@Dan_Blick @mahabali @Tdorey @katebowles @actualham @Autumm @jaklumen These are interesting questions. I'm an introvert, fairly shy, and quite familiar with "impostor syndrome". I've learned to live with all these things, but they combine to make me avoid social gatherings with people I don't know well.

Online is different. I can jump in here in a way I would never dream of irl.

@Dan_Blick @mahabali @Tdorey @katebowles @actualham @fgraver @Autumm @clhendricksbc @Patlockley @jaklumen Having met Pat in person I can vouch that he is as far from scary as you can get (sorry for blowing your cover).

I like that online the mirrors of our selves can have all kinds of curvatures of distortion. We say identity like its a fixed quantity. A student once described for her it was an iris (as in opening) that we change its dimensions in different contexts.

@Tdorey @lauraritchie @mahabali @cogdog @actualham @Dan_Blick @fgraver @Autumm @clhendricksbc @Patlockley @jaklumen This was my experience of federated wiki -- the asynchronous leaving and finding of tiny idea notes. I was really compelled by this, enough to struggle with the functions given my poor tech skills.

I think it's something to consider here. A slow-moving makerspace of ideas.

Studio.

@Tdorey @mahabali @cogdog @actualham @Dan_Blick @lauraritchie @fgraver @Autumm @Patlockley @jaklumen This is really a reply to @clhendricksbc about branching paths. On a laptop, I like that every new thought in this conversation jumps right back to @actualham's original comment about stepping away and coming back.

It feels as though mastodon comes with a longer memory for a thread once you find it; but harder to find it.

@clhendricksbc @Tdorey @mahabali @cogdog @actualham @Dan_Blick @lauraritchie @fgraver @Autumm @Patlockley @jaklumen This is *exactly* the question I went over and over with federated wiki.

If I wrote something, and someone forked it, but then someone else forked it, the branching paths could never find each other again. And after a while I found myself grieving these lost connections.

Is there a way to map the garden of branching paths?

@Patlockley Now you're talking. I think the main need is for some way to navigate the mesh, so you can follow a conversation, but also tie different strands back together if necessary.

@katebowles @clhendricksbc @Tdorey @mahabali @cogdog @actualham @Dan_Blick @lauraritchie @Autumm @jaklumen

@Patlockley My first thought is just on replies. Seems to be the most basic level.

@Tdorey @katebowles @mahabali @cogdog @actualham @Dan_Blick @lauraritchie @Autumm @clhendricksbc @jaklumen

@Patlockley For me, the conversation is the key; thus the interesting thing is following the replies and threads of thought. Keep in mind I know nothing (to my shame) about the code that makes these things work and what is preferable on a technical level.

@Tdorey @katebowles @mahabali @cogdog @actualham @Dan_Blick @lauraritchie @Autumm @clhendricksbc @jaklumen

@Patlockley Ok, I think I get it. For me, it's about the replies. No matter how many voices, as long as people keep replying to the last comment, there's a thread. My experience is many online discussions are only one thread, but in cases like this one we're all in here, there are many and we need a way to navigate them all in order to follow the narrative, and perhaps tie some together.

@Tdorey @katebowles @mahabali @cogdog @actualham @Dan_Blick @lauraritchie @Autumm @clhendricksbc @jaklumen

@lauraritchie I've been wondering about labelling too. I thought perhaps hashtags could help? But it's hard to say; could anyone have predicted that the original post by @actualham would have led to this wonderful chaos of a conversation?

@Patlockley @Tdorey @katebowles @mahabali @cogdog @Dan_Blick @Autumm @clhendricksbc @jaklumen

This is a very intending idea @Patlockley. It's not now but I think with some (serious) testing and configuration (and hi-strength duct tape) this or something like it could be spun up on demand just like a WordPress instance can be. Is that want you are thinking?

@mahabali @Tdorey @katebowles @cogdog @actualham @lauraritchie @fgraver @Autumm @clhendricksbc @jaklumen

@lauraritchie @Dan_Blick @Tdorey @katebowles @mahabali @cogdog @actualham @fgraver @Autumm @clhendricksbc @Patlockley @jaklumen I certainly don't want to pass up an invite to what has been a fascinating dinner party. Sadly, I don't have a lot of substance to add on questions of hosting, threading (latticing or meshing) etc... It is fun to think on.

I've also noticed how the discussion history changes based on entry point. Which would annoy me normally, but here seems to add a shambling charm.