Maddy Miller

Have we decided that JavaScript is bad? | Programming Most JavaScript tooling is being rewritten in non-JS languages. Is this a sign that JavaScript is bad, or is it a sign that we’re finally taking it seriously and forcing it to mature?

i've just written an article answering a question i've been asked a few times recently; whether the recent explosion of non-JS-based JS tooling is a sign that people are giving up on the language / that it's being seen as "bad." - maddy.tech/javascript-e... 😊

Top growing queries: pgking76 +22 clicks (web)

deeply confused about why my site is suddenly ranking for this phrase, or what it even means lol

The final release for WorldEdit 7.4.0 is now out!

You can find it on our Modrinth page- modrinth.com/plugin/world...

release notes in quoted post 😊

Pride & Bug Reports | Programming | Maddy Miller When people ask for help with an issue on social media, it’s common to see responses implying it is a common issue. This can dissuades people from reporting problems.

i've just written an article about the gap between bugs people talk about online, and the ones open source devs actually get see- and why reporting these bugs genuinely helps

you can find it here! maddy.tech/pride-and-bu... 😊

turns out i've been writing posts for a decade (😩) later this year, and i was suggested to do a "10 year Q&A" post-

if you're interested in submitting a question, i've put up a form- forms.office.com/r/CUh4ScqNJc :)

feel semi odd doing this tbh, but do find Q&As introspective 😌

The JavaScript Ecosystem: What to watch in 2026 | Programming Last year I wrote an article about what I was going to keep an eye on in 2025 in the JS ecosystem. It was fun and introspective to write, so here’s the 2026 edition.

a few people encouraged me to write a 2026 edition of my post from last year, where i went over what parts of the JS ecosystem i was watching/leaving behind in the new year-

you can check it out here! 😊 maddy.tech/2025-javascr...

a lot of the ones i was finding had the hook come too close to the wall mount, so the hat would have to sit on an angle. and that angle would mean the hat is being squished a little bit, or has to be oddly floating (which kind of defeats the point of specific hooks)

same with wall hat hooks- everything seems to be made for caps that have that strap thing at the back, rather than proper full hats (like the one in my profile pic), which feels like it'd dig into it too much

am i just too protective over my things? 😅

i was looking for like, handbag hooks to try putting them up on a wall to free up some space after moving recently, and all the ones that exist seem like such awful ideas to use? all super thin hooks that'll 100% cause damage to the straps if it's hanging there for a while :/

Australia is enacting a <16 social media ban as of tomorrow, with most sites using algorithms to guess your age, with ways to further verify if it guesses wrong.

so curious how many sites incorrectly mark me as <16 due to being a Minecraft modder lol

The Risks of Modding - Community | Games | Maddy Miller Another risk when it comes to modding is the community. They can facilitate feedback and help your mod grow, but they can also be a significant risk.

i've just written the second article in my series on the risks of modding, this one focusing on the community, as well as community management!😊

madelinemiller.dev/blog/risks-o...

I wish reply articles worked better | Programming | Maddy Miller Something I’ve always loved about writing articles, is that it can start a conversation. Something that I felt was missing however, was the ability to find actual reply articles.

i've just written a new article, about the concept of "reply articles," as well as Webmentions. my site now also coincidentally supports Webmentions 😅

you can read it here- madelinemiller.dev/blog/i-wish-... 😊

The Risks of Modding - Content Creation | Games | Maddy Miller Modding is a labour of love for a game or project, however it comes with some risks that I don’t feel modding communities are very good at resolving or mitigating.

i've written a new article on some of the risks of game modding i wish i knew before starting, hopefully ending up as a series of a few posts- you can check it out here! 😊 maddy.tech/risks-of-mod...

Motion Sickness Mode This setting determines the strength of assistance in decreasing motion sickness related effects in the game. Off - All motion effects will be at full strength. Some Motion - Motion effects with be at half strength. No Motion - Most motion effects will be disabled or play at zero strength.

trying out Outer Worlds 2- i _love_ this setting. it:

* consolidates motion sickness stuff together
* acknowledges what it's actually for (which means it'll probably actually work, rather than be superficial like many games)
* lets you adjust for your own severity

What's new in WorldEdit 7.4? | Minecraft | Maddy Miller We've been hard at work on WorldEdit 7.4. This release has mostly focused on internal changes and cleanups, but there are a fair few new features, which I'll go over in this post.

We’ve just released betas for WorldEdit’s next feature release, WorldEdit 7.4- you can read more about it here! 😊🎉 maddy.tech/introducing-...

