ersatzGrace
@ersatzgrace.bsky.social
IA/UXer, always thinking, often making. systems delight.
www.lenthic.com
www.smudgingthebinary.com
www.lenthic.com
www.smudgingthebinary.com
as I'm shooting myself in the foot on LI: yes. 🙂 it's hard, but yes. we have only ourselves to be a line in the sand for integrity. if we who are closest to what we care about can be convinced to not care, what matters?
December 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
as I'm shooting myself in the foot on LI: yes. 🙂 it's hard, but yes. we have only ourselves to be a line in the sand for integrity. if we who are closest to what we care about can be convinced to not care, what matters?
there's an article running around -- I'll see if I can find it again -- that makes a strong case for the idea that it wasn't tech peeps that made it so toxic, but the investors behind it that pushed for moating. Which I've always seen as the data-focused version of a monopoly.
December 17, 2025 at 7:25 PM
there's an article running around -- I'll see if I can find it again -- that makes a strong case for the idea that it wasn't tech peeps that made it so toxic, but the investors behind it that pushed for moating. Which I've always seen as the data-focused version of a monopoly.
what I'd like to see: dead simple to set up on your own server, basics robust and solid, for a small entry fee. If we want more whiz-bangs, build it so modules can be slotted in; *but also that doesn't build on FOMO if people don't want the whiz-bang*.
December 17, 2025 at 7:21 PM
what I'd like to see: dead simple to set up on your own server, basics robust and solid, for a small entry fee. If we want more whiz-bangs, build it so modules can be slotted in; *but also that doesn't build on FOMO if people don't want the whiz-bang*.
almost like...we need to take out any hint that money is going to impact their thinking. that's what the contacts feature screams: old school, "let's grab your entire contact list and start haranguing them all with FOMO." we've been there, done that, and none of us want to be complicit.
December 17, 2025 at 7:12 PM
almost like...we need to take out any hint that money is going to impact their thinking. that's what the contacts feature screams: old school, "let's grab your entire contact list and start haranguing them all with FOMO." we've been there, done that, and none of us want to be complicit.
The anxiety can be self-managed by personal control of reaction emotions, but I'm more convinced every passing day that it's the path to toxic 'wellbeing', and let's the aggressive get their way as much as possible while blaming the victim.
December 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM
The anxiety can be self-managed by personal control of reaction emotions, but I'm more convinced every passing day that it's the path to toxic 'wellbeing', and let's the aggressive get their way as much as possible while blaming the victim.
I like this framing. It's putting in the forefront that there are rules we should abide by. So many anxious conversations are because we know walking in that there will be bluster and aggression -- basically, shut up and let me be right through behavioral control.
December 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I like this framing. It's putting in the forefront that there are rules we should abide by. So many anxious conversations are because we know walking in that there will be bluster and aggression -- basically, shut up and let me be right through behavioral control.
At the same time, so much of social media makes it dangerous to try to talk with people. Flip the coin, and so many now think if you don't agree with them, they somehow lost something.
December 17, 2025 at 2:10 PM
At the same time, so much of social media makes it dangerous to try to talk with people. Flip the coin, and so many now think if you don't agree with them, they somehow lost something.
YES. So many people talking *AT* people instead of *WITH* people. Again, I think it's an artifact of our technology, spreading ideas of how information works. Except it's such a tiny slice.
December 17, 2025 at 2:10 PM
YES. So many people talking *AT* people instead of *WITH* people. Again, I think it's an artifact of our technology, spreading ideas of how information works. Except it's such a tiny slice.
It's implying "this is the (only) way." No egress. No next-steps. This is it, take it or leave it.
Like all of our software right now. Binary has taken over so many of our communications.
Like all of our software right now. Binary has taken over so many of our communications.
December 17, 2025 at 2:07 PM
It's implying "this is the (only) way." No egress. No next-steps. This is it, take it or leave it.
Like all of our software right now. Binary has taken over so many of our communications.
Like all of our software right now. Binary has taken over so many of our communications.
tried with www.smudgingthebinary.com/we-have-to-c..., but it's not there yet.
December 17, 2025 at 1:57 PM
tried with www.smudgingthebinary.com/we-have-to-c..., but it's not there yet.
I am trying to work out how best to frame care in information. What we care about we work harder to understand, and what we understand is 1000x more useful than rote information -- let alone rote hallucinations.
December 17, 2025 at 1:57 PM
I am trying to work out how best to frame care in information. What we care about we work harder to understand, and what we understand is 1000x more useful than rote information -- let alone rote hallucinations.
My go-to programs are Axure, Affinity, Concepts, but I've clocked at least hundreds of hours in Sketch, Figma, Adobe, etc.
December 16, 2025 at 9:34 PM
My go-to programs are Axure, Affinity, Concepts, but I've clocked at least hundreds of hours in Sketch, Figma, Adobe, etc.
from my point of view, that's easy enough. Consistency: the site I already sent you to, plus I designed primarily in UX for ~4 years before diving deeper into IA, and a whole career in print design for branded content management before that. Art degree underneath it all. :)
December 16, 2025 at 9:34 PM
from my point of view, that's easy enough. Consistency: the site I already sent you to, plus I designed primarily in UX for ~4 years before diving deeper into IA, and a whole career in print design for branded content management before that. Art degree underneath it all. :)
so updated early Slack. 😄
My guess is the simple, fairly lightweight lines to outline UI is what you're interested in? Highly simplified wireframe with some offset color to jazz it up without getting into high fidelity?
