Will Vincent

Developer 🥑 at JetBrains
🐍 Python Software Foundation (npub1vv8…6fhk) Fellow
:django: former Django (npub1l0c…kt92) board member
✍️ https://learndjango.com/books/ - Django for Beginners/APIs/Professionals
:github: https://github.com/wsvincent

Old posts are automatically deleted after a while.

PERSONAL WEBSITE: https://wsvincent.com
WEBSITE: https://learndjango.com
GITHUB: https://github.com/wsvincent

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npub1mjxsfj0qvquk4lgnljzfyslv5mwqzez44mdj89990supczdcqrfqd4httg

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[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdergye8sxqwt2l5flepyjg0k2dhqpv326akerjjjhcwqupxuqp5sprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqyqqg4r7j4

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relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1mjxsfj0qvquk4lgnljzfyslv5mwqzez44mdj89990supczdcqrfqd4httg

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Last Notes

2026-05-27 13:24:54 UTC

After 7 years of co-writing the Django News Newsletter, this is my top comment to the community. If you want @npub1nsp…ahke or me to see what you wrote, have an RSS feed.
You can add it in just a few steps on Django (search LearnDjango.com for the tutorial).
Longer thoughts in the link...
🔗 https://wsvincent.com/please-add-feed-to-django-site/
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/646/754/798/617/659/original/d3a5f9041cff0b91.jpg

2026-05-22 16:49:06 UTC

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Seems like a fun lighthearted way to start a Friday?

2026-05-22 01:15:36 UTC

I wrote up a recap of 7 days at PyCon US. If you couldn't attend in person, hopefully this gives a sense for what you missed!
https://wsvincent.com/pyconus-2026-recap/
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/615/579/196/844/215/original/7967dc61ad1db594.jpeg

2026-05-20 15:54:43 UTC

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This was a very fun, informative, and inspiring chat.
Also note that this is our last Django Chat of the season. We will return in the fall with new guests, topics, and renewed energy!

2026-05-20 15:52:36 UTC

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Extra large, almost magnum sized there.

2026-05-19 23:00:00 UTC

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Yup, hence why I didn't make a reservation for us (I couldn't). Food is great for anyone interested, as was the service.

2026-05-19 16:31:54 UTC

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Were they on your feet the whole time? (Like glasses being on one's forehead.)

2026-05-19 15:28:01 UTC

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I'm sure it did. I mean, I have an example here but it's a proper Hello, World one not just the Django welcome screen. Though I see a need for both.
https://learndjango.com/tutorials/django-hello-world

2026-05-19 02:58:55 UTC

While sitting at the @npub1l9a…yneh sprints table for T-Strings, I asked someone to google "Django Hello World". We were not impressed by the results. The top one was a GitHub repo that is wrong in several ways.
So I quickly coded up a repo that is really just the Django welcome screen. But accurate. And hopefully acts as a gateway to future more-in-depth resources.
https://github.com/wsvincent/django-hello-world

2026-05-16 15:35:31 UTC

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Just missed y'all. Bummer.

2026-05-16 04:03:07 UTC

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Ha, yes. Everyone is being quite social about it. I'm here until Wednesday morning. Tomorrow and Sunday are talks and then sprints Monday/Tuesday, so less to visit about.
I'm at the PyCon booth all day tomorrow (and today) if you find a way to make it over.

2026-05-16 03:12:08 UTC

@npub1hnr…6sg3 Have you been able to make it to PyCon yet? I don't think I've seen you.

2026-05-07 14:44:16 UTC

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That aligns with my thoughts and what I'm seeing with my own children. I think part of the issue is that class sizes, even in well-funded by US standard schools, are such that a teacher can't adequately address all levels. And then this just compounds over time.

2026-05-07 13:19:51 UTC

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Are you now more optimistic or pessimistic about math education in the US as a result?

2026-05-06 13:14:10 UTC

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This was a fun episode to record. Unfortunately my internet did not cooperate, so I'm only there for the first few minutes, but Mia and Carlton handled it all gracefully.

2026-05-04 15:01:59 UTC

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I don't disagree on the value to the author of writing things up. I suppose my pessimism is related to what I see newer developers doing related to docs. I also will look at the human-written docs to judge something. But.... time will tell.
I think premium content is still worth it. But if you are writing something for discovery/marketing, that ship has largely sailed.

