@prologic@twtxt.net Sorry, I can’t spare the time to write a sufficiently detailed ELI5 today. Already spent all of the time I budgeted for shortform blogging writing about highlighter pens.
@prologic@twtxt.net Protocol ossification means “loss of […] evolvability of network protocols.” (cf. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_ossification). Related terms: Overfitting, Hyrum’s Law https://www.hyrumslaw.com/.
Oh, wow. That is a frightening level of protocol ossification.
Will it thread?
What if the subject is a valid twt hash, but the twt it refers to was never seen by yarnd?
Time to find out!
Ok, so https://twtxt.net does not “thread” twts with matching but otherwise completely arbitrary subject strings. What will it do with an 8-character string that starts with # but isn’t a valid twt hash?
Don’t mind the non-standard twt subject. I’m using this opportunity to test what happens to extant twtxt clients when they encounter arbitrary strings in the twt subject position.
If you want to read the post, but aren’t quite ready to install a gemini browser, it’s also reachable through this gemini-to-https portal: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/asquare.srht.site/gemlog/highlighter_pen.gmi
I recount the complete story in a 573-word shortform post on my gemlog: gemini://asquare.srht.site/gemlog/highlighter_pen.gmi
I was yesterday years old when I learned the correct way to use highlighter pens.
IMHO, the original spec had it right when it said (paraphrased) “just upload your tw.txt file wherever”. The essence of micro-blogging, as opposed to full-scale blogging, is low friction and low stakes. Imposing a norm that you can’t just use any ol’ url, looking down on people with insufficently cool urls (as in “Cool URIs don’t change” https://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI), puts up too much of a barrier to entry.
#b795meh and #431barf refer to the same twt - since hashes are one-way, Bob cannot recover the original urls from the hash and run them through his url-equivalence-checker.
Though actually, it’s still pretty easy to create strings that look like hashes even though they can’t ever be generated “legitimately”. Just use 1, 8 or 9 anywhere in the string - those digits aren’t part of the base32 alphabet.
#b795meh and #431barf refer to the same twt - since hashes are one-way, Bob cannot recover the original urls from the hash and run them through his url-equivalence-checker.
An amusing consequence of the hash truncation misdesign: it’s possible to just make up hashes for hypothetical examples and be sure that they won’t collide with any real hash - just pick anything other than q or a for the last character.
You know how maps typically include a compass rose to help readers figure out where things are located in relation to each other? I want the anatomical equivalent of a compass rose for the linked drawing, because just by looking at it I can’t decipher which anatomical axis (anterior-posterior vs superior-inferior) corresponds to the up-down axis of the drawing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uterus#/media/File:Uterus_image-Photoroom.png
Turns out that Factorio got an update two years ago that makes it playable with an X-Box controller - no need for a mouse. I could’ve been playing the Space Age expansion on launch day despite my injury (already healed, don’t worry) if only I’d bothered to check.