Space Karen induced stress continues, but I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you for the kind words of late. It really means a lot to know that we have the support of an awesome community.

The low point for me was when I updated this blog post from 2011 - I had a really good cry and have been getting better since.

https://furbo.org/2011/03/11/twitterrific-firsts/

Twitterrific firsts • furbo.org

Why are third parties important in the Twitter ecosystem? Let Twitterrific count the ways: First use of “tweet” to describe an update (see page 86 of Dom Sagolla’s book.) First use of a bird icon. First native client on Macintosh. First character counter as you type. First to support replies and conversations (in collaboration with […]

Furbo.org by Craig Hockenberry

I'm also glad so many of you enjoyed The Talk Show episode. As I remarked to a friend afterwards, it really helped me realize how a couple shitty weeks are completely overshadowed by 16 years of getting to do something I love and be a part of something that literally changed our world.

So thanks for the three hour therapy session, @gruber.

It also feels like something at the end of the show bears repeating: @Gargron, and all the other folks who have been working tirelessly for the past seven years, saved our asses.

To all of you who had the foresight to build Mastodon, a sincere THANK YOU. We're in your debt.

I'm also happy to report that mentions of Space Karen's name netted Black Girls Code a total of $1600. And thanks to @_Davidsmith for doing some Whisper magic to let a machine count that douchebag's name.

We need more diversity in this business. This is a great way to help:

https://wearebgc.org

Home - Black Girls CODE

Black girls all over the world are changing the face of technology. We are training thousands of girls to lead, innovate and create in science, tech, engineering and math.

Black Girls CODE

Finally, we launched our new Mastodon instance a few days ago. We have a lot of new things to learn and this is a first step. Give @Iconfactory a follow if you'd like to stay apprised of what's going on in our little world.

And if you're wondering what the Iconfactory is like in the real world, this piece by Louie Mantia reminded me of what a special place we've made. And yeah, more tears.

https://lmnt.me/post/iconfactory.html

Thanks again for all the well wishes. Onward!

LMNT: The Iconfactory

@chockenberry @Iconfactory I know it’s hard right now and emotions are high, but you got this! You did a great thing before, it was unfairly taken from you. Nothing you can do about that, but you *can* influence where and how you go from here. You can continue to do great things (and are)!

❤️

@chockenberry @Iconfactory happy to see you making a home here 😊

@chockenberry @Iconfactory how long did you spend debating which TLD to use? ;)

It’s interesting to see the new ones gain so much traction in the fediverse

@scm @Iconfactory Maybe half a day? I just poked around NameCheap and gave everyone options. Key was to read it out loud: some sounded really dumb.
@chockenberry @Iconfactory Louie’s post was fantastic! Cheers!
@chockenberry Love to see more and more companies with their own instance and domain. This is the way to go.
@viticci @chockenberry True, we already hosting Mastodon for 100+ companies as a managed service. 👍
@viticci I’m planning on doing a blog series on how to do it well. Made a bunch of mistakes during install. Still learning, but yeah this feels right.
@chockenberry @viticci Looking forward to it! Thank you! 💯👍🏻😃
@chockenberry @viticci That would be a really great help - yes please. 🙏

@chockenberry @viticci the geek in me wants to try.

but is there some practical upside to running your own instance?

i’d really want to but i need something pragmatic to justifying the time and expense.

@isaiah @viticci I honestly don't know. But I want to find out.
@chockenberry @isaiah @viticci go and look at @takahe . It works well enough now to have a standalone identity and will be fully Mastodon compatible and allow for migration in the future, while being almost infinitely cheaper to run.
@viticci i wonder if apple will do one. That’d be a power move.
@viticci @chockenberry I’ve noticed folks like @donieosullivan and @acosta have posted here less since their twitter accounts are working again. I’d honestly hoped there’d at least be some kind of “CNN” instance, let alone one trusted amongst most journalists. Our band just made our own instance yesterday, it was easy! And hosted. Seems like larger Companies could do the same..

@chockenberry Oh man, I just saw the Candybar icon in Louie's piece and experienced a sudden Proustian injection of nostalgia 😂

Looking forward to whatever's next for you guys.

CandyBar – Sugar Free Edition™ • The Breakroom

If you’ve been following our work for awhile, the name CandyBar may ring a bell. It’s an app we worked on with Panic and released in 2002. Twenty years ago! CandyBar did one thing and it did it well: every system icon on your Mac could be changed, including folders and disks, with the click […]

Iconfactory Blog
@chockenberry @Iconfactory Clown Town was my anxiety / stress reliever. My fidget digital toy. I used it a lot for calming down and think clearly. That “game” saved my life. Don’t ever under estimate an app. Some people see Angry Birds and think is a silly game, but other love how Angry Birds help their children with autism. We as designer have a gift for creation, but our creations have a life of its own.
@chockenberry @Gargron And that he didn’t quit after that short lived boost in 2018 when Twitter threatened to limit the amount users third party apps could have.
@chockenberry yup. I couldn’t make the move in the last without a critical mass of people coming at the same time, but it’s great having this here now there’s such a compelling reason to move
@chockenberry @Gargron Honorable mention to the folks who started Diaspora. Let’s hope they get on board with the ActivityPub bandwagon. 🙏🏻🤞🏻
@chockenberry True, true statement. Thank you, @Gargron