Schneid!Nov 7, 2022

I've been trying to get into Mastodon about twice a year since 2017 and only now do I understand why it never sticks with me:

People here are Smart and Nice (and a little smug about how Smart and Nice it is)

Which is fine! Lovely, even! But it is not what I want.

I want Smart and Mean. Twitter was home for Smart Mean people. People who were mean enough to be funny but smart enough to choose good targets for that meanness.

Twitter let Smart Mean people be mean to Dumb Powerful people.

Show threadSchneid!

"Schneid, why would you ever want something to be more mean?"

Listen here, Ted Lasso. "Mean" is only bad when paired with "Stupid."

The one real advantage of Twitter was that it showed how our institutions - businesses, journalism, politics - were run by incredibly stupid people. People who were used to having others assume they were Smart because they were Powerful.

Twitter let Smart Mean people tear that down immediately, by being funnier, smarter, and meanner.

Nov 7, 2022 at 9:56pmWeb
Show threadSchneid!Nov 7, 2022

Ultimately, I think Mastodon will "fail" as a Twitter replacement ("fail" in quotes here because it's not really fair to say it fails at a thing it's not trying to do) for the same reason Truth Social or Gab or all the right-wing Twitter replacements did:

Conflicting interactions are ultimately more interesting. And when there's no one on your platform to conflict with, you will get bored and just kinda turn into a Python coding forum.

Show threadCharlotte FinnNov 7, 2022

@SchneidRemarks See, this is kind of why I keep trying this place out, because I've felt that Smart and Mean has, too often, devolved into Smart and Cruel.

I don't mind someone dunking on a billionaire or an NYT columnist. The problem begins when people apply that thinking to someone who doesn't like Shrek.

Show threadCharlotte FinnNov 7, 2022
@SchneidRemarks I knew that things on Twitter were bad when I saw a prompt going "go to Letterboxd, search for a half-star review of your favorite movie, and post it." Literally, go to a different site, search for a reason to be mad at a stranger, take a screenshot, and bring it over to Twitter so we can spread that bad mood around. That's what I ultimately can't stand about that place.
Show threadSchneid!Nov 8, 2022

@SkunkyLass At least once a week I'd see everyone dunking on a bad take and I'd find the source and it was like, Steve from Des Moines with 153 followers. OR it would be some influencer I've never heard of that had 300K followers (mostly bots.)

The site rewarded our most base negative behaviors. That's obviously not GOOD, but it is just...more interesting than what Mastodon offers. Which seems to be people condescendingly chuckling about how Nice they are.

Show threadSeb ex- page Groupe écosoc **Nov 7, 2022

@SchneidRemarks let me say you that I'm not according to you!!

... Now is it ok? :D ;)