25 valentine's day entries for valentine's day 2025! our theme this year, self-love, was really tackled from so many different angles thanks to all of the different submissions. :)
full of love for our community today!
normally, i don't get involved in anything that doesn't directly concern me, & i never post things like this because it just invites more drama & fuels flames. i have to speak up as this can have rippling effects across the independent web. i'm so sorry, but it's pretty long.
i followed the micro.blog saga with @adam, & i felt like adam was handling it pretty well, because he is a wonderful ally. if you missed it, long story short from what i *publicly* saw: a dev for the micro.blog platform (vincent r., who also runs tinylytics) complained about pronouns in a video game on some platform. nobody on the MB team addressed it when folks were vocally upset, the apology (for getting called out*) was not great, & there was never any explicit support stated for LGBTQ+ folks by micro.blog until adam began publicly calling them out. there might be more that micro.blog users saw that i've seen in blog posts, but i can't speak to those. i did see vincent's apology, however, & it was difficult to see if he was actually atoning for his behavior or appeasing the masses. as a queer person, and having heard similar statements throughout my life by people who have disappointed me with their homo/transphobia, it felt very much like the latter. adam took the platform to task for this inaction & wanted the platform to explicitly state its support of LGBTQ+ folks and draw a line in the sand, using his voice.
now, those blog posts, him standing up for others, are gone due to a cease & desist that was delivered to him by a party only known to him. it might not have been micro.blog. we don't know.
but i'm so livid right now as an indieweb participant, #webdev hobbyist, former journalist, and a community leader of the #32bitcafe.
this is why: weaponizing lawyers and cease-and-desist letters to an indieweb developer--one that, imo, has done incredible work in expanding the small web & making it more accessible & inclusive--for their opinion about you, your business, or how you operate said business, is deplorable &, frankly, completely goes against everything building personal websites & disconnecting from the corporate web MEANS.
how fucking dare the lot of you. you should be ashamed of yourselves.
@manton, this is cowardly work. even if it wasn't you that did it, the fact that it was CLEARLY done on behalf of your platform shows me the lack of respect you/your team have/has for open dialogue on the personal web. if you actually wanted to do better, you wouldn't be silencing anyone nor would you have anyone be silenced on MB's behalf. you would be actively doing the work to face criticism, take it on the chin, & work towards understanding any remaining issues with the people who you are alienating and marginalizing.
sending a cease & desist is not doing better.
the 32-bit cafe does a lot of outreach and we are constantly adding folks who are new to building websites to our membership. we are often asked for recommendations for #blogging platforms. our personal web recommendations list alone receives thousands of unique visits per day.
the 32-bit cafe already removed any & all recommendations to micro.blog & tinylytics due to our large LGBTQ+ community (including myself) and the lack of clear messaging from micro.blog about its stance until it finally became more public. now, in addition to that, i will be actively discouraging people from using the platform micro.blog or tinylytics due to the overzealous actions of *someone* with stake in MB's or vincent's reputation.
the truth is not defamation, & i am not scared of you, whatever shadowy figure did this, or any lawyer who might be seeking to bully, harass, or intimidate by threatening baseless litigation or by asserting wholly unmeritorious claims.
send me a C&D for this: i do not like you, or your platform, due to the actions you have publicly taken, the words on your blog, and the way micro.blog & you have responded publicly to multiple criticisms & complaints about the platform YOU run. this is my opinion & not an assertion of fact.
from where i'm standing, your platform is not safe for people like me, allies, & my trans friends, no matter how many times you say it *now*. it is not safe to approach you with criticism. it is not safe to bring problems of YOUR platform to you. and i came to that conclusion based on the waffling & hand-wringing YOU did in public in response.
micro.blog looks like it stands for silencing critics of its platform, grandstanding, rainbow-washing, & taking zero accountability. if you didn't send the C&D, find out who did & publicly denounce it.
> TL;DR: micro.blog devs and/or anonymous C&D sender, go fuck yourself. you want to protect your reputation? EARN IT. disgraceful.
P.S. adam has said he wants to move on, but again, i'm sorry--i want to say something because this can embolden others to weaponize the legal system against personal website owners (esp. ones with low income), & we're not laying down for that shit without speaking up.
the #32bitcafe new year's event has officially concluded with a total of 42 submissions, our biggest yet! thank you all for your energy, efforts, and submissions! here's to making 2025 an amazing year.
the #32bitcafe year-end code jam event has officially started! reflect over this past year in a #blog post or submit a website/webpage about finding light in the darkness, our two themes this year.
our annual holiday event is a great time to get involved in an #indieweb / #SmallWeb community because it lasts for a whole month! if you’re a beginner, join our community so we can help you get started!
you have until january 15 to submit your entry.
