim8.com\/index.html\">Hack To The Future<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 id=\"my-favorite-indie-sites\">My Favorite Indie Sites<\/h3>\n\n<p>All of my favorite sites are now in one place, in my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/blogroll#favorite-indieweb-sites\">Blogroll<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"hosting\">Hosting<\/h3>\n<p>Being on the IndieWeb means first hosting a site. Here are some good Indie options.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/write.as\">Write.as<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/home.omg.lol\">omg.lol<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/pika.page\">Pika<\/a> (from <a href=\"https:\/\/goodenough.us\">Good Enough<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/yay.boo\/\">Yay.Boo<\/a> (<em>also from<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/goodenough.us\">Good Enough<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mmm.page\">mmm.page<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ghost.org\">Ghost<\/a> (and <a href=\"https:\/\/outpost.pub\">Outpost.pub<\/a>) \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddec<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/web1.0hosting.net\">Web 1.0 Hosting<\/a> \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddee<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/posthaven.com\">Posthaven<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/scribbles.page\">Scribbles<\/a> \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/pico.sh\/prose\">prose.sh | pico.sh<\/a> \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/bearblog.dev\">Bear<\/a> \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf1<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nekoweb.org\">Nekoweb<\/a> \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mataroa.blog\">Mataroa<\/a> \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/smol.pub\">Smol Pub<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/montaigne.io\">Montaigne<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/havenweb.org\">Haven<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/glitch.com\">Glitch<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.casa\">pages.casa<\/a> \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/lmno.lol\">LMNO<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/teahouse.cafe\">Teahouse Hosting<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"references\">References<\/h1>\n<ul>\n  <li><strong><sup>1<\/sup><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">What is the IndieWeb | Indieweb.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><strong><sup>2<\/sup><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/ar.al\/2020\/08\/07\/what-is-the-small-web\/\">What is the Small Web? | Aral Balkan<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisdaysportion.com\/posts\/itfc-indieweb\/\">Why organisations should have an indieweb publication strategy<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tracydurnell.com\/2022\/11\/27\/making-the-indieweb-more-approachable\/\">Making the IndieWeb more approachable | Tracy Durnell<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2023\/7\/3\/23782607\/social-web-public-apps-end-reddit-twitter-mastodon\">So where are we all supposed to go now? | The Verge<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/eftegarie.com\/every-person-on-the-planet-should-have-their-own-website\/\">Every person on the planet should have their own website | EFTEGARIE<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/moddedbear.com\/go-start-a-blog\/\">Go Start a Blog | moddedBear<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethtai.com\/2023\/07\/03\/how-i-am-blogging-the-indieweb-way\/\">How I am blogging the IndieWeb way | Elizabeth Tai<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethtai.com\/2023\/07\/02\/posse-and-pesos-better-ways-to-publish-content\/\">POSSE and PESOS: Better ways to publish content | Elizabeth Tai<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/kevquirk.com\/how-it-all-connects\">How it all Connects | Kev Quirk<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rssboard.org\/news\/213\/atom-feed-format-born-20-years-ago\">Atom Feed Format Was Born 20 Years Ago | RSS Board<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/emissary.dev\">Emissary<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/FriendFeed\">FriendFeed<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mxb.dev\/blog\/webring-kit\/\">A Webring Kit | Max B\u00f6ck<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dead.garden\/blog\/i-love-ugly-internet-sites-that-cant-do-anything.html\">I love \u201cugly\u201d internet sites that \u201ccan\u2019t do anything\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"resources\">Resources<\/h1>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/therebelweb.org\">The Rebel Web<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/discuss.32bit.cafe\/wiki\/resources\">Resources List for the Personal Web<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/feedland.org\">FeedLand<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indiewebify.me\">IndieWebify.Me<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/smolweb.org\">smolweb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/discourse.32bit.cafe\/t\/resources-list-for-the-personal-web\/49\">Resources List for the Personal Web<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/homewatcher.neocities.org\/webdevfinds\">WebDev Finds Box<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indiemap.org\/docs.html\">Indie Map<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/coryd.dev\/posts\/2024\/an-indie-web-primer\/\">An indie web primer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/diagram.website\">Diagram.website<\/a> - Map of the IndieNet<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.guide\">IndieWeb Guide<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/webdev.yay.boo\">Webdev.yay.boo<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nocss.club\">No CSS Club<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/unplatform.fromthesuperhighway.com\">Unplatform<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/challenges.stefanbohacek.com\">Writing Challenges<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/brennan.day\/indieweb\/\">Brennan\u2019s IndieWeb Themes, Tools, and Resources<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Sun, 16 Jul 2023 15:00:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/indieweb","category":["tech","indieweb","blogging","bestof","tech","blog","list"]},{"title":"Threadiversal Travel","description":"<p>There has been a convergence of late, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2023\/6\/5\/23749188\/reddit-subreddit-private-protest-api-changes-apollo-charges\">Reddit\u2019s fateful decision<\/a> (and the wider trend of corporate <em><a href=\"https:\/\/pluralistic.net\/2023\/01\/21\/potemkin-ai\/#hey-guys\">enshittification<\/a><\/em>) coupled with a growing interest in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\">Fediverse<\/a> has triggered an emergence of Reddit-esque, thread-driven, link-aggregation\/discussion-board <a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">sites<\/a>. The <strong>Threadiverse<\/strong>, as it has been coined (and now <a href=\"https:\/\/fedidb.org\/current-events\/threadiverse\">tracked<\/a>) specifically refers to the bloom of <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ernestwisniewski\/kbin\">Kbin<\/a> instances (<em><a href=\"#lemmy-vs-kbin\">more on these later<\/a><\/em>) that have spawned and are now serving as places where former Reddit-dwellers are fleeing.<\/p>\n\n<p>I don\u2019t intend on thoroughly covering <a href=\"https:\/\/reddark.untone.uk\">what happened<\/a> (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/reddit-is-in-danger-of-a-death-spiral\/\">and is continuing to happen<\/a><\/em> - also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/czrlep5xpmzo\">this kinda thing<\/a> now) with Reddit nor do I want to try to <a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.tips\/what-is-mastodon-what-is-the-fediverse\/\">explain the Fediverse<\/a> and its many virtues, but I <em>do<\/em> want to share my feelings (<em>ramble a bit<\/em>) on what the instability and uncertain future of Reddit (and other large platforms), paired with the promising future of the <em>Threadiverse<\/em> means for those of us looking to find and build meaningful and lasting communities elsewhere across the web.<\/p>\n\n<p>I think we as denizens of the Internet have become rather <em>lazy<\/em>, thanks in large part to the trend of content\/activity centralization within the behemoth platforms like Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, etc\u2026 We have become too comfortable relying solely on these companies to serve us news, articles of interest and updates from our connections, friends and family. As such, we have conceded control of these feeds (and thus our minds and perspectives) to aggressive ad-injection and the corporate algorithms <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techdetoxbox.com\/weapons-of-digital-manipulation\/how-attention-economy-profits-from-outrage\/\">designed to enrage us<\/a> and maximize (toxic) engagement, all to boost profitability for these companies. For an age, we have settled for this breed of news and content because of the benefits big-social and big-tech bring, but a new age is upon us, one of accelerating <em>enshittification<\/em>. So what happens when these platforms finally sour to the enshittification point? What happens to the communities we\u2019ve built? The connections we\u2019ve made? The real, useful content stranded within? Where do we go?