Mark Darbyshire

I wear too many hats. I love theatre, data, science, and connecting people. Let's make a sustainable future that isn't built on the assumptions of the past.

Vegan. Gay. I live in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa.

Opinions are my own. Boosts aren't necessarily endorsements.

Mark Darbyshire (npub15ge…s3jr)">https://justmytoots.com/Mark Darbyshire (npub15ge…s3jr)

Pronouns: he/him
Website: https://markd.nz
Blog: https://remarks.nz
Bluesky (bridged): Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 (npub12x8…rlvp)

Last Notes

2025-02-01 03:15:46 UTC

Legends! https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/tauranga-school-mates-become-google-street-view-stars/RHAPWYY2SBAOXI5U6G7K5L233E/

2024-12-08 07:28:36 UTC

I just spent a very long time filling in this survey about my #cult experiences. If you were in a cult, you might like to too. https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/salford/health-wellbeing-former-members

2024-11-19 11:56:21 UTC

This is some seriously impressive drone footage of the hīkoi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRJ_5dZZNI4
My former colleague used it to estimate 40,000 people visible in the footage (excluding anyone already at Parliament House). This is a revision down from his previous estimate, but gels well with the estimates being reported in the media: https://bsky.app/profile/mathematiguy.bsky.social/post/3lbccpsjaq222
#NZPol #ToitūTeTiriti #HīkoiMōTeTiriti #Drone #CrowdSize

2024-11-18 22:06:33 UTC

Apparently Chris Luxon joined Bluesky yesterday and promptly got hounded off the platform.
Mixed feelings. I want decentralised/federated social media to be the norm, and that includes the ability for us to follow our elected representatives, engage in conversation, and hold them to account.
#NZPol #Bluesky

2024-11-08 00:00:27 UTC

Recently, snatches of Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night" keep playing in my mind.
Partly because I'm processing the loss of two grandparents in two months.
Partly because I'm processing the descent of humanity into darkness. But we will not go gentle into that night. We rage forever against the dying of that light.
#Poem #DylanThomas #Rage #DoNotGoGentle
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/444/370/082/492/182/original/bc344a7eb118d6d5.png

2024-11-07 03:36:39 UTC

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This statement applies in so many countries.

2024-10-30 20:00:13 UTC

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The challenge is we all bring different assumptions and values on what is best for fedi. It takes time to navigate differences and find consensus.
I'm interested in:
- bringing the next billion users to the Fediverse
- making decentralisation the norm
- meeting the needs of people who don't even know the Fediverse exists
- making it easy to connect with friends and communities across platforms.
My assumptions doubtless overlook the values that drew many existing users here.

2024-10-30 03:23:31 UTC

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I swear I read somewhere that Bluesky users were against being automatically bridged. Not that anyone can speak on behalf of all users.

2024-10-30 00:42:19 UTC

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Great question. We need to respect the wishes of people who don't want to be bridged, federated on commercial networks, etc, but if we make users siloed by default then the Fediverse is never going to realise its potential.

2024-10-29 22:01:35 UTC

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I'm bridged, and even following your Bluesky account from here (thank you)! But the number of Bluesky users I can follow is miniscule. Asking people to follow a bridging account so I can follow them is hardly seamless. I have a similar frustration with Threads: having to contact friends and ask them to enable federation before I can follow them. I'm not sure what we do about the upset users you refer to, but siloes are currently trumping user experience across multiple platforms.

2024-10-29 20:42:57 UTC

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This article talks about experiments in decentralised social media. Bluesky is the great experiment in fragmenting decentralised social media and splitting it into different siloes with different protocols. What we need now is a great experiment in unifying social media, preferably with a single protocol, but at the very least with seamless bridges or networks that support multiple protocols.

2024-10-20 09:59:51 UTC

Today's Facebook memory:
“We're halfway through Convention and I'm shattered, but praying with someone who received the Holy Spirit and spoke fluently in tongues tonight makes it all worthwhile.”
Exactly 12 years later I'm shattered at the end of a conference called Decult, thrilled to have learnt about the commonalities that bind me together with myriad other cult survivors, and renewed in my resolve to raise awareness and make cults a thing of the past.
#Decult2024 #cult #exvangelical

2024-09-28 11:06:26 UTC

This accessible new artists space in Ōtautahi needs to reach its crowdfunding target within the next couple of days. They would appreciate whatever boost or spare change you can offer. https://www.boosted.org.nz/projects/te-waa-the-space/
#Ōtautahi #Christchurch #NZ #CrowdFunding #Theatre #PerformingArts

2024-09-24 07:47:14 UTC

Some miserable Christian soul is searching the internet for openly gay people and sending us a PDF about how our relationships are unnatural and our lifestyle is sinful. I got the email yesterday. I may yet reply and tear them to shreds.
Happy to forward the email if anyone else feels like opening the mind of an ignorant bigot who doesn't realise the degree of harm they're complicit in.
There's no excuse for being a smug evangelical. I used to be one too.
#homophobia #exvangelical #atheist

2024-08-28 21:46:54 UTC

It's done! Threads now has two-way federation! If you're comfortable being on an instance that hasn't fediblocked Threads, now is the time to engage constructively with your people over on Threads on the issues they care about, so they can learn the Fediverse exists, see how it works and the benefits, and hopefully make the jump across to an instance that gels more with their values.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/28/threads-deepens-its-ties-to-the-open-social-web-aka-the-fediverse/
#Threads #Fediverse

2024-08-12 00:32:01 UTC

I watched this roll in from the hills to the city centre in mere minutes. Now it is windy and pouring with rain.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/946/223/995/137/306/original/e9c3ff478c81db91.jpg

2024-08-11 09:50:00 UTC

Sad to see the Christchurch Wizard has succumbed to the anti-woke-mind-virus mind virus and tarnished his apprentices by association.
#Ōtautahi #Christchurch #Disinformation #Dragphobia #DragStoryTime

2024-03-17 05:09:04 UTC

I identify.
#introvert #meme
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/107/613/278/504/836/original/5ef9f357b3c81822.jpg