From my experience, you really have to immerse yourself in micro.blog for a month before you start understanding it’s features and the community. Even then, MB is deeper and more subtle than you think after that month.

@bradenslen yep, one of the things I been about micro.blog is the way it has helped me think about blogging, content, organisation and workflow. Lots of inspiration on all fronts.

@khurt not really. More about taking the time to think about why we have or don't have certian features (ie. Likes, Reposts etc.) But also the human element, observing the rhythms of the community, what was being discussed, how people responded to each other, and figuring out that MB was not FB or Twitter but a Third Thing.

When I first signed up, my focus was I get a blog, can use domain, syndicate to FB and Twitter $5, monthly = bargain. My mind kinda glossed over the MB had it's own community part. So when I made my first test post and several people welcomed me immediately, it kinda took me by surprise. And honestly when I first started posting regularly my posts were more intended for Twitter than here. Over time that changed a bit. Anyway it took some time for me to undertand that more.

That's probably too long of an answer to your question

@khurt wrote "photographers, how do I find them."
I think this is pretty easy, far easier than most. The Discover stream is curated from the Micro.blog firehose. We see who we follow, but Discover is curated by someone(s) who sees everything. It often shows photos posted by microbloggers. If a photographer is on Micro.blog they will likely post some photos and when they do, I think it's verrrrrry likely it will show up in the Discover stream.

@khurt So you're saying a real photographer, the kind you're looking for, would not post any of their photos on Micro.blog, so they could never be discovered in the Discover stream? Maybe. But then they're probably not on Micro.blog at all. BUT if a real photographer does decide to get on Micro,blog I think it is very unlikely that they'll hide out and not post any of their work. If they DO post any of their work, they can be quickly discovered in the Discover stream. Maybe the photographers you're finding it hard to locate on Micro.blog are hard to find because they're not here!

@khurt Have you tried Sunlit? Nothing but photos there so you might have a better shot at surfacing the kinds of photography you seek.

@khurt Formula 1 would be much harder than photographers! For something that special, I think you'd have to make it very known that you'd like to connect up with Formula 1 folks. Put it in the top of your profile in the description area and then do the same on the About page of your website, which does already mention a number of your interests. Post regularly about events in Formula 1, always including a mention that you'd like to connect up with others with similar interests. To be fair, this site has it's own purpose, which we must respect. It is not Usenet. If it were Usenet, it would have a Formula 1 group where you could meet hundreds of Formula 1 folks at the drop of a hat.
"What you're looking for" might be the key part of your question. I was here at the launch too and I didn't come looking for any particular type of content, people or interaction. I already have other ways to connect with Dylan people and ham radio operators. I decided to just participate and see what would develop on this new platform and it has turned out to be a lot of fun (for me at least). I think the key to happiness here is active participation, so it's very good that you're doing that. I'm glad you're here and I've followed you from the beginning.

@khurt I think you ar hitting on one of my frustrations .. not that I'm either an F1 dude or photographer ... But I am interested in other 'niche' things .. I have always wanted a deep and rigorous search across all posts and people for terms ... And maybe even tags ...until then ... "It's complicated"

@JohnPhilpin Maybe Google spoiled us with the excellence of their search engine. When I got on my first dial-up BBS, my only hope was Usenet. There, to my amazement, I found the first Usenet group ever about music, which was on Dylan, exactly what I was looking for. Among many others, I met a terrific life long friend on another continent. I can't help it if I'm lucky.

@khurt Can't you open a browser and go to the web interface for Micro.blog? I'm pretty sure you should be able to use that! So go there and post a <280 character message with a link to an excellent article on your website. I agree, people may not click on a Title link. But if you give them a 280 character intro first, I think they will. It makes sense that you would have set up an automation of posting things to the timeline, but I don't think you're required to only use it or always do it that way. If I really want to get heard, I will post a <280 character message. Of course, I may be wrong! @manton

@bradenslen @khurt @Ron Yes, I think is a challenge here. If I want to follow people who talk about hobonichi that’s not really possible (is there anyone even?) so the community is more generalized. It feels kind of like being at a friendly dinner party where all of the thoughtful people really want to discuss how to throw the best dinner party.

@Ron possibly - but if we can easily search the entire web - surely we should be able to search a very small part of the web with at least as much rigour.

How was it meeting up with your driend after 22 years?