<\/p>\n\n<p>Enter the <em>Fediverse<\/em> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a> at large. It is here that content can once again be \u201cours\u201d, connectivity made more resilient and control recaptured. Here, we are far less vulnerable to the dangers and whims of the corporate weblords hellbent on extracting every last dollar from us at the expense of our privacy. Will it be easy to reclaim the web, our content and our connections? <em>No<\/em>, but thanks to a confluence of events, i.e. the growing set of (Fediversal) tools, a more motivated \/ awoken general populace, and an ever-incresasing portfolio of enshittified platforms, we may at last have the aggregate energy to overthrow then reclaim the web. <strong><sup>5<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Enough of that<\/em>, let\u2019s get into what the <a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">options are beyond Reddit<\/a>, <a href=\"#operationalize-lemmy--kbin\">how to use them<\/a> and <a href=\"#conclusion\">why<\/a> it\u2019s a good idea\u2026<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"threadiverse--beyond\">Threadiverse &amp; Beyond<\/h2>\n<p>So the Reddit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesixthaxis.com\/2023\/06\/28\/minecraft-devs-are-leaving-reddit-amidst-policy-changes\/\">exodus has begun<\/a>, but where are people going? Similar communities and experiences have emerged within apps\/instances of the \u201c<strong>Threadiverse<\/strong>\u201d as well as some other non-decentralized services. This guide focuses mostly on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\/\">Fediverse<\/a>-compatible, decentralized discussion platforms (i.e. the <em>Threadiverse<\/em>) but these other platforms are mentioned for the sake of moving away from Reddit. The list below summarizes where people are migrating\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a><\/strong>: Fediverse-compatible social link aggregation and discussion platform<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kbin.pub\/en\">Kbin<\/a><\/strong>: Open source reddit-like content aggregator and microblogging platform for the Fediverse<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/join.piefed.social\">PieFed<\/a><\/strong>: A link aggregator, a forum, a hub of social interaction and information, built for the fediverse<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/MbinOrg\/mbin\">Mbin<\/a><\/strong>: Decentralized content aggregator, voting, discussion, and microblogging platform running on the fediverse<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nodebb.org\">NodeBB<\/a><\/strong>: Traditional forum platform that has recently added Fediverse support<\/li>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discourse.org\">Discourse<\/a><\/strong>: Open source discussion platform (which has some Fediverse connectivity options)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tildes.net\">Tildes<\/a> - non-profit community site driven by its users\u2019 interests<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/squabblr.co\">Squabblr<\/a> - \u201ccombines the best parts of Twitter, with the best parts of Reddit\u201d<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/raddle.me\">Raddle<\/a> - reddit alternative<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/lobste.rs\">Lobsters<\/a> - computing-focused community centered around link aggregation and discussion<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/news\">Hacker News<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/azorius.net\/\">Azorius<\/a> - social link aggregator and comment forum which federates with other instances via ActivityPub<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fark.com\">Fark<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h6 id=\"lemmy-vs-kbin\">Lemmy vs Kbin<\/h6>\n\n<p>So, <em>threadiversally<\/em> speaking, what\u2019s better, <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/kbin.pub\/en\">Kbin<\/a>? Let\u2019s start with how they are similar. Lemmy and Kbin are both link aggregators\/discussion platforms centered around communities (in Kbin speak, they are called \u201cmagazines\u201d). They both have upvotes\/downvotes (e.g. mostly for post popularity rather than \u201ckarma\u201d), sorting (e.g. \u201chot\u201d, \u201ctop\u201d, newest, \u201cactive\u201d, etc\u2026), thread-based posts where you can comment\/reply, community subscribe, user following and are both compatible with <a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.rocks\">ActivityPub<\/a> and thus each other. So how do they differ? <em>Not much really<\/em> from what I can tell so far. The few notable differences are Kbin supports Mastodon\/Twitter-esque microblogging as well as native \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.help\">Boosting<\/a>\u201d, Kbin is a <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ernestwisniewski\/kbin\">newer project<\/a> (circa 2021) written in PHP versus <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/LemmyNet\/lemmy\">rust-based Lemmy<\/a> (circa 2019), and of course the projects are backed by different development teams <strong>*<\/strong>. Pick one and <a href=\"#operationalize-lemmy--kbin\">let\u2019s go<\/a>! <strong><sup>1<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>*<\/strong> <em>NOTE: Some within the community have expressed concerns related to Lemmy dev\u2019s political views.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"operationalize-lemmy--kbin\">Operationalize Lemmy &amp; Kbin<\/h2>\n<p>Functionally speaking, there\u2019s <a href=\"#lemmy-vs-kbin\">not much difference<\/a> between <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/kbin.pub\/en\">Kbin<\/a>, so once you\u2019ve decided which you want to start with, you can <a href=\"#getting-started\">dive in<\/a> and get sc-rollin\u2019.<\/p>\n\n<h5 id=\"getting-started\">Getting Started<\/h5>\n<p>Getting started with <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/kbin.pub\/en\">Kbin<\/a> is <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\/110608270915467893\">pretty easy<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<ol>\n  <li><strong><a href=\"#interesting-instancescommunities\">Find an instance<\/a><\/strong>. Which instance you choose <em>shouldn\u2019t<\/em> matter much in the end. You will be able to see, subscribe and interact with communities from other instances regardless of your home instance. One way to find an instance is to simply <a href=\"#finding-communities\">find a community<\/a> you are interested in and join the instance that community is a part of. Some considerations for instance choosing include\u2026\n    <ul>\n      <li>Is this instance stable? Does it have a good admin\/moderation team? Is it well-funded?<\/li>\n      <li>Is this instance at risk of <a href=\"https:\/\/fediversereport.com\/defederation\/\">defederation<\/a>? This typically happens if it is hosting content that is <em>bad<\/em>. If so, it is at risk of being cut off from the wider network of Threadiverse instances. This <em>should<\/em> be the nuclear approach for instance admins, but there seems to be a fair bit of <a href=\"https:\/\/beehaw.org\/post\/567170\">fedi-drama<\/a> that could result in premature or poorly-reasoned defederation.<\/li>\n      <li>It\u2019s worth noting that, unlike w\/ <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/network\/\">Mastodon<\/a> and other services where building a following is important, it is less so with the Threadiverse. Here, communities rule and if your instance goes belly-up for some reason, it\u2019s very easy to create an entirely new account on a new instance and then simply re-subscribe to all your old communities. Yes, you may lose some \u201cfollowers\u201d and some post history but it shouldn\u2019t matter as much in this context.<\/li>\n      <li><strong>*<\/strong> Bottom line, <em>yes<\/em>, these are things to be <em>aware<\/em> of, but you <em>shouldn\u2019t<\/em> need to worry or care about this so don\u2019t let it trip you up in terms of getting started.\n<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>*OPTIONAL*: If you enjoy browsing on the go, consider downloading a <a href=\"#mobile-clients\">mobile app<\/a>. I\u2019ve enjoyed using <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/gkasdorf\/memmy\">Memmy<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><strong>Find<\/strong> and subscribe to <strong>communities<\/strong> (and magazines) of interest! There are a few <a href=\"#finding-communities\">resources to aid in finding communities<\/a>. The search functionality built directly within &lt;instance&gt;\/communities (Lemmy) and &lt;instance&gt;\/magazines (Kbin) can also be used to find communities, even across instances! Adding a specific community is as easy as typing <strong>!&lt;community name&gt;@&lt;instance name&gt;<\/strong> into the search bar.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Start scrolling, reading, upvoting (<em>or downvoting =\/<\/em>), replying, posting and <strong>enjoying<\/strong>!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>*OPTIONAL but Recommended*: Support your instance (<em>financially - connect with your instance admin to learn how<\/em>), volunteer (e.g. moderate), help grow the community!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>Some other guides that I\u2019ve seen pop up across the <a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">Threadiverse<\/a> can be found in the <a href=\"#references\">References<\/a> section.<\/p>\n\n<h5 id=\"finding-communities\">Finding Communities<\/h5>\n<p>Finding communities\/magazines across the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\/\">Fediverse<\/a> of networked <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/kbin.pub\/en\">Kbin<\/a> instances is easy! You can use native search functionality or you can use any of the following! With the reddit migration in full-effect, there are a few separate efforts which map sub-reddits to their new homes in the <a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">Threadiverse<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sub.rehab\">sub.rehab<\/a> - instances of Reddit communities on alternative platforms<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/redditmigration.com\">reddit migration directory<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.quippd.com\/writing\/2023\/06\/15\/unofficial-subreddit-migration-list-lemmy-kbin-etc.html\">Unofficial Subreddit Migration List | quippd<\/a> - A comprehensive mapping of old subreddits to new communities<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#interesting-instancescommunities\">Curated list of interesting instances\/communities<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Remember, you can interact with remote communities (communities on other instances) directly from your own. You <em>don\u2019t<\/em> need accounts on multiple instances. Also, try not to worry about community fracturing (i.e. \/c\/techonology on multiple instances), you can simply follow all of them and then view them all in the aggregate \u201csubscribed\u201d feed. In time, I suspect these communities will coalesce or simply operate in harmony (with minimal redundant noise).<\/p>\n\n<h3 id=\"interactivity-w-mastodon\">Interactivity w\/ Mastodon<\/h3>\n<p>We refer to the network of <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/kbin.pub\/en\">Kbin<\/a> instances as the \u201c<a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">Threadiverse<\/a>\u201d because they are <a href=\"https:\/\/activitypub.rocks\">ActivityPub<\/a>-compatible and thus part of the wider array of <a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.party\/en\/miscellaneous\/\">Fediverse applications<\/a>. What does this mean beyond the Kbin &lt;\u2013&gt; Lemmy interaction? Well it means there is some interactive capabilities w\/ the most popular software of the Fediverse, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a><\/strong>! I did some testing (<a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\/110543499675226515\">thread 1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\/110537951407194206\">thread 2<\/a>) not too long ago and made some observations\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>NOTE: <em>This testing was done at single point in time, using an isolated set of Lemmy\/Kbin\/Mastodon instances. Future updates or at-the-time configuration for any of these projects\/instances could change observed behavior.