HE term “s/n ratio” (shorthand for the above) is short, simple, and catchy. It implies we should strive for quality, not quantity, or at least for relevance.

Some months ago I became growingly aware that technical blogs where I wrote contained “too many” personal stories, which may or may not bore some of the target audience. That’s when I began writing a lot more here, in my old blog from 2004 (yes, 22 years ago).

While it’s tempting to write a lot when one has plenty to say maintaining a high “s/n ratio” is a challenge one must take seriously and tackle in a timely fashion.

One reason social control media is so time-wasting is the lack of scope. For instance, you follow someone for covering xyz, then the next day the person will write about some totally unrelated things or post holiday photos.

ast month I began (or resumed rather) regularly blogging in this site. I had done a lot of that 20+ years ago, before Techrights existed.

As a result, many people visit this site again.

This site is personal however. It’s a personal site and I don’t want to make myself the story.

Sister sites do a better job covering various issues, but keeping the blog in this site active means I can offload more personal anecdotes, improving s/n ratio in those other sites.

oday this blog hits the 3,000-posts milestone. It took 22 years. This year I decided to make better use of this blog, even if just to offload more personal stories and opinions… keeping them out of sites that are technical in nature.

Blogging is still a lot of fun.

“If you love the personal aspect of blogging, sharing your thoughts with the world, no matter the number of views, you will always have someone who loves your blog: you.” -Robert Birming, this week

have just published this article that brings us closer to the 150-part milestone. I am very eager, almost excited, to be exposing this truly nasty and shady (secretive) industry of extortion. We’re going to change the system for the better and help prevent more bloggers being victimised.

N case it’s not obvious, this blog will soon exceed 3,000 posts (after 22 years) because I want to keep personal opinions out of other sites, where authorship should focus on technical matters.

Back in 2004 I was a Ph.D. student and blogging as a term was barely known to anybody. I remember the first time I read that term, seeing the “blog” of someone from Cambridge around 2003, maybe earlier (maybe even 2002).

Seeing what a pile of crap the Web has become (slop, clickbait[*], and TikTok), I am compelled to get back to blogging.

____

[*] From IRC moments ago:

<admfubar> https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/11/canadian-airline-cancels-flight-after-child-refuses-to-wear-seatbelt
28-29TechrightsBot-tr/#techrights28- 0606www.theguardian.com | Canadian airline cancels flight after child refuses to wear seatbelt | Airline industry | The Guardian
<schestowitz[TR2]> probably dramatising something
<schestowitz[TR2]> as it is hard to believe
<schestowitz[TR2]> “The child was standing in their chair as the 6 August Porter Airlines flight taxied towards the runway, the airline said. Repeated attempts by an accompanying parent and crew to secure the child in their seat failed, so the crew elected to return to the terminal and have the two passengers disembark as “the aircraft could not take off in this unsafe condition”, it added.”
<schestowitz[TR2]> cancels flight
<schestowitz[TR2]> for who?
<schestowitz[TR2]> “were able to depart on a flight the following day”
<schestowitz[TR2]> big delay
<schestowitz[TR2]> not cancelled
<schestowitz[TR2]> misleading headline
<schestowitz[TR2]> clickbait
<schestowitz[TR2]> one grumpy kid -> fly delay -> international news?

have now been informed by three Tor users (that’s 3 out of 3) that this domain cannot be accessed by Tor users, with failure occurring at DNS level (cannot even reach the server). The webhost claims Tor is not blocked, so there seems to be no room for resolution or compromise here.

Are we mis-communicating the issue?

While disappointing, and I fail to think of a workaround, I’ll probably have to just leave it at that.

AM trying to allow Tor users to access this site again. I’ve only just found out that they’re blocked. The webhost changed something and I’m not sure when this was done, I can guess guess why.