Barktic Fox Nov 9, 2022

I've seen a bizarre amount of trash-talk lately aimed at people - primarily freelance artists - who have expressed concerns about their ability to maintain an audience on Mastodon, because people shouldn't be trying to "make it" here. Because the Fediverse isn't about "building your brand". Because the "popularity contest" of amassing a Twitter following isn't something to strive for here.

The thing is, freelance artists need to be able to make money to LIVE by selling commissions, and if they have no reach (or ability to grow an audience) because of the way Mastodon works, they *can't* make this their Twitter alternative.

I get it, capitalism sucks and nobody wants The Brands to find the Fediverse to be an acceptable target audience, but y'all are the guy in the well haughtily chiding artists for participating in society. You get that, right? You do understand that there's a difference between Beyonce or Skittles and an independent full-time furry artist just trying to sell commissions at $40 a pop to make rent and needing the ability to reach new fans of their work to do so. Don't you?

Show threadBarktic Fox Dec 17, 2022

Well, this has certainly struck a chord today… I wanna follow up on a few things here:

1) This was written during the first big crush of Twitter users post-Musk; the attitude toward this newest influx has, at least from what I’ve seen, been less ridiculous.

2) I’m glad folks *have* been able to build substantial enough followings here to make a living. At least part of the issue is perception; newcomers just don’t know how this place works, and it can be both off-putting and worrying. If you’re a creator, try not to get discouraged. If you see a creator struggling or confused, lend them a hand!

3) Being no-algo has its upsides, but also its downsides. This very post is proof you can still “do numbers”, even accidentally, but Twitter recommendations still do a lot to surface stuff at people who’d never see it otherwise. I personally think a “folks the people you follow follow” TL would serve a similar purpose and be more useful for organic growth than the Federated TL is. It’s likely have a higher signal-to-noise ratio if nothing else.

I don’t have a SoundCloud or anything, so, uh, drop a follow if you want occasional thoughts on Fedi Meta in between pooptoots about Myst and furry stuff I guess?

I’m going to bed now.

Show thread🌻 Welcome Back 🌻
@alahmnat Here for the #PoopToots
Dec 17, 2022 at 2:07pmWeb