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PEN PALS WANTED |
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2023-11-13 |
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Semi-inspired by a similar project by Kev Quirk, I've got a project I want to |
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run on my blog in 2024. |
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I want you to be my pen pal for a month. Get in touch by emailing |
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penpals@danq.me or any other way you like and let's do this! |
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Traditional inkwell and pen, the latter held in an inkstained finger grip, being used to write a letter on unbleached paper atop a wooden desk. |
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I don't know much about the people who read my blog, whether they're ad-hoc |
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visitors or regular followers (Not-knowing who reads my blog might come at |
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least in part from the fact that I actively sabotage any plugin that might |
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give me any analytics! One might say I've shot myself in the foot, there.). |
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Dan, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, sits hunched over a keyboard with Pride-coloured keys, looking thoughtfully at a widescreen monitor. On the monitor is a mocked-up screenshot showing site analytics for DanQ.me, but with question marks for every datapoint. |
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So here's the plan: I'm looking to do is to fill a "dance card" of interesting |
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people each of with whom I'll "pen pal" for a month. |
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The following month, I'll blog about the experience: who I met, what I learned |
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about them, what I learned about myself. Have a look below and see if there's |
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a slot for you: I'd love to chat to you about, well - anything! |
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MY GOALS: |
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* |
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Get inspired to blog about new/different things (and hopefully help |
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inspire others to do the same). |
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Connect with a dozen folks on a more-interpersonal level than I normally |
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do via my blog. |
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* Maybe even make, or deepen, some friendships! |
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THE "RULES": |
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* Aiming for at least 3 email exchanges over a month. Maybe more. (If we stay |
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in touch afterwards that's fine too, but it's not essential.) |
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* Email is the medium. (I'm looking for longer-form, but slower, communication |
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than you get via e.g. instant messengers and whatnot: a more "penpal" |
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experience.) |
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* There's no specific agenda: I promise to bring what I've been thinking about |
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and working on, and possibly a spicy conversation-starter from |
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LetsLifeChat.com. You bring whatever you like. No topic is explicitly off the |
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table unless somebody says it is (which anybody can do at any time, for any or |
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no reason). |
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* I'll blog a summary of my experience the month afterwards, but I won't share |
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anything without permission. I'll happily share an unpublished draft with each |
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penpal first so they can veto any bits they don't like. I'll refer to you by |
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whatever name, link etc. suits you best. |
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* If you have a blog/digital garden/social presence of any kind, you're |
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welcome to blog about it too. Or not: entirely up to you! |
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WHO'S IN SO FAR? |
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Want in? Leave a comment, at-me on the Fediverse @dan@danq.me, fill my contact |
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form, or just email penpals@danq.me. Okay; looks like I've got a full year of |
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people to meet! Awesome! |
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Penpal with... |
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...during... |
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...and blog in: |
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Notes: |
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Colin Walker |
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December 2023 |
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January 2024 |
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Colin's announcement |
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Thom Denholm |
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January 2024 |
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February 2024 |
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Ru |
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February 2024 |
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March 2024 |
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Dr. Alex Bowyer |
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March 2024 |
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April 2024 |
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Agreement via LinkedIn |
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Roslyn Cook |
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April 2024 |
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May 2024 |
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Garrett Coakley |
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May 2024 |
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June 2024 |
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Derek Kedziora |
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June 2024 |
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July 2024 |
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Aarón Fas |
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July 2024 |
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August 2024 |
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Cal Desmond-Pearson |
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August 2024 |
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September 2024 |
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Tyoma |
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September 2024 |
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October 2024 |
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Farai |
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October 2024 |
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November 2024 |
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Katie |
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November 2024 |
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December 2024 |
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Katie's comment |
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I'll update this table as people get in touch. |
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WHO DO I WANT TO MEET? |
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You! If you're reading this, you're probably somebody I want to meet! But I'd |
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be especially interested in penpalling with people who tick one or more of the |
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following boxes: |
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* Personal bloggers at the edges of or just outside my usual social circles. |
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Maybe you're an IndieWeb, RSS Club, or Geminispace explorer? |
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* Regular readers, whether you just skim the post titles and dive in once in a |
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blue moon or read every post and comment on the things you care about. |
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* Automatticians from parts of the company I don't get to interact with. Let's |
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build some bridges! |
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* People whose interests overlap with mine in any way, large or small. That |
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overlap might be technology (web standards, accessibility, security, blogging, |
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open source...), hobbies (GPS sports, board games, magic, murder mysteries, |
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science fiction, getting lost on Wikipedia...), volunteering (third sector |
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support, tech for good, diversity in tech...), social (queer issues, |
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polyamory, socialism...), or something else entirely. |
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* Missed connections. Did we meet briefly or in-passing (conferences, meetups, |
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friends-of-friends, overlapping volunteering circles) but not develop anything |
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further? I'd love to pick up where we left off! |
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* Distant- and nearly-friends. Did we drift apart long ago, or never quite |
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move into one another's orbit in the first place? This could be your excuse to |
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touch bases! |
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If you read this far and didn't email penpals@danq.me yet, go do that. I'm |
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looking forward to hearing from you! |
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LINKS |
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Kev Quirk's blog post, "Seeking Pen Pals", which inspired this one (https://kevquirk.com) |
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Penpals@danq.me |
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My blog post, "Making WordPress fast... the hard way", in which I mention that I undermine any plugin that might provide me analytics |
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LetsLifeChat.com (https://letslifechat.com) |
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Link to a form where you can leave a comment on this blog post |
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@dan@danq.me on Mastodon (https://m.danq.me) |
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My contact form (https://danq.me) |
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IndieWeb (https://indieweb.org) |
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RSS Club (https://daverupert.com) |
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Automattic Inc. (https://automattic.com) |
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