an oasis on the web
Within the fall of 2022, I began utilizing Twitter extra. I don’t know why; most likely a curious need to see how unhealthy Elon Musk would screw it up. To make it bearable from a person interface perspective I alternated between the Twitterrific and Tweetbot macOS apps. It was enjoyable at first—getting again into Twitter and utilizing a chronological timeline fairly than an algorithmically generated one.
However the enjoyable died when each apps abruptly misplaced entry to Twitter on January 12, 2023. At first we third-party app followers hoped for an announcement of a brief glitch together with reinstated entry. But it surely turned out to be what, deep down, we knew it was all alongside—Elon Musk shut down third-party API access with no warning. It was a tragic day, and it’s the day that, for me, Twitter died.
Over the course of 2023, Twitter fractured, with many individuals leaving to affix Threads, Bluesky, or Mastodon/fediverse. I finally made the soar to Mastodon—nevertheless it was an accident.
How I by accident joined Mastodon
A couple of week earlier than Elon killed third-party Twitter purchasers, I had signed up for this quirky link-in-bio-plus-more service known as omg.lol. I found it throughout what I later discovered was a big wave of new users coming from Hacker News.
I joined omg.lol due to the quirky, enjoyable vibes. I didn’t even take note of the truth that there was an elective Mastodon occasion. Mastodon, the idea, me however like many others I had no thought how to enroll, what occasion I ought to choose, and so forth.
However the entire sudden the choice was made for me—I had quick access to a smallish Mastodon occasion with a variety of attention-grabbing individuals who, like me, had a keenness for the bizarre, enjoyable web of yore. And because it’s a paid service, I might really feel like I wasn’t freeloading on some poor admin. And a paywall presents just a little little bit of spam safety (I’m assuming $20/yr is sufficient to stop some spammy accounts from signing up).
I ended up making an attempt it out after which only a week later, Elon broke Twitter. At that time I went all-in on Mastodon and haven’t regarded again. I’ve a 3rd as many followers as I did on Twitter however 5 occasions the engagement on my posts. I’ve the selection of dozens of native and net purchasers. It’s superior. I settled on Ivory for macOS and it’s been fairly nice.
The occasion over at social.lol is stuffed with attention-grabbing, pleasant, people. Extra on that in a bit.
Cool stuff you get with omg.lol
The primary factor you might be getting with omg.lol is a number of subdomains, that are known as addresses. For instance, my main one is bw.omg.lol. Every one in every of your addresses comes with a slew of stuff:
- E mail forwarding: You get an e mail deal with,
you@omg.lol, which you’ll ahead to any e mail deal with. - Net Web page: That is your link-in-bio one-pager to do no matter you need with. By default that is the place your major deal with (eg,
you.omg.lol) factors. It’s the flagship function of omg.lol. It comes with a markdown editor that has some fancy features baked into it. You get a number of built-in themes however you even have the liberty to go wild with your personal CSS. - DNS: You might have the flexibility to make use of your omg.lol subdomain nonetheless you would like by means of a pleasant DNS panel.
- Now Web page: It is a type of page you should utilize to let folks know what’s occurring in your life. It’s broader than a social media put up however extra instantly related than an about web page. It comes with the identical fancy markdown editor and you may optionally seem in omg.lol’s Now Garden.
- Statuslog: It is a place to put up statuses. It’s actually only a enjoyable, foolish different to different social media platforms however with out follows and likes and such. These can cross-post to Mastodon if you would like.
- Weblog: A full-fledge running a blog platform. I’m not conscious of all its options nevertheless it’s fairly highly effective. It comes with fancy markdown assist and has all of the bloggy stuff you want like tags and RSS. A very good instance of a really customized weblog on omg.lol is Apple Annie’s Weblog. But it surely’s value noting you utilize it proper out of the field with out design customization if you would like.
- Pastebin: It’s only a pastebin for storing textual content snippets. Tremendous easy and pleasant like the entire omg.lol companies.
- Pics: It’s a picture internet hosting service labeled as being “super-beta” as of the time of this writing. But it surely does what it says on the tin. You possibly can host photos there and so they additionally present up on the some.pics picture feed.
- PURLs: Persistent uniform useful resource locators. It is a URL redirection service. You get
you.omg.lol/no matterandyou.url.lol/no matter. You need to use these the way in which you’ll use related companies and so they include a primary hit counter and option to preview the URL earlier than following it. - Switchboard: It is a highly effective routing system that permits you to level the variants of your deal with wherever you need, be it a vacation spot on the omg.lol platform or an exterior web site. Most omg.lol companies have their very own area so you find yourself with quite a lot of choices. Simply for example, you get a tilde deal with (ie,
omg.lol/~you). Mine factors to my tilde.club webpage. - Keys: A spot to retailer public keys—SSH, PGP, and so forth.
- Proofs: A service for verifying possession or management of a specific net property at a specific second in time. For instance, right here is proof that I controlled blakewatson.com as of December 10, 2023.
- API entry: Most, if not all, omg.lol companies have an API you should utilize to work together with them. Whole nerd freedom. 🤯
Phew, we made it! Factor is, omg.lol is continually increasing and enhancing its choices—this checklist will most likely be outdated weeks or months after I publish it.
A cool group
I can’t clarify it however whenever you be part of omg.lol you be part of a group of the nicest, most attention-grabbing folks. This service simply appears to convey the old-internet lovers collectively and, I don’t know, it’s simply enjoyable and nice.
If Mastodon just isn’t your factor, that’s cool! There’s additionally an IRC with a bridge to Discord so you’ll be able to chat with different members. I’m a lurker more often than not, however I’ll say that once I do take part in chat I really feel instantly welcomed.
Harnessing the facility of the Adam
The mastermind and architect behind omg.lol is Adam Newbold. I can’t say sufficient good issues about him. Adam is extraordinarily lively on this group. I’ve seen him construct whole options in a day simply because somebody in chat mentioned “it could be cool if…” Heck, I was that individual in not less than one occasion.
Adam is simply so good at listening to suggestions and is all the time gracious about it, even when the reply is no or even when the individual asking is being just a little belligerent (not that this occurs usually). Adam’s optimistic vitality is contagious. I feel it spreads into the group and is a giant motive that everybody appears so cool right here.
Can also we discuss what a prolific creator he’s? He’s all the time bought tons of neat (-nik 😄) stuff within the oven—a multiplayer RPG in the shell, a service dedicated to web 1, and a friendly DNS service, simply to call just a few.
Okay, okay. Nerd crush over.
The small net
I’ve been having fun with a different kind of internet recently—the sort stuffed with personal websites, blogs that aren’t cookie-cutter advertising and marketing machines, and hypertext oddities you’ll be able to solely discover by clicking round. And so many personal projects.
This web is a breath of contemporary air in the event you’ve solely been visiting what Google provides you on its first few pages of outcomes adverts. I, in fact, think everyone should have a personal site. And in the event you’re nervous nobody will need learn your stuff, simply keep in mind that Andy will.
Making your personal web site is rewarding in a approach {that a} company social media profile by no means will probably be.
Need assistance getting began? These companies, instruments, and tutorials can assist: