Category Archives: social

Micro.blog initial issues

Blog, meta, misc, social, tech

I’ve had a few fairly fundamental issues since setting up my custom domain on Micro.blog. Though my username is discoverable on Mastodon (Appdot.net) and the blog works at bt3.com with all links looking good, quite a few are concerning me.

I’ve asked for help via help@micro.blog, when they can spare the time, and I’ve posted this here not to whinge about it but so I remember how things started before I start messing about with CSS, styling my blog. 😱

Ok, the list:

  • Posts no longer automatically appear in my Micro.blog timeline.
  • Neither blog posts nor RSS feeds automatically crosspost to Mastodon, I have either to crosspost from ‘Pages’ or refresh feeds manually on the ‘Sources/Feeds’ page.
  • The comments box under posts is completely absent.
  • None of the comments made by me and others on Micro.blog or Mastodon before or after I set up the domain are visibly linked below the posts. They’re in the timeline though.
  • My custom 404 page does not display when I test by creating a non-existent URL. It’s the same for both the 404.html and the page at layouts/404.html – in a custom theme based under ‘Marfa’ or others, and edited wholly from the ‘Design’ page. Here’s the design I’ve used on both: https://bt3.com/404.html/ (a work in progress).

I’ve checked through the Help pages too, and this isn’t unusual.

Bluesky

meta, social, tech

I’m sure it’s just me but I can’t summon up the enthusiasm to continue even to crosspost to the Bluesky site. Why? Well, 2 reasons. My social home is the Mastodon-based appdot.net, and now I’ve tried Micro.blog I cannot decide between my self-hosted WordPress blog and one at Micro.blog.

I’m using Bluesky to pull together a few sports reporters and social accounts recently moved from Twitter/X. And that’s all.

The social aspect of being able to blog at Micro.blog and have replies in-line with the posts is compelling. However I’ve been using WordPress for some years now and I’m comfortable with it, but the official plugin linking it to Mastodon simply didn’t work for me. And if I’ve got this right I can continue with the WordPress blog and have it imported to Micro.blog – magic! I know it’s one-way so if I post to Micro.blog it won’t appear in the WordPress blog, but hey, do I care?

Not really.

So what’s next? A todo list:

  • I’ve turned off crossposting to Bluesky.
  • I need to unfollow the ‘Bridgy Fed’ bot to terminate the link between appdot.net and Bluesky.
  • I’ll probably add text in my Bluesky bio to mark it ‘read-only’.
  • I’m definitely going to experiment with retaining a link between my WordPress blog and the Micro.blog site for the duration of the free trial. At least hoping it’s automatic.
  • I’m unlikely to link my domain with Micro.blog within the trial period, even though it’s recommended to do it.

I’m so glad I’ve chosen to think about this over the weekend, it’s bordering on an obsession this trying to find out how things work.

#QuoteSunday

misc, social, , , ,

A long time ago on a network far, far away I started to post quotes I thought notable or relevant to current events. On Sundays. With the hashtag #QuoteSunday.

I wasn’t the first, merely carrying on a tradition I think started by the estimable @nitinkhanna.

It’s often fun to find one, unless I’m commenting on current events. But I still try.

A screenshot from January 2015 of some App.net (ADN) weekly events I participated in. #QuoteSunday being appropriate for today. Others shown are #WorkChat, #MondayNightDanceParty, #TuesdayChallenge, #WednesdayChallenge. Each equally rewarding.