ToreNov 18, 2022
RoAnna Sylver 

Oh wow what we're Not going to do is tell anyone they're overreacting or being silly to worry about #twitter's constant disaster, because for many people (esp marginalized) that's their actual lives, not a frivolous inconvenience.

Feel however you like about it (are my feelings complex? Yeah!) but don't scoff at people who are scared of losing community, friends, actual life support.

No cut. Needs to be seen.

Nov 18, 2022 at 9:21pmWeb
Show threadRoAnna Sylver Nov 18, 2022

Like if I'm on here being Hopeful about this, that's because it's my instinct in a crisis (a stubborn punk-rock kind of hope), it's how i Don't Panic, and hopefully helps others not panic as well.

And yeah, sometimes new and better things can come from the shaking-up of institutions and billionaires' monopolies.

Doesn't mean this doesn't SUCK. Or people won't get hurt, always the most vulnerable.

So MUCH is going on.

Show thread𝕁ᴀʏ 𝕍. π”Έκœ±α΄›α΄‡Κ€πŸ’€πŸπŸ”₯Nov 18, 2022

@Roannasylver it hurts, and it's okay to hurt. It's okay to have hope too. Sometimes you need that lifeline even if it doesn't exist.

I'm honestly just so mad and sad, and people being all like doing dong the twit is dead and pointing and laughing and being all like THEY'RE COMING TIME TO BULLY THEM are just as bad as the ones they hate on.

Like??? My dudes??? I just want to post my things and talk to people!? Do I deserve isolation because a billionaire burned down my playground?

Show threadCatherine LundoffNov 18, 2022
@Roannasylver Not to mention a huge hit for all the small businesses and creators that used it consistently. Really got nothing good to say about it and I hope he pays for on a zillion levels in ways he cares about. 😒
Show threadRoAnna Sylver Nov 18, 2022
@clundoff Yeah. I'm sweating it and so many of us are too, I hate that.
Show thread𝕁ᴀʏ 𝕍. π”Έκœ±α΄›α΄‡Κ€πŸ’€πŸπŸ”₯Nov 18, 2022
@Roannasylver it makes me sad, and sometimes I feel like I'm not allowed to say it. I'm not grieving the loss of a hellsite. I'm grieving the loss of my community and maybe my audience, my ability to network, my source of non curated news, and all the #disability and #neurodivergent support groups. I used to be so much more isolated before Twitter and...I don't appreciate people scoffing and acting superior because THEY don't use Twitter.
Show threadKaren SimmonsNov 19, 2022
@jayvaster_sff @Roannasylver Those are exactly the same thoughts I just posted about in this thread too! I was always a socially anxious ND writer who ghostwrote for my comic husband while never getting any recognition for my own scripts; since joining Twitter 2 yrs ago, I finally found a community of support for my own work, especially in the UK, where I even had a table-read for my pilot in London; I wouldn’t have had that progress without my Twitter lifeline!
Show threadHeather (she/her)Nov 19, 2022
@Roannasylver this is so true. I am part of a close-knit international community on Twitter. And have been for years. We are all heartbroken about what we could lose. The likelihood of all of us relocating to the same place is extremely unlikely.
Show threadDianeNov 19, 2022
@Roannasylver for real!!
Show threadSallyBlackNov 19, 2022

@Roannasylver

Agree. For some it's scializing and time-wasting entertainment. For others it's a lifeline and sole source of information.

Show threadKaren SimmonsNov 19, 2022
@toastygirl @Roannasylver I agree! As a socially-anxious ND writer, I had no friends, contacts or support for my writing IRL; then I joined Twitter during lockdown & met more fellow writers & supporters of my work in the past 2 yrs then all my yrs of living in LA (& finally found the ND community on Twitter too, which made me feel less alone!); they encouraged me to keep going w/my scripts & I even had a table-read in London for my new pilot because of their help!
Show threadPari Moon-ForestNov 19, 2022
@Roannasylver So much that...that was the only place I ever found real kind community, and I used it when I lived out west for literal up to the minute local fire danger information-way better than the county warnings or sheriff. The fact that it was my emergency warning system (although I don't live there anymore) and now may be gone, is serious business.
And yes to giving space and voice to the marginalized, disabled and small businesses...
I hope the ship can be righted again but at this stage, who knows.
Show threadSanniceNov 19, 2022
@Roannasylver ❣️ See and feel!
Show threadHazel the Puppycat  Nov 20, 2022
@Roannasylver Scoffing at people is wrong, but the current damage being done to big tech is amazing. Twitter going under might be the final thing to kill some others (at least knock them out of their current dystopian monopolistic thrones financed by surveillance capitalism). When facebook finally dies I’m having a party 🀣
Show threadKevin GaminDec 3, 2022
@Roannasylver Just ranted about the God account doing exactly that. Completely tone deaf and, really, the kind of shouting I'd expect on Twitter.
Show threadDavid Mitchell Dec 4, 2022

@Roannasylver

Part of what is so awful about Twitter (and FB, and…) is that they act as a gated community: you’re either in or out, that way they hold your network of people hostage, they make it hard to leave on purpose. Not going to criticize anyone who is that situation and finds they can’t cut themselves off (for any one of a bunch of reasons).

Show threadRyan Michael (he/they)Dec 5, 2022

@Roannasylver precisely. Social media is my only way to communicate with the world, being bedridden, and losing my communities would be... devastating. I'm staying as long as I can tbh, bc even though my communities are already dissolving like styrofoam in an acetone bath, it's still my friends, and their friends, and our communities.

Here, it's... a handful of those people. I'm effectively losing hundreds of people in my communities. And it devastates me.