The reason Keyboard Vagabond exists follows a trend online that is more and more common: people trying to escape the grasp and enshittification of big tech. It started with me leaving Reddit during the API debacle for the fediverse. Soon after I saw that many services became much more blatant about wanting to make me the product of their products. It was something that we always knew, but at least I felt like I was getting more out of it.

In 2023 I decided after living in Austin, TX for four years that it was time to do that thing that had been in the back of my mind for a long time – to sell everything and become a digital nomad. I'm a software developer and a traveler. I already had experience traveling and living out of hostels and I even spent two months in the Netherlands working abroad to see if I'd like to move there one day. It's still on the table. 😉

While I was traveling and navigating the new world of the fediverse, I saw multiple comments about how there isn't a dedicated space for nomads. There are a few communities on Lemmy, but not a real dedicated space. So I thought I'd make one and do it in a way that is related to my job and can put on a resume. So it's kinda over-built for the target audience (I hope) and overcomplicated.

That's why Keyboard Vagabond started existing, to create a space for nomads, but why one should use this instance instead of the bigger ones is a different question.

The answer is that you can use both! Federation can be tricky to get the content coming in, because someone has to follow the source. But one nice thing is that different “instances” have different vibes since they have their own communities. So, if you want to see what's going on in the nomad world, you could look at only things created on these individual servers, or “Local” vs all.

I'm hoping to create a place that is refreshing from big tech and full of good resources. It's not like one has to abandon Instagram, but hopefully this space can be an oasis from all of the advertising and attention economy, as that doesn't exist here.

To see everything that is on offer, check out the home page at www.keyboardvagabond.com. Join us and help to create a better web, one that's built for people and not for profit!

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