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>You can post to a Lemmy\/Kbin community by using @&lt;community&gt;@&lt;server&gt; where the first line is the title of the post, followed by two returns and then the rest of the post is the body. This will post TO a community from your Mastodon handle. NOTE: At least for the instance I tried this on, I had issues responding to that Mastodon-originated post from my Lemmy account, but others with Lemmy accounts on other instances were able to respond, so it could be an isolated issue with my instance.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>You can <em>reply<\/em> to Lemmy threads via Mastodon as well. This includes posts you originated from Mastodon, or by searching for a Lemmy post by URL within Mastodon and replying from there.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>You can find Lemmy communities via Mastodon search, peruse posts and reply to them, even for communities that are otherwise locked down to just members of that community.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>You can follow Lemmy\/Kbin accounts from Mastodon. You can even follow communities from Mastodon!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Kbin posts, as seen from Mastodon look like <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks@fedia.io\/110531555727501374\">this<\/a>. (<a href=\"https:\/\/fedia.io\/m\/cybersecurity\/t\/2223\/shellsharks-posts-about-infosec-technology-and-life-itself\">Fedia source<\/a>)<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Lemmy posts, as seen from Mastodon look like <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks@infosec.pub\/110583314560367129\">this<\/a>. (<a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/152769\">infosec.pub source<\/a>)<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Some other Kbin &lt;\u2013&gt; Mastodon stuff talked about <a href=\"https:\/\/kilioa.org\/m\/kbinMeta@kbin.social\/t\/266\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"instance-hosting--community-management\">Instance Hosting &amp; Community Management<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019m not an instance admin, nor have I ever self-hosted an instance so I won\u2019t attempt to explain any of that, but I want to list out a few pointers related to community creation\/management\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>\n    <p>Creating a community\/magazine is <em>dead simple<\/em> (as long as your instance supports open creation).<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>When creating a community, be mindful of the real possibility that the <em>exact<\/em> same <a href=\"#finding-communities\">community exists elsewhere<\/a>. Not that you can\u2019t create the same thing on a different instance, but it may make more sense for you to simply join\/subscribe an existing community.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>You should provide some thoughtful <strong>rules<\/strong> for appropriate conduct within your community. They should abide by\/inherit the rules of the parent instance and be used to enforce moderation decisions.<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Moderation is an extremely important property of a healthy online community. I\u2019m no moderation expert, nor am I a particularly seasoned community manager, but I understand the importance of moderation and the difficulties that arise when attempting to perform it at scale. As the <a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">Threadiverse<\/a> grows, its moderation capabilities must scale to meet demand. Rather than attempt to provide any meaningful analysis on the state of moderation capabilities within the Threadiverse, I\u2019ll instead link to a few interesting resources\/discussions I\u2019ve come across\u2026<\/p>\n\n    <ul>\n      <li>This <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@Nadya@kbin.social\/110551392327803861\">thread from @Nadya@kbin.social<\/a> on moderation<\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/discuss.online\/post\/12787\">Beehaw\u2019s mod tools needs<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/about.iftas.org\">IFTAS<\/a> - Non-profit team organizing to help foster and preserve inclusive, civil discourse for the common good\n<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p><a href=\"https:\/\/fediseer.com\/\">Fediseer<\/a> - FOSS service to help Fediverse instances detect and avoid suspicious instances. (<a href=\"https:\/\/lemmy.dbzer0.com\/post\/185949\">Instructions<\/a> for verification)<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>\n    <p>Set out to build and grow communities that are human-centric. Cast aside traditional desires of clout-chasing, aggressive growth and monetization. Be civil, be kind and have fun!<\/p>\n  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"infosecpub--fedia-cybersecurity-community\">Infosec.Pub &amp; Fedia Cybersecurity Community<\/h2>\n<p>This piece should be considered software\/instance\/community-agnostic, it is a guide for the larger <a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">Threadiverse<\/a>. That said, there are two instances, and a community within both respective instances that I have created and am actively investing time into, specifically <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/c\/cybersecurity\">\/c\/cybersecurity<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\">infosec.pub<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fedia.io\/m\/cybersecurity\">\/m\/cybersecurity<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/fedia.io\">Fedia<\/a>. It is no secret that I am a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/about?about=infosec\">cybersecurity professional<\/a> and avid <em>community-engager<\/em>. Between this blog, my <a href=\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/3rkHgtcYbb\">Discord<\/a>, and overall Reddit history (<em>purposefully not linking to my handle<\/em>) in various infosec-related subs, I like to think of myself as a mentor and one who is very community-forward. To add to that collection (if you will), I have stood up these two communities as (unofficial) landing spots for infosec folks fleeing big-tech-run communities like those of Reddit (namely r\/cybersecurity of which I was <em>very<\/em> active).<\/p>\n\n<p>The future of the <em>Threadiverse<\/em> is somewhat uncertain, and by <em>somewhat<\/em> I am referring to its ability to capture meaningful mindshare and daily active users, not so much its general staying power (i.e. people have proclaimed Mastodon to be <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theshortcut.com\/p\/twitter-death-mastodon-loses-active-users\">dead<\/a><\/em> for years and yet it is still going, and by <a href=\"https:\/\/fedidb.org\/software\/Mastodon\">all counts<\/a>, stronger than ever these days.) But Reddit doesn\u2019t need to die for the Threadiverse to survive, an active community just needs to exist and I plan to help foster the cybersecurity\/infosec community on these platforms as best I can. The instance admin for both <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\">infosec.pub<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fedia.io\">Fedia<\/a>, the venerable <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\">Jerry<\/a> has done an amazing job with the <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@geekgrrl\/110529665917357916\">various Fediverse projects\/instances<\/a> he nearly single-handedly deploys, maintains and administers and in him I have faith for the continued function of the instance(s). (In fact, I highly recommend you <a href=\"https:\/\/wiki.infosec.exchange\/about\/contribute\">support his work<\/a> if you are able to!)<\/p>\n\n<p>So how can you get involved, participate and grow the community? It\u2019s easy! Follow the <a href=\"#getting-started\">Getting Started<\/a> guide to get up and running, then much as you always have (if you\u2019re coming from Reddit), post interesting links, engage others in (civil) discussion, report posts\/comments that violate community\/instance rules and if there\u2019s anything else feel free to <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">reach out to me on Mastodon<\/a>! To help get things moving, and to recapture some of the r\/cybersecurity experience, I have started up some weekly discussion threads (listed below) that I hope everyone enjoys!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/222356\">Mentorship Monday<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/237465\">Training Tuesday<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/252494\">What are you working on Wednesday<\/a> (&amp; on <a href=\"https:\/\/fedia.io\/m\/cybersecurity\/t\/50529\/What-are-You-Working-on-Wednesday\">Fedia<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>*<\/strong> To be clear, I am not in this for any sort of Internet or community-clout\/reputation building. There are <em>many<\/em> other infosec communities both within the <a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">Threadiverse and outside<\/a> that I am also a part of and would encourage you to join. What\u2019s important to me is the long-term survival and healthy operation of this community I have enjoyed during my career and I believe it is at risk while it remains centralized on the platforms that have no interest in anything other than monetization of content. Hope to see you all out there!<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n<p>I\u2019ll leave the pontificating for the <a href=\"#\">beginning<\/a> of this article. Let me conclude by simply saying, I think now is the time to embrace the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediverse.to\/\">Fediverse<\/a>, <a href=\"#threadiverse--beyond\">Threadiverse<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\/\">IndieWeb<\/a>, whatever you want to call it. It won\u2019t be without challenges, and I know there are technical hurdles and mental overhead, but what we lose if we don\u2019t try has become more evident now than ever. So speak up (#threadiverse, #redditmigration, etc\u2026) and help others take back their feeds.