In searching for a blogging app, I have come across some excellent blog-adjacent and federated social networking software, but what I have been looking for is JUST out of reach.

Here are some examples:

• Write.as: You’re reading this on Write.as (through a possible redirect from my main site). It’s a dead simple, federated, open source blogging service that doesn’t bog the writer down with nonsensical and esoteric development issues, plugins, theming, etc. There is little to nothing between the writer and the blog page, and that’s both good and bad. Good in the fact that it is so simple, but bad in that there aren’t readily-deployed social integrations (although, it is federated through the ActivityPub protocol, so that’s a huge plus). I just restarted my paid (very reasonably priced) Pro subscription because it meets my needs best out of the services I have tried so far.
• WAFRN: WAFRN is a free, open source, federated microblogging service similar to Tumblr. As a matter of fact, it’s almost a feature-for-feature match for Tumblr, with tightly-integrated social networking aspects, sharing, following, tags, hashtags, etc. It’s still in very active development, led by @gabboman, and it’s become my de facto main social network hub. It’s also federated using ActivityPub as well as allowing cross-interaction with apps using the ATProtocol, such as BlueSky. Since it serves more as a long-form-friendly Twitter-esque kind of space, it doesn’t really fit what I’m looking for in a long-term home (although I still highly recommend it for what it is).
• Lemmy: A federated Reddit alternative. It’s not nearly as busy as Reddit, but I would venture to say that it’s far less toxic without losing the silliness and periodic edginess that makes Reddit interesting. I’m still getting my feet wet there, so I don’t have a lot to say about it, yet. Not even close to what I’m looking for, but it’s interesting nonetheless

I keep referring to “what I’m looking for”, but what am I looking for, exactly? Here are my criteria:

• Long-form blogging platform: I’m always opinionated and often long-winded. Character limits and I do not get along.
• Federated using ActivityPub: I still think that ActivityPub is the way that the internet should go in order to democratize content creation and consumption. The protocol is robust, has a dedicated group of developers, and casts a healthily suspicious eye toward billionaire attention of any sort.
• ATprotocol is optional: I hate the fact that BlueSky, a billionaire-funded, pseudo-decentralized social network, has taken the lead in the “alternative to X/Facebook/Instagram/etc” space. People left X because of Musk. People left Facebook and Instagram because of Zuckerberg. Where do they go? To the Jack Dorsey-funded Bluesky. While he ostensibly left BlueSky behind, it is still under the influence of the same ilk (his support of some really dodgy politicians like RFK Jr, Tulsi Gabbard, et al is questionable, to say the least). I really hope that the marginalized groups seeking shelter from the toxicity on the mainstream platforms wake up and stop following billionaire’s whims.
• No egotistical jackasses at the head of the company: Matt Mullenweg is what’s wrong with WordPress. Elon Musk is what’s wrong with X. Mark Zuckerberg is what’s wrong with the rest. Sure, WordPress can be federated via plugin, and Threads integrates ActivityPub, but they don’t control the protocol, and that’s imperative for me. I don’t hate billionaires. I hate the level of control they exert over the rest of us.
• No “AI-forward” trash: Speaking of billionaires leading people around by the nose, the AI craze is 100% a billionaire-driven phenomenon that I want as little to do with as possible, and I damned sure don’t want or need AI to create content for me. The concept of AI doesn’t bother me, the implementation, inundation, and shoehorning of AI into every aspect of digital life. Social networks, office productivity apps, appliances, cars, etc. If they are pushing it, we probably don’t need it, and I don’t want it.
• The ability to aggregate my posts to whatever site I choose: This is where Write.as falls short, as I can’t publish my posts in such a way as to integrate it with my site. It’s nitpicky, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

Prior to now, I had a sparsely-maintained self-hosted WordPress blog that used the Activitypub plugin to federate it. It wasn’t anything spectacular, and it certainly wasn’t regularly updated, but it was my little space to post thoughts and nonsense when I felt the motivation, and it served as my Fediverse profile, for a time.

I had recently put forth a challenge to myself to post more regularly and to get back into writing in general after years of creative atrophy. As the Universe is wont to do, it put forth some rather annoying defenses against my attempt to upset my little bubble of homeostasis.

First off, Matt Mullenweg joined the tech bro train of Trumpsucking idiocy that we’ve seen from the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, et al. I left Facebook, Instagram, etc. to get away from that kind of lunacy, and I damned sure am not going to continue supporting someone who reveals themselves to be in support of such an eldritch abomination as Mango Mussolini, so I exported my posts and content and deleted WordPress from my hosting account.

The fact that Mullenweg is unhinged isn’t news to me. I am aware of his tantrums and Quixotic ridiculousness that surface from time to time, but that is him running his mouth or griping/suing another company, etc. Now, he’s thumping his chest that an even more unhinged wannabe dictator is using his app to spout his grandiose, megalomaniacal, hateful trash. He’s proud that his company’s work is being used to “serve” the Tangerine Tyrant. I know my support doesn’t matter one bit to someone like Mullenweg, but it matters to me. Good riddance.

I have since moved my blogging “presence” (for what it’s worth) to write.as, as it’s part of the Fediverse, and it’s dead simple to use, and once I figure out a way to self-host in a cost-effective manner (I don’t have a spare computer lying around for setting up my own server, and I have too much non-blogging stuff I use my current shared hosting provider for to switch to another host altogether, although I am using a paid account here just to support the project), I will be moving to a self-hosted Writefreely instance. Maybe. I might just stick to write.as going forward.

So far, I like what I see. The interface is ridiculously simple. You just sign in and start typing. There are no distractions and no miniscule settings to mess with. Having ADHD, the minimalistic interface is extremely helpful. For example: after typing the last sentence, I found myself clicking around on the text editor options for a couple minutes to see if I missed some feature rather than continuing with this post. The visual noise in the WordPress new post interface/block editor was my undoing on multiple occasions, and I honestly don’t miss that at all.

Of course, with simplicity comes a list of nice-to-haves, but I can live without most of them. I don’t need a bunch of customization options, but I would like a full-fledged profile or full integration with my already-existing Mastodon account. There may be ways to deal with this, but I’m just getting started, so I haven’t come across them yet.

In my next post, I’ll talk about the next block the Universe put in front of me and my attempts to upset my personal status quo. For now, I will bid you all adieu.