I've been an user on the Fediverse since 2018, and I've tried running my own instance several times, though it has always been kind of a messy endeavor due to my lack of technical knowledge and money. I found out about Tootik this week just as I migrated my neocities log to sourcehut's Gemini service.
Tootik is a teeny tiny instance with a Gemini-oriented frontend. I'd been running Microwaved Computer on Glitch Soc and it's alright, good ol' reliable Mastodon, but with my limited computer resources I had been looking for something more manageable either way and the Geminiverse is somewhere I would love to settle in more comfortably, so I thought "why not", you know? Mainline microwaved and the tootik version separate servers, technically... I'll see which one I like best in terms of usage. I wonder if there are compatible clients beyond Gemini ones for Tootik?
I first heard about Tootik in November's capsule
I am replying to Bazmatazable's post here
I disagree with most of the comments -- Your post makes sense, you're trying to build a community so you reference tools that are popular for groups, I don't think it's unreasonable or a misunderstanding of the "smol web" (if that's an uniform concept at all) to want to share spaces that you like with a specific purpose. With that out of the way -- I think teaching, passing on knowledge, and participatory service provision are really underused strats when it comes to bringing alternatives to less tech savvy friends. I think most people are curious about these projects but are too daunted by the technical skill required to set them up or even use them.
I have introduced several of my friends to source control forges, static website creation, fediverse hosting and usage, Gemini hosting and proxying and PGP because I sat down with them, I explained what I liked about these things, and passed on my knowledge in a way that was friendly to people whose only computer experience had been graphical user interfaces for centralized services on Chrome.
Explaining things takes patience and time, and also the capacity to meet people where they're at, but to me this is so infinitely worth it. Talk to the people in your alumni group! No, really, prepare resources and answer their questions and share your passion. No man is an island, we need each other to learn and provide help when our skills allow it.
Ali's child just turned 6 months old
I don't consider myself as a potential-good-parent, my personal baggage with my family makes me scared that I would not be loving enough, accepting enough, kind enough to my child. There's also the fact that my own dysphoria as a trans man, even if still technically fertile, keeps me from ever wanting to get pregnant, and my country's policies for adoption for queer parents are not very generous. I didn't know what this post would be about when I clicked to read it, and I was very surprised!
To know that out there there are families who want, love, delight in their children's personhood beyond how much of an asset they are to their own, adult lives makes me so happy. To know that your little girl is happy, her growth not only acknowledged but actively celebrated, her aging a process to be regarded with curiosity rather than judgement... it makes me feel like there's hope in family. It's a good feeling. Thank you.
Jason talks about 2024 intentions
I profoundly relate to everything you talk about on this post, and it makes me want to have a conscious and deliberate go at the "pieces instead of slabs" process.
Last year I intended to organize my photography and reading archives, improve upon my art style and keep my baseline health and hygiene well. And I failed at all of them because I couldn't sprint through each in one day! So maybe your approach would be beneficial. Setting time aside to chip away at bigger tasks, with a deadline, and making sure I don't go over or under that set time. Disciplined enough not to burn out through overexertion, and to come back to things if I miss a day... Sounds terrifying, but worth it.
monpetit's questions about dynamic content on Gemini
Every time I add a tiny bit of complexity in structure, file extensions or functionality to my website and capsule, I start being haunted by the same question as you are.
My final decisions are based on the following criterion: What I want is low material resource use. Environmentally, the amount of technology we produce and keep constantly on is costing our planet its future -- even if my attempts to do my part to keep us going are irrelevant, I want to try. So this means that old computers should be able to efficiently run my things (no pressure to upgrade/build new, more powerful devices) and that, if possible, I should not rely on constant online status of a service if I don't need to have the thing constantly online, which translates to doing things locally on my laptop when I can and then uploading only the bits that I want statically accessible online. I don't want a powerful computer on a server farm burning through electricity and water-for-cooling (I've been meaning to move everything I host to a Raspberry Pi at my house.)