Notices by Richard MacManus (ricmac@mastodon.social)

Also, I tried my hand at a WTN-related meme.

The latest issue of Web Technology News (WTN) has just been published. This week I focus on the web-based ChatGPT Apps platform, but there's also #FediForum action, other open social web news, and web platform opportunities. https://webtechnology.news/openai-turns-chatgpt-into-a-web-app-platform/

Fedi folks mentioned: @firt, @ben, @laurenshof, @brentsimmons, @claviska, @textfiles

Subscribe to WTN via email or RSS, or on the fediverse @feed

The block button is a wonderful invention, but apparently the blocked person’s content stays attached to your posts on both Mastodon and Bluesky. I understand the technical reasons for this, but wouldn’t it be great to add a tag to their inane comments: “This individual is a turd and has been blocked by the person who started this thread.” Maybe a feature request for Mastodon?

Starter packs coming to Mastodon 👀 https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/10/our-ideas-about-packs/

I'm curious what the W3C means by "re-engage" and "new audiences" here: "We have refreshed our logo to reflect the new type of organization we have become — an organization that wants to re-engage with our community, and reach new audiences."

I *hope* they mean engage on truly open, web-loving platforms — like Mastodon and Bluesky. And of course audiences that may not be well-served by internet access right now (i.e. out in the real world).

ref: https://www.w3.org/press-releases/2025/new-logo/

1/x One of the things I liked about Web 2.0 was that you could build a following as a techno-optimist blogger. I mean in the sense that you could be passionate about a technology — the web, in my case — and people wanted to get behind that. Now yes, folks like me *should’ve* been a tad more critical. But I loved writing about the opportunities the web presented at that time. These days, your best bet to build a following in tech journalism is by being AGAINST something — AI, crypto, whatever.

In a post by Chrome’s GM, she said: “The browser is no longer just a window to the web; it’s an intelligent partner that learns and adapts to your needs.”

I’d suggest Google is now closing the curtains on that window to the web. Sure, you can still open the curtains if you want to — Google isn’t preventing you from doing that. But from now on, I suspect most users will be content to stay indoors and let their AI agents surf the web for them. (Me, I’m opening those freaking curtains!)

It’s happened: Google Chrome is now an AI browser https://thenewstack.io/chrome-switches-on-ai-the-future-of-browsing-begins-now/

Alright, buckle up internet history fans: we've come to the RSS Format Wars! The year 2000 was when RSS got forked into 2 different protocols: Dave Winer's RSS 0.92 and the RDF-based RSS 1.0. What's remarkable, looking back, is that the top bloggers of the day — Kottke, CamWorld, Rebecca Blood, Brad Graham, and others — still weren't using RSS by the end of that year. But they *were* building blogrolls. https://cybercultural.com/p/blogs-rss-2000/ #InternetHistory #RSS

In Web Technology News this week, I look at the emerging agentic web. Plus, news and takes in the usual 3 categories: web platform, open social web, Web + AI. https://webtechnology.news/wtn-6-welcome-humans-and-bots-to-the-agentic-web/

Fedi folk featured in this week's WTN: @timbl, @w3c, @caseynewton, @thisismissem, @laurenshof, @quillmatiq & @snarfed.org's Bridgy Fed, @gaberivera, @simon, @arstechnica, @medienbaecker

p.s. If you're a webhead and want to keep up with web tech news, check the end of the post for subscribe options.

OMG, I just discovered I got a mention in Tim Berners-Lee’s memoir!! Totally unexpected. Ok, he spelled my name wrong, but that doesn’t matter :) The read-write web lives on!

I'm working on my next Cybercultural post, about blogging/RSS in 2000 (following on from my 1999 post: https://cybercultural.com/p/blogs-rss-1999/). An open question: I'm trying to pin down when "blogroll" became a term. Google tells me Doc Searls used "blogrolling" in Dec 2000: https://web.archive.org/web/20010126064700/http://doc.weblogs.com/2000/12/17

Anyone have other references? I've looked at copies of Kottke.org, CamWorld et al from late-2000, but blogroll wasn't a used term then as far as I can tell. I suspect it was 2001, but if you have pointers... 🙏

@evan Ahhh, ok. I think my brain didn’t make that connection because I always think of a URL as an address, whereas a DID is an identity. Or maybe I just need to be more alert to web witticisms!

@evan Sorry, I actually wasn’t sure if you were being serious or not :) I may have missed some of the context…

@evan I believe developers use it to authenticate users, etc, as it’s the canonical ID for users.

@evan Can you explain what you mean re Bluesky — I had to add my DID into my domain host when setting up my domain as URL. Or are you just saying nobody uses the DID as a public ID?

@Gargron I hear you. If you try and argue the point on Bluesky, you get called a nerd 🤷

I think this is a fair statement, right? #Threads #FakeFediverse

Anyone have the answer to Rob's question for his project, https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/ ?
https://discuss.systems/@ricci/115165575167627371

@buttondown https://bookshop.org/p/books/bubble-blog-from-outsider-to-insider-in-silicon-valley-s-web-2-0-revolution-richard-macmanus/7b55c18959512c81