@twtxtory@twtxtory.adn.org.es Hello 👋 Welcome to Yarn.social / Twtxt 😅
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Anyone watching/watched Black Mirror Season 7? 😵💫😵 I've been watching the first episode and a couple of minutes into the third act then I was like ... Oh boy, I need a break! They're just so Fu__ing good, I'll give them that!
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P.S: the couple first Seasons and Her (The movie) are the main reasons I find it a bit difficult to go back to mainstream social media or even care about smartphones 😆
I’m thinking of building a hardened peering protocol for Yarn.social’s yarnd: pods establish cryptographic identities, exchange signed /info and /twt payloads with signature verification, ensuring authenticity, integrity, and spoof-proof identity validation across the distributed network.
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I guess mentions with
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.(s) / dot(s) like @eapl.me are valid? 🤔 Or nicks even? 🤔
on timeline the mention looks OK. Is there an issue on Yarn?
It’s an interesting topic. For example on Bsky it’s natural to allow domains https://bsky.social/about/blog/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial
Although TwiXter only allows (letters A-Z, numbers 0-9 and of underscores)
https://help.x.com/en/managing-your-account/x-username-rules
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@bender I use it. It's not the feature I use the most in the fediverse, but I communicate this way with several friends. For example, it's the main way I talk to the original creator of the twtxt-el repository, the way people greet me for the first time or the way they notify me of some bugs in the software I maintain. I can even tell you that it's the main way I talk to some maintainers of the Emacs community. If there are any of you reading my words, speak up!
Why not have the same? There are things I want to say to @prologic in private, why should I have to send him an email or private IRC? Or an public twt.
Of course, here's a topic we've already talked about: what is twtxt for you? For me it will always be a social network, in microblogging format, but an asynchronous way of communicating. And having a tool to control visibility is basic 😄
I look forward to hearing from you @eapl.me !
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@andros@twtxt.andros.dev Zulu said:
what is twtxt for you?
For me Twtxt is just the underlying format that Yarn.social builds upon 😅
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@prologic @bender @eapl.me I think opening another file is a bad idea because it adds complexity to the clients, breaks the single feed and I think keeping legacy clients will be more complex to add new features in the future. A modern approach is important.
I'll be honest, I'm a bit tired of the fight around the direct message. Perhaps, we can remove it as an extension and use the alternative @prologic . My suggestion apparently doesn't like to the community. I have no problem with remove it.
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@bender@twtxt.net I use it. It’s not the feature I use the most in the fediverse, but I communicate this way with several friends. For example, it’s the main way I talk to the original creator of the twtxt-el repository, the way people greet me for the first time or the way they notify me of some bugs in the software I maintain. I can even tell you that it’s the main way I talk to some maintainers of the Emacs community. If there are any of you reading my words, speak up!
Why not have the same? There are things I want to say to @prologic@twtxt.net in private, why should I have to send him an email or private IRC? Or an public twt.
Of course, here’s a topic we’ve already talked about: what is twtxt for you? For me it will always be a social network, in microblogging format, but an asynchronous way of communicating. And having a tool to control visibility is basic 😄
I look forward to hearing from you @eapl.me@eapl.me !
RIP Papa Francisco (1936-2025). Campeon de la Justicia Social, quimico y patovica.
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💡 I had this crazy idea (or is it?) last night while thinking about Twtxt and Yarn.social 😅 There are two things I think that could be really useful additions to the
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yarnd UI/UX experience (for those that use it) and as "client" features (not spec changes). The two ideas are quite simple:
@kate@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz (as I was trying to say…), Glad you think so👌 My goal with Yarn.social has always been to provide the best (best that I can anyway) truly decentralised (slow) social experience that uses the Twtxt format under the hood 😅
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Hmmm?
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Holy hell?! When I post this:
@<kate https://yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz/user/kat/twtxt.txt> Glad you think so! 👌 My goal with Yarn.social has always been to provide the best (_best that I can anyway!_) truly decentralised (_slow_) social experience that uses the Twtxt format under the hood 😅
Something is swallowing it.
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Hmmm?
