John O'Nolan

Founder/CEO @ Ghost.org
Geographically restless.

Web: https://john.onolan.org

Public Key

npub1d2v7jswf49u0htsx3ftv6906hvsp7ck6uxlvdmsp854n5hkvzz5q0r0l89

NIP-05 Address

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsx4x0fg8y6j78m4crg54kdzhatkgqlvtdwr0kxacqn62e6tmxpp2qpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsnkgc82

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1d2v7jswf49u0htsx3ftv6906hvsp7ck6uxlvdmsp854n5hkvzz5q0r0l89

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Last Notes

2025-09-25 13:13:03 UTC

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ohhh that’s a great hypothesis. I hadn’t thought of that. Yes, high probability.
Though, still an interesting wrinkle where I would expect the feed to be sorted by published_at rather than created_at - if you know what I mean

2025-09-25 11:48:51 UTC

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not sure! It could make more sense for notes - I think - I’m guessing not many people edit really old notes in the way they do for articles, so it’s more likely to be a recent edit/update(?) I’m just guessing though

2025-09-25 11:20:09 UTC

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we’ve seen some other/different strangeness - like update activities trigger posts returning to the top of the feed in mastodon as if they’re new. So when someone edits a bunch of posts from 5 years ago, it sometimes floods the feeds of followers

2025-08-05 01:44:06 UTC

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oh no all good - there’s lots of collaboration happening between Mastodon, Ghost, WordPress, Flipboard, Threads, WriteFreely, NodeBB and The Social Web Foundation (which we sponsor!)
We’re all working on better interoperability and support for long form content!

2025-08-05 01:32:14 UTC

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they’re working on it :)

2025-08-04 21:34:45 UTC

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Thanks so much for the kind note <3
Kickstarter feels like a lifetime ago now :)

2025-07-03 06:06:55 UTC

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sorry I need a sec, busy girding my loins over here.

2025-06-12 20:09:55 UTC

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1 domain per Ghost install - if you need to have things running on different domains, then you'd need separate installs

2025-05-06 19:12:53 UTC

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all good, not the most intuitive - we’ve got some analytics upgrades WIP :)

2025-05-06 19:09:18 UTC

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settings → analytics → export

2025-05-06 17:53:41 UTC

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same

2025-05-06 16:33:01 UTC

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Incidentally, if indie publishing, open source, and JavaScript are your thing – we're hiring!
Our team is fully remote, distributed globally, and passionate about building a healthy future for the open web.
https://careers.ghost.org/

2025-05-06 16:25:58 UTC

Another year, and several milestones all at once.
12 years since Ghost launched on Kickstarter, now at $8M ARR, and powering almost $100M in revenue for independent publishers 📈
A few reflections on building an open source publishing platform, for a long time:
https://john.onolan.org/12/

2025-05-05 09:12:26 UTC

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looking dope, can't wait to see it go live!

2025-04-25 21:12:25 UTC

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it’s a live production site 🤣 https://activitypub.ghost.org/archive

2025-04-25 20:46:29 UTC

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fun for now, we’ll see how it goes

2025-04-25 19:27:19 UTC

Vibe coding a React Native framework that can turn any Ghost publication into a native mobile app
Super fun
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/400/245/908/743/979/original/242786f6763bc048.mp4

2025-04-23 20:04:58 UTC

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oh shit it’s happeningggg

2025-04-16 12:26:05 UTC

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haha, yeah I'm a bit all over the place at the moment! Eventually I will merge them into a single profile :)

2025-04-07 15:55:37 UTC

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Definitely on my mind, too :)

2025-04-01 15:28:46 UTC

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It's not clear to us yet either - we're still figuring out what it costs us to run. Details at the end here:
https://ghost.org/help/social-web/

2025-04-01 15:18:25 UTC

Now in beta – increase your reach by connecting your Ghost website to the fediverse 🌏
Discover and follow your favorite people and publications across Ghost, Threads, Mastodon, BlueSky, Flipboard, WordPress, and more – all in one place.
The open web is getting social.
https://ghost.org/changelog/social-web-beta/

2025-03-31 06:44:28 UTC

Ghost's social web integration is built on the fantastic work of @npub1upg…9n89 and the Fedify.dev framework.
We've been backing work on the project for 6 months or so, and now we're thrilled to be formal sponsor of the project on Open Collective!
If you're building with Fedify and ActivityPub, please consider joining us to keep helping to make great open source work sustainable ❤️ Every little helps
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/255/680/584/443/109/original/9f8ec26e302b289b.png

