Every one of my tag tests was about adding native WordPress tags to the text of the toot. Supposing I add some tags like #mastodon#debug#activitypub to the text. Do they show up in the toot? Do they get added back to WordPress as native tags?
I’m about to lay down and take a nap on this particular issue. It is exhausting.
I recently started using a feature on Podcast Addict and immediately wished I had learned about it years ago. That is archive mode. The immediate impetus was the posting schedule for the podcast version of Cartoonist Kayfabe. I believe they space out the posting of YouTube videos to one or two a day but they drop the audio podcasts in batches. I love them, but I don’t want to listen to 15 episodes of their show in a row (true story.) Thus, I learned how to use this mode out of self-defense of my own ear sanity.
I would imagine that all mature podcatchers on Android and iOS have something like this. Podcast Addict is the only one I use, so the only one I know how to work like this.
First, for the podcast you want to configure you need to open it up from the main list of podcasts. If there are no unplayed episodes, you will need to click the eye icon to make it show. Click the gear in the upper right to go into the settings menu.
Once in this menu, scroll down. There are two different sets of options you will need to override (unless you want to do this at the global level for literally everything you listen to.)
The first is “Download”. Toggle on the option to override global settings, then click the line under that to set options. You will want to have Automatic Download and Archive Mode enabled. You probably want “Download older first” enabled unless for some reason you want to listen to this front to back. I set “Batch download limit” to the same as the number of episodes I will want to keep. In most cases that is 1.
Back out of that menu and look down a few options to “Automatic cleanup”. Again, override and click into the set of options. This is what makes the heart of this work. Paired with the options above, this will keep one and only one (or whatever you choose) available in your playlist. Set “Keep at most” to one or the number you like. If you are starting this up at a time the number is greater than this, you will see no immediate effect. Once you get below this number, you will then see the behavior of downloading another episode once one is finished.
In practice for me, I will finish an episode of Cartoonist Kayfabe and then the playlist will jump to the next available podcast. This will be immediate. Even with the fastest internet, it will take a few seconds to download another episode. Unless a new show comes down with a higher priority (such as I set timely news shows and a few favorite programs) effectively ever other episode played will be one of these. It does work out pretty nice. I don’t want to listen to a whole bunch in a row, but I don’t mind a strict alternation with the rest of my playlist.
I do have a few shows where N is more than 1. For the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast I have it set to 2 episodes. That’s a bit moot because I have never gotten that low since I set this up. I went from automatically downloading episodes that I seldom listen to (mostly when I’m reading) to putting it in to archive mode to only have a few episodes at a time. It keeps the playlist from getting so redonkulously large while having the same net effect.
That’s how I do this. Let me know if this helps for you or if you have some other tips and tricks I don’t know about. Happy listening!
As part of my startup with Mastodon I happened to run across a link to this Bring Back Blogging project. The goals are modest. In the month of January make three posts on your blog, syndicated via RSS with all the standard stuff. I’m not counting this point nor all the Mastodon test posts. I am sitting down to right substantial post #1 right now, as it is one I’ve owed some people for some time.
This is the kind of thing I thought was worth doing for some time, but I haven’t had the tiny little nudge it would take to do it. Randomly finding the link to that page was just enough nudge, so I am nudged.
After a few years of hibernation, the David Lee Roth podcast has new episodes! This is for me exactly the right mix of high minded thoughts and absolutely stupid redonkulousness. You hear well worn patter mixed with deep dives on interesting topics. This is the good stuff.
I lied about previous being last test. I took literally everything that the plugin says is available to the template and added it. Let’s see how this works and if that explains anything about the hashtag business.
No longer making statements about finality of any given test.
One more test. Tags were not showing up in Mastodon so I unchecked the one box that I can to see if that makes it different. Win lose or draw, I stop testing here.
My first test I configured literally nothing, so that was out of the box ActivityPub plugin formatting. There is the ability to adjust it some so I am trying that with this post. Eventually the bulk of these posts will be my podcast episodes so I am trying to find something that will work with that.
My first inclination was to set it up with hashtags, link to the blog post and an excerpt. I realize that I was still thinking in autopost/push type mindset. As I (barely) understand the protocol, the character limits in toots is defined by the instance. I’ve seen people posting about how to raise it per instance. Since WordPress is the “server” it probably isn’t limiting my characters so let’s just show the whole damn thing. I’m now excited to publish the next episode so I can see what the formatting looks like on Mastodon. I tried to push the last episode but updating doesn’t seem to do it, only new posts.
One thing that seems to be missing from this templating language is the ability to put in the “Show More” break. I can add it from the Tusky Android app but not here. If that existed, my template would probably become: Title Hash tags Shortlink Show More Full text of the post
Rather than auto-posting from WordPress to Mastodon (like I do for the bird) I thought I would try the ActivityPub plugin. This should make this blog subscribable at dave@evilgeniuschronicles.org (conveniently the same as the email.) The question is – will it work?
In this episode, I play a song by Nick Miller; I am still fighting the pipewire transition; I have joined Mastodon; the day zero experience kind of sucks; I have no idea how important the choice of a Mastodon instance is; I miss Usenet and GEnie SFRT; my NetNewsWatcher filters were finely tuned; rec.arts.sf.written was great and also where I learned to hate gatekeepers; quiet quitting is another way to refer to healthy work-life balance; not needing your job makes it much more fun; spare me your think pieces on the nature of work; I watched The Keep and Cafe Express for the Video Archives podcast.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, January 1 2023.
