Dan Thornton

#SEO & Bluesky friends, please help spread the word. #SEOPundayMonday is coming! 🥳 Mon 26th Oct! Get ready! @simoncox.com @hellemans.me @ilovechoclates.bsky.social @danthornton.net @markwilliamscook.com @honed.co @divingfor.fun @tamethebots.com @not-a-robot.com @dr-pete.bsky.social

Trying to sign in to do a simple task - 20 levels of authentication and security. Uploading data to random AI services and platforms - easy.

Surprising, and a little depressing, but also a reminder why our Festival and other STEM events/organisations are so important in demonstrating role models, inspiration and the opportunities available in science to young women, and other under-represented groups. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #STEM

Woke up before 7am on Saturday. Peterborough STEM Festival wrapped up at 4pm Venue cleared by 5.20pm-ish. Equipment etc stored by about 6.30pm. Before we'd even got home there were already plans being made for our next events and Peterborough STEM Festival 2027...

Recovered from Peterborough STEM Festival 2026? A massive THANK YOU to everyone who made our 10th anniversary event possible including: 🚀 STEM Adventurers 🚀 Sponsors and supporters 🚀 Exhibitors and speakers 🚀 Volunteers 🚀 Venue ARU Peterborough and their team Liz, Dan, Andy and Jonathan (DPiP CiC)

You may have seen reports about the campaign for charities to be more 'transparent' about who funds them. Well it turns out the mysterious new right-wing think tank behind it won't say who funds or runs them, and used fake names for the authors of the report which launched their campaign

Trying to navigate NHS care between different providers is the kind of dystopian nightmare that might actually drive me insane...

For 8+ years, I've worked in the downstairs office, while @lizrandell.bsky.social works in an upstairs office. And it still makes me jump every time she sends something to our shared printer.

Just discovered us with less than 48 hours until Peterborough STEM Festival 2026? Not a problem - planning for the 2027 event will start from Monday, and it's never too early to get in touch. Sponsors, speakers, exhibitors, etc Plus we'll have more fringe events than ever taking place before then.

Huge thanks to @mrclmb.ac.uk, Jacobs, Jackson Civil Engineering and @labcorp.bsky.social for sponsoring Peterborough STEM Festival 2026 and helping us keep the 10th anniversary free and accessible to all! 🚀 📆 Saturday 17th October, 2026. 📍ARU Peterborough. ⏰ 11am - 4pm (9:30am - 11am Quiet Time)

Took a break from organising a big STEM event for thousands of kids - to accidentally almost glue myself to part of my computer footrest (not that I'm stressed, but it appears to have cracked a little)... I may need to pay more attention to the engineering exhibits...

Ukrainian presidential advisor Serhiy Beskrestnov confirms Elon Musk's Space X crippled Ukrainian capabilities last night. In other words, the US deliberately sabotaged European defence operations mid-mission. Every country in the world should move away from buying American hardware ASAP.

How has the back end admin side of Facebook only ever got worse over time? Jeez...

Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Peterborough STEM Festival was inspired by both Ada Lovelace, and the annual international Ada Lovelace Day celebration of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. Peterborough STEM Festival: www.peterboroughstemfestival.co.uk Ada Lovelace Day: findingada.com

Huge thanks to Greater Peterborough UTC who have come on board as an official sponsor for Peterborough STEM Festival 2026. And they're exhibiting industry-inspired projects and technologies including: VEX Robotics, STEM Racing, Racing simulator rigs 3D printing, Hands-on science demonstrations.

A huge thank you to Jackson Civil Engineering for their incredibly generous donation of sensory equipment for this year’s Peterborough STEM Festival! 🚀 #PeterboroughSTEMFestival #JacksonCivilEngineering #SEND #InclusiveSTEM #AccessibilityMatters #PeterboroughEvents #NeurodiversityInSTEM #PSF2026

Does it count if I went from helping out with the first one to now helping to run the whole thing?

It's free. It's packed full of great stuff. It's our 10th anniversary, having already seen around 10,000 STEM adventurers attend since the first event in 2016. And it's a great way to inspire children in subjects they might never have considered before.

Well, today has been a bit different from normal. Same workload, but interrupted by a quick radio interview about Peterborough STEM Festival and having a lost Labrador wander up my doorstep so I could reunite it with its owner. 10 minutes petting a very friendly dog was an unexpected bonus...

One of the best things working with clients on content is seeing the moment the penny drops, and they get that helping relevant people with their problems benefits the business more than another generic sales waffle article... Showing the old and new approach to the same topic makes it obvious.

Corporate support for women in STEM has shrunk & we're nowhere near equity. How we get back on track is the question at the heart of my new report, but I need your help to finish it off. Please donate or share! https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-finish-my-workplace-gender-equity-report

Are AI-built websites any good for SEO? I audited 5 to find out

Had to be out of the office on a Monday. a) There's a lot of stuff I've been catching up with. b) None of it meant the world fell apart by dealing with it promptly on a Tuesday.

When you need to take a break from a busy work/STEM preparation day and realise every surface has STEM Festival boxes on it... Now torn between sorting stuff out or just eating lunch on the floor...

The sites getting hit by Google right now for scaling low quality AI content are actually producing many of the exact same page types and templates that companies scaled with freelance writers before 2023 😅 History repeats itself

Currently working whilst listening to a Peterborough council meeting to hear whether we might one day have a speedway team in the city again - just a few days after a former Peterborough rider was crowned world champion... www.youtube.com/live/Us-ySFY...

A very long shot! 2027 #seocharity conference @johnmu.com @crestodina.bsky.social @fajela.bsky.social Do you want to speak, sponsor, or attend? Let me know!

‘Birdwatching is close to rapture' quoted from The Guardian article on Margaret Attwood... It makes me think of my son and I outside some shops in the middle of a large housing estate with cars driving past - and both of us stood looking up watching some young red kites flying overhead...

When a cold outreach email congratulates me on an award from 11 years ago, I know that it's 99% AI, and I also need to add some more prominent achievements to my sites...

Started a new sim racing series last night with Team ORD, and did OK considering how quick some of the drivers are... www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC_N...

Also went to London purely for a fun day out for the first time in ages. Public transport was fine. Everyone we encountered was pleasant. Saw some of the sites and didn't spend a ridiculous amount of cash. Came home again happy. About the most shocking thing we saw was some live jazz in Regents Park

My final full pre-uni weekend with my son was finished off by finally cracking open my Offerman edition Lagavulin after keeping it locked away for about 6 years. And despite my bias towards Irish whiskey - it's very, very good... And now safely locked away again until he graduates...

Working with various AI skills and the tasks are long enough that I feel I should get on with something else in the meantime, but not long enough that I actually have time to do anything else meaningful...

When you spend ages looking for complex technical solutions to an SEO problem. And then realise there's a really simple cause lying elsewhere, surfaced by a different task...

It appears that absolutely everything in my life is scheduled within the next few weeks. So that's fun.

My first thought - if Piddington isn't part of the UK, do speed limits etc still apply? (Asking for a friend, obviously).

Sends meeting availability for any time except 3-4pm. Gets a meeting request for 3.30pm.