2025-03-30 09:15:53 UTC

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😅😅

2025-03-27 15:07:39 UTC

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no expectations - this is just to make it easy for you to test interop between Ghost and your product, if/when you want/need to

2025-03-26 18:42:28 UTC

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cc @npub1036…dl9x

2025-03-26 12:18:21 UTC

@npub1uq5…z8a5 @npub1jwr…7v3w @npub1c80…5lwq Fixed that permissions bug so if you sign into the longformers Ghost instance I sent you an invite to - you should now be able to access and test the ActivityPub area properly!

2025-03-26 11:30:34 UTC

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yes we've had this for 6+ months :D

2025-03-25 19:13:24 UTC

Serious question how do I make fediverse chick leave me alone

2025-03-25 19:09:21 UTC

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yep https://ghost.org/explore/

2025-03-21 10:08:58 UTC

🚀
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/199/869/696/481/882/original/d2b9a391adf5deb7.png

2025-03-20 16:57:37 UTC

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https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/195/815/028/428/561/original/5b303c483eccd01b.png

2025-03-12 18:26:46 UTC

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❤️ let me know if we can help!

2025-03-11 13:18:04 UTC

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timezones for this position are listed on the site, we contract people worldwide - different contracts depending on country, but no limitations on eligibility

2025-03-10 15:00:58 UTC

It's been a while, but we are HIRING again 🚀
Join us as Staff Product Engineer and get paid to work on open source software shaping the future of independent media!
🌍 Fully remote since 2013
📅 4 day work week
💸 Competitive salary
🧑‍💻 Equipment paid for
https://careers.ghost.org

2025-03-10 09:39:23 UTC

[@index](https://activitypub.ghost.org/ ) hello

2025-03-09 10:30:31 UTC

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(Thank you for the ping btw, I appreciate the note - this wasn't on my radar)

2025-03-09 10:28:19 UTC

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If you want to make an issue here about what you'd like to see I'll make sure the team sees it :)
https://github.com/TryGhost/ActivityPub

2025-03-04 17:46:14 UTC

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interesting problem! Redirect feels like a slightly weird pattern to me, intuitively, but open to implementing any preferred approach

2025-02-17 21:06:49 UTC

Did a fun lil episode on The Business of Open Source recently, talking about building an OSS company designed around long-term sustainability.
Will be chatting more about this at Open Source Founders Summit in Paris, in May! (Link in the shownotes)
https://share.transistor.fm/s/b15a5e8f

2025-02-06 07:11:00 UTC

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Shouldn't see MRR unless you have Stripe Connected - disconnect to make it go away. I believe member count will go away too if you turn off user signups, but not 100% on that one. But yes we will also add more direct dashboard customisation in future :)

2025-02-03 13:53:40 UTC

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THE LONGFORMERS

2025-02-03 13:50:48 UTC

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your name came up lots! Hope to see you next year 🤗

2025-02-02 18:58:54 UTC

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are you coming to the after hours this evening? 🤗

2025-02-01 11:05:26 UTC

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all Ghost(Pro) sites are hosted in Amsterdam, NL

2025-01-30 16:27:53 UTC

On my way to Brussels for #FOSSDEM - I’ll be speaking (about ActivityPub, Ghost, and the fediverse) on Saturday evening in the Social Web track.
Hope to see you there if you’re attending 🤗

2025-01-29 10:57:11 UTC

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See you there 😊

2025-01-23 15:07:58 UTC

Open source software on Kickstarter is my jam.
Ghost.org was born on Kickstarter, and now thrilled to be able to sponsor the amazing ActivityPub-driven @npub1gq5…qcul on our collective quest to bring back the open web.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pixelfed/pixelfed-foundation-2024-real-ethical-social-networks
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/878/294/626/844/774/original/41559444aa2d51c8.jpeg

2024-12-14 11:57:57 UTC

I tried that "Roast me and don't hold back" ChatGPT prompt 2 weeks ago and it was so harrowing that I'm still thinking about it to this day

2024-11-18 08:46:26 UTC

Late to the party on this server but Mastodon 4.3 feels like a huge upgrade. Great work @npub1vl7…f6g0 and team 🙌

2024-11-13 12:06:34 UTC

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oh COOL! really nice ❤️

2024-11-13 09:08:24 UTC

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What's the 'fediverse preview' ? I clicked but wasn't sure! Is it going into core?

