Latest posts
- Vulnerability as a ServiceFeb 24, 2026herman
A few days ago some 4 or 5 OpenClaw instances opened blogs on Bear. These were picked up at review and blocked, and I've since locked down the signup and dashboard to this kind of automated traffic. What was quite funny is that I received a grumpy email from one of these instances contesting the ban. I was tempted to ask it for its API keys after I saw what it had posted the day prior: The day I w
- Pockets of HumanityFeb 23, 2026herman
There's a conspiracy theory that suggests that since around 2016 most web activity is automated. This is called Dead Internet Theory, and while I think they may have jumped the gun by a few years, it's heading that way now that LLMs can simulate online interactions near-flawlessly. Without a doubt there are tens (hundreds?) of thousands of interactions happening online right now between bots tryin
- Things that work (for me)Jan 20, 2026herman
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. While I don't fully subscribe to the above quote, since I think it's important to continually improve things that aren't explicitly broken, every now and then something I use works so well that I consider it a solved problem. In this post I'll be listing items and tools I use that work so well that I'm likely to be a customer for life, or will never have to purchas
- Discovery and AIDec 30, 2025herman
I browse the discovery feed on Bear daily, both as part of my role as a moderator, and because it's a space I love, populated by a diverse group of interesting people. I've read the posts regarding AI-related content on the discovery feed, and I get it. It's such a prevalent topic right now that it feels inescapable, available everywhere from Christmas dinner to overheard conversation on the subwa
- Grow slowly, stay smallDec 03, 2025herman
Quick announcement: I'll be visiting Japan in April, 2026 for about a month and will be on Honshu for most of the trip. Please email me recommendations. If you live nearby, let's have coffee? I've always been fascinated by old, multi-generational Japanese businesses. My leisure-watching on YouTube is usually a long video of a Japanese craftsman—sometimes a 10th or 11th generation—making iron tea k
- Messing with botsNov 13, 2025herman
As outlined in my previous two posts: scrapers are, inadvertently, DDoSing public websites. I've received a number of emails from people running small web services and blogs seeking advice on how to protect themselves. This post isn't about that. This post is about fighting back. When I published my last post, there was an interesting write-up doing the rounds about a guy who set up a Markov chain
- Aggressive bots ruined my weekendOct 29, 2025herman
On the 25th of October Bear had its first major outage. Specifically, the reverse proxy which handles custom domains went down, causing custom domains to time out. Unfortunately my monitoring tool failed to notify me, and it being a Saturday, I didn't notice the outage for longer than is reasonable. I apologise to everyone who was affected by it. First, I want to dissect the root cause, exactly wh
- Attending MicroConf Europe 2025Oct 22, 2025herman
Now that I've been home for about a month and have all my ducks back in a row, it's time I wrote about my trip to Istanbul for MicroConf Europe. MicroConf is a conference for bootstrapped (non-VC-tracked) founders. And while I don't necessarily view Bear as a business, MicroConf is the closest there is to an Industry Event for someone like me. First a note on Istanbul: I arrived a week early to ex
- Smartphones and being presentOct 13, 2025herman
I read an article yesterday, stating that on average, people spend 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phones per day1, with South Africans coming in fourth highest in the world at a whopping 5 hours and 11 minutes2. This figure seems really high to me. If we assume people sleep roughly 8 hours per day, that means that one third of their day is spent on their phones. If we also assume people work 8 ho
- PIRACYKILLSOct 03, 2025herman
Most people who read my blog and know me for the development of Bear Blog are surprised to learn that I have another software project in the art and design space. It's called JustSketchMe and is a 3D modelling tool for artists to conceptualise their artwork before putting pencil to paper. It's a very niche tool (and requires some serious explanation to some non-illustrators involving a wooden mann