2026-05-04 14:30:51 UTC

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Nice! I always like to find and, if possible, use indie tools like this. I'm glad @npub1mfs…ngvj directed me to it.

2026-05-04 14:29:58 UTC

Are Written Coding Tutorials Dead?
If you mean written by an actual human developer who knows what they are talking about and took the time to write it all up and verify, then probably yes. In a world with almost no SEO (thanks, Google) and LLMs vacuuming up everything without attribution, the math doesn't math for technical content creators anymore.
🔗 https://wsvincent.com/future-written-tutorials/

2026-05-03 14:05:38 UTC

A Sunday post on "You Are What You Read" sharing my own habits and thinking about consumption generally.
https://wsvincent.com/you-are-what-you-read/

2026-05-01 16:34:58 UTC

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sounds like long weekend vibes

2026-04-30 19:01:40 UTC

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"sans trouver" French can have its moment in succinctly describing things.

2026-04-30 16:21:10 UTC

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I spent a minute to copy the transcript into an LLM that gave me the same summary.

2026-04-30 15:46:35 UTC

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✊ Single handedly fixing the ills of capitalism, one post on Mastodon at a time.

2026-04-30 15:11:35 UTC

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Right. And to further abuse the analogy, a chess engine can show you the "right" move, but if you don't study/think about it yourself, you will fail to advance as a chess player.

2026-04-30 12:34:06 UTC

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Super interesting, as well as the comment link to "Milk or Wine: Does Software Security Improve with Age?"
The only code with no bugs is no code. But, in theory, the "simple" bugs should be fixable with AI now. I also don't think we'll ever achieve a no bugs situation though given the fact software has to play and integrate in a quite messy world of "other" code.

2026-04-30 12:31:04 UTC

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You know things are serious when Carlton drops a public f-bomb.

2026-04-29 14:31:30 UTC

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Your name was also mentioned in both contexts, naturally!

2026-04-29 14:31:10 UTC

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4Es was pretty good. Also first Prime video I've ever finished.

2026-04-29 11:56:06 UTC

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https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/487/865/098/346/291/original/54a36907230acd7c.png

2026-04-29 11:41:49 UTC

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If you missed out on @npub1zsj…wjsv this year (as I did unfortunately), here is your chance to hear from Carlton about everything that happened.
Also, Jeff shared updates on what the Django Board is up to (Executive Director search upcoming, hint hint). And also how he's using AI in his day job as a consultant to solve real problems for clients.

2026-04-27 20:40:45 UTC

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I think it's hard to be too pessimistic 😀 .
The real lesson of economic history I take is how abnormal the years 1945-1975 were in the US and Western Europe. Otherwise the history of the world--politically, economically, etc.--is somewhat bleak.
Turns out people all want the same things and when they aren't served by existing political options, they look for change.

2026-04-27 17:40:42 UTC

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Right, very cheap, but also need a middle class with spending power as customers. That to me has always been the issue.
US business owners were happy to sell out their workers for more $ moving production abroad. But I suspect we'll see more and more protectionism in the future, and so where are the customers?

2026-04-27 14:56:50 UTC

Gary's Economics most recent video is
"Will AI destroy the economy?" and he makes the point that past technological revolutions had a market of consumers to sell into. Britain during the Industrial Revolution sold into the whole world. China has sold for the last 30 years into the U.S. middle class. Who is AI selling into? Where is an undiscovered pocket of consumers with money willing to displace an incumbent? Programmers alone aren't enough.
https://youtu.be/DBvrwWoyYQM?si=5MNWjOpaCrO_eTW-
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2026-04-22 16:42:35 UTC

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I'm there the whole time so we'll make it work!

2026-04-22 13:52:12 UTC

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I'll be in Long Beach for this May 14-20. Perhaps on the 18th of 19th we could meet up? I never managed to thank you for sending that book at the end of the year btw! It is sitting by my bedside.

2026-04-16 16:38:53 UTC

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I love the PyTV shirt! And the rest of it.

2026-04-16 16:37:38 UTC

I decided to do a super simple Django blog tutorial and repo.
https://github.com/wsvincent/django-blog
Likely the launching point for a bunch of future tutorials around deployment....
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/415/361/753/168/764/original/323e17c36c6be230.mp4

2026-04-15 21:17:16 UTC

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Yes! Such an enlightening chat. I hope everyone in Athens gives you feedback and kudos on it.

2026-04-15 21:06:31 UTC

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Thank you!

