Dan Q

I'm Dan Q. I've spent the last 25+ years creating and writing on the Internet.

I work at Automattic and volunteer with Three Rings. I live with my partner, her husband, two kids and a dog. I can sometimes be found out geo*ing, cycling, or performing magic.

I believe in open source, open relationships, and opening doors to marginalised groups.

Photograph of Dan, his ponytail hanging over the shoulder of his black t-shirt, smiling from behind his beard and waving to the camera.

  • Does a blog have to be HTML?

    Does a blog post need a title? Does a blog have to be delivered in HTML? In launching textplain.blog, I'd like to argue that the answer is... no! Read more →

  • Test your site in Lynx

    Testing your website in Lynx or another text-mode browser can help you find find where you've become dependent upon JS and CSS. Let's see how much of DanQ.me breaks when it's deprived of advanced Web functionality! Read more →

  • Window Tax

    Britain and the Netherlands both had window taxes at various times. But the social and architectural effects were quite different. Read more →

  • 5 Cool Apps for your Unraid NAS

    Some suggested starting apps for your Unraid NAS, inspired by a conversation this week with a teammate who's an aspiring Unraider. Selfhosting FTW! Read more →

  • Icebreakers - Heraldry and Compairs

    For my team meetup, I developed a couple of icebreaker games - Heraldry and Compairs - and I'd love to share them with you, if you're interested! Read more →

  • Water Science #2

    For the second time, the kids and I had an outing to do some "citizen science" experiments on a local watercourse. Read more →

  • Automattic Switch

    Fire, my team at work, has been extinguished and I've been moved to Team Desire. I've struggled to find my feet, but I think I'm settling in now. Read more →

  • Council Disenfranchisement

    West Oxfordshire District Council seem to want to disenfranchise me by requiring that I bring photo ID to a polling station with a different name on it than the photo ID that they themselves issued. Read more →

  • Reversing Sandwiches

    Userscripts are awesome, and you should be using them. Let me rotate some sandwiches for you to demonstrate their versatility! Read more →

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  • Found GC30B8 SP1

    The rest of my family and I enjoy a Go Ape, so we came out this morning for a bout of tree climbing and high ropes at the nearby centre. After our picnic lunch, and while the kids were amusing themselves in the play area (they couldn’t be persuaded to join me for a walk!), […] Read more →

  • Wrote note for GC9Z37B Friar's Farm - Legal Limit

    I’ve now confirmed that this cache is missing (it looks like it was removed by the council during the installation of the signs for the new 20mph limit) and sourced the requisite parts to construct a like-for-like replacement. I’ll aim to get that constructed and in-place within the next two weeks.× Read more →

  • Dave Winer kindly let me know about a proposed standard for linking to OPML blogrolls. Given that I added a page containing my blogroll last year, it was easy enough for me to add a tiny bit of code to the header to add support for automatic detection of my blogroll. Read more →

  • I'm still a little miffed that my local council took it on themselves to "correct" my name on the electoral roll to something it isn't, thereby potentially disenfranchising me (I can't produce photo ID in the fake name they came up with!).

    But I'm pleased to report that, after prompting, they were able to correct their mistake before I got to the polling station this morning. 🗳️👍 Read more →

  • If you've ever found yourself missing the "good old days" of the web, what is it that you miss?

    You wanted to identify a song? Type some of the lyrics into a search engine and hope that somebody transcribed the same lyrics onto their fansite. You needed to know a fact? Better hope some guru had taken the time to share it, or it'd be time for a trip to the library.

    Not having information instantly easy to find meant that you really treasured your online discoveries. You'd bookmark the best sites on whatever topics you cared about and feel no awkwardness about emailing a fellow netizen (or signing their guestbook to tell them) about a resource they might like. And then you'd check back, manually, from time to time to see what was new.

    The young Web was still magical and powerful, but the effort to payoff ratio was harder, and that made you appreciate your own and other people's efforts more.

  • Post: Genderclear

    Breakpoint issues always make me feel a bit "genderclear".

  • Roman object that baffled experts to go on show at Lincoln Museum

    An archeological dig in Lincolnshire has unearthed a Roman... thingy. It joins hundreds of other thingies of the same design that we've found over the last three centuries, but we can't conclusively say anything about what these thingies are FOR. That's amazing. Read more →

  • Suno the Cheerleader

    I continue to be an AI-sceptic. But if you're feeling uninspired on a Monday morning, try feeding your to-do list into an AI songwriter and ask for something uplifting so you can start your day with a cheerleader on your side! Read more →

  • I think I might be more-prone to nerd sniping when I'm travelling.

    Last week, a coworker pointed out an unusually-large chimney on the back of a bus depot and I lost sleep poring over 50s photos of Dutch building sites to try to work out if it was original.

    When a boat tour guide told me that the Netherlands used to have a window tax, I fell down a rabbit hole of how it influenced local architecture and why the influence was different in the UK.

    Why does travelling make me more-prone to nerd sniping? Maybe I should see if there's any likely psychological effect that might cause that...

  • Found GC89T04 Japanse glazen dobbers

    An easy find. Didn’t take nor leave any books, but briefly skimmed the Borland JBuilder 2 Getting Started guide, because it was familiar/nostalgic. Pretty sure I used this tool… about 25 years ago!× Read more →

  • Found GC8R0FY SIX on the beach

    An easy find. As a approached I thought that a couple cuddling here might be in my way, but they were just getting ready to leave as I arrived! SL (love the long thin logbook!), TFTC. Now to make my way back to the station!× Read more →

  • Found GC79PX6 Galgenveld / Field of Gallows

    Eww. Had to put my hand into two gross holes before finding the (correct) third gross hole I needed to put my hand into. Worth it in the end for a happy smiley face. Thanks for bringing me to this place and teaching me its history. TFTC!× Read more →

  • Found GCAJGEA Welcome to Amsterdam! (Virtual Reward 4.0)

    TFTC! I’m not carrying any tickets for UK transport, but I’ve got a (mildly defaced) British banknote and I found a tram (the number 13, which connected me to my hotel this week) and a ferry (which I then went and caught to go find some more caches!).×× Read more →

  • Found GCAJHEN Amsterdam Greed / Hebzucht

    Cash? Not carrying much of that. But my credit card sits at the front of my minimalist wallet and, as a bonus, shows my geocaching username (which is the same as my actual name) without showing the actual card number. TFTC!× Read more →

  • Did not find GC5A7X0 Bicycle Parking

    No luck here despite an extended search, the hint, and the spoiler image. Confident I’ve found the right host but no sign in the cache. I wonder if another geocacher is holding it right now, sitting somewhere nearby to sign the log? Or else it’s probably gone missing. 😢 Read more →

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