Send in any questions for #BikeNite for this Friday! See below.
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Next #BikeNite is this Friday at 4pm Pacific standard time (UTC-8)!
This is our weekly call for questions. Reply with any you'd like me to add to the discussion on Friday. Please add the BikeNitePQ hashtag so it's easier to find a Proposed Question. There is room for more!
(BikeNite is a Q&A type discussion on the Fediverse.) #BikeTooter cc @bikenite
Would it be possible to add a date, or week number to the BikeNite hashtag or an additional hashtag, to make it easier to find the current discussion, instead of it being mixed in with all previous BikeNites?
e.g. BikeNite41 (it's currently the 41st week of 2026)
BikeNite20261016
BikeNite123 (just an incrementing counter)
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I never feel that I've seen all of a BikeNite discussion, only random dribs and drabs - usually just a response to a question, and trying to work backwards to the original post never seems clear and simple.
Oct 15, 2026, 7:15 PM@isol @ascentale @bikenite That would mess up the ability of BikeNite hashtag to attract new folks to BikeNite, I think, because it would limit how long the tag was used.
The best way to follow BikeNite, in my experience, is to (1) follow Phil's account and choose the bell on his profile so you're notified when he posts. (2) Follow @bikenite
Not everyone remembers to use the hashtag so one does not always see their posts by hitting the hashtag. It's also possible some people leave out the fedigroup, but you can catch a lot by following that account.
(3) From Phil's timeline, go to the question - most folks reply directly to the question toot so as those dribble in each week, you can find them, subject to how well they are federating to your instance. You can bookmark the question if you want to return to it when there are more answers. Some of the issue here is just how Mastodon was designed.
Some of the things meant to cut down on trolling also cut down on the ability to find things easily.
I do wish we had a site to archive our discussions because we often get repeat questions and also because there are useful answers that become less searchable, but then there'd be privacy issues involved, money issues, etc. so I doubt that will ever happen.
@ml @isol @ascentale @bikenite
If Phil added a 2nd hashtag incrementing each week it would cover both bases?
Oct 15, 2026, 7:59 PM@Pionir @isol @ascentale @bikenite
It's certainly possible, but remember that we already have the problem that not everyone uses the hashtag or some who do do not remember or want to post full public mode, which means the hashtag will not appear in searches.
That's why I gave tips for following the conversation in ways you have more direct control over.
@ml @isol @ascentale @bikenite second going to Phil's account and looking for the week's questions. I leave my reply and usually wait a day to go back and read through everyone else's just so people had time to answer in different time zones and what not.
Oct 15, 2026, 7:24 PMYou might want to quote-toot this if you use it, because the background makes it long.
Watching the ramping up of the #FlamingoRevolution protest after Day 135 of daily protests... I see that the young student protestors (high school and even younger in some cases, but also university students) were able to move on foot much faster than the cops could follow...partly because they built street barricades to frustrate their movement, but also because despite the fact that many cops ride a bike to and from work, there doesn't seem to be a dedicated bike cop unit here. Cyclists have less problem getting through the barricades.
*Not at all advocating for cops here!*
But as I know that cop departments in many cities in the world have adopted bike cop units, I was wondering what folks' experiences of that in their area have been like?
I was once naïve enough to think it would give cops less of a windshield perspective so that cyclists wouldn't automatically be proclaimed guilty when drivers crash into us.
But that has not been the case. Instead, cops have developed a way of using the upright bikes themselves as weapons during cop violence against left protestors (the right wing ones they'll protect, naturally). They have used bikes to get in hard-to-access areas to go after people they go after. (I have a better opinion of EMTs and fire personnel on bikes than cops.)