<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"appendices\">Appendices<\/h1>\n\n<h2 id=\"mobile-clients\">Mobile Clients<\/h2>\n<p>A list of <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/kbin.pub\/en\">Kbin<\/a> mobile app projects. Another great list of clients can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/lemmyapps.netlify.app\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/avelon-for-lemmy\/id6450952178\">Avelon for Lemmy<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/gkasdorf\/memmy\">Memmy<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Official <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\/apps\">Lemmy Apps<\/a> directory<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/beehaw.org\/post\/697402\">List of iOS\/Android Kbin\/Lemmy apps | Beehaw<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/wefwef.app\">wefwef<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/dessalines\/jerboa\">Jerboa<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mormaer\/Mlem\">Mlem<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/alexandrite.app\">Alexandrite<\/a> (per <a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@maegul\/110704695446196240\">@maegul@hachyderm.io<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"interesting-instancescommunities\">Interesting Instances\/Communities<\/h2>\n<p>A curated list of <a href=\"https:\/\/join-lemmy.org\">Lemmy<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/kbin.pub\/en\">Kbin<\/a> instances and communities I find interesting\/note-worthy.<\/p>\n\n<h6 id=\"instances\">Instances<\/h6>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fedia.io\/\">Fedia<\/a> (per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\/110523070726279385\">@jerry@infosec.exchange<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ttrpg.network\">The TTRPG network<\/a> (per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@edheil@dice.camp\/110583328254861653\">@edheil@dice.camp<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/post\/529366\">Big list of specialized instances | kbin.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hexbear.net\">Hexbear<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h6 id=\"communities\">Communities<\/h6>\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/c\/cybersecurity\">\/c\/cybersecurity<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/fedia.io\/m\/cybersecurity\">\/m\/cybersecurity<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\/110531527463734796\">c\/cybersecurity announcement<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\/110531546587448476\">m\/cybersecurity announcement<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/c\/passwords\">\/c\/passwords<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@m8urnett\/110554838769556926\">r\/passwords migration<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/c\/windows_security\">\/c\/windows_security<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@m8urnett\/110554749983792747\">r\/windows_security migration<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"references\">References<\/h1>\n<ul>\n  <li><strong><sup>1<\/sup><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/fediversereport.com\/lemmy-and-kbin\/\">Lemmy and Kbin | The Fediverse Report<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><strong><sup>2<\/sup><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/kilioa.org\/m\/kbinMeta@kbin.social\/t\/266\">Kbin FAQ | Kilioa<\/a> (per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@tehstu@hachyderm.io\/110545326078825649\">@tehstu@hachyderm.io<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><strong><sup>3<\/sup><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indieweb.org\">IndieWeb<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/vijayprema.com\/using-lemmy-from-my-existing-mastodon\/\">Reddit Exodus - Using Lemmy from my existing Mastodon<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Wed, 28 Jun 2023 14:57:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/threadiversal-travel","category":["infosec","tech","threadiverse","kbin","lemmy","fediverse","indieweb","tech","infosec","blog","list"]},{"title":"Webring enthusiasts of the fediverse","description":"<p>I\u2019m now part of Webring Enthusiasts of the Fediverse! Find me at <a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse-webring-enthusiasts.glitch.me\/profiles\/shellsharks_infosec.exchange\/index.html\">https:\/\/fediverse-webring-enthusiasts.glitch.me\/profiles\/shellsharks_infosec.exchange\/index.html<\/a>. Thanks to @lmorchard !<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 12 Jun 2023 13:11:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/06\/12\/webring-enthusiasts-of-the-fediverse","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/06\/12\/webring-enthusiasts-of-the-fediverse","category":["fediverse","indieweb","nosearch"]},{"title":"Introducing infosec.pub","description":"<p>I\u2019ve gone ahead and created an infosec.pub community c\/cybersecurity! <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.pub\/c\/cybersecurity\">https:\/\/infosec.pub\/c\/cybersecurity<\/a>. The \u201cgoal\u201d if you will is to replicate Reddit\u2019s r\/cybersecurity sub as a more pure stream of infosec-related content, news, research, etc\u2026 I understand one of the beauties of Lemmy\/Kbin\/fediverse at large is the decentralized nature of it all and the ability to follow magazines\/communities from various instances but for those who want a little less noise and a reliable feed I figured I\u2019d give it a go. (especially given a large swath of what is being posted on Kbin\/Lemmy for the forseeable future is discussion ABOUT Kbin\/Lemmy)<\/p>\n\n<p>Since I created the community, it looks like I am by default the moderator. This is a responsibility that I am up for but have limited knowledge of the moderation capabilities of Lemmy currently. So I\u2019ll be learning and growing with the rest of you!<\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s a work in progress still, but community rules are as follows\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Be kind<\/li>\n  <li>Limit promotional activities<\/li>\n  <li>Non-cybersecurity posts should be redirected to other communities within infosec.pub<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Thanks and see ya out there! (and boost\/star if you think this is a good idea, or comment and tell me I\u2019m silly if not)<\/p>\n\n<p>@jerry not looking for an \u201cendorsement\u201d of any kind but curious for your thoughts related to this experiment as proprietor of the pub =).<\/p>\n","pubDate":"Mon, 12 Jun 2023 09:41:00 -0400","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/06\/12\/introducing-infosec-pub","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/06\/12\/introducing-infosec-pub","category":["infosec","technology","lemmy","fediverse","nosearch"]},{"title":"Stars, Boosts & Toots","description":"<p><em><a href=\"#mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a>!<\/em> <strong><a href=\"#twitter-migration\">Twitter is burning<\/a><\/strong>!! <em>Ahhhhh<\/em>!!! The drama, right?! So what is this <a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\">Mastodon<\/a> thingy and what\u2019s going on w\/ Twitter? I\u2019m delighted to tell you that I won\u2019t really be writing much about either of those things as there are plenty of others who have done so. Never fear though, what I <em>will<\/em> do is provide you an awesome, aggregated list of guides, resources, analyses and other cool stuff that has come out on the topics of Mastodon, Twitter and the greater \u201c<a href=\"#expanded-fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>\u201d. Now you\u2019re thinking, \u201c<em>A bunch of lists you say? That sounds kinda boring\u2026<\/em>\u201d. You\u2019re probably right, so in addition to that I\u2019m going to first drop <a href=\"#my-take-on-mastodon-so-far\">my own take on Mastodon<\/a>! <em>Woooo<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>*<\/strong> Shoutout to @mttaggart@fosstodon.org who <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@mttaggart\/109325779303522758\">told me not to do this<\/a>. Here it is anyways!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>*<\/strong> Oh, and if you\u2019re on Mastodon, and so inclined, please give those I have referenced in this piece a follow, boost, like, w\/e! They are awesome parts of this growing community.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Jump to Section<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"#my-take-on-mastodon-so-far\">My Take on Mastodon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#intro-to-mastodon\">Mastodon Intro<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#verification\">Verification on Mastodon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#security--privacy\">Security &amp; Privacy<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#infosec-community\">Infosec Community<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#hosting-a-mastodon-instance\">Hosting a Mastodon Instance<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#twitter-migration\">Twitter Migration<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#expanded-fediverse\">Expanded Fediverse<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"my-take-on-mastodon-so-far\">My Take On Mastodon So Far<\/h1>\n\n<p>There is <em>a lot<\/em> about <a href=\"#mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a> (and the <a href=\"#expanded-fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a>) that I have yet to learn, but what I do know is that <em>it<\/em> has (pretty much) already surpassed what Twitter was to me in both personal and professional contexts. I had a Twitter account for years, and try as I might, I never felt quite <em>comfortable<\/em> being anything more than a passive consumer - a lurker of those in the #infosectwitter community who had big followings. Though there was of course a decent amount of discussion\/engagement within the infosec Twitter world, it often seemed to me very clique-ey, reserved only to those with big followerships or with well-known personas and established circles. I also always had the sense that trying to cultivate a following on Twitter was, <em>sorta cringey<\/em>. People there seemed more interested in boosting their follower counts or their follower-to-following ratio than expanding their true community. This feeling was ever-perpetuated by the constant deluge of tweets sounding off about how many followers they had, or how close they were to a certain follower threshold, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>Look, <em>I get it<\/em> - I have a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">blog<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/podcast\">podcast<\/a>, I understand why people <em>crave<\/em> followers. It\u2019s the <em>engagement<\/em> I am after though, not so much just having my tweets\/toots\/posts\/<em>stuff<\/em> show up in a lot of people\u2019s timelines. I genuinely enjoy sharing my thoughts\/ideas, and even moreso hearing\/learning from others. Naturally, a good way to create this engagement is to network, follow a lot of people and of course, have others \u201cfollow\u201d me. I never had a big following on Twitter (~190ish as of the last time I looked), and I never got much engagement there (partially because I rarely posted). I\u2019ve been on Mastodon for nearly 2 weeks and already I\u2019ve seen <em>much<\/em> better engagement (and I am not alone). Maybe it\u2019s the novelty factor, or maybe it\u2019s because it hasn\u2019t had time to turn into a toxic stew, it could be because I am more actively engaging. I\u2019m not really sure yet, but what I do know is the <strong>vibe<\/strong> is different. That sense of community is definitely there and I am looking to make the most of it.