2024-11-05 06:27:26 UTC

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pls tell me you call him “bae” for short?

2024-11-01 17:29:34 UTC

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Go to:
Settings → Search Engine → Manage search engines and site search → Site search → Add new
Enter details from the screenshot below. Then you can type chatgpt.com + [tab] to start a new ChatGPT Search
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/408/879/692/817/106/original/18c0c9c9c4e4c6ed.jpeg

2024-11-01 17:28:39 UTC

Figured out how to make a search shortcut for the new ChatGPT Search feature in Arc / Chrome 👇
So you keep whatever default search engine you prefer, but have ChatGPT search only a [tab] away:
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/408/876/065/164/403/original/7f318f5c1fc42ef2.mp4

2024-11-01 16:25:18 UTC

Too late, Home Assistant already has built-in Gemini
https://mastodon.social/@verge/113408566944547622

2024-11-01 15:05:09 UTC

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Thanks for the mention! Lovely to hear both your perspectives ❤️

2024-10-30 13:29:32 UTC

I've had a lot of questions over the last few weeks about how Ghost is going to avoid ending up in the same situation as WordPress.
A lot of trust in open source has been broken.
So, I spent some time writing up how we structure and think about business, governance, open source, community, and ecosystems more broadly.
I certainly don't think we've got it all figured out — but I think our model is especially relevant at this particular moment in time.
https://john.onolan.org/democratising-publishing/

2024-10-29 18:44:20 UTC

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Very cool :) we're going to work on something similar for sure

2024-10-28 18:24:45 UTC

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Email should already be in your inbox 🤗 let me know if it didn't make it

2024-10-28 17:37:43 UTC

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This is exactly what we're building :) looking forward to giving you a demo

2024-10-28 00:10:09 UTC

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no problem :) I’ll drop you an email

2024-10-28 00:07:29 UTC

Just managed to rewrite 80% of one of our internal apps in the space of 3 hours using Laravel.
So satisfying.
All that’s left to do now is the remaining 80%

2024-10-27 09:20:36 UTC

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Taylor, I've seen you share this claim across multiple platforms and I'm honestly not sure where it's coming from.
As I've mentioned each time someone tags me, I'm happy to chat with you directly about how Ghost works and any of these issues if that would be helpful.

2024-10-22 05:09:56 UTC

In Singapore this week for @npub1l6t…ktfm Evolve 🇸🇬
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/349/347/890/507/021/original/7b5cd2de3fd01f2e.png

2024-10-16 20:18:34 UTC

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oh wow, that’s a first! Sorry about the trouble - moderation is a little clunky right now (we’re working on it, right now)
Atm you need to create a member with the same email address as your admin user, sign in to site as that member, then you’ll see (basic) moderation controls on comments
We’ll improve this, I swear.

2024-10-15 17:34:29 UTC

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Post is WIP, but here's a preview touching on all the same subjects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUrR-c7Ni-w

2024-10-15 11:37:02 UTC

Had a lot of fun chatting with Tim for the @npub1l6t…ktfm podcast recently! Including (very unsuccessfully) trying to pitch him on the Fediverse 😅
We chat about the origins of Ghost, why I left the WordPress core team, and where things are going next.
Excited to be back in Singapore next week for Ahrefs Evolve conference!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boTWrho4la8
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/311/234/137/717/178/original/aba728d5c4b2620f.mp4

2024-10-14 20:09:18 UTC

Thinking about putting together a post on how we think about community, governance, open source, product, & business at Ghost
We’ve been doing things differently for the past ~12 years, and for a long time most didn’t understand why.
Feels like now might be the time to talk about this in some more detail?
Has been a lot of debate about the problems, for the past few weeks, but seen very few ideas for solutions.
I don’t have all the answers, but I think we’ve figured out at least a couple.

