Mitchell Report

opinion

Nobody clicks your share buttons By Derek Hanson

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A watercolor-style image of a cozy workspace featuring a desktop computer and a smartphone displaying the same webpage. The webpage shows a serene landscape with a person sitting on a rock overlooking a lake surrounded by mountains under a cloudy sky. Below the image on both screens are three blocks of text in muted colors and four circular social media icons in blue, green, red, and gray. The desk holds a white keyboard, a black and gold pen, a cup of coffee on a saucer, two closed books stacked, and a spiral notebook. To the right, a potted green plant sits near a window with soft natural light filtering through. In the background, a wooden shelf with books and a hanging plant is visible. The overall color palette is soft and earthy with warm browns, greens, and blues.


I saw this blog post on bubbles.town, and the title caught my attention, so I clicked through to read it. It was also timely because just a few days earlier I had added share buttons to my own site.

I don't know if I agree with the conclusion of the post. If share buttons are done tastefully, selectively, and with privacy in mind, I think they're perfectly okay.

We're seeing a trend toward making websites personal again, a little like they were in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Social sharing buttons started becoming common as services like Twitter and Facebook (UGHHH!) grew in popularity. Email, of course, has always been around.

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Automattic confirms Mullenweg has returned as CEO after attempted ouster by board By Sarah Perez

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I have been holding off on writing about Matt Mullenweg and everything happening around WordPress because I wanted to make sure I wasn't just reacting to the latest round of drama.

I don't know Mullenweg personally, just like I don't know Elon Musk. But the more I watch his public actions and statements, the more I see a similar pattern.

That pattern is what bothers me.

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Bloggers, can we make better titles for our posts? michaelharley.net By Michael Harley

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I came across this blog post by Michael Harley. I started following him after I came across some of his blog posts on bubbles.town (I want to call it button.town every time I type it, and I don't know why 😀).

But he does have a point, and I am guilty of making bad titles too. In fact, if it were up to me, I probably wouldn't have any titles. But I think most things in writing do deserve titles and subjects. Even emails, although I don't like filling out the subject line most of the time.

He argues:

Use descriptive titles #

Please for the love of god, give me some idea what your blog post is about. I'm interested in a wide range of topics. So even if your post is about something obscure, give me something other than Recent Thoughts... or So Far, So Good. Recent thoughts on what?! What is good so far??? Especially on Bubbles, but maybe even on other blog aggregators, the title is the main signal so pause for a beat and try to come up with a decent title for your blog post.

— By Michael Harley · Bloggers, can we make better titles for our posts? michaelharley.net

I think he's right about that. A title doesn't need to be clever or optimized for search engines. It just needs to give people some idea of what they're about to read.

But I have to disagree with his other point:

Avoid bucket posts

I think this one might be a bit unpopular but I do not like the round-up posts. You know the ones. They're titled Week Notes, Week in Review, Weekly Links and the like.

I think these kinds of updates are totally acceptable, and I learn a lot by reading them. In fact, I am long overdue for a subscription update myself.

I have also been trying to do more of his next item: writing posts in reply to other people. Especially since I am using webmentions everywhere I can and self-hosting and publishing the replies myself.

In the end, I enjoy reading Michael's posts, and he usually, like Kev Quirk, gives me ideas about how to shape my blogs and my posting, and even how to practice replying to other blog posts.

So go check out Michael Harley and bubbles.town.

#blogging #opinion #writing

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Star Wars Disney+ Series Ahsoka Season 2 Finally Has a Release Date

Read on ign.com · View original Mastodon post

Here is another example of what I was talking about in a recent blog post TV Isn't What It Used to Be. According to IGN, the first season came out 3.5 years ago. That is a long time to wait for a second season.

I will watch it because the first season was good. But if I miss it, I won't really care. By this point, I would have to rewatch Season 1 just to remember what happened before starting Season 2.

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Netflix Reportedly Delays The Witcher Season 5 to 2027

Read on ign.com · View original Mastodon post

I don't watch this series, though it has interested me. Still, its general theme fits what I want to talk about here.

People wonder why TV viewing and TV series are dying. Well, when you have to wait a couple of years for 8 to 10 episodes, maybe 12 if you are really lucky, that is ridiculous. From an outsider's point of view, something is clearly wrong with the TV industry.

I have said this a hundred times, and I will keep saying it: when I was growing up, TV had an actual season. You knew roughly when it would start and end, within plus or minus a week or two. There were holiday specials, and every “TV season” usually had anywhere from 18 to 30 episodes. Of course, there were exceptions, like first seasons with fewer episodes to test interest and ratings.

Now, there is no set schedule. You get 8 to 10 episodes every couple of years, and by the time a new season finally comes out, you have already lost interest. You have forgotten what happened, stopped caring, and moved on.

Then, on top of everything else, they do not even drop all the episodes at once. Come on! That is frustrating.

