meta
where eternal september discourse is bad: elitism, snobbery, privilege, antidemocratic impulses.
where eternal september discourse identifies real problem moments even if it mislocates the causes: scale is poison.
there's good food for thought in both pieces, i think.
Perhaps you are new to Mastodon and wondering, "what's wrong with choosing a huge instance like mastodon.social"? Have a peek at this for one good reason https://www.patreon.com/posts/74436103?pr=true
"Home invasion: Mastodon's Eternal September begins" by @hugh https://www.hughrundle.net/home-invasion/
This past week has been wild. I have mixed feelings about it as well.
It’s interesting that the biggest communication challenge facing Mastodon communities is explaining that it’s basically a protocol and a network of independent, interconnected servers, which is what the Web, e-mail, even DNS and most of the fundamental services we use on the internet are, and always were.
It just illustrates just how much ‘Big Tech’ proprietary social media platforms swallowed up and walled off, if it’s now difficult to explain what the internet actually is!
Oh right I should re #introduce myself!
I'm Prism, and I'm a genderqueer dev working in VR. I'm also invisibly #disabled with #fibromyalgia . I will likely be posting #gamedev things, #knitting , and #cats , among other things I find funny. I also speak some #japanese and am looking to practice more!
Nice to meet you! Here's my cat tax payment. So hamsome
meta, colonialism
@IgnisIncendio@tech.lgbt The idea of a "big tent" is basically the centrist concept that everybody must coexist in the same space and any concessions necessary for that should be made, because "why can't we all just work together and there will be no conflict"
The real-world effect of that, of course, is that marginalized folks are thrown under the bus, because they're the first "concessions" to be made
meta, colonialism
@IgnisIncendio@tech.lgbt So... in principle, yes, that would be fine, and is indeed how things are designed to work.
The problem here arises because many of the newcomers are not just refusing to use CWs, but *also* complaining about getting instance-blocked. They seem to be of the belief that they should be allowed to push their content in the face of people who do not want it.
This is sometimes dressed up in language like "improving reach" or "staying in touch with other communities" or "big tent" or "healthy engagement", but it all ultimately boils down to the same thing: "you should have to receive the content that we push on our terms".
Likewise, many of these people aren't even thinking about "own instances" in the first place, but are of the (often unspoken) opinion that existing instances, particularly large ones, should accommodate what *they* want instead of what vulnerable people need, essentially forcing a cultural transition.
*If* newcomers accepted that instance bans are a normal part of how the network segments itself, and that they should set up their own instance if they disagree with the existing community norms, then all would be fine. But they just... don't. They try to force everybody else to change to their own personal demands instead.
Legal fund for Alex Norris, creator of Webcomic Name (the 'oh no' comics)
A publishing company they partnered to make a board game with a few years ago has used the opportunity to take all of their intellectual property/claimed ownership of Webcomic Name as a whole :/
From what I read, seems like its not the first time this publishing company have done that either.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/alexnorrislegalfund
meta
@jnonfiction Much appreciated, I wish more people approached it that way!
I'd recommend just hanging around for a while until the influx dies down, to get a first-hand impression of the general vibe and norms. There's only so much that can be explained in words, of course, and there's always a lot of nuance in a community-run place.
This may be helpful for the topic of CWs, at least: https://social.pixie.town/@joepie91/109314119359875097
The most important thing, really, is to proactively keep an eye out for the needs of vulnerable folks on here, who have no other place to go. As long as you do that, things will work out fine, and people won't mind missteps :)
*Please* keep sharing your food pics! Loads of people here love to see them, and engage, and talk about food! It's great! This isn't me asking you not to post them!
You'll also get more boosts on your content-warned food photos, because people can share them knowing they're giving people the opportunity to opt-in to seeing them ^.^
Thank you!
birdsite meta, analysis, CW meta
But it's important to realise that the attention economy doesn't work quite the same way here as it did on twitter. If you insist on *grabbing* attention you will be muted, or blocked, or defederated.
Ask yourself: is getting eyes on your content more important than the mental health of those around you?
birdsite meta, analysis, CW meta
As a quick addendum to this thread, I think it's curious how often objections to the custom of wide-spread CWs tie into that conception of social media as a broadcast network.
For creatives trained to see social media as a gallery window, and for journalists drilled on the importance of headlines to grab your audience, the idea of adding even a single-click barrier before their work must seem antithetical to years of best practice.
birdsite meta, analysis
During the recent exodus, I've been trying to think analytically about why twitter failed for me, in contrast to the appeal of the fediverse.
And while there's many reasons, one which rings true to me is that modern twitter functions as two distinct, overlapping services: first, a social network (with the emphasis on the *social*), and second, a wide-scope broadcast network.
Crucially, these two are in competition with each other for the attention of users.
meta, colonialism
Here's a 'great' and extremely blatant example of what I mean: https://mastodon.coffee/@wyndigo/109312041417074156
This is quite literally "okay thanks for building this place, it is ours now"
In the process of moving to @joepie91. This account will stay active for the foreseeable future! But please also follow the other one.
Technical debt collector and general hype-hater. Early 30s, non-binary, ND, poly, relationship anarchist, generally queer.
- No alt text (request) = no boost.
- Boosts OK for all boostable posts.
- DMs are open.
- Flirting welcome, but be explicit if you want something out of it!
- The devil doesn't need an advocate; no combative arguing in my mentions.
Sometimes horny on main (behind CW), very much into kink (bondage, freeuse, CNC, and other stuff), and believe it or not, very much a submissive bottom :p
My spoons are limited, so I may not always have the energy to respond to messages.
Strong views about abolishing oppression, hierarchy, agency, and self-governance - but I also trust people by default and give them room to grow, unless they give me reason not to. That all also applies to technology and how it's built.