The Programmer's Fulcrum: 03 April, 2026

This post originally appeared on [The Fulcrum](https://www.thefulcrum.dev).

Welcome to this week's The Programmer's Fulcrum.

It's your weekly review of the essential news in the Open Media Network and Fediverse development communities with a focus on devastating big tech via Techno Anarchism. We aim to provide actionable content you can use to destroy Techno Feudalism each week. It has the additional benefit of weakening authoritarianism.

IMHO, the best way to do that is to use tools from the [Techno Anarchist Manifesto](https://battalion.mobileatom.net/techno-anarchist-manifesto/) to build your own site(s) to participate in the [Open Media Network](https://hamishcampbell.com/open-media-networking/). Then you should share it (them) via Real Simple Syndication (RSS), the Fediverse, and possibly a newsletter or podcast. This approach is similar to what some call the IndieWeb and its POSSE philosophy.

The second best strategy is to have accounts on the Fediverse and use the hell out of them. And do the same with a RSS feed reader.

We publish TPF on Fridays so you can enjoy it over your weekend.

There's good stuff in all of our categories, so please take the time to enjoy and bookmark the items most relevant to your goals. We hope you are inspired to create new ones.

Or you can jump straight to your favorite section.

- [Website CMSs](#cms)
- [Tools](#tools)
- [Programming](#programming)
- [ActivityPub](#activitypub)
- [Fediverse](#fediverse)
- [More](#more)



**FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And may involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ´em.**

* * *

## Featured Item(s)

Anil Dash wrties:

The open web is something extraordinary: anybody can use whatever tools they have, to create content following publicly documented specifications, published using completely free and open platforms, and then share that work with anyone, anywhere in the world, without asking for permission from anyone. Think about how radical that is.

Now, from content to code, communities to culture, we can see example after example of that open web under attack. Every single aspect of the radical architecture I just described is threatened, by those who have profited most from that exact system.

The good of the web only exists because of the openness of the web. They can't just keep on taking and taking without expecting people to finally draw a line and saying "enough". And interestingly, opportunities might exist where the tycoons least expect it.

I saw Mike Masnick's recent piece where he argued that one of the things that might enable a resurgence of the open web might be... AI. It would seem counterintuitive to anyone who's read everything I've shared here to imagine that anything good could come of these same technologies that have caused so much harm.

But ultimately what matters is power. It is precisely because technologies like LLMs have powers that the authoritarians have rushed to try to take them over and wield them as effectively as they can. I don't think that platforms owned and operated by those bad actors can be the tools that disrupt their agenda.

I do think it might be possible that the creative communities that built the web in the first place could use their same innovative spirit to build what could be, for lack of a better term, called "good AI". I think, if given the choice, people will pick home-cooked, locally-grown, heart-felt digital meals over factory-farmed fast food technology every time.

[Endgame for the Open Web](https://www.anildash.com/2026/03/27/endgame-open-web/)

**I think we should use the strategies in the [Techno Anarchist Manifesto](https://www.thefulcrum.dev/techno-anarchist-manifesto/) to keep the web open.**

The Newsmast Foundation shares:

[Building Trust in the Open](https://newsmastfoundation.org/app/uploads/2026/03/buildingtrustintheopen.pdf)

**Good stuff from a good writer.**



---



Open Media Network - Site/Blog/CMS



Flipboard’s Surf announces:

[Surf Launches First Social Websites with Publishers and Creators](https://about.surf.social/surf-launches-surf-social-websites/)

**Very innovative from a company! We won't be creating a Surf site buy you can join [our 45K plus followers on Flipboard](https://flipboard.com/@mobileatom).**

Samuel Lison announces:

[FediHome](https://github.com/TemujinCalidius/fedihome)

**Very innovation from an individual and a great OMN/TAM project. It would be perfect if the repository was on Codeberg. ;)**

LMNO answers:

[How does LMNO work?](https://lmno.lol/lmno/docs)

**Like FediHome above and Bear below it's all markdown for content. That’s cool.**

Pure Blog shows us:

[How to Create A Blog Archive](https://pureblog.org/how-to-create-a-blog-archive)

**This seems interesting if a little PHP does not scare you.**

### Bear

Kami's Corner shows us:

