Avatar: Me, in front of my bookshelves, wearing a black t-shirt that says, "runner" on it.

Masto do, Masto don’t? YMMV.

The biggest challenge I’ve seen for a lot of people with Mastodon seems to be picking the right instance. It’s something you don’t usually have to think about when signing up for a social network, but picking the right instance is both incredibly important for optimizing your overall experience, and arguably a waste of time in the very beginning.

"This is Fine" dog with a guillotine next to a row of stacked books and sign that says, "I'm not bossy, I just have better ideas."

Five Things: December 1, 2022

Five things for December 1, 2022. That’s it! That’s the excerpt.

Avatar: Me, in front of my bookshelves, wearing a black t-shirt that says, "runner" on it.

[FLASHBACK] The Future of the Blog: Robots Win

Shatner’s on Twitter, too, which is a “micro-blogging” platform. It’s like a blog on training wheels, for bloggers too stupid or boring to put together a compelling paragraph or three, and social media gurus who don’t like dealing with people all that much. Ev and Biz clearly had no idea the monster they were creating.

Shelf full of various manga titles.

How Manga Took Over My Bookshelf — and the World!

Between research for Comics Plus (aka, the day job) and many hours of the wonderful Mangasplaining podcast, I’ve been able to zero in on stories that are most likely to be up my alley without putting too big a dent in my wallet. As a result, manga has become the majority of what I’ve read and enjoyed this year.

"This is Fine" dog with a guillotine next to a row of stacked books and sign that says, "I'm not bossy, I just have better ideas."

Five Things: November 17, 2022

Five things for November 17, 2022. That’s it! That’s the excerpt.

Avatar: Me, in front of my bookshelves, wearing a black t-shirt that says, "runner" on it.

Leanpub’s Frontmatter Podcast: It’s Me, Again!

This time around, we skipped the origin story and jumped right into things. Epp let me rattle on about Comics Plus (aka the day job), Panorama Project and libraries, DOJ vs. PRH, and Twitter — and then cleaned it all up so I sound reasonably coherent. It’s also on video this time, which caught me by surprise as you may be able to tell from the hat I’m wearing — I was a couple of weeks overdue for a haircut!

Twitter Fail Whale

Twitter Detox

Of course, like quitting smoking or other addictions — and let’s be honest, for some of us, Twitter had become an unhealthy addiction — it’s left a gaping hole in my life. Over the years, Twitter had evolved into my main source of current events, engagement with topics of interest, and connections with people I’ve known for years but am unlikely to see in person any time soon. The spoke became a hub, something the marketer in me knew was very wrong.

"This is Fine" dog with a guillotine next to a row of stacked books and sign that says, "I'm not bossy, I just have better ideas."

Five Things: November 3, 2022

Five things for November 3, 2022. That’s it! That’s the excerpt.

"This is Fine" dog with a guillotine next to a row of stacked books and sign that says, "I'm not bossy, I just have better ideas."

Five Things: Moving Day

I’m still not sure what I’m planning to do with my Twitter presence, but I’ve decided to make a related jump and move my newsletter from Revue (now owned by you-know-who) over to Substack.

Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash

Should I stay or should I go?

Twitter is an irreplaceable platform for me, and I recently learned I’m among its small minority of “heavy users” who drive the platform’s revenue. I’ve invested 14+ years and more than 51,000 tweets in curating an optimal feed that keeps me informed, entertained, visible and connected to the topics I care about most, and more importantly, other people who share those interests. I’m not as active as I used to be, but I’m still way more active than the vast majority of users, even among those I follow.

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