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Alright<\/em>, so I have a few other thoughts\/takes on my Mastodon experience so far, and as I am want to do, I will share via a list!<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>As others have pointed out, two reasons why Twitter always felt a bit, <em>icky<\/em>, was because of forced ads in your timeline and the bedeviling algorithm which fed not what <em>YOU<\/em> wanted into your timeline, but what Twitter thought would yield maximum engagement, which typically meant trying to fill you with rage. Mastodon is a breath of fresh air in comparison.<\/li>\n  <li>I joined the <a href=\"#infosecexchange\">infosec.exchange<\/a> instance, which is relatively quite large (~24k and growing) and have <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/following\">followed<\/a> nearly 400 people so far. What I\u2019ve seen across my home feed and the local timeline has been really great! No ads, literally just what I\u2019ve signed up for. I\u2019ve been consuming\/scrolling most of it so far and have encountered a lot of new people and genuinely look forward to (most) of what they have to share.<\/li>\n  <li>Mastodon is a series of unique, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/activitypub\/\">networked<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/instances.social\">instances<\/a>. When folks from other instances are <em>boosted<\/em> into my timeline, there is a sense of excitement, of exploration. For example, if I see someone with the handle <em>@hax@supercyber.pizza<\/em>, I think \u201cwow! I\u2019m happy to have discovered this indvidual in the wide Fediverse, and look forward to what they post\/boost into my timeline\u201d. That hunger to follow, to connect moreso than \u201cget followers\u201d is really great. I have this desire to collect as many cool instances and awesome people as I can into my <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/following\">following list<\/a>.<\/li>\n  <li>If you want people to follow you, or engage with you, I highly recommend spending some time to tell people what you\u2019re all about in your <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\/\">account profile<\/a>. Also, toss a picture of some kind in there. Anything will do.<\/li>\n  <li>Each instance will likely have its own culture, traditions and of course rules. Spend some time trying to figure out what those are, and leverage the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/posting\/#cw\">content warning<\/a> (CW) feature to try and be a little less offensive. <em>It\u2019s not hard to do<\/em>!<\/li>\n  <li>Being on an instance which has a population that best shares your personal\/professional interests will give you a <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/methods\/timelines\/\">local timeline<\/a> that will help you find people to follow and consume your posts. This is true. <em>But<\/em>! With a little effort, you can, regardless of what instance you are on, curate a following of people <em>across<\/em> instances, building a home timeline that is perfect for you, void of ads or algorithmic influences. This feed\/timeline will continue to grow and mature thanks to the boosts and discussions of those you follow and engage with. So spend less time trying to find the perfect instance, and more time building that list.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>If there is any drawback to Mastodon so far that I have seen, it is the lack of full-text search (for privacy reasons). This makes some of the intel-gathering I used to do on Twitter a bit more difficult (I\u2019m not the only one with this sentiment). One frequent use-case was to search for info on CVEs (e.g. PoCs, research, etc\u2026). To address this concern, the <a href=\"#infosec-community\">infosec community<\/a> on Mastodon has been putting their heads together on how best to use hashtags to make intel-gathering possible on Mastodon. <sup><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@shellsharks\/109312621380439732\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@_mattata\/109344401551654192\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@mttaggart\/109349346996034218\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"mastodon\">Mastodon<\/h1>\n\n<h2 id=\"intro-to-mastodon\">Intro to Mastodon<\/h2>\n\n<p>To avoid writing a regurgitated \u201c<em>how to get started w\/ Mastodon<\/em>\u201d section, I\u2019m going to first just link to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\">Wired<\/a> article on this - <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/how-to-get-started-use-mastodon\/\">How to Get Started on Mastodon<\/a><\/strong>. Again, I want to emphasize - try not to stress too much on what \u201cinstance\u201d you choose. This should only really affect your \u201clocal\u201d timeline, not your ability to follow those anywhere, on any instance (unless you wish to follow the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.secjuice.com\/mastodon-child-porn-pedophiles\/\">dregs<\/a> of the <a href=\"#expanded-fediverse\">Fediverse<\/a> that tend to get de-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jwz.org\/blog\/2022\/11\/mastodon-and-federation\/\">federated<\/a> from the upstanding servers). Alternatively, for those that are adventurous, have some free time and are relatively tech savvy, <a href=\"#hosting-a-mastodon-instance\">hosting your own instance<\/a> on a vanity domain is another option! If you don\u2019t end up liking an instance you\u2019ve landed on, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.joinmastodon.org\/2019\/06\/how-to-migrate-from-one-server-to-another\/\">how to migrate from one server to another<\/a>. <em>OK<\/em>, that out of the way, here\u2019s a list of other Mastodon stuff\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Find an instance via <a href=\"https:\/\/instances.social\">instances.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.tips\/how-to-use-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-basic-tips\/\">How To Use Mastodon and the Fediverse<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/fedi.tips\">Fedi.Tips<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Some general <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@chrisabides\/109309319819177873\">Mastodon etiquette<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@chrisabides\">@chrisabides@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/escapingtech.com\/tech\/guides\/a-twitter-users-guide-to-mastodon.html\">A Twitter User\u2019s Guide to Mastodon<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@malwaretech\">Marcus Hutchins<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@Em0nM4stodon\/109323504324459171\">Tips for Mastodon newcomers<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@Em0nM4stodon\">@Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.ie\/@klillington\/109287983727726762\">Useful Mastodon guides<\/a> courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.ie\/@klillington\">@klillington@mastodon.ie<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.help\">Mastodon.help<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/patricia.no\/2022\/11\/18\/twitter_off_ramp.html\">A Twitter Off Ramp<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/2ality.com\/2022\/10\/mastodon-getting-started.html\">Getting started with Mastodon<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@rauschma\/109347957045367913\">@rauschma@fosstodon.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Some more <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@davewalker\/109325307961318659\">Mastodon tips<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@davewalker\">@davewalker@mastodon.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ajroach42.com\/what-everyone-seems-to-get-wrong-about-mastodon\/\">What Everyone Seems to Get Wrong About Mastodon<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/retro.social\/@ajroach42\/109331218298356096\">@ajroach42@retro.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/patricia.no\/2022\/11\/18\/mastodon_migration.html\">Mastodon migration, moving to a new server<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/social.vivaldi.net\/@Patricia\/109395204448620858\">@Patricia@vivaldi.net<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2022\/12\/mastodon-highlights-pros-and-cons-of-moving-beyond-big-tech-gatekeepers\/\">Mastodon\u2013and the pros and cons of moving beyond Big Tech gatekeepers<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mattbrown.dev\/mastodon\/\">How to talk to your relatives about Mastodon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/controlaltdelete.technology\/articles\/the-mastodons-guide-to-the-fediverse.html\">The Mastodon\u2019s Guide to the Fediverse<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/zenodo.org\/records\/14170125\">Mastodon Quick Start Guide<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Quick (I promise) rundown of Mastodon verbiage\/mechanics\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><strong>Posts<\/strong> <del>are<\/del> <a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/mastodon-toot-retired-twitter-tweet-equivalent-1849786221\">were<\/a> \u201c<strong>Toots<\/strong>\u201d, now they\u2019re just \u201cposts\u201d. Ask your instance admin to <a href=\"https:\/\/git.disroot.org\/badrihippo\/tootify\">tootify<\/a> the server if you miss tootin\u2019 (via <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@benjaminhollon\/109355527163671306\">@benjaminhollon@fosstodon.org<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li>A re-post (or re-tweet) is a \u201c<strong>Boost<\/strong>\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@Gargron\/99662106175542726\">There is no quote-boost<\/a>, so don\u2019t ask. Boosting helps propagate stuff you like to all your followers and to your local timeline. This helps get stuff out to other instances. <em>Boosts are good<\/em>.<\/li>\n  <li>A \u201c<strong>Star<\/strong>\u201d simply communicates to the OP, \u201cI like that\u201d. It has no effect on anything else. So <em>star star star<\/em> away!<\/li>\n  <li><strong>Lists<\/strong> exist.