Here are some of my better notes on migration, for friends I've been mumbling to about trends and accounts the last few weeks or years...

Starting with a few different Maps of the Fediverse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse#/media/File:A_view_into_the_Fediverse.png

((OH SOMEONE made an interactiveprettyhttps://fediverse.party/ ))

Oh but like... text...? Feed you text directly?https://gist.github.com/Gargron/48e67b1b14723cd178c951fe7f373a38

See also, the xmpp services... https://xmpp.org/about/technology-overview/https://xmpp.org/about/faq/https://xmpp.org/about/myths/

I came across and fell in nostalgia with... https://www.chatterboxtown.us/

This paragraph is important to keep in mind, really.

Get started with XMPP like right now

That essential sketch of the services mapping laid out... these XMPP servers, some featuring very livable community UI's, paired with the sharing services of the fediverse, are beyond robust and into lush, really, as a user experience. Albeit my expectations were set low, and it's reasonable to expect no more than volunteer work by the habit and windfall might garner. (To pull it out of the subtext, of course all and any of these projects could benefit from a few more queer furry programmers, awed and happy sponsors, and artists lounging around hacking colors and sounds into a CW/spoiler.) Still, the tools here are meant to be used, maintained by people who want them to work well, and aren't just here to make you angry and divert your clicks and dollars as endlessly as possible.

##Some Tips

Remember. Don't Dox yourself, Think Before You Click, and Mind Your Manners (you never know who is some kind of wizard so...)

https://ghosterysearch.com/search?q=xmpp+servers https://fediverse.observer/list

Pointers for appraising if you want to be on a server:

• Are SignUps open?
• Do you feel good about the number of users, and anything you see about uptime?
• Do they de-federate from freelance or corporate cesspits, and federate with servers that have protective ToS? (It is absolutely possible to go join the 'free to harass' servers)
• Notice most of the privacy terms are short, and the best thing server hosts can do is not collect more than is needed to run the service. The compartmentalization on the website is pretty paper-screen -- Socializing Apps like Mastodon, Pixlr, Lemmy, and Movim are Not for Privacy; They are for Sharing. Pretty intuitive, yah?

There will be clicking around, but fewer or no ads. If you see sketchy ads, it's probalby a sketchy server...

Regardless go get librewolf or firefox or something and hire a Privacy Badger. That's right.. Librewolf, Firefox, Privacy Badger. Maybe Ghostry and Skriptbuster too. Call it a cryptid brunch defense squad. (or not, but I have and probably will.

Get curious about your own wants and needs and ui/aesthetic preferences.

• Are you wanting to make a personal account full of fun things to look at and a place to put your funny thoughts?
• Are you making a small business or nonprofit newsfeed?
• Or a professional presence that might benefit from the company of other techies or academics, journalists, adrenaline junkies, or artistic nichery?

Some servers and web rings will suit your interests and ends better than others.

• Leave, block, or just filter when you get squicked. (Filtering is great especially great on large servers like mastodon.social or mastodon.world. )

I would love to see live local and interest based communities take off their own small servers more.

(Might clean these up a little more later)

Fun times resurveying The State of Search Engines Lately.

Largely I'm focusing on sifting for browsers that give more informational results. IE fewer ads, less profit-preferential results, more word-matched crawl results. Privacy is also a priority.

Suppose that's a good capture for Net Neutrality. It is anti-preferential. Maybe we should have swung harder for Web User's bill of rights and duties. We might have won neutrality along the way. Maybe the choosing is happening right now.

Anyway, it's Ghostery a lot for me for now (because what is life without net search if one isn't a hard-copy holder?), but I'm testing a few other engines and functions with different business models. The research notes are over on the mastodon feed. Possibly I may port the notes over here later.

Seems like I'm doing a lot more journalism for myself lately. Fortunately that's something I enjoy and have time for. Weird how paying fewer journalists does not reduce the need for journalists and the availability of their work.

Shoring up #HotmeccTulkit and filling in my CSS knowledge gaps today. The practice piece right now is a project organizer to keep myself on track a little better.

It's very much the kind of thing I could make in a nicer wordprocessor, but... doing it this way is teaching me code, and honestly I enjoy getting fiddly with the background.

It feels sort of like a workdesk that is already packed up and ready to go all the time.

Of course at this point it is mostly on the floor with the wrenches and instructions out.