Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 10/10/2026From: github.com/zoicware/Rem...github.comIssues · zoicware/RemoveWindowsAIForce Remove Copilot, Recall and More in Windows 11 - Issues · zoicware/RemoveWindowsAI 000
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 10/10/2026Next step would be to set up some sort of single sourcing so the issues and docs are maintained together. 100
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 10/10/2026The topics are also covered in the README - this isn't a replacement for a docs page/site. But it means folks who don't read the docs and go straight to your issues have another chance of seeing the info. 100
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 10/10/2026Stumbled across a smart documentation approach in an open source repo today: issues that are deliberately left open. 120
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 29/07/2026There's a mountain climbing training company called "The Summit is Optional". I've always liked that. 041
Reposted by Deborah BarnardPeter Sloman @pjsloman.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Fair play to John Healey, who managed to time his 5.5-week break from government to coincide exactly with the World Cup 141468233
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 20/07/2026Feeling slightly bored after the end of the World Cup, so consoling myself by deciding to follow the Nations League. We're nearing an era of perpetual football: a major tournament every year (alternating men's and women's) and now the men's Nations League to fill some of the winter. 010
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 18/07/2026Please tell me I'm wrong? Has the Guardian started using slop cover images? I'd really like to think not, but it has the aesthetic, the weird lettering on the mug . . . 010
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 18/05/2026Too often, outsourcing comes at the expense of our services and the workers who keep them going. If you want public services to work for people, not just profit, sign the Record of Support for Labour’s insourcing pledge. www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/of...megaphone.org.ukOfficial Record of Support: Back the Biggest Wave of Insourcing in a GenerationOutsourcing companies frequently compete to win public contracts by reducing costs: it's a race to the bottom on the pay, terms, and conditions for their workers. This has a knock-on effect for servic... 040
Reposted by Deborah BarnardKate Klonick @klonick.bsky.social · 04/12/2025Holy shit. Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru... 17167633276
Reposted by Deborah BarnardEliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 19/11/2025LLMs give people with delusional belief systems a way to organise those beliefs. The model fills in gaps, supplies connective tissue, and wraps the madness in formal language. It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up. 132300468
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 17/11/20252/ One interesting item from the research he cites is the vastly different performance of different models (TL;DR - Anthropic are doing a heck of a lot better at AI safety than their main competitors) 000
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 17/11/20251/ This seems like a good accessible intro to AI psychosis: youtu.be/MW6FMgOzklw?... (caution: the guy has had controversies in the past) This is the paper he's referring to in the video: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.10970 Key takeaway: it can affect anyone, not just people with pre-existing conditions.youtu.beAI Is Slowly Destroying Your BrainYouTube video by HealthyGamerGG 100
Reposted by Deborah BarnardCat Hicks @grimalkina.bsky.social · 15/11/2025Construct validity is the missing dark matter in big tech research about developers. Once you see it, you never unsee it. 34010
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 15/11/20254/ "What [institutions] would various rulers like to break up and destroy because they represent alternative sources of authority to their own narrative, and also there’s money to be made?" - Especially topical at the moment. The BBC and the Guardian both make mistakes, but are worth protecting. 030
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 15/11/20253/ "If it feels too perfectly tailored to me, if it presses my buttons, if it precisely tickles me where I like to be tickled or hurts me where I am vulnerable to being hurt, that’s a sign to check the facts." - this is a really useful tip, however hard it may be to practice. 120
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 15/11/20252/ It's an interesting historical contextualisation for our current age, which I find reassuring. Humanity has done some awful things, but overall we've survived and improved. We might make it through this crisis too. 110
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 15/11/20251/ This article by @naomialderman.bsky.social is very very good: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n... Loads of excellent stuff in it, I'm just highlighting a couple of things that stood out to me.theguardian.comDon’t argue with strangers… and 11 more rules to survive the information crisisFeeling overwhelmed by divisive opinions, endless rows and unreliable facts? Here’s how to weather the data storm 110
Reposted by Deborah BarnardPiccalilli @piccalil.li · 05/11/2025You might think “boring” but seriously, this is a masterpiece. www.nan.fyi/databasenan.fyiBuild Your Own DatabaseA step-by-step guide to building a key-value database from scratch. 1284
Reposted by Deborah BarnardMartin Donath @squidfunk.com · 05/11/2025Zensical – a modern static site generator. We're excited to release @zensical.org, our new SSG that is compatible with Material for MkDocs: – 5x faster rebuilds – Modern design – Blazing-fast search Read the full announcement on our blog: squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater... A thread ⬇ 1/7squidfunk.github.ioZensical - A modern static site generator - Material for MkDocsWe are thrilled to announce Zensical, our next-gen static site generator that addresses and overcomes the technical limitations of MkDocs 34111
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 05/11/20252/ While I'm kinda sad to see my favourite tooling heading (slowly) towards the exit, I'm excited about the new and shiny, and very pleased to see new docs tooling being built by a team that's earned trust over a lot of years. 020
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 05/11/20251/ The creator of Material for MkDocs has released a new static site generator and accompanying themes, @zensical.org : squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-mater... Loads of info in the post about what, why, and timelines.squidfunk.github.ioZensical - A modern static site generator - Material for MkDocsWe are thrilled to announce Zensical, our next-gen static site generator that addresses and overcomes the technical limitations of MkDocs 151
