In the maze of thoughts ... Using the right tool for the job became a lost skill in digital space

May 17, 2026

I was wondering a little bit where to put this one because I have mainly tech-oriented examples for this but I can think of a few ideas which apply everywhere (mainly when it comes to promoting oneself). I’m still probably going to approach this mostly from the technical field as it’s the one I’m most familiar with but no worries, I’m not going to drown you in tech stuff as it’s not my goal. Enough rambling, let’s get to the point. Yes, we, the people (pardon me the reference) have become worryingly incompetent when it comes to choosing the right tools for the task we need to do. The latest trend of “AI” only makes this even more obvious (it’s as if “AI” is the power amplifier/intensifier of everything) but there were signs years and years before the current “incompetence mirror” became apparent. How bad is it? Well, I’m going to present some examples and let you be the “jury”.

Let’s start with something a little older than one of my favourite pet peeves (don’t worry, I’ll get to that one soon >:3). Years ago, I’d hazard to say it’s been more than a decade and a half these days when Meta wasn’t even Meta, Facebook added the ability to create pages for “non-living” entities by which I mean companies, products, brands etc. Taken at face value, it’s not a necessarily a bad idea; you get a way to promote and inform about your product AND you get a more direct contact with your customer base with all the benefits and risks involved.

However, there’s a catch. You need to have an account there. This results in a strange situation where you’re promoting your brand or product or whatever else in a place where you need a key to enter. It’s kind of like putting the posters into your house’s hallway and letting in everyone who has a key to that hallway. But isn’t that a little bit counter-intuitive? Think about it. You want to reach as wide of an audience as possible but at the same time you restrict your own visibility.

You could argue that it’s so wide-spread that you can “tank” the cost of the people who don’t see it. You could also argue that there’s no infrastructure cost. To both which I can easily answer: “For now”. How long until that free space becomes a “paid space” because your traffic is “putting a lot of strain on the infrastructure”? Or what if you’re promoting something that doesn’t align with the “platform owner”? The latter should be something to worry you because you don’t “own” the space. And if you’re only visible in these places, you don’t even own whatever you’re promoting because it can be made invisible with a single decision you can’t appeal (and forget about legal fights because: “Rules not enforced = rules non-existent”).

So what’s the answer? Your own site with all the needed infrastructure? Honestly, a bit of both. Having a social platform presence is not a bad thing BUT it must not be your only presence. Your own site AND social platform complement one another. Relying solely on the latter not only falls into the category “using the wrong tools” but also puts you in danger of losing all you have.

Alright, now let’s get into the meaty stuff. This one’s my personal favourite, especially in the tech field, because it’s one of the strongest examples of “tech-bro” mindset EVEN in FOSS. Long story short, if your project has Discord as the support and contact channel AND it’s your only contact, you don’t provide a support channel, period.

“But nobody uses forums these days” … FALSE!!! Shut up, sit down and let this fledgling network veteran talk. First, especially if you’re using Linux, look at every major distro. Fedora? Check. Arch? Those are mildly infamous but check. Debian? Check. Hell, even in mobile space; GrapheneOS, LineageOS, … For fucks sake, EVEN some big corps have searchable and indexable forums that are accessible to the public!!!

“But what’s the point of forums when chat is immediate?” … Archiving, my dear. Archiving and indexing. Yes, forum posts can and are indexed by search engines so you can use your favourite search provides to look for those. And in quite a few cases, the forums allow a read-only search too. Which means no account to remember login credentials to, not to mention lower digital footprint.

Then there’s the ownership part too. If you do something against the platform’s “Terms of Service”, your support place goes poof and with it EVERYTHING that was there. You know what that means? Your project got effectively shot in the head and left to bleed out. Because without support, your work will inevitably deteriorate.

“But then I need to think about storage, backup, handling people …” Congratulations! You discovered that you need to “CARE” and have the responsibility for what you’re doing and/or providing. And you will be held accountable for any fuck-up. Sure, putting up with all that stuff isn’t exactly easy but here’s a charming solution: you don’t have to do this alone. There are many hands which can help you. And if you’re not a total dick, they’ll be more than willing to have a part in your ideas.

Anyway, I’m getting side-tracked. The reason Discord (and similar) is a bad tool for the job (and in many cases an absolutely horrible one) is because it’s being used for everything. Chat, forums, file-sharing (ffs, this is probably one of the stupidest use-cases), VCs etc. And to be honest, even for the stuff it’s been designed for primarily it’s rather or at least has become over the course of time kind of not-so-great.

“So what, am I supposed to use all the things separately?” … Yes, yes you are. Chat for stuff that’s either specific to a person (DMs) and anything that is ephemeral and doesn’t need to be saved for long periods of time. If you need something that’s supposed to be saved, then it’s your responsibility to do so. And if it’s something to be shared, that’s what forums are for. Or wikis if it’s more intended to be consumed rather than having active participation. Voice chats? Ever heard of Mumble? TeamSpeak? Believe it or not, these are having a bit of a renaissance moment. Streaming? Yeah, that one’s a more difficult thing but tbh, video-streaming in general is such a colossal clusterfuck in today’s internet that the only way to make it right is to scorch everything we have and start over properly. File-sharing? Umm, ever heard of share links? That way the file not only stays in the space YOU control but also doesn’t end up needlessly replicated in whatever security breach inevitably happens.

Example 3: Microblogging platforms … except you forgot the “micro” along the way

Ok, I’ll admit I’m occasionally guilty of this one too but then again I’m also aware it’s not the right way to use things like Mastodon for long-form content (unlike some *glares at GrapheneOS with mild contempt*, but they’ve now taken steps to not do it … UNLIKE SOME *glares at pluralistic with greater contempt*). And no, just because the platform can display threads properly doesn’t make it suitable. Seriously, you have a longer thought? put it on a blog AND use the short-form platform to “tease” and promote the longer version as well as give it the reach.

And no, your blog doesn’t need to be fancy. C’mon, just look at me, using probably the simplest blogging platform I can think of and being really satisfied (not and ad, just a fan ;3). Keep the short-form platforms for “thoughts of the moment” things, use it as a fancier RSS-feed (while having an actual RSS at the same time for convenience). Trust me when I tell it’ll make you look more “professional” when you look like you have at least some idea about what you’re doing. And remember it’s coming from me who’s about as organised as a dog with ADHD (wait, I’m part German shepherd who are basically “ADHD on four legs”).

Conclusion: You have an entire toolbox and it’s high time it’s being used fully.

So yeah, when it comes to digital tools, we’re absolutely horrible. Part of that is on us, techies, being horrible teachers and sometimes bad examples ourselves which should be a major wake-up call to action to seriously start fixing this mess. Be there for the people, offer help and support when needed (and I mean actual support as much as it is mundane), educate and lead towards independence (if your “student” is dependent on you, you’re a bad teacher but that’s a topic for another time), lead by example when you can, showing the proper deployments and use of the tools and how to make sure all of the pieces talk to each other nicely. If you have shareable knowledge, make it easy to access. Trust me, your pet project isn’t something that needs “strategic nuclear weapons” level of secrecy. You’re not likely to revolutionise the field like Ada Lovelace or Alan Turing. And let’s be honest, they would be going over their heads to share their knowledge with as many people as possible. You know, like actual scientists.

So yeah, the “old internet” didn’t die. It’s just a little bit quiet. Let’s have it shine again.

R.R.A.