The idea I keep coming back to is that the big platforms, like Dickens' Marley, were dead to begin with, and are now something particularly bad, which is dead on their feet.
The Atmosphere, Explained - Erlend’s notes
people in the centre, platforms at the margins
The Shape of the Curve: Morbid Symptoms or Monsters?
“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” -Gramsci 1 Everyone quotes Gramsci now. …
The Mind in the Wheel – Prologue: Everybody Wants a Rock
We who have nothing to “wind string around” are lost in the wilderness. But those who deny this need are “burning our playhouse down.” If you put quotes around certain words it sounds more like a m…
We Are Starting to Sound Like the Thing We Built - Ewan’s Blog
“Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors.“
Clouded skies for open networks
Last week, I finished an essay about platform design affordances and content moderation expectations and community-level context collapse on Bluesky for Tech Policy Press and set it aside to cool before a last read-through. An hour later, the Trump administration brought to Bluesky a propaganda-zombie army made
Village-scale resilience
The end-of-the-world already happened, it's just not evenly distributed. But with every end is a new beginning.
Pluralistic: Tiktok’s enshittification (21 Jan 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.
The Legend of Vox Machina
They're rowdy, they're ragtag, they're misfits turned mercenaries for hire. Vox Machina is more interested in easy money and cheap ale than actually protecting the realm. But when the kingdom is threatened by evil, this boisterous crew realizes that they are the only ones capable of restoring justice.
There's a pernicious belief, widely believed, that if a platform isn't on its way to becoming the biggest platform then it's on its way to failing. That belief is silly. So let's stop talking about Bluesky as if that belief is true.
We Needn't Have a One True Platform
www.aaronrosspowell.comLast week I figured out how you can duct tape some stuff together on Bluesky to make it work like a platform just for music. It's really easy and you don't need to code or anything. I put together some instructions so my friends can do it too. Reply with your shiny new music feed!
How to make a lofi music feed on Bluesky
sugzone.leaflet.pubDitch Platforms
Guides, stories, and reasons to leave platforms in favor of protocols
The Music Industry is Broken
Enshittification, Despotification, and the Open Internet
How to ACTUALLY Quit Spotify.
Kill Yr Substack | Jason Cosper
EFF is Leaving X
An Explanation (Which I Would Be Very Grateful If You Took The Time To Read)