<\/li>\n  <li>Unlike Twitter, Mastodon has no full-text search. It instead relies on <strong>hashtags<\/strong>. So use those liberally where applicable. You can also follow hashtags. (per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@tinker\/109330871957962166\">@tinker@infosec.exchange<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li>The consensus seems to be that the first-party Mastodon client is bad. Try some of these other apps instead\u2026\n    <ul>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/metatext\/id1523996615\">Metatext<\/a> for iOS<\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=app.fedilab.android&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=DE&amp;pli=1\">Fedilab<\/a> for Android<\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/git.shadowfacts.net\/shadowfacts\/Tusker\">Tusker<\/a> (from <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jxhn\/109337746209475152\">@jxhn@infosec.exchange<\/a>)<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/li>\n  <li>One cool thing you can do via Mastodon is retrieve a <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@SteveD3\/109345603084458028\">.rss feed of an account\u2019s posts<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@SteveD3\">@SteveD3@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Now get out there and <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@tinker\/109321493379634906\">toot to your hearts content<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"verification\">Verification<\/h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/profile\/#verification\">Mastodon has a verification capability<\/a>, though it differs from what Twitter traditionally offered. Essentially, you can establish a \u201cverified\u201d relationship between your Mastodon account and other third-party endpoints, such as a website. What this can prove is that, for example, the identity\/person behind the <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">@shellsharks@sehllsharks.social<\/a> Mastodon account is the same person who runs <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/\">shellsharks.com<\/a>. Some other verification related resources are provided below.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Thoughts on <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@barubary\/109324210823125234\">Mastodon verification<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@barubary\/\">@barubary@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>How to verify your GitHub via a <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@SeanWrightSec\/109315775506958979\">thread<\/a> on <a href=\"infosec.exchange\">infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/keyoxide.org\">KeyOxide<\/a> - A privacy-friendly tool to create and verify decentralized online identities. For help using KeyOxide on Mastodon, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@projectdp\/109338598390126219\">this thread<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@projectdp\">@projectdp@infosec.exchange<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/law.builders\/@IntlLawGnome\/109345853950652817\">this from @IntlLawGnome@law.builders<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>If <a href=\"https:\/\/keybase.io\">Keybase<\/a> is your jam, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/0x58.medium.com\/create-a-verified-keybase-link-on-your-mastodon-profile-218c17e5e28c\">this article on Keybase verification<\/a> or this <a href=\"https:\/\/wiki.infosec.exchange\/faq\/verification\/keybase_io\">infosec.exchange wiki article on Keybase verification<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>For WordPress users, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tindrasgrove.com\/2022\/11\/mastodon-wordpress-and-verification\/\">Mastodon, WordPress, and Verification<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@TindrasGrove\/109331180844495978\">@TindrasGrove@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>For a Twitter-similar, centralized \u201cverification\u201d offering, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/fedified.com\">Fedified<\/a> (via <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@gossithedog\/109349904070905858\">@gossithedog@infosec.exchange<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/webmasters.stackexchange.com\/questions\/140821\/using-rel-me-on-wix-hosted-site\">Using rel=\u201dme\u201d on Wix-hosted site<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"security--privacy\">Security &amp; Privacy<\/h2>\n\n<p>Is <a href=\"#mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a> secure? Is my data private? Is it more secure than Twitter? (these days, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/08\/23\/tech\/twitter-whistleblower-peiter-zatko-security\/index.html\">almost assuredly<\/a>). How can I best lock down my Mastodon account(s)? All great questions. I\u2019ll share a list of articles that best answer these questions but first, some basic security\/privacy hygiene advice. <strong>Use a strong\/unique password<\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.joinmastodon.org\/user\/contacts\/#account\">enable 2FA<\/a><\/strong>, understand that your instance admin has access to your data.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2022\/11\/mastodon-private-and-secure-lets-take-look\">Is Mastodon Private and Secure?<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/\">EFF.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/grahamcluley.com\">Graham Cluley\u2019s<\/a> take on <a href=\"https:\/\/grahamcluley.com\/mastodon-what-you-need-to-know-for-your-security-and-privacy\/\">security and privacy<\/a> on Mastodon<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/techpolicy.press\/can-mastodon-survive-europes-digital-services-act\/\">Can Mastodon Survive Europe\u2019s Digital Services Act?<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/federate.social\/@profcarroll\/109353950776860720\">@profcarroll@federate.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/freeradical.zone\/@missiggeek\/109348559768938197\">GDPR and Mastodon<\/a>, analysis by <a href=\"https:\/\/freeradical.zone\/@missiggeek\">@missiggeek@freeradical.zone<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>(<a href=\"https:\/\/gdpr-info.eu\">GDPR<\/a>-related) <a href=\"https:\/\/sciences.re\/ropa\/\">Record of Processing Activities<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/social.sciences.re\/@RGrunblatt\/109342061792478407\">@RGrunblatt@sciences.re<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>The venerable <a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\">PortSwigger<\/a> has already gone to work <a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/research\/stealing-passwords-from-infosec-mastodon-without-bypassing-csp\">bug hunting Mastodon<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/portswigger.net\/daily-swig\/mastodon-users-vulnerable-to-password-stealing-attacks\">The Daily Swig<\/a>). Point being, vulns do exist. <em>Stay frosty<\/em><\/li>\n  <li>For those interested in <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@tinker\/109349249316218078\">TOTP MFA on desktop<\/a> (per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@tinker\">@tinker@infosec.exchange<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li>Private messaging is <strong>not<\/strong> recommended on Mastodon. For this, other options are available, as discussed by <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@atomicpoet\/109328033127146253\">@atomicpoet@mastodon.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fossacademic.tech\/2022\/10\/18\/notesOnNobreEtAl.html\">More Mastodon Scraping without Consent<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.social\/@robertwgehl\/109332710012353135\">@robertwgehl@scholar.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>For those interested in security testing a live Mastodon instance, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/cybervillains.com\/explore\">cybervillains.com<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sts10.github.io\/\/2022\/11\/12\/mastodon-2fa-security-key.html\">How to use a security key as two-factor authentication on your Mastodon account<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"infosec-community\">Infosec Community<\/h1>\n\n<p>I have used Twitter for years, as there was a relatively vibrant <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/tags\/infosec\">#infosec<\/a> community that shared research, articles, etc\u2026 With the <a href=\"#twitter-migration\">meltdown of Twitter<\/a>, it seems the infosec-Twitter diaspora has gone full-force and we (as a community) now primarily exist across a <a href=\"#infosec-instances\">variety of Mastodon instances<\/a>. The community that has developed, and the speed at which it has developed, has been truly astounding to behold. For my part, <a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.social\/@shellsharks\">I<\/a> joined <a href=\"#infosecexchange\">infosec.exchange<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>If you\u2019re looking to find others in the infosec world on Mastodon\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li>Gsheet with a <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1t13k5_cNhP9_TgoUmqDZk2ROkWkF6Bg3O5269vKIqWw\/htmlview\">mapping of Twitter\u2013&gt;Mastodon<\/a> accounts<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tisiphone.net\/2022\/11\/10\/infosec-mastodon-lists\/\">Infosec Mastodon Lists!<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/tisiphone.net\/\">tisiphone.net<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Or join an open <a href=\"#infosec-instances\">infosec instance<\/a> and just start following people! <strong>Pro tip<\/strong>: you can (for open instances) view the local timeline for any instance, whether you are a member or not<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve written up a quite note - a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/notes\/2023\/10\/20\/infosec-mastodon-starter-pack\">starter pack<\/a>\u201d - for those new to Mastodon. It includes some bonus info for <em>infosec<\/em> folks.<\/p>\n\n<h2 id=\"infosecexchange\">infosec.exchange<\/h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"infosec.exchange\">infosec.exchange<\/a> is described as \u201c<em>a Mastodon instance for info\/cyber security-minded people.<\/em>\u201d No better way to describe it! It was stood up and is admin\u2019ed by <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\">Jerry Bell<\/a> (host of the <a href=\"https:\/\/defensivesecurity.org\">Defensive Security Podcast<\/a> and seemingly trustworthy infosec fella.) So far, the experience as a member of this server has been great. The community is <em>very<\/em> infosec-ey, friendly and growing quickly. Some other cool tidbits on infosec.exchange have been provided below\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>There is an <a href=\"https:\/\/wiki.infosec.exchange\">infosec.exchange wiki<\/a>!