Pete Millspaugh
@petemillspaugh.com
Writing a book about domains @ dotcom.press
Programming & writing @val.town
Digital gardening @ petemillspaugh.com
Programming & writing @val.town
Digital gardening @ petemillspaugh.com
Pinned
Pete Millspaugh
@petemillspaugh.com
· Oct 23
I put together a timeline of domain history from DNS to 2026 gTLDs. Inspired by @deno.land's Brief History of JS and @neal.fun's Internet Artifacts (which is amazing if you haven't read through it before!)
dotcom.press/history-of-domains
dotcom.press/history-of-domains
snowy run to the library to drop off and pick up some books
February 6, 2026 at 3:39 PM
snowy run to the library to drop off and pick up some books
started playing with mcp servers today and built a little one with just one tool to look up country by ccTLD
val town for the server and @cloudflare.social's ai playground for testing is a nice feedback loop
val town for the server and @cloudflare.social's ai playground for testing is a nice feedback loop
February 3, 2026 at 10:57 PM
started playing with mcp servers today and built a little one with just one tool to look up country by ccTLD
val town for the server and @cloudflare.social's ai playground for testing is a nice feedback loop
val town for the server and @cloudflare.social's ai playground for testing is a nice feedback loop
Your domain is your “internet handle”
dotcom.press/archive/internet-handle
Linking together some thoughts on:
1. @danabra.mov's "internet handle"
2. Cory Doctorow's "enshittification"
3. Gordon Brander's "credible exit"
4. my visit to the Verizon store in 7th grade
dotcom.press/archive/internet-handle
Linking together some thoughts on:
1. @danabra.mov's "internet handle"
2. Cory Doctorow's "enshittification"
3. Gordon Brander's "credible exit"
4. my visit to the Verizon store in 7th grade
January 31, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Your domain is your “internet handle”
dotcom.press/archive/internet-handle
Linking together some thoughts on:
1. @danabra.mov's "internet handle"
2. Cory Doctorow's "enshittification"
3. Gordon Brander's "credible exit"
4. my visit to the Verizon store in 7th grade
dotcom.press/archive/internet-handle
Linking together some thoughts on:
1. @danabra.mov's "internet handle"
2. Cory Doctorow's "enshittification"
3. Gordon Brander's "credible exit"
4. my visit to the Verizon store in 7th grade
Reposted by Pete Millspaugh
i wrote about atproto and why it matters
Open Social — overreacted
The protocol is the API.
overreacted.io
September 26, 2025 at 3:33 PM
i wrote about atproto and why it matters
more doodling on the job 😌
January 22, 2026 at 5:04 PM
more doodling on the job 😌
Why are there so many C words in AI? Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor, Copilot...
I noticed that all the Townie slash commands in @val.town start with /c ...which maybe @jxnblk.bsky.social did on purpose?
I noticed that all the Townie slash commands in @val.town start with /c ...which maybe @jxnblk.bsky.social did on purpose?
January 21, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Why are there so many C words in AI? Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor, Copilot...
I noticed that all the Townie slash commands in @val.town start with /c ...which maybe @jxnblk.bsky.social did on purpose?
I noticed that all the Townie slash commands in @val.town start with /c ...which maybe @jxnblk.bsky.social did on purpose?
a favorite part of my new job is getting to* doodle for blog posts, like this octocat (drawn with my mouse in @excalidraw.com lol)
*not just getting to, but encouraged to
*not just getting to, but encouraged to
January 20, 2026 at 5:07 PM
a favorite part of my new job is getting to* doodle for blog posts, like this octocat (drawn with my mouse in @excalidraw.com lol)
*not just getting to, but encouraged to
*not just getting to, but encouraged to
shower thought: pre-mortems for books in the form of scathing reviews
January 15, 2026 at 10:16 PM
shower thought: pre-mortems for books in the form of scathing reviews
Reposted by Pete Millspaugh
My latest obsession has been optimising webhook events from Ghost to Netlify. I needed a way to filter out large payloads sent to Netlify. Using @val.town as a webhook middleware, I can strip payloads and skip triggering builds for certain posts.
jonathanyeong.com/writing/usin...
jonathanyeong.com/writing/usin...
Using Val.town as a webhook middleware
My latest obsession has been optimising webhook events from Ghost to Netlify. I needed a way to filter out large payloads sent to Netlify. Using Val.town as a webhook middleware, I can strip payloads ...
jonathanyeong.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:19 PM
My latest obsession has been optimising webhook events from Ghost to Netlify. I needed a way to filter out large payloads sent to Netlify. Using @val.town as a webhook middleware, I can strip payloads and skip triggering builds for certain posts.
jonathanyeong.com/writing/usin...
jonathanyeong.com/writing/usin...