So I would rather wait until every episode is available, even if I have to wait a couple of years before watching something new. In the meantime, I have been watching more old TV shows. I barely get invested in new ones anymore because of these shenanigans.

#opinion #streaming #tv

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A black and white illustration depicts a man and a woman standing on either side of a round table with a large brain sculpture on it. The brain is split into two halves: the left half is composed of intricate circuits, wires, and electronic components, symbolizing logic and technology; the right half is made up of pixelated squares and contains various paintbrushes and an artist's palette, representing creativity and art. The woman on the left wears a fitted black dress, pearl necklace, and high heels, with her hand thoughtfully touching her chin. The man on the right is dressed in a suit and tie, also with a hand on his chin, appearing contemplative. A black cat sits near the man's feet. The setting is a mid-century modern room with a minimalist chair, a mobile hanging from the ceiling, a sideboard with a decorative sculpture, and a single overhead light illuminating the brain sculpture.

A thoughtful couple contemplates the evolving intersection of creativity and technology, symbolized by a brain merging artistic tools with digital circuitry under a spotlight.

I was browsing topics and titles on bubbles.town when I came across a post by Panagiotis Vryonis, AI-generated blog post images are not cool any more. It reminded me of another post I read a few months ago, On AI Images and Feature Images in General by Kev Quirk. I have been meaning to respond to his piece.

Last year, I wrote a post about using featured images called To Feature Image or Not. That post surprised me by getting a couple of responses. I usually get almost no feedback, so the email replies were unexpected.

The readers who responded basically said the same thing: It is your blog. You can use featured images if you want.

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Star Trek: Outposts Unknown - Official Announcement Trailer - IGN

Star Trek: Outposts Unknown – Official Announcement Trailer – IGN To boldly go… and build in Star Trek: Outposts Unknown. Check out the Star Trek: Outposts Unknown announcement trailer for this upcoming narrative-driven outpost builder game set in the Star Trek universe. Build complex research facilities through the mysterious X’Lehari System. Explore strange new worlds, guide your crew through dangerous encounters, and uncover a cosmic force threatening all life in the system. Set alongside the era of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, your journey will take you across hostile environments, abandoned ships, ancient ruins, and a fragile civilization in desperate need of aid. Star Trek: Outposts Unknown will be available on PC. A demo is out now on Steam.

— @video-game-and-movie-trailers-ign on mastodon via Video Game and Movie Trailers

This looks very interesting. I will be following this closely.

#opinion #gaming #StarTrek

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Why Gen X is the real loser generation

Why Gen X is the real loser generation Don’t cry for millennials or Gen Z. Save your pity for those in their 50s

— @daily-reads-TheEconomist on mastodon via Daily Reads

I am a Gen Xer, and I do not consider myself part of a loser generation.

I do think my generation came up during a time when the family was under assault from companies, the economy, and a culture that made it harder and harder for one parent to stay home. I know my mother and father resisted that pressure for as long as they could.

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A colorful illustration of seven diverse people outdoors in a lush green meadow near a calm lake with mountains and trees in the background under a bright blue sky with scattered white clouds. The group includes an elderly man with gray hair wearing a flat cap, beige vest, and white shirt, crouching and holding a tablet; a young boy in an orange shirt and blue shorts sitting cross-legged with a laptop; a girl in a green shirt and blue shorts kneeling beside him, also using a laptop; a standing young man in a white shirt and blue pants pointing upward while holding a tablet; a standing woman with dark skin, wearing an orange shirt, blue jeans, and a yellow headscarf, pointing upward with a tablet in her other hand; a young girl with blonde hair wearing headphones, a pink jacket, blue pants, and red sneakers sitting on the grass with a tablet; and a man in a suit and glasses crouching with a tablet. Above them, glowing interconnected dots form the shape of a large light bulb in the sky,

People of all ages and backgrounds come together outdoors, connecting ideas and technology to illuminate the diverse and collaborative nature of AI innovation.

Okay, this will probably sound controversial, but that's not my intent. I'm just sharing my thoughts because AI is everywhere right now, especially on social media and in blog posts.

These views range from fairly neutral:[1] – Manton Reece – Tom Casavant – Paul Thurrott – Richard Campbell

To fairly positive, with the idea that you need to learn or use AI because... – Jim Mitchell – Numeric Citizen – Leo Laporte – Hey Loura – Ricardo Mendes

To more negative views, often focused on whether AI's value proposition can actually justify the money being spent: - Ed Zitron

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If you ever want to see a master craftswoman at website design and theming, then you must stop over at Hey Loura! She is also in my BlogRoll. Her latest creation is spectacular and pirate-themed. She keeps outdoing herself each time she updates.

I love her work and wish I could do, or get an AI to do, what she does. I have tried. I am still working on a 4th of July theme, but I can't get it to see my vision.

Anyways, great job, Loura! I can't wait to see what you come up with next.

#opinion #webdevelopment

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