My guess is the simple, fairly lightweight lines to outline UI is what you're interested in? Highly simplified wireframe with some offset color to jazz it up without getting into high fidelity?
December 16, 2025 at 9:25 PM
so updated early Slack. 😄
My guess is the simple, fairly lightweight lines to outline UI is what you're interested in? Highly simplified wireframe with some offset color to jazz it up without getting into high fidelity?
My guess is the simple, fairly lightweight lines to outline UI is what you're interested in? Highly simplified wireframe with some offset color to jazz it up without getting into high fidelity?
Connect and dm? Been building quickest possible graphics on www.smudgingthebinary.com because I'm focused more on the info, and curious about the UI aspect. UX design is part of my wheelhouse.
smudging the binary
humanizing information: literacy, social fractals, function/abstraction, and design concepts
www.smudgingthebinary.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Connect and dm? Been building quickest possible graphics on www.smudgingthebinary.com because I'm focused more on the info, and curious about the UI aspect. UX design is part of my wheelhouse.
if not for our own sanity, then for the upcoming generations.
www.smudgingthebinary.com/trustlessness/
www.smudgingthebinary.com/trustlessness/
Trustlessness
Originally published on Medium.
www.smudgingthebinary.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:33 PM
if not for our own sanity, then for the upcoming generations.
www.smudgingthebinary.com/trustlessness/
www.smudgingthebinary.com/trustlessness/
Information integrity across the info structure matters. This is what kills me about AI. We have a whole bunch of people who have decided that it doesn't matter if information functions, as long as they can play/pretend.
December 16, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Information integrity across the info structure matters. This is what kills me about AI. We have a whole bunch of people who have decided that it doesn't matter if information functions, as long as they can play/pretend.
Then it's "just" making sure the follow through is on the promise. It's all information.
If we look at enshittification as removing follow through while skipping to the bank, the removal of eyes-on in the information space is crucial. There can't be awareness of options that *do* follow through.
If we look at enshittification as removing follow through while skipping to the bank, the removal of eyes-on in the information space is crucial. There can't be awareness of options that *do* follow through.
December 16, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Then it's "just" making sure the follow through is on the promise. It's all information.
If we look at enshittification as removing follow through while skipping to the bank, the removal of eyes-on in the information space is crucial. There can't be awareness of options that *do* follow through.
If we look at enshittification as removing follow through while skipping to the bank, the removal of eyes-on in the information space is crucial. There can't be awareness of options that *do* follow through.
It's fast becoming about *if* eyes can be on. The power of repetition and placement is incontrovertible -- repetition hacks memory and pattern recognition, placement engages mental models. Add good narrative for sparking curiosity and thinking, aka focused attention.
December 16, 2025 at 12:54 PM
It's fast becoming about *if* eyes can be on. The power of repetition and placement is incontrovertible -- repetition hacks memory and pattern recognition, placement engages mental models. Add good narrative for sparking curiosity and thinking, aka focused attention.
we have to care about information, more than dopamine and rage. I'm not sure we come back from this weekend without a mass pivot. I'm not sure we can do that mass pivot under all the economic stressors.
the exit points to the maze are collapsing shut.
the exit points to the maze are collapsing shut.
December 15, 2025 at 7:35 PM
we have to care about information, more than dopamine and rage. I'm not sure we come back from this weekend without a mass pivot. I'm not sure we can do that mass pivot under all the economic stressors.
the exit points to the maze are collapsing shut.
the exit points to the maze are collapsing shut.
yep, their number need to dry up. their lies get legs out of the sheer cussedness of pattern recognition, getting anyone to stop for a moment and question anything.
December 15, 2025 at 7:35 PM
yep, their number need to dry up. their lies get legs out of the sheer cussedness of pattern recognition, getting anyone to stop for a moment and question anything.
a whole bunch of people decided to not care about information -- that it wasn't pertinent, wasn't useful, and gave them a headache. Except it is, actually, everything.
December 15, 2025 at 7:24 PM
a whole bunch of people decided to not care about information -- that it wasn't pertinent, wasn't useful, and gave them a headache. Except it is, actually, everything.
the thing about lies is that the have to be numerous and often, to build a pattern to be recognized and considered maybe-not-a-lie. that's when the possibility of narrative kicks in. the numbers are key.
if we want a future, we have to care about information, even more than ourselves.
if we want a future, we have to care about information, even more than ourselves.
We have to care about information
We're hitting a very scary point in information.
We have to care about information. Not caring is tantamount to giving up – of saying that nothing matters enough about anything. Narrative is living f...
www.smudgingthebinary.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:21 PM
the thing about lies is that the have to be numerous and often, to build a pattern to be recognized and considered maybe-not-a-lie. that's when the possibility of narrative kicks in. the numbers are key.
if we want a future, we have to care about information, even more than ourselves.
if we want a future, we have to care about information, even more than ourselves.