2026-04-13 12:24:24 UTC

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Maybe you are aware of this? I shared the piece with someone in the UK who received this notification.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/397/378/248/824/296/original/1c7ec3935472fe6e.png

2026-04-10 23:05:42 UTC

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This is an impressive piece of writing. Well done.

2026-04-10 14:18:01 UTC

Dealing with dead links on a Friday morning.
https://wsvincent.com/dead-links-2026-edition/
Tried to vibe code a fix, which half worked. Ended up correcting Claude quite a bit. Probably would have been faster to just do it manually. Only was able to fix it at all cause I've had to manually fight with DNS, Jekyll, Cloudflare, Netlify, and so on for years. :eyeroll:
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/380/835/928/735/007/original/41c94907139b7d12.png

2026-04-09 10:54:07 UTC

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How do you really feel this morning? But more seriously, yes to all this.

2026-04-08 18:37:51 UTC

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Need to connect it to your web browser as well for a full analysis I would suspect.

2026-04-07 13:50:51 UTC

Them: How's it going today?
Me: Great, thanks for asking.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/363/744/517/632/167/original/54328d1e7d1be4a1.mp4

2026-04-03 11:27:53 UTC

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Thank you for that! Jeff is a great colleague on it and other projects. It means that when one of us needs a week or two off, the other picks up the slack. Essential for keeping up with a weekly cadence.

2026-04-03 11:24:00 UTC

Welp edition 331 of Django News Newsletter is out. Hard to believe @npub1nsp…ahke and I have been doing this for over 7 years now, every single week.
We're at 4,300ish subscribers: large enough to reach the people who influence Django, small enough to be a drop in the ocean of developers actually using Django.
It's a somewhat odd place to be.
https://django-news.com/issues/331#start
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2026-04-02 18:48:21 UTC

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It's worth reading/viewing both more than once. The book is so good though. Wow.

2026-04-02 18:47:39 UTC

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I'm waiting for one of these models to add an easter egg that puts your face on the pelican Simon.

2026-04-02 18:15:42 UTC

https://browsergate.eu/ tl;dr LinkedIn Searching Your Computer via Chrome browser extensions
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/336/473/539/067/614/original/bf2552be5d4a99cb.png

2026-04-02 17:25:34 UTC

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You summed up essentially my thoughts as well here. Good piece.

2026-04-02 16:33:33 UTC

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Search functionality on your site would be nice. Since you liked Paterson, I'm curious what you think of Train Dreams and The Tree of Life.

2026-04-02 16:31:47 UTC

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I am pleased you liked Paterson though. I loved that movie and saw it when it came out. If you didn't like THAT then I was really going to question your taste 😉
https://www.jmduke.com/posts/paterson-2016.html

2026-04-02 16:31:01 UTC

A non technical thought for a change, but I was reading through [@jmduke](https://hachyderm.io/@jmduke ) excellent site with movie reviews, and I have to disagree around Tinker Tailor Solider Spy. I love this book and I think this movie is magnificent. Definitely a 5 star movie for me, not 3!
https://www.jmduke.com/posts/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-2011.html

2026-04-01 22:53:33 UTC

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Thank you for your service. Generally not funny people making not funny and confusing announcements on this day is not something I will ever understand.

2026-04-01 22:50:15 UTC

Me: Can't wait to watch Artemis II live launch.
NASA: Hold my beer....
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/331/891/115/071/901/original/cb40d8e0733b3c61.png

2026-04-01 21:13:04 UTC

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https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/331/510/517/040/357/original/cef19fef1036bf0e.png

2026-04-01 13:28:07 UTC

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This one was really out there. I found myself asking, who is the author again? What is he smoking? I know Yegge likes to take big swings and is clearly super smart, but yikes. Never have I felt more like Kermit here.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/329/681/691/774/084/original/ed1393579a753bd1.mp4

2026-04-01 13:25:53 UTC

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The adversarial AI agent said the code generated by the other AI agent was good, so what's the issue? (sarcasm)

2026-04-01 13:25:07 UTC

The latest Django Chat episode is out with the one and only @npub18ae…55j8!
We talk about his latest book, how he's using Django today, incorporating AI tools, consulting work at Rippling, and all the things. It's always a pleasure to chat with Adam.
🎤 https://djangochat.com/episodes/boost-your-github-dx-adam-johnson
🎥 https://youtu.be/PWzy1MEV-8g?si=5DaFE2pAVnWaCtS8
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/329/663/080/063/026/original/e9bae281ce7559a3.png

2026-03-31 15:23:38 UTC

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This is a poor take. If you look at the open source code you'll see that drf-spectacular has been there long before LLMs became public. You are also welcome to contribute and improve this if you have strong opinions.
Dumping on maintainers and alleging AI slop when that is factually wrong is not cool.

