Ben Pate 🤘🏻

Thoughtful comments on at least one irrelevant topic. #writing #software #democracy #pirates.

GitHub: https://github.com/benpate
BenPate.dev: https://benpate.dev/@ben
Bandwagon.fm: https://bandwagon.fm/@howdy
Emissary: https://emissary.dev

Public Key

npub17gq5ww2fth3xnatp8sjra949u2mjqqr7n063ddvfqwnczrznhp0qyz8hhz

NIP-05 Address

benpate_at_mastodon.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0yq2889y4mcnf74sncfp7j6j79deqqplfhagkkkys8fupp3fmshscftdl6

Author Public Key

npub17gq5ww2fth3xnatp8sjra949u2mjqqr7n063ddvfqwnczrznhp0qyz8hhz

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Last Notes

2024-08-31 01:35:45

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Vincent, dotmakeup looks absolutely tremendous. Congratulations on a fantastic piece of work.
I‘m super interested in spanning multiple social networks, so naturally I have tons of questions for you.
Is there any chance you’re considering attending next week’s #FediForum?

2024-08-05 18:34:30

I'm so excited to welcome the first batch of beta-testing #Musicians to #Bandwagon. I've so enjoyed listening to your work and setting up real #Fediverse profiles for you.
Today, I'm sending out emails to ~ thirty more #Bands on the waitlist.
Together, we'll make Bandwagon a viable open alternative to the big corporate label sites. One that's easy to set up, that anyone can host on their own, and most importantly, helps get your band out in front of the millions of people on the Fediverse.

2024-06-27 12:52:32

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Great point. Thank you. I was trying to minimize the tech-talk for musicians, but probably went too far. This is an important thing to include.

2024-06-25 16:58:23

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oh yes. I totally get it. You can never please everyone, right?
Well, WordPress or no, I’ll be very interested to see what you come up with, and how it improves from the tools out there now. Little changes can make such a big difference, sometimes.

2024-06-25 16:31:46

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😭😭😭😭😭

2024-06-25 15:39:05

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There are tons of editors out there, and they all feel like they’re missing something.
I’ve fallen back to using a decent Markdown editor for most of my work - as the least bad solution.
If you end up making a good “writer’s editor” I would love to try it out or help test it for you. Hopefully it works in more environments than just WordPress.

2024-06-24 02:52:51

I'd just like to say: it's been almost exactly three months since @n00q proposed the idea for #Bandwagon at the FediForum conference.
And now here we are, getting the first few beta testers online.
That timeline (minus a two-week, tech-free family trip to Europe) makes me pretty proud of what #Emissary can do.
If you're a musician or indie band, I'd love to make a profile for you. Join the waitlist at https://bandwagon.fm
Wanna host your own bandwagon? I'd love to help set that up, too 🤘🏻

2024-06-24 00:17:15

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Bandwagon.fm will eventually be a paid hosting service. I'll keep it as cheap as possible, like $1/month cheap.
We'll figure out the exact cost based on what it takes to serve the first cohort.
If you're a techie, the whole thing is open source, so you're free to mess around with it, or host your own Bandwagon server. I'd love to help you get one going if you want. Get started at: https://github.com/EmissarySocial/app-bandwagon

2024-06-24 00:13:05

Ok kids, here we go:
#Bandwagon, the open #Fediverse alternative to #Bandcamp is ready for its first steps into the light.
I have a waitlist online at
https://bandwagon.fm if you'd like to try it out.
I'm planning to build the first (dozen? I don't know) profiles in the waitlist personally, with an email questionnaire and FaceTime follow-ups if necessary.
Once I'm confident in the UX, we'll open up self-serve signups for everyone.

2024-06-12 19:58:12

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Is “test on production servers” the wrong answer? Because it FEELS like the wrong answer.
Anyways, I had to test on production servers to make any progress with Mastodon...

2024-05-14 19:38:55

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Yeah, in the follow up discussions about this article, I heard that a fork is being discussed (dunno by whom) for *political* reasons (don’t know more details on the politics)
I’d love to learn more about the specific politics that would make someone say that Mastodon wasn’t the right fit for them, but on the surface it seems like a bad move.
That effort would certainly be better spent on making Mastodon itself better, or helping out smaller projects instead.

2024-05-09 17:17:14

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Yes. Stack Overflow isn't magic. I think they succeeded because they focused heavily on SEO, which brought both ask-ers and answer-ers to the site.
Personally, the "accepted answer" is the killer feature. Dunno if NodeBB, Kbin, or others already support this.
There's potential in SO's gamification aspects, too. I'd love to let third-party sites to award badges or "endorsements" and display them on my profile page. This could work in all kinds of trust/credibility situations.

2024-05-09 17:11:43

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I should really do more research before I say anything too definitive.
I guess I'm too much of an engineer to get why you'd need a whole new fork for political reasons.
Do you have a link to the new project, and their reasons for discussing a fork? If someone wants Mastodon + extras, I'm curious about what would keep them from just contributing back to the core.

2024-05-09 17:04:22

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Yeah. We could always just build a new network with special features that would require an account on a Q&A -style server.
But an emerging feature of "fedi" is that you can take your identity everywhere. I'd really like to support this somehow, too.
Perhaps it just means using main Mastodon (or whatever) account as a "universal inbox" for notifications. But then we link you back to a site with SSO, so you can interact more richly there.
Dunno.. TBD.
I'll take any/all advice.

2024-05-09 04:26:35

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Yes. After Bandcamp.
I had an online discussion about a Federated-Yelp that raised some interesting points that might apply to SO as well -- How do you “federate” the features that DON’T fit into the standard social media formulae? Things like “accepted answers” might only work on a centralized server.
Also, this might fall under the threaded discussion WG. I’d love to talk in more detail if you’re ever interested.

2024-05-08 19:43:41

Well written article with many good reasons to NOT fork Mastodon.
https://wedistribute.org/2024/05/forking-mastodon/
My favorite part was about a previously attempted fork called the Florence project. According to the article, they were apparently better at having meetings than producing actual code. I laughed. I cried. I relived so many years of software development trauma.

2024-04-25 02:40:50

Help me validate this idea?
There are so.. many.. #Review -type websites, like:
#Glassdoor
#Yelp
#RateMyProfessor
Each with their own less-than-100-percent record of corporate behavior.
Could this be another killer app for #ActivityPub and the #Fediverse?
What does the you think?

2024-04-20 16:39:33

Woo Hoo! Check out Baby's first FEP...
If you're a #Fedidev developer, please check out FEP-3b86 at https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/3b86/fep-3b86.md
I'm working on "Remote Likes" and "Remote Shares" that help you jump back to your own home server to post when you find something cool on another website.
Imagine those "Share on Facebook" buttons, without all the ick.
I know it needs some work (that's what FEPs are for, yea?) so please read, comment, and help me get this over the finish line.

2024-04-15 20:09:59

HEY! Check out this update to my #Emissary demo I posted a couple weeks ago:
https://kumi.tube/w/pmqy4eUy6iz88Z6Rh1cM5K
We're working to make a #Federated alternative to #Bandcamp where up and coming bands can connect with fans and share their music on the Fediverse.
The progress is really encouraging, so it's time to get some feedback from real #musicians
My goal is to have something you could actually use in the next month or two. So please get your ideas in so's I can squeeze them into my launch calendar.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/277/024/417/490/851/original/ec1431d2edb5f30b.jpg