Twitter emboldened people with outrageously bad takes or racist & bigoted views to share them for the rush of a viral tweet. It silenced already marginalized voices through threats & intimidation.
Twitter rewarded narcissism with follows & gave tremendous power to people least deserving of leadership roles or equipped for public service.
It was never the “town square” but often the mob with pitchforks & torches. If #Twitter falls, democracy & humanity will be better off. #TwitterMigration
@rnussbaum11 It could be good for organizing & connecting, particularly early on. The ngo I ran often coordinated activities & recruited there. But many people, esp women & BIPOC, also stopped using the platform bc of being targeted.
And having been on the receiving end of waves of antisemitic comments & DMs that would stop & start in coordination - simply bc of my last name, I didn’t find it an inclusive or welcoming community. Especially in recent years.
@Sheril @rnussbaum11 I think this is the key point.
When I joined Twitter back in 2010, it was an amazingly open, welcoming space (mostly), but as it became more popular, people with...shall we say radically small minds joined & demanded their ignorant voices be heard, & Twitter alas never achieved the level of scrutiny or even self-managed security it needed, & yeah, it turned into the world's largest dumpster fire.
@Sheril I hope we can do better with marginalized voices here.
With the big influx I see fewer trans, enby, and otherwise queer folk though I suppose some of the friendlier instances might be blocking .social.
@BrainCoach333 @Sheril Thanks for the well-wishes! I don’t intend to leave Mastodon. I’m just thinking it might be beneficial to operate from a different instance.
Mastodon.social is the biggest instance and hasn’t always been moderated well so some other instances aren’t federating with it.
Hearing from trans/enby folks and interacting with them has taught me a lot and helped me be a better friend to an enby person in my life. I want to keep learning from people not like me
@Sheril I've noticed the complaints from people who dislike Mastodon or are slow to acclimate are UI or algorithm related, which I fine interesting.
For all the dialogue on how bad the algorithm can be people are really struggling with the concept of existing in spaces without it. They like their eyes being directed to the most controversial and influencing bullshit.
It's sad.
@Sheril
In many ways that is the problem with capitalism in general: it promotes greed which is one of the attractions for the dark tetrad personality characteristics.
Yep, this is true in so many instance. They are to many stories tellers. Those who create emotions survive. Anger is one of the easiest emotion to generate.
@Sheril I agree with much of the sentiment you present, yet also see the other side of this - I feel that it still had a lot of virtue even as it descended into the maelstrom of toxic incivility.
It was also a good vehicle of information from and for marginalized communities.
I learned quite a lot from people on Twitter, but the nastiness eventually outran the virtue. It feels unsalvageable at this point, sad because there was much good there, which hopefully lives on here
It's a bit like the difference between ... well, maybe not dictatorship, but absolute monarchy and democracy.
Absolute monarchy is simple. All decisions are made for me. Democracy is difficult. If it is to work, I have to take care.
My concern: Am I willing to care enough here? At least I have resolutions.
@Sheril
Yes. And.
It is a complicated space.
Helps with public info and organization
#ArabSpring https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2012/11/28/role-social-media-arab-uprisings/
#HongKongProtests https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15358593.2022.2106793
#Disasters
And provided space for community. I look forward to Meredith Clark's forthcoming book on #BlackTwitter https://www.meredithdclark.com/
#Communication #rhetoric #media researchers who have been studying how regular people have been using #twitter.
Killing a space many found value doesn't leave us better off.
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