To start 2026 I officially joined @stevekrouse.com, @macwright.com, and co. at @val.town as a programmer-writer, part-time while I continue writing my book :)
Val Town's founding poem is still my favorite way to describe what it is:
> If GitHub Gists could run
> And AWS Lambda were fun
Val Town's founding poem is still my favorite way to describe what it is:
> If GitHub Gists could run
> And AWS Lambda were fun
January 15, 2026 at 3:06 PM
To start 2026 I officially joined @stevekrouse.com, @macwright.com, and co. at @val.town as a programmer-writer, part-time while I continue writing my book :)
Val Town's founding poem is still my favorite way to describe what it is:
> If GitHub Gists could run
> And AWS Lambda were fun
Val Town's founding poem is still my favorite way to describe what it is:
> If GitHub Gists could run
> And AWS Lambda were fun
> John worked to make a format that was so simple that anybody could pick it up in a few minutes, and powerful enough that it could help people express pretty much anything that they wanted to include while writing on the internet.
*End user programming!* Like spreadsheets
*End user programming!* Like spreadsheets
Been working on this one for a while — it's a little bit of history of a key foundation of internet technology, and a little bit of an explainer about how people _actually_ invent things. This is the amazing (true!) story of how Markdown took over the world. www.anildash.com/2026/01/09/h...
How Markdown took over the world - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:12 PM
> John worked to make a format that was so simple that anybody could pick it up in a few minutes, and powerful enough that it could help people express pretty much anything that they wanted to include while writing on the internet.
*End user programming!* Like spreadsheets
*End user programming!* Like spreadsheets
New achievement unlocked: guest post on @janefriedman.com's site!
I've learned so much about books and publishing from Jane's work (and reading her book was what planted the idea in my head to write mine!)
I've learned so much about books and publishing from Jane's work (and reading her book was what planted the idea in my head to write mine!)
Your book and your target market are not fixed. Just as startups “pivot,” your book will change as you write it, and your market will come into focus as you discover what’s out there.
Insight from @petemillspaugh.com.
Insight from @petemillspaugh.com.
Write Your Book Like You’d Run a Startup | Jane Friedman
Sharing his work-in-progress has helped one writer build confidence and conviction about who his readers are and what they’re interested in.
janefriedman.com
December 30, 2025 at 2:03 PM
New achievement unlocked: guest post on @janefriedman.com's site!
I've learned so much about books and publishing from Jane's work (and reading her book was what planted the idea in my head to write mine!)
I've learned so much about books and publishing from Jane's work (and reading her book was what planted the idea in my head to write mine!)
Reading about @dpla.bsky.social in John Palfrey’s book Bibliotech, and they use a nifty domain hack! dp.la (which is the ccTLD for Laos)
December 26, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reading about @dpla.bsky.social in John Palfrey’s book Bibliotech, and they use a nifty domain hack! dp.la (which is the ccTLD for Laos)
a christmas re-gift
a from-you-to-me-to-you-from-me gift
a from-you-to-me-to-you-from-me gift
December 25, 2025 at 12:48 PM
a christmas re-gift
a from-you-to-me-to-you-from-me gift
a from-you-to-me-to-you-from-me gift
Just joined this (and ordered @cynthiadunlop.bsky.social and Piotr's book) on a whim - very glad I did :)
If you're a (practicing or aspiring) programmer-writer, come join for the next one!
If you're a (practicing or aspiring) programmer-writer, come join for the next one!
📚 Want to learn how to write for developers?
Join us TODAY at 9AM PT to discuss chapters 1-2 of "Writing for Developers"
Haven't read it yet? No problem! Come anyway. It might be just the push you need to finally write that post you've been putting off ✍️
Everyone's welcome! discord.gg/4enG8EQaMr
Join us TODAY at 9AM PT to discuss chapters 1-2 of "Writing for Developers"
Haven't read it yet? No problem! Come anyway. It might be just the push you need to finally write that post you've been putting off ✍️
Everyone's welcome! discord.gg/4enG8EQaMr
Join the Overcommitted Discord Server!
The official discord server of the Overcommitted podcast! | 116 members
discord.gg
December 19, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Just joined this (and ordered @cynthiadunlop.bsky.social and Piotr's book) on a whim - very glad I did :)
If you're a (practicing or aspiring) programmer-writer, come join for the next one!
If you're a (practicing or aspiring) programmer-writer, come join for the next one!
