Bluesky

       I've been on Twitter since 2009 -- so long that the logo-button on the sidebar of this page is not the birdie of the past decade-plus but the previous .
       Under its new ownership, Twitter has deteriorated considerably. I can -- and continue to -- put up with much of it, but am particularly annoyed by the fact that it is now essentially closed off: you have to be signed in to read anyone's timeline; if that had been the case at the time I joined I wouldn't have. (Individual tweets can still be read without being signed in, but that's it.)
       One of the Twitter-alternatives, Bluesky has now opened up and feeds are publicly accessible; it is also no longer invite-only (i.e. anyone can sign up) -- and so I have, somewhat grudgingly, done so (though I am also still on Twitter)
       Aside from the fact that, visually and mostly functionally, it looks way too much like Twitter, it's also still pretty quiet there, as there's not near enough to a critical mass of users (there are apparently around five million or so right now). Maybe it'll be more interesting if it manages to grow, but for all the crap spewed about at Twitter (including far too much garbage-bot-advertising) it's still a far more useful forum.
       Anyway, if you are sniffing around Bluesky, you know where to find me.