Jos Schuurmans (EN)

Information → Communication → Relationships.
#nobot #notroll

Jos Schuurmans (EN) (npub142s…7vde) (EN)
Jos Schuurmans (FI) (npub1aem…jjwq) (FI)
Jos Schuurmans (NL) (npub1pep…9eh4) (NL)

Jos Schuurmans (EN) (npub142s…7vde)">https://justmytoots.com/Jos Schuurmans (EN) (npub142s…7vde)

josschuurmans.com: https://josschuurmans.com/en/

Last Notes

2026-01-20 11:46:42 GMT

Trump may be the beginning of the end for ‘enshittification’ – this is our chance to make tech good again | The Guardian / Cory Doctorow @npub1fdr…lvhs
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/10/trump-beginning-of-end-enshittification-make-tech-good-again
"(...) If someone demands that you follow their orders or they’ll burn your house down, so you do, and they burn your house down anyway … well, you’re a bit of a fool if you keep on doing what they tell you, aren’t you? (...)
1/3

2026-01-18 18:17:55 GMT

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Is that anymore a valid consideration? Twitter as a benchmark? Or even the concept of a messaging or microblogging service? If I follow @npub1zdf…6u9l's reasoning about the 10,000 character limit, perhaps the whole distinction between a blog, a microblog and a short message service has declined in relevance.

2026-01-18 17:17:47 GMT

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Why then are higher character limits not more widely adopted? Are you sure there are no other downsides? Technically, for example, is it trivial in terms of server resources?
Since your instance is the perfect test bed, have you shared behavioural data? What are the average and median toot lengths on Memento Mori? What qualitative feedback do you get? Does it change the user experience: the way people read and write? Does anyone ever want to go back to a lower character limit?
2/2

2026-01-18 17:13:27 GMT

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I don't like the chopping either, especially the manual pagination, and especially on mobile. It's cumbersome. And your point about "read more" is valid, as it keeps the visible part digestible in a feed.
The 10,000 chars. limit gives the user more choice and with it more responsibility. It requires some self-discipline and effort to write top-down (the "inverted pyramid" in news reporting), to keep the bit above the fold ("read less") easy to scan. If one values such things.
1/2

2026-01-18 15:42:43 GMT

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That 500-character limit encourages users to keep each post to a single thought, which makes the “river of news” easier to scan, digest, and respond to. It also makes it simpler to reply to a specific paragraph within a longer story, or to fork a discussion around that single point.
Out of curiosity (and apologies as this must be a question you’ve answered many times before): @npub1zdf…6u9l, what were the main pros and cons that led you to choose a 10,000-character limit?
3/3

2026-01-18 15:42:12 GMT

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My impulse was that I wanted to reply in a single toot as well. Why? Rolle's longer-than-default post felt nicely self-contained. I thought that a thread of replies would feel fragmented.
Character limits have been discussed exhaustively over the years. On a freshly installed Mastodon instance, the default limit for toots and replies is 500 characters. Instance administrators can change this setting, though.
2/3

2026-01-18 15:41:39 GMT

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mentions common reasons for people to switch to Memento Mori:
1. The 10,000-character limit on posts.
2. Themes, accessibility, and other software tweaks.
3. Poor experiences with admins of other instances.
When Rolle wrote about his social anxiety on Saturday (https://mementomori.social/@rolle/115911013399419366), following our conference call on Thursday, and did so in a single, long toot, I found myself thinking again about the pros and cons of character limits higher than Mastodon's default 500.
1/3

2026-01-17 20:33:45 GMT

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I’m happy I reached out to you on a whim. I remembered your presence on Mastodon from 2022. You were setting up Memento Mori and the Bird UI while I helped set up the first fediverse account with a Finnish institution of higher education. I’m grateful for your kind response and your inclination to share so openly.
Generally speaking, it’s healthy to get out of one’s comfort zone. But you are brave enough as you are. No pressure on my account. I’ll make it a point to circle back myself.
7/7

