Jonathan Bellack
@bellack
Author of the Platformocracy newsletter, 30-year Internet veteran, Xoogler, grilling/smoking, an old house, and many, many comic books.
My labradoodle chased a groundhog up a tree. This photo feels like it needs to be a meme. Open to suggestions.
So great that I have a contract with my mediocre sandwich and soup provider.
You know you've screwed up when ICE is thanking you. @mikiesherrill.bsky.social @repsherrill.bsky.social @stateofnewjersey.bsky.social
I made a thing. Galaga arcade marquee needlepoint, roughly life-size - 28” x 10”, 90,000 stitches. Around 100 hours of work. In-progress photos and details of how I did it here: photos.app.goo.gl/LtWotK8XCQwC... #needlepoint #retrogaming
PLATFORMOCRACY: I gingerly wade into the debate over age verification for social media. I am a parent, so I understand the concerns & do not think laissez faire is the right answer. I am worried that we are making big platforms stronger without being clear about the problem we’re trying to solve. 1/
Seen on 34th Street between 7th Ave and Broadway in Manhattan. Reminds me of the dot-com bubble days. @logrocket.bsky.social
Today's largest platforms have more users than the population of the world's largest countries. That isn’t an excuse to impose bureaucratic autocracy. Our vital challenge is to figure out a new evolution of democracy that can work for global communities of billions of people. 5/6
Hey New Jersey! Did you know that besides the Roxbury concentration camp, ICE is also trying to lease space for 40 lawyers in Roseland? Tell Aresco Management (the owners), that you don't want ICE functionaries operating in a building with a day care center. Details in attached image. #newjersey
PLATFORMOCRACY: Platforms say their processes are thorough and fair, but they frequently restore terminated accounts when there's public outcry. Are they getting it wrong all the time, or are they throwing principle overboard to tamp down criticism? Transparency would help them, as well as us. 1/5
The new Muppet Show is a GODDAMNED DELIGHT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY FROM START TO FINISH. Everyone please, please watch it a billion times so we can have more episodes.
I finally learned how to make a homemade bowl of ramen. Dual-soup shoyu, mostly based on a video from Way of Ramen on YouTube, plus Serious Eats for the chashu. Sun noodles are as good as advertised. Doesn't look pretty, but the taste was spot on and the family enjoyed it. ❤️🍜
Online identity should not be a one size fits all proposition. Different stakeholders (individuals, communities, platforms) have different expectations based on the channel (one-on-one, small group, broadcast, etc). We need technology to support more nuance and control. 1/2
There is no online safety without anonymity. We have thirty years of evidence that requiring real-world identities online is harmful. 1 - Identifying people online is how authoritarian regimes punish dissent. 1/4
Can we protect the Internet without revealing our real-world identities? 1/4
💯 This week's @404media.co podcast talks about how the anti-porn crusade that led to the Steam and itch.io NSFW takedowns started 30 years ago. They mention how the alarmist 1995 Time magazine cover about Cyberporn was based on "research" so flawed that the author of the article later disavowed it.
I’m in a book! “Yield: How Google Bought, Built, and Bullied Its Way to Advertising Dominance” by Ari Paparo came out this week. I led product management of the ad tech products at the heart of the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google, so I’m in it a lot and have many thoughts + an apology. 1/10