Mastodawn

SanRafaelDad Dec 11, 2022

Increasingly, I believe that the destruction of Musk's Twitter is crucial for the preservation of American democracy. I was neutral on this until the past few days. But it's now obvious that his intentions -- and actions -- are aimed in part at promoting right-wing extremism.

The Murdoch family is still the greater threat, but Musk looks set to supersede them as a force for evil.

#TwitterTakeover

@dangillmor I agree save for one point. The Murdoch family is still constrained by the need for advertiser revenue so they cannot go monkey shit. Musk has no such constraints.

KBSez ✅Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @dangillmor

But the bottom line is Twitter was not a profitable business before the buyout. That means they were surviving on cash flow to pay bills and employees - musk has killed that cash flow in a huge way.

No ad sales / cash flow means bills don’t get paid and I don’t think any of his investors are going to float him cash to get through the month… and their credit rating is crap now too.

Unless he’s going to start writing checks the sh!t is gonna hit the fan shortly

@kbsez @dangillmor I kind of hope it dies. Personally, I'd like to see Gopher make a come back. I miss the Gopher protocol. I know ... I am dating myself here. 😹

Ed Lin Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor I thought Gopher would win because at the time I was communicating with the Internet via a telnet gateway and it looked so much better than the early web did on that and was easier to navigate.

Ed Lin Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor the problem was that U of Minn started telling everyone that you needed to pay them a royalty to use Gopher, that torpedoed its usage until later they went open source and reversed that, but the damage was done.

@edlin @kbsez @dangillmor Besides, the World Wide Web pretty much replaced Gopher. Still I liked it for what it was.

Mark McCahill Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor @edlin

I liked gopher too

@edlin @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor

I was there at the time and had *no idea* of that aspect of Gopher's history. Even now, I can imagine a reinvented Gopher being more useful in some cases.

Ed Lin Dec 11, 2022

@spodgod @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor unless you ran a public Gopher site or followed that information on Usenet you wouldn't have known.

Ed Lin Dec 11, 2022

@spodgod @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor I was there too. :)

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@edlin @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor I will pay for nothing ever. They can pay us. 😂Without us they ain’t sh*t to put it colloquially.

@edlin @kbsez @dangillmor Using the web with the lynx browser was, at best,b cumbersome.

KBSez ✅Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @edlin @dangillmor

If I was a vendor of Twitter's I would be looking at it very closely and warning them that if they go past 45 days on billing they'll get shut off immediately. If not, they are going to lose out big time---

Twitter's days are numbered and it's going to be like so many others, sold off for pennies on the dollar

Johanna's Garden Dec 13, 2022

@edlin @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor I do not remember Gopher. I remember irc, though.

Ed Lin Dec 13, 2022

@JohannasGarden @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor irc still exists, it's used a bit in the Linux community though it's being replaced a bit by discord sadly.

@edlin @JohannasGarden @kbsez @dangillmor That is sad.

Thatch Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor gopher was my first introduction to finding information on the WWW at college. I got my first email address, through my statistics class, sophomore year, 1994. Late to the party I know.

Jarruda Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor Archie and Gopher for the win

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor Gopher? 😂

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor I don’t hope it dies. Twitter is the voice of the resistance, the voice of the disenfranchised all over the world. There will be no grand exodus from Twitter to one platform. Divided we fall.

Shawn Wegner Dec 11, 2022

@Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor whoever stays on Twitter are supporting the Nazis and hate!! Twitter is now known as the Hitler platform!!

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@shawnwegner @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor No Twitter is not. Twitter is the tweeps not Musk. Muskrat is supporting the Nazis.

Shawn Wegner Dec 11, 2022

@Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor maybe, you need to stay on Twitter!! I left Twitter for a reason!! Mastodon isn't Twitter!!

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@shawnwegner @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor Excuse me 😂😂 I’m on 6 platforms. I don’t take directions from you. It’s like abortion it’s none of your business. Get it? I’m not interested in your opinion.