2024-10-03 22:01:26 UTC

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absolutely - we’ll try to keep publicly documenting gotchas and things we struggle with, to create more shared resource and knowledge
Hopefully along the way we’ll also document some solutions 😅

2024-10-03 15:08:11 UTC

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we've tried it a few times but it has always been a disaster of spam and abuse so far

2024-10-03 14:54:13 UTC

We’re WIP on some improvements to Ghost's commenting feature.
Any feedback or requests? 🤔
Been missing sorting for a while. What else?
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/244/061/826/970/805/original/214976e9e5d2eb64.png

2024-10-03 10:22:55 UTC

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Yup! We've got to figure some things out here for sure.
You're absolutely right in your assessment that some of the work is on the side of our (fledgling) implementation (eg. queues) and some may also be needed at the protocol level.
cc @npub1c80…5lwq

2024-09-28 21:10:26 UTC

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you aren’t missing anything

2024-09-26 09:31:37 UTC

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Pixelated Cat for sure! 😸

2024-09-26 09:29:11 UTC

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Nice work Matthias!

2024-09-26 09:28:33 UTC

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well said

2024-09-24 17:19:50 UTC

Very excited to have Ghost partnering with @npub1tuh…89y4, which launches today, with a mission to build an healthier future for social networking.
It's time to bring back the open web.
https://socialwebfoundation.org/
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/193/673/596/088/400/original/833a3e2d9a6b442d.png

2024-09-23 18:10:25 UTC

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if you want us to apologise for liking pugs then I'm afraid that's not going to happen. If you don't like seeing it then I suggest you unfollow.

2024-09-23 11:57:42 UTC

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I don't think we're "portraying" pugs as anything.

2024-09-23 11:55:04 UTC

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Thank you for the tip! ❤️

2024-09-21 12:10:20 UTC

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It works pretty well with this extension thing! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kagi-for-safari/id1622835804

2024-09-21 12:10:00 UTC

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Safari Extension thing - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kagi-for-safari/id1622835804

2024-09-21 11:47:07 UTC

We have full 2-way interaction now happening between [@index](https://activitypub.ghost.org/ ) and Mastodon / Threads / pretty much anything else that has ActivityPub. This is so cool.
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/175/378/340/643/925/original/597146e8fc623565.png

2024-09-20 10:41:25 UTC

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I had that at first but then I installed the system-profile whatever thing and now it works pretty flawlessly for me 😅

2024-09-20 10:40:25 UTC

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Thank you!! Followed ❤️

2024-09-19 17:55:01 UTC

Has now been about 6 months since I switched to Kagi.com as my default search engine - and I haven't missed Google once.
It's amazing how good search can be if you're willing to use a paid service that's totally ad-free! (They have generous free trial, very worth test driving)

2024-09-19 10:35:11 UTC

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No! The idea is that Ghost itself will be publishing to the Fediverse natively, so the post will have been automatically shared without needing to copy links to a 3rd party federated service 🤗

2024-09-18 19:12:49 UTC

I guess nobody at Apple uses a password on their Mac that’s more than 25characters, cause the Seqoia installer password input totally bugs out if you do 🙃

2024-09-18 08:30:36 UTC

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Love to see it! 🙌

2024-09-14 16:01:06 UTC

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*palpable relief*

2024-09-12 10:45:48 UTC

I'll be sharing a live demo of Ghost's progress in ActivityPub development this Saturday at https://fediforum.org - around ~8am PST

2024-09-12 08:43:10 UTC

Very excited to welcome Mill Media to Ghost 🎉
Local news on Ghost has been growing like crazy over the past couple of years, and The Mill has been doing some of the best reader-funded sustainable news in the UK since they launched.
https://pressgazette.co.uk/newsletters/mill-media-leaves-substack-ghost/

2024-09-11 11:02:35 UTC

How does one tune the algorithm in Apple Music? In Spotify I use the ⊖ and ⊕ buttons to train it on my taste, but not sure if there's any equivalent?

2024-09-10 22:42:48 UTC

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Very cool :) I genuinely wish you all the best with it - it's just not something I'm passionate about

2024-09-10 17:38:05 UTC

@npub1vc9…g9a3 I can't reply from Threads, but the desk is an IKEA Idasen :)

2024-09-10 12:01:34 UTC

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I do! But I'm running HA on a Synology at the moment so no bluetooth and I can't be bothered with an ESPhome proxy RN 😄 I think I may well end up going this route in future though. The synology install is a trial run and it's... just 'ok' compared the NUC I was running previously

2024-09-10 11:56:56 UTC

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Idasen! (I didnt even know it had bluetooth lol)

2024-09-10 09:06:30 UTC

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we send newsletter updates every single week :)

2024-09-10 09:06:16 UTC

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Nope, micropayments don't work. They've been endlessly tried by numerous companies and it's never sustainable for anyone involved