ceargaest

[tʃæɑ̯rˠɣæːst]

linguist & software engineer in Lenapehoking; jewish ancom trans woman.

since twitter's burning gonna try bringing my posts about language stuff and losing my shit over star wars and such here - hi!


username etymology
bosworthtoller.com/5952

Vertxsees
@Vertxsees

alright.
I've had this rolling around in my head for dozens of months, probably from the very first days of having used and understood the place of cohost in the ecosystem of the internet. It took me longer than I'd originally liked to begin writing things down I'd experienced on this website in a disciplined-ish fashion instead of just relying entirely on memory. The original document, as I have it saved, was originally created Feb 3, 2023 as a .txt file. I would have, ideally, liked to have uploaded the actual file instead of copypasting the raw text from the file. This did not happen. I am not perfect. This is the best I can do.

This is the entire raw text of the document, plopped straight into a chost. The verbiage as it appears here was originally only intended to be for my eyes only, to be properly cleaned up, tidied and edited appropriately later. If something you read here doesn't make sense, that's probably why: it made\makes sense to me, the only person intended to see it. I have not edited the text prior to being placed in this chost, this is just. all of it. warts and all. The original original text may even be visible by inspecting the source of this chost; my document was not created with markup changes in mind, those would have been added during the theoretical editing process. I'll be replying to this with further notes, my feelings, and opinions, an addendum I guess.

@belarius mentioned to me, at some point (maybe even in one of these links chosts somewhere in a comment, I haven't looked through them all recently and I don't remember where the comment was made) something along the lines of "tracking history is a community effort." I was already personally interested in the idea of being able to look at a timeline of events on this website, even if it was only the timeline that I'd viewed as clearly\comprehensively (read: imperfectly, limited, flawed, biased) as possible through my own individual lens, but this comment was a strong impetus to continue keeping notes as time went on. The contents are for others to divine, interpret, feel.

This is what I saw. Contents of the text file have been pasted directly after this break, and the end of the chost is where the document ends.


can't believe I'm fucking making this doc.

started this the day of cohost's 1yr anniversary because wowie zowie it is difficult to find information that has otherwise passed on due to The Linear Passage Of Time and all that.


---found 2/3/23
---src: https://cohost.org/staff/post/958350-one-year-of-cohost
---body of chost text

"the capsule [profile] icon shape, which is only available to alpha users, is a reference to a display bug that was present for the first few weeks"

-further reading: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/239-i-m-so-enamored-with



---found 2/3/23
---src: https://cohost.org/staff/post/958350-one-year-of-cohost
---comment section

Atkison Hyperlegible is the cohost font.



---found 2/12/23
---src: https://cohost.org/tit/post/1011580-hey-look-it-s-the-ea
---both chost and comments

chost from tuftie: "eggbug paleontology"
comments incl link for context\further reading:

	https://cohost.org/mintexists/post/1008510-this-is-the-oldest-p

good stuff in the comments on this one from staff\jae
w\r\t posting backend stuff. Also seems to strongly suggest there will be public API at some point? Maybe.


more stuff later in the comments:
https://cohost.org/staff/post/808-the-official-cohost
https://cohost.org/vogon/post/1063-can-confirm-that-we


EGGBUG
---found 2/15/23
---src: https://cohost.org/staff/post/1032672-cohost-patch-notes-v

---body of chost: "quick note before we continue: we’ve disabled the ability to 'pause collection' on cohost plus subscriptions. we misunderstood the function and it turns out several of you have been getting plus for free! whoops! that’s our bad. no one’s in trouble (except eggbug, who gave us bad financial advice) but we will be cancelling the subscriptions of everyone with paused collection. you can resubscribe whenever you want."
END EGGBUG


---found 2/16/23
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/956757-div-style-backgro

A Chost Wars Story
@jkap "i do not like the term 'chost'."