@khurt the upcoming version of Sunlit will hopefully help you a lot more with this. It’s a total reimagining of what photos can be on Micro.blog.

@khurt Yes, that exactly. Maybe the solution isn’t even something that needs to be implemented by M.b knowing the problems from gaming hashtags/harrassment. Since this is about open web, maybe some convention for marking blogs as being on M.b with blog topics such that search engines work is better. It’d be opt-in then at least.

@Ron driend .... friend … gaaaaaah!!!

@khurt No, that's not what I'm saying! NO!! Micro.blog is a place for anything people want to create. But geeesh, how many full-time engineers do Twitter and FB have? Giant bldgs full of them! So I think an adverse comparison of features here to them is verrrrry verrrry unfair to @manton.

In any case, @klandwehr is now building a list of F1 people on Micro.blog. And that's how it works for now here, I think. You publicly posted your desire and within hours it just so happens that someone announces they're gonna make a list and also asks @Burk to add an emoji for it. This is a combination of technology, individual initiative and just plain magic, in my opinion. I believe in magic. Do you? cue the jug band music

@sproutlight Actually there have been discussions about hobonichi right here on Micro.blog! That's how I even know what the word means. Maybe start by introducing yourself to @Aleen. She can introduce you to all the others. You are welcome here. Speak up about your interests and how you'd like to help out. You're doing the right thing by participating, but don't be too inpatient or on a tight deadline. If there is a challenge, I think you're up to it. You can help us make the magic happen! Thanks.

@JohnPhilpin asked, How was it meeting up with your friend after 22 years?
It was totally FANTASTIC!!! Didn't you read about it here on Micro.blog? We packed a HUGE amount of excitement into that one day. Next time we meet will probably be in the UK at his library in Cambridge.

@Ron @khurt my stationary-talk senses are tingling

@sproutlight "dinner party" I think that is fair. It's dominated my timeline too. But only recently since we had an influx of folks from Twitter. I think everybody new to Micro.blog is automatically following macgenie and manton. So at first we only see them and people conversing with them. A lot of that tends to be MB shop talk. Every once in awhile I dip into Discover and find lots people I've never heard of posting about books, food and other fascinating topics. So there are whole circles of sub communities and topics on MB that I never encounter.

I wonder if we should have a bulletin board, here on MB where people could post and ask who is interested in discussing Star Trek and others could express interest.

@Ron Thank you for the kind referral! Maybe, as is befitting blogging, I just need to learn to use my words more too.

@bradenslen True enough. And I should say too that I don’t say that as a pure criticism. I think that the topic is worthwhile and interesting (especially in context of the impact social media has been having thr last few years). It’s just not the only thing I would want to talk about, and the prominence of that topic is somewhat at the expense of discoverability of other topics. But as I said before, this might not be something that M.b needs to solve directly either.

@Aleen Actually it was @sproutlight who was asking about hobonichi people so I sent her your way. @khurt was asking about Formula 1 racing, so I sent him to @klandwehr, who is making an F1 list. I already told @sproutlight about the secret handshake.

@sproutlight Well I was very pleased to be able to help you out. Your Hobonichi journals are verrrry cool. I learned numbers and could never draw in any way, shape, or form. Once I had numbers down, I started to learn words too.

@Ron I'll be glad if we get grouped conversations here 😂 Thanks for helping me track that!

@sproutlight It will go back to normal soon, mostly kind and gentle talk about: Mac stuff, neat photos, talk about Apple, cats, guinea pigs, bird watching, occasional Windows stuff, some politics, RSS, iOS, emoji, eating, food, the Web, coffee, ourselves. Not all in that order. :-)

@sproutlight hellooooooo! Your Hobonichi is beautiful 😍 I was journaling in mine but moved from Phoenix to Seattle and that fell far by the wayside.

@Aleen @Ron +100 for grouped conversations

@Ron TOTALLY missed that post ... an awesome day for sure. Looks like I also missed that you were in the Bay Area.

You should get to Cambridge ... you will have a lot of fun.

@JohnPhilpin I first moved to the Bay Area in Aug 1967 (UC Berkeley), eventually moved to LA in 1976, then came back to Palo Alto in 2000. Lived in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and Salinas until we bought my forever home and moved back to my home town in the Midwest in October 2017, three blocks from the grade school I attended. Yes, I'm looking forward to visiting my friend at Cambridge.

