Mastodawn

A terrific thread by @shengokai about why the absence of quote-tweeting on Mastodon can be a road-block to the organic formation of something like Black Twitter here: https://zirk.us/@shengokai/109346991978893779

Quote-tweeting allows for a style of call-and-response interaction; lose it and you lose that too

Dr. Johnathan Flowers (@[email protected])

I'm converting my mastodon critiques into a word document that I will likely use to post mastodon local versions of those large threads about mastodon that I've made on twitter. Having said that, I'm not really "anti-mastodon," as much as I am trying to point out that the fediverse does not have the tools to support the ways that marginalized groups built community on the bird site. And it really comes down to affordances of the platforms.

zirkus

mxtiffanyleigh Nov 15, 2022

@clive This is a great point. I also think the problem with everyone having the same tools at their social media disposal is that they can all be weaponized. So QT's and tagging in folks is as vital to Black Twitter as it is a harassment tool of aggression used by trolls and bad actors.

One facet of my Twitter burnout was the fact that the syntax and language and grammar over there is shared and deployed regardless of whether someone was an ally or a trashbag.

Clive Thompson Nov 15, 2022

@mxtiffanyleigh

Yep yep

There is really no affordance that has no troubling implications or uses -- the presence of QTs, the absence of QTs

Thomas Lawson 🇨🇦/🇺🇸Nov 15, 2022

@clive @shengokai There are 3 versions of QT’ing and the only one missing from Mstdn is the one that eats the least bandwidth and is easiest to execute.

[email protected]Nov 15, 2022

@clive @shengokai I respectfully disagree. You can still copy and paste and quote something in a reply here. Back in early Twitter, we copied and pasted to retweet someone. The current quote-tweet system in Twitter has your reply sitting on top of someone else's tweet - somewhat rudely. Plus in a string of comments and replies, it is not shown. So in my opinion, not a great help to honest communication.

Almost completely unrelated pic: cars blocking intersection near my Nashville bus stop right now.

Christopher_of_Savoie Nov 15, 2022

@irizoris @clive @shengokai you live in Nashville!!! (Jealous emoji)

[email protected]Nov 15, 2022

@Christopher_of_Savoie Léman! Emoji jaloux. I spent some unforgettable summers at friends' house in Excenevex, between Thonon and Ivoire. (Nashville now is boring, to me.)

Christopher_of_Savoie Nov 15, 2022

@irizoris wow. Nice. My boat is at Evian. I'm into Bluegrass Music so Nashville is like a candy store to kid me 😊

[email protected]Nov 16, 2022

@Christopher_of_Savoie My guess is that bluegrass musicians are scattering outside of Nashville and only coming into town rarely to meet up with business partners, publishing companies or the occasional recording in a studio. That said, there are still a few house concerts happening here and there, but not so much. I'm not so well informed about that. If you look at the Nashville Scene weekly listing, you can get an idea of the kind of music at official venues. Tourism is huge here right now, not helping the more original voices.

https://www.nashvillescene.com/

nashvillescene.com

Nashville Scene

Christopher_of_Savoie Nov 16, 2022

@irizoris there is a lot of Bluegrass going on in East Nashville these days. And the Station Inn is still standing!
I was shocked last time I was there by the frat parties. That is a sad but I suppose inevitable development. Our tourism here remains healthy with most people coming for the nature and the beauty.

AnitaBrenner Nov 15, 2022

@clive @shengokai “Quote-tweeting allows for a style of call-and-response interaction; lose it and you lose that …”
… which forced me to cut n paste, and those moments made me more thoughtful about the quoted post and about what I want to repost. Less viral more involvement?

Clive Thompson Nov 15, 2022

@anitabrenner @shengokai

undoubtably there are upsides to the higher level of friction without a built-in quote-tweet, too!

Jay Rosen Nov 21, 2022

@clive @shengokai For me the lack of quote-tweeting is a significant loss. It was probably the best tool ever invented for a press critic.

Sascha Pallenberg 🇹🇼 ♻️ ⚡Nov 21, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu
in my opinion it is part of the anti-viral design approach of #Mastodon
It's a huge trigger for finger-pointing on #Twitter

@clive @shengokai

CarpInSanDiego Nov 21, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @clive @shengokai you can still screen grab and post with response. 🤷

miketcope Nov 21, 2022

@clive @shengokai @jayrosen_nyu you can still copy a link and post about it https://mastodon.social/@jayrosen_nyu/109379078895710918

Clive Thompson Nov 21, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @shengokai

Yep, there are definitely things lost without having that built in

James Gleick Nov 21, 2022

@clive @jayrosen_nyu @shengokai Has anyone found a next-best substitute for quote-tweeting? Does it suffice to copy a link to a post and include that in your new post? Or is there anything better?

Aaron Ross Powell ☸️Nov 21, 2022

@JamesGleick
There are Mastodon clients that turn links in posts into link previews, which isn't a feature of the native web client. Seems like something similar could happen with QTs. So include a link to the post, as you've offered as an option, and the app or web front end can format it as a Twitter style QT. And that can happen without any changes to the base Mastodon code.
@clive @jayrosen_nyu @shengokai

Bob Kopp Nov 21, 2022

@JamesGleick @clive @jayrosen_nyu @shengokai Maybe quote the same way you would in print. Adds a bit of friction, but probably could be automated and leaves the quoter taking a bit more ownership than a QT, perhaps therefore less likely to use for ridicule.

E.g., as @JamesGleick says:

“Has anyone found a next-best substitute for quote-tweeting? Does it suffice to copy a link to a post and include that in your new post? Or is there anything better?” https://sciencemastodon.com/@JamesGleick/109382164896270327

James Gleick (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] Has anyone found a next-best substitute for quote-tweeting? Does it suffice to copy a link to a post and include that in your new post? Or is there anything better?

Science Mastodon

Clive Thompson Nov 21, 2022

@bobkopp @JamesGleick @jayrosen_nyu @shengokai

That's an interesting style -- I'll give it a try!

Tamar Yellin Nov 21, 2022

@jayrosen_nyu @clive @shengokai I liked it too, but I think I can survive without it ;-)

Idealistic Pragmatist

@jayrosen_nyu @clive @shengokai proposed workaround that’s worked for me a few times: respond to the tweet in question with what you want to say, in detail, and then boost your own post, advising people to click through and scroll up to see the original context.

Idealistic Pragmatist

@jayrosen_nyu @clive @shengokai It feels clunky and kludgey, but it has one big social advantage: it keeps the conversation in the original place rather than splintering it up to a dozen separate conversations on different timelines.

Clive Thompson Nov 21, 2022

@IPEdmonton @jayrosen_nyu @shengokai

Yep

xian Nov 21, 2022

@clive @shengokai reply and then boost your reply to get a similar effect

Clive Thompson Nov 21, 2022

@mediajunkie @shengokai

Cool idea, gonna try it