How the dark mode toggle discourse unfolded One designer's argument against the classic light/dark/system three-way switch turned into weeks of blog rebuttals, parody posts, and "do you even need a toggle at all?" takes. The timeline Aug 1…
Aesthetics Wiki | Fandom
Thank you to the winner of our redesign contest, Ethan Duke! The background and wordmark are both his work. You can check him out on both Instagram and Twitter at @theduke2442! The dark mode was designed by Gwenanenn.
The case against efficiency: friction in social media
Social media platforms frequently prioritize efficiency to maximize ad revenue and user engagement, often sacrificing deliberation, trust, and reflective, purposeful cognitive engagement in the process. This manuscript examines the potential of friction—design choices that intentionally slow user interactions—as an alternate approach. We present a case against efficiency as the dominant paradigm on social media and advocate for a complex systems approach to understanding and analyzing friction. Drawing from interdisciplinary literature, real-world examples, and industry experiments, we highlight the potential for friction to mitigate issues like polarization, disinformation, and toxic content without resorting to censorship. We propose a state space representation of friction to establish a multidimensional framework and language for analyzing the diverse forms and functions through which friction can be implemented. Additionally, we propose several experimental designs to examine the impact of friction on system dynamics, user behavior, and information ecosystems, each designed with complex systems solutions and perspectives in mind. Our case against efficiency underscores the critical role of friction in shaping digital spaces, challenging the relentless pursuit of efficiency and exploring the potential of thoughtful slowing.
How Markdown took over the world - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
You Might Debate It — If You Could See It
Writing about the big beautiful mess that is making things for the world wide web.
Liberalism in Dark Times: The Liberal Ethos in the Twen…
A timely defense of liberalism that draws vital lessons…
The Death of DeviantArt and the art-site shaped hole haunting the Internet - Multi-hyphenate
Why every new "Art Community" fails. Equal parts eulogy, condemnation, and mourning.
Our CSS isn't opinionated enough - Craig Abbott
Why styling on semantics and roles could make accessibility harder to skip
Our CSS isn't opinionated enough - Craig Abbott
Why styling on semantics and roles could make accessibility harder to skip
Don't Take the Black Pill - Andrew Kelley | SSW 2026
Getting started - Docs
Discourse Graphs are a tool and ecosystem for collaborative knowledge synthesis, enabling researchers to map ideas and arguments in a modular, composable graph format.
Blacksky
Decentralized social media built for community power, culture, and collective freedom.
i am going to solve the cyberpunk discourse forever. part 1: the pigs.
A while back, I replayed Mass Effect; my politics have shifted more towards the left since I last played it about four years prior, and I…
florianschepp/bsky-comments
A zero-dependency Web Component to embed Bluesky discussion threads on any website.
Unauthorized Bread: Real rebellions involve jailbreaking IoT toasters
Cory Doctorow's book, Radicalized, is up for a CBC award. To celebrate, here's an excerpt.
