There's a new influx of people to the #fediverse today, and rightly so! Figured that's as good a time as any to make a new #introduction.

I'm Spencer (he/they). I run Motley, which is my name for this little Friendica instance. It's mostly just me here these days, although I still have dreams of one day helping my friends find digital community here.

I made myself a home on the Fediverse because I wanted to distance myself from the big corporate services. I care about #decentralization and #selfhosting, as I believe more people running smaller personal servers will help break the stranglehold of big tech companies.

My ideal world is one much freer of coercive hierarchies. It's smaller-scale, more cooperative and communal, and more deeply connected to the earth. I'm kinda #solarpunk, I suppose. I care about freedom, tempered with an ethic of compassion for one another and the world we live in. I also practice #polyamory. I find that inextricable from my values.

I dabble in way too many hobbies, and it's delightful. I love #boardgames, especially #Netrunner, which I maintain is the best game ever. I'm a member of the volunteer fan organization keeping that game alive—ask me about it and I'll gladly talk your ear off. I enjoy amateur #mixology. I started learning #lockpicking last year, and am also working on becoming licensed as a #hamradio operator. I'm interested in community-focused approaches to #preparedness, because I don't think the odds are good for the uncomplicated continuation of this late-capitalist "normal", and when things start to fall apart, I don't want myself, my family, or my communities to be caught off-guard.

Over the last couple of years, my own spiritual growth has taken me in a location that might look bizarre from the outside: I still firmly identify as a secular humanist who does not believe in the supernatural, yet I'm also increasingly an intentional practitioner of "#magick". I occasionally read #tarot for myself, have cast a couple of spells in my time, and generally see the playful fantasy of magick as psychologically useful and spiritually rewarding. I run a Friendica forum about it, in fact, though, like many things here on Motley, it's fairly dried up.

My posting is eclectic, and I tend to share to a followers-only audience by default. I strongly believe that arguing with me is a privilege reserved for those I already have a relationship with, so I have very little patience for strangers who comment on my posts in an attempt to provoke a debate. I don't know you—why would I waste my time and energy in a fight I don't know is safe? This is my little corner of the Fediverse, and I choose not to spend it interacting with fascists, bigots, conspiracy theorists, Web3 shills, or generally anyone I find unpleasant. Because of that, I'm slow to accept follow requests until I can peruse your public profile and get a sense of who you are.

I'm sure I could go on forever (haha already have), but that probably gives a good start. I'm always down for new connections, since that's what makes the Fediverse thrive.

Cheers! 🍻

Hey, Fediverse friends!

I'm looking to expand my follow list so I get a lot more cool stuff in my feed from inside the Fediverse. Discovering peers has always been the hardest thing for me, so I'm hoping to leverage actual human connections instead!

I'm interested in board games, mutual aid, cyberpunk, cats, cocktails, open-source software, open culture, solarpunk, secular tarot/magic, and DIY stuff, to name a few interests. I'm probably overlooking some—I dunno, that's what profiles are for, right?

I don't want the kind of people in my feed who sneer at declaring your pronouns, or believe in COVID-19 conspiracy theories, or play the Enlightened Centrist role (let alone are actually conservatives/fascists or apologetics thereof).

More than anything, I'm lookin' for cool people whose posts bring you joy when you see them in your feed. I could use more cool people and more joy. A lot of what I'm reading lately is very doomy, and I'm trying to deliberately cultivate some spaces that bring me joy and peace and connection, instead of only feeling under threat.

Is that you? Or do you know someone it sounds like? Please, let me know. Would love to expand this social graph a bit.