"Scream 4" refers to the fourth installment in the "Scream" slasher film franchise. While there are four distinct versions of Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream", the question likely pertains to variations in the "Scream 4" movie. There are no official extended or director's cuts of "Scream 4," but some viewers have noticed minor differences in theatrical and home video versions, particularly in dialogue delivery and profanity levels. These differences are likely due to minor reshoots, editing choices, or variations in distribution formats rather than a deliberately crafted alternate cut. Scream 4 Movie Variations: No official extended cut: There is no officially released director's cut or extended version of "Scream 4," according to Reddit users. Minor differences noted by viewers: Some viewers have reported minor discrepancies between theatrical and home video versions, such as variations in dialogue delivery or the presence/absence of profanity.

very useful that Google clearly could tell what i wanted, given it highlighted the only relevant part of the output- but decided i probably wanted to know about something else entirely, that it even admits doesn’t even have four variations

i googled “4 versions of the scream painting”

pro tip: don't take an ancestry summary from someone's blog post, ask an AI to generate an example person based on the ancestry estimates, then send it to them asking them how much it resembles them. that's a very weird thing to do :)

Whole Genome Sequencing Part 3: Ancestry Analysis | Technology A common use for whole genome sequencing data is ancestry analysis. This article covers both online and offline ways to perform this analysis.

i've just written a new article in my Whole Genome Sequencing series! this one covering ancestry analysis & admixture- focusing on local admixture tools

maddy.tech/whole-genome...

The Rebigulator | Simpsons Trivia Game The Rebigulator is an online fast-paced quote-based Simpsons trivia quiz game. Play now for free!

I finally got around to adding a daily mode to my Rebigulator game I made years ago 😅- It's a Simpsons trivia game about guessing the episode from a frame & quote 😌

rebigulator.org

omg, i’m getting motion sick just watching a video of that game 😅

i really do wish more thought was put into motion sickness at a design level (although it’s probably the least of the accessibility issues in handheld ports from that era honestly 😅)

Yes! I’m glad you find it useful and like reading my content enough to subscribe to it 😅 I’ve had a lot of people see Atom/RSS feeds as “something extra they need to do” when they already use email- so I feel the mailing list might reduce friction for those people without an Atom/RSS reader setup 😌

Setting up a Mailing List for a Personal Blog | Technology | Maddy Miller To help combat the effects of AI Search Engines on my blog, I have gone through the process to set up a mailing list. Here are my thoughts on the public offerings currently.

I’ve had many people recommend setting up a mailing list due to my recent article on the impact of AI search engines- so i investigated the available offerings and wrote an article about it 😅

maddy.tech/personal-blo...

What do AI Search Engines mean for Blogging? | Technology | Maddy Miller AI chat bots are becoming ubiquitous in many areas of life, such as replacing online search engines. How does this affect blogging?

I’ve written an article on some trends in data I’ve found around my website, and AI search engines. I’m concerned how well blogging as a medium can actually survive this trend, if things don’t change much from their current state.

madelinemiller.dev/blog/ai-sear...

Thanks! :) Yeah the most concerning aspect is definitely if people have very centralised accounts (SSO, PassKeys, etc)- that’d be significantly worse than this, which was more just a social lockout rather than losing access to a vast majority of online systems

All posts by Maddy Miller All posts by Maddy Miller. Read about WorldEdit, WorldGuard, CraftBook, and many other projects here!

madelinemiller.dev/blog/

I write about a mix of web development, general tech industry stuff, and things related to Minecraft modding 😅 Although I do per-category RSS after someone requested a way to segment stuff

Update on my Facebook account- someone saw the tweet and unbanned it 😌

I've written about my experience here, covering how social media is becoming borderline essential to function in society, and the impact that being banned can have- madelinemiller.dev/blog/dark-si...

What actually is optimisation? | Games | Maddy Miller If you’ve spent much time in online gaming or IT related spaces, you’ve likely seen people refer to optimisation. What does this actually mean though?

I've written an article that goes over what optimisation is, and whether software/games are less optimised now than they used to be 😌

madelinemiller.dev/blog/what-is...

There’s nothing the police could really do here, especially given I live in Australia

they’re not a hacker, they just reported accounts (and me to the FBI) from my understanding.

i can’t really sue some random anonymous Discord user, and there’s nothing to really sue them for..? the point of suing Meta is to get the accounts back, as that’s seemingly their method of customer service

i’ve heard bad things in other game communities too, but the MC one does seem to trend younger which can be an issue sometimes :/

in this case, we had builds up for ages, but were waiting on all supported platforms to release before publishing a full build on Modrinth etc- so we weren’t even slow