2026-03-24 16:18:49 UTC

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🐴 🛏️

2026-03-19 16:20:57 UTC

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Or premium and future tools only being for OpenAI and companies. I share your caution. It's not just an acquihire.

2026-03-19 16:18:16 UTC

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I would say Charlie and the Astral team have handled everything extremely well so far. But... hard to know.

2026-03-19 16:07:46 UTC

OpenAI acquiring Astral is sending shockwaves through the Python and AI programming communities.
I believe it opens up a 4th way to solve a historic problem: how to fund open source.
https://wsvincent.com/openai-acquiring-astral/
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/256/689/424/730/518/original/efdf5b75bf8b73af.png

2026-03-13 13:51:45 UTC

I wrote up a recap of the PyTV Python Unplugged conference last week.
Lots of photos and some insights into all the effort required for just a one day event. Hats off to organizers of multi-day events like @npub1wcx…kjdc, @npub1zsj…wjsv, and @npub1alk…dg9z!
https://blog.jetbrains.com/pycharm/2026/03/python-unplugged-on-pytv-recap/
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/222/190/107/569/065/original/4221340622c63efe.png

2026-02-23 13:16:10 UTC

If you are NOT reading the London Review of Books on the regular, try out this latest piece on Updike and see if it is of interest.
So many laugh-out-loud phrases that only a Brit could write. I can't quote most of them here.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n03/james-wolcott/what-you-can-get-away-with

2026-02-22 18:43:00 UTC

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What are the steps to avoid? I mean, it's like worrying about the end of the universe, not much we can do until it happens, but everything I've seen is that unless there is a big change in LLM architecture (likely, though we don't know what) it's hard to avoid model collapse at some point soonish. Anyhoo. I'll use the tools until then. Not much action we can take.

2026-02-22 14:04:54 UTC

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I'd also add that a coding flow where ONE model writes the code and ANOTHER checks it will be the default. Also there should be good default prompts for a Python file versus all coding.
Basically, to me, the UX is the issue. Even if the models stop advancing right now, there's so much to unlock so a regular user can get the best of out them. Cause most of us aren't.
We should use the models well until model collapse/drift result in end times 😀 .

2026-02-15 19:19:47 UTC

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Thanks for flagging this, Florian.

2026-02-14 11:03:18 UTC

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Yup! I completely agree. SQLite is having a comeback in web applications for sure. I hadn't thought of it in the context of something non-managed, but that's interesting!
For Django specifically, there are a number of Postgres-only features, but as ever, it depends on what exactly you're building.
Thanks for the good point!
PS. You've seen https://simonwillison.net/tags/sqlite/ I assume? He's been writing about what SQLite can do recently quite a bit.

2026-02-12 20:02:33 UTC

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Very cool! Love that soundtrack. I think that was one of the first movie soundtracks that sold a lot on its own?

2026-02-12 18:44:50 UTC

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Very cool. I also think at this point "every" model maker must have the Simon's Pelican on a Bike filter set to 100% for pre-launch, no?

2026-02-12 13:47:15 UTC

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Ok, it seems people do know Carlton and me. Yes, Carlton = Ken, Will = Maverick, at least online 😎 ✈️

2026-02-12 13:46:29 UTC

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Indeed. Sadly or proudly I can confidently quote about 90% of that movie on command.

2026-02-12 13:45:10 UTC

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I really liked this issue!

2026-02-11 20:30:19 UTC

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I thought it was obvious. Carlton and I regularly send individual versions of this to each other. Maybe a poll is in order?

2026-02-11 18:15:57 UTC

The PyCharm team at JetBrains is hosting the inaugural PyTV Python Unplugged conference on March 4th in Amsterdam.
It's a FREE, online Python conference available to everyone everywhere. The event will be livestreamed and available on YouTube afterward.
Django-specific speakers include @npub1f7y…q8xt, @npub10c6…0j74, and @npub1mfs…ngvj, among many others.
Please register to enter for a chance to win prizes and to receive the livestream link and event reminders. Link in the comment 😉 .
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/053/353/975/330/369/original/0352c58f73cdc4e3.mp4

2026-02-11 16:10:14 UTC

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Another episode in the bag by @npub1mfs…ngvj and moi.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/052/866/360/028/329/original/e7f5d22a004e24a0.mp4

2026-02-11 13:48:41 UTC

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This was a really fun chat. Hard to keep up with all the work Adam has been doing.