<\/li>\n  <li>Currently, infosec.exchange supports <strong>11k word<\/strong> posts. ELEVEN THOUSAND! Plenty of elbow room<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"#hosting-a-mastodon-instance\">Running a Mastodon instance<\/a>, and doing it as well as Jerry has takes time, expertise, patience and money. To help out, consider contributing via <a href=\"https:\/\/liberapay.com\/Infosec.exchange\/\">liberapay<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Anecdotally (and from multiple accounts I have seen from infosec.exchange members so far), engagement on posts\/polls\/replies has been outstanding - easily outpacing what others saw on Twitter, even with much more massive follower counts<\/li>\n  <li>infosec.exchange <em>very quickly<\/em> ramped from ~300 to over 20k (24k at the time of this post) in a matter of weeks. So donate and consider configuring post auto-delete (per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@spapjh\/109325460580938968\">@spapjh@infosec.exchange<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li>For those interested in Jerry\u2019s stance on GDPR, check <a href=\"https:\/\/wiki.infosec.exchange\/about\/data_privacy_compliance\">this wiki article<\/a> (from <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@jerry\/109340004683906647\">@jerry@infosec.exchange<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 id=\"infosec-instances\">Infosec Instances<\/h2>\n\n<p>A running list of <a href=\"#infosec-community\">infosec<\/a>-related\/adjacent Mastodon instances.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/\">infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ioc.exchange\/\">ioc.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/securitycafe.ca\/\">Securitycafe.ca<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cybersecurity.masto.host\/\">Cybersecurity.masto.host<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cybersecurity.theater\/\">cybersecurity.theater<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hackers.town\/\">hackers.town<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/freeradical.zone\/\">freeradical.zone<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/defcon.social\/explore\">defcon.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cyberplace.social\/\">cyberplace.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/noc.social\">noc.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/haunted.computer\/\">haunted.computer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/chaos.social\/\">chaos.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/social.hackerspace.pl\/\">social.hackerpsace.pl<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/swecyb.com\/\">swecyb.com<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hispagatos.space\/\">hispagatos.space<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.town\">infosec.town<\/a> (<em>Iceshrimp<\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.place\/main\/public\">infosec.place<\/a> (<em>Akkoma<\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.space\/\">infosec.space<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"hosting-a-mastodon-instance\">Hosting a Mastodon Instance<\/h1>\n\n<p>There are plenty of great, open <a href=\"https:\/\/instances.social\">instances to join<\/a> if you are interested in <a href=\"#mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a>. But if you\u2019re interested in hosting your own server, that too is possible! In fact, I plan on trying this out at some point. For anyone interested, and for reference myself when the time comes, here are some resources\/discussions I have collected\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.infosec.exchange\/2022\/12\/22\/scaling-mastodon-part-1\/\">Scaling Mastodon - Part 1<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/someone.elses.computer\/@laurence\/109335661569754444\">Thread on running personal instance<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/someone.elses.computer\/@laurence\">@laurence@someone.elses.computer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Spinning up <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.joinmastodon.org\/2019\/04\/mastodon-now-available-on-digitalocean\/\">Mastodon on DigitalOcean<\/a> (from <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@tinker\">@Tinker<\/a>)<\/li>\n  <li>Thoughts on <a href=\"https:\/\/masto.host\/re-mastodon-media-storage\/\">Mastodon media storage<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@mastohost\/109321864549298922\">@mastohost@mastodon.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Mastodon\/comments\/yr95oc\/cheapest_most_efficient_and_scalable_mastodon\/\">Thread on Mastodon hosting<\/a> (from Reddit).<\/li>\n  <li>Notes on <a href=\"https:\/\/sick.social\/@sickcodes\/109331897031470832\">nginx confs<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/sick.social\/@sickcodes\/109331897031470832\">@sickcodes@sick.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Some <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/Anthchirp\/mastodon-defederate\">tools for running small instances<\/a> courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/mast.uxp.de\/@markus\/109332905203462824\">@markus@uxp.de<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/nora.codes\/post\/scaling-mastodon-in-the-face-of-an-exodus\/\">Scaling Mastodon in the Face of an Exodus<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/rixx.de\/blog\/on-running-a-mastodon-instance\/\">On Running a Mastodon Instance<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/chaos.social\/@rixx\/107486676987936272\">@rixx@chaos.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bentasker.co.uk\/posts\/blog\/general\/running-mastodon-in-docker-compose.html\">Running a Mastodon Instance using docker-compose<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.bentasker.co.uk\/@ben\/109349116860032153\">@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Enabling the <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mastodon\/mastodon\/pull\/19218\">translation service<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@charlesdardaman\/109349109086315077\">@charlesdardaman@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2a9YrLsE45Y&amp;feature=youtu.be\">Build Your Own Mastodon Server on Debian<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/fosstodon.org\/@donwatkins\/109354965867309656\">@donwatkins@fosstodon.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@Adman\/109357323234464454\">Notes on setting up a Mastodon instance<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@Adman\">@Adman@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/widdix\/mastodon-on-aws\">mastodon-on-aws<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@honyocker\/109360631128484873\">@honyocker@mastodon.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Mitigate potential liability by registering with copyright office and designating an agent to receive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.copyright.gov\/dmca-directory\/\">DMCA reports<\/a> - per <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rahaeli\/status\/1593819064161665024\">@rahaeli@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/denise.dreamwidth.org\/91757.html\">A guide to potential liability pitfalls for people running a Mastodon instance<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@kris-nova\/hachyderm-infrastructure-74f518bc7472\">Hachyderm Infrastructure<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ae3.ch\/mastodon-docker-traefik\">Mastodon with Docker and Traefik<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.riemann.cc\/projects\/mastodon-privacy-policy-generator\/\">Mastodon Privacy Policy Generator<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/chaos.social\/@rriemann\/109384055798565711\">@rriemann@chaos.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/flatcar\/flatcar-mastodon\">Single-node deployment of Mastodon on Linux w\/ Flatcar<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/hachyderm.io\/@ahrkrak\/109404804707924178\">@ahrkrak@hachyderm.io<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markloveless.net\/blog\/2022\/12\/5\/mastodon-and-self-hosting\">Mastodon and Self-Hosting<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eigenmagic.com\/2022\/11\/29\/scaling-mastodon-with-systemd-template-units\/\">Scaling Mastodon with systemd Template Units<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/philna.sh\/blog\/2022\/11\/23\/alias-your-mastodon-username-to-your-own-domain-with-jekyll\/\">Alias your Mastodon Username to your own Domain with Jekyll<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@philnash\/109393416507109263\">@philnash@mastodon.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/page.romeov.me\/posts\/setting-up-mastodon-with-nixos\/\">Setting up your own Mastodon instance with Hetzner and NixOS<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/social.romeov.me\/@romeo\/109300130246177513\">@romeo@social.romeov.me<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/decoded.legal\/blog\/2022\/11\/notes-on-operating-fediverse-services-mastodon-pleroma-etc-from-an-english-law-point-of-view\">Notes on operating fediver services from an English law point of view<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2022\/12\/user-generated-content-and-fediverse-legal-primer\">User Generated Content and the Fediverse: A Legal Primer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/dltj.org\/article\/mastodon-instance-reports\/\">Mastodon Instance Operators Report on the Impact of the #TwitterMigration<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cloudflare.com\/welcome-to-wildebeest-the-fediverse-on-cloudflare\/\">Welcome to Wildebeest: the Fediverse on Cloudflare<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"http:\/\/mastoreqs.com\/\">Mastoreqs.com<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/vmst.io\/@vmstan\/110923949404950113\">@vmstan@vmst.io<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cyber.fsi.stanford.edu\/io\/news\/common-abuses-mastodon-primer\">Common Abuses on Mastodon: A Primer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/josh.is-cool.dev\/running-a-mastodon-instance-entirely-free-forever\/\">Running a Mastodon instance entirely free forever<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/softwaremill.com\/the-architecture-of-mastodon\/\">The Architecture of Mastodon<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"twitter-migration\">Twitter Migration<\/h1>\n\n<p>I\u2019m not particularly interested in analyzing or writing much about what\u2019s going on w\/ Twitter. What I will say is that I\u2019ve pretty much left (my account <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/shellsharks\">still exists<\/a> but I am no longer looking at my feed and haven\u2019t signed in since I joined <a href=\"#mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a>), and generally speaking, the <a href=\"#infosec-community\">infosec community<\/a> seems to have almost fully disowned the platform. From what I have read and seen, it does seem to have turned into a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitterisgoinggreat.com\">dumpster fire<\/a><\/strong>. I know not what the future holds for Twitter, but for many reasons <a href=\"#my-take-on-mastodon-so-far\">I am happy with where I have landed<\/a> and look forward to making Mastodon my long-term home, regardless of Twitter\u2019s ultimate fate. That said, if you are interested in moving yourself or reading more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/tags\/twittermigration\">#twittermigration<\/a>, check out the resources below.