Ten years away, and it felt like I never left
A week back with the Australian Mac admin community that gave me my name a decade ago - notes from X World 2026 in Melbourne.
Posts tagged "community"
Dave, you should be sorry
His most recent blog post is the worst one, but it isn't new. I read two-plus years of David Heinemeier Hansson's writing, and then watched someone I respect get excited to work with him anyway.
I was afraid to go back to Penn State Mac Admins. I'm glad I did.
Seven years since my last Penn State Mac Admins, and after everything that happened this spring, I wasn't sure how I'd be received. I was wrong to worry.
There is enough for everyone
A record I've been listening to since I was a kid turns out to have been right all along.
Erasure is the first step. What comes next is worse.
The first books the Nazis burned were about trans people. The fire is the part you remember. The erasure was done by everything that came after - and the same kind of machinery is being assembled now, in public, by companies whose names we know.
ICE pepper sprayed a senator on Memorial Day
What happened at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE detention center over Memorial Day weekend, and the infrastructure that made it possible.
Does Idaho's bathroom ban protect women?
Idaho's HB 752 creates felony penalties for using the wrong bathroom - harsher than drunk driving. Let's ask honestly whether it accomplishes what it claims.
Stepping down (again) from the MacAdmins Slack admin team
On burnout, harassment, and knowing when to step back
OpenClaw is amazing and you probably shouldn't run it
The viral AI agent is everything we wanted. It's also a security researcher's nightmare. Here's what you need to know.
The tech industry built the machinery of American fascism
Scholars say the U.S. no longer qualifies as a democracy. The tech industry built the tools that made this possible.
Watch the videos. Then tell me who the terrorists are.
Federal agents executed two US citizens in Minneapolis in three weeks. Neither was breaking any laws. The administration is now using their deaths to demand access to Minnesota's voter rolls.
What the hell are you still doing on X?
Every post you or your company makes on X legitimizes a platform flooding with CSAM and hate speech. Your brand presence is an endorsement. It's time to leave - publicly.
Just do the things
Stop waiting for permission to contribute. Find a gap, start before you're ready, and learn what you need along the way. Growth happens outside your comfort zone.
Why I'll always help a competitor (and why that's not weird)
Why helping competitors isn't weird in the Mac Admin community. On collaboration, friendship, and why we share configs across company lines.
When did caring about people become political?
I've spent most of my career trying to stay out of political discussions in professional spaces. Not because I don't have opinions, but because in tech communities, we've generally agreed that keeping our professional spaces focused on the work creates room for everyone. That's still true. This isn't about that.
The thankless art of starting something that outgrows you
A reflection on the emotional cost of building an online community, how it feels to see your work forgotten, your role erased, and yet still find meaning in what remains.