@Ron aha .. so not here any more ... and Salinas .. there’s a very different town and place to the rest of them ... Steinbeck has been a personal favorite for most of my life and as a result done the journey down many times.

@Aleen Thanks! ☺️ I have plenty of blank pages because lazy this summer, and I can tell I feel less organized for it. Have been pondering the larger 5-year + either the original or a weeks for the space / portability balance. Are you getting one for next year?

@JohnPhilpin We went to Salinas to be close to my brother, where our father was living the last yrs of his life. Lots of pickup trucks & clods of field dirt in the grocery store parking lot. Surely you've been to the Steinbeck museum. I was 1/2 way thru Travels w/ Charley, then our move east interrupted it.

@khurt One other suggestion, mastodon.social, but that is a very deep rabbit hole.

@sproutlight I don't think so. I've started planning in a Full Focus Planner and typically write a summary on each day's notes section. I love the Hobo's paper, though, so I might get a Hippo Noto for day to day stuff.

@khurt Mastodon is not a single instance system. It reminds me a lot of IRC. So you won’t find who you are looking for on mastodon.social. You’ll need to find your F1 and photography “instances” then sign up and follow people. Their “toots” shoe up in your federated timeline. Heh! Yeah, unintuitive! 😂

@Ron been to the museum 3 times in the past 5 years, visited his house and enjoyed beverages in a number of the town's institutions ...

I couldn’t see myself moving there … but if I lived over in Monterey, Carmel or even Capitola / Aptos … it would be a regular trip for me ….

@Ron BTW - ‘Travels Without Charley’ is what I have called this series of posts over at BizCatalyst

@sproutlight I don't talk about Hobonichi much, but I'm happy to! I'm currently using a Jibun Techo and debating sticking with that vs. Hobonichi for 2019. Not an answer to discovery but just wanted to say, chat to me about your planners!

@JohnPhilpin Yeah, stay in the Bay Area if you can stomach the fare. I finally got verrrrry fed up with it, so left for a bit more affordable & to be close to family, a good decision in the end. Monterey/Carmel are nice tourist destinations. We don't miss anything about Salinas.

@JohnPhilpin I read and enjoyed a number of those stories last night. The navigation was hard to follow. My copy of Charley got mis-placed in the move, but it'll turn up and then I'll finish it. Did you have a pickup/camper in your travels?

@khurt I don’t know if you saw it back then, but I recently rediscovered a thread about photoblogs on Micro.blog that included a (then-mostly-current) list of ones I followed. They’re not all photographers, but several of them are, as are some of those who replied, so it’s a more-focused source of profiles you can inspect. (This doesn’t solve your larger problem, for sure, but it is something that might help you in the short term find some more photographers you’re might be missing—that’s the sense I’m offering it in.)

@belle Oh, neat. I hadn’t seen those before until earlier this summer. What do you like about them?

@Aleen The Tomoe River paper is so great...unless I need to close the book roght away after marking things down. Then smear city! I like the idea of writing a summary.

@sproutlight The Jibun Techo? It has the same paper as Hobonichi but vertical weekly pages and no daily pages. I prefer the vertical weekly but don't like how big the Cousin is, so this is a good in-between. I use the B6 Slim.

@sproutlight My ideal would be the Hobonichi Weeks with vertical weekly pages (and maybe a little wider).

@sproutlight blotting paper is a life saver with Tomoe River! I put it on the page I just wrote on and close the book for a bit :)

@belle I find is so fascinating how people have preferences for the slightest of differences. I wish that a cousin-sized weeks existed. I love the layout but would like just a tiny bit mire width.

@Aleen Oh, that would make a lot of sense. I have a laminated piece of dot grid paper that I use as a pencil board that I stick between the pages. It doesn’t help with smearing on the page, only keeps the page from messing up the one opposite it though.

@sproutlight Ha, so true! Must be hard to please everyone at a big company like Hobonichi.

@khurt Glad it was of some use 😃

@sproutlight @aleen that stationary sign is like the Bat Signal or like the Superfriends alert! 📚🖋

@sproutlight @belle @aleen I’ve been using the classic Hobnichi A6 size all year. Love it but I think I’m switching to the Cousin for 2019. Too bad they don’t translate the Cousin quotes but I’m going to invent my own translations. Some may be worth posting.

@gio @sproutlight @belle some of the quotes are very 🤔 no matter the language 😄