I've started directly placing holds at my local library, bypassing a want-to-read book list
petemillspaugh.com/library-holds
petemillspaugh.com/library-holds
December 3, 2025 at 1:22 AM
I've started directly placing holds at my local library, bypassing a want-to-read book list
petemillspaugh.com/library-holds
petemillspaugh.com/library-holds
Reposted by Pete Millspaugh
📢 Introducing The Val Town MCP Server
Bring Val Town to your favorite LLM – Cursor, ChatGPT, Zed, wherever! AI coding, instant deployments, built-in SQLite
For example, here we use Claude Code to make a blog in a couple prompts
Learn more & get started 👉 blog.val.town/mcp
Bring Val Town to your favorite LLM – Cursor, ChatGPT, Zed, wherever! AI coding, instant deployments, built-in SQLite
For example, here we use Claude Code to make a blog in a couple prompts
Learn more & get started 👉 blog.val.town/mcp
November 14, 2025 at 3:04 PM
📢 Introducing The Val Town MCP Server
Bring Val Town to your favorite LLM – Cursor, ChatGPT, Zed, wherever! AI coding, instant deployments, built-in SQLite
For example, here we use Claude Code to make a blog in a couple prompts
Learn more & get started 👉 blog.val.town/mcp
Bring Val Town to your favorite LLM – Cursor, ChatGPT, Zed, wherever! AI coding, instant deployments, built-in SQLite
For example, here we use Claude Code to make a blog in a couple prompts
Learn more & get started 👉 blog.val.town/mcp
ICANN is not a boring bureaucracy: internet governance drama buried in acronyms
dotcom.press/archive/icann84
Writing about ICANN reminded me of my favorite David Foster Wallace essay, Authority and American Usage ("Did you know that US lexicography even *had* a seamy underbelly?")
dotcom.press/archive/icann84
Writing about ICANN reminded me of my favorite David Foster Wallace essay, Authority and American Usage ("Did you know that US lexicography even *had* a seamy underbelly?")
Dot Com Press
Publishing for the internet age.
www.dotcom.press
November 4, 2025 at 4:46 PM
ICANN is not a boring bureaucracy: internet governance drama buried in acronyms
dotcom.press/archive/icann84
Writing about ICANN reminded me of my favorite David Foster Wallace essay, Authority and American Usage ("Did you know that US lexicography even *had* a seamy underbelly?")
dotcom.press/archive/icann84
Writing about ICANN reminded me of my favorite David Foster Wallace essay, Authority and American Usage ("Did you know that US lexicography even *had* a seamy underbelly?")
I put together a timeline of domain history from DNS to 2026 gTLDs. Inspired by @deno.land's Brief History of JS and @neal.fun's Internet Artifacts (which is amazing if you haven't read through it before!)
dotcom.press/history-of-domains
dotcom.press/history-of-domains
October 23, 2025 at 12:35 PM
I put together a timeline of domain history from DNS to 2026 gTLDs. Inspired by @deno.land's Brief History of JS and @neal.fun's Internet Artifacts (which is amazing if you haven't read through it before!)
dotcom.press/history-of-domains
dotcom.press/history-of-domains
@terrenceobrien.bsky.social's article on Twitter's secondary marketplace for handles reminds me of the secondary market for domain names, including the perpetual renewal cost
theverge.com/news/802474/x-is-launching-a-marketplace-for-inactive-handles
theverge.com/news/802474/x-is-launching-a-marketplace-for-inactive-handles
X is launching a marketplace for inactive handles
X is launching a Handle Marketplace where Premium subscribers will be able to search and request usernames that have been unavailable.
www.theverge.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:13 PM
@terrenceobrien.bsky.social's article on Twitter's secondary marketplace for handles reminds me of the secondary market for domain names, including the perpetual renewal cost
theverge.com/news/802474/x-is-launching-a-marketplace-for-inactive-handles
theverge.com/news/802474/x-is-launching-a-marketplace-for-inactive-handles
By a strange coincidence Anguilla is the country where AI has had the biggest (proportional) economic impact so far...
dotcom.press/archive/anguilla
dotcom.press/archive/anguilla
October 14, 2025 at 1:09 PM
By a strange coincidence Anguilla is the country where AI has had the biggest (proportional) economic impact so far...
dotcom.press/archive/anguilla
dotcom.press/archive/anguilla
September
petemillspaugh.com/september-2025
petemillspaugh.com/september-2025
#5 — September 2025
Pete Millspaugh's digital garden
www.petemillspaugh.com
October 3, 2025 at 4:41 PM
September
petemillspaugh.com/september-2025
petemillspaugh.com/september-2025
August 2025
petemillspaugh.com/august-2025
petemillspaugh.com/august-2025
#4 — August 2025
Pete Millspaugh's digital garden
www.petemillspaugh.com
September 3, 2025 at 4:39 PM
August 2025
petemillspaugh.com/august-2025
petemillspaugh.com/august-2025