2026-01-17 20:31:28 GMT

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But I digress.
You mention three times that you “should” invite people to contribute, to collaborate, to join. I’m not sure you should anything. Maybe it’s enough to keep going with what feels most natural to you. To not force things. To let participation happen when and where it wants to happen.
6/7

2026-01-17 20:30:57 GMT

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The problem it addresses is bigger than me. It’s not primarily my problem. It’s about public values around democracy, cognitive resilience, and digital sovereignty. The need for algorithmic choice, with transparent options, has exceeded my own needs. I feel it’s no longer primarily personal, but public.
5/7

2026-01-17 20:30:34 GMT

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I tend to scratch my own itches too, whenever I can. If I were a programmer, I’m fairly sure I would have built at least the first iterations of our recommender system myself. But that’s not within my skill set, and I can only hope this will prove to be a blessing in disguise.
4/7

2026-01-17 20:29:43 GMT

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You mentioned that when it comes to programming, you need the motivation of having an itch to scratch. I totally empathise with that. I recognise the urge to fix things yourself, and then share your solution with the community, rather than asking the community to help you solve the problem in the first place.
3/7

2026-01-17 20:29:09 GMT

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Given how (inter)active you are, I wouldn’t call you a lone wolf.
You don't need to expand on that topic, but just in case you ever feel like it, I'd be curious to hear how you think your social phobia is mitigated online, compared to offline. There seems to be something important there about what online spaces make possible that physical ones sometimes don’t.
2/7

2026-01-17 20:27:38 GMT

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Thank you @npub1zdf…6u9l for the courage you show in being so open, social, and personal online. The way you share your knowledge, insights, doubts, and unfinished thoughts feels generous. You are clearly committed to learning in public.
That's a turbo-charged way of learning. It forces one to continuously reflect, to organise what one encounters, and to integrate new experiences, knowledge, and insights into one's current and always evolving understanding of the world.
1/7

2026-01-14 09:59:58 GMT

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RE: https://mementomori.social/@ikkeT/115892635574212327
At https://mastodontti.fi/@npub17cz…c8xe/115892635666804207, @npub17cz…c8xe points at this LinkedIn Pulse article by Magnus Glantz:
Open Source, trust and mutual assured destruction
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-source-trust-mutual-assured-destruction-magnus-glantz-j6oye/
@npub1g2v…qqt4 states that the world depends on open source software for critical functions, and that the development and maintenance of that software makes the world interdependent.
Ilkka, do you see this as an argument in favour or against the European Commission's strategy?
#note1jxg…z9dr

2026-01-14 08:34:23 GMT

Rather than on X, COSS.fi should really share their posts, such as this one, on Mastodon:
"(...) The European Commission is preparing a new strategy to commercialize and scale European open source in order to strengthen digital sovereignty: https://euractiv.com/news/commission-wants-to-commercialise-open-source-for-sovereignty/
Comments on the Commission’s consultation can be submitted until 3 February 2026.
#OpenSource #AvoinLähdekoodi (...)"
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/892/535/972/300/649/original/1b933db96e2dcda5.jpg

2025-12-05 11:02:07 GMT

This is one of those small digital innovations that immediately feel right, although I don’t find it quite so simple to articulate why.
I think https://nownownow.com/about is trying to say that a “now page” is potentially better than an “about page” at communicating how someone is doing these days.
"(...) A /now page shares what you’d tell a friend you hadn’t seen in a year. (...)"
(Also, apparently, people with a now page say it helps them prioritise.)
1/3

2025-10-01 09:44:47 GMT

Bounce lets you move from Bluesky to Mastodon without losing followers | TheVerge
https://www.theverge.com/news/678928/bounce-bluesky-mastodon-bridgy-fed-tool-followers
"(...) Bounce is built on the work of Bridgy Fed, which makes your Bluesky posts visible on Mastodon and vice versa. (...)
A New Social CEO and executive director Anuj Ahooja tells The Verge, “Folks on Bluesky will likely never even know you’ve Bounced to Mastodon.” (...)"