More post-Twitter plans manton.org
@manton I didn't realize they were charging you to use their API. That's insane! I don't blame you for shutting down the cross posting.
@manton Awesome. I applaud your decision to keep the connection for a few months and then turning it off. I would recommend a hard deadline as opposed to 2-3 months.
Great to hear about importing Twitter posts too. It would be great to selectively import from a downloaded Twitter archive. I had live-tweeted (no photos, obviously) my son's birth (he will be 12 next month) and would love to preserve those "posts".
@pratik Good point. I'm hesitant to promise a specific length of time just because so much is uncertain.
@manton the Twitter archive library is such a great proposition... I can see myself importing my tweets and optionally make the most interesting ones available on my timeline and / or display a link on my website pointing to my archive.
@manton @pratik Agree with Manton. A hard deadline is a bad idea until the platform is well positioned to complete the whole change.
Attached warnings, transparency, and good messaging overall is the best anyone can do in this situation. Unfortunately for tiny companies even that is difficult to achieve, which is why we should all be as understanding as possible whilst indies finally draw a line under Twitter.
@manton Bummed to see the crossposting go—I'm among the few that still find value in Twitter—but given the new price scheme of Twitter's API, and how many on Microblog really don't use it, it makes sense.
@SimonWoods @manton I don't see what you need to do apart from removing the cross-posting ability for Twitter. I mean, if you don't pay $100 to Twitter, they will disable it anyway. I understand allowing users a few more months to help them wean off Twitter or make a hard choice - Twitter or the indeweb. Apart from that, it's only a matter of pulling the plug, right? Or maybe I don't understand if Mb is more tightly integrated with Twitter? I think not.
@pratik Micro.blog is: the website, iOS app, Android app, Mac app, Sunlit, Wavelength, Epilogue, Snippets, APIs, hosted blogs, themes, plug-ins, ActivityPub... and probably some other things I've forgotten. I don't think it's so simple as you describe.
The extent to which Twitter is intertwined is not something that I know fully off the top of my head but my guess is that if it was just anything then Manton would not be taking such care with the roadmap.
@SimonWoods In that case, only @manton can shed light on the actual reason for 2-3 months to take away access. After all, he’s the one paying for it.
@pratik I must be missing something. Why does this need to be justified? I'd much rather the resources of the team was spent elsewhere than continually talking about something that is going away, and as Manton said has never been a part of the core feature set.
I'm hesitant to promise a specific length of time just because so much is uncertain.
This is more than enough. Everything else I can imagine would be useless speculation and empty promises.
@SimonWoods I’m just curious about the reason and even how Micro.blog works in terms of Twitter. When Manton says “so much is uncertain”, I’m was just curious what that “so much” was. In any case, my reply was to @manton. If he doesn’t want to say more, he will not. I don’t understand why someone else has to barge into that conversation.
Said it before - saying it again.
Anyone who is so dependent on MicroBlog's cross posting to Twitter that cutting it off will cause a problem has surely been very aware of what Musk has been doing for a while now - definitely measured in months. Hell - even my Mum god rest her soul wouldn’t have missed the issue.
As such, I would expect them to have been making there plan Bs for a while now. It isn't the job of @manton ... is it?
Meanwhile there is a LOT to do in and with MicroBlog and resources are limited.
Why on earth spend time helping keep something going - much less money with a douche like Musk - to keep a few customers happy when there are many more customers who couldn’t care less about it - and have other pressing needs - like - oh I don’t know their site 'rebuilding' for over four days?
Not only that - but whatever this rewrite is - ( and unlike @SimonWoods - i know less than nothing about how deeply Twitter is intertwined ), I am not expecting the rewrite to have much resuse. (Tell me I'm wrong).
On a separate note over in Feedland @dave has seen all of this coming and removed his twitter authentication dependency a while back.
Copying everyone on this thread - and not copying the hundreds - if not thousands - that are on MicroBlog and seemingly not interested enough to make a comment.
// @pratik @lukemperez @avancee @greghiggins @numericcitizen
@pratik ... barge? Really? I thought it was an interesting conversation in a public thread.
I'm sorry, I didn't realise your replies weren't open to other people. I'll make sure to avoid getting involved in the future.
@JohnPhilpin well, I don’t care about Twitter. But I’m not the only ine… for some, it could be another story.
@JohnPhilpin I think, Dave was using Twitter sign-in as an authentication for all his web apps including Drummer and he was quite defensive about Twitter’s utility on the web. So for him to remove dependency on Twitter, it’s a big deal.
@jasonekratz posting in public doesn’t imply multiple people are involved. What’s the IRL equivalent?
@manton You say:
I find myself this week investing time into keeping Twitter cross-posting in Micro.blog going for a little longer.
Even though I have left Twitter far behind I say good for you. This is not about Twitter. It’s about respect for the people using it. Rise above the fracas and treat people right.
@pratik I know .. my point is that he saw a problem and worked to mitigate as fast as he could before it was too late
@JohnPhilpin Yup. That’s why I think giving some more time was gracious of Manton and wondered aloud whether how Twitter could be more integrated with Micro.blog than it was with Dave’s app. So unless people are expecting Musk to change his mind and make API great…errr…free again.
@manton This is most unfortunate. Cross-posting is one of the main reasons I use Micro.blog. I've used apps like Hypefury and Buffer to syndicate my Wordpress blogposts. I love the ethos of Micro.blog and have been with you off and on over the years. I love the agility of Micro.blog vs the sluggishness of Wordpress or the chaos of Tumblr as blogging platforms. It's the potential reach that keeps me in bed with the likes of Twitter and Meta. I prefer to touch those apps at a distance, through cross-posting. Anyway, I understand your decision and would probably do the same if I was in your position.
@clowe Thanks for the feedback. It's good to hear from people who use the cross-posting. I don't want to cut it off right away, even if it can't last forever.
@manton thanks for the comprehensive update! Now I just need to figure it a way to use Micro.Blog in collaboration with Mastodon & Ivory (at the moment I can follow and get replies, but I feel like there is more and I’ve just scratched the surface)
