Christoph MergersonDec 14, 2022
I have a background in disaster preparedness communication and would like the vocal ethics police on this app who keep insisting the “only” ethical course of action is to leave Twitter now to explain how Mastodon currently enables people living in the Gulf South today to get real-time warnings and information about the ongoing tornado outbreak on par with Twitter. They need this information now, so “let’s build something better” is a dodge. #LAwx #MsWx #Wx #BlackTwitter #BlackMastodon
Show threadJose GarciaDec 14, 2022

@mergerson

Mastodon as it stands is not something people can turn to in disasters to get real time information.

I get it, people love Masto, I do too. But pretending that it's a twitter replacement for everyone now and getting sharp elbowed about it is naive at best and elitist at worst.

There's a lot of people in vulnerable communities for whom Twitter is a lifeline.

Show threadPsychic TidesDec 14, 2022
@Jollyspaniard @mergerson You’re not seriously suggesting that Twitter, the place where anyone to the left of Tulsi Gabbard might be banned or shaddowbanned, and where neonazis are promoted by the owner, is a reliable source of information are you?
Show threadCBDawson 🏳️‍🌈Dec 14, 2022
@Jollyspaniard @psychictides @mergerson It can absolutely be a source of reliable information — from some accounts. A lot of US government agencies & journalists post info directly to twitter, and many of us use that. For example: During California wildfires, it was a key source of real-time info for many of us, because it included real-time updates from multiple agencies all in one place. There was simply no quicker way to get reliable updates.
Show threadRDS (shawphd on Twitter)Dec 14, 2022
@mergerson @Jollyspaniard @psychictides @cbdawson This. If I want, say, real-time transcripts of local political meetings, they’re happening on Twitter. Local news and weather in real time and specialty beats like coverage of our school district’s shenanigans aren’t easily duplicated elsewhere.
Show threadCBDawson 🏳️‍🌈Dec 14, 2022
@shawrd773 Totally! One of our hyper local media outlets live tweets most Berkeley city council & school board meetings. They don’t post that anywhere else.
Show threadMidsouthMouth.OctaviaKeats
@cbdawson @shawrd773 I *get it.* The lack of reliable gov't information infrastructure is a chasm. I guess I need handholding to get why Signal or (shock) something retro like sms isn't getting attention as a potential stopgap.
Dec 15, 2022 at 7:18amWeb