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@kate@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz Glad you think so! 👌 My goal with Yarn.social has always been to provide the best (best that I can anyway!) truly decentralised (slow) social experience that uses the Twtxt format under the hood 😅
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💡 I had this crazy idea (or is it?) last night while thinking about Twtxt and Yarn.social 😅 There are two things I think that could be really useful additions to the
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yarnd UI/UX experience (for those that use it) and as "client" features (not spec changes). The two ideas are quite simple:
Glad you think so! 👌 My goal with Yarn.social has always been to provide the best (best that I can anyway!) truly decentralised (slow) social experience that uses the Twtxt format under the hood 😅
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💡 I had this crazy idea (or is it?) last night while thinking about Twtxt and Yarn.social 😅 There are two things I think that could be really useful additions to the
⤋ Read More
yarnd UI/UX experience (for those that use it) and as "client" features (not spec changes). The two ideas are quite simple:
@kate@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz Glad you think so! 👌 My goal with Yarn.social has always been to provide the best (best that I can anyway!) truly decentralised (slow) social experience that uses the Twtxt format under the hood 😅
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💡 I had this crazy idea (or is it?) last night while thinking about Twtxt and Yarn.social 😅 There are two things I think that could be really useful additions to the
⤋ Read More
yarnd UI/UX experience (for those that use it) and as "client" features (not spec changes). The two ideas are quite simple:
@kate@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz Glad you think so! 👌 My goal with Yarn.social has always been to provide the best (best that I can anyway!) truly decentralised (slow) social experience that uses the Twtxt format under the hood 😅
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💡 I had this crazy idea (or is it?) last night while thinking about Twtxt and Yarn.social 😅 There are two things I think that could be really useful additions to the
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yarnd UI/UX experience (for those that use it) and as "client" features (not spec changes). The two ideas are quite simple:
This expands the usefulness of Twtxt / Yarn.social to:
- Sharing small posts
- Sharing links
- Sharing media
- Having long conversations
- Voting on topics, opinions or decisions
- RSVPing to virtual or physical events
💡 I had this crazy idea (or is it?) last night while thinking about Twtxt and Yarn.social 😅 There are two things I think that could be really useful additions to the yarnd UI/UX experience (for those that use it) and as “client” features (not spec changes). The two ideas are quite simple:
- Voting – a way to cast, collect a vote on a decision, topic or opinion.
- RSVP – a way to “rsvp” to a virtual (pr physical) event.
Both would use “plain text” on top of the way we already use Twtxt today and clients would render an appropriate UI/UX.
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I asked ChatGPT what it knows about Twtxt 😂 And surprisingly it's rather accurate:
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Timeline of Evolution of Twtxt/Yarn.social:
- 2016 – Twtxt created by John Downey: plain text + HTTP = minimalist microblogging
- 2017–2019 – Community builds CLI tools, but adoption remains niche
- 2020 – Yarn.social launched by @prologic@twtxt.net with federation, threading, UI
- 2021–2023 – Pods sync, user mentions, blocking, search, and media support added
- 2024+ – Yarn.social becomes the reference Twtxt platform, with active federated pods
I asked ChatGPT what it knows about Twtxt 😂 And surprisingly it’s rather accurate:
Twtxt is a minimalist, decentralized microblogging format introduced by John Downey in 2016. It uses plain text files served over HTTP—no accounts, databases, or APIs.
In 2020, James Mills (@prologic@twtxt.net) launched Yarn.social, an extended, federated implementation with user discovery, threads, mentions, and a full web UI.
Both share the same .twtxt.txt format but differ in complexity and social features.
i must stop ghosting all my social media except discord and fedi when i am depressed. ghosting is the mind killer
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@andros @bender @prologic @eapl.me btw does twtxt dm and salty can be bridged together? iirc you planned this
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@doesnm.p.psf.lt@doesnm.p.psf.lt It was always intended to have both Yarn.social and Salty.im integrate together. Yes. This includes having a set of specifications that anyone can write clients to.
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@prologic @bender @eapl.me I think opening another file is a bad idea because it adds complexity to the clients, breaks the single feed and I think keeping legacy clients will be more complex to add new features in the future. A modern approach is important.
I'll be honest, I'm a bit tired of the fight around the direct message. Perhaps, we can remove it as an extension and use the alternative @prologic . My suggestion apparently doesn't like to the community. I have no problem with remove it.
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@andros@twtxt.andros.dev I don’t see any “fighting” here. This is just good experimentation. Unfortunately there hasn’t really been enough time or effort by other “client authors” yet, me especially as I’ve been super busy with ya’ know my “day job” that pays the bills and refactoring yarnd to use a new and shiny and much better SqliteCache 🤣 – I certainly don’t think your efforts are wasted at all. I would however like @doesnm.p.psf.lt@doesnm.p.psf.lt encourage you to look at the work we’ve done as a community (which was also driven out of the Yarn.social / Twtxt community years back).
Dept of Homeland Security Says Social Media Will Be Screened for ‘Antisemitism’
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A false X post about pausing tariffs led to multi-trillion-dollar market swings
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uuuugh been so inactive because of stupid site moderation it's SO EXHAUSTING
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@kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz the site i mentioned last week that got flooded by teens? yeah it’s this site, based on the retrospring codebase, it’s a social Q&A site. ask me stuff on there!!!!!!!!
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I have just received the royalties for the last book: 98 euros for the four-month period, about 24 euros a month on average. Not even enough for the gym membership.
If you have to keep some knowledge: don't write for money, the paper (or ebook) industry is in a very bad way, the margins for the author are very small and piracy is devastating.
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@prologic@twtxt.net @eapl.me@eapl.me I want to highlight another social problem: People don’t read. Paper industry is a bad moment because people don’t pay for books; it does not matter if it is a physical or digital platform. I have this information because I have a good friend who left the industry after publishing a magazine, books and working in an editorial. DRM is a try to give some more money.
