Bully of Bullies, Inc

I've been thinking about all the people and efforts I become aware of at DAIR's Refugees and AI event all weekend and I cannot get over how many there are across the planet are pushing as hard as they can to make the tools we use beneficial for the communities we come from and to address the injustices and abuses we see everyday.

I work alone a lot, so even I forget how many folks are out here doing great work, so it was really inspiring to see all the beautiful folks that are dedicated to improving our communities despite the challenges that seem overwhelming.

This week's Tidbits is dedicated highlighting some of the efforts that got my attention.

https://roiskinda.cool/2026/04/weekly-tidbits-vol-59.html

*walks in, sees people trying to start another slap fight between Bluesky and the fedi because Mastodon is down instead of banding together to figure out who is attacking open source social media, walks right back out*

Anyway, I'm over on Blacksky these days because as much as I personally like Activity Pub as a protocol, it's just way less racist and hateful over there.

You should come hang out and meet some cool people.

https://blacksky.community/profile/did:plc:77kv6gyr7b3ce6ceuuwpz444

I'm gonna say this too.

Shitting on Bluesky doesn't make the fedi better.

Yeah, yeah, I know. They are bad for a bunch of reasons I actually agree with.

But at this point, you have to ask what the intent is of people who continuously talk shit about Bluesky but don't really do anything to improve the experience here.

There are so many ways, technical and non-technical to contribute to the forward momentum of the fediverse, which is why you don't see me talk about Bluesky all that much.

Folks really need to examine why they are doing what they are doing.

@DAIR's Refugees and AI event is tomorrow. I'm gonna be there, so if you haven't signed up yet, GO DO THE THING!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/refugees-and-ai-tickets-1986369914887

Ok, Steam is disturbingly easy to use on Linux.

It's creeping me out.

Ok, so it probably wasn't the best idea to try Bazzite right before I went to bed last night, but curiosity got the best of me, so I did it.

It's not what I would call seamless, but after fiddling with it for a little while, it's up and running and I just played about an hour or so of No Man's Sky just to see how it felt.

Yeah. I like Bazzite.

You know what helps me stay balanced in uncertain and brutal times?

Helping people.

Help buy some groceries. Reach out to folks to let them know you care. Share something beautiful. Hug as often as you can. Encourage people around you.

All of those deeds we think are small matter and add up exponentially.

It often feels like a lesson the fedi never learned is that it’s just as important to give energy to the things you want to see in the world as it is to the stuff you hate. Probably more important in these days and times.

Sure, there is plenty of stuff I could spend days ranting about because I have very strong feelings about a lot of things.

But what keeps me balanced is putting that level of energy or more into projects and efforts that stand in opposition to the things I am against.

The need for performing that angst fades the more action I take.

It seems like many people here feel like the performance is the point and not the action it should inspire if one really feels that strongly about it.

I am very far from hopeless and my nihilism about the US does not inform my general perspective about the world.

I just very strongly believe we shouldn’t be fighting for a return to the status quo in the US because that wasn’t good either.

There is a great opportunity to imagine new ways of being as the US kills itself from the inside.

And I think it is far more productive to find and collaborate with people who work to realize these possibilities than trying to rehabilitate people who have thrown away their humanity.

We do not have to go down with a bunch of people that cannot envision anything outside of what they hate.

We can do something else.

Trump and his cadre of fools aren’t masterminds or brilliant strategists.

They are just bigots saying what white people want to hear in the US.

The violence and destruction they are raining down on Black, Brown and Native peoples in the US is happening because that’s what white people want.

The re-election of that racist pedophile has affirmed the idea that white people in the US value hate and death over literally everything else.

I do not care what performative song and dance white people perform to try and convince us they don’t support the terror campaign is engaging in.

Because if they really didn’t support what he was doing, he would be gone.

Rust compiler: Hey, this is a little off, but we can get it going if just give it a little nudge.

Clippy linting: Bro, what the FUCK is this?! Are you being serious right now? CLEAN THIS UP! NOW! This is some BULLSHIT!

It's officially been a full year of Weekly Tidbits.

It hasn't always been easy, but I'm really glad I stuck with it.

https://roiskinda.cool/2026/03/weekly-tidbits-a-year-of-bits.html

As the person that founded the most high profile Black instance in the fedi and still develops safety tools for this environment, there is still a lot of resistance in the fedi in accepting how massively it failed Black and Brown internet folks.

I don’t mind the technical discussions between ATProtocol and Activity Pub because they both have stuff to learn from each other, but the fedi damaged reputation isn’t due to technical concerns.

The fedi has a *terrible* reputation to the point people are choosing a corporate option they know is bad over a free one.

Folks really need to think about what that means.

I regularly talk to folks who left the fedi and they *consistently* say the bigoted harassment they faced on the fedi is the *worst they’ve experienced* online. These aren’t people that are unfamiliar with how digital communities work. These are veteran digital citizens that are accustomed to bad faith engagement on the web.

Fortunately, the rise of Blacksky and other independent installs are rendering Bluesky irrelevant as it continues to enshitify, but the fedi needs to accept its utter failure in regards to safety and moderation is a central reason why we are talking about Bluesky at all.

I do believe it’s possible for the fedi to still be a major player in social media.

But it has to be real about why many people believe Bluesky is the lesser evil.

The cold reality is that what’s happening in the US and the gross over policing of cities led by Black leadership is that it’s not really all that different from the every day reality of Black folks in the States since we were kidnapped and brought here.

Law enforcement was literally created to surveil and harass Black folks after Emancipation because of white fears around a backlash for slavery.

What is SHOCKING for a lot of people is just another day for us.

Because it’s always been like this for people who look like me.