Bookmark: via Pine64 is Working on a Linux Smartphone Running KDE Plasma | It’s FOSS

Interesting.

Blast from the past: while digging up directory sites I found that the hosted stats provider Extreme Tracking is still around.  I used to see these all over Geocities, Tripod and other free hosted HTML pages.

The free version only monitors one page, but that was fine back in 1998, because websites either only had one page or most traffic came in through the Index page.  It was a very different time.

Then and now the free version required you to display the Tracking button on the page.  Click on the button and you get to see the last 20 referrers to that page because the stats were public and could not be locked behind a login.

The benefits of that:

1. Discover new places to visit.  Most traffic came from other websites, so the tracker was a good way to find different sites, usually on the same subject.
2. Find out how much traffic the site had and who was referring it (stuff like what sites were popular and which webrings had traffic.
3. As a niche directory owner, it was a good way to find new sites to list in the directory.

I did add it to the Web Analytics Category in the directory.

Just a quick note:

I’m going to shift future directory related posts to Indieseek.xyz blog.  Past posts on the topic will remain here at Ramblinggit.com in the archives.

Like via Tim Cook data privacy speech: Apple CEO calls for comprehensive data laws in America - The Verge

“data-industrial complex” in which private and everyday information is “weaponized against us with military efficiency.”

Like via The Right Finds the Perfect Weapon Against the Left - Bloomberg

To put it simply, the American left has been hacked, and it is now running in a circle of its own choosing, rather than focusing on electoral victories or policy effectiveness.

I’m drinking a bottle of home brew English Strong Ale I made back in 2011!  This is really very good, and yes, strong.  I hope I have some more left over.

Setting up another Wordpress blog caused me to examine features which visitors use and ignore here.  The big one is the Share buttons that get placed at the bottom of each post.  I don’t think anyone has used those since I restarted blogging.  I think I might either turn them all off or just leave the email one.

Anyone seeing a lot of use of these?

… can I keep it?

It’s a sorta selfdogfood directory called Indieseek.xyz.  I hope this will encourage others to try their hands at small directories or search engines of the fun web, the Independent Web.

More from the source in a bit.

Special thanks to:

Kicks Condor - for the discussions on directories, discovery, advice and encouragement.

Chris Aldrich - for the early encouragement to keep experimenting (complete with cow picture.)

Like: Blog discovery for the future?

There is a great discussion going on there with Dave Winer, Don Park and others including Greg McVerry and Kicks Condor.

This is the kind of discussion that needs to be done and this is the group to do it.  Frankly it makes my brain hurt, but in a good way.

Gah!  I’m in a bit of a quandary about seeding this directory project:  how much is enough to start out with and how much further seeding just adds noise?

I have raided my bookmarks, read laters, memory, etc. and have come up with about 300 links which, on the face of it, seems pitiful for a general web directory if I built it circa 1998 - 2003.  But times are different now, those old directories where trying to be comprehensive: Dmoz had over 4 million listings and in the end it was a pittance compared to the ever expanding size of the web.

I’m not trying to be comprehensive, just a place where one might find useful or interesting things off the beaten path, and find them quickly.

My past experience in niche directories is of limited help here.  Back in the day of static HTML sites, those sites were not huge, I could poke around and get a good feel for the value of the site rather quickly.  Today, everything is blogs or sites built on platforms.  There could be hundreds of posts and pages.  Compounding that so many blogs are abandoned.  Yes a blog abandoned in 2014 may still have some very useful articles but that is not something I can dig out in a reasonable amount of time.

All this is to say, I feel like I am forcing it.  I am now just digging up links just to fill categories not because they are special.  And that means quality starts to slip in favor of quantity.

A web directory never should quit growing, but I think I’m near the point where I need to open it up for submissions of links by the public while I also continue to add listings at a slower and more measured pace as I find things.  Things need to grow organically.

Which means I need to get cracking on finishing up help pages and UI tweaks for a launch.

Any thoughts?

Like: Large Majorities Dislike Political Correctness - The Atlantic

What a person is saying, the meaning, the intent, is far more important than how they say it.

This is how Wordpress plays “Joy Whack a Mole”:

Me: Yay, I made a neat new logo.  Happyhappyjoyjoy.  (Tries to install it on Wordpress.)

Sempress Theme:  I insist that your logo be 50px X 50px.

Me: Are you daft?  Do you know how tiny 50 X 50 is?  That’s almost as small as a favicon. it looks silly.

Sempress Theme: Muhahaha!

Listening: Illinois Street Lounge | SomaFM

Classic bachelor pad.  Got the Lava Lamp going.  😎

Watching: Murders at Barlume - MHz Choice

Light, comedic Italian mystery.  As a mystery sort of so-so, but I like the characters.  Acting is good.

Like: Framasoft ~ Portal Homepage

• A network dedicated to globally promoting “free” and particularly free software.
• Many services and innovative projects freely put at the disposal of the general public.
• A community of volunteers supported by a public interest association.
• An invitation to build together a world of sharing and cooperation.

The Framasoft’s goal is to offer, mainly online, a set of concrete and practical tools to facilitate adoption:

• of free software (directory, USB sticks, installer…);
• of free cultural creations (blog, translation, publishing house…);
• of free services (more than 30 free services in the project De-google-ify Internet).

Presented as a “gateway to the Free World”, the network Framasoft wants to position itself as a bridge between the librarian community and the general public.

Despite my earlier protestations, I am working on a web directory project on a different domain.  It’s not a big deal but there is work to do, like: seed the directory with a starter set of links.  I mean you go to a directory to find web pages or websites and it better have something for you to find or you will never come back.

Yeah, so I’ve got this used web crawler/indexer, that would be me, who is an old, slow and cranky, old git, but  works cheap. The slacker likes taking a nap during working hours. This could take awhile.

Plus I’ve got to edit CSS font sizes which I’ve never done, and write help pages that explain what the heck I’m trying to do.

All of which is to say, I’ve got to cut back on blogging here for awhile and just get this directory ready for launch.

Thanks.

Signed, Me.