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We recently had unexpected downtime of unknown length. This unfortunately happened during the two days where my phone was broken, so I did not get notified. This turned what should have been a ten minute incident into a several hour incident. I am now working to address this problem so that it does not happen during future incidents.

If you have any questions or concerns about this incident, please email me at dj@farkascity.org.

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#Downtime #StatusUpdates

The, small, dark wheels sit atop the grass lonely.

The great, red, basin reclines in majesty, beads of water scattered across its surface.

The scratches of the dirt from long-ago works leaves its mark.

I have fallen iinto a sewer. help me please theres no cheese here

i am like batman except i just listen to epic moody music and be dark and brooding but everyone else just thinks im autistic

hii! honestly i might just be screaming this post into the void, i genuinely have no idea if people will read it (certainly i’m under no illusions people will care)

but still, i felt like writing something, and i want to get actually into this, so here’s the situation!

sorry for like not posting for ages, i honestly ended up pretty unhappy with the first chapter, and i didn’t feel like fleshing out those characters or settings, it was mostly just a jumping off point to see if i could do it.

anyway, i’ve come up with two narratives that i think i wanna tell, both in the same world as WTSCU was, but with a little bit of like, actual plot in mind, not just me trying to like formulate my ideal world in a narrative form

i do also love just thinking about a more sustainable/peaceful/equitable/leisurely future though, i find it so relaxing and motivating, so if people wanted i totally would absolutely love to like share some of my worldbuilding for the 2090 setting.

so back to those two stories! the first concept i have wouldn’t be utopian, or really happy at all- it’d be set in the late 30’s early 40’s, which is one of the darker moments in the timeline, but i think i have an actual story i want to tell there, and it could provide context for this little project

concept two is a sweet little sapphic romance where we get a little more into the realm of just me having fun and imagining fun solarpunk futuristic shit, and, of course, that smut that i talked about.

just as a warning, the rest of this blogpost might be a little NSFW

so like. okay. i feel like i have such fun sexy little things i want to write, but i am not good at writing, nor is horny really an ideal mood for writing in? plus, it’s deeply awkward to actually post it where i know people i know will find it.

but also like it’s kinda so much fun to talk about sex, and there’s just too many ideas bouncing around inside my head for me to not write them down.

so the gay sex story is happening, but don’t expect actual smut for like a little bit, i’ll need at least a couple of chapters of context first.

life is also absurdly busy right now, so it might take forever, but i promise i will make it actually happen

when i do get around to writing the spicy stuff though, i can’t be the only one doing it so it would be nice if others wrote some sexy words for their own girlblogs

bye

There’s a heft to a breath That reminds of - Finely brewed coffee, Two dollar chapstick, The tomatoes – of your garden

From blooming aromas, To tea bags abandoned - In waters un-waded, It seems I've over-steeped And left the kettle on

Your hair’s gotten long. But not long enough For you, to want, to tie, it up

A writing

Strolling to the bathroom, Looking in the mirror; why am I like this? I splash my face. say “I can do this” but my voice is not how I remembered. I am almost taller than my mirror now;finally growing. I take off my shirt and gently run my fingertips down my back to relieve myself of this itch. I grab clothes to wear. I look down. First mistake. I throw on my clothes trying to not cry. Why am I like this? I try and take a deep breath. Why am I like this? I go and make breakfast and realize my shirt is too tight. Why am I like this? I get in the car. I am not yet driving. I smile. My dog is trying to lick my face. We are here. I can’t breathe. I walk in. They don’t know my secret. Why am I like this? I sigh in relief. I run up to them like I’m a little kid running to their best friend. I smile.

In Reply To: “Thanks For Your Response” — shrrrrub References: “Re: Can We Have Comments?” — FarkasCity Blog

My only concern is that you seem to want FarkasCity to be a conversation, of sorts, where all is given equal weight and whatnot. Is there any plan in place that prevents the general feed from being overly convoluted?

— shrrrrub

It’s not that I want FarkasCity to be a conversation per se, but more that I want everyone — including authors of blogs on their own sites — to have an equal voice should a conversation emerge.

If you’d like to keep a conversation organized, especially one that takes place across multiple sites, then link to posts that you're replying to so that readers can follow the conversation. If you’d like, you can also link to posts that reply to your own (see “Re: Can We Have Comments?” as an example of this).

Is there any plan in place that prevents the general feed from being overly convoluted?

Not at the moment. I did not anticipate the feed being as popular as it is, so I haven’t really thought about this. I can say that the there is a plan to keep the feed spam-free, though.

I’m open to this if this is something people want. If anyone has an idea of what this could look like, then write a reply or send me an email.

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#Replies

There has been some unexpected downtime today due to severe weather. The server is back up now, and no data was lost. I am currently working to ensure that it remains up as the storm continues. As always, please email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Incident details

What happened

1. At 2023-08-18 00:43-0400, the electricity went out. One minute later, the internet also went out. They were restored at 02:45-0400.
2. The internet went in and out until it stabilized at 12:00-0400.
3. At that time, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) gave the server a new IP address. This occurs very occasionally, but I have systems in place to automatically detect this and update the DNS records.
4. The server that tells FarkasCity its public IP address was incorrectly configured, so the automatic system did not work.
5. When I got off work at 12:30-0400, I immediately went to the server to fix the problem. Roughly 15 minutes later, I discovered the IP address change and manually corrected the DNS records.
6. I wrote this post.