EGGBUG(WRONG VERSION)
---found 2/16/23
---src: https://cohost.org/lutz/post/1039161-empty

eggbuf
END EGGBUG(WRONG VERSION)


---found 2/16/23
---src: https://cohost.org/numberonebug/post/1000000-my-medical-leave-req

one millionth chost



oh my god jae is just going off with a bunch of AMAs, collecting the important ones here:

these are all EGGBUG:
---found 2/23/23
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1080834-div-style-backgro
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1080806-div-style-backgro
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1080698-div-style-backgro

closest we've come yet to having eggbug's pronouns: "any pronouns, i predominantly use he/him when referring to eggbug because he's just a Little Guy"

---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1080551-div-style-backgro
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1080776-div-style-backgro

I swear to god if I have to start keeping track of tagslug stuff

---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1080966-div-style-backgro
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1080977-div-style-backgro

eggbug parents

---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1080980-div-style-backgro

oh, and one more thing from aidan:
---src: https://cohost.org/aidan/post/1081105-baba-and-eggbug-are

hopefully we eventually hear back from hempuli to confirm.
END EGGBUG


TAGSLUG
---found 2/23/23
---src: https://cohost.org/belarius/post/1081152-design-speculations

god damn it, as soon as I bitched about it, New Tagslug Lore dropped. This is probably gonna be The Next Thing at this point, way too much effort was put forth to not try to use it in the future. We'll see how this shakes out.

related as per staff:
---src: https://cohost.org/aidan/post/1081575-just-one-note-for-u

also worth noting if it wasn't already known from color picks: "eggbug's black parts are actually not-black (#191919)"
END TAGSLUG

EGGBUG
---found 3/7/23
---src: https://cohost.org/catalina/post/1140877-i-think-this-is-the
first instance of -emoji- eggbug, but points to "https://cohost.org/bobbi/post/15337-empty" as src

also worth noting the comment from OP @bobbi "i thiiiiiiink i just slorped the eggbug from somewhere ( maybe from @eggbug ??? ) so i can't take any real credit there but yeah it was pretty early on", needs further research to confirm
END EGGBUG


---found 3/27/23
---src: https://cohost.org/iliana/post/1234578-apparently-me-compla
pointing to:
https://cohost.org/iliana/post/1234567-just-learned-that-th
post #1234567


EGGBUG
---found 3/27/23
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1239440-div-style-backgro
"pretty sure eggbug isn't aware of gender as a concept"
END EGGBUG

EGGBUG
---found 3/28/23
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1245573-origin-of-tuesdaybug
reply to: https://cohost.org/AqueousAblution/post/1245143-tuesday-again-no-pr
jae pointing to "https://cohost.org/staff/post/2972-cohost-patch-notes-v" as origin of tuesdaybug
END EGGBUG

APRIL FOOLS BULLSHIT
all of this was found 4/1/23
OH MY GOD IT'S ALL JUST TUMBLR
https://cohost.org/staff/post/4430-news
presumably an edited post from a 4/1/22? Maybe? Hard to tell without looking into it, may have just been a setup for a bit or a joke they took to another level. Actually yeah I think it's just a continuation of the bit. Still funny.
https://cohost.org/staff/post/1254822-introducing-numbers
NUMBERS - the actual 4/1/23 @staff post
https://cohost.org/belarius/post/1264075-in-this-house-we-cel
@aidan comment: all tagslugs are canon
https://cohost.org/jkap/post/3365-leaked-art-of-ol
olivebug, also see comment in NUMBERS from @aidan: "greggbug is actually a deep cut return of the eggbeast, a cohost version of the very very old little guys that used to show up when something went wrong on tumblr"[links to KYM article on "tumbeasts"]
END APRIL FOOLS BULLSHIT

EGGBUG
---found 3/28/23
---src: https://cohost.org/staff/post/1295050-cohost-patch-notes-v
update to :eggbug: emoji, old eggbug is now :eggbug-classic:
END EGGBUG


---found 4/18/23
---src: https://cohost.org/cathoderaydude/post/1353361-real-pinned-post-hou
@cathoderaydude confirmed as main funder for cohost? need to find original @staff\adjacent post that alluded to this, but it was mentioned that "the person who funds this website is a user" or something like that



---found 4/20/23
---src: https://cohost.org/staff/post/1366571-cohost-patch-notes-v
cohost login page splash image changed from original(?) mountainscape, original is credited "to pascal metzger on unsplash", points to "https://unsplash.com/photos/B3juT0wEekM" as the original original



---found 5/2/23
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1435117-boring-implementatio
cohost backend tech\implementation info, but also tagged "#our snowflake epoch is 3/16/2020 #which is when antisoftware manifesto part 1 was published"
just think it's neat.