[How to hide the upvote button](https://kami.bearblog.dev/how-to-hide-the-upvote-button/)

SLMT comments:

[On feed curation and blog discovery](https://slmt.bearblog.dev/36/)

Sharan has:

[Bear Blog 1st Anniversary](https://arnel.bearblog.dev/bear-blog-anniversary/)

**I started a Bear blog for syndication purposes (POSSE). Follow us there if [that’s your thing](https://thefulcrum.bearblog.dev/blog/). We can just paste our post's markdown file there and it’s good to go. So, easy peasy like our [dev.to account](https://dev.to/reubenwalker64).**

**And we did the same with Leaflet. If ATProto is your roll, [follow us there](https://thefulcrum.leaflet.pub/).**

### WordPress

Make WordPress has:

[Extending the 7.0 Cycle](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/03/31/extending-the-7-0-cycle/)

**WordPress is moving into Drupal clusterfuck territory now in terms of over-complication and enterprise ass-kissery.**

[Dimensions Support Enhancements in WordPress 7.0](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/03/15/dimensions-support-enhancements-in-wordpress-7-0/)

The Gutenberg Times explores:

[WordPress 7.0 Source of Truth](https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-7-0-source-of-truth/)

**Custom CSS for individual blocks is nice.**

Remkus de Vries examines:

[WordPress Page Builders and Performance (The Brutal Truth)](https://remkusdevries.com/wordpress-page-builders-and-performance/)

Kinsta shows us:

[How to build PHP-only Gutenberg blocks](https://kinsta.com/blog/php-only-gutenberg-blocks/)

**Cool stuff. Just make sure you have the Gutenberg plugin installed (for now).**

Learn WP Theme Dev shows us:

[How I made the Interactivity API finally click](https://www.learnwptheme.dev/how-i-made-the-interactivity-api-finally-click/)

Coen Jacobs looks at:

[When your words get ahead of your product](https://coenjacobs.com/blog/when-words-get-ahead/)

**Great post.**

### Ghost

Ghost announces:

[Home Assistant: Connect your Ghost publication to devices in the real world](https://ghost.org/changelog/home-assistant/)

### Publii

Corey Snipes shows us how to:

[Add a 'human.json' file to a Publii Website](https://coreysnipes.com/add-a-humanjson-file-to-a-publii-website.html)

### Drupal CMS

Drupal Odyssey has:

[Automating Social Media Posts from Drupal with n8n, Claude, and Postiz](https://drupalodyssey.com/blog/development/automating-social-media-posts-drupal-n8n-claude-and-postiz)

[The Architect's Dilemma: Knowing When to Put Drupal Down](https://drupalodyssey.com/blog/development/architects-dilemma-knowing-when-put-drupal-down)

**Also, if you don’t want to have put up with unnecessary AI horseshit and be associated with clueless corporate types.**

HashBangCode explores:

[Drupal 11: Building A "Load More" Feature For Paginating Nodes Using HTMX](https://www.hashbangcode.com/article/drupal-11-building-load-more-feature-paginating-nodes-using-htmx)

Dripyard shares:

[Dripyard's Drupal Contributions for March 2026]
(https://dripyard.com/blog/dripyards-drupal-contributions-march-2026)

**They are a few of the volunteer contributors that make Drupal semi-usable.**

### Build Awesome

Build Awesome (11ty) announces:

[The Possum Mascot, now with additional Awesome](https://www.11ty.dev/blog/awesome-possum/)

### Micro.blog

Micro.blog announces:

[About Inkwell](https://help.micro.blog/t/about-inkwell/4302)

Back to top 👆🏼



---



Techno Anarchist / OMN Tools



Framablog has:

[Framadate peaufine sa peau neuve](https://framablog.org/2026/04/02/framadate-peaufine-sa-peau-neuve/)

Internet Policy Review examines:

[Mining the commons: AI extraction, Wikipedia, and the case for a multi-stakeholder settlement](https://policyreview.info/articles/news/commons-ai-extraction-wikipedia/2089)

Dries Buyaert looks at:

[The Sovereignty Prerequisite](https://dri.es/the-sovereignty-prerequisite)

Neisse reports:

[Microsoft alternative: Nextcloud and Ionos develop open-source ‘Euro-Office’](https://www.heise.de/en/news/Microsoft-alternative-Nextcloud-and-Ionos-develop-open-source-Euro-Office-11228123.html)