Next steps

1. The Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) that FarkasCity is connected to has run out of battery power, so I am going to connect the secondary one. This should last the remainder of the storm.
2. I am going to update the the IP detection script to check with multiple other servers, and to alert me if one is unavailable.

#StatusUpdates #Downtime

6 bucks is an absolute bargain.

Ironic stock is going to take off

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT

buy it. buy it now, before H with umulat runs out of stock.

#ironytakeover #buyironystock #dontmissout

There's a place by the seashore

Covered in rocks, and seaweed, and droppings from black-tipped gulls.

At the top, I pretend there's a door.

It leads to a world of white nothings,

Where the sea and the sky meet in bright darkness,

and the stars don't shine.

When I climb to the tip of the rocks,

I look out at this world, of the sea and the sky,

And I wish I could cross that line.

I wish I could reach out my hand

And gather the soft darkness of the star-weary sky into my fingers.

I wish I could reach through the door and take a piece of that dim light back to my land,

So I could have it evermore.

I like to lie there, and think of the waves that wash upside-out in this world of mine.

And when the sun falls and the day runs away,

I go back, and with this brief view of a world that is more, I am fine.

I think it's the knowing that does it, that makes in all right in the end.

And yet...

#TIME

where did you go

why did you leave me here alone

wait

dont go so fast

im missing the moments as they pass

now im lost

in the mirror

and the worlds

getting clearer

so wait for me this time

this time

To the Most Diplomatic and Respected Farkas Mayor:

Thanks for your reply. It was well thought-out, and honestly answered the question. I appreciate it.

My only concern is that you seem to want Farkas City to be a conversation, of sorts, where all is given equal weight and whatnot. Is there any plan in place that prevents the general feed from being overly convoluted?

post-script

mayor i am very sad by ur announcement u get ur reasons behind it and stuff but i dont like it

In reply to: shrrrrub

As much as I’d like to, I cannot begin this post with a simple answer to that question. It’s a simple question, but its actual answer is nuanced enough that a simple response would not justly answer the question — even considering that in all likelihood, the question from shrrrrub’s point of view boils down to ‘Please add the ability to comment so that people can respond to my post’.

The problem is that “comment” can refer to many different things.

In the context of a blog

In the context of a blog, it typically refers to a section at the bottom of a post where users can read short messages from others and write their own. In this context, the answer is simply “no”. A blog with such a comment system is essentially a forum (or subreddit) where only one person is allowed to create new threads.

This creates a lopsided relationship between the author of a post and its readers. By turning a blog post into a forum thread, readers are discouraged from writing their own reply post, and instead mostly reply in the thread itself. This system inherently reduces someone’s digital independence; either the original author can moderate the comments (thereby reducing the replying authors’ independence), or the original author cannot control that section of their page (thereby reducing the original author’s independence).

My primary goal with FarkasCity is helping nontechnical people become digitally independent — that is the sentiment behind the “About FarkasCity” blurb, and that is why the rules allow you to do basically anything that won’t get me in legal trouble*† — so I will not provide a comment system which goes against that goal.

In the context of conversations

In the context of conversations, a comment is a statement or remark about another statement or remark. In conversations, all communications are equal and everyone can speak independently. If Alice says something, Bob can respond. There’s nothing Alice can do to prevent Bob from commenting, but she also doesn’t then have to convey Bob’s comment every time she says her original statement to someone else.

This is partly due to the nature of ephemeral communication. Bob’s comment isn’t conveyed every time Alice makes her statement because Bob’s comment doesn’t last forever. Online, however, this breaks down. Bob’s comment on Alice’s post can last as long as the original post does, so it is conveyed every time someone reads the post, thus reducing Alice’s digital independence.

In the context of the Internet

The solution to this is for people to comment by writing reply posts. This doesn’t have to be done in any particular way. I structure mine like emails because I personally like that style, but reply posts can be as simple as a regular post that refers to someone else’s.

This method preserves both the original author’s and the replying authors’ digital independence — the original author retains full control of their post, and replying authors have full control over their comments. What’s more, is that if the original author lists some way of contacting them on their blog, then they can be informed of new replies, thus enabling them to curate their own comment section if they so wish.

In short: just write a comment.

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Replies

• “Thanks For Your Response” by shrrrrub

Footnotes

1. …and that isn’t commercial content or advertising, because I’m not going to host someone’s commercial content for free.
2. This is a simplification and is not a substitute for reading the rules.

#HowTo #Replies

that's it. there's no formal way to suggest changes to the site from the site. i think it'd be neat to have comments tho

Loneliness

The time of loneliness after a breakup A weekend spent playing an entire live boxset End to end to end, no rewinding each Cassette with a pencil to the good bits.

The time of loneliness was a Christmas Holiday, a break from the oppressive Jollity of others, a time to embrace a Bottle of red and a collection of essays.

The time of loneliness ended with a Slice of cake delivered by a neighbour and Realising that loneliness, like love, Is a practice not a condition, It had its purposes and its reasons A time for its season, and a time to stop.