DOGE To Rewrite SSA Codebase In ‘Months’
Longtime Slashdot reader frank_adrian314159 writes: According to an article in Wired, Elon Musk has appointed a team of technologists from DOGE to “rewrite the code that runs the SSA in months.” This codebase has over 60 million lines of COBOL and handles record keeping for all American workers and payments for all Social Security recipients. Given that the code has to track the byzantine … ⌘ Read more
👋 Hello @am@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz, welcome to yarn, a Yarn.social Pod! To get started you may want to check out the pod’s Discover feed to find users to follow and interact with. To follow new users, use the ⨁ Follow button on their profile page or use the Follow form and enter a Twtxt URL. You may also find other feeds of interest via Feeds. Welcome! 🤗
👋 Hello @mana@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz, welcome to yarn, a Yarn.social Pod! To get started you may want to check out the pod’s Discover feed to find users to follow and interact with. To follow new users, use the ⨁ Follow button on their profile page or use the Follow form and enter a Twtxt URL. You may also find other feeds of interest via Feeds. Welcome! 🤗
👋 Hello @luka@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz, welcome to yarn, a Yarn.social Pod! To get started you may want to check out the pod’s Discover feed to find users to follow and interact with. To follow new users, use the ⨁ Follow button on their profile page or use the Follow form and enter a Twtxt URL. You may also find other feeds of interest via Feeds. Welcome! 🤗
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@bender I taught the whole ecosystem 😁
@prologic @eapl.me The question I was asked the most was: How do I discover people?
Someone came up with a fantastic idea, instead of adding the new twt at the end of the feed, do it at the beginning. So you can paginate by cutting the request every few lines.
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Twtxt was made for nerds, by nerds.
I’d like to change that. It’s by nerds/hackers, for nerds/hackers and friends of these. It doesn’t have to be hacky all the time, as you don’t need to be a nerd to have a blog.
But, for that to happen, someone has to build the tools to improve UX.by design there really is no way to easily discovers others
Yeah, I agree, and although there are directories of email addresses, usually you don’t want that, unless you are a ‘public figure’.
I couldn’t say that a microblogging is a “social network” by default, as a blog is not either. At the same time, people would expect to find new people and conversations, as you’d do in a forum.
I think of two features on top of the current spec:
- Clients showing a few posts of what your following are watching but you don’t, so perhaps you find something interesting to follow next. Or that feature of “Your ‘followings’ are following these accounts/people”. (Hard to explain in english, but I hope you get the idea)
- Sharing your .txt into some directory, saying “Hey, I have this twtxt URL, I want to be discovered”. I’m thinking of something like the Federated tab on Mastodon.
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I think I should try self-hosting some Mastodon thingy again.
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@prologic@twtxt.net In all seriousness: Don’t worry, I’m not going to host some Fediverse thingy at the moment, probably never will. 😅
But I do use it quite a lot. Although, I don’t really use it as a social network (as in: following people). I follow some tags like #retrocomputing, which fills my timeline with interesting content. If there was a traditional web forum or mailing list or even a usenet group that covered this topic, I’d use that instead. But that’s all (mostly) dead by now. ☹️
Thank you @python_valencia@twtxt.python-valencia.es for letting me show you the secrets of a decentralised plain text social network like twtxt.
I hope you enjoyed the talk! ❤️🐍
#python #twtxt
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What is twtxt for me? It is a community of users sharing plain text following a specification that can be readable by both humans and machines.
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well… it has been an opportunity to build an artisanal microblogging client on top of a minimalist protocol. I agree on the hacker toy part.
And of course it’s about being part of a niche community which is (mostly) amazing, and nurturing. As there is almost no one writing in my native spanish, it has been an interesting challenge to share my thoughts in english, as well.
I couldn’t say it’s a ‘social network’ per se, I think it lack many engagement things usually associated with social networks, although it has a social part of igniting discussions, learnings and behavioral changes, which is the meaning of social for me.
What is twtxt for me? It is a community of users sharing plain text following a specification that can be readable by both humans and machines.
For some it is a microblogging platform, for others it is a social network, others see it as an enhanced RSS feed and a few consider it a hacker’s toy. I use it as a learning platform. And as collateral damage, I’m meeting some very interesting people.
And for you?
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twtxt is a decentralised, minimalist microblogging service for hackers.
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@aelaraji@aelaraji.com That’s how twtxt started: As microblogging. Yarn shifted up some gears and now it’s more like social media – more powerful, but a bit different. 😅
👋 Hello @death@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz, welcome to yarn, a Yarn.social Pod! To get started you may want to check out the pod’s Discover feed to find users to follow and interact with. To follow new users, use the ⨁ Follow button on their profile page or use the Follow form and enter a Twtxt URL. You may also find other feeds of interest via Feeds. Welcome! 🤗
👋 Hello @radiantgarden@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz, welcome to yarn, a Yarn.social Pod! To get started you may want to check out the pod’s Discover feed to find users to follow and interact with. To follow new users, use the ⨁ Follow button on their profile page or use the Follow form and enter a Twtxt URL. You may also find other feeds of interest via Feeds. Welcome! 🤗
👋 Hello @hydaelyn@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz, welcome to yarn, a Yarn.social Pod! To get started you may want to check out the pod’s Discover feed to find users to follow and interact with. To follow new users, use the ⨁ Follow button on their profile page or use the Follow form and enter a Twtxt URL. You may also find other feeds of interest via Feeds. Welcome! 🤗