Reposted by Deborah BarnardSarah Drasner @sarahedo.bsky.social · 04/09/2025Reliability is sort of like a stomachache. It’s hard for people to really appreciate not having issues until you have issues. 56610
Reposted by Deborah BarnardRobin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 04/09/2025Bryce is back from holiday and in fine spirits it seems. on.ft.com/4naOi3t 0257
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 30/06/2025Daniele Procida (not on here I think) has written an incredibly powerful post on AI and documentation: vurt.org/articles/my-... Every other paragraph is worth quoting and examining.vurt.orgMy favourite German word - Daniele ProcidaIf creators of documentation are prepared to sacrifice its human purpose in order that LLMs can more effectively slurp it up and regurgitate it on demand, then they have meekly accepted values that mo... 021
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 29/06/2025Oh damn. Thanks for sharing this, you've just articulated a thought I've been struggling to form. Also, really really sorry you went through that. 130
Reposted by Deborah BarnardAndy Bell @bell.bz · 27/06/2025Back in the day, Twitter used to be really good if I set up a thread to connect freelancers with clients. Let's see if Bluesky can do it. Clients: if you're looking for freelancers/contractors, get in the comments Freelancers/contractors: get in comments Everyone else: boosts appreciated 68355270
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 29/06/2025Nice idea! Your product needs words: deborahwrites.com Software documentation consultancy and contracting services. Specialised in technical docs & contributor experience for startups.deborahwrites.comDeborah Writes - Deborah WritesDocumentation consultancy services for your software business. 030
Reposted by Deborah BarnardJulia Evans @b0rk.jvns.ca · 28/06/2025we've already sold 1000 copies of The Secret Rules of the Terminal since it came out on Tuesday!! so to celebrate I'm giving away 1000 copies to anyone who can't afford to buy one. You can use code BUYONEGIVEONE to get a free PDF copy if $12 USD is a lot for you. wizardzines.com/zines/terminal 416552
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/2025I should have said "if I want to write and publish an essay" - don't need to worry about attribution if the essay just sits in my google docs forever. 000
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/20252/ So if the company buys a book, they can use it to train. But they'd be iffy as heck using it in their output, especially without attribution. Problem is: if I write an essay, I can fairly easily keep track of my research materials and append a bibliography. It's less clear how AI can do this. 010
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/20251/ As I understand it: yes for training, no for output. Imagine I buy a book. I can then read it, annotate it, type up quotes from it for my own studies, write fanfic inspired by it etc. BUT if I want to write an essay and quote from it, I would need to correctly cite it at that point. 210
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/2025I'd been wondering about taking the CherryLeaf one. 120
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/2025Yeah AI search seems generally good. For review - the former. I wouldn't rely on AI review either for style/clarity or factual accuracy - that's where you need the human to check the AI. 110
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/2025Which courses did you find where best? I'm currently learning in a slightly ad hoc way (although I am attending AI the Docs today and tomorrow) 110
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/2025And as you say, as a starting point for getting info sometimes. 010
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/2025I'm not using it heavily day to day. Where I find it effective (so far): - AI powered search for docs sites - As a reviewer to get an extra point of view (caveats/risks here though) - For some types of refactoring work (saves a little time, but needs a lot of human input and review) 210
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/20252/ The fun thing about being on both LinkedIn and Bluesky is I get to read the LinkedIn posts from companies pushing AI usage hard, and the Bluesky posts from people who've decided anyone who even touches AI is signalling complete incompetence. 020
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 24/06/20251/ Could we all solemnly swear not to be too judgemental of each other about AI? Because I've got a horrible feeling I know what the next impossible hiring trend is going to be: you'll need enough AI on your CV to get past the pro-AI people, but not so much that you deter the anti-AI people. 230
Reposted by Deborah BarnardMolly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · 22/06/2025If you were too young in 2003 here is what Bush told the American people: 1) The Iraq War won’t cost a lot of money 3) We won’t need a lot of troops 4) We’ll bring peace and freedom to Iraq 5) We’ll find WMDs 6) We’ll be welcomed as liberators 7) It will be easy 8) It won’t take long All lies. 15826579020263
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 20/06/2025Perhaps also post-COVID derangement? I think everyone is still feeling the effects of the pandemic (while mostly acting like we're not), but it does seem to have been the point where a lot of people went weirder or more extreme. 000
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 20/06/2025Wait, people have news alerts on?? www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...theguardian.comRise in ‘alert fatigue’ risks phone users disabling news notifications, study findsPublishers could see audiences uninstall apps, as some users receive up to 50 alerts a day, analysis shows 120
Reposted by Deborah BarnardPavel @spavel.bsky.social · 18/06/2025Breaks are part of working, not a reward for working. 715425
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 17/06/20257/ Consistent backing for Ukraine. Another thing that has managed to cross political lines (except Farage - and it's one of the things that could trip him up if he talks about it too much) 010
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 17/06/20256/ Most of the time, things mostly work. Post. Bins. Buses. Not everywhere all the time, but mostly we're functional. 110
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 17/06/20255/ There are the things I'm glad we don't have, such as gun culture. 110
Deborah Barnard @deborahwrites.co.uk · 17/06/20254/ The sense of humour really is a thing, and perhaps helps cross political borders in a way some countries just don't seem able to. I've yet to encounter anyone, even online, who doesn't laugh about the lettuce. And the fact Yes Minister is still funny and applicable to any government is something. 110
