Top all-time · #9915
Denise
Personal blog · denise.dreamwidth.orgprogrammingsecurity
Denise is a personal blog at denise.dreamwidth.org about programming and security. Since 2011, 8 different Hacker News readers have linked it 11 times, most often “A guide to potential liability pitfalls for people running a Mastodon instance”. The last post was in 2022, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Denise's Dreamwidth posts for explaining technical debt in terms non-technical readers can follow, and for the legal risks of running a server or online service.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- A guide to potential liability pitfalls for people running a Mastodon instance6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2022-11-21
- Technical debt and the making of payments on it (2011)2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-04-04
What Hacker News says?
Though that will then open you up to legal liability, including for things that other people say (if their messages reach your server, even if you haven't personally seen them): https://denise.dreamwidth.org/91757.html Being a user on someone else's server is much less legal risk. Using E2E software where nobody runs a server is much less legal risk. Running a one-person instance of Mastodon is the worst case for le…
Comment linking /91757.html
on “I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon”Submitted A guide to potential liability pitfalls for people running a Mastodon instance as a story · 16 points
HN discussionIf you've created a service with that many users, that could be a target for malicious actors, and also hosts NSFW content, you may want to look over this article and protect yourself by forming an LLC. https://denise.dreamwidth.org/91757.html
Comment linking /91757.html
on “Show HN: I built an active community of trans people online”Submitted A guide to potential liability pitfalls for people running a Mastodon instance as a story · 4 points
HN discussionOne of my favourite technical debt essays is the one by Denise from Dreamwidth about how they cleaned up the LiveJournal codebase - suitable for non-technical readers: https://denise.dreamwidth.org/57248.html
Comment linking /57248.html
on “Managing Technical Debt (2012)”Submitted A guide to liability pitfalls for people running a Mastodon instance (2022) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionYep. Technical debt analogises to financial debt quite well. It's not as fungible, but similarly you can fall into debt, take on debt in a planned way, discover you're not as clever at managing it as you thought you were, etc. I also highly recommend Denise from Dreamwidth's famous post on the subject, which is a great intro to the concept for not-so-technical people as well (it was written to explain to the user ba…
Comment linking /57248.html
on “Good and Bad Technical Debt (and how TDD helps) (2013)”Submitted Potential liability pitfalls for people running a Mastodon instance as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Technical debt and the making of payments on it (2011) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Technical debt and the making of payments on it (2011) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Technical debt and the making of payments on it as a story · 1 points
HN discussion