I slightly revised my Guide to Micro.blog For People Who Have A Love/Hate Relationship With Twitter.. It seems like a good week for the ICYMI treatment.

@macgenie Excellent. Have you considered a guide for Facebook users?

@macgenie How can I revise articles I post to my hosted Micro.blog website?

@Ron Oh good question. My assumption is that the only way to do so is via the 'Posts' tab. I can't see any other way to edit, for example from the individual page of the post itself. FWIW I think quicker access to editing posts would be a great update, especially for longer writing.

// @macgenie @manton

@Ron I believe MarsEdit also allows you to edit posts. (However, it is Mac-only and I think you may be a Windows user? So, this may only be a useful tip for others.)

@the @ron @simonwoods

Mars Edit is awesome for editing.

But if you are a Windows user /// I have used and like Blogo.

@JohnPhilpin @Ron Not a single one of the Windows alternatives on there work, or the best you can say is that the latest update was almost 3 years ago. This is exactly the kind of thing pushing me towards Apple, I mean the god-damned iPad has better third-party software options than my £1200 16gb 27-inch desktop. -_-

@simonwoods ah ha ... have to say not been in the windows world for a long time - even blogo i used on the ipad

@JohnPhilpin There are times when I read/hear Apple folks complaining strenuously about things, and it's all I have in me to not caps-lock the shit out of them about just how good they have it.

@simonwoods @macgenie @manton
Yes, I think so too! My goodness, I can even edit a posting on Facebook and they don't even provide basic formatting like bold and italics! I would never dare write a long post in the Micro.blog editor, for fear some error would creep in there, unseen by me until too late. The joy of having a hosted account is that I can usually just write & post immediately, without need of a "workflow" of writing in some other tool, then sending a saved file along to Micro.blog. Editing is usually a Basic feature of an editor.

(From Simon Woods) quicker access to editing posts would be a great update

@the Yeah, kinda. My PC is Windows, but all postings here are done in Chrome on my PC or Chromebook and replies on my phone are done in the middle of the night with Dialog. I'm the Canary here who warns about things the average Joe on the street can't do here. I actually looked into getting an Apple device for a while, but then quietly retired the notion, 'cause you know, it's just typing some text, not rocket science. A Basic editor should allow editing is what I'm thinkin'.

@Ron If MB gets an influx of new people leaving Twitter that is going to include a lot of Windows users (plus 1.3 Linux users). The easiest way to solve this is to add posting features to the MB Web posting form. That way all OS's benefit.

@bradenslen Hi Brad, I think we've been getting new people steadily from the very beginning. I don't know what the MB Web posting form is. When I'm here, I click on the button at the top that says New Post, type my message and click on Post. Easy. Can you tell me where this MB Web posting form is located?

@Ron I'm pretty sure Brad is talking about the New Post page. What you type in is technically a form, at least that's the language I'm familiar with from message boards so I'm pretty sure I'm right.

Also, generally, I agree a greater degree of variety of people will likely bring the necessary demand for non-Apple consideration(1). I agree even more that improving the web app makes the most sense, since, you know the importance of the open web is not exactly a secret on MB.

(1. I'm pretty sure there is at least one effort to create a Windows app of some sort but I haven't seen anything about it other than the odd comment alluding to such an idea.)

// @bradenslen

@Ron That's what i was referring to. We are just using two different names for the same thing. All these Mac and iOS app specific features should be available on that New Post form on the website.

@simonwoods @Ron What Simon said. The web app should be the lingua franca way to post to MB. Primary, democratic, available to anyone with a browser and with first class features. (Also, my spell check does not work in the MB New Post form.)

@simonwoods @bradenslen @manton In theory, I agree with you both! In an ideal world, what you get with a basic $5/mo hosted website would give you all the basic features needed for blogging. Period. BUT, this is Not an ideal world. On day one here, I found out that those with an iPhone could post pictures, but I could not. Ooops! Well, now I can. So progress has been made and is being made every day.
I think we must always keep in mind that Micro.blog is different from any other blogging platform and mostly that's because we have Manton, who is expert with Mac and ios coding, not Win stuff. But he's also the best support person I've ever seen, with the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon and the insouciance of . . . well, of Manton! He's an amazing fusion of competence. So in my mind, he has earned a LOT of latitude and trust that he is moving things along in the right direction. So I am patient and post using the tools available to me right now. Yeah, sometimes I DO point out things here and there, like needling him about no editing in the editor, but I always KNOW that we are all very very fortunate that he has created this for us and continues to do so every single day. I've been here well over a year. I don't remember a single two week vacation for Manton during that time. Maybe we should take up a collection and send him on an exciting vacation to Waco.

@Ron @bradenslen I agree with everything being said here. :)

@Ron @simonwoods Agreed.

@Ron Well said.

@bradenslen Yes, I’m working on that and a post about Instagram.

@macgenie I figured you were. I don't envy you that task.

@macgenie At the top of that guide:

GUARANTEE: YOU WILL NOT BE MERGED INTO FACEBOOK

@Ron You can only do it on the web as of now, so you should be set. 😀 Click on the "Posts" button, and you'll see all your posts. Each one has an "Edit" button. Have fun!

@simonwoods Liked. ⭐️

@macgenie Okay, NEVER noticed THAT before! So if I edit the text, will it create a NEW posting at that moment on the timeline, or will it just change the one sitting there in the archive? Will I end up still having one posting in the Archive, or will I now have two? And if I add enough text to go over the 280, will the new one get posted with just a link to the now much longer posting?

I'm thinking I need to enroll in Micro.blog Academy and actually learn how to do all this stuff. What is the current price for it?

@Ron whatever you edit will change in the timeline and on your site ... but only the original is syndicated - so if you cross post to twitter (say) - what you said in the original will not change.

@JohnPhilpin I never cross post anywhere, ever. I gotta keep this stuff simple.

@Ron 😀

1) I totally want to found the Microblog Academy and teach all the Micronaut cadets. 2) When you edit, you are editing a blog post. It does not create a new post. Depending how fast you are, the edit will be reflected in the timeline as well. I don't remember exactly how the timing works, but of course @manton knows.

@macgenie @Ron Timeline catches changes for the past 24 hours, last I heard.

@Ron if only i could ... on a separate thought - was it you looking at a different ‘read later' solution after instapaper went back to premium and limited the notes aspect ?

@JohnPhilpin No, I never used Instapaper. I've used Pinboard for years and really like it. I don't use anything for reading later, except for leaving tabs open until later. I rarely have any time for reading later anyway.

@Ron hmm - wonder who that was then ... onwards.

@macgenie In the bullet point about retweets and likes, you might also want to mention that Micro.blog’s Favorites are essentially private bookmarks that only you see.

Every time there’s a new wave of people, we always seem to see some discovering that they’ve favorited a bunch of posts and no-one knew of their favoriting, and it would be nice to save them all of that time/effort that didn’t do what they thought it would do.

(Hopefully this makes sense—brain won’t shut off and keeps thinking about Micro.blog stuff, but it also isn’t quite functional enough to write clearly… :-P )

@kulturnation Thank you. Apps have their place, but the browser is the primary tool of the Web. The browser cuts across all operating systems and devices. If the Web is our social network then the browser should be the mainstay.

@bradenslen Yes! A few days ago I asked how many folks use the website vs. The macOS client because I feel the same way.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the order of importance could be:

1. One Public API To Rule Them All
2. A website that uses said API (and introduces new features/endpoints)
3. All the other clients, web-based or native.

Of course this is a bit problematic if you want to leverage specific capabilities of a native device... but then, I also feel that a platform like micro.blog should only embrace open standards if we really mean to bring the web back to the users.