Collabra asks:

[A European Office Suite?](https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/a-european-office-suite/)

The Document Foundation asks:

[Euro-Office: sovereign in name only, or in reality too?](https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/01/euro-office/)

### Chat

Delta Chat announces:

[Zero metadata, group descriptions, native audio/video calls and much more!](https://delta.chat/en/2026-03-31-zero)

Starlight announces:

[The Starlight IRC Network](https://starlightnet.work/posts/irc.html)

Signal announces:

[Signal to group notifications in chats and groups](https://aboutsignal.com/news/signal-to-group-notifications-in-chats-and-groups/)

### Browsers

Waterfox celebrates:

[15 Years of Forking](https://www.waterfox.com/blog/15-years-of-forking/)

Servo has:

[February in Servo: faster layout, pause and resume scripts, and more!](https://servo.org/blog/2026/03/31/february-in-servo/)

### Writing

LibreOffice says:

[ODF is the future, OOXML is the past](https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/03/27/odf-is-the-future-ooxml-is-the-past/)

Chris Maiorana shares:

[Let the commits tell the story](https://chrismaiorana.com/git-commits-tell-the-story/)

**I hope to start playing a Git videogame in the fall to improve my eroded skills learned at a bootcamp almost eight years ago. I too want to use it for book writing.**

### Creative

GIMP announces:

[GIMP 3.2.2 Released](https://www.gimp.org/news/2026/03/28/gimp-3-2-2-released/)

[New Color Mode Coming to GIMP](https://www.gimp.org/news/2026/04/01/new-color-mode-coming-to-gimp/)

9to5Linux reports:

[OBS Studio 32.1.1 Is Out to Improve the Audio Mixer and Audio Deduplication](https://9to5linux.com/obs-studio-32-1-1-is-out-to-improve-the-audio-mixer-and-audio-deduplication)

### Linux

PostmarketOS is:

[Introducing Duranium: a more reliable postmarketOS](https://postmarketos.org/blog/2026/03/17/introducing-duranium/#help-wanted)

SailfishOS shares:

[Sailfish OS update from Jolla](https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/sailfish-community-news-2nd-april-2026-final-payment/28838)

F-Droid shows us:

[How to pre-add repositories to F-Droid in Android ROMs (Important changes in 2.0)](https://f-droid.org/en/2026/03/28/how-to-include-repos-in-rom.html)

### This week's featured OMN tool

#### Shotcut

Shotcut is a free, open source, cross-platform video editor.

[Shotcut](https://shotcut.org/)

Back to top 👆🏼



---



OMN Programming



Andrew Nesbitt explores:

[The Roles of Packages](https://nesbitt.io/2026/03/29/the-roles-of-packages.html)

**AKA, why programming has become too fucking complicated.**

LLBBL Blog asks:

[Is There Something Better Than JSON?](https://llbbl.blog/2026/03/29/is-there-something-better-than.html)

### Git

Lonami is:

[Ditching GitHub](https://lonami.dev/blog/ditching-github/)

**Bon, tres bon.**

### Markdown

Matt Duggan shows us why:

[Markdown Ate The World](https://matduggan.com/markdown-ate-the-world/)

### HTML

Frank M Taylor says:

[You Don’t Know HTML Tables](https://blog.frankmtaylor.com/2026/03/05/you-dont-know-html-tables/)

### CSS

CSS Wizardry asks:

[What Is CSS Containment and How Can I Use It?](https://csswizardry.com/2026/04/what-is-css-containment-and-how-can-i-use-it/)

Frontend Masters examines:

[The Drill-Down Menu with Details and @scope](https://frontendmasters.com/blog/the-drill-down-menu-with-details-and-scope/)

Vivian Voss looks at:

[The Native Popover That Positions Itself](https://vivianvoss.net/blog/popover-anchor)

**Nice site design Vivian.**

### Web Components

I ran across [Chasket](https://chasket.dev/) this week.