Bouriquet Dec 11, 2022

@shawnwegner @Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor You’re right, it’s not. After I left Twitter, I realized my addiction to swimming in the muck had subsided. Here it’s like a conversation in the commons.

Karl Morant 🇨🇦

🖖Dec 11, 2022

@Kitchi @shawnwegner @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor

One may try to do good on twitter, but through you it will do great evil.

Every interaction on twitter is an opportunity for advertisers to sell you something.

We stop evil by not interacting with twitter in any away. I deleted my account. Let advertisers count that!

E. C. Chang Dec 11, 2022

@Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor When the wealthiest man in the world takes over the voice of the resistance, the resistance is going to have to find another place to put their voice. Twitter isn't safe to use for this purpose anymore.

Shawn Wegner Dec 11, 2022

@knottedthreads @Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor agree!!

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@knottedthreads @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor Millions disagree. 90% of it’s revenue comes from ads so it has little choice but to act in away that won’t imperil it’s revenue streams. This has been challenging so it may implode. It remains to be seen. Divided we fall. Ima staying.

E. C. Chang Dec 11, 2022

@Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor See also: Musk's behavior over the last few weeks. He's already lost half his ad revenue, and he's expressed a specific desire to eliminate the rest of it by moving to a subscription model. If you don't pay up, no one will ever see your tweets. This is a difficult business model to ask the resistance to operate in, no?

La Négresse Dec 12, 2022

@knottedthreads @Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor

Elon Musk is NOT the wealthiest man in the world. He took over a US corporation which was NEVER the voice of resistance. Stop worrying about "safety" on social media. Protect yourself from violent retribution from racist American whites who scapegoat American Blacks.

Robert MacAnthony Dec 11, 2022

@kbsez @dangillmor @Kitchi @ablackcatstail Musk relies on active users—that’s what he cares about, no matter what those users are saying. My account is still active, so I’m not throwing stones, but any use of Twitter supports Musk and what he is doing there, whether we want to think of it that way or not.

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@rmacanthony @kbsez @dangillmor @ablackcatstail same with FB all of them oh well

Robert MacAnthony Dec 11, 2022

@dangillmor @kbsez @Kitchi @ablackcatstail I don’t feel that the others are close to the same thing. Maybe truth social, parler, and the like.

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@rmacanthony @dangillmor @kbsez @ablackcatstail you’re naive

Martin Vermeer FCD Dec 11, 2022

@Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor It will die. Better prepare.

WTF Dec 11, 2022

@martinvermeer @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor That’s why I’m on 6 platforms 😂

Martin Vermeer FCD Dec 11, 2022

@Kitchi @ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor It's overkill when one of those is resilient by design.

Martin Vermeer FCD Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor Gemini?

D.Day Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor I miss gopher too! Guess this shows our age, but who’s counting?

@DennisDay @kbsez @dangillmor Gopher was interesting. I got a lot of good info from it.

Roadskater, Ph.D.Dec 11, 2022

@kbsez @ablackcatstail @dangillmor I keep wondering... Isn't this dude the CEO of multiple other companies? Do the members of those companies' boards not give a shit that he is spending so much time posting on the #Birdsite? (Which only takes aways from his time managing the #Birdsite.) If I was still a $TSLA owner I'd be more enraged than I already am.

Govert Buijs Dec 11, 2022

Minor point: Twitter was (albeit marginally) profitable before the buyout. It's the debt interest that would have gotten Twitter if Elmo would have been able to retain the advertisers.

Stoney Takes Dec 11, 2022

@kbsez @ablackcatstail @dangillmor FWIW, I’ve never seen more ads on the bird site than I do now. Maybe they pay less? I wouldn’t know. However, saying they’re gone or even reduced is factually inaccurate.

ML2 Dec 11, 2022

@Stoneycase @kbsez @ablackcatstail @dangillmor I think the people who are getting ads now are smaller, more obscure, and often lower-paying groups.
From what I have heard even Scientology ads are starting to appear.