if you’re interested in personal websites, hobby #webdev, or playing with #html and #css — join us to help this year be our biggest yet! we’re taking back our platforms from social media giants and building wonderful, wholesome communities that are fun, thoughtful, and creative.
happy holidays! 
our november newsletter is out for the #32bitcafe! our monthly newsletter talks about what community members are #blogging about this month, community news, a member's personal website of the month, and events happening in the cafe and around the #indieweb.
if you haven't subscribed or heard of us, i hope you'll give it a read and include us in your email reading! <3 it's a great way to keep up with what developers, artists, and hobbyists are doing with their personal websites to grow the #SmallWeb and get out from under the thumb of #bigtech.
happy halloween, #indieweb ! 
the spooky edition of our monthly newsletter from the #32bitcafe features our participants of the halloween event, what our community members have been talking about around the cafe, blog posts from members, and @moxiemoshpit as our site spotlight! 
give it a read here: https://listmonk.32bit.cafe/archive/october-31-2024
calling all #coding connoisseurs, #webdev hobbyists, #html heroes, #css comrades, #blog buffs, and digital #art aficionados!
the #32bitcafe's second annual #halloween event will be starting this weekend for two weeks!
we'll have four ways to participate with either art, writing, or code, including a FRANKENSITE! oooo~ scary~ 
you have the 13th-27th to submit something that fits into our theme/format! :)
can't wait to see what everyone sends in!
This is amazing: overlapping webrings arranged in a Subway map.
https://gusbus.space/smallweb-subway
via the #32bitcafe newsletter https://listmonk.32bit.cafe/archive/august-31-2024-2
cc @xandra of https://32bit.cafe
the #32bitcafe is hosting our first webweaving workshop for personal #website owners! come to our one-hour session to talk all things personal websites: what you’re making, what you need help with, and what you want to explore.
if you're unfamiliar with what we do, head over to https://32bit.cafe to learn more about us and jump into our workshop if you're up for hanging out with a bunch of webdev hobbyists!
https://discourse.32bit.cafe/t/announcing-our-webweaving-workshop/1403
SO excited to announce that the #32bitcafe is launching our monthly newsletter, 32-BIT CAFE BYTES!
you can expect:
* 32-Bit Cafe community updates, including any announcements and launches
* Discourse-specific updates
* most popular forum threads of the month
* discussion questions of the week
* calls for volunteers for projects
* upcoming events
* blog posts, either written by 32-Bit Cafe members or outside the community, that talk about the personal web and subjects related to our community mission
* featuring websites of our members
i'm so excited about this, so forgive my plugging! :) keep up with what we're doing in the cafe to help spread the good word of #webdev as a hobby, get more folks building their own #website, and bringing creativity and self-expression back to our web use again!
you'll have our inaugural newsletter in your inbox this weekend if you subscribe by august 31st! 
This is neat: Synths for dummies
https://milkyway.moe/codejam/commcodejam5
From the #32bitcafe back to school code jam: https://32bit.cafe/~xandra/events/codejam5
our #32bitcafe back to school code jam entries are now displayed and available to browse! check out your available courses here to learn from folks around the cafe!
https://32bit.cafe/~xandra/events/codejam5/
this was officially our biggest code jam ever with 30 submissions! 
thank you to EVERYONE for participating! you all did an amazing job with this prompt!! i’m so proud of our community!
only a few days left of our fifth community code jam, running until august 17th!
you still have time to get in on the action! throw up a webpage or #blog post on your website dedicated to something you're learning, have learned, or want to learn about! :)
the #32bitcafe is joining the #fediverse! we have launched a pixelfed instance at https://pixel.32bit.cafe 
right now, the feeds are alive with cats and dogs! 
for more information about why we did this, head over to our discourse announcement: https://discourse.32bit.cafe/t/32-bit-cafe-joins-the-fediverse/1173
the 32-bit cafe is hosting our 5th (!!) community code jam, running from august 4th-17th!
our theme this time is *back to school*! any style of webpage (blog post, image gallery, coding experiment, etc.) is welcome to be submitted to this code jam, as long as it centers around a topic you either know a lot about, want to learn about, or are actively learning! teach us about new things through your submissions!
join us, a lot of folks are excited about this one!
Is 32bit.cafe permanently down? I've been trying to visit it for a while and just get a server error #indieweb #32bitcafe
The theme is of the 32.bit Cafe Code Jam that's happening right now is "destination vacation". I think planning big vacations can be pretty stressful, but I can always take a moment to mentally go to somewhere peaceful to achieve a state of relaxation. This was my inspiration for my code jam submission: A Short Rest, a TTRPG-themed self-care resource! https://lostletters.neocities.org/short-rest/ #codejam #SelfCare #32BitCafe