### JavaScript

Frontend Masters shares:

[What To Know in JavaScript (2026 Edition)](https://frontendmasters.com/blog/what-to-know-in-javascript-2026-edition/)

### AI

Smashing Frames looks at "AI":

[Dissolving the social](https://tante.cc/2026/04/01/dissolving-the-social/)

Neowin reports:

[Microsoft Copilot is now injecting ads into pull requests on GitHub](https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-copilot-is-now-injecting-ads-into-pull-requests-on-github-gitlab/)

Sloppish explores:

[The Siege of Open Source](https://sloppish.com/siege-of-open-source.html)

David Duymelinck says:

[Don't just git worktree](https://dev.to/xwero/dont-just-git-worktree-5o2)

Joost de Valk shares:

[Ask Joost: AI-powered answers from my blog](https://joost.blog/ai-powered-answers-ask-joost/)

**A mostly legitimate use of "AI".**

MilkCrunch says:

[The Best AI Integration Is a Folder](https://milkcrunch.com/best-ai-integration/)

**I wonder if it would work with Joplin. Not that I would use it.**

**If you are interested, [here are my thoughts on ethical AI use](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/original-articles/ethical-ai-stack).**

Jannis Fedoruk-Betschki says:

[You Don't Need to Pay $200/Month](https://www.jannis.io/do-we-still-need-proprietary-coding-llms/)

**Jannis's company, Magic Pages hosts this site.**

### Other

DDEV shares:

[Its March newsletter](https://mailchi.mp/ddev/mar-2026-news/)

XWIKI shares:

[Strengthening global services: XWiki partners with MassiveGRID](https://xwiki.com/en/Blog/XWiki-MassiveGRID-partnership/)

### _This week's featured programming tool_

#### Codeberg Pages

Codeberg has an announcement:

[Codeberg Pages](https://docs.codeberg.org/codeberg-pages/)

**BTW, you can deploy a Publii site on Codeberg Pages.**

Back to top 👆🏼



***



ActivityPub



Evan Prodromou shares a note about:

[Activity Streams](https://cosocial.ca/@evan/116332001773753660)

ActivityPub for WordPress says:

[Discover more of the Fediverse with tags.pub](https://activitypub.blog/2026/04/02/discover-more-of-the-fediverse-with-tags-pub/)

Nokoto looks at:

[Improving external comment privacy without relying on unpubished comments](https://nokoto.org/user/3/posts/880)

**The past two post illustrate why WordPress is mostly usable and Drupal is barely usable. And by usable I mean for an intelligent non-developer.**

### _This week's featured ActivityPub featured tool_

#### The Activity Pub Book

Evan wrote:

[The Activity Pub Book](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/activitypub/9781098162733/)

Back to top 👆🏼



---



Fediverse



The Social Web Foundation has a:

[New Report: AI, Agency and Protocols– Power and Governance in Open Social Networks](https://socialwebfoundation.org/2026/04/02/new-report-ai-agency-and-protocols-power-and-governance-in-open-social-networks/)

Surf announces:

[Version 1.0.383 of Surf is now live](https://flipboard.social/@surf/116319241821738889)

Souverain has:

[Le Fediverse, une nouvelle étape durable dans l’auto-hébergement](https://souverain.ovh/fediverse-et-auto-hebergement/)

Mario Vavti notes:

[Hubzilla 11.2 Released! ](https://hub.somaton.com/channel/mario?mid=6effa90c-ce49-4507-ae24-737a20ad8941)

[The Simple Notes addon brings the Simple Notes app to Hubzilla](https://hub.somaton.com/item/bd1ac533-8e49-4f58-8160-eb840de39a36)

Harald announces:

[Superblock v3.0 addon for Hubzilla](https://kodeknekkeriet.net/en/blog/hubzilla-superblock-v3/)

Holos has:

[The state of Holos](https://mastodon.social/@HolosSocial/116308689783295402)

[Holos will support custom root domains](https://mastodon.social/@HolosSocial/116302845964923188)

FediLab has more:

[With Holos, you can have your identity on your own domain.](https://toot.fedilab.app/@apps/116303007599366622)

[An UnTrackMe update](https://toot.fedilab.app/@apps/116308995433235450)

BSD Café announces:

[Today, we're introducing three things.](https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/@stefano/116330397234989175)

**Sounds, great.**

Back to top 👆🏼



* * *



More



Zulip announces:

[Zulip Server 11.6 security release](https://blog.zulip.com/2026/03/31/zulip-sever-11-6-security-release/)