In this episode, I play the other of our traditional holiday songs by American Heartbreak; truncated due to illness I tell an anecdote and wish everyone the best.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, December 24 2022.
In this episode, I play one of our traditional holiday songs by Jill Sobule; Feedback episode! Many missives from Reed Knight with some from Jeff Dangel, Darren Griffith, Metal Dan, Nutty Nuchtchas and others; we discuss redaction, journaling, music ad lots of cool stuff.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, December 18 2022.
In this episode, I play a song by Domenico + 2; I just realized the Garrison Keillor influence on this very podcast; the sandwich generation is wearing on us; I have no interest in true crime anything; have I completely lost the taste for cringey comedy?; I did send letters to voters via Vote Forward; am I individually on the hook for taking free and legal options?; I hearken back to Allan Havey’s Night after Night; I don’t know who Ben Shapiro is or what the Podcast Movement controversy; I have a narrow window of acceptable self-regard; there was something in the air in the mid-2000s maker culture; decluttering is full of overwhelming decisions; Scoble melted down over a timetable;
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, December 8 2022.
In this episode, I play a song by Corb Lund; I am becoming a 1/3 assed woodworker; I have built peg boards and shelves; my Braves junk from the 1990s is staring me in the face; my mom had a decoupage phase; I am purging old family stuff; I am completely over most of the fall/winter holidays; cheap WiZ brand iot light bulbs from Walmart helped me out; I am dumping Wemo switches and all off the wall brands; my media lockdown continues; I’m done with the political parties available to me; does my withdrawal from politics grant a win to my enemies?; all hail the speed square.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, December 3 2022.
In this episode, I play a song by Andreas Transø; I totally will pull an Irish goodbye on you; I have a list of new podcasts that I have subscribed to – Best New Ideas in Money; The Plot Thickens; Turned Out a Punk; I Said No Gifts; Out of the Blocks; Roy’s Job Fair; Video Archives; I am nervous about another podcast that requires projects before I listen; I have upped my game in Podcast Addict by using archive mode; the lock-in I have with Podcast Addict may be the strongest in my life; my coworkers have strong feelings about voice assistants; if voice assistants could parse everything you say in their presence they would but they can’t; I have given up on strong opinions on most things;
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, October 13 2022.
In this episode, I play a new song by John Doe; I celebrate the 18th anniversary of the podcast belatedly as is our custom; R.I.P. a monarch who doesn’t affect my life; House of the Dragon shocks me; I have become a half-assed woodworker; I built one regular compost sifter and also a comedically large one; trying Value4Value did nothing for me; Podverse did nothing for me; micropayments fails at the human decision level; I am not a crypto-maximalist, I am a crypto-barelyist; Everything Everywhere is an example of a podcast doing all the things I ignore; I give self-appointed experts too much credit; the Linux Link Tech show live on!
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, September 15 2022.
In this episode, I play a song by Thundermother; pipewire still sucks; where you live matters and really affects how you feel; I was not man enough to live in New Orleans; one weekend in Manhattan was plenty for me; I’ve spent most of my adult life in the southeast and I am unwilling to hear yankees bag on the region; Tailscale is really making my networking life better; the Plex data breach is making me consider Jellyfin; Oz 9 is not maintaining my affection; Reading Glasses is losing me with the slide whistle.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, September 1 2022.
In this episode, I play a song by Soil & “Pimp” Sessions; the weight struggles continue; the Dog Days of Podcasting is on; over time the Dog Days of Podcasting and NaNoWriMo have the opposite effect of intended; I am composting with no real plan or science behind it; I am loving the Sandman adaptation on Netflix; DC Infinite is deeply disappointing and much worse than Marvel Unlimited; am I fetishizing my backlogs? why do I choose what I do minute to minute?
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, August 22 2022.
In this episode, I play a song by Bo Burnham; I quit the Retirement Starts Today Radio podcast; I take mild exception to Benjamen Walker’s history of podcasting; my cohort of early podcasting is very different from Benjamen’s; I tell the story of using the term “podcast” for the first time; Latiff Nasser’s presentation at Podcast Movement was the one I liked the least; I don’t like the recordings of live podcasts; “there’s not a lot of love in this”; I love the Bosch books and hate the Cold Poker Gang books; I loved the TV shows Ms. Marvel and The Man Who Fell to Earth; I am done with emails telling me content to consume; pretty much all retailers are unsubscribe to me now.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, August 4 2022.
In this episode, I play a song by Skeleton McKee; Pipewire is continuing to make my recording day harder; softball is eating our June and I’m happy with that; It’s A Pixies Podcast is back; I am trying to improve my Obsidian daily notes game; Ms. Marvel on DIsney+ is fantastic; I continue to struggle with my task management; maintaining things I have been told is a challenge; As The Money Burns is a new favorite podcast; Headspace makes me think about what I clench; I have active grimace face; is Headspace giving me a longer fuse? having a Bojangles open beside a Bojangles is big stuff in our life; you need a sense of proportion.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, June 20 2022.