<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hughrundle.net\/home-invasion\/\">Home Invasion<\/a>, thoughts on the mass-move to Mastodon.<\/li>\n  <li>Twitter migration <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@stevepdp\/109324712532921940\">resources<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@stevepdp\">@stevepdp@mstdn.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/michae.lv\/deleting-dms-from-twitter\/\">Deleting DMs from Twitter using the GDPR<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/someone.elses.computer\/@mikarv\/109326253999130984\">@mikarv@someone.elses.computer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/uxdesign.cc\/mastodon-is-antiviral-design-42f090ab8d51\">Twitter alternative: how Mastodon is designed to be \u201cantiviral\u201d<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/saturation.social\/@clive\/109321191553242136\">@clive@saturation.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Search for Mastodon accounts of the people you followed on Twitter via <a href=\"https:\/\/pruvisto.org\/debirdify\/\">Debirdify<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Extract fediverse handles of your Twitter followings via <a href=\"https:\/\/fedifinder.glitch.me\">Fedifinder<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Bulk-delete your tweets using <a href=\"https:\/\/tweetdelete.net\">tweetdelete<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@gossithedog\/109349388730356691\">@gossithedog@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Recover your Twitter threads using <a href=\"https:\/\/gist.github.com\/LeeHolmes\/4ebeed5df73ac04678d7c954f74701e6\">Get-TwitterThread<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@Lee_Holmes\/109349124264564741\">@Lee_Holmes@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/grahamcluley.com\/its-time-delete-your-twitter-dms\/\">It\u2019s time. Delete your Twitter DMs<\/a> (Graham Cluley)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/semiphemeral.com\">semiphemeral<\/a> - Automatically delete your old tweets, except for the ones you want to keep.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<hr \/>\n\n<h1 id=\"expanded-fediverse\">Expanded Fediverse<\/h1>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@sass\">I joined Mastodon in 2018<\/a>, but never really made much of it at the time. I rejoined in earnest in November (2022) so I am obviously not a <a href=\"#mastodon\">Mastodon<\/a> pro nor particularly experienced\/knowledgeable about the wider \u201cFediverse\u201d. So I won\u2019t pretend to be. Instead, here is some stuff that you may be interested in, and that I will continue to dig into as I have time\u2026<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>Hints and tips about Mastodon and the Fediverse via <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@feditips\">Fedi.Tips<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/joinbookwyrm.com\/\">BookWyrm<\/a> is the Fediverse altnernative to GoodReads<\/li>\n  <li>Some analysis on the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=33545541\">existential threat<\/a> to the Fediverse\/Mastodon<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ariadne.space\/2022\/11\/12\/twitters-demise-is-activitypubs-future\/\">Twitter\u2019s demise is ActivityPub\u2019s future<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/social.treehouse.systems\/@ariadne\/109331275534427283\">@ariadne@treehouse.systems<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/cfenollosa.com\/blog\/after-self-hosting-my-email-for-twenty-three-years-i-have-thrown-in-the-towel-the-oligopoly-has-won.html\">After self-hosting my email for twenty-three years I have thrown in the towel. The oligopoly has won.<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/tailscale.com\/blog\/2022-11-16-fediverse\/\">Tailscale on the Fediverse<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/ar.al\/2022\/11\/09\/is-the-fediverse-about-to-get-fryed-or-why-every-toot-is-also-a-potential-denial-of-service-attack\/\">Is the fediverse about to get Fryed?\u2026<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.cloud\/@timbray\/109355955409064964\">@timbray@mastodon.cloud<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-man-behind-mastodon-eugen-rochko-built-it-for-this-moment\/\">The Man Behind Mastodon Built It for This Moment<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/solidproject.org\">Solid Project<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/noc.social\/@Dcuthbert\/109349466213486869\">@Dcuthbert@noc.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.comeetie.fr\/galerie\/mapstodon\/\">Mapstodon<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@crankylinuxuser\/109354229747733753\">@crankylinuxuser@infosec.exchange<\/a><\/li>\n  <li>Find verified journalists on Mastodon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.presscheck.org\">PressCheck.org<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2022\/11\/fediverse-could-be-awesome-if-we-dont-screw-it\">The Fediverse Could be Awesome (if we don\u2019t screw it up)<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/nathanlesage\/academics-on-mastodon\">Academics on Mastodon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/minkiver.se\/~\/WebminkInDraft\/Fediverse\/\">The Fediverse As Composable Distributed Applications<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/meshed.cloud\/@webmink\/109359937839481959\">@webmink@meshed.cloud<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/13No4yxY-oFrN8PigC2jBWXreFCHWwVRTftwP6HcREtA\/htmlview?resourcekey=undefined&amp;pru=AAABhH2W2zA*V1PG7hJSTbifNCcDu40zLA#gid=1320898902\">Journalists on Mastodon<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/mstdn.social\/@terihannigan\/109390048645653181\">@terihannigan@mstdn.social<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@ChrisPirillo\/109378559690955379\">The many branches of the Fediverse<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/x61.sh\/log\/2022\/10\/20221015T145211-honk.html\">honk<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hyperborea.org\/tech-tips\/fediverse-feeds\/\">Finding Fediverse Feeds<\/a> per <a href=\"https:\/\/wandering.shop\/@KelsonV\/109696121243401067\">@KelsonV@wandering.shop<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/thefedi.wiki\">The Fediverse Wiki<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/catodon.social\/@catodon\/pages\/introducing-catodon\">Catodon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fediscanner.info\">FediScanner<\/a> - Check Hashtag in the Fediverse<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.fans\">Fediverse Fans<\/a> - Organize lists of users on Mastodon-compatible platforms by their interests<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h1 id=\"more\">More<\/h1>\n\n<ul>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastodeck.com\">MastoDeck<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tootfinder.ch\">Tootfinder<\/a> - Proof of concept of an opt-in global Mastodon full text search.<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.info\/explore\/people\">Fediverse People Directory<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\/covenant\">Mastodon Server Convenant<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/thedoodleprojectcom.network.thedoodleproject.net\/@derek\/posts\/204943312861091936\/\">the doodle project<\/a> - small hosted fediverse instances<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.topmastodonposts.com\">Top Mastodon Posts<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastometrics.com\">MastoMetrics<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.analytodon.com\/\">Analytodon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/metricdon.com\/\">Metricdon<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/communitywiki.org\/trunk\">Trunk<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@catsalad\/111060637626965395\">Torified Fedi Links<\/a> - List of Fediverse instances that provide access through .Onion servers. (<em>per <a href=\"https:\/\/infosec.exchange\/@catsalad\">@catsalad<\/a><\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fedionfire.stream\">Fedi on Fire \ud83d\udd25<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fedigov.eu\">Fedigov.eu<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/agorasocial.app\">Agora<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/news.feedseer.com\/welcome\">FeedSeer<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/hashtag.place\">HashTag Place<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/flathub.org\/apps\/dev.geopjr.Tuba\">Tuba<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/disabled.social\/@kaveinthran\/111867085944367247\">Collections of Mastodon resources<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastofeed.org\">MastoFeed<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/justmytoots.com\/@username@instance\">JustMyToots<\/a> (<em>Change @username &amp; @instance as appropriate<\/em>)<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fediverse.info\">Fediverse.info<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fediview.com\">fediview<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/sepiasearch.org\">Sepia Search<\/a> - PeerTube search engine<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/fedicw.info\">Fedi CW<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/mastovue.glitch.me\/#\/\">MastoVue<\/a> - Peek into any public Mastodon Timeline or search for Hashtags<\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mastodonlistmanager.org\/main\">Mastodon List Manager<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/data.natty.sh\/fedi-circles\/\">Fedi Circles<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/podcastap.com\">PodcastAP<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/qa.mastoadmin.social\">MastoAnswers<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/markwrites.io\/guide-for-using-mastodon-search\">Guide for using Mastodon search<\/a><\/li>\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/the-counterforce.org\/guide-to-mastodon-fediverse\/\">THE COUNTERFORCE GUIDE TO MASTODON AND THE FEDIVERSE (FOR PUNKS!)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","pubDate":"Thu, 17 Nov 2022 09:39:00 -0500","link":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon","guid":"https:\/\/shellsharks.com\/mastodon","category":["infosec","life","technology","mastodon","fediverse","infosec","life","technology","blog","list"]}]}}