Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice, York University. My latest book, "Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle […] 🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://aoir.social/@rwg, follow @ap.brid.gy to interacthttps://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gyhttps://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mraew5kktk62[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Unless he’s interacting with bigots. He has no tolerance for them. “I know how to deal with bigots on the fedi,” he told me. He enjoys “fucking with them.” He almost sounds gleeful as he talks to me about this […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11696375089703787322 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mraew5kktk62https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mr634xl7m5w2[canpoli] As a Michigander now living in Ontario, I've watched the #GordieHoweBridge situation with a lot of interest. I've read a lot of coverage about it. And I still have no fucking clue what the deal is. Statements like this, from a former advisor to Trudeau, is a key example of why […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11695855847581630221 Jul 2026 14:59 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr634xl7m5w2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mr5uhtsziiv2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] The battle cry of Gab’s free speech dogmatism is, essentially, you need to hear everything, including hate speech. “A speech without an audience is just a monologue delivered to yourself,” Torba argues. And if you don’t […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11695808858480831521 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr5uhtsziiv2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mr3dyo4us6q2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Finally, covenantal fediverse care isn’t equally distributed. Even a cursory glance at the Fediverse Observer map shows that the network is simply not present in the Global South, particularly Central and South America and […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11695242626536121220 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr3dyo4us6q2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqz7ecx7b3g2[Special privacy setting for Meta products] Here's a #privacy settings tip for Meta product users: on your phone or computer, go to wherever you delete applications and delete Meta's products. Never use them again.19 Jul 2026 16:31 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqz7ecx7b3g2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqytjfk2gvm2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] While Marcia and Ginger were either being erased in fediverse history or attracting unwanted attention, their fediblock hashtag has lived on – and hashtag-based coordination has some major triumphs to its name […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11694676395002175419 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqytjfk2gvm2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqwd2lhcopd2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] There is a significant batch of material I’ve drawn on that is not readily accessible unless one pays for it. I have had the privilege of generous research funding in the past few years. Such funding allows me to buy books […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11694110162404639318 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqwd2lhcopd2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqtslmszwes2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] These stories accelerated the growth of the Mastodon network. By late 2017, it reached 1 million members spread across over one thousand individual instances.... https://moveslowlybuildbridges.com […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11693543937559932017 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqtslmszwes2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqs2swttrhg2Mercy, mercy me / Things ain't what they used to be16 Jul 2026 20:21 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqs2swttrhg2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqrmqr5w5j72Hey, #fedi and #mastodon folks: is there anyone out there who's written a guide to pulling out Mastodon About pages via the API? What I'm interested in doing is gathering About pages (including server rules). I can do this by hand (indeed, I've done this many times before!) but maybe it's time […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11693052444787781516 Jul 2026 16:10 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqrmqr5w5j72https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqrc4y5r5cw2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] The biggest indicator of the success of ActivityPub is that it survived the stress-test of millions of new people signing up in the wake of Musk’s purchase of Twitter. As I discussed in the previous chapter, those new […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11692977704140375716 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqrc4y5r5cw2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqpmvekzveq2This Messi fellow is pretty good at the game of soccer15 Jul 2026 21:07 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqpmvekzveq2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqpin7v2gei2[world cup] Is David Beckham hard up for cash? Why is he in literally every commercial during this world cup?15 Jul 2026 19:51 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqpin7v2gei2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqornqmevyo2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] The result is a heterogeneous mix of potentially interconnected social media services spanning the globe.... https://moveslowlybuildbridges.com #MoveSlowlyAndBuildBridges #bot15 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqornqmevyo2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqmoq4yddb32My latest FOSS Academic post is another from the "Years of the Content Creator" series. This year is chock-full of Apple Quicktime, CD-ROMs, and the Information Superhighway. That's right: it's 1994! https://fossacademic.tech/2026/07/13/years-in-content-creators-1994.html #FOSSAcademic […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11691940456665204814 Jul 2026 17:02 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqmoq4yddb32https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqmb77qbaol2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Mastodon developers learned about ActivityPub, which solved the privacy and flagging problem. ActivityPub’s privacy and safety features were there in large part due to the advocacy of Christine Lemmer-Webber, who […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11691845240779698114 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqmb77qbaol2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqjqpugk7kk2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Guy was curious about the groups that make W3C standards.... https://moveslowlybuildbridges.com #MoveSlowlyAndBuildBridges #bot13 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqjqpugk7kk2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqhab3gfrhv2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] The problem is that GNU social’s dogmatic free speech absolutism often attracted right-wing trolls who delighted in violating the privacy of queer and trans folks. Imagine if you were trying to pass a message on a piece of […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11690712783361146912 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqhab3gfrhv2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqepsa6itva2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Instead, Socrates, like many other frustrated former Twitter users, switched to Mastodon. And since he has technical ability, he decided to run his own Mastodon instance to create a well-moderated social media space for […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11690146549744082011 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqepsa6itva2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqc7dc2cbvs2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Degrowth thinkers like Balkan and Roscam Abbing have rigorously diagnosed the problems of corporate social media: the the use of behavioral advertising, the obsession with growth, and the always-on mentality […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11689580318386102510 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqc7dc2cbvs2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mq7ouuglro52[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] These eruptions of protest and Rochko’s reactions are not an indication that Mastodon is Rochko’s fiefdom. Instead, they also show how many people have become deeply invested in Mastodon, arguing for new features […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11689014085293989109 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq7ouuglro52https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mq56ff6pomv2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] As I write this in March, 2024, Mastodon just celebrated its 8th birthday. Eugen Rochko started it in 2016 as a hobby project, looking to build a better alternative microblogging system than GNU social, but by 2024 […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11688447853744841308 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq56ff6pomv2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mq2nwdtrgxm2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.... https://moveslowlybuildbridges.com #MoveSlowlyAndBuildBridges #bot07 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq2nwdtrgxm2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mpy5hncelco2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Like everyone else, though, artists’ promotional posts, as well as their creativity, are appropriated by corporate social media as freely given, attention-grabbing content. Artists see this as part of the deal – they make […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11687315396759346306 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpy5hncelco2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mpvmyhzm5y72[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Quirk and Gruber are emphasizing that ActivityPub, the protocol that enables the fediverse to work, is an open social media protocol. For Meta to adopt it is an endorsement of such opennness – something Meta is not known […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11686749164433614905 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpvmyhzm5y72https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mpt4jludglj2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] Whether or not someone likes this approach often depends on the vision. Rochko’s vision has indeed attracted many people. One of them was Ro, a Black software developer (and major figure in the chapters to come) […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11686182932526079004 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpt4jludglj2https://bsky.app/profile/rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mpqm2ofx4hb2[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] None of this is happening, however, because Mastodon’s API – its specific version of a client-to-server protocol – is dominant. While Mastodon’s size and influence was beneficial to ActivityPub in 2017, saving it from […] https://aoir.social/@rwg/11685616699116087903 Jul 2026 13:00 +0000at://did:plc:o7oniuuol23faearwamgtwmg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpqm2ofx4hb2