1/ In my own indirect way, I've tried giving advice to Twitter migrants, especially journalists.
The rejoinder has been, "Stop addressing us as a monolith."
Yet some people who plan on running journalism instances are about to make very bad decisions that are bound to hurt themselves in the long run.
So I'm going to give direct advice right now.
2 / Work with the culture here, not against it. If someone demands a CW, just use it.
No, not every request for a CW should be entertained. But if it has to do with politics or violence or anything triggering, use a CW.
BTW, I speak as someone who's gotten in trouble in the past regarding this—and ultimately I've concluded CWs are not a big deal.
3 / Consider who's been maintaining the Fediverse while you all have been dominating Twitter for the past 5 years: folks who were previously chased off of Twitter.
You think they're thrilled that you're in their space while you call yourselves "refugees"?
Despite this, they're being welcome because they can see the bigger picture. But that doesn't mean they're giving up their culture just because you want to feel comfortable here.
4 / No one is obligated to be your audience, and they're certainly not obligated to federate with you either.
If there's any hint you're going to be a bad citizen, or host malicious people on your instances, the plug will be pulled on you fast.
6 / Don't be threatening others if you don't get your way. In fact, the moment you threaten instance operators, you're just confirming why they shouldn't federate with you.
And when I say "threaten", I especially mean lawsuits.
7 / If you're worried about your ability to moderate your instance, keep it small. In fact, better to run multiple instances with small communities than one big instance where you can't keep tabs on what's going on.
It just takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch.
8 / Yeah, you see an opportunity. You want to bring over a ton of folk from Twitter over here. But this won't work out if you fail to build trust.
If you can't even do CWs, you're kind of suspect.
12 / I've spoken to a few of you one-on-one about this. The Fediverse requires not just an appreciation for the culture here, but an entirely new perspective and model on how social media works.
If you can't adjust, you will fail.
Please adjust.
13 / In the grand scheme of things, I'm nobody notable. I'm just a guy in the Internet with opinions, and I've developed a general idea of best practices.
Feel welcome to ignore me. Nevertheless, this advice is for free.
14 / I just want everyone to get along, sing Kumbaya, and build a better Internet.
Can you build a better Internet with me?
That would be fun!
POST SCRIPT: To the random anonymous people angry that these posts are hostile, this isn't about you—and I don't give a damn whether you're offended.
You clicked and then ignored the CW, so that's on you.
Thus, that should be a lesson for you: heed CWs. They're a part of the culture here for a reason.
@fluffy @atomicpoet I'm new around here admittedly and this is the first I've seen of Chris' posts, but they just seem direct and unapologetic to me, whilst also trying to help bridge the expectations gap between Twitter and Mastodon.
I don't see this as a bad thing. Twitter is a different beast, and while some compromise is required between new and existing users here, ultimately Twitter users are coming here - not vice versa. Direct and unapologetic is fine, and very much needed.
@atomicpoet well, in another first for me I used the content warning to show someone a piece of art. I was nervous but she said slap it with a content warning. And hide the media.
I now get it!!
Been here for two years and I'm finally woke to what Mastodon is and provides.
@atomicpoet I feel like I should be ashamed because it's all there in the docs. It's just in my head I kept thinking this was a Twitterclone.
It's not.
@atomicpoet I've been on twitter for a few months in order to get more Ukraine news. I've just started to embrace my inner (and outer) jerk. Now I'm going to have to stuff it back inside somehow.
But seriously...
Kumbaya has its place, but if it means avoiding all confrontations and conversations that may be stressful you've lost something valuable.
Having your opinions and rhetoric crash against those of another person can be enlightening for both.
CW doesnt mean avoid conflict. CW means bystanders don't have to wade through the muck every time. You ever just want to watch cat videos and not doom scroll? The fediverse loves that for you.
@atomicpoet I think an important point to remember for both sides (for the journalists more) is that Mastodon is not the same kind of space as a normal #webpage or a newspaper is. (Neither was Twitter, but eh)
Social networks like these are about *conversation*; if what you need the focus on is *publication*, your very own web pages and newspapers are still OK, and you don't need to CW there. Don't mix two very different activities (and cultures) in one space, and you'll be fine.
@atomicpoet I, for one, am happy to adjust to a system where I am not the product.
”Free Speech” run amok without the freedom to choose not to associate is like being the guy in Clockwork Orange with his eyelids clamped open.
There will be growing pains, and I’m here for it. But this feels like it engenders a higher level of consciousness by design.
Appreciating your insights, keep them coming!
@jdormansteele2 @albinanigans I don't believe that days on a platform are proportional to the validity of one's points. How many days until you are allowed to push back on a post that you felt was unnecessarily hostile toward yourself?
Established members of a group have more power than newcomers. They often tend to try to wield that power in subtle and not so subtle ways (hazing). That's partially what rubbed me the wrong way.
@escarpment
See, I found this thread blunt, no-nonsense, pretty frank... Stuff like that. Personally, I didn't parse it as hostile.
And to be blunt, it's not the thread's responsibility to keep a sugar-coated tone in case it might hurt someone's feelings.
True, that is how you feel and I won't argue that. But please look up "tone policing" and how it's typically Bad Form to do that.
@albinanigans Sure, I suppose I am tone policing. The post I was responding to was also policing the tone of others who had recently joined. Where is the line between tone of voice and the content? You could very calmly say something that is hostile and I would still feel threatened.
Finally, I'm getting mixed signals here. I thought this community holds the value that it *is* the poster's responsibility for protecting people's feelings. Thus the recommendation to put up Content Warnings.
I haven't seen the posts that this is all in response to, so I don't know the full story.
But there's been a bit of this, "when you come into our space" attitude in a place where you define your own spaces. The fediverse itself isn't a monolith.
If you don't like noise in your feed, you don't follow the noise. Expecting journalists to respond to you on their posts is unreasonable. There have been bot accounts aggregating 'noise' since ActivityPub was released.
To be entirely clear, I would love for folks to be respectful to one another and take the effort to reasonably apply CWs.
It also makes sense that for folks in journalism, the baseline for when to apply a CW has been much higher than what has been expected on here and as far as I'm aware - although you can turn off content warnings if you don't feel you need them (and to make your browsing experience quicker), if turns them off for everything.
@atomicpoet we are thinking about this:
500-800 active users might be a good size, so you can have different views and keep a sense of a village community.
We have 2 mastodon instances:
One with nearly 2k people this one is obviously to big, you can feel the missed community when it exploded from a few hundred people a few days ago.
Then we have one with 190 (44 active) this one just runs itself, though more people would build more interest you can feel.
@atomicpoet this is maybe the best reason to prefer this space, although there are many, but folks need to remember this is not the captive audience they were accustomed to "back home", you are free to express whatever, but no one has to listen to you, and the local rules may ask you to leave, or just snip you out.
But that's the thing: you can't buy your way to more followers except by earning their respect. 'Attention' here isn't a commodity, it is a gift you earn.
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