2026-02-10 17:02:55 UTC

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Thanks! Your feedback was really helpful. I've shared it with our team and it will be shared with the PSF, too.
I'm pleased that Hacker News IS on the list of resources for the Django Survey. I was frantically checking it against your comments!

2026-02-10 16:04:56 UTC

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I have some insight here as I'm on the team at JetBrains. You have valid questions about the survey. But I'm realizing the messaging needs to be better around "why" for the survey.
For JetBrains, we run it more as a service for the PSF and also Django (that survey coming later this year) than as just a data grab.
But I think we need to communicate better. It's a lot of work internally to produce.

2026-02-09 20:51:59 UTC

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It's a somewhat counterintuitive take I suppose, but if you have enough experience, I think it's pretty non-debatable :)

2026-02-09 14:19:51 UTC

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Thank you. @npub12q0…sm0v also informed me of this. I'm in favor of greener hosting, all things being equal. I agree it probably deserves its own category on a matrix of what to choose.

2026-02-07 19:05:53 UTC

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I've had some of these convos over the years, and the unfortunate reality is that Python and then Django are usually an afterthought in terms of customers/volume than PHP or JavaScript deploys.

2026-02-07 19:05:10 UTC

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or just have you on to do a 2026 version...

2026-02-07 18:47:06 UTC

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Agreed. We have some correspondence with people at La Suite Numérique to hopefully have them join @npub120g…wm7n soon to share more about it.

2026-02-07 16:32:20 UTC

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That looks very familiar indeed.

2026-02-07 16:22:48 UTC

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https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/030/266/562/475/942/original/ce39995aafff55c9.png

2026-02-07 12:50:13 UTC

Heroku is (Finally, Officially) Dead. I wrote up some extended thoughts on this and what comes next for many of us as Django developers.
https://wsvincent.com/heroku-is-finally-dead/
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/029/429/238/563/460/original/2be189c06e603da8.png

2026-01-28 14:59:07 UTC

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Yup, this was a particularly good one. As I said separately to Carlton, any piece that starts off quoting James Baldwin is headed in the right direction.

2026-01-26 17:33:31 UTC

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RSS Feed plz

2026-01-26 13:38:36 UTC

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Thanks for the tips. I've read both Huck Finn and Ulysses, but been thinking I could use a refresh on them, especially since there is a new translation of Ulysses by Emily Wilson that is supposed to be great.

2026-01-24 00:48:14 UTC

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Nice list. James is on my longer list, as is Circe. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow has been on my shelf for a while, somehow didn't get into it the first time, but I will try again.
I like the Backlog section, ha. I have many of the same titles in mine. We'll see how much progress I can make...

2026-01-23 15:27:24 UTC

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If you go at Christmas they usually have a huge tree and such there too.

2026-01-23 15:26:51 UTC

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Hi! I was wondering if anyone saw that. So I've gotten through half those so far and just didn't comment out the last 10, but I've got them all on my nightstand.
I just love to read, and I'm curious. I read fast. I dunno.... books are the best.
I read in bed for about an hour at night. I try to cram a little in at lunch. And anytime I'm waiting around for my kids, more books 🤷‍♂️ .

2026-01-22 22:01:23 UTC

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Very exciting!

2026-01-22 22:00:53 UTC

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yup. And especially smaller companies, as said Andrew.

2026-01-21 17:47:00 UTC

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yup, sometimes it's just lazy paperwork. If someone is from a country your company hasn't hired from before, HR is just like, nah, we don't want the hassle. I've experienced this. Heck, I've had this for different US states let alone countries when it comes to remote employees.

2026-01-21 14:50:07 UTC

Another "Recently" update. Brief reviews of four books: Recursion, Apple in China, All the Knowledge in the World, and How the South Won the Civil War. Plus, Split Fiction coop game completed, and Mark Carney's talk at Davos.
https://wsvincent.com/recently-late-jan-2026/
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/933/632/628/582/878/original/d55dc7f7c79013b0.jpeg