---found 5/2/23
---src: https://cohost.org/cathoderaydude/post/1434435-bothered-by-cohost-s
more of a technical post: regarding "post slugs", seems to be possible to just put whatever.



---found 5/30/23
---src: https://cohost.org/belarius/post/1257995-de-historia-choscium
pinned Belarius chost w\r\t cohost creatures (a chokédex)



---found 6/3/23
---src: https://cohost.org/atomicthumbs/post/1609794-gonna-repost-somethi
further replies:
https://cohost.org/a-strange-cat/post/1610729-for-clarity-here-ar
@jkap reply:
https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1611862-this-is-all-correct
very important info w\r\t @staff operations and site design goals



---found 6/23/23
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/10-gonna-start-posting
tenth post on cohost, maybe the oldest one I've seen up to this point?



---found 6/28/23
---src: https://cohost.org/staff/post/1775732-our-1st-public-bir
big update, new merch, eggbug plush announcement, asks begin rollout



---found 6/28/23
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1776309-it-was-actually-made
chost w\r\t anon ask iconbug, points to chost:
https://cohost.org/easrng/post/1091733-have-you-seen-this-b
this chost points to this chost w\r\t prechoster:
https://cohost.org/jkap/post/1095441-i-keep-getting-quest
(use prechoster)


oh god asks launched and now there's a shitton of Eggbug Lore:
EGGBUG
---found 6/28/23
---src: https://cohost.org/aidan/post/1776734-eggbug-s-birthday-is
eggbug bday, astrology sign
END EGGBUG

EGGBUG
---found 6/28/23
---src: https://cohost.org/aidan/post/1776666-i-like-to-think-eggb
eggbug size
END EGGBUG


---found 9/28/23
---src: https://cohost.org/twilight-sparkle/post/2991069-happy-more-than-10-y
this is the most likely reason I've seen to date as to why SEO on cohost is so strong. replied to @jkap chost:
https://cohost.org/jkap/post/2990971-cohost-s-seo-is-so-g
also comment on @twilight-sparkle's chost from @vogon "someone pointed out in a group chat that the internet archive claims to have archived cohost several times between 2010 and 2018" with link to "https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/Cohost.org"



---found 9/30/23
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/3014469-um-actually-the-colo
@jkap: color palette for cohost is "sunbleached lesbian flag." Unclear if this is a bit, but it's good. Also followed up by @aidan in:
https://cohost.org/aidan/post/3015035-yeah-literally-the-s


EGGBUG
---found 1/19/24
---src: https://cohost.org/jkap/post/4225664-cohost-lor
END EGGBUG


---found 5/18/24
---src: https://cohost.org/spookybiscuits/post/3242901-anyway-last-night-i
later elaborated by @belarius in https://cohost.org/belarius/post/6016196-oh-wow-okay-so-i
farggbug is probably a new entry to the Chokedex



---found 6/27/24
---src: https://cohost.org/kyatt7/post/6635342-it-was-me-i-did-all
claim of responsibility for the eggbug poster shown during wrestling live tv, original mention was the previous night's match
see: https://cohost.org/bravemule/post/6633166-uh-watching-aew-and
there are other chosts with a screencap



---found 8/15/24
---src: https://cohost.org/alyaza/post/7305042-cohost-so-white-a-c
a pretty hefty writeup about the history of racism on cohost. As of time of reading, I'm still uncertain about my feelings towards this user's attitude on behavior on cohost: not long before this was posted (within a week or so), I saw a comment that mentioned this user was the original poster of the suicide baiting post that made the rounds in a big way at one point and made a big site-wide commotion, but I don't have enough info to back it up just yet. Even being accused of this is enough for me to take a step back and refrain from engaging too closely with this user. Regardless of their past behavior, this post is definitely a very solid attempt at comprehensively collecting the history of racism discourse on cohost. There are several points in time (especially the more recent things around 8\24 and some parts of 5\23) that I am able to personally distinctly recall being circulated on the site, and this serves to bolster my confidence that this is solid reporting.



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