Stoney Takes Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @mathlover @kbsez @dangillmor I have blocked multiple accounts from: Amazon, and Disney. Fairly large advertisers. Def lots of financial institutions and yep, blocked the Scientology one.

Stoney Takes Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @kbsez @dangillmor @mathlover Presenting:

Barbara Banfield Dec 11, 2022

@ablackcatstail @dangillmor
Fox News gets almost all of its revenue from per-subscriber cable fees, which are significantly higher than all other cable news channels. As long as Fox News is bundled in with any cable, satellite, or streaming package, everyone who gets that service is supporting Murdoch and Fox. #UnFoxMyCableBox #CutTheCord

Roz Derors Dec 11, 2022

@BarbaraBanfield @ablackcatstail @dangillmor
Suggestion s?

HandgunYoga (he/him/his)Dec 11, 2022

@rozz2022 @ablackcatstail @BarbaraBanfield @dangillmor We ditched AT&T for supporting OANN, switched to Spectrum TV where I can add/delete individual channels like Faux.

Grassroots Joe Dec 11, 2022

@BarbaraBanfield @ablackcatstail @dangillmor
It isn't just #FoxPropaganda, it's also Fox Sports, FX1, FX2, and a bevy of local Fox stations.
There's not any way I'm aware of to stream live TV without getting enmeshed in most if not all of that.
You can go back to rabbit ears I guess, but that's a pretty ascetic scenario.

Bouriquet Dec 11, 2022

@joeinwynnewood @BarbaraBanfield @ablackcatstail @dangillmor We all lived with rabbit ears for decades: 3 networks, PBS and maybe a few independents. Get off the couch and go outside, meet nature and real people. Form real opinions instead of being force-fed. Read. Even get a DVR that works with digital over-the-air broadcasts. You still have your smartphone!

Grassroots Joe Dec 11, 2022

@bouriquet @BarbaraBanfield @ablackcatstail @dangillmor
I'm not going to make assumptions about the nature of anyone's streaming consumption.
I'm pretty sure that my opinions in no way suffer from watching collegiate gymnastics, lacrosse & ice hockey, all requiring a streaming provider, nor impinge on my excursions out of doors (certainly far less than my many and varied musculoskeletal issues).

PamWingedHorse Dec 11, 2022

@BarbaraBanfield I wish I knew the answer. I live in an area where the only way to get TV reception is to have cable. I know there are alternative services, but none of them are available here.

Bouriquet Dec 11, 2022

@PamSourelis @BarbaraBanfield If you can get internet with at least 20-30 meg, you can access almost anything in the world with a VPN and a smartTV and a phone. It just takes some research.

PamWingedHorse Dec 11, 2022

@bouriquet And here's the problem: I have no idea what this means . . .

Mascqueerade Dec 11, 2022

I think what @bouriquet is saying is "move to streaming." Our family did years ago to avoid putting dollars into unchosen hands. @PamSourelis @BarbaraBanfield

Barbara Banfield Dec 11, 2022

@PamSourelis @Mascqueerade @bouriquet
You can’t stream live, local TV channels without a subscription to a streaming package and all of them include Fox News. I believe Comcast has a stripped down Basic cable pkg of local channels only.

I have a Dish network pkg called the “Welcome Package” which has no sports channels, but includes local channels and a few other cable channels. You can choose either MSNBC or CNN/Fox as your cable news channels (but not all 3).

Mascqueerade Dec 11, 2022

@BarbaraBanfield Our workaround for this is a subscription to PBS and local PB. We live in a rural area so broadcast doesn't reach us unfortunately.

PamWingedHorse Dec 11, 2022

@BarbaraBanfield I live in an apartment, so Dish isn't an option. I can see if Comcast has anything. I have no use for local channels. I just want MSNBC and a couple of others. No sports.