Quite a few people have written (and spoken) quite a few words on the subject of App.net's imminent oblivion. I've written (and spoken) my fair share too! Right now I'm going to restrict myself to a very narrow definition of what helped make App.net (ADN: short for App Dot Net) special for me. Characters.
Yes, the people inhabiting the social network weren't your usual crowd, but it's not the people's characters I'm thinking of right now, no. It's the social post length. 256 characters of often lovingly-crafted posts on pretty-much any subject one could care to imagine. A chance to relax into the prose or the poem, the metaphor or the precise, the mundane, the interesting, exciting, the newsworthy (whether global, local or the deeply-personal) or the hyper-focused chats about topics directly-related to ADN.
I've never been able to summarise, so having the ability to footnote a social post still brings pleasure to me. 256-character posts allow one to relax knowing the chances of misinterpretation, if not entirely eliminated, are certainly lessened.
So there you have it. Or rather you don't; it'll be gone shortly: the plug will be pulled sometime during 2017-03-15 (though if living in a timeline to the east of San Francisco it's likely it'll be the 16th when things go dark.)
App.net: in total 2012 Q3 to 2017 Q1 with me from 2013 Q2 to the end; thanks to all you lovely people.
- See Baz's Law.
(An approximately 256 word post.)