Yancey Strickler shares:

[Antienshittification](https://www.ystrickler.com/antienshittification/)

**Dark Forest Operating System sounds like a completely private version of what Bonfire is doing but using something similar to ATProto.**

### RSS

Journal J show us how to:

[Improve the RSS experience of your blog readers](https://journal.jatan.space/improve-the-rss-experience-of-your-blog-readers/)

**This is a great idea.**

Piccalilly shares:

[A quick guide to creating syndication feeds](https://piccalil.li/blog/a-quick-guide-to-creating-syndication-feeds/)

### Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Knight Foundation explains:

[Why Knight Foundation Invested in Bluesky](https://knightfoundation.org/articles/why-did-knight-foundation-invest-in-bluesky/)

**Maybe there will be an independent ATProto Foundation someday and projects can avoid the taint of Bluesky.**

**And hey [@knightfoundation.org](https://bsky.app/profile/knightfoundation.org), I am sure the [Social Web Foundation](https://socialwebfoundation.org/) is looking for funding. Hedge your bets there and get a Fediverse handle for fucks sake.**

**And [read this -> Rebuilding Journalism as Commons (not a product)](https://hamishcampbell.com/rebuilding-journalism-as-commons-not-a-product/).**

Nick Gerakines explores:

[Building AIP: An ATProtocol Authorization Gateway](https://ngerakines.leaflet.pub/3mifrzdsdds2x)

Leaflet announces:

[Leaflet Pro: power tools for publishers](https://lab.leaflet.pub/3mhvibf3bl224)

Trezy Who has:

[The Marshmallow Test: Bluesky signals it's willing to eat its young](https://trezy.com/blog/the-marshmallow-test)

**So after celebrating their so-called community of ATProto developers (like Leaflet’s standard.site efforts and Germ's for DM or Graze Social’s tools), Bluesky goes and acts like a box of VC-funded cunts.**

He also has a followup article you should read if you read the one above.

[Proof of Work](https://trezy.com/blog/proof-of-work)

To be fair, Bluesky's CEO called Trezy and apologized.

Trezy notes: The tension is that Bluesky holds the keys. No matter how good a community proposal is, it doesn't become real on AT Protocol without Bluesky's buy-in at the protocol level. That's a problem. You can't claim to be building an open protocol while one company retains veto power over what gets adopted.

The Next Web reports:

[Bluesky’s new Attie app uses AI to give you full control over your social feed](https://thenextweb.com/news/blueskys-new-attie-app-uses-ai-to-give-you-full-control-over-your-social-feed)

**One to avoid.**

TechCrunch reports:

[Bluesky’s new AI tool Attie is already the most blocked account other than J. D. Vance](https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/30/blueskys-new-ai-tool-attie-is-already-the-most-blocked-account-other-than-j-d-vance/)

**Ha! Even the non-techies don't want this type of shit.**



***



## CTAs

- That’s it for this week. Please share The Programmer's Fulcrum.
- Follow us [on Flipboard](https://flipboard.com/@mobileatom/the-fulcrum-coding-for-democracy-and-the-omn-5g0jmckdz) or at [@thefulcrum@thefulcrum.dev](https://ghostverse.link/@thefulcrum@thefulcrum.dev) on the Fediverse or at [thefulcrum.eurosky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/thefulcrum.eurosky.social) for daily coverage.
- Read, live, and share [The Techno Anarchist Manifesto](https://www.thefulcrum.dev/techno-anarchist-manifesto/)!



**And please build something for a community!**



***



## Blasts from the past

[Previous Battalion Posts](https://battalion.mobileatom.net/category/defending-democracy/)

[Previous Symfony Station Posts](https://symfonystation.mobileatom.net/weekly-communiques)

#OMN #WordPress #Gutenberg #Madblog #Drupal #MicroBlog #Linux #PostmarketOS #SailfishOS #F-Droid #Delta Chat #Starlight #Signal #GIMP #OBS Studio #DDEV #HTML #CSS #Markdown #JavaScript #GitHub #xWiki #CoPilot #ActivityPub #Activity Streams #Fediverse #Surf #Hubzilla #FediLab #ATProto #Bluesky #Holos #BridgyFed #RSS #Leaflet #Bear #Zulip #BSD Cafe #Waterfox #Servo